Would You Like Fries With That?

I love fries with everything, but I'm heading off on vacation in a few days and I really want to look nice on the beach. 

Instead of fries, I love to choose my favourite Asian side dish. 

Edamame is the perfect healthy alternative to fries for me because they're all veggie, there's no deep frying (or even any oil at all), they are shaped like fries, and I always serve the with a little salt. 

And the best part is that they come in little pods so I have to take my time to open each one individually before eating them, which means I have a better chance of not overeating. 

One of my friends in university turned me on to eating edamame in place of fries (for all the above reasons) and I've never looked back since. 

Finger Licking Good

Kids and I will always have something in common. We both like to dunk things in dips before we eat them. 

I love veggies with dip, fries with ketchup, chips with salsa, chicken fingers with honey, and fish fingers with sweet chili sauce. I even love a corn dog with mustard. 

I think it has something to do with the fact that I love to eat with my hands and I really love picnics. But maybe it's just that the real me is a little bit lazy, who knows. 

Regardless, here's a delicious Coconut Fish Finger recipe that's perfect for eating on it's own or dunking into a dollop of sweet chili sauce. 

The Two Hundred!!

I cannot think of a better way to celebrate my 200th blog post than to share a recipe featuring bacon. 

You might think it's cheating because bacon tastes so good, but I don't think so. I think bacon could be seen as a main food group and I've really been neglecting it in the last few weeks. 

In fact, I think it's high time I've used bacon in a recipe and I am very sorry for not including it more often!

This potato salad is a delicious spring celebration of roasted asparagus, pesto, bacon, and and crunchy celery. Plus, we get to revisit a few of my favourite blog posts (if you want to make your own pesto and roast your asparagus). 

So, let's not wait any longer. I'm already drooling and wishing my last batch wasn't already gone; we've got to make some of this now!

The Holy Kale

Oh kale, how I overlooked you for so long....

I used to think kale was a throwaway, nothing interesting or tasting kind of veggie. I thought it was something hippies liked to eat because it was easy to grow, cheap, and seemed a little too much on the healthy side. 

But I am happy to say that I was wrong. Kale may be a hippie friendly veggie, but it tastes great and much easier to prepare than I previously thought! 

I have always known that you need to remove the ribs and stems of kale before you can eat it, but I used to lay each individual leaf on a cutting board and painstakingly run my knife around each stem. As you can imagine it took a long time because kale cooks down into nothing! 

Now, what I do is simply hold a piece of kale by the stem in one hand and my knife in the other. Then I swipe my blade along the stem along both sides and I'm done! No more laying each piece on a cutting board for me; I have way too many better things to do. 

The Root Of All Spice

At least in this dish! 

If you've ever eaten in an Asian restaurant and seen the little green blob of stuff beside slices of pink pickled ginger, you know this spicy flavour. 

Or....if you're like a friend of mine, and you've gone to a potluck and thought you spied a yummy glob of guacamole, you really know this eye watering fire.

Regardless, if you like spice, you're going to want to try this easy dish that ready in less than 30 minutes. I saw a version of this dinner in a recent Bon Appetit article and I knew that I had to try it. 

Read on and let me know if you feel fired up to try this recipe too!

Changing It Up

You might think that I cook new meals every single night because I always seem to have something new to share. New meals are great to keep tempting my taste buds, but, like everyone else, I have favourite meals that I like to enjoy all the time. 

I do sometimes duplicate things exactly. But a lot of the time, I like to take one of my favourite meals and change things up a little to make it taste different. 

Sometimes my "new" meals are so similar that you can't tell them apart from my "old" meals, but sometimes my inventions are actually inventions. 

Let me know if you think the recipe below is better than the Salmon Creole I previously shared? I can't pick which one I like better!

The Indian Saffron

I promised you last week that I would bring you a recipe that features turmeric because it's so healthy and I have delivered. 

I know you're going to love this easy and nutritious recipe, and not only because so tasty and healthy. I know you're going to love this recipe because it's got such beautiful colour!

Turmeric has always been known for it's beauty. In the Middle Ages turmeric became known as the Indian saffron, a much cheaper alternate to the real thing to use in foods and as a fabric dye. Today, it's still used for both and more. 

In India, turmeric is used in special celebratory occasions, like weddings. In fact, no Hindu celebration is complete without it. Newborn babies are rubbed golden for good luck, women grind turmeric to rub on bride's skin to make her glow, and of course it's used in cooking to achieve the beautiful, bright colour. 

Ready for my easy recipe? Keep reading... 

Snack Attack

Do you get the same cravings I get when three o'clock rolls around? You know it's the home stretch for heading home from work, but there's still enough time to think a snack would be a great idea? 

And are you also like me when I think to myself that, some days, that orange or container of carrot sticks just won't cut it? 

Well if you are, and I know you are, this post is for you. 

You get to feel healthy because there are veggies involved but this is a pizza muffin and that means it's going to taste like a not so good for you snack too!

Low Fat and High Taste

I always have room for dessert, but staying healthy is a big priority for me as well. I've worked hard to keep extra pounds off my hips, and I am always looking for fun ways to exercise.

Living in Victoria, BC is a big help for my exercise regime because the weather here allows me to keep active year round. And that helps me to still be able to enjoy as much healthy food as I want.

Because there's little snow in my city, I can bike to work almost every morning. It took me a few months to start to enjoy it, but now I love the feeling of hopping on my bike, peddling to work, and feeling invigorated for the rest of the day. 

Victoria may have less snow than the rest of Canada, and that means biking in February is not possible for everyone, but there are plenty of activities that I love to enjoy during the winter that feature snow too. 

Getting outside and building a snowman is a great way to enjoy time with your family and get a little exercise at the same time. I love using a carrot for the nose and nuts for the eyes, mouth, and buttons so that animals can have a nibble of my creation. 

Skiing helps to build strong leg muscles and the hot chocolate breaks that you earn are well worth the work of slapping on a pair of skis. 

Hiking with friends is another great winter activity, whether you live in a snow covered climate or not. Just dress in layers, bring a picnic with a warm drink in a thermos, and a pair of binoculars or a camera - winter birds and other wildlife are some of the best I have ever seen. 

And once you've exercised, you won't feel bad about enjoying dessert tonight. This is a tiramisu recipe from my mom that I made for my birthday a few weeks ago. It doesn't have as many calories as a typical recipe, but it still has all the taste you'll need.

Strong to the Finich...

Cause I eat my spinach...

You know you love Popeye. He's strong, gets the girl, and it's all due to spinach.

Well... maybe it's not all due to spinach, but I would venture a guess that's it's mostly due to spinach.

So I think you need a spinach filled delight that will make you just like Popeye.

At least in sense that you'll be eating a lot of spinach!

Some Like It Hot

There seem to be a lot of celebrating Marilyn Monroe right now. There's the movie My Week With Marilyn with Michelle Williams, the TV show Smash with Debra Messing, and didn't Mariah Carey name her daughter Monroe too?

I am sure there's more, but that's all I can think of right now. And honestly, that's plenty. 

Marilyn Monroe was talented, beautiful, and a real woman, but if you think that this post is going to be all about Marilyn you would be wrong. And if you think it's going to be about Dom Perignon, steak, or caviar, again, you would be wrong. 

But, if you think it's about a recipe that needs to stay hot in order to be as successful as Marilyn, you would be right. 

The Yorkshire Pudding and a hot oven go together like Marilyn and Happy Birthday, Mr President. So get your baking shoes on and let's get going.