Mexicali Lovin'

Mexican food and I are like squabbling sisters. Sometimes we get along and want to spend every night together and other times we don't want to speak for weeks. 

These peppers were inspired by a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen and they make my squabbles with Mexican food seem ridiculous. They are so unique tasting and the spicy peppers balance the creamy filling so well that I could eat them every night for a week without getting sick of them. 

Just one note of advice if your wear contacts - take them out before you start to peel the peppers and take their seeds out. I was not so happy when I forgot. 

Flying Colours

Seeing a big rainbow on my plate always makes me happy. Maybe I'm like a bee collecting pollen, but I will always steer clear of the boring white and brown dishes and head towards the bright plates that call for attention. Luckily that's not a bad thing because colourful food looks beautiful and is super healthy for us too. 

When I told my sweetie I was making a beautiful purple sweet potato gnocchi for dinner, he asked that I serve us half purple gnocchi and take a little of the orange sweet potato gnocchi I had made and frozen out of the freezer so we could mix them up. At first I thought that sounded like extra work, then I realized how pretty it would look and got excited. 

I think my dish was a beautiful success and now my freezer has enough purple and orange gnocchi to keep us satisfied for awhile. So now I'm happy because it's all set for a day when I'm not in the mood to cook. 

Moroccan Flavours

I have a love of appetizers that just won't go away. I love small bites from a communal plate of delicious treats because they're usually shared with friends or family, there's usually a ton of different choices of food, and also because no one knows how much you've had to eat!

Ok, I'm kidding on the last bit. Sort of. But back to business, I do love appetizers. 

Today's post is a delicious version of Baba Ganoush, it's more involved than the previous version I shared but I think the added flavour makes it worth the extra ingredients!

Asian Spaghetti

This dish may not actually be spaghetti, but it is one of the best spaghetti squash recipes I've ever eaten. It's got sweetness, tang, spice, and somehow even a rich comfort all mixed up together in one delicious bite. 

Good Asian food often achieves that strange mix of perfection and I think that might be why I love it so much. Italian food does beat Asian on the comfort, Indian food beats it on the spice, and desserts of any origin always beat it on the sweetness, but no where else are you ever going to find a combination of tastes that so perfectly combine all those taste bud sensations. 

Read on for an amazing spaghetti squash recipe with a taste so good it's going to make you reach for seconds and maybe even thirds! 

Bay Gulls

I grew up on Georgian Bay in Collingwood, ON and anyone who had visited or lived there knows that saying that there are a lot of seagulls on Georgian Bay is an understatement. I don't think you could even walk down the beach, let alone eat a picnic lunch, without being stalked by a pack of those birds.  

Because I'm so familiar with seagulls, and because I'm a really hilarious person (ok... corny), my favourite joke is all about those birds. It's something that Luke and I joke about every single time we see a seagull. 

Why do seagulls live by the sea? Because they'd be called bay gulls if they lived by the bay! 

Alright, maybe it's not very funny. But we like it! And something else we like is bay scallops, read on for a yummy new recipe starring them! 

You didn't think I shared my joke because I'd made a recipe about how to cook a bay gull did you!

Cheese Please!

I love food, but some combinations of food don't make my stomach rumble with excitement. 

Pears and Brie - I love that combination and I think many people would agree, but Halloumi and mango? I'm not even really sure what Halloumi is other than a weird cheese that can be grilled or fried, but I didn't think it sounded delicious until I tried it. Now I don't know how I lived without it and I cannot wait for the next time I get to have a taste them together. 

This recipe comes from the complimentary All You Need is Cheese magazine and I am so happy I read this edition. 

Potluck-y

I love going to potlucks and seeing what goodies everyone else has brought, but I hate coming up with what I should bring. 

Potlucks are tough because I always want to bring a dish that tastes great without it haven't to be reheated, with it having sat for a while, and still being tasty enough to have someone scrape the sides of the bowl to get the last bite. 

If anyone feels the same as me and thinks that their friends are getting tired of their same old standbys, here's a new dish to throw into the mix - Pineapple and Bok Choy Slaw. You'd never warm a slaw, it actually tastes best after it has sat for awhile, and it's so unique that everyone's going to want a taste! 

Protein Powerhouses

Meat isn't the only way you can consume protein and today's dish shows you how easy it is to get a protein rich veggie diet. I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh, but I will say that a 130 pound woman should have about 65 grams of protein in a day or about 1 gram of protein per two pounds of body weight. 

There are so many ways to enjoy protein and here are a few:

Tempeh - 4 oz equals 41 g of protein 

Seitan - 3 oz equals 31 g of protein

Lentils - 1 cup cooked equals 18 g of protein

Chickpeas - 1 cup cooked equals 12 g of protein 

Tofu - 4 oz equals 10 g of protein 

Milk - 1 cup equals 8 g of protein 

Yogurt - 6 oz equals 6 g of protein 

Spinach - 1 cup cooked equals 5 grams of protein

I wish I could say that I was sharing a tempeh or seitan dish, but I haven't verged into those ingredients yet. I know I will soon though, especially after hearing about the protein in them! No, instead today's dish includes a serving or more of tofu, yogurt, and spinach - at least 21 g of protein! 

Rainbow of Delights

I love noshing on colourful food because it looks so beautiful. And I love serving colourful food to my friends because it makes everyone smile and smiling is important when you want to enjoy what you're eating. 

Today's post might be simple to make, but it's also simply beautiful if you ask me. And I love to spoon up some of this puréed carrot sauce, inspired by a recipe from Martha Stewart's Meatless, and pour it into my summer rolls. Delish!

The Sweet Life

This post features a recipe that I chose to make twice in once week. I'm not talking about reheating a plate of leftovers or finding nothing in fridge and having to make scrambled eggs on toast again. I actually went out and bought more of the same ingredients so that I could enjoy the same meal again.

It was that good.

I know that some of you might be put off by the list of ingredients, it is a fish recipe with jam, but chefs often add sugar to BBQ sauce or maple syrup to poultry. Just consider this recipe along the same lines and I know you'll love it.

Nice Rice

I don't usually make a lot of extra rice because I like it fluffy and fresh, but fried rice is such a delicious treat that I sometimes make an exception. I mean, who wants to cook fresh rice when they're going to make fried rice? Not me. 

This fried rice may sound a little weird because there's cucumber in it, but the cucumber is added right at the end so it doesn't even get warm. It's just there for a little extra crunch. 

Lentil Love

Sometimes I hear myself say something and I do a double take, I ask myself if I really just said that. Naming this post Lentil Love is one of those times. 

I've always thought of lentils are slightly boring, hippie food. Fine for someone who doesn't care what their food tastes like, but not something I wanted to waste my hunger pangs on. 

Now I love lentils. For real. And this Mexican Lentil Wrap recipe might convert even the most non believer out there. 

The Musical Fruit

Beans may be called the musical fruit but I think that this salad will garner more applause and yum sounds than what you might have expected this post's title meant. 

First of all this salad has all the ingredients of a Greek salad with the added benefits of protein rich chick peas. Second of all, and more importantly, it tastes great. And third, if you need a third reason to try it, it takes only mere minutes to make. 

I like to stock my cupboards with the ingredients needed to make this for quick weeknight suppers because I almost always have a cucumber and a few tomatoes kicking around in my fridge. And now that spring is here, I expect that I'll be outside more than usual and I will need to rely on my cupboard ingredients more than usual! 

The Healthy Burger

I've always loved a good veggie burger and now I have another make at home veggie burger winner to add to my list. These burgers are filled with chickpeas, cheese, and sharp green onions. With a whole wheat burger bun, that's all the food groups in one tasty sandwich! 

There's only one problem with them; they're so yummy that I might not ever share another veggie burger recipe again. I might love this one a little too much. 

Trick of the Eyes

I love hollandaise sauce. It's rich, creamy, and decadent. It's a perfect accompaniment to breakfast or to dinner. And it's a treat because its not very good for you as it's made almost entirely of butter and eggs. 

All that being said, the sauce I'm about to share with you isn't a hollandaise. But, don't worry because I don't think you'll be disappointed after you taste it. It's a curried yogurt sauce that's sweetened with honey and citrus. Plus, it's takes only a small fraction of the time to make it that it would to make a hollandaise.