Great Veggie BBQ

When most people think of barbecuing, I don't think they think about great vegetarian food. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs - sure they all to come to mind. And maybe a veggie burger might slip into a few people's minds, but not great vegetarian food. 

But today I hope to show to you that you can grill up some truly delicious vegetarian food, and not go anywhere near a veggie burger. I've made grilled polenta, BBQ sauce smothered grilled veggies, and fresh tomatoes and basil. I think it's a winner.

Veggie Cannelloni

I am truly addicted to pasta and cheese. But sometimes I try to make my meals a little healthier than just pasta covered cheese because we all could use a little more veggie love in our lives. I've subbed out pasta for cauliflower and made a delicious new version of Cauliflower Mac and Cheese and I knew I could make a cannelloni just as tasty as the real thing without using pasta too. 

Here's my recipe for Eggplant Cannelloni. They're stuffed with ricotta, black beans, olives, and drenched in a tomato sauce. 

Eggplant-cent "Meat"balls

Meatballs are universally loved and I have been struggling to find a veggie friendly meatball recipe that comes close to tasting like the real thing. Today's post does! 

You might think it's an easy task, but finding for a recipe that ends up with crispy, juicy, and flavourful balls that actually stay clumped together is hard. Most recipes seem to fall apart when I tried to make them and I ended making a "hash" for those dinners. But this recipe stuck together - and can be made without even the use of a single egg!  

I know that I'm excited to share this recipe, inspired by one from Connoisseurus Veg. It's delicious!

Mediterranean Veggie Sandwiches

After a big Thanksgiving meal, the last thing I'm interested in is figuring out what to cook next. I prefer to use up leftovers and make a sandwich. If you made a turkey, I know you'll be making a turkey sandwich. But the question is if you'll be adding cranberry sauce and dressing like I use to do. 

If you didn't make a turkey, or have already run out of leftovers, that's where things might get a little trickier. Never fear because my yummy Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich is here! It's full of awesome veggies, flavour, and my favourite mushroom pâté. It's perfect for a no thinking, yummy meal. And if you made the pâté to serve as an appetizer yesterday, it's even more perfect! 

Second Place Is Pretty Darn Good

This summer I passionately and consistently entered Weston's Grill Up Summer contest. I didn't come up as a $10,000 winner but I did get chosen as a second place winner twice!

Before I start exciting you, let me tell you flat out that my prize had no monetary value. And that part is a little disappointing. But I am featured in a cookbook and I am pretty excited about that.

The first time was chosen as a second place winner, I turned down the prize. I was definitively honoured to be chosen as a winner, but I was told that a person could only win one prize and I wanted to go for gold. I wanted to win that $10,000 prize and that means that my Cherry Cola Pulled Pork sandwich isn't going to be featured in Weston's Grill Up Summer cookbook. But you can still read all about it on my blog.

Do you want to know what recipe of mine is being featured in the cookbook? Wait no longer, check it out online here or just read on for my yummy recipe!

Mad About You

Today my sister is flying to Madagascar for three months. I am a little envious of her adventure, but happy for her too because I imagine that there might be some delicious Madagascar vanilla in my future. And all the thinking I've been doing about the possible Madagascar vanilla has me thinking beautiful floral thoughts and playing with beautiful floral flavours. 

Today's dish celebrates the floral flavours of Madagascar and also acts as a farewell note to Mary. It's features a really inventive polenta made from cornmeal, silky puréed sweet potatoes, and coconut milk. I can't take credit for the concept because I read about it in an old cookbook from my local library, but I can take credit for making the dish really yummy. 

Safe flight and have fun, Mary. See you at Christmas! 

Southern Asian Fusion

When I watch reality cooking shows I love the episodes where the chef-testants have to fuse together two entirely different cuisines. I think of much of my cooking as fusion and think it is incredibly fun to cook that way. Not only am I always coming up with new dishes, but I'm also teaching myself new tricks. 

If I was on a cooking show today and pulled both Asian and southern cuisines, I wouldn't know what to cook. But today's dish is awesome tasting and shows that Asian and southern cuisines actually can go well together. 

Read on for my yummy Hoisin Glazed Tofu and Southern Veggie Medley. 

Perfect Fall Pasta

As much as I don't want to admit it, it's September now and that means the first day of fall is near. But this year, instead of getting annoyed that summer is almost over, I'm going to embrace fall's delicious flavours and dive into some new comfort food. 

Today's dish may look underwhelming at first, but when you taste it you will find that it's packed with roasted veggie flavour!  The sauce is made from tons of roasted veggies that get puréed into a heavenly smelling and tasting concoction. I topped mine with sliced almonds for a little extra crunch and thought each bite was perfect. 

Now, just to be clear, I'm not saying I'm ready for cold weather, but I am ready for cold weather food! So cold weather, you stay away for just a little while longer, ok? 

Banana Curry

When I go to a restaurant and I see a dish on the menu that I feel inspired to try to make at home, I know it's been a good night. The last thing I want in a restaurant is a boring menu filled with uninspiring things. Steak and potatoes or salmon with rice, all served with seasonal veggies, is nice - but I want to be excited by a meal.

When I saw a dish of banana curry with mussels on a menu recently, I knew I was in for a treat. I love curry and I love bananas. Plus I could see how that dish could work. I always use something sweet in my curries to counterbalance the spicy tart flavours of my dishes.

I was also really excited to have a new dish to try when I had a few overripe bananas. I love banana bread but everyone needs a break from the ordinary! Read on for my Banana Curry recipe!

Christmas Curry

Today is halfway to my favourite time of the year, Christmas, so it's only fitting for me to make a Christmasy curry. But before you start thinking about how I might be using pine needles, cinnamon, or sugar plums, let me tell you that I used perfectly normal and delicious curry ingredients - I just made my dish extra special with thoughts of Christmas in mind.

First off, I made my curry reflect the colours of Christmas by making a red curry sauce with plenty of fresh green broccoli and basil. And secondly, I decorated my curry with one of my favourite heirloom potatoes - the Warba New Nugget. I like to think of the Warba New Nuggets as little glass balls decorating my bowl because they're round, sweet as can be, and are even speckled with a decoration of pink eyes. 

You might be surprised at my use of potatoes in a curry because curries are usually paired with another starch, but potatoes are actually frequently used in curries and after one bite of this recipe I know you will never think twice about using a Warba New Nugget in your curry again! 

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!

Eggplant-cellent Sauce

I love to cook, but I don't often make my own tomato sauce. Usually when I cook with tomato sauce I am either making a lasagna that requires too much effort already or I am making a quick weeknight supper and I just want to to grab a jar of pre made sauce from my pantry. 

Now that I've made this Tomato and Eggplant Sauce, I will no longer be reaching for the jar come pasta night. I have served this sauce with spaghetti, spaghetti squash, and polenta and each time it's been right on the money. I still haven't made it into a lasagna yet, but I bet I could come up with a lasagna recipe that would be perfect for it!

Who Needs Meat?

I feel so good after eating a delicious vegetarian meal, but I haven't found a wide range of dishes that are truly satisfying. Until now. 

This is one of those dishes that you can enjoy completely and after eating it there will be no thoughts of how nice it was to have eaten a vegetarian meal. Those thoughts won't exist because you won't even know that you didn't eat meat. 

I think it's because there are so many flavours happening in one yummy dish that I don't miss the meat, but I'll let you decide yourself after eating it. Read on for the recipe. 

I Dream of Tuscany

One day I will head off on a jet plane and spend a few weeks in Tuscany. I know that I will have to go on a diet beforehand and that will be one diet I won't mind at all.

Can you imagine all the glorious food that you could eat in Tuscany? Not to mention the wine! Yes, after eating cheese, bread, wine, pasta, olive oil roasted veggies, pizza, gelato, and everything else I could get my hands onto, I know I would gain weight.

But each pound would taste so good!

Thinking about the weight makes a little happier that jet setting to Italy isn't in the cards this year. And, for now, I am ok with just dreaming of Tuscany and experimenting with different foods I think sing of Italy.

Here is my last Top Ten Recipe in the Olivieri Taste of Home Lasagna Recipe Competition.

But don't worry lasagna lovers, I still have one more lasagna recipe to share with you that didn't make it into the Top Ten!

Eat the Crust First

Do you remember Pizza Hut's cheese filled crust? Like many other people, I used to eat the crust first and be overwhelmed with cheese before I had even taken a bite of the cheese and veggie topped delight. 

This is a pizza that's going around the Internet right now. The crust is made from cauliflower and cheese and then most people top it with more cheese. 

I love cheese, but I don't think I could handle the cheese overload I used to love as a kid. So, my version has the cheese in the crust, but then I just topped it with tomato sauce and roasted veggies. Delicious!

Just read the recipe through before you start cooking your cauliflower. I misunderstood the recipe I originally tried and thought my cauliflower was supposed to be cooked before I started and that it didn't matter how I cooked it. 

It mattered. And boiling it made my cauliflower too wet. The crust still worked, but it took three times as long to cook!

Fridge Clean Out!

So the end of the week rolls around and it's time to figure out what's left in my fridge for dinner. 

Usually I remember to take something out of the freezer, but I completely forgot about that last night, so I was a little stuck. 

I opened the door to my fridge and saw there weren't a lot of choices to be had, but I knew I could figure something out. I saw a little cream, some fish stock, snow peas, eggplant, and I always have a jar of curry paste. Plus, I did have some frozen fish in the freezer. 

All of that would work in a curry and best of all, the fish could defrost as it cooked, so I didn't even need to wait until later to start cooking. 

Surprisingly, this curry is one of the best I think I have made. And I made it by cleaning out my fridge!

Chock Full of Veggies

I know I've told you that I don't often stick with my New Year's resolutions, but with all the great vegetarian dinner ideas out there I am not having any trouble at all sticking to my resolution to eat meatless meals at least once a week. 

I actually barely even think about making sure I fit a meatless meal into my menu planning for the week. And yes, I do plan my meals every week. It's makes shopping easier and I only have to go once a week. I don't think that makes me a grandma, do you? 

Well, regardless of me being a grandma, this meatless meal is great because I bet you get close to your recommended amount of fruits and veggies in just one large piece. And you definitely get enough if you pair this pie with a fresh green salad. 

So... let's get making it!

Wishes of Prosperity

I think a lot of resolutions and wishes are made with thoughts of wealth.

Can you think of the number of times you blew out birthday candles and wished for cards filled with a bill or two, the number of turkey wish bones you pulled hoping for a bigger pay check, or the number of new year's resolutions made with dreams of pricy treats, vacations, or just extra money in your piggy bank.

And I don't believe you if you don't admit to not dreaming of wealth of some kind.

So let's encourage wealth with a yummy (and healthy) Asian style meal on Chinese New Year today. Yu Sheng or Prosperity Fish Salad is a healthy dish with lots of deeply coloured veggies and Omega-3 rich salmon. Just toss everything together, pile the dish as high as you can, and you'll prosper in the coming year.

At the very least you'll feel healthier and happier after eating this meal. And isn't that what we're really wishing for when we dream of wealth?

The Father of All Dips

Ok... So I took a little liberty with the title of this post, and maybe no one has ever called this recipe the Father of All Dips. But they should, and not only for the taste. 

I'm talking about Baba Ganoush and while I love the smoky flavour of the slow roasted garlic and eggplant, the word Baba actually translates to father in Arabic. 

Mother's believed that if they fed their daughter's this dip, they would attract husbands with similar attributes to their fathers. 

I don't know how true that is, but you know it's said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so maybe the daughter's just learned their mother's recipes after tasting the yummy dips! 

Plus, I think someone's father just loved this dip and that's partially why it's called Baba Ganoush. Maybe someone named Father Ganoush!

I hope you love my creamy version!

Runs in the Family

That's right folks.

I won't be the only pretty face from my family in the Real Women of Philadelphia Cookbook.

And that's because my mom will be in it too! Can you believe we were both chosen as winners?

I sure can't. But even more amazingly, my mom entered once! I entered so many times that I've run out of fingers to count on.

Her recipe was pretty delicious though and it deserves it's page.

Is you mouth watering yet? Do you want to see it?

Here it is!

Eggplant Philly