A Crouton Fit For a Meal

It isn't too often that I think a crouton makes a salad complete. Maybe a crouton fully complements a Caesar salad, but even then I don't think that a crouton makes the salad complete. 

But in this case, I truly think everyone will agree with me when I say that these croutons make this salad complete. Without them, the salad wouldn't be worth mentioning. It would only be spinach, cucumber, and a little balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. 

That being said, these "croutons" are a little more work than the average joe. I'll let you figure out if you think they're worth it. I certainly do!

Save The Turtles

Today is Earth Day, the anniversary of the modern environmental movement, and that means it's time to do something good for the environment. You can remember to turn the lights off in your home when you leave a room, take your bike to the store instead of your car, pick up litter on the side of the road, or save the turtles. Whatever you think is a good step for you. 

I am try and celebrate being environmentally friendly as often as I can; I bike to work as often as I can, I never litter, I try and eat locally whenever possible, and instead of turning my heat up I put on a sweater first. 

One of the ways I am celebrating earth Day today is by cutting back on the amount of meat I eat by snacking on healthy chickpeas. Cows eat a lot, drink a lot, and do a lot of other things I don't think about when I'm thinking about eating. All those things affect the environment, so eating less meat and filling up on heathy chickpeas is an easy way to celebrate Earth Day.

And if you think I am going to share another hummus recipe, you're wrong. Today's recipe is Crispy Spiced Chickpeas.

Getting a Wee Bit English

In North America, the word pudding refers to a custardy dessert. But, in England it's an entirely different story. 

A custardy dessert is still referred to as a pudding in England, but a pudding doesn't just stop there. In England, a pudding is so much more. 

Any kind of savoury homogenous starchy or dairy filled dish is a pudding in England. And, just to make it even more confusing, the English also informally use the word pudding to describe all kinds of desserts. 

So when I finally knew what a pudding is in England, I had to make one of their most common puddings, a summer pudding.

Snack City

The "new" fad of cupcakes definitely has not escaped Victoria, BC. And while I love biting into a delicious cupcake unsure if the cake will be dense and moist, have a creamy filling, or if I will be heading back for a second serving of cupcake heaven, I agree with the majority of the population that the cupcake craze should be over. 

There is, however, one kind of cupcake that I had yet to try at any of the cupcake boutiques. (And, yes, I did just say cupcake boutiques...) That new cupcake is a pizza cupcake, complete with an edible pepperoni cupcake wrapper. 

When I thought up the idea for this cupcake, I knew we would be a match made in heaven. Especially because the cupcake is perfect for breakfast!

The New Toast and Jam

I love waking up and enjoying a piece of toast smothered in jam with endless cups of tea in the morning. I laze around in pajamas and watch tv shows I missed during the week and couldn't be happier. 

So when I figured out who to incorporate toast into a dessert, I really thought I had created a winning recipe. Obviously not everyone agreed with that this recipe was a winner, because I didn't get into the finals of the recipe contest I entered it into, but I sure think it deserves a taste or two!

The Best of Bread

I enter a lot of recipe contests. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I make it into the finals, and sometimes I win. Honestly, most of the time I lose...

Last month I entered quite a few recipes into contests about bread and not one of the recipes I entered made it into the finals. That's ok, though, because you while I didn't win anything, I created a lot of yummy recipes that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise!

This week (and probably next week too) I'll be sharing all of my newest recipes I created when racking my brain to come up with entries for this last round of contests. Who knows, maybe you'll think one of them is a winner!

Here's the first of the bunch, Bread and Butter Fish - the new crispy "skinned" fish!

The Best Leftovers Ever

Sometimes an idea just hits me and I wish I had come up with it years ago because it’s just that good. Usually those great ideas don’t have the word “leftover” in them, but this one not only has the word “leftover” in it, but it also may top the list of savoury treats I’ve come created.

This leftover ham recipe is a riff off something that you may have already seen on my blog. In fact, I actually won 4 litres of milk for a year from Island Farms with the original recipe!

So since I have already won a prize with a variation of this recipe, I know it’s off to a good start. And by adding ham and cheese into the mix, I had a good feeling that the recipe would be a winner.

I think I was right and this snack really is a winner, what do you think?