I've been away from here...

and now I'm back. There you go. More to come.

Caramel Sauce for James

James LOVES caramel, and I'm not gonna lie, so do I. Not having sugar right now was very challenging for me as I made this lovely sauce. So I had some, just to test it out, and it was amazing! It was also so much fun to make and will taste so good on top of the blondies I'm about to make for him.

Garlic!

I've been chopping up a lot of garlic lately. More than usual.

Garlic is thought to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer.

I'm craving roasted garlic. Cut the top off the bulb, coat the cloves by dribbling olive oil over them, and roast them in an oven. Delicious!

Another Quinoa Salad

I decided to try another version of the Lemon Quinoa Garlic Salad. This time I used a blend of grains (mostly Quinoa flakes) from Bulk Barn. I added a heaping cup of sauteed Shitake and Cremini mushrooms to the mix. More cilantro for my love of cilantro, and some extra squeezes of lemon juice.

Delicious! I think this salad can be made differently every time. Loved it.

Cilantro

I love cilantro. Whenever I buy I bunch, wash and dry it all. I take about 1/4 of the bunch (because there is always so much) and I place it in a glass of water, cover and put it in the fridge. The rest I chop up and divide into re-sealable plastic baggies or containers and freeze for using in soups, and other recipes.

Cilantro is a powerful natural cleansing agent, it has been used to help remove heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body. Along with many other health benefits, it helps reduce feelings of nausea, and has powerful anti-inflammatory capacities that may help symptoms of arthritis.

Did I mention that I love cilantro?

Quinoa is Good for You!

Quinoa is rich in proteins, iron, calcium and potassium, copper, and potassium.

It helps prevent type 2 diabetes, childhood asthma, heart diseases, gallstones and migraines.

It can be easily substituted for any grain and is gluten-free.

Aside from using it in a salad, like the previous post, you can use it the same way you would use rice, or even as a breakfast cereal adding fruits, nuts and milk.

Quick Lemon and Garlic Quinoa Salad

Today I was inspired by a visit from Holly to try a recipe from the cookbook she gave me this Christmas. The cookbook is one of my favourites. Every time I'm in Wakefield visiting her, I pick it up to leaf through it. I was so surprised to receive my own copy. It's called "Feeding the Whole Family" by Cynthia Lair

Back to the recipe.

This salad is so delicious. While cooking the quinoa, I chopped up some carrots, measured out my sesame seeds and decided on chopped cilantro instead of parsley, because I love cilantro. The sauce was made of 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 minced cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Mix it all up together in a nice bowl, chill and serve. I tasted some while it was still hot and boy was it good. Nice and garlicky. It's chilling as I type.

Try it out! Quinoa is so good for us. For babies 6 months or older, Cynthia suggests reserving some plain, cooked quinoa to puree with water or breast milk.

* This just in. The salad is now cold, and I've had two bowls. It is intensely delicious and more garlicky than I thought. The recipe calls for 3-4 cloves of minced garlic in the dressing. I used 3, but would suggest using 1 or 2 tops. Not that this will keep me from having another helping this evening. Yum!

Baked Kale Chips

Last night I was trying out a Yam Pecan Bake recipe that my friend Val sent me. It was delicious! Left with extra kale and craving a crunchy snack, I tried out this recipe for Baked Kale Chips. It was so scrumptious and so simple. All you need to do is...
Wash and dry your kale leaves.
Carefully remove the stems.
Tear into bite size pieces.
Place the leaves on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until the edges of the leaves are brown without burning.
And Done! They are really good and a nutritious snack to sub for potato chips.

Slow Cooker Chicken

I have to tell you about this delicious smell in my apartment right now. I didn't have a lot of energy to be cooking today, but it's kind of slushy and crummy outside right now and I really wanted a nice hot meal waiting for James when he gets home. Luckily I had a whole chicken in the fridge so I popped it in the slow cooker as is. I sprinkled Zaatar seasoning all over, chopped up a few quick potatoes and added a splash of chicken stock. It's been slow cooking for a few hours now and smells incredible. I just peeked and here's what it's looking like.

Also pictured is the bag of Zaatar that I purchased from Ten Thousand Villages for $6. It's ingredients are desert thyme, dried sumac, sesame seeds and salt.

Oh, I also added some freshly squeezed lemon juice into the mix. Yum!

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

This afternoon I made a nice cucumber and tomato salad. Here's how it goes:

Ingredients:
2 Lebanese Cucumbers
1 Large Tomato
The juice of 1/2 a Lemon
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tsp. Basil
Salt & Pepper

Slice the cucumbers into half moons. Chop the tomato into bite-size pieces. Juice 1/2 of a lemon. Add all the ingredients together in a bowl and toss.

It's that simple and simply delicious. It can be enjoyed right away or left to marinate in the fridge for a few hours. I sometimes use Balsamic vinegar instead of lemon.

Glitter Ball Cookies

I made these on a whim over the holidays having pink sprinkles on hand. The dough is rolled in the sprinkles, and once baked, two cookies are sandwiched together with ginger icing. They were very tasty, and crunchy. They reminded me of shortbread. Later, I made them again in red, green and white to add to Christmas gifts.

Adam M's Lemon Wreaths

These are some of the cookies Adam made. They were so lovely and packed full of lemon zest. I enjoyed these so much, I wish I had been sneaky enough to take more home than I did. I'm surly going to add this recipe to my collection.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Over the holidays, Adam M and I got together to make some special cookies. These ones have a bit of a kick. I crushed dried Arbol chilies and mixed them with cinnamon and sugar. I then rolled the chocolate cookie dough in the mixture before baking. So delicious!

Fleur de Sel

I love walking into a shop and seeing a gorgeous display of fleur de sel. I never really put a lot of thought into why some are so expensive, so I did a little reading.

- Fleur de sel in French means "flower of salt".
- It is the top layer of salt collected before the rest sinks to the bottom of large salt pans.
- Traditionally it is collected off the coast of Britanny.
- Fleur de Sel de Guérande is the most expensive and considered the best of the best!
- The colour of fleur de sel is often grey due to the sand in the pans while harvesting.
- Sometimes is has a pink tint because of a pink microalgae commonly found in salt marshes.
- It's best to sprinkle onto your food just before serving because the flakes are small and dissolve quickly.

I think I'd like to visit a salt marsh one day, the colours are so beautiful.

Kitchen Snaps!

Turkey Meatballs

I made turkey meatballs. They're still too hot to try out, but the lime & sesame dipping sauce is pretty tasty.

Meatballs: I combined ground turkey with one egg, a splash of olive oil and instead of using breadcrumbs I used up the last package of jalapeno cheddar cornbread crackers. I just ground them all up in the magic bullet and mixed everything together. I cooked the meatballs at 350 for about 30min, turning once.

Sauce: While cooking, I made a sauce with 4 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, the juice from 1 lime and crushed up dehydrated onions that I got in my stocking this year. It's still a mystery where they came from.

The meatballs are cooling right now, and I didn't want to waste that nice oven heat, so I opened up a bag of cookie dough I had frozen and popped some Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies in there. Everything is all ready to go, so I'd better get back to plate it. I'll start posting pics and be sure to include my new favourite cookie recipe.

Mmm...garlic sauce!

I haven't cooked a thing today. I've been reading one of my new cookbooks (Feeding the Whole Family)and snacking only. We went to see my brother and he gave us a bowl of the most delicious roasted potatoes and garlic sauce. He has spent years finding the perfect recipe for garlic sauce, and he finally has. It's perfection, and if I can steal this recipe from him, I will. I also need to know how he roasted those potatoes. Details please! Here's hoping he reads this. Also, I think that Jen should consider blogging about her baking as well as her knitting. Kitchen adventures are fun to share!

I do have some ground turkey and surly I can come up with something delicious! Until then...

Breakfast Blogger

I would just like to take a moment to say how much I miss The Breakfast Blogger. Where are you buddy?

xo

Pork Chops with Onion Sauce

James and I were so hungry and excited about this dish, that I once again neglected to take a photo at any point during the process. I browsed through my copy of 1080 Recipes today and decided on recipe #768, Pork Chops with Onion Sauce or CHULETAS DE CERDO CON CEBOLLAS EN SALSA. The process was pretty easy and was how I imagined it for the most part. Aside from adding salt and pepper to the meat and hour before cooking, the total prep and cooking time totaled a little over 30min. While frying the chops, I thinly sliced three onions, had a good cry and waited for the chops to get a little crispy (about five minutes on each side). I won't get into too much detail, but I will say that the sauce is genius and so simple. Setting aside the chops (I put them in a serving dish in the oven on low to keep them nice and warm) I stirred the onions around in the same pan for about five minutes until they were nice and sweet. Then I topped them up with hot water from the kettle (good timing as I had just boiled some for the Presso)and let that simmer away on medium for about 15 minutes. While simmering, the base of the sauce needs to be made. This is the exciting part for me. I had never made a sauce this way, but I was determined to follow the recipe. Butter and oil melt together in the pan and add a tablespoon of flour. Constantly stirring for a couple of minutes. To my surprise the whole pan frothed up in bubbles and I thought I was about to make a huge mess, but it relaxed and eventually thickened, turning a golden brown. At this point, I added a cup of milk gradually while stirring. Do be careful, the sauce was so smooth and thick, I had forgotten how hot it must be. The milk splattered and bubbled about quite a bit. Once smooth, add the onions in all their glorious juices and stir until nice and thick again.

The result was delicious! I kid you not when I say there isn't drop left of this sauce. I'm an expert with a spatula. The serving dish stayed nice and warm in the oven. I poured the sauce all over the chops and it was ready for the table. We served them over slices of barely baked potatoes. Yum!

Stevia Extract

Unfortunately I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners. I do have some Splenda on hand for when I'm feeling desperate to satisfy my sweet-tooth. I even have some of that Splenda brown sugar because I'm going to try making sugar-free Blondies for James' mother.

To make things more interesting, I purchased my first bottle of Stevia extract (Herbal Select brand). It cost just under $5.00 for 10mL at the New Horizon store in Brockville. I'm new to using Stevia, so I'm using it sparingly. I put about 4-5 drops in my coffee and it sweetens it just enough.

President's Choice has one of my favourite tea blends at the moment. It's Chocolatey Mint Black Tea. It made of peppermint leaves, cocoa shells, black tea leaves, natural flavour, carob pod, spearmint leaves, stevia leaves, and cocoa bean powder. The Stevia gives it a natural sweetness that I really enjoy.

Here's what I know about Stevia:

- Stevia extract has up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar

- It has been widely used in Japan as a sweetener for decades, while banned in some other countries.

- Medical research has shown possible benefits in treating obesity and high blood-pressure

- For centuries, Stevia has been used by the Guaraní tribes of Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil as a sweetener in yerba mate and medicinal teas for treating heartburn and other ailments.

*I used to really like yerba mate but have been known to over-do it with any given tea/infusion. I no longer enjoy Yerba Mate, Chamomile and Rooibos. Too bad.

Atkins

For those of you who don't know, I've been on leave from work for quite some time now due to a shoulder/back/neck injury. We're working on the problem, but for now let's just say I can't do a heck of a lot. This brings me to the Atkins diet. I've tried it before and I really enjoyed it. Now that I'm less active and have put on some weight as a result, I'll be enjoying the Atkins diet yet again. A lot of my posts will be Atkins friendly from now on. I will be tagging Atkins friendly posts so they will be easy to find.

I'm not quite there 100%, but I'm sure in the next week or so, my Atkins experience will take over this blog.

I do believe that plenty of variety and new culinary experiences are essential. I simply would not be happy without trying new dishes and recipes, so hopefully I'll come up with a lot of good Atkins-friendly versions that are low-carb and sugar-free.

I'm back!

Sometimes I disappear for a while. Distracted. Busy. Forgot all about the blogging world.

I might not have been blogging, but I was definitely eating. I'm back now and reading a lot of cookbooks and trying new recipes. I'll tell you all about it in time.

These are my favourite cookbooks at the moment. How about you?

Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Their Parents by Cynthia Lair

The Turkish Cookbook: Regional Recipes and Stories by Nur Ilkin & Sheilah Kaufman

The Mexican Cookbook: The Practical Guide to Preparing and Cooking Delicious Mexican Meals by Marlena Spieler

1080 Recipes by Simone & Ines Ortega