Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers

It may be fall but there are still some barbecue days left. And nothing prolongs the joys of summer more than burgers! These are very simple but super tasty. And if you make 8 small patties and then assemble them by putting the cheese in the middle of a bottom patty, leaving space around the edge then put the top patty on and pinch the edges. It works really well! See how well the cheese stayed inside the burger.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers - Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 tsp each finely chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
• salt and pepper, sprinkle some all over the mix based on your preference
• 1 tbsp squeeze of fresh lemon
• 4 1/2 slices of goat cheese, a small log will be more than enough

Instructions:

1. Mix turkey, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and lemon.
2. Form into 8 thin patties
3. Lay out 4 patties, place goat cheese slice on each, top with remaining patties and pinch sides to close in cheese
4. Barbecue until cooked through, it's turkey so cook it completely, I did them about 8 - 10 minutes per side.

I served these with some whole wheat buns toasted, a slice of tomato and a slather of mayo. Very simple, super delicious!

Bolognese Smacked Full of Veggies

Now is the time of year to get out your crock pots and get some hearty dishes on the go (and into your freezer!) I had a bunch of veggies that I wanted to use up before hitting the farmers' market again this weekend. So what's a girl to do? Bolognese!!

Here's what went into mine:

2 onions

4 ribs of celery, diced

3 medium carrots, diced

1/2 a bulb of fennel, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium zucchini, shredded

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped fine

4 -5 ounces/140 g beef , diced

8 - 9 ounces/250g pork, diced

2 cans of tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 cup milk

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground porchini mushroom powder (you can use fresh mushrooms if you like)

salt and pepper

I sauteed all the veggies first (yes, I had to fill the pan and saute three times to get it all done)

I dumped them into the crock pot as each pan full was ready. Then I did the same for the meat. Stir in everything else and that's it. I let it simmer on high for 4 hours but you could easily prep this ahead and let it simmer on low all day while your at work. Make lots because it freezes beautifully. All you'll have to do in the future is boil some pasta and dinner is done!

Throw in what ever veggies you have on hand. This is a great way to create a tasty quick dish for future meals. If you have picky eaters, use a food processor or blender to puree cooked or frozen and defrosted veggies to sneak them in.

What a great meal! And now - on to football. Tonight is opening night!!!! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!?!!? Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Tandoori Beer Can Chicken and Warm Curry Potato Salad

As Summer draws to a close there is still time for some good barbecuing. The great part about these dishes? They can been done indoors as well as outdoors. I beer can chickens and turkeys all year long. It's such a good way to ensure a moist bird. This recipe doesn't even need to be beer canned as I discovered while trying to make it while on vacation on one of those newer low top barbecues. Just put the bird on it's back and pour some of the leftover marinade in the cavity. It steams up quite nicely!

Tandoori Beer Can Chicken - Serves 2 -4 (buy 1 1/2 - 2 lbs per person)

Ingredients:

• 3 - 4 lb chicken
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1/2 tbsp ground ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric
• 3 cardamon pods
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper ( more if you like it extra spicy)
• *mix up the spices however you like, most Indian homes have their own special spice blend so feel free to create your own, add whatever spices make you think of Indian food!
• red food colouring (optional)
• 1 beer or pop can, half emptied out
• 1/2 red onion, cut in chunks

Instructions:

1. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze about 1/4 cup of juice in a glass or plastic bowl, add in salt.
2. Make some cuts into the meat all over the chicken to allow the marinade to really get in there.
3. Toss the chicken in the lemon and salt and let sit at least 15 minutes but no longer than an hour.
4. Rinse the chicken and pat dry
5. In the lemon juice and salt bowl, remove any of the salt residue left at the bottom, try to leave about 1 tbsp lemon juice, add more if necessary.
6. Add in everything from garlic to red food colouring from the ingredient list. Mix.
7. Add in the chicken and make sure the marinade is all over the inside and outside of the bird
8. Let sit for 6 - 12 hours
9. Prepare the bbq for indirect grilling or set the oven for 425 degrees
10. Empty your beer can another 1/4 and add in some of the marinade to bring the can up to 1/2 full
11. Stuff the chicken with the cut up chunks of red onion and the leftover lemon in both the bottom and the top.
12. Place the chicken on the beer can and put on the grill. If you aren't beer canning it, put the chicken on it's back and pour some of the marinade into the cavity.
13. If cooking in the oven, start at 425 and reduce to 350 after the first 15 minutes. This is a little harder to do on a bbq but you should start high and then reduce the temp as it starts to brown. Check it after the first 15 minutes and adjust as necessary
14. Cook until the legs are loose or the temp reads 180 degrees with a meat thermometer. (about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours for a 3 - 4 lb bird)

Warm Curry Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Mayo
• 1/2 tbsp Madras Curry Powder (or regular curry powder if you can't find Madras)
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp White wine vinegar
• 3 Green Onions, chopped
• Any Combo of the following -
• White potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Green beans
• Peas
• Cauliflower

Instructions:

1. Mix up Mayo through green onions, adjust to meet your tastes! ( I never measure)
2. Boil potatoes, blanche green beans, peas and/or cauliflower.
3. Mix it all together and enjoy!

You can toss some of the diced leftover chicken into the potato salad for a quick lunch of leftovers. Enjoy!

Eggplant Parmesan on the Barbecue

Here is a great interpretation of a baked classic, redone for the bbq, making use of in season veggies. Fun, quick and pretty daggon nutritious. Got big eaters? Throw on a piece of meat to go with it for a heartier meal.




Grilled Eggplant Parmesan- Serves 4 -6

Ingredients:

• 1 Eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 1 Zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
• Handful of fresh basil and oregano leaves
• 1/2 cup each, shredded mozzarella and parmesan
• salt and pepper

(I had some leftover polenta so I baked it in a pan and then grilled it to make another layer. You can buy polenta in the tube, slice it and grill it if you like or you can leave it out. You can also slice up tofu, grill it and add it as another layer to bump up the nutrients and add a layer of creamy goodness!)

Instructions:

1. Heat your grill to high.
2. Grill your eggplant and zucchini until tender.
3. Grill your tomato until heated, about 1 minute per side (too long and you'll have mush!)
4. Assemble your parmesan but layering eggplant, cheese, herbs, tomato, zucchini and repeat. End with cheese and herbs.

Enjoy!

Polenta (and can you really do that with tofu?!)

I just had a thought.... is it wrong to wrap tofu in bacon? I was just thinking about what to have tomorrow and remembered I picked up some bacon on sale "buy one get one free" at the Sobey's. I went for the toilet paper sale but that's another story. I buy it(bacon) on sale and separate it into 2 pieces per package and freeze it. Then I just the right portion for chowders, making fresh bacon bits or even for the occasional breakfast. Don't ask me why wrapping tofu with it came to mind. I think it would freak out some earth muffin vegetarian vibe out there in the universe resulting in some sort of plague against meat. So maybe not.

On another note, I made polenta for the first time. EASY!! And really tasty. I kept it super simple. This is great in place of potatoes, rice, couscous, noodles, etc. And you can change the flavorings to suit your meal or your own taste buds!

Italian Polenta
Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 3 ounces grated parmesan
• 5 big leaves of basil, chopped
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Put 1 cup water and cornmeal in a bowl and let soak.
2. Put the rest of the water in a pot and bring to a boil
3. Add the cornmeal mixture to the boiling water and reduce to low.
4. Simmer until thickened, it will happen quickly, just a couple of minutes
5. Stir in the cheese until blended
6. Stir in the basil
7. Taste and add salt to taste
8. Serve!

(I do have some great recipes for the freezer for veggies coming into harvest this time of year. I swear I'll get them up soon...)

Thai Coconut Curry Seafood Chowder

I'm waiting for the fog to lift around here. It's been hanging around for well over a week now. I can't find the BBQ through the fog.... In the meantime I've been having a little fun with some ethnic foods. I love seafood chowder and this dish was a refreshing variation. The Thai ingredients can be found at larger grocery stores. I used haddock but you can use any white fish and/or shrimp, scallops, mussels... you get the idea. This recipe is so quick and tasty that you'll turn to it again and again~

Thai Coconut Curry Seafood Chowder

Serves 6 - 4 points per serving

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 lb haddock fillets, cut into cubes
• 1 cup snow peas, sliced
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 4 oz rice noodles
• 1 tbsp red curry paste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 1 14 oz can light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. Heat the chicken broth in a sauce pan to a boil over medium high heat
2. Toss in the fish and veggies
3. Reduce the heat to medium, simmer for about 3 minutes until the fish is almost cooked through
4. Add in the noodles
5. Stir in the curry paste, lemon juice, fish sauce and coconut milk and heat through
6. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Enjoy!

Greek Fajitas

ADDENDUM!
I forgot to mention to marinate the meat. I use a little olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and fresh or dried mint and oregano. I toss in the red onion and pepper when I remember. Let the meat marinate for a couple of hours or overnight. Definitely a good step.

Glad Midsommardag!! Today is the longest day of the year and is celebrated as "Midsummer" in Sweden. It's one of my favorite times of the year. All employers in Sweden are required by law to allow their employees a minimum of 3 weeks off during the summer and many start their vacation with the Midsommar holiday. What a wonderful country! But I must return to the reality that is Atlantic Canada. Today is wet, windy and gross. I'm trying to focus on the fact that this rain will help my garden grow. I just hope all that wind doesn't break off my young cucumber plants...

As summer gets into full swing I often think of Mediterranean inspired meals. Wraps are fun, simple and convenient for summer dining. Here is a great turn on a Greek wrap but I'm calling mine a fajita because as I was assembling it I thought of how this concept was very similar to a Mexican fajita.

You can use whatever meat and veggie combo you like! This is great for picky kids because they can add what they want.


Ingredients:

• tortillas
• hummus
• pork
• red peppers
• red onion
• tomato, diced
• cucumber, diced
• feta, diced
• Greek dressing (I use a creamy Greek feta dressing and mix it with half yogurt)

Use enough of each ingredient for however many people you are serving. Don't worry about having too much, leftovers are great thrown in an omelet the next morning!

Instructions:

1. Grill the meat, peppers and onion. Slice each.
2. Serve the tortillas on a plate with all the other ingredients laid out for assembly.
3. Let everyone make their own!

Don't forget the napkins!

Frozen Tofu and Wrapped White Fish

First let me tell you about my frozen tofu. Last time I bought tofu it was too much for a meal so I froze half of the block. I had read some interesting reviews about frozen tofu. Mostly that the texture changes. I used mine last night. I defrosted it, pressed it under a heavy weight to get the moisture out ( I have discovered this step helps whenever using tofu in stir fries or when sauteing or barbecuing - see my simple tofu recipe) then barbecued it as per simple tofu recipe. Perfect! So freeze away!

I wanted to touch upon a simple, tasty and kid friendly fish recipe. I have talked about wrapping up fish before. Tonight I did it again and realized I hadn't proclaimed the wonder of such a simple act in a while. I'm a huge fish lover so when I meet someone who isn't I always feel a little sad. This simple dish may get the most ardent anti-fish lover eating the healthy stuff!

I had a piece of cod, sprinkled on some parmesan and wrapped it in some prosciutto. 375 for 15 minutes. Perfect. Try any cheese/meat combo on any of the white fish types, sole, haddock, tilapia, etc. My goddess it was good! Next time I might try havarti and ham....

Stuffed Pork Loin and Twice Baked Potatoes

I made this meal while hobbling around in my ever so sexy moon boot ( walking boot for my broken foot) so it's pretty quick and easy.

First I started with some potatoes. I had new red potatoes hanging around. New potatoes have pretty thin skins so instead of baking these potatoes, scooping out the insides, mixing it with the other ingredients and stuffing it back in the skins, I tossed everything together and baked it in a casserole dish. It worked just as well.

Twice Baked Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 small to medium new potatoes
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup cauliflower
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup light cheddar cheese, shredded
• Salt and Pepper
• Chives (optional)

Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil
2. Dice the potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower to roughly the same size, about 1/4 inch
3. Cook the potatoes in the boiling water until fork tender. If using fresh broccoli and cauliflower, add them to the boiling water for 2 -3 minutes at the end to blanch. (I used frozen and skipped this step)
4. Mix the potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, red onions, sour cream and 3/4 cup of the cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour the mixture into a baking dish, I used a square pan.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on the top.
7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes
8. Before dishing out, top with chopped chives if using.

I used the leftovers for breakfast, adding to sauteed red peppers and making it into a frittata with a little more cheese. Yum!




Stuffed Pork Loin
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean pork loin, boneless
• 3 slices prosciutto
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Onion and garlic powder to sprinkle around the outside.
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• Cooking twine or tooth picks
• 1/2 cup white wine, apple juice or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup 10% cream or blend

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Butterfly open the pork for stuffing
3. Layer the prosciutto inside the pork, top with the herbs, salt and pepper
4. Roll up the pork and secure with twine or toothpicks
5. Sprinkle the outside with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder
6. Heat the oil on high in an oven safe saute skillet if you have one. Otherwise use whatever skillet you have.
7. Sear all sides of the pork.
8. Put the pork in the oven, moving it to a sheet pan if your saute skillet isn't oven safe.
9. Cook for 25 minutes
10. Remove the pork from the pan and tent with aluminum foil and let sit for 10 minutes
11. Heat the saute pan over med high heat.
12. Pour in the white wine and scrap the bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
13. Let simmer until the liquid is reduced about half.
14. Stir in the cream.
15. Serve over the pork.

It sounds more complicated than it really is. And hey, it's barbecue season so if you just want to throw the rolled up pork loin on the 'cue then go for it!

Shrimp Cocktail - A Healthy Snack!

I'm a snacker. I admit it. I plan smaller meals knowing that I'm going to snack between meals. 5 smaller meals throughout the day is considered healthier than 3 big meals. But you have to plan for those snacks otherwise you'll over eat. I like to keep my snacks light. One of my favorites is shrimp cocktail. You can get the shrimp rings for pretty cheap, around $3. I buy the cheap ones for my personal snacking but they also work well for adding shrimp to a seafood chowder! Sometimes you can get the medium sized cooked shrimp in the bags on sale so check your prices and watch for sales. I always keep cooked shrimp in my freezer. I also used to always keep bottled cocktail sauce on hand. One day my friend Granny Tan was here and she was surprised that I didn't make my own. She always makes her own. Well if she can do it then so can I!

Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tsp garlic chili sauce (I use the Thai version)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp horseradish

Instructions:

1. Blend and chill
2. Adjust the tastes to suit your liking!

Easy, peasy, cheesy and you'll never buy store made again!

Store bought fried rice with a homemade twist

Tonight I had mom here to help out so it seemed wise to have something cooked for dinner since she could cook for me. However, she spent most of the afternoon cleaning out my front flower bed so I thought I should keep it super simple for her. I had some frozen fried rice that I had picked up from the Superstore. I also had some chicken leftover and frozen from a rotisserie chicken I had picked up a couple of weeks ago. There were some fresh snow peas in my fridge that needed to be used up. And finally, I always keep frozen broccoli in the freezer. Dinner was at hand.

We cut up the veggies and chicken into bite sized pieces, stir fried them in canola oil. Tossed in the rice and added a little oyster sauce and rice wine vinegar. Voila! Supper was tasty. The rice package was meant to feed 2 but with all the added veggies, we got 4 servings out of it. Gotta love leftovers!

No new recipes....

Well once again I'm going to rave about the wonders of the contents of my freezer. You all know I'm a big fan of cooking extra and freezing it. I have a full inventory list of all my freezer items on the outside of my fridge, all the containers inside are labeled and I cross things off as I take them out and add them as I put them in. Now this may sound a little anal to you but guess what?! I broke my foot yesterday and the one saving grace around here is that I have enough meals in my freezer to last until I'm walking straight again. You see you never know when life's going to hand you a curve ball, best to have your glove handy!

Since I can't yet stand around long enough to make a latte, I won't be cooking for a little while. So my apologies for the lack of new recipes. I do have one from last week I must blog about but as for coming up with new ones to share... it's going to be a little while. Mum's coming in for a couple of nights so I may have some complaining about her cooking to do so stay tuned.

Turkey Mediterranean Burgers

It finally turned warm here! We go straight from wet and chilly to full on summer. And now I need to mow my lawn. Well... the lawn that is left after the dogs have beaten it down since the thaw. sigh... and so it begins.

On the plus side, I've got burgers made up and waiting in the freezer. I made some more of the Korean inspired burgers to serve traditionally with cheddar and ketchup. I also did up some Turkey Burgers Mediterranean style. Oh, except mine were made from ground chicken. I find ground turkey stays with me all evening so I tend to go for ground chicken. The choice is up to you, it will work with either.

Turkey Mediterranean Burgers
Makes 4 Burgers - 5 points each (before the bun)


Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground extra lean ground chicken or turkey
• 1 cup frozen spinach (I buy the individually frozen chopped spinach or you could use about 1/2 a pack if it comes in a block)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup light feta cheese
• 1 tsp lemon rind
• 2 cloves garlic
  

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients and form into 4 patties
2. Barbecue until cooked through, about 15 minutes
   

These are great to prepare when you bring the ground meat home from the grocery store. You'll have them in the freezer for whenever you are ready to fire up the 'cue. Enjoy!

'Tis the Season - for Asparagus!!

In June's edition of Chatelaine magazine they feature some fantastic asparagus recipes. I made the asparagus and smoked salmon rolls to rave reviews. I had rice paper rounds on hand from the Asian market but recently I've seen them in the grocery store. They really are fun. I came up with some other things to stuff in these papers, shrimp, noodles, veggies. I look forward to playing with these more in the future. They are really easy! And something you can get the kids involved with. I'll share any future successes with you.

Mom and I came back to my place Friday night after running errands all day. I was in no mood to cook. I wanted something quick and easy. I threw together another recipe from Chatelaine... Panini Style Chicken stuffed with Asparagus. I didn't have any fresh basil so I used a bit of my tube pesto with white cheddar and asparagus. I used my indoor grill since the weather was crap. I served them on a bed of sauteed spinach with a boiled potato tossed in my chive butter. Quick and Friday night worthy!

Here's a tip. If you want to find something on my blog, there is a search box up there on the upper left corner. Type in what you are looking for and hit the "search blog" text and you'll get related posts from this blog! Easy! (I use it all the time to refer to my own recipes. It's easier then finding them in my notes...Mom always complains I never make the same thing twice so I try to refer back to successful recipes for her enjoyment.)

The Perfect Beef Burger

Last night I made an Asian inspired dinner on the 'cue. What I discovered was the most perfect beef burger. It was suppose to be a Korean Burger from Cooking Light. I forgot to add the brown sugar. Oops. The remaining flavours really emphasized the beef and we were all in agreement that this was the beef burger for the summer! They may be asian inspired but they'd be good with traditional ketchup and a cheese slice!

I also made this Lime-Cilantro Slaw also from Cooking Light (did I mention a subscription to this mag is a great idea?!?! It's such a good mag!) but I left out the carrots cause those are a hot commodity around here (dog snacks). Very tasty! And super healthy!

Today I'm going to marinate some shark in the marinate for the Thai beef tacos mentioned above in the Lime-Cilantro Slaw recipe. Shark is a great sturdy fish that can stand in for lots of meats or fish. And it'll be great on the barbecue!

Clam Chowder and Biscuits

Last nights meal was inspired by the Food Network and the weather. It started out sunny but never got warm and was cloudy by mid afternoon. Whenever is cool and cloudy in the spring I think "chowder"!

But man can not live by chowder alone. Okay, he can but to balance the meal out I added a caesar salad with my homemade dressing leftover from Mother's day (it gets better as it sits for a day or two!) and chive biscuits.
Yup, I baked. These were easy, inspired by Chef Micheal Smith and tasty; in part due to the substitution of my frozen chive butter in place of plain butter. Note the green yummy bits. I can't believe how much they rose! I think from now on these biscuits will be a requirement for chowder. I grated in my frozen butter like Chef Micheal recommended but next time I'll use my food processor. I had butter everywhere.

I didn't have any potatoes on hand. I know, what kind of part Newfie am I not to have potatoes in the house!? Much to my surprise I didn't have evaporated milk either. Time to improvise. I did have gnocchi which are just little potato dumplings... So I took my basic chowder recipe and threw in the gnocchi in place of the potatoes. I let them simmer while I prepared and baked the biscuits, so about 25 minutes. They gave off a nice bit of starch to thicken the water. Which was really important since I was using plain skim milk. I don't know if you can really see how the soup is thickened but here it is pre milk and clams.

The gnocchi were an interesting substitution. It's wasn't the same chowder but it was a good one, nonetheless. It's always a fun challenge to get inspired to cook something for dinner and then try and create that inspiration out of what you have on hand! Good luck!

Pics from Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!! Here are my kids. Aren't they cute?! They even got me a card (with some help from my mom...) They watched patiently as I prepped lunch.

Here are some of the wonderful things we had! We started with Caesar salad with my homemade dressing.

Then I made the Asparagus Pasta from yesterday's post

And finished it off with this Berry Crisp courtesy of Cooking Light (great magazine, worth subscribing!)

Notice how everything is half eaten? I didn't think to take pics of a single dish until we were sitting down enjoying it. The Berry crisp was amazing and I'm not a big dessert eater! I used 1/4 strawberries and 3/4 blueberries because that was what I had in the freezer.

Mother's Day Lunch

Here's my plans for tomorrow's meal. Mom's trying to lose some weight so I'm keeping it light and healthy.



Caesar Salad with my Homemade Low Fat Caesar Dressing

Spaghettini with Asparagus

Berry Crisp

I'm using a recipe from a Swedish cookbook for the spaghettini with asparagus. I had to use my swedish-enlish dictionary to translate it! But the pic looked so good I couldn't resist. I have some big asparagus so I'll peel them to remove the tough outer layer. I'm going to cut them into strips to resemble the spaghettini. The recipe also calls for veggie broth but I don't have any on hand so I'm going to blanch the asparagus, then I'll use that water to boil the pasta and then I'll use that same water to contribute to the sauce for the final dish.

Spaghettini with Asparagus
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 250 g of dry spaghettini
• 1/2 - 3/4 lb of asparagus
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• shaved parmesan

Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water up to boil
2. Peel the asparagus if the outer skin is tough, cut asparagus in to strips
3. Blanche the asparagus until just bright green, place in cold water immediately to stop cooking, save water asparagus was boiled in.
4. Bring water back up to a boil and cook spaghettini according to package instructions, reserve 1 cup of the liquid when draining the pasta
5. Heat olive oil in a large skillet
6. Soften onion, then add in garlic and cook one minutes
7. Toss in the asparagus, lemon juice and the cooked pasta
8. Add as much of the pasta cooking liquid as you want to get the sauce the consistency you want
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. Serve with shaved parmesan on top

Stay tuned tomorrow for the pics of the end result and my berry crisp recipe!

Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes - it'll change.

Truer words were never spoke. Take today for example. We've seen 3 seasons since 9 am. And I know most of you all over the northern hemisphere have been experiencing some funky weather conditions that change drastically from day to day. This can make meal planning a bit tricky. It was foggy when I got up this morning so I planned a stir fry for supper. Then several times throughout the day it got quite sunny which makes me want to barbecue. Then it got drizzly which made me want to make a soup. What's a girl to do?!


I took out a piece of beef for my stir fry and I have a zucchini that needs to be used before it's no longer usable. But now I really want to barbecue. Solution? I'm going to barbecue my beef and the veggies for my stir fry. Tomorrow I'll just cut them up, soak the rice noodles and make up the sauce. I'll heat it and toss it all together for lunch! That leaves me with a nice piece of salmon and some asparagus to barbecue tonight for supper. Nothing gets wasted and I get to take advantage of the great turn in the weather. 'Cause goddess only knows what tomorrow's weather will bring! Got to enjoy it while it's here!

A little tip about defrosting. I decided to make salmon at the last minute. Since I hadn't taken it out ahead of time I needed to defrost it before it hit the grill. I find most microwaves that possess a defrost function end up cooking part of the meat/fish when using 'defrost'. I use a low heat, 3 or 30% to 4 or 40% of the heat and just do about 45 seconds at a time for fish, 1 minute at a time for meat, check and do for another 45 sec/1min until defrosted. And you don't need to have it defrosted all the way to the centre. If you leave it a little frozen in the centre then you run less a risk of cooking the bejezuz out of it. I usually aim for about 75% defrosted.

Happy Barbecuing and here's wishing you less schizophrenic weather ahead.

Leftover Chicken and Some Tex Mex Inspired Recipes

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Coincidentally - these recipes are perfect for your Cinco de Mayo celebration! No, really, I planned it that way. Honest....

Friday while grocery shopping I noticed they had those rotisserie chickens on sale so I picked one up. It reminded me of all the great leftover possibilities and I'm going to share 2 of those with you. You don't have to buy a cooked chicken. These recipes are great for beer can chicken leftovers or rotisserie chicken from your own bbq. You can even just put on extra chicken pieces when roasting, grilling or baking chicken. The actual type of piece don't matter either, breast, thigh, leg; they'll all do in these recipes!


This first recipe is about as easy as they come.
Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients:

• 1 tortilla per person
• salsa
• chicken
• green or red onion (or a scallion)
• cheddar cheese
• sour cream or ranch dressing (the ranch dressing was a nice twist!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees
2. Put tortilla on a baking sheet
3. Cover the tortilla with salsa, chicken, onion, and cheddar cheese
4. Cover with either another tortilla or fold the tortilla in half if only making one.
5. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes
6. Top with sour cream or ranch dressing

Bueno Comiendo!

This recipe isn't that much harder either and is pretty damn tasty! I sorta surprised myself a little.

Southwest Chicken and Corn Chowder
Serves 4 -6

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup butter (yes I know it's a lot but you'll see, it's the only naughty bit in this recipe)
2. 1 onion, chopped
3. 2 cloves garlic, minced
4. 1/4 cup flour
5. 2 cups fat free chicken broth
6. 2 cups fat free milk
7. 1.5 roasted red peppers (make your own if you want!)
8. 2 cups roasted corn (I roast corn on the cob when it's in season and freeze it but you can just use store bought frozen corn)
9. 2 cups diced cooked chicken
10. 2 tsp cumin
11. 1 tsp chili powder
12. salt and pepper to taste
13. 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional. Yup, optional! The taste is awesome without it but it does add a nice flavour)

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat
2. Soften the onion in the butter, add the garlic and cook 1 minutes
3. Sprinkle in flour and whisk for 1 minutes
4. Pour in the water and milk continuing to whisk.
5. Keep whisking until liquid comes to a boil and thickens
6. Add in the corn, chicken, red pepper, cumin and chili powder. Let heat for 2 -3 minutes
7. Taste, adjust seasonings and add salt and pepper as necessary
8. Toss in the cilantro if using and serve

I also had some leftover roasted potatoes. Never one to waste things, I threw them in. If you want to make this soup more substantial you could add leftover roasted or boiled potatoes like I did or you could throw in some leftover rice or pasta. They'll all work!

You could also make this recipe with shrimp or a vegetarian version with black beans in place of the chicken.

I think I'll go open a Corona... Salud!