Rainbow Cake in a Jar

So, I saw this great idea of making Rainbow Cake in a jar.  After looking at the fabulous pictures online, I was so excited to try it.  The picture above is us in the process of making it.  We didn't quite achieve our goal, so that is why there is no after picture :)  I am posting this though, because I still think it's a really good idea.

Here's where I went wrong...I didn't put enough food colouring in or I should have used neon food colouring.  And, more importantly, I overdid the cakes and they ended up just looking brown, instead of all colourful.

Maybe somebody else can give these a try and be successful!

Sweet Potato Carmelized Onion Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, sliced
• 2 c. kale, chopped
• 1-2 onions, carmelized (a recipe on how to do that here)
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 jar tomato sauce, or 2 c. homemade tomato sauce
• 4 pitas

Directions:

1. Spread tomato sauce evenly on each pita. 
2. Add onions, sweet potatoes, and kale.
3. Top with feta cheese.
4. Bake at 400 degrees about 5 min. or until slightly browned.

Roasted Chickpeas

I've been wanting to try and make roasted chickpeas for a while now and I finally did it.  My kids thoroughly enjoyed them as you can see by the little hands helping me.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 t seasoning salt
• 1 T oil

Directions:

1. Drain chickpeas well and toss in oil.
2. Mix in seasoning and spread them out on a large pan.
3. Roast for 30-40 minutes at 450 degrees.  Check on the chickpeas every 10 minutes and stir them.  

Note: Make sure the chickpeas are brown and crispy before taking them out. 

Tostadas

Ingredients:

• Fried tortillas, (directions on how to do that here)
• 1 onion
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can of black beans
• 2 T taco seasoning
• 2 c lettuce, shredded
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• Optional toppings: cheese, guacamole, sour cream

Directions:

1. Heat oil. Add onion and garlic and fry for several minutes.
2. Add black beans and taco seasoning, and continue frying for about 5-10 minutes.
3. To assemble your tostada, ladle on black beans. Top with lettuce and tomatoes.
4. Add desired toppings.

Quinoa Tabouleh

Ingredients:

• 2 c quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 of a cucumber, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 c green onions, sliced
• 1/2 c cilantro
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 T lemon juice
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa and put it aside to cool.
2. Add the vegetables to the quinoa and stir.
3. Toss is oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. 

You can eat this as a salad, or it is also great with pitas. 

Dirt Cake

We had a special little boy turn 2, and he loves playing in the dirt, so it was very fitting to have dirt cake and worms for his birthday :)

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Oreos
• 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 block of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• Gummy worms

Directions:

1. Put all of the Oreos in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
2. Prepare the pudding according to instructions on the box.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together softened cream cheese and sugar.
4. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding and mix until smooth.
5. Layer the Oreos and the pudding mixture, starting and ending with the Oreos.
6. Top with gummy worms.

Summer Garden Ratatouille on Polenta

Here is another great recipe from Simply in Season.  It's the Summer Garden Ratatouille.  The recipe can be found here.  I put the ratatouille over fried polenta and topped it with parmesan cheese.

Quinoa Wrap

A few years ago someone gave me a copy of Simply in Season, which is a fabulous recipe book!  It is a great resource to have, especially if you have your own garden.  One of my favourite things about it is that they have an index at the back that you can look up recipes according to ingredient.  They also have a great selection of vegetarian recipes.

For my Quinoa Wrap, I used the Stoplight Salad recipe from Simply in Season.  I added quinoa to it and topped it with cheese and sour cream.  Then I put it in a warm tortilla and wrapped it up.

Cake Pops

After a very long break, I finally uploaded my pictures!  Now, I will catch up a bit from my long silence...I am still here and still cooking :)

The other day a friend of mine suggested that a few of us get together to make Cake Pops.  I have to admit, I didn't even really know what she was talking about, but apparently they are all the rage!  She ended up doing most of the prep work and then we decorated them together.  They turned out great and they were lots of fun to make!

Here is the finished product:

I don't have the actual recipe that my friend used, but here are a couple of sites that have recipes: 

Martha Stewart

Veronica's Cornucopia

Pumpkin Gnocchi

I love gnocchi, but the problem is, I really only like homemade gnocchi.  I have had amazing homemade gnocchi at a couple of restaurants and I always want to try and recreate the experience.  

I tried making it once a couple of years ago. It didn't turn out very well because I had to use too much flour.  I had very low expectations this time and maybe that's why I was so pleasantly surprised when it turned out great!  

My four year old even made some!  She did just as good a job as me :)

Here is the final product.  I used the Canadian Living Pumpkin Gnocchi recipe.  I found that it worked really well to reserve about a half cup of the flour to use for rolling it out with your hands.  I ended up roasting red peppers, leeks, and tomatoes in a cream sauce to go with it.

Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash

I made stuffed squash the other night and loved it.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it before we polished it off.  I thought I would write a post anyway, so that anyone who was interested could check out the recipe.

Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

Blueberry Muffins

I keep on trying to find a GREAT blueberry muffin recipe.  I came across Martha Stewart's recipe and gave it a try because it received a lot of good reviews. I was pretty happy with the results.  I used some whole wheat flour, which gave them a slightly different texture, but overall they were pretty tasty.

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie takes a bit of time, but it is worth it in the end, especially because it makes excellent leftovers.  I use Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Shepherd's Pie recipe as the framework, but I add or take away different vegetables, depending what I have in the house.  I also always do a mix of sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, which I think, makes the dish.

Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 6 c cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 2 T maple syrup
• 3 T olive oil
• 1/2 c purple onion, finely diced
• 1/4 c fresh basil, chopped
• ricotta cheese
• artisan bread

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Spread tomatoes evenly on a pan.  
3. Cut top of garlic bulb off and put it in the pan with the tomatoes.  
4. Mix the vinegar, syrup, and oil together and pour over the tomatoes and garlic.
5. Roast for 1-1 1/2 hours and let cool.  Add onions and basil.
6. Toast the bread in the oven by putting it on broil for several minutes on each side.
7. Once the bread is toasted, spread ricotta cheese on it and a spoonful of the tomato mixture.

Spinach Tomato Quiche

 

 Ingredients:

• frozen pie crust
• 4 cups spinach, chopped
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 - 3 onions, sliced
• 2 T oil
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 c milk
• 1 T italian seasoning (or a combination of fresh herbs such as, rosemary, oregano, or basil)
• feta cheese, optional

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat and add onions.  Cook until they are soft or caramelize if you would like.
2. Add choppef spinach and tomatoes and cook 5 more minutes.
3. Press thawed crust into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 mins.
4. Whisk eggs, milk, and italian seasoning together.
5. Once crust is cooked, put the fried vegetables over the crust and pour egg mixture on top.
6. Add feta cheese on top, if desired.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until set.

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Our family loves picking wild blueberries.  There's nothing better than getting your own free, healthy, and delicious food!  I found an amazing Blueberry Scone recipe from Tyler Florence that you can find here.  I have tried a number of different scone recipes and this one is definitely the best one I've had.  The lemon glaze tops it off!

Potato Bacon Soup

 

I recently had to make a huge pot of soup because I was taking over meals to several families.  I decided to take a risk and try a soup I had never made before.  The risk turned out to be worth it and the soup was great!  You can find the recipe for Potato Bacon Soup here if you would like to try it.

Roasted Beet Fries and Summer Vegetable Pasta

 

Beet Fries
Ingredients:

• beets
• oil
• sea salt

Directions:

1. Cut beets into fry like strips.  
2. Toss with oil and salt.
3. Bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes on each side

I also served these with an aioli dipping sauce that I got from here. These were very tasty, but unfortunately mine were not very crispy.   I would try cooking them at at even higher heat for a shorter amount of time.

Summer Vegetable Pasta
Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 zucchini, cubed
• 2 c of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 T oil
• salt and pepper
• A few tablespoons chopped basil
• feta cheese
• pasta of your choice

Directions:

1. Fry zucchini and onion in oil for 5 min.
2. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 more minutes.
3. Toss with pasta and add basil and feta.

Curried Chickpeas and Kale

I was looking around for different kale recipes and came across this one.  I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I didn't end up doing it in the crock pot because I didn't have time, but I would definitely give that a try next time!

Zucchini Tacos

Ingredients:

• 2 T oil
• 2 zucchinis (cut into strips)
• 1 large onion (sliced)
• 2 c cooked rice
• 2 c corn
• 2 tomatoes (diced)
• grated cheese
• corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.
2. Add zucchini and onion to the oil and cook until the zucchini is tender.
3. Add the rice and corn to the zucchini mixture and cook for 3-5 more mins.
4. Put zucchini mixture on a warm tortilla and top with tomatoes and cheese.

Sweet Potato Bacon Pasta

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1/2 pound bacon (cut into small pieces)
• 1 red onion
• spaghetti
• oil
• salt
• feta cheese
• basil

Directions:

1. Dice the sweet potato and red onion.  Toss in oil and sprinkle with salt.
2. Place sweet potato and onion in a pan and add the bacon.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 min. While the vegetables are roasting, boil the pasta.
4. Toss the vegetables with the pasta and add fresh basil and feta cheese.

Note:  I think this would also be nice with a cream sauce, but I was trying to stay away from too much dairy for this meal.

Fresh Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Salad Ingredients:

• Spring Mix lettuce
• Strawberries
• Cranberries
• Sunflower seeds
• Feta cheese

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 c oil
• 2 T sugar

 Mix the ingredients together until they are well combined and pour over salad.

Kale Chips

 

You can't really go wrong making anything in the form of a chip :) The recipe is very simple!

Ingredients:

• Kale
• Olive Oil
• Seasoning Salt or Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Wash and cut kale into chip sized pieces, making sure the big stems are cut off.
2. Toss kale in a bowl with the olive oil and salt.
3. Bake for 5-8 min. at 400 degrees until the kale is starting to turn brown.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

This make a perfect, light summer meal.  The peanut dipping sauce is the key to uniting the fresh ingredients with an intense flavour.

Ingredients:

• lettuce
• vermicelli rice noodles
• carrots (julienned)
• cucumber (julienned)
• green onions (sliced in 3 inch lengths)
• cilantro
• rice paper

Directions:

1. Cook the rice noodles by pouring boiling water over them and letting them sit several minutes or until soft.
2. Dip rice paper into warm water for approx. 30 seconds, until it is flexible.  Place on counter and begin assembling.
3. First, put your lettuce in the middle of the rice paper, being careful not to place it too close to the edges.
4. Place your rice noodles, carrots, cucumber, green onions, and cilantro on top of the lettuce and gently roll the rice paper up as you would a burrito.
5. Place on a serving dish and continue making more :)

Serve the Vietnamese Salad Rolls with this tasty Peanut Dipping Sauce.

Peanut Sauce Recipe:

• 3/4 c of coconut milk
• 1 c peanut butter
• 2 T soya sauce
• 2 T sweet chili sauce

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.

Homemade Granola

I have been wanting to make my own granola for years and finally actually did it for the first time a few months ago.  Now that we've seen how tasty homemade granola is, and how simple it is to make, I think there's no going back.

I used a recipe that I found here.  I have tried it with walnuts, instead of almonds and I have also used honey, instead of maple syrup and it still turned out great.

Strawberry Blintzes

I just harvested some strawberries from my garden and was trying to think of a meal/dessert I could use them in and remembered how tasty blintzes were.  Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Blintzes consist of 3 parts...the crepe, the cheese filling, and the strawberry sauce.

Crepes:

• 1 c flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 c milk
• 2 T butter (melted)

1. Whisk all of the ingredients together, making sure there are no lumps.
2. Pour 1/4 c of the mixture into a lightly buttered frying pan on medium heat.
3. Flip after approx. 30 seconds.

Cheese Filling:

• 1 1/2 c cottage cheese
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 t lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together.

Strawberry Sauce:

• 2 c strawberries
• 2 T sugar (or maple syrup)
• 2 T water
• 1/2 t cornstarch

Simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Assembling the Blintzes:

1. Pour 1/4 c of the cheese mixture in the middle of the crepe.
2. Wrap it as you would a burrito and place it in a lightly buttered frying pan with the seam side down.
3. Cook for a couple minutes on each side, until golden brown.
4. Pour strawberry sauce on top and enjoy.

Serves 4.

What am I getting myself into?

I have always had a weakness for food blogs.  I am continuously checking for new, delicious meal ideas and I could spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at photos of food.  I take great joy in trying a new meal that may or may not turn out, especially if it involves food from my small garden.  So, I thought I would create this blog as a collection of recipes for myself and also a resource for others if they are interested.