Food

Salads are one of my favourite foods. You can change them up in so many different ways and they are delicious and healthy. You can have it as a meal or as an appetizer. You can add nuts and chicken and even fruit!  I don’t think I have one favourite type of salad, do you?

Well this week I received my order of Acropolis Olive Oil and Balsamic and was inspired!  If you have never tried the Acropolis brand I highly recommend it! The flavours are amazing.

I decided to make a simple yet flavourful Caprese Salad.

You need:

Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Acropolis Olive Oil

Acropolis Mousto Balsamic

Pepper

Basil Pesto

Boccaccini Cheese

Cut the tomatoes and boccaccini into thick slices. Layer on a plate: tomato slice, boccaccini, pesto, tomato, boccaccini, pesto. Place one fresh basil leaf in the middle and one on top. Sprinkle a pinch of pepper and drizzle Olive Oil and Balsamic.  Voila!

If you want more info on Acropolis products check out their Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/acropolisorganics?ref=ts&fref=ts

So it’s cold and flu season and of course I end up getting some kind of crazy cold last week that put me on the couch for four days! With a diet of mostly tea, Neocitron and water I needed something in my tummy. Chicken Soup was the answer! After all that’s what mommy always made for me when I was sick as a kid so it had to make me feel better. I had some leftover chicken from dinner the night before and decided to make my own version of Chicken Soup.

To make this yourself you will need:

Celery

Carrots

Onion

Chicken Stock

Chicken – Cut into pieces

Pepper

Parsley Flakes

Give the carrots and celery a nice rough chop and the onion a fine chop. Throw it all into a pot with the chopped chicken and cover with chicken stock. When I don’t make my own chicken stock I like to use the Kitchen Basics brand, I find it to be the most tasty. Season with a few pinches of pepper and parsley flakes and cook on medium heat for one hour. Hearty, delicious and even good for you!

I have a new favourite holiday drink!!! And if you like apple cider and the delicious taste of cinnamon you must try this.

Warm up a cup of that perfect Wellesley Apple Cider. Take a separate glass and rim it with cinnamon sugar. Add an ounce of Goldschläger Cinnamon Schnapps, then pour in the warm apple cider. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and enjoy! Ahhhh warms your soul!

2 Jalapenos

1 Red Onion

5 Cloves of Garlic

Hand full of Cilantro

1 Lime

5 Large Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Chop finely onions, garlic and jalapenos and place into a bowl. I use one whole Jalapeno (seeds and all) and one with the seeds scooped out. Then chop up all the tomatoes into cubes and add it in. Toss in the cilantro and squeeze the juice on one fresh lime in. Add a few dashes of pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and give it a good mix. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving. So easy right? Now what to do with it…

I like Pico on its own just scooped up with Tostitos  and I also love it on tacos! But the options are endless, smother it all over chicken, use it in a layered nacho dip, top a burger with it, toss it on grilled shrimp! I could go on and on. What would you use it on?

I love zucchini but have been pretty much eating it the same way all summer – grilled on the BBQ. It’s delish but I needed a change. So I tried a zucchini casserole and loved it so much I thought I’d share!

You’ll need:
Ground Chicken

Tomato Sauce

Zucchini

Soft Mozzarella

Parmesan

Salt & Pepper

Start cooking your ground chicken in a frying pan until done and strain any fat out. Add in tomato sauce, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Slice zucchini into long strips and line a casserole dish with the zucchini. Scoop in a layer of the tomato/chicken mixture and top with sliced mozzarella. Repeat. Repeat. And top with some parmesan. Tent foil your dish and put it into a 350 degree oven for 20-22 minutes.

Enjoy!! Hope you all liked it as much as I did!

Ever since I posted on my Facebook page that I was making pickle soup I had a lot of inquiries about it. So I thought I would post the recipe on my blog for anyone interested in trying it. It is a soup that was traditionally made from my polish culture and my dad says it’s great for a hangover … I’m not so sure about that one. It is yummy however especially for all the pickle lovers out there!

Ingredients:

Pickles (polskie ogoki or kosher dills are my fav!)

4 cups chicken stock

One or two cups of Pickle juice – depends on how pickely you want it.

Dried parsley

Pepper

Sour cream or heavy cream

Shred the pickles and place in pot with chicken stock and pickle juice. Add pepper and parsley flakes to season and cook on medium heat for about 25 minutes. Let cool and stir in heavy cream. Or serve and add a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

On our way back from a little mini holiday and shopping in Niagara Falls NY we decided to stop off at the Peninsula Ridge Winery. We had been there before for our anniversary a few years back and had such a wonderful time it would have been a shame to not stop again when we were so close by.

It was about 10:30am and the thought popped into my mind just as we pulled in to the long driveway… will they be open this early for wine tasting…?  The answer was YES, daily from 10-6 during this time of year.  I believe we tried about 6 different wines, from the Fume we fell in love with years ago to the Chardonnay I ended up buying.  After shopping around and some more wine tastings I thought it would be nice to stay from lunch, the restaurant there would not be open until noon, so we sat in the sun and enjoyed just one more sample of wine and waited. The air was so fresh and wine was so good!

For lunch our pallets enjoyed celery root soup, a grilled ceaser salad, a blue cheese lamb burger and a seafood linguini pasta! DELISH!!! And just to fully complete the meal we paired it with a glass of the Chardonnay Reserve.

If you are in the Beamsville area, check out this winery, I highly recommend it!

One of the nice things about being self-employed is making your own schedule, and when I make mine I allow for a trip to the market. This summer I have been going once a week. I love walking around listening to all the people around me and smelling the fresh produce and herbs. Some days when the wind blows in my direction you can also smell the horse crap, ahhh the joys of the country!

There is so much fresh produce I want to buy it all! Walking around trying to come up with recipe ideas…  What could I make with carrots this week? Maybe we need some Maple Syrup?

Seems I have been hooked on the same things each week and developed a pattern, I get my marble rye, a couple giant zucchinis, peameal bacon, a few peppers and peaches. This week however I also splurged and purchased some beans and two giant striploin steaks from HALENDA’S MEATS (same place I always get my peameal). I thought $20 for 2 steaks was an okay price but wished it was less, that is until I got home. These steaks were GIANT! It was clear at that point I was going to cut one in half and split it with my hubby for tonight’s dinner. I love my steak but there was no way I would be able to get through one myself. Is that wrong?

So with my fresh zucchini marinated and my beans in tin foil I dusted the steaks with seasoning and threw them on the grill! Bon Appetit!

What’s your favourite thing about the Market?

Another day in the kitchen with my mom! This time we got to make the mess in her kitchen ha ha ha! I am thinking this might end up a being weekly event for us. We both love it so why not? We get to spend time together, I am learning so much and well we do get to eat a whole lot of deliciousness!

Today’s meal proved to be much easier to make than I had thought. So I will share with you how it goes. Here is what you need:

Cabbage / Rice / Ground Pork and Beef / Buckwheat / Salt & Pepper / Tomato Sauce / Onion

Start by putting a cup or so of rice and a hand full of buckwheat in a pot and add enough water to almost cover it. Bring it to a quick boil, stir and remove from heat. You want to start the process of cooking the rice but only about half way. (The rice will finish cooking later in the cabbage) Set it aside and let it cool. Finely chop an onion or two and fry.

It a large pot put the entire cabbage into water and heat. You will notice after a few minutes you can see the cabbage leaves become loose and easy to peel away. I used a fork and knife to cut away from the core. Be careful not to pierce the leaves and do not overcook the cabbage. This process is simply to get the leaves off in one piece and soften the cabbage.

Now your rice and buckwheat should be cool and you can add your ground meat and onion- we used 1lb of pork and 1/2lb of beef (you can use any ground meat you choose). Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now you are ready to fill and roll! Line a pot with a few cabbage leaves (this will prevent from burning) and place cabbage rolls on top. Cover with another few leaves. Pour water into pot about half way and cover. Cook on medium heat for about 1.5 hrs. Plate, smother with tomato sauce and Enjoy!!

I had the pleasure of working with The Crazy Canuck restaurant last night and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! Located at 845 Weber St N in Waterloo it’s a place you must try!

Good food and unique flavours is their focus with a variety of choices that will make your mouth water just staring at the menu. The portions are plentiful, but don’t worry if you can’t eat it all in one sitting I saw some customers with “to go” containers.  Not only are you getting awesome food but Freddy and Jeremy make it an experience!

After I was done shooting the food and action shots in the kitchen it was my turn to EAT! I went with a few of the unique items… to start the chilled soup: cantaloupe and strawberry! It was so refreshing, the texture was perfect and it was not overly sweet.  Just a brilliant item to serve up on a hot summer day! Then I moved on to a Poutine, sure you can get a traditional Poutine, or ever a pulled pork one that I heard customers raving about. But I chose the Curry Goat Cheese Poutine!  And what a great choice it was. Every single French fry in my bowl was saucy and every bite full of flavour; nothing worse than not having enough topping on a Poutine and The Crazy Canuck does it right. And last but not least the baked Hot Dog! WARNING: IT’S HUGE!!! And delish!

If you’re reading this and drooling it’s okay!

I’ll be going back there for another meal sooner than later…. Gotta try and figure out some of their secrets in the kitchen.

Oh and don’t forget dessert! Beaver Tails