This weeks food highlights

Good Morning! 
I thought today I would get back to sharing some of my favorite meals from this past week with you!

Veggie Stir Fry with Homemade Peanut Sauce & Baked Spring Rolls - I bought Egg roll wrappers in the refrigerated  section at Superstore and filled them with sautéed cabbage, carrots, green onion  & water chestnuts. Seriously yummy!

Okay I bought ANOTHER new cookbook - 'Oh She Glows' is an amazing Vegan cookbook - she also has a great blog! I made this yummy Apple Pie Oatmeal the other morning

Greek Salad & Oil Free Baked Falafel Bites from the Oh She Glows cookbook

A favorite around our house - Homemade Pizza! I love my cast iron pizza pan

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 7 & Lovers Day!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Currently our kitchen is ripped apart as we are installing new counter tops, sink and faucet.  I will hopefully have a kitchen sink again by tomorrow or Thursday! Safe to say I won't be making anything to exciting for food in the next few days as I am trying to minimize dishes. For now it is washing dishes in the bathroom sink (and the dishwasher!)  I am okay with living through this chaos in order to get things done around the house. I will post some kitchen progress pictures soon.

Here are the food highlights from this past week:

Top Left: Steak & Veggie Panini's with Tomato, Mozzarella Basil Salad Top Right: Moroccan Chicken & Chickpea Bowl with Goat Cheese (I adapted this recipe a bit…I used Quinoa instead of couscous and omitted the pistachios & dates Bottom Left: Almond Butter Cocoa Truffles (a very yummy snack to satisfy your sweet tooth :) Bottom Right: Veggie Burrito Bowl

3 Years ago on February 13th Kevin proposed to me in our living room! We have made it a tradition to celebrate what I like to call 'Lovers Day' every year on this day! Of course we try to celebrate our love everyday but it is fun to make a fancier dinner, drink a nice bottle of wine oh and dress up :) We took a couple pics to commemorate the occasion! 

February 13, 2014

February 13, 2014

February 13, 2011 (Picture taken in the same spot - our house has changed just a little bit…:) )

We enjoyed a delicious bottle of wine that I purchased while wine touring in Napa Valley, CA with my Mom and sister in November 

Steak with sautéed onions, garlic & mushrooms & Caesar Salad with homemade dressing and garlic croutons

Lovers Day Dessert - Full post to come on this soon

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 6

This week started off with a delicious lunch at 'Boon Burger'!  Boon Burger has 2 locations in Winnipeg (Bannatyne Ave & Sherbrook St.).  They are a Vegan Burger restaurant with AMAZING food! I had lunch with two friends, one of whom is vegan and the food was absolutely amazing. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian or neither the combination of flavours and fresh ingredients results in a very satisfying meal! We had a sample of the vegan chocolate coconut milk ice cream - OMG to die for!

The rest of the week at home included lots of experimentation in the kitchen. I made homemade granola bars (post on that to come soon!) and some yummy dinners.  I should add things are not always super healthy around here…. on Thursday we made hot wings with crumbled blue cheese and last night we went snowmobing with some friends and cooked smokies and grilled cheese on the wood stove at a warm up shack! My eating philosophy is to balance healthy meals and indulgent meals to satisfying all my food cravings ;)

Top Left: Chili Fried Butternut Squash Tacos with Mango Pineapple Salsa Top Right: Mango Pineapple Salsa! (I used canned pineapple and frozen mangos - added an amazing fresh tropical flavour to the tacos!
Bottom Left: Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup - if this sounds at all appealing to you then MAKE IT - super simple - came together in 30-45 minutes and was so delicious! Bottom Right: Boon Burger lunch - Pictured was the daily Special - Surf & Turf Burger and House Salad

HOMEMADE PIZZA!! We had our friends Derek and Ashleyy out on Saturday night and we collaborated to make 4 delicious pizzas! Top Left: Pesto, Sundried tomatoes, onion, goat cheese topped with fresh arugula and balsamic glaze Top Right:  Roasted Veggies, Prosciutto, Mozzarella & Parmesan Bottom Left: Roasted Veggies, Prosciutto, Spicy Prosciutto, Banana Peppers, Jalapeños, Cheddar & Parmesan Bottom Right: Roasted Veggies, Mozzarella, Fresh Basil  

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 5

Another week of delicious food around here!

Baked Falafel Pita's with Homemade Hummus & Tzatziki

These were delicious! And we enjoyed the leftover falafels for lunch the next day.  Here is the falafel recipe I used - Baked Falafel Pita Pockets (Note: I baked them in the oven for half an hour longer then the recipe said)

Thai Red Curry over rice - Recipe ℅ the lovely Kendra Imrie! This brought us right back to Thailand on a cold Manitoba winter night

Jerk Chicken Burgers - We used a Jerk wet rub we bought from superstore as well as garlic, jerk spices and marinated the chicken for over an hour before BBQing it. We added some grilled pineapple slices for a tropical punch 

Super Bowl Snacks - Nachos with Guacamole & Salsa, Warm Goat Cheese & Tomato Dip, Oysters, Hummus and Crackers!

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 4

Adding to my cookbook collection is very exciting! I see it as an investment to my health and my culinary journey! Here are the two latest additions to my collection

1) Joyous Health - Eat and Live Well Without Dieting. 

'Joy McCarthy is a Holistic Nutritionist, author of JOYOUS HEALTH: Eat & Live Well without Dieting, professional speaker, nutrition expert on Global’s Morning Show, Faculty Member at Institute of Holistic Nutrition and co-creator of Eat Well Feel Well.'

2) Joy of Cooking - 75th Anniversary Edition. In my opinion this is a culinary bible that every person interested in cooking should invest in!

I'm so excited to dive into these books and try out new recipes to share with you. Oh and it's a complete coincidence they both have Joy in the title!

Top Left: Thai Coconut Curry Soup - Pure heaven in a bowl and my favorite go to soup
Top Right: Homemade Hummus (I recommend doubling the roasted garlic) & Veggies
Bottom Left: Toasted Sesame Ginger Salmon, Oven Baked Onion Rings & Roasted Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese & Balsamic Glaze
Bottom Right: Lemony Lentil Soup with Dill and Feta & Spinach Salad with Shredded Yellow Beets, Avocado, Toasted Sesame Seeds & Glory Bowl Dressing

Glory Bowl Dressing from Whitewater Cooks

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 tbsp tahini paste

*Mix well in blender or processor and keep in a mason jar ready to drizzle when ever you need a good kick of yum.

This dressing is unbelievable! Super creamy and tastes like there is cheese in it because of the nutritional yeast!

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 3

Last week was pretty meat free for dinners around here….except for the delicious deer smokies we chowed down on Thursday night! 

Last weeks menu:

Monday: Crunchy Cabbage Salad with spicy peanut dressing & Sautéed Bok Choy

Tuesday: Crispy Autumn Veggie Burgers with Slaw (I used some left over slaw from the night before and added avocados instead of mushrooms to my burgers)

Wednesday: Sesame Crusted Tofu (Reaffirming I'm not a huge fan of tofu) & Salad

Thursday: Deer Smokies courtesy of Sayer! Delicious!!

Friday: Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup (I took advice from a few different recipes and invented a delicious pot of garlic-ey, tomato-ey, chees-ey, basil-ey goodness!

Saturday: Delicious greek feast at Sayer & Carly's with Ian & Marney followed by Balderdash & Cards Against Humanity

Sunday: Kale Caesar Steak Salad

Fudgy Vegan Double Chocolate Beet Muffins - Give these muffins a try they are so yummy! I am not vegan but love trying new healthy recipes and these were fudgy and completely satisfying.

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 2

Okay so I missed a week…or two of this post over the holidays but what can I say I barely ate at home! I am back into my routine of cooking at home and loving it!! Trying lots of new recipes.  Here are a few food highlights from the past week or so.

Tacos with Homemade Tortillas! Once you make homemade tortillas you will never go back to store bought (well unless your feeling really lazy or just don't have the time.)  It takes about half an hour to make the dough, roll it out and cook the tortillas! Here is the recipe I use - Homemade Tortillas
Toppings for my tacos are varied but usually include: some sort of crockpot chicken or beef or veggie tacos with black beans being the protein,  avocados, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, salsa, red cabbage, lettuce,  jalapeños, chipotle sour cream, cheese, lime

Top Left: Spinach & Mixed Green Salad with Granny smith Apples, Blue Cheese and Pecans.  Top Right: Homemade Pizza: Roasted Veggies with Asiago cheese and fresh mozzarella.  Bottom Left: Cashewgurt - yummy dairy free Cashew "Yogurt". Delicious snack with blueberries, vanilla and cinnamon.  Bottom Right: 1) White Bean, Spicy Italian Sausage and Kale Soup from Whitewater Cooks - these cookbooks rock!  2) Winter Abundance Bowl - oh my goodness…so healthy and so delicious!

Danielle

This weeks food highlights - Week 1

Happy Sunday! 

3 days till Christmas - I can't wait! My siblings all arrived from B.C. yesterday so we will be having lots of fun family time over the next week. Fun with my family always involves delicious food…we have lots of yummy dinners planned including an appy dinner tonight, homemade sushi tomorrow and then of course Christmas turkey feasts with both my family and Kevin's family. Yummm! 

I have decided to start a series called 'This weeks food highlights' where I will post my favorite food pics from the week. This will most often include food I have made at home but I will also include meals at friends/families houses or food from restaurants.  I hope you enjoy looking at pictures of food as much as I do! I will try to included links to recipes and some details of my homemade recipes. Please comment if you have questions about any of the recipes.

Top Left: Homemade Sushi - We were practicing for the sushi dinner we are making for my family tomorrow night!
Rolls included: 1) Avocado, Cucumber & Green Onion 2) Salmon, Avocado, Cucumber & Green Onion served with Spicy Chili Garlic Mayo, Wasabi and Soya Sauce
Top Right: Christmas Baking - White Chocolate Ginger Buttons & Biscotti (I put my own spin on this Biscotti recipe from Canadian Living and made 2 kinds - Hazlenut and Chocolate & Fig, Pecan and Parmesan Cheese)
Bottom Left: Lean Green Power Salad - So yummy! We had leftovers for 2 days and the kale stayed so nice and crunchy. Such a healthy, hearty salad.
Bottom Right: Healthy dinner we had one night this week - Lean Green Power Salad, Healthy Sweet Potato Skins (I adapted this recipe - I excluded the chickpeas and mozzarella cheese and added some cayenne pepper for a little kick! Roasted Beets with Fresh Dill, Salt, Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar

Happy Holidays Everyone!Danielle