This is another recipe from Thug Kitchen. I told you I was intrigued by the recipes that I found in this cookbook. Now don’t just assume that the entire collection of recipes from Thug Kitchen only uses quinoa. I just happen to have a lot of quinoa in our pantry, so when I see a recipe that calls for it, I know that is one thing I don’t have to go to the grocery store for.
I hope that everyone had a great Mother’s Day weekend. Jamie and I travelled back to Hamilton so that we could spend time with our families. Normally Mother’s Day is a lovely spring day, with the sun shining and flowers blooming, but yesterday was exactly the opposite. We had rain, freezing rain, snow and a few glimpses of sunshine. Not the ideal day to host a family BBQ in Mom’s honour.
I really want to force the warm weather to be here to stay. When Jamie and I moved last December, we moved downtown. We are so close to bike paths and walking trails that weave in and around Parliament Hill and Gatineau, but the weather really has to improve for us to do more exploring. As part of my defiance of the still too cool weather, I have been making a lot more warm weather foods. This mango salsa is a summer treat that goes well on its own or as a delicious topping for a turkey burger.
With spring finally here I want to dive into salads. There is something about the warm weather that makes us want to eat cold, crisp foods. Last year I used fennel for the first time in a fennel, apple and chicken salad. Fennel wasn’t the star of that salad; it was more of a complimentary character. So, since a year has passed, I figured it was time I gave fennel a staring role in one of our meals. Since I enjoyed the combination of fennel and apple so much before, I searched out a recipe with those two ingredients. Here is the result of that search.
Jamie and I actually went searching for fennel recipes at different times, but we both thought this one would be the perfect starting point. It is nice to think that we are in sync 🙂
This recipe is from the Epicurious site. I have used recipes from this site before. I still rave about how great the coconut cream pie turned out, and I found the recipe on Epicurious. Now that I have jumped into the world of the Smartphone, their app was one of the first that I downloaded.
This recipe appealed to me, because it is coleslaw. I am a huge fan of coleslaw. My favourite (and don’t judge me on this) is Dixie coleslaw. You know the one, it is fluorescent green and you can buy it by the gallon at the deli counter. I don’t know why, but there is something about that coleslaw that I find mildly addicting. Hmmm, I wonder if I can make that at home? I have never tried, but now I think I have found a summer project.
Another reason I wanted to make this was because it was a great excuse to bust out the mandoline that we received as a wedding gift. I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would, but with the ingredient list calling for thinly sliced fennel, celery and julienned apples, it was the perfect opportunity.
The difficult part about making this dish is the waiting. Oh, and making sure that all the thinly sliced ingredients make it into the bowl! 😉 Is there anything more appetizing that thinly sliced fruits and vegetables that provide a satisfactory crunch? If you can wait 24 hours, this coleslaw is the perfect marriage of summer flavours. Jamie and I served it with some homemade sausage patties and devilled eggs. A little taste of summer in the middle of spring. Awesome!
Do you have a favourite coleslaw recipe? Or a summer-time guilty pleasure that compares to my Dixie coleslaw addiction?
Adapted from:
Epicurious – Celery, Apple and Fennel Slaw
Ingredients:
Directions:
Even though the first day of spring was over a month ago, I feel like we are still waiting for Mother Nature to wrap her head around the idea that winter is over. We have been enduring crazy temperature swings. Warm one day (no jacket, wearing short sleeves warm) and the next day we wake up to an ice storm.
In trying to keep warm weather thoughts in mind, I decided to whip up a batch of devilish eggs. Nothing says warm summer days like the tastiness of a devilled egg. Who doesn’t love devilled eggs? Little bites of egg salad in a handy edible container of egg. Egg stuffed with more egg = Awesome!
Brussels sprouts have to be one of our favourite vegetables. I really don’t know why I didn’t enjoy these when I was a kid, but they have become a regular staple on our grocery list. I quite often find myself cooking up way more than we need so I can eat the roasted sprouts cold the next day as a delicious snack 🙂
This past weekend Jamie and I were back in Hamilton, visiting friends and family. A pre-Easter trip so that we don’t have to travel on the long weekend. I especially enjoyed spending time with my nephew, Sam. We made chocolate covered marshmallows, candy pancakes and went to a Maple Syrup Festival. There is a reason I am an aunt 🙂
When Jamie and I got back into town earlier this week, I had a moment of panic when I wasn’t sure what I was going to share in today’s post. I didn’t have anything planned out. Thankfully I had just received the most recent copy of the Food Network’s magazine in the mail. I sat myself down on the couch and started flipping through the recipes. I figured I could find something that would inspire today’s post.
With St. Patrick’s Day celebrations only a few days away (or starting today and lasting into the wee hours of Sunday night 😉 – I thought I would present you with a green soup to mark the occasion.
A lot of St. Patrick Day festivities involve heavy or fried food served with an abundance of Guinness or green beer. This recipe will offer you a healthy green alternative that you can easily work into your regular recipe rotation.
Last week I shared with you a Sweet Potato Stuffing recipe that included ground sausage. That recipe inspired me. Could I make my own sausage? I don’t have a sausage making attachment for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, but I know that sausage can sometimes be served as a patty. So, off to my cookbook collection I went.
Of course, I first went to my Paleo cookbooks. I thought that a sausage patty could be considered Paleo – I mean, a sausage patty is just meat. I was fortunate that within a couple of minutes, I found the basis for the recipe that I am sharing with you today.
When Jamie first shared this recipe with me, I was curious how it could be classed as Paleo when it is called stuffing. Isn’t most traditional stuffing made with bread, bread and more bread? However, once I read over the ingredients and tasted the finished product, I realized that you don’t need to have bread to make a perfect ‘stuffing’. Some sweet potatoes, sausage, apples and spices are all you need!
For all the recipes that I have tried and all the time I spend in the kitchen, it is surprising, even to myself, that I have never made a batch of apple sauce. I KNOW! It is likely the simplest thing ever to make, yet I have never tried to make it myself. Maybe because I can buy an entire jar of it at the grocery store for only a few dollars? Anyway, this weekend I set myself a goal to make a batch of apple sauce!
The ingredient list is quite simple, apples, cinnamon and lemon. Yep, that is it! I found some recipes that called for sugar to be added, but when I buy apple sauce at the grocery store, I always pick up the unsweetened variety, so I opted to not add any extra sugar. It didn’t really need it, as apples are quite sweet on their own.
Ruby Reduction 