With summer finally here, it is time to embrace the fair weather pleasure of the Farmer’s Market. We are very fortunate here in Ottawa to have many different locations to choose from, and Jamie and I are lucky enough to live within walking distance of a few.
Our on last visit I was so happy to see that strawberries are in season! The window for any fresh berry season is very small, maybe two weeks, so when I saw the overflowing baskets of strawberries I knew I had to get some.
This week in Ottawa has been extremely warm; temperatures have been 30°C+ with humidex readings of over 40. Needless to say, turning on the oven in our apartment isn’t really an option. If you can believe it, we fried up some bacon one night, and, as much as I love the smell of bacon, I thought it seemed too heavy in the heat. Therefore, bacon was only on the menu once this week 😦
For anyone who has taken a peek at my bio page, you know that the inspiration behind this blog was my Grandma Ruby. Yesterday would have been her 93th birthday, so I thought I would celebrate her with dedicating today’s blog post to her.
I think that Friday night is the perfect pizza night! (well, actually I could likely eat pizza every day of the week, but Friday’s just seem a bit more right for pizza 🙂 )
If you have the time making your own pizza dough is pretty easy. Plus there are two obvious benefits:
I love coffee! This wasn’t always the case, and I feel that it definitely is a flavour that you start to appreciate as your tastebuds mature. I tend to lean towards flavoured coffee, which is what makes up my entire Keurig collection. In fact, my favourite coffee flavour combination is mocha (half coffee/half hot chocolate) Yummy!
You can tell that spring is in the air, as lot of my recent posts seem to be about vegetables. Spring means that the Farmer’s Market will soon be open – Yeah!
When I think of eating a mix of vegetables at dinner, my mind immediately goes to a stir fry. One afternoon I decided to look for a different way to bring a variety of vegetables to the dinner table, in a non-stir fry format. I pulled out some of my cookbooks and started looking at side dish recipes. Nothing was jumping off the page and grabbing my attention.
I have mentioned on previous occasions that we eat a lot of vegetables. Quite often we take raw veggies in our lunch, but by the weekend, the thought of eating another piece of cauliflower or broccoli is not that appealing. (*Note – The exception to this statement is the awesomeness of Cauliflower Pizza) 🙂
Since we are overly familiar with the cauliflower pizza, I wanted to figure out another way to incorporate vegetables into our weekend fare. As I was sitting on the couch, scouring through cookbooks and cooking magazines, it came to me! It was like an epiphany struck me through the open blinds of the living room window. Cauliflower Broccoli Balls! This was going to be amazing.
I was standing at a supermarket check-out when a Canadian Living magazine featuring Slow Cooker recipes caught my eye. As I picked up the magazine and started flipping through it, a Butter Chicken Recipe peaked my interest. Then the dilemma set in; do I need to purchase another cooking magazine, or do I try to find a similar recipe on-line? My pocketbook won the internal debate, and when I arrived home, I started searching for a Slow Cooker Butter Chicken recipe on the internet.
Everyone has a favourite dessert that they like to order when they are out for dinner. For some it is a rich piece of chocolate cake, covered in layer after layer of thick chocolate icing. For others it is a scrumptious piece of cheesecake, topped with tons of fruit. Well for me, my all time favourite dessert is a creamy and delicious crème brulée.
Sometimes we really get into a rut with the vegetables that we eat. Jamie and I consume a lot of Brussels sprouts, beets, carrots, asparagus, onions, cucumbers and mixed greens. Last week while I was at the grocery store, I wanted to branch out. I wanted to try something different and maybe a bit exotic to go along with the salmon I was planning on cooking for dinner.
Ruby Reduction 