A beverage for breakfast

As you can tell from my blog, I hardly focus my energies on coming up with drink blends to write about as I usually pay more attention to appetizing and filling recipes. However, I think my two recent (if you call a few months ago recent) purchases of magazines that talked about healthy juicing inspired me to dust off my Magic Bullet and trying to create something tasty and refreshing.

There aren't any special ingredients in this drink, just whatever was available in my fridge at the time.  The berries I used are strawberries, but I think any kind of berry would do fine in the drink. And I think a nice sprig of mint would be a nice finishing touch if you were going to serve it to people.

Breakfast Juice Blend

7-10 strawberries, stems removed, washed and cut into halves

1 small ripe banana

1/4 cup of orange juice

In a blender, blend together all three ingredients until you have reached a smooth consistency.  Pour into a chilled glass and enjoy!

April Update and Cheddar Herb Mini Muffins

I'm guilty as charged.  I promised in March I would blog more frequently, but that never happened for several reasons. I had flown out to LA for about a week with a vision in my head. I would create something new in my SoCal kitchen as I watched the palm trees sway right outside my window, but that never happened.  I ended up catching a virus on the plane ride to LA. I started to feel run down and had the chills the whole time I was down there. By the time I flew back to TO (El Toro) a week later, the virus showed its ugly head and after a visit to the doctor's office, I learned that I had viral bronchitis.  I needed to recover fast because I was traveling with my family shortly thereafter on a trip with the Sacred Caravan. I was pretty much over the virus when we travelled to Saudi Arabia and was lucky not to get sick on the trip. However, it seemed like it was destiny for me to get sick on the flight back home, which led me to be out of commission for a bit.  So now that I've fully recovered from EVERYTHING, I'm back to blogging with the hope that April will be a better month.

This recipe that I'm going to share with you today came out of one of the December 2010 issues of the Toronto Star. This recipe originates from Good Food For All, a fundraising cookbook for The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto.  I've made this recipe twice so far. The first time I followed the recipe step by step. The muffins turned out okay, but I felt that they needed some salt (the original recipe calls for 1 tbsp of sugar and no salt).  The second time I made them, I added 1 tsp of salt and got rid of the sugar entirely, and swapped the 1 cup of white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour for 2 cups of nutri-blend flour and was satisfied with the results. Also, instead of making the muffins in the regular sized muffin tray, I used a mini muffin tin to help with portion control.

Cheddar Herb Mini Muffins

2 cups of Robin Hood's Nutri-Blend Flour (It is a combination of unbleached flour and ground wheat bran. If you're in the US, you can use white wholewheat flour or stick with the 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour)

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp dried oregano (dried sage, basil, or thyme can replace the oregano)

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the nutri-blend flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, oregano, parsley and cheese. Stir well.

In another bowl, crack the egg and whisk in the buttermilk and oil. Stream into the bowl with the flour mixture, mixing gently as you pour. Stir just until moistened. Scoop the batter in using a 1 1/8" ice cream scoop or a table spoon into a greased mini muffin pan.

Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.  Remove the muffin tray from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Beware, once these little muffins come out of the oven, you won't be able to resist them!

M.I.A.

I've been missing from my blog for about a month now. And I had a sorry showing in the month of February.  All I can say is that I have been very busy and to be honest, a bit unmotivated in the kitchen department.  I purchased a few magazines and cookbooks that drew my interest, but I haven't pushed myself to go through them and tag the recipes I want to try.  I can't figure out why I am not as motivated as I used to be. I don't think it's the gloomy weather; grey wet days don't bother me. I was also in California and I felt the same way there as well.  Is there such a thing as a cooking slump?   If there is, I think I'm in one right now. Perhaps it's similar to writer's block. But I think in my case, I might have an imaginary cutting board blocking me from culinary greatness!

In an attempt to redeem myself, I recently made a hearty vegetable stir-fry with buckwheat noodles.  It looked very earthy and tasted great.  This recipe is more free flowing than others because I started tossing random ingredients in as I cooked. Anything can be added or taken away, the choice is yours to make.

In the recipe I used 3 bunches of buckwheat noodles.  In the package of buckwheat noodles I bought, there are ready-made portions of dry noodles.  If the noodles you use doesn't come like that, just estimate how much you want to use.

Vegetable Stir Fry with Buckwheat Noodles

1 bunch of kale, centre vein removed from leaves and chopped

1 red pepper, sliced into strips

1 green pepper, sliced into strips

12 brussel sprouts, chopped into small pieces

1 cup of broccoli florets

12 cremini mushrooms, washed and sliced

2 scallions, diced

3 bunches of buckwheat noodles

3 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

olive oil

red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium to large pot with water and set to boil on the stove. Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook as per package instructions.  Once cooked, drain and set aside.

In a warm wok, add a little bit of olive oil and 1 tsp of garlic. Stir the garlic until slightly golden and then add the chopped kale. Continuously stir the kale until it shrinks in size and is cooked through.  Place the kale in a medium sized glass dish and move onto the rest of the vegetables. Add a little oil to the wok (if necessary) and add in the scallions, red pepper, and green pepper.  Stir fry for 2 minutes, and then add in 1 tsp of garlic, the ginger, the fish sauce and 1/2 tsp of the sesame oil.  Continue to stir fry the vegetables until they are softened. Before removing from the vegetables, add some chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste.  Add the vegetables to the kale and move onto the next batch of vegetables. Add some oil and the remaining garlic to the wok and add in the remaining vegetables.  Continue to fry until the brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and broccoli are softened. Add the rest of the sesame oil and salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste.  Remove from the wok and mix in with the rest of the vegetables.

Add in the noodles, mix and taste for seasoning. Make adjustments as necessary.  Serve hot with soy sauce or sweet and sour chili sauce.

Candied Ginger and Chocolate Shortbread

I first spied this recipe back in December in the Toronto Star's annual Advent calendar cookie recipe. I tested it out, ate most of the cookies and then felt the need to share it on my blog, but I never got around to it. It is now two months later (I can't believe it's February already!) and I finally got the my act together and will be sharing the recipe.

Now usually people eat a lot of shortbread during the holidays, but I say throw that idea out the window and enjoy it year round.  In fact, this cookie is so  simple that I will probably make it very often- on snow days, long weekends, or even for dessert when I have guests over.  I must warn you though, these cookies are HIGHLY addictive and you will definitely have to hide the cookie tin from yourself if you want to keep your waistline in check!

 Candied Ginger and Chocolate Shortbread  

 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup corn starch, sifted

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup candied ginger, finely chopped

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup icing sugar

In a bowl, mix together the flour, corn starch, salt, dark chocolate and ginger.

In a separate bowl, using a mixer on low, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the flour mixture with a spoon until just combined.

Pat down the dough into a block. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Gently smooth out the dough with your fingers. Cut off tiny squares or rectangles and place them on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 325 degrees oven until the edges are a light golden brown, 15-18 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Buttons

During my last foray down in LA county, I was spending a lot of time tagging recipes to try out at a later date.  I originally had an organization system under my Favourites tab, but I must sadly report that it no longer works and now my Favourites is just one big heaping collection of everything under the sun. If you have any recommendations on how to organize tagged recipes, please please tell me!!





 During my tagging expedition I was exploring Food Buzz and found that one of my Food Buzz friends' chocolate chip cookie recipe was featured on Food Buzz's Top 9 recipes of the day. Sprinkle of Parsley's pictures and a quick poll on Facebook led me into the kitchen to try and make these beauties.

 Luckily I had everything on hand otherwise I would have to walk on over to my neighbourhood Ralph's.  I did make a few simple changes to the ingredients and I didn't flatten them out prior to baking which resulted in a cute button-like cookie.



One thing I have realized with the adaptations is that you don't necessarily get the same ingredients that I used in the US here in Canada.  I wanted to make these again now that I'm here in Toronto again, but I couldn't find the white wholewheat flour. After visiting 3 different groccery stores, I realized that the white wholewheat flour equivalent is Robin Hood's NutriBlend Flour.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Buttons



2 cups white wholewheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant espresso powder

3/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cup of 60% dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Sift the flour (if you're using the nutriblend flour, don't sift it, just run your spoon through it to get rid of any clumps), baking soda and salt into a medium sized bowl.  Melt the butter and then combine it with the brown and white sugars.  The original recipe called for the creaming of the sugars and butter using a mixer, but I used a wooden spoon and it worked just fine. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract to the mixture and stir until the ingredients are all combined and you have a creamy texture.  Slowly add in the flour mixture in a few batches so you have more control. This goes for hand mixing or using an electric mixer. Mix until ingredients are just combined. Add in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.





Using a small ice cream/cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and drop it onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  In LA I have some disposable foil cookie sheets (I reuse them over and over again) and what I like about these is that they have pre-made cookie shapes on the trays so you can evenly space out the cookies without having to eye-ball it. And because the parchment is semi-transparent, you can see the individualized spots pretty easily. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you gently transfer them to a cooling rack.

Chicken Tacos

  

Pasadena City Hall



Today I decided to take it easy and take a long walk around the Playhouse District and Old Town Pasadena.  I love walking around these neighbourhoods because you never know when you will come across a cobble stoned path leading you to an interesting restaurant or a tranquil water garden in a old church courtyard.

 I ended up walking down Union Street and came across the Pacific Asia Museum. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but now that I know where it's located, it's on my list of things to do when I take another walking tour of this neighbourhood. Pasadena is a beautiful city and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to spend some time here. 

To have an easy and relaxing day it is important not to spend too much time slaving over a hot stove.  This taco recipe is a very simple meal that only requires about 30 minutes of your time. While you cook the chicken stuffing on the stove, you can prep the other ingredients. This meal is great to serve in an assembly line style as it allows everyone to individualize their tacos.  The chicken recipe I used is from a previous post with one small change. The original recipe asks you to add tomatoes, in this case I did not add the tomatoes because I didn't want to have a saucy chicken stuffing for my tacos.

  

Chicken Fajita Tacos

Chicken Fajita recipe - don't add the tomatoes

1 small yellow onion, finely diced

2 Roma tomatoes, washed and diced

1/2- 1 cup of Romaine lettuce, washed and and cut into small pieces

1/2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated on a box grater

pickled jalapeno slices, drained (optional)

taco sauce (optional)

1 box of hard corn tacos

Cook the chicken according to the recipe linked above. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the other ingredients.  When the chicken mixture is cooked, cook slightly in the pan and assemble all of the other ingredients in small bowls. 

Warm the taco shells in a toaster or in a microwave for 20-30 seconds. 

Create an assembly line starting off with the chicken and then the onions and tomatoes.  Add the jalapeno slices and lettuce. Top the tacos with cheese and taco sauce and get ready to enjoy.

Cornmeal tart

The past few weeks have been a world wind of activity which have resulted in me neglecting my poor blog.  I've been creating/making/baking behind the scenes and hope to share some recipes with you in the next few days and weeks to come.

I was in LA for some time in December, but then returned back to Canada to spend the winter break attending the Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference and visiting family and friends. My family and I usually attend the conference to listen to Islamic scholars from around the world speak on a variety of topics and gain what you would call some "spiritual food" for the soul. This conference was especially uplifting because it occurred around the 1 year mark of my father's passing. The past few years have been challenging for me and I finally feel that I have gained insight into the challenges and am now at peace in my life. Attending these sorts of conferences and lectures have made this possible for me.

One of the promises I made to myself after my dad passed away was to try to stick to a healthy lifestyle.  I increased my level of physical activity from 3 days to 6 days a week and cut out a lot of the high fat, high carb foods that I ate.  It was at that point that I started this blog with the hopes of tracking the healthier foods that I made and sharing it with others.  Here is a recipe that I think fits the bill.

This recipe comes from the Post Science website under their ThinkFood cookbook project. This is the first time I've ever used cornmeal. At first I was a bit apprehensive because I wasn't sure if I would like the flavour, but I found it to be neutral in taste and a great backdrop to other flavours. 

Caramelized Onion and Spinach Cornmeal Tart

Crust
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Filling
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
6 oz fat free cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1/3 cup 1 % milk
red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, cayenne pepper and salt together. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while mixing with a fork.  Slowly add in the 1/2 cup of cold water, stirring continuously until absorbed. With your hands, work the dough until it comes together in a ball. Dust a surface with cornmeal and place the ball of dough onto it and roll out into a large circle, large enough to line a 9" tart pan. Press the dough into the pan and remove the dough from the edges.  Put the tart shell on a baking sheet and refrigerate while the filling is prepared.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook the onions until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and chopped spinach leaves. Cook down the spinach and add the red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

In a food processor, mix together the cream cheese, eggs and milk. 

Spread the onion-spinach mixture over the bottom of the tart and pour the milk and cream cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle the top of the tart with red  chili flakes.  Bake until the egg is set and the top is a light golden brown colour. Remove from heat and let the tart set for 5-10 minutes before serving.