French Food at Home

Whenever I go out to eat French cooking I always feel heavy on my way home. Sure, of course I love the way butter and cream tastes. But with each of those indulgent bites I know how I will feel for the next few hours. 

Today I am sharing one of my favourite French treats that doesn't make me feel heavy. I feel light, airy, and perfectly content during and after eating this meal. Add feeling good to the fact that the filling for these crepes is so versatile and you'll end up with a recipe that you'll keep turning back to.

Duck and Cover

Yesterday I went to China Town and bought a half Peking duck. I don't normally get excited about buying pre-cooked poultry but Peking duck is something I have no interest in making. It just sounds way too time consuming and they're done right in China Town, so why bother. 

I was planning on making some amazing duck spring rolls, but my wrappers wouldn't cooperate and I ended up with a delicious salad instead. I guess it just goes to show you that a new recipe is just around the corner and you never know where you'll find it. 

Stay tuned for my duck spring roll recipe in the future and read on for this tasty salad recipe now.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Chicken noodle soup always makes me feel comforted, but this winter I seem to have more sniffles than normal and I am getting bored with my typical soup recipe. It's not that I don't like my usual soup, it's just that Sometimes I need something a little spicier than normal. Luckily, today's recipe is the perfect solution. 

This soup is full of Asian flavours and a little heat, but it's still a comforting hug on a cold day. Read on for my Asian Chicken and Rice Soup recipe! 

Celebrate!

I don't have anything specific to celebrate right now, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't celebrate. I think that celebrating is something that should be done on regular basis. Maybe I'm only celebrating a beautiful day or the fact that I finally got caught up on laundry, but I'm celebrating all the same. 

This lasagna was inspired by a recipe I found on Chatelaine's website and they called it Celebration Lasagna. I wasn't sure why it was named that until I took my first bite. 

Thigh in the Sky

Some sauces taste so good that I don't want to try making them. I expect that they'll be difficult and have too many ingredients.

Today's chicken thigh recipe proves that not all great sauces have a lot of ingredients nor are they always hard to make. Plus, the best part is that there's no cream in this sauce, I really thought something this good would have cream!

Not Your Grandma's Gremolata

This is one of the most eye catching meals I've made in a long time. I'm not trying to toot my own horn (not much anyway) but I think it looks really pretty and colourful. 

This is my second recipe of the week for chicken thighs and its completely different from the stuffed chicken thigh dish I shared a few days ago. So I hope you don't let a big container of chicken thighs scare you the next time you see them on sale! 

Read on for the recipe, Chicken Thighs in Tomato Sauce with Polenta and Gremolata. 

Big Buy

This week I am all about buying in bulk and using everything up in new and interesting ways. When I shop, I almost always buy in bulk because it makes food less expensive. And I love the challenge of using the same ingredients in lots of different ways.

I know everyone's different though, and there may be some people who'd rather have a list of recipes instead of racking their brains for new and creative things. So, that's why I have sharing some of my big buy recipes this week.

And this week's topic is a winner, chicken thighs. First up is a chicken thigh stuffed with sun-dried tomato and cheese.

Winter Warm Up

I know it's technically still fall, but I am excited about the upcoming holidays. And since I am getting my Christmas tree this weekend, I think it's ok to call the season winter. 

To me winter means frozen cold and, in true winter fashion, I had a brain freeze and discovered something about my slow cooker that I did not like. My brain freeze involved not defrosting my chicken all the way through before I put it into my slow cooker. My discovery was that my slow cooker does not cook ingredients in the middle of the slow cooker as quickly as it cooks ingredients at the edge of my slow cooker. 

Now I will only make this recipe with leftover chicken or turkey. The sauce is delicious and I won't ever feel nervous about eating meat from the middle of slow cooker!

Sliced and Diced

I don't usually sliced up a meal into bite sized pieces before I serve it to friends or family, but sometimes I think sliced food looks beautiful. Today's post is one of those rare occasions. 

I think this chicken looks great sliced into thin pieces and served with a salad on the side, but presentation is not all I slice this chicken for. I also slice it for practicality. The chicken inside the breading can absorb some of the salad dressing so that the breading doesn't go super soggy before I can get the plate to the table. 

And I'll give you a tip that I realized after I made my meal, if you want your plate to look even more picturesque and you're using frozen chicken (I did), make sure your chicken is fully defrosted before you bread it (I didn't). If you don't let your chicken fully defrost, while the chicken cooks, extra liquid will cook out, making the breading not stick as well. 

Pumpkin Eater

It's weird to think of pumpkin carving as anything other than an activity to make children smile, but pumpkin carving has existed for many, many years and it's origin many not be what you think it is.

Pumpkin carving started as a way to honour deceased loved ones and ward off evil spirits as people hollowed out beets, turnips, and gourds to create lanterns. But since pumpkins are bigger than turnips and other veggies, they eventually became the chosen vessel for the lanterns. 

I prefer to eat pumpkins, rather than carve them, but I still like to have a little fun. I think this meal lets me have my jack-o-lantern and eat it too. What do you think?

Cold Nights = Warm Dinner

In Morocco, a stew that's cooked low and slow is called a tagine. Tagines are easy to make, use inexpensive cuts of meat, and make your whole house smell fantastic. I love them. 

However, a traditional tagine is cooked in a pot of the same name and I don't have a tagine. They're big earthenware pots with a lid that's curved up like a chimney to help cook the stew. I think my tagine would be better if it was cooked in the correct pot, but I really don't have room to store a pot that I'll use so infrequently. 

Luckily, this recipe is so easy to make that using any kind of covered oven safe pot with a lid will do. I bet even covering a baking dish with tin foil would do the trick. 

Read on for the recipe. I know you love it. 

Thankful

I can't believe it's already October! I'll miss summer, but I am thankful for each season I get to experience. And I excited to enjoy stews and casseroles again, see the leaves change colour, and share Thanksgiving with family and friends.

This week my posts are going to be about different kinds of Thanksgiving meals you could make. They'll include a new take on a turkey (complete with a crazy good sauce to use in place of cranberries), fresh sides, and a Moroccan inspired meal that would be great to enjoy on your own or with a friend.

Today's recipe is for a Moroccan Turkey Burgers. They may not look like much in the photo, but they are jam packed with flavour and, since I added some dried cranberries to the meat mixture, I think they're perfectly reminiscent of a big Thanksgiving feast. Read on for the recipe...

Asian Gravy

I love homey family dinners like turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy or roast beef with Yorkshire puddings and gravy. I love the feeling of warmth and love those kinds of meals bring to the table and I guess you could also say that I love gravy! 

But I also love Asian cuisine and gravy isn't found in Asian cuisine very often. At least it hasn't been found in Asian cuisine until now! 

Today's post is all much my take on an Asian "gravy". My gravy isn't a stock based gravy, it's coconut milk and peanut butter based sauce. And I'd probably suggest putting it on rice instead of mashed potatoes, but I think you could try it on anything you like. :) 

Want to know my recipe? Read on to find it out!

Herbes de Provence

Normally I don't like the thought of buying speciality ingredients for one dish because, for me, specialty ingredients are usually bought for just one dish and then clog up my cupboards waiting to be pulled out again. But, I've heard a lot about herbes de Provence lately and I needed to try them. 

After just opening the container of herbes de Provence and smelling what was inside, I had a pile of ideas flood into my head. I know this specially ingredient won't be clogging up my cupboards. I know I am going to try using this mixture of dried French herbs in lots of different dishes!

But first I'm going to share the dish that inspired my buying them in the first place - Chicken Breasts with Herb Roasted Tomatoes, inspired by one from Bon Appetit's August magazine. 

Banh Mi with a Twist

Have you ever eaten a Vietnamese Banh Mi? It's a delicious, fresh sandwich made with cilantro, fresh cucumbers, pickled carrots, and sauteed pork on a baguette. At least that's the kind of Banh Mi I've tasted!

My burger style Banh Mi is a little unconventional, but it's easy, delicious, and all the Vietnamese flavours in the original sandwich shine through. I just hope you're hungry when you try it because you might want seconds. :)

Grill Masters!

Some people love to lay in the sun on a beach. Others can’t imagine anything better than speeding down a highway on a motorcycle. My mom's and my favourite summer activity is to grill on a deck surrounded by friends and family. 

We may not be Bobby Flay’s protégés just yet, but I think we’ve learned a few great tips and tricks for barbecuing. 

Here’s a Top Ten List for Grilling, dedicated to my mom on her birthday. Thanks for teaching me all you know about the grill, Mom!

No-Cook Summer Leftovers

There are three things I especially love about barbecuing. Barbecuing is relaxing in the warm outdoors, it's easy to make food taste great on the grill, and I love taking a cold drink outside with me to cook. 

But because I love barbecuing so much, I always make too much food and have tons of leftovers. And if you know me, you know I don't let anything go to waste and I don't want to eat the old leftovers three nights in a row. 

Today's recipe is a cool no-cook Asian salad that's perfect for a hot summer night; it uses up leftover barbecued chicken (or you can use a store bought rotisserie chicken) and it tastes delicious. 

Don't Be Chicken!

I had a few chickens that I was planning on roasting in my oven to make my Lemon Dill Roast Chicken, but I hadn't accounted for the fact the it could get hot in Victoria and I wouldn't want to use my oven. I haven't lived through a real summer in Victoria yet and it surprised me when summer actually arrived! 

With the heat here, all I wanted to do was turn my BBQ on let the heat from cooking the chickens stay outdoors. Normally what I would do would be to make my Dancing Chickens, but my fridge was empty of beer so that was out too.  

Then I heard about a spatchcocked chicken. After I realized that we were talking about butterflying a chicken and not about the birdies you play with during badminton (they're called shuttlecocks, not spatchcocks as I previously thought), I was excited to try this new way of barbecuing a whole chicken. 

I even decided to try cooking my newly spatchcocked, or butterflied, chicken under a brick for the first time too. I was already trying one new thing. Why not try two?

And I was surprised to find that not only is butterflying a chicken easier than I thought, but it makes for an incredibly evenly cooked bird! This technique rivals my steak technique from last summer and I will use it again and again!

Mole Mole Mole

 Whenever I hear someone talk about mole sauce, two things come to mind. I think how weird it must be to eat a tomato-chocolate sauce for dinner and also the ABBA song Money Money Money.

After trying mole sauce for the first time, I no longer think eating tomato-chocolate sauce for dinner is weird. I think it's weird that I've never tried it before!

But I still think of ABBA's song. Mole and money just sound too similar to me! But since it makes me smile to think of ABBA, I'm happy.

I'm also happy to share this recipe. But don't be worried because it's inexpensive to make; you don't need to live in a rich man's world to enjoy it!

Mango Madness

I love food that comes with a sauce because if even the meat's a little dry, a little tasteless, or a just little ordinary you always have a helping hand to make the meal taste better.

I like to think that most of my cooking doesn't need sauces to make it taste better, but everyone has flops once and while. And even when my food tastes great, I love the added benefit of a sauce to help kick up my meal a notch or two.

The recipe I am sharing today isn't really a sauce or a jam, it's more of an in-between style accompaniment. Are you curious about what I made or have you figured it out yet?

Wait no further! It's a Mango Chutney! And just for the record, a chutney doesn't need to be reserved for serving with curries! It's great with tons of things!

I've used my Mango Chutney as a jam with pork tenderloin and as a sauce for a sandwich. Which will you try first?