Energy Bites!

Well I don't know what took me so long to discover the wonderful world of Pinterest...but I've been a busy little thing on my iPhone all summer collecting amazing recipes to try!  This one is for quick little energy bites, kind of like a sticky granola bar really...super fast to make and super delicious too.  I think you're going to love these ones mom - I'll try my best to save you at least one for your visit on Wednesday!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of oats
1/2 peanut butter (or another nut butter of your choice)
1/2 cup of flaxseed (ground or milled work)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or sliced almonds, or sunflower seeds, or raisins, or cranberries...you get the idea!)
1/3 cup of honey
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Just mix it all together with a fork and VOILA!  Use your hands to roll the mixture into bite-sized balls.  It made about 24 good-sized bites that I then put into individual mini cupcake liners for storage.  These bites can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Enjoy!
xoxo

Whole Wheat Crepes

Happy Father's Day!  This morning was my hubby's very first one, so my little babe Hudson and I decided to trying making one of his favourites for breakfast: CREPES!  I'm not the greatest pancake maker, so I searched on Pinterest (my newest addiction) and found this fantastic and easy recipe from Allrecipes.com called "Basic Crepes."

You'll need:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I substituted for WW Flour and they turned out great!)

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

First, whisk together the whole wheat flour and the eggs in a mizing bowl. Then gradually add in the milk and the water as you stir. Finally, add the salt and the melted butter and beat the mixture until it's smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. (I just sprayed it lightly with PAM). Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using approximately a 1/4 cup of mixture for each crepe. They suggest tilting the pan with a "circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly."  I just used the spoon I scooped it into the pan with to spread it around in a thin layered circle.
The recipe says to cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown.  I found that they cooked much faster than that so you'll see when the batter looks like it's hardening, I flipped it with no problems and cooked the other side...probably only took about 2 1/2 minutes in total.

I had to use what we had on hand as filling, so we cute up some fresh Ontario strawberries (hooray, they're in season!) and bananas.  We filled the crepes with vanilla yogurt and the fruit, rolled them up, and topped it off with some local maple syrup.

A tasty treat to start the day! 

Simple Scallops and Acorn Squash

Since having our little bundle of joy and exclusively breast-feeding him, Rob and I have not been out for dinner in over four months!  Not to say we haven't eaten take-out; but when you're craving the most delicious scallops ever (cooked perfectly at Lapointes Fish Market Restaurant in Bells Corners), you just can't take that out.

SCALLOPS:

I've never tackled cooking scallops before, but I needed them last week...so I thought I'd give it a try!  I actually searched recipe upon recipe and even watched some YouTube videos (Paula Dean's was great) to see what the best methods were, and realized that for my first time, simpler would be better.

All I did to achieve an excellent result was to drain the scallops and rinse them in the colander under cool water. Then, and this is key, I patted them dry...very dry on both sides.  Next, have your skillet on high heat with some butter on the stove.  Salt and pepper both sides of the scallops and when that skillet is hot, throw them on.  Watch them carefully and let them cook on one side until they are opaque to only a quarter the thickness from the bottom (Literally 1-2 minutes).  Then flip them and cook again until opaque all the way (another 2 minutes).  The reason that you want them super dry before throwing them into the skillet is so that they develop this delectable and perfect brown crust from the butter and high heat.

Be sure to remove them from the heat and skillet right away and plate them so they do not keep cooking.  I served them up on lettuce because I had been watching the Food Network that day and thought I was very fancy!

ACORN SQUASH (in the microwave...don't judge me!):

If I had known how easy this squash was to make and how delicious it tastes on its own, I would have lived off of this in University! Cut your acorn squash in half, scoop and clean the middle and place both halves down in a glass microwaveable dish.  Microwave on high for 7 minutes.

Remove the dish and flip the squash face-up (Be careful - they are really freakin hot!).  Add a little pat of butter or marge to each half and return the dish to the microwave for another 7 minutes on high.

Remove the dish again and use a fork or spoon to separate the squash from the skin and mash it up into another bowl or right onto your plates to serve.  Add salt and pepper if you wish...but that's it!

Amazing eh?  I also served up some cooked green beans and red peppers and this was one heavenly meal!

Enjoy xoxo

Spicy Sausage Penne - Vegetarian Style!

This recipe is my go-to on busy nights because it has so much flavour but cooks fast, is easy and delicious!  Even Rob eats it (without my using "real" sausage!)

I loooooove Pampered Chef tools and this recipe comes from their "It's Good For You" healthy family recipes cookbook.

You'll need:


8 oz of uncooked penne pasta noodles
1 lb of hot italian turkey sausage (I use 4 TOFURKEY sausages as a replacement)
1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper (each cut into strips)
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic (use the press for this)
1 can of diced tomatoes (I cheat even more and use the ones in italian spices)
1 8oz can of tomato sauce 
2 tsp of Italian seasoning
fresh grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  Drain it and keep it warm.

2. While the pasta is cooking, get started on the sausage, cooking over medium heat (or medium high if using real sausage)...a few minutes for Tofurkey, or until lightly brown if real sausage.

NOTE: PC wants you to cook the sausage, then cut it into diagonal, 1 inch pieces, I actually cut the sausage first and then cook it...your choice!

3. Take the sausage out of the skillet and put in the bell peppers, onion  and garlic.  Cook over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes.  Add the sausage back into the skillet along with the tomatoes and tomato sauce and seasoning.  Cook and stir for another few minutes.

4. Place the warm pasta in a bowl and top it with the skillet sauce.  Divide among your plates and top with the fresh parmesan cheese...et VOILA!

Did I say it was simple or what?!!!  You'll see in my picture that I also add zucchini (because I love it!) to the recipe.  Just cook it at the same time as the bell peppers if you wish to do the same.

My mouth is watering and there are still a few hours until lunch...not good!

xoxo

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

Yikes...we did it again Mom!  I now have a four month old busy boy at home - what's your excuse?!!!  I've been taking as many pictures of food as I have of Hudson, but haven't had a chance to get them up here for you.  Sorry about that!

I'll start with this delicious gem of a recipe.  Incredibly tasty and filling and not as difficult as it may look, these quinoa stuffed bell peppers are so good for you too!  This recipe is from one of my old Vegetarian Times Magazines.


You'll need:

• 2 tbsp of olive oil 
• 1 medium onion - chop it finely
• 3 large carrots - grate these
• 1/2 cup of celery - also chopped
• 1 10oz pkg. of frozen chopped spinach (thaw it and squeeze the water out)
• 2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes (drain them but keep the liquid)
• 1 15oz can of black beans (rinse and drain these)
• ¾ cup quinoa
• 1 tbsp of ground cumin
• 2 cloves of garlic - minced (I use the pre-minced in a jar)
• 1 ½ cups of pepper jack cheese (grate it, and you can use a reduced fat version as well)
• 4 large bell peppers (I used red and yellow)

The recipe calls for you to half them right away, but I stuffed the peppers whole after cleaning them out and it worked beautifully (PLUS it looked cooler when serving on a plate with their little stem hats on!!!

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.

2. Heat the olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and the celery, and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the cumin and the garlic, and sauté for another minute. Stir in the spinach and the drained tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes (or until most of liquid has evaporated).

2. Now, stir in the black beans, the quinoa, the carrots, and add 2 cups of water. Cover the pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer it for 20 minutes (or until the quinoa is tender). Stir in 1 cup of the cheese. Season it all with salt and pepper (if you want to...I did!).

3. Pour the liquid from your canned tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper with a solid heaping of the quinoa mixture, and place it in the baking dish. Cover it up with aluminum foil, and bake for 1 hour. Uncover them and sprinkle each pepper with 1 tbsp of remaining cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes (or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned). Let them stand for 5 minutes before serving.  You can also serve them with some of the pan juices on top...extra tasty! 

Let me know if you make this one...I think I'm going to have to do it again next week!

Enjoy xoxo

Zucchini Banana & Flax Mmmmmuffins

So here's my latest obsession - I make a batch of these delicious and healthy muffins every week!  They are so simple to make and taste so moist and hearty too.  They go perfectly with a smoothie for breakfast or with some plain yogurt as a snack.

The recipe comes from the Septemeber 2011 issue of Everyday Food Magazine (a Martha Stewart mag):

You'll need:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup flaxseed (ground)
1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups coarsly grated zucchini (1 large zucchini)
1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (1 banana)
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten 
1 tsp vanilla extract

* As usual, I tried some substitutions and they worked!  I substituted all the flour for whole wheat flour and whole milk for the same amount of unsweetened soy milk.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk together the powder ingredients (flour, brown sugar, flaxseed, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon.  Next add the zucchini and banana and stir them in.  In another small bowl, whisk the egg, milk and vanilla before adding it to the flour mixture.  Combine these together but do not over mix them.


Divide the mixture among your muffin cups and bake them for about 22 minutes (depending on your oven). Use a toothpick to make sure they are cooked through. Let them cool for about 30 minutes...but eat one fresh out of the oven first!

Enjoy! xoxo

Vegetarian Yellow Split Pea Soup Recipe

Hearty Canadians know that there is nothing like a hot thick soup to help you enjoy our winter. Here is a soup that can be readily made even in the midst of a winter storm when you can't get out shopping for ingredients. It is made with what we usually have already in the refrigerator and pantry. Simple and very good!!

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed
5 to 8 cups liquid (The amount depends on how thick you want the soup. For the liquid, you can use water or vegetable bouillon. For the one I made most recently, I used the used the water I saved from steaming potatoes the night before.)
½ tsp paprika (to taste)
½ tsp cumin (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil to a big pot over medium high heat. Stir in onions and cook until the onions soften. Add carrots and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes on medium low. Add the split peas, salt and water, paprika and cumin. Bring to a boil, dial down the heat, and simmer for about 60 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through until the soup is textured the way you like it. If you need to thin the soup out with more liquid, add just a bit at a time. As you can see from the picture we like it pretty thick. Adjust to taste with more cumin, paprika as well as freshly ground sea salt and pepper. Serve piping hot! A great way to warm up when you in from the cold.