Grilled Steak with Caprese Salad

 

Another Monday and another amazing meat-centered salad inspired by How Sweet It Is!  What can I say?  That girl makes me think of flavourful summer meals so that is where I have been going lately when I need some inspiration!

This is another quick meal that you can whip up and have on the table in no time.  We had this with some roasted veggies and garlic peppercorn bread to round out our meal (and clean out my fridge!).  

Summer Salad with Corn Salsa and Spicy Lime Chicken

Lately I am all about the quick and healthy meals.  What I seem to be making most often are fresh salads that are full of variety and then topping them with some sort of marinated grilled meat.  Easy and tasty!

This is a prime example of what has been happening at our house.  Mixed greens topped with some grape tomatoes, avocado, black beans, corn salsa, homemade croutons and then finished off with some grilled spicy lime chicken. Oh man, this was a good one.

Grilled Steak and Portobello Mushroom Salad

While Spring has decided to take it's sweet time arriving, we couldn't wait to get the BBQ warmed up and start making some of our favourite fair-weather foods.  One thing we love to throw on the BBQ on a warm day are some juicy steaks!

I found this recipe on Marshalls Abroad and knew it would be a super quick and easy supper to throw together.  Lilly isn't a huge fan of naps and when she finally does sleep she is a cat-napper.  So any meal that I can get ready in 45 minutes or less (let's be honest, usually less) is pure gold in my books!

Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

Some of our favourite meals these days are ones that we can throw in the crock pot and forget about until dinner time.  Lilly has amazing timing when it comes to dinner prep or time to eat, that is when she decides to eat as well! I guess she just wants to eat when everyone else does :)

At our house we love anything related to 'buffalo chicken' and these Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins from skinnytaste.com looked way to good to pass up!

Cheesy Pesto Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers

Hi friends! Do you remember me? I promise I didn't forget you!

Time has FLOWN by! I didn't realize that it had been so long since my last post, until my husband looked at me the other day and say "Uh, you know your last post was December 21st, right?" and then kind of walked away.  Haha, oops! If he has noticed, then you know it has been awhile!

Life with a little one has been absolutely amazing! And so interesting: who know you could get so little done in a day and yet feel like it was so busy?  I am loving it though, our little Lillian has made us happier than we could ever imagine.

Baby Prep - Meals and Desserts!

**In preparation for the arrival of our little one, I have prepped some posts in advance.  As soon as our lives have some semblance of order (hah!) I will get back to my regular posting and be able to respond to any questions/comments you may have :)

In order to prep for the arrival of our little one I cooked and baked up a storm during the last month or so.  I am hoping that it will make things easier when I can just grab a bag from the freezer, throw the contents in the crockpot, and let it cook away until supper time.

I also baked up some treats so that it will be a bit easier to entertain the visitors as everyone comes to meet the new additions!

I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I have had a few people ask me what I have prepared and where I have found the recipes, so here is a list :) If you have any questions, just let me know!

A Lobster Boil!

A couple weeks ago we were invited to our very first Lobster Boil!  We had only attempted to attack a whole lobster once before, and while it was a lot of fun, I think we had massacred the lobster more than we got to actually eat the poor things.  As a result we were really looking forward to learning the 'correct' way to enjoy a full lobster and get to see some friends that we hadn't seen in a while.

The set-up was impressive! There were two large coolers full of lobsters, I couldn't believe it. It was quite a sight for us newbies.

Camping-themed Baby Shower

In May one of our closest friends gave birth to an insanely cute little boy, Emmett!  This little dude is so awesome; we couldn't be happier for the new parents.

My friends and I eagerly waited until we could throw little Emmett and his mom a prime baby shower.  Since our friends spend almost every weekend in the summer camping all over Alberta, we decided that a camping-themed baby shower would be perfect!

We served all sorts of camping themed food such as mini burgers and mini hotdogs

Pork Souvlaki

Can this be? TWO posts in a row and neither is dessert?? 

Oh dear, I promise I'll do my best to get back on track for you guys.  I'm pretty sure you have come to expect more than your/our fair share of desserts on this blog these days! I promise that I do have some new sweet things to share, so no worries alright? :)

In the meantime, let's fire up the BBQ!  When we had our Greek-themed dinner a couple of weeks ago (when we served the Marinated Feta and Red Peppers salad) we decided to take advantage of our amazing summer and throw something on the BBQ.  Not only does it get us outside, but it takes the cooking portion of the meal off of me, win-win right?

Fried Egg Sandwiches

If you follow me at all on Instagram, then you might notice my love for a good fried egg sandwich.


I'm not even sure what it is about these beauties that is perfect every time, but throw a perfectly fried egg with it's runny, oozy yolk, onto some toasted bread and add some meat and/or veggies and VOILA! The perfect sandwich.

Beef Tenderloin with Mint and Greens

We are still discovering the beauty (and deliciousness!) that South Asia has to offer.  Right now it is a safe bet that we are devouring all of the curry that Thailand has! If you have any questions or comments, I will be sure to get back to you when we return :)

Here is another ridiculously tasty, but ridiculously easy dinner for those busy weeknights!

Mushroom Pizza

As we are currently far far away, I have some scheduled posts that are going up.  If you have any questions or comments please let me know and I'll be sure to get back to you when we get home!


I love finding new variations of pizza dishes to try, and when this Mushroom Fontina Pizza popped up in my inbox from Annie's Eats I knew we had to get it on the table as soon as possible!

Using our favourite pizza dough from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes, I was able to whip this up for a quick and tasty weeknight meal. I did have extra mushroom pesto leftover, so I served that with an antipasto platter later in the week and it was delicious!

Chicken and Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

After that 12" monster of a cake, how about something on the savoury side? Just thinking about how much sugar I used for that cake and the buttercream has me craving these tasty lettuce wraps for some much-needed balance.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

I have no experience with cooking pork tenderloin, but when I saw this recipe on skinnytaste.com it immediately went on the menu for that week!


This is an incredibly easy recipe, and the pork tenderloin came out super juicy and flavourful. When topped with the mango salsa you will find yourself wolfing the meal down! 

Cheesy Baked Chicken, Bacon, and Mushroom Pasta

You know how in my last post I mentioned how I may be slightly incredibly busy lately? 


I think it caught up with me.


I have spent the last few days at home. Sure a couple days off of work sound nice, except that I have the worst cold EVER (I may be exaggerating, when I had the good ol' H1N1 it maaayyy have been worse than this. maybe.). Between the stuffed sinuses, runny nose, headaches, aches and pains in places I didn't know could ache and pain, and the inability to sleep at night due to coughing, I am a real treat to be around.


Apparently every once in a while your body forces you to slow down!  So I am going to take this chance and try to catch on my my blog a bit :) Sound good? Then I'll nap, I promise!

White Artichoke Spinach Pizza

One of our favourite weeknight meals is pizza.  It is quick, you can throw just about anything on it, and everyone loves pizza!


This pizza from Katie at GoodLife Eats takes some of our favourite items and puts them together to produce an insanely tasty pizza. Artichokes, spinach, cheese, and a creamy pizza sauce, yum!.  

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Chicken

Happy New Years Everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter, and have a wonderful 2012 ahead of you.


Right now the internets are bursting with New Years resolutions, dieting plans, exercise plans, motivational pictures and phrases, etc, etc, etc. It is enough to make one feel a little on the chubby side! 

Dill Pickle Soup

One of our favourite restaurants these days is the Continental Fine Treat Bistro. The food is warm comfort food with a classy twist and we have always had both excellent meals and awesome service at this restaurant.  One of our favourite items it their Dill Pickle Soup, and I recently found out that the recipe for this soup had been in an article in our city's paper! 

As soon as I realized this could be made at home, it became dinner that night.  This soup is really easy to make, and tastes even better the next day so it makes an awesome soup to take to work for lunch.

The creaminess paired with the dill pickle flavour is out of this world! I know it sounds strange, but man is it good!

This recipe is enough for two generous servings.


Dill Pickle Soup

• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 celery stick, sliced
• 1 medium potato, cubed
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 3 medium to large dill pickles, shredded
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
• chopped fresh dill
• chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large pot over medium heat, bring the vegetable stock to a simmer and add the celery, potato, and shredded carrot
2. Let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, and then add the shredded dill pickle
3. Mix together the flour with the water in a small bowl and then whisk it into the soup
4. Bring the soup to a simmer, and season to taste with the salt and pepper
5. When ready to serve, whisk in the whipping cream and garnish with the chopped parsley and dill
6. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: this restaurant has no idea who I am. We just love their food!

Baked Taquitos

OK, let's be real.  We can be real with each other right? I mean, we talk about sugar, butter, and share a mutual love of bacon, so that has to make us friends. 

Well, we all know how much I love Mexican food.  But what you may not know is my secret love for those grocery store taquitos that you find in the freezer aisle.  Yes, the ones found in that section of the grocery store where those frozen 'dinners' reside and I tend to avoid like the plague.  And while I may be hanging my head in shame over this confession, now I can't get them out of my head. So. Good. AND, I know you love them too. How can you not? They are a guilty pleasure for sure!

Well, one day I came across these on the Pink Parsley blog and I practically heard angels rejoicing. YOU CAN MAKE THESE AT HOME?!?! I was a little bit excited, just a little.

Oh my, these are good. Make these, please? I don't usually like telling you what to do, but please humour me and make these. I know you'll thank me!

This makes 8 - 12 taquitos, depending on how fat you make them. We have tried using corn tortillas twice, and had epic failures each time so we tend to stick to the 6" flour tortillas.

Baked Taquitos

• 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup salsa
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• 1/2 cup shredded extra shard cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese 
• 8 - 12 flour tortillas (6")
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking spray 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray it with cooking spray)
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, onion powder, garlic, green onions, and a dash of salt
3. Add the shredded chicken and the cheese and mix well
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste
5. Add 2 - 3 tablespoons of the filling to each tortilla and roll them up tight. (If your tortillas start to break, microwave them between damp paper towels for 20 to 30 seconds before filling and rolling)
6. Place the rolled taquitos seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet
7. When all are filled and rolled, lightly spray them with the cooking spray
8. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy
9. Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or all by itself
10. Enjoy!!!!

Beef and Greens

Sometimes when you think you have nothing that can make a simple meal in your fridge, a quick search on the interwebs can quickly prove you wrong!  The other night we had absolutely no idea what to whip up for supper, but we knew that we wanted some sort of comfort food due to the fact that the dreaded snow had finally arrived.

Once again allrecipes.com came to the rescue! One of my husband's favourite dishes is Beef and Greens, so with some tweaking to this recipe based on what we had available, we were able to make a tasty supper and have some awesome lunches the next day.

This makes enough for 4 - 6 servings. We served this with some brown fried rice and it was a perfect meal on a chilly night.

Since my husband is still talking about this, it is a definite keeper! I know we'll be making this again, very soon!

Beef and Greens

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 can beef broth (10.5 oz)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb steak, cut into strips
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 generous cup chopped broccoli
• 1 generous cup bean sprouts
• 1 generous cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 generous cup sugar snap peas, sliced

1. In a small bowl add the flour, beef broth, sugar, and soy sauce and mix well
2. In a large wok or skillet, heat up the olive oil over medium heat
3. Add the beef strips and cook for 2 - 4 minutes, or until browned
4. Add the vegetables, garlic, and ginger and mix well
5. Pour in the sauce, and mix to coat all of the beef and veggies
6. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 - 15 minutes to let the sauce thicken while stirring occasionally
7. Serve alone or over rice
8. Enjoy!