Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Tweet

I absolutely love this recipe. Conversely, The Hubby won't even try it. Something to do with his hatred for cilantro and lime.

I have come to realize that cilantro is really one of those love or hate foods. If you like it, you LOVE it, and want more more more (or is that just me?), but if you don't like it you HATE it and can detect its presence even when it is barely there. I am always amazed at how different one person's food tastes can be compared to another's. How is it that I never crave chocolate, and some people would die without it? Or that I luck out by being someone who has a love of black jellybeans while others will eat around them? Or that some people will gloop ketchup onto everything from potatoes to eggs to Kraft Dinner, while others will only eat these foods plan?

One of the weirdest things that I heard about cilantro in my waitressing days was that customers wanted it left off of their plate because it tastes like soap. Soap? Huh?

Is it weird that this still looks delicious to me?

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese

Tweet

Happy Valentine's Day!

After a brief hiatus while I was off getting eye surgery, I'm back! The upside to eye surgery (besides the seeing without contact lenses part, which is amazing) is that I think I may have even lost a few pounds! I was so sensitive to light after the surgery (as in I wore my sunglasses at night a la Corey Hart...except if Corey Hart wore them inside with all the lights off and blinds drawn, and the sunglasses were blublockers) that looking into the bright refrigerator was almost impossible. Winning!

"...cuz you got it made with the guy in shades, oh no"

I actually did make a couple of recipes while I was off, but accidentally deleted the photos of some (just in case you are wondering, doing this was a similar feeling to typing a really long email, and then accidentally hitting a mystery button on the keyboard that deletes everything you wrote), and didn't take photos of the others. I also made a halibut recipe that was so-so, which made me wonder whether I should be:


a) only posting about stuff that we really liked, or 
b) throwing caution to the wind, posting about everything regardless of how it turns out, and giving honest reviews. 


I will have to debate this over the next few days, but I'm leaning towards posting about all of my kitchen misadventures so that I can keep track of what I've made and liked or disliked. I would love to hear what you think!?

Back to the matter at hand...who doesn't love a homemade mac n' cheese? Om nom nom nom. My mom handed me this Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese recipe from Chatelaine magazine the other day, and it looked great so I wanted to give it a whirl. Butternut squash in combination with pasta seems to be really popular lately at restaurants...the creaminess of the butternut squash really adds to the richness and creaminess of the pasta sauce.

Best-Ever Banana Bread!

Tweet

Seriously, hands down, the BEST banana bread recipe known to man. Known to man! I've been eating this banana bread since I was a little girl when my mom would (and still does!) make it. I remember coming home after school to the smell of this baking in the house.

Disgusting

The secret to this moist, delicious, your-taste-buds-are-going-to-love-you bread is six disgusting, mushy, over-ripe, frozen then thawed, bananas (see grotesque picture to the right).


Now, I am a person who prefers a banana when the colour of the peel still has a little green in it (or preferably a lot of green), so the thought of these bananas actually revolts me. Call us snobs, but both The Hubby and I will not eat bananas that have started to brown, even a little bit. But, that just means that we end up with a freezer-full of bananas, which just so happens to be ideal circumstances for making delicious banana bread. Regular yellow bananas with just a bit of brown that have never seen the inside of a freezer just don't seem to yield the same moist result.

Broccoli and Aged Cheddar Soup

Tweet

I love making soup.  There's just something about a lovely smelling soup simmering away on the stove on a frosty winter evening that makes me smile. This is a recipe that I've never made before, but I decided to give it a try for dinner last night. As you will see in my review below, the soup came out a bit thinner than I was expecting (I was thinking it would be about the same consistency as a chowder), but through some stroke of refrigerator magic it seemed to thicken up in the fridge overnight and was super delicious for lunch today.

Oh, and...

Super Helpful Tip: Make sure that when you buy cheese for this recipe you only buy one cup, not eight cups because that's what you wrote down on your shopping list by mistake (not that anyone would ever do that...haha! Ahem. Cough). Enjoy!

Onion Goggles!

Tweet

Check out these snazzy spectacles!! I wish I knew about these goggles years ago, but just recently picked up a pair after a recommendation from a friend (thanks S.C!), and have been enjoying tear-free cooking ever since!

Here is the science behind it all: When onions are cut, an enzyme called sulfoxide lyase and sulfuric compounds are released from the broken cells. When exposed to air, they react with one another to form a vapour. As this vapour evaporates, it irritates our eyes (and causes me to cry). Chemical weaponry at its best!! Before these goggles, as soon as I sliced into an onion, the vicious army of vapours would enact their powerful defense mechanism, seeping out of the onion with the sole mission to find the shortest possible route to my eyes and attack. Since using these, I haven't shed a tear! The foam seal on the frames protects your eyes from the vapours sneaking in.

I picked up my pair for $29.95 at Cookworks...I know, a little on the steep side, but in my opinion you can't put a price on the pleasure of an onion slicing and dicing experience, all while wearing an accessory that is both extremely comfortable, and obviously very stylish. They are also available at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Megan's Review: Get these!! (Or if you want to save the money, apparently the same goal can be achieved by putting an onion in the freezer for 15 minutes before slicing it.) These are also a great gift idea for the chef who has everything. Life changing!

Herb and Parmesan-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Tweet

We always seem to have at least one or two pork tenderloins in our freezer, usually because Save-On Foods constantly has 'Buy One, Get One' events that we are suckers for! Seriously, The Hubby and I have issues when it comes to Save-On Foods. Many of the conversations that we have are about which cashier we had (was it the funny Chinese lady who gets stranger every time we see her), and how many bonus points we collected that day. If we are shopping alone, we come home and debrief on what amazing deal we picked up that day, and whether or not it was a good points day. Sad. So, recently they had pork tenderloin BOGO again (you save like $16!), and of course we picked a couple up.

I took one of the frozen pork tenderloins out of my freezer on Sunday night, and then chose a recipe after work yesterday that wouldn't require me to go to the store for any ingredients...Herb and Parmesan-Crusted Pork Tenderloin it was! 

Chicken Parmesan

Tweet

Chicky Chicky Parm Parm! What to make for a Sunday dinner when the parents are coming over? Tonight it was Chicken Parmesan with Caesar salad, garlic bread, and broccoli. Delicious!! Some recipes skip the step of frying the chicken before putting in the oven, either to simplify the recipe or to make it more healthy, but the flavour and crispiness that it gives was my favourite part! Rather than making my own marinara sauce, I used a couple of jars of store-bought spaghetti sauce to speed up the prep time.

Caesar Salad

Tweet

This is my go-to Caesar salad recipe, to be enjoyed with everything from burgers to lasagna to steak. Tonight we ate it as an accompaniment to Chicken Parmesan. I tend to go a little crazy on the garlic in my Caesar salads, but the actual recipe calls for 1 clove...free free to add an extra clove like I do!

Minestrone Soup

Tweet

This is the ultimate hearty vegetable soup. This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but don't let this intimidate you from either a budget or time perspective. The soup's total ingredient cost was less than $20, and total vegetable slicing and dicing time was about 20 minutes. I must mention that I'm really starting to notice a trend, because all three recipe posts to this blog have had alcohol in them!! This soup will be great for lunches for The Hubby and me this week. Serve with a chunk of bread for a filling meal.

Egg Nog Supreme

Tweet

Note: 'Supreme' means boozy! Egg nog is one of my favourite things about Christmas. I first made this Egg Nog Supreme recipe last Christmas, and what wasn't slurped up on Christmas Eve by my family was quickly spooned into our Christmas morning coffee. This year I made it as a punch to serve at our New Years Eve party, and crossed my fingers in hopes that everyone wasn't completely sick of egg nog already. Turns out that if you put booze into anything, our friends will drink it (and that's one of the things we love about them most)! Here is the recipe...it's definitely a must try!! Enjoy!

Privacy Policy

Tweet

This privacy policy sets out how Playing With my Food uses and protects any information that you give while using www.playingwithmyfood.net

Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

Playing With My Food  may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from January 22, 2015.

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

• contact information including email address
• demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
• other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• We may use the information to improve our products and services. 
• We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.  
• From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customize the website according to your interests.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. 

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. 

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. 

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. 

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Advertising 

Some of our advertisers occasionally serve you cookies as well. We do not have control over cookies placed by advertisers. We may use advertising service vendors to help present advertisements on the website, one of which is http://www.gourmetads.com. These vendors may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to serve you advertisements tailored to interests you have shown by browsing on this and other sites you have visited, to determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement before and to avoid sending you duplicate advertisements. In doing so, these vendors may collect non-personal data such as your browser type, your operating system, Web pages visited, time of visits, content viewed, ads viewed, and other clickstream data. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by these advertising service vendors is subject to their own privacy policies, not ours, and Service Provider disclaims all liability in connection therewith.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes

• if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us.  

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

Opt Out 

For information about opting out of Gourmet Ads and ad serving partners please visit http://www.gourmetads.com/about/privacy-policy

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us. 

Chicken Cacciatore

Tweet

Mmmmm...The Hubby and I love us some chicken cacciatore! It's the perfect weeknight meal, with just a hint of wine flavour to make it taste fancy. The best part is that this recipe is easily transposed into a slow-cooker preparation if you just want to walk in the door and eat! Here is what The Hubby and I had for dinner tonight:

Read it and eat!

Tweet

Hello world! Here it goes...my first official post as a newbie blogger. I've decided to create this blog both as a way for me to organize my recipes, and as a way to share them with family and friends. Here you will find recipes, cooking tips, articles, thoughts, and links to websites that make me laugh, think, or both! Enjoy, and please let me know if you have any recipe suggestions or comments.

Now...what to cook first???

xoxo

Megan