Traditional Italian Sausage Lasagna

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While I'm on the Italian Sausage bandwagon...

This blog's tagline is The Kitchen Confessional of Megan McLeod...well, here's one for you.  All of the mozzarella cheese that went into this lasagna fell off the counter and onto the floor before I assembled the lasagna.  All of this precariously placed cheese, onto the non-swept floor...

Five second rule!

...and then into a lasagna.  Don't tell The Hubby!!

Second kitchen confessional is that I wear these onion goggles every single time that I cut onions.  They totally prevent my eyes from stinging and crying.  Plus they are obviously super stylish!

Hi 

So, our garage was broken into a couple of weeks ago.

Kendra's Italian Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

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It's amazing how many times you can forget not to touch your eyes after handling jalapeños.  For me, like 12 times probably.

 

Which is enough to make me wonder for a moment whether I have short term memory loss or whether maybe I am just a really slow learner.  Kendra's public service announcement is that you may want to use disposable gloves for this recipe (especially if you wear contact lenses) to protect your eyes and skin from the spicy jalapeños.  Or like me, you can just...not...

Who is Kendra, creator of Jalapeno Poppers, you ask?  Well, Kendra and I have been friends for ten years now, she was one of my bridesmaids, and she's one of my besties.

Kenji and me.

We met while working together at Milestone's Restaurant back in the early 2000's, most likely while commiserating over waiting for 'campers' (restaurant guests who linger even after the restaurant is closed, for no apparent reason, and don't take a hint to leave even after the ugly lights have come on and two waitresses are staring them down awkwardly from the other side of the restaurant) to finally go home so that we could do the same (or - let's be honest since we were 20 years old and worked in a restaurant - go to the bar).

Healthy 'Everything' Cookies

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Coconut, seeds, fruit, nuts, dark chocolate, the works!

I'm back, and baking again.  I know!  I know!

Last year, as part of a Christmas gift from my cousin Samantha, she gave me a mason jar filled with all of the dry ingredients for these cookies, as well as the recipe to make them.

Beautiful!

I am always amazed by how good at beautiful, creative, crafty things some people can be.  And this person in particular is actually a member of my family!  The creative gene must have skipped me, along with the thick hair and blue eyes genes.  Sigh.

My cousin Samantha (left), my brother Braeden (top middle), me (right), and my cousin Darryl (bottom middle).
Clearly I am not in on the joke.  I hope it's not about my pyjamas.

Flourless Spicy Dark Chocolate Cake

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"This is the best cake I have ever eaten in my life." - The Hubby
"That is a quote that I will be using in the blog post about this cake." - Me

 

You may have concluded from the lack of desserts, cookies, cakes, pies, squares, brownies, and other sugary indulgences on this blog that I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and you're correct.  Except for ice cream.  OMG ice cream.  The best.  Ice cream is the best.

But, every once in awhile the mood strikes for something a little sugary, and that's why I decided to take on this Flour-less Spicy Dark Chocolate Cake.

My brother's girlfriend also has a food blog, The Bookish Cook, and when we were over at their apartment for dinner one night she served this cake for dessert.  I think she is one of those people who can just, like, invent recipes and doesn't have to follow cookbooks (jealous), and this cake was her brainchild.  It's decadent.  The idea of it being flourless and therefore gluten free was also super appealing.  Because of the chilies, it kind of tastes like the Lindor Chili Chocolate Bar that I also crave on rare occasions.  It must have to do with the idea of a savoury thing being combined with a sweet thing.  I just love that sweet and savoury combo.

The Hubby freaking loved this cake though, even more than me.  He raved about it and its warm and super chocolately goodness with a bite of spice.  So I knew that I had to make it again when his parents came over to our place for dinner one night.

The Coconut Chronicles / My Dad's Teriyaki Salmon!

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Hi all!

Just writing to let you know about the spotlight on Playing With My Food over at the Coconut Chronicles blog.  Man, I think this is so cool!  

Coconut Chronicles was created in 2003 by the globe-trotting, spontaneous, cat-loving, opinionated (in a good way), and very funny Kristene Perron, as a weekly newsletter to help family and friends keep up with her while she was living with her hubby in the Caribbean.  It has turned into a smartly-written blog about whatever happens to be on Kristene's mind, from observations about human nature and life, to travel, to cats, to writing, and all sorts of interesting gems in between.

Kristene!

Kristene is a family friend and my former next-door neighbor.  In a past life she was a stunt-woman, and is now a published author of her first novel, Warpworld (www.warpworld.ca).  Warpworld is the first instalment in a five-part sci-fi book series, and if you like The Hunger Games you will love this book!

Jill's Fresh Cut Mango Salsa

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Every year The Hubby and I go to our friend Jill's family's cabin for a weekend at the lake, and every year I request that Jill make her mango salsa while we're there.  And every year she does.  And this is it.

 

And this is her making the salsa.

Drunken Vodka Gummy Worms

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Do this.



It's magic how it works.  You take a container of gummy worms, dump a mickey of vodka over top, close the lid and refrigerate for 24 - 48 hours, and - VOILA! - the gummy worms soak up the vodka and you have delicious vodka gummy worms.

I realized that I just used the word 'mickey' to describe how much vodka to use, and should probably define this 'Canadianism' for any non-Canadian readers.  A mickey is a Canadian term used to describe a small 13-ounce (375 mL) bottle of any hard alcohol.  Read all about it at this cool website that I saw that translates some common Canadian terms - America's Guide to Canadianisms.  Do you know what a 'chesterfield' is?  How about a 'toque?'  My mind was just blown when I learned that 'Kraft Dinner' is a Canadian term...they don't call it that anywhere else?!  My friend from San Francisco was razzing me for calling our new garburator just that, a 'garburator.'  Apparently they are called garbage disposals in other parts of the world.  We also don't say 'soda,' we say 'pop,' we don't say 'whole milk,' we say 'homo milk (the short term for homogenized, people!),' and we don't say 'candy bar,' we say 'chocolate bar.'  Also, our new 100-dollar bills smell like maple syrup.  I'm not even joking about that - Google it.  I personally think that they taste like chicken.

Heirloom Tomato Caesar Salad with Parmesan-Bacon Crisps

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Have you noticed that Heirloom Tomatoes are starting to 'crop up' everywhere these days?

Well, not everywhere as in at the gas station or library, but almost every produce store and supermarket seems to carry these beautiful fruits at a reasonable price, whereas in the past they seemed like something you would have to seek out at Whole Foods.  They come in all colours of the stoplight rainbow - bright yellow, striped red, lime green - and look absolutely mouth-wateringly beautiful in a salad.  The coolest thing about them is that all of the various types are so different from one another in terms of acidity, texture, sweetness, crunchiness, and of course, attractiveness, which makes a salad like this one so interesting.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Fresh Mint

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I'm back baby! (said me, not the watermelon salad)

I know, I know -  I should have called, I should have written.  But it's rare that we get a summer this outstanding where I live, and so I let myself downward spiral away from this blog and cartwheel (imaginary cartwheel because I never learned how to do a real one) towards BBQs, beer, golf, friends, family, weekend trips, backyard parties, important celebrations, one very productive closet overhaul where I offloaded four garbage bags of old clothes, and one extremely shockingly productive weekend gardening-o-rama where The Hubby, my mom, and I did all of the sprucing up to my house's back and front yard that we have been meaning to do since we moved in four years ago.  Please excuse my run-on sentence, but that was a lot of stuff.

Warm Potato Salad (Earls Restaurant Copycat Recipe)

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You know the Warm Potato Salad from Earls Restaurant?  The one that I sometimes dream about?

 

I think this is it.

To figure out how to make the Warm Potato Salad, I had to go to Earls Restaurant (twice, or maybe three times) to do a little 'research.'  While doing the recon (more than once, just to be sure), I got to hang out with friends and drink wine and eat delicious potato salad.  It was a very labour intensive education process, as you can imagine.  Here is what I learned:

1)  Huge pieces of bacon are necessary.  You can't just have little bits of bacon in this salad, you need a large mouthful of bacon.  Also, if a little bit of bacon grease happens to accidentally spill into the dressing, that is not a problem and people will like this salad and you more.

2)  Roast that *#@$!  Roasted corn and roasted baby potatoes and roasted garlic are key.  Flavour central.

3) Dill is such a great herb.  Sour cream is such a great dairy product.

  

4) This is really not a salad at all.

Cantaloupe Gin Cocktails

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I know what my mom wants for Mother's Day...

 

I seriously almost can't even concentrate on the cocktail at hand because of the stunning view in the background.  Just a 40-minute ferry ride away from downtown Vancouver is paradise at my friend Cleary's vacation home in Sechelt, BC, where she, my friend Ashley, and I spent last weekend sipping on these Cantaloupe Gin cocktails.  There were dolphins out swimming around (I couldn't see them - I can never easily find cool stuff in nature when people point things out to me - but my friends told me they were there), the temperature was nice and toasty (and it's only Maaaaaaaay!), and we were enjoying some girl time and these Gin Cantaloupe Cocktails in front of a beautiful view of British Columbia (mountains, ocean, trees - oh my!).

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado, and Feta Cheese

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Quinoa - we can't get enough of the stuff in this house!

 

I've also discovered that 'Quinoa Salad' is by far the most common search item typed into Google to direct people to my blog.  But, I've only got two quinoa salad recipes on the website so far (here and here), so the people have spoken and why not give them more of what they want, right?!

15-Minute Spring Pea and Pesto Soup

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This soup only takes 15 minutes to make - are you kidding me?  I just spent 15 minutes alone picking out a new mascara at the drug store today!

I needed for my Souper Sunday soup to only take 15 minutes to make today after being a little bit of a wild party animal last night at a small local pub in my town.  Because I still live in the town that I grew up in, a visit to a place like that is always an interesting version of a high school reunion (sometimes in a good way and sometimes in the exact way that you would expect).  Last night was no exception.  My girlfriend Kendra and I were definitely on the dance floor flopping around to 90's rap music (and one thing that you have to understand about that is that I never dance), and laughing hysterically until the ugly lights came on and we went home.  There's nothing like a great friend to be silly with.  So, today this is why my cloudy head needed a very, very easy soup.

Goat Cheese Pesto Dip

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I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it immediately caught my eye because of the words 'goat' and 'cheese' used in succession.

 

Goat cheese is one of those foods that if I see it on a restaurant menu, then I have to have it.  It doesn't matter what it is served in or on or with, I'm getting it.  I love it.  I ate goat cheese last night in fact.  So, when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to try it and its delicious, simple, fast combination of goat cheese, cream cheese, and homemade pesto sauce.  You can serve it with bread, crackers, or vegetables, or even with just the old '1, 2, straight to your mouth with a spoon' technique (not that I did that more than like 4 or 7 times).  This would also be really good spread onto a chicken sandwich, or toasted open-faced on bread and served with pasta.

HealthFare Restaurant Review

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Last week I was invited in as a 'food blogger' to do a tour and menu tasting of a new local healthy fast food restaurant, HealthFare.

HealthFare Burnaby

I arrived not knowing what to expect...would they be nice?  What if they noticed that I didn't have a fancy food blogger camera, business cards for my blog, and an extensive knowledge of...well, food?  What if I didn't like the food or the restaurant - would I have to fake it?  Would they be able to tell right away that I've never done this type of thing before?

I needn't have worried, because the mother-son owner team of Jenni and Shaun Saini were completely welcoming, the restaurant was beautiful, my point and shoot camera did the trick, and most importantly...the food was fan-freaking-tastic!