Tonight's dinner

Tonight's dinner was a chicken caeser pizza. The main idea was from a restaurant in Ucluelet called "Romans Pizza and Pasta" that had the most amazing pizza. I used the dough recipe from my breadmaker cookbook (a little bit of a cheater, I know). We used caeser dressing for the pizza sauce, then added parmesan and a tiny bit of finely grated cheddar. Then we added mushrooms and red peppers and a little bit of rosemary and oregano. We baked the pizza for about 25-30 minutes at 350 (or until it is golden brown) When the pizza came out we added fresh spinach and grated a tiny more cheddar on top of everything...

simply delicious!

Falafel

While on our honeymoon in France, Jordan and I found a fast food falafel place called "Maoz". They served falafel pitas, and it was the first time I had ever tried them. I immediately fell in love and we ate there about 7 times over the course of our two week vacation. I wanted to find out how to make my own, but I was scared that they wouldn't taste the same. I found this recipe online and they turned out amazing! Easy, simple and fast to make.

Ingredients:

1 Can of chickpeas

1 onion, chopped

2 (or more) cloves of garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of cumin

2 tablespoons of flour

salt and pepper

and oil for frying (I use sunflower oil because it's lighter than the others)

Method:

Blend your chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin and salt and pepper together in a food processor or with a hand blender. Add flour until it reaches the consistency of cookie dough. Roll the mixture into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and fry them in about 2 inches of oil until they are golden brown (about 5 to 7 minutes). Place on paper towel to drain. Serve warm.

You can serve with hummus, tzatziki, or any other sauce/dipping apparatus that you are a fan of.

I personally love this recipe because you can taste your falafel mixture as you go along and you can add other things if you want to as well.

I found this recipe on "about.com"

Tasty Tasty Pot Roast

Jamie Oliver's Pot Roast

(this ain't your grandmother's pot roast!)

I found this recipe very VERY easy to do. Very quick and tasty and doesn't take up a lot of the ingredients in your refrigerator.

Ingredients:

1 pot roast

2 or 3 carrots

1 onion (or half if you're not too big on onions)

4 potatoes (I like red and yukon gold the best)

3 or 4 bay leaves

fresh or dried rosemary (fresh is always better)

5 or 6 garlic cloves

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (this is something I ALWAYS forget to do). Peel and roughly chop all your veggies and place them in the bottom of a roasting pan. I like to give them a little toss in some olive oil so it keeps them moist. Add your garlic cloves and bay leaves around the veggies and sprinkle with some rosemary. Place your roast on top of the veggies (in the one in the picture I actually stuffed some garlic cloves inside the roast). Sprinkle some rosemary on top of your roast as well (if you are so inclined). Place your roast into your preheated oven for about an hour. If you prefer rare, take it out 10 to 15 minutes earlier and if you like it well done leave it in for 10 minutes longer.

And there you have it. The best roast I have ever tasted. It's moist, it's flavourful and the veggies are very very tasty to use as a side dish!

(this recipe is in Jamie Oliver's cookbook "Food Revolution")

Almost June...

I can't believe it's almost JUNE.

I've been working at school as a housekeeper, so I feel like my days are relatively the same, but I'm not ACTUALLY going to school... The temperature outside is staying at a mild sort of warm state and I'm okay with that. I'm not looking forward to the nights that are so blistering hot that I don't know what to do with myself... but I'll take those when they come. Jordan and I have been watching a lot of Jamie Oliver's cooking shows and it has definitely inspired us to eat more locally and to be more adventurous and experimental with our cooking. There's a weekly farmer's market here in Abbotsford that we would like to check out this following weekend. Cooking is something that I've always loved to do and I'm finding that it's something that really relaxes me. I love finding new recipes and finding out new ways of doing things that I never thought of. My good friend Hillary and I are trying new recipes every week or so. We did stuffed mushroom caps and falafels. The next on our list is strawberry rhubarb pie and raspberry lime cupcakes. If you've ever seen the move Julie and Julia you will probably think I'm a total copy cat, but I would love to share recipes that I have found, made and loved. I've always wanted to find a reason to blog. A reason that isn't just me rambling about my boring little life. Maybe I've found it....