Greek Salad

In my husband's family we call this salad "The Uncle Frank Salad". Whenever you are invited for dinner at Uncle Frank's, you secretly hope that this salad is being served.  It's a bit expensive to make, but well worth every penny.  

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini
• 1 English cucumber
• 1 purple onion
• 1 each yellow, green, and red peppers
• 2 boxes of cherry tomatoes, or 2 large tomatoes
• 1 jar Kalamata olives
• 1-2 heads romaine lettuce (optional)

Dressing

• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Cut all veggies into bite sized pieces.  

Toss veggies together (add romaine lettuce if you like). 

Crumble Feta and mix with veggies.

Blend dressing using a small hand blender (the Magic Bullet works great for this).

Pour dressing over salad and enjoy!

A Vegan Thanksgiving

Though I'm not vegan myself, I often enjoy vegetarian and vegan meals.  Over the past few months I've made a few vegan recipes that really fit well with the overall theme of Thanksgiving.  I thought I would put them together in a roundup for all of my vegetarian and vegan readers to enjoy!  A special thanks to my vegan friend Lisa for all of her advice while I was putting together these recipes.  

Have a happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Not only does this dish serve as an excellent main course for vegetarians and vegans alike, the filling can also double as a stuffing or dressing for guests that are gluten free.  Full of holiday inspired flavours, this is the perfect dish to accompany any Thanksgiving feast. 

Vegan Gravy
Your guests won't believe that this gravy doesn't contain any meat products whatsoever.  It's rich complexity of flavours is so satisfying, even the non-vegans at the table are bound to be reaching for seconds!  

Balsamic Glazed Carrots

This recipe is my favourite use of carrots by far.  The sweet glaze is cut perfectly by the tang of balsamic vinegar, and a beautiful presentation is really easy to achieve. In this recipe, swap the honey for agave nectar or simply add more brown sugar. 

Greek Salad Skewers 

This is one of my all-time favourite salad recipes.  It comes from my husband's Uncle Frank, who is the salad dressing connoisseur of the family.  This greek salad dressing is the king of all salad dressings.  Simply swap the feta cheese for your favourite vegan alternative, or omit it completely. 

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

This is one dessert that is so rich and satisfying, it's almost hard to believe that it contains no dairy and is actually quite healthy for you. The first time I made it for my husband, I didn't tell him what it was made of, and he thought it was one of the best chocolate puddings he had ever had.  Hint - freeze any leftovers into popsicle molds for a delicious fudgesicle treat!

Enjoy! 

Maple Vanilla Apple Crisp

I went in on a couple of pounds of vanilla beans with some friends last month so not only has my house  smelled amazing these past few weeks - I've been trying several new recipes as well.  This recipe calls for one of my favourites - vanilla sugar.  Vanilla sugar is a great way to get a real, fresh vanilla flavour into a recipe without having to scrape a fresh vanilla bean each time.  You also can't beat the awesome look of using real vanilla bean... everyone will think Martha Stewart was there! 

We had Uncle Frank over for dinner last Sunday and I served this crisp for dessert.  Marc ended up working out of town this week so I put the leftovers in his lunch on Monday.  He liked it so much I made up another crisp and divided it into containers for the rest of the week.  It keeps really well in the fridge, if it makes it that long!  

Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup old fashioned oats (really, any oats but steel cut will do)
- 3 lbs of apples, cored and sliced
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp juice, such as apple or lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

Combine granulated sugar and vanilla sugar.  Set aside. 

Combine flour, brown sugar, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 2 tbsp vanilla sugar mixture.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Add oats and mix with hands.  Toss mixture in the fridge while you prepare the apples.

Wash apples and pat dry.  Core and slice apples, then toss with remaining vanilla sugar, maple syrup, juice and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.

Butter the inside of a pie plate (or baking dish) and add apples mixture.  Add topping and bake for 45-55 minutes,  until top is golden brown and juices are bubbling. 

Let cool for 10-15 minutes.  Serve with frozen yogurt or ice cream. 

Enjoy!  

Single Pie Crust

This recipe comes out of an old school book at Uncle Frank's house.  It makes great pie crust and is a really easy recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 3 to 4 tbsp water

Directions

In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt.  Cut in shortening or lard until pieces are the size of small peas.  Sprinkle 1 tbsp of the water over part of the mixture.  gently toss with a fork.  Push to side of bowl.  Repeat till all is moistened.  Form dough into a ball.

On lightly floured surface flatten dough with hands.  Roll dough from centre to edge forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Wrap pastry around rolling pin.  Unroll onto a 9 inch pie plate.  Ease pastry into pie plate being careful to avoid stretching pastry.   Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate.  Make a fluted rope shape or loped edge.  

For a baked pie shell crimp bottom and sides with tines of a fork.  Bake in 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. 

Cherry Brandy Pie

A few weeks ago my husband's Uncle Frank and I had a day filled with cooking.  He had recently aquired quite a few fresh B.C. cherries, so we made jam & pies all day.  This recipe was pulled from one of his ancient cookbooks, (at least a decade older than myself) and filled with the best homemade recipes (see photo attached).

Ingredients

• 2 pie crusts
• 4 cups fresh cherries (pits removed and cut in half) 
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp quick cooking tapioca
• 2 tbsp cherry (or plain) brandy
• 1 tsp lemon zest (or lemon juice)
• Butter or margarine

Directions

Prepare and roll out pastry.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with 1 pastry.  Trim pastry to edge of pie plate.

In a large bowl combine cherries, sugar, tapioca, brandy, lemon zest, and 1/8 tsp salt.  Let stand 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn mixture into pastry-lined pie plate.  Dot with butter.  Cut slits in top crust; place pastry on top of filling.  Seal and flute edge high.  To prevent overbrowing, cover edge of pie with foil.  Bake in 375 oven for 30 minutes.  Remove foil; bake for 25 to 30 minutes more or until golden.  Cool pie on rack before serving.


Enjoy! 

French Onion Soup

This recipe comes from my husband's Uncle Frank, who has enabled me to make amazing French Onion Soup that you could make too.

Ingredients
- 3 sweet onions (or regular onions)
- 1 L of beef stock
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp worcheshire sauce
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Bread (French bread is the best for this recipe).
- ½-1 cup white cheese (Gruyere cheese is the best for this recipe, but if I don’t have any I use Mozzarella)

Optional: splash of red wine (I freeze leftover red wine in ice cube trays for recipes such as these)

Directions

Slice onions as thin as possible and set aside. 

Preheat 4 L pot on medium heat.  Once preheated, melt butter into pan and mix in the olive oil.

Add the sliced onions and sauté until tender.  Pour beef stock, worcheshire sauce, and wine into pot and turn the element to high, stirring frequently until soup comes to a boil. 

Crouton Method # 1 (Stovetop soup with one big crouton):

Once boiling, reduce to medium-low heat and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes.

Slice French bread on an angle and lightly butter.  Top with cheese.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until cheese is melted and slightly golden.   Top each bowl of soup with a slice of cheese toast and enjoy!

Crouton Method # 2 (Baked French Onion Soup):

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour soup into a large casserole dish, (or 4 small oven safe dishes) and sprinkle in half of the cheese.  Tear 4 slices of bread into crouton sized pieces and spread evenly over top of soup.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden.

This recipe makes 4 - 1 cup servings.

- Nutritional Information (per cup) -

339 Calories    19 Fat    28 Carbs    16 Protein    6 Iron    3 Fibre

Garlic Toast

I know garlic butter and garlic bread are fairly simple recipes, but I know far too many people who purchase the expensive store bought loaves, and it really is SO easy to make at home.  Other than the french bread, you likely already have all of the ingredients at home already!   We had this bread the other night when we had Uncle Frank over for our first BBQ of the season - it went fantastic with our starter cesaer salad, and not a single piece remained at the end of the meal.  Ingredients - 1/2 recipe for garlic butter - 1 loaf of french bread (or your favourite loaf of choice) Directions Place oven on broil.  Slice french bread at an angle for maximum garlic butter coverage. I usually use a brush to coat the bread, but use whatever your comfortable with.  Place on a baking sheet in pre-heated oven.  Watch very closely as it will be done very quickly - as soon as it turns golden brown around the edges.  We love this recipe for French Onion Soup (replacing the garlic butter with cheese of course).
Enjoy!

Re-grow Romaine Lettuce

I saw something quite similar to this on Pinterest awhile back.  It was with celery  - since I absolutely DESPISE celery, you can understand why I didn't experiment with it instead. 
When we had Uncle Frank over for our first BBQ of the year a couple weeks back, I saved the bottom of the romaine lettuce that I purchased from the store and stuck it in a cup of fresh water on the windowsill above my sink.  I've made sprouts at home before so I know it's really important to rinse and change the water each day. I applied the same concept to the stem by replacing the water and rinsing the base each morning.  Almost right away I saw some growth, but after going away with Heather last weekend I came home to actual baby romaine leaves!  I can't wait to try this with different types of lettuce, and maybe even stick the base in my garden... 
Have you tried this before?  If so what did you re-grow?
xoxo Jax

Best of 2013

I can't believe that 2013 has already come to an end!  A lot has of really great things have happened for me this year, both professionally and personally, and honestly I could not be more excited to see what 2014 will hold! 

Thank you to everyone that follows along on my blog, takes the time to leave comments on my posts and interacts with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.  I feel like you guys are with me every time I'm in the kitchen, cooking along side with me!  Your comments are truly what inspires me to share my love for creating recipes with you! 

To cap off the new year, I've complied a list of the top 10 recipes of 2013 according to page views.  Here they are :  

May Long

Happy May long weekend my Canadian friends!  Our long weekend comes a week before the Memorial Day weekend in the US.  This weekend always means the start of summer for me.  It's well known fact in my town that nothing gets planted outdoors until after May long or you risk losing it all to frost (in fact - it frosted here last night).  There are a few brave folks who have already planted but they are the renegades of the bunch.   Our last frost is June 9th here in the mountains (something after living here for nearly 25 years, I am still coming to grips with). Thankfully I have three plots at my local community greenhouse so I have a jump start on the season, but I'll be planting my outdoors seeds the second the weekend has passed.  The Tuesday after this long weekend is nearly as exciting for me as the weekend itself!  
    This May long, Heather and I are heading out on a girl's road trip to BC.  Even though we have been had this trip scheduled for a long time, we have no real plans.  We have a general direction in mind (how brave are we not booking hotels in advance!) but really want to keep the weekend free-sprited.  I am really excited about the entire trip - I envision lots of 90's music, beaches, girl talk, and window shopping!
Marc's having a boy's weekend himself - his cousin is coming to visit from the city, and Uncle Frank will be taking them out to the lake on his new boat!  Who knows, perhaps there is a freshly caught trout recipe brewing for a future post? :) 
I have a post scheduled for Sunday - I'm a little bit nervous not being around a computer until  the following day, but I have faith in technology to do it's part (I hope those are not famous last words!).
I hope you all have an excellent weekend, and do something relaxing and fun!   Tell me, what are your plans for the long weekend?
xoxo Jax

French Onion Dip

Here is my latest column that was published in the Hinton Voice.

[When I was little, my Mom used to keep a plastic container filled with different soup mixes in our lazy Susan.   These mixes weren’t usually meant to be used for their intended purpose, but rather to spice dips and salad dressings (and the occasional meatloaf).   We’d mix the packages with sour cream for dips, and mayonnaise for salad dressings.   French onion was always a favourite of mine, and because I was never very decisive, I would mix the mayonnaise and sour cream together rather than choosing one over the other. Nearly every dip I make today starts with this base, with one exception - I now swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt (or for a hot dip, cream cheese).

Ever since I discovered plain Greek yogurt a few years back, I’ve used it in place of sour cream.  Not only do I use it to make dips or salad dressings, I also use it as the “secret” ingredient in a lot of my baking (namely my favourite banana bread recipe). The taste and texture are fairly similar, only Greek yogurt has far fewer calories and fat, so I feel like I’m eating something a little bit healthier.

Sweet onions have always been my onion of choice for anything French Onion related.  This advice first came from my husband’s Uncle Frank (who also happens to be French) when he taught me how to make his recipe for French onion soup.  He was very adamant that you needed to always use sweet onions, and after having made his recipe several times now, I can definitely see why.  Other types of onions are more pungent, whereas sweet onions have a milder, sweeter flavour (hence their name).  You could easily use whichever onions you have on hand, but sweet onions work the best for this recipe, and any thing else where you’re looking to achieve a true French Onion flavour.]

  

- Recipe yields 2 cups -

Ingredients

-        1 tbsp butter or olive oil

-        1 large Vidalia (sweet) onion, sliced into ¼ inch rings

-        1 clove garlic, minced

-        1 cup Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

-        ½ cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)

-        ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

-        Black pepper & sea salt, to taste

-        Chives for garnish

Directions

Pre-heat a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes, or until caramelized (golden brown).   Add the garlic and sauté for an addition 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and let onions cool for about 5 minutes.   Chop onions into fine pieces and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and sea salt.  Fold in onion mixture and place dip in fridge for 1-2 hours (for best results, overnight). 

Top with chives and serve with your favourite fresh veggies, chips, crackers, or for a true French Onion experience – a thinly sliced baguette topped with greyer cheese and toasted until the cheese is melted. 

- Nutritional Info (2 tbsp) -

Calories - 34   Fat - 2    Carbs – 1     Protein - 1   Fibre – 1

Enjoy!