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!

Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2-3 tablespoons wild oats
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cups raspberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Butter a muffin tin (medium), and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add egg, egg yolks, and vanilla; mix until well combined.

Alternate adding reserved flour mixture and milk to bowl, beginning and ending with flour.


Gently fold in raspberries by hand.

Divide batter evenly among muffin tins; sprinkle generously with sugar and wild oats.

Bake until light golden, about 30-35 minutes.

Cool in pan 15 minutes.

Remove from pan; transfer to wire rack, and let cool completely.

Classic Lemonade

There is nothing better than a glass of homemade lemonade on a hot summer day.  This recipe is so easy, you'll wonder why you didn't try making your own lemonade sooner.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice (about 10 lemons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-3 cups water, depending on desired strength

Directions

Before juicing the lemons, heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Next, roll the lemons against the counter with the palm of your hand until you feel the flesh loosen. This will make juicing much easier. 

Cut the lemons in half and juice, either by hand or with a juicer.

Add sugar and stir until disolved.  Add water.  Enjoy!

Cheddar Cream of Broccoli Soup

You can make pretty much any cream of vegetable soup following this recipe by swapping the broccoli for your favourite vegetable.  The key is sautéing the vegetables first; it really brings the flavours of the vegetable to life.

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped raw broccoli
• 3 tbsp butter (divided)
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 cups milk
• 30 g cheddar cheese, shredded
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat a saucepan over medium heat.  Melt 1 tbsp butter, and add broccoli, sautéing for 5 minutes until broccoli is par cooked.

Warm pan back up to medium heat and melt 2 tbsp butter.  Add 2 tbsp flour to create a roux.  Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring often.  Add milk, and bring to a boil.  Stir in broccoli and simmer for about 10 minutes.  

Stir in cheese and cook an additional 2-3 minutes, until soup is smooth.

Serve blended or with full pieces of broccoli.

Nutritional Info (entire recipe)

Calories -     Fat -   Carbs - Protein - Iron -     Fibre -  

Almond Butter Banana Smoothie

This recipe is any peanut butter lover's dream.  The ingredients compliment each other nicely and the flavors come together to make for a wonderful smoothie. 

Ingredients

• 1 small banana
• 2 tbsp almond butter (or your choice of peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 1/4 cup greek (or plain) yogurt
• 4 oz unsweetened almond milk

Directions

Blend ingredients together to make one smoothie. 

Nutritional Info (entire recipe)

Calories - 450    Fat - 26   Carbs - 52    Protein - 11     Iron - 3    Fibre - 5 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I absolutely love the flavour of pumpkin, and it doesn't have to be fall for me to use in my baking.  These muffins are wonderful any time of the year, and these disappear very quickly in our house.  The yogurt makes for a very light and fluffy muffin.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (1 tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tbsp ground ginger, 1/4 tbsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tbsp ground allspice or cloves)
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup turbinado (coarse) sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 1/2 cups shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush 24 muffin tins with oil, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk oil, pumpkin puree, yogurt, eggs, and 1 cup sugar to combine; add 1 cup pumpkin seeds and reserved dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened (be sure to not over mix).

Divide evenly and spoon batter into muffin tins; sprinkle tops with remaining pumpkin seeds and sugar.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Info

Calories - 188   Fat - 10     Carbs -  22    Protein -  4    Iron - 8    Fibre - 1 

Homemade Big Mac with Special Sauce

While not a huge fan of McDonald's, I do like their Big Macs.  I thought I would try to make a homemade version of the popular hamburger and was pleased with the results.  It tasted exactly like the real thing. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs lean hamburger
• 6 sesame seed buns + 6 extra bottoms
• 6 slices cheddar cheese
• 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 white onion
• 2-3 dill pickles

Special Sauce

• 1/2 cup real mayo
• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/3 cup sweet relish
• 1/4 cup french dressing
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp diced onions

Directions

You are going to want to make your sauce first and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.   Simply combine all of the sauce ingredients together.

Next, prepare your toppings as these hamburgers patty's are so small, they cool very quickly so quick assembly is key.

Dice the onion into very small cubes.

Next, chop your lettuce very fine

Slice your pickles & cheddar cheese and set aside.

As you know, the Big Mac has an extra bun in the middle.  To achieve this at home, thinly slice the bottom layer of a bottom portion of bun.

To achieve the fast food hamburger patty, weigh the meat into 2 oz balls.  Form into a very thin patty.  The patty's will shrink quite a bit, so the thinner, the better (I stack my patty's on a plate using wax paper to seperate them so they don't stick).

Cook the hamburgers in a frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute per side, or until juices bubble to the top like the picture below:

Now doesn't that look just like a fast food patty?  :)

Next, assemble your Big Mac.

 The Assembly of a Big Mac:

- bottom bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- sprinkle of lettuce

- slice of cheddar cheese

- one burger patty

- middle bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- 2-3 slices of pickles

- sprinkle of lettuce

- one burger patty

- top bun

Enjoy! 

Nutritional Info

Big Mac (no sauce)

Calories - 500   Fat - 19    Carbs - 44     Protein - 34     Iron - 29    Fibre - 2

Sauce only (per tbsp)

Calories - 49   Fat - 5    Carbs - 2    Protein - 0     Iron - 0    Fibre - 0