The Green Goddess

My Mum turned me onto making these green smoothies as a great way to get some extra veggies into your diet.  She was the one that coined the name "Green Goddess".  Yes, I was skeptical at first - just look at that colour! - but one taste had me hooked. These smoothies are sweet, refreshing, and oh-so-good-for-you.

Quinoa For Breakfast?

In the morning time is essential, and I don't always have ample time to make myself breakfast (much to my horror, breakfast is my favorite meal!).  These quinoa filled breakfast bowls pack a ton of protein into one easy to prepare serving and keep you full until lunch.  They are perfect for busy days you want to continue to eat healthfully in.  Keep reading to find out how to make them!

Join Me For Lunch: Versatile Asian Salad

This salad has been a staple in my kitchen for at least two weeks now!  It's so delicious I don't think I will ever be tired of it.

Something I love about salads is their versatility.  If you don't like something about a salad you can skip or replace that component with virtually no risk.   That's why with this salad recipe I have included a list of other ingredients that might be interesting to add or substitute.  Be creative and play with your food!

Homemade Mushroom Soup

For a special treat, I made my roommate and I some of this creamy mushroom soup.  It didn't last more than an hour because we gobbled up the entire batch!  The recipe for this soup is deceivingly simple, but we will never buy canned mushroom soup again after seeing how easy and delicious this soup is to make.

The recipe is originally from Season With Spice, but the recipe I list has some adjustments.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Chopped Fresh Mushrooms*

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6 Cloves of Garlic (go big or go home)

2 Tbsp of Butter

2 tsp dried thyme

2 Bay leaves

1 Cup Vegetable Stock

1 Tbsp of Flour dissolved in 1 Tbsp Water

Pinch of salt

1/2 Cup Half and Half cream

1/2 Cup 2% Milk

Dash of Nutmeg 

Pepper and fresh cilantro to garnish and to taste

*You can technically use any type of mushroom for this, although I recommend using at least two varieties in this soup.  It will give the mushroom flavour more dimension than if you had only used one.  You could combine a "smokier" mushroom, like a portobello, with a "brighter" one, such as a Button mushroom.  For my soup, I selected half Shiitake mushrooms, half Button mushrooms.  The Shiitake mushrooms gave an earthy, smoky flavour, while the Button mushrooms were soft and bright in contrast.  I prefer smoky, earthy flavours while my roommate prefers lighter ones, so this was the perfect balance for us.

Method:

1.  Heat your oil and melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan, and sautée the garlic on medium heat.

2.  Add in the chopped mushrooms and spices.  Cook until the moisture evaporates from the mushrooms, and the spices begin to toast and smell great (about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on how finely you chopped the mushrooms).

3.  Add in Vegetable Broth and stir until the mixture boils.  Immediately reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add in your diluted flour so the soup thickens, and has that creamy texture.

4.  Season with Nutmeg, Salt, and Pepper, and stir in the Cream and milk.  Once the soup reaches a simmer, take it off the heat and serve it garnished with Pepper and Cilantro.

This soup would be great served with pumpernickel bread, but we just served it with parmesan toasted onto rye bread, and that was delicious as well.

Please let me know if you try this soup! 

Brunch

My roommate and I very often host meals in our apartment.  Food is something we can enjoy and share with all of our friends, and gives us all a chance to talk and catch up with each other as we enjoy the food.  This past weekend we hosted a delicious brunch with six guests in attendance.  One of the challenges we encountered was how to get the eggs out all at the same time, and hot for everybody.  We came up with the solution of baking the eggs in a muffin tray in the oven, and it worked perfectly! We cracked eggs into a greased muffin tray and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

We also made our brunch an optional pot-luck style.  Our guests contributed bagels, perogies, fruit, juices, and bacon in addition to our eggs, hash browns, apple crumble and tea.  Everybody was full and content by the end of the meal!

How do you share with your loved ones?