Speacial Occasions: The Olympics

Summer is a great time to throw your fridge into a salad bowl or invite the world to London to have a super duper sports battle of epicness. Here is a fun summer salad that has some ingredients you might not expect rising to the challenge of deliciousness.

- Kirby Cucumbers
- Tomatotes
- Mini peppers
- Swiss Cheese
- Papaya
- Green grapes

Tossed with white balsamic vinegar and olive oil, served on a few leaves of Boston lettuce.
I tried to make the peppers look like the Olympic rings, but they're upside down and obvious not the right colours.

REZ LIFE recipe #1: Asian Style Wraps

Fun and easy, this recipe is great for small get-togethers or maybe even getting to know your roommate :)

What you need:
- Rice paper wraps
- Cut veggies in strips (pepper, cucumber, sprouts, carrot)
- Cooked meat of your choosing (left-overs work great)
- Soy sauce/teriyaki sauce/peanut sauce
-Warm water
- A flat tray (pizza pan, plate)

What to do:
-Chop veggies
- Put warm water in flat tray
(you may want to put the water in the kettle for a bit BUT DON'T LET IT BOIL)
- Place rice paper in the tray until soft
- Fill wrap with delicious things
- Add sauce
- Fold
- Eat
-Repeat (you will eat more than one)

How to Survive University Residence (when all you have is a microwave and a kettle)

While I'm not super psyched about getting a meal plan, I think it will help reduce the stress of my first year away from home. That being said, I'm not going to eat caf food for every meal. However, most residence buildings don't have kitchens. They all have microwaves though (or they should), and they let you have a kettle in your room.

So what on earth can you eat with just a kettle and a microwave at your disposal? That's my mission. Stay tuned for new recipes labelled "Rez Life".

Quick Recipe: Pesto sandwich

I visited Queen's U again over March break, and had a delicious pesto chicken wrap thingy. It was chicken with balsamic, wrapped up flawlessly in a huge whole wheat tortilla with pesto, cheese, and tomato. SO GOOD.

Anyways, I now have Invisilign braces, which means eating has officially gotten harder. You have to take them out to eat, but you can't have them out for longer than half and hour, and then you have to brush the aligners and your teeth, bla bla bla. Also, I can't snack constantly anymore, or at all really. I get like, one official snack break in addition to 3 meals. Oh woe is me.

THE POINT IS, I have less time to make lunch in the morning. So I make pesto sandwiches a lot.

You need:
Bread/a bun/a bagel
Pesto (red or green, although I do prefer red)
Left-over meat/cold-cuts
Cheese

What to do:
Toast grain product (only if you're going to eat it right away)
Spread pesto onto grain product
Cut up or grate cheese onto sandwich
Add sliced meat
Close sandwich
Enjoy the goodness

Recipe 15 - Red Pesto and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

It was kind of an experiment for me, since I don't usually deal with meat. I find touching raw meat a little disturbing, but I'm getting over it. Anyway, I felt like stuffed chicken, so stuffed chicken we had. If my ambiguous pronouns bother you, "we" refers to whomever I'm eating dinner with. In this case, it's my dad.

What you need:
-1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
- A jar of red (tomato) pesto, or green if you prefer.
- A small bowl of grated cheese.Cheddar, Mozzarella, or Swiss will do.
- Some olive oil
- Some bread crumbs or flour

What to do:
- Trim your chicken of any excess fat

- Slice the chicken as you would a hot-dog bun and open it up

- Spoon a large heap of pesto out onto your chicken but remember IF THE SPOON TOUCHES THE CHICKEN IT CANNOT GO BACK IN THE JAR.

- Once you're satisfied with the amount of pesto, you can spread it over both halves with the back of the spoon

- Sprinkle in your grated cheese

- Stab your chicken with tooth-picks! And by that, I mean, use tooth picks to keep it closed while it bakes.

- Brush the top of your chicken with olive oil and sprinkle your bread crumbs over top. (this helps prevent the chicken from drying out)

-You can sprinkle any excess cheese on the top as well.

- Put some bread crumbs on the cutting board(or whatever your work surface is) then lift the chicken, place it over top, and smear it around so the bottom also gets covered.

- Place your chicken in a small baking pan (which has olive oil evenly applied to the bottom of it)

- Bake the chicken at 400F for 45 minutes

- Slice and Serve!

Serves 2 with a little bit of left overs. Goes great with potato wedges and salad.

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Recipe #14 - Arctic Char with Israeli Couscous

I first came across this recipe at one of my favourite restaurants: Petit Bill's. It's on Wellington Street in Westboro if you're ever in the area. It's a little on the pricey side, but the service and food are always fantastic. When I had it, it was served with a Dijon dressing drizzled over the fish and spinach, but as we had no Dijon mustard, we modified the recipe.

NOTE: Arctic Char is the slightly more sustainable/expensive cousin of salmon. It's also a fresh water fish.

What you need:
- 500g of Arctic Char
- 2 large handfuls of baby spinach
-2 medium sized tomatoes
- 1 cup of Israeli couscous
- 2 tsp butter
- 1 3/4 cups of water
- A drizzle of fig-flavoured balsamic vinegar
- A drizzle of olive oil

What to do:
- In a kettle, boil the water
- In a sauce pan melt the butter (burner on medium)
- Add the couscous and coat it in the butter (stir occasionally for 5 minutes)
- Add the boiling water and turn the heat down to low
- Keep covered for 8 minutes
- Let stand 3-4 minutes before serving

-Place Char on a pizza pan
- Sprinkle some oregano and paprika over it
- Place some lemon slices on the top
- Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until the thickest part is cooked through

Meanwhile
- Wash your baby spinach
- Arrange it nicely on the plates
- Slice your tomatoes into wedges (6 pieces will do)
-Arrange them on the spinach
- Pour the balsamic and olive oil over it

When everything is done, place the char over the spinach and dish the couscous out as desired.
Enjoy!

Serves 2 with  one serving of fish left over.

Kitchen Adventure #2 - Asian Style Meatballs and Kebobs

This is classified as an adventure as I have never attempted meatballs from scratch myself, or with this kind of recipe. The meatballs and kebobs come from "The Looneyspoons Collection" by Janet & Greta Podleski. And oh my goodness are they ever delicious.

What you need for meatballs:
- 600g ground steak (or extra lean ground beef)
- 1/4 hoisin sauce (we used a homemade mixture of 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part ketchup, 1/2 part table syrup, a pinch of powdered ginger, and a pinch of dried mustard)
- 1/4 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp finely minced green onion (about 2 stalks)
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- pinch of salt and black pepper
* It calls for 1 tbsp of cilantro but I don't like it

What to do:

• Preheat your oven to 400 F
• Cover a large baking sheet with tinfoil
• Put all your ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand until things look evenly spread out
• Roll the mixture into balls and place on baking sheet
• It should make about 32
• Cook for 20 minutes but check at about 15 to see how they're doing - some ovens are hotter than others. 
• Meatballs should be brown all the way through.

So while those cook....

What you need for kebobs:
- 2/3 of a prepared pineapple (the tall cylindrical things)
- 1 red bell pepper

- 1 green bell peper
- 6 medium coffee mushrooms
- 10 metal or wooden skewers

And the sauce:
- Another 1/4 cup of the homemade stuff

What to do:

• Chop veggies
• Skewer everything together
• Grill! 10-12 minutes on med- high
• You'll want to put the sauce on about half way through because sugary sauces will burn in barbeques. If you know you have this problem, you can also put the sauce on once the kebobs are cooked.
• Serve with rice, couscous, or even potato wedges
• Enjoy!

Recipe #13 Toad-in-the-hole

It's a family tradition in my house to eat this on Christmas morning. It makes a great Sunday brunch and would be perfect for Boxing Day or New Years Day.

What you need:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp dried savory
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 1lb (5) sausages
I personally recommend maple sausages, but your favourite sausages will work just fine.

What to do:

• In a bowl put the flour, savory, and salt together.
• Stir
• Whisk together the milk and eggs
• Gradually whisk it into the dry ingredients
• Let that sit for 30 minutes

• Meanwhile you cook the sausages
• Stab them with a fork before they go in the oven so that they don't explode
• Place them in a greased  9x9 baking dish
• Roast them at 375 F for 25-30 minutes (until golden)
• Make sure you flip the sausages over once so that they get an even tan
• When they're done, drain off all but 1 tbsp of fat

•  Now you want to crank up the heat to 425 F
• Whisk the batter you've set aside and pour it over the sausages
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until puffed up and golden

Serve right away with apple sauce, or other fruit. Maple syrup too!
Enjoy :)

If your family has a Christmas/Holiday food tradition let me know in a comment or send me an email.

Fun Tip #1 - Super Salads

Do you find salads boring? They can be. I won't lie.  So if you find yourself in a salad funk, here are two ways you can rediscover your love for them.

1. Make your salad into a shape, or just try to present it in the prettiest possible way.

2. Attempt to include all the colours of the rainbow into your salad. Put things you wouldn't normal put in a salad in this one and see what you think.

Bonus: Turn either of those tips into a competition amongst your friends. If you do this, send pictures to my blog email and I can post favourites.

Recipe 12: The best veggies you will ever eat

Just because summer is over doesn't mean you should stop using your barbeque. This recipe is perfect for any time of year as long as it isn't pouring cats and dogs, or as cold as Antarctica.

What you need:
FOOD
5 smallish potatoes peeled, cut into large bite-sized pieces.
1 pepper - colour of your choosing - cut into cubes
3 large carrots cut into cubes
1 onion - diced
A large handful of green beans cut into thirds or halves if they're small enough
A large handful of cherry/grape/cocktail tomatoes. Your pick. *Not optional really (see "notes")
Extra virgin olive oil
Assorted spices
KITCHEN STUFF

Lots of tinfoil
A tinfoil pan (optional)
A mixing bowl
A large spoon

What to do:

-Wash and chop your veggies
-Put them in the mixing bowl
-Pour in a generous amount of olive oil
-Shake your spices over veggies
-Mix with spoon

OPTION 1:
Pour veggie mixture into tin foil pan
Cover with 2 crisscrossed piece of tinfoil *
** Make sure the pan is sealed or the veggies won't steam
Place on top shelf of barbeque
Cook for approx. 40 minutes

OPTION 2:
Tear tinfoil into twice as many sheets as there are people eating (add 2 extra for leftovers if you so desire)
Pour equal amounts of veggies onto half the sheets.
Fold 2 ends up and roll down
Roll the other 2 ends up
Place the second sheet of tinfoil over top and repeat rolling/folding
Cook on the top shelf of your barbeque for approx. 35 minutes

The spice mix I used

**** When you open the packages to eat them BEWARE OF THE STEAM!!!! It's hot and it burns ****

Open packets/uncover pan
Enjoy!

Serves 5 hungry people.


NOTES: If you are BBQing in colder weather, cooking could take longer. 40 is enough for November. 30-35 might be enough in the summer.
Add in any other veggies you like BUT make sure something in there is juicy or your veggies will dry out.

MOST DELICIOUS RECIPE EVER!!!!

Hello!
I'm back, and now that I have your attention, I'd like to talk to you. Yes, you.


I want this blog to be more interactive. I get a little lonely out here in blog-world when no one comments on my posts, even though I know you've seen them. So, I have a plan.


ABOUT THE PRESENT

As for people commenting on posts, I ask that you do. I like to hear feedback, and know that there are other food lovers out there.

Next, the email address jillianskitchenblog@gmail.com has been created so that we can communicate a little better.
I'm looking for you to either, send me recipes you know and love so I can share them with the world,
OR
send me suggestions for a meal that you would like to know how to make.


ALSO, if you attempt any of the recipes I've posted, let me know! Email me and tell me how it went. Did it work? Why? Did you add or leave anything out that you think I should know about? Send me a picture of your food masterpiece. I might even share some favourites.




ABOUT THE FUTURE


I'm thinking of coming up with a posting schedule, should this whole email thing work out. In the meantime, I will continue to post recipes sporadically, but I may start posting daily little tips about certain foods, kitchen utensils, etc.


EXAMPLE SCHEDULE
Monday- Friday - daily tips
Saturday - Suggested recipe/Recipe Quest
Sunday - One of my own recipes


ABOUT THE RECENT PAST
I posted twice earlier today, so please check out those recipes :)


QUESTION
Should I make a facebook "like" page?




THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recipe #11 - Green Bean Salad

Super easy and delicious.

What you need:
A small handful of green beans per person
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame seeds

What to do:
Steam beans for no more than 10 minutes.
NOTE: I use a steamer, not my stove. If you have a steamer it may direct you on how long to cook various things. My steamer says 30 minutes. This is probably overkill. However, steamers have timers, so if after 10 minutes the mushiness is not to your liking, put them back on for say, 5 more minutes.

ALSO NOTE: I will acquire stove-top directions shortly.

Once beans are done, dress with equal parts soy sauce to vinegar. Two table spoons of each is usually enough, but adjust to your taste.
Sprinkle sesame seeds over top.
Let beans sit while you complete the rest of your meal. This allows them to soak up the dressing.

Enjoy!

Recipe #10 - Cherry Tomato Pasta

This is probably the yummiest way to eat pasta (in my opinion). The amounts for ingredients are going to vary depending on personal taste and number of people to feed.

What you need:
A very large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Half of a sweet onion, finely chopped
A generous splash of olive oil
Two cloves of garlic, pressed
A bell pepper, chopped
A handful of fresh basil, chopped
Pasta ( I suggest spaghetti or bowties)

What to do:
Cook your pasta.



Heat a frying pan to a high (but not the highest setting).
Add garlic, onions, tomatoes and peppers.
Pour in olive oil.
Saute until peppers are fully cooked.



Serve "sauce" over pasta.
Enjoy!

Serves 2-4 people depending on hungriness 

Recipe #9 - Bruschetta

Here's a simple delicious recipe that's great for summer (especially if you own a basil plant).

You need:
-Bread/ Baguette / Something similar (I used English Muffins...)
- tomatoes (I like cocktail/cherry tomatoes)
-basil
-cheese
-olive oil
-balsamic vinegar
-optional : cooked bacon

EPICMEALTIME!!! I'm kidding.

What to do:

• Brush your bread with the oil and vinegar.
• Top with chopped tomato, cheese, and basil
• Add more oil and vinegar if you have some left over
• Broil (heat on top) in the oven until cheese melts (put bread on a baking tray)
  
• Add optional bacon if so desired
  
• EAT! Om nom nom nom...

Recipe #8- Basil Lover's Pasta

Hey, look who's back in the kitchen!
Truth be told, I really like holding knives. My love for cooking has nothing to do with being a woman. So if I hear kitchen jokes, there is a special part in the Cell Block Tango just for me to sing.

Any who, this is another recipe out of "The Ultimate Student Cookbook" by Tiffany Goodall.

What you need:
- 3 & 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 large cocktail tomatoes sliced
- 300g of dried spaghetti
- 3 cloves of garlic
- a looooooot of basil (fresh) one bunch packaged works nicely, or if you have a basil plant cut off a large branch and deleaf it. You can't have too much.
- some feta cheese
- 2 large handfuls of baby spinach

What to do:
-slice your tomatoes and place them in a roasting pan (cover it in tinfoil first)
-pour in 1& 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
-roast in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes

-set a large pot of water on to boil
-when it does add spaghetti and cook until desired mushyness is achieved

-meanwhile, chop up your basil and your garlic
-put them in a bowl and pour in the rest of the olive oil
- add it to the pasta once it's finished and drained
-mix well because the basil will just end up at the bottom otherwise

- wash your spinach and use it as a bed for the rest of the meal
-put the spaghetti with basil mix on next
- then layer on the tomatoes (if you're going for presentation. If not throw everything in the pasta with the basil)
- top it off with the feta cheese

- serves 2 generously and could probably serve 3


NOTES:
This recipe is more of a base for something fabulous. It's still delicious, it could just used a splash of more flavour.
Add some red or orange pepper, and some onion (which you could sauté instead of roast)
If you have flavoured olive oil that might be fun.

Kitchen Adventure #1- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This segment will not be entirely dedicated to the recipe since I had no idea what I was doing and it didn't turn out perfectly. Instead it is more so a traditional style-blog post (recipe that ACTUALLY works included).

Because of my musical theatre involvement, I wasn't going to be home for Mother's Day. My mom wasn't happy about this. She came into my room on Friday and pulled some sort of guilt-trippy stunt that made me feel terrible. To make up for it, I decided to make her a cake: Lemon poopy seed. Her favourite.

I found the "Encyclopedia of Home Cooking" on the shelf and checked the bookmarked pages. One of them was for poppy seed cake. There was no lemon in it. I know how to add lemon, but I really wanted a recipe that had both. Alas there was not. But, there was a lemon cake recipe which is the cake I made (with added poppy seeds).

Now before you judge me, this was my first time ever making a cake from scratch all by myself. I didn't completely screw it up, but my cakes didn't rise because of egg-white problems. As in I didn't separate them since one of my yolks broke and I thought, what the hell - let's hope this works without. FOR CAKES, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE RECIPE AS WRITTEN. The people who wrote them knew what they were doing.

So here is what I did (with proper egg-white instructions).
INGREDIENTS
-1 3/4 cups flour
-2 tsp baking powder
-two pinches of salt
-1/2 cup butter
-2 tsp lemon rind - You grate the skin off :)
-2 eggs

(SPLIT INTO YOLKS AND WHITES- DON'T LET YOUR YOLK BREAK EVEN A LITTLE BIT!!!!)

-1 cup sugar
-3/4 cup milk
-1/4 cup poppy seeds
I threw in 2 tsp of vanilla but it's optional

What to do:
-Take a paper towel and use it to smother 2 8' cake pans with margarine
-Cut two circles of wax paper that fit in the bottom of your pans and stick them down

-Preheat your oven to 350

-Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl

-In a separate bowl put the butter, lemon and attempt to beat them. It's hard. Add in the egg YOLK and sugar, that makes it easier. Then you add the milk and poppy seeds. Beat until smooth.

-Rinse the beaters then beat your EGG WHITES until they're solid enough to not move should you tip the bowl. It will be kind of like whipping cream.

-Pour your beaten egg whites over the rest of the batter.
-With a spatula fold the batter over gently (so you don't burst all the bubbles you've just created in the egg whites). Essentially you are just mixing by turning the batter over. (I hope this makes sense. I didn't do this because it made no sense to me in the recipe book).


-Pour your complete batter into the two cake pans and bake for 35 minutes or until a knife/toothpick dipped into the cake comes out clean.

Now by this time I had told my mother that I had made her a cake - which is how I found out what I did wrong and how to fix it. When the cakes were ready, I suggested using lemon pie filling to put in between the two cakes (stacked). Directions are found on the back of the package.

We had some whipped cream still left in the fridge so I whipped that up, then we added some of the pie filling. If you decided to do this, cool your filling. so it doesn't melt the cream.

Then you spread your filling on the top of one cake, put the other on top, then spread your whip cream/lemon combo stuff on the top.

It tastes delicious.

So go, have kitchen adventures.
Try this recipe. Impress your mothers.
Let me know how it goes.

COOK ON!

Pro Tip #1- Cutting Garlic and Stuff

When cutting garlic, green onion, parsley, or anything else that sticks to your fingers when you sprinkle it, oil your fingers before hand with some olive oil.

To get the smell off afterwards, rub lemon juice on your hands.

Recipe #7 - Fried Rice

Good for getting rid of leftovers and cleaning out your fridge, this recipe is (as usual) simple, delicious, and completely customizable :)

Note #1: Brown rice is better to use if you're a vegetarian
Note#2: Whenever your making rice, it's always 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups of water

What you need:
1 cup of brown rice
1 1/2 cups of water
(or already cooked rice. I'm making it fresh)
1 1/2 pounds of shrimp (mine were pre-cooked)
1 red pepper
1 zucchini
1/2 cup of frozen corn
1 cup of chopped broccoli
1 large carrot, grated
4 green onions
sweet chile sauce
sesame oil
1 tbsp olive oil

What to do:
Put the rice in a pot and set the burner to high.
When it starts to boil turn it right down to low.
Leave it covered for approx. 30 minutes (or until all the water is gone)

Soak the shrimp in water to thaw them.

Chop your veggies and put them in a frying pan with your olive oil (burner set to med.).
Pour your sweet chile sauce and sesame oil on your veggies and stir. Add as much or as little as you like.
When they reached the desired level of cookedness take all the contents out and put it in a bowl for later.

Put the shrimp in the frying pan and heat until hot.

Put the cooked rice, and veggies in the frying pan and mix it allllll together!

Serve and enjoy.
This serves 4, or two with lunches.

Recipe #6 - Pasta Salad

This dish is super simple and delicious. The possibilities are endless as well. You can make it fresh or with leftover noodles. It's also a good way to empty your fridge.

What I used:
-Half a bag of spiral noodles
-Half a cucumber
-1 red pepper
-1 orange pepper
- A can of olives
- A handful of cherry tomatoes
- Balsamic vinegar

What to do:
- Fill a large pot 2/3 full of water and set to "high" on the stove
-Wash and chop your veggies
*This part is optional*
Put some olive oil in a frying pan
Set it to "high"
Add the peppers and tomatoes
Fry until they reach desired mushyness
-----

-When the water boils add the noodles
-Cook until soft all the way through but not overly so
-Drain

Dump everything in a bowl and splash some vinegar (or salad dressing) over everything.

Eat and enjoy!
This gave me dinner and a lunch for the next day.


Note: You can literally add anything to a pasta salad. Meat, cheese, strawberries, other veggies, etc. It will taste great no matter what.

Recipe #5 - Stir-Fry

This is a great way to empty your fridge of all the random vegetables that are lying around. Throw in some left-over meat, and serve it over rice or noodles. There are so many variations to this recipe that this is very general and I encourage you to experiment with it. I don't think I've ever made it the same way twice.

What you need:
Veggies chopped up into bite sized pieces.
Meat of your choice cooked or uncooked also chopped up into small pieces
Saucy things!

I used
-Two handfuls of cauliflower
-Two carrots two celery stalks
-8 little heads of bok-choi
-1 red pepper
-1 pound of chicken (uncooked)
-A laaarge splash of teriyaki sauce
-A large splash of soy sauce
-A good splash of sesame oil
-1 pound of chow mein noodles

What to do:
-Chop the meat first if it's uncooked
(with a separate knife and cutting board)
-Put a drop of olive oil in the frying pan and heat it up on high
-Cut everything else while it's cooking BUT make sure you check on the meat and stir it around.
-When the meat is no longer pink and raw looking, add all the veggies
-Pour your sauces over everything and mix well
-Keep stirring on and off until veggies reach desired level of crunchy/mushyness
-Turn to low until noodles are ready
-While the veggies are frying fill a large pot 2/3 of the way full
with water and heat at max temperature until it boils.
-Add noodles and loosen them up
-Cook as directed by the package or until they taste soft enough

Serve the veggies over the noodles and enjoy! This serves 4 or two with two lunches.

Feel free to post comments telling me what you think, or if you have questions/suggestions.