For the Love of Food

Well, I am quite pleased to say that our potluck was a huge success.  Not only did we had over 30 people show up for dinner, but we had many people show-up in the morning to help with our garden Spring Cleaning event.  And, after many hours of hard work in the garden and in front of the grill, we were all ready to sit down and share a nice large meal together.

The buffet was full and everything was picked away to the last piece!  The chocolate-coated fruit was a huge hit with the children and it was gone within minutes!

The whole event was such a great success and made all our gardeners so happy that they asked what we had to do to have another event like this.  I got so many compliments on organizing the event and thanks to our “sponsor” – Foodbuzz – for making this possible.  So…we are thinking and hopefully next month we will come-up with something new and exciting for Foodbuzz 24,24,24 again.

See recipes bellow: Continue Reading »

This is my favorite summer time pizza. It’s so light and refreshing, but filling at the same time. It’s a take on Betty Crocker’s Pesto-Chicken Sandwiches. This recipe also has a Unexpectedly Caesar taste (tastes like Caesar salad, but does not have a traditional Caesar salad dressing)!

Ingredients:
1 Pizza Dough recipe
500 grams of chicken breast
salt
pepper
the hearts of 2 Boston Bibb Lettuce
1/3 Cup of Basil Pesto
2 Tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
12 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

Directions:
the pizza dough recipe makes 2 pizza pies, but in this case instead of separating the dough into 2 balls, keep it as one large ball and roll it out to fit a large casserole dish. Oil the casserole dish with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then lay in the dough. With a fork, prick many little holes on the dough bottom so that it does not bubble while baking. Bake the dough for about 20 minutes at 200°C (400°F). Remove from the oven and let sit while the chicken cooks.
In another casserole dish, lay in the chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at the same temperature as the pizza dough for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and once it has cooled enough to handle, cut into small cubes.
In a small pan heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the chicken breast cubes in it with the pesto until the chicken is well coasted int he pesto. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, wash, shred, and dry the lettuce. Place the lettuce in the pizza dough and sprinkle on all the Parmesan cheese and toss to evenly spread the cheese. Top with the pesto chicken and it’s ready to serve!

Makes 6 servings for a light or small mean or 3 servings as an entire meal all rolled in one!

I made the Spicy Feta cheese a really long time ago for a recipe that my brother-in-law recommended (the spicy feta recipe is his) and then I froze it because I had more than I could use at the time. Yesterday I found it in my freezer and smelled it and the first thing that popped into my mind was, hey, I could make this taste like Caesar salad dressing! And, sure enough, that’s exactly how it came out!

Salad:
Ingredients:
Bibb Lettuce, washed and torn
¼ an English Cucumber, julienned
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Brandy Vinegar (or other spirit vinegar)
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
a few Tablespoons of Spicy Feta (see recipe bellow)

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, combine lettuce and cucumber. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss. Add as much of the feta mixture as you like and toss. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to start with and toss. Add olive oil and toss. Taste and add more vinegar if you want it to have a bit more zing to it.

Spicy Feta:
Ingredients:
400 grams Feta, crumbled
4 cloves of Garlic, pressed
1 small spicy red Chili, finely shredded

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together.

This is a delicious filling for fried wontons or to toss onto a salad. It can be frozen in a freezer bag and used as you need.