Before I begin, let me just say that someone needs to create a website where you input the ingredients used in a meal and the site, in turn, churns out a shortened recipe name.  Sort of like a bit.ly for recipes.  Until this fantastic site is created, my post names shall continue to be the length of a short story.  Apologies.

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Fact: I totally forgot how much I loved cooking.

For the past two months I have been neglecting my love of homemade food.  This neglect has come in favour of studying (read: all I ate was bagels bought from Tim Hortons), food made by my aunt (which was delicious, but I was spoiled), or food bought from a variety of overpriced Toronto locations.  The latter made up most of my time in Toronto and, while I discovered a bunch of great new places, I really shouldn’t have been prematurely spending my summer income on gourmet vegan meals and mouthwatering cheesecakes.  But man, was it good while it lasted.

Now that I’m back in Ottawa for the summer (hooray!), I figured it was about time I got back to cooking.  I moved into a new house on Monday, which means that I am finally free of last year’s closet-sized kitchen and its oven that made the temperature in the depths of hell feel chilly.  I am now, however, limited by the fact that we only have a single pan and one very large stockpot.  We have no baking pans and no oven mitts.  Something will have to be done about that (the solution will likely come in the form of today’s IKEA trip with my friend Will).

But anyways, in the nature of me trying to get back into healthy eating, I headed down to the grocery store to stock up on veggies galore.  I kitchen improvised (something I want to do almost all the time now) with this meal, creating a supper that was filling, healthy and wielded a spicy kick.  Just the way I like it.

Also, NEWSFLASH: I like mushrooms!  I added some in for good measure.

See recipe under the pictures.  These shots were taken outside on my new porch.  I don’t even need to stand on a chair to take them.  Happiness achieved.

PS: check out how green our grass is – at least all this miserable weather paid off in the form of optimum yard colouring.

Recipe: Green pepper, chicken and mushroom quinoa with a sweet chili sauce
– 1 tbsp olive oil
– 2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
– 1 tsp pepper
– ½ cup quinoa
– ½ cup basmati rice
– 2 cup chicken stock
– 1 onion, chopped
– 1 green pepper, diced
– 1 ½ cup wild mushrooms, sliced
– 2 tsp sweet chili sauce
– ½ tsp crushed red pepper

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet.  Add the chicken and fry until no longer pink.

Meanwhile, bring quinoa, rice, and stock to a boil in a large pot.  Reduce heat and cover to let simmer.

Add the chopped onion to the pan with the chicken in it and fry until softened, about three minutes.  Add green pepper and mushrooms, along with 2 tbsp. water.  Stir for about five minutes to soften all vegetables.  Add the sweet chili sauce and crushed red pepper, mix to combine well.

Once quinoa/rice combination has absorbed all the stock and the chicken mixture is done, toss the two together in your serving bowl.  Makes two large, sleep-inducing servings.