Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

June 3, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 2 Comments

I have been craving pasta salad for about two months now, so I finally decided to conquer my craving head on. Since I couldn’t find a good, simple (because I’m too lazy to make anything complicated tonight) chicken caesar pasta salad recipe, I just made my own. It’s basically just cooked bowtie and penne pasta, grilled chicken, zucchini and cherry tomaties, and lots of delicious parmesan cheese and caesar salad dressing. My craving is officially satisfied.

Check back later tonight as I am probably going to be posting pictures of the baked good I am making for work tomorrow! Since I liked today’s pictures so much, I am posting three, rather than my normal two. Enjoy the bonus eye candy!

Salmon with a Lentil Pilaf

June 2, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

After an extensive lesson from my roommate Natalie on how to pronounce “pilaf,” this meal was officially complete. Never having made this strange pilaf thing before, I knew this meal was going to be an interesting, new adventure. First of all, the pilaf was made completely of vegetables, marking my official leap into the wonderful world of veggies. Second, I almost cut my finger off when I got a little too enthusiastic chopping the celery. Cooking with me is never boring, let me tell you!

The problem I have been facing lately is leftovers. I have been making all this delicious food to blog about, but I always end up cooking way more than my little belly needs. With such a dilemma, my normal pb&j sandwich lunches have been replaced by lasagna, lentil pilafs and enough homemade pizza to share with all my co-workers (true story). Tomorrow there is a BBQ at work, but alas I must bring this leftover salmon. I am guaranteed still buying a burger, make no mistake.

Since one of my co-workers Iffy (shout out!) requested that I start to post a link to the recipes I use, here it is – try it out!

Also, check out my friend Gord‘s fun new food blog, The Savoury Starving Student(he likes alliterations)!!

Blogging Supplies

June 1, 2010June 6, 2010 ~ Hilary ~ 2 Comments

Instead of making the quiche I was supposed to have for dinner tonight, I went to Ikea with a few of my friends, one of whom luckily had a fantastic minivan to cart us around in. Of course, I didn’t really need anything from the store, but it is just so hard to resist a walk around in the best place ever. Rather than having quiche for supper, I had a glorious plate of Ikea meatballs, which I think is a good alternative to a homemade dinner. At the end of the day, I came away with a few useful cooking things, including some new dishes so I can plate my food in a pretty manner, a pizza cutter, and a cake lifter!

Since Ikea has a bunch of great things, I also managed to pick up a six-pack of watercolour paints, perfect for some craft project that I will be completing at a later date. So much cheaper than buying from an art store. Go Ikea!

One final note: I got a care package in from my mom today, and in it came many treasures, including a souvenir T-shirt from when my dad went to Stockholm (which I wore to Ikea, how Swedish of me) and this …

Thank you mom and thank you Ikea!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

May 30, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

I know what you’re thinking: “how can Hilary be making soup when it’s almost June, she must be insane!” Well let me tell you, dear readers, that your diagnoses of insanity is quite accurate; however, this soup was actually perfect for today. With the sun taking a well-deserved break from an otherwise scorching week, I decided to take advantage of the cloudiness and make this heart warming Mexican-fiesta-in-a-bowl.

The recipe was from my Canadian Living cookbook (obviously) and found me making my first ever homemade soup. Gone are the days of Campbell’s heat-and-eat soups – I am officially a cook! I ended up adding way more cumin and chili pepper than the recipe suggested…I like a soup with a little kick!

Also, if anyone is ever looking for a great snack, fry some cut up tortilla pieces. I added my homemade tortilla chips to the top of the soup and it was a delicious crunchy contrast to the smooth consistency of the soup.

First attempt at soup: a success! Also, this Mexican-inspired dish curbed my major craving for tacos, and at half the cost. Hilary: 1, Food expenses: 0.

Next up on the menu? Something to use up my ricotta cheese (which expires in two days) and my copious amount of mini sweet peppers.

The Ultimate Bake Sale

May 29, 2010June 6, 2010 ~ Hilary ~ 9 Comments

On Friday afternoon, my friend Gord and I decided we wanted to have a bake sale. Since we were hyped up on Friday afternoon air and sugar, we decided weren’t just going to have any bake sale – oh no, we were going to have our bake sale cater to all the bargain hunters at the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale!

For those of you who don’t know, garage sales begin very, very early. And so, with our backpacks on and our baked goods loaded, we woke up in the wee hours of the morning (5:45 for me) and eagerly made our way down to the corner of Bank and Fourth Street where we decided to set up shop. In case you’re trying to pinpoint our location, I can tell you that we were directly across from the Wild Oat, and that their little bake table seller frequently glanced over at our table to check out the competition (but seriously, they were really good sports about us being set up so close to them, and their food looked majorly delish).

Flash back to Friday night: Gord arrives at my house with a five kilo bag of flour, which has been accidentally torn and is now being stored in a reusable Walmart shopping bag. After poorly estimating how much ingredients we needed, we trekked down to the local grocery store and picked up a pile of things, including two bags of sugar, 18 eggs and a heart-stopping amount of butter.

Once we got to my house, we successfully managed to conjure up SIX different baked good recipes, including vegan double-chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin muffins. We were baking for five hours straight, and surrived thanks to the beautiful music of Hannah Georgas, a poorly filmed Sex and the City torrent and a $20 air -circulating fan. A special, sad mention goes out to the one batch of oatmeal raisin cookies that came out of the oven DOA. Also, I have never eaten so much cookie/muffin/cake batter in my life. I probably ingested more raw eggs in one day than Rocky… not good.

After we finished baking, I got out my paper drawer and craft box and made us some cute little signs to go with the food.

I am proud to announce that the day was a huge success! After spending a little too much money on baking supplies and juice boxes, Gord and I still managed to break even and sold $60 worth of delicious baked food! It was a little difficult in the beginning, but after my roommate Natalie started off the day’s purchasing, it all went uphill! I even got to practice my waitressing/being annoying skills as I walked up and down Fourth Street kindly pleading with people to buy our food. I only got told off once!

All in all, a successful day. With me yelling out “buy our homemade baked goods” and Gord chirping in with “and our juice boxes,” we had fun and made fools of ourselves in the best possible way.