Mexican Tortilla Salad

September 6, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ 1 Comment

With the insanity of this week (frosh week at Carleton, I work everyday!) I am absolutely shocked that I managed to find any time to make any sort of food other than soup noodles. Since I am completely exhausted, I will keep this post short and sweet, before my eyeballs drop out of my head and decide to take a quick power nap on my keyboard.

This salad was inspired by the Mexican Tostada Salad found in the September issue of Canadian Living. I say “inspired by” only because I made a few alterations. One of these alterations was to make my own crispy version of tortilla chips. As I discovered when I made my chicken tortilla soup back in May, a great way to make a quick snack/meal helper-outer is simply to slice up flour tortillas and fry them on the stove. They come out perfectly browned and deliciously crunchy; in this case they served as the perfect replacement to the tostadas required in the original recipe. Also, I don’t know what tostadas actually are… Now, the original recipe in Canadian Living identified this dish as vegetarian and required you add some sort of protein replacement thinger. Never a fan of any protein replacement (tofu=disaster), I fried up some ground beef to add to the mix. Another change I made was to not put salsa into the recipe (I got enough tomato taste from the tomato juice and sliced plum tomatoes). Finally, rather than layering all the fun ingredients, I just kind of tossed them around in one of our popcorn bowls and voila! Salad is complete. Delicious.

Chilled Pea Soup with Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

September 4, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ 3 Comments

Although this soup looks like something out of Harry Potter’s potions class, it actually tasted excellent. Being more experimental with my vegetable intake, I decided that this chilled pea soup (actually called “cold pea soup with chives and lemon by Canadian Living) was a great way for me to adventure into the world of pureed vegetable soups. It was super easy to make, and involved me using my roommate Natalie’s fantastic non-stick pan (always a joy) to cook everything up. The “cold” aspect of this soup made it especially enjoyable, since we’ve been experiencing an unusual beginning of September heat wave lately. Since I was far too cheap to buy the fresh peas required for this recipe, I made use of one of the million bags of frozen veggies we have in our freezer. Due to this handy and large supply of frozen peas, this entire meal cost a grand total of…wait for it…$0 to make!

Also, these cheddar buttermilk biscuitswere amazing and so easy to make. Although I had a terrible encounter with biscuit-making when I was young (something involving me using baking soda instead of powder…), every batch since has worked out swimmingly. I definitely recommend these for a fast supper accompaniment.

Something learned from this dinner: Green onions are somehow related to chives. Since I couldn’t find chives at the grocery store, three different people informed me that I could use green onions as an alternative. Who knew?

PS: Sorry to Canadian Living for renaming both recipes, there was no way I could include the word “chives” in the name if they contained no chives. I absolutely refuse to false advertise.

Swedish “Meatballs” with Egg Noodles

September 1, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ 1 Comment

Lets just start off this post by saying that these “meatballs” became more of a Hungarian goulash (as my mom said). No wonder Canadian Living didn’t accompany this recipe with a photo in their September issue…

So here’s the story: At around 6:30 p.m. on Monday evening, anyone who entered my household would have thought I had gone mad. Leaning over a stove that I wasn’t used to, I rapidly watched my delicate, hand-shaped meatballs rapidly become an unsatisfying, greyish mush. Sure they smelled delicious, but that didn’t stop me from storming around my kitchen, asking my mom why in the world she didn’t have a non-stick pan. Oh kitchen ordeals. As a disclaimer, this entire issue probably could have been avoided if I had put in the mere 1.5 eggs that I was supposed to. Rather than dividing this slimy little egg membrane in order to one and a half times the recipe, I just plopped the whole thing in, deliriously mixing in a frenzy of inflated happiness. Do not try this at home.

Although I am normally a strict believer that if something doesn’t look nice, then it won’t taste good, this goulash/meatballs/whatever you want to call it actually didn’t taste bad. My brother went back for seconds (which may not be saying much, since he is a 16-year-old boy) and I got compliments once again from good ol’ ma and pa.

ALSO, this meal marks the first time I have EVER eaten mushrooms. Go me!

ALSO2: I would like to throw an extra-special shout out to my mom, who had to deal firsthand with my psychotic meatball breakdown.

Apple and Spinach Salad with Cheddar

August 30, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Please read the following, which is the most amusing excerpt I have ever seen in a cooking recipe:

“Bring salad to table, pause for admiration of your arrangement, pour on the dressing, toss and serve.”

With these explicit instructions, I ensured that my family “oohed” and “ahhed” for an appropriate amount of time before I tossed and served this salad. I was very proud.

Believe it or not, this meal represented the first time I have ever eaten a spinach salad. I have decided that it is critical for me to try other leafy greens, and expand my salad appreciation beyond that of the caesar variety. Consistent with what my mom has been telling me for years and years, spinach does not have that much of a taste. It was nice though – like a softer, more chewy version of lettuce. Like lettuce without the gross white spines that I always try to pick out my salads.

The three main add-ins to this salad: apples, toasted almonds and cheddar cheese, made a HUGE difference and I got several compliments throughout the meal from both my mom and dad. My younger brother, however, refused to eat more than a single leaf, at which time he proclaimed that the salad tasted like Lay’s chips. Regardless of my brother’s distaste, the entire big bowl of salad was demolished by the end of dinner and, as my mom just said, “there’s no bigger compliment than to have an empty bowl at the end of the meal.”

PS: Toasting almonds makes the most insanely huge difference. Try it.
PPS: I used Royal Gala apples and normal cheddar cheese…cheaper, yet still delicious.

Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Black Beans (my very first gluten-free potluck)

August 27, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Jane, who was the Student Experience Office’s administrative assistant up until a short two days ago, is now working in a different campus office (we’re really, really happy she got the job, she is awesome!) so we decided to have a belated birthday/going away potluck for her. Now for any of you who actually read what I write, you’ll know that Jane has an intolerance to gluten (which is unfortunately one of my favourite things in the world).

With Jane’s allergy in mind and my strange urge to cook something with quinoa, I decided to make Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Black Beans. I was extremely pleased when this salad turned out to be a siesta-in-a-bowl, with mexican-themed ingredients like corn and black beans. With there not really being a dressing, I found it had a perfect balance of flavours.

Near death experience: Getting my food to the office is usually a difficult ordeal, and this morning proved no different. My poor early-morning decision-making skills placed me in a tricky situation in which I found myself in a short dress balancing a big salad bowl in one hand, while trying the steer my bike with the other. Normally, I am a perfectly competent single-handed bike rider, however the added challenge of me having to constantly readjust my dress as to not flash the universe, combined with the heat of my new jacket made the ride a pain. Needless to say my ankle is now cut up from a near bike-tumbling experience (my superb balancing skills saved my life!). I hope the pictures made this ride worth it!