Canadian Living

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

~ 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!

Home this weekend, planning on cooking LOADS of tasty stuff for the fam!

Dill Grilled Salmon and Mini Potato Zucchini Latkes

~ Hilary ~ 1 Comment

With the clock quickly ticking on my friend Gord’s blogger challenge, I knew that last night was as good a time as any to complete my task.  Just to remind you all, my challenge was to take one of Gord’s recipes and make it my own.  This being said, I decided to take his “Cheddar Zucchini Patties” post and ditch the cheese in favour of a hefty amount of grated potato and chopped dill.  I must admit, I can’t take total credit for this idea, and was inspired (as always) by the Canadian Living recipe for Mini Potato Zucchini Latkes.  I first saw this recipe in the mini cookbook that accompanied September’s issue of the magazine, which my mom very dearly supplied me with when she visited last week.  The only major alteration I made to the recipe was to add two tablespoons of finely chopped dill, to add some sort of consistent flavour to my meal.  These latkes turned out pretty well, however I think I definitely could have benefitted from cooking them a bit longer, as the insides still had a bit of a munchy consistency.  Overall, these latkes provided the perfect accompaniment to my salmon, completed a chellenge and were the best “dinner food that reminds me of a breakfast meal” that I’ve had in a while.

Alright, so the salmon!  Let me tell you, Canadian Living has countless recipes containing three ingredients: lemon, dill and fish.  It was quite the challenge to choose just one (I, of course, needed to use up the dill leftover from my potato and corn salad last week), but I eventually settled on the one called Dill Grilled Trout (yes, I realize I made salmon, but the recipe called for either!) This recipe saw the Glorious Return 2.0 of the beloved George Foreman grill, something which made me an extremely happy camper.

On an unrelated but otherwise interesting note: I have actually planned out my meals for the next week!  I’m not sure where this sudden urge for organization is coming from, but I’m excited!

Dilled Potato and Corn Salad

~ Hilary ~ 1 Comment

I have finally decided to use the precious Prince Edward Island potatoes that my friend Emma brought me after her trip home to the island.  Waiting for the ideal moment and ideal meal to cook these potatoes was difficult, considering that I place PEI potatoes in the same value category as things like “gold” and “seasons 1-6 of LOST.”  That being said, my expectations were pretty high as I searched for a recipe worthy of their goodness.

This recipe came from the September issue of Canadian Living, which my mom kindly dropped off to me before leaving for Chicago.  The recipe incorporated the potatoes nicely (they are so key they even got a special mention in the title!) as well as took advantage of the fact that it is now corn season!  Since we don’t have a BBQ, I grilled the corn on the stove using a non-stick pan.  How did this work out?  Alright, I guess, but I am mourning over the absence of those photogenic grill lines that BBQ’s provide.  I may have to do something drastic and make my own homemade griller…

An added bonus for this meal?  It cost me a grand total of $3.56 to make.  This minimal amount included: a large bottle of red wine vinegar (which I am not extremely fond of but I think the taste may grow on me), fresh dill, green onions and corn.  Not too shabby for a filling dinner and leftover lunch.  Also, I’m so glad I went with the fresh dill, it was so refreshing.  New goal for the school year: plant and maintain my own spice garden.

The pictures turned out so well that I couldn’t select only two, so we have a hat trick of photos for your viewing pleasure!  Next up: more birthday surprises and the completion of Gord’s challenge.

Grilled Chicken Barley Salad

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

I made this salad exactly one week ago to this day.  The reason I am just posting it now can probably only be attributed to sheer laziness and my extreme backlog of blog posts.  Get ready for some frequent (I’m talking maybe everyday) updates for the next week or so!

ANYWAYS, back to this Grilled Chicken Barley Salad.  Surprisingly (or maybe not), this dish reminded me so much of the Mediterranean Barley Rice Salad I made back at the beginning of July.  That being said, they were both delicious, and perhaps in the end the only similarities were my extremely poor palette and the fact that both dinners contained barley.  Since I have been majorly lacking chicken in my diet lately (considering I ate plain chicken three times a week this school year – I’m in withdrawls), I decided I needed to find a recipe that incorporated both summer flavours and this favourite protein.  Once again, Canadian Living pulled through for me, and this dish ended up being extremely easy to make as well as super effective as a work lunch for the next two days.  Could a student ask for anything else?

Also, no matter how hard I try, I cannot bring myself to like raw tomatoes.  I used grape tomatoes in this recipe, and I thought the sweetness of them would make me fall in love.  How wrong I was.  I will need to find another way to conquer this ever-expanding tomato hatred.

ALSO PART TWO: My friend Gord at the Savoury Starving Studenthas once again blog challenged me!  This time, I need to make one of the recipes that he has posted on his site.  Like a true journalism student, he gave me a deadline (August 26).  I’ll keep you posted with what I choose, and will obviously post an absurd amount of pictures once the challenge is complete.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Fruit and Raspberry Coulis (Dinner Party, Part III)

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Random intro line: The commercial for “Eat, Pray, Love” is on – I want to see it SO badly.  Plus the song in the trailer is super catchy.

…

I knew that my dinner party encore had to be decadent and impressive.  With these two requirements in mind, I narrowed my dessert search down to two dishes, this cheesecake, and a Chocolate Brownie Turtle Cake (from my Canadian Living Family Cookbook).  Leaving the latter until another (very soon) occasion, I went forth with preparations for the cheesecake.

Having this be only the second cheesecake I’ve ever made, I was once more concerned about my lack of water-bath for cooking the cake.  I cranked my oven down to a mere 275° F, and cooked the cheesecake for 3/4 of the required time.  Perhaps I should be more modest, but the cake turned out perfectly.  There was not a SINGLE crack, nor bubble in the top of the cheesecake.  I am extremely pleased.  Also, it didn’t taste too much like white chocolate, which pleasantly surprised me, since I’m more of a milk chocolate girl.  With patience on my side for once, I let the cheesecake cool completely before lovingly cutting into the cake to prepare it for pictures.  The results, I think, are quite pretty…

Needless to say, I had cheesecake for three major meals the next day.  Nom, nom, nom, nom!