Florentine Turkey Meatballs

Filled with antioxidant-rich spinach and smothered in a homemade pasta sauce, there’s no denying it, you’re gonna want these balls in your mouth. Conveniently, you can find the recipe for that sauce here. The rotini was a gluten-free rice pasta but these were good enough to eat as is, and we did.

Spinach Turkey Meatballs

I eyeball everything these days cause I love to live dangerously. Adjust to your tastes.

1 lb lean ground turkey
a couple handfuls of fresh chopped spinach
1 rounded tsp Italian seasoning
two cloves garlic
fresh parsley
1/4 parmesan cheese, extra for garnishing
an egg, beaten
salt and pepper
Gluten-free rotini

Combine ingredients, mix, form the meatballs, brown them in a frying pan, finish in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Pour sauce around the meatballs so they soak up that deliciousness and don’t dry out.  Or bake them… or cook through in the frying pan… whatever floats your boat.

Red Beet Pesto with Gluten-Free Linguini

The classic red sauce is a staple in our rotation, but coming up with a fresh new sauce was a welcomed addition to our tired routine. At least for me; Phil is still on the fence about beets… and pesto. One thing we do agree on is our love for brown rice pasta. We use the gluten-free pasta brand Tinkyada, and honestly once you throw some sauce on it’s hard to tell the difference, I DARE YOU!

I can’t take full credit for this recipe. My food-savvy friend Sarah — the same one who made her own wedding cake — put the idea in my head. Though our recipes differ slightly the end result is a deliciously light sauce. It all comes down to a few simple ingredients: beets, spinach, garlic, and basil. You can elaborate or adapt the recipe to your tastes;  for instance, Sarah makes hers by sautéing spinach and kale with onion and garlic before blending it with the beets. Sometimes when I’m feeling decadent, I stir in some cream.

Red Beet Pesto

2 roasted red beets
spinach
garlic
fresh basil
lemon zest
shaved parmesan
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

I roasted two beats with EVOO, salt and pepper for about 45 minutes. When all’s cooked and cooled enough to handle, I peel and chop the beats and put them in a food processor with a couple generous handfuls of spinach, some crushed garlic, basil leaves, and more EVOO. I blend to desired consistency, adding more oil if needed. I also mix in a little shaved parmesan if i have it, then garnish with lemon zest come presentation time.  The lemon zest is SO important to this dish! It makes all the difference in creating a fresh and exciting meal. 

Best enjoyed right right away but can last a couple of days in the fridge if you have extras.

As you can see, I snuck in a little piece of honey garlic sausage for an extra protein kick. It was delicious.

Kaneda Sushi

My post Vegas hangover had me craving something fresh and healthy, and what better meal to breathe life back into my broken body than sushi. Kaneda is located on Broadway between Granville and Hemlock. They are a dine in/take-out/ All You Can Eat/late night sushi joint with a pleasant decor and mid range prices. Theres a 15% discount on take-out orders, and a $30 minimum for delivery items. Right now they have a special where you can get a california roll for 99 cents.

My favourite item was the Salmon Nigiri ($1.50), it was the best I’ve ever had. The fish was so fresh and buttery, I could have eaten a whole meal of just nigiri. Look how succulent they are! Nom nom nom

The appetizer tempura ($6.95) came with two prawns and three root vegetables, and best of all, it was served with miso soup. What an excellent deal. The tempura batter was light and cooked all the way through, however the prawns were a little over cooked. Still, taste wise, everything was delicious.

When dining in I always try to be adventurous with my orders, but my take-out order staples are always Dynamite and Spicy Tuna. The Spicy Tuna was delicious, not drowning in sriracha sauce and not too fishy. The roll was perfectly balanced between spice and flavour, allowing the tuna to shine through. It was $4.25.

Like the spicy tuna, my dynamite roll was very fresh, especially the avocado – such a vibrant green! I don’t always like lettuce in my dynamite rolls but this was the perfect balance. I really enjoyed this, even at $4.50. But you get what you pay for, and this was worth it.

On my second take-out adventure I steered from the path and ordered a Yam Roll and a Gomaae roll. Sadly, the Gomaae was a little underwhelming. I was hoping it would have a peanut sauce drizzle over it, alas it was a little dry. But still, and interesting roll and who knows, the dine-in version might be better. I felt that at $4.00, this roll was over priced for what you got.

I don’t usually like Ebi Nigiri because they are alway so dried out, but after having tried the salmon and loving it, I thought why not. The ebi ($1.50) was better than other joints, still not my favourite, but I would order it again.

The yam roll was light for a battered root vegetable. Again, for a vegetable roll, I thought $4.00 was over priced.

Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Arugula and Spinach

Lately I’ve seen couscous take a back seat on the quinoa bandwagon, so I thought it was about time to bring it to the foreground again. Mixing the couscous with arugula and spinach stretched out the ingredients and we were able to get two delicious meals of it.

This was a great meal for a hot summer night, and was even better the next day after the flavours had soaked in. Add some sliced avocado for a little extra umph and put it into a whole wheat pita with humus for lunch the next day. Yummers.

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

1 cup couscous
1 big clove garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup each of cucumber, red, yellow, and orange peppers, finely chopped
red onion, finely chopped (to your taste)
4-5 depitted olives and a splash of olive juice
a big handful each of arugula and spinach
juice from half a lemon. Garnish with extra lemon slices and/or zest
fresh feta, to your taste.
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Pour 1 cup uncooked couscous into 1 cup salted boiling water. Remove from heat and let stand for 3 minutes. When cooked, drizzle with olive oil and fluff with a fork.

Chop tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, olives, and onion to similarly sized pieces. Add vegetables to couscous along with minced garlic, parsley, crumbled feta, and the juice from half a lemon. If you’ve bought bottled olives, adding a splash of the juices extends the flavour without having to use a lot of olives.

In a large salad bowl pour two tablespoons olive oil over arugula and spinach. Add couscous and mix. Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with lemon zest or additional lemon wedges.

I had every intention of making my own rosemary/garlic/thyme/lemon chicken, even bought all the ingredients… then I stumbled upon Jackson’s Rotisserie at The Public Market and everything smelt so good and it was all ready to eat … so I caved a bought a pre-made chicken. It was delicious, but next time I will make my own.

Meatless Monday

If, like me, you’ve woken from a meat-induced Superbowl coma this morning feeling groggy and still a little bloated from the night before, Meatless Monday might just be something that appeals to you. Not that I didn’t love those pulled pork nachos yesterday… but todays a new day.

Now, for all those Veggie-Fearing Folk: taking out the meat does not mean taking out the flavour – that’s what we have cheese for. Here is a vegetable substituted recipe for pizza snacks - quick, delicious, and easy to prepare.

Zucchini Pizza Rounds

You will need:
1 large zucchini
Homemade tomato sauce, which I have conveniently provided you with a recipe for! The Store bought stuff works too
Parmesan cheese, or the grated cheese of your choice
Any other pizza toppings you might enjoy. I used a finely cut red onion for a little sweetness, and finely cut spinach.

What you do:

Preheat your oven to 400

Slice zucchini into finger-width rounds (Look at those rounds, I found the zucchini at the produce store for like 50 cents! IGA… eat your heart out)

Add a dollop of tomato sauce to each round.
Finely chop whatever pizza toppings you want to include, and scatter over rounds.

Top each round off with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the parmesan is golden.
Let zucchini rounds cool for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy.

Alternatively, you can make a great non-pizza zucchini snack. Douse zucchini rounds in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and top with parmesan cheese.

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Breakfast Biscuit Burger

Who doesn’t love a breakfast sandwich on a Sunday morning?! Today we woke up and decided to take the leftover buttermilk biscuits from last night and make  magnificent breakfast sandwiches. Yes, magnificent. The beauty of the Breakfast Biscuit Burger (thanks for the great name Phil!) is that you can tailor  it to your liking. I went for a fried egg, sliced chicken, spinach and marble cheese combo.Phil’s sandwich was sans egg, more hot sauce, and lots of sliced chicken. I also whipped up a spicy garlic aioli sauce with a few shakes of cayenne pepper and Franks Red Hot (we put that #$*% on everything).

For the perfect circular egg I used a cookie cutter. Placed the cutter in a buttered pan, cracked my egg inside and let it cook about two minutes. I then removed the cookie cutter and flipped the egg over to cook for another minute.

I don’t know if you can tell but the cookie cutter I used was a balloon shape. Or a speech bubble. The girls from The Little Yellow Kitchen made a Hungry Belly Breakfast Sandwich using Bobby Flay’s recipe for pork sausages and I think pairing the biscuits with Flay’s sausage patties would better suit the “breakfast burger” title I’ve christened these sandwiches, alas more preparation was needed and we were too hungry to go shopping! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!