Restaurant Replicas - Polenta Chips

One of my favourite things to do is try something new in a restaurant and try to replicate it at home. But this has become a bit of a 'double-edge sword habit' of mine.....

On the one had it's absolutely great if I get it pretty close, then I can enjoy the yum at home!! I've made a couple things on here that I had originally had in a restaurant - take my Chorizo & Sweet Potato Dumplings as one example.

On the other hand, once I realise I CAN make it...and it's simple...and it's cheap, I have a hard time then going about ordering it in a restaurant if it's quite overpriced! This is partly why I rarely ever get salad in a restaurant....I refuse to pay for a simple salad I could make at home and feed 20 people with at the same cost! :)

But as I said replicating restaurant food is a favourite past-time of mine, one which I just can't stop doing - let's call it a 'good, bad habit'!

Pork and parsnip mash a la Monsieur Justin

So...not too much to say in front of this post, thankfully tomorrow is Friday!!!

Been feeling pretty Canadian this week! We had enough snow to go sledding this week and we will be skating and watching hockey on Saturday. Happy days!

Straight to the food..... Justin's in the kitchen again! :)

Homemade chicken burgers a la Monsieur Justin

So I was having a crumby Monday....had some slight frustrations at work and then the exercise class I was looking forward to, hoping it would brighten my spirits, was cancelled due to 'weather'.

So by the time I finally got home I was tired, annoyed, frustrated and thinking tomorrow would be a better Monday. Then Justin reminded me our Tesco delivery had come in. Blargh.....wasn't in the mood to cook yet so proceeded to play with interwebs. But then....I remembered Justin did the grocery order this week.......

Me - "Justin, are you waiting for me to cook supper?"

Justin - "No."

Me - "Is that no...you aren't waiting....or no....I'm not cooking?"

Justin - "No, I'll cook it."

Me - (sly grin forming.....) ,"Were you planning on cooking all week?"

Justin - "Yep!"

Me - "YEeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss! Things are coming up rosey!!!!"

So this weeks blog posts are going to be devoted to Justin's cooking endeavours!

Chickpea Curry....drooool

I absolutely love this recipe!

Why? Because it's tasty, easy, and versatile!

I have been making this recipe (or versions) for years, and I'm not sure why I haven't put it on the blog until now.  I'm putting it up partly because I wanted to share it with all of you lovely foodies, but also because when ever I forget one of the ingredients....I'll know where to find the base recipe!!

main ingredients

Sausage Kale Bowl o' Deliciousness

So I first had this tasty dish a few years ago when the wonderful Sarah cooked it for me at hers. I don't know where she got it from (possible Smitten Kitchen??) but it's absolutely scrummy! I've adapted it slightly given that I can't recall what spices go into it...and sometimes I change it up a little, but the recipe below is one I think works quite well!

Epic Post 2013

So I'm a baaaaad blogger......it's been a while....a sad long while! Especially since one of the last times I blogged I promised I would be back to it and well.... epic fail.... so I have a lot of time to make up for!

I will try to blog a bit more and I will try to get back into being more creative with my cooking and baking. I realise I let this go last year when I became busier with work, and although I did make some fab food, and cook some new recipes I failed to share the delightfulness with you lovely folk!

So to make up for it here is some of what happened between the last post and now...I'll post the recipes if I can find or remember them otherwise please enjoy the drool-worthy photos below! (also I wrote this blog mostly while watching Flight of the Navigator!!)

Lesson in food 1 - In Britain, they're biscuits!

So I came across an interesting magazine a few weeks back which I have never seen before, it's called 'oh comely' (www.ohcomely.co.uk/) and it had a really interesting article about the history of the biscuit. I thought I would put it up here for friends to read because it needed to be shared.

Healthy-ish Hangover Hash

I've realised since I have been back at work I have been slacking a bit on the blog. To be honest I've been spending the last month building a new website at work so I haven't spent much time properly in front of the computer on my time off except to do more mindless tasks like reading ebooks, watching movies and my new addiction drawsomething.

But I also haven't been doing to much cooking of exciting things either. So I thought I would ease back into it slowly with a simple throw together breakfast that I made this Saturday after a night in the pub.

Happy Chocolate Courgette Cake and More!!!

Well this was meant to be my last post of 2011 but I lost track of the days and so it's now my first post of 2012! Yipeeeeee!


So how was everyone's holiday break? Mine...well mine was excellent. You see, Justin and I have been 'dating' for almost 9 years now and on Christmas Eve he took the leap and proposed to me! That's right, he plans to make an honest woman outta me! So I have about a year and a half of fun filled wedding planning to do, which will include trying new cake recipes because I plan to make my own wedding cake! So stay tuned for all that fun stuff!

3 Cheese Mac

I. AM. SORRY. 


I have not properly blogged since starting work again. It's amazing how much more 'creativity time' you have when you are out of work!!! But I have noticed and I will make a concerted effort to be better! 


So, my first effort back into the blogosphere is homemade mac & cheese which admittedly I've not ever made before. I fell into the North America KD trap many times for the sake of ease and now not living in the N.A. anymore it's not as readily available. Also, as I get older and realise just how utterly unhealthy boxed KD is I've decided to make a concerted effort to make REAL mac and cheese. So VOILA!