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This past weekend the farmers market was full of new fresh local produce including ramp (aka wild leeks), fiddleheads, favabeans and asparagus. I had left some slots open in my meal plan this week to pick up some of the new arrivals to make a dish or two but now that there was so much selection I just could not decide what to get! In the end I decided to get a bit of everything and I was alrea
With the warmer weather here I have been thinking about grilling more and burgers definitely come to mind! When I went over all of my burger recipes I noticed a glaring omission; where were the buffalo chicken burgers? I am a huge fan of all things buffalo chicken and it is always a treat to grill up some buffalo chicken burgers in the summer. I like to start my buffalo chicken burgers off by
Not too long ago a reader asked me if I had ever combined avocado and goat cheese in a pasta dish, which I had not, but since I am a huge fan of both ingredients I was immediately intrigued. I have used avocado and goat cheese in a lot of recipes together but mostly where other ingredients were the star of the show with the avocado and goat cheese there as backup and it was about time to let th
With the warmer weather here grilling season is open and it is time to get your grill on! Dust off your barbecue, fire it up and start grilling your steaks, chicken, burgers, vegetables and even your fruits! Late spring is always a great time of year when the weather gets warmer and you can can start doing more things outside including cooking. With the first long weekend of warm weather upo
After making the strawberry BBQ chicken club sandwiches with bacon, avocado and goat cheese I still had plenty of the roasted strawberry BBQ sauce leftover and I knew just what I wanted to make with it, a strawberry BBQ quinoa salad. I have been wanting to try making a BBQ chicken quinoa salad with black beans and corn for a while now but a strawberry BBQ quinoa salad suddenly sounded like a mu
I have really been looking forward to spring and the fresh local asparagus and one of the first things that I wanted to make with it was some crispy baked asparagus fries! Ever since I discovered that you can coat vegetables in panko bread crumbs and bake them that they would become healthy 'fries' I have been doing it with pretty much every vegetable that I can get my hands on. Given
Armed with my shiny new roasted strawberry BBQ sauce I was ready to use it on something grilled! Before I had even made the strawberry BBQ sauce I was already thinking about using it in a grilled chicken club sandwich with lettuce, tomato and bacon in addition to the grilled chicken and the BBQ sauce. Even though the sandwich would be great just like that I really could not resist kicking it u
Grilling season is quickly approaching and I am getting ready by making some homemade BBQ sauces starting with this seasonal strawberry BBQ sauce. This strawberry BBQ sauce was inspired by the flavours in my strawberry and balsamic grilled chicken salad and my balsamic strawberry and chicken pizza with sweet onions and smoked bacon which predominantly feature the strawberry and balsamic vinegar
As many of you know, I am a big fan of quinoa and I have been ever since I first tried it. You can use quinoa in surprisingly many ways and I have been enjoying experimenting with different ways of using it over the last few years. My next experiment was to use it as a replacement for breadcrumbs to get a crispy coating on chicken (or other things) that was inspired by the fact that when you b
Although spring has officially been here for a while now I don't really see spring as having started until the weather gets warmer and the local asparagus starts to show up, which it finally did this week. This is always a happy time of year for me as it means that for the next few months I will get to head down to the farmers market every week to see what is new and pick up a few things up. W
This Sunday is Mother's Day and that is a great opportunity to show her how much you care! A great way to do that is to cook for her and whether you make her breakfast in bed, a special brunch, dinner or a treat for dessert I am sure that she will appreciate it. If you are still looking for some last minute recipe ideas I have collected collected a few of my favourite options for Mother's Day t
The other day I noticed a sale on trout which reminded me that it has been a long time since I last made a fish dish and it was the perfect excuse to do so. Fish amandine, or in this case trout amandine, is a super quick and easy dish where the fish is fried and then served in a browned butter, lemon and almond sauce and it can be made with any number of different fish fillets. Essentially aft
Normally I would tend to use a fresh batch of carne asada carne asada to make some carne asada tacos but since April is the National Salad Month it seemed only appropriate to make a carne asada salad. I mean you really cannot go wrong starting a salad off with some grilled medium-rare meat, right? I used lettuce for the base of the salad and then I build it out with some homemade pico de gal
Next up in my exploration of Mexican meats is a classic that is perfect for the warming weather, carne asada or grilled steak. Carne asada can be as simple as grilling up a steak seasoned with salt and pepper or it can be marinated with a number of different marinades. Marinades for carne asada often contain lime juice which helps to tenderize the steak which is commonly a flank steak or a ski
Carnitas, a crispy Mexican style pulled pork, can be used in a number of different dishes and sometimes simple is best, especially when you want to experience the carnitas in all their glory, and tacos fit the bill perfectly. My initial thought for tacos is almost always to simply throw some diced sweet onion and cilantro in along with the meat but carnitas and salsa verde are such a great comb
Carnitas are a Mexican pulled pork dish where the pork is crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. Traditionally a pork butt or shoulder is braised in lard until tender and then the heat is turned up so that the pork fries and gets crispy on the outside. For todays home cook looking to replicate carnitas an easier way is to simmer the same fatty cut of pork, a butt or shoulder
It is May already and that means that Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner! Once again it kind of snuck up on me this year despite the fact that it is on May 5th every year and it is time to make up for the lost time! Mexican cuisine is one of my favourites so I see Cinco de Mayo as the perfect opportunity to pull out some of my favourite Mexican recipes and to try some new ones! I figure
April is the National Grilled Cheese Month and it has been full of tasty grilled cheese sandwiches but unfortunately it is coming to an end. During the last month 10 all new tasty grilled cheese sandwiches were added to Closet Cookings already rather large collection bringing the total to almost 60! With this being the last day of April I thought that it would be a great opportunity to roundup
Today is Closet Cookings 6th Birthday! This last year of Closet Cooking was full of new recipes and they might just be the tastiest ones yet! With all of the tantalizing new recipes added this year there are now almost 1700 recipes on Closet Cooking with no signs of stopping! When I first started Closet Cooking 6 years ago it was more of an experiment, a way of chronicling my adventures in th
This will be the last new grilled cheese for the National Grilled Cheese Month and it is possibly the tastiest, the taco grilled cheese. The basic idea is to take all of the flavours of taco night and stuff them into one rather large grilled cheese sandwich! This sandwich starts with some taco seasoned ground beef made with a homemade taco seasoning and then it continues with the classic taco
The National Grilled Cheese Month is coming to an end soon but I still have a few grilled cheese sandwiches up my sleeves including this tasty BBQ pulled pork grilled cheese! In my opinion it is hard to go wrong combining succulent pulled pork in a sweet, tangy and spicy BBQ sauce and then smothering it in ooey gooey melted cheese! BBQ pulled pork sandwiches are often served with the addition
One of my favourite things to order at Thai restaurants is soups as they are always so vibrant, fresh and tasty! As it turns out they are also really easy to make at home with just a few exotic ingredients that you should be able to easily find at a local Asian grocery store. This chicken soup balances spicy, sour, salty and sweet elements with a focus on the spicy and sour provided by the chi
I first came across this recipe for a Hungarian mushroom soup a few years ago on All Recipes and as soon as I tried it, it became a favourite and a staple! I am a big fan of mushrooms and you really cannot go wrong with a tasty paprika and sour cream sauce so combining them all in a soup is bound to be loads of tasty! The final component of the flavour profile for this soup is the dill which I
The other day I was looking for a snack and I wanted something light and healthy. Hummus, a mixture of pureed chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), garlic and lemon juice, is one of my go-to appetizers in these sort of situations since despite being so simple, it is so addictively good! Although a basic hummus is amazing all by itself I like to change things up every once in a while by some extra
Up next for National Grilled Cheese Month is a sandwich that is inspired by both a bar room staple and plain old family fun meal, chicken fajitas! Chicken fajitas are seasoned, grilled chicken, sauteed peppers and onions served with fresh tortillas and condiments like shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. The ingredients for chicken fajitas are typically served separate at the tab
I have been seeing these baked avocado bacon and eggs on pinterest for a while now and I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to make them! Both avocados and bacon are two of my favourite foods and eggs are not far behind so combining them together in one simple dish can only be loads of goodness! The basic idea is to cut an avocado in half, scoop out enough to fit an egg, fill it with
I am pleased to announce my latest eCookbook Melty Grilled Cheese! I know that you knew that a grilled cheese cookbook was coming! I actually wanted to write the grilled cheese cookbook first but I kept coming up with new ideas for grilled cheese and other projects took priority... well, you know how it is... With National Grilled Cheese Month here I now have the opportunity to pull out al
I am a big fan of Thai cuisine and one of my favourite dishes is Pad Thai with another being anything with a Thai spicy peanut sauce and the was wondering about combining the two! The basic idea was to use all of the ingredients from pad thai including the rice noodles, shrimp, egg, bean sprouts, etc. and replacing the tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar and chili sauce sauce with the spicy peanut
My next grilled cheese sandwich for National Grilled Cheese Month combines two childhood favourites, sloppy joes and grilled cheese, for one really sloppy sandwich that is kid approved! Sloppy Joes are a quick and easy meal consisting of a ground meat in a sauce that is served in a bun and as its name suggests it can be a little messy to eat. I figured that you really could not go wrong taking
Whenever I make a ham dinner I always make sure to save the ham bone because it can be used in soups or stocks to which it adds a ton of flavour. (The ham bone keeps well in the freezer so even if I don't plan on making a soup right away I freeze it for later.) One of my favourite soups to use a ham bone in is the ever so simple and yet wonderful ham and bean soup! Ham and bean soup lends
Up next for National Grilled Cheese month is a simple grilled cheese take on the Cuban sandwich where instead of using a Cuban bun and cooking it pressed style we use bread and butter and cook it grilled style. The Cuban sandwich consists of a really tasty combo of roast pork (preferably Cuban roast pork), ham, pickle, mustard and plenty of melted swiss cheese. Although this is just a minor va
Two of my recent food obsessions have been quinoa and cauliflower and it was past time for me to use them both in a dish together! Another thing that I have been enjoying lately is whole grain salads where the recipes follows some basic guidelines including starting off with quinoa or a whole grain like farro, a vegetable or two, possibly some beans and/or nuts, a cheese and a dressing. As soo
Dashi (??, ??) is a Japanese broth or stock that is used in many Japanese dishes from soups to rice bowls to okonomiyaki and even in omelettes. One of the reasons that it is used in so many dishes is because it is packed full of umami and it adds a ton of flavour to anything that you use it in. There are several different kinds of dashi but the main one is made with kombu, a dried kelp, and ka
The other day when I was cleaning out my fridge I came across a tub of miso and that reminded me that it had been far too long since I last made miso soup! Miso is a Japanese ingredient that is made with fermented soybeans and it is used in a lot of different dishes including miso soup. Miso soup is a Japanese soup that is made with dashi, a Japanese broth packed with umami, miso and various
In addition to trying out some new grilled cheese recipes during National Grilled month I wanted to update a few older ones and top on my list was one of my favourites, the kimchi and bacon grilled cheese! Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage that works surprisingly well in a sandwich with lots of ooey gooey melted cheese! Bacon and kimchi are like a match made in heaven and I can hardly resist
Up next for National Grilled Cheese month is a chicken gyro grilled cheese with all of the flavours of a chicken gyro! This is one really impressive grilled cheese containing chicken souvlaki, a Greek style grilled meat on a stick, tomato, onion, tzatziki, feta, and plenty of melted cheese, preferably a Greek melt-y cheese like kasseri. Normally gryos are made with meat that is roasted on a ve
April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich month and that was all the excuse that I needed to try out some new grilled cheese sandwich recipes! Not too long ago, while I was devouring a batch of the ever so addictive jalapeno popper dip, I was thinking about other ways to enjoy that amazing flavour combination and the idea that stuck was the one for a jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwich
Ever since I made the Thai inspired sweet chili chili dressing it has been haunting my dreams and I have been obsessing about using it again! Really this sweet chili dressing is addictive enough to eat by the spoonful or even drink by the bottle full but I wanted to use it in another recipe and enchiladas sounded like the perfect option! I was thinking that chicken and sweet chili would be an
Up next for grilled cheese month I bring you a grilled cheese sandwich inspired by caramel apples! That combo of tart juicy apples with sweet caramel sauce is simply irresistible and the the sweet and savoury apple and cheddar combo is not too far behind so why not combine the two? This sandwich is really easy to make, simply combining cheddar cheese, sliced apples and caramel sauce in a grill
Are you lucky enough to still have some leftover ham from Easter? (Or do you have some bacon on hand?) These ham and egg breakfast quesadillas are a great way to enjoy it in a tasty breakfast that is easy to make and comes together in a matter of minutes! It is so easy to add some leftover ham into scrambled eggs for a tasty breakfast but why not try doing something new and fun like quesadilla
April is National grilled cheese month! Given my obsession with grilled cheese sandwiches you can bet that there are going to be some new grilled cheese sandwiches on Closet Cooking over the next few weeks starting off with these absolutely tasty bacon double cheeseburger grilled cheese sandwiches! The idea here is to include all of the flavours of a mouth watering bacon double cheese burger i
Although a ham dinner is pretty amazing I sometimes think that I like the leftovers even more, especially that ham bone! One of my favourite ways of enjoying the ham bone and some of the ham leftovers is in a ham and bean soup which is so easy to make and so unbelievably good; pure comfort food! This time I thought that I would change things up and instead of making a classic ham and bean soup
One of my favourite special occasion dinners has to be the ham dinner! Not only are ham dinners oh so tasty but the are also super easy to make and coming up with interesting ways of using all of the leftovers is always fun! There are different kinds of hams and my favourite is the smoked and cured picnic ham which often comes on sale for dirt cheap and it never disappoints. You can cook a sm
I have been on an egg kick this Easter and with the success of the bacon guacamole deviled eggs I could not help but think of other flavours to use in deviled eggs and of course one of my first thoughts was of buffalo chicken deviled eggs! You really can't go wrong with buffalo chicken anything and I really liked the sound of combining chicken and egg in a tasty buffalo chicken deviled egg
Despite the fact that it has been a little warmer out lately, I have still been craving soups and I recently realized that it had been a very long time since I last made one of my favourite soups, a broccoli and cheddar soup. The broccoli and cheddar flavour combination is a really good one that I never tire of reinventing in different dishes but this soup is one that I keep coming back to ag
It is hard to think about Easter without thinking about eggs and deviled eggs are a great way to include some eggs in your Easter menu. Deviled eggs are hard boiled eggs that are served cut in half and stuffed with a mixture that typically includes the egg yolk along with some mayonnaise, mustard and a touch of hot sauce or a garnish of chili powder. Although your basic deviled eggs are great a
I cannot believe that Easter is here already and that means that it is past time to start planning your Easter menus! The Easter long weekend provides plenty of opportunities for feasting whether it be a Good Friday dinner or a special long weekend breakfast or snacks for your Easter get-together or the big family Easter Sunday dinner. Most of the focus on Easter weekend will go to the Easter
The other day I noticed some brussels sprouts looking rather lonely in the grocery store and that made me realize that with winter coming to an end they would be disappearing soon. Brussels sprouts have to be one of my favourite winter vegetables and despite the fact that I really had not done much with them this winter I always have plenty of ideas with how to enjoy them including this carbona
Although spring is officially here, it is still well below freezing and snowing out so I am in the mood for soup! This spinach, white bean and turkey sausage soup has to be one of my favourites and it is perfect for this time of year when it is still pretty cold out but I am already thinking about lighter spring fare. One of the things that I like most about this soup is how quick and easy it
I have been a huge fan of roasted cauliflower ever since I first tried it! There is just something about roasted cauliflower... roasting it takes something that is pretty boring and transforms it into something that is extraordinary. Even in it's simplest form, tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper, it is ridiculously addictive and I could easily chow down on a bowl of it rather than po
