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I haven't made a post in a long time. I haven't stopped cooking but after this dinner, my wife made me share this one. This recipe is an alternative to Chicken Parmesan but overall a traditional Italian recipe. It's a great Friday night dinner that everyone loves. We enjoyed Penfold's Hyland as a nice pairing to this meal.The Ingredients: Turkey Parmesan with NoodlesServes 4 - 6, prep time 1.5
My Orange Chili BBQ dish is Asian-inspired with the sweet flavouring of orange combined with the chili pepper to add a touch of heat.The Ingredients: Orange & Chili BBQ Chicken Makes 6 - 8 servings 1 whole 6 lb chicken, broken down into 12 pieces (breasts in half, the wings split and the thighs & drums separated)Orange juice (squeezed fresh from 1 orange)4 cloves of minced garlic1 fresh chili pep
Quinoa is something we started adding to our dinner options last year as some of our family is on a gluten-free diet. In addition to being gluten free, Quinoa comes with a lot of other benefits making it a great vegetarian option for everyone in the family. It is a complete protein as well as a good source of dietary fibre, iron, magnesium and phosphorus.I developed this recipe as a staple that
Life got busy for us at Our Kitchen Island, but we're back! We thought we'd kick off our new recipe posts with an old family favourite.Sunday mornings are always something the whole family looks forward to as we make something special for breakfast. These homemade pancakes are especially popular in our house as their quick and easy to make plus they're a light, fluffy, delicious breakfast treat
French onion soup is a real treat for me, I am not sure why I do not cook it more as it doesn't take any longer than most things that I cook, but I usually only cook it once or twice a year. As with anything else, the quality of the products you start with have a huge impact on what you end up with. This version is truly a decadent soup, hence you do not need a lot to satisfy as it borders on almo
So it is a new year and I am finally getting around to doing another post. Long story short, too much the holiday baking, travel and a bout of the flu for the family has brought us well into the new year. Although I am assuming most people have already forgotten their New Year's resolution and are at the point were they are about to start looking forward to spring, I thought a nice healthy, easy s
The flank steak is very flavourful and can be quite tender if prepared and cooked properly. It also has the benefit of being about half the price of a New York strip. The flank steak should be marinated to break down the connective tissue. By using a vacuum container, you can significantly reduce the marinating time and generate great flavour. Creating a vacuum opens the pores of the meat and a
This savory tomato soup recipe is the answer to a quick dinner on a cold winter night. Reach into the pantry to use tomatoes canned at their peak ripeness to provide a rich flavour base. With a perfect balance of smoky sweetness and acidity, this soup is a great way to highlight your tomato harvest. If you don’t have home canned tomatoes, good quality store bought canned tomatoes will do.The Ing
This cheesecake has a soft, cotton-like texture that contrasts the traditional dense and heavy New York style cheesecake, but maintains that delectable cream cheese flavour. Cheesecake is a beautiful dessert but is often too delicate to transfer from a baking dish to the serving plate. Using the Cake Pan with Ceramic Serving Plate, this sumptuous cake can go from the oven to the table without a p
I had never made chocolate crinkles before (or really heard of them) until I came across them in another food blog of holiday baking. I thought they looked like a lot of fun! The first batch of crinkles I made, I used milk chocolate (I always use milk chocolate, as I am a bit of an addict), but the results were definitely not as rich and moist as I would like. I made a few more adaptations, inc
The Christmas baking season is not complete without Gingerbread and with kids a and wife, there was no escaping! I have avoided the making of a Gingerbread house to date but I am not sure I will be able hold out. Next year fore sure....Any who...I don't like my Gingerbread to be too strong or too hard, hence I reduce the molasses a bit, and use egg yolks to give them a little extra richness. Be
Calling these the "Best Rum balls" is a personal opinion, and in all honesty I haven't eaten a tone of Rum Balls. What I do know is that these are great! Before this recipe I only made Rum Balls because my wife forced me to for the holiday season, hence I was out to make something with the concept of a Rum Ball but much more to my liking. This meant, a little less rum (let's face it, if you wan
Although these blondies can be made without the train mould, the mould adds a lot of fun and a gourmet feel to a pretty easy recipe. Using a blondie recipe instead of a cake recipe for the train mould also gives you the benefit of not having to use icing, so you retain the details of the train.The Ingredients: Blondie Train Cake with Chocolate ChunksServes about 18, prep time 10 minutes, cook tim
Caramel shortbreads are also known as millionaire shortbreads because of their rich flavour. The first caramel shortbread I had was in a small suburb of Glasgow called Wishaw, where my wife’s family is from. We stopped in a very unassuming coffee shop on Main Street as it was a couple doors away from the apartment her great grandfather was born in. My wife immediately ordered the tea and shortb
Truffles are actually easier to make than you think, you just have to make sure that you have are starting with good products. Each year at Christmas we make some truffles for the season. This year we decided to get a little more creative and make milk chocolate, white chocolate, baileys, chocolate orange, mint chocolate and some variations on each (white shell on milk centre etc...). My favori
Creating beautiful pillow-like gnocchi is all about the correct tools and products. Using the right potatoes and flour is important to ensure you do not end up with a heavy gnocchi. Always use a good baking potato that turns light and dry when cooking. Equally important is using a potato ricer to mash the potatoes to ensure the potatoes are smooth and fluffy before making the dough.The Recipe:
If you read my blog often you might be starting to see a trend with traditional ground beef dishes. Every week I purchases 1 1/2 pounds of dark ground turkey and dark ground chicken and out of these I make recipes like tacos, lasagne, hamburgers, meatballs etc... Because my wife cannot eat red meat and we do not introduce red meat to our children until the age of 2 I had to find a good substitut
Scallops are a real treat when you can get them fresh and dry packed at your local fish monger. Even better, if you ever see them still in the shell you can't pass them up. Sea scallops packed in water or frozen loose a lot of their flavour and will be hard to cook and keep their shape. The greatest challenge with a beautiful sea scallop is not messing them up. Fresh out of the ocean they are
A nice tuna steak is a great change every once in a while. We eat fish normally once a week and stick to wild halibut or salmon (sometimes organic salmon as well), but the halibut and salmon did not look great this week. However I was happily surprised that my fish monger had some sushi grade tuna that did look great. Quality is very important with fish, especially tuna steaks, as the center wi
If your family is anything like mine they love roast chicken, but you don't always have a couple hours to sit around and baste a chicken. Also, since my wife is a breast person and I am a leg man it is extra nice to be able to cook a whole chicken. The recipe also has the benefit of reserving the extra bones to make a great stock. On top of all this, it is a quick prep and wonderful juicy chicken,
I thought I would end pumpkin week with the most classic pumpkin recipe. Pumpkin pie! This pie recipe is an adaptation of Edna Staebler's fluffy pumpkin pie. I love the soft and smooth texture combined with the classic pumpkin flavours. This recipe will not disappoint! For the crust, I used Grandma's pie crust recipe. The Recipe: Pumpkin PieMakes one 9" pie filling, prep time 15 minutes (provided
I am not sure whether or not carving a pumpkin belongs in a food blog, but since I enjoy it so much I thought I would include my carving from this year. The first pumkin was supposed to be a construction man since my oldest was going to be a contruction man, but neither worked out quite as planned. I made a helmut for the pumpkin, but since it was the same size as the rest of the head it a appea
I think these are my new favourite muffins! They are fluffy, moist and packed with great flavour. What makes them even better is the jack o’lantern silicone muffin tray that I gave my wife such a hard time for purchasing. My 3 year old loves the little faces on the bottom of the muffins when they come out of the tray. These are definitely a festive treat with a coffee of tea on a cool fall mor
If you are looking for something a little more gourmet than pumpkin pie for a romantic dinner, but still want to keep the fall flavours this pumpkin creme brulee hits the spot. Contrary to very delicate traditional creme brulee, the pumpkin adds a little more texture to the dessert. The pumpkin creme brulee is a combination of the most delectable pumpkin pie filling and the classiness of the creme
This is wonderful fall soup with the hearty fall flavours associated with pumpkin but also a surprising little kick and some sweetness to round things out. Add a drizzle of heavy cream just before serving to make this even more rich, although if you want to make it vegan you can drop the cream/milk and use vegetable stock.The Recipe: Pumpkin SoupThis recipe takes about 30 minutes if pumpkin is pr
I realized that although I have been posting pumpkin recipes all week, I have failed to highlight the most important part....Roasting the Pumpkin. It is not complicated, but it does take a little time and can be a challenge to cut the pumpkin in half. Surprisingly I do find that the safest and one of the easiest ways to cut the pumpkin is with a cheap pumpkin carving knife for kids, it does not ha
My favourite meal as a teenager was Fettuccine Alfredo, mostly because I didn't eat anything with noticeable parts of vegetables. Let's just say I grew out if and discovered how great they can be when cooked right. Back to the recipe though, I love making meals like this as I can involve my kids, but you also get a seasonal and definitely gourmet result. The subtle nutmeg with the smooth sweet pum
We look forward to fall every year just for this pumpkin loaf, although this is much more of a dessert than a loaf. Fresh out of the oven with some butter and I think it is one of my favourite foods! You can easily re-heat under the broiler with a tab of butter to have that "fresh out of the oven" experience again. The Recipe: Delectable Pumpkin Loaf2 cups pumpkin1 cup oil2 ½ cups sugar4 eggs½
Roasted pumpkin seeds are a favourite quick treat during the fall, whether they are out of the jack o lanterns, or the pumpkins pies from thanksgiving they are unexpected treat. My wife won't let me make anything without saving the seeds, hence I started to make her separate them and I am very thankful she does. If you make these during Halloween you also have something to snack on instead of your
In a previous post I made a prosciutto and chicken risotto and included a video for those who wanted to see a risotto being made. This week the ingredients around the house were leeks, fresh sugar snap peas, bacon and cherry tomatoes. I don't usually cook with peas and never used leeks before, but something about them two ingredients spoke to me at the market this week. I had my parents over for t
It is a lot easier to by stock from the store and 95% of the time I am not organized enough to plan ahead to make my own stock, but it is amazing the difference when you make your own stock. This is good enough to eat on its own or in any dish that needs a stock. This one was made for risotto with peas, leeks, tomatoes and bacon. The other nice part about the stock is you can make it in a little o
In Dublin we stayed near Lansdowne stadium in a relatively residential area, close to downtown but definitely not surrounded by shops and restaurants. We did all of our shopping and eating in the area of Sandymount, which had a great supply of high end shops and restaurants within a ten minute walk from our apartment. With a supermarket, butcher, wine store, cheese shop and bakery it definitely
Along with the Hopetoun House, we thought we should stay in a castle while in Ireland. We found Cabra Castle that is about half way between Belfast and Dublin. As our journey was taking us through Portadown in Northern Ireland and onto Dublin to fly home, we thought it a great choice for a castle (and really our only choice). We were not sure what to expect since we have never stayed in a castl
When planning our trip, we tried to find things to do that we just can’t do here in Canada. Hence when we found the Hopetoun House online that offered an afternoon tea, we couldn’t resist. The Hopetoun House is a massive country estate 30 minutes outside of Edinburgh (if your wife and sister-in-law can read a map properly) on the Firth of Forth built in the 1700’s. Although we didn’t find much
While in Edinburgh, we stayed in a fully functional apartment and hence were able to eat in for breakfast, some lunches and even a dinner. The kitchen had the essential tools but lacked any spices or standard kitchen pantry stock. Hence it was a bit of a challenge to make a dinner with flavor, but I love a challenge! We visited a local health food store called Real Foods and picked up some sta
Our trip started in Edinburgh’s old city after an afternoon nap to recover from losing a night’s sleep on the plane. We wandered out the door of our apartment and landed in a busy Italian restaurant on the Royal Mile called Bella Italia (I think it is part of a chain). It was Friday night and very busy, but service was great and very prompt. The pizza was an excellent thin crust with lots of f
We recently took a bit of a family food trip to Scotland and Ireland. With a 1 and 3 year old, lots of time in the car, museums, shows or most other cultural events were out of the question, but food was definitely necessary! I should explain that we were not in anyway planning to only visit the best of the best, but just trying to eat well and meet the needs of a real family. From the Edinburg
When I make lasagna, I don't like really thick noodles or creamy cheeses. I think lasagna is all about the meat sauce, fresh noodles and great cheese and keeping it relatively simple. Including noodles from scratch you can actually make this meal in about an hour and it puts anything from the freezer to shame! You can also make this meal with beef, chicken or ground turkey (I used half dark chicke
In order to make life more sane I like to always cook some extra meat for dinner so that I have leftovers for lunches. The problem is that sometimes the fridge gets full of leftovers. Rather than eating the same thing for dinner (heaven forbid :)) or giving the leftovers to the dog (better than throwing them out), I like to dress the leftovers up a bit. I used leftover BBQ chicken thighs for this
Fall is here and nothing says fall like hearty roast vegetables. I love this combination of vegetables and yes culinarily speaking squash is a vegetable. Botanically it is not, but I am not a botanist, so I don't have to worry about that. The secret to the recipe is adding the veggies at the right time as they all take a different amount of time to cook. The Recipe: Fall Roasted Vegetables4 peeled
Another beautiful salad based on what is a available in the fridge. I have to admit that in general I usually lean to a sweeter salad hence I am usually adding fresh fruit and / or a sweet vinaigrette. With great free stone peaches in season I try to keep using them in different ways before they leave us for another year. The peaches combined with the candied almonds are killer, just try not to ea
This is a English Canadian meat pie, in other words not a traditional french meat pie. It receives it inspirations from the classic French Canadian dish, however the flavourings and ingredients are more of what I was feeling that day rather than the traditional beef, pork, onion, celery and herbs. None the less the flavours are great. It is amazing how you can transform a dish just by adding the p
This may be my first actual vegan recipe I ever made, atleast since I started blogging (butter, cheese or eggs always seems to get in the way of any other vegan meals). It tastes great too! The key is having beautiful fresh tomatoes and beans. Starting with great produce makes it hard to mess up, but adding a few key ingredients really makes all the flavours pop and brings something a little speci
I think these potatoes might be the reason my wife married me, or maybe it just helped her say yes. There is nothing better than a crispy potato that is soft in the centre. Add in some great flavour that penetrates the potatoes while boiling and you have a winner. The key is the boiling liquid and boiling to the right doneness!The Recipe: Twice Done Potatoes8 medium sized potatoes2 cups of chicke
With summer dwindling down that means that a lot of people in the great white north close up the backyard and put the bbq away for the season, but that does not mean you have to stop enjoying a great piece of salmon. Cooking salmon on the stove can be just as nice as the bbq and even better. Like a great steak, a beautiful piece of salmon should not be fussed with too much. Simply cooking it prope
Caesar salad is by far one of the most popular salads in North America and Caesar salad was the first salad I ever ate (this is big because I did not eat salad until I was about 20, I was a little picky when I was younger). Obviously once I tried Caesar salad it quickly became not only My favorite salad but one of my favorite things to eat. The recipe for the Caesar dressing is an variation of one
Normally breakfast on the weekends consists of a couple over easy eggs, bacon and toast but when you are feeling like a an little treat to accompany your eggs this stuffed potato hash definitely hits the spot. Nothing goes better with potatoes than cheese, but the problem is that cheese does not like frying pans! Thus by stuffing the hash with cheese, bacon, parsley, and tomatoes you get an even n
Cesar salad is by far one of the most popular salads in North America and Cesar salad was the first salad I ever ate (this is big because I did not eat salad until I was about 20, I was a little picky when I was younger). Obviously once I tried Cesar salad it quickly became not only My favorite salad but one of my favorite things to eat. The recipe for the Cesar dressing is an variation of one tha
There are an amazing amount of different pasta sauces one can make and part of the fun is trying new sauces based on what is in the cabinet. This sauce is a classic example of not wanting to go out to the store to pick up something for dinner. What I did have on hand was enough to make homemade pasta and had some raw frozen shrimp in the freezer. Combining the shrimp with a little butter and fresh
I grew up making this pasta with my Mom and it is one of my fondest childhood cooking memories (up there with chocolate chip cookies, but cookies win because the batter tastes better!). I don't know if it is the joy of making pasta from scratch with the family or the freshness or the pasta but after making pasta from scratch it is very difficult to go back to dry packaged pasta. It is also eas
