Quinoa Salad in Endive Spears

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) was an ancient food staple for the Inca civilization and has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years.  Its health benefits are huge. Quinoa contains more proteins than any other grain, is a good source of dietary fiber, gluten free and easy to digest, is high in magnesium, potassium and iron and…

Read More

Tapenade

This dish originates in the south of France where the word caper in French means tapenas. The recipe I have doesn’t use capers but that doesn’t mean you can’t add them (try a tablespoon, first).  I was never a fan of olives until I ate a Kalamata olive.  I found the flavor more robust and…

Read More

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Haloumi and Honey

Fresh, Fast, Simple.  That’s name of Donna Hay’s latest cookbook and it certainly is for those looking for easy weeknight meals when timing is everything.  I’ve made a few dishes from her book and two words always come to mind – fresh and flavorsome.  Halloumi (haloumi) is a traditional Cypriot cheese and is now made…

Read More

Warm Duck Salad

I absolutely adore salads like this!  It shouts out fresh and is abundant in vitamins and minerals.  I haven’t always been a fan of duck as I thought it unhealthy. However, I did some research and along with watching celebrity chefs show off their creative ways of serving it helped me to get out of…

Read More

Butter Tart Squares

I can’t remember when I first ate a butter tart…it’s been a very long time.  This is a recipe I’ve had for a while now and came across it when I was searching for another in my book of recipes I’ve collected over the years.  The butter tart square, I am guessing, hails from the…

Read More

Ricotta Dumplings with Tomato Sauce

After making my first ever batch of homemade ricotta – the results were exceedingly good – I decided to make ricotta dumplings.  Back in January I made ricotta gnocchi and liked the results so I was intrigued to see how these dumplings would turn out.  When I read the ingredients, I thought how could three-quarters…

Read More

Roasted Tomato Crostini with Homemade Ricotta

I don’t know what’s prompted this or maybe it’s just because I haven’t been aware of it but it would appear there’s a homemade cheese revival happening.  Recently I stumbled across a company by the name of Urban Cheesecraft where they sell cheese making kits which can be found online and in some grocery and…

Read More

Zucchini Boats

It seems I’m on a vegetarian kick of late and this recipe stood out to satisfy the craving.  I mentioned on a previous posting that I am hooked on Pinterest.  It was while I was on Pinterest I noticed a food photo by my friend Paul Lowe (Sweet Paul) who pinned this recipe from Proud…

Read More