Author: Melissa

Fried Goat Cheese with Honey

Published by

There are many ways to make your friends and family feel special during the holidays. But serving up these Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Honey has got to be the best way! Plus, these Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Honey are breaded in gluten-free breadcrumbs so everyone can enjoy this appetizer this holiday season! This is my second recipe in my #AppyHolidays series. Follow along this month for delicious party-worthy appetizers that you can serve to your friends and family this season! A new #AppyHolidays recipe is posted every Tuesday of the month! Fried Cheese = Love Many of you have probably seen fried goat cheese before that is served on top of a fresh green salad. This is one of my favourite salad recipes and I really enjoy eating this in the spring. When served over salad, the goat cheese is typically in disc form, but in this recipe, I rolled the goat cheese into little balls before breading and frying them. On their own, these goat cheese balls are salty and savoury but …

Traditional Mulled Wine

Traditional Mulled Wine

Published by

If you are looking for a festive drink to serve this holiday season, look no further than this recipe for my Traditional Mulled Wine. This sweet, spicy and warming drink is perfect for any holiday party! If you have never had mulled wine before, it is basically red wine that has been warmed with a variety of sugar and spices, often spiked with hard liqueur. Sounds dangerous right? It is! The exact recipe for mulled wine can vary depending on where you come from. Different recipes exist across Europe and throughout North American households. Key Ingredients You can use any dry red wine that you prefer. Since it is being simmered with spices, it doesn’t have to be high-quality or very expensive. I recommend using a Spanish red table wine for this type of recipe, similar to what you would use when making sangria. These table wines are easy to drink, low in cost, and still taste great. My recipe for Traditional Mulled Wine uses most of the traditional spices including cinnamon, star anise, clove …

Love Local: Holiday Gift Guide 2018

Published by

The holidays are just around the corner that means that means it’s time to get some holiday shopping done! Nowadays, holiday shopping doesn’t need to be stressful or cost hundreds of dollars. In fact, I have completed my Christmas shopping early and have completely avoided shopping malls. That’s right! This holiday season, I am giving lots of local goodies to my friends and family from my favourite shops on Vancouver Island! After moving to southern Vancouver Island earlier this year, I have discovered so many delicious and locally made products. From artisan chocolates to wines, Vancouver Island has it all! So I thought, why not share these local goodies with my loved ones this Christmas? Not only do I love these products and have used them time and time again, supporting local businesses is a great way for your money to feed directly back into local communities and the local economy. In my opinion, that’s much better than my money going to big corporations! And with the amazing quality of these products, they are much better than …

Artichoke & Asiago Turnovers

Published by

I am kicking off my #AppyHolidays series on my blog with this recipe for Artichoke & Asiago Turnovers. This festive appetizer is a play on Artichoke and Asiago Dip—and effectively removes the risk of double-dipping! My inspiration for this recipe came from seeing lots of pre-made Artichoke and Asiago Dips at my local grocery store. While these dips are tasty and convenient, they can be full of lots of additives and preservatives that we don’t need. For this reason, I decided to make my own homemade recipe for this classic dip and just for fun, I decided to put the filling inside of some puff pastry. Asiago is an Italian cow’s milk cheese that is pungent and flavourful and comes in multiple varieties. Asiago varies tremendously in flavour depending on the length of time it has been aged. For instance, the fresh variety is much less pungent than an asiago that has been aged for 2+ years. I admit that the flavour is strong and it may take some getting used to for some, but …

Carrot, Ginger & Turmeric Soup

Published by

The holidays are upon us and that means there will be lots of treats and rich foods to indulge in. While these foods should be enjoyed this time of year (tis the season after all), we don’t want to let our waistlines get too out of control. To avoid this, I have come up with this delicious recipe for Carrot, Ginger & Turmeric Soup. Not only will it keep your waistline trim, it uses all fresh, seasonal ingredients and it will keep you healthy all winter long! The Inspiration Behind the Recipe This recipe was inspired by a recipe for Ginger & Carrot Soup that I found in Vitamix’s cookbook. I love my Vitamix and use it every single day. I honestly don’t know how I lived my life without one! While the Vitamix recipe is delicious, I find that it is a little too “fresh tasting” as the recipe directs the cook to add raw carrots to the blender. It has that fresh carrot taste, and isn’t sweet like carrots should be. So, I …

Winter Spices

Published by

Happy December, everyone! I can’t believe how fast this year has come and gone… but I can say that this year is going to go out with a bang! Amongst all the exciting events that are coming up, I am looking forward to all the delicious treats that are to come over the holiday season! If you follow me on Instagram (@seasonserveblog) you will know that for the month of December, I am bringing back my holiday blog series called AppyHolidays! For this series, I will be posting a fabulous holiday appetizer that you can serve at a holiday party that you may be hosting or to bring to a holiday party that you are attending this season. This has to be one of my favourite series on the blog since appetizers are my favourite part of any meal! In addition to AppyHolidays, I am also working on another festive blog series for December called The 12 Days of Christmas! If you are into food blogs, you will have probably seen other food bloggers run …

Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells

Published by

Ricotta cheese, spinach, pasta, and tomato sauce are four ingredients that make the best comforting Italian dishes. These four ingredients are very versatile and can be combined in numerous ways, including lasagna, ravioli, tortellini, manicotti, and in this recipe for Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells. While the former dishes require a bit of time, assembly, and patience, the latter is super quick and easy. In fact, it is so easy that you could make this any night of the week! For the full recipe for Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells, click here! This recipe for Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells is broken out into three basic parts: the ricotta and spinach filling, the tomato sauce and the pasta. These can be prepared in advance or can easily be prepared together as other parts of the dish cook or cool down. I begin by creating the ricotta and spinach mixture as the spinach needs to be cooked and cooled down before adding it into the ricotta cheese. I also add in some sautéed onions, garlic, cayenne …

Bloody Blackberry Bramble

Published by

The spookiest night of the year has finally arrived– it’s Halloween! This year, my finacé and are are dressing up as King and Queen Midas! We are decked out in gold from head to toe and I have to admit, we did a really great job with our costumes this year! While we both have to work during the day, and we don’t have trick-or-treaters coming around, we decided to throw a little party just ourselves. Other than pumpkin carving and watching some scary movies, we are planning on having one or two of these delicious Bloody Blackberry Bramble Cocktails (maybe two drinks max…it is a Wednesday after all! :P). For the full recipe, click here! A Blackberry Bramble is a classic British cocktail containing lemon juice, gin and blackberry liqueur– most often Crème de Mûre. My version of this cocktail contains most of the same ingredients, but it is prepared a bit differently with crushed ice to give the drink a bloody look– perfect for Halloween! Apart from the crushed ice, I opted to …

Chai-Poached Quince

Published by

If we want to talk about seasonal fruit, then the quince reigns supreme in the autumn months. At first glance, the quince may look like little, mis-grown pear, however, it is so much more than that and it has tons of amazing uses in the kitchen. One of this fruits great uses in the autumn is this recipe for Chai-Poached Quince. Before I give you a run-down on my recipe, let me tell you a bit more about the quince fruit. For the most part, this is an unknown fruit to most Canadians as it is difficult to find and is highly seasonal. I actually hadn’t tried quince ever (other than quince jam) until earlier this autumn…and boy, have I been missing out! Quince can actually be grown in B.C. and are in season from September to early November. Quince are a soft yellow in colour and are covered in a hefty layer of greyish-yellow fuzz when they grow. It’s similar to the idea of peach fuzz, but you can rub off the quince fuzz …

Herbed Turkey Breast with Roasted Apples

Published by

The moment you have all been waiting for, it’s time to reveal the star of Thanksgiving dinner—my Herbed Turkey Breast with Roasted Apples. Honestly, does it get more autumnal than this? Turkey is a staple during Thanksgiving, and has always been a tradition to have this for Thanksgiving dinner probably for decades now. While cooking an entire turkey is fun and a bit of a culinary challenge, that is WAY too much for two people! So, for a smaller crowd, I opted to cook a turkey breast. I picked up this fantastic, locally-raised turkey breast from the butcher at Red Barn grocery store here in Victoria. I find that with basically all meats, buying local and free-range (if available) really has its benefits. Not only does the meat taste more flavourful (the way meat should taste) you also support your local farmers. A total win-win! I found this skin-on turkey breast to be incredibly rich and flavourful despite just being the turkey breast (i.e. white meat), and frankly, I didn’t miss the dark meat at …