All posts filed under: Mains

3 Cozy Fall Meal Prep Recipes – Perfect for Back to School

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Fall is upon us and that means eating lots of cozy and comforting meals! Today, I’m sharing three fall recipes: Traditional Shepherd’s Pie, Garden Tomato Soup, and Butternut Squash & Sage Pasta! While some of these recipes may take a bit of time, it’s nothing a little meal prepping can’t solve! I love to meal prep this time fo year since I’m often really busy and it helps me make good choices, especially when it comes to dinner. If you have not tried meal prepping before, give it a go with these recipes! This way, you can enjoy these three comforting fall recipes any time this season! 🍂 🍁 Traditional Shepherd’s Pie Shepherd’s Pie is the comfort food of all comfort foods! I went super traditional and used ground lamb in this recipe, but if you aren’t a fan of lamb, you can substitute it with ground beef. I think this recipe is super comforting because it has all the elements of a traditional Sunday dinner– just in pie form. You have your meat, your …

Bruschetta Chicken

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Summer is the time for tomatoes and there are TONS of ways to enjoy them. One of my favourite ways is to make my recipe for Bruschetta Chicken! This dish is fresh, healthy, and full of traditional Italian bruschetta flavours. Red on down below to see how I make this recipe! What is Bruschetta? There are many different variations of bruschetta, but the most famous version is from Italy. Toasted bread is topped with a mixture of fresh diced tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. There are so few ingredients, but as the Italians do, they always use what is in season and tastes the best–so basically all their recipes tastes delicious!  There are other seasonal variations that have been adopted in North America, where toasted bread is topped with ricotta cheese and then the tomato-based bruschetta mixture. I have even fall-inspired bruschettas using seasonal squash. No matter what, the traditional Italian recipe is the best! My Take on Bruschetta Chicken One key difference between this Bruschetta Chicken recipe and others that are out there …

Pork-Stuffed Zucchini

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Zucchini season is here! Whether you are growing zucchini in your home garden, or are buying them from the grocery store or farmers market, you will notice that there are TONS available and are quite inexpensive. If you want to take advantage of the seasonal prices or just need a way to use up what is in your garden, look no further than this recipe for Pork-Stuffed Zucchini. This recipe is fast, delicious and healthy and is great for the summertime! A Plentiful Summer Squash Zucchini are a summer squash that grow from June to September. There are many varieties of zucchini that are grown, from green to yellow to even orange! Zucchini are also known as corgettes or marrow, depending on where you live. Overall, zucchini are relatively neutral in flavour–making them the perfect squash for taking on lots of delicous flavours. They are incredibly refreshing and a fibre and nutrient-rich, making them a healthy vegetable to enjoy during the summer. Dumpling-Like Filling The filling used to stuff these zucchini rounds is very similar …

Spot Prawn Dumplings

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It’s that time of year again, people! Spot Prawns are back in season and they are more sweet, succulent and juicy than I remembered! This year, I’m making these delicious Spot Prawn Dumplings to celebrate the season–and you should too! What are Spot Prawns? Spot prawn season typically begins in early May and lasts for about six to eight weeks. This year with COVID-19, the season has been slightly delayed, but we still have enough time to enjoy these succulent coastal prawns! Spot prawns are slightly sweet to the taste, are orange in colour, and have little white spots on their bodies, mainly around their heads and tails. They are harvested just off the coast of BC during the fishing season using baited traps. The cold, nutrient rich waters of the BC coast make these prawns incredibly juicy and meaty. They have the texture of both a lobster tail and a shrimp combined. Sounds amazing right?! Who Doesn’t Love Spot Prawns…and Dumplings? While spot prawns taste amazing on their own, they’re even better in my …

Maltese Stuffed Artichokes

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Of all the delicious spring vegetables that are in season right now, the gorgeous globe artichoke is one of my favourites. Not only do they taste amazing when cooked, I love the springy, flower-like look of them in general. When uncooked, the tightly packed, overlapping leaves on the artichoke looks like a budding flower, and then when it’s all cooked, the leaves open up and it looks like it has magically bloomed. So cute! Every Rose Has It’s Thorns If you have ever heard the saying “every rose has it’s thorns”, this definitely applies to the artichoke…almost literally. The most prized part of the artichoke is the heart. When cooked, it is soft, creamy and meaty and is definitely the reward of the vegetable. But to get to the heart, you have to get passed the prickly leaves and spiny thistle inside of it. At the center of the artichoke, there is a thistle called the “choke”. While you probably won’t actually choke if you ate it, it would definitely be very uncomfortable to swallow …

Pea & Pesto Pasta

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One of my favourite vegetables that I love to eat in the spring are fresh peas. They are incredibly sweet, tender and flavourful and are a nice little treat instead of frozen peas that we eat year-round. This recipe for my Pea & Pesto Pasta celebrates this seasonal vegetable and is super quick and easy! Peas & Basil are a Match Made in Heaven Peas go great with just about anything, but nothing compares to the combination of fresh peas and basil. The sweetness of the peas balances the intense basil flavour and is incredibly refreshing together! To bring these two ingredients together by mixing peas into a traditional basil pesto. I simply add cooked fresh peas to a food processor with typical pesto ingredients including basil, Parmesan cheese, nuts, lemon, and garlic. With a touch of a button, all of these delicious ingredients gets chopped up and pureed into a creamy green pesto sauce that is perfect for coating freshly cooked pasta. Of course, while peas are not in season for very long during …

Pork & Bacon (Porkception) Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Mango Salad

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These Pork & Bacon Skewers are my latest and greatest creation! Tender pork chop meat is marinated in a delicious ginger-molasses marinade and is skewered between a thick slice of Double Smoked Bacon from Red Barn Market. You can also call these Porkception Skewers. Grilled to perfection on the BBQ and served with a refreshing mango salad and peanut dipping sauce– these skewers are perfect for upcoming summer BBQs! #KitchenImprovYYJ Challenge I came up with this idea for a recipe from participating in the #KitchenImprovYYJ cookoff, where each week we were given a list of ingredients that we had to make a recipe with. During the final week of the competition, our ingredients were: apple, coffee, bacon and peanut butter. While many people would think to make a sweet recipe, I opted for savoury just to be a bit different. Plus, I love savoury foods way more than sweet foods! And so these Pork & Bacon Skewers were born! I marinated the pork chop with ginger, molasses (for that sweet and smoky flavour), maple syrup, …

Beef Chow Mein

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Chinese New Year is just a few days away and I’m getting around to finalizing my menu for the big day!  With any Chinese New Year menu, including a noodle dish is a must as it symbolizes having a long life. So make sure you don’t cut the noodles– the longer the noodle the better!  A Bit about Chow Mein Noodles There are so many noodle dishes that you can make, however this year, I opted for making a homemade Beef Chow Mein. You can find chow mein noodles in just about any grocery store these days, and they take just a few minutes to make. Plus, I love the texture of these noodles since they are so thin as well as the fact that they can pick up any flavours you pair with them! With most brands of chow mein noodles, you have to boil them separately for a few minutes before adding them into the vegetables since they are uncooked. It only takes just a few minutes since the noodles are so thin!  …

Classic Chicken Kiev

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Fall calls for comfort food, and this Classic Chicken Kiev is one of my favourites! Chicken Kiev is simply a chicken breast that is stuffed with a hearty herb and garlic butter before it is breaded and cooked. Most often, Chicken Kiev is deep fried, but in an effort to make this recipe a bit healthier, I like to bake them in the oven. Read on down below to learn my tips and tricks to getting the perfect Classic Chicken Kiev, and check out my YouTube video to see how I make it! My Tip to Avoid Leaking Butter  While this recipe is delicious, it can be a little complex to make. Most often, people have issues with the herb and garlic butter leaking out of the chicken breast while it is baking. I have tried many ways to avoid this, but the trick that works the best for me is to stuff the opening where the herb and garlic butter with the chicken breast tender. Sounds weird….but trust me! Simply remove the chicken tender …

Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Sauce

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For my final recipe in my #BackToSchool series, I made a wonderful homemade version of a childhood classic… Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Sauce. You could say I saved the best recipe for last! Now I know we have all had frozen chicken strips before. There are varying qualities that are on the market, but I guarantee that this homemade version will blow all of them right out of the water! Not only are they made with natural, whole ingredients, they are baked and not fried. Honestly just by looking at them (and smelling and tasting them) you can’t notice a difference! I have made a lot of chicken strips in my day, and I have experimented with many marinades, breadings, and cooking methods. This recipe combines all of my knowledge from YEARS of making chicken strips, and I am willing to give up all of my secrets to you! Secret #1: Breadcrumbs My first secret is the breadcrumbs and this is actually the most critical part of the chicken strip in my opinion. I …