All posts filed under: Mains

Vegan Kabocha Squash Curry

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Seasonal squash gets a spicy twist in this recipe for Vegan Kabocha Squash Curry. Kabocha squash is simmered in a flavourful Thai Red Curry sauce with other fresh vegetables. Served with freshly steamed rice, and you have a spicy vegan recipe that is perfect for fall and winter! What is Kabocha Squash? Kabocha is a type of winter squash that is in season during the fall months. It grows through the summer in a long trailing vine (just like a pumpkin) and produces gorgeous green-skinned squash by September. If stored in a cool and dark place, it will keep throughout the winter months, so you can enjoy the squash even in the cold months of February. Although kabocha is green on the outside, if you cut one open, you will see that the flesh is a beautiful golden orange colour. The overall flavour of kabocha squash is almost like a chestnut with lots of nutty notes. It also has a dense texture, very similar to a taro root. Plus, the skin is actually edible and …

West Coast Mushroom Galette

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Fall is a special time for mushroom lovers since so many varieties come into season! I use Chanterelle, Oyster and Cremini mushrooms in this delicious and seasonal recipe for my West Coast Mushroom Galette! You can forage your own mushrooms (if you have some expertise in mushroom foraging) or you can simply buy mushrooms at your local grocery store. Plus, this recipe allows you to combine whichever mushrooms are your favourite into this savoury galette! Read on down below to see which mushrooms I chose for my West Coast Mushroom Galette plus some tips on how to make the perfect pie dough and homemade ricotta cheese! Wild & Commercially Grown Mushrooms For my West Coast Mushroom Galette, I like to combine both wild and commercially grown mushrooms. Although wild mushrooms are a bit fancier, they come with a much higher price tag than regular commercially grown mushrooms. So instead of spending a fortune on this meal, I like to use some commercial mushrooms as a base and then accent it with some high end wild …

Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops

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If you’re looking for a recipe with ALL the flavours of fall, these Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops are it! Pork chops are stewed in fresh apples and onions that get nice and soft and tender. Plus to add a bit more zip, I add black pepper, cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar. Local honey rounds out this entire recipe making it slightly sweet and bringing all these delicious fall flavours together! Honeycrisp: The Apple of Choice For these Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops, my apple of choice is the Honeycrisp apple. This is probably one of my favourite apples to eat during the fall since they are sweet and tangy. They’re also called ‘Honeycrisp‘ for a reason as they are incredibly crunchy and juicy! When cooked, Honeycrisp apples also retain their shape fairly well and have a nice soft texture. Honeycrisp apples are a beautiful red colour with yellow underneath. Inside, the flesh is a nice firm texture and is a very light yellow, almost white, in colour. When buying Honeycrisp apples, …

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, …