Saffron Rice Pilaf with Red Pepper

I apologize for the lack of updates. I was in Austria for my grandma's 90th, and then in London visiting and touring. It was so much fun. I barely cooked on my trip, but I did eat lots of delicious food. I looove the food in Austria, If I lived there i would weigh at least 500 pounds.Schnitzels, pastries, cakes, rolls, potato salad..yum yum yum.  I also had no idea London had such delicious food. I thought for some reason that the food wouldn't be good. My mistake was that British food may not be good, but Britain is filled with delicious ethnic restaurants and wonderful markets.

When I finally got a chance to get in the kitchen, I decided to make this rice pilaf to accompany a delicious clementine chicken recipe that my mom had made. The recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking that I'd bought in the airport. I was so proud of myself, because usually I fail miserably at making rice. It is either too crunchy or super mushy. I will definitely make this recipe again. We were 9 people and there was enough for everyone, but not enough for everyone to have seconds. I probably should have doubled the recipe..oh well better to leave people wanting more right?

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- pinch saffron- mine was imported from Turkey
- 1 T extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 red pepper (here I sued yellow)
- 1 1/2 cups long grained white rice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- pinch cayenne
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds (omitted because I didn't have but i will add in next time)
- 1 T fresh oregano

Directions:
-On the stove, heat the broth until hot. Add saffron, cover and let sit 15 minutes.
- In a heavy saucepan with a lid, heat oil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium low, add onion and pepper. Cook until soft but not brown (approx 5 min). Add rice, salt, cayenne, stirring well to coat each grain with oil. Toast for 5 min, stirring often.
- Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and garlic.
- Add saffron broth, stir once, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 18 minutes
- Remove from heat and let sit  covered for 5 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork.
- Fold in almonds, remaining parsley and oregano.

Enjoy!!

Here is a photo of my grandmother eating the rice, she said it was delicious. She is the best :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, it's Friday, gorgeous and sunny here in Ottawa with great weather predicted for the weekend- what could be better? I am also a mere 3.5 work days away from my vacation, a lil trip across the pond, and spending some quality time with my family!

I made these cookies because I was hungry and was craving something sweet. Its a good trick. Don't keep cookies in the house and then if you want some, you have to want them badly enough to make them! They were really moist, chewy and got rave reviews from my tester ;)

I adapted a recipe for Rocky Road cookies from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. An oldie but goodie, and frankly all recipes from there turn out well. No clue why they called them that, they a re not really rocky road. I read the recipe through and it said it made 100 small cookies, or 50 large cookies. Woah!!! Even as an admitted cookie monster, I don't need that many cookies so I cut the recipe in half. If you are baking for more people, just double the recipe.

Salad With Goat Cheese

After a few heavier meals on the weekend I was in the mood for something light. I love ordering a nice goat cheese salad at restaurants and it seemed easy enough to make it myself. I inspired myself from a recipe from Martha Stewart's Great Food Fast cookbook.  For the salad part, feel free to use whatever you want, lettuce, potatoes  tomatoes  etc, and then top with the broiled goat cheese. This recipe is also healthier then most restaurants because the cheese is not fried. It turned out delicious, and would be a nice light summer meal or appetizer to serve to dinner guests!

Pepper Shrimp Quinoa

        I love shrimp!! Love it. And it is ridiculously low-cal, protein packed and tasty! I made this recipe a while ago, and am finally sharing it now.  It is a good time of year to whip this up, with fresh herbs abundant as we get into spring. The recipe is adapted from Quinoa 365- The Everyday Superfood, by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming. Its a great dish to make for a light dinner, or as a side dish.

Almond Date Breakfast Bars

This recipe appealed to me right away. Its another one that I adapted from from Smitten Kitchen- Deb Perelman. I like almonds, I like dates, I had most of the ingredients so decided to go for it. In the description of the recipe, the author says that its great to have breakfast bars on hand to grab for a quick breakfast. I usually have a leisurely breakfast at home, and thought pff, i don't need a breakfast for work or on the go. However, after being late several times last week, I decided this was not a bad idea.

Orecchiette with Feta, Peas, and Pine Nuts

Meatless Monday!

Switch things up from your usual pasta with this original recipe. I modified a recipe from Jerusalem Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghiand Sami Tamimi (Conghiglie with yogurt, peas and chili), to make this flavourful dish. The pine nuts give it a bit of a kick and the greens make it healthy and filling.

Butternut Squash Soup

So I found boxes of pre-cut butternut squash yesterday and I thought "why not make butternut squash soup?" I'm generally pretty lazy to cut up a butternut squash (those things are darn hard to cut up, disagree?). Since I'm buying pre-cut butternut squash, it's pretty straightforward.

Avocado Shake

I have a quick and easy recipe for you today. My friend posted a photo yesterday of an avocado shake she had at a restaurant, and it looked so good. It made me want one. I have seen them before at bubble tea places and some Vietnamese restaurants, but never tried it. I did a bit of research on it and apparently the literal translation of its Vietnamese name-Sinh tố bơ-  means " butter fruit smoothie". It is really thick, creamy and delicious...