Stuffed Avocado

I am trying to get myself back in the workout saddle and wanted something healthy dinner. I looked in my fridge and saw I had a bunch of avocados, tomato and some spinach that really needed to be eaten. At first I was going to make a salad but after playing with a bunch of different ideas this is where I landed.  Light, very tasty and pretty good for my body, a win for the day I would say. 

recipe (severs 4) :

2 avocados

7-10  cherry tomato 

1 cup spinach 

1/4 cup greek yogurt 

1 egg 

cooked cod 

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika 

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

1/2 tsp onion powder 

salt and pepper to taste 

the sauce : 

4 tbsp greek yogurt 

riracha to taste ( I like spicy food so I added about 1 1/2 tbsps)

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

1/2 paprika 

and I added water until it was the thickness I wanted

I cut the avocados in half and scooped out most of the insides. I lightly smashed up the avocado and added all the ingredients together. Then I filled up the avocado skin  and stuck them in the over at 375 for about 25 mins.

The sauce I put all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisked them together, I added water to thin the sauce out a little. Not much, like a teaspoon, if that. When the avocados came out of the oven I drizzled the sauce on and served. They we wonderful. 

Cowboy Breakfast

Yesterday Chad made some AMAZING chili for us and out of the deal I got a little break from the kitchen plus great food, totally a win for me. This morning I was going through the fridge and saw the chili sitting there looking all yummy. I thought it would taste pretty good if I topped it off with an egg, I was right. Ended up being a great breakfast for this fine Victoria Day.

Happy Victoria Day <3

Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie with Spinach and Mushrooms - Gluten Free

Today I have been thinking about the period of time I was a waitress at this pizza joint, they had this Alfredo Chicken Pizza that I really liked and then the craving hit and I really had to have one. I was going to make a pizza but then the reality of having to make my own pizza dough hit and the idea quickly turned from pizza to pot pie. Sadly I get lazy like that, which today isn't a bad thing. This ended up better then a pizza by far.

Sauce recipe:

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 shallot 

3 cloves garlic

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese 

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup bavarian cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter and add garlic and shallot, cook until soft. Add cream and bring to a boil and sauce has reduced. Add the cheese and melt until sauce is creamy, add salt and pepper as you wish.

from there I added chicken, mushrooms and spinach to the sauce and put the whole thing into a baking dish. Then I topped it off with gluten free pie dough and baked it at 375 for about 50 mins, until the dough is brown. (I forgot to set a timer for this one)

As for this dough I used this recipe and I added to eggs and 1/4 cup cream to make it fluffier:

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose baking flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)

2 tbsp cold water

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 tbsps sugar

Mix it together and chill until you need it. I got this recipe from www.simplygluten-free.com I really like their recipes.

Roasted Chicken

I have been wanting to make a roasted chicken after I used up the last of my saved turkey stock. Plus believe it or not I have never roasted a whole chicken before, just my awesome holiday turkeys. So We went to Granville Island and headed straight to the butcher I love. Really we totally went straight there, I forgot to get cash and everything, I was way too excited for this.

While reading up on how people pre-game roast I saw it was a trend that people risen and pat the chicken dry, like as dry and you can possibly get it. Then they would take a seasoning paste and rub the chicken down. Originally I was going to treat the chicken like a turkey and wet brine it for a day, but I decided that I was going to try new things and went with the paste. My paste here is made of :

1 1/2 tspn onion powder 

1 1/2 tspn rosemary 

1 1/2 tspn Italian seasoning mix

4 cloves of garlic 

1 1/2 tspn of salt 

pepper to taste 

I pasted it up with olive oil, I just added it little by little until it was as thick as I wanted it.

As you can see I couldn't find all of my measuring spoons besides the 1 1/2 tspn, worked out just fine :)

After I made my paste I gave my little chicken a pasty rub down. I went under the skin with the paste and inside the carcass.

Then I did something super new to me and grabbed a cast iron pan (I never use them, they just sit there looking sad at me all the time, until now) and heated up some olive oil. I browned all the sides of the chicken and let it take a rest for about 10 minutes. I am sure the poor thing was all tired after all the skin treatment It just had. After the 10 minute nap I wrapped the top with tin foil and put everything into the oven for about 1 1/2 hours at 375, until it was 175 degrees in the thick part of the breast. About 1 hour unto the baking I went in and took off the foil to crisp up all the skin. I am looking forward to making more of these little guys.

Banana Bread French Toast

I have been watching my friends cats while they have been out of town and I noticed they had a bunch of bananas that were going bad. I thought it would be nice to turn their bad bananas into bread. Best timing because I also had some bananas that where browning. That means TWO loafs of banana bread, one for them and one for me.  It's my same gluten free banana bread recipe I normally make :

http://cookingbrandy.blogspot.ca/2012/11/banana-bread-gluten-free.html 

And what better way to eat that bread? Banana bread french toast!! Personally I thought I invented it while I was baking the bread. A little lightbulb went off in my head and I knew it was going to taste great. I thought it was the best idea ever, I am also not the only one haha. Turns out it's a thing and people make it all the time, for good reason. 

(Normally when I make it a small piece off the bottom always gets stuck to the pan and breaks the bread. This time I used PAM on the loaf pans and the bread popped right out. I really like the stuff for baking. )

Mediterranean Chickpea, Kale & Feta Casserole

Tonights dinner was soo yummy!! I was browsing pintrest and came across this little recipe: 

http://kaleandcaramel.tumblr.com/mediterraneanchickpeakalefetacasserole 

 I altered a few things, like mixing some goat cheese in with the feta and I topped it off with some gluten free tapioca bread.  I was very happy with how it turned out,  looking forward for tomorrow morning, where I'll heat the leftovers back up and serve them with a fried egg on top. 

(like this)

Southwest Salad

Today was so beautiful out, I thought a colorful yummy salad with home made corn bread croutons would be the perfect dinner. 

kale

hard boiled egg 

corn 

black beans 

tomato 

avocado 

corn bread croutons 

cheddar cheese sprinkled on top

The croutons were easy, took some left over corn bread, cut into pieces, sprinkled them with some olive oil and salt. Then baked them until they were golden. It really kicked up the salad a little, the sweet and salty taste plus the crunch. I really enjoyed this salad.

Happy Cinco de Mayo <3