Epicure's Everyday Meatloaf with a twist

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Epicure's Everyday Meatloaf with a twist

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) skim milk
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) dry breadcrumbs
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) Epicure's Seasoning for Meatloaf
• 2 lbs (1 kg) lean ground beef, chicken or turkey
• Epicure's Sea Salt, to taste 
• Large bell peppers (any colour), sliced into 8 thick rings (about 1 ") (the peppers are the twist!)

 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
2. Whisk eggs and milk in a large bowl. Stir in breadcrumbs and Seasoning for Meatloaf.
3. Add meat and Sea Salt, and mix well.
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tinfoil (spray if using foil!) and place pepper rings on sheet.
5. Divide meat mixture between pepper rings and pat down.
6. Bake approximately 40 minutes (make sure no pink in the middle!)
7. Brush with Epicure's Chipotle Ketchup and, if desired, add cheese and broil until melted.

Delicious!!!!!!!

My un-Super Bowl un-ribs

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I was inspired to make these "ribs" by my little brother.  He's done an amazing job of losing weight (way to go little Bro!), but I know he dearly misses ribs.  I am determined to find something close to ribs, but much healthier.  Epicure has a "What's for Dinner" pack called Slow Cooker Stampede BBQ Ribs.  Following the directions on the package, each serving of ribs would work out to 19-22 Weight Watchers Points (wowsers!  nearly an entire day's worth of points!).  I knew I could do something to fix this.  So what is it about the ribs that we all love?  It's the MEAT not the bones, right?  And if your sauce has enough flavour, you shouldn't miss all the fat from the ribs, right?  Sooooo... I used super lean boneless pork chops (sirloin I believe) and trimmed any visible fat from them (just over 2 pounds with of pork).  In my slow cooker I added 2 sliced green peppers and 1 long red pepper, 2 onions and 2 tins of mushrooms (drained), put the pork on top and then mixed up my sauce.  The package directions call for ketchup and since I didn't have any, I decided a tin of fire roasted tomatoes would do nicely.  I made the rest of the recipe according to the package (except I didn't have regular vinegar, so I used cider vinegar :)  Points according to my e-tools, based on 6 servings, work out to 7 points+ per serving!  Not bad eh?

My pseudo-ribs are now simmering away in my crockpot and will be supper tonight with some Epicure oven fries (using my brand new bottle of Pizza Seasoning for Oven Fries....I'm so addicted to this stuff!) and some broccoli.  I will eat this all while NOT watching the Super Bowl....sorry football fans - I've got better things to watch!

Stay tuned folks... I'll upload an "after" photo after supper tonight and will give you my final thoughts on these un-ribs.

Little Bro - if this turns out like I hope, I'll save you some to try out :)  xo

Yet another odd meal combo!

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I have no name for this one yet.  My friend Lisa at WW inspired it and I modified slightly.  Cook spaghetti squash (I use the microwave), toss in the frying pan with some salsa (homemade Epicure Salsa, of course!) and a chopped onion.  I added some Epicure Maple Bacon Sea Salt, Epicure BLT dip mix and a bit of Epicure Mango Curry dip mix.  Sautée for a bit and then toss in a drained tin of tuna (packed in water).  Cook until heated through and then top with 1 oz of low fat cheddar cheese.  It might be an odd combo, but it totally worked!  Lisa used bacon bits when she made hers and she didn't add tuna (not sure about the onions) or the Epicure spices (at least I don't think so!).  I think this would be even better if I used feta cheese instead of cheddar...yum!!

It may be ugly...

Pin It But it sure does taste good!!

What is this unidentifiable object on my pretty plate?  Umm...it is supposed to be an omelet!  A friend of mine posted the recipe on Facebook last night - one egg, 3 egg whites, 2 Tbsp guacamole, salsa, cheese, salt, pepper, etc.  It LOOKED amazing.  I had all ingredients in the house (well, for the guacamole and salsa, I had the Epicure spices and ingredients to make them!) so this was tonight's supper.  I added a Costco turkey sausage to the mix, plus some orange pepper and diced onions.  It looked so nice in the pan...until I decided to try and get it OUT of the pan.  I think for omelets like this you really need a GIANT flipper to get it out in one piece.  Anyhow - this is it and it was amazing (like I didn't want it to end amazing).  Who knew that salsa and guacamole were good on eggs????

This is a new keeper recipe for me.  Enjoy!

Mixed Bean & Ham Soup

Pin It A while back I bought a large bag of Nupak Soup Mix (pot barley, yellow split, green, split, green whole, yellow whole, green lentils, bean mix) and tossed it in the cupboard to use "some day".  Well yesterday I decided that someday had arrived...today would be the day.  As much as I searched online for recipes using dried beans/peas/barley...there is a serious shortage of ideas out there.  I saw a lot of the same recipe (vegetarian) over and over...but not a lot variety and not a lot of meat recipes.  I decided to wing it and make my own recipe:

Ham and Bean Soup PointsPlus™ Value:    4 Servings:  8 Ingredients 200 gm dry kidney beans or Nupak soup mix 28 oz canned tomatoes 1 cup celery 1  bell pepper (I used yellow/red) 1 Tbsp canned chipotle pepper 1 cup uncooked onion 3 cups water 32 oz fat-free beef broth 375 gm cooked lean ham 2 Tbsp Epicure Picante Salsa mix 1 Tbsp Clubhouse Indian garam masala seasoning Garlic (to taste) 1 tsp Chipotle chili powder 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels Bring water/broth to a boil in a large soup pot (Dutch oven).  Rinse beans/soup mix and add to boiling liquid.  Simmer for 60 minutes (or longer – test your beans for doneness).  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for another 20 minutes.  Add salt and pepper or additional seasoning to taste.

Cauliflower "Chicken" Nuggets

Pin It My plan for multiple recipes went a bit off track today, but I did make one of my planned recipes, plus two simpler ones, this one being one of them.

Recipe can be found here.  I had the nuggets with a bowl of my Spicy Sweet potato-corn chowder with ham that I made this afternoon.  The chowder is AMAZING.  It tasted like...more.  Not that the serving wasn't big enough, it was - I just liked it THAT much.  I was a bit disappointed with the nuggets though.  I may have done something wrong, or maybe I expected something different.  I had them with Frank's Hot Sauce - maybe I'll try again with some Bull's Eye BBQ sauce next time.  I would not call this a complete fail..just a "try again" recipe.

I also made rhubarb-blueberry "stew" (basically just cooked them together with some splenda and a splash of lemon juice.  It boiled down to about 3-4 servings and I will eat it over my Greek yogurt.  It would be really good over vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream...but I've come to the conclusion that I can't keep that frozen evilness in my home without losing control ;-)  I'm not posting any pics of the rhubarb-blueberry stew...it's blue...it's stewy...you get the picture ;-)

Spicy Sweet Potato-Corn Chowder with Ham

Pin It This recipe is taken from the new Weight Watchers cookbook called Make Ahead Meals.  I just bought this cookbook and at a quick glance, I found at least 5-6 recipes I could easily make with ingredients I would typically have on-hand...this is the first one.  So far, I'm giving this cookbook a 5/5 rating just for the fact that the recipes look simple enough and call for ingredients that are common (not something I have to run to the specialty store for!)

Spicy Sweet Potato-Corn Chowder with Ham
Serves 6
4 points+ per serving

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tsp flour
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 carton reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
6 oz lean ham steak, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup light (5% MF) cream
2 Tbsp minced chives

Heat oil in large sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, celery and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour and cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.

Add broth, potatoes, chipotle and salt; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, over and simmer until potato is tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in corn, ham and cream and cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes.

Ladle soup evenly into 6 bowls and sprinkle with chives.  Can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

MY MODIFICATIONS:
I didn't have cayenne, so I used Chipotle Chili Powder.  I also didn't realize until I was typing this out that I did not buy reduced sodium ham...but I did buy the no-salt added chicken broth, which is SUPER low in sodium.  Points are more my concern here than sodium, since it's just for me :)  I also didn't bother with the chives and I used red onion and my onion wasn't so "finely chopped"...but I like onions and don't mind bigger pieces in my soup.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you have never used chipotle peppers before, BEWARE.  They are hot.  Some people have mistakenly used an entire CAN of peppers where a recipe calls for one pepper from the can.  A can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce usually has 5-6 peppers in it.  ONLY USE ONE - I like my food spicy/hot and with one pepper it is plenty hot for me.  Once you open the can, you can freeze the leftovers for another time - they freeze quite well.  I put mine in a Ziploc-type bag.

I have only had a tiny taste of the broth so far and it is YUMMY!  It'll be my supper tonight, so if the full bowl is a letdown, I'll come back and let ya know.  I think it'll be a 5/5.

Afri-Mexi-Greek Couscous Salad

Pin It I wasn't quite sure what to call this...couscous comes from Morocco and northern Algeria (the African part of the title), it has the makings of a Greek salad but I also tossed in some cilantro (Mexican part of the title)...

I found some couscous on sale at Sobeys yesterday for 50 cents per box!  I've never tried couscous before (I don't think), so I thought for that price I could give it a go :)

This is for a single serving - you can adapt accordingly if you are serving more than one person.

Afri-Mexi-Greek Couscous Salad
1/2 cup cooked couscous
handful of diced English cucumber
handful of diced red pepper
handful of diced red onion
handful of cherry tomatoes (quartered)
1 oz Greek feta, crumbled
about a tablespoon of cilantro
2 tsp safflower oil (you could use olive oil, but I happened to have safflower on hand)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used honey ginger flavoured, but I'm sure any would work just fine)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and enjoy!  This was delicious!  I've made a similar "salad" with quinoa before and the taste is quite similar.  I didn't find that the couscous had any real flavour of its own, but rather it took on the flavour of what it was mixed with.

Tonight's salad was served with leftover trout (have I told you lately how much I ADORE trout???), leftover peppers, mushrooms and onions from last night and some steamed broccoli with a new spice I found by Clubhouse Seasoning called Parmesan & Herb, which is DELISH!

Crack

Pin It I read a blog called Chocolate-Covered Katie.  Someone I know introduced me to it, but I can't recall who...whoever you are, I thank you!  I have not made a lot from her site, but I do love reading it.  This afternoon I struck gold!  I made her No-Bake Coconut Crack Bars.  Once you try them, you will understand why they are called "crack" bars.  These little gems are AMAZING.  The recipe said it made 6-8 servings.  If I cut them into 8 servings, they work out to 3 pts+ each - 6 servings makes them 4 pts+ each.  I decided to bring them to share at WW tomorrow, so I cut them into 16 pieces at 1 pt+ each (or 2 for 3 pts+).  It took me about 5 minutes to make (and that included searching my cupboards for a pan small enough for this recipe).  Super easy, super amazing!  Certainly a 5-star recipe in my books.  The only thing I might do differently next time is to drizzle a bit of melted dark chocolate over them... this is not a criticism of Katie's recipe...just a thought :)

I am having my two small bars tonight with my other addiction...flavoured coffee from my Keurig.  These are two addictions I am not interested in overcoming...

My new favorite snack, workout story and weigh in update

Pin It I splurged on produce this week and had a ton of fruit in the house.  This afternoon I couldn't decide what to have for my snack - grapes, apple, mango?  What to do when you can't decide?  Have it all!  I decided to make a zero-point fruit salad (grapes, banana, mandarin orange, apple, mango, blueberries and raspberries with a touch of no-sugar added syrup) and topped it with a 1 point yogurt.  YUMMM!!!  I made enough fruit salad for a couple of servings, but am afraid I want to eat it all NOW!  I won't...waaaaay too much fruit for my belly for one day I'm afraid ;-)  Something to look forward to for tomorrow though!  This would be a great pre-workout snack if I had it over Greek yogurt I think...

Speaking of working out...I decided to try Bodypump class at the new Goodlife in my area.  I'm not a Goodlife member, but they gave me a 7-day pass to try it out.  I went on a Friday morning (day off) thinking it wouldn't be too busy...boy was I wrong!  I got there 20 minutes before the class was supposed to start and the lineup was all the way to the back of the gym.  I asked them how many they took in the class and she said 65!!!!  Now the room is big...but not THAT big when you consider you need a step with risers, a barbell and extra weights and a yoga mat...plus you need room to lunge!  The class itself was OK (not great) and the instructor was nice, but I didn't find the people in the class friendly at all.  I was also the biggest person in the entire gym I'm sure.  I felt really out of place - especially in my Old Navy workout apparel...let me tell you, I think I was the only one not wearing Lululemon in the whole place (perhaps I shoulda brought my Lulu headband!).  I may try another class this week coming...but not at that location.  Thankfully there are Goodlife locations all over the city, including one near my office.  I think I'll bring my gym gear to work with me, just in case I don't get out in time to get to my regular classes at the Canada Games Centre - then I can always go to one of the classes near work.

On the Weight Watchers front, I had my first weigh in today since I reached lifetime on June 16th.  Not surprisingly, I gained.  I'm still in the "safe" zone and am actually only 0.2 lbs over my goal weight, so I did not have to pay.  I still want to work on getting back down to my final "lifetime weight" before I leave on vacation in a few weeks.  Next weigh in will be the morning I leave for vacation, so stay tuned...

A new twist on an old favorite

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I've been craving salt this week...specifically my chicken fried "rice"...you know the one...loaded with veggies....and soy sauce and fish sauce ;-)  I had to (obviously) wait until after weigh-in to have this...thankfully I did given this week's gain (again!!!).  More on the gain later in this post.

Earlier in the week I posted about my grilled baby bok choy.  I still have a ton of bok choy left, so I decided I would throw some in my fried "rice" (for those of you who are new here, I typically use quinoa instead of rice - tonight I used a quinoa/bulger mix).  I also used sesame oil instead of olive oil (yes, I realize sesame does not qualify as a healthy oil...but it's SO darn good!!).  I added my usual peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, onions and celery, and then tossed in some yellow summer squash (I call 'em yellow zucchini) and cabbage.  When almost ready, I added my fish sauce (oops, I forgot to measure, so I added a bit more than usual) and soy sauce, as well as one egg white to bind it all together.  As always, I tossed in some spices.

This was the BEST version of my fried "rice" that I've made to date!  I'm not sure if it was the extra fish sauce or the sesame oil.  I suspect it was the oil :)  I did not want this supper to end!!

Maintenance Week 5:

Today: +1.3lbs
Total: -123.5lbs
Difference to goal: +1.1lbs


I am one week away from lifetime status.  While I will be fine if I stay the same, ideally I would like to get back under my goal weight (rather than being 1.1 over as I am right now).  Not sure why the gains two weeks in a row - perhaps it's all part of the maintenance process, or perhaps I've gotten slack these past couple of weeks.  Either way, I am dropping my daily points to 29 for the week and am going to be super careful about sodium starting earlier in the week than usual.  I have a couple of challenges coming up this week - one being a retirement party for a co-worker that is out of town - not only do I have no idea what they are serving (other than it'll be finger foods), but I'll also be out of town and eating on the road for 24 hours.  I don't do well with eating in restaurants...but I do find them easier than stand-up reception-type events... 

Stay tuned!

I've been bok choyed!

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Found these baby bok choys at No Frills, of all places!  I am sure I've tried it before, but I've never cooked with it before.  Tonight's supper was going to be a plain salad (well, as plain as my salads ever are!) with BBQ chicken on top.  At the last minute I decided to BBQ-grill my veggies (other than the lettuce, tomato and cukes!) to go on top of my salad.  I BBQ-grilled peppers, broccoli, onion, zucchini, bok choy and celery which I had tossed with a couple teaspoons of safflower oil and a tablespoon of raspberry balsamic vinegar, some garlic and some Epicure Cinco Pepper Blend.    It was SO yummy!  I only used one of my baby bok choys, but wished I'd used two!  I am SO addicted to my BBQ grill pan...I want to grill EVERYTHING...think I could have grilled my lettuce and cukes too?  I know tomatoes would have been fine... lol  I used to roast any veggie...now it'll be grilling for the supper I guess :)


Week 5 of maintenance almost over.  I am feeling very bloated this week, so hoping I don't have another gain tomorrow :(  Time will tell..stay tuned!

Let's talk turkey

Pin It Burgers, that is!  One of the girls at Weight Watchers told us about her turkey burgers she made this week using garam masala spice.  They sounded so yummy!  I've been searching for a good turkey burger recipe for a long time.  I've found that using ground turkey rarely works as a substitute for ground beef, except in chili...I think I'm not crazy for the actual flavour of ground turkey and have to hide the taste with tomato sauce ;-)

Here is what I used (as always no exact measurements...sorry):

1 pound extra lean minced turkey
finely diced veggies: yellow pepper, onion, mushroom and zucchini
1 large egg
2 tbsp cooked quinoa and bulger (leftovers from the other night)
2 tbsp bread crumbs
Indian Masala seasoning (could not get garam masala at the Superstore...not sure if it's the same or not)
Chipotle Mango seasoning (new from Clubhouse!)
Salt and pepper
mix together and form into one big ball.  Score the meat into four equal parts and form your BIG burgers (about 1/2 " thick).

I grilled mine in my new grill pan on the BBQ.  I didn't time them, so am not sure how long it took - maybe 5 mins per side?  Top with BBQ sauce if you like.  My burgers were 5 points+ each and I ate mine on a PC Thins Red Pepper Round Bun.  They are 4 points+ each...I think I'll just use a regular bun next time as I think there are regular hamburger buns that are 3 points+ each.  I've never hopped on board the "thin bun" train...they are usually more dense than a regular bun and end up being the same or more points :)  I topped my burger with some Frank's hot sauce, mustard and sliced tomatoes.


THESE BURGERS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Served with a small sweet potato (pre-cook in the microwave for a few minutes and then put in foil on the grill) and mixed veggies.  Great supper tonight!

I think I'm a chip fiend!

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First the chipster chips and now pita chips in the oven :)  Once again, spices were used.  One pita cut into 8 pieces with a pizza cutter and then each pita triangle separated into two.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Spray pita with a bit of cooking spray and then season as desired (see photo for my preference).  Place in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 4-7 minutes - watch them CAREFULLY as they burn quickly.  I literally sit on a stool in front of my oven and watch them :)  Serve with salsa or any dips you like.  Yummy!  You can also make these with cinnamon or other sweet options and serve with fruit salsa or just eat on their own.  Nice and crispy!

The secret ingredient

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Here are the spices I used tonight for my chili.  Mostly Epicure spices, but threw in some Chipotle Chili Powder for good measure.  The one on top of the Guacamole Dip Mix is crushed chili :) 

I have no real recipe for my chili - I just throw in whatever I have on hand.  Tonight I used a pound of extra lean ground turkey, peppers (yellow, red and orange), zucchini (yellow and green), onions, mushrooms, black beans, chickpeas, diced tomatoes and Hunts spaghetti sauce.  When I was just about finished, I decided to add a secret ingredient.  Only I had a brain fart and added the WRONG secret ingredient :)  I meant to add cocoa powder, which I have used before.  For some reason, my hands reached for...wait for it......cinnamon!!  The results were great!  This is the best batch of chili yet!  Cinnamon (just a few dashes) is going to be a regular ingredient in my chili from now on.

Chipster update:

Last night I had the girls overnight for a sleepover and we used the Chipster again with regular potatoes.  I bought baking potatoes this time.  One potato (about 10 oz raw) sliced up to enough chips for the three of us.  We tried them with popcorn seasoning (ketchup, BBQ and white cheddar...sometimes mixed!) and I also tried some with just sea salt.  I have to say the sea salt was my fav.  They turned super crispy!  I wish I could figure out how to make them and keep them crispy overnight...

The great spice challenge!

Pin It This week's topic at Weight Watchers was about spicing things up...in the kitchen :)  Our leader challenged us to try something new/creative using various spices.  I have no idea what I'm going to do...I NEVER use any spices... haha, yeah right!  I think I'm the Queen of Spices.  I don't tend to use "regular" spices (oregano, "regular" garlic, etc.) though.  I like to buy blends of spices, like the ones from Epicure.  I tend to buy the Epicure dips quite a bit and use them as spices rather than fattening dips.  My favorite dip has to be the guacamole one.  Love this on roasted potatoes and other roasted veggies.  My favorite "regular" spice has to be Chipotle Chili Powder, which I put on just about anything!

I am going to try and post a new photo each day this week showing a different idea using spices.  Today I made some rhubarb apple sauce and used the Epicure Apple Pie Spice.  This is great over Greek yogurt, ice cream or frozen yogurt or just on its own.  You could add some jell-o powder mix and turn it into jam and, depending on your Weight Watchers theory of using the recipe builder for fruit-only based recipes, you might call this zero points (some folks believe in putting all recipes in the recipe builder, resulting in fruit and veggies "costing" points; others believe that if they are using all zero point foods, the recipe should be zero points...I will let you decide which school of thought you subscribe to).

Maintenance Week 3 Update:

Today concluded my third week of maintenance.  I actually had trouble eating all of my points this week.  My aim was to stick with the 4 extra daily points, but some days it ended up being only 3. I also only used about 18 of my weekly points when I usually use almost all of them.  The result of these circumstances was a 2 pound loss!  I am now 1.3 pounds under my goal weight.  This week was an extremely stressful/emotional week (all will be fine, I'm sure) and I had less appetite than usual.  I'm sure that contributed to my 2 pound loss this week :)

My two girlies are coming for a sleepover tonight (nieces), so I must go get ready for them.  I'm wondering where one might find a movie rental place these days???

What will I Chipster next?!

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I was so excited when I got home last night and had a message from Shannon that my Epicure Chipster was in!!!  I may have mentioned that I won a half-price item when I went to Shannon's open house a couple of weeks ago.  I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try out the Chipster before my own Epicure party in June.  Shannon kindly delivered my new toy to me first thing this morning and I've been Chipstering away ever since :)




Here is what I made:

Apple Chips

Regular Potato Chips (Red, White & Blue in honour of my American cousins...well, really because they were the only ones I had in the house!)

Sweet Potato Chips

Overall I am very pleased with my new Chipster.  I did not have the Epicure Ceramic Slicer to slice my fruit/veggies, just my old Starfrit one that's seen better days.  I will very likely get the Epicure one at my party in June.  I've seen Shannon's in action and it slices very, very thin.  PLUS, it's much more compact than my old dinosaur! 

Apple Chips - Took a bit longer to cook than the others and didn't really crisp up as I'd expected, but the taste is amazing!  I'll make them again for sure, but will just know not to expect crispy chips.  I sprinkled cinnamon on some, left some plain and put apple pie spice on some.  I think that these would be fine just plain to be honest.  The flavour of the apple comes out quite nicely.


Red, White & Blue Potato Chips - I am a bit disappointed with these ones.  I think my problem was that I only had a small bag of tiny, bitty potatoes in the house and those are what I used.  They were really too small to slice thin enough, so some of them are not really crispy.  I will try again with a real potato once I've been to the grocery store.  I topped these with the Epicure Red Garlic Sansel that I use on everything :)

Sweet Potato Chips - It's official.  I am in love.  I tried these plain and with cinnamon.  Can't choose a favourite way.  I have to say that these turned out the best of all three chips I made today.  They crisp up nicely (beware, they shrink significantly, unlike the others, which remained pretty much the same) and had a super flavour to them.

So that's it folks...my Chipster experience.  I'll have to ask Google for some more ideas and I'm sure Shannon will have some ideas at my party next month.

If you work with me, go to the gym with me or go to WW with me...chances are I'll be bringing samples sometime soon!!

Flatouts!

Pin It A friend of mine introduced me to these yummy flatbreads when we were shopping in New York state a couple years ago.  Up until now, we've only been able to get them in the US, but they've recently started popping up here in Halifax!  So exciting :)  They make great pizza crusts and are cheaper (and tastier) than the LaTortilla Factory tortillas that I usually use.  To celebrate this new (Canadian) find, along with the Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Mom and Dad brought me back from the US last month, I made PIZZA!!  Topping today's pizza is Bull's Eye Chipotle BBQ sauce, turkey pepperoni, a bit of roasted turkey, onions, peppers, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, yellow zucchini, Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese.  Baked @ 450 for 10 minutes.

Much better!

Pin It Ok, second time's a charm!  Mom brought me some rhubarb from her garden yesterday, so I decided to make some rhubarb sauce (or stewed rhubarb).  I had some apples that needed using up too, so decided to throw 'em in.  Rhubarb is one of those foods that I've just learned recently that I liked, so I wasn't sure what exactly to do with it...

Wash 'em up

Chop 'em and throw 'em in a pot

throw in some splenda and cinnamon

Cook til everything is soft and then mash

Serve over whatever you like
This is Greek yogurt :)

Much better than the other recipe I tried tonight!  This one even looks pretty :)

My intentions were good

Pin It but I think this recipe needs work...

What is this, you might ask?  It would be barbecued butternut squash (oh and quinoa and chicken, but I'm sure you can actually recognize those!)

I had this brilliant idea to BBQ my butternut squash tonight...why not?  Ok, so as you can see it does not look pretty.  I think I would make this again, but I need to find a different approach.  I brushed the squash with a mixture of raspberry balsamic vinegar and sugar free syrup (pancake-type) before grilling (I also brushed this on my chicken for good measure...yummmm).  The squash took quite a while to cook and ended up blackened (as you can see) on the outside, but was still quite firm on the inside.  The taste was good overall, but...a bit dry.  I'll do more research on this and will try again before the summer is over.  I am wondering if I should have left the skin on and simply cut it in half and placed flesh-side down on the BBQ...anyone tried this before?