Short & Sweet Sunday - Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley

I always seem to find interesting grain mixes at Costco. But they come in enormous bags so I need to find interesting ways to use it up.

Israeli couscous is larger than regular couscous and has a nice chewy texture when cooked.  This particular mix also includes a small amount of quinoa, dried chickpeas and orzo.  

Since I didn't read the recipe carefully, I used a slightly different technique to cook the dish, but it all worked out in the end.  

I cooked the orzo in chicken stock with a cinnamon stick and bay leaf.

Meanwhile, toast some pine nuts until light brown, not too dark!  Also, saute some shallots. If you're on the ball you'll saute the shallots first, then add the couscous, spices and stock, but adding the cooked shallots after is ok too.  

To the cooked couscous, add the sauteed shallots, minced parsley and the pine nuts.

Mix it all together...

And serve. 

I served with a grilled pork chop and broccoli.

Tasty!  Now I need to find about 10 more recipes to use up this bag of couscous.  

BBQ Ribs My Way

I've read a lot of cooking blogs and forums and one of the most contentious, controversial food items I've seen discussed is the "right" way to cook ribs. I know different places in the US have long BBQ traditions but where I live, we usually just grill the meat.  These ribs might not be done by any traditional method but there's no denying that they taste delicious!

First I braise the ribs in the oven. No, I don't boil them or smoke them, maybe you or your ancestors do but these are ribs my way!

Sometimes I use different liquids and spices but this mix is super easy and turns out delicious. I brush the ribs with apple juice and then sprinkle with Montreal chicken spice.

These are pork back ribs but you can use side ribs.

I brushed the apple juice and spices over the ribs and wrapped them in foil. 

I braise these in the oven for a long, long time at a low, low temperature.

I braise them for three or four hours until they are very tender. 

I then cut the ribs into smaller pieces for the grill.

My ribs are smothered with barbecue sauce on the grill. You can make your own or use store bought sauce (I like Diana's Spicy the best).

Grill until hot and lightly charred.

For an embarrassingly enormous meal, serve with a baked potato and grilled asparagus.

These might not be ribs the traditional way or your way but they are my way and there's no denying they're delicious!

Chipotle Mac & Cheese

I try not to cook with cheese too often because it can be so bad for you, but it is SO delicious.  This is based on a recipe from Cooking Light magazine and doesn't use too much cheese but gets a creamy texture from a surprising ingredient - sweet potatoes.

First, roast two large sweet potatoes until soft, about an hour.

Scrape the flesh of the sweet potatoes into a bowl and mash.

Take a few chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  I used one too many for my tastes - this was super spicy - but it was perfect for my spice-loving husband.  

These can be kind of a mess to chop, they tend to stain the board, so I put them in a measuring cup with the milk for the sweet potato mash and used an immersion blender to chop them.  It worked perfectly!

I poured the milk and chipotles into the mashed sweet potatoes and mashed it all together until mostly smooth.  

Then add a few ounces of shredded monterey jack cheese. Not too much at all.  

Next, add the cooked (whole wheat) macaroni and mix together.

And spread it in a 9 by 13 casserole dish.  You can go ahead and serve this as a vegetarian entree, or...

... cook up some spicy sausage to top the macaroni.  You can use Mexican chorizo, or use spicy Italian sausage. 

Crumble and brown the sausage in a pan and then spread it over the top of the macaroni casserole.

Now broil it in the oven until the sausage is sizzling.  

Top with sliced scallions before serving.

The sweet potatoes make it so creamy and the chipotles really pack a punch. Next time I'd add less spice and probably skip the sausage for a lighter, milder meal.  But this was a big hit with the spice and meat loving contingent!  

Short & Sweet Sunday - Tropical Fruit

This is not a recipe. 

A few weeks ago we had summer in March. The temperature was almost 30 degrees Celsius. So I decided to celebrate "summer" with the summery taste of tropical fruit.


We have an Asian grocery store in town that generally has a great selection of exotic fruits.

I bought Ataulfo mangoes, watermelon, dragon fruit, figs and mangosteen.

I took them out on the sunny deck, cut them open and chopped them up and had a summery feast!

Roast Chicken with Red Grapes and Port Sauce

Normally when I roast a chicken I stay pretty basic. I like a crispy skin with garlic and herb flavours. I've tried many recipes and, to be honest, they're all pretty good. My main method is roasting at about 400 degrees for about an hour and it generally works out fine.  Last night I decided to do something a little more special.


Serious Eats is one of my favourite food websites. I found this recipe and adapted it a bit. It was amazingly delicious and only a little more effort than a basic roast chicken.

I happened to have some red grapes in the fridge that were a little softer than I like so this recipe was the perfect way to use them up.  


I also just bought a new non-stick roasting pan with a V-shaped rack, so I put that to use. 

I preheated the oven to 375.

And rubbed the chicken with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.  I also threw a few grapes inside the chicken along with a clove of garlic.

I roasted the chicken alone for 15 minutes before adding grapes, onions, garlic...

and some chunks of multi-coloured heirloom carrots 

I added them to the pan with a little more oil and balsamic.

I let this roast for about 40 more minutes until the chicken was an amazing mahogany colour and the veggies were cooked.

I removed the vegetables, grapes and chicken from the pan and set them aside to rest, covered.

Then skimmed as much fat as possible from the pan juices and boiled them with some port until thick.  

I added the grapes and vegetable back to the port sauce to warm through and served the sauce over the chicken.

I carved the chicken, poured the sauce over it and served it with boiled potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.

Detour - Grand Rapids Michigan

We took a trip away last weekend, hence the lack of posting. But for a change of pace I thought I’d talk about where we went and what we did.  We ate some yummy things, but nothing super special, and didn’t take any pictures of food, but we had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the trip.
Grand Rapids, Michigan

I love to travel and love visiting new places.  On four occasions I have travelled to a place for the first time and felt I could live there. These are the places I tend to travel back to – or plan to travel back to – as often as possible.


My husband is a beer fanatic, so the main reason for the trip was to visit Founders Brewery, one of the top breweries in North America.  I was delighted to find out that the city has a terrific tourism website with tons of info on food, drinks and things to do. 


On the way we did some outlet shopping and then stopped at the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI for lunch.  This location is just off the highway, tucked in an office park, but it was busy on this beautiful Saturday afternoon and the service, food and drinks were terrific.

I had a Celis Raspberry and Matt had a Russian Imperial Stout. The beers were delicious and the food was really good too. They have a nice menu of sandwiches, burgers and pizzas.

I had chicken sliders and Matt had a twisted turkey sandwich on pretzel bread. This was a great lunch stop and, refreshed, we headed on to Grand Rapids.

Even though we read about great restaurants in Grand Rapids, we were more interested in the beer scene and we visited a few great pubs.  The hotel we chose was the JW Marriott. It is one of several downtown hotels and very highly rated. It cost a little more than we’d normally spend on a hotel, but it was so worth it.  What a beautiful place!  Our room was lovely:

And we had a wonderful view of the river.

Once we checked in, our first stop was Hopcat, a highly rated brew pub only a short walk from the hotel. We happened to be there on St. Patricks Day so we were lucky to get a seat at all, but they led us up to a small section upstairs with a few tables and couches.  We  got amazing service up there from a wonderful server with a tattoo of Michigan.  She also gave us great advice on other places to check out in town.  

That's a view of the bar from our table on the floor above.  Matt had a farmhouse ale and I had a framboise, then I tried a coffee milk stout on nitro. I don't usually like beer, but this one was so delicious! It was basically like a mocha milkshake. So creamy, light and tasty.  I loved it.  

While there we also had a couple of snacks.  A Jumbo Jalapeno Pretzel, soft with a delicious cheese sauce and Loaded Crack Fries which lived up to their name covered in cheese sauce, jalapenos and bacon.  Healthy!


Because it was St. Patricks Day there was a huge street party going on, but we skipped that in favour of a walk to Founders Taproom, one of the top breweries in North America. (RateBeer rates it #2 in the world!)  This place was busy as well, but we managed to find a table. 


Founders Taproom only serves beer. I tried a dark beer and then had a shandy (beer and lemonade), but Matt was in heaven trying all their dark beers.  We also tried the beer cheese dip that was perfectly tasty. A band started playing and we stayed a while, then stumbled back to our hotel via the riverfront.


The next day we did a little more shopping then headed to the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden to visit the Butterflies are Blooming Exhibit.  This place was spectacular.  

132 acres of gardens with a variety of sculpture and a huge greenhouse currently housing the butterfly exhibit. 

We got some great butterfly pictures...

Then headed out to the sculpture park.  

It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time. I love public art and it is great to see so much on display in one place. They also have a wonderful children's garden with interactive stuff for kids to explore.


Next we headed to a beautiful brew pub just outside of downtown Grand Rapids in an old church.

Brewery Vivant is a Belgian style brew pub with a lovely atmosphere and terrific food.

Inside there are long communal tables as well as a bar with a gorgeous stained glass window.  I was thrilled to see hard cider on the menu. 

I believe Matt had Solitude Belgian Amber Ale.  He also had a beer flight.

Once again the service was just great. We ordered a late lunch/early dinner.  I had the croque monsieur and Matt had a yummy burger. Both were served with amazing fries. If this place was near our house, we'd be here all the time. It was fantastic!


We had concert tickets at Van Andel arena, just around the corner from our hotel. Before the show we popped in to Bar Divani for a quick drink. They have a nice atmosphere and great menu, especially at Happy Hour. The arena is very nice and seems brand new.  Afterwards we went back to Hopcat for a quick drink but it was incredibly busy again so we headed over to Pyramid Scheme where we had beer, cider and played pinball!  It was a lot of fun and we once again weaved our way back to our hotel.  

On our last morning we took a swim in the lovely pool at JW Marriott they also have a eucalyptus steam room that was very refreshing. We took one last walk around the riverfront and then headed home.

We loved this town and can't wait to return to Grand Rapids. Next time we'll try more food, not just drinks.