Rebekah's Steak Dinner

There is nothing I love more than a medium rare New York strip. If you have been following this blog for a while you may remember how I feel about steak that is cooked more than medium rare. If you haven't been reading this for very long, I highly recommend that you click that link for a recipe for a delicious steak sandwich. Don't hit the link if you order your steak well done and will be offended by me calling you an idiot.

This steak dinner came entirely from my head, and it was delicious.

Rebekah's Glazed Salmon

When I made this salmon my intent was to make Nigella's Mirin Glazed Salmon, which is one of the most delicious recipes I have ever made. However, I did not have any mirin at home and I couldn't find any at Sobeys, so I had to make do with what I had on hand. The following came from my head, but was inspired by Nigella's recipe so I probably shouldn't take all the credit.

Beef Tacos

There is only one thing that can come close to the love I have for pizza, and that is the love I have for tacos. Tacos combine a few of my favorite things like beef, cheese and not using a fork. Which brings me to the real reason why I love tacos so much, which is that no one can eat tacos neatly. It is the only meal where I am not the only person at the table making a hot mess of themselves.

The following is for my sister E, who loves when I demonstrate my mad Paint skills on the Internet.

Sad but true. I am a mess.

Cobb Salad

I have tried giving blue cheese a fair chance. I have tried it multiple times, in multiple things and each and every time it has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Literally. The entire time that I ate this salad I couldn't help but think it would be so much better if I had made it with feta instead. Feta is the greatest, whereas blue cheese tastes like feet.
If you like the taste of feet, feel free to keep the blue cheese in this salad, but if you would rather eat something delicious swap it for feta.

Quinoa with Corn

After a four month break, I am back! I know in my last post I had promised I would still be posting, but not as often. I had the best of intentions when I wrote it but a couple things have prevented my blogging as of late.
One of them being I had packed up most of my apartment so it would look big and impersonal when it showed. All my cookbooks and most of my kitchen gadgets were packed away and I was feeling rather uninspired. I was actually surprised at how much I didn't feel like trying to cook anything new without being surrounded by all my cooking related possessions.
I have since moved a lot of my stuff back in, and I have the itch again.

I found this recipe via the FoodGawker. I didn't like it as much as I thought I was going to, but the fault lies with me, not the recipe. I have a tendency to eyeball my ingredients, and my eyes clearly failed me when it came to the amount of lemon juice I added. It was too much, but aside from the citrus overkill, it's a pretty great dish.

Worth Every Penne

I have some awful news. My condo board has kicked my dog out of my apartment. It's a long story, and it's due partially to a misunderstanding on my part, but also partially because my condo board is evil. After all, how could you evict something that is as adorable as this:

Sigh. If any of you are wondering, it was not from a noise complaint. My dog is mostly well behaved at home, and she's way quieter than the girl who yells at her boyfriend every single night. The point of my story is that I was left with the options of getting rid of my dog, or moving. I'm choosing to move, and currently have my apartment listed for sale. This is a very stressful and busy time for me, which means I will be blogging even less. I will try to as much as possible, but please bear with me for the time being.
For now, this pasta recipe comes from my Aunt G. I prepped, cooked and ate this meal within 35 minutes, which means it is a fantastic recipe for the weeknight.

Rebekah's Pizza Muffins

The second time that I had met my friend J was at her apartment. There was a bunch of us there, and someone ordered pizza for everyone. When the pizza arrived I took a seat right beside it and quickly polished off 3 slices, pineapple free. J's boyfriend then motioned for me to have another piece (unaware that I had already ate 3) as he took a bite of the last slice without pineapple. I said "You're eating the last piece without pineapple" and he jokingly handed me the piece that he had already taken a couple bites of. I took it, and ate it, much to his surprise.
This is his favorite story to tell people. I think partly because I have an enormous appetite for pizza, but also because he is still surprised that I had ate that piece, given that I didn't know him very well at the time.
If soul mates are real, I feel that mine is pizza.
I made these pizza muffins the other night. The inspiration came from this pizza, and Gimme Some Oven's pizza puffs.

Spinach and Feta Macaroni and Cheese

I love feta. I guess when it comes down to it, I really just love cheese, but feta comes pretty close to being my favorite. I found this recipe on FoodGawker, while searching for a pasta made with feta. The whole dish can be made fairly quick, it took me just over the amount of time it took to cook the pasta. On a weeknight that is definitely something I appreciate.

Rebekah's Chickpea Curry

I am back from vacation and slowly settling back into my normal routine. I had my friend M over for dinner last night, and she loves chickpeas so I made us a curry. I also chose to make curry because it's cold in Edmonton, and I'm having a hard time getting used to this weather again.

Maui

There will be a lack of posting over the next couple weeks. I will be in Maui on vacation. (Note: There will still be someone living in my apartment). I was hoping to be more organized and have some posts ready, but I have had some setbacks in the last couple weeks, so I don't have anything. I'm sorry, but I will be back in two weeks and posting on a regular basis.

Rebekah

Pork Fried Rice

I'm beginning to think I should just name this blog after Everyday Food. Most of the recipes that I cook come from there. I can't stop recommending this publication. (They don't even pay me for my glowing reviews, I honestly just think everyone should buy it) By now, if you haven't listened to me and picked up an issue, it's about time you do!

Lone Linguine with White Truffle

My roommate has been in Cuba for the past week. I find having the house to myself lonely and sad. HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA just kidding, I love it. On my first night alone I celebrated by making Lone Linguine with White Truffle. The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson, (LOVE LOVE LOVE) someone who can appreciate how great time to yourself is. Don't let the truffle part fool you, the recipe calls for truffle oil which is much more affordable than the actual truffle itself. This pasta is rich, creamy and luxurious. Would you expect anything less from Nigella?

Pot Roast

Yesterday was the Monday of a long weekend. I decided to take advantage of all my free time by making a pot roast. The pot roast itself doesn't take a lot to put together, but it has a lengthy cooking time (roughly 4 hours). This is a recipe from my head, so the ingredient amounts are all an approximation.

Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers

Most of the time when I check my mail there's nothing exciting in there, mainly just bills or flyers. Sometimes, though, the newest issue of Everyday Food is in there, and it's a beautiful day. Their March 2011 issue has page after page of recipes that I have to try, and the first one I made is the Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers. I have had a recent obsession lately with burgers, especially bean burgers. I had to text my roommate sister the other night to see if she was sick of the Veggie Burgers with Tahini Mayonnaise yet, because I felt like making them again for the third time in two weeks. (Side note: The veggie burgers are even better when a little Sriracha sauce is stirred into the mayonnaise. Also I discovered that butter lettuce is good on them, and I hate lettuce on burgers)
The chickpea burger that I made last night, does have beef in it. The patties are roughly half ground beef and half chickpeas and bulgur wheat. NOM NOM NOM. When I was buying the ground beef I managed to give myself a heart attack and embarrass myself all at the same time. What you need to know is that I am half Dutch, which means I am half cheap. I have zero issue paying lots of money for Lululemon, but I will not spend lots of money on other things, like ground beef.
I was looking at the ground beef and for roughly a pound of it, the price was $9 or so. Usually it's about $5, so this sent me into a panic attack about food prices going up and how I would no longer be able to afford one of the cheapest meats to buy. I spotted a butcher and I said "Hey, why is the ground beef so expensive?" and he said "That's ground bison". I'm an idiot.

Sriracha Glazed Chicken Burgers

Generally when I see a recipe for chicken wings that I want to make, I make it as a chicken burger. I do love chicken wings, but I really love burgers, especially chicken ones. In a recent issue of Everyday Food, they had a recipe for Sriracha Glazed Chicken Wings. I took the same sauce, and adapted the recipe to make chicken burgers. These were AMAZING.

Pineapple and Ginger Smoothie

Smoothies can be a deceitful drink. Sometimes people like to think they are doing themselves a big ol' favor drinking one. Those people can be wrong. Some smoothies are made thick and creamy by adding ice cream, some are made sweet by adding a lot of sugar. This smoothie is actually good for you, and, like most things out of Everyday Food, it tastes good.

Twice Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

A few weeks ago I had twice baked stuffed potatoes at my friend C's house. They were delicious, I could have ate at least 4 of them. The other night I wanted to recreate the recipe, but this time using the vitamin laden sweet potato.

Mushroom Stroganoff

This is what I had for dinner the night of my birthday. I had spent the weekend in Calgary, and got back to Edmonton fairly late Sunday night and had to still go to my office to get some work done. What I really wanted to do after work was pick up a pizza and just be done with it. However, I have been feeling a bit "puffier" lately, and thought it would be best to make something with a little more nutritional value, and a little less caloric value.
Enter in Mushroom Stroganoff...

Mirin Glazed Salmon & Leftover Salmon Salad

I have made this mirin glazed salmon before. The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express book, and it is exceptionally quick, easy and delicious. In the recipe she recommends saving some of the salmon to eat cold the next day in a salad. So this time around I made the salmon for dinner, and served it with a hot noodle side. The next day I turned the leftovers into a salad.

Chicken Noodle Soup

My sister S had a touch of the flu last week. Since I am an awesome sister, I went over to her place to make her some chicken noodle soup. I did neglect to take a picture of the soup after I had made it, so this picture was taken the next day at work. The bowl is from Tupperware and was given to me for Christmas. If you look carefully you can see that the calendar underneath is marked on my very favorite day of the year, my birthday. (January 30!)

Black Bean and Quinoa Tortilla Cups

If  two of my previous posts, the Taco Cups and the Black Bean Quinoa Quesidillas, were to mate and reproduce, you would end up with these fancy little cups, that are really adorable.

Cheesy Chili

I realize this is not necessarily the most appetizing picture of chili. I can admit that it looks more like a soup than a chili, and there's not actually any chili in the recipe, so it's possibly not really a chili. And you could be asking yourself what the stringy white bits are, answer: melted cheese.


All this aside, would I post a recipe that I didn't think was good? Would I post a recipe that I wouldn't encourage anyone to make? Probably not. So keep an open mind, and check the recipe out, because it's quite good. After all, it came from the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson.

Caprese Lasagna aka. Where's the Meat?

I cannot take credit for this meal, as it was made by my sister S. The first time she made this for her family, her husband asked "where's the meat?", because how can one have a lasagna with no meat? He ate it though, and now requests it for nights that he plays hockey because it is some sort of super food that increases his hockey playing abilities.
I can't vouch for how it aids in hockey, but it is a super energizing and delicious meal. I was sort of a skeptic at first, as I am finicky about tomatoes, but this is really good.

J's Garlic Dressing

I worked out with my friend J the other night. Afterwards we had dinner at her house, and her boyfriend, J, made the most delicious salad dressing. It is not for people who are concerned about their breath, as it contains an entire head of garlic. THE ENTIRE HEAD. This s*&t is bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S), it is so good.
I will warn you, girl J did say that I was probably the first person who loved the salad dressing, but if you aren't afraid of a little garlic, I encourage you to try it.

Spice-Rubbed Fish with Lemony Rice

Yesterday was not my day. I woke up, got ready and came to work. Once I got there someone (clearly a male, since no woman would say this) said to me "rough night?". No, it was not a rough night. I slept well, and for a decent amount of time. So clearly, it was just my appearance that was rough.
I work in a field that is pretty well dominated by men. They have this ability to say or do the dumbest things. One of my favorites is "did you get your haircut?" and then when I say yes, their reaction is a nod or grimace. A woman would know that even if you hate the haircut, if you brought it up you still say it looks great.
So that was the start of my morning, and the "badness" ended up snowballing until the end of the day when I was making supper at 9 pm. And then things got better, because I made a one pot meal, that took 35 minutes from start to finish, and it was only 348 calories per delicious serving!

Pork Bolognese

When I am looking at a recipe and see the words ground pork, milk and wine listed in the ingredients, I am skeptical about how it will turn out. If I see a pasta sauce with milk in it, and the sauce is tomato based, not cream based, I am hesitant to try it.
This past week has been pretty chilly in Edmonton, one that makes you want to turn the fireplace on and have a bowl full of soup, or chili, or pork bolognese. This recipe comes from, no surprise, Everyday Food.