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.

Gnocchi Fail

This past weekend I had one of the greatest Saturdays I have had in a long time. The weather in Edmonton has been miserable lately. It's been grey, cloudy and rainy. Then on Friday, it all cleared up and it was bright, sunny and beautiful. I am using my awesome skills in Paint to really show you.

Wow, I am so talented.

I got a message late last week from my friend M, who was wondering if I would want to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I was ecstatic, I love the Farmer's Market! So Saturday we drove down to Whyte Ave to go to the market, and after that we enjoyed lunch on a patio. Did I mention it was 26 C outside? We spent all of the day on Saturday outside, and it was absolutely fabulous. Aside from the sunburn I acquired on my arm. Small price to pay though!

Yesterday I was trying to decide what to do with my goods I purchased from the Farmer's Market. I had the great idea to make gnocchi. When we had lunch, M ordered gnocchi and I tried it for the first time in my life, and wanted to have it again.

Since I was making the sauce to go on top, I thought I would be lazy and just buy packaged gnocchi. I have heard horrible things about gnocchi that is packaged to sit on a shelf, so I looked for frozen or fresh gnocchi and couldn't find any.

I made the decision to just make the gnocchi myself, rather than to buy the kind on the shelf. The ingredients for a basic gnocchi are flour, potatoes, and an egg. You cook the potatoes, allow them to cool, and push them through a food mill or potato ricer. Then you add flour and an egg. Problem, I was out of eggs. I googled egg less gnocchi, and found a recipe that included just flour and potatoes. I made the dough, and cut the gnocchi and went to boil them.

After pulling them out of the water, instead of ending up with a delicious little potato dumpling, I got a mass pile of wet potato and flour. It was so gross.

At this point the roasted tomato sauce was almost finished. I had taken 5 Roma tomatoes (from the market, they were so red and so fresh), and cut them in half. I also took a medium Spanish onion, and sliced it very thinly. In a shallow baking dish I lined the onions on the bottom and tossed them with extra virgin olive oil. I placed the tomato halves on top (insides facing up), and scattered garlic cloves around them. I left the garlic in the peel, could not be easier! I drizzled a bit more oil on top and seasoned with salt and pepper. This went into a 350 F oven, for roughly 45 minutes to an hour.

Upon removal from the oven, I allowed the dish to cool a bit, then I emptied the contents into my blender. (First squish the garlic cloves out of the peel, and discard the peels) I blended it until smooth, though if your prefer a chunky sauce, you can either mash it, or only blend it a little.

So I had a disgusting glob of wet mashed potatoes, and a sauce that smelled like Italian heaven. Luckily I keep a disgusting amount of dried pasta on hand and quickly put some in a pot to boil. Once the pasta was cooked, I poured the sauce on top and added some fresh basil. The basil from the Farmer's Market is a magical thing. A bag will cost roughly $4, and you get a bag full of fresh and beautiful basil. Not a tetra pack of brown basil that costs $2. 99 at the grocery store.

I topped the pasta with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

The sauce tasted so fresh. There is really nothing that compares to produce and herbs that are bought at a farmer's market.

I had also bought a bag of mint from the Farmer's Market, and I made a POM Mock-ito to go with supper. I sliced a lime and placed the slices in a glass. To that I added a handful of fresh mint, and about 3/4 cup of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice. I topped it off with club soda.

Mmm this was good!

Two Pina Coladas

I absolutely love the smell of coconut. I remember a friend of mine had the best smelling body spray. She bought it for a couple bucks at the drug store, but since she bought that one we have never been able to find it again. There is nothing that tops the smell of a really good pina colada, except the taste of a really good pina colada.

Bacardi sells these delicious blended drink mixes in the grocery store freezers. I remember loving them so much when my dad would make them for us kids. (Without the rum). When I was rooming with my second roommate, we would makes these (with rum) only our blender was so awful it had to be "drank" with a spoon because the ice chunks wouldn't make it through the straw. When this roommate of mine was visiting me recently we had a supper of pina coladas, lobster tails, risotto and roasted pineapple.

Rebekah's Baked Lobster Tails

1) if you bought frozen lobster tails, thaw them out by placing them in a sink filled with cold water. This will take some time.

2) once the tails are thawed cut the tails in half lengthwise

3) take a piece of foil and fold up all four sides so it's like a square bowl. Place the tail inside with the exposed meat facing up.

4) place tabs of butter on top of the meat and sprinkle some lemon pepper seasoning on top

5) close up the tin foil so it's a pouch and no lobster is exposed

6) place in an oven @ 350 F until the lobster meat is opaque, about 7-10 minutes


The lobster has been placed on a bed of risotto. Risotto is one of my favorite things. (I have a lot of favorite things). The problem with risotto is it can be so time consuming. And it's not like you can start making it and then go off and do something else, you have to be attentive. Risotto is high maintenance.

Microwave risotto is not high maintenance, and yet it yields great results.

Tante's Microwave Risotto:

Ingredients: 1 cup arborio rice

3 cups BOILING chicken stock

1/2 or 1/3 cup chopped white onion

2 tbs butter

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

grated Parmesan cheese

(this will serve four small portions, so you can up the amount however you like the basic rule of thumb is 3 parts stock to 1 part rice)

1) in a large microwavable dish heat the butter and oil for 1 minute

2) stir in the onion and heat for another minute

3) stir in the rice and heat for a minute (keep the onion and rice glossy with the oil and butter, dry rice might burn, if you need to add more oil so all the grains are shiny)

4) add the boiling stock. If you do not heat up the stock first, it will not be absorbed. heat for 8 minutes

5) stir, and heat for another 8 minutes

6) add some grated Parmesan. 1/2 cup should work, but feel free to add more. Stir. Crack black pepper over it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When I say add pepper to any recipe, I always mean fresh ground pepper. I NEVER mean "restaurant pepper".

This is so delicious. I could eat the whole thing for dinner. The risotto is creamy, and rich and so simple.

Roasted Pineapple

I took the whole pineapple and sliced of the top. Then I sliced the peel off in strips, using my knife. I cut the pineapple into slices and cut out the harder core in the center.

I topped it with some brown sugar and butter. I had some butter sitting on the cutting board from when I was making the lobster, and I couldn't let it go to waste.

Place the rings on a baking sheet and heat at 400 F to 425 F for 15 minutes or so. The pineapple should be soft, and the butter and sugar should be melted.

The pina coladas were easy. Take a can of Bacardi's frozen Pina Colada Mix and squeeze it into the blender. Add 2 cans of ice, and a half can of rum (if using, the drink is still very very good without any alcohol). Blend. Pour into a glass. Add a straw and some leftover sliced pineapple.

The Bacardi frozen mixers taste way better than the syrup that is sold in the grocery stores. It is worth the extra money. They also sell lime mix and strawberry mix for daiquiris and margaritas.