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yyc pizza week + blogger challenge

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Starting on Friday, it’s everyone’s favourite week – YYC Pizza Week! What better way to support Meals on Wheels than by stuffing your face with delicious pie at participating restaurants. With so many options to choose from, you could technically have pizza for every meal – all for a good cause, of course.

I was happy to participate once again in the Food Blogger Pizza Challenge. We were supposed to pick two out of the four ingredients from The Italian Store to come up with our creation. The four ingredients were: fig spread, homemade pesto, ricotta, pitted assorted olives.

I chose to use fig spread and ricotta and Hubby helped in creating the Fiery Fig BBQ Chicken Pizza. The fig spread was used in creating the fiery bbq sauce. Made with the spread, poblano peppers, ketchup, balsamic and spices, the sauce was tangy and sweet and oh so good. We literally licked the pot clean.

I topped the pizza with cheese, bbq’d chicken and red onions. Once out of the oven, I topped the pie with ricotta fresca, which added a creamy, cool component to the pizza.

The pizzas from all the challengers will be posted on Friday where you’ll have a chance to vote. Be sure to visit a participating restaurant next week and support Meals on Wheels!

Fiery Fig BBQ Sauce

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 TB fig spread
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 poblano pepper, roasted
salt
pepper
oil
sriracha, as hot as you like it

Heat some oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Add the ketchup, vinegar, fig spread and spices and cook for a few minutes. Add the mixture to a blender along with the pepper and sriracha. Blend until smooth. Enough for one pizza.

home for dinner, volume 1

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How can the love of food help the refugees of the world? Read on to find out!
 
With so many displaced people around the world, Julie Van Rosendaal came up with the idea of creating an ebook to raise money for an organization that supports refugees. It was to be a book to celebrate cultural histories with food. After a call out for recipes, the submissions were more than what would fit in one book. Volume 1, which includes Starters and Mains, is the first in a series of
collections of family recipes, celebrating everyone’s backgrounds.

For only $5, you will get a pdf of this fabulous cookbook filled with recipes from the heart all while supporting UNHCR Canada – the UN Refugee Agency.

Julie and a team of volunteers put together this beautiful book. Below is the list of recipes in the book. I can’t wait to get cooking!  Click here to get your copy! 

1. Cazuela De Pollo (Chilean Chicken Stew)
2. Tortiere
3. French Canadian Tourtiere
4. British Baked Beans Meet Punjab
5. Macaroni & Cheese
6. Baba’s Pyrohy
7. Turnip Cake/Lo Bok Cake/Radish Cake/Daikon Cake
8. Chestnut & Sausage Unstuffing
9. Grandma Elizabeth’s Turkey Stuffing
10. Sauerkraut
11. Lemon-Ginger Salmon
12. Big Mac Sauce
13. Cac Pizza
14. Cucumber Salad
15. Caesar Salad
16. Butternut Squash & Coconut Ginger SOup
17. Slow Cooked Blackeyed Peas and Ham Hocks with Wild Greens
18. Dutch Oven Cooked Meal
19. Grandma Leggett’s Beef Carbonnade
20. Nana’s Sandwich Spread
21. Mary’s Ukrainian Noodles
22. Maple Bacon Mac N’ Cheese
23. Hungarian Chicken Paprika
24. Chicken Birayani
25. Beet Leaf Rolls or ‘Beetniks’
26. Cod Filets Thermidor
27. Mom’s Spareribs
28. Red Chicken
29. Grandma Gerry’s Tomato Relish
30. Stoorum
31. Syrian Tabbouleh

homemade fruit roll-ups

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School is in full swing and so is trying to figure out what to send for lunches and snacks. Things Q likes one week may not be a fave the next. Making sure I send things that he will actually eat and not stay hungry can be a struggle.

I was so happy I found this recipe for homemade fruit roll-ups. You can use whatever fruit is seasonal or the favourite that week and unlike the store variety, you know exactly what is going in them. These are super easy to make and always a hit!

Homemade Fruit Roll-ups
From Kitchen Daily 

4 cups berries
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB lemon juice

In a food processor or blender, puree your fruit, sugar and lemon juice.

Cook in a saucepan over medium heat until thick, 20-30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or Silpat. Shake the pan to level.

Bake at 170 degrees until dehydrated, about 3 hours (puree should be just slightly sticky but not dry). Let cool for 10 minutes.

If you lined your baking sheet with parchment you can cut the dried fruit into desired shapes. If you used a Silpat, place a sheet of parchment (cut to the size of your baking sheet) on your work surface. Carefully invert the fruit and Silpat onto the parchment and peel the Silpat away.

Cut into eight rectangles, or about 13 crosswise “strips”. Roll up with the parchment and tie with twine or baker’s string. Store at room temperature for up to 1 month.

calgary home + design show – giveaway!

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One of my favourite trade shows that comes to Calgary is the Home + Design Show. Although we moved in a couple months ago into our new home, we’re still looking to get things just right. The show always provides lots of inspiration and great ideas which I’m looking forward to!

The show will be held from Thursday, September 17th to Sunday, September 20th at the BMO Centre. You can buy tickets online and save $3 courtesy of RenovationFind at www.calgaryhomeshow.com.

With big names like Bryan and Sarah Baeumler, stars of HGTV’s House of Bryan: In the Sticks, design duo Janette Ewen and Jef Hancock, founders of Parker Barrow, local design favourite Alykhan Velji, lifestyle expert Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault and the winner of Western Canada’s Next Home Stylist, plus
more than 350 exhibitors and a slew of sensational new features,
there’s expert insight, innovation and inspiration for stylish living at
every turn.

I’m excited to be a judge for the Samsung Junior Chef Challenge! On Saturday, September 19th, two local teens (ages 12-17) will be selected to couple up with Calgary chefs Michael Dekker of SAIT and Eric Mah of CRAFT Beer Market in a $5,000 winner-takes-all showdown on the Trail Appliances Cooking Stage.

Want to go to the show? You can win a Fall-Ready Prize Pack valued at over $100, which includes the following:

2 x Fiasco Gelato Cards
1 x Real Deals Candle
1 x Thank You Card from Curate by Alykhan Velji
4 x Tickets to the Calgary Home + Design Show 

There are several ways to win (see below). Contest closes on September 15th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

minute rice cups – and a giveaway!

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It’s back to school week! I can’t believe that the summer just flew by. It was a fun summer, with busy days at camp or at the beach and lazy days hanging around the house. We enjoyed our trips to the mountains and our trip to our nation’s capital. It just went by too quickly!

Back to school means back to a routine. Not just a school routine but also those after school activities that make the days seem so long. Life is busy and sometimes trying to get food on the table and enjoyed in a short amount of time can be hard.

Minute Rice® Ready to Serve Cups are pre-portioned single serving mini-bowls of rice that take only one minute
in the microwave to cook perfectly every time. Available in Basmati,
Whole Grain, Oriental Style, Vegetable Medley, Long Grain; Wild Rice – Fine Herbs, Long Grain; Wild Rice – Chicken Flavour and Mexican, the rice
can be eaten straight out of the cup, as a side dish, or combined with a
protein for a quick one-dish meal.

GIVEAWAY!
Want a chance to win some Minute Rice for yourself? You can win three cases (48 cups – a $66 value) of Minute Rice Ready to Serve Cups. Enter below! Contest closes on September 15, 2015.

*Contest
is open to Canadian (excluding Quebec) residents only; prizes are
limited to one prize per winner – i.e. while a person may enter multiple
Minute Rice Ready to Serve Cups online contests, he or she is eligible to collect a prize from only one of the contests entered.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

canada beef and karisma resorts

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I first learned about the Canadian Beef Culinary Series last year, when I attended the Canada Beef & Karisma dinner at Rouge restaurant in Calgary. It was there that I sampled amazing beef dishes created by Chefs Allemeier and Rogalski and learned about Karisma resort. It was also there that I won a stay at the hotel in the Mayan Riviera, which turned out to be one of our favourite vacations (Part 1 | Part 2).

I was excited to be invited this month to the Karisma Influencer and Media event held at the new Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence which opened earlier this year in Calgary.

We were fortunate to be treated to a four course meal made by the talented chefs at Karisma Hotels featuring Canada Beef.  With Jeroen Hanlo, VP of Food & Beverage Operations at Karisma Hotels, the chefs kept us entertained and well fed all evening. 

We first toured the amazing centre – fully equipped with a consumer kitchen, commercial kitchen as well as the beef fabrication room. We learned a lot from Marty Carpenter, the Centre Director and Abe van Melle, the Centre Technical Manager.

The evening started out with a tasty bite – beef tartare with habanero aioli. The platter was beautiful arranged with flowers and the beef was served on potato chips.

Our first course was Canadian AAA Spice Rubbed Tri-Tip, Baby Beets, Blue Cheese, Chantrelle Mushroom prepared by Chef Florian Durre, Executive Chef and Elorado Royale.

Our second course was Canadian AAA Petit Tenderloin, Yucatan Sauce “Chimole” prepared by Chef Jonaten Gomez Luna, Executive Chef at La Chique.

Our main course was the Canadian AAA Aged Rib-Eye, Black Corn Truffle, Creamy Sweet Corn  with Traditional Mole and Tamarind. The rib-eye was my favourite cut, soft like butter. This course was prepared by Chef Francisco Perez, Executive Chef and Dorado Seaside Suites.

The final course was an amazing sight. The chefs prepared dessert using liquid nitrogen! The nitrogen was used to make creamy rhubarb sorbet as well as icy beads of carrot juice. This along with some coconut sponge, yogurt foam and cotton candy made for a flavourful dessert with lots of textures.

It was a fantastic evening, combining a couple of my favourite things – beef and Mexico!

calgary food tours – craving kensington

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I was thrilled to finally take part in a food tour a couple months ago. It was so amazing, I’ve been raving about it since. My friend Karen Anderson, the nicest person you will ever meet, started Calgary Food Tours in 2006. The tours take place through different neighbourhoods around the city (as well as some markets) while the tour guides share their passion for food along with some history.

The tour that I took was Craving Kensington which included two blocks of deliciousness in the neighbourhood of Kensington. The tour started at the beautiful Kensington Riverside Inn. Our tour guide Jenny filled us in on some interesting history of both Calgary and Kensington. Having been born and raised in Calgary, I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t know a lot of the information that I learned that day.

Next stop was lunch at Pulcinella. This gorgeous 2-story restaurant is family run and serves delicious Neopolitan pizza cooked in a wood burning oven from Naples. We started with crispy calamari and a tomato salad with creamy burrata. This was then followed by a couple of thin crust pizzas. A lot of food for four people!

 
 

Following our Italian lunch, we went to The Naked Leaf and had a little tutorial and tasting. The store boasts many organic teas as well as an amazing patio to enjoy the drinks on.

 

Wine lovers rejoice – there’s a stop at the Kensington Wine Market! The staff here are happy to share their knowledge and a glass or two of their favourites.

We moved along next to the Peasant Cheese Shop and tried out a few of their many cheeses. While there, you can also pick up some accompaniments like crackers, preserves and charcuterie.

It’s a good thing we were doing a little bit of walking because our next stop was more food. We stopped at Brasserie Kensington for some of their poutine. The fries were perfect topped with cheese curds and duck gravy. Definitely going back again for that!

We ended the tour on a sweet note – at Crave. We were able to tour their newly renovated store and we learned how to do their trademark swirl. We were able to practice hands on so that was fun. Of course, sampling was involved.

If you ever get a chance, definitely try out one of the tours offered by Calgary Food Tours. It was a fun afternoon and I left with a full stomach and so much knowledge!

watermelon lime spritzer

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We thoroughly enjoyed the long weekend. Saturday was beautiful and hot and a great day to spend on the water. The kids were excited to go tubing and even Z went in the tube with hubby.

We had friends over after and had a great time cooking together in the kitchen and barbecuing outside. We had chicken, beef kebabs, warm potato salad and fresh naan. It was delicious!

We quenched our thirst with watermelon drinks. The kids had blended watermelon, happily pouring their drinks from the watermelon keg.

For our drinks, we had watermelon lime spritzers. The combination of the watermelon, lime and mint was refreshing. Perfect for a hot summer day!

Watermelon Lime Spritzer

1/4 cup blended watermelon, strained
1/4 lime, juiced
simple syrup
mint leaves
sparkling or still water

Fill a glass with ice. Add the blended watermelon, strained. Add the lime and a splash of simple syrup – as sweet as you like it. Top the glass off with your choice of still or sparkling water. Garnish with mint. Enjoy!

#MenchiesMyWay – win a summer vip pass!

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There’s nothing better than a cool treat on a hot day. That’s why Menchie’s is always a favourite this summer.

Menchie’s is the largest growing frozen yogurt franchise in Canada. Menchie’s just launched the new Oreo cookie flavour, one of over 150 flavours available at the froyo joint. The best part of Menchie’s is it lets your creativity shine.

You start at the yogurt bar where you can mix up your favourite frozen yogurt and sorbet. Next you head on over to the snack bar where you can add toppings like nuts and candies. Next stop is the toppings bar where you can add fruit, cookie dough or bobas. Last stop are the sauces  – from Nutella to peanut butter sauce, there’s a topping for everyone.

Menchie’s is giving away a Summer VIP Pass giving you 7 complimentary visits to any Menchie’s location across Canada. Winning is easy!

1. Get creative and take a picture of your Menchie’s creation
2. Follow @Mechies_CA and @fareenjj on Twitter or Instagram
3. Name your creation and share it on Twitter or Instagram – be sure to hashtag #MenchiesMyWay as well as tag both @Menchies_CA and @fareen.

I’ll pick a winner on August 18th.

I went to Menchie’s on 17th Avenue in Calgary a couple weeks ago and came up with this creation – The Nutty Chocolate Bomb made with Oreo and Nutella froyo, topped with Nutella, almonds, peanuts and Nanaimo bars!

What’s your creation?

banana cake

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There’s something about a bundt cake. It looks great, provides comfort and always seems to impress.

My mom makes really amazing banana cupcakes.They are moist and flavourful and perfect for on the go. I decided to use her recipe but made a bundt to serve for dessert. The ripe bananas made the cake sweet and the chocolate paired so well with the fruit.

The cake itself was fine on its own but I thought I’d make it even better – I added chocolate on top! I made a quick ganache and once it was a little cool, I poured it on top of the cake. It took it to another level. Chocolate always seems to have that effect.

Banana Cake

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup whipping cream

icing sugar

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Mash the bananas and add to the mixture.

Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add in the yogurt and the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a greased bundt pan or muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

For the topping, heat the whipping cream until it starts boiling. Pour over the chocolate chips. Let cool a bit and then pour on top of the cooled cake. It’s best to place the cake on top of a rack placed on top of a tray. Dust with icing sugar.