Big Vegetarian Burritos!

I got the inspiration for these delicious burritos from watching The Schuerman Show on youtube.  Sam is a beauty guru and her husband, Jay is a food enthusiast and they have a little man, Phoenix.  They post daily vlogs of their life and always seem to be eating something delicious!

A while back I had come across the episode where they had eaten these huge burritos and wanted to make some of my own.  I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe, and feel free to add or create your own kind of burrito!

To make this recipe, you will need:

A little olive oil, plain not extra virgin
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped (If you want less spicy, add one or no spice don't add any at all, your choice!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
A little salt
Tortillas
Any toppings of your choice, I used:
Tomato
Avocado
Sharp cheddar
Salsa
Sour cream


Heat oil in a large frying pan; I used my deep one, this recipe makes leftovers! (Unless your feeding an army!)
Preheat oven on a low broil.
Cook onion, red pepper and jalapeno pepper until soft, about 6-7 minutes on medium heat.
Add beans and corn, season with salt and heat through.
Heat your tortillas up a little, either in the microwave or in the oven before you preheat it. This makes them a little bit easier to work with.
Place tortillas on a baking sheet.
Spoon some of the veggie mixture into the heated tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.
Broil for 1 minute or less, until cheese is melted.
Top with all your goodies and enjoy!

Mark felt the need to take a picture of me, so I added it!

I love the gorgeous colors of everything mixed together!

I hope everyone enjoys this healthier version of a meat burrito. Using all veggies gives that extra fibre and vitamins that we need and so many less calories than some greasy meat!

Also, if you would like to check out The Schuermans, click here.

Until next time, 

Jacqueline

Greek Stew with Pasta

Today I made a delicious, hearty stew.  I was watching Nigella Bites the other day, and she was making a Greek stew, with lamb and added some macaroni.  Of course, Mark doesn't like lamb, so I substituted with pork and made some of my own changes as I went along.  It was super rich and delicious and we savoured every bite.  I hope you all enjoy this as much as we did, and make any changes you want as you go along.

For this recipe of Greek Stew with Pasta, you will need:

Olive oil
1 small package of pork stew meat, or lamb, about 1/2 a pound.
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 celery stalks
A few carrots, peeled and diced or 2 handfuls baby carrots cut in half.
1 can of tomatoes, whole or diced, whatever you prefer
A little swish of water, to rinse out can
1 cup red wine
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup macaroni or any small pasta
Crumbled feta cheese for the topping

Finely chop or blitz onion, garlic and celery in a food processor.
Heat olive oil in a pot.
Dry off meat and brown it in the oil.
Set browned meat aside.
Soften onions, garlic and celery in oil from the meat.
Once soft, add the meat back in.
Add the carrots, tomatoes, water, wine, more water, oregano, salt and pepper.
Simmer for 2 hours on a low heat.
Turn up the heat to a boil and add pasta, let cook 10 minutes until pasta is al dente.
You may need to add more salt and pepper here.
Serve with a sprinkle of feta cheese.
Enjoy!

Until next time, 

Jacqueline

Mushroom Pizza Extraordinaire!

I have something super tasty to share with everyone today.  I had been planning on making my noodle-less lasagna for supper, but as we walked around the store I decided on making portobello mushroom pizzas.

This is such a versatile meal. You can use ANY ingredients you want to. Feel free to have imagination with this.

For this recipe, I used:

-4 large portobello mushrooms, without gills and stem. (save the stems and use them as topping!)
-Pizza sauce
-Red pepper
-Jalapeno pepper
-spicy salami
-marble & parmesan cheese

Heat oven at 350F.
Place the portobellos on a baking sheet, and bake for 5-6 minutes.
Once out of the oven, get ready to fill them up with all the goodies you want.
I poured in the sauce and got my mushrooms stuffed with the stems, that I saved and chopped up, all my peppers, a little bit of shredded salami and topped with some marble & parmesan cheese.
Bake these guys for 10 minutes or so. You can also broil them at the very end to get them bubbly!

These pizzas are literally going to save you hundreds of calories without sacrificing flavour! Enjoy the recipe, and don't forget to get creative! 

Until next time, 

Jacqueline

Thanksgiving 2011

Who doesn't love thanksgiving? Endless amounts of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, squash & gravy! Honestly, I don't think there is anything better. I happened to have two dinners on one day this weekend; it was a little much but still delicious! I thought I would share the photos of my thanksgiving for you guys!

My Mom's turkey

My mom's cranberry sauce

Dinner at Mark's parents!

Turkey lurkey!

Sheila's stuffing! I love the cranberry sausage one

My plate

Pumpkin Spice cake with chocolate ganache and pumpkin icing!

 I made this!

I hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving!

Until next time,

Jacqueline

P.S. The cake recipe can be found here! I love Candice Kumai! She is an amazing cook, and I will be doing her cookbook review very soon!

A Fall Night Out!

There's something I really really love about Halifax. There are fantastic restaurants, stores and gorgeous sites to see. 

Last night, Mark and I hurried to downtown Halifax for a night on the town. We walked around everywhere, enjoying the amazing weather and the city-life atmosphere. 

 

We found a little friend on our adventure!

After going in and out of a few stores, we were starving and decided to go to Durty Nellys pub. Mark grabbed a drink and I got a sparkling water. We wanted a delicious and indulgent appetizer for a meal so we got rustic potato chips. It was almost like fresh BBQ potato chips with bacon, spring onions and cheese. So so good!

By the time we were done eating and enjoying the friday night buzz of the restaurant, we wanted dessert. I had seen a new `desserterie` and bar had opened on Barrington Street and we decided to make our way down there. 

The Middle Spoon is an amazing place! It`s super chic and cozy, with tea lights everywhere and fancy leather furniture. We had a great server who explained to us that all the drinks were made from scratch and fresh, so it takes a little longer for them to be made. (So worth it!) And that the desserts were made from scratch each morning. 

Mark got a fabulous root beer float drink (yes, it was a cocktail and so fabulous!) and I got aphrodite`s weakness, a super sweet martini with raspberries and it was the best drink I have ever had!

Then we ordered dessert. A sharable size sundae, with cake balls in it. The cake balls were chocolate cake mixed with butter cream icing and coated in chocolate. This is the absolute best dessert I have ever had in my life. And Mark definitely did too.  

The Middle Spoon is one place I definitely recommend, and I do plan on going there again. I would go there right this second if I could! Honest!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Until next time,

Jacqueline

My 21st Birthday Celebrations

My birthday celebrations weren't too exciting to me this year at first. It seems as if God has something against me this time of year. Two days before my birthday I caught a cold. This is pretty much inevitable. Every single year, at this time I start sneezing and coughing like a fool. It definitely wasn't a good start but it ended pretty fabulously.

My day started with a delicious brunch at Nectar Social House. This restaurant makes me feel like I'm a super fabulous, important person. If you ever have a chance to go there, just go. It's super yum food and has such an uplifting atmosphere. The only problem I had was that brunch only starts at eleven-thirty. I think it should start at ten-thirty or eleven, but that's just me.

As per usual, Mark and I had looked at the menu beforehand, so I already knew what I want to eat. I ordered the asparagus crepes that had scrabbled eggs and local bacon inside. They were doused in a buttery sauce, and I had potatoes on the side. Mark ordered the steak and eggs. Such a man thing to do! It was a gorgeous steak with potatoes, crusty bread and scrambled eggs. It was one of the best brunches I've had at a restaurant in a long time.

After Brunch we headed to Halifax Shopping Centre. I have been begging Mark to bring me since Sephora opened and he finally brought me. I ended up buying the gorgeous True Blood palette by Tarte. Okay, I know its ridiculously expensive, but it was my birthday. After that, we browsed around. Everything had changed so much there.

I love the packaging!

Gorgeous colors!

 And then I remembered the candy apple store. It's a chocolate store that has giant candy apples, chocolate covered marshmallows, fudge, cookies and different sweet popcorn's. Of course, me being a sweet-tooth (understatement of the year) and Mark loving anything junk food (this is definitely true!) got a giant cookie. It had marshmallows, peanut butter, caramel, white chocolate, milk chocolate and who knows what else. And it was good. So good, it took 3 different times that day to actually eat it all. We tried to savour it, so we shared a 1/3 at a time!

Looks good, huh?

Of course we had our ritual trip to Starbucks and headed home and watched sex and the city 2. Sex and the city 1 was on the night before, so we had to finish the series. It's just what we do!
Ah, and before I forget. Mark cooked me my favorite foods. Spaghetti carbonara and my favorite carrot cake. I always pick the richest foods for my birthday! Only once a year I guess! Mark did a great job making my supper though, and I really appreciated a day out of the kitchen that day. I usually cook my own birthday meals- and usually want to. Weird, I know.

Mark did this all on his own! How cute!

love my hello kitty's!

Anyways, that pretty much ended my day. I ended up having a spa day yesterday, since I couldn't have it done last Saturday. Spa days are going to become a necessity in my life. If you have ever thought about having one, stop thinking and just go! So so worth it.

I hope you all enjoyed my extremely long post.

Until next time,
Jacqueline

Summer Food

I sincerely apologize for not blogging at all lately. I've been figuring out wedding plans and just started school a few weeks ago. Stressful enough for me! I decided I wanted to share with you a few pictures of food I've made and eaten over the summer. Of course I haven't lost interest in cooking or eating for that matter. Enjoy!

Yummy strawberry pavlova I made @ Mark's parents!

Huge salad I made @ Mark's parents

Yummy cheesy lasagna I threw together @ Mark's parents

My portion of lasagna with garlic bread.

My mom's delish brined BBQ chicken

Corn on the cobb!!

Gluten-free pasta salad

potato salad @ moms!

my roasted portobello & caramelized onion chicken burgers with pickles, cheese & chipolte sauce & a salad!

 

 

 

Rigatoni with olive pesto & goat cheese from Il Mercato!

Adding all these pictures is making me super hungry!

I hope you all had an awesome foodie summer!

Until next time, 

Jacqueline