Phyllo-topped Chicken Pot Pie (thank-you Sobeys)

I get very excited when the Sobeys Inspired magazine comes out. Not only do I love the recipes but I love to see the new products and as a PR person, I love the thinking behind putting out this magazine as a communication tactic (can you say identification principle?). 

I adapted this recipe from a chicken pot pie recipe found in the Inspire magazine. 

What you will need:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 leeks (white part only), split lengthwise, thinly sliced (or one large onion, thinly sliced)

2 carrots diced

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

2 tbsp flour

1 cup green beans

1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth

2 sprigs fresh thyme

4 phyllo pastry sheets, thawed

S & P

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). In a medium ovensafe saucepan or Dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until water evaporates and mushrooms start to brown, about 7 min. 

2. Add leeks and cook until softened, 5 to 7 min.    

3. Stir in carrots and cook, 2 min.    

4. Season chicken with salt and add to pan, stirring until chicken is lightly cooked on all sides, about 7 to 10 min. *Don't worry too much about the chicken cooking - this will go in the oven for 20 min later so it will definitely cook there.

5. Add flour and stir until flour turns beige. Stir in green beans, broth and thyme and cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken, 5 to 10 min. 

6. Remove from heat.

7. Place 1 phyllo sheet on countertop and brush with a bit of remaining olive oil. Fit sheet loosely over chicken mixture inside pot, covering right to edges. Tuck excess phyllo under itself. Repeat with remaining 3 sheets. 

8. Bake for 20 min. or until phyllo is brown and juices are bubbling.

Nom nom

And I also served it with this salad:

In the salad:

mixed greens

baby spinach

Renee's raspberry vinaigrette

blackberries

red onions

feta cheese

candied pecans

Craisins

Spring has sprung and I want salad

This kind of weather always gets me in the mood for a delicious "summer" salad. Although, I like this kind of salad at any time of the year.

I have to credit my mom's friend Rose for this (adapted) recipe.

Usually I'm not into making my own dressings. They don't always turn out and I absolutely love Renee's dressings anyway. Why bother to make a dressing when the ones you can buy are so delicious? But, this one was an absolute hit. It's easy to make and you can keep the leftovers in the fridge for salads in the future (and you will have leftovers because this makes a lot of dressing).

For the dressing:
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar (you could probably use any light vinegar like apple cider or white wine)
1/3 cup of grapeseed oil (vegetable or olive would work too)
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1 tbsp dijon mustard
s & p

Tip: Using the same measuring cup, measure the ingredients in this order: First, vinegar; second, oil; third, syrup. This way, the oil will kind of lubricate the cup and the maple syrup won't stick!

Mix all ingredients in a sealable container and then give it a good shake!

For the salad:

Mixed greens (or baby spinach)

1/4 cup red onions, sliced thin

1/4 cup (or as much as you want) of a mixture of blackberries and raspberries (this is what I used because it's what I had and what I like but you can use mandarin orange segments or blueberries)

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup honey roasted peanuts

Now, just toss the mixed greens in a bowl with the dressing (I used about 1/3 of the container) and then sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on the top. You can toss it all together if you'd like but sometimes the toppings end up all at the bottom. I think it makes for a prettier salad if they're all sprinkled at the top.

My sister LOVED this salad and she's not typically into salads (unless they're Caesar). She also doesn't usually like onions and she actually really liked them in this!

So pretty :)

Homemade Energy Bars

I've been serious about healthy eating since January now and I've lost 8 lbs (yay me!). So as you can imagine, I'm always on the lookout for new and exciting healthy, low cal recipes I can make. I always feel so proud of myself when I'm able to make a healthy meal taste really good!

As you may know (if you read my blog), I was in Regina recently and my friend and road-trip buddy, had what looked like a delicious, homemade chocolate bar with her for a snack on the way. I asked for a bite and couldn't believe it was a healthy energy bar! I had to have the recipe so she shared it with me and I made my own version today. They are really yummy and they're going to be perfect as an afternoon snack.

Part of my motivation for this as well is the fact that I'm good on breakfast, good on lunch and then right around 2:30 I start to get hungry. I've been partially successful in refraining from horrible snacks but I would like another option that I don't have to exercise for an hour for to work off.

What you'll need:


1 cup brown rice syrup (you can also use honey)
1 cup all natural peanut butter - this is the kind that's just strictly ground up peanuts with nothing else added (if you keep your PB in the fridge then bring it to room temp)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (I used quick rolled oats)
1/2 cup chocolate flavoured protein powder
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

I got a lot of this stuff at Bulk Barn because I hate buying way to much of something when you need it just for one recipe.


Place the sunflower seeds in a shallow pan and toast on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes stirring often, set aside.

Pour the syrup in a 2 quart pan and bring to a boil on medium-high. Reduce the heat to low and boil stirring constantly for about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the peanut butter.
Stir well.

Next add the oats, protein powder, sunflower seeds and currants.

Press the mixture in a 8 x 8 non stick pan (I line the bottom with parchment paper for easier removal).

After cooled, cut into bars (I cut them into 20) and wrap individually for an easy portable snack.

I put these in the freezer to make sure they stay fresh and delicious.

Family Fondue Fun

It's reading week and although I'm swamped with work, I still managed to treat myself to a little vacation this past weekend (which also happened to be a long weekend). I went to Regina. Not a vacation, you say? I say, of course it is/was!

Although visiting Regina isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea, it is mine! Especially because I have family there. I have a cousin who's from there who now lives in Toronto and he was flying out as well! It was nice to be able to see him without having to buy a plane ticket. We came in for my uncle's surprise 50th birthday party and we had a blast. He was so surprised and happy to see us and it was such a fun night!

I was going to blog about a fantastic restaurant in Regina called La Bodega but since we couldn't get in with a party of 10 (we couldn't get into about 12 other restaurants either), I thought I would blog about our dinner in on Sunday. We ended up going to Earl's on Saturday instead and I thought it wouldn't really make for an interesting blog post. I had some yam fries. They were pretty good. Etc.

Anyway, what we did on Sunday was a really great way to have a family dinner. We did fondue! But, not the traditional, cheese or even fry-in-oil fondue. We did grill "fondue", which technically isn't really fondue but hey? Who's counting?

We prepped a bunch of vegetables and meat and then grilled them on two grills right on the table. We also had an assortment of dipping sauces to go with. This dinner is really easy, interactive and fun! In order to make sure everything was safe, we kept the meat on one grill and the vegetables on the other. We also made sure to use our eating utensils on only the cooked food.

Ginger Sugar Face & Body Scrub

I have blogged about a sugar scrub before but since I like scrubs so much (and not the kind TLC sang about) I thought I'd blog about the one I made just this morning. I'm going to go straight to the shower after I write this blog!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I thought I'd give it a try. It's from a blog called Food for my Family. I've become obsessed with Lush products and because they're so expensive, I thought I'd give me own "Lush" type body scrub a try. I just love the idea of using natural products on my skin and it doesn't get as natural as homemade! These would be perfect for a thoughtful and inexpensive gift. I actually did a similar scrub as Christmas gifts for my girlfriends last year.

What you will need:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp roughly chopped ginger (I keep mine in the freezer so I can have it on hand all the time)
1/4 cup cold pressed oil like almond, sunflower, tea seed (I used grape seed)
3/4 cup cane sugar (I'm sure regular sugar would work just fine too)
1/4 cup kosher or sea salt
a few drops of essential oil (I used lavender)
1 mason jar

(my dog's helping)

What to do:
1. Add the coconut oil and ginger to a saucepan. Melt the oil and let it infuse with the ginger. This will take about 10 minutes.

This is what it will look like all melty and bubbly.

2. Strain the oil through a fine sieve and mix with the grape seed oil.

3. Let the oil mixture cool and then add the sugar, salt and essential oil.

4. Mix well and pour into a mason jar (the mixture fits pretty much perfectly into the one jar).

**I just tried this and oh my it's fantastic. The ginger and coconut together make an amazing smell in the shower (kind of smells like being on a tropical vacation) and it feels great on the skin.

Product Review: Poach Pods from Lee Valley

Because I use it to make one of my favourite breakfasts to make as of late, I've decided to do a product review on one of the neatest products I've been introduced to recently. They're called Poach Pods and they're from Lee Valley (which is a really cool store, by the way so check it out for cooking/home stuff). My dad got them for me for Christmas and I've been addicted to them ever since. Thanks, Dad!

Now, if you're anything like me and you like poached eggs, you've tried TONS of products out there that claim they make the perfect poached eggs. I've tried ones for the microwave and the stove and I've always ended up going back to doing the eggs right in the water. However, this method isn't perfect either because if you don't dry the eggs really well after they come out of the water, you could end up with soggy toast (I always eat my poached eggs on toast).

These little pods are really easy to use and the eggs turn out perfectly every time (I use a timer and set it for 6 minutes). This will give you runny yolks and solid whites - that's the perfectly poached that I'm talking about. All you have to do is spray with a little spritz of cooking spray and then crack one egg in each. Once the water is boiling, gently place them in (they float) and then cover with a lid.

Aside from the fact that they produce perfectly poached eggs, one of the best things about these little guys is they're easy to clean and they're so easy to store! We have so many gadgets and things in our house and space is always an issue for us. These are so small and they're made of silicon so they're flexible. They are also dishwasher safe.

I LOVE the fact that they come in a pair! No one ever has just one poached egg and I love the light green/dark green combo they come in.

(sorry for the blurry photo)

124 Calorie Pumpkin Cupcakes: tried, tested and delicious

I don't often bake but I found such a great recipe that I had to share. I've recently been using myfitnesspal.com to keep track of what I'm eating and to try and lose a few after the holidays. It's a great app/website by the way. It's free and it has a huge database of food. It makes tracking your calorie/fat/carb/protein intake a breeze. I've been using it for over a month now and I haven't abandoned it out of frustration or boredom so I think that's a good sign.


But, that's not what this post is about. Through the My Fitness Pal forum, I noticed a lot of users using and sharing recipes from a website called skinnytaste.com, a blog written by a woman named Gina. The best part about it is she calculates the nutrition info for each recipe, including the Weight Watchers points.


Even though this recipe is posted on her blog, I took my own photos so I think it deserves a post on mine as well. The original recipe is located here.


What you will need:


Ingredients:

• Duncan Hines Yellow Cake mix (vanilla or any other white cake mix would work)
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have this pre-mixed spice, you can use a pinch of each ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice)
• 1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin
• 1 cup water

For the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz brick Philadelphia 1/3 fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 5 tbsp packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers.

Combine cake mix and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Add pumpkin puree and water, mix about 2 minutes until smooth.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake about 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This is the part where I got nervous. Because the egg is omitted from the recipe, I wasn't sure how the cupcakes would turn out. The batter wasn't super runny like cake batter usually is. Let me assure you, these cupcakes turned out so well that none of the omitted ingredients were missed (i.e. oil and eggs). But more on that later.


For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar until smooth. You can use a spatula to ice the cupcakes or pipe them which may require making more frosting. 

The tops look a little weird but I assure you, they don't taste weird at all and you can't tell when they're iced, obviously.


And the finished product!

The best part about these cupcakes is there is no "fake sugar" like Splenda in the recipe. Not only is that stuff bad for you but you can taste it as well. These were so good that one of my friends actually called them "orgasmic". They are so moist and they have such a wonderful, warm pumpkin flavour!


Just a note* I had a lot of icing leftover - probably enough to make enough batch. I don't like my icing very thick so I only used a thin layer.