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Nordic Accord Meatballs

Nordic Accord Meatballs

Nordic accord meatballs are a mash up of Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian meatballs. My mom couldn’t decide which recipe to follow so she took the best bits from each and put them altogether in one. We serve our meatballs with my Mummu’s onion and mushroom 

Warmed Spiced Olives

Warmed Spiced Olives

It takes all of ten minutes to make warm spiced olives that will elevate the flavour of plain olives to something special for your charcuterie board. Ingredients 1 cup olives (any kind) 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 dried red chili 1 sprig fresh rosemary chopped 

Quick Pickled Red Onion

Quick Pickled Red Onion

There’s a Gastown restaurant called Birds & Beets that serves their breakfast sandwiches with pickled red onion on top. They are oh so delicious so I decided to make some at home.

Ingredients

  • 1 large red onion, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly
  • 3/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper balls
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 tsp corriander balls
  • 1 whole clove

Method

  1. Combine vinegar, water salt and sugar in a small pot bring to a simmer over medium heat until the salt and sugar have dissolved into a pickling liquid.
  2. Put the pepper, bay leaf, coriander and cloves in the bottom of a 1 quart jar and place the sliced onions on top.
  3. Pour the pickling liquid over top and press the onions down so that they are covered.
  4. Place the lid on the jar and leave to steep for at least 30 minutes (longer is better).
  5. If you are not going to use them straight away, pop the jar in the fridge. They will keep for 2 weeks (if they last that long).
Mom’s Bread Stuffing

Mom’s Bread Stuffing

Every family has their favourite holiday stuffing and ours is bread stuffing. At Christmas time we make it using the broth from turkey giblets but at Thanksgiving we don’t do turkey…we do meatloaf. Long story but it’s how we roll. Since we don’t have giblets 

Coconut Banana Mango Smoothie

Coconut Banana Mango Smoothie

I bought some frozen coconut chunks and mango while on a frozen fruit shopping spree so I added a banana and thought I’d try them out in the Nutribullet to make this delicious coconut banana mango smoothie. Load the following ingredients in the order give 

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

I treated myself to a Nutribullet recently and have been playing around with smoothie recipes to get more fruit and veg into my diet. This is quick, easy, light and refreshing.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium banana broken into chunks
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2 Tbsp yogurt
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 3 ice cube

Load your Nutribullet in the order given and top up with water to the Max line. Whiz it up. Makes two 10 oz glasses of yum.

Note: If you want a refreshing boozy treat leave out the yogurt and add 2 oz of Grand Marnier.

 

Overnight Oats with Frozen Fruit Medley (Peach, Mango, Pineapple and Strawberry)

Overnight Oats with Frozen Fruit Medley (Peach, Mango, Pineapple and Strawberry)

Like many people I’ve been tackling the “COVID 10” weight gain. Instead of investing in a whole new wardrobe, I decided to try Noom to see whether it might help me drop the extra weight. Part of the challenge is finding stuff I like to 

Watermelon rind pickles

Watermelon rind pickles

I bought a beautiful small organic watermelon the other day and decided to try watermelon rind pickles. Some recipes I saw pickled the green skin but on this watermelon it was pretty tough so I just used the white part of the watermelon (this time). 

Morning Glory-ish Muffins

Morning Glory-ish Muffins

This recipe is a melange of a bunch of different recipes for Morning Glory Muffins and Pineapple Carrot Muffins. I mixed these by hand (a mixer is not necessary). I used white flour but you could use whole wheat or a mix of the two. They are not super sweet and the orange zest really shines through.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup grated carrot
  • 1 small apple cored and grated
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • Zest of one orange
  • 1/2 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower oil
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. Grate the carrot and apple and toss them into the dry ingredients and give them a good mix (this ensures an even mix throughout the muffin batter).
  4. Stir in the raisins.
  5. Whisk the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.
  6. Stir in the crushed pineapple.
  7. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.
  8. Mix until just combined (try not to over mix).
  9. Line 12 muffin tin with liners or grease and fill 2/3rds full.
  10. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
  11. Cool on rack for 5 minutes then remove from tin.

These freeze well.

 

Semolina Banana Muffins

Semolina Banana Muffins

I’m trying use up some semolina flour I had on hand along with reducing the bananas in my freezer. I did so using this variation of Sally’s Baking Addiction Banana Muffins which you will find here. Ingredients 3-4 ripe bananas 1/3 cup softened butter 2/3