The sauce I used was a sausage tomato sauce. In the recipe, there's many more suggestions of different sauces you can use.
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| Zucchini Pasta with Sausage Tomato Sauce |
Love this website!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Zucchini Pasta
Why didn't I think of this sooner? Zucchini in place of real pasta. It's carbless = guilt free! I came across this recipe when I decided to look through all the interesting recipes on Sweet Potato Chronicles. This is only one of the ones that I've tried.....but many more on my list.
The sauce I used was a sausage tomato sauce. In the recipe, there's many more suggestions of different sauces you can use.
Love this website!
The sauce I used was a sausage tomato sauce. In the recipe, there's many more suggestions of different sauces you can use.
Love this website!
糖醋排骨 (Sweet Vinegar Spare Ribs)
My hubby loves this recipe. He loves ribs in general. But as for Chinese style cooked ribs, he says he likes 糖醋排骨 more than black bean steamed spare ribs. So I tend to make 糖醋排骨 more. I have tried various recipes that I found online, but none of them taste as good as my mom's! So I had to ask my mom for the recipe. And here is it to share with all of you!
Ingredients:
500g Spare Ribs
6 Slices Ginger
2 Green Onions
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
100ml Chi Kang Vinegar
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Chinese Cooking Wine
30g Sugar
1. Pan fry the ribs until nicely browned and remove from heat.
2. Pan fry the garlic, ginger, onions until lightly browned and add soy sauce, vinegar, chicken stock and cooking wine and sugar. Bring mixture to boil.
3. Return ribs to sauce and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour.
I made some changes when I made the ribs. Instead of pan frying the ribs, to stay a bit healthier I boiled the ribs in water instead. This way can get out the excess fat. Instead of Chinese cooking wine, I used a dry white wine because thats all I had in the house. And instead of chicken stock, I used normal water. I suspect I lost some flavor but seemed ok to me.
Ingredients:
500g Spare Ribs
6 Slices Ginger
2 Green Onions
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
100ml Chi Kang Vinegar
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Chinese Cooking Wine
30g Sugar
1. Pan fry the ribs until nicely browned and remove from heat.
2. Pan fry the garlic, ginger, onions until lightly browned and add soy sauce, vinegar, chicken stock and cooking wine and sugar. Bring mixture to boil.
3. Return ribs to sauce and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour.
I made some changes when I made the ribs. Instead of pan frying the ribs, to stay a bit healthier I boiled the ribs in water instead. This way can get out the excess fat. Instead of Chinese cooking wine, I used a dry white wine because thats all I had in the house. And instead of chicken stock, I used normal water. I suspect I lost some flavor but seemed ok to me.
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| 糖醋排骨 |
Dessert Yogurt
As i'm writing this entry, I have to admit I'm not fully paying attention. I'm writing this with a gorgeous lake view in front of me. But this weekend is a good time for me to catch up on all my posts. There's not much to do here, so it's super relaxing!
Yogurt, ever since my detox diet, I have been consuming huge amounts of it. I prefer Greek yogurt, but its so expensive. So to cut down on the costs, I buy both Greek and normal yogurt, and do a half half mix. I then top off the yogurt with some fresh fruit and quinoa granola (found the recipe in Jillian Michael's cookbook). I'll post up the
But the point of my blog is actually to complain about the lack of dessert yogurt flavour available in Toronto. When I made a trip down to Buffalo, I was able to find a variety of dessert yogurt flavours at the local Walmart. I brought back lemon meringue pie and key lime pie flavours to try. The lemon meringue pie flavour was so good! Tasted exactly like lemon meringue pie filling. Great for a real pie dessert substitute, much healthier. The key lime pie flavour tasted like lime jello. It didn't taste very good, very artificial tasting.
While on my weekly grocery run, I noticed Yoplait carries a lemon parfait yogurt. I thought, since the US flavors were by Yoplait, and this one was by Yoplait that it would be the same. I was very wrong. I don't even know how to describe it. The flavours were so weird. Now I don't know what to do with whats left of it. I guess I could dilute it with some vanilla yogurt to make it taste better. Guess I'll have to bring back yogurts whenever I cross the boarder.....
Jillian Michaels Quinoa Granola
1 cup quinoa (uncooked, rinsed and drained)
1/4 cup whole flaxseed
1 tbs honey
1 tbs olive oil
I added some cinnamon in for extra flavor as well.
Mix all the ingredients together, spread on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375 deg oven until slightly browned.
Enjoy!
Yogurt, ever since my detox diet, I have been consuming huge amounts of it. I prefer Greek yogurt, but its so expensive. So to cut down on the costs, I buy both Greek and normal yogurt, and do a half half mix. I then top off the yogurt with some fresh fruit and quinoa granola (found the recipe in Jillian Michael's cookbook). I'll post up the
But the point of my blog is actually to complain about the lack of dessert yogurt flavour available in Toronto. When I made a trip down to Buffalo, I was able to find a variety of dessert yogurt flavours at the local Walmart. I brought back lemon meringue pie and key lime pie flavours to try. The lemon meringue pie flavour was so good! Tasted exactly like lemon meringue pie filling. Great for a real pie dessert substitute, much healthier. The key lime pie flavour tasted like lime jello. It didn't taste very good, very artificial tasting.
While on my weekly grocery run, I noticed Yoplait carries a lemon parfait yogurt. I thought, since the US flavors were by Yoplait, and this one was by Yoplait that it would be the same. I was very wrong. I don't even know how to describe it. The flavours were so weird. Now I don't know what to do with whats left of it. I guess I could dilute it with some vanilla yogurt to make it taste better. Guess I'll have to bring back yogurts whenever I cross the boarder.....
 |
| Yogurts |
Jillian Michaels Quinoa Granola
I added some cinnamon in for extra flavor as well.
Mix all the ingredients together, spread on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375 deg oven until slightly browned.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Burger Hopping
Burger week was held from May 29, 2012 to June 2, 2012 with the grand finale on June 3, 2012. For each of the 5 days, 18 restaurants crafted special $5 burgers, 6 restaurant with slightly pricier burgers and selected restaurants with $5 Muskoka beer that comes with a Burger Week mug that you get to take home. I didn't go to the grand finale event because I didn't want to deal with crowds, it also had a $5 entry fee and $3 sliders.
On the night of June 1, a few of my friends and I decided to do some burger hopping. I was greedy, I wanted to try more than 1 burger. So the plan was to go to each restaurant on my list and order takeout and we would then split the burger to try. On my original list was Keriwa Cafe, Gladstone Hotel, Barque Smokehouse, Drake Hotel and Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder. But I read on a forum that some restaurants were not allowing takeout. So I made some calls to make sure we can do the take out option. Turns out Keriwa cafe was only doing the burger on a sitdown basis and Barque Smokehouse was only offering the burger at lunch. My list got shortened to 3.
First stop, Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder. I have been here several times for their fried chicken, deep fried poached eggs, and sandwiches, but never their burgers. So this was a great opportunity to try their burger for cheap! Their $5 burger offering consisted of: Beef burger with house made smoked American style cheese, pickeled sweet onion and brown butter cornichon aioli. The burger came with 2 beef patties cooked to medium (we asked for medium rare). I was 100% sure that there was bacon in the burger, but it was no where to be found. Turns out the smoke flavour came from the cheese. It was so good, but slightly salty! I wasn't a fan of the burger bun though, too soft, I prefer something a bit more dense. The hubby couldn't help it and had to order some fried chicken as well.
Gladstone Hotel. The service here was atrocious! I tried to call to place a take out order when we left Stockyards to minimize the wait time. What I got was, we're really busy right now and can't take your order, so please come into order. I thought fine, it shoudn't take long to cook a burger so the wait can't be that long. We arrive and see that there were a few people seated at tables but this was far from being full. While waiting for the hostess to greet us, and for us to ask for a takeout order to be placed, I noticed that there was no food on the table for the people that were seated and a bunch of wait staff were all standing in the back corner talking. We waited a good 10-15 mins before the hostess came over, only then to direct us to the bartender to place our take out order. We had to wait 5 mins for the bartender to walk over to talk to us, she wasn't making drinks but rather walking back and forth behind the bar. We placed our order and waited....and waited and waited. A good 20 mins later, we asked the bartender how much longer. She responded with "I don't know. You see that table over there, they placed their order before yours and they haven't recieved their food yet." Shouldn't she have checked with the kitchen for us? Another 10 mins later we got our food and we headed out to try the burgers. It was a rainy night, so the bunch of us hudled in a TTC bus shelter to try out the burgers. Not sure if the bad service had an effect on what I tasted, but I did not enjoy this burger. Gladstone Hotel's burger offering: Beef short rib burger with house cured bacon, tomato marmalade, sheep's milk cheddar, and pickeled red onions. The part of the burger that I got did not have any short rib in it. My friends showed me chunks of it. The beef patty I found to be flavorless, not much beef flavor and over seasoned with salt. Worst is that it was overcooked. Beyond well done.
Drake Hotel. I was looking forward to this burger. This was the most expensive burger offered during Burger Week. A hefty 1 pounder, meant to be shared, for $27.95. The One Pounder: Naturally raised chuck and short rib with Grand Chevalier, arugula, red onion, and tomatoes, served with house made onion rings. Two of us ordered the Muskoka beer which came in the Burger Week mug. I was expecting the burger to be big, but not as big as what arrived on the table. The size of the burger was probably the size of the span of my hand. The thickness of the beef patty was a good 1 inch thick. We asked for the burgers to be cooked medium rare and they were. So juicy, good beef flavor and seasoned perfectly. My only complaint about my part of the burger (1/4 of it), was that it didn't have enough arugula. My friends all said theirs was ok though. The onion rings were a bit greasy for my liking, but the onion inside was super sweet. The rings were massive. Most of them were larger than the bangles that we would wear on our wrists! One of the photos I put my Blackberrry next to it for size reference. This burger was definitely my favorite of the night. To finish off the night, we ordered a Malt Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich. So good, the cookies had a great peanut butter flavor, and best part is that it was light tasting. After that heavy burger, we didn't need anything else to make our stomachs heavy.
Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder
699 St. Clair W.
Toronto, ON
416-658-9666
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-4635
Drake Hotel
1150 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-5042
On the night of June 1, a few of my friends and I decided to do some burger hopping. I was greedy, I wanted to try more than 1 burger. So the plan was to go to each restaurant on my list and order takeout and we would then split the burger to try. On my original list was Keriwa Cafe, Gladstone Hotel, Barque Smokehouse, Drake Hotel and Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder. But I read on a forum that some restaurants were not allowing takeout. So I made some calls to make sure we can do the take out option. Turns out Keriwa cafe was only doing the burger on a sitdown basis and Barque Smokehouse was only offering the burger at lunch. My list got shortened to 3.
First stop, Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder. I have been here several times for their fried chicken, deep fried poached eggs, and sandwiches, but never their burgers. So this was a great opportunity to try their burger for cheap! Their $5 burger offering consisted of: Beef burger with house made smoked American style cheese, pickeled sweet onion and brown butter cornichon aioli. The burger came with 2 beef patties cooked to medium (we asked for medium rare). I was 100% sure that there was bacon in the burger, but it was no where to be found. Turns out the smoke flavour came from the cheese. It was so good, but slightly salty! I wasn't a fan of the burger bun though, too soft, I prefer something a bit more dense. The hubby couldn't help it and had to order some fried chicken as well.
 |
| Stockyards |
 |
| Stockyards Fried Chicken |
Gladstone Hotel. The service here was atrocious! I tried to call to place a take out order when we left Stockyards to minimize the wait time. What I got was, we're really busy right now and can't take your order, so please come into order. I thought fine, it shoudn't take long to cook a burger so the wait can't be that long. We arrive and see that there were a few people seated at tables but this was far from being full. While waiting for the hostess to greet us, and for us to ask for a takeout order to be placed, I noticed that there was no food on the table for the people that were seated and a bunch of wait staff were all standing in the back corner talking. We waited a good 10-15 mins before the hostess came over, only then to direct us to the bartender to place our take out order. We had to wait 5 mins for the bartender to walk over to talk to us, she wasn't making drinks but rather walking back and forth behind the bar. We placed our order and waited....and waited and waited. A good 20 mins later, we asked the bartender how much longer. She responded with "I don't know. You see that table over there, they placed their order before yours and they haven't recieved their food yet." Shouldn't she have checked with the kitchen for us? Another 10 mins later we got our food and we headed out to try the burgers. It was a rainy night, so the bunch of us hudled in a TTC bus shelter to try out the burgers. Not sure if the bad service had an effect on what I tasted, but I did not enjoy this burger. Gladstone Hotel's burger offering: Beef short rib burger with house cured bacon, tomato marmalade, sheep's milk cheddar, and pickeled red onions. The part of the burger that I got did not have any short rib in it. My friends showed me chunks of it. The beef patty I found to be flavorless, not much beef flavor and over seasoned with salt. Worst is that it was overcooked. Beyond well done.
 |
| Gladstone Hotel |
 |
| Gladstone Hotel Burger with Chunk of Short Rib |
Drake Hotel. I was looking forward to this burger. This was the most expensive burger offered during Burger Week. A hefty 1 pounder, meant to be shared, for $27.95. The One Pounder: Naturally raised chuck and short rib with Grand Chevalier, arugula, red onion, and tomatoes, served with house made onion rings. Two of us ordered the Muskoka beer which came in the Burger Week mug. I was expecting the burger to be big, but not as big as what arrived on the table. The size of the burger was probably the size of the span of my hand. The thickness of the beef patty was a good 1 inch thick. We asked for the burgers to be cooked medium rare and they were. So juicy, good beef flavor and seasoned perfectly. My only complaint about my part of the burger (1/4 of it), was that it didn't have enough arugula. My friends all said theirs was ok though. The onion rings were a bit greasy for my liking, but the onion inside was super sweet. The rings were massive. Most of them were larger than the bangles that we would wear on our wrists! One of the photos I put my Blackberrry next to it for size reference. This burger was definitely my favorite of the night. To finish off the night, we ordered a Malt Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich. So good, the cookies had a great peanut butter flavor, and best part is that it was light tasting. After that heavy burger, we didn't need anything else to make our stomachs heavy.
 |
| Burger Week Beer Mug |
 |
| Drake Hotel One Pounder |
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| Drake Hotel One Pounder halved |
 |
| Malted IceCream Sandwich |
Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder
699 St. Clair W.
Toronto, ON
416-658-9666
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-4635
Drake Hotel
1150 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-5042
Goed Eten
Every year after my annual Sporting Life 10k run, I go to a restaurant I've never been to before and treat myself to a yummy brunch. This year it went from brunch to lunch, because we lost a fellow running mate. Since none of us wanted to carry extra weight during the run, none of us had our cell phones on us, so we couldn't find our friend. After about an hour of my stomach screaming "FEED ME! I'M STARVING!!!!", my friend finally showed up. And off we were to lunch.
I chose to try Goed Eten because it was relatively close, but far enough away so there wouldn't be hoards of other runners squished inside a restaurant, and I like breakfast food. The menu selection here is relatively small. It consisted of a few options of eggs bennies, breakfast type sandwiches, poutines and waffles.
I ordered the 'normal' eggs benedict. After running 10k, I can tell myself it's ok to have a slightly heavier meal. My eggs came a little more cooked than I normally like them. And the English muffin underneath tasted and looked more like a bagel but without a hole in the middle. I think I read somewhere that they make their own English muffins here. Not sure if I liked the texture of that or not. The bennies came with a small side order of potatoes, nothing special, and an apple slaw. To me the slaw was kinda strange, pickles with apple and thousand island dressing.
The hubby ordered a beef brisket poutine and a waffle breakfast sandwich. When the poutine came, our eyes bulged and we all went "OMG". It was HUGE, and was topped with large beef brisket pieces! Delicious! Along with the fries, beef, & cheese curds, there were these deep fried round balls of something. It turned out to be deep fried potato & cheese balls. So good! The waffle breakfast sandwich, I originally thought the bread would be waffle, but it turns out it's bread that's toasted in a waffle maker, kind of like a sandwich being pressed in a panini press. Sandwich had egg, cheese and ham.
Friends ordered a fruit waffle, and omelette. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals. After I finished my eggs benny, I ordered a plain waffle with maple syrup. It was soooo good. So light and crispy. It was nothing like the typical Belgian waffles that we get from other restaurants, which are cakey and heavy. I was expecting some egg flavor for some strange reason, but there wasn't any. The waffle didn't have much of a taste to it, so it was good that we had some maple syrup to flavor it.
If those cakey waffles we get at hotels from those 'make your own waffle stations' and restaurants are so different from these at Goed Eten, I wonder, what traditional waffles are supposed to taste like......
Goed Eten
188 Ossington Ave.
Toronto, ON
M6J 2Z7
Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 10am - 4pm
I chose to try Goed Eten because it was relatively close, but far enough away so there wouldn't be hoards of other runners squished inside a restaurant, and I like breakfast food. The menu selection here is relatively small. It consisted of a few options of eggs bennies, breakfast type sandwiches, poutines and waffles.
I ordered the 'normal' eggs benedict. After running 10k, I can tell myself it's ok to have a slightly heavier meal. My eggs came a little more cooked than I normally like them. And the English muffin underneath tasted and looked more like a bagel but without a hole in the middle. I think I read somewhere that they make their own English muffins here. Not sure if I liked the texture of that or not. The bennies came with a small side order of potatoes, nothing special, and an apple slaw. To me the slaw was kinda strange, pickles with apple and thousand island dressing.
 |
| Eggs Benny |
The hubby ordered a beef brisket poutine and a waffle breakfast sandwich. When the poutine came, our eyes bulged and we all went "OMG". It was HUGE, and was topped with large beef brisket pieces! Delicious! Along with the fries, beef, & cheese curds, there were these deep fried round balls of something. It turned out to be deep fried potato & cheese balls. So good! The waffle breakfast sandwich, I originally thought the bread would be waffle, but it turns out it's bread that's toasted in a waffle maker, kind of like a sandwich being pressed in a panini press. Sandwich had egg, cheese and ham.
 |
| Beef Brisket Poutine |
 |
| Waffle Breakfast Sandwich |
Friends ordered a fruit waffle, and omelette. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals. After I finished my eggs benny, I ordered a plain waffle with maple syrup. It was soooo good. So light and crispy. It was nothing like the typical Belgian waffles that we get from other restaurants, which are cakey and heavy. I was expecting some egg flavor for some strange reason, but there wasn't any. The waffle didn't have much of a taste to it, so it was good that we had some maple syrup to flavor it.
 |
| Omelette |
 |
| Fresh Fruit Waffle |
 |
| Plain Waffle with Maple Syrup |
If those cakey waffles we get at hotels from those 'make your own waffle stations' and restaurants are so different from these at Goed Eten, I wonder, what traditional waffles are supposed to taste like......
Goed Eten
188 Ossington Ave.
Toronto, ON
M6J 2Z7
Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 10am - 4pm
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