Sausage & Apple Phyllo Bites

Pies, crumbles, muffins, cakes; It's easy to come up with plenty of delicious sweet dishes using apples, but with apples so abundant this time of year in Ontario, I was itching to move away from familiar sweet flavours and create a savoury dish using local apples. While it's still pretty early, I'm always looking for new dishes to add to my potluck repertoire to bring for my family's Thanksgiving. We always do a potluck format for our big family holiday dinners, so that everyone can contribute to the work and celebration. While a lot of family members have their favourites that they like to stick to each time, I tend to get bored easily and am always looking to switch things up with something new and exciting!

With savoury apples on the brain, I kept swimming around the idea of creating my own version of a sausage roll, but this time with apples as well! I love the combination of pork and apples together, and with sausage rolls as a popular Thanksgiving appetizer (it's such a delicious and comforting way to kick off a meal!) I knew I could create something special that I would be proud to serve to my family!

To make my own sausage rolls a little bit different, I first added sweet and sour Granny Smith apples to aid in rounding out the flavour of the sausage meat. I also added some fresh rosemary still kicking around in my garden, and chose to wrap my rolls in phyllo dough as opposed to the traditional puff pastry, to give them more of a crunchy exterior. I also spread two different types of mustard (one dijon and one with lots of texture) right on the interior of the phyllo to allow the flavours to blend during baking. I love mustard, but I find that sometimes sausage rolls can be a bit bland, and when dipped in mustard, the flavour is improved, but can overpower the roll all together. Adding the mustard right into the roll avoids this, and gives a much more rich and well-balanced flavour.

I was so happy with how these sausage rolls turned out, and cannot wait for my family to try them! These will be so easy to transport to my aunts house that we are hosting Thanksgiving at, as well as reheat without losing their texture or flavour.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, small dice
1 large Granny Smith apple, small dice
1 lb. fresh Italian sausages, casings removed
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
Metro Irresistibles Frozen Phyllo Pastry, thawed
about 1/2 cup Kozliks Triple Crunch Mustard
about 1/2 cup Metro Irresistibles Traditional Prepared Dijon Mustard
about 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Maldon Salt, for garnish (optional)
salt and pepper to season

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Heat olive oil and add onion, apple, and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. 
2. Add sausage meat and break up with a spatula, and cook until browned. Add rosemary and stir to combine. Taste and season as needed with additional salt and pepper. Set aside to cool. Filling may be made in advance.
3. Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
4. Stir together both mustards in a medium bowl. Lay out your phyllo pastry and cut into four even strips widthwise. Take one stack of phyllo strips and place them on a work surface. Cover both stacks of phyllo with damp cloths. 
5. Working one at a time, lightly brush one sheet of pastry with butter and layer another sheet on top. Brush lightly with butter once again, and lay a third sheet of pastry on top. Leaving a 1/2-inch border from the end of the strip, spread about 1 tsp of the mustard mixture. Top with about 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp sausage and apple mixture. Roll in the half-inch border on the end and both sides, like you're wrapping a present, and carefully roll up. Place on a greased baking sheet, and continue this process with the remaining pastry and filling. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter and score with a knife. Sprinkle a little Maldon Salt on top of each one for garnish (optional). 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Serve immediately or refrigerate. To reheat, place in a 200ºF oven for about 10-20 minutes, covering with aluminum foil if they start to get too dark. 

This post was created in partnership with Metro Ontario. 

Listening To:
Darling - Real Estate

Back To School Essential: Sandwich Kabob Packed Lunch

Once you've said it, there's no turning back. It's out there. So here I go, about to say those fateful words that I used to curse my Oma for saying that first week of August every year growing up...it's almost back to school time. There. I said it! It doesn't feel good, but I said it! Even though I'm not preparing to go back to school this September, and as much as I love the Fall season, I really do dread the end of Summer. Though I'm not looking forward to scarves, boots, and the constant feeling of shivering, I do like looking at September as a fresh start, and one of the best fresh starts the Fall season brings is reinforcing good habits.

There are a lot of good habits that I try and commit to all year long, but there's nothing like taking advantage of a fresh season to jumpstart good patterns and routines. A habit that I am always looking to improve on is to commit to doing a daily fridge dive and clean to make use of any and all ingredients that need to be used up to reduce food waste in our home. For Chris, I know a habit that he wants to improve on is committing to bringing a homemade lunch into work every day. With these two goals in mind, I came up with a solution that allows me to use up different types of ingredients that need to get eaten, as well as give Chris tasty packed lunch ideas that he can rotate and customize every day.

Introducing the Sandwich Kabob! Essentially a charcuterie board on a stick, sandwich kabobs are a quick and tasty way to use up any leftover deli meat, cheese, vegetables, bread, pickles, and more to create an easy to transport and eat lunch, that your co-workers will be envious of! I like to lay out all of my ingredients that need to be used up, and pair them up as though I was building flavours in a sandwich. From there, simply skewer them on your kabob stick or spear and pack them up. While we're sure to be seeing a lot of Sandwich Kabobs in our very adult household over the coming months, I also love this idea for parents preparing lunches for their kids!

Sandwich Kabobs are a fantastic way to provide your kids with variety in their lunches, as well as giving them an opportunity to get involved to help mom and dad make their lunch, and start playing around with creating their own flavour combinations. More than that, I also think this welcomes a great opportunity to introduce new flavours to your kids palate. Try skewering on new types of meats, cheeses, and vegetables that they may have previously shied away from. While a pickle may ruin an entire sandwich for a kid who may not like pickles, if you try skewering a pickle on a Sandwich Kabob, they have the opportunity to try it, and if they don't like it, it can be easily removed without impacting the other ingredients.

As I often say with my recipes, I encourage you to play around with this one! As you can see in the photos, I used an assortment of different types of meats, as well as skewering on some simple sliced wraps. This is a particularly good idea for kids who tend to like having options in their lunch, and may get sick of any one particular flavour, as I often did growing up. You can also play around with creating more fancy sandwich kabobs, using more gourmet ingredients and serving them at your next gathering with friends and family as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. I'd love to know what types of flavour combinations you and your kids create in your own home! Tell me about it in the comments, or share a photo with me on social media! You can find me on Instagram @gingerrosefood.

Ingredients:
All ingredients listed are merely suggestions to inspire you to create your own!
Metro Irresistibles Artisan Seasoned Angus Roast Beef, sliced
Metro Irresistibles Artisan German Salami, sliced
Metro Irresistibles Artisan Oven Roasted Seasoned Turkey Breast, sliced
Metro Irresistibles Canadian Lactose Free Swiss Cheese, cut into chunks
multigrain bread, cut into large chunks
aged cheddar cheese, cut into large chunks
Metro Irresistibles Traditional Prepared Dijon Mustard
flour tortillas
cherry tomatoes
pickles
cucumber, sliced or peeled into ribbons
kabob sticks or other form of spears
mayonaise

Directions:

1. Lay out all of your ingredients that you intent to use (I prioritize ingredients that I know need to get eaten up first) and start building flavour combinations.
2. Skewer your ingredients on your kabob sticks or other form of spears and pack up for lunch!
3. Prepare small containers on the side for dips such as mustard, mayo, or aioli. 

This post was created in partnership with Metro Ontario. 

Listening To:
Ben's My Friend - Sun Kil Moon

Pulse-Packed Chilli

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend Pulse Feast, the Canadian launch party for the International Year of Pulses. Confession: When I received my invitation for the event, I had no clue what the hell pulses were. In all honesty, in my quick scan of the invite, in the midst of the busy holiday season, I somehow got the impression that pulses had something to do with food trends. Though pulses aren't a word to describe food trends as a whole, they are actually a food trend for 2016 in itself. In fact, the United Nations declared 2016 to be the International Year of Pulses! So what the heck are pulses? 'Pulses are the edible seeds of plants in the legume family. Pulses grow in pods and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours." Some pulses that you may be familiar with, and may already be apart of your diet are dry beans, dry broad beans,  dry peas, chickpeas, and lentils, as well as six other less popular varieties that I haven't mentioned. 

Though pulses may be considered a major food trend for 2016, the host of Canada's Pulse Feast, Chef Michael Smith, disputes that pulses aren't a trend at all, they're here to stay! Thanks to their versatility, sustainability, affordability, and vast health benefits, Chef Michael Smith believes that pulses will soon become apart of Canadians everyday diet. As a way of inspiring North Americans to eat more pulses the Pulse Pledge campaign was launched in conjunction with the International Year of Pulses kickoff. The Pulse Pledge is a 10-week campaign that encourages North Americans to commit to eating pulses at least once a week, each week for the 10-week period. The goal is  that the healthy habit of eating pulses on a regular basis will continue past the designated 10-weeks.

After taking my own Pulse Pledge at the Pulse Feast, I was inspired to make a hearty pulse-packed chilli that would allow me to get my pulse intake throughout the week as I continued to eat leftovers. I love this chilli recipe because it's super easy, is big on flavour, is incredibly satisfying, and will provide leftovers for the rest of the week. Though I like to simmer my chilli on the stove for at least an hour to let all of the flavours develop, this dish can easily be rushed and be on the table in less than an hour when short on time, sacrificing the flavour only minutely. Though canned pulses aren't the ideal thanks to their added sodium content, I often cook with canned beans and chickpeas because they're so incredibly convenient. Because this recipe is all about ease, I chose to use a canned bean and chickpea medley for my chilli. When purchasing canned pulses I try and look for ones that have reduced sodium or are from a brands healthy line (for instance President's Choice Blue Menu). To ensure that I can control the amount of sodium going into my chilli, I also make sure to rinse my canned beans and chickpeas very well and strain before adding them in. 

Give my Pulse-Packed Chilli a try this week and let me know how you enjoyed it on Twitter: @thisgingerrose. Also, be sure to take the Pulse Pledge yourself and commit yourself to eating pulses every single week for the next 10-weeks! 

Source: Pulses.org

* Please adjust the spices based on your own heat tolerance. I can handle a lot of heat and usually use this as my base and add more heat if needed, though this may be quite spicy for some. 

** If you're in a hurry, you can simmer the chilli for as little as 30-minutes, though some flavour may be sacrificed. 

Ingredients:

about 2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, small dice

4 stalks of celery, peeled, small dice

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 lb. lean ground beef

1 jar (680mL) strained tomatoes (no salt-added)

1 can (540mL) six-bean medley, well rinsed (I like President's Choice Blue Menu)

2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes*

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced + 2 Tbsp. adobo sauce*

1 Tbsp. chilli powder*

cheddar cheese, grated, for garnish (optional)

fresh cilantro, finely chopped, for garnish (optional)

sour cream, for garnish (optional)

salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a a large pot set to medium heat, warm olive oil. Add onion and celery and sweat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30-seconds).
2. Add ground beef and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. 
3. Add strained tomatoes, bean medley, red pepper flakes, chipotle, adobo sauce, and chilli powder. and stir to combine. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for at least an hour in order to impart the most flavour**. Taste and season as needed with salt and additional chilli powder. Serve immediately garnished with cheese, cilantro, and sour cream, or continue simmering on stove for up to 3-hours until ready to serve. Chilli may be kept in fridge for 3-4 days or up to 6-months in the freezer. 

Listening To:

The Do - Sparks

Ricardo's Chicken Curry with Red Peppers and Coconut Milk

With thousands upon thousands of recipes from all different cultures from all over the world right at our fingertips at all times, it's become pretty easy these days to find a great recipe. We all have our favourite sources that we feel confident we can turn to when looking for a knock-your-socks-off recipe, but whether that recipe will be easy, time efficient, and will be something that I feel motivated to cook up on a busy weeknight, well, that's another story. 

I can tell you first hand that it can often be a chore in itself just finding a trustworthy recipe that you can whip up in the midst of all of your responsibilities, commitments, and stresses that wull have your tastebuds dancing, and leave you feeling satisfied. I have a few recipes in my weeknight rotation that I can turn to in a hurry, but I'm always looking for new ones to add to my repertoire to keep things interesting and different. 

Recently I was approached by Ricardo Cuisine asking if I would be interested in partnering with them on a blog post to test out and review one of Ricardo's most popular recipes. Being someone who is always on the lookout for new and delicious weeknight meal ideas, I jumped at the opportunity to be apart of the campaign. I was provided with a list of Ricardo's most popular recipes and could choose whichever one I wanted to recreate. With Asian flavours grabbing my attention as of late, Ricardo's recipe for Chicken Curry with Red Peppers and Coconut Milk was the first one to grab my attention. 

Asian cooking is still very much unfamiliar territory for me, as I continue to learn the vast array of spices, herbs, vegetables, and techniques that go into the flavourful cuisine. In the past I've stayed away from a lot of Asian recipes, intimidated by them and the amount of exotic ingredients that are often required. What I loved about Ricardo's Chicken Curry was that I already had almost every ingredient on the list in my kitchen! The only ingredients that I had to go out and buy were fresh chicken breasts and turmeric (a spice that I had previously never cooked with). 

You know me, I always give you my honest opinion, so I have to be straight with you once again and say that when I first started cooking up this recipe I was a little skeptical that I would like the final results. It all seemed too easy! I didn't believe that a curry recipe so simple and with so few ingredients could actually have that hit of flavour that I yearn for when diving into a dish of curry. I was completely shocked to find that after I allowed the coconut milk to simmer and blend with the spices, chicken, and vegetables I was left with the type of wonderfully flavourful curry that I had hoped for! Though the curry was already delicious on its own, especially when topping fluffy basmati rice, I wanted to round out the flavours just a touch. In order to do so, I added a few drops of fish sauce and about 1 tsp of tomato paste, which I happened to have on hand in my fridge. That little bit of umami and acidity took the dish up a level, helping to balance out the flavours and contribute to the overall mouth-feel of the dish. 

Though I may have been skeptical at first based on how easy the recipe was, I was so pleasantly surprised at how successful this dish turned out! I was able to get everything prepped, cooked, and on the table in just over a half hour and still had leftovers for lunch the next day! I would highly recommend this recipe to any curry lover looking for a quick and simple weeknight dinner idea! Thanks to the big flavours in this dish and the ease of preparation, this is a fantastic option for serving to guests to both wow them and allow you time to enjoy yourself as well!

Find the recipe here!

This post is sponsored by Ricardo Cuisine. Opinions are my own. 

Recipe's I Love: Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

This past Fall I made the big (and long overdue) move out from under my moms roof, and into a lovely, downtown condo with my boyfriend Chris.  The move sparked many wonderful changes in my life, but perhaps the most unexpected one was how it affected some of my favourite recipes. 

You know that exhilarating feeling that you get when a recipe turns out fantastic, knowing that you have a new killer dish to add to your repertoire? Anyone who has experienced that feeling, must also know how quickly that feeling can diminish the more that dish gets repeated. It becomes apart of your routine, making that first bite a little less special each time it's made. It's disappointing when you can become so disinterested in something that you used to enjoy and appreciate so much. 

Like I said, moving in with Chris has ignited a lot of change in my life, but what surprised me the most was how it breathed new life into those old stand-by recipes, reminding me why I still find myself turning to them time and time again. Watching someone else get to experience those first bites of a great dish made me remember what made them so special in the first place. Suddenly the smells became more fragrant, the juices flowed more freely, and my tastebuds were more alert. It was like that first bite all over again! 

Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Though recently I had declared that I wanted my blog to primarily focus on recipes that I have personally developed myself, getting to revisit these old third-party-sourced recipes with new eyes made me want to start a new series on my blog entitled 'Recipes I Love.' With so many recipes on the Internet, it's easy to get overwhelmed and not now where to begin. It can be incredibly discouraging when you put the time, money, and effort into making a dish, only to have it fail, wasting all of those ingredients, and your precious time! This is exactly why I want to start sharing my favourites with you, so you can learn which resources to trust, and which recipes you can turn to when you're in a bind.

This brings me to the second dish in this series (the first being Ina Garten's Aglio E Olio), which also just happens to be from the lovely Ina, Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin. Firstly, what I adore about this recipe is just how simple the marinade is to prepare, filled with ingredients that I always like to keep in my kitchen. I also love that I can quickly prepare the marinade in the morning, and leave the raw pork tenderizing and soaking up all that flavour while bathing in it all day. Doing that little bit of work in advance means simply searing and roasting the pork come time for dinner, allowing you to relax and enjoy your night off. This dish always comes out perfect, with a great herbaceous and tangy crust, and a vibrant pink centre that will have you and your loved ones salivating! I love everything about this simple recipe and know that you will too! Give the recipe a try here and let me know if you have added it to your favourite-recipe-repertoire as well! 

Listening To:
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (full album!)

The Beginnings Of A Pie A Shepherd Would Be Proud Of

And so it begins...as I mentioned in my previous post, this year Ginger Rose will be looking a little different as I begin to share my experiences in recipe development, taking you through all of the stages I experience in creating a recipe that I will eventually give the stamp "From Ginger Rose's Kitchen", meaning it has been tested, tweaked, and revised until I am satisfied with the tasty results enough to call it my own. 

My first adventure in recipe development for 2014 reflects the icy, arctic, colder-than-Mars weather Torontonians have been experiencing as of late. Shepherds pie, in my opinion, is one of those staple comfort foods that this freezing weather just begs for. In the past, the only Shepherds Pie that I have attempted has been my Leftover Lovin' Pulled Pork Shepherds Pie, which featured leftover spicy, juicy, and flavourful pulled pork as the base. With such flavourful meat (simmering it for hours upon hours in a spicy sauce certainly helps) it's easy to create a spectacular dish, so starting from the bottom with plain old ground beef or what is traditionally used, lamb, can be a bit of a challenge. After much research, I put together a basic recipe for Shepherds Pie that I think is a great start to get me to that final, delicious, savoury, pie that would make any shepherd proud! Although I would have loved to have used lamb as the base for my shepherds pie, I began my experimentation with lean ground beef, a more cost friendly option as myself, and I know many of my readers, are on a budget. Due to convenience, I also used yukon gold potatoes for my mashed potato topping, as opposed to the preferred Russet baking potato, simply because that is what I had on hand. Using yellow potatoes won't make a huge difference in your final product, but it will slightly affect the texture, as baking potatoes are higher in starch and sugar than the yellow variety, which is waxy, with less starch, and less sugar. The below Shepherds Pie is a lovely and simple Shepherds Pie for first timers. Give the recipe a try and share your notes with me! What did you like or not like about the recipe? What would you add or change? I want to know! I hope you find this recipe as comforting as I did! Stay warm out there kiddies! 

* Cooking until softened is also known as "sweating". Sweating means to cook something until softened,  but without adding any colour. This is often done at medium to medium-low heat or for a very short time at medium-high heat.

** Mashed potatoes may be made in advance. Leftover mashed potatoes work great!

Ingredients:

4 potatoes (preferably Russet baking potatoes), peeled and cut into medium chunks

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, small dice

2 medium carrots, small dice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup milk

1 tbsp butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

salt & pepper to taste (use white pepper for mashed potatoes)

1.5 Ib lean ground beef 

2 tbsp flour

5 tsp tomato paste 

1 cup beef broth

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire  

1 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 cup frozen green peas

1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

paprika, to dust on mashed potatoes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450º.
2. Place potatoes in a small pot and fill with enough water to cover 1-inch over the potatoes. Bring water to a boil, then drop heat and simmer until tender (about 20-minutes). 
3. In a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan (large enough to fit ground beef) set to medium hear, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add the onions and cook until softened*. When the onion begins to soften, add the carrot and cook until slightly softened. In the last minute of cooking, add the garlic. 
4. Add the beef to the vegetable mixture and break up with a spatula. Cook until all meat has browned and no red remains. 
5. While meat is cooking, drain the potatoes. Return the potatoes to the pot and set to medium heat. Dry the potatoes for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat. Mash the potatoes and add the milk, butter, and cheddar cheese, stir to incorporate. Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside.**
6. When meat has browned, add flour to beef and stir to coat. Cook for 1-minute. While it is cooking, add the tomato paste.
7. Add the beef broth and bring to a boil. Add Worcestershire and thyme and simmer until thickened and slightly reduced. 
8. Add the peas, Sriracha, and cayenne. Taste and season as needed with salt and pepper, and additional hot sauce.
9. Spread meat mixture evenly in a 10.5 x 12.5 glass baking dish. Top evenly with mashed potatoes making sure to create a seal around all of the edges so that the mixture does not bubble up to the surface during cooking. Sprinkle the top lightly with paprika. Bake for 25-minutes. Cook 3-4 minutes and serve hot. 

Notes for next time:

• I would like to try using dried thyme, adding it into my vegetable mixture as it softens. I think this flavour may work better.
• Add 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn niblets for more flavour and texture.
• Add more tomato paste.
• Play with other flavour enhancers.

Listening To:

Joy Division - Shadowplay

Cottage Eats

Last week my mom and I were able to take a lovely little escape out of the city and head up north to Jeffery Lake to a beautiful cottage that my aunt and uncle had rented. With our house still up on the market at the time, and offers scattering through, it was nice to have a different atmosphere and be surrounded by close family to take our minds off all of the anxiety and stress we were dealing with. While a lot of people go up to a cottage to escape chores such as cooking, in my family food is once again one of the highlights! No cottage escape is complete without a killer meal! Now what we're going for here is a meal that is killer in flavour, but easy on the effort, which does require some simple planning. This time around all of the three families that were up each brought groceries, with my uncle Eddie taking the reigns in the kitchen. Eddie wanted nothing more than to spend the afternoon blasting his awesome Motown music, while singing and cooking up a feast for us...and possibly sneaking some ribs for himself along the way. Although he spent the day working hard keeping an eye on those delicious slow-cooked ribs that him and my mom collaborated on, the truth is, the meal that we planned was clever and simple enough that you could truly spend all day on the dock, with only a few short last minutes in the kitchen, all it takes is a little planning. When I'm planning cottage meals, I like to think of dishes that allow me and my family to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. I like to keep things simple, but take things that one step further to make them a little special and memorable. 

THE ENTRÉE

For our entrée, we chose slow cooked ribs. We got two families to each bring up several racks to split the cost, then my mom cooked up her notorious rib sauce recipe back at home so that she could simply pour it into a container to travel up north with us, saving us a lot of time in the kitchen at the cottage. With the ribs needing little babysitting while slow-cooking, you have plenty of time to enjoy cottage life outside! Pulled pork, brisket, ribs, just about any slow cooked recipe will do here.

• Do the prep - Make your sauce ahead of time, back in the city! 
• Take it slow - Go for slow roasted meats like ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, etc. Why not bring up your slow cooker from your city kitchen! You won't regret using up that extra space in the car!
• Start early - Start your cooking first thing in the morning so that you have everything done before the sun comes up, and by dinner time you'll have fall-off-the-bone delicious meat.

THE SIDES

For the sides, we're once again going for simplicity. Little ruby red potatoes and fresh Ontario corn on the cob can be cooked up in no time at all by simply tossing them into some boiling water. Here is where the planning comes in. It's easy to end the dish at that and have your guests and family season up the veggies with some salt and pepper themselves, but why not aim to impress? Whip up some easy and delicious flavoured butters to bring up to the cottage in a cooler. Perfect for topping corn or stirring into hot potatoes, these butters can quickly and easily transform a simple side dish! You can also do all the prep work for an awesome potato salad ahead of time! Just a quick chop of some bell peppers and you're pretty much good to go!

• Herbaceous Butters - Whip up some softened butter with fresh chopped herbs like basil, parsley, chives, mint, and/or rosemary, scoop and drop it onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll into a log, and refrigerate until solid. Serve with corn on the cob or stir into steaming hot ruby red boiled potatoes.
• Hot & Spicy Butters - Whip up some softened butter with cayenne pepper, lime, and cilantro for a festive butter with a kick! Scoop and drop it onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll into a log, and refrigerate until solid. Serve with corn on the cob or stir into steaming hot ruby red boiled potatoes.
• Speedy Potato Salad - Cube up some red, yellow, and/or orange bell peppers ahead of time at home and toss into a tupperware container. When your potatoes are boiled and ready to serve quickly stir in those cubed bell peppers, a scoop or two of mayo, a generous squeeze of lemon juice, salt, pepper, chives and a bit of garlic and ta da! You have a simple, delicious, and healthy potato salad!

THE DRINK

No cottage meal is complete without a fantastic drink! My uncle Eddie once again stepped up to the plate this time around, creating a delicious and striking gin and tonic. By simply cutting up some halved cucumber slices and adding just a touch of fresh cracked pepper, the classic gin and tonic is transformed and becomes irresistible! With only two extra steps, Eddie's take on a classic gin and tonic is sure to be your new favourite!

• Play with a classic - It's easy to create your signature cocktail by simply adding an ingredient or two to your favourite classic cocktail! Uncle Eddie chose cucumbers and fresh cracked pepper for his gin and tonic, but don't shy away from other ingredients like hot peppers, fresh herbs, berries, brines, syrups, and more! 

Listening To:

Danny Brown - Grown Up - Love the video for this song! Check it out!

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Quinoa with Kale & Hot Italian Sausage

Cooking and baking with new and unfamiliar ingredients can feel really intimidating, so much so that it's easy to find yourself feeling limited with your options of what to make. I used to feel nervous about cooking with new and even newish ingredients, always choosing to look up recipes as opposed to creating my own. A few months ago I decided to change my perspective on how to look at these new ingredients. Instead of seeing my options as limited, I chose to look at it as an opportunity for experimentation! This new perspective was what helped me to create this awesome side, Quinoa with Kale and Hot Italian Sausage. Still familiarizing myself with both quinoa and kale, I had no recipe in my repertoire using the two together, nor could I think of anything similar where I could substitute in one of the two ingredients, in place of something else. It's at this moment that you can look at this as a dilemma or an opportunity. In this day and age, our answer to most dilemmas is the internet. Hit up Google, and do a quick search on "quinoa and kale" and I'm sure you'll find plenty of recipes that you can easily replicate in your own kitchen. But just like choosing to take the longer, but more scenic route home, choosing to do a quick search in your own fridge as opposed to the internet, will be more challenging, yet more rewarding in the end. And this quick search in my fridge was all I needed to find my quinoa with kale inspiration.

I immediately found one hot Italian sausage that had to be used up, which I knew would taste great with the quinoa and kale. Now all I really needed was something to "dress" the quinoa with, and a few more little flavour enhancers. With a jar of store-bought pesto sauce reaching its final days in the fridge, I knew I had my dressing. Following my instinct and tasting every single step of the way, I ended up with a side that I am so incredibly proud to call my own! Full of flavour, and packed with tons of health benefits, I was so excited that I had created this dish with not two, but three unfamiliar ingredients! Although I had never used Umami paste before, nor had I even tried tasting it before, I figured, what better time to give it a chance! Umami paste, which is made primarily of spiced tomatoes and anchovies puréed, is known as "the fifth taste" as it is distinct from the four other tastes of sweet, salty, sour and bitter. I didn't want the pesto to overwhelm the other flavours in the dish, so Umami paste was a great way to find the balance I was looking for. Umami paste isn't something that most people have on hand yet (although I would recommend picking some up!), so you can easily substitute that out, taste it and add more pesto sauce, lemon juice, or something else to your liking. Trusting both my instinct and my palette, as well as mustering up my confidence, was all I needed to create a successful dish in unfamiliar territory. The next time you're faced with a cooking challenge, forced or interested in trying out a new ingredient, take a chance on yourself! Take that risk and prove to yourself that you can find the answer to your kitchen dilemma on your own, no "googling" necessary. And hey, what's the worst that can happen if you don't succeed? You have three meals a day each and every day to make up for it, but this time around you have the advantage of applying your knowledge of what didn't work out the last time around. So now I want to know, what's an unfamiliar ingredient that you've taken a chance on in your kitchen? Was the experience as rewarding for you as it was for me? Let's share!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 cup water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, puréed or minced

1 small onion, chopped

1 uncooked hot italian sausage

1 cup Cookin' Greens Frozen Kale

1 tsp umami paste (optional)

1 1/2 tbsp pesto

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon zest

lemon juice, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

1 tbsp chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a small pot, pour in the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to low heat, and cook for 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet at medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begins to soften. Cut one end of the casing of the sausage and squeeze out the insides straight into the skillet. Break up the pieces with a spatula or wooden spoon, and cook until sausage begins to colour and crisp slightly.

3. In a separate small skillet or saucepan, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil, reduce heat down to medium and add the kale. Cook for 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze out any remaining water.

4. Pour the sausage and onion mixture into the cooked quinoa. Stir in the cooked kale, umami paste, pesto, lemon juice and zest. Taste and season with salt and pepper, and additional lemon juice if needed. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot or warm.

Listening To:

Climax - Usher

Sloppy Joes

Damn, when I was little I sure had it good! Of course I was sadly unaware of it at the time, but I was so incredibly fortunate growing up to have two parents that were awesome cooks! I suppose I just figured that all parents cooked like that and I never quite put two and two together and realized why all my friends wanted to come over to my house for dinner. My parents are often at their best in the kitchen, moving around the space as though they are performing a choreographed dance, tasting, mixing, and searching out ingredients instinctively knowing each others tastes and wants. They didn't just cook out of necessity, they cooked because of their passion for good food, good flavours, and the feeling you get when you enjoy a great dish. This lead them to discover new dishes to serve to my sister and I all the time. You would have thought we would have been in our absolute glory having meals like that all the time, but naturally the grass is always greener on the other side. I remember watching commercials for Hamburger Helper and longing to try that cheesy meaty dinner from a box, totally baffled that my mom had never wanted to buy it. The same went for frozen dinners, I thought it was just so cute and cool that each dish had its own little compartment in the plastic like your plate was made for meal. I swooned over the scene in It Takes Two with the Olsen twins when the character Alyssa ate her first Sloppy Joe, wishing that I could take my first bite of that messy concoction along with her! Alas, we never had meals like that in the Rose house.

Now into my twenties, often having to come up with something on my own before running out the door, or picking up the slack with the cooking when the parentals are busy, I certainly appreciate those regular home cooked meals from my past. You will never find one of those classic frozen dinners in my fridge, and I will never serve them to my own family. Although I'm still mildly curious about Hamburger Helper, the appeal is gone and I have still never tasted it. Now Sloppy Joes, on the other hand, are a totally different story. My interest in Sloppy Joes has remained just as strong over the years, despite the fact that up until a few months ago when I made this dish (jeeze another overdue blog post!) I had never even tasted a Sloppy Joe before. I think it had something to do with all that messiness and sauciness that just had me hooked! The time had come for me to fulfill my lifelong dream of having a Sloppy Joe for dinner! Just as I had imagined and heard, I whipped up the Sloppy Joes so incredibly quickly, using a recipe as a guideline and tasting and adding ingredients as I went. Just as I had always imagined, the Sloppy Joes were delicious! Served on a soft bun, the fresh bread soaked up the delicious sweet and spicy sauce that enveloped the savory ground beef, with texture in every bite from crunchy sweet yellow bell peppers. My parents both loved their Sloppy Joes and wondered aloud why they had never made them for my sister and I growing up. My future children (NOT ANY TIME SOON!) are definitely in for a treat!

Ingredients:

1/2 yellow onion

1 lb ground beef (lean)

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/2 cup barbeque sauce

1 tsp prepared yellow mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp brown sugar

chili powder, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

soft buns for serving

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet set to medium heat, sauté the onion until translucent. Add the ground beef and yellow pepper and continue cooking, while breaking up the meat with a spatula, until meat has browned. Drain off any liquids.

2. Stir in the chili sauce, barbecue sauce, prepared yellow mustard, garlic powder, and brown sugar. Taste and season with chili powder and salt and pepper according to taste. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot on fresh soft buns.

Listening To:

Leftover Lovin': Pulled Pork Shepherds Pie

I honestly don't know how I could get through a workweek without a fridge full of leftovers. I rely on leftovers almost every day to give me the fuel I need on my quickie 15-min lunch break at work to get me through the rest of the day. Yeah, a sandwich will do in a pinch, but you can't compare a cold (and often soggy) sandwich that you have to rush around to prepare in the morning before flying out of the house to catch the bus, to warm and comforting leftovers that you simply transferred to a travel container. But what happens when leftovers extend beyond two days? This year for my 24th birthday fiesta at my house I accidentally made enough pulled pork to feed an army! My army of drunk friends just wasn't enough to tackle that immense batch of sweet, smokey, and tender pork. In fact a family dinner with my pulled-pork loving aunt, uncle, and cousins STILL wasn't enough to tackle all that pork the next night. By the third night my parents and I were all pulled porked out. We didn't want that delicious pork to go to waste, but there was no way we could bring ourselves to have pulled pork tacos for yet another night. I needed to transform the pork so that we could still enjoy it, but it could be disguised in such a way that we wouldn't even think about the fact that we were eating the same thing for the third night in a row.

I've been wanting to make a really good shepherds pie for a while now, and with the meat already prepared and a bag full of potatoes on the counter I knew I had found our solution to the pulled pork leftover blues. Following my instincts, I quickly boiled some potatoes, sauteed some onion for extra flavour, pulled out the leftover fiesta salad (two birds one stone!) to add even more flavour and texture, thawed some green peas from the fridge, and pulled out some already shredded cheese. In hardly any time at all I had prepared my family's new favourite comfort food! Warm and fluffy mashed potatoes are topped with salty melted cheddar cheese, resting on a bed of sweet, smokey, and tender pulled pork, with a layer of sweet vegetables in between. What a winner! It's worth it to make a giant batch of pulled pork all over again just to be able to make this fantastic quick dish!

Click here for Pulled Pork and Fiesta Salad recipe!

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, chopped

1/2 onion, sliced

olive oil for sauteing

2 tbsp butter + more for sauteing

1/4-1/2 cup hot milk

2-3 cups leftover pulled pork

1/2 cup leftover fiesta salad (or a mixture corn and black beans)

1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed (add more if not adding corn and beans)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Add potatoes to a medium pot filled with cold water. Bring to a boil. When water has boiled reduce to a gentle boil. Continue to boil until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 min.

2. While potatoes are boiling, add a dab off butter and a bit of olive oil to a medium pan set at medium heat. When butter and oil are hot and bubbling add the onions and saute until golden brown.

3. When potatoes are tender, drain water and let potatoes sit in the covered pot for another 5 minutes to dry them out slightly. Add the butter and hot milk and mash using a potato masher until potatoes are fluffy and smooth.

4. Grease a medium-sized glass baking dish. Spread the leftover pulled pork evenly into the bottom of the dish. Top with the sauteed onions, leftover fiesta salad, and green peas.

5. Layer the mashed potatoes evenly overtop and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Broil for about 20-25 minutes to allow pork to reheat and cheddar to melt. If topping begins to burn, cover with tin foil. Serve hot.

Listening To:

Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - We Found Love

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My Mexican Birthday Fiesta

Me (Danielle Rose), making my birthday wish

Birthdays were the worst days. I always used to agree with Biggie on that statement, that is until this year. When I was younger I used to love celebrating my birthday, coming up with a fun theme, bringing all my friends together, eating my favourite foods, and, of course, unwrapping all of my birthday presents. But as I got older and birthdays turned into just getting smashed at a club with whichever friends you could drag out with you (which always felt like pulling teeth!) I fell out of love with birthdays. It always felt like too much trouble to try and plan something myself and get everyone together in one place...and let's be honest, clubs are THE WORST. I would always end up stressing about it till the very last minute, ultimately being left with no plans at all, and merely sharing a drink and perhaps some mediocre food with whoever would show up. Each year my birthday felt less and less like a celebration and more of a reminder of what I felt I lacked in my life and just how quickly time flies. This year, with a new positive attitude, I wanted to prove myself and Biggie wrong and make my birthday fantastic! With Mexican being one of my favourite cuisines, and a beautiful house begging to have a party in it, I decided to hose a Mexican Birthday Fiesta at home!

All I have ever really wanted for my birthday is to be surrounded by good food and drinks, good friends, and most of all, feel loved. Simple requests, I know, but I haven't been able to experience a birthday like that since I was 16 years old (I'll always remember how loved and accepted you made me feel that night when you surprised me for karaoke and Tiffany's Robyn, Leigh, Sari, Haley, and Robby!). My Mexican Fiesta at home proved to be exactly what I needed to make my dream birthday a reality. With almost all of my favourite people in attendance, a delicious Mexican feast (if I do say so myself), lots of alcohol, and a killer playlist prepared by moi, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday! I felt so loved having all of these incredible people that I think the world of showing up to celebrate with me! Despite one hell of a hangover and a few regrets (yeah, I blacked out after blowing out my birthday candles), I woke up the next day with a smile on my face, feeling exhilarated about what my 24th year will bring! Thank you so much to all of my beautiful friends for making me feel so special and always being there for me! I couldn't ask for a better bunch of hooligans to call my friends! I can't end this post without also thanking my amazing parents for not only helping with the preparation of the party and cleaning up everything (seriously that was incredible!), but for also being so cool (I'm gonna regret saying that) with my friends and getting the tequila flowing! I love you!

Birthday Menu

No party of mine is complete without delicious food! For my Mexican Birthday Fiesta I wanted to make sure I had enough food for all my guests to enjoy all night long, so I used both my own homemade dishes and purchased dishes and sides to complete my menu so that I wouldn't be stuck in the kitchen all day stressing. The highlight of the Mexican feast was of course my Pulled Pork Tacos with Salsa Verde and Corn and Black Bean Salad. I doubled up my usual pulled pork recipe to make sure I had enough to go around (boy did I ever!), and just tossed in a few extra ingredients to add a little more heat than usual. I set up a topping bar next to the pulled pork to allow my guests to top their tacos with their favourites such as freshly squeezed lime, onions, a selection of salsas, and fresh cilantro. Although I had initially thought of serving my Corn and Black Bean Salad as a side, I loved seeing my friends use the salad to top their tacos with! The salad turned out to be my favourite topping out of them all, adding texture, acidity, and a bit of sweetness to the already mouthwatering taco.

Pulled Pork Tacos

(if serving pork for a party, double the recipe)

Ingredients:

3 1/2 pound pork shoulder

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large onions, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp chili powder

1/4 cup beef broth (may substitute with other type of broth or just splash in a little cider vinegar to loosen the brown bits on the bottom of the pot)

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 chipotle peppers + 2 tbsp adobo sauce (purchase chipotles in adobo sauce in a can)

1 cup chili sauce

1 cup your favourite barbeque sauce

1 can of Coca Cola

Directions:

1. Season pork with salt and pepper on all sides. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown pork on all sides and transfer to slow cooker.

2. In the heavy-bottomed pot cook the onions, garlic, and chili powder until onions have softened. Pour in the beef broth and, using a wooden spoon, scrape off all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer mixture to slow cooker.

3. Add the brown sugar,Worcestershire sauce, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, chili sauce, barbeque sauce, and Coca Cola to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

4. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until pork is tender. Remove pork and transfer to a large baking dish and shred using two forks. While shredding pork, increase heat to high. Add shredded pork back into the slow cooker, reduce heat back to low, and cook for another hour. Serve with corn tortillas and your favourite toppings!

Salsa Verde

Ingredients:

1 lb tomatillos (about 12-15), husks removed, washed, and cut in half

1/2 cup white onion, chopped

2-3 jalapeno peppers, stems removed

olive oil

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 - 1 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic

juice from 1/2 of a lime

Directions:

1. Place tomatillos, onions, and peppers in a baking dish. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.

2. Bake in a 350º oven for 15-20 minutes. The tomatillos should be nice and soft at this point. Set aside to cool.

3. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the tomatillos, onions, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Process to form a smooth textured puree as necessary for the desired consistency.

4. Transfer to a serving bowl. The salsa can be kept for 1 week in the refrigerator in an airtight container or jar.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:

3 fresh cobs of corn, husks and silks removed

1/2 can black beans, strained and rinsed

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup red onion, diced

4-5 large basil leaves, chopped into small pieces

the juice of 1 1/2 limes

1/2 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp salt

a pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Using a serrated knife (I found that easier) cut the corn kernels off of the cob trying to cut as close to the cob as possible. Place in a medium mixing bowl.

2. Stir in the black beans, red pepper, red onion, and basil.

3. In a small mixing bowl whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. Drizzle over corn mixture and stir to combine. Let chill in fridge until ready to serve. May make day ahead.

Listening To:

Pink Floyd-Speak to Me-Breathe

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Cheaters Handbook: Rice Stir Fry

The rushed mid-week meal, the bane of my existence. Why is that whenever I'm the most rushed, tired, and stressed I'm also the most hungry? I mean really, give me a break here! Luckily I have a few quickie meals up my sleeve that I know I can turn to when my schedule goes out of whack. One of my favourite quickie meals is a little cheaters stir fry dish that I picked up from my parents. My Cheaters Handbook Rice Stir Fry is super quick to put together, uses up leftovers hanging around your fridge, it is healthy, and of course it tastes so good you'll be happy to eat up the leftovers for lunch the next day! How's this for a quickie weeknight meal: Warm and nutty brown rice enveloped in sweet and savory honey garlic sauce, tossed with crunchy vegetables, crisp toasted almonds, and leftover meat, with bursts of sweet green peas throughout. I may as well call this dish Stress Be Gone Stir Fry!

Tip: If you know you're going to be rushed later in the week, prepare some of your stir fry in advance. Wash and chop all your veggies, pickup a roast chicken from your local grocery store to shred up later, and toast your almonds. When you're rushed and stressed later in the week, you'll be happy you did the prep work in advance.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 can green peas, juice drained (if you have fresh green peas use them!)

any other veggies you have on hand (ex. mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers, etc.), chopped

about 1 cup shredded or sliced leftover chicken, turkey, pork, or steak

4 servings of quick cook brown rice

about 1/4 cup of your favourite bottled honey garlic sauce (I like VH Honey Garlic Cooking Sauce)

a handful of sliced almonds, toasted

Directions:

1. In a large skillet or stir fry dish, heat olive oil at medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent. While onions are sautéing, make rice, following the directions on the box.

2. Add the green peas, and any additional veggies to the onions and continue cooking until veggies are tender but still crisp. Add the leftover meat part way through cooking to heat.

3. Mix the cooked rice into the skillet and stir to combine. Add the Honey Garlic sauce and almonds, stir together and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Serve hot.

Listening To: Sam Roberts - Bridge To Nowhere

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Chili Mango Chicken

Last year this weekend I remember exactly where I was. The sun was shining, birds chirping, neighbors biking, parents gardening, and I was attempting to soak in every little bit of sun I could. Spring was truly in the air and I could already begin to taste the fresh and bright flavours of summer. This year, I find myself inside, at the computer, cuddled up in my bathrobe, music drowning out the silence of the outside world. Perhaps Mother Nature hasn't looked at her calendar lately, because she seems to have forgotten that it's supposed to be Spring! It's been a pretty chilly Spring in Toronto so far, but despite the cool breeze and cloudy skies, I can't help but find myself craving those same bright and fresh Spring and Summer flavours. I guess my mom was on the same page as me when she ripped a recipe for Chili Mango Chicken out of last weeks Toronto Star. Full of those familiar warm-weather flavours this was exactly the type of meal I had been craving.

This recipe was extremely easy and fast to make (especially when working as a team!), making it the perfect weeknight supper. For something so fast and simple I could not believe how insanely delicious this dish turned out! The tender chicken was moist and full of flavour from being enveloped in the sweet and spicy Asian mango sauce. When resting on a bed of brown rice this meal is satisfying, but light allowing you to feel energized and invigorated, rather than ready for a nap like much of the comfort food you find during the Fall and Winter. The recipe sounded delicious as it was, but of course my mom and I wanted to add some more flavours of our own. We hit the dish up with some toasted sesame seeds for nuttiness, red pepper flakes for heat, and although we didn't have it this time, we would definitely get some extra veggie-action going on by adding some sliced red bell peppers next time. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome this dish is, you've just gotta try it for yourself!

Recipe adapted from The Toronto Star

Ingredients:

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 tbsp canola oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 tbsp grated peeled ginger

2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed, strings removed

1 1/2 ripe mangos, peeled, pitted, diced

1 1/2 tbsp asian chili garlic sauce

2 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted

1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes

steamed brown rice for serving

Directions:

1. In a bowl large enough to fit chicken pieces, stir together corn starch, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add the chicken and mix until all the pieces of chicken are coated. Let stand 10 minutes.

2. In a wok or large skillet, heat canola oil over high heat. Add onion and ginger. Cook until onion is softened, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the sugar snap peas and red bell pepper, stir-fry 1 minute using a spatula, keeping vegetables in near constant motion. Add the chicken and any remaining marinade in the bowl, and stir fry until the chicken begins to brown, about 3 minutes.

4. Stir in the mango, chili garlic sauce, red pepper flakes, and toasted sesame seeds. Season with pepper. Stir fry until chicken is cooked through and mango has softened to almost sauce-like consistency, 2-3 minutes. Serve with steamed brown rice.

Listening To:

The Drums - The Future

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Saucy Pulled Pork

Few things in life can put a bigger smile on my face than pulled meat. Pulled pork, brisket, you name it, I love it all! You may have seen on my Twitter that last week I went to get my haircut, purely for the excuse to swing by a sandwich shop down the street from my salon that makes my favourite pulled meat sandwiches in all of Toronto. Now that's love! What I love even more is how insanely easy pulled meat is to make! Who would have thought that something so delicious, flavourful, tender, and abundant could be an absolute cinch to make? The trick here is to slow cook your meat.

Cooking your meat slowly in a flavourful braising liquid allows you to throw everything in a pot, and forget about it till dinner time! Amazing, no? Slow cooking your meat results in incredibly tender meat that you can literally shred apart with your fork, while intensifying all of the flavours from the braising liquid. As much as the slow cooking process makes the dish, it's really important to start with a really flavourful braising liquid.

This will be my family's third attempt at making pulled pork (the first two times my parents made it, this time me, with the help of my sous chefs mom and dad!), and there is no question this round was definitely the best! Through layering sweet and spicy ingredients, my pulled pork ended up having a really complex flavour that woke up everybody's taste buds! I also let the shredded meat cook in the sauce for an additional 1/2 hour (rather than serving the meat immediately after shredding) to reduce the sauce and allow the shredded meat to soak up all that moistness. So we have incredibly flavourful and easy, could it get any better? Oh yeah baby it sure does! For all of you out there on a budget, this is the perfect Sunday supper for you! Pork Shoulder is an inexpensive cut of meat, and because shredded pork is ideal on sandwiches, you're able to feed a family of four at dinner, and still have leftovers for lunch the next day. I also like to toss in some potatoes and carrots, which are also inexpensive, to extend this meal even further. I serve up half sandwiches the first night with the veggies, then full sandwiches the next day. This is one dish I promise you you will go bananas over!

Tip: Have a party coming up? Why not serve up little pulled pork sliders! Perfect for entertaining, pulled pork allows you to spend time with your guests rather than over the stove.

Note: If you don't have a slow cooker, you may use a dutch oven, just make sure to check up on your pork throughout the day.

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork shoulder, silver skin removed

salt and pepper to season

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

3 tbsp chili powder, separated

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 cup chili sauce

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 can coca cola

1 (12 oz) bottle barbeque sauce

3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut in half widthwise (optional)

4-5 small potatoes, quartered (optional)

soft white buns for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork to pot and brown on all sides. Transfer to slow cooker.

2. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, and 1 tbsp of chili powder to the large pot or dutch oven. Fry, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened. Add the red wine vinegar and scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the chili sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and the remaining chili powder. Stir to combine.

3. Pour the can of Coca Cola over the pork in the slow cooker. Pour in the barbeque sauce. Add the contents of the pot and stir to combine. Add the carrots and potatoes (if using) and push down so they are enveloped in the sauce.

4. Cook on low for 6 hours. Remove pork from slow cooker and set on a baking sheet (to catch any liquids) and, using two forks, shred the pork. Add the pork back into the slow cooker and cook on high for another 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and serve pork with vegetables and soft white buns for pulled pork sandwiches.

Listening To: Glass Table Girls - The Weeknd

Click here to download the whole The Weeknd mixtape House of Balloons.

Saucy Meatballs

We all know spaghetti and meatballs are the bestest of friends, but at a certain point in every friendship both parties need to spread their wings and find independence of their own. Sure complementary flavours and textures (just like complementary personalities) can be incredible, but standing out as the "star" of a dish can allow the flavours to really shine! I love spaghetti and I love meatballs, but I've found that whenever I've had the two together I've always been disappointed with the dry, tasteless meatballs sitting atop my mound of spaghetti. My recipe makes meatballs the star of your dinner with the addition of a sweet and savory sauce, perfect for soaking up fresh bread or a bowl of whole grain rice! With big flavor that tastes like it was on the stove all day, this is a quick and easy crowd pleaser that can be prepared any night of the week!

Tip: This dish tastes even better the next day, so why not make a batch on the weekend to serve up throughout the workweek.

Tip: Make a batch ahead of time and freeze to enjoy another night!

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 eggs

2 medium onions, roughly chopped

2 pounds ground beef

2 tsp garlic, minced or pureed

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tbsp dried onion flakes (optional)

salt and pepper to season

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, add the onions. Pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.

2. Place the ground beef in a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, eggs, garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper. Mix well using clean hands.

3. In a large pot set to medium-high heat, add the ketchup, water, garlic, onions, and brown sugar and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. As the mixture comes up to a boil, begin forming your meatballs. Using your hands, roll the meatballs into walnut-sized balls and place immediately into the ketchup mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours. Serve atop brown rice, alone, or inside a sandwich.

Listening To:

Howlin' For You The Black Keys

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