Eat This and Shut Up

https://eatingwithjulia.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/blackened-catfish-and-maque-choux/

ZIGGY STAR ANISE DUSTED CHICKEN WITH LIFE ON MARS BAR MOLE SAUCE.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9c7cuUnrYQ

Blog:

https://eatingwithjulia.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/star-anise-chicken-with-mars-bar-mole/

Hello beautiful readers!

Last week I mentioned that I had some big news and here it is! MY BLOG IS MOVING TO WORDPRESS. Do not fret, Eating with Julia on Tumblr will still remain but it will be different and better. Tumblr is sometimes hard to navigate if you don’t have an account or are searching for something specific. I looked into some of the most popular food accounts on Tumblr and thought “Huh. Why do they have SO many more followers than me?” I noticed that most of them just post a mouth watering picture of food with a snappy title and a LINK to their separate website or blog. So now I’ll do more individual and specific blog posts that you can access from my Tumblr or by going straight to eatingwithjulia.wordpress.com 

For old times sake, let’s do one last full out blog on Tumblr. Once you’re done here, go check out my wordpress! It’s still a work in progress (because transferring a ton of blog posts in a week was quite challenging) but I think you’ll find it much more streamlined. You can even click on categories like “chicken”, “gluten free”, “seafood” etc, depending on what you’re looking for.

I took advantage of my cast iron pots and pans this week because I love a seamless transition from stove to oven. My first creation was buttery, lemon, dijon chicken breasts with balsamic roasted brussel sprouts and quinoa tabouleh. 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 and pan seared the chicken in butter and olive oil with a bit of salt, pepper and rosemary sprig for 3 minutes on each side. In a small bowl combine:

1/2 lemon, juiced a couple generous squeezes of grainy dijon 1 tbsp olive oil salt, pepper 1 tsp garlic powder.

Pour the mustard sauce over the chicken and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Toss the sprouts in olive oil, salt, pepper and put them on a baking sheet. They go in the oven for 45 minutes (toss half way) so I’d put them in a little bit before the chicken. 

Meanwhile, cook up 1 cup of dried quinoa. If you have time you can do this hours before in order to let the quinoa cool. If not, you’ll have a warm salad, which is still tasty! To the cooked quinoa add:

1 cup chopped parsley 2 chopped tomatoes 1/2 lemon juice 1 TBSP cider vinegar 2TBSP olive oil squirt of dijon sprinkle of garlic powder

Notice how the ingredients in the salad are similar to the sauce for the chicken? This was no coincidence! This salad could even be made a day ahead to allow the flavours to bond. 

Once the sprouts are done toss them in a few glugs of balsamic vinegar and serve immediately. I used thawed frozen brussels, but I think it would be better with fresh.  What a delicious week night meal! The sprouts were slightly bitter and earthy with a lovely sweetness from the balsamic. The quinoa tabouleh was light and fresh and the chicken was so tender and savoury. You might want to double the dijon sauce for the chicken if you’re feeling saucy. It was so tasty!

Matt went to Montreal for the weekend and all of the sudden I turned into a college kid. I left my dishes everywhere, slept next to a pile of clothes and ate out a lot. Friday night rolled around and I was feeling SO lazy. I was hungry but my fridge was filled with vegetables and I really wasn’t craving a carrot. On the other hand, I had big porchetta sandwich for lunch so I wanted something moderately light. I opened our cupboard pantry and guess what I found? A pack of ramen noodles. You know the kind that you boil in water for 3 minutes and add that salt bomb containing 4 days worth of sodium to? Yep, that’s the one! It’s delicious but so bad for you so I decided I’d do a “healthy”, sophisticated version.

Julia’s 5 minute ramen bowl:

bring 2 cups low sodium chicken broth, 1 tsp minced ginger and 1 clove crushed garlic to a boil. add noodles and let cook for 3 minutes. while cooking pan poach an egg. (heat a pan, crack an egg, add an ice cube, cover with lid, when ice melts it creates steam and poaches the egg. Should only take 2-3 minutes!) pour broth and noodles over fresh spinach top with egg, scallions, lime wedge and hot sauce

WHAT!!!! Why have I never made this before? It was just what the doctor ordered. Put your own spin on this with sautéed mushrooms, baby bok choy or even slices of processed cheese! I hear this is something that people like to do.

My final meal involved my dutch oven (not to be confused with my slow cooker). This is a giant cast iron pot with a nice heavy lid. Perfect for stews and luckily, I made the PERFECT pork stew. I gave myself a major high five for this one. Winter is in the air I’ve been craving apple cider. What better way to get your cider fix than to cook with it! I had a 2 pound pork loin in the freezer that I had been meaning to use and what goes better with pork than apples? This is what you’ll need for my creation:

2 pound pork loin, cut into chunks (if you go 4 pound, just double the recipe!) 1.5 cups apple cider (I actually used apple/cranberry cider because they were all out! make sure it’s unsweetened.) 3 sliced shallots or 2 smallish onions 3 cloves chopped garlic 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into large chunks 2 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks 1.5 cups chicken broth 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar  3 tsp dried sage 1 tsp dried thyme 1 tbsp flour salt and pepper olive oil

*pre-heat oven to 350*

1) melt a pad of butter and glug of olive oil in your dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the meat and set aside. 2) toss in shallots, garlic and veggies and brown for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir. Toss the meat and any juices back in.

3) add broth, cider, vinegar, herbs and bring to a simmer. Cover and put in a 350 oven for 2 hours. 

Serve over rustic mashed potatoes, polenta or with crusty bread. WOW. WOW. WOW. I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS WAS. I know I say that a lot but I loved this so hard. The tart and sweet cider made the pork so tender and flavourful. It tasted like something you’d eat after building a snowman all afternoon. I loved it and I think you will too!

AND THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK! Join me next week on wordpress! Same old Julia, with a new look! And make sure to keep following me on tumblr for updates :) 

What did we learn?

1) Pork and apple are a match made in heaven

2) quinoa tabouleh is super tasty and healthy

3) ramen is not only for college kids

4) FOLLOW JULIA’S EATING JOURNEY ON WORDPRESS!

As always, thank you SO much for eating with me. I can’t wait to start the 2nd part of my blog journey. 

Love,

Hello there!

BIG changes happening to “Eating with Julia” soon! I can’t tell you what it is yet, but know that it will be different and BETTER. Until then, you know the deal. I make things throughout the week, I eat them and then I write about it so you can make it too!

‘Twas American Thanksgiving this past weekend and my friend Carla decided to throw a Thanksgiving party seeing as our friends never get to spend the holidays together because we’re too busy with family. Carla made the amazing turkey (a happy turkey!) and SIX PIES (2 apple, 2 pumpkin, 2 pecan) and the guests were in charge of side dishes and whatnot. A few weeks ago I saw a recipe for a “vegducken” on @epicurious and indeed became very curious...

I’m not a vegetarian but I do love vegetables and making new things so I thought I’d try this crazy dish. It’s a play on the turducken (a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey) but with zucchini, eggplant and butternut squash. Here is the recipe!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/vegducken

Ok, if you took a moment to read up on that you’ll notice that it’s VERY labour intensive, with a ton of ingredients. 

The one thing I had a big problem with was hollowing out that damn raw squash. HOW DO YOU HOLLOW OUT A HARD, RAW SQUASH? It seemed impossible so I roasted it a bit first. This made the squash VERY hot and hard to deal with. I didn’t have time to let it cool. Needless to say there was a lot of swearing involved and my entire kitchen was covered in squash. Otherwise, everything else is pretty straight forward. The food processor part is a pain, but not difficult by any means.  Of course I stuffed the squash WAY too full and it wouldn’t seal properly but at that point I didn’t give a shit. I put it in the oven and poured myself a whiskey to calm my nerves. I’ll have you know that while my squash wasn’t as beautiful as the one on epicurious IT WAS DELICIOUS.

It tasted so hearty, earthy and meaty despite being 100% vegetarian. I made it gluten free by adding ground almonds instead of bread crumbs and you could make it vegan by adding nutritional yeast instead of cheese and using soy butter or olive oil. I think if I make this again I’ll make it in a different form like a casserole or vegetable tart. If you’re vegetarian, make this instead of a salty old tofurkey. It’s MUCH better. Perhaps a better name for it might be the squeggchini? 

The next day I was still craving thanksgiving flavours so I made us another squash based meal for dinner. Stuffed chicken breast, salad and roasted acorn squash with butter and maple syrup. Mmmm. I pounded out my chicken breasts until flat and thin and spooned them with leftover vegducken mixture. I rolled the chicken and tied them up with kitchen twine. 

For the acorn squash, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides. Put it on a lined baking sheet, cut side down and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Once the squash has been cooking for 15 minutes, put the chicken in for 30 min. Take out the squash after 30 minutes, flip it and add a pad of butter, splash of maple syrup, sash of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Put it back in for another 10-15 minutes.

While all of this is cooking, whip up a delicious salad using Boston lettuce. I forgot how delicious this stuff is. It’s buttery, crisp and sweet. I supposed it’s not as nutritious as spinach or kale but it’s definitely not bad for you! I made a delicious dressing using olive oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, dijon, salt and pepper. This is probably my favourite vinaigrette. Top with nuts, dried fruit and goat cheese. It’s the perfect salad. 

I’m going to honest, the chicken was good but it would have been better stuffed with asparagus, cheese and proscuitto. It was lacking richness. The squash was to die for and like I said, that salad is amazing. 

I’ve been experiencing some stomach issues lately and I’m worried I might have IBS or a gluten or dairy intolerance. EEK! My friend Carla is studying nutrition and is currently doing an internship at a hospital with clients who have major gut and colon issues. She suggested I try cutting out dairy and gluten from my diet for a bit to see how I feel. OH JEEZE. Here is what I ate, day 1:

Breakfast: Dairy free smoothie

Lunch: Seared salmon, egg white scramble with mushrooms, scallions, spinach, avocado and goat cheese. (goat isn’t dairy, right?!)

Dinner: Spicy seafood pasta.

Let’s talk about this pasta. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

I can whole tomatoes red pepper flakes frozen mussels frozen shrimp Shallot or small onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped brown rice pasta 1 tsp dried basil salt and pepper drizzle of olive oil

It’s very easy to make. 1st, take your frozen mussel meat and shrimp from the freezer and let thaw under cold running water for about 3-5 minutes. You could use fresh too but it would alter cooking times. My shrimp and mussels were pre cooked and frozen. Set aside in fridge until ready to use. 

Add the shallot to a large frying pan with the tomatoes, drained. Save the liquid because you might need to add some if the sauce gets too thick. Gently smash the tomatoes while they simmer for 15 minutes and get nice and sweet. If you don’t cook them for long enough they’ll still have that slight “can” flavour. After 15 minutes add the garlic, basil, red pepper flakes salt and pepper. If too much liquid has evaporated, add some tomato juice. Let cook for another 5 minutes.

While this is happening boil a large pot of water for your rice pasta. Every brand is slightly different so follow the directions on the package. I find it very beneficial to stir the pasta often so it cooks evenly and doesn’t clump together. 

When there is 3 minutes left of the pasta, add in your seafood to warm through. Drain and rinse the rice pasta and add it to the pan. Give it a lil’ glug of oil. Serve it in a bowl or plate, top with fresh parsley and enjoy! I loved this pasta dish. You honestly can’t tell that it’s rice pasta. I’m sure somewhere there’s a little Italian Nonna cursing me and calling bullshit, but I stand by what I said! This dish was so flavourful and rich without being heavy. I often like my pasta to be smothered in meat, cheese and cream sauce but this was equally as satisfying. You could switch up the seafood and use clams or scallops. Try it with chicken or without protein! The sauce is good enough on its own. 

That was day 1 of avoiding dairy and wheat! Who knows what this week will bring. Will I crack under pressure? Only time will tell.

What did we learn this week?

1) Vegduckens are better than tofurkeys. 

2) Stuff your chicken!

3) Rice pasta is delicious. 

4) The Festive Special at Swiss Chalet is AMAZING. Ok, I know we didn’t really talk about this but I thought I’d mention it here. I don’t think I have to review Swiss Chalet for you, but it is always great. Perhaps because I went there so often as I child do I feel such a close bond for this chicken joint, but they really bring it to the next level with the FS. Rotisserie chicken, fries, stuffing, cranberry sauce, roll and that magical gravy sauce. Not to mention the FIVE lindor chocolates you get at the end. GO NOW! FIVE SPATULAS! 

Thanks for eating with me! I hope I have my “big news” ready to be launched next week. Stay tuned! and don’t forget to check out Viral Kitchen on YouTube and “whatjuliaeats” on instagram! BYE!

Hello! 

Before I say anything, a new VIRAL KITCHEN is here! I create a dish based on the viral internet happenings and this time, human idiot, DONALD TRUMP was my inspiration. Check it out and tell your friends! I swear you’ll have a good laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE0W8LgfmeM

Also, due to overwhelming requests (2 people) I have finally made a couple of freezer friendly meals that will keep you nourished on those super busy days. With holiday parties already popping up, I also made some delicious appetizers that go above and beyond a boring veggie plate. Last but not least, I made some super fast, super easy eats that are fresh takes on classics. Let’s get into it!

We have all heard about avocado toast, right? It’s all the rage right now but I’ve been making avocado toast since I was 18 years old in my college dorm. When the cafeteria food got dull I’d head down to the No Frills and get a bag of avocados and loaf of bread and make my trusty avo toasts. It was also a healthy, delicious drunken snack. Now you can find avocado toasts on restaurant menus for 12 bucks a pop. HA! I’ve eaten one of these things pretty much every morning this week.  I didn’t take a picture of all of them because that would be boring as hell. I always start with a half avocado as the base with lemon, salt and pepper, and add from there. Sometimes I’ll put goat cheese and tomato, brie and chili flakes and even leftover trout. Trout toast doesn’t exactly have the same ring as avocado toast, but it’s delicious. I topped it with some chili flakes and it makes a filling, delicious breakfast, snack or lunch. The possibilities are endless with avo toast!

I started my food week off right with a giant steak. The plan was to cook it, slice it, and use it in meals throughout the week. I marinated it overnight in this beautiful concoction that I highly recommend.

worcestershire sauce hot sauce olive oil oregano soy sauce rice wine vinegar  salt pepper parsley flakes

Just a couple dashes or shakes each. No need to have perfect measurements. Give it a taste and adjust accordingly. 

Once the steak was marinated I cooked it in my cast iron pan for about 5-6 minutes on each side and let it rest for about 30 minutes. (because I forgot about it, but letting it rest that long made it taste extra yummy and tender!!)

It was cooked perfectly and so flavourful. I used it the rest of the week in salads, sandwiches and steak n’ eggs.

Speaking of steak n’ eggs, I made it for dinner one night! I fried some eggs and baked some asparagus that I topped with a whiskey cheddar cheese for about 15 minutes at 350.  My friend Sarah gave me whiskey cheese for my birthday and she got it at the Port Dover cheese shop. Any sharp cheese would work well. I also added some pieces of roasted squash I had laying around. I love breakfast for dinner. This felt more sophisticated than regular steak n’ eggs because of the roasted veg and fancy cheese. 

Remember when I said I just had a few pieces of squash laying around? That’s because I spent all day saturday cooking up a bunch of freezable meals featuring SQUASH! I’ve been a huge squash fan since I was a kid when my grandad used to grow them in his garden. I loved a roasted acorn squash with butter and brown sugar. It was like healthy candy. I had an acorn squash in my fridge that my mom had given me last time I visited Ottawa. Luckily squash lasts for a long time because I totally forgot about this gourd-ish thing hiding in the depths of my cold box. For whatever reason I was thinking I would make lasagna. I often purchase frozen lasagna, (because it’s easy and delicious) so why not make my own fancy version? I decided on an acorn squash, veggie and ricotta lasagna. Sounds good right? I 100% made up this recipe. Here is is!:

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash 1 tub ricotta cheese 1 small zucchini, diced 1 yellow pepper, diced 1 package maple goat cheese (or regular) 1 tsp nutmeg 2 tsp sage 1 tsp garlic powder salt and pepper oven ready lasagna pasta parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cut the squash in half, seed it and roast cut side down on a baking sheet for 35-40 minutes at 350 until squash meat is tender. Let cool slightly. Scoop into bowl and mix full package of goat cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

While the squash is cooking sautée zucchini, yellow pepper, sage, garlic powder, salt and pepper until tender. Mix veggies with ricotta cheese.

In a lightly oiled casserole dish layer the squash mixture, top with noodle layer, ricotta layer, squash layer, noodle layer, ricotta layer and then parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, covered in tinfoil at 400. Uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes until brown and bubbly. Let cool slightly and then enjoy or freeze for later! 

So, I didn’t actually taste this lasagna yet but it smelled SO good while it was cooking. I tasted the squash mixture and it was heaven in a bowl. It would make a really nice side dish. The ricotta mixture was also extremely tasty so I’m assuming the lasagna will be a smash hit! I made 2 mini lasagnas to freeze because I’m giving one to my very pregnant friend, Rhiannon. I don’t know much about babies but from what I understand they are demanding little vomit goblins who take up most of your time. I wanted to make Rhiannon some food that she can just pop in the oven and enjoy!

The second freezer meal I made that day was also featuring squash, but this time it was a butternut! Believe it or not, I’ve never actually cooked with butternut squash. I’ve done spaghetti, acorn and buttercup but not the nut! It’s surprisingly easy to work with. All you do is peel it with a veggie peeler, scoopl out the minimal seeds, cut it and cook it however you please. I found this great recipe for a vegan stew and I set aside a few slices of squash to roast along with my acorn squash. (and that’s where the “squash laying around” came from.)

Check out this slow cooker recipe!

http://www.eatliverun.com/crock-pot-chickpea-butternut-squash-and-red-lentil-stew/

I made a few minor adjustments. I used green lentils and pre-cooked them for about 20 minutes before tossing them in the slow cooker. From the comments I read, tomatoes apparently affect how lentils cook and they can end up hard. I don’t know if you’ve ever eaten an undercooked legume before but it’s not pleasant. I wanted to avoid this at all costs! I added a bit more garam masala than is called for and threw a bit of sumac in there because, why not! I also only put 1 can of chick peas because my slow cooker was looking mighty full and I didn’t want it to overflow. I froze most of it for future meals but put some aside in the fridge and BOY was it good. So so hearty and flavourful. Garam masala is a combination of so many spices and gives the stew such depth of flavour. You definitely don’t miss the meat in this meal. Really great texture and flavour and super easy to freeze. I hope Rhiannon likes it as much as I did! 

On sunday I went to a going away party for my dear friend Steph Tolev. She’s moving to LA soon and her beautiful mother Joy decided to throw her a shindig. I’m gaining a bit of a reputation as a top shelf chef, so of course I wanted to bring something that would knock everyone’s socks off! I decided on turkey stuffed mushrooms and baked brie. Simple, elegant, easy to eat and scrumptious. 

For the mushrooms I mixed together a package of ground turkey, 1 package goat cheese, half cup panko bread crumbs, 1 tsp rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper. Take the stems off the mushrooms and put a blob of the turkey mixture into each of them. I made 16 mushrooms and used half the turkey. I used the rest the next day to make mini meat balls. Bake the mushrooms at 350 for 30-40 minutes on a baking sheet/casserole dish. Transfer to a plate and enjoy! I loved these little nuggets. The turkey keeps them light and the fennel gives it a nice savoury sausage-like flavour. They were a hit! 

Baked brie is nothing new but I topped mine with apple butter (which is basically apple jam) slivered almonds and dried thyme. Bake in a brie dish/oven safe vessel at 350 for 15-20 minutes. HOLY SHIT. What a combo. Apples and cheese are a match made in heaven. Bring this to your next party if you want to do zero prep and get maximum “OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING” comments. 

When Monday rolled around I figured it was time to get started on my christmas shopping. After a few hours of gift-buying we worked up an appetite and decided to try out Blaze Pizza that just opened in Dundas Square. For whatever reason the goof people at Blaze e-mailed me and sent me 2 free pizza coupons. Maybe because of my wildly successful food blog? Or perhaps because I’m a world famous comedian? WHO KNOWS. Y’all know what time it is? Time for...

JULIA’S REVIEW

Blaze Pizza

http://www.blazepizza.com

This place is endorsed by Lebron James so it has to be good, right? They special is personalized thin-crust pizza’s, ready in about 3 minutes. We ordered two of their signature pizza’s. The “art love” (artichoke, red sauce, mozzarella, ricotta) and the “Link In” (sausage, red sauce, mozzarella, roasted rep peppers and onions). As promised, they came out in about 3 minutes and were delightful. It so nice to get a thin-crust pizza that doesn’t get soggy. You didn’t feel like a pile of trash after eating 3 pounds of dough either. They have adorable little take-out boxes if you can’t finish your personal pizza, which we couldn’t. At $10.45 per pizza, it’s a pretty good price for “fast food”. If you think about it, a combo at any fast food chain restaurant is anywhere between 8-12 bucks and it’s not nearly as good. I guess Lebron and I have more in common than I thought. I mean, other than our huge wangs. (sorry mom). 4 spatulas! And thanks for the free pizza’s, Blaze!

Annnnnnnnnnd that’s it lil’ olive pits! We did it! What did we learn?

1) Squash is healthy, versatile and easy to use

2) Bake a brie, stuff a ‘shroom

3) Get funky with your avo toast

4) Blaze it up, Lebron style!

Thank you so, so much for reading. I always love getting tumblr mail, so send me any feedback, questions, comments etc. that you might have. Remember, cooking is supposed to be FUN! Don’t be tied down to a recipe and learn to trust you gut. You’re better at this than you think.

Tata!