#viralkitchen

GOOD MORNING!

Let me start off by saying it is a very dreary day here in Toronto. I love writing on rainy days. I opened a fresh bag of espresso beans, ground them to perfection and made a beautiful pot of coffee. I looked at the expiry date on the milk. 2 days until it’s bad. I give it a smell. Smells ok. I give it a taste. Tastes ok. I pour it into my coffee. IT CURDLES. SCREW YOU MILK. I dumped it and poured myself a cup of black coffee because I’m a tough broad. Guess what? I like black coffee. Just like my grammie:) I was just thinking to myself that I would cut back on dairy this week because I’ve been having stomach problems and that might be the culprit. This was a sign. 

This blog will be a shortie but a goodie because I just came back from spending 4 days in Ottawa where I went to my 10 YEAR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! More on that later...

While in Ottawa we made a very necessary stop at Kettleman’s bagel where I got bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on an herb and cheddar bagel and a dozen bagels to go. Kettleman’s serves up authentic Montreal style bagels. If you haven’t had a Montreal bagel I don’t think we can be friends. They’re dense, chewy, crispy on the outside, slightly sweet and absolute perfection. I immediately froze the bagels so they would stay fresh for the trek back to Toronto. I enjoyed a toasted pumpernickel bagel which provided me the fuel I need to complete this strenuous writing task. 

This was a busy and short week for me, so I had to make do with limited time. I was starving one day after work and the thought of making food made me tired so I decided to try the new-ish Mexican take-out joint, Wilbur. Every time I pass by Wilbur it is insanely busy, so I thought that it had to be good. I got a chicken burrito with guacamole, rice, black beans, cheese, cilantro crema and hot sauce. They also had a huuuuuge salsa and hot sauce bar that you could choose from. I carried home my four pound food baby, threw on an episode on Mad Men, sat cross legged on my couch and prepared myself for pure bliss. 

It was just ok. I know you're sad to hear this and so am I. Something was missing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I thought that maybe I was crazy but my boyfriend got a pulled pork burrito a few days later and said the same thing. Just ok. Maybe their other menu items are better? I want to like this place. TELL ME IF THERE’E SOMETHING BETTER. My fave burrito in town is the chicken or shrimp burrito from Fat Bastard Burrito. Fresh and flavourful and just gorgeous. 

I had leftover bacon from my “South West Kimye Pork Chops” recipe (which if you haven’t seen yet, check it out!!!)

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

and decided to make BLT’s. Booooring. Everyone knows how to make a BLT but it’s a nice change to do it on a bakery bun and with farmers market tomatoes. Also, the picture of this BLT looks very impressive so I just had to share.

I’m often in a rush making dinner, because I have a show to run out to. Sometimes it’s hard to be creative and I end up reusing old recipes with a new twist. I made a caesar salad(same one I made in other blogs but added more olive oil and vinegar to make it less creamy for a change), roasted fingerling potatoes (which are my fave potatoes) and pan fried lamb sausage from Grace Meat Market. 

I make these fingerling puppies all the time and have talked about them before. Just toss them in olive oil and any dried herb or spice combo. Roast for about 30 minutes at 350, tossing half way through. If the fingerlings are big, I cut them into smaller pieces to they get nice and evenly crispy. Using plain yogurt and chives, I made a little dipping sauce for the taters. Just like you’d put on a baked potato. SO GOOD.

Thursday night was the last night before we headed to Ottawa and I had to run out to headline a show in waterloo. We had so many veggies in the fridge and I didn’t want to waste any of them. WHAT WAS A GIRL TO DO? Roast them and add to pasta? GREAT IDEA. I roasted red pepper, eggplant and mushrooms in olive oil and salt and pepper at 350 for about 30 minutes. In a small pan I sautéed halved grape tomatoes, chopped marinated artichokes and chopped kalamata olives. I combined everything together with gluten free penne(use any pasta you like!) and added some of the artichoke oil, fresh lemon and crumbled feta cheese. Oh boy. This pasta was addictive. I ate it so quickly I moaned the entire car ride to waterloo. Roasting veggies gives them a nice earthy, nutty quality. Marinated artichokes always add a bit of class to a meal and the feta gave it the creamy touch that it needed. 

Then is was off to Ottawa where I ate my mothers delicious food, partied with all my high school friends and ate poutine. It’s crazy to think that it’s been 10 YEARS. Luckily I have an award winning food blog to show for it...

I went to Costco with my mom and she bought me a cook book called “The Best Mexican Recipes”. We were hungry at the time and suckered in by all the amazing photos in the book. Matt and I returned to toronto Monday night with a bunch of groceries my mom had sent us home with. I wanted to make something from the book and luckily I had all the items to make “Skillet rice and beans with corn and tomatoes”. Well, I didn’t have corn so I used orange pepper and added avocado because avocado is the best. I used this recipe as a guide.

I didn’t have fresh cilantro or scallions, which totally would have elevated this dish. I also made mine in a dutch oven because my frying pan wasn’t large enough. and I used jasmine rice instead of long grain white...but it all worked out! I love one pot meals. It was filling, nutritious, delicious and you didn’t miss the meat at all. There were tons of leftovers and it would be really delicious reheated with a fried egg on top for breakfast. 

And that was my week in food! What did we learn?

-Use old recipes and add a twist!

-Montreal bagels are the best!

-Milk in your coffee is overrated! 

-Cook books are fun and inspiring! (This Mexican one ROCKS! Buy it!)

I hope you had fun eating with me! Join me next week as I attempt to avoid dairy and eat predominantly vegetarian. (I might have some fish...) 

And stay tuned for another episode of VIRAL KITCHEN on YouTube!