Sunday Night Dinner - Shrimp with Rice and Kale

This weekend sadly marked the last weekend of the West End Farmer's Market. But not to fear, there are Winter Markets. For info go to www.eatlocal.org. It just won't be the same getting up on Saturday mornings and not having the Market to go to for our weekly grocery run. There are just so many good things you can find. Like last weekend, one of the fish vendors had some frozen cold water shrimp (which I didn't realize were pink when raw until I asked the vendor about it). So for dinner tonight I wanted to make something with our market finds from this week, using that shrimp from last weekend. Now I only wish I would have bought more of the shrimp when he was there. They were very tasty, slightly smaller than other shrimp, but with more of a salty ocean water taste. Maybe at the Winter Market...


Shrimp with Rice and Kale adapted from a Canadian Living recipe
- 1 small to medium leek, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups long-grain rice
- 2 2/3 cups liquid (I only had 1 cup of veggie stock, used water for the rest)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 2-3 cups)
- 2-3 cups chopped kale

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Fry leek, garlic and salt and pepper, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Stir in rice and toss to coat. Add stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until liquid is almost absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Gently stir shrimp, kale and lemon juice into rice mixture; cover and cook until shrimp are cooked through and kale is wilted, about 5 minutes.

Hot Artichoke Dip

This dip is super easy, and is great for last minute entertaining. I've adapted from a Best of Bridge recipe to cut down on the mayo.

Hot Artichoke Dip
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayo
- about 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
- splash of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in oven proof dish. Bake in oven or toaster oven for 10 minutes at 350 F until hot and bubbly.

Serve with crackers or breadsticks.

Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan

I was recently in Toronto visiting family for Thanksgiving, brr was it ever cold! While there we went to a couple of different restaurants. I didn't take any pictures, but Sidecar on College was great, I would recommend to anyone in Toronto. Whenever I visit new restaurants I like to try and remember what the menu items were that I wanted to try, and then use that as inspiration for a dinner at home. I ended up ordering the Mushroom Risotto (which was awesome), but there was a pasta dish with artichokes that looked very simple, but would have nice flavours. So for dinner tonight I decided to try a new dish with marinated artichoke hearts that I had in my pantry.


Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan
- bowtie pasta, about 2 cups uncooked
- 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- juice of half a lemon

Cook pasta according to directions, reserving one cup of the pasta water. Drain and return to pot. Toss artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese with pasta. Squeeze lemon over top.

This would be great with pancetta or prosciutto as well.

Sunday Night Dinner - Mussels

I know it's Monday, but since it's a long weekend, today feels like Sunday. This afternoon Brent and I went over to Granville Island and picked up some mussels from Salt Spring Island at The Lobsterman on Granville Island. This is the first time I've cooked mussels, but I've been craving them for a few weeks, and they are so easy to cook. A definite success!

Mussels with Wine, Tomatoes and Cilantro
- 3 lbs mussels
- 1 1/2 cups of white wine
- 1 shallot, finely minced
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 - 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- a couple of handfuls of chopped cilantro

Before you start, pick through your mussels and discard any that have opened. If they are only slightly opened, tap on them, if they close, they are okay. Then remove beards and scrub them.

Place wine, shallot, garlic and tomatoes in large pot, bring to a simmer. Dump mussels in pot, cover and steam for 8 minutes or until they have opened up. With a slotted spoon remove mussels onto large serving dish, discarding any that are not opened. Whisk butter and cilantro into sauce, pour over mussels.

Serve with fresh bread.

Sunday Night Dinner - Stuffed Peppers

This weekend for our dinner on Sunday night I wanted to do something with all of the great stuff we got at the market this weekend. So I decided to try my hand at making stuffed peppers. I went online and started looking through different recipes, and came up with this one to use some of the stuff I got from the market.

Reebs' Stuffed Peppers
- 4 peppers, red, orange, yellow or green
- olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- half onion, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped red pepper
- 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups cooked rice
- lemon juice from half a lemon
- cheese (I used this cheese from this farm)

Cut peppers in half lengthwise, remove seeds and stuff. Lay cut side up in a glass baking dish. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots and chopped pepper about 5 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking up with spoon until meat is browned. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes. Add rice and mix together until heated through.Spoon into peppers. Pour 1-2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 cup water and lemon juice around peppers. Cover with foil. Bake in 400 oven for 50 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with grated cheese, and cook 15 minutes until cheese is browned and peppers are tender.

Quick Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is one of the most versatile ingredients to have on hand when cooking and baking. It is a great way to impress guests, and you can really do a lot of different things with puff pastry. I've always purchased the Tenderflake variety, which works really well. However, I wanted to know how hard it was to make my own. Let me tell you, it is actually one of the easiest things to make, using ingredients you probably have on hand. This recipe is from Canadian Living, and again, they don't disappoint.

Quick Puff Pastry
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup cold water




Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes; set aside 3/4 cup in the refrigerator. In food processor, pulse flour with salt. Sprinkle remaining butter over top; pulse until indistinguishable, about 10 seconds. Sprinkle with reserved butter; pulse 4 - 5 times until pea-size pieces. Pour water evenly over mixture (not through tube). Pulse 6 to 8 times until mixture is loose and ragged, do not let form ball.

Transfer to floured waxed paper; gather and press into rectangle. Dust with flour; top with waxed paper and roll out into 15 x 12 inch rectangle. When you first transfer it to the floured waxed paper, fear not, although it looks like it won't come together, it definitely will!


Remove top paper. Starting at long edge and using bottom paper to lift pastry, fold over one-third. Fold opposite long edge over top, bringing flush with edge of first fold to make 15 x 4 inch rectangle. Starting from 1 short end, roll up firmly; flatten into 5 inch square. Cut in half; wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

This can also be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen in airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You'll never want to buy store bought puff pastry again!

I rolled this out and used it for my Chicken and Brie Turnovers and the result was amazing!