Lobster Cobb Salad

Lobster Cobb Salad

Want to make a fun twist on a classic Cobb Salad, instead of chicken, use lobster! As Mark McEwan would say, "A cobb salad is a meal in a bowl".

ingredients:

1-2 lobster tail and/or claws
4 bacon slices
1/2 tomatoes
1 avocado
1 egg
6 cucumber slices
handful of romaine lettuce
olive oil
vinegar
salt
pepper

directions:

1. Cook claws or tails from fresh, or frozen. If from frozen and it's already cooked (if it's red), than just let it thaw in the fridge and it will be ready to use for the salad. If you need to cook it, just boil it in hot water for maybe 5 minutes. If it's a tail, you'll know it's done when the tail is red and has curled. If you do cook it, make sure you let it cool off before you add it to your salad.

2. Hard boil some eggs. In a post, cover your eggs with water and bring to a boil with the lid on. Once the pot is boiling. Kill the heat. And let it sit for 20 minutes. This will help ensure you don't overcook the egg.

3. Fry some bacon in a pan, and once its done remove to a cutting board and chop into bit size pieces. Set aside and let it cool.

4. Chop tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, and lettuce all into bite sized salad pieces. Make a vinaigrette (3 parts oil, one part vinegar) with olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. And maybe dijon mustard if you want to help it bind even further.

5. Take your vegetables for your salad and arrange them on a plate, along with the hard boiled egg. Then top with your chunks of lobster and bacon. Drizzle dressing over top. 

Guacamole and Salsa Fresca

Guacamole and Salsa Fresca

Guacamole has got to be the ultimate dip. Even better than hummus. Who doesn't like the creamy buttery texture of an avocado? Though, the best part of an avocado is the texture and not the taste. So make sure you mix some wonderful flavours into it.

ingredients:

3-4 avocados

1 tomato
1/2 red onion
1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic

1 tomato
1/2 white onion
handful of cilantro

1/2 jalapeno

salt
pepper

directions:

1. Mash avocados with a hand masher, or a fork if you don't have one. Or any blunt object would do. Mix in chopped tomatoes, red onion, and crushed garlic. Sprinkle with salt, and squeeze in some lemon juice. You can also use lime juice, I just find lemon isn't as bitter and is a little more sweet. Stir the works altogether.

2. Chop tomatoes, white onion, cilantro, and jalapeno (chop it really tiny). The jalapeno is optional for some heat. Mix in a bowl. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. If you want, you could add some oil and vinegar too it. But I think this way is much more fresh tasting.

Pear, Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Prosciutto, Walnuts, Mozzarella Cheese Pizza with Arugula Salad

Pear, Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Prosciutto, Walnuts, Mozzarella Cheese Pizza 
with Arugula Salad

This is possibly the best pizza I have ever had. Pear is one of the most underrated fruits, and tastes amazing on pizza. If you have never tried it before, you should! And this pizza recipe is your chance.

ingredients:

dough
blue cheese
caramelized onion
prosciutto
walnuts
mozzarella
pear
olive oil
pepper
cornmeal
arugula

directions:

pizza dough:

1. Fill a mixing bowl with 1-1 and 1/4 cups of warm water in a bowl.

2. Add 1 tbsp of active dry yeast. Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar, or white sugar if you feel the yeast is old. It will help activate the yeast and give it something to "eat". Let stand for about 10 minutes until white frothy bubbles are on top. Add in 1 tbsp of oil (though probably optional) and 1/2-1 tsp of salt.

3. Mix in 3 cups of flour. You can add more flour if its too sticky. Kneed dough on a flat surface covered with flour. Add more flour to the surface as needed. Maybe kneed for at least 10-15 minutes. Until the dough no longer sticks together on your hand.

4. Form the dough into a ball and coat with olive oil. Put in a covered container in a warm place. Warm is key. I sometimes run the oven for a little while, and then turn the oven off and put it in a pot. Let it sit for at least one hour. Two hours works too. The Longer the better. The dough should double in size.

5. Punch the dough, and cut in half. This pizza recipe will make two pizzas.

6. Oil a pizza pan with butter or margarine. And dust it with cornmeal. The cornmeal will adhere to the grease. And then spread out the dough on the pan.

7. Top pizza with olive oil, pepper, mozzarella cheese, sliced pear, prosciutto, walnuts, caramelized onions, and crumbled blue cheese. Cook in an oven at 400 F for about 30 minutes. Or until the top gets golden brown.

8. Eat with a arugula salad, or top the pizza with arugula after it comes out of the oven.

Homemade Easy Mac N Cheese

Homemade Easy Mac N Cheese

Mac N Cheese is a crowd-pleaser for the young and the old. Or at least I know I love it. It's one of those comfort foods that is easy to feed to an entire family, and is also great as leftovers. The other great thing about mac n cheese, is that really any and all cheeses work. As long as one of them is good at melting. So here is how I made mine.

ingredients:

1/2 bag of macaroni
2 cups cheddar cheese (or a huge pile)
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
4 tbsp flour

1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter

directions:

1. Boil macaroni in a pot with salted water. And shred a big pile of cheddar cheese.

2. Put some butter in a large pan and melt it down. Slowly add flour bit by bit and mix it in to make a rue. Then add in your milk to the pan and mix with the flour. Once this mixture has mixed together and seems like a sauce, you can start to add your cheese into it to give it more flavour and body.

3. Pour macaronies into a casserole dish, and cover pasta with the cheese sauce.

4. Toast some bread crumbs in a pan in some butter. Make sure all the bread crumbs are soaked with the butter so that they won't burn. Put this crumble on top of the mac n cheese.

5. Cook mac n cheese in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 F. Cover for first half if you are afraid it will burn.

Spicy Black Bean Burrito

Spicy Black Bean Burrito

Ingredients:

1/2 can Black Beans
1-2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup your favourite rice
Salt
Pepper
Water

Avocado
Tomatoes
Sour cream
Large Wraps/Tortilla
Maragine

Sweet Potato Chips:
1 sweet potato
1 tablespoon Oil
Salt and Pepper
1/4 teaspoon of chili pepper

Instructions:

1. Boil 1/4 cup of your favourite rice.
2. Chop up some tomato, and make a quick guacamole with some mashed up avocado and salt, and maybe lemon juice.
2. In a frying pan, fry black beans, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, chilli powder, cumin in some
margarine. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium heat. After awhile once it is cooked, add some water and mashed it up with a hand masher. (a fork could maybe do) Add water bit by bit.
3. Once mashed up, fold in the cooked rice.
4. Take a wrap and layer on your black bean/rice mixture.
5. Put guacamole on top, tomatoes, and sour cream.
6. Fold it into a burrito. (http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/techniques/ss/burritofold.htm)
7. Fry in a pan on both sides. I cook the side with the opening first to seal it shut.

Sweet Potato Chips

1. Slice sweet potato into discs.
2. Toss with 1 tablespoon oil, 1/4 chili pepper (if you want spicey chips), and a dash of salt and pepper.
3. Put in oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Consider broiling at the end for 5 minutes for more crispyness.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 block Firm Tofu
1/2 can Kidney Beans
1 cup frozen Peas and Carrots (you could use fresh...)
1/2 Onion (white or yellow)
2 Cloves Garlic
Soy Sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Ketchup
Pepper

Potato Topping:

4 potatoes
Margarine
Salt
Water (or milk...)
Sour Cream (If you want them extra creamy)

Instructions:

1. Boil 4 medium sized potatoes.
2. Crumble 1/2 block of Firm Tofu into a dish. Cover with soy sauce so that all the tofu has some on it and turns brownish. Marinate this over night if possible. (Instead of doing this you could use ground round or whatever... but I never do. I always just crumble tofu and add soy sauce for my fake ground beef)
3. Fry tofu with diced onions, and garlic. Add a dash of pepper. Once the tofu starts to brown. Add 1/2 can of kidney beans, 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots or however much you wish, 1 tablespoon of ketchup, and then 1-2 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce (you can get this vegan if you wish, the normal stuff has anchovie paste in it)... I never measure the worcestershire sauce... I just add and taste it.
4. Mash potatoes in a pot with some margarine and add salt to taste. Add water (or milk) to help the mashing process. Maybe 1-2 cups. Add it bit by bit until you get the consistency that you want.
5. Take a square casserole dish, like 9 x 9 inches. Fill the bottom with the tofu and beans mixture and flatten. Then spoon the mashed potatoes on top of that and flatten. Score the top of the potatoes with a fork to make it look all pretty.
6. Put in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Flip it to broil for 5-10 minutes at the end until the top gets slightly brown. (the scoring with the fork will make this more noticeable).

Grapefruit, Avocado and Spinach Salad

Grapefruit, Avocado and Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

1 Grapefruit
1 Avocado
1 bag of Spinach (baby is better if you have it)
Olive Oil
White Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper (A lemon pepper works well too)

Instructions:

1. Scoop out avocado and cut into segments. Salt slightly.
2. Cut grapefruit into segments, BUT save excess juice. Squeeze extra juice from the grapefruit carcass into a bowl with the excess juice.
3. Take excess grapefruit juice, and make it into a grapefruit vinegarette. Add a little white vinegar if you don't think you have enough grapefruit. The grapefruit is meant to serve as the acid (vinegar) of the vinegarette. Add 3 times the amount of olive oil. Ratio (3 to 1, oil to vinegar). Add a little sugar to taste, maybe a spoonful. Then a little salt and pepper to taste. I think I've used lemon pepper before and that worked pretty good.
4. Dress spinach or baby spinach with the dressing. Place chunk of avocado and grapefruit on top.