September » 2011 » Living Lou

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

With October just a few days away, I, and many food bloggers seem to have pumpkin on the brain. Speaking of October being a few days away, I’m sorry, where did September go? With September coming to a close, I now have two posts up on The Kit – check them out here.

Anyways, all day I have recipe ideas popping into my head, pumpkin-this and pumpkin-that. Seriously I have at least 10 ideas involving pumpkin floating around my brain. There isn’t room for much more up there, which may be why my test didn’t go so well the other day… woops. Don’t worry though, Living Lou isn’t going to be all pumpkin all the time, only some of the time. And today is one of those days where pumpkin is the secret, or not so secret, ingredient.

Last weekend, a good friend of mine was back in town visiting from university and she was coming over for breakfast. Being the pumpkin fanatic that I am, I quickly texted her and asked if she would rather banana pancakes, cinnamon pancakes or pumpkin pancakes. Expecting her to say cinnamon, I was ecstatic when she quickly replied with “PUMPKIN!!!!!”. See, it’s not only food bloggers who are pumpkin crazy.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes (makes 8 pancakes)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp melted butter + butter for frying
1 egg

Directions

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl whisk together wet ingredients.

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Whisk until combined.

Melt butter over medium-low heat Using a ladle, ladle the batter into the pan. You can use the bottom of the ladle to spread the batter if necessary. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until you see bubbles form in the center of the pancake. Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until fully cooked.

Serve with maple syrup.

Does anyone else have pumpkin on the brain?

- Lou

Herbed Pasta with Garlic and Walnuts

I’m usually more of a saucy and cheesy pasta kind of girl. You know, that pasta, the quintessential pasta, the one where the pasta sauce that is simmered for hours before being mixed with pasta, then its thrown in a casserole and covered with cheese and baked in the oven until it’s all melted and bubbly. That’s usually the type of pasta I go for, and this dish, well surprise folks, it’s not that. So, why am I sharing it you ask?

Because it’s pretty much perfect, it’s delicious, and flavorful and best of all EASY. It’s ready in the amount of time it takes to cook pasta, about 8-10 minutes.

You say that it’s not as comforting? I say that it’s pretty comforting knowing that it’s not going straight to my hips, or my thighs, or both. Don’t knock in ’til you try it folks, coming from someone who loves her pasta sauce (ahem, my favourite sauce is a loaded and flavorful bolognese sauce.) this is now one of my favourite pasta dishes. Seriously guys, it’s the best.

Herbed Pasta with Garlic and Walnuts (serves 1-2)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp hot chili flakes
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 walnuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
190 grams/7ish oz of whole wheat linguine
lots of freshly cracked pepper and Parmesan cheese (omit cheese for vegan)

Directions

In a pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.

In a frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and chili flakes until fragrants, 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley and walnuts, stirring to cook. The parsley should wilt and the walnuts will become golden and toasted.

Drain cooked pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add pasta and reserved water to pan, stirring to coat. At the last minute, add the basil. Serve.

Enjoy this simple pasta dish, packed with flavour and ready in 10 minutes!

-Lou

Mexican Rice

One of my favourite things about being a food blogger are all of the opportunities we have to be creative. As a food blogger, I have the opportunity to create, create and create. Whether it’s through creating a new recipe, or adapting one to suit my tastes, writing posts or staging and photographing my dish in the perfect light with the perfect exposure, running a food blog is a highly creative process. I think that running any blog for that matter is extremely creative.

I was lucky this month when I was assigned Making Memories… as my blog for The Secret Recipe Club. First of all, I have to point out that her URL is “makingmemorieswithyourkids”, um hello fun mom! I have to say, after falling head over heels with her url, looking through Erin’s blog gives every creative person exactly what they crave – inspiration. Her creative ideas and activities she does with her two adorable children just make me smile. Especially in a time when lots of kids are spending so much time on computers, TVs and video games, it’s nice to see someone who is inspiring and shaping their creative minds. And of course, there are recipes – we cannot forget the recipes! So many recipes for yummy treats and sweets. Cinnamon Roll Pancakes anyone?

I love Mexican food so when I stumbled upon her recipe for Taco Rice and Beans, I decided to put my creative mind to use and put a bit of a Living Lou spin on Erin’s delicious sounding recipe. I knew that our posting date was a Monday so I Meatless Monday-fied this recipe, it’s now a hearty and filling vegetarian meal.

Mexican Rice
Adapted from: Making Memories…

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Sriracha (Hot chili sauce) or any favourite hot sauce such as Franks
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups water
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 bayleaf
1/2 19oz can black beans

Directions

In a pan, heat olive oil and saute onion for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or until fragrant. Add in the diced green peppers, taco seasoning and cumin and cook for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the tomato paste with the sriracha or hot sauce.

Once green peppers have started to soften, stir in the tomato paste/sriracha or hot sauce mixture into the pan. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add in 2 cups of water and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 18 minutes or until rice is cooked and no liquid remains.

Once rice is cooked, remove bayleaf and stir in cheese and black beans.

I hope you enjoy my take on Erin’s Taco Rice, what’s everyone else having for Meatless Monday?

- Lou

Sweet and Spicy Salmon

Salmon is one of my favourite proteins to cook with because there are so many things you can do with it. This Sweet and Spicy Salmon is probably one of my ultimate favourite ways to enjoy salmon, it’s such a quick and simple staple meal that it has never crossed my mind to share it with you. Well, don’t worry, those days are over. You can now sigh a happy sigh of relief. With just four ingredients, yes I said four, you can have this salmon on the table in just 21 minutes.

Can you imagine, getting home from work/school at 7:40pm only to realize that there are only 20 minutes until Grey’s Anatomy starts! What are you going to have for dinner? There’s not enough time so you think to pull out one of those sodium stuffed frozen meals, well friends, please don’t do that. With only a couple of minutes of prep time you’ll be eating your salmon in no time. As far as side dishes go, anything from my Side Dishes category would do, but my personal favourites are this quick and easy 5 minute Spiced Couscous or these quick Green Beans in Vinaigrette.

Sweet and Spicy Salmon (serves 4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 lbs skin on salmon fillets
2 1/2 tbsp honey mustard
3/4 tsp chipotle hot sauce
1/2 tsp sriracha sauce (a hot chili sauce)
1/4 tsp dijon mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a baking dish and place salmon skin side down on dish. Combine whisk together remaining ingredients and brush over salmon.

Bake for 20 minutes or until fully cooked.

This salmon should melt in your mouth and has the perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

- Lou

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are probably one of my favourite things to eat. They are so flavorful and the peppers gets so sweet and tender – they’re perfect. They also make the ideal vegetarian meal for Meatless Monday. You can stuff peppers in a variety of ways with all sorts of different flavors, you can stuff them with meat such as ground beef or ground turkey, or you can stuff them with vegetables and different types of rice such as arborio rice or brown rice.

I remember when I was little, my Mom would always order stuffed tomatoes or stuffed peppers at little tavernas while we were vacationing over the summer in Greece. The smells and the colours were beautiful and I would always ask to try a little bit. It’s interesting how a first experience with a type of food can really shape the way we feel about it. When I think of Stuffed Peppers I think of little tavernas on the beach and the stray cats that would tickle my legs under the table as I was eating the delicious food and taking in all the sights, sounds and smells.

These stuffed peppers I’m sharing today seem to be more Mexican inspired than Greek inspired, but soon enough I’ll be sharing a recipe for Greek Stuffed Peppers.

Stuffed Peppers (serves 4)
Recipe Source: The Fresh Fridge

Ingredients

4 bell peppers
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 19 oz can Black Beans, drained and rinse
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup hot sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash bell peppers and cut off the tops, removing the membrane and seeds.

For the filling, in a large bowl, mix all remaining ingredients together. Spoon the filling into the bell peppers and place on a baking dish. Put the tops of the peppers back on and cook for 30-35 minutes or until filling is cooked and rice is soft.

I hope you enjoy these stuffed pepper as much as my whole family did! Have a great Meatless Monday everyone.

- Lou