Other than finding the delicious recipe, I was even more excited when I found out that Katie is a fellow Canadian food blogger! Blogging from the West Coast of Vancouver Island, which I’m sure is one of the most beautiful places in Canada. Many of her recipes, including this one for Blueberry Breakfast Bars are dairy and egg free, which meant that the fact that I had run out of eggs did not impact the making of the recipe. Yay!

I made a few changes to the recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe called for rolled oats and crushed bran cereal, but I just used quick oats and a little more whole wheat flour instead. I also only used baking powder and added in a touch more vanilla because I am a vanilla addict.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars (makes 8 bars)
Recipe adapted from: Betcha Can’t Eat Just One

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup almond milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp canola oil
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8″ pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In another bowl combine wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and lightly mix.

Fold in the berries.

Press into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bars comes out clean.

Allow to cool and cut into bars.

Katie put a nice icing on her blueberry breakfast bars, but I found they were just as good with a dollop of cream cheese.

- Lou

Here is the handwritten recipe she gave to my Mom years ago, that we still use today. I’ve changed just a couple of things in her recipe to have it suit me – switched out ground beef for ground turkey and took out the onion. It doesn’t effect the flavor as the sauce is simmered for an hour!

Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce (serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lbs ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dried basil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.

Add the ground turkey and garlic, crumbling until meat is browned.

Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar and basil.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour.

After the hour, season to taste and serve over spaghetti.

So there’s a favourite family recipe of my Grammy’s Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce, hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

- Lou

So here’s the thing, Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard is my new favourite. I make it at least weekly, but preferably daily. Kind of like that time when I would eat those little white sugared doughnuts daily. That was fun. But we’re trying to stay healthy here, so no more powdered sugared doughnuts, or Old Fashioned doughnuts, but if you are so inclined, these Muffin Doughnuts are pretty good. I think I’ll be making them today.

Last week I was deep into exam stress. Which for some people means stress eating chocolate, but for me it meant stress eating Swiss Chard. Like the way my puppy stress eats carrots during wind storms. We’re two peas in a pod me and my pup.

So, being done exams means that for me, it’s officially summer! I’ve got a lot of summery fresh and yummy Spring recipes that will be coming your way over the next few months, and this is the first. Swiss Chard is at its peak during the Spring, so give this recipe a go.

Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard (serves 2-4)

Ingredients

5 cups chopped swiss chard leaves
1 tbsp oil + 1 1/2 tbsp water
5 cloves of garlic, roughly  chopped
1/3 cup crushed tomatoes

Directions

Heat oil and water over medium heat, add garlic and saute for a minute.

Next, add the swiss chard leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes, the leaves will wilt but have a slight crunch.

Finally, add the crushed tomatoes, stirring to evenly coat swiss chard.

Serve as a side dish or on its own.

If your life is a little packed and busy right now, I think this Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard will be a healthy snack and time saver.

- Lou

I don’t know about you, but I’m sold on oven fries. Have I sold you on them yet? Aside from oven fries, I have another recent obsession. I like to call it “puppy in an Ugg boot”. Meet Sophie!!! She’s a Morkie – half Maltese, half Yorkie.

Sophie is such a little rascal, here she is playing with my sweet Mother. I’ve talked about my good ‘ol Dad on here before, but have somehow not really talked about my Mom. I think these photos say it all – isn’t she the best. She’s also obsessed with soup, so many of the soup recipes on here have been inspired by her.

Have I mentioned that I’m obsessed with my pup? She’s insane but so cute.

So, that explains my slight absence, plus we’re deep in finals, my friends. Deep. As in I will be spending the entire weekend preparing for my THREE exams happening on Monday and Tuesday. Hold me.

Oven Fries (serves 2-4)

Ingredients

2 lbs potatoes, cut into wedges
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss potato wedges in olive oil. Add spices, toss to coat.

Arrange, in one layer, on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.

A super easy, and tasty side dish or snack. I love to dip them in a lot of ketchup. Mmm!

- Lou

Today, I’m sharing a recipe for a somewhat, purple dish: Eggplant Salad. It is an easy meatless, and vegan dish that is perfect to bring to a potluck. Fresh tasting, it goes well on its own or served on a piece of toast as a little crostini type dish. It’s got a little bit of a Mediterranean flare, and makes a super healthy and easy appetizer or side dish.

A little side note from the yummy recipe, March 26th is Purple Day - The Global Day of Epilepsy Awareness. Epilepsy is something close to my heart because my sister is one of the 1% of people that have epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disease that has been mistreated and condemned for centuries, but it’s something that is very real for many people. I wanted to write a little something about Epilepsy in hopes that my little spot here on the internet can help raise awareness. If you want to learn more about Purple Day and what you can do to raise awareness, take a look at the official website, Purpleday.org

Eggplant Salad
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 large eggplant
1 large tomato, diced
1 tbsp diced onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vinegar
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

On a baking dish, bake eggplant for an hour. Allow to cool and cut into bite sized pieces.

Add tomato, onion and garlic to bowl. Add in the eggplant.

Toss with olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and parsley.

I hope you enjoy this Eggplant Salad.

- Lou

With that said, I had a really tough time picking a recipe because there were so many good ones. I mean, hello – she has over 15 muffin recipes! At first I was planning on making her Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (how good do those sound!) but when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to make these.

Corn Muffins (makes 7-9)
Recipe from Penny Pinching Provisions

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease muffin tin to line with muffin liners.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and scoop into muffin tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.

This is seriously, one of the easiest recipes and I found myself baking another batch of these on a Monday night between commercials of a really bad show I’m embarrassed to admit I watch.

- Lou

I had coconut crusted chicken breasts a few months ago at an event I attended and ever since then, I’ve wanted to recreate them. After a couple of attempts I realized that they were too sweet and missing a little tang.  So I added a little chipotle. Seriously, chipotle and coconut are a match made in heaven. It’s not too heavy on the chipotle, it is used more to create a balance between the savory and sweet side of this dish.

Now that I’ve done my obligatory this-is-a-food-blog-must-discuss-food intro, I can talk about what I really want to talk about. I mentioned it on Twitter the other day: the fact that Here There and Everywhere is most definitely, without a fact, the most underrated Beatles song ever. I mean, how can you not wish that Paul had written this song about you? This is definitely one of, if not the best, Paul McCartney love song. And that’s saying a lot considering he has made a career out of writing, literally hundreds of “silly love songs”. He also said that along with Blackbird, this is his favourite song he’s ever written. I’ll stop with the facts now.

Seriously. How can you not love that song?

Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips (serves 2-4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients
1 lbs chicken breasts cut into strips
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 tsp Chipotle hot sauce
1 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a baking sheet with a little oil.

Using three bowls prepare the ingredients. In the first bowl whisk together the flour, spices, salt and pepper. In the next bowl whisk the egg with the Chipotle hot sauce. In the last bowl, place the flaked coconut.

To prepare the chicken strips, coat in flour mixture. Next, dip in the egg mixture, allowing any excess to drip back into the bowl. Next, coat in the coconut.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through.

I like to serve these Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips with a little more Chipotle sauce on the side.

- Lou

We’re all ready to watch The Oscars here at Living Lou, we’ve got our recipes cooking away in the oven or chilling in the fridge, we’re rethinking our choices for our Oscar pool and gearing up to watch the hours of pre-Oscar fun. If you’ve been following along as we prepare for our big Oscar Party then maybe you have some of my recipes on your menu, but if not, there’s always next year! Here’s a roundup of my menu for The 84th Academy Awards.

Seafood Salad

Olive and Mozzarella Breadsticks

Shrimp and Vegetable Skewers

Appetizer Meatballs

Raspberry Lemon Fouls

Parmesan Popcorn

If you’re looking for some other ideas checkout

Can you believe that there are only nine short days of Feburary left! Feburary is probably my least favourite month in the year; it’s cold, it’s busy and it’s just not really much fun. It’s one of those months where you have to take the fun into your own hands and make something out of the month. For me this means celebrating a year in some great, hilarious, sad and terrible movies. There were some beautiful movies like Warhorse, highly anticipated, childhood ending films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as well as some wonderful performances like those in My Week with Marilyn, The Artist and The Help. We saw a year of entertaining films like Midnight in Paris and funny ones like Friends with Benefits. As always we had many romcoms, some wonderful like Crazy Stupid Love and others were not so wonderful. Who can forget the amazing laugh-out-loud hilarious film that was Bridesmaids? How about all the action movies, Captain America, Thor and Transformers 3 to name a few. I think all in all 2011 wasn’t too bad for film!

We’ve finally reached the end of our countdown: less than a week to go until The Oscars! This is the final recipe that I will be serving at my party -  you can’t have a party celebrating movies without popcorn. This popcorn is on the savory side, topped with butter and Parmesan cheese means it’s a little decadent and so satisfying. I’m always looking for new ways to spice up popcorn since I watch so many movies.

Parmesan Popcorn
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped using your favourite method
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions

Toss the popcorn with the melted butter.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Serve.

Who else is planning an Oscar Party? I’d love to hear what’s on your menu!

- Lou

I’m glad that today is another Secret Recipe Club reveal day because I’m suffering from major writer’s block. If I wasn’t going to talk about the lovely Angela from Angela’s Kitchen you might be stuck reading about how I’ve been listening to Carry This Picture by Dashboard Confessional on repeat all weekend. Or my obsession with Beatles cover bands. And donuts. And Carey Grant.

Anyways, Angela’s Kitchen is a wonderful site and a great resource for a variety of recipes for people with dietary restrictions. She has great sections for gluten free and dairy free recipes. I was inspired by her Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili, I’ve always loved chili but have never had a white chicken chili. I’m so glad that I tried this because it is one of my favourite comforting meals. It’s so easy and packed with flavor, I adapted mine to cook on the stove top, but I’m sure it would be just as good in a slow cooker.

Chicken Chili

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chunks
1 onion, chopped or grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 12 oz can spicy diced tomatoes and red pepper or just plain diced tomatoes
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp coriander
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 28oz can white kidney beans
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add onions and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

Next, pour in diced tomatoes, green chiles, oregano, cumin and coriander. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring to coat.

Add in beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Finally, add in cheddar and serve.

Give this Chicken Chili a try, it’s a nice change from your typical ground beef and beans chili.

- Lou