quick » Living Lou

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I don’t know about you, but I tend to have one too many mornings where I can’t find anything to eat for breakfast, maybe I’ll grab an apple or a piece of toast on my way out the door, but this is not a healthy breakfast. Do you really think I can go for hours on one piece of toast with a pat of almond butter? Nope, I can’t, and I don’t think that anyone can. Do you all have trouble with breakfast? I find that it’s my hardest meal, while I love lazy weekend breakfasts of Pancakes, Waffles and eggs, rushed weekday breakfasts leave me with no inspiration and an empty stomach.

The morning I made this Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal was a pretty busy morning, I had a midterm exam that afternoon and I needed something that would tide me over and allow me to concentrate and study until lunch. Not only was this breakfast satisfying and filling, but it tasted so damn good that I made it again the next day and the day after. It’s easy because you toss all of the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and nuke it for a couple of minutes. The apple chunks soften a little bit, but they add a nice crunch to the oatmeal. I tried this oatmeal in a variety of ways and it can be made using cow’s milk or a dairy alternative such as soy milk for an easy vegan breakfast.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (serves 1)*

Ingredients

1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup chopped apple (with peel)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
6 tbsp milk (almond, soy or regular milk)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Maple syrup for serving

Directions

Combine all ingredients except the maple syrup in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high heat for 2:30-3 minutes. Stir and drizzle with maple syrup before serving.

* recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled just increase the cooking time.

Hope this breakfast finds a place in your morning routine!

- Lou

Garlic Parmesan Orzo

Up until a week ago I thought I hated orzo. I had a valid reason though, there was this one time when I had a bad experience. All I’ll say about said experience is plane food. I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but plane food is usually rather revolting, and orzo on a plane might just be the grossest meal I’ve ever had. Shudder. What was it then, you ask, that made me decide to try orzo again? A little something called The Secret Recipe Club. Which is a wonderful take on the idea of a recipe exchange, except it’s all done in secret and revealed on the reveal day, which is today!

This month I was assigned the blog The Jey of Cooking a wonderful, cleverly named blog written by Jey. Not only is she hilarious, as seen in a recent post where she talks about how her love of garlic means that she is most definitely not a vampire, but her blog is chock-full of delicious, simple and healthy recipes. I perused her archives, spending hours going all the way back to her very first post to decide what I wanted to make. I stumbled upon this recipe for Garlic Parmesan Orzo and was completely smitten when I read the list of ingredients, garlic, parmesan and spinach – a winning combination, the only issue, orzo. I conquered my fear and am so glad that I did so, this recipe for garlic parmesan orzo will blow. your. mind. It’s one of my new favourite recipes and I can’t wait to make it again.

Garlic Parmesan Orzo
Recipe source: The Jey of Cooking originally from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked orzo
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups spinach, finely chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook orzo, following the directions on the package.

In a large pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add garlic, cooking for 4 minutes, or until tender. Turn off the heat and add the chopped spinach and cook for a minute, allowing to wilt. Next add the Parmesan, orzo, milk, salt and pepper. Allowing the cheese to melt into the orzo.

What I love about this recipe is not only does it taste heavenly but it is also extremely simple to make. After eating this orzo, I can definitely say that I am no longer a hater of all things orzo.

- Lou

Cocoa and Chili Rubbed Pork

The combination of cocoa and chili has always intrigued me, at first it seemed like such a random combination that I couldn’t imagine that flavor it produced. The first time I heard of this combination was during an episode of Iron Chef America in which Bobby Flay uses the combination of cocoa and chili, then when I was in Mexico earlier this year, I took the plunge and tried a mole sauce (pronounced moh-lay) which is a sauce often used in Mexican cuisine. This sauce can be a mixture of chiles, tomatoes, spices such as cumin, cinnamon and lastly, chocolate. I stumbled upon this recipe for Cocoa and Chili Rubbed Pork the other day and I knew it was something I had to make right away. Unfortunately, the pork chops that had been in my fridge went bad, so I had to wait a few days later until we got some new pork chops. Woops, bad planning. But, I’ll tell you, these cocoa and chili rubbed pork chops were by far worth the wait.

I’m not usually a fan of pork chops, but these were so easy to prepare and they cooked on the grill quickly, and were so juicy and tasty that I don’t think I’ll ever eat pork chops another way again.

Cocoa and Chili Rubbed Pork (makes 6 pork loin chops)
Recipe adapted from: Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients

6 small, boneless pork loin chops
1 quart of water
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper

For rub:
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp ground coffee

Directions

To prepare the pork, brine chops in 1 quart of water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper for an hour in the fridge.

In a small bowl, combine chili powders, brown sugar, cocoa powder and coffee.

Remove chops from brine, and sprinkle half the spice blend on one side of all the chops, lightly patting it in before flipped over and sprinkling the remaining half of the spice blend on the chops and lightly patting it in.

Heat grill to medium and cook chops for 4 minutes on one side with the top down, before flipping and cooking an additional 5 minutes or until meat reaches 160 degrees.

Note: Cooking time may vary due to thickness of pork chops, my chops were not very thick so adjust cooking time as necessary.

These pork chops were spicy and one of my favourite meals thus far this summer. Get grilling tonight and make some of these pork chops, they pair perfectly with my Nana’s Coleslaw.

- Lou

Coleslaw

I’ve recently rediscovered my love for coleslaw. I find that it’s such a good snack to have in the fridge at all times because it’s just so tasty. This recipe is a variation of the recipe my great grandmother, or Nana as we called her, would make. She was an awesome cook, and a pretty stellar lady herself. She never ran out of stories of her days growing up in Northern Ontario, and her many siblings. She would always be drinking her beer, and somehow, despite her small stature she could eat more than all of us. She never failed to order dessert, one of her favourites was the apple crumble.

It was pretty ironic that I stumbled upon her hand written recipe card the other day, a recipe which she had written down for my mom back in 1989. It was only last week that I had been thinking about how delicious her coleslaw was, and finding this recipe was definitely something I welcomed with open arms. It really is one of the best I’ve ever tasted, I find that it has the perfect balance between tangy and sweet. Try out the recipe for yourself and let me know what you think.

Nana’s Coleslaw (makes 6 cups of coleslaw)
Recipe adapted from my Nana’s by Lou

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup +1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup water
6 cups of shredded cabbage
1 shredded carrot

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring olive oil, sugar, vinegars, salt, spices and water to a boil. Boil for 30 seconds and remove from heat.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of dressing. Personally, I like my coleslaw to be drenched with dressing, but start by pouring 1 cup of dressing, and adding the other 1/2 cup if you want to. Toss to coat.

Enjoy your coleslaw, I’m going to have a bowl right now.

- Lou

Spiced Couscous

Couscous is a side dish that I have loved for years now. Couscous itself is rather plain, but you can add tons of different spices and flavorings to get whatever result it is that you crave. Last year, I made a delicious Tomato Garlic Parmesan Couscous which is a quick and easy side dish to whip up along with any meal. See the thing about couscous, is that it only takes 5 minutes to cook. Today’s couscous is flavored with cumin, which is apparently the world’s second most popular spice behind black pepper but don’t quote me on that. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, I’m a big fan of cumin, I find that in certain dishes, like my favourite Chili con Carne, it adds depth to the flavor of the dish.

Spiced Couscous (serves 4)*
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup coucous
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp celery salt
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

*This recipe could easily be halved to serve two, or doubled to serve 8.

Directions

In a medium sized pot, bring water to a boil. Add the couscous, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare spices in a bowl. Once couscous is cooked, fluff with a fork and stir in spices.

See, how easy is that? Couscous is great for those lunches and dinners when there isn’t a lot of time for cooking.

- Lou