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Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas – 30 Minute Meal

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Meals come together quickly when you use the broil feature in your oven to make these simple Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas.

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

These fajitas can be on the table in 30 minutes or less when you prep things in advance or get the gang to help with dinner preparation. Once dinner prep is done, it’s as simple as preheating your oven, tossing items onto your baking sheet and selecting broil. In about 12 minutes you are sitting down to eat dinner.

Serve with bowls of your favourite taco or fajita fillings like grated cheese, jalapenos, banana peppers, guacamole, sour cream even salsa.

We make up our own seasoning for the chicken however buy a pre-made taco or fajita seasoning to save time or if you don’t have all the spices available.

PRO TIPS:

  • Change up your onions by using white or yellow instead.
  • Use whatever peppers you love.
  • Cut everything the same size to ensure even cooking times.
  • Warm flour tortillas before serving.

Warming Flour Tortillas

On the Stove: turn your burner to medium, toss one on, watch it, after a few seconds flip it with tongs and set onto a plate. Do this with all of them and keep them covered under a dish towel until ready to serve.

Microwave: Add a few tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave in 30-second intervals until they are warm. Repeat in batches of until all your tortillas are warm keeping them under a dish towel until ready to serve.

Oven: In a 350F pre-heated oven, wrap tortillas in foil, place on rimmed baking sheet and put on lower rack in oven until warmed through (about 15-20 minutes) while your fajitas cook.

Let’s get cooking!

 

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs

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Flavourful and simple to pull together, make these Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs for dinner tonight.

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs
Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs served in a bowl on top of rice noodles

Sticky, sweet and spicy are a great way to describe these chicken meatballs when served with the glaze.

They are still tasty on their own for those who prefer simple flavours, or kick it up a notch and add the sweet and spicy glaze lightly drizzled on top for some extra wow factor.

The Meatballs
The Meatballs

The Meatballs

We developed the flavours of the meatballs after making them a few times and using a few traditional Thai ingredients like fish sauce, chili, lime, and garlic, plus fresh cilantro and mint. Shrimp paste was added for another hit of umami as we already had it in the refrigerator.

With so much flavour coming from the meatballs and the glaze itself, salt and pepper is not needed.

Thai Chicken Meatballs with glaze
Thai Chicken Meatballs with glaze

The Glaze

Our finger licking good glaze was created following similar instructions for a chicken wings recipe made earlier this year. This glaze touches on salty, sweet and spicy.

We recommend you play with your glaze as soy sauce can be salty so perhaps start with less soy sauce.

Four of us tried the glaze and we each tasted something different. My daughter thought salty, my son spicy, I got sweet and then my daughter got spicy for a second flavour. Both my husband and I liked the salty flavour (when tasting out of the pot) and found it lightened up when drizzled on the meatballs and the rice noodles.

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs
Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs

Enjoy these meatballs served with rice noodles in a bowl or rice noodles in a lettuce cup.

If you enjoy this recipe, check out our Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi served in buns.

Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta

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Happy week before Christmas food friends! I planned out our meals this week with as little cooking as possible to ensure there were not many leftovers in the refrigerator to save room for all the Christmas dinner items soon to be taking up residence in there. Tonight leftover Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta + leftover Pulled Pork turned into tacos. My goal is by the time Friday rolls around to have as little leftovers as possible since we are out each night until Christmas Day and it’s our turn to host dinner!

This Baked 3 Cheese Penne is made with a three cheese sauce that thinks it’s an alfredo sauce. Seriously. But it’s better because it’s home made and entirely delicious featuring provolone, parmesan and asiago cheese. I tossed in some leftover pancetta and cooked the chicken in the bacon fat. Cheese in the sauce, cheese on top, bake it for 25 minutes and dinner is on the table.

This recipe was loved by the family so I’m definitely making it again!

 

 

Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad

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Summer days can be hot leaving us with no interest in cooking a big meal. Simple, light and easy meals like our Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad are how we get through summer!

Sweet-Chili-Chicken-v2

Leftover sweet red chili sauce, grilled local corn and fresh in season asparagus become the canvas for this salad. We whipped up a cilantro dressing which complemented the salad nicely. If you do not like cilantro, use basil instead.

 

This meal may seem labour intensive but it’s really not. First thing get your lettuce cleaned and corn/asparagus ready for the grill and BBQ them. Grill chicken next. While it’s cooling a bit get your dressing ready. Finally finish off the chicken and assemble. The first time I made this dish I admittedly kept two of the chicken thighs out of the glaze as I thought the kids would like it. Boy was I wrong. They devoured all the glazed chicken and LOVED it!

 

Here’s how we did it.

 

Chicken Milanese with Spinach & Arugula

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A quick and easy meal your family will love cause it’s simple. The kids think these are just “big” chicken fingers and one eats it with plum sauce. The other BBQ sauce (not complaining). The dressing on the salad is so simple and light. The whole meal cooks up quickly and is perfect for a busy activity night or night where you just don’t feel like cooking much.

Chicken Milanese has variations. Some fry the chicken and the salad is more basic than what I’ve made. I like to bake the chicken in the oven. It still crisps up and tastes great. Add a few extras to the salad and it’s just as delicious.

 

Chicken Salad with Crackling

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This chicken salad with crackling (crispy chicken skin) is a spinoff or variation of coronation chicken, a dish created and served at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2, 1953. She became monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. To this day we still sing God Save The Queen.

As I was researching this recipe I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver. This recipe in fact. Remade in his style with flair and whimsy. I’ve always loved Jamie’s rustic approach to food. He is one chef I would most definitely like to meet in this lifetime.

After looking at his recipe, I made a few modifications to the salad to suit my family. You could easily add in some curry paste to the greek yogurt for an extra hit of curry love. A good curry paste just makes things taste better. I was thrilled the by the response I received from the family, it was a hit. I was even told this is the best supper ever. Cool Mom over here. *Waving

The first time I prepared this dish for my family I served all the bits in separate bowls, allowing everyone to scoop up what they wanted and assemble their own chicken salad. I also served it with noodles. The second time I tossed the whole lot on a platter and served it with rice. Scoop it up and if you don’t like something, pick it out, is my new motto.

In the end this dish takes just over an hour to make. And I let the chicken marinade for about 30 minutes before it goes into the oven.

 

 

Kung Pao Chicken

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Kung Pao Chicken is a classic Chinese dish made using cubed chicken breasts and a mouthwatering kung pao sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken also goes by the names Gong Bao Chicken or Kung Po Chicken in Chinese restaurants. It’s a simple stir fried chicken dish made with a complex sauce of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy flavours making it irresistible.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

This recipes dates back to the 90s when I worked in an office in Vancouver. Book sellers would drop by with a stack of books, many of them cookbooks, and an order sheet returning a week later for any orders and the books. You know how my lunch hours were spent – pouring through these cookbooks looking for ideas and inspiration.

Since this is a popular recipe in Sichuan cuisine typically calling for red thai chilis, we make our Kung Pao Chicken with sambel oelek and chili flakes. This gives us full control control over the amount of heat in this dish ensuring the kids will enjoy it too.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

The sauce is made with flavours like sambal oelek, soy sauce, and sherry adding levels of flavour. You will want to let your chicken marinade in the sauce for a minimum of 30 minutes. Have your Jasmine or Basmati rice ready to go or even serve with cooked Asian noodles as your stir fry will come together quickly once started.

PRO TIPS:

  • have your ingredients chopped and ready to go to save time
  • A stir-fry pan or wok is best for this dish, however a non stick sautee pan will also work
  • we prefer boneless chicken breasts however you can substitute with boneless chicken thighs

Hawaiian Chicken Melts

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A quick and simple recipe today. More often then not I don’t think about posting recipes I make regularly and without putting thought into what I am making. Then my husband Rob reminds me there are many people who can not just whip something up as easily as I do and so I should be posting more of these types of posts. Gotcha daddy-o.

Today I made these for the kiddos for lunch. Made in advance they would also be a great lunch item to send along with school kids. Especially those older ones who have access to a microwave in the lunch room to quickly warm them if they so choose.

These are so versatile you could vary the sauces, toppings and even cheese for a different melt every day. There are many kinds of barbecue sauces to choose from so use your favourite. Also try pizza sauce, ranch or pesto. Don’t use a mayonnaise based sauce if you are sending them to school. A breakfast melt with ham, scrambled egg and cheese is also perfect for those rushing out the door.

 

Honeyed Chili Chicken Wings

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Nice thing about chicken wings, is they are the perfect traveling companion. Simply trim and prepare the wings, toss into a ziplock bag or plastic container with a marinade and have chicken will travel. Take them camping, out to a BBQ or to a tailgate party. How you cook them depends on your options. Grilled, baked or deep fried, they are equally delicious and the ultimate finger lickin good food.

It’s been awhile since I made chicken wings. I’ve been tossing some flavour combinations around in my head for wings for quite some time and finally decided to bite the bullet and get clucking….er cracking. One thing I do not enjoy is eating fatty wings. Being one who used to enjoy a wing night or two back in the day (before kids) I have had my share of fatty wings (epic fail). Wings need to be crispy. End of story.

Any wing going into a marinade should be given ample time in the marinade. Get your wings ready either the night before or the morning of and let them swim in the sauce all day/night. There are so many delicious flavour combinations to choose from and/or create, this is one of many we enjoy or at least it got a 3/4 thumbs up in in our family.

Our family loves wings (kids prefer the basic salt & pepper) and Rob, my husband probably loves them the most. So the night I made these wings I made a huge batch (doubled the recipe). I did not make a dipping sauce for the wings as they really are flavourful enough and can hold their own.

 

Tandoori Chicken Naan Pizza

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Everyone in our house loves pizza.  But our pizza likes are as individual as our personalities and this is why the Tandoori Chicken Naan Pizza is a pizza just for me.

Hubs is meat & mushrooms and doesn’t stray far from it.  Kids vary between ham/pineapple, pepperoni with a few veggies or olives thrown on depending on their mood & the alignment of the sun, moon & the stars.  Me I prefer mostly veggie style pizzas with a variety of ingredients including chicken.  I also love to experiment and try new variations. So we tend to make pizza more often than we order them in as this enables us to make our pizzas to our individual tastes.

With pizza on the lunch agenda this week I decided to jump the gun after trying some delicious Tandoori Naan Bread last night and have pizza for lunch today.   Inspiration Struck.  The Tandoori Naan bread has Tandoori (curry) spices in the bread and it is seriously delicious.

I calorie counted this more for curiosity sake, not because I am calorie counting.  It comes in under 500 calories for the entire pizza….if you can finish it that is.

For those wondering about the Naan bread, here in Calgary I purchased it at the Co-op Grocery Store.  Remember when you make pizzas you do not have to use just pizza sauce…instead try tomato, BBQ, pesto…..experimentation is the name of the game.


Chicken Tostadas

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Pick up a rotisserie chicken or roast your own, some tortillas and make these Chicken Tostadas for dinner tonight.

Chicken Tostada
Chicken Tostada

Have you ever wondered what exactly a Tostada is? Growing up in a small town, I definitely had no clue until I moved to Vancouver and started going to Mexican restaurants. According to our student, in Spanish it means “toasted” – either a toasted tortilla as the base or something toasted on the Tostada.

Authentic tostadas come with re-fried beans. We do not add the beans but typically a whack of healthy toppings with our chicken. Well I add a whack of healthy toppings. My husband adds more chicken than anything. To each their own.

Tostadas are a delicious way to use up leftover roast chicken, turkey, beef, even pulled pork. Simply add all your favourite taco toppings.

Chicken Tostada
Chicken Tostada

When making Tostadas use either flour tortillas or corn tortillas. Both are equally delicious. I always bake them with a little cumin and salt sprinkled on top or taco seasoning. They come out perfectly crispy so no cooking in oil is needed.

I love this meal because it’s quick, and healthy for an activity evening.

PRO TIPS:

  • Start with a minimum of 2 tortillas per person
  • Pick up a rotisserie chicken, let it cool and shred
  • Prepare your favourite taco toppings in advance
  • Serve them family style allowing everyone to make their own Tostada
  • Prepare two baking sheets with tin foil in advance to crisp your tortillas

Maple Walnut Chicken Thighs

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I thought the amount of maple syrup in this recipe would make it quite sweet so we cut it back a little and were pleasantly surprised at how nicely the vinegar, stock and maple syrup fused together to create a very delish sauce.  The addition of the toasted walnuts further enhanced the overall dish and it was scrumptious.  We initially did boneless, skinless thighs but next time we may try bone in/skin on thighs.

Grilled Sausage Bar

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Nothing quite screams summer like grilled or roasted hotdogs, smokies and sausages.

With two of us celebrating birthdays during the summer, we think it’s the perfect time to have friends and family gather and celebrate with a Grilled Sausage Bar.

Gather your friends and prepare a Grilled Sausage Bar
Grilled Sausage Bar

A sausage, hotdog or smokie is a blank canvas. Sure you can add mustard and ketchup – maybe even relish. This is how most of us grew up eating our dogs and smokies.

But what about taking your sausages to the next level?!

So many toppings you can add to grilled sausages
Bison Whiskey Sausages and Cheese Smokie

A grilled sausage bar offers exactly that, new flavours of smokies and sausages to try and new toppings to love.

To celebrate summer, birthdays and local products, we are sharing our spin on a grilled sausage and smokie bar to create a memorable summer gathering.

Valbella Sausage and Smokie packs
Valbella Sausage and Smokies

Sunterra Market and Valbella Smokies and Sausages

Valbella smokies are made in Canmore, Alberta using Sunterra Farms Pork.

If you are going camping or out for a picnic and want to keep it simple, Sunterra Market offers smokie packs that include buns, bbq sauce, caramelized onions and Dijon mustard, making it a one stop shop.

If you want more control of your options you can buy each item separately: smokie or sausages package, buns, toppings and a delicious dinner awaits.

Grilled Sausage Bar
Chicken & Apple Sausage – Jalapeno Apple Slaw

We grilled our sausages. Played with our toppings. Tried a few different things. Added our own chili to a few of them and here’s our fun topping creations for this summers Grilled Sausage Bar.

The Grilled Sausages and Smokies

Bison Whiskey – Shallot & Pancetta

Peel and slice shallots into rings. Mix together 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Heat oil in large saucepan to 350F. Dip rings in batter, shake off excess, fry battered rings until browned turning carefully as needed. Transfer to paper towel lined sheet. Add to sausage with ketchup, diced fried pancetta even some bacon jam if you have on hand.

Cheese Smokie – Chicago Style after the Bar Smokie

Here we’ve gone back to our dance hall days when we would leave the bar only to find a hot dog cart cooking up some sausages outside. We’d load them up with diced white onion, relish, sauerkraut, relish, spicy banana peppers and mustard. Sometimes even a queso cheese sauce.

Smokie: Taco Dogs

These dogs are delicious wrapped up in a tortilla or pita. For photo purposes they wouldn’t stay together but when eating, there is no judging. Shredded lettuce, diced tomato, spicy banana peppers, diced onion, sliced avocado and salsa or pico de gallo to top these smokies. Ole!

Chicken & Apple Sausage – Jalapeno Apple Slaw

Mix together 1 cup sliced cabbage and 1/2 gala or green apple sliced into matchsticks. Whisk together 1/2 jalapeno mixed with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin. Mix cabbage and olive oil dressing together. Moisten buns with a little mayo. Add sausage. Add slaw. Hits all the sweet and spicy notes.

Turkey Honey Garlic – Chili Cheese

Make up a batch of your favourite chili, Like our Bacon Turkey Chili, grate some old cheddar for the top and prepare for a messy meal. Knife and fork optional.

Tuscany – spicy, balsamic or gourmet ketchup

Why be ordinary and use plain old ketchup when you can be extraordinary and go gourmet. With a small variety of unique ketchups available, this is the time to change up your ketchup game and try something new.

Try some new toppings when you make a grilled sausage bar
Chips go perfectly with a grilled sausage bar

What Kind of Buns for your Sausage Bar

It’s ok to think outside of the box here. It’s also ok to add your favourite buns to the mix. We suggest:

  • pitas
  • baguette cut to size
  • soft tortillas
  • pretzel buns
  • naan bread
  • French rolls
  • oval crusty buns
  • thin waffles
  • crepes
Grilled Sausage Bar
Grilled Sausage Bar

What to serve with your Grilled Sausage Bar

Chips, because chips are delicious on smokies. Salads, watermelon, fresh vegetables, a variety of shredded cheese, pickles, different kinds of mustard’s, baked beans, french fries even corn on the cob.

the whole line up of our grilled sausage bar
Grilled Sausage Bar

Love our Grilled Sausage Bar?! Check out more of our tips and tricks.

We are working in collaboration with Sunterra Market to promote Valbella Smokies and Sausages. All opinions remain my own.

Pork Schnitzel with Israeli Salad & Halloumi

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Alberta has declared June to be pork month promoting Alberta Pork and we are celebrating by making Pork Schnitzel with Israeli Salad & Halloumi using pork from Sunterra Market’s own pork farms.

Pork Schnitzel with Israeli Salad & Halloumi
Pork Schnitzel with Israeli Salad & Halloumi plated

Sunterra Market is a grocery store offering everything you need to pull together a delicious  meal. In the Sunterra Market meat department they offer several options for those who prefer to pick up something to eat and be on their way.

If you like to cook but are short on time, Sunterra offers pick up and cook at home meal solutions like their ready to go pork schnitzel.

If you love to cook you will find every thing you need to make a fabulous and easy meal at Sunterra Market like our Pork Souvlaki with Cucumber Pineapple Salsa and Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi recipes.

Quick and easy Pork Schnitzel using Sunterra Farms Pork
Quick and easy pre-made Pork Schnitzel using Sunterra Farms Pork

Need a meal idea? Browse the Sunterra Market website for inspiration. It’s as easy as locating and visiting the store closest to you, or doing your shopping online right on their website.

Pork Schnitzel with Israeli Salad & Halloumi
Pork Schnitzel Ingredients

Earlier this year we made a chicken schnitzel recipe with an Israeli style salad. A quick protein and half your plate of vegetables is exactly how I like to eat, and this became my inspiration for making our Israeli Salad to accompany the pork schnitzel.

Our Israeli salad features all the traditional items like tomato, onion, cucumber and fresh herbs purchased from the market side of Sunterra. Plus we added grilled halloumi cheese.

You won’t find any bell peppers in this salad, we serve them in a bowl on the side. In this instance of an allergy or dislike of a particular ingredient, you can keep a bowl of chopped bell peppers on the table for those who like them in their salads.

The Israeli Salad with Halloumi
The Israeli Salad with Halloumi

PRO TIPS:

  • Chop your vegetables the night before to save time on preparations
  • Local, fresh produce has the best flavour
  • Know where your meat comes from and support local suppliers
  • If you can’t find what you want in the meat department, ask the butcher as they are very helpful

We like to serve our meals family style on a platter with a sprinkle of chopped toasted pistachios adding a little extra crunch.

Sunterra Farm Facts:

  1. Sunterra Farms started in Acme in 1970 by Stan and Flo Price and their eldest son Dave.
  2. All three Sunterra companies are still owned and operated by the Price family.

Sunterra Market has seven locations in Calgary and two in Edmonton. Each location may offer a slightly different set up, but they all have the same great local products, good quality and awesome selection.

We are working in collaboration with Sunterra Market and they have provided the ingredients for this recipe. All opinions, views expressed and recipe development are, as always, my own.

 

 

Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Parsley Pistou

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Fire up the barbecue, grill your favourite protein and add these Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Parsley Pistou to complete the meal.

Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Parsley Pistou
Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Parsley Pistou

A good roasted potato is an easy dish to make and goal to achieve. Roasted potatoes compliment any meal whether it’s a holiday dinner with roasted turkey or simple grilled chicken.

Sometimes when the boys are away we like to have them as our main meal topping them with a fried or poached egg or even fresh made Pico De Gallo,

Lemon Roasted Potatoes
Lemon Roasted Potatoes

For this recipe we roasted our potatoes with lemon and topped them with a fresh made parsley pistou. They became one of the sides to our roasted ham dinner.

A Pistou is a French sauce served cold made from garlic, basil, olive oil and of course parsley. It’s similar to a pesto without the nuts.

Try it on any roasted vegetables, grilled meat or fish, even egg dishes.

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

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Keep the leftover seeds after you’ve carved your pumpkins so you can turn them into Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
You can add many flavour combinations to Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It’s true, cleaning a pumpkin can be a daunting task. Scooping out the stringy, pumpkin flesh makes for a messy affair. However while your fingers and possibly arms are dirty from scooping, take a few extra minutes and separate string and flesh from all the seeds.

Pumpkin seeds ready for roasting
Pumpkin seeds with a few pumpkin strings left (no bigs) ready for roasting

Cleaning or gutting the Pumpkin

Start with a large sturdy spoon, not a wooden one, a metal one will hold up to the scooping of the inner pumpkin walls.

Once you’ve cut the top off the pumpkin, get in there with the spoon. Have a large bowl next to your pumpkin. As soon as you are done scooping, start pulling out the pumpkin flesh from the seeds in the bowl. Compost it.

What is left can be rinsed in a strainer in the sink or in a bowl full of water to pull off remaining strings of pumpkin.

The Seasonings

Anything pretty much goes as far as seasoning. Think about chicken wings – what flavours do you like? Or even consider spiced nuts. Flavours are totally transferable to pumpkin seeds. When I grew up it was classic flavours like salt and pepper or plain sea salt.

I’ve tried many variations but standouts are Ras el Hanout, cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, taco seasoning, old bay, salt and pepper, hot sauce, chili and cumin powder, even fresh herbs like rosemary mixed in.

Your favourite spice blend would also be delicious.

Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds in a bowl

You’ll need to mix together the seeds, seasonings and butter or oil well. Layout on a parchment lined baking sheet large enough to hold them in a single layer and let them roast away.

PRO TIPS:

  • Make sure your seeds are fairly dry before you roast them. Additional moisture will steam them vs roasting them.
  • You can use melted butter, bacon fat or olive oil to roast your seeds.
  • Stir occasionally to keep them roasting evenly.
  • Cook them low and slow.
  • If you want them extra crispy, after 40 minutes turn heat up to 325 and roast an additional 5-10 minutes.

Love pumpkin? Check out these pumpkin recipes:

 

Roasted Sweet Potato with Dill

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Like several other posts, I started this one well over a month ago. But December was….I have to say, a write off. Both husband and I were sick (chest infections to some degree hit everyone in our house over the course of 5 weeks) and we had a hard time shaking the sick. His progressed to laryngitis, mine to a 3 week and still fighting off head cold. We did our best to channel the Christmas spirit for the sake of the kids, but it was tough. So out with the old, in with the new…we were happy to welcome a new year and get back to our chipper healthier selves.

Long before the start of 2015, I was hearing people talking about detoxing and the New Year. I am one of those who like to get a clean fresh start following a holiday season that is typically full of lots of goodies and over indulging, giving my body some maintenance (yes just like a car). It’s a habit I’ve come quite accustomed to and while it’s not for everyone, 10 years later it’s still working for me.

I do the Wild Rose Detox and it’s 12 days long. It’s not an easy plan to stay with, especially if you have never done it before. Detoxes are different and it’s important you do not attempt one without consent from your doctor. If you are considering the Wild Rose Detox here are a few things to remember.

1. Advance shopping, meal planning and some simple prep.

2. Change up your eating weeks in advance to help you cope with the amount of things you have to eliminate from your diet. IE drink more water and green tea.

3. Add more fruit, veggies or even roasted chick peas into your diet for snacks but make sure you know which fruits you can eat on this detox and which ones you can not. This will help when the actual detox starts. There is much you can do with vegetables to help fill you up during the detox, just remember to keep fresh herbs and a good selection of spices on hand as flavour is key to success.

I love roasted vegetables and certainly eat my share of them. Upon slicing into the sweet potato, I learned it was yellow – what a surprise! Sweet potatoes are a powerhouse vegetable. They contain vitamins B6, C, D, iron, magnesium, potassium plus more, so really an excellent vegetable to include in your diet. This recipe makes enough for a couple of smaller meals or is lovely as a side dish to a main meal, Sunday supper or holiday dinner. When I am on the detox, I like to serve it over top a simply seasoned & cooked pork chop, slices of pork tenderloin, salmon, white fish or chicken breast. If you like dill, toss on some additional chopped fresh dill or parsley and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

 

Roasted Fennel and Broccoli Soup

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I love soups. Smelling up the house while they cook. I’m trying to get my kids to eat more soup. Wish me luck? They tend to enjoy raw vegetables over cooked. But one must not give up. I had someone come to the door while this soup was simmering on the stove and they were drooling over the smells wafting through the air.

I haven’t made many pureed soups and honestly the family was not too sure about the texture of this soup. But I loved it and I am going to start making more pureed soups to put into rotation. So easy and so healthy.

More often then not my inspiration these days comes from something I’ve heard, seen, or what’s in my pantry/fridge. I’ve had a fennel bulb taking up space for two weeks with the intention of making a salad. Decided today was the day of the fennel bulb. And it wasn’t going to be salad. Looked in the fridge again and broccoli pops out. Thinking a fennel and broccoli soup might work. I used to Google my ideas to see if they’d been done before and I finally clued in to the fact that was a bad idea. Who cares if it’s been done before, at this moment in time it’s my idea inspired by the vegetables staring back at me from the fridge. You can totally make this vegetarian by using vegetable stock or water instead of chicken stock. And you can omit the evaporated milk for a Vegan soup. I just so happen to have some leftover from pumpkin pies so it tossed it in.

Substitute almond or coconut milk (unsweetened) if you are making this while doing the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox.

 

Dinosaur Bones | Dinosaur Provincial Park Camping

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Our new Adventure Series is going to start with one of our favourite camping destinations, Dinosaur Provincial Park. The majestic hoodoos and badlands call us back time and time again as we love to get out and explore this vast land. This is just one of a few of our favourite places to go camping and I hope to share several of our other favourites camping spots during this journey.

In this new series, I will occasionally be picking a recipe to make based on the experience and fun we’ve had. Kind of in a trailblazer and explorer kind of way except adding a recipe to accompany the journey. Each recipe I select will be carefully chosen based on what we’ve experienced and that could be just about anything. I’m super excited to get this party started as ideas have been flowing for quite some time.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is located in Eastern Alberta, Canada. This park is a Unesco Heritage Site and well worth the 2.5 hour trek from Calgary. As you drive through the country to your camping destination, all of a sudden this breathtaking landscape (called the Hoodoos) opens up in front of you and you stare in awe thinking you have entered Jurassic Park. Truly stunning.

2013-08-06 11.10.22
Dinosaur Bones (white)

Being a Unesco Heritage Site you are only allowed access to certain areas. But this park has a ton of things for families to do. From guided tours and hikes, family programs, dinosaur digs, camping, theatre shows, exhibits both at their information centre and on self guided trials, there is something for every level of activity. The four of us took in a Fossil Tour while we were there, and were intrepid explorers in an active bone bed site discovering real dinosaur bones from 75 million years ago. So very cool.

The kids loved being able to explore the self guided trails despite the warnings of rattlesnakes, scorpions and black widow spiders. And when they weren’t exploring they were off bike riding, making smores, Geocaching or playing down by the stream. The only con to this particular weekend was how crazy the mosquitoes were. But that is camping life…you come have to come prepared.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is a great place for families to go camping and only a short distance from Calgary. The recipe I choose to make for this adventure is Dinosaur Bones (aka Turkey Leg Drumsticks), as big pieces of meat come to mind when I think about our experience. I tried to wrap a little parchment on the bottom of the leg to make them easier to hang onto. That was an adventure unto itself.

I’ve been doing a lot of brining chicken this year and since we like to occasionally brine our holiday Turkey, I decided to brine the turkey legs to impart some flavour and moisture into the meat. Success was mine. We all felt like cavemen as we ripped into these Dinosaur Bones.