Smoked Almond Basil Pesto

The first time I'd tried pesto, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Whoever first thought of creaming basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan is a genius.  Well done you...your life was well spent.  Though traditional pesto is phenomenal, it is also incredibly versatile.  This is one of the things I love the most about pesto - its playfulness.  You can dress it up or down in any way you like.  Swap the nuts, sub another type of cheese, play with your greens.  Just process the heck out of it and smear onto your favorite carb, protein or fruit.  You will be happy.

Balsamic Tilapia & Avocado Wrap

Let's face it....sometimes your pack-ahead lunch can get a little boring.  Cold cuts are fine and dandy, sandwiches satisfying and salads refreshing.  But if you're carrying in, certain foods are always out.  Grilled cheese, tuna melts, veggie fritters and paninis are all those delicious foods that you love mid-day, but just do not reheat well at work.  When you're limited to a refrigerator and microwave, these hot foods are not your best friends.  At times, this may lead you to feeling a bit lackluster about lunch.  If you've ever been there, please let me present you with this fantastic mid-day meal.

Baked Bagel French Toast

Baked french toast is one of the best breakfast dishes of all time.  It is a perfect combo of french toast and bread pudding, soaked overnight and baked off into golden, puffy perfection.  It's great for a fast and amazing breakfast, but it does require enough aforethought to prep the night before.  This foodie experiment was instigated by an overabundance of bagels.  A few days old and slightly dry, slightly stale bagels are the perfect consistency for baked french toast.  Rather than leaving them whole and soaking overnight, here you dice them up for a speedy 10-minute version of the classic overnight soak.  Procrastinators, celebrate!

Peppered Bacon & Plum PIzza

Some foods are known for their pairings.  Chocolate & mint, peanut butter & jelly, bread and butter, salmon & pinot noir, bagels & cream cheese are a few renowned favorites.  But one fantastic pairing that you would never conjure up is bacon and plums.  I never would've thought it myself....I mean, what?  So imagine my surprise when munching away on my turkey bacon the other morning and I, in true foodie form, took a second bite before finishing my first.  This is how bacon and plum ended up in my mouth at the same time, and also how I ended up finishing my breakfast that morning.  And the morning after.  No big deal.

Since that fateful breakfast, I've been thinking of how to put these two items together in a really hot ticket dish.  So I turned to one of my favorite blank canvases and decided to throw them together on a pizza.  Brought to you now, with foodie fervor.

Stuffed Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are my all time favorite cookie.  They turn me into a bonafide cookie monster, stuffing myself until I turn blue.  To this day, every time I make these cookies, I remember Saturday morning baking sessions with my Papa, rolling them around in the lovely cinnamon-y sugar.  To this day, I always add an extra pinch of cinnamon to....just about everything.

A while ago, I was inspired to try some caramel filled snickerdoodles by a recipe I found on Pinterest.  And let me tell you, they did not disappoint!  Best when hot out of the oven, but still delicious when cool, it's an extra treat inside the best cookie of all time.  After the extreme success of this variation, I began to ponder other stuffing ideas for this fantastically fillable cookie.  Why not add chocolate, dried fruit, marshmallow, pretzels or even some herbs?  And since I couldn't think of a single reason not to, I spend my Sunday snickerdoodling away.

Caramelized Onion & Spinach Quinoa

I'm not gonna lie.  I think this is the best dish I have ever made.  Seriously.  How's that for an opener?

The first time I made this dish was after a previous night's failed attempt at caramelized onions.  Determined to get it right, I tried again the following night with exceptional results.  Having achieved maximum caramelization, I then had to think of a way to use them.  A quick peek in the fridge and trip to the pantry provided the inspiration for this Caramelized Onion & Spinach Quinoa.  And as soon as the hubs and I took our first bites, we just looked at each other.  It was so good, I almost felt it was a fluke.  So I had to make it again, just to check, this time with unpaid food testers and non-relatives for corroboration.

Sriracha Apricot Grilled Green Beans

I am an enormous fan of unexpected side dishes at a barbecue.  Typically, you walk into a venue and it's "hey there, potato salad....hello corn on the cob...how's it going mixed fruit?"  Delicious and lovely, but expected.  To break the mold, I make it my goal to come up with a side that is familiar enough to appeal to the masses while still providing a new and enticing flavor.  Here I present you with one of those sides, crowd pleasing yet twisted just enough to cause both a double-take and a second serving.

Spicy Zucchini Fritters with Chopped Guacamole

Lunch is the sneakiest meal of the weekend.  You want to start off strong with a big breakfast, either in or out.  And since everyone is free on the weekends, dinner typically involves something with a group...also requiring aforethought.  With a big breakfast and a friend-filled supper, somehow lunch always ends up being the meal that is just about to slide by before you realize it's 1:30 in the afternoon and there's no possible way you'll actually make it to dinner time without a bite.  Sneaky, little lunch.....very sneaky.

But just because it's an afterthought doesn't mean it has to be a throw-away.  Hence, the birth of this fantastically fast and flavorful dish.  Just when I thought I done everything there was to do with zucchini.....

Thai Chicken Nachos

You know what they say about great minds thinking alike?  Even more true when you're married.  This dish absolutely the best disparate yet tag-team cooking act that has come out of our kitchen.  One brings the idea, the other executes.  That's what marriage is all about for a couple of foodies.

Everyone knows Thai chicken pizza.  And to know this dish is to love it.  Creamy peanut sauce, tender chicken, fresh veggies and crunchy peanuts are all so very lovable.  Just throw it all together on a crust, bind it with a bit of cheese and voila, delicious Thai flavors served up Italian style.  But why stop at Italy?  Why not sail away to South America and mix it up with Mexico?  Hence, the Thai Chicken Nacho was born.

Black Bean & Zucchini Enchiladas

I learned something about my husband this week - enchiladas are his all-time favorite food.  It seems almost blasphemous coming from a Canadian, but it's true (his maple-loving lips said so themselves).  Take any tasty, cheesy filling, wrap in in a tortilla, slather it in sauce and cover with even more cheese and I have a happy man.  Naturally, I like making meals that please the whole household, so I've experimented with healthy enchiladas lately.  Perhaps that's why I was so delighted when he couldn't get enough of my Black Bean & Zucchini Enchiladas.  Here we get enough cheese to make him happy and plenty of veggies for me.