A Panna Cotta Showdown

So I made a particularly awesome Panna Cotta dessert the other day, the first time I had ever made such a dish. It was elegant and beautiful, something that I felt would stand out in the foodblog community, even though its fairly popular and easy to make. I didnt want to do anything fancy to this dessert as I thought it looked delicious enough already! 

Alas, the food blog community must have been laughing at my own less than original attempt at this dessert. A look at some of my other favourite blogs revealed that they had decided to make the same dessert... but much, much fancier. There was Panna Cotta infused with Kahlua and served with Florentine Cookies (I'll Have What Shes Having) , Bourbon Panna Cotta with Bacon Florentines (Cherry Tea Cakes), Coffee Panna Cotta (Art and Lemons), Chocolate Panna Cotta (The Cultural Dish).... It just wasn't fair! I decided to throw in the blogs of origin just for your viewing. Perhaps you'll get your own ideas of 

However, the silver lining exists. While I suppose I could pretend that my own Panna Cotta recipe helped to inspire all of these other renditions, I have the feeling that simply isn't true. What it does do, is help to inspire me for the next time I make Panna Cotta. I'm already thinking about adding some Disaronno to "kick it up a notch", as Emeril would say! And i'll definitely have to look into some Florentine recipes. 

We all like to be challenged in the kitchen, and I'll be looking to improve upon my own recipe and perhaps to challenge some other ones as well! 

Thai Chicken Pizza

I am finally an official Foodbuzz publisher! After two years of writing a food blog, I finally felt like it was something that I could be proud of. I've grown to be more comfortable with my writing style and recipes. What started as a way to escape boredom and exams has becomes something much more.

It's also been exciting being able to look at so many other peoples recipes and stories. I have a whole list of recipes that I can't wait to try! Some have been amazing, some have been fairly good, and some have been... not as great. However, the majority of recipes that people post online have been tried, tested and proven to be true.

This particular recipe was one of the very first ones I looked up, even before I had a food blog. It was also one of the first recipes that I cooked for people. I probably should have thought about who I was serving it to, I'm not sure my grandparents were the best people to serve this dish to. It may have been a little too exotic, but still delicious!

This dish has made appearances on many kitchen tables. Friends in Calgary have served this dish at potluck's. My girlfriend has made this dish for me before, and I didn't even know she knew it!  During our trip out to Eastern Canada this past summer, one of the friends that we stayed with made this very dish for us. I don't know how they all got this recipe, but I would be fairly confident to believe that the Internet played a pretty key part!

Now here is one of the best dishes I have had in a long time. The leftovers definitely disappeared the very next day. Highly, highly recommended!! I first got this recipe from The Food Network, but was unable to find it again on that particular website. So after a short websearch, I found a very similar recipe at Eating Well. Either place is good to search for some tasty recipes. 

I'm excited to have more opportunities to share and I can't wait to write about them! I hope you enjoy.


Thai Chicken Pizza

Homemade pizza Dough

Peanut Butter - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 tbsps
Soy Sauce - 2 tsps
Rice Vinegar - 2 tsps
Ginger - 2 tsps
Garlic - 1 clove minced

Chicken - 2 chicken breasts, diced into bite-size pieces
Red Bell Pepper - 1, diced
Green Onions - 4 diced
Carrots - shredded
Bean Sprouts - a small handful
Mozzarella Cheese - 2/3 Cups shredded

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Have the dough prepared on the pizza stone and bake it for about 10 minutes. In a greased frying pan on medium heat, cook the chicken all the way through. Once it's cooked, add the peppers and cook together.

While its cooking, whisk together the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger and garlic in a small bowl.

Remove the dough from the oven and smooth out over the dough. Add the chicken and peppers on top. Then add the Onions, Cheese, Carrots and Bean Sprouts over the top. Place back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. You want the pizza to be nice and golden with the cheese melted nicely on top. One of my favourites, and definitely going in the favourite list!

Raspberry Panna Cotta

I had created the ultimate dinner for Valentines Day a short bit ago, and I completely missed the chance to take pictures. My girlfriend decided that we should have guests over on V-day eve a few hours before dinner, and I rapidly had to develop a menu. So an hour before the guests arrive, I decide to make Cinnamon Chicken with Twice Baked Maple and Bourbon Sweet Potatoes and a Honey Glazed Roasted Cauliflower. The perfect Valentines day meal. A little sweet for some perhaps, but I had a theme and I stuck with it!

The guests are all sitting at the table, waiting to be served, and I whip out my dishes. Not one is over or under cooked, and they all look beautiful. And then... I reach a dilemma. As a food blogger, I want to stop and take pictures of my dishes, to write about them later and share them with the foodie world! But as a dinner host, I want to get my guests plates in front of them while the food is still hot. No one wants to sit around and wait while someone attempts to find the perfect angle/lighting/placement for food!

So I serve the dishes... and once our guests had left, I had nothing left to show for it. I am especially depressed about missing the opportunity to write about the Sweet Potato recipe as it was truly delicious. Although, as a delicious dish, it will have to make a reappearance sometime!

However, as I was making the finishing touches on the desserts, I managed to sneak in my camera and take a couple of quick photos! The food blogger in me would not submit! So here they are... all that remains from one of the best meals I have created.

All is not lost however, as this is one of the best desserts I have made. I certainly wont be fooled by restaurants charging me eight bucks for this dessert anymore! The sheer simplicity of this dessert makes me want to give them a finger wagging! I mean, its really only four ingredients mixed together and served with fruits! Shame restaurants... shame. At the same time however, this is one of the best desserts to make. I mean... its simple and delicious.

Just dont get it in restaurants people. Just dont.


Raspberry Panna Cotta

Whipping Cream - 1 1/2 cups
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsps
Honey - 1 tbsp
Unflavoured Gelatin - 2 packs (contains 15ml)

In a medium saucepan, add the Whipping Cream and Milk and warm under medium high heat. Do not let boil. Gradually add the sugar and honey and stir until they are dissolved within. Add the gelatin and continue to stir until its dissolved as well.

Keep stirring until the mixture is just about to boil. Once I saw the first bubble pop on the surface, off the heat it went! Strain over another pot or the serving dishes. I just used small ramekins, but feel free to be creative! Martini/wine glasses, espresso cups, small bowls etc.

If serving in an unsexy bowl, grease it down with a little little bit of olive oil before adding the panna cotta. If you like your presentation piece, just leave it as is. Place in a fridge for at least an hour (Or pop in the freezer real quick like myself) and let it solidify. If you are removing it from a bowl, run a knife along the rim to help loosen it out.  Serve with the berries of your choice and enjoy all that extremely hard work!

Cashew Cauliflower Stir-fry

Stir-fry's have to be one of the best ways to make an easy and delicious meal at the same time. I mean, its basically vegetables, a meat (although its an optional ingredient), and a sauce. Of course you can always mix up the ingredients however you want. Sauces can be sweet, sour, spicy or hot. You can use chicken, beef, pork or seafood. And the unlimited amounts of vegetables can completely change the makeup of any stir fry.

This one was worth writing about simply because of its unique flavours and ingredients. Cauliflower isn't an ingredient that I normally use, but I came across a recipe that just appealed to me. And who doesn't love cashews?

Now this recipe was made specifically for cooking in a wok, which I currently lack. But its something that I look to add to my cooking collection eventually. I just used a normal frying pan, but it doesn't really have the same amount of awesomeness.

This recipe comes from the cookbook The BIG Book of Wok and Stir-fry. What better place to find some good stirfry recipes? I also thought about adding green beans or bean sprouts and mushrooms, so next time i'll have to give those an add!


Cashew Cauliflower Stir-Fry

Vegetable Oil - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1, cut into thin long strips
Garlic - 2 Cloves
Curry Paste (green or red) -2 tbsps
Cauliflower - 1 head, broken into florets
Red Pepper - cut into thin long strips
Vegetable Stock - 2/3 cup
Soy Sauce - 2 tbsps
Sirachi hot Sauce - a dash
Cashews - approx 1 cup

Heat the oil in your wok (or frying pan) over medium high heat. Saute the garlic and onion until soft and translucent. Add the curry paste and cook for a couple more minutes. Add the cauliflower and red pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Pour in the stock, soy sauce and hot sauce and let simmer for another couple of minutes. Add the cashews and give the whole thing a toss, then serve.

I found this recipe to be great with rice on the side, and the sauce has some real kick to it!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

And now the post-Superbowl snack analysis. I still fell bad writing about food items after an actual event has occurred. I know when I'm looking for a good food item that suits an event (The Superbowl, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day) I want to find something straight away. I look at the various blogs and food sources to see if anything sounds especially delicious.

The girlfriend had bought a large jar of artichokes, and I've been trying to find a good way to use them up. The obvious and expected answer would be, a spinach and artichoke dip! Its delicious, its creamy, its an excellent shareable snack, and I can pretend that its healthy. I mean, it has artichokes in it right?

Because its always a staple on restaurant menu's, its easy to believe that this recipe takes a special touch or special ingredient in order to make it. Thank goodness that some cooking experience helped to shake that belief! I'm glad that I had a good opportunity to do it this time!

I definitely managed to find one of the best tasting recipes EVER for Spinach and Artichoke dip. Ever. I wasn't expecting it, but this recipe tasted better than other ones I have tried. It does make a fair bit, so be sure to serve it to a group of people, and not just yourself alone in the basement watching Star Wars. Unless your watching the whole trilogy at once, in which case this recipe makes enough.

I found the original recipe at Annie's Eats. Feel free to check out her blog as its usually one of the first places I browse! My photo isn't all that sexy. I just couldn't get this dish to look as delicious as it tastes! You'll just have to take my word for it!


Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Cream Cheese - 8oz (1 package)
Parmesan Cheese - 1/3 Cup
Mayonnaise - 1/3 cup
Sour Cream - 1/3 cup
Frozen Spinach - 300g or 10 oz
Artichoke Hearts - 1 cup roughly chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves minced
Roasted Red Pepper - 1, diced
Salt - Pinch
Red Pepper Flakes - pinch

Take out the cream cheese a bit early to let it soften. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the whole shebang into a medium sized bowl and give it a good stir. For the Roasted Red Pepper, I just had a store bought one in the cupboard that I through in for kicks. Don't be afraid to add your own uniqueness (such as other veggies, crab meat, or even spices) Spread into a shallow oven-safe bowl. Sprinkle some more Parmesan over the top and place in the oven. Cook for about 35-40 minutes.

I hope you like it! This is one recipe going into the written collection of excellent recipes! I can't wait for the next big sport showing! I'm thinking Scotties Tournament of Hearts! Hooray Curling!!

Burger Slaw

I had a hunger, and that hunger called for some coleslaw. Now I have never made a slaw, or even had a desire for one before, and I have never even really been a huge fan of slaw before, so it was rather odd this desire hit me. It may also be a bit of an oddity that the desire hits me in the middle of the winter months, instead of nearing the spring.

Perhaps it was another food network program that caught my attention. Was it an episode of Man vs Food? Or maybe an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives? Whatever it was, it must have assaulted my subconscious and forced some cooking inventiveness.

Now a traditional slaw starts with cabbage, which is something that I don't really get from the grocery store (Should I?). So in this particular case, I just used normal everyday normal lettuce. Coleslaw enthusiasts probably just gasped and died a little inside. I also probably should have used some red onion inside, not only for the colour, but also because it's taste is a little less intense than the regularly used yellow or white. I also added mine straight to the burger, instead of letting it marinate for the traditional couple of hours.

Forgive me Coleslaw purists!

So while this slaw isn't really the true classic, its a good start for an imaginative recipe. And shakeup in the recipe lineup never hurts anyone!

Fake Burger Slaw

Lettuce - 2-3 leaves sliced about finger-long

Onion - 1/4, cut into long slices

Carrot - 1 peeled

Celery - 1 stalk peeled

Mayonnaise - 1/4 cup

Dijon Mustard - 2 tbsps

Vinegar - 2 tbsps

Sugar - a healthy pinch

Toss the vegetables together in a small bowl. Remember you want to keep all the ingredients to a reasonable burger bun size.

In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients. Feel free to add some hot sauce as well if you want a bit of a kick. Add the mixture to the veggies and give the whole thing a stir and a toss. Now I added mine straight to the burger, but feel free to let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Its a cool tasty addition to any burger, and a nice change from the usual! Craving satisfied!