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Easy Meals

Salad #39 – California Roll Rice Salad

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california roll salad

Some of you (including my mom) may dispute me calling this a salad. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and call it a rice bowl. No matter what you call it – it is delicious. One of the things that is great about doing it as a salad is that you can customize it for your family. My kids both love California Rolls but Gordie always pops out the avocado and cucumbers (even though he will eat them both by themselves). This is also way easier than making actual california rolls and requires no special technique or even special rice. You can use sticky rice if you want, but you can use your family’s favorite kind of rice and it will still work perfectly.

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Salad #39 – California Roll Rice Salad
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Japanese
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati)
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • ½ cucumber or 2 small cucumbers diced
  • 1 package imitation crab (or if you are feeling fancy you can use real crab)
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Dressing
  • 1 tsp mayo
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
  1. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
  2. Mix rice, red pepper, cucumber and imitation crab.
  3. Top with avocado, sesame seeds and dressing.

 

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 Did They Eat It?

Nicky: Loved it. Yelled “hey!” when I took the bowl out of her hand.

Stephen: Good.

Dana: I thought it was great. I love California Rolls and this is a much easier and cheaper way to get a similar flavor.

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Salad #30 – Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

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When my husband asked me to make a watermelon salad, I made this watermelon salad with red peppers and strawberries. I loved it but apparently it was not the watermelon salad that my husband had in mind. It turns out what he wanted was a grilled chicken salad with watermelon salsa. The salsa turned out really well but the salad needed either a glaze on the chicken or extra dressing over the salad. Maybe a spicy thai dressing or even a balsamic vinegar dressing. Or you can always just put the salsa in a bowl and eat it with chips and call that your salad. Which I absolutely did with the leftovers.

Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Watermelon Salsa

(adapted from the Pioneer Woman’s Watermelon Pico De Gallo Recipe)

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Salad #30 - Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens
 
Ingredients
  • ⅛-1/4 pf a watermelon, diced
  • 3 peppers, diced (I used red, yellow and orange)
  • ¼ red onion diced
  • bunch of cilantro chopped
  • juice of two limes
  • squirt of sriracha sauce
  • salt
Instructions
  1. If you are a big cilantro fan, you can just mix the ingredients together in a big bowl.
  2. If you are less certain about cilantro, start by mixing the watermelon, peppers and red onion in a large bowl.
  3. In a food processor (I used a magic bullet) mix together the cilantro, limes, sriracha sauce and salt. Blend well. This will take some of the bite out of the cilantro.
  4. Pour over the salsa and mix well.
  5. Serve over your bed of greens with grilled chicken (and hopefully some kind of dressing).

Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Did They Eat It?

Stephen: Really good.

Nicky (17 months): loved the peppers and watermelon

Gordie (4 years old): loved the watermelon as long as it wasn’t part of the salad.

Dana: I found it a little bit bland because I didn’t use any additional dressing and had grilled the chicken plain. I would make this again, but would definitely use some kind of dressing. The salsa itself was great.


 Watermelon Salsa over Grilled Chicken and Greens

Salad #24 – Fresh and Easy Pasta Salad

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Typical store bought pasta salads are loaded with mayonnaise or some other kind of creamy dressing and not much else. This one, on the other hand, is loaded with vegetables. Perfect for for a pot luck salad or as a main dish, you’ll feel great feeding this to your family.

My cousin made a salad similar to this one when I was at her house one day and I’ve been making it with a few variations ever since. Salsa is a perfect dressing for pasta salad and it couldn’t be easier. If you want it more gourmet, you can always make your own salsa but I prefer the ease of using pre-made salsa.

Fresh and Easy Pasta Salad

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

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Salad #24 - Fresh and Easy Pasta Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 box whole wheat pasta (macaroni, corkscrew or penne all work well)
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 red pepper chopped
  • 1 orange pepper chopped
  • 1 yellow pepper chopped
  • ½ cucumber chopped
  • 1 jar prepared salsa (I like Tostitos Medium)
  • package of Canadian bacon, chopped
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Run under cold water to cool.
  2. Transfer pasta to a large bowl and add chopped veggies (peas can go in frozen) and the Canadian bacon.
  3. Pour salsa over the pasta mixture and mix well.
  4. I find leftovers benefit from some extra salsa before serving.

Variations

  •  swap out the vegetables for whatever you have on hand
  • swap out the Canadian bacon for another kind of protein – ham, imitation crab, chicken feta cheese or monterey jack cheese are all good options

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

Did They Eat It?

 Gordie (4 years old): Loved everything about it. (this is one of the only salads Gordie has liked)

Nicky (15 months): Devoured the pasta and peas but left the peppers.

Stephen: Good.

Dana: This is one of my favorite easy supper meals. It makes quite a lot and so we usually even have leftovers for the next day.

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

The Canadian Food Experience Project – Slumgullion

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My First Authentic Canadian Food Experience

When I first heard about The Canadian Food Experience Project I thought it was a really cool idea and I signed up to be a part of it. And then I immediately had regrets. It is really hard to identify Canadian foods, and it is even harder to find Canadian foods that I identify with. Beaver Tails may be a great example of Canadian food, but I’ve never had one. That’s one of the things that this project hopes to accomplish – a greater clarity of what Canadian food is.

The topic of the first challenge was our first Authentic Canadian Food Experience. I have definitely had some unquestionably Canadian foods – ginger beef, tourtiere, butter tarts, nanaimo bars, maple syrup. I also had quite a bit of game meat growing up, which is pretty Canadian too. But I was at a loss for what my first experience would have been.I didn’t grow up immersed in what I would call Authentic Canadian food. My Dad is from Denmark, so there was a definite Danish influence, and we also relied on a fair bit of simple meals and convenience food. My Mom had 3 kids under 3, one of which had special needs – she did not have time for daily gourmet meals.

I thought back to some of those simple meals I had growing up, and one of them stood out. It’s so simple it’s barely a recipe, and there wasn’t a time it wasn’t part of my food experience. My Mom called it Slumgullion and it was a recipe her Mom made when she was a kid too. Slumgullion basically means a cheap stew. The origins of the term are a little vague, but appear to originate in the United States. My mother’s family has a long history in Alberta, but my grandmother’s father was from Iowa so I thought maybe that’s where the term came from. When I asked her though, she said she thought the kids made it up. So who knows.

Prairie Slumgullion

Like any dish that is basically cheap ingredients thrown together, (stews, hash, chilli) the recipe is going to vary regionally based on what’s readily available and economical. In Alberta, wheat, inexpensive cuts of beef and canned vegetables are a pretty good bet.

My mom made Slumgullion frequently when I was growing up, and now it is a comfort food for me. I make it when I am low on groceries, time or give a damn but want to serve something I can still feel good about. My mom used elbow macaroni, whole canned tomatoes and ground beef. My grandmother also used ground beef, but my mom remembers she used a lot less to keep the costs down. She also sautéed some onion along with it. Mine has evolved a bit to include whole wheat macaroni and diced tomatoes. I’ve experimented with other kinds of noodles, but nothing is as good as the macaroni, you need the hollow space in the macaroni for the tomato juice to slip into.

Prairie Slumgullion

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The Canadian Food Experience Project - Slumgullion
 
Ingredients
  • .5-1 lb ground beef
  • 1 package whole wheat macaroni
  • 1 large can diced tomatoes
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Cook macaroni according to package instructions.
  2. Meanwhile cook and drain the ground beef. (I usually have some that I have previously cooked and frozen so I can just throw it into this dish or pasta sauce.)
  3. Mix together the ground beef, macaroni, canned tomatoes (undrained) and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  4. Best served fresh at room temperature.

Prairie Slumgullion

Salad #14 Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

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My plan for this salad was to make a side dish type salad that used edamame and miso paste in the dressing. I came up with this salad: Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

But it was missing something. It was okay. But just okay. So I tried again and added some red pepper and swapped out the apple for golden raisins. (I also tried a different miso dressing but I thought it was kind of awful.) And it was better. But still not awesome. I had some left over chicken in the fridge from the Cafe Rio that I had made the day before, and some lettuce and thought that making it into a main dish instead of a side dish would be awesome. And it was.

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing Recipe

(inspired by La Fuji Mama’s Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing on Endive Leaves)

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Salad #14 Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing
 
Ingredients
  • Salad Ingredients
  • 2 cups edamame
  • 2-3 carrots grated
  • handful of golden raisins
  • enough lettuce to made a salad bed (either ripped or shredded)
  • half to a whole red pepper sliced
  • handful of cashews
  • some left over shredded, diced or grilled chicken
  • Miso Dressing Ingredients
  •  1/4 cup miso paste (I used the kind based on brown rice)
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup white wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • dash of siriacha
Instructions
  1. Mix dressing ingredients together well. The miso paste might be a bit thick so you may want to use a whisk or food processor instead of just shaking them together.
  2. Mix together the edamame, red pepper, carrots and golden raisin and toss with the dressing.
  3. Layer the lettuce, then the edamame mixture, then the chicken and top with the cashews. Add more dressing if needed.

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Chicken Edamame Salad with Miso Dressing

Have you ever had a blah recipe that you’ve managed to turn into a winner?

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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I love the combination of beans and tomatoes. I especially love recipes like this one, where I can have all the ingredients I need just waiting in the cupboard (and freezer) for a day when I’ve forgotten to plan dinner. You can use this as the main dish by adding a bun or some rice to the side – it would also be nice on top of some pasta or couscous. Or you can make it a nutritious side dish instead and serve it with sausage or chicken.

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach
 
(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)
Ingredients
  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • ¼ tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Dead Simple Supper: Salsa Pasta Salad

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Now that I have two kids, I’m finding it even more difficult to get a healthy dinner on the table. When I’m sleep deprived, I lack both imagination and enthusiasm in the kitchen. On top of this both my kids are having problems with milk and many of my go to easy meals rely on cheese.To assist me in avoiding takeout and providing my family with nutritious meals without a lot of effort, I’ve decided to blog about some dead simple suppers to help give me inspiration while meal planning or (more likely) while trying to figure out what on earth we’re going to have for supper tonight.

Salsa Pasta Salad Recipe

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Ingredients

  • 1 package of macaroni or other whole wheat noodles
  • 1/4 of a small precooked ham cubed
  • 2 bell peppers (any color) chopped
  • 1 cucumber chopped
  • handful of frozen peas
  • Salsa

“Directions”

  1. Cook pasta until al dente and cool under cold water.
  2. Put in a large bowl along with vegetables and ham (the peas can go in frozen).
  3. Add salsa just to coat and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Serve cold or room temperature.
If you’re feeling more ambitious, try this pasta salad recipe from my friend Heather’s blog. It’s perfect for the summer when you’re looking for something light that doesn’t require a lot of cooking.

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Our pancake kick continued, but the blueberries we used in our previous recipe didn’t last. So I thought I’d try a new modification. I love peanut butter and these pancakes are fantastic. A little skiff of peanut butter on top while they are still warm makes them even better. They’d also make an awesome peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes
 
(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ Teaspoon Salt
  • ¼ cup Peanut Butter
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
  • 1 Ripe Banana Mashed
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Add the peanut butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. It’ll have a crumbly texture when it’s In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
  4. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch

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Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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I almost never make pancakes. I made some off hand comment that used the word pancakes (what on earth could that be? I cannot for the life of me figure out how you use the word pancakes without saying something like “let’s have pancakes”). Regardless, Gordie thought this was the best idea he had ever heard. I managed to get out of making pancakes for lunch but promised he could have them for dinner.

I put this together so I could feel like even though we were having pancakes for dinner, we were getting some decent nutrition too. Whole wheat pancakes always seem to be lacking something so I decided to add things to the pancakes instead. Plain yogurt, a banana and blueberries make these a lot more nutrient dense than your average pancake as well as sweet and moist.

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes
 
(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
  • 1 Ripe Banana Mashed
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
  • 2 Handfuls of Blueberries
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
  4. Add the blueberries and gently fold them in.
  5. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch.

 

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

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I decided to try out this Enchilada recipe from Feels Like Home for my brother’s birthday dinner. I’m pretty sure the best time to try out a new recipe is at a special occasion for a bunch of people right? Normally we would get take out, but we still haven’t found a chinese food place we like in our neighbourhood and half the family finds Indian too spicy. At the last minute I decided I’d just make these Enchiladas.  Ill-advised or not, it was awesome.

I dialled back the spices from the original recipe to accommodate our family heat wimps. They found it to be spicy but at a level they (and Gordie) could easily handle. If you are looking for something spicy, you’ll want to amp up the spices, but it’s nice and flavorful (if not hot) as written below).

I made my own Enchilada sauce which allows me to control the level of spice and fat but you could easily use the bottled stuff instead.

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

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Enchilada Sauce Recipe
 
(adapted from Feels Like Home)
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1.5 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 16-oz can tomato sauce
  • chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • salt
Instructions
  1. Add the oil to a pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, stir in the flour and chili powder. Use a whisk (this will help prevent lumps in your sauce) to stir constantly under it starts to brown (a minute or two)
  2. Continue to stir as you add the remaining ingredients. Cook until sauce begins to thicken – about 10 minutes. If you are wanting to speed things up you can bring the sauce to a boil for a minute or two and the sauce will thicken a bit quicker.

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
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BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
 
(adapted from Feels Like Home)
Ingredients
  • ½ cup BBQ sauce (plus 2 tbsp) (I used Kraft original)
  • meat from 1 roasted chicken or 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken, cooked and shredded
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cup of shredded cheese
  • 8 whole wheat tortillas (I have also managed 10, but 8 is more reasonable)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Add the BBQ sauce to the enchilada sauce and stir.
  3. Add a little oil to a second pan and saute the chopped onion until it softens. Add the chicken, and a couple tablespoons of the BBQ sauce. Cook for a couple more minutes and then add ½ a cup of the enchilada sauce and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Mix well and cook until the cheese is melted.
  4. Add a layer of the enchilada sauce to a 9x13 baking dish.
  5. Add a big scoop of the chicken mixture to a tortilla, and roll it. Place it in the baking dish seam side down. Continue until all your tortillas have been filled. If you are running out of space it is totally okay to squish your tortillas together so you can fit more in.
  6. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas and top with the last cup of cheese.
  7. Bake for about 25 minutes. The cheese and sauce should be hot and bubbly.

So, Did They Eat It?

This was a huge hit. I served this with a fried rice and a black bean salad to 11 people. I cut each of the enchiladas in half so it was easier for people to take just how much they wanted. Everyone from my toddler to my grandparents and my spice sensitive inlaws  enjoyed it. The BBQ sauce really helps give it some extra flavor without the extra heat. I will be making this again for sure, although I may add some extra chili powder if it’s just for us.