Category: Recipes


Oct
2014

Stone Fruit Tart

categories: Desert, Recipes

IMG_9860Welcome to the girliest food I have ever made. The pinks, and reds in this dessert are just so fun that some people might say I cant even  (Note: I am not one of those people).

I know I am a little delayed in posting this summertime recipe up on the blog, but if youre living here in Montreal then you know that these past two weeks has been more of a summer than what we had a month ago! So, I guess this recipe is sort of fitting for the weather we are having, but maybe not the produce. Sorry!

fruit tartBut hey, if you dont have good peaches around, save this recipe and keep it somewhere safe because it is one of the easiest dessert recipes youll make, and its tasty and visually stunning. Looks like youve spent HOURS making this tart, when in reality it took a couple of minutes. WIN.

fruit tart

Stone Fruit Tart

Ingredients:

  • 1 puff pastry sheet
  • 3 cups stone fruit, sliced (peach, nectarine, plum, apricot)
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • dash of salt
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

  1. Pre- heat oven to 375 degrees F. .
  2. Place puff pastry on parchment paper in an attempt to make a rectangular tart
  3. In a bowl mix together the fruit, honey, sugar, salt and lemon juice.
  4. Place puff pastry and the parchment paper on a baking sheet. Pour fruit mixture on top.
  5. Brush the puff pastry border with lightly beaten egg and sprinkle raw sugar on the edges
  6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Once baked, remove form oven and place on wire rack to cool.

Slightly adapted from Bakers Royale


Sep
2014

Easiest Turkey Bolognese

categories: Pasta, Recipes

For the past 3 months or so ive been making a couple batches per month of this turkey bolognese. Why so much you ask? For one, its super easy and then it lasts all week. Ill eat it for dinner, Ill bring it for lunch, and it gives my boyfriend another meal asides from frozen pizza or cereal to eat during the week (and keeps him from complaining that there is nothing in the fridge).

Why turkey? Its healthier, easy to make and I prefer it over ground beef. But by all means use whichever meat you prefer ground beef, pork or chicken. Or why not just add more veggies or lentils for a veggie sauce. This is really such an easy sauce to make and oh so tasty that you have no excuse to not try and make it. If youre feeling healthy, throw it over some spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles. If youre feeling like a hearty bowl of pasta to warm your sad and cold heart (winter is coming) use a big bowl of noodles. Pasta makes everything better.

IMG_9768IMG_9839IMG_9798IMG_9806

Easiest Turkey Bolognese

Ingredients:

  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 3 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1/2 cup of mushrooms, diced
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp dried parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare all veggies by hand or food processor dice garlic, onion, carrots and mushrooms into small pieces.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large saucepan over medium high heat and then add diced vegetables to pot. Sauté vegetables for 5-7 minutes
  3. Add the dry white wine to vegetables, continue stirring until wine dissolves.
  4. Mix in ground meat, and stir occasionally, until meat is cooked through (about 5 minutes)
  5. Add crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes and dried basil and parsley and mix well.
  6. Add in bay leaf, and simmer sauce for 30 minutes ( less if youre short on time) stirring occasionally.
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste

adapted from The Cant Cook Cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld

Hope you enjoy!


Sep
2013

Trail Mix Cookies

categories: Desert, Recipes, Snack

These trail mix cookies have everything in them and are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. THE BEST. Heres a little story of how these cookies arrived this fall into my cozy little kitchen, I swear its interesting. Well, maybe notbut like, these cookies are awesome so you should get to the recipe.

When cookies are lying around the house I tend to find crumbs in my hair, sheets and in between couch cushions. I live with someone who inhales cookies the minute he sees them and no, he is not blue and googely eyed (at least not around me!) he is my boyfriend.  And he likes cookies alot!

Since I prefer to not wake up with chocolate chips melted to my cheeks, I dont like to have fresh baked cookies in the house unless I have someone to bring them to.

And thats how these cookies came to be. I need to feed my nephew but he is currently living somewhere warm and toasty and unfortunately unreachable my sisters uterus. Therefore, I made these cookies for her to eat, which is kinda like him eating it too. Im strange, but Ive accepted it.

trail mix cookies - Sundays with Jennie

trail mix cookies - sundays with jennie

trail mix cookies - sundays with jennie

Trail Mix Cookies

Makes 24 large cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 1- 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 TBSP shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup add ins ex: 1/2 cup raisins, 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup peanut m+ms

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees celcius and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Then beat in egg and vanilla until incorporated.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients; oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, coconut and add ins.
  4. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in 4 additions until blended. Cover and regrigerate for 30 minutes.
  5. Then shape dough using a heaping tablespoon into balls (about 24) which place them at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake in top and bottom thirds of the oven, switching them halfway through the baking time which is 12-15 minutes total. Cookies should be golden, with crisp edges and soft centres.
  6. Transfer to racks, and let cool.

Sep
2013

Feeling Good with Jennie Week 3

categories: Recipes

I am finishing up a month in palliative care, which is a tough  place to work. Every morning Im unsure which patient will still be there, and to be honest, Im looking forward to moving on to my next rotation. In the meantime, I come home with a restless mind and try and decompress. That can mean cooking, or working out or just completely vegging out.

Here are some of my fave links that have perked me up a bit this week!

Picture 18 Watch: This video actually made me laugh out loud!! Im a sucker for 90s music, but this video is hysterical regardless!

Picture 14

       Read: Nothing makes a gal feel better than seeing cats do hysterical things. I dont even like cats. Maybe thats why I find this so funny! Muahahha!

Picture 10

   Wear: These pjs are just the bomb! They may seem totally uncool, but Ryan Gosling wears them sigh


Sep
2013

Garlic Dill Pickles

categories: Recipes, Side Dish, Snack

Pickles are a thing (well, a vegetable) that I take for granted. I like them on burgers, in sandwiches  chopped up in tuna, and sometimes just straight out of the jar. They were never something I would have ever thought about making before. But then I had a lot of mason jars sitting around the house and I needed stuff to do with them. First, I made granola and gifted it to friends and family. Then I went to the local market and got some fresh fall flowers to decorate my home. And then, I made pickles.

garlic dill pickles

garlic dill picklesIt was a very exciting activity to do I am now a pickle maker extraordinaire. I just kind of threw things together hoping it would make a good pickle, and it worked! They were pretty spicy with the addition of red pepper flakes and big hunks of garlic, and I loved it!

garlic dill picklesgarlic dill pickles

 

Spicy Dill Pickles

Ingredients:

  • 1 500ml mason jar
  • 4 small cucumbers (persian or kirby)
  • 1 and 1/2 cup of water
  • 3 tbsp white vinegar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 big garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 3 heads of dill sprigs

Directions:

  1. Cut cucumbers in 1/4s or sliced horizontally. Fit as many cucumbers as you can into the mason jar without having to force them in.
  2. In a measuring cup, mix together the water, vinegar and salt. Stir until salt is dissolved.
  3. Pour liquid over cucumbers so that they are completely covered. (if a bit are sticking out, can add some more water).
  4. Top the cucumber with the dill, garlic and red pepper flakes and screw on the lids of the jar.
  5. Put in fridge and wait 48 hours before eating!

Sep
2013

Gazpacho

categories: Recipes, Soup, Vegetarian

Its officially September, but I dont want to let go of summer food just yet. This summer has been filled with BBQs, grilled meats and veggies and it was always fresh and delicious. While I like fall for its comfortable temperatures and outfits (sidenote: I am at my trendiest in fall when I get to wear a leather jacket and boots. Throw on anything with that and its a quote unquote cool) I just love summertime tomatoes.

So I will just have to scoop up the remaining fresh farm tomatoes in the markets and make batches of this soup to enjoy for the next while. Cause its delicious.


gazpacho

gazpacho

While I have had gazpacho in many restaurants, this recipe from my mother is always my favorite. Its even better when she makes a batch and sends me home with a container full to last me a week! Thanks Mom!

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

  • 1 large english cucumber, peeled
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 6 medium tomatoes, peeled
  • 4-6 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you like it 4 still makes it quite garlicky) minced
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 TBSP salt
  • 19-oz can tomato juice
  • Couple dashes of tabasco
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cut cucumber, green pepper, onion and tomatoes into chunks
  2. In the food processor: process cucumber in pulses until finely chopped. Remove to a large bowl. Repeat with green pepper, onion and tomatoes, removing each one to the large bowl.
  3. Process together the minced garlic, lemon  juice, chili powder, basil, oregano, salt and 1/2 the tomato juice. Process until smooth.
  4. In the large bowl, add to this mixture to the chopped vegetables and the remaining tomato juice. Add salt and pepper and tabasco to taste.
  5. Chill for at least 4-6 hours. Serve with croutons and other additions (like cucumber, mint, basil)

Recipe adpated from The Food Processor Bible


Jun
2013

Lost posts of Spring 2013

categories: Recipes, Uncategorized

I think that childhood book Goodnight Moon gave me a false sense of security. Seeing as how I start residency July 1st (Canada Day woot! woot!), I should be more prepared for something like Hello Moon we meet again. Farewell sunshine, I will be ghostly pale for the next little while. There should be a new book called  Lady of the Night. Or maybe not. But something like that.

Argh. Lets forget about what will be in a few days and focus on The Now. I have gotten totally into my blogging and cooking and picturing during my vacation and I ended up on a few awesome sites. Check them out here:

1) My watermelon salad on The Glitter Guide

2) My Juicy Turkey Burgers on The Berry 

3) My own facebook page! WOOHOO

And As Usual here are the lost posts that never quite made it to the site because I do not like my pictures when they are not taken during the day. I have not mastered the No Natural Light look. Unfortunately, Its something Im going to have to master any day now lol!

Uber Cheesy Mac N Cheesemac n cheeseCaprese Salad Bitescaprese bitesStrawberry Rhubarb Cobblerstrawberry and rhubarb cobblerPecan Pie Bars

pecan pie barsHope you all have a great weekend, and of course Canada Day! OH CANADA!


Jun
2013

Banana Pancakes

categories: Breakfast, Recipes

You know those lazy weekend days where its dark and gloomy outside and the morning just calls for a big stack of pancakes? This wasnt one of those days. It was a gorgeous day out and I had a whole day planned but all I wanted to do was stuff my face with pancakes. Im classy like that apparently.

I had these banana pancakes bookmarked for a couple of months because they use ingredients that I always have at home, especially a dark spotted banana. I like them green and if theres even one brown spot on it, I cant eat it. That means lots of pancakes will be coming my way which is good since these pancakes are fluffy and tasty, and surprisingly not full of butter. I used regular flour, but next time Im going to try whole wheat flour. To be Healthy.

Note: The amount of syrup in this picture is scant. I obviously use much more.

banana pancakes

Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

  • Cooking spray or butter for greasing the pan
  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 very ripe banana, peeled and mashed well
  • 1 cup milk (any %)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Maple syrup, sliced banana, walnuts (if desired) for serving

Directions:

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together mashed banana, milk, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Using a wooden spoon, fold wet mixture into dry ingredients until just combined.  The batter will be slightly lumpy.
  3. Preheat you frying pan or griddle to medium high heat and coat with butter or coking spray. Using a 1/3 measuring cup, scoop batter onto the griddle. Cook until a few holes form on top of each pancake and the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes and then flip and cook the pancakes for another 2 minutes.
  4. Continue with the remaining batter.
  5. Serve with sliced banana, walnut halves and maple syrup.

Slightly Adapted from A Bitchin Kitchen blog, originally William Sonoma


Jun
2013

Peach, Mango and Coconut Smoothie

categories: Drinks, Recipes, Snack

mango peach and coconut water smoothie

Ive made some smoothies with coconut water this past week and they were amazing! Coconut water has always been something I love drinking as a special treat so I was super excited while grocery shopping last week because there was a great deal on fresh coconut water! Ah, the little things in life.

I took advantage of this fine deal and loaded up on it to use in some great drink and popsicle ideas. Coconut water is just so fresh and it really adds a little je ne sais quoi (thats french- I should practice in case my blog needs to be bilingual) to any smoothie.

This smoothie uses frozen mango, peach (with skin on), coconut water and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. It was really tasty and refreshing! I enjoyed one post workout, and had it again while reading a magazine on my roof. Oh, vacation life. How I enjoy you. Guess Ill start being a doctor again next week.

peachmango peach and coconut water smoothie

Mango Peach and Coconut Water Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup frozen peach chunks
  • 1 cup frozen mango chunks
  • juice of half a lime
  • 2 cups unsweetened coconut water

Directions:

  1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add more coconut water to reach consistency that is desired.

An easy refreshing drink you can enjoy this summer! More coconut water recipes to come!


Jun
2013

Watermelon, Mint and Feta Salad

categories: Recipes, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian

This watermelon,feta and mint salad is a fantastic salad I created in my kitchen last week. Here is how it came to be:

I got a few herbs for a makeshift garden on my little ledge (its NOT a balcony) that I really enjoy taking care of. See that basil plant? He kept me company while studying for my medical licensing exams. He sat right next to me all day, and I made sure he got all the sun and water he needed. I sound like Tom Hanks with his ball named Wilson from Cast Away, eh? I think I did get a little cabin fever while stuck inside studying.

Now that Im on vacation though, I can let my plants outside for some sunshine (when we get it) and then I get to use them in my cookingand I guess for company too! Wohoo! My mint was getting outta control so I snipped it good, real good. And thats how this watermelon salad came to be. Thank you my minty friends.

This salad is really awesome as a side to any BBQ. Ive made it twice in the same week once as a side for steaks and another as a side for lamb. Its fresh, creamy, peppery, zesty and every other adjective. Its a real winner. And a Jennie Original.

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Watermelon Mint and Feta saladWatermelon Mint and Feta saladWatermelon Mint and Feta salad

Watermelon Mint and Feta Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1/8th of a watermelon (you can make it into larger cubes, or into smaller diced pieces)
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled (add more if you like your cheese!)
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint, julienned
  • 4 cups arugula
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1 tsp honey
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Mix together the olive oil, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. When ready to serve, place in a large bowl the watermelon, mint, arugula and feta cheese.
  3. Toss with the dressing and serve.

Its an easy one. And a yummy one. And a healthy one. Oh My! Guess you should try it out!