Ok, so the truth is I was not ready to say goodbye to summer. After going to Florida and immediately coming back to these below seasonal temperatures – I was not a happy camper. In hopes to bring back a little summer, I decided to try a very different recipe for popsicles. Now, they are not the traditional fruity sort – but rather Earl Grey Kulfi Pops! I discovered them on a blog called Aarti Paarti (created by a lady who just won The Next Food Network Star, she's fantastic!!).

They are deliciously creamy, with a hint of sweetness. A very different taste – if you enjoy earl grey tea. Not to mention - Aarti and I both have the exact same popiscle trays (small things like this excite me).

Recently, there has been a lot going on that has kept me from experimenting in the kitchen. The stress has been building and I must admit – it began to suck the fun out of cooking. So the last few weeks I have taken a hiatus on creating my own recipes, and mainly just explored others – in hopes for some inspiration! So for this post I wanted to share some that I have found, and some that I urge you to try. If you are looking for something different and packed with flavour – here are a few ideas for you.  

This Pappardelle with Spiced Butter is essential to your vegetarian pasta collection! I loved this recipe from the get go – and I was lucky that I had all the spices beforehand, so it was just a matter of purchasing a few ingredients or making some substitutions. It is jam packed with Moroccan flavour, you’ll love it.

I made these for the meat lover in the house – Bombay Sloppy Joes, a must try.

I still make Zucchini Carbonara – another dish that you can make according to the recipe or easily convert to vegetarian.

Two easy side dishes – French Dijon Bean Salad or Paprika-Roasted Cauliflower.

A great risotto recipe – you can change up the veggies, and I use veggie stock instead.

For a treat – try these simple PB&J Chocolate Bars (a great mix of sweet and salty)!

I hope that inspires you a bit just until I can get myself organized and back on track. I look forward to tonight, where I am back in the kitchen with time to test out a few ideas.

Trip To Florida!

Ok, I owe you all a post! I have not forgotten – rather I have been very busy. I just came back from an amazing trip to Florida with my family and I have been attempting to get my butt back into school mode. I thought I would share a few photos and stories from my trip – and then we will get back to the cooking! (I promise).

This trip was particularly interesting because I was bringing along Mike, who had never been to Florida - let alone been on a plane before! So, a lot of exciting firsts were shared. Our immediate impressions of Florida this time included – the wall of heat and humidity that slammed us as soon as we stepped out of the airport (heaven), the bountiful tropical plants lining the streets (those that we are confined to using as house plants), the fact that u-turns are completely legal and signal lights are practically optional (scary), and the shocking revelation that the entire gulf coast does not recycle (heart breaking sadness). Regardless, I dragged my nerdy self and my entire family to the town recycling plant – I am sure they enjoyed that frequent trip.

We lucked out for the first three days - there were crazy amounts of torrential Tampa Bay rain. The storms are exciting and beautiful to watch at night, but not as pleasing when they happen during the day. Either way, this let us have the opportunity to do many day trips.

We ventured to The Florida Aquarium to explore hundreds of different species of fish and beautiful coral reef displays.

My most favourite and unforgettable visit was to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. These grounds boast 20 000 plants – and this includes 6 000 orchids! It was simply gorgeous and surreal. They have conservatories, butterfly gardens, bonsai collections, koi ponds, banyan groves and bamboo gardens – I could have stayed for hours. I highly recommend this spot if you are ever in the area.

Also, I must mention the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary – the largest sanctuary in the United States, with over 8 000 injured birds admitted each year. Almost everyday I take a walk down the beach to visit - it is a beautiful and smelly place of hope. These people continue to truly make a difference and my family has supported them since I was just a few years old.

Right now, they are struggling with the many birds being dropped off from the oil spill. I was asked to volunteer on my last day there, but unfortunately I was leaving and unable to do so. If you have ever sat there helplessly watching the news seeing the damage created by the oil spill and not known how you can make a difference – this non-profit organization could use some help. I never want to sound preachy on this blog, but trust me – I witnessed firsthand the damage and it is very disheartening.

On a lighter note - the rest of the trip was spent enjoying the beach and fishing with my dad – which I have been doing since I was two years old. The pier is my second home and has tons of great memories!

Now onto the food! Before I left for the trip, I decided to look up Guy Fieri’s list of restaurants that have been on his show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was my dad’s idea and we all thought it would be neat to test one out. We found Keegan’s Seafood Grille to be the closest location, and you can check out the you-tube video of the episode here. We should have watched it before we left to get an idea of what to try, but we happened to order off the written specials on the blackboard anyways – everyone feasted on multiple servings of the best crab chowder ever. I tested out a vegetarian pasta while I let them explore all the seafood dishes.

Overall it was a great experience, but having fried food every day can get a little sickening. Sometimes you just crave something fresh, and Sweet Tomatoes is the place. It is a reasonably priced buffet style restaurant and it is always packed. They have a wicked salad bar, soups, pastas, pizzas, deserts – mmm! A healthy experience – with many vegetarian options.

Overall, this was a perfect vacation to end the summer and I was sad to leave. Now it is back to the grind, and my school course load hit me full force the very first day. Don’t worry, I still have many neat recipe ideas and cannot wait to get back in the kitchen for the fall season. I heard there were a few people reading this blog that are newly converting to vegetarianism and curious about all the options out there – after I take care of a few sweet ideas, I promise to put some easy dinners up here too!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried green tomatoes have always intrigued me, along with deep fried pickles (which I will leave for another post). Strangely, up until now I have never tasted them – let alone cook them myself. So when I got the opportunity to grab some fresh green tomatoes from Sandy’s vegetable garden up north, I jumped at the chance. I had never been so happy going home in the car with a bucket full of tomatoes, basil, and zucchini blossoms – all the things I cannot wait to grow in my own yard one day. You see, I currently live in an apartment that lacks not only a balcony, but even so much as a window sill. Needless to say, that dream will have to be put on hold until I move out.

As I have mentioned before, this blog is about a learning process. So not having a clue where to start, I decided to use a recipe from the famous Guy Fieri – you know, the host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I figured that if there was anyone who knew anything about fried food, it would be him. Therefore, I did not change a thing about his recipe. I thought I’d test his out first, and then dream up what I could possibly do next.

Essentially, you begin by slicing your tomatoes to about 3/8 of an inch. My mandolin does not make slices thick enough for this, so I sliced them by hand. This led to couple of uneven slices with varying thicknesses – but hey, that just adds to the homemade appeal. Next, you mix up some buttermilk and yogurt to dip the tomatoes in before you batter them.

Tip: If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can easily mix your own! Buttermilk does not actually contain butter. Rather it is simply the left over, sour liquid from the butter-making process. All you need to do is add 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar – let it sit for 5 minutes, whisk it together and you’re finished.

I then quickly made the batter. Typically, they tend to consist of a combination of flour and cornmeal. Guy’s had some cayenne and pepper to kick up the spice – although, next time I would add more flavouring to this part of the recipe.

Heat up your oil to 365F. A neat trick I learned – since I do not own a thermometer yet (that is on the to-do list) – is to put a wooden spoon in the hot oil, and if it really bubbles around the edges, your oil is hot enough to fry. So drop in a few tomatoes at a time, and cook them a 2-3 minutes on each side. Next time I will wear a shield, as I only suffered minor burns from the hot oil. Hey – at least I didn’t set anything on fire this time.

Once they are fresh out of the fryer make sure to sprinkle them with some kosher salt. As for the dipping sauces, there are endless possibilities – ranging from cream sauces to marinara sauces.

The end result turned out pretty good! Once you bit into the perfectly crunchy outer layer, your palate was immediately hit with a blend of both sweetness and acidity. I loved the warm flavour from the deep frying, and it really amplified the fruity, sweet nature of the tomato. Overall, I think the batter needs some work – and next time I would really kick it up with a few more spices. Make sure to gobble these up right away as they don't keep.

Lastly, I would just like to mention that I am lucky enough to be going on a trip to Florida tomorrow with Mike and my family! I hope to be returning with some more wonderful pictures and possibly a few food stories as well. So this will be my last post until I am back, see you in a week and a half!