Sunday 15 February 2015

A night of cooking with Jess

Just finished a lovely fantastic evening of cooking and good talk with friend and co-worker Jess. Originally, was suppose to do lots of cooking since we both love cooking and trying new recipes.

We tried this recipe tonight:

Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bites from the Alidas Kitchen website.




Serves: 30 to 36 bites
ingredients
  • ¾ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1½ cups water (or vegetable broth or chicken broth)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups broccoli florets, finely diced
  • 1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
  • 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • Crushed red pepper (optional) to taste
instructions
  1. In a medium sauce pan, combine quinoa and water (or broth) and cook according to package directions. Let cool.
  2. In a large bowl, combine cooled quinoa, eggs, broccoli, onion, garlic, cheese and paprika.
  3. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray mini-muffin tins with cooking spray.
  4. Put a heaping tablespoonful of quinoa mixture into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until edges turn golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes and then gently remove from pan to cool completely.

Super easy to make though I would make them bigger - probably fill the muffin tin like normal. They do really puff up at all  so if you use only the 1 heaping tablespoon you end up with a tiny little bite. We also tried using muffin papers to line the muffin tin which seem to work. Jess will get back to me to make they worked properly. 

Also note that we didn't we didn't have any paprika on hand or red pepper. 

And I would for sure double this recipe right off the bat next time to make bigger ones. 

We finished the evening with a small glass of Amarulla on the rocks which was delish! Perogies will be made next time. Ended up getting side tracked talking , eating supper ( hamburgers and our fave recipe Thai cabbage salad) and watching Hockey Night in Canada.

Friday 30 January 2015

TBT: Aussi Outback

Throw Back Thursday is heading back to Australia!

Still one of my favourite places to be in Australia with one of my favourite people, Bernie in the South Australia Outback, with some of her crazy fun family!

My first trip to the Outback with Bernie was over Easter of 2009. Yearling prep has just finished for the year and I managed to get a few extra days off. A long drive up to Burra and then another couple hours north to Yunta and then a bit south to Manunda Station.

Very red and dusty being summer going into fall ( aka wet season). But still gorgeous area. Lots of red and grey kangaroos, emus galour, campfires, sleeping in the cook's house, 4 wheel driving and perhaps getting stuck in the mud .... and good camp food :D

Great times! Thank you Bernie for introducing me to the awesome Outback and sharing a bit of your up bringing. Miss you! xx


Shearing shed
Tradition for shearers to sign their name on the wall of the shed. P.D Watson was my boss at Mill Park. 

On top of Orotan Rock- pretty decent climb!
Orotan Rock


View from the top- utes aka trucks parked way down there.

Bernie checking the yabby ( crayfish) nets. Sorry Bern not a good pic of you! And next time we won't let go of the net string! lol :P Entertaining times! 

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Happy New Year Everyone!




Yup it's late but oh well. Trying to revive the blog for the new year. 

So what's new with me.... well this world traveller is back home, my first home, in Canada. Yes you read it, this Canadian girl is back in Canada for the time being. I finished off my Africa adventures in mid may , travelled back to Australia for a quick 3 week visit with new and old friends ( these will be highlighted in throw back thursday posts). Back to Alberta to catch up with friends and family, volunteering at the Jazz Festival and the dreaded job search. Finally found a job out in Richmond, British Columbia at a lovely show jumping stable, Twin Oaks Farm, which is actually where my cousin Tamara rode for years growing up- small world. 

So since I'm not travelling much right now, the blog will probably be more about exploring my current city of Richmond/Vancouver. Lots of horse stuff from here at the farm, running/working out stuff and my fave cooking!

Have a fantastic fun filled 2015!!

So check back soon... should have some fun updates soon!

Laurel