Stuffed Zucchini Au Gratin

Here's what's up: melting cheese on things. It's a well-known fact that melted cheese can make almost anything better. Just try and think of one thing that some kind of cheese is not good with. My love of cheese is what fueled yet another recipe. This week, I decided to take a standard stir-fry mélange of ingredients and put them inside a zucchini, then melt cheese on top. Thus: stuffed zucchini au gratin.

What I used:
3 zucchinis (Hillcrest Farm)
2 maple sage pork sausages (Getaway Meat Mongers)
1 diced tomato (Noggins Corner)
1 diced onion (Noggins Corner)
1 large hunk of cranberry cheddar (Foxhill Cheeses)
1 large sprig rosemary (Hillcrest Farm)

How I made it:

I began by boiling the pork sausages until the casings turned white, so that the meat would stay intact when I cut them into small cubes. It took a lot of will-power not to eat them right off the bat, as I have a very dangerous love-triangle involving pork and maple. After an epic inward struggle, I managed to pre-heat the oven to 350 and got started on the zucchini. First, I washed and trimmed them. Then I scooped the soft seeded middle out with a spoon, setting the zucchini shells aside on a baking sheet. I then diced the insides and put them in a bowl. Into the bowl went the onion, tomato, rosemary and sausage. I gave that a good mix, then piled it high into the zucchini shells. Then I put the wonderful little mounds of goodness into the oven for about 25 minutes. I then removed them from the oven just long enough to cover them with a thick blanket of grated cranberry cheddar. Back into the oven they went, for about 3 minutes. I then took them out of the oven, let them cool for a minute too and mowed down. Om nom nom.

Warm Dandelion and Blackberry Salad

The leaves are finally changing colour announcing the coming of fall, and I'm immediately drawn to wilder places than the city. So where's the perfect place to go? Point Pleasant Park of course! So off I mosy into the winding paths. Suddenly it strikes me: there is so much in this park that is edible! A dandelion puff here, a wild blackberry there, so I got down to foraging. Here's what I came up with the ingredients I found:

What I collected in the park:
Dandelion Greens
Clover Flowers
Blackberries

How I made it:
Washed the greens and blackberries thoroughly. Got a pot of water on the boil with a little sea salt, and threw the greens in for about 10 minutes so that they got nice and tender. While those were on the boil, fried up a quarter of a diced onion with a little garlic in some olive oil. When the greens were done cooking, strained them and added them in the pan with the onion, and seasoned with some sea salt and pepper. When everything was nice and mixed together, plated them and grated a generous amount of Gruyere cheese (from the market of course) on top, placed a heaping pile of wild blackberries on top and garnished with a clover flower (which is 100% edible, yum). Om nom nom.

Back-To-School Quinoa Salad!

When I was a kid, opening up my lunchbox to see what kind of tasty things my mom had prepared and packed was one of my favourite parts of the school day. I loved the fresh and tasty creations she cooked up for me, and was always impressed with her creativity and ability to make new and interesting things every day. Now, living away from home, I'm responsible for my own lunches, but as classes are starting again, at first it seemed like a daunting task to emulate her wonderful lunchboxes. However, with a little thought I've come up with a fast, tasty and healthy portable lunch that's perfect for parents packing lunches or students grabbing something for between classes. The best part is that you can find all these ingredients right here at the farmer's market, which makes for a fresher taste and a cleaner conscience.

What I used:
3 cups dried quinoa (The Grainery)
1 cup diced tomato
1 cup diced cucumber
1 large sprig of parsley

How to make it:
Soak quinoa for an hour. This is a good time to dice vegetables, make some phone calls, check the mail or finish that paper you've been putting off. Drain and rinse the quinoa, then place it in a pot with a 3:1 quinoa to water ratio. Heat the pot up on the stove to medium or medium-low. Stir frequently. When all the water has been evaporated or absorbed into the quinoa, remove it from the heat and place in a glass container to cool. When it has cooled, season the quinoa with equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste, if you have some at home. If not, make this quinoa your own! Its flavour is very versatile so get creative. Let it cool in the fridge overnight. In the morning, right before sending your kids to school, or heading to class yourself, stir in your diced vegetables, stick the mix in a portable container, and off it goes. It keeps well, tastes great and is easy and fast to prepare. Take a little stress out of your life and try this recipe! Om nom nom.

The Acadian, Eh?

I have two confessions. The first is that I am French Canadian, and that, consequently, I love cheese and anything maple in a bad way. In fact, I am even known to combine the two in beautiful and sometimes alarmingly delicious combinations that make my mouth water even just thinking about them. Cheddar and maple crepes? Nom. Maple and cheese danishes? Been there. Maple grilled cheese? Yeah. That just happened. Here's how to make a kick-ass French Canadian grilled cheese.

What I used: 

Five-Grain Honey Bread from Mary's Bread Basket

Damafro Brie

One Noggins Corner Farm Macintosh apple

Linda's Corner maple syrup

Butter

How I did it:

Heat up a pan to medium and peel, core and slice your apple. Slather two slices of bread with butter. Apply one layer cheese, one layer apple, and one more layer cheese just to be safe on the unbuttered side of one of the bread slices. Put the other slice on top, buttered side facing out. Throw it in the pan and cook until bottom side is crispy and brown. Flip and repeat. Drizzle some maple syrup on top right before serving and eat that sucker up, eh? Om nom nom.