Grilled Mexican Chicken with Tomato Avocado Salsa

Where oh where have we bloggers been...out enjoying the summer months as I have been I imagine. When the sun is shining and the farmers fields are bursting, wineries are promoting and fruit stands are beckoning sitting at the computer seems to be a last resort. In these lazy, hazy days of summer quick, nurtitious and easy seems to be the order of the day. In keeping with this philosophy I came across a delicious dish over at my friend Amy's at Dinners for a Year and Beyond Here you will find delicious recipes a well as a link to her Eat Personal Chef Service. Amy says, "I love to cook. I cook for my family. I cook for my friends. I cook for my clients. And occasionally I cook for strangers."

This dish was made in a hurry, photographed in a hurry and eaten in a hurry......

ENJOY!!!!

**Grilled Mexican Chicken with Tomato Avocado Salsa**

for chicken --

1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 -1/2 pounds chicken tenders

for salsa --

1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
2- 1/2 cups tomato, chopped
juice of 1/2 of a lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, chopped and tossed with juice of 1/2 of a lime
salt and pepper to taste
cojita cheese, for sprinkling
tortillas
tortilla chips

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In a small bowl combine the first 10 ingredients. Place the chicken tenders in a resealable bag and add the marinade. Seal and squish around the contents to mix well. Let chicken marinate for about an hour.

Heat a grill to medium high.

While the grill is heating, prepare the salsa. In a medium sized bowl, combine the salsa ingredients. Set aside.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and and grill for about 4 - 5 minutes per side or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from grill and top with the salsa and the cojita cheese. Serve with tortillas and tortilla chips.

Print recipe

Wineries and Winners Made with Love

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Burrowing Owl Estate Winery with the kidlets L'il Burnt Toast and The Boy who took me there for a birthday adventure. Touring the valley's wine country, a hilly patchwork of desert, orchards, vineyards, and a myriad of lakes...is always an adventure!!!! Along the occasionally rugged roads, there are dozens of public beaches and countless seasonal farm stands selling fresh cherries, apples, pears, and peaches, as well as pies and preserves. Burrowing Owl Winery is in the South Okanagan near the town of Oliver. With the strains of music you could imagine yourself in Tuscany with wave after wave of vineyards mesmerizing you. We had a lovely lunch pictured above beginning with a shared plate of local artisan cheeses and fruits.

Through our warm and lovely valley runs a long, deep lake purportedly inhabited by a serpentine monster called Ogopogo. The chain of lakes creates an eco-climate conducive to creating one of the world's most vibrant wine regions, a place where vintners are experimenting with many different varietals.

In 1988, there were a dozen or so Okanagan wineries; today there are more than 100, many producing world-class wines that are entirely different in character from what you find in other Western regions. The Okanagan is along the same latitude as Germany and France but shorter in history.

For most of its history, fabulous fruits, especially apples, were the Okanagan's main claim to fame. Do you remember receiving British Columbia apples from the Sears catalogue? The valley's first winery, founded in 1932, produced apple wine. A few years later, it switched to local grapes, hardly a major improvement, as most of the area's grapes were labrusca hybrids. Labrusca grapes, such as the Concord, make a dynamite purple jelly, but not a good dry table wine. For that, you need vinifera grapes...chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, syrah.....among a few.

In the 1960s and '70s, efforts were made to introduce vinifera grapes to the region, but little changed until 1988, when Canada agreed to drop trade barriers against imports. Since the valley's abysmal wines could never compete with those of France or California, the government paid people to replant their vineyards with vinifera. History was born!!!!!

In the end, two-thirds of the valley's vineyards were replanted and table grapes are hard to find. In the early '90s the number of wineries began to grow, as vintners from Germany, France, California, Switzerland, New Zealand, and even other Canadian provinces began discovering what the Okanagan has to offer and might do as well as other wine regions—and what it might do better. So far, this much is clear..... in the hot, southern portion of the valley, wineries are having surprising luck with reds like merlot and syrah. But the Okanagan's true rising star is pinot gris, a creamy, fruity white varietal also produced in the Alsace region of France.

And then there's the valley's most celebrated offering—ice wine. Invented in Germany in 1794, this intense, gorgeous nectar is made by leaving grapes on the vine through a frost, after which they are promptly picked and pressed. Water, in the form of ice granules, stays in the press and what goes into the fermenter is the sweet essence of grape. Optimal weather conditions can never be assured, so true ice wine is a real treat. You'll probably pay more than $50 for a tall, skinny bottle of ice wine; just about every Okanagan winery makes its own signature variety.

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On another note...... The winners of last weeks draw are....

Jamie of Mom's Cooking Club

Kaitlin of Kait's Plate.

Congratulations ladies!!!!!!

For the last 4 weeks Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and I have been alternately cooking up some recipes using our collection of Made with Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends. These products are of exceptional quality and we are pleased to be able to giveaway new SpiceBlends each week due to the generosity of Alex and Colin over at Made With Love. Each week we have been giving away a different couplet or trio of Spice Blends Gift Sets to you our readers generously supplied by Made With Love a local eco-friendly company. Simply find the weeks chosen "search and find image" and enter to win!!!

So far, revisit Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Touch of Dill made with the Daring Dill Spice Blend and Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Ricotta and Feta made with their Pesto Garlic Spice Blend, Barbequed Shrimp made with Red Pepper Blend and this week......check out Shelby's Chicken Penne Prima Vera put together this week with the Prima Vera Spice Blend . Perfecto!!!!

To win this week:

1) Visit their web site http://www.madewithlove.ca/ and find the image/photo "The Long Tall Laugh" for this weeks entry and enter to win.

2) Leave a comment at madewithlovecontest(AT)gmail(DOT)com where you found the image/photo"The Long Tall Laugh". Please let us know your blog URL so that we can post the names of the winners on our sites with a link back to you!!!

3) You will be automatically entered to win a Made With Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends Gift Set. This weeks winners will receive TWO Earth-Friendly Gift Set Couplets of Prima Vera and Garden Curry Regular-Size SpiceBlends worth $40.

4) Visit Shelby at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch this week to see her delicious chicken dish using the Prima Vera Spice Blend or here at More Than Burnt Toast at the beginning of each week for a delicious recipe and a new chance to win!!!

5) The lucky winners who receive their Couplet of Spice Blends will create a recipe using their products, blog about it with a link to http://www.madewithlove.ca/ . All of the recipe creations will be posted as a roundup on The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and here on More Than Burnt Toast. Your recipe may even be on the Made with Love website!!!!

Shelby and I love these spice blends and you will too!!! Tell a friend!!!!

Breakfast at Tiffany's for Dinner & a Movie

Something little known about me is that I love to watch old movie classics...thank goodness for retro television on channel 35!!! I thrill to watch Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner in Anastasia or Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart travelling down the river in the African Queen, and the holidays are not the holidays without watching It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmie Stewart. My favourite actors and actresses are still those we see in such classic movies such as this month's choice for Dinner and a Movie hosted by Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy and Marc of No Recipes ...good choice Susan...

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Like the protagonist at its heart, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S is quirky, funny, bewildering, serious, sophisticated and bittersweet -- and as movies go, great entertainment!!!!!

No film better utilizes Audrey Hepburn's flighty charm and svelte beauty than this romantic adaptation based on Truman Capote's 1958 novella of the same title. The movie version (1961) is the story of a woman on her own making her way in New York City. Hepburn's urban sophisticated character Holly Golightly is an enchanting bright-eyed free spirit in designer dresses and costume jewelry living off of the gifts of wealthy men. George Peppard plays her upstairs neighbor, a struggling writer and "kept" man financed by a steely older woman (Patricia Neal). His growing friendship with the lonely Holly soon turns to love and threatens the delicate balance of both of their lives.

To relive the movie I tried a modern twist on breakfast with a breakfast salad inspired by Canadian Chef Ned Bell. It combines Okanagan chevre goat cheese, crispy bacon and a combination of mesclun greens with a tangy dressing for a perfect way to begin your day!!!!! I served it alongside fresh slices of Okanagan nectarines and cherry plums. ENJOY!!!!!

**Breakfast Salad With Goat Cheese**

Printable recipe

6 thick bacon slices
1 tablespoon (15 mL) of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon (5 mL) of Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons (45 mL) of olive oil
6 cups (1500 mL) of mixed baby greens
4 oz (1/2 cup/125 mL)) of soft goat cheese (chevre)

3 tablespoons pecans, finely chopped
2 teaspoons (10 mL) of fresh chives
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons (30 mL) of water

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Preheat oven to 350F.

In bowl combine vinegar and Dijon mustard. Add olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut goat cheese in half and pat each portion between your hands to form a disk. Press pecans all over each disk to coat evenly. Place disks in a small ovenproof, non-stick pan and bake in a preheated 350F oven until heated through, approximately 5 minutes.

Use a large skillet to cook bacon, until it is crispy. Let bacon drain on paper towelling. Roll bacon while still warm. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings and fat from the skillet.

Return your skillet to the heat. Gently fry your 3 eggs until the whites begin to set, approximately 1 minute. Add water to the skillet. Cover and cook for approximately 2 minutes.

Pour all but a little of the dressing onto the salad greens and toss to coat. Reserve approximately a tablespoon of the dressing.

Divide the dressed greens onto 4 plates and top with baked goats cheese disks and bacon strips.

Top each salad with an egg. Drizzle with remaining dressing and top with chopped chives.

Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4

View & Review

We’re more than excited to share the newest effort of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine to raise funds and awareness for the World Food Programme and their School Meals initiative. We are proud to announce:

View and Review

We have arranged for our members to review cookbooks and products. All work and no play makes us all a little dull so let's all get together and have a little fun while continuing to raise awareness for world famine. Do we love cookbooks? Do we love food? After all, most of our members are food bloggers and what's more important than food :).

Giz and I would like to thank Ruth Daniels of Once Upon a Feast for bringing her expertise to this project. Most of you will know Ruth from Presto Pasta Nights which we have all participated in over the years!!!!

As foodies I am sure there is not one of us who doesn't have an overflowing collection of cookbooks or food related magazines on their shelves. Would you enjoy adding to your collection?

Our passion for all things "foodie" is what bands food bloggers together. We want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. Foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary and I am sure that we can all relate!!!! We want you to share your knowledge and expertise with others!!!

We have made agreements with several cookbook publishers and companies (with an evergrowing list) to partner with BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine which will allow our members the chance to participate in cookbook and product reviews. This gives us all the opportunity to review new cookbooks on the market as well as sample new products along the way!!

Members who choose to participate will sign up in the forum under "View and Review"“ in the right hand margin. Please let us know if you’d like to participate and we’ll add you to our list of reviewers. You will receive a copy of a cookbook or a product to review, create a recipe and blog about it!!! This is what we do best!!!!!

Want to join??????

1. You must be a member of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine to participate. So sign up!! If you have friends who would like to participate, by all means, invite them to join as well. When you join the group here, please let us know if you have preferences or restrictions. For example, if you’re vegan, we will arrange for you to receive only vegan books or products for review.

2. You’ll receive a copy of a new cookbook from the publisher or a product to review. Within a timeframe (to be determined), turn in your review to the forum together with a copy of the picture of the dish you’ve prepared. Post both the review and the picture on your own blog with a link to BACFF.

3. You may choose to either keep the cookbook or product or donate it to BACFF for auction. You’re under no pressure – foodies love their cookbooks so we’re fine if you decide to keep it.

Our partners are excited to participate with us – it’s a win/win for everyone!!!!!!

We have approached many publishers and companies internationally and although not every country is covered, we’re working behind the scenes to make sure that if you’re in Brazil that there will be books available in your country of origin. Some countries may be covered by another country. For example, if you’re in Indonesia, books could be available from Australia.

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Many things have been happening behind the scenes at BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine. We are now in the final stages of the editing process of our fundraising cookbook thanks to a dedicated team of members. We expect the cookbook to be available for sale on Amazon by December at the lastest and in plenty of time for the Christmas rush. It's been a fun and interesting learning experience so far and everyone involved in the cookbook has been working in editing, proof reading and conversions in preparation of the compilation of the book. I think we all can agree that we've learned many things in the process. So, if it looks like BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine has been in sleepy mode - it's been anything but!!!!!!!!

Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti for Julie & Julia & Last Week's Made with Love Winners

For those of you who follow More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I am always up for a challenge. Where this is a cause to promote or a friend to support I am there. The challenge......Helene of La cuisine d'Helene challenged us on Twitter to prepare a dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking in anticipation of the release of the movie Julie & Julia. Today I prepared a classic dish using the bounty of fresh cherries available this time of year here in the valley.

The photos were less than satisfactory since the entire city, and probably the skies for hundreds of kilometers are covered in dense smoke. Thousands of people on the Westside of the lake have been evacuated due to the fires. It makes us fearful because it reminds us of 2003 when hundreds of homes were lost, families displaced and 16 of the trestles on the historical Kettle Valley railway were burnt to the ground. You hear the constant whir of the helicopters as they drop their buckets into the lake to try and get the fires under control.

On a positive note, reminiscent of the 2003 fires, the city residents always band together and opens their hearts and homes to complete strangers and donate food and personal items to those that have been displaced. Lets hope the fires are put out soon...there is no rain expected. Update: So far the fires are on there way to being under control. We need some rain which in the Okanagan is not something that happens during the summer.

As food bloggers we have all been anticipating the new movie Julie & Julia since we first saw the trailer at the theatre. I expect Julie & Julia, the movie based on the bestselling memoir by Julie Powell to be "irresistible" not only to foodies like us but will tap into the psyche of a general audience to unleash their passions as well. It will bring food bloggers out of the closet and perhaps we can take photos of our dishes with gay abandon and in public and not be thought of as some crazy recluse cat ladies/gents...wink...wink....

The movie is the parallel of two lives based decades apart. Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking for an entire year every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's legendary cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As we know this would be quite a challenge. She found support from the blogging community with her blog the Julie/Julia Project.

Meryl Streep plays cooking maven Julia Child. Half of the movie chronicles Child's life in 1950s Paris, during which she learned to cook and co-authored her seminal work with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.

Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, who begins writing her blog to escape the frustration of her bureaucratic job. Her unexpected reward is a new life lived with gusto and not just a new found respect for calves' livers and aspic. The film version is written and directed by Nora Ephron which is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child's autobiography, written with Alex Prud'homme and the memoir by Julie Powell.

The movie comes out August 7th. Celebrate life!!!!!

**Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti**
1 -1/4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups cherries, pitted
powdered sugar, for garnish

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, and blend.
Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish, and pour a 1/4-inch layer of the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside.

Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven (but don’t turn the oven off, yet).

Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries and sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Servings: 6-8 for dessert, 4 for breakfast. (It tasted better than it looks!!!)

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On another note......

For the last 3 weeks Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and I have been alternately cooking up some recipes using our collection of Made with Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends. Each week we have been giving away a different couplet or trio of Spice Blends Gift Sets to you our readers generously supplied by Made With Love a local eco-friendly company.

Simply find the weeks chosen "search and find image" and enter to win!!!

So far, revisit Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Touch of Dill made with the Daring Dill Spice Blend and Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Ricotta and Feta made with their Pesto Garlic Spice Blend and of course check out the delicous Barbequed Shrimp dish Shelby put together this week with the Red Pepper Spice Blend. We both rave about this blend!!!

Last weeks winners are....drum roll please.......

Deeba of Passionate About Baking

Niki Theo of It's All About the Sweet Stuff

To win this week:

1) Visit their web site http://www.madewithlove.ca/ and find the image/photo "The Silver Hug" for this weeks entry and enter to win.

2) Leave a comment at madewithlovecontest(AT)gmail(DOT)com where you found the image/photo"The Silver Hug". Please let us know your blog URL so that we can post the names of the winners on our sites with a link back to you!!!

3) You will be automatically entered to win a Made With Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends Gift Set. This weeks winners will receive TWO Earth-Friendly Gift Set Couplets of Crimson Love and Pesto Garlic Med-Size SpiceBlends worth $50 each. One for you and one for a friend!!!!

4) Visit Shelby at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch this week to see her delicious shrimp dish using the Crimson Love Spice Blend or here at More Than Burnt Toast at the beginning of each week for a delicious recipe and a new chance to win!!!

5) The lucky winners who receive their TWO Couplets of Spice Blends will create a recipe using their products, blog about it with a link to http://www.madewithlove.ca/ . Whoever you choose to send the second spice blend to can also participate. All of the recipe creations will be posted as a roundup on The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and here on More Than Burnt Toast. Your recipe may even be on the Made with Love website!!!!

Shelby and I love these spice blends and you will too!!! Tell a friend!!!!

Sam the Cooking Guy Makes Tortilla Soup

It has been a busy few weeks here at More Than Burnt Toast. There have been trials and tribulations and car expenses as well as birthday celebrations.... and celebrations simply just for the fact that it is summer. Isn't summer reason enough to celebrate alone!!!! We have been melting in the heat like the wicked witch of the West, and to be perfectly honest it gets pretty tiresome if you can't spend your days lying around the pool sipping margueritas or with my greedy lips wrapped around my favourite bellini. I know you always hear complaints about the weather, including from me, and I know that that is one thing we have no control over in our lives. What I do have control over is how I spend my free time which is a precious commodity and how I spend my birthday.

Over the past few weeks I have celebrated my birthday several times with friends which is just an excuse to get together. Dinner at Bonfire Grill at The Cove, a sunset cruise on Lake Okanagan.,..and still more celebrations to come.

Any celebration for me needs to revolve around food somehow. I would have to call myself a "foodie" and not a gourmet. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Foodies however differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicureans of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. Foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary and that is ME!!!! I am sure that we can all relate!!!!

This past weekend I decided to spend a few hours as a "foodie" with Sam Zien of The Cooking Guy fame. No, not just the two of us!!!Don't get your hopes up here that I have found a man or am sharing my life with someone.

Sam is the creator and host of the television show Sam the Cooking Guy and spent some time here on the weekend at Predator Ridge Golf and Country Club a 27-hole golf course "The Bear" which if I am not mistaken was designed by Jack Nicklaus and the home of The Skins in 2008. I had valet service and was treated royally all the while seeing how the other half lives at this award winning resort. This was the beginning of my birthday celebrations!!!

Sam believes that food should be "big in taste: but small in effort." He is very clear from the beginning that he is not a chef; he also believes that certain things, like measuring ingredients (unless baking), are not a necessity and that 350 degrees is the "universal temperature" at which to cook everything. I like this guy, since there is a time and place for everything. You can still impress your guests just as easily with a quick and delicious meal as with a gourmet meal you have spent hours of your time away from your guests attached to the stove to stir, foam and plate. Afterall your guests have come to see you and enjoy your company!!!

According to his web site, "Before he became "Sam the Cooking Guy," Sam Zien was a working stiff just like everyone else. However, one day in 2001, he decided to leave behind his position at a San Diego biotech company to spend his days doing something he was truly passionate about. After a great deal of thought and reflection, Sam decided that he would combine his love for people and zest for life by pursuing a career in television with a travel show. His aim was to demystify exotic travel for the everyday person while empowering them to explore foreign locations on their own. However, with the events of September 11 occurring just a month before Sam's first scheduled shoot in Tokyo, it was clear that the time was not right to launch a new travel program.

He decided to change his focus to something else that he could simplify for people. Sam wanted to make the process of cooking easy and unintimidating so that his audience would say,"Hey, I can make that!" Along with his wife, three teenage sons and two dogs, he started filming in 2002 and 7 years later has earned 11 Emmies cooking from his home in San Diego, California...a real guy, in his real kitchen, cooking food for real people!!!! If he makes a mistake they leave it in. If he drops something they leave it in. Because that's what goes on in a real home and the goal is to recreate food you can make easily and really enjoy. Food that'll keep you from going out.

On his web site you will find recipes such as Mexican Bruschetta and Salmon with Gremolata and Tomatoes. At the luncheon he demonstrated 3 dishes we could prepare with one storebought rotisserie chicken...Tortilla Soup, Buffalo Chicken Pizza and a Pulled Chicken Sandwich. The soup was delicious and here is the recipe!!! We started off with a Pimm's (very British) and then we enjoyed the company of our table guests and a few hours with Sam. A very nice way to spend a few hours indeed!!!

ENJOY!!!!

**Tortilla Soup**

16 ounces red salsa, medium hot. Oh what the heck—if you like it hot, go for it!
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
2 flour tortillas
1 one avocado, diced small
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped for garnish

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Heat salsa in a little pot on the stove. Once it starts to bubble, add the broth and chicken and simmer until chicken is heated through, about 5 minutes.

While it's heating, cook tortillas on both sides in a tiny amount of oil in a non-stick pan—the goal is to get them crispy.

Remove tortillas and slice into thin strips.

Serve by putting the soup in bowls and topping with avocado, tortilla strips and chopped cilantro.
Serves 4.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad Made with Love, Enter to Win & Last Week's Winners

When at our local Choices market a few weeks ago I came across a local British Columbian company that was marketing their 100% natural products. Occasionally I review products on this blog that have a focus on either sustainability or are a healthy choice and a bonus would be if they are environmentally friendly as well. This is in keeping with my life style choices to create as little carbon imprint on this planet as possible.

Made with Love is a family run business with a back to basics focus on integrity, insight and simplicity. At Made with Love they choose their packaging consciously with our planet’s health in mind, opting for materials which are natural, reusable, recyclable or biodegradable.

Their Spice Blends are hand-crafted, 100% natural blends of spices, herbs and vegetables designed to make everyday cooking and eating simple, healthy and tasty. All of their Spice Blends combine Whole Super Food Nutrition with a focus on antioxidant properties in flavours that are deliciously addictive!!! The bonus is we get super yummy healthy food we really want to eat with nothing to feel guilty about! Every Spice Blend can be used to make dips, spreads, dressings, marinades, sauces, pasta, stirfry, meats, eggs, tofu, beans, soups, chili, veggies, breads, appetizers ...the possibilities are endless to make EVERYTHING taste great!!!!! I tried their Prima Vera Spice Blend in my favourite Primavera Alfredo and was hooked!!!! Since then I have been experimenting with their Spice Blends in many of my dishes.

I contacted Alex and Colin and an idea was born!!!

For the last 2 weeks Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and I have been alternately cooking up some recipes using our collection of Made with Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends. Each week we have been giving away a different couplet or trio of Spice Blends Gift Sets to you our readers generously supplied by Made with Love. Simply find the weeks chosen "search and find image" and enter to win!!!

To win:

1) Visit their web site http://www.madewithlove.ca/ and find the image/photo "The Fire" for this weeks entry and enter to win.

2) Leave a comment at madewithlovecontest(AT)gmail(DOT)com where you found the image/photo"The Fire". Please let us know your blog URL so that we can post the names of the winners on our sites with a link back to you!!!

3) You will be automatically entered to win a Made With Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends Gift Set worth $40!!! This weeks winners will receive one of two Earth-Friendly Gift Set Trios of Jalapeno Roots, Red Pepper and Aztec Chocolate Medi-Size Spice Blends.

4) Visit either Shelby at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch or here at More Than Burnt Toast at the beginning of each week for a delicious recipe and a new chance to win!!!

5) The lucky winners who receive their Trio of Spice Blends will create a recipe using their products, blog about it with a link to http://www.madewithlove.ca/ . All of the recipe creations will be posted as a roundup on The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and here on More Than Burnt Toast. Your recipe may even be on the Made with Love website!!!!

Their flavour combinations are somewhat unusual and take flavours to new heights.

Prima Vera Spice Blend is a wonderful blend of sun-dried tomato, sweet pepper and Italian spices. Try this blend for creamy, red or clear pasta sauces, in cream cheese on a bagel it is heavenly and as a Spanish-style rice side dish.

Crimson Love Spice Blend is a garlic lover’s blend with a strong essence of rosemary in a dried beet base with hints of nori and fresh greens. Wonderful for dips, dressings or pretty pink pasta!

Jalapeno Roots Spice Blend is a rich blend of jalapeno with garlic, onions, sweet peppers and lime in a dried carrot base. Creamy dips & pasta are gorgeous. Spice up your guacamole, veggies, meats or salsa.

Garden Curry Spice Blend is a mild curry blend with a mix of garden vegetables. Blended in cream cheese, pasta or yogurt dip it creates a mild, rich and flavourful sunshine cream!

Country Onion Spice Blend is a traditional mix of fresh garden herbs, caramelized onions and chives. An extremely versatile blend, great on poultry, meats or eggs, fabulous for potatoes and herbed rice.

Pesto Garlic Spice Blend is their dried rendition of its namesake. Not fresh pesto but an easy instant version that is extremely versatile. No pinenuts or cheese here so safe for vegans or nut’free, just a beautiful blend of the herb flavours traditionally recognised as pesto. Great for pasta, meats or salad.

Daring Dill Spice Blend is truly their most sophisticated blend full of great dill flavour followed by a hint of fresh tomato and a hot mustard finish. Lovely on veggies, chicken or fish. Excellent for vinaigrette dressings and creamy sauces. Delightful!

Aztec Chocolate Spice Blend is a complex blend of Real Cacao, Coffee and Vanilla Beans with pungent sweet and spicy peppers. Aztec Chocolate is a traditional savoury flavour mix for Mexican and Latin American cuisine, led by the ancient Aztec and Mayan peoples of the region. Try it on meat dishes, beans, tofu or salad dressings this amazing sweet and spicy combo is great for everyday cooking. Also decadently fabulous for our desert dip.

Red Pepper Spice Blend is sweet with a mild spicy flavour similar to a pepper jelly. A blend of turbinado sugar with a mix of sweet and hot chilies. Amazing on veggies of any kind and a wonder to sprinkle on chicken, pork or fish. Great in mashed potatoes or melted in your popcorn butter it is absolutely addictive.

This week I used the Pesto Garlic Spice Blend to make a delicious pasta salad perfect for these hot weather days. Check back next week to see what Shelby is cooking up!!!!!!

Now for the 2 winners of last weeks giveaway.......drum roll please..........

Congratulations to Joey at Joe's Place and Brittany of Deckled Edges who are each the winners of the Earth-Friendly Gift Set Trio of Red Pepper, Daring Dill & Country Onion.

Please reply to our e-mail with your address which we will forward on to the company.

**Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Ricotta & Feta**

Dressing:

1/2 large red onion, (about 5 ounces), finely chopped

1/4 cup + 2 T fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

2 tablespoons Made with Love Pesto Garlic Spice Blend

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the salad:

1 pound fusilli (corkscrew) or penne pasta

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (or approximately two dozen), halved

1 English cucumber (about 12 ounces) quartered lengthwise,then sliced crosswise

1/4 inch thick (alternatively, use 2 medium cucumbers, peel and seed them, cut as directed)

1 cup kalamata olives, (about 4 ounces) pitted and halved

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

3/4 cup (6 ounces) ricotta cheese

3/4 cup (4 ounces) crumbled Feta cheese

1 ounce crumbled Feta cheese, for garnish

***********************

Combine all dressing ingredients except for the oil, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the oil until it is thoroughly combined with the other ingredients. Let stand for at least 30 minutes to blend the flavours. (Can be made the day before and refrigerated.)

Bring 3 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender but still slightly firm to the bite. Drain (do not rinse) and let cool to room temperature, mixing occasionally. When cool, place in a large bowl and add the dressing. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix until the dressing is well distributed. Add the remaining ingredients except salt and pepper and 1 ounce of Feta for garnish. Let stand for 1/2 hour. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Top with remaining crumbled Feta and serve.

Serves 8

TIP: You may omit the salt depending on the saltiness of your feta

Canadian Chef Ned Bell's Bulgur Wheat Stuffed Peppers

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know I have started a weekly feature to highlight Canadian Chefs a few months ago. Through your TV networks, or perhaps on other blogs, or even just right here on More Than Burnt Toast you may have heard of some of our Canadian chefs. For those of you who haven't, I hope you will find it interesting to see what our chefs are up to, a little about their history and how they came to love what they do. For the next few months I will continue to feature one of our Canadian chefs each week. There will be some chefs you have heard of and adore and some lesser known who are up and coming. As the tenth installment in my Canadian Chef series I introduce you to:

Ned Bell

Ned Bell is a hometown boy who has "done good" and is arguably one of Canada’s foremost culinary talents. Born here in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia’s Wine Country, Ned has always had a passion for cooking and is steadfast in his vision and drive to create new, imaginative dishes with fresh, local ingredients.

Ned began his career in Vancouver working under two local restaurant legends... first under the tutelage of Le Crocodile’s Michel Jacob and then as Sous Chef for Rob Feenie’s Lumiere restaurant.

In 1997 Bell set his sights eastward where he enjoyed successful stints as Executive Chef at Niagara on the Lake’s Peninsula Ridge Estate Winery, and at Toronto’s Accolade and Senses restaurants where he earned significant recognition by the city’s culinary cognoscenti. During his time in Toronto, Bell was a regular on Food Network Canada’s “Cook Like a Chef.”

Ready to make his mark on the up-and-coming Calgary restaurant scene, the new millennium saw Ned moving west to cook up a storm at Murrieta’s Grill in Calgary, where his list of accomplishments included winning Where Magazine’s Rising Star and Best Overall awards.
Wanting to get further engaged in the business side of restaurants, Bell joined the team at Vintage Chophouse and Red Water Grille as Corporate Chef where his passion, knowledge, creativity and focus turned the restaurants into two of Calgary’s most exciting culinary locales.

The vibrant, young chef is thrilled to return to his roots where he is excitedly living his dream of being both Executive Chef and an owner at Cabana Bar and Grille here in Kelowna, BC. We are excited to have him return!!!! It turns out that you can go home again (although I think he grew up in Penticton)!!!! "Ned Bell has been a Vancouver chef, a Toronto chef, a Calgary chef and a TV chef. But last year he heeded his Okanagan roots and the call to gather the artisanal bounty of the area in a mass-appeal package. The result is the first Cabana Grille, a slick spot on Kelowna’s lakeshore that has the energy of a hip, casually upscale room coupled with the deft touch of a master chef. If all goes according to plan, you may see a Cabana coming soon to a location near you."

Ned’s talent and charisma continue to propel him forward. Since opening Cabana Bar and Grille, Ned has begun filming “It’s Just Food” for CTV so watch for his show in the near future!!!! He has also been voted one of Western Living’s Top 40 Foodies Under 40. Ned is also lending his good taste to Vancouver Cooks 2 which is a coveted collection of recipes from Vancouver’s best chefs.

Ned has recently returned from meetings with Farm Folk/City Folk for this years Feast of Fields which I hope to attend in August at Valentines Farms in Summerland.

It was hard to choose one specific recipe to highlight Ned's passions with recipes such as Breakfast Salad with Goat Cheese, Lamb Roasted in Oiled Parchment with Pecorino ,or Potato Wrapped Deep Fried Prawns. I finally decided upon a vegetarian dish of bulgur stuffed sweet peppers with a slightly crunchy crust of Parmesan...so delicious!!!! Yes those are the tiniest tomatoes on the face of the earth. They have been growing in a hanging basket on my patio and are the size of my pinkie fingernail!!!! What they lack in their diminutive size they make up for with a burst of intense flavour!!!!

**Bulgar Wheat Stuffed Peppers**
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot Serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded, and, minced
4 large mushroom, minced
4 cup rich vegetable or chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups bulgur wheat
1 cup walnuts, toasted, and, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, removed, from, sprigs
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, removed, from, sprigs
1/2 cup grated Leoni-Grana or Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Gouda or mozzarella cheese
2 large egg, beaten
6 large red, green, yellow or orange bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds and ribs removed
salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or 1 tbsp cold-pressed canola oil
extra grated cheese, for topping
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat the oil with butter over a medium heat in a covered saucepan and sauté the onion and garlic for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add the Serrano or jalapeno pepper and the mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir in the stock and the soy sauce, pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer over a low heat, covered for 5 minutes. Add the bulgur wheat, walnuts and honey and give it a good stir. Cover the pot and reduce it to a simmer until the bulgur is tender, about 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool slightly. Stir in the fresh basil, fresh thyme, oregano, grated cheeses and beaten eggs.

Put the red pepper halves into an oiled baking dish and sprinkle with salt. Press some of the stuffing into each pepper and finish off the top with a drizzle of olive oil and grated Parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

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Don't forget to enter our giveaway partnered with an up and coming company Made with Love . To find out how to enter this week visit HERE!!!and enter to win by leaving a comment at our G-mail account madewithlovecontest(AT)gmail(DOT)com. You will be automatically entered to win a Made With Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends Gift Set worth $40!!! This weeks winner will receive the trio of Red Pepper, Daring Dill and Country Onion which can be shipped worldwide!!!!

Creamy Asparagus Soup Made With Love & Your Chance to Win!!!!!!!

When at our local Choices Market the other day I came across a local British Columbian company that was marketing their 100% natural products. Occasionally I review products on this blog that have a focus on either sustainability or are a healthy choice and a bonus would be if they are environmentaly friendly as well. This is in keeping with my life style choices to create as little carbon imprint on this planet as possible.

Made with Love is a family run business with a back to basics focus on integrity, insight and simplicity. At Made with Love they choose their packaging consciously with our planet’s health in mind, opting for materials which are natural, reusable, recyclable or biodegradable.

Their Spice Blends are hand-crafted, 100% natural blends of spices, herbs and vegetables designed to make everyday cooking and eating simple, healthy and tasty. All of their Spice Blends combine Whole Super Food Nutrition with a focus on antioxidant properties in flavours that are deliciously addictive!!! The bonus is we get super yummy healthy food we really want to eat with nothing to feel guilty about! Every Spice Blend can be used to make dips, spreads, dressings, marinades, sauces, pasta, stirfry, meats, eggs, tofu, beans, soups, chili, veggies, breads, appetizers ...the possibilities are endless to make EVERYTHING taste great!!!!! I tried their Prima Vera Spice Blend in my favourite Primavera Alfredo as well as in a Creamy Asparagus Soup and was hooked!!!!

I contacted Alex and Colin and an idea was born!!!

For the next 6 weeks Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and I will be alternately cooking up some recipes using our collection of Made with Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends. Each week we will be giving away a different couplet or trio of Spice Blends Gift Sets to you our readers generously supplied by Made with Love. Simply find the weeks chosen "search and find image" and enter to win!!!

To enter:

1) Visit their web site http://www.madewithlove.ca/ and find the image/photo "The Kiss" for this weeks entry and enter to win.

2) Leave a comment at madewithlovecontest(AT)gmail(DOT)com where you found the " The Kiss".

3) You will be automatically entered to win a Made With Love Eco-friendly Spice Blends Gift Set worth $40!!! This weeks winner will receive the trio of Red Pepper, Daring Dill and Country Onion. Can be shipped worldwide!!!!

4) Visit either Shelby at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch or here at More Than Burnt Toast at the beginning of each week for a delicious recipe and a new chance to win 2 different Spice Blend gift sets each week!!!

5) The lucky winners who receive their Spice Blends will create a recipe using their products, blog about it with a link to http://www.madewithlove.ca/ . All of the recipe creations will be posted as a roundup on The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and here on More Than Burnt Toast. Your recipe may even be on the Made with Love website!!!!

Their flavour combinations are somewhat unusual and take flavours to a new heights.

Prima Vera Spice Blend is a wonderful blend of sun-dried tomato, sweet pepper and Italian spices. Try this blend for creamy, red or clear pasta sauces, in cream cheese on a bagel it is heavenly and as a spanish-style rice side dish.

Crimson Love Spice Blend is a garlic lover’s blend with a strong essence of rosemary in a dried beet base with hints of nori and fresh greens. Wonderful for dips, dressings or pretty pink pasta!

Jalapeno Roots Spice Blend is a rich blend of jalapeno with garlic, onions, sweet peppers and lime in a dried carrot base. Creamy dips & pasta are gorgeous. Spice up your guacamole, veggies, meats or salsa.

Garden Curry Spice Blend is a mild curry blend with a mix of garden vegetables. Blended in cream cheese, pasta or yogurt dip it creates a mild, rich and flavourful sunshine cream!

Country Onion Spice Blend is a traditional mix of fresh garden herbs, caramelized onions and chives. An extremely versatile blend, great on poultry, meats or eggs, fabulous for potatoes and herbed rice.

Pesto Garlic Spice Blend is our dried rendition of its namesake. Not fresh pesto but an easy instant version that is extremely versatile. No pinenuts or cheese here so safe for vegans or nut’free, just a beautiful blend of the herb flavours traditionally recognised as pesto. Great for pasta, meats or salad.

Daring Dill Spice Blend is truly their most sophisticated blend full of great dill flavour followed by a hint of fresh tomato and a hot mustard finish. Lovely on veggies, chicken or fish. Excellent for vinaigrette dressings and creamy sauces. Delightful!

Aztec Chocolate Spice Blend is a complex blend of Real Cacao, Coffee and Vanilla Beans with pungent sweet and spicy peppers. Aztec Chocolate is a traditional savoury flavour mix for Mexican and Latin American cuisine, led by the ancient Aztec and Mayan peoples of the region. Try it on meat dishes, beans, tofu or salad dressings this amazing sweet and spicy combo is great for everyday cooking. Also decadently fabulous for our desert dip.

Red Pepper Spice Blend is sweet with a mild spicy flavour similar to a pepper jelly. A blend of turbinado sugar with a mix of sweet and hot chilies. Amazing on veggies of any kind and a wonder to sprinkle on chicken, pork or fish. Great in mashed potatoes or melted in your popcorn butter it is absolutely addictive.

This week I used the daring Dill Spice Blend to make a delicious creamy asparagaus soup. Check back next week to see what Shelby is cooking up!!!!!!

Made with Made with Love Daring Dill Spice Blend which has late summer dill with a luscious tomato and mustard zing!!

**Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Touch of Daring Dill**

Printable Recipe

2 pounds asparagus
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
1- 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons unbleached white flour
2 cups water
2 cups warm milk (lowfat or soy is okay)
white pepper to taste
1 - 2 tablespoons Made with Love Daring Dill Spice Blend

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Break off and discard the tough asparagus bottoms. Slice off the tips and set them aside. Chop the remaining stalks into 1-inch pieces.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot. Add the onion, asparagus stalks, and salt. Sauté for about 10 minutes over medium heat. When the onions are clear and soft, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of the flour while constantly stirring. Cook over the lowest possible heat, stirring frequently, another 5 to 8 minutes. Add water, stirring constantly. Heat to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Puree the soup with the milk and 1-2 tablespoons of Made with Love Daring Dill Spice Blend, either with a hand-held immersion blender, or bit-by-bit in a food processor or blender. Return the puree to the pot to simmer. Season with white pepper and taste to correct the salt. Steam the reserved asparagus tips until just tender, aprroximately 2 - 3 minutes. Add these to the soup, heat very gently (don't boil it!) and serve immediately.

If desired mix 1 tablespoon of Made with Love Daring Dill Spice Blend with 1/4 cup cream. Swirl through soup decoratively.

Serves 4 - 5

Ned's Fluffy Pancakes

Ned Bell is an up-and-coming young Canadian Chef.

He is also co-owner of a local eatery here in town. I tried his pancakes the other day which are amazing as well as "good for you", but stay tuned for more next week in my continuing Canadian Chef's series. For now enjoy his delicious pancakes....I know I did...and I didn't eat this entire stack myself!!!!!

I am off boating on beautiful Kalamalka Lake today..I'll do my very best to not burn like a lobster!!!! We will see if the camera works:D


**Ned’s Fluffy Pancakes**


2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk (250 ml)
1/2 cup melted butter (125 ml)
1 cup all-purpose flour (250 ml)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (15 ml)
3 teaspoon baking powder (15 ml)
1/2 teaspoon salt (2.5 ml)
1/2 cup rolled oats (125 ml)
1/4 cup dried bran (60 ml)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (2.5 ml)
pinch of nutmeg
2 bananas thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter (15 ml) for griddle


***********
Preheat non-stick griddle to 425ºFahrenheit (195º Celsius).

Place eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter in a medium bowl and mix well.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Sift all the dry ingredients well and add the oats and bran.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently incorporate. Do not whisk, the batter should have some lumps. If batter is too thick add more buttermilk.

Gently stir in banana.

Melt butter evenly on hot griddle and spread all over grill.

Ladle pancake mixture about ½ cup (125 ml)onto griddle.

Flip pancakes when golden brown and little bubbles arise on surface. The pancake’s edges with lose their shine and become matted. Cook until the other side of the pancake is golden brown.
Serve with syrup and fresh fruit.