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!!!!

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/Breakfast Salad with Goat Cheese

Breakfast Salad withGoat Cheese

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...

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.

Sam the Cooking Guy Makes Tortilla Soup

The Cooking Guys 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.

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

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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

Canadian Chef Ned Bells 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:

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.

Ned's Fluffy Pancakes

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!!!!!