Bruschetta is tasty! I made up a batch a few nights ago and put it over some baked salmon and drizzled some balsamic vinegar on it. It's really easy to make, all you need are 5 simple ingredients. The key to good bruchetta is being able to chop things very finely, so get out your best knife! Ingredients
Tomato (1 large)
Garlic (1-2 cloves, depending on size)
Minced onion (1/2 cup)
Dried Basil (1/2 tsp)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (1 tsp)
Instructions
Cut the tomato into fine slices. If I had to give a measurement to the thickness of each slice, I'd say about 0.5 cm.
Take each tomato slice and cut it into strips, then cut the strips across at a 90 degree angle. Repeat this until you're done. Place diced tomato in a bowl. Check out this link for a similar technique.
Mince the garlic.
Mince the onion.
Combine garlic, onion, tomato and basil in a bowl and toss until it's well mixed.
Add the olive oil and mix well.
If you like your bruschetta a bit stronger, increase the amount of garlic and onion ... but be careful ... the strength of the garlic and onion can get out of hand quickly!
Ever wonder what it looks like when food goes wrong? The most disgusting and unappetizing creations are born, that's what!
Ever feel like having a extra double stuff Oreo:
I think this culinary catastrophe is fairly obvious ... Can you count how many layers are in it?
If Oreo's aren't your thing, how about a "garbage plate":
This creation allows you to choose from a combination of cheeseburgers, hamburgers, Italian sausages, steak, chicken, white or red hots, a grilled cheese sandwich, fried fish, or eggs, served on top of one or two of the following: home fries, fries, beans, and mac salad. Mmmmmm!
Doesn't that sound so good?
If you're extra hungry, check out the rest of these works of art at this is why your fat.
This cute little restaurant is an old victorian home converted into a fine dining restaurant. Its nestled atop a hill overlooking the lake in Huntsville. Choice menu items are their Cesar salad (Dare I say it, it has more garlic than the ones they serve at Garlics!), their Fillet Mignon, and Strawberry Gratinee.
This local Italian restaurant, manages to keep a "just like Nona's" style of cooking, but manages to pull off serving many people without turning into a "spaghetti factory". The food is fantastic, and the staff are very friendly. Personal favorites are the Brie and Raspberry coolie appetizer, three Italian cheese stuffed chicken breasts with spinach. 3. Garlics (Richmond)
This restaurant is known for massive amounts of garlic in pretty much every dish you can think of. Its been a while since I've gone, but, being a huge fan of garlic, pretty much everything on the menu is appetizing. My favorite would have to be the braised lamb shank, though, I don't know if they serve it any more because their menu changes monthly.
Perched right along the Muskoka river in Huntsville, this restaurant is a nice afternoon place to dock your boat, sit in the sun and have drinks while enjoying some of their pub fare. Favorites are the "Cottage Club" with pesto, mayo, and grilled chicken. Also delicious is the chicken cesar wrap! God, I miss summer.
A classic place to enjoy a perfect steak, I've come to enjoy going here more and more. Although, other Keg's don't really seem to compare to the one on Richmond that was built inside the old train station. Maybe its the atmosphere, or maybe its the staff, but I prefer this location over others!
This restaurant is located next to the Delta Chelsea in downtown Toronto, and serves a plethora of delicious dishes. I've only eaten there once, but by far it was the best Thai food I've ever tasted! It's the most fun to sample different items, so ordering food tapas style, you get the most selection for about the same amount of money.
This awesome little brewery is a good place to park yourself in the afternoon or evening after a day in Toronto. They have several different kinds of beer they make right there on location, and you can see all the brewery equipment as decor. Quite an interesting place to be. They serve the staples, but truely delicious is the Melted Brie and Grilled Chicken Panini. If you go, go for the beer. The food just happens to be there too.
If you ever are out of ideas but feel like you have enough room to fit a herd of cattle in your stomach, go to Spageddy Eddies. Its buried in an alleyway in front of Carling street (for those of you familiar with Up on Carling ...). Just like the name says, they serve spagetti. Well, "spageddy", but LOTS of it. For 7-8 dollars, you get a MASSIVE bowl of pasta that will last you for 2 meals. Mixed drinks are also $4.25, so its a students dream come true.
When you need to maximize your time but also need to keep your brain nourished (Kraft dinner only goes so far, I'm sorry), then try out this quick chicken recipe for a stir fry. Here's what you need:
Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (1-2)
Garlic, minced (1 clove)
Onion (1/2)
Green pepper (1)
Red pepper (1)
Mushrooms (1 sm. quart.)
Honey (2 tbsp.)
Thick Teriyaki sauce (200 ml. Can find your preferred one at any grocery store)
Lemon juice (1 .... squirt?)
Old El Paso Fajita mix (1/2 package)
Rice (1 cup)
Water (1/2 cup)
Your favorite kind of oil
Instructions:
Cut / chop the green pepper, red pepper and onion into strips, half the mushrooms, and mince the garlic.
Mix half of the Old El Paso fajita powder with 100 ml of water. Set aside.
On a medium-low heat, combine rice and water in a pot and cover. Add a teaspoon of margarine / butter for flavor. You can pretty much ignore this pot until the end... Don't forget to stir, though!
In a wok, heat 1 tsp. of oil on medium heat.
In a small frying pan, heat 1 tsp. of oil. Begin frying chicken breasts on a high heat setting. Have a cover handy for spattering oil!
Add garlic to the wok. You want it to be hot enough that it starts sizzling when you add the garlic!
Add the onions when the garlic is lightly browned, and add a LITTLE splash of the water to steam cook the onions.
Add the red and green pepper to the wok, and cover.
When the chicken is finished cooking, remove from pan and cut into bite-sized strips. Put the strips back in the pan, and on a medium-low heat, combine with the old el paso mix for flavour. Cover and let simmer.
Add another splash of water to the veggies and cover. Keep checking them if they're tender.
Add the mushrooms to the wok.
THE RICE IS BURNING, just kidding, but seriously, check the rice.
Add the Teriyaki sauce to the vegetables and toss so it's well mixed in.
Add a "squirt" for a lack of a better measurement of lemon juice.
Add the honey to the veggies and mix it in well.
As soon as all of the water has boiled down from the old el paso chicken mixture, add that to the stir fry and toss well.
As soon as the veggies reach desired tenderness, turn off heat and serve over the rice.
Options:
For this stir-fry, I like sticking with the chicken theme and tend to go for the "Uncle Ben's roasted chicken and wild rice" flavour of rice or whatever its called. Experiment with this! I'm sure there are lots of creative combinations.
Wow, now that I type that out, it actually looks like a lot of work. I guarantee you, though, that it goes faster than that looks like it might. Well, it most definitely goes faster and better than studying does, that's for sure. Enjoy your stir fry!
Cooking, to me, is is the art of being precise. You have to plan how liberal you're going to be with ingredients, timing and preparation, and then follow that guideline to the letter. I might even call it algorithmic, as long as your algorithm allows room for adjustment.
The reason why I believe most people dislike cooking is because of a fear they'll end their creation in catastrophe. Make guidelines to follow, and eventually, cooking becomes second nature.
Everybody makes mistakes, and the hardest critic is yourself. It is only through experimentation that one can learn how to cook, or how not to cook.
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