Start Your Weekend with Seasonal Asparagus Bread Pudding for S-l-o-w Sundays

Seasonal Aspargaus Bread Pudding

This morning I lifted my weary head from my sleep-induced coma and crept from under the comfort of my down duvet. Peering through the fog I seemed disoriented and every fibre of my being thought I had awakened in the wrong city, in the wrong province, or even on the wrong continent. I wondered if somehow I had ended up on the coast where the skies pour their hearts out for days on end, or found myself in a tropical rainforest? I shook my head to clear my thoughts and heard morning doves and swallows and not the excited chatter of monkeys or the beating of drums. I don't recall having too many glasses of wine at dinner last night. Am I not in the "sunny" Okanagan Valley where the relentless summer sun beats down on the sunbaked rolling hills? Yes it has rained for an entire week and we the smug raincoat-less, umbrella-less society have been speaking our minds on the subject.

Martha Stewart's Goat-Cheese Salad with Basil Vinaigrette Does Double Duty

Goat Cheese Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

Happy Canada Day!!!!!!

Thank you for joining me once again as I travel along with Mary of One Perfect Bite on a culinary journey.  Gourmet Live brought out a list of the 50 most influential women in food...Fifty women game changers. Some are chefs, some are food writers, and some are women who are passionate about the creative process. You could certainly add or detract women from this list, but no matter what these women have all influenced us in one way or another. Being a woman and passionate about food myself I wanted to explore and not only learn from the masters but recreate some of their dishes to better understand what has shaped and molded them into who they are today. Follow us on this journey while we take an in depth exploration of these women's lives and what makes them who they are.

Summer Fresh Red Pepper Hummus Sushi

Red Pepper Hummus Sushi

 This year not only will we be wearing red and white T-shirts and sun hats at the MTBT household (the colours of the Canadian flag), but, we will also be enjoying red and white dishes... from appetizers to dessert. I have dreamed up a red and white menu that would make our ancestors proud and one that celebrates the Canadian spirit. After all what is a celebration without food!!! And what is Canada Day without red and white somewhere in the picture, or as in this case the star of the show!! Last years patriotic menu consisted of a Tomato Salad with Pickled Shallots and Goat Cheese Crouton , Spanish-inspired tapas of Romesco with Grilled Bread and Shrimp, Baby Scallops Ceviche in Radicchio Cups,  Red and White Potato and Radish Salad,  Halibut with Grilled Red Pepper Harissa and a finale of Raspberry Tiramisu.

 Of course you don't have to be Canadian to enjoy these summertime favourites. You just have to have a love of good food which as bloggers I know you do!!!Each recipe uses fresh local ingredients and celebrates our local producers and farmers. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Canada or any country in the world than to take pride in what we have to offer from coast to coast.

Is My Face Red (and White) Rhubarb Lemonade for Canada Day Celebrations

Rhubarb Lemonade

Normally when your face is red you are feeling bashful or embarrassed. But today, and for the next week as a lead up to Canada Day, my face will be wearing very patriotic red (and white) from licking my lips while enjoying a myriad of red (and white) dishes. I am resurrecting my challenge of last year where I created a menu from start from to finish using red and white ingredients. I am always up for a challenge and creating a menu based on a theme is a blogging challenge I relish. My friend Joan of FOODalogue is always cooking in colour too. I challenge you to come up with a menu using the colours of your own countries flag. Let's show some national pride here! What menu would you come up with using the colours of your own flag?

Limoncello Tiramisù is a Grand Ending for our "Bucket List" Challenge

Limoncello Tiramisù

You know that dessert was coming! If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market for our favourite comfort foods.With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

Two Sides for my Bucket List Menu

 

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

We all have a bucket list of recipes we want to try from magazines, cookbooks, our blogging friends or wherever you find your inspiration. If you're like me you will have an infinite list of recipes in the wings. This week I have tried to put a small dent in "the list" by recreating a few of these dishes that have been waiting patiently for their moment to shine.

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find in your culinary exploration. With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and are back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

For the past few days I have been sharing with you a menu from beginning to end.. from starters to dessert... from my "bucket list".  We started off with an hors d'oeuvres that made our tastebuds sing with citrus notes...Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade. Following that was the piece de resistance, a classic Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy. By chance the recipe chosen for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club fit right in with my menu with a  nutty, almost smoky flavoured Wild Rice Dressing with Roasted Chestnuts and Cranberries.

Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club Celebrates the Holidays with Wild Rice Dressing with Roasted Chestnuts

Wild Rice Dressing with Roasted Chestnuts and Cranberries

We are taking a brief break from my "Bucket list " menu to bring you our monthly event. We are so glad you have decided to join us once again for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club. This is a monthly event where 5 ladies in two neighbouring countries get together to create a delicious meal with a theme in mind. We are now in our second year and continue to share a love for Cooking Light magazine which has an emphasis on healthy eating and living. This is a team effort where we combine what Cooking Light readers like best...good food with great company!!! Every month millions of readers turn to Cooking Light for recipes, advice on nutrition and fitness.

Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy for My Bucket List Dinner Challenge

 

Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy

Welcome back for round two of my latest personal challenge where I "knock out" another dish from my bucket list. As you know I love to create a menu around an ingredient, an idea or a theme. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find in your culinary exploration. With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and are back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade for My Bucket List Menu

Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade

I love to create a menu around an ingredient or an idea which means it is time again for another personal challenge here at More Than Burnt Toast. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market for our favourite comfort foods.With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

Olive Oil Pumpkin Cake with Toasted Pine Nuts for the Pumpkin Challenge

Olive Oil Pumpkin Cake with Toasted Pine Nuts

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market for our favourite comfort foods.With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired. This is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

Eat, Pray, Love Challenge.....The Round Up

A HUGE thank you to all of you who joined me for our Eat, Pray, Love challenge. We created an inspiring Italian menu to commemorate the opening of the much anticipated movie Eat, Pray Love which opened in theatres on Friday...yesterday. My friends and I are getting together on Sunday so let me know what your thoughts of this much anticipated movie if you have already seen it. Thank you for travelling with me on this journey as we recreated an Italian menu from antipasto to dolce. It's time to put our feet up, hang up our apron strings, sit on the patio with our bellini's and reconnect over some good conversation.With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired by each and every fabulous suggestion. This is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

Since this is a blog all about food I concentrated on the EAT part of the book for this personal challenge to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts. We began our Italian adventure with an antipasto of Toasted Bread with Burrata and Basil . Next we travelled to the Italian coast for an il primo of Spaghetti con le Cozza. We then moved to the secondo or "second course" which is the main dish with  Agnello Scottadita (Burned Fingers) which is a dish aptly named. Follow this with a contorno of Tiella and add a finishing touch of Insalata d'Arance and your guests will be more that in the Italian mood. For the finale I offered an enticing classic with a cocktail of an Italian Bellini in lieu of dessert. Who had room for dessert when we were stuffed to overflowing?

Join Me for an Italian Bellini for Our Eat, Pray, Love Challenge Finale

Thank you for joining me once again for our Eat, Pray, Love challenge where we have created an inspiring Italian menu from antipasti to dolce to commemorate the opening of the much anticipated movie this coming Friday. After all this delicious food I would have loved to offer you an Italian-inspired zabaglione or smooth, creamy panna cotta but truthfully my guests and I have no room left for dessert. Instead I prepared a traditional Italian drink for you. This refreshing cocktail was first served in Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, sometime in the 1930s or '40s. Named after the Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini, this beautifully hued beverage is traditionally made with white peaches. If you can't find white peaches, regular peaches will do. Bellinis make the perfect beverage for our celebration. The frozen version from Joeys Global Grill is my all time favourite summertime cocktail which is one of the reasons my "pen" name is Bellini Valli.

Since this is a food blog I concentrated on the EAT part of the book for this personal challenge to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts. We began our Italian adventure with an antipasto of Toasted Bread with Burrata and Basil . Next we travelled to the Italian coast for an il primo of Spaghetti con le Cozza. We then moved to the secondo or "second course" which is the main dish with  Agnello Scottadita (Burned Fingers) which is a dish aptly named. Follow this with a contorno of Tiella and add a finishing touch of Insalata d'Arance and your guests will be more that in the Italian mood.  I am putting up my feet and apron strings and retiring to the outdoor patio for a glass of this Italian classic Bellini accompanied by good friends, good conversation and the strains of Italian music in the background. I am comforted to know my friends have been fed to bursting in true "nonna" fashion.

Insalata d'Arance for Our Eat, Pray Love Challenge

Insalata d'Arance (Sicilian Orange Salad)

Thank you for joining me once again for my latest personal challenge where I am preparing an Italian menu from antipasti to dolce. We are heading into our final leg of our Italian challenge to celebrate the opening of the movie based on Eat , Pray,Love  Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderfully crafted book about life changing experiences where she trades in her previously perfect life to travel the world "to find herself. " After a heart wrenching divorce she spends a year traveling in Italy, India and Indonesia. Each word in the title Eat, Pray, Love is expanded by her experiences in three countries. In Italy she indulges in the fabulous food and language. In India she finds new meaning in her life on her personal journey of self-awareness and enlightenment spending time in an Indian ashram. Then as a climax to the book she finally finds love in Bali, Indonesia.

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. At the moment I am not travelling the world on my own personal journey as the author of Eat, Pray Love did but what I can do is infuse new life into my own kitchen. Since this is a food blog I am going to concentrate on the EAT part of the book so my next personal challenge will see me create an Italian menu from antipasti to dolce to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts. The movie opens August 13th.

Tiella for Our Eat, Pray, Love Challenge

Tiella

Thank you for continuing to follow me on this Italian journey. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. At the moment I am not travelling the world on my own personal journey as Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love or realizing my dream of visisting every cooking school from here to Timbuktu but I can infuse new life into my own kitchen. Every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means something as simple as making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. Travel with me on this journey as we recreate an Italian menu from antipasto to dolce. With these personally imposed challenges I am finding my culinary skills to be rejuvenated and back on track. This is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear! Since this is a food blog I am going to concentrate on the EAT part of the book so this personal challenge to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts.

We began our Italian adventure with an antipasto of Toasted Bread with Burrata and Basil . Next we travelled to the Italian coast for an il primo of Spaghetti con le Cozza. Next we moved to the secondo or "second course" which is the main dish with  Agnello Scottadita (Burned Fingers) which is a dish aptly named. Now onto our contorno or side dishes.

Agnello Scottadita (Burned Fingers) for our Eat, Pray, Love Challenge

Agnello Scottadita (Burned Fingers)

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. At the moment I am not travelling the world on my own personal journey as Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love but I can infuse new life into my own kitchen. Since this is a food blog I am going to concentrate on the EAT part of the book so my next personal challenge will see me create an Italian menu from antipasti to dolce to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts.

Eat , Pray,Love is Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderfully crafted book about life changing experiences when she trades in her previously perfect life to travel the world "to find herself. " After a heart wrenching divorce she spends a year traveling in Italy, India and Indonesia. Each word in the title Eat, Pray, Love is expanded by her experiences in three countries. In Italy she indulges in the fabulous food and language. In India she finds new meaning in her life on her personal journey of self-awareness and enlightenment spending time in an Indian ashram. Then as a climax to the book she finally finds love in Bali, Indonesia.

Il Primo of Spaghetti con le Cozze for Eat, Pray, Love Italian Challenge

Spaghetti con le Cozze

Eat , Pray,Love is Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderfully crafted book about life changing experiences when she trades in her previously perfect life to travel the world "to find herself. " After a heart wrenching divorce she spends a year traveling in Italy, India and Indonesia. Each word in the title Eat, Pray, Love is expanded by her experiences in three countries. In Italy she indulges in the fabulous food and language. In India she finds new meaning in her life on her personal journey of self-awareness and enlightenment spending time in an Indian ashram. Then as a climax to the book she finally finds love in Bali, Indonesia.

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. At the moment I am not travelling the world on my own personal journey as the author of Eat, Pray Love did but I can infuse new life into my own kitchen. Since this is a food blog I am going to concentrate on the EAT part of the book so my next personal challenge will see me create an Italian menu from "antipasti to dolce" to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts. The movie opens August 13th. Won't you join me in this challenge?

Toasted Bread with Burrata and Basil Antipasto for Our Eat, Pray, Love Italian Challenge

Toasted Bread with Burrata and Basil

Eat , Pray,Love is Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderfully crafted book about life changing experiences when she trades in her previously perfect life to travel the world "to find herself. " After a heart wrenching divorce she spends a year traveling in Italy, India and Indonesia. Each word in the title Eat, Pray, Love is expanded by her experiences in three countries. In Italy she indulges in the fabulous food and language. In India she finds new meaning in her life on her personal journey of self-awareness and enlightenment spending time in an Indian ashram. Then as a climax to the book she finally finds love in Bali, Indonesia.

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. At the moment I am not travelling the world on my own personal journey as the author did but I can infuse new life into my own kitchen. Since this is a food blog I am going to concentrate on the EAT part of the book so my next personal challenge will see me create an Italian menu from antipasti to dolce to celebrate the opening of Eat, Pray, Love the movie starring Julia Roberts. The movie opens August 13th so I cannot comment from this perspective ...yet!!

Summer Berries with Chilled Icewine Cream for My Cuisine du Terroir Challenge

Summer Berries (and Stone Fruit) with Chilled Icewine Cream

At last let's enjoy some dessert! If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my own cooking adventures. I admit to being uninspired in my kitchen for many reasons...could it be the new job, the temptations of summer, the heat of summer? Whatever my reasoning every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means something as simple as making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. With these personally imposed challenges I am finding my culinary skills to be rejuvenated and back on track. This is the perfect time of year to pump up my kitchen into high gear!

Crispy Smashed Fingerling Potatoes with Olive Oil and Sea Salt for my Cuisine du Terroir Challenge

Crispy Smashed Fingerling Potatoes with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

And the challenge continues with a simple side dish. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. I admit to being uninspired in my kitchen for many reasons...could it be the new job, the temptations of summer, the heat of summer, a good book....? Whatever my reasoning every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means something as simple as making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. With these personally imposed challenges I am finding my culinary skills to be rejuvenated and back on track.

Cuisine du Terroir Challenge Meets Sockeye Salmon Wrapped in Vine Leaves with Wine Jus

Sockeye Salmon Wrapped in Vine Leaves with Wine Jus

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market for our favourite comfort foods.

 As my third personal challenge I am creating a menu from appetizer to dessert that highlights British Columbian cuisine, and ultimately local Okanagan cuisine, and even sharing a few recipes by local chefs and wineries. My Cuisine du Terroir Challenge reflects what our local producers and farmers have to offer.