At this time of year, I love any recipe that involves only 4 ingredients!! Not to mention I love chocolate and cheese. Therefore this recipe really appeals to me!!

Here’s a quick story about my love for these two ingredients:  A few years ago, I came across a blue cheese chocolate chip cookie and blogged about it. Click here in case you are curious about the cookie.

The store where I purchased that cookie is now closed but this recipe is a close replacement! I think that the combination of cheese and dark chocolate is sure to catch everyone’s attention! It certainly did catch mine.

Infact, this recipe features the 2013 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix winner in the Blue cheese and Organic cheese categories. Did you know that their  is a Canadian Cheese competition? Well there is!!

Here’s the recipe for Bleu D’Elizabeth, Dark Chocolate and Date Bites

Ever since I took my first cheese class years ago at Leslieville Cheese market with Julia Rogers, I have been obsessed with Cheese. I have even taken two courses at Murrays Cheese in New York City, while on vacation!! I even have a cheese diary. (please don’t judge me).

My love for cheese was clearly noticed by the good people at Dairy Farmers of Canada as they approached me back in August to take part in a social media campaign called  Simple Pleasures of Canadian Cheese.

It’s a pretty cool initiative that I was all too happy to be a part of. I will have the opportunity to eat MORE CANADIAN CHEESE and share my love for  Canadian Cheese on Instagram. If you aren’t already following me…please do. I’m easy to find: Just do a search for MOMWHORUNS. I will be using the hashtag: #Simplepleasures and #CDNCheese.

 

So far I’ve been munching on:

14 Arpents (Fromagerie Medard), Ricotta (Quality Cheese), Avonlea Cheddar (Cows Creamery), Figaro (Glengarry Cheese), and Five Brothers (Gunns Hill Artisan Cheese).

I was so excited about all these cheeses that I hosted a small wine/cheese party one night. My friends loved the cheese from Five Brothers. However my favorite was Figaro. It has all the right qualities that I’m looking for….so creamy, so rich, so strong.

I’m sure you will be seeing more blog posts about my love for cheese. In the meantime…please follow me on Instragram. Um…Like. …Right Now. LOL.

 

 

I will be honest. I have no time to write a long blog at the moment. Here’s why:

-I’ve been enjoying the sun (err…suntanning WITH sunscreen) and I think my brain is also suntanning.

-I’m off to Hartford Connecticut for a family bar mitzva and the only thing I can think about is #road trip

-I haven’t packed yet which means I’m scrambling at the moment!

So this is going to be a BRIEF blog post about my BRIEF breakfast this morning.

It all started with this cute little 5 minute breakfast sandwich maker from Hamilton Beach.

In the morning, I let this cute little appliance warm up for 5 minutes. I then assembled the ingredients into the cute appliance and put the timer on for 5 minutes. Notice, I’m using the word “cute”…over and over again. This appliance is truly adorable AND functional too!

BINGO – Breakfast.

 

Now only if I had 5 minutes to clean the sink!! Notice there is no picture of my sink…LOL

For more information: Please visit Hamilton Beach. They really do have an awesome line up of amazing appliances. Please note: that this cute 5 minute sandwich maker won’t be available till August. K?

One more thing: Thanks Fathcom Communications for inviting me to the Hamilton Beach #Social Media Kitchen event. It was nothing short of fabulous.

 

Seeing as I was a food sales rep, I had been to Alimento Fine Food Emporium before. They are owned by Grande Cheese and infact I was the sales rep at three of their locations!! This family run business knows cheese (can you say 140 varities?) Therefore,  I was eager to enjoy a dinner at Alimento and was delighted to have been invited to a wonderful evening so I could sample a few items from their menu.

The evening started off with this unique cocktail: I’m all about flavor so this drink really appealed to me. It was called the Rosmarino Dolce and basically its made with Brandy, Amaretto, Burnt Lemon Syrup, a Rosemary Sprig and Sparkling water.

Starters included an amazing shaved brussel sprout dish which I keep meaning to try at home. What is it about this extra step that makes brussel sprouts taste better?

Then we enjoyed a charctuerie plate full of all the right things!! I gravitated towards the fresh cheese (about 3 times – to be honest). Ok – throw in an olive or two as well. Hee Hee.

For my main course, I ordered a fusili dish. Clearly this is not the same pasta I am using at home!!

 I had to leave early so I didn’t get a chance to have dessert. However on the way home,  I did nibble on the pistachio cookie that was in my gift bag. Soon as I got home those cookies went directly into the freezer so I didn’t nibble any more of it!! (true story).

I encourage you to drop by Alimento ..it’s an ideal location to pick up a selection of cheeses, olives, or meat on your way home from work or to grab a drink or to sit down and enjoy a wonderful meal. It’s all about convenience and Alimento gets it!!

Alimento Fine Food Emporium: 522 King St West, Toronto, 416 362 0123

 

 

For years and years, I did not go NEAR a recipe that involved phyllo dough. I was frozen with fear. I don’t know why but I wouldn’t touch the stuff. Then one day I saw a course being offered called “FEAR OF PHYLLO” and I quickly signed up.

During the class we learned how to make sweet potato purses, spinach/feta bourekas, streudel and more. I think it was one of the first cooking classes I ever went to and I loved the fact that it was hands on.

I STILL have the outline from this course (I am not a hoarder – I swear). But for some reason I make the same thing with phyllo – over and over again. I am addicted to making phyllo cups. I make them – freeze them – serve them.

Here’s the most important thing you need to know: when you are ready to start this recipe, please do not answer the phone, do not take out a load of laundry or start to empty the dishwasher …you must focus on the phyllo!! Otherwise it will dry up, crack, and you will be swearing at me!!

PHYLLO CUPS:

one package of phyllo dough (thawed)

1/2 cup melted butter

muffin pan, scissors, pastry bush

INSTRUCTIONS

1. brush one sheet of phyllo dough with melted butter

2. cover it with another sheet of phyllo dough and brush that sheet with melted butter as well

3. take yet another sheet of phyllo dough and brush that sheet with melted butter. (I used 4 sheets for a “thicker” phyllo cup)

4. take SCISSORS and cut the sheets into healthy sized squares

5. place the square into a muffin pan

6. bake in preheated 375 oven for 8 minutes. (till golden brown).

That’s it. How simple, wouldn’t you agree?

Then I take the phyllo cups and freeze in a tupperware container  till I need them.

What do I do with these phyllo cups? Here’s some ideas:

-goat cheese with a roasted tomato

-roasted garlic

-ricotta with mint/honey

Curious to know if you use phyllo dough often and what you use phyllo dough for.

Note: I put the leftover phyllo dough into a zip loc bag and put it in the freezer.

 

 

It’s not a secret that I like adore cheese. I’m not sure I have ever come across a cheese I did not like. I like grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese platters, and fondue too. Needless to say I was over the moon when I met Chef Corbin at the Wine and Cheese show (back in March) who told me that The Melting Pot was opening in late April in Richmond Hill. It did not take me long to whip out my iPhone to enter  the necessary information!!

Finally the end of April arrived, and I went to the opening. I could not have been happier (except I failed to bring a guest – what was I thinking?). I sat at the bar though and coincidentally sat beside Damon Allen.

The atmosphere is contemporary and features plenty of private booths. I have no doubt that this place will be packed on Valentines Day!! It’s also the perfect place for a group of friends to go out or for a couple to celebrate an occasion.

I started off my meal with a drink that looked like this:

Then I ordered something I adore but rarely find on a menu.

Then came the highlight of the evening…the FONDUE (or as @SharonDV tweeted “FON-DO”.)

I selected the “Fiesta Cheese Fondue” which is described as “aged cheddar cheese pairs with lager beer, jalapeno peppers and salsa, made as spicy as you like”.  I was not disappointed with my choice. Other varieties of fondue included: Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue, Cheddar Cheese Fondue, Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue and Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue. I’m pretty sure that THEY would all be perfect!!

The Chocolate Fondue Selection on the menu is awesome (um…need a birthday party idea for your 10 year old?) Items such as Bananas Foster, Flaming Turtle, Cookies’n Cream Marshmallow Dream, Chocolate S’mores, Ying& Yang, …WILL MAKE ANYONE HAPPY. I mean seriously…you can’t go wrong.

By the way, The Melting Pot is a franchise in the United States and this is their first location in Canada. Welcome to Canada!!

The Melting Pot

125-135 York Blvd, Richmond Hill, ON

(905) 764-7770

 

 

I never seem to get tired of going to food shows as I’m always looking for new products. It’s just the way I am wired …I guess!! In any case, this years CRFA show (Canadian Restaurant and Food Show) did not disappoint me. I found several products that were new and this blog entry will be dedicated to them.

The first product, is called Molton Ice Glasses and infact they were  launched at the show. GBS Food Service Equipment saw these creative glasses in Europe and scooped up the rights to bring it into North America. I thought it was a genius idea and if (operative word – IF) I was throwing a party I know that this is one product I would want to get.

The next item that caught my eye, is a fantastic example of taking an existing product (i.e Extreme Bean) and creating a new way to serve it!! I loved this idea – it’s a tempura battered Extreme Bean. Now, Extreme Bean has been around since 2000 however they recently partnered with Cavendish to create this delicious product. I am hoping that restaurant owners at the show discovered this product and will be putting it on their menus sometime soon!!

I also came across a new cheese (to be entered into my cheese diary, of course) called Albert’s Leap. Nothing beats a creamy cheese with mushroom-like flavors. Not to mention that it’s locally made in Ontario!!

I stopped at the David Rio booth as I loved the packaging of the product. David Rio, crafts a premium chai and loves animals so much that each product is named after an endangered species and they support animal welfare organizations as well. I sampled the Tiger Spice and loved it as it had just the right balance of spices and it wasn’t too sweet. Plus all of David Rios’ products are certified Kosher, gluten free and contains no hydrogenated oils or trans fat. (bonus).

Once again, the CRFA show did not disappoint me. I walked around for hours, shmoozed with vendors, sampled A LOT….and like a good foodie I went directly to GoodLife after the show to burn off a few calories on the treadmill.

 

Everytime I have guests, I receive a lot of compliments about my salads. I use to think that the secret to a great salad is to make homemade dressing but lately I’ve been thinking that there is a lot more to it.

So I decided to ask my twitter friends (tweeps) “what’s your secret to making a great salad” and here’s what they wrote:

@MuskokaRx Broccoli @yyzsportsmedia fresh ingredients @mominc toasted nuts. Or goat cheese. Any cheese really, now that I think of it  @IraKates building flavours @Upaya_Naturals Our #raw sprouted croutons @SharonDV Bacon @ChickyMara crisp cold lettuce. Great dressing. Everything is better with croutons @TheBumpercrop local greens, grainy mustard @Winemakersboots vinegar and something cool like Montrefort cheese and Bizjak pears @Table17 Bacon @foodNURD I’m a big fan of adding candied walnuts/pecans to salads. Great texture/flavour contrast @elisecooks Dry Greens! Something crunchy. Something fruity. The right ratio of salad to dressing @Forkin_Healthy very clean, organic mixed greens. Fruit and cheese too. Maybe nuts or seeds. But clean spun is #1….and it rhymes!

I then took some of the above advice and  made a plate of goodies that I was going to add to a bowl of plain mixed greens. I prepared: chopped apple, pomegranate seeds, dried blueberries, pecans, herbed goat cheese, fresh thyme, blood oranges and roasted dried garlic (that I recently discovered).

Here’s the result:

I will be serving this for dinner Friday Nite and I have no doubt that it will be inhaled. In the event you are wondering what type of dressing I am going to use – please visit again – as I will be blogging about dressings in the near future. Please also take a minute to visit Life Made Delicious for more great salad recipes.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Connector Program and I receive special perks as part of the affiliation with this group. The opinion on this blog are my own.

I’ve organized a few tweet ups in Ottawa over the year so that I could enjoy new restaurants with other foodies. We have enjoyed tweet ups at Ceylonta, at Coconut Lagoon, and at Blue Nile too.  I was kinda having a hard time finding the right restaurant for  the next tweet up but FoodiePrints came to the rescue. While reading their blog entry on Serious Cheese, I said to myself  “aha – a cheese tweet up”.

I immediately picked up the phone to speak to the owner of Serious Cheese and asked him if he would be interested in doing this. He agreed over the phone. I then set up the twtvite and tweeted out the invitation a few times on twitter.

Here’s how it worked: On Sat Night, over 20 people came to the store to enjoy CHEESE – talk about cheese, mingle, eat cheese and eat some more cheese.

It was a perfect tweet up. Lots of mingling and lots of eating.

Many of us enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches:

Many of us also enjoyed their asweome goo-ey macaroni and cheese.

Jamie put out some lovely samples of cheese along with Dolces’ Gourmet Jam – and everyone was clearly happy.

Tweet Ups are a great way to meet other people with similar interests. Infact the group on Saturday nite, included a foodie from Boston (@GeekBoston).

I can’t wait to organize the next tweet up for my next visit. I’m thinking about a Jam tweet up. What do you think?

I wanted to be at the opening of Pusateri’s today at Bayview Village Shopping Centre. I soon found out that there were 100’s of others who wanted to be at the opening of Pusateri’s too!

It was kinda exciting to stand outside the store, waiting for security to open the doors and watch everyone pour in to this BEAUTIFUL store.

I walked by the beautiful cheese section, passed the gorgeous desserts, strolled by the meats/fish, and couldnt help but notice the stunning fruit and vegetables. (grapes the size of my eyeballs – no joke)

When I saw the check out counter I thought to myself “hey, this looks like a boutique hotel”.

The whole store is black, and grey with a lot of light, and gorgeous marble. (atleast I think thats marble).

Its a sexy, sleek grocery store and I’m sure that the neighborhood is delighted.

So drop by Pusateri’s on your next visit to Bayview Village Shopping Centre. You won’t be disappointed.

Happy Grocery Shopping!!