Quinoa Salad Recipe

I LOVE quinoa. Not only is it healthy for you, it is so versatile in what you can do with it!  I always find ways to incorporate quinoa into my daily diet as a carbohydrate but also a protein (yes, quinoa has a good amount of protein and is very good for digestion). 
I want to share my recipe for a tasty quinoa salad that I recently made. 
Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa 
1 can kalamata olives 
1 hand full of sun dried tomatoes
1 chopped zucchini
1 chopped onion
1 hand full of chopped fresh parsley 


Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper


Start by adding quinoa to pot, add 3-4 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Cook until quinoa is tender.
In a separate pan, add olive oil and onions. Let the onions cook until they are translucent. Add in the zucchini. Let this cook until zucchini is softened and cooked through. 
When quinoa is finished, add the onions & zucchini, olives, sun dried tomatoes and dressing. Toss this all together. Throw in parsley. 
Finished product: 

Nutritious AND delicious :)  Give it a try!

Happy Eating!

Eat My Martini

Eat My Martini, located right in the heart of Little Italy, is a pretty descent spot for well priced mixed drinks, and of course martini's. Their martini menu is massive, over 130 different martini's. It is quite the steal at 5 dollar martini's during the week and 6 dollars on weekends! My friends and I came the other night and tried a wide variety of different martinis. The most unique one we tried was the 'Pork-U-Pine' which had vodka, bacon syrup, bacon crumples and chocolate liqueur. Let's just say....I wouldn't order that one again....ever. The rest of our martini choices were really tasty. 

Eat My Martini also has a small food menu. I have tried a couple items off their menu on other previous visits, but its nothing to rave about. It's definitely a place where you come for the well priced drinks! 

Overall, this restaurant/bar has a nice atmosphere, and offers a massive variety of drinks that are pretty tasty. I'm sure anyone (even if you are a picky drinker) can find a drink they will like from their vast drink menu!

http://www.eatmymartini.ca/

Happy Eating!

Current Crave 4

Grace's Coconut  Water is what I have been craving lately. 

I cannot stop drinking this coconut water. The label on the can says it perfectly: it is the ultimate thirst quencher. This drink is so deliciously sweet and the addition of pulp adds nice little bites of coconut with every sip. I can't seem to get enough of this coconut water. I am literally drinking some right now as I write this post.  The weather has been ridiculously hot and humid lately, and I'm finding this drink to be the perfect thing to sip on to refresh and cool down.

If you are a coconut water virgin, then you should really go out and get yourself one of these thirst quenchers! I highly recommend it!

Happy Eating...or should I say..Drinking :)

Corn Done Right :)

Corn on the cob is one of my favourite things to eat in the summer, especially if they are done right. I had access to a BBQ recently and decided to whip up some delicious grilled corn, with a fresh herb butter. This recipe is SO easy, but so flavourful.
1)Ingredients:
Fresh herbs - You can use a variety of different fresh herbs for this that would probably taste great. I used Dill, Parsley and Thyme
2)Butter (half stick) melted
3)Fresh Corn on the Cob
Finely chop the herbs and add them to the melted butter

Use a brush to spread herb butter all over the corn (make sure all sides are coated).

Grill Corn on the BBQ for about 12 minutes (if you don't have a BBQ at your convenience, you can wrap the corn in tin foil and throw them in the oven, or use a flat top grill on the stove). 

VOILA, a perfect Summer side dish!

Very simple to make. Very delicious to eat..... what are you waiting for? Try it! 

Happy Eating!

Big Smoke Burger = Burger Bliss

Big Smoke Burger does a delicious hamburger. I have tried three of their burgers so far, and intend on trying many more from their scrumptious menu. The meat is juicy and the sauces are filled with flavour. 

This is the 'Lamb Burger'.  It comes with a beautiful cilantro-feta sauce, which is so so flavourful. Every bite was really delish. 

This is the' Craft Burger'. It comes with sautéed mushrooms and rosemary mayo. I was obsessed with the sauce on this one! 

This is the 'Big Smoke Burger'. It comes with smoked cheddar cheese, horseradish mayo and caramelized onions. This one had great flavour, but was a little on the greasy side. I found the bun was beginning to fall apart and get mushy while eating it. That aside, it was really tasty with a good balance of flavours. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Big Smoke Burger! If you are craving a beautiful, juicy, flavourful burger....try this place! 

http://bigsmokeburger.com/index.php

Happy Eating!

Acadia

I dined at Acadia last weekend and loved it! This quaint little restaurant is located in Little Italy and serves up some well executed, high quality food. The service was really impeccable. From our attentive waiter, who was friendly and making us laugh, to the bartender who made a point to come personally make sure we were enjoying our drinks, and then to the tasty, beautifully presented dishes, this place gets 2 thumbs up in my books. 
I apologize for the pictures. They are not the best quality (a little on the bright side) 
But here we go: We started with some delicious cocktails. We tried probably 8 different ones during our dinner. ALL of which were fantastic and refreshing. 

We started with the Kolapore Springs Trout. Which was served raw, and along side juniper capers, asparagus spear and a quail egg. The flavours in this dish were very well balanced.

Then came the Prawns cooked 2 ways. One was poached in butter, and the other fried. Again, a very balanced and tasty dish. This came along side  a rhubarb puree and marinated celery. Delish.

I was told the shrimp and grits was one of the staple menu items at this restaurant, so of course I had to try it. It was PERFECT. So full of flavour. I loved every bite and was genuinely sad when it was all gone.

This is the Veal Cheek. This was fabulous. The meat was tender and melted in my mouth with every bite. The side dishes (caramelized onion puree, mushroom medley) were the perfect pairing for the meat.

 This is the Albacore tuna, which came raw and wrapped in seaweed. The tuna was fresh and had good flavour. This came a long side tiny potatoes with dill, and a chickpea brown butter. All flavours really worked on this plate.

I loved every second of being here. It was a great atmosphere. The food was excellent quality and the ambiance was inviting and classy without being pretentious. 

I highly recommend giving this place a try.

http://www.acadiarestaurant.com/#!

Happy Eating

My Top 5 Sushi Restaurants in the City

  1)   Sushi on Bloor 

Without a doubt, this is definitely the sushi restaurant I most often frequent in Toronto. The fish is always fresh, the menu is very reasonably priced and the over all atmosphere is great. Sushi on Bloor typically has lineups out the door for their lunch and dinner rushes; with food this good, it’s no wonder why. My favorite’s from here are: white tuna handroll, spicy crunchy tuna roll and the grilled squid. If you haven’t been to Sushi on Bloor, please go. You won’t be disappointed! 

http://www.sushionbloor.com/

2)   BlowFish 

Blow Fish is a higher end/fine dining sushi experience. It is on the more expensive side but I must say the food is brilliant, and worth the dough. Everything I have tried from here is fantastic and beautifully presented. This restaurant is sleek, modern and fancy on the inside and I felt the food reflected this vision as well. My favorite’s from Blowfish are: spicy rock shrimp, giant ebi shooter, Okinawan makimono and spicy tuna makimono. They also have excellent cocktails! 

http://www.blowfishrestaurant.com/

  3)   Sushi Inn 

Sushi Inn is located in Yorkville and serves up delicious sushi. For a Yorkville restaurant, the prices at Sushi Inn are very inexpensive. They serve the classics you would find at any sushi restaurant, but here they are done perfectly. You can taste the quality of ingredients with each bite.  Give it a try! 

http://www.sushiinn.net/

4)   Aji Sai

Aji Sai is an ‘All you Can Eat’ sushi restaurant with a couple locations around Toronto. Although the service is never really that great (servers are usually inattentive and not very friendly) the food hits the spot and is pretty satisfying. They offer the classic sushi items and side dishes that you will find at standard ‘All You Can Eat’ place, but they also serve some not so typical items as well. Particularly they have some interesting types of special makimono (sushi rolls).  For an all you can eat sushi experience this is the place I usually go to. 

5)   Mi – Ne Sushi

I have blogged already about this sushi restaurant, but I definitely needed to include it on this list. Mi-Ne Sushi is located on Bremner Blvd and serves up some delicious Japanese food. Check out my post ‘An Excellent Sushi Restaurant Discovery’ to get more of the scoop on this restaurant!

http://toronto.mine-sushi.com/

There you have it. My personal favourite Sushi Restaurants in Toronto. I know with sushi, everyone’s opinions can really vary on what they like and what they don’t enjoy so much. I hope to try some more Japanese restaurants in the future, and add to this list!

Happy Eating!