Memphis Blues Pulled Pork with spaghetti squash

Un-believable.

Have you ever eaten so much meat that you feeling like you’re hallucinating? Some call it having “meat sweats” or a “meat high,” others know it simply as a food coma. Check all of the above, because you’re in for a long evening of lying down and blissfully patting your belly after this meal.

Memphis Blues Barbeque House is a special place for me, with two tiny locations tucked away in Vancouver, and several more across the Prairies. It’s as close to jaw-dropping-amazing Southern BBQ as most of us can get up here without hopping on a plane. Everything from their ribs and fries to pulled pork and cornbread are crazy delicious. Get ready, this is going to be a long one.

Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing

Gloriously gooey—barely had time to snap a photo before inhaling these!

I have got to say, there’s been a real mishmash of exciting and bizarre things going on in my life lately. Feel free to apply that to any and every subject you can. What you really want to know is how it applies to food, right?

Meat. It means tons and tons of meat: pulled pork, roasted and barbecued chicken, beef roasts, and everything in between. I have started having daymares from it all. Something sweet had to come in … something comforting and decadent. Did someone say “cinnamon buns?”

Pasta with shrimp scampi

What a crazy week! Days filled with overtime and errands, gatherings and cleaning binges—by week’s end, I could scarcely find the energy to cook. But then I remembered my old standby: pasta with shrimp scampi.

You may want to keep this one up your sleeve for those nights when you are too exhausted and broke to make anything except boxed macaroni and cheese.

Chocolate Zucchini bread

Have you seen a more perfect loaf?

Yep. Zucchini again. But this time with chocolate—and you can’t argue with that! After my August fritter mayhem, I ended up with a couple extra zucchini lying around. The answer? Riffing on boring, old zucchini bread by making it attractive, moist, and deceptively healthier than other recipes I have come across. Best of all, it’s as easy and budget-friendly as anyone could ask for.

Zucchini-scallion fritters

Success! My first fritters.

Well now. Apparently the blogosphere has gone into a fritter frenzy—everywhere I look, I see them! Maybe there’s a zucchini surplus? I suppose I drank the Kool-Aid on this one too, thanks to the special summer issue of Everyday Food magazine by Martha Stewart.

In the past month I have made these fluffy, flavourful fritters three times. They are incredibly easy to conjure up and require next to nothing, ingredient-wise. Whether you make them for a snack or a side, I promise this one bowl wonder will ease you into comfort food bliss. Give ’em a whirl! You may find they quickly become a weeknight staple.

Lemony, Greek-style chicken

Can you handle this?

By now you will have undoubtedly noticed that I love two things: lemon and garlic. So it comes as no surprise that I have made them the stars of this delicious roasted chicken. With Mediterranean food on the brain, I wanted to make something that I could use multiple ways.

The bright, tart taste of lemon, zesty punch of garlic, and Greek herbs are a match made in heaven!

Spicy chicken skewers

Pretty amazing, I know.

There is something about the summer that makes people ravenous for barbecue. I don’t know if it’s the warm sunshine or the antsy feeling of being caged in during the winter months, but the idea of grilling anything turns me into the kind of crazy similar to those women who go crazy for sample sale wedding dresses.

So I decided to riff. It was my cousin’s baby shower this past weekend and I could think of only one thing to make: chicken skewers with an Asian/Mediterranean/Mexican twist. I had a foolproof trio of flavours in mind and an itch to get back in the food-making game.

Long Weekend Brunch

Smooth, fresh & packed with flavour.

Warm, cheesy & comforting.

For those of you living in Canada, this post might seem a little late; for those of you living in the U.S., this post is right on time. Whether the long weekend has just passed or is quickly approaching, there is no question food is going to be on the brain.

Hopefully during your long weekend the weather was or will be beautiful, as it was here in Vancouver. I find nothing more than some sunshine beaming into my kitchen will put me in the mood to whip up something new and special. Sounds like a cliché from some 1950s happy homemaker advertorial, doesn’t it?

Hearty Turkey Chili

Warm, hearty and astonishingly simple.

Have you noticed the crummy weather lately? Drizzly, cold, death for those of us with allergies–if none of this sounds familiar, I envy you and the paradise you evidently live in! For the past couple of weeks it has been difficult to think of something satisfying and healthy(-ish) to make after long work days spent trekking under downpours and overcast skies.

There are few better ways to feel warm and satisfied on a dreary weeknight than to cozy up with a bowl of chili, a glass of wine and a backlog of TV shows in the PVR queue.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Light as air lemon cake.

Easter brought me a lot of things this year: a food coma courtesy of my mom’s amazing cooking (what she calls “lunch”, most people call “three lunches”), $15 worth of Cadbury Mini Eggs and a weekend full of baking.

Already having made the now-famous quinoa chocolate cake (seriously–it tastes like a Two Bite Brownie!), the next obvious progression was to make something sweet and light. Cue my citrus obsession: Ina Garten’s yogurt lemon cake. It’s lush with lemon flavour, though not too intense, and replete with drizzles of tart, citrusy glaze.