The Yum Yum Factor

We have returned from a fabulous 10 day trip to Portugal and, to be honest, I have just started to come back to reality and still feel like I am still processing the experience. I am pretty sure I could write a bazillion word essay on the wonders of Portugal at this point but who really wants me to do that? Until I can access my internal editor, I am holding off on even touching the actual events of the trip so that I don't bore you all to tears and scare you away because I really do want to share the wonders of this little gem of a country.

I have had amazing luck with my herb garden this year so I kind of almost keep forgetting about it. In the past I grow everything in pots and they do okay but this year it's like a mutant steroid farm out there and I just can't use all the herbs fast enough. I am not worried about the 400 lbs of oregano, thyme and rosemary since they all dry really well but the basil either had to be consumed this weekend or it was going to go to pot so I had no choice but to make some pesto. I like a traditional pesto well enough but I like to change it up all the time. I love to add arugula, change the nuts and throw in something to give it a bit of heat. I almost never use pine nuts since I was attacked by them during the great PINE MOUTH EPISODE . I was part of a year long experiment where two friends and I documented our year of never repeating a recipe. I will tell you right now that even though I think of myself as a very good, adventurous home cook who thrives on variety, h...

My son really, really loves tzatziki and can easily go through a huge tub of it in a day or two. I often buy it at my favourite Greek market, where they make the yogurt and the tzatziki themselves but when I can't get there, I make it myself. Greek yogurt isn't always easy to find in the supermarket and it's often really expensive when you do find it so I was pretty thrilled to find out that Loblaws has finally come out with it's own PC brand greek yogurt. I tried to buy it for three days in a row and my local Loblaws was totally sold out but I finally found two containers at another store and bought them both. I ate the first container as my morning breakfast for a week, adding a big dollop to a bowl of fresh fruit with a drizzle of honey and a big spoonful of mixed seeds (chia, flax and pumpkin mostly). It's very good, very thick and tart and although, it's not as fabulous as the stuff I get at the greek market, it is certainly good enough for the times th...

Some of you may know that I am participating in a year long challenge to never repeat a recipe twice in 2011 and we are documenting in on a blog called no reEATS . I like to think of my little family as a group of very non picky, adventurous eaters. My kid eats every manner of seafood, will suck a shrimp head before biting it off and spitting it to the side, whole fish served head on makes him giddy with glee and would eat octopus sushi for breakfast every morning if I would let him. I forget that, from time to time, they have some weird ideas about food and because I will truly eat almost anything within reason and there are only a very ingredients that I cannot physically swallow, like snotty okra or squeaky tripe, I have no patience for picky eating for picky eating's sake.