The Yum Yum Factor

I love working with Castello Cheese on recipes because any excuse to sneak some blue cheese into my food is always welcome. My guys think they don't like blue cheese so who I am to have to be the one to tell them that they actually eat it all the time?

 There is a Family Bites Baby on the way! Jan, from Family Bites is having a boy - her third, so here's a little something blue for the festivities. As a group of bloggers, we are scattered across the country so the reality of throwing a proper baby shower where we all sit in a circle on wooden, folding chairs, drink too much white wine and wrap the expectant mommy up in toilet paper are slim to none but that can't stop us from throwing a virtual shower, can it? When I looked over the list of treats that the other 16 bloggers were making, I realized that it was almost entirely a sugar fest and although I understand that most people would be thrilled with nothing but desserts, I am the weirdo who doesn't really have a big sweet tooth. Where other people go nuts over chocolate, I get all fired up about tiny, crustless tuna sandwiches on white bread and Aunt June's famous devilled eggs. It's not a shower until there is a fancy, little savoury something some...

Okay, I will be straight with you. I don't give a rat's ass about football and I have no interest in eating three quarters of the traditional SuperBowl food that I see all all over the internet and on television. If you want to eat 30 layer bean dip and giant casseroles of melted Velveeta you probably won't want to hear my ideas about what I think makes a great game day spread and I am okay with that. I won't take it personally when you tell me I am nuts to recommend middle eastern inspired crashed potatoes instead of nachos covered in queso if you promise to not take it personally when I refuse to taste your delicious dip made with a package of dried onion soup, uncooked ramen noodles and nutella mixed and sour cream. Deal? So, just because I don't care about football doesn't mean I don't care about a good party with great food, drinks and friends and with that in mind, I always accept an invitation to watch the game and, more importantly, eat w...

It's Throwback Thursday so let's repost this No ReEats gem from September 25 back in 2011: Sept 22     half price apps at a pub Sept 23     BBQ beef from the freezer on homemade rolls with coleslaw Sept 24     impromptu road trip to Niagara and Buffalo, late lunch at The Anchor bar Sept 25     Grilled Strip Loins with Chimichurri Compound Butter We have been eating out a ton because Shack is finally done his movie and has been making it home in time to eat and he wants to go out all the time, so we have been out and about and not eating at home a ton. This Sunday was a beautiful, warm, sunny September day and seeing that we have barely used the bbq all summer, I demanded that we stay home and grill. He has been jonesing for steak and baked potatoes but I wanted to do something a little special. I LOVE chimichurri but thought it might be fun to make a compound butter using all the ingredients but substituting butter for the olive oil a...

Last week I spent a few days making batch after batch of mock chicken wings out of roasted cauliflower. Each batch was tweaked and tinkered with until I found the right batter and the right sauces to turn them into a healthy snack that could satisfy my unnatural wing cravings from time to time.  Do you know what really put these things over the top so that my taste buds yelled OH YES, BUFFALO WINGS BABY! was the blue cheese dip. I love blue cheese dip but I don't need to be eating something that is full of full fat sour cream and whatever else is usually in it. I am thrilled with this version and plan to bathe in it momentarily. Lightened Up Blue Cheese Dip Ingredients 1/4 cup 2% greek yogurt 2 tbls light mayo (I like Hellmans) 1 tbls buttermilk 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar pinch salt 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese ( I use Castello Crumbled Danish ) Directions Whisk the yogurt, mayo, buttermilk, vinegar and salt together until smooth. Fold in the blu...

The Kid loves to dip grilled cheese sandwiches into tomato soup and then, last year, Dianne made tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches cut up like croutons and served right in the soup. I made it one night and he had three bowls of soup with the equivalent of two big sandwiches and I knew a star was born. These little yellow cherry tomatoes were on sale at the supermarket this morning and they would also give me an opportunity to use the canned yellow tomatoes from PC's Black Label line that I have been eyeing forever. It was a nice change from our usual tomato soup and I love the colour. It's all warm and sunny and cheerful and the harvati grilled cheese provides a really mellow flavour. I almost used a sharp cheddar but the taste of the yellow tomatoes seemed to be a bit more delicate than a red tomato. Of course, that could be all in my mind because the yellow tomatoes certainly look milder and softer. Regardless, I decided on harvati with a dense german bread ...

Last summer I had the most incredible squash pear soup with blue cheese and I have been craving it ever since. I had a squash to do a soup with this week and I was going back and forth between replicating the pear squash soup or doing something spicy with coconut and curry paste and , in the end, I chose to try out a pear soup. I found lots of great looking soups for inspiration and I finally settled on this soup from The Pastry Affair as my base but I switched out the apples and juice for pear, I added some pancetta and thyme and to cut the sweetness, I added just a bit of curry powder. I find curry has this ability to add a new depth of flavour with actually making the food taste like curry and I find I use a pinch of it here and there all the time. On it's own it's quite sweet but once you add the greek yogurt and the blue cheese, the sweetness sits in the background and lets the stinky socks and the sour tang of the yogurt play down. One of The Neighbour's lo...