Good morning, afternoon or night! It’s Friday morning and the frost is lining the trees.  A gorgeous start to the day. What a better way to start off your day than a balanced nutritious breakfast. Wow – that sounds like something from a parenting report or a TV commercial – but you know better.

I am really just making a glorious transition into today’s post. This dish is really not in need of a recipe but I thought I would share it with you as just a different option in the morning. Some folks have cereal, others do eggs and toast, maybe some oatmeal, yogurt and fruit, pancakes or waffles – which are all great choices.

Today, I wanted to share a quinoa breakfast as an alternative to oatmeal.  Before doing so, here are some quick facts on QUINOA

Quinoa Nutrition: The most protein of any grain, great source of vitamins & minerals – iron, magnesium, Vit E, potassium, amino acids, fiber – ideal for vegetarian or vegan diets.

Cooking Quinoa: Simple to cook, like rice. Cooked quinoa looks a bit like couscous, but is more substantial and slightly crunchy.

Prep & Cook Time: 5 minutes prep, 15 minutes cook time

For the dish below, I followed the instructions on the bag/box and topped it with some fresh fruit, a few almonds and a drizzle of maple syrup.  It was actually quite tasty.  I never realized the nutritional value in Quinoa until recently.  We bought a huge bag at Costco on the weekend so it is experimental time for me.

Question of the Day:

What s your favorite way to prepare Quinoa?

A couple of Frosty shots

I hope you have a great Friday, leave a comment or hit me up on twitter or even post it on my facebook.  Looking forward to hearing all the ways to prepare quinoa.  Have a fun filled weekend and I will see you on Monday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Wednesday!  First off, I would like to apologize for being MIA on Monday.  It was not my intention to say the least.  The internet was down at the house and I could not get it back up in time to deliver a post.  In addition, I was in and out of the house running around for the cookbook and doing a photo shoot.

But today is a new day for sure.  Things are looking up and the internet is working.  I have a treat for you!  Yeah I sure do.  How about a homemade cheeseburger stuffed with cheese and cheese on top?  Sounds perfect right?  Alright a little heavy on the cheese but they are grilled with extra lean ground beef.  So all is good.  This is one of my favorite ways to eat a cheeseburger.  You get the benefit of the extra lean ground beef, but the cheese cubes stuffed into the burger ensures it has great flavor and the consistency we all expect.

So why am I talking beef?  Well a few reasons, of course.

1. I love it!
2. There is a contest in conjunction with Canadian Beef and the Eat Write Retreat where they are picking a winner to send to the retreat.  The retreat itself is an intensive, hands-on weekend designed to help food bloggers take their work to the next level. Workshops in the culinary arts, creative writing, food styling and photography are interspersed with dynamic dining events, demonstrations, and networking sessions.   I want to WIN!  I thought it would be fitting that I win as I just went to full time blogging and can always stand to learn more.
3. I love using local PEI/Canadian ingredients.

On to the Burger

Ingredients

• 2 Lbs Extra Lean Ground Beef
• 2 Eggs
• Black Pepper
• Button Mushrooms
• Onions
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Cheddar Cheese

Method

1. Prepare the ground beef in a large mixing bowl





2. Preheat grill to medium high heat
3. Add eggs and pepper too beef and mix well.
4. Cut cheese into small chunks and add to beef



5. Using your hands, incorporate the cheese into the beef



6. Form the patties to the size of your liking ( I prefer to have them a larger circumference and a thinner height)



7. Place patties onto a plate and press your thumb in the center of the burger making a slight indentation



8. Clean your grill as it is reheating.
9. Place the burgers on the grill and do not move them until a nice crust is formed. You can do a half turn for grill marks if that tickles your fancy.





It was a little chilly out on the BBQ - but worth it

10. In a frying pan, over medium heat add olive oil and saute the onions until translucent.



11. Add mushrooms and continue cooking down until golden brown.





12. Turn the burgers over, add your favorite barbecue sauce if so desired and continue cooking until no longer pink
13. Remove from heat and let rest.
14. Assemble the burger to your liking.  I added a little swiss cheese to compliment the sharp cheddar (that is how I roll)
15. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: To prevent the burger from puffing up in the center as it cooks, I press down in the center.  Also another great tip is too not add sauce to your burgers to early. It will just burn as most sauces have sugar in them.

Alright I am off to do some work and running around.  Have a super hump day and I will touch base with you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Every now and again you find amazing things on the internet.  The item below I consider to be one of those items.  In surfing around for breakfast ideas for last week’s delivery, I stumbled on to Steph’s site at Plain Chicken and looked repeatedly at this cinnamon pull apart bread.  I knew it was a must try.

Instructions sounded pretty straight forward and it used bought bread ( which was a bonus based on timing) and the combination of honey butter and cinnamon – really?  Do I have to go any further.  All be it is a slight change from yogurt and fruit for breakfast, but every now and again you need to go off the wall and indulge.  It helps your mind stay focused on your goals.

Trust me.

Indulge once a week and you will be happy.

Left: zoom shot of the butter prior to baking Right: Close up of the Glaze... YUM!

Lubed up all over with the honey cinnamon butter ( I could have ate the whole loaf at this stage.

Ingredients

• 1 unsliced round loaf sourdough bread
• 1/2 Cup butter, softened
• 1/4 Cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 Cup honey
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To make Vanilla Honey Butter: Whip butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar together until smooth; stir in honey and vanilla.  Set aside. (You can use regular butter if desired)
3. Cut the bread lengthwise into 1/2″ slices, without cutting through the bottom crust. Spread vanilla honey butter in between slices.  Rotate the bread 90 degrees and slice the bread again into 1/2″ pieces, without cutting through the bottom crust. Spread more vanilla honey butter in between new cuts. This doesn’t need to be perfect – just make sure there is lots of butter in between all the cuts.
4. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Generously sprinkle in between all cuts. (You may have extra butter and cinnamon sugar.
5. It will just depend on how large your bread loaf is.)
6. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until bread is warm.  Unwrap cinnamon bread and place on serving platter.  Combine powdered sugar and milk – adding milk until you get the consistency desired.
7. Drizzle icing over bread and serve immediately.
8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  I would recommend using an electric knife to cut the bread so you don’t push the bread down too much.  The first loaf I made, on the second cu,  it was hard not to push down on the sticks of bread “squashing” them.  The second loaf, I used the electric knife and made all the difference in the world.

After the glaze.... right out of the oven

Have a great weekend… ENJOY the super bowl and I will talk to you on Monday after the game.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Wednesday!  I thought I better get my act together for the big game on Sunday and give you a nice looking round up of ideas that you can make for the party excuse of the year.  Today is the day.  Whether you have family and friends over for the big game or you are hitting the pavement and going somewhere to watch the game – you can’t go empty handed.  I have some super easy recipes for you to prepare and add a few calories to the belly.

Yes folks, most of these ideas are not super healthy…. but remember everything in moderation so enjoy the game.  Do note, these recipe ideas are not restricted to the Super Bowl, you may feel the sudden urge to just make these on any random day or night and that is perfectly normal.

Panko Crusted Onion Rings

A crispy onion ring done in the oven... I love these!

Rosemary Grilled Shrimp

Simple, quick and a great 2nd Quarter snack for the game

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwich

A little bit more effort but mostly on the time front. Serve this up at half time with Kelly Clarkson singing in the background and you will be remembered forever.

Brown Bag Oven Fries

Make these.... make these! Create some fun dips for them as well. Spicy ketchup, maybe a dill cream cheese dip or even a jalapeno cheese dip.

Closet Cooking – Pizza Dip

Kevin from closet cooking delivers this pizza dip that almost makes me want to run to the kitchen and make this for breakfast. I have never seen such an amazing piece of work. Put the phone down folks - you will not need to order pizza on Sunday.

Baked Chicken Wing in Spicy Glaze

You honestly didn't think you would get through a zesty round up post of the super bowl without a chicken wing. Chicken wings are a must have and for this type of event you need lots of napkins and you have to make a big mess on your hands and face. Just saying this is a great 1st quarter snack to get the blood pumping.

Kevin’s Jalapeno Poppers

Back to Kevin's closet for a little heat. These poppers look amazing and I do agree with him saying to make a lot as they will disappear.

A little Sweet Treat(s)

I want to toot my horn a little bit with this next brownie.  Yesterday I was notified that I earned a prestigious placement award with StumbleUpon.  The chocolate brownies below were ranked in the top 10 posts of the year all over the internet.  Pretty cool for a bald guy.  All total over 1 million people have looked over these chocolate morsels.  Try them for the big game and let me know what you think.

Yes Yes - these damn brownies again but I have to tell you - they are pretty yummy!

OK…. the super bowl round up is complete.  Let me know which recipe you are going to try for Sunday.  I will talk to you on Friday.  Have a great Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Need I Say More?

I didn’t think so… but I will.

I was stumbling through the internet to some of my favorite sites to prepare for a dinner party on Saturday night when I hit these little morsels of magic.  Two peas and their pod delivered a Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel bar that caught my eye.  Ok, well maybe caught more than my eye.  I had to go grab a wipe and clean off the keypad after checking these out!

I followed their instructions to a tee and the results were delicious.  The only thing I would change…. is the first time i served them, I just cut them from the pan, threw on a dollop of ice cream and called it a dessert.  The next two times I ate them… yes I know.  I warmed the square in the microwave for 30 seconds… well you can guess the rest.  AMAZING

Ingredients

Method

 Zesty Tip:  Definitely watch these fellas in the oven.  Do a test at around 25 minutes depending on your oven.  Better to under cook than over cook them and dry it out.

I really think you should try these and be sure to share with your friends other wise you will eat the whole pan.  Seriously.

Talk on Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Friday is here…. weekend is upon us!  Thanks for all the nice comments, emails and tweets about my new adventure.  So far so good and it is FUN.  This morning I woke up a little extra early, 5:00am to do some baking for Mrs. Zesty as she was tasked to provide breakfast for her staff today.  I didn’t mind getting up and I had a solid plan in place to execute and had 2.5 hours to complete.

On the Menu

• 2 Dozen Banana Bread Doughnuts( minus two for quality assurance testing )
• 2 Dozen  Sugar Topped Blueberry Nutmeg muffins
• 2 Sour Dough Loaves Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread ( I know… sounds kinda crazy but it looked good.  No testing done on this one – will have to wait on word from the crew)

Today, We will focus on donuts.  Baked doughnuts to be specific.  Not too often you run into a baked doughnut but I was surfing the internet the other day for some breakfast ideas and I stumbled across Laurie’s recipe from Simply Scratch for Banana Walnut Breakfast Doughnuts.  I took a quick read thru and looked at her pictures and I thought…. what the heck.  Let’s give it a try.

Not sure mine came out as pretty as Laurie’s but I did buy a fancy new doughnut pan yesterday to get the full effect.  I opted to leave out the walnuts as Mrs. Zesty is not a huge fan and I used frozen bananas so it was tricky to keep the bananas chunky. Here is the lowdown below

Ingredients

• Butter for greasing pan{s}
• 1-1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
• 1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp. Kosher Salt
• 1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg, freshly grated
• 2 ripe Bananas
• 1 whole Egg
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. Real Vanilla Extract

Glaze

• 3 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Whole Milk
• 1/4 Tsp. Real Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and grease your doughnut pan with butter.
2. In a large bowl; add the light brown sugar and sift in the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, roughly mash up the two bananas leaving them pretty chunky. Add in the applesauce, egg and vanilla. Stir until all the ingredients are incorporated.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined.
5. Spoon batter into prepared doughnut pan and fill up 3/4 of the way.



6. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 17-20 minutes or until the edges start to pull away from the pan and the doughnuts bounce back when gently pressed. {I’d stick closer to the 17 minute mark.}
7. While the doughnuts cool, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla, stir. Pour in whole milk while whisking until desired consistency.
8. Dunk doughnuts into glaze and set on a wire rack.
9. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  I think I would make one alteration the next time.  I think I would substitute the apple sauce for butter.  I would melt the butter in with the wet ingredients in hopes that would break down the gluten in the flour to create a lighter airy doughnut.

Alright fellas, I better clean up the kitchen here.  it looks like it got hit with a small hurricane.  Have a great weekend and I will talk to you on Monday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

I knew I would be writing this blog post, I just didn’t know when it would be published.  When I started blogging back in 2008, I felt my passion grow almost instantaneously and I knew this was for me.  In addition to blogging, I started offering my web design and graphics services to help fellow bloggers and to better the community, and heck I loved that too.

As of last month, I left my corporate career as Director of a successful software company to blog and provide blog consulting services full time.  Is it a big step?  You better believe it.  Am I excited?  I have honestly never been happier.  I wake up in the morning, get breakfast for the family, plan my day, and get at it.

As an entrepreneur, you have to realize you need to hunt to survive.  No one will feed you just for being cute.

My corporate career was somewhat short at 13 years but I learned valuable lessons that will benefit my future.  I have a laundry list of ideas to fulfill in 2012, both food and consulting related.  Over the past three weeks I have revamped and totally redesigned my consulting site to showcase both past work and all the new services you can now purchase.

Here is a quick snap shot of the site.

Goals for 2012

I figure if I write these goals down, you will keep me in check and monitor my progress quarterly.

1. Write a Book – People have been emailing and asking me when am I writing a book that they can buy and I can honestly say the book is in the works and it is about 60% complete.  I will keep you posted on the details, topic, and logistics once I get closer to the end. (Pretty pumped)
2. Grow my consulting company to over 300 clients by the end of 2012.  Presently, I have about 160 clients that I have worked with over the past few years and I’m really going to focus my efforts on growing that number and helping the blog community.
3. Launch a “maintenance” program – At least 3 times a week, I get an email or question from someone needing help with their blog and are unsure how to handle it.  Now you don’t have to worry.  I am launching a full three-tiered maintenance program that you can purchase and have us take care of your blog for you.  Simple, cost effective, and gives you the peace of mind that someone has got your back.
4. Write more guest posts – I am starting to write for a few blogs just to promote myself and “get around.”
5. Launch an online interactive learning center for bloggers – I spend a lot of time doing tutorials for people answering blogging questions and technical questions so I thought about formalizing it so you can now join a class, ask questions, see a video, and solve your problems.  Stay tuned later this year for launch!

I guess this concludes my top 5 goals for 2012.  Lofty?  Yes. Doable? You better believe it!  The last three weeks have been busy, getting the site ready, working on logistics, eCommerce set up, and figuring out all the services that I want to offer.

Now I know there is no food today but I felt I should let you in on where I am spending my days.  For all those people who already know – I appreciate the support.  I will be back on Friday with the normally scheduled programming – FOOD.

Have a great Wednesday and I will see you at the end of the week.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was enjoyable.

Ever get tired of the same ole run of the mill sandwiches?  I have an idea for you to try.  A different type of spread than your typical mayo or mustard.

Try this as your next sandwich spread: Avocado, cilantro, lime juice, hint of salt and pepper  and a spoon full of salsa – DELISH!

It is a simple spin on guacamole for the base of your sandwich.  The results speak for themselves.  For me, the sandwich quality is usually driven by the bread then followed by the toppings.  If you try this sandwich – you will be impressed with the flavor combination and treat the bread as a vehicle.

Ingredients

• Cooked chicken breast, sliced,
• 2 pieces of bacon, cooked
• Handful of spinach
• Pepper
• Avocado spread – see above
• 2 Slices of bread toasted

Method

1. Begin by making the spread, combine 1 avocado and handful of cilantro, squirt of lime juice, and spoonful of salsa
2. Toast your bread
3. Smear some of the avocado mixture
4. Top with chicken, bacon and spinach
5. Set the other slice of bread on top .
6. Slice it up.
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  Use this avocado spread in many variations.  This would work very well as a base for baked nachos or even on a white fish.  Be creative and keep your taste buds guessing.

Alright, the first of the week is back again.  I hope you have a great start to your week.  I will be back on Wednesday.

Question:  What is your favorite sandwich?

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

The chocolate croissant pudding was accidentally invented by Chef Roger Freedman, when instead of using fresh bread for his bread pudding; he tried out some previous night’s leftover chocolate croissants, and up came this indulgent, chocolaty, buttery and flaky delight.

The stale chocolate croissants used in this dish gives it a more flaky texture, while the chocolate just oozes out and spreads through the entire dish and binds the croissants together giving it a smooth and buttery taste and texture. The dish is prepared in a variety of techniques, which include the inventor’s technique of folding the pastries in chocolate custard and adding in some chopped milk chocolate and baking everything in a big dish.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tsp. of salted butter
• 1 1/4 Cups of sugar plus two tablespoons
• Eggs – 4
• 1 Tsp.each of cinnamon and vanilla extract
• 1 Cup whole milk
• 5 Tsp.of unsalted butter melted
• 5 Cups of stale (3-4 days old) croissants (cut into small squares)
• 5 Cups moist chocolate cake (cut into small squares)
• 2 bananas sliced
• 1 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 Cup chopped pecans
• 3 Cups half and half
• 1/2 Cup shredded sweetened coconut
• Coconut pineapple ice cream or any ice cream you like and candy sugar sprinkles for garnishing

Method

1. The oven has to be preheated at 300 degrees F. Take a 9×13 inch baking dish and grease it entirely by the salted butter. Take the square shaped chocolate cake and croissants and arrange 2 1/2 cups of each of them neatly in the dish to get your first layer of the pudding.
2. Take the sliced bananas, pecans, chocolate chips and shredded coconuts and lay them on top of the first layer.
3. Take the remaining croissant and cake cubes and place them over this layer, topped by the bananas, chocolate chips, pecans and coconut, thus forming alternate layers.
4. Beat 1 1/4 cups of sugar with the eggs for 6 min in an electric mixer. Add to it the half and half, vanilla and almond extracts, the unsalted butter and further beat for a minute.
5. Pour this mixture over the croissant layers and ladle carefully. Push down on the croissant and cake cubes to soak them completely with the egg/half and half mixture. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of sugar on top of this whole mixture.
6. Place a water bath (about 15×10 inch) and fill it up to one inch in height with water. Keep the 9×13 inch baking dish into the water bath and place it in the oven for one hour. Take out the pudding when it’s ready and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  The croissants used are stale since they are more absorbing than fresh bread. While using the water bath, be sure that it goes halfway up the baking dish. While serving, cut the pudding in square pieces and serve. If the pudding can be stored overnight in a refrigerator just before serving bake for 10 minutes and serve warm.

The Chocolate Croissant Pudding is an absolute delicacy with a unique flavor of stale croissants and chocolate cakes, topped by coconut and chocolate chips. This dish is suitable to be served on special occasions like big family get together and supper.

The unique blend of different kind of textures and flavors make this dish a very special dish to woo your guests.

 About the author: Ellen Spencer is a blogger and writer. She is a health freak and very environmentally aware. These days she is busy in writing an article on Vegan diet. Beside this she loves reading. These days she is reading a lot about Teen depression as her brother is suffering from this.

Ellen, thank you for a very informative and delicious post.  This is one I will definitely try in the Zesty house.  I hope everyone has a good Friday and a nice weekend.  I will be back on Monday with an announcement.  Stay tuned.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Hey fellas!  Thanks for dropping by over.  Are you hungry?  I am not sharing anything fancy here today just a simple dish that you can whip up at home in no time on a week night and maybe impress that special someone – or even your own stomach.

For this little number, I took boneless skinless chicken thighs gave them a little crack with the mallet to flatten them, seasoned them, breaded them with panko and baked them in the oven.  After the bake, I hit them with some homemade basil tomato sauce, and topped them with a hint of feta.

My spin on chicken parmesan without the parmesan…

Ingredients

• 8 Chicken thighs, boneless skinless
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1 Tsp. Oregano
• 1 Clove garlic
• 6-8 ripe tomatoes, chopped or from a can
• 2 Tbsp. fresh basil chopped
• 1/4 Cup goat cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.
3. Place the bread crumbs in a large bag and season it with th1 tsp. of the oregano and salt and pepper.
4. Using wax paper and a meat mallet, gently smack the chicken thighs so they flatten out slight to a more even thickness
5. Drop the flatten chicken thighs in the bag of bread crumbs, tossing to ensure they are coated well.
6. Distribute the chicken on the baking sheet and cook for 350 for 45 mins until crispy and tender.
7. In a large pot, add the tomatoes, garlic and remaining oregano.  Begin to cook the tomatoes over medium heat allowing them to break down.  after about 10 minutes you can puree the sauce with a hand blender and let simmer.
8. Add the basil at the final moment to the sauce.
9. Remove the chicken, pat dry with a paper towel the underside as there may be some excess fat.  Plate, top with the sauce and feta cheese.
10. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  When using fresh herbs versus dry herbs you want to add the fresh in at the very last minute versus early on as you would with dry.  The aromatics and freshness will come through in a short time with fresh herbs brightening your dish with both color and flavor.

I hope you enjoyed this spin on a classic.  Let me know if you try it at home.  It was well received here and will make the February calendar as well.  Have a good Wednesday and I will see you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty