Happy Monday!  Hope you had a good weekend.  I wanted to share with you a simple side dish that can replace your normal run of the mill grains such as rice or pasta.  I find, for me anyway we tend to get in a rut of only choosing rice and pasta as our grains.  I am trying to keep an open mind and use grains such as quinoa, bulgar, and barley.  They are very simple to cook and absorb any flavor you throw at them.

For today’s post, I started with barley and follow the directions and boiled them in plain water.  Then I added some sauteed mushrooms and corn, a little bit of butter and a hint of red wine.  I let that reduce down before adding it into the cooked barley.  Results were delicious and I must say, simple to make.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Pot Barley
• 1 Cup Frozen Corn
• 1 Cup Mushrooms
• 1/4 Red wine
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• Zest of 1/2 Lemon
• Salt and Pepper

Method

1. In a medium sauce pan, follow the instructions on the barley and cook accordingly.
2. In a larger pan, start by adding 1/2 Tbsp. butter and saute the mushrooms with salt and pepper.   Once cooked down, about 4 minutes add the red wine and reduce.  After most of the wine has evaporated add the corn.
3. Continue to saute the corn so that it starts to brown.
4. Set aside when cooked to your liking
5. In the barley, once all the water is evaporated, stir in the remaining butter, lemon zest.
6. Now add the mushroom and corn mixture.  Toss gently and incorporate.  test for flavor adjusting if needed.
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  Using alternative grains throughout the week will prevent boredom at the dining table.  Something we all should aim for to keep our food interesting. 

Monday is upon us.  Another busy week in the hopper.  I will pop back in on Wednesday for something else to eat.  I hope you have a great start to your week.

Take care

zesty

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Hi and happy Monday… or so I hope it is a happy start to the week.  I am still recovering from the excitement over the weekend.  There was absolutely no time for house work this weekend, minus a little bit of tidying and cleaning up.  It started on Saturday and ran through right until Sunday evening.  We were invited to a pizza party at the zesty in-laws on Saturday which to me simply means…. wear the loosest pants you have because you are going to be stuffed.  They never disappoint and Saturday was no exception.

Not only did we have amazing pizza for a couple of hours… including a really nice combination of shrimp, basil and tomato but the phenom baker of the group decided to dazzle us with a Peach and Maple Crumble for dessert.  As I was looking in the kitchen at the start of the night, I noticed the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook out on the counter and I had a funny feeling something was in store.

I had never tried this dessert before but … oh man!  This is a must at some point in your life.  Delicious!

A photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Now not only was Saturday night full of fun, Sunday was packed with a corn maze walk, shooting cobs of corn from a cannon, driving around on John Deere peddle tractors and eating ice cream.

Oh did I forget to mention that we also bought some corn ( 19 to be exact  – a baker’s dozen and 1/2 dozen ).  We did some boiled and some grilled.  Oh, this corn was delicious!!! Such a fun weekend and now back to the grind of … real life.

Have a super Monday and I will talk to you all on hump day.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Canada Thanksgiving!

Ever have a lot of leftover vegetables from the night before and you are unsure what to do with them?  Happens from time to time and I usually create a vegetable hash, veggie cakes or a vegetable puree but today I wanted to share something slightly different.  Although this concoction is similar to a hash with the addition of a very special ingredient.  Eggs.  I love eggs and definitely could eat them everyday.

This recipe is super easy and really has no boundaries.  A quick way to use leftover food from a previous meal and also an excellent way to kick start your day with energy.  Add whatever else you may have on hand in this such as bacon, sausage, parsley or peppers – you name it.  No boundary breakfast.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• Leftover smashed potatoes
• Leftover grilled carrots
• Leftover grilled corn
• 4 Eggs
• Tomatoes
• Whole Wheat Bread
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

1. Preheat saute pan over medium heat.
2. Add oil and potatoes and begin cooking through. Toss in carrots and corn and continue to saute.  Once heated through, create a couple of holes in the pan for your eggs



3. Crack two eggs in each hole you create and let cook sunny side up.



4. Cook until eggs are complete, season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with whole wheat toast and some fresh tomato slices.



6. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: A little sauce goes really well with this dish.  Sometimes I mix together ketchup, hot sauce and some barbecue sauce and serve on the side to dip into.  You can pour it on top if you really love it.

I am on the road this week to Virginia however I will be continuing to catch up on the consulting side and posting on my normal days this week.  I hope you have a great start to your week and I will touch base with you on Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Wednesday!  Let me first off say thank you for all the comments on my latest BLOG Makeover Giveaway.  It really is fun to give back to the blogging community and help friendly people out.  I am really impressed with the excitement level and I cannot wait to announce the winner next week.  So many people have tweeted about it and mentioned it on their blogs… so great.

On to the Food

Who loves vegetables?  Who loves simple, easy to make stews that require no really thought and monitoring at the stove?  Who like to eat?  I am hopeful you answered yes to at least two of those questions.  Neither here nor there – I have come up with a recipe that even kind of impressed Mrs. Zesty ( who is not a huge vegetable lover ) which to me means WHOOO HOOOO.

I have been really into lentils as of late and I wanted to come up with an easy way to put these babies to good use.  I had also found a couple of cans of tomatoes on sale.  Loving the sales and I will even use a coupon every now and again if I have them.  Want to see a cool site about cost saving ideas, coupons galore and wicked recipes?  If so check out 5 Dollar Dinners – Erin’s site is jam packed with cool information.

So with the tomatoes and the lentils I had built up an urge for a nice warming stew packed with flavor.  How do you pack it with flavor?  Low and slow and a few key spices.

Ingredients

• 2 15 Oz Cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 Clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 6 Cups water
• 1 Cup pearl barley
• 2 Cups lentils
• 2 Large carrots ( cubed)
• 8 baby Potatoes ( quartered )
• 1 Turnip ( cubed)
• 1 Cup frozen peas
• 1 Cup frozen corn
• 1 Tsp. Celery salt
• 2 Tsp. Chili powder
• 1/2 Tsp. Red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat large sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Add olive oil, turnip and carrots and begin to brown for about 5-7 minutes



3. Toss in garlic, tomatoes, celery salt, chili powder and red pepper flakes;  let simmer for 5 minutes



4. Add lentils and water; let cook on low for 15 minutes
5. Add barley and cook for 10 more minutes; then toss in potatoes and let simmer for another 20 minutes
6. Remove the lid and check for consistency.  If you think it needs more water – feel free to add some.  if you find it is too runny keep simmering with the lid off for 15 minutes.



7. Once the consistency is right, add peas and corn and stri through for 3 minutes.
8. Serve it up with a nice piece of beer bread if you have an.
9. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: By sauteing the root vegetables before simmering the stew you are packing the base of the stew with flavor right out of the gate.  For a more traditional base you may use carrots, celery and onion but I didn’t have any celery and Mrs. Zesty is not a fan of onions at all.

This was a really fun post to write and an even funner stew to make.  I would love to hear your favorite stew ideas if you have any.  Feel free to post your all time fav stew ingredients in the comment section.

Around the Blogsphere

• I guess we better keep voting for me at Goodbite.com and my Campbell’s debut.  I can only assume I am not winning the contest so VOTE now!
• An unbelievable pancake over at Healthy Tipping Point.
• Like Omelets?  try this one from Jaden

I hope you have a great Wednesday and don’t forget to enter the makeover giveaway if you have not done so already.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Friday!  Sorry for the delay in posting.  I actually never had time to write last night as we were at the house until 11:00pm prepping the upstairs for the painter today.  Progress is moving along and things are starting to take shape.  We picked out some plumbing fixtures today which are in stock… whoo hooo.  We seem to be struggling on lighting fixtures but hopefully we can find something we like soon.

On to the food

Take a look at this dish… first glance you may think it is a little odd which may be true but I like to call this – the fridge leftovers plus some eggs.  I had some left over potatoes, corn and mushrooms in the fridge and I was not sure what to do with it.

As you know I really hate throwing out perfectly good food so this is what I came up with.

Ingredients

• Mushrooms
• Corn
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Large Potato ( cooked and cubed)
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Add butter to a saute pan and heat to medium heat
2. Add mushrooms and begin to brown ( about 3 minutes )
3. Toss in potatoes and cook for 6 minutes; stir in leftover corn and mix thoroughly.
4. Create two hallow areas in the pan to crack the eggs.
5. Cover pan and let the eggs cook for about 4 minutes.
6. Remove and plate



7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Never waste food!  That is my tip.  Just try making crazy dishes like this one and see what you like.

Alright – I have to run to a meeting and figure out some house stuff.

To Do List

• Meet with the railing people
• Pick out some lighting… please
• Order the quarter -round molding
• Confirm cabinet arrival on Monday

Hope you have a great day!

Take care

zesty

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Happy Monday to you!  I hope you had a great weekend.  My weekend was action packed with “the house”.  We started painting the ceilings this weekend and I had to clean the whole house  before paint starts on the walls (today).  We are still having window problems – we had some more rain along with a couple of new leaks – grrrrrrr.

We had a lot of help at the new build with sweeping, cleaning and vacuuming.  It was greatly appreciated.  A zesty in law spent the whole day on Sunday pushing the broom, scraping the seam filling mud off the floor and vacuuming.  You gotta love great help!  Needless to say I didn’t spend much in the kitchen but we did manage to eat.  I wanted to share with you a old time recipe that I am guessing everyone has tried.

Now this is a super dish for leftovers, a great casserole in the winter and even better a pretty healthy dish over all.  I know this has ground beef on the bottom but if you are a vegetarian you could simple substitute out the beef for scrambled tofu or just use other vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini or even squash.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 large potatoes)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2. While the potatoes are cooking, add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink.
3. Add the carrots and let them cook until warmed through.Add salt and pepper.
4. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5. Add corn or peas near the end of the cooking process before adding to the casserole dish.
6. Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, add the milk to give some extra flavor and season to taste.
7. Place beef and vegetable mixture in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely.
8. Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Zesty Tip: There are a couple of tips that I would recommend with this dish.  Utilizing a can of vegetable soup is a great idea if you don’t have beef stock on hand.  It gives a nice flavor and keeps it moist.  Another idea is to rub a little milk and butter on top of the potatoes to ensure they get nice and golden brown.

My final idea, which I have yet to try, is to attempt this recipe with a “SWEET POTATO” topping.  I can only assume this would be delicious.

Open Sky NEW PROMOTION – 10% OFF SALE

We’ve launched a 10% OFF SALE!  This sale applies to EVERYTHING in every OpenSky shop, from Yes You Can Grill’s Outdoor Chef City Grill to Cooking With Friends’ Jarden Ball Home Canning Kit to Veggie Gardening Tips’ Composting Accessory Kit.

Here are the details:

• Coupon Code: Cory1009
• Offer: 10% off
• Expiration: November 15, 2009

Giveaway Update

I am really impressed with the results of my latest giveaway from Friday and I am really grateful for all your nice comments.  They really are fun to read!  I was thinking of a crazy idea and I wanted to run it by you to see what you thought.  What do you think if I get 350 comments on the giveaway that I actually give TWO Design Makeovers.  Let me know your thoughts and then tell all your friends and see if we can reach that number.

Wow  – I think that was a long post.  I hope you have an awesome Monday.  If I can remember to take the camera to the house tomorrow – you will be getting a house update.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Friday!  Another week in August is gone.  Can you believe it?  I find it hard to believe but it is what it is.  So here I am prepared to show you one of my favorite things to eat in August….. Corn on the cob.

For this meal, it was a simple roasted chicken from the market, some fresh homemade garden salad (with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes and red peppers ) and some steamed corn on the cob.

I absolutely love it.  Since we got home from Boston I have been craving it so I will share this quick dish with you.  In addition to this recipe, I am calling for your help.  As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we are having problems picking out the flooring.  I think we know the look we want to go for but are struggling with the flooring type.  Contemporary/Modern is the look we are after but our dilemma lies within the functionality and the practicality of the floor.

Attached are some of the sample colors and patterns we are leaning towards. What I would like from you is to tell me your opinion in either the survey below or in the comments and maybe your thoughts around it. We are leaning towards the marmoleum product as it is very durable, commercial grade, it looks sharp and is different.

So far we have looked at:

Hardwood

Laminate

Ceramic

Marmoleum

Vinyl

Cork

Zesty’s flooring Survey

[poll id="6"]

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Wow!  What a weekend… Just to let everyone know – I am addicted to Zestycook and usually spend every waking minute either thinking about what to post, cooking in the kitchen, writing down ideas or checking out all the amazing food blogs around.  I love it!

My focus while working all weekend on Zesty was trying to come up with new and exciting, yet simple meal ideas for everyone out there.  It is a well known fact that a lot of people are busy and have little time to prepare meals for themselves or their families.  It is also a known fact that more and more people are adopting healthy eating habits and engaging themselves in a healthy lifestyle.

I am practicing some new techniques with the camera and lighting – what do you think?

With that being said, I thought I would share with you a chicken salad with a taste of Mexico that has a good balance of greens, protein and complex carbohydrates.  This salad is super easy to make but does not lack in flavour.  Roll up your sleeves and prepare this dish the next time you want some Mexican flare.

Ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breast
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 low-carb tortilla
• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup canned red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 8 cup mixed greens – (approx 5 oz)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 small tomato, coarsely chopped
• 2 cobs corn cooked (slice the corn off the cob)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp grated lime peel
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce

Method

1. For Salad: Prepare a medium grill or preheat broiler. Brush grill with oil. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper.
2. Grill 15 minutes, or until cooked through, turning once halfway through cooking time. (Chicken
   may be made up to 1 day ahead. Cool before wrapping and refrigerating.)
3. Let chicken cool to room temperature, then thinly slice on the diagonal.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush tortilla with olive oil place on a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, until golden. Set aside to cool.
5. In a large bowl toss kidney beans, onion, greens, cilantro and until evenly mixed.
6. For Dressing: Whisk olive oil, lime juice, grated lime peel, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, taco seasoning and hot sauce.
7. To assemble salad: Toss greens mixture with dressing until evenly coated.
8. For each portion,place one-quarter of the greens mixture on each of four plates. Top with
   one-quarter of the chicken slices, and drizzle a little more dressing.



9. If desired, serve with lime wedges.

Yield:4 Servings

Zesty Note: The highly seasoned lime vinaigrette dressing is also terrific over grilled fish.

So there you have it, a little taste of Mexico in less than 30 minutes. You can’t beat that! My question to everyone is – what is your favorite Mexican dish? Let me know in the comments.  If we have an overwhelming response, we might have a Mexican Zesty Week!

Can’t wait to hear from you.  Happy Monday everyone… keep smiling.

Zesty

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This week is another healthy addition in the grocery item of the week excitement. We have been buying these bags of goodness for a while now and I must say they actually taste good and are simple to prepare. Great for a quick vegetable as a side dish or adding into a casserole at the last minute.

Health-Check program. Omstead Steam Ease™ products are the first frozen steamed vegetables in Canada to participate in the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check program.
After a little more research with Omstead, it looks like this product may only be available in Canada. I am assuming that it may soon be in the US or maybe it is already. If not – I can only assume there are similar products like this…

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