Enchilada Pizza

What a crazy-wonderful-busy-fun summer I've been having! Lots of cake baking, party planning... more cake baking, traveling, beach fires, camp fires, BBQs and relaxation with friends and family. All the things that make summers so much fun! Now... in the midst of all that, I'm just a litttttle bit guilty of neglecting all of you - it's been over a month since my last post :O But have no fear, with summer winding down, and a back-log of posts ready to write and share, that stops now! Starting with this yum-tastic recipe, Enchilada Pizza!


This recipe is a result of 3 things:
#1. Realizing beans aren't so bad after all (especially when re-fried)
#2. Going through a brief Mexican food obsession
#3. Having pizza dough on hand but not wanting my usual goat cheese/sundried tomato/bacon/balsamic glaze version (which is pretty awesome too... just saying).

Anywho, after adjusting the amounts of certain ingredients, and giving it several taste tests, I can proudly post this to my blog. I love it and so does the hubby! I think I surprised him with this one, so yummy and so filling!

Old School 'Mario' Kraft Dinner

At the risk of losing all legitimacy I’ve established to date, I bring to you this amazing ‘recipe’ – Old School ‘Mario’ Kraft Dinner, a.k.a. my vice!  Now, before you ream me out for posting a ‘recipe’ for a pre-packaged product with all kinds of preservatives and hard-to-pronounce ingredients (this coming on the heels of my granola bar post about trying to avoid these types of things), I can’t help myself. This is my crack! I could seriously eat Kraft Dinner every day for the rest of my life and never grow sick of it. If I know it’s in the house, it doesn’t stand a chance!

I’m probably revealing too much about myself at the moment, but I don’t possess the control to put the spoon down! Every box of Kraft Dinner is a shameful gorge-fest. A straight-out-of-the-pot, using my ‘kraft dinner spoon’ (yes I have a special spoon), eat ‘til it’s gone type meal, that sends me into a world of shame/happiness – don’t judge and don’t dare ask me to share.

Now, this ‘recipe’ is for the old school Kraft Dinner I remember from childhood. Any true Kraft Dinner connoisseur recognizes the merits of each variety of KD, and likely holds one of them as a favourite. Original is nothing but a tasty time, and I LOVE me some spirals, I even enjoyed the KD spaghetti they tested out for a while, but for me, nothing compares to the taste of the character Kraft Dinner!

To be honest, I’m not sure why they gave up on the stuff? Maybe it was a cost thing, maybe for some bizarre reason it wasn’t a big seller? Or maybe they just stopped selling it where I live? Either way, it’s something I think they should seriously consider bringing back! But until then, for those of you out there longing to chinch yourself full of cheesy-character-pasta-goodness, this recipe is for you!  

Roasted Garlic

Two summers ago, myself and the hubby jetted off to San Fransisco for our honeymoon! What a friggin fantastic time, that was! We loved it there! There was so much to do and see, and let's not forget, eat! And eat we did! In fact, when I shared my photos once we were home, we were asked by several people if we did anything there BESIDES eat! haha It was round about that time, I realized my slight obsession with food and posting pictures of it ;)

In any case, one of our favourite restaurants was easily The Stinking Rose. This restaurant was located in North Beach, the Italian area of San Fran, and featured garlic in every dish on its menu - including their Ice Cream! Which, for anyone wondering, was surprisingly delicious! We would eat there again in a heartbeat if we could, so naturally we purchased the restaurant's cookbook!

Chewy Homemade Granola Bars

Reading the side of a granola bar package can be pretty jaw-dropping at times, and may require a degree in chemistry - a dictionary, at the very least! Personally, I'm tired of reading about all the 'crap' I'm ingesting, and am taking it upon myself more and more to prepare things at home with basic ingredients. Now, I realize a lot of the ingredients I'm using are processed to some degree, but at least I'm cutting out the preservatives and flavour enhancers.

This is the second granola bar recipe I've tested, and I have to admit, I prefer it to any of the packaged bars I've had. I think the pumpkin and spices really make it stand out, plus I enjoy the pistachios! These bars received rave reviews at work and were one of the recipes that convinced my coworker to purchase The Looneyspoons book! Oh... and most important, they're pretty quick to throw together!

St. John's Farmers' Market - A Newbies Guide!

Last summer I made a promise to myself that I would start doing more of the things I wanted to do vs. just talking about them. The St. John's Farmers' Market fell into that category - something I always wanted to check out, but never got around to. Yesterday, I happily attended my very first St. John's Farmers' Market!

For those of you who are newbies like me, it can be a little confusing when trying to figure out where you have to go. It's located in the Lion's Club Chalet behind the parking lot of the Re/Max Centre, on Bonaventure Avenue. I will advise, parking is a bit intense - even for the calm parking lot driver - so if you suffer from parking lot rage, you may want to park across the street... or bus it, or walk ;)

We managed to snag a spot in the Re/Max parking lot, then proceeded to the lion's club after slight confusion... after seeing what looked like a few stands, plus the hula hoopers we determined we should go to the building pictured below. So I repeat for newbies, it's NOT in the Re/Max Centre, it's in the building that says 'Lion's Park'.

As you can imagine, she's a little packed on the inside, but not unbearable - you can also escape out the back door for more vendors and some fresh air! There's everything from handmade soaps, to crafts, to artwork and lots and lots of food - the wonderful aroma of tastiness smacks you in the face at the door and it's AWESOME!

Date Squares

Dunno about you, but I'm ready for this week to be over!! Nothing dramatic happening, just really looking forward to some lazy times on the weekend! Since this has been, and continues to be, a rather drawn out week, I think I... sorry WE, deserve a delicious treat! And at the moment, I would love nothing more than a warm, fresh outta the oven date square - the proper comfort food. Using my momma's recipe, I whipped these up for my visiting fam a little while ago and am wishing I had some more, they're just sooooo tasty!!

Felafels!

This past summer, I created a list of 'foods to try'. Between Facebook's 'Food List Challenge' and my own little list, I've tried several new dishes and discovered there are many foods I had never tried that I really enjoy! Felafels are on that list. After giving them a-go at Extreme Pita, I got all brave about it and decided to try out the Looneyspoons recipe I had. As usual, the Looneyspoons did not disappoint! I should also mention, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed... my husband - self-proclaimed meat eater - absolutely loved them! He said, and I quote, 'I would eat these any day of the week!' This coming from a man who cringes when we plan our weekly meals and I get to a meat free meal! So I encourage everyone to give these a try, great idea for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike!

Shepherd's Pie

When I started writing this post this morning, I was supposed to be in a car, enroute to the Ferry terminal, to hop a Ferry to Fogo, for the long weekend. But guess what?! Fogo was a no-go :(

In typical May 2-4 fashion, mother nature decided to throw us for a loop. We've been pretty lucky weather-wise to date - this would have been our 4th annual May 2-4 group trip - and we've only had one bad year until now! I guess it's 50-50 at this point!

Last year was a beautiful weekend, we skipped rocks in the ocean, flew a kite, lounged in a hammock and had bonfires both nights we were there. Soooo I guess we should have expected a little adverse weather this year, cuz ya can't have it perfect all the time - this is Newfoundland after all! But I mean this? this is a bit extreme!

20-35 cm of SNOW expected to accumulate by Sunday morning

For any of you unaware, Fogo is smack dab in the middle of all that red business and requires a 1 hour 15 minute ferry ride. Ergo, Snowfall warning + Marine wind and high waves warning = cancelled trip :( Sadness... In any case, we'll still be celebrating May 2-4 in town, no need for the weekend to be a total flop!

Now, with all that off my chest (sorry for the extra long intro this time, I'm clearly dealing with some things today lol)... let's get down to the deliciousness of this recipe!






I know right?! Looks nommerz! Very simple and very tasty. 

Italian Chicken Casserole

First of all, let me give props to Aaron & Jill of 'Our Story' blog for conceiving this deliciousness! I first came across this recipe on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it. Sure I've had artichoke before... mushed together with spinach in hot-dip form, but I had never purchased or cooked with it! And, I must admit, I enjoy a recipe that forces me to cook with new ingredients!

This recipe was super tasty, and considering I ate it 3 days in a row as leftovers, (when I'm not a big fan of leftovers) is a testament to how good it is. I've made a few small adjustments to the original recipe, turning it into more of a chicken casserole vs. a chicken bake. But, it's delicious either way! 

Happy 1 Year Blog Anniversary to Me!! :)

source of photo can be found here.

Yesterday I celebrated the 1 year anniversary of my very first blog post! It's pretty hard to believe a year has whipped by already! To date I've had over 20,000 views on over 100 posts, and I've created a mini blog community on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram! I have to say, it's been a great year of food and I'm absolutely loving the blogging world! So thank-you to all my followers and fans who make this fun to do! :)

Cheers, to many more years of My Food Infatuation!