All posts tagged: tomatoes

Smyles’ 5 Ingredient Tomato Soup

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“I’m the first to admit I’m not much of a cook. But since soup mainly involves tossing everything in a pot and waiting, it’s one of my better dishes.” ~ Suzanne Collins ~ There is something about cold, wintery, blustery days that just calls for soup. We have had plenty of them in the last few weeks and soup is indeed my comfort food of choice at the moment. This soup is one of my sister’s. I don’t really deviate in any way from her recipe, until it comes to the toppings. When I did my vegan month, back in November, she suggested this as something that could work quite well during it. And, boy, was she right! In fact, I’d get up early once a week, and make the soup (minus the blending) before I went on my morning walk. At that time, like now, we were in the middle of a national lockdown (and just in case you are reading this in 100 years, it was Covid-19 times!), and I was working from …

Things That Grow: A Tale of a First Time Gardener

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“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that ‘she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.” -Frances Hodgson Burnett When I came home from Korea, and after all the drama of July and August was over, my brother-in-law asked me if I would be interested in gardening as a way of keeping myself busy until I figured out what I wanted to do. I said that I would but I knew nothing about it. He lent me some books (which I have yet to complete!) but I never got around to actually planting anything. Then, about two weeks ago, I was visiting their family and he was showing his children how to plant some herbs and tomatoes. I watched, enthralled by the process and somehow came away  not only with some very handy knowledge but also with a little miniature green-house windowsill thingy (I don’t actually know what they are called and must remember to find out), some pots for planting and lots of seeds. On Wednesday and Thursday last week, …

Warm Pesto Pasta Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Brie

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“Cheese is milk’s leap toward immortality.” – Clifton Fadiman Happy 2016, everyone! May it be better than 2015 for us all and hopefully (in my case) without as much sadness. While Christmas may be my absolute favourite eating season, as well my favourite season in general due to Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday all happening in it, I will be the first to admit I went overboard in the eating department. We had turkey, spiced beef and ham sandwiches for days afterwards – I like mine with mayonnaise, cranberry sauce and stuffing. Incredibly delicious but a bit heavy! Add on to that all the desserts and biscuits that make the rounds (seriously, there are still 5 giant boxes of biscuits in our house – and we ate at least 3 boxes over the holiday!) and it’s amazing I’m not just a ball of food. Up until Monday, we were still in a Christmas zone as part of my sister’s present to us was a trip to the zoo and a lunch at Mary Ann’s favourite bar, …

Spinach, Pumpkin Seed and Caprese Stuffed Chicken

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“If God grants me longer life, I will see to it that no peasant in my kingdom will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot every Sunday.” – Henri IV of France First off, hello everyone! It has been a while since I posted a new recipe. May has been an intense month – the first 3 days were spent at Gujora Beach on Geoje Island (see right). It was just beautiful there and so much fun, too! Around 11 of us went, and we barbecued tons of food: hamburgers, chicken, pork, and vegetables for nearly every meal. The following weekend I celebrated a friend’s birthday in Seoul, and since then I’ve just been trying to catch up on normal everyday life while trying to perfect the following recipe. Which I did, finally, on Saturday morning! Over the last month, I think I’ve had various versions of this recipe about 6 times, and I am at the point where I am almost sick of chicken (but  can one ever, really, be sick of chicken?). Luckily, I …

Tomato, Bean and Avocado Salad

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Black beans and soy beans are the cornerstones of longevity diets around the world. -Bobby Darin This last week was the second week of camp for me and it’s been a busy one. Teaching camp is a lot more work than normal day-to-day as I have to prepare a lot more material and put a different “teaching cap” on to make sure the kids have a lot of fun. I know my 3rd graders are having a blast but I’m not so sure about some of the older kids! Anyway, I’ve had to bring a lot more work home with me so I haven’t had much time to prepare food for dinner and lunches. Luckily, I came up with an amazing little salad that has been a lifesaver this week; it’s healthy, tasty, and best of all, assists with lowering cholesterol and improving digestion. Yay for legumes! The idea for this salad was thanks to a trip to Costco where I picked up a large jar of oil-packed, oven-dried organic Roma tomatoes and some avocados. …