The Foodie Files

I've been thinking for quite some time about what else I want to talk about on my blog. I've long discussed my love of travel and I've talked about my adventures in recipe testing, but something I've been playing around with in my mind is finally coming to fruition.

As someone who loves food and dining out, I've been lucky enough to try a number of restaurants in and around St. John's. With the Newfoundland food scene really having taken off over the past few years, there is a diverse selection of restaurants out there, offering all sorts of food. I thought it was time I added my thoughts on restaurants around town. Will anyone read them? Maybe. Will anyone care? Maybe not. Is it an excuse to dine out? ...Maybe again. But as someone who is curious about food and how flavours blend together, and as someone who is always looking to try out the next big thing in town, why not??

That's why I'm going to really launch the Foodie Files part of my blog. While I'll still talk about recipe successes or favourite cupcake shops, I'm going to begin writing about my experiences with restaurants around town - my favourite dishes, apps that are must-tries, desserts that are to die for and so on. As someone with food allergies and sensitivities, I also think I'll bring a bit of a fresh perspective when it come to dining out, and the must-ask questions that one should bring up when dining out with a food sensitivity.

So stay tuned, the first Foodie File is coming up soon. Watch this space!

Dear Jamie, I Love You

So by now, if you've read past entries of my blog and especially the Transatlantic Tastes section, you must know that I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver. I've been an admirer for quite a few years, always tuning into his different television series on the Food Network and buying a number of his books (I've lost count but I have at least five, I'm sure of it.) I even had the pleasure of meeting him five years ago while living in Toronto!

I've cooked my way through a number of his recipes and shared them with friends and family. Some of my favourites include a classic Tomato Soup, delicious Crunchy Garlic Chicken and my absolute favourite that I make on a regular basis, Cherry Tomato Sauce with Cheat's Fresh Pasta, the first recipe I tried out of one of Jamie's cook books and one that has remained in my recipe box for years.

Are you a fan of Jamie Oliver? Have you tried any of his recipes? Let me know in the comments below!

Baking with bananas...and Nutella

Even though I try to eat one a day, I'm not the biggest fan of bananas. I usually eat them dipped in some kind of cream cheese or yogurt dip, but at the end of the week there are often some bruised bananas left in the fruit basket. As someone who hates wasting food but has such a hard time eating them anyway, I try to use bananas in baking. With four bruised 'nanas left over last week, instead of making a banana bread that I would give away to some grateful family members, I wanted to try something different. Being on a Nutella kick certainly helped - after all, bananas and Nutella go great together in crepes, why not in a muffin?

That's exactly what I did: Banana Nutella Pecan muffins. After combining all my ingredients and adding a swirl of Nutella to the muffins just before I popped them into the oven, these beauties turned out wonderfully. Again, though I'm not a fan of bananas, the smell of those muffins baking was incredible, and I didn't mind it filling my apartment.

                     

            

I definitely count this recipe as a baking success, judging by how quickly the muffins were devoured at a family gathering later that day!

So, if you have some bruised bananas that you're looking to transform in some way, I highly recommend this delicious recipe from The Novice Chef - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Baffled by Almond Butter

Being allergic to peanut butter and sometimes feeling left out when people say how delicious it is, I decided to buy some almond butter to see if it was similar. I planned to make cookies and use it with other yummy foods...but I stuck the jar in the back of the fridge and forgot about it.

A month or two later, I was at the grocery store and thought, "y'know, I should try almond butter. I'll bet I could eat that with pretzels or fruit or bake it into cookies...yeah, I'm gonna get a jar." Completely forgetting about the gigantic jar already in my fridge.

So now, I have two big jars of almond butter...and haven't done anything with them. What's a girl to do?

Do you eat almond butter? What do you eat it with? Or do you bake with it or add it to a dessert? Share your go-to recipes please, as I'm looking for any ideas!