A Foodie's Fave Recipes

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Crust 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 cup oreo cookie crumbs 1/4 cup pecans 4 tbsp walnuts 5 tbsp pumpkin seeds 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 4 tbsp margarine or butter Mix well in a blender all ingredients. Place in bottom of spring form pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack. Keep oven at 350. Filling 3 - 8 ounce pkg of cream cheese 1 cup sugar 1 cup canned pumpkin - unsweetened 3 eggs 4 squares white chocolate, melted 1 tsp vanilla 1 dash of nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon Cream together first two ingredients. Melt white chocolate squares over a double boiler, if you do not have a double boiler, a glass bowl over water slightly rolling, but not a full boil will suffice. Then add remaining ingredients and blend well until smooth. Pour into spring form pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour until top of cake starts to crack. Let cool for five minutes. Run knife around the edge of the s...

1 butternut squash 3 large carrots 2 large parsnips 1 leek 1 cup Chardonnay wine 4 cups water 2 cups whipping/heavy cream 1 tbsp dried basil 1 tsp ground cloves dash nutmeg 2 tsp sea salt dash pepper Cut squash in half lengthwise and hollow out seeds with a spoon. Poke several holes in it with a fork. Heat barbecue up to 500 degrees, then turn burners down off on half of the barbecue and on the other side, place a pie plate with apple wood chips that have soaked in water for at least two hours. (I put some water in the pie plate as well). Leave this half of the bbq on medium heat. On the upper rack place the butternut squash over the side that is turned off allowing the smoke from the apple wood to circulate over the squash. This also allows the squash to cook without burning. After 30 minutes of this, add the peeled carrots and peeled parsnip beside the squash. I added a bit more water to the pie plate of wood chips as they were burning rather than smoking. I allowe...

Peanut Butter Chicken  - originally published here Nov 17, 2010 - also published on the Canadian Living Magazine website Ingredients 8 chicken thighs 1 royal gala apple 8 tsp tsp(34 mL) smooth peanut butter 1 cup(250 mL) orange juice 1 tbsp(15 mL) red wine vinegar 1pinch salt 1 pinch pepper 1 tsp(5 mL) cumin 1 tsp(5 mL) tumeric 1 tsp (5 mL) coriander 1 tbsp (15 mL) margarine or olive oil Preparation: Cut apple into 8 slices, having removed the core and seeds. Open chicken thighs, place one slice of apple in the centre of each thigh. Place one teaspoon of peanut butter into the centre of each thigh. Roll thigh around apple/peanut butter. Close with one or two toothpicks. Heat margarine/oil in large non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Place all the thighs into the hot pan toothpick side up. Brown thighs, then using tongs turn thighs to each side until brown then to the top side. Once they are browned all the way around, add the orange juice and red-wine vinegar....

fresh strawberries, sliced fresh peaches, cut into pieces frozen blueberries, thawed goat cheese, crumbled strawberry-fig balsamic reduction mix strawberries, peaches, blueberries, and goat cheese in a bowl.  microwave for 30 seconds, stir and mircowave for another 30 seconds.  Drizzle balsamic reduction over fruit. 

My friend Stephen in New Jersey teases me because I like to cook things in orange juice.  I have cooked yams sliced up in orange juice and I like to use it to cook rice in once in a while.  When I do the rice, I use: Two cups of orange juice, 1 cup of washed basmati rice (yes, I rinse it under cold water using a sieve), I add 1 tbsp of butter, A dash of salt (I would use about a teaspoon, but I'm supposed to be cutting back because of the high blood pressure) Then depending on my mood I will add various complimentary spices such as: 2 tablespoons of mild to medium curry or 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger or 1 teaspoon of hot pepper seeds or 2 teaspoons of tumeric and cumin