I'm usually drawn to bright and colourful salads but this lovely spinach salad came about purely by chance. There was a big sale on spinach so I had picked up a few bunches and a couple of days later I still had spinach in my fridge begging to be eaten while it was still fresh. I grabbed the spinach and a crisp cucumber, some mushrooms - which I love in spinach salads, and a green onion from the crisper. I was looking for something else to throw in and the green and white theme inspired me to add the sesame seeds, almonds and walnuts. The seeds and nuts complimented the salad by adding flavour and a pop of texture. Make this salad as an appetizer for any meal or enjoy it on it's own for lunch!


INGREDIENTS

DRESSING
1/2 cup Olive oil
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp White vinegar
1 Tbsp White sugar
Pinch of Salt
Pepper

SALAD
4 cups Fresh Spinach
1 Cucumber
8 Mushrooms
1 Green Onion
1 Tbsp Sesame seeds
4 Tbsp Slivered or sliced almonds
4 Tbsp Chopped Walnuts

DIRECTIONS

DRESSING
1. Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl or you can make ahead and keep in a jar in the refrigerator.

SALAD
1. Put spinach in a large bowl
2. Chop vegetables and add to bowl
3. Add dressing and toss salad
4. Sprinkle sesame seeds, walnuts and almonds on top and serve!

Makes 4 appetizer salads


I encourage you, as with all of my recipes, to adjust the flavours to suit your taste. If you like a dressing with a little more zing, add a splash more vinegar. If you like it a little sweeter, you can add a pinch more sugar. Taste your food as you're making it and make small adjustments. If you're watching your total grams of fat and want to reduce the fat - just skip the almonds and walnuts, this will bring the count down to only 6 grams of fat per serving. Enjoy!

​Have a great day and Love Good Food! ❤️

My family loves this meal. Even as toddlers my boys would dig in with their little fingers and devour the garlic shrimp leaving a buttery trail across the table, on their chair and wherever their hands went, but no matter, it was so worth it to see their grinning faces as they gobbled it all up!

Many people would look at this recipe and scoff at the amount of butter called for. Whoa! That's a lot of butter! Yet this dish is surprisingly well balanced. Shrimp are virtually fat-free so that gives you some wiggle room to allow yourself to really enjoy the amazing garlic butter and not feel guilty about it. Not even a little bit.

I love this recipe because it is so flexible. I used basmati rice but you could use any kind of rice and toss in pretty much whatever you have lying around in your vegetable drawer. You could use snow peas, bok choi, spinach, or mushrooms, the options are up to you!

This meal is bright and overall light tasting. The trick is all in the timing of the cooking. Start the rice first and chop your vegetables before you heat up your pan. When there is about 10 minutes left until your rice is ready this is the time to start cooking!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rice (cook as per directions)
4 Tbsp butter
1 lb shrimp
1/2 onion diced
1 head broccoli trimmed and chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup celery chopped
1 clove garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp soya sauce


DIRECTIONS

1- prepare the rice as per the instructions on the label
2- in a pan melt the butter and add garlic, pepper and kosher salt.
3- bring up the heat to medium-high and add shrimp, sauté for a few minutes and add the vegetables
4- continue to sauté until the shrimp begin to lose their translucency and turn pink - this won't take long so don't over cook your shrimp, they will shrivel and become tough!
5- dish out the rice and serve shrimp and vegetables on top of the rice. A little soya sauce can be drizzled on top for those who can take the extra hit of sodium.

* cooking tip: smaller shrimp will cook faster than larger shrimp and larger pieces of chopped vegetables will take longer than smaller pieces.

When vegetables are over-cooked they lose their bright colour and turn mushy, so when cooking this dish try to keep your peppers and broccoli a little bit crunchy for a bright taste and crunchy texture.

​Serves 4

​Have a great day and Love Good Food! ❤️

​Real food is beautiful. Real food is good for you. Real food feeds the soul. Learning to cook with simple recipes that are adaptable is the key to preparing healthy and flavourful meals.  Creating delicious meals that brings your family and friends together is a rewarding endeavour.  Some people hate to cook, some love to cook, and some just cook because their kids are screaming "I'm  hungry!".  But all people love when someone else prepares a wonderful meal for them, and a wonderful meal brings people together.

The benefit of cooking with real food of course is good health.  Our bodies need a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat.  We need a whole array of vitamins and minerals, including sodium, and we need fibre. Learning this balance will help you with weight control, mood and energy levels and preventing disease.  It's worth it to learn these principals because really, who doesn't want to be healthy?

When shopping, I love to pick the freshest vegetables in the produce section, what's on sale, and what inspires me at the market. I rarely, if ever, shop based on a pre-planned weekly menu, instead letting the beautiful food I see influence my recipes. My husband and I have two little boys and we both work full-time - so you know it, we're busy!  On a typical day I open the fridge, open the pantry and peak in the freezer in search of something to inspire me. I try to keep my pantry stocked with the basics and cook with what I have on hand.  This way I use the fresh meat and vegetables that I already have in my fridge and prevent throwing away good food that has gone bad. Did you know that the average family throws away 40% of their food?  That's money in the garbage! It's shocking and totally preventable.
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This blog is about so much more than just recipes. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to talk about health and nutrition.  I'll talk about smart shopping and food labels, fad foods and diets, cooking for kids, what I keep stocked in my pantry and of course, share my favourite recipes, Join me and create balanced meals that will balance your diet, balance your life and hopefully balance your chequebook!  Stick around and discover your passion for LOVE GOOD FOOD!

Here's a sneak peak into some of the blogs coming up!