Claudia's Cookbook

Desserts

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

Like most people, summer is my favourite time of the year. The weather (for the most part) is warm and restaurant patios are a buzz with tons of people in great moods. I particularly love summer because of the selection of fruit in season. Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are in abundance in grocery stores, farmers markets are open, and U-pick fruit farms are everywhere. Some of my favourite summer memories growing up were when Claudia would take me and my  brother to U-pick farms outside the city and we’d pick pails and pails of strawberries (and fill our bellies just the same).

I also find baking to be much more enjoyable with fresh in-season fruit. One of my favourites to bake in the early summer is Strawberry Rhubarb Cake. This recipe is another gem of Claudia’s. There are a lot of strawberry rhubarb recipes out there. This one is more like a cake, but still has the same delicious flavour as a crisp.

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Healthy, Salads

Broccoli Salad

I am not a vegetable person. I never have been. I probably never will be. Any time while growing up when I would complain to Claudia that I was hungry, her immediate response was “have a carrot”, or “have a cucumber”. This infuriated me, as I clearly wanted a cookie…or cookie dough (see image top right of the blog). I would react by pouting. I did a lot this as a child. Broccoli and cauliflower were my two veggie enemies. I despised them. Even to this day, I am not a part of their fan club. However, if integrated correctly, such as cauliflower in  Claudia’s Curryflower Soup, or broccoli in this Broccoli Salad recipe, I could eat veggies all day.

This dish is the ultimate summer salad. I’ve already had this salad about 5 times in the past 2 months, and it isn’t even summer yet. Perfect for potlucks, BBQ’s and even lunch. There are many variations to Broccoli Salad. I find this one of Claudia’s is by far my favourite.

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Dinner

Killer Potatoes

With the temperatures slowly rising and summer not too far away, BBQ dinners are becoming a lot more frequent. In our family, BBQ dinners are pretty much every Sunday at my parents during the summer months. The standard fare of steak, chicken and ribs are the stars, with a variety of summer salads and potato dishes to round out the menu. This Killer Potatoes dish is a huge family favourite for us. Whether it’s for a BBQ or to accompany an indoor winter meal, these potatoes are a delicious change from the typical baked or mashed potato variety. Not to mention beyond simple to make.

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Salads, Uncategorized

Dish Magazine

We had the good fortune of being featured by fellow blogger and foodie, “The Media Chef” Kathryne Grisim in the Spring 2011 issue of Dish Magazine. Kathryne reached out to us a few months ago in the dead of winter to tell readers what foods/meals remind us of spring. Immediately, I thought of Joey Restaurant’s Viva Salad. If you haven’t had the good fortune to try it, I cannot say enough great things about it. Delicious!

Grab your copy of Dish Magazine today at any MLCC location and check us out on page 16!

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Healthy, Salads

Million Dollar Salad

Happy belated Easter! We hope yours was as fun and food-filled as ours!  We sincerely apologize for our lack of posts over the past month. With Claudia vacationing in Arizona and my work schedule becoming a little more hectic these days, we simply lost track of time. But enough excuses…we’re back and it feels great!

With all the snow gone in Winnipeg (hopefully for good this time) and the grass beginning to turn green, we decided it was time to feature a lighter dish with this post. We receive a lot of comments on our postings, mainly on the delicious, gooey desserts that we love to feature.  A huge thank you goes out to each and every one of you who have taken the time to comment and try our recipes! However, we received a particular request from my dear friend Richard in Ottawa who wanted us to feature a delicious yet healthy recipe. So Richard, this post for Million Dollar Salad is for you!

This salad is pretty much the easiest thing you could possibly make. The hardest part is chopping some lettuce and onion. The rest is pretty basic. You even get a workout shaking the salad dressing. This salad is simple but definitely does not hold back on any flavour. The fruit is sweet and the dressing is tart. It’s the perfect combination.

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Dinner

Chicken Enchilada

Claudia not only cooks fantastic recipes that were passed down to her from her mother. She also has a great vault of recipes that she received from friends and coworkers. This recipe was given to Claudia a long time ago by her coworker (and my former boss) Barb. I’m not sure if this is a Barb original, or one that was passed along to her. Either way, it’s delicious enough that me and Claudia had to share it with you.

Now like most recipes featured on this blog, this isn’t necessarily the healthiest. There is a lot of cheese. I mean a LOT of cheese. However, you can make your own low-fat modifications on each ingredient to make it less artery clogging. We’ve used part skim cheese, whole wheat tortillas and low fat mushroom soup in this blog rendition. It still turned out amazing. We hope you give this one a try – even if it is on a “cheat day”.

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Desserts

Layered Lemon Bars

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Claudia will be heading off shortly to the lovely state of Arizona. She reminds me frequently that the weather is averaging 80 degrees fahrenheit and that she will be basking in the sun’s rays for a few weeks, while I struggle to leave my home in -30 celsius weather here in Winnipeg. Therefore, I figured this dessert is perfect for the present occasion. Layered Lemon Bars not only remind me of summer evening BBQs at my parents, but are also a refreshing and light dessert that perfectly follows the heavier and hearty meals of winter.

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Desserts

Peanut BETTER Gingersnap Cookies

This recipe is not a Claudia original. But these cookies are so delicious we had to share them immediately. One of my coworkers made these a few weeks ago and was nice enough to share one with me. After one bite I knew I had found cookie love. This recipe is from the Food Network Canada show Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. Not only are these cookies absolutely delicious with it’s creamy, gooey peanut butter texture and sweet gingersnap flavour, they’re also not that bad for you! In moderation of course. If you ate all 20 of these babies, you would probably need to do a little run on the treadmill…for 3 hours. Still…totally worth the 3 hour sweat.

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Dinner, Healthy

Chicken Fajitas

I have absolutely no idea where Claudia got her Mexican cooking skills from. This recipe is one of the many dishes that has wowed not only my family, but my friends as well. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that there were a few times during my younger years when I would come home from a fun evening of dancing with my friends and we would search my parents the fridge to see if there were any leftovers. On the instances where we found Chicken Fajitas, we felt as though we had won the lottery. This dish is a very healthy and delicious addition to anyone’s dinner repertoire.

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Desserts

Bavarian Cheesecake

My Baba is well known for 3 of her culinary endeavours in our household. #1 – Perogies. #2 – Spaghetti and meatballs. I have no idea where a Ukrainian woman learned how to cook Italian food, but it was amazing. #3 – This Bavarian Cheesecake recipe. It is to die for. I remember every summer when Claudia, my Dad, my brother and I came back from our 3-week stints in Saskatchewan, Baba would have a big batch of spaghetti and meatballs and this dessert to welcome us home. It was so comforting and definitely worth sharing. Apples, cinnamon, cream cheese, crunchy walnuts and my own optional addition – caramel sauce. How can you possibly go wrong with this rich delight? You will win friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and probably even world wars with this dessert. Trust me, it’s a winner.

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