Welcome to SuzFoods

Over the 30+ years we’ve been married, we’ve developed a ‘catch phrase’ for anything that we make that we really, really like:  ‘That goes on the menu for the restaurant’.  Now, we’re never going to have a restaurant of course, but it’s something that started a long time ago, and just kept going.  Even our sons used to do it when they lived at home!  The problem is keeping track of these menus or recipes.  Since I don’t cook from a recipe, it’s really hard to remember sometimes what I did for a particular combination.  Sometimes I’m good about writing it down right away, and that’s fine as long as I can find it the next time.  But I’d probably ignore it anyway, since I don’t follow recipes!

So I thought, why not make the technology work for us?  I thought this would be a good way to quickly keep track of any recipes or menu combinations that seem to work well.  It’s easier for me to find, and if anyone reading happens to want to try one and provide some feedback, that would be even better!  We’ll think of it like a ‘virtual restaurant’ – the one that exists in everyone’s kitchen.  Let’s give it a try and see how it goes.

Happy Cooking!

New Heart Healthy Theme for 2012!

I know there haven’t been a lot of posts over the past year. We’ve had a tremendously busy year – moving, changing jobs, changing careers, health issues and travelling extensively. That doesn’t mean we’ve given up trying new recipes though! The theme for this year’s recipes is low fat/low salt heart healthy. If you or someone close to you is dealing with health issues related to cholesterol, high blood pressure or at cardiac risk, hopefully some of my new recipes will help you eat delicious and healthy favorites!

New Summer 2011. Recipes!

Better late than never, as they say!  I’ve added three new recipes for you to try:

A great summer spinach salad that can be a summer meal or accompany anything you want to grill – Suz’s Summer Spinach Salad.

Two easy chinese-make-at-home stirfrys.  You may never order take-out again – Suz’s Beef & Broccoli StirFry and Suz’s Cashew Chicken.

Enjoy!

Where does all the time go?

When I was young and time seemed to be endless – especially in the depth of winter – I remember our parents repeating the age-old response that ‘time goes faster as you get older’. As much as I know rationally that this isn’t true, I can’t deny that I’m experiencing exactly that. Each year seems to fly past faster than the one before. Last year, 2010 seemed to be over before I had a chance to do any of the things I had planned! Now 2011 is rushing past as well; it’s April already and it seems as if the year just started. This is a roundabout way of apologizing for not posting more frequently since the fall. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking or testing new recipes or eating (way too much of that I’m afraid…). Somehow there just never seemed to be time to post. So for 2011, even though I’m starting off late, I’m hoping to be a little more on top of the postings. First, I’ll be trying to catch up on the 2010 recipes that are sitting here waiting to be shared with the world. Then we’ll move on to the 2011 recipes that are quickly building up as well.

So stay tuned and keep checking back! Subscribe to our Twitter feed so you know when something new is posted.

Happy cooking, wise eating and enjoy!

Ricky Ricardo would have been proud…

For reasons that may never be known, this turned out to be the weekend to explore and enjoy Cuban foods – and enjoy we did!  Now, to be clear, we’ve never cooked or eaten Cuban food, other than as a tourist in Cuba many years ago.  I’m not sure that Cuban Libres and beach resort buffet options count as a true reflection of Cuban cuisine.  It all started, I think, with good weather that just begged for a day spent in the yard tending the smoker.  We settled on a pork loin but wanted to do something a little different from the regular ‘southern BBQ’ style.  Google is a wonderful thing…a search for ‘pork loin’ and ‘smoker’ turned up a smoked Cuban-style pork.  Perfect!  This was something different, and also a cuisine that we had never ventured into before.  It’s not like us to just leave it at one item though – if we’re having Cuban-style pork, of course the rest of the meal had to be authentic too – and there went the day. One google led to another, and eventually we had identified our meat, side, salad and even went as far as trying an authentic (we think) Pan Cubano (cuban bread).

I’m delighted to say that everything turned out beautifully.  In fact, we may never eat pork loin any other way, it was so good. Even though we have nothing to compare it to, the meal was delicious in every way and (we think) as authentic as we could possibly make it.  We now know that Cuban flavours are different from Caribbean or Mexican – an unique and subtle blend of elements from both.  We’ve now added ‘cuban-style’ to our epicurean repertoire.  If you haven’t tried it yet, be brave and give it a shot.  You won’t be sorry!

Here’s the menu we enjoyed last night:

Smoked Cuban-style pork loin
Mojo sauce (yes, this is the real name!!)
Rice and black beans
Avocado & Pineapple salad
Pan Cubano

Check back to see the recipes we used, but you can also try out this link for more recipes: Taste of Cuba

[And if you're too young to know who Ricky Ricardo is - google it ]

August Long Weekend ‘Eat-in’

What’s a long weekend if you can’t enjoy the wondrous bounty that the good Lord provides for us?  Special weekend means special menu for us.  Let’s see, to start the weekend off on Friday night, we had a hot turkey dinner with mashed herbed cauliflower/potato mix and spaghetti squash.  You have to have dessert after that, so I made some raspberry/almond tarts (from the fresh raspberries in our garden, of course) served with a scoop of soy vanilla ice cream.  Saturday has been a relaxed menu, but the day started early.  The other half was up early to get the smoker going so we could do a 12 hr Texas smoked brisket.  So the day started out with GF (gluten free – because it makes the BEST pancakes ever!) blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup and scrambled eggs, delicious coffee is a must, of course.   Lunch was quite awhile later, and started out with a 1/2 pita each – the other half chose greek-seasoned chicken salad, hummus and greek salad but I went for hummus, deli ham and gouda cheese.  Odd combo, I know, but boy did it taste good!  It was necessary to try one of the raspberry tarts from Friday to make sure they were still good – and they were!

Sometimes relaxing can be the hardest job there is when you’re used to working non-stop.  It was a tough day for the other half: gardening, picking berries, tending the smoker, talking to the cat and napping in between.  Oh, and he took the hose to the windows for a summer washing too!  Beautiful weather, beautiful time to spend just enjoying the garden and puttering.  Really, isn’t that what a long weekend is for?  But back to the menu, which is the most important part, of course and what ties everything together.  A mid-afternoon snack was absolutely necessary.   Thai shrimp summer salad rolls were perfect:  shrimp, veggies, avocado all rolled in a soft rice paper wrapper with Thai dipping sauce.  Perfect for a summer afternoon and totally different from everything else.

The day goes on, more gardening, more napping, more tending the smoker…cocktail time came oh so soon!  What could be better than sitting on the deck on a perfect summer afternoon, sipping a fruity rum cocktail with fresh mint from the garden and wondering why you would ever spend time doing anything else?

The smoked brisket still had a way to go when it seems like it should be dinner time, so we opted for tapas instead – also our favourite summer dinner!  We threw a head of garlic on the smoker to get it smokey and spreadable soft, while I threw together some toasted homemade baguette, smoked salmon, soft goat’s cheese spread, olives, smoked red peppers, green pepper strips, marinated & fresh cucumbers and, of course, slices of fresh tomato.  A rose wine went perfectly with this Mediterranean feast.

We decanted some homemade raspberry wine that has aged beautifully to enjoy for the weekend and watched the evening arrive. By the time it started to get dark, the brisket was almost done, but not quite.  It’s finishing off in the oven now and will be even more enjoyable tomorrow!  In the meantime, we’ve had a great day, terrific and healthy food.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!  How about you?