• Baked Cod with Shiitake Mushrooms and Bok Choy

    I’m currently working on finishing up a couple of stories and recipes to share but they’re taking me a little extra time to get just right. In the meantime I thought I’d give you another quick and easy meal. Let’s call this the baking paper meal. Like the sheet pan meal, this recipe comes together with very little prep work or clean up required. It is also quick, extremely customisable and requires no fancy equipment in order to execute, and the options are endless. However, unlike the sheet pan meal, the baking paper meal bakes all at one time, so the components need to have equal cooking times.

  • Budapest and the Sheet Pan Dinner

    Budapest is honestly, hands down, one of my most favourite places in the world. I don’t speak the language (though I’m trying to learn), yet I feel like I belong. I’m just so at ease there. The city is absolutely beautiful and so accessible by foot or public transportation with two sides of the river, Buda and Pest, that are diverse in personality and terrain. I often wonder what it would be like if I spent any length of time there. I’m hoping to find out soon.

  • Kale Chopped Salad with Stone Ground Mustard Vinaigrette

     

    Today’s post is dedicated to my sister who eats so much kale her perfect complexion is in danger of turning dark, leafy green. I kid, sorta. I’ve never known anyone to eat so much of the stuff. A day without and she gets the shakes. I admire her commitment. Thanks sis for setting such a good example.  You know I’ll have to balance this out with a burger and fries so my body doesn’t go into shock.

  • Chuck Steak Shepherd’s Pie

    It has been quite cold the past week.  The cold and rainy weather is making me crave all things comfort food and the other night the comfort dish I was craving was Shepherd’s Pie.  But I really wasn’t wanting Shepherd’s Pie with ground beef so I decided to give it a go with chuck steak instead.  It took a bit longer than if I had used ground beef but the result was so worth it and the hands on time was minimal.  Alternatively this is a great way to use up leftover pot roast.

  • Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing

    Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing ~ Living the Savory LifeSo it seems that Sunday Gravy was my 50th post!  Who knew?!  And it only took me two plus years to get there.  So hooray for an LSL milestone!  Let’s hope the 100th isn’t another two years away.  I’m glad my 50th was Sunday Gravy.  I really like that recipe but don’t worry #51 isn’t a bad one either.  (really great transition there Laur; really great)  Anyway……Steak and Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Sunday Gravy

    I think it might be time to share my Sunday Gravy with you.  I mean, we’re friends right?  You’ve been hanging in there with me through all the times when I have dropped off the radar and you’ve cheered me on when I’ve made my comebacks.  I think you deserve Sunday Gravy.

    Now if you’re not down with the whole Italian-American thing you might be asking, “What the heck is Sunday Gravy?” Don’t worry, I’m here to help with that.  Sunday Gravy is a slow cooked tomato sauce that uses meat as it’s base.  It’s not a bolognese and it’s not a ragu.  It is still, for me, primarily a tomato sauce and is served over pasta (fresh if at all possible).  Sunday Gravy should make the whole house smell like if you walked into the kitchen you would expect to find a whole clan of Italian Grandmothers stirring the pot.  It is rich and satisfying and one mouthful makes you feel like you’re wrapped up in Grandma’s hand crocheted quilt.  Really.  Sunday Gravy is that good.

  • Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks

    Today, friends, I have a fantastic weekend dinner for you.  One that you let cook all afternoon and then sit down with good wine and good company to savor.  It’s the kind of dish you take a bite of and melt right into.  The kind where you take your time to eat and drag it out because there’s good food, good wine and good conversation and you have nowhere you’d rather be.  These are my favorite kind of meals.Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Lamb Ragu

    Lamb Ragu ~ Living the Savory LifeI once entered into a pasta sauce cooking competition with my team at work.  We were to each make a pot of our own homemade sauce and we would be judged by our peers.  So I made sauce!!  And it was good!!  Really good!!  And I lost….  The sauce I made was a really fantastic red sauce with small meatballs.  Compared to the sauce that won, mine wasn’t particularly hearty and considering I was feeding a team of ten men, it was a big error on my part.  I didn’t cook to my audience.  I wanted my audience to love what I wanted to make.  Lesson learned eh?

  • Turkey “Cobb” Salad

    When thinking of what to put together for dinner this past week, I was really thinking of a true Cobb salad.  Chicken, egg, avocado, blue cheese and bacon among a pile of greens and tomatoes and onion.  All of this of course to be topped off with a thick and creamy dressing.  You know, one of those salads that end up with more calories than a bacon cheeseburger?

    Yeah, that’s what I really wanted.

    Using my better judgement (for once) I opted for this Turkey “Cobb” Salad instead.  Beautiful, fresh leafy greens topped with chopped turkey, thinly sliced carrot, sliced cucumber, chopped tomato, blanched green beans, blanched broccoli, and topped with a lightened up buttermilk ranch dressing.Turkey "Cobb" Salad ~ Living the Savory Life

  • Leftover Revamp ~ Greek Nachos

    With just two of us in the house it can be really hard to not waste food.  One of our biggest pet peeves is throwing food away.  It is just so wasteful and I feel guilty throwing it away.

    We always try to do better.  I’ve stopped cooking dinner one night a week and we just pull out all of the little containers in the fridge and we each make a plate with what’s available.  Somehow there’s always bits that still get thrown away.  Enter ~ Leftover Revamp.  I’m hoping you enjoy this and that it will become a regular feature on LSL.  The goal here is to take a leftover item or two and combine it with pantry items and staples from the fridge to create a completely different meal than the original.Greek Nachos ~ Living the Savory Life