Spring and Summer Inspired Cooking!

May was a busy month! I unfortunately put my blog to the side, but definitely not my cooking. Luckily,  I have found the time to share these couple nutritious creations of mine...

BBQ Party! 

My sister C hosted a fairly big BBQ party mid May and my dad was in charge of barbecuing the meat. Our Armenian roots tend to make us buy tons of varied meats, so he bought a few racks of pork ribs, T-bone steaks, chicken drum sticks and even managed to do a home made pig roast in the rain. Barbecuing is definitely my favourite way of cooking meat. I think my dad has mastered this style of cooking, only because he chops the wood himself to make the coals which results in better smoky flavours for the meat.

My dad's set up in the rain

My contribution for the evening was a Hummus Dip with a twist of Beets and a Black Bean Quinoa Corn Salad. For the Beet Humus, I was inspired by another nutrition student blogger from BC, but of course I tweaked it and made it my own. It was a hit at the party, I got lots of compliments and my nephew definitely ate most of it!

Heart healthy BEET HUMMUS DIP

Ingredients: 

1 can chick peas

 5 medium beets

 2 cloves garlic

 olive oil

splash of white vinegar

tahini 

salt & pepper

 paprika

parsley for garnish 

I served home made whole wheat pita chips along with the dip... great combo! 

Even my little nephew of 19 months can't get enough of this dip! 

BLACK BEAN QUINOA CORN SALAD

As we were prepping food for the day, my oldest sister R, mentions this salad she loves from Costco. She briefly mentioned a few ingredients that this salad consisted of and I decided to recreate this famous salad she spoke of. Turns out, it was almost identical! 

Ingredients: 

Serves: 10 people 

1/2 cup of white quinoa

1/2 - 3/4 cup of red quinoa 

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 can black beans

1 red bell pepper sliced 

1 green bell pepper sliced 

3/4 of parsley chopped finely  

2 green onions

2-3 tomatoes sliced 

3/4 cup cucumbers 

Dressing: olive oil, lemon, white wine vinegar, salt & pepper and fresh thyme (or dried). 

By the way, I never measure my ingredients when I create my dishes. These are approximate measures, so you may not necessarily recreate these to the T, but have fun with your taste buds and learn to explore! I'm here to inspire you :)

In case you have questions feel free to contact me @ tsark029@gmail.com