Good Food For Good - Vindaloo Kabocha Squash by Fabulous Faith

Looking to spice up your side dish line-up? Try this two ingredient healthy flavor packed recipe!

Good Food For Good - Vindaloo Kabocha Squash Recipe by Fabulous Faith

Good Food For Good - Butter Chicken Skewers by Fabulous Faith

The perfect summer recipe, perk up your BBQ with loads of Indian flavour made easy by Good Food For Good’s: Butter Chicken Sauce.  

 

Good Food For Good - Butter Chicken Sauce

Good Food For Good’s sauces are totally thoughtful,  they are organic as well as sugar, gluten and preservative free. Good Food For Good's products are made locally and totally vegan so feel free to adjust the recipe and swap or add a veggie kabob if you have meatless-eaters around!

Ingredients:

1 Jar - Good Food For Good - Butter Chicken Sauce

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts

6 wooden skewers

Instructions:

Step 1:

Cut chicken breast into 2 inch cubes and place chunks in a medium sized bowl

Pour about half the jar of sauce over the chicken and toss to coat

Set aside in the fridge covered for 30 minutes to marinade

Place the wooden skewers in water to soak on a plate while you are waiting

Step 2:

Heat your BBQ to medium heat (450 – 500 degrees)

Drain the water from the skewers and slide pieces of chicken onto the skewers until the skewer is full

Set the skewers aside on a plate, wash your hands and grab your grill spatula

Step 3:

Grill the chicken skewers for 4 minutes and then turn over, repeat on other side

Once the skewers have cooked for 8 minutes, baste with some of the remaining sauce and turn the chicken over and baste the other side

Let the chicken cook covered an additional two minutes and then turn over and baste again, repeat

Once the chicken has cooked for 16 – 20 minutes and has been basted several times remove from grill and set onto clean platter.

Pictured below served with Basmati rice, cucumber slices in raita and Good Food for Good Vindaloo Squash (recipe to come!)

Butter Chicken Skewers Recipe by Fabulous Faith

A+Smoodees Bowl Recipe - By Fabulous Faith

A+Smoodees Bowl Recipe - by Fabulous Faith

A+Smoodees service offers the G.T.A. a convenient and delicious option to get all of the nutritional and health benefits of all-natural homemade smoothies without the hassle of prep. How do I Smoodee? When I am looking for more texture, I make Smoodee bowls!

Top your favorite A+Smoodee with sliced banana, granola, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries & chia seeds for the perfect breakfast, snack or dessert!

Recipe - Tropical Fruit Smoothie with Chia & Flax - by Fabulous Faith

Tropical Fruit Smoothie with Chia & Flax - by Fabulous Faith

Try this super easy to make Tropical Fruit Smoothie!  

Kick up the nutrition in your smoothie with the addition of Chia & Flax while keeping the sweet tasty flavour your family loves!

Tabasco Pantry Pasta Salad - Recipe by Fabulous Faith

Pasta Salad Recipe using Tabasco Mayonnaise

Tabasco Pantry Pasta Salad Recipe

Feed Your Original! 7 Chefs creating dishes with TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce - by Fabulous Faith

Tabasco sauce we all know it. Tabasco is on the table at your favorite restaurant, in your fridge and on every grocery shelf across the nation. So when I was invited to attend a Tabasco sauce tasting, featuring custom recipes designed by some of Toronto’s hottest Chefs’ I was more than pleased to oblige.  

Fabulous Faith arriving at the Feed Your Original Event for Tabasco Sauce

The theme of the event was Avery Island, a salt dome best known as the source of Tabasco sauce, located in the state of Louisiana (US.)   The Chefs were lucky enough to visit Avery Island and get a first-hand view of the lifestyle, cuisine and culture along with a personal tour of the Tabasco facilities.  Fresh back and filled with inspiration, the Chefs created dishes using this Cajun influence along with their own personal styles.

I guess first thing I spotted was the “salt dome” Citizen’s catering presented.  Wild boar (or as I jokingly referred to as fancy wild pig to their discontent) cooked in a salt crust, served with a cabbage slaw atop a traditional southern biscuit with white gravy.  I interpreted this as the ultimate sausage and biscuit, mild flavours suitable even for breakfast.

As I approached the next booth, the air was scented with soy and as I walked over I was greeted by Chef Nick Liu of DaiLo who spoke to me about his Lobster boudin, which was a perfect texture, topped with a spicy Tabasco and tomato dashi.  The Tabasco-Tomato Dashi was a rich and flavourful fusion broth, although still gentle enough to allow the flavour of the lobster to come through while enhancing the Tabasco flavour.  He adorned the plates beautifully with pickled honey mushrooms and wasabi garden peas. 

Next I saw a familiar face, Chef Dustin Gallagher of the Peoples Eatery.  He was definitely the most ambitious creating a dessert featuring Tabasco sauce.  Chef Dusty fused Tabasco and Caramel to create a salted spicy popcorn he served along with an olive oil corn cake and corn sorbet.  At first bite the mildly flavoured ice cream is surprising but then balanced by the richness in the olive oil cake.  The Tabasco caramel corn adds crunchy texture and sweetness which quickly turns into a sharp burst of heat.  Shocking, yet utterly addictive.

 

The Tempered Chef who hails from France showed off his pastry skills bringing along mountains of traditional mini croissants.  He created a croissant po-boy filled with pulled chicken topped with an apple remoulade and sauced with a Tabasco chipotle sauce.  The soft croissants were so delicious I had to take one along with me and a card for my carb friendly days.

Chef Steve Gonzalez of Latino 5 Spice presented “Un Cesar Con Garniture” a Latin Cesar in a bowl.  Tabasco tomato sauce, 5 spice guacamole, whole clams and a giant snow crab claw so you could get your hands messy.  Every scoop was packed with rich Tabasco flavour and fused beautifully with Latin flavours to give the sauce different dimensions.

 

After all of this flavour and I mean flavour, I needed a drink, this event was not for weak palates, although if you can’t handle a little kick, you are probably no fun anyways LOL!  Luckily there were plenty of refreshments; Bacardi presented a series of Tabasco infused cocktails demonstrating further the endless possibilities for Tabasco sauce.  My favorite was the “Bayou Juice” Bacardi spiced rum, maple syrup and cranberry juice with a splash of beer. Totally familiar Canadian flavours with a hint of spice and a shot of love.

Fabulous Faith sampling Tabasco sauce recipes!

But wait there was still more food!  So I grabbed a glass of wine and headed off to meet the next Chef.   I could see that he had collard greens so he had me before hello!  Chef Scott Vivian of Beast restaurant also had Boudin Balls with Tabasco sauce, essentially perfect southern style Arancini (those rice balls you love) fused with Tabasco delicately placed on top of those perfectly cooked greens I just mentioned with some pickled celery topped with aioli.  It was like going to dinner at your grandma’s house, except you had two perfect grandmas one from Louisiana and one from Sicily. I would eat there every day. 

Finally (and mostly because there was a line-up the whole time) I met the Chef from Canoe who I found out works with my Chef-Crush Robert and then that they were married and I had no chance.  So obviously their food was awful and they had the worst stand ever. Ok that’s not true….. They had a perfect gumbo and they have handsome men so I am going to see if maybe they need an extra Chef over there ;) just kidding.

Chef Anthony Walsh from Canoe, who works alongside those dream crushers, prepared Gumbo highlighting Canadian Fogo Island Crab which has a firmer more lobster like texture.  Along with duck and salted tabasco okra finished with corn bits definitely a fancier gumbo than I am used to but I am into that. Ok so you know at holidays when the collard green gravy soaks into the cornbread and you get that little bite of smoked meat all in one bite and it’s perfect?  It’s like that with the best piece of crab you have ever tried.  If you don’t get those tasty things at holidays, I am sad for you but at least you can try and imagine. 

Fabulous Faith and the 7 Chefs

So we had: Italian fusion, French Fusion, Latin Fusion, Canadian Fusion, Asian Fusion, Dessert, Cocktails all with one thing in common, Tabasco Sauce.  I guess that’s why it’s everywhere, it should be everywhere and put into the right hands the outcome can be quite miraculous. 

Luckily for you readers I have a large quantity of Tabasco sauce products (Thanks!!!) and I will be working on some of my own magic recipes!

Special thank you to Tabasco Canada for such a lovely event! What a wonderful idea for a culinary adventure! They are even so kind as to offer you the chance to win a trip to Avery Island and goodies like mine, check out the details here and get cooking with Tabasco Sauce http://www.tabascosauce.ca/feedyouroriginal/

Fabulous Faith & Mr. & Mrs. Glaysher of Tabasco Canada

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada - By Fabulous Faith

Has anyone else noticed that the teachers have smartened up and every PA day is piggy backed on a weekend?  Do they take into consideration that everyone else only gets two measly weeks off work per year… Ok and then it’s pouring rain and the kids are yelling! Don’t worry I got you.

So… What to do with your kids on a rainy day in Toronto?  It's July now and the kids are out of school so in the event of poor weather, indoor kids activities are high demand. There’s the mall with the rides or the museums filled with old stuff.  But now we have a new attraction and seeing as I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau as a girl (yes I even pumped humpback whale tapes!) Ripley’s’ Aquarium of Canada was something I was dying to show the girls.

Parking is ample as there are tons of big event places close by so even if there is a simultaneous sports event you can still find a space. You arrive to find a giant building and walk-in to see aquatic life that’s quite magnificent actually.  It’s essentially like walking into a mini-ocean, I won’t go into too much detail but there are so many beautiful creatures residing in there that you just have to go and see it for yourself.  Especially if you can’t swim or are afraid of water like so many of us, you will get to experience the most awesome snorkeling experience with your feet on the ground and climate control oh yes of course there is FOOD!

I had my daughter’s with me and after they finished with the sensory activities (yes they also let you touch and have a play area too!) we had worked up an appetite.  I was happy to find hummus, fruits, veggies and tons of other healthy options.  So if you are vegan, veggie or gluten-free no need to worry.  They also had great coffee which we parents need constantly on days like these.  

After we finished eating the girls explored some more and we headed off to the gift shop to pick up some ocean mementoes. Time well spent and memories like this last a lifetime. I even started sending my celebrity clients there for a taste of ocean life.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada! So the Ocean has finally arrived in Toronto couldn’t be happier, except if they sold seafood :)

Here is the video my daughter put together with an awesome "on fleek" beat by Toronto's Hottest producer Big Shot:

https://youtu.be/gtwZE7DyIbA 

Special thank you to Maggie at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada!