Aunt Shannon's Meximas Pinto Bean Soup

This soup is a favourite of mine. My Aunt Shannon used to put this together for a lunch time meal on Dummer now White Lake. It is a classic Mexican Pinto Bean Soup that has been NOIXED. I love it so but, I love my Aunt Shannon even more! It's so easy and yummy.

Ingredients:

• 3 bacon strips, cut into half inch pieces
• touch of oil (canola is good)
• 1 package of pinto beans
• bundle of coriander or, cilantro
• tablespoon of parsley
• tablespoon of paprika
• teaspoon of cayenne
• teaspoon of cumin
• tablespoon of oregano
• half a jalapeno pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 cups of chicken stock
• 4 cups of water
• can of authentic Mexican salsa
• 1/2 cup of canned tomatoes (crushed or, whole)

Put it Together:

• cover pinto beans in water and soak over night.
• on medium heat add 3 swirls of oil to a large stew pot
• add bacon and cook for a few minutes
• add drained pinto beans and stir
• then add chicken stock and water
• add spices and herbs
• adjust temperature to high and bring mixture to boil
• once at boil turn temperature down to low heat
• cover and simmer for an hour or, more (the longer the better)

Then Serve!

Welcome to Zee Noixy!

Zee what Noixy is up to......

Check for the latezt:

• Noixy Conzulting & Hook Upz
• Noixy Party Planning
• Noixy Recipez
• Noixy Approved (hotelz, reztaurantz, clubz and other cool jointz)
• Noixy Ztylin
• Plain Old Noixy Tipz

Sizzlin Noixy Filet

Marinade 4 Filet Mignon Steakz in the following marinade for 4 hourz or, until you need to grill

Marinade:
2 tabelzpoonz of Teriyaki Sauce
1 tablelzpoonz of Soya Sauce (low sodium good for u)
1/4 cup of apple juice
dash of salt
dash of sugar
1 teazpoon of cracked black pepper
1 teazpoon of Marjoram
1 teazpoon of Parsley
1 teazpoon of Chili Powder
1 teazpoon of chopped garlic (in oil good)
Combine Marinade, pour into Freezer Ziploc Bag (nice and zturdy), add filetz to bag and set in fridge for 2-4 hourz.

Take out and grill on the George or, on the BBQ until your dezired ready state.
Tipz:
if you press the zteak with your finger/fork whateva, if it bounces back quickly and feels mush this mean it's pretty close to rare. If it's firm when you touch it, it'z probably close to well done.

Nize Touch:
Zpread a little butter on top of your zteak, add some crumbled blue cheeze and cracked black pepper - then grill it under the broiler or, put in the microwave to melt the cheeze for about 30 zeconds!

Add your favourite veggiez on the zide and your good to go gourmet a la Noixy!

Miss Tracey Nolan

check out Miss Tracey Nolan @ http://misstraceynolan.blogspot.com/
- great tipz on Jazz, ezzentially start liztening to Miles Davis if you haven't been already!
- and up-dates on comedy gigs around the T.O.

Great Coffee Joint

Check Out Balzac's Coffee House
http://www.balzacscoffee.com/
located in the old Pump Houze in the Diztillery Diztrict of Toronto.
Get good organic coffee, kick'z Starbuck's Butt especially where frozen coffeez are concerned.
ambiance of the old Pump Houze is zimply zenzational. I zwear it makez your coffee and homemade pastriez tazte even better.
A big nod to the zervice, alzo exceptional. An excellent cafe to vizit when you're in the Diztillery Diztrict.

Reztaurant Recommended

Good Food, Not too buzy, Nice neighborhood...
Check Out:
casa di giorgio
Italian Inzpired menu, great zelection with many choicez for everyone'z palate , fantaztic zervice and good pricez. Pluz, they have a patio!
Located in the Wezt Beaches on Queen Street in Toronto.
Check Out the Link:
http://www.casadigiorgio.com/
note: seems to have been remodeled since the pictures on the web were taken. Looks Mediterranean Influenced now.

Special Salmon Dip

This is very very very easy, take your left over Special Salmon (one cooled filet would be good). Break it up with a fork.
Add the following ingredients to it, measurements may vary depending on how much Salmon you use and the consistency of the dip:

• mayonnaise
• cream cheese
• lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• herbs - oregano, basil and parsley
• spices - paprika, cayenne, garlic powder

Combine and Chill. Serve with toasted baguette slices or, crackers and veggies.

Artichoke Dipper

Okay, thiz dip can be zerved warm or, cold...zo completely up to you!

What you will need:

• 1 can of artichokez (in water), chop into bite zize piecez
• 1 package of cream cheeze (low fat if you're counting caloriez)
• 3 tbzp's of miracle whip (low fat if you want)
• cracked black pepper to your tazting
• zalt to tazte
• dazh of cumin
• dazh of cayenne
• dazh of paprika
• 1-2 tzp of dried parzley
• 1 heaping tbzp of Knorr Leak Soup Mix
• add 2 chopped green onionz
• add 1/4 cup of your favourite grated cheeze(z) (hard cheezes like asiago work well)
• mix well and zet in fridge for up to one hour for flavourz to combine zerve warm or, cold with your favourite veggiez or, ztarch!

Warming Tip: microwave on high for 1 minute, stir, then microwave for an additional 30 zeconds and zerve.

Zee Zpecial Zalmon

4-6 Zalmon Zteaks
Marinade:
1/4 cup of juice, apple, orange etc.
zplazh of lemon juice
dazh of zea zalt
1/2 teazpoon of cracked black pepper
tbzp of honey
dazh of Lea&Perrinz
couple of dazhez of zoya zauce
add your dry herb of choice i.e. parzley, marjoram etc.
dazh of cayenne for zome kick
-marinate for 2 hourz
...Okay now Zee Zpecial Part...Take Zhake n' Bake Chicken Glaze (yez Zhake n' Bake!), pour powder over fizh until you cover the top of the fizh completely.
Put fizh in the oven (middle rack) at 350 until done

Enjoy Zee Zpecial Zalmon......

CouzCouz Rap Ztar!

This is one tasty meal, if I do say so myself.....
You don't have to put the couscous mix into the Wrap, you can serve it as a main course or, as a great side. This stores well, so you can probably keep it in the fridge for a good 3 days.

Now to Begin.....

• boil salted water, once water comes to a boil add desired amount of couscous (1/2 cup of couscous is good for 2-4 servings) and stir well, then remove pot from burner and cover with lid. After 5 minutes, fluff couscous with a fork by running it over the couscous until it's nicely separated and fluffy. Set to the side.
• Add oil to pan, add chili flakes and set to med-high heat. Once oil is heated, add garlic puree heat it up for a minute. Add a can of rinsed garbonzo/chic pea beans. Then add some herbs and spices you like, I used: half a teaspoon of cumin for a Middle Eastern flavour, dash of tumeric for colour, 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of parsley, dash of basil, dash of mint and a dash of rosemary. Turn Heat Down to medium, then heat through for 5 minutes. Then add 1 green onion (not the green part) and 1 bell pepper to mixture. Heat through for another 5 minutes. Set to the side and let cool.
• Cut up half a cucumber, add 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced green onion ends (the green part) cover with Greek dressing in medium to large sized bowl.
• Add cooled couscous mixture to bowl, mix up ingredients.
• Add cooled chick pea mixture to bowl, mix up ingredients.
• If the mixture looks too dry, then add more Greek dressing and mix it up.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 24 hours. *The longer you refrigerate, the better tasting the couscous mix will be.
• Take a wrap, cover the wrap lightly with pepper jelly. Put couscous mixture on top of wrap, pour over couscous mix a little ranch dressing and roll up wrap.

Start Eating!

Grilled Veggie Pazta

This is so easy, especially if you grill your veggies the day before. I like to grill a whole bunch of veggies at one time, I use them as a side dish one day. The next day I take my left over veggies and add them to any short pasta.

How to pull it all together:

I like to grill my veggies in the oven (bake at 350 for 30 to 45 min) or, on the bbq, I have tried the Georgie F-Man but, it doesn't work as well. Just make sure you cover the surface you're grilling with oil. *If you bake the veggies, put them on the top grill and for the last 5 minutes broil them. Also. if you cover a sheet pan with foil, placing your veggies on top, it makes for an easier clean-up!

Veggies I like to use:

• onions (cut into rings)
• zucchini
• red/yellow/orange peppers
• mushrooms
• *eggplant (but, a lot of folks have issues with this little beast but, I like them and just salt them well so they're not too bitter to tickle your tongue)
• *fennel (same thing, this is subject to taste, grill fennel with garlic puree on top with a little oil, makes the fennel less intense). Cut fennel like onions into rings.
• *cut veggies in easy to eat pieces.
• Marinate veggies in ziploc bag or, an alternate sealable container. For Marinade, add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, favourite herbs, spices plus salt and pepper to taste. Let marinade for 1 hour at minimum or, overnight for a deeper marinated flavour.
• Boil Pasta (bring pasta to boil, add pasta turn down to hi-med heat and cook for 8 to 10 min) and drain.
• Cover the bottom of pasta pot with oil add red chili peppers, heat at medium temperature. *once chili peppers start dancing around, oil is nice and warm thrown in your veggies and pasta - TURN OFF HEAT - mix them up together.

Serve with light a shake of olive oil, add your favourite cheese sprinkled on top and a little more chili peppers over the pasta if you can handle it!

Light Zouth Wezt Zalad

Okay, this salad is open to what ever you got handy. We like simple don't we! This recipe has no meat but, you can add grilled chicken, flank steak etc.

Ingredients & Instructions:

• In a Bowl Add The Following Ingredients
• Italian Mix Salad (I use PC Organics lettuce in a bag from Loblaws, I find it lasts a lot longer then any other pre-packaged salad)
• Cherry or, Grape tomatoes (I don't recommend regular tomatoes unless you decide and take the guts out of them, otherwise your salad will turn to mush)
• Cucumbers (cut them so they are the same size of the tomatoes, makes mixing up the salad and your bitefuls less awkward)
• Spring/Green Onion
• Avocado (cut your avocado in half, remove the pit, then cut a grid into each half, remove the avocado meat with your knife or, a spoon if you find using the knife to awkward, *make sure you put your avocado on top of the green onions so they can infuse together, onions and avocados taste lovely together)
• Pour your favourite low calorie Ranch Dressing over, with a splash of vinegar (that way you don't have to use too much cream dressing, the vinegar will act as an extender)
• Nacho Chips (break them up, like croutons over your salad)
• Shave your favourite low fat cheese over (cheddar and Monterey jack work best)
• Pour your favourite salsa over (not too much or the salad will get mushy, unless you like mushy then pour as much as you want.

Mix it up or, just start eating it the way you put it together!