Main Courses

Spaghetti squash is known for its distinctive inner threads and their unique resemblance to cooked pasta. That unique texture and sweet flavour anchor this dish and its group of familiar Mediterranean flavours. I love the convenience of the one baking-pan method too. A tasty and easy way to fill Half Your Plate!

Running out of time to cook vegetables? You can make this delicious dish in the time it takes you to boil water and cook pasta. You just need a few delicious timesavers. Tricks like a simple pesto built on the snappy flavour of arugula or the convenience of a store-bought rotisserie chicken. And it doesn’t take long to melt bell peppers. Save time and fill Half Your Plate with vegetables!

Potatoes are not just tasty, nutritious, inexpensive and easy to find, they’re also wildly versatile, especially with eggs in the mix. Cultures and cuisines all over the world have found innovative ways to cook with this dynamic duo. Here they play a starring role in a classic frittata with a tasty Tex-Mex twist. The salsa side salad is bright and spicy, a refreshing condiment of sorts. This recipe will easily fill Half Your Plate – but not for long. It’ll be empty in no time!

This classic pasta dish is an easy way to show off the flavours of spring and fill Half Your Plate with lots of delicious asparagus. The super-simple sauce and streamlined method lets you cook the veggies and pasta at the same time. You’ll love the tangy bright flavours and watching bowls empty all around you!

Tex-Mex joints all have a variety of meaty fillings like this one on their menus packed with big, bright Tex-Mex flavors ready to roll into any type of tortilla. Burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, crispy tacos, soft tacos, tostadas, rotis—what will you roll?


You haven’t lived until you’ve slow roasted a tomato. This simple method unlocks the deepest possible flavour from just about any tomato. A long slow roast surrounded by lots of aromatic flavours easily melts whole baby tomatoes into a tasty sauce for your favourite pasta that more than fills Half Your Plate!

One of the best ways to fill Half Your Plate (and all of your soup bowl) is with a simple pureed soup. They’re a time-honoured and super-simple way to get a whole lot of vegetable flavour on the table in a hurry – maybe even hide vegetables from finicky eaters. This one was custom created by the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay with Chef Michael Smith’s coaching!

One of the best ways to fill Half Your Plate (and all of your soup bowl) is with a simple pureed soup. They’re a time-honoured and super-simple way to get a whole lot of vegetable flavour on the table in a hurry – maybe even hide vegetables from finicky eaters. This one was custom created by MP Bruce Stanton with Chef Michael Smith’s coaching!

One of the best ways to fill Half Your Plate (and all of your soup bowl) is with a simple pureed soup. They’re a time-honoured and super-simple way to get a whole lot of vegetable flavour on the table in a hurry – maybe even hide vegetables from finicky eaters. This one was custom created by MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes with Chef Michael Smith’s coaching!

The year 2016 has been declared the International Year of Pulses by the United Nations to celebrate one of the world’s most important foods: the edible seeds of the legume family.

Beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils are packed with fibre, protein, nutrients, and flavour. Their nutritional intensity, inexpensive accessibility, and ease of cooking have made them indispensible staples to cooks all over the globe.

Wherever we live, we all do our best to make healthy choices at home but it’s a lot easier when those choices are delicious. These meatless tacos are stuffed with so much sunny southwestern flavour that no one will notice anything missing. What a great way for your family to join families around the world in a global celebration of flavour and nutrition!

This is one of the great beef stews of the world. It's a uniquely Hungarian dish that's half way between a soup and a stew. While in Hungary, I learned a couple of things. First, that every cook has a different version of this recipe and second, that everyone believes their version is the most authentic. So to me, that means all versions are authentic as long as they contain Hungarian flavours.

This recipe is dedicated to the memory of Ann Szemba, my Hungarian friend who traveled with me to Hungary and taught me this dish.

Sometimes it’s just as easy to make a lot as a little. Here’s how to stew and transform one pork shoulder into two different flavoured meals. You can spend time to save time and avoid the dreaded “same old thing” blues by splitting the works into two meals!