Freezable Casseroles

A couple weeks ago I had a spurt of energy and decided to make up some meals to freeze for before/after baby comes. I used what I had on hand and made some new and old casseroles and recipes. I made two meat pies, Good Neighbor Casserole, Judy's Black Bean and Corn Casserole and two hashbrown casseroles (well one recipe, divided in half). I lined some of the pans with tinfoil so that once frozen, could be transferred to a large freezer bag and that way my pans wouldn't be tied up. I haven't exactly had any more bursts of energy, so they've stayed in the pans thus far, but if I ever have the urge to make something and need them - they're super easy to access. I've actually already busted into one of the casseroles as I haven't been able to do any cooking lately and it was absolutely delicious. The 'Good Neighbor Casserole' Recipe I found in my Company's Coming 'Gifts from the Kitchen' Recipe book was fantastic, almost like a make-shift lasagna. I baked everything as directed before freezing, and then to reheat I cooked from frozen for an hour at 375 degrees. The cheese on top was nice and chewy and Mike and I both really loved this dish.

Pictured above: Top Left and Middle Left: Good Neighbor Casserole

Top Right: Judy's Black Bean and Corn Casserole

Bottom Left and Bottom Right: Hashbrown Casserole

(You're probably thinking how can I tell the difference between them when they're all covered in cheese, right?) yummmmm.....

Good Neighbor Casserole

2.5 lbs lean ground beef

large onion, chopped

3 cups spaghetti sauce, your choice (I like to use the garden selects version - has more veggies)

salt & pepper

12 oz broad egg noodles (didn't have so used elbow mac), cooked until tender but firm

8 oz light cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups light sour cream

1 1/4 cups cottage cheese

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

Scramble fry the ground beef and onion until cooked, drain and rinse to get rid of excess fat. Add spaghetti sauce, salt and pepper. Cook for about another 10 min until heated through.

Divide cooked noodles between two greesed 2 quart (2 liter) casserole dishes. Divide meat mixture over each noodles.

Beat cream cheese and sour cream together with your mixer until smooth. Add in the cottage cheese and beat it as smooth as you can get it. Divide and spoon over each meat mixture.

Divide and sprinkle cheddar cheese over cream cheese mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 for about 40 min until hot. Makes 2 casseroles, 6 servings each.

Drumstick Dessert

My mom used to make this every summer to take camping with us! She'd make it ahead and freeze it, then we'd have a special treat for dessert. I haven't had this in years, but after my husband accused me of not liking peanut butter, I decided to make this! (I still have no idea what basis he made his claim on - especially when I eat PB on toast almost everyday). So when Camille was coming over for birthday supper and it was absolutely sweltering in my house and turning my oven on was the last thing I wanted to do (Yes, it's October), I decided this no-bake dessert was perfect.

Drumstick Dessert

Bottom Layer:

1 1/2 cups graham wafer crumbs

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (I used almonds)

Middle layer:

an 8oz pkg of cream cheese (I used 95% fat free cream cheese)

tub of cool whip (I used the light kind)

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar (I used a bit less than 1/2 cup, and I used brown sugar).

Topping:

caramel and chocolate sauce

Melt the margarine and mix together the bottom layer, reserving a 1/2 cup for extra topping. I popped this in the freezer while I was mixing up the rest. Mix up all ingredients in the middle layer in your mixer, adding the cool whip last. Spread mixture onto crumb base and top with remaining crumbs, chocolate sauce and caramel topping. Usually this will freeze much quicker if you use the full fat varieties, but otherwise this will take a long time to set using the fat-reduced ones. For best results, freeze over night.

Easy Stuffed Potatoes

This has got to be the quickest and easiest recipe for stuffed potatoes ever! Mike absolutely loves them and would eat them for every meal if he could! You could totally change up the type of cream cheese to change the flavour!

Easy Stuffed Potatoes

4 large baking potatoes

1/2 tub herb and garlic light cream cheese

milk to smooth out

salt and pepper

dill to taste

handful of bacon bits

grated cheese

After washing and cutting off any bad parts on the potato, pop in the microwave and press your potato button! (Best button ever!) If you don't have a potato button, cook on high about 10-12 min or until fork pierces easily. Let the potatoes cool and then slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out the potato, leaving a fairly sturdy shell. Using your mixer, whip together the rest of the ingredients, reserving some grated cheese. Spoon back in to the shells and top with grated cheese. Can top with chives too to make em look pretty! If it's summer, put them on the top rack of the BBQ while you cook the rest of your meal. Or finish under the broiler for a few minutes but watch closely as it will burn quickly!

Easy Appetizer Pizza

This is a super quick and easy recipe that is always a crowd pleaser and disappears before your eyes. For the pizza dough, I either use frozen pizza dough or pizza dough mix - both are easy, but the mix is quickest as you don't have to let it thaw out. I find that thin crust works best. Topping it with kraft salad dressing- I've used Roasted red pepper and parmesan before and also Italian - and finishing with shredded cheese makes this deliciously simple. For the grated cheese- the pre-shredded four cheese Italian blend gives great flavor!

Easy Appetizer Pizza

1 prepared pizza dough, rolled out to fit a pizza pan

Roasted Red Pepper and Parmesan Salad dressing

1 cup or more grated cheese

handful of real bacon bits

Spread about 1/3 of a cup of the dressing on the pizza dough and top with bacon bits and grated cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min, depending on crust thickness. Let sit for about 5-10 min, slice into thin strips and serve.

Shepherd's Pie

I absolutely LOVE Shepherd's Pie. I always wondered why my mom never made it when we were growing up, but she did! We just called it something different! I think we just called it something super original like casserole or even hamburger casserole! I found a really easy way of making it too... by using a spice mix! Club house actually has a delicious mix of pre-blended spices called, you guessed it, Shepherd's Pie. I have made it from scratch as well, which I prefer, but using a spice mix is so quick and easy with no thinking involved that I definitely had to mention it. I've been looking through cookbooks trying to find the perfect recipe but ended up combining about 5 or so different recipes to make my own:

Shepherd's Pie

1-1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

large chopped onion

a couple garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup water

2 cups beef broth

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp rosemary

2 TBSP ketchup

2 tsps Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups frozen or canned veggies such as peas, carrots, corn, etc.

4 cups leftover mashed potatoes.

1 cup grated cheese

Brown beef and onion. (I strain and rinse with hot water after it's fully cooked, then return to the pan). Add garlic. Mix flour with water, then stir in to the beef, then add the rest of the ingredients except potatoes and cheese. Simmer for about 15-20 min until everything is nice and thick. Remove the bay leaf and pour into a 9x13, top with mashed potatoes, sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 30 min in 400 degree oven. I turn it on broil for an extra 3 or so minutes until everything is nice and browned on top. *Watch closely as burns quickly!!*

More Dips!

So I've been making the same dips over and over so I decided to try some new ones. Wasn't too sure how they'd go over as Mike and I are both hot ooey gooey cheesey dip lovers and these were well.. cold. They turned out not too bad at all actually, with most people giving great reviews of them.

BLT II Dip

This dip is just as it sounds - a BLT made into a dip. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and you can follow the link to the recipe here. I used premade real bacon bits instead of frying up my own and the low fat versions of the sour cream and mayo. I added in half a packet of some ranch powder as suggested in the comments section on allrecipes.com and topped with some finely chopped lettuce around the outside for decoration and topped it with some fresh chopped tomato and more bacon bits. I think the trick with this recipe is letting it sit over night so the flavors can all blend together. My dip sat for about 4 hours and next time I'd let it sit longer, even though everyone could easily identify the dip as BLT dip by taste.

Seven Layer Taco Dip

I also found this dip on allrecipes.com and you can find the link to the recipe here. This dip was super easy but I think it would be better warm. I actually made this into a 6 layer dip as I omitted the olives on top, but still think it turned out pretty good. I mixed a half package of taco seasoning into the refried beans and into the sour cream and cream cheese mixture. This is a very hearty dip that is quite filling. You can adjust the spice up or down a few notches by the amount of taco seasoning you add and you could also add jalapeño peppers. Next time, I'd either totally omit the shredded lettuce or add it after baking it for 20-3o minutes to get everything nice and ooey gooey and cheesey.
Both dips were really easy to make and I think I'd make the taco dip again before I made the BLT dip. It's getting colder out and I think hot dips are where it's at for winter! The BLT dip would be more appropriate for summer and you could use fresh veggies to dip into it. Let me know what you think of them if you make any of them!

Velveeta Mac and Cheese

For some reason when I was at Co-op the other day, I just HAD to buy some velveeta cheese. Now in the past, the thought of velveeta cheese has kinda grossed me out and I would much prefer the real cheese version vs the processed kind. However, I don't try and understand my pregnancy whims, I just try and deal with them! So since it was on sale, I decided to buy it, not having a clue what I'd do with it. Since lately people have been tempting me with mac and cheese, and I needed some good comfort food, I found a recipe for mac and cheese using velveeta. It actually turned out quite creamy and delicious, I must say. I got the recipe off of the kraft website and here is the link to Velveeta Down Home Mac and Cheese.

Lunch With Holly!

So my new friend Holly from work and I have been trying to get together for a while, but usually something comes up. Finally we had a day that both of us were off and not busy, so we decided a lunch date was in order. We were planning on going out until I called her this morning with a plan to cook lunch together, using these fantastic new recipes I had found. I don't know if she was pro on everything at the get go, but she was a trooper and agreed to my crazy menu! For an appetizer we had Brazilian Cheese Bread, for a soup we had Asian Egg Drop Soup, and for the main course we had Tomato Pie! It is quite a random combination, yes, but it really turned out amazing and we had fun making it! Thanks for coming over Holly! Read on for the recipes and pictures of everything we ate!

Tomato Pie

Okay, I had never heard of tomato pie before last night, but I love everything tomato so I thought I'd give it a try. Besides the fact that I love tomatoes, it has ooey gooey cheese on top, and really who could turn that down! Holly was also pro on the tomato pie, albeit a little unsure of the mayo used in the cheese mixture on top, but it ended up turning out great! We use bought pie shells, quickly tossed them in the oven for 10 minutes to cook first, then piled fried onions, fresh garden tomatoes with the juice/seeds removed, sprinkled fresh chopped basil from Holly's garden on top of that and finished with a mayo and cheese mixture that had a shot of tobasco mixed in and voila! Delicious ooey gooey cheesey goodness! The link to the recipe from the SimplyRecipes website : Tomato Pie

This pic is right before the cheese/mayo mixture was dished on top.

You have to let it sit for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven, as it won't stay together the greatest when you serve it piping hot, but it still tastes good either way!

We used smoked gouda and a kraft four cheese blend, plus a bit of feta, so it was smoky, tangy, and delicious! I will definitely make this again!

Egg Drop Soup

The soup course for our meal was the easiest and quickest soup I've ever made. I found this recipe last night and couldn't believe how easy it sounds. And using ingredients that I have on hand makes it super economical and did I mention how quick it was? Egg drop soup is just as it sounds, soup that you drop eggs into, which makes it look like thin little ribbons in the soup.

It tastes distinctly Asian with the soy sauce, but it is msg and gluten free. All you need is soya sauce, chicken stock, green onions, ginger, eggs, cornstarch, and the recipe calls for mushrooms, but I conveniently left them out as I don't care for them! Seriously, this was ready in 10 minutes including prep time!

The link to the recipe direct from the SimplyRecipes website: Egg Drop Soup

Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread

So I found this recipe on SimplyRecipes.com, which is my new favorite food blog to follow. You whir up all the ingredients in a blender and pour it into your mini-muffin tin, which sounded super appealing and easy, right? Well, it would have been had we been able to find tapioca flour. Holly and I went to a couple different places looking for this type of flour and found every other type of flour under the sun, except tapioca flour. We were considering trying potato flour, but seeing as we hadn't made this before, we wanted to stick to the recipe. So we ended up using minute tapioca, as it said it could be used as a thickening agent instead of flour, cornstarch, etc. However, we ended up doubling the recipe by accident as the conversion we were using was a bit confusing. But needless to say, thank goodness we did because the original 16 tarts it would have made simply wouldn't have been enough!

Here is the direct link to simplyrecipes.com for: Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread

Our "dough" turned out a lot thicker than that in the recipe, due to the fact that we didn't have tapioca flour, per sei. So we had to spoon it into the cups instead of pouring.

The recipe calls for queso fresco, which is a Mexican fresh cheese, however, we don't have access to that so we used feta and they tasted delicious! (Although we could cut back a bit on the salt next time, due to the saltiness of feta already). The inside was a bit chewy/doughy like the recipe said it would, and it was really a nice texture.

We ate these as an appetizer, then with our soup, and then Holly also had the excellent idea of spreading jam on top and so we had them as dessert too! They tasted the best once they had cooled a bit, but they recommend eating them warm on the recipe.

Judy's Black Bean and Corn Casserole

With this whole pregnancy thing, my taste buds have gone through a whirlwind of flavor changes. For example, I now like fried onions on burgers, hot dogs, perogies, or anything else that it can be put on. This may not seem strange to some of you, but my parents (before they knew I was pregnant) seriously thought I was ill when I ordered a rink burger with onions. I'm also really needing strong vinegar things to actually taste any kind of tartness - for example when I'm putting mustard on my hot dog, I need to give my hot dog a bath in it so that it's dripping out of the bun. Otherwise, I don't taste it at all. Also, I've stopped being able to detect the strong smell of 'cream corn' after a stem cell transplant at work - it's a glaringly obvious smell that even just by walking by a patients room, you can smell it without a doubt. Now? a subtle smell if I really really look for it.

So imagine my surprise when all my life I've stayed away from anything spicy, only to find out that I can't taste the spicyness anymore, just the delicious flavour of the food! My husband's a fan of spicy food, so mom saved some of her leftover casserole for him to try (as she wouldn't think of making it when I come home since I can't eat it). Well he hardly had two bites of it as he wanted me to try it and I scarfed it down! Mom was shocked! (so was I to be honest), but alas, a new casserole recipe for you guys! My mom threw a little of this and a little of that together one day and it came out great! I've already made it and doubled the recipe so we could enjoy it for a few days!

Judy's Black Bean and Corn Casserole

1/2-3/4 lb ground beef

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans, strained

1 taco seasoning packet

1 tbsp chille powder

salt & pepper

garlic (powder or the real deal - as much as you want)

1 small jar salsa

1 prepared box of Kraft Dinner

1 cup grated cheese

Fry up your ground beef with some chopped onion, then strain and rinse to drain some fat. Return to large skillet and add corn, black beans, all the seasonings, and salsa. Add your prepared box of kraft dinner (with cheese stirred into cooked noodles already) to your beef mixture and mix together. Pour into a casserole dish or roaster and top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese melts and you're too hungry to wait any longer.

When I doubled the recipe, I used 1.5 lbs ground beef and two boxes of KD and two cups grated cheese on top and 2 tbsp chile powder. Otherwise, I kept the liquid from the corn and added about 1/2 cup of water to rinse out the salsa jar. Myself, I would probably only use half a taco seasoning package if I wasn't doubling the recipe, but that's just my personal taste. Enjoy!

Slow Sour Creamed Beef

This was the easiest and tastiest beef I've made in a long time and all because I needed to use up some freezer food, as we're moving soon! Anybody can make this, whether you're confident in the kitchen or not. The sour cream doesn't really taste like sour cream anymore and my husband who HATES sour cream absolutely loved this dish. So don't let that ingredient stop you from making it! The sauce is super yummy over perogies, rice, or pasta. The beef is so tender that it melts in your mouth! (and this is poor quality stewing beef that I used!). But you need to plan ahead as it takes four hours to cook slowly in your oven. This could easily be turned into a slow cooker recipe. Okay on to the recipe...

Shawna's Slow Sour Creamed Beef

2 lbs stewing beef

2 cups water

2 tbsp beef oxo

salt & pepper

garlic powder or the real deal

1 cup sour cream

Combine everything except for the sour cream and put in large roaster. Cook at 250 degrees F for four hours. Remove beef with slotted spoon after cooking, and place in frying pan with sour cream. Sour cream will melt and coat, about 5 min. Transfer into casserole dish, add a couple tbsp of the beef juice from the roaster to the beef mixture for taste and to thin it a bit. Pop the casserole dish back into the still warm (but now shut off oven) until the rest of your supper is ready!

Lasagna

You always need a good lasagna recipe and this one is easy and delicious. By using the oven ready noodles, it takes out a lot of the prep time! I throw spinach into my lasagna to add more veggies where you can't taste them! (I'm always trying to fool myself into eating more veggies than I think I am - I have to force myself to eat them!)

Lasagna

1/2 chopped onion

1-2 lbs ground beef

1/2-1 jar tomato pasta sauce

1/2 cup water

oregano, garlic, s&p, parsley

9-12 oven ready lasagna noodles

a bunch of chopped spinach, stems removed

500ml cottage cheese

grated mozzarella, divided

Brown ground beef and onion, stir in tomato sauce and water to make it really watery. Add spices. In a separate bowl, mix together cottage cheese, spinach, and half of the mozza cheese.

In a 9x13 pan, layers as follows:

1/3 of beef mixture

3-4 lasagna noodles

1/2 of cottage cheese/spinach mix

1/3 of beef mixture

3-4 lasagna noodles

rest of the cottage cheese/spinach mix

3-4 lasagna noodles

Rest of the beef mix

Top with remaining mozza cheese

Cover and bake at 350 for 45-50 min, removing the cover in the last 10 min of baking.

Let stand 10 min before serving and cutting

*Sauce is watery so that the noodles will soften and soak up the extra moisture.

Black Bean Chicken Quesadilla

I used to have an old quesadilla recipe that called for antipasto. Well, that's expensive and I use it so seldom that I would usually end up throwing out most of a jar. Tonight, I came up with a bit different recipe. We had some left over chicken breasts in the fridge, so I thought this was a perfect way to use them up! Also, I've never actually cooked with black beans before so it was a good excuse to try them (and get that can out of my cupboard!) I used some flavor inspirations from an earlier post of chile lime chicken, of which I got the recipe from Amanda Pokentickle. Mike absolutely loved these! And it was soft and easy to chew as he had his wisdom teeth out a few days ago!

Black Bean Chicken Quesadilla

two cooked chicken breasts, cut up into bite site pieces

1/2 can black beans, strained and rinsed

1/2 can corn

1 large tomato, seeds removed

1/2 tsp chipotle chile seasoning (VE seasoning)

1 TBSP chile powder (I use lots since my stock is old)

a few squirts of lime juice

1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey jack

four large whole wheat tortilla's

Mix all ingredients together, except for the cheese and shells. Microwave for 2 minutes. On a large greased baking dish, place tortilla down, spread a bit of cheese on 1/2, then add filling, and top with more grated cheese, folding the other half over to cover. Repeat with remaining tortilla's. Bake in 400 degree oven for 5-10 min. Turn the broiler on for a couple minutes to brown the top.

** I added about 1/2 tsp lime juice, next time I'd add double this as you couldn't really taste it at all.

*** You can mix up a double recipe, omitting the tomato, and freeze the other half so you have another meal ready to go!

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

I usually make this with pizza dough, but I had some Pillsbury Croissant rolls pushing their expiry date in the fridge, as well as some pie crust that needed to be used up, so I decided to adjust the recipe a bit! I usually make a big batch of the filling and freeze half, so it's a quick meal the second time!

It's always a crowd pleaser and it's so easy to make! And so easy to individualize tastes! I can see someone who loves mushrooms and peppers easily adding it to this dish!

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

4 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces

Italian salad dressing

3 potatoes, cubed

3 cups broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces

3/4 cup grated cheddar

1/4 cup real bacon pieces

1 jar alfredo sauce

Cook chicken in a big sauce pan on the stove in the italian salad dressing. Cook potatoes and broccoli in the microwave, stir this together with the cooked chicken breasts. Add the rest of the ingredients, stirring to mix. I usually add some parmesan and a few other spices: parsley, dill, thyme, salt and pepper. You could also add some red pepper flakes or cayenne to give it some kick.

Place a hefty portion on dough and roll up making sure the edges all stick together (put some water on your finger tips to do this). Cut vent holes in the top and bake for 15 min or until golden brown in 400 degree oven!

I didn't have enough croissant dough for all of my filling, so I used a leftover Pillsbury Pie Shell, rolled it into a square pan and topped with the filling, baking it for 30 min in a 400 degree oven.

Easy Vegetable Stir-Fry

I had a bunch of fresh veggies to use up, so did what any practical person would do and threw them all into one big pan and fried em up!! The results were delicious but it was so easy. I should make stir fry's more often as they are chalk full of vitamins and the vegetables taste better than when they're on their own (my opinion only - I'm not very fond of veggies).

Easy Vegetable Stir-Fry

Chop up half an onion, put it in a large frying pan or wok and fry it with some canola oil with a bit of salt to make it sweat.

Add 1/2 tsp of crushed garlic

Wash and chop up all the veggies you need to use up in your fridge, I used:

1/3 lg cabbage

3 carrots

2 celery stalks with leaves

1/2 head of cawliflower

whole head of broccoli

Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to help steam the veggies

then add 1/4 cup of soya sauce

1/2 tsp (or more if you like) of ginger

1/2 tsp of pepper

Let simmer until your desired doneness of the veggies and serve with your favorite rice. I used an Uncle Ben's gourmet rice with a mix of white and wild with vegetable seasoning flavor and it was so yummy!

:)

Hello my faithful blog followers. I must apologize for my lack of posting, but I'm sure you will understand! For the past well.. 8 weeks or so, I haven't much felt like looking at food or cooking very much at all to be honest with you. When I have, I've stuck to the basics and what at the time I viewed as comfort food! I have been working on re-making some of the things on my site so that I could include pictures of those recipes. Feel free to look back at your favorite recipes to see if there's a pic attached to it yet! If there still isn't one, good things take time and I'll work on that as well as coming up with new delicious recipes to share! Feel free to let me know your most desired recipe pics!

Thanks for checking in,

Shawna :)

Barbecued Sweet Potato Fries!

Is everyone as pumped as I am that BBQ season has started??? Food just tastes better BBQ'd. I didn't make the rules, I just follow them. When I was cooking some burgers last weekend, I thought well what goes with burgers? Fries of course, silly. That answer was obvious. Looking at my potato bin (which is really a grocery bag with a few scraggles of last years potatoes, with their gross sprouting tentacles growing through the bag), I decided to use some nice fresh sweet potatoes (aka yams - I've grown tired with this debate, now I consider these vegetables interchangeable in name, even though I know they're not). Anyways, on that hot spring day, I made up some delicious burgs with sweet potato fries on the BBQ and they turned out delicious! Perfectly soft on the inside, with a nice crispy outside.

BBQ'd Sweet Potato Fries

Chop up 1 large sweet potato into fries-looking pieces, put them in a microwavable bowl.

Mix some olive oil into it (a couple twirls around the bowl full of fries).

Add generous amounts of seasoning salt, garlic powder, pepper, and a few sprinkles of thyme.

Add 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Mix all this well, and pop it in the microwave for 7-10 minutes until fries are pretty well cooked.

Toss them into a grill basket (so you don't lose any through the grate) and place on the BBQ. Grill over low heat, stirring frequently so they don't get too crispy!

Tip 1) These have oil in them, oil + flame = FIRE!!! Stir frequently to avoid charring and have some oven mitts handy to remove grill basket from BBQ if catches on fire.

Tip 2) Pour fries into grill basket and THEN place on grill, not the other way around. Flames will grow very tall and may even leave black smoky evidence on the mixing bowl you used to transfer them in. Significant other may question you about this at a later date and you will have to come up with some clever excuse. Just avoid this all together. Saves on arm hair too.

Beef Pot Roast with Really Good Gravy

I have infinite love for my slow cooker. It takes zero effort to make a fabulous meal that everyone will rave about for minutes to hours to days (depending on how good of a food memory these people have). But seriously, meat + slowcooker = tender melt in your mouth yet fully cooked heaven. I found a recipe on canadianliving.com (of course) for beef pot roast with really good gravy - and this is the kicker. I kid you not, this recipe exists with this exact title. I've made it exactly as the Beef Pot Roast with Really Good Gravy recipe says to and I've also made quick and easy substitutions.

Here's how to make this recipe even quicker and easier... instead of slicing up all the onions yourself, use some Liptons Onion Soup Mix! (EASY!) and instead of spending all your time chopping up garlic and then having your hands reek of garlic, add a couple teaspoons of pre-diced garlic from a little jar (QUICK!). Don't have fresh parsley on hand? Use dried - seriously, who cares??

But I do have to say, the gravy is not just really good, it's delicious. So make sure you make a ton of mashed potatoes to use up that gravy with! Then again, when have you ever had 'not enough' mashed potatoes. If you cook anything like me, there's enough for a football team plus leftovers - yup, I turned out just like my mother. OR, you could toss some leftover gravy in the freezer for some yummy poutine at a later date). mmmmm.. that reminds me, must start poutine club....

Lemon Cream Sauce Made Over

So last week I posted the delicious recipe for Fettucine in Lemon Cream Sauce. Well I didn't have any whipping cream in the fridge, but as always, I have an ample stock of cream cheese, therefore came up with my own slightly healthier version (or atleast I'm pretending it is :P).

Shawna's Lemon Cream Sauce

250g tub of spreadable 95% fat free cream cheese

3-4 capfulls lemon juice (depends on how strong you want the lemony flavour)

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup grated parm

salt and pepper

sprinkle of dill *optional

Melt cream cheese in sauce pan on stove, add milk to thin (can add more if you like a thinner sauce), add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for a couple minutes until your pasta is ready. I like to add a bit of margarine to my pasta before adding the sauce, just so it mixes easier. Add sauce to pasta, stirring to evenly coat and serve in warm pasta dishes! Can top with some extra parm or some grated old cheddar. Super easy and delicious!

Serve this with a salad and you have dinner for four!

Fettucine in Lemon Cream Sauce

I got this recipe way back in highschool off of some show on the Food Network, and actually come to think of it, it may have been from that bird Elizabeth Baird from Canadian Living. I've made this countless times and made a few variations to the recipe over the years, but the original is just so yummy, I have to post it. Okay, so just did a quick search and it WAS Canadian Living. So in their recipe they suggest you make the pasta but really who has that kinda time?? I remember the first time I made this recipe, Byron Gwilliam (may he rest in peace) and I were hanging out and he stayed for supper. Everyone loved it and said it was definitely a keeper recipe. And I guess it was since I've been making it for the past 10 years!

So I'm just gonna link to the recipe for Fettucine in Lemon Cream Sauce so that I don't leave anything out! Enjoy!!

Crispy Ginger-Lime Chicken

So I unfortunately have been doing absolutely no 'real' cooking lately, as my hubby is out of town and I've been totally bach-ing it while he's out of town. A girlfriend of mine, Amanda Pokentickle, gave me the heads up on this super quick and easy recipe from Martha Stewart's website. It sounds delicious and she gave it rave reviews. Generally I would try this before posting it on my site, so I could include pictures and general commentary but hey, my readers need another recipe and I haven't had time so therefore I will rely on my trusted source!

You can find the recipe for Crispy Ginger-Lime Chicken here! I shall post pics once I've made it!

Oh and this is just an aside, but I was watching an old Julia Childs cooking show the other day and it was absolutely hilarious! She's flinging her cooking utensils across the cupboards, dropping things, losing things, and generally just making a mess and sweeping everything onto the floor. It was hilarious. (But the food did still look amazing!)

p.s. Happy Easter everyone!

Ravioli

You know those busy nights when you've been running around all day and really don't have time to make supper? OR you just came off a set of nights or maybe you're in the middle of a set and just don't have the energy to think about what to cook. Well I am all for convenience food. If it's fast, tasty, and nutritious, why not?? I have never made my own pasta, and I don't feel inclined to.. ever. I feel that there are great fresh pasta options out there on the market who can do it better than I can! I found this Gourmet Ravioli or Ravioli Gourmet at Costco for about $10.95. They had it as one of their samples and I was hooked! It's super quick and easy and stuffed with yummy spinach and mozzarella. You can add different pasta sauces or whatever you want, but usually I just add a couple twirls of olive oil and the herb and parm mix that comes with it in the bag and voila, in ten minutes you got a gourmet pasta dish.

Tourtiere

Being from French-Canadian descent, I've grown up with tourtiere, also known as meat pie. It always reminds me of Christmas and I love it. Why am I posting it mid-March? Because it's super easy, delicious, and you will thank me, that's why. This can be served with gravy or ketchup, but I like it plain. This moves away from the more traditional recipe that I'm used to with a variation in the spices and in the meats used, but I found it delicious, full of flavor and quite moist. I can't quite remember where exactly I got this recipe from but it was floating around in cyber-space sometime last November. And of course, I use pre-made pie dough, I mean who has that kind of time?

Tourtiere

1 onion chopped

1 TBSP margarine

1 lb ground pork

1 stalk celery chopped

1 tsp garlic, minced

3/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

2 TBSP dry bread crumbs

Cook onions, celery and garlic in the margarine until onions are clear. Add the ground pork, break it up in the pan and cook until changes color. Add the chicken stock and spices and simmer for half an hour. Cool, take out the bay leaf, and stir in the bread crumbs.

Add pork mixture to pie shell, cover with pie top. Press edges together with a little bit of warm water to help them seal together. Brush dough with egg glaze (1 egg, beaten, with 2 tbsp cream).

This makes any crust look and taste great!

Bake at 425 deg F for 10 min, then reduce heat to 375 and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until crust is golden. YUMM!

Dips!

Okay, so I was thinking of what else makes me feel good. Appetizers! Well, more specifically, anything that's ooey gooey cheesey goodness, that you can reach a cracker or chip in and come out with heaven smothered all over it. So, I'm going to blog about my hot spinach dip, yummy Cheese Almond, and Nat-cho Chili. They are all delicious, some quicker than others, but generally all of these are always a hit 100% of the time. I remember one day after going to Janine's convocation party and sampling the Cheese Almond, Reagan and I were absolutely in love with it. A couple days later, after class we headed over to Reagan's for lunch. We stopped by the grocery store to see what we needed, and decided to scrap all other plans and just make Cheese Almond. So we pigged out on it and had it as an entire meal. I'd encourage you to do the same!

Hot Spinach Dip

3/4 cup fat free sour cream

3/4 cup light mayo

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 onion diced

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp hot pepper sauce (or more if you like it spicy)

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and wrung out.

Fry garlic and onions in margarine, until clear and fragrant. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl while this is frying. Then add the onions and garlic to the spinach mixture. Pour into your favorite casserole dish or mini crockpot. Bake at 350 deg for about 30 minutes, or if in mini-dipper, heat for atleast 1 hour. (Or you could pop it in a sourdough bread bowl.)

Serve with bread, crackers, or tortilla chips.

P.S. Can you believe I didn't put cream cheese in this??

Cheese Almond

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

250g (one spreadable tub) of 95% fat free cream cheese

1/3 cup light mayo

1/2 cup browned slivered almonds.

Mix first 3 ingredients together. Brown almonds in a pan on the stove or in the oven, and sprinkle on top. Bake at 400 deg for 20-30 min or until bubbly and slightly browned.

Serve with crackers.

Nat-Cho Chili Dip

Your favorite chili recipe or your favorite canned chili

2 cups grated old cheddar

1 250g tub 95% fat free cream cheese

Spread cream cheese in a thin layer in the bottom of a square pan. Cover with chili and top with grated cheese. Bake in oven at 350 deg for about 30 minutes or until heated through and cheese melted.

Serve with tortilla chips.

*I will post pics of these the next time I make them!

Hamby Cabbage Soup

So I have been feeling like crud lately... well it seems like forever, but I assure you it's been just a week and a day (so far)... so I haven't been blogging. I attempted work yesterday, and before I got sent home, one of my coworkers encouraged me to blog more as that might make me feel a bit better and pass by some of the boredom. Well Tam, I heeded your advice and here I am. So generally I would have blogged the chicken rice soup in this blog, since that's sicky comfort food at its finest. However, since that's already done, I'll go to my next favorite soup- Hamby Cabbage Soup. This soup is so fragrant and delicious that my mouth is watering for it right now. PLUS, it is chalk full of vitamins! However, I can think of three good reasons not to make this... I don't have any cabbage, it might interfere with my nap time, and Mike's out of town with work, so I'd have to eat the whole thing.

Hamby Cabbage Soup

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 med onion, diced (I always use my Pampered Chef Food Chopper)

1/2 cabbage chopped

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup sliced celery and leafs

1 small tin tomato paste with herb and spice

1 large can diced tomatoes

3 TBSP beef broth bath mixed with boiling water in large tomato can

1 TBSP Garlic Powder

3-4 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp seasoning salt

Bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp dill

Fry up ground beef and onion in large soup pot. Strain and rinse once cooked. Add all ingredients to pot. Add 2-3 more cans of water using the large tomato can. Simmer for atleast 2 hours. Remove bay leaf and serve with Family Bakery Dinner Buns!

Maniac I mean Celiac Approved Potato Spinach Lasagna

So first off, let me tell you a little story about my friend Tine. She does quite a bit of travelling and we have enjoyed countless adventures in several destinations across the continent and one thing that we really enjoy is sampling the local cuisine. Well last summer she went to Italy. I was beyond jealous at the delectable Italian food that she would be able to sample as she travelled through cities, towns, and villages alike. However, less than a month before she was to leave, she found out that she has Celiac's. So no pasta, no pastry, no pizza, no bread, no nothing that she (and I) would crave and hit up in Italy! So she went on her trip and I waited nervously to hear how her trip would go with such a restriction. She made out fine enough but travelled endlessly around to find gluten free pasta places, taking trains, buses, taxi's and the like across entire cities to reach one little restaurant or another only to find out they were closed.

So about a month later when I had plans with Tine, I invited her over for supper. She clarified for me that it's tough to cook for her and she'd eat before she came. I said no way, hoser, you're coming for supper. So what did I make? Maniac oops I mean Celiac Approved Potato Spinach Lasagna. I found the recipe from an ICU cookbook at work and made a few alterations to come up with this delicious recipe! (She was thrilled that she finally got to eat lasagna.)

*The pic above is of me and Tine doing a swamp tour in Louisiana.

*This takes a long time to cook, so plan ahead.

Maniac I mean Celiac Approved Potato Spinach Lasagna

a few twirls around the pan of olive oil

4 onions, chopped (I use my Pampered Chef Food Chopper - it's a fancy sturdier Slap Chop)

1 TBSP paprika

3/4 tsp salt

pepper to taste

2 pgk frozen spinach, thawed

3 lbs potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly (I use my Pampered Chef Ultimate Mandolin and these are sliced in 3 minutes flat)

2 cups grated light old cheddar

Cheese Filling:

1 lb cottage cheese

1 1/2 cups feta, crumbled

3/4 cup milk

pinch nutmeg, salt, and pepper

1 egg beaten

In large pan, heat oil or margarine and fry onions until golden, add paprika, salt, and half the pepper. In separate bowl, mix spinach with generous pinch of salt. In bowl mix together cottage and feta cheeses, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add egg and mix well.

Slice potatoes thinly. In well oiled 9x13 baking dish, arrange 1/3 of potatoes, top with 1/2 the onions, 1/2 the spinach, and 1/2 the cheese mixture. (You can mix the spinach and cheese mixtures together if you want). Repeat potato, onion, spinach, cheese. Top with remaining potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and finish with grated cheese on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. Then, uncover and continue baking until top is bubbly, 45 - 50 minutes.

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

This soup is to die for! I go through soup phases and throw anything and everything into a soup. I love lemony soups, and hearty soups, and light soups, and well.. any kind of soup really. I got the recipe for this soup from Andrea, a girl I went through nursing school with. In trade for my broccoli & cheese soup that is, which will come up in another post I'm sure. Oooh and baked potato soup is also yummy. Hey - I just got an idea. Spanikopita soup!! YUMMM Alright, I HAVE to try it. I'll keep you guys posted! Anyways, here's the recipe I'm supposed to be talking about!

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

1 TBSP butter or marg

1 TBSP flour

8 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 eggs

Dash of tabasco sauce or other pepper sauce

1/2 cup rice

S&P

1 TBSP dill

** I call this Chicken Lemon Rice Soup because I usually throw in leftover chicken cut up into bite sized pieces when I add the rice**

Melt butter, stir in flour & cook for 2 min, not browning. Whisk in stock, bring to a boil & add rice & cook for 20 min (simmer), add lemon juice. In bowl, beat eggs. Whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup, whisk back into saucepan & add hot pepper sauce, dill, salt & pepper.

Chicken Phyllo stuffed with Spinach & Feta, topped with herbed Sabayon

Alright, so I tallied up all the votes, including one being my own. So thank you to those three faithful readers for submitting your vote! I ended up going with the Chicken Phyllo and it was absolutely delicious! I ended up stuffing it with my all time favorite mixture, Spanikopita! Topped it with this 'Herbed Sabayon', which was absolutely delicious and served it with wild rice, some mixed veggies, and a yummy Mandarin Raspberry Salad. My mom wanted to make sure I included that "it was a hit." haha - thanks Mom! :) I altered a recipe that I found on the Canadian Living website to more suit our tastes! This was my first time working with phyllo pastry and admittedly, these took a long time to prepare. My phyllo wasn't 100% thawed when I tried to use it, which lead me to a lot of frustration! But eventually it all came together and it was well worth it!

Chicken Phyllo Stuffed with Spinach & Feta and topped with Herbed Sabayon

4 large chicken breasts, cut in 1/2 (or 8 small/med ones), butterflied so they open like a pamphlet or sliced in the middle so they open like a book.

16 sheets phyllo pastry

3/4 cup butter/marg melted

Stuffing Mixture:

3 cups fresh spinach, chopped or 1/2 pkg frozen

1/3 cup feta cheese

1/3 cup cream cheese

1/3 cup mayo

1/2 - 1 tsp garlic, crushed

1/3 cup cooked bacon, chopped (I use Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits)

Herbed Sabayon

4 egg yolks

3 TSBP Chicken Stock

2 TBSP dry vermouth

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 TBSP chopped fresh basil

2 TBSP chopped fresh oregano or fresh thyme

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Defrost phyllo pastry overnight in fridge or for a few hours on the counter.

Mix together your stuffing mixture.

**While working with phyllo sheets, cover with a damp cloth so they don't dry out.** Place one sheet on the counter, brush with butter, top with second sheet, brush with butter again. Place chicken near one of the edges (left or right), add stuffing mixture and fold chicken over to cover stuffing. Fold sides over and roll up. Place seam side down on a greased rimmed pan. Brush top with butter. Repeat with remaining chicken. (You can put this in the fridge with saran wrap for up to 8 hours ahead).

Bake at 350 deg F for 45 minutes until phyllo is golden and chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.

Herbed Sabayon

In the top of a double boiler (or I just use a glass mixing bowl on top of a regular pot of boiling water), whisk the egg yolks until they are light in color, whisk in the stock and vermouth (you can use white wine or extra chicken stock if you don't have). Place on stove over simmering water and whisk until it's nice and thick. Whisk in the herbs (I only had fresh parsley so used dried spices for the others), lemon juice and S&P. If too thick to spread, add a little more chicken stock to thin it out. Serve over the chicken phyllo bundles.

Dutch Baby

Alright, so I was drawn to this recipe because of the name. I mean who wouldn't want to eat a Dutch Baby? Anyways, I got this recipe from the Canadian Living Website and made it this morning. It was very unique - reminded me of the crust of impossible pie that my mom used to make! Mike and I really enjoyed them!

Dutch Baby

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

butter or margarine to grease pan

4 lemon wedges

2 tsp icing sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease two round cake pans.

In a blender or food processor, mix the eggs, flour, and milk till smooth. When the oven has reached 400, place greased cake pans in oven until the marg/butter starts to bubble. Then pour half of the mixture into each cake pan.

Bake at 400 deg F for about 15 minutes or until really puffed up and edges are browned.

Quickly invert onto plates, squeeze lemon and top with icing sugar.

Vatrushky (Ukrainian Cheese Tarts)

So way back when I was living in that house full of grad students, one of my housemates, Sarah, found this absolutely delish recipe for Ukrainian Cheese Tarts. I believe she was going to a Ukrainian themed pot-luck, but that's besides the point. On second thought --yumm, I should look into holding one of those! Anyhow, with some coaxing, she shared the recipe with me and now I can enjoy them any way I want. This tart is actually the inspiration for my blog name!

Vatrushky

1 cup butter

1 cup + 1 TBSP sour cream

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup cottage cheese

2 eggs

1) Dough: chop butter and flour together until well crumbled. Mix salt with sour cream, then add to flour and butter mixture. Quickly knead the dough and place in fridge for 10-15 min.

2) Filling: Mix cottage cheese and remaining 1 TBSP sour cream. Add one beaten egg along with a dash of salt (NOTE: At this stage you can also add any other seasonings - dill, cayenne, pepper, etc.)

3) Once dough is chilled, roll out to about 1/2 cm thick and cut out circles from the dough with the rim of a floured glass. Line a tart pan with dough circles. Add filling to each tart until just level with pan rim (don't go above pastry edges). Beat the remaining egg and brush this on top of each cheese tart.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min or until tarts are slightly reddish in color.

**The dough can be kind of finicky, but well worth it!!

Slow cooked pulled pork, hashbrown casserole, and mandarin raspberry salad

Alright, so Mike had the brilliant idea of having people over for a game of risk, then watch the Canada vs USA game this past Sunday. I thought this was a great idea until I started to panic as to what to make for supper as everyone was showing up at 4:00 for games and the game started at 6:30! Well never fear, I figured out an easy menu that was equally as delicious, and fed 10 people! It all could be pretty much prepared before hand, so I didn't have to worry about taking time out from playing games and have to be a grown up and cook supper!

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

4-5lb pork shoulder blade roast **I used a hip or something as Sobey's was all out of the shoulder blade roast at 11pm Saturday night!

1 lg onion, chopped and fried in a bit of butter (chop and fry two onions up if you're gonna make the hashbrown casserole too!)

Add some chopped garlic to the onion mixture too while you're frying it.

1 1/2 cups water

your favorite bbq sauce

Layer onions, roast, and rest of onions in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. (I started this at midnight). Remove roast, "pull" apart with two forks, and dump out the liquid from the crockpot (saving the onions if you want and adding it back to the meat). Mix the pulled pork with enough bbq sauce that it mixes easy, and cook on low for another 4-6 hours. Serve on fresh buns!

Hashbrown Casserole

1 kg hashbrowns

500 ml fat free sour cream

2 cans reduced sodium cream of chicken soup

1 onion chopped and fried (see prev recipe)

A few pinches of paprika

A few pinches of cayenne

some dill

2 cups shredded old light cheddar, divided

Mix up everything except the hashbrowns in a large mixing bowl. Spices are added to taste, ie if you like dill, put more in, if you don't, just omit it! Add a cup of cheese. (This can sit in the fridge overnight.) When ready to prepare, mix sauce with hashbrowns, pour into a 9x13 greased pan, top with remaining grated cheese, sprinkle a bit of parsley on top for color, then bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours.

Mandarin Raspberry Salad

In your favorite salad bowl, add mixed greens, candied nuts, diced or grated cheese, a can or two of mandarin oranges (depending on how big your salad is), some croutons, and raspberry vinagrette. Add dressing right before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie

Alright, so there's no real story to go along with this recipe, as it's just pure deliciousness! I found it on the Canadian Living website and it was a recipe from the chef at the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria. I'll just let the picture speak for itself...


Chicken Pot Pie

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine (Smoking Loon=delish)

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 cups cubed potato

1 bay leaf

Pinch each salt and pepper

1 lb (500 g) boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (I usually

use leftover chicken or turkey)

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup whipping cream (you can use milk here instead - still turns out fine)

1 cup frozen peas

Half pkg (397 g pkg) frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, beaten

In large saucepan, bring chicken stock, wine, carrots, celery, potato, bay leaf, salt and pepper to boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken; simmer, uncovered, until no longer pink inside, 10 minutes. Skim off any foam. Strain; set aside 2 1/2 cups stock, adding water or chicken stock if necessary. Set aside chicken mixture; discard bay leaf.

In saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour; cook, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Whisk in reserved stock until smooth. Bring to boil; cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream; cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken mixture; stir to coat. (Make-ahead: Transfer to bowl; let cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Reheat.) Add peas; transfer to 8-cup oval casserole dish.

On floured surface, roll out pastry to fit top of dish plus 1-inch (2.5 cm) extra all around; trim edges. Brush edge of dish with water. Centre pastry over filling; gently press overhang to adhere to dish. Brush with egg; slash 4 steam vents. Bake in 400°F oven until golden, puffed and filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

*I've used a pie crust before for the top, just kinda cutting it to fit a 9x13 pan, and it works great. I found that the puff pastry didn't taste as good as the pie crust did as leftovers. But it was definitely tastey the night I made it!