This is my blog on new and old recipes that have been passed down, found in cookbooks, online, or that I've created. All comfort food at its best! I try and cut calories by using 'light' and 'low fat' varieties.
And We Meet Again! Hello there you faithful reader(s)! I do realize that I am two weeks tardy on this post, however, with a sick boy and the holidays, there has been little time for myself. And when I've had time, I sunk into bed with my book (The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson - interesting non-fiction read). Alas, that has finished and I have a couple moments, so here I am.
Thanks to Mike's boss, we have been introduced to the lovely world of Sous Vide. It's essentially a super slow cooker that you use to make lean cuts of meat super tender. You seal the meat in a ziploc bag (or sealed bag now that we have a foodsaver system- yay Christmas!) , throw it in your cooking vessel, plug it in, set the temperature around 140 (different for different cuts of meat), and let it cook for a day or two (or three!).
So we bought a cheap pork loin from Costco, cut it into roast size pieces, found a delicious spice rub, and went to work. (And by 'we' I really mean 'Mike' as this is his baby but is just so good I feel I have to share!) The rub he found was the Meatheads Memphis Dust Rub Recipe, which you can find here from www.AmazingRibs.com.
We did two pork loins as we were having a Christmas potluck and had a lot of hungry mouths to feed!
We cooked it for 2 days at 140 Degrees F and the result was pure heaven. Mike did a quick sear on the meat just to get some appetizing color to the meat. To be honest, I didn't realize that pork wasn't supposed to be dry. The tenderness and the moisture was incomparable to any other pork dish that I've ever had! Thank you, Mike, for a wonderful meal. Yummmmmmm.
Ever since my cooking classes earlier this year, I have been a lot more experimental with different flavors and spices. Curry was my biggest enemy and now we are becoming at very least, acquaintances. I ventured out to try this ground beef curry recipe after a quick google search brought up this CBC program "Best Recipes Ever" recipe located here.
To be honest, it wasn't that quick and I used the wrong type of curry. I used a yellow curry powder, as it was all I had, and it was much too mild. I think if I would have used the Madras Curry (which is a lot spicier apparently), this would have been much more flavorful and I would have enjoyed it more. With that being said, Grayson liked it anyways! I served it on basmati rice with a side of garlic naan bread.
Death By Chocolate always reminds me of two women - my mom and my best friend Camille. My mom has made this several times over the years (including for dessert the night Mike and I told our parents that we were expecting!) And I remember the first time I met Camille - it was at a birthday party and she had made the hugest vat of Death by Chocolate that I had ever seen!!!
Every time I've had this or made this, it always tastes just a little different but is always phenomenal. I think one of the biggest reasons for that is generally, you use whatever you have on hand and you don't measure!! The skor bits on top could easily be replaced by pieces of and kind of your favorite chocolate bar, chocolate shavings, or even drizzled with caramel. You could add berries or nuts and everyone would still love it. It's a classic dessert that very seldom has any leftovers, no matter the version you make!
Death By Chocolate
1 box of chocolate cake, prepared according to package directions and cubed. (My trifle bowl will only hold a 1/2 a cake, so I cube up the rest and freeze the other half - another dessert ready to go!)
1 tub of low fat cool whip
1 package of chocolate pudding, prepared
1 or 2 cups of Kahlua (optional)
1/2 cup skor bits
Place 1/4 of your cubed chocolate cake into your trifle bowl, ensuring the bottom is completely covered. Top with 1/2 the Kahlua, 1/2 the pudding, 1/2 of the cool whip and 1/2 of the skor bits. Repeat layers. Refrigerate for a couple hours to let all the Kahlua soak into the chocolate cake. Serve to your guest OR grab a spoon and head for a nice quiet room where nobody will bother you!
Of course you don't have to use a trifle bowl, it really is just used for presentation so you can see all of the pretty layers. You could also use a large glass bowl - or even an old ice cream pail. I promise you it will taste just as good!
My mom introduced me to this recipe last week and we made it again for supper tonight! It's a great way to use up some of the zucchini that grew amazingly big this year. This is a much healthier version of pub-style food and satisfies that craving without the greasiness you get with deep frying.
Panko Crusted Wedges (left) and Shake 'N Bake Wedges (right)
I wanted to try two different coatings for the wedges so I used Shake 'N Bake (on the right) and made my own coating with panko crumbs and Epicure's Lemon Dilly spice mix (on left). My preference? The Shake 'N Bake by far were the favorite in our house. The color was more appealing, it had more flavor (which most definitely means a lot more added salt), and I really liked the texture. The panko crumbs are made from only the inside of white bread (no crusts), which is why the color is so light, and whereas the crunch is usually quite nice - it just didn't compare to Shake 'N Bake!
Zucchini Wedges
3 cups zucchini, cut into wedges that are about 1"x3"and about 1/2 inch thick.
1 egg, beaten
1 package Shake 'N Bake Crispy Coating
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip zucchini wedges in egg, and then toss to coat in breadcrumbs. (can use plastic bag and shake it around or in a bowl and just flip it around to coat all sides). Place on greased baking sheet. Repeat until all zucchini wedges are coated. Bake at 350 deg F for 25 minutes, or until fork pierces easily through zucchini.
*You could use this for other kinds of vegetables as well! Get creative!
Lately when I'm cooking, I find myself asking, "What can I make that Grayson will actually eat?" He rarely wants to stop playing to eat, so a lot of the time (against my better judgement), I am feeding him on the go. Every now and then, I'll find something that he will actually sit still for in the highchair and just devour! What you ask? Eggs!! Instead of serving him just boring old scrambled eggs, we step it up a notch and add some real flavor by adding some fresh thyme! It's really a balanced meal with elements from each of the food group included. And the best thing is that it's not a super messy food for him to feed himself! Usually most gets in his mouth and only a little on the floor, which is always considered a huge success!
Thyme Scrambled Eggs
4 eggs
1/8 cup milk
1 TSP fresh thyme
1/2 cup grated cheese (we like old cheese with our scrambled eggies, but use whatever you've got on hand)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 small tomato, chopped
Preheat skillet and melt about a 1/2 tsp butter/margarine. In medium size bowl, whisk first three ingredients together. Pour into hot pan, topping with the rest of the ingredients. Once the egg white starts to cook, scramble them repeatedly until eggs are cooked and no longer runny. Serve with a slice of whole wheat toast.
*we usually fry up some sausage to go along with this and cube it up for him. The farmers sausage that Coop makes in store is absolutely delicious and is preservative free! yumm
When served with toast and sausage, this recipe is enough to feed all three of us!
Hi everyone!! Wow - I can't believe it's the middle of November already! My little boy turns one tomorrow!
New updates on our life:
-Grayson is walking!
-I got a new job! I am now working in the College of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan as the newest Clinical Placement Coordinator! (Yay for no more shift work or nights!)
-Grayson started daycare last week
-Mike successfully went hunting white tail for the first time. We have the tenderloin in the fridge, ready for tomorrow nights supper!
This fall has just flown by and I haven't been able to keep up with my blog. I have been keeping track of different recipes that I've tried or new twists on old recipes. As much as I like my new recipes that I try, there's nothing like a good old comfort recipe to satisfy your cravings. After Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to have some turkey leftovers sent home with us from my MIL and some fresh garden tomatoes from my mom. Mike and I were both starving one night and we wanted something quick, so I whipped up these yummy open faced turkey sandwiches, and they were a total hit! You might ask why I am putting something as simple as a sandwich in my blog, as I asked myself that same question. I guess the answer would be because sometimes you just don't know what to do with those turkey leftovers!
Open Faced Turkey Sandwiches with Garlic Aioli
4 slices of bread, toasted (I use Alsask bread from Family Bakery - a multigrain type bread)
1/3 cup mayo
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 clove garlic, minced (or more if you prefer!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1 cup leftover turkey
1/2 cup grated cheese (I like using old cheddar as it gives it more cheesy flavor!)
Preheat oven to broil. Mix mayo, lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper together. Spread on each slice of toast. Top with tomatoes, turkey, and grated cheese. Broil for 3-5 minutes, watching closely so it doesn't burn!
Yes, I realize it's been almost two months since my last post but the weather has been way too nice to spend that time indoors! We've been super busy with play dates, going to the farm to help out with harvest, and really just enjoying watching Grayson grow and learn!
Things new in our life:
Gray has 6 teeth, is cruising around like crazy, standing without assistance for short period of time, and is almost fully weaned!
I go back to work in under 3 weeks
We started p90x again! (abs, please come back, I miss you!)
So, since Grayson is eating pretty much EVERYTHING we are eating, I've been trying to expand my repertoire of recipes to introduce him to new flavors and textures. This is also introducing Mike and I to new flavours and textures and we have been loving it! Experimenting with different spices, preparation methods, and cooking styles has been a lot of fun and I can't wait to show you guys what we've been cooking!
For now though, due to limited time (Gray's going to wake up from his nap any minute) and the abundance of fresh tomatoes from everyone's overflowing gardens this year, I will post this super simple and super quick recipe for Broiled Tomatoes. I can't remember where I got the idea for this, and I'm sure there's a million versions of it out there, but this was my first attempt at broiling tomatoes and it turned out great!
Broiled Tomatoes
3 large tomatoes
1 heaping TBSP margarine
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to broil on high (500 deg F).
Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, removing the stem and the hard white part that attaches to the stem.
Score tomatoes with a knife in a checkerboard fashion across the cut side of the tomato.
Melt margarine in microwave for 15 seconds, add salt, pepper and breadcrumbs, stirring to combine.
Place tomatoes cut side up on a baking sheet. Divide the breadcrumb mixture between all 6 halves of tomatoes, pressing the breadcrumbs into the flesh of the tomato (this is why you scored it - so the yummy breadcrumbs could really get packed in there!).
In middle of the oven, broil for 2-3 minutes or until breadcrumbs are nicely toasted.
Things I would change next time - I'd maybe cook them at a lower temperature so that the tomatoes were hotter, as the breadcrumbs browned very quickly.
*Mike is on a 'no added sugar' diet for the month of October, which includes bread and bread products such as you guessed it - breadcrumbs! I just used the butter/salt&pepper mixture on his tomatoes before mixing in the breadcrumbs for mine and Gray's. He said his was delicious too!
In July, Brigie and I took a cooking class through Simon's Fine Foods. We saw it on kijiji deals, and scooped it up right away. Basically the deal was for 2 for 1 cooking classes. The first cooking class we chose was Spanish Tapas. Tapas are served as small platters of food instead of large meals. They can be an appetizer or you could have several different tapas to make up your main meal.
The menu that Simon had made up for us was absolutely amazing. Some of the tapas were hot, some served cold, and all served delicious. Simon was super relaxed and very easy going, making it a lot of fun. We had a choice of which dishes we wanted to prepare, while working in pairs, and I think there was only one dish that we didn't make (out of the possible 9!) as we ran out of time.
**All recipes below I obtained through the cooking class at Simon's Fine Foods.
Things that I learned:
How to peel a tomato: After scoring the bottom of a tomato with an 'X' and cutting out the stem, place in boiling water until the skin starts to blister and then place in ice bath to stop the cooking process.
How to cook with fresh herbs such as basil, thyme, and rosemary. After you've removed the fresh herb from the stalk, freeze the stalk and use it when you're making soup for extra flavor!
First time I've ever cooked with curry, turmeric, or coriander.
Prosciutto wrapped Honeydew
Pork Kebabs (Pinchitos Morunos)- probably my favorite dish - Brigie and I made these! Simon says these are eaten all over Spain and were brought into the country from Africa. It's funny because they actually struck me as very African Tasting! It seriously tasted like I was very far away from home! Transported me to some exotic vacation spot.
1 lb. lean pork, cut into small cubes
2 garlic gloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon mild curry powder or pinchito spice mixture
Freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preparation
Crush the garlic with the salt in a mortar (or with the flat of a knife on a board), then work in the other ingredients.
Skewer the pork, 3-4 cubes to a small stick, and marinate them in a shallow dish with the herbs (pinchito spice, coriander, paprika, and thyme), turning so they are well coated. Leave at least a couple of hours.
Spread the pinchitos out well on a barbecue or on foil under a grill. Cook them under a high heat for about 3 minutes on each side.
*We only marinated them for about 25 minutes and cooked them in the oven instead of the grill.
Gaspacho - chilled vegetable puree soup. I thought this dish was okay - but I'm not a huge red onion fan. Everyone else LOVED this. It did taste amazingly fresh though!
Bread with Mushrooms and Aiolli - this was incredible! and I don't even like mushrooms! First time I tried sherry too, which the mushrooms were cooked in. It really reminded me of a Port -- tasted like a very sweet wine. I really enjoyed the crunch of the crostini and the creamy aiolli sauce (mayo mixed with garlic.)
Meatballs with a Red Wine and Fresh Herb Sauce - Brigie and I made this and I have to say they were probably the best meatballs I've ever had! The meatballs themselves had fresh herbs too (as well as the sauce) and was absolutely amazing!!
Meatballs in tomato sauce
Ingredients 2 tablespoons of olive oil
8 oz ground beef
1 cup (2 oz) fresh white breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons grated Manchego or Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 scallions, chopped fine
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups (16 oz) canned plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
In a bowl, thoroughly mix together the beef, breadcrumbs, cheese, tomato paste, garlic, scallions, egg, thyme, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Using your hands, shape the mixture into 12 to 15 firm balls.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook for several minutes or until browned on all sides.
Add the tomatoes, wine, basil, and rosemary. Simmer gently for around 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked. Season generously with salt and pepper and serve hot.
Potatoes Bravas - All I can say is wow. I'm a potato girl and the crispness of the potatoes with the sweet and spicy sauce were to die for!! I went back for seconds and thirds of these. However, they are fried and not very good for the waist line, that's for sure!!
POTATAS BRAVAS- crispy potatoes with a spicy sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
4 large russets peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tbsp minced onion
2 cloves garlic minced
Salt and pepper
1.5 tsp Spanish paprika
¼ tsp Tabasco sauce
¼ tsp chopped thyme
4floz ketchup
4 floz mayonnaise
Chopped parsley
8 floz olive oil for frying
The Bravas sauce
Warm the 3 tbsp olive oil and soften the onion and garlic
Turn the heat off and add the thyme, paprika and Tabasco sauce
Stir well
Transfer to a bowl and add the ketchup and mayonnaise
Season with salt and pepper
Potatoes
Sprinkle the potatoes lightly with salt and pepper
In a large skillet fry the potatoes in the 8floz olive oil until cooked through and browned.
Once cooked toss in the sauce and serve, top with chopped parsley.
Shrimp and Bacon Brochettes - yummm. This is shrimp wrapped in bacon with some seasonings.
Stuffed Tomatoes - Basically a tomato stuffed with egg salad. I really enjoyed this one even if it was a bit messy! They looked really nice but were pretty finicky when trying to scoop out the insides of the tomato.
I will most definitely make the pork kebabs, the meatballs and sauce, the bread with mushrooms and aiolli (although with likely substitute something else for the mushrooms like carmalized onions -yumm), and the potatoes bravas again.
All in all it was a super fun experience where I really enjoyed the cooking and definitely the eating portion of it. Also the leftovers!! Simon had let us know to bring containers to bring leftovers home in and I was so glad I did!! (Mike was too :P ).
My friend Sol just told me he's going to Spain at the end of the month and I'm very envious that he'll be eating tapas all the time! Yummmmmm!
We went camping for a week at the end of July with my mom and her 5th wheel at Greenwater Lake. It was a bit of an adjustment for Gray and he let us know how much he didn't want to sleep in the back bunk! With that being said, he had a great time with Grandma and I think Grandma had a great time with Gray too!! Mike and I would head for a walk or jog atleast once a day and I definitely miss that since we've been back to the city. However, walking there was MANDATORY to try and burn off some calories that were consumed. We had our annual loaded fries from the Beach Cafe and they were delicious!! But we only have them once a year for a reason! (okay I admit, we had them twice this year but we did do a lot of walking to make up for it!
Bush Pies was the theme of camping this year! We had breakfast bush pies, dinner bush pies, and dessert bush pies!!! I have pictures below of most of our creations. The only thing I'm missing was the grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. It looked similar to the one picture below, minus the egg.
Breakfast Bush Pie: 1 egg, crumbled bacon, Tex Mex Cheese Shreds, Salt and Pepper
Half Eaten Breakfast Bush Pie
White Enchilada's turned Bush Pie!! We used our leftover chicken mixture from White Enchilada's and put it in a Kaiser Bun and used our round Bush Pie Maker for some fabulous results!
Mike says the White Enchilada Bush Pies were his all time favorite!
Yum! Dessert Bush Pies- Mom had sampled this recipe at a friends campsite and couldn't wait to share it with us! Nutella, cherry pie filling, and marshmallows made this ooey gooey delicious! Bush Pie Tip: Make sure your bread is facing the opposite direction for proper bush pie sealage!
I could've left this on for another minute to melt the marshmallows just a touch more .
Dessert Bush Pie #2!! This was Mike's creation - he took a twist (doughnut), cut it in half, filled it with marshmallow and nutella, and toasted it. Was yummy but the sugar glaze on the outside of the twist was super sticky and didn't toast up very good. (cherry pie filling noted in picture was just from the knife used to cut it)
Hi everyone!!
Wow, I can't believe that it's been a month since my last post! Summer has been busy so far and has been flying by. My little boy is 8 months old already, which just seems completely unreal. I keep thinking I must have counted wrong and he's only 6 months old. He's at such a fun age - he really responds to you with giggles and smiles and is developing quite a little personality. He really likes structure and is very schedule orientated, and as long as he gets his naps on time, he is one happy monkey. He's very social - loves going to everyone and loves loves loves looking at pictures of babies. He really enjoys reading books and flipping pages. When he's playing on the floor, more often than not he'll crawl to either his bookshelf or his stack of books underneath his little old fashioned desk and try and figure out how to get the books open. He also likes to do things FAST. He likes it when I run while holding him, when daddy throws him up in the air, and being twirled around in a circle. The faster, the better. He's not a snuggler - he often wants to be held, but at an arms length away while he's exploring everything else.
Anyways, speaking of time flying by, my husband turned the big 3-0 last week! I threw him a little surprise birthday party with just a few of his closest friends and family and made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing. Okay, I'm not going to lie- the cupcakes were Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, who's to say really.. but they came from a box. The icing though! Aye there's the rub... it took a while to find the perfect recipe but I found one. I decided to go with a Wilton recipe, since the comments were all really good and that's who I learned my cake decorating skills from.
You can find the recipe for Peanut Butter ButterCream Icing here. The only change I made was I added an extra half cup peanut butter for a total of one cup! Oh, but I did at a lot more milk to thin it down. I just added until it was the consistency I wanted, which was probably about 10-12 Tbsps. I used my 1M Tip (large star tip) and piped the icing all around the edges and then up into the middle like an ice cream cone. This cupcake in the picture is actually a couple days later and it had been laying on its side- so the icing is a bit smushed in places but you get the idea!
Hi Everyone!!
So the Real Women of Philadelphia Contest is over, and we're still waiting on the last two finalists to be announced in the dessert category, but I know it won't be me as I didn't submit any dessert ideas! I had grand plans for a few desserts... ice cream sandwich cheesecake for one, dessert sushi for another.. but they either didn't pan out or I ran out of time! It was fun while it lasted, and I sure enjoyed being in the 'spotlight' in the entree round last week! Seriously, just seeing my video in the highlight reel with all those other talented ladies with amazing recipes just made me completely giddy! I forwarded the link on and posted it everywhere I could.. and I might as well post it again here!
I really received such great feedback about my recipe for meatloaf cupcakes - thank you to everyone for taking the time to pass this on to me.
I've been craving a good mac and cheese dish for awhile now, so in the spirit of Philly, I made Anna Olson's Macaroni and Cheese. It turned out really good - very creamy! I didn't bake it as I was running short on time (picture steaks already off the grill and a hungry husband waiting in the wings) but it was still delicious! I'd like to make it again sometime with a breadcrumb topping -- yummmm!! I am not that great with measuring pasta so I had a bunch of sauce left over, that I reserved and have been serving on broccoli. I love having this little bit extra kicking around to dress up my veggies! Anyways, you can find the recipe for Anna's Mac and Cheese here! Enjoy!
This is my final entry in the Real Women of Philadelphia Contest! I've had a lot of fun coming up with new recipes and altering old recipes so they met the contest requirements. I think this recipe is the one that I had the most fun with - they just looked so impressive and seriously tasted delicious!
I've tampered with quite a few different meat loaf recipes over the years and I love love love my final edition! This recipe has brown sugar BBQ sauce in it, which adds a lot of sweet tang and moisture to the "muffins." When I was frying up my onions for the meatloaf, I cooked them at a higher heat than I usually do and they turned a delicious caramel color! YUMMM!! The Potato and Cream Cheese Icing took several attempts trying to get the right consistency and right flavor. The end product was well worth the trials! The trick is to get the potato mixture completely lump free so when you're piping through the large star tip, the lumps don't back your potato mixture up!! A potato ricer makes this a non-issue though! I think the part that I enjoyed the most was finishing it with the "sprinkles!" Everyone can decorate their own! I think this would be fun for a birthday party or dinner party - something that tastes delicious, with readily available ingredients, and is a fun twist on an old classic!
Meatloaf Cupcakes with Potato and Cream Cheese Icing 2lbs lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup Kraft Brown Sugar BBQ sauce
1 tbsp whipping cream
1 large onion
1 large egg
1/2 tsp + another 1/2 tsp minced garlic (divided)
3 tbsp milk
1/2 cup light Philadelphia Cream Cheese (brick)
5 medium potatoes
3 TBSP butter, divided
Salt & Pepper
1/3 cup green onions, chopped
1/3 cup real bacon bits
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grease muffin tin.
3. Dice onion.
4. Melt 1 TBSP butter in pan over medium heat, add diced onion and fry until onions are clear, about 5 min.
5. While onions are frying, peel and cut up potatoes into small uniform sized pieces. Put in large pot and add enough water to cover. Boil for about 15 minutes or until you can easily cut potatoes with a fork.
6. Add 1/2 tsp of garlic to onions and cook until garlic is fragrant, approx 1 min. and then remove from heat.
7. Put ground beef in large mixing bowl.
8. Beat egg. Add 1 tbsp cream to egg and whisk until blended.
9. Add egg mixture, bread crumbs, BBQ sauce, 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper, and all of the cooked onion to the ground beef and mix thoroughly. (using your hands to mix is quickest and easiest!)
10. Roll ground beef mixture into 12 balls large enough to completely fill each muffin mold. Pat balls down to make them smooth on top.
11. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.
12. Once potatoes are finished, drain water and add to a mixing bowl. Add remaining 2 TBSP butter, 3 TBSP milk, 1/2 cup cream cheese, remaining 1/2 tsp garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix on medium high until smooth and all the lumps are gone. **Use a potato ricer before adding the potatoes to the mixing bowl for an extra smooth finish!**
13. Insert a large star piping tip into a piping bag (or snip the corner off a disposable zippered bag), add your Philly mashed potatoes, and squeeze all the potatoes down towards your tip and remove as much air as possible from the bag. Bunch excess bag together above potatoes and keep this tightly pinched so potato mixture will go out the tip, not up into the bag. (If you don't have a star tip, no problem, just cut the corner off of a zippered bag and use the same way - it just won't have the fancy wavy edges).
14. Once meatloaf cupcakes are cooked, loosen around edges of the meatloaf with a knife to remove easier. Place these on a plate lined with paper towel.
15. Starting around the edges and working your way into the middle, apply firm pressure to your piping bag to squeeze potatoes out the tip and spiral the potato mixture up like an ice cream cone. Once you've spiralled the potato mixture to a peak in the middle, release pressure and lift up. Place on serving plate. Repeat until all meatloaf cupcakes are "iced" with the mashed potatoes.
16. Sprinkle with green onions, bacon bits and parlsey.
I just submitted my recipe for Quick Broccoli Salad to the Real Women of Philadelphia contest! I make a fool of myself yet again on camera as I video myself preparing this recipe. I think Mike's favorite part is the 'shake shake shake!'
This is a remake of my moms Broccoli Salad, by adding dill cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, and goat cheese! YUMM! It is seriously delicious, and by using pre-packaged ingredients like already washed and cut up broccoli and real bacon bits, it speeds up the prep time to five minutes! I like to serve this as a side dish with anything BBQ'd: steak, pork chops, burgers, hot dogs, you name it!
Quick Broccoli Salad
4 cups broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
1/4 cup Dill Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Kraft Coleslaw Dressing
1/3 cup chopped bacon (ready made)
1/3 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1. Soften cream cheese in microwave safe bowl - about 20 seconds.
2. Mix together cream cheese and coleslaw dressing.
3. Wash broccoli and tomatoes and add to a large bowl that has a lid.
4. Top with bacon and dressing.
5. Roughly chop the goat cheese and add on top of broccoli mixture.
6. Stir to spread it around.
7. Cover with lid, ensuring lid is on secure and shake until well mixed.
First off, I have to say WOW. This is possibly one of the most delicious desserts I've made yet. It's also sinfully bad for you, made up of cookies, sugar, butter, cream, and chocolate chips... but as Mike pointed out after we polished off a delectable slice each, strawberries are fruit and fruit is healthy, right?
The base layer is a crunchy delight of oreo cookie crumbs, mixed with sugar and butter and baked until crisp (and I don't mean burnt to a..), filled with a cream infused melted chocolate chip layer, all topped off with fresh, juicy strawberries that leave such a sweet after taste! The recipe actually called for raspberries, which, in my opinion, would be better, but I had strawberries so that's what I used!
It took all the restraint and willpower I had to refrain from gorging down the rest of the tart... or atleast just one more piece. I could have 'atleast just one more pieced' myself to a chocolate tart coma, but I would have been in a very happy place. You need extra calories when you're breastfeeding, right?
You can find the recipe from Martha Stewart's website for this delish dessert here: Chocolate-Raspberry Tart. Changes that I made: I didn't use a food processor as I used oreo baking crumbs instead of cookies. I used a little over 2 cups as I just kept adding to the butter it called for, until it looked about right and would cover the tart pan. Oh, and I don't have a fancy tart pan with removable base (or a tart pan at all for that matter) so I just used my springform pan. It doesn't look as pretty but works just the same. (Note to self, add to wishlist). And I followed what the comments suggested and added my berries before it set. Oh and I used strawberries instead of raspberries, but I think that is fairly obvious!
Okay, now that Mike is gone to hockey (yes, it is May and he's still playing hockey), I'm gonna sneak back in the fridge and grab my second slice that has been whispering my name for the past hour. (Note to self: wash face after -- chocolate smeared all around my mouth is always my tell.)
Side Note: I have always thought the word 'decadent' referred to a particularly rich, most likely chocolaty, sinfully delicious dessert. Turns out, it doesn't. After much searching, I find that it's related more to behaviour than to desserts. According to dictionary.com, decadent means characterized by decadence, which in turn means: 1. theactorprocessoffallingintoaninferiorconditionor state;deterioration;decay:Somehistoriansholdthat thefallofRomecanbeattributedtointernaldecadence.
2.
moraldegenerationordecay;turpitude.
3.
unrestrainedorexcessiveself-indulgence.
** I think we'll go with the last one!! It's time for me to exhibit some decadence -- gotta go!
I didn't submit a recipe for last weeks round of side dishes for the Real Women of Philadelphia Competition, mostly because I was finishing up my cake decorating course and preparing for Easter lunch here. Perhaps those are just excuses and the real reason was I didn't want to take the time to create a unique and tasty side. I tried making creamed quinoa, which ended up being okay, but definitely not competition worthy.
Maybe I was saving it all up for entree week! I re-vamped my White Enchilada's recipe and added cream cheese to the mix and seriously SERIOUSLY it turned out awesome! The creaminess really balanced well with the spiciness from the taco seasoning. This is definitely going into my usual rotation of recipes!
I just filmed another creation but I have to do a bunch of editing on it to piece everything together so we'll see if I get it done in time for tomorrow's deadline! If not, I have it ready and waiting to go for the second round of entrees in a months time! What is it you ask?? Shhh.. that's a secret- I wouldn't want to give my competition an advantage! :-P
This video is pretty long - a whopping 9 minutes!! But I didn't really feel like I could cut much out as it was showing the steps to the recipe or I was busy jibber-jabbering! I think my first two videos were better than this one - possible the length was a contributing factor!
We hosted Easter lunch this year, so I was able to cook for my family! I really enjoyed planning the menu and finding the recipes that I was going to use. I did what I consider a very traditional Easter meal of ham and scalloped potatoes. I found a new scalloped potatoes recipe from Canadian Living that everyone seemed to like. I really liked the bread crumb topping - yumm! We dove in too fast to take a 'before' pic, so here's an 'after' picture! You can find the recipe here. I think I ended up going with this recipe instead of others because it called for cider vinegar, which I had sitting in my pantry unopened for who knows how long! I also used my Pampered Chef Mandolin to slice all the potatoes and onions and every time I use it I am amazed at how fast and easy it is!!
I tried a new recipe "Nalysnyky"(pronounced NAL-YES-Nah-Keh) for lunch yesterday too. These are basically cheese filled crepes and they're smothered in butter. Very rich, but you gotta try one or two :-). I found the recipe for the Nalysnyky online but tweaked it to be my own. I used the basic crepe recipe but changed the filling contents. The original recipe can be found here, and I will post what I used for filling (in the Real Women of Philly way of course!!)
Nalysnyky with Dill Philly Cream Cheese
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
Beat eggs one at a time, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until all the lumps are gone. (This'll make a very thin mixture). Pour a ladle full into a greased pan - I sprayed pam in between each crepe. Fry over medium heat for about a minute each. Makes 8-12.
Cheese filling
1/2 cup dill Philadelphia Cream cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
1 TBSP fresh dill
Blend above in your mixer until well mixed. Spoon two spoonfuls onto each crepe and spread to cover completely. Roll the crepe up and slice it in half. Line a casserole dish with tin foil and spoon a couple TBSP of melted butter in the bottom and layer the filled crepes on top, making sure to butter in between layers. Bake at 350 for 30 min and then serve immediately.
This winter we took a trip to Hawaii with our friends Sol and Brent. The beach house we had rented had a charcoal barbecue and we cooked on it as often as we could. Which, wasn't as often as we liked as it was such a production just to get it ready for cooking! Mike's friend Jason (who he worked with when he was on a Hawaii project a few years ago) came over one evening for supper, bringing with him enough food to feed an army, including two huge fillets of salmon. I was feeding Gray, so I'm not sure who prepared the salmon but I'm crediting Sol since he told me how he usually prepares it at home. It was some of the most delicious salmon I've ever had!!
I was at the grocery store the other day and saw some salmon marked down 30% for quick resale. Since I didn't have anything on the menu for that nights supper, I pounced on it! Using Sol's directions, I prepared it on the bbq and it turned out absolutely amazing. Even the leftovers the next day were amazingly moist and juicy. It was a real treat! We served it with quinoa and broccoli! YUMM!
Double portion of salmon - yummm!
Sol's Salmon
1 large salmon
olive oil
salt and pepper
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over entire length of fillet, front and back. Season with salt and pepper. BBQ. haha. It's seriously that easy. I grilled it on the top rack, so it was away from the flame. I cut it into a few pieces so flipping it would be easier. I cooked it on med low and turned it once the edges started to look done - flaky and light pink, about six minutes. I "squeezed" some lemon juice over the fillets while they were cooking too. About six minutes on the other side as well and then I let it rest on a plate, covered with tin foil for about 10 minutes. Mostly because Mike was in the middle of bathing Gray - haha. But when you let meat rest before you cut into it, it lets the juices redistribute throughout so we'll say the same thing happens with salmon! :-)
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