Grocery Shop Feb 16, and Energy Bites, via Pinterest

 Coconut milk, ginger ale, juice, yogurt drink, milk, margarine, peas, blueberries, blackberries, avocados, cauliflower, salad kit, strawberries, broccoli, apples, grapes, sweet potatos, kale, tomato, cilantro, ground pork, chicken breast, bread, deli ham.

Total $95

I found a recipe on Pinterest - here - for Energy Bites - oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips and honey.  We all like all those ingredients, so I made a batch this morning.  

I really like them, but I'm the only one.  

I'm a bit irritated, but there's no accounting for taste, I suppose.  

Now they're all mine, and I'll take them to work tomorrow.

Pork Mu Shu Stir Fry

I'm continuing on my cabbage kick.  Right now Napa cabbage is my thing.  Loving it.

This was inspired by a Rachael Ray recipe I saw - a pork burger with a warm slaw topping.

I wasn't really interested, but the flavors used stayed with me, so I decided to make it into a stir fry instead of a burger.

SO GOOD.

Pork Mu Shu Stir Fry

1 tb oil

6 garlic cloves, minced, divided in half

 3 green onions, minced

1 small to medium head Napa cabbage, outer leaves removed, cored, and shredded

3 tb hoisin sauce

1 tb oil

12 or so mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 lb ground pork

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3 tb soy sauce

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large pan.  Add half the garlic and the green onions.  Cook until soft and the garlic is just starting to color.  Add the cabbage, and cook, stirring often, until the cabbage is soft.  Stir in the hoisin sauce.  Taste, correct seasoning.  Transfer to a bowl; cover and keep warm. 

Heat the second TB of oil in the same pan.  Cook the mushrooms, stirring often, until they start to color.  Add the second half of the garlic and the pork.  Stir and break up pork.  Add the 5 spice and ginger.  Cook until the pork is cooked through and nicely browned.  Stir in the soy, cook one minute.

Remove from heat.

Stir the cabbage to redistribute the yummy juices.  Place a scoop of cabbage on each plate, top with a scoop of the pork mixture.

Drizzle with extra soy sauce or hoisin if desired.

Chicken, brie and spinach pizza

Tomato Soup Spice Bread

A long, long time ago my mom asked me to look on the internet for some recipes for my grandmother.  She was looking for a recipe for a spice cake made with tomato soup - something she had enjoyed years ago.  It sounded horrible to me, but I obliged with a few different recipes for her to look at.  I don't recall if I ever asked her if she tried any of them, if any of them were close to what she was hoping for.

A year or so later I was shopping at the old farmers market at the barracks in Calgary, and there was a stall that sold various ready to heat and eat products, and one of the things they sold was - tomato soup spice bread!  I had to buy a loaf, so I did.  We ate it.  It was good.

Fast forward to a week ago when I came across a recipe for it that I'd saved in one of my notebooks.  It made me smile to see it.

Tomato Soup Spice Bread

adapted from Pop It Stir It Fix It Serve It

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinammon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloved

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 egg

 1/3 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

1 10 oz can tomato soup

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350'.

Spray a loaf pan with non stick spray.  Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, soda, salt, powder, and spices.

In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla, sugar, and soup.

Pour the soup mixture into the dry ingredients, along with the raisins.  Mix until combined.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake, 40-50 minutes.  If the top is browning too quickly, cover with foil.  

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack and let cool.

Cabbage Gratin

 I must admit I never think of cabbage when I think of veggies to cook for meals.  Cabbage?  I think coleslaw.  I think cabbage rolls (shudder).  I think - well, that's about it.

But I've seen lots of recipes lately - in my paleo searches, and on Pinterest - for grilled cabbage, cabbage "noodles", serving chopped cabbage instead of rice with stir fries and curries, and it made me think I should be more adventurous. 

I tried a cabbage gratin from the book Canadian Living's Vegetarian Collection.  I reviewed this book a few years ago, and it's a good book, so I was confidant this was a good starting point in my cabbage explorations.

I made a couple of changes - the savoy cabbage at the Superstore looked nasty and old, so I bought a napa cabbage instead.  I used a cup of light cream and a half cup of milk, but next time I think I would go with only a cup of liquid.  I also used panko bread crumbs instead of fresh, olive oil instead of butter, and parmesan instead of gruyere for the topping. 

The adults loved this, the kid tolerated it.  Cabbage is moving up the charts in our house.

Recipe: Savoy Cabbage Gratin

Pineapple Muffins

I made these last weekend to get us going on Sunday morning.  We all like pineapple, and I like homemade muffins better then store bought for controlling size and sugar.

This is from my Notebook #10 and is from a book called Pop It, Stir It, Fix It, Serve It.  I whipped these up at 5am, while everyone snoozed away.  The ingredient list was short and the recipe came together super quick.  The only change I made was the pineapple - the recipe calls for you to use an 8 oz can of tidbits and puree the tidbits and juice.  I may have mentioned I was making these at 5am so there was no way I was turning on the food processor or blender and risk waking up surly boys.  So instead I used 8 ounces of crushed pineapple and juice.  And it worked perfectly!  

I love these muffins.  A new favorite.  As much as I liked them with raisins, next time I might try dried cranberries, or maybe some nuts?

Pineapple Muffins

Adapted from Pop It, Stir It, Fix It, Serve It

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

8oz crushed pineapple, including some juice

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

1 egg

1/2 cup raisins or other mix in

Preheat oven to 400'.

Stir all dry ingredients together.  Mix the pineapple, oil, vanilla and egg until well combined, then fold in the flour mixture and the raisins, or other dried fruit or chopped nuts.

Scoop the batter into 12 muffin cups lined with baking cups.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until brown and cooked.