favorites lately

 

book club 45 - Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness by Sam Chase

 2023-45

 

peppermints from the green binder

 This is a family friendly recipe that yields some pretty darn tasty homemade mints.  The first time we made these last year, my kids couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that you could make mints at home.  But you can and it's easy.  These made me remember the peppermint patties that my mom would make at Christmas - hers were green, to be festive, and the size of a small 2 bite cookie.  I haven't been able to locate her recipe, but I wonder if it was just a larger batch of this sort of recipe.

 1 cup icing sugar

2 tb soft butter

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Combine the 3 ingredients in a mixer or food processor until mixed and crumbly.  Remove and knead with your hand until combined into a soft smooth dough, just a minute or 2.  Roll out into a long thin rope, and cut into small mints.  Spread out on a baking sheet to harden, then store.

book club 44- Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton (ebook)

 2023-44

 

another energy bite recipe

 Oatmeal Peanut Butter Energy Bites

grocery shop - Eastuff Grocery November 18

 

Chinese sausage, kimchi ramen, indomie noodles, strawberry cookies, yopokki cup onion butter, hoisin sauce, white pepper, salt, Korean spaghetti, Japanese ramen, grilled pork flavored chips, dried mushrooms, watermelon freezes, yakisoba cup noodles, cheese ramyun, wire skimmer (my favorite kitchen tool), chopsticks

$114

stew photo

 my recent post omitted my lovely stew photo and because it's a lovely stew photo, here it is.

the best cookie - the Ted Lasso shortbread cookie

 I got this recipe a while back from People magazine, and it was in an email and I was going to delete it and then I thought, no, let's try it, it's an easy recipe and it made THE BEST shortbread cookies I've ever made or eaten.

 

Ted Lasso's "Biscuits with the Boss" Shortbread

1 cup unsalted butter, softened, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. fine sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and sides with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on all sides. Set aside.

2. Beat butter, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on low speed until mixture is well-combined and just beginning to come together, 45 seconds to 1 minute.

3. Using your hands, press dough evenly into prepared pan. (If mixture is too sticky, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of dough, and press into pan. Remove parchment before baking.)

4. Bake until edges are golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool completely in pan, about 1 hour. Using parchment paper as handles, lift biscuits from pan. Cut into 18 rectangles.

book club 43 - Various Miracles by Carol Shields

 2023-43

 

grocery shop november 15 - freshco

 

tortilla chips, clamato, fish, cheerios, shrimp, margerine, garlic dip, apples, zero sugar pepsi

$57

Sunday and Monday and Thursday dinners

 

We were reminiscing with The Grandpa one night about the Millarville farmers market just outside Calgary, that we went to regularly when we lived there, and I (of course) remembered the food concession that was run by the locals - coffee, pancakes and sausages, and back bacon on a bun sandwiches with fried onions.  It was so good.

We've made the sandwiches ourselves a number of times since we moved away, but the ones this Sunday were probably the best we've ever had.  The Mister made the onions and bacon and I'm pretty sure his secret was way more butter than I would ever use, but they were so dang good.

The next night to combat all that butter I made a healthy(ish) spinach and pasta dish - Creamy Spinach Orzo.  Easy and delicious - even the kids ate it without complaint!

Cooking every day is bloody exhausting, so we went simple for Thursday - beef stew in the crockpot.  This recipe is a winner every time.

cookbook cleanup 57 - The Book of Burger by Racheal Ray

 Next up is The Book of Burger.  We do love a burger around here.

 Lasagna burgers.  Grilled cheese burgers. Lamb burgers with walnuts. Hog dog fries (???).   It's all here.  I've had this book for ages and I'm pretty sure I've never cooked out of it before.  A lot of these were too far out for my family to consider, but I made myself a short list from the over 200 recipes.

 We started with the Cubano burger which had you chop some ham up and add to your ground turkey along with some garlic and other seasonings, cook and top with cheese, pickles and mustard.  I was confident that this would be a hit - but it was not.  The kids HATED this burger.  With a fiery passion.  The adults ate them, but after a couple of bites, it was not with much enthusiasm.  These were not a winner.

This book sat idle on my side table for quite a few months after that, but I was determined to decide if it goes or stays so we moved on to the Shepherds Pie burger.  Basically you make little meatloaf patties, cook them, place on garlic bread, top with mashed potatos and gravy and try not to cry while you eat them because they are so dang good.

 

Then we tried the Satay sliders, except made regular burger size and with pork instead of chicken.  This was another amazing burger - the cucumber onion relish was to die for.  Even The Girl ate it!

Even with two hits and one miss, this one is leaving the shelf.  While there are a few more - just a few - that I'd like to try, I know the kids won't eat most of them so what's the point.

Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -37

and now for something competely different.....

 Stuffing pancakes!

I mixed the last of the stuffing and chicken together, added an egg, and fried my little pancakes until crispy and golden.  Actually could have been better than the waffles!

grocery shop november 12

 

crackers, rice cakes x2, KD x2, chips x2, stove topx2, gravy mix, salmon pate, coffee creamer, bell peppers, green onions, celery, red onions, cucumbers x2, mushrooms, baguette

$71

stuffing waffles

 Tik Tok convinced me to try making stuffing waffles (although now I see I have done this before) and it seemed like the perfect way to use up the leftover rotisserie chicken we had.  I made up a box, hosed down the waffle maker with spray and added the stuffing.  A few minutes later we had waffled stuffing deliciousness.

 Unfortunately, they did NOT want to come out of the waffle maker and ended up in pieces on our plates.  But look how gooooooood.

2 recent wins inspired by Tik Tok

 It must be good when The Boy is grabbing from the table before we've sat down, right?

These were roasted carrots with a spicy sauce - cut the carrots into sticks, toss with olive oil, paprika, salt, onion and garlic powders, then toss again with parmesan cheese.  Lay them out on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  I have a bottle of Franks Hot Honey Garlic sauce I've been waiting to open so I stirred that into some mayo and it was SO good on not only the carrots but also the broccoli and chicken we had that night.

Another night I made these chicken tenders

Season your chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, onion and garlic powders, then dip in beaten egg and then into crushed cornflakes.  I baked them in the air fryer for about 8 minutes and drizzled them with a sweet-garlicky-soy sauce I mixed up.

Very delicious.

book club 42 - you do you by sarah knight

 2023-42

 

book club 41 - The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

 2023-41

 

the corner of my kitchen

 There is a corner of my kitchen that has been the bane of my existence for years now.  YEARS.

It is where the fruit bowl and bread products are kept.  Above the counter is the cupboard full of glass jars, measuring cups and water bottles.  Below is the plastic container drawer.  

We used to use multiple bowls to hold the fruit, but that didn't work well, because then there were multiple bowls on the counter.  So I bought a multi level fruit bowl, but it was too tall, and blocked the cabinet door.  I was mad, and couldn't return the fruit bowl, so we kept it.  But I was only ever the only one that would MOVE the fruit bowl so jars and cups and stuff could be put in the cupboard.  Everyone else (The Mister) would leave them on the counter.  Same with the plastic containers, even though there was nothing blocking THAT drawer.  

The bread products were a similar disaster, usually tossed in a pile, until The Mister bought a giant humongous bowl that took up a bunch of room and then no one could see - or would look  to see - if anything was going moldy beneath the surface.  

Kitchen towels would get tossed there, the kids would leave chip and cracker bags there, and I hated it.  

Then a couple of weeks ago I realized - I don't have to live like this!  And bought 2 baskets from Amazon.  I took everything out of the corner, cleaned it all up and then it looked like this - 

I would be embarrassed it anyone knew how often I just stood in the kitchen that weekend and admired the corner.  It was a lot of time.

Does it still look this good now?  God no.  But does it look better than before?  A thousand yeses.

11/11

 

delicious butter chicken and no i did not take a bite out of the naan bread

 We have definitely had butter chicken on the brain since our trip to Harrison.  I got serious one night and googled on my phone until I found a recipe that sounded perfect to me.  I made it last week and while it was not as good as restaurant butter chicken, it was dang good.

recipe - butter chicken

book club 40 - Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

 2023-40

 

 

book club 39 - Mother Daughter Muder Night by Nina Simon

 2023-39

 

 

book club 38 - The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

 2023-38

 

book club 37 - essentialism by Greg McKeown

 2023-37

 

angel food cake from scratch

 I had a hankering for angel food cake this summer - beautiful and light served with berries and whipped cream outside on a sunny day.  Mmmm!  

So I went to the store to buy a mix.  And then another store, and then another store.  Not one store had angel food cake mix!  I stood in the aisle of the last (and of course most expensive) store and googled angel food cake.  Recipe after recipe confirmed you needed cake flour, cream of tartar, superfine sugar, and lots of egg whites.

It physically pained me to see the prices of the stuff I needed. 

cream of tartar $7.99

pastry flour $8.79

egg whites $4.69 

I didn't even stop in front of the superfine sugar.  Regular sugar would be just fine, thank you. 

 LOOK at that.  Angel Food Cake perfection on the outside.

 On the inside????  Maybe not quite so much.  It looked great, and tasted great, but was definitely heavier than an angel food cake should be.  I bet that damn superfine sugar would have made a difference.

 

Recipe from Back in the Day Bakery

book club 36 - Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

 2023-36

 

book club 35 - Triptych by Karin Slaughter

 2023-35

 

book club 34 - The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 2023-34

 

3 things i made on saturday

 I always have a ton of windows open on my computer and my phone with recipes I want to try.  I have books laying out, marked up with lists and post it notes.  And then I struggle every day to find something to make for dinner.  So this Saturday I was like - Let's make some stuff!  The plan was 5 recipes.  The Girl and I went to the store for supplies and then came home and she scrammed off to do something more interesting, and I started making buns.

Not just any buns, Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls.  The Mister stood by frowning as someone other than HIM made bread as I put together the easy dough.  After a couple of rises, we were treated to these delicious looking beauties from the oven.

They were very very good, even without the cinnamon butter which I did not make but will make next time, for scientific purposes ONLY.

While the dough was rising I started on the Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  And the first thing I did was to screw up and immediately start creaming the butter and sugar together, and to actually READ THE RECIPE and be reminded that I was supposed to melt the butter and brown it.  Ooops.  I had to stop a few times and work on lunch and supervising because The Girl had a friend over for lunch and a play-date and I had destroyed the kitchen with my baking so far.  The Boy appeared at this point was interested in helping for approximately 7 minutes before vanishing again, and I managed to get the cookies all baked, and my testers all approved.

It was then I knew I'd taken on too much that day.  On Thursday and Friday I'd had 3 vaccine shots - flu, covid and shingles (because I am an old), had one of the most stressful work weeks I've had in years, and had vicious nightmares the night before that kept me up most of the night.  I cleaned the kitchen, handed the play-date off to The Mister, and went and laid down with heating pad on my bed.  As soon as the friend went home, I closed my eyes and had a nap.  

Waking up and feeling alert after the nap was harder than it should have been, but I finally managed and staggered off to the kitchen to make soup for dinner.  Vegetable Pastina soup, found on the ole Ticky Toks.  The broth, so simple, was to die for, and the only problem was the stupid little pasta I'd chosen took over 20 minutes to cook and stuck to the bottom of the pot every time you stopped stirring.  But it was divine, everyone loved it, and I will buy new pasta and make it again soon.