FNCCC - Sandra Lee

I know, Sandra Lee! So many people dislike her. Myself, possibly because her shows do not air on the food channel in Canada, I am of really no opinion. I have cooked a few of her recipes successfully (her pumpkin pancakes from Semi Homemade Cooking are super), but I have also seen clips of her show online (shudder).

But she's the next in line over at Sarah's for Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge, so here we are.

I found a recipe on her website for Swedish Meatballs, which I quite like.

Surprisingly this recipe is pretty much a "real" Swedish Meatball recipe. The only premade ingredient she uses is frozen meatballs, and that was perfect for me as I had half a bag in the freezer I wanted to use up.



I served the meatballs over steamed potatos instead of noodles. This was good, quick and easy to make, and I would make it again.

Recipe: Speedy Swedish Meatballs.

Please go visit Sarah at I Thank My Mother to see what else was whipped up this week.

FNCCC - Rachael Ray

It's Rachael Ray's week at Sarah's Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge.

Love her or hate her, you've got to admit that the woman has amassed an incredible amount of recipes. I have made a lot of her recipes the past few years. A good number of them have been pretty tasty too.

But I think that this one might be the best Rachael Ray recipe I've made -


It's a beautifully seasoned turkey patty with a olive, tomato and cucumber salad. There was supposed to be spinach in the salad as well, but I forgot to add it. The problem is, I made this a few weeks ago and I can't find the recipe. I can't remember where I found it, or its name. I do remember that it wasn't made with turkey in the original recipe; I subbed that in because I found some ground turkey in the freezer. Argh.

So I bit the bullet and found another recipe to make for FNCCC. And this time I made sure to mark the magazine page so I could share it with you!


Behold the deliciously wonderful Beef and Bean Burrito Burger. This was so good! Ground beef mixed with black beans, brown rice, cumin, coriander, and served with guacamole. I skipped the bun (cough DIET! cough ha, nice try Sara, who am I kidding) and served it with chopped tomato. and salsa.

I really enjoyed this and it does taste like a burrito. I made 6 patties, not 4 as the recipe calls for. 4 would have been insanely huge. We will have these again for sure.

Recipe: Beef 'n Bean Burrito Burgers


ps - if anyone knows the recipe for that first burger, let me know!

FNCCC - Paula Deen

Paula Deen is the chosen Food Network host for this weeks Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge. Oh Paula. You crazy crazy woman you.

I went over to her own website pauladeen.com for inspiration and found a recipe for sweet and sour meatballs. I LOVE sweet and sour meatballs and as luck would have it, I had a bag of frozen meatballs in the freezer and all the sauce ingredients in the pantry, so I made it for dinner that very night.

I am a fairly frugal person in the kitchen. I don't like to waste food. I hate having to buy a big bunch of cilantro when I only need a teaspoon. Cause you know it's going to go bad before it all gets used up. I don't like recipes where you cook noodles in broth and then toss out the broth. I don't do it. I just cook them in water. So imagine my shock when I'm reading the recipe I've chosen, and it calls for 4 cups of ketchup. For one pound of meatballs. FOUR CUPS OF KETCHUP! Does that not sound just a wee bit excessive? Four cups of ketchup plus 2 cans of pineapple, and a truckload of other ingredients, for a measly one pound of meatballs? Four cups of anything is a lot and I just couldn't bring myself to use four cups (4!) of ketchup. So I halved all of the sauce ingredients, and also didn't pre-cook the sweet and sour sauce since everything was going to be in the oven for an hour.

And it looked pretty good when it was done cooking:

Aside from the day glow color of the photo, you'll see that there is p-l-e-n-t-y of sauce to go around for all those meatballs. I honestly can't imagine needing any more sauce. It was good, very good. I might make it again, but I am always on the lookout for new sweet and sour meatballs recipes.

Please visit Sarah at I Thank My Mother to see who else took part and what they made.

Recipe: Shane’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs

FNCCC - The Neeleys

Patrick and Gina Neeley's shows aren't shown on food tv here in Canada. They've shown a couple of specials in the past year or two but that's it. I went searching on the Food Network website for a recipe, and found one I knew Scott would like, a Memphis Monte Cristo.

This Monte Cristo has ham, turkey, gouda cheese, and bbq sauce.


These sandwiches are easy and fast to make. Scott did love them. I thought they were only ok. The bbq sauce, which usually I love, pushed it over the top. I think there was just too much going on in this sandwich for me. But I would definitely make these again and just leave the sauce off mine.

You can see the recipe here.

And please go visit Sarah, the creator of the FNCCC, to see what other delicious meals were made this week!

FNCCC - Nigella Lawson

This weeks Food Network host for the FNCCC is Nigella Lawson, a favorite of mine. I've cooked a ton of her recipes and loved almost all of them.

I was looking for something easy to cook for Sunday lunch and remembered that Nigella's book Forever Summer has a lot of simple recipes that I haven't tried yet. I chose her Rigatoni Al Pomodoro E Prezzemolo - tomato and garlic sauce.

Delicious and easy!

Visit Sarah at I Thank My Mother to see what other Nigella recipes were made.

Rigatoni Al Pomodoro E Prezzemolo
Nigella Lawson

6 Tb extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, cut into thin slivers
1 3/4 cups (14 oz) canned chopped tomatos
1/2 cup vegetable stock
bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
1 pound rigatoni

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
Heat the oil and gently fry the garlic over low to medium heat. When it begins to take on a golden color add the tomatos and turn up the heat. Stir in the stock and let it bubble away, reducing the sauce until it becomes quite lumpy and oily; this should take no more than about 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and (just before serving) add the parsley. Taste for seasoning.
Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni following the instructions on the package then then toss the pasta into the sauce in the pan. Combine everything well and serve straightaway.

FNCCC - Melissa D'Arabian

This week for the Food Network Cooking Club Challenge we had our choice from 3 hosts - Mary Nolan, Masaharu Morimoto, and Melissa d'Arabian. I chose Melissa not only because I watched her win the Next Food Network Star show (they showed it on foodtv here in Canada at the end of last year) and I enjoy that many of her recipes are quick and easy. These words have been showing up A LOT on my blog lately. QUICK. EASY.

I love scalloped potatos but have never made them from scratch, I always buy the boxed mixes and we have both been fine with those. I saw Melissa's recipe for 5-Minute Individual Potato Gratins and they appealed to me not only because I love potatos but also I had every single ingredient needed in my kitchen.


These are pretty quick, all you have to do is thinly slice some potatos, chop some green onion and shred some swiss cheese. I didn't bother to measure out the cheese or cream, I don't think you need to.

The gratins were delicious and took no longer to make and bake than scalloped potatos from a package! We will definitely being having these a lot in the future.



5-Minute Individual Potato Gratins
Melissa D'Arabian

Vegetable spray
2 large russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced (I used red potatos and didn't peel them)
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese (I didn't measure, just sprinkled between the potatos and on top)
2 green onions, finely chopped (I used 4)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream (I didn't measure, just poured some on)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray 8 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices, cheese, and onions into each muffin cup. Season with salt and pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time. Invert gratins onto plate and serve.

FNCCC - Mario Batali

He was less than enthused when he read the recipe I'd picked from Mario Batali for the FNCCC.

"There's no sauce!"

Scott is an easygoing guy and is normally fine with whatever I want to cook. But he was not happy about this no sauce thing. But I knew he'd love it once he tasted it. He loves onions, he loves cheese. He loves pancetta. It would be ok.


And it was more than ok. This pasta is terrific, absolutely wonderful. I love it because it's simple and delicious. So few ingredients make huge flavors.

I scaled down the recipe - original is here so I would have little, if any leftovers.
But I had to up the amount of onion and garlic because the amounts in the original seemed too small.

Spaghetti with Garlic, Onion and Pancetta

1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
pinch dried chile pepper flakes
100 grams pancetta, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 pound spaghetti
parmesan cheese

In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Add the pepper flakes and pancetta and cook until crisp. Remove the pancetta to a plate. Add the remaining oil, onion and garlic and cook gently until golden brown.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until tender yet al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the saute pan with the onions. Add some cheese, toss to combine, then toss in the pancetta. Serve with extra cheese if desired.

Please visit I Blame My Mother to see more Mario recipes this week.

FNCCC - Jamie Oliver

I know, my last post I talked about eating healthy etc, and here I am with a photo of pancakes and bacon. I can't be blamed though, after a couple of nearly sleepless nights I decided to treat us with pancakes for Sunday breakfast. So really, it's the baby's fault.

But let's blame Sarah at I Blame My Mother as well, for having Jamie Oliver as this weeks Challenge host. I have long wanted to try Jamie's Pancakes USA Stylie. I love pancakes but it's so much easier to use pancake mix from the jumbo bag in the closet than to make them from scratch.

The recipe is pretty quick and easy and the cakes come out very light, as the eggs are separated and the whites beaten until stiff before being folded into the batter. And any recipe that suggests sprinkling bacon on/in a dish is ok with me.



Pancakes USA Stylie
Jamie Oliver

3 large eggs
scant 1 cup all purpose flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tb milk
a pinch of salt

First separate the eggs, putting the whites into one bowl and the yolks into another. Add the flour, baking powder and milk to the yolks and mix to a smooth thick batter. Whisk the whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the batter – it is now ready to use.

Heat a good non-stick pan on a medium heat. Pour some of your batter into the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until it starts to look golden and firm. At this point sprinkle your chosen flavouring (see below) on to the uncooked side before loosening with a spatula and flipping the pancake over. Continue frying until both sides are golden.

You can make these pancakes large or small, to your liking. You can serve them simply doused in maple syrup and even with some butter or crème fraîche. Or if you choose to sprinkle with a flavouring, try one of these...

fresh corn from the cob
crispy bacon or pancetta
blueberries
banana
stewed apple
grated chocolate
anything else you can imagine...

Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge

Sarah at I Thank My Mother hosts the FNCCC, where every week a different Food Network host/ess is picked and you are free to choose any of that persons recipes to cook and share.

This week is Ina Garten. The Food Network site has over 600 of her recipes, but it didn't take me long to find one to help me use up some potatos and leftover sausage that needed to be eaten - Country Hashed Browns



5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and 1/2-inch diced
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced scallions, white and green parts
1/2 pound smoked ham slices, 1/2-inch diced (I used some chopped up leftover sausage)

Melt the butter in a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan. Add the potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until the potatoes are evenly browned and cooked through. (Allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes before turning.) Turn off the heat and add the parsley, scallions and ham. Reheat on top of the stove or over a hot charcoal grill.

This was very delicious - any dish full of potatos is a hit with me.
Thanks to Sarah for the challenge, and go check out her blog for the list of upcoming chefs and weeks.