9 years 1000 posts the last

These are the last 3 dishes I made for my blogs special special day.

 Jamie Oliver is another favorite of mine, especially his old books.

 Flipping through The Naked Chef Takes Off to find a new recipe to try, I found many more recipes I want to try this summer. Love this book.

 For this, I made Jamie's Scallions, Sweet Peas, White Wine and Spinach.

I loved everything about the dish. Quick to make and super delicious.

 Recipe here.

 

The Working Family Cookbook will forever have a special place in my heart, the cookbook my grandmother bought me many many (many) years ago. I made a recipe the I've had marked for probably as long as I've had the book -Chicken with Coconut Sauce.

Lastly, my search for a good baked donut recipe continues. I thought I'd found a winner recipe and tried it last month. It was only ok. I skipped the glaze recipe provided and made my own with maple syrup, icing sugar and a splash of milk. And then I posed them with our Canada Day napkins and cups because, well, donuts and maple syrup!

Speaking of Canada Day, we went down to Riverside Park for the annual party. It was HOT and busy. Paxton loved the water park and none of the adults complained too much when he dragged us in to play. We had lunch there, honestly one of my favorite parts of the day. I love all the cultural food booths that are set up only for July 1. Everything from Italian to Thai to Filipino. This year we had a plate from the Thai stand, which we also had last year, and a plate of butter chicken, vegetable korma and rice from the Indio Canadian stand. The korma was outstanding. After another trip to the water park we headed home for a nap and then into the backyard so I could keep working on developing my sunburn...

9 years 1000 posts continued

Here's another 3 recipes I made for my 9th anniversary.  Enjoy.

I bought my copy of Rebar modern food cookbook at the cookbook company store in downtown Calgary in the early 2000's. 

 I hadn't heard of the restaurant in Victoria, I just loved the sound of the recipes as I flipped through. Rebar is considered by some to be one of the best restaurants in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. 

I became instantly infatuated with this Brie Bagel Melt. I took all the ingredients to work for a special breakfast treat one morning and it was the highlight of the day. Brie, nuts (I used walnuts) and honey on a warm bagel. 

 You won't believe how amazing it is. 

One of my most favorite treats is these brie and prosciutto rolls that I wrote about in 2004.

This time we used Westfalian Schinkenspeck ham from Erik's Sausage and Meats stand at the farmers market.  It's just the best ham, tender and lovely.

The crescent roll dough is topped with ham and brie and rolled up.

And brushed with a mixture of honey and grainy mustard.

And then baked per the package direction. Let cool for a few minutes before eating.

SO GOOD.

I love  Pasta with Butter and Myzithra Cheese. This time I made it with fresh spinach pasta from Fratelli Deli downtown. Love love love.

9 Years and 1,000 Posts

I know!

9 years.  1,000 posts.

Ok, fine, other people have written 1,000 posts a lot faster.  But they're not me.

9 years!!!!!

I'm not going to get all sentimental, or do an in depth retrospective or anything.  It is what it is.

When I realized that these 2 milestones were upon me, I went back through my early archives for some inspiration.  (Mmmmmemmmmmorieeeees!)

I made a few recipes to share.  Some new, some old.

I started with Cauliflower Gratin from the Bouchon cookbook by Thomas Keller.  I got the book for Christmas in 2004, the same year I started this blog.  After all these years, I do believe that including this recipe I have cooked a total of 2 recipes from it.

This gratin is a crazy, labour intensive recipe that makes an absolutely stunning dish.

Recipe here.

I adored the BBC food series  The Best and had to have the book.  I used the book in an early WCC challenge in 2005.  In 2013 I made Ben's Tomato and Herb Spaghetti. 

There is NO WAY I could leave Sandra Lee out of my celebration. 

 

I made her Dijon Chicken and Mushrooms from Semi Homemade Cooking.  We were fans of the tasty sauce of mushrooms and mustard, and the freshness of the tomatos added right before serving.

Recipe: here

I'll be back soon with a few more recipes made especially for my 9th celebration.

Cheers!

From Pinterest - Sugar Cookie Tacos

I made these recently for a family dinner. This is pretty much the first thing I pinned from Pinterest - a cute little dessert that didn't look too hard to make. I made my own sugar cookie dough, as it was not for sale in the 3 grocery stores I visited. I had a lot of trouble with the shaping. I envisioned a more traditional taco shape, but when I tried to form the cookies into a more severe shape they rebelled and cracked. So I had gentle cups instead of taco shells.

Once the shells were made, and it was dessert time and I had reconciled myself with the fact that they were not as cute as the ones on the internets, I filled the with cream whipped with vanilla sugar, and topped them with fruit - raspberries, peaches and strawberries. 

Cute, but frustrating.

Rhubarb- Muffins, Stewed,and Fooled.

Our garden here isn't great - poor soil and sloped - and we don't have a lot of luck. Potatos have never grown, or onions. Carrots do ok. A few years ago we tried kale and it went bonkers.

 Two things that grow well though, are our herbs (the chives, mint and oregano come back year after year) and the rhubarb. 

This year has been a banner year for the rhubarb. Pretty much the second the sun came out the plant just exploded with lovely red stems. I cut what felt like a ton of stalks off the plant last weekend to do some cooking. 

 First I made an old standby - Stewed Rhubarb. I decided to follow a different recipe instead of my usual. Big mistake. The recipe called for 1 cup of sugar and against my better judgement I put in the whole cup. It looked and smelled gorgeous, but when I tasted it, it was just too sweet. 

I figured I could buy some plain yogurt and mix it into that for breakfasts, but then I decided on a more decadent treat - Rhubarb Fool. 

Unlike the Rhubarb Strawberry Fool I made years and years ago for a Weekend Cookbook Challenge which also had sour cream and brown sugar, this one had just 2 ingredient. Stewed rhubarb and freshly whipped cream. It was good.

And to use up a bit more rhubarb, I made a batch of Rhubarb Muffins from the Canadian Living website.

They were really good.  The crunchy strusel like topping added just enough sweetness.  I should probably make another batch.....

Recipe Rhubarb Muffins

Paninis

I've had panini's on the brain lately.

 Made these ones from leftover rotisserie chicken with our trusty Foreman grill.

This is the kind of quick delicious meal that I need to remember to make more often. So good and easy, and the possibilities are endless.

 I made a chicken, cheddar and barbecue sauce one for my boy.

Like most food I give him, it was met with lukewarm enthusiasm. 

For the grownups, I made a masterpiece. 

Chicken, spinach, brie, and peach chutney. 

OMG. 

Stir Fried Pork in Lettuce Cups

I like to think that I eat a large variety of foods, but that's not totally true. 

 There is a lot of seafood that I don't like. Salmon, oysters, mussels, clams.  Tuna, unless it's mixed with mayo.

 I don't eat lamb, or goose or veal, or duck. 

 So when I found a Gordon Ramsay recipe for duck wraps, I thought it sounded great, as long as it wasn't made with duck.

Stir Fried Pork in Lettuce Cups

 altered from a Gordon Ramsay recipe

 1 head iceberg lettuce

 1 large pork tenderloin

 1/4 - 1/2 tsp roasted Szechuan pepper and salt, or salt and pepper mixed together

 1/2—1 tsp five-spice powder

 1 Tb oil

 1 cucumber

 2 green onions

 5—6 tbsp hoisin sauce

 For the lettuce cups, remove the outer layers from the lettuce until you get 6-8 nice lettuce "cups". 

Trim the pork and slice into thin strips. Toss the pork with the salt, pepper, 5 spice, and oil. 

Slice the onions thinly, and cut the cucumber into thin half moons, or small strips.

Heat at pan over medium high heat.  When hot, add the pork, and cook, stirring, until the pork is cooked through.  Stir in the green onions and hoisin sauce, and cook until  heated through.  

Spoon the pork mixture into the lettuce cups.  Top with the cucumber and serve.

Indian Tacos

Since the food channel rarely shows cooking shows anymore, my favorite shows to watch on the channel have become what we call "restaurant" shows - Diners Drive Ins and Dives, Eat Street, and You Gotta Eat Here - especially the last 2 since there are slim chances I may eat at one of the Canadian locations featured one day.

 I found this recipe on Food Network - Indian Tacos - and thought it would be a fun, different dinner. 

It was, and easy and delicious to boot. 

Indian Tacos

Banana Butterscotch Muffins

Last weekend I turned on the tv and much to my surprise and delight, the food channel was actually showing an actual cooking show with actual cooking AND it was Nigella Kitchen! The bad news was that it was just ending so I didn't get to see anything, but I set my PVR to record any future episodes.

To celebrate I pulled out a couple of my Nigella cookbooks to find something to make for dinner in the upcoming week. But then I added butterscotch chips to my shopping list so I could make her Banana Butterscotch Muffins instead.

Pictures will be lousier than usual, my computer seems to have lost the ability to crop photos. Sad face.

These were so yummy - even my picky child liked them!  The butterscotch and banana were terrific together. 

The recipe notes these are also good made with white or dark chocolate, but I'm sticking with the butterscotch.  A new family favorite.

From Nigella Express, also on Nigella.com

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 125 ml Vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 250 grams plain flour
• 100 grams caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150 grams butterscotch morsel(s) (or chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6/400°F and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.

1. Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.
2. Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.
3. Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.
4. Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Mom's Meatloaf

Simple, delicious.  

Comfort food rules.  

Mom's Meatloaf

Really? Corn Salad? by Coolio

2 Coolio related posts in a row? I know! But holy hell, this is such a tasty salad I have to share. 

I have some frozen corn from last fall still, and I was looking for a recipe to use some up. While I had Coolio's book out for the Smackdown (below) I was flipping through and found his corn salad recipe. 

Since it was pretty simple I figured no big deal if it wasn't good, but oh yes it was. This will be in heavy rotation in our house this summer and fall. 

Recipe: Really? Corn Salad?

Smackdown returns - Amanda Hesser vs Coolio

If you're a long (long, LONG) time reader of this blog, you may remember back in 2007-2008 I did a short series of posts pitting chefs and their books against each other to highlight an ingredient and choose a winner. See here for a refresher, if you'd like.

I never meant for my Smackdown posts to go away.  I had more planned, even some partially completed, but you know how it is.

But now kids, it's back.

The first Smackdown of 2013 - Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte vs. Coolio's Cookin' with Coolio.

  

 And the Smackdown Ingredient?  Chicken Thighs.

The recipes?  Amanda's (may I call you Amanda?) Chicken roasted with sour cream, lemon juice and mango chutney, and Coolio's Superfry Chicken.

Now neither of these recipes specifically call for chicken thighs, but that's what I had in my freezer. 

Let's start with Coolio.  I have really enjoyed all the recipes I've made out of his book, and his banana bread is one of my all time favorites.  I chose his Superfry Chicken because I knew it would work well with the thighs, and how yummy does garlic onion and balsamic vinegar in fried chicken sound?

 I cut the thighs into pieces so we were having Superfry Nuggets.  These were really really good.  Great flavor, and quick to prepare with ingredients you most likely already have in your cupboard.  Sure, frying is messy and not the healthiest, but it's ok to do once in a while.  Next time I might add a bit more onion and garlic and let it sit for a bit, as some pieces were more flavorful than others.

 Next is Amanda's dish.  I have owned this book for a long, long time and love it.  But I must admit that while I have read and re-read it countless times, I have only tried once recipe.  This one though, I've had marked since I first read the book. 

The chicken is covered in a creamy sauce of sour cream, mayonnaise, mango chutney and lemon juice, and cooked quickly in a hot oven.  In addition to using thighs instead of chicken breasts, I also subbed the mango chutney out for peach chutney, because it was cheaper.  My only beef with this recipe was the cooking time.  After 15 minutes the thighs were not cooked through.  But this was really good - quick and tangy and the sauce, although super fattening, was soooo good.  I saved the extra sauce and used it to top sweet potatos a few days later.  

Argh, I have to admit, it was really hard to pick a winner here.  But I am giving this Smackdown to...

Coolio.

Recipes for both of these great dishes here:

Superfry Chicken

Chicken Roasted With Sour Cream Lemon Juice And Mango Chutney

One pot spaghetti

1 tb oil

1 lb ground beef 

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1 jar spaghetti sauce (650 ml) of your choice

2 1/2 cups water

8 oz. spaghetti broken into pieces

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 In a large pot over medium high heat, heat the oil, and add the beef , onion and garlic, and cook stirring often, until the meat is cooked through.  Drain fat off if necessary.

Add the spaghetti sauce, water and spices and stir well.  Add the noodles, stir again and cover.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender and sauce is reduced to the consistency of your liking, 10-15 minutes.  You  may want to remove the lid near the end of cooking to reduce the liquid.

Taste, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Oven baked fries with parmesan salt

I wanted to do something a little different with home made fries, so I tried this recipe from Emeril Lagasse.  Oven baked fries are topped with a blend of cheese and spices.  

I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I omitted Emeril's "Original Essence Seasoning" and seasoned the potatos only with salt and pepper before baking.  I also didn't measure out any of the salt ingredients, just eyeballed them instead.

This dish is a perfect combination of crisp on the outside, soft on the inside chips with a cheesey spicy kick.  A new favorite in our house.

Oven crispy french fries with paprika parmesan salt

Amsterdam Restaurant

Poffertjes

Corned Beef Hash

Amsterdam Pannenkoeken

Amsterdam Restaurant

1-111 Oriole Road

Kamloops

Sunday breakfast

 

Homemade pita with tomato, avocado, feta and hot sauce.

Nuff said.

Grocery shop Feb 16

2 kinds of milk, onions, eggs, soup, canned pineapple, salad, frozen veg, green onions, ham, turkey, chicken, horseradish, hot peppers, potatos, parmesan, butter, special k breakfast sandwiches, tomatos, canned tomatos, marshmallows.

$75

This isn't the most well rounded shopping trip, but I'd picked up a bunch of fruit and veggies from Costco, and this was just to fill in the blanks.  The store was having a sale so I picked up some frozen veggies ($1 each) and cans of tomatos (also $1 each) that weren't on my list.  The breakfast sandwiches weren't either, but I thought they'd be something different to try.  The marshmallows are for our Saturday afternoon project - rice crispy squares.

Total - $

Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth

Breakfast for dinner - who doesn't love to switch it up from time to time? Pancakes, eggs and bacon for dinner can make the meal feel fun and decadent.

The authors of the cookbook Breakfast for Dinner - Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth - have taken the concept and fancied it up. Why have bacon and eggs for dinner when you could have Breakfast Sausage Ravioli, or a burger topped with crispy potatos and a fried egg?

 This is one of the most fun and mouthwateringly delicious cookbooks I've ever got my hands on. Beautiful photos and inventive well written recipes make this a cookbook worth picking up.

I made 8 recipes to test this book -

Grapefruit Herb Sodas

Mini BLT Biscuits

Pita Bread

Shakshuka

Loco Moco

Maple Glazed Pork Meatballs

Banana Bread Bundt Cake

Root Vegetable Latkes

First I have to say that all the recipes were great - they were all easy to follow and delicious.  I would and will make all of them again in a heartbeat.  

There were 3 standouts I must mention - the pita bread - super easy and delicious.  Within 2 hours of starting we were eating fresh out of the oven bread.  The Shakshuka - eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce was Scott's handsdown favorite.  Mine was the Loco Moco.  Tasting a billion times better (to me) than the dish we tried in Hawaii, once the components of the meal are assembled, it is spectacular.

Thank you, Random House!

Ham and egg cups

This was Sunday breakfast last weekend - quick and easy and delicious.

Bread, crusts removed and flattened with a rolling pin.

Slices of ham

 Cheese

Eggs

Butter

Preheat oven to 350'

Lightly butter one side of each piece of bread. Place bread slices, butter side down, in muffin cups. Add a piece of ham to each cup, some sliced or shredded cheese, and an egg. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until eggs are done to your liking.

Carefully remove from muffin tin and serve. 

Grocery shop and 2 recipes

Rice, milk, potatos, soy sauce, tomatos, cheese, soup, brussel sprouts, eggs, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, beets, crackers, canned tomatos, bananas, tomato paste, green onions, yogurt, ham, turkey, bread, ground pork, bacon, apples, avocado, cucumber, ginger, snow peas, strawberries, creamer, popcorn.  About $86.00.

I cooked these two recipes recently, and I lost confidence while making them - figured that we would not enjoy them, so I didn't take photos of either.  

Short story even shorter - they were both really good.

Chicken Korma 

Macaroni and cheese, boursin style