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.

Delicious pork from a favorite website

One of my long, long, long time favorite food sites is The Cookbook Junkie.  I always loved her style and especially her recipes. 
It's been just over a year since the site was updated.  I will never lose hope that one day Paula will return to blogging, and until that day (hopefully) happens, I will keep lurking and finding fantastic recipes in the archives.

Follow this link for the recipe - Pork Medallions with Sherry Mushroom Sauce.

This was a HUGE hit at the dinner table.  It was simple, fast, tasty.  Everyone loved it, even the finicky kid.

I also made a baked rice dish that night, and I could see pretty much the moment I started assembling the ingredients that it wasn't going to go well.  The recipe just made no sense!  And how had I not noticed before? 
I spent some extra time tweaking it, adding, removing, adjusting.  I still wasn't super happy with it until it came out of the oven.  It smelled amazing and looked pretty nice.  AND!  It tasted much better than I expected. 
I snuck the leftovers to work so no one else could have them and I ate them for breakfast for the next 3 days.  Yum!  I am going to keep working on the recipe.

Onion Soy Chicken

I bought a big bottle of dried onion at Costco on a whim a couple of months ago.  No plan.  

What do you DO with dried onions?

I found a use this week - in a quick marinade for chicken.

Onion Soy Chicken

1 lb chicken breast, cut into slices about 1/2" thick

3/4 cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 TB dried onion

1 cup cornstarch

Oil for frying

Stir the soy, garlic, and onion together in a large bowl.  Add the chicken and mix to coat.

Let sit for 15 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, heat about an inch of oil over medium heat. 

Place cornstarch in another bowl.

When the oil is hot, remove chicken from the marinade, and lightly coat each piece in cornstarch.

(If any onion sticks to the chicken, leave it - it will crisp up and be delicious.)

Carefully place the chicken in the oil, working in batches if needed.

Cook, turning once or twice, until the chicken is brown and cooked through.

Drain on paper towel, and serve.

It's best while hot, but is still pretty tasty as leftovers.

Grocery Shop January 26

Ketchup, fruit cups, pasta, mint, clamato, ginger-ale, tomato soup, granola bars, fruit snacks, mayo, iced tea, yogurt, cheese x 2, cream, cookies (little snack pack of cookies shaped like the cars from the cars movie, you know who lost his mind when he saw them), strawberries, blueberries, avocados, potatos, cauliflower, carrots, salad mix, grapes, lemons, green onions, red onions, tomatos, grapefruit, brussel sprouts, napa cabbage, mini cucumbers, beef roast, french bread, whole wheat bread, deli turkey.

$109

I'm trying a bunch of new recipes this week - 5 - which I am looking forward to.  I was going to bake some spice bread and premake tomorrows vegetable stew, but I'm losing steam today.  Sometimes the weekends just aren't long enough.

Happy Sunday.

Morning Breakfast Buns

We are back in the land of early morning activities on the weekend, so I need to find some easy, light, and preferably make ahead breakfast ideas. 

I decided to try to make a savory morning bun for our first busy morning. 

I was really happy how these turned out. They were delicious warm out of the oven, and they were almost as good as leftovers. 

I made this version with sausage and marble cheese, and I'd like to try some other versions - chopped ham and brie, bacon and onions and swiss, maybe a veggie version? 

Sausage Breakfast Buns 

1 can pizza dough 

8 oz loose sausage meat 

1 cup shredded marble cheese 

pepper 

dried basil 

dried oregano 

Preheat oven to 350'. 

Cook sausage over medium heat until cooked through, breaking up any large chunks. Stir in pepper, and some basil and oregano to taste. Set aside. 

Pat dough into a rectangle, about 13x8. 

Scatter the sausage mixture over the dough, leaving a 1/2" border on one long side. 

Sprinkle the cheese over top. 

Starting with the long side without the boarder, roll the dough up, jelly roll style. 

Cut into 8 pieces. 

 Arrange on a parchment lined sheet, with a cut side up.

 Bake until the buns are golden brown, 20-25 minutes. 

Mexican Casserole

This is a long time favorite, from Notebook 4.

5 medium potatos, cut into bite size chunks

2 TB oil

4TB taco seasoning

1 lb ground beef

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

2 cups salsa

1 cup shredded cheddar or mozza cheese

Preheat oven to 425'.  Toss potatos with oil and taco seasoning and spoon into dish.  Bake, stirring once, for 30 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef, onions and peppers over medium high heat, then stir in the salsa.  Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Remove potatos from oven, cover with the ground beef mixture, top with cheese.  

Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Grocery shop, January 19

noodle soup, baby corn, antipasto, salmon, coffee creamer, sour cream, eggs, strawberries, watermelon, bananas, green onions, mushrooms, celery, deli pastrami, 2 pork tenderloins, chicken breasts, bread, garlic bread, artichoke spread.

total $70

Bites 10

If I was asked today what my top restaurants in the city are, Indian Aroma would be at the top of the list. On New Years Eve I picked up the Dinner Combo #1 - with pakoras, butter chicken, vegetable korma, salad, naan and rice. I also ordered a side of papri chaat. It was delicious and nice to not have to cook that night. These guys rock.

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We took our visiting nephew to the Amsterdam Restaurant for breakfast before Christmas.  Pax had a super cute Clown Pancake.  I had Eggs Benny.

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I found some ground pork in the freezer and turned them into crock pot meatballs.

Sweet and sour crock pot meatballs

Mix together 1 lb ground pork, 1 egg, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1/4 cup finely chopped onion.

Mix well, form into meatballs (I got about 20 total), and cook in a pan with a bit of oil until cooked through.

In your crock pot mix together 1/3 cup ketchup, 3/4 cup water, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 TB soy sauce, and 1/3 cup cider vinegar.

Add the meatballs, cover, and cook on low 2-3 hours.

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I called this my Sunday Night Steak - guess why?  It was so good!  We haven't eaten much steak lately and I wanted to jazz them up.  I marinated them all (Sunday) afternoon.  When I mixed the sauce up I set some aside for drizzling on the plate at dinner time.  A wise move.  I just threw stuff in  - a few TB of hoisin, a splash of water to keep it thin, a few more TB of soy sauce, a squirt each of bbq sauce and honey, some garlic and ginger.  All good stuff.

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We found ourselves out at dinner time recently, and conveniently very close to Sushi Plus, a newish restaurant in Aberdeen.

No photos, but we tried some miso soup, tempura, yam sushi, beef udon soup, and the katsu don (pork rice bowl).  Sadly, they like so many other Kamloops sushi restaurants, are not open on Sunday.

Sushi Plus 

Orange and Lime Ice Tea

I'm trying to find a drink recipe for the next work potluck - I am on drink duty (obvs) which seriously is the toughest course. 

 I made this on the weekend and it's definitely on the short list, which needs to get shorted asap. 

 I really REALLY like ice tea and the addition of citrus is good. I went with only 1 tb of brown sugar but I'm thinking that if this makes the cut, I'll up it to 2. 

Orange and Lime Iced Tea 

from smoothies and juices by Christine Ambridge 

 1 1/4 cup water 

2 tea bags 

scant 1/2 cup orange juice 

4 tb lime juice

1-2 tb brown sugar 

8 ice cubes 

to garnish (i didn't) 

wedge of lime 

sugar 

slices of fresh orange, lemon or lime 

Pour the water into a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the tea bags and leave to infuse for 5 minutes. 

Remove the tea bags and let the tea cool to room temperature. 

Transfer to a pitcher, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 45 minutes. 

 When the tea has chilled, stir in the orange and lime juices. Add sugar to taste. 

Take two glasses and rub the rims with a wedge of lime, then dip into the sugar to frost. 

Place the ice cubes in the glasses and pour over the tea. 

Decorate the rims with slices of fresh orange, lemon or lime, and serve.

Chicken Cordon Bleu-ish

Before Christmas my friend at work brought the 2 of us in lunch that she had made at home -a Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole. 

It was really tasty, and I added it to my mental list of dishes to make. 

Last weekend I realized I had all the main ingredients for such a casserole - chicken, leftover New Years ham, cheese - but I couldn't find a recipe online that sounded nearly as good as the one made for me. 

So I made Chicken Cordon Bleu. Ish. 

All my stuff -chicken breasts, ham, cheese (I had mozzarella), seasoned flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs.

I sliced the chicken in half horizontally, and bashed them with a mallet until they were quite thin.  Then I seasoned one piece, layered on some ham and cheese, and topped with a second chicken piece.  I used a couple of toothpicks to try to keep the pieces as one.  

A quick dunk in the flour, egg wash bath, roll in the bread crumbs.  Easy.

I heated some olive oil over medium heat and cooked the chicken until nice and brown.

THEN, I popped them into a 400' oven for about 10 minutes, to make sure they were cooked through.

Ooooh, look at that ooey gooey cheese.

Yum!  These were so good, and from start to finish took less than an hour.

Just remember to take out the toothpicks before serving.  I didn't.

So good, so easy, so going to be made again soon.

Fiesta Mexicana - Kamloops

Early last year the Kamloops restaurant Fiesta Mexicana scored a spot on the food network show You Gotta Eat Here.

 A big deal! (Side note - I wish the show would visit more eateries out West - it's so heavy on the East)

 Last Spring we had to plan a work dinner, so 6 of us visited Fiesta Mexicana, super excited and ready to eat on someone else's dime.

I had a beergarita. It was delicious.

My friend had the enormous and tasty taco salad.

Another co-worker tried the Burrito Guadalajara - a dish that was featured on the tv show.  She loved it.

I had the Mole Poblano, my very favorite Mexican dish.

My other coworkers tried enchiladas, nachos, and taquitos.

The food was great, service was terrible.  And that was the theme that stood on my 2 follow up visits - good food, truly awful service.  I went back with the fam about a month later - and I had exactly the same thing - the mole and beergarita.  The mole was still very good, the drink was not nearly as nice.  We enjoyed everything but the service.  It was even worse.  And my last visit in the fall - the less said the better.  But.  A waitress who not only ignored us unless we got out of our chairs and tracked her down.  Who did not understand the menu and recommended dishes that were the exact opposite of what we wanted.  Who took our drink order for a second round of drinks that still hadn't shown up long after we had finished eating and were ready to go.  And then seemed surprised that I wanted to cancel them.  

Service is a huge deal breaker for me, so I am not in a hurry to go back.  Maybe one day, but not soon.  However the food is terrific, and there is a lot of variety.  If you're looking for good Mexican food, tone down your service expectations and give them a try.

Fiesta Mexicana
793 Notre Dame Drive
Kamloops

Christmas 2013

Christmas Table, 2013

We had a great Christmas, but just between you and me I'm glad it's over.  I'm ready to take down the decorations, clean up the house, and get ready for 2014.  Although seriously, how can it be 2014?!?!?!

We did a German theme for Christmas this year - (see our other themed Christmas dinners and assorted stuff with the Christmas tag)

Sauerbraten - German pot roast, marinated for a few days prior to cooking in vinegar, stock and herbs and spices.

Spaetzle - homemade egg noodles.  Super easy to make.  I had to add quite a bit more water than called for to get my dough to the right consistency.

Grunkohl Mit Kartoffeln - Kale with bacon and potatos.

Roasted Asparagus and Carrots - topped with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

We also had red cabbage, gravy (see roast recipe), sour cream, and mustards on the table.

For dessert we pulled out our stash of shortbread cookies, although I'm certain that only Pax and my mom had any.

On Boxing Day I gave us a day off before leftovers and made this Honey Soy Chicken that I'd pinned on Pinterest.  It was a super good hands free dish which I needed - I was so tired!  Christmas is exhausting, yo.

For Christmas I received the cookbook Smoke and Pickles and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to start cooking from it.  It's gorgeous and the recipes look amazing and creative.  I thought I was going to have to frisk my parents at the door to make sure they didn't smuggle it out - they seemed as smitten with it as I am.

Now, do I continue to sit here and veg, or smarten up and start taking down Christmas..........

Cookinotti Christmas

Have you tried cookie butter yet?  

I read an article this fall about how it's the new "It" spread, or some such thing, but I never expected to find it in our stores here.  But lo, I did, and now it's wrapped and ready to go under the tree for a special Christmas day treat.  

We're back to our themed Christmas dinners this year.  Hope to have some good photos and dishes to share with you soon.

Merry Merry.

Masa's Bar and Grill, Sun Peaks

In the summer we took a weekend trip to Sun Peaks resort, about an hour outside of Kamloops. We ate, as we always do, at Masa's at the foot of the ski hill. They have a good variety, not bad prices, and unfortunately spotty service. We shared some appetizers:

Baked polenta sticks with a mustard sauce

Nachos and honey garlic wings

Onions rings

Masa's Bar + Grill
Village Day Lodge

Sun Peaks

Grocery shop December 22 and Egyptian Hawawshi sandwich

This was hopefully my last trip to any sort of store before Christmas - just for odds and ends.  

I love that the Superstore is open 24 hours a day at this time of year.  I am an early riser, so for a couple of weekends a year I can go and do my shopping, be back home and have everything away before anyone else in the house is even awake.

Coffee, coconut milk, pineapple, english muffins, avocados, lemons, limes, oranges, chicken, sausage, ham, crackers, juice x 3, peas, corn, fruit snacks, granola bars, beef bouillon, jam, smoked oysters, smoked mussels, ginger ale, sparkling water, cream cheese, gingersnaps.

$85

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I made the most wonderful dish that I found on Pinterest last week, but my pictures are so horrendous that I can't post them.  

But check out this Egyptian Hawawshi sandwich - ground beef seasoned with veggies and spices and stuffed raw into pita, which is then brushed with butter and baked.

We loved them, and I will make them again.

Paleo (on purpose) Chicken

2013 was not a good year for me, weight wise. I gained back the few pounds I'd managed to lose in 2012 (and maybe even a couple more) and I've struggled this year to find a path I can stick to. 

I went to a hour long nutrition class that promoted low glycemic eating, and later while doing some reading about it, I noticed I was finding lots of mentions of Paleo eating - ie basically eating what the caveman ate - meats, vegetables, fruits - and staying away from grains and processed foods. 

I won't pretend that I know much more about it, but I think it sounds interesting. 

 I could never convince my carb loving family to convert fully, and I'm sure I couldn't either, but I really like the idea of incorporating some of these ideas into our eating. 

My first dish I made was Lime and Coconut Chicken "Rice" from Quick and Easy Paleo Comfort Foods. The "Rice" is shredded cauliflower, which I've had before, and it's cooked in a deliciously simple coconut sauce. 

Cauliflower "Rice"

The finished dish 

It was a little more soupy that intended, but I started dinner late and it was nearly 7 and the small one was making too much of a fuss to wait any longer.

|This was great!  I loved how easy and flavorful it was. 

Any Paleo lovers out there got any recipe/reading suggestions?  Let me know!

I made Chex Mix!

I have long wanted to make Chex Mix but I could never find Chex cereal in our stores. Is this a new thing to Canada, I wonder? Anyhoo, I spotted a box of Rice Chex on my Sunday morning shopping. Super cool! 

The box had ingredient lists (recipes inside the box) for 3 different kinds - 2 sweet and one savory. I also picked up some peanuts and pretzels and dashed home... 

I wasn't too interested in the recipes inside the box, so I decided to change the original recipe I found online to suit us. 

My version of the mix - 

4 cups Rice Chex 

1 generous cup peanuts 

1 generous cup pretzels (I used hand broken pretzel sticks for that artisnal feel) 

65 grams butter, melted 

1 tb Worcestershire sauce 

3/4 tsp seasoned salt 

1/2 tsp onion powder 

1/2 tsp garlic powder

 Preheat your oven to 250' 

Toss your cereal, nuts and pretzels together in a large bowl. 

Stir the Worcestershire, salt and garlic and onion powder into the melted butter and mix well. 

Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until all the dry ingredients are coated. 

Pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet. 

Bake, stirring every 15 minutes, for 45 minutes total.

Potlucks and Lis' Antipasta Squares

We've somewhat revived our potlucks at work, and have had 2 in the past few months.  For the first one I was on dessert duty, so I busted out the great recipe for Chocolate Valentino Cake from the February 2009 Daring Bakers challenge.  It's a very simple recipe that results in a decadant cake that was a hit at the lunch.

No photo.

Since I heard the news about Lis passing away I have visited her blog a few times, reading random posts, bookmarking a few recipes to try.  Last week we had our Christmas appetizer potluck, and I decided to make one of the recipes I saved from her blog - Antipasta Squares.  It's one of her very first posts, and it made me smile to read it.  

I did a test run on the recipe, using the meats and cheeses she suggested.  It was good - but a little too meaty and eggy for me.  I decided that for the potluck I would change the meats to ham and turkey, and use marble cheese.

The night before the potluck I found some home-roasted bell peppers in the freezer, so I thawed them, chopped them and stirred in some salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.

We are lucky to have an oven at work so I baked the squares about an hour before the lunch started.  I layered the ham and turkey on the bottom crust, topped with the cheese, and sprinkled a layer of the roasted peppers on.  The second crust went on, and into the oven it went.  They turned out quite well, other than being a bit ugly to look at (so no photo!).  My co-workers ate more than I had expected, but luckily there were a few squares to take home for snacking.

The possibilities are truly endless with this recipe; you are limited only by your imagination for your filling.  I'll be coming back to this recipe again.

Recipe: Antipasta Square