The award is in the bag

Would you like to know what I just did?

I just finished making a batch of homemade doughnuts. Oh yes, I did!

Gluten-free pumpkin doughnuts to be exact. And after a very long hiatus, I'm putting this up on a Wednesday which means this is part of Shannon's awesome What's Cooking Wednesday.

Emily made the batter with me, I heated the oil and deep-fried those suckers and they are everything a homemade doughnut (in this case, Timbit, or doughnut hole for you Americans) should be: crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, sugary, pumpkiny, spicy, warm.

For those of you vying for the Best Mum of the Year Award.... how does my dust taste?!

What's Cooking Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago I made soup for supper; I made a soup for supper that was so good that we couldn't stop talking about it for the following two days and we ate every last drop of the leftovers and then the day after that I wished there was more left for me to have for lunch.

The soup was Mulligatawny. I've had the soup in Indian restaurants before but never made it myself. Man, was I missing out! This soup is now going to appear on my "regulars" list. Of course, Hope wouldn't eat it but John, Emily and I triple-loved it!

Mulligatawny Soup

(This recipe is pulled from the old grey Canadian Living Cookbook but I made some delicious modifications so I'm including those all in the recipe below.)

1/4 cup flour
3 chicken breast halves, bone-in
2 tbsp veg oil
4 carrots cut in thin slices
1 large or 2 small parsnips, diced
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery in thin slices
2 apples, diced (use ones that keep their shape - not Macs)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
pinch nutmeg
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper
1 cup hot cooked rice
chopped fresh cilantro and fresh wedges of lime

1. Place flour in plastic bag; shake chicken breasts in flour to coat. Reserve remaining flour.
2. Heat oil in large saucepan; brown chicken on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside.
3. Add carrots, parsnips, onion, celery, apples, curry, turmeric, nutmeg to pan; cook, stirring, over med-high heat until coated with fat in pan. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved flour; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually stir in stock.
4. Return chicken to pot and bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is tender, sitring occasionally. Remove chicken; cut meat into bite-size pieces, discarding bones and return to soup.
5. Stir in coconut milk and season with salt and pepper. Heat again gently but do not boil (to avoid milk curdling). Place large spoonful of rice in bottom of each bowl. Ladle soup on top. Top with fresh cilantro and squeeze of lime (essential!).


I might make this again tomorrow night!

What's Cooking Wednesday

Shan made me blush a bit this morning when I read her What's Cooking Wednesday post. I fully agree with her of course that blogging has enriched my life in many ways. The most surprising and important to me is through the friends I've made. I do hope to meet more of them in the future "in real life" and Shan, my bloggy BFF, is at the top of my "to meet" list. Expect me to step up the pressure, sister!

After her post, I couldn't miss participating in WCW this week. I made these cookies this week - not school-lunch friendly but great for at home if you have no nut allergies. These are also great if you have a problem with wheat.

Super easy peanut butter cookies

1cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mis all ingredients well. Form into 1 tbsp balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press with fork. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Recipe notes: these were really delicious and very easy. However the dough is really gooey. I couldn't really roll it in my hands so I just used my fingertips to get it spherical. Also, do not overbake these. They taste charred if even slightly overbaked. I learned that the hard way.

I think I may whip up another batch of these today!


-- Post From My iPhone

What's Cooking Wednesday

Post-Christmas I'm jonesing for lighter fare: lots of veggies, simple flavours, less meat, no sugar. Tonight I really wanted spaghetti but not with our typical (although declicious and homemade) red sauce. So I pulled out a recipe I made once before and loved. The recipe is Spaghetti al Limone (spaghetti in lemon sauce) from David Rocco's terrific cookbook David Rocco's Dolce Vita (based on his show that I triple love when I actually can see it ie. I'm in front of a t.v. with cable). The recipe is uber-simple but so delicious. I highly recommend you try it when you want simple but not rich but full of flavour.

Spaghetti al Limone

500 g spaghetti
1 clove garlic, for rubbing
2 lemons
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (the higher quality the better)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
fresh flat-leaf parsley if you have it
zest of 1 lemon

Put water on to boil for pasta and add pasta to salted water. Meanwhile, cut garlice clove in half and rub large ceramic or wooden bowl with the garlic. Toss the rest or use it for another recipe (this ensures that you get garlic flavour without the bite of a mouthful of raw garlic).

Squeeze lemon juice from both lemons into your bowl. Use fork to pull out the seeds. Drizzle olive oil in a little at a time while whisking it until it emulsifies. Add Parmesan, salt and pepper. Add parsley and lemon zest. Mix.

Drain pasta and add to bowl immediately. Give it a good mix. The sauce will thicken up from the starchiness of the pasta. Taste and add more Parmesan if you like.

Eat. Bet you won't stop! This recipe is best if you use the best Parmesan, lemons and olive oil you can lay your hands on. Please don't reach for a green can!

Don't forget to check out the home of What's Cooking Wednesday!

What's Cooking Wednesday

Week 2 of me actually being organized enough to participate in WCW!

Before I get into the recipe (for which I have no photo... again. Sorry), don't forget to read this post and enter to win 4 tickets to Disney on Ice Princess Classics in Toronto on December 18!

This week I whipped up a favourite cake of mine. It's totally retro but that's what makes it so great. No, there's no jello or pudding involved; it's just something people made more in the 80s than they do now but I think it deserves a huge comeback because it is so good and easy! That's the reason I don't have a photo - it was gone too fast!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
5-6 whole pineapple slices
6 maraschino cherries
12 pecan halves (optional)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

1. In 10" round baking dish, melt butter, then add brown sugar. STir until smooth and evenly distributed in pan. (I do this in the oven with the brown sugar already in there.)

2. Arrange pineapple slices in brown sugar mixture. Place cherry in the centre of each pineapple slice. Arrange pecan halves between slices.

3. Cream 1/2 cup butter with sugar. Add eggs and beat well.

4. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Pour gently over pineapple slices in pan.

5. Bake at 350F for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (in my oven I had to do it for only 40 minutes).

6. Remove from oven and turn upside down on plate immediately, scraping extra topping over pineapple slices.

7. Cool before serving.

You will LOVE this cake (unless you don't like pineapple, of course). It is really, really moist because the juice from the pineapple seeps into the cake while it bakes. An extra advantage to that is that it means the cake stays fresh and moist for a few days. Lovely.

It's a great dessert to make for company because it is easy to make but takes people back to their grandmother's kitchens. Enjoy!

What's Cooking Wednesday

Wow. It's been a long time since I participated in my friend Shan's amazing What's Cooking Wednesday. Normally I can't get myself organized enough to take a photo of what I made or the recipe I used is all the way across on the other side of the room from the computer.

But this is NaBloPoMo, people and that means that I am always on the lookout for a post. (I am ignoring the fact that two days ago I promised a post on Life in Waterloo and now two days later it is nowhere to be seen.)

Yesterday I cooked up a dish I haven't made in ages and I love it. I'm not sure why it fell off my repertoire. It just so happened that I had everything required to make it.

The dish is called Lemony Chicken Pasta. It's a Canadian Living recipe. You can find it here.

Without exaggerating, it met with rave reviews all around. Emily went on and on about it and wants the leftovers in her lunch tomorrow. John said it was one of my best dishes in a while (which makes it sound like he thinks my cooking lately hasn't been great. That's not the case. This one was just super dee-duper).

I only made one change and that is that I used spaghetti because it was what we had. The other change I'll make in the future is to cook the spinach separately and then stir it in. Otherwise you end up with a thin sauce from the water that comes out of the spinach. I ended up adding lots of extra ricotta to deal with that.

I do have photos to share. But given that the camera's battery is charging I'll have to post them later.

What's Cooking Wednesday and other stuff

So, my DISTRACTION (as yet unrevealed on this blog) has kept me from blogging only because I haven't wanted to blog out the DISTRACTION yet. If you're a Facebook friend with me, you already know. If you only read the blog, you'll be in the dark a bit longer. However, when you have a DISTRACTION like this it's hard to blog when that is the one thing you really want to blog about. Anywho, normal life continues and yet I've been silent... not really like me. So, I'm going to give you my recipe for What's Cooking Wednesday and then I'll give you a few bullets to get you (sort of) up to date on what's going on around these parts.

This is week three (I think) of my new foray into menu planning and by extension, reducing our grocery bill. So far, so good I'd say. The menu this week has been:

Monday: lasagna
Tuesday: spaghetti
Wednesday: borscht (finally got around to making that one and it was oh, so good)
Thursday: sushi (a special meal for our 10th wedding anniversary tomorrow)
Friday: chicken drumsticks, roasted beets and potatoes, something green
Saturday: zucchini, tomato and fontina pizza
Sunday: still undecided - something from the freezer or cupboard

Today I also whipped up a broccoli soup for lunch for my sick Emily. It is one of my favourite wintertime soups because it tastes like broccoli with cheese sauce but in soup form. Although there are more steps to make it than I like in a soup, it's worth it once in a while:

Broccoli and Cheese Chowder

1 bunch broccoli
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 large carrots, grated
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Cut broccoli tops into very small florets. Peel remaining thick stems; cut into chunks. In large pan, melt butter. Stir in onion, celery and garlic; cook until soft. Sprinkle with flour; stir until absorbed. Slid pan off heat. Add stock a little at a time to avoid lumps, stirring after each addition until smooth.

Return pan to heat. Add broccoli stems, thyme and bay leaf; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered and stirring occasionally, for 15 min or til veggies are tender. Remove bay leaf and puree in blender. Return to saucepan.

Heat soup until hot; stir in grated carrots. Reduce heat to simmer, covered, for 10 min. Stir in florets; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in milk, salt and pepper. Heat until hot. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Ladle into heated soup bowls; garnish with generous sprinkle of Cheddar.

I have a photo but not a very good one. It really won't do much for you. Just try the soup. If you like broccoli, you'll like this.

On to the bullets:

• On Sunday we spent the day visiting John's mum in St. Catharines. It was lots of fun. We went to the Port Dalhousie Carousel. I enjoyed it even more than the kids I think. We also stopped in my hometown of Fonthill to buy apples at Galagher's. Glad to see the place is as great as ever.
• Hope had her first swimming lesson on Tuesday afternoon. It was her first time in the pool without me. She LOVED it. In fact, all caps doesn't really convey the enthusiasm she had for going in by herself.
  
• Emily would have had two new activities this week also if not for her nasty cough. I had to keep her home from her first night of Sparks last night (the prequel to Brownies) and from her first swimming lesson today. I wanted to make sure she would be fit to go to school tomorrow. It's picture day tomorrow and we all know that we don't want her to miss the chance to pose for the camera. It's one of the highlights of my year... what will happen in front of the lens? No one knows but I can't wait to see!
• I have so many projects on the go around here and none are complete. It seems I start to make some headway and then life pops up, the kids want to play, dinner has to be made and nothing ever gets finished. We've been here for 3 months and still only one curtain is sewn for the main floor room. Also, I have photos to post of our house so you can all see what it's like... still on the camera! Also, plants sitting in the garden waiting to be put in the ground... also, a tire swing to be hung up... also, peach jam to be made, tomato sauce, red pepper jelly... all still yet to be canned.... also, Halloween costumes to be sewn.... also so many blog posts to write... I've only written one "Life in Waterloo" post yet I have at least two written in my head but not down on screen yet. How can I train my body not to need sleep?

And that is my quick and unsatisfactory update.

What's Cooking Wednesday

I've been so delinquent in participating in Shan's What's Cooking Wednesday. I want to get back in the habit. And since I'm now posting my weekly menus, it seems like the right time to start sharing recipes again.

This chicken recipe was given to me by a former boyfriend's mother before he became former. It has remained my favourite BBQ chicken recipe. Most people who try it ask for the recipe. If you like it less peppery, just half the amount of pepper.

Mrs. Logue's Chicken

For about 6 chicken thighs:

Mix together:

1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
4 tsp paprika
4 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tarragon

Dip chicken thighs into mixture and put on grill, turning frequently.

I usually double the recipe. Enjoy!


-- Post From My iPhone

What's Cooking Wednesday

I made brief mention the other day that I suspect I might have Celiac Disease. I haven't had this confirmed by anyone with a medical degree. I'll get working on that tomorrow perhaps. However, through my own rudimentary testing, I do seem to have some issue with gluten so I've been eating strictly gluten free this week. Unfortunately after 4 weeks on a cleanse, I'm starting to get a hankering for baking. So I decided to experiment with alternatives to wheat flour in some of my favourite recipes.

I made my brownies, well, actually they are my mum's brownies, and they turned out great! They are slightly more crumbly but aside from that, they seem exactly the same. The recipe is below.

Gluten-free Brownies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup pure buckwheat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
chopped nuts (optional)

Cream the butter and brown sugar. Mix in the egg and then the vanilla. Beat in the flours and then the nuts. Spread in ungreased 8x8 pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. Yum yum!

What's cooking Wednesday

I'm back!  At least for this week.... I somehow have my act together tonight to put up a post for WCW.  It's been a while.

Tonight I made a great new chicken recipe that will likely become a summer favourite around here.  It is from a favourite cookbook of mine that I've featured here many times before, Crazy Plates.

Chicks on Sticks

2 tbsp soy sauce and brown sugar

1 tbsp each olive oil and grated lemon zest

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large shallot, minced (I used red onion)

1 1/2 tsp grated gingeroot

1 tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander

4 (I used 3) boneless skinless chicken breast halve, cut into 1-inch cubes

8 wooden or metal skewers

For marinade, combine all ingredients except chicken in a small bowl.  Pour marinade over chicken pieces in a large, plastic re-sealable bag.  Make sure all pieces are coated.  Marinate overnight or all day.

If using wooden skewers, soak in water for at least 20 minutes before using to prevent burning.  Prepare grill.  Thread chicken onto skewers.  Grill 4-5 minutes per side until done.

These were a big hit with John, Emily and I.  Hope decided to eat one bean tonight for supper.  I guess nothing can top liver in her books.  Ugh.  I'll definitely be making these again.  The chicken stayed very moist and the marinade penetrated through each piece.  Lots and lots of flavour.

What's cooking Wednesday

I was inspired by Shannon's recipe today for her puffy Dutch pancake so I pulled out the frying pan and whipped up some pancakes for breakfast this morning. Rather than using my usual recipe, which I really like, I tried something new. The girls and I liked it so much, I might stick with it.

The recipe is from Canadian Living. It's called Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes although if you're not a blueberry fan, you could just as easily leave them out or replace them with something you do like. The recipe also notes that you can make these into waffles using the same batter. I may give that a try next time.

To make our breakfast extra fancy this morning, I put out the good china and silverware and lit candles. The girls loved it, of course. The result was that they ate their breakfasts really well and it kicked off what ended up being a great day with two very happy kids.

(As an admission, I may have used the candles also because when first used this morning, the switch for the dining room light fixture started to smoke. And therefore we did not use that light for the rest of the day. I may be going to Home Depot tomorrow.)

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs, separated

3 tbsp butter, melted

3/4 cup blueberries

In large bowl, mix together four, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together yogurt, milk, egg yolks and butter; mix into flour mixture with a few quick strokes. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form; fold into batter. Fold in blueberries.

Melt some butter in frying pan and add 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook the usual way. Slather in butter and maple syrup and enjoy.

What's cooking Wednesday

Around here, supper is often a showdown lately.  Like so many families with toddlers, we battle over food.  I try not to make a big deal of it and offer alternatives but I'm getting pretty tired of the small handful of foods that Hope is willing to eat.  Not to say they aren't healthy choices.  Tonight she asked if we were having broccoli for supper: "Broccoli my FAVOURITE!" she declared.  She's not kidding.  She would easily eat broccoli three meals a day, seven days a week.  So, I can't complain about her vegetable intake.  My complaint is that she won't try anything outside of her comfort zone; she won't try anything new.  

Last night we had a major showdown which resulted in me feeling like a contender for most craptacular mother of the year and her crying in her room and refusing to try what was on her plate in the dining room.   And she is so stubborn that she ended up going to bed without eating anything.  Apparently she has at least one of my traits, according to John.

Tonight I decided to ensure that everything we ate was in her list of "favourites": sausage, oven baked potato wedges, and of course, broccoli.  However, I switched it up a little.  I made the broccoli a little differently, in the way my SIL Cibele makes it.  And it was AWESOME.  And so, if you have a broccoli monster in your house and are tired of steaming or boiling or whatever you normally do, I highly recommend you try this week's feature for my contribution to What's Cooking Wednesday.

Scrumptious Oven Broccoli

Take a head of broccoli or however much you think you'll eat and cut it all up in bite size-ish pieces.  Put it in a loose pile on a large piece of tin foil.  Squeeze about half a lemon on top.  Sprinkle on some good sea salt, some freshly ground pepper, one or two cloves of chopped garlic and half of a finely sliced onion.

Cover that tin foil with another large piece of tin foil and create a packet by crimping the sides together so steam won't escape.  Put it in the oven at about 350F.  Check it after about 20 minutes.  I like it firm but not crunchy.  Just keep it baking until it is how you like it.

Delicious!  and simple and full of vitamins.  Hope ate it all up with no complaints of course. Right before she lit the oven mitt on fire.  More on that tomorrow.

Time to do some serious catching up on the best show on tv: Battlestar Gallactica.  Woot!

What's cooking Wednesday

I made trifle for dessert on Christmas Day. It was awesome but I was left with some scrap pieces of pound cake. Since I had already started to think about reusing things more effectively I put the pieces of cake in the freezer. John pulled them out yesterday and we collaboratively came up with the idea of a Karen and John Pound Cake Pudding, essentially a bread pudding without the bread. Tonight I pulled it all together and it RULED. Here is the recipe:

Pound Cake Pudding

• 3 cups broken up pieces of pound cake (if you don't have that laying around you can use old bread but I think this was WAY better than bread pudding made with bread. Much less mushy but still soft with custard. Heaven!)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/8 tsp (or so) ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp (or so) cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 500 ml half and half or light cream
• about a 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  

For topping: (I didn't make this but I'm sure it would be good. Instead, I used a caramel sauce made by Emily's teacher that I got as a thank you gift. Delicious!)

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp corn syrup

• 1/3 cup pecan pieces (toasted and chopped) - I didn't use this either. Instead I toasted some pistachios I had left from Christmas baking. It was a great combination.

Instructions:
In large bowl, stir together white sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Measure and set aside 1 tbsp of half and half. Add all but that one tbsp of half and half to the egg mixture and whisk. Stir in cake cubes and cranberries. Let stand 15 minutes.

The recipe that I used to guide me through the custard mixture for this soaks some raisins in bourbon. I elected to leave out the alcohol tonight and replaced the raisins with cranberries. It was a great substitution. Next time however, I might soak them in Grand Marnier which John and I agreed would be great with the cranberries. If you choose to go the raisin/bourbon route, just soak them in 2 tbsp bourbon for about 15 minutes and then add in to the mixture when you soak the cake/bread.

Preheat oven to 325 (300 convection). Pour bread mixture into a greased loaf pan (recipe said an 8x8 cake pan but I chose the loaf pan and it worked great for slicing and serving). Bake 45 to 50 minutes (43 minutes convection) until knife inserted near centre comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 30 minutes.

So to make the sauce above that I didn't make, the recipe says: In 1-quart saucepan, heat reserved 1 tbsp half and half, brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to boiling over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in pecans. Serve pudding drizzled with praline sauce.

As I mentioned above I used Mrs. B's caramel sauce. First, I whipped some whipping cream. I put a thick slice of pudding in each bowl, put a good sized dollop of cream on each piece, sprinkled on the toasted pistachios and then put a spoonful of caramel sauce on top.


I don't think I have to tell you how good this was.

I love anything with custard in it. The pound cake was creamy with the custard but not too mushy. The cranberries offset the sweetness of the pudding and caramel really well and I loved the crunch of the pistachios. This was such a winner that I can see myself making a pound cake to have in the freezer just to make this again.

But first I'll have to get a gym membership.

What's cooking Wednesday - Ultimate Party Meatballs

I pause in this moment of baking to re-join, at least for this week, Shan's wonderful What's Cooking Wednesday club. I haven't been a stellar member lately, but I'll be back once the baking slows down.

But this week, I'm posting on behalf of Mom Central. I've been asked to review the Ultimate Party Meatballs (disclosure: I am receiving a $20 Amazon gift certificate for this and also the free ingredients to make the meatballs - minus the frozen meatballs. That would have been a pretty nasty treat in the mailbox.)

This recipe is definitely intended for cooks short on time but high on guests or needing a quick (really quick) but yummy meal or hors d'oeuvre. I'll give you the recipe first and then let you know my thoughts below.

Ultimate Party Meatballs

1 16-oz can Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
1 12-ounce bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
1 2-pound bag frozen, pre-cooked, cocktail-sized meatballs (I used PC Angus Beef meatballs)

Combine sauces in large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth.
Add meatballs (frozen). Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until meatballs are heated through, stirring occasionally.

There is also a slow-cooker method: place meatballs in slow cooker. Combine sauces and pour over meatballs. Cover and cook 4 hours on high.

Makes 30 appetizer servings.

That's it!

I'm not normally a fan of frozen pre-cooked meatballs but the PC ones I chose were actually pretty good and the sauce really made this dish delicious. The sauce is sweet but a bit tangy. Heinz Chili Sauce is one of my favourite condiments so I knew I would be a fan. The thing about this dish is how fast it is and how great it would be as an appetizer for a crowd. Throw in some toothpicks and you're done. I expect that you'll get rave reviews and won't stress about getting something hot out to your guests before the main event is served.

As for the kids? Hope is all about the ground meat. She devoured these.

John and I also commented on how easy it would be to tinker with the recipe for different tastes: add a bit of vinegar for a sweet and sour meatball dish, add a bit of dried chilies for something zingier.

You can find more recipe ideas from their website: http://www.ultimatepartymeatballs.com/

What's cooking Wednesday

Hmmm, what's cooking?

A heck of a lot of cookies. And sorry, not sharing the recipes this time. If you live in Ottawa and want cookies, I'd be happy to sell them to you.

And the camera is upstairs but I'll post a photo tomorrow so you can see the cookiepalooza that went down around here the last two days.

Cuckoo!

What's cooking Wednesday

A few days ago I found myself with one really nice steak defrosted from the freezer. It would have been enough on its own for John and I as it was really thick but I wanted to stretch it out in a different way so I didn't just have a big slab of meat on my plate (which I don't mind sometimes but I didn't want that night). I had the brilliant idea of grilling it, slicing it and turning it into my own version of Philly Cheesesteak Pizza. Good idea, eh?

I didn't take a photo. I really didn't have time as the pizza was gone so fast!

Karen's Philly Cheesesteak Pizza (sort of)

1/4 cup pizza sauce
1/4 cup barbecue sauce of your liking (I used a smoky one I brought home from Texas last time)
grilled steak (make sure it is decent quality)
1 green pepper, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
shredded cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella because that is what I had)
one pizza crust (I made my own from my standard recipe which is upstairs in the kitchen right now so I'm not going to be providing it since I don't want to run upstairs. Sorry. Use whatever pizza recipe or store bought version that you like)

Instructions

1. In small bowl mix pizza sauce and barbecue sauce and set aside.
2. Season steak on both sides with salt and pepper and put on hot grill.
3. Saute peppers, onions in hot pan. Season with salt and pepper. Add oregano. When almost done (but still a bit crisp) add garlic and cook one more minute.
4. Preheat oven to 425F.
5. Remove steak from grill when done to your liking. Cover and set aside.
6. Roll out pizza crust. Cover with sauce mixture.
7. Slice steak thinly and in bite-size pieces and spread all over pizza.
8. Spread pepper mixture over steak.
9. Cover with shredded cheese.

Now, I know this isn't really Philly Cheese Steak. It's more like a steak sandwich on a pizza. But I like the title so I'm sticking with it.

This was REALLY good. John and I both raved. Emily ate it up too and she doesn't normally like steak. Hope won't touch pizza. Raving lunatic.

What's cooking Wednesday

Emily's teacher, Mrs. B, asked parents to make play dough during the year for the students to use in her class. I did September and I used her play dough recipe. It is by far the best play dough recipe I've come across so far. In fact, this week I made three batches for home and the kids have been using it every day. Rose, my MIL, and I kept commenting how smooth and pliable and soft it was. It isn't gritty at all. So, here is the recipe for all of you to use, too, thanks to Mrs. B.

Best Play Dough Ever (my own title)

1 cup water
1 pkg. unsweetened Kool-aid mix
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar

1. Dissolve Kool-aid in water and add oil.
2. Mix together flour, salt and cream of tartar in cooking pot.
3. Add water mixture to pot and stir.
4. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until it thickens and forms a big lump in pot.
5. Remove from pot and knead on floured surface (you may need to use approximately 1/4 cup of flour to get right consistency).

Makes approximately 2 cups. Store in air tight container.

What's cooking Wednesday

I don't know about you but I love it when I get one of those Simply Homemade pamphlets in the mail. Yeah, they're all about marketing certain brand-name baking products but I don't care. I always have the ingredients it seems and the recipes are sinfully delicious for the most part. The recent edition is no exception. So far I've made two of the recipes and they were both gone lickety-split. Here is the most recent I made and although it isn't exactly low-calorie it is delicious and does have some definite nutritional elements to it.

Sweet and Salty Granola Bars

Ingredients

Bars

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds (I used pumpkin.... mmm, good)
1 cup raisins (would also be awesome with dried cranberries)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup shortening, melted (I might try and use butter next time but I'm not sure it will crisp up the same way)
1 tbsp kosher salt

Topping

1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper making sure to overlap sides to allow for easy removal and cutting of squares. Combine all ingredients for bars in large bowl. Mix well. Press into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly.

Combine melted chocolate and kosher salt. Drizzle over bars. Allow chocolated to harden. Cut into bars.

This recipe makes a lot, but it will be gone quickly. I love the Nature Valley sweet and salty granola bars. These are better and don't have that mystery "yogurt" topping which is a plus. I don't have a photo but Simply Homemade has a website with a video of these.

What's cooking Wednesday

I found another new lunch recipe. Granted, this one takes some planning as in defrosting some ground beef. However, it didn't take long to pull together and it was a huge hit with my kids. On reading the recipe you'll probably decide that it is a supper recipe but I like to have a hot meal for the kids at lunch time and this was easier to put together than I expected so it will likely be pulled out for lunch once in a while.

Hawaiian Meatballs

Ingredients

The meatball part:
1lb	(500 g) medium ground beef or turkey
1	egg
½ cup	(125 mL) bread crumbs
¼cup	(50 mL) onion, very finely chopped
1tsp	(5 mL) salt
½tsp	(2 mL) pepper
The Hawaiian part:
1 14oz	(398 mL) can pineapple chunks
¼cup	(50 mL) brown sugar
2tbsp	(30 mL) cornstarch
½ tsp	(2 mL) ground ginger
1tbsp	(15 mL) soy sauce
3tbsp	(45 mL) vinegar
1	green pepper cut into large squares
1	onion cut into large squares

Directions

1.

In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper. Squish it all up with a fork or clean bare hands until well mixed. Form into 1-in. (2 cm) meatballs, rolling them between your hands so they’re nice and round. (Be sure to wash up immediately after this step –even small amounts of raw meat can be unsafe if accidentally ingested.) Place meatballs in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through baking. Scoop the meatballs off the cookie sheet, leaving behind the fat that has seeped out of them.

2.

Drain the pineapple chunks, pouring the juice into the measuring cup. Add the brown sugar, cornstarch, ginger, soy sauce and vinegar to the juice in the saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is clear and thickened. Add the cooked and drained meatballs and let them simmer in the sauce for 5 minutes. Add the green pepper, the onion and the pineapple chunks, bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes more. Serve over plain rice.

Sorry there is no photo. It was eaten quickly and, as I mentioned yesterday, my camera isn't cooperating.

What's cooking Wednesday

First off: Beth and Kate are coming tonight! Woooohoooooo! They're staying for a whole week! Wooooohooooo! Stay tuned for daily blogging about our adventures around the capital city. And now on with other business.

In a quest to end my repeated laziness regarding Shan's What's Cooking Wednesday, for which I have been a long participant but have been lax lately, I've stockpiled a few new recipes I've made over the past week or two so that I have no excuses any more, damn it!

I have to admit that I've been making too many desserts lately and eating too many of them too. This falls into the former part of that admission but not the latter because I did not like this dessert. John, on the other hand, went gangbusters all over this cake. He kicked this cake's ass! Hah, take that cake! I rule you, he exclaimed!

The reason I didn't like it is because I don't like the texture of soft popcorn. To me, it is like chewing on styrofoam, or what I imagine that would be like. However, I did really like the combination of the salty almonds and sweet Smarties kept together with marshmallowy goodness. Are you intrigued yet?

This recipe was overseen by Emily out of one of her library cookbooks: Emeril's There's a chef in my Family! by Emeril Lagasse. We've had a lot of fun browsing and making a few of his recipes and as a rule, they pretty much rock but you're not going to be losing any weight making any of these. They're darn tasty though.

Miss Hilda's Popcorn Cake

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered) [I used 8 instead and that was more than enough]
  
• 2 cups M & M candies [I used one bag of Smarties because, hey, I'm Canadian, eh?]
  
• 1 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts [I used roasted salted almonds, and OMG were there good. I would definitely do that again. Made it taste like Crunch N' Munch.]
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter [half a cup for those of us who don't use sticks]
  
• 1 pound marshmallows [equal to one 454g bag]
  

Directions

Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with 2 teaspoons of the oil, and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & M candies and the peanuts. [And he means LARGE.]

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, remaining 1/4 cup of oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. [Use a large metal spoon dipped in cold water to prevent sticking. Really press on that sucker! Otherwise it'll never fit.] Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist and let rest until firm, 3 to 4 hours.

To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large cake plate or platter. Shake gently to release. Serve at room temperature. [Shake gently.... yeah, right! I had to pry and shake hard. It came out eventually and still looked very pretty.]

As I said, this was not my favourite to say the least. Emily, John and Hope loved it. Especially John who loves anything marshmallow. That was my other issue. I like marshmallows roasted over a campfire or baked into certain kinds of squares. Beyond that I'm not a big marshmallow fan. I liked the combination of marshmallow here with the almonds but I didn't like it with the squishy popcorn. Too marshmallowy. To be honest, my idea of a cruel death would be having my mouth filled with marshmallows out of the bag. The texture immediately makes me gag. Ugh.

Still, it was gone in about a day with no help by me. Although I may have picked out a few almonds and Smarties along the way. John will not be thrilled with me telling the blogosphere that he went nutso all over this cake. Usually that's my job in this house in regards to baked goods.

I was happy to let him have that role for one day anyway. And then came the Maple Sugar Apple Pie and all was back to normal.