POTD - Over the weekend...

On Friday, I made bread:

This is the recipe I've been using since I got my Cuisinart Stand Mixer from Santa in 2008. I don't know how I ever lived without it! I almost NEVER buy bread anymore, because it's SO much more fun to make it myself...and at least I know what's in it! Six ingredients... that's it...have you EVER read the ingredients list on store bought bread? And you wonder why it keeps so long? UGH!!!

Anyway, the recipe:

• 1 pkg. dry active yeast (if you buy in bulk like I do, that's 2 1/4 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 2/3 cup very warm water
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
  
• 1 tsp. salt
• 5 c. flour

Directions:

• Dissolve yeast with sugar and water
• Add vegetable oil
• Add all the flour
• Set mixer to "2" for 4 minutes and then "3" for another 4 minutes
• Remove to oiled bowl, cover and let rise till doubled (about an hour)
• Punch down and form into two loaves
• Transfer to greased loaf pans, cover and let rise till doubled (about an hour)
• Bake at 375F for about 25 minutes
• Remove from pans and tap bottom of loaf - if it sounds hollow, it's done.

The best part is, the Cuisinart does all the work - no kneading!!!

This time around, I snuck in 1 cup of whole wheat flour. If you're going to do this, DON'T buy bread flour. You should look for whole wheat pastry flour as the texture is much smoother.

One loaf was gone the day it was made...yep! It's THAT good!

On Saturday, I made this card:
Just before Christmas, a friend of mine gave birth (7 weeks early) to an ADORABLE little boy! He's still in NICU due to a few setbacks, so I sent her this card to let her know I was thinking about her family.

On Sunday, this was dinner:
This is SUPER simple to make and EVERYONE loves it...well, except for middle DS, who doesn't like stuff with sauce on it, so he gets the sausage and the pasta separately.

I removed the sausage from the casings and browned it up. While that was happening, I cooked the pasta and made a garlic cream sauce (basically a white sauce with some garlic and Frank's Red Hot for a little kick).

Dinner was ready in less than 1/2 an hour...gotta love when that happens!!!

Thanks for visiting! Have a GREAT day!

POTD - Banana Bread

This is a HUGE favourite in our house...I swear the kids let the bananas turn brown just so I can make it!

I've been making it for YEARS and I use my mom's recipe. I'm not quite sure where she got it (probably from HER mom), but I do know that it's been around for a while!

Would you like the recipe? Of course you would!

Banana Bread

1 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup banana

• Cream together butter and sugar. Add banana and then eggs one at a time and blend well.
• Combine dry ingredients and add to banana mixture.
• Pour into greased loaf pan and let stand 20 minutes.
• Bake in a 350F oven for 50 - 55 minutes.

Now, trust me on this, do NOT skimp on the bananas! I usually use at least 3 bananas (I never measure) but 4 is best. If you end up with 6 bananas, just double the recipe and make 2 loaves...it freezes beautifully...that's assuming it makes it to the freezer!

ENJOY!

POTD - Pesto

Can you say YUM??? I was SO thrilled to get fresh Basil in my box of organic goodness from Plan B last week and I knew EXACTLY what to do with it! Make pesto of course!!!

I'm sure there are LOTS of people out there who think making pesto is a difficult undertaking, but it really isn't. There are very few ingredients and it whips up in seconds using your food processor. True...pine nuts can be a little expensive, but they are SO worth it!

Here's the recipe I used:

2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil (depending on how creamy you like it)

Put the first four ingredients into a food processor and pulse to blend.

Start food processor and slowly add oil through feed tube to make a nice paste.
And that's it...you're done. Easy peasy! Now...go make yourself some nice fresh pesto to enjoy on some pasta - YUM!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

POTD - Some Cooking Trivia, a recipe and a picture

A little piece of trivia...did you know that most recipes that call for eggs and milk will assume that you will be using large eggs and whole milk?

A recipe:

Lemon Loaf:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Grated lemon peel from one lemon

Glaze:
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup sugar

• In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating until creamy
• Blend in milk
• In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and lemon peel
• Pour into liquid and stir to moisten
• Pour into greased 9 X 5 inch loaf pan (I used 4 X 8 and it's fine)
• Bake in 350F oven for 50 to 55 minutes
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes
• Remove to rack and while still hot, with a toothpick poke holes all over the top of the loaf and spoon glaze evenly over top.
• ENJOY!!!

And now, the POTD:
See that slice there? I'm going to enjoy it with a hot cup of tea!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shamrock Rolls

Ooooh! These are SO good...and so soft...and so chewy...and so moist! You're going to want to make them right now!!!

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:
1 pkg. dry active yeast (that's 2 1/4 tsp. if you buy in bulk like I do)
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes
1/4 shortening (I used Tenderflake Lard)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk, scalded
1 egg
4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

• Soften yeast in warm water. Combine potatoes, shortening (lard), sugar, salt and hot milk. Cool to lukewarm.
• Add softened yeast and egg. Stir in 2 cups of the flour; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour or enough to make a soft dough. Turn out and knead on lightly floured surface till smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in size, about 1 hour. Punch down. Shape in ball. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
• To shape rolls, roll balls to about 1 inch in size and place 3 in each greased muffin tin. Let rise about 1 hour, again till double in size.
• Bake at 400 F about 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 2 dozen rolls.

If you have a stand mixer, here's what I do:

• Soften yeast in warm water in bowl of stand mixer. Add cooled potato mixture and egg.
• Add all 4 cups of flour and set mixer with dough hook to "2" (Cuisinart) and set timer for 8 minutes. At about the 4-minute mark, turn dial to "3". Watch the dough. If it doesn't come away from the sides/bottom add more flour. I usually end up adding another cup for 5 cups total.
• Remove from mixer bowl and transfer to well greased bowl.
• Continue as above.

ENJOY!!! We're going to have some tonight with our traditional New Years appetizers.

The batch above was made for Christmas...I'll make a fresh batch today.

Christmas Cookies

What's your favourite type of Christmas cookie? Can you pick a favourite? Or do you just like them all?

If I had to pick one, I'd have to say mine is shortbread. Fortunately, that encompasses an awful LOT of cookies (lucky me!). There's your standard shortbread, brown sugar shortbread, chocolate shortbread, chocolate chip shortbread...and the list goes on!

Since the holidays are upon us, I've been baking...in spades! The kids and the hubby are happy (and possibly fat!) people! This has been the week for shortbread...later this week I'm going to make gingerbread cookies (oh! I got the cutest, tiniest gingerbread man!) and peanut butter chocolate chip from my friend Karin's recipe.

Over the weekend, I went to visit my friend Diana (where I also saw Teresa and met Michelle). This is just one of the sweet plates that I brought:
Needless to say, there was happiness all around!!!

The basic recipe for shortbread is this:

1/2 lb. butter
1/2 cup icing (or confectioners) sugar
2 cups flour

There is no baking powder or any other ingredients. And PLEASE! (I'm beggin' ya here) do NOT think you can use margarine in this recipe. This is a Christmas cookie and MUST have butter in it!

Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the flour one cup at a time and blend it in. Roll the cookie dough into a logs about 2 inches around and 8 inches long. Wrap in waxed paper and chill in the fridge until firm. When you're ready to bake them, remove them from the fridge while you preheat the oven to 300F. Slice the cookies about 1/4" thick and bake until the bottoms are just barely golden.

Remove to wire rack to cool completely. These keep well on the counter of if you are in the mood for baking in the middle of summer, they freeze very well.

Enjoy!

On tonights menu...

...Chicken Legs! Just like the chicken wings from Super Bowl Sunday, these were baked in the same manner using much the same spices.

I used salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I baked them at 350F for about 30 minutes or so (sorry didn't use a timer) and then basted them with barbecue sauce and baked them for about another 20 minutes.

I didn't have much of the President's Choice extra spicy BBQ sauce, so I had to wing it - ketchup, honey, spices, Frank's hot sauce and a touch of molasses made it a pretty close competitor to the PC BBQ sauce - go me!!!

Try it out!

Yeah...I know..."Christyne! If you're going to keep photographing food you need to get some NEW PLATES!!!"

Thanks for stopping by!

Onion Soup

I just LOVE onion soup! DH loves it too, so I decided to make it for tonight's Valentines dinner. We had steak too, but I didn't take any pictures of that - LOL!

I found the recipe here and it's WAY yummy, though it could definitely have done with some more salt and pepper. I didn't have any white wine on hand, so that didn't go in, though next time I'll definitely add it...or maybe some red. I think it would have had more depth with the wine added to it.

Anyway, I did the saute the onion thing (though it's really more like sweating if you follow the true definition of "saute" which means "to jump", but I digress). Then I tried to put them in the oven, but after about 25 minutes, the molded plastic on my pot lid and handles started to smell funny, so I took the pot out of the oven. I SO need a cast iron dutch oven!!!

Onion soup takes a LONG time to make, but it is SO worth it. Scott and I really enjoyed it and I can see making it again - YUMMY! That gruyere cheese will cost you a pretty penny though, so be warned!

The finished product:
Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by!

Tiramisu

Tomorrow is Valentines Day. Are you ready? Did you get all your cards and goodies made? Good for you!

Today, we're making tiramisu. It has to chill for a long time, so I figure that I might as well get it done today in anticipation of the fancy dinner I have planned for tomorrow night.

This is the first time I've ever made tiramisu and while at first it seemed a little daunting, turns out it's really not that hard to make!

I found the recipe here.

First thing you need to do is soak the lady fingers in a mixture of strong coffee/Kahlua. Seriously, anything that starts out with Kahlua, CAN'T possibly be bad!!!


After the first layer of biscuits is in the pan, you add a layer of the marscapone cheese which has been mixed with eggs and sugar.


Then another layer of biscuits and another layer of the cheese mixture. Finally shaved chocolate. I used unsweetened chocolate because I figured this was going to be already sweet enough.

To note:

• The recipe said it would make a 9 X 13 pan. I don't have that size pan, so I thought I would make two 8 X 8 square pans and take one to our good friends (also the boys' godparents) as a treat. I don't know if I spread the cheese mixture too thick, but I only had enough for one 8 X 8 pan.
• The recipe also said to just roll the lady fingers in the coffee/Kahlua mixture so they wouldn't get too soggy. Turns out that they didn't get soggy enough, so next time I'll be soaking them a little longer!
• I bought WAY too many lady fingers. Based on the amount of tiramisu that the recipe should have yielded, I bought 6 packages. I used 1 3/4. Anyone want some giant lady fingers???

Thanks for stopping by!

Potato Rolls - Light, Fluffy, DELICIOUS!!!

These were AWESOME!!!

You can find the recipe here

I can count on one hand the number of days that I haven't used my stand mixer since Santa brought it to me for Christmas. Love Santa and LOVE my stand mixer!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

Another easy one, but SOOOO good!

The recipe called for reduced-sodium soy sauce, but I didn't have any on hand...just the regular stuff. I found it too salty, so if I make it again, I'll definitely be getting the reduced-sodium version.


To make the glaze, combine 2 tbsp. maple syrup (the real stuff!), 2 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce, 1/4 tsp. crushed red chili peppers.

Pour over salmon and bake till done. I wrap mine in tin foil to bake, covers the whole pan and makes for easy clean up - WOOHOO!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Roast Chicken

This one is easy peasy!


Rub chicken with about 2 tsp. of butter, sprinkle with sage and Presidents Choice Montreal Style Chicken Spice Blend. Stuff cavity with a quartered onion and roast till done - about 1 1/2 hours for a 4-lb chicken.

Enjoy and Thanks for stopping by!

Cinnamon Buns - YUM!!!

These were a HUGE hit!


You can find the recipe here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chinese Noodle Soup (serves 8 child portions)

This is a recipe from Jonathan's cooking class. He takes them at Loblaws Glen Erin Market and they are great! I'll be sad when he goes to grade 1 next year because it will mean the end of cooking school. Anybody want to rent me a kid so I can keep going???

2 cups thin egg noodles
3 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil (we didn't use this and it didn't seem to matter)
2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 4 tsp. cold water
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2/3 c. chopped cooked ham

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Once boiling add 1 tbsp. salt.

2. Add noodles to boiling water and stir to separate. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook until noodles are tender. Remove from heat and drain. Immediately rinse with cold water until noodles are cold.

3. Divide noodles equally among bowls.

4. Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch and water mixture. Bring back to the boil, then remove from heat.

5. Add the beaten egg, pouring slowly and stirring rapidly in one direction for about one minute.

6. Pour the hot broth over the noodles.

7. Garnish with chopped ham and green onions. Serve.

Thanks for stopping by!

Quiche

Today's dinner was Quiche! Scott used to be the quiche maker, but I've pretty much taken over that duty...

So, into my quiche goes: bacon, ham, green onions, cheese, eggs, milk, salt, pepper and the secret ingredient: curry powder.

First thing you need to do is make your pie crust. First things first, DO NOT buy a pre-made pie crust. For the price of a package of pre-made crusts, you could probably get at least a 1/2 dozen pie shells! Second, forget that stuff that comes in the blue tub. Go out and buy yourself some REAL LARD!!! And make sure it's Tenderflake. Don't scoff and turn your nose up on me. Trust me on this one. Pure lard makes the best pie crust you've ever had. And whatever you do, follow the directions on the box. Go ahead and make the whole batch, it freezes really well.

Once you've made the pie crust, go ahead and chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. When you're ready, dust your counter top (or where ever you're rolling ) and roll out your crust, it should be about 1/4" thick and big enough to fit your pie plate with a little bit of overlap. You need the overlap because as it bakes, it shrinks a bit.

Once it's rolled out, fold it in four and let it rest for a few minutes. Then, transfer it to your pie plate. The folding in four thing makes it easier to get into the right spot on your plate - aim to have the corner in the middle. Then prick it all over with a fork (or, you could be Alton Brown and "prodigiously perforate"). If you have one of those fancy things that allow you to sandwich the crust between the pie plate and said fancy tool, go ahead and use it. I need to buy one!

Let the crust bake for about 15-20 minutes at 375 F. Keep an eye on it. If it starts to puff up, stick a fork in it.

While it's baking, go ahead and brown your bacon, chop your ham and chop your green onions.

My MIL bought me this cast iron pan...best thing since sliced bread!


Once the bacon is nicely browned, drain the fat off by scooping it out of the pan onto a paper towel lined aluminum pie plate.

Add the works to the now cooked pie crust. I put the bacon in first.

Then the ham:

Then the green onions:

Then, grate up about 1 1/2 cups of Monterrey Jack Cheese (this is our fave for quiche) and spread it out over the top of the other ingredients.

Keep in mind I use a deep dish pie plate, so this next part might seem excessive. I beat 5 extra large eggs and then add skim milk (most recipes say to add whole milk or cream...ummm...yeah...no.) Probably about enough to make 2 1/2 to 3 cups of liquid. Into the liquid goes my spices: salt, pepper, curry powder. I think on one or two occasions, I've added Frank's hot sauce, but it was in the back of the cupboard and I was feeling lazy. Don't hate me.

Pour the liquid into the pie shell until it reaches the top. If your pie crust is uneven (mine ALWAYS is!) and some seeps over the edge into the pie plate, don't stress, it's O.K.

I place my pie plate on a baking sheet (just in case) and bake it at 350 F to 375F (my oven is weird - had to buy a thermometer to put in it) for about an hour. Check the middle of the pie after about 50 minutes. If the middle is still liquid, put it back in, if not, it's ready. Same goes for the hour mark. If it's still liquid, put it back in the oven. You don't want to be eating raw eggs.

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Half Scratch Spaghetti Sauce

I'm calling it "half scratch" because it's not ENTIRELY made from scratch. I cheat by using canned tomato sauce (Hunts) because it makes life easier...besides, it tastes REALLY good!

So...you'll need:

Ground Beef (I use lean)
Hunts Pasta Sauce (your favourite kind)
Onions
Peppers (your favourite colour)
Garlic
Seasoning

For every pound of ground beef I'm using, I use one can of Hunts pasta sauce. I've tried it with Bravo and it's pretty nasty. Hunts is my fave, but you could also use Primo. Just stay away from the Bravo.

I usually make a big batch because it freezes really well. So, I use four pounds of ground beef, four cans of sauce, 2 large onions (3 if they're small), 2 peppers (usually a red and a green) and about 1/2 dozen cloves of garlic.

Brown your meat in a LARGE stock pot (especially if you're making as much as I do) as this makes a LOT and you'll need the space - trust me!

While the meat is browning, I chop up my veggies and grate my garlic right into the meat - if you don't have a microplane, go buy one - it will change your life!

Once all the meat is browned and your veggies/garlic are in the mix, add your seasonings. I usually add Italian seasoning which is a mix of basil and oregano, plus some parsley. I use dried, it's just easier...

Then, add your cans of sauce (remember, one can for each pound of beef) and then just let it simmer on the lowest temperature all day. Yes, really all day. I usually have my sauce on a simmer around 9 a.m. and dinner is at 5 p.m. Stir it throughout the day, skimming off any fat as necessary.

Cook up your pasta at dinner (doesn't have to be spaghetti - can be your fave pasta) and top with a generous amount of sauce. Add parmesan cheese if you like - fresh is AWESOME if you've got it on hand.

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Two Picture Day

I decided on protein for breakfast this morning and this is what I made:

Scrambled eggs with some left over Pico de Gallo and a small side of guacamole - YUM! Next time I think I'll try it an omelet and slice the avocado.

On another note, it seems that little stinker Whiarton Willie must have been right and we are indeed getting another 6 weeks of winter. This is what greeted me outside my window this morning:

My friend Karin said she heard the weather man say we were supposed to get about 1 to 3 centimeters. Clearly he needs to go back to weather school, because there was AT LEAST that much on the ground when I took the pic and it's STILL falling 5 hours later!

I'm hoping my friend Kim really did see that robin the other day and that this is just some cruel joke!

Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are! Thanks for stopping by!

SuperBowl Revisted

O.K., so my team won - WOOHOO!!! Not that I follow football all that much, but hey - they were closest to the Canadian border, so I figured I should root for them. It was a close call though, lemme tell ya!

I made chicken wings yesterday...nothing spectacular, just your standard chicken wings. I split them myself (go me!) and just put salt, pepper and Montreal chicken spice on them before roasting them up. About 15 minutes before they were to come out, I added some President's Choice Extra Spicy BBQ sauce to them. They turned out pretty good.

There were leftovers, so Jonathan ate this for lunch today:
On another note, the one kid that didn't get the flu shot is home with the flu...FIGURES!

Thanks for stopping by!

Super Bowl Chili

As I was posting about the cilantro last night, I thought that maybe my POTD for February should be all about food. What do you think??

Today is SuperBowl Sunday. We only watch one football game per year and this is it. We do it right and eat all kinds of SuperBowl food. You know...chicken wings, chili, chips and salsa and the like. Yesterday's "recipe" was the salsa that i make. I don't only make it on SuperBowl Sunday, it's also a staple in our house but mostly over the summer when I can get fresh veggies. This year I got smart and bought a basketful of jalapenos when they were in season. I chopped them up and flash froze them so I could use them throughout the winter.

Anyway...this is supposed to be about the SuperBowl chili I made, so here you go:

SuperBowl Chili

2 lb. stewing beef
1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
1 red or green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
19 oz. can diced tomatoes
1-2 tbsp. pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
19 oz. can red kidney beans

Trim any fat of meat and cut into chunks, if necessary. In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Brown meat in batches and transfer to slow cooker. Add a little more oil to skillet and saute onion, pepper and garlic until lightly softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and pureed chipotle peppers. Bring to a simmer. Pour sauce over beef in slow cooker. Stir well, cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or until meat is tender. If adding beans, add one hour before end of cooking.

Recipe courtesy of Barb Holland as seen in the Metro, a free daily Toronto newspaper.

O.K., now here's what I did:

Brown the beef:
I used ground beef instead of the stewing beef because the last time I used stewing beef to make chili, Scott wasn't really impressed. He didn't like the texture all that much.

Then I did the veggies:
I didn't have any cumin, so I didn't use that, I substituted dried coriander instead. I also couldn't find the pureed chipotle peppers, so I substituted some of my frozen jalapenos and threw in some some crushed chili flakes for good measure.

I added it all to the crock pot and let it hang out for the day. About an hour before the SuperBowl started I added the kidney beans. Scott could only find 14 oz. cans, so we went with that.

This is what it looked like just before I scooped it out into bowls:
And this is what it looked like just before serving:
At least that's what mine looked like...Scott is not a big fan of sour cream and shredded cheese on his chili. Jonathan had sour cream and shredded cheese on his chili too and he REALLY liked it!

Enjoy the rest of your evening and thanks for stopping by!

Fresh Cilantro makes ALL the difference!

So I've been making this Pico de Gallo for a little while now. When I started making it, I could never find fresh cilantro, so I used dried. It tasted pretty good.

There's a company called Garden Fresh Gourmet that makes the most amazing salsa you've ever tasted. It's made with fresh ingredients and you can only find it in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

The last time I bought it (last summer), I scrutinized the ingredients and decided that there was a pretty good chance I could make it myself using Pioneer Woman's Pico de Gallo recipe as the base.

DH has been out shopping for Super Bowl fixings (it's the only football game we watch all year, and we do it right), so I could make a new chili recipe he found in one of the daily newspapers he reads and make chicken wings too. I asked him while he was out to try and hunt down some fresh cilantro, since that's what Ree used in her Pico de Gallo recipe. He found some - YAY!!!

When he got home, I already had the Pico de Gallo in the food processor to turn it into salsa. When I was done with that, I chopped up the cilantro and added it to the mix.

OH. MY. GOSH. What a difference!!! This is by far the best batch I have EVER made! I'll never make it with dried herbs again.

I finally figured out what all those chefs I watch on the Food Network are raving about...now if I could figure out a way to get an herb garden going in our apartment, I'd be set!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh...and P.S. If you've been looking for that photo a day, I've been doing pretty good. I think I got all but 2 days in January. They're all sitting in my Facebook account...so if you have Facebook, you'll have to search for me (Christyne Richardson) and send me a friend request to see the pics. In February, I'm going to try and post them here as well as Facebook.