skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Here are Mozzarella and Grape Skewers
Just a simple Sunday snack with the family. Funny enough my dad made shish kababs for Sunday dinner. Looks like we were on the same brain wave.
Speaking of skewered foods, I'm totally hooked on chocolate covered frozen bananas! I wrote a few weeks back about how I got started with the idea. Well, I'm now making many different varieties & combinations and it's really a fun way to spend time with friends and family. We even make sugar free bananas on the go for Nuno!
Here is my most recent concoctions:
left to right: peanuts (this one is the best of the bunch - nice and simple), toasted coconut, Skor bits, flaked almond, vanilla rice krispies, smores and banana on banana (crushed banana chips!)
A few I'm aiming for in the future include white chocolate macadamia, white chocolate apricot, white chocolate pistachio, peanut butter cup, praline, dark chocolate cherry and dark chocolate orange.
This morning we ate Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Rhubarb Compote and they are the best pancakes I've ever eaten!
They are very different than your typical pancake. The texture is a little chewy, but it works. They don't even look all that attractive, but when you have them with a side of strawberry rhubarb compote the flavour is out of this world!
Probably the best part of this recipe is how easy they are to make. The reason is because, in the past when I've made pancakes, I've whipped egg whites and used two separate bowls for wet and dry ingredients. Now, when it's early Sunday morning and you have to take care of the dog, grind coffee beans and make baby food all at the same time - these are the pancakes you'll want to make. This takes one bowl and all you do is mix the ingredients together!
Last night we had Pork Chops with Bulgur Stuffing and Quick-Marinated Yellow Squash Salad on the side.
I really don't enjoy pork chops and haven't had one in probably ten years. I just have memories of tiny little chops overdone on the bbq. Well, this pork chops w/ bulgur stuffing does an excellent job of disguising all the qualities I dislike in a chop. We enjoyed the stuffing so much I'll probably just make the stuffing as a salad onto itself. Maybe add pork tenderloin slices to it for a full meal. The quick-marinated yellow squash salad name says it all. It really is quick, nice, healthy and fresh in flavour. This really was a nice meal.
Last night we had Thinnest Crust Pizza with Ricotta and Mushrooms.
I've made this so many times prior to owning this book. It's a very light dinner and a great way to use up that container of ricotta or the last bit of asiago cheese looming in the fridge. We have a pizza stone which is a great way of making pizzas, but with the oven issue happening right now we had to use the broiler and hope the pizza stone's residual heat toasted the bottom of the pita. It worked out quite nicely. My favourite part of this pizza is the great flavour black pepper imparts. It's one of my favourite ways to enjoy pepper.
This morning Nuno said he was thinking of having eggs for breakfast but didn't know which way to have them. That's when I piped in and offered to make Skillet Eggs and Tomato Sauce.
I checked the recipe and we had everything in our fridge & pantry to whip it up. Yep, even the anchovies. The recipe calls for an anchovy fillet, but you can now find anchovy paste at the supermarket and it's a great option because short of making an anchovy pizza, how can you possibly get through a tin of anchovy fillets without throwing some out? I also modified the cooking process a little bit. To begin it indicates to cook the onions & garlic in oil over medium high heat and cook until onions are soft. I know better than to throw garlic in at the same time as onions because it will surely burn. I've counted several recipes in Everyday Food that ask for garlic to be added way too early and potentially burning. Everything worked out perfectly (thank goodness, I thought yesterday was the beginning of a cooking curse) and this is a definite make again.
Here is last night's Lamb Chops with Pistachio Sauce and Curried Rice Salad. I paired these two dishes because the curried rice called for mint (which I'm currently in excess of) and mint and lamb are a classic pairing. Another pairing I enjoyed was a glass of Inniskillin Pinot Noir with the lamb. It added quite a nice touch to this dinner despite it being a disappointment on every level.
To start, lamb chops are one of the most pricey cuts of meat I've ever purchased. They are so not worth it! I'll probably stick to ordering lamb at restaurants from now on because this recipe was followed to a T (it was still quite rare inside but somehow dry at the same time). It did not do justice to what I always imagined lamb should be. I only ate a couple bites of the lamb but Nuno mentioned he found it tasted like goat. The pistachio sauce definitely helped make the lamb more palatable. The tomato and artichoke sautee was alright. I find grape/cherry tomatoes to be very tart and sometimes seasoning just can't seem to cut the strong acidity. As for the curried rice salad, it was just OK. I found the mint flavour totally overwhelming. I never eat grapes, but that touch was the best part of this salad. If I ever make it again I'll be adjusting the ingredients to taste.
OK, we have our official beyond repair total friggin' disaster of a recipe. It seems so simple, but I managed to fudge up the Chocolate Mousse. I guess it's not really a surprise since I mangled the chocolate sauce for the Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream. Yes, chocolate and I don't mix. I'm a little ticked about this one. It took some cherished ingredients - notably the left over yolks from the Dill Feta Eggs along with some not so cheap chocolate.
Here is the chocolate mousse up to just short of the final step. It set up in the fridge and after taking a taste this could make the most decadent rich truffles you've ever had. So I inadvertently made a ganache. I might try and salvage this if I can come up with a baking recipe that doesn't require the oven.
I actually entertained the thought of tricking all five of you readers into thinking this turned out by buying chocolate pudding and cool whip and taking a photo of it. How could I? I have to be honest even if the truth of working through Everyday Food doesn't always pan out. Oh well, looking back, did I really want to be the only one eating chocolate, heavy cream, egg yolks and sugar? I think this was possibly divine waistline intervention!
You've got the best of me chocolate, I can not tame you. So we'll let this one die gracefully, never to be made again.
Katie, Owen and I were crusin' around Niagara-On-The-Lake yesterday afternoon when we decided to stop into Harvest Barn. A brand new batch of strawberries were being stocked just as we walked in, so I picked up a basket. I also grabbed a huge amount of fresh mint and rhubarb. After dinner I assembled Strawberries with Mint Whipped Cream.
This recipe has only a handful of fresh ingredients and I assumed I could haul butt and get it done in time to eat strawberries and whipped cream and watch the Bachelorette (I know, but come on - it's a Monday night). Once I got started I realized it was a little more involved than I originally anticipated. You actually have to make a mint infused simple syrup that involves boiling and then cooling. So that made this recipe a bit more time consuming. Another reason this took so long is because I basically doubled the recipe by making a second sugar free batch (substituting sugar for honey) because my hard working husband deserved a chance to enjoy this dessert.
But oh so worth it. This has an incredible flavour, it really couldn't be more perfect for this time of year. All is right with the world when you wait all year for the moment you enjoy a freshly picked strawberry.
What a rough night last night was. I woke up at midnight to a power failure and the battery back-ups buzzing like mad. Then for the rest of the night the power would restore and then fail again setting the back-ups into hysteria. I think I eventually nodded back off at 5am to be woken by Owen at 6:30am. I needed to have a breakfast of champions if I was to make it through the day! So, I saw what I had on hand and decided to make Dill-Feta Scrambled Eggs in a Pita.
I always stay true to every recipe, but since I didn't have any fresh dill in the house I subbed in chives instead. Not a major modification and it works better for us anyways because Nuno isn't a dill fan. I have quite a few farm fresh eggs in the fridge right now and I used the eggs given to us by Tawse Winery. Katie and I went wine tasting mid-week last week and since Katie bought a bottle at Tawse they let me have a carton of their free range eggs at no charge. These eggs are incredible and were the best for this breakfast. The only real complaint I have is that the scrambled eggs seemed to render quite a bit of liquid which made for a soggy pita. We ended up having to eat breakfast with a knife and fork.
Last night we had Spicy Shrimp in Tomato Pasta. This is recipe that I've been planning to make for weeks, but always had it on the back burner. The reason for this is because it's a pantry and freezer meal that could be made at any point in time.
It was quick, easy and tastes like something anyone could whip together. I guess what mean to say is that it's quite boring and not worth making again. It really isn't the sort of meal deserving of a Friday night. Ah well.
Here is Flank Steak and Arugula Salad and a delicious side of Horseradish Mashed Potatoes.
This used the other half of yesterday's broiled flank steak. The dressing on this salad is probably the easiest dressing short of buying a bottle of prepared. Salsa & balsamic vinegar. It works! I'm totally hooked on arugula right now - I kept snacking on it all week that when it came time to make this recipe I had to disparately run out and buy another container. A note about balsamic vinegar - it goes so nicely with arugula as well as flank steak. I'm pretty much a total convert on flank steak. I can't believe I used to buy those small frying steaks. Well, never again! This dinner came together very quickly which was nice. Everyday Food's technique for mashing potatoes made for the best mash I've ever made.
Now for Owen's first steak. You heard me right, my baby ate Steak! I took some of the more cooked pieces of flank steak and cooked until there was no pink was left. Then blitzed in the food processor and created a smooth consistency with milk. I then took a couple pieces of potato and mashed together with the meat. So how did Owen enjoy mashed potato and flank steak for dinner? I expected a fuss and resistance as I fed him the first spoonful, but much to my surprise he loved it! Looks like Owen is a true man, he loves his meat and potatoes. Good thing I have Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn to help me feed the men in my life!
Here is last night's Spinach-Stuffed Flank Steak and White Bean and Tomato Saute.
This is my first time buying Flank Steak and I chose to buy it at Goeman's Lakeshore Meats. They are a fantastic butcher in the north end of St. Catharines, where else, but on Lakeshore Rd. It's nice and close and they are very friendly and helpful there.
Once I started working with the meat it required me to butterfly the steak. This is my first time butterflying and it was a simple task that I suppose could go horribly wrong if you were to use the wrong knife. The stuffing consisted of spinach, parsley, garlic, capers, asiago & balsamic vinegar and is then spread over the meat which is then rolled and tied with butcher's twine. The recipe called for two packages of frozen spinach, but I opted to use just one and it turned out perfect (there was even stuffing left over).
The steak is broiled for several minutes under the oven's broiler. This is my new favourite way of cooking meat even though it's a little risky. I've always had it work out because if you stay close and keep an eye on it everything should be OK. A probe thermometer is a great way of keeping track of the done-ness of the meat. Both Nuno and I enjoy a very rare piece of steak with charred outside, but when I took the meat out of the oven and sliced the middle was still very rare. It was easy enough to fix, I just sliced the entire steak, placed all pieces back onto the baking sheet and broiled for a couple minutes more.
The White Bean Saute, well, there isn't a lot of explaining here other than it's fantastic. Somehow all the ingredients in this dish bring out a fresh flavour in the tomato.
I loved eating both these recipes and will surely make them again. It really is an awesome dinner that tastes restaurant quality and is quite a lot of fun to make.
Fill glass 2/3 full with lager. Add ice & a squeeze of lime. Old Bay, Tabasco & Worcestershire to taste. Top with tomato juice & stir.
Just a simple Sunday snack with the family. Funny enough my dad made shish kababs for Sunday dinner. Looks like we were on the same brain wave.
left to right: peanuts (this one is the best of the bunch - nice and simple), toasted coconut, Skor bits, flaked almond, vanilla rice krispies, smores and banana on banana (crushed banana chips!)
