Featured Recipe

So a friend of mine asked me what she should make for dinner tonight. I said she should make chicken quesadillas because, who doesn't like chicken with peppers, onions, salsa and melty cheese inside a tortilla and then fried? Then I suggested she serve it with Black Bean and Corn Salad, to which she sounded pretty darn excited. So, Tahnee, this one's for you.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 can black beans
1can of corn (or about 3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed)
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2 small green onions, diced
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp each cumin, paprika and garlic powder
1/2 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse the black beans well. Set aside to drain
2. Mix the dressing and whisk well.
3. Mix the beans and veggies and coat with the dressing
4. Let sit about 30 minutes in the fridge. Stir thoroughly to coat before serving

Featured Recipe

The Day-Before-Payday Soup

I wrote this on Thursday last week, but had an incredibly lazy weekend and didn't get around to posting it (I couldn't find it in me to tear myself away from watching Sliders on Netflix. Yes, that show from the early nineties with Jerry O'Connel about 4 people who slide to parallel earths. So Awesome).

Sometimes payday comes at a really inconvenient time: your mortgage payment is due and bills must be paid all on the day before you get your paycheque and of course, your fridge, cupboards and freezer are looking more than a little bare. And you have to figure out what you could possibly take to work for lunch the day before payday. Well, last night, I came up with an idea and it turned out tasting pretty darn good. Now, I am a big fan of soup. I love to make it and I love to eat it and it warms me up on a cool, gray, rainy day like today. And this one used what little produce I had in my fridge and freezer,  took about 5 minutes to make and doesn’t require a pot. I prepped the night before and assembled at work. Let me share it with you:

The Day Before Payday Soup - Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 bouillon cube (I used chicken, but beef or vegetable would work just as well)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds about half a cm thick
• 2 green onions, sliced thinly
• 1 handful frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 2 slices deli meat (we had a wee bit of old fashioned ham in the fridge, but chicken, turkey or roast beef would be yummy too. Whatever you have in your fridge)
• water

How To:

• Put the carrot slices in a microwave safe bowl and cover with a little water. Cook on high power for about 1 minute until soft but still firm (mushy carrots in soup don’t do it for me). Drain and set aside to cool slightly
• Mix all vegetables together in a small, tightly sealed, reusable container. Pack the meat in a separate container or plastic baggie. Keep the bouillon separate.
• When ready to assemble, boil about 2 cups water in a kettle (2 measuring cups worth (500ml), not the 2 cup line on your kettle (that line is for tea or coffee cup amounts)). Crumble the bouillon cube into your bowl (start with half the bouillon first, then add more until you reach your desired broth strength. I used 1 cube for about 1.5 cups water but I like my broth fairly strong. A typical bouillon cube yields 2 cups of broth). Fill the bowl about ¾ full with the boiling water and stir to dissolve the bouillon.
• Add the vegetables and meat and let stand for a few minutes so the veggies get warm all the way through. If you’re like me and you like your soup piping hot, you may need to microwave it for about 45 seconds to a minute on high as the cold veggies will have cooled the soup down some as they warm up.

That’s it. Easy peasy.  You can use whatever veggies and meat you have lying around, though veggies that don’t require much (if any) cooking work best. A tomato or some zucchini or spinach would work nicely and you could cook them with the carrots. A nice piece of whole wheat toast or some grainy crackers would be good for dipping and would round out the meal quite nicely. I admit, I did need a few crackers and some cheese about 2 hours later.

What's for Dinner?

Today is a sad day; I drank the last of the "housewarming" tequila we got when we moved into our house 11 months ago. But did I enjoy it and enjoy drinking it out of one of my heavy, blue topped glasses I bought in Mexico? You sure bet I did.

So, what's for dinner this week? Well, on Friday we had Parmesan crusted pork chops, "army" potatoes (cooked in the oven in tinfoil with olive oil and onions) and lemon garlic broccoli.

First, you coat the pork chops in Parmesan, then dip in egg, then coat in Italian style bread crumbs

They cook for about 20 minutes (should be brown and crispy and at least 160 degrees F)

Dinner!

Saturday was a potluck at a friend's house and I made homemade kettle corn (super easy, it''s almost like caramel corn, but only takes 15 minutes to make!). Sunday was leftovers. Today, was chicken pot pie. I have been craving it since I saw a co-worker eating it at lunch last week and today I finally made it. And it was totally worth it. The trick to chicken pot pie is to forget the pastry and put biscuit dough on the top instead. I made a big 9x13 pan and is so delicious.

Yum!

Tomorrow is lasagne for my hubby's birthday (it's his favourite and I make it for him every year). Wednesday may be leftovers as I have an early evening commitment. Thursday is what I like to call "Greek Tacos" which is basically homemade souvlaki wraps, but calling them Greek Tacos is just way more fun.  Friday will be Chicken Empanadas (empanadas are kind of like Mexican samosas - meat, potatoes and spices wrapped in pastry and baked). It makes a huge amount of filling and it is delicious in wraps later.

If you couldn't tell, fall is upon us and I'm all about the comfort food. Hope you enjoy!

Bon Apetit!

Featured Recipe

Ok, for all of you who have had these and have asked for the recipe, here are my Chicken Enchiladas. This is one of my husband's favourites and he always suggests I make it for company.  

Chicken Enchiladas (Copyright Nancy Whiteley, March 20, 2010)

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, finely cubed

2 green peppers diced (or 1 green pepper and one poblano pepper)

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium shallot, minced

1 heaping teaspoon margarine or butter

1 ¼ cups 1% milk

2 TBSP cornstarch

¼ tsp cumin

1 TBSP oregano

1 TBSP dried minced onion

1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled

2 pinches chipotle chili powder (opt)

pepper and salt to taste

6 large flour tortillas

200g shredded Monterrey jack cheese

olive oil

Method:

1.     Heat a splash of olive oil in a big, deep pan over medium heat. Add chicken. When chicken is about half cooked, add the green and poblano peppers, cumin, oregano, minced onion crumbled bouillon and salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken and pepper mixture to a separate dish

2.    Add butter to the same pan you used to cook chicken. When melted, add garlic and shallot and cook for 30 seconds. Mix cornstarch with milk and add to margarine mixture. Stir constantly until mixture is a thick sauce. Add chicken mixture and stir until completely combined.

3.    Heat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Put a scoop of chicken mixture on the middle of flour tortilla. Roll up (like a burrito but leaving the ends open) and place seam side down in casserole dish. Repeat with remaining chicken mixture and tortillas. Cover with shredded cheese

4.    Bake for 10 minutes at 350F. Rotate pan 180 degrees and bake 5 minutes more, until cheese is melted

5.    Serve warm with salsa verde

There are 2 secrets to this dish: it must be prepared with love. I know that sounds hokey, but it's true. I love making this dish and I love eating it and I put that love into it. It really does make it taste better. 

The second secret is the salsa verde. you need good salsa verde to complete the full experience. My favourite brand is Herdez and it can be found at most Mexican/Latin import stores. Try it, you won't regret it.

What's for Dinner?

So typically every Sunday I plan my menu for the week and do a big shop at Superstore (it's hard to beat their prices and the products are good too). This week is going to be a lot of leftovers again as mortgage comes out the day BEFORE payday, which is always handy. So, sadly, I've only planned 2 meals with 2 days of leftovers. And tonight was hotdogs. And some bbq chips. Sad, I know. But, I did buy those all-natural hot dogs (I think they're the Schneider's Country Naturals, or something) and they are darn good. I get a hankering for hotdogs every now and then and these don't have any mechanically separated meat, no weird fillers and no ingredients that I don't know what they are. and they're comparable in price to other weiners.

Now, on to the menu:
Tomorrow: Whole wheat penne with a chicken stock based white sauce with peppers and onions.
Tuesday: Quinoa salad with raw veggies and ground chicken. I'm not quite sure what to do for the sauce here, but I'm thinking something southwest-ish with maybe some salsa and smoky cumin. My mouth wants the dressing from the Glory Bowl (an amazing dressing from Whitewater Cooks. My mom made it when we went to visit my folks a few weeks back and it is super yummy. The recipe calls from brown rice and tofu, but we made it with quinoa and chicken instead) but that's just not in the cards this time. Here' a link to the recipe: http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/story.html?id=4a9cd9f8-f16b-40de-ab67-a95730b1adce)

Hopefully next week will be more exciting and I'll have at least 5 amazing dishes to talk about. Until then,

Bon Apetit!

My Favourite Kitchen Tools - Part 1

Attached to food processor

Hand blender!

I must profess my love for my hand blender (or my "jjuujjjjer, as I call it, because that's the sound it makes).
It is probably one of the greatest kitchen gadgets ever invented. And mine is swanky: it comes with the regular blender attachment, a whisk attachment and a mini food processor attachment.
I got it as a Christmas gift one year from my father-in-law and I have been in love with it ever since. It makes the best smoothies, whips cream in no time at all and the food processor attachment is perfect for chopping nuts for cookies or making breadcrumbs. I talked so much about how great it is that my parents went out and bought the same one and they love it too!

My other favourite gadget is my microplane. It too was a gift - my old boss gave it to me for Administrative Professionals day a few years back. I have a love for pretty much all things lemon and this makes zesting a lemon so easy. The removable box attachment on the top is for doing small things like garlic so you don't end up zesting your fingers. I don't use it for garlic because I like pieces of garlic in my food rather than grated garlic, but it would be great for making garlic mashed potatoes. Hmmmm, I may have to try that....

Microplane

With box attachment

Featured Recipe

Today's featured recipe is: Bacon, Potato, Cheddar muffins, courtesy of taste.com.au

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/10440/potato+bacon+herb+muffins


I love to bake but my husband claims to not like sweets (though his favourite kind of pie is Pecan pie which is pretty much the sweetest pie there is). I've been on a bit of a muffin kick lately so he asked if I would make him some savoury muffins. This was his suggestion and I found this recipe right off the bat. Enjoy.

By the way, 180 degrees Celsius is 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Popping my Blogging Cherry

I have never done this before but I've often been interested. Today, a friend sent me a link to her friend's travel blog from their recent trip to Peru and as I was reading it, I thought "I could do that!"
I want to share my love of food with you and what I've been eating. Many of my friends keep asking me when my cookbook is coming out, so hopefully this will satiate them until that happens.

This week's meals included Quinoalaya (jambalaya made with quinoa instead of rice), Thai Peanut Caesar salad (a Boston Pizza rip-off created by my friend Sheila) and tonight: taco casserole followed by warm apple cinnamon muffins. We're having leftovers for the rest of the week. My menu may not always be so exciting. Case in point, on Monday night I had McCain spicy fries and Chocolate Cherrios for dinner. I know what you're thinking, "Chocolate Cheerios? Gross!" I thought so too when I first saw the commercial for them but I had a sample at the grocery store and they are delicious! They satisfy my craving for cereal and chocolate at the very same time.

Hope you enjoyed reading. More to come!
Bon Apetit!