Blackberry Crisp

A friend of ours is going away on business for two months.  We are certainly going to miss seeing him.  He is coming for a visit tonight so I decided to whip together a blackberry crisp with our homegrown berries.  I haven't tried it yet but I will let you know how it turns out.  It took about 5 minutes to prepare - SUPER simple!  Our berries are quite tart so I added 3/4 cup of frozen raspberries to mix it up a bit. 

Ingredients

2 cups blackberries
3/4 cup raspberries
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice concentrate
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup flour (whole wheat or white)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 margarine

Method
Place berries in a greased rectangular baking dish.  Mix sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and water together in a bowl and pour over berries.  In a bowl mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and margarine (use a pastry blender...and if you are like me and don't own one, cut in butter with two knives). Sprinkle on top. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

** I'm back to report that it was yummy!  Could have used more "crisp" on the top....

5000 Views!

Thank you to all of my followers for visiting my blog.  Today my blog has reached 5,000 hits in 13 months! YA! Tomorrow it's back to reality for me. Back to school preparations. BLAH! Summer, it has been fun.  You have treated me well, and I will miss you.   Until next year...



Chai Update

A few weeks ago I blogged about at home Tazo Chai Lattes.  I have since found the product at The Superstore, hiding in the natural food isle.  It sells for $6.29 regular price which is a a great scored compared to Walmarts regular price of $7.98. Gotta love finding cheaper stuff, and at a Canadian store to boot! Cha-ching!

Kale Chips

Kale is my new best friend.  We are so close that I would almost be willing to wear this tee.  A few more weeks of hanging out and maybe I could be persuaded.  This morning I made kale chips and I am PUMPED about the outcome. I am by far a salty and savoury snacker and would demolish a bag of Miss. Vicky's over a bowl of ice cream any day! I am thrilled to have found a chip alternative.  WOOT WOOT (fist pump to the air...).  They are ridiculously easy to make and you can put whatever seasoning on them you heart desires.  Today I did an olive oil with soy sauce and freshly ground pepper.  YUMMY!



Ingredients
1/2 a bunch of kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
freshly ground pepper




Method
Wash kale, dry and trim the steams off.  Rip into bite sized pieces (I didn't do this but next time I will) and lay on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. In a small bowl mix olive oil and soy sauce.  Paint onto kale leaves.  Sprinkle pepper on top.  Pop in oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on a paper towel so excess oil is removed.  Serve at room temperature once they have crisped up. YUMMY!

Shrimp Quinoa with Kale

Kale...hmmm.  I don't think I've ever eaten it before.  A girlfriend told me that she cooks with kale and has even made kale chips (I'll attempt later in the week), so I decided to give kale a chance.  Tonight I made a shrimp quinoa with kale which earned a two thumbs up from Mr. Hubby.  He said he really liked the texture of it.  I use spinach A LOT when I cook which basically turns to mush when you add it to stuff, but kale seems to keep a little crunch. I will definitely be adding kale to my regular purchases from the grocery store. Kale packs a punch in the nutrition department (check it out!).

Quinoa Ingredients (pssst: this is very good for you! TRY IT!)
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Throw everything into a pot over medium heat until it boils.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for
20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes.  Fluff with fork.

Shrimp and Kale Tomato Sauce Ingredients
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bag of cooked, peeled, tails off shrimp (about 50 small shrimp)
2 cups kale, chopped
1 cup pasta sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice concentrate
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Your cooked quinoa that you have set aside
fresh Parmesan cheese to garnish

Method
In a large fry pan heat olive oil. Add the garlic red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and saute for 1 minute. Add everything else except for the quinoa and cheese.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Serve over quinoa and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.  This is very similar to a pasta dish but much better for you!

More is not always better...

While sipping on my coffee this morning I caught up with a great friend of mine on the phone.  While chatting she was making a batch of pancakes and asked "why are my pancakes always so flat?".  The answer; over mixing the flour.  This goes for all baked goods.  You can't go wrong over creaming something (that's what she said), which is when you mix butter and sugar but as soon as you add flour to the mix you need to take it easy.  I suggest using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatcula to fold in the flour instead of using an electric hand mixer.  You will definitely get a much more FLUFFY pancake (or banana bread or whatever baked good you are making).

So there you have it, more is not always better...

Good Eats

We are home from the cottage and likely more pale then before we left.  Despite the rain nearly everyday ,we had a relaxing vacation with friends.  One of the highlights - the food!  As mentioned in my previous post, each couple signed up for a day of cooking.  The dinners were amazing!!  Throughout the course of the week we had steak and potatoes with sauteed mushrooms, homemade pita pizzas on the BBQ, beef and chicken tacos with fresh guacamole, lasagna from scratch with double cheese garlic bread, and pork souvlaki with tzatiki.  YUM! As promised, here are my recipes. 

Tzatiki Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic (I had forgotten this so I used garlic powder instead)
1 container of Greek yogurt (about 1.5 cups)  PC has an awesome one for $3.99
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoon dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together at least two hours before serving and chill in fridge.  Serve with pork souvlaki kabobs for dipping.

Pork Souvlaki Ingredients
1 lemon, juiced (or 1 tablespoon of lemon juice concentrate)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 lbs pork tenderloin, cubed (fat trimmed)

Method
Mix everything together in a bowl and drizzle over prok. Put in fridge to marinate for at least 12 hours.  Thread onto kabob sticks and throw on the BBQ until cooked through, about 6-7 minutes each side. Don't forget to soak sticks in water for about 30 minutes so they don't burn.

Cottage Hummus

My husband and I are getting ready to head up north with a bunch of friends.  We are beyond excited about escaping for the week, but more specifically we are pumped to be spending our vacay with our amazing friends. We booked the cottage in February and have been 'planning' since early May.  Cooking for 10 people everyday would be brutal so we decided that each couple would sign up for a day and is responsible for purchasing, transporting, preparing and serving brunch and dinner.  Smart! We are doing french toast with fruit for brunch and pork souvlaki and vegetable kabobs with tzatziki (whoa, that's tough to spell! Had to google it....) and a Greek pasta salad. I will posted recipes once I return.

Collectively, we decided it would be easiest to hit Costco and stock up on snack foods for everyone.  Another smart idea! One of the snack requests; hummus.  Being the cheapo that I am, I will never, ever buy premade hummus again.  Although delicious, it is ridiculously over priced! I offered to make a huge homemade batch a bring it up.  It is different the my other hummus recipe and has roasted garlic (a requests from a fellow cottager) which give it a sweeter flavour. Here is the breakdown of the total cost of this triple batch of hummus:

$2.37 (3 cans chick peas)
$0.96 (2 jumbo garlic bulbs)
~0.60 (tahini, salt, olive oil, lemon juice - I had already)
TOTAL: $3.93     (*I didn't even use a calculator to add this up!! Hope it's correct.)

This amount of hummus at the store would have been well over $10.00.  This way there are ZERO preservatives/additives and I get the satisfaction knowing I saved a few buckaroos.  Enjoy!

Yields: 3 1/2 cups of hummus

Ingredients
3 cans of chick peas, drained and rinsed (you'd be surprised how much salt is on those suckers!)
2 bulbs garlic, roasted (Chop tips off top of bulb. Drizzle with olive oil & wrap in foil. Bake at 375 for 1 hr. Once cooled, pop out garlic cloves)
4 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice concentration (or juice from 1 large lemon)
1/4 warm water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Paprika to garnish the top with

Method
Throw everything is a food processor and mix until creamy. If it's not creamy enough add a little olive oil at a time until desired texture. Serve with veggie sticks, crackers and pita triangles.

Another Kitchen Must-have

For the last year I have been on a mission to find something to make transferring cut up veggies and fresh herbs from the cutting board to the pan easier.  The other day I was at Stokes looking around at their big sale and found it.  The answer; a pastry scraper! It was only $4.99 so I was extra pumped about my find.  This is going to be so useful during meal prep.

Flax FYI

I've know for years that flax seeds have many awesome health benefits (thanks university nutrition class!), however what I didn't know until recently is that you should stay away from whole flax seeds.  The body is unable to breakdown the whole seed and therefore doesn`t reap all of the benefits that flax has to offer.  The alternative - purchase ground flax seeds or flax seed oil instead. You can even grind up your own in a coffee grinder.