Curry Carrot & Squash Soup

Yes, I realize that I've posted a lot of carrot based soups this fall, however we had a lot of carrots to use up from our garden. I have to say, our homegrown carrots are delicious.  Far better then those mini carrots they sell at the store that dry up so quickly.  I try to stay away from those since they don't have a great taste and are preserved using some not-so-good-for-you stuff.  What more info? Check out this article on mini carrots - pretty interesting! I digress. This soup has been our favourite so far because the curry gives it a little kick. A perfect weekend lunch.

Ingredients
6 large carrots, chopped (you don't have to peel them but make sure to wash 'em though)
1 smallish butternut squash, peeled & chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon curry

Method
In a large pot over medium heat a slash of olive oil.  Once warm add garlic and stir for two minutes.  Add onion and carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add squash and curry power, stir and cook for 5 minutes.  Add chicken stock, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Transfer in batches to food process to puree. Serve with a little sour cream or grated cheese on top. 

Pumpkin Seeds X 3

2009

I love the holidays and all of the traditions that go along with them.  From decorating the Christmas tree to big family meals to carving pumpkins at Halloween, I love it all!  As mentioned here, I'm not particularly good at paying attention to fine detail, so when it comes time to carve pumpkins they end up looking like a 4 year old designed them.  Here is the proof...

2008

2007 (Mine is on the left...)

2011

This year my husband and I carved a pumpkin together (usually we each have our own).  My role was designer and seed baker, his was carver.  This is the design I came up with. Oh jeez! Ok, enough with pointing out things I'm terrible at and onto something that I can sometimes pull off. Cooking!  Our locally grown pumpkin was jammed full of large, lovely looking seeds that were just asking to be roasted.  I decided to make three different flavours; salty, sweet and savoury.

Method for all seeds:
Rinse seeds thoroughly with warm water and remove pumpkin gunk.  Spread seeds on a paper towel to absorb excess water. Put in a bowl and add 1 teaspoon of melted butter for ever 1 cup of pumpkin seeds.  Toss until covered. Add your chosen flavouring and toss again.  Sprinkle on cookie sheet in a single layer and cook at 300 degrees and bake 45-60 minutes, flipping once half way through.

Salty:

Add salt to taste, you could even throw in some pepper too.

Sweet:

1 tablespoon sugar

a sprinkle of cinnamon, nutmeg & clove (to taste)

Savoury:

splash of Worcestershire sauce

a sprinkle of garlic powder, Cayenne pepper and salt (to taste)

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Cranky Pants

This afternoon was spent helping my husband drag trees out of the bush that will be used to heat our house this winter.  Although it ended up being a beautiful day I wasn't feeling it, I ended up putting my Cranky Pants on this morning.  Now that I'm home I feel the need to bake an "I'm sorry for being a grumpster" treat for my patient hubby. Hope he likes it.  I had 4 overly ripe bananas that I wanted to use up and couldn't face making another loaf of banana bread. I spent a few minutes looking around the Internet for inspiration and found a good looking recipe that I ended up modifying a bit.  I haven't sampled it yet but it certainly smells DELISH! I will let you know shorty how it turned out. *turned out good!  Next time I'll bake in a rectangular dish so it comes out thinner.

Batter Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large very ripe bananas

3 tablespoons coffee cream, milk or buttermilk...whatever you have :) 

Crumble Ingredients
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 ounces)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the crumble ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Using a stand or hand mixer cream sugar, butter and egg until fluffy. Add bananas and milk/cream and continuing mixing.  Add flour, salt, baking power and baking soda and mix until everything it is blended well.  In a greased rectangular baking pan pour in half of the batter.  Sprinkle with half the crumble mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and crumble. Bake 45 minutes or until centre is cooked through.

One Dish Chicken & Broccoli

Campbell's soup to the rescue!  This recipe is modified from a can of Cream of Chicken Campbell's Soup.  I'm pumped that it only took one pan to make, especially since I enjoy doing dishes just about as much as I enjoy grocery shopping (details here).  To be honest, I don't enjoy chicken all that much (too bland for this guys taste buds), so I have to flavour the 'f out of it.  This recipe does just that.  I served it with boiled red potatoes seasoned with butter, salt and pepper.




Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large chicken breasts, halved lengthwise
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large crown broccoli, cut into pieces
1 green onion, chopped (or about 4 tablespoons of diced regular onion)

Method
Heat olive oil in a large fry pan and add chicken.  Brown chicken on each side (about 4 minutes each side).  Add onions and cook about 3 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 7-10 minutes (or until broccoli is cooked to preference).  Serve over rice or with a side of potato.

The greatest food on the planet

It doesn't matter where it comes from, who makes it or what's on it....

I LOVE PIZZA. 

Greatest food on the planet.  Why you ask?!

• You can eat it cold or hot
• So many crust options - thick, thin, whole wheat, rosemary, gluten free etc.
• You can eat it for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner
• Dessert pizza! HELLO!
• It can be spicy by adding chili flakes to the sauce or hot peppers as a topping
• It can be savoury by using a smokey BBQ sauce instead of the typical pizza sauce
• You can make it fancy with goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and a pesto sauce
• It's dippable!  Ranch salad dressing and pizza crust is heavenly...
•  It cures a hangover
• It's an awesome celebration food
• It usually has all 4 food groups
• You can make it healthy!
• It can be made at home, bought frozen or delivered (unless you live in the boons like me)
• Let's face it, it smells ridiculously GOOD!
• Everyone loves it.  If you don't, stop lying to yourself
• You can make it in any shape you want! Heart pizza - - so romantic!
• It's so good that it only took me 3 minutes to write this list

I made homemade pizza tonight (recipe found here) and cannot wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

Jill, out.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is super simple and tastes pretty darn good! It took about 5 minutes of prep and 35 minutes to cook.

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, butterflied & tenderized
3 tablespoons low fat sour cream
2 cups fresh spinach
Up to 1/4 cup grated extra old cheddar cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
*Optional - 4 strips bacon (I didn't do this put it would taste darn GOOD!)

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Slice each chicken breast lengthwise until its just attached on one side (this is called butterflying).  Open up and cover with a piece of plastic wrap.  Using a meat tenderizer smack the $#*! out of it until its large enough to roll with a filling inside.  Throw spinach in the microwave until it wilts (1 min).  In a bowl mix wilted spinach, sour cream, cheese and garlic.  Spread mixture into chicken.  Roll chicken breasts and secure with tooth picks. If you decided to use bacon, wrap around chicken at this point.  In a oven proof dish, cook for 35 minutes.  Remove tooth picks and serve with a spinach salad. Bam!  Quick, easy and simple!

California Strawberry Salad

Thanksgiving meal round 2, here we come!  I am contributing a salad and decided on a California Strawberry Salad.  I would have preferred to use goat cheese but it were sold out at the grocery store yesterday - - - feta it is!  This salad has a great mixture of sweet and salty flavours and the sliced almonds add a decent crunch since baby greens are a little on the soft side (that's that she said).  You could add a few shrimp, a salmon steak or a grilled chicken breast to make it a meal.  E.n.j.o.y.

Yields: One big salad for a group

Salad Ingredients
1 head of romaine (you don't need this but I had it in the fridge and wanted to use it up)
1 small container mixed baby greens
1 brick feta OR goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar toasted sliced almonds (in a fry pan over med. heat mix 3 tbsp sugar & almonds until sugar melts. remove & cool)

Maple Poppy Seed Salad Dressing
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
pinch of salt
* mix everything together

Add dressing just before you serve so it doesn't go soggy.

Autumn Soup; bunny style

We planted our veggie garden very late this year since we were anticipating a move over the summer (wishful thinking!) so our carrots are finally ready to be pulled (that's what she said).  I decided to make another pureed soup and opted for straight up carrot. Ya, I live on the edge like that.  Both my husband and I have a slight gag reflex when it comes to cooked carrots so I was crossing my fingers that this soup wasn't going to have the same flavour.  Mission accomplished!  The soup turned out great and only took about 35-40 minutes, start to finish. 

Yields: 1 big pot of soup - probably 12 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter/marg
10-15 decent sized carrots, peeled and chopped
2 small onion, chopped
1 medium potato (optional - I added it to thicken up the soup with its' natural starch)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
*or instead of the water and cubes, add 4 cups of stock
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Method
In a large pot over medium heat melt butter and add garlic and onion.  Once onion goes clearish (about 4 minutes) add the carrots, potatoes and wine.  Simmer for 5 minutes until the alcohol is cooked off.  Add water, cubes and pepper.  Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Transfer in batches to food processor.  Puree and serve.  YUM!

Apple Pie & Gulten free Apple Crisp

Not my actual apple pie - i wish!
Today we remember Steve Jobs

I'm all appled out!  Today at 8:10am half of my class made apple crisp for their weekly food lab.  When I arrived home tonight and had to make an apple pie and an apple crisp for my family Thanksgiving meal.  Tomorrow morning at 8:10am the other half of my class will be making, yup you guessed it; apple crisp. Apples and I are on a break right now.  By the time Thanksgiving rolls around I'll be opting for pumpkin pie for dessert instead.

APPLE PIE RECIPE
Crust Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, chilled and diced 

1/2 cup ice water

Filling Ingredients
12 small assorted apples, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze Ingredients
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons sugar

Method
In stand mixer combine flour and salt. Add butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. split in half and wrap each ball in plastic and refrigerate for 45 minutes or overnight. Roll each dough ball out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place one crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Trim edge even to pie plate. Set other crust aside.

In large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Stir together sugar, flour and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples and toss until coated. Scrape into pie shell.

Place other crust on top of pie and fold under. Gently lift bottom pastry rim and fold overhang under rim; press together to seal. Make a few slits in the crust to let steam escape will baking.  Brush top crust with egg and water mixture and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn down heat to 350 degrees for 40 additional minutes. I've actually put the raw pie in the freezer until Saturday when I will transport it to my hometown.  If you are baking from frozen add 10 additional minutes.

GLUTEN FREE APPLE CRISP
 Yields: 1 large serving

Ingredients
2 medium apples, peeled and sliced
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
splash lemon juice
1/2 cups pecans, crushed
1 tablespoon butter
pinch nutmeg

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange apple slices in a small greased oven proof dish. In a food processor chop walnuts finely.  Add remaining ingredients to food processor and mix.  Spread mixture over apples.  Bake for 25 minutes. Serve with ice cream. 

Pumpkin Pie

Judging by today's weather you wouldn't know that Fall has already arrived which means Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Can I get a "Booya!".  I love the time spent with family and friends, delicious home cooking, autumn colours and the crisp fall air.  What I don't like is that harvest time on the farm always, without fail, falls on the long weekend.  I am heading to my hometown this weekend and unfortunately the hubinator is unable to join in the festivities.  Can I get a "bru-tal". Since he won't be around to enjoy the awesomeness that is Thanksgiving dinner I felt sorry for the sucker.  I am in charge of making dessert; pumpkin and mile high apple pie.  I'm not one for pies but my husband is die hard so I felt sorry for him when I was whipping up the pumpkin pie... so I made two.  Yes, that is correct, my husband got his very own Thanksgiving pie.  He better be damn Thankful...

Yields: 2 nine inch pies

FYI: I used premade, frozen crusts - I'm a cheater.  Tomorrow I am making homemade pastry for my mile high apple pie and will post when I have a few minutes.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (425 ml)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can carnation evaporated milk

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees C.  Whisk together all ingredients except evaporated milk.  Once everything is thoroughly mixed, slowly mix in milk.  Pour mixture into pie crusts.  Cook for 65 minutes on bottom rack.

Choco & PB Cookies

Have I mentioned that I love peanut butter? Yesterday while the hubster was cleaning out the wood stove I decided to do some baking (yes, we are pioneers). These cookies have a subtle PB flava-flav and are perfectly chewy, just so long as you don't over cook them.  This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies so you can earn brownie points (or should I say cookie points) by taking them to work and sharing with colleagues.  Hope you likie as much as I likie.

I think this kid loves PB too!

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, corn syrup, water, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt then stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Check out this girls blog! I think she might love PB and chocolate more then I do!

Another Modest Facelift

Earlier this year I revamped the look of my blog (here), and although I liked it, I felt it didn't truly reflected me. Today I spent time creating yet another new look and am happy with how it turned out.  This new look feels much more like me!  Hope you agree.

Over the next month I hope to add some more features/pages to my blog to give it a little more depth and not be only about cooking.  I'm the first to admit that I'm definitely not technologically inclined so it will take some time for me to figure out how to do this. Keep checking back for these "coming soon" changes.

Thanks for reading!

Bro's BBQ Sauce

Last weekend my husband and I dropped by my brother and sister-in-laws place to snuggle with our precious 5 week-old nephew.  When we walked in we were greeted by an amazing aroma of homemade BBQ simmering on the stove.  My brother had whipped up a giant batch of sauce and gave us a jar to take home. BOOYA! We absolutely loved it and found it was the perfect mixture of sweet and savoury.  Thanks bro!

Ingredients
1 large bottle of ketchup
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/2-1 cup water (depending on how thick you want it) ...........(that's what she said)

Method

Mix all ingredients in a pot and simmer on the stove for 10-15 minutes. Store in fridge.