Turkey Soup & Shepard's Pie

Christmas has officially come to an end.  It was a long haul but we had a blast visiting with family and friends and hosting a few of our own get togethers.  We were certainly spoiled this year thanks to some extremely generous people. THANK YOU ALL!! The only thing on the agenda today is to reorganize the fridge and make some food out of all the leftovers and maybe hit the grocery store.  On the menu; turkey and rice soup, and Shepard's pie.  Both are makeshift recipes using crap I have in the kitchen so feel free to substitute as needed.  The Shepard's pie is in the freezer now so I'm not entirely sure how it turned out but it looked and smelled very good.  I've made a different Shepard's pie (here) if you want to check it out too.  Enjoy!

Turkey Soup Ingredients
8 cups stock (I made my own from turkey bones -- check out my recipe here)
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked turkey
3/4 cup long grain rice (or you can use barley)
2 carrots, diced
2 stocks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Method
Toss everything into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 30 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Shepard's Pie Ingredients
3 cups garlic mashed potatoes (recipe here)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 lb ground beef or chicken
3/4 cup of BBQ (I used PC gourmet BBQ sauce)
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle of the top)

Method
In a frying pan over medium heat cook ground beef until browned all the way through.  Drain fat. Add onion and BBQ sauce and cook for 5 additional minutes.  Remove from heat and spread in the bottom of a rectangular oven safe dish.  Either on the stove top of in the microwave warm corn through. Sprinkle thawed corn over top of beef mixture.  Spread potatoes on top and sprinkle top with parm and paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Appetizer - Artichoke Dip & Tostitos

Picture borrowed from here

I hope that you all had a lovely week of celebrating and spending time with family.  My husband and I have had intensely busy days and laaaaazy days --- it's all about balance, right?!  Tomorrow we are off to our last of four Christmas celebrations.  We've been binging since last Saturday and are looking forward to getting back to our regular eating routine that doesn't include turkey! I foresee a lot of spinach smoothies in the coming weeks.  My brother and his wife have generously offered to host tomorrows gathering and have taken on all of the cooking duties. CHA-CHING.  I have offered to bring an appetizer and decided on using items I have around the house out of pure laziness.  My brothers family is gluten free and I decided on a artichoke dip with tostitos (don't get the whole wheat ones if you want to do a gluten free app). I've made an artichoke dip before (here), but decided to mix it up a bit.

Ingredients
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and minced1/2 cup mayo
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup cheese, grated (whatever you have laying around - I used Havarti)
1/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed, drained and minced
1/4 of an onion, minced (I used a mild Spanish onion)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper

Method
Mix it all together in a stand mixer and transfer to an oven safe dish.  bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until the top is slightly browned. Remove and serve hot :)




Turkey, Mashed Potatoes & Squash

It has finally arrived!  Christmas Eve --- my favourite day of the entire year.  I'm sitting here in front of my lit Christmas tree, in my new beautiful home with a napping puppy by my side, a warm tea in hand and a heart that is so grateful that it's about to explode. As I reflect on 2012 I'm realizing that this was one of the best yet! While we did experience some difficult times including the loss of my Nana, we had many high moments including attending many weddings of loved ones, the purchase of our new home, escaping to Jamaica, celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in Chicago, and learning that a very dear friend won her fight against cancer. Grateful indeed.

On Saturday the hubster and I hosted our very first holiday in our new place --- Christmas dinner for 47 people and 2 dogs!  It was loud, busy, hot and oh so freakin' awesome.  It was beyond heart warming to look around our home and see so much love and celebrating in one space.  We are so lucky to have so much love and support from so many people.

Today my family starts to arrive to begin the next phase of Christmas celebrating. Over the next few days I will be making turkey, mashed potatoes and squash.  Below you will find the recipes I will be using; all of which I have used previously and have been happy with). The mashed potatoes recipe can be found here, however I will be using a slightly adapted recipe today by adding some additional herbs. Here are the turkey and squash recipes. Enjoy xo

Gluten Free Turkey Ingredients (no stuffing in this bad boy!)
1 Turkey (ours is about 14 lbs -- this will feed 10 -12 people)

Juice of a lemon

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons Olive oil

1/2 onion, peeled and quartered

1 entire thing of celery (is it called a bunch, head, bundle...hmm) Use the entire thing; leaves and all)

2 carrots, cut into 4 big chunks

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

Method
Thaw your bird -- about 5 hour for every pound in the fridge. Grab your rubber gloves because shit is going to get real. Remove all the gross random body parts from the inside and toss in the garbage --- please, for the love of god do not keep them for soup.  I have been scared for life from seeing my mom make `esophagus soup`. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Don`t forget to remove on rack. Rinse turkey in cold water and pat dry with paper towel.  Bleach the crap out of your sink because all those nasty germs can make you sick.  Using the juice from one lemon coat the inside of the bird then coat with a palm full of salt. Now the stuff that goes in the bird is for flavour only --- put half a onion, parsley, carrots, and celery. Close up the turkey cavity with either string or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close. Paint bird with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Place in a roasting pan breast side down and cook at 325 degrees for about 3.5 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 175 degrees for dark meat and 165 degrees for the breasts.  Baste every 30 minutes. I have a needle type injector thing that I will use to inject the juices as well (That's what she said!). Juices should run clear. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving. ENJOY!

Yield: About 12 servings
Baked Squash Ingredients

2 butternut squash

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

 

Method

Cut squash in half lengthwise and get rid of the seeds. Brush squash halves with butter. In a small bowl, combine the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg pepper and brown sugar and sprinkle over squash halves.
Place in a greased baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 60 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 additional minutes (or until squash is tender). Scoop out of skin and mash in a bowl.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your families --- enjoy every heart warming memory making moment

 

 

Gin & Tonic Jello Shots

To celebrate the start of the holidays over 25 of our staff participate in the almost annual pub crawl on Friday night.  It was a 10 hour long beverage sipping event after a day of work and it was SO.MUCH.FUN. I took it back old school and contributed 100 different flavoured jello shots and they were a hit.  The fan favourite were the Gin and Tonic shooters. Here is the recipe I used. Enjoy!

Yield: About 15 shooters

Ingredients
1 box lime jello
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup boiling tonic water
2/3 cup gin
1/3 cup cold tonic water

Method
Measure out 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of Tonic. Pour the mixture into your pot and bring it to a boil. While the Water/Tonic mixture is heating up measure out 2/3 cup of gin and 1/3 cup cold tonic and set them aside. Once the tonic and water comes to a boil quickly pour it into a bowl and mix in the powdered jello. Once the powder is completely dissolved add the cold gin/tonic and stir again. Pour into disposable shot glasses (I use the large ketchup cups). CHEERS!

Hot Chocolate & Bailey's

It's hard to believe that Christmas has arrived.  I just ended school on Friday and I am so thrilled to have two weeks to regroup. The last day of school leading into the winter break is one of my favs.  The students are all so excited and there is such a strong sense of holiday spirit in the school. It also makes it socially acceptable to eat cake for breakfast and timbits for lunch which, for the record I did. On the last day of school I always like to give my work buddies a little treat so this is what I came up with.

• Disposable coffee cup with lid (Dollar store)
• Flavoured hot chocolate (Costco)
• Mini bottle of Bailey's
• Cellophane bags (Michael's)
• I wish I included red spoons --- shoot!

 

 

*I scored the template for these cute naughty or nice gift tags here)

Julia Child

Picture borrowed from here.



4th Annual Cookie Exchange

Last night was our 4th annual cookie exchange with some amazing friends.  We scored a lot of awesome treats! I'll admit that I always regret being apart of this cookie exchange while I'm making my 7 batches of cookies but when it's all said and done and we swap everything it is completely worth it!  The 6 of us ladies always touch base ahead of time to ensure we'll have a good variety of treats. This year we had short bread, chocolate candy cane cookies, chocolate coconut macaroons, sugar cookies, truffles and peanut butter cups. CHA-CHING! I haven't yet sampled everything but it all looks delicious! My husband and I are hosting 2 Christmases this year (one will be 50+ people!!!) so I'll need to bake a few more batches of various cookies to make our stash last through the holidays.  I ended up making sugar cookies with a Hersey's kiss on top.  They turned out well for the most part but next time I will make them a tad smaller, add some nutmeg, and perhaps mix up the types of kisses I put on the top. Below is the adapted recipe. Hope you like 'em. Check out our 2nd and 3rd annual cookie exchanges here and here.

Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients
Various Hersey's Kisses (hugs, milk chocolate, candy cane, etc)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Red coloured sugar (put regular sugar in a Ziploc, add 5-10 drops of food colouring and shake)

 

Method
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Remove wrappers from the kisses (sample each one!). In a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. In a separate bowl stir together flour, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture alternatively with the milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes (I did 8 -- I like my cookies chewy!)  Remove from oven and press a kiss into center of each cookie. Immediately place in the freezer and don't touch for 10 minutes. As soon as you move the tray the kisses collapse. Enjoy!

It was mighty cold outside the night I made mine so I lined them up on my deck railing to cool.

Rushed Ribs

Over the last couple of years I have learned more about myself than I have it the 10 years prior to that.  Do I dare say that I'm maturing!? Hmm, maybe that's what happens when you turn 30. Doubtful. Whatever the reason, I'll take it.  This new self awareness has helped me realized what makes me 'tick' and why I act, think and feel the way I do.  I'm not going to sit here in list all of my idiosyncrasies but I will tell you that I have learned that although I get an huge satisfaction from being organized, I HATE routine.  I've mentioned before that the very thought of meal planning gives me heart palpitations. This hangup I have can be problematic when I want to use a recipe that requires planning ahead.  I scored back ribs on sale from Foodland and had intended on dropping them in the slow cooker before running out the door for work but completely forgot. Dammit. When I got home from work at 5pm I decided to try a quick approach to making ribs.  I have to say they turned out WAY better then I thought but obviously not as fall-off-the-bone as they would have been if I'd done a slow cooking method.

Ingredients
Pork back ribs
1/2 cup ketchup
 3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place ribs, fat side down in an oven proof dish.  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and pour over top of the ribs.  Cover dish loosely with foil, allowing steam to escape and cook for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Serve with baked beans and corn. Yum!

The Classic Caesar

It's inevitable that when I hear someone ordering a Caesar or see someone sipping on one I MUST have one myself. For as long as I can remember I've always loved them.  My Father used to make virgin Caesars for me when I was little on special occasions like Christmas eve, Thanksgiving dinner or any large family get togethers. I've had Caesars at pretty much every restaurant I've been to -- some better than others.  My mouth is watering just writing about it.  I can't believe I've been writing this blog for over two years and haven't posted a recipe for a Caesar yet.  wtf. Without further ado...

Yield: 1 beverage

1 lemon wedge (use to wet the lip of the cup so rimmer sticks. Squeeze remaining amount into cup)
Caesar rimmer
4 drops Tabasco
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice
2 ice cubes
1 once vodka (optional)
fill with clamato juice
top with salt and pepper
garnish with spicy pickled bean, Olive and celery

Excuse me while I go make myself a caesar...

Natural Cleaners Round 2

A few months ago I made an all natural all purpose cleaner (found here).  So far so good! I am totally diggin' it.  It's so cheap to make that I have a bottle in every bathroom in the house so I can do I quick scrub anytime I feel like it (I know, I know - I live the life, don't I!?). While the all purpose cleaner is awesome for cleaning skins, counters and scrubbing floors I found it wasn't amazing as a furniture polish and dust grabber.  I looked up numerous recipes on line and came up with one that I thought would be best.  I just ran around the house and put it to use and I'm please to say IT'S AWESOME!  I will also use this product on my reusable microfiber floor swiffer thingy to help grab dog hair. It is super duper easy to make and completely all natural!  I also made a title cleaner and keep the scrubber right in the shower for quick and easy cleaning. I'm really happy with this mixture as well.

Homemade Endust
1 3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
15 drops Lemon essential oil
1/4 cup white vinegar

*while you are cleaning you'll have to shake the mixture a lot since the oil separates easily.  Make sure you don't get this mixture on fabrics -- the oil will stain.

Homemade Title Scrub
1 part blue dawn dish soap
1 part white vinegar

*this will not disinfect --- it will however take away all the nasty grime! I purchased this cool little scrubber thing from the Superstore - it's awesome!

Simple Cinnamon Muffins

The last thing I remember as I dozed off last night was saying to my husband, "We finally get to sleep in tomorrow..." Pfff, right.  My internal alarm clock woke me up at 6:08 am. Dammit. After laying in bed for an hour trying to get back to sleep I decided to tip toe downstairs.  Wowza! The first big frost of the year.  You know what that means? Christmas is coming SOON!  Cue the Christmas tunes! (j/k - I didn't actually play holiday music....yet).  It was a little chilly in here so I built a fire, made myself a warm Chai Latte and whipped together cinnamon muffins all in 10 minutes flat.  Now my butt is on the couch relaxing and I'm actually quite pleased I woke up early because it's mornings like these that make a crazy ass week completely worth it. Happy Saturday morning everyone.  Enjoy every blissful minute of it.

Yield: 8 large muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

Method
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet ingredients in another and mix. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Be sure not to over mix. Using muffin liners fill 8 cups just over 3/4 full. Fill the empty cups half full with water (putting empty bakeware in the oven can be damaging to them). Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when you poke your muffin (that's what she said).

Since we are eating these for breakfast I'm not making icing however if you wanted to you could mix 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk (or cream). Enjoy!

PS: Don't forget to change your clocks tonight!

Burritos

Taco, burrito, what's comin' outta your speedo?
.... Anyone? Anyone?
....SNL circa 1996
....alrighty then...

Last night I was determined to have Mexican for dinner. I had a mad craving that had to be taken care of.  Bring on the burritos baby. My husband and I could only eat one each and took the leftovers for lunch today -- chaaaa-ching! I will be making these bad boys again and again!

Yield:4 maaaaaaaaassive burritos

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
Splash of olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 can refried beans
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup cooked rice (I used basmati and threw in a 1/4 cup of salsa into the water so it could be absorbed during cooking)

Sour cream, salsa and cheese to garnish

Method
Cook rice. Set aside. In a large frying pan warm olive oil over medium heat. Add ground chicken and spices.  Cook though (until the pink is gone).  Add salsa, refried beans and water. Mix everything well and cook for about 5 minutes, or until most water has evaperated.  Remove from heat and stir in rice. Serve on large soft tortillas.  Garnish with cheese, sour cream and/or salsa.  

Buen Provecho!

Homemade Starbucks Chai Tea Latte

Picture borrowed from here

Last summer I told you all about my addiction to Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks.  Those bad boys run about $4.00 for a small  (oh sorry, TALL....pff, what's with those size names anyways?) so I only allow myself to purchase one every three weeks or so. I always wait for a stressful, busy day so it's even more of a treat. Am I the only loser that strategically plans their latte drinking? My thoughtful family and friends know me so well that they often give me Starbucks gift cards for my Birthday or Christmas.  I mentioned here that I found a way to make them at home using the exact same concentrate that Starbucks uses.  The bad news is the price has gone up to about $7.99 (depending on where you get it). The good news is if you cross the border to the USA you can find it at Target for $2.99!  Have you ever been so excited and flustered when you stumble across a great sale that you aren't thinking clearly, you crack under the pressure and make a quick decision that you regret later? Story.of.my.life.That was me as we crossed the border back into Canada. "Dammit, I only bought 8 cartons?! What was I thinking? I should have grabbed 20!". Next time I will enter Target with a plan -- buy an entire skid. lol. There are 2 Targets coming to London, Ontario in the new year -- I wonder how much it will cost there!? The great thing about this product is that there is a Decaf option which is a wonderful evening treat while watching TV. My sister-in-law recently found the concentrate at 'Liquidation World' in her town for $2.00! I'm sure that was just fluke so don't rely on LW to be your constant suppler but it might be worth a peek if you have one where you live.

Yield: One yummy mug full

Ingredients
Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate
Milk

Method
Fill half of your mug with the concentrate and the other half with milk.  Warm on high in your microwave for about 1.5 minutes, or until hot all the way through.  Either stir with a mini whisk or a milk frother and enjoy every heavenly sip. Yeah, I said it. Heav-en-ly. 

Chicken Tacos

On Wednesday I had a few girlfriends over for a ladies night; an evening of catching up, eating and drinking wine. It was a great way to make the week go by a little faster.  We successfully polished off a few bottles of wine but I was left with half a bottle of white that had sat on my counter since.  I'm not a white wine drinker (university ruined it for me!) so tonight I decided to spruce up chicken tacos by simmer the onion, chicken cubes and taco seasoning in wine. I used one of those taco seasoning packets that typically call for 1 cup of water to be added with the seasoning.  Using wine instead of water made the tacos even more awesome. Worth a try if you happen to have extra wine sitting around. HA! I typically use ground chicken when I make tacos however I didn't have any on hand so I cubed up two chicken breasts. My husband and I both agree we prefer this new wine infused chicken cube approach to tacos.  I will definitely be making these again!

Want to make your own taco seasoning? Here's a simple recipe for you that I've used!

Yields enough to make one batch of tacos

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoondried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pepper

 

Method

Add all ingredients to cooked chicken/beef in a skillet and add 1/2 cup of water. Simmer on low for 5 minutes or until most of the water is gone.

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

Cha-ching! I was in the baking isle at the grocery store the other day and stumbled across a life changer! Peanut butter mini melts, which happen to be the exact cups found in the only ice cream I eat -- Loads of Chocolate Peanut Buttery Treat. Like I said; a life freakin' changer.

I spent the day paint our master bedroom and found myself bagged by 5pm.  After a long soak in the tub I decided to use the 'life changers' and make a batch of banana muffins.  So here I am curled up on the couch watching a PVR'ed episode of 'Parenthood' sampling a muffin. They are delish! So delish in fact, that I just chugged a curdled glass of milk and didn't even notice. True story. Nasty, I know but I don't even care because that muffin was epic (That's what he said). You should know that these are FAR from good for you -- so think of them more like a cupcake and enjoy every GD bite :)

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened (or 1/4 cup butter, 3/4 cup apple sauce)
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large very ripe bananas
3 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot water
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup peanut butter melts (or chocolate chips if you are boring like that)

Method
Mix all wet ingredients and both types of sugars together in a stand mixer until thoroughly mixed. Slowly add dry ingredients until everything is mixed.  Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 23 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean when muffin is pierced (that's what she said!). Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I've lost my blog ambition. Yup, it's true.  At first I thought it was because I've been so busy transitioning from summer to working my buns off but the more I think about it the more I realize that I'm running low on motivation in the kitchen.  I've written over 230 posts since I started this blog and I'm finally starting to repeat my recipes on a regular basis. I hope that this Fall weather will inspire me to try out some new recipes.  For those of you who check my blog regularly, I'm sorry. I'm a jerk.

Today I went on a long walk with my pup and took some Fall inspired pictures.  When I got home I was in the mood for pumpkin spice muffins. According to my husband who just returned home after a day of harvesting beans, "it smells like Fall in here!".  Mission accomplished. These muffins will be great for a quick breakfast or a snack at work.  I made a maple cream cheese spread to go on top. I dislike cream cheese icing imensely but I'm sure it's tasty...
*The below recipe was adapted from here

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I tossed the rest in the freezer for later)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I'm wondering if you just add 1/4 cup more of the puree you could omit the oil)
1 tsp vanilla

Method
In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. In separate bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin puree oil and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Spoon into greased muffin cups. Bake at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Maple Cream Cheese Icing
1/2 container of light cream cheese
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Using an electric mixer cream together all ingredients. Store in fridge until you want to spread it on your muffin (that's what she said).

Coconut Oil

A few years ago my [then] hairdresser sat me under a hairdryer with foils in my hair to speed on the lightening process.  This was common practice for her but usually I only sat there for about 15 minutes.  This particular day she had me sit there for close to 40 minutes.  I was confused but decided to wait patiently for her to come retrieve me from the back of the salon since she was giving someone else a hair cut at the front.  While she blewdry (blow dry? blow dryed?..pfff...) my hair I noticed a ton of breakage falling all over the black smock I was wearing.  I thought I was being a little crazy so I decided not to say anything, quickly paid and headed home.  The next morning after my shower while I worked my round brush through my hair while I was blow drying I noticed that my hair was breaking again, about 3 inches from the root. Shit.  My hairdresser had burnt my hair so badly that my hair continued to break for the week following my highlight appointment.  I ended up having a slight mullet since I (thankfully!) only get half head highlights done. Since then I've been working at getting my hair back to its' old healthy self and growing out all of these "layers".  Needless to say I don't go to her anymore (even though I love the colour and cut she used to do!) That happened 3 years ago and my hair is still quite damaged. I use leave in conditioner daily, coat my hair with a heat protector every time of straighten and blow dry it, and use a comb instead of a brush.  Thanks to Pinterest I recently stumbled across a web page talking about the benefits of coconut oil including its ability to restore damaged hair. Cha-ching! Check it out the article here. I ran out to the Bulk Barn and scored a jar for about 7 buckaroos.  I've only used it on my hair once so far but I noticed a slight difference but where I've seen the biggest impact is on my skin.  Since I was young I've had little bumps on my upper arms. I've visited the doctor and was given a prescription for it, which didn't help at all.  I've been using the coconut oil on my arms daily for the last 2 weeks and have seen a huge improvement.  While I've never cooked with coconut oil, I intend on trying it out in the future. It is a saturated oil which is a little bit of a deterrent for me, but I've done some more research and have decided the next time I bake will substitute butter or vegetable oil for coconut oil.  It has an incredible sweet coconut smell so I can imagine that it would only enhance the flavour of a baked good. I will keep you posted.  As for the hair and skin benefits I suggest you hit up bulk barn and grab a jar for yourself.

Sunday Morning Oatmeal Muffins

I'm back to work after a whirlwind of a summer and I'm extremely happy about it.  I work with incredible people, I have great students and I adore my job. I'm very good at finding balance during the school year and manage my time well for the most part.  This summer was a difficult one for me because I felt as though I wasn't able to find any balance. Don't get me wrong, I had some wildly fun evenings with some of my best friends, romantic dinners with my husband and celebrated some very special people, but I felt completely disconnect to my life at 'home'. A life that we have worked so hard to create over the last 5 years. I missed normalcy this summer.

This weekend has been pure awesomeness (that's a word, right?!).  We sat for hours in our PJ's drinking coffee and chatting about our wish list of things we'd like to accomplish in our new home, completed tasks on our to-do lists, soaked in the tub, dressed up and went out for dinner, walked the dog, relaxed, and it isn't even over yet.  Everything we've done this weekend has been on our terms. It feels as though we've finally restored the balance. This morning I was even able to bake oatmeal muffins for breakfast.  A perfect compliment to a giant mug (or 2...or 3...) of yummy coffee.

Yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil (or apple sauce - I didn't have any on hand - dammit!)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

 

Method

Let the oats soak in the milk for 15 minutes. Add egg, oil, brown sugar and chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon. Slowly add flour, baking powder and salt. Spoon into a greased muffin tin and fill 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.    

Caramel Apple Dip

This weekend we had my beautiful Mother, Brother, Sister in-law and Nephew all here for a Birthday celebration for Mama.  We ended up being so stuffed from dinner that we couldn't even eat the gluten free dessert I had on hand.  Thankfully we had some of Eric's family here the following day and was able to serve it to them (although we still have a ton leftover in the fridge!). Mmmm, apples covered in sugary goodness. Yes please.

Makes enough for crowd!!

Ingredients
2 containers of light cream cheese
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 squeeze bottle of caramel sauce
3/4 cup skor crumbs (bulk barn)

Method
Mix cream cheese and brown sugar together with a stand mixer (or electric mixer) for at least 3 minutes. Spread mixture in a shallow(ish) dish.  Pour caramel sauce over top and sprinkle with skor crumbs.  Serve with sliced apples.

Foil Chicken Dinner & Baked Stuffed Apples

I haven't been home much this summer and therefore haven't had the opportunity to cook a whole lot.  I'm usually home long enough to unpack, do laundry and pack again so there wasn't much point in doing big grocery shopping trips.  Tonight I don't have much in the cupboards and fridge but was determined to make a yummy home cooked meal. Hmmm...chicken breasts, a few mini potatoes, a small assortment of veggies and apples. I decided on a tin foil chicken dinner (similar to the one found here) and baked stuffed apples for dessert. It totally smells like Thanksgiving in here right now. Pure comfort food!

Dinner for 2

Chicken Dinner Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4-6 mini potatoes, cubed
1 celery stalk, sliced thick
1 carrot, sliced thick
1/4 red onion, sliced
herbs (I used about a tablespoon of each of my fresh thyme and sage from my garden)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
* you can add any veggies you want. These are the only items I had in the fridge

Method
Dump all ingredients into an oven proof and cover with tin foil (you can also just make tin foil packages). Cook covered for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Done and done!

Baked Apples Ingredients
4 apples, cored
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon of each cinnamon and nutmeg (add more if you want to)
4 tablespoons of soft marg/butter


Method
Wash and core apples.  Mix all remain ingredients together.  Place apples in an oven proof dish. Stuff mixture into apple holes (that's what she said) and pack remaining mixture on top of apples. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Serve on their own or with ice cream or whipped cream. Yummers!

 

Chicago

 Last weekend my amazing husband stole me away for a 4 day getaway to Chicago for our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  It was an amazing trip!  If you've never been to the Windy City you must go and be sure to leave the kiddies at home.  The city is stunning! Chicago has a very strong European influence with the river flowing right through the centre of the city, lift bridges every block, architecture to die for, lush gardens lining the sidewalks and soft sand beaches hugging the  beautiful skyline. While we did walk for 7+ hours each day, I found this trip very relaxing and a great chance for my husband and I to reconnect. We've spent the entire summer doing things for others and desperately needed this time escape.  We didn't make an itinerary but we did have a list of things that we wanted to do. We managed to fit in everything on our to-do lists and much, much more! Here's what we managed to do and highly recommend everything!

- Sat on the Navy Pier for 2 nights drinking beer in the beer garden and watching the world go by (and the sun set)
- Watched fireworks on the pier (every Wed & Sat night at 10:15pm all summer long!)
- Went up to the John Hancock Observatory
- Sat on the beach
- Had morning coffee on the canal
- 90 minute boat tour of the canal/skyline (we purchased a $35 package at the Hancock building for both the observatory and the boat tour - best deal in town for sure!)
- Visited a steakhouse, a burger joint, a pizzeria and ate sushi.
- Did1 hour of shopping on the Mag Mile (we didn't want to waste our time in change rooms)
- Wandered Millennium Park & Grant Park (saw the Bean & Buckingham Fountain)
- Garrett's Popcorn (ate it while we watched the fireworks. You MUST go there!!!!)
- Walked EVERYWHERE! We balanced out all the beer and food by working it off walking
- Stayed at a hotel that included breakfast
- Drove into the city - we didn't have to worry about a schedule, packed as much as we wanted and got to stop along the way to do some Target shopping! (Parking at our hotel for 4 days was only $87)
- stayed in a cool little boutique hotel (we knew we'd never have the opportunity to do that again so we went for it)
- booked our hotel on www.hotels.com to save some coin
- drank coffee in bed and watched the local morning news
- We didn't rush! We wanted to make sure this was a relaxing experience. We didn't make reservations for anything.  We wanted to just go with the flow.
- We traveled alone.  It was awesome to fly by the seat of our pants and do whatever we wanted

The food was great. Like any big city there was a huge spectrum of the types of food and the prices.  Steakhouses were everywhere!  We went to one that was considered a mid-priced steakhouse called Flemming's.  It happened to be next door to our hotel but came highly recommended by the staff at our hotel. It ran about $60 per person (not including drinks). The steak was delicious and so was the wine! They had a 4 page wine list. Worth the money for sure. But from what I could tell there were a ton of awesome options if you wanted a good steak. For one of our lunches we stumbled into a place called Epic Burger.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed AMAZING handmade burgs for cheap. We later found out that it was one the most popular Burger joints in the city! I'm so glad we turned down that side street.  That evening we were still full from our Epic burgers so we decided on a small little sushi place two blocks over from our hotel called Sushi Taiyo. Yummy! We had read and heard great things about Pizzeria Uno, which happened to be 3 doors down from our hotel so we saved it for our last night in the city.  It was at least an hour wait anytime so we put our name in and went back to our hotel and got ready.  Since my husband and I like different things on our pizza we ordered individual sized pizzas.  I'm going to be honest - we weren't overly impressed.  I did not like the crust at all.  It was dry and gritty but I loved the middle of my pizza.  My guess is it would be less dry if we ordered a bigger pizza so if you decided to go there, don't get the individual size.  And here I thought I loved all pizza... hmm....
 
What a great trip away - awesome company, great food and a beautiful city!  We would definitely go back if given the opportunity. Thank you E! Happy Anniversary!

August is the new December

This week my husband and I are celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary.  WTF? We are too young for that!! Since I'm a hopeless romantic, I've scheduled a fun ( & cheeeeeeezy!) little activity every day this week, ranging from a couples massage to a movie date at the Drive-In.  Tonight is Christmas in August! My hubby is  sucker for Christmas cookies and I'm crazy for Christmas movies so tonight we are eating freshly baked Ginger Cookies, sipping on hot chocolate and watching Elf. Will Farrell and cookies?! Pfff, can't go wrong! I have to admit that the scent of freshly cut grass wafting through the open kitchen window and the strong aroma of ginger seeping from the oven is an odd combination...

Life is good!

Breakfast

I've been drinking spinach smoothies every weekday for breakfast since January.  Anyone who knows me would tell you that I'm far from a creature of routine.  I hate routine but for some reason I totally dig having a smoothie on my drive to work every morning. In fact, I look forward to it.  This summer has been crazy busy to say the least and I have been finding myself spending more time away from home then I do at home. Being away from home has caused me to fall off my spinach smoothie wagon. I think traveling with my bucket of spinach and a blender would be a little psycho. My husband and I have been trying out a few new breakfast ideas and have come up with a winner that happens to have all 4 food groups! Can I get a 'woot woot'?! All  food groups means this breakfast will stick to our ribs until lunchtime.  It's quick, simple and can be packed up in a Pyrex and taken to work too. Hope you like it as much as we do!

Yield: 1 Serving
Ingredients
1/3 cup fat free vanilla Greek yogurt (use Greek for the added protein)
1/4 cup granola (I currently use store bought but plan on making it homemade in the future)
1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh fruit (blueberries are my fav!)
1/4 cup trail mix

Beer Can BBQ Chicken

I sometimes wonder why I never decided to become a vegetarian.  I hate working with raw meat, I don't enjoy what I like to call 'weird' meats such as rabbit, lamb or venison, and I don't like eating meat with bones in it (that's what she said).  But the second I smell a burger on the BBQ or a pull pork simmering in the crock pot I realize that vegetarianism just isn't in my future.  This past weekend certainly tested my meat eating ways. My husband and I visited an old university friend and his family in Quebec at his newly established family egg farm.  I toured the property, helped sort eggs and checked out a barn full of 9,000 laying hens - Holy.Shit - I didn't anticipate being so overwhelmed by all the chickens. To say that I had a slight meltdown is somewhat of an understatement. Picture me, in a white skirt with a fedora on standing alone in the corner, shaking in my flip flops, trying not to make eye contact with the chickens. Classic. It appears that I still have some city in me! It was a very eye opening experience. As I ate my hard boiled egg on my spinach salad at lunch I couldn't help it but think of where it might have come from.

Ironic that whole chickens are on crazy sale this week?! hmm. Maybe. Regardless, I snagged one for dinner tonight for only $5.50 and decided on beer can chicken.  While preparing it I managed to only gag ONCE (that's what she said)! Success. As mentioned here, I wear rubber gloves when handling meat because it grosses me out so much. Don't judge. Minus the gaging, this was a super easy meal to prepare. About 3 minutes prep time and 1 hour and 15 minutes cook time. Easy peasy! I served it with broccoli salad. The perfect summer meal.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1/2 a can of beer (drink the other half!)
1/4 cup olive oil
your favourite herbs and spices (I used salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, coriander, paprika and garlic powder)

Method
Using a chicken BBQ stand (I think ours is from Canadian Tire - a wedding gift), place beer can in the middle and plop the bird on top. In a small bowl add olive oil, herbs and spice.  Paint onto chicken.  Place on the BBQ for 1 hour 15 minutes on medium-high heat.  It is fully cooked when juices run clear.  Get your farm husband to carve it up so you don't puke and serve with your favourite sides. Enjoy!

Personalized Pizza Dough

Last night I made homemade pizza for dinner and decided to spruce up my classic dough a little by adding garlic powder, red pepper flakes and rosemary. You can add any of your favourite herbs and spices during the mixing process and make a basic dough have a little more UMPH! 

Last night was the first time I was finally able to put my pizza stone from Pampered Chef to use. I've heard a lot of hype about stone bakeware and decided to purchase my own. Because I co-hosted a Pampered Chef party as a fundraiser at my school, it only ended up costing me $18.00. To be honest, I'm not overly thrilled with how it baked my pizza.  The stone bakes very evenly, however I'm a sucker for a crispy crust so I think I'll stick with my regular pizza pan in the future. I also encountered an issue with the dough sticking to the stone. I think my stone will be put to better use for baking cookies. I'll keep you posted.

My old faithful pan that I'm sticking with!

My stone & dough

I heart pizza.

Wedding Bells & Broccoli Salad

I've recently returned home from a 6 day journey across the Province where I celebrated the marriage of two very close friends. The day was perfect - we couldn't have asked for better weather or company. We ate, danced and drank the night away.  I felt an unbelievable amount of love and support in the banquet hall, which brought me to tears a few times. To say that this couple is adored by many is an understatement. Their love for each other, life, their families, and friends is a beautiful thing. Congratulations friends! XOXO

Enough with the mushy-gushy crap, right?! Onto the FOOD. My favourite on the menu - Broccoli Salad. OH MAN! I loved it so much that I hit the grocery store upon arrival home and purchased all the ingredients necessary to make it.  So delish!  Perfect side for anything BBQ'ed.

Yield: 4 sides

Ingredients
1 head of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 red onion, chopped small
1/4 cup bacon bits
3 tablespoons shelled unsalted sunflower seeds
small handful dried raisins or cranberries
1/4 cup -1/2 cup light mayo (depending on the amout of broc)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Method
Mix mayo, sugar and vinegar in a small bowl.  In a large salad bowl add remaining ingredients and pour dressing over top.  Mix thoroughly. Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

Family is extremely important to me.  I've always had a no-obligation relationship with my mom and brother, his wife, and son. My Mother has always made it clear that we should never feel obligated to spend time with family - -that it should always be because we want to visit, not because we have to visit.  The fact is, I love seeing them and when i don't, I genuinely miss them. You can imagine being two hours from my Mother and an hour and a half away from my only sibling and his beautiful family can be difficult at times.  Yes, the traveling back and forth gets tiresome but what I long for the most is the opportunity to swing by for a quick coffee date on the fly or watch my nephew for an hour while my brother and his wife do errands. I understand that there are many people out there that live in different provinces or countries then their immediate family and I truly don't know how they do it.  Living that far away from family just isn't an option for me.

Unlike my petite family, my husbands side is enormous and he is lucky to have his entire immediate family and about 90% of his extended family close by. It's very comforting.  A week ago my husbands Grandmother had a hip replacement done (OUCH!!).  His extended family has been working together caring for her by providing meals, entertainment and comfort nearly every hour of the day.  Last night we were there for a visit and brought dinner. It was very nice to spend time with her.  Since the family is so large there isn't much time to spend one-on-one time with anyone during family get togethers (there are usually 45+ people in attendance).  It's more like a speed dating scenario - Hi, how are you? Good. Nice to see you. Good bye. On.to.the.next. This little visit felt so much more intimate then usual. It made me miss my Nana very much. Due to the medication she is taking her appetite is nil. I decided to make a smooth, warm potato leek soup. SUCCESS! She ate an entire bowl and requested I leave the leftovers for her. This soup doesn't have an enormous amount of flavour to it but you could add toppings like bacon crumbs, grated cheese or sour cream to it to make it more filling and flavourful. Can't go wrong with soup! Check out my other soups (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) Wowza - I like me some soup, eh? 11 soup recipes too many?...

Yield: About 10-12 servings

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 large leeks*, washed & sliced (don't use the dark green tops!)
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stocks, sliced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
4 large yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken stock

*Leeks are grown in very sandy soil.  Be sure to wash thoroughly.  I wash before I slice, then again in a strainer after I've sliced them.

Method
In a large pot over medium heat warm olive oil.  Add leeks, carrots, celery, thyme, salt and pepper.  Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Transfer in batches to the food processor and puree on high until smooth.  Serve and top with bacon crumbs, sour cream or grated cheddar cheese.

The Hummus Secret

I love hummus.  You know that, right? I've mentioned it a few times here, here and here.  I love how cheap, easy, tasty and healthy it is. This week I was going through an intense hummus withdrawal from Pita Pita since I'm now on summer break and no longer work around the corner from it. Today I was on a mission to make mine as close to their hummus flavour and texture as possible. With some experimenting I finally figured out the secret -- chick pea juice! Check it!

Ingredients
1 can chick peas, drain and reserve half the juice to add to mixture
1 tablespoon lemon juice concentrate
1/4 cup tahini
1/8 teaspoon (or a pinch) cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
* don't forget to add the liquid!
Method
Toss everything in a food processor and mix on high for at 1-2 minutes. The longer you leave it in the smoother and creamier it will be. Drizzle olive oil on top and serve with warm whole wheat pitas. (Tonight I served with jerk chicken as well! YUM!)

Organization & Availability

I'm definitely not the most organized person on the planet that's for sheezie but I know how an organized pantry helps with motivation in the kitchen.  A few weeks ago my husband helped me make a double batch of my favourite cookies and said he'd be screwed if it weren't of the organization of my baking ingredients.  Yes, I own a label maker and yes, I am deeply in love with it. Best gift ever.

Availability also has a lot to do with people taking the time to make homemade meals.  I never understood people who don't keep staples stocked.  These items rarely spoil and isn't it way more effort to have to keep running out to the store?  I know some people don't like having multiples of items but when items are one sale I'll grab a few packages that way I'm saving some buckaroos and I will have it on hand when I need it. I love spontaneity in the kitchen and having a stocked pantry enables me to be spontaneous. Perhaps this new (much) larger organized pantry will encourage my husband to cook more often...hmm....

Rant done.

I'm off to Toronto for a few days to celebrate with some lovely brides-to-be. Sound the GONG.  I will write when I return.  Enjoy your weekend. It's going to be a beaut (I don't actually know if it will be but I'm going to assume it is...i.hate.rain.)

Natural Cleaners & My Inspiration

Wowza! This is a novel...

Last year I started to consider using all natural cleaning products in my home.  I knew for certain I wanted to get rid of the stash of chemical cleaners under my kitchen sink when we started a family but contemplated making the transition when we eventually moved off the farm.  In January of this year one of my closest friends was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Regardless of this diagnosis I've always viewed her as a motivated, positive and strong woman. I cannot even begin to explain to you (and her) just how inspiring she has and continues to be to me.  5 years ago I was lucky enough to have this strong woman stand next to me on my wedding day.  As a token of my appreciation I gave her a ring with the word 'inspiring' engraved on the inside.  Little did I know 5 years later she'd be even MORE of an inspiration to me then I ever thought possible.  She is that person who is always striving to do better and be better.  She is so far from stagnant. She'd blow your mind if you ever met her.

Thank you friend, for all that you do. I love you and appreciate you more then you'll ever know.

My friend and I don't spend a lot of time talking about the C-word. We do however spend a lot of time discussing the positive changes the C-word has brought about in her (and my!) daily life (lives). During our last visit she told me that strong smells, like house cleaners and hand soaps are overwhelming for her. There it was: my push to transition to natural hand soaps and cleaners a.s.a.p. That alone was reason enough for me to take the plunge, however there are a number of other reasons I decided to do it. Not only are there too many products under my sink (clutter! yuck!), they are expensive to purchase and disgusting for my family's health.  Sure, my husband and I don't have children but we do have friends and family with ankle-biters. The very thought of them crawling around on floors cleaned with glow-in-the-dark toxic cleaner makes my skin crawl.  Today I removed all of the my toxic cleaners from under my sink, except the toilet bowl cleaner. Toilets gross me out and seeing how we recently moved into this house I am still working on making the bowls feel like my own. Haha!  Give it a few more weeks and I'll be willing to give up the clorox cleaner. Today I found an awesome and cheap all natural toilet bowl cleaner at the Superstore that I will be grabbing when the time comes. For windows I use an all natural product that my lovely sister-in-law gave me from LL Bean. No more windex for this girl!

Before (10 products)

Yes, I realize this is a food blog so why the heck am I talking about cleaners, right?! Let me explain the correlation. There are many natural, indigestible cooking ingredients that can be used to make your own cleaners.  Orange peels, lemon, baking soda, and white vinegar just to name a few! After much research I have decided on this all purpose cleaner mixture. I figured it costs me about $0.75 - $1.00 for each bottle I make. The most expensive part is the optional essential oil!  If you omit that it will cost you about $0.25 a bottle. Seriously, this is a win-win situation! I'm so pumped.

Update: I just read a very interesting article about mixing vinegar/lemon juice with castile soap. Darn! Omit the vinegar next time you make a patch to avoid any problems. Check out the article here.

After (3 products)

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Soap* (I bought lavender)
5 tablespoons of white vinegar
2 teaspoons of borax (in laundry section at the grocery store - also used in laundry for natural white booster and stain remover)
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups hot water
15-20 drops of essential oil of your choice (optional; I used lemon)
a spray bottle (I had one from years ago from the dollarstore)

Method
Mix all ingredients together in a spray bottle and use on basically anything except windows & mirrors.

* I finally found Dr. Bronner's in the natural section at the Superstore for $16.00. This product is an 18 in 1 mixture that can be used for anything from face wash to shower title cleaner. $16.00 sounds expensive however it recommends that if you are using it as hand soap that it be diluted with equal parts water.  This bottle will certainly go a long way.

Hello Summer & hydration!

Summer has officially arrived!  I have two blissful months away from school to visit with friends and family, work on the new pad, read, and relax.  I absolutely love my job, but I have to say that it is a million times more work then anyone could have prepared me for. If it weren't for the summer I don't know if I'd make it through. 3 years later and I am just now getting used to the fact that I have to time out my pee breaks, and therefore my coffee and water drinking schedule. Summer not only means freedom from the students but for me it also means freedom to drink numerous coffees in the morning and an enormous amount of water. My oh my, it's the small things in life!

Last summer I challenged myself to walk or jog 5km ever day Monday-Friday and I did it...kicking and screaming.  This summer I plan on getting on an indoor workout routine (I have A/C now afterall!) and drink 10 cups of water every single day.  I rarely take any type of medication, even if I have a headache and often find that drinking 2 huge glasses of water makes a world of difference if I'm not quite feeling like myself.  It is for that reason that I am challenging myself to a water drink-off.  How will I accomplish this?  Premeasure water every morning and make it look pretty! I own a glass jug that holds 10 cups perfectly.  Add a handfull of assorted frozen fruit. I use whatever I have on hand for my daily morning spinach smoothies found here and here. There you have it.  Easy, peasy.

Happy Hydrating!