Sweet Potato Casserole - Gluten Free!

This was a Thanksgiving gamble.  I wanted to add another veggie dish to our menus - following my Auntie's example of Thanksgivings past and I happened to have sweet potatoes on hand.  The recipe I found was not originally gluten free, I made my own adaptations to make it work for us.  If our guest's reaction was any indication, this was a success.  She had seconds and raved about it so much that I gave her the recipe.  She has since made it for a dinner party and looks forward to making it again.

• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup coconut sugar  - (you could use brown sugar, I'm just on a coconut sugar kick right now)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter.
•  
• Topping
•  1/2 cup coconut sugar - or brown sugar
• 1/3 cup gluten free flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans - I didn't have any on hand, so I used slivered almonds in its place, it worked!

Preparation:

Combine first 6 ingredients. Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2-quart casserole dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until hot and browned.
Serves 6 to 8.

Vegetarian No-Noodle Lasagna - 5 Pts+

This was seriously delicious.  My husband was hugely skeptical about it because he does not like eggplant at all and thinks there should be meat in pretty much everything, but he really enjoyed it!  I found it via Dr. Oz who had Jennifer Hudson on presenting it as a Weight Watchers recipe. 

	5 sprays cooking spray, divided
	1 medium eggplant, trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices
	2 large uncooked zucchini, trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices
	1 large egg, beaten
	3/4 pound part-skim ricotta cheese - I used 1% cottage cheese in its place and recommend straining the cheese first to get rid of excess moisture and thicken it up.
	1/4 cup basil, fresh, cut into thin strips
	1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, high-quality recommended, divided - I totally don't have high quality parm.  I used our shaker (PC Blue Menu)
	4 cups store-bought marinara sauce, divided
	1/2 pound shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Instructions

• To roast vegetables, preheat oven to 400°F. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Place eggplant on one prepared baking sheet and place zucchini on other prepared baking sheet; coat vegetables with cooking spray. Roast 8 minutes; turn over vegetables and roast for 7 to 10 minutes more (total roasting time should not exceed 20 minutes or the vegetables will get too mushy); remove from oven and set aside.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine egg, ricotta cheese, basil and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese; set aside.
• When vegetables are done, reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• To assemble lasagna, coat bottom and sides of a 14- X 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of sauce (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) on bottom of pan. Layer eggplant over sauce (use all the slices, even if you have to overlap them). Cover eggplant with half of marinara sauce and then spread half of ricotta mixture on top; sprinkle with half of mozzarella cheese. Top mozzarella cheese with zucchini and cover zucchini with remaining marinara sauce; spread with remaining ricotta mixture and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Bake until the bottom starts to bubble, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove lasagna from oven and allow it to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

VH Chinese New Year Blog Tour - Recipes and Giveaway!

I like to keep a cooking mindset that food should not be boring.  We love to try food from other cultures and 'theme it up' once in a while for different celebrations; pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, Roast Lamb for Easter and most recently, a Chinese Feast for Chinese New Year!
When we were living in Toronto, we were most fortunate to have become friends with a pair of sisters who were originally from Hong Kong.  One of our most treasured memories was being their guests at an authentic Hong Kong Chinese Dim Sum.  We were the only table in the room with non-Chinese guests at it.  Our hosts ordered for us as the menu was only in Chinese.  The food was fantastic and I've had a longing to recreate those dishes now that we live elsewhere.

(our family at Dim Sum in Toronto last summer)

While I've never been able to recreate those recipes (yet) - we still do enjoy creating our our Canadian Chinese food at home.  That is why I was so happy to be asked to join the VH Chinese New Year Blog Tour.  What better way to celebrate the Year of the Dragon than to have a family feast?  

Whenever dining Chinese it always strikes me how family and friend oriented the meal is.  At a Dim Sum restaurant, the tables are usually round so there is no head.  Dishes are served in large portions so to be shared with the entire table.  We all partake in the meal together.  Chinese tea is often featured, traditionally, you do not pour your own tea, someone else at the table serves you, just as you would serve them.  It is a great reminder of friendship, family and community.

At home, we try to remember this act of family dining by creating many large dishes to share.  Having small children (ages 7, 4 and 2), we also try to find food that will please their choosy palates, while still satisfying our own need for unique and tasty dishes.  The menu we came up with for this Chinese New Year was greatly assisted by the sauces to try out from VH.  We feasted on: Sweet and Sour Shrimp, Pineapple Chicken, Mushroom Chow Mein, Beef & Broccoli and Steamed Rice.

The Giveaway!

Thanks to the generosity of VH and Mom Central Canada you, I invite you to join in on the fun of having your own Chinese New Year Celebration!  Leave a comment below telling your favorite Chinese Dish and you will be entered to win a Chinese New Year Gift Pack valued at $60! Giveaway is open to Canadian residents only.  One name will be drawn at random at the end of the day, February 10th.  Please include your name and contact info (email address) in your comment so I can reach you should you win.  Readers may enter this giveaway on multiple blogs, but may only win one prize.  Prizes will be sent out from Mom Central Canada on behalf of Crafty Kris.

The Recipes!

Mushroom Chow Mein

drizzle of canola oil - heat in large frying pan or wok - add:

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

cook over medium heat until heated through and just beginning to soften - add:

a couple of Tbsp of VH Hoisin Sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp chicken stock powder

1/4 C water

stir it all in together and turn heat up to medium high to get everything really hot! - add:

 4 oz chopped mushrooms

1/2 cup sugar snap peas

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1 can bamboo shoots, drained

a generous drizzling of soya sauce

1 cup bean sprouts

2 cups of chow mein noodles, uncooked

mix it all together, add a bit more water to get some steam going in the wok (1/2 cup).  Cover and allow noodles to steam cook.  This cooks fast so check often and keep stirring to prevent sticking.  Top with green onion slices for garnish when serving.

 *on a happy eating side note - my picky eating boys both ate the noodles (and unknowingly the bean sprouts) from this dish as well as tried the bamboo and water chestnuts and thought it was pretty good!

Pineapple Chicken
By far the easiest of the dishes I made!

drizzle of canola oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 tbsp flour
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 jar VH pineapple chicken sauce
1/2 can pineapple tidbits

Heat oil in medium cooking pot - medium heat.  Toss the chicken pieces with the flour to coat the chicken.  Put coated chicken and red peppper in the cooking pot, stir frequently.  Add the jar of sauce.  Continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce starts to bubble.  Add the pineapple.  Continue to cook until the pineapple is heated.

*my kids loved this dish 

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

My husband's contribution to our feast.  He used a Buttermilk Batter recipe from Food.com (originally intended for onion rings).  

16 shrimp (tails on) - he let the shrimp marinate a little bit in a mix of a little bit of Thai Fish Sauce with a pinch of salt before battering

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups buttermilk

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

canola oil

VH Sweet and Sour Sauce - to serve over the shrimp once cooked.

Whisk together the flour, buttermilk, sugar, baking powder and salt until smooth.  Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches in a dutch oven.  Heat to 375*.  Dip shrimp in batter, coating well.  Fry a few shrimp at a time until golden.  Drain - (my husband uses a 2 step draining process, first in a metal strainer, then onto paper towels.)  Repeat with remaining shrimp.  *We had enough batter to fry up some onion rings as well, which isn't very Chinese Food-ish, but still delicious with the sweet and sour sauce.

Seriously yummy!  The Sweet and Sour is our favorite VH Sauce to use!

Beef & Broccoli

 

This recipe comes from Stephen Yan's Cookbook on Chinese Cooking from the late 70's or early 80's.  He was the charismatic host of Wok With Yan - a Canadian Chinese cooking program that ran for 15 years or more.  This recipe is simple and very tasty.  

 

1 pound of fresh broccoli, sliced into bite sized pieces

1/2 pound beef flank steak, sliced thinly across the grain

1 tbsp light soy sauce

dash of pepper

1 tbsp tapioca starch or cornstarch

a few drops of sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 tbsp sesame or peanut oil

Marinate the beef with light soy sauce, pepper, few drops sesame oil and starch for 15 minutes.  In a wok or skillet, help up 2 tbsp of oil until smoke begins to rise.  Put in broccoli, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 cup of water.  Mix and cover with lid.  Cook with high heat for 4 minutes, until steam escapes from the edge of the lid.  Remove to a plate.  Use high heat and 2 tbsp of oil; when hot, brown garlic for a minute.  Then add beef, stir fry until the color of the meat changes.  Return broccoli and mix.  Serve hot.

A sprinkle of sesame seeds on top makes a nice garnish!

*This was the first time we used our new rice cooker and I'm in love with it - super easy and perfect rice!  I highly recommend you get one too.

Still in the mood for Chinese, but not so much up to cooking tonight?  Look out for VH Steamers in the freezer section of your local grocery store. 

Disclosure – I am participating in the VH Chinese New Year Celebration program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of VH.  I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Curry Squash Soup

I'm terrible at getting bowls of soup to look good in pictures. It just doesn't happen for me. So just the drawing today, but trust me, this soup is good! I make this soup at random in the sense that I just make it, I don't really take the time to measure out stuff, so the measurements are by what I think they are as opposed to really measuring it out. I love this soup for fall when squash is out at the markets. I only just realised that I've never blogged this recipe before. It is one of my staples. This time I made it, I used a buttercup squash (which is in season right now) - I've also used butternut with this recipe.

1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp or so curry powder (you can use less depending on your curry preference)
1 squash cut into chunks - (about 6 cups?)
4 cups chicken stock (enough to cover squash)
1 tsp or so chicken bouillon a dash of salt

Over med-low heat, melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the ginger and onion and saute until they are softened. Add the curry powder in. Add in the squash and the chicken stock. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover the squash. Raise the heat up to med-high to boiling. Lower heat again to simmer to allow the squash to cook and soften. Use an immersion blender to puree everything together. Taste and add bouillon and salt for flavor. Mix in. This makes a lot of soup. It's good to freeze to save for future meals or in individual packets for lunches.

BBQ Corn

Foodie admission of the week. When I see people shucking their corn into the bins at the grocery store, it takes all that I have in me not to shout at them, "Stop! What are you doing? Don't you know the best way to cook corn requires the husks to still be on?!!". So far I've been restrained. This past grocery trip my 4 year old son was not as restrained. We bumped into an acquaintance who was shucking her corn as we were just bagging our unshucked to go. My 4 year old asked her, "Why are you doing that? We cook ours with the green stuff on." She looked at me in question for confirmation which led to the explanation of BBQ-ing corn. For some reason I just assumed that everyone knows about this, so I never blogged about it. But apparently everyone does not know about this, so here is the brief as I can be explanation. Put your BBQ heat to med-low. Put the corn (still in the husks) onto the grill. BBQ for 10-15 minutes, turning every so often. The greens will get dark brown and blackened. Then shuck it. You can stop there and eat, or, you can put the shucked, cooked corn back on the BBQ for a little browning of the corn. Both are delicious. Like really fantastically delicious. As in since we discovered this we have never boiled our corn on the cob again, ever! Enjoy.

Squash Pancakes

Pancakes once were a regular feature in our home and I still like to make them as much as I can. The fantastic thing about pancakes and a picky eater in the house (mine is 4) is that you can hide a lot of different fruits and veggies in the batter. This time, the veggie was squash. My kids loved them. My picky eater ate 3 or 4 of them the first morning. They are fantastic re-heated the next day too. I used some previously cooked butternut squash in the batter, making the batter more squash than anything else.

1 egg
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnimon
2 cups squash (guestimate) - previously cooked and mashed well

Mix everything together.  Heat the griddle or frying pan.  Spray with non-stick spray.  Pour 1/4 batter at a time onto the griddle.  (you can also add Mickey Mouse ears with a little extra batter for fun).  Let cook through on one side before flipping to cook onto the other.  Serve with butter and syrup.

Lentil and Mushroom Loaf with Savory Potato Filling

When my college roommate Ang heard I was going vegetarian for Lent, she remembered this dish I made back in the day and asked for a copy of it. I'll admit I haven't made this in years, but I remember loving it. Like all good recipes it comes with a back story. I ate vegetarian for about 10 years. When I boarded in college I lived with a vegetarian family for 2 years. They had some fantastic cookbooks. This recipe came from Vegetarian Celebrations. This book was dedicated to finding delicious holiday vegetarian dishes. This recipe is one I would often make at Christmas and Thanksgiving in lieu of Turkey. When I started cooking on my own I wanted a copy of this book. Unfortunately by then it was no longer in print. One bookstore was able to find me a copy an order it in (remember this was before the days of Amazon) and I'm glad to have this book in my collection now.

Shell:
1 cup raw lentils
1 tbsp canola oil
2 cloves minced garlic
6 oz white mushrooms
5 oz thawed frozen spinach
1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
2 tbsp wheat germ
freshly ground pepper to taste
dash nutmeg
1 cup firmly packed grated Stilton or Gruyere Cheese (or sub. mozzarella style soy cheese)

filling:
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 cup coarsely mashed potato (from about 1 medium cooked and peeled potato)
1/2 tsp each: seasoned salt, dried thyme, and dried basil
freshly ground pepper to taste
curly parsley for garnish

Rinse and sort lentils. Combine in a heavy saucepan with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. Drain.
Preheat the oven to 350*
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute over medium heat. stirring until the mushrooms are wilted. Stir in spinach, lentils, soy sauce and wheat germ. Grind in some pepper and add the nutmeg. Cook, stirring unil the mixture is heated through, then stil in the cheese.
Lightly oil a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Pour in about 2/3 of the lentil mixture. Press some of the mixture up the sides of the pan to create a shell about 1/2 inch thick. Transfer the remaining lentil mixture to a small bowl and reserve until needed.
Rinse the skillet and heat the oil. Add the onion and saute until golden brown. Add the remaining filling ingredients and saute, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Transfer into the lentil shell, then cover the top with the reserved lentil mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is crusty.
Remove from the oven and let the loaf stand for 15 minutes. Slide a spatula or knife around the edges to loosen it. Cut slices and arrange them on a serving dish, Garnish with parsley and serve.

Vegetarian Chili

Sorry no picture, I forgot! But this recipe is well worth remembering. I found it on food.com. It is very delicious and filling. This was also the tale of making sure you plug in the crock pot - I was sure I did and was kicking to find out it wasn't plugged in - only to find out my husband had unplugged it to plug in the kettle, forgetting to plug the crock pot back in. That happened not once, but twice with this chili! All was good though as I adjusted from cooking on low to cooking on high. It all worked out!

1 (11 ounce) can condensed black bean soup (or canned black beans in juice) - I used the canned black beans
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1 (16 ounce) can vegetarian baked beans (in Canada beans in tomato sauce)
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chopped tomato puree (I used a hand blend to puree a 28 ounce can of tomatoes)
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained (I don't buy canned corn so I used the equivalent in frozen corn - 2 cups)
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can diced chilies
1 -2 jalapeno peppers, chopped (depending on how much heat you want)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon cilantro (optional)


In a saucepan, saute the onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and celery for about 5 minutes. In a slow cooker, combine black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, baked beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno, chilies, and celery.
Season with garlic, chili powder, cumin, parsley, oregano, basil (and cilantro if using). Cook for about 6 hours on low.

Salsa - my first canning experience

We bought a pressure canner!  Canning is a venture that my husband and I had long talked about but never did anything about.  I have fantastic memories of helping my mom can peaches and cherries and antipasto when I was a kid.  (mmm, home canned peaches!). 
Getting the canner was more my husband's doing than mine.  He really is searching for a great tomato sauce.  And he wants to can it.   Last week we went to a local farm and got a bushel of roma tomatoes.  He used half of them to make a large amount of tomato sauce with the intent to can.  He was disappointed with the recipe and decided to freeze his sauce, rather than canning.  I happened upon a salsa recipe at one of my favorite blogs,  Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  I figured that the recipe would be a keeper because I grew up in a town full of Mennonites.  I know they really can cook.  I've bought their baking and canning at local events.    Delicious.  This salsa was too.  It is a mild salsa and now that I know I can make it, I know I can play with it a bit for next time to turn up the heat.  The recipe originally called for water bath canning, but I pressure canned it as pressure canning is a much safer form of canning (no need to make anyone sick on my first canning venture!).  I'm really excited about this and look forward to other kinds of canning in the future.

15 lbs Roma tomatoes
3 lg onions
6 - 8 sweet peppers in a variety of colors
6 - 10 jalapeno peppers, seeded, chopped fine
12 garlic cloves, crushed - (I upped this to 20)
2 - 10 oz cans tomato paste
2 cups vinegar
1 cup lime juice (bottled)
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp oregano
3 tsp cumin
1 can black beans
1-2 bunches cilantro, chopped - (I used 3 bunches)

1. Wash and chop tomatoes, adding to pot as you go.
2. Finely chop onions and peppers, adding to pot.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil on medium heat.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Ladle into (sterilized) jars, using canning funnel, cover with lids and screw rings.
6. Place into hot water bath in large canner, bring to boil and process for 20 minutes. (I pressure canned instead, following the instructions with my canner
7. Remove and allow to cool at room temp. Keep in cool storage.

Onion Rings

This was given to me by a Weight Watchers leader, 4 servings, 4 points per serving

1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
2 large onions, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 serving cooking spray, olive oil flavored to coat onions

Preheat oven to 400*.  Coat a large baking sheet with spray.  Combine dry ingredients, except crumbs.  Add onion and toss to coat.  Pour buttermilk into a bowl, add onions, toss to coat.  Place crumbs into a separate bowl or bag.  Add onions and toss to coat.  Bake until golden brown, 35 minutes.

Tales of A Corn Casserole

After all the rigmarole surrounding this next food story and recipe, you'd think that I would have remembered to take a picture. Alas, I didn't. Blame it on pregnant brain if you will, or the business of cooking on a holiday, whatever the reason, there is no picture.

Our story begins yesterday morning. Canadian Thanksgiving. (An explanation for my American and other nationality type friends, Canadian Thanksgiving is always the second Monday of October and traditionally celebrates harvest time). I had my menu planned. Turkey (of course), stuffing, cranberries, carrot-turnip mash, whipped potatoes, peas, squash, gravy, rolls, 2 kinds of pie (pumpkin chiffon and apple - recipes and pictures to come) and corn. Hmmm, corn. for some reason I was thinking that the corn needed to be a little more special than just plain old corn. Sometimes I have corn in butter sauce, but today I wanted something else. Aha! I remembered my mom had a recipe for corn casserole. I'd just phone her and get that and we'd be all set. Unfortunately, this realization hit me at 11am my time. My mom lives on the other side of the country and a 4 hour time difference away, she definitely wouldn't appreciate a wake up call like that! During my wait I decided to look up corn casseroles on Recipezaar.com. Yes, I love it. I found a great looking one for a creamed corn casserole, but not quite what I was looking for. Finally at 12:15 I called my mom (I figured she should be up by now, it was after 8 her time). Yes she found the recipe for me. Unfortunately, it called for green peppers, which I didn't have in the house. New Brunswick is a province where everything but gas stations and Blockbuster close on holidays, so the possibility of running out to a market was nil. Then I got inspired. Why not pull from both recipes and make my own? So I did. Here are all 3 recipes. I hope you enjoy them. Let me know if you try any of them out!
***************************************************
Mom's Corn Casserole

2 cups corn
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
2 tbsp minced onion
2 chopped green peppers

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 325* for 40 minutes
******************************************************
Creamed Corn Casserole from Recipezaar.com

1 cup creamed corn
1/4 cup melted butter
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 350* for one hour (or until the cornmeal sets)
*******************************************************
My Corn Casserole

1 can creamed corn (398ml/14fl oz)
2 cups corn
2/3 cup milk
1 cup corn flour
2 eggs, beated
1/4 cup melted butter
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheddar

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 350* for one hour. (yes, I kept the lid on)

Sour Cream Zucchini Bread

'Tis the season for zucchini! I had some fun poking around Recipezaar.com and found this lovely recipe for zucchini bread. I did some adapting of my own and would have done more if I hadn't discovered that my applesauce was growing mold in the back of the fridge. I would have substitued applesauce for the oil (there's a lot of oil in this recipe!) The bread was really nice and moist. Delicious with butter, even better with cream cheese :o)

Ingredients
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup light sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 bread loaf pans. In a mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, brown sugar, white sugar, and oil. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the egg mixture. When thoroughly mixed, add the sour cream and vanilla. Finally, mix in the shredded zucchini. Pour the mixture into the two loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 1 hour and 20 minutes (use a toothpick to see if the bread is done, it should come out clean, or with just a few crumbs on it. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Salad

At the beginning of the summer we went to our church picnic. Everyone is asked to bring some sort of salad. One of them was the most delicious potato salad I'd ever had. The problem was, I didn't know who brought it and couldn't get the recipe. A few weeks later, we were at a Canada Day BBQ at a friend's place, the same salad was being served. My friend Erin was the creator of this masterpiece. I asked what she did and got a couple of ideas to make something similar. I have yet to get it as perfect as hers, but this one was pretty good.

2 sweet potatoes
6 small/medium potatoes
1 small onion
6 eggs
1/2 cup coleslaw dressing
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to sprinkle

Peel sweet potatoes and potatoes and cut into cubes (Erin makes her cubes a lot smaller than mine). Boil until soft. Boil eggs until hard boiled. Dice onion.
Cool potatoes and eggs. Remove shells from eggs and slice or dice, depending how you like them in your salad.
Mix everything together in a salad bowl. Sprinkle with parsley to decorate.

Fiddle-dee-dee

This is my first post request! Chef E posted about fiddleheads a couple of weeks back. Knowing that fiddleheads were a local dish where I live (New Brunswick, Canada) she asked if I would write about them too. So here I go.
I will be honest, I had never heard of fiddleheads until I first came to visit my (then) fiance during his college Christmas Break. We were having a New Years Supper with some people that he had gotten to know and one of the ladies had made a dish from fiddleheads that she had frozen the spring previous. I liked them. Fiddleheads are a kind of fern that is edible. I've eaten them plain (as seen in this post) and cooked in a casserole in place of broccoli. They are available fresh in May, so you have to get them when you see them.

We often see fiddleheads growing wild around here. This picture was taken on a recent hike at the Nature Park. There are so many of them along the path.

This is the fiddlehead statue at the Saint John Arts Centre uptown. Kind of a neat local landmark celebrating both something local as well as something arty (an actual fiddle). This statue is right around the corner from the church my husband works at.
So how to cook fiddleheads? Well, pretty much the same as any other green veggie. Wash them first. Steam them. That's what a did this time around. Some people like to soak them first. I added a little butter and salt and pepper when they were cooked.
I served these with baked potatoes, corn and honey mustard chicken. (mix equal parts dijon mustard and honey - pour over boneless, skinless chicken breast, bake at 350* for 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through). Nice meal altogether.

Saturday BBQ at the park

One good thing about living in a company town is that they have used some of their land to turn into a park space. And because they are an oil company they pipe gas into the park right to gas BBQ's. I love this. Several times over the sunny (and somewhat warm) season (it's not long around here) we take our BBQ up to the park for dinner and then go for a hike afterwards.

Steak Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup steak sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Mix everything together in a small bowl. Pour over steaks to marinade for at least 2 hours (I like to marinade them for 24 hours, it tastes better). I also bought the club pack (read=big, cheap pack) of steak meat this week. It came with 2 large cuts of beef. I cut one into serving size steaks and trimmed the fat from it. I then marinaded it with this marinade in a ziplock bag. The other steak I trimmed the fat from and cut into strips to marinade for fajitas (look for this recipe later this week).

Chick Pea Salad

Also known as Red, White and Yahoo Salad from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry by Janet and Greta Podleski. One of my favortite summertime salads (and requested potluck dishes).

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 pint of grape tomatoes, (slice each tomato in half)
1 container of mini bocconcini, (slice each cheese in half) - (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsalmic vinegar
salt and pepper to season

Mix everything together

*Bocconcini is fresh mozzerella in little cheese balls. You can find it in the specialty cheese area (or fresh pasta area) of your grocery store. If you've never had these before, you are in for a treat. I make another salad, that's very similar with the larger bocconcinis and tomatoes and basil that's absolutely delicious too :o)

Fruit salad

I love fruit salad, it's so easy and you can pretty much put whatever kind of fruit you want in it. When I was teaching kindergarten, for our end of the year party I would have the kids each bring in a fruit of their choice. We'd then cut it all up and put it in a big bowl to mix togehter, naming it friendship salad.
This week's fruit salad had:
1 banana
1 gala apple (peeled)
2 kiwi
1 cup mixed berries
1 mandarin orange cup (1/4 cup), drained
1 tbsp lemon juice

I know, I've said before that I'm not a fan of oranges, and I'm not...but I don't mind them in fruit salad because I can pick around them and other people like them.

Also at our BBQ picnic we had Party Mix and Pop.

You'll notice that this didn't have anything to do with Memorial Day. We don't have Memorial Day. Our May holiday Monday is Victoria Day (the week before). Victoria Day falls the Monday before May 24th, which was Queen Victoria's birthday. It's in rememberance of her and an acknowledgement of the reining sovereign (Queen Elizabeth) It doesn't mark the beginning of summer holidays either (though we still think of it as an official marker of summer). We still have until the end of June before school is out. I hope all of you had a great May long weekend (regardless of where you are and what you are celebrating and when) Cheers!

Baked Potato Soup for Souper Sunday

I was doing a fridge clean out on Thursday, making mental notes of what we had and what we needed when I saw that we had a bunch of potatoes that really needed to be cooked up. Hmmm. What could I do with them? Potato soup was the first thing I thought of and then I remembered hearing about baked potato soup sometime in the past (but I couldn't remember where or when). No problem, I just made it up. To which my husband exclaimed, you are getting really good at this. Thanks honey.

6 potatoes scrubbed
2 tbsp butter/margarine
1 onion chopped
1 tsp each dill, thyme, parsley
4 cups veg soup stock (I think chicken stock would be fine too, I just had veg on hand)
grated pepper to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup light sour cream

Heat oven to 350*. Poke the potatoes several times with a fork and bake for an hour.
When the potatoes are baked, take them out of the oven to cool a little and start the rest of the soup. Melt margarine over low-medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened. Add the herbs and blend in. (*pre-heat the veg stock) Add the veg stock and bring heat up to med-high. Grate in the pepper. Cut open the potatoes and scoop the potato out of the skins into the soup. Let everything heat up to a nice boil. Remove from heat. Use a hand blender to blend the soup together (or transfer to a blender in batches to blend, then return to the soup pot). Grate the cheese into the soup and mix to help it melt. Stir in the sour cream.
Serve as is or grate a little more cheese on top.

Thai inspired dinner with a good friend

I've been wanting to visit my favorite Thai restaurant, Suwanna for a while now. It's a nicer place to go and we usually reserve it for special occasions (the last time we were there was my birthday back in November. We were going to go there for Jonathan's birthday a couple of weeks ago but it was closed (they take a couple of week's holiday each year). So while we went elsewhere for dinner that night, my Thai craving didn't go away. While I make a decent Thai stir-fry, there are other dishes that I love eating but have never made myself. Tonight was the night to search and experiment. Can I make more than a stir-fry? Can I brave a carrot salad and succeed? How about Chicken Satay and peanut sauce?
I did some googling and found a few recipes for each. Some I followed as written, others I tweaked.
1st up was the carrot salad. Carrot salad is something I would never have ordered were it not for the encouragement of my friend Erin on her birthday at Suwanna one year. She raved about it. I thought how good could a pile of shredded carrot be? I am not a huge coleslaw fan to begin with, why would I order something resembling coleslaw at a fancy restaurant? I am so glad I did. This carrot salad was so delicious. I found a highly rated version at Group Recipes and gave it a go.

3 cups grated carrots
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 cup chopped peanuts
Finely chopped fresh mint for garnish (I didn't have fresh mint so I left this out)

Directions
In a food processor blend all the vinaigrette ingredients except peanuts and mint. (I used a hand blender to mix)
Wash the carrots with a brush and grate into a large bowl.
Add the dressing and marinate for 20 minutes before serving. (ours marinated for closer to an hour)
Garnish with chopped peanuts and mint.

The result was a lovely salad. All adults at the table loved it. I say adults because my kids took one look at their plate of salad, rice and chicken and kind of shook their head. Elijah ate the rice, tried the chicken and salad before rejecting it. Jeremy didn't even get that far. He immediately grabbed the salad into his hands and said, 'No like this' and started to pile it onto my husband's plate. At that point I figured it would be a lot easier (and quieter) to make them each a snack plate supper of cheese and crackers, yogurt cups and dried fruit. It worked!




Thai stir-fry and basamati rice I could probably make in my sleep by now. I made the stir-fry and curry sauce plain (no shrimp or anything) and added more veg than I would if I were making this with a meat. I halved the sauce from my usual as I had only half a can of coconut milk left over from the satay marinade.

Stir-fry

1 tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped

Stir-fry all of the above over medium low heat until just soft, add the sauce (below) and allow to cook together to let the flavours blend into each other. Add some fresh chopped cilantro just before serving.

Curry Sauce (1/2)

1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 tsp red curry paste
few dashes of fish sauce

Boil altogether in a small saucepan, whisking well.



Chicken Satay

The chicken satay recipe I found at All Recipes.

1/2 cup canned coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (did not add)
1 tablespoon chopped unsalted peanuts (did not add)
12 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 15 minutes (we just grilled the chicken without being on skewers)

In a medium bowl, stir together the coconut milk, ground coriander, curry powder, fish sauce, and chili oil. Add the chicken breast strips, and stir to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 hours.
Preheat an indoor or outdoor grill for high heat. Thread the chicken strips onto skewers. Discard marinade.
Grill chicken for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until no longer pink. Time will depend on how thick your strips are. Transfer to a serving plate, and garnish with cilantro and peanuts. Serve with peanut sauce for dipping.

*We didn't skewer it and I didn't add the cilantro and peanuts at the end because I already had a couple of dishes with both. Also, when I started the marinade I was out of ground corriander so I used 1 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp parsley in it instead. I did have to make a grocery run for a couple of things (highly unusual for me, I know) and ended up picking up some ground coriander while I was there and adding it to the marinade when I got home. I think the chicken sat in the marindade for a good 3 hours before we grilled it on the BBQ. I also managed to convince my husband to BBQ in the rain for me for this, which I am very grateful.

This chicken was really tasty. I would definately make it again.



Peanut Sauce

The peanut sauce I had a harder time finding. I read a lot of peanut sauce recipes and never did find one that I thought would be really good. What I ended up doing was basing mine on a recipe I found at All Recipes and then adapting it based on the comments it had received. It made a lot more sauce than I was expecting, and I ended up cooking it in a small saucepan over low-medium heat in order to get the peanut butter to a really smooth consistancy.

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used smooth, natural)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar (I used brown sugar instead and increased it to 1 tbsp)
2 drops hot pepper sauce (I increased this quite a bit, probably 4 or 5 good shakes, not drops)
1 clove garlic, minced (I increased this to 2 cloves crushed)
1/2 cup water
*I added a little bit of chili oil and threw in some sesame seeds too

In a small bowl, stir together peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, hot pepper sauce and garlic until well mixed. Gradually stir in water until texture is smooth and creamy.
*These directions didn't work for me. I combined everything into a small saucepan and whisked it together over low-medium heat instead.

The results were quite tasty.

Dinner was followed by mango sorbet and chocolate chip cookies. Very tasty.

So a little while back, Mommy Gourmet challenged us to have a meal with a friend (or friends) and write about it. I really wanted to do this, not for the contest of it, but because I really enjoy spending time with my friends. Because of the chaos that is our lives at present I was starting to think that I wouldn't have the time to share an evening with everyone. We did have dinner with friends over the past month, but it's been dinner out, not dinner in.

This morning after church, my husband was chatting with a very good friend of ours, Debbie. As I joined them I kept getting the nudge to invite her over for dinner, so I did. (Hey, when God speaks, I've learned to listen). As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Jonathan said, "I was just thinking that, yes, you should come over for supper tonight." So she agreed.
It has been too long since we've had Debbie over. We don't live close to our family (life having taken us to the complete opposite side of Canada), but we've been fortunate enough to make some friendships here that truly have become more than friendship. I would count Debbie as someone who is more family to us. She is one of Jeremy's godparents. She is someone that we have travelled with. She is someone who has cared for our children when we've gone away (she looked after Elijah when I was labouring with Jeremy). She's one of the first people to know what's going on with us. She prays for us and with us. She's just a really lovely person. Her daughter, Christy is also very close to us and is the first person we call to take care of the boys when we want a night out. Christy was away tonight for the long weekend, so it was just Debbie, which was neat because we often don't get to see Debbie, just Debbie.
The boys were so excited to see her. She is one of their favorite people. You can always tell with the kids who they like and who they don't by how much they show off, and it was full force show off mode tonight.
Most of the night took place in the kitchen (because let's face it, I'm somewhat of a Maritmer now and that's what Maritimers do) and we just talked. We talked while I finished up supper. We talked while we ate. We talked while I cleaned up. We talked during dessert. And we talked over tea (Darjeeling - me) and coffee (Starbucks blend - Jonathan and Debbie) afterwards. Those are some of the best nights. You don't need to plan any entertainment (and really, a two year old running around in his diaper telling you he's naked is entertainment - and hey, there's always his four year old brother doing his best Elvis impersonation using a hockey stick as a guitar too). It's just friends being friends, catching up and being comfortable with each other. There's no pressure to be anyone in particular, just yourself.
Debbie loved the food. She fully admits to being a functional cook. She makes sure that there is always a nutritious meal set out (she and another friend of ours run a place called Jordan House, which boards women who need a place to stay), but she's not one to experiment with food. She had a good laugh that my kids would turn down this 'gourmet meal' for cheese and crackers. She thought the carrot salad was so tasty (never having had Suwanna's to compare to). She asked how I made the stir-fry (and had seconds, always a compliment to the cook). And just seemed to really enjoy the meal. She also had a giggle over me taking pictures of what we were eating, but was intregued enough to want to see the blog after supper.
I don't think you can ask for much more than that. Good friend, good food, good time.



Debbie with Elijah

Mexican Casserole

This is one of my mom's recipes. I am pretty sure she got it from Weight Watchers originally. You can serve it as a meal on it's own, but I know my husband well enough that he sees it as a side dish and would be looking for the meat if I tried to serve just this, so I added some Thai chicken wings. (Don't ask for the chicken wings recipe, they're PC brand from the Superstore). I like dishes like this an all in one kind of meal. I think I could have made it with shredded chicken or some scrambled ground beef and it would be fine. I also realised how much I miss living on the west coast where you can get all sorts of peppers and chilies. I used a can of green chilies in this but the kick from a fresh pepper was lacking. I was inspired by Girlichef's Chile Pepper contest as it jogged the memory to make this. So this will be my contribution for that. If you know a great way to use chili peppers check her contest out too! (And Heather, thank you for your chili post because I finally know the name of that wonderful Mexican cheese that they put in everything but I can't find up here in Canada, I wish we did get it, it's delicious! - oaxaca cheese)

So here's the recipe:

1 cup cooked rice
1 large onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 small zuchinni, diced
1 can green chilies (or sub in fresh chilies if you have them)
1 can kidney beanns, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (I don't buy diced tomatoes, I squish whole tomatoes into everything instead)
1 tbsp sugar

My mom's directions read this way: Mix, cover and bake for 50 min. at 350*. Uncover and sprinkle with 3/4 cup grated cheese. Bake another 15 minutes.
Yesterday I added the cheese on top right away and baked uncovered for about an hour. I served it with sour cream.

Mother's Day BBQ

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day! I was so excited that we were able to BBQ tonight, our first BBQ of the season. I had bought a couple of steaks in hopes that we could do it soon, the weather here has been uncooperative so far (foggy, drizzly, chilly), but tonight the rain clouds let up for a few hours, like my own personal Mother's Day present. We went all out, I marinated the steaks, Jonathan marinated some chicken and we added a few hot dogs for the boys. Here's my own personal BBQ chef on duty.

Steak Marinade
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1/4 cup steak sauce
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice
1 tbsp basalmic vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix all together. Put the steaks and marinade in a strong ziplock bag and allow to sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Chicken Marinade
Jonathan did this and just told me what he put in it, no measurements so take your best guess.
Olive Oil
Basalmic Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Greek Seasoning.
Mix all together. Pour over chicken (we used chicken breasts that had been slices into chicken strip size) in a strong ziplock bag and all to sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

And what about the side dishes? The first was a Carrot Bake that I stumbled upon on Katy's blog(of Food For A Hungry Soul). It had been calling my name since I first saw it a few weeks back and I wasn't disappointed. It actually reminded me of a scallopped corn dish that I make and enjoy. I've quite often what I could do different with carrots seeing as J doesn't like glazed carrots and I really only know 3 other ways to cook them (boiled, stir fried, and mashed with turnip). So thank you Katy for something new to add to my repitoire!

The second side dish also has a story. I was on Pam's blog (For the Love of Cooking) and she had a teaser picture of a potato dish headed by the words: Need an easy side dish? And I was hooked. I wanted those potatoes now! Clicking that picture led me to a plethora of side dishes and I started to scroll, and scroll and scroll, until I finally found them. It turns out that she had found the recipe on thepioneerwoman.com. FYI they are called Crash Hot Potatoes and they are absolutely delcious and very easy to make.
Altogether with a glass of Diet Coke, not a bad Mother's Day meal. Have a wonderful day!

All In One Chicken Dinner

This to me is home cooking. This is my childhood. This was a weekly traditional dish in my house, and it's darned easy. When I was a kid we called it Chicken in a Pot, but that title just doesn't seem kosher to print, so I changed the name.

1 whole chicken (rinsed and dried)
1 onion (chopped)
4 carrots (chopped into medalions)
4 potatoes (chopped into bite sized pieces)
1 tbsp margarine
salt & pepper to taste
dried sage to sprinkle on top

Spray a crockpot with non-stick spray. Coat the chicken with the margarine. Put it in the crockpot. Add the vegetables. Sprinkle everything with a little salt, pepper and sage. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours. It's that easy.