Happy Birthday Nathan!

Happy Birthday Nathan!


Nathan and Gia had a bunch of friends over to celebrate and the food was SO GOOD it's getting an honourable mention on here.


Nathan cooked a huge amount of THE BEST pulled pork I have ever eaten. So delicious! After dinner, we played a big game of of poker -won by yours truly. Nathan spoiled us again with the left over pulled pork and made a monstrous amount of pulled pork nachos. I was in heaven and very, very full by the time I got home.

Raspberry-Chipotle Chicken

During my daily internet wanderings, I came across a recipe for raspberry-chipotle turkey wings. I didn't really want wings, but I was into chicken on salad for lunch. I modified the recipe a bit and here is what I came up with! It's pretty dang good :)


Raspberry-Chipotle Chicken


Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup defrosted frozen raspberries
2 chipotle chilis in adobe sauce
1/4 cup diced onion
juice of 1 lime
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint


Directions
1. Blend onion, raspberry, chipotle, garlic and onion together


2. Heat over stove until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, stir in mint


3. Reserve 2 tbsp for basting


4. After sauce cools, marinate chicken in the rest of the sauce, for maybe an hour or two


5. BBQ chicken as you like, basting with reserve sauce


6. Serve however you want

Spinach Salad with Heirloom Cherry Tomato, Red Onion, Sunflower Seeds and a Citrus Vinaigrette

Dinner time! We are trying to eat through all the leftover bits in our fridge before we go camping next week. I also have a basil plant I am trying to 'eat up' before we go, so I decided that whatever we had for dinner should have pesto on it. I decided on a hamburger topped with pesto and the white cheese blend from the pizza I made before. 


The salad was slightly inspired by a recipe, and also slightly inspired by whatever I could find in the bottom of my fridge. Hence, I give you...


Spinach Salad with Heirloom Cherry Tomato, Red Onion, Sunflower Seeds and Citrus Vinaigrette


Salad Ingredients
Obviously, you just mix as much as you want together.


Spinach
Heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Red onion, slice thin
Sunflower seeds


Citrus Vinaigrette Ingredients
This is an estimate, so adjust to taste


1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp OJ
1 tsp Dijon mustard
I think I squeezed some lime juice in because I didn't have any lemon
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp garlic powder
pinch cayenne


Directions
1. Mix salad


2. Mix vinaigrette


3. Mix together



4. Eat!

Pizza Dough

Who doesn't like pizza? Trust me, it tastes even better on a home made crust. This recipe is easy to make, but due to rising time it's probably better to make the night before, or make in the afternoon before dinner if you've got the time. It's nice and light and has a really good flavour.

I topped my pizza with the leftover chipotle cheese sauce (instead of tomato sauce) from my last post, chicken, mushrooms, green pepper, red onion and some of that kraft pre-shredded pizza cheese. It's a blend of three white cheeses, but I can't be bothered to go and find out. I used one of those whole BBQ cooked chickens from the grocery store for the chicken, worked out well. Less mess, and less cook time.

Makes enough for 2 or 3 full-sized pizzas, depending on how thick you make your crust.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tbsp yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cup warm water

Directions

1. Proof your yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water. My yeast package said to add a tsp of sugar, but I don't know if that's standard. Let stand for about 3-5 minutes, or until foamy. I think it can take up to 10 minutes?

2. Mix flour and salt together.

3. Pour in yeast mixture, the rest of the water, the honey and the olive oil and mix into a dough.

4. Dump out onto a floured surface and knead until nice and elastic. You might have to add more flour if it feels sticky.

5. Break into 2 or 3 chunks and roll into a nice ball. Put on a baking sheet and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in size. You can either freeze/refrigerate or make into pizza at this point.

6. When the time comes, roll out your dough into a circle. Top with toppings of your choice and bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until edges are nice and toasty brown and your cheese is bubbling and browning a bit in the centre.

Steak with Chipotle Cilantro Cheese Sauce

I have some leftover chipotle chilis in my fridge. After frantically sweet-talking the deli at Market on Yates to jerry-rig me a giant veggie platter faster than god knows what, I had 20 minutes to kill wandering around the fancy cheeses and started thinking about dinner. I really like boursin cheese on steak, but I didn't have any of that at home... but then I remembered this philly cheese sauce recipe that worked out really well and the rest is history. Just like this dinner.


I like to think of different things to put on steak. Paul and I eat a lot of it (lucky us) so its nice to be able to keep mixing it up. This sauce was a bit on the spicy side, but I kind of like that in a sauce. I would probably dial down the heat a bit if I made it again.


Chipotle Cilantro Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
1/2 container philly cheese
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
3 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, diced


Directions
1. Grill a steak until almost done. Remove from grill, wrap with tin foil and allow to rest until sauce is ready.


2. In a small saucepan, mix water, stock and cream cheese until combined.


3. Add in cilantro and chipotle, bring to a boil.


4. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes, remove from heat. Let sauce rest for one minute, then pour over steak.

Bison Burger with Chipotle Mayo

*note: the spacing in this program is messed up. I tried to fix this post 3 times and I can't. Annoying. 


A nice quick meal. I didn't really measure anything, but I thought I'd blog and estimate it. I get chipotle peppers in adobo sauce at Walmart because I can't find them anywhere else. They're in the ethnic food section and only about $1.60 a can. 


Bison Burger


Ingredients
1 lb ground bison
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper
1/2 cup mayo
4 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce 
buns (for as many patties as you make)
burger fixin's




Directions


1. Mix seasonings into ground bison. Mix well and form patties


2. Grill as desired


3. Mix mayo with diced up peppers and sauce. Adjust to taste


4. Make your burger as you like it! Mine had cheddar, bacon, tomato and spinach on it.. with chipotle mayo, of course!

(yes, this is a half-eaten burger. I got hungry before I could find my camera)

Cheese Steak Sandwich

Two words - eat me. SO GOOD.

Ingredients

1 steak

1 green pepper

1 onion

1 bun

1/2 cup jalapeno havarti

Directions

1. Grill steak to medium, allow to rest and slice thin

2. Saute sliced green pepper and sliced onion until nice and tender

3. Add steak and mix around

4. Toast bun

5. Put steak and pepper mixture on bun, top with cheese and broil for a minute or two until its nice and melty.

6. Eat your dinner before someone steals it. 

Father's Day Brunch

Happy Father's Day to my dear old Dad, the most important Man in my life <3

We invited my Dad and Cathy, and Paul's parents Tony and Shirley over for Father's Day brunch. Lots of fun chat and lots of delicious food. 

The menu included brown sugar and maple syrup scones, scrambled egg muffins, high quality bacon and fruit salad. I made mini-cheesecakes for dessert and we washed it all down with lots of coffee, tea and rhubarb rosemary lemon spritzer.

Corn Tortillas

I keep falling behind on my posts! Sorry, guys. I promise I've been cooking, I just haven't had time to post about it. Life has been a bit hectic, trying to bang out my last paper before my 'summer break' - as in, I'm not taking another class until September. Now that it's handed in (4 days early, I might add!) it's time to tell you about all the fun tasty things I've been cooking.

Last week, my transit pal Kyla came over for dinner. Good thing she did, because I wanted to experiment with home made corn tortillas, and Paul won't eat those. They turned out really well, I think, but I think having a tortilla press might have made them better. Remember that I have no idea, because I haven't even had corn tortillas before. I think.

Anyways, it's really easy. You just mix corn flour, water, salt and some lime juice together and knead it into a dough. Let it rest, roll it out, and fry it in a pan. Bing bang boom, taco time. We made our tacos with a mix of bison and ground beef and home made taco seasoning. Super delicious. 

Corn Tortillas
Ingredients
1 3/4 Masa Harina (corn flour)
1 1/8 cups water
1 tsp salt
juice of half a lemon


Directions
1. Mix masa harina, salt, and most of the water together. knead together and see if you need more water. Add bit by bit until you have a good, elastic consistency.

2. Add lime juice and mix in well

3. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes

4. Roll out and cut into circles. I used a small bowl for a cut-out

5. Heat pan (no oil!) to medium high and cook for a few minutes on each side, until it starts to brown

6. It's TACO TIME!

this one isn't about food...

but it's a cool flower, hey? I found this on Mill Hill when Paul and I were walking there tonight.

If you can tell me what it is, I'll cook whatever you want (within reason, I'm not making turduckin) and post about it. 

Chicken Cacciatore

This was hearty, tasty and easy to make. Chicken in a tomato and vegetable stew-like sauce. I served it with salad with a nice dijon vinaigrette. I'm kind of tired so that is all the introduction you're getting.

The salad was really good - red leaf lettuce, bean sprouts, green beans, strawberry, yellow bell pepper, and green onion. The vinaigrette was dijon mustard, garlic, olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Oh - I cooked the chicken with the skin on, and then we took it off while eating it. I thought about leaving the chicken skin off, but I think it probably adds something to the broth. There is a lot of flavour in chicken skin, or at least that is what I am told.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone-in

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced thin

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups diced ripe firm tomato

1/2 zucchini, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/ cup sherry

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Sauté onion in olive oil over medium heat until transparent

2. Push onions aside and place chicken and garlic in pan. Brown chicken on one side, flip over and brown the other side

3. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper

4. Pour in sherry and simmer until reduced by half

5. Dump in tomatoes and vegetables and simmer, turning every so often, until meat is nice and tender, about 40-45 minutes

6. Serve with rice, or if you're on the cave man diet just eat it as-is

Mint Lime Iced Tea

Well, Paul is sleeping and I'm bored. I did all the housework, so now I'm experimenting...with alcohol.

I felt like concocting a nice fresh summer drink, and this is what I came up with. It's pretty good. It's not too sweet and mixes well with vodka. Everything I could ever ask for in a man...er, I mean in a drink.

Mint Lime Iced Tea

Ingredients
1 black tea bag
1 mint tea bag
1 lime
hot water
ice cubes

Directions
1. Put black and mint tea bags into the same tea pot

2. Boil water, pour over tea bags and allow to steep for 5 minutes

3. Cool tea in fridge

4. Now you have iced tea and can make yourself a delicious beverage

5. Pour one ounce of vodka (I used raspberry vodka because it's my favourite)into a glass 

6. Squeeze juice of half a lime into glass

7. Add ice cubes and as much iced tea as you want. Maybe even add more vodka if you're so inclined

8. Pour drink in mouth. Delicious!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

I love these! So good! This meal reminds me of Asian tacos or something like that, which makes me love it even more. I was trying to think of why, and I think I really like to eat food topped with more food, wrapped in other food.

Ingredients
1/2 lb ground pork
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp sambal olek
1/2 tsp chinese 5 spice
shredded carrot
chopped green onion
bean sprouts
whole lettuce leaves

Directions
1. Heat pan over medium heat and place pork in pan

2. Add chicken stock before pork has a chance to cook. Simmer until almost all the liquid is gone

3. Sprinkle with ginger, garlic, sambal olek and 5 spice

4. Continue simmering until all liquid is gone from pan

5. Serve with chopped green onion, shredded carrot and sprouts. Top with sweet red chili sauce if desired

6. Wrap pork up with toppings in a lettuce leaf, and put in mouth like a taco

Rhubarb Rosemary Lemonade Spritzer

Paul and I headed down to Esquimalt Lagoon today to watch the Navy Centennial activities with some friends. To quench our thirst on this hot sunny day, I whipped up some of this delicious fizzy beverage to take with us. It was pretty good on its own, but next time I will try it with some gin or vodka. 

Rhubarb Rosemary Lemonade Spritzer
Ingredients
3 stalks ripe rhubarb
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Club soda


Directions
1. Chop rosemary and rhubarb and place in pot with water and sugar over high heat

2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes

3. Strain mixture through small sieve and add lemon juice

4. Cool resulting syrup in fridge until ready to use

5. Fill glass with a couple tablespoons of syrup and add club soda to taste

Thai Green Curry with Shrimp & Vegetables

I went to Thailand a few years ago. The best souvenir I brought back? An affinity for Thai curry. So delicious. I just use whatever is in my fridge, so if you don't like the vegetables I used, pick different ones.

Thai Green Curry with Shrimp & Vegetables

Ingredients
2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 leek (white parts only), chopped
1/2 large zucchini, sliced and cut in half
1 lb shrimp, ready-to-eat
1 can coconut milk

Directions
1. Heat oil in large wok over medium-high heat

2. Add curry paste and saute for 1 min

3. Add vegetables, stir-fry until tender crisp

4. Toss in shrimp, saute until warmed up (3-4 minutes)

5. Add coconut milk, give it a good stir and then remove from heat.

6. Put food in mouth. Serve with rice if desired.

Parsely & Lemon Green Beans

I love green beans! They're one of my favourite vegetables. I classify vegetables as either 'fancy' or 'regular'. Green beans are a regular vegetable.

Parsely & Lemon Green Beans

Ingredients
1/2 lb green beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsely
zest of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in pan to medium-high heat.

2. Add garlic, sautee until light brown.

3. Add green beans and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute until tender-crisp.

4. Toss with lemon zest and parsely.

5. Put food in mouth.

Mini Strawberry Shortcakes

Nothing says summer to me like BBQs and strawberries. Tonight Paul and I have invited over our neighbours from next door and our new friends/neighbours down the road. It's the first time the 6 of us have gotten together, so it should be a fun time!

The deal was bring your own meat and one side dish. I decided to make dessert so I could test out this recipe that I have been drooling over ever since it was posted.

I tested a few before dinner, and they are DELICIOUS.

Ingredients
Shortcakes
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes and chilled
1 cup (minus 2 tbsp) whipping cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Strawberries
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar

Whipped cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.

2. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal

3. Beat egg, cream and vanilla together and fold into dry ingredients with a fork. Turn until moistened and then use hands to knead 6-8 times until mixture easily forms ball

4. Roll out and cut small 3" rounds. Use biscuit cutter or juice glass rim

5. Bake at 425 F for 12 minutes

6. While biscuits are baking, clean and slice strawberries and toss with 1/4 cup sugar

7. Whip cream until almost formed, then toss sugar and vanilla in and continue beating until soft peaks form

8. Pull biscuits apart, layer whipped cream and strawberries a la hamburger, and enjoy!