Mish Mash!

First off, the butternut squash lasagna. I know you've all been dying to know...it was AMAZING! I cannot wait to make it again.  It was rich and creamy, sweet and savoury, and so unbelievably comforting.  I can't imagine anyone not liking this.  I read some of the reviews for this recipe (it got a 5 star rating from over 300 testers), and it looks like I'm not the only one who thought it was fabulous!  The one thing I would try next time to is to use sage rather than basil as the fresh herb.  Basil was fantastico, but for some reason, I think sage would compliment the squash even better!  I brought several small pieces to my trusty coworker food critics, and all agreed, this one's a keeper!

 

 I haven't been nearly as ambitious this week in my cooking - I've kept it simple and tried to use up most of what I had left from previous deliveries (I've got a new one coming this week!).  I also tried my hand at baking, and since my last carrot cake turned out well, it was almost a guarantee my zucchini bread would be a failure - and that it was!

 

My regular camera was also out of comission this week, so my photos came from my little point and shoot, not a bad little camera, but I miss my baby :( 

I call this one...

 MacMills Refrigerator Crisper Spaghetti

This is a relatively common meal for Rory and I - and it's never the same twice! I love using the jarred tomato puree that contains just tomatoes (no salt even!), and then loading it with my own veg, meat, spices - whatever is on hand.  I'll often do this in the slow cooker too.  For this batch we added...

• 1 jar (500ml ish) of pure tomato puree (I can't remember the brand name off hand)
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped (MEO)
• 1 carrot, grated (MEO)
• 2 stalks celery, chopped finely (MEO)
• 1 large zuchinni, grated (MEO)
• 10 button mushrooms, sliced (MEO)
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef.
• 1 box PC omega 3 pasta (yummy white pasta made with a combo of lentils, ground flax seed, and some whole grain barley and wheat flour - 6g of fibre per serving!)
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• dried basil, oregano, marjoram, red pepper flakes - about 1 tsp of each
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp white sugar (it was just a bit too tangy, needed a little sweetness to round it out)
• s&p to taste

1. Brown ground beef over medium heat, drain excess fat
2. Heat EVOO over med heat, add onions and garlic, saute until translucent
3. Add everything else including beef and simmer on low, covered, for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better!)
4. Cook pasta as directed, and combine noodles and sauce.

Yummer! Even better leftover too - This makes 6 generous portions, and we generally end up freezing a couple of them. 

Sinkhole Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaf

The recipe I used for this loaf is actually tried and true....I've made many delicious loaves from it over the years...that is, if I don't substitute, and if I read the directions clearly.  Details details...this is why me and baking are not bffs.  My biggest faux pas here was using one large loaf pan, rather than two smaller ones.  This resulted in a dry exterior, and uncooked interior core, thus causing a massive sink hole.  I promise, I did the toothpick test! Problem is, with chocolate chips, you get false negatives...you pull the toothpick out, and it's chocolate covered whether the cake is cooked through or not!  Oi...I've got a lot to learn.  If I venture to make zucchini loaves again, and if they turn out - I will be happy to share the recipe :)

Tonight's dinner was a lesson in 'simple is best'. 

Baked rainbow trout, steamed asparagus, leek and sweet potato soup.

First of all - no judging, I know it's not quite asparagus season yet, and these lovely stalks didn't come from my produce box either...they were just calling my name last week in the produce aisle, and I caved ok?! yeesh.  it could've been pizza pockets or something equally as processed!

The trout was brushed with canola oil, and seasoned with s&p, then baked at 400F for 10 minutes.

The asparagus was steamed for about 7 minutes and seasoned with s&p

The soup was made with 2 leeks (MEO), several sweet potatoes (MEO), 1 tbsp EVOO, and my homemade chicken stock, then pureed, and seasoned with s&p.

A wonderfully simple meal, that took 30 minutes to prepare from when I walked into the kitchen to when I took my first bite.

I haven't blogged about this, but I did make a batch of chicken stock last week.  When I made my cabernet chicken a couple of weeks ago, I froze the chicken carcass.  When I had a few hours on my hands last week, I pulled it out and made my stock...

Erin's Chicken Stock

• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 onion, washed and quatered (don't bother peeling it)
• 1-2 carrots washed and cut in to 2-3 large pieces (don't bother peeling)
• 1-2 stalks of celery, washed and cut in to 2-3 large pieces
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 10 whole peppercorns

1. Put chicken carcess in a large stock pot. Pour in cold water, until carcass is just covered.
2. Add everything else
3. Bring to a boil, and then turn heat down to low, and simmer uncovered, for at least 2 hours
4. Strain out solids and put stock in the fridge overnight - the fat will rise to the surface and solidify, making it east to skim off.
5. Use the stock within 5 days or freeze it to use whenever (I usually make about 2 litres)

* keep in mind, I don't add any salt to my stock (otherwise it would be chicken broth).  I prefer to season my foods at the end.  Homemade stock makes a HUGE difference in my opinion.

To finish off this post, I have to share the photos of my nephew's 5th birthday party cake from today.  My soon to by sister-in-law Kathy never ceases to amaze me with her mad baking skills....The party theme was "A Day at the Movies" - She made 'popcorn cupcakes' (cake from scratch too of course!)...ridiculously cute...

Potluck panic

I received an unexpected MEO delivery this week.  I chose to do biweekly delivery when I set up my account online - but I had unknowingly chosen to have the biweekly service to start after my second delivery...the nice people of MEO dropped off another box of goodies, without a return bin sitting on the porch, and without a single payment yet - that's trust! 
Even though the mix up was my error (granted looking back now, the website is a little confusing) - I was only charged for 1/2 of the delivery.  I love good customer service. 
This week's delivery didn't contain anything particularly interesting - but with a relatively slow couple of weeks of cooking, I am now a little overloeaded with produce.
On Thursday we had our monthly office potluck, for which I had planned to make Giada's butternut squash lasagna ...but the overload of fresh veggies had me worried about waste, and I knew my b-nut squash would hold out, so I decided to chop a load of veg (sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, ginger), and threw them in the crockpot with some red lentils, curry powder, almond butter, tomato paste, and s&p...i was hoping for a nice thick lentil stew, to serve with basmati rice.  Fast forward 9 hours as I eagerly anticipated a taste of my concoction upon my return home from work (9pm). I was a little nervous - i made up the recipe, and didn't leave myself a backup plan for the potluck should the stew not work out.  And work out it didn't.  ugh.  The lentils were hard and dry - as if they weren't cooked through.  These are not the type of dried legumes that need to be soaked either - the directions on the package tell me they're quick cooking (30mins in boiling water).  It's still a bit of a mystery, but my thinking is that they were cooking in a salty broth, which may have prevented them from absorbing sufficient liquid to make them plump up.  Think osmosis people! Needless to say, I was in panic mode - over a potluck? yes! this was a foodie-dietitian potluck! big things are expected!  Simply going out to buy a potluck contribution is sacrilege! First, I drowned my stress by eating 2 rows of amaretti cookies, and a handful of mini M&Ms.  Next,  I quickly scoured my cupboards for ingredients, and All Recipes and several of my cookbooks for quick, easy and impressive potluck options.  Bingo...pesto something...I knew I had basil on hand for the lasagna I originally planned.  But pesto what? Throwing caution to the wind, I brazenly decided to try another made up recipe: Pesto Hummus! Luckily...this recipe wasn't a disaster...in fact it was a hit!

Erin's Basil and Walnut Pesto Hummus

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed (i like Unico)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 cloves garlic
• Juice of 1/2 large lemon
• about 1 cup of packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 walnuts
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup-ish (can't quite remember) EVOO
• s&p to taste

1. I made the pesto (basil, walnuts, 1/2 the EVOO, 1 clove garlic, parmesan) and hummus (chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 the EVOO) seperately - because I honestly didn't know that I was going to mix them at first!  But I don't see any reason why you could throw it all in the food processor together! 
2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor except for the EVOO.  Process until well combined, drizzle in oil slowly as the machine is running until you reach a desired consistency (it may be more or less than 1/2 cup worth).

I stopped at my 24 hour Sobey's and picked up a fresh whole wheat baguette, and a box of the ACE bakery cranberry and raisin baguette crisps to eat with the hummus.  Yum yum, especially the baguette crisps, the sweet dried fruit was a great flavour compliment to the super savoury dip.

Other potluck contributions included Maria's homemade Sage Butter Gnudi (think gnocchi, replacing potato with ricotta cheese), Dara's Cauliflower Mac and Cheese, Andrea's roasted balsamic veggies, Marci's Apple, Cranberry, Almond and Pinenut Quinoa Salad, Heather's spinach and strawberry salad, Katherine's Crabcakes with creamy basil dipping sauce, and Daphna's low fat Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake (which seems like an oxymoron, but it was sooooooooo good - try it!).  See what I mean?! Not your average potluck fare :)

I haven't been able to get the butternut squash lasagna recipe off my mind - so today's the day!  It actually just came out of the oven, and it smells like heaven.  I followed the recipe exactly, and it was really quite simple! I can't wait to try it :) will report back soon! Here are some preview photos to whet the appetite...

I feel like chicken tonight... like chicken tonight!

This posts title is meant to be sung - whilst flapping your arms like chicken wings...remember this?

On the docket...chicken prepared two ways - one is a from-scratch recipe, inspired by the contents of this week's MEO delivery.  The second is a Lucy Waverman recipe, from my very favorite cookbook Lucy's Kitchen, which has featured on this blog before.

Tomato & Apple Compote Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients (enough for 2 breasts)

• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, tenderloin (that little wingy type thing) removed
• 1/2 large apple, peeled and chopped (MEO)
• 1/2 tomato, seeded and chopped (MEO - hothouse)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (MEO)
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 oz of cheese shredded or sliced thinly- I used low fat mozerella, but there are lots of options that would work well
• s&p to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Slice chicken breasts open from the side, like a book.  Pound them with a meat mallet or use a heavy bottomed sauce pan to flatten them until the whole breast is the same thickness.  Season both sides with s&p
3. Heat oil in a sauce pan over med heat, then add apple, tomato, onion, vinegar, sugar, and cook until it starts to breakdown and looks jam-like (7-10 mins).  Remove from heat.
4. Spoon 1/2 apple mixture on the top egdge of one flattened breast.  Add a thin layer of cheese.  Fold the sides over top, and then roll the breast up - like a burrito!
5. At this point, I would suggest pan searing the breasts before you put them in the oven.  Mine weren't sliced open and pounded flat very well - my stuffing would have fallen out everywhere!  So I put them directly in the oven and topped with another layer of mozerella.
6. Bake the chicken for 15-17 minutes.

The stuffing and cheese did a great job keeping the chicken really moist - always a concern when cooking extra lean meat.  I will definitely be perfecting my stuffing technique, so I can do this more in the future.  I tend not to buy breasts very often, because I find them so boring and expensive.  These were on sale though, and I had the leftover tenderloins to make a chicken salad with - that was my intention anyway, until rory drowned them in hot sauce and wolfed them down before I had a chance!

This was served with a green salad (MEO) topped with the other 1/2 tomato and a balsamic vinegarette, and a baked potato (MEO).  I should say 'baked' in the microwave.  Make a few fork holes all over the potato, and nuke it on high for about 3 minutes per side. voila!

Now...This Lucy Waverman Recipe is TO DIE FOR!

Cabernet Chicken

• 1 chicken (about 3lb/ 1.5kg)
• s&p
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 cup sliced leek (about 1 medium leek - white and light green part)
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot (about 1 large) (MEO)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery (about 1 small stalk)
• 1 tbsp fresh tarragon
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup seedless grapes halved (about ten grapes)
• 1/2 whole grapes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Season chicken with s&p.
3. Heat butter in a casserole over medium heat. Brown chicken on all sides, until golden (a couple of minutes on each side). Remove the chicken from casserole and drain off all but 1 tbsp of fat.
4. Add leeks, carrots, celery and saute for 2 minutes, or until softened. Add tarragon and wine. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in halved grapes and return chicken to casserole, breast side up.
5. Bake chicken covered, basting occasionally, for 55 mins or until juices run clear. Remove chicken from casserole, cover with aluminum foil for 10 mins to let the meat rest and keep it warm.
6. Skim fat from liquid in casserole. Strain sauce into a saucepan, pressing down on the solids to get all the liquid out - discard the solids. Add whole grapes to sauce, bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Carve the chicken, and top with sauce.

Oh man oh man - the sauce. THE SAUCE! Just incredible...rich, complex tasting (but not complicated!), well rounded, perfectly seasoned.  Rory and I were both wishing for a nice chunk of crusty bread to sop up the leftovers.  The whole grapes, heated in the sauce right at the end were such a light and refreshing compliment to the richness of the sauce too.  I served the chicken with rutabaga (MEO), that was cubed, steamed (10 mins), and sauteed in a little butter, and seasoned with s&p - a great flavour compliment, but rutabaga simply isn't starchy enough to soak up the extra sauce.  I will absolutely make this dish for company, as sould you!

I hope you're all out enjoying St Paddy's activities! Erin Go Bragh!!!

My Vintage Cookware

The weather is warming, but we still have a lot of winter vegetables on our hands! The spirit of spring did come alive in me this week though...I saw Canadian rhubarb at the grocery store!

I received my new delivery from Mama Earth Organics – A company devoted to being part of a sustainable food system, by providing the freshest and best tasting organic fruits and vegetables, with a local-first focus.

Sign up for MEO has been the simplest yet! It can all be done online – not even a confirmation phone call...my kind of business! MEO offers delivery weekly or biweekly, and there’s the option to completely customize the box for an additional $2 per delivery – I used this option on my first delivery to avoid adding another bag of carrots and potatoes to the pile I’ve already got. Payment can be made with credit card, cheque or cash, and there is a $10 sign up fee (non-refundable – recall FDO also had a $10 deposit for the use of the box  It was returned to me when I cancelled the service and returned the box).

As with FDO, you get an email the Friday prior to your delivery week updating you on the content of the following week’s box – My delivery is on Tuesdays, giving me plenty of time to customize should I feel the need. Customization is done by logging on to your account, and pointing and clicking the choices you want to cancel – a list of the items available to customize your order automatically populates; it couldn’t be simpler.

Box options and prices include:

vegetable basket $25 & $35 (small and regular)
fruit basket $25 & $35 (small and regular)

small, regular, large, and family baskets $25, $35, $45, $55

an additional $2 for unlimited customization option

I went with the regular basket, which I am to receive biweekly. These prices are on par with FDO, and the services they offer are very similar. MEO also offers additional, non-produce grocery items, which can be added to your order online – there is a great selection of ON jams, spreads, honey, juice, ciders, cheeses, and nut butters...neat!

The quality of the produce that came with the first delivery was excellent! Interesting additions include miniature blood oranges (juicy and sweet!), and some fun elongated beets (picture small red yams).

I haven’t made anything exciting with this box’s content just yet, but I do have a couple of yummy meals to share that I made before I got this delivery.

First, Roasted Kobacha Squash Risotto with leek and shrimp

This squash was left over from my final FDO delivery. Look at how much there was! Once roasted (it took me FOREVER to prep it, and my pipes were sore then next day!), it was pleasantly sweet – I would say the flavour is a mixture of butternut squash and pumpkin.

The risotto was a standard risotto recipe (minus wine – didn’t have any):

1 cup Arborio rice
1-2 Tbsp evoo
1-2 cloves garlic
1 leek sliced (FDO – I sliced and froze one of my leftover leeks before we went on vacation)
4 cups chicken stock (I used campbell’s low sodium – but homemade is infinitely better)
½ - ¾ cup grated parmesan
roasted kobacha squash – however much you want to put in – I used about 1/3 of the squash
1 lb Shrimp (peeled and deveined)
s&p to taste

Directions:

1. Heat EVOO over med heat
2. Add leek and garlic, and sautee until translucent
3. Add rice, sautee for a minute or so, all the rice grains should get a coat of oil
4. On a separate burner, heat 4 cups of chicken stock over a very low heat (this is done so when you add your stock to the risotto, it doesn’t stop the cooking process)
5. Reduce heat of rice pot to med-low
6. Add 1 ladle-full of heated stock to the rice at a time – stirring constantly until most of the stock is absorbed – continue doing this for 20-30 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, start taste testing the risotto – it’s done when it’s tender with a slight ‘bite’.
7. When you think the risotto is ‘almost done’ – add your shrimp – the shrimp will only need 2-3 minutes to cook. If you’re not sure when to add the shrimp, you could always cook it separately (bake, fry whatever) and serve it on top of the risotto.
8. Add squash and stir
9. Add stock and stir to desired consistency - the risotto should still flow like a really thick soup.
10. Removed from heat, add parmesan and serve immediately. Risotto is not a great re-heatable dish – it’s best served right away!

Annndd... the squash was a really yummy addition – sweet and earthy. I wish I would’ve had something green to add to freshen it up – arugula or spinach would’ve work well. You can’t go wrong with risotto though, it’s one of my go-to dishes for company. I haven’t met a soul that doesn’t like it!

Next we have a nostalgia flavoured dish – a regular visitor to my childhood dinner table – Sloppy Joes! Homemade ones though – My hardworking mother took advantage of a lot of the new convenience foods available in the 80s – one of them being Manwich!! These Sloppy Joes will take you right back to the glory of childhood Manwich night! (Thanks to Jasmine for the killer recipe)

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

2 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 ¼ cups ketchup (yes, you read right!)
1/3 cup water
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp yellow mustard
3 Tbsp white vinegar
3 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tbsp of chilli powder
¼ - ½ tsp of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

1. In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, garlic, until meat is browned. Drain off any excess fat.
2. To your slow cooker, add... EVERYTHING and stir.
3. Cook on low for at least 6 hours, mine cooked for almost 12 before I ate it
4. Serve over buns – mine were multigrain loblaws bakery buns, look for something hearty!

These were sooo good. THIS is comfort food! Not exactly textbook healthy eating here, but having a small portion, on a whole grain bun with a big salad or pile of greens on the side certainly balances the plate out. And THAT is what healthy eating is about!

This recipe makes a huge portion obviously. I froze over half of it, and the other half fed Rory and I generously for dinner and lunches the next day. Rory had a great idea to make these feasible (not too sloppy!) for lunches – he cut the buns up in to cubes, put them in a large container, and packaged the meat in smaller containers for heating. Heat the meat, pour it over the bread cubes and eat up with a fork!

I do want to also point out my amazing slow cooker. This was a wedding gift for my mother in I think 1970 (give or take a year), an orinigal Crock-Pot! Rory is constantly trying to buy me a new slow cooker – no can do, this is vintage baby! Safety-code shmafety code!

Hope you enjoyed the post. I’m always hungry for new recipes, and I’m seriously lacking inspiration to cook with root veggies these days – if you have any ideas, please post them!

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Jamaican me Hungry Mon!

The trip was incredible! A wonderful relaxing getaway with some of my most favorite people in the world to enjoy happy hour at the pool bar with!

Five of us including Rory's pops, brother and sister-in-law stayed at the Riu Tropical Palace in Negril - We were hooked up with amazing ocean front rooms and kept our sliding doors open at night to sleep to the sound of ocean, had beachside couples massages, and packed the food back like we'd never be allowed to eat again!

I intended to take a lot more food photos, but here is a small sampling of some of the local flavours I tried...

A beached starfish - note: this was not consumed.

Here is a typical buffet lunch plate for me - we've got some curried goat, stewed cabbage and pumpkin, a potato croquette (deep fried mashed potato log - yes, seriously), and a couple of non-jamaican items.

Whole steamed salmon, rice and peas (Jamaicans call Kidney Beans red peas), a calamari rice combo

On the bottom left there's callaloo - A 'green leafy' common in the caribbean (amaranth leaf).  Above that, some fried platains, and the potato-like traingle is dasheen (taro root).  The fried nugget is a jalepeno popper, and above chicken fajitas - what?! it was mexican night at the buffet.  What's not pictured here is my dessert plate - 3 more jalepeno poppers...i have very refined tastes obviously.

This was the seafood station on 'Chef's Choice' night at the buffet - mussels, scallops, calamari, lobster, in a light white wine sauce - served in the lobster tail shell - one of the few seafood highlights unfortunately! 

Considering how much amazing seafood is available in Jamaica, I was really disappointed by the quality - mostly the problem was it was overcooked...a sin that I'm constantly warning people about! Although I do understand that when the lunch and dinner buffets are open for over 2 hours and the seafood sits in a hot plate for that long, it's unavoidable.  Even the a la carte restaurants failed in the seafood prep though :( 

In addition to what I've shown, there was lots of delicious jerk sampling - chicken, pork, sausage and I would have at least one Jamaican patty per day at lunch (beef or chicken)

Overall the food was really good, and there was an overwhelming amount of choice at the buffets.  I'm always baffled when I read Trip Advisor reviews from people who say the food is terrible - there's probably over 50 things to choose from at each meal!  An extensive salad bar, meats cheese and bread, pastas, fish, tons of vegetarian dishes, beautiful local fresh fruit, even typical 'american food' - burgers, fries, pizza.  There are some seriously picky eaters out there!

A couple shots of the local beer - Red Stripe is well known of course.  We found Kingston 'The True Rude Jamaican Brew' (i promise it's on the label) at Rick's cafe - a popular bar that overlooks some ocean cliffs, and is well known for it's gorgeous sunsets (which we witnessed).

We really did enjoy the premium liquor at this resort too - each room was equipped with a great mini bar and 24 hour room service, which worked out perfectly for the historic gold medal men's hockey win!

In true form, I bought myself a cookbook as a souvenir  - I made sure to ask the local shopkeeper which one was most authentic, and she confirmed that the woman who wrote mine was Jamaica's Julia Child...phewph!  Don't worry, no need to travel to Jamaica - you can get it on Amazon.  Jamaican patties are FIRST on my list! Ambitious I know!

I've had enough of the blogosphere tonight! Gonna post this up. Stay tuned... in the next couple of days I've got my new box from Mama Earth Organics to post about, as well as a couple of good recipes - including, tonight's slow cooker Sloppy Joes!

Wurd to your moms foodies!