The New Oven Has Arrived

More like, life took a huge turn but things have finally settled! What’s been going on with the old oven lately? I don’t know, but I hope the new people are treating it as well as I did (or perhaps, better – as in cleaning it more often). Yep…life just got a little crazy and probably the biggest part was moving (back home!). Jobs lost, jobs found, jobs changing. Packing, more packing, unpacking, organizing. Looking to buy a house, not buying a house. Too many hours worked, not enough hours worked. It’s been all over the place. All the craziness finally settled and the RT and I took a Hawaiian vacation. I want to go again! It was amazing. And we came back engaged! It was perfect.

So now, as the wildest, weirdest, fastest, craziest spring/summer ever is coming to a close (can it pleeeaaaaase be fall yet?) I’ve been able to catch my breath, relax a bit, and get back to cooking and baking more regularly. And let me tell YOU, wait until you see my new fancy oven! I don’t think it hates me, but I think that’s because it’s smarter than me. It does everything but talk. Instead of the jarring “BRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT” of my last oven, this one goes “ting tong ting tong ting tong ” when my cookies are done. It also knows how to clean itself. It’s properly vented (through the microwave!), it has a glass cooktop, and 44 buttons, most of which I haven’t used. It’s also brand new and still (mostly) shiny.

What I’m trying to get at here, is that we moved into a brand new condo and all the appliances are state of the art and I don’t understand half of what they do. However, I have much more (granite!!) counter space, so cooking is a little nicer in the new place.

I’ve tried a few new things – some of which were good, some were pretty much failures (yes, I failed at buttercream frosting. I thought that was a relatively simple thing to make?!). My latest project is a new cast iron skillet that I bought to replace my old frying pan, once I found bits of Teflon peeling off into my stir fry. Anyway, this skillet weighs probably about 15 pounds and is pretty intimidating. I think I’ve screwed up with it a couple times so now I’m off to “season it” again, whatever that means. How did people survive before Google?

Much more to come. It’s good to be back!

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Well this is embarrassing. I was so sure I knew where I put the recipe for these cookies! No dice. I can’t find it!! I know it’s around here somewhere, so I’ll keep looking and edit the post later once I find it.

Snickerdoodles are one of my favourite cookies, and these ones turned out great. They’re extremely light, very fluffy and just a bit crumbly. The chocolate is nice too – it’s not overpowering. The cookies still taste like a familiar snickerdoodle, but with a hint of cocoa. Besides, I’ll take chocolate in anything!

start with butter and sugar

I doubled (or maybe even tripled, can’t remember) this recipe when I made it, so just keep that in mind for pictures. Beat together the butter and sugar…

add eggs & vanilla

Beat that together, and then you can start mixing your dry ingredients.

mix the dry

Am I the only one who sometimes mixes dry things with a whisk? Haha…I probably am. Sometimes I think it works better, sometimes I just haven’t done the dishes and the whisk is all I have left!

add the dry to wet

Add the two together and start mixing! It’s times like these I wish I had a standing mixer. I know, I know…just wait until I try bread…I know!

mmm...

I could just eat it now, thanks.

sugar and cinnamon, goes well on anything!

Better to bake it though! Throw some cinnamon and sugar together to roll the cookies in. Let me just say I love cinnamon and sugar (especially on crepes with butter!).

the first one (in the corner) never looks good!

After what seems like forever (I’m starting to think I must have tripled the recipe!), we’ve finally rolled our first batch. And in typical form, I’ve crowded the cookies too close together.

that's a lot of cookies

See what I mean? Luckily none of them suffered any serious damage.

and we're done!

(I promise, I’ll look for the recipe tonight and post it as soon as I find it!)

Chicken Pot Pie “Soup” – Must Try!

I love pot pies (beef or chicken), but I’m really not a fan of heavy pastry with dinner. Whenever we have pot pies I usually scoop out the insides and leave the crust…talk about wasteful! So this recipe over at The Crepes Of Wrath has my name written all over it. It’s a chicken pot pie without the pie! I had a ton of frozen chicken pieces in the freezer waiting to be used up, so it was the perfect opportunity to give this one a try.

all systems go!

It’s not often that I cook using all four elements at once. This recipe will keep you busy

plenty of chicken

I had a lot of chicken to use up, so I just went for it and cooked it all – it turned out fine, lots of chicken in each serving!

a lot of shredding to be done

It might take awhile, but it’s definitely worth it. Plus you’ll get a ton out of this recipe, so there’s plenty to share (I passed a few bowls to my grandparents) or use for workday lunches (I had enough to do this too!).

looks a little weird at first!

It all looks good after the milk is added though! Make sure you have plenty on hand – you’ll be using 4 cups or so for this. I used 1%, it worked well.

just about done

Then just add the vegetables and chicken. Told you it made a lot! I should mention – the recipe calls for peas, which I forgot to grab at the store, so I increased the corn and carrots a little (and I already had extra chicken anyway). Next time though, I’ll definitely add peas – it did seem like it was missing something. I also think it could have used some extra seasoning…not sure what, but I’ll play around with it when I make this again.

finished!

I baked some quick rolls for the side, they were pretty good. You could do a salad or something as well, but there’s a good amount of vegetables in it already.

Check the link at the top for the recipe!

Orange Beef Stir Fry

I love making stir fries. They’re usually easy and are good way to eat up lots of vegetables (since they never turn out mushy and tasteless!). This one with orange and broccoli looks good and tastes better – not to mention it’s done in less than 30 minutes!

mmm mandarin orange

Check out how good those oranges look! I made this back when mandarin oranges were still available, and they were so sweet – perfect in the ginger sauce. I’m always sad when they disappear from the grocery store

making sauce

The sauce is easy, mix up some orange juice, soy sauce, honey, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, and orange zest!

frying beef

Get the meat going after you’ve made the sauce.

now for some broccoli

Set the meat aside and start on the broccoli and onion. Like I said, this meal comes together very quickly!

adding the orange

Throw the meat back in and add the oranges – one more step and it’s done!

heat and stir for a couple minutes

Heat the sauce to boiling and let it thicken a bit, and that’s it!

served with egg noodle

I like to make this with my favourite egg noodles on the side, but it would go well with rice too.

Here’s the recipe!

1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp liquid honey
2 tsp cornstarch
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp finely grated peeled gingerroot (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger)
3 tsp cooking oil
1 lb or 450g beef top sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 cups broccoli pieces
6 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium oranges, peeled, segmented and chopped

Rice or noodles for the side

1. Combine the orange juice, soy sauce, honey, cornstarc, garlic, orange zest and ginger in a small bowl. Set aside. If you’re making rice, start it cooking now (about 20 minutes to being done)

2. Heat a frying pan on medium-high, then add 2 tsp of cooking oil. Add beef and stir fry until desired doneness. Transfer beef aside to a plate and keep warm and covered. If you’re making noodles, start it cooking now (about 10-15 minutes to being done)

3. Heat 1 tsp of cooking oil in the same pan. Add broccoli and onion and stir fry until broccoli turns bright green.

4. Return beef to pan and add orange. Stir the sauce, and add to pan. Heat and stir until sauce is boiling and thickened.

(PS – this recipe comes from Company’s Coming – 30 Minute Meals. I’m getting some great dinners out of this book!)

Quick Bacon Feta Carbonara

This pasta is ultra-rich and so so good…not to mention super fast and easy. Throw a green salad on the side and you’re done.

start with bacon - it will always turn out tasty

Start the bacon frying and if you like, you can get the spaghettini boiling at the same time. For some reason it takes me a long time to cook bacon…I might be doing it wrong, haha.

cream and egg yolk - don't worry, you can just skip dessert

In the meantime, start the sauce…

starting to look good

Before you drain the noodles, reserve 1/2 cup of the water. Add some spices to the bacon, then the noodles – and it’s almost done already.

toss a few times and it's done!

You should get about six servings of this…spaghettini goes a long way. It’s good if you’re having friends over, but I think it’s even better if you get leftovers for lunch the next day

done and done!

Want the recipe? You definitely want to try this!

12 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
12 oz/340 g spaghettini
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp olive oil
4-6 bacon slices, diced (or you could substitute with your favourite meat or sausage easily)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Boil water and salt in a large pot. Add pasta and boil uncovered, stirring occasionally until desired tenderness (about 9 minutes). Drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot and keep warm.

2. While pasta is boiling, heat oil in large frying pan on medium. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Meanwhile, whisk cream and egg yolks in a small bowl until combined. Set that aside.

3. Add garlic, ground nutmeg, and pepper to bacon. Heat and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add pasta, toss to coat. Add reserved cooking water to cream mixture. Stir, then add to frying pan. Toss to coat.

4. Add feta and parmesan, toss, and serve immediately. Goes well with a little extra pepper on top!

Yes, I Made It Out Alive!

So much for being back in a couple days! Thanks for everyone’s comments wondering where I was I made it out of the kitchen in one piece, but then I pretty much ran off on holidays. Then I came back in the new year, and promptly got sick. Figures!

Anyway, it was a pretty busy week before Christmas, for sure. I got all the baking done and everything turned out well. My final tins (8 in all) had cranberry-white chocolate oatmeal cookies, truffles, jam thumbprints, spiced nuts, chocolate snickerdoodles, and toffee squares with milk chocolate topping. I was originally going to decorate the tins myself but after my first attempt came out a TOTAL mess, I found some Christmas tins at the store and bought those. Whoops. I did wrap all the treats in ribbon though!

But enough about all of that – aren’t we all sick to death of Christmas baking? I know I am. I’m going to be focusing on good dinner recipes for the next little while – and I’m actually going to try using my slow cooker for once! Until then, what’s your absolute favourite dinner? You know, the one you’ve made so much it’s memorized, the one your friends and family are always asking for, the one that never leaves leftovers…this is your chance to share it here! Bonus points if it includes meat (gotta keep the Royal Taster happy) and pasta (that keeps me happy!)

PS – if you’re wondering what mine is, it is – without a doubt – beef and noodles!

Help, I’m Trapped In The Kitchen

No, really. Boy it’s hard to keep up with things around here right now. All my Christmas baking is catching up to me, and I’m still trying to make dinner every night (ok I admit, we had pizza last night)…not to mention the Royal Taster wanting more minestrone soup out of me. (did I mention how long that thing takes to make?) WHEW!

So I’m here. I’m surrounded by far too many cookies, tons of spiced nuts, and LOTS of chocolate. You should hear the Royal Taster whine about it too. I’m not letting him have any of it – I have cookie tins to fill!

I’ll be back with recipes and photos in just a couple days. Let me clean up the kitchen first!

Lemon-Herbed Chicken Pasta Toss

I have sat here for five minutes trying to figure out how to introduce this dinner. Is it simple? Yes. Quick? Yes. Light? Well…it seems like it should be, but angel hair pasta is deceptive. There’s a LOT of it. So no, not light. Flavourful? Well…again, seems like it should be but it came out pretty tame. That being said, it’s not bad either. It’s good, I liked it, I’ll make it again. But it does seem like it’s missing something. I think a good strong Caesar salad would be perfect for this. It’s also great for a group – it makes a lot and would be easy to increase. And of course, there’s nothing hard about a Caesar salad (especially if you pick it up from a store!). So if you’re looking for something that will feed a group and should keep everyone’s tastes happy (kids and adults alike), then try this.

frying chicken

Fry it up after coating the chicken in some flour and poultry seasoning.

waiting for the pasta

Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, and then remove from heat and wait for the pasta to finish.

pasta's on

Boil away. Like I said, quick and simple.

mix it up and serve

Drain pasta, reserve 1/4 cup of the water, and add the chicken mixture and parsley. Toss and serve.

That’s it! And if you’re looking for more flavour, increase the herbs and lemon as you like. Next time I’ll be doubling the lemon (or more) and adding a bit more seasoning. And a Caesar, of course

This is from Comapny’s Coming – Perfect Pasta and Sauces.

2 Tbsp flour
3/4 tsp poultry seasoning (I don’t have any of this, so I used Italian and a few other herbs I had around.)
1 lb (450g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup prepared chicken broth
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
12 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
8 oz (225 g) angel hair pasta
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Combine flour and poultry seasoning in large, resealable bag (I used a Ziploc). Add chicken and toss to coat.
2. Heat butter and olive oil in large frying pan on medium. Cook chicken until no longer pink. Reduce heat to medium-low.
3. Add garlic. Cook and stir for about two minutes, until garlic is fragrant and softened. Add chicken broth, lemon juice, marjoram, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Stir. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover to keep warm.
4. Combine water and salt in Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Add pasta. Boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but firm. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Return to same pot.
5. Add parsley, chicken mixture, and reserved cooking water to pasta. Toss.

Sour Cream & Onion Mashed Potatoes

You probably only want to eat these once a year. 300 calories and 15 grams of fat per serving. And you’re going to want seconds.

mmm potatoes

Take four of your favourite potatoes (I can’t claim a favourite, I love ‘em all…this time around I used Yukon Gold), peel them, and chop them for boiling.

waiting to boil

Boil for 15 minutes or so.

please do not drool in the potatoes

MAKE THEM AMAZING. In other words, add a bunch of stuff, mash them up a bit, and then get out your mixer and WHIP them. Yes. Yes. I don’t have a picture of this because let’s face it, I just wanted to get on eating those things, okay?

don't mind the burned chicken

And that’s all there is, well…next time it could have used a salad. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so inclined to eat more potatoes. Oh, and I won’t bore you with that chicken. Looks awful, eh? Tastes awful too. That was a failure. And unfortunately there were six other drumsticks and thighs in the oven, so it was an awful waste too. Don’t try that one at home. And you won’t, either, because I’m not giving you the recipe. But I will give you the recipe for those potatoes! Go make them. I don’t care what you’re having for dinner, sour cream & onion potatoes will go right along with it. You’ll make it happen.

The recipe is from Company’s Coming – Choosing Sides…with a few of my changes included.

3 or 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut up
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (I just increased the amount of chives quite a bit instead of the onion, because I love chives on potato like nothing else. If you do the same, you won’t need the 2 Tbsp butter mentioned above either.)
3/4 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream. You feel less guilty for it when you realize you’ve just shoveled away two whole potatoes in like…two minutes.)
1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 tsp dried chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper(or more to taste, of course)

1. Pour water into a saucepan to just cover potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Boil gently for 12-15 minutes, or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter in small frying pan on medium. Add onion. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until softened.
3. Drain potatoes, and mash. Add onion, sour cream, grated cheese, chives, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth and light.

Minestrone Soup For Dinner

Okay, I tried making soup for the first time ever! I slightly adapted a recipe recommended to me by a friend online. So here it is, minestrone soup…the soup that is SO BIG that it makes dinner by itself – just add your favourite crackers or some good bread. It’s also a lot of fun to make. You’ll need some time on your hands, but there’s a lot to do so you’ll be busy the whole time!

butter & olive oil

It all starts with a lot of butter and a good amount of olive oil.

spicy sausage

Once the oil and butter have melted together, the sausage goes in. I used spicy Italian sausage. I usually buy them actually as sausages, but this time I noticed the grocery store also stocked the same sausage meat, just out of the usual casing. Pretty handy for this recipe – no need to slice and squeeze.

time for vegetables

Once the meat has browned, you can add the vegetables. I didn’t get all my chopping done beforehand (I never do) so I didn’t add all the vegetables at once like I should have. I usually start chopping when the meat is going, but I’m so slow at it I never get done in time. So – the onion usually goes in first, and then I play catch-up.

next up

There goes the celery, as I make a mad dash for the rest of the vegetables. And from here on out, the photos get a bit sloppy. I was pretty much rushing around the whole time

everything's in

Okay, there’s the first half of the ingredients pretty much done. I let that simmer for a minute or two while I organized myself for the rest, haha.

tomato tomato

You can pretty much do what you like with the tomatoes. You can add a lot, just a few, diced, crushed, chopped, whatever works for your taste. This is what I like about minestrone soup – you can really change it around depending on what you like and don’t like, and it will pretty much always come out good. It’s basically foolproof! (this makes it a good choice for me)

chicken stock

Measuring out the stock…

ready to boil

Now it’s time to bring to a boil and let it simmer for awhile.

ready to go this time

So now I had some time to get things together. I doubled the amount of pasta (because I love pasta), and used rotini since I was out of macaroni. I also hate all forms of beans (except jelly beans and Mr. Bean, I think I’ve mentioned that before) so I substituted corn.

after simmering

Here we are after simmering for ten minutes or so…ready for those last few ingredients!

just about done

And that’s everything in! Now it simmers for half an hour, and then it’s done. (don’t forget to remove the bay leaf!)

dinner!

There it is…I should mention that the Royal Taster has said he loved the soup. I tried to get him to be more descriptive, but he was too busy eating. He did ask me to “definitely make this again”, at least! Anyway, it made a ton. We each had a bowl for dinner, there were two bowls left for lunch the next day, and I froze two big bowls to pass on to my grandparents. So you’ll get 6-8 bowls out of this for sure.

Now for the recipe!

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 lb (450g) italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup each, chopped celery, carrot(I was out, so I used peas), green pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I increased this, probably to about 4 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp dried basil
pinch of dried thyme
1 whole bay leaf (remove when done cooking)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chopped tomatoes (again, you can adjust this to desired taste and consistency. I used one undrained 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes.)
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup cooked or canned (drained and rinsed) kidney beans (you can increase these if you like, or substitute – I used 1 cup corn instead)
1/2 cup elbow macaroni or other pasta (I increased this to 1 cup and used rotini instead)

1. In a dutch oven, heat oil and butter. Add sausage and brown lightly. Add onion, garlic, celery, carrot and green pepper. Cook until softened but not browned. Stir in parsley, basil, thyme, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.

2. Stir in tomatoes and stock. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add cabbage, beans, and macaroni. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes. If too thick, dilute with water to desired consistency. (mine definitely didn’t come out thick, probably because I didn’t drain those tomatoes. However, it was a good consistency, so next time I make it I’ll leave the tomatoes undrained again.) Taste and adjust seasoning. If you like, serve with fresh grated parmesan and bread or crackers.