Orzo Stuffed Peppers

My friend Hailey texted me a few weeks back a picture of her dinner, Orzo Stuffed Peppers and said "Thought my foodie friend would appreciate"… and I did. She had the recipe from her food blog perusing in the summer, but couldn't remember what blog it was from (useless ;)). The recipe I linked is one very similar to what she had sent me, but I liked her ingredients better. My edits to the recipe I gave you are: the addition of mushrooms (which were fried up with the onions), chicken broth as opposed to vegetable broth,  white cheddar cheese and goat's cheese, as opposed to the cheeses the recipe suggested. I also didn't have fresh basil, so I sprinkled in some dried basil to the orzo mixture. I also didn't have a can of diced tomatoes… so I diced a tomato. I was working with what I had at home so I didn't have to go grocery shopping! The recipe is for 6 peppers and the one Hailey sent me was for 3 peppers… and I only used two peppers… so I basically just guessed measurements of things. Normally I write my blog posts after I've eaten, but because this one has such a long baking time I'm writing it now. MAN is time passing slowly. When Hailey made it for herself she didn't wait the 5 minutes it suggests at the end… I'm getting antsy and might do the same... but then I'll probably burn myself… maybe I'll wait like 3 minutes. So I waited the appropriate amount of time, but only because I had to take pictures. It was pretty delicious. However, if I make these again I might add some sort of spice (perhaps some spicy italian sausage or just some red pepper flakes). And definitely more goat's cheese. And more garlic spinach.

"The Best Lasagna. Ever."

So I didn't make dinner tonight, but it was Sunday dinner with my housemates and two of them made this recipe per my suggestion! My sister showed me the pioneer woman a while ago and I've tried a few of her recipes and they're great! This lasagna was super good tonight! I've got to say, I'm not a fan of cottage cheese. I think it's disgusting. But as she says on her blog "If the thought of cottage cheese makes you want to rent your garments, take heart: you won’t even know it’s there. Marlboro Man wouldn’t touch cottage cheese with a ten foot pole, yet he loved this lasagna so much…he married me". So true. Could not even tell the cottage cheese was there! I'll definitely make this myself some time soon! 


The pioneer woman also has a really good book about how her and her husband (Marlboro Man) met and fell in love. Check it out! 

Pesto Pasta with Spicy Italian Sausage

For inspiration for dinner tonight I used this recipe from chatelaine. I didn't have any tofu, so for the creamy aspect I put in goat's cheese and a liiiiiiittle but of cream. I also added an extra clove of garlic. I didn't have any almonds so I toasted up some pine nuts and put those in instead. I sided it with a spicy italian sausage. The spiciness from the sausage complimented the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes which complimented the nuttiness of the pesto. My housemate and I were STUFFED!

Curry

When growing up I never ate curry because my parents would always make it SO spicy. When I was about probably 15 or so I was at my friends cottage and someone made curry that wasn't unbearably spicy and I LOVED it. Ever since then when my dad would make curry I'd make him tone down the spiciness so I could eat it. I e-mailed my dad asking for his recipe and what I got back was "My curry is rather slap dash - no recipe". He gave me the ingredients he used and some "general" instructions on how to make it and left me with closing words of "Whatever you notice is missing in terms of steps or ingredients, feel free to add and improvise". Basically what you do: marinate chicken in Curry Paste (Patak's brand - I used mild heat), garlic and a little oil. Let sit in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. Fry up chicken in a wok. Since the paste is dark, I had a hard time figuring out if the chicken was cooked so just cut up the bigger pieces to check. Remove the chicken and set a side. In the same wok, toss in onions and begin to soften. Add bell peppers (or hot peppers if you like the spice). I used green and red bell peppers. Then add in other vegetables of your choice (I used cauliflower, broccoli and carrots). Remove all the vegetables and set aside. In the wok add enough chicken stock to cover the ingredients you'll be putting back in (I used about two cups - maybe two and a half cups).  Bring it to a boil and let it reduce a bit. Once reduced enough add in the chicken and the vegetable mixture. Let this cook for another 10 minutes. At this point I also added cut up potatoes (which I had nuked in the microwave a bit before so they were partially cooked). To finish it off add your desired amount of coconut milk to your preferred taste. If the curry isn't thick enough (which mine was not at this point), add in some cornstarch-water mixture. I served it with some basmati rice for me and my housemate. It was tasty! 

Chicken Enchiladas

My friend Ross came up to visit and it was his birthday the and he requested I make chicken enchiladas for his birthday dinner (because that's what his step-mom always makes him for his birthday). I took on the task and did just that! I followed mostly this recipe. When I started preparing everything I hadn't really decided on which recipe to use, so when I ultimately chose the recipe I had to make some stuff up. Instead of cooking the chicken in the sauce, I cooked it before had in a separate pan because I had chopped it up into small bite-size pieces already. After each batch of chicken was done, I put it in the sauce for a few minutes to get some of the flavours mixed in. I also didn't use any jalapeños because I was eating it too, and I'm not the biggest fan of spicy food. Instead I put in green and yellow bell peppers in instead. I also don't know what enchilada sauce is, so I omitted that. I used Kraft Tex-Mex cheese to provide a "little" spicy. I was too excited while making these so I forgot to grease the pan before putting them in… whoops! They didn't stick too badly, but definitely grease the pan in the future. They were pretty delicious! 

Greek Quinoa Salad

Quinoa round two. Marinated chicken in lemon, garlic, olive oil and oregano. Cooked it on the george foreman for about 5 minutes. I cooked the quinoa and mixed it with the left over roasted peppers from the other night, cucumber, feta, olives and onions. I drizzled some olive oil and lemon on top and some more oregano. omnomnomnom.

Recipes to try out

     Just found this blog called Proud Italian Cook! I am finding some delicious recipes on here that I want to try out! Craving spaghetti, but want to forget the carbs? I certainly do so I'm going to try out Zucchini Faux Spaghetti .
     I wanted a different tilapia recipe then what I tried last time. Found this Tilapia Piccata recipe. I LOVE chicken piccata, so I think this will probably be delicious with tilapia!

Spaghetti with Goat's Cheese Stuffed Meatballs

     So tonight I was just sitting around when my sister posted this recipe for goat's cheese stuffed meatballs on my wall. I instantly drooled and wanted to make them. I didn't have any ground chicken or turkey or pork, but I did have beef so I thought I'd try it out!
     I didn't have any roasted peppers, but I had some fresh ones which I then roasted myself! I don't have a gas stove or a BBQ so I just did it in the oven.
        For the pasta sauce, I fried up some onions, mushrooms and garlic in butter. Then I tossed in some white wine, plain tomato sauce, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
     The meatballs were delicious, don't get me wrong, but when I make these meatballs again, I'll probably use chicken or pork. I'll also probably put the goat's cheese actually in the meat balls instead of just on top. The bites of meatball that didn't have goat's cheese on them just tasted so lonely without the delicious goat's cheese.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Proscuitto

Oh my god. This was SO good. I'm forcing myself not to go get another bowl. Okay, I may go eat a little more. Maybe I'll just get eat out of the pot as I put the leftovers away. I forgot to buy proscuitto and cherry tomatoes when I was grocery shopping the other day (whoops), so instead I used bacon and a normal tomato. I also used arugula and spinach because I had both of them so I thought "hey, why not?". I used fresh parmesan and grated it up so it'd equal a cup. I didn't even end up using it all (which is weird because I love me some parm), but I didn't think the pasta needed it all. I used about 3/4 of a cup. Definitely will be making this one again.

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Lemon and Parsley Baked Tilapia

FISHHHHH!! I never eat it and I've never made it. I thought I'd try it out. Lots of people suggested to me to try tilapia because it's a mild fish. This morning my sister sent me this recipe so I decided today would be the day to try it. I added garlic slices and a little bit of butter into the foil packet. It wasn't fishy at all and it was rather good! If I make fish again I think I'd want to do it with a more flavourful marinade though. I was going to make it with these, but I was feeling rather lazy and had left over rice in the fridge. I'll save those for another day!

Sausage, Spinach, Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Pasta

     The weather was really gross out today so I didn't want to go to the grocery store to get stuff for the dinner I wanted to cook. I'll be less lazy and go to the grocery store some other time this week and make that. Instead I made "Sausage, Spinach, Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Pasta" because I had all the ingredients laying around. This dish is something I made up myself (to my knowledge… I'm sure there are similar recipes out there somewhere). One day last semester I was just envisioning what I wanted my dinner to taste like and those things sounded like they'd be so delicious together. Because I wasn't following a recipe and I was doing it by taste, reproducing the deliciousness from the first time I made it was kind of hard.
     The ingredients are: sausage, onions, mushrooms, garlic, goat's cheese, parmesan cheese and white wine (plus salt and pepper to taste). When I made it tonight I used Sherry (which is a sweet white wine often used for cooking) instead of a normal white wine… because I wanted to drink that. Although it was delicious none the less, I think the Sherry gave too much of a different flavour from what I wanted/expected. When I make it again, I'll stick to white wine like I originally did.
     The steps to make this are very simple. First, cut up your sausage (mild or spicy italian) into bite size pieces and put in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Then cut up onion, mushrooms and garlic. When the sausage is basically done cooking put in the onions and mushrooms. Don't put the garlic in right away because you don't want it to burn while the onions and mushrooms are softening (a trick my sister taught me). Once they have softened up a bit toss in the garlic and spinach. I used frozen spinach because I had that handy, but I suggest fresh spinach if you have it. Once the spinach has wilted down toss in some wine (enough to just cover the bottom of the pan). Let the flavours cook for a bit and then toss in your desired amount of goat's cheese (the more the better!). Once your desired kind of pasta is cooked, add that to the pan with the sauce and toss around. The first time I made this I didn't need to add anything for more flavour, but this time I added salt, pepper and a pinch of thyme and basil. Top with some fresh parmesan.

Sunday Roast and all the fixings

     MMM so good... I'm stuffed. Tonight I made my favourite meal of all time for my housemates: yorkshire pudding, roast beef, green beans and mashed potatoes. As long as I can remember, my mom cooked this meal for my family every Sunday until she moved to California when I was in grade 9. As sad as it was for her to leave, my stomach missed her Sunday meals a little more! (Just kidding, love you mom!)
     This morning I took out the eggs and milk because they needed to be at room temperature for the yorkshire puddings. The roast beef was marinated in margarine, Keene's dry hot mustard and garlic, which is my family's "secret" marinade (whoops, no longer a secret). That was put on the roast beef about an hour before I put it in the 350 degree oven. The yorkshire pudding is very simple to make. For a dozen yorkshires, you put 7/8 cup of flour in a bowl, a pinch of salt, add 1/2 cup of milk, 2 eggs (already whisked together), and then 1/2 cup of water.
     The roast was supposed to be in for an hour and 33 minutes, but I added about 20 more minutes because the meat thermometer said that it wasn't cooked enough. After I took the roast out of the oven, I put it to the side and covered it with tinfoil. I made the gravy in the roast pan. On the stove top I put in red wine, beef bouillon, thyme, salt and pepper. To thicken it up I added some cornstarch. Yorkshire puddings normally take about 18-20 minutes, but again I had to add more time because I wanted them to be a nice golden brown colour.
     My sous-chef, Lindsey, helped me out by preparing the mashed potatoes and green beans while I cooked up the rest! It was a very successful sunday dinner with my housemates. The first of many to come!

Eggs Benny

I don't know if it is because "I never liked it" or "I never had lots of opportunity to eat it", but I have recently fallen in love with egg benedict. When I would go to restaurants for breakfast or brunch, I wouldn't take a second glance at it on the menu. That all changed when my friend Kevi took me to brunch at her parents new restaurant "The Playpen" and I tried the eggs benedict, which was absolutely delicious! (There dinner menu is also superb, everyone should check it out!) Since eating their eggs benedict I thought I'd try making it for myself. I have never tried to make my own hollandaise sauce, only watched my sister make it, and I'd certainly never poached an egg before. Frying one is just so much simpler! I was feeling ambitious this morning so I set out to make it. I used this recipe for the hollandaise sauce. I like mine a little more lemony (probably because that's how my sister makes has made it for me), so I added more lemon than the recipe called for. I started out with the correct amount and then added more to my preferred taste as I cooked it. I had been reading a few recipes for hollandaise sauce before I started making it and some called for cayenne pepper, so I tossed in a bit of that as well. The hollandaise sauce could have been a little thicker probably, but it was delicious tasting so I didn't really mind. My housemates and I probably watched at least four videos on youtube on how to poach an egg before I did it because I really wasn't sure what to do. Some suggest adding vinegar to the water, some say stir the water in a circular motion before adding the egg, others say just add salt. I did all three because I really didn't want to mess up. I was also unsure of how long to cook it for because one thing we watched said "three minutes" and another said "ten minutes". I probably did it somewhere in  between, but was judging it based on how the egg white looked on the outside. I read somewhere to "cook it until there is no raw egg left on the outside", which is pretty obvious, but I kept putting the egg back in the water because I thought I'd see a little part of the egg uncooked. Unfortunately I ended up overcooking the egg just a little bit so the yolk wasn't runny as I had hoped it would have been, but it was still good. I toasted up an english muffin, put some garlic spinach on it (which I had fried up at some point while cooking everything else), put the egg and then drizzled the hollandaise on top. It was kind of a lot of work, maybe just because it was my first time making it, but it was super delicious. One morning when I have some spare time again I'll definitely make it!

Chili

Tonight I made chili. I looked at a few websites for recipe ideas, but didn't really use a recipe when I made it. I also didn't measure any of my ingredients because I did it by taste. The ingredients were: ground beef, onions, garlic, yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, corn, beer, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.
First I cooked the beef and once that was basically done I added the onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. Once those cooked for a bit I added chili powder, cumin, oregano and mixed it around. Then I tossed in about 2/3 of a beer that I found in my fridge and let that boil down a bit. Then I tossed in the beans (which were drained and rinsed first) and diced tomatoes. There was too much liquid at this point, so before adding the corn (which only needs to be heated up) I let it boil down for approximately 30 minutes. I tasted it and then added a little more of each of the spices to taste. I topped it off with some sour cream and some shredded cheddar cheese. It was pretty good! My housemate took a bite and then asked to have some herself! Definitely will make this again.

Quinoa, Sausage and Vegetable salad

     My sister and I have recently started to get into using quinoa as a replacement for rice. It super healthy and very easy to make. My sister texted me what she had for dinner the other day and I thought it sounded so delicious I had to try it… it turned out great! I modified her recipe to work with the ingredients I had handy.









     It was very easy and took probably 20 minutes. First I defrosted and cut up one mild italian sausage. Spicy sausage would have been delicious in this as well. While it was frying on medium heat, I cut up red and yellow bell peppers into chunks, cut up a few mushrooms, onion, broccoli and garlic. After the sausage was almost completely cooked I tossed in all the vegetables except for the broccoli. While those were all frying up together I started cooking the quinoa. I used 1/4 of a cup of quinoa and 1/2 a cup of chicken broth and followed the bag instructions. That was a perfect amount for a one person serving. The bag of quinoa suggested 15 minutes for cooking time, but mine didn't take quite that long.
     Back to the sausage and vegetables! Without measuring I tossed in some white wine that we had sitting in the fridge. This just added some flavour and produced a little steam. I tossed in the broccoli pieces and put a pot top over the pan so that the broccoli would steam a little. Alternatively I could have cooked the broccoli a little first in the microwave or a separate pot, but this was faster and worked out fine! For a final touch on the sausage and vegetable mix I added some thyme. After both the quinoa and the sausage/veggie mix were all cooked I tossed the two of them together. And volià, you have yourself a quinoa, sausage and vegetable salad! Thanks Jess for sending me this recipe!

Baked Goat's Cheese and Apple Salad

This is the web version of the next recipe I made from the Dinner in 30 book. It was pretty good! I made it for my housemate and I, and she is allergic to walnuts so I omitted them and used pine nuts instead for the baked goat's cheese. Walnuts would have been great, but the pine nuts were good too! I used whole wheat bread for the croutons, and I was a little afraid that the whole wheat flavour would be overpowering, but it seems it was not! I chopped up some garlic and tossed it in with the bread, red wine vinegar and oregano because I think all croutons need a little garlic in my opinion, but that might just be me! I also added some diced cucumber that went well with the rest of the salad. Although I have a julienne peeler, I just chopped up the apple instead into thin slices. For the dressing, I added a little more honey than asked for because I thought that with the correct measurements it wasn't as sweet as I had envisioned it for the salad.
Edit: Thinking back on it, I don't think the entire can of chickpeas were needed!

Lemon and Chicken Spaghettini

For Christmas I got a Chatelaine magazine/cookbook called dinner in 30. My plan is to make as many recipes from this and post them here. The first one I tried out was Lemon and Chicken Spaghettini. It was absolutely delicious and easy! Here is the web version of the recipe which is a little bit different, but generally the same. The grocery store for some odd reason didn't have snow peas or chicken breasts (weird, right?) so I used chicken thighs and snap peas. It worked out very well. I also decided to put mushrooms in, which I just tossed in at the end while the chicken was frying. I'm not the hugest fan of cilantro, which the book recipe calls for, so i omitted it. In my opinion, I don't think it would have really added anything to the recipe. The online version says you could also use fresh basil, which would probably be delicious. To finish it off I grated some fresh paramsean on top. Definitely going to make this one again!

Jamie Oliver's quick and easy Cheat's Pizza

The other day my sister sent me this recipe and we tried it out. We only did the pizza part, but it was so delicious we had try it again! The recipe requires "self-rising flour" for the dough, which we didn't have lying around the house,  but it is very easy to whip this up. When we decided to do the pizzas the second time we decided to stray from the original recipe and create our own. We made two pizzas. Both with the homemade dough and same sauce (we used Passata Di Pomodoro sauce for the "chopped tomatoes" and then followed the rest of the instructions for the sauce). The toppings is where we got creative! Pizza one (left): goat's cheese, caramelized onions, mushrooms and garlic spinach, and bacon. Pizza two (right): fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives, fresh basil and genoa salami.