Author Archives: stacey

The Relationship Saver Chicken Burger

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Auntie Stacey’s Relationship Saver Chicken Burger:
2 Skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts (sliced in half lengthwise to make 4 fillets)
1 – 1.5 C reserved Pickle Juice brine (straight from the jar)
6-8 large White Mushrooms (washed and sliced up)
2 whole slices of Red Onion (about 1/4″ thick, cut to half moons)
4 slices of Bacon (cut in half to make 8 pieces)
Jalapeno Lime Aioli
4 soft, crusty baker’s Buns
1/2 C shredded cheese (Monterey Jack is a great choice for this burger)

While bringing your meat up to room temperature, let is soak in a bowl filled with enough pickle juice to barely cover it. Let that stand on the counter for up to 30 minutes before you grill it.

In the meantime, heat a pan on the stove while you wash and slice up the mushrooms, and cut the onion slices. When the pan is hot enough, add about 1 teaspoon of oil and let that heat up before you fry your bacon slices. When they’re done, transfer them to a plate with paper towel to drain off the fat. Clean your pan and then toss in your mushrooms and onions together to saute and get a lovely brown colour to them.

Heat up your grilling pan or contact grill appliance. When it’s hot enough, add your chicken to cook for about five minutes. The meat should be thin enough after slicing in half that it won’t take much longer to cook it through. While waiting, remove the mushrooms and onion from the heat; set aside. Cut up the buns and shred your cheese.

After the chicken is done cooking, assemble your burgers and prepare to feast as you pound your hand on the table in ecstasy!

My husband likes to look around the table, toward the kitchen, toward me, and then pick up his plate to look under it, pick up the condiments to look under those, etc., and then look at me with puppy dog eyes as he asks where his second burger the very second the last bite of his first chicken burger hits his stomach.

Yup… They’re that good.

You’re welcome. 🙂

Weekend 5 Recap

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So, yeah… the Weekend 5 recap. I totally forgot about this till today. OOPS. My bad. Also, I just realised all of the photos I took are on my iFone, and I left that in the car, which the husband is currently using while out on back-to-back service calls, so those will have to be added this afternoon. Sorry.

Okay, here are my thoughts first:

1. The dill pickles from last week should be done fermenting. I will wait to open them when we make our burgers for dinner. I’m sure they will be delicious. Woot!

The happily unfussy apple cake was quick to assemble and bake, meaning this would be a great dessert for kids to make with minimal supervision. Overall, I liked the texture and choice of ingredients, but for me lacked enough flavour. I think amping up the cinnamon is what needs to happen here given how much cake this recipe yields. The scant 1/2 teaspoon was simply not enough. Since the Fall weather is just starting and that means lots of apples, I will get to play around with the cinnamon increment to figure it out soon enough. Overall, this is a great little recipe to try at home as a weeknight dessert.

The mushroom rice dish has a very straightforward cooking method, and I appreciate recipes like that. However, there weren’t any seasonings included beyond a bit of S&P, and this is purely my bias but I didn’t like the inclusion of the wine to the dish. (I also don’t like coq au vin if that makes you feel better.) This is recipe I wanted to like a lot, but didn’t. Even with fresh grated parm cheese on top. (!!!) I will have to take another kick at it very soon with some seasonings. I can easily imagine this side being a staple in our home with our winter meat dishes. I’m not giving up on it. I think it’s 75% good, but I want it to be 100% great, so I’m going to retool it to my liking. I will post the final version soon.

GnocchiSkillet-3The gnocchi and zucchini ribbon dish was nice to make and eat, but it would have been a bit better if I had pan fried the gnocchi first instead of boiling it. I’m not a fan of soft, mushy gnocchi, and after boiling it to perfection then adding it to the pan to cook longer, it does tend to go mushy. Overall, this is a great little dish that’s got heart and legs. I was full for almost four hours after eating a small bowlful. And the husband was into it. It could use a bit of pow, though; I’m thinking perhaps the inclusion of some red pepper flakes or something similar, or maybe a splash of vinegar in the pan with the vegetables? In any case, this is as a lovely comfort dish that can be changed up as the seasons bleed into each other by switching seasonal produce to suit the weather and mood. Keeper.

5. I had high hopes for the sour cream and bacon potato salad, but it fell flat for me. I’m not really sure why. I haven’t had time to deconstruct the recipe and cooking method to figure it out since I was busy making a Beef Wellington at the same time. I can tell you my MIL and SIL loved this salad which I found odd because I thought for sure my MIL was going to turn her nose up at it after I tasted my first mouthful. She’s not one to eat salads that don’t measure up to hers, but she went back for seconds. Huh. And I thought at one point perhaps it was just me, but the husband thought it was lackluster as well, so who knows. {shrugs}

6. Today I’m finally getting around to making the fig jam after securing some lovely figs. Finally!

Weekend 5 – Aug 9/13

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Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons & Parsley Brown Butter We love gnocchi in this house. It’s delicious in every dish I’ve tried it in. You can’t go wrong with these soft, warm pillows of potato goodness. Often I will fry gnocchi to get a nice crispy feel to them as part of a breakfast hash with a vegetable medley. So earthy. This Gnocchi & Zucchini Ribbons in Parsley Brown Butter dish from EatingWell.com looks amazing in simplicity, in taste and in colour. This should be quite good. We’re looking forward to this one

AppplePieCake I have 3 apples in the fridge that need to be used up, but 3 is not enough to make a pie with or even a few hand pies, so this cute Apple Pie Breakfast Cake from HowSweetItIs.com looks like it will be a perfect use for my apples. Yum!RoastedPepperDipMost of you know that I love to roast my own peppers at home. It’s cheaper, and it’s healthier for me. I have a lot of weird issues with preservatives, so I like to control my own food preparation when possible. And it’s completely possible with roasted peppers. Here is a lovely Roasted Red Pepper Dip from MarthaStewart.com that I have my eye on. I really like this idea. I want to see if it’s something the husband will be into as well. He’s picky. 🙂
potato-salad-bacon-sour-cream-herbs2 I also have 4 potatoes in my pantry I have to use up, so I’m thinking a small batch of this mouth watering Sour Cream & Bacon Potato Salad from Creative-Culinary.com needs to be made this weekend. Ooh-la-la! 😀MushroomParmRiceAnd finally, I can’t resist any recipe calling for the use of our beloved Jasmine rice. We can’t. It’s a fact. Look it up. Weak in the knees? Yup. Drooling? Oh, yeah. See? So I tripped over this little creamy rice dish on Pinterest the other day, and I have been thinking about it ever since. This Mushroom Parmesan Rice from TickledRed.com may be the perfect side dish for the pot roast I’m making this weekend. Hmm…

So, that’s what I’m making at home this weekend. What about all of you? Let me know in the comments, please.

I am curious about where everyone’ head and stomach is at right now at this odd time in the summer where it’s unseasonably cold. Almost Fall-ish. I was thinking about stew last night, too. Eek. 🙂

Weekend 5 Results

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AvocadoSmoothieSmoothieMakingMorning, everyone. It’s early, and quiet here in the house.

The boy is still in bed, and I’m wide awake, sipping on my avocado milk smoothie – thinking about this blog post.

I was busier this weekend than I thought I was going to be, but since it’s a long weekend for us, technically I still have one more day to make the last two items on my Weekend 5 list. 🙂 So far I have managed to make the chai, the kimchi and the lemon curd. All very tasty, all very easy. I highly recommend the lemon curd. It was especially tasty.

ChaiThe chai was great, but as usual, I found myself without one ingredient that I thought I had but couldn’t find or didn’t remember using up already. In the case of the chai, it was the black tea. The key ingredient. {forehead smack} So, being resourceful, I used Earl Grey tea bags instead. The recipe calls for 4-5 black tea bags, but since I didn’t want the bergamot from the Early Grey dominating my chai super pack of flavour, I only steeped three tea bags.

And then I couldn’t find my star of anise pods (are they pods or just dried flower rings?) and the bag of cardamom pods went AWOL on me, so I cheated and used a bit of anise extract and dry cardamom. Into the pot they went, to swirl around with the water and cinnamon stick. Both swap outs worked nicely, and not much was lost from the tea when I strained it over the cup into my mug, so I win.

KimchiI started the kimchi last Thursday night after dinner since the brining of the cabbage was to take 4 hours. I left it go for 6 hours to really soften the leaves. But, by the time I was done straining and draining the water out of the leaves, chopping it into bite sizes and mixing it up with the hot chili pepper paste, it was after midnight when the jar was placed into the fridge, so I’m going to say it was made Friday on schedule with the rest of the Weekend 5 tries. 😉 I can cheat like that, right? Right.

LemonCurdMaking-1The lemon curd was very easy to make. More so than I remember with store bought lemon curd pre-done packets from my childhood. Huh. And the recipe called for using up the last three of my slightly aging lemons, so this was good timing.

The tartness of this curd won’t make your mouth pucker, but it is strong enough for you to taste it in, say, a blintz or a crepe with fresh whipped cream and some sweet ripe fruit. The flavour stands out, but it doesn’t overwhelm – and that’s exactly what you’re looking for. That’s the kind of curd that’s far more versatile than the overly tart, overly sugary, and overly processed kind I remember from my childhood used in pies. Blech.

The pickles will be done this morning, and after a quick trip to the grocery store across the street for items I could have sworn I already had on hand but can’t find in my pantry (isn’t that the most frustrating?), there will also be fig jam being made in my kitchen.

{happy clap}

Okay, time to get dressed and head out. Those pickles are going to make themselves!

 

Future Posts 1

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Weekend5-2

 [ Lemon Curd from scratch from Food52.com ]

Weekend5-3[ Homemade Kimchi from Food, Blog & The Dog ]

Weekend5-5

[ Fabulous 1-Jar Dill Pickles from Yummy Supper ]

What are all of you making this weekend? Will you try anything from my Weekend 5 list? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear about your kitchen adventures. Perhaps some of your ideas can make it to one of my future lists. That would be fun!

Blackberry & Pear Crisp

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BB-Pear_Crisp-9BB_Pear_Crisp-5[ Blackberry & Pear Crisp – fresh out of the oven ]

Today a customer gave us our first batch of blackberries off one of the bushes he has in his side yard at home after the husband fixed his computer. (Not as a payment, but as an extra, “Here. This is for you because I remember your wife and you love these from last year when I brought you some at the store,” sort of way.) And we did.

He gave us about one and a half cups, and kindly washed them for us, so all I had to do was peel and cut up the lone pear we had in the fridge to add to the berries for this recipe. I love when a great plan comes together on the fly like this.

So, my challenge wasn’t what kind of crisp I wanted to make, but rather to scale the one recipe I love the most down to something that will use up everything I have onhand and will also fit nicely into two small baking dishes. I adapted the following to make a 2-person serving. Hope you all like it.

Auntie Stacey’s Blackberry & Pear Crisp:
2 C Blackberries + Pears (you can make them even or a bit more of one over the other)
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1-2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1/2 C Rolled Oats
1/3 C Flour
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp Butter (unsalted, cold and cubed)

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[ Blackberry & Pear Crisp – ready for the oven ]

In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch; lightly toss with the fruit, or if they berries are too tender, drop the mixture over the fruit as it sits in the baking dishes.

In the bowl again, mix the oats, flour and sugar. Top each baking dish with half of this mixture. Place the small cubes over top of the topping within half an inch of each other.

No need to go overboard or to crowd. If you leftover cubes, chill them for the next crisp you do or use them for your next corn-on-the-cob dinner.

Bake the crisps at 350 for 35 minutes, or until bubbling hot and most of the topping has crisped up.

BB-Pear_Crisp-6

Cool till the fruit can be eaten without scaling the mouth, and serve with French Vanilla ice cream or, if you have it, freshly whipped cream topping.

Yields: 2

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{ So good. So, so good. ]

Summer Drinks – Fast & Dirty Frappé

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FrappeDrinkI’ve been playing around with stripping down the classic frappé into something that’s not only healthier (let’s be honest here!), but faster and easier to assemble and blend into a tasty drink we all don’t feel grossed out consuming so much of. My frappé ends up being a little over half the size (10oz) of the Starbuck’s tall serving (16oz).

Here’s what I’ve got so far. I like this one a lot. Hopefully you all will, too.

Auntie Stacey’s Fast & Dirty Frappé:
8 Ice Cubes
1 C Vanilla Almond Milk
1-2 Tsp Powder Sugar (optional, and can be replaced with other sugar types)
1 Tsp Instant Espresso Powder (double if you like a strong coffee shot flavouring)
1 Tbsp Coffee Creamer

FrappeI mix this all up in the smallest Magic Bullet pitcher the blender came with because it makes the perfect portion size that prevents us from over-consuming (nice little bonus there).

This frappé is one of my go-to drinks to stay cool during the blazing hot days of summer like we’re having this week. Try it at home and tell me what you think in the comments. 🙂

Leftover Jasmine Rice Fritters

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RiceFritter-1[ Click picture to embiggen ]

Sometimes the best meals are made with leftovers. Especially when it comes to breakfast meals. That’s a FACT. Dispute it all you want, but you’ll never convince me otherwise. I’m stubborn like that. 😉

Today I went on a bit of a cleaning jag, and before I knew it half of my fridge was cleaned and organized, all the turning bad food stuffs were recycled, and I was cleaning the dirty food containers when my stomach let me know it was time to turn my attention it.

I went back into the fridge because the thought of cereal made me weepy. I wasn’t into standard breakfast fare today. I spotted a huge container of jasmine rice and an idea formed. We love jasmine in this house. And since it’s a long-ish cook rice, we always make five times more than we need to every time go. We use the leftovers for fried rice typically, but I’m always looking to stretch my repertoire of things I can use this gorgeous, nutty flavoured rice with or in.

Today’s breakfast quickly took the form of a fritter. I grabbed an egg, some cornstarch, a nub of red onion that I grated, and mixed those items with some rice I heated up with a few sprinkles of water under plastic wrap for 40 seconds to soften and moisten it. I also threw in some dried parsley for colour and to cut the sting of the onion for good measure, and finished the mixture off with a bit of S&P.

Leftover Rice Fritters:
1 C leftover Rice, of choice (the meat of this fritter)
1 Egg, preferably room temp (for binding)
2 Tbsp Cornstarch (for crispness)
1-2 Tbsp shredded Onion (for sting)
2 Tbsp Parsley, fresh and chopped finely, or half this for dried version (for colour)
S&P, to taste (for seasoning)
Oil (for cooking)

Adobo Mayo Dip:
1 Tbsp Adobo sauce (for heat)
1 C Mayonaise (for creaminess)
1-2 dollops Sour Cream or plain Greek yogurt (for tempering) – optional

RiceFritters-2

[ Click picture to embiggen ]

I used an ice cream scoop to drop six balls into the hot oil dancing in my frying pan, and slowly pushed the rice mixture down into patties with the back of my wooden spoon. When the first side was crisp and golden brown, I flipped them over to fry the backside. Each side took about 3-5 mins, more or less. I wasn’t paying attention since I was cleaning up my mess and making a dip as the fritters did their thing in the pan.

I made a great little kicker mayo dip to go with it that consisted of one tablespoon of adobo sauce and one cup of mayonaise. It wasn’t too crazy hot but if you eat enough of it, like I did dipping bite size chunks of the fritters into it, you will find by your third fritter the back of your mouth and top of your throat are starting to feel scorched. If that kind of heat isn’t for you, I recommend dropping a dollop or two of either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt in with the mayo to temper the sting.

I love fritters of all kinds. And before today, my favourite was the classic zucchini fritter. I can’t get enough of them in the summer. It’s amazing how many I have eaten in my lifetime now that I think about it. I’m surprised I never realized I had a wee addiction going on there until today. Ha.

RiceFritter-CrossSection

[ Click picture to embiggen ]

This fritter recipe is a keeper. I think I will use this one for fall and winter times, though. The rice is on the heavy side, so I couldn’t eat more than three fritters with my cup of coffee and the mayo dip sauce. I got quite full quite fast. Sorta like I do when I eat half a Belgian waffle. I guess I’ll have to stick to vegetable fritters for the spring and summer months instead. I’m a bit of a lightweight eater that way. 🙂

Homemade Hotdog Buns

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It’s Canada Day, and that means hotdogs and hamburgers made on the grill in a backyard or in a park by some water close enough to the fireworks hours later. It’s how we do it north of the 49th, kids. And we like it this way!

What we don’t like – or, what I should say I don’t like – is finding out our hotdog buns are moldy on a day when the stores are closed for a national holiday. It bums me out. But, because I discovered this problem very last night, I had lots of time today to make buns from scratch. Yes, I make bread, too. I make it ALL, baby.

{evil laughter}

I don’t have a stock bun recipe so I was planning to scour the innerweebs when Joy The Baker, bless her generous heart, decided this was the weekend she was going to post about her homemade hotdog buns. It was meant to be. 🙂

HotDogBuns-8

From this…

HotDogBuns-10

To this.

I halved the ingredient amounts to make a smaller batch than her recipe yields, but if you’re having a crowd over, Joy’s recipe will give you 18 regular 4″-5″ buns per batch. There’s still time to make a whole mess of these buns if you need more than that. They’re fast, straightforward and easy to make. I assure you. If you’ve ever kneaded dough before, you’ll be fine with this recipe. Pay attention to your type of yeast (I learned the hard way a month ago) and how to use it, and you should be fine.

HotDogBuns-2

 

I made half the batch with poppy seeds, fresh cracked pepper and big grains of salt, and the other half only got the coarse salt. I liked the salted one, and my husband loved the all dressed up one. I took care to make these buns a full 7″ so the overgrown Costco sausages the boy loves so much would be evenly matched up bite for bite. He complains a lot about rinky-dink store bought buns not being long enough. So, needless to say, he was happy with these buns in ever respect.

Try these buns. You’ll love them. And they took me less than an hour – start to finish.

OK, we’re off to hit a movie if we can, so enjoy your holiday, everyone.

Happy 146th birthday, Canada!

Breakfast Pasta Skillet

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Pasta-Breakfast-Skillet

[ Breakfast Pasta Skillet recipe and picture courtesy of A Beautiful Bite ]

I feel it’s never too early in the day for pasta, so I like to find ways to make it for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. And I never hear any objections from the spousal unit, so this is one I will be testing this long weekend.

I also want to test this with leftover Jasmine rice. Probably Asian noodles, too. And if we’re going that far, why not leftover bulgur?

‘Mmm… I making myself hungry running down the possibilities. Heh.