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Monthly Archives: September 2010

This week’s goodies

27 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in bacon and cheddar turnovers, carrot and ginger soup, steak and ale pie

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My wee girl got christened yesterday and I was just overwhelmed by the love and luck that we are fortunate enough to be surrounded with. What a great day, made even better as for once in my life I decided to take the easy route.

My sister and brother-in-law brought my mom down on Saturday and I have been desparate to just to chat with my sis and actually enjoy everyone at the christening. I decided to get goodie trays and salads from Foodsmith’s (a great whole foods’ store in Perth) and cupcakes from my friend Colleen’s company (Little Cakes http://www.littlecakes.ca/). Colleen made GORGEOUS red velvet cupcakes with pink buttercream icing and sprinkles. Adorable! Throw-in some sparkling jices and wine and you have a party!

This weekend did not however, leave a lot of time to cook so I have nothing really ready.

The only things that I made on Saturday are almost gone or gone but I do have a plan for food that is both quick and yummy.

And worst picture of a fantastic soup goes to…

In a stockpot place; 1/2 inch of fresh ginger, 3 lbs. of carrots (topped and tailed and cut into large chunks). Add enough chicken stock to cover and let boil until both ginger and carrots are tender. Blitz with a hand blender (or put in a blender), add enough pepper and cinnamon to season to your taste. Thin with a bit of either cream or homo milk. FAB and it freezes well.

We had these with spirals/turnovers for Saturday’s lunch. I had made puff pastry awhile ago (don’t bother-I do this once a year just to prove that I still can), rolled it out and cut into triangles. At the fat end of the triangle place some chunks of pear, a sprinkle of shredded cheddar and crumbled bacon. Roll and place on a baking sheet. Top with more cheddar and bacon. Bake until flaky and browned. HONESTLY though-try this with Pillsbury crescent rolls or ready made puff pastry. It’ll work just as well. They are all gone and have been for awhile. I got the idea for this recipe from this month’s issue of Rachel Ray.

Tonight is a yucky night and I wanted something that I could make while Madison ate some veg in her highchair. This means fifteen minutes maximum. I’ve given the recipe for this in the past and the only thing that I changed was adding a bit of mustard powder.

We also had butterscotch pudding (apparently we are regressing). My mom used to make this when I was a kid.

All you do is heat a 2 cups of milk. In another pot; heat 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of butter. Let this turn into a bubbling caramel (about five minutes at med heat). DON’T leave it. Bubbling sugar is an accident waiting to happen.

In a bowl combine; 2 eggs and 3 T. of cornstarch. Add approx. 1/4 cup of the hot milk with a whisk (this is tempering the egg so that you don’t have scrambled eggs) and add the whole thing back into the rest of the milk.

Add the butterscotch mixture and cook on medium (whisking the whole time) until the mixture starts to thicken. Makes four servings.

My other plan is to make steak and ale pie topped with more of that nice puff pastry.

http://www.hub-uk.com/foodpages37/1828.htm

Ingredients for Steak and Ale Pie

1 kg braising steak
500 ml Hobgoblin (I’m going to use whatever beer is in the fridge)
500 ml water (approximately)
3 beef stock cubes
2 1/2 heaped tbsp plain flour
2 large onions
Cooking oil or beef dripping
2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
Ready made puff pastry (ready rolled preferably, for less work)

How to make Steak and Ale Pie

•Peel and chop the onions. Cut up the braising steak into small cubes.
•Heat some oil in a large and deep saucepan. Add the onions and sauté gently for about five minutes until soft.
•Add the meat and cook to seal.
•Add the flour and stir in to meat juices.
•Continue to cook to cook out the flour, adding the beer gradually to prevent sticking to the pan until all the beer has been added.
•Add beef stock cubes and stir until dissolved.
•Add water to thin down the gravy. The amount will vary according to how much juice has come out of the meat so add gradually until the right consistency is achieved.
•Add Dijon mustard (English mustard can be used if preferred).
•Once boiling reduce the heat, cover and simmer very gently for at least two hours.
•Once cooked, cut your pre-prepared pastry into rounds or squares (the shape and decoration is down to your imagination) and bake for approximately 10 minutes on a tray.
•To serve your Steak and Ale Pie ladle the meat and gravy on to each plate and top with pastry. 4 servings.

The rest of the week is a bit of a mystery but may involve leftovers and will totally involve mussells with Cassie and Brent on Friday.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

This week’s dinners

20 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in coq au vin, gingerbread muffins, plum sauce

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Another week started and meals prepared are obviously going to be the key. My wee one has her first cold so I was off today but she’s turned around tonight (even has a new tooth) and since she is breathing well, eating well etc. we’re going to try to not get up with her in the night (okay, I’ll sneak into her room but I won’t pick her up).

This means I am a day behind at work and am I ever glad I spent a bit of time on Sunday cooking. We’re going to need yummy things but in a hurry.

My neighbour gave me some lovely plums off of their tree and I couldn’t resist making a sauce out of them. Just boil up about 3 cups of plums with 3/4 cup of sugar, a shot of grand marnier and a lemon zested then just cut into halves and tossed in. I made a simple yellow cake (see previous recipe) and the two were a match made in heaven.

I’ll apologize again about the pictures. My friends have said I need to put away the blackberry but it is so much easier and is always handy.

Here is my very dirty oven with lasagne and coq au vin in it. The lasagne I made a little more special with a layer of chopped kale in it. I looked back in my blog and was pretty shocked to see that I hadn’t put in the recipe for coq au vin. I normally just bung everything in the slowcooker but I knew the oven was going to be on for awhile so I put it in a casserole instead. Traditionally, you coat the chicken in flour and brown but…I’m too lazy and noone complains.

Chop four pieces of bacon and brown in a fry pan. Drain and put in a casserole (or slowcooker) with six chicken thighs, six pearl onions (if you don’t have them just put big chunks of onion in the pot), 1/4 cup of tomato paste, 2 garlic cloves (minced), 2 cups of chicken stock, 1 1/2 cups of red wine, 1 tsp of thyme, 2 bay leaves and 3/4 cup of button mushrooms. Let simmer away until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened.

I couldn’t let my slowcooker be lonely so I took a boneless shoulder of lamb and all the ingredients for osso bucco.

Here is some of this week’s bounty including;

1) Tofu marinated in; coconut milk, soy sauce, hot sauce and a bit of sesame oil. This should make quite a nice stirfry tomorrow night.

2) I also made-up a big batch of pesto from all the plants in the garden; pine nuts, shredded parmesan and LOTS of garlic. Whir it all up in the cuisinart and thicken with a bit of olive oil drizzled in.

3) I made some egg muffins with thick-cut bacon and fat organic eggs. This should help curb my compulsion to stop somewhere in the morning on the way to work.

Our baked goods for the week will be these nice gingerbread muffins.

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Ultimate-Muffin

Gingerbread Muffins
Makes 12 large muffins

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon cloves

½ cup butter, at room temperature

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)

2 large eggs

2/3 cup molasses (light or dark)

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

2/3 cup raisins

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour your muffin tin, or use paper or foil liners.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. In a bowl beat together the butter and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Then beat in the molasses. Add the dry ingredients in two increments alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Fill the muffin tin with a large spoon or ice cream scoop in equal parts. Bake for around 20 minutes until the center of the muffin feels firm and springs back when you touch it.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Just for Cheryl

17 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in Spaghetti Carbonara

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This recipe posting is just for Cheryl who is one of the awesome office admin at my school. If you have ever been working or even IN a school you know it is the admin that makes everything run just right. The world would end without them. We were chatting the other day and I erroneously thought that I had previously posted a recipe for carbonara. Here is a never fail version now.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/spaghetti_carbonara.php

Ingredients:
12 oz (375 g) spaghetti
6 slices bacon or pancetta
4 eggs
1/3 cup (75 mL) grated parmesan or romano cheese
1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped fresh italian parsley
Preparation:
In large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender but firm. Drain and return to pot over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in skillet, cook bacon for about 5 minutes or until slightly crisp. Drain on paper towel-lined plate; chop and set aside.

In bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley and pinch pepper; add to drained pasta and cook, tossing, for about 30 seconds or until pasta is coated and eggs are slightly set. Add bacon; toss to combine.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Thursday’s dinner

16 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in chocolate and sea salt caramel brownies, roasted veg dip

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On the menu this week

Another crazy but good week. We’re on the run each day to work, baby, trip to the hospital for Peter, clubs starting at school, two trips out of town…

There has been lots of eating but not a lot of blogging.

Find a few pictures below of the selections this week. In addition; we’ll be having upside down pizza, homemade hummous and pasta carbonnara. See previous blogs for the recipes.

Our big treat this week though will be a recipe that I saw on “The Best Thing I ever Ate” and had to seek out then. I must make a resolution NOT to watch this show.

Our grapes are also ready so thanks to neighbour Cindy we’ve got them picked and last night I made A LOT of grape jelly. No need for a fancy recipe. This is the only preserve that I made this year with certo and sugar. I’ll try it with naturally occurring pectin and honey next year but I was just happy to get it done at all this fall.

MUST do up the beets in the garden this weekend and make pesto from all of the basil and leftover rocket. Oh-and sleep at some point.

http://cuisinenie.blogspot.com/2010/07/sea-salt-caramel-brownies.html

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Sea Salt Caramel – adapted from Baked Cookbook

•1/2 cup heavy cream
•1 teaspoon sea salt
•1 cup sugar
•2 tablespoons light corn syrup
•1 teaspoon Vanilla
•1/4 cup sour cream
In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate any leftover caramel. it makes a great ice cream topping or tastes great straight out of the jar.

Brownies
Ingredients
•4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
•1/2 cup butter
•1 1/2 cups sugar
•2 teaspoons vanilla
•3 eggs
•1 cup all purpose flour
•pinch salt
•1/4 cup Chocolate Syrup
•half of the above caramel recipe
Preheat oven to 325F.

Melt Chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well combined

Add flour, salt, chocolate syrup and chocolate mixture and blend well.

In a greased 8×8 pan, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and pour in the caramel. On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in a swirl it around a little bit. Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes. Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not overbake.

Enjoy with a nice glass of milk, or better yet – ice cream!

Roasted vegetable spread with vegetable chips. THIS is so easy and always tasty. Take some tinfoil and wrap; a bulb of garlic, two tomatoes, 1 eggplant and a couple of small zuchinni. Bake until the garlic and other veg are squishy. Toss all (squeeze out the garlic cloves-you don’t want the paper) in a food processor and pulse until dip-like but still chunky. Season with salt and pepper.

Baked ham (just coat with maple syrup and mustard powder) and that baecomes sandwiches for lunches as well as, pea soup base (see earlier post for recipe).

Chicken curry from the slowcooker (see previous recipe).

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.
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