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Monthly Archives: October 2010

This week’s goodies

28 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in Peanut butter and chocolate muffins

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You can tell it’s a busy week when a post only happens on Thursday. We’re gearing-up for Hallowe’en on Friday at school and had a wonderfully successful day at Aberdeen Pavillion yesterday with almost 5000 grade eights.

I would say that I slept like a baby last night but since my baby isn’t big on sleeping I totalled about an hour of uninterrupted snoozing through the night. Feeling a bit punchy today but the muffins below are certainly going to help.

Other meals this week include; roast chicken glazed with fig and orange compote, beef wellington (steak seared at a really high temp, topped with sauteed mushrooms and wrapped in pastry), more Mulligatawny soup, stirfry with chili sauce and tofu.

I made my usual double batch of these lovely things and using dark chocolate as well as, goat’s milk instead of the regular stuff.

http://bakingbites.com/2007/09/peanut-butter-and-chocolate-chip-muffins/
Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.
Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

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This week’s menu

21 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in butternut squash soup, canning applesauce, pumpkin bread, salmon stew

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This is the type of week that you love because a lot gets done but at the same time just about kills you with how busy it is. We’ve been eating surprisingly well but it has been a bit of a struggle. Thank goodness for a quality husband, nice people to work with and good friends.

Best of all, I finally got to see my Michelle and even made plans to see her again really soon.

If I can catch-up with Cassie in the next week and write all of my student’s report cards, all will be right and just in the universe.

From last week here is the mulligitawny soup. This was just so satisfying that I will make it again soon. I added two kafir lime leaves and a bit of lemongrass as I didn’t have any cilantro to add.

Make the pastrami chicken VERY soon. Try not to share very much-you will want it all for yourself as the flavour goes all the way through. FAB! This chicken provided the bones for chicken stock and meat for the soup pictured above.

This week’s food is pretty quick but still healthy and tasty.

After the farmer’s market (Main Street) on Saturday I was able to make a bit of food ahead. If you haven’t been to the market yet then go this weekend. It is only on until the end of the month and the people are spectacular.

Madison caught the eye of one of the farmer’s who gave her his last raspberries, I had a great chat with some lovely Japanese ladies who were selling vegetarian bento boxes and was able to find all the items that I had hoped to find. My grand total; $40.00.

The items that you already have the recipe for are; moussakka, chicken pot pie and lasagne in the slowcooker.

One of the things that I have liked the best this week is butternut squash soup. This is less of a recipe and more of a method. Bake a whole butternut squash in the oven at 330 until it is soft. When cool enough to handle, slice in half and clean-out the seeds, peel off the skin and break into chunks. Place in a pot with a chopped onion, an inch chunk of fresh ginger (remember to buy a really big piece and then store it in the freezer for when you want it), enough chicken stock to cover and a can of coconut milk. Heat on medium and cook until the onion and ginger are soft. Blend.

This moist pumpkin bread is dense and satisfying without being too sweet. This is a terrific recipe for breakfast. I got it out of this month’s “Real Simple”.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spiced-pumpkin-cake-00000000044847/index.html

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for the pan
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree (1 1⁄2 cups)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Directions
1.Heat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.
2.In a bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3.Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the pumpkin puree, milk, and molasses (the mixture may appear curdled). Reduce the mixer speed to low; gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined (do not overmix).
4.Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5.In a bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the cake. Let set before serving.

This stew is a shockingly easy way to get more fish in your diet. I had the fish in the freezer and just dropped it into the pot in frozen chunks. The recipe is from Rachael Ray’s magazine this month.

All you do is; saute (in a pot) 3 medium potatoes, 2 leeks that have been cleaned and sliced thinly. Cook until the potatoes are just starting to colour. Add-in 2 cups of vegetable stock and three cups of water. Add; 1 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika and 1/2 tsp of salt. Add two skinless salmon filets that have been cut into 2 inch chunks, cook for approx. 2 minutes and just before serving add 3 cups of roughly chopped spinach. Let wilt and serve with warm chunks of crusty bread.

I picked-up lots of apples at the market and was able to can applesauce for the baboo. I simply peeled and cut the apples into really large chunks, placed them in the slowcooker and let burble away with a bit of water. I’ve made applesauce in a pot A LOT and often I forget about it and it burns. That lovely burned taste goes through the whole thing then and you need to throw it all out. Yay 😦

By making it in the slowcooker you avoid the burn potential. When it is done just process your jars as if you are filling them with jam.

I made a big batch of springrolls too. Just buy three packs of eggroll wrappers (found in the produce section of the grocery store) and follow the instructions on how to fold on the back. For the filling, in a large bowl combine; one head of cabbage shredded (you can also buy a coleslaw mix), shred in two carrots, add 2 cups of bean sprouts, (all to taste) ginger, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, hot sauce and sesame seeds.

Place the folded rolls on a cookie sheet and spray with a bit of oil. Cook in a hot oven (375) until browned and crispy.

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This week’s menu

12 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in mulligatawny, pastrami brined chicken, thai beef noodles

≈ 1 Comment

We had one of those weekends that was just too perfect. The timing was just right. We got to spend time with our fabulous extended family but also as a little unit unto ourselves.

My only criticism of the weekend is that we didn’t get to see the amazing Barbeau’s but there is always this weekend to fix that.

Friday was all about roast beef and yorkshire pudding. We were lucky enough to have the complany of some great friends and a few bottle of wine. I did however, commit a crime against the roast when I didn’t grab it out of the oven early enough and when the resting time was factored in it was almost well done. 😦 Not a good thing when one of your guests is a chef.

I made a pastry topped pie out of it yesterday which might even be better than the original roast. I just thickened-up the gravy with a bit of borwned flour and added in some extra vegetables.

Lunch at “Harvest” on Sunday was terrific and we even had a visit from the chef himself to our table (the baby was a great lure). Madison was a bread fiend as usual but also helped herself to some wild boar pate and sauteed carrots. We might be creating a food monster. On the way to Picton we even stopped at a farmer’s market in Bath and found a guy selling the roots for horseradish! I have looked for these for quite some time and ended-up getting them for only $1.00.

At the same market we met a really neat lady who makes gorgeous children’s clothes and who had tutu’s to add to Madison’s growing collection. I’ve given her this blog address so I hope to soon see a comment with a link to her blog here.

We also stopped on the way back to stock-up on Bergeron Estate wines from the county as well as, some local cider. Yummmm…

This week’s food needs to be totally comforting as it is getting colder and colder and I have a wicked cough that I am trying to get rid of. Serendipity made it so that “Surviving and Thriving on Pennnies” did a whole blog entry on getting over the cold naturally so I will briefly stop at the health food store on the way home and get some supplies. I succumbed and took some cold medicine yesterday and it made me pretty out-of-it so I’m back to the old-fashioned remedies today.

So on tap we have;

1) Pastrami brined chicken (stolen from Guy Fieri but he used turkey)
Ingredients
For brine:
5 pounds fresh turkey breast
3 cups water
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup crushed Juniper berries
1/4 cup freshly cracked black peppercorns
8 cloves fresh garlic, smashed
Pinch red pepper flakes
Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine water, sugar and spices. Heat until sugar and salt are dissolved. Cool. When cool, place turkey breast and brine in a 1 gallon resealable bag. Double the bag and place in shallow pan in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. (Just in case of leaking, check occasionally.)

After desired brine time, remove breast from brine and rinse well. Dry breast well and prepare rub

For Rub:
1/2 cup juniper berries
1/4 cup black black peppercorns
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Pulse all in a spice grinder or food processor

Apply rub to breast, cover tightly and refrigerate for 24 hours

To Cook:
1 cup hickory chips
Take a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil (about 2 feet long) fold in half, fold in half again and fold the edges up on 1 half, think of creating a small pizza box.

Soak the chips submerged in water for 15 minutes, while chips are soaking, raise oven rack to position 4-inches below broiler. Preheat broiler on high. Drain chips, place in bottom, folded section of foil, bending the top back out of the way. Broil for 5 minutes, stir chips, broil 2 more minutes, remove and immediately and carefully, fold “top” over bottom and crimp closed. Place in oven and poke a several holes in top with knife to release smoke.

Remove turkey from refrigeration. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Roast in oven, breast side down for 1 hour, increase heat to 325 degrees F if convection, 350 degrees F if standard oven. Carefully turn over and continue to roast until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.

Cover loosely, cool and thinly slice.

2) http://www.canada.com/topics/lifestyle/holidayguide2007/create/story.html?id=057fb235-8907-4a4a-bbfe-a7844dcf1f7c

FOODLAND ONTARIO’S MULLIGATAWNY SOUP

Serves 4 as main course

Preparation time: about 25 minutes

– 1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oil

– 1 large onion, diced

– 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

– 1 tablespoon (15 mL) minced fresh gingerroot

– 2 cloves garlic, minced

– 2 tablespoons (25 mL) curry powder

– 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) cayenne, or more to taste

– 3 cups (750 mL) chicken broth

– 1 can (14 ounces/398 mL) light coconut milk

– 2 large tomatoes, diced

– 2 cups (500 mL) diced cooked chicken or turkey (optional)

– 2 cups (500 mL) torn spinach leaves

– 1/4 cup (50 mL) fresh coriander leaves

– Salt and pepper

Optional garnishes:

– Shredded unsweetened coconut (brown over medium-low heat in a dry skillet)

– Fresh unpeeled apple, diced small (sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent apple from turning brown)

1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion and potatoes until onion is softened, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Stir in ginger, garlic, curry powder and cayenne; cook 1 minute.

2. Add chicken broth and coconut milk; cover and bring to boil over high heat. Add tomatoes, and chicken or turkey (if using) and return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

3. Stir in spinach just until wilted, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in coriander. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If using garnishes, sprinkle on individual bowls and serve.

Nutritional information per serving:

Calories: 195; Protein: 5 g; Fat: 10 g; Carbohydrates: 24 g.

The rest of the week will be some quickie foccacia (see previous recipe), ommelettes and a big stirfry with peanut sauce and chunks of spicy tofu to finish-up the rest of the veg. before the bin comes again.

Pictures and some dessert recipes will be posted later this week.

3) http://marriedwithdinner.com/

Thai Curry Beef Noodles
– adapted from Big Bowl Noodles and Rice

For two servings — multiply as needed:
4 to 6 oz dry Asian wheat or egg noodles (for substitutions, see end of instructions)
Peanut or vegetable oil
6 oz beef (such as flank steak or sirloin tip) sliced thin across the grain into 2-inch lengths
1-1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (we like Kimlan Super Special)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup homemade chicken stock (or water — canned broth is too salty)
1-2T fish sauce (depending on the saltiness of the curry paste)
1T fresh lime juice
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 to 1 red chile (such as Fresno), julienned
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
a handful (12 to 15) snow or snap peas, cut in half on the diagonal
1 to 2T Thai curry paste (depending on how hot you like it; you can use half peanut butter)
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
a few tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

Bring 4 to 6 quarts of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain, run under cold water, drain again, and toss with a teaspoon of peanut oil; set aside.

Mix the beef with the soy sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil. In a separate bowl, mix the chicken stock with the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and whisk to blend. Set both the mixtures aside.

Heat 1/2 cup oil in a wok (or your largest skillet) over high heat until very hot but not smoking; add the beef, stirring to separate the slices. Using a slotted spoon or a spider, remove the meat to a clean plate when still pink in the center. Pour off the oil into a heatproof bowl.

Wipe the wok clean and return it to the burner over high heat. When hot, add 2T of the reserved oil. Add the chiles, onions, and peas; cook, tossing rapidly, until well coated with the oil. Scoot the vegetables to the side of the wok and add the curry paste to the bottom. Stir the paste around briefly in the oil to release the flavor. Add the seasoned stock mixture; bring to a boil, stirring or whisking to distribute the curry paste. Then, add the noodles.

Cook, tossing the noodles until mixed with the sauce and vegetables. Add the beef and toss briefly until everything is heated through and well mixed. Remove the cooked noodles to a platter, sprinkle with peanuts and chopped cilantro, and serve.

–
If you want to substitute other noodles, keep in mind that fresh noodles gain very little mass when cooked, where dry pastas can double or triple in size. You want 8 to 10 oz of cooked noodles for two servings. If you find you’ve prepped too many noodles, they keep for a day or two in the fridge, provided they’re tossed liberally in oil and well covered. They make a great snack or lunch when reheated with a little peanut butter, a splash of water or stock, and a sprinkling of chili flakes.

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The promised pictures and an extra recipe

08 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in tuna steak with lime

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Here is that terrific 3 cup chicken. We had it last night at about 9:00 and felt quite smug over eating something that tasty on such short notice. I steamed some brocolli to stirfry at the last minute and to thicken the sauce I took and mixed it with a tablespoon of cornstarch. Add the whole thing back in and let it thicken for a minute.

We also had a really good tuna steak this week Simply marinated in ginger, lime juice, sesame oil and a bit of lime-flavoured soy. Cook in a screaming hot, cast iron fry pan until seared on both sides and rare in the centre (about five minutes total). Serve with soba noodles tossed in peanut sauce with a bit of kale and some yellow beans.

Here are the yummy ribs with sweet potato fries.

The tasty waffles ready to be packed for breakfast.

Tonight will be roast beef and yorkshire pudding-Happy Friday!

This weekend is full of treats including a brunch at “Harvest” and turkey at Christine’s. I think I’ll also can A LOT of pumpkin for use during the winter months. Those amazing pumpkin rolls will be calling our names lots.

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