Post Thanksgiving Deets

So as you may or may not know...this Monday (aka yesterday) was Thanksgiving here in the magical land of Canada.  It was lovely!

Anyhoar, Mr. Dan and I were unable to head to the relatives due to him being on-call for work all weekend. No matter to me...I decided I could cook a perfectly good Thanksgiving dinner on my own (see post here for my menu).  And it went REALLY well.  We didn't do turkey (why get a huge turkey when a small chicken will do?!) but we did do all the fixin's.  From potatoes to veggies and even some bubbly - we had it all.  And the one thing that Mr. Dan (and our two friends that showed up to help us eat all this food) said was AMAZABALLS was the cheesecake squares.  So I decided that, in the spirit of Thanksgiving...and deliciousness, I would share the recipe.  I found it on allrecipes and then did some mod's to make it work for us.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

What you'll need:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons cold margarine
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. 
3. Set aside 3/4 cup for topping cheesecake later. 
4. Press remaining crumb mixture into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. 
5. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
6. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese (make sure it's soft!! Otherwise you'll get chunky cheesecake) and sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice. 
7. Pour over crust. 
8. Sprinkle with your crumby mixture. 
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. 
10. Cool on a wire rack. 
11. Cut into bars. Can be stored in the fridge

One roast, four recipes OR How much I love my new kitchen!

So I know I'm few and far between in the way of posts lately - but I am here and I am writing, just not as much as usual.  However, there are some things I must share.  This lovely story about one eventful evening at the grocery store (and it's wonderful outcomes) began on Thursday. 

Now usually, on payday, Mr. Dan and I will go to the store and get something yummy from the butcher.  This week we were late so we skipped the butcher and went straight to the meat cases and there it was - this beautiful, wonderful, ON SALE, sirloin roast beef.  Don't ask me how big it was, I say around 8 or 10 lbs.  It was BIG.  And it was on sale.  By a lot.  Now Mr. Dan wasn't too sure of my ginormous roast, he said it wasn't as pink as the rest of the roasts but being that I'm the cook and I said it was okay, he let me get it.  I gathered up some other essential stew supplies and we trotted home.  I decided to put the roast on all day Saturday so we could have a nice dinner before we both went out for the evening. So I put the roast in the crockpot, poured in my low-salt beef broth and some fresh ground pepper and let 'er rip.  It took 10 hours but once I was home I knew it was ready.  It smelled DEVINE.  So I cooked up some roasted potatoes and veggies (recipe below) and served it to Mr. Dan.  We were both thoroughly satisfied and put the left overs away for lunch.

Now the next day at lunch we wanted something good, so I hauled out the beef.  Trouble was, what were we going to make?  Well we had a brain wave and created BBQ beef sandwiches (recipe below).  They were a HIT (Mr. Dan had two).  And I STILL had roast left over.  So, time to wash the crock pot and create some beef stew (recipe below).  It was also a HIT.  Mr. Dan loved it (and a good thing too, my parents made beef stew for supper the next night!!)

So, now you're thinking - "wow Paige, you've given us some recipes and you've gotten a lot out of that roast.  Good job."  Well thanks, reader!

BUT WAIT......THERE'S MORE!!

I'm a big believer in reusing and recycling anything that I can, and when I made the stew I simply had too much broth for the amount of meat and veggies - so I saved it.  Today, at dinner I took my broth, some left over meat, some onions andddd we had our final meal from the roast, French Onion Soup.

So that's my story of the 4 meal roast, and why I love my new kitchen.

RECIPES!!

Paige's Simple Roast Veggies

What you'll need:
Potatoes, washed and cubed (peel optional)
Sweet potatoes, wash and cubed
Carrots and onions, washed and diced
Montreal Steak Spice
Garlic powder
Olive Oil

What you do:
Take your cubed veggies and toss them on a pan with 2-4 tbsp of olive oil.
Dust veggies lightly with garlic powder and Montreal steak spice. 
Pop in a pre-heated oven (325-375, depending on the oven) for 20 minutes.  Remove, flip, and cook for another 20 minutes.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

What you'll need:
Left over roast beef
Sweet red peppers, thinly sliced
1 tsp olive oil
Onions, thinly sliced
1cup BBQ sauce (we used spicey brown sugar)
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
Pepper to taste
Bread/buns/etc

What you do:
Saute onions and pepper in olive oil until onions are translucent, add beef.
Add BBQ sauce, ketchup and water.  Stir. 
Add pepper to taste and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. 
Place beef on the bun and enjoy! Goes great with a salad:)

Beef Stew

What you need:
2 pounds of left over roast
A sprinkle or two of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
Celery, chopped
Potatoes, peeled (or not) and chopped
Parsnips, peeled and chopped
Onions, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
28-ounce can of whole tomatoes
½ bottle red wine
3 or 4 cups of beef stock or water
A few bay leaves

What you do: 
Put in crock put on low setting for 4-6 hours or high for 2-4.


French Onion Soup

What you need:
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp flour
3 cups beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional but SO good)
salt and pepper to taste
crusty bread
shredded cheese

What you do:
Saute the onions in olive oil on low heat.  Add the garlic about 3/4 the way through, the onions should be just slightly brown when you're finished. 
Add the flour and saute with onions and oil until brown.
In a separate pot, add beef broth and red wine, add salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
Place browned onions, and flour, into an oven safe bowl.
Pour broth/wine over onions.  Place crusty bread on top, with cheese.
Bake on 350F for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.


Longest.post.ever.

Comfort Food

Comfort food is different for everyone.  Mr. Dan loves peanut butter toast and a big glass of milk as comfort.  I agree but usually add raspberry jam to my toast.  Some people like soups, other's like mom's mac and cheese - really I think it depends on the person, where they are from and how they were raised.  But I think one thing we can agree on is that everyone has some type of comfort food, something that makes them feel warm and fuzzy, something they'll eat on a bad day, if they're sick or something that reminds them of home.  It's a good feeling to have that food.  It reminds me of home, of being a kid, of all the comforting things I remember.

Today I made home made mac and cheese.  Mom's recipe;)  Now I can't give you the recipe, it's a family secret, but what I can do is tell you that this wonderful, yummy, hot, soothing dish made my day so much better. The feeling of warmth and the memories that came back just made me smile.  I know we're due for a big storm later in the week and so it's got me wondering.  What is your comfort food?  What do you turn to in order to get that warm fuzzy feeling?

ZOMG good!

This is a recipe for delicious salmon that I got from another lady on a message board.  She usually has some delicious recipes so I thought I'd try this one out while Mr. Dan was away (he doesn't do fish).  I'm REALLY glad I did.  It's FANFUCKINGTASTIC!

Enjoy!

What you'll need:

Piece of salmon big enough to serve however many you're feeding
1 container of pesto (or make your own - basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic in food processor)
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
Container of salsa
Cilantro
Lime

What you do: 

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  

Drain corn and black beans, mix with salsa and pour over the bottom of a deep baking dish (I like Pyrex).  Lay the piece of salmon on top - cover the fish with a decent layer of pesto.  

Squeeze lime juice over the whole thing, top with a sprikling of cilantro to taste. 

 Bake for 45 minutes, or until fish becomes flakey in the middle (test with fork).

Devour!!

NOMMMMMM...slow cooker beans...

Here is some nom for your first day of December.  

What you need:

1 lb	dry white pea or navy beans	454 g
1	large onion, chopped	1
1 can (5.5 oz)	tomato paste	1 can (156 mL)
3/4 cup	ketchup	175 mL
3/4 cup	molasses	175 mL
2	garlic cloves, minced	2
1/4 cup	brown sugar, packed	60 mL
2 tsp	dry mustard	10 mL
1/2 tsp	salt	2 mL
1/2 tsp	black pepper	2 mL

* do not add extra molasses: it will make the beans hard instead of tender

What to do:

Rinse beans and soak overnight in water. Drain.

Place beans in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans.

Transfer the beans to a slow cooker and add enough water to completely cover them (I used about 6 cups). Set the temperature to LOW and cook for 10 to 12 hours. Drain, but save 2 cups of cooking liquid.

In a separate bowl, combine onion, tomato paste, ketchup, molasses, garlic, sugar, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Stir in your 2 cups of cooking liquid and mix well.  Pour over beans in slow cooker and stir. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours....your choice. 

Sprinkle with green (or red) onions.  ENJOY!

Nom...nommmm...NOM!!!

Tuesday...

It's not quite the dreaded Monday, not quite hump-day Wednesday...it's Tuesday.  Boring old, do nothing, just sitting at work, don't want to get out of bed, raining because it can Tuesday.  


So in honor of this bleak, grim, rainy, good-for-only-staying-inside-Tuesday I present you with a recipe for Banana Crumb Muffins!! NOM NOM NOM!!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
Directions
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
-Line muffin tin with muffin papers. (Makes about 10-16 muffins...depending on size)
-In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
-In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. 
-Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture. 
-Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. 


-In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. 
-Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles chunky cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

-Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chili!!!

This is a DELICIOUS recipe that I've been making for years.  It can be done with extra lean ground beef or ground chicken.  It's also only 3 points per 2 cups on Weight Watchers!!!


Ingredients
1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 pound mushrooms chopped
1 large green pepper seeded and chopped
3 cups corn kernels
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans kidney beans
2 stalks celery -- chopped
1 tin tomato paste
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large stew pot. Add onion and garlic and sauté until onion is wilted, about 5 minutes.

In a separate pot brown extra lean ground beef or ground chicken.

Add mushrooms and sauté another 10 minutes. Stir in green pepper, corn, tomatoes,
beans,  celery all seasonings & tomato paste.  Add browned beef/chicken.  

Cover and cook until vegetables are tender.  I've been known to leave it on low for as long as 4 hours, but it can be ready in 30-45 minutes if you're strapped for time.

You can add more spices if you like it hotter.

SERVING SIZE: 2 cups
POINTS: 3 

Key Lime Pie

So the wonderful Katie, over at The Katie Chronicles, sent me a delicious treat recently.  Lots of her yummy spice rubs, some utensils, recipes and deliciously wonderful Florida key lime juice!! So naturally I've been dying to use the juice and what better way to do so then making KEY LIME PIE!!!

ZOMG okay, it's amazing...so just stay calm and enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:
- 14 oz of sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 3.5 oz of key lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- graham cracker pie crust (if you need this recipe please go here.)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. 
Blend sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks.  Slowly add lime juice and zest.  Blend for about 2 minutes. 
Pour mixture into graham cracker pie crust.
Bake for 20 minutes. 
Allow to cool then place in the fridge for several hours.
Serve topped with whipped cream.

NOM NOM NOM...delicious!

Graham Cracker Crust

Here's the recipe for the delicious graham cracker crust!!

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups of ground-up graham crackers (it's fun to do this with a rolling pin...gets out all the aggression!)
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 5 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1/2 a tablespoon of cinnamon

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Mix ingredients until well blended (easiest way is with your hands).
- Press mixture in bottom of a pie plate/tin.
- Bake at 375F for about 7 minutes.
- Allow to cool before using.  (If recipe calls for unbaked simple refrigerate for an hour before use)

Left overs!

So tonight Dan and I needed a quick supper.  I still had some Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad left so I decided to use that.  I took some skinless boneless chicken breast poured a bunch of garlic powder and some olive oil in a pan and cooked it up.  Then I added the rest of my leftover pasta salad.  Let it simmer for 5-10 mins on medium heat and VIOLA! Sun dried-Tomato Pasta.  It was fabulous - maybe even better than the pasta salad.  And we have some still left over.

nom nom nom

Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad

So I was heading to a BBQ this weekend and thought I should bring along a salad.  I wasn't sure what type to make until I stumbled across sun dried tomato pesto at the grocery store.  Once I saw that pesto I knew I had to make Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad.....YUM!

Sun dried-Tomato Pasta Salad

What you will need:

• 1 box of rotini noddles
• 1 container of sun-dried tomato pesto (I think I got Bertolli brand)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs of olive oil
• 1 small or medium onion, diced
• 1/2 cup of assorted olives, diced
• 3 vine tomatoes, in small chunks or a pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated cheddar or Parmesan cheese

What you do:

• Take the sun-dried tomato pesto, garlic, onion and olive oil and place it in your food processor.  Whirrrrrr it up.  Put this aside (preferably the day before) and let it rest.
• Cook rotini noodles and set aside to cool.
• Once noodles are cool take your pesto concoction, add tomatoes, olives and onions and mix together. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Place in a decorative bowl with serving spoons.  Sprinkle with cheese.
• Enjoy!!

Happy Canada Day!!!

I know, I know, I'm bad at updating.  Leave me alone - I'm a busy lady!

This weekend coming is my parents annual Keji Fest.  Now what, you might ask, is Keji Fest.  Well, my friends and loyal (or not to loyal) readers, this is an annual party that mom and dad have been throwing for over 30 years.  We all head to our farmhouse (located outside of Kijimkijik National Park), get a theme, get some friends, get lots of booze, set up the croquet tournament and head on out!  This is an event that is looked forward to all year! It's a blast!!!

This year our theme was Cuban.  Everyone brings something along so I decided that I would bring along that wonderful Cuban drink - a mojito.  So below is my recipe for a delicious Cuban mojito.  They were a hit, so try one for yourself!!

Paige's Cuban Mojitos

What you will need:

• A tall glass
• Ice
• A drink muddler (If you don't have this then the back of an ice cream scoop will work)
• White Rum (preferably Havana Club)
• Limes (lots of limes)
• Powdered white sugar
• Fresh mint
• Club Soda

What you should do:

• Put 1 tsp sugar, some mint and about 1 oz lime in the glass.
• Use the muddler (or ice cream scoop) to crush it all up together.  The sugar and lime should be kind of oozy, not too dry.
• Put 1.5 (or more!) oz of white rum in and give it a stir.
• Add ice
• Fill glass the rest of the way with club soda.
• Garnish with a lime
• Consume
• Repeat.

Sunshine, seasalt and steak!

While at the grocery store today I saw "top sirloin grilling medallions" on sale.  Like REALLY on sale.  So I grabbed two for Dan and I to try.  When I arrived home I thought - What a great time to try a new recipe! So I did!!  Here it is:

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1-3 cloves of fresh crushed garlic

1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

2tbs Olive Oil

2 top sirloin steak

Instructions:
Mix basil, garlic, pepper and salt in large bowl with olive oil.  Brush liberally over sides of steak.  Place steak in pan and grill evenly.  5 minutes for rare, 8 for medium rare, etc.

I added grilled baby potatoes and a garden salad to ours.  It was delicious!! Enjoy!