Public Service Announcement

Dear Internet,

I would be doing you all a great disservice if I did not tell you to drop what you are doing and make this immediately...IMMEDIATELY!!

Rachel Ray's Braised Beef

It.  Is.  Amazing.

You're welcome.

-Kristy

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Pinterest Challenge Day 4 - Mushroom Risotto

Hello Internet!

Tonight we made mushroom risotto, which I have pinned here.  Of everything we've made so far, this was by far my favourite! It was rich, creamy and tasty! Mmmm, risotto...  I believe this kind of thing is really supposed to be eaten as a side dish or appetizer, but we made this as our main dish because I love risotto that much and I was in the mood for some good comfort food after yesterday's fiery inferno.  I doubled the recipe and was shocked at how much food it made - we both have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Here's how it turned out:

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Substitutions/Omissions:
1) We used low sodium chicken broth in place of regular
2) We omitted the butter at the end, it didn't really need it.
3) We cut the cheese down by ~25%, again, it didn't really need that much











Here's how we rank this one:
Taste: A.  I love risotto and this one was really tasty! I just finished eating and I'm already looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow!
Cost: A-.  This is relatively inexpensive, other than the cheese.  
Nutrition: B-.  As a side dish, this is actually not too bad - there are some good veggies in there, but as a main dish this isn't really balanced. When I make this next time I think I will substitute some olive oil for the butter just to decrease the saturated fat a little. 
Simplicity:  B-. Realistically, this is a risotto and risotto is labour intensive.  All that stirring takes time, but it's oh, so worth it.  My only other complaint is the way the ingredients list was written.  I was confused by the ingredients that were listed twice.  I think they should have been listed once but marked "divided" instead. 
Overall: A-.

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Pinterest Challenge Day 1 - Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Hello Internet!
Here we are at the first day of the Pinterest Challenge!  Wee!  Today we made Chicken Enchilada Pasta, which I have pinned here.  The link I have pinned takes me to some site with the ingredients listed but not the original source of the recipe, which is here (on what looks to be an awesome blog with a ton of amazing looking food btw).
Here's how it turned out!

Spicy cheesy goodness!

We made a few substitutions/additions because I can never just do what I'm told:
1) We used a tsp of chili powder in the sauce in place of the tbsp (ours is crazy spicy)
2) Used whole wheat penne in place of regular for added fibre
3) Used chicken thighs in place of breasts because we generally like them better and I'm cheap.
4) Added a small yellow and orange pepper for added veggie deliciousness
5) Used cheddar cheese in place of monterey jack because we already had it in the house and I was too cheap to buy more cheese.
6) We stuck the whole skillet in the oven at 350 for 5 mins to melt the cheese.



Here's how we rank this bad boy:
Taste: A-.  It was pretty good! We both enjoyed it and are having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  I do think it would have been lacking without the veggies though.  In fact, if I were to make it again I would add even more veggies and maybe some black beans and probably reduce or completely eliminate the of chicken.
Cost: A-.  This was decently budget friendly.  The chicken and cheese are the only expensive ingredients here.
Nutrition: B.  As it's written, this recipe was severely lacking in veggie goodness and using regular pasta is just a missed opportunity for fibre!
Simplicity: B.  The recipe is pretty simple and was relatively quick.  My only complaint is that the order the steps are written in makes the timing of this recipe a little wonky.  In my opinions step 1 should have been to make the sauce, step 2 to boil you pasta and step 3 to cook everything else.  As it's written, the chicken is cooked well before anything else is ready to go and there's a lot of down time.
Overall: B+

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Warm and Cheesy.

If nothing else, this recipe is proof that I am NOT the food police - dietitian or not...

Individual Italian Poutine - serves 2
Spicy Tomato Sauce
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust as suits your taste...we like it spicy!)
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs (oregano, basil, tarragon etc)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 package gnocchi
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Start by mixing up the spicy tomato sauce!  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and saute the onion and garlic until it starts to smell delicious and look sort of wimpy (5 mins).  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the deliciousness evenly distribute.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the gnocchi according to the package directions. When everything is ready to go evenly divide the gnocchi, sauce and cheese into 2 small oven-safe baking dishes and toss everything together.  Top with the grated Parmesan.  Switch on the broiler and stick the baking dishes in the oven for about 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven, let the dishes cool for as long as you can stand it, then devour! Aaaamazing!

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Episode 108 - Lonely Food

I've decided I suck at being alone.  I find the house too quiet, the bed too big and everything too...empty!  How I ever lived alone years ago I don't know.  I guess Dawson has spoiled me... *sigh*
So, today is my last night alone in the house and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to curl up in some sweats around a delicious bowl of comfort food and, oh, boy, was this ever good!

Gnocchi Carbonara for 1

1-2 slices of bacon (depending on how indulgent you feel like being)
1/2 package Gnocchi (about 1.5 cups or so)
1 egg, separated
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
pepper, to taste

First, slice up your bacon and cook it up in a frying pan.  While the bacon cooks, prepare your gnocchi according to the package directions.  When the bacon and gnocchi are cooked, drain most of the bacon fat out of the pan and toss in your gnocchi and cheese.  Now, add the egg white and quickly toss everything around while it cooks.  It's gonna look really weird and kinda lumpy, but I promise it's going to work.  Finally, put everything in a bowl, top with the egg yolk and stir to coat everything in yolk-y goodness.  Season with pepper and you're ready to go!  Be prepared - you may never want to eat anything else ever again!

Ohmigod, so good!  Not even sort of healthy, but worth it.  Also, I had Brussels sprouts with this, so I feel like that kinda balances everything out... plus...check out my sad, lonely face:

Don't I just look like I need a bowl of egg-y, bacon-y goodness?  I think so.

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Episode 107 - The Incredible Disappearing Blogger!

Oh hi!  Just thought I'd let you know I'm still alive! It seems that at this time every year I fall off the face of the internet for a few weeks.  Maybe I should start making it a scheduled thing... in any case, I'm back!  I've been busying myself with the usual things - work, Zumba, and nail polish (oh, so much nail polish!  I should really start another blog just to tell you about all of the wonderful nail polish!).  I've been cooking, but mostly just remaking a few of my favourite recipes that I've already posted on here (mostly soups) and then a few from some other really great places!  The recipe I'm suggesting today actually comes from Food Network Magazine. If you like fall comfort foods you NEED to make this.  Need.  We've made it twice this fall already and I'd probably still make it again today.

Baked Beans with Bacon

Photo stolen from Food Network Magazine.  Ours was less pretty...but every bit as delicious!
Click the title above for the recipe!

The only change we made was skipping the pancetta, just because we figured 5 slices of bacon was plenty or cured, fatty meat for us.  It works out fine this way.  

In other news, Dawson left today to go hunting (with his barber.?!..for reals!) until Wednesday so, it's just me and the animals until then.  Hopefully nothing goes horribly wrong while he's gone.  Have you ever noticed that there are just a few things around the house that are definite "man jobs"?  These are the reasons women need men around...or sorry, not "need", but enjoy having men around. Don't send me any feminist hate mail, mmkay? Some good examples are cleaning the hair clogs out of the shower drain (I gag just thinking about this), taking out the garbage, killing spiders and anything having to do with plumbing.  Because I'm spoiled vacuuming and scraping the frost off of car windows have also been designated "man jobs" in our house.  Here's hoping the pets stop shedding until he gets home...and that my car will fit in the garage.  I don't think "Sorry I can't come to work because my windows are frosty and there's no one here to scrape them" will fly as an excuse at work...

Now finally, this is completely unrelated but I'm putting it here anyway because it's just so darn pretty - my nails with some petty new polishes I got this week - A England's Tristam and St. George.  Do you own these?  You need to own these.  

I'm a sucker for a gradient manicure!

So that's all folks!  Hopefully I'll be around more frequently from now on!  

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Episode 105 - Pumpkin Lasagna V.2.0

Just a little under a year ago I wrote about this Fall-style pumpkin lasagna.  It was rich.  It was creamy.  It was not waist-line friendly.  Nope, not even a little bit.  This version is lighter but equally delicious.  Don't skip the sage; it makes the whole recipe!

Pumpkin Lasagna - minus a few pounds of saturated fat. 

1 lb lean ground beef
3 cups of your favourite tomato sauce
12-15 oven -ready lasagna noodles
1.5 cups smooth ricotta cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin ( NOT pumpkin pie filling!)
1 egg
2 sprigs fresh sage
1 tsp oil
pinch of nutmeg
smaller pinch of cloves
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan, shredded

Preheat the oven to 375 F.
First you need to put your fillings together!  Brown up your ground beef in a medium pot over medium-high heat.  Drain off most of the fat and then mix in your tomato sauce.  If your sauce came from a can (shame on you!) I'd recommend adding some herbs and spices at this point - maybe some oregano or basil.  Voila - tomato sauce done.
Next do the pumpkin layer.  Start by cooking your sage in a small frying pan with the oil over medium heat.  This should only take a few minutes - you want it to get wilt-y and to start smelling delicious.  Toss the cooked sage into a medium bowl and add the ricotta, pumpkin, nutmeg, cloves and salt and pepper.  Mix everything until it's smooth then add in your egg.  Stir until the egg is well incorporated and you're done!
Now for the fun part - construction! Start by adding a few ladles of tomato sauce into the bottom of your lasagna pan.  Place a single layer of noodles on top.  Top this with about half of the pumpkin/ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce and 1 cup of the mozzarella.  Add another layer of noodles and repeat all of the layers a second time - pumpkin/ricotta, tomato, cheese.  Finish with a final layer of noodles topped with the last of the tomato sauce, the last cup of mozzarella and the Parmesan.  Stand back and admire your work - looks delicious already!  Now cover that baby with some tinfoil and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.  Remove the tinfoil and bake for another 15 minutes.   Last, but not least, remove the lasagna from the oven and let it sit to cool for at least 15 more minutes.  This will help it set up and to not be a complete goopy mess when you cut into it. Enjoy!

This mass of cheesy perfection was a perfect way to end a perfectly relaxing weekend.  That's a lot of perfection! It started with a last minute massage (where I was told I need to attend "posture rehab"), a glass of wine and some comfy pyjamas, was filled with a low-key board game party and is now ending with some cheese and more pyjamas.  Yep, my weekend was a pyjama sandwich.  How was yours?

Pj party!

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Episode 104 - Dawson strikes again...

He ate the whole thing.

Chili Cheese Fries

Oven fries (sliced potatoes coated in canola oil and baked at 425 for 20 mins)
Homemade chili (try this one!)
A pile o' grated cheddar cheese.

Slap it in a bowl and enjoy!

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Episode 96 - Poutine on a Diet

I love poutine.  I love the wearing of my fat-pants much, much less.  Ugh, damn you cheese and gravy!  This next recipe was born in an attempt to rectify the unfortunate bum-inflating side effects of this Canadian potato delicacy.  Vitamin A and fibre from the sweet potato, baking rather than deep-frying and a good low fat gravy all  make this version guilt-free!  Bonus points if you use part-skim mozzarella!


Sweet Potato Poutine - no fat pants required!

Ohmigosh I want to eat this again right now...

Oven Fries
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into even strips
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Gravy
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp crushed rosemary
2 cups beef broth
2 tsp cornstarch
salt and pepper, to taste

3/4 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-cm cubes

Start with the oven fries - preheat the oven to 425 F.  Toss the potato strips with the oil and seasonings until well coated and place in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until soft.

To make the gravy, heat 1 tbsp oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and saute the garlic and onions until they get transparent and wimpy.  Add the rosemary and cook for another minute or so.  While the rosemary, onions and garlic are heating, mix the cornstarch into the broth to form a slurry.  Pour this into the saucepan with the onion mixture and stir.  Bring the mixture to a boil then simmer until it thickens and starts to look gravy-ish.

To serve, put a pile of sweet potato fries in a bowl, top with mozzarella cubes and douse the whole thing in warm delicious gravy.  The cheese will get melty and stretchy. Perfect!

While we are on the subject of bums, Dawson and I recently went couch shopping for our new place (eek!  29 more sleeps!).  The decision about which couch to buy is an interesting one.  It's probably the only purchase you'll ever make where your bum gets to step up and be the key decision maker.  I am excited to report that after many trials our butts have picked out what will most likely be the world's comfiest book-reading and movie-cuddling couch ever!  Expect to see many pictures of us curled up on it in the future!  Goodbye old green leather, hello couch heaven!

 

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Episode 95 - A Cheesy Surprise

After being inspired by something we saw on the Food Network, Dawson and I have recently decided exactly how w'd like to spend our retirement.  It can pretty much be summed up in 3 magic words:  Grilled. Cheese. Truck.  That's right - look out local chip trucks, with your pogos and poutine!  Can you imagine?!  A truck dedicated to serving delicious grilled cheese combos?!  How can something like this not be a huge hit?!  I can see it now:  guacamole and turkey bacon, goat cheese and figs, buffalo chicken and blue cheese!  The menu options are endless!  Of course, given that we live in Canada and our weather is crap from November to May, this is really only viable for the Summer months.  Obviously we'll just have to spend the rest of the year visiting beaches and taking dance lessons.  Obviously.

Speaking of cheese - check out these cheese-stuffed meatball sandwiches we created!

Get in my belly!

Cheesy Meatball Surprise!

3 turkey sausages, casing removed
8 1-cm cubes of fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup of your favourite tomato sauce
2 sausage buns, toasted

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Take your de-cased sausage meat and divide it into 8 roughly equal portions - you are going to build 8 cheese-stuffed meatballs.  To build a meatball, form one of the portions into a ball, make a dent about halfway through the ball with your finger, shove a cheese cube into the dent, then squish the meat around the cheese to cover the hole.  It should look like a regular meatball - no one should be able to tell there is a hidden cheese surprise inside!  To bake, set a rack on top of a cookie sheet and place the balls up on the rack - this helps them to cook evenly and lets some of the fat drip away.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the peppers in the olive oil over medium-high heat until wimpy and heat up your tomato sauce until nice and bubbly.

Finally, to build, place 4 balls on each bun, top with sauteed peppers and a healthy layer of tomato sauce!  Mmmm.

p.s. You better not break my heart and steal my retirement business plan!  You don't wanna make a girl cry, now do you?!

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Episode 91 - Quarantined

Dawson and I are home sick today, quarantined from the rest of the healthy world.  We are spending our sick day on the couch in grey sweats being sickies - big, lazy sickies.  Thank God for Neo Citran...

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato and Asparagus Tortellini

1 tbsp canola oil

Creamy deliciousness!

4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup asparagus, chopped into 1-inch chunks
1/4 cup diced chorizo
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup table cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
8-10 leaves fresh basil, minced

1 bag frozen meat tortellini

Start a pot of water boiling for the pasta.  Cook according to the package directions.

For the sauce, heat the oil in a skillet then toss in the garlic and asparagus.  When the asparagus starts to soften add in the chorizo and sun-dried tomatoes and stir until heated through.  Add the cream, cook until it reduces a little and the sauce thickens - about 2 minutes.  Right before serving, add the cheese and fresh basil.  Pour over your cooked pasta and eat!

I am sick and un-witty and have nothing else to add to this post.  If you'll excuse me, I have a date with my pillow and some chicken noodle soup.

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Episode 89 - Mushi Mushi

If you had told me 5 years ago that I would eventually cook and enjoy this dish I would have called you a big fat liar.  In fact, I would have called you a big fat liar and then scowled at you for the next hour for even suggesting I would eat something so vile.  An entire meal centered around mushrooms?!  Are you kidding?!  Did you know those are just fungus grown on cow manure?  Yuck.

Creamy Mushroom and White Bean Ragout

The most delicious fungus ever! 

4 slices bacon, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
2 cups mixed fresh mushrooms, diced (we used mini bella and shiitake)
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 can white kidney beans, dried and rinsed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup baby spinach
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper, to taste

Start by cooking the bacon in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Once it is cooked and some of its fat has rendered toss in the garlic, onions and mushrooms.  Continue cooking until the mushrooms soften and turn a deep brown color.  Next, add the broth, kidney beans, red pepper flakes and spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.  Add in the cream and cheese, cook for 2 minutes just to warm it up, then season with salt and pepper. Done!  How easy was that?  Doesn't it look yummy?!

Honestly, Internet, I never thought I'd say this, but I genuinely enjoyed eating this dish.  I even took leftovers for lunch the next day!  Look at me - broadening my horizons, conquering my fears!  I think we call this type of thing "personal growth".  Just don't ask me to eat snake.  My person has not grown quite that much. That one's going to take some serious work - possibly hypnosis and/or group therapy in which we all bond over our mutual coo-coo-for-cocoa-puff-ness and then cry and hug at the end...

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