Butterhorns

Hi.  Mom?

Can you please make me these?  I'll be over this weekend.

You can get the recipe from here.

Thank you.

Lisa

November 29 to December 3

If you pop by my house this week for dinner, this is what you will be served...


Monday - going to my good ol' Monday standby of pita pizzas (we go grocery shopping after work and by the time we do our 1 hour drive home, we need an easy dinner)

Tuesday - crepes ( I'm craving fruity dessert crepes...I know...no nutrition, but I'm craving it, so I'll probably do blueberry crepes)

Wednesday - french dip (found a new recipe with high reviews I really want to try) and roasted potatoes

Thursday - basque-style chicken with roasted zucchini

Friday - taco pie...I love taco pie and haven't made it in forever.

Greek Night

My family is having our annual or for this year semi annual Greek night.


It will be the full spread...


Saganaki
Spanakopita
Greek Salad
Chicken Souvlaki
Pilaf Greek Style
Greek Style Potatoes
Pitas


I also wanted tossed salad with the Greek House dressing I love so much but I'm pretty sure we have enough food already.


Normally we make them in stages and graze all evening, however, we have found that we fill up on the first couple of items and then end up not eating the rest.  We are going to try and make the whole spread at once and see what happens. 


That way we see all the food and just take a bit of each.  We can snack later in the night or have leftovers.


I never posted pictures when I originally posted the recipe, so I'll try to take some pictures to add to each recipe.


I do have a couple of new recipes to post, but for some reason, I've actually found myself very busy lately. 


Have a great weekend!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Hoison Peanut Sauce

When I am allowed to chew again and when I have someone I can share them with, I really want to make these....

Don't they look so light and refreshing?


Here is my problem, I've overdone the peanut Asian flavour so Ben no longer likes it.  He also doesn't like Hoison, so these would not be a household favorite for dinner.


I'll have to wait until I have some friends over or I go to someone's and we make them.


In the meantime...you make them and let me know how they turned out and what changes you made.


The recipe is here.


UPDATE:  I made these and blogged about them.  They were so good!!


Enjoy!

November 22 - 26

Here is my meal plan for this week....


Monday - cream of wheat

Tuesday - plain no fun soup...something with no chunks in it...has to be smooth

Wednesday - protein shake

Thursday - scrambled eggs

Friday - hopefully I can eat solids again if not probably cream of wheat again.



Okay so that isn't exactly what I will eat, but I'm sure it's not going to be much different.


I had my wisdom teeth pulled this weekend so I'm on a no chew diet.


mmmmm....who wants to come for dinner?

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

My kitchen has the worst lighting, so I had a hard time trying to take a good picture of it.  I couldn't.  All my pictures make it look horrible, you would never want to eat it, if you saw my pictures.


They have a picture posted up here along with the recipe you can print off.


I remember hating this as a kid, now I love it.  I followed the recipe and found it actually tasted better the next day as leftovers.

Roasted Tomato Soup

This soup tastes nothing like the store bought canned tomato soup.  This one tastes like real tomatoes, so if you're making this expecting to taste like Campbell's you might be disappointed.  I, however, love the taste of homemade tomato soup.




1. Layer a baking sheet with foil and arrange quartered tomatoes and garlic cloves.  Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I would actually do mine longer next time.

3. When the tomatoes are cool enough to touch, removed the skins and peel the garlic.  This step is very messy.

4. Cook onion in butter until softened.

5. Add peeled tomatoes and garlic, honey and stock.

6. Puree the soup in batches in a blender or use a stick blender. Stir in cream and salt and pepper and simmer. (The recipe on the webpage does not list cream in the ingredients so I just poured some skim milk in...eyeball it...I think I added a little too much)

7. Serve.  I made grilled turkey and roasted red pepper panini's for our side.

You can print the recipe from here.


Let me know if you try it.

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies.  They are soft and chewy and you can change the recipe to your favorite cheesecake flavour...(ex: chocolate orange, turtle, choc mint, etc).


I stored mine in the fridge for the first couple of days and then moved them to the freezer.  They are even soft when you pull them out of the freezer....seriously...just like cheescake.


You can print the recipe from here.


These are the changes I made...


1. The first time I made these, I wrote out the recipe from the computer very quickly.  In my haste, I did not notice that it said 3oz of cream cheese and I added the whole block (8oz) of cream cheese.  When it came to the part where you are suppose to roll out the cookie dough, I noticed mine was too runny to roll.  I went to the computer to see where I messed up and I noticed that I more than doubled the cream cheese.  So.....I doubled up the rest of everything else.  I love how my cookies turned out, so I might do that again next time on purpose.  If you follow the recipe exactly, please let me know how your cookies turned out.

2. I did not use the Oreo cookie crumbs that you buy in the store.  I used whole oreos and put them in my food processor until they were crumbs.  I liked the idea of having the creamy center flavour in there too.

3. I would skip the white chocolate drizzle...they are sweet enough.  I started with it, but then decided to leave it off the rest.

4.  These are a cookie that actually don't taste fresh out of the oven.  They taste better when they have cooled.  I tried a warm one and thought it was way too sweet and didn't know what I was going to do with all these cookies, since Ben and I didn't like them....and for me to say they are too sweet....that's HUGE!  I tried them once they had cooled and from that day on I ate about 4 or 5 a day....worth every pound!!


If you love cheesecake you will LOVE LOVE these!

French Onion Soup

I love French Onion soup and I've never really thought to make it at home.


I think the recipe landed in my inbox or I must have stumbled across when browsing through allrecipes.


Anyways...I loved it.  I mean, it has cheese and bread in it...how could I not like it?


You can print the recipe from here.


These are the changes I would suggest...

1. Even though the recipe does says "do not brown the onions" you want to make sure you caramelize them.  This is where the flavour comes from.  If you read the comments, you will see a lot of people say this.  If you decide to caramelize the onions, it will add on to the cooking time by quite a bit.  You don't want to fry the onions crispy, you want to slow saute them until they are soft and a beautiful caramel colour.

2. I skipped the sherry as I didn't have it and wasn't going to buy it just for this.

3. I don't have oven safe bowls, so I did not put the soup in the bowls and then broil the bread.  I baked the bread in the oven so it was crispy, then broiled it so the cheese bubbled nice and brown.  I used romano, mozza and parmesan since this is what I had already.  If you just broil the bread or put the bread right in the bowl and broil it, expect soggy bread where it sits in the soup.


Enjoy!

November 15 - 19

I had a hard time planning our meals this week.  I don't really feel like eating anything.  I've been like that the past few days.  I just want someone to tell me what to eat and I'll do. 



Anyways...this is what I came up with...


Monday - ham and asparagus frittata

Tuesday - sloppy joes

Wednesday - spinach and mushroom crepes

Thursday - lemon ginger chicken with rice

Friday - up in the air due to plans

Meatball Heroes and Oven Roasted Potatoes

I've never had or made meatball subs, but the picture on the webpage where this was posted made it look so good so I gave it a shot.


I'm glad I did...it was delicious....and filling.  I barely at mine.


I got the recipe from Real Simple.  You can find a printable version there.


I did some make some changes.  First of all, I used fresh homemade meatballs.  They are so easy to make and taste way better.  I baked mine in the oven, then I heated up the sauce in a skillet and added the meatballs to that.


I did, however, buy store made pasta sauce.  I have yet to find a good recipe and master a good red sauce from scratch that I love.


If you don't follow my other changes, at least do this one.  I thought that if I followed their way for heating up the bun, I probably would have a soggy sandwich by the time I added the meatballs and sauce.  I also didn't think the cheese would melt like their picture from just adding it after the meatballs.  So I cut the buns in half, added the cheese and baked them in the oven until everything was toasty and melted...then I added the meatballs.


Now onto the oven roasted potatoes!  I love oven roasted potatoes.  I've never really ever had a recipe for them, I just kinda make it up each time.  I like to try a variety of ways.  One of my favorites is tossing the potatoe cubes in olive oil then adding onion soup mix and roasting...so good.  I also like to just sprinkle them with "vegetable" seasoning sometimes.  Garlic powder and dry dill are also a fav.


I saw this recipe on another blog and she raved on and on about it so I figured I would try it.  They were good!  I did find they took a bit longer to get that crispy outside I love.


Anyways...you can get the recipe here.


Let me know if you try either of these!

Lime Chicken Soft Tacos

Yes, I have them in a pasta bowl.  Yes, it is sitting on a desk.  The pictures I took at home the night I made it looked horrible due to dark lighting (my kitchen really needs some better lighting).  Since I always have my camera in my bag and I made these at work for lunch one day, I decided to use that picture.  We have great lighting at work.  I have them in a bowl because "someone" in our office never cleans his plates, so I'm stuck using the dishes he doesn't....which means...bowls.


Anyways...that kind of complaining and what not is for my other blog.


I love Mexican food, however, I get tired of the old standby typical food, so when I find a new way to try out some tacos or something, I'm all for it.


I got this one from allrecipes.  You can go there to print it off.


I follow don't alter the recipe too much.

Carrot Soup

I love this soup.  It's easy...it's comfort... and the left overs freeze well.  I always double the recipe.



In a large pot saute onion, garlic and margarine until soft.

Then add water, carrots, rice and chicken bouillon.  Bring to a boil an then simmer until rice is cooked and carrots are soft.  The recipe says 20-25 minutes...I find it takes 30+ minutes, but I don't chop everything really small.

This is the fun part...the messy part.  It's actually a bit tedious unless, you wait for the soup to completely cool.  If you do this when it's still hot, you only can add a bit at a time so it doesn't spill over when you blend.


Scoop the soup bit by bit into a blender and blend it until smooth.  If you have one of those immersion blenders, I'm sure that would work perfect.

Smooth.....and beautiful...

And messy.....

Very messy....but that might just be me.

Then I put it all back in the pot and make sure it's heated through.  Serve it with parsley, salt and pepper. Since I'm a dried herb kinda girl, I used cardboard parsley...fresh would be better.

Printable Version Here


You know the drill....let me know if you try it!!

November 8 - 13

Here is what will be served up at our house this week...


Monday - roast, potatoes, sweet and sour cabbage

Tuesday - roasted tomato soup with grilled paninnis

Wednesday - sweet and sour chicken over rice

Thursday - steak with baked beans

Friday - we're in Kelowna for the weekend

Are They Donuts or Muffins

These look like muffins, but taste like those mini sugar donuts from the fair.


A friend posted about them on Facebook, so I immediately asked for the recipe.  She got it out of her local paper and sent me the link for it.


I may or may not have eaten 3 of them immediately.


Actually at one point following the next couple of days after making these, I asked Ben how many he had eaten.  I was embarrassed by his answer, because that meant I had eaten the rest.


DO NOT MAKE THESE IF YOU HAVE NO WILLPOWER.


However...if you do make these, I'm accepting thank you notes in the comments section.


Printable Recipe Here


The only change I made to the recipe was that I added brown sugar to the white sugar and cinnamon at the end....the delicious mixture you roll the warm donut muffins in....mmmmm....so good.

Did You Know...

...that I can email you new post notifications?


Click on my profile to the right and email me your email address and I will email you when I put new posts up.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is not going to win you any culinary awards and it isn't the most beautiful dish you have ever prepared, however...it has flavour...and it's easy.


Embarrassingly easy....but we all need dishes like these.  Especially on busy nights or "I don't feel like spending lots of time in the kitchen" nights...


Yeah...you know what I'm talking about.


There is no "printable" version of this because there is no real recipe.  I have no idea where I got this idea from, but I've been doing this for years....I probably read it somewhere.

You start with some cooked chicken (this was about 2 breasts) that are just seasoned with salt and pepper.

Then you add some slightly undercooked potatoes...or potatoes that have completely cooled.  Mine were actually still warm and a bit mushy, so I didn't mix them in with the mixture...I put them in the crust first, then poured my mixture on top.

Because when I make this I'm extra lazy, I just use powdered versions of these...look....I'm so lazy I can't even refill the garlic salt...no wait...it's powder....apparently I'm cheap too...

Add some veggies.  I use a frozen vegetable mixture that I've thawed out....and by thawed out, I mean let hot water run over them until they are not frozen.

Then I added a can of cream of chicken soup and I added a can of cream of mushroom too, but it was no name brand and I was too embarrassed to take a picture of it....but then I told you anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter now.

Get one package of this...

Pour your mixture into one of the crusts.  Sometimes when I'm feeling extra naughty, I'll add shredded cheese at this point.  I did not deserve it tonight...so no cheese.  I put it on a cookie sheet to save my oven from spillage.

Take the second crust out of the tin plate and put it over top....pinch the edges.  You can try to make it look pretty, but I didn't feel like it.  Pierce some holes in the top

I baked mine at 400F for 40ish minutes.  You want to know the inside is hot and bubbly and the crust is nicely browned...

and if you're fancy like us, you just scoop it out with a serving spoon...

Enjoy!!

Crispy Orange Beef

Recipe found here


I read the reviews/comments at allrecipes.com and here are my suggestions based on those...

- after you coat the beef in cornstarch, let it rest 10 minutes, then put it in a strainer and shake it over the sink

- double the sauce if you're serving it with rice and you want a sauce for it

- use a little less orange

- do not use 2 cups of oil for frying...I just coat the bottom of a non-stick frying pan with vegetable oil

November 1 - 5

Here are our meals for the week...


Monday - taco salad

Tuesday - stir fry

Wednesday - chicken pot pie

Thursday - mac n' cheese with hot dogs

Friday - french onion soup


Okay...I know that Thursday's meal is probably more suited for the twenty-something just moved out on their own crowd....or the young families on the go, however, even though we're thirty-something and no kids...we sometimes need these kind of meals. 


I have lots to do in the evenings this week and to be honest my mind is having a hard time planning our meals right now, so I went simple...boring and simple.


Come to think of it, I might actually switch Thursday and Friday's around.  I have a Silpada party to go to Friday night, so a quick meal on the go might be better.  Yeah...I'll do that.