How sad is this?

I have no new recipes to share. Not because we haven't been eating. We ate all week out of the freezer. Here's to doubling recipes and freezing leftovers! Wahoo! Next week I plan to start a recipe review to determine what recipes can go in my sister-in-laws cookbook. It should be a fun challenge. English isn't her first language so the cookbook needs to be very clear, clean and concise. They are a meat and potato type family. But that doesn't mean they can't eat healthy!

I was hoping to share an amazing brisket recipe for you but the brisket turned out tough even after I marinated it for 48 hours, rubbed it and mopped it over a slow smoke! So I'm taking the leftovers, throwing them in the crockpot and making a chili. Slow cooking lean cuts of meat tends to make them very tender. I have a nice cornbread recipe that tastes nice but wasn't very light and fluffy when I made it the week before. So I'm going to re-make it with fresh ingredients (like baking powder, etc.). If it turns out well, I'll pass it along. If not, then the search for a good cornbread recipe continues.... Tim loves cornbread so I must find one that is healthy and tasty!

I did make a fabulous beer can chicken on the weekend. I said it was the last beer can chicken of the season (I froze my keester off while bbqing it!). However, it was so tender, falling off the bones good that I see myself freezing my way through a few more in the fall. I used a Belgium beer, some lemons and no salt added herb and garlic seasoning and no salt added grilled chicken seasoning (I think both were Ms. Dash). The skin was to die for! And the meat was so tender and juicy! It was raves all around. I'm finding that lemon brightens the flavors of chicken the same way salt does. I'm not sure that the lemon usage will work the same way with beef, lamb or pork but we'll have to see. You certainly couldn't miss the salt on the chicken. The middle meat of the bird needed salt but tim's son eats a lot of processed and pre-made food so his salt intake level is fairly high (he likes the stuff with no lemon or added flavors). I just ask that you taste first before you salt. We had steamed New Brunswick grown broccoli and cauliflower with it. Wow, the local fresh ingredients are amazing! I highly recommend buying whatever is fresh and local when you can. What a difference!

So stay tuned as I review my recipe collection. I will remake some of my oldies but goodies. Hopefully there will be something yummy and nutritious and easy for you to try at home!

A great little Salsa, and other easy snacks

First a quick report on the buffalo burgers. They were awesome. We had friends over and one of them had developed a dislike for buffalo because they always found it dry. These burgers were really moist and I had overcooked them a smidge (there was wine involved). The other burgers I made earlier in the summer with part extra lean ground beef and chicken were also really moist. I'm convinced it is the fresh bread crumbs! I freeze the ends of bread and then put them through the food processor when I need bread crumbs. This way I never have a box of bread crumbs going stale in my cupboard. Don't have a food processor? Your coffee grinder will work too, even a blender will do. You can even just crumble it with your fingers!

Now on to snacks. You know I like a low fat, low sodium snack. And when your going to be enjoying a cocktail or two, it's good to get some food in your belly. Here is the quickest salsa I know. And I don't even like pineapple but this stuff is delicious!

• 1/2 - 3/4 of a pineapple, I get the already cleaned stuff in the produce section.
• 1 red pepper
• 4 green onions (scallions)
• a bunch of cilantro (can you really have too much?!)
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• pinch of brown sugar
• squirt of lime juice (about 2 tbsp or 1 fresh squeezed)
• 1 tsp chipotle powder or 1 chipotle pepper from a can

Chop the pineapple and red pepper into small pieces, about 1/4 inch chunks. Chop up the cilantro. Add in the rest, mix and let sit for a couple of hours before serving. Yum!

Now how about some other quick snacks. We all know how much I like to stuff things. Sometimes this is too time consuming for a crowd. But I had some "red hots" peppers so I made a filling with light herb and garlic cream cheese and grated cheddar. With a hot pepper, it is important to not only get all the seeds out but to also get out the white pithe.
















Like I said, this can be time consuming. But since there was only 4 of us, I did 8 red hots, some tomatoes and some mushrooms. Now the mushrooms can be a quick stuffer. Just wash, gently rock the stem back and forth to remove them. Then you can spoon in stuffing mix of any sort. Or if you want a really quick and tasty snack, add blue cheese. Broil, bake or grill those puppies up and you have a great snack!

Buffalo!

I'm attempting buffalo burgers for the first time. I've eaten them before, just never made them. I love the rich taste so I'm keeping it simple. I have 2 1/2 lbs of ground buffalo so I added 3 eggs, 2+ cups of fresh bread crumbs made from multi-grain and flax seed breads (but you can use any type of bread), 2 tbsp of minced garlic, 3 tbsp of Worshestershire sauce, 1 cup of finely chopped red onion and about a tbsp of my homemade no-salt added steak seasoning. I made the patties large, between 5 to 6 1/2 oz. each. Usually I make my burger patties only 1/4 lb (or 4 oz). But buffalo is lower in calories and fat than beef! Plus tomorrow will be relaxing on the deck all day, drinking the last of the summer cocktails. It's suppose to be 25 (that's 77 for you non-metric types) and sunny! So we'll want a good size burger to prevent us from getting too tipsy...

I'm going to top the burgers with a good aged cheddar cheese and my homemade BBQ sauce on a whole wheat bun. I'm drooling just thinking about it. I'll let you know how they turn out and snap a pic or two!

The art of freezing

Let's talk about freezing. No, I'm not implying that it has gotten that cold here... I'm talking about filling your freezer with ready made meals. This is a huge help for busy people. What can you freeze? Just about anything. Except potatoes. They go mealy. Uck!! You can, however, freeze mashed potatoes.

Look, it's not that complicated. When you do have the time and energy to cook, make double. Freeze the difference! Pasta will continue to absorb the water in a soup so you may want to freezer a bag of cooked pasta separate from a soup and then add them together before serving. I'm personally not that fussy, I can handle thick soup. But for my clients, I freeze them separately. Barley too will do this. For stew, instead of adding chunks of potato, I make mashed and serve the stew over it. Then I can freeze then separately.

Now you may only think of the obvious things to freeze like soups, stews, chili, casseroles but think about separate courses too. I freeze meatloaf, sauted veggies, taco filling, quesadillas, calzones (yes, we made our own), pasta sauce and even stir-fries. I keep a list outside the freezer so I know what's inside and I cross things off as I take them out. This is not that time consuming, trust me. But the little extra effort goes a looooong way! Doing extra veggie side dishes is great because then you can just bake or grill a piece of fish, chicken or a steak to go with it and dinner is done.

Cooked meals shouldn't be kept in your freezer for longer than 6 months. And for goodness sake, LABEL things. Masking tape works perfectly. And then you aren't taking off lids wondering what in the heck is in the container! I label with content and date. And there is still more evidence that we shouldn't be microwaving in those leftover margarine type containers. Use real tupperware or rubbermaid if you heat in the container. I just store it in those leftover margarine containers and then take it out and put it in a microwave safe container. It only takes a minute under hot running water to loosen up the contents so they pop right out of the freezer container! No problem!

Odds and Ends

I haven't posted much lately because I haven't thought the meals I've been making at home were recipes I could share. I have a tendency to shake the cupboards and fridge and whatever falls out (or is getting old) I make into a meal. Now I realize not everyone can do this. It's a talent for sure, but on the other hand, I can't bake. All that following of instructions makes me crazy!

So what did I pull together the last couple of nights? Well one night we had a Tex-Mex inspired soup with a leftover steak, some roasted corn on the cob (removed from the cob of course), a can of no-salt added kidney beans, red pepper, red onion, a can of no-salt added tomatoes and some chili powder, chipotle powder, garlic and cayenne pepper for seasoning. I served it with a sprinkle of cheddar on top and a dollop of sour cream. Tim preferred his without the sour cream. It turned out great. I'm having some leftovers for lunch today and I can't wait.

Last night I once again stuffed a zucchini. The mutant size ones are still available. This time I did a greek inspired filling with couscous, spinach, red onion, red pepper, garlic, my homemade greek seasoning (dried oregano, garlic, mint) and feta. I also have a jar of marinated mixed italian vegetables that consists of artichokes, sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers, eggplant and portabello mushrooms. I threw in about 3/4 cup of that mixture too. It was yummy too!

Tomorrow I'm making salmon cakes so stay tuned for that recipe. It will be one worth sharing!

To keep you entertained, here is a pic from our drive to the cottage this weekend. It was the balloon festival in Sussex this weekend so Friday as we were driving through we got to see the balloons up and running!

The finished product - Risotto

Here is the end result.

Let's talk Risotto

I love risotto. How can you not?! The creamy texture, the bite of the rice bits. Add some parmesan and it's heaven in a bowl. But a lot of people are intimidated by risotto. All that stirring and continual adding of liquid. How do you know what to do?! It's not that hard although you may mess up the first batch but don't dispare. Once you get the knack, you'll be whipping up this quick and delicious dinner on a regular basis.

First saute some Onion and a little garlic in Olive Oil over medium heat. We don't want any brown bits on the onions.
Add the arborio rice and let it saute for a minute. Then add some broth. Have broth ready. The boxed broth is very convenient and you can get the low sodium broth. Just have the box ready. Add about 1/2 cup at a time. Simmer over medium low heat, stirring regularily but not constantly.

Once the liquid absorbs into the rice, when you stir the rice out of the way and there is no water at the bottom of the pan, add more broth. You want to add the broth before the pan gets too dry. This is the part you have to get the hang of. But once you do, it's easy. Don't get discouraged if you don't get the first batch right. Once it comes to you that's it, you'll be making risotto for life!

Now you can just have risotto but I like to add veggies. This becomes a fantastic veggie dish. You can add meat. I like chicken. Have the veggies ready to go before you start cooking. The meat should be sauted first before adding to the risotto just so you don't have to worry about it being undercooked.

I added zucchini, asparagus and red pepper to my last risotto. I add it before the rice is done but is about halfway there. I wanted the veggies to remain their vibrant colours. If you are new to risotto, you may want to steam or saute your veggies seperately just to ensure you don't overcook them. Once you get comfortable with cooking arborio rice, you will find it easy to add veggies to allow them to cook with the rice without overcooking them.

We had a large "steak" in the matter!

Last night we had steak. Something we both really appreciate. This was from a box of frozen steaks. The price was good... the steak was not. It was a decent thickness and reasonably marbled, enough to be juicy but not enough to be too fatty. I sprinkled it with some of the salt free steak seasoning that I had made and cooked it to just past rare. Now you will often hear chefs say that you must salt and pepper steaks well. But why? If the meat is of a good quality, shouldn't it have a great taste without salt to bring it alive? Tim figures that the steaks we had last night were exactly the reason that sauces like A1 were invented. He may be on to something... From now on I will only spend our hard earned red meat money at a proper butcher. And I think we will also run a comparison on organic steaks to see what the taste difference is. Can I really get away without covering it in salt? Stay tuned!

Doggies!

Here are the pics I promised. This is Ollie after he has eaten his homemade dinner. On a plus side, the homemade food is harder for them to eat so they end up taking their time which is a huge bonus for dogs that run the risk of bloat.

And this is Miss Emily in her spot where she watches the world go by...

Going to the dogs

Now here is a little diversion. I'm going to talk about dog food. As someone who cooks for a living, I finally started making my dogs their own homemade dog food. I was so sick of trying to decipher the ingredient lists on the commercial products on the market. And I was so sick of hearing about dogs dying of cancer. I figure all that processing that the dog food goes through can't be good for it. I actually started with this recipe the last time the dogs were sick with diarrhea.

• 2 packs of ground chicken (each are less than a pound)
• 12 servings of brown rice
• 1/2 cup of flax seeds
• 2 cups of veggies, right now I am using broccoli, cauliflower and string beans.
• 1 large container of plain yogurt, I was using fat free but I'm now experiementing with a full fat yogurt. I do look for the one with the least amount of added ingredients. All we need is milk and active bacterial cultures.

I cook the chicken in a microwave safe dish at full power for about 5 minutes, I then stir it and check for pink. There usually is some in the middle. I add the flax seeds and, if I have room, the veggies. I microwave this for another 3 - 5 minutes. I like the veggies to be good and soft. My dogs won't eat raw broccoli or cauliflower but they like it cooked. In the mean time, I have started the rice on the stove, following the package instructions. Once the meat is done, I transfer all if it, juices and all, to a mixing bowl. I add the rice and let it all cool down, stiring often to help it cool down quicker. Remember, we don't want it at room temp for any period of time. I just want it cool enough to I can add the yogurt without killing the bacteria in the yogurt or making it curdle. Once it is almost to room temp, I mix in the yogurt. This will only last my dogs 4 days so I double it. I feed them a regular kibble meal in the morning and they get this homemade mix for supper. They get 15 ounces or roughly 2 cups. They are 85 and 95 pounds so they are big dogs who need a lot of food. I still feed some kibble in case there are nutrients I am missing in my homemade stuff. But I do find a difference when they get just kibble. They fart a lot, have huge poops and Ollie has big eye boogers.

Aren't they beautiful! They are Bouvier des Flandres. And if anyone is interested in getting one, please contact me. These are not ordinary house pets and I wish someone had told me the truth before I got my beasts. (today blogger is not letting me post pics... check back tomorrow!)

Knives, Corn and Veggie Meals

You may be wondering why it's been so quiet lately, well we were on vacation. We made a lovely trip to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to see Fortress Louisbourg. It is a 1700's era fortress that has been reconstructed. We took my nephew and Tim's son who are 14 and 13 respectively. An old fort is a great place for boys that age. They were expecting ruins where one has to image that there once was a fort there. But what they got was a whole other story.

By the end of it, they were over stimulated.

We even ate at the inn at the fortress. Period food was not Alec's cup of tea but he coped... Note to parents - expose your kids to all types of food early on. If you only feed them "what they like" they will end up only eating chicken nuggets and fries. And no one on this planet needs to live off of that crap!

While we were away, I had my knives sharpened. A sharp knife is a safe knife. And if you do cut yourself, the cut will be a clean cut so re-attachment will be easy! I can cut through a squash no problem because instead of using force, I use the sharpness of my blade.

After our journey we needed to eat healthy. Restaurant food is full of sodium and fat. So I made a corn and broccoli stew. On top of the 27 ears corn I had previously roasted and shucked, I roasted some more for this stew and shucked it. The ingredients for this stew are easy.

• 2 slices of bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 6 cups of broccoli (2 stalks)
• 4 ears of corn (or 3 cups of nibblets)
• 2 cups of skim or 1% milk
• pepper
• 1/2 tsp Ms. Dash or salt.

First saute the bacon over low heat until almost cooked but not browned, add the onions and cook until soft. Add the potatoes and half the milk. Cover and simmer 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft when poked with a fork. Add the broccoli and the rest of the milk and the Ms. Dash and Pepper. Cover and cook another 5 minutes. Add the corn, cover and cook another 5 minutes. That's it. Tasty! And low in sodium and fat!

As you can see, I used red potatoes and left the skin on. Just a reminder to stock up on corn while it's in season. Roast it on the bbq or boil it, shuck it from the cob and freeze it. The roasted corn is great thrown in all sorts of winter soups, stew, etc. Yum!

Hot Weather Tip

I just thought I'd share a pic of the beautiful loon family we have on the lake this summer. Loones mate for life and return to the same lake every year. I've named them Maurice and Fredricka. This year they had 3 babies! I love my new camera!

About the tip, to help keep the heat out of your kitchen, use the crock pot, also known as a slow cooker, to make your meals on hot days. It throws off little heat, you can fill it the night before and is super convenient. If you don't have one, consider investing in one. Get one with a removable liner for easier clean up. You can get them for around $30 and it's still a good quality unit. They come in a variety of sizes so you can get one to meet your needs. And there are a ton of great slow cooker cookbooks on the market these days but here's a great recipe to get you started.

Curry Chicken and Veggies:
Serves 4-6
1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts (or you could use pork, lamb or beef, cubed)
3 cups frozen veggies (peas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots or a mixture)
1 can of cream of chicken, broccoli or onion soup (if you want to keep the sodium low and can't find low sodium cream of anything soup, use 1 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken or veggie broth and stir in 1 cup of yogurt right before serving)
1 tablespoon curry powder (or try the Madras curry powder if you can find it, or experiment with any indian spices if you feel like it)

Throw all of it in the crock pot/slow cooker and cook on low for 7 - 8 hours or high for 3 - 4 hours. Serve over rice (make it in your microwave, it's quicker and won't heat up the house)

Now get out there and enjoy what's left of the summer!

Kabobs and Corn at the Cottage

We're at the cottage again. It looks like a bit of a shack from the outside. I've got better shots that I'll share over time. It's better than it looks!

My nephew requested kabobs last night. And Tim brought home 27 ears of corn leftover from a party he had attended. So there was dinner.We are officially corned-out. I had to cook them all last night because, as I've mentioned, corn starts to convert its sugars to starch as soon as it is picked. This was picked the morning before. So I roasted most of it on the bbq and boiled a few. I'll take them home and shuck them off the knob and freeze them. I'll have great roasted corn for the next couple of months!

The kabobs consisted of steak, potatoes and red onion. I made a marinade of dijon mustard, balsalmic vinegar, no salt steak grilling spice, rosemary and chives. I cooked them on the bbq for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to make the steak well done. I had parboiled the potatoes so they were partially cooked that way they finished on the kabobs at the same time as the steak. It was delish!

Yes, I'm stuffing things again, but this time you can see it!

Last night we had stuffed zucchini. Now I know what you are thinking.. wow, she's at it again. But last night was different. Usually I use couscous or rice with some veggies and call it stuffing. Well last night I used ground pork (1/2 lb of the lean variety), sun dried tomatoes, a little tomato paste, onion, garlic, basil, herb and garlic boursin and parmesan cheese. I also added about half of the zucchini bits I had scooped out of the zucchini to make room for the stuffing. I sauteed the ground pork, added the onion, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, sauteed for a couple more minutes. Then I mixed in the tomato paste and both cheeses.

I cooked it at 350 for 35 minutes. While it was cooking, I first steamed until just that vibrant green, some brussel sprouts. Then I sauteed them in about a tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkled in some no salt herb and garlic seasoning. Once they were carmalized (had brown bits on them) I tossed in about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. My nephew hadn't eaten brussel sprouts before so I was a little worried he may not like them.

He liked them! He liked it all. Although he's not the most picky kid. He grew up on Kielbassa and the like. So there you have it, Stuffed Zucchini and Brussel Sprouts! Yum!

Changing my mind on the fly...

Yesterday I had intended to bbq a pork tenderloin and steam some veggies but it was rainy and chilly so I changed my mind as the day went on. Instead I made a soup out of the pork tenderloin, which was already marinating in a Cuban Chipotle marinade. So I had my flavor base, hot and spicy!

I seared the pork on all sides then put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Then I let it rest for another 20 minutes and diced it up to go in the soup.

I sauteed some onions, diced carrots and garlic until soft, added in some low sodium veggie broth and some wild brown rice. I let that come to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes until the rice was done. Then I tossed in the beans and corn (the corn was frozen corn I had cut off ears I had bbqed when the local corn was fresh) and the seasoning mix. The seasoning mix consisted of Chiopotle powder, chili powder, cumin, coriander, table Ms. Dash, Sweet Paprika and my homemade essence blend. I let it all simmer for about 20 minutes. We had it with a salad. The soup definately had a good kick! And I froze the leftovers. When I thaw a serving, it will likely need a bit of water added to thin the broth. It should keep well in the freezer for 6 months.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

So while smoking the lovely brisket I told you about, I had a little accident.

No one was injured. The moral of the story is, if you are looking for a new bbq, you may want to get one with stainless steel side tables, not plastic. Or you may want to leave the smoker packet on the bbq until the next day when it's nothing but ashes and not still smoking...

The brisket turned out a little tough. It was hard to keep the smoker packets smoking and not have the heat on too high. However, judging by how long the packets smoked after I was done, the idea would have been to start them about 1/2 to 1 hour before hand and then once they got really going, I would have been able to turn the heat down. Even the goddess makes mistakes... as demonstrated above. Oh well, if I was perfect, life would be boring.

As promised, here is the picture of the fantastic planked salmon meal. I had planked the salmon the night before and then just reheated over low heat wrapped in foil before serving. The spinach is one of our favs, just saute in a bit of olive oil and garlic, saute some onions, melt in some of your favorite cheese. This time we used Cambazola and Parmesan. Also on the plate is some of my leftover potato salad made with mayo, my homemade dijon, some cider vineagr, chives and green onions. Yum!

Yes, it's a paper plate, and plastic margarine container...it's the cottage for goodness sake!

Now, with pictures!

I got a fantastic digital camera this week. Now this blog will have pics of all the great recipes! I've already taken pictures of a great salmon dish we had last night and the brisket that is marinating for tonight. One small problem... I forgot the USB cable to download the pics here at the cottage. So stay tuned. You'll get to see it all shortly!

I managed to find Brisket. It is a hard cut of meat to find around these parts but there is a butcher shop here in Rothesay and they happened to have some. I've marinated it over night in Beer, dijon mustard, garlic, worchestershir sauce and a few dashes of hot sauce. Tonight I'm going to slow smoke it with mesquite. Then serve it with my homemade bbq sauce. I have an Asian slaw I made (soy sauce, rice wine vineager, pickled ginger, garlic and honey) yesterday that I will serve with it. I'll add a salad and we're done! I also have a nice bottle of Shiraz to go with it. Yum! Come back for the pics!

Planning Leftovers

I can't emphasize enough how great it is to make extras when you cook and plan ahead. This weekend while relaxing at the cottage, I made a pork roast. It was too much for us to eat at one meal but now I have grilled meat ready to go. I'm thinking pulled pork sandwiches with a nice salad one night for dinner. I'll simply simmer up some of my homemade bbq sauce and toss in the pork.

I also had some turkey thighs with me so I bbq'ed them last night with a little Boursin (a flavored cream cheese like product) under the skin. Tonight I'll wrap them in foil and heat them up in our toaster oven while I saute some spinach and add some onions and the rest of the Boursin. Dinner is done.

Take the opportunity to throw some extras on your bbq on the weekend while you have time. Then you have leftovers for lunchs or dinners during the week. This also works with grilled veggies!

Where have we been?

Well we've once again, been at the cottage. We came down on Friday and aren't leaving until Wednesday morning. Although we actually got bored yesterday. It was too windy for Tim to work on the guest cottage or for me to sand some chairs I'm re-finishing. Oh, I could have sewn, cooked, wrote.... but I just wasn't inspired. Neither was Tim so we went for a drive in to Saint John. It was a holiday so everything was closed. We did stop at the local brew pub for a snack. After we came back I did put on a small pot of black bean soup. I sauted the following:
Red onion
Jalepeno pepper
Red pepper
garlic

Then I added a shucked ear of corn to help thicken the broth, and water. I also added in some of my homemade tex/mex no salt seasoning, some table Ms. Dash, some Ancho Chili powder and some no salt herb and garlic seasoning.
I let this all simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then I added in:
The 14 oz can of No Salt Added Black Beans
2 diced tomatoes
the corn from the shucked ear
1 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
3 chopped green onions.

Serve this with a good helping of grated Mozza (which is what I had on hand) or Cheddar or Monteray Jack Cheese and some nacho chips. Nutricious, delicious and cheap!

I'm Stuffing Things Again!

This time it is a huge zucchini. I love this time of year when the veggies are mutant sized! Stuffing things is a great way to use up leftovers. I had bbq'd some shrimp last night but we didn't eat them all. So I did a greek inspired, shrimp, couscous, tomato, onion and feta stuffing. Couscous is great because you just boil twice as much water as couscous, pour it over the couscous and let it sit for 5 minutes. Fluff it up and it is ready to go! I sauteed my onions and some of the inside bits that I had scraped out of the zucchini. Once the onions were soft, I added in some minced garlic and continued sauteing for just another minute. Garlic can burn quickly so be vigilant. I cut up the shrimp. I tossed everything together with some chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese and my 'now famous' homemade seasoning mix, Greek inspired. Tonight I'll cook them on the bbq using indirect heat. Yum!