Wonton Soup

I few weeks ago I made wonton soup as outlined on the Food Network website. I have been seeing a lot of recipes lately using wonton wrappers and I was curious to try them out for myself. Overall I found that assembling the wontons was a little finicky but not too time consuming. Besides the wontons the rest of the soup was really easy to make and came together quite quickly. While I had never had wonton soup before Katie said it tasted just like ones she had at restaurants. I would recommend the recipe to anyone, the only unique tool I used to prepare the meal was my food processor to blitz up the wonton filling.

I think wontons would make a nice appetizer on their own and I have seen recipes where they steam and then fry them to crisp them up that sound delicious. I will post more if I get around to making wonton centric recipes.

The Sunday Night Classic: Oven Roasted Chicken

Katie came home with a whole roasting chicken after her trip to the grocery store on Friday and I was told that I would be cooking it as she doesn’t “deal with” raw chicken J For lack of invention I fell to my old standby as outlined in Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food (orFood Revolution as it came out in Canada). It is a very simple recipe and basically has you season the chicken and stuff a lemon in the cavity. I made a few changes incorporating techniques I had seen on other Jamie Oliver programs. I created a seasoned butter of basil, parsley and thyme and spread that under the skin covering the breast. I also swapped the lemon out and instead used the basil/parsley mixture and a few cloves of garlic that I put in the cavity.  

Perfect Roast Chicken

While not pictured the real stars of the dinner were the oven roasted potatoes. The recipe, also from Food Revolution, follows:

 Roast Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots

Croque Monsieur

This morning I asked Katie what she was going to make for lunch and she replied with either a grilled cheese sandwich or a ham sandwich. This brought to mind a combination of the 2 ideas that I had seen in the 3 Chefs cookbook for a Croque Monsieur or a French toast Sandwich. I recommend the 3 chefs cookbook for interesting ideas and variations of old favourites. While the one in the book is admittedly more fancy with its use of a pan fried salmon fillet and brie cheese, I took the basic concept and used what we had on hand, being ham and cheddar cheese.

Ingredients

• 2 Slices Deli sliced Ham
• 2 Slices whole grain bread
• Dijon Mustard
• 1 Egg
• A splash of milk
• Fresh Basil
• 1 thin slice Cheddar Cheese
• 1 tbsp Butter

Spread one slice of bread with the Dijon Mustard, and layer on top ham, cheddar and fresh basil. Take sandwich and dip both sides into mixture of egg and milk. Melt butter in frying pan over medium high heat and fry sandwich until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted.

 

I paired the sandwich with some potato chips as pictured above. Overall a nice variation of the ham sandwich that separates it from the usually lunchbox variety.

Lemon Chicken

A few weeks ago I decided to make chinese at home. The menu consisted of chicken fried noodles, egg rolls (I cheated on these and bought frozen ones), fried rice, and lemon chicken. It all turned out pretty well, but was  a lot of work, and created a lot of dishes since everything had to be cooking and/or heated at the same time. I would definantly do it again, but perhaps on a smaller scale. The lemon chicken was a BIG hit, if a bit scary to make since it is fried in a lot of oil. Definantly worth it though as it comes out so crisp. Basically all you need to do is buy tempura batter and follow the directions on the package to coat the chicken. Cook the chicken in hot oil for a few minutes per side (using a couple of inches of oil) Make the lemon sauce (instructions below) and pour over top. This recipe needs to be served fresh, leftovers the next day are soggy instead of crispy. Pair with rice and egg rolls and you are all set! Enjoy!

To make the sauce, Stir 1 tsp cornstarch with a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice and set aside. Combine 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup surgar, 2 tbsp honey, and a bit of salt. Bring this to a boil and then add the cornstarch mixture, simmer for 1 minute.  Pour over chicken.

Just realized this is my second "lemon" post in a row - can you tell I'm a fan ?!

Lemon Loaf

I am a huge fan of lemon loaf, and have made this recipe many, many times. I sometimes use a slightly large loaf pan, if you do this the loaf should only need to cook for about 40 minutes. As always, I replace some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat (in this recipe usually half of a cup). This recipe really uses very basic ingredients, and is therefore inexpensive to make!



Zucchini Sticks

I found this recipe for baked zucchinin sticks in "What's Cooking" magazine! (I don't subscribe to this magazine, but the woman who used to live in our house forgot to change her address - lets hope she doesn't remember to change it in the future!) I thought this made for a delicious snack, and one that incorporates veggies but tastes yummy at the same time. I ate it with tzatziki dressing. Here's how to make it:

Cut 4 zucchini in half and then quarter each slice. Combine 2 pouches of extra crispy shake and bake (I used no name brand) with 2 tbsp minced parsley (you can omit this if you wish) in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, combine one beaten egg and 1 tbsp water. Coat each slice of zucchini with egg and then shake and bake mix, and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Peach Pie

I had no plan to make a pie this past weekend, but we had peaches that were getting a bit too ripe, and happened to have frozen pie crust in the freezer. It turned out pretty well, even if it was a store bought crust!

To make, peel and slice 5 cups of peaches and drizzle with 1 tbsp lemon juice. Combine 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp salt. Toss the peaches in the flour mixture. Beat one egg and brush the frozen pie crust with it. Pour the peach mixture into the pie shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.

Whole Wheat Bread

As was heralded by Katie, and mentioned by me to a few people, I am finally starting to contribute to our blog project. My first post will be about Whole Wheat Bread that Katie requested I make to accompany her Minestrone Soup recipe. I have tried several bread recipes out, but mainly focus on white bread as it seems to taste better for the efforts you put in.

In researching whole wheat bread, I came across this recipe by Peter Reinhart. I have previously read one of his cook books and find his explanations of the bread baking process to be some of the best and most informative especially if you have little baking experience. However, his recipes do tend to lean towards the more extensive and time consuming.

Starting out you must know that this recipe requires at least a day in advanced preparation. Pictured below is the start of day 1 where I prepared the soaker and poolish as listed below in the recipe. Peter Reinhart is a proponent of delayed fermentation, which requires that you leave dough in the fridge overnight to slow down the yeast and develop flavour.

Below is what the poolish looks like prior to being refrigerated. It is very basic, not enough flour to make a full dough.

My KitchenAid mixer is a very handy tool when making bread. It becomes more handy when you can judge the feel of the dough without actually having to knead it by hand. One thing I try if a recipe calls for 2 to 3 cups of flour is to always start with the minimum amount and make sure you knead it for a few minutes before adding any additional flour or water.

I found that this recipe made a very springy dough but that it did take a while to fully come together when kneading. Pictured below you can see the dough prior to its second rising.

I ended up cooking the bread for approximately 50 minutes. I found that this may have been a bit too long as the bread tasted a little dry. I also found that I could have used a bit more salt, but I also didn't properly measure the amount of salt I put in, I just guessed.

Overall, this is the best, and only, 100% whole wheat bread I have made, but I would gladly try it again with the few tweaks I suggested.

whole wheat bread
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. makes 2 loaves.

soaker
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup water (at room temperature)

poolish
1 1/2 cups whole what flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water (at room temperature)

dough
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp honey
1 egg (optional)

1. the night before, make the soaker and the poolish. soaker: mix together the flour and water in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the next day. poolish: mix together the flour, yeast and water. cover with plastic wrap, let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, then move the refrigerator until the next day.

2. the next day, remove the poolish from the fridge an hour before making the dough. in a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and yeast. mix in the soaker and poolish, then the honey and egg. you may need more flour if you add the egg. stir together until dough forms a ball.

3. turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 mintues until tacky but not sticky. transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. let sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

4. divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, shape into loaves and place into lighly oiled loaf pans. cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 90 minutes.

5. remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. after the 30 minutes, rotate pans 180 degrees and continue baking for 15-30 minutes longer. the finished bread should be golden brown all around and firm on the sides and bottom. remove immediately from pans and cool on a cooling rack for a few hours before slicing.

Minestrone Soup & Whole Wheat Bread

Tonight's dinner is home-made minestrone soup with home-made whole wheat bread. I can't wait to try both! I made the soup, which is full of healthy veggies and chick peas, and did it ever smell delicious when it was cooking! The recipe says to cook in a crock pot but ours was too small so I chose to simmer it on the stove instead. It takes some time to chop all the veggies, but otherwise was super easy to make. Perfect for a fall meal! Check out the recipe below, and watch for the bread recipe, which Mike will be posting soon!

Herby Minestrone

Makes: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extravirgi-n olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/2 inch thick
2 yellow bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and halved
3 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1 teaspoon chopped fresh savory
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
4 cups beef or vegetable broth
1 can (about 15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup 100% vegetable juice, such as V8
1 can (about 28 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
Juice and finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and bell peppers, and saut‚ until the vegetables lose their raw look, about 3 minutes. Add 2 cloves of the garlic and the herbs and cook for another minute. Transfer into a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker.

Add the broth, chickpeas, vegetable juice, diced tomatoes, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Cover the cooker and cook for 3 to 5 hours on high, or 6 to 10 hours on low.

Stir in the parsley, the remaining garlic clove, and the lemon juice and lemon zest. Serve, garnished with grated cheese.

What Else
Minestrone improves with age; for the best flavor, prepare a day or two ahead. Or cook overnight, refrigerate until dinner, and reheat on the stove top. Feel free to alter the vegetables to fit what you have on hand.

Not every recipe is a great success :(

I found a recipe for Gnocchi on "The Nest" website that I was excited to try. So I spent most of Sunday afternoon making the sauce, cooking the potatoes, mixing them with flour, etc, letting them cool, rolling them out and forming them into small pieces to be cooked. The sauce turned out fine, the gnocchi itself though was not so great. It tasted very doughy, and was not nearly as firm as the kind you get in a restaurant. It kind of had the consistency of the outside of perogies when they have been boiled but not fried. This was my first time trying to make any kind of pasta, and I was disappointed it didn't turn out. However, I am willing to try again, anyone out there have a good gnocchi recipe? I think I will keep looking for recipes from more credible sites - not that I don't love the nest, but I have found most of their recipes are just okay.

Banana Muffins

This morning I tested out "The Nest's" recipe for banana cinnamon muffins, they were fine, and made good sized muffins, but they weren't anything amazing. Definantly a good way to use up over ripe bananas though.

Here is a tip: stick the bananas in the freezer and then thaw before using, they come out mushed up, which is exactly what you want for muffin making!

Here is the recipe in case you want to try it yourself:

Banana & Cinnamon Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon, plus extra to sprinkle
3/4 cup sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed banana

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl and beat with a handheld electric mixer until combined.

3. Put the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract in a small bowl and mix to combine. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat on slow speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.

4. Pour in the melted butter and beat until incorporated. Stir in the bananas with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.

5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups until two-thirds full and sprinkle a little extra sugar and cinnamon over the tops.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

From The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers,$27.99, 2009, Ryland Peters and Small

Pizza Dough!

Lately we have been making our own pizza dough. It may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn't. Below is a basic recipe we really like, taken from the 2011 Fall Issue of "All You Need Is Cheese". What you put on it is up to you! We often buy a can of pizza sauce, and make pepperoni pizza. Looking for something a little more exciting: mix pizza sauce with BBQ sauce and top with cooked chicken, onions, and peppers.

Our Tip: The recipe makes a pretty thick crust, so we stretch it out to cover a rectangular baking sheet. Enjoy!

MILK PIZZA DOUGH

1 pouch (8g) rapid dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm milk
3 tbsp melted butter
about 3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Mix yeast, sugar, warm milk, and melted butter.
Let rest for 10 minutes to allow yeast to activate (will look foamy)
Mix flour and salt, gradually adding to bowl, mixing with fork and then with hands as it becomes more stiff.
Flour a work surface and knead the dough, adding a bit of flour if it is sticking, knead for 5 minutes.
Grease a bowl with butter, place the dough in the bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place for 45 minutes - the dough should double in size.
Roll out the dough and place on baking sheet - top as desired.
Bake at 425-450 degress for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and edges are golden.

Meatballs

I love this recipe for Freezer Meatballs, they are easy to make, and even easier to pop in the oven when you want to eat them. I made only half the recipe and ended up with about 50 meatballs, enough for a few dinners. They can easily be added to pasta sauce, or heat them in BBQ sauce. Delicious and healthy!

Tuesday night dinner: Broccoli and Potato Frittata

Tonight I made Broccoli & Potato Frittata from "The Nest" website. This was a pretty straight forward recipe, and took about 30 minutes to make.

My twists on this recipe: Throw in whatever herbs you like, I'm not a fan of rosemary, so I left it out and added basil instead, and replaced the Asiago cheese with cheddar. I found you really only need one tomato, not three as the recipe calls for. This was a quick and yummy recipe, and healthy too! The bonus - there is enough left over for lunch tomorrow!



What do you think of when you think about cooking?

Breadsticks

Mike is usually the bread maker, but lately I have tried making some simple dough recipes myself, including pizza dough, so I decided to whip up some breadsticks to go with last night's leftover pasta. Some bread recipes take a long time because they have to rise, but when I found a recipe for soft breadsticks in "Taste of Home's Complete Guide to Baking" I thought I would give it a try. Here is the recipe:

1 and 1/4 cup flour (I used 3/4 cup white and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
2 tsp sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
3 tbsp butter, melted.

Mix dry ingredients, and slowly add milk, stiring to make a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface, knead a few times, and roll into a 5 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Cut into 12 breadstick.

Coat baking sheet with melted butter. Roll each breadstick in butter to coat and then bake at 450 degrees for 14 to 18 minutes.

I found that the dough was VERY sticky when I was done mixing, so I added a couple handfuls of flour (it should be slightly sticky, but not gooey).

After rolling out the dough, I only managed to get 10 breadstick out of it. After rolling the breadsticks in the melted butter I sprinkled them with garlic salt and fresh parmasan cheese.

Fourteen minutes was enough cooking time for these breadstick, I think if I was to make them again I would roll them in the butter, but bake them on a seperate baking sheet, they are definantly flaky, and not soft as the recipe suggests they should be. I guess we will see if they are a hit at dinner tonight!



Sunday Night Dinner: Tomato Basil Rigatoni

Tonight for dinner we had Tomato Basil Rigatoni, a recipe from "the nest" website.

Overall, this was a good recipe, but it includes some unnecessary steps, and lacks clear directions for all of the ingredients. Therefore, we changed a few things! To start, I wouldn't bother sqeezing the liquid out of the tomatoes, you just end up adding it back in. Instead, strain canned tomatoes, and reserve liquid to add as needed. When heating the oil, garlic, and basil, simply add all of it to the sauce, rather than straining out the garlic and basil - why dump out the flavour? Not sure what to do with the mozzarella? Add it to the pasta when cooked, along with the sauce, and enjoy!

This recipe took a little longer than some pastas, but the sauce was delicious, and it makes enough that there are leftovers!

Welcome!

We are excited to be starting a blog! We both enjoy cooking and baking, and have decided to share the recipes we make. We are going to try out recipes that we find appealing and provide critiques and suggestions along the way! Bon Appetit!