Coconut Lime Chicken & Coconut Curry Squash Soup

Tonight I made a recipe I found on Pinterest for Coconut Lime Chicken.  I followed it exactly (but used brown sugar instead of white, and didn't bother cooking the marinade afterwards to make a sauce.)  I also found a recipe for Coconut Curry Squash Soup and whipped that up as a side dish for our meal.  For my super sweet baby (who is 7 months old today!) I puréed the two things together and he gobbled it up (twice!)  He's got good taste!!

Thanks for not feeding me boring food, Mom!

Taboulé

This is one of my favourite lunches, and it's so simple and healthy!

TABOULÉ

1 c. water

1 tbsp. butter

pinch of salt

2/3 c. couscous

1 tomato

1/2 cucumber

2 green onions

1 tbsp. basil or mint leaves, finely chopped

1 tbsp. parsley, chopped

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Bring water, butter and salt to a boil.  Stir in couscous, remove from heat, cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork and let it cool to room temperature.  Dice up the vegetables, toss with the couscous, and drizzle with lemon juice.  Stir to combine everything, and serve.

Mexican Brie Panini

A panini maker + leftovers in the fridge + a wee bit of creativity = one delicious sandwich!

MEXICAN BRIE PANINI
two slices French bread, buttered on the outside
Brie baked with marmalade, diced jalapeño, and crushed pistachios (leftover from our party on Saturday night)
leftover chicken (cooked with fajita seasoning and shredded)
avocado slices
mango slices
Chili Lime Sansel

This was so yummy... I heart paninis!

"Fancy" Turkey Panini

I got a panini grill for Christmas, and I couldn't wait to try out a fancy-schmancy turkey sandwich with some of the leftovers from our Christmas meal.  Don't get me wrong, I love a turkey salad sandwich or a hot open-faced turkey sandwich, but this year I had a new toy to play with so I had to jazz up my leftovers a bit!

TURKEY PANINI
Sage & Apple focaccia bread (recipe to follow)
leftover turkey
apple slices
bacon slices
cheese (whatever kind you like - I used smoked Gouda)

Slice the bread and layer your ingredients.  (I also would have added some tomato or spinach if I had any, but I didn't.  Or you could spread a bit of cranberry sauce on the bread if you like cranberry sauce, which I don't.)  Place the sandwich in a panini grill and press down, grilling for 3-5 minutes.

Who knew squishing a sandwich in a grill would make it taste so good?

SAGE & APPLE FOCACCIA (based on this recipe)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 c. warm water
2 pkgs. (4 1/2 tsp.) yeast
1/4 c. Sage & Apple Stuffing Seasoning
1/3 c. olive oil
3/4 c. hot water
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour

Dissolve sugar in warm water and stir in yeast.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.  In another bowl, soften the the Sage & Apple seasoning in olive oil and hot water.  Pour into the yeast mixture and add salt and flour, kneading till it forms a dough.  Let it rest for 5 minutes, then roll it onto a baking sheet lined with cornmeal or parchment paper.  Brush with olive oil and let it rise for 40 minutes.  Bake at 425 F for 20 minutes.  (This bread is also delicious for dipping in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.)

Mini Snacks

Just got a mini muffin pan and a portion scoop from Epicure Selections, so I've been whipping up some snacks that I can pop in the freezer and pull out whenever we need them.
Here are all the recipes, and the verdicts are written below each one.
TWO-BITE BROWNIES (from this recipe)
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix first three ingredients together.  In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients, then add to dry ingredients.  Scoop into mini muffin pan and bake at 350 F for 12 minutes.  Allow them to cool for a few minutes before popping them out.  Makes about 48 mini muffins.
Verdict: These are awesome.  No other way to describe them.

HEALTHY & DECADENT PUMPKIN MINI MUFFINS
1 1/2 c. flour (I used 1 c. white flour and 1/2 c. whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin purée
1/3 c. apple sauce
2 tbsp. crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1/4 c. chocolate chips

Combine first 4 ingredients.  In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients, then add to dry ingredients.  Don't overmix.  Scoop into mini muffin tin and bake at 350 F for 12 minutes.  Let them cool for a few minutes before popping out.
Verdict: These are awesome too!  My son actually prefers these over the brownies (gasp!)
MINI SALMON CAKES (based on this recipe)
3 small potaotes, peeled and quartered
3 green onions
2-3 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. lemon juice
salt & pepper
1-2 tsp. Lemon Dilly Dip Mix
1 egg
3 cans (170 g net weight each) boneless, skinless pink salmon

Boil potatoes; drain and mash.  Add in remaining ingredients.  Scoop into mini muffin tin and bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.
Verdict: Yummy yummy.

MINI CRUSTLESS QUICHES (use this recipe, but leave out the puff pastry crust and bake in mini muffin tin at 400 F for 15 minutes)
Verdict: Delicious, and the kids all loved them.

TEENY TINY PIZZAS
1 pkg. Pillsbury pizza dough
pizza sauce (about 1/3 c.)
pepperoni, finely chopped (about 14 slices)
mozzarella cheese, grated (about 1/3 c.)

Roll out pizza dough and cut into 24 squares that will fit into a mini muffin tin.  (I ended up with 10 extra, so I just rolled that into a ball and made a mini pizza with it.)  Press dough into mini muffin tin.  Combine pizza sauce, pepperoni, and cheese and scoop into dough.  Bake at 400 F for 10-12 minutes.
Verdict: Haven't fed them to the kids yet, but I imagine they will like them.  I personally don't like Pillsbury dough (whether it's croissants or biscuits or pizza dough) so I'm not a big fan of these.

Overall Verdict:
I love my mini muffin pan and portion scoop!  It's so easy to make cutesy little appetizers, and the kids love eating stuff in miniature form.  Can't wait to try out some new recipes with it!

Zuppa Toscana

We were at an Olive Garden in Winnipeg last month, and ordered the Zuppa Toscana.  I make a lot of homemade soup, but I had never thought of using Italian sausage and greens in it before, so I was inspired to make this soup at home.  Whenever we really like a recipe at a restaurant, we usually search the internet for copycat versions, and this soup certainly has plenty of copycat recipes.  I used this one as my starting point, and then adapted it to suit my tastes.

ZUPPA TOSCANA

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage

1 onion, diced

4 c. chicken broth

2 c. water

3 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced

2 c. baby spinach, chopped

1 c. whipping cream

Brown sausage and onion and set aside.  Drain off any fat, then pour in broth and water and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes and boil until cooked.  Stir in spinach and add sausage and onion back to the pot.  Stir in cream and heat through.

This soup was easy to make, and very hearty.  I should have made a half-batch because it made an enormous pot of soup!  It's not too spicy, but it is too spicy for the kids, so my husband and I will be eating this soup for lunch every day this week!  Luckily it's delicious, so I don't mind.

Epicure's Tortilla Soup

I love making homemade soup, and for the most part I find it pretty simple to whip up a batch whenever I feel like it. So I was a little leary when Epicure launched a new Tortilla Soup Mix for the 2011 catalogue. As far as I'm concerned, the key to a great soup is that it tastes homemade, which is rarely the case when you dump in a packet of seasoning and mix it with water and tomatoes. This Tortilla Soup Mix is delicious, though, and it is so simple to make it's almost embarrassing to write down the recipe!

EPICURE'S TORTILLA SOUP
1 package Tortilla Soup Mix
1 can (14 oz./398 ml) crushed tomatoes - Please note, the package says 19 oz./398ml - this is a typo, it should 14 oz./398 ml)
5 c. water

Mix ingredients together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with garnishes of tortilla chips, diced avocado, grated cheese, fresh lime juice, and/or sour cream (I forgot the sour cream in the picture!)


This was perfect - I wouldn't change a thing! And check out the list of ingredients: dried black beans, dried corn, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, spices, salt, garlic, green onion. How often do you find a soup mix at the store that has 6 "real" ingredients listed before salt? Usually it's MSG, a bunch of words from a chemistry textbook, salt, and then the real ingredients. My kids loved this soup, and I felt good about serving them something healthy. I hope Epicure will start selling larger jars of this stuff, but in the meantime I'll stock up on the little packages!

Corn & Bacon Chowder

A couple weeks ago I made this soup for lunch, and it was heavenly. I basically used this recipe for Baked Potato Soup and added 1 c. frozen corn near the end. I didn't use any roasted garlic this time, and I used a regular onion instead of shallots (or actually, maybe I used leeks - doesn't mater, any of those would do.) It's the perfect soup for a cold winter's day!

The Perfect Salad

When I saw my friend Amy post this recipe on Facebook, my jaw almost dropped to the ground. It sounded like the most wonderful salad I had ever heard of! And guess what -- it tastes even better than it sounds!

LOBSTER, GRAPEFRUIT & AVOCADO SALAD WITH CREAMY CITRUS DRESSING

2 lobster tails, boiled (shrimp would also be good in this recipe)

cilantro (I used about 1/2 c.)

1 grapefruit, cut into segments

2 avocados, diced

4 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces

1 apple, sliced (this isn't in the original recipe, but I added it the second time I made this salad and it was a delicious addition!)

mixed greens

Remove lobster shell and cut the meat into chunks. Toss together with remaining ingredients. Drizzle with this dressing:

1/2 lime, juiced

1 lemon, juiced

1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. mayonnaise

salt & pepper, to taste

I made this for supper one night, and then made it again the next day for lunch to use up the excess dressing. That's when I added the apple (and left out the lobster, since I don't have an abundance of lobster tails in my freezer), and it was so good I ate two bowls of it! I can hardly wait to make this salad again.

Orangey-Goodness Soup

If I listed all the ingredients in the title of this soup, it would be something like "Roasted Butternut Squash and Carrot Ginger Curry Soup". So I'm just calling it Orangey-Goodness instead, cuz that's exactly what it tasted like!

ORANGEY-GOODNESS SOUP

1 butternut squash

olive oil

brown sugar

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

freshly grated garlic (about 1-2 tsp.)

4 c. broth (I used homemade turkey broth from the freezer)

4 carrots, chopped

2 tsp. curry powder

1/4 tsp. Smoked Spanish Paprika

pepper, to taste

Slice squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and brown sugar, and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté onion, garlic, and ginger in a little olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add carrots and reduce heat, simmering for 15-20 minutes until carrots are soft. Scoop out squash and add to the soup, along with seasonings. Purée soup until smooth.

Serve with Yam Fries and Chipotle Curry Mayo (slice yams into long pieces, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 F. Mix chipotle chili powder and curry powder into mayonnaise for a dipping sauce.)

Baked Potato Soup

It's kind of cold and miserable here today, and all my friends on Twitter and Facebook were talking about making homemade soup. It sounded like a good idea to me, so I whipped up one of my favourites - cream of potato soup. I jazzed it up a little by tossing in some classic baked potato toppings, and it turned out perfectly! (William even loved it, minus the green onions.)

BAKED POTATO SOUP

1 head of garlic

1 tbsp. olive oil

6 slices of bacon, chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

4 c. broth (I used some homemade turkey broth I had in the freezer)

5 medium potatoes, chopped (don't peel them)

1 c. whole milk

green onions & grated cheddar cheese, for garnish

Chop the top of the garlic off so that the cloves are exposed. Lay on a piece of tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil, then wrap it up in the tinfoil. Roast in the oven at 400 F for about 30 minutes.

While garlic is roasting, cook bacon in a large saucepan. Once it's crispy, set it aside but keep the bacon grease in the pan. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat until soft. Set the shallots aside in a separate bowl. Add a little broth to the pan and deglaze it, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom. Pour in the rest of the broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until potatoes are soft. Squeeze out the roasted garlic and add it to the potatoes along with the shallots. Use an immersable blender to purée soup until fairly smooth. Stir in bacon and milk and mix well. Serve in bows with green onions, cheese, and some salt & pepper.

Salmon Quesadilla with Corn & Avocado Salsa

This recipe basically sums up all my favourite things: salmon, Mexican cuisine, lime, avocado... it's got everything I love, and nothing I don't. I hope you'll enjoy it too.

SALMON QUESADILLAS WITH CORN & AVOCADO SALSA

Salsa:

1 cob of corn (cooked), kernels sliced off

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1/4 c. red onion, diced

1 tsp. cilantro, chopped

1 avocado, diced

1 tsp. Chili Lime Sansel

1 tsp. lime juice

Salmon:

1 small salmon fillet, skin removed

olive oil

2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. Chipotle Chili powder

salt & pepper

4 tsp. lime juice

grated cheese (I used Edam)

tortilla (I used a black bean & salsa flavoured tortilla)

Combine the salsa ingredients and set aside. Cut salmon filet into two pieces (so that each piece will fit in a folded tortilla.) Drizzle with olive oil. Combine cumin, chipotle powder, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Brush over both sides of the filets, and cook in a hot grill pan for 3-4 minutes per side. Lay out two tortillas and put some grated cheese on the bottom half of each one. Place a salmon filet on top of the cheese so that it melts a little. Top with salsa and fold each tortilla in half. Slice each quesadilla into two pieces, and serve.

Shrimp Po'Boy

Here's what I had for lunch today, courtesy of the Rachael Ray magazine.

SHRIMP PO'BOY

french loaf of bread

yellow bell pepper, sliced into rings

lettuce, shredded

tomato, sliced

green onion, sliced

shrimp, peeled & deveined

Tex-Mex Rub (or something along those lines)

3 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tbsp. Sweet & Spicy Mustard (or your favourite mustard)

1 1/2 tsp. water

For each sandwich, take a 4" slice of the french bread and cut it half, scooping out some of the bread on one half. Put the lettuce, tomato, and green onion in the dug-out part of the bread. Lay the yellow pepper slices on the other half of the bread. Heat a little oil in a skillet and add the shrimp, sprinkling with Tex-Mex Rub. Cook for 2 minutes on each side, then place the shrimp on the sandwich. Mix together mayonnaise, mustard, and water and drizzle over shrimp. Top with the other piece of bread and yellow peppers, and enjoy!

This is easy to make for a family meal, or for an individual meal, so you can cook as much or as little shrimp as you need. You could cut the entire french loaf in half and scoop out one half, and then make a big family-sized sandwich (although it might be messy to cut into slices afterwards.) My daughter and I each had one for lunch, and they were awesome! I think I'll make another one tomorrow!

Birthday Salad & Presents for YOU!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Kathy, Happy Birthday to me!

Since today is the big 3-3, I decided to treat myself to a little something special for lunch. I made myself an awesome Southern Grilled Shrimp Salad (and I made the kids hotdogs - a special gift to myself, since it meant everyone ate their lunch with no whining!) I love shrimp, I love avocado, I love lime, I love Tex-Mex, and I love cheese, so this salad was sure to be a hit! (And it was!)

I used this recipe from Epicure:

The only thing I changed was the Fajita Seasoning - I didn't have any, so I used Cuban Seasoning instead. You could probably use the same seasoning for the shrimp and the avocado, so anything like Tex-Mex, Fajita, or Cuban would be awesome.

And also, since it's my birthday, I have a special announcement to make! I got my very first product review in the mail today, along with free giveaways for some of my lucky readers! I know the suspense is probably killing you, but you'll just have to wait and see what I have up my sleeve. (And don't get your hopes up too high, it's not Ricky Martin tickets or anything fabulous like that, but it is something that I'm sure you will love!)

Stay tuned for more details!!

Tuna Patties

The kids have 2 friends over today, so I told them to look through the kids' cookbook we have and pick something they would all like for lunch. Surprisingly, they picked "Croquettes de thon" - Tuna Nuggets. We made them a little bigger than nuggets, and I changed up the spices a little, so I renamed the recipe "Tuna Patties" and here's how we made them:


TUNA PATTIES
2 1/2 c. cornflakes, crushed
2 tsp. oil
2 cans (170g each) tuna
20 unsalted soda crackers, crushed
4 eggs (3 likely would have been enough)
6 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. Lemon Dilly Dip Mix
1 tsp. Louisiana Hot & Spicy Dip Mix (I would have used 3 Onion, but I ran out so I thought I'd spice things up a bit)
1 tsp. Seafood & Fish Seasoning


Combine cornflakes and oil in a dish and set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Form into patties and coat each side with cornflakes. Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.
Now I know they don't look like much, but all four kids ate these without any complaints. They were tasty, they were healthy, and they were whine-free!

Satay Lettuce Wraps

Last week I made these lettuce wraps for lunch - very easy to make, and it's a good way to use up leftover veggies from your fridge. I followed Rachael Ray's recipe, and added 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 a red pepper, and probably some other stuff I've forgotten since I made it last week. Here's a fairly accurate description of what I did:

PORK SATAY LETTUCE WRAPS
1 pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
1 small container of white mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ginger paste
2 tbsp. peanut butter
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. apple sauce
1/2 c. crushed peanuts


In a grill pan, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown the meat for a couple minutes on each side. Add veggies, garlic, and ginger and stirfry for a few minutes. Make a little well in the pan by moving the meat and veggies to the side, and add peanut butter, soy sauce and apple sauce, stirring until smooth. Mix in meat and veggies and stir well. Serve on vermicelli noodles or pieces of iceberg lettuce, and garnish with crushed peanuts.

Mother's Day Brunch

My dear husband came home with bags of groceries yesterday and said, "There's your Mother's Day present." Wow, lucky me! But what he meant was that he had purhcased everything he needed for a deluxe Mother's Day brunch, and he made everything himself today (although I poached the eggs for him) - bacon-wrapped asparagus, his famous brunch casserole, delicious fruit smoothies (not sure what he put in there, but he used an entire container of yogurt! We're having smoothies for breakfast tomorrow apparently, and possibly the next day too!), smoked gouda cheese, and the most wonderful Eggs Benedict I've ever tasted!

EGGS BENEDICT WITH SMOKED SALMON

3 croissants, sliced

6 slices of smoked salmon

6 eggs

1 pkg. Hollandaise sauce (prepared according to directions)

pepper

Lay salmon slices on the croissant halves. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil, and add a little white vinegar. Crack in all the eggs and gently boil for 3-4 minutes. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and place on top of the salmon croissants. Drizzle with hollandaise sauce and season with pepper.

Delicious! Best Mother's Day brunch ever!!! Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there - hope you have a great day!

Fabulous French Toast

I had this recipe ripped out of a magazine and tucked away in my cookbook. I don't make french toast very often, but yesterday was a quiet day around the house, and it was pouring rain outside, and it seemed like a good day to try it out for lunch. I made some changes to it, but it fairly straight-forward.

FABULOUS FRENCH TOAST (based on this recipe)

12 pieces of bread, cut in half

1 banana, sliced

1 c. frozen blueberries

1/2 pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. maple syrup

3 eggs

5 c. milk (divided)

1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding

Lay half the bread in the bottom of a greased 9x13" baking dish. Top with bananas and blueberries (I did some of each, but you could combine them if you want, or try other fruits.) Lay the remaining pieces of bread overtop. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and maple syrup, adding eggs one at at time and beating well. Gradually add in 2 c. milk and mix well, then pour over the bread. Cover with saran wrap for at least 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge.) Bake at 350F for 40 minutes. While it's baking, heat 3 c. milk in a saucepan until just boiling. Whisk in vanilla pudding and let it stand for 5 minutes. Serve overtop of the french toast.

I loved the idea of making a big batch of french toast at one time, and hiding fruit inside it. I'm not sure the cream cheese in the egg mixture really added much, so it's probably not a necessity. The custard topping was yummy, but it made a much larger batch than necessary, and I am not a very good whisker, so it wasn't the prettiest looking custard you ever saw. But the french toast was tasty, and much less messy than dipping a piece of bread in the egg mixture and then transfering it to a frying pan, and doing that repeatedly until everyone has been fed. I'd definitely make this again, and have leftover custard for dessert.

Multigrain Crêpes with Chocolate Almond Custard

I had a few extra kids here yesterday since there was no school in the afternoon, so I wanted to find something healthy for lunch that the kids could serve themselves. I decided to make some crêpes the night before, along with some custard. Then I whipped up some whipping cream and sliced up a bunch of fresh fruit, and let the kids go to town! They weren't too interested in the custard, but they loved the whipping cream and all the fruit (blackberries, blueberries, kiwis, bananas, and strawberries) and the didn't even mention the fact that the crêpes were multigrain.

CRÊPES

1 1/2 c. flour (I used multigrain)

2 c. milk

2 eggs

1 1/2 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. sugar

pinch of salt

Pour the milk into the flour and stir. Add remaining ingredients and stir again. Let the batter rest for a couple hours if possible. If the batter is not fluid, add more milk - it should be quite liquidy. Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan and pour just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan, swirling the pan so that the batter forms a nice thin circle. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. Serve with custard, whipped cream, maple syrup, fresh fruit, etc.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND CUSTARD

1/3 c. sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1-2 tsp. cocoa

3 eggs

1 tsp. almond extract

1 c. milk

Sift together first three ingredients. Whisk in eggs and almond extract. Bring milk to a gentle boil, and pour about half of it slowly over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. (This will temper the eggs and keep them from cooking in the hot milk.) Then pour the egg/milk mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk, and bring it to a gentle boil again, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tbsp. butter. Allow to cool.

Lettuce Wrap Leftovers

Thank goodness for leftovers! I had leftover beef from yesterday, and extra avocados and alfalfa sprouts from the other day, so I made lettuce wraps for lunch today. Easy, healthy, and delicious - what more could you ask for on a Monday?

LETTUCE WRAP LEFTOVERS

leftover beef with black bean sauce

avocado

alfalfa sprouts

tomato

lettuce

Lay a large lettuce leaf on your plate. Put some sprouts, avocado slices, and tomato slices. (Feel free to add whatever other veggies you like.) Top with leftover beef that has been warmed up slightly.

Roll up the lettuce leaf and enjoy. (My lettuce leaf had a rip in it, so you can see all the stuff inside. These are messy to eat, but so worth it!)