Caeser Salad

Ok. Another week has passed and people are still isolated inside keeping their distance from others. I made dinner yesterday. We had mini pizzas (they are super easy to make just grab some pitas, pizza sauce, your favorite toppings, and cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes) and Caesar salad which was made with homemade fish free dressing. Today I will share with you that recipe so you can give it a try while you’re at home.

Fish Free Caesar Salad Dressing (for those with allergies)

You will need...

3-5 cloves of garlic

1 cup of mayonnaise

½ cup of shredded parmesan cheese

4 tbsp. of olive oil

1 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of pepper

2 tbsp. of lemon juice

Put all of the ingredients into the food processor and process for 1-2 minutes.

Put into an air tight container and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Toss it with Romaine lettuce, more parmesan cheese, and if you’d like, top with croutons. Add grilled chicken breast slices if you want more of a meal salad. 

Use the leftover dressing to dip fresh veggies in for a snack.

Chicken Cacciatore

Yay it’s Thursday! It’s been a long week so far. Anyways, we are taking a break from the baby shower planning for now and we’re going to share with you a simple recipe that you can make on the weekend ahead.

Chicken Cacciatore is a family favourite dish. I don’t always have the time to make it, but this past weekend we had a stormy indoor Sunday so I thought why not. It’s the perfect comfort food dish to have after a long week and on a cloudy hibernating day.

To make Chicken Cacciatore (to serve five people roughly) you will need the following…

16-20 chicken thighs, with bones and skin.

1 can (796ml) of diced tomatoes

Your favorite tomato sauce, we used Classico’s Tomato Basil (or you can make your own)

12-20 sliced white mushrooms

2 tsp. of dried oregano

½ tsp. of dried basil

1 red chopped pepper

1 green chopped pepper

Salt (to taste)

½-1 tsp. of black pepper

3 cloves of garlic

Rice or pasta to serve with the chicken

Start by salting and peppering your chicken. Let it sit for about an hour.

While that’s happening, chop up your peppers and garlic and sauté them in a big pot until a little bit softer but leave some crunch. 

While the peppers are softening, you can slightly cook your chopped up mushrooms in a separate pan and set aside. You want the mushrooms to get a bit darker and softer and to cook some of the liquid out of them.

Add in the seasonings and the diced tomatoes. Stir around and then add in your tomato sauce. Allow your chunky looking sauce to boil and then simmer while you cook your chicken. 

Now it’s time to cook the chicken in batches making sure they get nice and crispy. I cooked them until they were almost fully cooked but you can leave them less cooked and let them finish cooking in the oven. I’m always super worried about under cooked chicken though. I started by cooking them on both sides for 5 minutes and then going back to the original side and cooking for at least 3 more minutes (make sure you don’t burn).

Place the prepared chicken into a couple of Pyrex dishes and cover with the tomato sauce. It’s not meant to be a runny type of sauce; you want it to be thicker over top of the chicken.

Cook further for an hour at 350 degrees.

When it comes out it should be steaming and bubbling.

Serve over rice or pasta. I also made some of my cheese biscuits to go along with it. They are always a hit

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Apricot Day

We are doing a mini theme for the rest of the month...National Days. Today happens to be National Apricot day so we are going to give you a little info about the apricot and a couple sweet and savoury recipes to try out.

The apricot is a stone fruit and comes from a small tree with a dense canopy and oval leaves. It bears flowers that are whitish and pink. The actual fruit looks like a small peach with a firm and not very juicy flesh and is often yellow to orange with a red tinge sometimes if it gets too much sun exposure. Apricots are often eaten dried with the world’s largest producer being Turkey. When dried, the nutrients are actually increased with Vitamins A and E, potassium, and iron having 25% of the daily value.

Check out this sweet recipe we found...

Honey Grilled Apricots

You will need...

3 Tbsp.butter

2 Tbsp. sugar

6 to 8 apricots (halved and pitted)

2 Tbsp. honey

1 lemon

How to make...

Melt butter and sugar together in a large pan.

Add apricots and coat with butter mixture.

Place on grill for 6 to 7 minutes, turning often.

Once cooked, place apricots on dessert plates cut side up, drizzle with honey and lemon juice, and serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or with slices of Brie cheese.

Garnish with cinnamon and mint leaves.

Apricot Preserve

You will need...

2 cups dried apricots

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 3/4 cups water

How to make...

Finely chop the apricots in a food processor. Make sure the pieces are all uniform.

Place the apricots in a slow cooker. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice, and water. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and cook on high, stirring occasionally, 1 to 2 hours longer or until the mixture has thickened.

Ladle into clean glass jars. Let the glass jars cool before sealing. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Savoury recipes...

Apricot BBQ Sauce

You will need...

1/2 cup apricot preserves

1/4 cup onion (pureed)

1/4 cup ketchup

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. mild chili sauce

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 pinch salt

How to make...

In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil.

Add pureed onion and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Finally add remaining ingredients and allow to bubble up slightly.

Reduce heat and simmer through for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Once ingredients have formed a glaze-like consistency, remove the pan from heat and allow to cool before using.

Moroccan Chicken and Apricot Tagine

You will need...

1 whole chicken, cut into eight pieces

2 medium onions, grated

3 to 4 cloves of garlic

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. saffron threads, crumbled

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 or 2 small 3-inch pieces of cinnamon stick

3 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

A small handful of cilantro sprigs tied into a bouquet

1/2 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup water

3 Tbsp.sugar or honey

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup dried apricots

1 to 2 tsp. sesame seeds

How to make it...

Remove the skin from the chicken.

Combine the spices in a large bowl, add the chicken, and toss to evenly coat the chicken pieces with the spices.

Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in the base of a large tagine. Add the olive oil, onions, garlic, and cinnamon. Add the seasoned chicken, meat-side down, in a single layer on top of the onions. Place the cilantro bouquet on top.

Add the broth to the tagine. Swirl the water in the bowl to cleanse it of the spices, and then add the water to the tagine as well. Cover and leave the liquids to reach a simmer over medium-low heat.

Once simmering, cook the chicken, for one hour. Remove and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquids.

Carefully turn the chicken pieces over so that they are meat-side-up. Cover and continue simmering for another 30 minutes to one hour, until the chicken is done and the liquids are thick and reduced. 

Mix together the honey and cinnamon to form a flavuored syrup.

Top your finished dish with the honey-cinnamon syrup, dried apricots and sesame seeds.

Happy Apricot Day!

Mint'd Mojito - Mojito "Recipes"

Sadly, we are getting close to the end of our fun Summer theme. We do have three more posts so that’s exciting. Today our shade is called “Mint’d Mojito” by Fenty and they call it a metallic mint blue.

We’ve decided to break down the Mojito so we’ve found a few interesting recipes featuring the mint and the lime. If you don’t already know, a mojito has both lime and mint flavours in it along with some alcohol. I’ve never had one myself but it always looks so refreshing and bright.

Here’s a recipe for one...

You need 2 ounce of light rum, 2 tsp. of sugar, 6-8 fresh mint leaves, a splash of club soda, and 1 lime cut in half.

Place the sugar, mint leaves, and splash of club soda into a highball glass. Muddle well to dissolve the sugar and to release the flavour of the mint.

Squeeze the juice from both halves of the lime into the glass and drop one half in.

Add the rum and stir well.

Top with club soda and garnish with fresh mint.

If you are in the mood for a different take/approach to a mojito then check these recipes (that we thought represented the lime and mint quite well) out and give them a try.

Here are a couple savoury recipes...

Moroccan Chicken

1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken, cut into bite size cubes

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tsp. dried chile de arbol, seeds removed (1/2 - 1 tsp. cayenne pepper)

2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley

1 Tsbp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 small to medium lemons grated & juiced

1 ounce jar marinated artichoke quarters

1 bunch asparagus, cut into quarters

Vinaigrette:

1 lemon, juiced & zest

1/2 a lime, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. honey

Goat Cheese Yogurt:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 lemon, juiced

salt and pepper, to taste
2-3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Place the chicken in a gallon size ziplock bag or medium size bowl.

In a food processor add the garlic, ginger, dried chile de arbol (or cayenne), cilantro, parsley, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Process 1-2 minutes or until everything is finely chopped.

Stream in 1/2 cup olive oil. Stir in the lemon zest and juice.

Pour the marinade over the chicken and toss well. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

To make the vinaigrette... add the lemon zest and juice to a small sauce pot. Bring mixture to a simmer and simmer, about 1 minute or until the zest absorbs the juice. WATCH CLOSELY, you do not want the zest to get burnt to the pan.

Spoon the zest out of the pot and into a small bowl. Add the olive oil, parsley, salt, honey and lime juice. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

To make the minted goat cheese yogurt mix together the Greek yogurt, chopped mint, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir in the crumbled goat cheese. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Preheat the grill or a grill pan to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grates. Thread the chicken, asparagus and artichokes onto metal skewers (or wood skewers that have been soaked in water). I alternated with asparagus+ artichokes and then chicken, repeat. Place the chicken on the grill until the chicken is golden and no longer pink in the centre, about 5 minutes each side. You may also cook the chicken in a skillet if needed. Serve the chicken with the the lemon herb vinaigrette and the minted goat cheese yogurt.

Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

¼ cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. honey

2 limes, juiced

½ tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. black pepper

1 shallot, finely diced

1½ cups sweet corn, frozen and thawed or fresh

1 can black beans

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

½ lb frozen shrimp, defrosted

¼ cup parsley, chopped

Instructions:

Cook your quinoa following directions on the package. Fluff the quinoa with a fork after it’s done cooking and set aside to cool.

Whisk the olive oil, honey, lime juice, chili powder, salt and pepper. Finely dice the shallot and mix in with the dressing. Set aside.

Prepare all the vegetables for the salad.

Spoon the cooled quinoa into 4 bowls and divide up the vegetables placing them on top of the quinoa. Next, add your shrimp to the bowls. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and sprinkle chopped parsley over top.

For something sweet...

Mint Butter Cream Icing

4 cups of Powdered Sugar

1 cup Butter

1 Tbsp. Milk

1/2 tsp. Peppermint Extract

Yellow and blue food colouring

Add powdered sugar to mixing bowl.

Add softened sticks of butter

Add 1 Tbsp. of milk.

Beat on low until powdered sugar is incorporated. Then move mixer up to medium-high speed.

Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When completely mixed the frosting may appear dry.

Add more milk, a little bit at a time until frosting is the proper consistency.

Add Peppermint Extract.

Mint Chocolate Popsicles

2 2/3 cups full fat coconut milk

3/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

peppermint extract (optional, and to taste)

food colouring (optional)

3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Combine coconut milk and fresh mint leaves in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat for 5 minutes, until bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Remove from heat and let steep 20 minutes. Strain infused coconut milk through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the mint with the back of a spoon. Whisk in sugar, salt, peppermint extract, and food colour (2 drops green, 1 drop blue) until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature, then cover and chill for 6 hours in the refrigerator.

Stir chopped chocolate into mixture and fill popsicle molds, leaving a 1/2-inch of space at the top of each mold. Freeze for about an hour, then insert popsicle sticks and freeze overnight. To unmold, let popsicles stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Carefully remove from molds and serve.

Key Lime Chex Mix

Ingredients:

9 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 1/4 cups white chocolate baking chips

1/4 cup butter

4 tsp. grated key lime peel

2 Tbsp. fresh key lime juice

2 cups icing sugar

Instructions:

Measure cereal into a large bowl, set aside. 

In a microwave safe bowl put chips, butter, peel and juice uncovered on High for 1 minute; stir.   

Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth.

Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

Add icing sugar. Seal bag; gently shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container. 

Chicken Soup

Are you up for a mini theme? We are! We are starting a mini theme all about soup. Spring is nearing but we are still in the cold and flu season and the weather is still nippy so we’re going to look at some comforting healing soups to make you feel comfy and cozy.

We’re first going to focus on vegetable and brothy soups, if that makes sense. These soups are the comfy soups that make you feel better when you are sick or just need a warm pick me up.

These types of soups include Minestrone, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable, Italian Wedding, Beef Barley, Chicken with Rice.

We’ve made a very easy chicken soup for you and included a couple other recipes so take a look and try them out!

I’m always up for a chicken vegetable soup and I have tried many out, but I think I've concocted the best one yet.

For this chicken noodle and vegetable soup, you will need...

6 chicken breasts

1 ¼ tsp. of pepper

1 tsp. of salt

1-2 tbsp. of olive oil

1 large onion

1 clove of garlic

8 cups of chicken broth

2-4 cups of water

5 celery stalks (try using the leafy parts if possible)

5 carrots

2 bay leaves

¼ tsp. of dried thyme

1 tbsp. of fresh parsley

1 tbsp. of lemon juice

2tsp. of my secret ingredient (look below for more details)

First of all, bake your chicken breasts in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Set aside. All I did was rub a little olive oil on these and sprinkled some salt and pepper.

Once the chicken is out and cooling a bit, then cut up the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and set aside. Chop up the parsley and set that aside for later as well.

Now rip up the chicken and put it in a large bowl.

Warm your stock pot up on medium heat. Drizzle in the olive oil.

Cook the onion and garlic until browned.

Then add in the carrots and celery and cook until slightly softened.

Add the thyme stir and then add the chicken in and thoroughly mix up everything. Then add in your broth and water.

Add in your bay leaves.

Now here is the secret ingredient. Instead of adding in salt and pepper, I decided to try adding Seasoning Salt which made the soup much more flavourful.

Bring the soup to a boil and then let it simmer for 30-45 minutes at least.

While the soup is simmering, you can cook your noodles. I would suggest breaking the noodle in half, or even smaller, before cooking so they are easier to pick up with a soup when eating. Set the noodles aside and then add to the bowls right before you eat the soup. The heat from the soup will warm up the noodles if they have cooled down. If you don't want noodles, you can also use little shells or macaroni’s or you can even throw in some Quinoa which I have done many times before. Just follow the instructions on your Quinoa package and then add in to the soup near the end of cooking.  

So once the soup has boiled and simmered, you can add in the lemon juice and parsley and then stir that up. Let it cook for 10 more minutes and then taste and adjust your seasonings.

Take out the two bay leaves and then serve!

Although we didn’t make it, take a look at my Minestrone soup and give it a try. It’s super light and full of vegetables and it’s a perfect paring with your favourite Italian meal.

Minestrone Soup

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

3 carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 ½-2 cups of chopped up green beans

1 zucchini diced

1 can (16 oz.) of diced tomatoes

4 cups of broth

2 cups of water

1 can of kidney beans

1 cup of uncooked pasta mini pasta shells

1 tsp. of oregano

2 tbsp. of fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

Chop onion and garlic and sautee in olive oil in your stock pot.

While that’s cooking, chop the carrot and celery and add to the browned onions and garlic. Cook until a bit softened then add the zucchini and green beans in to soften and brown a bit.

Add in the tomatoes.

Stir in the water and broth.

Add in the bay leaf, oregano, and the fresh basil.

Bring to all boil. Now if you plan on adding the uncooked pasta directly to the soup to cook, then you’d put that in now. I usually pre-cook the pasta and either add it to each bowl or add it to the soup near the end of cooking.

Once boiling, add in the kidney beans. You don’t want to do this too early as the beans may get mushy.  Allow the soup to simmer for about 35 minutes. That should give the veggies enough time to soften and for the pasta to cook it you’re cooking it in the soup.

Remove the bay leaf and serve!

Roasted Vegetable Soup

This is a “wing it” sort of soup. You can pick which ingredients that you like best and how much of them depends on the pot that you use and how much you want to  make.

The broth should be the first step as you want it to simmer a lot before you eat it. If you are adventurous and have time, you can make your own broth or if you want something quick, just pick some up at the grocery store.

If you making homemade broth, you can use leftover turkey or chicken bones add in a few stalks of celery, a couple carrots, and an onion all chopped up in larger chunks. Add some garlic in if you like, cover with water, and allow it to simmer for 4-6 hours. If you don’t have chicken or turkey bones on hand, then you can roast some chicken backs, legs, or wings (the more bony pieces), a pound or two should do, in the oven. Then put them in your stock pot and add in the same celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and water. Simmer for the same 4-6 hours.

You can also use chicken broth from the store. I’m thinking 8-10 cups will be enough; it all really depends on your pot though. I’m basing things off average stock pot size. You can add in a little water too if you want it to be less concentrated. For more flavour you can add in the chopped celery, carrots, onion, and garlic and allow some simmer time for that.

The next step is to cook your veggies. Find some root vegetables that you like. Some good ones are carrots, parsnips, yams/sweet potatoes, potatoes, and butternut squash. Chop them up into bite sized chunks, toss in some olive oil and salt and pepper, and then spread them evenly on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Again, make as many as you want. You can make a big cookie sheet full or a couple cookie sheets. Base it on the amount of broth you’re making and wanting to use up and the amount of people you’re serving.

Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for roughly 30 minutes. Once the vegetables have been roasting for 30 minutes, then add on top some chopped up onion and garlic. You don’t want to start off by cooking roasting these with the others vegetables as they might get super soft and over coked.

Roast all of the vegetables for another 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don’t get overcooked. If you like your veggies darker and softer then add on more time. On the other hand, if you like them softer and lighter, then you may want to take some cook time off.

When the vegetables are roasted to your liking, scoop some into bowls and the cover with the broth. If you want a slightly heartier soup, then you can add some shredded chicken into it otherwise serve and enjoy. It’s that easy!