Spicy Bacon Mac and Cheese

I love things that are full of whimsy and the unexpected. I wouldn't say that I'm particularly 'adventurous' (Everest holds no appeal and I don't even like sushi), but I like things that make you laugh and smile because you weren't expecting it. Like this song:

It is SO bizarre that it makes me laugh and I appreciate that. I don't know if that really translates into my cooking all that often, but I think in this instance it does.

Spicy Bacon Mac and Cheese

1/4 c. butter

1/8 c. bacon bits

1/8 c. flour

1 c. milk

1 c. cream

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

dash of black pepper

1 tsp regular yellow mustard

2 1/2 c. cheddar cheese

Fried bread crumbs (saute bread crumbs in butter until crispy) 

Cooked macaroni noodles (you'll have to eyeball how much, I didn't measure...)

Melt butter in medium sauce pan then add bacon and flour. Fry for a minute before adding milk, cream, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Stir on medium heat until sauce thickens then drop heat to low and add mustard and 2 1/4 c. cheddar cheese. Stir until completely mixed and then mix in macaroni noodles. Divvy up between as many ramekins as you want and sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes and then enjoy!

Two Desserts

What's this? Silence for almost two months and then not one, but TWO blog posts in one day?? Crazyness!

I didn't include this in the last post because the other was all meals. These are two desserts I made that I'm supremely proud of.

#1 Apple Pie (made sometime in October)

I made this at my sister's house and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Apple pie is so fantastic...

#2 Two-toned cake, using a 1950's invention, The Magic Cake Pan.

This was a lot of fun. I did it for Aaron's nephew's birthday. It caused much hilarity, which was totally the point. 

Mmm... now I'm hungry for Apple Pie... maybe lasagna and apple pie tonight?

Cooking like a Tired Pregnant Lady

I would like to go on record saying that I have NO complaints about pregnancy. Seriously, I have had the easiest pregnancy I have heard of in a long time. That, however, doesn't mean it's as easy as being not pregnant. I think that's where I find the most problems, really. I tell people I am really enjoying pregnancy and that it's been very kind to me, and then they expect me to be just like when I wasn't pregnant. Not gonna happen. I have small bouts of very deep depression (thankfully they seem to last just a few days), and I am tired all. the. time. This tiredness is what is keeping me from being cooking extraordinaire that I enjoy being. It also means that once I'm done cooking something exciting I have to sit down for, like, three days...so blogging usually gets forgotten.

SO. I have gone through my trusty iPhone and found all the pictures from the last month (there are pitifully few) and am going to post them here. For therapy's sake.

Spinach, bacon, cheddar cheese Quiche. SO YUMMY. I'm making it again on friday, and this time I'm using fresh spinach (fried) and onions (fried with the spinach). It's going to be delicious. 

See? This is what I'm talking about. I have been so crazy tired, that store bought perogies (which aren't actually too bad if you get the Superstore No Name brand, weird as that seems) fried with onions and served with sour cream actually made it on to my blog. Sad day.

THIS was a yummy homemade meal. Roasted, Herb and Butter Rubbed Chicken with Cajun Fries and Peas and Corn. 

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes, served with Beef Gravy and Fried Mushrooms. 

There you go. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm making lasagna tonight and, if I still have oomph left after that, I might post pictures. But don't hold your breath...

Meals to make your mouth water.

I don't always make my own recipes for things, and if I don't, then I feel silly posting someone else's recipe up here (unless it's fantastic enough to warrant it). However, I still take pictures of every meal I eat that I'm proud of or...just that I'm eating at the time and is pretty. ;) So I thought I would share the pictures and what the meal consisted of for your amusement and viewing pleasure. It might be useful for meal planning? And if you do see something here that you want the recipe for, I will gladly give it to you.

Lasagna from the Old Spaghetti Factory. 

Not as yummy as I was hoping... there really isn't anything that can beat homemade lasagna.  

Buttermilk Brined Fried Chicken with Basil Alfredo Pasta.

SO YUMMY. I was very pleased with how this turned out. The buttermilk brine brought out all sorts of flavours in the chicken and made it very moist and nice. Mmmmm... Aaron also loved it cold as something to take for his lunches. I need to make this again.

Frisco Beef Burger (topped with cheddar cheese, bacon and fried mushrooms) with Yam Fries and Chipotle Mayo at the Bird of Paradise Pub.

 Also very yummy. In a testament to how much I'm eating as a pregnant woman in her second trimester, I ate the ENTIRE thing. Holy wow.

Super Beef Burritos.

Yummy, although I think next time I'll half the rice. It was good though, with lots of good flavours. About the rice, something that gives any rice you're cooking another shot of flavour is cooking it in beef broth or coconut milk. SO good.

Baked Ravioli with Buttermilk Onion Dinner Rolls

Aaron's favorite rolls are the buttermilk onion ones. He could eat them 'til they came out his ears. As far as the ravioli...I think I'm going to try making them myself next time, but the sauce was very good!  

BBQ-ed Steak with Parmesan Potatoes, Fried Mushrooms, Caesar Salad and BBQ-ed Bacon-wrapped Pineapple Chunks (dinner at the Eisenhuths, I brought the bacon pineapple)

I ATE SO MUCH OF THIS. Seriously, it was SO YUMMY and I am a bottomless pit now! It's funny, though, you put something like bread or even pasta in front of me and I'll eat about how much I would normally eat, but stick meat and potatoes in front of me and I become a food hoover!

Super Duper Chili (my recipe) and Buttery Cornbread.

Mmm... nothing goes better with chili than cornbread. 

So there you go! If anything I hope it helps with meal planning! I know just typing this out and looking through the pictures I've decided what I'm going to make again soon.

Basil Alfredo Sauce

I love Italian cooking. Seriously, I could eat pasta every meal of the day and their bread creations make me all happy inside. However, I'm not the world's biggest fan of garlic. So whenever I make something Italian I always tone down the garlic, and since I did not grow any basil this year to make my own pesto, I can't use store bought because it is too much garlic and not enough basil. SO. If you are a garlic lover, you can use more garlic in the recipe, or even just put pesto in it. 

Basil Alfredo Sauce

3 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 small garlic cloves, minced

2 c. heavy cream

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

3/4 c. mozza cheese

2 tbsp. frozen minced basil

1 (12 oz) box angel hair or capellini pasta

melt butter with olive oil on low heat. add the garlic, cream and pepper and bring mixture (slowly) to a simmer, stirring frequently. add parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened and is smooth. remove from heat and add basil and mozza cheese, stir 'til smooth then add the noodles. Serve as a side dish or a light main course!

Thick Beef and Beans Chili

I don't like soup. It's a sad but true fact. They are just too...swishy. They make you feel hungry again in twenty minutes. I don't appreciate this. The closest I get to soup is chowder (my mother's corn chowder is DELISH, I need her recipe) and chili. The stew-ish end of soups---although, I really don't like stews, either.

I've made chili I liked before, but, silly me, I never wrote down what I did (that is one very nice side affect of this blog, I have to write down what I do otherwise I don't have anything to show you). So today I was feeling particularly ill (I've had a head cold for days) so I decided to do some therapeutic cooking and come up with a chili recipe.

So I did. And here it is.

A warning, I like spicy food and I also make a TON of chili when I make it because it just keeps tasting better and better the longer you keep it.

Thick Beef and Beans Chili

2 lbs ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped small
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, chopped small
1 green pepper, chopped small
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp Montreal Steak Spice
1/2 tsp cumin
4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
1 114 ml can of diced green chilis
1 19 fl. oz can of navy beans
1 19 fl. oz can of kidney beans
1 28 fl. oz can of diced tomatoes
1 28 fl. oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 c. broth (doesn't really matter what kind, though beef would be best)
1/8 c. brown sugar

In a HUGE pot, fry onions and garlic until brown. Add beef, salt and spices and cook 'til brown. Then add green, red and chili peppers. Stir and cook for another minute then add beans, tomatoes, broth and sugar.
It really needs a while to fully 'woogy', so I made mine in the morning and we'll eat it for dinner tonight. You could even make it the day before. It is REALLY good with fresh cornbread.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

I don't know why, but scalloped potatoes with cheese has always been one of my favourite dishes ever since I was little; if I was feeling sick or sad I wanted either scalloped potatoes with cheese or my Grandma's chicken and noodles.

For the past while I've been trying to make a scalloped potatoes recipe that a) actually cooks (don't use raw onions, it makes the potatoes crunchy) and b) isn't super duper runny. I have finally found one. It's a titch more work than your basic scalloped potatoes recipe, but it is SO worth it!

Dorothea's Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

1 c. chopped onion (approx. 1 medium onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 c. milk
1/2 c. cream
about 2 1/2 lbs thinly sliced potatoes (my favourite potatoes are yukon gold)
approx. 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a sauce pan fry onion and garlic in butter until the onion is tender (it won't really brown, too much butter, but just get 'em cooked). Stir in flour, salt and pepper and fry for a moment before adding the milk and cream. Cook and stir over medium until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a buttered casserole dish, layer the sliced potatoes about three layers thick. Top with a small amount (most of the sauce is going on the final top layer) of sauce and sprinkle with a third of the cheese. Layer potatoes another three-ish thick and repeat last step. On the final layer, spread the remaining bulk of the sauce over the potatoes and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 400F, then turn down the oven to 350F and bake for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft (poke 'em with a fork to check). You should let it stand, uncovered, for about 5 minutes before you try to serve it, otherwise it will slop all over and burn you. True story.

There you go! Enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes of Happiness

I am not really a dessert person, I much prefer salty things, but when I do make a dessert I like, it is usually a personal sized one. Cupcakes, cinnamon buns, etc. I don't know why, but I am more excited about a dessert if it's in its own little wrapper or individual size. I also enjoy feeding other people, heck, people I don't even know---I sent some of these cupcakes with Aaron to share with the guys he works with (they loved them and when one of them dropped Aaron off that day, he pulled up in front of me and said "I loved your muffins!" It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about...)---and it is a great deal easier to send food that is small and you don't have to slice into. So, long story short, unless I am making something specific for someone, I usually turn my cakes into cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes of Happiness

a recipe out of my favourite cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (of awesome, in my opinion) 

3/4 c. butter (softened)

3 eggs

2 c. flour

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. milk

Line two trays of muffin tins with cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a large (WAY large, chocolate cakes splatters like no other) mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Gradually add in sugar, 1/2 c. at a time. Beat on medium speed until well combined (creamed). Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Alternately add in flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Beat on medium to high speed for 20 seconds more, then fill muffin tins. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Be sure to get the cupcakes out onto a wire rack right away.

Now, while the cupcakes are cooling, make any icing you choose. I used Penuche icing, which was DELICIOUS, so I will give you the recipe here.

Penuche Icing of Yumminess 

1/2 c. butter

1 c. packed brown sugar 

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly (really let it get bubbly, the browner the better). Remove from heat and vigorously whisk in the milk and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar (still whisking like a mad man, otherwise it goes lumpy and grainy) until frosting reaches a, vaguely sloppy, spreading consistency. Ice immediately! Even if your cupcakes are still warm, that's fine. This icing hardens no matter what, it won't melt like a butter cream frosting would.

So there you go! A wonderful treat to bring to any gathering, send with anyone, or just eat in your own home. 

Dine in or Take out? Chinese food at its best

There is an adorable little, family run Chinese food restaurant just down the street from us called Halibut House (it also does fish and chips), and they do FANTASTIC Chinese food. I usually find Chinese food way too sugary and not very filling, but theirs is more flavours than sweet, and quite substantial.

We have gotten food from them quite a few times now and I love the atmosphere. The hostess is funny, sweet and enjoys getting to know the patrons. This time when Aaron went in to pick up our food, she challenged him as he walked in the door with "password?!?"
He said, "um...Dorothea?"
She said, "spelled 'IA' or 'EA'?"
He, now laughing, said, "EA."
She pulled out the brown paper bag with our order in it and handed it to him, saying, "Hmm, good to know for next time. I spelled it wrong."

We had Ebeth over, and we got Sweet & Sour Pork, Ginger Fried Beef (SO good), Broccoli in Garlic Sauce, and Chicken Chow Mein. It was delicious.

An Ode to Curly Fries

Also entitled: what pregnant women want, pregnant women get.

Here's the deal, I generally eat very heathily. I don't eat much fast food (maybe once a month?), I don't eat a lot of sugar, rarely have processed foods, etc. I feel like I have quite sophisticated tastes. 

HOWEVER, I love my curly fries. When I was a kid (I grew up barely EVER eating fast food, etc, etc) what I wanted for my birthday dinner was chicken strips and curly fries---pretty much without fail. I hadn't had curly fries for probably...8 years? And then I got pregnant...and then curly fries went on sale. The rest, they say, is history. 

I would love to say that I'm going to try to make them next time I'm craving...but I don't think that's possible. I just love the 'so bad for me' taste.

My house smells like an Italian Bakery

For reals. I'm sitting in my living room and revelling in the smell. Let me tell you why.

I bake darn good bread.

There you have it. That is why my house smells amazing and why my husband gets to brag at work that his wife makes him the best sandwiches in the world. I bake amazingly delicious bread.

AND YOU CAN TOO!

Here's how:

Shelley's Artisan Bread 

(confused? "but," you say, "YOUR name isn't Shelley??" aha, my little friend. Shelley is my sister's mother-in-law, and she taught me how to make amazing bread---thankfully not on a mountain in Tibet, though, I don't like snow)

6 1/2 c. all purpose flour (I've never tried it with whole wheat, but I imagine it wouldn't be quite the same...)
1 1/2 tbs. quick rise yeast
1 1/2 tbs. salt
3 c. luke warm water (100 F)
Cubed cheese (technically optional, but SO good I never leave it out)
Herbs of your choosing (I don't think I've done the same herb combination twice yet, it is so much fun to experiment!)
If you have it, sun dried tomatoes are also REALLY good in it, same with parmesan cheese

Measure flour, yeast and salt into large mixing bowl. Add whatever extra ingredients tickle your fancy and stir together with wooden spoon. Pour in the warm water and stir until moistened. Beat 40ish strokes (you wanna get the gluten excited, but not pop too many bubbles), scraping the bottom of the bowl until the dough forms a lumpy sticky mass.
Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size and has a sponge-like appearance (usually takes at least 1 1/2 hours).
Place dough on a floured surface and dust lightly with flour (you want to keep the dough as wet and sticky as possible without it sticking to you and everything else). Working the dough as little as possible (DON'T KNEAD IT!), form the dough into two loaf-ish shapes (it will rise like crazy, so don't try anything fancy. it will come out beautiful in its own right). Place on a parchment paper covered large cookie sheet (make sure they have LOTS of room to rise). If you want you can sprinkle the top with olive oil and/or cheese and herbs. Then let rise for 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450F when your timer hits 10 minutes left and place a small metal bowl filled with water on the bottom rack. Once your timer dings, stick the bread in,  set another timer for 27 minutes and inhale deeply as your house starts to smell delicious!! Once the bread is done, move immediately onto wire racks and wait at least 10 minutes (I know, it's hard) before you cut it open.

It has the most delicious moist insides with a nice slightly tough outside! SO good with a slathering of butter. Also makes amazing sandwiches, garlic bread---just about anything you can do with bread, this stuff makes it better!

Chicken Pot Pie

I have always liked the idea of Chicken Pot Pie. Crunchy pie crust, delicious creamy chicken centre with chunks of soft vegetables... Sadly it never worked out that way and I had to resign myself to the fact that the mess of mushy pie crust and super salty chicken lumps in my dish was as close as it was going to come. So you can imagine my surprise when, for reasons which I'm going to blame on my unborn child, I sudden had an intense desire to try and make Chicken Pot Pie like it was supposed to be (I imagine it helped that I was reading a Redwall book at the time too).

I began looking through recipes online and decided that, while there were bits of each of them that seemed like a good idea, I didn't really like any of them as a whole. So I decided to make one myself. After taking stock of my fridge I made my ever loving and patient husband go to the grocery store, while I began combining the things I liked about the ten different recipes I had found.

Also, I already had homemade unsalted chicken stock from when I made a roast chicken, so keep that in mind (a lot of chicken pot pie recipes made you go through the whole process of roasting a chicken and then making stock, but, for convenience sake, I'm going assume you have chicken stock lying around).

5 ish cups of unsalted chicken stock
1 lb. chicken (breasts, thighs, doesn't matter. just don't cut them up)
3 bay leaves
1 tbs. (approx) fresh herbs, minced (I have lemon verbena, oregano and rosemary growing on my deck so I used those, but any would be yummy)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
4 celery stalks
4 carrots
4 medium potatoes
1 1/2 c. frozen peas
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1/3 c. flour
1 c. heavy cream
Pastry of your choosing

To start, remove the chicken fat off the top of the chicken broth and put the fat into a large frying pan and set aside (if you are using chicken stock from a can or carton, ignore this). Bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a large pot. Add the herbs, salt and raw chicken to the broth. While the chicken is cooking, chop up the veggies into whatever size you feel comfortable with (be sure to keep the onions and potatoes separate). I went with a nice smallish bite-sized piece, that way I could get more than one veggie per spoonful. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the pieces and set aside. Add the potatoes and let cook until soft. While the potatoes are cooking, heat up the frying pan of fat (if you have no fat or if there isn't much, top it up to about 1/2 c. with butter) and add in the onions and garlic and fry until brown. Back at your pot of broth and potatoes, add in the celery and carrots and keep simmering. In your frying pan, once the onions are browning, add in the flour and brown it a little bit. Then add the heavy cream and stir until thickening. Add the flour and onion mix into the broth and stir vigorously (you don't want lumps). Once the mixture is thickening, add in the frozen peas and dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and then add as well. Let the mixture thicken and heat up the frozen peas for a little bit then dish it into ramekins (individual serving baking dishes, get some if you don't have any---they are so handy!) and top with a circle of rolled out pastry and crimp it around the edges. The trick I found to keeping the pastry from going mushy is just to not put pastry on the bottom, JUST top it. It works WAY better.

Whatever you don't use (I just made two ramekins since I was only feeding me and my hubby) you can freeze.

There you go! Chicken Pot Pie the way it should be! I'm afraid the recipe is sort of ramble-y, but I am not exactly a professional recipe-maker. I hope you enjoyed it (and enjoy it if you make it)!

Love,
Dorothea

Welcome!

So the only other blog I've ever tried was way back when Xanga was the new Myspace, and even then I think I updated it with scintillating anecdotes such as "I ate meat lovers pizza today---I prefer hawaiian" (yes, I've been a foodie from a young age), so I have no idea if this will succeed, if I will enjoy it, or even if  anyone will ever read it. HOWEVER; having been told that I need a cooking blog after the umpteesquillionth (I do food better than math, but I'm pretty sure that should be a number) time that I posted an update on facebook that was wholly food-related, I have decided that I should at least give it a go.

So. Here I am. Giving it a go. Tomorrow I will make something interesting and post it here.

Also, to anyone who will actually read this, do you want the recipes? Do you care?