Beef Fajita Pizza

Pizza is a pretty common thing in our house. We usually do naan bread pizzas. They crisp up great and the boys love them. This time around I bought a huge loaf of focaccia bread from the Country bakery inside of Askews. Its the best 5 bucks I could spend!! it makes a perfect bread for some oil and balsamic, but even better as a pizza base.

I started by slicing this bread in half through the bread, so it gave me to long pizza bases.

I fried up some Top sirloin steak, red onions and yellow and red peppers. Once the steak was done to my likeness, I removed, let rest and then thinly sliced.

The peppers and onions I carmelized in a little butter and oil, salt and pepper.

Smother it in sauce!!!

Add your caramelized peppers and onions!

Then your yummy sirloin steak. This would also be great with chicken. And this is a heavy pizza!! That's why this focaccia bread is perfect for it, your crust is over an inch thick.

HUGE chunks of Feta, We buy our feta in a large 1kg container from superstore. Apetina brand, for 11.99. We use it in so many things. It has become our cheese of choice to have.

I made the boys a basic pepperoni and ham pizza, they love feta and cheese too.

Bake at 425f for 20 mins, or until brown on top.

A pizza fit for a king!

The flavors of the caramelized peppers and onions along with the steak and creamy feta made this dish!

Enjoy!!


Cory

Chicken Stew w/ Cornmeal Dumplings

I was so stoked for this meal for 2 reasons!! First being, I love stew and dumplings, Second, my wonderful mother in law got me a 7qt kitchen aid dutch over. It is the perfect one pot item to have. It cleans fantastic, never burns food, and is ideal for browning on the stove, then finishing in the oven. We also have the 3.5 qt size, which for smaller soups and meals is perfect as well!!

It doesn't take much for mild inspiration. Shelby and wyatt bought some broccoli at askews yesterday, but we already had a bunch in the fridge. I had some boneless skinless chicken thighs frozen so this was easy!! My cornmeal dumplings come from Better Homes modified with Whole wheat flour rather than white. The stew was just simply the vegetables we had in the fridge at the time!!

For the vegetables I used carrots, red onion, celery, bok choy, minced garlic.
Sweated them out for 10-15 mins. Removed from pot, Browned my cut up chicken in a little oil, added the vegetables, used 2 cartons of low sodium chicken stock, topped the rest up with water. Simmered for 1.5 hrs. At this point I added cut up broccoli cooking another 30 mins. I then added flour and milk and simmered until thick.

 Dumplings are so simple to make. Almost every cook book has some form of dumpling. These had corn meal, flour, baking powder, cheddar cheese, pepper, oil, milk, eggs. I dropped them in wooden spoonfuls, which filled my whole surface of the pot.

Cooked for covered for 15 mins while simmering. Poke with a tooth pick in the middle of  one, if it comes out clean you are good to go!!

Delicious. The dumplings with cheese and cornmeal were an excellent addition to a tasty chicken stew. Very simple, very easy!! I am surprised at how few of people actually cook soup. It is easy!! And best of all CHEAP!!! Its one meal you don't have to sacrifice money for taste. So make a soup today!!

Cory

Baked Beef Curry

We love a mild curry in our house. It is one of the boys favorite meals. We will do it with pork, chicken or beef.

This time around we used top sirloin and cut it into strips. So tender and delicious.

Start off with your meat. Whatever you use, season it well with Salt and Pepper, trim of large fat chunks. I cut these into thin strips. Fry on med high heat with some minced garlic and chopped onion.

After the meat is cooked, Add whatever vegetable you want. Most times we use broccoli or cauliflower. This time around, diced potato, shaved carrot and peas.

We use brown basmati, so tasty and filling. I used our rice cooker and made 4 cups. We had company over for this meal and still had lots left over.

I layered the rice in a big roaster.

For the curry sauce we do it 2 different ways. One with cream of mushroom soup and sour cream, one with a white sauce. This one is 2 cans of mushroom soup, 1 cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup of yellow curry powder. Combine with meat and vegetables, and pour over top of rice. Grate some cheddar cheese and place on top. Bake @ 350f for 30 mins.

Delicious!!! Enjoy!!!

Cost:
beef $5
rice $1
vegetables $1
Sauce $2

$9.00. Served 4 adults, 5 kids, 2 babys. Huge portions with lots left over!!

Cory

Teriyaki Swiss Turkey Burgers

We treat ourselves once in awhile to some ground turkey. It is not the cheapest of all meats to buy, but is really tasty!

I bought 2 packs of ground turkey at askews for about 4.25lb, They were tiny packs, we made 3 huge burgers, and 3 smaller ones for the kids. I could barely finish one...So you know how big they are!







To the turkey I added some spinach, red onion, teriyaki sauce, minced garlic, salt and pepper, crushed whole wheat crackers and an egg. Mix together and form any size patties you desire.

I just pan fried mine, they took about 8 mins a side for the larger ones, and 5-6 mins a side for the smaller ones on med high heat.

Some of our favorite toppings. Canadian Swiss cheese, crisp lettuce, home made zucchini relish, some olive oil helmans mayo.

Looks soooo good!! I got this swiss cheese from Askews deli, it was about $3.50/100g. An expensive little treat!!!

Jumbo cheese buns, huge burgers, made for a delicious dinner. The boys ate so fast! Again, not the cheapest supper, but tasted wonderful.

Turkey: $9.00
Buns:$4.00
Swiss $3.50
Toppings:$1.00
Mojos:$1.75

$19.25 Definifitly my most expensive meal on here. Now I am a glutton, you could have made 8 normal size burgers to serve 8. But 3 bucks a person for dinner is pretty unreal too!!

Enjoy!

Cory

Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin w/ Honey roasted Beets!

I was inspired for this meal from my wife. She came across a blog on pinterest which used this recipe. Click here.

My roast was frozen, so I was not able to slow cook it on low because I didnt start until 12. But it cooked in 3.5 to 4 hrs with slow cooker on high. I did pull the roast out and glazed it in the oven. I glazed 3 or 4 times over a 20 min period.

This recipe was so simple to do, I highly recommend it!





We used a Pork Loin roast off of a whole loin we bought from Askews for $2.27lb


I think If I would have been able to cook low for 6-8 hrs the meat would have been able to shred a bit better. But it was still Moist and delicious.

We had some beets stored from awhile back. I had been meaning to use them!



For these, I boiled whole, cooled, peeled, cut into chunks, added creamed honey, dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and some dried rosemary. Tossed and Roasted for 45 mins @ 350f. Turn once or twice, the honey might burn, but so good!!





Mt grandma made the best apple sauce. Growing up she would serve it nice and cold with a hot pork roast. It was great!.

Last year we made some apple sauce, it paired perfect for this meal.

So simple too. Apples...a bit of sugar, cinnamon so good.!

Enjoy!!

Cory

Baked Spring Rolls

A few Christmas's ago, I stumbled across a spring roll recipe...I found this one, and ended up making it a few more times that season. Every year around Christmas or New Years, I crave these little guys!

Spring rolls are a piece of cake, super easy to make!!
Start off with the wrappers. You can get good thin ones from Superstore for $2.

Ingredients: Ground pork, a bag of shredded cabbage with carrot, cilantro, green onion, sweet chilli sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, sesame oil and garlic.

Fry 1/2 lb ground pork with salt and pepper until cooked through. In large bowl add 2 cups of shredded cabbage/carrot mixture, 2 chopped green onions, 1 tbsp of chopped cilantro, 2 tbsp grated ginger, 1 tsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil. Add ground pork and combine well.

Follow thawing procedures of wrappers, add 1 to 2 tbsp of mixture.

Start With corner closest to you, pull that corner towards the top, covering the mixture, bring in each corner, tuck and roll, leaving top corner showing. Using an eggwash or cornstarch and water, moisten top "triangle" and contine rolling until sealed.

Brush with vegetable oil, Bake at 425f for 10 mins, turn, brush with oil and bake another 10-15 mins. Gold brown and delicious. I failed to have a picture for you, I made these for my wifes baking exchange night and end result was taken!!
Enjoy!!

Cory

Rosemary Roast Chicken

We were at superstore, and usually never buy any meat there. But they had a few packs of 2 fryer chickens for 30% off..The meat "expired" the next day, but looked good and we knew we could freeze one.

The meat was so tender. I made a simple rub of Rosemary, sage, salt and pepper and a knob of butter. Roasted @ 350f for 2 hrs. It fell off the bone!!

It was nice to have a roaster chicken. Its something we have not had for years. Once in awhile, especially in summer, we would pick up a rotisserie chicken from Superstore and take it to the beach!

One benefit of a roaster is you could make soup after too. Boil that carcass with some veg to make a nice stalk, then add your favorite veggies!

We bought a few of these Primavera buns from Superstore as well. You can find them in the bulk bagel section. They usually are 99c each in groups of 3.




They are flippin Delicious. They are filled with roasted red peppers, spices and cheeses. We are frequent fans of them! Great for a sandwich, or some salmon burgers that we made...you will see them tomorrow!

I love this meal because it does not break the bank either. But our family devoured that chicken. Shelby and I each took a breast, Boys had the drums and wings and I ate some of the thigh.


Cost?

Roaster $8
Bun $1
Rice $1
Corn $ Free.

$10 for a yummy roast chicken dinner!!
Enjoy!
Cory

Breakfast Skillet

I was craving a good breakfast, I had some ground sausage from askews and eggs, but no hash-browns!

So I took the extra effort and made my own hash-browns. I took some russet spuds, peeled and diced. Using my big pan with a lid, I cooked them on med high with a little water in the pan for 25 mins.

Some salt, pepper and olive oil added to it, browned them up some more!! After those were done, I transferred them to a bowl and started browning the sausage meat.

After the sausage was all cooked, I added the spuds back in, added chopped red onion, spoonful of minced garlic, and some frozen chopped spinach.



Season to taste, The sausage was already salty, so I really only added some pepper.

I made 4 little holes in the hash sausage mix, and cracked an egg into each one.

Covered and cooked until eggs were done. I left mine with soft yolks.

To top it all off I added some graded medium cheddar cheese.

Its nice making your own hash-browns, you know what you get! I know alot of people that bake a couple of extra potatoes just for left overs for hash-browns. We do the same with mashed potatoes. I love a good fried Mash spud. Try it today!!!

Enjoy!!

Cory

Feta Marinara Chops w/ Garlic butter noodles!

We have been buying feta for a long time now, it is so versatile, great with salads and eggs. I bought this huge 1kg tub of feta for 11 bucks at Superstore, way better deal then the 400g one for 8!

We had some left over pasta sauce from pizzas, I browned the chops then covered in sauce and chunks of feta, baked for 30 mins.
The chops came out so moist, with creamy feta with every bite!!

For the noodles I used PC blue menu whole wheat spaghetitini, thinner then regular, they are so good in stir fry's as well! After boiling, I added noodles to some butter and minced garlic I had browned up in a pan. Tossed and served.

We moved to all whole wheat pasta, rice and breads when Elias was born. Its way more filling!! Dont get me wrong...a white bun is soooo good!! But if you are going to eat some grains and rice, it might as well be whole wheat!

I'm pretty sure I didn't need 2 pork chops..
But I just couldn't resist!!!
Again, some wonderful sweet corn from the Hansons!!

Pork: $4.50
Noodles: $2.00
Feta: $1.00
Sauce:$.75
Corn: $ Sweat labor

Total: $8.25 for 6 peeps!

Enjoy,

Cory

Black Bean and Corn Chili

I love chili in the winter time! It is such comfort food!! And there really is no rule to chili, add what and how much of whatever you want!! My dad did not like spicy chili but he loved a sweet chili. He would make his with Heinz ketchup and syrup! Very tasty!! With my boys I did the same for this chili!

This week at Askews they had their 2 for 1 meat sale on. We buy a bulk of our meat there anyway, so we stocked up some more!! We got mainly ground beef, it worked out to 2.26 a lb for extra lean ground beef. Cant beat that anywhere!!! And they were in perfect 1 lb packs!

My recipe was simple:

1lb beef
1 med onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cans brown beans in tomato sauce
1 can black beans (rinse and drain well)
2 cups of frozen corn
3 tbsp of Maple Syrup
1 Cup of pasta sauce (leftovers)

Brown meat, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients, simmer for 15-20 mins. Voila!

Simple, delicious, filling, CHEAP!!!

Total Cost: 6.50 We ate it for supper and lunch today!! Serve with some toast or fresh baked buns!!!

Cory

Waffles w/ Peaches and Bacon and Eggs

Its not a hard sell in our house for waffles!! The boys love them!! Add in some home made canned peaches, bacon and eggs and you got a great Sunday Supper! Grab a waffle recipe and have this for supper tomorrow!!

Yesterday I got a new app for the phone, a photo editing one, So I tried a few on some of the pictures, like these eggs from Skye Hamming

We usually have bacon in the house, but only because at Superstore you can buy 2kg of bacon for 5.99...Dirt cheap. Its by the frozen chicken breasts, look for Olympic bacon ends. They are ends, and some times alot of fat, but pick through and you will get huge meaty chunks of bacon. Your call how much fat you want!! It tastes great, and I think we have used it 5 times already for meals and I still have 1/3 left.

Every summer we usually can some peaches. We are limited by pantry space so we only did 12. But so thankful....they are delicious.

Waffles are dead easy to make. I used the better homes recipe, simple but tasty. Hint of vanilla and cinnamon make these waffles sweet enough!!

Last Christmas my mother in law bought me real maple syrup! I had never had it, and she wanted me to get all fancy shmancy with cooking. Well Ma, I put it on waffles ha. But its a something that we just started using all the time now, We don't buy anything but real maple syrup. Wouldn't you rather have natural then processed corn syrup? It is costly, but trust me, its worth it!!!

Enjoy!!
Cory