Pork Chops w/ Mashed Veg and Salad

One of the ultimate comfort foods that my mom used to make was pork chops in Campbell mushroom soup. She would start off browning the chops with some salt and pepper and some onions, then add some mushroom soup and milk and cover and bake! Delish!!

I did almost the exact same!! Started off the chops over high heat in the pan, with onions, salt and pepper. Added in my mixed soup and milk, Covered and simmered for 20 mins!

We scored an awesome t-fal pan with lid at Crappy tire awhile back, Perfect for this type of meal!!

To make the mashed veg, I used potatoes, carrots and spinach. I boiled the carrots and spuds until tender, threw in some butter, salt and pepper, garlic and a bunch of fresh spinach. I used an immersion blender (hand held) to whip them up!! The one negative with this is....If you get caught whipping to long...they really get whipped!!

The spinach adds such great fresh color, mixed in with flakes of orange!! The boys had no trouble eating these!! And bonus...raw spinach. A wonderfully good green for you!!

Total cost: $10 bucks. 6 pork chops, 1lb spuds, 1lb carrots, handful of spinach, garden salad with feta and peppers.

Turkey Soup!!

When the air starts to turn cool and the days get shorter, I love having home made soup. It is one of the simplest and cheapest meals you will ever cook for your family!

I did not have any turkey for thanksgiving at all, I felt I was missing something! So on Wednesday I made a turkey and we had the whole family over. It was delicious. And then after the meal you are left with this huge turkey carcass with tons of meat on it....Perfect for soup!!!


When we got Married we received a huge 20qt stock pot! It has made dozens of soups for our family! It fits a whole carcass like none other!


My beautiful wife, made this wonderful soup! She covered the carcass with water, added a whole onion, whole garlic bulbs, the middle leaves of a celery stalk and boiled for a couple of hours.

Remove your carcass, outer skin from garlics (they will be floating, the garlics will already have gone into the soup) and the onion. She then added tons of chopped veggies that we had in our fridge. Soups are a great way to get "rid of" any soft or extra produce in your fridge. Soft spuds or carrots? No worries, chuck them in!

She added 3 rutabagas,Red kuri squash, Carrots, barley, Corn, celery, dried basil, parsley, thyme and sage, salt and pepper, and the meat from the turkey!

Simmered that on low until all the veggies were soft, Delish!!

This meal will feed us for DAYS, or you can grab some containers and freeze it for another day!!!

Turkey is dirt cheap around thanksgiving and Christmas!! Most times you can get turkey for .98c a lb. For turkey!!, White  meat is super lean!

Plus after you have a huge turkey dinner and sandwiches, you are left with a huge carcass to make stock and soup out of!! Very economical!!

The turkey we cooked, we got free from our bank last year, but for numbers sake, I will put a $1 a pound for it.

2lbs turkey: $2
Veggies: $10 bucks worth, and that's generous!

$12 bucks for soup? Our family had 6 bowls full last night, and I would guess there is another 4 meals worth at least. What else can you make 5 full meals of for 12 bucks?

Soup is easy, especially after you have a turkey dinner!! So challenge yourself this winter and make some soup!!

Enjoy

Apple Plum Pie!

This is for Devon, who asked me to feature a desert weekly! Ha, he said the description of the food sounded gross but the pictures were good!, But this is coming from a guy who doesnt like any veggies or anything "different" But here you go devon!!!

We had a box of apples from our neighbor Bill, sweetest guy, brings my kids fruit all the time!! And then we had some plums from our local vegetable box! Four different kinds of plums!!

Instead of just throwing raw fruit in a sugar mix etc, I mixed in 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, I then caramelized them in a pan of butter over medium high heat for 10 mins.

I then removed them from heat and cooled completely before making the pie.

It was funny, when I was making the pastry, it called for 1 tbsp of vinegar in the egg and water mixture, but all I had was apple cider vinegar! So I added it in, when I was rolling the dough that was all I could smell, and I thought for sure it would taste like crap ha!! But it turned out so good!! You couldn't taste it at all!

So there you go dev!! Local Apple Plum Pie!!!!

Honey Garlic Meatballs w/ Bacon Ricotta Topped Spuds!

I love meatballs! It is definite comfort food! And they are so easy to do!! These meatballs took basic ingredients that we all have in our kitchen. And really, any meat will do!! A good meat ball has ground pork and beef, but these were just lean ground beef!

The flavor was amazing though, they melted in your mouth!

I started with 2 lbs of lean ground beef, made my own bread crumbs just using 2 slices of bread toasted, and then food processed to crumbs. Added in Salt and pepper, 1 large egg, 1 onion finely chopped, 1 bunch of spinach finely chopped, 1 dash of Soya Sauce, 2 tbsp of whole grain Dijon mustard, then combined!.

I made giant man size meatballs. That pan is fairly large and they barely fit in. I think I had 3 or 4 more that I squeezed in after the picture.

But dont be affraid to get your hands in there, make any size meatball you would like!

I just cooked these over medium heat with a lid turning once. Even with lean I had to drain out the liquid once, just so they would continue to get a nice crisp outside on them!

At this time, I combined 4 tbsp of creamed honey with some roasted whole garlic that I had stuck in the oven earlier, in a pot on low heat. (Roasted garlic is amazing...cut top off, leave whole bulb and drizzle with olive oil, bake in tinfoil for 20 mins at 350, once cool to handle, squeeze out garlic flesh, so good)

Once the honey was melted and boiling I added some flour that was mixed in with soya sauce and returned to a gentle boil. Once sauce was thick, I spread over the meatballs and left on low heat.

For the spuds, I washed and baked some potatoes in foil from our local vegetable box  at 350 for about 45 mins. Once done I cut in half and also cut a sliver off the bottoms so the potato would lie flat on a surface. I then scooped on a ricotta bacon mixture I had made earlier. (I took some bacon, diced it and fried it, then added to smooth ricotta). After spooning the mixture on, I threw them back in the oven on a cookie sheet, and baked for 15 mins more. Served with some Corn from the Hansons, this meal was delicious, We enjoyed  a nice meal with Marissa and her kids!!

Enjoy!!!

Smoked Salmon Pizzas w/ Guacamole Cream Cheese

Shelby and the boys eat tons of home made pizzas, its a quick lunch or supper!

We have been spoiled with canned smoked salmon from my Dad up in Haida Gwaii. Its quick and easy to open a jar and put on a pizza or make some melts!!!
If you are not spoiled like us...any meat will do.

We love buying Naan Bread. Most times we make pizza, we make it on Naan. Its not the cheapest option, but its quick and tasty!! Naan in superstore goes for about .50c a piece.

One thing I got into this last year a bit was Epicure. I know, for a dude it sounds weird, but for a dude who loves food and cooking, Epicure has tons of spice varieties and dip mixes. I know of two consultants, both great ladies, I use Kristy Wilkinson in Armstrong, and I know Renee Derksen in Enderby does it too!! (ladies...I expect an epicure gift for that advertising!! :)  

I used Epicures Guacamole dip mix, with some philly cream chease as the "sauce", topped it with some smoked pink salmon, chopped spinach and some medium cheddar cheese!! bake at 425f for 15 mins or until brown!.

Voila!

Pork Chow Mein!

One Meal my boys love and mainly for one reason!!.....Chop Sticks!!! Kids love chopsticks, they are like mini swords with food poking ability...and they double as drums!! It is a joy and pleasure to watch my boys try to pick up noodles and meat with their chopsticks, Each one so different!. Wyatt simply stabs meat, Elias uses the twisting method, and Jude use two hands!! This meal is one that the boys will always eat!! They may not last the whole meal with chop sticks, but they eat the cabbage and spinach I put in there!!

We get our noodles usually from superstore, they come in two different size bags, one for 1.98 one for 3.49ish. This was just the small bag, which fed all of us plus leftovers for my lunch. I used the pork that I had cubed up and froze, Threw in some cabbage and spinach from our Vegetbale box...fried up in some sesame oil and soya sauce!!

Total Cost: $6.98, I had 2 bowls, Rest of family had 4 bowls, and 1 for my lunch. About a buck a serving!!

Definitely a quick meal!!

Tips:

• If buying larger quantities of pork, chicken or beef, cube or slice up a dinner amount and freeze in ziplocks!! Pull one out for supper!!
• Anything can go into a stir fry!! Great way to use older vegetables! My one cabbage was 2 weeks old, peeled off some layers...good to go!!
• Try chopsticks with your kids!!! Great way to encourage them to eat and have fun!! Buy at the dollar store!!

Here is proof my kids had fun!!!

 

 

So next time you are in superstore, pick up a package of chow mein noodles!! You can find them just past the "fancy" cheeses (feta etc), where the tofu is!! 

Cory

Kale and Onion Breakfast Bake!!

When Shelby and I first started a weekly vegetable box a few years ago, around this time we would always get a vegetable that we just didn't know what to do with....Kale Click here!. We tried frying it or boiling it and every time we were disappointed. Well when we started a weekly box with pilgrims produce , Kathyrn Hettler added a recipe for a Kale and Vegetable breakfast bake. We tried it and the boys flipping loved it!! On Tuesday we got some more Kale and so I decided to do it again!

1 Bunch of Kale (stems removed up to leaf)                        
1/2 Red onion
2 cloves of garlic
10 eggs
1 tbsp Soya Sauce
1/2 cup Whole wheat bread crumbs
1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 cup Shredded Cheese (we used medium cheddar)
Pepper

1. Saute chopped onion and garlic for 4-5 mins in oil over medium heat.
2. Take kale and chop across your cutting board, turn and chop again, creating 1-2 inch squares.
3. Add Kale to onion and Garlic and saute for 5-7 mins.
4. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add soya sauce, cheese, bread crumbs pepper.
5. Once Kale has wilted down, add to egg mixture. Mix around.
6. Pour mixture into greased casserole pan and bake uncovered 25 mins @ 350f
7. Cut in squares and Serve!!!

Total cost approx: $5.75!!

I love the taste of it too, Kale when cooked like this, kind of tastes like broccoli! So next time you see Kale, grab some, and try this delicious breakfast bake!!!