Pork Hock Soup w/ Cheddar Biscuits

It was time for the old fridge clean out soup today....I know it doesnt always sound great...but it was!!

A simple soup of fresh and frozen veg, with some yummy flavor.

I had a couple of pork hocks...I know they sound so appealing....and some pork soup bones. Covered with water, I added onion,   cabbage, carrots, corn, peas, green beans, salt and pepper, 1 tbsp of curry powder, 1 tsp of parsley flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hr.

Once veg are soft, remove hocks, cut fat layer off, and remove meat. Add back to soup. I brought back up to boil and added some mini Gnocchi's, very good! Cook for 4 or 5 mins more. Re season to taste and serve.

You need some sort of bread with soup. Its a given in our house....So Whole wheat Cheddar biscuits it is!!

Biscuit recipe:

3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup of milk
3/4 shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all dry ingredients, cut in shortening, add cheese, beat egg and add to milk, make a well in dry, add half liquid, mix with a fork, add the rest of liquid. Should be sticky. Knead on a lightly flowered surface. Handle very little, the more you handle it, the tougher your biscuits will be. Pat out to 3/4 in, cut and place of a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425f for 12-15 mins.

Don't be afraid to use up ingredients in your fridge. You don't need to go shopping to get special soup ingredients....use what you got!! A healthy soup, and dirt cheap!
Enjoy!
Cory

Hot turkey Sandwich

There is nothing quite like leftover turkey and gravy. This is simply turkey and gravy heated over med high heat, and some wonderful garlic bread! Delicious. Simple. Not healthy....Enjoy

Butter Pork Wrap w/ Fresh Tortillas

We love Butter Chicken in our house! It is a great meal, the boys love it. We substitute chicken with pork most times. These are dead simple to make. I used the flour tortilla recipe from my previous blog, whipped those up as the pork was simmering in the sauce. Delicious.

I am still amazed how simple these tortillas are to make. I made the dough, let it sit and then rolled out all 12, and cooked after that. Result: A fresh whole wheat tortilla!

When it comes to butter chicken sauce, the sky really is the limit on varieties. We used to mainly eat the pc blue menu sauce. It is great, not overly spicy for the kids, but it has jumped in price to almost 5 bucks. So That just does not make sense for us as a family. We found a packet paste variety, I forgot the name brand....good one ha, All you did was add water and a bit of optional cream at the end. Great flavor, we added some more milk to the boys to cool down the spices a bit. And it was 2.25.

I mixed some rice with the sauce and meat, added some fresh chopped cilantro, and then tightly wrapped the tortillas. Fried on med high turning once until crisp on either side.

Serve with some chutney if you'd like, very good take on tasty butter chicken...or pork...or whatever meat you want!

Total cost for meal.....

Tortillas: .25 cents.....literally.
Pork: 2.50
Sauce: 2.25
Rice: .50

$5.50 Not bad....And that served us, the boys just had it with no wrap, all same price!!

Enjoy

Cory

Beef Tortillas w/ Homemade Flour Tortillas

I am not sure why Shelby and I have never tried this before. But after last night, we have concluded that we will never buy flour tortillas again. EVER. This was dead simple, cheap and very tasty!!

Shelby is big into Pinterest, and found a recipe for flour tortillas from a website called "The Urban Spork" Pretty neat site! They use white flour in the recipe, and we used whole wheat. We also didn't have 5 tbsp of shortening...we had 3, so I used canola oil instead.

Our 12 tortillas cost us approx .75 cents. Compared to the $3.89 Superstore charges for 10 flour tortillas. Flour is approx 68 cups to 10kg bag, At 10 bucks, that's 14.7 cents a cup.

Here is what you need:

2 3/4 cups of flour plus extra for rolling
5 tbsp of shortening
3/4 tsp of salt
3/4 cup of very warm tap water.

Follow link here to follow directions. Super easy. http://theurbanspork.com/menu/

After the tortillas were made, we fried up some ground beef with garlic and chopped cilantro. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Toppings included Lettuce, cheese, Leeks, Sour Cream, Salsa and Green Peppers. Assemble and serve! Simple.

Tortillas once the dough is made and separated into 12 balls.

Frying the dough in a hot pan, no grease. 30-45 seconds a side.

These tortillas were nice and soft, but also held up to being packed full of meat and cheese! I never once ripped one.

I heated the oven a bit, then place cooked tortillas on a rack. Awesome!

Fill tortillas with whatever you want, use for egg wraps, replace the store bought ones with these ones!! You know exactly what is in them, no preservatives. So try them today! We are converted and will never buy them again!! Get some people together and have a tortilla making afternoon, freeze and store!

Enjoy

Cory

Squash and Ricotta Stuffed Ravioli

Okay, So I have wanted to make my own pasta numerous times. And finally I attempted. And it is definitely challenging in some areas and dead easy in others!
My inspiration for this is Jamie Olivers second cook book "The Naked Chef Takes Off". He has a basic fresh pasta recipe and so many options with kinds to make from it. So I decided to try ravioli.

I had some hubbard squash that I roasted, then I took the flesh from that, a small tub of ricotta, salt and pepper and some lemon zest. mixed together well for the stuffing.

For the fresh pasta I took 8 eggs to 4 cups of flour. I just used a clean surface, made a well in the flour, added the eggs, stir with a fork to break the yokes up, and then combined with my hands kneading until combined. Wrapped in plastic wrap and stuck in the fridge for 30 mins. A mixer with a dough hook would be easy peasy.

Once dough was chilled, you have 2 options. Use a pasta machine to roll it out, or use a clean surface with a rolling pin, which is what I used.
Divide the dough into 4, use one ball at a time. On a clean, well floured surface, begin to roll out dough making sure your rolling pin and dough is floured well if it is sticking.
try to get it as thin as a cd. You need a fairly large counter to do this. Once you have 2 sheets rolled out, you can add your mixture.

Add one teaspoon of mixture and space it out every 2 inches along the bottom sheet of dough. Using water and a pastry brush dab around the mixture and then lay the next sheet on top. Starting with the one closest to you, press the sheets together getting rid of the air bubble. Use a sharp knife and cut into square ravioli shapes. Any size you want, I made them fairly large.

Press tight together, cook when done, or flour well and keep in fridge for a few hours. Cook in boiling salted water for 3-4 mins. Ravioli will float to the top when done. Drain well and serve.
I enjoyed this process very much, it was a great experience. The squash mixture was very tasty, sweet, light and would make a great summer side. I noticed my pasta was a little too thick in some areas, lesson learned for next time!!

Alternative to this: Instead of making raviolis, roll thin and slice into odd strips, cook and toss in your favorite sauce. Don't be afraid to try fresh pasta! Its great for entertaining, there is tons of ideas out there. Search around on the internet or in a good cook book!

Cory

Turkey Meatball Soup

I love ground up turkey, we have made burgers and stir frys and meatballs. So I tried some meatball soup!!

So simple to do, great flavor, the turkey stays nice and moist and retains great taste. A simple soup to make and quick!

You will need:

1lb ground turkey
2 or 3 stalks and leaves of Bok choy
3 stalks of celery
1 handful of cilantro
3 green onions
1 carton of chicken stock
2 carrots
1 handful of bread crumbs
2 minced garlics
salt and pepper to taste

Start by mixing your turkey with 1 of the green onions finely chopped, salt and pepper, garlic and breadcrumbs. Make into any size meatball you desire. This pot is a 7qt dutch oven, I just made them about inch by inch.
Brown these on med high heat turning once or twice in a dash of olive oil.

Next, you want to add chopped bok choy, celery, green onion, carrot and chopped cilantro. Season well with salt and pepper and cook on med high heat for 10-15 mins. Then add your stock and 2 more parts water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hr. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once soup was done, I added some fresh Gnocchi  click here. I bought them at askews. They are really tasty. They take minutes to cook. I brought soup back up to a boil, added Gnocchi, and they float to the top when done. Serve up and enjoy!

The broth tastes similar to a won ton. Very tasty. The cilantro adds a wonderful flavor. The boys ate the soup right up...except they refused the Gnocchi. Ha we had some fun teasing them....Gnocchi's for supper all week we told them! These kind were made mostly of potato, very light flavor, We enjoyed them....Enjoy!!!

Cory

Man Size Beef Burger

Growing up, my mother would make huge beef burgers. There is nothing like it! There is something about holding a huge burger in your hands. It was a task to finish! And finish we did! Here is my take on a basic cheeseburger!

You will need the following: (add or take out whatever you wish! make it your own)

Makes 7 large patties or 14 smaller ones.

2.5lbs lean ground beef
1 red onion
2 eggs
2 cups bread crumbs
toppings (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes etc)
Buns
2 tbsp Whole grain Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper

For bread crumbs I found these delicious PC croutons. Seasoned whole grain variety. I crush them up or place in a food processor until fine. They are simply delicious. Great flavor, and not only does it help combine your burger but adds taste!

Combine beef, finely diced red onion, eggs, bread crumbs, mustard and salt and pepper. Don't be afraid to get in there with your hands. Mix but don't mix to much, your burger will stay tender and juicy if you don't overwork the ground beef. Form your patties. I bbq these burgers over med high heat, turning once. about 8 mins a side. These burgers are thick!! Alternatively place in oven at 425f.

Grab a tasty bun that can hold these big guys, add your favorite toppings and voila!! I used some home made zuchini relish...which is the best....some bbq sauce, lettuce and a pickle. I topped the burgers with some med cheddar cheese. When you bit into these burgers they were so juicy and tender. You could taste the bread crumbs and the mustard, just wonderful flavor.

Enjoy friends!! Don't be afraid to lite that BBQ up!! Its January!!!

Amazing Fish Pie

I love cook books, I have been asking for them for christmas and birthdays for a few years. My favorites are Jamie Olivers. He has dead simple recipes, wonderful ideas and ingredients are stuff you almost always have. So for that reason they are inspiring to me!

Shelby got me another book for christmas, and in it was a Fish pie. A take on our Shepards pie. He used haddock or cod but I used Salmon, for that reason I also added an changed a few things. But the idea and the comfort was there!!

This is so easy to make. For those of you that already make a shepards pie with beef, this is simple, tasty and a great way to change up the everyday pie.

Recipe will be at the bottom of the page.

I started with my spuds, peel, wash and cut up spuds in smaller chunks. Add them to salted boiling water and cook until tender. Mash them with salt and pepper, butter and some milk or cream.

While the potatoes are boiling, in another pan add diced carrot, celery and onion in some olive oil and cook for 4 or 5 mins on med high heat. Add heavy cream and bring up to a boil.

Once boiling, remove from heat, add lemon, cheese, thyme and re season to taste.

In a large casserole dish or dutch oven, I poured the sauce mixture overtop of my salmon. I left the salmon raw and I used ground up salmon. Combine well.

Then add your mashed spuds on top of it to create a top layer. Dont worry about making it fancy shmancy, layer it on even pop it in the over @ 450f for 30 mins.

The salmon cooks so well in the cream sauce.

Serve by it self or with a side salad or some greens.

Ingredients:
Serves 6

1lb ground salmon ( you can get this at any supermarket)
6 or 7 large spuds
2 medium carrots (cut in quarters and dice)
2 celery stalks (cut in strips and diced)
1 med onion finely diced
6-8 sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
2 cups heavy cream
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
olive oil
1-2 cups of med or aged cheddar cheese

I also love this meal, because it does not break the bank.

A great comfort food idea!!

Enjoy

Cory