Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

My second ever attempt at "chinese" food! Success!!!

I saw this recipe on Pinterest....yeah thats right Pinterest....Anyway click the link below for the recipe. It was easy to do and produced amazing flavor!

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.ca/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

Served it on a bed of Quinoa. If you have yet to try quinoa...I suggest you do it! Fantastic and Versatile.

So try this one out today! Easy, fun, and very tasty!

Cory

Pork Roast w/ Leek Gravy and Roasted Fall Veg

I'm Back! Man it has been awhile! No posts from me in forever!!! Well here you go! A new post. It was delicious!!
Slow cooked Pork Roast with leek gravy. Roasted delicata squash, spuds and rainbow carrots. Sweet corn and delicious buns from my Mother in-law! It went down soooo good!

Ingredients:

2lb Pork loin
2 small leeks
1 lb rainbow carrots
1 small delicata squash
5 spuds.
1 spanish onion.
5 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
3 tbsp corn starch.

(we had frozen local corn, and home made buns on the side)



Slow cooked pork roast is dead easy, actually, slow cooked anything is easy! Season your roast with salt and pepper, wash and cut leeks throw em in. half a cup of water, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Pull out and let rest for 10 mins before slicing. I removed the drippings from the crock pot, and simmered those on the stove for 15 mins, added corn starch, re seasoned, and leek gravy is done!!

We are so blessed to live in an area that is abundant in fall vegetables. Local spuds, carrots, squashes, peppers, beets, cabbage, leeks, onions and more!!

This roasted veg was easy! Cut the veg to any size you want, the squash I chose, you can eat the skin and all! Its called Delicata. Google it!! Very mild and tasty. I removed the seeds and stem, and sliced into wedges. Add to the rest of the veg, season well with salt and pepper and add the Balsamic and olive oil. Balsamic when roasting vegetables is fantastic. The sweet flavors of the vinegar become evident, and the acidic flavor disappears. Wonderful. Roast for 1 hr at 400f. turning once.

Enjoy!!!

Cory

BBQ Fish Medley w/ Roasted New Potatoes

I Will mention again, I am so fortunate to have a father who lives in Haida Gwaii and is able to send us down fish....We enjoyed Snapper, Smoked Salmon and Smoked Black Cod.

I also purchased my Fathers day gift to myself.....A Charcoal bbq. It is unreal! The flavor you get from a Charcoal bbq is second to none!

Snapper in the back left, salmon on the right, black cod bottom left. My mouth is watering typing this, and I already enjoyed this meal!!!

The Potatoes were almost my favorite part of this dish. We get our weekly produce box from Pilgrims Produce The stuff we get is wonderful. One of the things we got in this last weeks box were new potatoes. I boiled these spuds first until almost done, drained and tossed into a mixture of chopped fresh thyme, marjoram, sage, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. I threw in some extra whole stalks of the thyme and whole garlic. Roasted at 400f for 30 mins, turning once. The flavor you get is amazing. The herbs and roasted garlic, along with the crispy outside of the spud, you then bite into the soft texture of a new potato. Wonderful!

The asparagus I cooked in a basket over the briquette bbq, I tossed them in Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper, threw them in the basket, cooked for 15 mins. 

Whatever your meal may be, go out and support your local farms, buy some new potatoes and carrots, enjoy what we have local. It is amazing what standards we get used to with non fresh or local produce in the store. A beet fresh from the farm will blow your mind compared to one from the store. 

Enjoy

Cory

Honey Ginger Chicken w/ Dilled Baby Carrots and Beet Greens

Our weekly produce box from Pilgrims Produce is starting to pick up, this week we got first of the season baby carrots. If you have never eaten a carrot fresh right from the garden, you are missing out!! Our weekly newsletter had a recipe from Greens! Glorious Greens! I will tell you what I did.

I started with 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, 1 small new onion chopped and baby carrots quartered with greens trimmed, cook in olive oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 mins. Then add beet green leaves, sliced in 2 inch chunks, add a bit of water, cover and cook for 6-8 mins. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill. Serve.

For the chicken, I dip chicken pieces in beaten egg, and tossed around in a bag with flour, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Then I friend skin side down first in some canola oil over medium high heat in a pan. Doing this will ensure you get oven "fried" chicken. Turn after 5 mins, cook for 5 more. Remove from pan and place on roasting pan or baking sheet. Bake @ 375f for 40 mins. I brushed on the sauce twice during baking, which I made on the stove in a saucepan, 1 clove of garlic minced, 2 tbsp fresh ginger minced, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp creamed honey and 1 tbsp butter. Cook garlic and ginger in butter until browned, add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 mins and remove from heat.

I accompanied the meal with a fresh spring mix salad and quinoa. Delicious. The skin on the chicken is so crispy and tasty. The freshness of the Ginger and the sweetness of the honey bring great taste to this chicken dinner!

Enjoy

Asparagus Quiche w/ Shredded potato crust.

Asparagus season is definitly one of my favorites!!

I was searching online, I cant remember the source, but I stumbled across this idea for a crust, rather then pastry, It works really well and adds great flavor!

You bake the "crust" first, then add your eggs and veggies, and bake off. Quiche makes a great anytime meal! Our boys loved this, and any variations would do!!

This is the crust, take 10 small potatoes, shred them, 1 small onion, shredded, 1 tsp garlic minced, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1 beaten egg, Combine mixture, press into pie plate to form a "crust", bake at 375f for 25-30 mins.

The crust will start to turn a nice golden brown, remove from heat, I then sprinkled chopped asaparagus, mushrooms, onion and feta all over, beat 8 eggs, and pour over entire mixture, Top with grated cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 mins.

So take the time, have some quiche, save a "few" calories and fat with no pastry, and enjoy the spring produce that we have available to us!!!


Quiche can be enjoyed so many ways, you just need to try new things, mostly anything can taste good with eggs and cheese, Enjoy!


Cory

Smoked Salmon w/ Quinoa & Spring Mix Salad

We are so very lucky, my father sends us all kinds of fish from Haida Gwaii. This smoked sockeye is to die for. Dad does a very nice job smoking the fish, not too much salt, the flavor is incredible. I threw these on the BBQ, and served on a bed of Quinoa with dill, feta, garlic and balsamic.

We buy our Quinoa in big bags from Costco (Thanks Shawna), Its become more regular then rice in our house! I just cook it like rice in the cooker, and voila...tasty little quinoa.

I mixed 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp dried dill, 1 tsp whole grain mustard, salt and pepper and 1/2 cup feta, crumbled. Pour over the cooked quinoa, mix and serve.

Eat tons of salad too, we have been having a huge salad every night, trying to get the boys to fill up half of the plate with salad....no problem there!!

Enjoy!

Cory

Cream of Asparagus Soup w/ Cheese toast and Garden Salad

I am so stoked for asparagus season! This is my favorite spring/summer vegetable. We are so lucky to live in an area that grows an abundance of asparagus. It is very healthy for you, and tastes 10 times better then imported asparagus! So go out and buy some today! Quality Greens, Swan Lake, Askews are some of the places that sell local asparagus, all for around $2.99lb, but....go direct to the farm and it is usually $2.25lb.

I made this soup the other day when it was rainy and cold. Simple flavors make this a tasty soup hot or cold.

Soup:

1lb asparagus
1 head of bok choy
1 small onion
1 Tbs minced garlic
8 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of milk
4 Tbs of flour
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Start by chopping your asparagus, bok choy and onion into small pieces. Saute in olive oil with garlic. Cook for 10 mins or until asparagus is soft. Remove and set aside in bowl until later. In same pot, add butter until melted, add flour, salt and pepper, stir around and cook for 1 min. Add milk and whisk over med heat until soft boil. Once boiling, add chicken broth and cooked veggie mixture, return to boil, once thickened and boiling, remove from heat and use submersible blender or do in batches in blender. Blend until smooth.

Serve with Bread and Salad. I made quick cheese toasts with epicure herb and garlic sprinkled over top cheddar and feta on Shelbys home made 9 grain whole wheat bread.

Enjoy!

Cory

Crispy "fried" Chicken

I love a good crispy piece of chicken. I know the skin is not good for you, but when you are eating fried chicken...who cares!

This is an easy way to get a crispy skin. I start with taking 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp each of dried rosemary, sage and thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper and mix well in an ice cream pale or large ziplock. Beat together 3 eggs in medium size bowl. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture, add to flour and shake until coated. Add piece to a pan on med high with some olive oil. Cook for 2-4 mins flip once, remove, cook in oven at 375f for 30-45 mins, depending on size of pieces.

Frying the chicken before gets you a beautiful crispy skin in. The flavor of the herbs beats shake and bake anytime!!!

Chicken, mashed potatoes, garden salad....delish!

Enjoy,
Cory

Smoked Salmon Benny

I am very privileged to have a dad who lives in Haida Gwaii. He sends us beautiful smoked canned salmon. Once in awhile we whip out the Ol Eggs Benny, usually using back bacon from Askews, but I thought of using the smoked canned salmon....wonderful! What doesn't taste good with hollandaise sauce?

I heated up the salmon, poached my eggs, toasted the muffins, used a pre pack sauce, I know, but so good, cheap, and quick. Assemble, present, devour! Benny makes for a quick breakfast, a little extra work in poaching the eggs, but all is worth it. I usually make in a large batch, this time we were gluttons and I made 9 of them for 3 adults. My sister in law enjoys the benny, usually because we are missing either the muffins or the meat or the eggs, and we combine and dine! So take some time out this weekend, make some benny, its great!

Enjoy

Cory

Lasagna Rolls w/ Ricotta, Turkey and Sausage

We had some leftover ground turkey from burgers yesterday that needed to be used. I saw some lasagna rolls  on google that looked pretty good! So I tried it for myself! I also had one link of Mennonite Farmer sausage leftover from a couple of days ago, I started by boiling my lasagna noodles in salted water until done. Drain and set aside. I friend up the ground turkey and sausage until brown and a bit crispy. I also combined 1 small tub of ricotta, chopped spinach and salt and pepper. Then I started assembly.

I placed a tbsp or 2 of the ricotta mixture on first.

I then added the sausage and turkey mixture. Roll up and place in a casserole dish on top of a layer of pasta sauce, seam side down.

I made 9 rolls, covered with pasta sauce and smothered in cheddar cheese. Baked at 350f for 30mins.


Served with some cut of veg and dip!

The boys enjoyed!

Enjoy
Cory

Farmer Sausage Casserole

I was going to make perogies and farmers sausage, but as I took them both out and pots and pans etc, I decided to do a one dish meal. Easier clean up, and no sacrifice of taste!! This was an easy way to spruce up the ol sausage and perogy supper!

Select your roasting pan or casserole dish, place frozen perogies in the bottom, cut up the sausage and place on top. Vernon Butcher Shop has excellent Mennonite Sausage, pricy, but tasty! This was on Sale at Superstore, it is really good too, this stuff is not pre cooked.

Then add whatever vegetable you would like. We love spinach, and usually buy it in those big sealed containers.

Then mix one can of cream of anything soup, this was mushroom, I mixed in some sour cream and 3 tbsp of herb and garlic dip mix from Epicure. Pour all over!! Pre heat oven at 425f
Sprinkle 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Cover with tin foil, place in oven for 45 mins, remove foil and bake another 15 mins.

Yum! We devoured this rich, savory dish. I could only eat this once every couple of months, it is rich and very tasty! Enjoy!!

Cory

Munks Moons

Dennys...Its hard to resist the ol "moons over my hammy", Here is my take on just the moons...I had no hammy....Ha. Start off with scrambling 3 eggs with salt and pepper. Once finished, remove from heat. Grab two slices of bread, butter both outer sides, just like a grilled cheese. A little mayo inside, hot sauce if you like, a layer of cheddar cheese, and some crumbled feta. Add your eggs, put together and cook on medium high heat, turn once, slice and serve.
Enjoy!!

Cory

Focaccia BLT w/ Mozzarella

Who doesn't like a BLT? Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, on a yummy bread. Awesome and easy lunch idea.
The boys had a blast eating this monster of a sandwich, and they are huge!

I bought this massive loaf of focaccia at the Bakery in Askews. Day old, so it was 3.50, I sliced in half, toasted under the broiler until nice and brown, then to one half I added my cooked bacon.

On the other half, I shredded some Mozza, and added tomatoes to the adult half...My kids aren't fans ha! And placed under the broiler for a few minutes. On the other side added my nice lettuce, I didnt use mayo or butter, the focaccia has tons of olive oil and herbs in it, tons of flavor. Put together, slice and serve!!

Thats a Munk size BLT. We devoured the whole thing!!! So grab some bread, and enjoy a BLT today!!!

Enjoy

Cory

Pulled Pork Buns with Au Jus!

I love, love, love pulled pork. It is dead simple to do, cheap and really tasty. I bought a pork butt roast for .97c a lb. 9 bucks total. Rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic and sage. Slow cooked on low for 7 hrs. Once done, I removed and started pulling at the roast with my fork, shredding the tender meat off the bone. Separating fat and gristle. Your result is tender chunks of pork. I placed all the meat back in the cooker, added a bottle of bbq sauce and cooked on high for 1 more hour. We made it with rice and salad the first night, leftover buns yesterday and today....toasted pulled pork buns with mozzarella and Au jus! 

I bought some day old buns from the bakery, split and toasted lightly. Add heated up pork, lightly mayo one side, add slices of mozzarella and place under broiler until golden brown. Serve with warm Au jus and enjoy!!

Cory 

Perogie Pie

The other night Shelby wanted perogies, I wanted Shepards Pie....So I came up with Perogie Pie.
Take 1lb ground beef, brown with onions and garlic. At the same time, bring to boil 4l of water, add a pinch of salt and frozen perogies. Once meat is browned, add your favorite flavoring for Shepards pie. We use mushroom soup mix often, today I used bbq sauce, more of a sloppy joe sauce. Drain perogies once they are done. Assemble and bake at 350f for 25 mins.

Beef with the onions and garlic in a bbq sauce. I used a fairly large casserole dish to assemble.

Add you favorite frozen or fresh veg. We have been using up the corn we froze like crazy. This corn was super sweet and is great in any meal!

I then layered my cooked perogies overlapping a bit.

Sprinkled med cheddar cheese, salt and pepper and baked off.

Delicious!

Scoop up ad serve!! The boys devoured this meal! And who would have thought that Perogies made a good substitute for mashed spuds!!!

Enjoy!

Cory

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