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

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