New Recipes to Try

Turkey meatballs with lemon garlic yogurt sauce

Lemon sour cream tart from Mary's One Perfect Bite.

Tomato and grainy mustard tart from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen, a great source for recipes.

Ham and cheese parcels could be perfect to clean out some more stuff in the freezer.

Dry garlic pork these appear to be like Chinese takeout ribs. Crispy shrimp spring rolls from the same site.

Peri-peri chicken goujons strips better than Nandos - a fast food chain in the States.

impossible Cheeseburger Pie

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie made with Bisquick was always a hit when the kids were small. Then when my niece and nephew came along it became a hit with them as well.
As you can see from their website you can add anything you wish to one of these pies.

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef


1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix

1 cup milk

2 eggs





1.Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.

2.In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.

3.In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.

4.Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes 6 servings

2011 - Week 6 Eating

Last Sunday DH made these cinnamon buns from a package. He did an exact job of icing them.

Since it was Super Bowl we had to have chili which DH made with me as the sous-chef (which menat I did all the chopping, organizing and cleaning up)! Normally we have people over but this year it was just us, but we ended up with a huge pot which I took to work and the "girls" and had lunch for Monday and Tuesday.

Don't think I took a picture of the finished product.

I also made the butternut squash soup that I wrote about in a previous post. Very disappointing, tasted bitter.

For a salad I made a version of this root vegetable salad using what we had, cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumber. I was good and nice to have a hearty salad in winter.

Monday - leftover chili.

Tuesday - plain spaghetti and sauce.

Wednesday - chips (French fries) and egg and beans. Can never go wrong with that.

Thursday - DH was playing squash and I had a desire for onion soup. I did cheat and used a boxed broth rather than defrost a homemade one. But it was so good.

Friday - We had steak, baked potatoes and broccoli.

Saturday - we had friends over for brunch and did a big "English" breakfast and spent the day chatting.

365 Decluttering - Week 6

Sunday Feb 6 - started on my spices. I had little bags and jars in various locations, the fridge, cupboard and even downstairs in the basement pantry. I grouped them all together. On Monday I bought some small plastic jars at the $ store and arranged them. If there was too much spice to fit the jar I threw it out. I still need to get some more jars to finish the job.

I also decided that the "stuff" we had bought on travels that were on the mantle didn't really fit there, they were too small and didn't get any visabilty. The shelves in the "computer" room attached to the kitchen had cute shelves that are built in. That just made me think of my spice decluttering as my mom had used this space as a spice rack here is a photo (not hers) of what it looked like.

This photo is from http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

Well, my cabinet was filled with cat ornaments and boxes. I looked at them and decided I could let most of them go.

I kept the ones that meant something, the cat from Egypt that my sister had given me, a black cat I bought in Murano (known for their glass blowing) in Venice, black clock I bought I bought in San Diego and the stained glass i bought in Doolin in Ireland. The other black piece is from Mexico City bought near Teotihuacan the pyramids outside the city.

I then took the travel collection from the living room and arranged them on the other shelves. I do think they look mych nicer displayed like this.

Monday, Tuesday and Wendesday were easy, we are moving the office so we are clearing out all the computer equipment. I simply went through our stockpile in the basement and brought it into the office for salvage.

Thursday - I had 2 wooden boxes that were sitting in my kitchen with nothing in them, they are cute but serving no purpose. A friend at work mentioned she needed a sewing box so I brought these two boxes.

I also brought in an Excel Programming book that I never liked.

Friday and Saturday saw 4 more sweaters make it into the charity pile.

New Blogs This Week

Homemaker on a Dime

Copy Cat Chic

Thrift Store Creations love what she did to this black dress.

Rapitude.com has some very interesting articles on not needing "stuff".

ALife Less Cluttered is an inspiration as I continue to declutter.

Hyperbole and a Half has a post that I totally identify with called Why I'll Never be an Adult.

Damn You Autocorrect!

Crockpot Pork Barbecue

Another tried and true favourite. I'm not sure where I got this from but there are many versions online.

1 pork roast

1 1/2 cups cola

1 (8 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce (your favorite)

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 1/2 day

1 Cut all visible fat from roast, put in crock and cook 12 hrs (You could set this to cook all night) on low.

2 Note: I pour a soda over the roast to give it a little extra flavor.

3 Remove meat from crock and drain all juice from crock.

4 Shred meat and return to crock add 1 bottle barbecue sauce and cola and cook 5-6 hrs more.

5 MAKES A LOT!

6 Freezes great.

You could also do this in the oven.
Season the meat with salt & pepper at least 24 hours before the pork has to be cooked. Put the marinated pork in a roasting pan and place it on a rack in a preheated oven at 250 degree F.Add the cola and barbecue  sauce to the pork. Ensure the meat is placed with the fat side up. Bake for at least 8-9 hours

Saturday Shoes

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Arugula Salad

This recipe is from Food and Wine magazine August 2003, another from my pile of clipped recipes.

Ingredients


1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme

Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 ounces)

4 cups packed arugula leaves

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

Preheat the oven to 475°. In a small bowl, combine 2 teaspoons of the mustard with 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and the thyme. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then brush them all over with the mustard mixture. Pat 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan all over each breast. Transfer the chicken breasts to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the chicken on the top shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until just cooked through and nicely browned.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the remaining 1 teaspoon each of mustard and olive oil; stir in 1/2 teaspoon of water. Add the arugula and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and toss well. Spoon the salad onto plates, top with the chicken and serve.

Greek Meat Pie

My absolute favourite, I think this was the first thing I made with phyllo pastry.


Ingredients:

8 -12 Servings Size

1 lb lean ground chuck

1 lb lean ground lamb

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon oregano, crushed

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup butter, melted

12 sheets phyllo pastry

Change Measurements: US
Metric



Directions:

Prep Time: 25 mins



Total Time: 50 mins

1 In a skillet, saute ground meat in olive oil with onions until browned; season with salt, oregano and pepper; add tomato sauce & cinnamon.

2 In a small bowl, beat eggs and stir in Parmesan cheese; when ground meat has cooled, fold in the eggs and cheese mixture.

3 Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan; arrange six sheets of Phyllo pastry on bottom of pan, buttering each sheet with the melted butter.

4 Spread a layer of cooled meat mixture evenly on Phyllo & cover with remaining six phyllo sheets, brushing each with melted butter.

5 Trim edges of Phyllo to fit pan with a sharp knife; slice through top of pastry to form diamond shapes.

6 Bake in a preheated 350°F oven until pastry is golden crisp, about 20 to 25 minutes.

7 May be served hot or cold.





Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/greek-meat-pie-170686#ixzz1D1XOmaRE

Wednesday's Words - Typo?

I was buying this broccollini last week and actually had an argument from the cashier over the price, she wanted to charge me the 3.49 even though both labels had the store's name on it. She even checked with the manager and shrugged and well, ok charge the 2.99. Oh, and yes, it should be one C and 2 Ls.

My Recipe Box - Mini Gorgonzola-cranberry quiches

This is one of my "go to" recipes when bringing something to a pot luck or serving my guests. They freeze well, can be served room temperature but I always warm them up in the oven.

It is from Chatelaine magazine, a Canadian "women's" magazine.

Ingredients


•1 small bunch leeks

•2 tbsp (30 mL) garlic butter

•1/2 cup (125 mL) coarsely chopped dried cranberries

•5 oz (150 g) Gorgonzola or Cambozola cheese

•2/3 cup (150 mL) whipping or table cream or homogenized milk

•2 eggs

•1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

•2 (255 g) pkgs frozen mini tart shells


1.Position oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Slice root ends and dark green tops from leeks. Discard. Cut in half lengthwise. Fan out. Rinse under water to remove grit. Thinly slice. Leeks should measure 2 cups (500 mL).

2.Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add leeks and cranberries. Stir often until softened, 6 minutes. Cut cheese into small pieces. In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk cream with eggs and salt. Place frozen tart shells on 2 rimmed baking sheets.

3.Stir cheese into cooked leek mixture in pan until almost melted. Spoon into tart shells, filling two-thirds full. Slowly pour in egg mixture just to tart rims. Bake until filling is set, 20 to 25 minutes, switching baking sheets halfway through. Serve right away or cool, then cover and refrigerate up to 1 day. Warm at 350F (180C), 12 to 15 minutes.

Teriyaki Orange Lamb Chops

Another cut out recipe that we love from June 2001 Canadian Living magazine.

Ingredients


 1/3cup  (75 mL) teriyaki sauce - see recipe below or use a bottled version

2tbsp (25 mL) thawed orange juice

 1tbsp (15 mL) minced gingerroot

 2tsp  (10 mL) grated orange rind

2 garlic cloves, minced

 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) salt

1pinch pepper

12 lamb loin chops, 3/4 inch thick (2 lb/1 kg total)

2green oniongreen onions, sliced

Preparation:

In large bowl, combine Teriyaki Sauce, orange juice concentrate, ginger, orange rind, garlic, salt and pepper. Add lamb, turning to coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 4 hours. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)



Reserving marinade, place chops on greased grill over medium-high heat; brush with marinade. Close lid and cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare or until desired doneness. Serve sprinkled with green onions.


Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients


 3/4cup (175 mL) chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/2  cup(125 mL) (125 mL) soy sauce

1/3 cup(75 mL) (75 mL) mirin, (Japanese sweet rice wine)

2 tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) granulated sugar

3 slices ginger root

2 tbsp (25 mL) cold water

1 tbsp (15 mL) cornstarch

Preparation:

In saucepan, stir stock, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and gingerroot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 20 minutes or until reduced by about half. Whisk water with cornstarch; add to pan and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes or until thick enough to coat back of spoon. Discard ginger. Let cool.

2011 - Week 5 Eating

Sunday - used the 2nd of the prime roast bought a few weeks ago with mushy peas, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and Yorkshire pudding with gravy from homemade beef stock.
Earlier in the day I made mushroom soup with homemade chicken stock for lunches during the week.

Monday - Leftover Sunday dinner

Tuesday - Leftover lamb curry

Wednesday - Burgers on the BBQ with homemade poutine.

Thursday - Liver, mashed potatoes, cabbage and onions.

Friday - going to theatre so will eat out - Three Brewers. We saw Christopher Plummer's one man show of Barrymore.
Saturday - Roast chicken with potatoes, cabbage and carrots.
I also made a butternut squash and apple soup to which I added curry as per DH request.

Some Interesting Recipes using Phyllo Dough

I'm not sure why people fear using phyllo dough, to me it is so easy and forgiving to use.
As part of my cleaning out recipes that were either photocopied or torn out of magazines, I came across some from this site, Athens Foods.

Some New Recipes To Try

Kadhi Pakora Fritters I love Indian food.


Brenda over at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen "Lime in the Coconut" cheesecake bars, these look soooo good!


This Chinese Sizzling Steak from Katy's blog looks really good too!

Hot and Sour chicken noodles

My Recipe Box - Spicy Chicken Kebabs with Blue Cheese Dip

Another recipe from LCBO Food and Drink magazine.

SPICY CHICKEN KEBABS WITH BLUE CHEESE DIP


Reminiscent of spicy bar wings, served with a cooling blue cheese dip to ease the heat. No need to buy fancy blue cheese; the supermarket variety will do just fine.



1 lb (500 g) skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts



1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil



1½ tbsp (22 mL) hot pepper sauce



1½ tsp (7 mL) dried thyme leaves



1 tsp (5 mL) paprika, preferably smoked



½ tsp (2 mL) each garlic and onion powder



Generous pinch to ¼ tsp (1 mL) cayenne



4 small jalapeños



Salt



1 tbsp (15 mL) butter



Blue Cheese Dip



¼ cup (50 mL) mayonnaise



¼ cup (50 mL) sour cream



1 green onion, thinly sliced



1 tbsp (15 mL) white wine vinegar



½ tsp (2 mL) Worcestershire sauce



Generous grinding black pepper



½ cup (125 mL) crumbled blue cheese



1. Cut chicken into bite-size chunks for threading onto skewers. In a bowl, just large enough to hold chicken, measure oil, 1 tbsp (15 mL) hot sauce, thyme, paprika, garlic and onion powder and a generous pinch of cayenne. If you like your food really spicy, add all the cayenne. Add chicken and stir to coat. Let stand while preheating barbecue.



2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir mayonnaise with sour cream, green onion, vinegar, Worcestershire and pepper. Stir in cheese. Refrigerate until ready to serve.



3. Oil grill and preheat barbecue to mediumhigh. Slice jalapeños in half lengthwise, discarding seeds. Thread chicken onto skewers randomly with jalapeño halves. Sprinkle with salt. Grill, turning occasionally until cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. Adjust heat as needed.



4. Melt butter with remaining ½ tbsp (7 mL) hot sauce. As soon as kebabs are removed from grill, brush with butter mixture. Serve with dip and extra hot sauce if you wish.

Decluttering Week 5

Sunday Jan 31 - more paperwork for shredding. going forward I am going to try and shred monthly, I'm not saving all this stuff for a year. Most of it you can get copies of, if necessary. House bills are entered on a spreadsheet.

Monday - keyring given to us by advisor.

Tuesday - old nail polish, wine bottle in shape of a purple cat - why do I need this??

Wednesday - travelogues and flyers from various travels.


Thursday - some odds and sods. 2 sweaters, a keyring.

BEFORE

AFTER

Friday - Cleaned out all those recipes that had been photocopied, cut out from magazines or printed from the web. I took my favourites and posted them on my blog for the next couple of weeks.
 The after pile was weaned down yet again on Saturday by a few pages.


Saturday - a different kind of declutter. My To Do list is growing longer and longer. I am going to tackle some of them today. I won't tell you what all of them are as I won't get to them all today and some are private. However, there is the Istanbul video to complete, the China poster to put together, more work on the video for a friend's bday, some museum renewals etc.

Also will be getting serioous over the next few weeks of lining up objects to sell on Craig's List. I have had several friends rave about doing this, so we'll see.

New Blogs This Week

A relative newbie Delightfully Dowling has lots of soup and dessert recipes.

Afunny Lady at No Missed Opportunities

Blogging Away Debt

Midlife Mom Musings

$5 Dollar Dinners

Pizzazzerie

bye_bye_pie

My Recipe Box - Cumin Lamb, Sweet Pepper & Onion Kebabs

While sorting through recipes which I had cut out of the LCBO Food and Drink magazine, I found this one.
This magazine is beautiful, the photography is amazing and the recipes are excellent.

Ingredients:Serves: 4,


Yield:

4 4 4Servings Size

kebabs

Update



kebabs

3/4 lb boneless lamb

1/2 cup lemon juice

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely minced

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

4 teaspoons cumin

4 teaspoons liquid honey

1 large yellow sweet pepper

1 small red onion

salt and pepper, to taste

Change Measurements: US
Metric



Directions:

Prep Time: 4 hrs



Total Time: 4 1/4 hrs

1 Soak skewers (for 1 hour or more).

2 Cut lamb into bite size pieces. In a large bowl whisk 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons ginger, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoons cumin, 2 teaspoons honey. Add lamb, stir to coat, cover and chill 4 hours or overnight; stir once.

3 Oil grill and preheat BBQ to med-high. Slice pepper and onion into chunks and thread onto skewers with lamb (alternating ingredients). Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

4 In a small bowl, whisk leftover marinade ingredients and set aside for basting. Grill kebabs 7-10 minutes, turning occasionally.

5 Serve with pita, greek salad and tzatziki -- Yummmm!

Wednesday's Words - What Comes After a Trillion?

This is a result of a conversation we had with our contractor.

Image courtesy of http://www.deathby1000papercuts.com/

Million, Billion, Trillion...


© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy



People sometimes ask me the names of the large numbers. Here is a table. The system used in the U.S. is not as logical as that used in other countries (like Great Britain, France, and Germany). In these other countries, a billion (bi meaning two) has twice as many zeros as a million, and a trillion (tri meaning three) has three times as many zeros as a million, etc. But the scientific community seems to use the American system.



Number of zeros U.S. & scientific community Other countries

3 thousand thousand

6 million million

9 billion 1000 million (1 milliard)

12 trillion billion

15 quadrillion 1000 billion

18 quintillion trillion

21 sextillion 1000 trillion

24 septillion quadrillion

27 octillion 1000 quadrillion

30 nonillion quintillion

33 decillion 1000 quintillion

36 undecillion sextillion

39 duodecillion 1000 sextillion

42 tredecillion septillion

45 quattuordecillion 1000 septillion

48 quindecillion octillion

51 sexdecillion 1000 octillion

54 septendecillion nonillion

57 octodecillion 1000 nonillion

60 novemdecillion decillion

63 vigintillion 1000 decillion

66 - 120 undecillion - vigintillion

303 centillion

600 centillion

Thirsty Tuesday - Kona Hawaii

We always make a stop at the Kona Brewing Company when we are in Kona. It used to be just stuck in the middle of a strip of factories but they have certainly expanded on this visit.

2011 Week 4 Eating

Sunday - I made a HUGE chicken pot pie with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, lots of veggies and homemade stock for the sauce. It was COTC (clean out the cupboard) for the pastry, I had a box of Robin Hood which I used to make the top. It was delicious! And it also was served 2 lunches.
And I also made these cinnamon cream cheese breakfast bars for during the week. They were very good, but run rather expensive since they use refrigerated rolls. I might try making them with phyllo pastry in future.

Monday - leftover chicken pot pie.

Tuesday - pigs' hocks with Brussel sprouts and boiled potatoes. They were a little dry as I had cooked them on Sunday thinking to reduce the time.

Wednesday - spaghetti and sauce. DH has been stocking up on sauce when it is on sale.

Thursday - Again, COTC, made Spanakopita from Kevin's Closet Cooking. Since finding this recipe I haven't used another one. The phyllo pastry was in the freezer, the spinach and feta were bought for this and we had leftover tzatziki to serve with it.

Friday - ordered chicken kickers and pizza from Dominos.

Saturday - made a big lamb curry using up whatever we had which meant carrots and potatoes with homemade chicken stock. Served over rice and with naan bread from freezer.

2011 Week 3 Eating

So the plans for this week were:

Sunday - boneless rib roast (bought yesterday on special for $11 and cut into 3 portions for 2 of us) with broccoli and potatoes. The gravy was made from homemade beef stock that had been frozen in an icecube tray so was very easy to take some out to use.
I also made a raspberry banana cake using previously frozen bananas and raspberries from the freezer.
It made 2 loaves so we froze one. It was definitely a keeper!

Monday - chicken thighs (from freezeer stockpile) in oven with roast potatoes and corn with (feeling lazy) VH strong garlic sauce from a jar. Was terrible no flavour at all.

Tuesday - DH away on business. Dinner out with a GF.

Wednesday - DH only home after 9PM fried egg sandwiches.

Thursday - Take out fish and chips.

Friday - was supposed to be soup night but decided to use more of the freezer stockpile and had homemade pizza. Only purchase required was green peppers and mushrooms everything else was in freezer.

Saturday - steak

New Blogs This Week

Cow patty Surprise

http://www.cathyhasantsypants.com/

The Spotted Canary

Greens and Chocolate

365 Decluttering - Week 4

This was a very productive week, not sure I can exactly outline each day's decluttering items, as it was a very hectic week workwise.
However, one of the charities that pick up in the area called last week-end and said they would be picking up on January 28 so this is what we put out.



Thursday Jan 27 - we went quickly through our closets and managed to pile this up for tomorrow's charity pick up.

Sunday - I worked on the kitchen drawer. I emptied everything out and then scrubbed the cutlery tray.

Items to go!

The rest of the week was mostly paper - 2010 bills, statements etc. were cleared out.

Saturday Jan 29 - more paper work weed through and DH's business files set up.

A very satisfying week of decluttering!

Saturday Shoes - Arachova Greece

More cheerful boots.