Recipe Time! {Italian Wedding Soup}

There are lots and lots of versions of Italian Wedding Soup, all of which my husband and I are quite fond of. This is my version.

Here's what you'll need:

1Lb of Ground Turkey
1/4 C of Breadcrumbs
1 Egg
5C of Stock (I used chicken, vegetable would be just as good, wouldn't recommend beef)
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, Chopped.
1.5 C of Acini Di Pepe Pasta (You could also use Orzo, or any small pasta)
Lots and Lots of Spinach

Saute onions in the olive oil in a large soup pot (Did I mention this is a one-pot recipe? Even better!) on low heat. Meanwhile, combine turkey, breadcrumbs and egg. Form into small balls, add to onion and cook until evenly browned.
Add the stock and pasta, cook over medium heat for 7-10 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
Add spinach. If you're using fresh, you'll need alot.. I fill the pot to the very top, and then replace the lid and simmer for another 5-7 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted, and there is just the right amount, so I'd say to go by your tastes.

Add pepper to taste, enjoy!








 

Meatless Monday: Cold Chickpea Salad

Today's recipe is a yummy cold salad featuring little hailey as a special helper. This recipe is quick, super easy and really nutritious. Chickpeas are really high in protein and fiber, and are great to use in a main dish or a side in a healthy diet. Our kids, like us, really, really love hummus.. and once I can remember to pick up some tahini, I will finally try my hand at making some. Until then, here is a cold salad to hold you over. :)

Cold Chickpea Salad

-4 cups of chickpeas, rinsed and soaked.
-1 Large carrot, peeled and grated.
-1 Large red onion, peeled and chopped.
-1 Clove of garlic, peeled and minced.
-1/2 Large red pepper, chopped. (Some roasted peppers would also be really, really good in here!!)
-1/2 Cup of balsamic vinagrette, or to taste.

Essentially, all the above ingredients get combined into a large bowl and mixed well, then refrigerated until it is well chilled. Easy Pea-sy. (har, har)
It's alot more fun when you have some little hands to help though. ^_^ Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Carrot soup with orange and ginger

So, before I dive into this recipe, I want to talk a little bit about stock.
Chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock.. whichever your preference, it is an essential in any kitchen. It is used as a flavour base for everything from rice to soup, and adds so much more to any dish rather than just using water.
Sure, it is readily available in any supermarket, but why buy it unless you have to? It is so easy to make.

What you need to get into the habit of doing, is to save and freeze your kitchen scraps... carrot end and peelings.. onion peels and roots.. celery leaves.. garlic peelings.. if you have a bunch of green onions that you know you aren't going to be able to use and are on the verge of being trash, throw them in. Did you roast a chicken? Keep and freeze the bones. All of these things may seem like garbage, but before they are, you can cook them down and use the flavours from them to make your own stock.




Simple as that. If you can get into the habit of bagging and freezing your scraps, you can have delicious, rich, flavourful stock. Just as good as the store-bought kind, and without all the added sodium and preservatives.

Now, onto the recipe.

Carrot soup with orange and ginger
2 Onions, chopped
2 Celery stalks, chopped
6 Carrots, chopped
juice from 2 oranges
2 1/2 Tbs of freshly grated ginger
4 Cups of vegetable stock

Cook onions in a small amount of vegetable oil until slightly tender. Add carrots, celery, orange juice and ginger. Cook over med heat until the carrots are soft.

Use a food processor, blender, or immersion blender to puree the mixture.

Add the stock and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until well blended. You can add some cream at this point, if desired.

Serve warm!

Another recipe! {Sweet Treats}

Anyone who knows me knows that while I absolutely love to cook, on most days anyway, I am not much of a baker. I can make decent cookies and other simple baked treats, but I really don't enjoy baking as much as I do cooking. With cooking, I can close the recipe book and let my senses do most of the work.. smelling, tasting, mixing flavors.. I often refer to my husband and kids as my "guinea pigs". With baking, however, I find that in order to make a succesful bake good, you have to meticulously follow the recipe. Not to mention it makes a HUGE mess.
Unfortunately for me, I married a man with a sweet tooth and a taste for home-baked desserts. I have my wonderful mother-in-law to thank for that one. She baked on a regular basis when he was living at home and he and my father-in-law would eat and eat to their content.. sadly, they now live across the country and Rob can no longer enjoy his mother's baking. (Maybe I should convince her to send him a care package, once a month, like a university student? So mistreated, my poor husband..) While I have taken over her tradition of making an apple pie on Christmas Eve, I seldom bake..much to my husband's dismay.
When I do bake for my family, I like to experiement as much as I can.. which is why I decided to try this recipe for a gluten-free flourless chocolate cake. It did turn out well.. a dense, chocolatey cake that sort of resembles a brownie. It doesn't need much on top, but I garnished it with some raspberries and a ganache using the leftover chocolate squares from the cake.

Without further delay..

Flourless Chocolate Cake
2/3 cup butter, chopped

4 squares (112 g) Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

1 tsp. Instant Coffee , dissolved in 2 Tbsp. hot water

3 eggs, separated

2 cups ground almonds

Oven: 325º
Heat butter, chocolate, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and coffee until butter is melted and chocolate is almost melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
Beat egg yolks. Add to chocolate mixture with nuts; mix well. Beat egg whites in small bowl with mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining granulated sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently stir into chocolate mixture just until blended. Spoon into greased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.






I am currently working on the DITL. I'm aiming to have it up by Friday. :)

 

Meatless Monday: Vegetable Chili & Cornbread

Not a typical comfort-food type of day. The sun, shining.. the thermometer read a beautiful 13C high in the shade.
Still, I've been craving some warm, fresh from the oven cornbread, and chili is such a yummy accompaniment, how could I not?

Vegetable Chili
The following vegetables, chopped:

-3 small carrots
-1 large onion
-4 cauliflower florets
-4 celery stalks
-1 green bell pepper
-1 red bell pepper
-6 large white mushrooms



Place vegetables, along with a small amount of oil into a large pot to simmer, until just tender.
Meanwhile, prepare your beans. I used canned, but of course you can use dried.. just remember to soak them prior to use. If you're using canned, rinse and drain them well.

-1 large can of red kidney beans
-1 can each of black beans, white kidney beans and romano beans
-2 cans of brown beans

plus, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, not drained.




Add these to the pot, and stir in 2 small cans of tomato paste, 4-6 minced garlic cloves, 1/3C of chili powder and your favourite spicy sauce (We use a little Frank's Red Hot) to taste.
Cover, set heat to low, and simmer for the next 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Cast-Iron Cornbread
-2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
-1 cup, white sugar
-3 eggs

-1 2/3 cups milk

-2  cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/3 cup cornmeal
-4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon salt

Cream together the butter and sugar. Combine the eggs and milk. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with egg mixture.

Preheat your oven to 400F, and place a small amount of butter into your favourite cast-iron pan. Place in the oven and heat the pan until the butter has melted.



Remove the pan from the oven (use mitts!! It will be HOT!) and pour the prepared batter into the pan. Return to the oven for about an hour, or until the top is browned and a toothpick comes out of the center clean.






Serve warm with your chili, and don't forget to clean the obscene amount of dishes that have somehow found their way into your kitchen. ;)

Meatless Monday: Cheese Ravioli

Pasta nights in our house are usually the outcome of a busy day, or a day when I just don't feel like cooking. It's easy, it's hearty and it's not much of a fight to make sure the kid's plates are clean at the end of the meal.

This time, however, it was not the case.

I have been thinking about trying to make my own pasta for quite some time now, but the fact that we do not own a pasta press scared me off of the prospect just a little. When I did decide to do it anyway, I opted for little homemade raviolis, since they seem to be the easiest to make. I have made homemade dumplings, like potstickers, before.. and these seemed to be somewhere along those lines.

Ricotta & Pesto Ravioli (Serves 4-6)

Dough:
4C, All-Purpose Flour
4 Eggs
1 tsp, Salt
1/4C, Cold Water

Filling:
1 container, Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
4 Tbs, Parmesan, grated
4 Tbs, prepared Basil Pesto
Salt & Pepper, to taste.

+1 Egg, beaten.

Combine the ingredients for the flour and knead until well combined. (About 5 minutes). Separate dough into 4 equal balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the filling. Here's where you can get creative with your own combinations. I used ricotta and pesto, but the options are endless.. different cheeses, veggies like sundried tomato or spinach.. mm.

Once the dough has chilled, roll the balls into 4 equal-sized sheets. This is where a roller would have come in handy. I think the raviolis would have been just that much better had I been able to get the dough thin enough. That, and it was quite a workout, all that rolling!!!

Place the sheets out on your work surface, and start spooning out the filling, about a tablespoon at a time, onto them. You'll be able to fit between 12-16 spoonfuls onto the sheets, depending on how thin you were able to roll out the dough.
Brush beaten egg onto the second sheet, and then place it over the first and the filling. Use a fork to seal around the outside edge. While you're doing this, throw on a large pot of salted water and bring it to a rolling boil.






I then used a pizza cutter to cut the excess from the sides and in-between each spoonful of filling. Then used a fork once again to seal the edges all the way around. Once finished, you'll end up with a cute little ravioli.




Place these little pieces one by one into the boiling water, and cook them until they float up to the surface. It should take between 5-7 minutes.
Drain them well, and top them with your favourite sauce. Homemade or otherwise! I used a tomato sauce, and served them piping hot with fresh bread and a salad.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday {better late than never!}

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's tuesday. Better late than never, right?

Today I bring you an incredibly simple (but delicious) recipe that can be whipped together for breakfast, lunch or dinner, using ingredients that most of us have on hand at any given time.

Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce with Spinach
-Eggs (amount depending on number of people eating & how hungry everyone is!)
-Tomato sauce (homemade or otherwise)
-Garlic
-Olive Oil
-Bread (the crustier, the better!)
-Spinach

Fill sauce pan with enough sauce to cover however many eggs you will be poaching, and let it come to a simmer. Add eggs and cover.
Meanwhile, saute spinach in olive oil and garlic until it is just wilted and toast bread.

Once eggs are set to desired doneness, remove them from the sauce and place them on top of your toast, with the spinach on the side.

So easy. So yummy.

(I wasn't feeling super hungry when I had this for lunch, so mine was eaten with some carmalized onions that I had in the fridge)

Meatless Monday {The first of many}

Carnivores. I am, and my family are guilty as charged.

We try to eat healthy. We also try to buy & eat local as much as possible, shopping at the farmer's market for honey and vegetables, and grocery stores that carry Ontario-grown produce, growing beans, tomatoes, lettuce and snow peas in the summer.. shopping at our local butcher and buying milk and ice cream from our 100% canadian owned and operated dairy. We can also get organic, farm fresh eggs all year round from a beautiful family-run chicken farm that is located 5 minutes from our home.

For the most part, I could do without meat. I don't need it to feel full, and I know that I can find the proteins from other sources. While I do enjoy seafood like no other (born and raised by the ocean - hello!) I could go weeks and weeks without missing meat.
My husband, on the other hand, is a carnivore. Plain and simple. He feels, quite simply, that a meal isn't complete without some form of MEAT.
I try my very best to come up with creative, nutritious and filling meals that are meat-free on a regular basis (at least twice a week) to show him that no, we don't need meat to have a beautiful, rounded meal.. and that there are plenty of healthy and yummy alternatives.

Behold. Meatless Monday was born.

This will be my first post, and every week from now I will be trying my best to post a healthy, delicious and completely meat-free recipe for yourself and our family to enjoy. Don't worry- I'll be sure to guiney pig my husband and kids first. ;)

9 Bean SoupYou will need the following dried beans:
- Whole Green Peas
- Whole Green Lentils
- Split Red Lentils
- Pinto Beans
- White Beans
- Red Beans
- Light Red Kidney Beans
- Black Beans
- Back Eyed Beans

You can find these at your local bulk food store. Stock up!! Dried peas and beans are a must to have on-hand in your pantry.

Other Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
3 Cloves of garlic, minced.
4 Stalks of celery, chopped
2 Cups of dried beans
5 Cups of vegetable stock
3 Cups of water
3 Cups of stewed tomatos (with juice)
S&P to taste

Soak beans in water for aprx 12 hours.
Saute onion, garlic and celery in olive oil for a few minutes until the onion is transluscent.
Add beans, stock and tomatos and cook over Med. heat until it comes to a simmer. Lower heat and continue to simmer for 1-2 hours. Add water & salt and pepper as needed, according to taste & preference.

Nom.