Reinventing a Diner Classic

My husband had a special request for dinner. It wasn't steak, nor was it pizza. It was a diner staple... A patty melt. Before then, I have never even eaten a patty melt but now I am hooked. It was so easy, and had rave reviews from the whole family. With a little prep during the day or the night before, you can use this diner classic on your busiest night of the week.

This is one of those meals that you don't need a recipe to make it. Just a few of your favorite toppings.

Make your burger patties about 4 oz, and cook all the way threw. In the winter, I cook them in a skillet, but in the summer cook extra patties on the weekend from the grill. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the patty melt night. ( if it's longer than 3 or 4 days, put in the freezer, but thaw before using)

You can use whatever leftovers you want. My husband likes caramelized onions and pickled jalapeño peppers. I like sautéed mushrooms and bell peppers. Add a little barbecue sauce or hot sauce or pesto and a cheese of your choice. I find shredding the cheese helps it melt easier, and it uses less cheese to save a few calories. All you do now is place your filling between two pieces of bread, buttered on the outside and cook like you would a grilled cheese sandwich. I like to use my panini maker.

How great would this be on the night where everyone is home for dinner at different times? How about on soccer practice night when you have 30 minutes to get out the door?

What I really like about this meal is the versatility. How about a chicken burger with tomato sauce and mozzarella for a Chicken Parmesan melt, or with a slice of ham and swiss cheese for a Chicken Cordon Bleu melt? Turkey burger with bacon, tomato and white cheddar for a BLT melt? Beef burger with sautéed peppers and onions and provolone cheese for a philly cheesesteak melt? Turkey burger cranberry sauce and brie?  The possibilities roll around in my mind until finally its time for dinner.

It's a Diner Classic for a reason. It's fast. It's easy. It's tasty. A virtual trifecta of suburban cuisine.

Pancake Tuesday

You've heard me talk about it before. Pancake Tuesday! The one day a year when it's okay to have pancakes for dinner without guilt. This year Pancake Tuesday happens to fall on swimming night. It seems to work out best to leave from the pool right from school. They have some tables set up where the canteen used to be. We'll sit and have a snack and the kids do some homework. We get back home where we have a quick dinner. Usually eggs. So the fact that Pancake Tuesday falls on swimming night is quite convenient.

For the last little while I've been thinking about making Pumpkin Pie Pancakes. It happens that I have one bag of pumpkin puree in the left in the freezer. Using whole wheat flour, oatmeal and flax seeds should eliminate most of the guilt of this carbohydrate laden dinner. Making healthier pancakes, you can afford a little spiced whipped cream. I only wish I had so apple syrup left. When my parents lived in Ontario, the were close to an apple orchard which made the best apple syrup. Not that there is anything wrong with maple syrup.

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats, ground
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp melted butter or canola oil
1 1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup pumpkin puree

Directions:
In a large bowl add dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk together.

In a skillet over medium heat, melt about 1 tbsp butter and coat the pan. Pour about 1/2 cup batter into skillet. Once bubbles come through the middle and edges no longer look fluid, flip the pancake to cook on the second side. Repeat until batter is gone.

Serve with syrup, whipped cream and/ or icing sugar.

Yum!

Did you know you can freeze pancakes? If you have leftover pancakes, place on a baking sheet lined with waxed or parchment paper. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or so, and place them in a resealable freezer bag. Reheat in the microwave for a quick weekday breakfast.

The Waiting Game

I had a busy day planned. Skating lessons in the morning, boy scout trip to the museum in the afternoon, followed by the neighbour's daughter's birthday party. That plan went out the window when we woke up to a cold house. With the two weeks of extreme cold we've been having, the furnace just couldn't take it anymore. So now I'm playing the waiting game. I put the fire on, and was looking for a reason to turn the oven on. I decided to make some muffins. I had some over ripe bananas in the freezer  so took them out to thaw. I don't cook a lot with bananas, actually it's an intolerance. I can't really be in the same room as a ripe banana, but in this case, sucked it up for my family. My husband likes banana muffins with chocolate chips, but I didn't have any. I did have some toffee bits. That sounds good. You've heard of banoffee pie? Well, here are banoffee muffins!

Banoffee Muffins

Ingredients:
3 mashed over-ripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup English toffee bits

Directions:

In a large bowl, add bananas, sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients and mix to combine. Don't over mix.

Fold in toffee bits. Spoon mixture into muffins tins that have been sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with baking liners.

Bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a baking rack.

Now that I have muffins to keep me warm, I can wait a little longer for the furnace guy.

Stay warm my friends

Child's Play in the Kitchen

I don't know about you, but my kids love to help in the kitchen. I've tried from an early age to include them in many aspects of cooking and meal planning. I believe this will give them a life skill, and encourage a healthy lifestyle into adulthood. I also want my kids to try new foods all the time.

This was one my inspirations for my next little project. I'm taking my love of cooking and a child's natural love of learning and creating recipes to do in the classroom. My first "assignment" is for my son's kindergarten class. I want to keep it healthy and fun while simple enough for a 5 year old to do... With supervision. I chose Strawberry Shortcake. My mom always made strawberry shortcake with sweetened biscuits, so in my school-friendly version I'm using biscuits made with oatmeal and whole wheat flour with a little honey for sweetness. Instead of the whip cream, I'm using vanilla flavored Greek yogurt.

Now, the number of servings for this recipe is low considering it's for a classroom, but my plan is to keep the work groups to 4 or 5. This will also work perfectly for home use. In the classroom, multiple quantities accordingly.

Oatmeal Biscuits

1 cup oatmeal, ground in a food processor
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tbsp honey

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add shortening and mix (with hands if you want) until it looks like coarse crumbs. Mix in milk and honey.

Turn dough out onto the table and form a flat disk. Cut out biscuits using a biscuit cutter or hand form small circles. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool slightly.

For strawberry shortcake, split in half and top with sliced strawberries and vanilla Greek yogurt.

Yum

Turn A Sick Day into a Prep Day

It's another chilly day here on Christmas vacation. Only 8 days left. My little one has had a bad cough for the last couple days so we are staying inside. But I was feeling a little like Old Mother Hubbard, and despitly needed a grocery store. All I had in my fruit & veggie drawers was half an onion, a wrinkled carrot and a very sad looking apple. My husband looked after the boys for a bit while I wandered the aisles of the grocery store.

Being stuck at home is not necessarily a bad thing. You can take the opportunity to prep the meals that are planned for the coming week. This is also a good habit to get into on shopping day. Wash and trim your fruits and vegetables, discard any questionable leftovers, blanch any vegetables you need for the next day or so, freeze meats into mealsized portions and mix any sauces you may require. Today, I made a batch of meatballs. Once they cool, place them in a freezer bag. They are now ready of a quick sauce for a quick dinner. I also cooked up a pound of bacon for our Sunday morning pancakes. You could also make a pasta sauce, cook up some meat for tacos or assemble an entire casserole (like mac & cheese) and freeze for future use.

Prep day can be an easy way to get ready an entire week of meals in just a couple hours. Prepping the night before is also an option. If you've put in the time prepping dinner before work, you'll be less likely  to choose take out or over processed meals. That's not to say you can't eat take out. But make a resolution to make it an exception, not a rule.

So, what's for dinner tonight?

Slow Cooker Arroz Con Pollo

I have some leftover rice in the fridge, so am using the slow cooker to make this Cuban classic.

Ingredients:
2 T canola oil
8 - 12 chicken legs
Salt & pepper
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 lg can diced tomatoes
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 T oregano
1/4 C sherry
1 C chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 t achoite paste (or saffron, or paprika)
2 C cooked rice

Directions:

In a skillet, heat the oil and brown the chicken legs, seasoned with salt and pepper. Transfer to slow cooker. Add onions and garlic (both minced) to the skillet and saute then transfer to the slow cooker. Add the diced tomatoes, half the peppers, celery, sherry, chicken broth, oregano and achoite paste. Cook on low 5 - 7 hours. Add remaining peppers and rice. Stir and cook for 1 hour.

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Enjoy

As Seen on TV...

Well last week I had a very unique and fantastic experience when it comes to my culinary life. I appeared on a local morning news/ magazine show called Breakfast Television.(www.btwinnipeg.ca) The segment was a holiday cookie exchange. I submitted my cookie recipe and was selected with 5 other recipes to be shared and exchanged on the air. That's me beside the cute blonde with the red t-shirt.

I didn't actually get to demonstrate my cookies, but it was so much fun.   Hey, BT: how about a segment featuring local food bloggers?!? I made 8 dozen cookies for this exchange, on top of the 12 dozen I made for my regular one. That is A LOT of cookies.  To see the segment as it aired, click here.

My recipe hasn't yet been posted on the Breakfast Television web site, but I can share it with you here. I love this recipe because it is so wonderfully simple. One of the things I look for in a cookie exchange recipe is to my egg-free, as the husband of someone in our exchange has an allergy to egg, and it is also gluten free. These are no-bake cookies - so anyone can make them, even if you don't like baking.

PEANUT BUTTER SNOWBALLS

2 cups rolled oats

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup honey

1/3 cup finely shredded sweetened coconut

In a food processor, pulse the oatmeal until a fine crumb. You should get about 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups ground oatmeal. Place in a bowl and add peanut butter and honey. Mix well.

Form into balls and roll in coconut. To freeze, place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and put in the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer to a cookie tin.

Makes about 3 dozen.

The variations for this recipe are practically endless. You can substitute 1/4 cup of the ground oatmeal for cocoa powder. You can use any nut-butter you wish, including the chocolate-hazelnut spread. You can roll in chopped nuts, chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

As an additional note, I used local honey for this recipe, from a farm near Treherne Manitoba. For more information contact: honey@trehernehoneyfarms.com

Now, its 2 days until Christmas and admittedly I'm not as organized this year as in past years. My shopping was only done last week (usually done by dec 1) and my Christmas cards are late as well. The tree is finally up and I'm about to start wrapping. This year, as with most years we are having Christmas Eve dinner at our place; my brother and his family host Christmas morning brunch and my mom cooks this big turkey dinner Christmas night. So with all this work left to do, and several big meals on the horizon, one may ask...

What's for dinner tonight?

My advice would be "Keep it Simple"; and that's just what I'm doing. I've defrosted a little ham nugget that I'll heat in the oven for 30-40 minutes; with some potatoes and green salad. No recipe needed. This should give us enough leftovers to keep my kids in ham sandwiches until after Christmas.

Time to "Wrap it up";

Happy Holidays!

Early Snow Brings Soup for Dinner

It's been an odd week for weather here on the prairie. Last week, it was 26C and sunny with no end in sight, today cold and wet; dare I say SNOW. Yes, there IS snow falling today. Needless to say the Family BBQ that was planning with the Boy Scout Group was cancelled due to the impending winter storm so I needed to come up with something using what I had on hand. We've had ground beef a couple times already this week, and I used up my leftover chicken.

This blustery day called out soup to me, which in my house means "slow cooker". But what kind of soup to make? Googled a couple things, and flipped through a couple slow cooker magazines until I came across "Sante Fe Sweet Potato Soup". I didn't have sweet potato, but I had an acorn squash. This could be good.

So, at 7:30 this morning, I'm sauteing onions and garlic, roasting peppers and peeling squash, trying to get everything in the slow cooker before getting to school as today was the day I was volunteering in Jack's kindergarten class.  Well, it seemed to have worked out, for when we came home at lunchtime, the house smelled great! I pureed and added my last few ingredients and there's nothing left to do until dinnertime, except maybe make some biscuits... and apple crisp. (I love the fall)

In the midst of this, I also made the mash potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. Don't worry. It's the "Make Ahead" Mashed Potatoes. Not only do you make them ahead of time, but you heat them up in the slow cooker. Ingenious! The last time I made them the recipe said to heat them in the oven in a casserole dish, but who has the room in the oven when making a turkey? This will save some much work and mess.

So, what's for dinner tonight?

Sante Fe Acorn Squash Chowder

It's probably worth a note, that this would work with almost any winter squash.

Ingredients:

1 T vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
4 C chicken or vegetable broth
1 acorn squash, peeled and diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 T New Mexico chili powder

1 potato, peeled and diced

1/2 t ground cumin

1/2 t smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste.

1 roasted red pepper

1/2 C pumpkin puree

1 can (approx. 10oz) evapourated milk

Directions:

In a pan, saute onion, garlic and celery in oil until softened. Transfer to a slow cooker. Place acorn squash, potato, broth, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 2-3 hours, until squash and potatoes are soft.  Add the red pepper. Using an hand held (stick) blender, puree the entire mixture. Mix int the pumpkin and milk.

Cook on low 2 -3 hours. Mix in lime juice and garnish with cilantro and sour cream.

As a note, do not use the slow cooker liners for this recipe if you are blending in the slow cooker. It WILL get chewed up. Remove the contents to blend in a traditional blender or food processor, or opt not to use the liner for this recipe.