30th Birthday Barbecue

I've been 30 for five days now. I survived! I did so by drinking heavily (just kidding... kind of). But seriously, we had a great pool party and barbecue on Saturday. It was the perfect day. Friends, old and new, and family came, kiddos swam like fishes in the pool and Parker got to show off all his toys and play with some new friends. It was a great day, the weather co-operated, and we had great food to boot.

If you are thinking of hosting a party for 20 to 30 people, here's the game plan I followed:

1. Go out for dinner on the night of your birthday and eat a bunch of tacos and have a couple of drinks. Go grocery shopping at a store that you've never been to where you can't find anything and spend too much money cause you've had a couple of drinks. Get home and make some raspberry ice cream for the party two days from now.

2.  The next day go to your parents place for dinner after work and accidentally drink a bottle of wine. Get home at 11:30pm, rub your meat (the pork shoulder people, the pork shoulder) and make bbq sauce. Decide you're not tired yet and start on cupcakes. Go to bed close to 2am once three batches of cupcakes are finally baked.

3. Get up the day of the party, pop some Tylenol, and start on salads and appetizers. Which you will making for the next 6 hours. Realize a close to the party start time that you haven't showered, gotten ice, that you forgot to get about five things from the grocery store, and haven't been to the LCBO to get your beverage of choice for the party.

4. Panic. Drive faster than you should. Somehow get lost in a small town with basically two main streets. Swear. Miraculously get home within an hour, finish cooking by the time guests arrive, and proceed have a great time since you did everything ahead of time. Yay you!

On second thought, don't follow that schedule. You may want to plan things better. But ever'ting work out in the end mon. No worries.

Tyler made pulled pork. We are still working on the perfect barbecued pulled pork but it wasn't the perfect pulled pork. It was very good, but it didn't pull easily. I've only gotten pork to shred really easily cooked in the slow cooker, but that kind of negates the purpose of having a barbecue, right?

I made two salads to go with the pork sandwiches. They were my favorite part of the whole meal. I was going to make wild rice salad but I couldn't get wild rice at store I was at. They had about twelve other rices I'd never made before, but of course not the rice I needed. I improvised and made an orzo pasta salad instead that turned out so great. I could eat, and have been eating, it as a meal. Along with the other salad, a beautiful grilled corn coleslaw, these were the perfect sides for a summer barbecue.

What about the cake, you say? I had big plans for my 30th birthday cake. I had visions of layer cakes decorated beautifully that everyone would swoon over. Then a week before the big day I came to my senses and remembered that a) I suck at decorating cakes. b) last time I made a layer cake was for Tyler's 30th and I had a cake induced melt down that resulted in a 30th birthday marital spat. c) I'm just not that kind of girl. I'd rather have a rustic rhubarb crumble pie (I seriously considered this as my birthday dessert actually). So I met myself half way. The cupcakes I made turned out beautifully but were not too fussy. And there's cream cheese icing involved. Sold.

Here's the full menu:

*Fruit with Orange Creamsicle Dip
*Caprese Skewers (boccocini cheese, a small basil leaf, half a grape tomato on a toothpick. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar)

*Pulled Pork
*Greek Orzo Salad (recipe below)
*Grilled Corn Slaw (recipe below)

*Hummingbird Cupcakes
*Raspberry Ice Cream

GREEK ORZO SALAD

 Serves 10 as a side dish

I was trying to get everything done and not thinking about blogging the recipe, so I wasn't diligent in measuring, so measurements here are approximate. This is a simple recipe anyway- taste it, if it needs more of something just stir it in. It will work out. 

• 450g orzo pasta
• 1 English cucumber, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Vinaigrette:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• zest and juice of two lemons
• two garlic cloves, very finely chopped, or grated on a Microplane
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried dill

Cook orzo in salted water according to package directions- do not over cook- cook to al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Whisk ingredients for vinaigrette in the bottom of your serving bowl. Add drained pasta and remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

GRILLED CORN SLAW

Adapted from My Invisible Crown

Serves 10 as a side dish

• 5 ears corn, shucked and cleaned of silks
• 1 small red cabbage, shredded - a food processor makes quick work of this
• 2 red peppers, thinly sliced
• 340g bag carrot slaw (like this one from PC brand)
• 1/2 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Dressing:

• zest and juice of 3 limes
• 1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp honey
• salt and pepper

Grill corn on high direct heat, turning often, until charred- about 12 minutes total. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, cut kernels off cobs and add to a large bowl. Add remaining salad ingredients except sunflower seeds. Mix salad dressing ingredients in a blender or with an immersion blender. Toss salad with seeds and dressing just before serving.

Superbowl Food

It's Superbowl Sunday. If I was a good blogger, I would have whipped up these recipes, photographed, and posted a week ago. But I just can't bring myself to make recipes in advance of the actual event. That would mean making all this food and then the three of having to eat it, only to make it all over again for the Big Day. Not happening.

And really, do you really need a special occasion to make Soft Pretzel Bites with Buffalo Cheese Sauce? That is a negative. Any random Sunday will do, thank you.

I have been trying to make great soft pretzels forever and the never turned out the way I wanted. I wish I had stolen the recipe from the movie theatre where I had my first job. I worked at Wetzel's Pretzels kiosk. We made the dough on premises (whereas at Pizza Hut the dough came in frozen) but it never occurred to me to make them at home. I've even looked for a copy-cat recipe online, but to no avail. What made these different is usually pretzels are boiled in a baking powder solution, but Wetzel's just baked them. I'd never tried the boiling method until today because it just sounded like too much work. But it was a success, and honestly not much more difficult that straight baking them. 

One tip though- don't boil the pretzel bites for more than 30 seconds. The first batch I made I boiled them too long, more like a minute and a half probably, and they are kinda ugly. Yummy, but ugly, as you can see below. The one on the right is the one that boiled too long, the one on the left was boiled for just 30 seconds.

You can thank Pinterest for the Cookie Brownies. I didn't even repin this, but they were stuck in my head. Brownie Cookies? Crookies? Brookies? Whatever you choose to call them, they are over the top and delicious. Definitely for sharing though. I wouldn't trust myself make these if I were home by myself one night. It's bad enough that whenever I make chocolate chip cookies I save a container of raw dough in the fridge for snaking on. Cookie dough dipped in brownie batter? Game over.

One Year Ago: Crunchy Sesame Cookies

Two Years Ago: Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Three Years Ago: nada, Feb 2010 was a slow year at Four Seasons Kitchen

SOFT PRETZEL BITES WITH BUFFALO CHEESE SAUCE

• Ballpark Pretzel recipe from Chuck Hughes
• Buffalo Cheese Sauce recipe from Half Baked Harvest

Pretzel Bites:
Follow the recipe for Chuck's pretzels up to and including step 3. Rather than making large pretzels in step 4, rip a handful of dough and roll it out into a rope. Cut (a pizza roller works well) into 1/2-inch pieces and roll each into a ball. Continue with the rest of the recipe, however I omitted brushing the pretzel bites with egg wash.

When boiling the pretzel bites, work in small batches. I gather up and many as I can hold (gently!) in one hand and drop them quickly in one at a time, timing once the last one goes in.

Serve pretzels same day as they are made. If not serving immediately after baking, put them on a plate or in a container but don't cover or else they will get soft on the outside instead of staying crisp.

Cheese Sauce:
Make the buffalo cheese sauce following Half Baked Harvest's recipe. Keep warm in a small Crockpot if serving as a snack at a party. Or just eat it really fast, which shouldn't be too hard to do.

BROWNIE COOKIES

Method from Pin Cookie

You can use my favourite recipes that are linked below, or your go-to brownie and chocolate chip cookie recipes.

• Lentil Brownies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix up a batch of cookie batter and brownie batter. Tyler helped me and made the brownie batter for me, but if you are making both yourself I would suggest making the brownie batter first as it doesn't contain any leavener.

Butter a muffin min, either a standard sized tin or a mini muffin tin (I prefer how the cookies made in the standard tin turned out). Drop a tablespoon of brownie batter in each muffin well and spread to cover the bottom. Take about a tablespoon of cookie dough and press it flat in your palm to about the size of the muffin tin and put that on top of the brownie batter. Bake 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Spanish Tapas

Last week my dad and I went to a Spanish Tapas cooking class at Liaison College. Amazingly, I haven't ever cooked Spanish food. In addition to cooking Spanish food for the first time, I also ate an olive and beef liver (not together). I'd rather eat the liver again before than the olive, to be honest.

Tapas, if you aren't familiar, is basically small bites of food originally served in bars. You know, so you can still get home after drinking. Common Spanish ingredients are garlic, saffron, almonds, smoked paprika, and sherry. We made Chili Garlic Shrimp, Meatballs with Romesco sauce, Chicken Livers in Sherry Cream Sauce (except if was beef liver instead as they couldn't find chicken livers anywhere), and Caramelized Onion Soup. My favourite was the soup, and luckily this was the dish that my dad and I were assigned.

First we watched a demo of each of the four dishes, then each group cooked one of the dishes and everybody got to take home a portion of each dish. It's always interesting getting a group of strangers in the same room. We all gathered around the demo table and as the chef chopped and cook we could ask questions about what he was doing. You knew that some people were asking a "question" that they already knew the answer to, just to show they know stuff. Those are the keeners. I was not one of them (I swear!).

Aside from discovering I really like Spanish food, I learned a couple of neat tricks from the chef. There was a lot of garlic happening and the chef doesn't like using a garlic press, which I usually use, as it squeezes out too much juice and can overpower the dish. He peeled the garlic and then smashed it with the side of his knife before chopping it (like how you would smash the garlic to remove the skin but smash it harder. I looked for a video on You Tube to include here about peeling garlic but they were all over a minute long! It's not that hard, trust me).

The other interesting thing was I had put a lid on the soup pot after adding the broth in order to get it to come to a boil faster. He came by and asked if the recipe called for the pot to be covered. It did not, and he said that was for good reason. Without the lid the soup will reduce as it comes to a boil. I hadn't ever thought of that. Patience is key here, obviously. Still working on that- I had to go busy myself watching other people prepare their dishes in order to stop myself from covering the pot.

I had planned to make the soup and meatballs for dinner last night, but it was so hot out that I couldn't fathom making soup. We ended up turning on the air conditioning and then of course a storm blew in and it's back to long-sleeved shirt weather again today. Go figure.

The meatballs are made with pork and are definitely different from your standard spaghetti and meatballs with the addition of a pinch of cinnamon and pine nuts. The romesco sauce with them is the biggest revelation though. I'd seen recipes for romesco sauce but never tried it. I expected it to be served hot and taste similar to tomato sauce. In reality, it is served room temperature or cold, and it tastes like a vinegary roasted pepper mayo. It is absolutely delicious and you'll think of lots of ways to use leftovers, I'm sure. We ate the meatballs as a sandwich with the sauce spread on the buns. Delicious.

The Sherried Onion Soup with Saffron is a little like  French Onion Soup, but it is pureed and definitely has a Spanish flair. The amazing thing is it is creamy and rich but there is no added cream. Yes, the onions are browned in butter, but it is the almonds that make it creamy. So, if it has turned a little chilly where you are too, or just feel like soup on a hot day some reason, I have included the recipe for the soup below.

SHERRIED ONION SOUP WITH SAFFRON

Serves 4

• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
• pinch saffron threads
• 1/4 cup blanched almonds, toasted and finely ground
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 3 tbsp fino sherry
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds and chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Melt the butter in a large heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic, stirring to ensure they are thoroughly coated in butter. Saute until onions just start to turn golden. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover, stirring frequently for about 20 minutes, or until onions are soft and golden brown.

Add saffron and cook, uncovered, 3 minutes. Add almonds and cook, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes. Pour in stock, sherry, paprika, and 1 tsp salt. Season with plenty of pepper. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Pour soup into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return soup to rinsed pan and reheat slowly, without allowing soup to boil, stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if required. Serve immediately garnished with almonds and parsley.

MEATBALLS WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

Serves 6

MEATBALLS:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 cup breadcrumbs, fresh preferrably
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 pine nuts or blanched slivered almonds
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil

ROMESCO SAUCE:

• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large slice white bread
• 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, drained if from a jar
• 1/4 tsp each paprika and salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil

In a bowl combine all meatball ingredients except olive oil. Heat 1 or 2 large pans (if using 1 meatballs will have to be cooked in two batches) over medium-high heat. Form meat mixture into 1-inch balls, ensuring not to compact mixture too much. Saute meatballs in oil until well browned on all sides until cooked through. Drain on paper towels.

FOR ROMESCO SAUCE: While meatballs are cooking, bring a small pot of water to boil. Core stem end of tomatoes and cut a small X in the bottom. Drop tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minutes. Remove to a bowl of ice water. Peel and seed tomatoes. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and bread. Fry bread until golden on both sides. 

In a food processor, finely chop bread, almonds, pepper flakes, and garlic. Add peppers, tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper. Process to a smooth paste. Add vinegar and process to combine. With machine running, gradually add oil in a thin stream to make an emulsified sauce. Serve meatballs with romesco sauce for dipping.

Dip Night

Did you ever have "treat dinners" as a kid? Maybe you called them something else, but hopefully everybody gets to experience this growing up. Maybe it was "breakfast for dinner" or ham and cheese waffles like I read about in Bon Appetit. For us, we had two treat dinners- different at my mom's and my dad's. That, and tons o' presents and holiday meals at Christmas time, is the only plus in the broken home column.

So, at my mom's "treat dinner" (yes, we called it that) was cottage cheese and fruit. See, I come by healthy eating honestly. At my dad's, almost every Friday night we would have homemade pizza. I am declaring Dip Night the new treat dinner in my house.

How did this come about? I was looking through my hundreds of recipes saved on my computer thinking that I should make an effort to start cooking the older ones (i.e. the recipes that have now been transferred to three computers). I have a whole lot of dips saved- great for parties and potlucks, but how many dips can you really eat at once? Three, as it turns out. This post could have been called "An Orgy of Dairy", but lets keep it clean folks. With the dips we had pita chips and tortilla chips.

One Year Ago: nada

Two Years Ago: Gogeres, Pizza, and Best Ever Chocolate Cake

+ 

Stuffed Shells

Buffalo Chicken Dip is as amazing as it sounds. The author on Ezra Pound Cake calls it "pure man-bait" (are you reading this single ladies?). Get the recipe by clicking HERE.

Mediterranean 7-Layer Dip: I threw this one in to be at least a little healthy, and it turned out to be the sleeper hit of the night. Recipe below.

Goat Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip: I think I over-cooked this one so it was dry and we didn't eat a lot of it, but I mixed it into filling for chicken manicotti the next day and that was amazing. Get the recipe by clicking HERE

MEDITERRANEAN 7-LAYER DIP

Adapted from Cooking With My Kid

• 1 cup hummus, store bought or homemade (recipe below)
• 3/4 cup arugula pesto (recipe below), or store bought basil pesto (reduce to 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup tzatziki
• 1/2 cup black olives, sliced (optional)
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 green onions, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 2 large pitas, cut into wedges

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Bake 5 minutes or until golden on one side. Flip them over and bake until golden a crisp on the other side, about 2 more minutes.

Make hummus if using homemade and transfer to a bowl. Then make pesto- no need to wash food processor if you've scraped the hummus out pretty well. 

Spread hummus in bottom of your serving dish (mine was 11x7). Spread pesto over top, then tzatziki. Sprinkle over olives, if using, then tomatoes, green onions, and feta. Refrigerate if not eating immediately.

PANTRY HUMMUS

Traditional hummus has tahini, a sesame seed paste like peanut butter, but I don't keep that around just to make hummus. It's just as good without. 

• 1 14-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste if using no-sodium chickpeas)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• water

Place all ingredients but water in a food processor. Process until mostly smooth. Scrape down bowl, add 2 tbsp water, process again until a totally smooth, adding a little more water if necessary.

ARUGULA PESTO

This can also be made with baby spinach, or a combination of both. Great as a pasta sauce, on fish or chicken. 

2 cups arugula or baby spinach, washed and dried
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh basil (stems and leaves together are ok- they'll be pureed)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
water, if needed

Place all ingredients but water in a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down bowl periodically, adding water a tbsp at a time if needed.

Top Posts

I thought I'd jump on the new year blogging trend of sharing the top posts from last year... only in Four Seasons Kitchen's case, it will be of all time since I've never done this type of round up before.

It's also interesting to see how, and from where, people get to my blog. Google Blogger provides these stats, and it looks like I'm kind of a big deal in Russia.

I can also see search keywords that have lead people to my blog. "Cheese whiz nacho dip", "cheese dip", "nachos dip cheese" and "cheez whiz nacho dip" are at the top of that list. I'm not sure if I should be disappointed or thankful that at least I'm getting the reader traffic.

1. Vanilla Iced Coffee

2. Spicy Cheese Dip

3. Caldo Verde- my very first post

4. Lentils with Choizo, Brussels Sprouts, and Balsamic Vinegar

5. Tex Mex Lasagna (even despite the awful photo)

Thanksgiving

Image Bon Appetit

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year for my family on Saturday. This should be interesting, considering Parker doesn't like anybody but Mommy or Daddy to hold him. Despite inquiries from everybody as to whether they can bring anything, I am doing it all myself. Otherwise I'd be sending out an email such as this - The Thanksgiving Letter. Type A personality over here much?

Usually I end up writing a post after the holidays, but then nobody can use the recipes until next year (who's going to make another turkey between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Not I). And the reason I write this blog is to share recipes and ideas that people can use. So, here is what I will be cooking this weekend, along with a secret dish as long as I can find the ingredients for it. More on that later if it comes to fruition.

Anybody else hosting Thanksgiving? What are you cooking?

Images: Foodland Ontario, Bon Appetit, Cityline, Martha Stewart

Pre-Dinner Nibbles:
Cheese, Chorizo, Crostini, White Bean Hummus, Rosemary Fried Almonds

Soup:
Parsnip, Apple and Brie Soup - I tested this recipe last week and it is delicious.



Dinner:
Sage Butter-Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy - I made this for Christmas a few years ago and it was amazing!
Whole Wheat Stuffing with Bacon, Chestnuts and Parmesan
Italian Roasted Vegetables
Polenta in place of mashed potatoes cause I love it

Dessert:
Chocolate Pumpkin Tart - Tyler wants straight pumpkin pie, but being me I have to jazz it up of course
Lemon Tart

The Plan:
Thursday: Defrost turkey (I bought turkey parts rather than a whole turkey so that I can cook the white and dark meat seperately to ensure it's all cooked perfectly)



Friday: Dry brine turkey, start stuffing, make desserts, cut up vegetables, make secret dish, make soup (all this after grocery shopping and while Tyler is golfing, go figure)

Saturday morning: Cook vegetables, clean house, make almonds and hummus, assemble app platter

Saturday afternoon: Everyone arrives 3-4 pm, put in dark meat at 4:00, white meat at 5:00, 5:30 put in stuffing and secret dish, 6:00 take out turkey and rest, make gravy, polenta, put in vegetables to warm, warm up soup and eat soup

So we'll see how this all goes down, but I feel better having a plan. Wish me luck!

Summer Party

Tyler and I had our dads over for a barbeque on Father's Day and this is what we made. Everything turned out great! This is such an easy menu for a summer BBQ. Everything can be done before hand so the only thing to do is throw the meat on the grill. And get your drink on.

SALAD ON A STICK

Any kind of salad would work here. Just cut everything into bite sized pieces and stack on a toothpick. I got the tray and appetizer spoons for Christmas and I love them, but shot glasses would work just as well. Also feel free to come up with a more elegant name for this recipe.

Greek Salad on a Stick: cucumber, red onion, olive, feta. Dressing = olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, dried oregano, garlic, salt, pepper

Caprese Salad on a Stick:  halved cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, fresh basil. Dressing = olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper

FLANK STEAK TACOS

• 1/4 to 1/2 lb flank steak per person
• small tortillas

Marinade:

• juice and zest 2 limes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

 Toppings:

• hot sauce
• sour cream
• pickled hot pepper rings
• salsa

Mix marinade in a large Ziploc bag. Marinade steak 3 hours, turning and massaging meat a few times during this time.

Grill over high direct heat 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove onto a platter, cover with foil, and let meat rest for at least 10 minutes. While meat is resting, wrap tortillas in foil, about 10 per package to ensure they will all get heated through. Place on grill on indirect heat until ready to serve.

GRILLED CORN SALSA

• 3 ears corn
• cherry tomatoes, quartered
• juice and zest of 2 limes
• 1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantro or Italian parsley
• salt and pepper to season

Grill corn over direct heat until softened and charred in spots, about 15 minutes. Remove from grill and set aside to cool a bit. Cut corn off cobs, mix with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until serving.

LEMON STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES

• pound cake, store bought or I use this recipe from Serious Eats
• lemon curd, I used this recipe
• strawberries, halved or quartered and tossed with a little sugar
• whipped cream

For each serving, cut a slice of cake in half. Place one half on a plate, spread with some lemon curd, top with strawberries, other half of cake, and whipped cream.

Jalepeno Poppers or Death Boats to Hades

Ok I know this is a food blog, so I'll use a related expression. Couldn't you just eat him he's so cute? He helped hand out candy.

He's a frog, in case you didn't get it. AND I got all the materials for his costume at the dollar store. Again, in case you couldn't tell. I'm sure this is going to be a case of Parker wondering what the hell his parents were thinking ten years from now, but I'm pretty proud of myself.

I made BBQ Jalapeno Poppers (or, on October 31st "Death Boats to Hades") from The Pioneer Woman Cooks for a snack today. I forgot to put the BBQ sauce on them as directed in the recipe, but they were still delicious. Really delicious. I also sliced the bacon into smaller pieces and just laid it on top rather than wrapping it around the whole jalapeno as that seemed like a lot of bacon. I find that the easiest way to remove the seeds and white membranes is to use the tip of a potato peeler as it is just sharp enough (I use this to scrape out squash too). That being said, watch out for the bastard jalapeno. You know the one I mean- there's always a super hot one that slaps you in the face when you least expect it despite your best efforts to remove the all the really spicy bits.

I also carved a pumpkin for the first time in probably fifteen years. It didn't quite live up to the picture in my head. The mouth was supposed to be a spider. So I made the eyes lopsided too so that it looked intentional. I don't think it's bad for a first try, right? I think it's kind of scary. Or at least I freaked myself out a little when I took it into the bathroom with the lights off (cause there's no windows in the bathroom of course... does anybody else do that?). I have a new found love for Halloween. I even clapped my hands and hopped around a little when I was getting out all the Halloween stuff today. Too bad the book that I ordered from Chapters didn't come in time, but next year it is on like donkey kong.

One Year Ago: Creepy Halloween food

Hiding in Plain Sight + 1 Year!

It has been exactly a year since I started this blog! A year ago I wasn't sure how long I would continue this. I thought I'd just see how it went and I figured I'd lose interest after a while to be honest. I tend to do that with hobbies. I know I haven't been posting much lately- hopefully that will change as this baby thing gets easier.

Lately, however, I have been putting a lot of thought into how I can boost the nutrition in what we are eating. When I do get a chance to make something to eat when Parker goes to sleep, I want it to pack in as much vitamins, fibre, etc as I can without compromising flavor. I mean, if I want to eat mac n' cheese, I don't want some super healthy bastardization of mac n' cheese with tofu and cauliflower instead of noodles or some such nonsense. But I do want something a little healthier- and I hate side salads- so I try to think of some way to boost the nutrition a bit so as to not feel guilty about eating just a bowl of noodles and cheese for lunch. Plus I get a certain satisfaction from saying, "How do you like the mac n' cheese? HA! There's pumpkin in it and you didn't even know it!"

So, this post is about sharing some of the more creative ways I have been upping the nutrients in our meals.  Hopefully I will inspire you to trick your kid, husband, or yourself into eating just a little healthier.

Leafy Greens: For the last few weeks I have bought a tub of baby spinach or arugula to keep in the fridge. Then I find ways to use it throughout the week, mostly by throwing a couple of handfuls into the pan at the end of cooking and letting it wilt. This works great for pasta, rice, etc. and was delicious with a fried egg on toast (pictured at the top). I have even put a small handful of greens into my morning smoothie.

Pureed Pumpkin: I used canned pumpkin left over from making pumpkin pie in all kinds of things. Add a quarter cup to mac n' cheese or Kraft dinner and you won't even know it's there. I also put it into a spread for crostini (pseudo-recipe below).

Beans: White beans are delicious in pasta, or pureed with herbs into a hummus-type spread.

Frozen Vegetables: I would say throw frozen veggies into any number of dishes, except that I hate frozen veggies. I find them watery and gross. So what I do is thaw them, drain off any excess water, and puree them with tomato pasta sauce.


Frozen Peas: I'm sure you've caught on to my love of frozen peas by now- see this post and also this one- but I also put peas in anything that I think needs a boost of veggies.

One Year Ago: Inaugural Post with Caldo Verde recipe

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ROASTED GARLIC, AND CANNELINI BEAN SPREAD

I haven't listed measurements here for two reasons: I didn't measure as I made this and because it is really a throw together recipe that I came up with because I had all these odds and ends of leftovers in the fridge. 

• cannelini beans (also called white kidney beans)
• roasted squash
• pureed pumpkin
• roasted garlic cloves
• salt and pepper
• red pepper flakes
• splash of lemon juice
• olive oil
• fresh parsley, rosemary, or sage

Puree everything but herbs in a food processor until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add herbs, pulse a few times to chop herbs small and combine into spread. Serve on crostini, crackers, or even use as a sandwich spread.

What we ate for dinner...

I cook from recipes a lot. I read so many food magazine, blogs, cookbooks, etc that I collect a lot of recipes. I tweak the recipes quite often, depending on what I have on hand or what I feel would work for me, but the my inspiration generally comes from a recipe. What I cooked for dinners this week is a really good example of this, and everything I made was delicious so I wanted to share.

I started of the week with a recipe that I made up, actually. One of the best meals I had at a chain restaurant eating by myself, actually. I was in St. Catherines for work, and I ordered two appetizers for dinner- a shrimp dish and a spinach salad topped with phyllo-wrapped goat cheese. I figured both would be easy to make at home, and although I haven't attempted the salad yet, the shrimp dish has become one of my favorite meals.

The other three meals we had came from the summer issue of Food and Drink Magazine from the LCBO. I love this magazine- I would probably pay money for it if it weren't free, in fact. I always bookmark a ton of recipes in Food and Drink, but I never get around to making a lot of them as they aren't always weeknight meals. This issue, however, had more quick meals to make and they turned out fantastic.   

Monday: Greek Shrimp and Tomatoes with Feta and Crostini (recipe below)
*I got the pork and chicken for the next two nights marinating on Monday as well

Tuesday: Chipotle Pork and Pineapple Skewers with Basmati rice mixed with corn and peas on the side

Wednesday: Green Curry Chicken Summer Roll Salad (recipe in a coming post as I couldn't find it online)
*This was delicious, but the green curry flavor didn't really come through as it was only used in the marinade for the chicken. Next time I make this I would add about 1/2 tbsp of green curry paste to the dressing as well.

Thursday: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas (again, they don't have this recipe online so I will post it very shortly)
*The pastry for these is really delicious. To cut out the pastry I used a cup with a 4-inch diameter rim. In the filling, I used a few shakes of Frank's Red Hot Sauce instead of the chili flakes because my chili flakes have been around for a few years and I probably need to replace them. Plus I love Frank's on everything.

Friday: Ok, the low point in the week. We had frozen burgers from a box. I wasn't going to tell you, but there it is.

GREEK SHRIMP AND TOMATOES WITH FETA AND CROSTINI

Serves 2 but the recipe is easily doubled

• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes - I use PC Blue Menu diced tomatoes for everything. They only come in a 28 oz can, so use about half the can and refrigerate or freeze the rest.
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• shrimp, shelled and cleaned
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Crostini

• 1/2 a baguette, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• butter for buttering bread

Put olive oil and garlic in a skillet and heat over medium heat. I like to start garlic in a cold pan so that it doesn't burn. Once garlic is fragrant and sizzling, add white wine. Bring to a boil, then simmer until wine has reduced by half.

Add tomatoes with their juice and oregano, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and add shrimp in a single layer on top of the tomatoes. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook until shrimp are cooked through- they'll be pink and curled up- turning the shrimp once throughout cooking. They should take about 8 minutes total.

Meanwhile, for the crostini, toast the baguette slices. While they are still warm rub one side with the garlic clove and then butter the bread. 

Serve shrimp and tomatoes with parsley and feta sprinkled on top with crostini for scooping up the tomatoes and juices.

Easy Entertaining

We had people over for dinner every night this weekend- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thinking about what to make when we are having guests stresses me out a bit. I bookmark lots of recipes in magazines, etc that I think would be a good meal to make when we have people over, but when it comes down to it I worry that they may not like an ingredient or that it won't turn out right (following the old principle of never make a recipe for the first time for guests). I think I hit the jackpot with this menu though- nothing difficult, not fancy but not boring, things that everybody likes with a bit of a twist. Trust me on these recipes- even if you have company coming and don't have time to test the dishes before hand!

Gougeres with drinks*

Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza

Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Pizza

Best -Ever Chocolate Cake with Berry Coulis

GOUGERES

Makes about 24, depending how big you make them

Instructions below use an electric hand mixer. If you don't have one, beat with a wooden spoon instead but your arm will get tired. I didn't take a photo of these, but there's a good photo here

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups finely grated cheese - Gruyere is traditional, I used a mixture of Parmesan and sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put the butter and water in a saucepan with salt and pepper, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, dump in flour all at once and beat with an electric mixer on low until mixture is smooth and forms a ball. If dough is a bit wet, put the pan back over low heat and beat for a minute until mixture dries out a bit. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating with mixer on low until combined between each addition. Stir in the cheese. Fill a small glass with warm water. Using a soup spoon (I think those are what the big ones are called that come with your cutlery set), scoop a heaping spoonful of dough. Dip another spoon in the warm water, then use this spoon to drop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat, dipping spoon in water each time. Alternatively, dough can be piped onto baking sheet. Dough doesn't have to be spaced too far apart- gougeres will puff up, not so much out.

Bake 25-30 minutes- until puffed up and golden brown. Pierce the side of each puff with a paring knife after removing pan from oven- this will let the steam out so that they don't get soggy and/or deflate.

*the French drink these with champagne, but apparently they are also great with beer (I don't even drink beer when I'm not pregnant, so I wouldn't know)

TOMATO, FRESH MOZZARELLA, AND BASIL PIZZA

• 1 pizza dough
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes- either fresh or from a can (I use PC Blue Menu Diced Tomatoes for everything)
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 6 or so large leaves basil, thinly sliced (julienned, if you will)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with an oven rack on the bottom setting. Roll pizza dough really thin. Transfer to pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with tomato sauce. Scatter tomatoes over dough and top with slices of mozzarella. Scatter garlic all over top of pizza, making sure there are no big clumps of garlic (the garlic kind of roasts in the oven and gets delicious). Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp, and cheese is melted melted and dry (I don't know how else to describe that- if the cheese isn't cooked enough there will be little puddles of water on top of the pizza). Top with basil after removing from oven. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BUFFALO CHICKEN AND BLUE CHEESE PIZZA

• 1 pizza dough (I used a whole wheat dough- the ingredients will stand up to this more full flavored dough)
• 2 small or 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
• salt and pepper, to season chicken
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 tbsp Franks Red Hot Sauce
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (not fresh mozzarella)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with rack on bottom setting. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook in frying pan with oil over med-high heat until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Remove chicken to a cutting board and cool slightly. Roll dough as thin as you can and transfer to a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with hot sauce. Slice chicken thinly across the grain, spread evenly on pizza. Scatter blue cheese and green onions. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE CAKE

Go to Molly Wizenburg's blog Orangette for the recipe. I originally found the recipe in her book A Homemade Life. It was her wedding cake. Yum.

 For the chocolate component, I use 2 oz unsweetened chocolate + 5 oz Hershey's dark chocolate chips

This cake will keep 3 days at room temperature, or up to 5 days in the fridge. It won't last that long though. I suggest making this when you have people coming over that can help you eat it so that you and your husband don't polish it off yourselves within 3 days (not like that happened the first time I made this or anything)

BERRY COULIS

• 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (fresh works too- I just always have frozen berries on hand)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Strain through fine-meshed sieve.

This last bite of cake did not go to waste. Trust me.

Spana-what?

I made a new recipe that I had never tried before to bring in for a pot luck at work on Friday. I generally don't make new recipes for public consumption; I almost always test them first. I was also taking a risk bringing Spanakopita. Nobody knew what Spanakopita was when I put I wrote it on the sign up sheet, and people generally stick to what they know food-wise. There is nothing sadder than the pariah dish sitting alone and untouched at a pot luck. But I trusted the reviews on the Food Network and went ahead with the recipe. Success! They were all gone by the end of the day. One of my co-workers even ate three (that's my girl)!

One caveat, it took me two hours to make these, but I am slow at cooking for some reason. Rachael Ray's 30 minutes meals are 45 minute meals in my house. The recipe isn't hard to make, it's just time consuming to brush the phyllo sheets with butter, fold them up, bake, etc. You can, however, make Spanakopita in a pan, which would be quicker- just layer the sheets of phyllo with the spinach mixture instead of folding them up and cut into squares to serve. Baking time will be longer, but it's hands off time of course.

The recipe - here you go- calls for two pounds of baby spinach and one pound of phyllo dough. I used one pound of spinach and two packages of President's Choice frozen phyllo dough and the amounts worked out perfectly. Also, I didn't have quite enough butter, so I cut it with some olive oil, which turned out fine- I couldn't tell the difference. Sorry the photo isn't great- I forgot to take a photo until there was only half a Spanakopita left (dude, I was up until 11:30 at night making them and I had to get up at 6:30 am).