Experimentation

Do you ever get to a point where following recipes makes you feel like the worst kind of cook? That's what I've reached.  Don't get me wrong, I loves me a good recipe. But I've found that lately I'll get the bare bones (general seasonings, oven temperature, and cooking times) and then run with it on my own.  And the results, thus far, have been DELISHUS.

It's been as hot and humid as the Devil's nutsack here lately, so turning on the oven (hell, even the stove) is a do not want. So we've been BBQ-ing.  Tyler informed me that he really disliked the pre-made/processed chicken burgers that I picked up at Costco, so we decided to just go straight to the chicken breast. And the pork chop.

I have a confession to make.  I'm in love with Smoked Paprika. No word of a lie.  A couple years ago when we were visiting a friend in Vancouver, I was cooking supper and all he had was Smoked Paprika (instead of the regular stuff I'd always used). I took a sniff and thought "Hmm, not bad" - that's how I test my spices, I sniff and determine if it "goes"- and proceeded to use it.

Oh. Em. Gee.

It's a subtle difference, but oh so tasty.  Then I apparently forgot all about it until a couple months ago, when I randomly decided to buy some of my own.

I've been attempting to keep up with meal planning too, in hopes of saving some money in the long run.  Has it worked? For the most part.  Wanting to slim down a bit has me trying to cut back on takeout but it's just so damn tasty!

I digress.

Last night, we had chicken breasts grilled on the BBQ. I sprinkled some seasoning salt, garlic salt, thyme, and a bit of smoked paprika and drizzled with a smidge of EVOO.  The results were amazing. On the side we had a greek-style pasta salad (although Tyler only ate 4 individual noodles because he is LAME)

Tonight, we had pork chops grilled on the BBQ.  I sprinkled garlic salt, smoked paprika, Epicure's 4-Pepper blend, ginger, sage, and brown sugar on one side of the chop, basic salt on the other side once it was on the grill.  Let them cook until probably about medium, then put them into a dish with a couple tablespoons of BBQ sauce (Bullseye Steakhouse) and then into a 225 degree oven until we were ready to eat.

The chops were juicy and cooked, and the flavour was amazing.  We had strawberry spinach (& almonds & feta & Kraft Pure Raspberry Poppyseed dressing) salads, and roasted butter, garlic, lemon, and parsley potatoes.

I love experimenting.  Tomorrow's supper isn't so fancy, just tacos. It is, after all, Taco Tuesday.

Updating

I swear, I'm going to get better at this. My cousin informed me that I would tempt her with drool-worthy pictures before, so I should probably get back on the saddle.

Stay tuned next week, I'll post some pictures and recipes (possibly a meal-plan or two).  I'll also be starting a more serious weight-loss regime, so if you've got any good recipes for that please let me know!

Menu-Planning Fail

Although, it can't actually be qualified as a Paige-fail because I was in the hospital.

Basically from Saturday, October 20 until Wednesday October 24, I was in the hospital getting my gall bladder removed. Wasn't planned, but apparently it was required. So I didn't cook at all that week, or the next week, but we cleared out all of the freezer leftovers!

This week will be better. I've got a plan that I'm going to stick to, and will make sure to take all the photos and give comments like I have in weeks before.

Week Two

Sunday: I didn't make anything because it was Thanksgiving (yay!)

Monday: Again, I didn't make anything because we had another Thanksgiving supper at the in-laws.

Tuesday: Green Eggs & Ham Quiche, Hashbrowns
The quiche was SO good. If I've learned anything about AllRecipes, you check the comments before making whatever recipe you've printed off. Why? Because 9 times out of 10, someone made an AWESOME suggestion to change things up and make the recipe outstanding. The recipe originally called to use the food processor on the spinach and basically blend everything into one green mess. Someone commented and said they left everything as a rough chop, so I did that. I also added bell peppers (about a cup) and green onions (about a quarter cup). I used 6 eggs instead of the 4, and then added an additional 1/4 cup of bisquick to compensate. Seasoned with salt and pepper, a bit of garlic salt & seasoning salt, and the teensiest bit of thyme. The result was flavourful and oh so tasty, not to mention quiche apparently freezes well so what we have leftover after a day or two (um, hello breakfast tomorrow!!) I'll toss in the freezer to reheat later.

Wednesday: Crispy Garlic-Ginger Chicken on Rice Vermicelli with bean sprouts and carrots
This chicken wasn't crispy at all. And mine turned out a totally different colour than the picture. I marinated it from about 2 until 6, unlike the 30 minutes it said to. Combining 3 tbsp of cornstarch with one single egg white is not fun. I minced my garlic and ginger rather than leave it as sticks, and I think that was key. Having a bite full of those would have suuuucked. Overall, I don't think I'd make it again despite Tyler saying that he liked it.

Thursday: Coconut Chicken with Sweet Chili Sauce, Rice
We decided to have potatoes instead of rice, and I added peas (how could I have forgotten a vegetable?!). This chicken was FANTASTIC. So so good. Nice and crunchy with a subtle coconut flavour, and when it was dipped into the sweet chili sauce... droooool. Tyler liked it even without the sauce, so that was full of win. I don't know why I put off buying Panko crumbs for this long. They just make things so deliciously crunchy! This recipe is a keeper :D




Friday: Chicken Fingers, Zucchini Sticks, Sweet Potato Fries
Okay. Friday was a fail. We had leftovers from Thursday that Tyler wanted to eat and the zucchini my mom had given me had gone spongey by Friday. So, we had leftovers and sweet potato fries. 
I didn't actually use the recipe. I mean, I used the timing and temperature of oven, but other than that I just made them how I would normally make fries... Toss in oil & a bit of seasoning salt and garlic salt, then onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Did 20 minutes, then turned them over and baked for another 15. They were okay. The flavour while eating was good, but I did not like the after taste of sweet potatoes. 

Hopefully week 3 will be better, a lot less recipes, a lot more of what I kind of throw together. 

Week One

Week One of the "official" meal planning went well. I had been doing meal planning for the couple weeks leading up to the first week we put everything on the website, but at least here I was taking pictures!

Sunday: General Tso's Chicken, peas, and rice. 

 Comments: So I ended up making peas to go with it, and hot damn. That chicken was delicious. Even my picky husband liked it. I have issues with this guy's sauces, in that they never turn out in the consistency that I think they should. Not to mention the 'make a caramel' step backfired and I burned my hand haha. So I ended up adding more water, and then put the chicken in a 8" glass dish, poured the sauce over it, and baked it in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. OH and I only put in 1 1/2 tbsp of the chili paste. I felt it better to have not enough spice than to have too much. And for us, it was perfect, but if you like it spicier then adding the full 2 tbsp would have been good.

 
 Monday: Strawberry, Spinach, Pecan (and Chicken!) Salad
Comments: I just made a giant chicken, spinach, strawberry, and pecan salad with the balsamic vinaigrette in the recipe for the salad, rather than double up the balsamic. I did, however, season the chicken (I sliced it into strips and cooked it with a bit of olive oil in a frying pan) with poultry seasoning and salt and pepper, which kept it from being too plain. Tyler enjoyed it, so I'd say it's a win!

Tuesday: Baked Spaghetti
Comments: I added a couple pinches of cinnamon to the sauce (as I do with all of our tomato sauces) and then used more cheese throughout the casserole. All in all, it was delicious. I agree that it made a lot of food, but I was able to share it with friends/family that live close to us. So win/win!

Wednesday: Turkey Chili and Biscuits
Comments: Okay. I failed on making biscuits because of sheer laziness. It was a grey day, weather wise, so I was just sluggish and tired as a result. As for the chili, I only loosely followed the recipe. I added coloured peppers (about a cup worth, and I used red, yellow, orange, and green), did two cans of kidney beans, two cans of Heinz beans in tomato sauce, two cups of chicken broth (although next time I'd reduce to 1 1/2 cups) and a bunch more spices than this called for. With all the additions, it definitely will serve 8 people. I just don't really like the chunks of tomato (I thought I had crushed tomatoes in my pantry but I've only got the diced) so I wanted to make them few and far between :DFor my first time, ever, making chili, this was an epic success.


Thursday: Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Quinoa, Steamed Broccoli
Comments: For our first time eating quinoa, it wasn't too bad. This recipe was actually pretty tasty, although I did alter the cooking method a bit (in that I put the garlic, thyme, and salt into the pot with chicken stock so that the flavours were absorbed better). The only issue was that it made a LOT. I don't know how they determined that it was 4 servings, but with Tyler and I each having a moderate amount, plus leftovers set aside for the next day, there was still probably another two servings in there. So next time, I'd definitely cut it in half.

Meal Planning

Um. So Paige fail at updating. I'm blaming baby and the fact that it took me a LONG while to get back into the swing of things, cooking and baking wise. Only within the last month have I had an inkling to bake, and I went full into it. I've got a freezer full of cookies to prove it. Okay, I lied. It's not FULL of cookies.

One thing I failed to take into account when I was pregnant, and then a new mom, was cooking. I guess I just assumed that making meals would be as easy as before, in that I could just kind of zone out and get it done. Boy, was I wrong. And I know, you're all laughing at me because this should have been a common sense moment. But trying to cook intricate things with a baby who is awake and/or demanding attention is just SO tough. Thankfully, Olivia is 6 months now and a lot easier to leave on her own. It sounds odd, but newborns are just SUCH a time suck. Now that she's older, I just plop her on her mat (or in her Jolly Jumper or Exersaucer or MamaRoo) and check in every 5 minutes as I do shit in the kitchen. Or put her in the high chair so she can watch.

But I digress.

This last month has been about getting back into my groove. With cooking and baking, sure, but also just with life. Getting into habits and routines with Olivia, and with myself. After Olivia was born, my number 1 concern (after recovery and taking care of an infant) was to not get PPD. I know that it's not something that can be willed away, but I like to think I was able to. By keeping a positive attitude even at 3 in the morning with a crying baby.

Low Fat General Tso's Chicken

I belong to this group of mom's on Facebook, some of which I know in real life and others that I feel I should know in real life (trips across Canada will happen!), and we recently decided that maybe meal planning is something we should get into. We talked about it for awhile, but nothing really came of it. So I,  with my uber-Type A personality, took it upon myself to create a website where we post what we're making each week along with comments on what worked and what didn't. We've also got a chat room where we discuss recipes for the following week. This week was the first one that we actually did that in (past 2 weeks I've just been doing it myself) and I think this is going to be awesome.

Today's dish (that I made) was Low Fat General Tso's Chicken, served with plain rice and peas, recipe courtesy of Rock Recipes.  This guy has AMAZING recipes. Last week we tried the Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts and mmmm.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken

I've found that I have issues when making his sauces, in that I think they should be thicker than they're turning out for me, but I've solved that issue by just putting the chicken in an 8x8 glass dish and baking for about 15 minutes in the oven. Allowed the chicken to soak in some of the sauce and allowed the sauce to thicken.

I think my plan for this blog is that I'm going to condense from having two blogs that I never update (my personal one and then my food one) and just kind of... mesh the two together. No one really cares about the stuff in my personal life anyway, or I just update Facebook and Twitter with it and call it a day. Either way, I'm hoping to take a photo of all the meals I make while doing the meal planning, and at least keeping in touch that way.

Recipes Ahoy!

With what I'm hoping will be an influx of traffic to this blog, I am going to post a couple different recipes.  I may or may not have set an entire group of 80 pregnant women drooling with my incessant photo posting... But I blame the one who started the photo album! I was just answering the call!

Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 cups low fat/reduced sodium chicken broth - Just my preference, so use whatever you normally would
6 cups water
3/4c lemon juice
3/4c orzo noodles
sprinklings of thyme and celery salt
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste



1. In a large pot, simmer all ingredients except the noodles for half an hour.
2. After 20 minutes, add noodles.
3. Thicken with 1 cup milk + 2-3 tbsp cornstarch.

Maple Apple Crumble

4 cups sliced apples
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup maple syrup

Topping
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ cup butter
¾ cup flour

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x13 pan

2. Place apples in the pan, sprinkle with cinnamon and toss with syrup

3. Cream sugar and butter together, add flour and spices. Sprinkle over apples.

4. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is browned. 

Turkey & Chicken Shepherd's Pie

1 package ground turkey or chicken
2 chicken breasts
4-6 potatoes, depending on size
2 c veggies that you want to add into the innards (I use frozen Green Giant ones)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small onion, diced
ground thyme, salt, pepper, basil, oregano
2 cups chicken stock OR 1 ¾ c water + 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 can creamed corn

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Boil potatoes until tender.

3. As potatoes are boiling, cook chicken breasts and brown the ground meat (I like to use a Foreman grill for the chicken) with your onion.  Once breasts are finished cooking, cube and toss into the mix with the ground meat.  Season with spices that you like, making sure to add a liberal amount of ground thyme (I use garlic salt/powder, seasoning salt, ground black pepper, and thyme).  Dump the meat into the dish you plan to bake this in (I use a 3quart Corningware baking dish, one of the weird oblong ones), along with veggies.

3. In the same pan you seasoned the meat in, combine chicken stock/water + bouillon and bring to a boil.  Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of milk, and add to the stock.  Add a healthy dose of thyme, salt, and pepper, along with some basil and oregano (couple sprinkles of each).  Whisk until thickened, and then add the meat and veggies into the gravy. 

4. As you’re letting your meat, veggies, and gravy get acquainted, your potatoes should be done. Drain them, and then mash them to your heart’s content. I like to add a bunch of milk to make them really creamy (and, truth be told, the runnier they are, the easier they spread).

5. Before transferring meat to the dish again, add your can of creamed corn. This sounds weird, but it totally makes it that much more awesome. Pour the meat/veggies into the bottom of the dish, and top with the potatoes, as evenly spread as you can make it. Sprinkle with cheese, then bake with the lid on for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly browned and the cheese is a-bubblin.