Taco taco taco taco time

I just love me some tacos :). In this month's issue of Food and Drink there is a tasty recipe for avocado and tomato relish. They top this on a burger, but since I was craving tacos, thought this would go well.


Tacos have to be THE best dinner idea for a split menu. All the fixings are the same, only different fillings. I'm normally a hard shell kinda gal, but tried the soft shells tonight.

• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 package of ground soy ( I love the PC version over Yves)
• 1 1/4 lbs of ground chicken or ground beef
• 1 can of mexican red beans, black beans or whatever beans you like
• 1/2 cup of corn kernels (optional)

Prepare the seasoning in separate bowls (one goes for the meat dish, the other for the veggie dish). This is also great if you want to control the heat/spicyness.

• 1 Tbsp of chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp of cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp of oregano
• 1 Tbsp of cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp of coriander
• 1/2 Tbsp of salt

1. Get yourself 2 large fry pans, one for the veggie, one for the meat.
2. In each pan, heat up 1 Tbsp of oil over medium heat
3. In veggie pan, add half of chopped onion and one minced garlic clove. Cook until soft (5 minutes)
4. Add soy veggie beef and continue cooking over low heat. Add half the can of beans.
5. In meat pan, add chicken/beef and cook until done. Take out meat and drain out any fat. In empty pan, add 1 Tbsp of oil and cook other half of onion and 1 minced garlic clove for 5 minutes on medium heat. Return meat to pan and add remaining beans.
6. At this point, you should have 2 pans, one filled with soymeat/beans, the other with real meat/beans :)
7. Add seasonings to each pan and 1/4 cup of water. Continue simmering on medium low heat. At this point you can add the 1/4 cup of corn to each pan.
8. For relish: Combine avocado, tomato, lime juice, chopped coriander, salt and pepper and mix well. The flavours will blend much better if everything is at room temperature.
   

This is my vegetarian taco. I smeared on some low fat sour cream, cheddar cheese, lettuce, my veggie filling and topped with the relish. Deeelish!

Pad Thai Wannabe

I can never get enough of Thai food; and my absolute favorite dish is Pad Thai. Now some places do it cheaply and instead of using authentic ingredients, will toss in (YUCK!) ketchup. Now I'm not claiming this is an EXACT replica, but it comes pretty close.
Making this as a split dishes requires 3 pots and pans (which is as low as I could make it)

Tangy Thai Peanut Sauce
In a magic bullet (yipee) or a food processor, combine the following and blend well.

• 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp of roughly chopped ginger
• 1/3 cup of Cashew butter or Peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp of Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp of Rice Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp of lime juice
• 1 Tbsp of sambal (or chili sauce)
• 1 tsp of honey
• zest of one orange
• 1/4 cup of chopped coriander
  

Next, chop up all your veggies. I used whatever I could find in the fridge: Broccoli, Napa cabbage, snow peas, Chinese greens, celery and carrots. For the last two, I chopped them into matchsticks so they would mimic the noodle shape.

With the vegetables, I chopped up 1 Tbsp of ginger and garlic.

Pad Thai Wannabe

• 6-8 cups of chopped vegetables
• 1 Tbsp of ginger and garlic
• 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil
• a couple of handfuls of linguine, or fettucini noodles (or if you want, egg noodles or rice noodles)
• 1 chicken breast (seasoned with salt, pepper and bit of olive oil)
• 1 meatless chicken breast (President's Choice)

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot. Season with salt and add noodles. Cook for 10 minute
2. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, skillet or grill pan, cook meatless chicken (from frozen) for 5 minutes per side. Set aside on plate when done and slice into strips
3. In the same pan, cook Chicken on both sides until done (6-8 minutes per side). Set aside on another plate when done and slice into strips
4. In a wok or large skillet, heat up 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add ginger/garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add vegetables and cook until just tender (around 4 minutes). Remove veggies to a bowl.
5. If pasta is done, drain and reserve about 4 cups of pasta water
6. At this point, you have a large pot, a wok and a skillet. Use the skillet you cooked the chicken in for the "meat" dish and the wok for the vegetarian version (yeah, no cleanup!)
7. To pot/skillet, bring back chicken and add half of the Tangy Thai Peanut Sauce. It will be quite thick, so add 1 1/2 cups of pasta water. Add in half of pasta and veggies.
8. Blend until coated, added more pasta water if necessary.
9. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and some crushed peanuts

ETA: This was soooooo good. I'm patting myself on the back. I'm glad I made extra mmmm leftovers.

Roasting Butternut Squash goes a long way

I'm hoping that with some guidance from some great photographers, my blog foodie pics will resemble the food porn pics I've coveted in the past. Now, back to the food :)

If you happen to have a couple of free hours on a Sunday afternoon, I suggest roasted a couple of butternut squashes. By slicing a couple of squashes (you can leave the skin on), adding some olive oil, salt and pepper, you will be justly rewarded with some sinfully sweet vegetables.

Roast on a aluminium foil coated cookie sheet at 400C for 80 minutes. They can last at least 4-5 days in the fridge, but guaranteed you will be tended to use them all up before then.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

Once you get the hang of risotto, I guarantee you will want to make this again and again. Here are few tips

1. Strong Arms. Making 1 cup of risotto isn't so bad. Making 3 cups (enough to serve 6-8 people), you'll need a very strong arm, or a relief pitcher
2. Make sure to really coat your rice with the butter/oil. This will give it a nice creamy and nutty taste later on
3. Stir stir stir on a medium low heat. You know it's time to add more stock, when you can make little canals inside your pot as you stir.

• 1 Tbsp of olive oil and butter
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 shallot minced (or 1/4 cup of onion)
• 1 cup of white wine
• 5 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of Arborio Rice
• half of roasted butternut squash
• 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan or asiago cheese

1. In one saucepan, gently heat up stock
2. In another large saucepan, melt butter and heat oil over medium heat
3. Add garlic and shallot. Cook for 1 minute
4. Add risotto, toss to coat and cook 1 minute
5. Add white wine and continue stirring until almost all the moisture is gone
6. Ladle one cup of stock at a time. Allow to absorb until adding next ladle
7. Remove squash from skin and add to risotto. Stir in cheese
8. Serve hot
   

I served this risotto with a Meatless Chicken breast from PC for me (husband got the real thing). I wanted to try the Meatless Chicken on its own (no sauce or added flavours. IT does have its charm, but could use a little something. When I asked my husband to take a bite, he agreed that it was the equivalent to boiled chicken.

I also had some yummy sauted watercress. If you can, get the real stuff, not the hydroponic flavourless crap they now seem to have everywhere.For the watercress, I sauted some garlic and ginger in oil in a skillet, added the rinsed watercress and cooked until just wilted.

My favorite split menu dish: Beef Stew

This was one of our favorite and first split meals that my husband and I made. This is one that I can help him chop up the veggies and then sit back and watch while he does the rest. EASY :)
It doesn't warrent an ingredient list or even instructions, but I can provide some tips.

1. To make life easier for my kitchen novice husband, we use a Club House packet of Beef Stew and basically follow the instructions.
2. While he is browning his beef in one dutch oven, I'll chop up onions, carrots, celerey and potatoes and split them equally into two bowls (one for me, one for him)
3. In my dutch oven, he will brown my veggie meatballs (I love the Oh Naturel from Schneiders)
4. At this point, you just follow the instructions on the package. I really don't know what else goes on since I'm usually in the living room painting my toe nails :)

Anywho, I usually throw in a Bay leaf and some barley while the stew simmers. And like all stews it ALWAYS tastes better on the second day. And no pics because... like I said, it tastes very good ;)

Finally!!! An amazing alternative for chicken breasts!

This will be a quick little post. When I saw that President's Choice had launched a meatless Chicken patty I was kinda skeptical. It's made with Gardein which I'm not a huge fan of.

BUT! PC has definitely changed my mind with this new product.

1. The price is great. 8 patties for 9.99. That's almost the same as buying any of their "real" meat in a box
2. It holds its shape during cooking. Which means you can BBQ it, slice it and stir fry, pan fry etc.
   
3. It actually has a nice texture. Not too soft like Tofu, but not chewy like past "fake meat" products.
4. AND FINALLY! It cooks like chicken. Which is REALLY IMPORTANT when doing any kind of split meal. Your recipes, methods and cooking times don't have to change or adapt.

Last night I used a patty in my fajitas. They cooked quickly and absorbed all the yummy spices.

Now that I've got a freezer full of these guys, I'm really excited about trying out some chicken recipes I've passed on before. Tune in since I'll be posting lots!!!

Anywho, I suggest you go and buy it and try it for yourself. Available in the freezer section at any Zehrs, Lobalws, Real Canadian Superstore.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Perogies

There is something very comforting in a nice warm bowl of soup. Especially on days when you come home wet, tired and hungry. Again, thanks to Fine Cooking magazine, I was able to throw a couple of standard staples in my pantry to make this soup. I've kinda merged two of their recipes, which just goes to show you how versatile it really is.
To make this soup anytime, I would suggest always having these items in your cupboards: Canned diced tomatoes and a jar of roasted red peppers.


Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• 1 Tbs of olive oil
• 1 Tbs of butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 Tbs of flour
• 3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1 roasted red pepper, diced
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1. In a large dutch oven, heat up oil and butter over med-low heat
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft (8 minutes) You want the onions to be brown but not burnt. The longer you spend time on this, the sweeter the onions will be :)
3. Add flour and stir to coat
4. Add broth, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, sugar, thyme, bay leaf and 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer.
5. Reduce heat, and cover. Continue cooking for 30 more minutes.
6. Remove bay leaf. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend until creamy.
7. To top it off, I add a mixture of goat cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper a little bit of olive oil.
   

While the soup was simmering and continuing with slow cooking onions=sweet, I decided to make some perogies. Thinly slicing some onions and cooking them with some oil over a low heat in a large skillet. I seasoned with some salt, pepper and herbes de provence.
Pulling the perogies from the freezer and boiled them for about 5 minutes. Drained and tossed them in the skillet with the by now shruken golden brown and sweet onions.

Something comforting for those cold winter nights

This month's issue of fine cooking magazine has been a tempting and tasty read. So far I've tried two of their recipes and I have a feeling this issue will be dogeared and covered in stained in NO time.

Tonight I tried making their Classic Baked Macaroni & Cheese. It's pretty straight forward and if you follow the instructions and TAKE YOUR TIME (which I'm guilty of NOT doing when making M&C) it turns out beautifully.

Here is my modified version (theirs feeds an army and I also used whatever cheeses I had on hand). Instead of breadcrumbs, I smashed up some garlic and rosemary croutons and I also added some nutmeg and chili powder (omitting the Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce)

Classic Baked Macaroni & Cheese

• 2 Tbs of butter
• 1 Tbs of olive oil
• 1 med onion finely diced
• 3 Tbs of flour
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 2 cups (5oo ml) of Homo milk (heated)
• 1 tsp of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (I used a combination of old cheddar, Monterrey jack and goat cheese)
• pinch of nutmeg and chili powder
• 4 cups of small pasta (shells or macaroni)
• 1 Tbs of olive oil to coat your baking dish
• 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
  

1. In a heavy bottom pot, melt butter and oil over medium heat. In another pot, begin boiling water for pasta
2. Add onions and cook until they are softened (4-5 minutes)
3. Add flour and cook for 1 minute
4. Add mustard and whisk in warmed homo milk
5. When mixed, add thyme, nutmeg, chili powder, bay leaf and a pinch of salt
6. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Begin cooking pasta for 10 minutes.
7. Add the cheese to the sauce and mix until blended (don't over blend or it will get oily!)
8. Drain pasta and mix with cheese sauce
9. Add pasta mix to baking dish and top with breadcrumbs
10. Bake at 400 C for 15 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.