Another Happy and Tasty Chicken Accident While Making Supper Part ....

Hello:

Been awhile since one has been writing about adventures in cooking and I hope to remedy that by contributing on a more frequent basis.

And since it is my privilege now to help cater the wedding for my oldest niece, I hope to write up these culinary creations as one goes on a  journey to the big date.

But tonight, one created a happy accident for myself and Cindy.

Put some skinless, bone in chicken breasts in a skillet.  Seasoned them with a Lemon Herbs mixture for Chicken and Fish and added about one eight of an inch of water and kept that level while cooking.

Turned on double burner element, to 6-8 for about 25-30  minutes as one cooked the breasts for about 15 minutes a side and flipped.

Turned it down to single burner about 4-6.  Splashed in a pomegranate balsamic vinegar.  Once around the pan.  I know .. so precise!  But good cooking is experimenting and by sight, feel, touch, smell.  (Note -- I think a cranberry balsamic vinegar would work well.   And I would also try a blackberry-ginger balsamic).  Further Note -- the lemon herb mixture might create a smell you do not like.  That is good.  That is what led me to try the vinegar.

This is plated with a side of Home fries spiced with a Southern Hickory Spice mixture.  Very nice flavour.  A little spicy.  Also mushrooms and onions were cooked in the fry pan while finishing the chicken.

And the chicken is drizzled with a nice ranch dressing.

Very Tasty.  Good cooking is often the result of an accident.  And after 35 years of learning and experimenting it is an adventure I love to embark upon.  Would do this Lemon - Pomegranate - Ranch Chicken Dish again.  Almost ate the extra chicken I had cooked!

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

Bring on the Sand!

Giving credit where credit is due, this recipe adaptation comes from the following idea:

http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/sand-n-sun-smoothie/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jointhereboot%2FuoBr+%28Reboot+With+Joe%29

What I appreciate about the recipes found on this site is he offers many substitution ideas.

With that in mind, I thought I would change the recipe and make it more about the Sand then the Sun.  And I think it works as a more filling type of smoothie.  You dear reader, can in the end, tell me.  Try the recipe and then try what I am going to suggest.

Ingredients

1/2 of a cored Pineapple.

3 Cups of Coconut Milk.  So less liquid then the original recipe.

Equivalent of 2 handfuls of a Spring Salad Mix

2 Tablespoons or so of Peanut Butter

At least 1/2 cup of Hemp Hearts

1/2 to 3/4 cup of Raspberries or berries of choice.

Count out a 1 second squeeze of Lime Juice.  Mine is more than a splash!

Combine and blend for 45 seconds

Additional Notes:

Think I will add some Ginger next time.  Can't hurt!

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

When An Adventure Goes Well in the Midst of Delightful Company

Last week I returned to, in the words of some of the locals in my Dad's hometown of Alma, NB, the foreign country of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  To share in a wonderful evening of making and sharing a meal and meeting new people.

What was the meal?

I was tasked with making a new sauce to marinate and cook some salmon and boneless chicken thighs.  Note -- my preference is Chicken thighs.  Sorry all you white meat chicken lovers.  Give me the thighs.  Only went boneless because I wanted both items to cook at the same time.  In other circumstances, I would go with bone in thighs and trim the skin and fat.  Leaving a covering of skin with most of the fat scraped or cut away.

Further Note -- This Sauce could have been made with Herbs Provence or a Tuscan Herb mix with some Heat as a contrast to the Ginger.  I chose the Herbs Provence to start and plan to do another version with a Tuscan Herb mixture but only if the mixture has heat.


Raspberry - Herbs Provence with Ginger Sauce

Raspberries

Balsamic Vinegar

Grape seed Oil

Herbs Provence

Ground Ginger

Stevia for Sweetening Agent or also add Agave Syrup, Liquid Cane Sugar or Maple Syrup

Combine, blend  and let sit for at least one day and then taste and then adjust to get what you desire.  If you want more bite you in the mouth zing.  Add more ginger.  If you want just the herbs and ginger to make a claim that they are there but not too noticeable then add these ingredients slowly.  Took me a couple of days to adjust the taste and leave the herbs and ginger to be not too noticeable.

As a Finishing Touch after the meal is cooked and plated, I would add the following.  Orange Zest and/or Hot Pickled Eggplants.

That night I sliced a Turkish Jalapeno and the hot zesty zing of that was a Wonderful Complement to the meal and the sauce.  Mind you.  Others might disagree.  Bite the bullet and try it.  Maybe with a little less heat.

An Unexpected Surprise?  Was the afterglow of the ginger in your mouth as one savoured the meal.  I did not add too much ginger to make it noticeable in a taste test prior to cooking the meal.  What one noticed most in tasting before cooking was the vinegar and raspberry with the herbs and ginger making a claim that they were there.  But its effects were noticed after cooking in the after glow taste, as one enjoyed the meal.

Now I know none of the above gives you any help in deciding how much to add.  Sorry.  This recipe was a entirely an adventure and when I make it again I will try to figure out some measurements.  So enjoy the adventure.

And many thanks to Samuel and Rebekah for hosting a wonderful evening.  Look forward to another time.  Thinking a top sirloin or prime rib small roast done in a cast iron fry pan.  Covered with a lid and drenched in balsamic vinegar and herbs.  Slow simmered for 4 hours or so on the stove top.  You will make vows to not sop up the tasty reduction sauce/gravy as the roast cooks but before you know it the gravy will be gone and bread crumbs will be on your face.  And you will wonder; how did that happen?

But that is a tale for another day.

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

A Tasty! Unexpected! Roasted Flax/Garlic Hamburger Surprise!

Yes.  Before anyone says.  I realize the title for this Blog Posting is a little chopped up.

But this was tasty and unexpected to be so tasty that I wanted to emphasize how unexpected and tasty it was.

This recipe made four large 4 ounce burgers.

I used Omega Crunch Shelled Flax Roasted Garlic to mix into the burger mixture with one egg and Clubhouse Garlic Plus.  And I topped my burger with Aurora Hot Pickled Eggplants.

Delicious!

Ingredients

1 pound to a pound and 1/4 of one grind burger.

--  Has a more coarse texture.  Now that I have used it there is a definite preference with this writer for it.

Handful of the Omega Crunch Shelled Flax Roasted Garlic.  My hand means a good amount.  Sorry.  I don't measure.

1 large egg

Clubhouse Garlic Plus

Combine and cook in pan.  The smell of the garlic flax as the hamburgers cook, is very enticing.  Make you want to come out into the kitchen and see what is cooking.

If you want to heat things up, top your burger with the Aurora Hot Pickled Eggplants.  Forgot to take a picture of burger topped with eggplants.  Might do so tomorrow.  Great taste!

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

A Journey With a Recipe

This post is to prove that I do own cookbooks and am sometimes inspired by a recipe in these books to create something that takes the recipe and changes it into something similar but different.  Based on the ingredients that I have on hand.  I have said it elsewhere and will say it again, good cooking comes from combining flavours and experimenting with what you have.

The recipe in question comes from the cookbook, Denise Austin, Eat Carbs: Lose Weight.  Talk about a current counter revolutionary statement regarding the state of cooking in today's culinary atmosphere.  There are good carbs and there are bad empty carbs.  I have always been for eating good carbs.  Maybe I will post someday the summary article on the whole gluten free discussion found in a recent Atlantic Monthly.  But I digress.

Here is the original recipe in question.  Which I have used as my base or point of departure for many of the Banana Bread recipes that I make.  If you are not feeling adventurous, this is a pretty good recipe to just stick with and be safe.


Banana Nut Bread

2 Cups whole-grain pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1  large egg

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)  Note-- if you have 3 bananas or even 4 you can use them.  Just add another egg for each banana if adding no extra flour.  Eggs makes for light and fluffy with extra bananas and extra flour with egg makes for some more density to the bread.  1 egg with 1/2 cup flour if you want to use the 4 bananas.

Just experiment.  Enjoy the adventure!

1/2 cup light vanilla yogurt.  Light or not.  Use the yogurt!

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat to 350 degrees.  Mix and bake for 45 to minutes.  I am not great stickler for mix wet and dry in separate bowls.  Just mix together.

This is the standard recipe that I use and the variations are only limited to the imagination.  Next time I make one with the cocoa powder and cranberries I will post a picture.

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

Great Food Makes for Times of Great Fun ..... Really? It Can!

This past Tuesday, was a special EA Cafe, which also marked a birthday for me.  Each Cafe is a fun, must do time for me now and this past Tuesday was all the more special because of what people did.

Two of our new helpers came along to help us make Shepherds Pies for the Boys and Girls Club of Saint John.  The willingness of people to help is truly a blessed thing to witness and receive.  As I believe we are created in the image of God, I believe we are then created to be active, creating and giving.  When we act in these ways, we enrich ourselves and those who are blessed by these actions.

Good laughter, and discussion of birthdays past and approaching made the preparation work very light.

To top a Shepherds Pie I like to mix Garlic and Chopped Sundried Tomatoes into the mashed potato mixture.  Sorry people, but of course I use butter with the milk.  Many thanks to the East Saint Food Bank for supplying the big bag of Sundried Tomatoes for me to use in feeding people through the church activities.

Chicken thighs were on sale this week and they had slow cooked in a large portable oven with a timer for 8 hours.  With Costco Organic No-Salt Seasoning and Costco Dehydrated California Garlic.  Folks, a little preliminary work often can yield amazing results.

Thighs were deboned and the meat stirred into finely chopped onion, celery and shaved carrot.

This mixture was then cooked with tumeric, pepper and thyme.  275 -- 300 degrees to just heat things through and maintain crunchiness of vegetables.  Nice simple mixture of spices to not confuse the flavours.  One of our good cooks who helps at the Cafe when he is home from his job as a long haul trucker, prepared the mixture.

Croissants were sliced in half and the mixture spooned on.  With some mayo.

The good folk of the church had made several, many several, types of cupcakes to mark the birthday celebration.  And I had a dilemma.  I had to try at least one of each cupcake so I did not offend the cooks!  It was a tasty dilemma.

One youngster came in and left with one of each in a take home pack.  It was a pleasure to let him have a great day by being able to let him think he had acquired a great yummy treasure.

Great Food made for times of great fun this past Tuesday.  I can only hope that as you journey in this life, you might have times to gather with others and using simple ingredients create wonderful meals.

Happy Eating

Grace and Peace

Some of the Products I Use

This shall be an ongoing updated list.  I want to list some of the products I use when creating.  I only hope the companies will appreciate the advertising as I have not obtained copyright permission to post the pictures of their products.  I want to post the pictures eventually as we are a visual culture.

Litehouse Organic Raspberry Lime Vinaigrette

-- this makes for a great sauce for cooking poultry.  I will share the recipe later.

Litehouse Lite Greek  Vinaigrette 

 Litehouse Sesame Ginger Dressing

Classico  Basil Pesto


Vanilla Yogurt -- what's your favourite?


Costco Organic No-Salt Seasoning -- cannot say enough good things about this mixture.  Don't have a membership but know someone who knows?  Ask, ask and ask again that they buy a bottle of this for you.