Family favourites (old and new)
One of my favourite Thai soups is Tom Kha Gai. It’s a mildly spicy soup with coconut milk to add a bit of body and flavour. For this soup I used the Thai Tom Yum Soup spice paste from Asian Home Gourmet. It’s a bit …
Sugar cookies are a favourite at our house and we’ve tried many recipes but the best one I’ve found is this one that came courtesy of a cookie exchange I did years ago with my “Mom + Tots” friends (they know who they are ;)). …
If you have a bread maker it’s easy to use the dough cycle to make home made pita bread. This recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens® More Bread Machine Bounty. It’s actually got a lot of great bread machine recipes in it.
3/4 c. milk (brought to room temperature…microwave it for 30s)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 c. bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp dry active yeast
Add ingredients in the order listed. Select the dough cycle on your bread machine and press start. When cycle is complete remove the pan, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough into 8, roll into smooth balls and roll dough balls into 6″ circles on a lightly floured board. Place pita rounds on two cookie sheets lined with parchment. Cover and let them rise about 30 minutes.
Bake pitas 5-7 minutes flipping after the first three. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
Makes 8.
Wild rice salad is a great power packed lunch. It is gluten free and you can add whatever ingredients you have on hand to jazz it up. I saw one recipe that called for seedless green grapes and toasted pecans instead of almonds. Really you …
I haven’t stuffed zucchini…ever. So I thought I’d try it. I cheated on the risotto (lazy) and used a 170g box of President’s Choice, Splendido La Cuchina Italiana Butternut Squash Risotto. I added some bread crumbs but in hindsight it probably wasn’t necessary. Ingredients 1 …
Raisin oatmeal bread with peanut butter is a quick and nutritious way to start your morning (unless of course you are allergic to peanuts). I have an ancient bread machine I got on points back and I haul it out every once in a while (I should do it more often). It came with a recipe booklet and one of the recipes was for Raisin Cinnamon Bread. I adapted this one by adding large flake porridge oats for a bit of extra umph. It’s a heavier bread but I like it.
1 egg + water, lukewarm
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp powdered milk
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 c. white flour
3/4 c. large flake oats (I used Rogers Porridge Oats with oat bran, wheat bran and flaxseed)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 c. raisins tossed with a bit of flour to keep them from sticking together.
Crack the egg into a 2 c. measuring cup and fill with lukewarm water to the 1 1/4 c. mark. I had just a splash of whole milk left so I used that to make up the 1 1/4 c. of liquid. Add it to the baking pan along with all the ingredients, in the order listed, except the raisins. Put the baking pan in the baking unit, close lid (duh) and select the SWEET dough setting and the 1.5 lb loaf setting. Choose light or dark crust. Push start (I love bread makers). At the “Add Ingredients” beep add the raisins.
When the bake cycle is completed, remove the the backing pan and turn out the bread (remove paddle after the bread has cooled). Cool on rack before slicing.
I had left over coconut milk from something or other that I needed to use up so I tried out the coconut pastry cream recipe from the Triple Coconut Cream Pie recipe in Tom Douglas’ Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. I cheated a bit…didn’t have any vanilla …
With or without meat, lasagne is a healthy and filling meal. Add in layers of vegetables and it packs a tasty and nutritious punch. Ingredients: 2 medium zucchini (halved and cut in 1/4″ slices) 6 sheets of Duso’s fresh lasagne pasta noodles (or lasagna noodles …
The Lost + Found Cafe makes a delicious quinoa and spinach salad and this is my attempt to replicate it at home.
1 bunch baby spinach washed and spun
1 c. quinoa cooked and cooled*
1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained
1 can lentils rinsed and drained
1 c. sliced cucumber
1 handful of pumpkin seeds
1/4 c crumbled feta
herbed vinegrette (or whatever vinegrette you prefer) to taste
Fresh ground pepper
1 c. quinoa rinsed for 1 minute under cold water
1 1/2 c. water
1 tsp salt
Bring the water to a boil in a 2 quart pot. Add the rinsed quinoa and the salt and return to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let quinoa stand covered another 5 minutes. Strain if necessary. Spread in a shallow dish and let cool.
You can make these as individual salads during the week by keeping the ingredients separate until you are ready to toss them with the dressing. Toss the quinoa, chickpeas and lentils together. Chop the cucumber. When you are ready to make your salad toss a handful of greens with 1/2 c of the quinoa mixture. Add some cucumber and dress lightly. Sprinkle on some pumpkin seeds and crumbled feta and grind some fresh pepper over top.
Ricotta cheese is great for making homemade lasagna, adding umph to a sandwich or wrap or just eating on crackers. I noticed several recipes on the web that all received 5 stars. Several had heavy cream as an ingredient but I found one from The …