Broccoli Salad

I am not always a fan of broccoli salad, sometimes it's way too sweet and I just don't enjoy it when savory foods are too sweet. So I make my version a little less sweet, but still very tasty!!
I picked up this tried and true recipe from my hubby's Tante Helene. She has a ton of family recipes and loves to cook, so she's a great resource for recipes. With summer just around the corner, I will be making this soon, so I will have a picture to add as soon as I do!
Edited April 30/2012: Picture has now been added!

Broccoli Salad
source: Tante Helene

Ingredients
2 to 3 broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup orange cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 lb bacon, cut into small pieces
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar (I start with a little more than half this amount and add more if it needs it)
1 to 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Optional: unsalted sunflower seeds, minced red onion, craisins or raisins

Place the broccoli in a large bowl.
Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Taste and add more sugar if you like.
Add the mayonnaise mixture to the broccoli and stir to incorporate. Add in the bacon and mix. Now add in the cheese and gently mix. If you were adding in any of the optional items, then I would add it at the same time as the bacon.

Happy cooking!!

Tzatziki recipe

While at cooking school, recipes were always circulating and being shared. A woman from another class had brought in her family recipe for homemade tzatziki and it actually sat in my book for a very long time. I decided about 4 years after finishing cooking school to give it a try. Oh. Em. Gee. This is incredible! It is fresh and wonderful. The strength of the garlic flavor ultimately rests on the garlic you choose, but even with varying strengths, it always tastes incredible. There is a little work to this, but definitely worth it. I will probably have to try this recipe again with the new Greek yogurts that are now available to see if steps can be cut out. Be sure to start your tzatziki the day before you need to it to ensure it's ready.

Tzatziki
source: M.M. via Sandra @ Little Bit Little Bite

Ingredients
3 cups plain Balkan yogurt, drained to yield 300g
200g sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
90g English cucumber, grated, drained
1 tsp salt
1 tsp canola oil or vegetable oil - do not use olive oil


Pour the yogurt into a clean cloth, tie into a ball and hang in the refrigerator over a bowl to catch the drippings. Let set overnight.
The next day, open the cloth and put the thick yogurt in a bowl.
Put a grater onto the same cloth and grate the cucumber over it (use fine section of the grater). Squeeze over a bowl to extract any water. Discard the water and add dry grated cucumber to the yogurt. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate.

Happy cooking!

Broiled Salmon

I love salmon. I haven't always, but when I lived next to the ocean on the West Coast for about 4 years, I fell in love with it. And it hasn't stopped. My favorite way to cook salmon used to be on the grill. But now, broiling it in the oven is my new fave. It's so quick and oh so simple, it's the perfect cooking method when you're time strapped. So this really isn't a recipe, but it still gives you a wonderfully quick meal, so I had to share. I will sift through my cookbooks to find a nice sauce to go with this. I used to make a vodka dill sauce for salmon, but I want to find something that is much simpler. I know that it will be dill based, because it is a perfect match; dill & salmon, salmon & dill. Yup, love it! And of course, I just love dill. I would actually set it out on my table in a vase like a bouquet of flowers. Fresh dill smells amazing! 

Not a great picture but you can see how there is nice crispiness to the salmon.

Broiled Salmon

Ingredients

salmon portions, debonned and skin removed

salt

fresh ground pepper

cooking spray

Set your oven to broil. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Prepare your salmon by sprinkling each side with salt and pepper. Place the side of the salmon that had the skin onto the baking sheet. This will ensure that your will get a little bit of a crispiness. Cook for about 4 mins. Flip the salmon over and put it back in the oven for another 4 mins. Flip them back over again and if you feel that you would like a little more crispness, put it back in for about a minute or 2 max. You definitely don't want to over cook your salmon, so keep a very close eye on it. Serve with rice and veggies.

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan for the week of April 16, 2012

Here's my latest menu for the week. And although it's late on Monday, I still want to get this out!
Enjoy your week!


Monday - Spaghetti with Uncle Frankie's Marinara Sauce and Buttery Garlic Knots (recipe to come)

Tuesday - leftover pork roast and spaghetti (not together LOL)

Wednesday - Lemon and Garlic chicken on the BBQ, veggies and rice

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Calzones made with homemade pizza dough

Saturday - Ragout de Boulettes or meatball stew (recipe to come), with potatoes and veggies

Sunday - leftovers

Definitely a lot of leftover meals this week, but if I don't then I will end up tossing food and wasting it.
So more leftovers it is!!

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Today was a busy day for me. I bake like a crazy lady on Fridays and Saturdays, package everything up Saturday night and then run to the market on Sunday morning for 8am, all with a 2 and 3 year old in tow. So when I come back on Sunday, I really don't feel like cooking a big meal but definitely want to eat one. So the easiest thing for me, is to break out my slow cooker. Now I love the idea of a slow cooker but for some reason, always chose the worst recipes to try and ended up putting my slow cooker away for quite a few years. Then I decided to try again. My slow cooker and I are now pretty good friends. Especially now that I have found a few good websites for recipes that I trust. But today, I decided to venture off and kinda do one on my own. I found a few recipes here and there, and decided to put my own together. And really, it's so simple that I didn't even really put anything together. It's quick and easy and really budget friendly. My boneless pork loin roast cost $5.65. And the rest is very inexpensive. I probably should have used a larger roast but I went with what I had on hand. I served it with some corn and baked potatoes. I think mashed would have been very good but my kids prefer baked. My mother-in-law loved this and so did I. My daughter loved the sauce so much that she was dipping her corn in it! Another winner here for us!

Quick and Easy Slow Cooker Pork Roast
source: Sandra @ Little Bit Little Bite

Ingredients
1 - 3 or 4 pound boneless pork loin roast, trimmed of fat
1 pouch of onion soup mix
2 cups water
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper
for the gravy: cornstarch and water

I used a 6 qt. slow cooker for this roast.
Place the roast in the slow cooker. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce to the roast and some salt and pepper. Measure 2 cups of water and add the pouch of onion soup mix. Stir and pour over the pork roast. Put the lid and turn the slow cooker on. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6.
Once done, remove the pork roast to a plate and tent with foil. Pour the remaining liquid into a small saucepan and put heat on high. Mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp cold water. Once the sauce has heated up, add the cornstarch mixture (or slurry in cooking) and stir. Your sauce will thicken. If it's still not thick enough for you, simply repeat the step above and create another slurry and add it to your sauce. It took 2 slurry mixtures to get my sauce to the right consistency.
You can either cut your meat and serve with the sauce or you can roughly shred your meat, put it back into the now empty slow cooker and then add your sauce. Mix a little and serve.

Happy Cooking!

Easy Homemade Pizza

I am a big fan of quick and easy recipes. I definitely enjoy the more elaborate recipes but now that I have kids, time is of the essence. I save the elaborate meals for very very very special days (hardly ever). Until the kids are older and more independent, I want to spend as much time with them as I can. When I find a quick and easy recipe, I usually make sure that I love it. And this recipe is quick, easy and tastes great. And the kids love it. What more could I ask for.
There is no kneading in this recipe. Just add ingredients, mix with a wooden spoon, let rest to rise and use. Yup, it's that simple. Freezes like a charm too!

Homemade Pizza
source: www.onceamonthmom.com (here)

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbsp granulated active yeast (not instant)
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I use regular all-purpose)

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with the water in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix using a wooden spoon. No kneading.
Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 2 hours. When you cover, be sure that it is NOT airtight.
Use the dough immediately or if you rather freeze it, place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours and then portion, wrap in plastic and freeze in freezer bags.
To cook your pizza, preheat oven to 450F. Cook for about 15 mins.

This dough makes about 2 large, 3 medium, 4 small or 16 calzones.
You can also make garlic knots with it! Recipe to come for that soon!!

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan for the week of April 9, 2012

This week I want to be prepared for some big baking days, so I need to be organized and plan with lots of leftovers or easy meals. I haven't found a recipe that I would like to try yet for my slow cooker pork on Saturday, but I'm going to keep looking. I'll update when I have found something. Have a great slow cooker pork recipe? Please share it with me in the comments.

Monday - Ham and veggies. No carb with supper.

Tuesday - Salmon, broccoli and rice

Wednesday - Mother-in-law's cabbage rolls

Thursday - Steak subs with veggies and salad

Friday - leftovers

Saturday - Slow cooker pork, recipe to be selected

Sunday - Spaghetti with Uncle Frankie's Marinara sauce

Ground Beef Stroganoff

I found this recipe through www.onceamonthmom.com when I was looking for some easy to freeze and keep on hand meals. I wasn't sure how my hubby was going to like it, but when I finally made it, he said that it was out of this world. But I hadn't made it since. No real reason, I think I just forgot about it. Silly me. I was stuck the other day and not sure what to make. I knew that I had lean ground beef ready to use and then I remembered that I had mushrooms. Ding! (insert light above head here). I threw this meal together in no time flat. And it was a huge hit with the kids again and now my mother-in-law!!

Ground Beef Stroganoff
source: found initially http://onceamonthmom.com (here) but recipe
 is from http://stolenmomentscooking.com (here)

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced (I tend to do more of a mince)
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups beef stock (I used a light version)
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 cup sour cream (I used light)

1/2 lb egg noodles, cooked and drained (we used whole wheat, no yolk)

In a large skillet, add ground beef, onion, mushroom and garlic. Cook until the ground beef is completely browned. Add salt and pepper along with the Italian seasoning. Do not drain the liquid from the pan. You need it.
Stir in the flour and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour in beef stock and red wine vinegar. Stir then bring to a boil and simmer until thickened.
Stir in the sour cream until combined. Add your cooked noodles and mix well. Remove from the heat.

To make freezer friendly - Once the sour cream has been stirred in, allow to cool completely. Place in freezer bags or containers and freeze them. When you are ready to eat, thaw the mixture and then reheat on the stove. Add in your egg noodles and mix.

Happy cooking!

Homefries on the side

We enjoy to mix things up sometimes. We normally like our homefries to go with our big breakfast but since it's rare that we eat a big breakfast, we decided to add homefires to our BBQ meals. And it worked out great! Since it is no longer for breakfast, I'm able to spice up our fries a little bit more. These are great with burgers, steak, chicken or any time really.

Spiced Homefries
source: Sandra @ Little Bit Little Bite

Ingredients
white or red potatoes
canola oil
chili powder
paprika
onion powder
garlic powder
dried parsley
little cumin
touch of cayenne
sprinkle of crushed chilis
salt
freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 400F.
Mix spices together in a bowl with some oil. You do not want the mixture to be like a paste. You want it to be a little more liquid.
Wash, peel (optional) and dice your potatoes.  The quantity of potatoes will depend on you and how many you will be serving. I tend to do a lot because I like to have leftovers. Please you potatoes in a bowl.
Pour the spice mixture over your potatoes and toss. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven.
Bake for 45-60mins, turning halfway through.

I've tried these on the BBQ as well and they work great. To speed things up on the BBQ, I cook them in the microwave for a bit before adding the spice mixture. When I feel that the potatoes are close to done, I add the spice mixture then divide into foil packets. They turn out pretty good!

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan for the week of April 2, 2012

Yet another crazy week here. My son is sick and the rest of us are fighting it. So now I have to make some easy meals. I'm going to have to do a few freezer meals soon so that I have a few items to choose from. Freezer meals are a great way to make sure you have a homemade meal when you don't have time or energy. I know some people are able to make a lot of meals in one day so that their freezer is stocked, but I don't have that luxury. But I manage to make a few over the course of a few weeks. I'll have to sit down and plan a day for at least 2 meals for the freezer.
I still haven't had the chance to really sit down and organize a meal plan this week, so it may change as I come up with better ideas. Sorry for not being better organized this week. It's just so crazy.

Monday - leftovers from the weekend

Tuesday - Chicken fajitas

Wednesday - need to check my freezer and pick a meat. Otherwise, salmon, rice and veggies

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Pizza as it is my DH's birthday and it is a tradition for us to have pizza. May be homemade or bought.

Saturday - Slow cooker meal, yet to be determined

Sunday - Ham, potatoes and veggies for our Easter Sunday meal

Honey Garlic Chicken for the slow cooker

With my busy baking schedule on Fridays and Saturdays now, it's important for me to have something easy ready for supper because I'm not going to want to really do much. So I found a recipe for the slow cooker for some chicken thighs I had in the freezer. I went to one of my favorite sites for anything slow cooker, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com. The author has a great variety of recipes to choose from and she also puts up a verdict of how her family enjoyed the recipe. Definitely worth browsing!
I made this while baking on Saturday and it was so tasty. It smelled great while cooking and the taste didn't disappoint. There is a sweetness to the chicken but not overpowering at all, just the right amount. And the chicken was nice and tender. I am definitely throwing this recipe into my rotation, too good not too!!

Honey Garlic Chicken for the slow cooker
source: www.crockpot365.blogspot.com

Ingredients
1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup honey

Use a 4qt slow cooker for this recipe. If you are using a 6qt slow cooker, like I did, the chicken is going to cook faster. So with the 6qt, be sure to check after 3 hours on high or 5 hours on low for doneness.

Put your chicken into the slow cooker. Place remaining ingredients into a small bowl and mix. Pour mixture evenly over the chicken and cover.
Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours if using a 4qt slow cooker.
Serve with rice and your choice of veggies.

Happy cooking!