Chicken Parmesan, Jack Frost and Menu Planning

It's funny, last night my boyfriend asked me what I'd planned for dinner, I told him Chicken Parmesan. He said "I feel like we should be eating more healthy." I offered to make him a marinated chicken breast baked in foil with some rice and green beans. He said okay. Ten minutes later he said he wanted Chicken Parm! Lol...we both LOVE our comfort food. Since I write so much about food and recipes, I'm going to make separate pages for the actual recipe and just add the link to my blog post! I'll put an index on the right side bar for easy reference. I'll try to make pages for all of the previous recipes too. Blogger is quite buggy of late, so if anyone notices any funny business, can you let me know?

I mentioned yesterday that it was bitterly cold outside and look what Jack Frost did to my window! Kind of nice! The sun is very deceiving though!

Do you complain to companies for their sub-par products? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed the quality of everything nose-diving while the ease of returns sky-rockets. Companies don't care about quality control anymore, they'll just replace it or refund you too easily. When I had my bout of food poisoning a few weeks back, my boyfriend went to the store to get me soda crackers and this was what came out of the box. They might look okay, but they are burned and they smelled and tasted burned too! All 4 sleeves of crackers...so I wrote to Premium Plus and within minutes I got a reply "Send us your address and we'll mail you a coupon for a free box". I responded, "Would you like me to keep the burned crackers to send back to you for quality control?"...8 days later, no reply. At least we didn't waste our money because we'll get a free box, but it left a bad taste in my mouth both figuratively and literally! I do get lots of freebies with a gentle complaint though, so I'm thankful for that. One time all of my garbage bags came in the box unsealed at the bottom...what joy to find out the hard way that your garbage isn't sealed lol...I was pretty upset that day, but Glad sent me a $10 coupon for their products. 

The meal planning is done!!! Now today I have my list of ingredients and have to write my shopping list for tomorrow! I'm throwing all caution to the wind and I'm planning meals until the week after Easter...that's 41 meals including a few special days like Easter and our 4-year anniversary! I love challenging myself. I know that I'll have to go out for fresh stuff a few times during the next six weeks, but not having the pressure to drive hours to the big towns to grocery shop makes life so much easier! Now I have to enter all of this into my handy little shopping and menu journal!

Freezer Day and Johnny Cakes

I'm coming to the end of my meal cycle and Monday is shopping day. Weird how I'm actually looking forward to it! I used to dread it, but I'm so proud of my once a month efforts that I can't wait to start it all over again. The last time I went grocery shopping was January 23rd, so not bad! I had a few dozen eggs left in the fridge that had a due date of March 2nd so I decided to freeze them. I found the method seeing a photo on Pinterest. Aaah, Pinterest, it can be such a wonderful site and such a wonderful time waster!!! On my sidebar, I have the link to my Pinterest account, if anyone wants to give me theirs, I'd love to follow you.

The next task was what to do with this pork shoulder. This is the first time I've bought one and I was stunned at the amount of fat on it! It's a 4 1/2 pound shoulder, but I'm sure I lost over a pound after cutting most of the fat off. My initial idea was to make a bunch of sausage patties with it...

...which I did, well, not a "bunch" more like SIX.  They're in the freezer now for future use. I mixed in some maple syrup, rosemary, thyme, sage, s&p. They smelled amazing cooking!

When I was looking up what to do with a pork shoulder, I thought I'd have a few pounds for sausage patties, a pound for these pork pies, a pound for sweet and sour meatballs and a little bit to make a pulled pork sandwich for my boyfriend. No such luck! I was able to get six of these pork pies only and they're in the freezer too for snacks. I used this recipe for the pork pies:  Mini Pork Pies and this is my full-proof recipe for pie/pastry dough: Martha Stewart's Perfect Pie Crust. I love her recipe, I've never had a problem with it and it turns out delicious every time. I use it for sweet pies and savoury ones.

I have to say, five hours in the kitchen and this is what I produced? I'm a little disappointed. What do you do with pork shoulder? Do you take the time to trim all the fat off? Maybe I shouldn't have been so fussy about trying to trim it all off...I feel like I got gypped! At least I only paid $9 for the meat, but I think I might stick to pork tenderloin from now on.

Dinner wasn't much more successful! Here's an action shot of the maple syrup drop lol...I made Johnny Cakes from my Breakfast Comforts book. My boyfriend and I weren't sure about this because we're really not big on cornmeal, but we thought we'd try it. It was okay but I won't make it again. We don't like the texture, that didn't stop us from eating it though!

It is a great recipe though, you mix up bacon and cheddar into the dough and if it wasn't for the cornmeal, we would have loved it. I'll likely try to make my sour cream or buttermilk pancakes with the bacon and cheddar in the dough next time. I think the birds will enjoy the rest of the cornmeal mixed with some peanut butter for the bird feeder!

I'm currently reading this book, trying to learn more about gardening in general, but mostly winter harvesting. We've taken to spending a few hours together in bed before dinner, just reading. It's actually helping me a lot to relax before I eat, so the last three days no food has gotten stuck! Woo hoo! That's a record! :)

I love living in the mountains, I love the four season...but this is just too cold for me. I've lived with weather like this all my life and I find each year as I get older, I tolerate it less, I feel like I can't go outside more than a few minutes. Just to bring the dogs out in the yard, I had to wear a full snow suit! That wind is a killer. It's a good day to hibernate and finish up my shopping list. Hope everyone has a nice cozy Saturday! :)

43 Meatballs! (Spaghetti Night, Recipes, Cookies and my Jack)

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen yesterday. I had a pork tenderloin thawed but didn't feel like doing the usual meal of pork tenderloin with green beans. So instead, I pulled out my trusty meat grinder and decided on meatballs. One 1.5 pound tenderloin produced 43 meatballs, about the size if you put your index finger tip on the tip of your thumb, circle-wise! I LOVE the website Simply Recipes and I use a lot of Elise's recipes with a few tweaks. I use her recipe for Italian Meatballs. The only difference is that I only use pork (so I can eat them too) and I use more breadcrumbs to keep them together.

I love making my own food from scratch! The meatballs call for ricotta cheese so I did that first thing in the morning so it would have enough time to set for the recipe. I've experimented a lot with ricotta. I've found a good method:

Ricotta Cheese (makes about 1 cup)

1. Over medium heat, whisking often, heat 1 liter (4 cups) of 2% milk to 200F. (most recipes call for cream, but the way I make it, I can get away with 2%, skim doesn't work for me!)

2. Take pot off the burner and add 1/2 tsp salt (this is optional) and 1/4 cup lemon juice.

3. Stir slightly and let sit partially covered 10-15 minutes.

4. Pour through a sifter lined with cheesecloth and let it sit a few hours.

I'm keeping all of the leftover whey in old yogurt containers in the freezer for the garden. Since I used lemon juice, the whey is acidic so I have to keep that in mind when I'm using it as a fertilizer! No waste!!!

Since it was a spaghetti night, I also made a slow cooked tomato sauce. I use Elise's Basic Tomato Sauce recipe, but I add a tsp of brown sugar and a bay leaf. Also I put mine in the slow cooker for 5 hours on low with half the browned meatballs. The other half went into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and are now in the freezer for the next spaghetti night!

We take out the meatballs at the last minute to blend up the sauce and it's so yummy! If we don't have meatballs, I usually add some ground up and browned top sirloin to the sauce for my boyfriend.

One of our favourite cookies is Cherry Icebox Cookies. My boyfriend had a similar upbringing as I did and his childhood memories are best forgotten. But, he keeps fond memories of being at his grandmother's house. She cooked a lot for him! Every time he has a good memory of something she made, I try to make something similar. But she was the type of woman who had all of her recipes in her head, so nothing was written down. The spaghetti sauce is one of them that he says is perfectly like hers (yay!). These cookies are another one. I usually make them only around Christmas so we don't get tired of them, but since it snowed yesterday we felt it was okay to eat them again ;)

Plus I still have a bunch of containers of candied cherries that were on sale last November.

Cherry Icebox Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen thin cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 large egg at room temperature (it's half because I halved this recipe years ago)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/3 all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of candied cherries

Directions:
1. Beat sugar and butter until creamy. Add egg and vanilla.
2. Mix in baking powder and salt.
3. Sift in flour.
4. At this point I put on the gloves and use my hands. I break apart the cherries and mix it all together, to form a log.
5. Place the log in wax paper, wrap and refrigerate minimum 3 hours.
6. Heat oven to 375.
7. Here is where things get hairy. We LOVE our cookies thin and very well cooked so I cut them really thin and cook them 8 minutes on one side, flip then 7 minutes on the other. If you make the recommended 2 dozen, I think it's 5 minutes per side, but don't quote me!

All six pets LOVE those cookies. If they hear the tin opening they come barreling into the kitchen. It's funny to see a cat biting down on a big cookie. We have to be careful to let them have snacks in moderation though, not only for health reasons, but we don't want them getting fat! Speaking of fat...

I wrote a little story about Charlie and Marlene, so it's Jack's turn. He's my heart, really. We got him a year and a half ago, our second dog together. Look at that bootie!!! He weighed 52 pounds when we got him. As you can see in the previous photo, he lost weight. With proper food and exercise, he's now a healthy 28 pounds, where he should be. (Why can't I be as disciplined????)

I call these two the "twins" because they're joined at the hip. Jack was left at the shelter with the excuse that nobody had time to walk him. He was 9 years old and abandoned. It broke my heart. I wanted him! :) So we adopted him and found out pretty quickly that his problems were more than just weight. He was both fear aggressive and also possessive aggressive (meaning if he had a toy/bone, he'd bite you before letting go of it). He did bite both my boyfriend and I a few times because he was so scared, his pupils would dilate, his tail went between his legs and his body got rigid. And the growling...we weren't used to it but refused to give up on him, we really felt he needed us to show him love and trust.

My boyfriend was attacked by a dog when he was younger and he actually was frustrated with himself because he didn't know how to treat Jack. I think a natural reaction to a dog biting you is both fear and you want to punish and dominate the dog so it won't happen again. But not with Jack because it made him worse. With the huskies, you just need to give Marlene a stern look and she knows she did something wrong; with Charlie we give her a quick correction with the collar and make her lie down because she's very VERY STUBBORN lol...We took a different approach to correcting Jack though. All patience and love...lots of calm "No"'s on our parts and lots of reassurance every time he took one itty bitty step forward (we often had to reassure each other too!). It was very challenging. I read a lot online about aggression in dogs and how to help. It took him about a year to "drop" the ball when we asked him. He still growls but he won't bite us. He'll drop his bone willingly now if we "trade up" with a Pupperoni. When we play with him he shows his teeth and growls, but it's not aggressive anymore. I'm so proud of us that we convinced Jack he could trust us and we love him to bits! My boyfriend gives him "kisses" now as Jack is growling and showing his teeth and when he does that Jack wags his tail and licks his face back...it's a great show of trust between them! Who knows the history of shelter pets...but now he's ours and we take amazing care of him. People give up on animals way too easily but with dedication, you build a wonderful bond, he never leaves my side. He's definitely a mamma's boy! He's happy :)

Anyway, the weather is back where it should be -17C this morning, Jack has to wear his little homemade boots or he won't go outside!

One last recipe! Kristina asked me for my Apricot Glaze recipe. This comes from the Williams Sonoma Grilling book. I took a photo of the picture in the cookbook because I have yet to make this, it's on the meal plan for March or April!

Apricot-Brandy Glaze for Pork:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp apricot brandy or brandy
1 tbsp dry mustard
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tbsp)

Directions:

1. Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Add the brandy, mustard and lemon juice.
3. Stir and set aside to let all the flavours combine.
4. Just before using, heat on medium heat, whisking constantly until it simmers. Brush or pour onto pork and reheat the pork in the oven for a few minutes to set the glaze.

This recipe also provided a spice rub for the pork, which I'm going to use so I'll include it as well:

Spice Rub for Pork:

1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried thyme
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Enjoy!! And thanks for reading! :)

Onion Soup and Pretzels

Here is my French onion soup as promised! I found these soup bowls at a bazaar a few years back, I love them! It's a nice easy meal to make and to eat.

French Onion Soup

(makes about 4 servings)

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter or olive oil

8 large onions sliced

1/4 tsp brown sugar

2 cloves minced garlic

8 cups chicken or beef broth (we use chicken)

1/2 cup white wine

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp dried thyme (I use the mortar and pestle because I find the dried thyme produces hard little bits sometimes)

S&P

Bread slices and Gruyere cheese for melting

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, warm up the butter/olive oil and add the onions, stirring often until they wilt, about 15 minutes.

2. Turn down the heat to medium low and add the sugar. Caramelize the onions to a nice brown colour, between 30-45 minutes.

3. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute.

4. Add stock, wine, bay leaf and thyme.

5. Cover partially and simmer about 30 minutes. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf. (I always forget)

6. If you have flameproof bowls, add a piece of bread or baguette and top with cheese to melt under the broiler.

The original recipe (from Soup by Williams Sonoma) called for leeks as well, but the first time I made it, we really tasted the bitterness of the leeks, it ruined the soup for us. But if you're feeling risky, it's 4 large onions and 4 leeks.

Since it was raining all day yesterday, and I got tired of looking through my cookbooks, I was dreaming about baking. We LOVE these pretzels! They never last more than a few days and with mustard...a triumph! :) I thought I'd post my recipe.

One of the series we watched online was Alton Brown's Good Eats. That was a great show and we learned a lot about cooking techniques. I use his recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels, except I find they need more time in our oven, so I cook them 18 minutes (he recommends 12-14). I use foil and parchment paper a lot because we have old pans that we don't necessarily want to cook our baked goods on. IF you use foil, GREASE IT...those pretzels STICK like crazy and the first time I made them I had to rip them off the foil! Also he lists "pretzel salt" to top them off with, but I never found such a thing here, so I used Kosher salt.

So the party is over, winter is back and it's snowing today! I have a list of baking I want to do and I have my shopping list to finish. I hope everyone has a nice day!

February Weather Lore and Breakfast For Dinner!

Today is POURING rain, so I'm going to concentrate on yesterday's balmy weather! Do you believe in weather lore? I do, I've seen the reality of it often. 8 degrees on the last day of February is unheard of here. It should be -30C, really, but froggie doesn't lie! We've had a very mild February, like most folks. We've had fog, rain, thunder, lightening and ice storms.

If it thunders in February it will frost in April. Fog in February, frost in May.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky! I spent most of the day out with the huskies. They enjoyed the yard while I bundled up on the porch with a book.

When the cat in February lies in the sun, she will creep behind the stove in March.

This side of the house is where we get all of the sun. But under the snow, it's filled with roots that are so deep, so on either side of the lilac tree is where my container veggies will be. I have to put up another lattice board fence around it to keep it safe.

Warm February, bad hay crop ; 

Cold February, good hay crop.

Every bit of weather lore I read regarding a warm February doesn't bode well for the spring! I'm curious to see what kind of weather we get in the next three months! The birds and squirrels were out chirping all day yesterday.

This is our big girl Charlie. We don't know her age, we were told by the shelter that she was likely a year old when we got her in 2015. But they really had no clue, it's because one of the workers also had a husky like Charlie and based her size on her own dog. We were told she was fixed, but found out 6 months later, she wasn't! She went into heat and we're thinking of maybe breeding her in a few years time when we have our property. Not for sale, all for us! :) But again, it will depend on her because we really don't know how old she is!

The first photo is the day we got her. She weighed only 48 pounds and was so nervous, she didn't want to come too near us. She was found living in a field, no identification at all. She had terrible digestion, worms and also little appetite. She showed depression. She'd been at the shelter nearly 3 months when we came along and we fell in love with her. It took her a while to come around. Since then she's gained 16 pounds and won't leave my boyfriend's side. Our vet says she could be anywhere from 3 to 6 years old according to her teeth. I remember the first night we had her, we were a bit intimidated because she growled a lot and looked rather mean. I never had a big dog before and my boyfriend only had cats. We both were really a little nervous! He said "she's going to eat us in our sleep"...she has turned out to be the gentlest dog I've ever known.

Marlene is another one whose age we don't know. The vet can't judge her by her teeth because they are in such bad shape, but we think she could be between 5 and 7. She'd live outside if we let her. She's also very gentle. She is likely a German Shepherd/Husky mix.

Please allow me to introduce to you Mr. Snowy. He's been our porch mascot since Winter Solstice!

I brought him to life last November! Now I have to think of a spring project for the porch! Mr Snowy will have to retire to the storage room very soon!

Last night's dinner was Breakfast Tacos and "Fart and Dart" beans. 

For Christmas, my boyfriend gave me this cookbook. We are big fans of the Williams Sonoma recipes. In fact most of my cookbooks are from that company. THIS one is the BEST. I've probably used this one more in the last few months than all of the other cookbooks I have combined! The food is awesome. That's where I found the Breakfast Tacos. The original recipe calls for eggs but I had leftover chicken mixed with onions and taco mix, so I used that instead.

Breakfast Tacos (for two):

Ingredients

2 small potatoes

Oil or butter for frying

1 small onion, chopped

4 eggs

2 large tortillas (we use flour-based)

1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded Monteray Jack cheese

Pico de Gallo (this is a homemade salsa with cilantro, but I just used my regular salsa)

Directions

1. Boil potatoes whole for about 25-30 minutes until fork tender. Run under cold water until cooled.

2. Heat up oil or butter on medium in large pan.

3. Add onions.

4. Cube potatoes and add to pan. You want a nice brown colour to them.

5. Scramble up your eggs and add to the pan, mix it all up.

6. Divide mixture onto each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and salsa.

(I put it all under the broiler with extra cheese so it would be very melty!)

Fart and Dart Beans
(this recipe makes enough to fill 4-6 of those little ramekins)

Ingredients

2 cans kidney beans (or whichever beans you love the most)

10-12 slices of bacon

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Boil beans for 30 minutes. Drain.

2. Cook onion for a few minutes, add bacon until nearly cooked, then add garlic for just a minute.

3. Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker on low for two to three hours. Mix every so often.

I found this recipe online back in 2013 when I was looking for a "cowboy themed" menu. I love to have fun in the kitchen so I do a lot of theme nights. My boyfriend introduced me to the movies of Sergio Leone - an Italian director who made a lot of great "spaghetti westerns" with Clint Eastwood. We'd planned to watch one of his movies one night, and I remember that day finding a "Western Frontier Menu" online (don't have the link). I made steak and eggs, cornbread and these Fart and Dart beans. I served dinner with a shot glass of bourbon and rang a cow bell when it was ready, lol...(computer sound, I don't own a cow bell!)

Usually after dinner we settle down and watch a movie together, but lately my boyfriend has been working really hard on his music. He does guitar-based ambient music and when he feels creative, he is very focused so I don't mind spending some evenings by myself. Well...not quite by myself! I brought up all my cookbooks to bed and the four rescues followed me onto the bed. Our other two cats never leave the downstairs couches but these four are always together!

Fish and Chip Night!

Something my boyfriend and I have agreed on is that we have failed at our attempt to create a good fish and chips dinner! One time I made the most delicious fries...but we both soon realized that the 'fragrance' of cooked oil turns our stomachs! Olive oil is okay, but we've tried Canola, Grape Seed, Safflower, Sunflower and good old Mazola...we can't get used to that smell. So, although my goal is to eliminate processed foods as much as possible, we bend the rules for fish and chips :) These are store-bought. Until we get a deep-fryer that we can let cool off and air out on the porch, we're sticking to frozen stuff. We shared a bottle of "Newkie Broon" too, that's how my Scottish grandfather used to say it! 

But at least I can say I make my own tartar sauce!!! Next step is making my own mayo. I used to put fresh cilantro in my tartar sauce too and it was so good, but I don't have any this time of year!

The last of my seeds arrived! I made a promise to myself to STOP now, lol...I'm obsessed. My boyfriend has trouble with peppers, but we thought we'd try to see if he still has the same issues if they are homegrown. Plus the orange ones are so mild, hopefully he won't get reflux from them. And I really wanted some pretty flowers for the porch too, so I got the Nasturtiums and Marigolds. And that company sent me another free pack of the Canada Day zinnias! I have to plan pots for all of these beauties.

Here's my Speedy Gonzales :) ...I've mentioned that my boyfriend and I have been watching all of the Looney Tunes lately. We got through the 50's and 60's and now we're finishing up the 1940's. The 1930's were a little too "old" for my taste...a lot of whistling and singing, so he can watch those on his own! He just downloaded the Flintstones, so that's the next series we're watching! We love cartoons. I remember coming home for lunch from grade school...as soon as the Flintstones was over, it was time to walk back to school. Anyway, I drew this on a piece of paper with a little reminder that there is leftover taco mix in the freezer for his lunches. I try to make everything a little fun.

It's a nice sunny day today but cold again. The flyers in this area come out on Tuesdays and Wednesday so I'm spending the next few days going over the sales, jotting down what's still in the freezer and cupboards, then planning our meals for the next 4 to 6 weeks. I really enjoy that process a lot! Sam I Am was talking about bullet journaling - if you don't know about it, you'll find lots of pictures on Pinterest. It's an organizational tool that allows you to be creative too. I do this kind of journaling for my meal planning and shopping, for my garden, my daily to-do and also my self-therapy/self-improvement efforts. I have 4 different journals and it's a nice structure to keep me on track. I also paint, lately I've been into watercolours, so I made covers for all of the journals :)

It's relaxing for me now to plan our meals. I remember a time when I lived paycheck to paycheck and it was a frenzy going over the flyers on Wednesdays, planning 2 weeks worth of meals in one day and then shopping on Thursdays with all of the crowds. It brought me a lot of stress and we both knew that every two weeks for 2-3 days, I couldn't eat solid food. Crazy how that stress got to me. I used to coin the term "the dreaded shopping day". Now I'm lucky I can shop for a month's time because I was able to set aside a little money each month since last summer so I'd have a pool of money for just this purpose; and go when I want to, Mondays are good days, not as many crazies out there lol. The only downside is in the winter, the produce isn't as fresh, so by weeks 4-5-ish, we have to eat frozen veggies. I try to plan the fresher food for the first few weeks of the meal plan because my goal is not to use the car as much, the grocery stores are just over an hour's drive each way. This month I broke down and drove 15 minutes to an overpriced corner store just to get fresh tomatoes...big no-no! This is one of the goals as well - a winter garden! Does anyone else meal-plan this way? For me it's a lifesaver!