Bread Machine Pesto Bread, great with any pasta dish...

 Bread machine Pesto Bread is so good.  Just served along with butter, or toasted and buttered with a nice bowl of soup and the most amazing garlic bread.  With ingredients you probably have on hand already, you can whip up a delicious loaf.  This recipes was from the recipe book that came with the Cuisinart Bread Machine that I use.

For a medium loaf (1 and a half lb size); place ingredients in order listed into bread pan.
1 cup warm water, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup pesto, 3/4 tsp salt, 3 1/2 cups white bread flour, 1 tsp sugar and 13/4 yeast.

The kitchen will smell amazing while this is baking.

We were having just spaghetti and sauce this amped up dinner a bit.

This recipe will not disappoint.  Please let me know if you try this, enjoy.

Cooking Challenge, Bannock...

So my family loves Bannock but I have never made it before except for once last year and it was an epic fail.  But today I used my Mothers recipe, which I should have done in the first place anyways.

In my food processor I placed, 3 cups flour, 3 tablespoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a pinch of sugar.

I turned it on and poured in slow stream 1 cup and 3 tablespoons of milk.  let the machine run until it forms a ball.

At this point check your dough and make sure it is not too dry or crumby.  Pour on onto flour dusted parchment paper.  Roll to about 1 cm thickness.

Pierce the dough all over with a fork.  I just used a kids juice cup to make rounds.  Next time I think I will done more traditional loose/free form dough.  Melt lard in pot.

I cooked one as a tester.

Right them company came and I stopped photographing.  And by the time they left there was only one left.

 The company loved it and so did my husband and myself.  I just love it smothered in butter:)  So overall I am very happy with it but will make some changes next time.  I think the dough rested after it comes out of the food processor would result in a lighter product or maybe resting it after it is shaped.  Also my lard was too hot at times, need to lower it.

So do try this, I think also adding a little more sugar and raisins would make a very nice addition.

Fry bread power!  Enjoy

Ribs and Corn, yummy easy and fast dinner...

I have to admit, when I travel to the states I like to go into the grocery stores and check out what they have there and can't get here in Canada.  There are staples that we always pack home like Red Vines, love them.  But I also like to look in the spice isle for new spice packets or these pre-package dinner ideas.  They are handy, almost always good and easy.  Tonight we tried the Knorr Roasters Southern Style BBQ with some spareribs that were on sale this week.

I didn't end up using all the meat since there was only going to be two of us dining tonight and the bag is actually quite small.  I already didn't have all the meat in a single layer like it suggests.  It also says in the instructions that you may use chicken which would have been yummy as well.  I also cooked for two hours since I used much for meat that their suggestions as well.

After two hours (I also cooked a couple potatoes on the same pan) it looked like this and was ready to come out.  Clean up was easy and fast, love that.  I did let them rest for a couple minutes to let the steam out.  After I took the ribs out I poured the remaining juices into a gravy separator, I wanted to pour the sauce out but not the fat.

I did like these the flavour wasn't over powering, juicy and tender.  Oven bags are a great way to cook ribs, they don't dry out at all.  Defiantly recommending these Knorr's Roasters, can't wait to try a different one.

As another side, I made this corn recipe from Pinterest, Addicting Corn Recipe.  It was quite good but I don't follow the recipes completely.  I didn't used all the Paprika, only have and I used Smoked instead of regular.  I will make this again but I will probably only use half again but of regular Paprika.

Try my recommendations and let me know how they worked out for you.  Thanks:)

Chicken Wings made in a T-Fal Actifry

We I am a kitchen appliance lover.  I love what they do, what they can help you with and basically I just love to play with new toys.  I bought the T-Fal Actifry on a whim from The Shopping Channel.  It was expensive but it was already ordered and didn't bother to cancel it.  I did however use it as soon as I got it, of course the first thing I made was fries.  They were easy and crispy, I knew it was not getting returned.

I fond it quite large to store on the kitchen counter so it lives in a cupboard in my laundry room and therefore it gets forgotten about but I was thinking about it and knew I had to get inspired about it again.

My family loves fried chicken wings and I knew I had seen people cook them in the Actifry.  I had heard in as little as 20 minutes so I had to try.

I bought about 4 lbs. of chicken wings.

I added vegetable oil with their measuring spoon.  And started the timer for 20 minutes.

In just a few minutes you could see them changing colour, I knew after 7 minutes that they were going to be longer than 20 minutes.

After 35 minutes they were done and browned nicely.  I tool out about half of this point because my daughter likes them plain with just salt.

 To the remaining ones I added a sauce that consisted of soy sauce, honey, dry sherry, rice vinegar, ground ginger and chopped garlic.

I started it again for 2 minutes just to get the sauce on the wings and caramelized a little. They were smelling quite tasty at this point.

After two minutes they looked nice.

To make this a complete meal I made fried rice.

Overall I think I do like the Actifry.  It is easy to clean but I really must look into more recipes for it.  I think I would have gotten better results with the wings if I didn't overload it with wings, maybe 4 lb. was too much?

Please share any favourite recipes that you make in you Actifry:)

Yummy, yummy Chicken Noodle Soup

I have had this cookbook for awhile and all the recipes that I have tried from have been very very good.  My daughter asked for Chicken Noodle Soup and I knew I just had to make the one in this book.

I knew it would be time consuming to make it all in one go since I was going to be making the stock to, so I made the stock while I was making dinner last night so it cold cool in the fridge.

The recipes are basic but the one thing different for me was I had never used leeks before.  Crazy I know but I just always got them mixed up with fennel and never got around to trying them.

The stock was easy, bought whole chicken to simmer in water then added the veggies and spices.  One large leek, 2 onions, 4 carrots, 4 stalked celery, 6 sprigs of parsley, 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, 10 peppercorns and 2 teaspoons salt.

 After it was brought up to a boil, heat was lowered to keep stock at a low simmer, skimming off any fat from top.  After it simmered for an hour, remove from heat and take out chicken into bowl.  Let cool till you can separate the meat from bones and skin.

To strain the stock it is very important to use cheesecloth that has been damped and placed in a colander.  This really helps to have a nice clear stock.

The amount of chicken you will get from one chicken is about 4 cups.  And about 16 cups of stock.  I refrigerated the stock and chicken.  Before I started the soup the next day I removed the solidified fat from the top of the stock.

So I was very glad to have the stock and chicken ready to go at dinner time today.  Only had to chop the veggies really.  Here is what I needed for the soup.

In the stock pot I added one large leek (white only), 3 stalks of celery, 3 carrots and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

After I cooked the veggies until soft, about 5 minutes I added 7 and a half of chick stock, 4 cups of chicken, 2 bay leaves and 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

When it has been brought up to a boil, stir in the 1/2 lb of egg noodles and cook just until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

A very nice dinner for a cold spring day, since we were have a spring snow fall, not funny.
Can't wait to try more recipes from this book.  All simple ones, tasty and comforting.  Happy eating everyone.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup made in a Vitamix Blender

As you can see in my prior post, I love my Vitamix and have been using it so much lately.  I have been using for Smoothies in the morning and Soups for lunch.  My newest soup that I just love was adapted from a Vitamix recipe.  I was super easy, fast and very tasty.  I knew I was going to be making this so I baked a few extra potatoes the previous night since we were having baked potatoes.  I do notice that when I do plan ahead and do some prep work the previous day, that I stick to the plan and don't have something unhealthy for breakfast or lunch.  Also to cut down the time on the running time of the blender I do use steamed veggies and or hot liquids.  It is not necessary, the Vitamix will cook it up but I just like to cut down the time of the blender noise.

So please see my Vitamix Baked Potato Soup Recipe below, it is a great beginner Vitamix Recipe.  Please let mw know if you try it and how you liked it.

VITAMIX LOADED BAKED POTATO SOUP

In your Vitamix place:
~1 baked potato (peeled, you will need an additional potato but that goes in later)
~1/4 onion, steamed or sautéed (I placed mine in a covered bowl and microwaved for 70 seconds)
~1/3 cup cheddar cheese
~2 cups milk ( I also microwaved this for a couple minutes to get it hot)
~1 tbsp Becel (which I will be leaving out next time, not needed)
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 tsp Rosemary Leaves

So, start the blender and turn it to high.  Let is run for about 4 minutes.  If you used hot liquid it should be steaming by now.  I you didn't heat the liquids it will need to run for a few more minutes, be careful of the steam.

When is is hot turn it down to variable 3 and add 1/4 cup pre-cooked bacon and your remaining potato. Run it until it has the consistency you like.

Pour into bowls and top as you see fit, I toped mine with more bacon, shredded cheddar cheese and green onions.  You may want to add additional salt and pepper.

It is yummy and perfect for a winter's day lunch.  This recipe is freezable incase you make too much but this recipe only makes about 4 cups total.

Enjoy, cheers.

Vitamix Love

Many years ago my husband bought a Vitamix blender after watching a demo at Costco.  When I found out how much it was I honestly was pretty mad but we still got it.   I never watched the demo so I really had no idea what it could do, so I missed out for years on what it could do for our family.  I continued to use our regular blender and it really did just sit in a box downstairs for a year before I tool it out of the box.  One day a couple years ago, my friend was talking about Vitamix and all that it could do and that she and her daughter really wanted one.  I say I think I have that and looked in the cupboard and showed her.  She ended up getting one and she brought it over to show me how to use it.  The first thing was she made a couple soups, I was sold.  Raw vegetables going into a blender and turning into a soup that was yummy and easy, love it.  I have since tried and played with many recipes. Love looking at You Tube videos of people using them, getting new recipes/ideas.  I have in no way used my Vitamix to it's full potential but am getting there.  This week alone I have used it 1 to 2 times daily.  I will start posting the soup recipes this week my favourites are Thai Butternut Squash and Loaded Baked Potato Soup.

Cheers:)

Pulled Pork and Ciabatta

Today for dinner we had pulled pork and ciabatta bread.  The pulled pork was from Costco:

The flavours were really good.  A little too saucy for me but it was quick and easy since it was just my daughter and me home for dinner tonight.

I wanted to use the ciabatta that I made earlier today with it.  I think the ciabatta was a little too thick crusted and heavy for this type of meal.  Just made it really messy but the flavours were great together.  Next time I have this pulled pork I will used just a regular dinner roll so that it is softer to soak up the sauce.

I hope you enjoy this post, I plan on blogging more regular now.  Let's get cookin'.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I have recently tried two recipes from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cook book.  The concept is that you make a large batch of wet dough that will keep for two weeks in your refrigerator.

First I made pitas that were super good and easy.  I just need to make them thinner and more uniform size next time.  They were great with homemade Hummus and Tzatziki.

 Today I made a batch of Ciabatta.  We are a small family of three so I only made four.  Super quick.  Take out dough, shape and let rest 20 minutes.  Then bake in preheated over for 20 minutes.

When my daughter got home we had to test one.

 The texture was great and the crust very nice, thick like it should be.

 Add some butter and they were awesome.  Will defiantly make again.  Using remaining three for dinner tonight.

Will post about dinner later.  Take a look at their website, it has great information.  I have their other book but haven't tried any of the recipes yet.  I am going to order their new book today:)