Cheese Crackers

Dec18

These little crackers are great for the lunchbox, but you can also make them into holiday shapes, sticks or twists for holiday entertaining.

I found these on Minced, you can visit that site for the complete recipe. Please do visit that website for detailed instructions and to see the beautiful pictures. Her pictures are much nicer and more elegant than mine (I barely know how to use my camera).

Basically you place the following ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the dough forms, keep it going, it will come together.

1/2 lb grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
1 cup all purpose flour, more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Cayenne pepper (optional – to taste)

Preheat oven to 350F. Once you have the dough roll it out and cutout and shape as desired.

Bake for about 10 minutes, just until puffed and slightly golden at edges.

Mashed Potato with Kale

Feb28

This side dish to delicious. Even if you don’t like kale just try it once I guarantee you will like it here. I know at least two people that do not like kale, don’t eat kale, but love this. I didn’t get a picture of it plated because I took this to a friends house for dinner.

This is not a low cal recipe. It is a hearty stick to your ribs winter dish. We only make it about twice in a year for a treat, though it is so good I could eat it every week.

You will need:

about 2 lbs potatoes

1 bunch kale

3tbsp butter

2 cups finely diced onion or leeks thinly sliced (I use Vidalia sweet onion or leeks)

1/2 to 1 cup half-&-half (10% cream) (start out with 1/2 cup and add more as needed)

1/2 to 1 cup milk (start out with 1/2 cup and add more as needed)

1/2 to 1 cup grated while medium or old cheddar, you want flavour here ( I use Balderson’s)

Boil potatoes in slightly salted water until soft and then drain. once drained well, mash.

While the potatoes are cooking boil another large pot of water and cook the kale for about 5 minutes. It doesn’t get fully cooked at this stage as it will get finished in the oven later. One it is cool enough to handle chop it finely, just run the knife through it several times, it doesn’t have to be pretty.

In another small pot melt butter and cook onions with a sprinkle of salt until they are very soft and translucent.

Mix cooked onion mixture into the mashed potato. Add cooked chopped kale, cream and milk (be slow with adding the milk & cream so you don’t make it to runny. It should be very creamy but not watery. I add 1/2 of cup of each at first and add more as required to get the consistency as I want it. How much you add will depend on the potatoes you use and the moisture content. Mash all together, add salt to taste. I usually toss in 1/4-1/2 cup of grated cheese and mix it through as well, for extra cheesy flavour.

Place mashed mixture in baking dish or casserole dish and sprinkle top with grated cheese and bake at 350F until cheese is melted and top is lightly browned, about 20-30 minutes.

Cheesy warm creamy mashed potato flecked with little bits of green. Delicious!

Adapted from: The Green Door Restaurant Vegetarian Cookbook.

Two Cheese Tossed Salad

Jul18

Salad with bacon and cheese! I hadn’t had this salad in many years and thought it would be nice for a change now that summer is here. The only thing to keep in mind is that the dressing should be made the day before, though I often forget and make it in the morning and let it sit all day in time for supper, that is ok too, but best if prepared the day before so all the flavours can meld together.

To make the dressing:

In a jar with a tight fitting lid combine

1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil

1/2 finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tsp poppy seeds

1/2 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp dried minced onion (you can use 1/4 tsp onion powder, or leave it out as there is red onion, I have made both ways)

1/8 tsp salt

Put on the lid and give it a good shake or whisk to mix. Place in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours)

In a large bowl combine

5 cups torn spinach leaves and iceberg lettuce

1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 carton cottage cheese

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

2-3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Toss well with dressing

Add bacon and serve.

In My Kitchen July 2015

Jul3

June went by so fast and we haven’t really had any summer here yet. I sure hope July has summer for us!

One of the best things about starting a new month is the IMK posts, thanks to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting and bringing everyone from all over the world into each others kitchens.

We had some bubble gum, fruit stand bubblegum…I remember having this when I was a kid

After a trip to Upper Canada Village we brought home some fresh bread and cheese made there. I still have to post about our trip to the Medieval Festival there.

We had a friend visit who brought us these treats all the way from Australia. Evie LOVES Australian marshmallows, they are the best! And these double coat TimTams are amazing, I rationed those.

Another friend stopped by with these chips. They were intended for my husband but after Evie got past the heat of the first few she was hooked and ate more than her dad.

This little antique cup and saucer Evie bought at a yard sale for 50 cents

Beer, I tasted and wasn’t too impressed, I am a Guinness girl, but hubby drank it no problem

Dish soap in a pretty bottle that I will refill

a little terracotta pot for dips and stuff

Fresh picked strawberries, finally fresh local berries!

Rose honey, this is Evie’s and it is lovely

July 1st is Canada Day and every year we have red and white nachos (I forgot to rotate the picture)

My friend went to Kingston, Ontario and brought me back this cookbook because she knows that I like this restaurant and eat here whenever we go to Kingston.

Thanks again Celia for hosting and I will see you again in August! Well I hope to see you before then, I am sure I will 🙂

French Bread Mushroom Pizza

Mar30

This is Delicious, with a capital D! I got this recipe from a blog that I follow. I have been in the mood for mushrooms lately and couldn’t wait to try this. It was so good, I will definitely make it again. I needed more mushrooms, will use two packages next time, or a smaller loaf.

Here is the link to the recipe, French Bread Mushroom Pizza

Basically you take a french bread loaf, cut in half length wise. You can make garlic toast out of it at this point if you wish, or not either will work and is good. I didn’t make the garlic toast this time, but I think next time I will.

Make a simple béchamel sauce smear on the bread with the mushroom which have been sautéed in a few ingredients top with cheese and bake for a few minutes. Check out the Jam Hands blog, link above, for the complete recipe.

Sweet Potato Burritos

Sep8

We used to have at least one vegetarian (better if vegan) meal every week. We kind of slid off the wagon for a bit, but now we will adding at least one vegetarian meal back into our meal schedule. We are still trying to plan a meal schedule. This was our vegetarian meal this past week. Since these made quite a few, about 16, I wrapped and put some in the freezer for another meal or lunches.

Here is what I did.

Heat in a pan,

2-3 tsp oil

1 finely chopped onion

4 cloves minced garlic

add 3 cans of kidney beans, about 6 cups (drained and rinsed), mash these in

Stir in 2 cups of water and heat until warm

Remove from heat and add 4 cups mashed sweet potato (next time I would use less, maybe 3 cups)

3tbsp chili powder, 2tsp cumin, pinch cayenne, 4tsp prepared mustard, 3tbsp soy sauce

Divide mixture among warmed flour tortillas top with a little cheese and roll up into burritos.
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Place the rolled burritos into a baking dish and bake for about 10-15 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

We served these with guacamole and sour cream for dipping.

To freeze I placed the cooled bean mixture into a room temperature tortilla top with some grated cheese and roll then wrap in foil. Place the foil wrapped burritos into a zip top freezer bag.

I am not used to freezer cooking, but to cook these I will thaw in the fridge during the day and place them wrapped in foil on a baking tray and cook at 350F until they are hot in the middle. I am thinking this will take about 30 minutes. They may need to be unwrapped for the last 10 minutes to let the tortillas crisp a little on the outside, but this really doesn’t matter.

Bacon Cheese and Chive Quiche

Jul21

Reposting this as WordPress seems to have lost my original post and I am looking for the recipe!

Watching an episode of Madeline made us decide on quiche for supper. Probably not the one they had at Le Hotel Riche, but I had all of the ingredients in the fridge so we just made this one up. The chives were added because we had alot growing in the garden and Evie has been desperate to go cut some and carry them in her basket, so we added chives!

I didn’t have time to make the pastry so I just used a frozen store bought one.

Preheat oven to 350F. You will need:

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 & 1/2 cups grated cheese, I used half mozzarella & half cheddar)

3-4 strips bacon, chopped and fried to well done

1-2 tbsp chopped chives

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

whisk eggs with milk and add other ingredients, stir to combine. Pour into pie shell and bake for about 40 minutes until done.

It turned out really well, very tasty. I was unsure if Evie would eat it or not but she devoured it, and asked that we make it again soon. I guess this recipe will go into the recipe book.

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our adventures cooking … and other fun stuff

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