Lobster Roll

I saw this on the Food Network and have been craving to make it! Steve thought it tasted exotic!

It was a very easy, quick and light dinner.
I think I would have used more lobster though. Maybe after the recession ;)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Greek yogurt or plain
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons green onion
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 hotdog buns
• Salt and pepper to taste
• **2 lobster tails

** I used 1 lobster tail.

I bought frozen lobster tail yesterday and thawed it over night in the fridge. Today, I steamed it for about 7 min until the tail curled.

In the meantime, I mixed the yogurt, mayo, celery, green onion, lemon juice and salt and pepper together.

Once the lobster was done, I chopped up into fine pieces and folded it into the above mix.

I toasted the bread, spread the mix on and served with some tomatoes on the side.

"Lobster roll"http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/lobster-roll-recipe/index.html March 2009.

The BEST Chili con Carne

I LOOOOOOVE homemade chili, and though I still think my mom is the master, this recipe is just amazing. And super easy too. It has a surprising secret ingredient - cocoa. I introduced the recipe to my co-worker, Tetiana and at first she was VERY skeptical (Her reaction was, "Chocolate in chili is just disturbing!!") but she has already made it twice since I gave it to her! I think that's a pretty good sign!



Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 red peppers, chopped
500g ground beef (one packet)
3 pickled jalapeno chiles, seeded and finely chopped (2-3 tbsp)
2 tbsp chili powder
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can tomatoes, chopped
1 can white kidney beans rinsed and drained
Directions
Brown ground beef in a large pot
When cooked through, push the meat to the edges of the pot to create a hole.
Pour olive oil in hole and saute onions and garlic until softened and translucent (5 mins).
Add red pepper and saute until tender crisp (5 mins).
Stir in jalapenos, chili powder, cocoa, salt coriander, oregnao tomatoes with their juice; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer stirring occasionally until slightly thickened (15-20 mins, though sometimes I like to leave it longer for richer flavour!).
I like to eat this over rice or sprinkled with cheese. If I'm feeling ambitious later, I might just make Mandy's cornbread!

Cubanos at Delux Restaurant

Cubanos are HANDS DOWN my favourite sandwiches in the world. Amanda introduced me to them during our trip to Florida. I’ve since had one in Atlanta, Buffalo and finally, Toronto!! They are not as popular here in Canada as they are in the States…in fact, very few people have heard of them. I don’t know why, because they are crunchy, cheesy, melty, pickly, meaty delights. I have tried making them at home, but will try again because I didn’t exactly get the flavours down to my liking.
Anyway, I went out with Marissa this week to Delux on Ossignton, simply because they serve the BEST Cubano sandwiches. I found it a little overpriced, but it's still worth it, since we've been back twice. Inside a cuban sandwich you'll find, Grilled pressed bread with brined pork, ham, swiss cheese, garlic flavoured mayo, mustard and pickles. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's pure heavenly bliss to bite into one. I am going to try to make this at home once again, so stay tuned!

Jerked Pork Tenderloin with Rice and Peas

I happen to love the 'Memories of..." sauces from Loblaws. I know I usually like to make sauces from scratch, but I have my exceptions, especially on weeknights. For this quick and easy Caribbean supper, I picked up a 'Memories of Montego Bay' jerk sauce and marinated a 1.25lb pork tenderloin with it in a large Ziploc bag. I baked it for 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. I served this with some rice and peas cooked in the rice cooker. Here's the recipe for the EASY rice and peas.

(I didn't really plate this nicely because I was hungry and in a rush!)


Ingredients
3 cups of rice
1 can of kidney beans
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 chili (You're supposed to use a habanero pepper, but I only had a thai chili, so I used that)
2 tbsp minced onion
1 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of dried thyme

Put everything into a rice cooker and wait until the light goes off!
I would have served this with some fried plantain if I had more time.

Going green: lifestyle change: #1

Thermal coffee mug.

You can take me out of Canada, but you can't take Canada out of me.

I miss the coffee culture.

I never really realized how much a part of my life it was until I moved. I never appreciated that it was a social activity, "something to do" and I just miss it. I loved going to Tims for coffee, cookies, ice caps, bagels and sandwiches.

It was fun no matter where. Drive- through, road-trips, sitting in the car, school. It was always that “go to” place.

So, I have become an active Dunkin Donuts customer. Starbucks is a little too $$ for moi and no Tims in Chi..

I stop at a Dunkins religiously on my way to work now. They even have my coffee ready when I walk in.

I used to get coffee every morning with a Styrofoam cup and just felt plain guilty about it. Plus I spilled it a couple times.

So my new accessory is a stainless steel thermal mug. She is with me at all times and is used for coffee, tea and water. She also doesn't spill and no more coffee cups for me.

Saving the environment one change at a time.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Sharl was reading over my shoulder as I was reading through my blog list, when he saw this recipe on Canadian Baker, he begged me to make it. I didn't use the frosting recipe from the recipe because my brother had given me his leftover cream cheese icing that he made a TON of. I used 1 cup of the cream cheese icing and mixed in 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter. It was heavenly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients
6 oz (175 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz (125 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter 1/3 cup (75 mL) natural peanut butter, at room temperature
2 cups (500 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
4 eggs
1-2/3 cups (400 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) chopped unsalted peanuts
Pinch salt

Frosting:
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter, softened
1/4 cup (50 mL) natural peanut butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla 2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) milk
3 oz (90 g) bittersweet chocolate, melted

Preparation: Line 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan with parchment paper or grease. In saucepan, melt bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate, butter and peanut butter over medium-low heat; let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each. Stir in flour, peanuts and salt. Spread in prepared pan. Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging, about 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack.
Frosting: In bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and vanilla until creamy. Beat in icing sugar in 2 additions; beat in milk. Spread over brownies. Drizzle with chocolate. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Remove from pan; wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Or overwrap in heavy-duty foil; freeze for up to 1 month.) Cut into bars. Makes 60 bars.

Lamb on Naan with Greek Salad

Not all leftovers have to be boring. If you turn them into something completely new, you'll never know they were leftovers. I used the left over roast lamb we had on Saturday and gave it a middle eastern twist by spreading baba ghanoush on warmed naan bread and serving it with a simple Greek salad. Delicious!


I very seldom buy prepared salad dressing because it's easy and fresher to make your own.
To make a simple Greek dressing at home, combine the following into a small mug and mix:

juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
1 clove lightly crushed garlic

Pizza Party!

I LOVE to share food with others, and even better if we can cook together! Anita and I made 2 types of pizza tonight, and had a lot of fun doing it.

While Anita rolled out the dough, the boys 'helped' out in the background.


Pizza # 1:
Quatro Stagione (For Seasons) Pizza

Ingredients
Artichokes
Olives
Mushrooms
Prosciutto
Mozzarella
Pizza sauce
Directions
Layer the pizza with sauce, cheese, artichokes, olives and mushrooms, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 450 F. Once the pizza is removed from the oven, top with proscuitto.

Pizza # 2:
Caramelized Onion and Bacon Pizza

Ingredients
6 strips of bacon crumbled
3 onions sliced into rings
1/2 tsp butter
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp thyme
pinch of saffron (we were feeling decadent)
salt and pepper to taste
mozzarella cheese
pizza sauce

Directions
1. In a hot skillet, fry bacon until crispy. Drain on paper towels.
2. Drain bacon fat, but leave browned bits in pan. Melt butter.
3. Add onions, thyme and rosemary and cook until they turn brown and become caramelized (the key is not to stir them too much)
4. Remove from heat and let cool for a bit.
5. Top pizza dough with sauce cheese, onions and bacon (we also added artichokes) and bake for 20 minutes at 450 F

*If you are baking 2 pizzas at once in the oven, rotate between upper and lower rack halfway though.

Et voila!

Pizza Dough

Anita and Ivan are coming for dinner and we're going to make homemade pizzas together.
Anita's picking up ingredients, so I thought I'd make the dough ahead of time so all we have to do is roll it out and prepare and assemble our toppings.
Kneading dough is quite the workout. I think I will take up bread-making while on maternity leave to help me lose the baby weight!

Here's a simple recipe for pizza dough found in my Good Housekeeping cookbook.


Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
1. Combine 1/4 cup warm water, yeast and sugar in large bowl. Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy (5 mins).
Stir in remaining cup warm water, oil, salt, and 1/2 cups flour until smooth.
Gradually add 2 cups all purpose flour and stir until dough comes away from the side of the bowl.
2. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (10 mins). Work in enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour to keep dough from sticking. Shape dough into ball and place in greased large bowl, turning dough to grease top.
3. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in volume (1 hour).

Roast Leg of Lamb with Yorkshire Puddings

My father-in-law is an AMAZING cook. One of my favourite things (among many others) are his roast dinners. Last night, he made roast leg of lamb with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. I know Yorkshire puddings belong with roast beef, but we thought... why not with lamb too?
One of his tricks in making super flavourful lamb is stuffing garlic pieces into the meat before cooking. Then he coats the lamb with salt and pepper, butter, rosmary and thyme.
Because Yorkshire puddings are my absolute favourite part of the roast dinner, here's the recipe...


Yorkshire Puddings

Ingredients
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 large egg
300 ml milk
300 ml water

Directions
Ensure oven is heated to 400 F
Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth, scraping down sides occasionally.
Put about 1/2 tsp vegetable oil into the bottom of each well of a muffin tin and place in hot oven for 3 minutes.
Once the oil is hot (should be smoking), carefully but QUICKLY pour batter into each well.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 F, then reduce heat to 325 F and continue to bake until puffy and golden brown.



Here's a picture of Sharl digging in. It must have been torture for poor little Xhosa.