Crackers & Dip - a great appetizer for a holiday get-together!

Around the holidays, it is inevitable that I will make my spinach dip at least once.  Several years ago I made these cheesy crackers and they were hit.  They do take some time and as it happened, I hadn't made them since.  Feeling ambitious this year I decided to make them again and once again they were a huge hit.


Cheesy Spinach Dip

Ingredients:
2 250g cream cheese bricks, cubed
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Asiago cheese
1/3 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp thyme
2 300g package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
salt to taste

Directions:

1. Spray a medium-sized saucepan with cooking spray.  Combine cream cheese and milk over medium heat, stirring frequently to melt the cream cheese (adjust heat as necessary).

2. When the cream cheese is almost melted, add the onion, garlic powder, paprika and thyme; stir to combine. When the cream cheese is completely melted, add spinach, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses.  Stir to combine.  As the mixture starts to bubble, lower the heat.  Continue to heat through, about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom.

3. At this point you can transfer it to a serving dish and serve it warm with various crackers.  If you are making it ahead, transfer it to an oven-proof dish (like corning ware) with a lid.  Let it cool before refrigerating until you need it.  To reheat, place in oven with lid at 350F for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through.  Stir and serve.

This yummy and cheesy spinach dip can easily be halved for smaller crowds!

Tex-Mex Cheese Crisps

Ingredients:
1-3/4 cups flour
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (chilled) butter, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
200 g cheddar cheese, grated (about 1.5 cups - but weight to be precise!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 415F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

2. Sift the flour, chilli powder, garlic powder, paprika and salt into a large bowl.  Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

3. Add the egg and cheese and stir until the mixture comes together.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gather together into a ball.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to 3 mm (1/8") thickness.  Cut into shapes with a 6 cm cookie cutter (for Christmas I used candy canes and Christmas trees!).

4. Place on the trays, allowing room for spreading.  Bake for 12 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.  Leave on the trays for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Source: Ultimate Kitchen Companion

I call these crackers because they are crunchy, but they are also biscuit-like in that they are so flaky.  These were a huge hit again this year - people couldn't get enough (with and without the spinach dip!)

Holiday Baking: Sugar Cookies

Baking is one of my favourite things, and I especially love holiday baking.  Besides fudge, sugar cookies are probably my most favourite thing to bake at Christmas time.  It's probably because of all the different cookie cutter shapes and fun decorations that can be used.  The part that I don't like is how much time it can take to make them: chilling the dough, rolling the dough, decorating and so forth.

While I've played with various sugar cookie recipes over the years, there's one that I always go back to.  Of course this year, excited to make sugar cookies with my 4 year old, I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to use.  And of course, with a baby in the house, time got the best of me.  So I turned to this great little recipe that also makes delicious sugar cookies.  The only difference is that there is no chilling time - you press the dough into moulds and bake away!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray the pan cavities with cookie spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Beat in egg and extract; mix well.

3. Combine flour and salt; add to butter mixture.  Beat until well blended.

4. Press dough into cavities, filling 2/3 full.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until light brown around the edges.  Cool in pan 5 minutes.  Turn pan over to remove cookies.  Cool completely on cooling rack.

5. Decorate as you wish: dust with icing sugar, sprinkle with sugar crystals, colour with icing.

Note: To add to the festive nature of the season, I like to mix in red and green sugar crystals with the dough before baking.  It gives the cookies a nice pop of colour and they look lovely even without any decorations.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Veggie Risotto

My husband grew up on rice, but I get bored of it quite easily.  We didn't eat rice very often at home unless it was risotto.  So every once in awhile I will make a risotto (usually mushrooms) because that pleases everyone.  I was visiting my nonna and she was talking about a zucchini-saffron risotto she made and I thought to myself Why not try something like that??

So while this is in no way her recipe, it was definitely inspired by her!  While my LO tried to pick out some of the vegetables, overall it was a huge success with everyone in the house!

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, halved and chopped (or quartered if it's a big one)
2 small green peppers, seeded and sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
1.5 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
3-4 tbsp butter, separated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or mixed with Asiago cheese)

Directions:

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a small saucepan.  (If you don't have chicken stock handy, use a bouillon cube in boiling water.  Make sure you follow the package instructions and make enough for the risotto).

2. Saute onions until translucent over medium heat in oil and butter.

3. Add garlic and pepper and saute for a few more minutes until tender.

4.  Add zucchini and tomato and cook until softened; add more butter if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add 1 tbsp butter and rice and stir until rice becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.

6.  Add 1/2 cup white wine and stir until absorbed.  Add chicken stock by the ladleful/s and stir until absorbed.  Continue to add stock until the rice is cooked, about 45-50 minutes.

7.  Remove from heat, add 1 tbsp butter, then the freshly grated Parmesan (and Asiago) cheese.  Stir.  Season with salt if necessary.

This serves great with a nice salad or even bruschetta as a side.

Veggie Risotto

The yummy bruschetta side dish

Slow-Cooker Soy-Braised Chicken

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been trying to find easy slow-cooker recipes.  Today I wanted to utilize some chicken breasts that I had and some other ingredients that I don't use too often when cooking dinner.

The results were pretty good.  I'd probably use chicken thighs instead next time as the white meat does tend to get drier.  I would also reduce the amount of soy sauce I used as I found that flavour quite strong.

Ingredients:
2 medium onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup (low-sodium) soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp black pepper
1.5-2lbs skinless, boneless chicken
1 tsp paprika
1 large head bok choy and/or 2-3 handfuls of kale or spinach, cut into 1" strips

Directions:

1. Combine onions, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, bay leaf and black pepper.  Place the chicken on top and sprinkle with paprika.
2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours (or on low for 7-8 hours) until the chicken and onions are tender.
3. Ten minutes before serving, make sure the slow cooker setting is high.  Gently fold in the bok choy/spinach/kale and cook, covered, until tender (at least 5 minutes).
4.  Serve over rice.

Slow-cooker Chicken Chilli Tacos

I've been on the search for recipes that are quick and easy and utilize a slow-cooker.  With a new baby, it's hard sometimes to spend a lot of time prepping and cooking meals.  And since we are on a reduced income for the next year, eating out is not always the best option!

I came across this recipe by chance and decided to give it a try.  It turned out really well and makes a great filling for tacos or even quesadillas.  We even used it to dip nacho chips in with salsa.  The chicken has quite a bit of flavour!

Ingredients:
2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup salsa, plus more for serving
1 tbsp chilli powder
To fill your tacos:
taco shells or soft tortillas
1 cup grated cheese (use your favourite or a mix like cheddar, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, etc.)
fresh cilantro
sour cream

Directions:
1. Combine chicken, garlic, salsa and chilli powder in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (or 8 hours on low).

2. When chicken is ready, remove it from the slow cooker and place in a bowl or on a plate.  Shred the chicken and combine with juices from slow cooker.

3.   Fill your tacos/tortillas with shredded chicken, cheese, salsa, sour cream and your other favourite toppings.

Another way:  These are great to make as quesadillas.  Warm up your tortilla in a frying pan, flip it over and add the meat, cheese and other toppings.  Fold the tortilla over or cover with another one and flip to heat through.

Slow Cooker Chicken Legs

Tonight's dinner was a team effort!  It's hard being at home with an 8-week old and trying to make dinner.  I had these chicken legs in the fridge that I have been wanting to cook for a few days now but dinner time almost lines up exactly with baby's witching hour.  This means that I don't have much time for prep.  I searched for a quick and easy slow cooker recipe and found several for chicken legs - some more complicated than others.  The one that I settled one seemed quite simple and adaptable with the ingredients I had in my house.  I got this in the slow cooker mid-afternoon so it'd be ready for dinner time.  When my husband came home he got some potatoes in the Acti-fry and we were off for a fairly easy dinner that had no leftovers.  And on top of it all - hubby said it was the best chicken I've made ever (and I make a lot of chicken)!

Ingredients:

8-9 chicken legs (about 800-900g)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 tbsp seasoning blend like Adobo (or another one you prefer)
1/2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper (completely optional - it adds a nice kick, but wasn't a hit with the kid)

Directions:

1. Spray the inside of your slow cooker with non-stick spray.  (I used a large oval one that fit all the chicken in a single layer.)
2. Mix together the brown sugar and seasonings in a small bowl.
3.  One by one, place a chicken leg in the seasoning bowl and sprinkle with the mix.  Make sure the chicken is completely covered, rubbing the mix in well.  Place the chicken (ideally) in a single layer in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Repeat with each leg.
4. Cover and set to High.  Cook 3-4 hours, or until the juices run clear.

Chicken & Nacho Casserole

Mat leave has me watching a lot of daytime tv talk shows.  Today I saw someone make a chicken casserole and thought to myself 'Have I ever had a casserole?'  I remembered having a conversation with some coworkers about how casseroles are just one pot dishes.  If that was the case then I guess I have had and made a casserole before.  Regardless, I wanted to make a chicken casserole tonight so I started searching the internet for a good one to try.

The result was tonight's dinner which was really quite yummy and a hit with the family.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
6 (approx.) boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup (approx.) crushed nacho chips
1 cup (fresh) salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar-mozzarella mix or whatever you like!)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook the chicken in batches until cooked through and golden brown.  Remove from pan.  While preparing the next step, chop or shred the chicken and save for later; set aside.

2. If necessary add another tablespoon of oil.  Add onion; cook for 6 minutes.  Add garlic and flour; cook for 2 minutes.  Gradually add milk and chicken stock, stirring constantly and scraping up the brown bits from the chicken.  Bring to a boil and cook for approx. 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and cream cheese.

3. Preheat oven to 350F.

4. Spread about 1/2 cup milk mixture over the bottom of a rectangular casserole dish.  Layer beans, 1-1/2 cups chicken and half the nachos.  Top with 1/2 cup milk mixture.  Layer 1-1/2 cups chicken and  remaining chips.  Top with remaining milk mixture.  Add salsa, covering the entire surface.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

5. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Tips: To save time, this recipe works really well with leftover cooked chicken.  Just shred or chop it and start at step 2.  Add the chicken as you layer your dish.  My husband said this recipe would go really well with rice in it.  You can add cooked rice to the bottom of your dish, or cook it separately and serve the casserole over the rice.  My family enjoyed eating the casserole with more nachos on the side.

It got flipped upside-down on the plate!

Sautéed Veggies & Pork Cutlets

Today I stopped by the grocery store and just browsed around waiting for some type of inspiration for dinner.  I saw some fast frying pork cutlets and knew right away I could use that, so I made my way to the veggies and picked up some zucchini and spinach.  I was going to pick up some broccoli as well, but remembered that I had some frozen at home so left them behind.  I had a good idea of what I wanted to make for dinner!  The problem for the blog is that I didn't really  measure my ingredients and just eye-balled it.

Sautéed Veggies

Ingredients:
1 onion, thinly diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broccoli florets (or broccoli cut into small florets)
2 small zucchini, halved and then sliced
1/2 cup spinach
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. If using fresh broccoli, cook in boiling water for about 3 minutes until tender.  If using frozen broccoli, follow instructions (ie: microwave with water for 3-5 minutes or boil until tender).
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pan.  Add onion and sauté for 1-2 minutes until softened; add garlic and cook another minute until fragrant.
3. Add zucchini, tossing to coat, and cook for 2-3 minutes until tender.  Season with salt.  Add broccoli and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Tear the spinach in half or thirds and add to the pan.  Cook, tossing to combine, until the spinach is wilted.  Season with salt and pepper.
5. Remove from heat and grate Parmesan cheese over top.

Breaded Pork Cutlets

This is a pretty easy thing to bring together.  All you need is some thin pork cutlets, bread crumbs, an egg and oil for frying.

1. Beat an egg and place the cutlets in the egg to coat.  Drip off any excess.
2. Coat the cutlet in your favourite bread crumb mix (I like Italian breadcrumbs), patting down to make sure the crumbs stick and the cutlet is fully coated.
3.  When you are ready to fry, cover the bottom of a pan with enough oil for frying.  Heat over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, place the cutlets (in batches) in the oil.  Don't overcrowd the pan as it will lower the temperature.
4. Fry the cutlet about 4 minutes on each side, until it is golden brown, turning once.   Remove from oil and place on paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil.  Fry the remaining cutlets.

Yummy garlic bread!

If I'm not using my grandparents' jarred sauce, I'm probably using the marinara sauce from Costco (I think it's called White Linen; it comes in a glass jar).  This sauce is so easy because you just have to
heat it up, it tastes great and having it with some fresh ravioli is oh so yummy!

My little one has been asking for garlic bread every day for at least the last week so I decided to make some to go with our ravioli dinner tonight.  This recipe makes such a yummy garlic bread and it is so great to dip into the tomato sauce as well.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tsp dried parsley (or 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped)
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 baguette or Italian loaf
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Stir together the butter, oil, garlic and parsley in a small bowl.
3, Cut the bread into 1" thick slices with a serrated knife.  Do not cut all the way through, leaving the slices attached to each other.
4. Gently pull apart the slices and use a pastry brush to butter them with the garlic mixture.  Spread the garlic mixture over the outside as well.  Sprinkle the outside and between the slices with the Parmesan cheese.
5. Wrap the loaf in foil and bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes.  After that time, open the foil and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Garlic Bread Sticks

If my little one could have pizza and garlic sticks every day, she would.  Whenever we ask her what she wants, that's her answer, followed by the cutest smile and a "please please please please please."  Fridays during Lent we are abstaining from meat, so veggie pizza is always an easy fix for a Friday night dinner.

The dough recipe that I use can be found here (from a previous post): Quick Pizza Dough.  I let the dough rise a little longer, probably 20-30 minutes.  This gives me enough dough to make two round pizzas.  One dough I use for my pizza and the other one I use for the bread sticks.

On a side note, this is such an easy recipe to get little hands involved.  My daughter helped me mix the dough, roll the dough, put on the toppings of the pizza and brush the bread sticks.  Her hands were really the ones that made our dinner tonight!

Ingredients: 
half of my dough recipe (see above)
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella

Directions: 
1. Roll out the dough into a circle.  Grease the pizza pan with butter and spread the dough into the pan.
2. Combine the butter, olive oil and garlic into a small bowl.
3.  Sprinkle the dough with salt and pepper to season.  Using a pastry brush, spread the garlic mixture over the dough, covering it entirely.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
4. Top with your cheeses.
5. Bake in a preheated 500F oven for approximately 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, let sit for a minute or so then cut into strips and serve (with your favourite marinara or dipping sauce if you like!).

Notes:  We normally just sprinkle Parmesan on our bread sticks because we don't like them as cheesy.  If you are baking the bread sticks with your pizza, then you will have to adjust some of your settings.   Normally I bake my pizza at 425F, so I place the garlic sticks in the top rack to cook at the same time.  I normally bake the pizza first and then start on the bread sticks.  If you do the same thing, the breadsticks will probably be in the oven for about 10 minutes.  After you take out the pizza, place the breadsticks in the bottom rack and raise the temperature to 450F.  Bake it for another 5-10 minutes, until it is golden brown.

We left this one in a little too long, so it was a bit dark and on the crunchy side, but still tasted delicious!

Chocolate Berry Muffins

My little one has been asking if we could bake some chocolate berry muffins, so this evening that is exactly what we did.  This recipe is so easy to make and comes together very quickly!  You get very full muffins that bake up perfectly and taste amazing!


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk ***
1/4 cup oil
1 cup berries (I used a mix of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
1 cup white/chocolate chips (I used half milk chocolate, half white chocolate)

The yummy looking batter.

Directions:

1. Measure first 4 ingredients (dry ingredients) into a large bowl.  Stir.  Make a well in the centre.

2.  Combine the next 3 ingredients (wet ingredients) in a small bowl.  Add to well.

Muffin  liners filled right to the top
for a full looking muffin with a rounded top.

3.  Add the berries and chocolate chips.  Stir gently until just moistened.

4. Fill 12 paper-lined muffin cups at least 3/4 full.  (I was able to fill the liners almost right to the top.)  Bake in 375F oven for about 24 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

5. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool.

***If you don't have buttermilk, you can use soured milk.  To do this, put 1tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice in a 1 cup measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1 cup.  Stir and let stand at least 1 minute.***

The baked muffins cooling in the muffin pan for 5 minutes.
They cooked up perfectly in 24 minutes!

The final product cooling before we can taste test.
They are quite soft when warm, so patience is oh so important -
even though they smell so delicious!

Pretzels!

My little one has been asking to make pretzels all week.  I'm not sure where the idea came from, but it's been a persistent request.  So today we spent the afternoon making pretzels.  While the recipe is easy enough, it does take time.  I spent some time trying to find a good recipe, and a lot of them seemed to follow Alton Brown's recipe on www.foodnetwork.com.  So that is the recipe we used!

Ingredients:

Nice and golden on the outside,
so soft on the inside.

1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
vegetable oil
10 cups water
2/3 cups baking soda
1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp water
salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (to brush the baked pretzels)

Directions:

1. Combine water, sugar, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top.  Allow it to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

2. Add the flour (start with about 3 cups and add more if necessary - ie: the dough is still sticky) and butter and mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment until well combined.  Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Remove dough from the bowl, oil it well with vegetable oil and return the dough to the bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place to allow it to double in size, about 50-55 minutes.

3. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper that is lightly oiled, set aside.  Preheat oven to 450F.

4. Bring 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in a medium saucepan.

The shaped dough
ready to be boiled.

5.  In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled surface and divide it in half.  Return half to the bowl and divide the other half into 8 equal pieces.  Roll out each piece of dough into a long "rope" (about 24").  Make  U-shape with the rope, holding the ends, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U to make the shape of a pretzel.  Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.  Repeat with the other half of the dough.

6. Place the pretzels into the boiling water, one at a time, for 30 seconds.  Make sure the entire do ugh is immersed in water.  Remove from the water using a flat spatula.  Return to the baking sheet and brush the top with the egg wash.  Sprinkle with salt.

The final product, all golden and delicious!

7. Bake until dark golden brown in colour, approximately 12-14 minutes.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle again with salt.  Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes.

8. Serve warm.  Makes 16 pretzels.

**You can divide the entire dough into 8 equal pieces for larger pretzels.**


While we may need some more practice on our shaping of pretzels, the overall taste was really quite good, especially warm out of the oven.  My husband loved it with nutella on top, cut open with seasoned cherry tomatoes on the inside. I preferred it all on its own, but I've been thinking about what kind of dipping sauce I can make next time.

In fact, next time I think I might add some parmesan, oregano, garlic powder and basil in the dough to give it more of an Italian/pizza flavour and pair it with a marinara sauce.  What do you think?