Crepes

I love crepes! I can eat them all day, every day.  My favourite tends to be Nutella with bananas or strawberries, but while I was in Paris I ate a lemon sugar crepe every night.  I woke up one morning and decided I was going to make crepes for breakfast and introduce my 15 month old daughter to the beauty of a crepe.  I have adapted this recipe to be non-dairy as well, but that will be for another post.
You can use any filling/topping you'd like, but this morning I decided to do cooked apples.  Prepare the apples first as they can cook while you are making the crepes.
And don't worry if the first crepe doesn't turn it - it never turns out for me so I researched it once and apparently it is a myth that the first crepe never turns out!

Crepes:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
splash of vanilla
salt to taste

1. In a small bowl combine the eggs, milk, butter, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour, blending well. Heat heavy skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Brush with shortening or oil (or spray with non-stick cooking spray).

Batter starts to bubble and
curl on the edges.

2. Pour batter, about 1/3 cup at a time, into pan.  Tilt and swirl pan to spread batter very thin - to the edges of the pan.  Brown about 1-2 minutes (until it starts to bubble), turn and brown the other side.
3. Transfer crepes to a plate and cover with foil paper or place in warm oven to keep warm.
4. When all the batter is cooked, place a crepe, one at a time back into the pan and fill with the filling (below). Fold in half (or thirds) and briefly heat through.
5. Dust with icing sugar and garnish with whipped cream or syrup and serve.

Makes approximately 8 crepes.

The final product - yum!

Filling #1:
5 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced.
2 tbsp butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp cinnamon (to taste)

Heat skillet over medium heat.  Melt butter in the pan and add apples.  Squeeze lemon juice over top and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Cook until the apples are soft and starting to break down.

Filling #2:
Nutella
Sliced Bananas

Spread nutella over half the crepe. Once it starts to melt, place the sliced bananas over top.  Fold the crepe over and flip to heat the other side.

Filling #3:
Nutella
Sliced Strawberries

Spread nutella over half the crepe. Once it starts to melt, place the sliced strawberries over top.  Fold the crepe over and flip to heat the other side.

Filling #4:
1 lemon, juiced and zested
sugar

Sprinkle the crepe with sugar, lemon zest and juice.  Fold over and serve.

Spaghetti Squash Bake

This is a great recipe for anyone who has kids that love pasta, but want to cut down on the carbs.  The stringiness of the squash trick your kids into thinking it's pasta!

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic,
1 tsp ground parsley
1/2 carrot
1/2 can diced tomatoes, drained (or a few fresh ones)
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1-1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup mozzarella, grated

Directions:

1. Pierce the spaghetti squash and roast it whole in a 400F oven for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally; cool.
2. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.  Pull apart the squash with a fork, lengthwise, to create strings of pasta.  Let it drain for about 30 minutes in a colander. (If you omit/shorten this step that's okay, but the bake might be a little more runny.)
3. Meanwhile in a large skillet, heat some oil and butter and add the onion.  Cover and cook on medium-low heat until the onion starts to soften and become translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the parsley and garlic, stir to combine and keep sauteing the mix as the onions become more golden.
4. Cut your carrot in half and using a peeler, peel strips of carrot into the pan with the onion mixture.  Add as much or as little as you like. [At this point you could add any other vegetables you'd like to sneak into your dinner!]
5. Add the tomatoes, stir and heat through.
6. Place the squash in an 8" square pan, add the onion-tomato mixture and stir.  Crumble in your feta and stir once again.  Press down evenly.
7.  Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan and butter and sprinkle over top.  Add a drizzle of olive oil and a little more butter (it doesn't have to be melted) and bake in the oven (400F) for another 15-20 minutes until golden.  Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over top and return to the oven on broil just until the cheese is melted.

Homemade Applesauce

Yesterday my husband and I took our daughter apple picking.  She had quite the time "running" between the trees (more like wobbling and tripping!), biting into my apple and having the juice run down her face, and picking a couple of apples off the branches.

We picked so many apples that I knew I had to kick into full gear so that they wouldn't go to waste.
I've never made applesauce before and I never really ate it growing up, but I remember my daughter tasting it once and loving it, so I thought I'd try and make some myself.

It turned out amazingly! All three of us are enjoying this applesauce everyday.  I've frozen some and read that it can last several months if packaged properly, but I doubt ours will last that long!

Ingredients:
12 apples (of your choosing)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup brown sugar (I used both dark and golden)
A splash of vanilla
1 cinnamon stick, broken (or ground cinnamon)
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Pee, core and slice or chop the apples. They don't have to be that small as they will break down on their own as they cook.
2. Place in a cast iron Dutch oven (or any pot you have handy).  My apples went right to the top of my pot.
3. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over top.  Sprinkle with the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and give it a stir to mix it all together.
4. Pour water to cover the bottom of the pot.  I actually put quite a bit more because of how full it was, maybe about 1/3 of the way up, and I think it turned out great!  Sprinkle with salt and give it one more stir.
5. Cook over medium-high heat, covered.  Stir occasionally to prevent any sticking and to distribute the heat and flavours throughout.  Simmer for about 20-30 minutes, or until the apples break down.  The longer you let it simmer, the softer the apples get and the more they break down.
6. Remove from heat, remove the cinnamon stick and mash with a potato masher or puree in a blender. I mashed mine because I preferred the lumpier texture.

And voila! You have some yummy applesauce.  It tastes just like the inside of a really good apple pie!

Classic Belgian Waffles

I love breakfast - especially a sweet, dessert type breakfast! This is my last weekend before returning to work after my maternity leave.  So this morning I woke up feeling like waffles.  I pulled out my recipe, my waffle iron and I got mixing!

This recipe creates a light and fluffy waffle that tastes so good.  And you can top it with whatever you want: maple syrup, strawberries and whipped cream with a dusting of icing sugar, nutella and bananas - the possibilities are endless!

My waffle iron makes 4 at a time, so this recipe will take you through about 3 rounds.  I normally get 10-12 waffles, depending on how full I fill it each time.

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 cups milk

Directions:

Preheat the waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a second bowl using a wooden spoon or electric mixer, beat together egg yolks and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved and eggs have turned a pale yellow. Add vanilla extract, melted butter and milk to the eggs and whisk to combine.  Combine liquid mixture with flour mixture and whisk until just blended. Do not overmix!

In a third bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the waffle batter. Don't overmix!

Coat iron with non-stick cooking spray and pour batter into iron just to cover the waffle grid. (For mine, I'd put about 1/3 cup of batter for each square, but I'd place closer to the middle to avoid a lot of spillover!) Close and cook per manufacturer's instructions until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. (I set my iron to "3" or "4".  Once it beeps the first time I open it up and close it again and let it beep a second time.  This allows for a crispier and less soggy waffle.)

Serve immediately.

These waffles also freeze great so you can make them in large batches and pull them out whenever you want waffles for breakfast - just pop them in the toaster!

Batter and egg whites, still separate.

Folding in the egg whites.

Sometimes my batter doesn't make it quite to the edges, so my waffles are a funny shape!

Last round of waffles.  It spilled over some edges, but still didn't fill in all the wholes!

Waffles and maple syrup - yum!

A Tuscan Dinner

Tonight's dinner idea came from Rick Rodgers, The Carefree Cook.  I had bought some pork side ribs on sale and wanted to BBQ or slow-cook them, but I couldn't find anything interesting to me in my collection of cookbooks (and it hasn't been BBQ-ing weather).  But I did find this oven-roasted recipe in one of my books, and today was finally the day I had some time to make it.  The recipe recommends serving these ribs with polenta and sauteed green beans, so that is exactly what I did.  My daughter took a nice hour and half long nap, which gave me plenty of time to do most of the prepping and cooking.  And my hubby pulled into the driveway as I was finishing the final touches and bringing everything to the table. All three of us enjoyed our dinner; my daughter loved the polenta and ribs - she made a mess trying to feed herself!

Tuscan Roasted Ribs

Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt, divided
1.5 tsp dried basil
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1.5 tsp dried rosemary
1.5 tsp dried sage
3/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
approx. 5lbs ribs
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used red wine)

Directions:
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F.
2. Crush the garlic and coarsely chop.  Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and mix together in a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste. Scrape into a bowl and add the basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, pepper, and the remaining salt. Stir in the oil to make a paste.
3. Rub the herb paste all over the ribs.  Place the ribs in a very large roasting pan (It's okay if they overlap slightly. They just curved around my pan and fit perfectly!) Roast, basting occasionally with the juices in the pan, for 1 hour.  Turn the ribs and continue baking and basting until they are browned and tender, about 1 more hour.  Transfer to a cutting board and let stand while you make the sauce.
4. Tilt the pan and spoon off the fat, leaving the dark juices in the pan.  Place on two burners over high heat and heat until the pan is sizzling.  Add the wine and use a flat wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits in the pan.  Cool until the wine is slightly reduced, about 2 minutes.  Pour the sauce into a small bowl.
5. Cut the ribs between the bones and place on a serving platter.  Serve immediately, topping each serving with a spoonful of the sauce.

I didn't care much for the sauce.  I don't know if it was the red wine or that I didn't cook it long enough (I cooked it for almost 5 minutes), but the wine flavour was very strong. I must have also left some fat because my sauce separated and really didn't do much to the flavour of the ribs.  The ribs tasted amazing though all on their own.

Pan-Fried Herbed Polenta 

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp salt
1 cup cornmeal (coarser gives better texture)
2 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp butter

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until it gives off its aroma, about 1 minute.
2. Add the chicken broth,  2 cups water and salt and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stirring constantly, gradually add the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring very frequently.  Add the basil.  Continue stirring and cooking, about 15 minutes, until the polenta pulls away from the sides of the pan and it is tender.  Stir in the butter.
3. Spread the hot polenta in a greased 8" square pan.  Let cool completely.  Cut into 9 squares. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the polenta squares and cool, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes.

I'm used to eating soft polenta with a hearty tomato sauce/stew over top.  My grandparents would pour the polenta over a wooden board over the kitchen table and we would all cut off our portion, add the sauce and eat away.  This recipe is very different from what I'm used too.  I know my husband doesn't really like polenta that way (or at all). so I thought he'd like it better cooked this way.  Plus I could cook it in advance while the baby was sleeping, let it cool and harden and then quickly fry it up right before everything was ready.  The verdict: he still doesn't care much for polenta.  I enjoyed it, but missed the sauce I'm used to.  My daughter simply loved it!

Garlicky Sauteed Green Beans

Ingredients:
1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off and beans cut in half
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup water
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp butter

Directions:
1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add beans plus salt and pepper and thyme.  Toss to coat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-8 minutes, or until beans are spotty brown.
2. Add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Remove lid and cook until the remaining water has evaporated, about another minute.  Add garlic and toss, cooking for another minute.  Add butter, toss and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the beans are crisp-tender.

These beans tasted so yummy! They were a little to crispy for my little one, or maybe too garlicky - she just spit out the pieces.  But hubby and I devoured them.

And of course I forgot to take a picture of my beautiful dinner setting, so tomorrow I will try and remember to take a picture of the leftovers (sans green beans!). 

Some picture I found online.

 

One Pot Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

This recipe comes together so easily. The prep is so fast and you only use the roasting pan so it's a quick clean up as well! I made this for our four year anniversary yesterday.  With a little baby crawling/walking around and demanding my undivided attention, the ease of this recipe is very helpful! And all three of us really enjoyed the flavour!

Ingredients:
1 large chicken (about 1.5 kg)
sea salt and black pepper
olive oil
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
2 lemons
rosemary and thyme
4 carrots, quartered
1 onion, chopped into large pieces
5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 pkg (227g) sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup wine
1 cup chicken stock

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 450F.  Rub the chicken all over with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Place in  a large roasting pan and stuff the cavity with half of the head of garlic, one lemon halved, and some rosemary and thyme.

2. Roast the chicken for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare your vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onion).  Take the chicken out of the oven and lower the oven to 425F.  Add the onion, carrots and potatoes around the pan.  Quarter the remaining lemon and place around the roasting pan with the remaining garlic.  Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and vegetables; sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Roast for another 15 minutes.

3. Lower the oven to 400F. Add the mushrooms around the pan.  Drizzle with a little bit more olive oil, then pour the chicken stock and wine over the vegetables. I used red wine simply because that's what I had handy.  Either wine works fine, but the red will stain your potatoes a bit. Roast for another 30-35 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through - the juices should run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a knife.

4. Place the chicken on a platter, cover with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Place the vegetables in a serving dish and keep warm.

5. Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables.  Spoon some of the cooking liquid over each.

This will easily serve 4 people! As I forgot to take a picture of my beautiful creation, these photo from the web will have to do until I cook it again! Buon'appetito!
(The picture on the right is more like the colour of the chicken from this recipe.)

Peperonata

This recipe comes straight from my nonna.  Because she never measures when she cooks, everything below is an approximation.  The amount of vegetables you use is all in relation to each other. Since this stews for a very long time, make sure you don't chop the vegetables too small or you won't have anything to bite into! This recipe works great with all the fresh vegetables from the garden. This is one of my most favourite things to eat.  Pick up a nice bread stick or a ciabatta bun and enjoy! (And my 1 year old daughter loves it too!)

Ingredients:
2 large red peppers, sliced and seeded
2-3 large onions, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (optional)
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped
1 jar diced tomatoes or 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Directions:



1. In a large pot on high heat, saute onions (and garlic if you're using) with oil until softened and just starting to brown.
2. Add red peppers.  Season with salt and pepper. Stir and saute until softened.
3. Add zucchini and eggplant and stir.  Lower to medium heat; cover and simmer.  Mixture will soften and reduce; liquids will emerge.  Simmer until the majority of the liquid has been evaporated. (This could take a long time, depending on how much liquid there is).  Stir occasionally to prevent vegetables from sticking to the pot.
4. Add tomatoes and let simmer on low heat until it has reduced, approximately 3 hours.  Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
5. Serve immediately or reheat as needed.  This can also be frozen and stored for later use.

Saute the onions.

Add the red peppers.

After the red peppers have softened.

Adding the zucchini and eggplant.

As the liquids emerge & veggies reduce.

Adding the tomatoes.

The final product.