Stuffed Stuff

I never said I was good at keeping a blog, but here I am again with an update. I haven't been cooking very many fancy meals, or items I considered worth sharing lately. Though I have finally come up with a few great concepts to share with you. So anyways, lately I've had a deciding trend to the food I've been cooking for myself. Stuffed.

Stuffed food can easily be made for any meal. For breakfast you can easily stuff an apple with cottage or ricotta cheese. Pancakes can be stuffed with berries, or whipped cream. Lunch you can stuff breads with cheese and meats, even a sandwich could easily be considered as stuffed. My focus however has been on dinner. It's generally the only meal I cook on a regular basis, not to mention as a single person living on my own, what ever I cook for dinner one night, is what I have for lunch the next day. Cooking a single portion is not a simple task, so making a serving for two is much easier.

Personally, I think one of the most important part of stuffing something is making sure what ever you're putting it into, is able to cook thoroughly. This is especially important when you're stuffing meat such as chicken or pork. For meat I recommend cutting it so that it is no more than an inch thick at any point. More ideally you would want it to be about half an inch, though some times that can be really tricky. On occasion I've found that cutting your any meat while it is about half frozen makes it easier.

Stuffing vegetables, in my opinion, is much easier. It's what I do most often. For many vegetables you simply have to cut it in half, or the top off if it's a pepper and scoop out the insides. In most cases the innards aren't useable in any other fashion, or at least in my limited knowledge of cooking. If the innards are edible by all means save them. With edible innards choices, such as zucchini and potatoes, I would recommend leaving about quarter to half inch of flesh.

I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of al dente veggies, so precooking is important to me. Bake or steam until the inside is a soft firm. It will finish cooking after you stuff it. What kind of veggies can you stuff? If you can put something inside of it, try it. Experimenting is how all the most amazing (and most disastrous) food combinations are found.

Now lets move on to more important things, what are we going to stuff the stuff with? This is often one of those cases where I refer to my pantry. I was always taught to be slightly creative when cooking. The best way is to grab out several items and then play around. For stuffing I usually pull out rice, quinoa, random spices, different vegetables or fruit, grains and meats. After that is paring up random things that just might work for you that day.

Usually I find I resort to the same few combinations, because I know what I like, though every now and then I'll play with spices. Let me tell you what I put in these few:

Mushrooms:

- Stuffed with Feta cheese and Kraft Tex Mex Shredded Cheese

 

 

Green Bell Pepper:

- Lean Ground Chicken Marinated in Mandarin Orange Salad Dressing, Shaved Carrot, Onion, Celery and Jasmine Rice    

 

Zucchini:

- Ground Pork (I think) fried up with Onion and Celery. Topped with Shredded Cheese.

Acorn Squash:

- Basmati Rice and Quinoa, with Hamburger and Goat Cheese

Zucchini:

- Shredded Cheese (blow the rest of the filling), Hamburger, Onion, Celery, Radish and the Zucchini earlier removed.

  

Chicken Breast

- Crushed Trail Mix (Peanuts, Sunflower Seeds, Currants, Pumpkin Seeds, Cashews, and Almonds), Arugula, and Cottage Cheese.

I'll leave off here, but I have to say my most important thing to remember is, try different combinations. Stuffed, is always an amazing experience.

Eggplant Rollatini

Think this blog entry is long over due? You're definitely more than correct. I had in all honesty planned to get it up for the few of you who read this the week before I went to Australia and since I've been back for three weeks now, that obviously didn't happen. I had tried, but unfortunately due to some bad cheese I had to throw out the entire dinner on Thanksgiving. I suppose the lucky part is, I didn't actually have any company at all, I was serving myself.

So finally I got up the guts to make it again and it has turned out well enough I could get some decent photos of the process. Not to many of the end of it all. Random things tend to happen when you cook, like getting hungry from the wafting delicious smells.

Eggplant is something I have wondered about for quite a while now. Quite easily it stems from the fact that I happen to like the colour purple. It's an attractive looking vegetable, sitting there on the shelf in the produce aisle. Long and smooth and I would look at it and just wonder.. how on earth do you cook that? It's generally how I find new ingredients, see it in the store and then google it. In this case it of course sent me on to wikipedia. I've learned a few things about eggplants. It's from the same family as potatoes and tomatoes, the nightshade family. However, beyond that I also discovered it contains nicotine. If you ate a whole eggplant, every day you'd get enough nicotine to be classified as a casual smoker. So if you're trying to quit.. I found a vegetable of all things to help and you won't have to worry about nasty tars and chemicals filling up your lungs.

Now I'm sure you think that I'm about to give you the world's healthiest eggplant dish. Definitely not a truth to that. It has butter and sugar to stop the eggplant from being to try. Though if you really hard trying to be extremely cautious you can use a lemon marinade, but I found it didn't help the flavour at all.

I've tried several different fillings since I first tasted this dish. I wanted to come to some sort of 'this tastes AMAZING' conclusion before I shared it with you. The original stuffing was just ricotta cheese, now I've added cottage cheese. If you want to make big fluffy rolls add egg to help the filling from completely falling apart. The picture I have shows some left over chicken added. Personally, didn't like it so much but I'm a ricotta lover and would have wished for more of that flavour to push out. It's something you can adapt to your likings and tastes.

If you're wondering what eggplant tastes like, I really couldn't describe it to you. I do however suggest trying it. I've had it in the rollatini and just fried on a grill as well and both ways it's very enjoyable. Perhaps some day I'll attempt an Eggplant Parmesan. 

What's In a Pantry?

I've loved photography for almost as long as I could remember. Looking through photo albums as a kid just made me wonder what it was really like back then, or “Did I really do that?”.. embrace all those memories and the people and events that happened. They give us ways to remember both good and bad times and to help motivate us.

As a motivation to keep eating healthy, I started taking pictures of the meals I made myself. Even a few of the unsuccessful ones made it online (and one I ate most of before remembering to take a photo). One of the most common questions I got was about the recipes, or what gave me the idea for that. The most common answer I give is, I looked in my cupboards/pantry. I'm one of those people who will throw random ingredients together, hoping it works, just by opening my cupboards to see what's in them. For me, it's fairly easy since I don't have cupboard doors yet!

So this week I've decided to focus a bit on what's in my pantry. Of course my instant thought was to Google what should go in a well stalked pantry. Needless to say, I don't have a well stocked pantry to according to the lists I found. Most of them had over a hundred items, including several different varieties of jams, noodles, milks, flours. My pantry is definitely much more basic. I couldn't even complete the 'recommended' spices list. Some of which I've never even heard of. After that, even Dr. Oz aired a show about the “100 things to put in your shopping cart”.

 

Grains and Starches

Now the picture doesn't show everything I have. Some of my favourites, like quick-oats, aren't included. Of course, there's no point in taking a picture of flour. If you don't already have it, you probably don't need it. Everything in the picture though, are easy to cook and great to add to a meal to make it complete. Even just a few of these ingredients can help make a simple meal filling.

Mung Been Noodles – I found mine at the T&T (Asian Market) and they cook in seconds in boiling water. You can flavour them, stir fry them. Or chill them and use to serve other items on.

Baby Potatoes – Boil them, bake them, roast them.

Sweet Potato – Good for soups, fries, baked, sliced and baked, mashed

Pasta – I'm sure everyone knows how awesome pasta is.

Rice – Whether or not it's regular rice, or some strange mix of rice they can store for a few days after cooked, fried, put into puddings.

Lentils – I recently discovered how awesome lentils are. I prefer the red ones for a quick cook but the green lentils make hearty sauces, easy protein and a good base to many dishes.

 

Spices and Seasonings

If you notice anything from this picture, notice I don't have Salt in there. I own it but I rarely use it and I've talked about that before. I find that using seasonings and spices make the meal. If the only thing you use is salt it just doesn't give you all the flavour you could be experiencing. I don't even have anything that exotic in my cupboard!

First.. the very simple basics.

Oregano, Basil and Rosemary – Poultry and soups, most meats really go well with these.

Bay Leaves – Soups and Sauces. Though.. I can honestly say I almost always forget to add it.

Dry Mustard – I mostly use this when I make baked beans, but it's a great add to marinades and sauces.

Dry Chili, Black Pepper, and Dry Garlic – I actually have this mixture in my former 'pepper' grinder. I add it to eggs, various meats, soups.. well.. pretty much everything except desserts.

Dried Veggie Mix and Fruit Mix – Now these aren't something you just find in a grocery store. Ever heard of nutritional programs? Most of them have some sort of veggie or fruit powder that you can add to almost anything. Mine in specific comes from IsaGenix. I've used them in desserts, mixed meats, and shakes. They add veggies on those days where you just really don't want to deal with the real stuff.

Cocoa Powder – Mmm cake and chocolate pudding! Need I say more?

Yes, I realize there more spices shown that I haven't talked about. Trust me I haven't forgotten about them, but I figured a picture break was necessary! I'm geeky like that. It also gives a break into my more 'unusal' spices and add-ins that I love.

Fish and Salmon Rub – See that little blot of colour to the left of the chilies and under the dry mustard? Well that's Fish and Salmon Rub. I got it from Epicure just recently. I am officially in love with it and have used it on salmon (See pic above) and potatoes (also see pic above!) Definitely a great blend.

Papaya Seeds – They take forever to dry. The ones shown were actually only a day fresh so they look pretty moist still and stick to each other. When they're dry they have a great peppery taste. Just think, normally you would just throw them out.

Flax Seed (whole or ground) – Everyone should have flax seed. They're extremely high in Omega-3's (the only omega you should ever add!) and you can put it in anything. I've added it soups, every baked good I make, meat, breading, burgers. I've even thrown it in an occasional omelet.

Hulled Hemp Seeds – They are protein rich and can be added to many things. I've frequently put them in my meat mixes. They can be used as a 'breading' for people who are celiac, or on a low carb diet. Also they make a great snack.

So yes, a great many things in my pantry most of which you can get your hands on and have delicious food. I also have a great stash of cooking oils (Coconut Oil is by far the most awesome) and am not afraid to try new things from the grocery store. I have, on several occasions, seen a fruit or veggie that I had not the slightest clue how to cook, or what it would be used for. I'll often come home and Google it, repeatedly, to find out how it might be used. I've discovered Dragon Fruit, Prickly Pears, Star Fruit, Endive, Zucchini, Squash and now Eggplant!

Coming up next time, Eggplant Rollatini!

Budget Week, Part 2

Did you enjoy your roasted chicken? I certainly did. Now so many of my friends, family and the likes all throw out their bones when they're done. Don't Do IT! Those bones are going to be your ticket to making the meal, and its pretty much almost free food by this point, I'm going to introduce you to home made soup. So many people will try and tell me they don't have time to make homemade soup. Well I have good news! Unless you're an insomniac with to many jobs you have time. Heck, even if you are an insomniac with to many jobs you'll have time for this as it cooks while you're at work.

So after washing your hands, it's time to get them dirty again. Get a crock pot, or a soup pot and a container with a lid to put in the fridge after. Destroy the chicken carcass! Best part of it all. Get some extra aggression out, by pulling all the good meat remaining on the bones and put it in the fridge container, then, all the gristle, fat, and bones can go into the crock pot. Any bones that you can break need to be broken. That's a very important part, it lets the marrow get out so that you can the best flavour possible.

Remember all those ends you cut off the carrots you roasted? How about the leaves and stems of the celery stalks? They get used too! In with your bowl of bones throw in the ends, stems and leaves. Also quarter (or eighth) that one onion in the back of onions that's on its last legs and needs to be used first. Throw it in the pot to. Don't cut really fine, or chop more than eights, it's not needed and no sense making yourself work or cry for no good reason. If you've spiced your skin on your chicken like I do, you don't need to add much more. Perhaps a pinch of this or that, and maybe a bay leaf if you want to. The one MUST for adding though, is salt. I'm like the salt Nazi. Generally I will never add Salt to anything. It causes more health problems that try and not use it. However, I have made soup before, and if you don't add about two teaspoons you'll have not the greatest soup. Also with the amount of water you're going to add its fairly diluted.

 

Now that everything is in the pot it's water and cooking time. I am not completely sure, but my mom was always very specific, and even her recipe (she published her own cookbook!) is very specific about adding COLD water. Fill up the post and bring to a boil. Once its boiling turn it down to medium low, stick a lid on it and walk away. Warning, in about an hour you're going to be hungry from the smell of awesome. Now if you're eager for soup, you can cook it on medium for six hours, but if you're like me, you want the most flavour possible. I cook mine for twenty-four hours. I put it on before bed, in the morning I stir it and add a bit more water, and then I let it cook while I go to work and when I get home.. you walk in the door and get hungry all over again! Drain it into a different pot, add some fresh veggies to cook. When they are almost done, add some chopped up chicken from what you saved the night before and serve. Often I add carrots, onion, celery and corn. I've also added potatoes, broccoli, and soup noodles. 

Save some of the stock. You can use it for cooking many other dishes, and you can always have soup at another time. I normally use about 1/3 for soup that day, and then freeze the rest for future use.

Budget Week, Part 1

I know all the rules involved in saving and having a successful financial life. You know, the “Don't get a credit card” and “Always pay yourself first” among the top of the list of many things to do to make sure you're never in a horrible bind. I think the people who came up with the perfect set of rules were rich and didn't have to worry about day to day financial struggles of living paycheck to paycheck.

So it comes down to this. I had to pay my bills first and food comes last on that list of bills so this week I'm cooking on a very strict budget. Seriously.. I have fifty dollars to last me until two weeks from now. Now the positive in this all is that I still have some food left from last week. I have romaine lettuce hearts, and a few portions of frozen meats. Over in my pantry I have some lentils (which are only $0.26 for 100grams!) so they definitely fit into my budget.

So here go some of my favourite foods.. on a budget:

Roasting chicken is inexpensive and will provide you with several meals, even if you have small family. I'm single (woo!) and that means my budget goes a bit further. Also means sometimes it really hard to find recipes for just a single person.

The start to this journey is going to the grocery store. I'm very lucky that my parents were very aware of prices in the store. My mom, the cook of the family, always taught us that we needed to look at the prices and find the best one. There are more than just the brand names that are advertised on television. Sure, your brain is trained to think they're better, but 'generic' is often just as tasty. This also applies to fruits and veggies though. Look for deals. Sure you want a red apple, but I bet there is more than just one kind.

Examples you say? How about today when I went to my local store and I saw this:

Sweet Onions 88c / lbs Sounds like a good deal to me. They were a good size, all looked fresh. Until you walk around to the next isle and see they have the yellow onions on for $1.98 for three pounds. Sure they're smaller, and there's usually one in the bag that has to be used first but there is nothing wrong with them at all. Also, you don't have to try and keep a cut onion fresh.

Then there is celery. You know the annoying leafy parts you never use and the stems you just cut off and throw away.. what a waste right? Not really, you can use them in soup stocks and for flavouring. Also.. those cute neatly cut stalks you buy at the tore are $1.68 per pound. Go grab the bunch for $1.49, its already over two pounds and you can use all of it.

I also looked over the chickens, but I was picky and got one that was not frozen because I wanted to cook it today. Normally I'll opt for the frozen ones. They're a bit less expensive and I usually don't cook it the same day. I've had people ask me why I don't the precooked ones as they are a better price. If you look at them over all, they're smaller, not to mention they put on many spices I don't like, including salt. So its just simpler to buy my own, and rub it up with all the spices I do like and roast it.

It only takes a few hours and you'll be hungry the entire time it's cooking. Now is the time to dig through your fridge and pantry and find some good veggies to go with the meal. If you're a potato person, cut them up and toss them with a small bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper and throw them in with the roasting chicken. That's what I did for my carrots and zucchini that I added to my meal. Add a bit of tossed salad and your first, on a budget dinner is done. Coming soon.. what to do with your left over chicken!

Chewy Granola Bars

Have you ever had that one major down fall in life that haunts you no matter what you do. One of my biggest has to go in the category of snacking. I used to constantly want to snack on anything I could find. Chips, chocolate bars, granola bars, fruit snacks, breads. Anything really that I could get my hands on and make with little effort. Snacking almost never leaves me with a full feeling and often I felt guilty of everything I had consumed. Often, I don't even know how much I've consumed until I realize that I've run out of what I was shoving in my face.


In the last month or so, I've managed to kick the snacking habit for the most part, but I always find that I get hungry between my meals. As a 'responsible' person trying to get healthier, I drink water first. In many cases most people cannot tell the difference between hunger and thirst. Always assume the that you are thirsty and have some water as you are often dehydrated before you even realize you're thirsty.


Anyways, I recently got asked if I could make an entry about snacks so I spent some time searching to find a granola bar recipe that wouldn't put anyone on a sugar high. I don't cook with corn syrup nor did I want to buy some. I definitely didn't want to do a granola bar where I had to melt butter, with brown sugar and honey. My sweet tooth has definitely gone down to the point I can enjoy simple treats.


The only sweet, and the binding ingredient in these granola bars is date puree. You simply have to take your store bought dates (even the pre-chopped ones) and put them in enough water to just barely cover them. Cook them out over medium-high temps until they are soft and then blend them together. I find the best method for not getting anything to watery is to drain the water off into a different bowl/put and then slowly add only what's needed back in as you blend it. As for the other ingredients I took a picture of those!

Not much to say after that other than they are extremely delicious. You have to just mix everything together and bake it on a cookie sheet. Simple easy and even kids can make the majority of it so parents don't have to get their hands sticky. Oh yes, the best way to mix everything is by hand to make sure everything blends in perfectly.

P.s. Thank you to Amelia for suggesting I do a snack I had fun creating this.

Spaghetti Sauce

This week was definitely not one of my best by far. I was given a sticky bun with cream cheese icing while I was at work. You think that would be all for the week, but that inspired me to get a chocolate bar, which lead to pizza while waiting for the bus on the way home one two different days. I would like to think I had enough will power to stop there but it really didn't happen that way. I didn't say no to go out for a burger after Aquasize class on Thursday. Friday I ordered a pizza and a wing meal and ate it all. At least I said no to pop right? Then Saturday came along and I didn't eat a proper meal until seven thirty at night. I had a few sandwiches and a lot of ripple chips.

I really had no idea what I wanted to make so I started opening random cupboards to look in them. Well, actually I just look at all the cupboards with out opening anything since I don't have cupboard doors. It makes it really convenient for random choices some days. So I decided on making an unconventional pasta recipe that is both vegan friendly and gluten-free!

I'm told often that I'm full of useless information. So today I figured I would share some of it with you. In the cooking world many dishes including a good amount of stocks are made from a mixture of carrots, onion and celery. Its called a mirepoix, pronounced meer – PWAH. Oh look I had one cooking.

I ended up adding a little bit more sauce than the final product pictures shows. Once I mixed it up it just wasn't quite enough for my liking. I also discovered I needed to cook the lentils out a bit more. Considering this was my first attempt at ever cooking with lentils I can't complain though. They were much better than I was anticipating. Favourite part of the pictures though, has to be the steam.

Sweet Potato Soup

I will always maintain that the hardest part about cooking is patience. I've been looked at nuts for making this statement but I couldn't think of anything more true about the process. It takes patience to shop for all the fresh ingredients you want, especially if your first store doesn't have it all. Then you have to sit there and peel the veggies, chop things up and enough patience to not cry while you deal with onions. The hardest part to have patience for, and I know this is where I struggle the most, is the cooking process. Some foods just smell so wonderful while they cook that you can't help but wonder if your stomach can go that long. Don't go to the cupboard for a snack! Patience will serve you with a wonderful, very tasty dinner.

Recently, I went on a search for recipes involving sweet potatoes. Now if you've ever done this you'll find a world of fries, and baked potatoes. Don't forget the mash or casseroles that involve marshmallows. Apparently adding marshmallows in an American favourite during their Thanksgiving Holiday. I don't get it, but hey, I don't ever have to actually have them.

While searching http://allrecipes.com I found a dish for sweet potato soup. I've never tried a potato soup to my knowledge but I always assumed it would taste very close to a chowder. Thick but creamy. Luckily I even had all the ingredients on hand and I even decided to make some crispy baked chicken tenders as well. What can I say, I like having protein with my meals.

It definitely pays to read the directions even if you have read them before. I see 'saute' and I instantly think frying pan. If I hadn't read this recipe twice I would have done just that and created another dirty dish. I'm actually fairly good at that because I almost always want to put everything in a separate clean dishes. Each pan usually has its own spatula, fork, spoon. I can't help it! Anyways, yes I am glad I read the recipe again because it said to throw everything else in the pot after and boil it out, Sauce Pan it is!

Patience kicks in again at this point, smelling everything while it fries then boils. The smell of the mustard on the chicken while it bakes. Now even though the boiling soup smelled so wonderful I was still expecting it to be fairly bland. I stuck in my stick blender though, and got it fairly creamed/smoothed up. The soup suddenly burst out into this beautiful orange-yellow colour and I was fairly amazed by it. I topped it off with some nutmeg, pulled the chicken strips out of the oven and ended up having one of the most amazing tasting soups I've ever had.

Chocolate Pudding

Personally, I think this place to start of this food blog is with what most people find the most enjoyable part of dinner, Dessert! I have started trying to make healthier desserts that still have flavour and that hint of sweetness to them that is enough to satisfy the craving for them. Once I even filled a craving for pop by grabbing some raspberries of the bush in the backyard.

Today's challenge is Chocolate Pudding! I originally got this recipe from Doctor Oz however through trial and error have adapted to the recipe to actually work with real life kitchen items, because the original recipe, turned out horrible but I wasn't going to give up.

For a very healthy Chocolate Pudding you'll need only three ingredients: Avocado, Pitted Dates and Cocoa Powder.

The hardest part I've found about this recipe are the dates. I've used whole dates until this attempt where I found some pre-smushed ones for me to use. I still however know that you have to chop them up really find unless you have an awesome stop of the line blender to finish this off. Use a knife or even a rotating cheese grater (watch your fingers!) to get the dates as fine as you can.

Even finer than this!

Once you've got the dates chopped fine, throw a pitted and sliced avocado into a blender, add the dates and blend until smooth. I find that occasionally this process is made easier by adding water. Add the water an eighth of a cup at a time, to a maximum of half a cup. Once its smooth throw in a tablespoon of cocoa powder and blend till its chocolatey smooth and serve! For mine, I add a pinch of fruit powder to the top for colour.

Just an Average Cook!

Beginning in 2011, I came to the decision that I was finally ready to make a decent effort in trying to lose weight by making healthier food at home. The hardest part of this for me, is the fact that I live alone, unless you count my fat cat Muddy, and the majority of recipes in this world are designed for at least four people. Through trial and error I've adapted recipes so that I can make smaller, single sized portions.

I've always believed that everyone should have some ability to cook for themselves and my mother helped me with that task growing up. One thing she always believed in was keeping things simple. Over complicating yourself with all sorts of funky kitchen gadgets never really helped me, nor was it anywhere near approachable in my budget. All my cooking equipment cost me under twenty dollars, or was donated to me (hand-me-downs). My dishes and the majority of my utensils were bought at Ikea or the dollar store and a few of them belong to the suite I rent. I don't go out of my way to get fancy gadgets for things I can do the simple way.

Another way to keep it simple is to use ingredients almost all of you can find. Most of my shopping is done at the local grocery store and I rarely buy fancy ingredients that are going to cost most of my budget. My budget is small and I get groceries that fit with in that budget. If for some reason I use a fancy ingredient I will make sure to list where I know it is available to be purchased. Oh, and for the record, you won't see me cooking with shrimp, can't stand them. However if you love them, find creative ways to incorporate them!

Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone of my friends and acquaintances that have encouraged by to continue cooking and sharing what I have been making. From the simple likes on Facebook, to the in person comments about how everything looks so tasty you've encouraged me to make what I've accomplished more accessible to everyone.