Orange Marmalade

We've had some snow, then rain and mild weather, now today it's snowing again. Mother nature can't decide what she wants!

 I have been wanting to write this post on orange marmalade for a few weeks now, but couldn't get my darn laptop to cooperate. Technology can be so frustrating sometimes. Thankfully today it's working and I can get on with it!

My cousin Brooklyn back in Newfoundland has told me that she showed my blog to her classmates. I feel awesome about that! She has taken an interest in my blog and that makes me so proud! I hope it encourages her and her friends to start one too. Writing is a wonderful thing! So is cooking! It's my love, my life!

 

So what you need for this sweet sticky wonderful jam are pretty simple ingredients:

4 large oranges

1 lemon, zest and juice (or you can use 3 Tbsp. of lemon juice if you don't have a whole lemon!)

1 cup water

2 cups white sugar

 

You also need a cutting board and a good sharp knife or better yet, a mandolin!

 

Wash your oranges. Slice them as thin thin thin as you can!

 

 

After you have all of your slices, quarter them and place in a medium pot with water,  juice and zest.

 

 

Simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes or so till they start to cook down. Add sugar.

Cook down a little more until they become jam like.

 

 

Once they become all nice and sticky.....

 

You can call this done!

But I don't like mine chunky and since they were sliced by hand and not a mandolin, I decided to use my hand blender and puree the whole thing up.

 

 

Mmmm! All ready for a nice piece of toast!

 

 

I got one jar of this orange beauty out of this recipe!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

It Smells Like Fall

Yesterday I got home from work after 32 days out. When I left it was warm, sunny and there were still two weeks left of Summer. As I drove home yesterday and watched School buses picking up children I realized Summer was over and Fall was definitely right around the corner. This morning while doing some house cleaning I opened some windows and the smell of the cool crisp air made me a little sad summer was over. Although, it was a nice change from the salty-air-mixed-with-diesel-fumes I've been inhaling these last 4 weeks! 
After reading the mail and going through some magazines a friend dropped off for me, I got into the newest Kraft What's Cooking magazine! I totally love them and smile every time one appears in my mail box. There were a few recipes with "Apples" as the high light ingredient so I decided to pick out one and get to it. Apple Peanut Butter Streusel Muffins was my pick but I didn't have Granny Smith Apples so I substituted with Macintosh. I also wanted to use a bunt pan instead of muffin pans. I greased it well and placed some of the streusel on the bottom (which ends up being the top!) and then a thin layer of batter than another layer of streusel and finished off with the remainder batter. I used a spoon to smooth it out and baked it for 45 minutes at the recommended heat from the original recipe. I have to say, the smell of cinnamon, peanut butter and apples have filled my house and I'm okay with Summer being over and Fall arriving! 

Orange Blender Muffins - The Perfect Breakfast

I still have an abundance of oranges in my fridge from a "Buy One Get One Free" sale a few weeks back. Still surprisingly good for out of hand eating I discovered this morning. I was going to make some marmalade with the rest to use as an ingredient in muffins I had seen on The Pioneer Woman yesterday, but that would be a little too much work for this rainy windy lazy kind of day!

 

My sister, Chrissie, makes these amazing Orange Chocolate Blender muffins but I didn't want the chocolate. (I know, a little crazy right?!) I was thinking a little more healthy and more on the breakfast side of things. She told me to leave out the cocoa and the chocolate chips and they'd be fine! Hum, great idea! I also added a little sugar and oat crumble on top like the ones I saw on TV though for a little added crunch. They turned out wonderful!

 

Here's how it goes:

 

1 Orange, washed and cut up in pieces

1/2 cup OJ (I used fresh squeezed, 3 oranges)

1 Egg

1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, melted

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1 3/4 cups Flour

3/4 cup White Sugar

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Baking soda

 

Topping:

1 cup Oats

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine, melted

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and fill a dozen muffin cup with paper liners.

In a small bowl, mix all topping ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside.

In a blender (or you could use a hand blender and a tall container) blend orange and OJ until as smooth as possible.

Add the egg, melted butter and vanilla. Pulse until smooth.

In a medium size bowl stir together flour, white sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

Add blended mixture with flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Evenly distribute batter among all 12 muffin cups.

Sprinkle with oat topping.

Bake for 20 minutes.

 

All ready for the oven!

 

Now, while these lovely smelling muffins are baking, wash up those dishes and brew yourself a cup of coffee! I guarantee you're going to want to have one as soon as their ready!

 

 

Perfect!

 

Not Your Regular Turkey Salad Sandwich

So that Turkey I cooked Tuesday is still in my fridge. Well, some of it anyway! It was a little larger than I had thought and even after having it for a full meal Tuesday night, making  a large pot of Turkey Noodle soup, sandwiches yesterday for lunch and sandwiches for todays lunch, I still have some left to use for another meal! I'm sure my boys won't be requesting Turkey anytime soon!



 

Not Your Regular Turkey Salad Sandwich

Makes 2 sandwiches

4 Slices of Multi Grain Bread (I have been baking my own using this recipe from Robin Hood Great Grainery Bread )

2 Tbsps. Butter or Margarine, for spreading

1 1/2 cups cooked Turkey, chopped fine

2/3 cup Mayo 

10 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped fine

1 Tbsp. dried Basil

2 Tbsps. chopped green onion or chives

S & P

2 large leafs of Romaine lettuce

 

In a small bowl, mix your olives, basil, green onion, salt and pepper with your mayo. Taste it and adjust the seasonings to how you prefer them. Mix with Turkey.

Slice your bread to the desired thickness and spread with butter or margarine.

Place a lettuce leaf on 2 of the 4 slices and top with Turkey Salad mixture.

Top with remaining pieces of bread and slice on an angle! Serve with a dill pickle on the side and some crunchy sticks of carrots and celery! (Or potato chips! Whatever works for you!)

 

 

Enjoy!



Spring is in the air....

The sun is shining. The wind is blowing softly. The windows are open and the fresh air fills my house. Ahh! Spring is here! I really didn't think it was ever going to get here! I have been waking early every day since I got home from work. Hard to sleep in past 7 a.m. when your body is so use to waking at 4:30 a.m.. Staying awake past 11 p.m. is a battle as well! Oh well! So much more productive in the morning anyhow.

 

This morning I made my hunnie breakfast before he left for work, had some tea and started on a batch of bread. I made a pot of Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup and stuffing for my Turkey I am cooking for supper. I then set out looking for something to make for dessert for supper. I found a bag of PC Mixed Berries in my freezer and on the back was a great simple recipe for Berry Buckle. Perfect!

 

Berry Buckle

 

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup melted butter

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla
 

3 cups mixed frozen berries

1/4 cup sugar
 

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 8 x 8 glass baking dish.

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet in another.

Stir the two together and pour in prepared pan.

Toss berries with sugar.

Sprinkle the berries evening over the cake mixture.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until golden. Do not over bake!

Cool for 20 minutes and serve with Vanilla Ice cream! :)

So here it sits, ready to go! Turkey is in the oven and smelling lovely, the soup was a huge hit at lunch time and now I'm relaxing till my house fills with family ready to dig in to a nice big supper! The simple things!

xo

 

 



　

 

 

 



Saturday Nights Supper Makes a Great Monday Morning Breakfast!

Leftovers. I don't know anyone who doesn't have leftovers in their fridge. If you're anything like myself, you tend to cook too much and you're left with a few odds and ends from a couple of different meals in your fridge.

Saturday night ended up with friends from the city and Prime Rib steaks on the BBQ! Sweet potato, new potatoes, peppers, red onion, mushrooms and regular onions all cooked up for on the side. So delish! We had chicken nachos to start though, so we couldn't finish our steaks or our sides. They were containerized and put in the fridge. Leftovers.

 

When I am home on my days off from work, I try and make Darryl a nice cooked breakfast every morning. Some days it's just boiled eggs and toast. Some mornings I make him eat cereal, because we should eat cereal far more often than we do! Today I decided I needed to get rid of some leftovers. Clean out the fridge!

 

I chopped up the steak, peppers, onions and mushrooms, a new potato and tossed it all in a frying pan.

Looks pretty good doesn't it?

 

Then I whipped up 4 Large Eggs with some milk, salt, pepper and a few squirts of BBQ sauce!

 

 

 Poured the eggs in the pan....

 

 Cooked it a little on the stove top, then put it in the oven on broil.....

 Topped it off with some mozza....

Broiled it again......

 

 

and served it up with some toast made with my homemade multigrain bread!!!!

 

 

Leftovers aren't so bad!

Alfredo Scalloped Potatoes

Maybe I shouldn't use the word Scalloped? Hummm....oh well. What ever you want to call them, they are rich and delicious! My boys aren't big fans of cream-based potatoes but when inviting friends over for a glazed ham dinner, I knew I had to include a creamy rich side dish so I made mashed for my boys and Alfredo Scalloped Potatoes were born for my friends and I. (Turns out Darryl liked them!)

Here's how I did it:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a 9 X 9 glass casserole dish and set aside.

Peel and slice about 2 lbs of potatoes. About 1/8 inch thick. Enough potatoes to fill your dish so if you want, you can use the dish for reference as you're slicing. 

Place potatoes in a small pot and rinse with cold water then cover with cold water, a dash of salt and place on stove top to simmer for about 10 minutes. You want the potatoes to just be cooked. Not mushy so watch them!

Drain and toss with a dash of EVOO and S & P. Set aside.

(This sauce can be made on the stove top and used for pasta.)

1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can (the soup can) Milk ( I use Skim)

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 tsp dried Basil

1 tsp dried Oregano

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan (you WANT the powdered shaker bottle stuff for this one!)

Whisk all ingredients together in a microwaveable bowl and heat for a few minutes. Stir every minute. You want this to be bubbly and combined.

When sauce is ready, layer your potato slices in the prepared dish. Pour over sauce and shake dish to get sauce all through potatoes. Cover with parchment and foil and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Shred about 1 cup of Swiss or Mozza cheese.

After the potatoes have been baking for 40 - 45 minutes, remove the parchment and foil and top with cheese. Place your oven on broil and put the potatoes back in the oven until golden brown!

Cover and let rest for 15 minutes or so before serving. 

Sorry folks, I forgot to take a photo!

Happy Cooking! 

Chicken Donair Meat

I have been really been trying to eat better. Cutting back on the "whites" and trying to go fresh. I really wanted to make some donair meat but was wondering how ground chicken or turkey might work instead of the ground beef. Only one way to find out! Do it! 

Chicken Donair Meat

1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp ground oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp flour

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 F.

If you have a mixer with a paddle attachment, use it. If not, prepare to pound and knead and pound and knead. It is a good work out though!

Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl with the paddle attachment and mix until it no longer looks like ground beef and everything is completely combined. 

Plop out meat mixture on to some parchment paper and form into a log. Wrap tightly and twist both ends. (Should have taken a picture of this...sorry!)

Place on a rack on a baking sheet or a broiler pan. Bake for an hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Unwrap and slice as thin as possible. Quickly pan fry to reheat before eating.

It is best if this is baked off the day before you want it and sliced the next day, but I'm too impatient for that! :)

Chicken Donair Sandwich with Sweet Potato

This is what I did with my Chicken Donair meat....

3 oz Chicken Donair meat

1 Artisan Rosemary and Olive Oil Fold It Flat Breads

2 Tbsp Renee's Yogurt Cucumber and Dill Dressing

1 Romaine Leaf

2 slices of tomato

4 slices of cucumber

1 oz feta

Warm your meat in the a dry frying pan. Warm flat bread in frying pan. Spread the dressing over flat bread. Place the romaine leaf, tomato and cucumber on the "bun". Top with donair meat and feta. Close up and enjoy!

The side dish you see in that photo is very simple and tasty. Preheat oven to 375F. Chop up 1 peeled sweet potato, 1 red pepper and 1 small onion. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and bake on a sheet pan for 40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.

Eating fresh is not only good for you, but truly makes you feel good. "Fresh" might not be a word you would think of when you think of Donairs, but when making them at home and knowing what is in it, really does make a difference. We can still eat the foods we crave, but making them yourself is so much better for us. Go on, give it a try! 

Happy Cooking!

Spinach Feta Olive Stuffed Pork Roast

Wow! 2013! You certainly blew in quickly. I have been busy! Aparently so busy I haven't written anything in quite some time. I have been working steady and enjoying time home when I get it. I have also jumped on the "eat-better, feel-better, look-better" wagon! 15 days now, no pop, no chips, no junk food! I'm so proud of myself. I'm not too sure if I've actually lost anything yet, but I am starting to feel better! I have, however, eaten a few desserts these last few days! Hard not to out here when you have such a good baker for a second cook! :) No more cream in my coffee either! Yeah me!

So yes, not much else to catch you up on, so here is a new favorite recipe I came up with last month. A few friends have tried it and gave me some great feedback, as well as my man. Hope you try and enjoy as well.


Spinach Feta Olive Stuffed Pork Roast


1 Boneless, Pork Loin Roast, about 2lb

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ cup Lemon juice

1 Tbsp Oregano

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

½ cup water

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a Quick Shake or Mason Jar. Pour into Ziploc bag with Roast. Shake around to coat Roast.

Let sit in fridge for 3-4 hours. Shake every few hours.



1 bag baby spinach

1 onion, small dice

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil

1 Tbsp Butter

½ cup Kalamata Olives, pitted and sliced

¼ cup Feta cheese, crumbled

In a frying pan, melt a Tbsp of butter with about ½ Tbsp EVOO. Add onions. Sauté for a few minutes then add minced garlic. Turn heat on low and let the onions and garlic cook without browning. Add a little salt and pepper. Stir. Add bag of spinach, tossing to wilt. When spinach is just wilted (do not let the spinach turn dark) remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 400F. Remove roast from fridge and place on cutting board. With a sharp knife, butterfly open the roast. Season with S & P. Spread half of the spinach evenly over the roast. Top with olives and feta and remaining spinach. Roll up tightly and secure with tooth picks or twine. Season the outside with S & P. Place roast in a greased casserole and bake for 40-50 minutes until internal temperature reaches 160F. Let rest, covered with foil for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve with Roasted Potatoes and Peppers sautéed in balsamic and EVOO.


Happy Cooking!