A Whole Pot o' Chicken!

Well today I did some cooking for some friends. They're going through a rough time and I wanted to help out so I figured some frozen meals would be nice. I pulled a whole chicken out of the freezer a couple of days ago and poached it this morning with carrots, celery, onions, garlic and pepper. Once the chicken was cooked through I carved it and looked at my options. I wanted to have enough meat to make soup with that amazing stock I had just made. I kept the breasts whole for a meal themselves. I also had a bunch of bits of chicken left over afterwards. So I decided to throw together a chicken potpie with the bits and using some frozen pastry dough that I had made a couple of months ago. For my soup I strained the liquid, skimmed the fat, put half of it in the freezer and heated the rest up with some carrots, celery, thyme, basil and oregano. I also threw in the chicken bits left on the carcass and something I had never heard of before I started dating a dutch boy: Maggi. You might recognize the bottle - a brown bottle with a red cap and a red and yellow label. Now, my husband is dutch but Maggi is Asian inspired... so why do I blame this knowledge on him? Well, thanks to Pirates of the Caribbean we've all heard of the East India Trading Company. What most people don't realize is that the original name of said company was the Dutch East India Trading Company. The Netherlands may be small but those Dutch people sure got around. So, much of Dutch culture - particularly in relation to their food - is actually East Indian culture. Which is also why we eat Nasi Goreng in my house now!
Anyway, I also whipped up a batch of Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies today using dark brown sugar and to be honest I thought I'd be able to taste the dark flavor more than I did, but that's okay, they're still awesome.
I've still yet to make dinner for my own family and I still have to pick what I'm doing with those chicken breasts. Normally it wouldn't be so hard for me to decide but I need it to be freezer friendly. For our own dinner I'm craving salads so I might make my Sante Fe Chicken Salad - not very loosely based on the menu item at Earl's. Seasoned chicken strips, fresh greens, dates, corn, avocado, lime vinaigrette... I don't add the black beans or the crispy tortilla strips like they do at Earl's however.
Anyway, I'd best go and finish cooking and keep my baby from eating our DVD player.

TTFN

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Bad Bread and Baby Food

Ugh. My baby turns 9 months old tomorrow and we've been feeding him different foods for the last 3 months now. In so many ways I'm really good about letting my baby grow up. Granted, I cried when he went from 0 - 3 month to 3 - 6 month clothes... and when he rolled over for the first time... and when he stood for the first time... anyway. That's not important. I'm excited to see my baby grow up and so I don't hesitate to introduce him to new experiences like swimming or the zoo or going down a slide with me. All that changes when it comes to food however. For some reason I think of him as younger than he actually is when it comes to food. Maybe I need to give some background about me for you to understand why.
I have allergies. Not normal allergies either. I'm allergic to moquito bites, latex and rubber products and I'm lactose intolerant. The lactose is pretty normal. The rubber is not. Anyway. I'm really firm on not feeding Gabe any milk products before the recommended age of 12 months. I'm also really firm about other things on the allergy topic like wheat and citrus (Matt's sister is allergic to citrus). So I bought a book on making baby food when Gabe was 3 months old and read through it cover to cover. I made a game plan of what I was and was not going to feed Gabe. I had decided to avoid added salt and sugar for as long as possible. I also decided he wasn't going to have nightshade vegetables for the first year. I read somewhere that this was a good idea and so I decided 6 months ago to do that.
Well, now I'm looking into different baby foods and tonnes of them have potatoes in them! (Potatoes are a nightshade vegetable) I wanted to start Gabe on jarred baby food with meats in them before I tried making them myself and almost all of them have potatoes in them! Then those Baby Mum-Mums have potato starch. And lots of mixed grain baby cereals have wheat in them! Well now I'm just confused. So I don't want to be the baby food nazi but I'm still planning on keeping my baby potato free until he is 12 months old and if that means no baby mum-mums, well, so be it.
The Bad Bread portion of the title comes from a couple of loaves I whipped up yesterday. It wasn't bad really. It just wasn't great. It tasted like white bread. Wonderbread really. The thing is, when I make bread at home that is not the taste I am trying for. So that was the basic Better Homes and Gardens white bread and I won't be making it again. If you want to make your own plain white bread at home that tastes like Wonderbread, give 'er.
Well, I've got to go research revenue properties ;)

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

P.S. I'm planning on watching the Iron Chef Stadium match against Chef Michael Smith on Jan. 31st, are you?

Sushi and Sweet Potatoes

Well, our family went out of town this weekend to visit my cousin one last time before she officially becomes a permament US resident. She has been married to her husband for over a year now and they have been living not only in separate cities but in separate countries! Their application finally got approve though and now she will be moving down to Montana with him! It's actually quite bittersweet right now because while I am so excited for them to finally be allowed to live together I'm sure gonna miss her.
Anyway, we got to visit my sister while we were out of town and actually stayed at her house this weekend. I would like to throw kudos in her direction. She had a kitchen flop and recovered beautifully! Now, this wasn't a flop like the Fried Rice flop I had a year and a half ago when I added too many chipotle peppers and it was unbearably hot and we had to chuck the whole dish. No, this was an unfortunate flop that had nothing to do with her skill. After preparing her tuscan chicken dish and setting it in the fridge to marinate she noticed a chip in the dish the chicken was in. She thought it unfortunate and nothing more until she walked across the kitchen and found tiny slivers of glass all over the counter and the floor. She looked at the dish and it had cracked across the bottom and the chip was the only noticeable break. Not knowing when the crack happened or where all the glass was she had to throw out the whole meal! (After keeping it in the fridge to show us all how pretty it was) Well, she called me, nearly in tears, told me how she would have to order in for the company she was having over for dinner and that she was really upset. However, when I got to her house later that night she had made up a beautiful steak salad and pesto angel hair pasta.
I think that's the marker of a true cook - someone who can recover. Your soup is too salty? We can fix that. Your meat is undercooked and company had already arrived? We can fix that too. The ability to pick yourself up and dust your kitchen utensils off is far more impressive than being able to follow a recipe.
On Friday night Matt and I had the opportunity to go to our favorite sushi restaurant! It's a cute little sushi train operation called Sushi House Ren just off of Richmond Road in Calgary. We first went there 5 years ago when I lived in Calgary. It just happened to be near my house and I had never had sushi before so Matt took me there. I got hooked on their Unagi from my very first visit. We've been back many times but hadn't gone for a couple years before Friday. We got there and we were the third party in line. It looks like business has been booming for them. We finally got a seat around the train and it was just as fantastic as I had remembered - and even moreso than Matt had remembered! What was supposed to be a stop for appetizers turned into our full meal! Matt had the sea urchin which was a fun experience and he loved their rainbow rolls. I stuck with the unagi for the most part (It's just so good! The best eel I've ever had - and I've actually had alot!) but I also tried their Jumbo Maki Rolls which were really nice and their crab meat was excellent. I tried a bit of the sea urchin and I finally realize why it would pair so nicely with coffee in a recipe. It's true that making sushi at home is far less expensive than eating out, and it's also true that driving to Calgary for sushi is far more expensive that staying in town - but until I can learn to make Unagi or find somewhere else that makes it anywhere near as good as that place - I shall continue to go to Calgary for the best sushi I've ever had.
Well, Matt and I got home tonight (we missed going to the bike show, which sucked) and I ran out to grab something for dinner. I decided to do pork chops which as a child (and a 21 year old) I needed applesauce with before I'd eat them. Well, I intentionally skipped the applesauce at the store and decided to go without for one meal. So I came home and looked at what I had: an open bottle of sparkling white, some red delicious apples, apple cider vinegar... it looked good! And it tasted great :) I threw together some spicy jumbo fries too. Those were a big hit with Matt. I actually think that I'll post that recipe! Oh, and I pureed a whole sweet potato for almost two weeks worth of meals for Gabe! He loves sweet potatoes. Anyway, here's the jumbo fries recipe:

Chipotle Jumbo Fries

1 Russett potato per person
Olive oil
Chili Powder
Chipotle Powder
Alpine Touch *this is an amazing spice from Montana. Addictive. You'd better have friends in high places to get this stuff.
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Brown Sugar

Preheat your oven to 425. Cut your potatoes into long wedges. Toss in olive oil. Add spices (just guess) but don't add the sugar yet. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip the potatoes. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes more (until tender). Add brown sugar and toss. Bake for 2 more minutes.
Make sure you let them cool before you eat them!

Well, that's all for tonight. Party hard!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Barbque Pasta Sauce

Well, I missed blogging yesterday even though I was on the computer pretty much the whole time. I'm trying desperately to do the leg work for my Events Planning business over the next few weeks because as of March, I no longer have EI payments. So I spent the majority of yesterday contacting people, looking up pictures and ideas and making files for my business. I did however manage to make some yummy pasta sauce for dinner. I actually always keep jarred pasta sauce in my house because we use that to make my Uncle Doug's pasta sauce (my favorite in the whole wide world!) but I would much rather make sauce from scratch than eat straight up jarred sauce. So last night I decided to make one that my husband had liked the last time I made it. I call it my Barbque Pasta Sauce because the first time I made it I had pan-fried some steaks with a Clubhouse Cajun Paste Marinade and once the steaks were done I threw together a sauce in the same pan and I got all the flavor from the Cajun Marinade. Matt said it tasted like Barbque sauce and he loved it for that reason.
Tonight I'm making panko crusted chicken cutlets and I'm actually throwing together a pork roast for some friends who are going through some family stuff right now. But for now I'll just post this sauce. FYI, I never make my sauces the same way twice, but this is close to what I did this last time.

Barbque Pasta Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tbsp Clubhouse Cajun Marinade Paste
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp basil
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf

Cook the garlic in the oil over medium heat. Add in the Marinade and stir in. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir and cook over medium low until hot. You may need to add more brown sugar.
I actually added the juices from a jar of stewed tomatoes that I had used to make my risotto style pasta earlier in the week. Really you can throw anything in and make it work.

Well, now to get back to work.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Angel Cake and Wine Jelly and Grapes

Tonight my grandparents and uncle are coming from out of town. We're all having dinner at my parents' house and I promised to make dessert (partly because I lost a bet). Part of the bet that I lost actually stated that it had to be a dessert that they've never had before - well, I think I've found that. Today I made a Wine Jelly poured over red grapes. I found the recipe in Laura Calder's French Taste and was excited for an excuse to make it. My Grandmother is heartily opposed to anything with alcohol in it (she may be tempted to try it in jelly form though) so I made an alternative/go-with just in case. Again, from Laura Calder's French Taste (Now I'm up to 4 recipes in two weeks from that book! Definately a record!) I decided to make her Angel Cake - the french equivalent of Angel Food Cake. However, this cake uses the yolks from the eggs as well, so instead of needing 12 egg whites and having a butt load of yolks which seem to demand you make a pudding, this takes 6 eggs without anything left over. I've never made an angel food cake from scratch because I just can't bring myself to use 12 eggs for one cake. This seemed more reasonable on so many counts. I just peeked at the cake in the oven and it's gorgeous. It smells amazing and the consistency of the batter in second to none.
Anyway, I hope these will be a hit tonight. I'm guarenteed two happy eaters: my husband whom dotingly loves everything I make for him, and my Grandfather who has always had a taste for fine cuisine and good wine.

I was a bit indecisive about posting this recipe because I want to share it and yet I want you all to go buy that cookbook for yourself and not get them all from me. I have decided to compromise. Since you can find most of her recipes on the Food Network website, I'm going to link to it. http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Dessert/Eggs-Dairy/recipe.html?dishID=10315

Now, all of you can make the cake and read up on Laura while you're at the website.

I will say this for the desserts today: It took me under an hour to do the prep for both of them, and that's with running interference between my puppy and my baby.

Oh, and if anyone made those Sweet and Sour Meatballs last night I have a disclaimer: If you have leftover and reheat them, the vinegar becomes very strong and overpowers the other tastes. Just so you know. So eat them all the first go around :)

Well, that's all for now, I think my cake is ready!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Pork Legs

So my poor hubby was sick today and had to stay home. I made him get up for breakfast at 8 and then the poor guy went right back to bed for a few hours. The good thing about him staying home is that I was able to leave Gabe with him while I ran out to do some shopping. It's so nice to be able to just run into a store without having to unbuckle my baby and carry him as well as a basket. Well anyway, I managed to go into our local Nursery and got a bunch of seeds for starters. Coleus, Bells of Ireland, Celosia and even a Mallow variety. I'm pumped!
Next I went to the grocery store. So they were advertising Pork Legs, Bone In, for 89 cents a pound. I had high hopes. And then I realized they were the size of my upper body. Seriously. These things were huge!!! I'll admit I became intimidated, which is new for me. I normally buy new cuts (and by new I mean cheap) and figure out what to do with them. This wouldn't have fit in my freezer let alone my oven. I would have had to cut it down into probably a dozen (or more) portions. So I passed.
Tonight we had Sweet and Sour Meatballs for dinner. My meatballs were mediocre, nothing fancy, but as I was making them I realized for the first time one of the truths that I've observed on cooking shows. I've seen on a tonne of shows about how when you are browning meat you need to leave it until it stops sticking voluntarily before you flip the meat. I never knew that. Ever. They say it will let go when it's ready, and it's true!
I also made some lemon poppyseed loaf this morning and unfortunately I always forget to tweek that recipe. It's too dense, too bland, too blah in general. So some time in the next couple of weeks I'll make it again and modify the recipe and post the better one.
Tomorrow we're having dinner with my parents and my grandparents who are coming from out of town. I volunteered to make dessert so for the culinary adventurers we will be having purple grapes with a wine jelly on pound cake and for the more meat-and-potato types in the family I've still yet to figure something out.
Well, it's getting late and I might be able to get the babe to sleep now. I'll leave off with the sweet and sour sauce for my meatballs.

Sweet and Sour sauce

1 can of pineapple chunks
3 tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. vinegar

Drain the juice from the pineapple into a saucepan. Add the corn starch and whisk until combined. Add the pineapple chunks, the soy sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. Cook over medium low heat until thickened. Pour over browned meatballs. Bake the meatballs in a covered dish in a 350 degree oven for an hour. Serve over rice.

Well, ta ta!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Not just sugar and spice

Well, I love to cook. The first two posts may have made that clear. But in case they didn't, I just want to assure of the fact that I do indeed love to cook. And bake. I'm not picky. Well, I am, but not about this.
I am, however, capable of enjoying more than just food - which is good otherwise my poor family would be very fat. Fortunately for them, I also tinker in other domestic arts. I love to garden. In fact, right now I'm looking up seed catalogues online to see what I`m going to plant this year.
Just over a year ago my husband and I bought our first house. It`s in an older neighbourhood and the man who had originally owned it was a landscaper so the backyard is filled with gorgeous trees and beautifully laid out. There was one other owner between us and, try as he may, the poor bachelor was no match for the flower beds. Our first spring in this house rolled around and I had our son Gabriel at the end of April. Because of the timing of this I didn`t get around to gardening until June. Most of my flowers did come up but alot of them didn`t even bother trying. I didn`t get around to putting in a vegetable garden, but wanted to very badly.
So, this year I am looking ahead and planning my attack. Over the next couple of weeks I will start some of my seeds, the first fine day we get my hubby and I will build our raised vegetable garden, and by June this year my flower beds will be gorgeous! Yay!
Secondly, I enjoy sewing and knitting. I`m not fantastic at either, but I have sewn a number of Christmas presents and knit some lovely baby hats!
Probably my second passion to cooking is decorating. Along with updating the gardens, my husband and I have been renovating our house, room by room, since the very day we got possession. First we painted the bedrooms, then gutted a bathroom, this year we`ll be replacing floors and updating our kitchen! Through all of this I`ve had the chance to pick colors and fabrics, envisioning what our home will look like at the end. I have a couple boxes of decor items that I trade out every season and update the feel of our home. I love adding to my collection, expansive as it may be.
I have other hobbies but those will have to be saved for later - my baby, and most time consuming hobby, is needing attention!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)