Recipe: Chocolate (Chip) Lava Cookies

Yum. Here, as promised, is the scrumptious recipe with which I broke in my new KitchenAid! It was a fitting recipe for many reasons, but mostly for my two favourite standbys: it was easy and it was delicious.

Now, you may be wondering why I've entitled this recipe "Chocolate (Chip) Lava Cookies." I mean, what's up with those parentheses? Well, believe it or not, I am *ahem* sometimes not that careful when I read recipes. And I missed the part where it says only melt a portion of the chocolate chips that the recipe calls for. I melted the whole bag, which also happened to be the last bag of chocolate chips in the house. *sigh*. So my Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies were destined to be chipless.

Ah well. The first step in this as in so many recipes is to cream together the butter and sugars (brown and white) until nice and fluffy. Enter my new mixer. Handled it's first task like a dream. See?

Look at that mixing action! Anyways, then you add in your egg and your vanilla and beat thoroughly. Then it's time to add your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda -- not powder, which I almost added by mistake because I wasn't paying attention!!) and mix until just combined. The mixture will start to form a kind of crumbly dough, like so:

Now comes the fun part! Split the batter/dough in half and set one half aside. Pat about a heaping tablespoon of the dough into the bottom of each greased cup in your muffin pan until you've used up half the batter. Then give each cookie a good dose of melted chocolate. Finally, use the rest of the dough to cover over each cookie.

When you're done covering over the chocolate, fire the pan in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. When the cookies are golden brown, remove from oven and run a knife around the edges of each to help ease the removal.

Serve warm topped with ice cream and any left over melted chocolate. Or just devour them right away. Both are good options.

Here's the full recipe, found originally here:

Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 (11.5 oz) bag milk chocolate chips, divided

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a standard size muffin tin. Place 1/2 cup chocolate chips in a Ziploc bag and seal shut. Lay the Ziploc bag flat in the microwave, spreading out the chocolate chips in a single layer. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove bag and flip, microwaving for an additional 10-15 seconds until all the chips are softened. Set aside to cool.

2. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined. Add the remaining chocolate chips (1 cup) and stir to combine.

3. Using half the cookie dough, scoop 1.5-2 tbsp of dough, flatten it out a bit, and place in the bottom of the muffin tin. Repeat for a total of 10 cookies. Cut a small tip in the corner of the Ziploc bag and gently squeeze a layer of chocolate over the cookie. Scoop and flatten the remaining dough and place on top of the chocolate layer. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until the edges are just browned. As soon as they come out of the oven, run a knife around the edges to make for easy removing later.

Recipe: Hoop Soup Snoop Group Potato Soup

Yes, that is the real name for this recipe. And yes, it does come from my Dr. Seuss cookbook. Are any of you really surprised that I have a Dr. Seuss cookbook? I didn't think so. Bonus points to anyone who can correctly identify which Dr. Seuss book this recipe come from though!

I've been on a bit of a Dr. Seuss roll lately. I actually wrote my own Dr.Seuss-ish story at work the other day in honor of Bike to Work Week. And when I discovered that one of my coworkers had never read a Dr. Seuss story, I brought some to work for him to read. Naturally, he loves them. :P

Yesterday when I was trying to come up for something to make for dinner, I knew I had to make something special. Why? Because I GOT NEW POTS!!! My parents gave me this absolutely amazing set of pots and pans for my grad gift, and they arrived this week! Due to a whole bunch of different factors, last night was the firs time I had a chance to cook with them, so I wanted to make a dish truly worthy of them. And where else could I turn but to my handy dandy Dr. Seuss Cookbook?

Anyways, the first test of my new cookware turned out to be a smashing success! Not only are my pots beautiful, but they heat up super fast and super evenly. Oh, and the soup was delicious. That too. :P

Really nothing could be simpler than this recipe, or more comforting on a cold it's-supposed-to-be-summer-but-it's-raining sort of day.

But before we get to the recipe, first you have to admire my pots! Okay, I know that's just a pot lid, but still, look how shiny!!

Anyways, your first step is to chop up some potatoes and an onion and throw them in a pot with some water. Like so:

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until the potatoes are nice and soft and mashable (about 20 minutes).

Next, drain the potatoes and mash them with a potato masher, like so:

If you left the skins on your potatoes like I did (even though the recipe says to peel them), then your mashed potatoes will probably end up slightly chunkier. But that's okay. A few lumps never hurt anybody.

Slowly add the milk to the potatoes, stirring as you do so. Put the pot back on medium heat and keep stirring until it's all blended. For a smoother, thicker soup, scoop out some of the bigger chunks of potatoes and quickly blend them your Magic Bullet (or regular blender. That will work too), then pour the puree back into the pot.

Now comes the seasoning part. The recipe honestly doesn't call for much in the way of seasonings, but I find potato soup tends towards the bland side of things, so I like to spice things up. I use lots of fresh ground black pepper, a very healthy dose of seasoning salt (yum!), and some chili pepper flakes, just for good measure. Don't be afraid to be very liberal with the seasonings. After all, who wants a tasteless soup?

Once you've reached your preferred level of flavour and the soup is hot all the way through, ladle it into some bowls and top with croutons, cheese, bacon and green onions. Mmmmmmmm.

Here's the full recipe!

Ingredients:
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into several pieces
1/4 chopped onion
6 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 slices crisply cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup croutons
1/2 cup minced green onion

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, and water and 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot saucepan. Mash them with a potato masher.

3. Stir the milk into the mashed potatoes and return to medium heat, stirring until the soup is well blended and hot, about 5 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

4. Put the cheese, bacon, croutons, and green onion in separate small bowls to accompany the soup.

Makes 4 servings.

Recipe: Spice Rubbed Chicken

This recipe was so beyond easy it was ridiculous. Like I'm pretty sure even the most incompetent cook in the world couldn't screw this up. The original recipe was for chicken thighs, which I think might have worked better simply because they tend to be more juicy than chicken breasts, but since that's all I had, that's what I made. Odd how that works, eh?

The chicken took all of 5 minutes to prepare, and then I just threw it in the oven for 20 minutes. Easy, easy, easy.

Here's the recipe:

Spice Rubbed Chicken:
Ingredients;
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cumin (personally, I would put less cumin in - but that's just me)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne  (I happen to love cayenne, so I definitely added more than 1 tsp. Adds a nice kick!)
1/4 tsp black pepper
10-12 chicken thighs

Directions;
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F and grease a baking sheet.

2. Combine all of the spices in a bowl and mix together so there's no lumps. Pat the mixture over the entire surface of the thighs.

3. Place the thighs on the baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for about 30-35 minutes depending on the size/number of thighs.


That's it. That's literally all you have to do. It's beyond easy. And quite tasty to boot. :)

And yes. That is another salad with pecans and goat cheese. Sue me! :P

Recipe: Spinach Salad with Steak & Blueberries

Normally, I'm not a salad person. Like at all. I'm pretty picky about what I like to put in salads (hint: tomatoes get a thumbs down). As a general rule, I don't eat salads with: a) nuts of any kind, b) cheese of any kind, or c) meat (unless it's chicken). As you may imagine, this severely limits my salad options. But like I said, I don't really like salad, so it doesn't really bother me.

All of this changed, however, when I had the California Spring Salad at Milestones Restaurant. This salad is magic, and I quite regularly make a copycat recipe at home. This is the salad which taught me that spinach + goat cheese + pecans + any kind of vinaigrette = deliciousness.

I know what you're thinking. Goat cheese? Pecans? I thought you don't eat salad with nuts or cheese, never mind both? This is all very true. But over the years I have given up trying to understand my very finicky tastebuds and have simply learned to embrace whatever they choose to tell me. In this case? That goat cheese and pecans are a match made in heaven.

Anyways, I digress. My mom brought the recipe for this scrumptious salad home from our local grocery store and I knew right away that it had to try it. Did it have goat cheese and pecans in it? No. But that was easily remedied. In fact, the original recipe called for feta and walnuts, both of which I hate, but the substitution was very easily done. I'm sure the original recipe is good too ... you know, if you're into that kind of thing.

Although this salad cost a mint to make (having none of the ingredients on hand except olive oil and salt/pepper, I was forced to make an emergency grocery store run. My recommendation? Make this recipe when blueberries are in season. Holy expensive fruit, Batman!) ...  it was absolutely worth it! Tangy, filling and delicious, it was also ready to eat in 15 minutes flat. Now that's my kind of meal!

The only remotely difficult thing about this recipe is cooking the steak to your desired level of well-doneness. If you can handle that, you're golden. First step? In a food processor or Magic Bullet, combine some blueberries, pecans, minced shallot, sugar, salt and vinegar to form a sort of paste which will be the base of your vinaigrette. When that's done, slowly blend in the olive oil until it's completely mixed in. It should look something like this:

Meanwhile, throw your steak on the grill/frying pan. It's getting to be barbecue season, so I recommend you cook it on the grill. But if Victoria is up to its usual weather antics and you don't want to brave the wet outdoors, then just cook it in a skillet on the stove top.

While the steak is cooking, rip the spinach into bite-size portions and pile on a plate. Top with toasted pecans (either whole or crumbled, your choice), fresh blueberries and crumbled goat cheese. When the steak is done, let it sit for a few minutes before slicing it into bite sliced strips and layering on top of the salad. Drizzle the vinaigrette on top, and devour at will.**

**A note about the vinaigrette: I followed the recipe exactly the first time, but as you can see from the pictures, the dressing still turned out quite thick. It tasted amazing, but for ease of pourage/presentation, I would double the amount of olive oil that it calls for.

Here's the full recipe:

Spinach Salad with Steak and Blueberries


Ingredients;
1 cup fresh blueberries, divided
1/2 cup chopped walnuts/pecans, toasted  (2-4 minutes in a dry skillet)
3 Tbsp fruity vinegar, such as raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp minced shallot
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt, divided
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound sirloin or strip steak (1 - 1 1/4 inches thick), trimmed
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
8 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup crumbled feta/goat cheese

Directions;
1.  Preheat the grill to medium

2.  Pulse 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 nuts, vinegar, shallot, sugar and 1/4 tsp salt in a food processor to form a chunky paste. With the motor running, add oil until incorporated. Transfer the dressing to a large bowl.

3. Sprinkle steak with pepper and remaining salt. Grill the steak about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, 6 minutes per side for medium. Let rest on a clean cutting board for 5 minutes.

4. Add spinach to the bowl with the dressing; toss to coat. Divide the spinach among 4 plates. Thinly slice the steak crosswise. Top the spinach with the steak, cheese, and remaining blueberries and walnuts.

Makes 2 very large portions.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Muffins

I have one word for these muffins: scrumptious. Scrumptious, scrumptious, scrumptious. I discovered this recipe about two months ago I'd say, and I've made it at least 5 times. And every time the entire batch disappears in like a day. Maybe a day and a half if we're not feeling particularly snackish in our house on that particular day. I've modified the recipe slightly to make the muffins lighter than the original, which I found here.

Anyways, your first step is easy. Turn on the oven to 350 degrees and either grease a muffin tray or line it with muffin cups.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another, whisk together the egg and sugar. Then slowly mix in the melted butter and sour cream. The finished mixture should look something like this:

Next, add the chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts to the liquids and toss to coat. Fun fact that I learned from my grandmother: you can freeze macadamia nuts to keep them fresh until you need them.

Once you've mixed in the chocolate and nuts, then it's time to add the dry ingredients. The important thing here is not to overmix it. A few lumps are still fine when you're done. If you stick to the original recipe, these muffins turn out quite dense, so I like to add an extra 1/4 cup of milk or so at this stage, but that's up to you. The finished batter should look something like this:

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, making sure to distribute the batter as evenly as possible. I find this recipe usually makes about a dozen very large muffins or 15-16 smaller muffins. It's up to you and the size of your muffin tray. :)

Throw the muffins in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until they're slightly golden brown on the top. These muffins are pretty pale even when they're cooked through. You don't want to overdo it!

Pull them out of the oven, and enjoy them fresh and warm when the chocolate chips are still melted. Mmmmmmm.

Here's the full recipe:

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Muffins:


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (if you use salted macadamia nuts, omit the salt)
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/4 unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup milk (optional)

Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan or line with muffin cups. Set aside.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg until combined, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is thick and thoroughly combined. Slowly whisk the butter into the mixture until combined. Add half the sour cream, whisking until just combined, repeat with the remaining sour cream.

4. Add the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts to the flour mixture and toss to coat.

5. Add the flour to the sour cream mixture and fold with a spatula until combined and the chips and nuts are evenly distributed, but do not overmix.

6. Evenly divide the batter in between the cups of the muffin pan. Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until very light golden brown colour and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe: Creamy Tomato Fusilli with Spicy Sausage

Hello! I am back in the kitchen after what has been a bit of a necessary hiatus. I cooked my first ever turkey for Easter (more on that later), and then we basically survived off of leftovers for a week, so there wasn't any real need for me to be cooking.

Anyhoo ... today was my first time doing real cooking at the place where I'm house-sitting (as opposed to reheating food other people have cooked), and let me tell you, I don't particularly enjoy using someone else's kitchen. Well, that's not entirely true. This kitchen is beautiful and has a ton of counter space. What I dislike is not being able to find anything when I need it!! So annoying. Ah well. I am pretty well acquainted with their organizational scheme now, having rifled through every single drawer and cupboard several times over the course of cooking this one meal.

I digress. I adlibbed with this recipe a lot because, well, it's pasta and you can do that. But mostly because I forgot to buy some of the ingredients. Regardless, it was DELICIOUS. And I've never done much cooking with Italian sausage, so I found the flavor delightfully different than my usual fare. Yum, yum, yum.

First step? Brown some spicy Italian sausage meat in a skillet. No need to add oil, unless you buy super extra lean sausages. Since I find the idea of un-casing sausages and crumbling the meat myself repulsive, I just bought a tray of Italian sausage meat. Sausage casing = gross. Anyways, once the meat is just browned, add in some fresh chopped garlic and yellow bell pepper.

Then throw some diced tomatoes and chicken broth in the pan, along with whatever spices you like. Depending on the spicyness level of the sausage you use, you'll want to adjust your spices as necessary.

The finishing touch? Add in some whipping cream! I'm sure regular ol' heavy cream would work as well, but since I had leftover whipping cream from Easter, that worked out perfect. Depending on how creamy you like your pasta, you can adjust the amount of cream you add.

Pour the sauce over cooked pasta and mix together. Layer half the pasta in a baking dish, top with shredded cheese, pour on the rest of the pasta, and top with more cheese. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Here's the full recipe (which, shockingly, is from The Guy Can't Cook by Cinda Chavich)


Baked Fusilli with Spicy Sausage and Creamy Tomato Sauce*
Ingredients:
1 lb (500g) spicy Italian sausages, casings removed, crumbled
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into slivers
1 lb (500g) cherry tomatoes, halved (or one 796 mL can diced tomatoes)
1 cup chicken or beef broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 lb (500g) fusilli (or other short pasta - rigatoni, penne, etc)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, slivered  (I didn't have any of these, so I didn't add them -- still delicious though)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add the crumbled sausage. Saute for 5-10 minutes or until it begins to brown. Add a splash of olive oil if the sausage is very lean. Add the garlic and bell pepper to the pan and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the cherry tomatoes and cook 1 minute longer. Add the broth and stir up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes or until the broth has reduced by half. Reduce heat to low and simmer. Slowly add the whipping cream and simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and mix with the sauce. Stir in the basil.

3. Rub a 9x13 inch baking dish with olive oil. Pour half of the pasta into the dish. Combine the two cheeses. Scatter half of the cheese mixture over the pasta, then fill the dish with the remaining pasta and top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 375 F for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and browned on top.

Serves 6.


*Note: the original recipe called for rigatoni, not fusilli, but fusilli is my favourite, so I switched it.

Recipe: Bistro Ham and Cheese

Yum. For those of you who know me well, you know I am all about eating breakfast for dinner. It's pretty much my favourite thing. And this recipe? It's like French toast meets grilled cheese, which basically makes it the best breakfast-for-dinner sandwich EVER. Also, it takes all of 15 minutes to make. Bonus!

A key factor in this recipe is obviously the bread. I bought me some 3 cheese bread from Thrifty's, and it was perfect. Yum. Don't slice it too thick though if you want the sandwiches to heat evenly all the way through.

Slather one piece of bread with your preferred type of mustard - dijon, honey, regular ol' French's. Then layer Swiss cheese, smoked ham, and some more cheese. The original recipe called for slathering the top slice with mayonnaise, but I substituted some Chipotle Lemonaise instead. Yum.

Then dip the sandwich in the egg mixture, just like you would French toast. Shake off the extra liquid - you don't want it to be soggy! Then throw it in the frying pan.

Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and your preferred level of crispiness. Cut, and serve!

Here's the full recipe:

Bistro Ham and Cheese
Recipe from "The Guy Can't Cook" by Cinda Chavich


Ingredients:
8 slices French bread
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
8 slices Swiss cheese
12 thin slices lean, smoked ham
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk, or cream
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1. Spread four slices of bread with mustard and place on counter. Top each with a slice of cheese, three slices of ham, and another slice of cheese. Slather each of the remaining four slices of bread with mayonnaise and set on top, pressing down slightly, to make four sandwiches.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and salt. Pour into a wide, shallow dish, large enough to hold a sandwich.

3. In a large, non-stick skillet, heat half of the butter and oil together over medium heat. When the pan is hot, dip each side of the sandwich into the egg mixture. Shake off any excess and place in the hot pan. Fry until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches, then slice them on the diagonal to serve.

Serves 4 - and believe me, these sandwiches are plenty filling. 

Recipe: Mulligatawny Soup

Subtle, creamy, comforting. Those would be my top three words to describe this tasty, tasty dish. Perfect comfort food, whether you're sick, tired, or just plain ol' grumpy. I should know. I was those last two items before I made this, and now I am neither. Okay, that's not true. I'm still tired. BUT I'm no longer grumpy. So kudos to the mulligatawny soup. (Added bonus: mulligatawny is just super fun to say!)

This recipe (like all the ones I've been making) was ridiculously easy. It took about an hour to prepare, including chopping time (onion, chicken, apple, etc). But if you did the chopping ahead of time, or you didn't simmer it so long, you could probably cut down the prep time to ~40 minutes.

The thing that I liked a lot about this recipe (besides how easy and tasty it was) was that I had virtually all the ingredients already on hand. All I needed to buy was some curry paste, and now that I have that, I'm pretty much set! Of course, not all of you may keep coconut milk in the pantry, but I highly recommend it. It's delicious in all manner of curries and Asian dishes. Mmm.

My apologies about the blurry picture. I swear the full-size version isn't blurry at all, but something weird is happening every time I try to upload it. Grrr.

Your first step is to throw on some rice. I like to make mine in a rice cooker, because it's much harder for me to screw up that way, but you can always do it on the stove as well. Instead of doing just water though, throw in some of the coconut milk for a deliciously creamy finished product. (Be careful though -- coconut milk can bubble like crazy once it gets going. It can make quite a mess!)

Next, sauté the onion and garlic in a skillet. When they're just beginning to get soft, add in the chicken and apple.

Once the chicken is cooked through, stir in a tablespoon of curry paste. I'm sure you could use pretty much whatever type of curry paste you'd like and it would turn out great, but I myself used tandoori. Yum.

Warning: although you can't really tell in the above picture, after you add the red curry paste, the chicken will turn a rather alarmingly bright pink colour. Like really pink (i.e., the chicken starts to look more like ham). It was a bit disconcerting, but it tasted great anyways.

After about a minute, it's time to add some good ol' chicken broth, cream, and the rest of the coconut milk.

You may notice from the above photo that I've suddenly switched everything to a very large saucepan. If I was thinking I would have cooked everything in there from the start and saved myself another pan to wash, but as it was, it wasn't until I was merrily adding the 3rd or 4th cup of chicken broth that I began to realize I was going to have a very large problem if I didn't switch everything to a much bigger pan. Ah well. C'est la vie.

Also, the soup really isn't as yellow as it look in the above picture. The lighting situation on our stove is really terrible for pictures, so I did the best I could. It's actually much more of a delicate creamy pink than it is the squash-yellow of the above photo.

Bring the whole thing to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken slightly. Now, if you don't care about presentation, then just dump all of your lovely coconut rice into the soup, along with some chopped green onions, give it a good couple of stirs, and serve. For a more elegant and impressive look, pile some rice in the center of a shallow soup bowl and then ladle the soup around the rice. Top with a sprig of fresh parsley for a garnish, and you're all set!

Here's the full recipe:

Mulligatawny Soup
Recipe from "The Guy Can't Cook" by Cinda Chavich

Ingredients:
3/4 cup long-grain basmati rice
One 400 mL can coconut milk, divided
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into 1/4 cubes
1 Tbsp hot Indian curry paste (or to taste)
4 cups chicken broth 
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 green onions, chopped

Directions:
1.  To make the rice, combine the rice, 1/2 cup of the coconut milk, water and salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

2. To make the soup, in a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over high heat and sauté the garlic and onions for 5-10 minutes or until just soft. Add the chicken and apples and cook until the chicken is almost cooked through, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the curry paste, coating the chicken and apples. Cook for 1 minute or until the paste is very fragrant. Add the broth, cream, and remaining coconut milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes to slightly thicken.

4. Stir in in the cooked coconut rice and green onions and heat through. Or for a special presentation, pile portions of the coconut rice in the center of each shallow soup plate, then ladle the creamy chicken soup around the edge of the rice.

Bee's Notes: 
The original recipe says it makes enough for 4-6 people. While I agree it easily makes enough soup for 6 people, I would definitely suggest making more rice if serving for more than 3 people. The amount of rice in the recipe gave exactly 1/2 cup of cooked coconut rice for each of the 3 of us.

Recipe: Sweet & Tangy Orange Chicken

Yum. Yum, yum, yum. This recipe was absolutely delicious! It's largely based on a recipe I found here, but I did tweak it a little bit. It was my first time trying a recipe from that particular blog, and it was well worth the effort. The main reason I picked this recipe was totally in no way related to the fact that it sounds exactly like a meal Katniss eats in The Hunger Games. Nope. Not at all.

Anyways, on to the sweet, tangy goodness that is this wonderful, wonderful recipe. I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients, so we'll just launch right in. Take a couple of chicken breasts and slice them up into fairly even chunks.

Toss them in a bag with some flour, salt and pepper until they're nicely coated. Brown them on all sides in some melted butter in the frying pan.

While they're browning, mix together some brown sugar, white wine vinegar (or just regular vinegar if you don't have any), orange juice, nutmeg and dried basil. I was a little alarmed by the amount of nutmeg in this recipe (I am not nutmeg's biggest fan), but never fear! It turned out delicious, even if the nutmeg smell while cooking was a tad strong.

Once the chicken is browned, pour the sauce over the chicken in the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add in some canned mandarin orange slices 5 minutes before you intend to serve for a sophisticated touch.

Serve over rice with a side of asparagus (or any other delectable vegetable you prefer), and you've got yourself a really amazing looking (and, more importantly, amazing tasting) meal that's done in 45 minutes flat. 

Absolutely delicious! 

Here's the full recipe:

Sweet & Tangy Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into even chunks*

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Melted butter or olive oil

Sauce:

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp white wine vinegar (or regular white vinegar)

1.5 cups orange juice (with or without pulp, whichever you prefer)

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp dried basil

The juice from 2 small cans of mandarin orange slices

Optional: add some ground ginger

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a bag. Toss in the chicken chunks and shake until well coated. In a skillet, either melt the butter or heat the oil. Then add the floury chicken, browning on both sides. Because of the flour coating, they should brown up nice and crisp, should you desire it. Once the chicken is browned, drain off any excess fat. (I didn't find that necessary -- the flour tended to absorb any extra fat)

2. Combine the sauce ingredients, taking care to set aside the mandarin slices once you have added the juice to the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. (If you want a thicker sauce - which I recommend - then leave the cover off to reduce the sauce, allowing it to naturally thicken as it cooks). 

3. Approximately 5 minutes before you are ready to serve, add in as many of the mandarin orange slices as you wish. I say the more the merrier! :)

4. Serve over a bed of rice, and devour eagerly.

Delectable right down to the last bite!

* I was a little worried about how many people this recipe would serve, but it easily made enough for 5. Depending on how generous you want to be with your portions, it could even be suitable for 6. Pretty good for 2 chicken breasts!

Recipe: Pork Cutlets Cubano

Hey all! It's time for another recipe. This is my first time trying the recipe, which comes from my second favourite cookbook, The Guy Can't Cook (again by the amazing Cinda Chavich. Are you sensing a theme here?)

First of all, the ingredients:

Now, a couple of things right off. That slimy shiny slab of meat in the foreground? That's pork tenderloin. Yum! The recipe calls for 2 tenderloins, but as I'm only cooking for 3 people, I just stuck with one big one. It should still make plenty! Other notable ingredients? Well that hugely long red pepper is called a "sweet tooth" pepper (ever heard of them before? I hadn't). The recipe actually calls for Hungarian or Cubanelle peppers, but since I could find neither, I decided to stick in another random type and see what happens. I'll let you know below!* Oh, and those rabbit ear looking things behind the red onion? That's our pepper grinder. I didn't notice the placement until just now, but I think it's kind of cute. :)

Anyways, on to the actual cooking! The first step was to mash the cut tenderloin until it was a uniform 1/2 inch thickness. Or at least that's what I was supposed to do. I got a bit lazy, so mine weren't exactly 1/2 inch thick. Or uniform. Oh well. They still turned out.

After that lightly dredge the cutlets in flour (if you want - this is an optional step, but I recommend it).

Brown the cutlets on both sides in oil in a frying pan, just lightly. If you're lazy like me and you made the cutlets thicker than 1/2 an inch, maybe brown them a little longer.

Once they're browned, pull them out of the pan and set them aside. In the same pan, throw in the chopped pepper, red onion and minced garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes. 

Then add some white wine, chicken broth and balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the cutlets back in, making sure to spoon some sauce and veggies back over top of them.

Cover and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Flip the cutlets about halfway through to ensure that they cook evenly all the way through. And if you, like me, don't have a cover for your skillet, you can always make a ghetto one like this:

*sigh* Oh well. Whatever works, right? When the pork is tender, pile it on top of some rice and dig in!

I paired mine with some honey roasted carrots and parsnips, which were also delicious. And very colourful on the plate!

Here's the full recipe:

Pork Cutlets Cubano

Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins (about 375g each) [If you only use 1 like 1 did, the recipe makes enough for 4 people]

4 Tbsp olive oil, divided

2 Cubanelle or Hungarian peppers, seeded and sliced

2 bell peppers (red and/or yellow), seeded and sliced

1 large red onion, slivered

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

salt and freshly ground black pepper

flour

chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Directions:

1. Using a sharp, pointed knife, remove any silver skin on the outside of the tenderloin. Slip the tip of the knife under the skin at one end to release it, then lift the skin with one hand as you slice it away.

2. Once the meat is trimmed, cut each tenderloin into slices, each about 2 inches thick.

3. Lay the piece of pork on a piece of plastic wrap, cut-side down. Cover with a second piece of plastic and, using a meat mallet or the back of your chef's knife, lightly pound the pieces to an even thickness of about 1/2 inch.

4. To cook the cutlets, season with salt and pepper on both sides, and dredge lightly in flour, if desired. Heat half of the olive oil in a non-stick saute pan over medium-high heat and when the oil is hot, pan fry the cutlets until just brown (about 2 minutes per side).

5. Remove the cutlets form the pan and set aside. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the pepper, onion and garlic for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften and brown. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of flour over the vegetables and stir. Add the wine, vinegar, and broth. Bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from frying the meat. Return the cutlets to the pan and spoon some of the vegetables and sauce over the meat.

6. Cover the skillet, reduce heat to low and braise for 20 minutes, until the pork is tender. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley.

* Pepper Update: Sweet Tooth Peppers taste exactly like red bell peppers. Maybe a titch sweeter, but otherwise indistinguishable. Ah well. It was worth a try!