From the Recipe Box: Garlic Bread Meatballs.

Want something quick and easy for dinner? Try garlic bread meatballs! You can use them as a side or, because they’re so filling, a main and they’re the easiest thing to put together. I saw this recipe on TikTok and had to try it.

Ingredients

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Frozen Meatballs

Garlic bread (frozen or homemade, doesn’t matter)

Shredded cheese.

Instructions:

In a pot, pour the jar of spaghetti sauce and add the meatballs. The amount of meatballs you add all depends on how many slices of garlic bread you’re making. Roughly it’s three per slice, but it depends on how big your slices are.

Let the meatballs simmer in the pot for about twenty minutes. The more it stays in, the more flavour they’ll pick up. When they’re done, take them out and cut them in half.

Heat up your garlic bread. Make sure both sides are toasted. When it’s ready and the meatballs are ready, take a spoon and indent the top of your garlic bread and place the halved meatballs on top. Cover with cheese and pop it back into the oven for the cheese to melt. Then, broil them for a couple of minutes to brown up the cheese.

I posted a picture HERE.

That’s it. Easy peasy and so much yum!

From the Recipe Box: Easy Cheeseburger Casserole.

I’ve got another dinner cheat for you, and it takes half the time and only a third of the ingredients that I found on recipe websites. The Cheeseburger Casserole is a good comfort food dinner, but I made it the other night because I got caught out in a rain storm and was cold. The storm went on to spawn a tornado south of Ottawa, too. I can believe it. The clouds were scary as they passed over and I’m glad they only dropped rain.

Onto the dish. All the recipes I found online had ten or more ingredients, and if you’re in a hurry, some of them you’d have to go out and buy prior to making the dinner, and some of ingredients, I’d only use once over the next six months, when this one that I put together has ingredients most of us already have in our pantry.

Ingredients.

2 lbs lean hamburger

1 box of Kraft Dinner

1 ½ – 2 Worcestershire Sauce

½ tsp Garlic powder

1 tbsp Dried Onion flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste.

½ cup Shredded cheese (optional)

7 ingredients. That’s it. Pictures are HERE.

Instructions:

Cook the hamburger and Kraft Dinner at the same time. This is what saves you time. Season the beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion flakes. Mix well. Add in the Worcestershire sauce. Mix. Drain and prepare Kraft Diner and set to one side until beef is ready. When the beef is done, mix the Kraft dinner into it and top with shredded cheese. Cover and let the heat from the food melt the cheese. That’s it. It takes roughly seven minutes to make the Kraft Dinner and fifteen to twenty minutes to the hamburger, depending on your stove.

All these ingredients are a staple in my house. I had some store-bought shredded cheese left over from another meal so I added it in, otherwise, I use American cheese slice to bump up the cheese for the Kraft Dinner. The Worcestershire Sauce gives it a nice bite too, but if you’ve never used it before, use it sparingly.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Restaurants: Father’s Day Sushi Lunch.

It’s rare when Hubby and I go out to dine anymore, moreso if it’s a special occasion, but while this year has been somewhat stressful, we did manage an outing for Father’s Day. Unfortunately, as my debit card was acting up, he had to pay. I’ll take him someplace nice for his birthday to make up for it.

Sithboy dislikes sushi so we didn’t invite him. Plus, he was working. There are a few good sushi places in our city, but I love one restaurant in particular, a place called Sakura Japanese Restaurant. Their menu is all on a tablet and you order right from it. It’s great because there isn’t a lot for each dish, so you can sample several items over the course of your meal. They’ve changed how they plate their food since the last time I was there as well. My order of the 6 piece Philadelphia Roll came with Hubby’s Crab Stick and Salmon Rolls. We didn’t realize that at first, and when we did, he’d already eaten all my whole order. *cries* That’s okay, because I think I ate one of his Shrimp Tempura rolls. I can see why they served everything together. No point in having three separate plates when it’s all going to the same table. We’ll have to remember that for the next time.

This was the place that made me a fan of sushi. I’d tried it once before and didn’t care for it, but something about this place changed my mind. Maybe because everything is prepared fresh when you order and not pre-made?

What do you think of sushi? I know people can’t get past the raw fish part, but you can do it up with vegetables too, and not everything on the menu is raw. We had some cooked dishes too, and they have deserts! I took lots of pictures and you can see them HERE.

From the Recipe Box: Easy Chicken Parmesan.

The title says easy, but technically it’s cheating.

One of the few things I know my son will eat is chicken parmesan, but sometimes gathering all the ingredients to make it and putting it together is more work than I’m willing to do, especially if I find an online recipe. Grabbing the ingredients for some of these recipes is expensive, and many of them I’d never use again, not to mention the time spent preparing the meal. On days when I’ve had a heavy writing day, the last thing I want to do is take anywhere from forty minutes to an hour and a hour and a half (depending on the recipe) to make dinner.  

I’m lazy. Sue me.

As I stated above, this is technically cheating, but it’s good, fast, and with very little cleanup. The chicken parmesan has four ingredients; chicken patties, sauce, provolone and parmesan cheese. That’s it, and it’s twenty minutes to prepare. Tops.

I use Jane’s chicken patties. They’re pre-cooked and breaded. I follow the instructions, but for the last two minutes, I take them out, put spaghetti sauce on top with a good tablespoon of parmesan cheese, and then a slice of provolone on top of that and stick them back in the oven until the cheese is nicely melted. Put them on a plate with a side dish of your choosing, and voila – chicken parmesan.

I took pictures. You can view them HERE.

I use the patties for several reasons. They’re a good size, and I’m not stuck having to eat a whole chicken breast, and they go on sale sometimes for 40% off, so I have a few boxes in my freezer and don’t take long to cook up. The whole meal can take twenty minutes from start to table, depending on what you have with it.   

I found it’s a great way to add a bit of variety to dinner without getting overly complicated. What’s an easy dinner hack you have?

From the Recipe Box: It’s Comfort Food Season!

With the price of everything going up, I want to save money in any way I can. One of those ways is preparing one-dish meals, and with it being comfort food season, I have plenty of recipes to try out. The best thing, I will use the slow cooker, so not only am I making yummy food but not using the stove or oven will save us money.

I love my slow cooker, and I can make so much and freeze what’s left over. That’s what I did with the chicken and corn chowder I made as part of my Mabon celebration. One-pot meals are perfect for busy days when I may not have time to cook a meal or I want to be lazy. Just throw everything into the slow cooker and leave it alone. That was one habit I had to break when we used it the first time; to resist the urge to lift that lid and see how the meal was progressing. Hubby would say to me each time I went out into the kitchen, “Don’t lift that lid!” It took a while, but I managed to suppress the urge. Sometimes.

The weather dropped slowly here, but now it’s cooler, and I’m geared up to cook. I have two recipes that I want to make to start off the season, chilli and chicken and dumplings. I’ve never made either, so I am excited. Chilli is always too spicy for me but I know I have to put some in otherwise, it’s just spaghetti sauce with kidney beans. Dumplings, on the other hand, worry me. What if they don’t turn out? What if they’re overcooked or worse, undercooked? Cooking bread in a slow cooker is new to me, and it’s a big part of this recipe.

I think it boils down to what will everyone else continue to eat? If I make enough for leftovers, will they be eaten? That’s a big problem in our house. I am starting to freeze things more, but some things don’t freeze well.

Okay, so what will it be?

Chilli?

Chicken and dumplings?

From the Recipe Box: Mushroom Rice.

I love mushrooms. They’re so versatile and taste great fried up with some garlic butter, so I was especially happy to find a recipe for mushroom rice that’s easy to follow. I took one picture and then got so wrapped up in the cooking process that I forgot to document each step.

You can find the original recipe HERE.

I’ve made this twice in the last couple months and there’s not a lot to preparing this dish, but I did change a few things to bring out more flavour as I found the original bland and my mother said the first batch was too salty.

I only changed two ingredients the second time around. I used mushroom stock in place of vegetable/chicken stock, and unsalted butter. I also cooked this in a cast iron pot because it distributes the heat better, but the handles and lid will get just as hot as the pot. Cast iron gets crazy hot, which is what you need to brown the first few ingredients.  

I cooked the mushrooms, garlic, and onions for fifteen minutes instead of five. Caramelizing onions takes a while (45 minutes, without cheating), but even with diced onions you want them nice and brown to add to the flavour. Same with the garlic but keep a close eye on the garlic as it will burn easily. Leaving the garlic and onion to cook longer gives a good base on the bottom of the pot which adds to the deglazing with the mushroom stock. You’ll get a lot of your flavour from the deglazing.

The small amount of rice for this recipe means you will have enough for leftovers, but not for days on end. I find with some recipes, I still have food at the end of a week and because we have an older and smaller fridge, I end up throwing it out to make room. Next time I make this, I’m going to use a mushroom stock I make myself. This dish was perfect for the nights I had to work late and needed to eat something before bed. A few seconds in the microwave on low did the trick and I swear it tasted better as a leftover.

From the Recipe Box: Chicken and Corn Chowder.

It seems the first day of autumn ended summer on all levels. Goodbye hot, muggy, humid weather, and hello dull, cloudy and cooler day! Hell, it rained on the first full day, and I didn’t complain a bit.

Cooler weather means it’s time for comfort food, and I found a new one that I’m adding to my list. The recipe can be found HERE, which is a variation on the recipe found HERE. I’m not a fan of spicy, so I kept the jalapeño’s out of it and used the bacon to give it a bit more flavour.

I cooked the chicken in the oven at 425 with a layer of olive oil and herbs. This added a bit more taste. Overall, I was going for a nice, mild flavour and along with the bay leaves, I think I accomplished that.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded (3 cups)

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled*

1/4 cup butter

1 large red bell pepper, diced (1 1/2 cups)

1 medium yellow onion, diced (1 1/4 cups)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup all-purpose flour**

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced slightly less than 1/2-inch thick (3 cups)

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

1 1/2 cups half and half

Green onions and seeded, finely chopped jalapenos (optional), for serving

Instructions

1. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add red bell pepper, onions, jalapenos and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds longer.
4. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes stirring constantly. While stirring, slowly add in chicken broth and whisk until well blended.
5. Add potatoes, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil stirring frequently, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes or just until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.
6. Add in cooked chicken, corn and half and half and simmer, uncovered 10 – 15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Serve warm topped bacon, green onions, and optional jalapeno peppers.

((* cut the bacon ahead and cook in the pot before adding butter))

**((to make this recipe gluten free, substitute potato starch for flour. Just remember that you add less potato starch.))

From the Recipe Box: Eating healthy; a beginner’s journey.

The last year has been a hard one. My stress levels were pushed to the max, but out of all of it, were my eating habits. It didn’t surprise me when I got on the scale and discovered that I am a good ten pounds heavier than I was last year, and the weight gain is interfering with my work. Gone are my six hour shifts because I can’t stand on my feet for longer than three. I was heavy to start with, an the extra weight isn’t doing me any favours, so, I signed up to Noom.

Is it working? In a nutshell, yes. This is going to be a slow, gradual thing, but as they advertise, they teach you how to keep it off, and that takes some time. At this moment, I am 4.2 pounds lighter than I was two and a half weeks ago, but I have a long way to go just to get to my pre-pandemic weight. I’ll give monthly updates as it’s part of the program to be social about this journey.

Anyhoo . . . I thought I would share some recipes that I came up with. They’re simple and easy to whip together. This one is for a yummy fruit salad. I have a sweet tooth, so I need something that will be sweet enough to satisfy it, and still be low in calories.

Fruit Salad.

1 large mango

1 gala apple

290g watermelon

Cut into 1/2 bit size bits. Toss together in bowl. Keep in fridge. Will make four servings of 1 cup each of roughly 77 calories.

Mango is the sweetness I need, and I like gala apples for their crunch and added sweetness. Watermelon is good because it’s mostly water. I eat half a cup in the afternoon or evening, and do a full cup in the morning. The only problem I have is the mango ripens quickly and begins to taste and feel a bit off, but if you like them, you shouldn’t have a problem. I want to try different fruit combinations, and I will post here the results.

Summer is slowly coming to and end, and a lot of the fruit is going out of season. As much as I’d like to do frozen, I find it’s just not the same. Do you have a suggestion for a fruit salad recipe? Maybe made with autumn fruit? I can handle just about all fruit, except cherries. There’s something about cherries that they have to be eaten by themselves.

From the Recipe Box: Does Anyone Deep-fry Anymore?

I’m dating myself with this, but remember those old cooking oil commercials with Florence Henderson? It seems like everything was deep fried back then.

Deep frying food went out of favour for quite a while, and I understand why, but I think like everything else, it’ a matter of how much you eat and what you make it with. There are dozens of articles on cooking oils; the bad and the good, and I’ve read a lot of them. We also have more oils to chose from. I found a good article that explains why some oils are bad and a list of their smoke points.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-choose-and-use-healthy-cooking-oils/

Note the Palm oil nutrition fact. They don’t recommend anyone using it.

Years ago, when Hubby found out he had high cholesterol, we stopped deep frying. He stopped eating anything deep fried and so did I in support. It was fine; I didn’t miss greasy food at all, and every now and then we’d go out to a fast food place, so it wasn’t as though we completely cut out deep fried foods.

Now, after so many years I’ve been toying with deep frying again. I bought a small fryer during 2^nd lock-down, but I’ve only cooked fries, and they weren’t very good. Okay, I’ll be honest, they were crap in the first degree, and I have no idea what went wrong. Something I’ll have to play around with. My son took Culinary in college, and he said there were several dishes he learned to prepare that require deep frying, but there’s still a part of me that has this hesitation of fried foods. As though it’s taboo and eating it will bring some heavy shit on me. I felt the same way about butter for years too, but we’ve been using it over margarine for the last year.

Do you use a deep fryer? Any tips you can give a newbie?

Food in the time of Covid.

This last year has been interesting, to say the least, but one thing I wasn’t planning on, was all the cooking I’d be doing. I think that came as a shock to a lot of people too. Suddenly, here we are, locked in our homes for weeks at a time, trying to keep sane, and like a lot of others, I found that cooking did take some of the edge off.

We got a few weeks subscription to HelloFresh, and it was great! Twice a week they’d send us stuff and I had a blast putting it all together. Not to mention that I had my son’s extra culinary knife set so I got to play with those as well. We only did the subscription for a couple weeks. It’s nice, but it’s damn expensive, and it opened me up to doing more home cooking than I was before. I started experimenting with spices and sauces, added herbs to things I normally wouldn’t, and took the time to really prepare a meal. My mom got me the biggest bottle of Worcestershire sauce I’ve ever seen. I love it too and I put that shit on everything.

The fact everyone was making bread I find hilarious, and my own attempt at making as sourdough starter failed brilliantly, but it wasn’t just bread. I discovered that I really like to cook, and not just whip stuff together or throw a pre-made dinner into the oven, but actually spend time preparing a meal. It’s become a lost art; like knitting.

Because of this, I’ve pulled back from the prepared meals. I get a few for my son on the days that I’ll be working late, but most of the time, I’ll cook from scratch, and I can’t wait until the garden is growing. Nothing tastes better than food you’ve grown yourself.

How were your Covid meals? Did you jump on the bread bandwagon?

Stay safe.