Curry Cauliflower Casserole Bake

SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2009

4 stars (out of 5 - super quick & easy, and pretty tasty!)

Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom soup*
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3-4 tsp curry powder
1 cauliflower*

{*Note. You can substitute the cream of mushroom soup with cream of asparagus, broccoli, or celery. You can also use broccoli instead of cauliflower, and can add some cooked chicken to the casserole as well. I had to use broco-flower because they didn't have cauliflower!}

1. I first chopped up the cauliflower into bite-sized chunks, and then steamed it until tender crisp. I think that my oven isn't strong enough to really cook the veggies enough, so if you have a real oven you may be able to skip this step and just add the raw cauliflower to the casserole.

2. While the cauliflower was steaming, I stirred the soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry powder in a bowl.

3. I then added the steamed cauliflower to a medium casserole dish...

4. ...and stirred in the curry mixture. If you want to add chicken, you would add the cooked chicken here and stir it in.

5. I then put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F (or until bubbly).

6. Serve it over a bed of rice:

Overall, I like to make this recipe when I'm lazy and want a warm meal. It was one of the first casseroles that I made when I was in college, and I loved it because it's impossible to screw up!

Steak with Tomato Relish, Asparagus Toss, and Potato Wedges

SEPTEMBER 3RD,2009

Please note that I had to use my old camera, so the pictures were very blurry. For the next few recipes, I will try to post as many pics as I can, but the quality might not be so great.

Steak with Sweet Tomato Relish

4 stars (out of 5 - a great addition to the meat!)

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped ripe tomato
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 lean boneless beef sirloin steak
Salt and pepper

1. First I combined the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan and added some pepper. I brought it to a boil and reduced the heat so that it could simmer for about 8 minutes.

2. As this was cooking, I cooked the steak and the meatless beef. Once it was done, I placed the meat on a plate and covered with the relish. Easy!

SB's steak:


My "beef":


Asparagus & Onion Salad

2.5 stars (out of 5 - overpowering vinegar flavour)

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fresh asparagus
1/2- 3/4 cup of sliced green onion (depending on preference)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar*
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basis
Salt and pepper

{Note. I found that vinegar taste overpowered everything, so in the future I would add much less at first and then take it from there. If it needs more kick, add some more, if not leave as it is}.

1. I actually made this first and refrigerated it so that I didn't have to worry about it at all later on. I like dishes like that! First I trimmed the asparagus and cut them in thirds. I then very briefly boiled it until it was tender-crisp (I think it was about 4 minutes).

2. After they were cooked, I rinsed them under cold water to both cool them and stop them from cooking further.

3. I then added all the ingredients and the asparagus to a bowl and stirred. I let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Garlic potato wedges

4 stars (out of 5 - pretty tasty, but a bit of work and time)

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes (russet)
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika

1. I first washed to potatoes and then cut each into 8 wedges.

2. I then combined all of the other ingredients into a zip-lock bag and added 1/2 the potato wedges and shook it until they were coated. I repeated this with the second half.

3. I then laid them out on a cookie sheet and sprinkled with any additional ingredients I wanted to amplify (in this case, garlic and salt!).

4. I baked them at 375F for 25 minutes (although it turned out to be longer with my oven). I turned them once and then took them out when they were slightly crispy. Delicious!

The final product... SB's steak:



And my "beef" version:

Overall, this was a fairly simple meal to prepare, as you can stagger the times for everything. I am not so great at multi-talking in the kitchen, so this was perfect for me. The only criticism I had for this meal was the asparagus, as the vinegar taste was overpowering. That could just be my taste though! I'll definitely make the potatoes and steak again!

Greek Chicken with Lemon Potatoes

SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2009

4.5 stars (out of 5 - quick and easy chicken; easy (but not quick) potatoes)

Ingredients:

Lemon Potatoes

3-4 medium potatoes
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp dried oregeno
garlic

1. First, I cut the potatoes into quarters and added them to boiling water for about 8 minutes. I did this to speed up the cooking process, as my convection oven apparently hates cooking potatoes.

2. I then added the potatoes to a greased casserole dish. I used this one because I was not making a big quantity of potatoes; however, if you are making many, remember not to layer them and just use a larger dish.

3. I then added the garlic (to your liking) and the oregano to the potatoes.

4. And then added the water and lemon juice. They should be pretty much covered with the liquid.

5. I then put them in the over for 45 minutes at 400F (until cooked), stirring them occasionally so that they didn't burn. These are excellent served with fish (or anything that goes well with lemon), but my favourite is to serve them with the chicken recipe below and a greek salad.

Greek Chicken

1/2cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp green onion
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp fresh coriander*
2 chicken breasts (or chick'n), cut into bite-size chunks
Pita bread (optional)

{Note. I reduced this because SB doesn't really like it.}

1. First I cut the chicken breasts into bite size chunks (or had SB do it, as it kinda grosses me out). I headed a frying pan and started the chicken. Just remember that the chicken cooks fairly quickly! If I'm worried about timing, I make the greek dressing and the greek salad (without dressing) first and refrigerate. That way, I can just pull it all out once the chicken is cooked.

2. I then added the mayo and sour cream to a medium sized bowl and stirred.

3. I added the spices. The good thing about this recipe is that you can really taste-as-you go... make it to your own liking!

4. Finally, I added the green onion and coriander.

5. I then added the chicken...

6. ...and stirred everything together, coating the chicken well.

7. I served it with the lemon potatoes and greek salad. This is SB's chicken version:

8. My Chick'n version (with peppers in the salad):

Overall, I love this chicken recipe. It is sooo easy and it's quite good. Just a head's up, the chicken is served kinda cool, as the dressing is cold. I think it's delicious and different, but perhaps some people wouldn't like it. I also like paring it with a greek salad and I think it has a nice presentation. I have done this recipe several times, and you really can't go wrong!

Taco Salad (w/ Veggie Ground Round)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18TH, 2009

2.5 stars (out of 5 - impressive looking, but difficulty eating it makes it very disappointing)

Ingredients:

2 (8") flour tortillas
1/3 pound of ground round (I used 1 pack Yves Veggie Ground Round)
1/3-1/2 cup water
4 tbsp chopped green onion
2 tsp chili powder*
1/4 tsp ground cumin*
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
4 tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup salsa (optional)

{*Note. I used a taco seasoning mix that we had in the cupboard because SB doesn't really like the chili taste so much. I'm sure the chili powder/cumin is also good, though!}

Veggie prep:

1. First, I placed the tortillas in our oven and baked for 10 minutes at 350F (depending on how crispy you want them... I think medium crispy is good!).

2. While they were cooking, I placed a saucepan over medium-high heat and added some olive oil. I then added the veggie ground round, water (bit by bit) and taco seasoning, and let simmer for 10 minutes. {If you are using real meat, cook until browned, drain and pat dry with paper towel, and return to the skilled adding water, green onions, chili powder, and cumin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes}

3. For each salad I... cut a tortilla into 8 equal size pieces and placed them on a plate...

4. ... then added half of the shredded iceberg lettuce...

5. ... topped it with 1/2 of the meat sauce...

6. ... and added half of the tomatoes, green onions, and cheddar cheese.

7. Finally, I decided to add a little bit of sour cream, because I will take every opportunity to eat it with my meals!

Overall, I thought that these were just okay. I thought they looked VERY impressive, but in the end they were difficult to eat and to mix the different flavours. You would end up with one bite of lettuce, one bite of meat, one of tortilla.... I think you're better off making super-nice soft tacos with ground round.

Chicken/Chick'n Caesar Salad and Wrap

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2009

3.5 stars (out of 5 - super easy, but not super impressive)

I'm posting this, not because it's special in any way, but rather because I had forgot what a super-quick, easy meal this is, and thought it would be a great reminder. I have yet to try my own Caesar salad dressing, but maybe when I have a bit more time. For this salad, I splurged on some better salad dressing from the store.

Ingredients:

1 chicken or chick'n breast*
Romain lettuce
Caesar salad dressing
Parmasan cheese
Croutons (optional)
Flour tortillas (optional)

{*Note. Any simulated chick'n meat will do for vegetarians.}

1. First we heated the frying pan, added some olive oil, and cooked our respective meats. As they were cooking, we tore up the lettuce (okay, we used a pre-made salad... sooo bad and soo lazy!) and added the dressing and parmasan cheese. We then added our meat on top of the salad. A better way to do this is to add your meat directly to the salad, but we forgot :) Garnish as you please!

2. I preferred to have a Caesar salad wrap, so just wrapped it up. It was a bit disappointing how little salad I could fit in there, though, after all my chick'n.

Overall, this is such a simple thing to do, and with the chicken added it makes a great light dinner or lunch. We'll definitely do it again on lazy days!

Chicken Piccata & Broccoli w/ Creamy Chive Sauce

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009

3.5 stars (out of 5 - easy and pretty good) for the Chicken
2 stars (out of 5 - not great, not great) for the Broccoli

Ingredients (Chicken Piccata):

2 skinned boned chicken cutlets or breasts*
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground red pepper
Olive oil, to cook
2 tbsp dry white wine
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 tsp veggie or chicken flavoured bouillon granules
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

{*Note. I use chicken cutlets because the idea of having to pound a chicken breast does not appeal to me in the slightest. You can also use a boneless chicken breast and flattento about 1/4 inch thickness using a meat mallet. I used my President's Choice Simulated Chick'n Breasts here again.}

1. First, I combined the flour, paprika and red pepper in a shallow bowl. I used extra paprika because I couldn't find any ground red pepper.

2. I then dredged the chicken breasts/cutlets in the flour mixture, until they were coated on both sides.

3. I heated the pan with the olive oil in it over about medium-high and added the chicken. I then cooked the chicken for approximately 3 minutes on each side (depending on the size of the chicken), and removed it and kept it warm for a few minutes while I did the sauce.

My veggie chick'n version cooking:

4. I then added the wine, lemon juice, margarine, and buillon granules to the skillet, and stirred the mixture constantly until the butter melted.

5. The final chicken version. SB decided to place his chicken right in skillet to soak up the juice in the pan and sear the meat. The recipe calls for you to actually drizzle it overtop of the warmed chicken (which I did, below). Either way, I'm sure it's fine, although it was annoying that my sauce ran in my plate.

Veggie Chick'n Version:

Overall, this chicken was pretty good. Not difficult, and the flavour was fairly decent. We will probably do it again, perhaps adding our own ingredients as we go. I will definitely cook mine in the pan again to get that seared look.

Ingredients (Broccoli w/ Creamy Chive Sauce):

2 stems of broccoli
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp veggie-flavoured buillon granules
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp freeze-dried chives
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp mustard

1. First, I washed and steamed the broccoli until tender crisp.

2. I then placed the water in a 1-cup measuring cup and microwaved it on high for 40 seconds. I stirred in the bouillon granules until they are dissolved, and set the mixture aside.

3. After this, I placed the butter in another measuring cup nad microwaved it for 10 seconds uncovered (until the butter melted).

4. I then added the flour, and stirred until it was smooth. Once smooth, I added the bouillon mixture, and milk, and microved the stirred mixture on high for 2 minutes (or until thickened and bubbly, stirring half-way through).

5. After the mixture was thickened, I stirred in the chives, lemon juice, and mustard.

6. At this time, the broccoli was done, so I drained it, placed it on our plates, and drizzed the sauce overtop.

The broccoli, in the end, was just OK. I've definitely had better. I felt like the sauce was a bit slimy, or perhaps the taste could've been accentuated with more mustard. If I do it again (doubtful), it would need a lot of tweaking, and definitely more punch.

Overall dinner: