1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
7 tbsp good quality olive oil
Whisk together dry ingredients and slowly drizzle olive oil until incorporated.
This dressing is my basic house dressing – used for everything. Salads, marinades, dressing up a bit of grilled baguette …. use your imagination…
(I also love this for tossing vegetables in it before and after grilling)
Everybody loves flaky pie crust – but people are divided on whether to use shortening, lard or butter. Through trial and error, I think I have found the best of them all – by combining lard and butter. Try it ….. so light and flaky – you will love it.
Whisk flour and salt
Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in lard/butter until pea sized. Add very cold water to egg and vinegar mixture. Make a hole in the center of the flour blend and stir in the egg/vinegar/water combination. Work just until pastry comes together – adding slightly more liquid if it doesn’t, and if it is too wet, add a wee bit more flour. Work together just until it all comes into a solid mass. Knead very lightly on floured surface. Wrap tightly and put in the fridge for at least 40 minutes.
Roll on lightly floured board until just thin enough to use for pie dough.
This recipe makes enough for 1 smaller pie (top and bottom) or a large deep dish pie crust bottom.
Everybody needs a simple white cake recipe to use for birthday cakes, layer cakes, shape cakes or just an easy dessert with whatever fruit is in season – here it is!
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp whole milk
Preheat oven to 350
Grease and flour a 9×9 inch pan or prepare 12 muffin tins with paper liners or grease.
In medium bowl, or kitchen stand mixer – cream together butter and sugar. Cream really well, until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well between each one until batter looks full of air. Add vanilla. Combine flour with baking powder and sift. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Pour in the milk and stir or blend until mixture is smooth and creamy.
Pour into prepared cake pan or muffin tins.
Bake for 30 minutes for cake, or 20-25 for muffins (test at 20 minutes).
This recipe is so versatile – today’s mix was because Sloan wanted PINK cupcakes, and pink they were …. you can use this for a layer cake – just double for a 2 layer cake, or it makes 12 smaller cupcakes.
DRESSING
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp grated ginger
Juice of 2 limes (and zest if you like it really filled with lime!)
½ garlic clove, minced
1 chopped scallion
1 tbsp sriracha sauce
1 tsp raw sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp kosher salt
Blend well, and gradually stir in: ½ – ¾ cup of vegetable oil – to taste
MARINADE
1/3 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp chili paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
1 minced garlic clove
2 good size chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
Thin cut Chinese egg noodles (fresh is best)
Green Salad
Sesame seeds
Peanuts
Bean sprouts
Cut chicken into bite size pieces and allow to marinate for anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight.
A few minutes before frying stir in 1 tbsp corn starch.
Make a green salad using whatever ingredients are jumping out at you – make it nice and crunchy!
Cook the egg noodles according to package directions and allow to cool – rinse with warm water if they end up in a clump – the water always brings them back.
Toast the sesame seeds and peanuts
The chicken needs to be cooked fairly quickly so it gets nice and crispy – you can do this in a wok using a bit of peanut oil, in a fry pan, a deep fryer, or on the grill with a wok basket.
While the chicken is cooking, bring the rest of the marinade to a boil – allow to boil for a few minutes until it is thick and has reduced slightly. Stir warm into the salad dressing and allow to sit while you assemble the salad:
Noodles on the bottom – drizzle with a bit of the dressing
Salad
Chicken
Top with bean sprouts, peanuts and sesame seeds
Drizzle more salad dressing over top
This brownie recipe is simply the easiest, quickest, and most kid friendly brownie I have found. Really – one pot, one spoon, a measuring unit or two and the baking pan … all done before you know it.
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
(optional – 1/2 cup chopped walnuts)
(optional – 1/2 cup chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350
Grease 8 x 8 x 2 square pan
In medium saucepan melt the butter and cocoa. Remove from heat, stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each one. Add vanilla. Stir in flour and the walnuts (if using).
Bake for aproximately 30 minutes – test at 25 minutes to see if a toothpick comes out cleanly. Do not overbake.
Remove from oven, cool and eat – they won’t last long! If you chose to use the chocolate chips – I put them on top as soon as it comes out of the oven, allow to sit for a minute then spread until smooth. The chips melt pretty quickly.
By the time you think you are having a chocolate craving, these can be in the oven before you change your mind! Easy clean up too. The kids learned to make these on their own in elementary school and it is still a quick favorite around our house.
These brownies are for those days when you have a little extra time, or really want to impress someone that loves chocolate.
6 tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz coarsely chopped good quality semi sweet chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Not Dutch process)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350
Line a buttered 8 inch square baking pan wiht foil or parchment paper, letting enough hang over to make it easy to lift the brownies out later. Butter lining too!
Heat butter, chocolate and cocoa in either a heatproof medium bowl over warm water, or in a microwave, stirring at 10 second intervals. If you choose the microwave be careful – they can be over heated in a few seconds.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in another bowl and set aside.
Put sugar, eggs and vanilla in bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until pale, golden and fluffy – about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, and beat until combined. Add flour, beat again scraping down sides of bowl until well mixed.
Pour batter into prepped pan, smooth top with spatula. Bake until a tester comes out with a few crumbs but not wet – around 35 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes in pan. Lift out brownies and allow to cool completely on wire rack before adding topping.
TURTLE CARAMEL TOPPING
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
Using medium saucepan combine water and sugar – bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. When syrup starts to boil – QUIT stirring and wash down your sides with a wet pastry brush. Continue to cook, swirling pan every so often, until a medium amber – again – this is the place to watch carefully because it will go from a rich amber color to burnt pretty quickly. Remove from the heat, and quickly add cream, vanilla and salt. Stir very gently until mixture is smooth. Add pecans and stir until caramel begins to cool and thicken. A couple of minutes will do it.
Pour caramel over cooled brownies and spread with an offset spatula. Refridgerate until cool – at least 30 min to an hour.
Let brownies stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving. If doing this for a dessert wipe knife with a hot damp cloth between each cut to get a smooth line. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
This works really well all year long in a hot oven, and even better on a grilling basket on your barbecue.
Preheat oven to 400. Use any assortment you like of vegetables, I usually try to go for color and cut the items so they cook at about the same rate – i.e., onions, broccoli and cauliflower take a little longer to cook so either cut them smaller or put them in the oven first, adding the peppers, zucchini and tomato after the first 15 min of cooking time.
Once you have all your vegetables prepped, toss in a generous amount of really good quality extra virgin olive oil, a couple cloves of crushed garlic and a good handful of fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
Turn vegetables out of oil seasoning onto roasting surface. Reserve bowl that the oil and seasonings are in.
Roast until just tender and little brown carmelized bits appear. Anywhere from 30-45 minutes.Toss again into the olive oil, seasoning mix just to brighten up the flavours a bit – taste for seasonings and dust with freshly ground pepper and salt to taste.
Ever wonder how to get those delightfully crunchy tasty pecans served on your favorite restaurant salad?
In a non stick fry pan:
1/2 cup pecans
drizzle with honey
freshly ground pepper and salt
small knob of butter
Toss or stir the pecans to coat well, and continue to toss until they get glossy and darken. Be careful to not let them cook too much – the only tricky part of this is making to sure to watch in the last few minutes so they don’t burn.
Remove from heat and turn out onto a plate. As they cool they will harden and add some seriously good crunch to your salad.
Feel free to experiment with the sweetening agent – I have had just as good luck with using maple syrup, agave syrup or even brown sugar. When I am looking for a spicier finish I also sprinkle with cayenne pepper while they are cooking.
Easily as quick and simple as a package, and no preservatives!
6 tbsp cornstarch
3 cups milk
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup butter
Combine cornstarch, cocoa powder and icing sugar- mix well. Stir in milk.
Stir dry ingredients together and whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a gentle boil and continue to boil – stirring so it doesn’t stick or boil over. When it has thickened a bit, remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted.
Easily adapted to the microwave – combine dry ingredients and whisk in milk – heat on high power stirring every couple of moments until it boils and thickens – remove from microwave and stir in butter.
serve with chinese noodles for a quick dinner
3 lbs chicken pieces
1/3 cup dark soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp 5 spice powder
3 crushed garlic cloves
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp sesame oil
Put chicken in ziplock bag or container with a tight seal. Combine the rest of the ingredients, mix well and pour over chicken. Refridgerate – the longer the better. (In a pinch I have just thrown it all together and roasted – still fabulous!)
Arrange in a single layer in a roasting dish and roast at 350 for 30 minutes – turn over and roast for a further 30 minutes, basting.
This recipe is for chicken pieces – with skin, and on the bone. If you are using boneless/skinless chicken the cooking time will be much less.
