Beef & Macaroni Casserole

     I believe it was my brother Mitchell who dubbed this family favourite as "slop", and I have to say, I like it. This is basically a dish of bolognese sauce and homemade mac and cheese. So simple, and great for leftovers!

Bolognese Sauce

1 lb ground beef (I use extra lean for the lowest fat content)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can pasta sauce

1 can tomato paste

Italian spices

Cheese Sauce

1 Tbsp butter/margarine

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

1 -2 cups milk

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 cups macaroni noodles

     Brown the beef in a wok pan or large skillet, and then drain the extra fat out of the pan. Add the other sauce ingredients, and leave it on the stove (not unattended!) on a low, simmering temperature for however long you want. I'd recommend a minimum of 2 hours.

     Cook the macaroni while you're making the cheese sauce.

     In a large microwaveable bowl, microwave margarine on high for 20 seconds (until mostly melted). With a wire whisk, whisk in flour. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Gradually add a cup of milk while whisking, using a rubber spatula to get the flour off the sides.Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Whisk and use spatula.

     Continue to microwave on high for 1 or 2 minutes at a time, watching carefully, until it bubbles up and thickens. Add more milk as necessary to get proper consistency. Whisk and reheat each time milk is added. Remove from microwave and stir in cheese.

     Pour the meat sauce into a casserole pot or other baking dish, filling it about halfway. Depending how big the container, you may not use all the sauce.Mix the cheese sauce with the macaroni noodles and pour gently on top of the sauce.

     Bake at 350º for 20 minutes, or until the sauce starts to make little bubbles through the macaroni around the sides of the casserole dish.

Messy Mess

     Yesterday I went on a cooking spree. I made slop (which is actually macaroni and beef casserole, get the recipe here) and peach crisp. The kitchen wasn't entirely clean before I started, but yesterday and today are my total relax days, so I just didn't feel like doing dishes first. Well, the end of the night looked like this:

     Scary, right?! Well, it's clean now, so it doesn't really matter, but I'm wondering if anyone else experiences a kitchen like this, or if they do the dishes as they go. I hope I'm not the only one who makes a mega-colossal mess of her kitchen. At least the end result is delicious food, right?!

Pesto Sauce

     This is a super easy recipe for pesto sauce. I made it with linguine (as pictured above) but you can use any type of pasta, or as a spread for crackers or bruschetta or anything else you fancy trying.

1 cup lightly packed, coarsely chopped, fresh basil
½ cup olive oil
½ cup parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper

     Start by rinsing the basil leaves, and dry off the excess water with a paper towel (this is really important). Then blend the basil and olive oil in a food processor until roughly mixed together. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue blending until the consistency of purée is achieved.
     Toss with pasta, use as a spread or anything else you'd like. Eat it with a spoon? Whatever you fancy. I like having pesto cold, so I refrigerate the sauce for a few hours before adding it to the dish. The excess can be covered and frozen for up to 3 months.

     Enjoy!

Steamed Mussels

     This dish reminds me of my family trips to PEI and the all-you-can-eat mussels at my favourite lobster restaurant. They literally brought tubs of steamed mussels to your table. (My brother opted out of sea food and ate exclusively chick peas. All of them.)

mussels
1 cup chicken broth OR 
     ½ cup white wine and ½ cup water
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic

     Rinse all the mussels, and throw out any that are cracked or open. (TIP: If a mussel is open just a tiny bit, run it under cold water, and it may close! Then you can use it.)
     Put everything into a pot, cover, and bring to a boil. Leave the mussels boiling for about five minutes.

     Serve and enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

     Okay, so everyone has some sort of relationship with chocolate chip cookies. Mine is "Grammie Cookies" in which she would put all different kinds of chips (dark and white chocolate, raspberry, butterscotch and peanut butter) and they always came out golden brown and crispy. I didn't have said recipe in my repertoire, so I decided to find one and make it my own. Oh and by the way; it's incredible.

1 cup butter or margarine

¾ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 package vanilla instant pudding mix

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2¼ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups chocolate chips (use whatever you like, but my favourite is half dark, half semisweet)

     In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars and pudding mix until it's smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla.

     In a medium bowl, combine the flour and making soda. Add slowly to the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips (the dough should be stiff).

     I then used my hands to mold the cookie dough into round, flat shapes, placing twelve on an ungreased baking sheet. The cookies don't splay out or rise much, so the shape you make them is roughly the shape they will have when cooked.

     Bake at 350º. Here's the tricky part... Cookies are good for nothing if they are even one second overcooked. I hate crunchy cookies, so these instructions are for chewy ones. Put the timer on for 8 minutes, and when it goes off, sit on the floor and stare into the oven until the edges just start to brown. Depending on your oven, this could take between one and four more minutes. Take them out immediately and remove them from the cookie sheet onto a metal rack to cool, or else they will continue to cook, and they will suck.

     Makes 3 - 4 dozen cookies.

Ottawa Works!

     Quick little note to tourists coming to the big city of Ottawa. I have a list of the top six most important venues to visit while in town.

• The Works - The Glebe
• The Works - Manor Park
• The Works - Hunt Club
• The Works - Westboro Village
• The Works - Orleans
• The Works - Kanata
  

Wondering what to do about the menu? (Check it out here!) I have a few favourites to suggest:

• Beef burger is great for the unadventurous, but try the Portobello mushroom cap, or the Elk Burger, yum!
• Dead Ringer, Five Fine Herbs, Growler Five-O, Peppercorn Broiler♥, Richie's Butte Special, Roughrider's Special♥, Smokey Mountain, Three Ring Binder
• Tower-O-Rings♥, Factory Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Lumpy Mashed
• Milkshakes: banana chocolate♥, cherry chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, chocolate orange, orange coconut ... (in all honesty, I'm sure they're ll amazing, so just pick whatever flavour tickles your fancy!)

KILL-ME-NOW

Oreo Truffles

     These were an amazing discovery, and I must thank Brinny for sharing this recipe with me. I'm sure it's been printed in various places, but it is definitely worthy to share with you now.

1 box Oreos (any type of chocolate ones are fine)

1 tub plain cream cheese (fat free is a good choice)

1 box of Baker's Semi Sweet chocolate squares

     Break up the Oreo cookies into chunks with your hands, then put them in a food processor and grind until the cookie pieces are more or less crumbs. (I'm sure you could leave some chunks if you'd like, but I never have.) Mix with the cream cheese so you have a chocolatey-creamy-cheesey-pastey.

     Here is where I pretty much just did whatever; I'm no candymaker so I have no clue how to do this part properly. Feel free to comment and tell me your tricks/tips.

     Scoop out the paste with a tablespoon and make a ball, dropping them all onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. (You may have to just use a spatula to get the paste out of the spoon and drop it in a clump.) Refrigerate or freeze for half an hour so the paste is less moist.

     Meanwhile, melt the chocolate with some butter or oil in a double boiler. (If you know how, you can temper the chocolate). When the chocolate is nice and smooth, pour it into a small, deep bowl. While it's still liquidy, you want to drop the truffle balls in one at a time. I scooped them out with a fork, and held it over the bowl for a few seconds to let the extra chocolate drip off, and then carefully tip/slide them off the fork back onto the wax paper. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. Keep refrigerated (or they will melt. Unless you like truffle soup, then feel free to leave them out).

     Makes about 24 truffles

Goat Cheese Appetizer Spread

     My aunt and uncle made this as an appetizer for my birthday one year, and I really love it!

1 large log of herbed goat cheese

sliced black olives

6 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic

1 tsp thyme

pinch salt & pepper

1 box crackers (Triscuts are my favourite)

     Slice the log of goat cheese into thin slices, about ¼ to ½ inch thick, and lay them down on a plate. Sprinkle the sliced black olives over top of the goat cheese, as much as desired.

     Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper into a dressing, and pour or spoon it on the platter, over the goat cheese and olives.

     Can be served immediately, or let sit for a short while to allow the dressing to soak into the cheese.

     Serves 6-10.

Fruit Crêpes

     This recipe marks my first attempt at crêpes. Not bad, and fairly easy.

Crêpe
1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

½ cup water

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp butter
Filling
large amounts of berries, or fruit of any kind

sweetened whipped cream or Cool Whip

     In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

     Heat a lightly buttered frying pan over medium-high heat. Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately ¼ cup for each crêpe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the entire surface of the pan evenly.

     Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.

     Scoop some whipped cream into the centre of a crêpe, followed by fruit. Roll it up, and top with more whipped cream.

     Makes 6 crêpes.

Sticky Breakfast Buns

Sticky Breakfast Buns

This recipe requires a breadmaker. I have no idea how one would otherwise make the dough, but perhaps you know how to modify it...

Dough

1 large egg (room temperature)

   plus enough (room temperature) water to equal 1¼ cups

3½ tsp oil

⅓ cup white sugar

1½ tsp salt

3½ cups bread flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

Filling

⅓ cup butter, softened

⅓ cup white sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

½ cup pecans, chopped

Topping

½ cup butter, melted

¾ cup brown sugar

½ - 1 cup pecans, halves or chopped (optional)

     Place dough on lightly floured surface, and roll into a 12" x 16" rectangle. Spread with butter. Combine remaining filling ingredients and sprinkle over dough.

     Roll up tightly, jelly-roll style, starting with the longest side. Cut into 1" slices.

     Combine topping mixture and spread into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Place slices in the dish and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

     Bake at 350º for 35 minutes, or until done. Invert onto heat-proof tray and let cool for 5 minutes.

     Makes 12 buns.

Peanut Noodles

     This is one of my favourite dishes. It's really easy and fast to make. It's also great cold and as leftovers.

500 g. linguini (or spaghetti)

2 Tbsp sesame oil

⅓ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (very optional)

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2-3 chopped shallots

     Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente (approx. 13 minutes). Drain, toss with sesame oil.
     In a measuring cup or bowl, combine(whisk) peanut butter, soy sauce, wine vinegar, ginger and red pepper flakes. Toss with noodles. Gently toss in shallots.

     Serves 4.