Archives for Food category
Posted on Jan 7th, 10 at
2:35 pm under Food
7
Jan
I love green onions and they would often make their way onto my grocery list because I use them so often… then I read a great tip and thought I would share it…
When you use your green onions, you usually use just the green and then most people throw away the rest…. instead of throwing away the whites, put them in a bit of water and watch them grow back… Within a few days you will have considerable growth and will be able to use them again… just clip off what you need…
I used these last week and just had the whites left, so I put them in some water (left the ring on so that they would stay upright) and not even a week later they are even taller then the original ones… I can’t believe I hadn’t tried this before!
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Posted on Dec 7th, 09 at
11:13 am under Recipes
7
Dec
Since realizing that all grocery store marshmallows have blue food colouring in them to look more “white” and artificial vanilla (both petroleum based products that we can’t eat) the boys haven’t eaten any marshmallows… which honestly took some of the fun out of campfires and hot cocoa…
I knew that marshmallows could be made at home and I have seen the recipes everywhere on the net, but I never thought it was so easy! If I knew I would have made them long ago!
This is a recipe I think originally from Martha Stewart which I have seen many places around…
- 3 packets (2 1/2 Tbsp) of gelatin
- 1 1/2 c sugar
- 1 c light corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
First, combine the gelatin and a 1/2 c water in the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment.
While that sits, mix the sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 water in a saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. On high heat, with a candy thermometer in place, bring the mixture to 244 degrees without stirring and immediately take off heat.
Start the mixer on low and slowly pour the syrup over the gelatin mix. Increase speed to high and beat until almost triple in volume. Add vanilla and beat again to mix it in.
Prepare an 8 x 12 pan with parchament paper and a generous amount of confectioners sugar and pour the marshmallow mixture in the pan. Wet your hands and smooth out the top, then dust with confectioners sugar and let dry out. (I put it in the fridge for about 30 min and it worked out great)
When they are ready, dust a cutting board with confectioners sugar and turn the marshmallow block out onto it and cut into small pieces. Make sure that you have plenty of sugar dust all around so that nothing sticks… Place in a airtight container to store.
These marshmallows are fluffy and creamy and delicious! I can’t wait to make more and try different flavours… peppermint marshmallows would be amazing in hot chocolate I am thinking!
Speaking of Hot Chocolate… I’ll share my recipe next 
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Posted on Dec 3rd, 09 at
7:59 pm under Food
3
Dec
Over the last few years I have seen my grocery bill go up… a combination of things costing more and us adding to the family and those additions growing up and eating more…
I have been making meal plans for a few years now and try not to buy too much extra… but I find it crazy that before we had kids a large trip to the grocery store was 80$ and now I have trouble getting out of there with less than 125$… I can only guess how much more that would be if I didn’t make as many things from scratch including many snacks, desserts and of course bread!
I roasted a chicken the other day and served it with roasted potatoes. It was a medium sized chicken (2 Kg) and in the past was enough to feed us and have some left over for a sandwich or two… but now the bones are cleaned, the potatoes are gone and the boys are asking for more… and then I offer dessert just to complete the supper because there is nothing left…
Of course it depends on the meal I make and how much they like it, but it is amazing to see how fast food can dissipate with three kids around… making sandwiches takes up a whole loaf of bread, an omlette for just the boys is at least 8 eggs, I need to make a triple batch of pancakes to have enough, when we order pizza we need two X-larges.. When I make Annie’s Mac and Cheese I need to make 2 boxes and even then they are asking for more!
Costco is seriously a great place to shop now… though I already bought a few things in bulk, the family sizes of certain products are well worth it… I was needing to buy peanut butter every week or two before, and the organic PB at the local grocery store is about 5$ for a small jar (250g)… whereas at Costco I can get a 2kg jar of organic PB for about 9$… I would have never thought that we would get through such a jar without it going bad, but with the boys and with recipes etc, after a month I need to head back for another… It is also great place for that Annie’s Mac and Cheese that I mentionned above which is a great easy lunch, especially when Simon is with the boys and there are so many other things that really are worth the trip.
I can’t just imagine when they are teens… or actually… I don’t think I want to right now…
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Posted on Nov 21st, 09 at
7:36 pm under Food
21
Nov
I needed a few items that are a bit more expensive so my total for this week is a bit higher at about 150$
We still don’t have an oven, but I will be trying the rotisserie feature on my new “toaster”oven… and though my brain wants to eat more veggies at the moment, my body is craving meat so I guess I need to listen to that for now…
So this week
- Hunan Dumplings (didn’t make them last week)
- General Tso
- Rôtisserie Chicken
- Stew in the crockpot
- Hamburger steak (my mom used to make this and I vowed that I never would but I suddenly had a craving for it!)
- Quick Spaghetti (another recipe from my childhood)
I will probably be getting the oven back on the 30th… so I went to ask my neighbour this morning if I could use her oven on Friday night or Sat morning to make Khéna’s cake for his upcoming birthday…
He is going to be 3!!!
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Posted on Nov 16th, 09 at
5:54 pm under Food
16
Nov
I love meals that are cooked at the table and have the ability to be whatever the person eating wants it to be.
One of those is Fondue, which is either thinly slices of meat and veggies cooked in a hot pot of flavourful broth on the table and served with sauces, bread and whatever else you want, or pieces of bread dipped in melted cheese.
(Eating Chinese Fondue a few weeks ago)
The other is Raclette.
Not only are these meals easy to prepare, but they are meals that bring everyone together at the table for more than a few minutes.
This year for Simon’s 10y anniversary of working at his job, he got a raclette grill. It was on the gift list and we had been wanting one for a while so it worked out very well.
Traditionally, Raclette comes from Europe and is the name of a semi-firm salted cheese. The cheese is warmed next to a fire or by a machine and is then scraped onto the diners plate which has potatoes, cured meats, gherkins among other things.
(colourful potatoes)
The modern way of eating raclette is by using a raclette grill. The top part heats up letting you grill whatever you please… we like having marinated beef, potatoes, shrimp and bread on top of the grill (along with other veggies depending on our moods)
Under the grill you have little wedges called “coupelles” to melt cheese. You can either melt the cheese and then pour it over your other food (this is what the boys do) or you can gather the things you have grilled into the coupelle, top with cheese and then place under the grill to melt the cheese.
Though it is very easy to find Raclette cheese around here, it is also very expensive, so to make this an easy and pretty cheap meal, we use a sharp cheddar that has been thinly sliced.
Of course, because it is cooked at the table, the preparation for this meal is also really easy.
Though the grill we have now is OK, I would really like to get a better one with a stone top that heats up better and is easier to clean up after, but for now, we are happy to have this one and it will provide us with many meals to come…
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Posted on Nov 14th, 09 at
7:11 pm under Food
14
Nov
Well, of course we will, but we will have help…
A while back I had gotten rid of our toaster oven. The door was broken and was not very useful because the heat was escaping and it just looked unsightly… We were happy with just having a toaster but when I saw a higher-end toaster/convection/rotisserie oven half price at Canadian Tire, I just bought it… It is a bit overkill for a toaster, though it does work, but it will be great for reheating food and baking small things even after we get the oven back in working condition… and it will probably save a bit of energy at the same time…
I have a few bananas that need to be used up and I thing that I will even be able to bake a banana bread in it!
As for this week, I am excited at our menu, and the bill was about 130$, which is again staying within the budget I have set… and that makes me happy also 
So, we are having…
Hunan Dumplings
Fried Chicken Sandwiches
Falafel sandwiches
French Onion Soup
Something in the crockpot (not too sure yet)
and Raclette (I’ll write a post tomorrow explaining what this is)
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Posted on Nov 13th, 09 at
6:26 pm under Family Life, Food, Misc Ramblings
13
Nov
It’s Day 2 without an oven and I have no clue when we will have it working again.
The Sears guy was supposed to come today but then called yesterday and was able to figure out the problem over the phone with the Error code. He checked with the pieces and they are on order and he expects them for the 30th. I can’t believe it, I can’t go that long without a working oven!
I asked him if there was anything else that could be done and he did say that he would try. He called this morning saying that he would get back to me with news but then never called. It is so frustrating!!!
There are many things in the house that I wouldn’t have a problem without, but this is not one of them… especially since we no longer have a microwave or a toaster oven. Though I don’t like the results much, I remembered that we still have the breadmaker stashed somewhere down stairs, so I might get that out in the meantime…
The next weeks meal plans are sure going to be interesting to make though…
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Posted on Nov 12th, 09 at
3:49 pm under Family Life, Food, Misc Ramblings
12
Nov
My oven is broken!
I made some breakfast cookies this morning, pre-heated the oven, put them in and then soo after I started to smell food burning… I ran to kitchen at about the same time as the alarm on the oven went off flashing ERR:F10 over and over… I got the stuff out of the oven noticing that the cookies on the top shelf were burnt completely but the bottom ones were perfect… The broiler element was on and wouldn’t turn off…
The only way that I got it to turn off was to pull the oven out and unplug it.. then I called Sears (it is not even a year old) and they will be coming to repair it soon…
I have no idea what could have happened for it to break so suddenly. Looking around on the net though it looks like this Error code is because the heat was going too high, meaning that the heat sensor is most likely broken so the oven wasn’t cycling off and on like it should.
This really sucks! I use the oven pretty much everyday.
For breakfast we often rotate between Baked oatmeal, apple pancake, breakfast cookies, etc… For lunch we use the oven to reheat food since we don’t have a microwave, I made bread sometimes on a daily basis, muffins or other desserts and of course supper…
Tonight we are having sandwiches, so I’ll have to go out and buy some bread for tonight…
At least the stove top is working but depending on when the oven will be fixed I’ll have to plan meals around using the stove top exclusively which honestly is quite a challenge. Of course since this is taking away many of our breakfast options we will most likely be relying on the toaster a lot more which means that I will have to buy bread since I can’t make it.
This really sucks!
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