A November Recipe

I planned out the majority of my meals for the month of November in hopes of having an easier time blogging. The first recipe I made? Beef Bourguignon. Y.U.M. In addition, I made the Pork Chops with Apples and Rice which, wasn't super (in case anyone actually considered making it) and the Parkers Fish and Chips (which we liked but it was more fattening than we normally like). Since we liked the Beef Bourguignon, I figured it was a great one to post about. Hubs helped me get the ingredients ready and we threw it in the crockpot around noon. By 6 in the evening, we had a deeeeelish supper.....The broth was amazingly rich and dark, the meat was tender and the veggies were full of flavor. We topped the meal off with a nice glass of red wine...

Happy Birthday Mom!!

My mom turned 50 last week. I decided to make her a yummy cake for her birthday. A Caramel Toblerone cheesecake to be exact. It's a Kraft recipe and it was to diiiiiiiiiiie for.....
Toblerone Cheesecake
1-1/4 cups OREO Baking Crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 pkg. (250 g each) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping (I used another 1/4 cup in the batter)
1 bar (100 g) TOBLERONE Swiss Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped (i used the big one, and mixed about 5 melted squares into the batter)
1) HEAT oven to 350ºF.
2) MIX crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
3) BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. 4) Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
5) BAKE 40 to 45 min. or until centre is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim.
Refrigerate 4 hours. Spread caramel topping over cheesecake just before serving. Garnish with chopped chocolate.

A Change of Pace

Ok so...Obviously I'm a BAAAAD blogger. Life has taken over and 'most' of the fun stuff has taken a back burner to raising a baby, returning to work and starting school.
What I HAVE learned though is that I need to plan ahead in order to get us fed every day. I've been cooking for the freezer and meal planning in order to do it. This is where the change of pace comes in. I'm going to start documenting our 'monthly' menu. There'll be some recipes that are 'double' so that one can be frozen and some that are double duty. There'll also be some family favorites thrown in. I'll be posting links and recipes and maybe I'll even have time to post a photo or 2 by the end of the month!!
Without further ado...
November Meals
Garden Chowder- Will feed us twice
Chicken Rice Casserole- Will feed us twice
Chicken Pot Pie (in the freezer, from the book Best Make Ahead Recipes
Easy Minestone Soup- will feed us twice
Apple-Cinnamon Pork Chops & Cranberry-Rice Stuffing from Dinner Survival
Ginger Beef with Fried Rice
Fish and Chips
Chicken Fajitas (you know, the kind from a box)
Beef Bourguignon with Potatos- crockpot recipe, feeds us twice, recipe below
Candy Chicken- crockpot recipe below

Recipes
Beef Bourguignon with Potatoes

6 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 lbs. beef roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can (10oz) condensed beef broth
3 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups red/burgundy wine
3 tbsp. tomatoe paste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 tsp. ground thyme 1 bay leaf
10 small potatoes
1/2 lb. small white onions, peeled
1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove and drain. Add beef cubes and brown well. Place beef cubes in crock pot. Brown carrot and onion. Season with salt and peper, stir in flour. Add broth, mix well and add to crock pot. Add cooked bacon, wine, tomatoe paste, garlic, bay leaf, potatoes, white onions, thyme and mushrooms. Cover and cook on LOW for 10 hours; HIGH for 6 hours.

CANDY CHICKEN

12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
2/3 cup vinegar
3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper

Use a 5-6 quart crockpot for this recipe.
Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

It's Party Season

And with party season comes the need for some quick and delicious snack foods! This one was in the latest Kraft magazine. It's absolutely to die for and comes together in literally one minute! Oh, and did I mention it can be done on the BBQ?

Kraft Pesto Dip
1 block cream cheese, softened
1/3 pkg of 4 cheese italiano shredded cheese
1/4 cup pesto
about 12 cherry tomatos, quartered

1) Spread cream cheese in bottom of oven safe serving dish or tinfoil.
2) Pour pesto over top and sprinkle with tomatoes and cheese.
3) Bake until bubbly (or BBQ until bubbly)
4) Serve with tortilla chips.

Tuesdays with Dorie- Raspberry Blanc-Manger

And yes, I DO know it's only Monday but I'm not going to be anywhere near a computer tomorrow...

This dessert came together really easily. It was quick to make (not quick to set up) and really quite pretty...AND, on an evening where the kitchen was 29 degrees, it was nice to make something didn't require the stove being turned on!!

In case you haven't been following- this recipe is from a book called Baking: From My Home to Yours, go out right now and buy it!

Rhubarb.

My neighbours have a garden in their backyard and have been supplying us with some of their goodies. The most recent being rhubarb. And loads of it! So much, that I had to freeze a ton so that it doesn't go bad. The neighbour also gave me a recipe for rhubarb squares (although I think it makes something more like a coffee cake). The recipe is very easy but the batter is SUPER thick and it *almost* seems like it won't work since it is so full of fruit...
The combination of sweet from the sugar topping and sour from the rhubarb appeals to me quite a bit.


Rhubarb Squares
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups rhubarb, chopped

1) Mix wet ingredients first.
2) Add in flour, salt and baking soda and mix well.
3) Stir in rhubarb. Mixture will be very thick.

Tuesdays with Dorie- A Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies

Yay to me!! I finally have my own copy of the Baking: From my home to yours cookbook now! I received it for my birthday last week...no more renewing from the library!
This week for the Tuesdays with Dorie baking we made brownies...they were dark, chewy and yummy! The addition of coffee made them taste a little different than the other brownies I've made and it was a welcome change!
I couldn't believe how quickly they came together! I was hosting a BBQ and thought it was a good time to test them out!

No recipe here, BUY THE BOOK (trust me, you wouldn't regret it!)...It's the only baking book you'll ever need!!