Pancakes

Throughout the week my breakfast consists mainly of cereal. I love cereal, but when the weekend rolls around I love to make more substantial breakfasts like bacon and eggs or pancakes.
I once made these pancakes for D, when she got stranded in Edmonton for a week. It was right around the time that egg nog was available in the grocery store, and I thought it would be Christmassy to make the pancakes with egg nog.
Problem. Egg nog is way thicker than milk, so the batter didn't actually pour, it kind of just glopped. The outside of the pancakes were dark, and the insides were raw. I tried to convince her that I have successfully made pancakes before, and it was the egg nog that tripped me up, but I don't know if she believed me.
The pancake recipe comes from Everyday Food. I put E in charge of making them this past weekend, as we had company and I didn't want another one of my guests to think I don't know how to make pancakes. (Sure, she can make a mean beef bourguignon, but pancakes allude her?)

To top it off I made a berry sauce. I used about a cup and a half of fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries). I put the berries in a saucepan and sprinkled them with about a tbsp of sugar. I put them on the stove over medium heat. The berries end up breaking down and releasing all their juices, which turns into a pretty tasty sauce as is. This was not enough for me, and I added a generous splash of rum to the mix. I let it bubble away for about 5-7 minutes before removing from the heat. (If you prefer your berry sauce rumless, you could add orange juice for flavor)

Isn't my mini gravy boat the cutest thing you have ever seen?
Since pancakes with berries would be incomplete without whipped cream, I took some Cool Whip, mixed in a dash of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla, and served that alongside the pancakes.

Avocado Wraps

It's been the hottest week I have seen in a while, and for two nights this week I was making soup. Call me crazy. By last night I was ready to make a meal that required little to no cooking, and wouldn't be hot when consumed.

For the past week and a half I have been craving avocado. I make a mean guacamole (thanks to C), but I was wanting something different. Original Joe's makes a turkey club wrap that inspired the wrap I made last night.

Rebekah's Avocado Chicken Wraps

1) I started out by taking a chicken breast and cutting it into bite sized cubes. I added just under a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil to a skillet, and heated it over med-high. Once the oil was hot, I added the chicken cubes to the skillet. When the chicken was starting to brown, I topped it with a Tex-Mex seasoning. When the chicken was cooked, I took it off the heat. The whole process took maybe 5 minutes.

2) I cut an avocado in half, removed the pit, and scooped the "meat" out of the shell. Then I sliced each half into thin slices, and immediately squeezed lime juice over top. From an actual lime. This was to prevent the avocado from browning, and also because I feel avocado and lime go hand in hand. I can't have avocado without it being covered in lime juice.

3) I took a Roma tomato, cut it in half and discarded the juice and seeds. Then I diced what remained.

4) I cut a red onion into thin slivers. In the picture the red onion is missing, because I forgot to put it in the wrap before eating. Idiot.

5) I used my microwave to cook 4 slices of bacon until crisp. If you make this wrap (which I strongly suggest), you can crisp up bacon any way you wish.

6) I placed a tortilla on a plate, topped it with half the chicken, 2 slices of bacon, and half of the avocado and tomato. I should have also thrown on some onion, but as stated before, I forgot that step.

DELICIOUS. I could eat these all week long.

To go with it I made a quinoa salad that I found on FoodGawker. Quinoa is a seed, often referred to as a grain. Quinoa is really high in protein, is good for your heart, and is also gluten free. The seeds are slightly bigger than couscous, but are still pretty tiny.

The salad consists of quinoa, radish, cucumber and avocado. Like I said, I have been craving avocado in a big way lately. It's dressed with a dressing made from lime juice, olive oil, cumin and seasoning.

I really liked this salad. It was really easy to make, the cooking of the quinoa only took 15 minutes. A really refreshing break from eating soups during the hot weather we have been enjoying here.

Tomato Soup Take 2

I realize that this post may make it seem like I am not in possession of a heart. I want to make it clear that even though I am poking fun at someone, I mean it lightheartedly.

Currently I am referring to my apartment as the infirmary. My sister R, who lives with me, has contracted some sort of plague. She has seen three different doctors, who have all diagnosed her. Unfortunately they all have different opinions as to what plague she has. (Personally, if it was me I would be demanding to see Dr. Gregory House)

Right now she can only eat things that are easy on a sore throat, like ice cream and soup. Being the wonderful sister and nurse that I am, I told her I would make her soup on Monday night for supper. What I didn't check, before idiotically promising to make her soup, was the weather forecast.

It was 28 C in Edmonton yesterday, or around 85 F. My office was so hot that one could cook an egg on my desk. Realizing that my apartment would be a similar temperature, I called R in the afternoon and instructed her that if she wanted soup (WHY????), that she needed to turn on the air conditioner.

I got home, and the infirmary was moderately cool. It was comfortable enough that I could make the soup, but still warm enough that I would have preferred making the soup in my ginch.

Now R, where was she when I was slaving over a hot stove, in 28 degree weather? On the couch, buried under a mass pile of blankets. At one point I looked over, and she had a blanket wrapped around her face. She looked like a man who had gone to the barber for a shave and had the hot towel wrapped around his head.

My first instinct was to take a picture with my Blackberry and send it to my sister E. As much as I would love to post the real picture up here, I think R might be upset, and I'm not totally cruel. So I used my awesome skills in Paint to give you the idea of what the invalid looked like.

It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. Those of you who think I am an awful person, keep in mind at the time I was making HOT SOUP for the invalid as I was cooking myself. I really do feel bad for her that she feels so awful, and I don't think it's hilarious that she's sick, just the head wrapping was funny to me.

I made her tomato soup. I thought about making the tomato soup that I posted about back in February, then I decided to try a different one for the sake of my blog. The inspiration came from here, but I adapted it a bit, so I will write out my recipe below.

Rebekah's Tomato Soup, loosely based from Ezra Pound Cake (serves 4-5)

Ingredients

- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more for garnish, optional)

- one onion

- two cloves garlic

- one 28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes

- 1/2 tsp red chili flakes

- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf

- 1 cup of chicken stock

- 1.5 slices of white french bread

- 1.5 cups cooked macaroni (optional)

Note: I made this soup with the intention of pureeing it at the end. If you do not want to puree it, then use an onion that has been diced, and mince the garlic cloves. Use a potato masher or spoon to break up the whole tomatoes.

1) In a large pot heat the oil over medium high. Slice the onion into thin strips and add to the pot. Once the onions have softened (about two minutes), add two cloves of garlic that have been sliced. Saute for another minute.

2) Add the chili flakes, thyme, bay leaf, tomatoes, and chicken stock. It is important to use a good quality of canned tomato, since it is the main ingredient of the soup. If you can't find San Marzano, use canned tomatoes that have been imported from Italy.

3) Rip the bread into chunks and add it to the pot. My soup was looking really thick at this point so I added about a half cup of water.

4) Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about thirty minutes.

5) Remove the bay leaf, and puree the soup using a hand immersion blender. Or a regular blender if you don't have a hand immersion one.

6) Stir in the cooked macaroni, if using

7) Ladle into bowls, and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top, if using

After my trip to the farmer's market two weeks ago, I was left with a lot of fresh basil. I thought about making pesto, but I made a simple basil oil instead. I made it by adding about 1.5 cups of fresh basil, and 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil to a food processor. I pureed it, let it sit for an hour, then strained the oil into a bowl. This is will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Instead of using plain evoo for the tomato soup, I used a tbsp of my basil oil to saute the onion and garlic. I also used the basil oil for the drizzle garnish.

The effect was amazing. The soup had a really fresh hint of basil. If you make the soup and don't want to make the basil oil, you can add the basil flavor by adding some fresh basil just before serving.

I liked this soup better than the one I previously blogged about. The macaroni isn't necessary, but ever since I was a kid I have always had tomato soup with macaroni in it, so I add it.

I used french bread for the soup. The bread gives the soup a certain thickness and texture, that it isn't getting from a fatty cream addition. Since the soup only called for a slice and a half, I had almost a whole loaf left. I sliced the remainder and laid the slices on a baking sheet. I brushed each slice with a bit of the basil oil and grated Parmesan cheese on top. I put this under the broiler for a couple minutes until the bread was golden, and the cheese had melted. A very nice accompaniment for the soup.

Greek Salad and Pitza

One of the great things about the Farmer's Market is the samples. If there is something I love more than food, it is free food. I could have spent about an hour at the Happy Camel stand, doing some sampling. The Happy Camel is a Mediterranean pita bakery and deli in Edmonton. I had tried the greatest feta dip while I was there, but I figured that I would pick some up later at their store. This turned out to be a mistake, since the store didn't have any while I was there.

I did, however, get some hummus since they have one of the greatest ones I have tasted. I also picked up a package of their Sesame Za'atar (or flatbread), to make pita pizzas, or pitzas.

My original plan for the pitzas was to have the feta spread as the "sauce". Since I didn't get any I skipped having a sauce altogether, and just made them as follows:

Rebekah's Pitzas

(Serves 4)

1) Take two chicken breasts and dice them. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet, add the chicken, and cook until browned, about two minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and a tsp of dried oregano. Remove from heat.

2) I took four pitas and divided the chicken on top them. I topped each with a handful of sliced grape tomatoes, some feta that I had cubed, and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. I placed them in the oven at 350 F for roughly five minutes until the parm cheese had melted.

3) Once I removed them from the oven I sprinkled some slivered fresh basil on top.

They were very tasty, though I still would have preferred to have the feta spread on them as well.

To go with the pitzas I made a Greek salad. While some Greek salads contain olives, mine does not because I am not a big fan of olives.

Rebekah's Greek Salad

1) In a bowl combine:

half of an English cucumber, diced

half of a red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, also diced

about half a cup of feta that has been cubed (though feel free to add more, feta never hurt anybody

half of a pint of grape tomatoes. I sliced mine, but you can leave them whole or halved

the juice of 1 lemon

about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

about 1 tbsp of dried oregano

2) Stir together, and let sit in the fridge for a half hour before serving

To drink, I made a flavored club soda. In a glass I placed a sliced lime, a handful of fresh mint leaves, and some raspberries. I filled the glass with club soda. Really easy, and tastes really fresh.

Gnocchi Fail

This past weekend I had one of the greatest Saturdays I have had in a long time. The weather in Edmonton has been miserable lately. It's been grey, cloudy and rainy. Then on Friday, it all cleared up and it was bright, sunny and beautiful. I am using my awesome skills in Paint to really show you.

Wow, I am so talented.

I got a message late last week from my friend M, who was wondering if I would want to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I was ecstatic, I love the Farmer's Market! So Saturday we drove down to Whyte Ave to go to the market, and after that we enjoyed lunch on a patio. Did I mention it was 26 C outside? We spent all of the day on Saturday outside, and it was absolutely fabulous. Aside from the sunburn I acquired on my arm. Small price to pay though!

Yesterday I was trying to decide what to do with my goods I purchased from the Farmer's Market. I had the great idea to make gnocchi. When we had lunch, M ordered gnocchi and I tried it for the first time in my life, and wanted to have it again.

Since I was making the sauce to go on top, I thought I would be lazy and just buy packaged gnocchi. I have heard horrible things about gnocchi that is packaged to sit on a shelf, so I looked for frozen or fresh gnocchi and couldn't find any.

I made the decision to just make the gnocchi myself, rather than to buy the kind on the shelf. The ingredients for a basic gnocchi are flour, potatoes, and an egg. You cook the potatoes, allow them to cool, and push them through a food mill or potato ricer. Then you add flour and an egg. Problem, I was out of eggs. I googled egg less gnocchi, and found a recipe that included just flour and potatoes. I made the dough, and cut the gnocchi and went to boil them.

After pulling them out of the water, instead of ending up with a delicious little potato dumpling, I got a mass pile of wet potato and flour. It was so gross.

At this point the roasted tomato sauce was almost finished. I had taken 5 Roma tomatoes (from the market, they were so red and so fresh), and cut them in half. I also took a medium Spanish onion, and sliced it very thinly. In a shallow baking dish I lined the onions on the bottom and tossed them with extra virgin olive oil. I placed the tomato halves on top (insides facing up), and scattered garlic cloves around them. I left the garlic in the peel, could not be easier! I drizzled a bit more oil on top and seasoned with salt and pepper. This went into a 350 F oven, for roughly 45 minutes to an hour.

Upon removal from the oven, I allowed the dish to cool a bit, then I emptied the contents into my blender. (First squish the garlic cloves out of the peel, and discard the peels) I blended it until smooth, though if your prefer a chunky sauce, you can either mash it, or only blend it a little.

So I had a disgusting glob of wet mashed potatoes, and a sauce that smelled like Italian heaven. Luckily I keep a disgusting amount of dried pasta on hand and quickly put some in a pot to boil. Once the pasta was cooked, I poured the sauce on top and added some fresh basil. The basil from the Farmer's Market is a magical thing. A bag will cost roughly $4, and you get a bag full of fresh and beautiful basil. Not a tetra pack of brown basil that costs $2. 99 at the grocery store.

I topped the pasta with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

The sauce tasted so fresh. There is really nothing that compares to produce and herbs that are bought at a farmer's market.

I had also bought a bag of mint from the Farmer's Market, and I made a POM Mock-ito to go with supper. I sliced a lime and placed the slices in a glass. To that I added a handful of fresh mint, and about 3/4 cup of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice. I topped it off with club soda.

Mmm this was good!

Clam Chowder

I have been to Disneyland and Disneyworld several times. The first time was when I was fourteen, and since then I have been to each a handful of times. I remember one time being in Disneyland with my dad, sister E, Tante, and my cousin E. The four of us, excluding my dad, ended up talking in fake British accents for most of the trip. Until my dad got very frustrated and snapped at some point and told us all he had enough.

This was the same trip in which we did not load onto the Matterhorn properly. My sister and cousin are the two skinniest people I have ever met, and we put them in one seat. And my aunt and I ended up squishing into a seat together, and it was most uncomfortable. (But we made good timing jah?)

So you get an idea of what the bobsleds look like.

There was another time that I went with Tante, my cousin E, and my friend D. It was the time we had the best burger I have ever ate. I actually talk about this burger so much, that one of my sisters can tell the story word for word. We woke up at about 3 am to catch our flight. At that time there is nothing open in the airport, so our only chance to get food was on the plane and they only gave us a muffin. By the time we got into the hotel, and to the parks it was 1 pm, and since 3 am we had only ate a muffin. So the first place we went was the Taste Pilot's Grill. We all got a burger and waffle fries, and there was total silence at our table as the four of us demolished these burgers. (I would give my right arm for one of these right about now)

One of my favorite things to do in Disneyland is at the California Adventure park. They have a tortilla factory and a sourdough bread factory there. You take a tour in each factory, and at the end of both tours they hand out fresh samples. So delicious.

Also delicious, is the clam chowder at the Pacific Wharf Cafe. It is served in a sourdough bread bowl, and it is the greatest clam chowder I have ever ate.

I made clam chowder last night for dinner. Edmonton can't seem to get rid of the chilly, rainy weather we have been having, and it just seemed like a good afternoon for chowder. I made it loosely based on this Cooking Light's recipe.

The first problem with this recipe is it's supposed to serve 12 people. And there is only 2 slices of bacon in it! I made mine with the following:

-3 slices bacon

-1 medium onion, chopped

-2 stalks celery (practically minced, so there wasn't large chunks of it)

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1 tsp dried thyme

-1 bay leaf

-2 baking potatoes, peeled and diced

-1 bottle of clam juice

-2 cans of baby clams

-1/4 cup flour

-1.5 cups of skim milk

The recipe also called for crisping the bacon and removing it from the pot, to add to the bowls of soup upon serving. I minced the bacon into small pieces, and once crisped, I added the onion and celery to the pan, keeping the bacon in there for the entire cooking process.

Clam chowder is usually made with a lot of cream. The flour and skim milk mix thickened the soup extremely well. I didn't miss the cream, and the finished result was thick, not watery. I really liked it. I have made chowder before, using the cream and way more bacon than just 3 slices, and I found it plain and bland. This was really good.

Sandwiches

A couple weeks ago I mentioned how much I love Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce, when I made buffalo chicken wraps. I used the sauce the other night to make Buffalo Chicken Burgers. If you love buffalo wings in any way, you must buy this sauce, and make these burgers.

Rebekah's Buffalo Chicken Burgers:

1) Take a lb of ground chicken, an egg, and a 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs and mix together in a large bowl. You could also add a bit of diced onion, or some seasoning (I used about a tbsp of Clubhouse's Tex Mex seasoning) if you like.

2) Split the mixture evenly into four. Flatten into round patties.

3) Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high. Add the patties, cook for roughly four minutes on each side. Before removing them from the skillet, cut into the middle of the patty to make sure the chicken is cooked through. (The meat should be white, and the juices should be clear!)
If you notice the chicken is browning too much you can turn down the heat, or slide the skillet into the oven and finish it off by baking at 350 F. Make sure your skillet is oven proof, of course.

4) When the chicken is finished, add 1/2 cup of Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce to the skillet, and turn the patties over so they are completely coated in deliciousness.

5) Place the patty on the bun of your choice. I used whole wheat, and I had toasted it in the oven while the burgers were cooking.

The burgers can be topped with lettuce, or blue cheese, but I chose to just spread some ranch dressing on the bun. (I used Renee's Buttermilk Ranch, the half fat version). I served the burgers with carrot and celery sticks. Delicious and healthy!

A while back I made the following sloppy joe, and I got the recipe off of sparkrecipes. Sparkrecipes is a database of healthy recipes, and they have quite the amount. I had a craving for sloppy joes and when you search their website for sloppy joes the top recipe is Diet Coke Sloppy Joes. The main ingredients are ground beef, Diet Coke, reduced sugar ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, white vinegar and mustard powder. To make the ground beef is browned in a skillet, then the rest of the ingredients are added and cooked together for 30 minutes.

I used Coke Zero instead of Diet Coke, and regular ketchup instead of the reduced sugar variety. I will make these again, because they were quite good, but I would add some chopped onion to it. And maybe some garlic. Even though it was good, it was kind of plain.

I served the sloppy joe with a spinach salad. I just piled raw spinach leaves on the plate and topped it with Everyday Food's Shallot Vinaigrette. It is one of my all time favorite homemade salad dressings.

Stir Fries/Frys?

Today is Friday, and not only is it Friday, but it's also my friend K's birthday! If there's something I love more than Friday, it is birthdays. And if there's something I love more than birthdays, it's eye candy. Today I combined them:

Nice. Although it kind of looks like he went swimming in the Gulf that BP is ruining.

Recently I have made two similar dishes from Everyday Food. First up is Sweet and Sour Pork. The basic ingredients are pork tenderloin, canned pineapple, bell peppers, broccoli, green onions, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. I know some of you are like "WHAT? Rebek you hate broccoli!" It's true, I do. So instead of broccoli, I used sugar snap peas.

According to my sister roommate, she said that this sweet and sour sauce was better than some of the ones she tried in China. I can't confirm if this is true, but it was really good. (The picture of this dish is at the top of the post).

Next up, Stir-Fried Honey Ginger Chicken. The ingredients for this stir fry are chicken breasts, bell peppers, garlic, and ginger. The sauce is made with honey, soy sauce and rice vinegar. There is a lot of ginger in this stir fry, and I am not crazy about ginger. I like it in small doses, but I made the stir fry according to recipe, and it was delicious.

Both of these were really quick to put together. When making any stir fry, it's important to assemble the ingredients before starting the cooking process. Food doesn't take long to cook this way, and you don't want to be stuck chopping up an ingredient while another burns in the pan.

Overall, both of these were great, though that isn't a surprise because Everyday Food has yet to disappoint me.

Manicotti

I am still hitting the gym on a regular basis. Now, I am not one of those people who is all "the gym is soooo fun! I LOVE working out". The gym is not fun, it's grueling, tough and sometimes painful. It's because of that, that I drive not to the gym that is seven minutes from my house, but to the one that is thirty minutes away.

I know you are thinking, how does that make sense? You see the gym by my house is set up like this:

Meaning that if I am on a cardio machine, all the eye candy is BEHIND me. And if I'm going to suffer at the gym, I might as well have something to look at right? So I go to the gym set up like this:

This way if I am on a cardio machine, I can slyly look over and see all the eye candy using the weights. Both diagrams were made in Paint, using my awesome Paint skills.

Now the problem with the gym, is it's hard to look attractive. I was born with very fair skin, and after about five minutes on the treadmill my face goes from being the color of carefully applied foundation and blush to the color of a hothouse tomato in season. My favorite color for everything but skin. Then we have my hair. I can either pull it into a ponytail and secure my bangs back with a headband, or leave some of it down with my bangs pulled back. Problem. I hate my hair in a ponytail, I think it makes me look like a boy. If I leave some of it down, it looks good for all of ten minutes. After that, it starts to get sweaty and clings to my neck, making it look like I'm being choked by seaweed. This is not a good look for me, and I have resigned myself to the fact I will probably not be getting hit on at the gym.

As you can see, there is pasta in this post. I realize this three pasta entries in a row. I haven't been on a pasta binge, but it's just the way that the posts have worked out. I have a backlog of food to talk about, and today I feel like writing about the manicotti.

I served the manicotti with a spinach salad. Of all the salad greens in the world, I would have to say that spinach is my favorite.

Rebekah's Spinach Salad (serves 4)

1) in a dry skillet on medium heat, toast 1/3 cup of pine nuts. The pine nuts are toasted when they turn a golden color, and smell nutty.

2) Divide roughly 4 cups of spinach leaves into four bowls.

3) Thinly slice 2 shallots, and divide between the four bowls

4) Divide the pine nuts between the four bowls

5) In a bowl combine 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and 1 minced clove of garlic. Whisk until combined. Drizzle dressing over salad.

Mmm, I love balsamic vinegar!

Rebekah's Manicotti (Serves 4)

1) Put a large pot of water on to boil. Once it's boiled, add some salt, and 8 manicotti shells.

2) Meanwhile, make the filling. Combine an egg with a cup of ricotta cheese and roughly half a cup of grated mozzarella cheese. This is the basic filling. To the one I made in the picture I added some pepper, red chili flakes, and thin strips of spinach leaves. I have previously made manicotti with chopped sun dried tomatoes and canned artichokes (amazing), or you could add grated carrot, onion, and broccoli that has been cut into small pieces. Sky's the limit.

3) Take a jar of spaghetti sauce and place into a saucepan. Add some water to the jar, shake it up, and add it to the sauce. Heat the sauce until it just starts to boil, then remove from the heat.

4) When the manicotti has softened, but is not yet cooked to al dente, pull them out of the water. To make them cool enough to handle I run them under some cold water (which I realize rinses the starch off of them, and I would never recommend rinsing pasta, but for this sometimes you just have to deal with it)

5) Spoon the filling into a piping bag. Or if you don't have one, a plastic freezer bag. I do not recommend using a sandwich bag as they aren't sturdy enough. Cut a corner off the bag, and use it to pipe the filling into the noodles. Like this:

6) Take a cup of the sauce and pour it into a baking dish large enough to hold the manicotti. Shake the dish so the sauce covers the bottom. Layer the manicotti in a single row on top of the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the manicotti and top with another half cup of mozzarella cheese.

7) Place in an oven that has been preheated for 350 F for 30 minutes, covered. After 30 minutes remove the lid, and let bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven.