Laundry - ish

Under the Broiler

These are quick and easy little items that can be served up for one or for many.

Hint
Oven: Place some tinfoil on the lower rack in the oven to catch drips and crumbs
Toaster Oven: Place tinfoil on the slide out bottom tray where it can’t touch the element.

How to:
In a conventional oven move one of the racks to the topmost position. Turn the oven setting to broil. Turn the temperate setting to broil or hottest temperature. During the broiling process the oven door should remain open slightly. Most ovens have a door position that allows for this.

Basic Recipe:
Toast one side of a slice of bread under the broiler.
Slice up your favorite cheese.
Turn the bread over and lay cheese on top. Stay inside the lines to keep the cheese from dripping.
Place bread cheese slice up on the rack.
Broil until cheese starts to melt. It will run off the side if you leave it too long.

Variations:
Bread: Try different kinds of bread or buns
Cheese: Try different combinations of cheese. Cheese tastes very different when it is melted. Yum!
Meats: Try adding some cooked bacon or ham. Pepperoni might be nice.

Bruschette:
Cut up a tomato into small chunks. Be sure to remove the seeds.
Crush a small ½ clove of garlic.
Cut up a little green onion.
Mix these ingredients with a little olive oil.
Tear up a fresh basil leaf or sprinkle a little dry basil and mix in.
Toast the bottom of the bread you are using: French stick.
Turn bread over and cover with the mixture.
Return to the broiler and heat until bread starts to turn brown.
Remove and serve.

Tuna Melt
Mix a can of drained tuna with a little mayonnaise, diced celery, salt and pepper.
Toast one side of bread under broiler.
Spread tuna mixture on other side.
Place a thin slice of tomato on top and some shredded cheese.
Return to the broiler and heat until bread starts to turn brown
Remove and Serve.

Slow Cook with Ease

My favorite tool in the kitchen is the slowcooker. Basically it's a ceramic pot inside a heating element. The food cooks on medium to high heat all day long. The results are delicious. The work is minimal. I'll add more recipes in another posting on another day.

Roast Beef

Buy a relatively cheap cut that has little fat and fits well into the pot.
Early in the morning wash the meat and place in the pot. Add some onions, 1 can of condensed tomatoe soup and sprinkle with seasonings.
Make sure pot is not near any surfaces that might melt or be affected by the heat.
Cover and turn on. Cook all day.
The meat practically melts on the plate and is great served with boiled potatoes that soak up the devine grave when mashed together.
Don't forget the vegetables.


Chicken

Buy a chicken that will fit into the crockpot. 2 -3 Oranges(or any other citrus you like), 1-2 onions
Early in the morning wash the chicken and oranges. Cut up the oranges and onions. Place inside the cavity. Any that won't fit can go in the bottom of the pot.
Put the chicken into the pot breast side down. Cover and let cook all day.
1/2 hour before it is time to serve the chicken remove it from the pot. Chicken is so soft it will easily spread open (butterfly) onto a large baking sheet. Place chicken on the sheet skin side up. Brown this under the broiler for 15 - 20 minutes. Baste with a sauce if you want.
Serve when browned.


Cottage Roll

Buy a cottage roll that will fit into the crockpot.
Early in the morning wash the cottage roll. Place into the crockpot. Cover and let cook all day.
Remove from pot. This will fall apart when you remove the mesh surrounding it.
Best served with rice. (Basmati is our favorite)


Options:
To cook potatoes and carrots in the same pot: Approximately 1 hour before you want to eat wash and prepare potatoes and carrots. Place in microwave oven and cook for 3 -4 minutes (longer for more of them). Add this hot food to the pot. They will cook beautifully without turning to mush.

Jeweled Couscous

A side dish that is as tantilizing for the eye as it is for the palate.

Cook couscous according to pkg directions. Typically this is to boil water, pour in couscous, cover, remove from heat, wait 5 minutes, add butter, fluff with fork.

Dice finely a variety of colourful extras like:
1 carrot
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
1/2 sweet potato
2 - 3 florets of broccoli

Other addable items:
1/2 cup peas (frozen or not)
1/2 cup corn (frozen or not)
1/2 cup chickpeas (from a can)
1/2 cup black beans (from a can)
1 scrambled egg

Pick a variety of intersting colours and tasty flavours. When you have diced or measured out the items you want to include you can begin stir frying them.

Warm some olive oil in a large fry pan or dutch oven. Add the hardest, raw vegetables first. This would be the carrots, sweet potato etc. After a couple minutes add the next hardest items. The frozen vegetables last.

When the vegetables are cooked add the cooked couscous over top. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth put on the lid and allow the water to steam off. Serve.

Variation:
Add leftover cooked meat to create a complet one dish meal. This works well with canned salmon or tuna as well.

Condiment Disposal

This is an excellent link that informs us about the need to dispose of old condiments.

http://www.backtable.org/~blade/fnord/condiments.html

Whole Wheat Pancakes - Mom Style

Fluffy pancakes cooked to golden crispness on the outside.

Mix in a large bowl.

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt

in separate smaller bowl mix
1 egg
3/4 - 1 cup milk
2 tblsp oil (we prefer olive oil)

After wet ingredients are mixed, pour them into the dry ingredients and mix.

To cook

1. Heat skillet with some oil in bottom.
2. Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot skillet. When bubbles begin to break the surface of the pancake flip it.
3. Cook a few minutes more on other side.
4. Add more oil as needed to pan to keep pancakes from sticking.
5. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Variation:
We love to cook up a whole batch of small pancakes. Sprinkle with a little icing sugar and eat like finger food treats. They are crisp and delicious.

Scrambled Eggs - Mom Style

Simple but time consuming. They taste fantastic though.

Milk (only a tablespoon or two)

Multiply these quantities for each person
1/4 cup grated old cheddar cheese
2 eggs
Parsley
Salt & Pepper

1. In a heavy bottomed skillet pour a little, tiny bit of milk and add the cheese. Warm these to start the cheese melting. Takes only a few seconds. Too much milk turns watery.
2. Break the eggs into this warmed pot. Using a fork (spoons are forbidden) break up the yolk and start to gently scramble the egg. Keep heat on medium. Keep stirring using the fork. As the bottom thickens keep stirring it up.
3. Sprinkle on the parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until desired moisture content is reached. I like mine on the side of dryer than most do. The eggs become wonderfully cooked with a light texture that sits up proudly on toast. Their colour is a beautiful yellow and they taste great because of the cheese.

Meatloaf Magic

Meatloaf can be so much more than bland. It is one of those dishes, like soup, that can be made a hundred different ways with a hundred different ingredients. Start with the meat.

1 - 2 lbs lean ground beef
You can try mixing other ground meats with the ground beef.

Basic: 1 egg
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tomato diced

Beautiful:
1/2 cup pesto sauce
diced tomato

Bold:
1/2 cup seasoned diced tomatoes
1 clove crushed garlic
oregano
basil
1 egg

1. Roll up your sleeves, wash your hands and plunge them in. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
2. Drop the meat 'batter' into a loaf pan or two depending upon what you have available.Cook in 350 F oven for 45 min to 1 hour. The meat must be cooked brown. You might want to drain of the fat part way through cooking. Drain fat off when cooked.
3. Remove from pan slice thin for gourmet presentation or thick for a comfort food meal.

Leftovers:

1. In a non-stick skillet with 1 tsp of olive oil layer some thinly sliced onion and crushed garlic, frozen peas (other favorite frozen veg) or washed asparagus, thin slices of leftover meatloaf. Pour small amount of water into bottom of pan. Place on medium heat and cover. The liquid will steam up through the food, cooking the vegetables and heating the meatloaf on top. Takes about 15 - 20 minutes. All the liquid should be cooked off.
3. Sliced thin, layered on crusty buns with tomato and cheese and toasted under the grill. Season as desired.