Anything and Everything Cookies

If you're anything like me, you have a freezer or pantry full of random bags of baking supplies, from little bits of chocolate chips, to coconut, and a variety of chopped nuts.

I did a lot of baking at Christmas, and have had a bunch of odds and ends in the freezer that I've been wanting to get rid of, so I threw them all together the other day and made some delicious cookies.

There were mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, regular semi-sweet chocolate chips, mini white chocolate chips, Reese's PB chips, shredded coconut, and walnut pieces.

Anything and Everything Cookies

1 cup salted butter
3/4 cup packed golden brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup nuts, chopped
2.5 cups assorted chocolate chips/ coconut/ etc.

Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.  In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat.  Stir in nuts and assorted chocolate chips.  Drop onto a parchment lined pan.  Bake for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 375 F (second rack up from bottom).

Quick and easy cookies ... and now our freezer isn't so cluttered.

Do you have a freezer or pantry full of odds and ends?

Sunday Stuff

1)  Our third anniversary gift to ourselves arrived!

The traditional gift for 3rd wedding anniversaries is leather, so we got leather passport covers.

We took off on our first flight together (to Vegas) in July of 2012, and haven't stopped travelling together since. 

2)  We'll be putting these passport covers to use later this month.  The major snow storm that blew in this past week just made us eager to go on a hot holiday.  It warmed up a bit this weekend, so at least the snow should be melting soon.

3)  Last week we made a bunch of buttermilk waffles to freeze, but also had some for dinner one evening.

4)  We tried a new soup recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but unfortunately weren't overly fond of it.  It sounded promising with sausage, spinach, and sweet potato, but just lacked flavour.  We normally love everything from this blog, so this was a rare miss.

5)  Speaking of Smitten Kitchen, we made her garlic butter roasted mushrooms yesterday as a snack/ lunch, and they were really good.  Of course we were multi-tasking and forgot the final steps of adding lemon juice and parsley when they came out of the oven - darn!  Oh well, they were great anyway. 

6)  When I say we were multi-tasking, that is because we were in the process of making about six-dozen perogies.

Some were our borscht-meets-perogy invention, and others were more traditional, with cheddar, bacon, and onion (ooooh, and sauerkraut too).

7)  On Friday night we got dressed up and went out to a tasting event.

We had such a fun time!

8)  Last night we had a late dinner of salmon, couscous, and salad.

Tonight we're trying a couple new recipes, including artichoke olive crostini, and Korean-braised short ribs.

9)  For the past while we've had a folding-leg table by our kitchen window, just for an extra place to set things when hosting dinner guests, etc.  We never intended for it to be a permanent fixture, and were just waiting until we found the perfect bar cart to take it's place.  When flipping through a magazine one day, we found exactly what we wanted, and then ordered it from Birch Lane.

We love how the glass casts a pretty shadow on the wall.

10)  Well, I have to run - Christopher has these in the oven, and they are almost ready:

Breakfast time!

How has your weekend been?  

What are you making for dinner this evening?

Easy Chicken Dinner

I came across an easy chicken recipe the other day that I had to try.  It has artichoke hearts in it, and I love artichokes, but rarely eat them, so this was a good opportunity to pick some up.

Basically you just spray a baking dish, and put chicken breasts in it (seasoned with salt and pepper):

Then you top that with a cheesy, artichoke mixture:

Spread it around:

Top with shredded mozza:

And bake until done:

We broiled the top a bit for good measure, and served it with peas and rice.

If this sounds like something you might like, you can find the recipe here.

The leftovers made a comforting lunch today, which I totally needed.  March decided to take a harsh turn, and we've been dealing with a couple days of a major snow storm.  The snow is piled high, and is still coming down.  I'm thinking the drive to work tomorrow will be an adventure.

But for now, we'll sink into the couch, get real cozy, and start up that Bachelor finale!  (The most dramatic Bachelor finale evvver, haha.)

 

Do you like artichokes?  Do you have any go-to, easy chicken dishes that you like to make?  Are you dealing with a blizzard too?

In Like a Lamb

March has always been a great month for us, and I love the new feelings that it brings, with hopes of warmer weather, and the anticipation of spring growth that is just around the corner.

Today I started looking back to see what we were up to in March of previous years ...

In 2013 we were in Mexico for our friends' wedding, and then took off to New Orleans for the first time, about a week later.  A fun memory from March of 2014 was a snacky evening we had.  The next year Christopher's parents were treating the family to a lovely dinner to celebrate our marriage.  The next March brought a trip back to NOLA, where we had one of the most interesting tasting menus we've ever had.  Last year we were cooking up food with a theme; we had an Irish weekend, as well as an Indian-themed weekend.

I am excited to see what this March has in store for us; it's already looking like it will shape up to be fun-filled and fantastic.  I just heard on the radio this morning that this February was the coldest we've had in 18 years.  Fortunately today was beautiful, and March officially came in like a lamb.

Speaking of lamb ...

Last night we made lamb meatballs, with an eggplant mash.

This meal was so good, and I was happy that there were leftovers for lunch today.  It's one we'll be repeating for sure!  You can find the recipe here.

We couldn't find a pomegranate in the store, so we had to omit that garnish, as well as the pine nuts, as I am allergic to them.  Although this dish isn't too visually appealing, the taste made up for that.

If you are unsure about lamb, or haven't cooked it before, I'd suggest starting with ground lamb.  These meatballs have an excellent flavour, and are really easy.  They call for a bunch of herbs, and if you're going to make them, I'd definitely use mint as one of the herbs.  We also used cilantro and basil (all fresh).  Everything paired together beautifully.

Another Food Network recipe we tried this week was shrimp pad Thai:

We've made pad Thai before, and it has been more labour intensive than this recipe is, yet this recipe was really good - another that we will make again #score!  It was perfect for a week night, because it took no time at all.

How is your week going?  What are you looking forward to this month?  Did March come in like a lion or lamb where you live? 

Easy Beef Pho and Other Eats

Last week we ate a lot of turkey.  When that ran out, we made Thai chicken curry, served over rice.

We had so many leftovers after our dinner on Friday, so those made up the bulk of our meals over the weekend.  Breakfast on Sunday morning was really simple - fruit and cheese.

Later that day Christopher's parents had the whole family over, as a relative was visiting from England.  It was Freya's first time in Canada, and it was so nice to meet her.  There was a delicious spread of food to enjoy, and we had fun getting to know the niece that Christopher hadn't seen since he was in high school, when she was just a baby. 

To start out work week off we made a really easy beef pho.  It was so easy actually, that we were surprised by how good it was, although Donna Hay knows good food, and the recipe came from one of her cookbooks.

I adapted the recipe a bit.  It called for beef stock, but I used a combination of beef broth and pho broth, since I saw it in the store, and I figured a little extra flavour couldn't hurt.  The recipe also called for only 1.5 litres, but I just used both cartons so I wouldn't have any leftover broth.  Also, I didn't freeze the beef for two hours before slicing it as recommended.  The meat was thawed, and then I cut it very, very thinly, so that it would cook as the hot broth was ladled over top of it.  I also tossed in a couple extra star anise, because it seemed like the smart thing to do.

Easy Beef Pho

Recipe adapted from: Donna Hay Life in Balance Cookbook

1 x 6 cm piece ginger, peeled and halved
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 shallot, peeled and halved
1.5 litres beef stock (I used two 900 ml cartons, beef broth & pho broth)
2 star anise (I used three, but I also upped the liquid)
1 cinnamon stick
1 T fish sauce
1 T palm (coconut) sugar
200 g thin rice noodles, cook according to package, drain
1/2 small white onion, very thinly sliced
250 g beef, very thinly sliced (I used two steaks)
1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed
2 long red chilies, sliced
handful of Thai basil leaves
handful of mint leaves
pepper
sriracha (optional topping)

Put the ginger, garlic, and shallot into a non-stick pan, over high heat, and cook, turning until charred.  Transfer to a pot, and add the stock, star anise, and cinnamon stick.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the fish sauce and palm sugar and stir.  Strain stock into another pot to remove the solids, then keep the stock hot on the stove.

Place cooked noodles into bowls.  Top with the thinly sliced, raw beef, and the thinly sliced onion.  Ladle the hot stock over the top of the meat.

Eat with a generous amount of sprouts, chili, mint and basil.  Enjoy!

(*Ensure your liquid is hot enough to cook the meat to your liking; alternatively, you could use cooked meat.  Keep in mind that consuming raw or undercooked meats may increase your risk of food-borne illness.)

Have you ever had pho?  Made it?  Do you like it?

Dinner with Friends

Last night we had our friends Jeff and Alaina over for dinner.  They came out to Christopher's show on Sunday, but before that it had been too long since we had gotten together with them.  We made a meal we've had numerous times before, which is always a good idea when having guests.

We started with some oysters and a few cheeses:

Clam chowder soup was next:

Then the main course:

And chocolate pavlova for dessert:

There are a LOT of leftovers, so the other meals we planned on making this weekend are being pushed back, and we'll be eating up these dishes for the next couple days.

Christopher made Southern eggs benedict this morning with some of the leftover cornbread as a base.  He whipped up a Cajun spiced hollandaise with the yolks that were left from making the pavlova, and poured it over the soft poached eggs.

It's a bit of a blustery day today, so we've been enjoying cozy time on the couch, and might throw on a movie or two this evening. 

What are you up to this weekend?