Tasty Tuesday - The Friday Edition. Bruschetta Chicken.

Ah Pinterest, that sweet, sweet time suck. I can't tell you how many recipes I've pinned and never tried. But now I can scratch one off that list. I found this recipe on Pinterest but I changed it to suit my tastes. And it tasted so good!! 

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 cloves of garlic

1 c of fresh basil (I didn't have fresh and the grocery store was out of fresh so I used 1/3 c of dried basil)

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 small red onion sliced

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

1/4 c of water. 

1/4 feta cheese

Now, let me walk you through how insanely easy this recipe is. Throw the olive oil, water, basil and garlic in a blender or food processor and blend that goodness up. 

Pour it over your chicken breasts that are snugly in the baking dish. Layer the top with the onion slices, feta and tomatoes. And it will look like this. 

Pop that bad boy into the oven at 350 for 45 minutes or so and it will come put looking like this. 

I served it with rice and spinach salad. 

And it was fantastic. Yummers. An add it to the rotation dish. 

So now, I should find my way over to Pinterest and pick my new recipe for tomorrow. If I'm not back in an hour it's because I've created a new Christmas ornament DIY board and am pinning like a madwoman. 

On Again, Off Again

Don't you hate it when people are so on again off, off again. Kind of like I've been with this blog?

Yeah, me too.

Today is an on day so here I am. Actually I have been blogging, quite busily in fact. Remember I deleted my kindergarten blog. I didn't like the direction it took. I wasn't in it to hock my wares as it were. I was in it to share the learning that happens in a full day kindergarten class.

Well, about that same time my teaching partner mentioned that he wanted to start a class blog and while he loved the idea he was a little short on know how.

Enter ME!  I am far from short on know how so I made that project my new baby and I'm quite proud of it. Feel free to go and check it out.


I've also been doing a lot of professional development. I'm eager to bring the "new" way of delivering the Kindergarten program to my class and while it's not necessarily new to me, bringing it into the public school system is new for us all. My sister in law (also an Early Childhood Educator) and I have been going to conferences and workshops on weekends. We work for different school boards so this gives us a chance to connect with others professionally - and it's also a day out! Best of both worlds.

I also mentioned I was going to bring Tasty Tuesdays back to my blog and I'm gonna, but in a different context. We're in a food rut in my family so I'm going to make use of my Pinterest recipe board and I'm going to cook one new thing each week - either Saturday or Sunday.

Today is my new recipe day so stay tuned to hear all about it.

Tasty Tuesday's Return - Tomato and Pepper Chicken

You read that right. Contain your excitement. I know, it's hard but I'm bringing Tasty Tuesdays back. You wanna know why? Because I love food. (Hence the reason for the second half of my post yesterday....)

Also because I have that super awesome app, SnapRecipes and I screwed something up and managed to delete every single recipe I had stored in there. On my iPad and my iPhone. Yup. literally hundreds. Gone. And the joke is on me because in my I-hate-clutter-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore purge-fest I threw out all the paper copies.

I know.

So the other day I wanted to make my Zesty Lime Chicken but I didn't have the recipe. And then a stroke of genius hit me and I checked right here on my little ol' blog and sure enough....there it was.

Back-up. Suhweet!

Anyhow, enough babbling....
Today's mouth watering recipe....Tomato and Pepper Chicken

I love chicken breast but I'm also lazy so I buy boneless skinless chicken breast. It's faster and healthier but it can also be bland as hell and dry.

But not this way.

Tomato and Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

5 chicken breasts (yes 5, I have a family of 5 so all my recipes are for 5. You can adjust to suit you)
1 large can stewed tomatoes (I like getting the Alymer ones because they make them in different 'flavours' like chili or Italian style)
2 bell peppers
4 stalks of celery
1 cup of white wine

Slice your peppers and celery (I like to do mine in big chunks.)

Put the chicken breast in a baking dish, and cover with all the other ingredients. Bake at 350 until cooked thoroughly.

I usually serve this on a bed of brown rice. And I usually don't make a veggie to go with it because it's chalk full of veggies anyway. The chicken will be so tender and moist and flavourful.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

And don't forget - cooked tomatoes contain  lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that lowers your risk of heart disease and certain cancers. Delicious and healthy!

Enjoy!!

I Know It's Not Tuesday but......Tasty Tueday- Friday edition!

By Tuesday my final (YA BABY - I said FINAL!!!) chemo side effects will be in full force and I'll be in no mood for blogging much less posting recipes but I can't let this one go by - I might forget.

One of the fun things (because you have to find fun in any situation or you loose your perspective) about chemo day is the magazines and the quiet reading time. Once you've spoken with the Dr, got your IV's in place and had the juice and cookies delivered by the (outstanding) volunteers you have lots of time to just sit and read. Sean comes with me for chemo but we barely talk, we both just stick our noses in our books.

But for those who forget books, they have nicely stocked bookshelf (we've borrowed and contributed to this collection) as well as a wide array of magazines.

I love going through magazines for recipes. Often times I'll only find one, or maybe two because most of them are out of my skill level in cooking or are things that a majority of my family won't eat and can't be adapted for them to eat - in which case I become a short order cook making more than one meal for supper and I'm just not into that.

So at chemo yesterday I went through the Canadian Living magazine to see if there was anything that appealed to me. I hit the jackpot. Unfortunately I didn't have time to write the recipes all out and though I hate doing it, I actually ripped some pages out of the magazine. (I hate doing that because so often I've been reading a magazine and found a recipe I want in the recipe index only to find that someone has ripped it out - just like I did.)

I'm sorry world. But I had to have these recipes.

What I wanted to share with you today was actually a few recipes - all for the same thing. Berry Vinaigrette Dressing. I love Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing but it's not going to fit in with my new healthy lifestyle since the second ingredient in my store bought brand is sugar. This means lots of sugar. And some of the other ingredients that I can't even pronounce, much less tell you what they are.

But this....not only can I say all the ingredients, but I can buy them, add them and and best of all, they are healthy. Be forewarned though - there is some real prep in this - the balsamic vinegar must sit for a week before making the dressing. But it will be well worth it, I'm sure!

So here you are - courtesy of Canadian Living Magazine (July 2012)

Basic Berry Vinaigrette.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
2 tbsp berry (strawberry, blueberry or raspberry) balsamic vinegar (recipes to follow)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small shallot, minced
pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar.
combine all ingredients and whisk.

Now, the recipe says to store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. I can't see why you wouldn't be able to store it in the fridge for longer but who knows. Either way, it's a simple mix so making it the night before for your lunch or supper the next day is not really a big deal. Once the berry vinegar is made (and can be stored longer) you're good to go.

Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup halved strawberries
1 tsp peppercorns
5 fresh basil leaves
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with strawberries, mashing slightly. Add peppercorns, basil leaves and salt,  bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard basil leaves.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

 

 

 

Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup blueberries
1 strip of lemon rind
2 sprigs of thyme
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with blueberries, mashing slightly. With the back of a knife scrape off any white pith from the rind and add to pan along with thyme and salt, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard thyme and lemon rind.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup raspberries
1 strip of orange rind
5 large mint leaves
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with raspberries, mashing slightly. With the back of a knife scrape off any white pith from the rind and add to pan along with mint and salt, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard mint and orange rind.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

So there is a little pre-prep required for the dressing - since the balsamic will take a week to be ready but once you've got that done...if you're a regular salad eater it's going to come in really handy.

I'm going to make some today - not sure which flavour, I'm hoping for strawberry but they're harder to find this time of year here so we'll see.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Timesuck

Now that I've discovered Pinterest I've learned the real meaning of the word Timesuck.

Facebook - sure, it takes a bit of time but if you're like me and avoid the games and apps then really all your doing reading some status updates, posting your own and moving on.

The Pumpkin Patch - well this is only applicable to me and the other PP Moms - but no, it's not really a time suck because there are only about 25 or so of us who are there regularly and since we're all FB friends too, really, it's only the private stuff that goes in the PP.

I don't really surf the internet that much. I read the news, I work on my blog (yeah, my kindergarten blog is in a holding pattern while I organize my basement - can't get to my resources) read a few other blogs, check my email and that's it.

Then I discovered Pinterest. Holy crap, what a timesuck. I just keep finding more and more ideas for just about everything....recipes, crafts, party ideas, things for school, things for home....and I'm becoming a junky.

But the thing is, I'm so freakin' bored that I'm actually putting what I'm finding on Pinterest into action.

For example there is this

Yes,  Ziploc bag of food. You see, I found, on Pinterest a blog in which the writer gives recipes for 'freezer to crockpot' meals.  The long and short of it is you put everything for the meal into the freezer bag and then when you want to eat it, you pop it into the crockpot and 6 hours later Bob's your Uncle.
So since today I was making beef and barley soup in the crockpot I decided to double everything (veggie-wise) and put together the fixin's for chicken vegetable soup. It's got carrot, celery, mushroom, onion, peas, corn, zucchini, green beans, lima beans and turnip (rutabaga to anyone who doesn't come from Newfoundland) It's also got diced up chicken breast and the chicken stock cubes so all I have to do is throw it in the crockpot, add water and I'm done.
Inspired by my awesomeness I decided I would continue the preplanning for the week and make a lasagna. And since I went grocery shopping today and my meet had not yet been frozen I decided to make a meatloaf too. So now, with the addition of the leftover beef and barley soup from this evening my freezer is full of meals ready to go. Yay me!

Then there's this

Another thing I found on Pinterest. Someone had posted a way of making your own canvas pictures. I love convas pictures but they are so expensive. So cheapo me decided to give this a  try. Emily's turned out great but Mary and Connor's -  not so much. They had wrinkles. I think my problem was that I used a light, matte finish everyday photo paper rather than a heavier glossy paper. But the long and short of it is that you get a canvas, any size you want (this one is  5x7 that I got at the dollar store.) Take some modge podge and paint the canvas with it. Lay the photo on top and make sure there are no air bubbles or wrinkles. The paint the top and edges of the photo with more modge podge. Make sure you're painting all in one direction The podgy will dry clear but it will still look nicer if all the 'lines' are going to same way. Once it's dry, voila, you have a photo canvas.

I am going to try these again, with thicker photo paper.

And then there's this.

I've always loved silhouettes and when I saw ones like these on Pinterest I said "hot damn, I'm gonna do that!!" So I did. I'm actually quite happy with these. They came out great. Again, done on canvas and I just painted the 'background' and left their silhouettes white. Emily is not impressed and requested they not be hung in a public part of the house so no one can see them. We compromised and I'm hanging them in the playroom since hardly anyone uses that room.

I still have two more things I'm going to try. One is a set of coasters made from ceramic tiles. and the other thing....well I'm not going to tell right now because if it works out then I think they'd make really nice gifts and I don't want to ruin it because some of the people I'd give it to as a gift read the blog....

It might be a timesuck but I'm not complaining. At least I'm not bored now.

Tasty Tuesday - Baked Beans

**I can't take credit for this recipe. I got it from the March 2011 issue of Chatelaine.  All my other recipes are also borrowed but have been adapted by me in some way to make it my own. This one however, was not and well, I don't want to get nailed for stealing a recipe**  As a side note, if you don't already have one, I would highly recommend a subscription to this fine magazine. There is not an issue that goes by that doesn't have at least one amazing recipe in it and it's not all 'magazine recipes' that real people and real families wouldn't eat. And if you can get through the 80 million ads there are some good articles too.

But I'm getting off track.

If you're like me, baked beans are a comfort food. I love that musical fruit. And the thing about baked beans is that it works as a stand alone meal or a side.  However, if you're further like me you like to avoid canned foods. The sodium content in a can of baked beans is through the roof. And one can of baked beans will do one, maybe two people in our house. So in a family of 5, that's a lot of cans of beans. Not so economical.

Beans can be tough to make though, you need patience when cooking with dry beans because otherwise you'll end up cracking a tooth. This particular recipe is for the slow cooker - so it takes the pressure off of the wait.  Throw it in the pot in the early morning and when you get home from work, you're set.

I usually double this recipe because they freeze really, really well.

Baked Beans

1 onion, chopped
4 slices of bacon (I like to use back bacon, it's thicker and tastier)
1/2 cup of fancy molasses
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp hot chili flakes
2 cups of dry navy beans, rinsed
1 bottle of beer (the recipe calls for de-alcoholized beer but the alcohol will cook off so don't worry about it)
3 cups of water

Now here's the hard part. Put it all into the crock pot, turn it low and cook for 10 hours. (I do mine on high for 6 hours and they cook nicely too)

You do not need to pre soak your beans for this recipe. There is so much water and beer that they cook really nicely and what liquid doesn't get absorbed by the beans reduces nicely.

Talk about your simple recipes.

Enjoy!!

Tasty Tuesday - Whole Wheat Molasses Ginger Cookies

With the holidays coming up nothing makes me happier than the Ginger Molasses cookies they sell at Tim Horton's. But really, who can afford to buy 6 cookies AND a double double everyday? Okay who really NEEDS 6 ginger molasses cookies everyday? Me, that's who. And just because Timmie's is a stones throw from my house doesn't mean I can go there everyday, after all, I'm not working.

So, I'm forced to make my own and, well, to be perfectly honest, these are a hell of a lot better than Timmie's cookie and I can have them whenever I want because when they run out, I can make more. And though they are packed full of sugar I use whole wheat flour so I feel less guilty - hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.

Here is the recipe.  When I made them I actually doubled the ingredients because I like to make my cookies huge.

Ingredients


1 cup molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt

Sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


1.Mix molasses, egg, and brown sugar.
2.In a separate bowl, sift together the remainder of the ingredients.
3.Add the dry ingredients gradually to the wet ingredients and stir to combine completely.
4.Drop cookies onto baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.

Now, this is what they looked like on the cookie sheet.

I know what you're thinking and I though the same thing too. It looks like something you would have cleaned out of your babies diaper. I can tell you, in real life it looks like that too but if you can get past the uncooked appearance it will be well worth it. And it smells heavenly, even in this state so that helps. (However, between Sean and I these have been dubbed the shit cookies.)

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes. Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, sprinkle the tops with a bit of sugar. Cool for 5 minutes.


Makes about 25 cookies.

As I said before I make my cookies really big. They are about 4" in diameter. I do that so that I'll only eat one. And I can get away with only sending one with the kids to school.

 These freeze really well too, so I keep 12 out and freeze the other 12 for later. 

All you need with these is a nice hot cup of coffee (if you can't get to a Timmie's you can always brew your own) and enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday - Zesty Lime Chicken

We all enjoyed Shameless Plug Sunday and the irony that the 'plug' was for a plug was not lost on me.  I'm just silly that way.

Tuesdays are the worst day of the week if you ask me. On Monday you're rested from the weekend and ready to tackle the week. Wednesdays are hump day so you start looking forward to the weekend. Thursdays are practically weekend and Friday may as well be there weekend. Saturday and Sunday speak for themselves but Tuesday....what can it offer you. Nothin'!

Well all that changes today. It's Tasty Tuesday. Each Tuesday I'm going to share a recipe with you. Something I've actually eaten, not just something I've googled...that way I know it's good. And if I have the presence of mind, I'll even take a picture of the finished product (despite the fact taking pictures of food goes against everything I stand for....I can't make the exception here)

This week however, you're SOL for the picture. Next time I make this recipe I'll take a picture and come back and post it.

So the  recipe this week is for my take on Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken.

Zesty Lime Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Dressing:

1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise

1/2 cup low-fat sour cream

1 lime, juiced

1 tsp. minced onion

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

1/4 tsp. dried dill weed

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. salt

dash black pepper

dash garlic powder

In a 9 x 13 baking dish cook the chicken breast as normal.

Meanwhile, cook 1 cup of brown rice as directed. I like to mix in 1/4 cup of Sundried Tomato Dressing to the water to flavour the rice.

Once chicken is cooked cover with dressing and 1/2 cup of grated low fat marble cheese. Put back into the oven at 350 for approximately 10 minutes to warm dressing and melt cheese.

Serve zesty lime chicken over rice with tortilla chips on the side, and a large helping of Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo

3 roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 small spanish onion diced

1 lime, juiced

1 tsp. of cilantro.

combine and let sit for for an hour refrigerated so the flavours can blend.

Enjoy! If you give the recipe a try, post a comment and let me know what you think of it.