300 Posts!

Thank you to everyone and anyone who has ever taken a peek at my humble little blog. I now have over 300 individual recipes listed here and there have been almost 90000 page views since I started way back in March 2013.

This was only every supposed to be a recipe collection for myself, but I am so happy to be able to share my recipes, tips and tricks with everyone out there.

I hope I can continue to keep this blog going for many more years to come! More new foods, more gluten free, more allergy sensitive recipes are definity in my future.

Mediterranean Salad- Meal Prep

Mediterranean Salad

Prep for about 4 servings
Ingredients:

• 1 Lemon
• 1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
• 1/4 Cup Chopped mixed Olives
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Cilantro
• 1 Cup Pearl Couscous
• 2 Cups Veg or Chicken Stock
• 2 Cups Shredded Lettuce or Spinach
• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil, plus extra
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 can Chickpeas, drained
• 1 Tablespoon Paprika
• 4 Small Naan Breads
• 2 Zucchini
• 250g Halloumi Cheese

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl add the chopped olives, 1/4 cup of the chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup olive oil.
2. Zest and juice the lemon, and add both to the medium bowl.
3. Grate 1/2 of one of the zucchini, add the grated zucchini to the medium sized bowl.
4. Stir everything together, season with salt and pepper, stir again and set aside for now, this is our dressing for the salad.
5. Slice the remaining zucchini into thin rounds. Grill zucchini rounds on a grill pan or BBQ, about 3 minutes a side until lightly charred. Season with salt and pepper, and once done set aside.
6. On a baking sheet, toss the drained chickpeas with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and the paprika. Roast in an oven set to 450°F for about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. once cooked, set aside.
7. Toss cherry tomatoes on a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil for about 5 minutes in oven, until skins are just starting to pop. remove from oven and set aside.
8. Slice the halloumi into bite sized cubes, and grill in a nonstick frying pan, without any oil for about 2 minutes a side over medium heat, until all sides are golden brown on all sides. Set aside.
9. In a small sauce pan, heat a splash of olive oil over medium heat, add the couscous and toast for about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer covered for about 10 minutes. Set aside once cooked.
10. To prepare our to go lunches, get 4 covered togo containers ready.
11. Divide the dressing between the four togo dishes.
12. Divide the cherry tomatoes between the four togo containers.
13. Fluff the prepared couscous with a fork, and divide between the 4 togo containers.
14. Arrange the zucchini over the layer of couscous so it kind of acts like a ceiling, keeping our "wet" salad ingredients apart from our "dry" salad ingredients.
15. Divide the Halloumi between the 4 togo containers.
16. Divide the roasted chickpeas between the four togo containers.
17. Divide the remaining cilantro between the 4 togo containers.
18. Divide the shredded lettuce or spinach between the four togo containers.
19. To enjoy, take one of the togo containers we just prepped and layered, as well as one of the naan breads. Invert the salad onto a plate, if possible toast the naan in  a toaster, and either eat the naan along side the salad or tear it up and use it like croutons in the salad.

Enjoy!

Notes:

This is vegetarian but it is so loaded with protein and good fats that it will fill you up and keep you full through a long afternoon at work, without being too heavy. I truly love this meal and have it as a lunch at work often.

Continuing to Update

Hello friends!

I just finished updating my tags for the blog, simplified things down a bit, to hopefully make it easier to find recipes.

New tags are as follows:

Snacks- all things that are not a meal
Cake and Pie- self evident
Cookies and Sweets- one bite kind of treats
Breads n' Buns- bready baked goods
Savoury Snack- the unsweet munchies food
Dessert- traditional, showstopper kind of desserts, great for holidays, parties, family events, etc.

Mains- meals and entrées sorted into;
Poultry
Pork
Beef
Seafood
Vegetarian
Pasta and Soup
Sides (not quite a meal on their own, but help round out meals)

Gluten Free

Spice Blends

I actually make this all the time (the actual recipes I live on, my favorites, the ones my family eats on the reg)

I'm continuing to work on updating the older blog posts, making everything uniform and as easy to navigate as possible, so please bear with me! I also know I haven't posted as many new recipes lately as I used to, but I am working to change that, and working on experimenting with more gluten free baking, and more easy quick weeknight meals.

Life Lesson. . .

I am never going to use a silicone bunt baking pan again. I had been using one for a few years and I had also been having some trouble with my cakes not baking properly. Resulting in cakes which were overcooked and burnt on top and pretty much raw in the middle. Not pretty and I hate it when my baking fails.

So I thought about it and I realized that a bunt pan is a special pan because of the tube in the middle that will radiate heat through the middle of the cake, ensuring a more even baking for the entire cake. However with a silicone pan, there is no heat radiation like there is in a metal pan because Silicone is an insulating material. Also the heavier a pan is, the more evenly it radiates heat. Silicone is super lightweight which means it will react to heat fluctuations in the oven much more quickly. Which will affect how the cake bakes.

So don't bother getting a silicone bunt pan to bake with. You will regret it. Get a solid, heavy, non-stick metal pan instead.

However my six cup silicone muffin pan works great, and it is extra deep resulting in big fluffy muffins. I also enjoy the silicone baking mat I have for putting under cookies and things, and the bread pan also works well for me. The only one I have had consistent problems with is the bunt pan. Strange.

XO

Miss Busy Bee

Over 200 Posts and New Things!

Wow! Doesn't take long for things to build up! Over 200 posts of recipes and tips are now on the blog which seems like a pretty decent accomplishment.

Just did some minor re-do's with the blog to make it a little more user friendly and update the tags I am using.

Hope to see you back here again sometime!

XOX

Miss Busy Bee

When in Doubt. . .

Did you watch King of the Hill? I used to watch it with my family all the time, my younger brother kind of looked like bobby at the time so we thought it was great. Anyways, there is an episode where Minh tastes and judges Peggy's favorite recipes.

To everything Minh says "add nutmeg"

I would like to let everyone know that she was probably right.  Nutmeg is magic! Add a teaspoon to most sweet or savory dishes and it will do great things.

Are these eggs fresh?

Ever question if those eggs you've had kicking around for a bit are still good to use? Wouldn't it be great if you could figure out of the egg was good to go or toss without cracking it and risking filling your home with a lovely rotten egg sulfur smell. Well now you can!

Fill a glass or bowl with water. Gently place egg in water, if it floats the egg has gone off, if it lays on the bottom of the container on its side or bottom then it is still good to use! Floaters should be thrown out.

I tested this on some eggs today, works well and is easy. Plus it was helpful as the best before date on my current pack of eggs wasn't very clear, and I wasn't sure if they were good or how close they were to being less than ideal.

Also I miss Nova Scotia, they had the date printed on each egg shell there, so there wasn't ever a mystery.

Regenerating Green Onions

I don't know about you but I certainly go through an awful lot of green onions and since I do not have a yard to have a garden yet or a house to build a sun room onto I needed to find a better way to get more fresh green onion in my house. It is also stupid simple which is of course always excellent.

Regenerating Green Onions:

After cutting the green part off the green onion to use in a delicious recipe, tie the remaining white stems and roots together into a bundle and place in a glass of water in sunshine. Wait a few days until the roots are growing and the green part of the green onion is growing longer. If you like you can just keep it in the water and let it grow hydroponically or transfer into a pot with soil.

Cut off green sections to use as needed. Mine have been growing for about a week in the picture, as long as you keep some water in the glass with the green onion roots you can keep growing fresh green onion for a pretty long while.

Enjoy!

PS mine lasted for about 4 months before they ran out of steam, pretty decent results!

Fresh Garlic Bulbs, How to Tips

So my mother was an excellent cook, she knew how to roast and make some pretty decent meals, but dessert is where she really shined and it wasn't until I had moved out and lived with some more cultured people that I learned most of my savory cooking skills.

One of my favorite lessons was when my friend tried to show me for the first time how to use fresh garlic.  She started by telling me how to peel the garlic and her tip was to put a large flat knife over the garlic bulb and smash it with the heel of my hand so the husk around the garlic would split and the garlic flesh would be easy to get at. Well I followed her instructions, but I spent my childhood raised in a legit Nova Scotian Trailer Park, and when people say smash something, I tend to think that near full force is required. So when I "smashed" my garlic clove, I created some awesome garlic paste as I smashed the whole thing. But live and learn!

So here is a dandy guide to fresh garlic, in case someone other than me was raised a bit on the sheltered foodie side of life. I will also include examples of other ways I stuffed up with fresh garlic, because I find that knowing other peoples mistakes makes me both feel better and remember better.

Fresh Garlic, How to Guide

1) Store fresh garlic in a terracotta un-glazed ceramic dish. I have one that was meant to be a candle holder and is shaped like a chicken. I love him.

But WHY? Shouldn't I keep it in the fridge so it lasts longer?

Nope! If you keep garlic in the fridge several things can happen, the garlic can dry out and lose its flavor. This is bad for you because it means that flavor and aromatic hydrocarbons that started in the garlic have left it, so the garlic clove wont have as much flavor anymore. This also means that the smell from the garlic is now in everything else in your fridge. Like your milk, eggs, or butter and that is not pleasant.

2) Do not cover fresh chopped garlic with tin foil.

Why ever not?

Well, one time I thought I would be fancy and try and celebrate my then future fiance's culture and heritage, which is British. So I made a baked chicken leg dish and a potato and leek pie which called for some fresh onion slices and minced garlic on top. So me being me and wanting to be on top of everything I made the potato and leek pie the night before like my recipe said I could, and then covered it with tin foil until ready to bake. Like I do with most things I make ahead to bake later.

What went wrong?

Garlic turns blue when it comes in contact with some oxidizing materials, like tin foil. So my fancy, culture and heritage celebrating pie that was supposed to have a beautiful golden brown crust on top, had some golden brown hues, but also a lot of weird blue-green coloring. Blue-green is not my favorite color to eat. So that is what went wrong, and why I never made it again, and why there isn't a recipe for leek and potato pie here.

3) How should I peel the husk off a clove of garlic?

I now pluck the clove I want to use off the garlic bulb, peel away any loose husk, and then using the heel of my hand and placing the garlic clove on the counter so it is curved like a rainbow over the counter and press firmly but slowly with hand until I hear the tough bottom of the husk split. Then I just peel out the clove and we are good to go.

4) How should I incorporate fresh garlic into recipes?

If it is just going into a stock or being fried off, slicing the cloves is fine, but if it is going into a recipe and the flavor needs to disperse better than I usually use a really fine cheese grater and grate the garlic into the recipe. One average clove is about equal to about teaspoon of garlic powder. If you have colossal or elephant garlic you might need to adjust a bit, since those cloves are huge.

Also try and chop the garlic as close to cooking as possible, the flavor will get lost to the air if it cut too far from cooking time. Also the more garlic flavor you want, the smaller your chop should be. Hence why I usually use a fine zester or grater.

5) Gross! Now my hands reek of garlic! How do I fix that?

If you have a stainless steel sink, then rub your smelly garlic hands all over it to neutralize the garlic smell. Then wash with soap and water. Failing that rinse your hands with vinegar and then wash them and the smell should be nearly gone.

Enjoy!

Is my Baking Powder fresh?

Ever question if your baking powder is still active and good to use in your recipe? Ever wonder how you are supposed to test that without just making something and seeing if it works or not? Well I learned a new trick and it's worth typing out.

Testing Baking Powder

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon baking powder in question

Instructions:

Simply pour the baking powder in question into the hot water, ideally in a clear glass. If the baking powder quickly dissolves away and fizzes then that means it is still perfectly great to use. If not, time to throw it out and replace it in your cupboard with a fresh container.

Enjoy!

Reading List, 2013

I really enjoy reading, and I have kind of always wanted to keep a tally of how many books I have read. Well since I plan to actually keep on top of this blog for once, here might be my best chance! So I will update this with all of the books I read in a year and if I enjoyed it, that way I can keep a better track of what I've read recently and what I enjoyed so I know I can come back to it.

Here we go!

Books for 2013

The Wheel of Time - All excellent books. If you like detailed fantasy books. I have never loved or felt so challenged by a series before. Challenged in a good way, the world is just so complex, so detailed. It is just wonderful.

1. The Eye of the world - Robert Jordan
2. The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
3. The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
4. The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
5. The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
6. The Lord Of Chaos - Robert Jordan
7. A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
8. The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
9. Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan, Finished April 29, 2013
10. Crossroads of Twilight- Robert Jordan, Finished May 28, 2013
11. Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan, Finished June 14, 2013
12. The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, Finished June 22, 2013
13. Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, Finished June 26, 2013
14. A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, Finished July 7, 2013

Now that it is all over, I loved every page of this book. The ending was great. I will definitely be coming back to this series. 

15. Life of Pi - Yann Martel, Finished June 29 (Been reading this one slowly on the side of The Wheel of Time). A good book to read unless you have already seen the movie Life of Pi by Ang Lee. Both versions were beautiful and well done, so choose your own medium of choice and enjoy this lovely story.

16. The Wind Through the Keyhole - Steven King, Finished July 14 
I Read the Dark Tower series last year, very much enjoyed it, though Steven King is not quite the master writer that Robert Jordan was. The Wind Through the Keyhole is a late addition to the Dark Tower series but it fits in nicely.

17. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston, Finished July 22
A good work of fiction, was easy to get into and laced in accurate historical details about the life and times of Joey Smallwood (He would be the political leader who helped Newfoundland join Canada in confederation). Not bad but not my favorite. Worth a read once I suppose.

18. Spin -  Robert Charles Wilson, Finished July 23
Since it took me the massively long time of an entire day to read this one, I am sure you can assume that I must have loved it. You would be right. Science fiction has to be pretty darn awesome before I am drawn to it and this was such a novel. The world and characters are all bright a vibrant and you feel as though you could be there with them. There are two sequel novels to Spin, so I will be reading them next and swiftly. Really can not wait to read more about this exciting future world.

19. Axis - Robert Charles Wilson, Finished July 28

20. Vortex - Robert Charles Wilson, Finished July 28
Since I read Vortex in a single day along with finishing Axis, I will just lump them together since that is about how I will remember them. While Spin was near expert in its delivery, the two sequels do pale slightly in comparison. I still really enjoyed the series and what it had to say, but I am still sadly left wanting just a little more from this series.

21. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card, Finished July 30
I wont lie, I had read this one before. But it is an excellent novel, and since I have already admitted to re-reading it at least once, I'm sure you can infer that I enjoy this one. I also hear a movie is coming out soon, I rarely get excited for a movie anymore so if I am excited to see something it must be a pretty big deal. Honestly, I don't even hear about most movies anymore.

22. Another Trilogy has been started!
The Braided Path Trilogy
The Weavers of Saramyr - Chris Wooding, Finished August 4
Pretty interesting story, I have no idea how this is going to go but the first novel at least was an excellent read. It opens with a mystery and murder and you can't wait to solve it.

23. The Skein of Lament - Chris Wooding, Finished August 14
Still enjoying this trilogy, but it's not as strong as some other stories I have been reading this year. Good but not top marks for writing and complexity.

24. The Ascendancy Veil - Chris Wooding, Finished August 17
Good ending to the trilogy, left me feeling satisfied.

25. Hence forth 2013 shall be remembered as the year of the trilogies! Yay.
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss, Finished August 21
Book one of the Kingkiller Chronicles. Simply fantastic. I've already read into book two and as a novel it is beautiful. The story is intense, complicated and layered and building so well. Once again another page turner that I just do not want to put down until I finish it.

26. The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss, Finished August 29
Book two in the Kingkiller Chronicles.  Excellent second novel but I have no idea how I will ever manage to wait for the third installment of the series now.

27. A Dance with Dragons - George R. R. Martin, Finished September 5
Already read these once, this is just another round on the horse for fun. A Song of Ice and Fire is an excellent series and everyone should read it.

28. A Feast For Crows - George R.R. Martin, Finished September 14

29. A Dance with Dragons - George R.R. Martin, Finished September 19

30. The Reason I Jump -  Naoki Higashida, K.A. Yoshida (Translator), David Mitchell, 
Finished October 17
A novel.interview with an Autistic Spectrum disorder 13 year old boy from Japan, and translated by David Mitchell who felt the need to share the information with more people because of the insights he gained into his own child's behavior who also has Autistic Spectrum disorder. I read this book because I had heard of it and thought it would help with me with my work, since I work with children of all need levels and development. It was short and it did give some insight in a more personal method of delivery, but I had studied Autistic Spectrum disorder at university and have a bit of experience with children of different needs. So It wasn't a life changing book for me, but worthwhile the short time it takes to read.

*****

October 18th, Loaded up the Kobo with about 50 more novels so more reading will be happening very soon, I was just on vacation and busy with a friend's wedding and Halloween season and oh my god did you know that as an adult you still need to find time to clean your house when you are busy? It is quite an unfair arrangement.

Oh plus its Halloween season, which means I need to keep an eye on my lovely set of kitchen shears, that boyfriend is aware are only for food and kitchen prep work. He tends to forget this kitchen commandment in October and tries to steal them to cut wires or some other terrible construction related material. Then gets sad when I get mad about it. Ugh I love Halloween but thank god it is only once a year. . .

*****

31. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak, Finished October 22
A story of The Holocaust, as told by death as he follows the life of one girl, from her abandonment by her mother to foster parents, until the end of her life. It was an intriguing read and held me captivated the entire time I was reading it. The character of death is an interesting choice for a narrator, especially as he re-counts the numbers of all those he had to carry away during the Second World War, and how he felt about it.  The beauty is in the story and in the details shared about this one girl's life so I wont be spoiling anything but I do think it should be put on the good book to read list.

32. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood, Finished October 23
Dystopian novel where society has changed drastically and women's rights are removed. It was good, but I think it may have lost some of it's power over the years, as it was first published in 1985 and things in society have come a long way even since then. I just found I had difficulty relating to the main character and felt her to be just slightly too passive for my tastes. I prefer my women to be symbols of strength. But still a well written story and it was interesting.

33. The Stand - Steven King, Finished November 7
Excellent start, not so good towards the middle-end. Oh Steven King, always so close to an excellent novel but never quite getting there. A super flu which kills most people infected has started to spread, how will people in a Steven King universe deal with this? 

34. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain, Finished November 18
Time for a classic novel. It was a classic novel, enjoyable but not really my thing. Glad I did read it at least the once, but maybe once was enough on this one. 

35. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle: Book of the Thieving Magpie -  Haruki Murakami, Finished November 23
Oddly enough this is another book which has been translated from Japanese to English for the reading pleasure of the world. The first installment of this trilogy was quite a good read, a little bit of personal narrative with a bit of mystery thrown in. I quite enjoyed reading this novel and moved very quickly onto the second.

36. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle: Book of the Prophesying Bird-  Haruki Murakami, Finished November 23
Second book in the series, I don't think I am getting all of the cultural references, or the ones which pertain to Japan's role during any of the wars in the past century. Also the technology talked about is now terribly out of date and it is jarring how out of place some of the technology related scenes feel now. Also enjoying this one less than the first.

37. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle:Book of the Bird-Catcher Man - Haruki Murakami, Finished December 5
This was a drag to finish reading. I dislike the ending, dislike where the story went and was disappointed with the resolution. Possibly my least favorite book I've read this year.

Well that was a good start and a bad end to the year. Hopefully next year is filled with even more excellent books!

Somewhere to collect recipes that worked

Mission Statement:

I sincerely love food. Simple, good, home-cooked, food that anyone anywhere could make and enjoy. However there are some "food" things which I hate, like margarine (I didn't even know how to spell that), artificial sweeteners, low fat nonsense which adds chemicals or sugars  make up for the taste, and I really enjoy butter, a lot. I prefer fresh since it really is the best, but there are all kinds of examples of things that are just as good in a frozen variety when prepared the right way.  I have no professional culinary training, unless you want to count my two summers working in the kitchen of Boston Pizza (trust me, it doesn't count), my mom taught me the basics as I was growing up and was a saint of a mother for letting me try all kinds of cooking experiments in the kitchen, even though I am pretty sure I almost never did the dishes after*. I was also lucky to get to live with one excellent cook in university who taught me the extra little steps that can really make something special.

Some of the recipes I try are from cook books I own, have been given, or made up on my own; Others will be based on dishes I try in restaurants then try and copy; Some will be from cooking shows, I love Masterchef Australia and Top Chef America and Canada, and others will be from my imagination because sometimes after watching thirty or so hours of Disney movies and then watching Waitress (2007, with Keri Russel) weird recipes come to life in my head. Imagination should always be put to use.

Oh I also promise to try and make all these recipes as easy to follow as possible, because I to plan to reuse them all and it would be terribly tragic if I couldn't understand my recipes**.

Also I promise that everything I put here worked out really well for me and was tested on at least one other human being for taste and enjoyment. Usually my lovely husband to be will be the other guinea pig.


Foot Notes:

*Mom's should make children wash their dishes more often, it is still a massive chore and effort for me to wash dishes.

**My mother also has about two hundred or so recipes in books or boxes at her house, but she can't use any of them because she only listed the ingredients. For all of them.

Finally I Love my Mom very much! You can only tease nicely when it is backed by love.