Monthly Archives: July 2011

My Favorite Grilled Cheese

27 Wednesday Jul 2011

Posted by in Meals in one, Simple meals

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I’ve been eating grilled cheese like this for about ten years now and often forget that most people don’t add extras like I do.

Eating becomes a challenge when you are taking care of a newborn. Because I am breastfeeding, I have to incorporate healthy foods throughout my day.
This has been my “go-to” when I only have a few minutes to cook but want to feel full and satisfied.

Here ‘s what you need:
2 slices of whole wheat bread
2 slices of cheddar cheese
1 avocado (sliced)
1 tomato (sliced)
1 teaspoon of butter

I buttered one side of each slice of bread and put the butter side down on a hot pan on medium low heat.

Each slice of bread gets a slice of cheese. One piece of bread gets the avocado and the other gets the tomato.

The two slices of bread are cooking simultaneously (open faced) because this grilled cheese is so thick that it’s too hard to flip.

Once the cheese has melted, I place one slice of bread onto the other so that I can enjoy all of the ingredients in every bite.

*Please note that this sandwich is also good cold and great for picnics.
 The ingredients do not take up a lot of room, can be easily assembled and you can usually find the ingredients in any country.
 You can use the exact same ingredients or you can use a fresh baguette and Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

 Mel and I have eaten this sandwich quite a bit when exploring a new city because it is easy to share with someone and inexpensive!

Joy

Steak…twice in one day??

24 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by in Beef

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I found Chuck Steaks on sale the other day. I was craving red meat but was too tired to grill them when I got home.

I decided to put it in the crock pot and slow roast it overnight.

I used the following ingredients:

1 Onion
1 Packet of Dry Onion Soup Mix
1.5 Cup of Water

My kitchen smelled amazing when I got up the next morning. I was making eggs on toast and decided to put some of the steak on top.

It was the best Steak and Eggs I’ve ever had.

Later that night when I was preparing dinner, I decided to turn it into Beef Stroganoff.

Here’s is what I used:

1 can of peas
1 bag of Egg Noodles
1 dollop of Sour Cream

I ladled out the steak, onion and peas onto my egg noodles.

I mixed in a dollop of sour cream and instantly had Beef Stroganoff!

Joy

Cherry Balsamic Vinaigrette

17 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by in Salads

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My husband brought home some cherries yesterday and they were SO sweet! I decided to add them to my favorite salad dressing and the result was delicious.

Here’s what I used:

30 pitted cherries (If you don’t have cherries, use strawberries instead)
2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Honey
Salt & Pepper
1/4-1/2 Cup of Olive Oil (The amount varies depending on how aged your vinegar is)

In a blender, mix the cherries, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Mix until the cherries are invisible.
Then slowly add your oil. I would start out with a 1/4 cup and then taste it. This is when you decide if you need more oil or honey.
If you have added a 1/2 cup of oil and the vinegar taste is too strong, add more honey.
At that point, if you continue to add more oil, you risk losing the cherry flavor.

I put this over mixed greens, goat cheese and toasted walnuts. YUM!

Enjoy!
Joy

Maki sushi and Californian rolls

13 Wednesday Jul 2011

Posted by in Sushi

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Alexis and I had the perfect excuse to try out our new found skills in sushi making when we went to a party at Scooter Works in Waterloo. It’s a fantastic little gem hidden away on Lower Marsh behind Waterloo Station. It’s a retro bar with amazing character and you are allowed to bring your own food.

First came the rice, it’s not too difficult to make as long as you don’t forget about it. I followed the instructions I got from the sushi making classes at Suzu’s and it was perfectly sticky.

To make the rice:

3 cups of Japanese sushi rice
3 cups of cold water
1/2 cup of rice vinegar

Wash the rice a few times and then leave to dry in a colander for about 30 minutes. Then in a pan add the rice and water, cover and leave on a low heat for 10 – 12 minutes or until steam comes out from under the pan’s lid. Turn off the heat and leave for about 15 minutes and then mix in the vinegar. Leave the rice to cool.

To make sushi:

Sushi rolling mat
Seaweed sheets (3 cups of rice will do 7-8 sheets)
Whatever filling you fancy, thinly sliced
Sesame oil (or another oil)
Latex gloves (if possible)

The chef at Suzu explained how she got her children to pick what they wanted to put in their sushi and they came up with weird and wonderful ideas that tasted really good. She encouraged us to be daring. 

We decided not to use any fish and so made a few unusual sushi such as chicken, mayonnaise, avocado and red pepper or brie and cucumber or the simple vegetable sushi. I see sushi a little like sandwiches, that you can put anything in them.

Sushi rice is very very sticky and the most annoying thing is to have it sticking to your hands and not the seaweed. Wear some latex gloves and rub a bit of sesame oil on to avoid it sticking.

To make Maki sushi (tradition sushi)

Get your rolling mat out and lay the seaweed on it, have the rough side of the seaweed up. Take some rice (a tip from Suzu’s chef is about the size of an egg) and spread it out evenly on the seaweed (leave about 1 cm of seaweed along the top). Lay the thinly sliced ingredients along the centre of the rice covered seaweed sheets and fold the seaweed over the ingredients and roll. You must do this quite firmly. Once you have your sushi roll cut it into slices of about 4cms.

To make Californian rolls (rice on the outside)

Get your rolling mat out and lay the seaweed on it, have the rough side of the seaweed up. Take some rice (it’s a medium avocado this time). Make sure the rice completely covers the seaweed and the turn the sheet over so the rice covered side is facing down. Lay the thinly sliced ingredients along the centre of the seaweed sheets and fold the seaweed over the ingredients and roll. These will be a bit thicker than the Maki sushi so you can cut them a bit thinner.

Sushi is great dipped in soy sauce and a bit of wasabi.

I hope this has all made sense… any questions let me know.

Mel

Quick and Tasty Meatballs with Cumin

03 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by in Beef, Simple meals

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I came home after work to nothing in the fridge 😦 and I really didn’t feel like going food shopping. Thankfully I had some mince in the freezer and an onion, so I thought I’d make some meatballs and I got a thumbs up from my lunch club at work when I brought the left-overs in, I always use this as my thermometer of success.

I didn’t have any fresh tomatoes, only canned ones so I thought I’d try adding cumin to give my sauce a bit more flavour.

What you will need:
(feeds 3)

400 grams of mince
1 onion
1 tbs of cumin
Chilli flakes (to taste)
Stock cube
2 tbs Soy sauce
1 tbs of sugar
2 garlic cloves
Thyme (or any other herb you fancy)
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Spaghetti

In a bowl put you mince and add to it chopped garlic, chilli flakes, thyme, salt and pepper and massage together. You can also add an egg, but I didn’t have one and it worked fine without. Make small balls of meat (you can make them the size you want), I made them about the size of brussel sprouts.

In a sauce pan heat your oil and add the onions, after 1 minute add the cumin, stock cube, soy sauce, sugar, tyme and salt and pepper. Stir ingredients and once it comes to boil add the meatballs, cook for 5 minutes and then turn the heat down and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve with spaghetti.

Ps:
You can simmer your tomato sauce for longer if you have time before adding your meatballs. You can also fry your meatballs in a pan before adding them to your sauce, all depends on how hungry you are 🙂

Mel