HOT QUINOA BREAKFAST

Ingredients: 

2/3 cup of water
3 Tbsp quinoa
2 Tbsp quick cooking rolled oats
1-2 tsp maple syrup, honey or brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp flax
2 Tbsp blueberries, cranberries or raisins (fresh, frozen or dried)
Milk, cream or yogurt to serve with

Directions: 

Place water and quinoa in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and cover.
Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes
Stir in oats (and dried fruit if using), cover and cook for another 5 minutes, until oats are tender
Remove from heat
Stir in maple syrup, honey or brown sugar and flax
Fold in fruit if using fresh or frozen.
Top with milk, cream or yogurt
Serve immediately

 From: Quinoa 365 - The Everyday Superfood

Veggie-Quinoa Soup

I invented this recipe on a cold, snowy day based on the vegetables we had in the fridge.  I wanted to make a veggie-quinoa soup, so I did.

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Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 zucchini
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 jalapeno pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth 
• 1/3 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• thyme to taste
• salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Heat oil in medium sauce pan
2. Sautée onion and garlic till translucent
3. Add in celery, zucchini and jalapeno.  Cook while stirring for 3-4 minutes, till tender.
4. Add broth, seasoning and quinoa
5. Bring to a boil, cover with lid and reduce heat
6. Simmer for approx. 20 minutes, till vegetable and quinoa are cooked through
7. Blend with a hand mixer till smooth and creamy.
8. Add in frozen peas and stir well
9. Serve and enjoy!

Makes 2 servings

Calories: 289

Carbs: 42

Fiber: 7

Protein: 8

Iron: 4

Calcium: 9

Irish Shepherd's Pie

This is one of the 4 recipes that I presented to the Daring Kitchen cooks for the December 2012 Challenge. You can check out the full file with all the how-to pictures here:  Paté Chinois

Recipe Source: Originally found in Homemakers Magazine (Nov. 2007) and now found online at FreshJuice.ca

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Ingredients:

• 2 ½ lbs russet baking potatoes 
• 3 lbs boneless lamb shoulder or leg, cut in 1 ½ -inch cubes 
• 3 carrots, chopped 
• 1 parsnip, chopped 
• 1 large onion finely chopped 
• 8 oz mushroom, sliced 
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 1 ½ tsp salt 
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, or ½ tsp dried thyme 
• ¼ tsp ground pepper 
• 2 cups stout or dark ale 
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed 
• 2 tbsp butter
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ tsp nutmeg

Steps:

1. Peel potatoes, cut in half and place on the bottom of the slow cooker
2. Mix lamb and vegetables together in a bowl.
3. In a large bowl, mix flour with parsley, salt, pepper, thyme and nutmeg.  Add lamb and vegetables, and toss to everything is evenly coated.
4. Add this mixture to the slow cooker.
5. Pour in stout. Cover and set slow cooker.
6. Cook for approx 10 hours on low or 5 hours on high.
7. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon to a bowl.  Don’t worry about the bits of lamb or vegetables that go with it, they enhace the flavour.
8. Stir in frozen peas
9. Transfer meat, vegetables and sauce to a oven proof casserole dish. I left mine in the slow cooker, as the insert comes out and is oven proof.
10. Preheat oven to 475°F.
11. Add milk, butter and nutmeg to the potatoes and mash them together.
12. Spread mashed potatoes over the stew.
13. Bake in oven for approx 15 minutes, until potatoes are browned.

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Breakfast Strata

The best thing about a breakfast strata is that you put it all together the night before, refrigerate and just pop it in the oven in the morning.  Within 45 minutes to an hour you have a lovely brunch.

The amounts for this dish vary based on the amount you want to make.  You can have as much or as little bacon/mushrooms/asparagus as you like.  Simply ensure that your milk/egg mixture is enough to soak through all of the bread.

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Ingredients:

• Bread
• Eggs
• Milk
• Bacon
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Asparagus
• Grated cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Steps:

1. Fry the bacon mushrooms and onions till tender, not crispy
2. Cube bread into small bite size pieces
3. Cut asparagus into small bite size pieces
4. Toss bread, bacon, mushrooms and asparagus together
5. Place in oven proof dish
6. Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper together
7. Pour over bread mixture evenly.  Press down to ensure all of the bread is soaked through
8. Sprinkle grated cheese on top
9. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours to allow the egg/milk mixture to soak in completely
10. Pre-heat oven to 350°
11. Uncover dish and bake for 45-60 minutes, till golden brown and all the egg mixture is cooked through

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Homemade Marshmallows

I originally found this recipe for Peppermint Marshmallows on Pinterest and followed it back to The BeanTown Baker's blog.  I've also adapted the recipe to make maple flavour marshmallows.

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup ice cold water, divided
• 3 packets gelatin
• 1 cup white corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (substitute 1 cup pure maple syrup for the maple ones)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp peppermint extract (omit for maple ones)
• powdered sugar and cornstarch in equal portions
• food colouring (optional)

Steps:

• Add 1/2 cup cold water to mixing bowl of stand mixer and sprinkle gelatin on top, set aside

• Bring to simmer remaining water, sugar(or maple syrup), corn syrup and salt in a small saucepan
• Once simmering, cover with lid and cook for 4-5 minutes
• Remove lid and continue to heat until mixture reaches 240° or hard ball stage, remove from heat

• Turn stand mixer on to low and mix gelatin for 1 minute
• Slowly pour hot sugar mixture down side of bowl while mixing
• Once all the sugar mixture has been added, increas speed to high
• Allow to mix for approx. 15 minutes, till it cools and almost triples in volume
• While mixing, prepare 9x13 pan - lightly oil the pan and dust with powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture
• When ready, pour mixture into prepared pan, smooth top with oiled offset spatula
• Dust top of marshmallows with powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture
• Leave to dry for a minimun of 4 hours, or preferably overnight
• Turn out onto dusted cutting board
• Cut into 1 inch squares (a pizza wheel works best)
• Toss each square into the powdered sugar/cornstarch mixture to coat sticky sides, brushing off any excess

Store in airtight container for up to 3 weeks

Pate Chinois

This is one of the 4 recipes that I presented to the Daring Kitchen cooks for the December 2012 Challenge. You can check out the full file with all the how-to pictures here:  Paté Chinois

This is a slight variation on the version my Mom always made when I was growing up.  I've add a few more flavours, and of course some onions.

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Ingredients:

• 2 ½ lbs (1 kg) lean ground (minced) beef
• 2 onions diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1¾ cups (115 gm) (4 oz) mushrooms diced
• ½ teaspoon (2 gm) dry mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons (8 gm) prepared horseradish
• ½ cup (120 ml) red wine (optional)
• salt and pepper
• 19 oz (550 gm) can of cream corn
• 2 ½ lbs (1 kg) potatoes
• ½ cup (120 ml) milk
• ¼ cup (55 gm) (2 oz) butter

Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. 
2. Wash potatoes and cut into quarters 
3. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain.
4. Mash potatoes with butter and milk. 
5. Set aside. 
6. In frying pan, brown ground beef with onions, garlic and mushrooms. 
7. Season with horse radish, mustard powder and optional red wine. 
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9.  Cook until well done and no pink remains. 
10. Evenly spread ground beef on the bottom of an oven proof casserole dish. 
11. Top with cream corn. 
12. Spread mashed potatoes on top. 
13. Use a fork to make drag marks through the potatoes for decoration. 
14. Bake in oven for 15 minutes until heated through.
15.  Place under broiler (grill) for 2-3 minutes to brown up potatoes. 
16. Serve and enjoy

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Homemade Cream Cheese Mints

I came across this recipe on Pinterest.  You can check out the blog I got it from here:  Kelley Highway: Homemade Cream Cheese Mints

These candies were very easy to make and really quite yummy.  You may think that the sugar will never incorporate into the small amount of cream cheese that you use, but carry on, it really does.

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Ingredients:

• 3 oz cream cheese
• 3 cups sifted icing sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• Food colouring (optional)

Steps:

1. Blend cream cheese and mint extract with electric mixer. If using food colouring, add now.
2. Sift and add sugar slowly, mixing well between each addition.
3. When mixture gets too stiff to use electric mixer, mix by hand.
4. Using melon baller, scoop small amount of dough and roll into small, cherry size ball,
5. Place on parchement lined cookie sheet, sprinkled with powdered sugar
6. Flatten each cirlce with the back of a fork,
7. Let dry overnight, turning each candy occasionally so that it dries thouroughly.
8. Store in parchment lined tin for up to 3 weeks.

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