HAT PANTS!

I made t some pants today. He loves them and I haven't been able to get them off of him since having him try them on. You see they are Cat in the Hat pants. Well Dr. Seuss pants really, complete with red and white stripes and Cindy Lou Who, the grinch, Horton, Nick, Sally and Fish. It is wonderful when you can make something so simple that your child loves so much. I will get a picture later. I have to admit, I am kind of jealous. I'd like a pair of hat pants too.

French Onion Shepherds Pie

So this morning my husband put in his request for dinner. He usually leaves it to me to figure out, so when he makes the decision I get all excited for not having to use valuable brain cells figuring out what's for dinner.
He wanted Shepherds pie, an easy thing to do. Some ground beef, some potatoes and veggies and voila, dinner.
I got a little creative and ended up with a fantastic version!
Enjoy!

1 pkg lean ground beef
1 pkg ground bison (it's good, beleive me!)
chopped garlic to taste (I used about 2 cloves)
1 1/2 cups of French Onion Soup (with the onions strained off if you have a small child with an aversion to peices of onion)
1-2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups frozen veggies of choice
6 medium sized potatoes
1/4 cup (or more to taste) of Brie cheese
2 tbsp butter

1) Brown beed, bison and garlic together and drain of extra fat.
2) Peel and cook potatoes. Once cooked, mash potatoes and mix in butter and brie.
3) Strain onion peices from the soup and put into a pot on medium heat. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and add to soup. Stir until thickened.
4) Mix onion soup, meat and veggies into the dish you plan on putting into the oven.
5) Top with mashed potatoes
6) Bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Serve yum!
The kid loved it and the manchild had 2 servings before I finished one. Always a good thing.

Spicy Ginger Snaps

These little bad boys tend to me a fan favorite. Even the guy who hates everything homey and good told me that they're good. I always take it as a compliment. They are a spicier cookie and even the boy likes them.


3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp fresh ground cardamom
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
white sugar to roll balls in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1) Mix butter & sugar together until smooth. Add egg & molasses and mix well.
2) In a seperate bowl mix all dry ingredients together and whisk.
3) Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture and blend well.
4) Form into 1 inch balls, roll until completely coated in white sugar and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
5) Using a small square of parchment paper and a heavy flat bottomed glass, press down and flatten the balls into cookies. I use a Guinness pint glass and make the cookies about the same size as the bottom of the pint glass.
6) Bake 8-10 minutes (longer if you prefer a true snap cookie)

Makes about 3 dozen.

Garlic Sauce

Garlic sauce...

Depends on who you ask and where you come from, garlic sauce can be made a lot of different ways, Egyptian style, Lebanese, Saudi, everyone has thier own way, but these two are our favourites. T especially is a fan.

4 cloves garlic finely minced
1 cup canola oil (it's taste is inert and won't fight the rest of the ingredients)
1 or 2 egg whites (depending on size of eggs)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt (more or less to taste)


In a food processor put the garlic and salt.
Turn on the food processor and very slowly add the oil and the lemon juice in small quantities, alternating until gone. It should emulsify.
Scrape down the sides.
Turn the machine back on and add an egg white, blending it until it looks like mayonnaise. You might need to add the second egg white, depending on the size of the eggs you used. I have thought about using a pasteurized egg white substitute instead of the raw egg. I haven't done it yet, but I will let you know when we do!
This recipe can be kept in the fridge for about a week.


or without egg...

1 bulb of garlic peeled and finely minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup canola oil

Add into a blender the minced garlic, lemon juice and salt.
VERY slowly add in the canola oil and allow to emulsify.
It should be the consistency of a thick mayo.
Put into a jar and it can be kept for awhile in the fridge.


It goes amazing on the shwarmas, pita bread, on steak, the possibilities are endless.

Hummus

So T and I are a little obsessed with Middle Eastern cuisine.
There was a fantastic Egyptian place close to where we used to live in the land of lakes and warm weather. We haven't been able to go for a bite lately, as we're on the prairies now and we miss it.

They made the most fantastic fresh pita bread, but it was their hummus and garlic sauce (that would stay with you for days) that were the real winners here.
We have tried to replicate these little gems to make shwarmas at home that much better... we have had some success, which I will share with you now.

Hummus
1 can drained and washed chick peas (reserve the water from the can for later)
Tahini (ground sesame seeds) about 2 tbsp
Garlic cloves peeled to taste (we usually do 1/2 a bulb, but we live dangerously)
A whole lemon juiced
Salt to taste


In a food processor add the tahini, chick peas and garlic.
You will most likely have to add in the water from the can to get the right consistency. Add in a little lemon juice and salt to taste.

The best way to do this recipe is to go by taste. T, the boy and I LOVE the super garlic-y hummus, but it is an acquired taste. Play around with different amounts of different ingredients to get a taste that you like.

We have thrown in roasted red peppers, jalepenos, Masala spices among others just to make it interesting or if we are using the hummus as a dip, like for veggies or as an appetizer.

Red beans and rice

Ever had a moment that you suddenly wanted to eat better? Add different foods to your diet and expand away from the usual menu? Well T and I decided to try and add more thigns like beans to our diet. The boy seems to really like beans and it is easy for him to pick up and eat, so here I sit with the interweb at my fingertips and foodtv, allrecipes and many more calling to me again.

I am improvising the recipe to suit our family and our tastes. Though T and I would love to have a super spicy rich andouille sausage filled recipe, the boy might have issues with too much spice.

We will see how this works out.




YUM!
This is what I went with and it was awesome! Both T and the boy loved it!

1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
5 cups chicken stock
1 coil of farmers sausage
2 mild italian sausages
1/2 spanish onion chopped
1 handful of chopped green peppers (the frozen ones I had in my freezer, probably about 1/2 a pepper)
1/2 cube of garlic (I get the big bag of peeled garlic from the grocery store, throw it in the food processor to mince it, and freeze it with a little olive oil into icecube trays and pull them out when needed)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon cumin

I chopped the sausage into chunks and browned the outside in a little olive oil. I left the oil in the pan and put the sausage into a crockpot with the beans. I put the onion and peppers into the pan and cooked them for about 4 minutes. I put the cube of garlic in and mixed it around until melted. I put the whole mess into the crockpot and added the stock and the spices.
I turned the pot on high and left it for about 3 hours. It didn't thicken up as much as I wanted it to, so I put the beans into a pot on the stove. I mashed some of the beans up to release the starch and cooked on medium high for about 20 minutes and it thickened up nicely. Either I can try to leave the beans in the crockpot longer or just make this a stovetop recipe, but slowcookers are just so wonderful!
I made a pot of rice, maybe 2 servings.
Put the rice on the bottom and the beans on top. It was good. It filled me up but I didn't feel sick full. It is something I will add to my list of crappy winter day recipes. With the tomato free zone, winter recipes are a pain, but this is good stuff!

It's spring, who needs a new dress?

I have been as busy as a sweatshop making dresses!
I have added a few new designs to my repitoire. I bought some patterns, but didn't LOVE them. I essentially used the basics to figure out my own patterns.
I have a a reversible pinafore dress, an apron dress, pillowcase dress among others I am currently working out.
LOVING it! Mum is here next week, must go find new fabric... T will not like that trip.