Pineapple Carrot Muffins

I got lazy with the title of this one and just named it Pineapple carrot, but in reality there is blueberries, raspberries, coconut, walnuts, cherries, apple sauce, raisins, carrots and pineapples.

T is feeling pretty crumby, so I took t and b out this morning and we went grocery shopping, to the park and the garden centre. I still haven't found my citronella plant or a good looking sweet red pepper, but I did find Swiss Chard. t asked if we could bake something when we got home. I figured a good, healthy muffin would do the trick. I wanted a little of everything in it and pretty much emptied my pantry/fridge into the thing.

It is tasty though.

Kitchen sink Muffins:

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• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup AP flour 
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1/3 cup grape seed oil
• 2 medium eggs or 1 large egg
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrot
• 2/3 cup shredded coconut plus some for the top
• 1 cup fresh pineapple cut into tidbits or use the canned tidbit or crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
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• 
  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
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• In mixing bowl add milk, eggs, applesauce, brown sugar, oil, egg(s) and vanilla. Mix together.
• 
  
• Stop the mixer and add the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Turn the mixer on and mix until wet and dry are just incorporated.
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• Stop the mixer and remove the bowl from the stand. Add in pineapple, carrots, coconut, walnuts, raisins and cherries and fold using a spatula.
• 
  
• Fold in blueberries and raspberries.
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• Spoon mixture into either greased mini loaf pans or lined cupcake tins. 
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• Sprinkle the tops with coconut.
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• Bake for about 25 minutes or until muffin tops spring back when poked and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
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• Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 or 3 days BUT they freeze really well. I got 8 loaves, 6 big muffins and 12 mini muffins out of this batch. For mini muffins you only need to cook for about 18 minutes. 

Ancho chicken tacos

I should really call it left over ancho chicken tacos, but the word leftover tends to be a dirty word. Well, it used to be, now it's one of my favourite.

I used left over grilled chicken from the night before and kept adding things until it smelled good.

It turned out way better than I had hoped! This should break my Quesada addiction!

Left over chicken (about 1 1/2 breasts) chopped up

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 jalapeño seeded and chopped

1/4 cup onion chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp ancho chilli powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Dump in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about an hour. If you want more hear, add more peppers or chilies.

If the stock runs out, or dries up, add a little more in.

Swiss chard and chorizo soup

This is the winter that just won't end.

It is April 1st and it's still coming down. I likened it to living in a snow globe owned by a 2 year old. Randomly shaken and shaken until its inhabitants are dizzy and only see white!

So, while others are pulling out BBQ recipes while they garden I am still making soup. 

Chorizo and chard soup to be precise.

Ingredients:

2 large chorizo sausages (casing removed)

1 onion chopped

1 medium potato peeled and chopped

3 or 4 garlic cloves chopped 

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp oregano

4 cups chicken stock

3 cups cleaned, chopped Swiss chard

In a hot pot put a little olive oil and drop in bits of bite sized sausage meat and cook until browned.

Remove sausage and add chopped onion, potato, and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes, sitting constantly until onions are soft.

Add red pepper flakes, pepper and oregano and stir.

Add stock (I used 4 cups of homemade turkey stock and an extra cup of water)

Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Add in chopped chard and simmer another 10 minutes.

Serve with a little asiago cheese on top and a good crusty bread. 

And may this snow melt already! 

Better than take out (cheaper) pizza.

Now mini me and t are still little, but getting to an age where we had our first family pizza and movie night. I COULD have popped over to little Caesar and picked up a pepperoni pizza for $5.00 and the kids would have been happy, but we would have been less than satisfied.

So we made our own.

The crust is the issue, as always with pizza. T likes thin and crispy and I like middle ground and b and t like pizza.  End of story.

I found a few recipes, including the one I used as a kid growing up and mashed them together to form a dough that is easy and tasty.

Pizza dough:

1 cup AP flour + another 1- 1 1/2 cups 

2 tsps sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp garlic salt

3/4 cup hot water

3 tbsps olive oil

1 pkg pizza dough yeast

1) Mix together 1 cup flour, water, salt, oil, sugar & yeast. It will resemble wallpaper paste and be quite unappealing.

2) Change to dough hook if you have one  and start adding more flour until it comes into a ball and it just a little sticky to the touch. Do not add to much flour or you'll end up with a mess and need to start again.

3) Let dough hook knead the dough for 3-5 minutes and then remove from the dough bowl and place in clean oiled bowl with a towel on top until you are ready to assemble.

4) After letting the dough rest a few minutes stretch it out until desired thickness. 

5) Put a little oil on the pan you're using to cook the pizza and put the dough on top. 

6) Smother in your favourite toppings (mine has red pepper, spinach, feta cheese, banana peppers, carmelized onion and garlic) and bake for 15-30 minutes at 425 depending on how thick your crust is and how crispy you want your pizza. 

For super crispy thin crust: 20 minutes on the bottom rack with 2 minutes under the broiler at the end.

For middle ground: 20 minutes on bottom rack with 5 minutes in the middle to brown the top

For thick: 20 minutes on the bottom, 10 minutes in the middle and 5 at the end on broil.

** These times will change depending on our altitude, oven and desired crispness. Throw it in the oven and keep checking until you're too hungry to bother.

Just don't burn that little hangy thing behind your upper front teeth. 

That's unpleasant.

Swiss chard, lemon and bacon pasta

I went dow the grocery aisle today, trying to find something that looked tasty for supper. A new vegetable to try to introduce. I brought home 2.

Swiss Chard and brussel sprouts.

We've had brussel sprouts before and they were a hit and miss thing.

The swiss chard, I figured would be fine with the fact that they're spinach lovers. I just told them it was spinach and away they went. I told them after the fact that it was chard, and of course but that point they just don't care.

I adapted this recipe and took away the ricotta cheese. It really didn't add anything but calories.

5 piece of bacon roughly chopped

1 medium onion chopped (or a few shallots, depending on what you have, both are great)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup of chicken stock

1 bunch of cleaned and roughly chopped swiss chard

1 lemon juiced

shredded asiago cheese

cooked pasta.

Directions:

Cook the bacon in the pan until crispy.

Add in the onions and allow to become translucent and a little caramelized.

Add in the minced garlic and salt & pepper to taste.

Toss your swiss chard into the pan on medium and coat well with bacon/onion mixture. 

Allow chard to wilt a little.

Add the chicken stock and let simmer 5-10 minutes until reduced.

Add 1/2 of the lemon juice and taste. If you want more add more, if not leave it. This depends on how acidic you like your food and how much juice is in that lemon. I added a full lemon the first time and only 1/2 the second.

Toss in your cooked pasta and allow the juices to mix into the pasta.

Add a small handful of asiago cheese and mix until melted a little.

Serve with a little more cheese on top.

Tasty, easy, quick, cheap and a one pot dinner.

A win in my house!

The Lego Birthday

When you have a Lego obsessed kid, it makes birthday parties a little easier to put together.

Each baby food jar head has crayons shaped like Lego men inside.
And Lego brick chocolate candies

The invitation. I put it together with the help of a template and then had it printed at Staples.

Lego brick cake with chocolate Lego men and chocolate bricks.
Log cakes, one white, one chocolate. Marshmallow lego tops and that was enough hair pulling out for me!

It was a huge success and he loved it, but man alive the easiest things are also the easiest to get carried away with!

An attempt to keep the car tidy

We recently got a new vehicle. My 3rd "NEW" car in my lifetime.

It is exciting, it is beautiful and it is less than 3 weeks old and a hot mess.
I found something like this online and thought I could tweak it to actually work in my car. I sat down one evening and 2 hours later, my attempt to keep books, toys and assorted children paraphernalia in one place was finished.
The kids so far, have been great at tucking their books into the 'car library' and it's been easy to pull it out with the carseats when it needs to be used as a work vehicle.

It was really easy to put together.
Measure your seat in your car; the length and width you'd like it to be.
I wanted it to fit in the middle, between the kids.

I measure the pieces out. I made them as wide as I wanted, but made them twice as long. 

I made 3 pockets and one backing piece.  I put together each pocket, facing each set of pieces together right side in. I sewed them together and turned them face out.

I top stitched the pockets, making sure to top stitch the sides and bottom together.

I added a tie to the top that allows me to attach the unit to the car seat and ensure it doesn't end up on the floor, like everything else.