This is very much my new favourite cocktail for summer, and I’m really not a gin kind of person. Here is a very slight variation on a recipe from Sugar and Charm and I hope you find it as delightful as I do. I already had a batch of Earl Grey tea sitting in my fridge so it just seemed like a logical choice. Just remember that if you’re planning to drink these late at night you might want to go with decaffeinated tea bags.
Grab yourself a pot of chilled Earl Grey tea (mine was vanilla Earl Grey which I think simply added to the goodness), some gin, some honey, some lavender (fresh sprigs are better but this was what I had), and a lemon.
In a cocktail shaker (or the ol’ Captain-America-glass-and-sundae-spoon), plop some ice, a teaspoon of dried lavender, 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice, 3/4 oz honey, and 1 1/2 oz gin.
Tip in 6 oz chilled Earl Grey tea and shake it up (or give it a good stirring).
Strain into a tumbler over ice and garnish with another sprig of lavender. I left the dried ones in, which meant I required a straw so as not to sip them up.
The weeds in the rest of the garden have returned after a solid week of rain, but the ones in the patio stone cracks have yet to show.
Sure, there are one or two little ones, but I think those are ones I missed in my initial attack so I’m going to do it again and then I think they will be gone for good!
This is my favourite quick dinner when you want something a little bit better than a cold bowl of cereal but you want to apply pretty much the same level of effort. This dish serves two but I was so hungry after all my efforts in the garden that I ate the whole thing myself.
First I grabbed some fresh herbs out of said garden. Then I preheated my oven to broil and grabbed an oven-safe nonstick skillet. Nonstick works best for this particular eggy dish, but you have to make sure that it has been approved for use in the oven so you don’t end up killing yourself with chemicals or burning the handle off.
I chopped up the herbs.
Then I grabbed a tomato and chopped and de-seeded it as well.
Now you can start heating up your skillet, with a nice big pat of butter in it to melt.
Then I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl. I proceeded to beat the crap out of them.
Add in a big dollop of sour cream. You can use milk or cream but I have recently discovered that sour cream in eggs makes them light and fluffy and flavourful so I like using it.
Then I poured the mixed eggs into the hot skillet.
Let that sit for a moment.
Then start pulling the egg away from the bottom of the skillet. You’re not really stirring the egg, so much as exposing more of the raw stuff to a hot cooking surface.
Stop scraping before all the wet stuff is scrambled.
Now you can top it with all the goodness you’ve prepared. This is salt, pepper, chopped herbs, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese.
And then go ahead and shove it under the broiler for about two minutes, until all the wet egg is now solid. Please don’t judge me for my dirty oven.
You can see I actually overdid this one a little bit.
Then you hold the pan over a plate and start to slowly tip it so the whole thing starts to slide out.
Keeeeeep sliding.
When you’re about halfway out, lift the pan so that the second half of the egg flips over and covers the first half.
Top with more pepper and garnish if you like.
As I said, you can cut this in two and share it. Or if you’re really hungry it makes a great meal for one!
I finally did get to have that finger-food brunch I was trying for. These wonton mini quiches were a big hit.
I enjoyed cutting up all the vegetables super small to fit in the tiny muffin cup spaces.
I did scoop the seeds out of the tomatoes to avoid mushiness.
And I couldn’t decide on cheeses, so I went with both.
I grabbed some fresh herbs from my very own backyard, because it’s actually spring now.
In the end I had one set of quiches with mushroom, spinach, chives, and goat cheese, and the other was tomato, onion, cheddar, and cilantro. For amounts I kind of winged it, sorry.
Anyway, preheat your oven to 350°F and line your muffin tins with two wonton wrappers each. Align them so they are at 45° angles to each other for the largest surface area. I didn’t do this but I would recommend greasing the muffin tins before you do this.
Then I stuffed the tins with my vegetable-cheese mixtures.
Then I started cracking some eggs. For 24 mini quiches I used about 14 eggs. I also added in a few tablespoons cream, some salt and pepper, and some grated parmesan. Gave that a good mixing.
Then I ever so carefully poured the egg goo into the muffin cups.
It’s hard to get it so it doesn’t go around the seal of the wonton.
I baked them for about 15 minutes, until they were cooked through.
Because I didn’t grease the pan it took some persuasion to get them out.
But they were so good!
And even great for a cold quick breakfast or lunch the next day!
I have so many fun and exciting things to show you guys in the near future, but I thought I’d do a little bit of a retrospective today. My very first entry on this here blog, five-plus years and 900-odd posts ago, was a recipe for spaghetti bolognese. I make this spaghetti sauce all the freaking time, so I thought I’d do another post just to show you how things have changed over the years, but they still remain in essence the same. For one, the Pie and I went vegetarian for a month when I made that post so there’s no meat in that sauce. For another, I was way lazier when it came to chopping things up, so my sauces were much chunkier. I like them a bit more uniform these days.
Some things stay the same, though: I always load it down with diced onions to start. I made a crapton (a metric measurement of course) of this so that I could freeze it so I can’t give you exact measurements. Just lots.
I always add diced red pepper (I’m allergic to green) and diced mushrooms. You can add whatever you wish, though. Sometimes I chuck in whatever’s in my fridge that needs to be used: avocadoes (they add a nice thickness the sauce), tomatoes, sometimes even carrots.
And then of course a variety of tomato-based canned items. I used to use jarred spaghetti sauce as my base but I found they were sneaking green peppers into the mix and it wasn’t doing my digestive system any good so I switched to canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and canned diced tomatoes.
First I start by sautéeing up the onions with olive oil and a little butter. I let them go until they’re smelly and soft. Then I pull apart a large hunk of lean or extra lean ground beef. I like to break it up with my fingers to ensure that there are no big chunks in the pot. You can also use ground turkey or pork or whatever works for you. If you’re going the veggie route and using TVP, add that last.
After the meat is browned to my satisfaction I tip in my vegetables, as well as some minced garlic, salt, pepper, and various spices.
I like a mix of italian spice plus extra basil.
I add in all my tomato things as well and give that a grand old stirring.
Let that simmer for at least half an hour so the flavours can mingle, and feel free to adjust the spices as you see fit. I like to let it simmer as long as I can, but it’s good either way.
Cool and freeze or serve hot on top of your favourite fresh pasta, baked into a pasta casserole, or glopped on top of bread as a sloppy joe!
To celebrate the success of our Bench Cover Thingy, Cait and I held a wee taco party afterwards. These are inspired by Kevin & Amanda, and I think I’ll be cooking these up pretty often. They’re easy and provide a tidier option to those of us who like hard-shelled tacos. Plus kids will love being able to make up their own custom tacos in advance. Also tacos always remind me of my favourite joke, but I don’t wanna taco ’bout it. You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean. This recipe makes enough for 24 taco cups, which feeds four hungry adults quite nicely.
Start with half a large sweet onion and dice that up.
Grab 2 tomatoes and dice them too.
Why yes, that IS dog hair on my tomatoes. Thank you for asking.I swear that I removed the dog hair before dicing. I promise. Maybe.
Scoop up some spices: 2 tablespoons chilli powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon chipotle, and some ground black pepper.
You’ll also need some meat. I used about 3/4 kilogram extra lean ground beef.
Sauté your onions in about 1 tablespoon olive oil until translucent and amazing-smelling. Tip in the meat and stir, breaking it up into little pieces, until it’s browned all over. Drain it if necessary (the bonus of extra-lean is you don’t need to drain).
Remove the meat and onions from the heat and tip them into a large bowl. Dump in your spices and mix them around.
Tip in the diced tomato as well and give that a good stir. Set that bowl aside for a spell.
Now preheat your oven to 375°F or thereabouts. Grate up about 2 cups cheddar cheese (you can use more or less if you like).
Grab a muffin tin and generously brush the whole thing with olive or vegetable oil (or use cooking spray). I did the 24 taco cups in two separate batches so they were fresh and hot, so I only needed the one tin, but if you’re doing them all at once you will obviously need two tins.
Now you need some wonton wrappers. Square ones are probably best.
Press a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each hole in the muffin tin.
Spoon a small amount of meat, onions, and tomatoes into the spaces as well.
Top with a wee bit of grated cheddar.
Then jam on ANOTHER WONTON WRAPPER. Press everything down underneath it so you still have space to put stuff.
Spoon in some more meat/onions/tomatoes and top with additional cheese.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the wonton bits that you can see are brown and the cheese is melty and bubbly.
Cait and I found that about five minutes on a cooling rack after baking made them a bit more solid and easier to handle. Just be careful when you’re scooping them out and run around the edges with a spoon to make sure nothing is still attached to the tin.
Top with a dollop of sour cream and some fresh chives and you are golden.
I’m trying to eat more rice these days, and it’s been easy so far with delicious and simple dishes like this one. I then froze a chunk of this and it was oh-so-good, even leftover!
I had picked up some pre-seasoned chicken thighs from Farm Boy a while back and that was my base of things to go with. You can use unseasoned skinless chicken thighs, if you want: this is just what I had. I also had a litre of chicken broth, a 14oz can diced tomatoes, a 244g package of wild rice, a large sweet onion, and some pearl barley.
Photography tip: never photograph food in the full harsh light of the afternoon sun.
I also grabbed a healthy handful of pre-mixed Italian seasoning. While I was grabbing these things I preheated my oven to 350°F.
Clearly I am not very good at photography.
So I cut the onion in half and because it was so huge I only diced up half of it.
Or in following my own instructions.
More’s the pity.
On to my grains.
I wanted about two cups of the grains so that I could use all 4 cups of my chicken broth.
There was some math that needed to be done – I only hoped the juice from the tomatoes didn’t make things mushy.
So first I softened the onions in my big skillet with some butter and olive oil.
Then I tipped in the tomatoes and the broth.
Then the uncooked grains.
I added a tablespoon or two of the Italian seasoning. Then I gave it a good stir.
Then I slid in the chicken thighs so they were as on the top as possible. I could definitely have doubled the amount of chicken I used, considering how much leftover rice I had.
Then I hucked the whole thing in the oven for about an hour. You don’t even need to stir it.
And then this gorgeousness was born. Holy moly is it good!
This probably should be a Wingin’ it Wednesday kind of post but it’s so good I simply can’t wait that long. This came out of the fact that I had been remiss in cleaning our refrigerator and there were some sad looking contents that really needed to be dealt with.
It also makes for a super quick dinner because most of the ingredients just need to be heated up and then you’re set.
Start by cooking up (or heating up) some rice. I’m using brown rice here because that’s the sum total of rice I had in my house but you can use whatever you want.
Then I chopped some stuff: onions, green onions …
Some cold Italian sausages we’d barbecued the night before …
And some very sorry-looking tomatoes.
Then I drained and rinsed a can of black beans. You can use any kind of bean you like – just make sure they’re not dried or that would taste bad.
Then I heated up some oil and butter in my big cast iron skillet and cooked the onions until they were translucent and smelled amazing.
Added in some garlic and the beans and gave that a stir.
Then I chucked in the rest of the stuff.
Added a wee sprinkling of ground chipotle.
And a few dollops of sweet salsa (this stuff has mangos in it and I love it).
Then I stirred it all around until everything was soft and amazing.
And then served it over rice with a dollop of sour cream.
The cilantro garnish is growing on my table. I hope it will flourish in the backyard once it gets warmer.
This was so good I don’t want to wait until I clean the fridge again to make it once more!
Don’t be too weirded out by that title. I mean, stuffed ham is a little odd, but it’s doable. The Pie and I were planning a lazy Easter supper and he had hauled a small pre-cooked ham out of the freezer. But I wanted to try something a bit different so I thought, why does no one stuff hams like they do turkeys? So I gave it some thought, and I did some research.
There are stuffed ham recipes involving complex cutting of grooves and bread crumbs and lots of work – usually for a larger, on-the-bone type of ham. But I wanted to be lazy and innovative all at the same time.
So first I thawed out about half a package of frozen spinach (ended up being about 150g). I squeezed out the extra water and chucked it in a bowl.
Then I added 1 package plain cream cheese (250g). It was previously frozen so that’s why it’s all crumbly like that.
And some salt and pepper.
Then I realized it was in too small of a bowl so I moved it.
And gave it a good stirring.
Now here I have my pre-cooked ham.
I took a paring knife to it and cut it in a spiral from the cut side (the knife didn’t go all the way through).
Then. Well, then I stuffed it with my cream cheese mixture. It was not as easy as I thought it would be.
I plopped the remainder on the cut side top.
Wrapped it in tin foil, and baked it at 350°F for about an hour, until the internal temperature was about 145°F. I ended up unwrapping the aluminum foil after a while because it was doing too good a job of insulating the ham.
Then the question was, how do you carve it?
I went with plain slices.
Despite it being a total madcap experiment, it was really good!
I made this pork roast for a recent dinner party and it turned out so perfectly I’m still thinking about it several days later. Start with a boneless pork loin roast. This one is a little over 1kg (I was serving 6 people at the dinner). Unwrap that and give it a quick rinse, then set it on a plate for a second.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 8 cloves minced garlic, a bunch of coarsely chopped rosemary leaves (I used half fresh and half dried because I’m defenestrating my rosemary plant too quickly these days), 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
This is your delightfully garlicky marinade.
Rub it into the flesh and fat of your pork loin (don’t be shy – get it in there good), then shove the meat into a sealed plastic bag and chuck that in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.
Bring the pork out of the fridge at least half an hour before you’re ready to cook it. Preheat your oven to 400°F and scrape most of the marinade off the meat. I cut the little strings as well while I was at it.
Grab a cast-iron skillet and set it on a burner at high heat. Tip in about 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat that until it starts to shimmer. Carefully place your pork into the skillet and cook it, rotating carefully, until it’s brown on all sides.
This should take about 5-10 minutes. You may want to turn your fan on as it can smoke a bit as the garlic and rosemary burn in the oil.
Shove the whole skillet into the oven with the pork lying fat-side-up and roast for 45 minutes or so, until the internal temperature reaches 135°F. Let the roast rest for about 15 minutes before slicing it into deliciously tender slices.
We served ours with a dollop of red pepper jelly and it made the night!
