Food – Page 4

Apr 07 2012

How to grow herbs like a boss

Guys, it is getting scary. I’m becoming more and more domesticated by the day. This time I’m growing herbs. I have basil, parsley, oregano and chives growing.

It all started back in February after I moved back to Yellowknife and couldn’t find any Tarragon in the grocery store. Actually I couldn’t find much, the section for fresh herds and spice was minimal at best. Just the basic herbs could be found, for a cost.

I was kind of annoyed about the stock each store had. Yes, I realize where we live but I don’t see fresh herbs any different from many fruits or vegetables. I suppose the demand just isn’t there for the herbs so they are not brought it regularly.

My conclusion to this predicament was to grow my own. I went to the local Canadian Tire found a planter tray and seeds of various herbs. I actually couldn’t find the some of the seeds I really wanted – tarragon – but got the common ones.

That afternoon in February I planted those seeds into the tray, watered them and let them sit in a warm place.

Watering the Herbs

planting the herb seeds

Over time I would check on them, water them and move them around the house into the warm places. Sometimes they would be in the basement of the house by the woodstove or during the day on a window with sunlight beating down.

herbs labeled

Eventually they needed to be moved in to proper planters so they could continue grow and flourish. The extend hours of light a day also seemed to help.

basil plant

This is the first time I have ever done something like this so I wasn’t without help from an experienced green thumb. I started to notice certain aspects of the process. As the herbs grow they take in more and more water, obviously. As well they need more room to grow so transplanting them was a must.

As for as I’m aware all of my herbs are growing normally and successfully so I’m not sure what I could do differently. I planted more seeds this and will see how the addition of more sunlight affects them. Wish me luck.

Feb 25 2012

The Best Breakfast Muffins to Make

My Saturday morning started early when I woke up at 7am because my internal clock does not believe in sleeping in. So because I was awake I wanted to make sure I did something productive, which normally results in a big egg sandwich. This time though I wanted to try something different.

Ever since I got back to Yellowknife, my friend Frankie has made these amazing breakfast muffins at the Gourmet Cup. The muffins are jammed packed with bacon, cheese and onions, and I grab one almost every morning on my way to work. The recipe originated from another mutual friend from Yellowknife, Amy. Amy was kind enough to share it was me and some other Twitter folks, so I want to make sure she gets the credit for this amazing creation.

Here is what you need:

2 cups of all purpose flour
1tbsp baking powder
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1tbsp Italian spice
1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups shredded cheese
1/3 cup crumbled cooked bacon

1 cup milk
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 large eggs
1 tsp corn syrup

*note: I did add the Italian Spice to the muffin recipe after a recommendation from Frankie. It adds a little extra savory taste to the finished product.

The first thing I did was get everything prepped, pulled out of the cupboards and have the oven preheating at 400°F. I diced up the bacon and lightly pan-fried it. I did the same with the onion. I should note also that I would normally use all Green Onion, but ran out so I just a white onion, which I sautéed a little in the same pan of the bacon.

Next step was to mix the floor, baking powder, sugar, mustard powder, salt and Italian spice.

Once that mixture was mixed together I added most of shredded cheese and diced bacon to the floor mixture.

In a separate bowl I mixed together the milk, canola oil, onions, eggs and corn syrup.

Both bowls of ingredients were mixed at this point, so I then mixed them together. The batter is thick and heavy. I mixed it together just until all the floor was mixed.

Now, Amy’s recipe calls for lining a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, but since I didn’t have any I just sprayed it with PAM.

Once the batter was evenly dispersed into all the muffin cups, I placed it in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

I pulled them out at about 19 minutes and added the rest of the cheese to the tops and stuck them back in for 30 second.

Once they were out of the oven for five minutes they all slid right out of the tin. It was like perfection.

They were ready to be devoured, which I did, but like Amy recommended they will make for perfect on the go mornings. I also plan on freezing them and eating when needed.

Now if there ever a recipe that should be shared on Pinterest, this would be it. Enjoy

Jan 09 2012

What I just ate: Butterflied Steak and Potatoes

I’ll make this quick because I’m tired and I want to write this while it is fresh in my mind. This is what I cooked for supper tonight. It is in fact I teased everyone with on Facebook. I cooked it for myself and friend and former co-worker Megan.

The Meat from top to bottom:

A Portobello Mushroom, swiped clean and grilled will the grill was heating up on high. Put aside was charred on both sides.
Butterflied an average steak, rubbed in chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Added a bit of Olive Oil. Grilled for 4 mins on the grill, flipping every minute for medium.
French loaf cut on an angle and then in half. Place on grilled to heat up and flatten.

I really enjoyed this, it was amazing. It had taste and flavour. It wasn’t not dried out. What I did find was that the french loaf was a little too charred and that taste overwhelmed the steak. The mushroom as got cold quickly, too quickly for my eating speed. I would probably reheat before serving.

The Potatoes and all that jazz:

Boil baby potatoes for 15 mins or until soft.
Mix together cottage cheese and lemon juice for dressing. Put in bowl will still warm potatoes and mix around.
Add in BACON bits and chives to add even more amazing flavour.

These potatoes blew my mind, they were great and not just because of the bacon. I recipe called for yogurt, but I used cottage cheese instead and I think it was for the best. Will definitely do again.

Both recipes are from Jamie’s Food Revolution. I would do again with minor adjustments. Thoughts?

Jan 08 2012

For the love of cookbooks!

I need to stop buying them, I have enough now. I need to start cooking. Yet every time I go into the book store I stop in the cooking section and drool. I want this one, this one too, oh and this one!

Can’t I have them all!

I have been on a Jamie Oliver kick lately and want to complete my set of his books. So far I have Jamie’s Kitchen, Jamie Oliver’s Food Escape and Jamie’s Food Revolution. The ones I am wanting now are Meals in Minutes, which I find very useful, and Cook with Jamie. Then I think I should stop buying his stuff.

I appreciate Jamie’s books more than Gordon Ramsey’s because I think I subconsciously don’t like Ramsey because of his attitude on some of his TV shows. I’ve always seen Jamie as a happy-go-lucky cook. That being said I do have one of Ramsey’s books and it is quite good.

Speaking of British cooks though, here is something I have noticed. They don’t use a lot of beef. Here in Canada we have a lot of beef and I tend to think it is one of the most common meats to use here, but that isn’t the case across the pond. They use lamb and more seafood – I live in Northern Canada there isn’t much seafood here – which is stuff I don’t see myself cooking on an average day.

So my next steps, after going through all the books I now have, are to try to find some more “Canadian” cook’s with book. I have a Guy Fieri book, but he is a little extreme, I do like him though, so I am wondering about Michael Smith. I know he isn’t Canadian, but he might be more on my level.

Two questions for you now: Who is your favourite Chef? and What is your favourite cookbook?

Dec 26 2011

Christmas Morning Breakfast Tradition

It is no secret I like to cook. I could do it all day if I had a good idea of what I was doing. So I have my own Christmas tradition, and that is to cook Christmas morning breakfast for the family. It has gone on now for about 4 years and I don’t plan on stopping unless I’m not here. Each year and I get fancier and fancier and try to improve.

Last year I had come up with the brilliant idea of Eggnog French Toast and it was good. So this year I wanted to hit it out of the park – which I didn’t – and found a recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Eggnog French Toast

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggnog-french-toast-2/

I’ll spare you the details of how to make it and just let you know, using the proper bread is essential. I didn’t, instead used fresh normal sliced toast and that failed. They came out to soggy and didn’t cook well. The trick is to use french bread that is stale or semi-stale, so it still holds it form when it the egg is cooking. Nevertheless though they still tasted great.

Creamy Cheese Scrambled Eggs

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-cheesy-scrambled-eggs-with-basil/

Scrambled Eggs are easy to make, a little milk in with the eggs, salt, pepper and done. They are hard to screw up unless you cook them too long. I wanted something different though, something unique. So again I hit up AllRecipes.com and found these. I had never made them with Sour Cream before, but I thought it as it still was a dairy product, the eggs would be fine, and they was. They turned out fine and tasted good, although the texture was different from regular scrambled eggs. These seemed to crumble more and I believe that is due to the Sour Cream. Good though.

The Meat

Of course no meal with KyleWith would be complete without meat. This is nothing special though. In a fry pan I just cooked up 1lb 1/2 of bacon and some breakfast sausages.

That is my Christmas morning tradition, after the family gathers to exchange gifts of course. What Christmas Day traditions do you have?