This is really quick and easy, and you'll pretty much always have the ingredients on hand. Unfortunately, all my measurements are wild guesses since it's something I just make. This makes 2-3 servings. I usually have chicken or shrimp with this but you can opt out of the meat.
1.5 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp grated ginger
Juice of 1/2 lime, plus another half lime on the side
1 egg
1 tsp sesame oil
handful peanuts
pinch black pepper
1 zucchini
4 mushrooms
cooked pieces of chicken or shrimp, if you want
5 baby carrots
1.5 serving rice noodles or spaghetti
1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
Green onion
1. While your pasta cooks, and the chicken/shrimp if you so choose, slice zucchini into half moons, slice mushrooms, grate baby carrots, (finely) grate ginger, scramble the egg in a small bowl, and mince garlic. Be sure to follow the directions on the package well if you're using rice noodles as to not over- or under-cook.
2. Remove your chicken or shrimp from the pan, put it aside with your noodles. Add canola oil to your pan on medium-low heat. After a couple minutes, add your shredded carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini. Once they're a little soft, add the ginger, garlic, and black pepper. Once you can start to smell the ginger and garlic cooking, add your your egg and do your best to scramble it so it doesn't just attach to the veggies even though some will.
3. Once the egg is cooked, add to the pan the sesame oil, lime juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Stir until well combined, add your chicken/shrimp to the pan, let it simmer for a minute while you quickly slice up the green onion and peanuts. Let it cook for about 3 minutes, stirring semi-often.
4. Add in the cooked noodles and combine. Add most of the peanuts to the mix and combine it all, mixing evenly.
5. Serve into bowls, top with green onions and leftover peanuts. Squeeze more lime juice on top if you like.
Enjoy!
Monday, 23 January 2017
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
One pan salmon
God I'm really into this one-pan meal thing! It makes life SO EASY! I was freaking out because I was running low on food when I discovered that I still had two salmon fillets in my freezer. It was like a blessing! Now, these are the baking time and temp for a specific frozen salmon brand, I can't speak for other brands (it's a blue package with a zip-top, and 10 individually wrapped fillets inside the bag)
1 cup of baby carrots
1 medium potato (yellow, red, or white)
1 frozen salmon fillet
A generous sprinkle of salt
Also a generous sprinkle of pepper
A little less than a tbsp of canola or light olive oil
2 sprigs of thyme (fresh is best)
About a tsp of honey
1. Preheat oven to 450f, cut potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes and slice baby carrots in half lengthwise
2. Put them together in a bowl and add about half a tbsp of the oil to the bowl, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss or mix to coat evenly.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (and aluminum foil on the very bottom if you're anti-cleaning like me)
4. Add carrots and potatoes to the tray in a single layer, leaving a gap in the middle for your salmon
5. Place frozen salmon in the middle, skin side down. Rub the rest of the oil on the salmon. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top, rub it in if you feel so inclined. Sprinkle thyme leaves on it, and in smalllll trickle-like ribbons top the salmon with honey. You won't be rubbing this in because it'll start to freeze on contact and you'll mess up your seasonings, so try to coat it evenly with thin back-and-forth ribbons.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Let rest for 2.
1 cup of baby carrots
1 medium potato (yellow, red, or white)
1 frozen salmon fillet
A generous sprinkle of salt
Also a generous sprinkle of pepper
A little less than a tbsp of canola or light olive oil
2 sprigs of thyme (fresh is best)
About a tsp of honey
1. Preheat oven to 450f, cut potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes and slice baby carrots in half lengthwise
2. Put them together in a bowl and add about half a tbsp of the oil to the bowl, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss or mix to coat evenly.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (and aluminum foil on the very bottom if you're anti-cleaning like me)
4. Add carrots and potatoes to the tray in a single layer, leaving a gap in the middle for your salmon
5. Place frozen salmon in the middle, skin side down. Rub the rest of the oil on the salmon. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top, rub it in if you feel so inclined. Sprinkle thyme leaves on it, and in smalllll trickle-like ribbons top the salmon with honey. You won't be rubbing this in because it'll start to freeze on contact and you'll mess up your seasonings, so try to coat it evenly with thin back-and-forth ribbons.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Let rest for 2.
Monday, 22 February 2016
One pan pork chops!
So I've recently jumped on the one-pan meal bandwagon. This makes my life so easy, especially now that I'm single which means 1 night of cooking means about 3 meals. Yeah they're all the same 3 days in a row but I'm not too stressed when it comes to variation day-to-day if I'm saving money at the same time. This is a reaalllyy freakin' basic recipe, feel free to add any other spices you want.
- A solid handful or two of green beans, tipped and tailed
- 3-4 cups of mini red potatoes, halved or third-ed depending on size
- 4-6 Boneless pork chops
- 1.5 tbsp olive or canola or vegetable oil
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1. Set oven to 400f
2. Tip and tail your beans, cut your potatoes. Add to a medium bowl with 1/5 the oil. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss, add to an aluminum or parchment paper lined cookie sheet
3. Add pork chops to a bowl (ideally, have them brined beforehand and patted dry), add the other half of your oil. Toss to coat the chops.
4. Spread a space in the beans and potatoes for your first pork chop, repeat for your other 3-5 pork chops. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Bake for 22-30 minutes. Less time if they're the thin-sliced chops.
6. Serve!
- A solid handful or two of green beans, tipped and tailed
- 3-4 cups of mini red potatoes, halved or third-ed depending on size
- 4-6 Boneless pork chops
- 1.5 tbsp olive or canola or vegetable oil
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1. Set oven to 400f
2. Tip and tail your beans, cut your potatoes. Add to a medium bowl with 1/5 the oil. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss, add to an aluminum or parchment paper lined cookie sheet
3. Add pork chops to a bowl (ideally, have them brined beforehand and patted dry), add the other half of your oil. Toss to coat the chops.
4. Spread a space in the beans and potatoes for your first pork chop, repeat for your other 3-5 pork chops. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Bake for 22-30 minutes. Less time if they're the thin-sliced chops.
6. Serve!
Sunday, 20 December 2015
Protein and potassium breakfast bowl
Literally one of my easiest breakfasts. As mentioned a few posts ago, my potassium drops pretty easily, so I needed to get it back up again. Yesterday I stuffed half a sweet potato with scrambled eggs and cheese and tomatoes and mushrooms. Delicious, but filling, and I wasn't in the mood for cheese.
- 1 egg
- 1/2 leftover sweet potato
- butter
- salt
- pepper
1. Heat a non-stick pan, ideally no added butter or oil. If it needs it, only a little bit.
2. Microwave your leftover sweet potato until it's warm, verging on hot, about one minute
3. Fry your egg, try not to pierce the yolk. Lightly sprinkle some salt and pepper on the egg
4. Scoop the sweet potato out of the skin into a bowl. Add about a tsp of butter and mash it up. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and combine it all.
5. Plop the egg on top of the sweet potato
6. Enjoy.
- 1 egg
- 1/2 leftover sweet potato
- butter
- salt
- pepper
1. Heat a non-stick pan, ideally no added butter or oil. If it needs it, only a little bit.
2. Microwave your leftover sweet potato until it's warm, verging on hot, about one minute
3. Fry your egg, try not to pierce the yolk. Lightly sprinkle some salt and pepper on the egg
4. Scoop the sweet potato out of the skin into a bowl. Add about a tsp of butter and mash it up. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and combine it all.
5. Plop the egg on top of the sweet potato
6. Enjoy.
Friday, 4 December 2015
Ricotta stuffed chicken breasts
So I bought everything I needed to make one recipe, finally caving and getting both the rolls royce of the chicken, the breasts, and fancy schmancy cheese, ricotta. Only problem was, a key ingredient in this recipe was fresh basil and the grocery store only had one package.. and it was brown. I went day after day after day looking for fresh basil and they'd always be out. Eventually I gave up after 5 trips and started looking for other recipe ideas to use the chicken and ricotta before they went bad. I decided on picking a couple parts from different recipes and skipped (okay, shuffled, I was tired but really excited) to the grocery store straight after placement. Of course, as my life usually goes, today the grocery store had fresh basil so I bought it anyway. I got home, put things in the fridge because it was a little too early to make dinner, went to my bed, put on netflix, wrapped my arms around my sleeping kitty, and promptly passed out for three hours. Anyway, long story short, this recipe is a bunch of little pieces of other recipes and I love it and I'm proud of it and I knew it would be worth starting to cook at 8:30 pm. It was so flavorful and moist, I want it again tomorrow! Wait... I have leftovers, I will have it tomorrow!
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1/4-1/2 cup of ricotta
- A couple leaves of fresh basil if you can get your hands on it, dry rubbed basil will work too I guess
- 3 tbsp flour
- Fresh or dry thyme, I had fresh, about 3/4 tsp for dry, and a little over 1 tsp for fresh
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dry
- 1 tsp rosemary, dry, crumbled with your fingers (after measuring)
- Salt + pepper
- Butter (about 1/2 tbsp)
- about 1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries. If you're using frozen, it'll take a little bit longer but they'll be sweeter on the inside
- 1/2 cup white wine
1. Cut the tenders or "loose" parts off your chicken breasts. Using a small but sharp knife, cut a pocket in the chicken breasts. If you don't know how, here's a video.
2. Chop up the basil leaves, throw them in a bowl with the ricotta and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Mix it all up. Be careful with this part because it's hard, since the ricotta is very squishy. Open up the chicken-pocket using a few fingers on one hand, and take little scoops of the ricotta mix and stuff it in as far as you can until it's loaded up. Repeat with the other breasts, making more of the ricotta mix if necessary. Seal the openings with a toothpick or, if you're like me and can't remember to pick up toothpicks to save your life, pieces of spaghetti noodles.
3. While your butter melts in the pan over medium heat combine thyme, oregano, crumbled rosemary, a couple pinches of salt and pepper, and flour in a shallow + wide bowl. Coat each breast in the mix and put them in the hot pan. Cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until golden. Flip and cook covered for 5 minutes, uncovered for another 5. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, and transfer to a plate/dish and cover to keep warm.
4. Add a little tiny bit more butter to the pan, just a little sliver, and then (once butter is melted) slowly add the wine. Scrape + mix in anything that got stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add blueberries and cook until thickened and some of the blueberries have burst.
5. Plate the chicken and cover with blueberry sauce.
I served it with roasted garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes. and parmesan roasted brussel sprouts.
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1/4-1/2 cup of ricotta
- A couple leaves of fresh basil if you can get your hands on it, dry rubbed basil will work too I guess
- 3 tbsp flour
- Fresh or dry thyme, I had fresh, about 3/4 tsp for dry, and a little over 1 tsp for fresh
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dry
- 1 tsp rosemary, dry, crumbled with your fingers (after measuring)
- Salt + pepper
- Butter (about 1/2 tbsp)
- about 1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries. If you're using frozen, it'll take a little bit longer but they'll be sweeter on the inside
- 1/2 cup white wine
1. Cut the tenders or "loose" parts off your chicken breasts. Using a small but sharp knife, cut a pocket in the chicken breasts. If you don't know how, here's a video.
2. Chop up the basil leaves, throw them in a bowl with the ricotta and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Mix it all up. Be careful with this part because it's hard, since the ricotta is very squishy. Open up the chicken-pocket using a few fingers on one hand, and take little scoops of the ricotta mix and stuff it in as far as you can until it's loaded up. Repeat with the other breasts, making more of the ricotta mix if necessary. Seal the openings with a toothpick or, if you're like me and can't remember to pick up toothpicks to save your life, pieces of spaghetti noodles.
3. While your butter melts in the pan over medium heat combine thyme, oregano, crumbled rosemary, a couple pinches of salt and pepper, and flour in a shallow + wide bowl. Coat each breast in the mix and put them in the hot pan. Cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until golden. Flip and cook covered for 5 minutes, uncovered for another 5. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, and transfer to a plate/dish and cover to keep warm.
4. Add a little tiny bit more butter to the pan, just a little sliver, and then (once butter is melted) slowly add the wine. Scrape + mix in anything that got stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add blueberries and cook until thickened and some of the blueberries have burst.
5. Plate the chicken and cover with blueberry sauce.
I served it with roasted garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes. and parmesan roasted brussel sprouts.
Sunday, 15 November 2015
Sweet potato fries
Recently, for about two months, I'd feel like my heart was fluttering or beating way too fast, more often than I was comfortable with. Somehow in my "Working with children & adolescents" class we got on the topic of heart palpitations sometimes being caused by wonky electrolytes, and electrolytes being something involving potassium and sodium, and in that moment I remembered a while ago (3-4 years ago) my nephrologist told me that my potassium levels were very low. I tried upping my potassium intake and bam! Haven't had any fluttering or pounding in a month and a half. Now, I like bananas, but I'm really not their biggest fan, and I certainly can't stuff dark chocolate in my face constantly. After a bit of googling, it came to my attention that sweet potatoes are an excellent source of potassium. Of course I immediately went out, bought two small sweet potatoes, put them in my produce drawer planning to make sweet potato pancakes the next morning, and promptly forgot all about them for two weeks. Guess it doesn't help that I don't want sweet potato pancakes like ever, and my boyfriend doesn't like sweet potato fries. He went away for the weekend, my roommate said something about sweet potatoes, and that night we enjoyed a lovely dinner with veggies, sweet potato fries, and chicken thighs!
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1.5 tbsp canola oil
- 1-2 tsp of salt
- a few "shakes" or "twists" of pepper
- a pinch of smoked paprika
1. Heat oven to 400f
2. Peel the sweet potatoes (really peel them, don't stop at the yellow, stop when you see the sweet-potato orange) and cut them into half-inch wide fries.
3. Add everything to a bowl and mix, making sure everything is covered and evenly spread
4. Lay the fries down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Cook for 30 minutes
Serve this with ketchup, mayo, chipotle mayo, or nothing!
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1.5 tbsp canola oil
- 1-2 tsp of salt
- a few "shakes" or "twists" of pepper
- a pinch of smoked paprika
1. Heat oven to 400f
2. Peel the sweet potatoes (really peel them, don't stop at the yellow, stop when you see the sweet-potato orange) and cut them into half-inch wide fries.
3. Add everything to a bowl and mix, making sure everything is covered and evenly spread
4. Lay the fries down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Cook for 30 minutes
Serve this with ketchup, mayo, chipotle mayo, or nothing!
Thursday, 1 October 2015
Mushroom pork
Just on a quick note, this is a recipe I've made quite a few times very casually, so I don't have all perfect measurements but I will do my best <3
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 tbsp (maybe more if you're feelin it) sour cream
1 splash of milk
2 large pork chops (usually these ones have the bone in them) or 4 small/medium
salt and pepper
a little bit of margarine or butter or oil
(Note - I prefer to brine my pork, I find it helps it stay nice and tender. I usually do a couple peeled and crushed cloves of garlic, a tbsp of salt, a tbsp of brown sugar, and maybe a little squirt of lemon juice with enough water in a bowl or container to cover the pork chops and leave them for at least one hour)
1. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Pre-heat oven to 350f.
2. Pat down with paper towel and add pork chops to the pan once butter is melted and sizzling or your oil is doing that shimmery thing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on one side only. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes for boneless, 5 minutes for bone in.
3. Combine the milk, soup, and sour cream in a bowl - try to smooth out any lumps but don't get too stressed over it.
4. Spread a layer of the soup mix in a glass baking dish, whatever size you think will fit your chops even if they rest on top of each other a bit. Put the pork chops on top of that layer and spread the rest over top of them - if they overlap a little, put some between them too so you don't miss an inch of exposed pork.
5. Cook for 50 minutes to an hour, covered by tin foil. If you feel like it, remove the tin foil for the last 10 minutes
6. Serve over/with rice or mashed potatoes! I've done both and I love it. Favourite veggie to serve with this is green beans.
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 tbsp (maybe more if you're feelin it) sour cream
1 splash of milk
2 large pork chops (usually these ones have the bone in them) or 4 small/medium
salt and pepper
a little bit of margarine or butter or oil
(Note - I prefer to brine my pork, I find it helps it stay nice and tender. I usually do a couple peeled and crushed cloves of garlic, a tbsp of salt, a tbsp of brown sugar, and maybe a little squirt of lemon juice with enough water in a bowl or container to cover the pork chops and leave them for at least one hour)
1. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Pre-heat oven to 350f.
2. Pat down with paper towel and add pork chops to the pan once butter is melted and sizzling or your oil is doing that shimmery thing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on one side only. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes for boneless, 5 minutes for bone in.
3. Combine the milk, soup, and sour cream in a bowl - try to smooth out any lumps but don't get too stressed over it.
4. Spread a layer of the soup mix in a glass baking dish, whatever size you think will fit your chops even if they rest on top of each other a bit. Put the pork chops on top of that layer and spread the rest over top of them - if they overlap a little, put some between them too so you don't miss an inch of exposed pork.
5. Cook for 50 minutes to an hour, covered by tin foil. If you feel like it, remove the tin foil for the last 10 minutes
6. Serve over/with rice or mashed potatoes! I've done both and I love it. Favourite veggie to serve with this is green beans.
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| So... much... rice. I'm terrible at measuring normal rice after months of just being lazy and using minute rice. |
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