The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I have been making these chocolate chip cookies forever...they are sooo good straight out of the oven, then they get super crispy and are divine when cooled, THEN they are super good if you freeze them as well! So diverse these cookies are!

In a mixer add 1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar, 1/2 Cup White Sugar, 1 While Egg plus 1 egg yolk, 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract and 3/4 Cup Melted Butter. The melted butter part is why I love this recipe...no waiting for softened butter.

 Turn your mixer on high and combine until it starts to slightly lighten in colour..about 2 minutes.

Add your Dry Ingredients. 2 Cups Unbleached Flour, 1 Tsp Baking Soda and a 1/2 Tsp Salt. Turn your mixer on low to JUST combine the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not over mix.

 With a spatula add your Chocolate Chips (1 Cup) and any other nuts or dried fruits. I added 1/4 cup of chopped pecans to this batch!

 Spoon out balls of the cookie dough onto a non-greased baking sheet. These cookies do spread quite a bit so make sure to leave a couple of inches between each dollop. Bake for 15-17 Minutes at 325F or until the cookies start to slightly brown around the edges.

Allow to slightly cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Or just eat them warm out of the oven with a big glass of milk!

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Tacos

This meal is brought to you by forgetting to defrost meat for supper! This meal was made up on the spot with whatever was not frozen in the fridge. It turns out that it was pretty darn delicious, super healthy...and pretty easy to put together!

 Cube 1 sweet potato and toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin. Roast in a 375F oven until cooked through (about 30 Mins)

 Meanwhile take your wraps (I used Sun Dried Tomato Vegan Wraps) and top with whatever Burrito/Taco topping you like or have on hand. I used Sour Cream, Guacamole, Corn and Green Peppers.

 Top your Taco with your Quinoa and Sweet Potato's.

Garnish with Cilantro and voila! Super easy tacos when your in a pinch!

Spaghetti Squash au Gratin

I discovered a version of this on Pinterest the other day. And since Spaghetti Squash has become a staple in my diet..I decided to treat myself by making it in a more unhealthier version. And boy was I ever happy I did. Spaghetti squash can be on the bland side so this recipe was awesome for adding in all that cheesy yummy flavour to it!
Make this tonight...you will not be disappointed!

Take your squash and pierce it all over with your fork.  Place on a pan in the oven at 350F until the squash is soft to the touch. This was a small squash and I roasted it for about 40 Minutes. Set this aside to cool a bit.

 I a saucepan add 1 Thinly sliced onion to 2 Tbsp of butter. Season with Salt, Pepper a pinch of Hot Red Pepper Flakes and 1/2 Tsp dried Thyme. Saute on Medium for a few minutes.

 Once the onions become translucent add about 2 minced cloves of garlic. Lower the heat and continue cooking until the onions are cooked through.

 Now back to the squash. It should have cooled enough so that you can handle it. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds in the middle. With a fork start scraping all the flesh out.

 Remove your onion mixture from the heat and add all the scraped out squash plus 1/2 Cup Sour Cream and 1/2 Cup grated cheddar Cheese.Mix thoroughly to combine.

 Pour the mixture out into an ovenproof dish and top the mixture with more cheddar cheese. Bake in a 350F oven for about 20 Minutes.

A lovely accompaniment to my dinner!

Weeknight Chicken Couscous bowl!

This past week has been crazy busy...and the weather has been less than inspiring to do anything but lounge around in pj's and catch up on some bad reality TV. When these slumps come around we make what we like to call "Chicken Bowls". We tend to always have some cooked chicken breasts hanging around for salads and sandwiches...and also for this dinner too!

Fill your bowl with some leftover grain...in my case we had leftover Israeli couscous. I have also used Rice, Brown Rice, regular couscous and quinoa. All are delish!

 Take some of your cooked chicken and roughly chop it up. Throw a bunch in the bowl.

 Add some Black Beans and Corn

 Top with Sliced Avocado, Chopped Green Onion and some shredded Old White Cheddar Cheese.

 Then I douse the whole bowl in my favourite Mexican hot sauce! You don't need it...but I like it!

Garnish with fresh lime wedges to squeeze over the whole bowl just before serving. Voila! Chicken Bowls! Perfect for those I don't wanna cook Thursdays!

Stuffing! Why do we only make this during the holidays?

I swear...Stuffing is delicious...why only make it once or twice a year?
This stuffing recipe has a few non traditional elements to it...which ends up making it super decadent!!

I start off with 2 links of Spanish Choritzo, chopped! Throw this into a heavy bottomed pot and start rendering the fat. (Medium Heat)

 After about 5 minutes of cooking the choritzo I add 1 Cup each of Chopped Onion and Celery. Stir this up and let the onions start to brown.

 Next add 1 1/2 Cups sliced mushrooms.

 Once the mushrooms are cooked through I add 3 Cloves Minced Garlic and about 3 Tbsp of butter.

 Last step, add about 5 Cups of chopped stuffing bread, 1 Cup chopped pecans, 3 Tsp minced fresh sage, 1 Tsp Savory and 1 Tsp chopped thyme. Cover this mixture in about 1 cup of turkey broth (just boil the giblets and neck that come with the turkey in water for about 25 minutes...voila...turkey broth) and stir to combine...add salt and pepper at this point to your liking. The mixture should be wet but not soupy. Depending on the bread you use you may want to only add small amounts of the broth at a time and mix until you get your desired texture for stuffing.

 Stuff your turkey! If you are not stuffing the turkey and cooking the stuffing on the side...add about 1/2 cup more broth to moisten it a tad more.

Realllllly bad picture of the stuffing when it came out of the bird. Sorry...there were about 6 people in my tiny kitchen at this time!

Yeah this is late....but just in time for my American Readers!

I know I promised my recipes for my thanksgiving dinner...and they are coming...today actually. So Canadian readers, save this for Christmas...US readers...I got you just in time! This first post is really 2 recipes in one. First is my recipe for homemade veggie stock and second is the brine for my Turkey. I make the veggie stock from scratch for my brine because A) I have lots of veggie scraps when I am prepping for a large dinner and B) cause its excellent to have in the fridge!

In a giant dutch oven add all your veggie scraps (Carrot shavings and some carrots, celery leaves and celery stalks, Onions sliced in half with skins and all, 5 Cloves of garlic smashed, skins too, 5 Tomato's whole, a couple tbsp of Black Pepper whole, 3 Bay Leaves, a huge handful of fresh parsley, some fresh rosemary and some fresh thyme) Then fill up the dutch oven with water until all the vegetables are covered and add a generous dose of sea salt. There is no measuring with this...just dump handfuls of everything until the pot is full!

 Let this simmer on low for about 4 hours....letting all the flavours of the vegetables get acquainted and yummy. Once cooked let this come to room temperature and strain through a colander.

 In a large food grade container (I used my cooler!) add all of the cooled veggie stock, 2 Cups Sea Salt, a handful of each Fresh Sage and Thyme. Mix until all combined.

 Add the Turkey to the container and cover it in Ice. Close and keep in a cool place overnight (in our case we kept it outside...it was freeeeeezing up here!

 When you are ready to cook the turkey the next day, remove it from the cooler and pat it dry. Rub the skin with softened butter and season with salt and pepper.

 Stuff your turkey!!! (Stuffing recipe to come next!) Your Turkey is ready to bake!!

At about the half way point I usually cover the bird in strips of bacon for even extra flavour...Keeps the breast moist and gives the stuffing that little extra salty bacony goodness that it needs!!

Next up...Stuffing!!!

 

I've been busy....

I've been busy...hense the bad posting patterns...but its been busy cooking!!
Lots of new recipes coming up as well as some staples that everyone should have!!

This past weekend we celebrated Canadian thanksgiving. It was a weekend of lots of butter, cream and fat...the good stuff really. We had a meal at my in-laws home on the lake, which was wonderful since we got to see the beautiful fall colours and a lovely sunset despite the bad weather most of the day:

Bliss!

But after coming home from the lake house I needed to roll up my sleeves and cook until I couldn't feel my hands anymore. Obviously I am being wayy over dramatic...but it was a serious amount of food! Recipes to follow over the next few weeks, in the meantime here is a photo montage to get you salivating!

Brined bacon covered turkey with dressing

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Shallots

 

Thyme Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Onions

Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Potatoes

I have made this dessert and posted it on the blog before...but it is always a crowd pleaser during the holidays and is always the first dessert to go! Plus its super pretty! Link below!

Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Tart!

 

I hope all my Canadian readers had a wonderful thanksgiving!