Beef Stroganoff with Yolk-Free Egg Noodles & Scallions

It's been a while since I've posted on here but things are so crazy these days that sometimes this blog is the furthest thing from my mind.  I always make a point of having some good homemade meals every week even when times are hectic so it's not that we've been eating poorly it's just that taking the photos & actually finding time to sit down and post them is becoming more and more difficult.

What's been keeping us so busy?

Well, I've mentioned that we've been working on some house projects lately and it's because ... 

WE"RE MOVING!

I can hardly believe it myself considering we just moved into our first home last February and we had no intentions on moving for at least 10 years.  An opportunity has come up that we just can't pass up.  Luke's parents will be moving out west to Calgary this summer and our plan is to buy their family home (where Luke grew up and we got married two years ago).  We both love the home and keep having to pinch ourselves that it's going to be ours come August.

More on the moving process to come but for tonight it was something new for us (well completely new to me but it had been a while since luke last had it) and totally comforting on this rainy, rainy night.

I've had the strangest craving for beef stroganoff lately and I can't explain where it's coming from.  I don't even like beef and haven't eaten it in over 15 years now (but I do eat beef gravy and cook with beef stock occasionally).  We had plenty of leftover mushrooms from this past weekend and I thought this was the perfect way to use them up.

Beef Stroganoff with Yolk-Free Egg Noodles & Scallions

for two

2 large handfuls of yolk-free egg noodles

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of flour

1 lb of stew beef (we used less because I didn't eat the beef but !lb should be good for two people)

4 scallions (green onion), chopped - whites & light green only

1 c low sodium beef broth

1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/4 c white wine

1/4 c sour cream (light or regular - whatever you prefer)

1 c mushrooms, sliced

s&p

Cut the beef into cubes, season with s&p.

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat & quickly brown the beef on all sides.

Push the beef to one side of the pan and cook the onion on the other until soft & fragrant.

Add the flour, stir for a few minutes & whisk in the beef broth.

Stir in the mustard & bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover & simmer for about an hour.

Boil the water for the egg noodles.

Cook the egg noodles until al dente, drain & set aside.

Remove the lid on the beef, stir in the wine, sour cream & mushrooms.

Let the sauce bubble for a few minutes, then season to taste with s&p.

Toss the noodles with a ladle of sauce & top with beef with some scallions as garnish.

Spicy Southwest Veggie Sweet Potato Pie

Last night, after coming home exhausted from a miserable (weather-wise) and long work-day, I wanted nothing more than a nice, healthy & homemade meal.  We managed to pull this meal together with things we had on hand and it was really satisfying.  Luke used Yukon gold potatoes because he doesn't like sweet potatoes but I think the slightly spicy sweet potatoes were the perfect topping to this southwest veggie pie.

Spicy Southwest Veggie Sweet Potato Pie

for one

1 small sweet potato, peeled & cubed

2 c chicken stock

1 cob of corn, kernels only

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

pinch of cumin

pinch of chipotle chili powder

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of cayenne

a small handful of stilton crumbles

1 tortilla, cut into 4 smaller circles

olive oil

s&p

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Boil the sweet potatoes in the chicken stock until fork-tender.

Drain, & mash with a pinch of cayenne pepper & smoked paprika, set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

Cook the onion & garlic for a few minutes or until fragrant then add in the corn, red & yellow bell peppers.

Season with cumin & chipotle chili powder, s&p.

Cook until lightly charred and cooked through.

When setting up the pies, either use individual pots or a small casserole dish (double this recipe for 2).  

Fill the bottom with the corn & pepper mixture, top with mashed sweet potatoes & top with a few crumbles of stilton.

Bake in the pre-heated oven until the stilton is melted and sweet potato is beginning to crisp.

In a small saucepan, heat a drizzle of vegetable oil. 

Cook the small tortillas until browned on both sides, season with sea salt & set aside on kitchen towel to drain..

Garnish the sweet potato pies with the crispy tortilla chips for scooping.

Roast Chicken with Almond-Currant Wild Rice & Asparagus

After another weekend of work and more work on the house, we needed a good Sunday supper.  The fence is so close to being finished, the basement is fully dry-walled/mudded/taped and I'm doing my best to keep the dogs out of the way & the dust around here to a minimum.

By roasting a chicken tonight, it'll make tomorrow night's chicken enchilladas much easier using the leftover chicken meat.  Even though I just finished this delicious roast chicken dinner I'm already thinking about just how good tomorrow nights meal will be...

Roast Chicken with Almond-Currant Wild Rice & Asparagus

1 whole chicken

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

s&p

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Bring the chicken up to room temperature in a roasting dish or cast iron pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the poultry seasoning, smoked paprika, cayenne with a pinch of s&p.

Rub the seasoning all over the chicken and season the cavity with s&p.

Roast in a pre-heated oven, basting with the natural juices occasionally until the meat reaches between 160-165 degrees fahrenheit. 

Set the cooked chicken on a butchers block, cover with foil and allow to rest.

Almond-Currant Wild Rice

1 c brown/wild rice mix

2 1/4 c chicken stock, divided

1/4 c currants

1/4 c sliced almonds

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Add in the rice, toss to coat in the butter & lightly toast before pouring in 2 cups of chicken stock.

Bring the stock to a boil, cover & simmer until liquid has absorbed and rice is cooked (about 50 minutes).

Bring the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken stock to a boil.

Pour the boiling stock over the currants and allow them to soak & plump up.

Melt the other 1/2 tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat & lightly toast the almonds.

Remove the toasted almonds and place them on some paper towels.

Once the rice is done, drain the remaining liquid from the currants & add the currants and toasted almonds into the rice.

Stir, fluff, season with s&p if needed.

And we only make asparagus one way, always.  You can find our recipe here.

Red Chili & Sundried Tomato Pesto with Grilled Chicken & Whole Wheat Pasta

I saw my first jar of red pesto at the grocery store a few weeks ago and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.  Red pesto?  How had I never seen or heard of this before?  I knew I wanted to try making some and after looking up a few recipes, I decided to just come up with my own concoction.  Most of the recipes I found relied mostly on the sundried tomatoes for the colour and flavour but since Luke isn't a huge fan of sundried tomatoes I wanted to add a spicy kick with some roasted red chili peppers.  I think this pesto would be great spread on crackers, baguette or even better as a pizza spread!

Red Chili & Sundried Tomato Pesto with Grilled Chicken & Whole Wheat Pasta

Red Pesto

makes about 1/2 cup

2 small red chilies

6 plump sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/3 c lightly toasted pine nuts

1/4 c freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/4 c fresh basil, torn

pinch of chili pepper flakes

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

olive oil

s&p

Roast the chili peppers over an open flame.  

Once cool enough to handle, remove the skins & the stem.  

Roughly chop the chili peppers (with the seeds) and throw them into the food processor with the chopped sundried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic & basil.

Pulse until everything is chopped then stream in olive oil until a loose paste forms.

Season to taste with s&p and a pinch of chili flakes.

 - - - - -

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.  

Drain & reserve a cup of starchy cooking water.

Mix a few tablespoons of the pesto into the cooked pasta, adding a splash of starchy water & stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes so that the pesto can be absorbed into the pasta.

Mix in another tablespoon or so of freshly grated parmesan cheese & garnish with roasted cherry tomatoes, grilled chicked, fresh basil & cracked black pepper.

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Apples, Celery, Almonds & Goat Cheese on Multi-Grain Baguette

Well, we have a working stove again and a fully dry-walled basement although I do see a lot of painting coming in the near future.  Good thing I'm headed to Ottawa today for the weekend for a work conference.  I'm hoping that by the time I get back all of the projects are magically finished and I'm off the hook for helping.

I had picked up a rotisserie chicken from the store earlier this week when we didn't have any use of our gas stove and wanted to use up some of the chicken leftovers before I leave for the weekend.  I don't think I've had a chicken salad sandwich in probably five years but for some reason I was craving one last night.  I researched a few different recipes and combined a few for last nights dinner.  It was so good that I think this sandwich might be popping up more often in the dinner rotation around here.

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Apples, Celery, Almonds & Goat Cheese on Multi-Grain Baguette

for two

2 multi-grain mini baguettes

1 c cooked chicken, cubed

1/4 c celery, chopped

1/4 c green apple, chopped

1-2 tablespoons slivered almonds, lightly toasted

1 tablespoon green olives with pimentos, chopped

1/3 c light mayonnaise

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon sweet relish

soft goat cheese

s&p

Combine the mayo, mustard, relish & chopped green olives in a small bowl.  Season with s&p to taste.

Mix the chicken, celery, apples & almonds with the dressing until everything is well-coated.

I scooped out some of the bread inside the baguette for less bread and more chicken-salad-goodness and slightly warmed the baguette before filling.

Top with goat cheese & serve.

Strawberry Salad with Chicken, Goat Cheese, Pecans, Shallots & Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette

Judging by the last two posts you might assume we've been eating 'light' around here lately (...because a b.l.t salad is 'light' and all) and really, I do wish that were the case but unfortunately - it's not.  We're still renovating our basement (among a list of other projects on the go) and we haven't had access to our stove for the past few days because the stove is on the same breaker as the lighting & wiring in the basement.  So this past weekend was filled with every sort of take-out you can imagine including:  pizza, fish & chips, more leftover pizza, chicken shwarmas & sushi.  After a weekend like that I was actually happy to not have access to the stove tonight.  Salad it was.

Both Luke & I love this salad and have had it a few times at different restaurants.  I've had it with poppyseed, balsamic & vidalia onion dressing and I like the onion dressing the best.  I found this cute vidalia onion & peppercorn dressing at Marilu's (the bottle can be re-used as a little carafe!) and it was so tasty.  If you're looking to make your own, try this recipe for a homemade poppy-seed dressing or this recipe for a sweet vidalia onion dressing.

I should also note that if I had access to a stove for this salad, I probably would have at least toasted the pecans or maybe tried this recipe for spiced pecans. 

Strawberry Salad with Chicken, Goat Cheese, Pecans, Shallots & Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette

for two

greens (romaine, spinach or boston lettuce)

1 c cooked chicken breast

handful of strawberries, sliced

1/4 c goat cheese, crumbled

1/3 c whole pecans

a few tablespoons of thinly sliced shallot

Toss everything together with the dressing of your choice.

Warm BLT Salad with Stilton & Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Luke's away at the Jays home opener tonight (...I hate baseball) so I'm home alone to enjoy some girly tv and finish up my friend Eva's baby shower invitations I offered to make.  I wanted a satisfying dinner that didn't take long to make so I came up with this lightly grilled BLT salad.  It's so easy to put together and definitely hits the spot!

Warm BLT Salad with Stilton & Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

for one

1 romaine heart, trimmed at both ends & sliced vertically

a handful of small tomatoes, sliced

2 pieces of bacon, chopped

1 tablespoon(-ish) crumbled stilton

buttermilk ranch dressing 

Cook the bacon in a saucepan until crisp & set aside on kitchen towel.

Drain all of the bacon fat from the pan & over medium heat char the cut sides of the romaine hearts.

After a minute or so the romaine should be slightly warmed & have a bit of caramelization on the edges.

Top warm lettuce with a drizzle of buttermilk ranch dressing, bacon, tomatoes & crumbled stilton.

enjoy!

(btw, we've grilled romaine on the barbecue a few times & that adds a fantastic smokey flavour so if you're up  for heating up the grill, I say do it!)