Mandarin Orange, Banana, Raisin Cookies

I was left with a box of mandarin oranges that were too bitter to eat. I searched the net looking for a recipe to use up them up but was unable to find a recipe that suited my needs. In most cases the recipes called for canned mandarins. Then there was the problem of removing the peel. It appeared to labour intensive.

I hate waste so last night I took 8 of the little oranges and peeled them. I them cut away the pith because I understand that makes it bitter and then cut the rest up.

Today I took a recipe for a banana cookie that I had used and decided to modify it to use up my ingredients. It turned out great. The cookie is cake like and tastes like oranges and bananas. If anyone tries this recipe, I would love to have some feedback.


Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking powder (the original recipe called for baking soda and I mistakenly used powder)
1/2 cup of margarine
1 egg
1/2 cup of sugar
1 ripe banana mashed
8 mandarin oranges - peel, remove the pith and then use a food processor to chop them into pieces
1/2 cup of raisins - you can increase this to 1 cup if you like raisins
1 tsp of vanilla
1/4 tsp of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat the sugar and margarine in a mixer (on low speed) until it is light and creamy
Add the egg and vanilla to the mixture and continue to mix
Add in the banana and mandarin to the mixture - it should be about 1 1/2 cups
Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt

The mixture will be a doughy in texture. Drop tbsp of the mixture onto a cookies sheet. I had a generous dropping of the mixture because it was a looser texture.

Bake for 20 minutes and cool. They make a dozen cookies.

Here is a picture:

Singing Babies - My Son Loves This DVD

I recently purchased a DVD on an impulse buy at Marshalls. It was $4.99 and it showed babies singing nursery rhymes. My son loves nursery rhymes. The DVD was not what I thought it would be. I expected to see babies with music in the background. What they did was superimpose singing lips on the babies. As an adult it is a bit disturbing. My son however loves this DVD. Prior to this, I could never get him to sit and watch anything on tv for long periods of time. Now he sits and shouts out "baby" to the tv screen. He also brings me the DVD when he wants to watch it.

If you want to buy it online, it is actually more expensive: http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Babies-Nursery-Rhyme-Time/dp/B00005QTA5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322322881&sr=8-1.

Since this is the first DVD he has watched, I am tempted to get the singing babies toddler tuneshttp://www.amazon.com/Singing-Babies-Toddler-Tunes/dp/B00006II6I/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_b. This buys me enough time to prep his bath, make his lunch or dinner without having him pulling to come and play with him.

Definitely worth purchasing.

Chickpea, Ham, Tomato Casserole

I was searching for a quick casserole to make the other night. As I scoured the Allrecipe site (http://allrecipes.com/) which I love, I became inspired by this recipe I found: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zesty-rice-n-bean-casserole/detail.aspx. I didn't have all of the ingredients but it gave me an idea for a variation on this recipe. Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients
2 cups of instant brown rice
1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp of minced garlic (I use the bottle of minced garlic)
1 tsp of chili spice
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed (you can use kidney beans if you want, I only had a small can of chickpeas)
1 can of ham
1/3 of paneer (I was using it up in my fridge - this is optional)
1.5 cups of shredded cheese - I used the taco flavoured cheese because I had bought some on special
1 tbsp of cajun spice
1 tbsp of roasted red pepper and garlic spice
Note: use whatever spice you want to make it flavourful. We like it on the hotter side. One suggestion is to use flavoured diced tomatoes.

Directions:
Prepare the instant rice according to instructions

In a large frying pan, cook the garlic and mushrooms for about 5 to 7 minutes is some olive oil.
Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, chili spice and let simmer until the rice is down.

Once the rice is done, add it it the mixture along with the ham. I like to mash up the ham with a fork and pre - season it with the roasted red pepper spice.

Add half of the cheese, cover and simmer on the stove for about 10 minutes. I mainly did this because I wanted the paneer to soak into the juices. If you are not using the paneer you can take it straight to the stove if you want.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the contents in a 3 quart container. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and cook for 15 to 20 minutes in the stove.

I have managed to get three meals out of this (6 servings). These were large servings so you may be able to get 8 servings out of it but you will want to have a good side dish.

Bread Tomato Soup - Comfort Food for the Cold Weather

I had an extra loaf of bread this past weekend and I was interested in how I could use it up. The majority of recipes suggested French Toast. I had tried that before with wonderful results but it really isn't something you want to eat for dinner. I came across a reference for bread soup which intrigued me. This supposedly was created in Italy to use up old bread. I found the following recipe below:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/tomato-and-bread-soup/detail.aspx

This is a great website if you haven't tried it before. I only wanted to do 4 servings and it adjusts the recipe accordingly.

I have made this soup twice, each slightly different ways. The first followed the original recipe. The second I was going by memory so I forgot a few things. It still tasted the same way. Here is my version:

1 can of diced Chili tomatoes by Alymers - they are on sale for $0.99 right now at Price Chopper

1 tsp of minced garlic

1/2 loaf of french bread

1 1/2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups of water

4 to 8 tbsp of olive oil (see instructions below)

Slice the bread up into 1/2 inch slices - if you are using day old bread you can do this. I used week old bread today and I needed to microwave it first to cut it. I then tore it up into small pieces. The older the bread, the harder it is to do this. It still tastes good if you have large pieces of bread.

You will need a large stock pot - something you would cook pasta in or something that will hold 3 cups of water and the can of tomatoes.

I heated the pot and put the bread in it. The original recipe called for 4 tbsp of olive oil but I found this did not cover the bread so I added olive oil until the bread was covered. I then heated the bread until it was lightly toasted. I added a tsp of minced garlic and the can of tomatoes. I simmered for 8 minutes.

I then made three cups of chicken broth using the bouillon and added it to the soup. Simmer for 10 minutes.

This made four servings. If there are 2 of you, three servings if you like seconds.

If you want to make it vegetarian, use the vegetable broth.

You can add chili flakes but with the seasoned tomatoes you don't really need any spice.

Mattel Toy Outlet in Mississauga - Deals for November

As Christmas approaches, I recommend that you visit the Mattel Toy Outlet in Mississauga. You are guaranteed to get some great deals.

Here is the link to the flyer that was posted on Smartcanucks.ca  - http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/232429-mattel-toy-outlet-blowout-weekends-sept-mississauga-canada/

The scanned image of the flyer shows that in November there are deals up to 40% off. Starting this week they are open Friday (10- 7 ), Saturday (10-5)  and Sunday (12-5).I have arrived there in the past around 10:30. The place gets busy so I suggest going early. According to the flyer they re-stock weekly.

Happy Shopping!

Grape Crisp Recipe

As I was cleaning out my fridge I realized I had a bunch of green grapes that had not been eaten. The grapes had started to go and were too bitter to eat. I hate waste these days so I scoured the internet looking to see if you could actually cook with old grapes. I found this recipe for quick grape crumble: http://www.food.com/recipe/quick-grape-crumble-178105. I didn't have the exact ingredients, so I made some modifications and used a crumble recipe from another website : http://www.cookingnook.com/apple-crisp-recipe.html.

Here is the recipe that I used:

Ingredients for Grape Filling

2 cups seedless grapes (This is important because part way through the recipe I realized mine had seeds. I fished out what I could but there are still some crunchy seeds left in there)

1/4 cup Welch's grape jelly - this was the only jelly I had on hand

2 tablespoons apple juice

1 tbsp of cornstarch

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tbsp of water

At medium heat, mix the grapes, jelly and apple juice in a medium saucepan. The grapes I had were very large so it took awhile for the grapes to split (approx. 15 to 20 min). I then took a potato masher to them to mash them up.

In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch, lemon juice and water together. Pour into the grape mixture and bring to a boil. The mixture should thicken.

Pour into a 8x8 pan. While you are making the sauce, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare the crisp as follows: 

Ingredients for Crisp

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup butter (or margarine) - I never have butter on hand these days and it still works out great

1/4 cup oats - I used quick oats

Mix all of them together. If you have a pastry blender you can use that, or cross cut with two knives. I personally use a fork to do the job and it works out just fine.

Pour the crumble mixture on top of the grapes and bake for 25 minutes. 

The result is a nice desert that is a bit tart. It works well with the crumble which is sweet from the brown sugar.

Overall I was pleased with the results and I didn't have to throw the grapes out like I normally have to.

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Spiders for Halloween

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. I got out of my groove. After the film festival I was exhausted  and I lacked inspiration for writing. The month of October has been a busy one with birthdays, Thanksgiving and now Halloween. Today is my husband's Halloween potluck. I got this great idea from a Today's Parent email to make these chocolate spiders. Of course, when I clicked on the link the recipe was no longer there. Today's Parent has spent the last few weeks revamping their website and somehow the recipe section is lacking now.

I scoured the internet and I found a substitute recipe and then worked by memory. These turned out delicious and kids will love them.

Chocolate Spiders

Ingredients
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup of Rice Krispies
1/2 cup of chow mein noodles
1 bag of smarties, or M&M's for eyes

Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Place the chocolate chips is a medium size bowl and microwave on medium for 2 minutes. Stir. If the chocolate is still not melted, put it back in the microwave for 25 second increments until it is melted.

Pour the Rice Krispies into the bowl of chocolate and stir.

Place teaspoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet. The recipe says it will yield 12. I got about 14 to 16 out the recipe.

Take 2 chow mein noodles, break each of them in half and stick four legs into the sides of the mound of chocolate.

Place 2 Smarties at the front of the mound for eyes.

If you want to make it really decadent, add a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the recipe above and separate into  a smaller bowl when melted. Pour the chow mein noodles into the bowl and mix. Place three noodles on the sheet in a star form and add the mound of Rice Krispies onto the chow mein noodles.

Cool for one hour at room temperature until is hardens or 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

I did 2 batches and it took about an hour to make. Your hands get a little sticky but the result is worth it.