Orange Ginger Cauliflower

Inspired as always by Pinterest, I decided to try to make one of the recipes I'd seen recently: Crispy Orange Cauliflower.

I ended up putting a different spin on it as I found the batter to be gross. It could have been because I neglected to fry it in a ton of oil but ... I was trying to make something healthier and frying it didn't seem like the best way to do that.

The original recipe is here if you want to give that a go.

My version is below (and much simpler in my opinion).

• Cut up 1 head of cauliflower into florets.
• Over medium heat, toss cauliflower in 2 tbsp. of oil and cook until browned.
• Stir in 1 chopped green onion, 2 tbsp. orange juice concentrate (from the can you'd normally freeze and then mix with water), 1 tbsp. soy sauce, and 2 tbsp. grated ginger. 
• Mix well to coat each floret then cook until warm. Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

On Wednesday night I wanted to make a nice dinner but I realized we had very little food in the house.

I knew I would use the roast chicken my dad had so kindly brought us, so I scoured the cupboards and the fridge for other items to go with it.

I happened upon a bag of brown rice from when I had tried to go on a cleanse to cure my bloating.

I decided I would make a healthier chicken fried rice entree.

It's really easy to make, much healthier than the kind you'd get at a Chinese restaurant, and you can customize it to include the vegetables you like. 

• Make your brown rice. Follow the instructions on the bag but you can generally expect to follow the 2:1 ratio of water to rice. Also the rice I made takes 30-35 minutes to cook so do this first.
• If you don't have pre-cooked chicken (as I did), now would also be a good time to get that chicken in the oven.
• In a pan over medium heat, sautee 1 white onion until translucent (or not if you like a little more crunch) in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add in 1 stalk of celery, diced, broccoli, and fry until broccoli has softened. Add in spinach. Reduce heat to low and cook until spinach is wilted. Again, feel free to add in whatever veggies you want. 
• Push the veggies to one side. Crack 1-2 eggs (depending on how many you're feeding and how much you like eggs) into the empty pan space and scramble them. 
• Mix your cooked brown rice into the veggies and egg. Add in your chicken, cut into appropriately sized pieces, and mix it all together.
• Serve and enjoy.

That's it.

It's not a spectacularly fancy or original recipe but it was really good for something I made on the fly. 

Try making your own (and healthier) version of some of your favourite take out items.

Quinoa + Fall Vegetables PLUS: Bedroom Redecorating Update

 

Sometimes I make great choices. Case in point: the new bedroom set I purchased recently.

Sometimes I make poor choices. Case in point: not sleeping at all on Wednesday until the bedroom furniture was set up.

 

My dad made the mistake of phoning me on Tuesday and got suckered into coming to Ikea with me to help me carry a bed frame and 2 side tables.

 

 

Tuesday night I started to piece together the first of the tables but then I had to go to work so I didn't get too far.

I came home on Wednesday morning and decided that I would set up the bed frame then go to sleep.

Taking off the mattress, wheeling out the old frame, sweeping the floor and clearing out enough space for the new frame took about half an hour.

 

Then I built.

It took unil about 1 pm before I had this:

 

I was exhausted but it was so worth the effort. It looks so nice and the bed is so high, it's almost like sleeping in my sister's bed (ed note: she has the most insanely comfortable bed I've ever slept in).

 

Now I need to get the matching dresser, a new tv, and to put up some photos on the wall above the bed.

 

I tried out a new recipe the other night using the food de jour: quinoa.

It was hearty and very tasty.

The recipe can be found here.

I left out the eggs.

 

 

Thanksgiving Dinner: Side Dishes

Tomorrow (I guess techinically today as it's 1 am) I cook my first ever Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm so ready. I'm approaching this like it's the most important thing I'll do this year.

I've figured out how I'm flavouring the turkey and the necessary items have been purchased.

Desert is decided.

The side dishes required a lot of thought and I wasn't sure I'd be able to narrow it down.

Traditionally, my mom makes mashed potatoes, turnips, stuffing, and peas.

All of which I load greedily onto my plate and drown in gracy.

 

I have this need to impress my parents so I wanted to make some sides that were variations on the classics.

 

These are the choices I narrowed it down to.

Only 2 of the 3 made the cut for tomorrow. The other side is going to be steamed asparagus, because there really should be some kind of green vegetable on that table.

 

 

1. Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

 

*I looked everywhere in the grocery store today and could not for the life of me find cornmeal. So I'm substituting in sourdough bread. Fingers crossed it works as well!

2. Carrot Spoon Bread

 

*This was the poor recipe that didn't make the cut. I didn't want to load everyone up on stuffing AND spoon bread, on top of all of the potatoes.

3. Turnip and Sweet Potato Gratin

 

*Turnips with a twist.

Trying to locate a turnip led to a discussion about the difference (if any) between turnips and rutabagas. Result of a google search: rutabagas are a cross between turnip and cabbage.

I bought a rutabaga. Here's hoping it doesn't taste wildly different than a turnip.

 

 

Fingers crossed I don't ruin any part of dinner tomorrow.

We've got a ton of wines to pair with things including a desert wine from Stoney Ridge that I've been dying to open.

 

Pictures to follow!

I bought a new camera so that I could take pics of my food again.

 

Parker House Rolls (American Thanksgiving Prep)

The fact that a holiday appears on a calendar is reason enough for me to celebrate it.

Next week is American Thanksgiving, or as I am choosing to call it, Thanksgiving Round Two.

I don't know that I'll pull out all the stops and make a turkey, stuffing, etc (especially seeing as I will likely be doing my very last shift in the ICU next Thursday night) but I would if I had the time.

For those of you who want to celebrate Thanksgving Round Two (or you just want a good bun recipe) I've got a great recipe that will come in handy.

In the November issue of Everyday Food there was a recipe for Parker House rolls. I used this recipe for the buns for my sliders and they are deeeeelicious.

If you want to make your own rolls for a meal, try these ones.

(This recipe will make 24 rolls)

1. In the bowl of a mixer combine 4 1/2 cups flour with 4tsp coarse salt, 5 tbsp unsalted butter cut into peices, 1 tsp dry active yeast, 1 1/2 tsp honey, and 1 1/2 cups whole milk. Using a dough hook, mix on low until the mixture comes together. Increase to medium-high and beat until butter is incorporates and the dough is soft, about 10 minutes.

2. Coat a large bowl with non-stick spray. Form dough into a ball and place in the bowl, covering with a damp cloth. Set aside in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3. Lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide dough into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and arrange in pan about 1/2 inch apart. Repeat. Cover the pan with a damp cloth and let rise until rolls begin to touch, about 1 hour.

4.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush each roll with melted butter and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with salt before serving.



  If you want to use this recipe to make some rolls but don't plan on making a huge Thanksgiving dinner, may I suggest making sliders?

Or make 12 rolls instead of 24 and make real-sized hamburgers.

You won't be disappointed.

Tomorrow I'll show you how to make slightly healthier corn-dogs!

Warning: my corn batter was way too thick and fell off after the second bite.

We can troubleshoot together.

Ohhh also my gift basket came from the LCBO!

Pictures to follow at some point this weekend.

Casserole Night

Yesterday a sweet ol' pup made her way to that big backyard in the sky.

John's family said goodbye to their dog, Molly, after 14 years.

Pets become part of our families so to lose them is to lose a family member.

She was a beautiful dog with those sad eyes and a loving personality.

She will be missed but remembered always.

I've been crazy busy so I think I might start pre-posting in an effort to keep my ramblings from occuring only once a week.

I started my new job yesterday and it's wonderful.

I teach swimming lessons at a kid's rehab hospital and, apart from getting to work with kids, one of the perks is that the water in the pool is like a bath tub. It's beautiful.

I love that they operate on a reverse-integration policy so they register kids with different abilities first (Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome to name a few of the more common) and then open up any remaining spots to the general public in the area.

As a result there is a nice mix of abilities and the learning opportunities for the kids and for the instructors are immense.

My mom (who I like to think of as the Equity Ambassador to the world) would be so proud.

What else?

I told you about my night shift at the hospital, about picking up any and every shift at (other) work this past week.... I slept for 12 hours last night. John and I went out for dinner then came home to watch a movie (Jim Gaffigen stand-up on Netflix). I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 pm.

Woke up and moved into bed at 10.

Woke up this morning at 10 am.

Not only is 10 am like a solid 4 hour sleep in for me, but I rarely sleep for more than maybe 10 hours.

My body is quite happy this morning.

 Besides falling asleep before 10 pm, I think now that I am on the closer-to-30 side of my 20s my vision is starting to go.

I am an over-reactor and a slight hypochondriac (see this post for confirmation of both) so I just assume I have some sort of macular degeneration or a brain tumour in my occipital lobe.

I like to prepare for the worst.

Anyway, I need to go get my eyes checked when I get some free time. Not today. Today is my first day with NO obligations in a long time so I'm enjoying it as is.

It could be that being tired is just making me feel wonky-eyed or it could mean always wanting reading glasses has finally sunk deep enough into my subconcious mind that I'm creating symptoms.

I do have this really annoying floater in my right eye though...

Anyway.

I want to make these cupcakes, EXACTLY the way they are made to look in this picture.

Damn you, Betty Crocker and your craftiness.

Then I want to make this.

Maybe tonight.

Note: This picture is actually of a different recipe but I couldn't find a picture of the one I want to make so this visual will have to do.

From Everyday Food:

(picture of Scalloped Potato & Leek recipe on Marthastewart.com)

• Preheat oven to 425. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. Add 2 leeks (sliced, white and light green parts only), and 3 celery stalks (sliced). Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
• Add in 2 pkgs frozen artichokes, 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth, and 1 bar Neufchatel cheese (just use cream cheese like I plan on doing).
• Remove skillet from heat and add in 2 tbsp lemon juice and salt and pepper.
• Brush a baking dish with 1 tbsp oil. Arrange 1 medium russet potato, very thinly sliced, along the bottom of the baking dish and top with the artichoke mixture. Top the artichoke mixture with another 1 medium russet potatoes, very thinly sliced, and brush with 2 tbsp oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Bake until sauce is bubbling and potatoes are gold and tender, about 35-40 minutes.