Brown sugar.. why do you taste so good?

Serious Lemon Muffins. SERIOUS.*

2 c flour
1 tsp soda/salt
2 eggs
1/2 c butter
1/2-2/3 c sugar
2-3 tsp lemon flavouring/extract
500 ml plain Greek yogurt
couple squirts lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
you can add some lemon zest if desired. I find it a little bitter.

glaze
lemon juice/sugar in equal amounts

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon, flavour, yogurt, and juice.
Add dry to wet, don't over mix.

Cook in 325 oven for approx 25 min or until done. Poke tops with fork, spoon a little bit of glaze on top.

I need to refine this a bit. It was lemony, but didn't have the POP of flavour I wanted. I think next time I will up the lemon juice in the batter. Also I will do a cooked glaze. Maybe a blend of icing sugar and lemon juice (and get fresh this time dammit!) cooked on the stove until blended and spooned over the muffins. That sounds better. I do love me a good muffin. Chris LOVES these with some raspberry jam spread on them.


In other non muffin related news.. well there isn't much actually. My knitting has slowed to a crawl as I am still mesmerized by video games which eats into my knitting time considerably. I still try to knit during my HORROR MOVIE DE JOUR PROJECT but sometimes I just have to snuggle dogs instead.

How could you not want to snorgle these faces?? They are being bed-sharks on the snuggle pit (our bed) and OMG SO CUTE I CAN'T BREATHE!! Wow. That just blorked out!

Ooh look! More hail! What a surprise. Or you know, not. July in Calgary (especially during the Stampede) is wacky weather time. I kinda like it. Even if this hail storm did cause my video game horse to get eaten by wargs or some such bullshit and made me swear off paying for mounts ever again and watching hail while playing a video game that can't be paused (Sacred 2 Epic Fail) and write giant run on sentences. I'm unsure if that made sense. But this is stream of consciousness here, go with it.

Lily was entranced by the hail. She loves the screen door (or as we call it, DTV=dog TV) and watches it all the time. Her and Pickles are amazingly hilarious together. I'll try to get some video of them soon.

Good thing our car already got paid out from the hail last year. Poor dimpled Jack.



*there is no brown sugar in this recipe.

The Heart Remains a Child

Apparently I make a wicked good bean salad! Who knew? I've been trying to eat a little healthier since these stupid meds I'm on have a really awesome side effect of weight gain (which is full of suck) and really.. we could all totally eat better than we do. Right?

Awesomely bright bean salad.

1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained too)
1 pepper. red/yellow/green, your choice. I used yellow. mmm..
a bunch of grape or cherry tomatoes.
1 whole lemon
salt and pepper

Make sure your beans and corn are well drained, toss 'em in a big ol' bowl.
Dice the pepper. half or quarter your tomatoes. Depending on size. toss them in the bowl too.
cut the lemon in half, and juice that sucker right over the bowl. Both sides. You can add a little zest of the lemon if you were so inclined.
Add salt and pepper. I used lots of pepper. I love pepper.
Make sure your salad is well mixed and put it in the fridge. Let it chill for a couple of hours. Eat. Go OMG! I had no idea bean salad was this good with not a stitch of added fat in it! Marvel that your husband who can be notoriously fussy eats 2 huge bowls of it and is actually excited to eat the leftovers the next day. Feel good about making yourself look like a food rockstar.

I have been doing something really out of character for me. I have been working on more than one knitting project at a time! I KNOW RIGHT!?!

This was a super fun knit. The yarn is a silk bamboo mix I got from (gasp) Michaels ages ago. Beautiful drape and so shiny and pretty! I loves it!

Pickles says HAI GUISE!

Um.. yeah. So I went and got some more ink. It is the companion piece to my sweet cupcake. I was so excited when it was done I was showing all the hardcore dudes in the shop. Hey! Dudes! Look at this sweet fucking ball of yarn! Wow, did they all laugh. And they all loved it :) I really dig going to Strange World Tattoo, and Rick is totally the man. He is funny and really awesome to work with. Clearly I like him, he's done 6 tattoos for me. This is his first yarn ball he's done. I know, I live to provide people with fresh new experiences. It's a gift.

Max doesn't care. 

this shit is bananas

Seriously the best muffins EVER. The secret? MORE bananas. We usually have quite small bananas in the house as we use them for smoothies mostly. Last time I made these I had 5 slightly rotten ones kicking around so I used them all. AND... BEST. MUFFINS. EVER. OF. THE. HISTORY. OF. MUFFINS.

Also I use my mix master cause I can and that is just how I roll. I also have a preference for unbleached brown muffin cups I get from Planet Organic. They are great!

best. muffins. ever.
oven at 350
yields 18 perfect muffins. 

wet mixture

1/2 cup butter (I usually end up nuking it for 30 sec's cause it's been in the fridge)
5 small bananas (browner is better here)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2-3/4 cup of sugar. the recipe calls for 3/4 c, but I found them a tad sweet. I cut it back to 1/2.

toss this all your mix master and beat the hell out of it. seriously. get it nice and smooth.

dry mixture

2 cups of flour. don't use whole wheat. trust me. all purpose is better.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1 cup (or more.. I won't tell) MILK chocolate chips. I've done fancy dark, semi-sweet, but by FAR milk is the best.

When your wet is nice and smooth, add in your dry ingredients. DON'T OVER MIX. Muffins are best when they're not beaten into submission. Mix it until it's all incorporated. 

Spoon into 18 prepared muffin tins. Bake for about 20 mins or until tops are golden. Don't over bake these.

Cool. Eat. Enjoy.

PS I ate the one at the top of the post as soon I as took that picture. HOLY SHIT GOOD.

Ain't no rest for the wicked

and money don't grow on trees..
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
ain't nothing in this world for free.


Please Cage the Elephant. You have dominated my mind for many many days.

In other making sense news..


Best. Breakfast. EVER.

1/3 cup quick oats
1 honeycrisp* apple, peeled, cut up.
a mess of cinnamon
splenda to taste (dude or use sugar, I don't care)
enough water to make a soupy mixture.

Nuke for 2 minutes. Splash with milk.. die from goodness.

The bed is here and it is pretty freaking amazing. We did notice that our old feather pillows really have no support now though. Actually when we were at Sleep Country they had these AWESOME latex pillows that were springy amazing. We went looking for them this weekend and I ended up ordering some from The Sears. They should be here Friday. They were on sale. SALE!






I am so super excited. I WON SOMETHING!!! I won a book! From Lemondrop and it's all about/by my favourite MMA fighter.. Forrest Griffin. I never win stuff. How exciting!




In knitting news, I have finished my goblin cardigan, but it needs a block. And whipped out a cute quick little hat. Slouchy! I think it needs a button or 2.




Also, Pickles.. yup still a pest. Max, still a geezer. Max didn't even wake up when the doorbell rang on Halloween. He is sure slowing down. :(





And finally.. this picture cracks me up (like Morgan says) so there.





*I love fall apples. I can't find Pink Ladies right now, but there are other yumtacular options.

Raindrops on roses

You know, one of my favourite things? But don't push it rain, you are welcome for only so long.

More of my favourite things?

Mmm scratchy Japanese washcloths that make you silky smooth! Jake LOVES it! He is such a funny monkey. He actually used mine before I did. Good thing I bought one for everyone. From this seller on Ebay. She was awesome! Superfast and very communicative!




Greek yogurt! I haven't been able to readily find the real thing, so have been making my own. I use fat free (that's just how I roll) Astro (no gelatin) Balkan style, or Annie's (if I get up to the natural market) plain yogurt. Put it in a paper towel lined strainer, sit it in a bowl and let it sit overnight in the fridge. It drains out all the whey, it usually reduces by 1/3! OMG! Then you have the thickest most delicious yogurt KNOWN TO MAN. I just pop it back into its original container. I have been having mine with some:

Mmmm.. agave goodness! Like honey mated with maple syrup! Tasty!

I also add some Vanilla Bean Paste:

Which is heaven in a jar. I got it from Williams Sonoma in Chinook Centre. Pricey but sosososososo worth it. It is also spectacular with homemade jam.

I am also on a coconut oil bender. I have been making these to die for scones with it.



Its good for you. Honest!

Scones of deliciousness

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon*
1 tsp nutmeg*
1.5 tsp citrus zest of some kind. I have used lemon, clememtine and orange. ALL GOOD

Whisk these together in a bowl.

Add 1/4 cup coconut oil. Mash it with a fork until it looks like sand. Coconut oil is solid at room temp. Or you could use butter.. but why? WHY? Smell how good that is? Oh yeah.

Now you'll need:

2 beaten eggs
1/4-1/3 cup milk. Less if you are going to put some kind of fruit in it. I have used frozen raspberries.
1 tbsp vanilla. See that stuff up there? Use that!

Add wet to dry and mix. Stir in:

1/2 cup fruit. Dried chopped apricots, cranberries, raisins**, frozen raspberries.. I dunno, experiment. I am!
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips. Use good ones for goodness sake. Mini dark ones are especially good.

Or any combo of the three. Ok?

Mix until its a soft sticky dough. Shape into 2 rounds and cut them into 6 or 8 pie shaped wedges. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 13-15 minutes (longer if you use fresh/frozen fruit) or until golden brown at 400 degrees.

You can glaze these if you are so inclined. I use a couple of tbsp of whatever citrus zest I used juice (fresh squeeze please!) and about a cup of icing sugar. Mix and drizzle while scones are still hot. I suggest being judicious when using fresh/frozen fruit as they can get a little wet-ish if you go nutso.

Serve and impress your friends. I did.

Answer man time:

Shower curtain? Got it at Home Outfitters. I think it was 40$. They have matching accessories!
Toilet? Painted behind it it when it wasn't there. My Momma didn't raise me to be a fool.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wipe off wet dogs. Damn rain.

Oh and happy 10 years to my fabulous husband. May is a month full of stuff to celebrate, but really? 10 YEARS!?! We rock my love. We really do.











*or add your own spices. I love these two. they make me happy
**Chris hates raisins. he says its a perfectly good way to wreck almost anything. :)

Close to good for you..

*


I had a hankering for cupcakes but after almost not getting out of in front of the house once yesterday, there was no way I was gonna risk it again. So whats a junkie to do? Make them myself!

Very close to vegan chocolate cupcakes. I have heavily modified this recipe based on one I found on the PPK.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Splenda
5 Tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp vanilla
1 banana, mushed well
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Oven at 350. Line 12 cupcake pan with liners. I have these awesome ones that are unbleached and practically fall off anything you put in them.

Combine sugar, splenda, oil, vanilla and banana and beat until smooth. Oh Kitchen Aid. You make everything so easy.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well mixed. Add dry to wet alternately with milk, scraping down sides of bowl. Stir in choccy chips.

Spoon into cups and bake for about 20 mins or until they spring back when touched and/or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

YUMMAY! These come in at about 150 cals each. Not iced, but damn a chocolate ganache would be amazing on these. You know providing they last longer than a day or so. Which these won't. No way.

So seriously? Every single Oscar nomination? Ugh. I am such a philistine.


*Actual photo of cuppycake. Holy shit are these good.

Hey! I missed it!

This is my 201st post! You'd think I'd be more on it huh? WRONG. Oh well.

I have been up since 5am. I had to let the dogs out. Pickles sometimes has to go you know? And he lets me know by standing by the door and mooping. Very quietly, but still. Mooping. Or squeaking. Anyways I can usually fall back asleep but not today. Today I was tantalised by the thoughts of rice pudding. I guess that's what happens when you go to bed hungry huh?

Rice Pudding

4 cups of milk. I use skm cause thats what I buy.
1/2 c arborio rice. You know, risotto rice.
a few tbsp of sugar (I use splenda)
half a vanilla bean. Go on, even Safeway has them.
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, cinnamon to taste.

Put your milk, rice and sugar/splenda in a heavy bottomed pot. Split your vanilla bean in half, and slit along the length to let out all the vanilla goodness. Scrape it out into the milk, and toss the whole thing in. Bring your mixture to a gentle boil and turn down to a nice simmer. Stir this. Alot. Don't go sit down and read the internets and let the bottom scorch. No, keep stirring. For like 30-40 min intermittently. You'll know the rice is done by tasting it. Arborio rice holds a lot of moisture and still retains its shape. Like risotto. Get it?

I like mine a little on the wet-ish side as I find if its dry, it doesn't keep in the fridge as well. And its creamier that way. Anyways, when it's done cooking, take off the heat and add the vanilla extract and cinnamon. I make this not that sweet on purpose, so you can sweeten it to your taste. The first batch I made I used 1/4 c splenda and I found it too sweet. The vanilla bean seems to add a lot of sweetness for me, but you know what you like so adjust accordingly. Store the leftovers in the fridge and reheat or don't. yum.

I eat this for breakfast, for afters, for fun. Seriously, its good for you! A nice big serving of calcium, some rice? All kinds of goodness.

My parents are in Hawaii right now. Not covered in slush and getting stuck in front of the house. I hope they are having a fabulous time.



I seem to have a case of the January blahs. So do the dogs. See ^. I have a whole bunch of stuff to put up, write up and photograph. Lets see how long it takes to get through it. Maybe I just need more coffee...

Who wants a cookie??

That's what I yell to get the dogs to come in quickly. It ALWAYS works. Well.. except when Mr Pickles Houdini Chewbacca finds a hole the size of a soup can and manages to squeeze his fat ass through it into our neighbours yard*. If you've met Pickles, you know he is booty-licious, but still managed that. Damn dog. Anyways, I was thinking of making them up some of their own cookies and came up with this:

Peanut on a pumpkin puppy paws. (OMG I am so going to hell for that stupid name)

Oven at 350

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup pumpkin (not pie filling, the plain stuff)
1 cup milk (divided in half)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp baking soda

Mix pumpkin, peanut butter and half the milk until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients together then add to wet alternating with the last 1/2 cup milk. The dough should be pretty firm. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet (the dough doesn't spread much so they can be pretty close together), press down with a fork (to make them look like the cookies you used to eat when you were little, isn't that cute?) and bake for about 15 minutes until they are lightly browned on the bottoms. Let them cool and freeze them! Defrost what you need or give them to the doggas frozen.. they don't care. I LOVE DOGS!








*And bless Max's' old tattletale barking heart for ratting out the escapee. Max is getting old but he still knows whats the what. Well.. mostly.

More Squash, Less gross.

So the last experiment with the squash was only moderately successful. It was.. erm.. less than fantastic, but for sure mostly edible. I wasn't put off by that, in fact it made me more determined than EVER to have a yummy squash recipe in my retinue. I have used spaghetti squash before, but really not for many many years. Like maybe when Jake was a baby. EEK! So I set off to re-experience this pasta substitute. Chris is amused by my obsession with faux foods right now. Whatever.. after you hit 40, its harder and harder to keep weight off. So nuh uh pasta. Hello squashes. I am pleased to report that this foray turned out fantastic.

Serious Sausage Squash Soiree.

You'll need:

4 Spolumbo hot Italian sausages (or whatever. Mr Spolumbo makes the BEST. SAUSAGES. EVER. If there is a Mr Spolumbo. If you want something else do it. I ain't your Mom.)
Half a white onion chopped.
A whack of garlic.
2 14 oz cans of chunky tomatoes
A glug of olive oil
I heart of celery chopped
3 giant carrots (or 5 normal ones) chopped. Make the celery and carrots approx the same size ok?
1 spaghetti Squash
Parmesan cheese, say 1/4 cup or whatever.

Roughly chop your sausage into bite size pieces and saute in olive oil in a nice big pot until brown. Add in onion and garlic. Now because the sausage I used is seriously perfectly spiced I used no other seasonings. For reals. Nothing. Why mess with perfection right? If yours isn't, I suggest salt, pepper, some cayenne and whatever else floats your boat. I know there is a little fennel in the Spolumbos so maybe try that? I dunno. Saute until the onion is translucent. Add in celery, carrots and tomatoes. Simmer for a couple, three hours. If you start to reduce too much add some chicken stock so it doesn't burn.

Turn on your oven now ok? Say 350? Sounds good!

Now you gotta cook your spaghetti squash. I cut mine in half, cleaned out the seeds and membranes and put it in the microwave in a covered dish with some water (cut side down) and nuked it for about 10 minutes per half. Then you take your squash (half at a time) and shred out the flesh into an oven safe dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the squash then layer half your sausage mixture on top of the squash. Repeat. Pop this in the oven until Chris gets home say an hour or so.

Dig in! Seriously, this was amazing. And makes at least 5 servings or so. Very good for you, mostly veggies with a hit of sausage goodness. Mmm..

Get a buffaload of this!

Seriously close to good for you.

Buffalo pie. (I'd call it shepherds pie but no sheep were involved.)

You will need:

1lb of ground lean bison. I get mine at our local Co-op. In fact I buy it by the whack and freeze it.
1 head o cauliflower
3-4 tbsp of non fat sour cream (or use the good stuff I don't care)
a tsp or 2 or butter/margarine. Whatever floats yer boat.
1/3-1/2 cup of beef stock
1/2 large white onion
couple shakes (or more) of cayenne pepper.
salt and pepper.
1 tsp or so of cornstarch in a few tbsps of h2o. Cold ok? Don't cook this.

Pre heat your oven to say 325-ish.

I did this all in my cast iron fry pan so I would have less clean up. LAZY should have been my middle name.

Chop your cauliflower into florets and steam the ever loving crap outta them until they are super soft. Drain, add sour cream, butter/marg, salt and pepper and ok... this is seriously wack.. use your immersion blender or regular blender (but what a pain to clean. Go get an immersion blender. They are cheap ok?) and blend this stuff until it resembles mashed taters. GET IT?

Chop your onion. Brown your bison with that onion. Add cayenne/salt/pepper. Brown until it really is a lovely brown and getting a titch (TITCH MIND YOU) dry. Add beef stock. Mmm.. taste it! Add whatever else you want. Add cornstarch mixture so it thickens just a bit. Spread evenly in your cast iron or whatever you are gonna bake it in.

Now you are going to take your mashed cauliflower (faux tatoes) and spread them over the top of your bison mixture in a nice even layer. Pop this sucker in your oven for I dunno until Chris gets home? Like maybe an 60-90 minutes or until your faux tatoes are browned and its all pulled away from the edge of your pan and the smell is driving you nuts.

Don't tell your husband what the top is so he won't make that poop face until he agrees whatever it is, its divine and then is all shocked when its cauliflower. Enjoy, feel virtuous and make sure your frozen snicker bar with almonds is hidden well in the freezer.

Makes 4 servings. Yay dinner for 2 nights!

The cow, she laughs.

So before I forget, Chris INSISTS I write this out. I was watching the food channel and saw a show called French Cooking at Home. Mmm.. crepes! Anyhoo the adorable hostess talked about making a simple soup. How they do this with children in kindergarten to show them how easy and delicious cooking is (in France) and it really kickstarts their tiny palates. All I really go from this is how much more awesome the French were about pretty much everything in the kitchen (and I agree) and make your own food dammit. So I did. You are prolly gonna wanna read through the whole recipe as I am gonna be listing stuff you need as you need it. Nothing worse than running out of the house with boiling soup to find say, an immersion blender or cheese yes?

Franch Soup (said like a Westerner eh?) from French Cooking at Home with the cute blonde lady who I can't remembers name. My version.

3 big ol zucchini. She said she has used broccoli and I really think any veggie would work. In fact I'm dying to try CARROTS. mm. I dunno, use whatcha got I reckon. Roughly chopped. Leave the skins on, they add a lovely colour. Just wash it good ok?

I big ol onion, roughly chopped too.

1-2 l of stock. I used chicken cause I like meat. I bet veggie would be just as good. And then your soup would be vegetarian. NOT VEGAN MIND YOU. There is cheese involved. Just wait.


Now you are gonna take your roughly chopped veggies and toss 'em in a big ol pot with your stock. Season it. For the love if all things delicious, use SALT. Stop worrying about the SILENT KILLER. You know if you didn't eat Doritos, your arguments might hold water. Oh.. I digress. Ok salt and pepper for sure. Add any herbs/seasonings you want.

Boil the hell out of everything in a covered pot. At least a good 15-20 min rolling boil til everything is soft. SOFT I SAID. See.. we are gonnna puree this bad boy. Got an immersion blender? Get it now. I love my crappy old Braun one. Man that thing has been around forever! Ok got it? Now you need to get the secret ingredient. See the cow at the top of the page? Yeah, she is laughing. At you or with you, whatever, she laughs. Get some of that yummy triangulated cheesy goodness. 3 triangles/l of stock you used seems to work for me.


Take it off the heat, add the cheese and BLEND. BLEND BLEND BLEND. Seriously, this cheese adds the most incredible velvety texture to the soup. In fact I who normally shies away from cream soups (calorie heavy) am crazy mad mental insane for this soup. Use the light version (OH YEAH!) and you're golden calorie watchers!


>My husband who usually turns up his nose at anything that has a whiff of good for you about it, pigged down 3 huge bowls of this the first time I made it and whined for more. Its a wonderful colour, has awesome flavour and is seriously calorie light. Go forth. Make soup.


Even better the next day! If it lasts that long. :)


*I add cayenne hot sauce. Gives a kick.

We don need no steeenkin' stampede breakfast

When I get up early to make some banana pancakes!

Banana Pancakes

1 or 2 bananas (whatever is going brown and you need to use up)

1 cup flour

1 egg

3 tsp baking powder

cinnamon (a whack)

vanilla (a whack)

splenda or sugar a couple tbsp

milk. um.. like 1/3-1/2 cup maybe?

Mash yer nanner(s) in a bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, cinnamon and splenda/sugar. Whisk until nice and whisked. Add flour and baking powder. Mix, adding milk until the batter is the consistency you like. I like mine kinda on the runny side as I like thinnish pancakes. Keep 'em thick if you like, its no never mind to me. Makes about 12-18 p'cakes* depending on how thin/thick they are.

Cook in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Mmm.. pancake goodness.

This recipe is absolutely modified from my Mums basic pancake recipe which is:

For every cup of flour use 1 egg and 3 tsp of baking powder. Use any liquid you want for moisture. We used to make these for my nephew Mark with ginger ale and I have used soda water with enormous success. Add any flavourings/spices/etc to your taste. Its a great recipe as there is no added fat (besides whats in the egg) and it is light and fluffy and stupid easy. It also makes a little bit of p'cakes or a whole huge tonne. Its up to you. I have also mixed up all the dry ingredients and taken it camping and measured it out by the cup and had like my own pancake mix.

Mmm..

Anyways, the weather here sucks goat balls. Stupid rain and high humidity. BLECH. Is Vile I tell you. Where is my Vegas weather? WHERE?? Ugh.

*Always enough to make sure there is one each for the dogs. Dogs LOVE PANCAKES. At least mine do. They do the doggie disco dance of joy when they see those tasty cakes on the table.

Not turkey day here..

You know what my kitchen is lacking? A ROLLING PIN. Which makes rolling phyllo dough difficult. To the rescue.. a can of PAM. Necessity is the mother of invention! The chicken pot pie puff top turned out sooooooo well! Chris insisted I write the recipe down here (so I won't forget it I suspect*) for everyone to enjoy. /eyeroll I am such a lazy cook.

Chicken Pot Pie Puff thing

1 roasted chicken shredded into pieces, no bones ok?
1 package phyllo pastry (I used Tenderflake)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup margarine, butter, oil or some kind of fat.
1/2- 1 litre chicken stock (I used Knorr simply chicken)
1/2 big bag frozen chopped veg (Green Giant pea, carrot, corn and green bean mix) or by all means use fresh. I didn't have fresh on hand and again, lazy as hell.
1 tsp-ish Bacon Salt (I MEAN IT)
salt and pepper to taste
I also used about a tablespoon of freeze dried salad herbs (chives, shallots, red onion, garlic and dill) Lighthouse brand. mmm.. this stuff rocks.

Heat oven to 400 c.
I spilt this into 2 pie pans or you could do one big casserole dish. Whatever works.

Make a simple roux. Melt butter in large pot, when melted add flour. Saute until mixed, stirring the whole time. Start adding chicken stock. It will begin to thicken, keep adding chicken stock until you have the desired amount and thickness.

Add chicken to roux. Is there enough sauce? If not, add more stock. This is an eyeball kinda thing. Add 1/2 bag of veg. If you are using fresh veg, you will want to lightly sweat the veg before adding to chicken mix. See why the frozen works?

You will want this to be quite saucy at this point. Add bacon salt, salt and pepper and dried herbs. Turn down to lowish heat and let simmer, stirring often so it doesn't stick to the bottom of your pot. Let reduce to condense flavours.

Roll out your phyllo (hopefully using a rolling pin) on lightly floured surface. When your chicken mix is thickened to your liking, pour into pans of choice and cover with phyllo. Bake for approx 15 minutes or until top is golden brown and flaky. I didn't use a wash on the phyllo, as I like the really flaky crust, not crispy.

Cool for 5 min or so, serve and bask in the adulation of all. I served this with cobbler for dessert as I am a pig.

*I *may* have tendency to forget recipes after I make them up in my head. Drives my engineer NUTS. :)

Free at last!!

Ok I really should get my head together a little better no? Announcing the first FREE PATTERN from me and knitfrontandback.

Uzumaki socks!!!

We are hoping to have a pattern up once a week during Socktoberfest. Stay tuned for more free goodness (the best kind of all dontcha think?) soon.

I think I made the best soup ever last night from leftover pot roast and veg. I cubed my leftover roast, and left the potatoes and carrots whole, they were both just babies see? Added the leftover gravy (which was not thick like gravy, just what was in the slow cooker apres cooking) and a litre of beef stock to a soup pot, tossed in a handful of pearl barley with everything, generously peppered and salted it, pitched in a few tbsp of freeze dried mixed herbs and OMG. It was heavenly. Served it with slightly stale pita bread (work with whatcha got) that was great for dipping and YUM!

It went really well with my favorite cobbler that I have been making quite often too. My preference is strawberry rhubarb, but have done it with blackberry pear apple, and would like to try some peach something one day. I take all this luscious fruit (usually frozen cause who has all this fruit in the house at once fresh? Not me! And I usually try have have organic frozen fruit on hand)I bag of each say strawberries and rhubarb, toss it in a big bowl and add a tbsp or 2 of cornstarch, a whack ( a couple of tbsp) of cinnamon and splenda (see I am still trying to maintain a modicum of healthy, no way do I wanna gain any weight back thanks.) but you could use sugar for sure, I don't measure so much as see what looks right. Toss all together. pour into a 9 x 13 backing dish. Add say a cup of rolled oats (steel cut would be nice) a few big spoons of organic brown flour, more cinnamon and splenda to a bowl. Cut in about a 1/3 cup Omega 3 margarine or (YUM!) butter until its really dispersed through the mixture. I use a fork and just mash it all up. :) Sprinkle topping over the fruit evenly and back in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour 20 min or until fruit is all bubbly and topping is brown.

I forgot to add splenda to the topping the last time I made this, and when I realised it, I tossed splenda brown sugar blend all over the top with some maple sugar flakes and popped it under the broiler for a few minutes until the sugar began to melt. OMG IT WAS AWESOME. Little crunchy bits of brown sugar goodness.

I usually serve this with a dixie cup of ice cream (serving size ya'll!) and everyone LOVES IT. mmm...