Urban Suburban Mommy

Tag Archives: yum

Apple Cheddar Chicken Muffins

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

You need to read 10 Questions With Voula Halliday to really understand how much this recipe will help with healthy school lunches, but these savoury and oh-so-yummy muffins will become a favourite. Soooo good!

What you need:

– 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
– 2 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp dried thyme
– 1 tsp salt
– 1⁄2 tsp ground black pepper
– 1 1⁄2–2 cups finely chopped cooked 
chicken
– 1 cup shredded 
cheddar cheese
– 2 green onions, 
thinly sliced
– 1 cup peeled and finely 
diced green apple
– 1 cup finely chopped baby spinach
– 2 large eggs
– 1 cup milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk
– 1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil

What you do:

1 Heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray or coat a 12-cup muffin pan with oil.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, thyme, salt, and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, stir in chicken, 3/4 cup cheddar, green onions, apple, and spinach.

3 In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir until evenly combined.

4 Divide batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle each muffin with remaining cheese. Bake until golden and a cake tester inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to
35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and
let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

MAKES 12 MUFFINS

You can swap out the chicken for ham or smoked salmon, or you can omit the chicken and make these vegetarian muffins instead.

Just one of the amazing recipes from Voula Halliday’s must-have cook-book EAT AT HOME contains over 150 recipes that show how easy it is to cook fresh, healthy, tasty meals every day of the week, including how to buy only what you will use, use everything you have on hand, swap ingredients without sweating it, and transform extras into Loveable Leftovers so you waste nothing.

About Voula:

Voula Halliday is a chef, writer, and artist with diverse and extensive experience in the food industry. A proud graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, she has presented her work on morning television and radio shows, and was one of the chef experts on CBC Television’s award-winning daytime show Steven and Chris. Most recently, she appeared on CTV’s Your Morning to whip up her yummy Apple Cheddar Chicken Muffins and Bacon and Cheddar Quinoa Fritters. You can view the segment here:

Voula’s first appearance on Steven and Chris came about after she was discovered by one of the producers who was volunteering at a Public School where Voula served as the executive chef and program coordinator. She brought Voula onto the show after being taken by her warm personality and the way in which she transformed the usually mundane and unhealthy school lunches into fresh, nutritious and delicious meals for the students and faculty. Voula’s work has appeared in print and digital formats in a variety of publications, including Chatelaine, National Post, Reader’s Digest, and Bon Appétit.

 

 

Become “Boss” of your BBQ

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes, Domestic Goodness .

Grilling and barbecuing is a summertime tradition. There’s nothing like grilling your meals to add that smokey flavour, while keeping the additional heat out of the house.

Most of us enjoy it so much, that the summer grill Season extends well into fall, winter and spring.

However there are some of us who are intimidated by this process, or have traditionally felt the grill to be a “man’s” domain. Let’st dispel those crazy ideas.

Anyone can use the grill to cook – and just like any new appliance, you just need few tips and tricks to help you along way.

The guidelines of what you can grill have been expanded to include just about anything that will not fall through the grate! This even includes lettuce for salads. Just think about the added flavour to a Caesar salad if the romaine lettuce were grilled… my mouth is watering just writing about it!!

First thing to consider when using your barbecue, is to determine if you want to grill (sear) your food, roast (like in an oven), or slow cook (like you might do in a slow cooker). All can be performed on your barbecue, and sometimes you may even use a combination of both.

Grilling – is a quick method under direct heat, generally under 20 min in total cooking time at a high heat (400° plus). Examples include burgers, steak, vegetables

Roasting – is a longer method under indirect heat, but less than 1 hour in cooking time at a med/high heat (300°). Examples include whole chickens, roasts, tenderloins

Barbecuing – is the longest method under indirect heat, over 2 hrs in cooking time at a low heat (250°). Examples include ribs, pork shoulder

This being said, just about anything you want to cook can be done on your barbecue!

Today we are going to make a Wedged Iceburg Salad with Grilled Steak

What you need: 

– 2 firm plum tomatoes
– 2 small onions
– 1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed and patted dry
– 2 tsp   Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub
– 2 beef tenderloin filets (6 oz/175 g each) or 12 oz (350 g) top sirloin steak, cut 1-in. (2.5- cm thick)
– 1 tbsp of oil (high heat withstanding – eg. Avocado Oil)
– 1 tsp of oil (high heat withstanding – eg  Avocado Oil)
– Your favourite blue cheese dressing (for a homemade option see below)

What you do:

  1. Fire-up your grill, place it on high and cover for 15 min. This will get your grill warmed up and ready for cooking.
  2. Cut lettuce – Keeping the core intact cut into 4 wedges
  3. Cut the Ttomatoes into wedges (plum tomatoes will stay together better than any other)
  4. Slice to top off of the onion, but keep the roots in tact. Wedge the onion. The roots will keep the layers together while grilling.
  5. Season your meat – brush with oil and add the crushed peppercorn and garlic rub, and set aside.
  6. Once the grill is warmed up, clean grill with a grill scraper
  7. Oil the grill using a silicone brush and a tbsp of oil.  (An alternative method is to soak a paper-towel in the oil, then using your tongs, brush the paper-towel soaked with oil over the grill.)
  8. Place your tomatoes and lettuce on the grill  for 2 to 2.5 minutes on each side, enough for grill marks to appear.
  9. Remove from the grill and set aside.
  10.  Leave the primary burner on High and reduce the other burners to medium (the primary burner is the one that must stay on).
  11. Place the onions over the Medium heat burner, turning after 4 to 6 minutes – or when grill marks appear.
  12. Place meat over the primary grill until nicely charred, 4 to 6 minutes on each side, then place your meat over the Medium heat burner for an additional 4 to 8 minutes longer.  Timing will vary due to meat and thickness.
  13. Transfer meat to a covered platter and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
  14. Turn off the grill.
  15. To serve: Evenly divide lettuce, onions, tomatoes and beef among the plates and drizzle with your favourite Blue Cheese Dressing.

Blue Cheese Dressing:

– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   2% plain low-fat Greek yogurt
– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   light mayonnaise
– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   crumbled blue cheese (about 1 oz/30 g)
– 3 tbsp (45 mL)   milk
– 1 tsp (5 mL)   Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub

What you do:

Mix (whisk) all ingredients chill and serve.

Now you can master vegetables or meats on your grill. Let me know what you think or send me pictures of your creations.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Have a “GRILLtastic” week!

Danielle Reid

Independent Consultant of The Pampered Chef

Danielle’s Pampered Kitchen..Healthy Meals in Minutes

It’s a Wrap!

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

Summer mealtimes tend to be quick and simple. Take the wrap. It’s as good a go-to as the stir-fry. Want to know the secret (and so simple) ingredient to an amazing wrap?  Let me share.

Your wraps will never be the same…

There are two types of wrap-eating people in this world, the tortilla people and the lettuce people.

Whether your a “tortilla wrap person” or a “lettuce wrap person” the basics are identical. What you choose to wrap in is your personal preference.

In our house we have begun to move away from the tortilla and wrap and focus more on the lettuce wrap.  I was extremely hesitant at first.  Our home’s dependency on bread and pasta is serious. With kids on the go and picky eaters, those seem to be the easiest items to grab.

However, the more research I do, I realize that this dependency has to change.  I am a firm believer in moderation, so I don’t intend to eliminate these foods, just reduce their portions and frequency. I encourage you to do the same.

It requires a little more creative planning, but the benefits are worth it.

These wraps are a regular meal in our house, usually a Tuesday or Wednesday dinner.  There are no complaints – so in essence I think they are my favourite meal!!!  Soon to be yours, too.

The secret to a good wrap is: The sauce!

Adding a little TLC to our sauces (mayo, dressing, etc) has such a powerful effect on our wraps and sandwiches. There are a million variations, but here’s the one I use in this wrap.  Share your favourites in the comments.

What you need: 

– 1/2 Chicken breast (or 2 thighs) per person, grilled *
– 1 package of bacon, cooked and diced
– 1 cup shredded cheddar
– 1 tomato, diced
– Lettuce to Wrap (optional) Iceberg, Romaine or Boston Lettuce for wrapping.
– Tortilla’s to Wrap – 12 inch (Optional)

Optional:

– 1/2 Avocado, diced
– 2 Hard boiled eggs, diced


 

Sauce:

– 1 1/2 cup mayo
– 1 tbsp – Southwest Seasoning
– 1 tbsp – Bell Pepper Rub
– Salt & Pepper to taste

What you do:

Grill the chicken: I always prefer to grill my chicken on an indoor grill to minimize dryness.  On an indoor grill it’s approximately 5 minutes per side on Med-High.

Cook the bacon: My absolute favourite – mess free – way to cook bacon in the oven.  Just lay it out on a pan at 350° for 27 minutes. It’s perfect for wraps and sandwiches – and there is no grease splash to clean up. Once you try it this way, you’ll never go back to frying!

Place diced chicken, diced bacon, diced tomato, cheddar and any optional ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix the sauce ingredients together and add to the mixing bowl.

Mix all ingredients well.

Build your wrap using either a tortilla or lettuce wrap. Scoop on 2 to 3 heaping spoonfuls of mixture to each wrap and fold the wrap up.

Folding is a bit of an art in itself, you’ll easily and quickly get the hang of it – here’s a guide:

Option:

You can even grill the finished wrap to add extra effect.

Serve immediately with our favourite side dish – a nice salad, chips, french fries, etc.

Feeling satiated at meals, reducing the snacking between meals and improving cognitive function are just some of the benefits from changing the way we look and consume our food. Do some research and some experimentation to see what works for you.

What are your favourite sauce seasonings?  Comment below!

That’s a wrap! Enjoy!

Have a great week


Danielle’s Pampered Kitchen..Healthy Meals in Minutes

 

S’mores

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

Summer fun in our family includes camping. I know I usually post about staycations and 4 star hotels, but I know my way around a campsite. And what would camping be without a campfire and some S’mores.

smores

Mmmmmmmm

But you want to know a secret? You don’t need to have a campfire to make s’mores.

What you need:

– 10 Marshmallows
– 20 graham crackers
– 2 bars of milk chocolate

What you do (the easy version):

Melt a marshmallow. You can do this on a poker stick over a campfire or over a stovetop burner. (You can even cheat like crazy and just microwave to melt it, 20-30 seconds should do the trick.)

Put melty molten marshmallow on a graham cracker. Put 1 or 2 squares of chocolate onto the hot marshmallow so it melts.

Place a second graham cracker on top to make a sandwich. Let it cool for a second so you don’t scald the inside of your mouth.

Tell me that’s not what camping tastes like!

What you do (The authentic version):

Sandwich 2 pieces of chocolate and one marshmallow between two graham crackers. Wrap like a packet in tinfoil, making sure the edges are sealed well. Place packet into the campfire – not on the fire, but near enough to cook it through. Give it about 1.5 to 2 minutes there. Check on contents. They should be melted and gooey. If not, replace in the campfire and gauge how much additional time you’ll need. If you’ve got a good set of tongs or fire utensils you can try holding the packet over the fire to grill it. But that trick takes skill.

The cooked graham crackers have a different texture and flavour. This is definitely for the purist. If you want to get a bit creative, you can try adding bits of fruit – bananas and strawberries work well. You can add in nuts – peanuts or almonds. You can add in some caramel, use different kinds of chocolate bars, add trail mix or anything else you want that you think would taste good covered in chocolate and wrapped in warm marshmallow.

 

Cocoa snack balls

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

My friend Ali, the beauty and the brains behind those sensation Au Naturel Artisan beauty and edible products (goingaunaturel.com) showed me this one. Rather, she got my husband hooked on these little pretty-good-for-you treats and I can’t make them fast enough to keep up!

There’s no set recipe, it’s kind of nice that way, you just need to follow the technique and include anything you’ve got a craving for or have on hand. You can make them into balls or bars. You can eat them while they’re still warm or you can wait for them to cool – sometimes it’s hard to wait! Once you try these you’ll see how easy and quick these are and you’ll be making your own versions all the time.

What you need:

– 1/2 cup coconut oil
– 1/4 cup agave or 4 tablespoons maple syrup
– dash of vanilla
– 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder

These are approximate, I like to toss the ingredients from the container right into the sweetened coconut oil mixture:
– 1/2 cup steel cut quick oats
– 1/2 cup chia seeds
– 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (shelled)
– 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (shelled)
– 1/4 cup raw almonds, slivered or crushed
– 2 pinches sea salt

You can add any seeds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans (crush nuts before adding), shaved coconut – even popcorn if you want. You can pack them with protein and make energy bars. You can make them with dried blueberries, goji berries and other superfoods for a power packed pick-up. You can really play with the flavours once you see how the sweetened coconut oil binds the ingredients together.

What you do:

On medium-low melt the coconut oil and then stir in the agave or maple syrup. Stir in the vanilla and cocoa.

Remove the pot from the heat and start tossing in pinches and small handfuls of ingredients. The oats make the balls bigger, helping the nuts and seeds to bind. You can keep adding ingredients until the mixture is thick and starts binding together. If it gets too dry, just return to heat and add a bit more coconut oil to melt – just very briefly. Keep tasting along the way. You can add a dash more sweet or more cocoa – bump up any flavour that you like.

When the mixture is nice and thick and starting to clump, you can either pour out onto a piece of wax paper on a tray or roll into balls and place on a tray.

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

Put the tray in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes to set.

You can eat this warm or cold. You can leave them in the freezer and the cocoa flavoured and sweetened coconut oil is chilled and hard – it’s kind of perfect for the summer heat!

Cheesy manicotti

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

Not just a great stylist, this talented mama knows her way around the salon – and the kitchen! While we LOVE LOVE LOVE the great hair advice we usually receive from Erica Wearing, and we’re looking forward to a post on taming the frizzies later this week (my big mess of curls is currently begging for help as they boost out of all control!!) she’s kindly shared her Magnificent Manicotti recipe – it’s cheesy, in a good way – and you won’t be disappointed!!Add something tasty to your family’s Italian dinner tonight! Serve baked manicotti shells placed on beef mixture sprinkled with cheese.

erica unbaked manicotti with cheese

What you need:

– 14 uncooked manicotti shells (or oven-ready if you prefer)
– 1lb lean ground beef
– 1 large onion, chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
– 1 jar (26 to 30 oz) tomato pasta sauce (choose your favorite – or make your own)
– 2 boxes (9 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
– 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
– 12 mushrooms (or an 8 oz can, drained, if you prefer)
– 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
– 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
– 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Topping:
– 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)
– 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

What you do:

First you need to cook the manicotti as directed on package, and drain. Use the minimum cooking time, this will help to prevent the shells from tearing while filling. I used the oven-ready shells and just skipped this step – it’s up to you!

Erica unbaked manicotti

To prepare the beef:
In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown. Drain off and stir in pasta sauce.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with nonstick – or grease and flour to prep the dish.

To prepare the manicotti shell filling:
Squeeze thawed spinach to drain excess moisture. Spread it out on paper towel, pat dry. Mix spinach, cottage cheese, mushrooms, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, nutmeg and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Putting it all together:
Use one cup of the beef to line the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Fill manicotti shells with spinach mixture. Place the shells on top of the beef mixture in dish. Pour remaining beef mixture evenly over shells. Try to get the shells completely covered. Sprinkle liberally with mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.

erica with the littleErica H. Wearing has been a stylist for over 16 years and she absolutely loves what she does . “It’s a great feeling to help people feel and look their best when they leave my chair. I wouldn’t trade this for any other job in the world!”
Check out Erica at Ka!Boom Hair Salon 1129 West Pender Street, Vancouver B.C .
(604)681-6003

alissia marciano hairbyericaw