Chicken Stir Fry

Invest in a good wok. It will make you happy. At least for the evening.

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut in strips
Carrots
Broccoli
Red pepper
Mushrooms
Onion
Bok choy
Bean sprouts
6 cloves garlic, minced (more or less)
Dried, crushed red chillies (as much as you like - I just keep pouring until I start to cough - you might not want to do that!)
Dark sesame oil + any other oil of choice
3/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar

Steamed rice
Crushed peanuts

1. Slice the chicken and put in another bowl. 
2. Chop all the veggies and put them in a bowl.  I use 3 bowls. One for carrots, one for the bean sprouts and green parts of the bok choy, and one for the rest of the veggies and the white parts of the bok choy. (Yes, the kitchen will be a disaster when you're done.)
3. Mince the garlic; put half with the chicken and half with the veggies.
4. Heat the oil in the wok, I use half sesame and half olive oil. The sesame oil gives an amazing flavour.
5. Throw in some crushed chillies along with the chicken and garlic. You can sprinkle A LITTLE bit of salt on the chicken. Stir fry until the chicken is no longer pink and then remove it from the wok and put it into yet another bowl.
6. Heat more oil in the wok; throw in some more crushed chillies followed by the veggies. Now this is where all the bowls come from: carrots take longer to cook and bean sprouts, not so much. The other veggies sit somewhere in the middle. So...I stir fry the carrots for a bit, then throw in the next batch of veggies and when they are almost done, I add the green parts of the bok choy and the bean sprouts. I like to keep my veggies a little crispy and this helps them keep their bright colours.
7. Somewhere in the middle of doing all of the above, boil the water and stir in the peanut butter, soy sauce and brown sugar. And pour yourself a cup of tea with the leftover water in the kettle. (I can't resist doing that when I am cooking. The sound of boiling water in a kettle gets me every time.)
8. Don't forget to start the rice cooker! If you don't have a rice cooker, well I just feel sorry for you. They start at $12 at Wal-Mart. Just do it. I can't help you with stove top rice. I don't remember how to boil it.
9. When the veggies are done, throw the chicken back in the wok and add the sauce. Stir it around until it's melted. This only takes a minute or so. That's it. Resist the urge to boil the life out of it. Because you will do exactly that. You will kill it.
10. You don't have to follow all the ingredients. You can leave something out if you don't like it. Likewise, if you really like another vegetable, use it. 
11. One more thing: not all soy sauces are created equal. Some have enough sodium to cure and preserve an elephant. Like a gazillion milligrams of sodium per teaspoon. That's just wrong. The Heart and Stroke Foundation will come knocking on your door looking for donations. 
12. Wow! That sounds like a lot of instructions and a lot of work! It's actually a really quick meal to make. It took me about 40 minutes from the time I got home from the grocery store to the time I sat down to eat.

Grilled Lamb, Spinach & Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Now before you get all excited, no cute, fluffy little lambs were harmed in the making of this salad. Unfortunately. Simply because this is Canada and lamb steak is impossible to find. And, no it is not the same as lamb chops. So, in the making of this salad, ugly cows were used instead. A friend suggested that since this is Canada, I should have used moose steak. Maybe next time?

Use as much or as little of the following ingredients as you wish.

Salad Ingredients

Medium-sized pasta (such as shells, bow ties)
Baby spinach
Cherry tomatoes
Feta cheese
Red onion
Grilled lamb or beef steak, cooled and cut into strips
Fresh chopped oregano (you can substitute dried oregano)

Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Cracked pepper

• Grill the steak as desired. I marinate the steak prior to grilling. (See below.) Wrap it in foil or put it in a sealed container and chill. You can do this the evening before you make the salad.) Cut into strips.
• Boil the pasta and rinse under cold water until pasta is cool.
• Toss all the salad ingredients. 
• Just before serving, add the vinaigrette. (The spinach wilts very quickly.)
• For the vinaigrette, throw everything into a blender. This keeps in the fridge for weeks. If you want a stronger flavour, use a 1:1 ratio of oil and vinegar.
• Quick marinade: 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 lemon juice, 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 2 - 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tsp basil, cracked pepper.

Barbecued Beans

2 cups dried beans*
1 onion
1 red/green pepper
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup barbecue sauce
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder - be generous!
Salt (optional)

*My favourite combo: 1 1/2 cups pinto beans, 1/4 cup red kidney beans, 1/4 cup black beans 

1. Soak beans overnight in a large pot of water. Remember the beans 'grow' so make sure the pot has room for the bean expansion! (Take this free advice from someone who discovered this the hard way.) 
2. Discard the water used to soak the beans and give them a little rinse in fresh water. (This virtually eliminates the 'F' word.)
3. Add fresh water and let the beans simmer in a pot on the stove for a couple of hours, or until soft. Do not add anything to the water. Not even salt. Beans are free-spirited, really. They are fearful of commitment. They like to remain unattached for as long as possible. If you force them into a relationship, they turn into stones and no amount of boiling will make them soft.
4. Once cooked, drain off most of the water. You can leave a little bit with the beans, if you don't like your beans dry and transfer to a baking dish with a cover.
5. Saute onion, red pepper and/or green pepper and garlic. Add this to the beans along with all remaining ingredients. You may or may not need salt, depending on the sodium content of the barbecue sauce you are using. Do a taste test before adding the salt. Sometimes I throw in some corn.
6. Bake anywhere around 350 F (180°C) for about 30 minutes, or until bubbling.

Broccoli & Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Okay, definitely the ugliest soup I've seen in a while, but I like the taste. And, hey! I made soup! All is not lost!

Ingredients
Fresh broccoli (about 1/2 a bunch, stem included)
1 tsp chicken or vegetable soup base
1 red pepper
1/4 small red onion
2 cloves garlic
Cooking spray or olive oil
Cracked pepper

1. Put broccoli and soup base in a pot and cover with just enough water to boil. Boil until tender.
2. Slice red pepper in half (seeds removed) and place on baking sheet along with the onion and garlic.
3. Lightly spray veggies or coat them with olive oil.
4. Broil in the oven until skins of red pepper are blackened. You might have to remove the onion sooner than the red pepper. Put red pepper in a plastic bag or covered container for about 10 minutes and then remove the top skin (which, in case you ever wondered, your body won't digest anyways).
5. Throw everything in a blender with some cracked pepper. If the soup is too thick, add some water. You could probably add milk.
6. Top with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Apple Pie

The first time I attempted pie I vowed I'd never go through the torture a second time. Obviously, I lied. I stuck it out, had many disasters and countless pie crusts were 'pieced' together. You know what? When it's baked and smelling absolutely divine, who really cares?! This recipe fits a 10" pie plate.

Pie Filling

6 - 8 apples
1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp milk
1-2 tsp cinnamon

1. Peel, core and slice the apples. I use Mac, Spartan, Granny Smith but stay away from Red Delicious because they shrink too much when they're baked. 
2. Toss apples in remaining ingredients. For the sugar, I usually eat an apple slice and determine how tart or sweet the apples are and then adjust the added sugar accordingly. I never measure the cinnamon. I just keep sprinkling until it looks like apple pie filling. 

Pie Crust
I got this off a box of Tenderflake Lard years ago. When I made this particular pie (I hadn't made one in years), I noticed the recipe on the box was different. I've also used Crisco Shortening, but I find the dough harder to work with. Maybe I was having a bad day? Sometimes pie crust does that. It could be raining in Kazakhstan and all of a sudden your pie crust freaks out. Can't help you there.

5 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp salt
1 lb (1 package) shortening or lard
1 tbsp vinegar
1 egg
Cold water

1.  Mix together flour and salt
2. Cut in shortening. You can use a pastry blender, a large fork or a potato masher. Usually part-way through I give up on utensils altogether and use my hands. A faux pas, I realize, but I'm just not that coordinated. When it's finished, it should be crumbly.
3. In a measuring cup, mix the vinegar and the egg. Add enough water to make one cup.
4. Add about 3/4 of the liquid to the dough and mix together. If its not sticking together, keep adding small amounts of liquid. You want it to just barely stick together. If the dough is too wet, you'll end up with a tough crust. The less liquid you use, the flakier your crust will be.
5. Divide the dough into 5 equal-sized balls. You have enough dough for 2 double crust and one single crust pie. If you're really good, you can divide the dough into 6 portions. I'm just not that good ;)
6. At this point, you can wrap the extra dough in plastic and then put it into a freezer bag and throw it in the freezer in the event you ever want to attempt to make another pie.

Rolling out the Dough
So far so good, right? Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. This is where, after the first attempt at pie-making, many people give up and run to Safeway. There are countless tricks and different ways of rolling out the dough and successfully getting it into the pie dish. This is how I get the dough from Point A to Point B.

1. Run a dampened cloth over your countertop and immediately spread a piece of wax paper over it. It keeps the wax paper from sliding all over the place.
2. Sprinkle flour over the wax paper. Roll the rolling pin over the flour you just sprinkled. Make sure the rolling pin is well-coated in flour. 
3. Place the dough on the wax paper and give it a good slap. You know you want to. You're about to get very angry with it. You might as well slap it at the beginning and be done with it. Seriously, flatten it with your hand and sprinkle flour over the top.
4. Begin rolling out the dough. Don't use a back and forth motion. Always start from the centre and roll towards the edges. Lift the rolling pin off the dough and start in the centre and roll out each time. Sprinkle more flour along the way, over every inch of the counter, your face, the cutlery drawer, the kitchen floor and halfway down the hall. In other words, never bake pies after you've cleaned the house. Pies first, then clean the house. 
5. Keep rolling the dough until it's several inches bigger than the pie plate. Fold it lightly in half and then in half again. Lift it gently into the pie plate, centering your 'triangle' of dough in one 1/4 of the pie plate. Unfold the dough, and voila, your dough has made if from Point A to Point B. Put a few slits the bottom of the crust with a knife. This should keep it from blowing bubbles when it bakes.
6. Add your pie filling and then start all over again at Step 1.
7. Fold the top crust under the bottom crust all the way around the edges and then flute them. You can clarinet them if you like, but it might not work as well. I don't know how to explain fluting. Google it!
8. Stab your pretty pie crust with a knife. Not because you hate the pie crust and want to kill it. It needs some steam vents.
9. Take a pastry brush and brush water over the top and then sprinkle sugar.
10. Bake at 350 F (180°C) until it's golden brown. Can't give you a time. Anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours? Just keep watching it.
11. Try to let the pie cool a little bit before slicing to let the filling set.

Sugar Cookies

Okay, so I totally stole this from Martha Stewart, so the link is below. If you're wondering what a stick of butter is, I'll save you the googling time: 1/2cup. I used margarine instead of butter, and I certainly didn't follow those high maintenance instructions. Cream margarine and sugar. Add the wet stuff followed by the dry stuff. I think I made them smaller, but her picture looks like my picture in terms of size. I baked them for ten minutes. Martha's oven must not be very efficient.

Giant Sugar Cookies

Potato Salad

Nothing says 'summer picnic' like potato salad. You could, of course, leave out the bacon...or you could jump in the lake and swim a little longer! This recipe makes enough dressing for a rather large salad - enough to share with your sister-in-law who doesn't like potato salad, but thinks this one is divine!

Ingredients

5 lbs red baby potatoes

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 package bacon, fried and crumbled

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped

1 1/2 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

3 tbsp grated Parmesan

3 tbsp ranch dressing

2 tbsp mustard

4 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt & Pepper, to taste

1. Boil the potatoes until they are tender; cool.
2. Cut potatoes in halves, thirds or quarters, depending on how big you want the pieces.
3. Throw in red onion, bacon, parsley and dill.
4. Mix together remaining ingredients to make a dressing and stir it into the salad.
5. Chill before serving. It's best if you leave it overnight to let the flavours blend.