SO. Between now and the end of the month, I will be totally preoccupied with Christmas. It’s my most-favourite time of the year, and the time I’m not working or sleeping is completely revolving around the holidays – whether it’s shopping, decorating, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, or baking delicious Christmas goodies. And I started that this past weekend….. except I’m not sharing that recipe here because what I made, I’m packaging up and giving to friends as part of Christmas gifts… and some of those friends read this blog. Instead, I’m sharing the recipe for what I gave to friends last year.

Ingredients

1 lb light-coloured raisins
1 lb baking gumdrops (not black)
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups sweetened applesauce
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Boil raisins in water for 5 minutes. Drain & cool. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat eggs and add to butter/sugar mixture with vanilla and applesauce. Coat raisins and gumdrops with 1 cup of flour. Sift together remaining flour, salt and baking powder and cinnamon, then add to butter/sugar/applesauce mixture. Fold in raisins and gumdrops. Bake in large greased loaf pan/bundt pan at 300F for 2-2.5 hours.

Notes from Courtney

Okay, so. This makes A LOT. Like two 9x3x3 pans. Or six 5x3x2 pans. And it’s a heavy cake (very much like fruit cake, only really awesome). Every few years I make this and give out to friends for Christmas. If, however, you would rather eat it all on your own (which I totally wouldn’t blame you for because it is just THAT GOOD), it freezes great for next year.

And so I think I’m going to have more time to continue with weekly blogging things.

Midweek Morsels is a weekly meme hosted by Kristina. Do you have a recipe you’d like to share with us?

This week, one of the things I made was Mexican Lasagna. (I got the recipe from The New Classics Cookbook.)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 large onion, halved and cut into thin wedges
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 jar chopped green chile peppers
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp salt
6 plum tomatoes, chopped
8 corn tortillas (6″ diameter), cut in half
1 1/4 cups shredded low-fat Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 13″x9″ baking dish with nonstick spray.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray. Set over medium heat. Add the chicken. Cook, turning several times, for 5 minutes, or until no longer pink. Remove to a medium bowl. Wipe the skillet with a paper towl. Coat with nonstick spray. Place over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 to 8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add to the chicken in the bowl.

In another medium bowl, combine the ricotta, sour cream, chile peppers, cilantro, cumin and salt.

Spread 1 cup of the tomatoes across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange half of the tortillas evenly over the tomatoes. Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the tortillas. Top with half of the chicken mixture. Top with 1 cup of the remaining tomatoes and 1/2 cup of the Monterey Jack. Repeat the layering sequence with the remaining tortillas, ricotta mixture and chicken mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup tomatoes and 3/4 cup Monterey Jack.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Loosely cover with foil if the cheese browns too quickly.

Makes 8 servings.

Notes from Courtney

I only made a quarter of this recipe, and it was MORE than enough for 2 meals. Also, I used one of those Tex Mex combos of shredded cheese, and LOTS of cheese in total. It was quite delicious.

So, this Monday was Thanksgiving here in Canada. (Though, my family has Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday instead of Monday due to my having to drive back home on Monday evening and our dinners always go WAY late.) This is one of my all-time favourite weekends every year. I love the baking and cooking; I love the eating; I love the family time. But mostly I love the eating. ;)

We had turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, squash, beans, brussel sprouts and DESSERT. (I get to make dessert every year; this year I made Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.) One of my favourites parts of the meal is our squash side dish – the Squash and Apple Bake. We’ve been making this recipe for YEARS. It’s from the Betty Crocker Cookbook (you know, the really old school one that everyone has and was published years and years ago).

Ingredients

2 lbs butternut or buttercup squash
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mace
2 apples, cored and cut into 1/2″ slices

Directions

Heat oven to 350F. Cut each squash in half. Remove seeds and fibres, pare squash. Cut into 1/2 inch slices. Stir together remaining ingredients except apple slices. Arrange squash in ungreased baking dish (11.5 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches); top with apple slices. Pour sugar mixture over top; cover with foil. Bake 50-60 minutes until squash is tender.

Notes from Courtney

So, if you leave this about 15 minutes between taking out of the oven and serving, it allows the sugar mixture sauce stuff to thicken a little bit. Also, it doesn’t say to peel the apples, but the texture works a little bit better if they’re peeled.

So, Epicurious.com is one of my favourite websites. Usually a few days a week I will end up making something that I can find on this website. This week, one of the things I did was their Garlic Chicken. I found it really easy and the modifications I made were quite tasty. Made it much better than it could’ve been, imho.

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces, or 12 chicken wings, tips removed
Sweet paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 2 cloves, minced
3 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup fino or manzanilla sherry
1/2 cup chicken broth
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Directions

Rub the chicken with paprika, salt, and pepper and set aside at room temperature for at least 1 hour or preferably in the refrigerator at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic and cook, stirring, until softened but not colored, 2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and fry, turning as needed, until golden on both sides, 5 to 8 minutes. You want them nicely colored on the outside but not cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain briefly, and then arrange the pieces in a cazuela or baking dish large enough to hold them in a single layer.

Remove the crushed garlic from the oil and discard. Return the pan to low heat. Add the minced garlic and cook briefly. Add the thyme, bay leaves, sherry, and broth, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the chicken.

Bake the chicken until cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and discard the bay leaves and thyme. If the pan juices are thin, transfer to a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat until reduced, and then return to the cazuela. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve at once.

Notes from Courtney

So, I added two chopped tomatoes to this, and substituted red wine for sherry. I also served this over egg noodles because there was so much sauce/juice/stuff. I think next time I make this, I’ll add a bit of cornstarch or flour to the sauce in order to thicken it up a bit (as it was pretty much pure liquid this time around).

Okay, so I’m on holiday this week, and am spending the majority of the week visiting my parents. And one of the best things about this is that I eat meals that I typically don’t get to have. I live on my own, and that can sometimes make mealtime difficult, especially for recipes that are extremely difficult to cut in half (or thirds, or quarters, whatever). While yes, there is the option of freezing a lot of food, there are just some things that don’t taste the same after freezing them and then reheating them. On the other hand, a lot of recipes make fairly large portions so I’d be eating the same thing for a whole week straight, and then I’d just be sick of it. So yay for the opportunity to eat foods I don’t normally have because of large portion sizes that can’t be cut down without difficulty!

Tonight, we’re having meatloaf, and I do love meatloaf but very rarely get it. I don’t know where this recipe came from, but it’s the one we’ve been using for as long back as I can remember.

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
½ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup oatmeal
Salt & pepper to taste
1/8 cup ketchup
½ tsp dry mustard
¼ cup brown sugar
Touch of water to mix

Directions

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer to a 8×3 loaf pan, and create a indentation down the center of the loaf lengthwise, about 1″ deep (this gives the fat somewhere to drain to). Mix remaining ingredients, and pour over meatloaf. Bake in preheated oven at 325F for 1.5 hours. About three quarters of the way through cooking, drain fat from the top of the meatloaf.

Notes from Courtney

This can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a while, but if you do that, then either let the loaf pan come back to room temperature before putting it in the oven, or don’t preheat the oven before putting the meatloaf in there (it will need to cook longer in this case, though).

Every so often, I comment about how I could never become a vegetarian because I would miss meat way too much. But in the past couple of years, since I started living on my own, I have found that I am eating more and more vegetarian meals. (Especially in the summer when everything is fresher and local.) I love the additional possibilities it gives me for meals, and am always amazed at how tasty it all comes out. This week, I ended up trying a recipe from VegCooking – “Fabio’s Portobello Passion.” And believe me, it’s actually a lot more appealing, doesn’t have flowing blonde locks and won’t ever appear on the cover of a romance novel, unlike the Italian model that springs to mind when one hears the name.

Ingredients

8 Tbsp. margarine
2 large portobello mushrooms
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 small red or yellow bell peppers, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup fresh peas
1 cup sprouts
1 Tbsp. finely chopped basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

For the sauce:
1/3 cup chopped shallots or onions
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup dry white wine or vegetable broth
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange peel

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. of the margarine over medium heat and cook the mushrooms with the Worcestershire sauce for 4 minutes, turning once. Remove the mushrooms and arrange them on a baking sheet.

In the same skillet, melt 2 more Tbsp. margarine over medium-high heat and brown the garlic and pine nuts. Add the bell peppers and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until almost tender. Stir in the remaining vegetables, basil, salt, white pepper and cayenne pepper. Evenly spoon the vegetable mixture onto the mushrooms. Bake 10 minutes.

For the sauce, melt the remaining margarine over medium heat and cook the shallots for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just golden. Stir in the soy milk, wine, orange juice and orange peel. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Strain.

To serve, spoon the sauce over the mushrooms.

Makes 2 servings.

Notes from Courtney

Yeah, this was positively delicious, and quite easy. I love portobello mushrooms, their texture and taste and om nom nom. I skipped the sprouts, and substituted unsalted sunflower seeds for pine nuts. I also used the white wine instead of the vegetable broth as I love nothing better than the taste of wine in food.

Ingredients

3 to 4 cobs of corn, shucked
2 tbsp (25 mL) vegetable oil
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
3 cups (750 mL) chicken stock
2 tbsp (25 mL) soy sauce
7 oz (200 g) crab meat, drained
1 tbsp (15 mL) freshly squeezed lime juice
1/3 cup (75 mL) packed fresh mint leaves, shredded

Directions

1. Using a knife, remove the corn kernels from the cobs, placing them in a bowl. You should have about 3 cups (750 mL). With the back of the knife, press down on the cob extracting any milky juice. Add it to the kernels; set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan; add the corn, green onions, ginger and sugar. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Skim then reduce the heat and simmer until corn is tender, about 4 minutes.

3. Stir in the crab, lime juice and mint. Check the seasoning and serve.

Serves 4 to 6

Notes from Courtney

So, when the corn, onions, ginger and sugar was cooking, all I could think about was how much this smelled like Ben Thanh, which totally made me crave deep fried wontons. Which are totally my downfall. And which I don’t allow myself to eat very often because they are SO not good for you. (But omg, so delicious!)

ANYWAY.

I used vegetable broth instead of chicken stock, and I’d totally add an extra cup of broth to this the next time around. As well, at first it smelled like there was way too much soy sauce in the soup, but it turned out not as salty or soy sauce-ish as I expected, which is definitely a good thing.

All-in-all, this was positively delicious!

Midweek Morsels is a weekly meme hosted by Kristina. Do you have a recipe you’d like to share with us?

Ingredients
2 chicken legs and thighs
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
half of one 28-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions
Separate the chicken legs from thighs and chop off the ends of the legs (freeze these for a stock). Trim and discard the fat around the chicken pieces. Heat the oil in a 4 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides, starting skin side down; transfer to a plate. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Discard most of the fat in this pot, raise the heat, and add tomatoes with their juices; stir in sugar, salt, red pepper flakes and oregano and bring to a high simmer. Cover partially and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes; now and then, mash the tomatoes into the cooking juices.

Add cream and bring to a light boil while stirring. Add the chicken pieces skin side up.

Cover tightly and simmer over low to medium heat for 40 minutes or until tender. Now and then, uncover the pot and let the water condensation under the lid fall back into the pot.

Transfer the chicken to a heated platter. Skim off the fat on top of the sauce and ladle the sauce over the chicken.

Notes from Courtney
The past few times that I made this, I found that the tomato sauce was a little bit bland, so this time around I added onions and garlic to it – much tastier.

Midweek Morsels is hosted weekly by Kristina of Kristina’s Favorites.

Ingredients:
2 ripe Roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 large ripe avocado, diced
1/4 cup lime juice
2 Tbsp fresh chervil leaves
1 tsp sugar

Directions:
Toss all ingredients in a bowl gently. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Notes from Courtney:
The lime juice in here helps keep the salsa for a few days before the avocados start to go brown, but you probably don’t want to let the salsa get more than two or three days old.

Kristina hosts the weekly meme, Midweek Morsels. Why don’t you join in the fun with us?

Their Limeade Shiver quickly became one of my favourite drinks, because it is rather easy, quite tasty and very refreshing. I don’t remember where I got the recipe originally.

Ingredients
1 can club soda
4 Tbsp lime juice
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup lime sorbet

Directions
Blend all ingredients together. Serves 2.

Notes from Courtney
This is totally delicious with a shot or so of rum in it. Also, when it says “serves 2″ what it really means is “makes two small drinks or one large delicious drink.”

Do you have any delicious recipes to share with us? Stop by Kristina’s Favorites and leave us a link!