What's cooking, Kylee?

Chicken tortilla soup

kyleecooks — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:54:00 +0000

SO, I had a hankering for chicken tortilla soup – all the recipes online (there are a ton), cook books, blogs etc all have their own version.

I kind of played around with it (and based it on what I had).

Okay, let’s cook!

INGREDIENTS:

Olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced
Cilantro roots, chopped finely
Chili powder (I used ground ancho chili peppers)
Cumin (if you want)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
6-8 cups of chicken broth/stock
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (cooked, shredded)
3 Tbs lime juice
Cilantro (coriander, Mum!)
Avocado (optional)
Tortilla chips – crushed a little.

Put the olive oil in a saucepan/dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the garlic, onion, jalapeno and cilantro roots, and cook it until the onion is soft and transparent.

Add some chili powder, some cumin. Maybe a little ground coriander.

Add the stock/broth and tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Add the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasonings and adjust. I added salt and pepper, and more chili, but that’s just me.

I then put my stick blender in the pot and blended about half of it. Made the soup less “watery” and more “soupy”. You could obviously just remove a few cups and blend in a food processor or blender.

Take it off the heat, mix in the lime juice, and add some chopped cilantro.

Ladle out the soup, and add sliced avocado, chopped cilantro and corn chips.

YUM!

White Wine Braised Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

kyleecooks — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:24:00 +0000

There are a lot of food blogs out there, but this one is one of my favourites.

I made this chicken dish one night, and it made my house smell FANTASTIC. The dish was AWESOME. I have made it 3 times since then.

Yeah, that good.

The recipe is not mine, and I have no photos – so, go visit Brianna & Dustin’s blog, and get their recipe. Trust me!

CLICK FOR THE RECIPE. Go here. Make this. You won’t be sorry!!!

Fridge Soup

kyleecooks — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 02:31:00 +0000

Today, I cleaned out the freezers, and the fridge. We also needed dinner – so I used what I found.

Fridge soup was born. Sadly, this is probably one of the more budget friendly, more healthy and more nutritious meals I’ve made in a while – and all from ingredients I already had!

It’s not terribly pretty to look at, and I had to take the photo using my phone…. but tasted awesome.

Here’s what I put in it

2 carrots (diced)

1/2 large onion (diced)

2 celery stalks (diced)

2 cans of crushed tomatoes

1 can of kidney beans (drained, rinsed)

1 can of black beans (drained, rinsed)

2 cans of chicken broth (low sodium is what I had – used vege stock if vegetarian)

2 handfuls of sugar snap peas (chopped)

1 zucchini (grated)

a handful of whole wheat elbow pasta

a handful of spinach per bowl

some grated parmesan

Random dried herbs (think basil, oregano, parsley)

Garlic powder

Salt and Pepper

Here’s how I made it

Bit of olive oil in the dutch oven, added the onion, carrot and celery and cooked til the onion was translucent.

Added: broth and tomatoes, brought to a simmer, then added the beans and sugar snap peas.

Simmered for around 15 minutes, used a stick blender and blended a little of the soup to thicken it, then added the pasta. Let it roll until the pasta cooked.

A handful of baby spinach in each bowl, some soup, then some parmesan on top. The heat of the soup wilts the spinach for you!

Nice one – liked it. The Food Critic had seconds!

Possibly similar to a minestrone?

Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)

kyleecooks — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Butter chicken (or murgh makhani ) is an Indian dish from Punjab, popular in countries all over the world. I love me some good Indian food, and this is no exception. I have made a few over the years, but this one is the best I’ve ever made. You need to make this, and soon.

I modified this from Katie Goodman’s blog “goodLife {eats}“

INGREDIENTS:

· 1 onion (1/2 lb.), peeled and chopped finely

· 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely grated

· 2 cloves garlic, minced

· 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded, and chopped

· 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil

· 2 teaspoons garam masala

· 3 teaspoons chili powder

· 1.5 teaspoon cardamom (I used whole cardamom seeds and crushed them together with the other spices)

· 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

· 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste

· 2 cups chicken stock or broth

· 3/4 cup half and half, or yogurt

· 1 pound (450 grams) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

· 1/2 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 cup (1/8 lb, or 4 T.) butter

· 2 cups basmati rice, uncooked

· Fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Cook rice according to package instructions.

In a large saute pan, combine onion, ginger, chili, and oil. Stir often over medium-high heat until onion is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, garam masala, chili powder, cardamom, and coriander. Saute for an additional 2 minutes.

Scrape mixture into a blender or food processor; add tomato paste and chicken broth. Whirl until very smooth. Pour mixture back into pan, add half and half or cream and crushed bay leaves, and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until reduced to 3 cups, about 5-7 minutes. Pour sauce into a bowl. Rinse and dry pan.

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken. Set pan over high heat; add 1 tablespoon butter and the chicken. Stir until chicken is no longer pink on the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sauce and simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until chicken is no longer pink in the center, 3 to 4 minutes. Cut remaining 3 tablespoons butter into chunks and stir into sauce until melted.

Spoon chicken and sauce onto rice and garnish with cilantro.

Scarf down as fast as you can.

Clam Chowder

kyleecooks — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Since I was in the kitchen anyway with the corn chowder, I decided to make a batch of clam chowder for the freezer so I’d have an easy meal for The Food Critic whenever ~~I went to Happy Hour with the girls~~ we needed something quick (see The Food Critic’s efforts at cooking.

It’s pretty easy

You’ll need:

INGREDIENTS:

2 x 6oz cans clams
1 cup of celery, chopped, diced – whatever
1 cup of onion, chopped, diced, whatever
2 cups of potatoes, peeled, diced
3/4 cup of butter
3/4 cup of flour
4 cups of half and half (or milk)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
cooked bacon, crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

Drain the clams, reserve the juice
In a big pot, simmer the veges in the clam juice – add a bit of water if you have to, to cover them.
In another pot, melt the butter, mix in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth.
Add the half and half to the butter and flour, stirring constantly so there are no lumps. Add the half and half mixture to the veges and broth.
Add the clams, simmer for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle bacon on top and serve, or
Cool completely, mix in the bacon, and freeze in zip lock bags.

Corn Chowder

kyleecooks — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:41:00 +0000

With the cold weather coming… we hope… I had a little time and decided to start getting my freezer stocked with a few things for quick meals.

This recipe is one of them.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup of butter, melted
1/2 cup of onions, diced
1 cup of celery, diced
2.5 cups of hot water
2 cups of potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups of frozen corn
2 Tablespoons of sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 Tablespoons flour
4 cups of half and half (or a mix of half and half and milk)
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

Cook onions and celery in butter until soft. Add water, potatoes, corn, sugar, salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix flour into 1 cup of the half and half. Stir into the soup, then add remaining half and half. Heat until it gets nice and thick, smushing some of the potatoes against the side of the pot, and stirring often.
Cool and stir through the bacon. Either serve now, with cheese and chives and extra bacon, or freeze. Just put it in some ziplocks, or plastic containers, and when it is cool, label and freeze.

Thaw it and heat until hot, but don’t boil. Serve with cheese and chives and extra bacon on top if you feel like it.

Summer grillin’

kyleecooks — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:24:00 +0000

We love our grill (barbecue for the rest of us), and I’m always trying to use it rather than heat up the whole house.

Here are a few ideas that we have done recently:

Vege skewers

These were awesome – with a little lemon pepper and garlic powder

These, we did with some salt and pepper and some fresh herbs that we had around (possibly basil, with some rosemary maybe?)

And these, were just olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon juice after they came off the grill. YUM!!

When husbands cook…

kyleecooks — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

No words necessary….

Russian Fudge

kyleecooks — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:44:00 +0000

Ohhhhh this stuff is so GOOD!
This is a fudge I’ve been making for years. It involves a few key ingredients, one of them being golden syrup. Golden Syrup is a thick syrup with a very distinctive buttery taste. It’s made by evaporating sugar cane until it thickens and has a rich, toasty and very distinct flavor. You CAN substitute golden syrup with other things, but it won’t be the same. You can get it at Cost Plus in the USA. Someone I know uses agave syrup though!

The other being sweetened condensed milk, which is easily found in grocery stores (it’s in the Mexican food aisle here – so funny!)

It’s a very rich, caramel-y, creamy fudge that doesn’t last very long. Mainly because I have to give so much of it away to friends!

So, here’s the recipe – hope you enjoy it

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

4 1/2 ounces butter (125grams)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons golden syrup

DIRECTIONS:

Put sugar and milk into a saucepan, heat gently, sitrring constantly until sugar dissolves.

Add condensed milk, butter, salt and golden syrup. Stir until butter has melted.

Bring to the boil and continue boiling until the soft ball stage, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. (Drop a little bit of the mixture to a cup of cold water, if the mixture forms a slight ball then is it done). It’s around 240 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Beat until thick.

Pour into buttered tin.Mark into squares. Cut when cold. Or cut it when it’s not cold, and have wobbly lines, and smushed fudge. Still tastes good! hehe.

Cake Batter Ice cream!

kyleecooks — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:28:00 +0000

Who doesn’t love ice cream?

More importantly, who doesn’t love homemade ice cream?

I have the ice cream bowl attachment on my KitchenAid mixer – which makes it pretty freaking easy.

I got this recipe from Annie’s Eats, who got it from somewhere else.

The Food Critic thought it was awesome, and suggested using it as a “frosting” on real cake, and making it kind of birthday cake-y. I think he suggested that because his birthday is at the end of the month, and he doesn’t want to choose between cake, and ice cream!

No photos, but here is the recipe.

2 cups heavy cream, divided
½ cup yellow cake mix
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups whole milk

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the heavy cream with the yellow cake mix, sugar, and salt. Heat over medium heat until warmed through. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Combine the remaining cream, vanilla, and whole milk in a large mixing bowl with a fine mesh sieve set over the top.

When the mixture in the saucepan is warm, slowly pour about a 1/4 cup of the warm cream mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks to temper them, whisking constantly. Continue pouring the cream mixture in a steady stream, whisking continuously until completely combined. Return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Continue heating, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the mixture thickens slightly and reads 170-175˚F on an instant-read thermometer.

Immediately pour the custard mixture through the mesh sieve into the bowl with the remaining cream and milk and mix to blend. Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. Once the mixture is chilled through, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.