Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

It's that time of year when the weather starts cooling down, fans and air conditioners are being put away, and sweaters and blankets are being pulled out. Probably one of my favourite things about fall is the return to soups, stews, roasts and all the other warming meals. One of the easiest, and most helpful meals, at this time of year, Chicken Noodle Soup has the triple benefit of being super easy to make, really delicious, and a great way to make anyone feel better when the inevitable fall cold hits.

Adventures in Pickling

I've always been interested in trying my hand at pickling, however I also was always worried that it would be really difficult, and you can't really know if it worked for 6-8 weeks. It was one of those things I had kind of given up on trying, until my mom sent me a photo a last week of dill and bread and butter pickles her and my dad had done. And just like that, I decided to try my hand at it. Here are my lessons learned.

Coconut Lime Chicken

This easy grilled chicken is a great recipe for weekday meals. I had some leftover coconut milk beverage and didn't want to waste it before it went bad. This is not the same as canned coconut milk, and the result is a little lighter. You want to make sure to marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes, although longer is better. Keep in mind that the lime juice and coconut milk will cause what looks like a curdling effect, but it's okay, and still super tasty.

Mason Jar Salad Roundup

I've joined the Mason Jar Salad revolution. They are a fantastic way to have lunch, as long as you keep them interesting (at least for me anyways). If you take 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon / evening, you have all of your lunches prepped and ready to go for the week. This is especially key in the summer I find, when we are grilling a lot and not necessarily making big batches of food that can be used for lunch leftovers.

Sunday Night Dinner - Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken

One of our neighbours has this incredible rosemary plant - it is almost a tree to be truthful. Gracious neighbour that they are, they have given us free reign to trim from it when we'd like. This comes in real handy when putting together any type of chicken dish.  Last Sunday I had a friend over, and wanted to prepare something that wouldn't take a lot of time, but had a lot of flavour. Grilling chicken can be tricky, because it is easy for it to dry out. This is why a good marinade is your best friend when it comes to grilling. For this recipe I cut the chicken into cutlet sized pieces, and pounded the thicker ones so it would cook more evenly.

Salmon Cakes with Dill Sauce

We made cedar plank salmon for the first time on the weekend. It was pretty easy to make, and the smoky flavour was light and not overpowering. However, I had purchased two fairly large salmon filets, and we both only ate half. Not wanting to waste it, I decided to try making salmon cakes for the first time. I've always been a fan of crab cakes, so I looked up a few recipes online and then just kind of made it up. You could also use a can of salmon if you don't have any leftover cooked salmon. They turned out really great, and I made a dill dipping sauce that complimented them very well. Next time I'll be sure to buy and cook too much salmon again!

Sunday Night Dinner - Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Strawberry Mango Salsa

We arrived back from a very relaxing week in Maui early this morning, after a red-eye flight. I'm not a huge fan of red-eye's, and this was the first one we took with a toddler. She did surprisingly well, but we all needed to go straight to bed when we got home. On days like this I usually opt for take-out or scarfing whatever is leftover from the box of mac and cheese I make for Molly. However, I was inspired today by a friend who is doing a 30 day challenge to eat clean. We were chatting about it earlier today and it made me think twice about my dinner. So instead I took a look at what I had picked up at the grocery store today, and decided to make a grilled pork tenderloin and put that together with a strawberry mango salsa. We had to buy mango's at the grocery store today because Molly fell in love with them in Maui. Now these ones definitely weren't as good as the ones in Hawaii, but paired with fresh local strawberries they really added a lot to our dinner.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin (all measurements approximate)
- 1 small pork tenderloin
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2-4 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard

Mix all ingredients together, minus the pork, in bowl. Add pork and turn to coat. Let marinade for 15-30 minutes. When it is time to grill, use the following 7-6-5 method (adjusted if the pork tenderloin is larger). Preheat grill on high. Add pork and close lid for 7 minutes. Open lid, turn pork and cook 6 minutes with lid open. Turn pork, turn off BBQ, close lid and leave for 5 minutes. No further tenting required. Serve with salsa, recipe below.

Strawberry Mango Salsa
- 1 ripe mango, diced
- 4-5 strawberries, diced
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp honey

Mix all ingredients and let sit for 10 - 20 minutes while pork is cooking.

Cheesy Quinoa Bowls

On days when I don't have a dinner planned, I like to take some time to look at what's in the pantry and fridge. Oftentimes some of the best meals come out of these nights, and tonight's dinner is no exception.

Cheesy Quinoa Bowls
- 1 cup quinoa, prepared as per instructions
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 head of broccoli, chopped
- 1 can of chickpeas, drained
- 1 cup chopped kale
- 1 cup shredded old cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup almond milk

Rinse and prepare quinoa, using vegetable stock if you have it for extra flavour.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in large skillet. Add onion, celery and carrot, sauteeing until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in broccoli and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Season with sea salt and pepper. Add chickpeas and kale and cook until kale is starting to wilt. Slowly stir in quinoa. Once fully incorporated, start to add cheddar cheese and almond milk, stirring until cheese is melted.

Easy Weeknight Dinner - Pork Medallions with Mushroom Sauce

Life has started to get a little hairy. I have 4 months of my MBA left, work is getting nuts, and life in general just seems in chaos at times. So it's nice to find a recipe that is quick and easy to put together on a weeknight. I had asked Brent to pick up a pork tenderloin for dinner sometime this week, not really sure what I wanted to do with it. So tonight I took a quick look in a 'Make It Tonight' Canadian Living cookbook and found a recipe that I actually had all the other ingredients on hand for! Made a few slight modifications, reheated leftover mashed potatoes and threw some broccoli in the steamer. Voila! A lovely Monday night dinner. Great way to start the year off right!

Sunday Night Dinner - Chicken, Mushroom and Artichoke Heart Pasta

Brent came home from a grocery run with a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts, and I really only needed a small jar for appies I'm prepping for our annual Christmas party. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with the extras, and then realized I had chicken and mushrooms in the fridge. Thrown together with a hard, yet creamy, cheese a friend had brought over last weekend - I really wish I remembered what it was called - and a box of pasta, and we had a fantastic Sunday night dinner.

Quick Weekday Lunch - Noodle Jars

So I was feeling pretty beat tonight - two accounting exams in one day, and just not in the mood for prepping lunches for tomorrow. However, I know once I'm at work I'll be wishing I had packed something. So I sent Brent off to the grocery store to grab a few things, and put together these really quick, great noodle jars. This is a recipe of Michael Smith's, from his new cookbook Family Meals. So far I've loved all the recipes from this book and would definitely recommend it. All you need to do is put these jars together, bring to work / school, and when it's time to eat, add 2 cups boiling water, screw the lids back on tightly and gently mix. Let stand for about 10 minutes for the flavours to really mix, and enjoy!

Braised Short Rib Macaroni and Cheese

I've said it before and I'll say it again - mac and cheese is by far one of my all time favourite meals. It's easy to throw together, and you can make so many different variations. I was feeling pretty exhausted tonight and almost just made a box of KD for dinner. However, I am also in supreme procrastination mode, so decided to whip up a new variation. I have to say I think this might be the best macaroni and cheese I have ever made! I think it was the combination of the different cheeses and the braised short ribs. You can really use whatever cheese you want, you just need about 2 3/4 cups of it. Whatever it was - loved it!

Sunday Night Dinner - Three Bean and Beef Chili

Chili is such a versatile dish. After making it a few times you can start to play with what you include. It's also a great dish to make using what's left in the fridge from the week. Tonight after a very long day working on an accounting assignment I was really tempted to forego making dinner and order a pizza, but decided to throw together a quick chili. Very glad I did because now we also have lunch for tomorrow!

After Halloween Cookies

It's no secret to my friends and family that I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to sweets and treats. If it's around, I will eat it, and will continue past the point of feeling ill. This year pre-Halloween Brent had to hide the candy twice, and then he gave up and left it out. I'm pretty sure I downed half of it before Halloween. Then, we only got 1 trick or treater. That's right, a single trick or treater, for whom we had purchased a 144 pack of mini chocolate bars. So of course I continued to eat them, and continued until I just couldn't stand it. So I made cookies. I figure it's a bit better than just right out eating the candy, plus I'll bring some to my study group tomorrow night - if I don't eat them all before then. I ended up using about a cup of Smarties (cause really, who eats the Smarties?), and a cup of chopped mini Aero bars.

Sunday Night Dinner - Creamy Vegetable Curry

I recently purchased the Oh She Glows cookbook on a recommendation of a friend. It's a vegan cookbook, and I've tried a few recipes and so far they have all been great. I'll admit I'm a little intimidated by some of the recipes, especially with any new ingredients or elements I haven't done before. One of the things many recipes call for is this 'cashew cream', and I finally decided to try it out. When using raw cashews in this way, you need to make sure to soak them overnight or at least 3-4 hours, so you do have to plan ahead a little. This recipe also had quite a bit of chopping so it was a great Sunday night meal. I used hot curry powder, but mild would work if you didn't want it as hot. I will definitely make this again.

Greek Quinoa Salad

This is another recipe from the new Michael Smith cookbook I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I originally made it to go with a roast chicken, but it was robust enough that you could have it on it's own for lunch or a light dinner. It was also super easy to put together, which is always a bonus in my eyes. If you wanted to make this vegan, just omit the feta cheese and replace the honey in the dressing with brown rice syrup or maple syrup. I made a few minor modifications based on my preferences as well.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Growing up every once in awhile my dad would try and serve us brussels sprouts. You can't blame him for trying, he very well may have liked them but to young kids they were terrible. I mean, who wants to eat something that kind of looks like a green brain? Fast forward to University, and I had a boyfriend who tried serving them to me, again, they just seemed terrible, like boiled cabbage or something. Fast forward a few more years and my sister in law roasted them for me. It was like a light went off - this is what all the fuss is about! They were roasted with sea salt, olive oil and garlic, and she served them to me and two of my sisters (fellow brussels sprout haters) and we all loved them. So my eyes were opened and I was willing to put them into my grocery cart, much to Brent's pleasure as he'd been pushing them on me for years. Can you imagine his surprise when he brought some home to cook for dinner and I asked if I could cook them for him? This recipe is so simple and so tasty. Seriously, it's got bacon, how could it not be good?

Turkey Dinner Leftovers - Soup

Turkey soup is fantastic, and is really a must-do after Thanksgiving, in order to get the most out of the turkey you cooked. Making the stock is easy, and should be done the next day. Because it does take a bit of time (between simmering the stock for hours and then letting it rest in the fridge for several more hours) - I recommend making the soup a couple of days after Thanksgiving. Remember to hide a couple of cups of cooked turkey in the fridge somewhere or it will end up being eaten before you have time to make the soup!

There are so many variations to turkey soup. I love it with rice or barley, but decided to do an old-fashioned turkey noodle soup this time. I'd say it was a hit, and there was even enough to freeze a couple of portions.

Ready for tomorrow's lunch!

Turkey Dinner Leftovers - Pot Pies

One of the best things about cooking up a big turkey dinner is the leftovers. While I love turkey sandwiches, I also love all the other things you can do once you've cooked a big bird. First off, don't waste that carcass! Refrigerate it the night of, and then in the morning you can start an easy stock in the slow-cooker. You could do this overnight if you wanted as well. The one I did this year can be found here . It makes a huge difference when you make your turkey soup in a couple of days. So on that note, cut up about 2 cups of leftover turkey meat and put aside for the soup. You might need to even label this so no one eats it before you get to make your soup. In the meantime, while the stock is cooking and resting, you can make some great little pot pies. This is the first year we actually had mashed potatoes left over, probably because there was only 4 of us, as opposed to the years we've cooked for 12 - 25. These little pot pies were so quick to make, and are now in our freezer waiting for us when life inevitably gets busy!

Thanksgiving Make-ahead - Cheesy Carrot Casserole

I have no idea where this recipe originally comes from, but it's another staple at Cavanagh turkey dinners. Every year around Thanksgiving or Christmas my sister's and I inevitably end up texting each other (and our mom) looking for the recipe. Now it will live on this blog so we can all enjoy it!

I'll admit I've had some challenges with this recipe at times, but it could be because the version I copied down from my mom doesn't have many instructions. When you make a recipe so many times you often forget about the steps you just seem to take naturally. I've done my best to write it out, and apologize in advance if I've missed something.

One thing to note - sometimes I blanche the carrots, sometimes I don't. This year I decided not to, and I'm curious as to how it will turn out. Either way you're talking carrots covered with cheese and a creamy beschemal-type sauce. Delish!

Cheesy Carrot Casserole on the right.