Easy Alfredo Sauce

This is a great way to use up whipping cream you may have bought because you decided to make waffles for breakfast, and what are waffles without fresh whipping cream?

For this night we used up a zucchini, frozen chicken breast and spaghetti we had on hand. All I had to do was pick up a bottle of wine on the way home from work.

Alfredo Sauce

- 1 cup whipping cream

- 1/4 cup butter

- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- salt and pepper

- pinch fresh nutmeg

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to directions, until tender but firm. Drain well and return to pot.

Meanwhile in saucepan, bring cream and butter just to boil. Reduce heat and stir in Parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add to pasta. At this time you can throw in some chicken and sauteed veggies, or shrimp, or fresh peas, anything you'd like. Toss to coat.

Favourite Mac and Cheese

Not to sound like a cliche, but macaroni and cheese can be very personal. How one prepares Kraft Dinner is so different from person to person. I remember having friends who used all butter, so it would be creamier, or more milk to create a thinner sauce. I even remember eating it once when someone was kind enough to make it for me, and when I was eating it there was barely any flavour.Turns out this person only uses half the flavour package! And don't even get started on hotdogs or ketchup.

I remember teaching a friend to make KD in highschool and because it was her first time making it herself we measured everything out according to the package, and it was so good! Because basically the flavour packet + the milk + the butter is a formula to make the sauce. Cooking is really all about science. Once you make your own formula or recipe for the sauce, you can play with variations (peas or no peas?).

Now, I haven't eaten KD in years, although I sometimes still crave it a little. Once you've started making your own Macaroni and Cheese though, the KD stuff just doesn't measure up.

This recipe is pretty simple, and easy to adapt for your own tastes.

Macaroni and Cheese (with Bacon!)

- 2 3/4 + 1/2 cup shredded old Cheddar cheese

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1/3 cup flour

- 3 cups milk

- 2 tsp Dijon mustard

- salt and pepper

- 2 green onions, chopped

- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

- 2 cups macaroni

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook macaroni until tender but firm, about 8 minutes. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; cook onion for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add flour and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 3 cups milk and cook, whisking, until sauce is thickened. This usually takes me 10-12 minutes, but sauce will sometimes thicken in as little as 8 minutes.

Add mustard and salt and pepper. Stir in 2 & 3/4 cups of the shredded Cheddar, just until melted. Pour over macaroni.

Stir green onions and bacon into mixture until combined.

Spread in 8-inch square glass baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheddar on top. Bake, uncovered, in 350 F oven for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Sunday Night Dinner - Lentil Soup and Mom's Cheese Biscuits

I've said it before and I'll say it again. A really great meal can be found in a good soup. Add a salad one day, sandwhich or a wrap another, and you have a few days of lunches and dinners. The best way to have soup though, is with cheese biscuits. I remember loving the biscuits at Red Lobster. They were so good you would go for the lunch special (unlimited soup and garden salad) because you also got cheese biscuits. Unlimited! We may have left with a few in our purses...

As good as those may have been, hands down nothing beats my mom's cheese biscuits. I remember making these for the first time, that was when I learned about cutting butter into a dough recipe. I have no idea where my mom got this recipe from, and I should really have it written down in more than one place, because it's awesome!!!

Mommy Cavanagh's Cheese Biscuits

- 2 cups flour

- 4 tsp baking powder

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

- 1 cup water

- 1 1/2 cups grated old cheddar cheese

Mix together dry ingredients in bowl. Using 2 knives or a pastry blender, cut in butter until crumbly. Add water and cheese and stir just to moisten.

Drop by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake in 425 F oven for 15 minutes, checking at 10 minutes. These will disappear quickly as soon as they cool.

Sweet Summer Dessert

I love berries. All types anytime - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. When they are in season they are awesome. And the best thing is you can freeze them and they are still great year round.

Right now in BC we're lucky to be enjoying the late fall harvest, with apples and peaches that are so sweet you wonder how you can eat any other kind of fruit. What a perfect time to take some of those fresh Okanagan peaches, and add some frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and fresh blackberries. Let's toss the fruit in a bit of flour, some brown sugar and cinnamon. Place it all in a glass dish. Now the best part. Mix together more flour, brown sugar and melted butter now. Why not add in a little more cinnamon? Awesome. Mix that until it's crumbly and just kind of put it over the top of the fruit.

Into the oven - 350 F for 45-60 minutes. Spoon that out, with a little ice cream. There you go. Isn't that just the best?

Berry Crumble (all measurements are approximations)

- 2 Peaches, diced

- 1 cup frozen Blueberries

- 1 cup frozen raspberries

- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

- 1/2 cup fresh blackberries

- 1/3 or 1/2 cup flour

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Topping

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/3 cup butter, melted

Toss berries with flour, cinnamon and brown sugar. Place in oven proof glass dish. Mix remaining flour, brown sugar and cinnamon together. Drizzle butter overtop and stir until crumbly. Place on top of berries. Bake. Enjoy with ice cream.

*Pictures from this blog are from this dessert at Basswood Lake, for my sister's birthday. We had awesome Ontario fruit, including Blackberries my other sister and I picked behind the cottage that day.

Sunday Night Dinner - Skillet Chicken Cobbler

We're now a couple of days into Fall, and the start of the rainier season in Vancouver. Now I'm not sure what my feeling will be in March and April, but in the Fall I sometimes absolutely love when it rains, when it really pours. This morning waking up and hearing what sounded like a monsoon outside (to my sleepy head anyways), was so relaxing.

With the rain also comes the wet socks, chilly weather and comfort food. Oh the comfort food. Tonight I decided to try a new recipe from the October issue of Canadian Living. Awesome selection of recipes in the Sizzling Skillets article, and this is the first one we've tried.

Skillet Chicken Cobbler

- 1 tbsp each vegetable oil and unsalted butter

- 1 onion, chopped

- 8 oz button mushrooms, quartered

- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite-size pieces

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- salt and pepper

- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth

- 2 ribs celery, chopped

- 2 carrots, thinly sliced

- 1 bay leaf

- 1/2 tsp thyme

- 1 cup frozen peas

Topping:

- 1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

In 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat oil and butter over medium-high heat; cook onion and mushrooms, stirring often, until mushrooms are lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes.

Add chicken, garlic, salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until chicken is browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in floor, cook 1 minute. Add broth and bring to boil, stirring. Stir in celery, carrots, bay leaf and thyme; reduce heat, cover and simmer until thickened and vegetables are tender-crisp, 3 to 5 minute. Stir in peas, discard bay leaf, remove from heat and set aside.

TOPPING: In bowl, whisk together flour, baking power and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until crumbly. Drizzle in buttermilk, stirring just until soft sticky dough forms. Turn out onto floured surface; knead 6 times or just until smooth.

Roll out into 6-inch square; brush with 2 tsp buttermilk. Cut into 6 biscuits and arrange over chicken mixture. Bake in 375 F oven until top is golden and filling is bubbly, about 35 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Freezing Corn

It's that time of year when the weather starts to turn, and I start to think about all those months without fresh produce. It makes me a little sad,but then I remember that I can easily preserve the summer by freezing! I have frozen bags of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and rhubarb in the freezer. And recently I also decided to freeze me some corn.

Freezing corn is super easy, and it's always great to have on hand to add to stews, chili's, shepherd's pie and other wintery dinners.

Step 1 - Shuck and clean corn.

Step 2 - Place corn in a large pot of boiling water. Boil for a short time (1-2 minutes).

Step 3 - Transfer to ice water to cool and stop the cooking.

Step 4 - Remove niblets from cob.

Step 5 - Dry on paper towels.

Step 6 - Place in large freezer bags, and freeze.

It's a pretty easy process, and now you can enjoy your corn year round!

Hypercolour Bean and Mushroom Risotto

I'm a huge fan of risotto, and have tried my hand at many different types. Last time I made a simple pea and parmesan risotto for dinner I kept thinking that I wish I had mushrooms to add. Now after making this Canadian Living Mushroom Risotto, I realized that just adding mushrooms wouldn't have cut it. The key is to reconstitute dried mushrooms, using the liquid as the broth. Wow! What awesome flavours!

Now, this recipe was for a Green Bean and Mushroom Risotto. I already had some awesome purple beans I'd grabbed earlier in the week, and I thought they would make the risotto look so cool, with the deep purple set against the mushrooms. Now, I had not yet cooked these beans, so little did I know that they were hypercolour (I do hope some people get that reference!). When they were cooking I looked away for a minute or two, and when I looked back they had turned green! Regardless, the dinner was awesome!

Hypercolour Bean and Mushroom Risotto

- 1 pkg dried mushrooms (I used Porcini's I think?)

- 1 cup hot vegetable stock

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 onion, finely chopped

- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tsp dried thyme

- salt and pepper

- 1 cup arborio rice

- 1/3 cup dry white wine

- 1 cup purple beans, cut

- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigianno

- 2 tbsp parsley

In heatproof bowl, soak mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon; chop and set aside. Strain liquid into measuring cup; add stock and enough water to make 3 cups. Set aside.

In large shallow saucepan, melt 1 tbsp of the butter over medium heat; fry mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

Add rice, stirring to coat. Add wine; cook, stirring constantly until no liquid remains. Add 1 - 1/2 cups of stock mixture, 1/2 cup at a time and stirring after

each addition until completely absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Add beans. Add remaining stock mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until completely absorbed and rice is creamy and tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in cheese, parsley and remaining butter.