Asian Beef Bowls

 

Asian beef bowls where an instant hit with my family!!   I love how quickly this meal comes together when because I make it with Taylor Farms Asian Chopped Salad. 

Asian Beef Bowls 

Ground Beef (or Pork or Chicken or Turkey) 

Onion

Garlic

Asian Dressing

2 bags of Asian Chopped Salad

Cooked Rice

Fry ground beef ( or whatever meat you choose) with onion and garlic.  Add one bag of Asian chopped salad (including the dressing) to your meat mixture and cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture is soft.  You can add in the dressing that it comes with but if you find it a little too dry you can add in this homemade Asian Dressing or put in some Kraft Asian Salad dressing ;) 

Put together the second bag of Asian Salad mix.  This adds texture and more filler to your meal. 

Serve your meat mixture over cooked rice, top with salad mixture and enjoy :) 

Honey Baked Chicken

Honey baked chicken is a family favourite.  I love when fall comes and this comes back onto the meal plan rotation.  You can make this with any cut of chicken.  I use legs and thighs. 

I bake the legs in the oven until they are almost done and the skin is crispy. While they are baking combine the sauce ingredients together and boil.  

Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 20 minutes at 350. 

 

This recipe card is written for when you boil your sauce then pour it over uncooked chicken.  You want to make sure to bake it all together for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked. 

I've switched up my method of cooking cause I like the skin to be crispy when I pour the sauce on it ;)  

Chowder

 

Chowder makes the perfect fall and winter comfort food and is on our meal plan frequently during these cold months. 

I love making a variety of chowders depending on the type of meat I have.  When ever we have a ham supper you can count on us enjoy corn chowder.  I don't have a specific recipe for these but I am going to try my best to let you know how to make a chowder. 

Start with a Dutch oven seriously they are a game changer for soups and stews. 

Corn Chowder

Fry up some sliced up bacon (6 strips cut up into pieces)

* Remove cooked bacon from dutch oven with a slotted spoon, you can also remove some of the bacon fat....some....you want that delicious flavour. 

ADD 

Onion

Garlic

Let these get soft 5 minutes.

Then add your cubed potatoes and carrots. 

Cover with Chicken broth and let boil for 10-12 minutes or until tender.  Turn down your heat to medium. 

Add 

frozen corn 

Creamed corn

Your cooked bacon 

And your left over cooked ham (if you have it)

1 can of evaporated milk 

1 tsp Tarragon 

Salt and Pepper 

Chowder and biscuits are a delicious duo so hop on over here to get my best biscuit recipe! 

Sausage Chowder 

This is great way to make a little meat go a LONG way.  I use a pack of 5 honey garlic sausages to create a delicious chowder that feeds our family of 9!  All you have to do is take the sausages out of the casing and fry it up like ground pork. 

Sausage Chowder

Fry up sausages (out of casing, remove with slotted spoon and drain some of the grease.)

Add 

Onion

Garlic

Let these get soft 5 minutes

Add cubed potatoes and carrots

Cover with chicken broth and let boil for 10-12 minutes or until tender.  Turn down your heat to medium. 

Add

Frozen corn and peas if you want to 

The cooked sausage

1 can of evaporated milk

Tarragon

Salt and Pepper

Oh and if you hadn't tried to make your own sour dough bread yet you really should its so yummy!!! 

One Hour Pan Rolls

 

These One-hour Pan rolls are so delicious and defiantly a favourite addition around here with all the winter soups and stews.   And the best part (besides eating fresh warm bread dripping with butter) is how quick you can make them. 

One Hour Rolls

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbsp yeast (Active Dry)

2 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Butter, softened

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

3 Tbsp melted butter (for the top)

sea salt (for the top)

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water (in your kitchenaid mixer) and let stand for 5 minutes.  Add butter, salt and 3 cups of flour.  With the dough hook, mix until combined and add additional flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Kneed for 3-5 minutes.  Cover the mixing bowl and let rise for 20 minutes. 

Pre heat the oven to 400 and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper (or cooking spray or both ;).  Punch down the dough and divid into 20 balls, I use a kitchen scale so they are all the same weight.   Place dough balls into the baking dish and brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.  Let rise for 15-20 minutes and bake for 15 minutes.  Brush with more better hot from the oven and enjoy. 

Masaman Curry

 

This dish is one of our favourites to order out. So of course when I found this sweet can of Masaman Curry I knew I could make it at home and turn it into a favourite "fakeout" meal here at home.

So here is my recipe using this sweet can of curry paste. 

Masaman Curry Chicken

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 clove garlic, minced 2 cans coconut milk 1 can masaman curry paste 1 tbsp fish sauce (we never use this) 2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1lb uncooked chicken breast, cubed Sweet potatoes, cubed- 2 good sized ones.

On a large baking sheet I bake the chicken breast and sweet potatoes in the oven. You want the chicken to be cooked to proper temp and the sweet potatoes to be nice and roasted for a deep rich flavour. In a sauce pan add oil, garlic and cook for a minute. Add in 2 cans of coconut milk and all of the other ingredients except peanuts. Whisk all together and add in your cooked chicken and sweet potatoes. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add in 1/4 cup of the peanuts and use the rest for garnish.

Serve this deliciousness with rice.

Sloppy Joes

 

Sloppy Joes have always been a favourite for me.  I remember being so excited on sloppy joe day at our  school cafeteria!!  Now my family enjoys them just as much as I do....which is always a win. 

Sloppy Joes

Ground Beef (or Pork)

Onion

Garlic

Fry together and drain off any fat

Combine in a mixing bowl

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp mustard

Salt and Pepper

Pour sauce over cooked meat mixture and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve over the most delicious homemade hamburger buns and enjoy with coleslaw, roasted veggies or fries. 

Motherhood

Some moments are really hard, I don't share those moments with everyone, but a small few who know exactly how to speak words of life over me and my calling as a mother. 

As an only child I would have never of dreamed of being called mama by 7 little ones;  but isn't that just how God works.  He called me, someone with no experience, to step out and trust him fully.  

I am so thankful for the women who have walked with me during this journey, who have listened to me share what I felt God was asking of me back when we only had 1 child, prayed for me when I felt like giving up, who speak life over me when all I can do is cry because I feel so overwhelmed and the amazing friends (and family) who have rejoiced with us every time we have told them we were expecting another blessings.  

This photo speaks it all for me today as I stare at it, looking at each one of these precious faces that have brought joy, laughter, frustration and anger into my life.  Who have thought me how to serve better, love deeper, laugh louder, snuggle more, pray harder, and worship louder. 

Each face has a different personality, each child is representative of a life event we have victoriously walked through, each child is unique and valuable to me.  I don’t know why God chose me to be a mom of 7, 6 of them being boys, but I do know He has been faithful to me even on the hard days when all I feel is anger and sadness.  He knows I can’t do this perfectly and that I will mess up BUT I know who is on my side, who is with me every step and in every emotion.   My hands are very full and most days I don’t get a moment to think, but just like that this season will be gone. So today I cherish this memory and this moment where God reminded me that these joy filled moments FAR OUTWEIGH the hard ones. 

Tortellini Soup

This Tortellini Soup, from the Pioneer Women, has become a family favourite on our winter menu.  It is a quick and easy soup to throw together and has come in handy on our busy nights and bread making days when the oven is too full of bread to cook in. This paired with a freshly baked loaf of sour dough is divine. 

Tortellini Soup

8 cups of vegetable or chicken stock.

6 ounces (or a little can ) of tomato paste

1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables

10 ounces fresh cheese tortellini 

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a medium pot over medium high heat, bring the broth to a gentle boil.  Stir in tomato paste.  Add the frozen vegetables and return to a gentle boil.  Add the tortellini and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add heavy cream and cook for 2 minutes.  Taste and adjust flavour with salt and pepper.  

You can garnish with fresh parsley and basil if you have them on hand. 

Garlic Cheese Bread

This delicious garlic cheesy bread is an easy side that goes perfectly with spaghetti,  soup or just dipped in your favourite marinara sauce for an appetizer.   

1 loaf of french bread (we use a loaf of our homemade sourdough)

1/4 cup of Mayonnaise

1 TBSP sour cream

1/4 cup softened butter (try not to have it melted)

2 cloves of garlic

4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

* Original recipe calls for 1/4 - 1/2 cup green onion *

1.  Slice your bread and lay out on a parchment lined cookie sheet. 

2.  Combine Mayo, sour cream, butter, and garlic together.  Add in your cheeses.  

3.  Spread your mixture onto the bread. 

4.  Preheat your broiler on high.

5.  Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes (set a timer and watch carefully)

6.  Enjoy!!!  

The original recipe can be found here at simply recipes 

Valentine's Day Charcuterie Board

Charcuterie boards have become very popular so this year  I decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a beautiful Valentine's Day "Chocuterie" board for teacher appreciation week at our kids schools. 

This chocolate charcuterie board was very easy to create as it mostly items that have been purchased and then dipped in chocolate. 

My favourite chocolate to use when dipping is semi-sweet chocolate chips and for white chocolate I use vanilla almond bark (which I buy in the states for all my Canadian friends).

Here are all the ingredients I decided to add to my board.  The candy hearts,  cinnamon hearts, jelly beans, conversation hearts, chocolate hearts, Kisses, and heart gummies went on the board as is and were used for filler.  I did pick up a few pretzels and Oreos that were dipped in pink chocolate at the bulk bark. 

I had two double boilers going.  One with white chocolate and one with semi sweet chocolate and we just started dipping the other things like Oreos, chocolate and strawberry wafers, pretzel rods and strawberries into the chocolate and then added some Valentine's sprinkles (purchased at Michaels) or candy hearts to our creations.

For these pretzel treats you simple place a kiss onto a pretzel and let them bake in a 200 oven for about 5 minutes or until the chocolate is soft.  Then you press in coloured M&Ms and let them cool.  These are so delicious and addictive due to the sweet and salty. 

We also did up our famous white chocolate popcorn but instead of using the white almond bark we purchased some pink melting chocolate.

Now to assemble the board!  I purchased a 2 pack of these Valentine's trays at the dollar store.  We started by placing the cinnamon candy hearts and the conversation hearts in Valentine's cupcake liners in two of the corners.  Then we placed the pretzel rods on side ways to break up the board.  After that it was a just adding things (the kids where helping) until the board was complete and everything was on there.  The popcorn didn't make it on, unfortunately, but the kids didn't mind as they bagged it up and took it in their lunches and to share with their friends. 

Double Chocolate Cookies

Oh these cookies are packed full of chocolatey goodness.  They are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, almost like a brownie.

I love making these cookies for special holidays using different colour M&M's to match the theme.   For Valentine's Day I used pink and red M&Ms and for Saint Patrick's Day it was green ones that I picked out of a bag of Christmas coloured ones I got on clearance after Christmas. 

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa

3/4 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups of chocolate chips ( I use 1 cup of white chocolate chips in the batter, 1/2 of semi sweet in the batter and 1/2 cup of M&Ms on the tops of the cookies for decoration). 

Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  

Sift together flour, cocoa, soda and salt. 

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. 

Using a cookie scoop; scoop cookies onto a parchment lined pan and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  Half way through baking (around 5 minutes) I like to take the cookies and squish them down a little so they are more of a flat cookie.   When they are done baking take your M&M's and decorate the tops of the cookies with them.  Some times to give a little more colour I will add a few white chocolate chips to the tops of them as well. 

Let cool or enjoy them slightly warm with a big glass of cold milk! 

Stuffed Crust Pizza

Our family enjoys pizza night at least once a week in our house!   A lovely lady brought us the most delicious pizza as a blessing and we all loved it very much so I got her recipe and we have been loving it!  

My sweet Jaelyn decided the other night while making the pizza to stuff the crust with cheese strings!!!  It was so delicious and I knew I had to share this recipe with all you wonderful readers.  So here it is.  Our stuffed crust pizza. 

This recipe makes large 2 pizzas

In a kitchen aid mixer with the dough attachment: 

3 Tbsp Sugar

3 Tbsp oil

1 1/2 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cup cold water

Add

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp Instant yeast

1 tsp salt

Turn on kitchen aid to mix together

ADD 

3 -4 MORE cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and you have a nice elastic dough. You can knead on the counter for a bit to :) 

Now roll the dough out to fit your pan.  I made ours a little bigger then our pan so Jaelyn could put cheese strings around the outside of the dough and we folded the edges over them.  

Top your pizza right away and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

*You can also top it and freeze it right away.  When ready to bake it preheat oven to 400 and bake from frozen for 20-30 minutes. 

Homemade Poptarts

These homemade pop-tarts are where easy to put together and made for a great after school/afternoon snack.   

I was originally making this Nutella tree so I did that first using this recipe and with the left over puff pastry I created these pop tarts.  

Cut the pastry into rectangles.   In the centre of the rectangle place 3-4 tbsp of your favourite jam onto them.  I had some left over raspberry filling from a birthday cake I was making so I used that.   Top the rectangle with an identically sized rectangle and seal the edges shut using a fork.   Brush with an egg wash and bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Once they have completely cooled you can make a nice glaze for them out of icing sugar and cream.  Drizzle the glaze over the pop tarts and you can add sprinkles to them if you wanted to as well. 

The make the perfect coffee break snack to. 

BIG fat molasses cookies

These BIG fat molasses cookies are the very best cookie to dunk into a hot cup of tea!   They have the perfect combination of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and of course thick delicious Crosby's Molasses. 

The recipe for these delicious cookies, along with lots of other delightful treats, can be found in this free ebook! 

Fat Molasses Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 Dozen Large Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup Crosby's Molasses

1 large Egg

4 1/2 cups of flour 

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp each of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and salt

1/2 cup of milk

In a large bowl cream sugar and butter.  Add molasses and egg and blend well.

Combine dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture, alternation with the milk.  

Scrap dough onto a lightly flowered surface and gather into a ball.  Flatten into a disk, wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.  (Add up to 1/4 cup additional flour if the dough is too soft to handle). 

Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut into rounds. 

Place on prepared sheet, about 1 1/2" apart

Bake 12-15 minutes. 

These cookies pair perfectly with a hot cup of tea or a silky London fog. 

Candy Charcuterie Board

Our sweet number 4 turned 6 and he loves everything about The Greatest Showman so it only made sense to have a circus type birthday party!!!!   We looked through pinterest and of course he instantly wanted a candy type charcuterie board for his party.  

I decided that we would use this as our "treat bag" take away.  So I purchased little containers at the Dollar Store with lids for the kids to fill up as their personal treat bags.   We did a bunch of carnival type games and gave points to all the kids.  Then the person with the most points got to choose their treats first and so on.  It worked every well and we even had candy left over for our family.  

To start,  I purchased a big red plastic tray from the Dollar Store.  Then in 3 square plastic containers I put Smarties, Sour Skittles and Mike And Ikes.    Then we started to fill in the board trying to separate colours, candy and chocolates.   Here is a list of what is on the board. 

Chocolate covered pretzels

Yogurt covered pretzels

Whoppers

Milk Duds

Sour Cherry

Gum balls

Sour rope

S'more crunch

Nibs

Sweet Tarts

Sour patch kids

The Candy board was a great success and we had a very happy 6 year old!