Tag Archives: recipe

• Italian Style Sausage and Peppers

  Submitted by Katrina on Mon, 15/04/2013 - 8:55

  Tags:baked sausage and peppers, Cooking, italian sausage, italian sausage and peppers, quick and easy, recipe, sausage and peppers
  

  

  I’ve been making this dish for a while now, but it always felt like there was something missing in it. I had gone through a bunch of different recipes, but they were all variations of the same. It wasn’t until I got this great cookbook to review “Lidia’s Favorite Recipes by Lidia Bastianich” that it clicked, it wasn’t the ingredients that needed changing, it was the process. Her method of pre-sauteeing everything individually before putting it all in a roaster and into the oven for a final bake made all the difference. It’s now a dish so full of layered flavour, you can’t believe how easy it is to make.  Read more...

• Anniversary Chicken (or Pan Seared Chicken Breasts with a Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Cream Sauce)

  Submitted by Katrina on Mon, 01/04/2013 - 5:20

  Tags:chicken, Cooking, cream sauce, pan seared, recipe, roated red peppers, tomatos, vegetables
  

  

  It’s ironic really that I call this Anniversary chicken, seeing as I was supposed to make it for our anniversary and instead we ordered pizza at nine at night once the kids were in bed. Happy five years hunny! Three weeks later though, I finally got around to making it. On a Monday night. When I had the kids at a nursery rhyme pre-school thing all morning, and classes at the gym that night. What I’m trying to tell you is, this is not a meal to make on a busy night. This is a meal that takes a lot, and I mean a LOT, of prep time, but it’s worth every minute.  Read more...

• No Bake Berry Cheesecake

  Submitted by Katrina on Mon, 04/03/2013 - 9:01

  Tags:berries, cheese, cheesecake, Cooking, dessert, graham, graham crust, quick and easy, recipe
  

  

  Alright, I’ve got a ridiculously easy dessert here that tastes like summer. That’s all I could think digging into it last night, looking out the back window at all the snow. This is one of the most refreshing desserts I’ve every had, and it’s exactly the pick-me-up this house needed after a lazy weekend spent indoors. It’s just a bonus that it came together in all of 15 minutes (yes, 15 minutes), and that it’s easy to lighten up (I’ve been a slow starter with the new year resolution.. this week though, that changes).  Read more...

• Planters Punch

  Submitted by Katrina on Sun, 10/02/2013 - 6:33

  Tags:cocktails, Cooking, juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, recipe, rum, valentines drinks
  

  

  Ok, I’m changing it up a little bit today. It’s that time of year where love just seems to get thrown in my face non stop (not complaining). In the course of 3 weeks we’ll be celebrating Valentines Day, 13 years since Bo and I met, and our 5 year wedding anniversary (though if you ask Bo he’ll say it’s only been 4 years… I need to buy him a calendar). Really though, this post just started with me feeling like a drink (some times it’s just been that kind of week, you know). I tried searching for fun drinks, then I started thinking maybe I could find some Valentines Day cocktails that would be good to share to make for your better half (wink).  Read more...

• Homemade Doughnuts (Cake Style)

  Submitted by Katrina on Wed, 16/01/2013 - 11:30

  Tags:cake doughnuts, Cooking, doughnut, doughnuts, easy doughnuts, fried doughnuts, recipe
  

  

  I wanted to make something as a treat for the kids today, and something that Bo could take with him in the car. Doughnuts. Doughnuts seemed like the perfect thing. So, off I went looking for doughnut recipes that I could quickly whip up. My first lesson: those soft, squishy, glazed doughnuts are yeast based and take hours of time to rise and make. They were out of the picture. Cake style it is.  Read more...

• Pork Florentine Casserole

  Submitted by Katrina on Tue, 08/01/2013 - 10:53

  Tags:cheese, Cooking, creamed spinach, dinner, one pot, pork, quick and easy, recipe, spinach
  

  

  Alright, all cards on the table: I hate spinach. I have never found a way to eat it where I didn’t think it tasted like old socks. Being the great wife that I am though, when I saw the picture of golden brown, Parmesan crusted pork chops nestled in a bed of creamed spinach, I knew it was something Bo would love, so I sucked it up an made it. Then I got one of the shocks of my life: I loved it. Not even a hint of old socks, so now I’m just convinced that whenever it had been made for me before, they were doing it wrong (sorry Mom and Nana). Honestly, maybe that’s part of the difference between using fresh instead of frozen, but I haven’t cooked it often enough to know for sure.  Read more...

• Cheese Triangles

  Submitted by Katrina on Fri, 04/01/2013 - 6:02

  Tags:appetizer, cheddar cheese, cheese, cheese spanakopita, cheese triangles, Cooking, feta cheese, freezer, make ahead, phyllo, phyllo pastry, recipe, Spanakopita, spanakopita triangles, stuffed pastry, stuffed phyllo
  

  

  This is hands down my favorite appetizer. My Mom used to make it all the time for holidays, and I asked her to for me for Christmas, but I just didn’t quite get my fill, so I whipped some up for New Years too. You may have already heard of them before, but probably as Spanakopita, a Greek pie of sorts, usually filled with spinach and cheese. Be brave with this recipe, if you like spinach, go ahead and add it. I’m not a huge spinach lover, so I choose not to. This is a pretty basic recipe for it, so you could pretty much add whatever you wanted to the filling, different cheeses, some spice, onion, whatever you can think of.  Read more...

• Jam Swirrled Muffins

  Submitted by Katrina on Wed, 21/11/2012 - 7:17

  Tags:Cooking, easy muffins, fruit, fruit muffins, jam, jam muffins, muffin, muffins, recipe, strawberry muffin, strawberry muffins
  

  

  Alright, back to baking! There is one heck of an explanation to the delay, but I’ll post that to the life section later. For now, on to the muffins!

  I finally started dipping my toes into the whole canning experience this summer. I am a fan. A fan who didn’t realize just how long it can take to do a big, year long batch, but a fan none the less. I made an absolute ton of strawberry jam, so what better when to use it than in some fresh made muffins. I’m big on breakfasts that my kids can just pick up and eat. I find some days it’s just easier to get food into them so they can shove it in their mouths while driving their cars, or jumping into a ball pit.  Read more...

• My First Time Spatchcocking

  Submitted by Katrina on Mon, 05/11/2012 - 8:15

  Tags:chicken, Cooking, easy roast chicken, how to spatchcock, how to spatchcock a chicken, quick roast chicken, recipe, roast chicken, rosemany lemon chicken, spatchcock, spatchcock chicken
  

  

  I had wanted to try spatchcocking a chicken for years, but I was too scared too. It seemed like it was everywhere though, on every cooking show I turned on, in ever magazine I bought. It was going to be so juicy, it was going to cook so much faster, it was going to be so easy to make.

  Every other experience I have had in life with that many promising promises has led me to learn one thing though: too good to be true.

  Although… this nagging thought kept poking though the back of my mind. There’s always an exception to every rule…  Read more...

• Southern Style Corn from the freezer

  Submitted by Katrina on Mon, 01/10/2012 - 2:58

  Tags:bacon, Cooking, corn, corn kernels, corn side, corn with bacon, frozen corn, recipe, sides, vegetables
  

  

  Now, I don’t actually know if this is southern style corn. In fact, I would guess that it’s not. I just didn’t know what else to call this and southern sounded good (truth be told I was ok with bacon corn, but thought others might find it a little plain sounding…). Please don’t hate me southerners, I love you, I love your food, there are many days a month where I wish I could screw everything, pack up the family, and move to South Carolina. Hugs.

  That’s exactly what it is though. Bacon quickly fried crisp, some frozen corn tossed in, then everything seasoned with some salt, pepper, and paprika.  Read more...