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Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

20 Jul

I can’t recall where this recipe came from but it’s in my scribbled notebook of ‘keeper’ recipes. The ones that aren’t in my core cookbooks I keep there so I can easily remember and find a tried and true option when I need one.

This pie is so rich and sinful even though I always make it with low fat cream cheese and diet whipped topping. People go nuts for it, so much so that last time I whipped one together for a get together with Mr. Bacon’s side of the family, I didn’t even get a single slice!

To make up for it, I had an extra big slice of this one. And it was fantastic.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1 Redi Crust chocolate pie crust
1 tub of whipped topping
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
chocolate sundae syrup
handful of chocolate chips, peanuts or chocolate covered peanuts

Beat together peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar. Fold in 3/4 of the whipped topping and spoon mixture into the pie shell. Spread the remaining whipped topping over the top. Drizzle the chocolate sundae syrup liberally overtop. Place another 2 tbsp of peanut butter into a small sandwich bag and microwave for approximately 30 seconds or until liquid. Snip the tip of the bag and drizzle the peanut butter overtop of the chocolate sauce. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

Place in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up. Overnight is best though.

** Tip ** – Invert the lid of the pie crust and reseal the edge to cover your pie while it’s in the fridge.

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Recipe: Cheater Shrimp n’ Grits

18 Jul

Shrimp n’ grits is one of a handful of dishes that make up classic southern cuisine. And like most ‘classic’ dishes, everyone’s got a riff that they say makes it ‘the ultimate’ version of that dish. I’m sure this one isn’t ‘the ultimate’ (I’ve tested some of the popular versions) it certainly is easy, takes about 10 minutes and packs a world of flavour. Plus it has bacon. How can you go wrong??

Some of you may be asking the question, “What is a grit? Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound tasty.” Well, let me assure you grits can be plenty tasty and that it’s basically the south’s version of Italian polenta – cornmeal , slowly turned into a fluffy cereal pudding by boiling with water or other liquids. In other words, the corn version of cream of wheat.

Southern grits are white corn vs. yellow. The ones I buy (in the US as they’re very difficult to find here) are the Quaker brand quick cook grits in the blue tube. If you can’t find these, substitute large stone ground cornmeal (like Bob’s Red Mill).

The other secret ingredient is something decidedly NOT traditional – Jalapeno Tex Mex Cheese Whiz . Don’t be afraid – I was not a  Cheese Whiz believer either until a friend (thanks April) turned me on to how good this newly minted flavour of the faux cheese was. It’s fantastic just melted down on top of tortilla chips (just like movie nachos!) and likely many other tasty combinations I’ve yet to discover.

The rest of the ingredients should already be in your house or at least the local grocery store.

Cheater Shrimp n’ Grits

For the grits
½ cup of Quaker quick cook grits
1 ½ cups water
dash of salt
2 heaping tablespoons of Cheese Whiz nacho flavour (or regular Cheese Whiz but add ¼ tsp or more of cayenne for flavour and spice)

For the shrimp
1 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 strips of bacon, diced
3 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons of chopped parsley
½  lemon, squeezed
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
dash of cayenne pepper
salt & pepper

This recipe will come together quickly so do your mise-en-place before starting. Place the grits into a microwave bowl and add the water and salt. Stir with a whisk and place in the microwave until later. Use some kitchen shears to snip the green onions, parsley and bacon vs. using a knife. It’ll go way faster. Cut the lemon in half. Prep your garlic and have your shrimp handy.

On a medium high heat, begin frying the bacon pieces. When they’re almost crisp, remove them from the pan and set aside to drain on paper towel. Now you can turn the grits in your microwave on for 4 minutes on high. While they’re cooking throw the shrimp in the pan with a dash of cayenne. Add in the squeeze of lemon, the green onions, the garlic and the salt & pepper. Stir.

Now go check on your grits. Give them a brisk stir with a whisk and pop them back in the microwave to finish.

Go back to the shrimp and add the parsley and stir a bit more. Cook the shrimp about 3-4 minutes or until thoroughly pink. Add the bacon back in at the end to reheat.

When the grits are done (they should be after 4 minutes), throw in the Cheese Whiz and stir briskly with the whisk until the cheese has been fully incorporated.

Place several spoonfuls into a bowl and top with some of the shrimp mixture. Enjoy the creamy spicyness!

 

 

 

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Recipe: Shawarma Salad

7 Jul

It’s been crazy hot here this week. So much so, that Mr. Bacon installed our air conditioner today. We don’t put it in every summer, but the last few have required artificial cooling in order to sleep in our bedroom. And when it’s this hot, you certainly don’t want to make anything that’s going to heat the kitchen up which is why tonight we had shawarma salad.

Sandwich and garlic potatoes from my favourite shawarma purveyor, Ali at Shawarma House on March Road. Ali is an artist.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the shawarma, it’s one of the most popular street foods in the middle east and is incredibly prevalent in Ottawa and Montreal due to the high population of middle eastern immigrants. Shawarma usually consists of meat (either beef or chicken) with vegetables (lettuce, tomato, onion, cabbage) and pickles (turnip and Lebanese cucumber) slathered in sauce (garlic, hummus, tahini) and wrapped in a pita.

What I call shawarma salad though is a traditional Lebanese salad called fattoush with grilled chicken marinated in yogurt, lemon and middle eastern spices. It’s intensely fresh and flavourful and makes a great light summer meal.

Shawarma Salad

For the salad:
1 head romaine lettuce
1/2 tomato, diced
1/4 onion, sliced thinly
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
4 radishes
pita bread
pickled turnips

For the dressing:
juice of 2 fresh lemons or 1 fresh and 3 tbsp of bottled lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried mint
1 1/2 tbsp sumac

For the chicken:
2 boneless skinless breasts, or 1 pound of chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup plain or greek yogurt
3-6 tbsp of lemon juice (use more if you’re using greek yogurt to thin it)
2 tsp shawarma spice (comes in a packet labelled as such, but there are also recipes on the internet for the spice blend)
1 tsp salt

Marinate the chicken for at least an hour. It’s best if you prep it in the morning. When you’re ready for dinner, start the BBQ and grill the chicken over medium heat.

While it’s cooking, dice the vegetables for the salad and mix the ingredients for the dressing in a separate bowl. Don’t fudge on the fresh parsley and the fresh lemon – it makes a difference.

Take the pita and rip it into bite sized pieces. Place them on a disposable cookie sheet and spray lightly with Pam. Sprinkle with a little sumac and place the cookie sheet on the BBQ with the chicken until they’re crispy.

When the chicken is done let it rest for 5 minutes. Take this time to pour the dressing on to the salad (leaving the pita ‘croutons’ aside) and toss well. You can choose to dice the chicken and include it in the salad, or place it on top. Garnish with  the pita croutons and the pickled turnip pieces. Yes, the turnips are bright pink and look crazy, but they taste awesome really add a great dimension to the dish.

You should be able to find the pickled turnip, shawarma spice and sumac at your local middle eastern grocery store. Although I see that Bulk Barn (at least the location nearest me) is now carrying sumac as well.

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Recipe: Greek Yogurt & Dill Dip

29 Jun

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve seen the commercial for Frank’s Red Hot where they have a sweet grandma say, “I put that shit on everything!” Well,  I put THIS shit on everything.

I’ve used this dip/sauce on all kinds of raw veggies, on chips, on grilled or panfried fish, on grilled meats (usually kofta or souvlaki but it’d be great on lamb or even chicken). The best part, is that there is ZERO fat. Yes, ZERO. And it’s got flavour for days. This makes a big batch, but since it’s really just throwing stuff into some yogurt, you can mix up as little or as much as you need.

Greek Yogurt & Dill Dip

1 tub 0% Greek yogurt (yes, it’s gotta be the Greek stuff)
3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped (I use the kind that comes in a tube)
3 tbsp chopped garlic (I get the pre- chopped jarred kind)
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Mix. Enjoy.

That’s it. Seriously.

It is better if it gets to sit for a bit and meld flavours. Feel free to crank up (or tone down) the garlic factor or swap the dill for another herb that you like better (dried mint’s a good choice). Keeps nicely for days in the fridge.

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Recipe: Spanish Chorizo Fritatta

28 Jun

I think we all have those days where you get home from work and stare into the fridge blankly wondering what you can throw together for dinner. Sometimes when that happens, I give up and break out a freezer meal (either homemade or an old standby like chicken fingers) but sometimes, that just won’t cut it because you want something real.

This is a recipe for one of those days.

Spanish Chorizo Fritatta
(based on Martha’s Tortilla Espanola)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large potatoes, diced in 3/4 inch pieces
1/4 medium onion, diced
salt & pepper
1/2 PC Spanish style chorizo (hot or mild), diced into bite sized pieces
7 large eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, optional

On medium-low, heat the oil in the bottom of a high sided non-stick frying pan. Add the potatoes (up to you whether you take the time to peel them or not) and the onion, salt & pepper and cook, covered for approximately 20 minutes stirring often until tender. Throw in the chorizo and let that cook for 3-4 minutes or until it starts getting fragrant. Salt & pepper the eggs before pouring overtop of the potato and egg mixture. Let it cook until the edges are set and the middle is only slightly runny, about 6 – 8 minutes.

Here’s the hard part – slide the whole thing out of the pan and on to a large plate. Then invert the pan over top of the plate and flip quickly so that the top of the fritatta is now in the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry if it doesn’t come out perfect – it’ll still taste great! Cook for another 3-4 minutes until done.

I like cheese with my eggs and potatoes so I decided to add some to the top at the end. Probably not very Spanish, but still very tasty. If you want to speed this dish up a bit, try popping the potatoes in the microwave for 5 minutes before chopping.

This is becoming a favourite in our house (anything with chorizo is a winner). Hope you like it as well!

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Canada Day Countdown

27 Jun

In our household, Canada Day is an excuse to have our nearest and dearest friends over for a BBQ and a bonfire. Nothing seems to be a more ‘Canuck’ way of celebrating than communing with nature while eating grilled meat and drinking beer.

Preparations are still fluid but I thought I’d share some inspiration ‘pins’ from Pinterest that you might be able to use for your own Canada Day celebration!

  • Want a new twist on a burger? Why not try stuffing your burgers with cheese? Or mixing the beef itself with blue cheese. Or going for something more exotic like buffalo, or elk. In Ottawa, the Elk Ranch in Kanata sells the same burgers you can get at the famous local burger chain The Works among other tasty treats for humans and dogs.

    Southwestern Skirt Steak Courtesy of Plain Chicken

  • If you want to step it up a notch, this southwestern skirt steak would be a surefire winner with beef lovers. This version of Korean bulgogi would be a winner too.
  • Want to serve ribs but don’t want to have to cook them all day? Why not try these ‘boneless’ ribs made from a pork tenderloin?
  • This summer’s favourite grill meat has been kofta, a middle eastern spiced meat on a stick. Everything is better when it’s on a stick. I’ve actually been buying my kofta meat pre-mixed at Damas Supermarket on Carling (across from the movie theatre) – really tasty and it’s also a great stop for other middle-eastern grocery items. It goes great with a cool garlic/yogurt/mint/lemon sauce.
  • Chicken’s always a winner too. We often do legs marinated in tandoori sauce (Patak’s is the best we’ve tried) and grilled on one of these gizmos. Totally worth the $14.
  • For dessert, last year I did cupcakes with maple leaf quins (available at The Bulk Barn) but this year I’m thinking either strawberry trifle or this donut/ice cream/maple syrup and strawberry combo. So Canadian eh? 🙂

    Courtesy of A Beautiful Mess

Have a happy (and safe) Canada Day everyone!

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Recipe: Mexican Chicken Skillet

24 Jun

For those of you who have not jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon, you’d better get there soon before the wagon fills up. It’s a great place for recipes, home decor, craft, organizational and other ideas. It’s also a great place to waste a lot of time so beware 🙂

Most ‘pins’ come from blogs, magazines, or other kinds of websites, but more often now people are just uploading photos of their dinners directly to the site with a bit of rough explanation for a ‘how to’. That’s where I found this rough recipe (pin). I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I’ll just have to send a random ‘thank you’ to the interwebs cause this was a winner. It was quick, easy and had a nice spicy flavour. Low fat too!

Mexican Chicken Skillet
2 large chicken breasts, cubed into 1″ cubes
1 can of Rotel
1 packet taco spice
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups instant rice
2 cups grated cheddar, Mexican blend, or marble cheese

Over medium high heat, place the cubed chicken in a deep 12″ frying pan sprayed with Pam. Fry until just brown and then add 1 can of Rotel, 1 1/2 cups of water, taco spice and salt. Stir to combine and let it come to a good boil. Throw the rice in and stir. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 7-10 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. Add the 2 cups of cheese to the top and cover again until it melts. Serve with taco chips.

Notes, tips & tricks:

  • Use heavy duty kitchen shears to cut through meat. It’s fast and easy and you don’t have to dirty a cutting board!
  • If you don’t have Rotel, you can substitute 1/2 can of diced tomatoes and some diced jalapeno.
  • Other substitutions: swap the white rice for brown, add a can of black beans and a can of corn to feed a larger crowd for less (or just add those and omit the chicken for a vegetarian option).
  • Tired of Lean Cuisine for lunch? Make a double batch and package the leftovers in microwaveable/freezable containers. You’ll never be scrambling for a lunch in the morning again.

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