When you've got leftover chicken, and it's winter time, I like to make soup. This soup is very hearty and good for you and tastes delicious. You can add whatever veggies you like. I like to use up those little bits and bobs from the freezer, and whatever else is begging to be used out of the veggie drawer in the fridge. Adding quinoa (a tiny gluten-free grain which cooks up much like rice), in place of pasta or rice, makes this a very wholesome soup adding extra protein and fiber. It's great for those cold evenings, very simple to make, and stores well up to 3 days in the fridge.
Leftover Chicken and vegetables with quinoa soup
Ingredients:
1 tetra pack of chicken stock (President's choice organics or Campbells are both gluten free)
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1 cup diced leftover chicken (give or take)
1 - 2 cups diced vegetables (green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, onions, celery and/or carrots)
In 1 quart pot, add chicken stock, chicken and vegetables. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and add water and quinoa. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 2 healthy meal servings or 4 small starter servings.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A toast to Thanksgiving
I'd like to make a toast: A weekend to thank all those who have helped me get where I am today, would mean that I have to thank everyone I've met. That's right. It's not just your parents and relatives that form who you are, your friends and your teachers, but every single person you've met.
Whether they've been there supporting you for your entire life so far, or they tailgated you for 5 minutes on the expressway and you don't have a clue who they are, all of those people, near or far, have influenced who you are today. How do you treat people, whether you know them or just pass them on the street? How do you react with that tailgater, the begger on the street, the teenaged cashier who can't make change?
These people all teach you patience, understanding and most of all, teach you more about yourself than you realize. So let's make a toast, one to all of those who have influenced our behaviour to date, and hopefully, have taught us patience and understanding (I need to work on the road-raging vulgar dialogue, caused by the tailgater...!).
Thanksgiving Toast Mocktini
Ingredients:
Orange wedge and 1 tbsp. sugar to rim glass.
1 oz. vanilla vodka
1/2 oz. grand marnier
2 oz. cranberry cocktail
Rub orange wedge along martini glass edge. On plate, sprinkle sugar and lightly shake to spread sugar on plate. Dip glass rim in sugar to coat. In martini shaker, ad 3-4 ice cubes, and all other ingredients. Shake well. Pour into sugar-rimmed glass. Put 2-3 fresh cranberries on a toothpick and put in glass to garnish. Makes 1 serving.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Stir fry San-J style
I love to promote tasty Gluten-free products when it makes cooking dinner a breeze.
San-J makes a great Thai peanut sauce - gluten-free of course - that will make your tastebuds sing.
They also make a lite Tamari Soya Sauce that has a great flavour, more brewed flavour rather than a dark, salty flavour. This one is good for adding to all sorts of recipes that call for soy, but is best on rice.
For this dish, I used ready-cut meats that I find at my favourite little market in my hometown of Guelph called 'Market Fresh'. Saves lots of time and they also have stir-fry veggies, ready to go. I grabbed some local beans, however, a head of cauliflower and picked fresh peppers from the garden for this one. Can't beat the taste of growing your own.
Aside from the sauces and the ready-to-go meats and veggies, I think the best part is the rice. I use Linburg certified organic and gluten-free rice. Their short-grain brown rice is very tasty and I like to spoon it into a 1 cup measuring cup, pack it down then turn it upside down onto a plate when I'm plating this dish.
No professional photos this time, but I hope you get the jist!
Skip the meat for the vegetarian or you can replace meat with a firm tofu marinated in a splash of soya sauce.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup green and yellow beans, chopped into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup red onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick then loosely chopped
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/2 each red, yellow and green pepper (or one or combination to make up 1.5 peppers)
• 2 med. boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
OR 6-8 oz. sirloin, slice thin
OR 6-8 oz. firm tofu, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp. San-J GF Thai Peanut Stir-fry sauce
• 1 tbsp. San-J GF Light Tamari Soya Sauce
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp. honey or agave nectar
• 2 tsp. sesame oil, separated
• 2 cups Lindburg short-grain brown rice, cooked using packaged directions.
Bring 4 cups water in saucepan to a boil. Add rice and turn heat to low. Cover. This rice takes 50 minutes to cook, but it's worth it.
When rice is half cooked, in a bowl, add meat or tofu and add 1 tsp. soya sauce, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp. oil and honey or agave nectar. Stir to coat well and set aside. Meanwhile, chop up all of your vegetables.
In a large skillet, grate or finely chop remaining garlic into pan. Add remaining oil. Turn heat on high and stir garlic until it starts to bubble. Turn heat to medium and add vegetables. Stir constantly until veggies are just starting to wilt, about 6-8 minutes. Add a bit of water to pan, 1 tbsp. at a time to keep from burning. Push vegetables to sides of pan and turn heat up to med-high. Add meat or tofu. Let sizzle for 1-2 minutes before stirring. Turn meat over to sear the other side and let sizzle another 1-2 minutes. Turn heat to med-low and finish cooking meat for another 2-3 minutes. Add peanut sauce and stir all ingredients together, then allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
When rice is done, remove from heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes.
With a 1 cup measuring cup, fill cup with rice and lightly pack it into the cup until it is levelled off. Turn upside down onto plate. Rinse cup and repeat this step with remaining rice.
Lightly sprinkle rice with 1tsp. each of soya sauce.
Spoon 1/4 of veggy and meat/tofu mixture around rice.
Serve immediately.
Makes four healthy servings.
San-J makes a great Thai peanut sauce - gluten-free of course - that will make your tastebuds sing.
They also make a lite Tamari Soya Sauce that has a great flavour, more brewed flavour rather than a dark, salty flavour. This one is good for adding to all sorts of recipes that call for soy, but is best on rice.
For this dish, I used ready-cut meats that I find at my favourite little market in my hometown of Guelph called 'Market Fresh'. Saves lots of time and they also have stir-fry veggies, ready to go. I grabbed some local beans, however, a head of cauliflower and picked fresh peppers from the garden for this one. Can't beat the taste of growing your own.
Aside from the sauces and the ready-to-go meats and veggies, I think the best part is the rice. I use Linburg certified organic and gluten-free rice. Their short-grain brown rice is very tasty and I like to spoon it into a 1 cup measuring cup, pack it down then turn it upside down onto a plate when I'm plating this dish.
No professional photos this time, but I hope you get the jist!
Skip the meat for the vegetarian or you can replace meat with a firm tofu marinated in a splash of soya sauce.
Ingredients:• 1 cup green and yellow beans, chopped into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup red onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick then loosely chopped
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/2 each red, yellow and green pepper (or one or combination to make up 1.5 peppers)
• 2 med. boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
OR 6-8 oz. sirloin, slice thin
OR 6-8 oz. firm tofu, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp. San-J GF Thai Peanut Stir-fry sauce• 1 tbsp. San-J GF Light Tamari Soya Sauce
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp. honey or agave nectar
• 2 tsp. sesame oil, separated
• 2 cups Lindburg short-grain brown rice, cooked using packaged directions.
Bring 4 cups water in saucepan to a boil. Add rice and turn heat to low. Cover. This rice takes 50 minutes to cook, but it's worth it.
When rice is half cooked, in a bowl, add meat or tofu and add 1 tsp. soya sauce, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp. oil and honey or agave nectar. Stir to coat well and set aside. Meanwhile, chop up all of your vegetables.
In a large skillet, grate or finely chop remaining garlic into pan. Add remaining oil. Turn heat on high and stir garlic until it starts to bubble. Turn heat to medium and add vegetables. Stir constantly until veggies are just starting to wilt, about 6-8 minutes. Add a bit of water to pan, 1 tbsp. at a time to keep from burning. Push vegetables to sides of pan and turn heat up to med-high. Add meat or tofu. Let sizzle for 1-2 minutes before stirring. Turn meat over to sear the other side and let sizzle another 1-2 minutes. Turn heat to med-low and finish cooking meat for another 2-3 minutes. Add peanut sauce and stir all ingredients together, then allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
When rice is done, remove from heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes.With a 1 cup measuring cup, fill cup with rice and lightly pack it into the cup until it is levelled off. Turn upside down onto plate. Rinse cup and repeat this step with remaining rice.
Lightly sprinkle rice with 1tsp. each of soya sauce.
Spoon 1/4 of veggy and meat/tofu mixture around rice.
Serve immediately.
Makes four healthy servings.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Roasted Squash Soup
This is one of my favourite winter warm-up soups. It's so simple to make and only a few ingredients. One thing I tried that was different this time was using a smoked salt in place of regular sea salt. What a difference! It added such a nice flavour without overpowering the great taste of the roasted squash. You can find flavoured salts at gourmet food stores.
This is a great soup for serving guests as well. It's a bit thicker, which allows you to add a garnish on top without it sinking into the soup.
I like to put sour cream in an icing bag or dispenser (you can use a ziplock bag, fill halfway with sour cream, then cut a 1/8" tip off the bottom corner to use as your icing bag) and write the word 'Soup' in the soup. For kids, a happy face, heart or their name and for the upcoming holidays 'Peace' or 'Noël' is nice too. Toasted pepita seeds or a little grated nutmeg look great sprinkled on top of the soup as well.
Ingredients:
• 1 med-large butternut squash
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tetra pack boxes of chicken stock (Presidents Choice is gluten-free)
• 1 to 2 cups light cream (I like 5%, but 10% works well. 18% is very rich!)
• 1-2 tsp. smoked sea salt (or regular coarse sea salt)
Preheat oven to 425˙F. Cut squash in half. Dig out seeds and discard. Lay halves, cut side up, on baking sheet. Brush with olive oil, making sure no flesh is exposed without it. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour. When done, top should be lovely golden brown. Let sit for an hour to cool or cover and refrigerate overnight.
Scoop squash out from skin and put in large (at least 4 litre pot) stock or soup pot. Add both boxes of chicken stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to med-low for about 10 minutes. Turn heat off. With a hand blender, blend squash thoroughly until there are no lumps. If using a blender, do it in small batches with middle of lid removed to let steam escape and to avoid burns. Once soup is well blended, stir in cream and add smoked salt.
Serve immediately.
This soup can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
This is a great soup for serving guests as well. It's a bit thicker, which allows you to add a garnish on top without it sinking into the soup.
I like to put sour cream in an icing bag or dispenser (you can use a ziplock bag, fill halfway with sour cream, then cut a 1/8" tip off the bottom corner to use as your icing bag) and write the word 'Soup' in the soup. For kids, a happy face, heart or their name and for the upcoming holidays 'Peace' or 'Noël' is nice too. Toasted pepita seeds or a little grated nutmeg look great sprinkled on top of the soup as well.
 |
| Add a name, a heart, a swirl... just have fun with it! Photography • Mathew McCarthy |
• 1 med-large butternut squash
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tetra pack boxes of chicken stock (Presidents Choice is gluten-free)
• 1 to 2 cups light cream (I like 5%, but 10% works well. 18% is very rich!)
• 1-2 tsp. smoked sea salt (or regular coarse sea salt)
Preheat oven to 425˙F. Cut squash in half. Dig out seeds and discard. Lay halves, cut side up, on baking sheet. Brush with olive oil, making sure no flesh is exposed without it. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour. When done, top should be lovely golden brown. Let sit for an hour to cool or cover and refrigerate overnight.
Scoop squash out from skin and put in large (at least 4 litre pot) stock or soup pot. Add both boxes of chicken stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to med-low for about 10 minutes. Turn heat off. With a hand blender, blend squash thoroughly until there are no lumps. If using a blender, do it in small batches with middle of lid removed to let steam escape and to avoid burns. Once soup is well blended, stir in cream and add smoked salt.
Serve immediately.
This soup can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
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