A Southwestern Meatball's Chance in....

The view from my front door this morning. ACK!

Well, the prairies woke up to a blanket of snow this morning.  It was pretty wet snow and it melted off the sidewalks pretty quickly so I don't think it will last.  I hope it won't last.  I do enjoy the snow and in fact it looked quite pretty out there this morning.  I am just not ready for it yet. Also, I think I need a new winter coat but haven't had the time to go shopping yet....It also means there were PLENTY of snowballs being thrown out on the playground today!! (And not by me!!)

Tonight is a gym night, it has to be.  I have a headache but I need to go. My local expert tells me it is the best thing to do. When I got home from work I prepared everything to cook dinner. A mise on place if you will. I made the turkey meatballs and placed them in the fridge, cut up all the veggies for the warm corn and black bean salsa.  All I have to do when I get home is cook everything and according to the recipe in the October 2011 edition of Clean Eating Magazine, this will only take 10 to 15 minutes to cook....

Mise en place: everything is ready to go

Turkey meatballs ready for the fridge.

Okay, I am back from the gym and ready to cook.

Southwestern Turkey meatball skillet
Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine October, 2011

1 lb ground turkey
2 large egg whites (I used one whole egg)
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (I used wheat germ tonight but don't tell Hubby or the Boy....)
1/4 tsp sea salt (I used kosher)
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp olive oil (I may have used a little bit more...
1 cup frozen corn
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth (I used water because I only had broth frozen in 4 cup blocks....)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp cumin
1/4 fresh cilantro

I also added
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic

First mix up the meatball mixture.  In a bowl mix together the turkey, egg, crumbs, salt and pepper.  I also added extra cumin to the meat balls but after eating them, they need way more spice.

Heat a large skillet over medium, add the olive  oil, then the meat balls.  Brown the meat balls, turning to a new side as they brown for about 5 minutes.

Once the meatballs have a decent brown going on, add in the onions, green peppers, tomatoes, corn, black beans, broth, cumin, and lime juice. Mix everything up, being careful to not break the meatballs up. (This is where I added the garlic.  I grated it in with the micro plane...I just love garlic and I am glad I added it)

Slap a cover on the pan and let it all get happy happy for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle on the cilantro and another squeeze of lime juice.

I served this with rice tonight, but the Boy ate his with multi grain tortilla chips.

It really did only take about 15 minutes to cook this dish!! Overall the warm salsa very tasty and I got the approval to make it again.  The meatballs were quite bland and I kind of knew they would turn out that way when I started. We decided however to add more spice to the meatballs. The winners of the spice discussion were smoked paprika and come chili flakes along with more cumin. (Perhaps some crushed garlic as well).

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

November Rain, Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits

Here we are on November 6 and it is raining on the prairies. Normally I enjoy a rainy day but in November we run the risk of rain turning into ice and snow. Ice and snow tend to leave layers of slippery ice on the streets and sidewalks. Good thing I have a pair of these to wear on my shoes for my walk to work.

I haven't tried these grippers before but I do hope they help.  I do have a tendency to fall and seeing as my ankle is still technically healing from my fall back in June, I am trying to be extra careful! It is a good thing I have these because it just turned to snow out there!!

To help chase this cool rain away I felt the need to make soup and biscuits today. This was one of those days were I started rooting through the kitchen and chopping knowing only that I was making soup and biscuits, just not what kind.  As the I was chopping up the veggies for the soup, a good old fashioned chicken noode soup was taking shape.  As I searched through the kitchen I found everything I needed for chicken noodle soup.  I started out thinking I would make a broccoli cheddar soup, but didn't have enough milk to make both that and the biscuits.

I found cheese, and a jalapeno so I went with my jalapeno and cheese biscuits from this earlier post. I used havarti and cheddar cheeses this time. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

4 cup chicken stock (mine was still frozen so I had to thaw it in the microwave)
2 carrots, cut into coins
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
pasta of your choice. (I had a box of spaghetti with just a little bit left in it, so I used that)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I found 2 breasts left over from the BBQ the other night!)

While chopping your veggies, heat up your soup pot over medium then add the olive oil.  Saute the onion for a coulple of minutes with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.
Add in the rest of the veggies and conitnue to cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in the bay leaves and the stock.  Put a lid on it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes before adding the raw spaghetti noodles.
After another 10 minutes, when the noodles are cooked, add in the shredded chicken and simmer until it is heated it through.

While the soup is simmering and getting all happy is the time to get the biscuits shaking and baking. I won't bore you with that recipe here but you can click on the link and find it here.

This afternoon we made a batch of hummus for lunches for the week. It was so tasty, we had some with our soup and biscuits. I found the recipe for a Buffalo Wings hummus in the October issue of Food Network Magazine.

Buffalo Wing Hummus
Adapted from Food Network Magazing, October 2011

3 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained (save 1/2 cup of the liquid)
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice (I only had limes, so we used lime juice)
1/4 cup tahini (had no tahini, so we left it out)
1 1/2 tsp paprika (we used smoked paprika and loved the taste)
2 tbsp bbq sauce
2 to 3 tbsp cayenne hot sauce (We used Frank's Red Hot)
1 tbsp white vinegar

Put everything in the blender and bend until smooth.  I added about 1/2 cup of water to the mix as it was a bit thick without the tahini.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Summer Lovin', : Little Cabin in The Woods - Canoe Capers and a S'mores Pudding Cup

I am ashamed to admit that I have had this post almost completely written for a while...a long while....in fact, an embarrassingly long while. With the thoughts of Christmas and the ever impending snowfall, I find myself dreaming back to the lazy days of summer at the Little Cabin. Without further ado, or to much prattling on, I give you, Little Cabin in The Woods:

There has been some excitement out in the woods this year!! After some shopping around and a huge sale at Canadian Tire, The Little Cabin finally got a new canoe!  Our old canoe inadvertently got destroyed by some workers who needed space.  The circa 1970s fibreglass canoe was still embedded in the ice and snow but the workers needed it moved so they pried it out thus ripping off the hand crafted wood gunwales and tearing out the yoke and one of the seats.  It really is a sad sight, this lovely old canoe in such a state.

The new canoe next to the old canoe

We however were craving some time on the water....we went in with my sister and my dad to get this beauty.  It was carefully strapped to the roof of my little Calibre....we were on our way to the Woods when a gust of wind came up and promptly removed the canoe from the roof....yes, there was plenty of cussing.  A call to my dad to bring us some fresh rope and his canoe knowledge.....and we were back on the road.  This new canoe amazingly bounced off the highway and is completely fine, except for a few scratches! (The canoe was hereby named "SS Fell Off The Effing Roof")

Once we got the baby into the water, everything just seemed right.  Calm, relaxing, and just plain fun.  Nothing beats an early morning paddle on a calm lake.

The Boy and I out on the lake

I even offere a paddle up coffe service for morning paddlers!!

Nephew loved the canoe too!

And away they go!!

Of course we paddled at sunrise, at mid-day, and at sunset but I am not brave enough to take my camera out on the lake so unfortunately I do not have pictures of the fabulous sun set the Boy and I paddled out to watch...completely gorgeous.  My summer just isn't complete without at least one sunset!! While the Little Cabin is lake front, we don't get a clear view of the sunset so we do have to either get out on the water or down the road to the beach to see the sunset.

We did get down to the the beach to watch a sunset. See....

That is enough chatter about canoes....what did we eat? Well, on this particular weekend, I made some brownies, and some vanilla pudding....I found some graham crackers and marshmallow....

S'mores Pudding cups

• Pudding of your choice. (I used vanilla)
• graham crackers, some broken up
• brownie of your choice, broken up
• marshmallows

This is so easy:
alternate layers of graham pieces with pudding and brownie chunks.  Top with a marshmallow and a whole cracker.

Dig in!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Diving Into Darkness and an Upside Down Plum Cake

I just can't wait for daylight savings time!! It is soooooooo dark in the mornings it feels like the alarm is going off in the middle of the night! Walking to work in the dark is also kind of scary......just sayin'. Perhaps I should take a flashlight.... At least I get home while it is still light out.  As we delve deeper into autumn then into the depths of winter, it will be dark at the beginning and the end of the work day. OK, enough about the impending darkness on the prairies, we are after all, here for the food!

The other week we bought a bunch of these cute Italian plums.  Hubby loves plums and he figured he'd take them in his lunches to work.  The very first day, I got a message from him that read.  "These plums are tasty".  Followed very quickly by "I just found a worm in the plum".  Well, at least it was the whole worm.....right?  Understandably, he was a little gun shy about taking any of the plums after that....  ICK!

Now I just can't let a basket of plums sit there and not be baked into something!  I started searching the Foodbuzz archives for plum recipes and found this delectable looking upside down plum cake from Boulder Locavore.  After checking the cupboards, then running to the store for milk, coming back, starting the baking, it was after 9:00pm. So what did I do? I kept going forcing me to stay up late. Yes, 6:00 am comes quite early but once I started mixing, I just kept going! Did I need the cake for anything? No. But with my Hubby and the Boy both studying for their courses, I needed something to pass the time.  Also, the plums make me think of summer....

I slightly adapted the recipe to suit my baking style but this cake is so fabulous you should go check out Boulder Locavore yourself.  This cake would go well with other fruit if you don't have plums on hand.

Upside down Plum Cake

·         1/2 cup butter, softened (divided into 3tbsp and 5 tbsp portions)

·         ½ cup packed light brown sugar

·         2 tablespoons water

·         3 cups pitted plums

·         1 ¾ cups flour

·         ½ cup ground almonds or almond meal

·         1 cup white sugar

·         1 tablespoon baking powder

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         1 cup milk

·         2 eggs

·         1 ½  tsp vanilla

 

         Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

     Wash and cut the plums into wedges.

       Melt 3 tablespoons butter and pour into the bottom of a 9 x 9 pan. (I used my spring form pan and the butter leaked out so play it safe with a regular pan)

       Add to the butter in the pan the brown sugar and water.  Stir to combine and spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan.

  

     Arrange the plums on the bottom of the pan and set aside.

      In a large mixing combine flour, ground almonds, white sugar, baking powder, and salt.

 

     In another bowl, mix together the milk, 5 tbsp of softened butter, eggs, and vanilla.

  

      Add the wet ingredients to the dry and beat until well combined, then beat another minute on medium,

    

      Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.   I think know my cake needed another 5 to 10 minutes to bake.

I lost a lot of the brown sugary goodness through the pan....

           Allow it to cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack (note: do not allow it to sit longer or it may be difficult to remove from the pan).  Run a knife along the sides of the pan and carefully turn onto a serving plate.    Cool about 45 minutes.

 I highly recommend this cake.  It was the perfect thing to have for breakfast this morning!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

The Tastiest, Easiest Fudgey Pumpkin Cookies Ever and an Epic Battle

Gratuitous fudgey pumpkin cookie shot....something to look forward to....

The Nephew slept over Saturday night so I got to spend my birthday with my 3 favourite guys....Hubby, the Boy, and the Nephew! We watched a movie, watched the nephew get over tired from going to 2 other birthday celebrations, and had a massive Nerf dart gun battle. You know you are in trouble when you see this:

Or this.....

The poor little guy, because of the cast, he needed help loading gun for EVERY shot! It still didn't stop him from chasing the Boy into the bathroom and cornering him in the tub though!

Darts were flying everywhere!!

Eventually though, snacks were needed....energy was needed to keep up the battle.....

And to keep everyone happy!

A happy Nephew and his pirate loot!

The moment I saw these, I knew I had to make them.  I have made them twice now.  Since Sunday.  It is only Tuesday.  Hubby did take some to work and I did some to my mother in law's for supper last night. Cleo Coyle not only writes the Coffee House Mysteries, she manages to whip up some very tasty treats!  Cleo did a guest post on Dying for Chocolate and that post introduced me to Chocolate Fudge Pumpkin Cookies.  You only need a few items from the pantry to make these.

A box of devil's food cake mix, a can of pumpkin, vanilla, and chocolate chips!!!  For the glaze, all you need is butter, water, pumpkin pie spice, orange colouring, vanilla, and icing sugar. Seriously.....go to the dying for chocolate link, get the recipe, and make these....then go to the Coffee House Mysteries link and check things out.

Mix the mix, pumpkin, and vanilla

Keep mixing....it will come together

Add the chocolate chips

Scoop and bake

Make the glaze

Drizzle with Glaze

Seriously, make these cookies.....I dare you!!

Make sure to check out the blog hop for Melt in you Mouth Monday over at Make Ahead Meals!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!