Sandwiches Make Everything Better

We had a tough morning. We drove out to the beloved Little Cabin in the Woods to collect some items to bring home.  You see, my Dad sold his share of the cabin to his brother in law so we are unable to go out there this summer. This was just plain tough for us as we do love that little piece of paradise so much. (We took the canoe to the neighbours so we can still drive out, visit, and go for a canoe ride!) After the drive home, the Boy worked on some homework, hubby had a nap, and I went to the grocery store. To be quite honest, I know we were all feeling a little down.

After some thinking and wondering around, I decided on a menu for a dinner that just might cheer us up.  The plan involved the Boy and I working in the Little Kitchen together and since that is always fun, I figured I'd give it a go!

Rewind to last year when we were in St. Louis,MO on a baseball related trip, we watched a lot of Food Network's Next Food Network Star.  We don't get the American FN shows until about a year after they air in the States but we really liked Jeff Mauro and the fact that he won.  Unfortunately, we had to wait until this year to start getting his show, 'Sandwich King'.  We PVR the show and watch it together and love to see what sandwich he is going to make next. (Long time readers may remember that the Boy is quite the Sandwich hound).

Okay, I know I am rambling on now so to make a long story short, I picked up the ingredients to make Schnitzel Biscuits! The recipe on that link has great instructions so I am not going to re write it but trust me...this is tasty! We followed the recipe for the pork to a T! We even brined the pork tenderloin...don't skip that, it is fabulous!

While the pork was resting in the fridge in its brine, I made my favourite buttermilk biscuit recipe to go with the schnitzel. If you have a go to biscuit recipe, use it. I did make some braised cabbage, but I did not follow Jeff's recipe too closely.  I used already shredded cabbage from a cole slaw mix and halved the recipe. (Also left out the caraway seeds).

I now present to you, Schnitzel prep, in photo form!  After the Boy brined and patted dry pork tenderloin,  he cut it into 8 portions that he then pounded thin...I think that was his favourite part!

Get those frustrations out!!

Put the pork between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and gently pound

We only had to pause once to glue the mallet back together...we will be investing in a nicer one!

The Boy set up his breading station and kept on working!

Ready for the pan!

The Boy seems to have the patience to wait long enough for the perect golden brown!

Let me tell you, the sweet acidity of the braised cabbage really does make the schnitzel biscuit a fantastic sandwich. It cuts through the butteryness of the biscuit and the pork and just makes this sammy oh so delicious!

I couldn't even take the pictures with the Boy trying to gobble up these sammies! I don't blame him one little bit...they were just that fabulous!

Cooking with the Boy this evening really helped cheer us up. Some time together in the kitchen was just what we needed!

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.

Little Cabin in The Woods - Bannock

Ahhhh, my happy place....the little cabin in the woods....truly peaceful, calm, relaxing....especially when the water looks like this:

 Perfect and calm, like glass.....the perfect day for a paddle on the lake! As a matter of fact, the Boy is waiting for me on the dock!!

"Wish my Mom would stop taking pictures and get in the canoe....."

 Things in our neck of the woods have gone from super soaked to super dry...so dry in fact that all back woods travel, cooking/bonfires, and hiking has been forbidden.  Unless you want a 450 dollar fine for committing such things, I suggest you don't.  We had a close call the other Monday (Civic Holiday Monday, August 2). The Boy and I went out on the lake for an early paddle in the new canoe.  It was while we were on the other side we heard sirens and helicopters.  These are odd sounds for the middle of the lake so we knew something was up.  Later while we were eating a late breakfast at the cabin, water bombers started swooping in low over the cabin and into the river. 

Hmmm....something strange was definitely going on.

Turns out there was a small (1/3 of a hectare) forest fire burning not too far from the Cabin near Nutimik...ACK!!!  Luckily this fire was spotted early and It got doused early.  Whew! We have had dry years and forest fire threats such as this one from 1984.
Unfortunately the travel and fire restrictions mean I couldn't use a fire to bake.  That is just fine by me, I would rather have my forest in tact!

Bake on the fire? Yes, that is what I said.  I made bannock on the BBQ that weekend but what I really wanted to do was cook it the old fashioned way: it on a stick over the fire.  Alas, that will have to wait until the fire ban is lifted.

Crsipy, banocky goodness.....still hot!!

Bannock is a traditional Aboriginal biscuit-like simple bread with Scottish origins.  You can read more about the history of bannock here, and here.  Almost like a baking powder biscuit. I baked mine on the BBQ in a cast iron skillet but I remember my camp days of wrapping a rope of dough around a stick and cooking it over an open fire. We will have to do that after some rain has fallen and the fire ban is lifted!

The recipe is simple.  Traditionally any type of fat on hand would be used such as cooking grease, lard, bacon drippings.  I stuck with butter on this one but I do know that at camp we used lard.  When the kids make bannock at school I believe they use shortening.

This proved tasty and went well with breakfast!

Bannock

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter, shortening, or lard
1-2 cups cold water (this amount varies and you may not need all the water so hold some back, add a little at a time.)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add the butter. (I like to use the cheese grater to shred the butter, it helps incorporate the fat into the flour)
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add about half of the water and mix.  The dough will be slightly dry. If the dough is really dry, add some more a tablespoon or two at a time. It will still look like it won't come together, but it will. 

Turn the dough out onto the counter and fold the dough over onto itself a few times, patting it down in between each folding,...just like when making scones.  Just when you think the dough won't come together, it does!
Pat the dough into a flat disk.  If using a baking sheet, make the dough no more than 2 inches thick.

Toss onto a well oiled pan and bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes, or on the BBQ using indirect heat for 20 to 25 minutes.

Flip the bannock over so you can get a nice brown crust on both sides.  (You probably won't need to flip the bannock if  you are baking it in the oven)

Cut into wedges and serve!

Bannock is great served with butter, jam, honey,  good for making breakfast sammies........ best eaten warm.

While driving to the Farmers' Market, I took some photos of how smokey it got out in the Whiteshell.  Manitoba Conservation assured me the smoke was from forest fires burning in Ontario.  Yikes!

Smoke on the water........

Smoke on the road as well

Well, I am hoping for a really good rainfall, until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Three Cheese Jalapeno Biscutis and a Horror Story

Yesterday I made some oh so tasty baked sweet potato fries with a sriracha mayo dip....they were so yummy.  I took photos like you would not believe.  One of the things I have been working on is trying to get baked sweet potato fries nice and crispy on the outside. This was the batch that was going to work, I could feel it.  After writing a lovely post to go with the photos, I opened the little window that houses the memory card......a scream and some expletives escaped my mouth......there was no card in the camera.  The card was still sitting in the card reader of my laptop.  AHHHHHH!

My apologies, I will remake the fries and actually put the memory card in the camera.

The Little Kitchen is in cleaning out the fridge mode as we gear up for a trip South to St. Louis Mo.  Why St. Louis? The Boy and his team are heading there to play ball, that's why.  For baseball players to get a chance to play this early outside on real diamonds, we need to South; there is still so much snow on the ground here! We are so excited! So much to do, cleaning, packing, lists to make so I can pack.... we didn't go grocery shopping this weekend, save a few fresh items.

What do you make when you are trying to use what you have and not go grocery shopping?  Well, sometime you get inventive and sometimes ideas just happen. This weekend I picked up a rotisserie chicken from the store, knowing I had the veggies needed to make a chicken pot pie!!  I didn't however feel like making a pie crust so I went with biscuits instead...go figure, they probably take the same amount of time and work.  I guess I just felt like biscuits.

Hubby was washing some dishes while I was measuring out the dry ingredients for the biscuits and a discussion regarding what was left in the fridge ensued....to make a long story short, we banded together to make 3 cheese jalapeno biscuits to go with the pieless chicken pot pie (which is essentially a stew).

Fabulous things can only happen when you add cheeses and jalapenos to something...it is just magical!

The biscuit recipe I use on a regular basis now is from Stumptown Savoury....it is the perfect recipe.  I have altered it somewhat to make these biscuits, but you should check out his post for the original recipe here.

I must admit to attempting to double the recipe by memory but failed to double the baking power, soda, or the buttermilk....strangely enough, the biscuits still turned out wonderful!

3 cheese jalapeno biscuit with crustless chicken pot pie

3 cheese jalapeno biscuits

• 2cups all purpose flour
• 2 cup pastry flour (trust me, this makes it so much better)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• handful grated cheddar
• handful grated smoked gouda
• handful grated parmesean
• 2 jalapenos, diced small
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tsp lemon juice with enough milk to make 1 cup)
• 1 cup butter, frozen then grated

In a large bowl, stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Now Gareth likes to freeze the butter then grate it...I agree. This works wonderfully.  However if you are strapped for time or don't have butter stocked in the freezer (which by the way works wonders if butter is on sale). You can cut the butter into cubes and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour.  Just make sure to chill the dough for about 1/2 hour so chase away the warmth from your hands.

Once the butter is all small bits rubbed into flour, pile in the cheeses and the jalapenos and stir those in.

Add the buttermilk and stir.  It won't come together as a dough so don't worry about that here.

Dump the mixture out onto the counter and start folding and patting....just like this:

Keep on with the patting and folding until it comes together nicely.

You can either cut it into squares or use a biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits.

Bake in a hot, pre heated 400F oven for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden on top.

Don't burn your tongue, let them cool a bit!

I will do my best to send out a few messages and posts during our baseball filled trip. 

Until next time, stay warm and well!

Saturday Mornings: Buttermilk Biscuit Sammies!!

Best Biscuits Ever!!

 YES!  I  LOVE breakfast!!! Saturday mornings seem to be the day for laid back brekkies in the Little Kitchen....this could have something to do with the Boy's 6:00am Sunday morning practices, but who knows.  During the week, especially in winter, I stick with my oatmeal and fruit but on the weekends, I like to treat us to some yummy breakkie treats, such as last week's breakfast muffins!!  I have been wanting to try the buttermilk biscuits Gareth posted on Stumptown Savoury.   These turned out so incredibly fantastic!  Now I thought about mixing in some grated cheddar and chopped up ham but I really wanted to give these biscuits a go plain, just to try them out....WOW!  You really should make these.  I am not going to even try to post his recipe here but I will send you to his blog so you can get the recipe direct from him! Click here for his post on buttermilk biscuits!

Sooo gooooood!!

As I rooted through the fridge, I found some more things I could possibly mix in but then I remembered how much the Boy loves to make sandwiches out of everything!  No, really, he does....last week he made a sandwich out of the breakfast muffins!! (I should have taken a picture). I found some left over frittata from dinner the other night as well as some tomatoes, ham, and cheddar!!  Winna, winna, breakfast sammie flava! 

Breakfast sammies it is!!

Since I had everything but the biscuits on hand, I made the biscuits and while they were in the oven, I sliced up:

• 1 tomato
• some cheddar cheese
• some ham

I also took out of the fridge and cut into sammie size pieces the leftover frittata from the other night. This particular fritatta has in it.

• potato slices, cooked
• onion
• yellow pepper
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 10 oz pkg frozen (but thawed and squeezed out) spinach
• a handful or two of halved cherry tomatoes
• cheddar cheese, cubed
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (no water added, straight from the can) (I was out of milk and half and half)

Frittatas are simple. In a large, over proof skillet, saute the onion, peppers, potatoes and  spinach until hot.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and the evaporated milk.
Pour the eggs over the yumminess in the pan and give that pan a quick stir or a shimmy shake to evenly distribute the eggs.
Top with (they will sink in a little) the small cubes of cheese and the cherry tomatoes.
Place in a 350F oven until cooked through, about 20 minutes.

When the biscuits were ready, I split them, layered in the sammie ingredients, took some photos, and was so incredibly ready for breakfast, it wasn't even funny!

I heated the frittata in the microwave so it was hot for the sammies!