Da bomb of Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Okay, let's face it. I suck at getting posts out before an event or  'holiday' or even quickly after for that matter. Timing has never really been my thing...baking and cooking however is my thing.

St. Paddy's day was last Saturday and boy did I kept myself busy! I found a slow cooker recipe for corned beef and cabbage that I'd been waiting to try and I wanted to make a batch of cupcakes.  All this while trying to get everything ready for the Boy's trip to Kenya! Lucky for me the corned beef required the slow cooker so once that was underway I had plenty of time to make cupcakes.

Not just any cupcakes of course....Irish Car Bombs to be exact!  I used this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker which is a fabulous recipe, and not just because it uses 3 different types of alcohol: these things are darn tasty.  We have Guiness in the chocolate cupcake, whiskey in the chocolate ganache filling, and Bailey's in the icing....Irish car bomb.

For the corned beef and cabbage, I went with a recipe from Everyday Food that I had originally found in the March edition of the magazine. Of course you can find this recipe online here.  I am starting to wonder why I even bother with paying for a subscription anymore. (Don't tell Hubby that, I just like getting mail that isn't a bill!)

Baby potatoes, carrots, celery, onion

Beef brisket, fat side up, sprinkled with pickling spice

cabbage wedges for the last 45minutes

enjoy!

I used the slicer to slice up the rest for sandwiches for the week....and for the freezer!

 I even had to 'force' myself to drink the rest of the Guiness I had after baking cupcakes! (also test the whiskey and the Bailey's to make sure is was suitable for the cupcakes..."no dear, I can't drive. I've been baking....") 

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Growing Up Too Fast

Warning....this post is a little sappy because my baby is growing up quicker than I'd like....

Consider yourself warned!

Strange Exciting things are happening in the Little Kitchen!! The Boy has earned his learner's permit....he has even been behind the wheel of the car!! A few of his friends have their licenses already and let me tell you, I have a mini panic attack every damn time I hear "so and so said he'll pick me up" or "so and so drove us to the mall for lunch today" (I didn't even know he had money!).  As a mom, it does rattle the nerves. You worry about their safety, their where abouts, the choices they make with their new found independence, have I done my job properly......(see, just thinking about it put me on the verge of a nervous breakdown).

My own mom never let me drive when I was learning so I already knew that I didn't want to be like that.  I took him to get his permit and then took him to an empty parking lot to practice driving around....then I let him venture out on the street and drive us to the mall for dinner. He did such a fabulous job, you know, for his first time behind the wheel and all.

This all really makes me think back to all the little steps of 'letting go' as a parent.  Things like letting him walk to school on his own for the first time, riding his bike around the neighbourhood with his buddies (without me following them around), and sending him to the IGA to pick up a couple of ingredients for dinner on his own are all in the back of my mind these days.  Until he gets his actual license, he needs to have a trusted adult in the passenger seat but I will hold on tightly and do my best to let go when the time comes....if I have to....

Let's get to the food now, shall we?

Since we've been busy, I have been trying to cook up a a big batch of something tasty on the weekend and using it during the week.  This week I got an email from the Canadian Parent website with a slow cooker recipe for Beef Stroganoff that looked so simple and straight forward, I gave it a shot.  Here's the link to the site.  I won't post the recipe here but please go to the website and check it out. There are some pretty neat slow cooker ideas there.

Pile stewing beef, onions, mushrooms, and beef broth into the slow cooker

Reheat in a large skillet on the stove

Boil your pasta

Roast asparagus at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes (brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Guess what, everyone loved it. It smelled soooooo go while cooking but we actually didn't eat it until the next day but it heated up so nicely.  I heated the beef on the stove while boiling the pasta and roasting some asparagus! It really was a tasty meal!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.  (also, drive safe!)

Roasted Garlic Beef Stew

The wind is blowing, the snow is falling blowing coming at me from every which way.  This is the perfect time for another crock pot creation!!  Generally I don't use a recipe when it comes to stews.  You know, toss a bunch of stuff in the crock pot and dinner cooks on its own!  But a friend sent me a recipe they had tried at their house and it looked good so I figured hey why not give it a go?  When I got home from work, dinner was cooked and ready to serve, save a small salad and some bread.  This recipe for Roasted Garlic Beef Stew is from Canadian Living Magazine.  Canadian Living magazine is a tried and true type of magazine when it comes to recipes.  I have a couple of their books on my book shelf. I don't subscribe to this one but I do pick it up every now and then in the store. (They just recently changed their format and I am not a huge fan of it, but their recipes still come out great!)

Roasted Garlic Beef Stew, adapted for the slow cooker
adapted from Canadian Living Magazine

That's right, 12 cloves!

First the ingredient list:

• 12 cloves garlic
• veggie or canola oil
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks (I used baby carrots)
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 " chunks
• 2 Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1" cubes
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 lbs stewing beef
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sage (all I could find was ground so I used less)
• 1 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 cup red wine (or more beef stock)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup (or so) chopped celery tops (I had some in the fridge so I added them)

You can add almost anything to a stew so if you have something in the cupboard or fridge hanging around that you want to use, toss it in)

Ok, that is quite the list, but once you break it down, it is a cinch to put together in the evening to slow cook all day while you work.

First lets deal with all of that garlic! Put a pan on to heat up to medium while you start working with the garlic.  Add some canola oil to the pan so there is enough oil to cover the cloves of garlic. Let the oil heat up though before you add the garlic.

Peel the garlic cloves (a slight smash with the side of the knife helps release the skins!) Add the garlic to the oil and let the cloves fry.  You want the garlic to not only infuse the oil but to get all nice and golden brown! YUMMY!  Give the pan a gentle shimmy shake every now and then to ensure the cloves get even golden coverage.

Remove the golden yummy garlic from the pan and drain.  Also drain all but 1 or 2 tbsp of the oil from the pan.

Season the meat with salt and pepper.  In small batches, brown the meat in the oil.  Do not crowd the pan on this one!  You want the meat to brown, not to steam.  Brown = yummy, yummy goodness in the crock pot!

Don't crowd the pan!!

As the meat browns, transfer them to the crock.  Once all of the meat is done, add the chopped onions to the pan.  Saute the onions until translucent and they have picked up the brown flavour filled goodness from the bottom of the pan.  Add the onions to the pan.

Add the beef stock, tomato paste, (and wine if using) to the pan and further deglaze all of the yummy goodness from the bottom. Pour into the crock.

Add the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and celery to the crock.  Give everything a stir, slap on the lid and store the crock in the fridge until morning!

Toss it all in the crock pot!

In the wee hours of the morning, just when you are awake enough to venture into the kitchen to conjure up something for breakfast, take the crock out of the fridge, place it into the cooking apparatus and turn it on to low....and for heaven's sake, make sure it is plugged in as well!! (Don't laugh, I have come home to a cold, uncooked pork shoulder sitting in the crock....so sad.....)

Remember to add the frozen peas when you get home, these won't take long at all.  Also toss in the chopped parsley!

All in all this was a tasty stew.  Although I couldn't really taste the garlic as it had mellowed so much in the crock pot I found I was really missing not having a bay leaf or two in the stew for flavour.  Perhaps next time I will add the bay leaf and up the garlic content if I am going to use the crock pot.  

Stay warm and eat well!

Cold Snap Slow Cooker Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sammies

I pulled out the crock pot again!  This time it was the smaller one.  Yes, you read correctly, I have 2 crock pots, or slow cookers if you will. Why? Why not?  One is a ginormous 8 quart size, perfect for large batches of chili, stews, and for pot lucks or any situation where you are making a large amount of food.  The other is a slightly smaller 5 quart (I think) which is good for (obviously) smaller amounts of food and testing new recipes before I double them to keep the Boy fed!

One of the ways I while away the long cold winters, besides cooking, baking and blogging of course involves my two magazine subscriptions or guilty pleasures if you will.  Food Network Magazine, and Everyday Food.  I get so darn excited when these come in the mail.  I get new ideas from them and it helps refresh old recipes with new twists.  I also just like reading them! My chicken wings from the other night were from this same edition of Everyday food as this recipe comes from.

The first thing I did before assembling everything in the crock was to make some homemade vegetarian worcestershire sauce.  I don't use the real stuff as we have a fish allergy in the Little Kitchen.  I must send props out to Liz from Blog is the new black for clueing me into the fact that I could make my own vegetarian worcestershire sauce!  Thank you!  She has a recipe for this on her site to make a small amount but I found almost the same recipe, but larger amounts from Martha Stewart.  This will keep in the fridge for 3 months and since I am excited about giving this a try, I made a bigger batch.

Home made Worcestershire Sauce!
From Martha Stewart
In a pot over medium heat combine all of the ingredients listed:

• 2 cups apple-cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground yellow mustard seed or dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes or until reduced to about 1 cup of liquid.  

Let cool and store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Now on to the Sammies!!

Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sammies

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Everyday Food, Jan/Feb 2011

In the crock of your slowcooker combine:

• 1 14oz can crushed tomatoes (all I had was a 28 oz can but I used the rest of it for pizza sauce!)
• 1/3 cup hot sauce (Used Frank's Red Hot.  The recipe calls for 1/4 cup bet we like it spicy)
• 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce (the homemade vegetarian stuff)
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (I grate mine on the microplane)
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced small

Mix all of this together and toss in:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs. (original calls for half of this to be chicken breasts to 'lighten' it  up but we found a 1 kg package of the chicken thighs and decided to use that...it was cheaper that way

If you are preparing this the night before, slap the lid on it and place it in the fridge until morning.

In the morning, put the crock into the cooking part and turn to low for 6 - 8 hours.

When cooked, the chicken will fall apart and shred easily with 2 forks or try a potato masher to break it up!

Serve on rolls (I used Pretzel rolls) and serve with a salad (coleslaw works) but so does any type of veggie!

This was quite tasty and the boys both enjoyed it.  We only had 2  issues with the chicken.  The first was that there was a LOT of liquid in the pot and I had to strain it so it wasn't too sloppy.  The 2nd was that it really wasn't spicy.  Not a true buffalo chicken.  We do like things on the spicy side in the Little Kitchen and this just didn't cut it.  Perhaps jalapenos, cayenne, hot pepper flakes (I even have some dried habaneros).....hmmm....I am already thinking about next time. I will make this again but with less crushed tomatoes and more hot sauce.  I know the veggies added more liquid as well so I could cut the onion and red pepper in half....ideas....this one has me thinking!!

Keep warm and eat well!