Category Archives: Recipes for the young crowd
Home made spaghetti sauce
Spaghetti sauce is one of the first thing my mom taught us how to make when I was a teenager. I have added some must-have ingredients to her recipe, mainly from cooking with friend’s over the years, but the base is still the same.
From time to time, when my boys were younger, I have added ingredients such as grated carrots and zucchini to “hide”more vegetables in the mix, but now I just dice them up and add them in plain sight 🙂
Ingredients
I make my own tomato sauce from Italian tomatoes that i buy at the farmer market every fall. I can it in 1l mason jar but you can substitute with store bought. Just check how much salt has been added!
- 2l tomato sauce
- 2 cans of tomato paste (5.5ml)
- 1 can of diced tomato or 3 large tomatoes peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 bottle of chili sauce
- 2 pounds of ground beef
- 1 large sweet Vidalia onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large green pepper chopped
- 3 celery branches chopped
- 1 zucchini chopped
- dozen mushrooms quartered
- Half a bag of spinach chopped
- 2 cups of sliced mushrooms
- 2 tsp each garlic salt, celery salt, onion powder
- 1tbsp each of fresh basil, oregano, parsley and thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 tsp of crushed chili pepper or to taste
- half a jar of green or black olive cut in half (optional)
- 1 tbsp of crushed chili pepper (optional)
The first step is to decide whether you will make meatballs or not. I usually take half the meat and form it into meatballs that I bake in a cookie sheet at 375C for about 15minutes. I drain the fat from it before adding them to the sauce. The other option is to brown them in the pot before cooking anything else but this requires more supervision 🙂
Sprinkle about a 2 tsp olive oil in a thick Dutch oven (I use my large Creuset pot for this recipe). Caramelize the onion a few minutes or until golden. Add the garlic and all the other vegetables. Sautéed until soft and remove from the pot.
Add the ground meat (not the meatballs) to the pot and cook until browned. Return the vegetables and add the tomato sauce, the paste, the chili sauce and the tomatoes. Stir until well mixed. Add the spices and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 40 minutes. Add the meatballs, the herbs and the optional ingredients if using and cook for another 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste and voila!!! This recipe will make a large batch, enough for several family supper or a couple of meals and some sauce to make a lasagna 🙂 Serve with spaghettini noodles. parmesan and crusty bread…..yummy!!!
Moroccan Couscous
I took this recipe from the VERY excellent cookbook we received free of charge when we purchased our great Broil King BBQ. We love both the BBQ and the cookbook :).
I have made this recipe lots of time and always to rave reviews, particularly to the spicy-lover guests (including my husband) we entertain!! Of course I have adapted it a bit to suit our taste better. For example, they add currants and ginger which I omit. As mentioned in a previous blog, this is what I served with the camel stew on New Year’s Eve 2015. I love to make couscous because it is SO quick to make and you can spice it up to your taste easily. It is also very inexpensive to make for the budget conscious crowd out there!!
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Canola Oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 tsp each black pepper, coriander, cumin, chili pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 medium size zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups of medium grain couscous
- 1/2 cups fresh parsley (optional)
Heat oil in a medium size pot and saute for a few minutes, the onion first and then add garlic. Add the chicken broth, carrots and all the spices.
Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Turn the burner off and add the couscous.
Mix well, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff, taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with the parsley if using.
Enjoy!!
Left over turkey (or chicken) in Bechamel sauce / La sauce blanche versatile
I love left over cooked bird meat because there are so many recipes you can make with them!!! My mom made this sauce often sometimes with salmon, sometimes with chicken, served over puff pastry. C’est une sauce très versatile et utile pour les restants dans le frigo!
This time I made a Bechamel sauce with turkey and veggies. This could easily be served over puffed pastry, pour in between pie crust or over pasta. The day after US thanksgivings we were not looking for a filling meal, so I served it on its own with homemade garlic bread.
This is one of those recipes were you can make a lot of variations based on the leftover you have in your fridge or freezer 🙂
Ingredients
Bechamel sauce:
- 5 tbsp flour
- 5 tbsp butter
- 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of milk (or all milk)
- 1 tsp paprika, garlic salt, celery salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper and salt
Note: you can adjust this for a smaller recipe to 3 tbsp of butter and flour and 2 cups of liquid. You adjust the liquid versus roux based on the thickness you are looking for.
Filling: these ingredients are just suggestions, you can mix and match whatever you have or like. I usually like to freeze left over broccoli that will not be used by cutting it in florets and then it is ready to throw in a sauce like this one.
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 branches of celery diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1/2 cups of sliced mushrooms
- brocoli and/or cauliflower if you have some
- 1/2 cup each of frozen peas and corn (and green beans if you have some)
- 1 cup of cooked turkey/chicken or as much as you like
Note: when I fix up a celery or use florets from a broccoli, I freeze the ends and stems in a plastic bag for future use in a broth. You can make your own veggie or chicken broth at no cost!
For the Bechamel, melt the butter first in a cast iron pot, add the flour and whisk for a minute or so until it is well combined and a bit brown. This is called making a “roux” and is the basis for thickening a sauce. Add all the spices and mix well. Pour the liquid slowly as you whisk, so it incorporates well only a bit at a time. Bring to a boil over medium heat and keep stirring until it becomes thick and creamy. Do not stop whisking as it will become lumpy.
In a separate pot, melt some butter, add the onions and stir until translucent. Add all the other vegetables and stir every now and again until they are soft. Add the turkey and pour the Bechamel sauce on top. Stir everything together and heat through.
This is a very easy and inexpensive recipe that can be served casually on a weekday or prettied up for entertaining in a bread bowl, in a pie for chicken pot pie or over puff pastry.
Granola bars
As we all try to eat less processed foods with ingredients we can not pronounce, I thought I would share an easy and yummy recipe to make homemade granola bars. They are great for a quick breakfast or a snack during the day, between classes or after a workout. Enjoy! 🙂
Ingredients
- 2 cups (500ml) of rolled oats
- 1 cup (250ml) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (125ml) ground flaxseed
- 1/3 (75ml) cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp (5ml) ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (250ml) raisins, chocolate chips or your favorite unsweetened dried fruits. Mix it up and find your favorite combination!
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) sunflower seeds
- 1/2 tsp (2ml) salt
- 1/3 cup (75 ml) honey
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 cup (60ml) canola oil
- 1/4 cup (60ml applesauce
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and oil a baking pan about 9 x 13 inch
Mix together all the first 8 dry ingredients and make a well in the centre.
Combine all the other 5 wet ingredients and add them to the well in the dry bowl and mix it up. Pat the mixture with a spatula in the baking pan so that it is nice and flat.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bars turn golden. Cool 5 minutes then cut in bars while still warm. Do not wait or they will be too hard to but!
Should make you 24 bars pieces and each will contain about 50 calories, 6g fat, 55 mg sodium, 22g of carbs, 3 g fibre and 3 grams of protein.
Banana chocolate chip muffins – the best!
This is the best chocolate chip muffin recipe I have ever tried so it has become our favorites as well as my kids’ friends’ favorite 🙂
Here again the secret ingredient is VERY ripe banana so keep freezing them!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1.5 cup whole wheat flour (or all white flour)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients
- 2 eggs whisked together
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk ( or 1 cup milk and 1 tsp white vinegar, let sit for a minute)
- 1 cup mashed bananas (or 2 whole banana mashed)
3/4 cup of chocolate chips (or as much as you want)
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and add the chocolate chips. Mix with a fork just until ingredients are moist. Do not over mix.
Paper line muffin tray (or spray oil in them) and pour the mixture up to 2/3 of each cup.
To pour the mixture in the cup, I use 2 large spoons. Use one spoon to scoop from the bowl and then bring it over the cup and use the other spoon to slide the mixture out of the spoon and into the cup.
I make 18-20 good sized muffins but you can fill up the cups a bit more and make less.
Bake in centre of 375C oven for 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven.
Insert a toothpick in the middle to see if they are cooked. It should not come out with wet dough on it 🙂
Let cool and eat.
These muffins freeze very well. Keep what you can eat for the next few days in a plastic container or a ziploc in the fridge and freeze the rest. Take them out the day before you want to eat some.
Easy smoothy
I have been making these for my boys since they were little. They are super easy to use and best of all, you can use any left over or bruised fruits you may have so no waste!
When you see a fruit is getting overripe, cut it up and freeze it in a ziploc. You can mix and match fruits. Bananas are the key ingredient here to make it “smooth”. The more brown and overripe, the better. Again, when some fresh bananas are turning, freeze them whole, you don,t even have to peel them, how easy is that! The other important part is to have some frozen fruits on hand so don’t be shy, freeze up peaches, melons, any berries, apples etc… The recipe here only uses strawberries but basically any mixture of fruits will do.
Ingredients
- 1 whole container of 750 g plain yogourt. If you need more protein in your diet, use greek yogourt. You can use flavoured yogourt but then you should omit the maple syrup and it will overpower the fruit.
- 3 tablespoon of maple syrup. We are lucky to have our uncle’s artisanal syrup from Quebec, so it is the best sweetener but table syrup will do. You can adjust the quantity based on how sweet you would like it!
- 1 ripe banana, the browner the better, frozen or not
- 1 cup of mixed fruits, here we used strawberries. Whatever you have frozen or you can buy frozen fruits.
- 1 tbsp of flaxseed. I add flaxseed because it is good for you but several other seeds can be added as well. They also can be omitted as it does not affect the taste, just the “goodness” level 🙂
- You can add a bit of milk if you want it less thick.
From the Webmd.com website:
Although flaxseed contains all sorts of healthy components, it owes its primary healthy reputation to three of them:
- Omega-3 essential fatty acids, “good” fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.
- Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flaxseed contains 75 to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods.
- Fiber. Flaxseed contains both the soluble and insoluble types.
This recipe’s main cost is the yogourt since you should have frozen your fruits as you had them and saved them from being thrown away 🙂 The syrup and seed you can buy one time and use them for several months. This recipe will make 4 serving cups for the young ones and young at heart 🙂
Here are the very simple steps:
- Put all ingredients in a blender. I usually put the yogourt last to make sure the fruits get well pureed.
- Hit the puree settings and let it fo its work for about 2 minutes
- Serve
How hard was that!! And very yummy
Mediterranean Roasted Cauliflower Salad
This is a favorite at my table as well as a big hit whenever I bring a side at a dinner party. The secret is the anchovy paste.
You will need:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 5 tbsp of olive oil:
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of anchovy paste
- 1/2 cup of kalamata olive (black ones):
- 2 tbsp of capers (find them with the olives)
- Salt and pepper
This recipe will make 4 portions. Of course, you need to buy bottles of olive oil, lemon juice etc…but once you have them, you can use them often. This recipe will cost roughly $6.00 when calculating proportionally.
Start with a head of cauliflower particularly in season. Cut it in large florets and place in a bowl then sprinkle with some olive oil salt and pepper. You will need roughly 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of cracked pepper and salt.
You can roast it in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes (depending on the oven) or if you have access to one, the BBQ is the best. Roast them by turning them every 4 minutes. The key is to get the nice brown markings without the burning 🙂
In both case, they should still be al dente (crunchy).
Next, let them cool so you can handle them. Meanwhile mix 3 tbsp of olive oil with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 2 tsp of anchovy paste. Whip the ingredients with your fork until the paste is well integrated in the mixture.
Cut the florets in bite sizes, place in a pretty bowl and add 2 tbsp of capers, 1/2 cup of kalamata olive pitted (buy them already pitted, much easier) and the olive oil mixture.
Mix it up and Voilà!
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