Master-chopped night for Valentines

So I think I've posted before, how my girlfriends and I do, what we call Masterchef-Chopped nights.  Basically they bring food items that I don't know ahead of time, and I have two hours to make an app, a main, and a dessert with the ingredients. 

There is always some kind of theme.  The most recent one being Valentines Day/Birthday (since one of the group has her birthday on Feb. 14, and another on Feb 15.)

The rules are similar to the cooking shows Masterchef and Chopped. The Masterchef portion is the fact that all the items are a surprise and we call them "mystery box" items.  Chopped comes from having to make an app, a main, and a dessert - with sometimes really odd ingredients.

For your information and inspiration, here are pictures from our latest night.  Recipes, in case anybody is interested will follow in a subsequent blog.

Going with the Valentine's theme.  Her are our place settings.  Accompanied by pink champagne.

The items brought to me for the appetizer were:

Mushrooms, beets, chocolate and strawberries.  Since it was pancake day, I was thinking crepes.  The strawberries and chocolate threw me off a bit since this was an app, but this is the result:

 Mushroom and beet crepes with a hollandaise sauce.  And strawberry crepes with a chocolate drizzle.  This was voted the best course by the attendees.  I've actually never made crepes before, but these were very good, and really pretty easy.

Next was the main course.  Steak was the main protein provided.  The rest of the items were:

Red peppers, lobster claws, brie cheese, and artichoke hearts.  I can honestly say the artichokes were something I've never eaten or cooked, so was a little baffled by this.  And so even though it's against our "rules" to look up recipes, my friends looked up a few things for me.

This was the result of the main course.  Steak with lobster butter on a red pepper puree, with artichokes.  The artichokes weren't good and were baffling even to eat.  Any suggestions from any readers out there as to how to best cook and consume them would be appreciated.

The steak portion with the lobster butter and red pepper puree was a hit.

Next dessert. 

Confetti cake mix, whipping cream, caramel chocolate bar, and Goldschlager.  Again, something I've never had before, but since it was a Valentine's theme and it tastes like cinnamon hearts, it was an item.

The dessert, while tastey was a bit of a let down as I will often make a mousse, and so my friends are getting a little tired of it.  The Goldschlager, was a little overwhelming as well.  But what I created was a chocolate-caramel  mousse with Goldschlager with a confetti cake crumble topping.

If you enjoy cooking and are up for a challenge, I would suggest trying one of these Master-Chopped nights yourselves.  I get very excited trying new things, and my friends get very excited eating them.  Cheers!

(Thanks to my fellow-blogger Janice Fitness Cheerleader for the photos.)

Saturday Sloppy Joe's

For some reason, many years ago, Saturday night became "hamburger night" in our house.  And as Canadians, we generally BBQ year round, so Saturday night became barbeque'd hamburgers night.  However, today was an exceptionally WINDY day, and the BBQ King in our house didn't want to stand outside getting blown to kingdom come, so our usual hamburgers turned into Sloppy Joes.  In the past, when our kids were young, the Sloppy Joe sauce came out of a can, and for some reason my husband liked to put Cheese Whiz on the buns.  These days I'm trying to stay as far away from processed foods as much as humanly possible which meant that our Sloppy Joes tonight are going to be made from mostly fresh ingredients, and real cheese.

This recipe is still very simple, and so easy to make ahead on a busy Saturday. I made this recipe in half, but the one below is enough for 4 people. We like our Sloppy Joes open face, so are happy with how sloppy this recipe is.  However, if you prefer your filling between the bun, reduce the amount of water by half. And the recipe below that is for 4 people, can be stretched to feed 6.  Enjoy!

Sloppy Joe's

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Home made-sloppy Joes in the slow cooker.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 3-4 hours
Yield: 4
Ingredients

• 2 pounds Extra Lean Ground Beef
• 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper (green works too if you prefer)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 minced garlic
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 can tomato paste (small)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 block cheddar cheese (enough to slice to place on buns) The cheese is optional
• 8 hamburger buns 

Cooking Directions

1. Brown ground beef until cooked, drain fat.
   
2. Place in slow cooker.
3. Add all other ingredients (except cheese and buns), and stir until well-combined.
   
   
   
   
4. Cook on low heat for 3-4 hours.
   
5. Take regular hamburger buns, and place slices of cheddar cheese on them to cover surface of bun.
   
6. Place in oven on broil until melted.
   
7. Place cheese buns on plates, and place sloppy joe mix on top.About 1/4 cup each.

Warm Crab Dip

I've always said that I'm not very good with appetizers, and so I'm always on the hunt for easy, delicious pre-dinner munchies or finger foods for parties.

My daughter was planning a house warming party, and while helping her look for good easy hors d'oeuvres, I came across a few easy sounding warm crab dips.

The one here, is just what the two of us came up with the Saturday before the party, but it was so good, it will, for sure, be one of my go-to's from now on.  It can be served with crusty bread, crackers, or even chips.There is not a really strong crab flavour, so you don't have to worry about it being too "fishy". 

Since this has very few ingredients, and I already had everything in my pantry, this was a no brainer, and it will be for you too.  Enjoy!

Warm Crab Dip

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1 can (120 gms) canned crab meat - you can also use fresh, but canned works just as well.
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper
• 1 finely chopped spring onion (can also use 1 tbsp finely chopped white onion)
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 drop hot pepper sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400. 
   
   
2. In mixer, whip cream cheese until creamy
3. Drain liquid from crab.
4. Add crab, red pepper, onion, garlic, hot sauce, lemon and cayenne, and mix until smooth.
   
   
5. Add cheddar and stir until well combined.
   
6. Place in baking dish, bake at 400 for 20 minutes until heated through, and top looks slightly crispy.
   
7. Serve warm with crusty bread, or crackers.
   
8. Can also be kept warm in mini crock pot. 

Makes about 2 cups of dip.  But the recipe can easily be doubled.  Can be assembled the day before and just heated before ready to serve.

Fried Onion Strings

As you may have noticed, I'm a lot about desserts.  However, I do like other types of cooking as well.  I'm a huge fan of onion strings.  I find that the pre-packaged ones in the stores are a little over-priced for what they are.  Let's face it, onions are a pretty cheap product in and of themselves.  Plus I'm not a fan of buying pre-packaged foods.  If there's something I can make from scratch that you can buy packaged or bottled, I will learn to make it myself.  Such is the case for fried onion strings.

I love them!  I love them on salads, I love them on burgers, and I even love them as just as snack.  However, since Saturday nights are traditionally burger night in our house I thought I would try making them for burger night.  I like fried onions on my burger, my husband likes raw, but we both love fried onion strings. I couldn't believe how easy this was.

Now, they ARE deep fried in oil, so don't go thinking they are healthy, they are just healthi-ER than buying them out of a bag. And a lot cheaper since I always have onion and oil on hand.

This recipe was so easy, I'm also going to try doing the same thing to zucchini and eggplant.

Fried Onion Strings

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Ingredients

• 2 cups canola oil
• 1/4 sweet white onion
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup whole milk or buttermilk*
• 1 tsp white vinegar (If you don't have buttermilk)

Cooking Directions

1. Slice 1/4 onion very thinly into strips.  As thin as you can slice them. 
2. If using buttermilk, go to next step, if not, put 1 tsp vinegar in whole milk (or table cream), wait 5 minutes.Voila! Instant buttermilk/sour milk.
3. Pour buttermilk/sour milk over onions, and let sit for at least 30 minutes, an hour is best.
   
4. Mix flour and spices until well blended.
   
5. Heat oil in a pan or deep fryer until hot.
   
6. With your hands put milky onions into flour mixture and mix until well coated.Do not just pour as you will get excess milk poured into the flour and you don't want that. 
   
7. To test if the oil is hot enough, put one piece of onion string in the hot oil, and if it starts to bubble and crisp, it is the right temperature.
8. In two batches, place coated onions into hot oil, and fry until browned.Note: When you first put in the oil, it will all bubble up and you can`t see the onions.  Do not worry about that.  Once the onions start cooking, they will float to the surface and you can see them clearly.
   
9. Place on paper towel, and continue with second batch.
10. Serve hot or cooled.

Lime No-Bake Cheesecake

It's Labour Day weekend.  I'm not generally a fan of this weekend because it heralds the end of summer, and I feel the impending doom of winter approaching.  (Yes, it's official the Fluudbloggler is a bit of a drama queen.  To top it off, the weather where I live, usually sucks on Labour Day weekend. This year however is different - it's ridiculously hot, and that makes me feel a lot better.  

I still felt that I needed a nice sweet treat to get me through the weekend.  However, since it's SO very hot, I don't want to turn on the oven.  A no-bake cheesecake seems to be the answer.

This is so easy.  I normally make a plain no bake cheesecake, and then just add cherry pie filling on top.  I love the taste of lime though, so decided to experiment and make a lime no-bake cheesecake.  You can use the basic cheesecake recipe below for either option.

And because it's so easy, it's such an easy do-ahead or do last minute if you are suddenly invited to a last minute Labour Day weekend BBQ. 

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Cook time: 0 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6-8
Ingredients

• 1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 1/4 cup white sugar (for crust)
• 1/4 cup soft or melted butter
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup white sugar white sugar (for filling)
• 1 package (8 oz, 250 grams) cream cheese
• 1 tbsp lime zest
• 1/4 cup lime juice (from one lime)
• 1 tbsp additional lime juice (optional)
• 1/2 cup additional whipping cream whipped with 1/4 cup sugar (optional)
• **If you are making a basic cheesecake not lime flavoured, simply omit the lime juice and zest and replace with 1 tsp vanilla 

Cooking Directions

1. Mix graham crackers, 1/4 cup sugar, and butter together until well incorporated.
   
2. Press down into 9" pie shell.
3. Place in fridge until ready to use.
4. Whip whipping cream until stiff, set aside.
   
5. Zest lime, set aside.
6. Juice the lime.
7. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
   
8. Add the lime zest and lime juice, and mix until very smooth. 
   
   
   
   
   
9. You will notice that this doesn't look very GREEN for a lime cheesecake, so you can add a few drops of green food colouring if you like.  I prefer the natural colour. 
10. Pour into graham crust and refrigerate until ready to serve - at least 2 hours. 
    
11. If you want, you can pipe the additional sweet whipped cream on top. 
    
12. And you are really feeling industrious you can candy some limes and add for garnish (recipe follows)

Even though I said I was making this cheesecake so I did not have to turn on the oven, I did have to use my stove to candy the limes.  This is totally optional, and I did it just because it was something I had never tried before.  

How to candy a lime (or lemon or orange)

Ingredients

• 1 lime
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp additional white sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Thoroughly wash the outside of the lime.
2. Thinly slice lime.
   
3. Place in a pot of boiling water and boil for 2 minutes.
4. Remove limes from water, and discard water.
5. In same pot, pour 1/2 cup fresh water, 1/2 cup sugar and stir.
6. Place lime slices in this water, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Place limes on wire rack (with parchment paper under to avoid mess) and cool for one hour.
8. Sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar on large plate or baking dish.
9. Press limes on sugar, and coat entire lime.
   
10. Keep in fridge until ready to use. 

AND...I actually kept the water-sugar that I cooked the limes in to add to my afternoon mojito. Cheers.

Canada Day Pavlova - AKA Canlova

I've been very, very bad about blogging lately.  Life and work has been too hectic.  However, since I'm making a special Canadian version of pavlova to celebrate Canada Day 2015, I thought I would take the time to post.

What is a pavlova?  It is basically a slowly baked meringue with whipped cream and fruit on top.  The Australians claim it is their invention - topped with strawberries and passion fruit traditionally.  But the New Zealanders also claim it as theirs - topping it with strawberries & kiwi. I made a grave error once while celebrating Australia day with friends when I combined all three, strawberry, passion fruit, AND kiwi.  It tasted good, but the kiwi didn't go over very well with the Aussies in attendance and were removed. (The kiwi, not the Aussies.)

So I'm calling this version Canlova since its only being topped with strawberries formed into a Canadian flag.  While this recipe is a little time-consuming, it is one of the easiest recipes you can ever make. It is ALWAYS a huge favourite - no matter how you top it. May I suggest strawberries & blueberries on the 4th for our American friends?

Canadian Pavlova (aka Canlova)

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours, plus 1 hour cooling time
Total time: 3 hours 10 minutes.
Yield: 8
Ingredients

• 6 egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, whipped
• 1 quart strawberries, washed and hulled

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
   
3. Add sugar, cornstarch and cream of tartar and beat until stiff and shiny.
   
4. Add vinegar and vanilla and beat until well combined.
5. Line bottom of 14" baking pan with tin foil, then grease lightly with butter.
   
6. Spread meringue into the pan, smoothing out as much as possible.
   
7. Turn oven heat down to 250.
8. Bake for 1 hour.
9. Turn oven off, keep pavlova inside the warm oven for another hour.
10. Cool completely, place on serving plate, gently peeling away the sides of the tin foil.
11. There will be cracks, so don't worry about that.  It's part of the appeal. 
12. Whip cream, adding 1/2 cup sugar.
13. Spread evenly over baked meringue.
14. Slice strawberries, splitting them in quarters, separating the ones with rounded edges from the completely flat ones.  I found it easier to used the rounded edge ones for the sides of the flag, and the flat ones for the maple leaf.
    
    
15.  Form flag on top of the whipped cream. 
    
    
    

Notes:  A regular sized pavlova is made in a pie plate, so for a 6 serving recipe, use 4 eggs, and a ratio of only 1 of all other ingredients (meaning instead of 1 1/2 tsp of something, use 1 tsp.)

Also, do not leave out the vinegar.  I did this once, and all I got was a meringue like you put on top of a lemon meringue pie.  The vinegar gives the pavlova it's nice chewy consistency.

Do not try to rush this either.  Cook at the 250 for a full hour, leave in the cooling oven for another full hour.

Gluten Free Lemon Coconut Tart

If it were up to me - desserts would always be chocolate, and probably contain whipping cream in some form or another.  However, not everybody shares my love of chocolate, especially my husband, so I'm always looking for new recipes that don't contain chocolate.  I found this one the other day in a magazine and thought I'd try it for a dinner party I was asked to bring dessert for - as always slightly adapted to the way I cook.

It's lemony and coconuty, and a little tart.  Looking at the ingredients beforehand I thought it would be a little too rich, but the tart lemony taste cuts the richness to make it rather light.  And for those concerned with gluten, it is 100% gluten free.

I didn't take any pictures while making the recipe, but the instructions are pretty clear on their own.

Gluten Free Lemon Coconut Tart

Recipe by Fluudbloggler

Ingredients

• 2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut, toasted (instructions for tasting, below)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yokes (from whites above)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (can also use coconut milk)
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2. Spread coconut evenly over cookie sheet, and bake about 10-15 minutes until toasted.
3. Once coconut has cooled, put 1 3/4 cups in a food processor and pulse until it makes coarse crumbs.
4. Whisk egg whites and corn starch together until fluffy and shiny (not as stiff as you would for a meringue).
5. Gently fold coconut crumbs into egg white mixture.
6. Slightly butter an 8" spring form pan, and cover bottom with tin foil to avoid leaking through cracks of spring form.
   
7. Pour egg white/coconut mixture into pan and spread evening.
8. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
9. Place in fridge to cool.
10. Whisk together condensed milk, lemon juice, eggs and egg yokes, and vanilla.
11. Mix until smooth.
12. Pour over egg white crust.
13. Bake for 25 minutes until firm.
14. Place in fridge to cool - cool for about 20 minutes.
15. Beat cream cheese until very smooth.
16. Gradually add the coconut cream, continue beating until well combined.
17. Add icing sugar and coconut extract and again combine until well mixed.
18. Pour over top of the lemon mixture.
19. Cool in fridge until well set - at least 4 hours.
20. When ready to serve, run a knife around the edges, and open springform pan.
21. Place on plate, and press remaining coconut on the edges.