Category Archives: Cooking

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 August, 2013 None comments

We didn’t have much in our cupboards the last few days except a plethora of hot dogs. I love hot dogs but simply wasn’t in the mood for a baseball meal. I decided since we had hot dogs and bacon I would combine the two. This meal was actually a huge hit and was super easy. My husband ate two dogs and wanted a third one, but I convinced him he couldn’t eat it because I needed it for his lunch the next day. :)

 

The bad part to this evening was that my son was eating dinner with us and although he had a rough day due to teething he hadn’t eaten much. I was trying anything and everything to get some nutrition into his little body. My husband decided to give him a bite of hot dog; I’ve heard they are choking hazards but he is 14 months old and has a couple teeth. Well, this was a terrible decision. My little man somehow inhaled his bite and it was sitting right on his windpipe that he freaked out. He could let a little cry out every couple of seconds but his face was terrified, the cry sounded as something was not right. My mother instincts decided to quickly pull him out of his highchair even though a little whimper was still able to squeak out. All of a sudden his squeak turned to silence and his face turned beat red and was drooling pretty heavily at this point. I had him tummy down over my arm and was patting his back. Granted, I don’t know how hard I was hitting his little back due to the panic I was experiencing. All of a sudden my husband said “there we go” and the chunk of hot dog flew to the floor. This chunk of hot dog was somehow large and roughly an inch all around. I’m not sure how he got that much and how it quickly got lodged into his little throat but it was SCARY.

 

Needless to say, my fear was through the roof and my silence overtook. I embraced him the rest of the night before bed and poor little man was thrown off the rest of the night. Poor baby. I hate choking and yet we’ve had a few scares the last 14 months. He hasn’t mastered the task of chewy quite yet, but he will in due time.

 

Note to self: Don’t feed your little baby hot dogs!

 

Ingredients:

  • Hot dogs
  • Turkey Bacon
  • Buns (I used buns from the bakery)
  • ½ large red pepper
  • ½ large orange pepper
  • ½ large yellow Pepper
  • ½ onion
  • 2 large mushrooms chopped

I wrapped the hot dogs with bacon and placed them on a cookie sheet and set aside. Meanwhile, I sautéed peppers, onion and mushrooms with a little EVOO and a pinch of salt and pepper.

 

Broil hot dogs on high or 550 degrees until bacon is crisp, roughly 10 minutes depending on your oven. Slice bun open and lightly spread mayo on the bun and cover the hot dog with pepper mixture. Very simple yet so delicious. Serve with salad or potato chips.

Mini Pita Pizzas

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 July, 2013 None comments

I made homemade Pita the other day and ended up using them for individual pita pizzas. They were delicious! I made some with pesto sauce and some with red sauce; the pesto was perfect and tasted so much better than the red. Must try this recipe with my homemade-pesto and Pita.

 

Ingredients:

  • 6 individual Pitas
  • 1 8oz package of salami
  • 1 8oz package of pepperoni
  • 1 8oz package of mozzarella cheese
  • Pesto

 

Spread pesto on pita, top with salami, pepperoni, and sprinkle cheese on top to hold on toppings. Place on a cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

 

Serve with fresh chopped salad.

Homemade Pesto

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 July, 2013 None comments

Let’s be honest here…. all week long I’ve been overwhelmingly tired with no excuse. Because of this, I haven’t wanted to step foot into the grocery store. I’ve literally taken anything possible from our empty fridge and turned them into gourmet meals. Okay maybe not gourmet but definitely into something delicious.

 

I’ve not really wanted to cook or bake all week either until yesterday I was on this baking, cooking high and accomplished a lot. I made the granola for the week, homemade pancake mix to have on hand, pita bread, coffee cake and gyros for dinner. I was very productive and it felt good.

 

Tonight was another one of those nights, I decided I would utilize the leftover meat from last night’s gyros and pitas and make homemade mini-pita-pizzas. Pesto is always delicious to me on pizza and I have my fresh herbs out back that would work perfect for this.

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups fresh Basil (I used sweet, licorice, and blue spice basil)
  • 1 cup fresh Parsley
  • Handful of fresh rosemary
  • 2 TBSP minced garlic
  • ¼ cup EVOO
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Freshly grated parmesan cheese

 

Puree in a food processor and store in a mason jar or use immediately. Great for dipping, pizza, and pasta.

Pita Pita

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 16 July, 2013 None comments

 

Ingredients

  • 3 c. all-purpose flour, + 1/2 – 3/4 c. as needed
  • 1 1/2 t. salt
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 1 packet instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 c. water, room temperature
  • 2 T. olive oil

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Attach the bowl to your mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the olive oil to the water, then pour the mixture slowly into the flour mixture with the mixer running on low speed.

Allow the dough hook to knead the mixture on low speed for about 8 minutes. I added the extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough began to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn off the mixer and dump the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough and knead by hand for 2-3 more minutes. I had to add a little more flour at this stage to keep it from sticking to the counter. Do not be afraid to add a little more flour as the dough was very forgiving.

Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough so all sides are covered with the oil. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Lightly press down dough in the bowl to release the air, place dough on the counter and using a knife or bench scraper to cut, divide the dough into eight equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and cover the balls with a clean, damp kitchen towel to let them rest for about 20 minutes, which allows the dough to be shaped more easily.

While dough is resting, preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a pizza stone or inverted sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven, this will the surface you bake your pitas on.

Lightly flour the counter again and working one at a time, lightly flour each dough ball and use a rolling pin to roll each into a 6-inch circle. Place each round of dough on sheet pans lined with parchment paper or silpat baking mats (I was able to fit four rounds on each of my sheet pans) and allow to rise, uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until each is barely doubled in thickness.

Open the oven and place two pitas at a time onto your baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy in 3-5 minutes. Use a spatula to remove and continue the process until all pitas are baked.

Adapted from Annie’s Eats

 

Barbequed Yam Salad

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 24 June, 2013 None comments

This recipe originated from my husband. He is the chef that cooks only his three specific meals that he’s mastered. Other than that he will once in awhile get a bee in his bonnet and experiment with some sort of steak or burger spread. Apart from that I am the chef, maid, nanny, wife, and now gardener.

This recipe is actually really good and sounds interesting but even my dad who absolutely hates sweet potatoes or yams will eat this dish.

Ingredients:

  • 4-6 yams
  • 1 ½ cups grated cojita cheese
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 bushel chopped cilantro
  • ¼ cup Olive oil
  • Sea Salt

Chop the yams into ¼ inch pieces and drizzle with EVOO and sea salt. Place in a barbeque basket and grill for approximately 25-30 minutes depending on your grill. The goal here is to have the outer layer a bit soft with the inside still a little crunchy; leaving them perfectly grilled without being too squishy.
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Meanwhile, chop the cilantro, red onion and grate the cheese.
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Once yams are cooked, combine everything together adding another drizzle or so of EVOO and sea salt (to taste). Serve freshly warm.
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This dish goes really well with burgers, steak, or ribs…
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Egg Tarts

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 May, 2013 None comments

Oh my goodness this dinner was incredible. I absolutely loved it and the flavors were perfect. You can make this for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. I am trying to add more fruits and veggies to our diet and this really helped with the vegetables.

We actually were packing a picnic and going to the park tonight. We have been doing the movies in the park here locally for summer. Every Thursday and Fridays they have a movie in the park. It’s been pretty fun and good quality time together as a family. We usually go around 6:30 and let Cooper play and eat dinner. The movie usually starts around 8:45 (dusk) and depending on Cooper’s mood we stay the whole time or leave a little early. The adventure of Cooper playing in the grass with his toys is so fun for him and he absolutely loves to people watch. The other night we saw the third Men in Black movie. It was definitely fun especially because I have been giving Cooper his second nap a lot later so he is rested when we head out. We were able to stay til 10:30 that night. It was great! This week however we were headed to the park and not for a movie. The movies have ended for summer which is a bummer because it has been really nice out still and a fun time as a family.

We were walking to the Pool on our way to the park to check on pool maintenance. We have a neighborhood pool that we share with 10 families. Apparently this week has been our week to clean, yet we didn’t find out until Wednesday as this is our first time on maintenance. Unfortunately we found out on our walk down on Wednesday that our pool key is different from the pump house key and yet we are put off another day to clean. We feel as if we are becoming “those” neighbors…we don’t want to get there yet…at least not so early. :) Now today is Friday and we must clean since it’s been five days. Anyway, after eating on the lawn by the pool we took a walk to the park and went down to the river. Cooper has never been to the river before and it was so sweet to see his little eyes and brain stimulated by such newness.

It was a fun night full of adventure as we headed out for the river. We are trying to enjoy as much of summer as possible.

Tonight’s Menu: Egg Tarts

Pastry Tart:

  • 1-1 ½ cup flour
  • ½ cup cold butter
  • 1 egg yoke
  • 2 tbsp cold water
  • 1 tsp salt

In a food processor add flour and cold butter and mix until it becomes crumbly. Add egg yoke, water and salt. Mix well. It will be very sticky. Fold onto a floured surface and add more flour as you knead with your hands. Add enough flour that the pastry can be rolled out with rolling pin. In four large ramekins divide the dough and fold up the sides of the ramekins and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Filling:

  • EVOO
  • 4 slices of Bacon
  • 1 medium tomato chopped
  • ½ cup onion chopped
  • 4 large mushrooms
  • Spinach
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • Mozzarella cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet add evoo, bacon, onion and mushrooms. Once cooked add tomatoes and spinach, heat through. Turn off heat and crack all 6 eggs directly into the skillet along with 2 tbsp milk. Mix well and spoon into ramekins. Sprinkle with cheese.

Place the four ramekins on a baking sheet and bake 30 minutes or until eggs are cooked and pastry has browned.

Creamy Chicken Sausage over Rice

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 May, 2013 None comments

Due to the rain the last couple days I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. Something cozy for days like this is always satisfying to my palate. Although with moving I haven’t had a lot of time to plan meals while taking care of our 11 month old. It seems our cupboards and refrigerator has become quite empty lately.

I must say after the heat the last few weeks, I do enjoy a cool day to bring our household temperature back to 68 degrees. Living in Portland it is not very common to find homes with AC, because it’s truly only needed at most a couple months out of the year. Those couple weeks make AC worth every penny in my opinion. Although I did grow up in central Washington where AC is like water; you find it in every home. Anyway, since the heat decided to take a backseat today, I set aside the summer pasta salad, fruit salads, and BBQ recipes and took every opportunity to make something warm and use my Crockpot to pretended it was Autumn outside.

Going to the grocery store has been very unexciting to me lately and I have been avoiding this for awhile. I just haven’t quite been feeling up to it with all the errands I’ve been running lately, and moving has become very taxing on me, or shall I say my son. I get more excited to rush home and put little man down for a nappy-poo (aka nap).

We have two weeks until we are officially out of our current home. This has been a bit harder for the hubby than for me, due to the attachment and the reality that he has lived here four years longer than I. Although it is our first home together and as a family it will be bitter sweet.

Anyway, this afternoon I decided to throw a frozen chicken breast in the Crockpot unsure of what I was going to make but figured this had to be a good start for something tasty. You can’t really go wrong with seasoned chicken. As the afternoon progressed I decided I would throw a couple apple sausages from Costco in there as well, and at that point I knew dinner absolutely couldn’t go wrong. First, the crockpot is my best friend especially on busy days. Second, I love sausage and could eat it every day of the week and well, chicken is a staple for most households who are animal lovers.

This meal is super easy and truly takes no time at all. Quick and delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Chicken breast
  • 2 Apple Sausages
  • 2 cans Cream of Chicken
  • ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • Rice or Egg Noodle Pasta

Seasonings:

  • Garlic
  • Oregano
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Hint of paprika

Throw all the ingredients into the crockpot except greek yogurt and rice/pasta. Once cooked (4 hours on low heat), shred chicken and cut sausage into small pieces. 15 minutes before serving turn the crockpot on warm and add yogurt and heat through. Serve over rice or egg noodle pasta.

I served this over rice tonight and had a fresh cut salad with beets, radishes, orange, yellow, and red peppers, cubed cheese and croutons with delicious honey mustard dressing. It was the perfect meal for a cool, rainy afternoon.

Morning Muffins

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 1 May, 2013 None comments

My mom was visiting us a couple weeks ago and was telling me about my grandma’s recipe for morning muffins. My mom was up visiting my grandma one afternoon while she had these muffins in the oven baking. The smell of them filled the whole house my mom could barely wait to try them fresh out of the oven. She had two muffins and wanted the recipe so she went home immediately and made them that evening. When my dad arrived home, he smelt the muffins as well and ate five that very night. :) So while they were down here visiting, she and my dad were raving about them and how delicious they were and how they didn’t even require warming them up or putting butter on them. Now in my parents household that is unheard of. They are a butter loving family. I figured something must be tasty with these muffins if they eat them without butter, that’s a huge statement I told my dad and I hope they live up to it.

I started making them the other day and realized it was a little inconvenient so I switched a couple things up. Needless to say, they are delicious and I will continue to make them. Very moist, tasty, and does not need butter. :) I was proud to say I ate three the other morning straight from the platter; no heat, no butter but straight to my tummy. They were delightful.

Now there are a couple ways you can make them. Follow the recipe below or see the notes following that in the second batch I made. My husband loves these muffins but is a huge fan of coconut and likes the second batch better. Honestly I think you get two different muffins so each are equally tasty.

Morning Muffins
Dry ingredients

Mix together:

1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup flaxseed meal (flour)
¾ cup oat bran flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the following together:
1 ½ cup shredded carrots
2 apples peeled and shredded
½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix with dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the liquid ingredients:

¾ cup milk
Two eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together liquid ingredients.
Pour into all other ingredients and mix well together.

Pour into cupcake tins and bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. My oven cooks them perfect at 18 minutes. Do not under bake.

Note: I did not separate the ingredients, I mixed everything together in the order listed on the ingredient list except added the cranberries in the very end. I also did not beat the eggs. I would suggest using a Kitchen Aid mixer to make sure you mix very well if you don’t follow the directions above. They turned out great.

Second version:

Dry ingredients

Mix together:
1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup flaxseed meal (flour)
¾ cup oat bran flour
1 cup honey instead of br. sugar
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the following together:
2 cup shredded carrots
1 jar of pears (My sister canned pears from the previous summer and thawed and used an entire mason jar)
½- ¾ cup coconut
You can also use nuts if you would like. I wanted them to be a bit different so I omitted nuts in this batch.

Mix with dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the liquid ingredients:
¾ cup milk
1 egg, I only had one left, but the amount of pears still made this moist
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together liquid ingredients.
Pour into all other ingredients and mix well together.

Excellent in the morning with a cup of coffee or….anytime during the day.

Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 27 April, 2013 None comments

Today I really was in the mood to cook and enjoy some time in the kitchen. All this packing and crazy business has got to me. I decided I would set this all aside for the afternoon and make a tasty dish with what’s left in the cupboards due to all the packing going on.

My dutch oven completely went splat on me two weeks ago. I was putting spaghetti on while I emptied the last can of olives into the mix and heard a loud pop that finally burst and painted my kitchen walls. I was covered from head to toe. The bottom of my dutch oven cracked a perfect hole that completely broke off and left another crack around the entire pot. The piece broke so perfectly I couldn’t understand what happened. I should have took a picture but was too concerned with my broken dutch oven and painted walls.

Needless to say I was very discouraged because I used the last of the turkey meat and had no clue what to make for dinner now. It was the perfect day for homemade spaghetti… until now. This being said, I use my dutch oven for EVEYTHING. I make stew, soup, bread, and much more in this miraculous pot and now it meets her maker. I went on a hunt looking for one the other day and had no success. I need it to be at least 4.5 quarts and red.

While the hunt is still on for this amazing pot, I was limited as to what I could make for dinner tonight considering my dutch oven is gone and I’ve packed up many other pots and pans. I decided I would cook some yummy Caribbean Jerk chicken, I have become very fond of this seasoning lately. I made quite the dish tonight and truly could have eaten the entire pot full.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Asparagus stock
  • 1 lb Mushrooms
  • 1 Yellow Pepper
  • 1 Red Pepper
  • 1 Orange Pepper
  • 2-3 tbsp Minced Garlic
  • 1 Onion

 

Sauce:

  • 4 tbsps cream cheese
  • ½ cup half and half
  • 2-3 tbsp flour or cornstarch
  • 2 tsp Caribbean Jerk Seasoning

 

I used a rotisserie chicken purely out of convenience. If using regular chicken breast, cook chicken until no longer pink. Slice into strips and set aside. Meanwhile chop asparagus into thirds; slice mushrooms, peppers and toss in skillet with 1 tbsp EVOO. Add garlic and onions. Cook approximately 5 minutes depending how tender you like your asparagus (I prefer mine to have a bit of a crunch). After five minutes add cooked chicken and heat through.

Spoon cream cheese into skillet and turn heat to medium-low. While that’s melting pour half & half into a small bowl and whisk flour and seasoning together making sure there are no lumps. Once smooth, pour into skillet and let mixture thicken for a couple minutes.

Meanwhile cook your linguini to al dente making sure not to overcook your pasta. Spoon pasta directly into a serving bowl allowing the pasta water to follow; this will allow the sauce to adhere to the pasta and become flavorful.

Hint: Draining pasta for a warm dish is great but always leave about ¼ cup pasta water in with pasta when serving a hot dish. NEVER rinse with cold water. This brings the sauce and the pasta together rather than repelling the sauce away.

Serve with side salad or on it’s own. J

Easter Sweet Rolls

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 April, 2013 None comments

My Easter Sweet rolls are super easy and a great roll for Easter dinner or any holiday for that matter. I call them Easter sweet rolls because that is when I originally made them and they are fancy enough for a great holiday meal yet easy enough for during the week as well. They are fluffy, moist and very tasty on a left over ham or turkey sandwich from Thanksgiving, or plain ol’ lunch meat. Send with the hubby to work or to school with the kids.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp butter, softened
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 ½ cup flour

Directions

In a standing mixer with a dough hook, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let stand for 5 minutes, you should see foam on the top. Then add butter, salt and flour one ½ cup at a time. Blend for 3-4 minutes, dough will be sticky. On a floured surface knead for an additional 3-4 minutes until smooth. Place dough ball in a large oiled glass bowl after coating both sides with oil (either coconut or butter). Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise for 1 hour until doubled in size. Punch down and form little balls and coat each individual ball in oil and place in a prepared pie pan. Cover and let rise an additional 1 hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure not to overcook to avoid dry rolls.