Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is a lot less pungent than raw garlic. It's mellow but very flavourful.  Use it spread on baguette as an appetizer, mixed into mashed potatoes or in this soup.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/12/roasted-garlic-barley-and-vegetable-soup.html

To roast garlic:

Peel papery outer layer away, cut about 1/4 inch off top (save the garlic bits for another use) Lightly press down on the bulb to slightly crush. Let it rest 10-15 minutes. (see note below)
Pour some olive oil over top of cut bulb and wrap in foil. Stand in a muffin tin and roast in a 400F oven for 30-35 minutes.
You could just stand each bulb in the muffin tin then cover all with a sheet of foil, but then you'd have to clean the pan. Forget that!

Once cooled you can squeeze out all those little cloves of roasted garlic goodness.

Note:

If you are cooking garlic in any recipe you should chop or crush it, then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Apparently this allows it to keep it's healthy compounds intact. So for roasted whole bulb, press down to slightly crush the bulb.

Roasted Garlic, Barley and Vegetable Soup

Everyone knows chicken soup is good for you. But this soup has a whole lot of things going on!

8 cups chicken broth (or more)
2 onions, sliced
olive oil
4 heads of garlic
4 carrots
1 celery stalk, with leaves
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup black beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup barley
bay leaf

Prepare your roasted garlic first. Here's how to do it.
Then set aside.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/12/roasted-garlic.html

Heat a couple of tbsps olive oil in a soup pot.  Add onions and cook until lightly browned.  Remove to a bowl.  Add the broth and garlic.

Purée in a food processor in batches, putting the purée back in the soup pot as you go. Add bay leaf.

You could have the soup at this point and call it Roasted Garlic and Onion Soup, but let's add more stuff.

Add sliced carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, and black beans to the purée.  Heat to boiling and add barley. Cook as per package directions.  Mine cooked in 45 minutes.
Remove bay leaf. Add peas.

As it cooks the soup really thickens up.  If you don't want it quite so thick just add more broth.

Nourishing barley is supposed to be good for your blood pressure as well as digestive complaints.

Garlic helps to boost your immune system so great to ward off colds.  And this is something else I read about garlic.  
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Cancer Prevention

Consumption of roasted garlic may offer some protection against cancer. Aside from the antioxidants present in garlic, the sulfur compounds it contains also act directly on carcinogens and toxins, helping the body remove them before they can cause damage. In addition, these compounds induce cancer-cell self-destruction, a process called apoptosis, in cell culture experiments and animal models, explains the Linus Pauling Institute.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/350760-roasted-garlic-health

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Note:

If you are cooking garlic in any recipe you should chop or crush it, then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Apparently this allows it to keep it's healthy compounds intact. So for roasted whole bulb, press down to slightly crush the bulb.

The basic garlic and onion soup recipe was found here:

http://www.freshbitesdaily.com/garlic-soup

Teriyaki Steak Stir-fry

Ok, so I kind of cheated on this one.  I used a jar of teriyaki sauce, I didn't make it from scratch.

4 sirloin tip steaks, cut in strips
1  1/2 cups teriyaki sauce
olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion
1 yellow pepper
2 carrots 
4 radishes
1-2 tbsps radish greens, chopped

Make your teriyaki sauce (or open the jar) and pour over the steak.  Marinade at least 30 minutes or, if you have the time, a few hours.
Slice all the vegetables.

Heat a couple of tbsps of olive oil in a skillet.  Add meat and brown 4-5 minutes on medium high heat.  Then add garlic and onion and continue cooking 2 more minutes.

Reduce temperature to medium and add peppers, carrots, radishes and 1/4 cup water.  Cover and cook 5 minutes.

Serve over rice garnished with radish greens.

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Pasta

This recipe will serve at least 6 people.  If your cooked chicken is seasoned it will give this meal a different flavour. Also, choose whatever type cheese you like.  I used cheddar. Oh, and one other thing....don't use maple flavoured bacon!

For the creamy sauce:

1/8  +  1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 qt. milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsps jalapeno Greek yogurt dip (or cream cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1 lb (500 g) pasta
1 lb cooked chicken
6 slices bacon, crumbled
2 cups shredded cheese

Start with the bacon.  You could fry it in a pan or try cooking it in the oven.  Just lay the slices on a baking sheet and put in a 350F oven for 20 minutes.  Flip once.  Cool and crumble. Set aside.

Meanwhile cook the pasta following your package directions.

To make the sauce heat the butter in a pot and whisk in the flour.  Continue whisking as you add the milk and chicken broth.  When the sauce is warmed through add the dip or cream cheese and don't forget the salt and pepper.  Stir and cook until the sauce thickens.

Mix together the cooked chicken, pasta, cream sauce, half the bacon and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.

Pour into a greased 9 X 13 baking dish.

Bake covered with foil at 350F for 20 minutes.

Uncover and top with remaining cheese and bacon and bake a further 10 minutes.

Creamy Mozzarella Chicken

I got this recipe from a friend 30+ years ago.  It wasn't really a recipe, more like "my Mom uses a water glass full of this and a handful of that" but we finally made it with actual measurements that I could follow. We don't see each other as often as we'd like but whenever I make this I think of her.  I guess she was thinking of me too because she called me the day after I made this.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in strips
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup 10% cream
1  1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
garnish with chopped parsley, arugula or radish leaves

Peel and slice the garlic and set aside.  Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add chicken and cook on medium high heat until browned and cooked through.  Add the garlic and lightly brown.  

Lower the heat to medium and pour the cream in.  Stir, scraping up any brown bits that might be on the pan. Cook until heated through.

Remove from heat and add the mozzarella.  

Garnish and serve. Hope you like it.

Vegetable Eggrolls

Don't be intimidated.  These are really quite easy to make.

1 daikon (Chinese winter radish, optional)
1/2 cabbage
3 carrots
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsps. fresh ginger, minced

1 pkg- approx. 48 egg roll wrappers

1 tbsp. rice or white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. light soya sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (or more)

1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup cool water

2 1/2 - 3 cups vegetable or peanut oil

Shred the daikon, cabbage and carrots in a food processor.  Or by hand if you feel so inclined.  Add minced garlic and ginger. 

Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a wok and add the vegetables. Cook for 1 minute. Mix the vinegar, soya sauce, sugar, salt and pepper and add to the vegetables, mixing and cooking for another minute.  Remove the vegetables to a baking sheet.  Spread them out to cool and place something under one corner of the pan so that any liquid will accumulate and can be removed.

On to the rolling of the egg rolls....

Take 1 heaping tbsp. of filling and place in center of wrapper.  Mix water and cornstarch together and use to seal the edges.  Just dip your finger in and spread along the edge of the wrapper.

Fold the bottom corner up, then the sides in like an envelope.  Now roll up firmly. Always keep the dough covered with a dish towel so it doesn't dry out.

Once everything is rolled up you're ready to fry.

Heat the oil in the bottom of a wok or deep fryer. For safety reasons use a flat-bottom wok on the stove.  Use a thermometer and bring the temperature up to 350 - 375F.  Using an electric stove, I set my dial on 5-6.
Place eggrolls in hot oil using tongs, 4 or 5 at a time.  Fry for 1 minute then flip them over for another 1 minute.

Use a slotted utensil to remove them from the oil.

Place on a paper towel lined baking sheet to cool before eating or packaging to freeze.

Deep frying is a messy job so expect to clean the stove and the counter and the floor when you're done  : )

Oh and not one eggroll came apart and blew up in the oil!

Yay me!!

Serve with plum sauce.

Made 50 two-bite egg rolls
The daikon cost $1, the cabbage $0.50, egg roll wrappers $7.00. Pretty inexpensive right? 

Eggnog Cookies Three Ways

This recipe made 119 cookies, so I finished them in 3 different ways.  Chocolate drizzle with walnuts, chocolate thumbprint with various toppings and pecan with eggnog frosting. It makes a very light cookie, so be careful you might not realize how many you're eating!

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 egg
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1 1/2 tbsps rum extract
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsps baking soda
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• 1 tsp cream of tarter
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Sugar Mixture

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Place shortening and sugar in bowl and cream until fluffy. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

Roll into balls, dip in sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet.

Press  some of them down with a fork. These will be for the drizzle cookies.

For thumbprint cookies make an indentation with your thumb, or finger or even the end of a wooden spoon.

Bake 350F for 12 minutes. Let cool. 
When you take them out of the oven, re-press the center slightly for the thumbprint cookies.

For the thumbprint cookies melt some chocolate chips and spoon into indentations. Have your toppings at hand, ready to drop onto the warm chocolate as you go. I used dried cranberries, slivered almonds, coloured sprinkles and walnuts.

To melted chocolate chips (approx. 1/2 cup) I added 1/2 tsp of shortening.  Mix until melted together.  While still warm drizzle from a spoon over top of fork-flattened cookies. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top while chocolate is still warm and sprinkle some of the leftover sugar/nutmeg mixture on top of that.

Finally I creamed 3 tbsps of butter with 4 tbsps of eggnog.  Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of icing sugar, mixing well between several additions.  This mixture frosted about 36 cookies. Cap them off with a pecan half.

How will you decorate and finish yours?