Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

With a beautiful weather forecast for the weekend how about this fresh salad plate. Take it outside and enjoy the sunshine!

Ingredients:

200 g cooked chicken, sliced
1  1/2 cups fusilli pasta
1 cup edamane beans
a handful of spinach, chopped
1 romaine lettuce heart, torn
your favourite caesar dressing

Plus various additions like:
sliced black olive
chopped red pepper
pecans
croutons
parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta, drain and cool.

Toss everything together just before serving.

I swear there IS pasta in the dish, but in each picture you can only see a couple of pieces! 

This will serve 2-3 people.

Laundry Jug Scoop

Need a large scoop for your dog food, cat litter or salt for that icy driveway? Use any large sized jug like laundry soap, softener or even a milk jug. While the milk jug might be easier to cut it might not be as sturdy as a laundry jug. It would be alright for scooping up something light.

Anyways, mark the jug where you want to cut it. Remember, the spout of the jug will be the base of your scoop. It's kind of like cutting off the bottom and corner of the jug under the handle.

Carefully cut along the line with a utility knife. 
Presto....you've got a scoop!

Allspice and Orange Squares

I took the Best of Bridge Lemon Square recipe and made a couple of changes.

Crust:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp allspice

Orange layer:

1 cup sugar
2 tbsps flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange, 3-4 tbsps
2 eggs, beaten
pinch of allspice

sprinkling of icing sugar

Combine crust ingredients and gently press into a prepared 9" square pan. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking prepare the orange layer.
Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and when the crust comes out of the oven pour the filling in.

Bake at 350F for 2o minutes.

Cool, cut and dust with icing sugar.

Army Potatoes

Awhile ago our friend made these potatoes for us and they were so good, so I asked him if he would share his recipe. Well, he had at one time been a cook in the army and told me he got the recipe then and that if he told me the recipe he'd have to kill me! "Just kidding" he said. And then he shared this recipe. Make it at your own peril.
Just kidding   : )

Mashed potatoes, as much as you need.
Add 1 tbsp Lowney's chicken broth powder for every 6 potatoes.
Mash with cream or milk, butter, oregano and pepper to taste.

No need for salt as it's in the Lowney's.
Prepare a baking dish with cooking spray, spoon the potatoes in, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and top with dabs of butter. This can be made ahead to this point. Just refrigerate until needed.

Pop in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Broil the top if you like.

And thank the army.

Flourless Chickpea Chocolate Chip Muffins

These may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you are looking for a no-flour muffin this is a moist little bite.

2 cups canned chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 banana, sliced
1 egg yolk
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsps vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Start by whirring the chickpeas in a food processor.

Then add the remaining ingredients except the chocolate chips. Once it becomes a nice looking batter fold in the chocolate chips. 

Pour into 24 small muffin tins lined with paper. This batter does not rise. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes then enjoy, practically guilt-free.

Sweet Chili and Pineapple Glazed Duck with Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

Duck is not something our family eats often.
But when we do, it's a treat.  

4-5 lbs whole duck
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne

2/3 cup sweet chili sauce (found in Asian food store)
3 tbsps finely chopped pineapple (fresh or canned)
3 tbsps balsamic vinegar

Rinse duck in cold water and salt the cavity. Toss in the crushed garlic and tie the legs together with kitchen string. Score through the fat on the breast side and pierce other fatty areas with a fork. Mix cumin, paprika and cayenne together and rub over the outside of the bird. Refrigerate a few hours.

Set the duck on the rack of a broiler pan, breast side up to start. Using a broiler pan is essential as alot of fat will drip down into the bottom part of the pan. Put the duck in the oven at 350 F for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and pour out the fat. Save the fat, don't throw it away! You'll see why later.

Turn the duck, breast side down, and return to the oven for 30 minutes. 

Mix chili sauce, pineapple and balsamic together.

Again, remove duck from oven, pour out even more fat, brush or spoon the glaze all over the duck and put it back into the oven, breast side up, for 45 minutes.

Looking good now!

Ok....last time....glaze again, and again breast side up for 30-45 minutes.
Let it rest 15 minutes before carving.

Now, about that duck fat. I was able to save about 1 1/4 cups.

I poured it into an ice cube tray and froze them for later use, like this:

Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

1  1/2 lbs potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup duck fat
salt to taste

Toss together and roast at 425 F 30 minutes, toss and 30 minutes more.

I read somewhere that duck fat is one of the healthiest animal fats.  Now I'm no expert on that, but I do know what tastes good. And these Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes taste good!

Other uses for duck fat....roasted vegetables, sautéed mushrooms, yorkshire pudding.

Baked Cheesy Sausage Meatballs

A great make-ahead meal.
The most flavourful meatball you'll every have!

For the meatballs:

1 lb ground trio (pork, veal, beef)
375 g sausage meat (I used sweet basil flavour)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup shredded parmesan 
2 eggs
salt to taste

15 small cubes cheese (I used gouda)
3 cups tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Store bought sauce is fine or if you'd like why not give this quick tomato sauce recipe a try? That's what I used for this dish.
http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2016/03/quick-tomato-sauce.html


Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together and divide evenly to form 15 balls. Press a cube of cheese into the center of each and close the meat around it to seal.

Set them on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Some of the cheese oozed out, but that's alright.

Pour some tomato sauce into a 13 X 9" baking dish and place the meatballs on top. Spoon the rest of the sauce over all

and sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella.

At this point you could cover it with foil and freeze for a later date. Simply defrost in the fridge a day before you want to use it. If that's the case, put it on the counter for about 1 hour to come to room temperature.

Bake, covered, at 350F for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and broil 4-5 minutes.