Hearty Pasta Soup

Will Spring ever get here? April 8th and we have freezing drizzle to contend with. Oh well, a good excuse to make this stick-to-your-ribs soup!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
796 ml can diced canned tomatoes
540 ml can chick peas (half drained)
1 tsp celery seed
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 jalapeño, finely diced 
4-5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 cup pasta (fusilli or shells)
a handful of chopped spinach
1 cup cooked chicken (optional)

Heat oil to medium in a large pot and add onions and carrots. When onions are almost tender add the garlic.
Add the canned tomatoes, chick peas with some of it's liquid, celery seed, bay leaf, salt, pepper and jalapeño. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

At this point the tomatoes have thickened slightly and the vegetables are soft. Add the broth and lemon zest and simmer 30 minutes longer. Use 4 cups of broth if you want a thick soup, 5 if you want it soupier. And that lemon zest really gives the soup a little kick!

Bring to a boil, add the pasta and cook for the required time.
Finally stir in the spinach and cooked chicken.

If you're going for a vegetarian option leave out the chicken and use vegetable broth. Oh and don't forget to remove the bay leaf!

Serves 6

Italian Beef Shanks

Osso buco style braised beef ... does this make your mouth water or what?

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
small onion, sliced
small red pepper, sliced
4 or 5 mushrooms, sliced
3 beef shanks
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1  1/2 cups diced canned tomatoes

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet and lightly brown the onion, red pepper and mushrooms then remove to a plate.

You could tie string around each shank but I just snip the outer ring of fat around the shank so that as it cooks it will lie flat. (If you're going for presentation, use string) Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in the skillet and brown the meat on both sides.

Return the veggies to the pan.

Spoon the tomatoes in and around the meat and season well.

Cover and simmer for 1  1/2 - 2  hours.

You could thicken the juices with a little cornstarch but I prefer keeping it on the lighter side.

Moroccan White Fish

When I think of fish I usually think breaded or battered, kind of plain. But this aromatic recipe is anything but plain... it's colourful and bursting with flavour! 

Ingredients:
1 lb (500 g) white fish fillets (2 tilapia fillets here)
2 tbsps parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp turmeric
pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

1 large carrot, sliced thinly
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 lemon
8 kalamata olives
1/2 red pepper, sliced

Combine parsley, olive oil, paprika, turmeric, saffron, ginger and lemon juice. Coat the fish fillets on both sides and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

In a small saucepan mix the tomatoes, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper together. Mash a bit and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Place sliced carrots, then onions, on the bottom of a greased baking dish. Spoon the tomato sauce over the top. Cover and put in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.

Add the fish topped with 1 tsp lemon zest, lemon slices, red pepper and olives. Pour the marinade in around the fish.

Return to the oven uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.

Is this not gorgeous?

Serve with rice or couscous.

Adapted from: https://cookandbemerry.com/moroccan-fish-tagine-with-ginger-saffron/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+CookBeMerry+(Cook+%26+Be+Merry)

Healthy No Bake Breakfast Bars

These easy no bake bars are very versatile. Change up the nuts and seeds and add dried fruit. You can even use green tea in the recipe to get those healthy antioxidants!

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped dates
1  1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 cup seeds like sunflower, sesame, flaxseed
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup almond or peanut butter

Begin by toasting the oats and nuts in a 350 F oven for 10-15 minutes. While they toast soak the chopped dates in water to re-hydrate them. You can soak them in brewed green tea for that extra boost of antioxidant goodness.

Drain the dates and either mix by hand or process in a food processor until it forms a ball.

I'm showing two different batches in the pics to follow. For this one I used a loosely packed cup of chopped dates and I added the oats, nuts and seeds to the food processor.

In this batch I had a very well packed cup of chopped dates (so alot more dates!) and I mixed the dates, oats, nuts and seeds by hand.

Once you have your dates, oats, nuts and seeds mixed, combine the maple syrup and almond or peanut butter in a small bowl. Microwave a few seconds (10-20) to warm then blend into the mix.

Line an 8 X 8" pan with parchment paper and press the mix in. Cover the top of the bars with another piece of parchment or plastic wrap and press down firmly with something flat-bottomed, rubbing back and forth to even it out.

Refrigerate 15-20 minutes before cutting into bars. 

This is the one with less dates and mixed together in the food processor.

And this is when I used more dates and mixed by hand. You can see how you won't get bored with this recipe. Just make it different every time!

Egg Cups to Go

Have them this morning or make up a batch and they'll be ready for those mornings when you just don't have time to cook!

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
seasonings to taste (onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt/pepper)
shredded cheese and your choice of chopped veggies

Whisk the eggs, milk and seasonings together and pour into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Fill to about 3/4 then add cheese with mushroom and onion, spinach and red pepper or anything else you'd have in an omelet. Maybe some ham?

Bake in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes, turn the pan around and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.

After just a few minutes slide a spatula around the edge and remove from pan. Serve immediately or cool and flash freeze for 30 minutes before placing in a ziplock bag. They can be kept in the freezer for 2 months.
Microwave 2-3 minutes from frozen.

Makes 8 medium egg cups

I like them with a piece of toast.

Easy Oven Fajitas

Super easy spicy weeknight supper! (Say that 5 times fast!)

Ingredients:
2 tbsps olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced
2 sweet peppers, sliced
1/2 jalapeño, thinly sliced
10 oz inside round or other lean beef, thin strips
1 tbsp taco seasoning, store bought or homemade
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1  1/2 tbsps lime juice

tortillas, lettuce, cheese to serve

Here's the link to my homemade taco seasoning:
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2016/05/homemade-taco-seasoning.html

Toss the onions, peppers and meat together along with all the seasonings and lime juice in a large bag. Squish it with your hands to make sure everything is coated well.

Spread the meat and veggies out on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop in a 400 F oven for just 12 minutes.

Warm the tortillas and roll them up with all the goodies and your favourite garnishes.
You can even try some hot sauce with them. I tried a little of my fermented hot sauce... muy caliente!!
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/03/fermented-hot-sauce.html

Serves 4

Fermented Hot Sauce

Last week I participated in a fermentation workshop with my daughter about food preservation through fermentation. Here's what we did...

At the workshop we were given sterilized jars and a variety of peppers to choose from. I used jalapeños, scotch bonnet and yellow bell peppers. Oh, and when handling hot peppers don't forget to wear gloves or you'll have hot hands for days!

Ingredients:

Hot peppers of your choice, ideally organic
garlic cloves
spices of your choice

cold filtered water (or boiled and cooled tap water)
2% table salt
2% sugar


Fill mason jars 3/4 full with roughly chopped hot peppers and crushed garlic to taste. I used one clove per jar.

Interesting fact I learned...it's the white membrane that holds the seeds and not the seeds themselves that is the hottest part of the pepper! 

They had the brine prepared for us but here's how to do it. 
Weigh the pepper-filled jar, then add the water until peppers are covered and weigh the jar again and subtract the weight of the jar without water. That is your mass of water.
Drain the water out of the jar into another container. To calculate the amount of salt and sugar needed multiply 0.02 by the water mass. So for example if you have 500g of water 0.02 X 500g = 10g salt, 10g sugar. Dissolve the salt and sugar well in the water. (PS: I hate math!)

Add brine back to the jar. Now this part was interesting as well! Because you don't want mold to form on the top of the peppers they must be completely submerged but sometimes they like to float up. If you have a small jar that will fit inside, sterilize it and sit it on top of the peppers (make sure you can close the pepper jar). Or you could fill a ziplock bag with some water, seal it and place it on top of the peppers. 
But once I got home with my jars of peppers from the workshop I used a piece of plastic wrap and pressed it down over the surface of the water to keep the peppers from being exposed to air.

Lids on, but not too tight. Keep in a dark place at room temperature for 1-2 weeks. I kept them on the kitchen counter with a dish towel over them. Some recipes say to not open the jars for the entire fermenting period, others say open a little each day. I loosened the top every morning to let any excess gas out. Didn't want to take a chance of the jars exploding all over the kitchen!

After 1 week the brine became cloudy and had an acidic smell, that's good . I didn't want to wait the second week so I processed the peppers after 1 week.

Again have sterilized jars and lids ready. I pour boiling hot water into the jars, that does the trick.

Here's where you can get creative. Use spices you like. I made 4 different sauces. Strain the brine into a bowl.

With one jar of green jalapeño and garlic I added
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
about 1/2 inch fresh ginger

Process the peppers and garlic in a food processor with your seasonings adding some brine until you get the consistency you want.

What a messy production!

For one of my jars (the round one in the finished picture)
I strained the processed peppers out keeping only the liquid something like a tabasco sauce.

For the other jar of jalapeños and garlic (with a little scotch bonnet) I added
1 tsp pickling spice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the yellow bell pepper/scotch bonnets and garlic
pinch red pepper flakes (which could also be fermented)
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the yellow bell pepper/scotch bonnets and garlic
pinch black pepper corns
pinch anise
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

The apple cider vinegar is not necessary I just happened to use it in each. And the amount of spices I used was small because these were very small batches of peppers.

Fill the sterilized jars, seal and refrigerate for up to 6 months.

The presenters at the Spice Up Your Life - Season Jars workshop peaked my interest in fermentation. I may try cabbage or cauliflower sometime!