May the Fourth be with you...

Happy Friday everyone! This has been yet another busy week, swamped with work, family stuff and just the "little things" like errands and chores. It's unbelievable how much time doing dishes, laundry and just general cleaning actually takes! Among the haste, Hubs always manages to make food that looks like it belongs in a food magazine. I'll talk between the pictures ;)

Lamb in a red wine reduction sauce

Roasted garlic and herb potatoes

Sauteed vegetables on the side

Over here in my part of the world, the weather has increasingly become warmer and nothing gets me more excited than summer. Why? Because that means it's camping season! Hubs and I loooove going camping and barbecuing when it's warm. We find excitement in preparing all the food and bringing our trust portable grill out with our daughter to enjoy the weather. I predict this summer will be no different!!

I think it's amazing that Hubs has the skills to make food of such variety, both in textures and tastes. I'm totally opposite when it comes to cooking since I feel like such a novice in the kitchen/cooking department. BAKING HOWEVER... That's more my neck of the woods. We sure can make a great feast pairing our cooking and baking skills together :)

Chicken Hash Open Face Sandwich

This open face sandwich is something I totally love for brunch (and of course Hubs knows that hehee). It's sauteed chicken, potato, onion and carrot dredged in this delicious mushroom gravy over a crispy piece of toast. Doesn't that sound delicious? Well, it tastes better than it looks!

If you would like recipes for any of these, please feel free to email me at belleplusmel@gmail.com. I tend not to write out the recipes as often anymore on the blog post because it comes out very long. If you have questions about substituting any ingredients, feel free to ask as well! I often find that when you're recipe researching, you are almost always guaranteed to be missing one or two ingredients... At least I do. I like to look for recipes based on what I've already bought on my weekly grocery trip so I do end up substituting ingredients in most recipes.

Anyway, I hope within your busy schedules, you're able to find some time to cook yourself a good and hearty meal at least once a week (or have someone do it!).

 

♥B

Spring-ing

Wow it's been a while since we both updated! As you can imagine, we're busy enjoying the spring weather outdoors. I went out with the family today and it seriously felt like summer already. Anyway, Saturdays mean prepping food for the week - things like baking, or pre-cooking and freezing food. Today it means CHICKEN STOCK/BROTH! If I'm lazy, I tend to resort to chicken cubes which are in fact high in sodium and probably a bunch of other things that aren't necessary to one's body. Instead, I make my own! It's a nutritious alternative to store-bought stock or broth because you control what goes into the stock.

Ingredients: fresh parsley, celery, carrots, onion, tomato, garlic and raw (bone-in) chicken

That's all. You literally put all that in one pot and cover it with cold water. Let it boil and simmer for at least 4 hours so that all the ingredients can really flavour the water.

No, seriously... Just throw it all in one pot. It's so easy you could probably do this blindfolded.

So hopefully, it'll inspire you guys to make your own chicken stock as it really is healthier. If you're a vegetarian, you can just omit the chicken and you get vegetable stock!

* * *

What else to do while you wait for chicken stock to boil for a few hours?

Finger paint!

 Essie - Chinchilly (3 coats)

Happy Saturday everyone!

♥B

Another Long Day

I had to go downtown for a training workshop early in the morning. Grabbed myself a little pick-me-up.

SURPRISE MEL!

I ordered one of Mel's fave by the way. Caramel Macchiato. YUMMMMMM.

It definitely hit the spot when I needed that morning boost.

Got home this evening to make one of my comfort foods. I wasn't going to post the recipe since I hardly think this is authentic to the real thing but I guess this is just my adaptation of it. Mel wanted to know how I made it so I decided to post it. Plus, the recipe is easy peasy.

Minced Pork on Rice
1 lb ground pork
1 cup of julienned carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of chinese five spice
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
2 stalks of green onion, sliced
2 eggs

Cook some rice however you would usually make it. I use a rice cooker.
In a small pot, bring water to a boil and gently submerge two eggs in for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take out of water and run it under very cold water for a few seconds. This helps the shell come off a lot easier, trust me. Set these gorgeously peeled hard boiled eggs at the side.

Brown your ground pork on medium-high heat and season with salt and pepper.
Add carrots, white onions and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes with the meat.
Add chinese five spice, soy sauce and chinese cooking wine and cook for another 10 minutes. Now, add the 1/2 cup of water and put the hard boiled eggs to soak in the sauce. Bring to a simmer and cover with lid for about 15 minutes.
Remove the lid, add the green onions and let the water boil out some more.
Mix the cornstarch and 1 tbsp of cold water to make a cornstarch slurry. This is used in many asian dishes to increase their viscosity and thicken the sauce.

Then, serve with rice and you're done! Notice how I didn't have to use any salt besides on the meat? Quite healthy!

Hope you enjoyed it. Time for me to catch up on my hockey and basketball games. Goodnight :)

♥B