Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls

Eggrolls are one of those things I've been meaning to try making for a long time but just never seem to get around to it. Then I was in the grocery store and noticed egg roll wrappers, so I grabbed some on a whim and decided to make eggrolls at last. I kept them simple this time, but I might experiment with different flavours next time around. I've seen Southwestern eggrolls around the blogosphere that look quite yummy too. These vegetable egg rolls turned out pretty well for a baked version, although I'm ashamed to say I actually enjoy the greasy fried ones a little bit more. I know you've probably lost all respect for me now; it's just that I found the baked egg roll wrappers don't have the same texture or flavour as the fried kind. Don't get me wrong, they're still yummy and a much healthier option, so I'm okay with it. The boys were okay with them too, especially with the homemade sweet and sour dipping sauce. I used sweet chili sauce for dipping mine, but that's too spicy for the boys so they stuck with the other sauce. Cole said he really liked the middle of the egg rolls but didn't like the outer shell so much because it was "kind of crunchy." He suggested I make them with tortillas next time. I think that might work too!

Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp grated ginger
2 cups prepackaged broccoli slaw
2 cups bean sprouts
1 can (227 ml) water chestnuts, chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
18 (approx) egg roll wrappers
sesame oil
cooking spray

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, broccoli slaw, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and soy sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender-crisp. Remove from heat and allow to cool slighty. Place a couple tablespoons of the mixture in the middle of an egg roll wrapper and wrap it like a burrito (there should be wrapping instructions on the egg roll package if you're not sure). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and place the egg rolls seam-down on the sheet. Brush with sesame oil. Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for about another 5 minutes. Serve with sweet chili sauce or sweet and sour sauce.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
From About.com
1/3 cup rice vinegar
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water

In a saucepan, combine rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup and soy sauce. Heat to boiling. In a small bowl, mix together cornstach and water. Add to saucepan. Stir until thickened, then remove from heat.

Shakshuka

Usually I write about what happens after I serve dinner, but in this post I'm going to focus on the actual process of making dinner. You're going to get a peak into my kitchen while I prepare Shakshuka. I just love saying that...."Shak-Shu-Ka!"  It kind of reminds me of the "Shikaka" scene from Ace Ventura 2:

I know it's lame but I watched that movie a lot when I was a teenager and it has unfortunately been etched into my brain now. Sorry to subject you to that. Anyway...Shakshuka (or Shakshouka) is a Hebrew meal of eggs poached in a chunky tomato sauce with peppers and spices. I saw Smitten Kitchen's version on Pinterest and I was intrigued. I've adapted it to be much milder because my kids won't eat anything spicy. You could call this Shakshuka for wimps. It still has great flavours, just not spicy in any way.

The first thing I do before I start dinner is pour myself a glass of wine (or other beverage depending on my mood) and turn on the tunes.

Here are some of my favourite albums on my ipod right now:

Florence and the Machine- Ceremonials and Lungs

Circa Survive- Blue Sky Noise

Gotye- Making Mirrors

Kimbra- Vows

Priscilla Ahn- A Good Day

Ingrid Michaelson- Human Again

Death Cab for Cutie- Narrow Stairs

I love to sing while I cook, or any time for that matter. When I hear a good song I can't help but sing along. My family members have learned to tune me out, but I'm sure our tenant is thinking "there goes the crazy landlady singing again, for the love of all that is holy, will she ever shut up?!"...And the answer is no. No I will not. Trust me, I've tried.

While I'm singing away and drinking my wine, I start chopping up the onions and green peppers. Then I crush up a few cloves of garlic. I put a little olive oil in a skillet and turn on the heat to medium. Once the oil is hot, in go the vegetables.

I cook them until softened, about 5 minutes. The I add a can of whole stewed tomatoes.

Then I mash them up. I add a little water as well.

I pour a can of chickpeas into a strainer and rinse them off with water, then throw them into the pot.

I put in about a teaspoon of cumin, another of paprika, and a dash of salt and pepper. You could even add a bit of cayenne pepper here too if you want a bit of a kick to it.

Once I stir in the spices, I let it simmer and thicken. While it's simmering, I turn on the oven to 350F and put pita bread on a baking sheet and brush them with olive oil.

I also cut up a handful of parsley.

I uncover the pot and make spaces in the sauce for the eggs to sit. I can fit 5 nicely in my skillet.

I crack the eggs into the holes,

and I sprinkle parsley and feta on top.

I cover the eggs and let them cook. At this point I also put the pita bread into the oven to warm it up. I have about 5 minutes while the eggs cook and pitas warm up, so I use this time to start the kids' lunches for the next day. I don't waste any time when I'm in the kitchen. I move pretty quickly from one task to the next and I like to keep that momentum going. Also it's nice to have lunches finished early so I can relax after the kids go to bed.

Once the eggs have cooked through, I uncover them and turn off the heat, and I pull the pita bread out of the oven.

At last it's time to serve the food. I dish out the kids' plates first so they have time to cool off.

After that, Tony and I help ourselves, and we all dig in.

So there you have it- Shakshuka! Tony and I thought it was delicious. I expected Cole to like it more than he actually did. He usually likes chickpeas and is also a fan of eggs, but I guess the two of these things together just didn't do it for him. He did eat some of it, but didn't finish. Bennett was more interested in the bread than the actual meal. So it wasn't a total hit with the kids, but I was happy to find a healthy meal that can be thrown together pretty quickly.

Shakshuka

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 (28 oz) can whole stewed tomatoes, undrained

1/2 cup water

1 (19 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp cumin (or more)

1 tsp paprika

dash of salt and pepper

5 large eggs

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1/3 cup light feta cheese, crumbled

Pita bread

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet or pot over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper and garlic. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and mash them well. Add water, chickpeas, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well and simmer for 10-15 minutes. With the back of a large spoon, create spaces in the sauce for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the holes you've made in the sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and feta. Cover until eggs are cooked through. Serve with warm pita bread.



Homemade Pancake Mix

For years I bought pancake mix and never really thought of making it myself. The store-bought mix seemed good enough and a lot faster. Then I ran out of mix one day and had to make pancakes from scratch. That's when I discovered that homemade pancakes are delicious, and really very simple to make, especially if you make a big batch of mix ahead of time. I just keep it in a jar and it's ready to use on Saturday mornings when we have our traditional pancake breakfast. The great thing about pancakes is that they're so versatile. Start with this mix as a base and then experiment with adding in other tasty ingredients. One of our favourite combinations is blueberry and banana. What kind to you like?

Homemade Pancake Mix
Adapted from All Recipes

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, mix ingredients well. Store in an airtight container or bag in a cool dry place.

Homemade Pancakes:
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup homemade pancake mix (recipe above)
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Stir in pancake mix until just combined (do not over mix). Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter on a hot and lightly greased griddle. Cook until bubbles begin to form in the batter, then flip and cook until golden.
 
Possible Add-ins:

• Mashed bananas
• Blueberries
• Chopped strawberries
• Shredded apple or pear
• Applesauce
• Pumpkin puree
• Yogurt
• Cottage cheese (this may sound odd to you but it's delicious in pancakes!)
• Splash of vanilla extract
• Dash of cinnamon
• Chia seeds
• Ground flax seeds
• Chocolate chips
• Peanut butter
• Nutella

Also consider using buttermilk in place of the milk. You may need to add more buttermilk because it's thicker than milk. I often like to use half buttermilk and half milk so the batter is not overly thick. I've tried using a little lemon juice or vinegar in the milk to simulate buttermilk when I don't have any on hand, but nothing compares to real fresh buttermilk in pancakes. Give it a try if you haven't before, you won't regret it.

Since Valentine's day is coming up, I made these heart-shaped Banana Nutella Pancakes with raspberry syrup.

If you have a metal heart cookie cutter,you can cook the pancakes right in the cutter, like so:

Make sure to grease the inside of the cutter so the pancake doesn't stick to it.

Another tip I have for pancakes, if you have kids that need their pancakes cut up, is to use a pizza wheel.

It makes perfect bite-sized pancake pieces every time.

My kids are very particular about how they eat their pancakes. Both of them like this method of cutting with the pizza cutter. Cole likes to dip his pancakes in syrup, so I always give him a little bowl of syrup for dipping. Bennett prefers it if I pour the syrup right on top of his pancakes. I usually use pure maple syrup or a fruit syrup, but sometimes I make a blueberry sauce for them instead (either blueberry banana sauce or a quick microwave blueberry sauce).

So good luck with your own pancake-making. I hope I've provided some helpful details to show you how easy and tasty pancakes can be when you make them from scratch. Of course, there's nothing wrong with using store-bought kinds now and then too. I particularly like Sunny Boy Spelt and Coyote Flax Seed.

Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew

I wasn't expecting to win anyone over with this recipe. My boys hate sweet potatoes, Cole hates spinach, and Tony isn't all that fond of quinoa. I made it anyway because I love all of those things. Surprisingly, everyone ate this stew without complaint. I think it was the chickpeas that did it, or as Cole would call them, "Chickadees." Both kids seem to like chickpeas a lot, so in the process of eating the chickpeas they inadvertently ate some of the other ingredients they normally wouldn't eat and discovered it wasn't so bad. According to Cole, this was pretty good "Chickadee Stew." I certainly enjoyed it, and Tony did too. It has a nice blend of spices in it, and while the peanut butter may seem like an odd choice it actually worked really well in this dish. It's similar to African Thai Stew, which I like to make quite often. In fact, I had set out to cook that very meal when it turned into this instead. Sometimes my recipe-meddling turns out badly, but in this case I'd say it was a success.

Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew
Adapted from The Dinner Fix: Cooking for the Rushed (African-Thai Stew)

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp finely grated ginger
2 celery sticks, sliced
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 can (19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup quinoa
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 tbsp peanut butter
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and celery. Cook for a few minutes until softened. Add broth, sweet potatoes, cumin, curry, chili powder, chickpeas and quinoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until quinoa and sweet potatoes are cooked through. Add spinach, peanut butter and stir well. Cover again and cook until spinach has wilted. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Crockpot Goulash



Goulash is basically a stew seasoned with paprika, often served with pasta or potatoes. I like that this version is done in the crockpot, because I love using my crockpot whenever possible. It's nice to prepare a meal ahead of time and just forget about it until dinner-time rolls around. All you need to remember with this recipe is to add the flour and water to thicken the sauce and then add the sour cream right before serving to make it nice and creamy. You can skip the sour cream if you're not a fan of it. This stew will still taste wonderful without it. I've made this goulash several times now and it seems to be pretty popular with my family...for the most part. Cole thinks it's a little spicy, but he thinks everything with the least bit of spice is spicy so I wouldn't put too much weight on his opinion. No one else thought it was spicy. I used mild salsa too, but that was still apparently too much for him. You could substitute tomato sauce instead of the salsa and cut down on the paprika if you're sensitive to spice like Cole. I love smoked paprika though, so I won't be cutting that down. It gives this dish such a beautiful smoky flavour that goes so well with the pork. If you haven't tried smoked paprika before I urge you to give it a try. It's delicious!

Crockpot Goulash
Adapted from Canadian Living: The Slow Cooker Collection (Smoky Pork Stew)
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 lb boneless pork shoulder blade roast, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes
1/2 cup salsa
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp smoked or regular paprika (I prefer smoked)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sour cream

Place all ingredients except for flour and sour cream in the crockpot and stir together. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-7 hours, until meat is tender. Skim off any fat from the top. In a small bowl, combine flour and 1/4 cup of cold water. Move the meat out of the way and whisk the flour mixture into the sauce. Stir well and cook on high heat until the sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Serve over pasta or cooked potatoes.