Monday, December 19, 2011

Omelets

Omelet Recipe
Veggie Omelet
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

    1. Melt one tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place onion and bell pepper inside of the skillet. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes stirring occasionally until vegetables are just tender.
    2. While the vegetables are cooking beat the eggs with the milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
    3. Shred the cheese into a small bowl and set it aside.
    4. Remove the vegetables from heat, transfer them to another bowl and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt over them.
    5. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter (in the skillet just used to cook the vegetables) over medium heat. Coat the skillet with the butter. When the butter is bubbly add the egg mixture and cook the egg for 2 minutes or until the eggs begin to set on the bottom of the pan. Gently lift the edges of the omelet with a spatula to let the uncooked part of the eggs flow toward the edges and cook. Continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes or until the center of the omelet starts to look dry.
    6. Sprinkle the cheese over the omelet and spoon the vegetable mixture into the center of the omelet. Using a spatula gently fold one edge of the omelet over the vegetables. Let the omelet cook for another two minutes or until the cheese melts to your desired consistency. Slide the omelet out of the skillet and onto a plate. Cut in half and serve.
    Recipe retieved from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/yummy-veggie-omelet/detail.aspx.

    For our omelets, we didn't use the ingredients from the recipe. Instead, we used spinach and feta cheese. It was actually really good, and I usually don't like spinach. That week, we learned different ways to cook eggs. You can scramble, easy over, sunny side up, hard/soft boiled, over hard, and poached, and many more. For the omelet, we had to fry it in the pan, and put it in the oven. Things that went well were the taste, it had really good flavour even though there was only 2 ingredients. Although, it was a little bit too salty for me because of the feta. Things that didn't go so well were that we didn't really understand exactly how to make it. We then were told to put the egg mixture in the pan, add the spinach and feta, fold it, and then put it in the oven for a few minutes. I really like how the omelet turned out and I know I will try this recipe at home.
  • Make A Meal At Home

    Baked Rigatoni with Spinach, Ricotta, and Fontina with Parsley Chicken

    Groceries - The only groceries I had to buy were the ricotta and fontina cheese, rigatoni noodles, a red chile, and spinach. I bought these at Safeway and Extra Foods.

    Preparation - To prepare the food, I had to grate the parmesan and fontina cheese, cut the chicken, chile and garlic, and rinse/drain the spinach, and of course get all the ingredients out and ready, as well as the equipment/tools.

    Time Needed to Prepare Meal - about 45 min.
    Time Needed to Serve Meal - 10 min.
    Time Needed to Clean Up after Meal - 30 min.
    Total Amount of Time: at least 1 hr. 25 min.

    Servings from the Meal - Grains: 10 (Pasta)
                                               Fruits/Vegetables: 4 (Spinach)
                                               Dairy: 6 (Ricotta, Parmesan, Fontina)
                                               Meats/Alternatives: 6 (Chicken)
                                               Fats/Other: Olive Oil

    Preparation/Process/Serving -

    Ingredients for the pasta

    Equipment/Tools

    Grated cheeses

    Mixture of ricotta, spinach, fontina, parmesan, and spices for the noodles.


    The noodles cooking

    Finished noodles

    Ready and going into the oven



    Finished product

    Ingredients for the chicken

    Cutting up the chicken


    The chicken cooking

    The finished chicken, with the wine and spices

    Table setting

    Family Comments - Mom: The rigatoni casserole had lots of nice colour and taste. The chicken was a bit
                                     spicy but was cooked well and was really juicy. Very tasty!
                                     Brother: The pasta was creative with colour, but was a bit overcooked on the top and
                                     lacked a bit of flavour. The chicken was really good and had lots of flavour.
                                     Sister: The pasta was pretty good but I didn't really like all the spinach, and the
                                     chicken was phenominal with a little less spice.

    The whole process of preparing and serving the meal went pretty well overall. The recipes were actually really easy, especially the rigatoni. I had everything ready to go so it was easy to finish everything quickly. The pasta seemed a bit hard to make but once I got started it was really easy to follow. Although, I didn't completely mix the spinach mixture with the noodles so some of the noodles were a bit dry and didn't have the mixture on it, but it still turned out.

    The chicken was also really easy to make, but I think I cut the chicken too small, but they still worked. One thing I did wrong was add too much red chile, it made the chicken way too spicy. Also, I think I added just a little bit too much white wine, but the chicken was really well cooked and juicy, and had lots of flavour. I could have also let the chicken simmer with the wine and spices for a little longer.

    If I were to do anything different with the recipes, I would cut down the ammount of red chile and white wine in the chicken. I would also add something (like olive oil) to the pasta mixture so it wouldn't be so dry. Also, I would have given myself more time to make the meal, I was kind of rushing. My favourite part of making the meal would be making the chicken, I really like making chicken and adding different things to it.

    Crepes

    Ingredients for the Crêpes
    ·         3/4 cup of flour
    ·         1 cup of milk
    ·         3 large eggs
    ·         4 tablespoons of butter
    ·         1 tablespoon of sugar
    ·         1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
    ·         A pinch of salt
    Ingredients for the Fillings
    ·         Crêpe Suzette: sugar + lemon juice
    ·         Choco-Banana: banana slices + chocolate sauce
    ·         Nutty: honey + nuts
    ·         Be creative and feel free to use the fillings of your choice!
    Directions
    1.     Steps for making the Crêpe batter:
    1- Warm the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter is melted – about 45 seconds.
     2- In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and pinch of salt).
    3- In a separate bowl, beat the 3 eggs; mix in the vanilla.
    4- Incorporate the flour mixture into the eggs.
    5- Slowly add the hot milk and butter to the eggs and flour mixture. You will obtain a very liquid batter.
    2.     Steps for cooking the Crêpe batter:
    Note: You will need a non-stick pan preferably reserved for only making crêpes.
    1- Heat the pan on medium-high heat before starting to make the crêpes.
    2- Once the pan is hot drop in ½ tsp margarine, Pour in one ladle of batter and spread the crêpe batter by rotating the pan in a circular motion.
    3- Let the crêpe cook for few minutes in one side before flipping it to the other side. The crêpe should have a golden colour.
    3.       Final steps:
    Fill the crêpes with your favourite filling and serve warm. Enjoy!
    In my crepes, I put bananas, syrup, and chocolate sauce.

    This recipe was taken and adapted from the following site - http://www.cookingwithalia.com/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=77&Itemid=110.

    Wednesday, December 7, 2011

    Chicken Quesadillas


  • 90 g skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced
  • 7 g fajita seasoning
  • 3 ml vegetable oil
  • 3/8 green bell peppers, chopped
  • 3/8 red bell peppers, chopped
  • 1/4 onion, chopped
  • 2 (10 inch) flour tortillas
  • 45 g shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1 g bacon bits
  • 45 g shredded Monterey Jack cheese
    1. Preheat the broiler. Grease a baking sheet.
    2. Toss the chicken with the fajita seasoning, then spread onto the baking sheet. Place under the broiler and cook until the chicken pieces are no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes.
    3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
    4. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the green bell peppers, red bell peppers, onion, and chicken. Cook and stir until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.
    5. Layer half of each tortilla with the chicken and vegetable mixture, then sprinkle with the Cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and Monterey Jack. Fold the tortillas in half and Place onto a baking sheet.
    6. Bake quesadillas in the preheated oven until the cheeses have melted, about 10 minutes.
  • On December 2nd, our class made chicken quesadillas. Everything seemed to go okay, we thought that we were supposed to cook the chicken in the skillet because we thought it would cook faster, but we were told to cook it in the oven, and it turned out good. We got all the vegetables and cheese ready. We cooked the quesadilla in the skillet because it was already hot, greased and ready, and we thought it would cook faster, even though it just barely fit into the pan. We just made one big one and then cut it into 4 seperate pieces. Everything was cooked thoroughly in the quesadilla and it tasted really good, and the whole wheat sesame tortillas gave it even more flavour. If I were to do anything different in the recipe, I would add more chicken. Other than that, the quesadillas were really good.

    Monday, November 28, 2011

    Granola Bars with Pumpkin Dip & Apples


    Granola Bar Recipe

    Ingredients
    • 2-1/4 cups rolled oats
    • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1/3 cup butter, softened
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
    • 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
    1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 8x8 inch pan.
    2. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc.
    3. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.


    Pumpkin Spice Dip Recipe

    Ingredients

    • ¼ can pumpkin
    • 3 tbsp brown sugar
    • ½ tsp vanilla
    • pinch cinnamon
    • pinch pumpkin pie spice
    • 3 tbsp fat free Greek yogurt
    • ¼ cup cool whip free
    • cut up apples to dip
    Mix pumpkin with brown sugar, vanilla and spices, blend well. Mix in yogurt. Fold in cool whip and chill in refrigerator until ready to eat.
    Makes about 6 cups.


    On Friday, November 25th, our class made chewy granola bars with pumpkin spice dip with apples. Everything seemed to go well, even though there was only two of us. The pumpkin spice dip seemed a bit too dark, and more brown than orange. But after we finished adding everything and mixing it together, it came to the right colour. Everything went good with the granola bar mix, although we weren't sure if the consistency was right. It seemed really 'loose' and not sticky enough. We were told that it was supposed to be like that, and to just pack it into the pan tightly. We did that (after greasing it), put it into the oven for about 20 minutes, and they came out perfectly. In our granola bars we added chocolate chips and sliced almonds, and they were delicious. I normally don't like pumpkin pie, but the dip was really good. If I were to do anything different in the recipe I would add a little bit more honey, and I would also put coconut in it.

    Tuesday, November 22, 2011

    Blueberry Flax Hot Cereal with Quinoa

    Ingredients

      • 2/3 cup water
      • 3 tablespoons quinoa
      • 2 tablespoons quick-cooking oatmeal
      • 1 -2 tablespoon maple syrup or 1 -2 tablespoon honey or 1 -2 tablespoon brown sugar
      • 1 1/2 teaspoons flax seeds ( ground or whole)
      • 2 tablespoons blueberries, fresh or 2 tablespoons blueberries, frozen and thawed
      • milk (optional) or half-and-half cream (optional) or vanilla yogurt (optional) or soymilk (optional) or almond milk (optional)

    Directions

    1. Rinse quinoa well with water to remove bitter coating; drain.
    2. Place the water and quinoa in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and cover. Reduce to a simmer and cook for ten minutes. Stir in the oats, cover and continue to cook for another five minutes, until the oats are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the maple syrup and flax. Fold in the blueberries and top with milk, cream or yogurt, if using. Serve immedietely.
    On Friday , November 18th, our class made hot cereal with blueberries and quinoa. Our whole group thought that it wouldn't turn out very good, but it actually tasted really good. We followed the recipe's directions, except we didn't fully cook the quinoa. It was a bit crunchy rather than soft, but it still tasted good. If I were to change something about the recipe I would add more brown sugar and berries so that there would be more flavour and sweetness. I really enjoyed it and I know I will make this at home sometime.

    Make a Meal at Home: Recipes

    1.Baked Rigatoni with Spinach, Ricotta, and Fontina

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound rigatoni
    • 3 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
    • 2 cups ricotta
    • 5 tbsp. grated parmesan
    • 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
    • 3/4 tsp. salt
    • 1/4 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
    • 6 ounces fontina, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
    1. Heat the oven to 450. Oil a 9-by-13 inch baking dish.
    2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until almost done, about 12 minutes. Drain. Put the pasta in the prepared baking dish and toss with 1 tbsp of the oil.
    3. Meanwhile, squeeze as much of the water as possible from the spinach. Put the spinach in a food processor and puree with teh ricotta, 3 tbsp of the parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir in half of the fontina.
    4. Stir the spinach mixture into the pasta. Top with the remaining fontina and parmesan. Drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp oil over the top. Bake the pasta until the top is golden brown, 15-20 minutes.


    2.Chicken with Parsley

    Ingredients

    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
    • 3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
    • 1/2 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
    • 6 tbsp dry white wine
    • salt and pepper
    • juice of 1/2 lemon
    • 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
    1. In a large pan, heat oil. Add chicken and cook about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cook in batches, if necessary. Remove and reserve.
    2. Add garlic and chile to pan and cook 5 minutes without browning, stirring occasionally. Return chicken to pan, add wine and boil 2-3 minutes.
    3. Season lightly, cover and cook about 40 minutes or until chicken juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife. Transfer chicken to a warm plate and keep warm. Stir lemon juice and parsley into pan. Boil if necessary to reduce juices, then pour over chicken.

    Saturday, November 12, 2011

    Jiffy Cinnamon Rolls

    Cinnamon Roll Recipe

    2 cups all purpose flour
    2 tbsp granulated sugar
    4 tsp baking powder
    1 tspsalt
    1/4 cup cold butter
    1 cup milk

    Cinnamon Filling
    1/4 cup butter, softened
    1/2 cup packed brown sugar
    1 tbsp cinnamon
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    2 tbsp granulated sugar
    4 tsp baking powder
     1 tsp salt
     1/4 cup cold butter
    1 cup milk
    1/4 cup butter
    1/2 cup packed brown sugar
     1 tbsp cinnamon

    In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in milk, stirring lightly with fork, and adding a little more milk if needed to make dough soft. Turn out onto lightly floured surface; knead gently 8 to 10 times. Roll into 12- x 8-inch (30 x 20 cm) rectangle.
    Cinnamon Filling: Spread butter onto dough; cover with brown sugar; sprinkle on cinnamon. Roll up, jelly roll style, from short side. Cut into 12 equal slices. Place in greased muffin cups.
    Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown and cinnamon filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Turn out immediately onto a wire rack and serve warm.
    Recipe adapted from Jean Pare's, Company Coming: Muffins and More.
     
    On November 9th, our class made little cinnamon buns. Everything went well except for when it came to rolling out the dough. Everytime we tried to roll out the dough, it kept ripping and wouldn't stay together. We decided to just completely roll it out again, and it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Due to having to re-roll out the dough, we ran out of time and the cinnamon rolls weren't finished baking at the end of class. We stayed and waited for them to finish, and we added our glaze. The cinnamon rolls tasted really good and I would definately use this recipe again.

    Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

    Muffin Recipe
    2 tbsp butter or margarine
    ¾ cup sugar
    ¼ cup canola oil
    1 egg
    1 tsp vanilla
    ¼ cup buttermilk
    1 ¼ cups white flour or 1 cups whole wheat flour - sifted
    ¼ tsp baking powder
    ½ tsp baking soda
    ¼ cup cocoa
    ½ tsp cinnamon
    ½ tsp ground cloves
    ½ tsp salt
    1 cup zucchini – grated
    ½ cup chocolate chips

    1)   Preheat oven to 325 F, set the oven racks to the center and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
    2)   To a large bowl add the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Mix.
    3)   To the bowl for the mixer add butter and sugar, cream until smooth.  Add oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk, mix until smooth.  Add dry ingredients; mix only until the flour is wet.
    4)   Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips.
    5)   Bake in for 30 minutes.

    This recipe is taken from Mrs. Gelowitz's personal collection.

    On November 4th, our class made chocolate zuchinni muffins. They turned out surprisingly good, I usually don't like zuchinni so I didnt expect them to taste very good, but they were delicious. Everything went really well and I don't think we made any mistakes. We just had to make sure that we added all of the ingredients to make sure they would turn out how they should. I liked this recipe so much that I ended up making them at home on the weekend. The only thing I changed was that I didn't put as much ground cloves.

    Monday, October 24, 2011

    Pizza

    Pizza Dough Recipe

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
  • 1 envelope Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast*
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup very warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
  • 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
  • Cornmeal

    1. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. Stir very warm water and olive oil into flour mixture. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.
    2. Lightly oil 1 (14-inch) or 2 (12-inch) round pizza pan(s).** Sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape dough into smooth ball. Divide and roll dough to fit desired pan(s). Top pizza as desired.
    3. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Baking time depends on size and thickness of crust and selected toppings.
    Recipe retrieved from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/master-pizza-dough/detail.aspx.
  • Pizza Sauce
    • 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
    • 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
    1. In a medium bowl, combine tomato sauce, garlic, oregano and basil and mix all together. Spread mixture over pizza crust, if desired.

    Recipe retrieved from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-pizza-sauce-ii/detail.aspx.

    On October 21, our class made pizza. Ours turned out very good. The only thing that may have went wrong is that when we put the dough in the oven to cook for 10 minutes, when we took it out, there was air bubbles. Although, that was easily fixed, we just had to poke them with a fork and it went back to normal. That week, we learned how to make the dough and properly roll it out. Our pizza was really good, it would have been better if it was a bit more crunchy, because I found that it was a little doughy, but it still tasted really good.

    Veggie Stir Fry


    Veggie Stir Fry Recipe
    • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
    • 1/2 cup cold water
    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 1 cup fresh broccoli florets
    • 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
    • 1/2 small onion, julienned
    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 1 cup shredded cabbage
    • 1 small zucchini, julienned
    • 6 large mushrooms, sliced
    • 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
    • hot cooked rice
    In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch, water and soy sauce until smooth; set aside. In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the broccoli, carrot and onion in oil for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, zucchini, mushrooms and garlic. Stir-fry until vegetables are tender. Stir soy sauce mixture; add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve with rice if desired.

    Retrieved from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/veggie-stir-fry/detail.aspx.
    A few weeks ago, our class made veggie stir fry. The process went pretty well, and it tasted really good, and the meat made it even better. Something that didn't go well when we were making it was that we put all of the vegetables in one bowl all together. We then realized that we were supposed to have certain veggies together in separate bowls, so we had to divide them up. Also, a few of the vegetables may have been cooked for too long, but overall it turned out well. That week, we learned how to cut up the vegetables in different ways.

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011

    Oven Fries



    Oven Fries Recipe


    • 3 baking potatoes (unpeeled)

    • 3/4 tsp chili powder

    • 3/4 tsp paprika

    • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

    • salt and pepper to taste

    Method


    Place baking sheet in oven at 450F for 5 minutes or until hot. Meanwhile, cut each potato lengthwise into desired shapes. Rinse with water and dry with paper towels. Place in bowl and toss with oil, chili powder, paprika, and salt and pepper. Sprinkle with oil; toss. Bake in single layer on baking sheet for 15 minutes, turn and bake for 15-18 minutes or until crisp or golden brown.


    Recipe can be found at http://www.canadaliving.com/food/healthy_oven_fries.php and adapted for the classroom by Mrs. Gelowitz.


    On Thursday, October 6th our class made oven fries. Everything seemed to go pretty well, our potatoes were cut well, we seasoned everything good, the potatoes cooked thoroughly, and we didn't run out of time. The only thing that didn't go too well is that the fries didn't turn out very crispy, they were more soft. What I learned is how to properly hold a knife, and different ways to cut potatoes.