Quick Brownies

These brownies are super fast to make and bake in 25 minutes.  My major change to this recipe was to replace the melted butter with canola oil.  At CanolaInfo.org they have a conversion chart for substituting oil for melted butter.  I've used this in other recipes and have had no problems.  Also, I used vanilla powder instead of vanilla extract.  If you are using vanilla extract, add it with the wet ingredients.  I didn't add any nuts although I think walnuts would taste good in these.  If you warm the brownies in the microwave, top with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup it makes a really good dessert.


Veal Roulade with a Pepper and Mushroom Stuffing

I still have to finish off that huge packet of mushrooms I got from Costco so I thought I would make veal roulades.



I've been wanting to make this for a while but every time I would tell the butcher I want paper thin pasanday they didn't seem to understand. When we switched butchers they actually understood.  I adapted this from a recipe I saw in Canadian Living magazine.  I usually use one of those packet gravies to serve with this. When I was done cooking the roulades I had a lot of pan juices left over so I decided to try to make a gravy using a Joy Of Cooking recipe as a guideline.  But my gravy had lumps in it.  I didn't do a good job when making the roux.

Spicy Egg Noodles with Shrimp

I made these egg noodles and my son loved them. The next day he was complaining that I haven't made them for a long time.  So I've been wanting to make them for awhile but I haven't been able to find broad egg noodles.  I could only find extra broad which I think is too wide.  So this week I found some and decided I would make these noodles.  I make my own zeera dhania (cumin coriander) powder and keep it in my pantry.  I used a 1.5 dhania : 1 zeera ratio.  I dry roast the spices and then grind them up.  This is turned out really spicy.  I used 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.  Next time I would reduce it to 1/4 tsp.  Less Shan Masala Seekh Kabob can also be added to reduce the spiciness.  This Masala pack is not on the website but you should be able find it in your Indian grocery store.


Kali Mirchi Gosh (Black Pepper Beef)

When I bought that huge package of mushrooms I also bought a huge pack of green beans I almost forgot about.  So I decided to make my mom's Kali Mirchi Gosh with Beans and Potatoes.  The major change I did was how I cooked the beans.  My mom seperately boils then and salt and peppers them.  To me that meant another pot to wash so I just dumped them in the pot when the meat and potatoes were done.  My potatoes also didn't taste seasoned after cooking so I sprinkled salt and pepper on them.  Next time I would add 2 potatoes.


Mushroom Crepe Cake

On the weekend we went to CostCo and I bought a 1.5 lb pack of sliced mini bella mushrooms.  After I bought it I kept thinking what am I gonna do with all these mushrooms!!!!  I remember seeing a Mushroom Crepe Cake recipe on Smitten Kitchen that looked amazing.  My main changes were to substitute some of the butter with olive oil and reduce the cheese.  I went to Wal-Mart this morning to pick up flour and chives.  The chives were not looking very fresh so I skipped it in the recipe.  I was so tempted to add some garlic but by the time I decided to the onions were done and it was too late.  I doubled the amount of black pepper because I knew we would not even taste 1/4 tsp of black pepper.  I think it could have used even more.  This tasted absolutely amazing.....


Red Kidney Bean Curry (Rajmah)

Today for dinner we are having leftovers but I need a something little more and I'm sick so I wanted to make something quick that wasn't daal.  I decided to make a super fast red kidney bean curry that I adapted from Smitten Kitchen.  This is my favorite food blog.  The pictures are amazing and everything I've tried has turned out good even with making changes here and there.  For this curry I had to make some changes. The recipe calls for 2 tins of 15 oz kidney beans.  In Canada we get 19 oz tins and it called for an 8 oz tin of tomato sauce.  The closest I could find was 213 ml.  We like our food spicy (and this is spicy) so basically I used the recipe as is for a 19 oz tin of kidney beans with a few changes.  It tastes great with rice or egg noodles.


Beef Stroganoff

I bought some Dijon mustard to try a tuna casserole dish that didn't turn out too good.  Now I have a jar of Dijon mustard sitting in my fridge.  I hate wasting food so I want to finish this jar.  I searched in my Joy of Cooking cookbook and I found a recipe for Beef Stroganoff.  I made half this recipe.  My biggest change was how I cooked the beef.  We like our meat well done and we don't get halal fillet or sirloin.  So I used boneless stewing veal.  (Next time I think I will try using pasanday Note: Tried with pasanday and prefer this cut of meat much more) I first seared the meat with salt and pepper and then boiled it till it was tender.  I used the broth in a later step calling for beef stock.  I didn't use the Cognac or the dill (I don't have dill and am not very fond of it).  Beef Stroganoff is traditionally eaten with egg noodles.  I tried that and I found that rice was better option because it soaks up the sauce better.  It turned out good and was a nice change from the Indian food we eat everyday.


Pasta with Fresh Herbs

I've been looking for a pasta recipe with a fresh herb and olive oil dressing.  This is an adaption of Fettuccine with Fresh Herbs from Joy of Cooking.  It was really good.  I didn't use Fettuccine because the recipes calls for 1 pound of fettuccine.  I was only making 1/4 of the recipe.  How do I measure 1/4 pound of fettuccine?  I was too lazy to look it up and more importantly I don't have fettuccine.  I know 4 cups of dried pasta is about 1 pound of pasta.  So I used a heaping cup of bowtie pasta.  I think I could have used 1 1/2 cups of bowtie pasta.  My changes were to add a minced garlic clove. I also significantly reduced the Parmesan cheese and used a little less basil.  Next time I'm going to try to make it without the cheese to eliminate a significant amount of the fat from this recipe.

Spicy Tuna Salad

This is my mom's tuna salad and it's the best tuna salad I've ever had.  I find all the ones you get outside are just too bland.



Tuna Salad

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1 tin of tuna, well drained (I like Clover Leaf Skip Jack Flaked Tuna in water)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp onion, minced
1 tbsp coriander, minced
1 green chilli, seeded and minced (if the chilli is really small I don't bother to seed it)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all above ingredients together.


Now make a sandwich!

Creamy Yogurt Hummus

This is my first blog post and it has nothing to do with chocolate or chillies...

Tomorrow I was planning on making some Arab kebabs and I want to have some hummus with it.  I love hummus and would love to make it at home but it calls for tahini, which I don`t have and has a lot of fat.  It also only comes in a huge jar which I`m barely going to use.  I found a recipe on Canadian Living which uses yogurt.  I only like to use CEDAR chickpeas.  I find other brands are inconsistent and most times are really dry.

I've made this hummus before and it turned out watery and really didn't have the flavor of hummus. So this time I put the yogurt in a cheesecloth to draw out the liquid.

I also toasted the sesame seeds before grinding them.  The consistency was better but it still doesn't taste like hummus.  I think next time I will skip toasting the sesame seeds.  I would call this more of a chickpea spread or dip than hummus.  My search for a low fat hummus continues.....

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