Mini hamburgers on Panini bread

As much as I am always recipe hunting through cookbooks and online searching, I also love watching cooking shows! Thank goodness for that nifty little 'record' button because I am not sure I could catch them all in time of when they're on. I've been PVRing CBC's Best Recipes Ever show and caught up with a few shows the other day. There was a great and easy recipe for mini cheeseburgers aka sliders - http://www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes/2010/10/mini-cheeseburgers.html - but I changed up a few things. We're not huge relish fans in this house so I added some flax seed and instead of buns used panini bread from Costco. They were really tasty and fun! As a side dish I just cut up some potatoes, put them in a bowl and microwaved for about 5-6 mins, tossed them on a baking sheet with some olive oil and lots of seasonings and baked in the oven at the same temp as the burgers (375 degrees for 20 mins). I put in the sliders halfway through the cooking of the potatoes. These sliders are also great for portion control because it makes you feel like you are eating a whole hamburger! My little guy indulged in 3 of the patties and chowed down on the panini bread, but he's a growing boy!

How do you like your Omelette?

Mushroom, Spinach & Cheese Omelette

There are so many variations of omelettes! They're great for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. My little guy loves breakfast and we always share an omelette together. It's also a good way of sneaking in some of the veggies he normally would not eat. Our 'usual' is a mushroom, spinach, and cheese with lots of seasonings. I think the secret to a good omelette is making sure you use a non-stick pan and coat the bottom of the pan with butter or margarine before tossing in the mixture and make sure to not add milk either. Milk will make it too fluffy. As far as servings are concerned, I use 3 eggs (cooked in a smaller pan) if it's just Leeland and I sharing or 6 eggs if my hubby and I are sharing (cooked in a med size pan). It's good if you use a spatula for folding over. Create your own omelette today!

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Stumbled across this recipe for "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" and I wondered if it was really true? Guess what? It is! They really are great cookies and taste like they came from a bakery. The only change I made was omitting the walnuts (my hubby is not a big fan of nuts and I was making them mostly for him) and using whole wheat flour. 10 mins is the perfect timing for these cookies. So don't go out and buy store bought cookies... make your own! 

Pork that packs a punch!

Bacon wrapped pork medallion

Decided to wrap some bacon around a nice thick pork medallion and toss it on the BBQ. Also made sweet potato chips. To make these just thinly slice up your sweet potatoes, microwave for about 4 mins, then spread out on a baking sheet. Add some olive oil and seasonings and put in the oven for about 15-20 mins or until crispy but not burnt at 375 degrees. Be sure to flip them over half way through the baking time. It's a quick and very good meal to throw together!

Honey isn't just for the Bees!

Sweet Cheese Baklava

For some reason I've been making a lot more desserts lately. It's fun ending a nice supper with a nice dessert! My mom gave me a jar of honey that a neighbor had given her made by their own bees. So I went on a mission to find a recipe using honey, cream cheese, and phyllo pastry! Found one on the Kraft Canada website that fit nicely and tasted just as sweet. This was also my first time using phyllo as well. The honey worked perfectly with the cream cheese and it smelled awesome while it was in the oven baking. Topped it off with a bit of drizzled honey. Enjoy!

SWEET CHEESE BAKLAVA
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 pkg. (250 g each) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup honey, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

8 frozen phyllo sheets, thawed, cut in half crosswise

1/3 cup margarine, melted

make it

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX nuts, sugar and spices; set aside. Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup honey and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each.

LAYER phyllo in 13x9-inch pan, brushing each sheet with butter and sprinkling 1 rounded tablespoonful nut mixture between every other layer. Spread top with cream cheese mixture.

BAKE 25 to 30 min. or until cream cheese mixture is set. Heat remaining 1/4 cup honey; drizzle over baklava. Cool completely before cutting to serve.

kraft kitchens tips

HOW TO KEEP PHYLLO FROM DRYING OUT

Keep phyllo sheets covered with a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment and a damp towel until ready to use.

HOW TO FINELY CHOP NUTS

Process nuts and sugar in food processor until nuts are finely chopped.

STORAGE KNOW-HOW

Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator up to 2 days. For best flavour, remove baklava from refrigerator about 30 min. before serving.

Thanksgiving Din Dessert

My favorite dessert to end any Thanksgiving dinner is pumpkin pie! Someday when I have some time I'd like to try to make my own crust and puree a pumpkin from scratch. But for now I've perfected doing it the simple way by using a frozen pie crust and a can of pie filling. I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Crisp and the topping on it looked amazing so I will be trying it out on my pie tomorrow to take to the family feast on Monday! Happy Thanksgiving everyone... and happy eats!
Crisp Topping for Pumpkin Pie

1 cup rolled oats
3/4 dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter

Happy Thanksgiving! Love, The Smiths

Dessert for Two

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Crisp-2/Detail.aspx

Tis the season for apples. Tried out this super easy recipe for mini apple crisps and they turned out great. I made  few adjustments to the recipe by adding 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, 1 tbsp of rolled oats, 1 tsp of vanilla to the apples, and used brown sugar and whole wheat flour. Also added walnuts to the top which toasted up really nice in the oven. Use any type of apple or even pears you may have hanging around! A dollop of whip cream or ice cream would work well too. Try this out and impress your guests!