The Last Supper

My boys are grown.  One is finishing up school in the States and the other lives about an hour away with an opposite working schedule to us.  My husband's daughter lives in western Canada and his son lives in the same city, but also has a work schedule that conflicts with visiting us regularly. 
 
Home cooking is important to all four.  I know this because they eat a lot when they are here.  I cook a lot when they are here - Doggie bags etc.   It's the least I can do.  My Mom would have done nothing less!

The kids have come home during the last month and boy have I cooked.  There is a sense of satisfaction when you prepare food for your kids.  I am always wondering how they are eating when they are away from home.  When I cook a meal that is especially good, I wish the kids were at home to taste it.  There were days I didn't feel like cooking during their visits, but I did because there will be days that I wish they were home so I could cook for them.  It's like when my one of my boys visits and I hug them extra for all the times I wish I could hug them!

My baby boy will be heading back to The United States in a couple of days and today was my last day to cook for him. 

I made something so simple (never made it before), but I will certainly make it again.  It's such a compliment when your son takes a picture of the food you made (who knows where the pic ended up - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook, or just in his phone.  Or, perhaps, he took the picture to remember how I cooked it and will make it for his lovely girlfriend!  Now that's a compliment).


THREE INGREDIENT CHICKEN:

1.  Boneless Chicken Breast - however many you    like
2.  Sundried Tomato Salad Dressing  (not low fat)
3.  Asiago cheese cut into slices

Seasoning and spices do not count as ingredients !!

Method:

* Season both sides of chicken breast with salt, pepper, and  garlic powder.
*  Pour enough salad dressing in the baking dish to cover the bottom of the dish.
*  Place chicken in the dish - sprinkle each piece of chicken with dried Rosemary.
*  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes at the Convection setting uncovered or 1 and half hours at 350 at the normal oven setting uncovered.
*  Turn chicken over every 10 minutes.  Really do this!!..the chicken stays so moist from this exercise!
*  Top chicken with Asiago cheese (sliced or grated) and cook for another 5 minutes until the cheese melts.
                               TA DA!!!!

Serve with pasta or rice or roasted potatoes. 
 
 
You can even put it on a lightly toasted bun with some basil mayo.  That would be delish as well.




When you least expect it, someone goes to the garden and picks flowers for you because you showed your love by cooking for them.

Food is love.

Annette

Give Up The Bottle!

We are right in the thick of  BBQ season.  A tasty barbeque sauce is imperative.  You need that one sauce you can always count on.  A barbeque sauce  that is full of flavour and versatile.  Wow, there are so many bottled barbeque sauce brands, types and flavours at your local super market and gourmet food shop.  How do you choose?  Which one should you get?  I bet you wonder what it tastes like and if it's going to be better on chicken than on pork and you become worn out from reading all the labels. Why not do what I do? - MAKE YOUR OWN!!!
I watched my Mom make this sauce for years.  It's tangy, sweet, and bright in flavour.  The bonus is that the ingredients are already in your pantry, so you can whip it up and not have to worry about running to the grocery store to pick up some item you have never heard of!  The colour is nice to.  Why is that important you are saying to yourself?  Well, how food looks wakens your appetite, so a rich coloured sauce is a beautiful thing.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups of ketchup
3/4 cup of prepared mustard
1/2 cup of brown sugar ( you can always add more it you like it sweeter)
1/4 cup of white vinegar ( you could also use apple cider vinegar but don't use red wine vinegar)
5 shakes of Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
Shake in some hot sauce - your preference on how much

Mix it all up and you are done...
Now...please add more vinegar if you need or use any mustard you have (bold, honey, etc)
You can not screw up this recipe...It's stood the taste of time!

Put on ribs or chicken as you are barbequing.

Helpful Hint:  My ribs or chicken are par - cooked before I barbeque...adding the sauce too early, on raw meat for example,  will cause the sauce to caramelize too fast and will burn.

Enjoy!

Food is love,

Annette

The Original Italian Pizza

I moved to Hamilton, Ontario two years ago.  I had never even visited Hamilton prior to meeting my husband (still feels funny when I say husband - we just got married last August).  I am becoming more familiar with my surroundings, but, for example, one of the best places to eat around here is one block away and I only just dined there last week! You never know where your next great meal is going to come from.
I came home one day with a Roma Pizza.  I had never seen this in any of the grocery stores where I used to live.  G was thrilled.  So, I was thrilled.   I grated some cheese for the top as this pizza is just a bread crust and sauce (there are other flavours I have seen, but this is the only way we go).  Anyway, I thought that is what you were supposed to do.  I was WRONG.  Do not add cheese to Roma, The Original Italian Pizza!.  I wrecked it!
The bread crust is so light and airy and the sauce is nothing less than brilliant - highlighting olive oil with a sweet tomato sauce.
I texted my son, who studies in Oklahoma City, a picture of tonight's dinner.  His response, "Jealous".
My advice for you is if you are in the Hamilton, Stoney Creek area, near a Fortinos or the Metro on King Street, treat you and your family to one of these pizzas.  They won't know what hit them. Heat it up in the oven for about 10 minutes at 325.  You just want to warm it not COOK it.   In the immortal words of my husband, " my taste buds were dancing".

Remember, when someone cooks for you, it's with love.

Roma Pizza
233 Barton Street E.,
Stoney Creek, Ontario
www.romabakery.ca

Another First

Too Tired To Go To The Grocery Store

I couldn't wait to get home today!  This cold is really dragging on.  Anyway, I didn't want to stop at the grocery store to get ingredients, so I hoped there would be enough in the fridge and pantry to whip something up. 
I browned up some ground beef with my four favourite spices - garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and celery seed.  Celery seed adds such a wonderful flavour to the meat.  I always use it in ground beef no matter what I'm going to use the beef for. 
There were some great cheeses in the fridge, so I decided to make a smoky gouda cheeseburger macaroni casserole. I made a cheese sauce with low fat old cheddar, low fat fruilano, parmesan, and smoky gouda.  What an rich flavour the smoky gouda added - it sort of tasted like bacon was in the sauce.  My cheese sauce has Kuhne's hot mustard in it - just put it in and don't ask why! This mustard is not hot, but the flavour is necessary.
So, I cooked up some Molisano small size rigatonis and mixed the sauce and ground beef together in a pot. I poured it into the casserole dish that was sprayed with cooking spray.  All the ingredients were hot so I only baked it in the oven, uncovered for about 20 minutes at 375 using the convection oven setting.
As usual, I had never made this before, so I tasted during the preparation and was not hungry when it finally came out of the oven.  G was starving - it was approaching 7pm, which is sort of late for us to eat! I tried to make a video, but I learned that I need someone else with me to film while I do the cooking. 
When I put the serving spoon into the middle of the casserole and scooped out a spoonful, it made that cool pasta saucy sound and the cheese stretched across to G's plate. WAY TO GO CHEESE!
G loved this dish and I suggested he add some ketchup - it worked!
Mac & Cheese doesn't have to be so rich with high fat cheeses.  I even used 1 % milk when making the sauce.  Also, the spices are important when you are using low fat ingredients.  They really punch up the flavour - don't forget the celery seed in the meat and the mustard in the cheese sauce - drop in some hot sauce too!  Oh, and sprinkle a little paprika on the top before baking - it makes the top of the casserole that pretty orangey colour!
Remember, when someone cooks for you, it's with love.

Homemade is The Only Way To Go

 

 

G's taste buds are spoiled.  A few years ago, when were first dating, I drove a homemade pizza over to his house.  After the first bite, he told me, "his taste buds were dancing!" I was relieved - you know the whole, " a way to a man's heart is through his stomach" thing.  We never order take out on pizza nights!

Who Doesn't Like Ice Cream Cakes?

I think I'll make this for G's(husband) and Devon's birthday.   I don't know anyone who doesn't like ice cream sandwiches.  My oldest friend and I used to eat them for lunch in high school...DEEELICIOUS!!!  Have you noticed how small they are now?  Nevertheless, this is a great recipe - one of those great recipes where you just slap the ingredients together and TA DA - VOILA - an ice cream cake...ENJOY.  Happy Birthday guys. xo
 http://www.bestyummyrecipes.com/no-bake-oreo-ice-cream-cake