Weight Watchers and English Muffins

So, it has been a while since I posted anything here but I figured it might be time to give it another go.

Recently I've been off from work due to some health concerns that are slowly sorting themselves out, including a collapsed left lung. One of the things that has come out of it all is that my wife and I have decided to start Weight Watchers since it has worked for some of our friends and family before.

Part of the program involves counting points values that are assigned to the foods we eat. Right now it isn't much of a problem since we both have enough points to essentially cover our normal eating habits. As we go along and our point allotments drop, we need to be looking for ways to control portions a little better. So why not start looking now?

The first thing that came to mind was to try portioning English muffins since the ones we buy in the store are larger than the suggested serving in the plan's tracking software. Which means that they cost more points. Lately I've been experimenting with baking some different breads so I thought, why not make some English muffins.

I used this recipe: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/6947/english-muffins

It worked out quite well, I didn't need to add all of the flour that it called for, leaving out half of a cup and I also ended up having to knead it by hand since the stand mixer wasn't bringing it together enough.

When I tooled it out, I ended up getting 27 muffins from the dough instead of the 18 that it called for and figured them to be worth 3 points each which is on par with the suggested serving from Weight Watchers.

Next go around though I may put a cookie sheet over the rounds as they rise to try and keep them from getting too tall next time.

The trickiest part was having to cook them on a griddle over "medium heat". I ended up burning the first side of half the batch a little but rolling it back to 250 F seemed to take care of that problem.

That's it for now, until next time.

The Internet - The World's Largest Cookbook

Whoops, this post was supposed to be posted automatically while I was away from my little island and apparently, now that I finally check back, I see that I hadn't set it properly, so my appologies but better late than never.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Lately I've been running into the problem of not being able to find ingredients(most recently, specific cuts of meat) for a lot of recipes  at the local grocery stores, so I have instead started looking more for recipes that fit what I have on hand.  So far, I have come across some great recipes(Some of which will be coming later) and best of all, I can find the recipes the day of and not have to think ahead and shop for specific ingredients.

The biggest problem about doing this is that you do need to have a fairly well stocked kitchen in order to have most of the spices and basic ingredients that the recipes call for.  You also have to be willing to make substitutions when you do not have the appropriate ingredient, though especially with spices there are usually a few options for substitutions(which can also be found online).

My most recent find has been Allrecipes.com ,the site has a large user submitted database of recipes that can be searched by keyword or ingredients that you want or don't want, which makes finding a recipe to fit your needs a snap.  Add to that the ability to print off the recipe as a full page or in recipe card sizes that you can print and the ability to save recipes you like to your own recipe box online, it becomes a powerful tool for anyone looking to find a new recipe to try.

Until next time, Happy Surfing!

Ninjabread Men

I've always been a big gingerbread fan and for a long while I've been the one in the family who made gingerbread cookies at Christmas time.  In the last few years, I have built up a large collection of cookie cutters as gifts, the most recent of which were a package of Fred & Friends Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters that I received as a birthday gift from my sister.

I have a recipe that I normally use for gingerbread cookies but, I decided to try the recipe that comes on the package this time and see how it stands up.

This was a fairly simple to follow and easy recipe, though you do have to use a little creative thinking when reading the recipe because it is written to be humorous with a bit of a ninja spin.

All of the ingredients ready to go.

 

The Ninjabread Men ready to go with a "Practice Dummy" regular gingerbread men

The dough needs to be refrigerated before cutting it out

Rolled out, cut out a bunch of figures and peel away the extra, re-roll it and repeat

The Ninjabread Men ready to hit the oven

The Ninjabread army, ready to disappear.

They were a decent gingerbread cookie, though definitely not the best that I've ever had and definitely not better than my other recipe.  They were a little rough to roll out and I also had to reduce the cooking time from what was on the package. 

Herb Grilled Corn-On-The-Cob

This was a bit of an ad hoc meal after coming home from grocery shopping in town(For those who don't know, it is a ferry ride and about a 30 minute drive to get to the closest "major" town for grocery shopping) which takes the better part of the day so by the time we got home, it was time to get something cooked so that Terra could leave for work.


As we were unpacking the groceries, I snagged the T-bone steaks(not something we usually buy but it was a decent sale and was time for something different) and figured what better to go with steaks than some corn on the cob.  So, knowing I would grill the steaks, Terra asked if I was going to grill the corn.  This is something that we have both seen on television several times but have never tried for ourselves, so I figured why not give it a go.

I grabbed my trusty iPod touch and quickly found a recipe for Herb Grilled Corn-On-The-Cob from Anna Olson and decided to give it a try, though I did have to adapt it a fair amount, for ingredients and for time constraint.

First, the recipe calls for:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
• 6 ears corn-on-the-cob
• finely grated parmesan cheese

I was making four ears, not the six that the recipe calls for, so I did end up reducing the amount of ingredients that I used so here is what I ended up using:

• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions (great to have on hand and are really cheap)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2/3 tablespoon ground cumin
• 4 ears corn-on-the-cob

Now, we don't have butter in the house but margarine is in almost all cases an acceptable substitution.  Green onions are something that I try to keep in the house and at $0.69 per bunch, they don't break the bank.  I also don't keep much in the way of fresh herbs and spices, just due to not having a green thumb and the dog knocking over the last planter full of herbs last week. So I used the dry oregano and I used the cumin to substitute for the coriander, using a reduced amount because the dried spices are more potent than their fresh relatives.  Also, I left off the parmesan cheese because I just plain forgot to add it back on after it came off the grill and was plated.


The margarine and herbs all got tossed into the cute mini food processor that we have.

Great little mini food processor that gets the smaller jobs done, no problem.  Also great for dealing with those pesky onions.

While I put that together, Terra peeled back the husk, without removing it and cleaned off the silk, then we buttered the cob, replaced the husk and then the ends were tied closed with some kitchen twine.


Now due to time constraints, I didn't refrigerate them for the 20 minutes that is recommended.


I took them out and tossed them onto the grill and let them hang out on medium high heat for about 18 minutes.

The corn and the T-bones getting to know each other before they get a little more intimate in our stomachs.

I rotated the corn, to cook it evenly but one problem that I did have was that the husk dried out fairly quickly and proceeded to keep catching on fire.

While fussing over corn fires, I may have left the steaks on a little too long.

When they finally got cooked , I was pleasantly surprised that it was only the outer husk that had burned and the inside was still fine thanks to the moisture from the margarine mixture.

The corn and mushrooms turned out really well but I did manage to over cook the steaks while fussing over flaming corn.

The corn was great, great flavour, great texture, a nice slightly smokey taste, and no need to try and add butter after the fact.  The one thing that I found was that there was a bit of a gritty texture on some bites due to the use of the dried herbs which would definitely be a reason to get the fresh herbs.  However, the process of grilling the corn is fairly simple, it would be easy to experiment with different flavoured margarine mixtures to use, like a garlic margarime or something with some extra kick.


This is definitely something that i will be trying again in the not too distant future.

Big Bud's Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken is something that my family had tried a while ago and my wife and I kept saying that we should try it but for some reason we never got around to it.

Low and behold, what did I find in Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It?  Why a recipe for beer can chicken of course.  So I figured why not give it a try, plus it involves bacon so I really couldn't resist.

Now let me preface this by saying that before this I had NEVER tried to cook a whole chicken before, so this is from a newcomers perspective to whole bird cooking.

The recipe starts with creating a spice mixture(again not giving away the entire recipe) that contained:

• Dried Oregano
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Paprika
• Ground Ginger
• Ground Sage (I didn't have any sage so I used Summer Savory as a substitute)
• Fine Sea salt
• Ground Black Pepper

The mixture is then rubbed half inside the cavity of the bird and the other half on the breast under the skin.  Now being a whole bird cooking newbie, I was very glad that the book had picture guide for the main steps of this recipe, including rubbing the spice under the chicken's skin.

Once that was done, you sit the chicken down onto an open beer can, the idea being that the beer from the can will baste the interior of the chicken as it is cooking which will give you a very moist chicken.  The next step is to create what i like to call the bacon poncho, by stuffing a few slices down the neck of the bird to seal it up and keep the juices in and then lay the other strips of bacon down the outside of the bird.

The chicken all ready for the oven sporting it's new bacon poncho.

Apparently Bacon Ponchos aren't good for a heat wave.

The Poor Bacon Poncho didn't last long enough to get a final picture.

The chicken all plated up on top of some white rice that was cooked in chicken stock, served with some stir fried veggies that were cooked with some chicken spice to give them a little extra kick.

When it was all said and done, the chicken turned out to be absolutely fantastic, with enough of a kick from the spices while still maintaining a bit of a sweet note.  The one issue that i did have was that the beer can was a little problematic to get out of the chicken with one person so I did have my wife give me a hand getting it out to avoid a potential mess.

The recipe was very easy to follow and complete, just needed a little patience to get the bird up to temperature.  I also had enough left over that I was able to make a fantastic chicken stock from the carcass and then strain it and use it and the left over chicken for a great ramen soup to get my chop-stick on.

Blackening Spice Rub on Pork Tenderloin

So of course with a new grill, that means that I had to break it in properly and how better to do that than to use a rub on one of my favourite cuts of meat.

Pork tenderloin is a cut of meat that lots of people overlook.  It is a lean cut in the vein of a chicken breast and when cooked properly will produce a very succulent main dish with a lot of good flavour.  Best of all, they are fairly cheap as meat goes, the two that I've cooked here came in a single package for about $6 and one is more than enough to feed both my wife and I.

One of the first things I noticed in Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It was an intriguing recipe for a spice rub with the instructions to "...try using it on anything that you'd like to Cajun-ate." and being a fan of spicy and bold flavours it just had to be one of the first recipes for me to try.

Since it is out of a fairly new and readily available book, I don't want to give away the exact recipe but the rub is made up of:

• Salt
• Granulated Garlic
• Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
• Ground White Pepper
• Onion Powder
• Ground Cumin
• Cayenne
• Paprika

 I also decided to serve it with some sliced potatoes and rainbow carrots on the side.

Peeled and sliced potatoes wrapped in tinfoil with some butter, salt, and pepper.

Peeled and sliced rainbow carrots with some butter, salt and pepper.

I just wrapped the veggies up tight so that the butter and moisture could steam them and tossed them on the grill pre-heated on high and let them ride for about 20-25 minutes with the lid down.

I rinsed and patted dry the tenderloins before applying the rub.

I had the spice rub mixed up ahead of time as it can be stored for up to six months and I didn't need it all for the tenderloins.

Once they were ready to go, I put them on the grill over high heat to give it a little sear for 4-5 minutes.

Everything hanging out on the grill.

The Blackening spice doing its job and providing some nice grill marks on the tenderloin.

Tenderloins are round(ish), so it helps to think about them as  having four sides when grilling them, after searing the tenderloin, I turned the grill down to a medium heat and cooked it for about 5-7 minutes per side.  The pork will continue to cook a little as you let it rest under some foil after taking it off the grill so don't cook it too much before removing it from the heat.

The final product all plated up with a little extra garnish.

It Must Finally be Summer - Grilling

I've been slacking on posting any new content this last week and a half because life has been a little hectic but I have still been cooking so hopefully I will get caught up a little in the next little while.

This is my first of a series called "Tools of the Trade" where I'm going to look at different tools, appliance, utensils, gadgets, etc.

Being from the east coast of Canada, when we talk about barbecue, usually we are really talking about grilling meat and more often than not, with a propane grill.  When it comes to food, there is not much that won't taste better if it is cooked on a grill, rather than inside.  Not to mention that a grill has the uncanny, magical ability to become the center of attention of a house or party.  When is the last time that you can remember the guys gathering around the oven while food was being prepared?  My point exactly.  The grill is also in many cases the most accessible form of cooking for men who usually have very little input in food preparation, at least around here few men will cook in the kitchen but will gladly fire up the grill.

I grew up eating a lot of grilled food during the summer, great taste, less dishes, and it got the whole family out onto the deck(even in the winter if we could get away with it).  Now when my wife and I got together, she hadn't done much grilling growing up but I made sure that i quickly converted her.

Why is this important you may ask, well we have been living in our current house for almost a year now and all we had for grilling was a small portable grill that leaves much to be desired when preparing a full meal, the least of which was grill real estate.  Though it is still great for taking when we go camping.  With our anniversary having just passed, we decided that it was time to get a proper grill, so that we could do some more outdoor cooking and I make less mess while I am home and she is at work.  We figured that we could live with a smaller middle of the road model but thanks to a anniversary present from my parents who were apparently on the same wavelength as us we were able to jump up a level and get a nicer grill with a few more frills.

We ended up settling on the Master Chef E480 from over at Canadian Tire:

A few of my must haves for the grill were:

• A large grilling surface (So that the main and side dishes can all be cooked on the grill without being too crowded.)
• A side burner (Great for boiling shellfish, a little slower to get going but it keeps the smell outisde.)
• Electronic Ignition (Those old red push button work fine for the first month or so but they tend to fail quickly, the electronic ignition uses a battery to create sparks to ignite the propane and is much more consistent.)
• Even heating (There is nothing worse than hot or cold spots on a grill, so a higher number of burners allows for more control of the grill and less hot or cold spots.)
• Enclosed tank storage with doors (The panels on the front give the grill a nice finished look so that the white propane tank is not just hanging out in the open, opening doors are also a must for this style of pedestal because you can store tools on the doors as well as providing easy access to the tank for opening and closing the valve.  Some enclosed pedestals do not have doors which proves to be a pain for accessing the tank, a lesson learned from my Father's grill)

Some thoughts on the grill (after limited use):

• Nice solid construction, and nice stainless steel lid.
• Assembly was very straight forward, the box recommends two people and I can see why but I was able to assemble it alone in an hour and a half.
• The tank can be a bit of a pain to seat underneath of the grill in the hole provided though is quite secure when you do.
• Heats evenly and the porcelain coated cast iron grates are a nice touch.
• The four tube burners when compared to two double burners are a bit more of a pain to get lit however, they do provide more precise control over the grill temperature.

All right, guess that's it for now, Happy Grilling!

No grilling session is complete without my grilling toolkit.