Easy Cooking: Sticky Lemon Chicken

Don't you love delicious, easy, and one-pot(pan) meals?? Well this is surely one that will keep the husband happy, the guests talking, and your kitchen clean.

I've actually known about this recipe for ages, but recently just remembered it when I had a ton of chicken I had to use up.

I don't really follow a lot of chefs, but this is Gordon Ramsay's recipe. He's a bit of an OCD freak in the video, he claps his hands (a lot), looks like he's been a little medicated and high-strung... but hey, if I think I can even attempt something like this, you know that it's lazy mom friendly.

Ingredients:

8-10 Chicken thighs (you know I always go for these - they're cheap)
salt & pepper
soy sauce
Sherry (in Gordo's recipe, it calls for Sherry vinegar. I only had Sherry, and vinegar, so I just put 2 together)
Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Lemons (slices, and another one for juice)
fresh thyme
water
honey


What to do:
1. season the chicken, and then fry if skin-side down. if your pan isn't big enough, do it in batches. you want a nice delicious crunch golden skin.. mmm... and if you're a health diet freak, i'm sure skinless will be fine too. but hot dang... fried skin is so good.

2. turn chicken to brown other side (and drain the oil)

3. add soy, sherry, vinegar, lemon juice, and thyme. use your judgement on measuring these - it's up to you if you want it saltier, more sour, sweet... etc. I'd recommend anything between 2-4tbsp of each.

4. put a slice of lemon on top of each chicken, then slap a lid on and let it cook for... 7-10 minutes.

5. Open up the lid, put some honey in it... and let it cook for a little bit longer 1-2 minutes, and then take the chicken out.

6. Technically the meal is done, but if you want to go the extra mile - reduce the remaining sauce, add butter, more honey, and then pour it over your chicken.

It's so freaking good, and so freaking easy. Here's the video if you want to watch good ol twitchy Gordo make it.

Easy Cooking: Baking edition - Apple Pie (with a twist)

I confess. Apple Pie is like the symbol of a 'SuperMom'. Like gag worthy supermom. In my defense, I've baked 2 pies in my life. This is the second. The first was also a success and the only reason why I even tried to make a pie from scratch was because - why else - Colin wanted pie. He saw some show where they made a pie, and after that it was incessant whining about baking a pie.

Well, my debut pie was actually easier to make than I thought. The caloric rewards on my waist, and the smiles Joe and Colin's faces outweighed the effort that went into it, so I would consider making more pie in the future.

Well, after making 1 pie, I thought I was a culinary genius. And I think you'll agree with that statement after I tell you want I did with Pie #2.

I PUT CHEDDAR IN THE CRUST.

I thought of this all on my own - you've heard of eating apple pie with a slice of cheddar. you've heard of apple cheddar muffins. and you've heard of stuffed crust pizza. why not make a merriment of all good things in life, and have it in a pie?

Here goes the recipe:

Crust:
2.5 cups flour
1 cup butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
grated cheddar cheese - the more the merrier (up to 1 cup? i don't know i didn't measure)
a little bit of cold water (up to 1/4 cup)

Filling:
5 Granny Smith apples (peeled, sliced)
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar

(I adapted the recipes from here: Grandma Ople's Apple Pie, and Simply Recipes)


1. Use either a food processor (which I don't have - feel free to add that to the Christmas list) or a pastry cutter to mingle all the DRY (ie. minus the water) pie crust ingredients together. Keep cutting it until it's like a dry crumbly mixture - and if you have a food processor (either give it to me, or pulse 2-3 times).



2. Add the water little by little so that it starts to form a dough - don't put too much - you want it to just come together.

3. form into 2 discs, and cover it with plastic wrap to refrigerate (anywhere from 1 hr-2 days).

4. make the filling - cut the apples, and melt the liquid goodness on a medium low heat.

5. roll out the dough, and put one in the pie plate

6. use an egg wash and wash the interior of the pie shell so it doesn't get soggy - then put the apples in, and then the filling.



7. roll out the other disc - now's the time to show-off. you can make the topping however you want, but make sure there's a hole somewhere for the steam to vent - but go wild and fulfill your Supermom dreams. I chose the lattice cause it looks like a lot of work, but it's not. I'm like that - i like to look like I work hard, but in reality I had gnomes do my work for me.




8. Egg wash, sprinkle a little sugar on top, and put it in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, then turn it down to 350 degrees (for 45 minutes? just keep an eye on it - it's not rocket science if something's burning).




and here you go - my apple pie cheddar crusted pie. If you make it, I'll send Joe and Colin over to taste-test approve it.

Easy Cooking: Bibimbap

Well, it appears I have been a VERY lazy mom. I haven't blogged in a very long time, and our trip to the East entries have stopped at Day 3.... well, I'll just summarize. Days 4-8 were great. We strolled around NYC, lost a couple more things, bumped into Samuel L. Jackson (okay, i didn't 'bump' into him, he was behind a fence for some event, but I saw him), discovered a very delicious bakery, and tried to re-create scenes from Disney's Enchanted.

You can expect that I will probably have the same amount of laziness with our next trip, to the real East. We're going to Hong Kong, and instead of being ambitious and attempting to be a good blogger, I'll just set your expectations low. And if you get a photo here or there - then consider yourself all caught up in my lazy, yet crazy busy with nothing, life.

Okay. On with the actual blog - Bibimbap. You ask what this is? it's basically a Korean mixed vegetable & rice dish. I just had a craving for it the other day, and it just seems that all the Korean and Thai restaurants in Vancouver think it's okay to charge $15 for their dishes of rice and/or noodles... so I went on a mission to just make it at home.

The only thing with this dish though, is that you HAVE to have the gochujang sauce (the red suace - red chilli paste in the soybean paste). It's what makes it... Korean. I had to go to H Mart to buy it - even T&T didn't have it.



Here are the ingredients - but in good old LM fashion... i don't measure anything.

bean sprouts (the bigger kind, not the dinky little ones)
spinach
shiitake mushrooms (sliced thinly)
carrots (julienne)
zucchini (sliced thinly)
eggs
rice
meat (can be ground, or sliced pork or beef)
sesame oil
soy sauce
garlic
korean bulgogi sauce
gochujang suace

a big bowl/platter to put all the cooked items on (part of this dish is about presentation, but really you will just mix it all up before you eat it...)


1. marinade the meat in the bulgogi sauce



2. mince up a whole lot of garlic

3. boil off your bean sprouts, when they're done sprinkle salt, sesame oil, and garlic in it. set aside on the platter.



4. boil the spinach, and when they're done a little soy, sesame oil, garlic - onto platter.

5. I have a wok, but if you don't just use a frying pan - fry off the carrots with a little garlic, sesame oil - and put on the platter.

6. do the same with the zucchini and mushrooms - hope you're getting the drift...


7. I fried off the eggs before the meat because that meant I didn't have to wipe down the wok after the meat (which is saucy) before frying the eggs.

okay, so your platter should be full of veggies, your riced cooked, and now it's just all about assembly. put all the clumps of veggies on top of your bowl of rice, put some gochujang sauce in there, a fried egg and meat on top.

dig in - mix it around, and it's a heavenly blend of happiness in your mouth.



Yes - I actually lied too a little - it's not really 'easy', and it's quite labor intensive with all the prep work - but it's easy in the sense that the ingredients aren't crazy, and the method of cooking is quite user-friendly. A healthy meal too - for kids and adults alike!

Easy Cooking: Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

I really should start taking pictures of the food, but after cooking and putting Cara down for a nap (so there's always a lot of crying when I'm prepping dinner), and Colin whining for me to play with him, I just don't feel like pulling the camera to take pictures.

But I should try.

Anyway, I digress. Tonight's dinner was DELICIOUS. and oh so simple. and healthy too!!!

It was easy because I have a tool. It's called the 'Quick Chopper 2000'. It sounds so gimmicky, and... it is. I always fall for it - the little booth with the salesperson on a microphone, selling their product, and then sampling all the millions of different things you can make with it. It was about 3 years ago we were at The Bay, and we fell for it. The lady was demonstrating the Quick Chopper 2000, and she made salsa with it (but you can make other things... that can be chopped up) but because Joe LOVES salsa, we just call it our $20 salsa maker.

What is it? pretty much a manual food processor. I know, we're lame. MANUAL. But it still works the same, so here goes the recipe:

- Fish (I got red snapper, but any white fish should do)
- Soft Taco Shells
- Lettuce
- Salsa

Salsa recipe (and I just dump everything into my QC2000, but in your case you can do it in your food processor, or hand chop):
- 1 really ripe mango
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- quarter of an onion
- quarter of bell pepper
- handful of cilantro
- 1 juiced lime
- and if you want it spicy, just add jalapeno peppers to it
- salt

(of course, all these are coarse measurements... I rarely follow exact measurements so use what you have, add it, don't add it up to you!)

1. make the salsa
2. cook the fish, season it with salt and pepper and you're good to fry it in a little bit of oil.
3. slice the lettuce, and if you want add sour cream, avocado... whatever you add to your tacos!

it's really yummy, and Colin even loved it (i melted cheese in his to make the taco stick together). family friendly, and if you prep enough salsa you can have leftovers for days to come!

Enjoy :)

Easy Cooking: Balsamic Chicken

i'm not making this for dinner tonight, but I have in the past several times and wonder why I don't do it more. I got the Braised Balsamic Chicken recipe from allrecipes.com (as always) but made a few tweeks to make it very lazy (and thrifty) mom approved.

Ingredients:
7-10 chicken thighs (or however many fits in your saute pan)
Balsamic Vinegar
Can of crushed tomatoes
Seasoning (salt, pepper, and anything you want to flavor the chicken with)


Directions:
*pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
1. season your chicken, and then place it on a medium/high heat pan to fry it.
2. If you don't want the extra oil... dump it, if you don't mind go to step 3.
3. pour in a cup of balsamic vinegar and the tomatoes
4. put a lid on it and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes (I do this cause i buy chicken thighs which are way cheaper than breasts, and braising it in the oven cooks it thoroughly with the bone in there while keeping it moist).

I serve it with rice... and it's really really delicious... If you want to go the 'extra' mile, you can reduce the sauce from the pan so it's not as runny, and it's quite tasty too!! Happy Cooking!

Spinach Lasagna

I thought I'd start a series of 'Easy Cooking' recipes that I come across. As a mom it's virtually impossible to keep your eyes on your kids, and cook/clean at the same time. And to do it all under the pressure cooker of either whining, or crying, makes me think I could actually win an Iron Chef competition hands down.

Well, my sister actually introduced this recipe to me. It's a delicious Spinach Walnut Pesto Lasagna - and *gasp* it's.... vegetarian?!?!??! IMPOSSIBLE!!! You'd think my carnivore son and husband would protest... but Joe actually requested it yesterday, and Colin scarfed it down.... so it's a winner in my books.

I did make a few adjustments... because
1. I don't like to measure things
2. I buy what's cheap/on sale at the store.
3. I like to use the least amount of dishes/preparation possible to limit my cleaning efforts later.

Ingredients:
2 packages of frozen chopped spinach
1 container of cottage cheese
Parmesan cheese (howveer much you want)
grated cheese (one of those packaged ones... I buy 3-4 of them when they're on sale and freeze them for pastas)
1 prepared jar of pesto
1 big (i don't even know the size, it's just the big can on the shelf) can of pasta sauce
12 strips of lasagna (3 layers)


What you do:

1. get a big bowl.
2. put the spinach, pesto, cottage cheese, parmesan and mix.
3. get a casserole dish, and put some pasta sauce on the bottom
4. 1 layer of pasta
5. spinach mixture, then pasta sauce, then grated cheese. repeat.

Now - you can soak the noodles, or cook them raw. (there's enough moisture in the lasagna to cook it all in the oven), but I like to be just on the safe side and I just dump it in hot tap water while I make the mixture so it softens up just a touch.

Cook in a 375 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes.

Seriously, I was so glad I made it the other day... we got back from and outting at 5pm, I got it prepped in about 15 minutes, then while it cooked in the oven we just played with the kids. This, my friends is a family friendly recipe!!