Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Tassimo

I got a Tassimo hot beverage brewer for Christmas, which was a big surprise.  My mother and sister have Keurig systems, and my sister also has the Tassimo.  She recommended it because it can make different drinks with precision: it knows to select the right amount of water at the perfect temperature, brew time and it can add foam or steamed milk as well.  It uses a bar code on the t-disc (the unit containing the ingredients) to read the information needed to precisely brew each beverage...whether it be coffee, hot chocolate, lattes, teas, cremas, expressos, or cappucinos.

It is a lot of fun to select the drink you want and simply press the button to have it made.  The machine brews very quickly.  At first I thought it made a weird noise but after watching YouTube vids from several other people, I realize it is the machine 'reading' the bar code.  I usually make a full pot of regular coffee every morning and we have a couple of cups each.  I'm reserving the Tassimo for afternoon indulgences.  While the .50 - $1.00 per cup cost of the t-discs beats the coffee shop, for me it is more expensive than my fresh-ground 8 o'clock coffee beans!  I also have a hard time with the wasteful packaging of single-serve units.  I consider it an occasional treat to use this fun and clever machine...it does work very well...and the Chai tea latte is to die for!

Peach Smoothie

While I continue to make my usual Strawberry Smoothie, some leftover peaches prompted me to shake things up with this Peach Smoothie.  I used milk instead of juice in this version and blended it with yogurt and sliced, canned peaches.  A bit of vanilla and a couple of ice cubes made it more of a cross between a thick milk shake and an Orange Julius!  Yummy way to start the day!  Since it's been almost 3 years since I first posted it, here's my Smoothie video again in case you missed it!

Dried Beans

Legumes are a source of protein, excellent sources of B vitamins, iron, minerals, and a very high source of dietary fibre.  While they are readily available canned, it is economical to buy dried beans, peas, and lentils and prepare them yourself.  I find it very difficult to even find canned navy (pea) beans but the packages of these dried white pea beans are always in the store.

It takes a bit of advance planning to get the beans ready to use but it is a very simple process.  After rinsing the beans and picking through them to make sure there are no stones, dirt, or bad ones, you just need to cover them with 3-4x their volume of water and let them stand 8 hours.  This is most easily done overnight.  In the morning, just drain the water and then cover them with an ample amount of water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, about an hour.  Then drain once again when the beans are soft and they are ready to use in a recipe.

Next week I'm going to share a super recipe for Old-Fashioned Baked Beans baked in the oven.  So delicious!

Man vs. Food

My hubby and son have recently started watching Man vs. Food, a show on the Travel Channel where Adam Richman eats his way through food challenges.  It is disgusting and entertaining and makes for great 'guy tv'.  I find it difficult to witness, in most cases, such an unhealthy approach to eating (more gluttony than gastronomy) but when one episode visited Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, DC I had to watch.

Quite disappointed that we never got to visit this famous eatery in the Nation's capitol, we decided to make our own version of a chili-topped half-smoke...

We tried to find a similar sausage at our local market but ended up just getting an original Grill 'Em smoked sausage.  We grilled them on the bar-b-que and added them to a nice-quality Italian-style bun.  I topped them with my homemade chili con carne, cheese, and caramelized onions and mustard.  While I only had a bite to sample the concoction (not very Weight-Watcher friendly), everyone else really enjoyed trying our own version of the challenge!  Very tasty and it made for a funny family dinner - food is often an event at our house and this definitely made for interesting conversation!

The boys have also become fascinated with Storage Wars but I think I'll draw the line at bidding for potential treasure...

What a Deal!

You all know how much I love to use Nielsen-Massey pure vanilla in my baking, well I had one of those 'start the car, start the car' moments the other day when I found this!  Usually, I purchase the 4 oz bottle which costs $9.99 and if I can find it, the 8 oz bottle at $14.99.  When I walked down the food aisle of my favourite brand-name discount store in Canada, I saw this bad boy!  32 oz of the exact same vanilla for...no, not the $60 it could have been...but just $24.99!!!  I was so excited!  There were actually 2 bottles but I just couldn't afford to spend $50 bucks on vanilla extract that day.  Plus, I already had 2 small bottles in my baking cupboard and even I can't use up that much vanilla! 

Parsnips

I was raised eating parsnips and our English Christmas dinner wouldn't be the same without them.  Even though they look like white carrots, the taste is completely different - sweet and buttery and very unique.  I adore them but I know some people don't care for parsnips or haven't ever even tried them!  If you haven't, I highly recommend you give them a taste. 

Parsnips are grown in colder climates with shorter growing seasons, and need a frost to develop their flavour - I guess that's why we typically eat them with the Thanksgiving turkey, Sunday roast during the colder months, and at Christmas time.  I try to remind myself to pick them up more often than those occasions since they are easily prepared by boiling, (nice diced or as a puree with carrots), tossed in some olive oil and roasted in the oven, or even boiled and mashed with roasted garlic and a bit of butter and milk, similar to mashed potatoes.  They are sooo delicious!

I considered having DH grow them in his garden but then I learned that the shoots and leaves of the parsnip plant contain a chemical that can irritate the skin and produce a chemical-like burn!  One must wear gloves and sleeves to deal with them and that just seemed like too much trouble.  I'll just continue to buy them at the grocery store!

Did you know you can pre-order food?

DH and I recently had a weekend away and left Granny in charge of the house...and the teenagers!  Usually, my eldest is around to drive them where they need to go but she wasn't on this occasion and that meant that dinner was going to be at home.  Sure, I could have left a frozen casserole or pizza for them to heat up but that would mean another responsibility for the kids - and a hassle for my mother with supervising the oven use and clean-up.  Another option would be to have them order a pizza but then they'd have to remember to order in time, figure all the order choices, find the numbers, etc.  

So then I thought 'hey, I know I can pre-order take-out for later in the day...I wonder if I can pre-order for later in the week??'   Well, guess what?  You can!  All on-line, I arranged to have pizzas delivered one day and a full chicken dinner (complete with salad) delivered the next night.  Everything was pre-selected with all their preferences and the date and time were precisely set for each delivery.  I knew exactly how much it would cost, could add in the tip, print out the confirmation e-mails for a reminder (hi-lighting the dates and amounts) and have total peace of mind that they all would be fed!  I think this is such a great service and I know I will never have to worry about them rustling up dinner when I'm not home ever again!  This will be great for those times I have to be gone over dinner time...heck, I might even pre-order in advance so I don't have to cook dinner some time!  Wouldn't it be nice to just have that surprise of dinner being ready at the door when you didn't feel like cooking?  It would be way better than a bouquet of flowers in my opinion!

Tea Bag Technology

This ingenious little Tetley tea bag was sent to me by my cousin in England.  Looks like an ordinary tea bag...except you can pull up on the strings to lengthen them so you can add the bag to your cup or pot.

That's pretty neat...but wait, it gets even better!  Once your tea is brewed, you pull apart the blue tabs (you would use two hands to pull them apart, but I was taking the photo with the other hand). Then you pull the strings in the opposite direction and the strings pull up the bag like a window blind and squeeze the tea out!  Voila!  No drippy, messy bag to deal with and no spoon needed to squish the bag.  I just thought it was a very cool idea and being a big tea-drinking family, it was a big hit in our house!  I thought I would share them with you even though I have never seen these here in Canada and I don't know if they are available in the States.  I will definitely be on the watch for them.  I can always check the British import shop if I can't get my cousin to send any more! ;)

Smoky Corn Chowder with Bacon

This corn chowder was super easy to make and the flavour was sweet from the corn and smoky/salty from the bacon - a winning, hearty combo!  It doesn't take long to simmer in the flavour so it's a great choice for a summer soup and if you use the kernels cut right off a fresh cob of corn I'd bet it would be even more delicious!  You can find the recipe at Chatelaine, here.

My Favourite Snack

Dietitians are always talking about the health benefits of nuts and I've always loved almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, peanuts...the only problem is stopping at the handful you are supposed to eat!  Yes, they are full of good things but are also densely caloric and contain (good) fat.

I am thrilled now to have these 100 calorie packs from Planters.  I bought the natural almonds (sure, I'd prefer salty roasted ones but they aren't as healthy with the added salt and additives) and the Vitality mix, which also contains seeds and dried cranberries.

Each little packet is (obviously) 100 calories worth of the nuts - a pretty generous amount in the case of the almonds - and equal to 2 Weight-Watcher 'points'.

It's a great way for me to practice portion control and these individual bags are perfect to toss in my purse for emergency hunger pains.  The only problem I have with them is getting the darn packets open!