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

Hello Fresh: Part 2!

Last month I wrote about the eggplant dish I made based on a Hello Fresh recipe my daughter received with her meal service delivery. It was so delicious and while I was super tempted with the idea of having 3 meals planned, shopped for, and delivered to my door, I suggested that the service was not for me. Expense was my main concern, followed secondly by calorie count for the meals...BUT...never say never!

My daughter gave me a coupon for a 3-meal FREE trial. It seemed silly to just throw that away so I ended up signing on to the subscription. I know all about the pitfalls of such a set-up, I'm a child of the 70s and remember the Columbia House system and even when Netflix sent DVDs in the mail! I read the fine print (there isn't much) and decided there was nothing to lose by trying Hello Fresh. Secretly, I really wanted to sign up because I am in a total rut when it comes to feeding myself. As a vegetarian living with a family of carnivores, I have been struggling to prepare meals for myself in addition to theirs. I usually end up eating the carb and veggies from their dinner or frying an egg. I do love to cook and eat great dishes and the plant-based menus available at Hello Fresh sound mouthwatering.

So, here we go! My first delivery is next week, which happens to be ideal since my hubby will be eating his meals with work during that time. I can focus on unboxing, reading, and preparing my own meals. I cannot wait to dig in to the amazing sounding vegetarian calzone, Shepherd's Pie, and squash risotto. I will be sure to post my pics and reviews too.

The Hello Fresh app is very easy to use and I can see the recipes, ingredient list, and nutritional information in advance of my delivery. I can plan my meals accordingly and work out what I'll need for the other days. Apparently the meals yield two servings but my daughter says they are usually way too big and she subdivides further for lunches or the freezer. I plan on using the service about once a month so I can freeze suitable dishes for other weeks of the month. You can skip menus you don't care for or when you're away, and there is no minimum required to keep your account 'active'. I'm thinking this is the kick I need to get re-inspired about my own vegetarian meals and I can branch out from fried eggs for a at least a few days a month!

If you've ever tried a meal delivery service, please let me know your thoughts by commenting below!

Broccoli and Rice Gratin

I hope all my Canadian friends had a lovely Thanksgiving. We certainly enjoyed the beautiful weather and time with family. When we got home and it was time to get back to reality, dinner needed to be made and I had zero motivation and not much in the fridge to work with.

My go-to cookbook is always the set from the Milk Calendar collection and I usually have success finding something quick and easy to make. This time I found Broccoli and Rice Gratin and it worked perfectly with what I had on hand. It was very fast to make and all prepared in one skillet. The flavoured rice is combined with chopped broccoli and baked in a casserole dish, with milk replacing water to cook the rice.

A nice touch is a small amount of freshly grated lemon peel, added after cooking, and a buttery crumb topping. It was so tasty and everyone was satisfied. I served the gratin as a side dish with Italian sausages for the meat eaters and it was a light meal in itself for me, with a salad for everyone.

You can find the recipe for Broccoli and Rice Gratin from the Dairy Farmers website, www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/broccoli-and-rice-gratin  (sorry I couldn't get the link to work for some reason!). I hope you enjoy this simple rice dish as much as we did.

Easy Chicken Parmesan

I have had a box of frozen breaded chicken burger patties in the freezer for a while, leftover because the family decided they didn't like chicken burgers. Rather than waste them, I had an idea to make easy Chicken Parmesan. I topped each one with pasta sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh chopped garlic and some slivered fresh basil leaves from the garden.

Following the package directions, I baked the chicken at 425 for about 25 minutes. This simple dish was a huge hit! Everyone loved them and it felt so good to transform a plain store-bought item into a great dinner. I also love that I used up what I had and didn't have to go shopping.

Even better, I was able to duplicate the toppings on my thinly sliced eggplant and enjoy the same flavours as the family. The eggplant was incredible and absolutely so simple to make. I love eggplant yet am always stumped how to prepare it but now, this recipe is going in the 'make often' file. Yum!

Sicilian-Style Eggplant Caponata & Hello Fresh!

My daughter visited and treated me to a wonderful Sicilian-Style Eggplant Caponata dish she cooked herself. I rarely get a night off from making dinner and have a fancy vegetarian meal even less often. By the time I prepare food for the rest of the meat-eating family, I do not feel like making a proper recipe (vegetarian dish rather than an egg, or a salad, or simply the carb and veggies from dinner) just for myself.

The youngest had been given a coupon for a trial run of the meal/recipe/ingredient delivery service Hello Fresh and this was one of the dishes she had ordered. We duplicated the recipe after grocery shopping, using the menu card they provided. If you haven't heard of the meal kit delivery company, it is a subscription service that provides all that's necessary for 3 meals, delivered to your door. Everything is included to prepare the recipes, which you select from several options that week, depending on your plan and preferences. A giant, insulated box is left at your door and the food is bagged up into three separate meals. The recipe card thoroughly explains what is provided and how to cook the dinner. Most things are portioned exactly and the process should take about 30 minutes. For the right kind of person, this is an excellent alternative to eating out, ordering fast food, or eating processed packaged food.

I must say that the meal daughter cooked was delicious! It was straight-forward but still required chopping and cooking so I think some prior skill in the kitchen makes things easier. The recipe was fairly exotic and gourmet and we enjoyed the tomato eggplant dish on farro (a sort of large-scale barley). I was quite impressed and I think Hello Fresh has great chefs who deliver excellent choices, especially when it comes to vegetarian meals. There are a good variety of meal ideas from which to select your week's menu and everything is ready and waiting for you to prepare.

The only downside I can see is the cost (#1) and perhaps, the calorie count. While I understand most of the meals are about 600-800 calories, I think eating that way even 3 times a week would be a lot more than typical for myself, personally. I think it is a really fun idea and a great way to be inspired and enlightened when it comes to meal planning, I'm just not sure how realistic it is, long term. When I made the recipe again for myself, I still thought it was a lot of work and I don't know if I'd want to be committed to doing that three days a week. I also don't feel I could justify the expense just for myself, being in a large family. I can purchase a lot of groceries for $73.99 extra a week! If I were single and rich, and usually ate out at restaurants, a food delivery service might be an option. I like to cook when I have the time but I also enjoy the shopping and the planning so I'd probably just do that part myself too.

Have you ever tried a meal delivery service and if so, was it worth it to you?

Blue Zone Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

We didn't grow eggplant in the garden this year but there were zucchini, tomatoes and plenty of fresh, fragrant basil - the right ingredients for this satisfying meal. While the Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole is very similar to eggplant parmesan, this is a Blue Zone recipe so it's healthy and will help you try to live to be 100!

The process is very simple, just layers of vegetables nestled in a quick, fresh, basil-laden tomato sauce. A sprinkle of cheese on top bakes into a delicious crust and the casserole smells lovely while cooking. The recipe yields an 8" casserole and since I was the only one eating this vegetarian main dish, it served me for 4 nights straight. I loved it and the flavour only got better each day. I enjoyed the casserole with pasta one night, crusty bread the next, salad and then broccoli.

You can find the recipe for Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole from the Blue Zones, HERE. If you have an abundance of vegetables in your garden you might enjoy using them up in this Sardinian-inspired dish. If you don't, the local supermarket or farmer's veggie stand will surely carry what you need. 

Amazing Tip for Pulled Pork and Shredded Chicken

I recently saw a random post of someone shredding chicken in the Instant Pot using a hand-held electric mixer. This intrigued me as that is a job I hate doing. Usually, I remove the chicken to a plate and use two forks to pick and pull apart the meat. It's kind of messy and hot, and it seems to take me forever. I couldn't wait to experiment with the mixer technique to see if it actually worked.

On Wednesday I made bar-b-qued pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The pork tenderloin had cooked slowly in the crockpot all day and it was time to start shredding. I took the lid off about 1/2 an hour before I wanted to serve to allow it to cool somewhat. I put on an apron and glasses (not knowing if the beaters would splatter up hot bar-b-que sauce!) and used the slowest speed on my Kitchen-Aid hand mixer. I hoped this would work for pork in addition to the chicken breasts I saw demonstrated.

It took a minute but the pork chunks easily started to shred. It combined perfectly with the sauce and became the ideal texture to spoon on the brioche sesame seed buns. It was a fabulous dinner and it was just so easy! The pork wasn't gloppy and drippy so there were no soggy buns and we could add a bit of extra bar-b-que sauce to the meat, as desired. I do not know who to thank for this idea but pulled pork sandwiches and chicken tacos or enchiladas just got a whole lot more enticing to make for dinner! Try it out sometime, I swear it works like a charm!

P.S. I'm so excited to share some new things with you so please check back! I will get the posts written as soon as I can - this summer has been super busy!

GCN's Carrot Cake Oatmeal

We have been riding every day and having a blast! After taking a break from both cycling (for the winter) and watching GCN videos (too hard to see them riding in such gorgeous locations while my bike was stuck on the ceiling!), I am so happy to be back to both.

This video below, hosted by new presenter Emma Pooley (who I love!), caught my eye. She is doing a series on 'oat' cuisine featuring nutritious oatmeal. I was excited to try this recipe for Carrot Cake Oatmeal. I made mine in the Instant Pot using steel cut Irish oats. I added the grated carrot, raisins, orange zest, and spices (cinnamon and ginger), plus a little dash of vanilla.

The oatmeal was great and I loved the hint of orange. You really couldn't taste the carrot but the spices were lovely. I didn't exactly melt away into a carrot cake feeling of bliss (gotta miss that cream cheese frosting!), but it was a wonderful way to shake up the daily oatmeal breakfast and both of us would definitely eat it again. (I've also added my video for How to Make Carrot Cake below...just in case you'd rather eat your carrots for dessert than breakfast! It is such a delicious cake!!!!)

We always enjoy coming home to a hearty breakfast after an early morning, longer ride. The stomach is always growling and ready for some nutrition and it tastes even better outside on the deck. I'm pleased with how quickly we have got back into cycling and both of us feel much stronger than our first summer last year. Ride on!

Martha Stewart's Vegetarian Spinach Lasagna

I usually make a meat sauce-based lasagna but I didn't have any ground beef on hand and I DID have everything I needed to make a gorgeous vegetarian spinach one. I found THIS RECIPE from Martha Steward for Spinach Lasagna and it was amazing. It was not difficult to assemble and I was also happy it didn't call for ricotta cheese or cottage cheese since neither was in my fridge at the time.

Once you have steamed the spinach and prepared a simple bechamel sauce it is really quick to add the layers to a casserole dish. I made the process even faster by using some pre-grated cheese left over from the CREAMY 4-Cheese Garlic Spaghetti I'd made (another fantastic and simple recipe, by the way! Highly recommend!).

The lasagna smells incredible while it bakes and tasted absolutely fabulous. I was quite surprised by the lack of garlic in this recipe but it was actually a nice change. You could certainly add it into the sauce if you preferred, as well as substitute other vegetables for the sautéed zucchini. Broccoli or asparagus would both be good substitutes in our house.

I will definitely be making this vegetarian version of Spinach Lasagna and I'm looking forward to the leftovers tonight!

Royal Wedding Celebration!

I am very excited for the Royal Wedding on Saturday and will definitely be up early to watch. Even hubby is on board knowing I will be serving English Cream Scones at 6:00 a.m. There is nothing like enjoying these tender biscuits with clotted cream or Devonshire Double cream and a wonderful jam. I made a special trip to the British foods store to gather all I needed for the day and it took all my willpower to talk myself out of getting the souvenir Meghan and Harry gold-rimmed plate.

There is a bit of the Christmas fruitcake I made last winter to serve as a wedding cake stand-in (since I don't have time to make a Lemon Cake this week) and I plan on Cornish Pasties with potato, onion, and swede/rutabaga (you can find the recipe I used IN THIS POST) for dinner.

With all the media coverage on t.v. I had to pull out my scrapbook from our trip to England in 2016 to find my photos of Windsor (see them HERE) and re-live that amazing tour of the castle. It made me yearn to return and we so enjoyed the town of Windsor it is hard to see everyone standing where we stood, celebrating without us. Well, it looks like it will be a beautiful day and I cannot wait to see the bride and groom.

You can watch me make scones in my video below...an excellent treat to serve with tea!

Frittatas

I happened to catch an episode of Martha Stewart's 'cooking lessons' show and it was featuring egg recipes. The first was for a simple fried egg on toast and I thought it looked very appetizing! Next was a potato and onion frittata and that looked even better! As I had a leftover boiled potato in the fridge it would be ideal for my lunch. I remembered how much I like Martha and back in the day, I learned so much from her. Even though she has had her issues and some people do not enjoy her as much as I, it is still with such appreciation and fondness that I always will stop and watch, listen, and yes, continue to learn from Ms. Martha!

So...here is my frittata! I have made them in the past but usually I baked the dish in the oven for 'x' minutes. Martha suggests cooking and setting the eggs (and flavourful fillings) on a low heat on the stovetop and then finishing under the broiler for only a minute or two. The frittata should then turn a light golden brown and actually puff up with the direct heat. Mine did just that!

The addition of cheese (I used feta) and a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan before going into the pre-heated broiler was a wonderful touch and the frittata was perfect. I love how Martha will never shy from sharing very simple and basic recipes and methods with her viewers/readers. The love of amazing dishes starts with the appreciation of fresh, quality ingredients. They don't have to be prepared in a fancy way to be absolutely incredible.

Here is a link for the video from the Martha Stewart website on the formula for foolproof frittatas. Worth a watch if you want to brush up on your skills and make a delicious and quick breakfast, brunch, lunch or even dinner...

https://www.marthastewart.com/1129210/formula-foolproof-frittatas