PERFECT Home Cut Fries

So everyone craves fries, we can admit that. and if you have already cut them, they're great when entertaining, since they require very little babysitting. Don't they look delicious?!

Ingredients

Russet (or any) Potatoes
Olive Oil
Paprika
GARLIC (or garlic powder)
Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425. Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1-2cm slices, then again into large french fry style matchsticks.
2. Let potatoes rest in cold water for half an hour (this keeps them crunchy!). Make sure you dry them off REALLY WELL (I think you'd be safe to bag and freeze them at this point if you wanted)
3. Drain potatoes and toss with remaining ingredients. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet, and cook for 15 minutes, turn and cook another 15 minutes, or until nice and crispy.


*Serve with mayo mixed with the spiciest hot sauce you have; we use a Caribbean pepper sauce!

Snow, Chicken and Squash

Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Butternut Cubes.





Ingredients

Olive oil & butter
2 skin on chicken breasts
Salt & pepper, thyme
1 butternut squash
maple syrup
chicken broth

Method

1.Slice squash width wise and then into cubes
2.Toss with olive oil and bake at 400 until squash passes the fork test with an F (firm)
3.Meanwhile, season chicken breasts with s & p, melt 1 tsp each butter and oil in an oven proof pan over medium high heat
4.Cook chicken skin side down about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip chicken, and place in pre-heated oven until internal temp reaches 170.
5.When chicken is getting close, combine a 1:1 ratio of maple syrup and butter in a small sauce pan, boil and reduce to create a glaze; and salt to taste
6.toss squash with thyme, salt and pepper and saute on high heat until browning occurs
7.Drizzle maple syrup glaze everywhere, and enjoy



*the butternut cubes came from here
*OOOH one last thing - Do you read Questionable Content? you should. trust me and start at the beginning. You'll love me forever.

Classic Mac & Cheese (no veg allowed)

Have you heard of Ree? Drummond? THE Pioneer Woman? Well, she has perfect mac and cheese with the tempered egg; something I never thought of. Anyways, I adore Ree Drummond, and certainly agree that you must pick your battles with healthy substitutions; mac and cheese will never be healthy! And I'm ok with that! Alright, if I DO bake my mac (which I usually do), I'll crumble kale chips over it instead of bread crumbs. However, I've decided to make this a completely veg free post, so forget everything green and ogle the ooey gooey cheesiness.

Here's my take on her mac, with a mix of fresh Canadian mozzarella and friulano (by Saputo)

The Canadian Enchilada.

It sounds dirty, and it's also virtually non-existent. Up here, we simply don't have access to the fiery peppers Rick Bayless instructs us to roast for any given Mexican dish. Having my very own Mexican [dream boat], from time to time he simply insists on having his spicy tortilla-y cuisine. I, unfortunately have negative 590879 Mexican dishes under my belt (with the exception of pulled Mexican chicken, which I promise I'll post sometime).

ANYWAYS, I've already accepted defeat in the enchilada sauce round, and will go with the best store bought I can find. Verde or Rojo? That is the question.

From here, it's mostly individual prep and assembly. Pulled chicken mixed with some of my home made from scratch *ahem* enchilada sauce, spinach and black beans. Roll ' em up and place them in a glass casserole dish, the bottom of which has a layer of your home made from scratch enchilada sauce. top with more sauce and cheese. Since I've long ago abandoned any sense of 'authentico mexicano' (say this with a Texan accent), I've decided that if I use a red sauce i'll texmex the frijoles outta this and use cheddar. If I can find a verde (preferable) I"ll use farmer's cheese - it's clearly impossible for me to get my hands on queso fresco.

Rosemary Scones & Tea

Having my Mexican's grandmother over for tea was worrying me quite a bit! I had some nice tea from Harrod's in London, so with that taken care of it was on to scones. Here's the recipe I used. I subbed in farmer's cheese for the cheddar, but would stick to an aged orange cheddar next time. Go light on the sugar, and heavy on the herbs and pepper!

Here's a shot of what I had for our tea

Secret Lazy Spanish Rice

We all have our dishes and snacks that are far from ... glamorous. This is one of mine and I just love it. Mostly, this is my effortless, no time for anything lunch. Believe it or not, I fed this to my wonderful MEXICAN boyfriend one night and he didn't know the difference. Am I a bad person?

Deep breath... ok here goes. Just take cooked (or more commonly leftover) rice, add some Herdez Salsa, and stir it around. Done. Over. If you're really up to it you could even grate some cheese over it.

I am a bad person. sorry, Internet.

Peach Muffins

So the Taber Corn and BC Peaches trucks were making their last weekend trip, and I may or may not have purchased $15 worth of peaches... Out of necessity and unconditional love for the elegant lady BC peaches, I bring you Peach Muffins, from this lovely southern bell. These are delicious, and remind me of Quaker Oats Peach n Cinnamon Oatmeal porridge from my days as a kidling. I used all brown sugar, and didn't bother with the cinnamon sugar topping.