Peanut Butter Cracker Jacks

Clara has been asking for Cracker Jacks.

And, since today is Family Day, I thought it would be a great time to try and make some.

I tried to make ours a little healthier than the stuff in the red box.

This recipe makes a ton and takes no time to make.

We used our trusty Whirley Pop popcorn maker but microwave popcorn would work too.

Clara requested peanut, marshmallows and honey in her corn and I think it is a swell combo.

We scooped ourselves a large bowl if it and settled in to listen to The Railway Children on Librivox.org.

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cracker Jacks

(adapted from thekitchn.com)

15-20 Cups popped corn (about 1 cup unpopped kernals)

salt

1/2C honey

1/4C brown sugar

1/2C unsweetened natural peanut butter (if youre using a sweetened PB here just dont add any brown sugar)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 C micro marshmallows

1 C peanuts

Pop corn.

Pick through and try to remove all un-popped kernals.

Pour popcorn into a huge bowl, salt popped corn to taste, add marshmallows and peanuts.

In a small pot, over med heat, stir together honey and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer a few minutes to dissolve sugar. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until well combined.

Pour honey mixture over popcorn and stir to combine.

Spread mixture out on a large cookie sheet and bake at 200* for about 10 minutes or so.

Eat warm if you want to....we sure did.

February Soup

My treatment for feeling cold and a little couped-up in mid-February.

A. Spend time with these people.

B. Eat this soup.

I love this lentil soup.

It's loaded with vegetables, brown rice, lentils and just enough bacon to give it deep, rich flavour.

Simple ingredients, simple to prepare and can stand on it's own feet as a meal. Perfect.

Serve it with some rye bread or a simple spinach salad.

February Lentil Soup

(adapted from Saveur.com)

1/4 lb bacon cut in to 1 inch slices

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp fragrant curry powder

1⁄2 tsp. dried thyme

8 cups chicken broth

1 cup long-grain brown rice, rinsed

3⁄4 cup brown lentils, rinsed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

chopped kale or spinach (optional)

1. Cook bacon in a large soup pot, stirring until crispy and cooked. Drain fat.

2. Add carrots, celery, and onions, along with cumin, thyme and curry. Cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 10–15 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, rice, and lentils and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until rice and lentils are soft, about 45 minutes. Stir in greens, if using.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

You'll want to make these for a large group of people.

Otherwise you will be tempted to eat the whole tray.

A lemony shortbread crust with jammy blueberry filling.

These will not take you long to make.

In fact, I made a batch in the time it took Clara to read Nate the Great aloud.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

From Smittenkitchen.com

About 36 squares

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Crispy Chicken

When I want to make a special dinner for Jimmy, it usually involves fried chicken of some form or another.

Sometimes I cheat and make oven 'fried'.

There are many ways to do oven baked, breaded, crispy chicken. I'm sure you have your own way of making it.

Cooks Illustrated created this recipe for pork chops and has you dredging in flour, dipping into a mustard egg and then into a herbed breadcrumb.

I decided to try this with chicken thighs.

It turned out beautifully served with some sweet potato fries and even cut up cold for a sandwich next day.

Crunchy Baked Chicken Thighs

(found at Smittenkitchen.com)

Table salt

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

4 slices hearty rye, wheat or white sandwich bread, torn into 1-inch pieces

1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons) or a dash of onion powder

3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Ground black pepper

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

3 large egg whites

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350*.

Pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer crumbs to rimmed baking sheet and add shallot, garlic, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss until crumbs are evenly coated with oil. Bake until deep golden brown and dry, about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. (Do not turn off oven.) Cool to room temperature. Toss crumbs with Parmesan, thyme, and parsley.

Place 1/4 cup flour in pie plate. In second pie plate, whisk egg whites and mustard until combined; add remaining 6 tablespoons flour and whisk until almost smooth, with pea-sized lumps remaining.

Bring the oven temp up to 425 degrees. Spray wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and place in rimmed baking sheet.

Season chicken with pepper. Dredge chicken in flour; shake off excess. Using tongs, coat with egg mixture; let excess drip off. Coat chicken with bread crumb mixture.

Transfer breaded chicken to wire rack. Repeat.

Bake 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Spaghetti and Quinoa Beef Meatballs

As if I needed something else to do with quinoa, I found this recipe at Whole Foods and just had to try.

Instead of using all meat in the meatballs, these are a combo of beef and quinoa.

Red quinoa totally blends in with the red meat and is practically invisible.

These are my new favourite.

Seriously, not even in a crunchy and mind over matter health freaky way.

These are good.

Spaghetti and Meatballs, done right, is my favourite thing to eat.

Whole Foods got it just right with these!

Clara even gave these a high review. "I really love these meatballs, Mum. And I'm not just trying to be polite!"

A little note, this recipe calls for 3/4 of a cup of cooked quinoa. I had a little less than a pound of ground beef so used about 1 1/2 cups of quinoa and it was great.

Quinoa Beef Meatballs

(Wholefoods.com)

See bottom of recipe for how to cook quinoa.

1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup cooked quinoa **
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup grated zucchini
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 egg

Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil then grease with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together beef, quinoa, onions, carrots, zucchini, ketchup, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, salt, oregano, thyme and egg until well combined. Shape beef mixture into 16 balls and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Roast until cooked through and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot.

**Note: To cook quinoa, bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small pot. Pour in ½ cup quinoa, cover and simmer until water is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside off of the heat for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Apple Cake with Cream and Caramel Sauce

(Thanks for the photos Lau Merrick)

One of the most popular cakes on the Martha Stewart website is this delightfully easy and perfectly tasty Apple Cinnamon Cake.

I can't seem to stop making this cake.

I made it twice this week, shared it with a ton of people and everyone loved it.

My Gramma Dorothy is the queen of all things food. She loves to read about food, cook it and eat it.

She loves apple cake, so I made this one especially for her.

Though I'm sure Martha's recipe would have been great, I changed it a little.

The original recipe called for 3 cups of flour, 1 1/3 cups oil, 2 cups sugar... and that seemed a little intense to me.

I subbed in 1 1/2 cups spelt flour, 2/3 cup apple sauce in place of all the oil and reduced the sugar by 1/2 cup. It was lovely.

If you top the cake with a little maple-vanilla infused whipped cream and the caramel drizzle, I'm pretty sure it will blow your mind.

Apple Cake with Cream and Caramel Sauce

(adapted from Martastewart.com)

2/3 C oil

2/3 C applesauce

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 C spelt flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

1 1/2 C sugar

3 large eggs

3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (about 3-4Cups)

1/2 C pecans or walnuts (optional)

1 tsp vanilla

Grease a large bundt pan and preheat oven to 350*.

Sift together flours, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat together oil, applesauce, sugar and eggs until bright yellow.

Add dry ingredients to wet and stir just until combined.

Add apples and nuts, fold in.

Stir in vanilla.

Pour into bundt pan and cook 60-70 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Cool the cake and then invert on a plate. Serve drizzled with sauce.

*I served this once with ice cream and once with Maple cream.

*For the maple cream I poured a medium container of heavy cream into a bowl. Mix until almost firm, add 2 Tbsp of Maple syrup and 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk again until firm.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup light-brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium

Quinoa Carrot Cake Muffins

For Christmas, I was given a new cookbook called Quinoa, The Everyday Superfood.

(I am always in the market for a new cookbook.)

A dear friend, who knows I love quinoa, got me this little number.

The only thing I have ever put quinoa in is a pilaf or salad.

This book has you coating chicken with it, eating it for breakfast and even baking with it.

I love the taste of baking with a variety of flours.

Spelt is my old standby. I do everything with spelt. It's often in cookies and cakes and always in my pizza dough.

These carrot cake muffins get their rich nutty flavour by using only quinoa flour.

I wasn't sure if I would like baking with quinoa flour. It seemed strange.

I bought (at the Bulk Barn) only what I needed for this recipe.

If buying 'weird-ish' ingredients scares you, do the same. Just buy a couple scoops of it to start.

My kids love these.

Of course, I didn't say, "Hey kids, come get a load of these ultra weird, low fat, quinoa muffins..." I called them "Carrot Cake", served them as dessert and they totally went for it.

I iced them with the same icing I used for the Red Velvet cupcakes and they're perfect together.

Quinoa Carrot Cake Muffins

From: Quinoa The Everyday Superfood

1 1/3 C quinoa flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground clove

2/3 C golden raisins (I did 1/3 C raisins and 1/3 C pecans)

2 large eggs

2/3 C plain or vanilla yogurt

1/2 C packed brown sugar

2 1/4 C grated carrot

Preheat the oven to 350*, line 12 muffin cups with liners or a coating of non-stick spray.In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and clove.

Whisk until well blended. Mix in the raisins and pecans (if using) and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, sugar and carrot.

Using a spatula gently mix dry into wet and stir just until combined.

Scoop in to muffin cups and bake for 20-22 minutes or until tester stick comes out clean.

When cooled, top with cream cheese frosting.

Joy's Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 C butter, at room temperature

1 package of cream cheese, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp Milk

3 C sifted icing sugar

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.