Valentines Day

I'm being spoiled tonight. Jimmy is making dinner for me tonight and he is a great cook. The menu is a surprise so I'm looking forward to finding out what he's planning. He knows me very well so I know the food will be well tailored. But mostly of all, I'm just looking forward to having an evening together.

Some pretty unforgettable valentines gifts he given me have included a message encrypted poem and yellow roses hand delivered from San Antonio.

Gnocchi Scramble

Creamy gnocchi with scrambled eggs and scallions, I could eat this every day. I love this meal, it's a creamy and very flavourful dish that takes less than 10 mins to make. I almost always have gnocchi and eggs in the pantry so I can make this whenever I need to. It goes perfectly at any meal, with toast at breakfast, on a bed of romaine at lunch and as a side dish at dinner. Jim was the first one to makes this dish one night when I was laying on the couch sick and watching Jacques Pepin's cooking show Fast Food My Way with no strength or ambition to make dinner. This was the recipe that Jacque was making in that particular episode and Jim said, "Do you want that? I could make that." Mmmm, it tasted mighty fine.

Creamy Gnocchi Scramble

(adapted from Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way)

1 small pkg potato gnocchi

1C water

2 tsp olive oil

5 eggs

salt and pepper

2 tbsp chopped scallions (optional)

2 tsp butter

1/3 C cottage cheese or sour cream

Place gnocchi in a large frying pan over med-high heat. Pour in water and oil. Cover and cook 4 mins or until gnocchi is tender and rehydrated.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, salt and pepper.

When gnocchi is cooked, remove lid and cook 1 more minute. Add butter and scallions cook 1 more minute.

Stir in eggs and continue stirring until egg is cooked. Finish by removing pan from heat and stirring in the cottage cheese or sour cream.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a grating of Parmesan cheese if you like.

What I {almost} ate for : Breakfast

Having a very hungry boy around me all the time means I share all my meals. Jibs usually finishes his breakfast and then finishes my breakfast. This morning (after being inspired, yet again, by Everyday Food) I toasted myself a piece of bread, sliced some white cheddar on top and spread the cheddar with marmalade, popped it in the toaster oven again and melted everything together. If you don't have a toaster oven, I would stick the dressed toast under the broiler for a minute or so.

I love marmalade and what I actually of this toast was delicious...Jibs ate most of it and made "mmm, yum" sounds the whole time. This is sure to become a morning favourite.

Now excuse me as I go make myself another toast.

What we ate for : Lunch

Lunch can be a challenging meal at times, so I'm thankful for things like grilled cheese and soup. One of my long-time favourite lunches has to be this salad. I think I modified this from a Michael Smith recipe about 6 years ago or something. (I ate it a lot when I was pregnant and after Clara was born).

Stir together a mixture of beans, tuna, olive oil, and lemon with a sprinkle of kosher salt and some pepper then eat it on some lettuce or pasta and even serve it up in a soft tortilla. Lunch is served.

Today I ate it on a bed of arugala, parsley, cucumber and spinach. The kids ate it beside some sliced cucumber, red peppers, grapes and cheese.

Lemon Chickpea Salad

1 can chickpeas (or white beans)

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

1 can tuna, drained and chunked

1Tbsp Olive oil

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Serve atop lettuce or pasta, fill a tortilla or eat it alone.

Sprinkle with freshly grated parm if you want.

Saving the Casserole

When most people hear the words 'leftovers' or 'casserole' they think gross, no thanks. (At least, my family does.)

Ok, this recipe uses leftovers and is a casserole but totally redeems the terms. I roasted a ton of bone-in skin-on chicken breast the other day (using Ina Garten's method**) and went looking for something to do with it. So it doesn't have to be with leftover turkey, as the recipe suggests, but it would be a great dish to do after Christmas or Thanksgiving when you have tons of the bird kicking around.

I made this for company one night and it fed seven of us, including Jibs and Clara, with one small serving left over.

The thing that made this meal especially good, in my opinion, was using really good bread for the topping. My favourite bread right now is actually an bun from the Caldense bakery. Their rye, seedy buns are pretty amazing. Chopped into medium sized chunks, tossed with a little parmesan cheese, melted butter, salt and pepper, it is a perfect topping.

Curried Chicken Casserole

(Adapted from Martha's Everyday Food)

1/4 C Melted Butter

1 small onion, diced small

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C AP flour

3 Whole Milk, warmed slightly

2 Tsp curry powder

coarse salt

ground pepper

6 1/2 C broccoli florets

4 C cooked chicken or turkey, cut into 3/4 inch pieces**

3 C bread, medium dice

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 C parmesan cheese, grated

salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 400*.

Melt butter in a medium pot. Add onion, and garlic, cooking until soft but not brown, about 7 mins.

Whisk in flour and cook 1 min. Slowly whisk in milk until mixture is smooth. Cook until it comes to a simmer. Stir in curry and season with salt and pepper.

Add broccoli and cook 5 mins until softened. Stir in chicken.

Transfer mixture to a 9x11 baking dish.

In a small bowl, toss bread with butter, parm, a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper.

Top the meat and broccoli with bread. Bake until golden brown about 15 mins.

Serves 6-8 people.

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**Ina's Roasted Chicken Breast (Bone in Skin on)

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.

Giant Oreos

Oreo cookies are really something most everyone can agree on. Introduced in 1912, they have quickly become the best selling cookie in the USA and probably in Canada too.

The other day, I had a bag with a few cookies in it, a few arrowroot biscuits and an Oreo. Jibs saw the bag and brought it to me expectantly. I reached in the bag and pulled out an arrowroot biscuit. His, once hopeful eyes, filled with tears and he crumpled to the floor...he wanted the Oreo!

Jibs is not the only one, Clara and Jim could easily eat Oreos by the tray full.

Curious as to whether or not I could come close to the Oreo goodness found in the Nabisco bag, I tried this simple recipe found here.

The chocolate wafer is a breeze to make if you have a stand mixer or food processor, just throw in all the ingredients and blend. The filling, just as painfully sweet as the true Oreo, is a delicious filling for its crunchy chocolate surroundings.

Clara was my taste tester and absolutely loved them.

Giant Oreos

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Set oven to 375.

Place flour, cocoa, soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix and then add butter and egg blending until a thick paste forms.

Roll teaspoonfuls into a ball and place on a paper lined baking sheet, pressing down lightly.

Bake 9mins.

Meanwhile, make filling. In the mixer, blend butter and shortening. Slowly add sugar, and then vanilla. Whipping until very well mixed.

Place a blob between 2 cooled cookies and squish.

Sugar Free (Not Taste Free) Apple Spice Muffins

Jibs says, "It's pretty hard to wait for these to cook, I want one now."

Having muffins or loaf around really helps in the mornings, Jim loves being able to grab something quick to eat in the car on the way to work if he doesn't have time for a large breakfast. They also travel well as a snack if we have to run out to the store. So it's nice to have a few good, healthy recipes on hand to whip up.

I don't like to give my people sugar first thing in the morning, so I worked on making this recipe tasty but also reasonably healthy and sugar-free. The sweetness comes from apple sauce and honey with some nice bits of fresh apple. These come out moist and full of flavour.

I use all whole wheat flour and I would encourage you to do the same because it adds a really nice texture and taste, but white flour would be fine too. Feel free to add a handful if walnuts or raisins to the batter at the end if you like. My peeps like plain apple spice so that's how I do them.

Apple Spice Muffins

1 C apple sauce

1/2 C honey

1/2 C butter, soft

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves and ginger

1 C apple, chopped

(1/2 C nuts and 1/2 C raisins or craisins, optional)

Preheat oven to 350*.

Cream together butter and honey. Add applesauce and mix well.

Combine all dry ingredients. Add the applesauce mixture to dry.

Blend just until combined. Fold in apple and extras.

Scoop into 12 lined muffin tins or 1 loaf pan.

Bake 25-30mins. (for muffins)

or 40-60mins (for loaf)