Just Shake and Bake It Drumsticks

Literally!!! Dinner is served in 45 minutes with only 5 minutes of which  you are actually doing the work. And the best part is that everyone loves them. Now that’s my kind of dinner!

Just Shake and Bake It Drumsticks ~ serves 5

10 chicken drumsticks
1 C corn flake crumbs
2 - 3 Tbsp seasoning **(your choice)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

2. Put corn flake crumbs and seasoning in plastic baggie and toss contents lightly.

3. Rinse chicken drumsticks.

4. Place one drumstick into crumb mixture and shake until coated. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining drumsticks.

5. Place baking sheet into oven and bake until juices run clear at thickest part of drumstick, about 40 minutes. In the meantime, you can prepare your side dishes.

** My favorite seasoning is lemon pepper. Some other seasoning suggestions are Italian seasoning, Montreal Chicken Spice, Garlic Plus, dried herbs (stick to 1 - 2 Tbsp). Just use any seasoning that you have on hand or that you think would go well with chicken. The picture below was really cheating:  because I had some Shake and Bake mix sitting in the cupboard for over 6 months I decided to mix in 1 pouch Shake and Bake seasoning with 1/2 C corn flake crumbs.

Shepherd's Pie

I had half a bag of baking potatoes sitting around and I needed to use it up.  I was craving some beef too and I knew that Shepherd’s Pie is a great way to sneak veggies in for the boys (I really mean the hubby). I’d say that this dish is well-rounded for those meat and potato lovers in your life.

Shepherd’s Pie ~ adapted from Spoon It On

2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium cooking onion, chopped
3 cups of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp. Tuscan seasoning (I made it from the The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook , you can use Italian seasoning)
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 beef bouillon pack
3 heaping Tbsp Trio brown gravy mix
1/4 cup flour (or more for gravy/sauce)
1 cup water
10 small baking potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed (see directions below)
1 egg
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup milk

Heat large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Cook ground beef and onion until beef is cooked through. Add Tuscan seasoning, pepper, and beef bouillon. Stir until combined. Mix gravy mix with cold water to make a slurry and stir into meat mixture. Sprinkle flour over meat and stir. Bring to a slight boil. Add more water or flour to make the gravy to desired consistency. Add vegetables and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
In a separate pot, boil potatoes until a fork can go through it easily. Drain and add milk and butter to potato and mash until smooth. In a small bowl, beat the egg and pour half of the egg into the mash potato. You do not need to add salt to the potatoes. Turn beef mixture into a 9 x 13 inch roasting pan and top with mash potatoes, spreading evenly over meat mixture. Pour the remaining egg on potatoes and spread evenly again. Use a fork to score a pattern over the potatoes. Bake at 375 for approximately 30 - 40 minutes, or until browned.

Before going into the oven

Ta da! It was really delicious!

Whole Wheat Pizza

I decided to make Hawaiian pizza from scratch. That’s right, pizza dough from scratch. It sounds like a lot of work, but I tell you, it was so easy! I had this book on hand for reference:

I altered the pizza dough recipe to incorporate some whole wheat goodness and the crust turned out yummy.

Hawaiian Olive Oil Whole Wheat Pizza ~ adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

2-3/4 C water, lukewarm                                         
1-1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
1-1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 C extra virgin oil
5-1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C tomato sauce (I used Ragu)
20 – 30 slices pepperoni
1/2 C fresh pineapple, sliced and diced
1-1/2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 C cornmeal

1. Mix yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with water in a large bowl.

2. Mix in both flours and stir with a large spoon (or mixer fitted with a dough hook). If using spoon, you may need to use your hands to mix in the last bit of flour (make sure your hands are wet to reduce the dough from sticking to your hands).

3. Cover bowl with a dry tea towel and let the dough rest for approximately 2 hours.

4. If not using now, refrigerate in a lidded container (not airtight) and this can be stored this way for up to 12 days.

5. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat oven with a pizza stone at 500 degrees. Prepare pizza topping ingredients.

6. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off desired amount of dough (I used half of the dough). Dust the piece with more flour and shape into a ball by wrapping the dough around itself.

7. Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin (dusted with flour) to desired thickness. Place the rolled out dough onto a pizza peel (I used a flexible cutting board) covered with cornmeal.

8. Spread tomato sauce thinly over the pizza leaving a 1/2 inch border around the crust.

9. Distribute pepperoni and pineapple pieces over pizza dough. Scatter cheese over pizza.

10. Slide pizza off of the pizza peel onto the stone.

11. Check for doneness in 8 – 10 minutes. Depending on thickness of the crust you may need to add an extra 5 – 8 minutes.

12. Allow to cool slightly before serving (cheese needs to set).

Baked Salmon

Have I ever mentioned that I love salmon? One of my favorites. I like it smoked, sashimi, sushi, teriyaki, bbq’d, steamed, baked, roasted, fried, etc. The only time I don’t like salmon is when it is overcooked. I’ll eat it canned, but only in a salmon salad sandwich (I would prefer tuna though).

I got this recipe from Spoon It On a few years back (yes, I get a lot of recipes from her, because our kitchen motto is the same: quick, easy, and delicious)

Baked Salmon ~ Adapted from Spoon It On

I don't measure my ingredients, I adjust according to taste and my experience from previous attempts.

Salmon – fillet or steaks, I used a whole fillet of salmon here
1/2 to 1 lemon, sliced
1/2 stick butter ** see note below
seasoning salt ***see note below
steak spice *** see note below

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

1. Rinse and pat dry salmon fillet. Place in roasting pan or pan that allows the salmon to lay without overlapping except where the fillet is thin. The pan needs to have sides so that when you cover it with tin foil, the foil doesn't touch the fish.

2. Slice a lemon and set aside. (Just cut enough for the size of your fish)

3. Cut half a stick of butter into squares (If you like it more buttery, then cut more)

4. Sprinkle seasoning salt, steak spice over salmon (I season generously because my first attempt making this was too bland).

5. Place lemon slices on salmon nicely spaced apart (for more lemony flavour you can squeeze a little bit of lemon juice over the fish).

6. Place butter on salmon, once again spaced evenly on salmon (I line the butter every 1.5 inches along the length of the salmon and on top of the lemon slices).

7. Cover with tin foil and bake until desired doneness (I usually bake for 40 minutes but that's because it is the entire side of 1 salmon. If you use a smaller piece, it will be done anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes. It is done when the salmon flakes when you stick a fork in the thickest part of the fillet though I like mine to still be a little "pink" there).

** For a healthier option, drizzle olive oil and use less butter or completely omit butter if you want

*** You can basically use any seasoning you like. Try Montreal Steak Spice, Garlic Plus, Mrs. Dash, Italian seasoning…the list is endless. Or even try herbs such as dill, oregano, etc. And you can garnish with parsley or cilantro when ready to serve. In the past, in place of the steak spice and seasoning salt, I've tried using lemon pepper seasoning (don't over season with this mix as it is a strong one).

Garlic Shrimp over Whole Wheat Pasta

A few months back when Sam's Club Canada was liquidating their business, I picked up a couple of bags of frozen shrimp, shelled and veined.

I was over at Eat, Live, Run and saw how Jenna raved about her Engagement Scampi. I altered the recipe and I must say it was pretty yummy.


Garlic Shrimp over Whole Wheat Pasta

2 packs of whole wheat spaghettini, cooked according to package directions.
1 bag frozen shrimp, defrosted, shelled and veined
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chives (I used freeze-dried)
1/2 cup turkey broth
1 stick salted butter (next time, I will use unsalted as I found the sauce too salty)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
small handful parsley, chopped

1. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about a minute.

2. On high heat, add the shrimp to the garlic. When the shrimp is bright pink, remove shrimp and set aside.

3. Stir in chives, broth, butter, lemon, and red pepper. Boil until the sauce is reduced by half. Stir in the parsley and the shrimp and heat through.

Makes 6-8 servings.

After this meal I am regretting that I didn't pick up more bags of shrimp.

Leftovers Galore!

We had a lot of leftovers from the turkey dinner: bacon, rice, and, of course, turkey. I also had some fresh pineapple chunks and lettuce sitting in the fridge for a few days and wanted to use them up. I decided on making fried rice, Hawaiian-inspired.

Leftover Turkey Fried Rice, Hawaiian-inspired

4 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork and seasoned with a pinch of salt
4-5 C cooked rice, preferably from the night before (it makes for a less mushy and sticky fried rice)
1 C turkey, cubed or sliced
6-8 slices bacon, trimmed of excess fat and fully cooked and crumbled(I cooked mine in the microwave and used a paper towel to absorb the extra grease)
1/2 can of pineapple chunks (I used fresh)
1/3 head of lettuce, sliced in thin pieces
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

1. Preheat a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Spray with canola oil. Pour half the egg mixture into pan to make an egg pancake. When bottom is lightly browned, flip over. Once cooked, remove from pan and place on chopping board and cut into thin slices. Reserve the remaining egg mixture for later.

2. Spray the pan with canola oil and fry the rice (to warm it up). Season the rice with soy sauce to taste and add the remaining egg mixture to coat rice. Add turkey to pan and warm through. Add pineapple chunks. Once warm, add bacon, lettuce and sliced egg pancake. Season, if needed. If it isn't salty enough, add salt or fish sauce to taste.

Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

Need Freezer Space and a little more

When we renovated our kitchen a year and a half ago we bought another fridge and put the older fridge in the basement. We decided that it was also time to dispose of our deep freezer because always had a lot of frost build-up and the foods were getting freezer burned. We figured we could do without a deep freezer and just live on the freezers in the fridge. Well, now I regret our decision of not having a deep freezer (well, tossing out the old deep freezer was a wise idea since it was not energy efficient and not doing its proper job in freezing our meats). I want to get another deep freezer because we have maxed out the space in the two fridge freezers and can't take advantage of any deals on meats or stock up on BBQ meats and burgers for the summer.

A couple of weeks ago there was a great deal on some beef short ribs, pork side ribs and some other meats. I knew we didn't have any space in the freezer but I couldn't resist a great deal. What's a girl to do? I knew I had to make room in the freezer. Then it hit me! I had a turkey in one of them. What a great way to make space. I took the turkey out and I instantly freed up 1/4 of the freezer. I put it in the fridge to defrost. It took over a week to defrost (thank goodness). Even as I cut off the packaging I noticed small chunks of ice in the cavity of the bird.

This is how I prepared the turkey. I took out the giblets and neck (I threw them out even though I could have used them to make a yummy gravy). I scrubbed it with sea salt and rinsed it under cool water. I thought to myself, what kind of stuffing should I throw into my bird? I brainstormed quickly and decided on a "everything but the kitchen sink" stuffing, thus freeing up more fridge space. A lemon, a bunch of parsley, garlic, celery and carrots. It keeps the turkey meat nice and moist with a hint of flavour from the stuffing ingredients (I learned this from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook). I sprinkled seasoning salt, steak spice and a Tuscan spice blend (from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean). I then placed uncooked slices of bacon over the bacon (a little trick a friend told me 15 years ago).











This is how the turkey looked going into the oven (preheated at 350 degrees F):

And this is how it looked after 2.5 hours:

Remove and discard the bacon (my mom gobbles them up). I mixed the pan drippings, fat separated, with the gravy mix. The mix I use is the Nestle TRIO brown gravy mix - the best I've tried so far.

Hubby's rating: He doesn't like turkey but this time he raved at how tasty and moist it turned out.

Cook's rating: (that's me!) Delicious.

Tuxedo Sesame Encrusted Wasabi Salmon

Salmon is my favorite fish. If it were up to me, I would have salmon more than once a week, unfortunately hubby thinks that once a week is even too much. Rich and meaty, I like my salmon cooked any which way or as sashimi. Well, we haven't had salmon in a while so after hubby agreed (should he have a choice when he isn't the one cooking?), I picked up a beautiful slab of lusciousness from Costco for $22.56. I usually bake my salmon in the oven with a lemon butter sauce but I didn't feel for it. I decided to make a sesame-crusted salmon that would be pan-fried. I've made this many times before, but this time I wanted to add more depth to this dish, so I incorporated soy sauce and wasabi (the dipping sauce for sashimi) and to make it more special I added black sesame seeds to the usual white.

The ingredients (not pictured are the salt and pepper):

The assembly line:










Look at the sesame. So fancy looking. I eyeballed the amounts and would say I used about equal parts of the black and white sesame. I mixed the wasabi into the soy sauce (add as much wasabi as you want to the amount of heat you and your "diners" can handle). I used a paper towel to dry off the salmon fillets and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Then I dipped them into the soy sauce, followed by the sesame mixture. In a preheated non-stick pan sprayed with oil, fry the salmon to desired doneness.










Served with stir-fried zucchinis in the wasabi-soy sauce mixture and rice, both topped with a sprinkle of tuxedo sesame seeds (do not use the sesame seeds from the assembly line since they've come into contact with raw salmon):


This dish is a winner. It tasted A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Even hubby said it was delicious. This will be on our menus more often. It was so easy and quick. From start to finish, dinner was on the table in 30 minutes. And clean-up was a breeze: 1 knife, a cutting board, spatula, and 1 pan.