Night 8 of Olympics meals - Norway!

Sorry, no England or France yet!  Norway tonight!  Quite simple, which was great since I worked all day, then grocery shopped after work, and smelled up the downstairs of our place great!  I would definitely make this again, but probably making the "side" alittle different - I'll explain below

Herbal Baked Salmon, what you'll need:

• enough salmon for however many people you are serving - I bought a small piece of salmon fillet for myself and a larger piece for the husband, about 1.25 lbs total
• fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice - used 2 separate times
• ground sea salt
• ground black pepper
• aluminum foil
• veggies - we used red pepper, broccoli florets, yellow squash, and red potatoes

Preheat oven to 350.  Place a long sheet of aluminum foil on a large baking sheet.  Cover the aluminum foil in the olive oil.   Place the rinsed and dried fillets on the aluminum foil, skin side down, and cover with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, salt, pepper, and rosemary sprigs.  Add the veggies you are using, cut into bite or two-bites sized pieces, and place on top of the salmon.  Spritz lemon juice on the veggies with a little bit of salt.  Fold the foil around the salmon and veggies.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until veggies and salmon are fully cooked through. 

 

  

 

Yum yum yum!  It was so light and refreshing, it made me feel full of goodness, not full of grossness!  The sweetness of the red pepper, mixed with the salmon, lemon, and other veggies was outstanding.  The veggies weren't fully cooked when the salmon was, hence why I said I would do the "sides" a little differently - I think I would either do the veggies in their own foil pocket, or just steam them on the side, then put them with the salmon and lemon mixture for just the last few minutes of the baking or so.  Loved it though!  Oh, and we added lemon slices, tomatoes, and avocado on top/on the side as well on our actual dinner plates - love avocado with salmon:)  Yay Norway!  This put me in a much better mood than German night did!

Tomorrow night will be another night off, this time planned, for a night out with the husband, but I'll be back Sunday!  Any guesses??  Enjoy the Olympics - this ice dancing with one dance then commercials, one dance, another commercial, is annoying though!

Night 7 of Olympics Meals - what do you think??

Takeout! haha...I forgot to take the meat ingredient out of the freezer before work and by the time I got home it was too late to defrost it then make the dish, so it's been bumped to next week.  My buffalo fingers and the husband's italian sub were great though;)

Back to Olympic meals tomorrow night - I won't forget to take out what I need before work;)  And atleast this morning I didn't shut my alarm off like Wednesday mornign!

Go USA and Olympics!!  Who does everyone want to win the men's skating competition tonight??

Night 6 of Olympics Meals - Germany!

Let me tell you, this was a di-sas-ter.  Maybe I picked a bad recipe for a Wednesday night - 2 hours of cooking after a very long day at work is not suggested, but that's what I did, and poorly.  I followed the directions for both the Beef Sauerbrauten and the potato dumplings, but the meat was very tasteless, surprising b/c of all the ingredients in the sauce, and the potato dumplings were just awful.  I'm not even going to post that recipe.  So, at this time, Cheycancook is feeling down.

When I, Cheycancook, am feeling less tired and frustrated, and less hungry, maybe I will be funnier and full of wit, but tonight, it'll just be some pics and a the recipe.  Any guesses for tomorrow night?  Please also hope that tomorrow goes better than tonight!

Beef Sauerbrauten - you will need:

• 1.5 lbs beef, cut into stew size pieces
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup cooking sherry
• 1 white onion, cut into whatever sized pieces you'd like
• 2 tbsp pickling spice
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 10 black peppercorns, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• sauce - 1 cup reserved mixture, 1/4 cup gingersnap crumbs, and 1/4 cup sour cream

Brown beef pieces in a Dutch oven, coated with cooking spray, over medium high heat.  While that is cooking, combine water and next 7 ingredients.  Reserve one cup of this mixture, and pour the rest of the mixture over the beef.  Reduce heat to medium, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

 

 

While this is cooking, make your sauce - combine the 1 cup of reserved mixture and 1/4 cup gingersnap crumbs (I just broke up some gingersnap cookies) in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Reduce heat and stir in sour cream, cooking over low heat until heated through.

 

 

Once the meat is cooked thru, discard the bay leaves, drain the mixture, and serve meat topped with your sauce.

Bland, yuck, sauce too gingery, lucky we had leftover cheesy potatoes and chicken parm is all I have to say!  You can't get a 10 every night right??   Can anyone recommend any German recipes I could try another time?

Night 5 of Olympic Meals - Italia!

Good job, the Motha, you guessed it right! 

Every night, not only do I cook a fabulous, Olympic inspired meal, but I've also been teaching the husband facts about each country - tonight we learned Italians drink an average of 26 gallons of wine a year!  That sure is alot!

So what do you think I cooked?  Pizza because of Naples?  Spaghetti and meatballs?  Lasagna?  Something I've never made before...?  Nope, good ole chicken parm, a fave of almost everyone I know!  I'm sure I make it pretty similar to everyone else, because really, how different can you make chicken parm?  This is how I make it (it's a big hit over here!)

You will need:

• boneless chicken breasts - for us (for tonight and leftovers) I used 3 hand-sized pieces cut into thirds
• 2 tbsp italian dressing
• 2 cups of breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• any type of spaghetti sauce you'd like
• 1 8oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
• BEST ingredient - CRP!

Preheat oven to 350.  Heat oil in a large fry pan over medium high heat.   Cut chicken into sizes you would like and squirt italian dressing on them, spreading it over the entire surface of the piece of chicken; let dressing soak in for a good 10 minutes.  While that is soaking, mix together breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. 

When the chicken is done soaking and the oil has heated, dip chicken into breadcrumb mixture and place all pieces into the fry pan, turning once.  Cook until both sides are browned.  Place chicken in a 9x13 pan, cover with as much spaghetti sauce as you'd like, then wait, before the cheese, add as much CRP as you'd like!  THEN top with mozz cheese and bake for 45 minutes.  It smells so good, is so nicely browned and bubbly and the surprise of CRP in the bites is a shock factor - but a great one!

Tonight I served the chicken parm over a  mixture of rotini and ziti with some nice garlic bread and salad.  I hope this is italian enough!  If I had had more time, I would've bought some ice cream, as the Italians created the ice cream cone:)

Phew!  I feel like I typed this so fast!  I think it's the lack of Olympic time sleep catching up to me!  Enjoy the rest of your night and the Olympics tonight!  Go USA men and Plushenko in skating!  My fantasy skating team is tied for 65th so far, after pairs, out of about 1000 - yay! 

Any guesses for tomorrow night??

 

 

Night 4 of Olympic Meals - U...S...A!!!

I couldn't leave out our great homeland!  Especially on a Monday night after a long day at work; I planned this well for myself;)   And yes, the list has been pre-determined already:)

So what did I make?  Bacon cheeseburgers and cheesy potatoes b/c, we, as Americans, eat crappier than anyone else in the world:)  Sad huh?  Maybe after Olympic meals, I'll do only healthy meals...that would be a good idea:)

Bacon cheeseburgers - easy - heat up the good ole George Foreman grill, and cook some burgers.  I cooked maple flavored (there you go, Canadians!) bacon on the side in a fry pan.  The trick is to add the white deli cheese to the burger AFTER you take it off the grill - they're so hot, it'll melt just like that.

This time, we only ate half the pan of the cheesy potatoes, compared to last time where I'm pretty sure ate the whole thing = this made us realize that night back in September we were very hungry!  Click here for the cheesy potatoes recipe:)

So, easy for a Monday right?  I hope none of you feel I cheated by including USA!  Any guesses for tomorrow night?  And if you could only make one "American" meal for the rest of your life, what would you make? 

Yay Bode Miller!  But I'm getting angry, Bob Costas, show figure skating!

Night 3 of Olympic meals - Russia!

Sorry Melissa, you guessed wrong tonight:( but keep trying!

So, as kind of a prelude, I'm not really sure if this is Russian.  I googled "Russian food for crockpots" and this is one of the recipes that came up.  Could it be "Russian" because of one ingredient - possible, and that one ingredient probably isn't very Russian at all.  Read this thru and let me know what you think:)

So tonight, I made Russian Dump - yes, that is what it's called.  Let me tell you, it smelled nothing like a dump; there was actually a wonderful aroma in our house starting at 11am today:)  I was very scared of this one because I don't like salad dressing, but it's another crockpot chicken winner!

You will need:

• boneless chicken thighs - I had about 3 lbs
• 1 bottle Russian salad dressing 
• 1 jar of apricot jam or preserves (I used the smallest jar in the grocery store)
• 1 envelope of onion soup mix

That's it.  Doesn't seem very Russian, huh?  But with Russian in the name, I went with it:)  Place the chicken in the crockpot and cover with all ingredients. 

Cook on low for 6-8 hours (I cooked it for 7) or high 3-4 hours.  Serve with rice and enjoy!

Pretty easy huh?  Uh huh!  But so tasty - it tasted smoky with a sweet flavor, and was so tender - chicken, like I always say, cooks the best in the crockpot no doubt. 

I'm off to enjoy more Olympic coverage - go Shen and Zhao!!  Gotta love fantasy skating;)  Is everyone else enjoying the Olympics?  What is your favorite event?  Oh and I think I'll have some more nanaimo bars;)  Have a great night everyone, and don't forget to guess what country I'll cook for tomorrow night!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone:)

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am not a huge fan of this day, even though I have the best Valentine of course (hehe, we all do ladies, right!?), but I do love getting a card (but I get cards other days too) and the random sweet I get every year - some years it's Easter candy, other years St. Patrick's Day cupcakes, this year Ghiradelli chocolates:)  BUT, to me, a Valentine should treat you the same, and with the same love, everyday...or as many days as possible;)

I did make Sunday big breakfast as usual, just with a Vday spin on it ;)

 

Can you tell they're heart pancakes?  I put pink sprinkles on mine;)  

So there you go:)  Hope you're all enjoying it in whatever way YOU like:)  And how about those Olympics!  Great job by the USA last night!  Figure skating starts tonight - I'm sooo excited and my fantasy team is ready to go!

Be back later with a new country/meal - any guesses as to what country night 3 is??