Categories
Food & Drink

University Nostalgia: Food Edition

It has been 16 years since I moved into 5 Henday in Lister Hall at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I met my best friend there and in my third year we moved off campus together into an apartment and we spent LOTS of time cooking together and sharing our “go-to” recipes.

So, as many are heading off to post-secondary I wanted to share some delicious recipes to cure homesickness and provide comfort at this stressful time. (Collecting these also gave us a chance to reminisce about the good old days). 

From my recipe book….

Pörkölt (Hungarian Chicken Stew)
Ingredients….
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon paprika
2 pounds chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 large tomato, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup water
1-2 teaspoons sea salt
2 (6 ounce) packages wide egg noodles

Directions…
In a deep pan, heat the oil; add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.
Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Remove the pot from heat and stir in the paprika.
Add the chicken pieces and cook on medium heat until the edges of the chicken are browned. Mix in the tomato, bell pepper, and 1/2 cup water.
Season with salt.
Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for an hour, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
Serve over egg noodles.

Pizza
I brought a Black and Decker bread maker into the friendship and pizza was always on the menu for Friday night SATC binge watching sessions. There are tons of easy pizza dough recipes on line you can use if you don’t have access to a bread machine; but in all honesty…they take up minimal space even in a cramped dorm room closet. If you are at all interested in making an epic vegetarian pizza; here is what we have ALWAYS top ours with….
-tomato sauce
-mushrooms
-black olives
-onions
-yellow pepper
-artichoke hearts
-spinach
-pineapple
-tomatoes

Skor-Peach Dessert
Ingredients…
Canned peach halves (drained)
Vanilla ice cream
Crushed Skor Toffee Bits

Directions…
In a bowl, put a peach half (inside up)
Fill indent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
Sprinkle liberally with Skor Toffee Bits

From my bestie’s cookbook…

Curry Rice & Pea Salad
Ingredients…
2 cups rice
1 ½ cup peas
⅓ cup canola oil
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp vinegar
½ tsp celery seed
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Directions…

Cook rice as directed on package; let cool
Cook peas; let cool
Combine rice and peas
Combine oil, curry powder, vinegar, celery seed, salt and sugar; mix well
Pour over the rice and rice

Ramen Noodle & Cabbage Salad
Ingredients…
1 green Cabbage
1 package Mr. Noodle (chicken or vegetable)  + seasoning.1 bunch green onions
1 cup slivered almonds
¾ cup vegetable Oil
¼ cup white vinegar
1 tbsp sugar

Directions…
Chop the cabbage into bite sized pieces
Thinly slice the green onions
Break up the noodles
Mix the cabbage, green onions, almonds together
Combine the vegetable oil, white vinegar, noodle seasoning package and sugar; mix well.
Pour over the cabbage
Refrigerate overnight

Dutch Baby Pancake
Ingredients…
3 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
½ cup flour
½ cup milk
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
Icing sugar
Lemon juice

Directions…
Preheat oven to 425F
In a pre-heated skillet melt the butter
Whisk the first 6 ingredients together
Pour batter into hot skillet
Bake for 18-20 minutes
Sprinkle with icing sugar and lemon juice

Categories
Design & Decor

Kitchen Reno On The Cheap

We have a ridiculously large kitchen… including the dining area it takes up a fair chunk of our 1620 square foot main floor. The cabinets are oak and cost wise it isn’t feasible to redo all of our cabinetry; considering some of our other renovation plans. We thought that a great way to save money and update the aesthetic was to simply change the hardware –from brass to bronze. The flooring, appliances and paint will be coming over the next year.

I have been doing some window-shopping online and I have narrowed down the choices for my country kitchen to the following…

1. Liberty 3 Half Round Foot Pull

2. Richelieu Traditional Metal Pull (Teramo Collection)

3. Richelieu Traditional Metal Pull (Drummondville Collection)

4. Amerock Extensity Pull – Oil-Rubbed Bronze

5. Amerock Inspirations Pull Oil-Rubbed Bronze

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Categories
Food & Drink

Veggie Sandwich Supreme

Throughout my life I spent time as a vegetarian. Although I no longer am one, I still frequently enjoy vegetarian and even vegan cuisine. My best friend and I spent a summer trying out vegetarian restaurants in our cities. As you know from some of my previous posts I am trying to eat better in general and to shave off some of my ‘quarantine weight’. One way to do that is to reduce consumption of processed food; in particular processed meats have been linked to increased risk of cancers, diabetes and heart disease. Chatelaine featured a really good article about choosing healthier lunch meat, check it out! With that in mind I thought it would be neat to create my own “Vegetarian Sandwich Supreme”…

2 slices marble rye bread (toasted then lightly cooled)
1 handful of butter lettuce or spinach
1 slice Swiss cheese
1/2 an avocado (mashed)
1 mini cucumber, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced
Several slices of red onion
2 Bick’s sandwich saver dill pickle slices
1 handful of alfalfa sprouts
1 ½ Tbsp Philadelphia garlic & onion cream cheese spread