Caribbean Pork 'N Rice

Here is another delicious recipe from Kraft Canada. This one came from a 2008 What's Cooking magazine that I received in the mail.

I have almost the whole collection and refer to them often when I am looking for new recipes to try and old favourites to make. We added this recipe into our meal plan one week and the only thing that we needed to buy was the pork tenderloin. I bought it when it was on sale so this was a fairly economical meal for our family.

We had it for supper one night and then had the leftovers again the next night. Even my daughter, who normally only likes plain white rice, liked it. Next time we may freeze the leftovers for a night when we are too busy to cook.

You can find the recipe here on the Kraft Canada website.

Pancakes - From Scratch

If you have been following along, you know that one morning of every weekend we like to all sit down for a big breakfast or brunch. It is a chance to spend some time together as a family, time for talking, laughing and connecting.

I use a recipe for pancakes that my mother gave to me. I am not sure exactly where she got it from. We have modified it over the years to include different add-ins and to try new tastes.

This recipe makes light, fluffy pancakes every time. The extras freeze very well. We often make a double batch and put the leftovers in the freezer to pull out for for quick breakfasts or snacks.

I cook them in the frying pan on the stove over medium heat. If you have en electric griddle you can use that to cook them instead.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp white sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 3/4 cups milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Add Ins:Mashed fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, flavourings (vanilla, almond, orange, etc)

Directions:
1. In one bowl mix together flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In a smaller bowl mix together egg, milk and vegetable oil.

3. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Beat until combined.
 * You can add your extras here. We often use mashed bananas, chocolate chips, chopped berries or berry puree (you can reduce the milk of you use pureed fruit)

4. Heat frying pan or griddle.

5. Pour pancake batter into pan and cook until surface is covered with bubbles and the edges lose their gloss. I like to make fun shapes depending on the season. Snowmen and Candy Canes in the winter, pumpkins in the fall, Bunnies for Easter. Just pour the batter on in the desired shape and remember that the batter will spread out when it is cooked.

6. Use a spatula to flip the pancake and cook until golden brown.

Serve hot with butter and syrup, berries and whipped cream or jam.

Ground Beef Burgers

Finally, summer BBQ season is here.

We love to fire up the BBQ on a hot summer evening and have supper on the deck or a picnic on the lawn. It stays cooler in the house if we do not turn on the oven and cook supper and it's fun too! We play in the backyard until dinner is ready and then have our supper with our toes in the grass and the sun on our face.

It is wonderful!

I watch for ground beef on sale so I can make burgers for BBQ season. I try to buy extra if there is room in our budget and then I make up a whole bunch of burgers and freeze them so we can just grab some out of the freezer when we want to BBQ.

I guess that it could be called freezer cooking - but technically I do not cook the burgers before freezing them. I just prep them so we can throw them on the BBQ when we want to.

We have found that making the burgers ourselves is much less expensive than buying pre-made frozen burgers from the store and they taste much better. We know exactly what ingredients go into them, which is great too. If you do not eat beef, you can substitute another type of ground meat; turkey, pork, chicken or whatever your preference.

I make my own breadcrumbs in the food processor with the leftover ends from loaves of bread and sometimes include leftover cereal or cracker crumbs. I like to use the pasta sauce spices from Epicure in our burgers for something a little different but salt and pepper work just fine too. We get the spices from a vendor at the farmer's marker in the summer.

Our recipe changes based on what is in the cupboard and what we feel like. The basic recipe is below, but feel free to change it up and make it your own.I use my KitchenAid mixer to do the mixing for me - do not mix the meat mixture too long or you will have tough burgers. You can mix everything by hand as well. All measurements are approximate.

Ingredients:
2 pounds (0.90Kg) Ground Beef (1 package)
2 cups fine bread crumbs
1 single serving size applesauce
1 Egg
Spices to taste

1. Make the bread crumbs in the food processor. Add spices and mix for another few seconds to mix them in well.
2. Put ground beef, applesauce and egg in a bowl.
3. Add breadcrumbs and mix well.
4. Form into burgers and place on baking sheet. I put a layer of wax paper on the baking sheet, burgers on top, a layer of wax paper, then a piece of cardboard, then wax paper, then burgers, you get the idea. The pieces of cardboard in between keep the burgers from smooshing down into a big blob.

5. Place in freezer until frozen. Once frozen, remove the burgers from the baking sheet and store in a resealable bag until ready to use them.

Cook them on the BBQ, on the stove or in the oven - however you like them.

Banana Waffles

We do a big breakfast one day almost every weekend at our house. We always change it up. One weekend might be french toast, pancakes, or one of our favourites WAFFLES!! I usually make a double batch and save some in the freezer for quick & easy weekday breakfasts or bedtime snacks.

I make them from scratch using the recipe from the Purity Cookbook . My mom bought it for me for Christmas one year. We love it - It has all kinds of easy to follow recipes. There are no pictures in it but we have not had any trouble with any of the ones that we have tried out.

We always have lots of bananas in our house so we frequently use them up when we make waffles or pancakes. You can put in your favorite extras; berries, raisins, dried fruit, chocolate chips, whatever you like!

Follow their recipe along here Banana Waffles.