Bacon on Friday??

I've swapped out today's Flowers on Friday post, for Bacon 'on Friday'. I know a two recipe week might be a bit overkill but there are flowers in the picture so if you don't like bacon you can look at the flowers, but seriously . . . who doesn't like bacon???

Have you ever wondered "is there anyway to make bacon worse for your health?" Yes, Yes you can, and it tastes AWESOME.

10 Slices of Bacon (we use a thicker cut bacon but it works just as well with regular cut bacon)
1/2  cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Dried Chili Flakes (we use 1 Tbsp, because we like it a big spicier, if you like it milder use 1 tsp)

Oven at 400 F. Baking the bacon in the oven is the best way to make bacon, no splattering grease. For this recipe it's the only way to cook the bacon, if you fry it in a pan all of the coating will come off.

Place bacon on a baking sheet, we use a wire rack on a baking sheet lined with foil, it makes clean up so much easier. If you don't have a wire rack just bake it on the sheet.

Lay out your slices of bacon, crumble your brown sugar on top of them, and sprinkle the dried chili flakes.
Bake for around 25 minutes.

Eat, then plan an entire afternoon of high intensity exercise, to work off the fact that you just ate 10 slices of bacon with sugar crumbled on top!
But really Give it a try! It's Amazing!

 Free Printable found Here.

White Bean Soup

This is one of our FAVORITE winter soups! White Bean soup with carrots, corn, celery and Bacon!

4 slices of bacon
2 14oz cans of White Kidney Beans
3 or 4 spring carrots
1 or 2 stalks of Celery
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic
1 Onion
1 Can of Corn
1 or 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
Small Pinch of Dried Thyme
1 Box (1 liter) Chicken Stock

Dice up bacon and fry large stock pot or dutch oven.
When the bacon is browned add the onions, celery and garlic . . . saute for 5 minutes.
Add Carrots and thyme to the pan and saute for another 2 minutes.

Add Beans, Corn, and chicken stock, whisk in Tomato Paste and salt and pepper to taste!
Cook on low for 45 minutes! 

It's truly delicious! and super easy to make!
I really hope you try this on the next rainy day!!!

Meal Plan Monday: Sticky Pork

THIS IS YUMMY!!
Lee asked me what I was going to post today, and I said STICKY PORK recipe, and he said "OOOOooooo . . . . Can we have that for dinner tonight, that was really good"

It's delicious over Broccolini, but it's also great as a Lettuce wrap :) We've done both their equally good!

1 tbsp Oil (peanut or vegetable)
300gr Ground Pork
3-5 cloves garlic (depending on your tastes)
1/2 cup fried shallots, sliced
1-4 thai red chilies, sliced (depending on your taste)
1 tbsp Lime Juice
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2-4 tbsp hoisin sauce (we call it asian ketchup here, you can find it in any Asian food store, or the asian isle at the grocery store)
2 tsp soy sauce

1) Pour Oil in pan, fry shallots, hot peppers and garlic until crispy. Remove from pan.
2) Add  a bit more oil to the pan, fry up ground pork, when almost cooked add the remaining ingredients (brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce and hoisin sauce, fried shallots, garlic and hot peppers from step 1).
3) Serve over steamed broccolini, or rinse some iceberg lettuce, and put some of the pork mixture inside and serve like a lettuce taco! YUM!!!


We found our winner from our Nashville Wraps Giveaway . . . Kim Dongall. Please contact us to claim your Prize!! Thank you to everyone who entered and THANK YOU to Nashville Wraps for sponsoring the Giveaway.

Meal Plan Monday: Homemade Pot Stickers :)

First of all, Congratulations to Julie of Online Inspiration :) You won our Curtainworks Giveaway :) Please send me an email, with your email address and we'll get work'in on getting you your New Sheers. Thank you to everyone who entered, you made our first giveaway awesome we were overwhelmed by the number of entries :) and another Thank you to Curtainworks for providing a great pair of springy sheers made from Recycled Fibers, to one of our fabulous readers :)

Today's Meal Plan Monday is all about Homemade Potstickers. A potsticker is an Asian Dumpling or as my eastern European husband calls them, Asian pierogis :) hehe
I'm sure most of you know what Potstickers are, and chances are you probably love them as much as we do. But one thing I can guarantee is that if you like the frozen ones from Costco, you'll LOVE our fresh, homemade recipe. THEY'RE sooooo Easy and soooooo Yummy.
Tonight we are having these along side fried rice and a salad with peppers, radishes and an Asian dressing :)

Here's our super easy potsticker recipe:

3/4 cup finely chopped or shredded nappa cabbage (or savory cabbage)
6oz lean ground pork
1-2 tbsp grated ginger
3 green onions, finely chopped, plus one more for garnish
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 package (24pc's) wonton or gyoza wrappers (either one, they're very similar)
2tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
In a bowl combine the cabbage, pork, ginger. green onions, soy, and sesame oil. Mix well! (we also add some water chestnuts to the mix.) This mixture should be refrigerated for an hour or so before you use it, just to let the flavors blend. You could also make this mix ahead of time and keep for up to 2 days.
Here's how we assemble them:

 We take the wrappers out of the package:

We put a small blob of filling (about a tbsp worth) in the middle of one wrapper:

Wet our fingers and rub the water all around the edge of the wrapper (the water is the GLUE):

Pinch the middle together:

Move around pinching the edges together, if it's not sticking use more water!

To cook:
In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the pan. Add as many potstickers that will fit in the pan in one layer, turn once, just to get them brown on each side (about 1 min per side).
Once browned, add a 1/2 cup of water (watch out it will splatter) cover with the lid and steam until the wrappers are translucent, about 2-3 min. Done, did I forget to mention it's super fast too :)

For dipping sauce there's two choices,
Choice 1) just a dish of soy sauce, with some green onions mixed in.
Choice 2) A potsticker dipping sauce
                    1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
                    1 tbsp Soy Sauce
                    1 chopped green onion
*we're big spicy fans so a little chili oil is added!

Here's our Asian salad dressing recipe:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root (we peel ours, then keep it in the freezer, we pull out the frozen root and grate into what ever we need, then pop the rest back into the freezer)
• 1/4cup olive oil
• 1/4 sesame oil
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup water
• splash of lime juice

We make a salad with some mixed field greens, a red pepper, some red onion, and radishes :) 
So that's our Asian Potsticker Dinner night :) I really hope  you try them, not only are they delicious, they are really cheap to make!
And in case you were wondering, YES they do freeze really well :) We make them in huge batches and freeze them for later :)

We freeze them flat on a baking sheet, then pack them into ziploc freezer bags :) (Don't forget to label)

Corn Chower Recipe!

Since this week's Meal Plan Monday, I have been completely overwhelmed with emails . . . from . . . two readers (hehe) for the recipe so here it is:
If you only try one recipe I put on here, let this one be the one :) It's that good!

4slices bacon, diced (* we use 6 hehe)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced pepper (*we use red)
2tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
2 cups chicken stock (*we use pacific brand organic chicken stock)
2 cups 2% milk (* we've used 1% it works just as well)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (*we always add more)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (*we use 1/4 tsp dried)
1/2 cups peeled and diced Yukon Gold Potatoes

In a medium sauce pot, fry bacon until crispy. Remove bacon (save for the end), leaving fat. Add onion, celery and carrot and saute until onions are translucent, about 5 min. Add bell pepper and saute 3 more minutes. Remove vegetables from the pot and set aside.
Melt butter into pot and add flour. Stir constantly until a nutty aroma is noticeable about 5 in. With a whisk, stir in chicken stock a little at a time. Whisk in milk in a slow stream. Return vegetables to pot, add corn, thyme, and potatoes and bring up to a simmer. Cover and simmer soup until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. To serve, grate some cheddar cheese on top, and add the bacon bits to the top :)

Meal Plan Monday!

I'm trying something new today . . . . . well, new to the blog, old to me :)
On Sunday nights I plan our meals for the week, only to Friday, we like to be more spur of the moment on the weekends. (we're crazy like that :S)

So because I like to share the things that go into making our Manor work, here's my first installment of Meal Plan Monday. It's also a great way to share some of our Favorite Meals, and share some of our cheaper meal ideas.

Here's our philosophy around dinners and meal planning in general.

• We make at least one vegetarian meal a week.
• We make one very cheap meal (under $5) a week.
• We make one "special" meal a week (something that takes a little more time, and effort)
• Something ethnic
• Something super easy.

We try to fit all of this into each week's plan, not every week lives up to the plan but we try.
And the LUNCH portion of the meal plan is for Lee, and all of his Lunches are made to travel to the office with him. Me, I just eat what ever is around the house, soup, leftovers, a fried egg on toast (organic and Free-run of course :)


Here's this week plan:

Mon:
Lunch: Leftover Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Leftover from last nights dinner)
Dinner: Pasta Shells with Bacon and Pea's (it's from Jamie Oliver, Follow the LINK to get the recipe). This is  one of our favorite quick meals. (Note: we cut out the Mint, I don't like Mint)
  

Tues:
Lunch: Tuna Fish Sandwiches, with yogurt and granola. And trail mix for a snack.
Dinner: Bruschetta and a garden salad (super simple dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, and don't forget the salt and pepper :)

Wed:
Lunch: Pita with hummus (it's really easy to make yourself, try it once and you'll never buy it again, it's also super cheap). And a ham and swiss Pita (to use up the leftover Pita bread).
Dinner: Roast Chicken with roasted red potatos, carrots, parsnips and beets.

Thurs:
Lunch: Leftover Vegetables, and another Ham and Swiss sandwich on Dark Rye Bread.
Dinner: Shepard's Pie (I make mine with cream of mushroom soup, not very posh but it taste delicious).

Fri:
Lunch: Leftover Shepard's Pie, yogurt, granola and a banana.
Dinner: Chicken a la King (or Queen as I'm the one who makes it). I use the leftover chicken on the carcass, and the dark meat from Wednesday nights Roasted Chicken.

And there's The Maillardville Manor's 1st Meal Plan Monday!