Stuffed Shells & Apple Dijion Kale Salad

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This meal rocks. I know that is tooting my own horn, but seriously, this is good eats. Gen, when he came home at 11pm and took a bite of the cold leftovers, said, “This is better than most restaurant food.” Not loving the “most,” but I’ll take it! The stuffed shells are cozy, warm, downhome eats. The salad is bright, tangy, and texture-rich. Awesome combo that I will surely make again. Once again, I found the salad on the wonderful Budget Bytes and made very slight adjustments. While most recipes for stuffed shells call for spinach, I LOVE Swiss chard, and it was on sale, so I used it instead. It adds a little sweetness and a nice variety of colour to the dish. Also, the step-by-step is PACKED with pictures… just a warning.

Stuffed Shells

Adapted from a Canadian Living recipe.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 lb ground beef
  • 3 small (or 1.5 large) red onions, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 can (28 oz/796 mL) diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (28 oz/796 mL) tomato sauce
  • 1 box jumbo pasta shells (these were hard to find, I had to hit up 4 grocery stores… I was worried I’d have to stuff tiny little shells)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 bunches (about 10 leaves) of Swiss chard (I used both the white and red versions)
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 4 green onions, chopped
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tub (475g) ricotta cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. In large pan, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; cook beef, breaking up with spoon, for 8 minutes or until no longer pink. Drain fat, and remove meat from pan. Set aside.
  3. Trim your Swiss chard, removing the tips of the stems and any brown spots. Rinse the chard and cut/tear into quarters. Steam the chard until tender, about 10 minutes. Place steamed chard onto a tea towel to dry a bit.
  4. Add remaining oil to pan; sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add basil, oregano, hot pepper flakes, salt, pepper, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Return beef to pan; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened.
  5. Meanwhile, in large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until tender but firm. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain well and place on damp tea towel.
  6. Filling: Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine steamed Swiss chard, ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, parsley, onions, eggs, basil, nutmeg, and pepper.
  7. Pour half of the tomato-meat sauce into 13 x 9-inch casserole dish. Spoon heaping tablespoons of filling into each pasta shell. Arrange snugly, stuffed side up, in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over top; sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cover with foil.
  8. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.
  9. While baking, make salad!

Apple Dijion Kale Salad

From Budget Bytes.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 medium granny smith apple
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup walnut halves

DIRECTIONS

  1. Tear or cut the kale leaves from the stems. Cut the leaves into 2-inch squares and then rinse well under cool water (in a colander). Allow the kale to drain as you prepare the rest of the salad.
  2. In a bowl combine the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. Using a hand blender, blend until the garlic is minced and the dressing is smooth.
  3. Wash the apple and chop it into chunks. Roughly chop the walnut halves. Make sure the kale is as dry as possible and then combine it in a large bowl with the apples, walnuts, and dried cranberries. Pour the dressing on top and toss to coat.

Step-by-steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. In large pan, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; cook beef, breaking up with spoon, for 8 minutes or until no longer pink. Drain fat, and remove meat from pan. Set aside.
  3. Trim your Swiss chard, removing the tips of the stems and any brown spots. Rinse the chard and cut/tear into quarters. Steam the chard until tender, about 10 minutes. Place steamed chard onto a tea towel to dry a bit.

    Swiss chard is one of my favourites. Also wonderful steamed and sautéed with butter and garlic.

  4. Add remaining oil to pan; sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add basil, oregano, hot pepper flakes, salt, pepper, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Return beef to pan; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened.

    Sautéed onions and garlic, with spices added!

  5. Meanwhile, in large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until tender but firm. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain well and place on damp tea towel.

    Jumbo shell is like the mama of the regular shells. Awww so cute.

  6. Filling: Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine steamed Swiss chard, ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, parsley, onions, eggs, basil, nutmeg, and pepper.

    Stuffing for shells!

  7. Pour half of the tomato-meat sauce into 13 x 9-inch casserole dish. Spoon heaping tablespoons of filling into each pasta shell. Arrange snugly, stuffed side up, in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over top; sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cover with foil.

    Stuffing the shells. They looked nice and neat until I had to start shoving them into places to finishing the filling batch.

  8. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

    Pre-oven layer confirmation. Niiiiice.

  9. While baking, make salad!

Salad! I have no idea why this picture is sideways… oh well.

Curry Chicken Salad– tart, creamy,crunchy, delicious

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I need to apologize for my disappearance lately. I’d love to blame it on the romanticism of married life, but truly, I have been insanely busy, commuting out to New Westminister for audiobook recording, researching for my thesis, and trying to keep up with the ridiculous number of professional commitments I’ve signed up for. It’s all very exciting but it is also exhausting and terribly it is Not Crocker that has suffered… oh and my husband, because I’ve barely cooked. But! BUT! Today I made chicken salad. As a meal. AS A MEAL. And it was glorious and easy. I’ve always thought of chicken salad as something you make with left over chicken, but cooking chicken fresh, for the purpose of chicken salad is AWESOME. Recommend, 10/10, will cook again. I got the recipe base from one of my favourite blogs, Budget Bytes, and I adjusted it just for my own tastes and personal preferences! I am going to try this recipe with a marinade on my chicken one day and report back!

Curry Chicken Salad

Lightly adjusted from here.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breast halves
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • 4 green onions
  • 1 yellow or red pepper (green is cool too but then you have a really green dish)
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 tart green apple (I used Granny Smith)
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise (make your own!)
  • 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1 1/4 tsp lime juice (or lemon)
  • 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

  1. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with a light sprinkle of salt, pepper, and ground ginger. Cook the chicken breast on a grill, I used our counter-top one, or in a skillet until cooked through. Refrigerate the cooked chicken breast while you prepare the rest of the salad.
  2. Slice the green onions, and chop the apple, pepper, and celery into small pieces. For the apple, I quartered it, cut the quarters into thirds and sliced those thirds into small chunks. Put the green onion, celery, apple, sliced almonds, and dried cranberries in a large bowl, sprinkle with a little lime juice to prevent the apples from browning.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, curry powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Taste the mixture to see if you prefer more curry powder.
  4. Take the cooled chicken out. Cut the chicken into small cubes and place it in the large bowl with the rest of the chopped ingredients. Stir to combine. Pour the dressing over top and stir to coat.
  5. Eat. I am definitely making a sandwich with this sometime. Soooo tasty. Oh yes, and it may or may not be accompanied by a fruity beer.

Fresh mayo in the tall cup, veggies and spices, ready to go!

Okay, okay, so the recipe says to pour the dressing onto the veggies, but I just chopped and plopped the veggies onto my dressing. Works either way!

Scrumptious

 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These are different than my normal chocolate chip cookies. These are buttery, fluffy, light on the chocolate but not light on the richness. I added my favourite sweets spice, cardamon, and my ever-present nuts, walnuts. I made these cookies HUGE, mostly by accident (I have no smaller glasses), but also because I love me some big cookies. This recipe involves some fridge time, but don’t worry, totally worth it.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups salted butter
  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips
  • 1 cup walnuts (chopped into mini-chocolate-chip-sized pieces)

Directions

  1. Brown the butter! Just a note, because this is such a large amount, cut the butter into cubes before adding it to the pot to allow a more even melting/browning. Once browned, pour into a heat-proof bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Once RT, throw it in the fridge for about 20 minutes, you want it to solidify a bit.
  2. Remove the partially-solidified brown butter from the fridge.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  4. Scrape the brown butter into a large bowl, add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs and well, again, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
  6. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
  7. Loosely cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  8. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or grease them).
  9. Remove the dough from fridge and turn out onto a lightly-floured surface. Section the dough into three parts and roll one section into a medium rectangle, about 1 1/2 inches thick.
  10. Sprinkle this first dough layer with a third of your chocolate chips and a third of your walnuts. Top with a second piece of dough, and sprinkle it another third of the chocolate and walnuts. Top with the final piece of dough and sprinkle the remaining chocolate and walnuts.
  11. Gently roll out your giant cookie sandwich, with a floured rolling pin. Roll it to about a 1 inch thick (I am terrible at rolling, so this ignore my rolling pictures).
  12. Cut the dough into circles with either a cookie cutter, or a glass. Dip your cutter in flour to prevent sticking. Move the rounds onto your prepared cookie sheets, space them about 1 inch apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
  13. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  14. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges have just set.
  15. Remove the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Step-by-step

  1. Brown the butter! Just a note, because this is such a large amount, cut the butter into cubes before adding it to the pot to allow a more even melting/browning. Once browned, pour into a heat-proof bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Once RT, throw it in the fridge for about 20 minutes, you want it to solidify a bit.
  2. Remove the partially-solidified brown butter from the fridge.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  4. Scrape the brown butter into a large bowl, add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs and well, again, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
  6. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
  7. Loosely cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  8. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or grease them).
  9. Remove the dough from fridge and turn out onto a lightly-floured surface. Section the dough into three parts and roll one section into a medium rectangle, about 1 1/2 inches thick.

    Stacked and ready to roll.

  10. Sprinkle this first dough layer with a third of your chocolate chips and a third of your walnuts. Top with a second piece of dough, and sprinkle it another third of the chocolate and walnuts. Top with the final piece of dough and sprinkle the remaining chocolate and walnuts.
  11. Gently roll out your giant cookie sandwich, with a floured rolling pin. Roll it to about a 1 inch thick (I am terrible at rolling, so this ignore my rolling pictures).

    A slight step-up from my sloppy hand forming.

  12. Cut the dough into circles with either a cookie cutter, or a glass. Dip your cutter in flour to prevent sticking. Move the rounds onto your prepared cookie sheets, space them about 1 inch apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
  13. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  14. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges have just set.
  15. Remove the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Further ingredients: A glass of milk.

Jalapeño Cheese Squares

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Sorry for the ridiculous delay between posts, going away has meant a full schedule upon my return. I’ve been running around, working like a mad woman, trying to catchup, keep up, and not die trying. Anyway, this is one of the delightful appetizers from the wedding. I am waiting on some pictures and recipes from my mom whose camera I kept using because I couldn’t locate mine. These are ridiculously simple and really delicious. Crowd pleasers for sure!

Jalapeño Cheese Squares

Ingredients

  • 6 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 6 eggs beaten
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 2 tsps green onion, minced
  • 1 small can of jalapeño peppers (fresh would be great too, 2 or three, well chopped)

Directions

  1. Whisk together cheese, eggs, cream and onions. Stir in jalapeños.
  2. Spread mixture in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
  3. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
  4. Cut into 1-inch squares and serve. These are great hot or cold.

 

Where am I, AGAIN?!

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This time I am in the Yukon! Genesis and I flew home on the 8th to stay with my parents for a week. It’s been wonderful so far, in fact, I almost got a sunburn on the first day! We are busy as ever and are excited for Jon and Kellie and the kids to get here in the next few days. There has been a lot of great cooking and some baking (with much more to come) so I promise a flurry of posts when I get the chance to sit down and create them! In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of my parents’ amazing house that I would be crushed if they sold! Hear that mom and dad? Crushed!

The newest party area, with a fire pit, next to my dad’s Man Shed.

They’ve put in an above-ground pool and waterslide.

While this walkway was being built we called it “the dock”… maybe just me.

Keep an eye out for some new cakes, a great soup, biscuits, and other Sellars-family/ my mom’s recipes!