Garlic Chicken with Zucchini "chips" and Asparagus

It's dinner time!

Admittedly my eating habits have been kinda, well, not good.  I've been a smidge on the busy side so unfortunately many of my meals of come via a window and wrapped in wax paper.  Hey, its better than not eating, right?  Or is it?  Ok ok, don't judge me.

As I was leaving work I realized I was craving real food.  Food that once grew in the ground and meat that was recognizable.  After a quick stop at the grocery store (why is it you can never walk in there and make it out without buying a dozen other things that weren't on your list?) I was home to make some din-din.

The menu this evening: Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken with Oven-Fried Zucchini "chips" and Cheesy Asparagus.

Oh, I know.

It was every bit as delish as it sounds!

The zucchini had a lightly crisp outside with a tender, almost creamy inside. 
The asparagus was just delightful.  I like mine still with a bit of bite left, and these were perfect.
The chicken was flavorful, tender and moist.

A pretty yummy supper if I do say so myself!

The Chicken:

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tbl spoons brown sugar
3 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 500F

-In a small saute pan, saute garlic with oil until tender
-Remove from heat
-Stir in brown sugar
-Place chicken breasts in baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray
-Cover chicken with brown sugar mixture
-Bake 20-30mins, or until done

The Zucchini:
(I winged this recipe so I don't have exact measurements for what I used)

Flavored breadcrumbs (I used italian)
Parmesan cheese
Zucchini
Salt & Pepper

-slice zucchini into rounds
-mix bread crumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper together
-coat rounds in crumb mixture
-place on baking sheet

I threw these in the oven at the same time as the chicken, and they were done at pretty well the same time

The Asaparagus:

Asparagus
Cheese of your choosing
Salt and Pepper

-place asparagus in grill pan (fry pan will work too) with a splash of olive oil
-cook over medium until done
-sprinkle with finely grated cheese (I used Old White Cheddar)

And voila!  Dinner!

Now, if you're not a fan of sweet I would suggest going with half the amount of brown sugar on the chicken and adding a splash of soy sauce to balance out the sweet.

Or add a bit of chili sauce to give it a punch of heat!

Or leave it as is, because really it is kinda fabulous on its own.

Jus'sayin.

A stroll through Nova Scotia wine country

Yes, for those who aren't aware Nova Scotia does in fact have a thriving wine industry.  No, we're not quite up to Napa Valley standards, but we're holding our own and have produced some lovely, award winning wines.

Up until just a few years ago I was not a wine lover.  I wasn't even a liker.  Wine seemed snooty to me.  But oh how wrong I was.  And then I discovered Nova Scotia was producing wine.  I fully admit my first thought was "oh, this stuff can't be that good".  Again, I stand corrected.

I had only tried 3 Nova Scotia wines: 2 from Grand Pre (Muscat & Reserve L'Acadie)  and one from Jost (Eagle Tree Muscat). The Muscat from Grand Pre is, thus far, my favorite wine.  I was not at all a fan of their l'Acadie.  And the Eagle Tree was purchased on a whim when my local NSLC didn't carry my beloved Muscat.  Turns out it wasn't a bad purchase!

A wine tour was arranged with some folks from work.  We all piled into a shuttle bus and off we went.  I was sad to learn Grand Pre wasn't on our list of wineries to visit.  On our list was L'Acadie Vineyard,
Luckett Vineyards and Blomidon Estate Winery.

First stop: L'Acadie Vineyard. These folks are award winning producers of sparkling wines.  They are also the only vineyard in Nova Scotia to be certified organic.  For anyone who follows/knows about sparkling wine making they make their wines following traditional methods: the fermentation takes place in the same bottle the wine is sold in.
L'Acadie Vineyard's 2007 Prestige Brut was a silver medal winner at Effervescents du Monde, Best Sparkling Wines in the world in Dijon, France.  For a small Nova Scotian vineyard this is quite an accomplishment.  And let me tell you for someone who is not a sparkling wine fan this was delicious!  Light, fine bubbles, not overly sweet but just sweet enough.  While I did not buy a bottle I will stop in on my next visit to the valley to pick one up.

Next stop: Luckett Vineyard.  These guys are the new kid in town.  They were only established in 2010.  One thing is certain:  their grapes have a fantastic view. 
Now, anyone who knows Pete Luckett (of Pete's Frootique) knows he tends to do things well  and with a touch of quirkiness thrown in for good, fun, measure.  And the same holds true for his vineyard: how many vineyards have you seen with a bright red phone booth planted in the middle? 
We were able to sample several of their wines: whites- Tidal Bay and Ortega to name a few; reds-I'm not a red fan so I skipped out on these ones; dessert- Juliet cherry, Vidal icewine, sparkling apple and blackcurrant among others. 
As soon as I heard they had a cherry wine I HAD to try it.  I love cherries. LOVE.  I am always disappointed when something is said to taste like cherry (or strawberry or whatever) but doesn't.  But this? This tasted like cherries.  It is pretty sweet, but it is a dessert wine after all.  After one sip I knew I was not going to walk out of there without bringing a bottle home with me.  It was worth the $25 for the bottle.

We all hopped back on the bus headed for our next, and final stop.  Then I heard a rumor.  Is it true?  Are we really making a quick stop at Grand Pre?

We are!

Oh how happy this makes my heart.

We unloaded and all 14 of us descended upon the wine shop.  I'm pretty sure the staff didn't know what hit them.  But we all started buying stuff.  I, of course, a bottle of their Muscat.  I was happy to see I could buy it for $5 less than i usually get it in store.  Happy times!
While this wasn't on our wine tour itinerary the lovely folks at Grand Pre were nice enough to supply us with some samples anyway.

Our final stop was at Blomidon Estate Winery.  These folks also have a great view over the Minas Basin.  Their grapes are lucky grapes.
Again we got a variety of samples.  I also skipped out on the reds, not being a big fan myself.  I did try their Tidal Bay white and a rose.  Their Tidal Bay is delightful and of the ones we tried throughout the day this was my favorite.  While I did not buy a bottle I certainly will.

There you have it, ladies and gents. While there is more to Nova Scotia wine country than what I have noted here this gives you a quick snapshot of what our lovely province has to offer.  So, the next time someone mentions a Nova Scotia wine, give it a try.  I guarantee you'll find something out there you'll fall in love with.  Like Grand Pre's Muscat.  Jus'sayin.

Salmon & Avocado Burger

Happy Weekend, all!
Yes, I realize it is Sunday and the weekend is pretty well over.  Nonetheless, I do hope you enjoyed it and the weather treated you all well, where ever you were.

I realized today that I have been eating far too much pasta lately.  Don't get me wrong I love me some pasta.  LOVE.  But when you realize you've been eating pasta more nights than not it is time to shake things up a bit.

I came across some recipes lately for salmon burgers.  Interesting.  But I couldn't quite find one that I liked.  I found I was liking bits and pieces from each recipe but didn't find one, as a whole, that I liked.  So, I picked a bit from here and a bit from there and this is what I ended up with:

The Burger:

Salmon Filets
1 egg beaten
1 green onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp flax meal
2 tbsp finely chopped dill
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 avocado, diced
Dash of your favorite chili sauce

Remove and discard skin from salmon. Chop into 1/2-in pieces, transfer to large bowl. Stir in egg, onion, flax, dill, lemon juice and salt.  Gently stir in avocado.

Heat large nonstick frying pan over medium.  Give the pan a quick spritz with cooking spray.  Pile in a heaping 1/2c measure of the mixture into the pan.  Form and press into 1-in thick patty.  Repeat process.  Do not over crowd the pan.

Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3-4mins.  Flip and continue cooking until cooked through, approx 3mins longer.

Top with peach salsa.  Serve on traditional burger bun, or on grainy bread.

Tips: the next time I make this I'll skip the chopping of the salmon.  The piles just didn't stay formed as patties.  They all sort of just came apart.  Next time, I'll just cut my salmon filets into individual portions and cook that way.  I'll also go a little heavier on the chili sauce.



The Wing Man....

Roasted Potato and Vegetable Salad

2-3 lbs potatoes cut into chunks
1 med onion, chopped
1 red pepper cut into strips
1 can corn
3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
salt and pepper

The dressing:

2tbsp Apple Cider vinegar
2tbsp canola oil
2tsp dijon mustard

Combine first 5 ingredients, leaving out the corn for now
Bake at 400 for 25mins until edges start to turn brown


Remove from oven, add can of drained corn
Cook an additional 15mins





Toss with dressing.  Serve.

Just Poachie

Poached eggs.  We have a love hate relationship.  I love them, but I've never been able to successfully prepare them.

Until this morning.

It seems it is all about the temperature of the water.  You want it super hot, but not boiling or simmering. You want it to the point just before it simmers.  And there, my friends, was where I was making my mistakes.  I had it in my head the water needed to be boiling.  Not so.

So, fill a pot with a few inches of water.  Bring it to the point just before it simmers.  You'll see lots of tiny bubbles on the bottom of your pot.  Add a small splash of vinegar.  There is some debate out there as to whether or not the vinegar actually does anything.  I used it and ended up with pretty good poached eggs.  Ultimately, do what works for you.  Apparently the vinegar helps tighten up the egg so it doesn't end up all spread out around the pot.  Seemed to work for me.

Break an egg into a small bowl.  When your water is ready gently slide the egg into the water.  This is much easier than trying to break the egg straight in to the water.

And now you wait.  But don't wander too far.  You've still got to monitor the water temperature to make sure it doesn't start to boil on you.  If it starts to get too hot turn back the temp a bit. 

Leave the little devils in the water until they're done to your liking.  When done plop them on top of toast or something else of your choosing.  A sprinkle of salt and fresh cracked pepper and you've got yourself lovely poached eggs!

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, you read that correctly: Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

I. KNOW.

And yes they are diet friendly. 

I wanted to make a batch of cupcakes to take to my cousin who just turned 10 a few days ago (yup, a bit late on that one...better late than never though, right?). I wanted something more than my standard chocolate cup cake, but wanted familiar flavors for her 10 year old taste buds.  I'm not so sure she would have appreciated the chocolate Irish cream with caramel butter cream I've made.

I also wanted to make them look fun and pretty for her.  Any excuse for a trip to Michaels!

I came home and whipped up a bunch of these little babies.  

The cupcake:

2/3c Nutella
1c regular flour
1 1/2c cake flour
1 1/2c cocoa
2tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
3/4tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2c sugar
3/4c softened butter
2 1/2c butter milk*

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In large bowl beat eggs and sugar for 5mins. Then add in butter.  Mix until combined. Add Nutella. Mix. Add buttermilk and mix until well incorporated.

So good you'll want to just eat it straight from the bowl

Add flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. 

Line cupcake tin with liners of your choice, though this recipe totally warrants using fun ones! Fill cupcake tine and bake 20-25mins, until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy naked little cupcakies 

I found in my oven they were perfectly done at 25mins. Cooking times may vary depending on the oven. I find my oven runs a bit cooler than others I've cooked in, so bear that in mind.





The Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese. I used the Light variety.  Told you they were diet friendly.
5 tablespoons room temperature butter
3 3/4c icing sugar
2 tsp clear vanilla extract **

Cream butter and cream cheese in large mixing bowl.
Add vanilla.
Slowly add the icing sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.
Beat on high until smooth and fluffy.
Add a bit of milk or more sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.

*don't have buttermilk? Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar per 1c of regular milk. Let it sit until it curdles, about 10mins.

**clear vanilla extract helps maintain a pure white color of the frosting.  But if this isn't important to you, then go ahead and use the regular stuff, which is what I did.

Oh, I should perhaps warn you this recipe will yield a bazillion regular sized cupcakes.  If you prefer the minis you'll be baking cup cakes for days.  I actually just did a head count: 2.5 dozen plus 1.  The frosting recipe will yield enough to frost the whole batch. 

Another warning: if you are not a big chocolate fan these are probably not for you.
The cake is super chocolatey while being light, fluffy and moist.  Everything you want a perfect little cup cake to be!

Tip: if you intend to pipe your frosting you may want to chill it for a few minutes first.  I found once the heat from my hands hit the piping bag it went soft pretty quickly.

I think these will be my new go-to chocolate cupcakes!  They're so beyond delicious!  And because the recipe makes so many you've got plenty to share! Or not. Either way, they're yummy and worth every bite!

Welcome! Bienvenue!

I have been toying with the idea lately of creating a blog for and about food.  After much thought "Ms. Hungry Pants" was born!

I come from a family of fabulous cooks and bakers.  So I was fortunate enough to learn a few tricks over my years.  After many years of licking out bowls I finally jumped in and started baking and cooking for myself.  As it would turn out I LOVE to cook.  I freely admit that while I like to bake it isn't one of my most favorite things.  I think that has something to do with the rigidity of the recipes.  While there is some room to play with them I much prefer the throw-it-all-in-a-pot-and-see-what-happens approach to cooking. Sometimes I get a win, sometimes I get a fail, but its all part of the fun. 

My hope for this blog is to share my food experiences with everyone out there in Blogville.  I will share recipes and restaurant experiences, both the good and the not so good - and some photographic evidence of such!

So, without further ado, ladies and gents I give you Ms. Hungry Pants!