Creamy Chicken, Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup

I made my chicken broth in the crockpot which I learned from Clinton Kelly on "The Chew".  I used two rotisserie chicken carcasses from Costco.  It was ready when I got home from work.  It is really easy and I highly recommend trying it sometime.  I strained it into a pot and started the wild rice in the broth immediately as it takes an hour to cook.  I drained it when done.

Creole Jambalaya

New Orleans is my favourite food town, ever.  If you like good eats, it's Paradise!  My best friend asked me if I'd make jambalaya for her and of course I obliged. Her family is unadventurous when it comes to food, so this isn't a dish she would ever make at home.  I have made this dish a few times before, sometimes with a pre-packaged mix, sometimes not.  Tonight I decided to use this recipe from "The Chew".  I've said it before, but I can't find the right andouille sausage here, so I used chorizo instead.  Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale so I used those instead of thighs,  though I would have preferred the thighs.

Ziti with Asparagus & Prosciutto

I'm not sure where I got this recipe.  I've had it over 20 years now - handwritten.  I make this rarely as pasta doesn't make it into my rotation very often, but when I do, I always enjoy it.  It is fresh and is well suited for Spring.  I don't think I've ever seen ziti in regular big chain grocery stores, but I get it at Famous Foods.  Here are the ingredients from my notes:

Grilled Top Sirloin Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Since I got my BBQ ready for the season, I have been craving "chimichurri" sauce.  I have never made it and decided it was time for Sunday dinner!  I went with this recipe, which seemed pretty basic and had cilantro.  I knew I wanted cilantro in it, but of course if you don't like it, leave it out.  I bought Top Sirloin steak as it was on sale at IGA.

Ahi Tuna Poké

I learned of this treasure called "Poké" in Hawaii.  I tried several different types while visiting over many trips, but liked the Ahi Tuna one the best.  I have been craving this like crazy lately and decided I wanted to make this at home.  At IGA, I see some pretty good looking Ahi at times, though, "previously frozen".  I was looking at it earlier this week and the Meat/Seafood dept. manager was beside me laying out the seafood.  I asked him if I could eat the Ahi raw?  He told me that "NO", not from the case (all of the seafood laying on ice) as there may be cross contamination, but if I wanted, he would thaw some for me and slice it for me so I could have sashimi, or tartar - a.k.a. POKE!  He told me to give him a days notice.  I told him I would request for Friday then and come back.  He told me no problem.  I went back on Friday and sure enough, he had put a piece aside for me and told his staff to expect me.  I think "he who serverd me" overcharged me?  It was $3.99 per 100 grams.  What I bought was 1.23 lbs.  I don't know how to figure it out....grrrr....  Everything in my mind is half pounds and ounces and kilograms and milligrams on the other side since we switched in Canada to metric - somewhere around ending elementary school and starting high school for me.  I never adapted to the metric system.  I have to google translate it all the time.  I still do the temperature in Fahrenheit.  I have no idea what it is in Celsius. I have no idea what kilograms are - I use pounds still.  Anyway, I think it should have cost about $22 with my google calculations.  :P

Hamburger Barley Soup

I've been making this soup since I first started to cook.  There were these cookbooks called "Best of Bridge" and I got the recipe from there.  Over the years I've edited it and stopped using all those canned soup products to reduce the salt.  Here's how I made the soup today:

Shrimp & Grits!

I was excited to cook today!  I had HIGH expectations too...  This is one of my all time favorite dishes.  I've had it all over the U.S. in my travels and the key thing I took away from this dish, was using "White Stone Ground" grits.  And that using grits from South Carolina is what I was after.  This would prove almost impossible to find locally.  Famous Foods does carry coarse white stone ground grits.  I used them once when making this dish and it took much longer than an hour  - like almost two if I remember correctly...  I don't want to stand, stirring constantly at the stove longer than that ever again...  The dish was delicious but the grits were not as creamy as I desired, after all that time!

Roasted Fennel and Artichoke Hearts

I am so NOT a fan of Martha Stewart, but after I opened a large jar of artichokes from Costco, I decided to look for something to do with them.  I knew I would never eat them straight out of the jar. Had I read the jar, and that it said: "once opened, use within 7 days", I wouldn't have even bought them.  I would only buy them now if I had to make a "dip" for company or a gathering.

Easter Dinner - Turkey, Taters, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole & Homemade Cranberry Sauce

I wasn't feeling turkey for Easter this year.  I wanted to do lamb but my son asked for the bird, so of course I obliged (I saw at Costco they had these roasted lamb shanks with garlic sauce, already cooked and just needed to be heated, so thought I would do that another time for $19.95).  I was glad we didn't have turkey at Christmas so it was enough of a break since Thanksgiving.  I usually buy a fresh turkey, but for cost savings this year, I bought a frozen Butterball - 10 lbs. for $20.  That took four days to defrost in my fridge!

Beef Stroganoff

I was watching a Food Network episode of "Guy's Grocery Games" the other night, a repeat of moms on Mother's Day and one of them made beef stroganoff.  It made me want to make it, so I bought the ingredients.  Round steak was the only thing on sale, so I decided to make this in my enamel cast iron dutch oven.  I have never used or bought round steak before but I knew for sure that it was tough.  I followed this recipe here with a couple of edits.  I used some fresh thyme (4 sprigs tied together with twine), Dijon mustard (about a tablespoon), 2 bay leaves and flour (3 tablespoons) which were the major changes.  I used one cup of wine and two cups of broth reversing what the recipe says.  Because I used flour is why I reversed the liquids, I wanted to cook out the wine and then thicken the broth after.