The Best Apple Pie - Crumble!

This gluten free apple pie is sooo good! I borrowed this recipe from Ottawa's nutritional expert Kathy Smart
"Best Apple Pie With Roasted Almond Crust"    (www.livethesmartway.com). In my version, I added a crumbled buttery topping!

Pie Filling:

• 10 large apples, cored and sliced about 1cm in thickness
• 1-2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup
• approx 1/2 cup of water

Crust:

• 4 tsp canola oil
• 4 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups ground almonds

Crumble topping

• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 4 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup cold butter 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the Crust:
Combine oil, honey/ maple syrup, rice flour, cinnamon and ground almonds. Pack ingredients evenly along the bottom and edges of a 9 inch pie pan or a similar sized casserole dish. Bake pie crust for 3-5 minutes at 350. You will smell a nice almond smell in the oven. Let cool for 3-10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare the Crumble:
Combine the rice flour, almonds, honey or maple syrup, cinnamon, and cold crumbled butter. Set aside in the fridge until you need it.

Filling:
Simmer apples in less than 1/2 cup of water for 8 -10 minutes until the apples are tender but not too soft. Drain the water from the apples and transfer the water to a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch and a couple more tbsp of water and heat until the desired thickness is achieved. Add liquid back into the apples along with the honey/ maple syrup, and cinnamon.
Add the filling into the pie crust.  Pack on the crumble topping. Bake for 25-40 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream

Potato Latkes

You will need:

• 4 large white potatoes, peeled and grated
• 1 small yellow onion, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp seasoned flour (or rice flour)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Canola Oil

Place the grated potato onto a cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Combine the grated potato and the onion. Add the flour and egg. Mix well. Heat a non stick pan to medium. Add about a tbsp of oil and scoop about 3/4 cup of mixture for each patty. Be sure not to over crowd the pan. Make them in batches.  Spread the mixture out evenly. Wait till each side is dark golden brown before flipping. When both sides are golden and crunchy, they're ready.

Serve with either bacon or any kind of sausage, sour cream, and chives.

Veggie Dip

There's so many ways to make a veggie dip. I just made this one up.

You will need:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 tbsp chopped green onion
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Tartar sauce

You will need: 

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard 
• 3-4 baby dill pickles diced small.
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and enjoy alongside some delicious Fish and Chips!

Pollo al Chilindron

This is a really popular Spanish dish. You can play around with the ingredients and make it your own, there are so many variations. I like it because of the richness of flavor and the rustic style of one-pot cooking. 

This is one of those dishes  you can tell by looking at the ingredients, it's gotta be good!

You will need:

• A heavy cast iron pot or any heavy large pot that you can transfer from stove top to oven. And a cover or tin foil.
• 4 chicken legs separated from the bone. You can use other varieties of chicken like breasts, but it won't have the same "falling off the bone" goodness. plus the dark meat is great in this recipe.
• Most Chilindron recipes call for Jamon Serrano, which is an Italian thinly sliced cured ham similar to prosciutto. But you can exchange it for chorizo sausage. About 2 cups (or 2 sausages) cut lengthwise then in quarters then diced.
• a few glugs of olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 heaping spoon-fulls of sweet-smoked Spanish Paprika. Note: if you find your paprika doesn't have any smell or taste, it's not a great paprika, it should really have a smokiness to it.
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• a splash of dry white wine (or I would use whatever white I have)
• 2 tbsp of fresh parsley
• salt & pepper, to taste

Fist you're going to start off by making the sauce. It's easy if you start off by prepping all the ingredients before hand. 
Heat the pot to medium, add some olive oil, put in the onion and bell peppers. stir occasionally and let that sit for about ten minutes. Then add the garlic, stir and wait a couple minutes. Then throw in the rest of the ingredients except for the chicken and the tomatoes and the wine...and save 1/2 of the parsley. Stir this mixture and wait a few more minutes. Then when all the flavors combined deglaze the pot with the white wine and then add the diced tomatoes. Simmer a few minutes, then carefully remove the sauce from the pot and put aside. 
Now keeping the temperature at medium, put the chicken into the pot skinside down until browned then flip them over to seal the meat. Remove the chicken from the pot and put the sauce back in then place the chicken on top of the sauce skin side up. With a lid or tin foil over the pot, place in the pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Then remove the cover and continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Let cool a bit.  Garnish with the remaining parsley.

Serve with rice, salad, baguette, white wine. 

Berries for Breakfast!

Blueberries, Strawberries, and Bananas with oats and yogurt..a a little squeeze of lemon juice!

Chicken Jalfrezi

I have so much love for Indian food I don't even know where to start.  The Indian style of cooking is exactly what I crave. Sauces with a variety of perfectly blended spices, unique tastes, a range of colours, sweetness, and heat. Made with either beef, lamb, chicken, veggies, etc. Served with rice and Naan bread. I love a dish with lots of fixings so I prefer to have some pickled chilies (or pickled mangoes) as a side. You really have to cook from the heart when making Indian food, it can't be rushed, it's all about FLAVOR! ..and for me SPICE!

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breast (cubed and made into Tandoori Chicken Skewers)

a few glugs of olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 inch piece of minced fresh ginger

1 green bell pepper cut into strips

1 red bell pepper cut into strips

1 green chili (whole)

2 cardamom pods

1/2 jar of "Patak's Mild, Medium or Hot Curry Paste"

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp paprika

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1/2 cup of whipping cream

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

salt & pepper

Directions:

Prepare Tandoori Chicken (see link above).

Heat a large pot to medium heat.  Add a good amount of olive oil.  When the oil is heated add the onion, bell peppers, ginger and cardamom pods and a dash of salt. Once the onions are translucent and the peppers soften, add the garlic. 

Continue cooking for another minute then add the curry paste, turmeric, garam masala, paprika and the green chili pepper. Mix together and let the oils release from the curry paste and the spices blend together.

 

Cook for a few minutes then add the diced tomatoes, some salt and pepper.  Wait for the sauce to start bubbling then turn the heat down low and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Stir in the whipping cream, add the BBQ Tandoori Chicken, wait a few minutes then turn the heat off. Stir in the cilantro.

Serve with Basmati Rice and/ or 

Naan Bread with a side of "Patak's Chilli Pickle" (my absolute favorite)

 

Tandoori Chicken Skewers

It's Summer so I'm going to get as much use out of that BBQ as I can!  I'm on my way to making my Chicken Jalfrezi, and I've decided to pull out all the stops. I've grilled some Tandoori Chicken and will use that later to add to my sauce!  Although this is obviously great on it's own.. even add some peppers to the skewer or marinate different chicken parts like legs or full breast or even rotisserie chicken would be amazing! Either way my version is very simple, I've opted to use the "Patak's Tandoori Paste" and followed the recipe on the back.  I may be cutting corners but it tastes great and works just fine for me Jalfrezi (saves me some time as well).

Ingredients:
3 large chicken breast cut into cubes
4 tbsp of "Patak's Tandoori Paste"
2 tbsp of plain yogourt

Directions:
Mix the ingredients together and put the chicken and the tandoori sauce into a zip-lock bag and marinate for 3 hours or over night for best results.

String the chicken onto some skewers and throw them on a low heated BBQ turning every so often and brushing on some of the leftover marinade until cooked through.

Les Beignets

An easy snack to make, these little donuts are best freshly made. There won't be much use for them the day after. The recipe makes 18, perfect accompaniment with tea or coffee for big family and friend gatherings.

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
about 1/2 cup of oil for frying
a couple big handfuls of icing sugar


Directions:
In a bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder together then add the sugar.
  
In a separate (larger) bowl, mix the egg and milk together well then gradually add the dry mixture then beat in the melted butter to make a soft dough.
   
Place the dough onto a lightly floured board or counter top.  Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Divide the dough into 18 even sized balls.  Pat the balls down into somewhat flatter disc shapes.  Use a floured handle of a wooden spoon to push holes through the center of each ball..make sure the hole is open enough.

Pour a couple centimeters worth of vegetable or canola oil into a pan and heat to about 375 degrees F.  Fry the Beignets in batches, over crowding the pan will cool the temperature. Once golden brown on one side flip and fry the next side until cooked through. Then place them onto a dish with paper towel. Let cool for 5 minutes or so and cover with loads of icing sugar!

Lunch! My Chicken Wing Recipe and Blue Cheese Dressing..in a Burger.

Here's my lunch! I have some blue cheese dressing leftover so I put some chicken breasts on the BBQ and grilled them in the same hot sauce mix that I used on the wings (see HOT BBQ Chicken Wings for sauce and blue cheese dressing) Then I grilled some onions and put it all on a bun with lettuce and tomato.