Deep fryer fun

It all began with the sale, picking up the deep fryer at walmart at the anniversary sale for a great price, also lots of pyrex bake n 'store!

Snacking shots here and there, and the apple crumble my sister baked.

Standing around enjoying fried fries, hotdogs, and even frozen cheddar potato perogi. Haha!

Those are the homemade pickles too!

Chili Dogs

My homemade Chili

One or two nights in advance:

- Measure out dry kidney beans (or any beans of your preference)

I did a mixture of kidney and Steuben yellow eye bean (an heirloom

variety used in baked beans)

The rule is to wash, soak in a lot of salty water, so keep adding salt

until it tastes like the ocean.

Some people don't add salt to their soaked beans, which is fine but I

think the beans taste a lot better if they absorb some salt.

After 12 hours or a day, and you're ready to boil these beans simply

dump all the water into a large pot and bring to a boil then simmer on

medium low until the beans are tender (adding more water if it steamed

off) I keep the lid slightly covered as if it's closed tightly it

overflows sometimes due to the starchiness.

This may take a few hours but once they are tender (be sure to check a

few to make sure all of them are cooked and not just a random one and

then you end up with hard beans) They should keep their shapes almost

but be nice and tender.

Alternatively if you want to skip this step and use canned beans that's

fine too but I think more people should be going back to dry beans,

they are creamy and I think it takes the whole dish to another level.

Preparing chili

Ingredients:

- 1 lb ground meat (I use beef but you can use turkey or chicken..)

- 2 1/2 to 3 cups precooked beans

- 1 Chopped onion

- 2 medium Chopped green bell pepper

- Tomato paste (few tbsps)

- 1 can pureed tomato

- 1 tbsp molasses

- Worsterchire sauce

- Salt & Black pepper to taste

- Ground cumin powder

Water

Oil

Directions: In a large heavy bottomed pan on medium high heat add oil, sautee onions and peppers until they are transluscient or slightly softened (but not burning)

Bring the heat up to high and brown the ground meat really well, you want to see brown bits in the pot (this is extra flavour)

Add tomato paste and fry it around, add can of tomato, season with salt and pepper, 3/4 tsp cumin powder or so, molasses, worstershire sauce, strained tomato puree and water.

Simmer on medium low until the meat and vegetables are so very tender, I left mine on the stove for 6 hours and kept adding more water to the pot as it boiled off (even though the lid was on)

In the last hour or so add the beans to the pot and let them absorb the yummy flavours and simmer together.

If making the chili dogs below immediately let the chili cool a bit before topping them.

Chili Dogs:

Ingredients:

- Your favourite hotdog (I used all beef)

- Hotdog buns (something basic from the supermarket)

- Your homemade Chili (cooled)

- Mayonaise

- Mustard (dijon or prepared yellow)

- Grated Cheddar cheese (we used old white cheddar)

- Chopped onions (according to preferance)

1. Set the oven on 350 and line a pan with foil.

2. Begin adding 1 tbsp of mayo to each bun and spreading it on the top

and bottom side.

3. Add a bit of the mustard to the bun and spread over the mayo.

4. At this point it's fun if someone is helping you because it's a bit

of an assembly line :) Put the hotdogs in the buns and lay in the

tray on the foil side by side.

5. Top each dog with a heaped serving of chili.

6. Sprinkle with cheese

7. Add chopped onion

Bake for 45 mins and serve immediately. These will be bubbling, the buns will be toasty on the outside and soft on the inside (due to the mayo tip) and the more tasty the chili is the better the flavour of the chili dog.

Fun toppings for serving:

- Pickled Jalapenos

- Chopped green onions

- Fresh Cilantro

- Homemade Guacamole (chopped tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, bit

of garlic, salt, cumin, drizzle of oil, squeeze of lime)

* Thanks to In The Wabe for the inspiration and to my sister for the use of some of her prep photos below

Delicious Saturday Meal

Here is our delicious saturday meal - following our big feast on friday (10th of June)

My mother put together a yummy salmon casserole which I called "engagement salmon" because later that night we watched Ina Garten prepare her take on the famous "engagement chicken" and it was very similar to this dish only mum used limes in the salmon instead of the lemons in the chicken but it still had lots of onion and it was delicious !

Along with that we made Chef Lidia's pasta with homemade bread crumbs Mum had a loaf in the freezer so to my amazement she began grating it and then sauteeing it in the olive oil and garlic ... then tossing the fresh pasta in it. YumYum!

This truly was one of the yummiest pasta dishes I've had, so simple but so comforting.

We also roasted asparagus (salt & pepper, olive oil drizzle- bake on 400-425 until tender then squeeze lemon juice on) and made salad. It was a really memorable and great day.

Honey our cat gave me a not so pleasant face when I pointed the camera at her but she's a real sweety :)

Dutch Baby!

Dutch Baby with Orange Sugar

adapted from Gourmet April 2009

Print this recipe!

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 30 minutes (run then under warm water if you’re in a hurry)
• 2/3 cup whole milk at room temperature ( I used 2% and was happy)
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Put skillet on middle rack of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Stir together sugar and zest in a small bowl.

Beat eggs with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and frothy, then beat in milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and continue to beat until smooth, about 1 minute more (batter will be thin).

Add butter to hot skillet and melt, swirling to coat. Add batter and immediately return skillet to oven. Bake until puffed and golden-brown, 18 to 25 minutes.

Serve immediately, topped with orange sugar.

Much thanks to Joy the baker for the recipe

... And a million hugs for my sister N, who whipped up this lovely breakfast for us all!! The animals and I watched her attentively as she put it all together.