Cauliflower Biscuits

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we all love biscuits.  There is nothing more delightful than a fresh out of the oven biscuit. I mean honestly, who doesn't love them?

So with the trends of gluten-free and low carbs, it's kinda difficult to indulge in these delectable little morsels without feeling guilty.

Unless you are using cauliflower. Who knew? Evidently a lot of people. And now, so do I.

My mom sent me this recipe from "Cooking Light". They even have this great video showing how they do it.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 Cauliflower head, leaves removed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, the sharper the better
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Here's what you'll do:

• Break up the cauliflower and steam until tender
• Once tender, smash it up with the garlic in the food processor or blender
• Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the whole eggs, cheese, yogurt, salt and pepper and mix together
• In a separate bowl whisk egg whites until they are firm
• Fold egg whites into the cauliflower mixture
• Grease up a muffin tin very well
• Fill each muffin cup to the top with the mixture
• Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes or until golden brown

Just out of the oven

A couple of notes:

• When I make these again, I'll try roasting the cauliflower instead of steaming it. We found that they were far too moist. Don't get me wrong, they were super tasty, but I would have liked a little more of a biscuit texture to them.
• I used aged cheddar cheese and still didn't find that there was much cheddar flavour to them. I'm a huge fan of sharp cheese so I might look for something with a little more bite the next time.
• I made these exactly as the recipe instructed, and after baking, despite having greased up the muffin tin, they stuck and didn't come out nicely. That made me sad. Like super sad. My plan is to keep playing around with the recipe to figure out where I went wrong before serving these to guests.

That's My Taste On It!

(Thanks to my Mom for sending me the recipe!)

Pizza Sauce

While in the spirit of Pizza, I would be remiss if I left out a pretty simple sauce to add to your homemade pizza crust and your Homemade Mozzarella Cheese.

I kinda just threw this sauce together when I wanted pizza and realized I had everything but the sauce. So just bear in mind that these are adjusted to mine and my family's tastes--who am I kidding, just mine. They love it anyway.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• pinch of salt (totally optional)

Here's what you'll do:

• Mix everything together in a bowl or container with lid.

Yeah, it's that simple. This will make enough to cover two pizzas. I would recommend making the sauce in the morning or the night before to give all the flavours a chance to get to know each other and mingle.

But it really is that easy. I don't really add the salt because I find there to be enough of it in the paste, but again completely up to you. 

That's My Taste On It!

Super Easy Pizza Dough

So after the last post about the Homemade Mozzarella Cheese, I thought it would be prudent to include a post about the type of crust I use to make homemade pizza. Makes sense, right?

I've tried a couple different crust recipes, but the one I like best comes from my "KitchenAid Stand Mixer Cookbook"

Here's what you'll need:

• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp yeast (I use Fleischmann's quick rise)
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Optional herbs and spices (basil, oregano, garlic powder, etc.)

And here's what you do:

• Dissolve sugar into the warm water
• Sprinkle yeast on top, set aside until frothy (the time will depend on the type of yeast you use)
• Combine the flour and the salt and any optional herbs you may want
• While mixing, slowly pour in the frothy yeast water
• Knead well for 7-10 minutes by hand or about 5 minutes in the mixture with the dough hook attachment, until the dough is smooth.
• Cover and allow to rise for about half an hour or until it has doubled

At this point you'll roll it, pat it and stretch it to fit your pan. 

Spread the sauce, add your toppings and cover with cheese. (For a great homemade mozzarella recipe click here.)

I found that preheating my oven to 425F, then reducing the temperature to 375F was optimal for cooking the pizza. Just keep an eye on it, when the crust is brown and the cheese is all melty, then it's good to go. There isn't much rise to the crust during baking, so I wouldn't recommend leaving it unattended. It only takes about 13 minutes in my oven.

That's my Taste On It!

Mozzarella - From Scratch

Cheese. One of those things that everyone has, but no one really thinks about making it. Well, I guess some people do.

I do. I remember when I was little, my mom used to make cheese. We also lived on a farm and had a milk cow, so the most important part was readily available.

It wasn't until a year ago, that it popped into my head. Making cheese. The thought came and went periodically over the last few months. Then, a couple weeks ago my mom and I decided to give it a go.

We found a lovely, and easy to follow recipe here. The steps are easy to follow, and for the most part the ingredients are quite easy to come by.

Here's what you'll need:

• 4 litres milk, whole is best, we used homo milk, but the comments suggest that you could use 2% as well.
• 1 1/2 tsp citric acid
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 tablet rennet
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Here's what you do:

• Dissolve the citric acid in 1 cup water
• Dissolve the rennet in 1/4 cup water
• Pour milk into large pot on medium-high heat
• Gently stir in citric acid solution to the milk and heat to 90 degrees F

• At 90 degrees, remove from heat and stir in rennet solution
• Stir for 30 seconds, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. This allows the cheese to set, it should appear like soft tofu. If, after 5 minutes, the cheese has not set, let it sit for an additional 5 minutes
• Once set, slice the curd in a grid pattern:

• Return to heat and stir gently until mixture reaches 105 degrees F
• Once at 105 degrees, remove from heat and stir gently for 5 minutes, you will see the curds begin to come together but will look like cottage cheese. This is also where you can add herbs for flavouring. I've added oregano, but I'll admit I was *generous* at 2 Tbsp. I'd recommend no more than 1 Tbsp but it's really your preference.

• Use a slotted spoon or a sieve to transfer the curds to a microwave safe bowl

• Microwave for 1 minute
• Drain off whey, and continue to microwave in 30 second bursts until the curds have reached an internal temperature of 135 degrees F
• Drain off any additional whey
• Sprinkle in the salt and fold curds over and begin to stretch them. The curds will come together and look like a giant bowl of melted cheese. The cheese is EXTREMELY hot, so use caution.

• Once the cheese gets a glossy sheen it is ready to be formed into a large ball or multiple smaller balls
• Seal cheese in air-tight container or zip lock bag and put in the fridge.

The original recipe says that the cheese will keep for a week, but to be perfectly honest mine has only ever lasted about a day. We just eat it too fast!

Here it is on the pizza we made for dinner. The crust is also homemade, as is the sauce. Those posts will come later.  As you can see, the cheese isn't super melty, but it was definitely tasty. And it was completely satisfying to say I made my own cheese.

So a couple of side notes:

1. Citric acid can be a little tricky to find. If you have a cheese making supplier in your town it will likely be there. If not, you can order it online or try grocery stores. Some pharmacists may be able to order it for you. I found mine at Bulk Barn, so if you have a Bulk Barn nearby, I would recommend that as your first step.
2. In the event that you cannot find Citric acid anywhere, you can substitute 2/3 cup white vinegar or lemon juice (not the concentrate stuff, the good stuff) I have used both the vinegar and the lemon juice, before I was able to locate the citric acid. The vinegar worked better than the lemon juice, however the citric acid was by far more effective. 
3. Rennet is also hard to find, at least in Calgary, Ab. Mom and I found it at a community health food store, it comes in packs of 8 tablets for about $3.00. Given that you only need 1/4 tablet per batch it should last a long time. Rennet tablets can be stored at room temperature for up to a year or in the freezer for up to 5 years. But let's be honest, once you give this a try it certainly won't need to be stored for that long. 
4. The process looks intimidating, but from start to finish, this only takes about half an hour. 
5. You'll need a candy thermometer. I've tried baby thermometers and meat thermometers; those made it more complicated than it needed to be. The meat thermometer didn't go as low as I needed and the kids thermometer didn't go as high as I needed. So just save some time and invest in a candy thermometer. 

That's my Taste On It!

Crock Fajita Chicken

Fajitas are always a win in my house. We have them weekly. Today I wanted to mix things up a bit and decided to crock it.

Here's what you need:

• 2lbs (about 4) skinless/boneless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp fajita or taco seasoning
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper (I used red because I hate green) thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup chunky salsa
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced (optional)

Here's what you do:

• lay your chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock, try not to have them overlap
• sprinkle on the seasoning 
• put in the garlic
• put your onions, peppers and mushrooms over top in an even layer
• pour salsa as evenly as possible and cover
• cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours
• once chicken is cooked through, tear it up with some forks and cover again. At this point your basically letting it stew in its own juices and get the flavours mingling. 

Layered in the Pot

In the beginning, it'll look dry and you may be tempted to add a bit of water. Don't do it. 

If you add water it'll just be soupy and watery and you'll have to drain away a bunch and then watch the flavour go down the sink. Nobody wants that. Nobody. 

The peppers and the onions and the chicken and the salsa all have a pretty high water content so once it starts cooking it'll have enough of its own moisture. You won't need to add more. 

Cooked and Shredded, no water needed! See?

For serving, just pile it on a tortilla and add any type of fresh veggies you wish, finish it off with a bit of grated cheese, sour cream and enjoy!

That's my taste on it!

Cooking Spaghetti Squash

It occurred to me as I was rereading the previous post (Honey Garlic Chicken in the Pot) that maybe one of you would also like to add Spaghetti Squash to your dinner. And really, why wouldn't you? It is de-light-ful.

Since discovering squash and how much I like it, I have looked at dozens--literally dozens--of recipes for cooking it. Of course, what you do with it all depends on what you want to do with it, follow?

For me, I'm a "Squash stands alone" kinda girl. That being said there are (again) dozens of ways to cook what the internet has dubbed "the perfect squash". I feel, personally, that only one recipe should ever be given the "perfect" label, but that's me. I don't think things are perfect, I like to add my own little flare.

So while there are many, many perfect recipes out there for perfectly cooking a perfect Spaghetti Squash, I will share my favourite.

Here's what you need:

Water didn't make it into the picture, but we all know what that looks like

• Squash
• Knife
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Water, less than half a cup
• Baking dish

And to make it even more perfect, here's what to do--in pictures! Yay

Cut in half lengthwise and remove the guts

Add a bit of Olive oil and rub all over the inner surface

Add salt and pepper

Place cut side down in baking pan and add a bit of water, just enough to cover the bottom of the dish*

Put the dish in the oven at 400F for about 45 minutes. When a knife pierces the flesh easily it is done. To remove the good stuff from the skin use a fork to scrape out the guts. It'll come out in strings, much like Spaghetti, hence the name....

*The water is optional, I just find it makes the squash more tender and juicy. mmmmm

This can be used in place of pasta spaghetti for most things, it's lighter than pasta and a healthy alternative.

We'll be using it as a side to go along with the chicken. Don't tell the kids....

That's my taste on it.

Honey Garlic Chicken in the Pot

Sometimes it is hard to find something that everyone likes, especially when you have children. Have you ever noticed that something that was good last week, is completely unacceptable this week? How does that even work?? I get that tastes change over time, but a week? Ugh!

As I seem to be on quite the crock kick, I'm going to continue with that and share the Honey Garlic Chicken in the pot. I'm sitting here right now, smelling it as the crock does its thing, crossing my fingers all the while that my littlest angel falls asleep. Here's hoping.

What you need:

• Bunch of Chicken, today I'm using 8 drumsticks
• 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey or a bit more depending on your tastes
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 1/2 generous tsp minced garlic (about 6 cloves crushed)
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped. 
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers

What to do:

• Lay out your chicken at the bottom of your crock
• Mix all the other stuff together
• Pour it over the chicken
• Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until done

Dump it all into the Crock

Cover and cook

Could it be any easier than that? I mean really?

Serve with rice or egg noodles or spaghetti squash disguised to look like noodles. Not saying I am, but I totally am. 

This recipe is a modification of several that I found on pinterest. 

That's my taste on it.