Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup butter cut into dry ingredients
Add
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup milk
Mix until just combined.
Pour into greased round pan.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until knife comes out clean. (For best results and less heating up the house, I use our toaster oven)

While that's baking I wash and slice about 6 cups of strawberries.
I add 1/4 cup sugar
And whip up 1 cup whip cream with a little pure vanilla extract and a spoon of icing sugar.

Easy Stroganoff

I had some left over bbq steak that I didn't know what to do with. So after rummaging through our fridge and cupboards I found the goods to make a quick and easy lunch on the fly. First I boiled a pot of salted water and added about two cups of mini egg noodles. (Leftover from my winter soup days) Meanwhile in some olive oil I sauteed some onion, celery, a can of mushrooms (used what we had on hand) garlic, fresh thyme, cracked pepper and sea salt. Once everything was cooked down I added about two cups of chopped steak and a squirt of worcestershire sauce. Then once the pasta is cooked, I drain it and add it to the meat mixture. Then I add a couple teaspoons of sour cream and VOILA!

Garden salad with homemade dressing

I picked, washed and dried some baby romaine and butter lettuce leaves from our garden. Then I added some cabbage (to give it some good crunch), some chopped cucumber, 1 tomato and some garden picked radishes. Then for the dressing I poured about 1/4 cup of good balsamic vinegar and 3/4 cup of olive oil into a canning jar. (Anything with a lid will do) Then I added two garlic cloves, a handful of garden herbs (I used mint, basil, oregano, thyme, dill and chives), a good crank each of cracked pepper and cracked sea salt. Then I use my hand immersion blender and whaz it up until it's all pureed. I pour a comfortable amount over the salad and toss until well coated and crack some more pepper on top.

Lazy Chicken Pot Pie

Sautee one chopped onion, 2 celery stalks, handful of mushrooms, chopped carrot, fresh basil and oregano (or dried) and 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves. Once everything is softened add as much chopped cooked chicken that you have or desire. Add some freshly cracked pepper and sea salt. Add some butter- stir until melted. Sprinkle in some flour and stir until the flour is all mixed. Pour in some organic chicken broth until creamy and bubbly. Pour into a square pan or casserole pan. Now for the topping- 2 cups flour, 1 Tbsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. sea salt, 1/4 cup butter crumbled into flour mixture. Once all is mixed evenly, add 3/4- 1 cup milk and stir until JUST COMBINED. (DO NOT overmix!!!) Use your hands to flatten it on top of casserole dish and bake at 400-450 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. (I use a square glass pan and bake it in our toaster oven)

Kitchen tip #1

To keep track of leftovers in the fridge I write the date on the container using a dry eraser marker. It stays on pretty good and washes off with a wash cloth! And I always have a pen handy on the fridge because I use the fridge as a dry eraser board!

Crunchy Mac, broccoli & Cheese with Apple & Cucumber Salad

(Don't COMPLETELY trust my measurements. I tried to measure as I went but forgot some of them!) Make dressing in a jar with about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (or any oil you prefer), 2 tablespoons of honey, juice of half a lemon, 1/4 cup apple juice, 1/4 white wine vinegar, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Give it a good shake and taste. Add more of anything you think it needs. Put in fridge. Pre heat oven to about 350. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add 4 cups of uncooked elbow macaroni. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add two cups of peeled and chopped broccoli stems to the pasta and water. Cook for about another 8 minutes or so. Meanwhile make the cheese sauce. Poor about two cups of milk into a jar with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of powdered mustard, pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper. Give it a good shake and pour into a pot. Stir constantly with a whisk and add more milk if it's too thick. Once it's bubbly and perfect add just over a cup of grated white cheddar. Stir until melted. Drain the pasta and broccoli and add it to the sauce. Give it a good stir and pour into lasagna pan. Mix 1/2 cup of BUTTER with about a cup and 1/2 of bread crumbs (or crushed crackers). Sprinkle over mac mix and put in the oven for about 10 minutes until heated through. I broiled it for the last couple of minutes to get it golden. While that's in the oven, chop up one long english cucumber and one red apple. (I think next time I'll add some red onion and I'll chop the cuc and apple not slice them.) Toss them with the dressing and add a little more s & p!

Beefy Nacho's!

(So some of the recipes that I'm using in the days to follow have been adapted from Jamie Oliver's menu planner for the schools. His recipes are for 450 people, so I've kinda guessed at the amounts.)

A good handful of extra lean ground beef ( I used 11 oz.)

Fry up with one chopped onion. Once onion is tender and meat is no longer pink add one can of drained and washed kidney beans and about 1 cup of frozen corn. Cook for a wee bit and add a sprinkle of cinnamon, cumin, and chile powder to taste. Give it a stir and grind some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Then add about 7 oz. (half a small can) organic tomato sauce. Give it a stir and taste. Add more sauce if you like it wetter o

r add more spice if you like it stronger. For serving put a handful of whole grain chips, a couple of spoonfuls of meat, some grated white cheddar (dye free), lettuce (ice berg is crispy) , and tomato with a dollop of organic sour cream on the side! Voila!

Scratch mac n' cheese

Tias asked if we could have mac n' cheese for lunch. Well, the old stand bye of KD no longer resides in our home. And I haven't re stocked our "Annie's Organic White Cheddar" mac n' cheese. So, I boiled about two cups of elbow macaroni in salted water. Meanwhile I realized I was completely out of butter so I poured about two to three tablespoons of olive oil into a pot on medium heat. I grabbed my whisk and slowly whisked in two to three tablespoons of flour into the oil. I let it bubble for a quick bit and then I slowly started pouring some milk into it while whisking. After adding about a cup or so then I added about a cup to a cup and half of grated cheese into it. Then after it was melted and bubbly, I added some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. I strained the pasta and added the cheese sauce! And YUM YUM! The children all enjoyed it and actually, it was REALLY tasty!

Roast chicken dinner

So I had a whole organic chicken defrosted in the fridge from the night before. I took off the wrapper and gave it a good wash. Then I chopped an onion, some carrots and celery and threw them into the bottom of a roasting pan. Then I smashed some garlic and threw it and the neck in too. Then I rubbed olive oil all over the bird and sprinkled some freshly cracked pepper and sea salt. I set the bird on top of the veg, poured in a little water, put the lid on and threw it into the oven at 350 for just under two hours. Meanwhile, I peeled and chopped the potatoes and half a yam and put them in a pot of water on top of the stove. Once the chick was near done, I boiled the potatoes and heated up the frozen peas (organic bagged ones from Costco are great) in some water. Then I took the chicken out of the oven, let it set on a cutting board and poured some of the hot potato water into the roaster. Then I took my hand blender and pureed all the veg with the water and it made a nice gravy! There was no need to thicken it or season it. I mashed the potatoes with some BUTTER and sea salt and fresh cracked pepper and VOILA! Dinner was served and there were no leftovers! Well, there were bones that I used to boil in water to make a broth to freeze for a future recipe!

So a journey begins...

I grew up with a mom who cooked...in the kitchen...and made things from scratch. I lived my entire childhood not knowing that stuffing and mashed potatoes could actually come from a box! It always disturbed me to know that such things were allowed to be made and worse, consumed by unsuspecting people who had no interest in what food SHOULD taste like and how it was made to sit on a shelf for years at a time.

As a teenager I stopped eating meat and only ate organic. Then at the ripe old age of 20 I got married to my high school sweetheart and started our journey of building our home life together and it's expectations. Two years later and seven moves later, we welcomed our first born son into our small two bedroom apartment. With not much money, time, or sleep, soon cooking the best, most healthiest way was of less importance and just filling our tummies with whatever was quick, easy, and cheap was put to the front of the line. Eight and a half years of marriage, three beautiful children and 17 moves later, we have made our way back to the roots of my childhood. I read ingredients on the food labels and have no clue what most of them are. I question the constant headlines of another person who has just been informed they have cancer or are dying of cancer. I wonder how it is I can read recipe book after recipe book and find very few recipes that don't require "packaged" ingredients.

When did this become the norm? Was it after the "woman's rights movement"? After woman went to work outside of the home and there was no longer "time" to cook REAL food. Was it after fast food restaurants became more and more popular? And in turn, causing the number one health concern in north america to be heart attacks and obesity related diseases? Or was it trying to make everything "healthy" and cutting out the fat and replacing it with who know's what? Or maybe it's the "big wigs" who want to make the most money with as little loss and cost as possible?

Either way, I've started thinking for MYSELF and not believing the media and "averages". I am wanting to know what I am putting in my and my families bodies! I am trying to cook with ingredients that are as close as the way God intended them to be. I want to know that what I'm eating, isn't staying in me for who knows how long? And that what I'm serving my children isn't going to cause my children to die before me.

This is my journey....