Vanilla Bean Scones

Tags

baking, breakfast, butter, cooking, delicious, easy breakfast, easy cooking, eat, eating, food, kid friendly, scones, vanilla, vanilla bean scones, vanilla beans

These Best Ever Vanilla Bean Scones are the perfect homemade coffee shop treat for vanilla lovers! Follow all my pro tips for making the best flaky scones!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 vanilla bean or you can use 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter COLD and grated
• 3/4 cup cream – I used heavy but you can use coffee cream
• 1 egg

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Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Start by sifting the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a clean, dry bowl using a sieve or sifter. Tap the sieve against the palm of your hand until all the dry ingredients have passed through it and you’re left with the lumps. Push the lumps through the sieve with your finger tips.
• Next, slice a vanilla bean down the centre lengthwise using a paring knife. Skip this step if you are using vanilla bean paste or extract
• Open it up and scrape out as many of the teeny tiny vanilla bean seeds as you can using the back edge of your knife.
• Even after you’ve scraped out all the vanilla seeds you can, don’t throw away the rest of the bean! Put it in your sugar container for vanilla sugar.
• Add the vanilla bean seeds to the flour mixture and blend in using a whisk. Try your best to break up the clumps of vanilla bean seeds, but if there are a few tiny clumps left that’s ok. The vanilla bean seeds will probably disappear into the flour mixture, but don’t worry. They’ll become visible again once the wet ingredients are added.
• In a liquid measuring cup, measure the cream and add the egg. Whisk together using a fork and set aside.
• The next few steps should be done quickly, as you’re working with cold butter and you want the butter to be as cold as possible when it hits the heat of the oven. This will result in a flaky scone, rather than a heavy and dense one.
• Grate your butter, right from the fridge, into little pieces and dump it into the flour mixture.
• Using your hands (wash them well first and remove any rings), pick up handfuls of the butter and flour mixture, rubbing the pieces of butter and the flour between the heels of your hands to create “sheets” of butter. You should act quickly here, and don’t allow the pieces of butter to sit in your hands for any length of time as the heat from your hands will cause it to soften. The goal is to create paper-thin pieces of butter, small and large throughout the mixture. Once there are no thick chunks of butter remaining, only thin sheets, remove your hands from the mixture. Hands equal heat, so handle the mixture as little as possible.
• Pour in the wet ingredients and mix roughly with a fork. Do not over mix, or the result will be heavy and dense. Once the wet ingredients have been incorporated but there are still several streaks of flour, turn the dough out onto a clean and floured counter surface. Press the dough down into the counter and then fold one half over the other half like you are folding a piece of paper. Press down again and make another fold. Repeat this 2 or 3 more times, gathering any outlying dough bits and flour into your folds. Don’t knead the dough like you would if you were making bread, and don’t stir or mix the dough like you would if you were making muffins. Scones are technically a pastry, so the goal is flaky layers that are created by the thin sheets of butter and all the folding.
• Once your dough is formed after folding several times, shape it into a 10-inch rectangle (approximately).
• Again, be careful not to handle the dough too much, so a few little cracks here and there are fine. I sometimes sneak in a few mini chocolate chips for Holly into 1/2 the batch. 😉
• Cut the rectangle into 12 squares with a very sharp knife
• Arrange the squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about 18-22 minutes. I usually set the timer and start watching them after about 16 minutes. You want them to stay nice and white and not get too brown, especially on the narrow end of the triangle.
• Remove them from the oven when they’re just barely golden brown on the bottom and the surface of the scones lose their shine. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Eat and enjoy !

Soup Addict – Italian Wedding Soup

Tags

basil, butter, cheese, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, easy pasta, eat, fall, fall dishes, food, fresh, italian, Italian wedding soup, Italy, kid friendly, leftovers, make ahead meals, Parmesan, pasta, pork, quick cooking, simple entertaining, soup, soup recipes, wedding soup, winter, winter soups

When you live in Ottawa, and it’s the winter and it’s cold than Mars (true story) I crave soup. This delicious Italian Wedding soup always makes feel cozy and warm. Italian wedding soup is a combination of a killer broth, mini tasty meatballs, a small pasta, veggies and greens.

I honestly adore soup.  I love it for lunch with a piece of crusty bread and it makes a great appetizer before dinner. My youngest Holly loves this soup (she loves meat) my oldest Chloe avoids meat like the plague, so I wanted to create a version that would appeal to both kids. Chloe just eats hers minus the meatballs.

This soup is made on the stove 🙂 sorry Instant Pot lovers this is old school 🙂 This soup will keep in your fridge for 5 days and freezes superbly well. Rolling the meatballs are the most time consuming part of this recipe so if you have child labor kids to assist you, use it.

Ingredients

Ingredients for Pork Meatballs (can be done ahead of time and frozen):

• 1 pound ground pork (makes a tender meatball, but you can also use beef)
• 1/2 cup onion , finely diced (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 2 cloves garlic , peeled and minced (or use a rasp)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs or seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs (parsley, basil, rosemary)
• 1 egg

Ingredients for Soup:

• 1 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1 cup onion , finely diced (1 medium onion)
• 1 cup carrot , peeled and diced (1 medium carrot)
• 2 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
• ~3 liters chicken broth – organic if you can (or homemade… I don’t have time for that though :)…)
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• 1 cup orzo, seme di Melone or acini di pepi
• 1 pound fresh tender spinach
• 2 tablespoons finely diced mixed herbs

Instructions

Meatballs:

1. In a large bowl, mix together pork, onion, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt, bread crumbs, herbs, and egg until combined
2. Shape into tiny bite-sized meatballs, roughly 1/2 inch in diameter; place onto parchment covered cookie sheet and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Luckily if you live in Canada during the winter you can put these babies outside to freeze while you prepare your broth 🙂 * Refrigerating is important as it will keep them from falling apart in the soup. You need a minimum of 30 mins to set up.

Soup:

1. In a large stock pot, melt butter; add onion, carrots, and garlic. Saute until tender, but not soft (about 5 minutes)
2. Add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Turn to simmer, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
3. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste
4. Drop meatballs into broth; cook 7 minutes. Add pasta of your choice and cook 5 minutes
5. Add herbs and simmer for 30 minutes to meld flavours, adding more broth, if needed. Add spinach for the last few minutes.
6. Serve with crusty bread, or garlic bread (my kids favourite) and top with additional Parmesan cheese. I also love to add a bit of Sriracha to my soup too.
7. Enjoy!

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Instant Pot: Pulled Pork!

Tags

BBQ, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy cooking, easy dinners, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, instant pot, kid friendly, make ahead meals, pork, pressure cooking, pulled pork, quick cooking, simple entertaining, tacos, winter

I am officially obsessed with my Instant Pot. My pulled pork was a big test because I swear by using my slow cooker for 12 hours to make the “perfect” pulled pork. I saw pork shoulder bone in on sale at the store today so I picked one up for 18$ for 3 kilos. A steal!

Prep is the same, but instead of taking 12 hours in a slow cooker however I had pulled pork on the table in 75 minutes!

Here is what you need:

• 3 kilos of pork shoulder bone in (remove the skin and slice into fist full chunks)
• Dry rub – start with 2/3 cup but you may need more (I use my own rub but you can buy one from the store)
• 1 bottle beer or can of coke or root beer (not sugar free)
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 cup bbq sauce – I use homemade but you can use your favorite store bought BBQ sauce.
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1. Cut the pork shoulder into fist full chunks keeping the bones.
2. Rub each and every pork chunk with the dry rub.
3. Typically I would do this 24-48 hours in advance and keep it in the fridge but today I did it all in one step.
4. In your instant pot press the sauté button and add a splash of oil. Add sliced onion. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes. Add pork chunks.
5. Layer meat and onions, meat and onions.
6. Pour beer over top. If you want it gluten free don’t have a beer use root beer/coke etc. in this case I used a radler. Try to make sure the meat is evenly in the pot and mostly covered by the beer.
7. Put on instant pot lid.
8. Press meat button, set for 75 minutes and put up your feet and relax.
9. Fast forward ~90 mins (once instant pot is finished and done venting open the lid.)
10. Remove bones and discard. Shred meat with fork or tongs. The meat is like butter and just falls apart.
11. You will have a lot of pork juices (these are delicious and if you want to scoop out 3 cups you can use it for baked beans) reserve a good 3 cups, you will most likely have 5-6 cups of juices.
12. In the instant pot add back in the pork, 2-3 cups of porky juices and the bourbon and BBQ sauce. Press sauté button and cook for 5 minutes or so. You want to taste the sweet pork, not just the BBQ sauce so start with a little, you can always add more.
13. This made 8 cups of meat and sauce. Enough for 4 dinners. It freezes superbly well. I use it for tacos, on nachos on my famous pull pork pizza! Think about it, 4 dinners for 18$ is a great deal.

Enjoy! I can’t wait to hear how you liked it!

Egg Bites – Premake your breakfasts for the week in 20 mins!

Tags

breakfast, cheese, cooking, delicious, easy breakfast, easy cooking, eat, eating, eggs, food, fresh, jalapeno, kid friendly, kids baking, muffins

I love eggs but I can’t be bothered to make an egg every morning.. I mean who has time for that?

Enter egg bites, baked in the oven, customizable to whatever your tastes are. Easy peasy… just how I like my mornings.

All you need is an oven, a 12 muffin tin, 8 eggs and whatever extras you want! To save a mess I use silicon muffin liners.

Here is what you need:

• 8 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbs heavy cream
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 slices of diced bacon
• 1/2 onion finely diced
• 1 whole jalapeño finely diced
• 1/2 cup feta crumbled

Sauté the onion, bacon and jalapeño in a pan until golden. Drop a 1/2 Tbs of this mixture into the muffin tins.

Whisk up the 8 eggs in a bowl. Add the heavy cream and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add 1/4 cup of the egg mixture into each muffin tin. Top with roughly 2 tsp of crumbed feta cheese.

Put these babies into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Voila! Now in the morning your only concern is making a Coffee, trying to get dressed in private and herding cats.. err I mean your children. 😉

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monicaskitchen.com

The Best Bolognese sauce, hands down. Instant Pot Recipe.

Tags

basil, comfort food, cooking, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, easy pasta, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, fresh, fresh cooking, fresh pasta, gluten free, instant pot, italian, Italy, kid friendly, make ahead meals, Parmesan, pasta, penne, pork, quick cooking, sauce, sausage, simple entertaining, spaghetti, sugar, veal

I can’t say enough good things about my Instant Pot. I bought the 8 quart one this winter and I can’t get enough of it. 

I typically make my bolognese sauce on the stove and it takes roughly 6 hours on a slow simmer to come out perfectly. 
Using my instant pot it took 35 minutes on high pressure and viola my sauce is ready!

The sauté feature is a huge time and prep saver as you can sauté in the actual pot. 

The key to this sauce is the meat ratio and I blitz all the vegetable in the food processor before I add it into the meat. This bolognese sauce is more of a ragu than your typical spaghetti sauce. Also another tip I don’t use beef, I only use veal and pork and prom sausage. This makes the sauce much more mild. 

What you need:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
• 1 1/2 pounds ground veal
• 1 pound Italian sausage meat (casing removed)
• 1 large white onion
• 2 carrots
• 3 celery heart stalks
• 4 garlic cloves 
• 3/4 cups of sundried tomatoes
• 1 huge handful of fresh basil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 28 oz can tomato purée (try to find San Marizano tomatoes)
• 1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
• Parmesan rind
• Dried Bay leaves (4) 
• 1/3 red wine
• Splash of heavy cream 

In a food processor add all the vegetables and basil and sun dried tomatoes. Blitz until their are no chunks and you have a very finely diced mixture. Set aside.

Plug in your Instant pot and press the sauté button – it will take a few minutes and it will beep and say hot.

Start sautéing the sausage meat so some of the fat renders down, once crumbly add the  ground pork and cook down and then add the veal. This whole process will take about 10 minutes to brown the meat. 

Once no longer pink, add in the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, basil and sundried tomatoe purée. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Then add in the 2 cans of tomatoes, salt and sugar and bay leaves. Throw in the Parmesan rind and 1/3 cup of good red wine. 

Put on the top of the Instant pot, press the meat/stew button (35 mins on high pressure) and sit back and relax! It will take about 5 minutes to come up to high pressure and then the timer will start counting down. Once it is finished, the Instant pot will shut off automatically. 

This sauce usually simmers on my stove for 4-6 hours. With this instant pot it now only takes 45 minutes! 

Typically a Bolognese sauce is served with a wider pasta noodle but you can serve it on whenever noodle you desire. Before serving add a splash of cream to the sauce. I can’t explain what it does to the sauce but it makes it amazing and rounds out all the meat and tomato flavour. 

This sauce freezes amazingly well (do not add the cream before you freeze it) and this recipe will give you roughly 10~12 cups. 

Mangia! 

Bakery Style Buttermilk chocolate chip muffins

Tags

bakery, baking, butter, buttermilk, chocolate, dessert, eat, entertaining, food, kid friendly, kids, kids baking, mini muffins, muffins, simple entertaining, sugar, summer, summertime, treats

First let me start by giving credit where credit is due, this recipe was given to me by a friend who found it on Pinterest these have got to be some of the best chocolate chip muffins I have ever eaten. I have tweaked the original recipe a bit, so here is my version. 

Chloe makes them at least every 10 days or so, they freeze incredibly well all you need to do is take a muffin out of the freezer put it in the lunch bag and by snacktime it’s thawed, Voila! These are a winner winner.

 INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar or vanilla bean sugar 

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 larges eggs beaten 

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or the best extract you can find 
1 1/2 cups miniature chocolate chips

sanding sugar for sprinkling on top – makes all the difference. 

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Use muffin liners or Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. This recipe makes 12 large and 12 mini muffins.
In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter, eggs, vanilla, and the buttermilk. Stir JUST until a batter with lumps forms.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each cup in the muffin tin to be completely full (about a heaping 1/4 cup).

Bake at 425ºF for 5 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 375ºF and bake for another 13 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes before removing from the tin and serving.

Enjoy! 

http://www.monicaskitchen.com (new website coming soon!) 

Chicken Chili in 35 minutes in my Instant Pot – Includes Recipe!

Tags

avocado, beans, chicken, chili, chipotle, delish, dinner, dinners, fiber, freezer dinners, instant pot, kid friendly, lunch, make ahead meals, pressure cooking, simpledinner, sour cream, southwestern, spices, tomatoes

I LOVE this shredded chicken taco chili. At times I serve it over rice, but many times just in a bowl and top it with avocado, cheese, and chipotle sour cream.

It is perfectly made in a slow cooker because you just dump all the ingredients in, turn it on and come back to the best tasting meal! But, it is amazing in an Instant Pot and takes 35 minutes! So you don’t need to plan ahead you just dump it in, turn it on and eat 35 minutes later.
This makes a lot, ~ 22 cups and it is even better the next day. It is a great freezer-friendly meal.

I have an 8 quart instant pot, so if you have a smaller one you may need to reduce by a can of tomatoes.

A serving is 1 cup and contains about 220 calories, 3 grams of fat, 8 grams of fiber, 21 grams of fiber and 28 grams of carbs.

1 medium onion, finely diced
2 (19 oz) can black beans, drained
2 (14 oz) cans of corn kernels
3 (19 oz) cans of diced tomatoes w/chilies or garlic
1 1/2 packages of reduced sodium taco seasoning (you can make your own but this is super easy)
2 tbsps cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp each of garlic and onion powder
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Serve with diced avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream or chipotle sour cream

Combine beans, onion, corn, diced tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, spices and taco seasoning in a your instant pot.
Nestle the chicken in to completely cover, press meat/stew botton (which sets it for 35 minutes) and voila!
Once our instant pot has done its magic, open your vent and then open your lid after a few minutes. Remove the chicken and shred in a seperate dish and then return to your pot and stir it in.

Top with fresh cilantro and your favorite toppings!

In a slow cooker, prep the same way and turn on high for 5 hours or on low for 9. Shred chicken the same way.

For the Chipotle sour cream topping… take one can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (6.5 oz can) and blitz in a food processor and add in 1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt or sour cream. It makes a delicious condiment which is creamy, smokey and spicy! It’s great for chili, tacos and even on wraps.

For the love of tasty food,

Monica

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Pizza Night !

Tags

cheese, easy dinners, fast dinners, kid friendly, pizza, pizza night

Almost everyone likes pizza, and if you have a few staples on hand you can have a simple and creative pizza night without having to ordering takeout.

  
I like to use naan as my pizza crust. Preferably the mini naan as they make perfectly portioned pizzas. And because it is already baked, it is a huge timesaver. 

Pizza toppings can be fun: I always have jarred sauce on hand and cheese but be creative and mix it up a little with the extras.

Try these: 

Pesto, Boursin cheese, jalapeños, onions and peppers  make a delish out combination.

Onion jam, prosciutto, Gouda and arugula

Fresh pineapple, crispy bacon and cheddar

Creme fresh, red onions, double smoked bacon, freshly ground pepper and Asiago

   
    
   

Enjoy!

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Delish! Mini sliders

Tags

BBQ, Burgers, easy dinners, kid friendly, mini burgers, sliders, summertime, tapas

Sliders… Otherwise known as mini burgers. Easy to make, easy to eat. 

The staples are easy, mini slider buns, ground beef, turkey or pork and seasonings.

The fun thing you can do with sliders is change up the toppings so you have a few different flavors.
Here are a few options.

1. BBQ sauce, applewood smoked bacon and fried onions

2. Avocado, basil aioli, Boursin cheese

3. Caramelized onion, roasted garlic aioli and provolone cheese

4. Avocado, sundried tomatoes and crumbled feta 

5. Chipotle mayo, extra old cheddar and candied bacon.

So next time you want burgers, make mini ones. And set up a whole bunch of different toppings and have fun!