kitchen tips: two for one. {the latter is more for my canadian peeps.}

today i was bustling around in the kitchen.
today was a ped day. {day off school}
today was surprisingly low key.

today i got down to business.

coop has asked for chocolate chip cookies to take for school for the 100th day so i decided i would make the mix today to get it out of the way. i also wanted to try something out. i saw this idea on pinterest and it actually worked! you make your mix and then place a tablespoon full in an empty ice cube tray and freeze then voila! perfect kid size cookies! i got about 32 this way and i usually only get about 18 when i do my normal size. this is the perfect size for a crowd. a nice bite. and this way on wednesday night i pull them out and just pop them on the tray and place them in the oven! but you can also think of it this way - have a bag in the freezer at all times and while you are about to sit down for dinner toss a few on a tray, place in oven and for dessert you will have fresh baked cookies! and hopefully you will have a scoop of vanilla to top it off with! or if guests unexpectedly drop by you have something to bake up for an afternoon treat - you will blow them away with your preparedness.
fresh baked cookies at your finger tips! genius!

so glad i thought of it..... ;)

okay i know i promised you a two for one and here it is. as we canadians know our butter stick - or should i say brick? - does not come with a tablespoon measurement up the side like our lucky americans do - we only get cups. {yes you can find it with the spoons but it's twice as much - for measurements?} sometimes there is a recipe that calls for a few tablespoons of butter and then you have to get a brick to room temperature dig in and....well you get the point. anyways here's my trick - the times when i need room temperature butter for something, say like the chocolate chip cookies i mentioned above, i will pull out the whole brick the night before and leave it out on the counter. the next day i will cut off my one cup, place that aside and get to work. {or make my cookies first and then turn my attention to my second half, whatever.} at this point i dig in with my tablespoon and measure out the whole half, place the blobs on a baking sheet, place the sheet in the freezer to freeze them individually and then once they are hard, place them in a ziplock. and there you go - individual tablespoons of butter ready for you!

brilliant.

now go and bake something.
you know you want to!

skeptical no more + some fun links to share.

i love pomegranates. do you?
i love their juice. their look. {the picture hanging in claire and phil's dining room is awesome!}
and most of all their seeds.
you know what is a pain in the ass though.....seeding a pomegranate. the time. the effort.
the purple fingers.
i buy them all the time and more than i like to admit i toss them out after they have gotten rotten because i didn't want to take the time with them.
well that is no more people!!
i came across the revolutionary article by the wonderful stephmodo on how to seed a pomegranate.
i was skeptical at first...really? it's that easy and NO ONE knew about this? REALLY?
well today i tried it and...it worked!!!
by banging the outside of it after separating it into quarters they fall right out!!!! i had a whole bowl for lunch. glorious! i can feel the anti-oxidents at work.
go and get yourself one...it's also a good way to work out those frustrations {hee hee, shhh!}

while hanging out on the web this week a few things have caught my eye:

i have been toying with the idea of making my own mighty list, a bucket list of sorts, and wouldn't ya know that lacy went and made herself a food one! brilliant.

hand print christmas crafts - will definitely be making some of these!

my christmas board on pinterest has been blowing up with tons of great ideas!

a friend has decided to spread her wings. i wish i had her courage.

elise's adventure in knitting has inspired me to ask for a set of needles for christmas this year.

love everything on rosa's blog - flutterflutter. check out her new christmas tags! i wish i was so talented.....

and you know those seeds up top...brooklyn supper used her's like this. might have to follow suit. pair it with whatever i am crock-potting this sunday. yum!

happy friday!! xo

ps...apple cider stew post tomorrow...check back!

kitchen tips: perfect roast chicken.

today i am putting a spin on kitchen tips.
since these are tips and it does come from the kitchen i thought it fitting.
i am talking about basics everyone should know.
i have had emails from all you wonderful people asking me how to do this and that and i thought i would educate everyone and sometimes i might also be educating myself in the process by making something that i have never done as to help you all out. believe it or not there are some things i don't know ho to do - shocking i know!
i was going to start a new series for this...something along the line of kitchen 101 or basic for you from me....but then i realized i had the kitchen tips going and to save us from over-complicating it and making yet ANOTHER column i decided to morph it into my kitchen tips because as i mentioned above - they are tips and it does come from the kitchen!

today i am going to talk roast chicken.
to me there is nothing better than a roast chicken.
i love roast chicken.
i love roast chicken dinner, roast chicken sandwiches and leftover roast roast chicken & mayo on a stone wheat thin - to name a few.
at one point i was roasting a minimum of three chicken's a morning because we had roast chicken sandwiches on our menu and sliced "roast chicken" was not on the menu. the real stuff was in order.

the thing with roast chicken is this - it's not complicated! but it does seem so if you are not used to them. it can be quite daunting and i am here to guide you to where you will be proud of the chicken you place on your dinner table and all the oohh's and aahh's will be rightly deserved.
if you follow a few simple steps you are in for the treat of the best stuff ever. i promise.

isn't that beautiful?

the perfect roast chicken.

paper towel
one 3 to 4 pound chicken {you can go larger, just increase your cooking time - not the oven temperature!}
one bulb of garlic - yes the WHOLE bulb, skins and all.
half a lemon
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
olive oil
kitchen twine
roasting pan
meat thermometer

pre-heat your oven to 425F degrees.
wash your chicken and dry with paper towel - very important step. {this is where this faucet comes in handy when dealing with chicken hands!}. your chicken will not brown if you don't do this! when your chicken is dry, place in your roasting pan - if you do not have a roasting pan you can make a make-shift one by placing a wire rack over a casserole dish, just make sure the casserole dish is larger than the chicken so you catch all the drips! now season your cavity with salt and pepper - you have removed all the innards right? sometimes they leave the organs in a baggy in the chicken's cavity. remove this! {i throw them away as i have no use for it but people do use them for things - google that.} also sometimes there is a flap of extra skin/fat here - i rip it off and toss away. slice your lemon into wedges and stuff them in the cavity then slice your garlic bulb in half - skins and all - so you have two halves cut through all the garlic, and stuff the whole thing in the cavity. now you want to tie together your legs. need that cavity shut up tight. i have no technique for this - i try to make sure to have the legs crossed and starting with my string underneath and wrapping it up, i keep pulling tight till the legs wrap and then quickly tie it tight and pat myself on the back. now grind pepper over the top {not too much! you can sprinkle with salt also but i tend not to salt many things.} and drizzle some olive oil over the top - if too much falls off use a brush to spread it around and coat your bird. put some water in the bottom of your roasting pan - under the rack - i don't know why...just do it. pop it into your pre-heated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes. pull it out, check the temperature with a meat thermometer - down between the leg and breast into the thigh. it needs to read 81 degrees celsius. keep popping it in a 10 minute increments till this temp is reached. once done let rest, covered in foil, on the counter for 10 minutes.
stop. admire. carve. serve!

**i forgot....do not throw out your bones! bag them up + bag up any leftover chicken and toss in your freezer. i'll show you what to do with those soon!

kitchen tips: celery tops.

so there you are, taking the newly purchased celery out of the bag, washing it up, trimming it up, placing the cut spears in water so it's ready on hand to reach for instead of that decadent wedge of chocolate cake calling your name. {what - you don't need blockers too?}
now you are cleaning up and preparing to toss out those lovely leafy tops.

STOP!!!!

those tops are gorgeous and filled with tons and tons of flavour!
they are so beautiful diced up and tossed into your chicken, tuna or egg salad. or chucked into a nearly finished sizzling stir-fry.
not only are they delicious but they add texture and dimension to your dish. ANOTHER sight element.
{what - you don't look for that too?}
{hhmm...am i weird?}

so next time you are preparing - prep these too! they are wonderful and unexpected.

trust me.
{i am only trying to help...not make you crazy like me.}

kitchen tips: homemade buttermilk.

i love to bake.
at least four times a week i bake and sometimes multiple things on those days.
i love seeing the creation of what ingredients can do.
but there is also a snag in that plan.
having all the proper ingredients.

haven't you found yourself wanting to make something only to find out you are missing one of the key elements?
and by the time you can get to the store to remedy the situation it's either too late or the moment has passed?
for me that always seems to happen with buttermilk. a l w a y s. 
well not anymore.

i don't know what it is about buttermilk but it seems to be very popular in baking but also very specific to just have hanging around the kitchen. and it doesn't last forever.
it goes bad.
i HATE when food goes bad. the waste. blerg.
BUT one usually does have regular milk around. it's more versatile.
people do enjoy a glass of milk now and again.
it's the best on cereal.
some take it in their coffee or tea.
AND you need it for mac & cheese.
{yes some people do enjoy a glass of buttermilk with their dinner but i haven't met them yet.}

so......use that versatile staple that is already in your kitchen and whip it into a baking marvel!
excuse me now while i go and use mine for some pumpkin muffins.......

homemade buttermilk.

1 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup of milk {whole is the best but i mostly use skim because that's what we drink.}

place the vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with the milk. allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes minimum. stir together {you will notice it's thicker now}. use as directed in your recipe!

kitchen tips: saving meyer lemons.

i'm so excited for today. i have been wanting to get this together for a while and now i am doing it!
from growing up in an extremely foodie family, learning from cooking for my own family, to owning our own bakery cafe and also from my relationship with my dvr & the food network; i have gathered a whole host of cooking and baking tips & tricks that i am so excited to share with you!

every week {finger's crossed!} i will let you in on a secret that i have learned from here and there and HOPEFULLY this will help you become more confident in the kitchen, more confident in yourself and it will also help you save money from your grocery budget {you won't be throwing so much out!}.

so there...that's my mission statement. more confidence, less waste!

first thing up....meyer lemons. the royalty of lemons.

i had heard of these before and heard all the comments on how they are the king of all kings of lemons but could never bring myself to shell out the $3 per lemon to discover their taste {the same goes for san marziano tomatoes...have yet to pay $4.70 a can to try those...maybe one day.}

okay back to my lemons.
as luck would have it i was strolling the aisle of costco a while ago, braving the elements, when my eyes landed on a sign and i couldn't believe my eyes.
$7.99 for a whole container? 12ish meyer lemons for $7.99? ummm...yes please.

as i was not going to use them right away i put them in my lovely green bowl, set them on the buffet and admired them. their glossy slightly orange colour, their scent and the feel of spring time they brought to our winter home. but like every good thing they started to fade.
i had to get them working for me before i had to toss them.

here's the tip: deconstruct them and freeze them.

this tip is from my bakery days. for our place we really wanted everything to have real ingredients.
no fillers. NO shortening. no artificial.
real butter. real fruit. real ingredients.
to achieve these you have to have man-power. and with man power comes payroll and with payroll comes more money out and sometimes that doesn't always match the money coming in.
could i really employ someone just to stand there and zest a whole box full of lemons? no.
but guess what i found from my supplier - frozen lemon zest! THEY employed someone to stand there and zest lemons! and it works beautifully!

so here's what you do:
when you feel your lemons are on their way out, set up an assembly line.
first station: zest your lemons. i like to use a rasp for this. once you have zested all your lemons place the zest in a tupperware container and freeze. voila! just pull out how much you need when you need it - let in sit counter side for about 20 minutes to warm it up a little {or use your judgement - remember in your kitchen YOU are the boss!}

second station: juice your lemons. cut your lemon in half and juice - either by hand or with a citrus juicer. once you have juiced all your lemons pour the juice into empty ice cube trays. freeze, transfer to ziplock bags and now you have meyer lemon juice at your finger tips for all your cooking needs.

so there you go - my first tip from what will hopefully be a very successful and well received new series here on the blog!
happy baking/cooking!

here are my recipes in which i use lemons: meyer lemon bars, lemon blueberry cake and sour-lemon scones.