Imagine having so many food intolerances that you were deprived of eating many of your favourite foods including (perish the thought!) chocolate!!!!  This was the case of a man named Chris.  He suffered from countless food intolerances including, yes  . . .  chocolate.  He didn't let it keep him down however. He set forth with determination to develop a chocolate that he could eat and enjoy!  After months of testing, he developed Enjoy! chocolate, a chocolate bar that is Gluten Free, Dairy Free,  Soya Free, Organic and contains no refined sugars and is made with raw cacao.  And it tastes GREAT! 

In fact the Daringly Darkest bar that I was sent contains only 3 ingredients:  Cacao Butter, Raw Cacao Powder and Coconut Sugar.  With 85% cacao solids, this is some insanely intense chocolate!  

 

This luxury raw chocolate really snaps when you break it and the flavour is incredibly strong and chocolaty. Not overly sweet it melts on the tongue and delivers a deep chocolate flavour that tastes completely unadulterated by anything else.  The first small square I tasted I wasn't sure  . . .  it was really, REALLY chocolaty and completely unlike anything else I had ever tasted. I wasn't sure that I liked it . . .  was this cooking chocolate?  

I tasted another square and liked it more . . .  

By the third square I had actually fallen in love with it. Total truth.  It has a very satisfying snap when you bite into it  . . .  melts cleanly on the tongue and has a flavour that is quite enjoyable once you get used to it. In fact I would say I actually might prefer it to other sweeter chocolates.  This is great!  I could almost taste tobacco if that makes sense, but not in an objectionable way. It was quite nice.

 

 

They also sent me a box of their Sumptous Salted Caramels.  Oh boy   . . .  these taste dangerously amazing. 

These contain Coconut Sugar, cacao Butter, Raw Cacao Powder, Water, Coconut Oil and Salt.  So a few more ingredients than the ordinary bar.  All natural and containing 70% minimum of cacao solids, these really pack a lot of flavour into a small chocolate.  One is incredibly satisfying.  Two is almost gluttony.  LOL 

Seriously however, when the chocolate is as pure and unadulterated as this chocolate is, you don't seem to need as much to satisfy the craving.  Certainly not because it doesn't taste good, but because it tastes so good and rich that you are happy with just the one . . .  for now anyways.  I'm not going to admit to what happened later on. 

With 100% organic ingredients, they work hard at making things sustainable and are also working at creating packaging that is totally recyclable and compostable.  At present however there is still the necessity for their inner bags to be composed of food grade, heat sealable plastic. They are working hard at trying to create something which is totally recyclable.  I like this ethos.  They care about the planet. 

For more information about their products and where and how to buy them you can visit their website at Enjoy!

 

As I mentioned yesterday I cooked Todd a Roast Beef Dinner at the weekend for Father's Day.  We don't have any children of our own, but he's a pretty good dad to our Mitzi so why not celebrate that!  I didn't do a pot roast this time, but a proper regular roast beef.  It was so nice for a change! 

 

Now, you all know I am the Leftover Queen!  I love leftovers . . .  I love taking them and seeing what I can put with them to make something new.  Today we are having Roast Beef Hash with some baked beans, but yesterday I cooked us Beef Miroton.

 

Say what???  I can hear you asking.  Beef Miroton is a classic French dish which is made using leftover roast beef, cooked potatoes, onions, stock, vinegar and seasonings.  Simple ingredients put together in a most delicious way! 

 

And when I say simple I mean simple.  You just layer thinly sliced cooked potato in a casserole dish. I cut them about 1/4 inch thick and overlap them. Over that you layer on thinly sliced cooked beef.  Unremarkable right? 

 

Here is where the magic begins to happen  . . .  caramelised onions.  Who does not LOVE caramelised onions!  Put your hand up!  I didn't think so.

 

Aside from the smell of them cooking, the taste of caramelised onions is phenomenal!

 

You caramelise a pound of onions until golden without burning them and then you create a beef sauce with them, using some good stock and seasonings.  Pour that over the sliced beef and potatoes in the dish. 

 

Then you drizzle some red wine vinegar over top.  I used some balsamic . . .  because I had it and we love the taste.

 

Finally you sprinkle a layer of buttered crumbs evenly over top. The recipe I have says 2 TBS, but I'll be honest here I probably use more like 4 TBS.  We like our breadcrumb toppings.

 

You don't need a thick layer, but  you do want the whole thing covered, like a thin crust . . . 

 

Then into the oven it goes.  A fairly hot oven . . .  for about 20 minutes  . . .

  

The end result is a fabulously tasty dish that the whole family will fall in love with!

 

I served it with the leftover vegetables from our Sunday lunch.  Cauliflower, carrots, swede (turnips) and some leftover creamed cabbage.  Todd and I both thoroughly enjoyed! I used to make Devilled Beef Slices years ago, but I couldn't find the recipe to make it this time. I'll have to keep looking. They were really, really good!

  

I cooked my husband a Roast Beef Dinner for Father's Day at the weekend, with all the trimmings.  Even Yorkshire Puddings.  He was in Man-Food Heaven!   

 

He loves my roast beef and my Yorkshires!  These are recipes I learnt from my late FIL who was a cook in the Canadian Forces.  As you know an army marches on it's stomach, so as you can imagine he was an excellent cook!

 

Normally with a Roast Dinner over here they will serve cabbage of some sort, or Brussels sprouts. Usually the crinkle leafed Savoy Cabbage (lower left above).   I never realised there were so many kinds of cabbage until I moved here to the UK. 

 

 They love their cabbage. In the photo above, going clockwise from the Savoy you will see Sweetheart Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Red Cabbage and White Cabbage, which is the type I was used to cooking with from home.

 

I didn't have any other kind or even any Brussels Sprouts to cook for Todd, just a white cabbage.  It is lovely fried, and in cabbage rolls, or coleslaw  . . .  but it just doesn't shine when it is boiled or steamed.  

 

Then I realised I had never shown you my favourite recipe for Creamed Cabbage and so I decided to make that as a side dish!  

What this recipe may lack in bells and whistles, it more than makes up for in taste!

 

Creamed Cabbage might look and sound quite unremarkable, but I can assure you, it is anything BUT unremarkable! 

 

Its just cold cooked cabbage, mixed with a rich cream sauce, covered with buttered cracker crumbs and baked until bubbling and golden brown. 

 

The cream sauce is rich and flavoured with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 

 

You could add some hot pepper sauce or dried mustard powder if you want it to have a bit of a bite. 

 

Taste and make sure you have enough salt.  The cabbage won't be very salty, and it will need the lift.

  

I know we are not supposed to eat too much salt, and we try not to, but some things just need it I find.  This does.  

 

Once you have it mixed with the cream sauce, you simply pour it into a buttered baking dish and cover it with buttered cracker crumbs.

  

Into the oven it goes until it is golden brown . . .  those cracker crumbs all crisp and buttery . . .  and the cabbage and sauce are bubbling away.  

 

Oh boy, but this is some good.  This is a dish I really love and it makes an excellent side dish for roast dinners!!!

 

I don't know why I don't make this more often  . . . .  wait . . .  yes I do  . . . its because I could eat the whole thing all by myself!  Yes, I could possibly be that greedy when it comes to things I really like!  Oh, and if anything, this tastes even better the day after!  Oh boy  . . .

 

 

 

I have always adored Sauerkraut.  My grandfather used to make his own and kept it in a crock down in the cellar of their home. My mother often told the story of her being ill as a child and her Grandmother giving her some of the brine from off the sauerkraut on a spoon, and how it made her better.

 

My mom would cook us a mess of it, every now and then when I was a child.  Sometimes with chunks of ham, other times with pork, sometimes with pickled pork (my favourite!), sometimes even frankfurters.  Always with mashed potatoes on the side. 

 

My favourite way to eat it was to take my mashed potatoes, top them with a knob of butter and then mash the kraut into the potatoes!  I love everything about sauerkraut . . .  the smell when its cooking, the taste . . .  everything. It is one of my favourite things!

 

Back home you can buy it in waxed cartons (just like milk cartons) and you can also buy turnip kraut in the same way. (also delicious)  Most of it comes from the South Shore (Nova Scotia), around Lunenburg/Bridgewater way.  A  lot of Germans settled in that area.  And my Grandfather in fact came from an area known as New Germany.

 

This is one of my favourite ways to cook it now.  Your pork chops end up deliciously tender  . . .  and the sauerkraut gets flavoured a bit from the pork. Num num!

 

I also add onion and apple to the sauerkraut  . . .  and bacon.  Mmmm . . .  bacon.

 

I add a touch of caraway seed as well, but you can leave it out if it is not to your taste and you don't like it. Some people are not fond of caraway I know . . . 

 

This time I had ultra thick bone in loin chops that I had bought at Costco one time. I only used two of them and there was plenty for us to enjoy for two meals.  I think the meat at Costco is beautiful.  I have never been disappointed.

  

Of course, just as in childhood . . .  I accompanied this delicious entree with some fluffy white mashed potatoes.

 

We had the leftovers for dinner the day after and if anything they tasted even better. That is often the way with things like this.

  

Mom always said cooking things like this and then letting them "ripen" overnight was the secret to their deliciousness.  It is the same with most things like spaghetti sauce, stew, chili, etc.

 

We only just had this the other day and looking at these photos makes me want to make it all over again!  Funny how that goes.  I guess I could never get tired of eating sauerkraut, and that's the truth!

 

I think I am becoming more adventurous in my old age when it comes to food.  That's probably because I don't have fussy children in the house to please any more.  

My husband is not a fussy eater.  He doesn't really like pasta or chocolate, but he pretty much eats whatever I put in front of him. 

 

I really enjoy the freedom I have now to explore and cook whatever I desire (within reason) and a variety of flavours and ethnic dishes, etc.   

I have discovered in later years that I really enjoy Mediterranean and Middle East flavours! 

 

I was sent some lovely Greek Flat Breads the other day and took advantage of them to make these fabulous Easy Chicken Gyros.  (Yee-ros)  

The Greek Flat Breads are from Deli Kitchen and they are just beautiful.  Soft and flexible they are perfect for recipes such as this! 

 

Gyros are a Greek sandwich which consists of grilled meat (chicken, lamb, beef or pork) which has been marinated in a delicious marinade prior to grilling, sliced and layered onto a flat bread along with some salad and some creamy Tzatzki sauce. 

Sound yummy? They are incredibly tasty to say the least!

 

They are a popular sandwich found in many takeaways here in the UK.  Along with a lamb/beef version.

I prefer to make them at home so that I know exactly what goes into them.  (I have seen too many horror stories on the television about the cleanliness in these types of establishments!!) 

 

They are really a very easy sandwich to make and quite quick if you do a bit of planning ahead of time.  

Today I used chicken thighs which I had marinated in a fabulously tasty, garlicky, yogurty, oregano rich marinade. 

 

You want to plan ahead a bit as you will want to marinate the chicken for a while before grilling it. Ideally about 12 hours, but certainly no less than 2 hours. 

 

This makes it the perfect quick supper for a week night. Just pop the chicken into marinate while you are out all day at work or school or whatever and then pop it onto the grill when you get home!

 

Along with the grilled chicken you will need Tzatziki sauce.  This is a cool cucumber/yogurt sauce. 

You can use a good ready made one, but it is really quite simple to make your own, and infinitely tastier!

 

You also will want a simple salad garnish. Tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, parsley.  

You can mix all of this together with some seasoning and just spoon it on, or you can leave things individually so that people can help themselves.

 

That is the way we do it in this house as my husband doesn't like much cucumber, but he does like the tomatoes and onions.  That way he can please himself.

 

The chicken is simply grilled.  For the  most flavour you can do it on the outdoor grill (especially nice in the summer months) or you can pop it under the oven grill, or even in an electric grill. 

Whatever is easiest for you and brings you joy! Let it sit for a few minutes after to settle the juices and then slice into bits, ready for layering on the flat breads.

 

You warm your flat breads while the chicken is resting,  then dollop on some of that Tzatziki sauce, some salad fixings and the grilled chicken . . . ready to roll up, secure and enjoy!

 

 

Now that's what I call proper tasty!

  

Quick, easy and DELICIOUS!  What more could you want???

 

Oh so yummy.  You can get these new Deli Kitchen Greek Flat breads at Sainsburys!  They're excellent!  The Canadian in me just loves messy eat with your hands food.  My husband  . . .  he prefers a knife and fork.  He is just so proper British!