Probably a more accurate statement is: I have a thing for Sapporo Icihiban Original Flavoured Instant noodles.  Nothing is more enjoyable to me than a bowl of Icihiban with a few peas and carrots thrown in to convince me that it is healthy.  I’m not a big fan of other brands of instant noodles that just taste like someone took a chicken bullion cube and mixed in some noodles. (Sorry Mr. Noodles)

The thing with instant noodles is that they probably are not the healthiest thing for you to eat.  I haven’t and don’t want to read the back of a package of Icihiban because sometimes ignorance is just better than knowing your favourite food contains 300 per cent of your daily sodium intake.

While surfing the Internet today, I came across a recipe for a home-made version of instant noodles that peaked my interest. It turned out that I had all the ingredients at home  and decided to try it out.  Surprisingly it was quite delicious.

The thing that I enjoyed about the recipe was how versatile everything was.  I ended up throwing whatever vegetables I had lying around in the kitchen and I would encourage you to do the same.  In the end I used: green onions, carrots, broccoli slaw, and peas.  I blanched the slaw, carrots and peas while the noodles were cooking to soften them up a bit.  For ramen noodles, I had a package of plain ramen leftover from a previous recipe, so I used one square of those. If you are having trouble finding packages of just ramen noodles, you definitely could buy a package of instant ramen and just ditch the flavour package for this recipe.

One thing that I might try differently next time is to add a squirt of sriracha into the sauce.  The thought occurred to me while I was eating the noodles, but by that point the fridge just seemed so far away.

Recipe Below

Serves: 1

• 1/2 veggie bullion cube
• 500 ml of water
• 1 1/2 t miso paste (I used red)
• 1/8 t chilli powder
• 1 square of ramen noodles
• Assorted veggies

1. Whisk together water, bullion cube, chilli powder and miso paste in a small pot
2. Bring to a boil and add ramen noodles and any veggies that could use a bit of a softening
3. Cook for 3-4 minutes until noodles are done
4. Serve and enjoy!

There is something about baking that doesn’t really do it for me. I don’t know what it is.  Perhaps because it is fairly passive, having to wait around while things cook in the oven, or all the precise measuring that you have to do; I just find that don’t do it very often.

That being said, I decided to deviate from my non-baker attitude to make these scones and I’m glad that I did.

I’ve had this recipe on my radar for quite a while. In fact, it took me a good 15 minutes to dig the recipe out of my pile of “to make” recipes that just seems to be growing bigger and bigger.  Once I found the recipe, I realized that it was tailored to be dairy-free, using both coconut oil and coconut milk rather than their dairy counterparts.  Since I had already been grocery shopping once that day, assuming that the recipe just called for milk and butter, I decided to adapt the recipe for dairy.

I was really impressed with how these scones turned out. Since I was serving these for brunch, I made the dough, shaped the scones and froze them the night before.  I pulled the scones out of the freezer, when I was preheating the oven and baked them for a few minutes longer than the original recipe had called for.  The scones turned out flaky, buttery and delicious.  I enjoyed how they weren’t particularly sweet as it complimented the odd combo of basil and strawberry.

Makes 8 scones

• 1/2 cup butter, cold cut into small chunks
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 heaping cup strawberries, diced
• 2 T basil, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400
2. In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder
3. Using a fork (or pastry cutter) mix in the butter into the flour.  You want to have small pea sized chunks in the dough
4. Stir in the strawberry and basil until combined
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs
6. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined
7. On a well-floured surface, turn out the dough and knead it for a few minutes
8. Pat the dough into a 2 1/2 centimetre thick disk
9.  Using a sharp knife divide the disk into 8 triangle pieces. (This is the point in which I froze mine)
10. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden
11. Serve enjoy

Inspired by: Soupaddict

In the past, I’ve made perogies and borscht, but I’ve never attempted to make  cabbage rolls. I have heard that they can be fairly labour intensive and now that school has started again for the semester, I wanted to find a short-cut for these tasty treats.  A few days after Orthodox Christmas, I came across this recipe for Cabbage Roll Stew and knew that this would help to fulfil my cravings.

I was drawn to the relatively simple ingredients within the recipe and the short amount of time it would take to prepare the stew. In previous posts, I’ve lamented that I don’t have enough quick 30 minute meals especially now that law school is getting busier and busier.  I’m happy to say that I have one more recipes that I can add to my quick meal arsenal.

All and all delicious!

Makes 4/5 hungry man-sized meals

• 4 spicy Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• 1 bag of tri-coloured coleslaw mix (saves you having to chop all that cabbage)
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup sauerkraut

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat
2. Crumble and cook the sausage until slightly brown
3. Add in onion, garlic and celery, cook for until onions soften
4. Add rice, stir constantly and cook for 1 minute
5. Add cabbage, tomatoes (including liquid), chicken broth, and sauerkraut
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes until rice is soft.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Inspired by Everyone Likes Sandwiches 

Well, tomorrow is my third final (Contract Law) of my first semester of law school and what am I doing?

That’s right… procrastinating.

While I can attempt to justify this post by arguing that bloging must have something to do with Clickwrap agreements or something of the sort, I really just needed a break from the books.

I first came across this recipe on Frugal Feeding, one of my new favourite blogs. I literally have about 10 recipes bookmarked on my MUST MAKE bookmark list and I’ve only gotten to this one so far.

I realize that this is another  recipe that incorporates butternut squash but what can I say? I love it!  What appealed to me about this recipe is how easy it was to make and how delicious the result was.  While the recipe does involve a bit of time commitment, requiring you to first roast the butternut squash and then bake the lasagna, it is well worth the time spent and doesn’t actually require that much active cooking time; perfect for those who are supposed to be studying!

My one piece of advice for this recipe is use a whole bag of spinach for the spinach layer.  I always forget how small spinach gets when it wilts and I definitely had an inadequate amount of spinach in my lasagna.

Recipe Below

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cups, milk
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 bag washed and prepared spinach,
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 2 T butter
• 2 T flour
• 8 or 9 lasagna noodles (I used dried ones)
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

1. Place the butternut squash and onion on rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes at 350 until fork tender
2. Prepare pasta noodles as per box intructions, drain and toss with olive oil to prevent them from sticking to each other
3. In a frying pan, heat some oil over medium heat and add the garlic
4. Cook until fragrent and then add spinach
5. Continue until spinach is wilted then remove from heat. Be sure to squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the spinach
6. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the flour, cook for 2 minutes until flour begins to turn golden
7. Add milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. Whisk until sauce begins to thicken and remove from heat.
8. To assemble the lasagna, put all of the onion and butternut squash on the bottom of a lasagna pan. Top with a layer of pasta, then all of the spinach.  Top this with 1/3 of the milk mixture (about 1 cup), then another layer of pasta. Pour the remainder of the sauce over this and finally top with the grated mozzarella cheese.
9. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Remove cover and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese is nice and golden.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Inspired by Frugal Feeding

I mean, is it really procrastination if something delicious results from it?

I made this recipe on a whim about a month ago and loved it. I first came across it while looking for a recipe for pulled pork. While I still plan on making the pulled pork aspect of the recipe, I happened to have all ingredients for the coleslaw on hand at the time.  I decided to whip up a batch and have it for lunch one.

The result: surprisingly delicious. I can definitely see it being a tasty addition to a pulled pork sandwich, but it was still very satisfying by itself. To make life easier, I actually used a bag of pre-chopped tri-coloured coleslaw mix from the grocery store. Te final product was both easy to make and delicious.  It will definitely be remade sometime in the near future!

Recipe below

• 1/2  bag of pre-chopped tri-coloured coleslaw mix 
• 2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t Tabasco sauce, (I used their chipotle flavour)
• 1/3 cup Mayo
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

1. Whisk all the ingredients besides the coleslaw mix in a bowl until combined
2. Pour coleslaw mix into a bowl and toss with dressing
3. Serve and enjoy!