You can use the same method to create fun, sophisticated chicken fingers.  I often make these chicken fingers for picnics because they are just as delicious cold!

Ingredients:

Chicken: boneless skinless chicken breasts aren’t necessary, but very nice.

Prosciutto

Note: I bought club pack sizes for each of these items so your meal should cost substantially less than the price tags on my photo indicate.  You only need one long slice of prosciutto per piece of chicken, so if you go to the deli counter of your local grocery store, you can ask for just two or four thin slices of prosciutto which will cost you less than $1.

Wrap your chicken in a slice of prosciutto, or alternatively, for elegant fingers slice your chicken into 3 or 4 long pieces and then wrap in prosciutto.

Fry on medium or medium low for about 7 minutes per side until brown and cooked through (a bit longer for whole chicken pieces, a bit less for the chicken fingers).

After the flip.

Enjoy immediately or pack up some fingers for a nice picnic – they are easy to eat and just as delicious cold!

Easy enough for any day, fancy enough for special days. Jump up.

Prosciutto Egg Cups contain all of those breakfast essentials you crave and your body needs for fuel: eggs and prosciutto (think bacon’s elegant cousin) for protein, a bit of cheese for dairy and a vegetable to get your day started right.

Ingredients:

(For 6 Egg Cups, adjust to the number you wish to make)

6 eggs, I used large, but they work better with small eggs.

6 long slices of prosciutto: buy this at the deli counter of your local grocery store, ask for thin slices and get a few extra just in case, maybe about 100 grams which should cost you about $3.  If you aren’t familiar with prosciutto, it tastes very similar to bacon but you don’t actually need to cook it whatsoever before eating it.

6 tiny cubes of cheese.

6 cherry tomatoes, or any vegetable(s) you prefer and/or already have in your fridge, grin.

Please don’t add salt!  The prosciutto is plenty salty enough.

Line each cup of a muffin tin with a long slice of prosciutto.

Crack an egg into each cup.

Add a cube of cheese and your chosen vegetable(s).  I sliced my cherry tomatoes in half in case they might explode otherwise.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes for hard yolks, or less depending on how well done you like your eggs.

Don’t worry, even the Egg Cups that slightly overflow during cooking like the little cheesy explosion you see above are pretty easy to pop out of the pan.

Enjoy immediately or refrigerate for a few days and reheat or eat cold for a quick breakfast to go!  Jump up.

When I was younger and less experienced, I would often quiet the shouting with a bowl of plain rice but now that I’ve grown I’ve realized these are the days that you need to nourish yourself most.  So I found myself a fail safe instant meal that at least provides the basics: three of the four food groups including tuna for protein.  I buy extra tomato soup and tuna whenever it goes on sale and always keep a block of cheese in my fridge, just in case.

If you ever find yourself experiencing a tough day, I hope this little idea provides you a bit of relief.

Ingredients:

Tomato soup, one can.

Tuna, one can (always buy chunk over flaked if they are the same price).

Cheese, a few cubes.

Open the tins.  Drain the tuna.  Give the juice to your kitty cat if you have one and she will love you forever!  Cut a bit of cheese into little cubes (this will provide more cheese flavour than grating it does).  30 seconds of work.

Pour everything plus a tomato-soup-tin-can full of water into a large bowl.  Microwave for about two minutes and 30 seconds.

Nourish yourself on these days.  This too shall pass, I promise.  Jump up.

Try it two ways: layered in glasses for a fancy or festive look, or mixed in a giant bowl to feed many quickly!

You can also extend this salad to feed more people inexpensively by simply increasing the amount rice.  The quantities given feed about 8.

Note: I’ve divided the ingredients into the main salad and dressing ingredients, so keep scrolling down for the dressing ingredients!

Main Salad Ingredients:

Rice, 1 cup dry

Black beans, 1 can

Corn, 1 can

Avocado (and some lime juice from dressing below to keep avocado from browning)

Tomato

Red pepper

Green onions

Dressing Ingredients:

Limes, 1 or 2 limes (you want a good 1/4 or 1/3 cup of juice plus more for squeezing on the avocado above to keep it from browning)

Oil, 3 tablespoons

Honey, 1 tablespoon

Tabasco sauce, 1 teaspoon or to your liking

Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves

Cumin, 1 teaspoon (ground/ powdered)

Coriander, 1/2 teaspoon (ground/ powdered), or you can use more of the fresh!

Always start with the rice because it takes the longest.  Add 2 cups cold water to 1 cup dry rice.  Bring to a boil then turn down and let simmer for about 20 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed (do not stir).

Continue with the rest of the instructions while you are waiting for the rice to cook!

Once the rice is done, spread it on a large plate or pan and place it in the fridge to cool it quickly.

While you are waiting for the rice to cook and/or cool, chop up your vegetables, but save the avocado for last to keep it from browning.

Dice the tomato, green onion and red pepper.

Slice up a lime before dicing your avocado.

Dice your avocado and immediately sprinkle a bit of the lime juice on the pieces to keep them from browning.

Now you can get the dressing ready while you are likely still awaiting the rice to cool down.

Dice a clove or two of garlic finely.

Stir the oil, lime juice, garlic, tabasco sauce, cumin and coriander powder together.

Try to buy your spices from a bulk herb store (such as Herb & Spice or possibly the Bulk Barn if you live in Ottawa) to keep costs down.

You can likely add more tabasco sauce than you think!

Sometimes I like to make the dressing right in a little container that has a lid.  Then you can just shake it to stir and it is picnic (or lunch box) ready!

Once the rice is cool, you can either layer your main ingredients in a glass for a classier look, or mix them all in a big bowl as seen in the lunch batch I made below.  I am able to fill 8 glasses with leftovers or about four big lunch containers with the quantities listed above.

I layer the glasses starting with the red pepper, then avocado, black beans, rice, corn, tomato and finally green onions on the tip top.

Always add the dressing right when you are ready to eat the salad or it gets absorbed by the rice and some of the flavour gets lost.

Refreshing, filling, healthy, vegetarian and surprisingly zesty!  How can you go wrong?  Jump up.

This version is very light, perfect as either a starter soup or a simple meal.  If you want a heavier, creamier version, swap out the table cream for whipping cream and add up to twice as much.

Ingredients:

6 small potatoes (or maybe 4 large ones).

1 large onion

Garlic, I used 4 cloves.

1 can clams.

1 can corn – do not use sweet corn, it is too overpowering in this soup.

1 cup of cream, you can use 10%, 18% or whipping cream depending on your personal taste.

Broth or water, you need about 1 litre of liquid – I used 900 ml of ready made vegetable broth, but 1 or two cans of condensed soup plus water works, chicken broth works, or just plain water is okay in a pinch too.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Dice the onions and garlic.

Place the onions and garlic in a large soup pot (with a bit of oil if you have some) on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a bit clear, about five minutes.

While you are waiting for the onions and garlic to cook, dice up the potatoes.

Add the potatoes to the large soup pot.

Add the broth and/or water.  The liquid should just cover the potatoes.

Let boil on medium until the potatoes are soft and cooked, 15 to 20 minutes depending on how small you diced them.

Add the entire can of clams including the liquid.

Drain the liquid from the corn and add the corn to the pot.

Turn down the stove to medium-low and add the cream to the pot.  Unless you are using whipping cream, it is very important to not let the soup boil once you’ve added the cream or else it will separate and not look very pretty (it will still taste the same, but we are going for fancy here).

As soon as everything heats up (this only takes a minute or two), the soup is ready!

Tell your dinner mates you spent all day in the kitchen and bask in the compliments! Jump up.

Surprisingly, one of the most frequently asked questions from my friends is how do I make Rice Krispie Squares that stay soft and gooey instead of turning into bricks the next day.  The answer is simple: it’s the marshmallows that go hard, so decrease the marshmallows and/or increase the butter and Rice Krispies and your squares will stay softer longer, up to a week if covered with plastic wrap.

Another good tip is to make the squares in a large glass bowl using the microwave.  The glass bowl is easy to clean with just hot water and the entire recipe only takes about 3 minutes to make using the microwave (not including optional setting time).

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of butter (original recipe calls for 1/4 cup).

5 cups of small marshmallows, broken down into 4 cups for melting and 1 cup for adding later.

Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla.

8 cups Rice Krispies cereal (original recipe calls for 6 cups).

Melt 1/3 cup of butter in a large glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds.  The butter does not have to be entirely melted, it’s going back in!

Stir four cups of marshmallows into the butter and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes.  The marshmallows will puff up in the microwave.  Stir them and watch them deflate into a smooth creamy consistency.  If you are including vanilla extract, stir it in at this point.

Stir in all 8 cups of Rice Krispies.  Then stir in the last 1 cup of small marshmallows.  This gives you fun pockets of marshmallowy goodness throughout the squares and looks pleasing too!

Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with plastic wrap.  You will thank yourself for this step later!

Press the Rice Krispie mixture into the pan.  I do this by scooping the mixture into the pan, placing a piece of plastic wrap over the entire dish and pressing everything down with my hands.

All done!  Nothing is better than creating a sweet snack in 3 minutes flat!

Of course, you should allow a little bit of time for everything to set.  An hour is ideal, but honestly I always sneak one out of the pan right away.  That first square kind of falls apart, but it reaches the tummy anyway!

Now for the softness test: did your squares stick around for a whole week? Jump up.

The only trick to this sandwich is taking a few simple steps to make the meat as tender as possible.  This involves cutting against the grain of the meat and cooking it with vinegar, a natural tenderizer.

Ingredients:

Fast-fry minute beef: sometimes called fast-fry sandwich beef, just make sure it looks like it has been hammered with a mallet and about to fall apart.

Balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar): one or two tablespoons.

Tabasco sauce: few drops to one teaspoon, depending on how much bite you like!

Butter: for frying.

Good quality bread, sliced thickly.

Optional: onions, red pepper, mushrooms, pepper (sorry the vegetables didn’t seem to make it into the photo).

Slice your vegetables thinly.

Find the “grain” of the meat.  One side will show this directionality better than the other.  In this case, on the underside of my meat, you can see the grain goes up and down, so I am going to slice the meat across to cut against the grain.

Slicing across the grain will ensure the meat ends up more tender, easier to chew and also digest.

Throw your onions into a frying pan on medium heat with some butter.  Always start with the onions because they take the longest to soften.

When the onions look sort of clear, they are soft enough and you can throw in the mushrooms and red peppers.

When the vegetables look soft and cooked (this should just take about two minutes) remove them from the pan and toss the beef in.  The beef will start cooking immediately!

Since the meat cooks in just a few short minutes, quickly add the balsamic vinegar, tabasco sauce and pepper.  The vinegar will work to further tenderize the meat.

When the beef is browned, add the vegetables back into the pan to allow them to soak up some of the delicious juices.

Remove everything from the frying pan and now add your thick bread slices.  No need to butter them!

They should toast up nicely and soak up the last bits of flavour left in the pan.

Place the beef and vegetables on the toast.  Sit back, relax and fill up!

I guarantee you will continue to get requests for this one!  Jump up.

I make the enchilada filling with a mixture of rice, pulled beef, back beans and vegetables but this recipe is definitely adaptable.  The vegetables end up inconspicuous, both in sight and taste, so I would be surprised if even the finickiest family members notice them.  They blend right in and are important not only for nutrition, but also to make the enchilada filling lighter.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry rice

1 can black beans

1/2 jar of salsa of your choosing (I used tomatillo green salsa).

12 corn tortillas

2 cans enchilada sauce

Vegetables such as onion, red pepper and zucchini.

Optional: 500 grams of ground meat (or slow cooked roast beef) cooked in enchilada seasoning or taco sauce.

Optional: 1/2 cup of grated cheese to top (completely unnecessary addition, but it covers up mistakes and broken tortillas nicely!)

If you choose to include meat, you can cook up some ground beef, chicken or pork in some taco or burrito seasoning.  I like to go the distance and make pulled beef for this recipe.  I generally cook the pulled beef the night before because it takes five hours to slow cook in the oven.  Aside from the time though, I promise pulled beef is just as easy to make as ground meat and the difference is extraordinary.  Your guests will love you forever!

Follow the same steps as in my Pulled Beef Tugs My Heart Strings recipe, exchanging the BBQ sauce for taco sauce and possibly omitting the celery.

Start the rice first as it will take the longest.  Place 1 cup of dry rice into a pot.  Cover with 2 cups of water.  Cook on high until boiling, then reduce to low until all of the water is absorbed, about 20-30 minutes.

Or double it if you want leftovers for Rice Pudding for dessert or tomorrow’s breakfast!  I often make the rice the night before for this recipe while slow cooking the beef.

Chop up your vegetables.

Add the chopped vegetables to the meat to make stuffing the Enchiladas easier later (or just place them in a bowl on their own if you aren’t including meat in the dish).

Once your rice is ready, mix with the black beans.  Again, this is just to make stuffing the enchiladas a bit easier.  It is nice to just grab from two bowls for stuffing instead of many.

Get yourself set up for the enchilada stuffing experience!  Place a 9×13 baking dish, the corn tortillas, salsa, meat and/or vegetables and rice plus bean combo within reach.

Throw a spoonful of the meat, rice and salsa into a tortilla, roll and place into the baking dish.  Repeat 11 more times.

Cover with both cans of enchilada sauce, and possibly a bit of grated cheese to cover up any mistakes.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Let sit 5 or 10 minutes before serving if you can bear it!

That’s one adorable enchilada!

The best part is every food group (and almost no fat) is hidden in that deceivingly delicious package.  Well, there isn’t much dairy, but that’s the way I like it and you could easily fix that if it was important to you.

Get ready for some very happy tummies!  Jump up.

These crepes have no sweeteners, so they can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert whether you want a little something sweet or savory.  I like to spread them with peanut butter and wrap around a banana for a breakfast I can walk out the door with.  You can top them with ham and cheese for lunch if you don’t have any bread in the house.  The Italian dish Manicotti is made by filling crepes with a tomato, spinach and ricotta cheese mixture.  Or for a sweet treat, top with strawberries and syrup for dessert.

Crepes are also ideal for individuals who are cooking for themselves because the basic recipe makes 3 plate – sized crepes, perfect for one person, just multiply the basic amounts if you want to make more!

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Tiny dab of butter for frying (less than a teaspoon).

Beat your egg and milk together with a fork, then beat in the flour until smooth.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  Add another teaspoon of milk if the batter seems too thick like pancake batter.  The batter should be quite liquidy so it can be poured out nice and thin into the frying pan.

Heat up your frying pan on medium.  After a few minutes, add a tiny little dab of butter and let it melt (but don’t let it burn, that’s why we don’t add it to the pan right away).

You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups of batter.  Pour about 1/2 a cup of the batter into your frying pan and quickly tilt your frying pan in a circle a few times to spread the batter out into the largest circle possible.  You should be able to make your crepe about the size of a plate if you roll the pan around quickly enough.

The crepes only take about 2 or 3 minutes to cook on the bottom.  Don’t flip the crepes to check!  Just look at the edges and as soon as you see them start to brown like in the photo below, they are ready on the bottom.  Now flip the crepe and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes on the other side.  Done!

Top or roll with absolutely anything you wish.  Let your imagination do the rest!

Quick enough for anytime, fancy enough for special times.  Jump up.

Ingredients:

3 eggs for a dozen tarts (1 egg = about 4 tarts, but this depends greatly on what else you add)

3 tablespoons milk or cream (or about 1 tablespoon per egg if you want to make more or less tarts)

Tart shells, I use ready made no name tart shells.

Additions: add anything you would add to an omelet!  Or go the route I did and add whatever you have in your fridge.  I had celery, red pepper and old white cheddar cheese, not bad for the day before grocery shopping, smile.

Beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk or cream for every 4 tarts you want to make.  I made 12 tarts, so I used 3 eggs and 3 tablespoons of cream.

Dice up your vegetables, cheese or other additions nice and small.  The tarts are tiny, so you want everything to be tiny.

Mix the eggs and additions together.

Alternatively, you can leave your vegetables and cheese and whatnot in big hunks and just add one big hunk of each item into each tart and pour the egg mixture on top, but I find it’s quicker to just chop everything up small instead of divvying up the individual ingredients.

Pour the egg mixture evenly into the tarts.  You can fill the tart shells right to the brim.

Bake for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees until golden.

Eat immediately or refrigerate until ready to grab-and-go!  Just to warn you, the tarts don’t look quite as pretty the next day because the egg mixture shrinks a bit and pulls away from the tarts around the edges, but they still taste great.  I usually eat them cold after the first day, but I bet a quick toast in a toaster oven would be awesome if you had one.  I don’t, it’s on the wish list, grin. Jump up.