Kaizen Media Blog

A medium cheddar cheese gives chowder extra heartiness.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups (500 mL) cauliflower, chopped
2 cups (500 mL) broccoli, chopped
1 cup (250 mL) grated carrot
1 can (10 oz/284 mL) condensed chicken broth
1 cup (250 mL) water
2 cups (500 mL) milk
1/4 cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) shredded Canadian medium cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
Melt butter in large saucepan. Cook and stir onion over medium-high heat until tender. Add cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, chicken broth and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Whisk milk into flour until smoothly combine; add to saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove pan from heat; add 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) medium cheddar cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top.

A McFinnigan family recipe dating back to 1144 when some seafaring merchants exchanged the recipe for some potatoes. Modernized to reflect today’s cooking appliances.

12 green peppers
2-3 large diced onions
6 cloves of chopped garlic
1lb ground beef
1lb uncooked bacon
1lb grated old cheddar cheese
16oz canned tomato sauce (1 can)
3tbsp butter
2tsp ground black pepper
1-2tsp cumin
4tbsp worscestershire
1tbsp horseradish paste
1tsp salt
1-2oz ketchup
3cups of uncooked rice rinsed thoroughly and soaked in water for 1 hour
1tsp red crushed chili flakes

Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak for 1 hour (if using Basamati rice)

Carefully cut the top off the pepper, remove seeds, and hollow out the inside, and boil the peppers and tops in a large pot until soft (about 10 minutes). Remove to paper towel and dry upside down.

Sautee onions over medium-low heat about 20 minutes until lightly browned.

Increase heat to medium-high stir in beef, 1/2 tsp salt, 1tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin, and cook until beef is browned then drain and return to pan. Reduce heat to low.

Cook the rice

Fry the bacon over medium heat until it is crispy and then remove to paper towel until cool, and then crumble.

Stir in to meat mixture and increase heat to medium: Ketchup, tomato sauce, the rest of the cumin, the rest of the salt and pepper, 1tsp horseradish paste, and the worcestershire sauce once mixed well reduce heat to low.

In a large mixing bowl mix rice, meat mixture, crumbled bacon bits, and 3/4 of the shredded cheese, add a bit more ketchup (if dry), and salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff mixture into peppers on a large baking sheet and top with the remaining shredded cheese and top with the top of the pepper.

Bake in 350° preheated oven for 30mins or until the peppers look browned.

We started with the “Sort-of Souvlaki” recipe from The Urban Peasant’s Cooking for Two by James Barber and came up with what we have named Greek Tacos.

Ingredients:
skinless boneless chicken breasts
fresh oregano
olive oil
lemon
salt
pepper
tomato
cucumber
yogurt
pita bread

The ingredient amounts will depend on how many tacos you are making, we made two and here’s what we did:

Step 1: Marinate and cook chicken
Mix in a small bowl olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon and fresh oregano
Add frozen M&M chicken breast slices in the bowl and covered the chicken in the marinade
Transfer all contents into frying pan over medium-low heat and cook chicken

Step 2: Make the veggie mix
In another bowl we combined 2 tomoatoes (sliced) and half an english cucumeber (sliced)
Four tablespooons of plain yogurt
Salt & Pepper
Mix until veggies are covered in yogurt

Step 3: Warm up the pita bread
Preheat oven to 350 F
Spread butter or margarine on the pita
Heat pita bread for 3-5 minutes

Step 4: Putting everything together
Place each pita on a plate
Divide the chicken onto the pitas
Add the yogurt/veggie mix on top of the chicken
Fold pita over to create a “taco” shape

This took us about 10-15 minutes to prepare and was amazingly delicious – messy but delicious!

Enjoy!

For those of you that don’t know my favorite drink of all time is Hpnotiq liqueur. My friend Tom got me hooked on it years ago and since then it is my favorite. Because it is a pricey bottle I save it for special occasions, such as my birthday! Marni brought the tequila and here are some pics of the Hpnotiq Martgaritas we made.

The original recipes we found online suggested rimming the glasses with salt. We did that for the first round and ended up having to start over because the salt totally ruined our drinks! After many rounds of these delicious drinks we have come up with this recipe:

2 oz Hpnotiq liqueur
1 oz Tequila
1/2 oz Triple sec
2 oz Margarita Mix

Mix in the blender with 2 trays of ice cubes until blended.

Makes four drinks.

Garnish with a lime slice.

Enjoy!

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Candy Apple Martini

Ingredients:
Green Apple Sour Puss
Butterscotch Schnapps
Cranberry Juice

Mixing Directions:
Combine equal parts Sour Puss, Schnapps and Juice
Stir well over ice Pour into glasses

He Says: “Tastes just link a Candy Apple!”

She Says: “This is my #1 Favourite Martini which I would happily drink every single day!”

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 
Candy Apple  Martini  

Ingredients:
Green Apple Sour Puss
Butterscotch Schnapps
Cranberry Juice

Mixing Directions:
Combine equal parts Sour Puss, Schnapps and Juice
Stir well over ice
Pour into glasses

He Says: “Tastes just link a Candy Apple!”

She Says: “This is my #1 Favourite Martini which I would happily drink every single day!”

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Monkey’s Martini

After the Dirty Poncho Martini we were forced to invest in the ingredients for a Martini that would be more enjoyable.  We ended up with the makings for the Monkey’s Martini or as I like to call them Funky Monkeys!

Ingredients
Vodka
McGuinness Creme de Cacao
McGuinness Creme de Banane

Mixing Directions
Combine equal parts vodka, Creme de Cacao & Creme de Banane
Shake well over ice
Pour into glasses

He Says: “Tastes like a tropical treat.”

She Says: “These bright yellow Martinis are sure to brighten even the hardest of Wednesdays!”

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Dirty Poncho Martini

The Dirty Poncho Martini really is a great example of what happens when you just use what you have around the house to make a Martini.

Ingredients we used:
Mexican Cusano Rojo Mezcal (yet another souvenir from the ‘rents, do they ever know what we like!)
Grape Pomegranate
Cranberry Juice

Mixing Directions
Use equal parts Mezcal, Pomegranate and Cranberry Juice
Shake over ice vigorously to blend these harsh liquids
Pour into glasses

I wish we could show you a picture to illustrate the dirty purple colour these drinks created.

He Says: If you were to steal a homeless, sweaty, drunken Mexican’s poncho and wring it out into a Martini glass you would get a Dirty Poncho Martini! Never again!

She Says: Surprisingly this bitter-sour concoction wasn’t so bad.  I enjoyed the mixed juice and the Mezcal wasn’t overwhelming either.  Glad to have the experience but you won’t see these on the menu again any time soon.