Week 20: Danish Omelette

The Recipe
(Serves 2)
8 eggs
1dl milk
1 tbsp corn flour or potato flour
1 tsp salt
Pepper, chili according to taste
150-175g sliced bacon
1-2 spring onions, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
a handful of tomatoes, sliced
1 large boiled or baked potato, cut in pieces
shredded cheese
butter (I used garlic butter)

Heat the oven to 175C. Put an ovenproof pan with a bit of butter in it into the oven while it heats up. Remove once the butter has melted, and use a brush or some dish towels to distribute the butter to the entire pan.

In a bowl, mix eggs and milk thoroughly. Add corn flour, salt, pepper and spices and mix until the flour has dissolved completely. Pour into the ovenproof dish, and add chopped bell pepper and potato pieces. Stir a bit to get it all mixed up.

Put into the warm oven and cook for 25 minutes. Put tomatoes, sliced spring onion and shredded cheese on top and cook for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon until crisp - this can also be done in the oven - just put it on a plate and put it in with the omelette :).

Serve the omelette with bacon and bread. Chili sauce and ketchup can be used as condiments.

The Verdict
Mum served a basic version of this when I was a child, and I never really cared for it much. However, it's a quick and easy dinner and a good way to use a lot of eggs that would otherwise go bad, so I've been messing around with the recipe a bit, seeing if I could come up with something I liked more.

This, my most recent attempt, turned out not half bad! And I really liked that it was cooked in the oven, rather than on a pan - a lot easier to keep it from getting burnt! It'll never be a favourite dish of mine, but this version of it actually wasn't half bad :) Of course, you can add any other veggies you care for instead of the bell peppers and potato.

Week 3: Crockpot Cheesy Chicken

The Recipe
450g chicken breast
1 package taco mix
1 can tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1-2 bell pebers, diced
1 can corn
200g cream cheese
Salt

Put everything in the crockpot and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6. Serve with rice or tortillas.

The Verdict
Strangely bland. I put in too little salt, so that was definitely some of it, but even with that added, it still lacked something. I added avocado and chili flakes to my portion, which helped a lot, but DH found it rather boring. I did like it though, so may try to make it again, and just play around more with the seasoning.

Week 52: Eggnog

Eggnog has (as far as I know) never been a tradition in Denmark, so apart from an Eggnog Latte at Starbucks in London a couple of years ago, I've never had it. I got talking with a friend of mine about that the other day, and decided to hunt up recipes. Reading through them, I realized that it was basically pre-frozen homemade ice cream with alcohol added! As I was making homemade ice cream yesterday anyway, and thus had all the ingredients at hand, I figured I'd give it a try.

I know there are as many recipes for eggnog as there are households. This is the one I used. It was supposed to have both nutmeg and cinnamon in as well, but I'm not a fan of either, so left them out. If you have other recipes for eggnog that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear it :)

The Recipe
(Serves 2)
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp cream
2dl (200ml) milk
3 tbsp rum, bourbon or similar

Whisk the egg with sugar and vanilla until white and frothy. Add cream and whisk a bit more - not enough to whip the cream, but just to add some froth.
Pour into a glass and add milk and alcohol. Stir and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the ingredients to meld properly.

Enjoy cold.

The Verdict
Very rich, very sweet, very yummy :) A very successful first attempt that I'll definitely try again. Next time possibly with slightly less vanilla, as I did find that somewhat overpowering... but that may just have been because I just whipped it in with the rest, instead of infusing the milk with it. I was too lazy to attempt any such thing ;)

I can easily see how it wouldn't be for everybody though. It's almost like drinking liquid ice cream.

Week 50: Crockpot Chicken with Cashews

The Recipe
400g chicken breast, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
8-10 cherry tomatoes
1 small can of corn (~140g)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chili
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
chili flakes
salt
cashews

Put chicken and cornstarch into a freezer bag, and shake until chicken is coated. Heat oil in a pan over medium/high heat and cook the chicken for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a crockpot and add bell pepper, tomatoes, corn and garlic.

Mix together soy sauce, sweeti chili, ketchup, vinegar, ginger, sugar and chili flakes in a small bowl and pour over the chicken. Season with salt according to taste. Stir to mix thoroughly, cover and cook on LOW for 2 hours. Add cashews and cook for another 2 hours.

Server over rice.

The Verdict
The sauce was a tad tangy, so I need to cut down on either the vinegar or the ketchup. I think I might try it without the vinegar next time. Apart from that it was really delicious though! The chicken definitely needed to be precooked to get the full benefit of the cornstarch (I love meat cooked in any kind of flour), and anything with cashews is a-ok with me :)

Definitely something I'll be making again. Despite it only being my husband and me, we barely had any leftovers at all.

Week 43: Jordan's Cookies

The Recipe
170g butter
165g brown sugar
165g cane sugar
4 large tbsp nutella
2 large tbsp peanut butter
100g oatmeal
250g flour
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla sugar or powder
~200g chocolate chips or M&Ms.

Mix together butter and sugar. Add nutella and peanut butter. Add eggs and vanilia sugar. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix. Add chocolate chips.

Make 'blobs' of about 1tsp on a baking sheet and bake for ~8min at 200C.

The Verdict
Very similar to my M&M Cookies but slightly easier to make and the nutella and peanut butter added an extra touch. The only thing I missed were the whole peanuts, but that's easily remedied, so I'll just add those in the next time.

Definitely something I'll make again!

Week 40: Chicken Orientale

The Recipe
~300g chicken breast cut into ~16 pieces
4 pineapple chunks
1/3 bell pepper cut into 4 chunks
4 cherry tomatoes
1 orange, cut into quarters
4 small onions
4 skewers
pepper

Marinade
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp vinegar
a dash of ginger
1dl (~1/2cup) apple juice
1dl white wine
2tbsp olive oil

Sprinkle chicken breasts with pepper.

Divide the chicken and vegetables evenly onto 4 skewers. Make sure to separate the chicken pieces with the rest. Place the skewers in a shallow pan or a ziplock bag. Mix the ingredients for the marinade and pour over. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Drain, reserving the marinade. Broil for about 20 minutes or until chicken is done, brushing with marinade every 5 minutes. Discard leftover marinade.


The Verdict
I wasn't too impressed. First of all, the marinade didn't really seem to do much, which meant the entire thing was very bland. Also, I didn't much care for the warm pieces of orange and ended up just discarding those. Not worth a repeat unfortunately.

Week 38: Mac and Cheeseburger

The Recipe
500g minced beef
1 package taco seasoning (~20g)
1 can (14oz) tomatoes with chilies
1/2l beef broth
1/2l elbow macaroni
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pebber

2tbsp butter
2tbsp flour
3/4 cup milk
2.5dl shredded cheddar cheese (shred your own to make it even better)

In a pot, brown the beef. Stir in taco seasoning, tomatoes, broth and macaroni. Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat and cover pan. leave to simmer for 12-14 minutes or until the macaroni is tender.

Meanwhile make the cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Reduce heat to low, whisk in the flour and cook, while constantly whisking for 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk a bit at a time and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and thickened. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted. Pour the cheese sauce over the hamburger mixture. Stir gently to combine.

The Verdict
Not an instant favourite - I thought it lacked some vegetables of some sort - but really easy to make and a nice comfort meal. Definitely something I could see myself making again. Next time I think I'll add more cheese though - 2.5dl wasn't quite enough.