BIZZY BAKES

This week was my turn to select a recipe and I chose a Maple Glazed Chicken.  I have cooked chicken with honey and/or maple syrup before and it was always good.  I made this weeks ago to beat the Passover rush.  It amazes me how quickly these weeks before Passover go by.  There is so much to do and we tend to jump from one phase to another and still run our lives as usual.  Looking back each year, I wonder how it is done.  Yet, no matter what, it appears we pull it off.  We have had deaths in the family a week before Pesach and we finished in time.  We had children getting married close to Pesach and we thankfully pulled it off.   You will find the recipe online as well as a video showing Donna making it.  To see what others have done with their chicken, check Wednesdays with Donna Hay. Our group welcomes new members so if you are a fan of Donna's and would like to join us, just jump right in. Linked to:   Waste Not Want...

We often make a honey mustard sauce to be used in many ways but I have run out of honey and chose to substitute real maple syrup.  What a good move that was.  The maple blended beautifully with Dijon with a bit of horseradish for a little bit of bite. The sweetness was just right for the salmon and to counter-balance the mustard and horseradish. Baked Salmon with Maple Mustard Sauce Ingredients: 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 3 tablespoons real maple syrup 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish 1/4 reaspoon ground black pepper 2  fillets salmon Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the mustard, maple syrup, horseradish, and  1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a small bowl. Let sit for at least 15 minutes.  Cover the bottom of a baking pan with water, a minimum just to add a little liquid. Add the salmon to the baking pan. Pour the Mustard Maple Sauce on top. Bake for 15 minutes. Eat and enjoy.

Salmon is a staple in our house.  We have it once during the week and sometimes again on the Sabbath.  I have not cooked it with this combination of ingredients before.  I have made so many salmon recipes over the year that I love when a new one comes along. Hoison has a pleasant flavor and mixed with the maple syrup and vinegar, we really ate with relish.  I could easily repeat this one.  It is also   another quick, easy and delicious recipe. Hoisin-Glazed Salmon - Joy Bauer Ingredients: 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon white wine or rice vinegar 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger 4 six-ounce salmon fillets Method: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place the salmon fillets on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly. Bake for 10 minutes. While the salmon is baking, in a small bowl, mix together the hoisin sauce, maple syrup, vinegar, a...

This is a simple dish and great for a last minute side. Take a few cooked sweet potatoes and   mash with some Chinese five spice and a smidge of honey. Instant satisfaction. If you bake the potatoes in the morning and put them in the refrigerator, there will be little prep work, when you are ready to cook this yummy dish. Five Spice Sweet Potatoes Ingredients: 2 large sweet potatoes 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup Method: Bake sweet potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Remove sweet potato from the skin and mash it with the seasoning and  honey. Place in a casserole and bake for 20 minutes. Top with margarine of butter  if you like. Top with shredded coconut, if you want to add a new flavor. Eat and enjoy. See Ya at the Gumbo                     Treasure Box Tuesday        ...

I am in the midst of my cooking for the Jewish holidays and I decided the easiest way to accomplish my goals is to use specific ingredients in several recipes.  For example, I made a large pot of rice and made four different dishes with the rice.  I did the same with quinoa and with kabocha.  It seemed amazing how quickly completely different dishes fell into place. This recipe is from Bon Appetit. Roasted Kabocha and Parsnips with Maple Glaze(adapted) INGREDIENTS 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled kabocha squash 2 cups 1/4- to 1/3-inch cubes peeled parsnips 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil 1/2 cup pure maple syrup 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Method: Grease 11x7x2-inch  baking dish.  Combine kabocha and parsnips in large bowl.  Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add oil. Whisk in remaining ingredients.  Add...

This recipe from allrecipes.com intrigued me with the unusual combination of ingredients. Maple syrup and peanut butter are new to me but they sounded as if they would "mate" well. Actually, I think the cookie would be better without the maple syrup and I am a big fan of maple flavor. Whatever the reason, it did not appeal to me.  It might very well be perfect for you though. Peanut Butter Maple Cookies (adapted) Ingredients: 1 cup margarine, softened 1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 egg beaters 1 tablespoon maple syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups gluten-free flour 3/4 cup GF oats 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt Method: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the...

This week the Wednesday With Donna Hay group had a real treat.  We made Apple, Date and Cinnamon Muffins with Maple Oats.  Hubby is already asking me to make them again and I just made a batch.  The maple syrup added a nice touch and made these really classy.  The oats worked well in the batter.  Apples and dates are a winning combination.  This is a fabulous muffin. I am enjoying cooking Donna Hay recipes.  They have turned out well across the board, are easy to make and have ingredients, usually in my cupboard.  If you like Donna, join us in our weekly endeavors. Check out the other Donna cooks and see what they have made. Gaye Sarah and Margaret , You can find the recipe here. Linked to:  Fresh Foods Wednesdays What's Cooking Wednesday Wonderfully Creative Wednesdays Allergy Free Wednesday Whimsy Wednesday Creative Munster Showcase Your Talent Thursday Full Plate Thursdays

Easy Entertaining is the them of the I Heart Cooking Club - Donna Hay recipes for this week.  I would love to do this one, every week, since Donna makes classy recipes that are easy to make and that is what I want.  After years, of cooking, I faced the truth, I like an immediate response and that is why I look for recipes that are done quickly with a limited amount of effort but with good flavor.  This is the perfect example.  The combination of the chili and pure maple syrup makes this chicken special and I would serve it to guests as well as eat it, like we did on a normal evening. Maple Glazed Chicken     Video is found here. Ingredients: ¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup ¼ cup (60ml) water ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes (I used m y new sweet and spicy dried spice) ½ teaspoon sea salt flakes ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, trimmed Method: Place the maple syrup, water, chilli, salt and pepper in a non...

I have been buying brussels sprouts weekly, the last month or so, and as a result I learned how to spell it properly.  At this point, the kids in my class would tell me the IT is spelled I-T and think they were very funny.  So they know how to spell IT and I know how to spell Brussels Sprouts. I had finished making an eggplant dish and had a few cubes of eggplant with no place to go so I browned them up and added them to this dish.  In truth, I did not taste them at all so I am guessing, they took on the flavors of the dish and hid behind the brussels sprouts. Brussels Sprouts with Maple Syrup (adapted from Bon Appetit) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved lengthwise  1 small onion, rough chopped 2/3 cup eggplant, peeled and chunked freshly ground black pepper 1/8 cup pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature 1 tablespoons chopped  fresh parsley  1/2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh chives ...

  I am sure, I am not the only one, who finds wonderful ways to cook squash, in particular butternut squash.  Eating chunks of it plain is good, adding a little something can be better and when I say little, that is what I mean. I took a peeled squash and separated the part with the seeds from the narrow part.  I then, using my peeler, made thin strips of squash from the outside of the part with seeds (the base?).  All I did, after that, was to put them in a bowl with about two tablespoons of maple syrup.  The result was pure deliciousness.      Ingredients: 1 butternut squash half, peeled in long strips 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup Method: Grease a small baking dish. Mix maple syrup and squash strips. Place in baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until squash is completely cooked.  

Another week, another vegetable for our Power Food group, a bunch of women who strive for healthy eating with the most delicious dishes. Each blog is inspiration . Each week, we choose a recipe based on the power food which comes from the book, Power Foods, 150 delicious recipes with the 38 healthiest ingredients from the editors of Whole Living magazine. Brussels sprouts like broccoli and cabbage are cruciferous. This group offers a unique composition of antioxidants that may provide several health benefits. Brussels sprouts are low in calories and offer protein, vitamins and minerals to help build a healthy human. My first issue with brussels sprouts is that it took me years to spell it correctly. Each time, it came up, in writing, and I admit, that was not too often, I would stare into space asking myself does brussel get an S, at the end or is it sprout that gets the S. For some reason, I could not remember that both end with that S. I am happy to tell you, I overcame thi...

I don't know about you but I know that two of my favorite vegetables are sweet potatoes and butternut squash.  Can you imagine the magic of putting the two together?  The dish was soft, smooth and sweet.  It mashed up beautifully.  All I added was some maple syrup and a bit of cinnamon - yum. The "difficult" part was cutting the vegetables with a knife that is less than good.  It took a lot of strength to get it to cut through but success was, at hand.  It must have looked like a comedy in action, with me going from one cutting tool to another, making little progress.  When, I succeeded with a piece, you heard my cheer, wherever you were.  That slowed me down and hopefully knocked off some calories. Preparing for this holiday is cutting and cutting and browning and boiling and more chopping.  I think, I once said that I find this therapeutic.  I love using the bench scraper to chop and slice and when I could, I did use it.  Unfo...