The Staples in My Kitchen

One of my favorite things to do is cook! While I am not a baker my any means creating a meal is pure joy! Before I was wife and mom....as the hubby calls it...my circus years, I spent over a decade working in the food and beverage industry....always on the service end of things, but also not far from the kitchen and the chef's. And the range of places I worked exposed me to many fantastic kitchens, foods, and recipes...not to mention the best place to learn...Gramma Bernice's kitchen! The first time I cooked a roast was at Gramma's. She made an unplanned trip to Aunty Lil's in Toronto one weekend and called in a panic Friday night begging me to take a roast out of the freezer and prepare a meal Saturday for Uncle Buck,....and no, cancelling the invite she had forgotten was unacceptable! So there I was cooking a meal for the visiting Uncle Buck , spending the day calling Toronto every fifteen minutes looking for directions, praying that I did not disappoint Gramma.....luckily for Uncle Buck the roast beef dinner was a success and i tasted the "icing sugar" before I thickened the gravy with it!

Now over a decade later, I have no fear of the roast dinner (thank you crock pots!) and would like to think Gramma and Uncle Buck would love to try my improvements of the meal.

Staples in My Kitchen to the perfect Roast.... Dinner

When roasting your potatoes with your Meat....(and of course carrots, onions...tonnnes of Garlic)
my secret is.....add a pac of onion soup mix to the pan Your potatoes will roast to a golden brown, and the juices in the bottom..mmmm....can you say the best gravy ever????????????? I put this in with poultry, beef and pork

note...specially with beef I also like to add a spoon of balsamic vinegar...makes for a wicked flavor in stew or your gravy

Scallop Potatoes...or in our house...fryed potatoes on the BBQ
a twist on the old flour mix in with your potatoes I have a mason jar in the fridge which holds the following.....flour, italian bread crumbs, salt pepper, and parmesan cheese. Even more flavor to the mix I add in a spoonful or two of chicken soup mix...mix your potatoes into this mix and yummy smiles will be at the table.

Fish...we love it, and eat lots of Salmon...(.works great on homemade chicken fingers too)
I use the same mix in the Mason Jar above to bread the salmon/chicken but to it I add a couple of spoonfuls of whole sesame seeds which are wickedly healthy for you and tasty too.

So there's a new start to my blog .... Cooking tips
enjoy