Sookie Cooks: Leftovers

Cooking scrumptious meals since 2012!

Today, we talk about leftovers.

Some people hate them (like mommy), some people don’t mind them, and some people like the food even better the next day – daddy says this applies to soups!

Anyway, Friday night daddy took mommy out to Pearl Harbourfront (no war jokes please!) for dinner. It is a Chinese restaurant, a step up from the ones you see in Chinatown.

I obviously was left behind at home because my humans are selfish – sometimes I think they don’t love me anymore, but they usually come home with treats and I get lots of belly rubs, so I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt.

They ordered some dim sum and a whole duck. A whole duck! They didn’t finish all the food, so they took the leftover duck home.

The next day, they wanted to have the duck for dinner. Mommy suggested they make tacos, but in the end, hand wraps were in order!

Daddy became Chef Extraordinaire again. He dropped a piece of Boston lettuce on the floor and I promptly brought it to my bed. Mommy just watched me do it, and I was a little bit shocked because usually she would try to stop me. And then I realized why she didn’t do anything. That lettuce was disgusting. I licked it a little bit, and after a few seconds, left it alone in my bed.

I didn’t get any scraps, but I did get lots of belly rubs afterwards.

Sookie Cooks: Valentines Day Dinner

You know you’re badass when you use tweezers when cooking.

$16 for a gram of saffron?!

Oysters Four-ways

Orange Drop Oyster Ceviche

Raw Oyster with Chili Oil

Shiitake Oyster Rockefeller

Poached Oyster in Butter Champagne and Saffron

My favourite: DUCK CONFIT

Cheesecake with Strawberries in Coconut and Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

Pensive.

I’m really glad my humans decided to have dinner at home for Valentines Day. Last year they went to Niagara Falls and didn’t bring me with them. I mean, yeah, I still had an awesome time at my grandma’s, but that weekend really felt like forever.

I’m not going to blab on and on about the dinner that daddy cooked. Just look at the photos. (Hover over for descriptions.)

Oh, daddy got mad at me for licking the saffron that fell on the ground while he was cooking. He got mad for no reason because those weird red strings really didn’t taste like anything. Can you believe daddy didn’t drop anything else on the ground? I was pretty upset, because the humans took their sweet time eating before feeding me. Apparently, it’s for “training” purposes and I’m not supposed to eat before they are finished with their dinner. Whatever. So mean. Especially on Valentines Day.

If you are interested in any of the dishes above, let me know, I can go bug daddy.

PS, I hope daddy’s not reading my blog because mommy TOTALLY snuck a piece of duck under the table for me. I love her so much!

Sookie Cooks: Old-Fashioned Blueberry Muffins

Muffins so healthy, so addictive.

The weekend proved to quite uneventful. I spent most of it with mommy as daddy had to go in to work.

I didn’t complain because I helped mommy make Old-fashioned Blueberry Muffins.

She doesn’t have a proper recipe for this yummy treat though. Grandma just emailed her a list of ingredients, with the instructions: “Add eggs, mix well.”

Mommy said these muffins were a better alternative to store bought ones because instead of full milk, she used skimmed, and instead of full eggs, she only used the whites. She also bragged about using only a quarter cup of sugar. I don’t know why she was so excited about that. Sugar is awesome. More sugar, more energy, more running around.

Top Secret Ingredients
Just kidding.
All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, skim milk, egg whites, butter, walnuts and blueberries.

Mommy has made these muffins before. And I know they are addictive because daddy can eat three of them in one sitting. That infuriates mommy to no end because they are supposed to be eaten just as snacks, only one at a time, and only one a day.

The smell that fills the apartment up is really, really, mouthwatering. Bread is one of my favourite things, if not my top choice, from the seemingly never-ending List of Forbidden Foods that mommy has prescribed to me. The aroma is just so intoxicating. It reminds me of being at grandma’s and being fed white toast bread.

Doing my job: looking for crumbs.

I didn’t have much success scavenging for blueberries and walnuts. Mommy wouldn’t even give me a small piece when the muffins came out of the oven. But I guess she felt guilty for me because she gave me dinner like, 2 hours early.

These muffins are A+!

There’s still four muffins left on the counter.

My time will come!

Sookie Cooks: Granola Bars

Second week of Sookie Cooks!

The weekend proved to be quite hectic for all three of us. I was supposed to help out with lunch on Saturday, but lunch was spent instead at a garage because daddy’s car got a flat tire. That’s another story in itself! And on Sunday, I was dropped off at grandma’s because my humans needed to trek out to London.

I’m not complaining about that. I mean, sure, I would have liked to come with them but apparently there would be lots of people there and I would just be stressed by all the attention. So, I stayed with grandma instead, but I love hanging out with her because she feeds me food that mommy doesn’t. Also, I got to play with my cousin Mikasa. She’s a little troublemaker. I need to put her in her place! She needs a good role model as she’s growing up.

Anyway, so no lovely food was made, but mommy did let me help her make granola bars last night. She got this recipe from Oh She Glows when she was looking for recipes that didn’t use peanut butter as the base to keep everything stuck together. This recipe uses bananas instead. How cool is that? Cool because I got to eat some bananas! Mommy’s the worst when it comes to dropping food on the ground when she’s cooking because she almost NEVER drops any! So I’ve learnt to not be underfoot in the kitchen because it’s useless. Daddy’s a different story though. Whenever he cooks in the kitchen, I basically get a second dinner from all the crumbs he drops on the floor.

Granola bars gettin’ made, yo!

The awesome thing about this recipe is you can customize it according to your liking. Mommy doesn’t like dried cherries, so she used raisins instead. She also used 2 bananas instead of 3 because it’s just mommy and daddy who will be eating these yummy granola bars.

Okay, honestly, I think they are boring food. Daddy raves about them, but I don’t know…it just looks so boring to me. If mommy made a treat that’s all banana, I can get on board.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

But…because mommy really likes these granola bars, I spent 22 minutes sitting in the kitchen, guarding them from daddy who have been known to gobble up food if it’s left on the counter.

I succeeded in my mission – delaying daddy’s antics until this morning.

Oh well! They are meant to be eaten after all.

As for me, give me bananas (and bully sticks, and steak, and yogurt) and I am one happy puppy.

Introducing: Sookie Cooks

Cooking scrumptious meals since 2012!

Mommy and daddy have started cooking fun meals on the weekend, and I’ve decided that I’m going to help them out. So every Tuesday, you will read about my adventures in the kitchen, and what kind of yummy meals the humans have concocted.

Last weekend, daddy’s brother and his girlfriend came over (Hello Uncle Al and Auntie Ash!) so there was definitely a lot more traffic in my apartment. I think I behaved fairly well considering I get claustrophobic sometimes. Anyway, on  Saturday night daddy and uncle made a seafood dinner. They had bought too much squid, and mommy had the most brilliant idea of making Squid Three-ways!

1. Squid Salad (spinach, arugula, mango and goat cheese)
2. Deep fried squid
3. Seared squid on the Himalayan salt block

Daddy and Uncle were such good cooks, they even let me help taste-test the food! In all honestly, I’m not a fan of the squid, but don’t tell them that. I really liked the mango bits though!

Everyone was raving about the salad. The ingredients were a perfect combination. I think it would be even tastier in the summer, paired with a refreshing lemonade.

Wait – it’s not over yet! They also cooked mussels! They were so good according to mommy. I’m miffed because I wasn’t allowed to have any of the mussels. Anyway, apparently the salt block was the superstar of the night because everyone was crowding around it and oohing and ahhing. I felt a little bit jealous, but the attention was back on me shortly after.

I really enjoyed helping out with dinner and I can’t wait for next weekend. We will be in London, but daddy will definitely conjure something up – perhaps inspired by some local flavour.