Four Seasons Kitchen

Crunchy Sesame Cookies

2012-02-08T13:34:00.000-05:00

I like to try new things, and not just in the kitchen. In fact, I am currently sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair. There is a happy medium, however, between new things enriching your life and being ridiculous and unnecessary. Such as today's Groupon deal. Half off Brazilian Vajazzling! Can you guess what "vajazzeling" is? Yeah... Be-Dazzling is not just for your jean jacket anymore.

Back to the happy medium. These cookies fit that mold. Sesame oil in a cookie? It's so crazy that it just might work. And it does. These sesame cookies are new and exciting, but familiar as they remind me of a peanut butter cookie. Except that peanuts are not allowed in my house due to Parker being allergic.

Did I also mention that the recipe is from Cooking Light? Yep, not only are they delicious, but they are low fat. I also read recently that 1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame seeds has more calcium than a glass of milk. Amazing.

Excuse me while I get off this dang ball to get me a real chair and a cookie.

One Year Ago: Cranberry Coffee Cake + Cranberry Recipes

Get the recipe: Crunchy Sesame Cookies from Cooking Light December 2007

Bookmarked This Week

2012-02-03T15:25:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit Food Network

I'm sorry this is another post without a recipe. I have been cooking, but I haven't made anything blog-worthy this week. Hopefully that is about to change with these recipes below. Stay tuned for a post on one of them (hopfully!).

Also, clearly I am enamoured with lentils this week. My family is going to be thrilled.

South Indian Lentil Cakes with Raita Bon Appetit
Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pies with Gouda Biscuit Topping Bon Appetit
Cornbread and Maple Pudding Anna Olsen
Cheddar Thumbprints Anna Olsen (These remind me of a cream cheese cookie filled with jam that my mom used to make. I tried her recipe and it failed miserably, so hopefully these work out better)

One Year Ago: Chocolate Cupcakes (made with beets!)

Two Years Ago: Ricotta Gnocchi

New Tag: Bookmarked

2012-01-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

Photo credit

I have started a new category of posts- Bookmarked. Here I will post links to recipes that I have recently bookmarked to try later. I read so many blogs, magazine, etc that I figured I would share the wealth.

If you try a recipe from one of these posts please let me know in the comments if it was a success or not!

Bacon Double Cheeseburger Dip Closet Cooking
Lazy Daisy Cake Deep Dish South
Old Fashioned Cold English Pea Salad Deep Dish South
How to Make a Taco Bowl SweetHome
Jiaozi Dumplings Epicurious
Chicken Lettuce Cups Epicurious
Cook Once, Eat for the Week (for $28!) Women's Health

Schnitzel, Spatzle, and Sweet and Sour Cabbage

2012-01-22T22:12:00.000-05:00

I'm calling this the holy trinity of German food. To be honest, actually, I don't know all that much about German food although I live in a community with deep German roots. After this meal, I think I'll delve deeper.

So help my family, but when I cook schnitzel I like to say "schneetzel". And everything else that starts with an "s" becomes Germanified. A "schpreekle" of salt... a side of "schpatzle".

Speaking of schpatzle, I mean spatzle, what is it anyway? Just the easiest homemade pasta you will ever made. No kneading, no rolling, cutting, etc. The batter is just mixed together and rests while the water comes to a boil. Then you schmear (I couldn't resist) through something with large holes. A colander works well. This time I used the steamer basket that came with my pasta pot, which worked ok too. Here I just tossed it with some Parmesan cheese and butter, but if you have some left over it is crazy good pan fried so it gets a bit browned and crispy- this only works after it has cooled after boiling though. Check out this post on Smitten Kitchen (whom I adapted the spatzle recipe from) for a recipe for pan fried spatzle and her trials and errors making spatzle.

The sleeper hit of the meal though? The cabbage. Crazy, right? Piled on the schnitzel and eaten all together it is the perfect bite- crispy, meaty, tangy, sweet, all at once. Tyler would disagree- he didn't eat any- but Parker (yes, my 17 month old) and I loved it. Parker ate two bowls full. My kid is weird and awesome.

One Year Ago: Open Faced Steak Sandwiches

Two Years Ago: Baked Fish and Chips, Olive Bread, Birthday Dinner Menu

SCHNITZEL, SPATZLE, AND SWEET AND SOUR CABBAGE

Serves 4

Spatzle

2 cups all purpose flour
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk, or rice milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

1 small head cabbage, thinly shredded
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup red vinegar
big pinch salt

Pork Schnitzel

4 small center cut pork chops (no bone), or 4 pork tenderloin medallions, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
1/2 cup flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped.
salt and pepper
olive oil

For spatzle dough: Place flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add eggs and milk. With a fork stir together eggs and milk, bringing in a bit of flour at a time until all combined. Set aside. Set a large pot of water to boil.

For cabbage: Combine all cabbage ingredients in a pot. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until cabbage softened.

Breading the schnitzel: Set up a breading station using three shallow bowls, pie plates, plates, whatever you have. Put flour in one, egg in another, breadcrumbs mixed with parsley in the last one. Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat a large pan over medium heat with enough olive oil to coat bottom of pan. Dredge pork in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Place in pan and fry until golden brown. Drizzle pork with a little olive oil, then flip.

To cook spatzle: Season boiling water with a small palmful of salt. Pour 1/3 of the dough into a colander or steamer basket. Working quickly, and wearing oven mitts, smear and press dough through holes using a spatula. Boil spatzle 2-3 minutes. Remove to a bowl using a slotted spoon. Repeat with remaining dough. Put all cooked noodles back into the water for 30 seconds to warm and unstick them from each other, then drain in a (clean) colander. Put spatzle back into the empty pot and add butter and cheese, stirring gently until melted. Serve immediately or cover to keep warm.

Schnitzel: Place breaded pork in pan and fry until golden brown. Drizzle pork with a little olive oil, then flip. Cook until golden brown on second side.

Chia

2012-01-20T13:30:00.000-05:00

When I say "chia" you say.... "super food"? Or "ch-ch-ch-chia!"?

Have you heard about chia seeds? They are being newly popularized as a super food, up there with flax and goji berries. I bought a package of ground chia seeds from my local heath food store and I throw them into smoothies, baked goods, oatmeal. The other day I rinsed out my smoothie glass and left it on the counter to use again later. I guess there were a few seeds stuck to the side of the glass, and when I looked later they seemed to have a gel surrounding them. Weird. Then it occured to me... Right, they are seeds so if they were left long enough they would probably sprout.*

Which brings to this Google search:

So, can you eat your Chia Pet? And why would you want to? According to this article, no you don't want to eat your Chia Pet as the quality of the seeds is not for human consumption, but here a few facts on the benefits of chia taken from the TimesFreePress.com:

Slightly smaller than a sesame seed, chia seeds are grayish brown or off-white and are largely tasteless. Highly hydrophilic, chia seeds can absorb up to 10 times their weight in water," Runners and endurance athletes take a gel made from water and chia seeds for hydration, energy and endurance.

In addition to increasing energy some people use chia seeds as a weight-loss aid. The high fiber content, 6 grams per serving, or 24 percent of the recommended daily allowance, helps contribute to a feeling of fullness.

Chia seeds contain 4.5 grams of fat per two tablespoons, but have no saturated- or trans-fats. The American Heart Association reports that polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats may help to lower blood cholesterol levels. Much of the fat in chia seeds comes from omega-3 fatty acids, which are also found in fish oils.

One serving of chia seeds contains 10 percent of daily recommended value of calcium and 8 percent daily recommended value of iron. "That's pretty darn good for a tablespoon of something that's of non-meat origin," Jones said.

I figure there's nothing to lose by tossing some into a smoothie or what not- my philosophy is if you can easily boost the nutrition of what you are putting into your body, why the hell not? "Why the hell not", by the way, being another over-arching philosohy of mine.

One Year Ago: Favorite Thing: Goats Milk Mozzarella

*I don't know if this happens to you to, but being so used to buying everything and being disconnected from the growing process of my food sometimes I forget where it comes from. It doesn't occur to me that this is real stuff from nature unless I give it some conscious thought. Did I mention I'm a blonde?

Chocolate Lollipops

2012-01-09T09:47:00.000-05:00

A few days before Christmas I was watching Ina Garten- the Barefoot Contessa- and she made chocolate lollipops with white chocolate, nuts, and dried fruit. As if I didn't have enough to do, I decided to make some for stocking stuffers. They are really easy, and people are impressed. I'd almost rather not share how to make them and continue to bask in the glory of oohs and aahs, but I suppose that wouldn't be fair.

You can make these any flavour you like. If you are giving them as gifts, think of what the person likes; my stepmom loves Asian food, so I did ones with Asian flavours for her. My brother and his girlfriend love bacon (hello, who doesn't) and bacon + chocolate being so trendy, I thought I'd try that out. I went a little crazy with the flavor combinations, but I figured I might as well make something that you can't get at the store. The method is below and then a couple of photos pointing out the flavor combinations.

One Year Ago: A Tale of Two Banana Bread

Two Years Ago: Tex-Mex Lasagna, Egg Nog Panna Cotta, Homemade Gifts, The Big Salad

CHOCOLATE LOLLIPOPS

Makes 10-12 lollipops

A serrated bread knife makes quick work of chopping chocolate

1 500 g bar dark chocolate, chopped
lollipop sticks (you can get these at Bulk Barn or another cooking supply store)
toppings

Arrange toppings at your work station in little bowls so that they are ready to use. Melt 3/4 of the chocolate chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, heating for 30 seconds at at time on high and stirring each time- heat until just melted. Stir in remaining chocolate until completely smooth (heat for another 10 seconds if needed).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Working one lollipop at a time, drop chocolate from a soup spoon onto parchment paper- it should naturally form a circle and even out on top. Place a lollipop stick at the bottom of the circle and turn it to coat in chocolate so that it stays when the chocolate hardens. Sprinkle on toppings. Continue until all chocolate is used up. Place tray in fridge (or in my case, the garage- winter in Canada is good for something I guess) until chocolate is hardened.

Pecan Pie Cupcakes

2011-12-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

These cupcakes are just as they sound- like a pecan pie in cupcake form. Regardless of how full people are, these cupcakes always get gobbled up. I am always asked for the recipe. This past weekend my sister-in-law asked how I get the edges so crispy and caramelized. Basically, it's magic.

I tell you, they are the easiest thing to make. You are literally just mixing everything in a bowl. The only thing is you wants to make them small- they are pretty decedent. If you don't have a mini-muffin pan (like this), these can be made in a standard muffin tin but they'll need a bit longer to bake- start with increments of 5 minutes.

There is no leavening (i.e. baking powder, baking soda, etc) in the batter, so you want to fill the muffin cups almost to the top because they won't rise any bigger. And turn out the muffins as soon as possible- no more than 5 minutes after taking them out of the oven- to avoid them sticking and having to dig them out. Although that means any "reject" cupcakes that get mangled in the process are the cook's treat. Do what you have to do.

PECAN PIE CUPCAKES

Adapted slightly from Food.com via Bake or Break

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a mini muffin tray, set aside.

Combine all ingredients but flour in a bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle over flour, stir until just combined.

Fill muffin cups with batter, filling almost full. Bake in the middle of the oven 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Cool a couple of minutes, then turn out muffins and cool on a rack.

New Tag: Cook Once Eat Twice

2011-12-20T14:09:00.000-05:00

I have added a new tag to some previous posts, and to this new one. Cook Once, Eat Twice. It could be called Cook Once, Eat a Bunch of Times but that was too long.

I love it when I can use up leftovers in a new way. It makes meals so quick and easy. So why not plan meals to have left overs to re-invent the next night? I'm not talking my step mom's classic "casserole". Growing up when we were having "casserole" it meant leftovers mixed into rice and warmed up in a casserole dish.

So today's recipe is a roasted vegetable puree that can be made in to many other meals. Or just mix a little into whatever you are making- I mixed some into Bolognese sauce last night and nobody was the wiser. Since Tyler doesn't read this blog (because he says "he lives it"), it's still our little secret.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLE PUREE

Adapted from Sweet Potato Chronicles

The vegetables and their amounts are a rough guide- use which ever vegetables you like, but ensure they all have roughly the same cooking time.

To peel celery root, use a knife to take off the outside 1/4-inch all around the vegetable- the skin is too tough to use a peeler. The squash and sweet potato aren't peeled as the skin adds more fiber and nutrients, and it get soft in the oven and pureed anyway.

2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped into large pieces
1 medium celery root (celeriac), scrubbed, peeled, and chopped into large pieces
1/2 medium butternut squash, scrubbed and chopped into large pieces
1 large sweet potato scrubbed and chopped into large pieces
1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped into large pieces
1 large onion peeled and quartered
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper
3 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large, or 2 small, baking sheets with parchment paper or foil. If using foil spray with cooking spray. Toss all vegetables with a good drizzle of olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Arrange on baking tray so that they are all in one layer. Roast until golden brown on the bottom, about 15 minutes. Stir the vegetables on the tray and return to oven for another 10-15 minutes- until vegetables are golden and cooked through. Allow to cool on the tray 15 minutes.

Peel garlic cloves and discard the peels. In two or three batches, puree vegetables with enough stock to just cover them in a blender until smooth- use water if you run out of stock. Puree can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days, or frozen in smaller portions for up to 4 months.

ROASTED VEGETABLE SOUP

Add enough water or chicken stock to vegetable puree above to get it to the consistency you want for soup. Heat and serve. With grilled cheese would be nice.

SAUSAGE AND KALE PASTA WITH ROASTED VEGETABLE SAUCE AND FETA

Serves 4

Some white kidney beans would be a good addition as well. Or to make this vegetarian, replace the sausage with beans.

500 g dried pasta
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp butter
1 onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
salt and pepper
2 hot Italian sausages, casings removed
1 small bunch kale, washed, ribs removed, chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
roasted vegetable puree
tomato sauce

In a large pot of salted boiling water cook pasta to al dente and drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to break up onions into individual strands. Cover for 5 minutes. Remove lid and cook onions, stirring occasionally, until just slightly caramelized. Remove onions from pan and set them aside.

Heat same pan to medium high heat. Add sausage and break up into small pieces with a spatula while it is cooking. Once sausage is cooked through and browned, add kale. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 large ladles of roasted vegetable puree and the same amount of tomato sauce. Stir until heated through. Add pasta and feta. Stir to combine. Add enough pasta water until the sauce is the consistency you want. Serve with a little more feta crumbled on top if desired.

Slow Cooker Pulled Beef

2011-12-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Grilled Cheese with Pulled Beef

I have made this beef twice and both times didn't take a photo for the blog. I wish I had a nice, juicy, mouthwatering photo of a hunk of beef to show you, but alas, you'll have to use your imagination. It is a thing of beauty. And easy. I'm not even going to give you a real recipe for the beef.

Here's what you do for amazing falling-apart beef: Get a good sized bottom round roast. We get ours marinated already from the store, but if yours isn't seasoned then coat with your favorite rub. Cut it in half. Place in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add about 3/4 cup of water. Set to low and go about your day. It is done when it shreds easily, 6-8 hours. If you have to leave it longer, don't cut the meat in half. I'm sure it's possible to overcook it, but it would take a really long time. Remove from the slow cooker, shred the meat (discard the liquid in the pot), add barbecue sauce.

So, what do you do with all that beef? A better question would be what don't you do with all that beef? This is what we used it for. It could also be frozen in small portions.

Pizza with Pulled Beef, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Feta
Grilled Cheese with Pulled Beef
Beef Wraps with Giardinera
Pulled Beef Mac n' Cheese
Pasta With Pulled Beef, Roasted Peppers and Goat Cheese
Pulled Beef Ravioli (I didn't make this, but it would be easy to make with wonton wrappers)
Pulled Beef Sandwiches - on Kaiser buns with more BBQ sauce. And just in case you thought I was getting too fancy with the ravioli; I like to put potato chips on my sandwiches (I'm in love with these ones)

Leek, Chicken, and Feta Stuffed Pitas

2011-12-15T13:52:00.002-05:00

First off, sorry if you had tried to read Four Seasons Kitchen in the last few days. There was "suspicious activity" and I was temporarily shut down. Everything is good now, obviously. I had a mini coronary when I went to my blog and it wasn't there though.

Last night I finally made a dinner worth blogging about. I've made some good meals in the last couple of weeks, sure, but with getting Parker fed, Christmas stuff, wine, etc I forgot to take photos. The fact that there is a photo of this dish from last night isn't saying that there was no wine with dinner- in fact Riesling went very well with this dish- I just finally got my butt in gear. Kind of. Hence the smile fries accompanying the pitas. Shut up, they're awesome.

One Year Ago: Chicken Pot Pie

Crusty Crown Loaf

Sunday Lasagna

Two Years Ago: Spanakopita

Spaghetti with Spaghetti Squash

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

Spicy Cheese Dip

LEEK, CHICKEN, AND FETA STUFFED PITAS

Adapted from Food and Drink

Serves 2-4 depending on what you have on the side

If you are having trouble opening the pita, microwave them for about 30 seconds to soften. This recipe is pretty forgiving if your pitas rip though, because the egg holds everything together.

3 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large leeks, washed well, sliced thinly (white and light green parts only- save the tops for stock)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 egg
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4 pita pockets, sliced in half and opened carefully

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Saute leeks and garlic until softened, stirring occasionaly, about 10 minutes. Remove to a bowl. Increase heat in pan to medium high. Add remaining oil and chicken, season with oregano, salt and pepper, saute until chicken is browned and just cooked through- about 5 minutes. Add white wine to pan to deglaze, letting wine boil until almost all is evaporated. Add contents of pan to bowl with leeks and let cool slightly.

To chicken and leek mixture add parsley, feta, egg, Parmesan and stir to combine. Stuff pita pockets with mixture and place on a baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

On Kale and Man Food

2011-12-11T09:40:00.001-05:00

A funny thing happened in our kitchen last weekend. Tyler was making pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning*. I suggested that he make them with whole wheat flour at least to make them healthier. He refused, saying something to the effect of "don't mess with man food". I was in charge of making BLTs**. I made BKTs instead. Bacon. KALE. Tomato. Take that man food.

I think kale can stand in for lettuce almost all of the time. Tyler seems to agree, cause he assembled sandwiches for us the next meal using... you guessed it. Go on, healthy up your bacon man-wich with some kale.

*Since I have starting working at 8am on Sundays, Tyler has learned to make pancakes. He keeps telling me how much Parker loves pancakes, but I hadn't witnessed the pancake phenomenon until this weekend. Wow. The kid goes bananas for pancakes. He ate more than I did. Incidentally, he also goes bananas for bananas. I wonder what would happen if we gave him banana pancakes?

**Are BLTs global, or is this a Canadian acronym? Just in case, BLT stands for Bacon Lettuce Tomato sandwich.

Shortbread

2011-11-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed I enjoy lists? I have shared my recipe organization method (lists inside lists), and I have had lots of posts with lists of recipes featuring specific ingredients. Outside of the regular lists- grocery, to do- I have a few ongoing not-so-common lists. Currently in my Blackberry I have ready for a list of my lists?):

Kareoke You never know when you might find yourself at a kareoke bar needing that perfect song. Featuring Bon Jovi, Bonnie Raitt, Shania Twain.

Gifts I hate it when I think of a good gift for somebody and then forget what it was when Christmas/birthdays roll around. Problem solved.

Books Books I wants to read. Obviously.

Downloads Songs to download. I also hate when I hear a song on the radio then forget what it was when I get home. It took me weeks to finally remember to get "How Do you Like Me Now" by The Heavy. I then declared it the song of the summer last year.

LBCO Wines and drinks I want to check out at the liquor store.

Wines I Like I swear I don't have a problem.

I have had this cookie recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini saved in my browser favourites since April last year. I saved it to try because a) she called them Squeeze Cookies b) they are made with roasted flour. I have never heard of roasting flour. Clotilde writes, "Grilled notes of chocolate and hazelnut come through in every bite, the consistency is a fine crumbliness unlike that of any sablé I know, and all that comes from a simple twenty-minute roasting step." Sold? Me too. It is quite amazing what roasting the flour does. The flour doesn't take on any colour in the oven, but the cookies come out tasting caramelized, nutty, and vanilla-y. Yet none of these things are in the cookies.

To save time, rather than squeezing the dough into cookies (read the post on Chocolate and Zucchini to find out why you would do this), I pressed the dough into a square baking pan and made shortbread. I also love these cookies because there is only 6 tablespoons of butter in the recipe- usually shortbread calls for about a cup. Get thee to the kitchen and make these cookies today- I bet you have everything you need already, so no excuses.

Recipe: SQUEEZE COOKIES via Chocolate and Zucchini

One Year Ago: Cheddar, Chorizo, Leek Bread Pudding + a week of budget meals

Two Years Ago: Easy Drop Biscuits

France Part 1: Eating In

2011-11-17T13:02:00.000-05:00

When I was 16, I spent three months on exchange in France. I didn't have a life changing food experience there, a la Julia Child. In the past 10 + years I have often said that I didn't have any amazing food. But like the simplest recipe, taken as a whole the food I had in France is more than the sum of it's parts. I have to work hard to remember any individual meals but lots of times a dish, promptly forgotten at the time, comes back to me at unexpectedly with a bite at a restaurant, a scene in a movie, a sentence in a book or magazine.

Today's post is about the home cooking I had in France. Part 2 will be about eating out, and we'll see what is left over in my memory bank for a part 3 perhaps.

I actually have two French families; the family I stayed with, and the family I was supposed to stay with. More on the latter in the next post. The family I stayed with, the Machpy's, were not foodies. I had, as we North Americans have of Europeans, the impression before going to France that even the most ordinary weekday meal is a gastronomic affair. Not so. Like us, weekday meals were not gourmet, they fed their three kids (four, with me)something quick, simple, nutrious. Sometimes it was something the kids liked- fries night comes to mind- and sometimes it wasn't, like spinach night.

Photo Credit

Of all the home cooked meals I can remember, spinach night is the brightest in my mind. Dinner was always eaten at the big farmhouse table in the den/dining room, rather than in the kitchen where we ate breakfast and lunch. Put in front of us at that big, rustic table was a big, rustic plate of boiled spinach topped with a fried egg. I think I had only been there about a month, so I didn't want to be rude. I don't think I had ever eaten spinach before, let alone an entire meal of it. I took a bite and tried not to make a face. Then I proceeded to eat it all without chewing much, rationing the egg to ensure there was some in every bite, to take the edge off the greenness of it all. I was the first one finished. The kids still hadn't taken more than three bites, they were complaining about having to eat it. "Look, Amy finished all of hers. Now you eat yours too". I mouthed "sorry" to them, but of course they didn't understand.

There was always a baguette with dinner- this cliche actually turned out to be reality. After dinner was always yogurt and cheese. They would pull this plastic Tupperware bin of different cheeses wrapped in paper out of the fridge and that, with the yogurt and some more bread, was dessert. I have no idea what type of cheeses I was eating, but lots were stinky and all delicious. I blame that, the bread, and the delicious butter, on my 15 pound weight gain.

I had to go to high school in France. I think I was the only exchange student in the history of the school, and they didn't know what to do with me. I had school work from back home to do so that I didn't have to redo the whole semester I was away, so at first I worked on this during class since there was no requirement to get any marks at French school. The teachers didn't like this and there was a call to my French family and there after I had to pay attention and take notes like everyone else. High school there is more a lecture- more like what we do in university here. Although my notes were frequently non-sensical as I was trying to write down what the teacher was saying (the French classes we take all through school in Canada are almost useless when faced with a fast-talking lecturer on biology), I probably picked up a lot of language that way.

The teachers all must have thought I was really stupid, in particular the chemistry teacher. The material was advanced of what we were learning back home. I was pretty good at science normally, but the periodical table is different in French (I thought it was in Latin and therefore the same everywhere, but not so). To add to my embarrassment that I couldn't answer even one question on the exam although yes, Mr Teacher I do study chemistry back home, the teacher was smoking hot.

I don't know why I just gave you a big long story about school because all I have to say about the food is that you got a hot meal every day, and every day it was bad. Except, again, fries day. I think it was actually fish and chips, but the lunch lady would give you just the chips if you asked. It is also this day that I learned from my girlfriends that the French don't call them "French fries" because they were actually invented by the Belgians (les Belges). So they say. Wikipedia says so too.

Wednesdays school was only a half day, so we had lunch at home. This sounds too good to be true, right? Right you are. We also had to go to school on Saturday for a half day. Lunch at home was always, as far as I can remember, mystery meat in puff pastry and then pasta. I asked once what the meat was. I understood it as rabbit, so from then on it was another meal that I swallowed without chewing. The pasta they still managed to make very french. No tomato sauce here. I don't know if this is common or not, but they ate it (perhaps it was just the kids actually) with creme fraiche, Gruyere cheese, and ketchup. This is surprisingly delicious and I still eat pasta this way sometimes, substituting sour cream for creme fraiche. Come to think of it, creme fraiche should also have a place of honour on the list of Food That Made Me Fat in France.

Photo Credit

Breakfast. We're working backwards here, aren't we? Breakfast was always left over baguette with butter (and the dad and I put maple syrup on it too) dipped in a bowl- similar to above- of hot chocolate. The baguette from the night before was kept in a tall bread bin, so in the morning you'd reach in and find a hard end of bread, so the hot chocolate was actually a necessity rather than an indulgence. I suppose in other families the hot chocolate might be subbed for coffee, but my family didn't drink coffee that I recall. Or wine, except when company was over. Red wine every night and even the kids having a tumbler of watered down wine is one cliche that turned out not to be true, to my chagrin.

Photo Credit

There are two exceptional things I ate in the home of the Machpy's that stand out in my mind. The first weekend I was there, we went on a picnic with another family. Lunch was thickly sliced ham and cold butter on a baguette (baguette jamon). There might have been a schmear of Dijon mustard, I can't be sure. This might have been the best sandwich I have ever eaten.

The other is a chocolate birthday cake. I think we had this twice while I was there. It is not the mile high, layered and frosting-ed North American birthday cake. French birthday cake is fudgy, fallen a little in the middle and crackly on top- like the top of a good brownie. There is no icing. The cake itself is bitter-sweet, like dark chocolate. Whereas I bake cakes and cookies and all manner of baked good for no reason at all, the Machpys only had this cake if it's someone's birthday. I wish I had Mrs. Machpy's recipe, but I have the third best thing (the second best thing being another French aquiantance's recipe)- I Googled "French Chocolate Cake". I ate a slice last night and this recipe is pretty close to what I remember. I also had some for breakfast today. And it's not even my birthday.

One Year Ago: Potato, Proscuitto, and Camembert Pizza

Farfalle with Tomato Mushroom Sauce

Vegetable of the Week: Cauliflower

Two Years Ago: Pulled Pork, Broccoli, and Goat Cheese Pizza

FRENCH CHOCOLATE CAKE

When beating egg whites the bowl and the tools you use for mixing must be totally clean and grease-free. Wipe down tools with a little vinegar, then rinse and dry to be sure everything is clean. Otherwise your egg whites won't whip. Cream of tartar helps to stabilize the egg whites, if you don't have any it can be omitted. A standard round cake pan can be used in place of a springform pan.

1/2 cup sugar, divided
10 oz dark chocolate
3/4 cup salted butter, cubed
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 egg, seperated
1/4 cup flour
dash cream of tartar (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F with rack in middle of oven. Generously grease a 9 1/2-inch springform pan and dust with a little sugar, tapping out the excess.

Set aside 3 tbsp of sugar. Place the remaining sugar, chocolate, and butter in a micowave safe bowl. Microwave on medium heat 1 minute at a time until chocolate is almost melted. Stir to finish melting the chocolate. Stir in vanilla, set mixture aside to cool slightly.

Beat the egg whites in a very clean, grease free bowl until foamy. Add cream of tartar, if using, and whip until soft peaks form. Add reserved sugar, whip until stiff peaks form (see photo following recipe). Set aside.

Beat yolks into chocolate mixture one at a time. Stir in flour and lemon juice. Add 1/3 of egg whites to chocolate mixture, stir to combine. Add the remaining egg whites and fold until batter is a uniform colour. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake on a rack, removing the sides of the springform pan. Cool completely before removing the base. If using a standard cake pan, remove cake from pan only after cooled.

Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks

Homemade Chicken Stock

2011-11-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

Photo credit The Art of Doing Stuff

I was going to write a post about making chicken stock. But somebody else did it for me. Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff makes stock exactly the way I do- up to and including measuring it into baggies and freezing it flat. So... read her post but remember I am also a genius cause I do it the same way.

Why would you make your own stock? Because it tastes better, you can use up scraps that would normally go in the garbage, and it's cheaper. Do you need any more reasons? How about it's easy and healthier because you control the salt and ingredients. And you will impress your friends because making homemade stock sounds chef-y but it's a matter of bringing some kitchen scraps to a boil, simmering for a while, then letting it cool. Easy.

Homemade Chicken Stock at The Art of Doing Stuff

One Year Ago: Korean Style Pork Tenderloin

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Two Years Ago: Hawai'i

Tomato Bruschetta + Fresh Pea and Feta Spread

Halloween Wreath

2011-11-03T12:02:00.000-04:00

I know it's a bit late but perhaps you can file this away for next year. I made this wreath in 20 minutes the day of Halloween, otherwise I would have posted it before.

I tend to not get excited about Halloween until the day of, then I stress that I have nothing cool. For the holiday. I also sometimes stress that I have nothing cool in general... but that is another post for another day (or not).

I made this wreath with dead stuff I cleared out of my garden on the weekend. Except for the skulls. Those are not from the garden.

Chinese Five Spice Powder

2011-11-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

I have been using Chinese five spice powder in place of other spices in all kinds of recipes lately. I've had this jar in my cupboard for a few years (I know, spices should be replaced sooner but it still smells ok); I probably bought it for one recipe and haven't used it since. Now that I have been putting it into my regular rotation of spices, I am even going to recommend that you get yourself a jar.

Chinese five spice powder is a blend of (you guessed it) five spices, the most common being star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel. It is a warm blend of spices- think pumpkin pie spice with an Asian flair. Here are some recipes and quick ideas:

Replace cinnamon with 5-spice powder in Bran Flax Muffins
Use 5-spice powder instead of other spices in my Olive Oil Granola
Asian BBQ Pork: Sprinkle pork tenderloin with 5-spice powder and grill, basting with hoisin sauce in the last 5 minutes of cooking (can also substitute chicken)
Pumpkin Pie: I am going to try this in the next few weeks- replace the regular pumpkin pie spices with 5-spice. I think it will be epic
Exotic Cinnamon Toast: Spread toast with butter, sprinkle with a little 5-spice powder and sugar
Roast Chicken: sprinkle a whole chicken with 5-spice, salt and pepper, roast as you normally would
Smoothie: I just had this for breakfast as I was writing this post and it was delicious. Blend an apple, 1/2 a banana, handful baby spinach, small handful rolled oats, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup apple cider, a sprinkle of 5-spice powder.

And from around the web:

Five Spice Stir Fried Pork from The Calgary Herald
Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Chiffon Cake from Leite's Culinria
Chinese Five Spice Noodles with Broccoli from Serious Eats
Chinese Five Spice Roast Duck from A Table for Two
Five Spice Almond Cooks from Whole Foods

One Year Ago: Death Boats to Hades (aka Jalapeno Poppers)

Two Years Ago: Halloween Food

Apple Cheddar Soup

2011-10-28T12:03:00.000-04:00

Photo from Cityline.ca

I made another amazing recipe from Healthy Starts Here the other day for Apple Cheddar Soup. It is perfect for the cold wet weather we've had lately. Tyler liked it, but declared it not to be in the "man soup" category. Apparently "man soup" has to have red meat or sausage. I served it with a quick bread made with beer, however, so that helped up the man-quotient.

A note about the recipe: If you cannot find unsweetened apple cider, use a little less cider and more water or some chicken stock. We found the soup a bit on the sweet side.

One Year Ago: Breaded Shrimp and Vegetable of The Week: Kale

Kale Chips

Two Years Ago: Deep Dish Pizza

The Best Granola

Chaussons aux Pommes

Recipe: Apple Cheddar Soup via Cityline

BEER BATTER CHEESE BREAD

Adapted slightly from Best of America's Test Kitchen 2009

8 oz old cheddar cheese, 4 oz shredded and 4 oz cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 pepper
1 (12-oz) bottle light-bodied beer (I used Blue)
3 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in middle. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Combine the cheese, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the beer and mix well. Pour the batter (it will be quite thick) into the prepared pan, pushing batter into the corners and smoothing the top. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top.

Bake until loaf is deep golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean (try a couple of spots because it may look wet if you hit a pocket of cheese), about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a rack. Can be kept at room temperature for 3 days in an airtight container, although is better toasted on the 2nd day.

Two Years + 100th Post!

2011-10-17T12:55:00.000-04:00

This post marks both 2 years of Four Seasons Kitchen AND my 100th post! I didn't even plan that, I swear. Actually, I really should have planned a bit. When I realized that both these blog milestones were coming this week I figured the recipe for this post should be an amazing one. However, we hadn't done grocery shopping for real food (just Thanksgiving food) for a couple of weeks. Hmm... what to make?

The best thing I've made lately was something I didn't think I would even post, let alone allow to represent these milestones. But the more I thought about it, it came to me that this dish really represents why I write this blog and how my cooking has evolved in the last few years. It is quick, easy, healthy, and unexpectedly delicious.

I started Four Seasons Kitchen because I wanted to share my recipes and inspire anybody reading to get cooking and try something new. Comparing posts from the start of this blog to now, I now put more thought into eating healthy, especially in the last year since Parker was born. Since my first post October 17, 2009 I have gotten married and had a child. Amazing.

So without further ado, here it is- Lentils with Chorizo, Brussels Sprouts, and Balsamic Vinegar.

Ok, a little more ado. I feel I have to justify this dish. I had some lentils, chorizo, and brussels sprouts hanging around in the fridge and I needed a quick lunch for myself and Parker. I wasn't sure I'd like what I had created but I figured it'd have to do cause I was starving. And the rest is history. I loved it and so did Parker (I know, the kid will eat anything). I beg you to try it. Report back on how much you like it. I won't even say I told you so.

One Year Ago: Sneaking in healthier foods

Two Years Ago: Caldo Verde Soup (also with chorizo, funnily enough)

LENTILS WITH CHORIZO, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

In true Four Seasons Kitchen style, this is not a recipe so much as a method. Use your judgement on amounts and seasoning.

To cook lentils, cover dried lentils in a pan with water and add a carrot, celery stick, a couple whole cloves of garlic, half an onion, and a bay leaf. Simmer until lentils are tender, drain and remove vegetables and bay leaf. Can be frozen for quick meals.

brussels sprouts, quartered
olive oil
dry chorizo sausage, sliced
cooked lentils
splash of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Heat a pan with olive oil over medium high heat. Add brussels sprouts and saute, turning them over a few times throughout cooking, until golden brown on all sides. Add a splash of water and cover pan. Let steam until brussels sprouts are just tender. If there is still some water in the pan, uncover and increase heat to high to let it evaporate.

Add chorizo, saute a couple of minutes. Add lentils to heat them through. Add a good splash of balsamic vinegar and cook until pan is almost dry. Season with salt and pepper.

Thanksgiving Review and Reveal

2011-10-10T11:45:00.001-04:00

Photo from Serious Eats

So Thanksgiving at my place was a hit. All the food turned out as planned, amazingly, and I even had time to sit down to eat and chat because I did so much in advance. The pumpkin pie was announced "the best I've ever had" by my dad.

Also, remember the secret dish I alluded to in my last post? That was turducken. Turducken! I know. It was amazing. I used a recipe from Serious Eats that makes a smaller turducken. Usually turducken is a a deboned turkey, stuffed with a deboned chicken, stuffed with a deboned duck. That is a lot of work and apparently takes a whole day to make. Serious Eats made one using duck breast, chicken thighs, and turkey cutlets. Much easier. I doubled the recipe to make enough for everybody to have a little, and I used the same stuffing we had for the meal rather than what the recipe called for. To do that pulse dry, uncooked stuffing mixture in a food processor (or Magic Bullet) until fine, add stock or water a little at a time to make a cohesive, but not soggy, mixture.

The one tip I have from all the recipes is that the pumpkin chocolate tart recipe makes A LOT of filling. After I baked the tart shell it looked like it wasn't going to hold all the filling. I also realized the recipe called for a 14 oz can of pumpkin, not a 22 oz like I had, so I doubled the rest of the filling ingredients. I pulled a Tenderflake crust out of the freezer to make a straight up pumpkin pie (Tyler got his wish in the end). There was still filling left, so I filled another pie shell. In all I ended up making 5 (!!!) pies, 3 of them pumpkin. Two days later there is only half a pie left.

Thanksgiving

2011-10-06T12:23:00.000-04:00

Image Bon Appetit

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year for my family on Saturday. This should be interesting, considering Parker doesn't like anybody but Mommy or Daddy to hold him. Despite inquiries from everybody as to whether they can bring anything, I am doing it all myself. Otherwise I'd be sending out an email such as this - The Thanksgiving Letter. Type A personality over here much?

Usually I end up writing a post after the holidays, but then nobody can use the recipes until next year (who's going to make another turkey between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Not I). And the reason I write this blog is to share recipes and ideas that people can use. So, here is what I will be cooking this weekend, along with a secret dish as long as I can find the ingredients for it. More on that later if it comes to fruition.

Anybody else hosting Thanksgiving? What are you cooking?

Images: Foodland Ontario, Bon Appetit, Cityline, Martha Stewart

Pre-Dinner Nibbles:
Cheese, Chorizo, Crostini, White Bean Hummus, Rosemary Fried Almonds

Soup:
Parsnip, Apple and Brie Soup - I tested this recipe last week and it is delicious.

Dinner:
Sage Butter-Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy - I made this for Christmas a few years ago and it was amazing!
Whole Wheat Stuffing with Bacon, Chestnuts and Parmesan
Italian Roasted Vegetables
Polenta in place of mashed potatoes cause I love it

Dessert:
Chocolate Pumpkin Tart - Tyler wants straight pumpkin pie, but being me I have to jazz it up of course
Lemon Tart

The Plan:
Thursday: Defrost turkey (I bought turkey parts rather than a whole turkey so that I can cook the white and dark meat seperately to ensure it's all cooked perfectly)

Friday: Dry brine turkey, start stuffing, make desserts, cut up vegetables, make secret dish, make soup (all this after grocery shopping and while Tyler is golfing, go figure)

Saturday morning: Cook vegetables, clean house, make almonds and hummus, assemble app platter

Saturday afternoon: Everyone arrives 3-4 pm, put in dark meat at 4:00, white meat at 5:00, 5:30 put in stuffing and secret dish, 6:00 take out turkey and rest, make gravy, polenta, put in vegetables to warm, warm up soup and eat soup

So we'll see how this all goes down, but I feel better having a plan. Wish me luck!

Fried Udon Noodles

2011-10-04T13:23:00.002-04:00

These noodles are my favourite. Udon noodles are thick, slightly chewy noodles. I think they hail from Korea, but correct me if I'm wrong. When I was in backpacking in Australia at 18 I stayed in Melbourne for a couple of months and there was a small Asian restaurant down the street from our hostel. My friend Liz and I would go there once in a while when we were feeling flush (which was not often when backpacking, to be honest) and I would always order the udon noodle dish with chicken. Liz would order vegetarian. Either way it was delicious. This is my attempt to recreate it. It's close. I think. It's been 10 years.

I've had a hard time finding udon noodles here. They finally carry them at Zehrs (aka Loblaws for other folks) and they were on sale a few weeks ago for $1.00 each. Score! One package will serve one of me, perhaps two of you if you don't eat as much as I do, which is entirely possible since I eat a lot.

One Year Ago: Broccoli Salad
Pasta with Pea Pesto

FRIED UDON NOODLES

Serves 1

Adding some chicken, shrimp, tofu, beef or pork would be delicious and make this a more filling meal for dinner- I made it for a quick lunch here so I didn't use any of that. The vegetables can be whatever you have available.

200 g udon noodles
1 tsp canola oil
2 cremini mushrooms, sliced
handful shredded cabbage (I shredded 2 brussels sprouts which I had in the fridge)
1/4 cup peas
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 green onion, sliced
sesame seeds, for serving

Pour boiling water over noodles, let sit for 1 minute, then drain and set aside. This is to loosen them from being vacuum packaged.

Mix together soy sauces, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add vegetables, stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add noodles, fry a couple more minutes. Add sauce, fry 1 minutes until sauce thickens slightly and is bubbling. Serve sprinkled with green onion and sesame seeds.

Parker's Birthday Cake

2011-09-23T12:27:00.000-04:00

I promised I'd let you know how Parker's dairy-free birthday cake turned out. It was amazing! One of the best chocolate cakes I've had. I was a little worried to be honest. Don't cook something you've never made before for guests is practically the first rule of entertaining. Plus this cake is really different- there's whole wheat flour, prunes, and soy milk in it. My worries eased when I tasted the icing (also made with soy milk!). The icing is just about the perfect, creamy, chocolaty icing you could ever want. This will now be my go to icing.

Rather than piping "Happy Birthday Parker" on the cake and having it look amateur, I did "worms and dirt"instead- you know like that dessert you had when you were a kid with the pudding and cookie crumbs. Plus, everybody knows who the cake is for without a name on it, right?

Here's the catch- I'm not giving you the recipe. Ha! I want you to buy the book because I love it, and I don't want to infringe on copyright. The cake is from Healthy Starts Here by Mairlyn Smith. It's great because the book is organized into chapters according to the healthy ingredients in them i.e. Berries, Beans, Greens, etc. There is a lot of great information about why these things are so good for you and why the recipe calls for a tablespoon of cinnamon, for example (cinnamon slows your body's sugar absorption).

I am, however, going to share with you another recipe from the book as it is already published online. These Double Chocolate Muffins are high in fibre and made with pumpkin (which you'd never know), but most importantly are delicious. I have one for dessert or for a snack with a cup of tea during the day and feel healthier and virtuous. And my digestive system thanks me in turn the next day. Just saying.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

via mairlynsmith.com

Here's the menu for the rest of the food at the party, in case you're wondering.

Antijitos

Chips

Veggies and Dip

Aloha Pork Kebabs

Thai Chicken Kebabs (will post recipe soon)

Caeser Salad

Potato Salad

Fresh Bread

My Father's Daughter

2011-09-19T15:34:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write about Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook, My Father's Daughter. I received it for my birthday - in July - and I have made probably a quarter of the recipes in it. They are all so easy but showstopping delicious, and healthy to boot.

I didn't want to like it, to be honest. There was a lot of hype when it came out, and I always thought she was a raw-food-macrobiotic-health nut. And she was. She addresses this phase and finding balance in eating in the book, and in that is one of my favorite lines; "Could I use some butter and cheese and eggs in my cooking without going down some kind of hippie shame spiral? Yes." Gwyneth Paltrow is like that girl in high school that you hated because she pretty and good at everything but you secretly wanted to be her friend. She can act, sing, cook, write. She's probably good at sports too. Ugh. However, I am now a Paltrow convert. I even loved Country Strong (I totally called the ending).

Photo from GOOP

There are so many recipes I wanted to try in this book that I developed a new system. Now when I get a new cookbook I write a list of the recipes that sound good as I read through it. Then I don't have to flip through the book all over again when it's time to decide what to cook- it's all on the list kept in the front cover. As you can see, there are a lot of recipes I need to try from My Father's Daughter, plus more on the back of that paper too. I also write on the front page of my cookbooks the recipes that are really good that I would make again with the page number. Again, saves flipping through the book- or multiple books- down the road.

Rather than reproducing a recipe here for you, since Paltrow has been featured in a few magazines and countless other publications and websites have reviewed the book, here's a roundup of her recipes around the "Inter-web" instead. Then you should buy the book to get all the other amazing recipes that haven't been published online. I'm kind of shocked at the number of recipes that I found online... hopefully when I write my cookbook people will have to buy the book to get the recipes (LOL).

Duck Ragu
Slow Roasted Tomatoes - which she uses to make soup in the book. Yum
Spaghetti Limone Parmeggiano I made this one and it's the best lemon pasta I've had
Peanut Butter Cookies
Blue Cheese Dressing
Grilled Tuna Rolls
Bruce's Dip
Blueberry Pavlova
Bruce Paltrow's World Famous Pancakes These are delicious. The batter is made the night before so it gets a bit of a sourdough thing going on
Roast Chicken, Rotisserie-Style
Blythe's Blueberry Muffins
Healthier Version of Blythe's Muffins
No-Fry Fries
Classic French Fries
Fudgy Chocolate Brownies
Tuna and Ginger Burgers
Ivy Chopped Salad
Seasonal Crumble
Fried Zucchini Spaghetti Tried. Loved.
Cold Pea and Basil Soup
Fish Tacos
Playwright's Melt
Crispy Potato and Garlic Cake
Best Stir Fried Chicken It is really good
Fried Rice with Scallions Also yummy and healthy
Basic Tomato Sauce, Vinegarette, and Asian Portobello Burgers

Bon Appetit had a few recipes from Paltrow that are not in her book that look good:
Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce
Corn Vichyssoise
Strawberry Shortcake Sliders
Peach Cooler
Grilled Halibut with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Roasted Tomato and Anchovy Oreganata Pasta

Potato Vegetable Cakes

2011-09-15T15:04:00.001-04:00

Parker is a year old today! We are having his birthday party on Saturday and I have a (hopefully) delicious dairy-free chocolate cake planned. I'll let you know how it turned out.

My newest discovery in the kitchen is quinoa flour. Other than in the baby food post, I haven't talked about quinoa, have I? It's very healthy and a source of protein- read all about it on Wikipedia. I only care about all that stuff if it tastes good. And it is really delicious. It's nutty, and you can use it in place of rice as a side dish, in a salad, or now as I've discovered as a flour substitute.

I read a post about zucchini bread made with quinoa flour at Goodlife Eats and I was intrigued as I am trying to find different sources of protein for Parker as he is off beef and pork for the time being as part of the dairy allergy thing. I had a recipe for these potato and vegetable pancakes sitting on my counter for the last week, but I thought I could make them healthier. First off, they used Egg Beaters and packaged hashed brown potatoes. I prefer to use non-packaged food whenever possible; cracking some eggs and shredding some potatoes isn't a big deal. I added more vegetables to the original recipe, and then experimented with quinoa flour in place of the white flour called for.

As I said above, I'm not going to use something if it doesn't taste good, BUT if it tastes just as good and is way healthier, why wouldn't you make the change? Quinoa flour is going to be a staple here. I wouldn't substitute for it in baking, as baking has to be so exact, but for things like these vegetable cakes it's a no brainer. It really easy to make. I just put some quinoa in my Magic Bullet and whirred away. You could also try a blender, spice grinder, or food processor. I wouldn't recommend a mortar and pestle, however. This was my first thought, but after three minutes of grinding and no flour to show for it, I ditched that idea. Unless you are sitting outside your hut while your husband hunts for dinner and you have nothing better to do, use an electric option.

One Year Ago: Moroccan Chicken and Eggplant

POTATO AND VEGETABLE CAKES

Makes 10 servings, 1 serving = 2 cakes

These can be frozen easily by layering them between waxed paper. Parker likes these plain, but I like them with a topping- salsa, tomato sauce, pesto, or ranch dressing would all be good. The veggies can be changed up to use whatever you have lurking in the crisper, and the spices can also be swapped out to suit your taste; curried potato cakes would be good, southwest spices would work, etc. A food processor makes quick work of shredding the veggies.

1 cup quinoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 eggs
2 medium potatoes, grated
1/2 large zucchini, grated
1/4 head cauliflower, grated
2 green onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil

To make quinoa flour, place quinoa in a Magic Bullet, blender, spice grinder, or food processor and pulse until ground to a flour consistency.

Set a large non stick pan to preheat over medium high heat. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, vegetables, salt and pepper to season, mix together well, ensuring there are no dry flour streaks and all vegetables are coated.

Drizzle pan with a little olive oil. Pack batter into a 1/4 cup dry measure and drop into pan. Press lightly with back of measuring cup to spread batter- you don't want them too thick. Repeat with as many as will fit in pan without touching. Cook to golden brown on both sides. Cool on baking rack if not eating right away.

Breaded Porkchops and Creamy Orzo

2011-09-12T11:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I participated in a boot camp for breast cancer. Have you ever done a fitness boot camp? This was my first time. Parker: I'm sorry Mommy can't play on the floor with you today, but I won't be able to get up again if I do. It was intense, but I had a lot of fun. I may even sign up for classes. Even though every part of my body except my face hurts today, I kind of like it. Is that sick? Next week I'm doing Zumba, which should be less painful but more hilarious as I'm "a spaz" as my brother kindly puts it.

Since I worked off so many calories yesterday morning, I felt free to use up some of the 35% cream that I have in the fridge from Friday when we had Tyler's cousin and his girlfriend over for dinner. They made the main meal, an amazing steak with brandy cream sauce (I am going to get the recipe and share with y'all, don't worry). Tyler said it was the best orzo dish I have made. Of course. For those of you, however, who have not done a boot camp lately I've noted substitutions to lighten it up below.

BREADED PORK CHOPS recipe via Bon Appetit

CREAMY ORZO

Makes 4 side dish servings

I've instructed to chop the vegetables small because orzo is a small pasta. It's nicer to have your vegetables about the same size as your pasta.

To lighten it up, use half and half or low fat cream cheese + some milk. Turn down the heat to low when you add these though, high heat will cause lower fat options to separate.

1 cup orzo pasta
olive oil
1/4 red onion, chopped finely
1/2 medium zucchini, diced small
1 tomato, diced small
2 tbsp basil pesto
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions. Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion, saute for 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium high, add zucchini and saute for 1 minute. Add tomato, along with as much juice you can salvage from chopping it, and pesto. Add pasta and cream to the pan, stir to combine, season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat, add Parmesan cheese and stir. Serve immediately.

Baby Food Part 2: Textures

2011-09-10T16:07:00.000-04:00

I knew when Parker was around 8 or 9 months old that I should be starting him with some finger foods. I was very nervous about this. I reviewed baby CPR online, then I gave him a quarter of a Cheerio (actually, a Nutrio- Cheerios for babies). He cried like was trying to alert the neighbours of a crime. I fished the offending food out of his mouth before he inhaled it and we tried again in a couple of days. He then worked up to half Nutrios, then whole ones.

Does this count as a finger food?

I also started leaving some larger pieces of food in his purees and giving him some soft foods to eat with his hands- banana, cooked sweet potatoes, avocado. Now, as I mentioned in the previous post, he won't eat anything off of a spoon. Except oatmeal, actually. It took me a while to figure out what to give him that he could eat with his hands but it would still be really nutritious as lots of it end up on the floor. Any fruits and veggies, raw or cooked if they are hard, are a go, cut into small pieces. Also we discovered he loves butter chicken and Thai coconut chicken. Usually now we give him small pieces of whatever we are eating, so I try to plan meals with this in mind. He also LOVES these muffins.

Below is a what he ate yesterday, for example, and then some recipes that Parker loved. Bonus: they are good for the grownups too. Hopefully this helps anybody reading this who is completely confused as to what to feed the baby.

NOTE: Parker is still waking up in the night for a bottle, although we working with a (amazing!) naturopathic doctor to wean him off of formula altogether and he slept through the night last night finally! You may notice that there is no dairy in his meals- we suspect he has a dairy sensitivity, so we have eliminated dairy for the time being.

Breakfast 9 am: 1 cup Berry Oatmeal, 1/4 peach, 1/4 banana water from sippy cup
Bottle 10:30
Lunch 2:00: Barley Risotto (offered, he only ate 2 bites) + bottle
Bottle 6:00
Dinner 8:00: 1/2 cup roasted vegetables, some canned tuna, 1/2 a tomato, handful Nutrios, water from sippy cup
Bottle 9 pm

BERRY OATMEAL

Makes 3 baby servings

I made another double batch today and froze some in a muffin tin in 1/2 cup servings. When frozen, pop them out of the muffin tin and store in an airtight container. You could also change up the fruit to make different flavours i.e. grated apple and cinnamon, pumpkin with pumpkin pie spice, peaches, etc

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 tsp molasses
2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup frozen berries
1/4 cup ground flax
2 egg yolks

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add oats, simmer until water is almost all absorbed and oats are cooked. Add molasses, ginger, flax, and berries. Stir until berries are thawed. Add egg yolks, bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Mash berries with back of a spoon or potato masher (some oatmeal will get mashed too, that's ok). Store any uneaten portions in fridge up to 2 days, or freeze. You may need to add some water to leftovers when reheating as it will thicken.

PUMPKIN PIE FRENCH TOAST

2 slices whole grain bread
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk or water
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
butter for pan

Mix eggs, milk or water, pumpkin, and vanilla in a shallow dish. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Soak bread in egg mixture for 30 seconds each side. Melt a little butter in the pan, add saturated bread. Cook until golden brown, flip, and cook same on other side.

ITALIAN VEGETABLE CASSEROLE

Adapted from Everyday Italian

Makes 6 side dish servings, or many more baby servings

Leftovers are good to toss into pasta. Vegetables can be changed up depending on what you have.

2 medium potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, scrubbed clean and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 fennel bulb, thickly sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced into large pieces
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
1 large zucchini, cut in quarters and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
4 ripe tomatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch thick sliced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Toss both types potato, carrots, fennel, onion in a large bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper to season. Spread in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Layer zucchini, then tomatoes over vegetables. Drizzle with remaining olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

Mix together breadcrumbs, Parmesan, dried herbs in a small bowl. Top vegetables with this mixture. Bake 40 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Baby Food Part 1: Purees

2011-09-07T14:45:00.000-04:00

Parker's first solid food!

Parker will be a year old next week. As all moms say, I can hardly believe it. I didn't think I was going to write anything about baby food, but lately since Parker no longer wants to eat anything off of a spoon I have had to get more creative with making him food. Of course, I turned to the Internet and cookbooks for ideas, so I figured I'd share what worked for me and maybe it will help another mom (or dad!) who is panicking because all of a sudden their child won't eat any of the purees stashed in the freezer.

Baby food is really easy to begin with, to be honest. Start with steaming single vegetables, puree them, freeze them in ice cube trays. The hardest part, for me anyway, is getting over your fears that the kid is going to choke to death. I had to tell myself lots of times that everybody obviously goes through this, because do you know any adults who still only eat pureed food? Me neither.

These are a few books that were really helpful with baby food info and recipes. Each book has it's own merits, and I think it's good to read a few in order to get different points of view and form your own opinions on what to feed your baby. For example, the author of Sprout Right doesn't believe in giving your baby meat or wheat until after 12-18 months, but Better Baby Food (and the public health unit) recommends meat as a first food.

Better Baby Food 2nd Edition by Daina Kalnins and Joanne Saab. Endorsed by The Hospital for Sick Children. Great info on breastfeeding, lots of great recipes for toddlers, a few recipes for 6-12 months.

The Baby's Table by Brenda Bradshaw and Lauren Donaldson Bramley. Mostly recipes, tons of great recipes for 6 months and beyond.

Sprout Right by Lianne Phillipson-Webb. Good info on breastfeeding, eating well during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, choosing a baby formula, a whole chapter on baby poo (yes, really) organic and natural foods, more complex recipes.

And just in case that is not enough info for you, here are a few websites that I used as well:

Sweet Potato Chronicles
Weelicious You can see recipes by age or type (i.e. puree) on this blog
Baby Center
Cooking with My Kid Recipes for toddlers and up, but I have found some great recipes on here for just me and Tyler too
Today's Parent
How to Be a Dad Not food related, but hilarious
Distracted Daddy Also not food related but really funny. Dad blogs are funnier cause the dads aren't in the trenches 24/7 methinks.

I learned a few things in the first few weeks of starting Parker on solid food:

A blender or Magic Bullet does a better job of getting things smooth than your food processor or a potato masher.

Be careful not to give your baby all "binding" foods. I started Parker on rice cereal, squash, bananas, and applesauce, all of which cause constipation. Sorry little dude.

When starting to transition from really smooth purees to a little chunkier textures, whole wheat couscous is a good start. It takes 5 minutes to make, its tiny, and easy to mix into any vegetable puree.

Most fruits you will peel, but you can leave the skin on pears and puree them raw if they are really ripe. Also if you are cooking down apples for applesauce the skin can be left on as it will soften and puree nicely too.

Save the water you use to steam or boil vegetables in the fridge for up to a few days to use to thin out purees or to make baby cereal. Perhaps the extra nutrients are negligible, but every little bit counts I think.

Mix up flavours by adding spices from your spice cabinet rather than adding them to the whole batch while it's cooking as you would normally do, as most recipes make a ton of food (for a baby). Parker loved cinnamon, ginger, Chinese 5-spice, and curry powder. Beware of garlic powder, especially if baby spits up a lot. Garlic breath does is not becoming of a baby.

You know how asparagus makes your pee smell? It makes baby pee smell too. Just a warning.

Blending potatoes makes glue.

I have really started to think about how to get the most nutritional bang for my buck with making Parker's food, which has carried over into what I make for me and Tyler too. If the baby is only going to eat a few bites, I want to pack as much good stuff in as I can. So apart from the single ingredient purees (which you can always combine to make different dishes when you defrost them), here are a few simple recipes that Parker loved and are super healthy. These are recommended for 8 months and up.

One Year Ago: Freezer Meals, Mexican Pizza

LENTIL STEW

Adapted from Sprout Right

Makes about 3 cups

Author's note: For toddles, you can serve this puree as a sauce for noodles. It's wonderful on it's own, mixed with rice, or served as a soup for mom and dad with extra lentils and stock.

1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 cups water or no sodium vegetable stock
1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed
3 carrots, scrubbed and chopped small
3 stalks celery, chopped small
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Mash or puree to desired consistency.

CHICKPEA STEW

Adapted from Sprout Right

Makes about 3 cups

1 1/2 cups water or no-sodium vegetable stock
1 can (14 oz/398 ml) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Mash or puree to desired consistency.

BABY QUINOA

Adapted from Sprout Right

Makes about 3 cups

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped

6 spears asparagus or green beans, chopped (snap off tough ends and discard)

1 small bunch kale, chopped after removing ribs

6 pitted prunes, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until soft, 30-40 minutes. Add a bit more water if needed to thin out, mash or puree to desired consistency.

BEEF AND VEGETABLE STEW

1 lb stewing beef, cut into small pieces

2 carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1 small head broccoli, chopped

1 small head cauliflower, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 stalk fresh rosemary

Place all ingredients in a pot and add water so that everything is just covered. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer until beef is very tender and pulls apart easily with a fork. Remove rosemary stalk (all the leaves will probably have fallen off). Mash or puree to desired consistency.

Wing Mash Up

2011-08-22T17:13:00.001-04:00

Drumsticks with Caesar Salad and Grilled Corn

You heard it here first folks: chicken drumsticks are the new chicken wings. We were going to make the barbequed chicken wings from Eating Forward by Sandi Richard (which I borrowed from the library but am going to buy as it is excellent) but they didn't have any wings at the grocery store. I got drumsticks instead, which are cheaper anyways, and now I am of the opinion that they are better. That doesn't mean I won't eat wings at the pub; that is ludicrous! But I will make them more often at home. These are inspired by Wild Wing restaurant where they do all these crazy mixed up flavors that turn out to be amazing (our favorite flavour is Farmer's Daughter).

Notice I used "we" in the above paragraph? I don't know if that has ever happened in reference to cooking on Four Seasons Kitchen. I use "we" today because Tyler was actually responsible for cooking the chicken. I don't barbeque. I don't like smelling like meat (although I have found that eau de brisket attracts the opposite sex) and Tyler does it best anyway. So really, this is his recipe. Also a Four Seasons Kitchen first.

JERK HONEY GARLIC HOT WINGS

10 chicken drumsticks
2 tbsp jerk seasoning
1/4 cup honey garlic sauce
1/4 cup Franks Red Hot sauce

Toss chicken and jerk seasoning together in a Ziploc bag and put in fridge overnight. When ready to cook, grill on high direct heat 2 minutes per side. Move drumsticks to indirect heat and cook 40 minutes, turning once. Mix honey garlic and hot sauce in a large bowl. Toss cooked drumsticks in sauce.

Vegetable of the Week: Tomatoes

2011-08-16T10:26:00.001-04:00

Is your garden exploding with tomatoes? Mine is. I picked all the tomatoes pictured here in one go. I can't grow flowers for the life of me, but if there's food involved I'm all over it. What to do with all these tomatoes? Here are some ideas from my list of recipes to try.

Tomato Basil Tartlets
Fried Green Tomato BLT
Jarred Tomatoes
Spaghetti with Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes
Summer Fettucine
Chicken Breasts with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce
Tomato and Cheddar Pie
Corn, Tomato, Feta, and Basil Salad
Tomato Tian
Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes
Tomato Tart

And from the Four Seasons Kitchen Archives:
Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta
Tomato Bruschetta with Feta

"No one is going to improve upon the tomato sandwich. No one- not Alice Waters, not that Danish guy whose place was noted Best Restaurant in the World, maybe not even God. Put a few slices of the juiciest tomato you can find on your favorite toasted bread with mayo, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a couple of grinds of pepper. Eat open-face."

-Bon Appetit June 2011

Also, I made a PESTO AND TOMATO FLATBREAD that was so good that I forgot to take a picture. Bonus: it used up four tomatoes in one go. It's easy-peasy:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with oven rack on bottom position. Roll out pizza dough, spread with pesto, cover with sliced tomatoes (I squeeze them a bit to remove the seeds which will make it watery), sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until crust is golden and tomatoes are softened.

One Year Ago: Vanilla Iced Coffee

Ham, Swiss and Asparagus Crepes

Cacio e Pepe

2011-08-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

Cacio e Pepe. I know it sounds like a kids show. Cacio is a mouse and Pepe is a frog and together they get into mischief and learn about friendship along the way. Can you tell Parker is now almost one (can you believe it!) and will watch cartoons for 10 minutes?

K, for real, we're talking pasta here. The easiest and most delicious pasta that you can make in the time the pasta cooks. This is for those days when you don't know what to make for dinner so you stare at the fridge, freezer, pantry, fridge, freezer, pantry, and then just end up eating a frozen Jamaican patty. Make this instead. Cacio e Pepe. Pasta with Black Pepper. It is so much more than the sum of it's parts.

One Year Ago (I'm a little behind on this):

Breakfast Club Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Brisket

Gifts from the Kitchen

Greek Shrimp With Tomatoes and Feta and Chipotle Pork and Pineapple Skewers

Summer Roll Salad

CACIO E PEPE

Serves 2, recipe is easily doubled

Inspired by this recipe in Bon Appetit, I like my modified version better. Read through their article on How to Make Perfect Pasta. It will be a revelation.

1/2 lb (250 g) dried penne
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (from a block of cheese- don't use the stuff that comes in a container)

Cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions, or until just a little more than al dente (firm) than you would eat it. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. Continue to cook butter until foaming subsides and butter is lightly browned and smells nutty. Add pepper, saute for 30 seconds.

Reduce heat to medium. Add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Add cheese and pasta to pan, toss pasta for 1 minute to coat and finish cooking pasta.

Turn off heat and cover pan for 1 minute- this allows the sauce to thicken and everything to come together. If sauce is too thick and isn't coating pasta nicely add more pasta water a little at a time. Serve immediately.

On Buying Canadian

2011-06-29T11:23:00.000-04:00

Canada day is in a couple of days, and I received this email (below) from a friend that I thought I'd share. We've all reads lots about buying local food; I've written about it myself. But to take that one step further and buy Canadian products when possible really only requires a little more effort- just read the label. We can all do that I think. Happy Canada Day fellow Canadians!

A couple of Made In Canada resources I found:

*July is Canadian Products Month at Beauty Geeks
*One man's challenge to eat, watch, use only Canadian products for a year: One Year One Canadian

And now the email that inspired this post:

A physics teacher in high school, once told the students: that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good Canadian:

Shopping in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the fun of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the fun of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in Canada! Start looking........
In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else – even their job.

A quote from a consumer:...my grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more. My favourite toothpaste, Colgate, is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Wal-Mart. I needed 60W light bulbs. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labelled, "Everyday Value". I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in – get ready for this - Canada at a company in Ontario. Their Equate products are also made in Canada, and are very good.

Just to add my own experience on buying Made In Canada, I was looking for canned mushrooms that were made in Canada and could never find any, so I would buy fresh. But a miracle happened, when in our Foodland store I found Ravine mushrooms - made in Canada with a little red maple leaf on can. A
little more money but when I opened the can I looked at mushrooms that look like real mushrooms, not a mushroom that looks like it was cleaned in bleach. So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in Canada. The job you save may be your own or your neighbour's! (Your children & grandchildren, also)

If you accept this challenge, pass it on to so we can all start buying Canadian, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies! (We should have awakened two decades ago.) Let's get with the program. Help our fellow Canadians keep their jobs and create more jobs here in Canada.

If President Obama insists on a 'Made in America ' policy, which is commendable of him, to support
American workers, we should do likewise. BUY CANADIAN! Read the labels. Support Canadian jobs.

Summer Party

2011-06-28T11:12:00.000-04:00

Tyler and I had our dads over for a barbeque on Father's Day and this is what we made. Everything turned out great! This is such an easy menu for a summer BBQ. Everything can be done before hand so the only thing to do is throw the meat on the grill. And get your drink on.

SALAD ON A STICK

Any kind of salad would work here. Just cut everything into bite sized pieces and stack on a toothpick. I got the tray and appetizer spoons for Christmas and I love them, but shot glasses would work just as well. Also feel free to come up with a more elegant name for this recipe.

Greek Salad on a Stick: cucumber, red onion, olive, feta. Dressing = olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, dried oregano, garlic, salt, pepper

Caprese Salad on a Stick: halved cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, fresh basil. Dressing = olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper

FLANK STEAK TACOS

1/4 to 1/2 lb flank steak per person
small tortillas

Marinade:

juice and zest 2 limes
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Toppings:

hot sauce
sour cream
pickled hot pepper rings
salsa

Mix marinade in a large Ziploc bag. Marinade steak 3 hours, turning and massaging meat a few times during this time.

Grill over high direct heat 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove onto a platter, cover with foil, and let meat rest for at least 10 minutes. While meat is resting, wrap tortillas in foil, about 10 per package to ensure they will all get heated through. Place on grill on indirect heat until ready to serve.

GRILLED CORN SALSA

3 ears corn
cherry tomatoes, quartered
juice and zest of 2 limes
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp chopped cilantro or Italian parsley
salt and pepper to season

Grill corn over direct heat until softened and charred in spots, about 15 minutes. Remove from grill and set aside to cool a bit. Cut corn off cobs, mix with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until serving.

LEMON STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES

pound cake, store bought or I use this recipe from Serious Eats
lemon curd, I used this recipe
strawberries, halved or quartered and tossed with a little sugar
whipped cream

For each serving, cut a slice of cake in half. Place one half on a plate, spread with some lemon curd, top with strawberries, other half of cake, and whipped cream.

Panini Bar

2011-06-25T10:55:00.001-04:00

Click on the photo to enlarge and actually be able to read the writing

Taco bar, baked potato bar, pizza bar, etc, all great if you have people coming over last minute or just want something easy to make for a crowd. But how about panini bar! You just have to prep the ingredients and then everybody gets to put whatever they want on their sandwich*. If you don't have a panini press you can do them in a pan on the stove instead and call it "gourmet grilled cheese".

Full disclosure: I did this in February and just got around to writing about it now. Sorry.

*My dad used to do this with pasta too- give everybody a list of ingredients, then they check off what they want and you toss everything together in a pan for a custom pasta dish.

One Year Ago: Bran Flax Muffins

Quick Tip: Tex-Mex Shredded Cheese

2011-06-13T11:05:00.000-04:00

We were having nachos for dinner on Friday night and I was tempted by this Southwest Shredded Cheese at the store. However, it was almost $7. Plus tax! I figured I could do it at home for cheaper and I was right.

Shake shredded cheese in a bag, or container with a lid, with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and a little cayenne if you want some heat. If you have chipotle chili power that would be even better.

I'm glad there are no more tortilla chips left or else I would be eating nachos for lunch and snacks too.

Dog Biscuits

2011-06-04T10:46:00.001-04:00

It's my dog Sydney's (of blue socks fame) 5th birthday today. She now is only half as crazy as the day we got her, but that's still pretty crazy. We went for a long walk this morning, and since it's raining I decided to make these cookies I saw in Canadian Living. They have mint and parsley in them which hopefully helps with the dog breath situation. However, they also have bacon fat and peanut butter so how good can her breath be after eating one, really?

I swapped butter for bacon fat as I had some from our breakfast this morning, and left the salt and sugar out of the original recipe. I don't think dogs need to have that stuff, and there is already some salt and sugar in the peanut butter. Plus I've seen her eat her own poop, so I don't think she has such a discerning palette that she needs that stuff to gobble these down. So, happy birthday Bearcat!

One Year Ago: Aloha Pork Kebabs

Recipe:

Dog's Breath Biscuits from Canadian Living

Mushroom, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche

2011-05-28T11:51:00.000-04:00

Dang, it's been almost 2 months since my last post. It's not that I haven't been cooking- that would be akin to not breathing- but I haven't made anything worth sharing. For some reason everything has been turning out just okay.

I had really high hopes for brownies from Fat Witch Brownies, considering people (in Internet land, not people I know) have said they're the best brownies ever. They aren't even in my top 10 best brownies ever. I made two versions from the book and neither was very chocolaty. Call me crazy, but if I'm going to indulge in a brownie I'd like it to have full on chocolate flavour. I did however make some great pecan bars from the book, so not all is lost. I will be keeping that recipe once the book goes back to the library.

So, the aforementioned quiche. My cousin and her boyfriend, who are awesome and love food and I'm so glad they're back from BC cause I missed them, came for lunch yesterday and kicked me out of my cooking rut. This quiche was awesome. The combo of goat cheese, onions, and mushrooms is delicious, but really anything can go in quiche. Want to make a man-quiche (cause quiche is kinda girly, right?)- add some sausage. Make it Mediterranean inspired with sun-dried tomatoes, olives, roasted red peppers. Or, leave out the crust and make it a frittata.

One Year Ago: Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta

Stuffed Pasta Shells

Dinner Party Menu

Easy Cheesecake

MUSHROOM, CARAMELIZED ONION AND GOAT CHEESE QUICHE

Serves 4

The pastry recipe will make two crusts, so you can either make two quiches or freeze the half the dough for another use. The key to rolling out pie dough successfully is keep it moving- do a couple rolls, then give it a quarter turn. If it starts to stick dust with a little flour. If it rips when at any point, just press it back together- you're only going to see the edge of it once the filling is in anyway.

1 pie crust- store bought or using this recipe
2 onions, sliced thinly
250 g mushrooms, sliced
butter and olive oil for cooking
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If using homemade dough, roll out to larger than pie plate and line pie plate with dough. Cut off excess leaving about 1/2 inch overhand. Fold overhang in and press with a fork to make a nice edge. Refrigerate until filling is ready.

Melt some butter and olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add onions, season with salt and pepper, and cover for 5 minutes. Remove lid and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden brown, about 15 minutes- don't let them get crispy. Set onions aside. Add a little more butter and olive oil to the pan and turn up heat to medium high. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, saute until golden brown. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together eggs, yolks, milk, and season with salt and pepper. Remove crust from fridge and place onions, mushrooms, and goat cheese in bottom. Pour over eggs. Bake 30-35 minutes in lower middle of oven, until filling is just set. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Winner Winner, Easiest Ever Chicken Dinner

2011-04-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

I cook a meal for Tyler and myself (and soon Parker when he gets some teeth!) almost every night. I plan our meals for the week in advance so that I can try out all the recipes I've bookmarked and ensure that we have all the ingredients needed. But you know what they say about best laid plans... This is what I make on those nights that the baby wants to be held for hours, or decides he's going to nurse non-stop from 6pm to 8 pm. I can get this in the oven with one hand or direct Tyler how to make it from the couch. Serve with a side of rice with peas and corn (or warm potato salad as pictured above), and you've got the easiest dinner ever.

EASIEST CHICKEN DINNER

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place fresh or still frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with a chunky sauce. Bake until chicken is cooked through- about 20 minutes if using fresh chicken or about 40 minutes if frozen. Top with some shredded cheese, bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Chunky sauce options: salsa, tomato sauce, canned diced tomatoes, chili sauce (I use my Grannie's homemade chili sauce which is amazing), etc

Favourite Things and Waffle Fail

2011-03-30T11:24:00.000-04:00

The baby and I took a big trip to the next town over to check out the thrift store yesterday. [Sarcastic] Woo! I was hoping to find some furniture to make over, but everything was expensive (for a thrift store). An old second-hand kids bed for $230? C'mon. But I did find the above vintage waffle iron for $5. And this bowl that is really ugly but looks pretty with necklaces in it.

Disclaimer: Not real pearls, so don't try to look me up and break into my house.

Here's my first attempt at waffles. Fail. I forgot to grease the pan. All I could do was scrape it into a ball. My second attempt was better, but of course I didn't take a photo of it.

Then, the score of the century... check out these throw cushions I got for $25 each from Ten Thousand Villages! I keep sneaking upstairs to the living room to look at them.

Three Corn Cornbread

2011-03-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

I've shared my fascination with Southern cooking before. I know that no true Southerner would call this cornbread as there is sugar in it (see the North vs South cornbread debate here) but dag nabbit I love this stuff. We've got some serious corn going on here: cornmeal, corn kernels and creamed corn. Eat this with chili or stew now, and with barbecue in the summer.

Pssst... cornbread is also good with honey on it for breakfast. C'mon, it's no worse than eating cake for breakfast. Not that I've ever done that.

THREE CORN CORNBREAD

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated "More Best Recipes"

Makes one 8-inch square

Leftovers can be reheated wrapped in foil in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup creamed corn
3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed if using frozen
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 butter, melted and cooled slightly

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 400 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square baking tray with cooking spray. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour through to baking soda) in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a food processor or blender, process the buttermilk, corn kernels, and brown sugar until combined, about 5 seconds. Add the eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about another 5 seconds.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold until dry ingredients are just moistened using a spatula. Just before completely combined, add butter. Pour into prepared baking dish, smoothing top. Bake until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack until just warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve warm.

Bulgar Salad

2011-03-18T11:46:00.000-04:00

The snow is almost all melted. I even opened some windows in the house for a couple of hours yesterday. This makes me want salad. I made this tabbouleh-inspired salad for lunch yesterday and it was the perfect foil to the warmer weather.

Tabbouleh is a Middle Eastern bulgar, parsley, and mint salad. I added some chickpeas and black beans as I had some in the fridge that needed to be used up, plus some red pepper and cabbage. The dressing is a lemon vinaigrette that is my go to for any salad. Keep this one in your back pocket.

See that green stuff on top of the salad in the photo? Looks fancy, right? Those are pea shoots. These are a revelation. It's just sprouted peas- as in, if you planted them in the garden you'd get a big bean stalk. I didn't know you could eat them just after they've sprouted. They taste like spring. Tender, crunchy, juicy, and refreshingly pea-y. We got them in our food box delivered from Pfennings this week (remember this post about local food? Now that I live in the boonies, having it delivered is easier than driving into town to pick it up every week). I've been picking off leaves and eating them like candy all week. If you do one thing this weekend, go find some pea shoots. Bonus points if you grow them yourself.

Pea Shoots growing in their little tray of dirt. See the little peas they are sprouting from?

BULGAR AND CHICKPEA SALAD

2 servings

1/2 cup bulgar
1 cup water
1/4 small head cabbage, shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1/4 red onion, finely diced
1/2 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 can black beans, drained (optional)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
lemon vinaigrette - see below
1 small bunch pea shoots

Combine bulgar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Drain any remaining water and rinse bulgar under cold water. Combine with remaining ingredients. Garnish with pea shoots.

LEMON VINAIGRETTE

Add more olive oil if you prefer it less tangy.

zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil equal to the amount of lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
salt and pepper to season

Combine all in a jar and shake. Alternatively, combine all except oil in a bowl and whisk olive oil in a slow stream. Or use a blender.

Baked Rigatoni

2011-03-13T10:58:00.001-04:00

Do you consider lasagna to be too much work to make? Baked rigatoni is lasagna's unpretentious and lazy cousin. You've still got meat sauce, melty cheese, and pasta, but it's not as fussy. The key to success here is slicing the cheese instead of grating it. I don't know why; the answer lies only with the pasta Gods.

My friend Courtney asked me for my baked ziti recipe recently. I had made it probably 5 years ago and then totally forgot about it. I didn't have the recipe anymore, so I've created a new one. This is just for you Courtney (ok fine, everyone else can have the recipe too).

One Year Ago: Almond Cake for Spring

BAKED RIGATONI

Serves 8-10

Recipe can easily be halved

900 g rigatoni or similar tubular pasta
500 g lean ground beef
650 ml jar of your favourite thick and chunky pasta sauce*
2 tomatoes, diced
500 ml cottage cheese
200 g mozzarella cheese, sliced
200 g provolone cheese, sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta for half of the time stated on the package. Meanwhile brown beef in a large skillet. Drain liquid and add tomato sauce and tomatoes. Warm sauce until just starting to bubble. Mix meat sauce and pasta. Layer in a large baking dish half of pasta, top with cottage cheese and half of the sliced cheeses. Top with remaining pasta, then remaining cheese. Bake 40 minutes or until bubbling and cheese is starting to brown.

*I used this sauce that I love and buy all the time, but it was too thin. You want a hearty sauce here.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

2011-03-01T10:34:00.000-05:00

Creamy Vegetable Soup with Cheese Quesedilla

I hate creamed corn*, yet I now have created two recipes that contain this vile sludge and they are some of my favourite dishes. I had a half a can of creamed corn languishing in the fridge because it is the secret ingredient in my cornbread recipe (another post for another day). The cornbread only takes half the can, so what to do with the rest? Usually I just throw it out right away, but I saved it this time because I figured I'd make more cornbread. Obviously I didn't make the cornbread but I'm glad I saved it, because it lead to the discovery that pureed creamed corn will make soup creamy without adding any cream, and add a pleasant corny flavor.

This is a clean out the fridge soup. You can use pretty much any vegetable in this soup that is lurking in your fridge. I had broccoli stalks- I save the stalks for soup when I use the florets for something else, half a can of tomatoes, and a leek. You can puree the soup with an immersion blender rather than a regular blender, but it won't get as smooth, especially if you have included something fibrous like broccoli. If you want your soup really smooth you can run it through a sieve, but that's too much work for me.

*I attribute this to one of two things: my brother, who loves vinegar, would always drown his creamed corn in vinegar when we were kids (I know, it's so weird and wrong), or because we always had creamed corn on fish sticks night (I hated fish sticks and haven't eaten them since I hit puberty).

One Year Ago: Nothing. Posts were pretty few and far between this time last year as I was in early pregnancy and could only stomach toast most of the time

CREAMY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
14 oz canned tomatoes- diced, whole, etc... whatever you have on hand
2 broccoli stalks, chopped
1 leek, light green and white parts only, cleaned well and chopped
200 ml creamed corn
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Combine everything in a pot and bring to a boil- the milk may separate, but it's going to pureed in the end so that's ok. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Puree in a blender, half of the soup at a time. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Creamy Mushroom Fettuccine with Spinach

2011-02-17T11:38:00.001-05:00

I am just starting to like mushrooms. I've always wanted to like them; I really did, but I found them slimy and weird. I mean, they are fungi. They are grown in poo. I know this because one winter day my dad took me and my brother to a mushroom farm to see the 15 foot pile of steaming manure because he thought it was funny (it totally was). I have persevered, adding mushrooms to lots of different dishes, and now I can proudly say that I like mushrooms. We're not in love yet, but they are growing on me [insert joke about me being full of shit here]. Even if you think you don't like mushrooms, please try this recipe. Perhaps it will be your gateway recipe to harder mushroom dishes.

Other mushroom recipes I have bookmarked that you may want to try:
Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Squash, and Chestnut Cream (see my previous gnocchi post)
Mushroom Cheese Log with Pecans
Flank Steak Spirals with Porcini and Red Wine Sauce
Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole
Mushroom, Butternut Squash, and Gruyere Tart

CREAMY MUSHROOM FETTUCCINE WITH SPINACH

Serves 2

175 g (1/2 package) fettuccine- white or whole wheat
1 tbsp butter
227 g sliced mushrooms, roughly chopped if desired
1 clove garlic
2 green onions, sliced
1 1/2 tbsp flour
2 cup milk
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 tsp dried
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 big handfuls baby spinach
squeeze of lemon juice
2 tsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, saute until pan is dry and mushrooms are golden brown. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and green onions, cook for 30 seconds. Sprinkle over flour, cook for 1 minute. Add milk, cream cheese and thyme. Bring to a boil while gently whisking. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thickened. Add sauce to drained pasta in the same pot the pasta was cooked in. Add spinach, Parmesan, lemon juice. Stir over low heat until pasta is coated with sauce and spinach is wilted. Serve with additional Parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley.

Cranberry Coffee Cake

2011-02-11T17:39:00.000-05:00

I have had a bag of frozen cranberries in the freezer since the first appeared in season in the grocery store. In October. These cranberries even held up a line at the store and called the manager over (the bar code wasn't in the system and they didn't know the price, so eventually they made up a price. $1. Score!). Why did I let these hard won cranberries languish for so long in the icy depths of the freezer? I was daunted by the amount of butter in the recipe I had intended to use them in, since I would be the only one eating it as Tyler doesn't like cranberries.

Then I saw this recipe on The Hungry Housewife for Cranberry Crumb Cake from Tate's Bakery Cookbook and immediately got to work as I had all the ingredients on hand. This cake is delicious and I am now putting cranberries in everything. Remember these bran muffins? They've even better with cranberries.

The cake is amazing as is, but next time I make it I will half the crumb topping. I found there was too much of it and it overpowered the cake.

LINK TO RECIPE:

Tate's Bakery Cranberry Crumb Cake

Here are some other cranberry recipes that I have saved in my favorites to try:

Cranberry Curd Bars with Walnut Shortbread Crust
Spiced Cranberry Spice Cake
Cranberry Crumb Bars (the recipe I was originally going to make with the cranberries)
Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-02-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

It sounds like an oxymoron, right? Healthy chocolate cupcakes. And get this- they don't taste healthy. The secret ingredient is: canned beets. I can't even stand the smell of beets, but you wouldn't even know they were there. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday and had these for dessert. I told them in advance that they were no ordinary cupcakes, and when I revealed the secret ingredient they were shocked. They fell out of their chairs and put both hands to the sides of their faces Home Alone-style.

K, everything I just said about the chairs and Macaulay Culkin didn't exactly happen, but these are some seriously good, virtuous cupcakes. Aside from being low-fat, read about why they are so good for you at Chatelaine Magazine. I made a few changes to the recipe, the biggest one being doubling the cocoa powder, so the nutritional stats from Chatelaine aren't going to be accurate if you follow the recipe below, but pretty close. Also, I didn't find that the raspberry-cream cheese icing in the original recipe tasted like much other than cream cheese, so I haven't included a recipe for icing below. Feel free to use whatever icing you'd like, and eat some raspberries on the side to get the health benefits listed in the article. Or puree them in a blender to make a raspberry sauce to go with the cupcakes. Last night I just mushed up some raspberries with a fork on my plate and put the cupcake on top.

Go ahead, make some chocolate cupcakes and trick your friends and family. Or if you don't want to share (understandable), eat three at a time- they're good for you, remember?

One Year Ago: Ricotta Gnocchi

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Makes 12

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 398-ml can sliced beets, drained and patted dry
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers or spray with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Puree beets in a blender or food processor until smooth. In another bowl beat sugar, oil, instant coffee until combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg, then beets and vanilla.

With beater on low speed, mix in 1/3 of flour mixture, then 1/2 of buttermilk. Repeat additions, ending with flour mixture. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake in center of oven about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin 5 minutes, then to a rack until completely cooled.

Need a smile today?

2011-01-28T12:13:00.000-05:00

This post has nothing to do with food, but I wanted to share my new favorite thing. Perhaps if you have children you already know that The Barenaked Ladies have a children's album, "Snack Time!". I discovered it yesterday, and I am listening to it right now while Parker is napping. That's how good it is. I am a huge lover of all music*, so to find a children's album to be good listening is a feat to be sure. It covers all genres of music, from a country-inspired song 7 8 9, to the reggae Pollywog in a Bog. True to BNL style, the lyrics are clever and funny both for kids and adults. Even if you don't have kiddlins, please head over to iTunes or Amazon and listen to the samples of at least the first three songs. It'll make your day.

*except techno music- I think you're demented if you listen to this somewhere other than a dance club, and even then it's questionable

One Year Ago: Chai Tea Mini Cupcakes and a baking disaster

Open Faced Steak Sandwiches

2011-01-25T20:00:00.000-05:00

Hello good lookin'. That's what I said when I made these sandwiches. What, you don't talk to your food? Weirdo.

I won't go into much detail on how to cook steak- I'm sure if you Google "how to cook a steak" you'll get a million links (I just tried it: there are over 8 million hits). Here's how I cook steak: Heat a cast iron skillet over med-high heat. Dry meat with a paper towel. Just before cooking, add a pat of butter to the pan and season steaks really well with salt and pepper. Cook to medium rare; I used 1/2-inch thick beef tenderloin steaks so they took only about 3 minutes per side. Let rest on a plate covered with foil for 10 minutes before slicing. I think it is a travesty to not make a sauce when you have beautiful beefy browned bits stuck to the pan, hence the pan sauce pored over the sandwiches.

I baked an amazing loaf of bread for this sandwich the day before. I'm glad I decided not to half the recipe because now I have a second loaf in the freezer. If you don't have a delicious homemade Rosemary and Garlic Loaf, be sure to use a good hearty bread. This is not the time, nor the place, for Wonder Bread folks.

One Year Ago: Baked Fish and Chips, Olive Bread, Birthday Dinner Menu

OPEN FACED STEAK SANDWICHES

steak, cooked to your liking and sliced thinly
two slices of bread per person
shredded cheese (I used this kind)
baby spinach or arugula
caramelized onions (see below)
balsamic pan sauce (see below)

Preheat broiler and move oven rack to top position. Place bread on a baking sheet. Top with steak, then onions, spinach, cheese. Broil until cheese is melted. Top with balsamic sauce. Eat with a knife and fork.

CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Slice onions into thin half moons (I use a mandoline). Saute over medium-low to medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper until onions are very soft and golden (you don't want them to brown at any point though). Extra caramelized onions can be kept in the fridge- I always make lots so that I have left overs.

BALSAMIC PAN SAUCE

While steaks are resting, turn pan down to medium heat. Add a small pat of butter, a big splash of balsamic vinegar, a dollop of Dijon mustard, and pepper. Whisk to combine and get all the nice bits off the bottom of the pan. Simmer until slightly thickened and keep warm over medium heat until ready to use. Add in any juices accumulated from the steaks resting or when you cut the meat as well.

Goat's Milk Mozzarella

2011-01-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

Just a quick share today. I discovered this cheese a few weeks ago and have bought it every week since. Put it on pizza and you'll have the best pizza ever. I've also used it in lasagna in place of half the regular mozzarella cheese and that was delicious too.

A Tale of Two Banana Breads

2011-01-06T11:05:00.001-05:00

I'm sure every blogger is starting their first posts of the new year with apologies for not posting for a couple of weeks. I'm not. We're all busy over the holidays. It is what it is.

This post could also have been titled "Pre and Post New Years Banana Bread" or "Angel and Devil Banana Bread". Do you see where I'm going with this? One is healthy and one is less healthy... but both are delicious. The "bad" banana bread is the banana bread of your dreams- tender, moist (I really just can't avoid that word), and banana-ey. This recipe has been my go-to for a few years. You can make the batter in the time that the oven heats up.

The "good" banana bread is a recipe I discovered yesterday. I wanted to make a lower-fat (read: less butter) banana bread with whole wheat flour. I have learned my lesson with playing fast and loose with baking, so being wary of free-handing a healthier loaf I looked to Cooking Light. Excellent choice. This may be the new standard in our house even though I prefer the "bad" banana bread. When faced with both options that are almost equally as good, why wouldn't you choose the one that's better for you? Next time I will add another banana to see if that will make it moister (ugh) and more banana-ey. Now that I've tried the recipe I feel confident that an addition won't be it's undoing. I'll report back with the results.

Bad but Oh So Good Banana Bread via Simply Recipes

Hearty, Healthy Banana Bread via Cooking Light
*Update Jan 20, 2010: Add one more banana than called for in the recipe. I find 2 medium bananas equals the cup called for in the recipe- add one more medium banana and the bread will be even better.

One Year Ago: Tex-Mex Lasagna, Egg Nog Panna Cotta, Homemade Gifts, The Big Salad

Lasagna Sundays

2010-12-12T10:39:00.000-05:00

Tyler wanted to start Lasagna Sundays in our house. I guess now that Parker is here we are thinking more about traditions that he will remember. You know, like the Sunday roast of years past. Who can knock a tradition that involves cheese? Not I. To kick off our first Lasagna Sunday last week, I made this basic lasagna that tastes anything but basic (thank you goat cheese, you will always have a special place in my heart).

You could also switch it up and make baked ziti instead. Use ziti or even penne instead of lasagna noodles. Then you can be lazy with the layering too. I would probably add some water to the pasta sauce though to ensure there is enough liquid to cook the pasta without drying everything out. Also, a mix of half mozzarella and half provolone cheese is delicious in baked ziti (I would leave out the goat cheese if using provolone though). I made a huge pan of baked ziti this way for a Labour Day pot luck years ago. I had totally forgotten about it until somebody recently asked me for the recipe (Courtney- this is for you!).

SUNDAY LASAGNA
adapted from Ina Garten via Lottie + Doof
Makes about 8 servings

3 mild Italian pork sausages, or turkey sausages, casings removed
1 jar good marinara sauce
1 container (about 15 oz) ricotta cheese
3 oz goat cheese
1 egg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 lb (250 g) mozzarella cheese, half of it grated and half of it thinly sliced
16 lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If using traditional lasagna noodles (not no-cook noodles), cook in a pot of boiling salted water until pliable- about 6 minutes or according to package directions. Lay noodles on a clean tea towel until ready to use.

Brown sausage in a frying pan over medium high heat, breaking into small pieces with a spatula while cooking. Pour off fat from pan. Reduce heat to medium, add tomato sauce to warm through.

In a medium bowl combine ricotta, egg, goat cheese, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and grated mozzarella cheese.

Spread tomato sauce in a thin layer in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Layer in this order with 4 noodles between each layer: meat sauce, cheese, meat sauce, cheese, ending with another layer of meat sauce and the remaining sliced mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until pasta is cooked through and cheese on top is starting to brown.

Let your light shine in

2010-12-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

Small things make me happy. Today, I took down the curtains in our living room/dining room that were here when we moved in a year ago. Now there is so much more light and I can see trees and sky. I'm sitting here at the table gazing out the window while I write. It makes me think of the line from a poem "Barn's burnt down... Now I can see the moon". Of course now it kind of feels like we just moved in and we haven't put up curtains yet, and Tyler will put them back up when he gets home until we get new ones (I'm thinking like this) cause that's how he is, but now I've seen the possibilities.

I also started a sourdough starter today, following the method on Serious Eats. Starter is what gives sourdough it's unique flavor and also takes the place of yeast in bread. As the author, Donna Currie, says "sourdough is as old as the pyramids". This is what they used before commercial yeast. I'm stoked for this project (it's super easy) and to have some sourdough bread in 10 days or so.

In the spirit of bread making, here is the recipe I've been using lately. Since I'm home with the baby I figured we could save money if I made bread once or twice a week. Plus it's fun. This dough is really easy to work with and it makes a nice crusty loaf, so it's perfect if you've never made bread before. Seriously try it. Baking bread is actually quite simple but it's so impressive. Yeast is not scary! Just make sure your liquid is only warm, not hot, so you don't kill the yeast. Otherwise, relax and just do it.

One Year Ago: Spanakopita and Spaghetti with Spaghetti Squash

CRUSTY CROWN LOAF

Adapted slightly from The Complete Canadian Living Baking Book

Pinch of sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp dry yeast (traditional, although I've used quick rise and it's fine too)
3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 olive oil
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (approx)
2 tsp salt
cornmeal

In a large bowl, or in a mixer fitted with a dough hook, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle in yeast, let stand until frothy. Stir in milk and oil. Stir in 3 3/4 cups flour and salt. Add more flour if needed to form a shaggy, moist dough that isn't too sticky.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Or knead in your mixer for about 5 minutes. Form into a ball, place in a large greased bowl, turning dough to cover with oil (this helps it to rise as the top won't dry out). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Dust a rimless baking sheet, pizza peel, or the underside of a rimmed baking sheet with cornmeal to prevent the dough from sticking to it when you slide it in the oven. Punch down risen dough, form into a ball. Place on prepared pan; cover with a damp clean tea towel and let rise until not quite doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Spray loaf with water. With a sharp knife, cut three 1/2-inch deep intersecting slashes across the top of the loaf. Bake in the center of a preheated 450 degree F oven for 10 minutes, spraying loaf 3 more times with water during this time. Reduce heat to 400 degrees F; bake 35 minutes or until loaf is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a rack at least 1 hour before slicing.

I came up with a variation for a whole wheat loaf: Reduce all purpose flour to 1 1/2 cups plus up to 1/4 cup more if needed in the mixing stage and add 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour.

Chicken Pot Pie

2010-12-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

I am really proud of this recipe. I created the perfect pie dough by taking tips and bits from other recipes and combining them into this amazing, flaky dough. The filling is full flavoured but not full of fat because I used milk, not cream. Plus there are lots of veggies- I love it when I don't have to make a side dish with vegetables to ensure we are getting our 5-10 a day (more on the 5 end- does anybody really eat 10 servings of fruit and veg a day?). Chicken pot pie is exactly what I want to eat on snowy, cold days. Like today. Ugh.

Look how flaky!!!

One Year Ago: Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies and Spicy Cheese Dip

CHICKEN POT PIE

Serves 4

Any mix of vegetables can be used. To freeze pot pies freeze pastry and filling separately. Thaw both in fridge overnight, then top with pastry and bake as directed.

Pastry:

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold butter, cubed
1 tbsp vodka*
6-8 tbsp ice water

Filling:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fresh or frozen
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups diced vegetables- I used mushrooms, carrots, celery, squash, peas
1/2 cup white wine
5 tbsp flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped - reserve stems to flavor broth
salt and pepper

To make pastry: Combine flour, salt, and butter in a food processor using short pulses until butter resembles small marbles. With motor running, add vodka and 6 tbsp ice water. Add more water one tbsp at a time if needed just until dough forms a ball in the machine. Dump onto counter, pat into two discs, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make filling: Place chicken (no need to thaw if it is frozen), carrot, celery, peppercorns, bay leaf, parley stems, and enough water to cover chicken in a pot. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken breasts and cut into bite sized pieces. Strain liquid, reserving broth.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions, garlic, vegetables, saute until just tender. Add white wine, cook until only a little liquid is left in the pan. Sprinkle in flour, stir for 2 minutes until flour is cooked out. Whisk in milk and 1 cup of reserved chicken broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until thickened. Stir in cooked chicken and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour filling into 4 large ramekins or 6 smaller ramekins.

Roll out pastry to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out rounds big enough to cover ramekins with a bit of over-hang. Top ramekins with pastry, pressing around edges to seal. Cut a vent in top of pastry. Place ramekins on a baking tray in case they overflow in the oven. Bake 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is hot and bubbling around the edges.

*Every time I make pie dough Tyler asks why I'm drinking vodka. Every time I tell him it's for the dough. I'm more of a rum person. Adding vodka to pastry keeps it tender and flaky as gluten cannot form in alcohol.

Clean Out the Fridge and Pantry Week

2010-11-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

First off, sorry there's no food photo. I forgot to take a photo of today's recipe until it was already on our plates and it didn't photograph very well then. Instead, this is a funny picture of our dog because everybody likes funny animal photos, right?

Last week we decided to only buy produce and a few staples (milk, eggs, cheese) at the grocery store and use up what we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer for our weeknight meals. We normally spend spend about $120 on average a week on groceries (there's only 2 of us!), last week we spent $50 and we've still eaten well. I think we will do this again this week I still have lots of beans, rice, etc in the cupboard. Only I do want to buy some ricotta cheese because I have a craving for it. Here's what we ate this week on our budget menu:

Monday: Mushroom and Butternut Squash Risotto
*Arborio rice from the pantry, then I sauteed mushrooms and squash in a pan until cooked, made risotto (I don't follow a recipe anymore, but I started out making risotto according to Jamie Oliver's recipe) and stirred in the squash and mushrooms before serving

Tuesday: Whole Wheat Fettuccine and Italian Meatballs
*Pasta and sauce out of the pantry, PC meatballs we had in the freezer

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie
*Chicken breasts from the freezer, and the rest is produce and fridge staples (recipe tomorrow)

Thursday: Chorizo, Cheddar, Squash and Leek Bread Pudding
*I found some sausage in the freezer, and I've been keeping the stale ends of bread in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for a couple of weeks for a time when I wanted to make bread pudding. Recipe below.

Friday: Prosciutto, Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Pizza
*We already had all the ingredients in the fridge except for the mozzarella, but was on sale at the store

One Year Ago: Easy Drop Biscuits

CHORIZO, CHEDDAR, SQUASH AND LEEK BREAD PUDDING
Serves 2 but recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc
If you love Thanksgiving stuffing as much as I do (really, who doesn't love stuffing?) then you'll love this- it's like making a meal of stuffing. Almost any meat and veg can be used in this dish- use whatever you have on hand.

1/2 small butternut squash, cut into 1-inch dice
olive oil
salt and pepper
butter
2 cups day old bread, cut into bite sized pieces- Italian or French loaf rather than sandwich bread is best
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 uncooked Chorizo sausage, casing removed
1 leek, white and light green parts only, washed well and chopped into half moons
1 cup shredded old cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter a casserole dish. Toss squash with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper, roast until squash is cooked through and browned, about 20 minutes. Scrape into prepared dish. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together eggs, milk, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Add bread, stirring to coat. Leave to let bread absorb the egg mixture 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a saute pan over med-high head, cook sausage until no longer pink and it is a bit crisped, breaking sausage into small pieces with a spatula as it cooks. Scrape into casserole dish, leaving any liquid in the pan. In same pan over medium heat, saute leeks until they are softened but not browned. Add to sausage. Pour bread mixture and 1/2 cup of cheese into casserole dish and stir everything together. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 20 minutes covered with foil. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

Organizing Your Life

2010-11-22T16:07:00.001-05:00

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Okay, well just your recipes. But for me, having my recipes organized on my computer means I don't have piles of magazines with recipes I want to save piled up around the house, or pages that I've ripped out lying around, and this makes me more sane. Or feel that way anyway.

So I wanted to share how I save recipes with you. I have tried many different systems over the years. I say "over the years" as if I am middle aged or something, but I've been cutting recipes out of magazines for probably 15 years*. I recently flipped through my journals from when I was backpacking through Australia when I was 18, and there were recipe cut outs pasted in there. I was living in a tent and cooking over an open fire at the time for god sakes (and yes, buying magazines that cost a third of a weeks "rent" at the campsite, because I am addicted).

I've tried pasting recipes them into journals, putting them in file folders, albums, writing them onto recipe cards, but all of these were time consuming or made it hard for find the recipe I wanted. Thank goodness for the Internet. 99% of recipes in magazines, on TV, etc, can be found online (no, that's not a scientific fact or anything). Now I only save as many magazines as will fit in one magazine file and when it's full I spend some time going through what I've dog eared and saving them to Internet bookmarks that I have organized into folders. Sometimes I save the same recipe to multiple folders, like "Cakes" and "Chocolate"- sort of cross referencing them. I you have the same problem as I had with "recipe clutter", hopefully this will help. Now I just need to find a good system for saving stuff I find in design magazines...

*I also remember watching Yan Can Cook on sick days when I was probably only 8 years old. That and the Flintstones which was always on at noon.

One Year Ago: Roasted Vegetables with Lemon Aioli

Vegetable of the Week: Cauliflower

2010-11-17T09:54:00.000-05:00

I love cauliflower. I think it's underrated in the vegetable world. Sure, butternut squash and mushrooms and tomatoes are sexier, but I am here to contend that the humble cauliflower is just as delicious and nutritious. You wouldn't think that cauliflower is very nutritionally dense being that it's white, like potatoes (which are very good for you as well), but it is high in fiber, folate, vitamin C, and according to Wikipedia, sulforaphane- an anti-cancer compound.

My favorite way to eat cauliflower is to roast it. I first had this at Thanksgiving a few years ago at my Grannie's, and I make it all the time now. All it needs is a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a hot oven and the little white trees get crispy, browned, and nutty tasting. The soup that I am sharing with you today is super easy and delicious too. Bonus- the cauliflower makes it creamy without any cream! So, if I haven't convinced you to give cauliflower another try, below are some more recipes from my bookmarks that I want to make featuring our friend the cauliflower.

Oh, and it all that wasn't enough, it also makes a good Halloween costume in a pinch.

Penne and Cauliflower with Mustard Breadcrumbs
Oriccheitte with Cauliflower, Anchovies, and Fried Croutons
Sausage-Cauliflower Spaghetti
Roasted Cauliflower with Panko and Pecorino
Potato and Cauliflower Curry
Cauliflower Risotto
Curried Cauliflower Fritters (which I will probably never make- as you may recall I don't deep fry at home. Or anywhere else for that matter)

CAULIFLOWER AND LEEK SOUP

Serves 3-4

olive oil
1 small head cauliflower, trimmed of leaves and cut into large chunks
1 leek, white and light green parts only, washed well and sliced into half moons
chicken stock
milk
salt
ground white pepper*
croutons to garnish, if desired

Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add leeks, cook until just softened but not browned. Add cauliflower. Pour in enough chicken stock to halfway cover vegetables, add milk until vegetables are just covered. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer until cauliflower is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender (careful- it's hot!) until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper. Top with croutons and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

*Black pepper can be used but you will have black flecks in your soup. White pepper makes it look nicer.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER

cauliflower, separated into bite sized florets
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper

Toss cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil, a big pinch of salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roast at 400 degrees F until browned and crispy, about 20 minutes, stirring to ensure even cooking partway through cooking.

** I have now written "cauliflower" so many times that it doesn't even look like a real word anymore

Pasta or Pizza?

2010-11-11T20:31:00.000-05:00

I was torn whether to write about the pizza I made last night or the pasta I made tonight, so I am going to include both in this post. The link between them is the wine. There is no wine in the dishes, but the glass of wine that I drank both nights was perfect with each dish. The wine: 2007 Wayne Gretzky Un-oaked Chardonnay. I usually don't drink white wine and actually, I usually only have a glass of wine on the weekend, but I'm glad I made an exception with the pizza and the pasta. Do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of wine and make one of the below recipes. Even if it is a Wednesday.

One Year Ago: Pulled Pork, Broccoli, and Goat Cheese Pizza

POTATO, PROSCIUTTO, AND CAMEMBERT PIZZA

1 pizza dough, homemade or store bought
1 potato, sliced as thinly as possible, using a mandoline if you have one
3 slices prosciutto, sliced into ribbons (roll into a cigar shape and slice)
170 g round Camembert cheese, sliced
3 tbsp white sauce

White Sauce:

1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F with oven rack on lower middle setting. Boil a large pot of water and season the water with salt as you would for pasta. Add potatoes to water and cook 4 minutes. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Meanwhile, make white sauce. Place butter and garlic in a small sauce pot. Turn on heat to medium, saute until garlic starts to sizzle. Whisk in flour, cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, thyme, salt, pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thick. Turn off heat and set aside.

Roll out pizza dough- not too thinly as the toppings are somewhat heavy. Transfer dough to pizza pan. Spread 3 tbsp sauce over dough. Top with potatoes, overlapping slices to cover pizza. Scatter over cheese, then prosciutto. Bake 15 minutes or until crust is browned on bottom and cheese is starting to brown a little.

FARFALLE WITH TOMATO MUSHROOM SAUCE

Adapted from Ricardo Larrive

Serves 6 (can easily be halved)

500 g farfalle (bow tie) pasta, or other dried pasta such as penne
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 tbsp butter, divided
227 g package sliced mushrooms
2 green onions, chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup vodka
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes
1/4 cup juice from canned tomatoes
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional to serve
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to season

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until just al dente. Meanwhile, place pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until golden brown, shaking pan a few times during cooking.

While pasta is cooking, melt 1 tbsp butter in a large saute pan over medium high heat and add mushrooms, breaking them up a bit as you add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms until they have released their liquid and are browned. Add garlic and green onions, cook for a minute. Add vodka, boil until pan is almost dry.

Move mushroom mixture to sides of pan and add remaining 2 tbsp butter and flour in the middle. Cook flour and butter for two minutes to in order to cook out the flour taste. Add milk slowly while stirring to ensure no lumps occur and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and juice. Simmer until sauce is thickened, about 3 minutes.

Pasta should now be just al dente and ready to finish cooking in sauce. Remove pasta from cooking water with a slotted spoon and drop directly into saucepan with sauce. Stir for about 2 minutes to coat pasta with sauce and finish cooking. Remove from heat, stir in Parmesan cheese and parsley. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed (I found this dish shockingly bland until I adjusted the seasoning- with enough salt and pepper it is stellar).

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

2010-11-09T10:52:00.004-05:00

I love Sundays, and this Sunday was no exception. Sleep until the baby wakes us up around 8:30 or 9, play with the baby and the dog in bed for a while, eat a weekend breakfast, then cook, read, or nap while Tyler watches football and hangs out with the baby. What could be better?

One question though... Why is it that having a drink while still in your pajamas seems so trashy? It was one o'clock in the afternoon last Sunday and Tyler and I wanted to have a beverage but we both agreed that we should get dressed first. Even if you don't shower, I feel you at least need to change out of your PJs into track pants. Agreed?

Tyler loves pancakes on Sundays. I'm not a huge fan of pancakes, but these are really good. They have more flavor than regular white flour pancakes. Plus basic pancakes are pretty nutritionally devoid, but these are a healthy start to the morning, with or without the berry sauce. I haven't tried this, but you could probably freeze cooked pancakes and thaw to eat on weekdays too.

These pancakes would also be great with chopped up apples or bananas in the batter like my dad used to make us on weekends. Just don't top with chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream as my brother and I were allowed to do once for some reason. Pancake sundae for breakfast = tummy ache for the rest of the day.

One Year Ago: Tomato Bruschetta + Fresh Pea and Feta Spread

WHOLE WHEAT BUTTERMILK PANCAKES WITH MAPLE BERRY SAUCE

Makes 6 large pancakes

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup flax meal
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter, cooled or canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Maple Berry Sauce (below)

Preheat a large non stick pan over medium heat. While pan is heating, mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl. Add dry to wet and stir until just combined.

Spray pan with cooking spray. Pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook until pancakes look set around the edges, there are holes from bubbles in the middle and the bottom is lightly browned. Flip, cook until lightly browned on second side. Serve with berry sauce or other pancake topping of choice.

MAPLE BERRY SAUCE

Thaw 1 cup frozen mixed berries. Blend until smooth. Stir in a glug* of maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon.

*Yes, that is the technical term

Korean Style Pork Tenderloin with Vegetable Stir-Fry

2010-11-04T16:34:00.000-04:00

I used to be scared of cuts of meat that I hadn't cooked before. I think Tyler and I had been living in our own place for a year before I cooked a pork tenderloin. Don't make the same mistake I did! There is nothing to fear. Pork tenderloin cooks quickly and is a great alternative if you find you're always making chicken. One tenderloin is enough for Tyler and I for dinner with a bit leftover even.

The only kind of tricky part, for me anyway, the first time you cook with this cut of meat is removing the silver skin. Check out this video demo. You can probably ask the butcher at the grocery store to do it as well, even if you get it in a package in the meat case- they'll just package it up again for you after they deal with it.

This Korean Style Pork Tenderloin from For the Love of Cooking is so delicious. You have to try it. It tastes like Asian barbecued pork with all the good crisp browned bits, only it's done in the oven. I only marinated the pork for a few hours as I didn't realize the recipe called for 8 to 24 hours of marinading (is that a word? It sounds wrong), but it was still really flavorful and moist. I can't wait to make this again and marinate it for the full time period.

For the vegetable stir-fry: start canola oil, minced garlic, and minced ginger in a cold pan. Heat over med-high until sizzling and fragrant but not browned. Add your choice of veggies*, fry for a few minutes, tossing frequently, until veggies are tender-crisp. Add some soy sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil to finish. Simple, delicious, and healthy.

*I used some bok choy along with peppers, onion, mushrooms, broccoli- if using bok choy don't add the leaves until the veg is almost finished cooking

One Year Ago: Hawai'i

Jalepeno Poppers or Death Boats to Hades

2010-10-31T21:10:00.003-04:00

Ok I know this is a food blog, so I'll use a related expression. Couldn't you just eat him he's so cute? He helped hand out candy.

He's a frog, in case you didn't get it. AND I got all the materials for his costume at the dollar store. Again, in case you couldn't tell. I'm sure this is going to be a case of Parker wondering what the hell his parents were thinking ten years from now, but I'm pretty proud of myself.

I made BBQ Jalapeno Poppers (or, on October 31st "Death Boats to Hades") from The Pioneer Woman Cooks for a snack today. I forgot to put the BBQ sauce on them as directed in the recipe, but they were still delicious. Really delicious. I also sliced the bacon into smaller pieces and just laid it on top rather than wrapping it around the whole jalapeno as that seemed like a lot of bacon. I find that the easiest way to remove the seeds and white membranes is to use the tip of a potato peeler as it is just sharp enough (I use this to scrape out squash too). That being said, watch out for the bastard jalapeno. You know the one I mean- there's always a super hot one that slaps you in the face when you least expect it despite your best efforts to remove the all the really spicy bits.

I also carved a pumpkin for the first time in probably fifteen years. It didn't quite live up to the picture in my head. The mouth was supposed to be a spider. So I made the eyes lopsided too so that it looked intentional. I don't think it's bad for a first try, right? I think it's kind of scary. Or at least I freaked myself out a little when I took it into the bathroom with the lights off (cause there's no windows in the bathroom of course... does anybody else do that?). I have a new found love for Halloween. I even clapped my hands and hopped around a little when I was getting out all the Halloween stuff today. Too bad the book that I ordered from Chapters didn't come in time, but next year it is on like donkey kong.

One Year Ago: Creepy Halloween food

Kale Chips

2010-10-27T19:11:00.001-04:00

I just opened a savings account for Parker. My 6 week old son now has more money than I do. This is a sad state of affairs... maybe I shouldn't have bought that Martha Stewart Living magazine today. Especially considering I have a pile of 5 magazines waiting to be read because I am a magazine junkie and currently have five subscriptions. But c'mon, it's Martha Stewart!

Moving on, I made kale chips today. I didn't think I'd like them. But I do. In fact, I almost ate them all before I took a photo even though I was typing this post as the kale chips were baking. They taste nutty and salty and are super crispy. They kind of taste like roasted cauliflower, which on a side note, if you haven't made before make it tonight- trust me. This would be a good time to use the sea salt you never use because you think it should be used on special dishes. Or maybe that's just me.

Here are some more kale recipes too.

One Year Ago: Local Food, Minestrone Soup

KALE CHIPS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash and dry as much or as little kale as you like. Chop or tear kale into bite sized pieces, discarding the stem.

Place kale on a foil lined baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss kale with oil and lay out in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt.

Bake 10 minutes or until crispy. Do not let the kale brown.

Breaded Shrimp and Vegetable of the Week

2010-10-26T10:47:00.001-04:00

One day last week there was nothing in the fridge to cook and Tyler didn't feel like having any of the pre- made meals I have stashed in the fridge (not even chili with the promise of fresh biscuits!), so I had to put my thinking cap on. Shrimp is easy to defrost quickly so I started there. But then I was stuck. I didn't have lemon juice to make a lot of the recipes I was finding and there was no feta cheese to make my favorite shrimp dish. I knew I wanted have this rice as a side dish (I don't recommend it), so I came up with this breaded shrimp. It's easy and quick and perfect for dipping- Ranch dressing for Tyler as always and PC Memories of Bengal Curried Mango sauce for me. It's all about the dipping.

So, to the Vegetable of the Week. Following the theme of my previous post, each week I want to use one vegetable in a few ways to bump up the nutrition in our meals. Last week was kale*. I usually use kale in soup and that's about it. I also found that I like it in other dishes as well. I chopped it up, steamed it in a pan with salt and pepper and added it to the rice as you can see in the above photo. I also added some to pasta. Just put chopped kale into the pasta pot for the last 5 minutes of the pasta cooking. I still have a few leaves left, so I'm going to try kale chips today. I'll report back.

*With leafy or thin-skinned vegetables I try to buy organic as these vegetables can absorb more pesticides. Also, I just saw that peaches have the highest pesticide concentrations of any fruit- another one to buy organic I would say.

One Year Ago: Deep Dish Pizza, the best Granola, Chaussons Aux Pommes

OVEN BAKED SHRIMP

Serves 4

1 lb large (31-40 count) shrimp, cleaned and peeled
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 egg
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
water
1 cup panko bread crumbs
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Dry shrimp on paper towels. Mix flour, salt, pepper, cayenne in a Ziploc bag. In a shallow bowl or baking dish, mix egg, Dijon, and a splash of water. Place bread crumbs in another shallow bowl or baking dish. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Put shrimp in bag with flour, seal, and shake to coat the shrimp in flour. Working with a few shrimp at a time, remove from bag, shaking off excess flour, coat in egg mixture, then in bread crumbs and place on baking sheet.

Bake shrimp 11 to 13 minutes or until just pink all over (you'll be able to see the color a bit through the bread crumbs) and they are curled up. Ensure to flip them over half way through cooking.

Hiding in Plain Sight + 1 Year!

2010-10-17T16:47:00.000-04:00

It has been exactly a year since I started this blog! A year ago I wasn't sure how long I would continue this. I thought I'd just see how it went and I figured I'd lose interest after a while to be honest. I tend to do that with hobbies. I know I haven't been posting much lately- hopefully that will change as this baby thing gets easier.

Lately, however, I have been putting a lot of thought into how I can boost the nutrition in what we are eating. When I do get a chance to make something to eat when Parker goes to sleep, I want it to pack in as much vitamins, fibre, etc as I can without compromising flavor. I mean, if I want to eat mac n' cheese, I don't want some super healthy bastardization of mac n' cheese with tofu and cauliflower instead of noodles or some such nonsense. But I do want something a little healthier- and I hate side salads- so I try to think of some way to boost the nutrition a bit so as to not feel guilty about eating just a bowl of noodles and cheese for lunch. Plus I get a certain satisfaction from saying, "How do you like the mac n' cheese? HA! There's pumpkin in it and you didn't even know it!"

So, this post is about sharing some of the more creative ways I have been upping the nutrients in our meals. Hopefully I will inspire you to trick your kid, husband, or yourself into eating just a little healthier.

Leafy Greens: For the last few weeks I have bought a tub of baby spinach or arugula to keep in the fridge. Then I find ways to use it throughout the week, mostly by throwing a couple of handfuls into the pan at the end of cooking and letting it wilt. This works great for pasta, rice, etc. and was delicious with a fried egg on toast (pictured at the top). I have even put a small handful of greens into my morning smoothie.

Pureed Pumpkin: I used canned pumpkin left over from making pumpkin pie in all kinds of things. Add a quarter cup to mac n' cheese or Kraft dinner and you won't even know it's there. I also put it into a spread for crostini (pseudo-recipe below).

Beans: White beans are delicious in pasta, or pureed with herbs into a hummus-type spread.

Frozen Vegetables: I would say throw frozen veggies into any number of dishes, except that I hate frozen veggies. I find them watery and gross. So what I do is thaw them, drain off any excess water, and puree them with tomato pasta sauce.

Frozen Peas: I'm sure you've caught on to my love of frozen peas by now- see this post and also this one- but I also put peas in anything that I think needs a boost of veggies.

One Year Ago: Inaugural Post with Caldo Verde recipe

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ROASTED GARLIC, AND CANNELINI BEAN SPREAD

I haven't listed measurements here for two reasons: I didn't measure as I made this and because it is really a throw together recipe that I came up with because I had all these odds and ends of leftovers in the fridge.

cannelini beans (also called white kidney beans)
roasted squash
pureed pumpkin
roasted garlic cloves
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
splash of lemon juice
olive oil
fresh parsley, rosemary, or sage

Puree everything but herbs in a food processor until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add herbs, pulse a few times to chop herbs small and combine into spread. Serve on crostini, crackers, or even use as a sandwich spread.

Labour Pasta

2010-10-01T16:53:00.002-04:00

Despite the deceiving title of this post, this is a really easy dish to make. I made it while in labour. Seriously. It was almost three o'clock September 14th and I hadn't eaten lunch yet so I was starving. While the pasta was cooking I went into labour. But I still finished cooking the pasta, made the sauce, and ate it. I needed my strength, right?

The pasta sauce is basically this fresh pea crostini spread from a previous post with a couple of other things added. As in the previous post, I am giving you ingredients with no measurements- use the amounts you feel in your gut and then taste. To give you a place to start, for one serving I used a 1/2 cup of peas. All you are doing is pureeing everything in the food processor which means the sauce is done before the pasta, and because it isn't cooked you don't lose any nutrients. This is my new favorite pasta dish right now, please try it!

I can't sign off of this post without mentioning, as you've guessed, that baby is finally here!!! Parker is perfect and healthy and keeping me very busy so I'll try to post when I can. There's not a whole lot of cooking going on right now in our house... good thing I froze so many meals while I was waiting for his arrival.

PASTA WITH FRESH PEA AND FETA PESTO

frozen peas, thawed in a sieve under running water
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
pepper
crostini
feta cheese
small handful arugula or baby spinach
flat leaf parsley
dried short pasta such as rotini, penne or farfalle (bowties)
Parmesan cheese to serve (optional)

Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Meanwhile, puree all other ingredients in a food processor. Drain pasta, reserving some cooking water, and add pasta back to pot. Add pesto sauce and stir- the heat from the pasta will warm the sauce- adding a little of the pasta cooking water at a time if the sauce is a bit dry. Serve with Parmesan cheese grate over top if desired.

Moroccan Chicken and Eggplant Dish

2010-09-14T12:45:00.000-04:00

I don't really have a story behind this, or anything interesting to say about this dish really, except that it came about because I was planning on making this Moroccan Lemon Chicken on Friday but I realized I had used up all the lemons I had. Lemon being a pretty important part of that recipe, of course, I made up something entirely different but using the same spices as the lemon chicken recipe.

The nice thing with this as well it that it is a one pot meal. Well maybe it's technically two, as you need a baking sheet to roast the eggplant, but I always line my baking sheets with foil so that I don't have to wash them. Leftovers are really good as well- just make sure to cover the plate or dish you are warming it up in so that you don't end up with rice and tomato sauce on the roof of your microwave like I did.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN AND EGGPLANT WITH RICE

Serves 4

1 eggplant, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon pepper, or the rest of 1 lemon if you have it and increase the pepper when you season
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tomatoes, diced, or use some drained canned diced tomatoes if this is what you have on hand
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
1 14oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1/2 cup long grain rice
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a bowl, toss eggplant with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste*. Place eggplant in a single layer on foil lined baking sheet coated with cooking spay. Roast eggplant in middle of oven until golden brown- about 20 minutes- stirring eggplant halfway through cooking to ensure all sides are browning evenly.

Heat a large skillet with about 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until softened. Add spices, cook for 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, olives, crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to season, and water. Bring to a simmer. Stir in rice and add chicken pieces on top. Cover pan and cook until rice is cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Add roasted eggplant, stir to combine. Adjust seasoning and serve.

*I never measure salt and pepper unless I'm actually following a recipe. I seasoned the eggplant with 2 big pinches of kosher salt and maybe 8 grinds of pepper, so I don't know the measurements. Go with your gut, you can always adjust the seasoning later.

These are a few of my favorite things... today

2010-09-10T09:48:00.001-04:00

Yes, I can be fickle.

* Red River Cereal with blueberries and nectarines = fall porridge with summer fruit. Yum.

* Anthropologie - this blazer, this cardigan, this dress, and I love that this cardigan is called "Irina"- it's so fitting right? Oh and these boots. Sigh, I wish I were rich.

* Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag on Viva. They test recipes from one cookbook an episode and give a recommendation on whether it's worth buying. Cause you never really know with a cookbook until you test out some of the recipes, you know?

* Twilight Woods Candle from Bath and Body Works

Broccoli Salad

2010-09-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

I know, it's not really a salad kind of day today, being windy and cloudy and cold. I made this salad the other day when it was still nice out, however I think it can work for a fall day too due to the bacon and pecans. Ah, the magic of bacon and pecans.

BROCCOLI SALAD

Makes 4 servings

Soaking the onion in vinegar briefly mellows it out, which I prefer over onion breath.

4 tbsp red wine vinegar, divided
4 tbsp low-fat mayo
salt and pepper to taste
1 large head broccoli
1/2 red onion, finely diced
3-4 slices bacon, depending on the thickness
1/3 cup pecans, roughly chopped

In a large bowl, whisk 2 tbsp vinegar, mayo, salt and pepper. Trim and discard any dry ends and leaves from broccoli stalk. Chop broccoli, including stalk, into small pieces- I used the slicing attachment on my food processor for this. Place in bowl with dressing.

In a small bowl, mix onion and 2 tbsp vinegar. Cook bacon in a pan, or in a 400 degree F oven on a rack, until crispy. Drain on paper towel and crumble into broccoli. Toast pecans in a dry pan over medium heat until lightly browned a fragrant. Add to broccoli. Strain onions from vinegar, discarding vinegar, and add onions to broccoli. Toss everything together and serve.

Mexican Pizza

2010-09-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

Lettuce on pizza is weird, right? Two words- warm lettuce. Just saying those words makes my bum suck in (don't pretend you don't know what I mean). But I sucked it up (haha) and made the pizza, lettuce and all. Don't let the lettuce deter you from making this pizza! It tastes like nachos, and you don't think lettuce on nachos is odd, right? Plus, it really a very healthy recipe. More so than pizza normally is anyways.

The recipe is from Food and Wine Magazine. It's by Spike Mendelsohn, who was on a recent-ish season of Top Chef. He drove me nuts on the show (seriously, dude, don't talk back to Tom Colicchio), but after seeing his food in F &W and trying out this recipe I actually want to buy his new cook book. If that's not an endorsement for you to try that recipe, I don't know what is. As you know, I can be a little judgmental.

MEXICAN PIZZA - Food and Wine, July 2010

Here it is without lettuce, if you must.

Freezer Meals

2010-08-31T15:02:00.000-04:00

Here is my cure for waiting-for-baby boredom- clean things you normally wouldn't clean, rearrange cupboards, and cook lots of food to freeze for when you're too tired to cook after baby arrives. The first two are both cathartic and problematic. Problematic in that cleaning really dirty things- like the grates on your gas stove- takes elbow grease and now my back is sore(-er), and rearranging cupboards leads to daily conversations like this:

Tyler: Where is the {insert object here}?
Me: It's in the cupboard to the right of the stove
Tyler: Didn't it used to be in the cupboard to the left of the stove?
Me: Yes, but I moved it. It's better where it is now.
Tyler: Oh my God you're making me crazy.

As for the freezer situation, I had a whole list of things to make for the freezer but I had to stop short because we've run out of room. In both the deep freeze in the garage (it's just a small one!) and the regular freezer in the kitchen. If you want some back up meals- once in a while I'll spend a few hours on the weekend making something to freeze for later in the week- or you want to go on a cooking binge like me, below is what I've made. So far. I think if I eat the half carton of ice cream that's in there I'll have room for one more dish.

Chicken and White Bean Chili from Blonde Designs
Chicken Tetrazzini from Good Life Eats
Slow Cooker Bolognese from America's Test Kitchen (I'll post the recipe another day- it's amazing)
Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Shepard's Pie (I didn't use a recipe, I just browned some beef, threw in a bunch of veggies and some gravy I found in the back of the freezer, and topped with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese)
Beef and Vegetable Empanadas

BEEF AND VEGETABLE EMPANADAS

Adapted from Food and Drink Magazine

Makes 8 to 10 empanadas, a dinner serving being 2 or 3 per person

- Empanadas are a hand pie from the Caribbean and South America. They can be eaten as a snack or a main with a salad on the side. The filling can be pretty much anything- I've included at the bottom a variation with black bean and sweet potato that I've made before and didn't fulfill my promise to share the recipe.

- Although the pastry below is delicious and pretty easy, I've seen recipes that call for store-bought pie dough (like Pilsbury) instead, if you prefer.

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cake and pastry flour (or just use another 1/4 cup of regular flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cold egg
1/3 cup ice cold water
1 tbsp white vinegar

Filling:

1 pound simmering steak, such as outside round
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 cup beef broth
3/4 cup salsa (use mild or medium unless you're brave as hot salsa will cook down and be suicide hot)
1 medium leek, sliced in half, washed well, then sliced into half moons
1 large jalapeno, finely chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed or still frozen
1 egg
1/2 cup Monterey Jack or white Cheddar cheese

Pastry:
Place flour, butter, butter, salt in a food processor and pulse a few times until butter is the size of peas. Mix egg, water, vinegar together in a small bowl, add all at once to flour mixture with motor running, process until dough just starts to come together. Turn dough out onto counter and gather into a ball. Divide in half and flatten each into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Filling:
Sear steak in 1 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium-high heat 3 minutes per side. Add broth and salsa, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 1 hour partially covered, or until meat is tender and can be shredded with a fork. If, like me, you couldn't get the heat right and ended up boiling your steak or bought the wrong type of meat and therefore it won't shred, just chop it up really small and mix into sauce again.

Remove sauce and meat from pan into a bowl. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat, add leeks and jalapeno. Cook until softened but not browned. Add peas, cook until peas are heated through. Mix vegetables into meat and sauce. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Assembly:
Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut 6 to 7 inch circles (I used a dessert plate as a guide)*. Whisk egg lightly in a small bowl. Working with one circle at a time, brush 1-inch of edge with egg wash. Place 2 heaping tablespoons filling on one half.

Fold dough over to make a half moon. Press edges to seal, then starting at one corner fold bottom edge of dough over top to ensure a good seal. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (or with plastic wrap if you're going to freeze these). Repeat filling dough, roll the second half, and fill as well.

Brush tops of pastries with remaining egg wash. Top each with cheese. Using a paring knife, cut two steam vents in the top of each. Freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid and then store in a freezer bag, or bake right away at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden. To cook frozen empanadas, bake from frozen but add about 10 minutes to cooking time.

*You're not really supposed to re-roll the scraps of dough after cutting the first time as it supposedly makes the dough tough and not as flaky, but I do reuse the scraps. I can't tell much of a difference and let's face it, you're not making these every day so you may as well make as many as you can, right?

FILLING FOR BLACK BEAN AND SWEET POTATO EMPANADAS

1 cooked sweet potato, peeled
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp hot sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 cup cottage cheese, whizzed briefly in food processor

Crush beans with a potato masher, ensuring they still have some texture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add jalapeno and garlic, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add cumin and coriander, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add sweet potato, lime juice, and hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Gangsta's Paradise

2010-08-13T08:18:00.000-04:00

Apparently, the Gangsta's Paradise is the kitchen. I have based this conclusion on the fact that Coolio has a cookbook. That's right. Coolio. Has. A. Cook. Book. This is almost as awesome as if Mr T had a cook book (I pity the fool who under seasons a dish). And equally as awesome as Christopher Walken's video on how to roast a chicken.

The photo above is a preview of the first page of the book on Amazon. And really, who doesn't want to become a kitchen pimp? I certainly do.

All jokes aside, I actually really want to make these Strawberry Banana Muffins from the book. Which also makes me want to buy the book if Coolio is making muffins this good. What is the world coming to?

Ham, Swiss and Asparagus Crepes

2010-08-04T19:46:00.000-04:00

Two posts today! Aren't you all lucky! I made this for lunch when my Grannie came to visit a few months ago. Remember how hot it was in May? We had a perfect afternoon sitting out on the desk under the gazebo for a few hours. This recipe is perfect for a light lunch or brunch. We also had a simple baby spinach salad on the side- just baby spinach tossed with a quick lemon vinaigrette.

You don't have to make the crepes from scratch; you can purchase crepes at the grocery store but I can't attest to the quality. Homemade crepes are not as tricky as you think, I swear! Here's a short how-to video. Give it a try. The first few attempts may not be pretty, but they'll still taste good anyway, and you'll get the hang of it in no time! Maybe I'm weird, but I think making crepes is fun.

The recipe below is from a cooking class that I took my dad to for his birthday. We had a fantastic day cooking and eating at Log Cabin Heaven in Elora a couple of years ago. The lessons were private and hands on at Ontario's only private B&B. We chose in advance what type of cuisine we wanted to cook- we did French in the morning and Greek in the afternoon. I could go on and on about this place and the great time we had.

Any leftover crepes can be filled with lemon juice and sugar, Nutella, or berries for dessert (or breakfast, or a snack), I've even used crepes for ham and cheese "sandwiches" for lunch at work. They can also be frozen between waxed paper which makes it easy to just take out 1 or 2 whenever you like.

CREPES

Makes 12-16 crepes
Recipe courtesy of Log Cabin Heaven

1 1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl, or mix in a food processor, until just combined. Transfer to something with a spout for easy pouring. Let batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat a crepe pan or small skillet over medium-low heat. Using a paper towel lightly dipped in canola oil, lightly oil pan. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter (depending on how big your pan is) into the pan, turning pan to spread batter around evenly at the same time. Cook until edges of crepe start to get a little crispy and top of crepe looks set. Flip and cook other side of crepe for 30 seconds. Turn onto a plate to cool while you cook the next crepe, then transfer the cooled crepe to a square of waxed paper. Continue cooking and stacking crepes on new sheets of waxed paper until all batter is used up and you'll be an expert!

HAM, SWISS, AND ASPARAGUS CREPES

3 to 4 crepes per person
sliced Swiss cheese
sliced ham
3 asparagus spears per person, washed and trimmed of tough ends
Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on a crepe. Top with cheese, ham, asparagus, with asparagus tips peeking out of one end for a pretty presentation. Roll up crepe, place in a large glass baking dish. Continue filling and rolling crepes, placing in baking dish in a single layer. Cover with foil and bake until warmed through, 15-20 minutes.

Vanilla Iced Coffee

2010-08-04T19:23:00.000-04:00

I love iced coffee in the summer, but I never have time to stop for coffee on my way to work. I've tried to make iced coffee at home before and it's ok, but not stellar. If these issues plague your access to good iced coffee as well, here is your solution. Inspired by a small article in Food and Wine Magazine on cold-brewing coffee, I figured out how to make amazing iced coffee at home! This is not just cold coffee people. There is a method and a recipe. You can thank me later.

VANILLA ICED COFFEE

Recipe makes 1 serving, but method for coffee base and simple syrup is enough for multiple servings.

1/2 cup cold-brewed coffee
2-3 tbsp vanilla simple syrup
1/2 cup milk
ice cubes

To make cold-brewed coffee: Stir together 1/2 a pound of coarsely ground coffee with 4 cups of cold water. Cover and let stand 24 hours at room temperature, then strain. Keep in fridge for up to 1 week.

To make vanilla simple syrup: Pour 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water into a saucepan. Add one vanilla bean* that has been halved lengthwise. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat and cool. Store in a jar in the fridge.

Stir together all ingredients for iced coffee in a tall glass. I think it tates better drunk through a bendy straw, but that's just me (I'm sure of it). Sadly, as you can see from the photo, I am currently straw-less.

* I have found that the best place to buy vanilla beans is at Bulk Barn. They are half the price there as at the grocery store. Look for them by the cash register in a glass tube. There's usually 2-3 per tube for $3.50, I think.

Funny AND Edumacational

2010-07-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

I apologize in advance if you came here to look for a recipe for dinner. This is not a post with a recipe for dinner. Unless... no, nevermind I won't go there. Please everybody (even if you are male cause it's still funny- but it may also be educational for you) read the post at the below link so that you can laugh as I did. Dang that felt good. This is my new favorite blog.

The Art of Doing Stuff

Green Curry Chicken Summer Roll Salad

2010-07-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

Photo from Food and Drink Magazine

As promised, here is the recipe for last Wednesday's dinner. Clearly the photo above is a summer roll, not a summer roll salad. I didn't take a photo of the salad when I made it as I assumed the recipe with a photo would be on their website and I was going to just link to it in the previous post, but alas, it didn't work out that way.

This salad is perfect for a summer lunch or dinner. In the note preceding the recipe in Food and Drink magazine they describe it as "deconstructed summer rolls". It's very refreshing light. And delicious of course.

As I mentioned in the the previous post, the flavor of the green curry paste didn't come through in the salad as it was only in the marinade for the chicken. I have adapted the recipe to include some green curry paste in the dressing for the salad as well.

GREEN CURRY CHICKEN SUMMER ROLL SALAD

Adapted from Food and Drink

Serves 4 for lunch or 2 for dinner

*All of the components of salad can be made up to 24 hours in advance, refrigerated, and and tossed together when ready to serve.

*To change up the salad, you could also use shrimp in place of chicken, shortening the marinating time to just an hour.

Marinade

1/2 cup coconut milk from a 398 ml can
1 tsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp green curry paste
2 tsp fish sauce
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 large)

Salad

8 oz rice vermicelli
2 large carrots, julienned
1 seedless cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large red pepper, thinly sliced
chopped fresh cilantro or mint, to garnish

Dressing

remaining coconut milk from can
3 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp green curry paste
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine marinade ingredients in a large freezer bag and add chicken. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 48 hours.

Preheat grill to medium or preheat broiler. Remove chicken from marinade, discarding marinade, and season with salt and pepper. Place on oiled grill or on baking sheet under broiler for about 20 minutes, turning once, or until no longer pink inside. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place rice noodles in a large, heatproof bowl or baking dish and cover with enough boiling water to cover. Let soak for about 2 minutes, or until tender. Drain water and rinse under cold water. Drain well.

For dressing, combine coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, and curry paste in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, until reduced by about one third. Remove from heat and stir in lime zest and lime juice. Pour into salad bowl that you will be using to serve salad and cool slightly. Add drained noodles, toss, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

To serve, slice chicken, add chicken and vegetables noodles and garnish with cilantro or mint.

What we ate for dinner...

2010-07-24T21:03:00.001-04:00

I cook from recipes a lot. I read so many food magazine, blogs, cookbooks, etc that I collect a lot of recipes. I tweak the recipes quite often, depending on what I have on hand or what I feel would work for me, but the my inspiration generally comes from a recipe. What I cooked for dinners this week is a really good example of this, and everything I made was delicious so I wanted to share.

I started of the week with a recipe that I made up, actually. One of the best meals I had at a chain restaurant eating by myself, actually. I was in St. Catherines for work, and I ordered two appetizers for dinner- a shrimp dish and a spinach salad topped with phyllo-wrapped goat cheese. I figured both would be easy to make at home, and although I haven't attempted the salad yet, the shrimp dish has become one of my favorite meals.

The other three meals we had came from the summer issue of Food and Drink Magazine from the LCBO. I love this magazine- I would probably pay money for it if it weren't free, in fact. I always bookmark a ton of recipes in Food and Drink, but I never get around to making a lot of them as they aren't always weeknight meals. This issue, however, had more quick meals to make and they turned out fantastic.

Monday: Greek Shrimp and Tomatoes with Feta and Crostini (recipe below)
*I got the pork and chicken for the next two nights marinating on Monday as well

Tuesday: Chipotle Pork and Pineapple Skewers with Basmati rice mixed with corn and peas on the side

Wednesday: Green Curry Chicken Summer Roll Salad (recipe in a coming post as I couldn't find it online)
*This was delicious, but the green curry flavor didn't really come through as it was only used in the marinade for the chicken. Next time I make this I would add about 1/2 tbsp of green curry paste to the dressing as well.

Thursday: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas (again, they don't have this recipe online so I will post it very shortly)
*The pastry for these is really delicious. To cut out the pastry I used a cup with a 4-inch diameter rim. In the filling, I used a few shakes of Frank's Red Hot Sauce instead of the chili flakes because my chili flakes have been around for a few years and I probably need to replace them. Plus I love Frank's on everything.

Friday: Ok, the low point in the week. We had frozen burgers from a box. I wasn't going to tell you, but there it is.

GREEK SHRIMP AND TOMATOES WITH FETA AND CROSTINI

Serves 2 but the recipe is easily doubled

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
14 oz can diced tomatoes - I use PC Blue Menu diced tomatoes for everything. They only come in a 28 oz can, so use about half the can and refrigerate or freeze the rest.
1 tsp dried oregano
shrimp, shelled and cleaned
salt and pepper to season
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Crostini

1/2 a baguette, sliced on the diagonal
1 clove garlic, peeled
butter for buttering bread

Put olive oil and garlic in a skillet and heat over medium heat. I like to start garlic in a cold pan so that it doesn't burn. Once garlic is fragrant and sizzling, add white wine. Bring to a boil, then simmer until wine has reduced by half.

Add tomatoes with their juice and oregano, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and add shrimp in a single layer on top of the tomatoes. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook until shrimp are cooked through- they'll be pink and curled up- turning the shrimp once throughout cooking. They should take about 8 minutes total.

Meanwhile, for the crostini, toast the baguette slices. While they are still warm rub one side with the garlic clove and then butter the bread.

Serve shrimp and tomatoes with parsley and feta sprinkled on top with crostini for scooping up the tomatoes and juices.

Gifts from the Kitchen

2010-07-21T19:20:00.000-04:00

My team at work held a dog wash to raise money for the Humane Society last weekend (we called it Bark and Bubbles- how cute is that?). I couldn't attend to help wash the doggies, so I donated some gifts from the kitchen for the raffle we held.

I had an idea in mind that I wanted to make a couple of jar cookie mixes- you know the kind where the dry ingredients are layered in a jar and you just dump in it into a bowl and add a few other things? The logistics of this, however, were easier said than done. I wanted it to be simple, so my idea for a lemon and lavender shortbread mix went out the window as that requires rolling the dough, cutting, so on. Plus I burned the lemon zest when I was drying it out in the oven for the test recipe. Anything that required sugar to be creamed with butter, eggs, etc was out as well as I wanted it all to be in one jar, rather than having to separate the sugar from the rest of the dry ingredients.

I ended up adapting my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to work with the jar concept. The unmodified recipe is below, but if you want to give it as a gift in a jar you would half the recipe. Layer dry ingredients in your jar and include the measurements of wet ingredients plus instructions to mix the melted butter, vanilla, 1 egg and add to the dry mix.

The other two jars are Olive Oil Hand Scrub and my Olive Oil Granola (which I made this time with dried mixed berries from President's Choice instead of cranberries).

THICK AND CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

America's Test Kitchen

Makes 18 large cookies

This recipe not only makes the best cookies ever, but I also love it as it calls for melted butter which means I don't have to plan in advance to soften butter. Cookies on demand!

2 cups plus 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Adjust oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Mix butter and sugars in a large bowl until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball and place on baking sheet, keeping dough balls 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are light golden brown, the outer edges start to harden, and the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking.

Cool cookies on the baking sheets. These are best eaten warm from the oven, or microwave 15-20 seconds before eating.

Slower Cooker Awesomeness

2010-07-14T20:50:00.001-04:00

I saw a post last week on The Kitchn about using your slow cooker during the summer so as to not heat up the house by turning on the oven, and this made a lot of sense. I hardly ever use my slow cooker, but I'm going to try to use it more now that I have re-discovered it's awesomeness. When I walked in the door last night my house smelled delicious, plus dinner was cooked already except for putting some potatoes in the microwave! I couldn't speak throughout dinner except to say "oh my God this is so good".

The recipe accompanying the post was for pork carnitas which I was going to make but they didn't have pork shoulder, or any other suitable pork product, at the grocery store this week. They had beef brisket though. The butcher said they rarely have it, so if you can find brisket at your store pick some up. I wish I had bought two. It's that good. I had brisket sandwich once at a restaurant and it was really fatty, but this wasn't fatty at all- there wasn't even any fat on the top of the leftovers when we took them out of the fridge the next day.

To serve, I shredded the falling-apart-tender meat and we ate it on top of some mashed potatoes with the delicious sauce left in the slow cooker spooned over top. Heaven! I have had leftovers on a kaiser bun for lunch the last two days, and it's delicious this way too. The recipe is dead simple- I was able to throw it together in 10-15 minutes before leaving for work. Don't worry too much about the measurements, I eyeballed everything as I threw it in, it will turn out great. Plus, the cooking time is very forgiving- if you get caught up at work and it cooks for 10 hours, that's ok. The only change I would make, and I've included this below, is to add some chopped fresh parsley when serving.

PS We had peas and corn with it too, in case you were worried about the lack of vegetables in the photo.

SLOW COOKER BRISKET WITH ONIONS AND TOMATOES

Adapted from Epicurious

beef brisket- I think mine was 2 to 3 lbs, but you can go bigger and don't have to change anything
salt and pepper
2 small onions, sliced
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 bottle beer- I used Moosehead Light because that's what Tyler had, but any beer will do
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 red wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Trim any visible fat from the outside of the beef. Season with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides in a skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, put all other ingredients except parsley in the bottom of the slow cooker and stir to combine. Place beef in slow cooker, cover with lid, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Stir in parsley before serving.

Breakfast Club Sandwiches

2010-07-01T12:07:00.000-04:00

I'm back on the bacon train! I've been off bacon since I first became pregnant because it made me feel sick, even just the thought of it. Slowly but surely over the last month, however, I've been becoming friends with bacon again. As a result of my temporary bacon aversion, I haven't made weekend breakfasts for a while. I saw Ricardo Larrivee make these sandwiches on his show this past week (side note: does he play for the other team or is he just French? Talk amongst yourselves) and I've been thinking about it ever since, so made this on this holiday morning and it was fantastic. Tyler high-fived me, so I take it the breakfast club sandwich gets the husband stamp of approval as well.

BREAKFAST CLUB SANDWICH

Adapted from Ricardo and Friends on The Food Network

Serves 2 (recipe is very easily multiplied to serve more)

4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
4 slices bacon
6 slices sandwich bread
Mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip if you live in my house)
1 tomato, sliced
2 leaves Romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly beat eggs, milk, salt, pepper in a small baking dish. Put bacon on a baking sheet or broiler pan. Bake eggs and bacon in oven until bacon is crisp and golden and eggs are set- about 10 minutes for the bacon and about 5 minutes more for the eggs. Remove bacon to drain on paper towels. Cut eggs in half and fold each half over itself (like you would an omelet).

While bacon and eggs are cooking, toast bread. Spread one side of 4 of the slices with mayo, spread both sides of the remaining bread with mayo (this is your middle piece of the club sandwich).

To assemble each sandwich, place egg on the mayo side of a slice of toast, top with double-mayo toast, top that with 2 slices of bacon, tomato, lettuce. Top sandwich with another slice of toast. Slice in half or quarters diagonally to serve.

Bran Flax Muffins

2010-06-17T20:17:00.001-04:00

Muffins aren't very photogenic, bran muffins even less so, hence no photo accompanying this post. Despite the fact that they are ugly, I love them- for breakfast, as a snack, a pre-dinner appetizer (don't judge). Plus, these particular muffins have no added fat; a fact that I didn't even occur to me until after I had put them in the oven to bake. Actually, I panicked for a second when I realized that I hadn't added any oil or anything to the batter and went back to the recipe to check if I had missed something. The recipe had initially intrigued me because it calls for shredded carrot and apple, and it seems that these two additions keep the muffins moist (ugh that word again) without having to add any additional fat. I want to call these muffins low-fat, however flax is pretty high in fat but it's good fat- flax has omega-3's.

I was still a bit sceptical even after they came out of the oven, as I don't have a lot of luck with low fat recipes being very good, to be honest, but these muffins are fantastic. I will never make another bran muffin recipe again. The deal was sealed when Tyler snuck a muffin off the cooling rack (I don't know what he thought they were, but I guarantee he didn't know he was about to eat a bran muffin) and declared them "pretty good". Trust me, that's saying a lot.

BRAN FLAX MUFFINS

Adapted from Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods

Makes 15 muffins

*Flaxseed meal can be found in the health/organic section of the grocery store

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
3/4 wheat bran
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (about 2 average sized carrots)
2 medium apples, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with oven rack in the middle of oven. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shredded carrots and apples, raisins, and nuts. Toss to coat with flour. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add milk and vanilla to eggs, stir to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry, stir until just moistened- do not overmix!

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cool on rack.

I think they call it "nesting"

2010-06-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

I spent all weekend painting, sewing, or making lists of things to paint or sew. I was awake until almost 5 am on Friday night because I couldn't sleep for thinking of all the projects I want to work on. You would think that my bouts of pre-baby nesting would involve cooking, but I have an urge to make things- like curtains and refinishing furniture.

I blame it on the NHL play-offs. Hear me out. Tyler was watching his Flyers on Friday night, so I started casually looking at Design*Sponge for ideas for the baby's room. Four hours and many bookmarks of things from their DIY section later, I was hooked. Fast forward to 1:00 am- I am wide awake laying in bed, thinking of all kinds of other DIY things that I can do around the house, so I get up and watch DIY Network for a few hours. I now have a list of about 15 things I want to work on.

We went to Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Saturday and found all kinds of cool stuff to make over. A console table for $5? Sold. Sure, it needs some major sanding and painting and tightening of bolts that hold the legs on, but it has all four legs at least. For $5! It will be perfect for to hold a laptop and printer in our home office. Paint in the exact colour I was looking for to paint our bedside tables for $5? Done. Three shelves for $15? Cha-ching. These I think are actually remnants from cabinet-making, but are the perfect size for shelves and all I have to do is figure out a way to hang them.

Saturday night when other people are out partying and hanging out with friends (my husband included), found me in the garage painting a chair. Look at it! I got this chair at a garage sale when we bought our first house almost 5 years ago, and it was U-G-L-Y. Now it is pretty and happy. How could you not be obsessed with making something cool out of junk?

Here are a few things that I hope to have completed in the next week or so:
- Make an apron out of the material I cut off the curtains in the kitchen
- Finish sewing those curtains back up and get them hung before Tyler kills me for messing up the curtains
- Make fabric covered box valences for baby's room
- Re-work the old cabinets from my parents kitchen reno into storage benches (really excited about this one, but probably won't get this done this week!)

Since this is a food blog, I leave you with this recipe for BBQ Pork Kebabs. These are so good and easy- we have them for dinner with rice and grilled corn quite often in the summer, and even a made them couple of times for guests. Some recipes for grilled corn say to grill them in the husks- I like my corn husked and put right on the grill so it gets browned in spots and nutty. I think it takes about 20 minutes to cook on the grill over direct heat, turning often.

Aloha Pork Kebabs from Chatelaine Magazine May 2006

Heavenly Cheesecake

2010-05-18T21:45:00.001-04:00

I am pretty impressed with myself. I mean, check out how gorgeous this cake turned out. Usually I make things that taste good, but look decidedly homemade. I think this cake almost looks like something you'd pay money for! It tastes as good as it looks too. The recipe is from a woman at work, Masuma, who is a fantastic baker. I hadn't tried her cheesecake, but everybody said it was the best they've ever had, so I got the recipe to make for our friend Jack's birthday this weekend.

The chocolate topping was part of original recipe, which gave me the idea for the chocolate dipped strawberries on top. Next time I make this I think I'll double the cheesecake filling to make for more cheese-cakey goodness, but use a chocolate ganache rather than just melted chocolate on top as the chocolate gets hard and makes the filling squish out when you cut it. I have included these changes in the recipe below. Other variations would be to use pie filling on top (apparently sour cherry is out of this world), or just some fresh fruit.

CHEESECAKE WITH CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRIES

Serves about 8

I haven't actually tried the ganache topping, but I feel like I have enough baking experience at this point to know that it should work out well. I'll post an update when I make this again and let you know how it turns out. The recipe looks like it has a lot of components, but each is really easy and quick.

Crust

1 cup chocolate cookie or graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp butter, melted

Filling

2 bricks cream cheese, room temperature
2 cans condensed milk (Masuma says PC brand works best- I trust her)
1/2 tub Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup lemon juice

Chocolate Ganache Topping

5 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped (or use chocolate chips)
1 1/4 cups whipping cream

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

1 pint strawberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped and melted (I haven't listed this as a weight measurement as it normally would be because the amount really doesn't matter- you just need enough to coat the strawberries)

Crust: Prepare a round springform pan by lining sides with foil before putting in bottom of pan (this will make it easier to remove the cake later). Mix crumbs and butter, press into the bottom of pan.

Filling: Beat cream cheese with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Do not over beat. With mixer on medium, add condensed milk a little at a time- if you add too much at once the mixture will get runny. Mix in Cool Whip at medium speed. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice, mix well. Add remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, mix well. Pour onto crust and refrigerate at least 4-5 hours.

Chocolate Ganache Topping: Once cake has had it's time in the fridge, bring cream just to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Immediately pour over chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Allow to cool to room temperature. Remove cake from pan, peel off foil, and spread ganache over top- it will spill over the sides and look pretty. Refrigerate cake for another hour to set the ganache.

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries: Wash strawberries and dry them really well- I spread them on some paper towels after washing and then dry them again with another paper towel just before dipping in chocolate. Holding strawberries by green hats, dip strawberries in melted chocolate halfway up the strawberry. Immediately place on cake. Keep cake refrigerated until serving.

Easy Entertaining

2010-05-10T21:35:00.001-04:00

We had people over for dinner every night this weekend- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thinking about what to make when we are having guests stresses me out a bit. I bookmark lots of recipes in magazines, etc that I think would be a good meal to make when we have people over, but when it comes down to it I worry that they may not like an ingredient or that it won't turn out right (following the old principle of never make a recipe for the first time for guests). I think I hit the jackpot with this menu though- nothing difficult, not fancy but not boring, things that everybody likes with a bit of a twist. Trust me on these recipes- even if you have company coming and don't have time to test the dishes before hand!

Gougeres with drinks*

Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza

Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Pizza

Best -Ever Chocolate Cake with Berry Coulis

GOUGERES

Makes about 24, depending how big you make them

Instructions below use an electric hand mixer. If you don't have one, beat with a wooden spoon instead but your arm will get tired. I didn't take a photo of these, but there's a good photo here

6 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
2 cups finely grated cheese - Gruyere is traditional, I used a mixture of Parmesan and sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put the butter and water in a saucepan with salt and pepper, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, dump in flour all at once and beat with an electric mixer on low until mixture is smooth and forms a ball. If dough is a bit wet, put the pan back over low heat and beat for a minute until mixture dries out a bit. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating with mixer on low until combined between each addition. Stir in the cheese. Fill a small glass with warm water. Using a soup spoon (I think those are what the big ones are called that come with your cutlery set), scoop a heaping spoonful of dough. Dip another spoon in the warm water, then use this spoon to drop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat, dipping spoon in water each time. Alternatively, dough can be piped onto baking sheet. Dough doesn't have to be spaced too far apart- gougeres will puff up, not so much out.

Bake 25-30 minutes- until puffed up and golden brown. Pierce the side of each puff with a paring knife after removing pan from oven- this will let the steam out so that they don't get soggy and/or deflate.

*the French drink these with champagne, but apparently they are also great with beer (I don't even drink beer when I'm not pregnant, so I wouldn't know)

TOMATO, FRESH MOZZARELLA, AND BASIL PIZZA

1 pizza dough
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup diced tomatoes- either fresh or from a can (I use PC Blue Menu Diced Tomatoes for everything)
1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
1 large clove garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
6 or so large leaves basil, thinly sliced (julienned, if you will)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with an oven rack on the bottom setting. Roll pizza dough really thin. Transfer to pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with tomato sauce. Scatter tomatoes over dough and top with slices of mozzarella. Scatter garlic all over top of pizza, making sure there are no big clumps of garlic (the garlic kind of roasts in the oven and gets delicious). Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp, and cheese is melted melted and dry (I don't know how else to describe that- if the cheese isn't cooked enough there will be little puddles of water on top of the pizza). Top with basil after removing from oven. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BUFFALO CHICKEN AND BLUE CHEESE PIZZA

1 pizza dough (I used a whole wheat dough- the ingredients will stand up to this more full flavored dough)
2 small or 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
salt and pepper, to season chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp Franks Red Hot Sauce
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 green onions, sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (not fresh mozzarella)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with rack on bottom setting. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook in frying pan with oil over med-high heat until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Remove chicken to a cutting board and cool slightly. Roll dough as thin as you can and transfer to a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with hot sauce. Slice chicken thinly across the grain, spread evenly on pizza. Scatter blue cheese and green onions. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE CAKE

Go to Molly Wizenburg's blog Orangette for the recipe. I originally found the recipe in her book A Homemade Life. It was her wedding cake. Yum.

For the chocolate component, I use 2 oz unsweetened chocolate + 5 oz Hershey's dark chocolate chips

This cake will keep 3 days at room temperature, or up to 5 days in the fridge. It won't last that long though. I suggest making this when you have people coming over that can help you eat it so that you and your husband don't polish it off yourselves within 3 days (not like that happened the first time I made this or anything)

BERRY COULIS

1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (fresh works too- I just always have frozen berries on hand)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Strain through fine-meshed sieve.

This last bite of cake did not go to waste. Trust me.

Stuffed Shells

2010-05-01T10:35:00.001-04:00

These stuffed shells are super duper easy to make. They are another recipe that I improvised with great results. So maybe I'm better at this than I thought. I never really plan to make stuffed shells, but sometimes I just happen to have the pasta and ricotta that are the main components at the same time, and it comes to mind when I have no other ideas of what to cook for dinner but I spot the ricotta in the fridge. I always think after dinner, "Why don't I make this more often?". My husband concurs.

You can put pretty much anything in the filling. Fresh herbs are even better than the dried herbs I have included in the below recipe- use a big handful of any fresh herbs you have on hand and chop finely. Some other variations that come to mind would be to use pesto instead of dried herbs, or omit the spinach and use other finely chopped veggies (some chopped roasted tomatoes would be really good I bet). I like to use spinach, however, because I don't really like it so I never use it in anything else. Somehow spinach is delicious and perfect in the stuffed shells. If I have mozzarella cheese, I'll also grate some into the filling. So, without further ado, here is the recipe. Buon appetito!

P.S. Tyler got home from work late on Thursday when we had this for dinner so we ended up eating dinner while watching CSI. Is that weird?

SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS

Serves 3-4

To double this recipe to serve a crowd, cook the same amount of pasta but double the filling and sauce.

350 g box dried jumbo shells
475 g tub ricotta cheese
300 g box chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 3/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
dash of nutmeg (I would probably omit if not using spinach)
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
2 cups tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in middle. Cook pasta in boiling, well salted water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix all other ingredients except for tomato sauce. Cover bottom of a baking dish (I use a 10.5" x 7" dish) with 1 cup of tomato sauce.

Stuff pasta with about 1 heaping tbsp of filling* and place in baking dish. Continue stuffing shells until all filling is used up**. The filling will do about 25 shells. Any stuffed shells that don't fit in your baking dish can be frozen- line a baking sheet with plastic wrap, freeze shells until solid, store in a Ziploc bag. To cook follow same method as follows, but bake for longer.

Cover shells with remaining tomato sauce, making sure that everything is well covered or else the pasta will dry out in the oven and be crunchy (not what we're going for here). Cover dish with foil, bake 25 minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

*I find it easiest to use my (well washed) hands to stuff the shells.
**There will be leftover cooked pasta. I have these for lunch the next day with tomato sauce.

Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta

2010-04-26T21:38:00.002-04:00

So if anybody is still reading Four Seasons Kitchen, here I am! Sorry about the delay in posts- I haven't cooked or baked much or note lately; either because I don't feel like it or when I do, the results haven't been spectacular. I did cook one of my favorite meals this past Friday, but I haven't posted for so long that I forgot to take a photo before we ate! I will make it again soon and share... I know you'll all be waiting with baited breath until then.

I don't make up my own dishes very often. Or when I do, it's throwing together whatever I can find and it's nothing to write home about. Tonight, however, I made the best thing we've eaten for a while- and I'd still say that even if we hadn't eaten scalloped potatoes made from a box and cupcakes made from a mix last week.

I read Molly Wiezenburg's A Homemade Life this weekend and she made me want to cook almost recipe in there. This book is so good; each chapter is like a short auto-biographical essay prefacing a recipe on the at the end of the chapter. I laughed, I cried. A good book should do that, I think. Otherwise, why are you wasting your time reading something that doesn't move you to some sort of emotional reaction? Anyways, about the food. I really wanted to make Molly's Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, but they take 6 hours in the oven and that would mean setting my alarm to get up at 1 am and turn off the oven. Plus, I wanted them now. I remembered a similar recipe in Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics. That one is for roasted tomatoes that only take 25 minutes. Perfect. I followed that method, but not the recipe itself. Tomatoes done, I chopped up half of them, cooked some pasta, tossed it with some goat cheese and basil, and that was that. So good. Please make this now, and let me know in the comments if you loved it as much as us (yes, Tyler even liked a dish with goat cheese!).

ROASTED TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE PASTA

Serves 2-3

1/2 Roasted Tomatoes recipe (recipe follows), chopped
350 g dried penne pasta
70 g goat cheese
a handful finely grated Parmesan cheese
ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Cook pasta in well salted water to al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Put pasta back into pot, crumble in goat cheese, add Parmesan, pepper. Add about 1/4 cup pasta water, stir pasta vigorously- you want the Parmesan and goat cheese to make a sauce with the water. Add more pasta water if sauce isn't saucy enough. Stir in basil and serve.

ROASTED TOMATOES

These can be used in pasta, on a sandwich, make a pesto type sauce, the possibilities are endless for these babies! They have a flavor boarding on sun-dried tomatoes, but aren't chewy and gnarly and overpowering like sun-dried tomatoes.

10-12 Roma tomatoes
olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with a rack in the middle. Cut off the very top of the tomatoes where the stem was attached. Cut tomatoes in half. Remove seeds- I find it easiest to wash my hands really well and then stick my fingers into the halves to pop out the seeds over the garbage*. Toss tomatoes with remaining ingredients.

Roast on a baking sheet (I always cover baking sheets with foil so I don't have to wash them) cut side up for 25 minutes. Cool slightly, then use as desired.

*I would say to keep the seeds and juice for some clever, less wasteful endeavor, but I've no idea what the heck you would do with them.

Almond Cake and Thoughts of Spring

2010-03-15T18:23:00.000-04:00

I made this delicious, springy (as in the season, not bouncy. I don't think) cake last week when it was sunny and getting warm, but now I'm writing this post when it's cold, windy, and rainy again. It just doesn't feel right. I can't not share this cake though. It's my new favorite. I love almond flavor, and this cake has the perfect amount of almond and it's not cloyingly sweet. I also love how humble this cake; and I suppose any baked goods in general; look so humble until you put some fruit on them. Add a ring of raspberries and it looks beautiful and even more delicious.

Hopefully you can find almond paste to make this cake. You don't want marizpan- it's too sweet and heavy and will sink to the bottom of your cake pan instead of incorporating into the cake. Trust me on this one. Sometime marzipan is labeled as almond paste; don't be fooled! Marzipan lists sugar first, whereas almond paste will list almonds as the first ingredient. I found mine at a gourmet food shop, you can sometimes find it in the grocery store or always online.Although I think I'm the only person I know who would buy a baking ingredient online...

ALMOND CAKE WITH RASPBERRIES

Adapted slightly from Bonnie Stern in The National Post

Makes 8 servings

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz almond paste, grated
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract *don't be tempted to add a little more like I sometimes do with vanilla. Almond extract is very strong!
1/2 all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a food processor mix butter, almond paste and sugar using on/off pulses until smooth. Or beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
Beat in eggs, vanilla, almond extract. Sift dry ingredients, add to batter, and mix.
Pour batter into a 9-inch cake pan lined on the bottom with parchment paper. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until browned on top and firm to the touch. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then cool on cooling rack completely. Top with raspberries.

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