Potato Latkes with Homemade Applesauce

Who says it has to be Hanukkah to make latkes? Ok, maybe Jewish people do... but I say make them any time. Because they are delicious. And easy. And fulfill my craving for "bad" food today but aren't the worst thing I could put in my body so I figure it's okay.

A soon as fall weather hits I feel the urge to hibernate. This manifests itself in no motivation to work out. I usually go for a run a few times a week in the evening after Parker goes to bed. But now that it's getting cold and dark in the evenings all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch all TV. I thought I'd trick my body today and got up early to work out. The result was a craving for chips and McDonald's all day. So, sure, these latkes are pan-fried in oil but they are infinitely better than scarfing a Big Mac. And I can can still face myself in the morning.

I've made latkes once before years ago. I think the recipe was from Food That Really Schmeks. They were not nearly as good as these. These latkes hold together easily, cook quickly, and get perfectly browned and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. To be honest, I've never had potato latkes aside from the two times I've made them, but I feel these are the ideal and all future latkes will be compared to this recipe.

 HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE

This is a bit of a joke of a recipe. Chop some apples into large chunks and throw into a pot- you can forgo peeling them- cook with a splash of water and a sprinkle of sugar until soft. Puree using an immersion blender, food processor, or regular blender.

If not serving with latkes you can throw a cinnamon stick in while the apples are cooking. Or just sprinkle on some cinnamon after. This stuff is way better than the jarred applesauce at the grocery store- it's a staple in my house during cold weather.

ADAM AND MAXINE FAMOUS LATKES via Bon Appetit

I modified the recipe slightly. Of course. I didn't peel the potatoes. Part laziness, and partly from a health standpoint- the skin has all the fiber. Didn't seem to affect the recipe at all. I used the potatoes I had- just regular white potatoes rather than Russets. And next time I would use less salt. The recipe calls for 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt. I used 2 tsp and found them a bit too salty. A food processor with a grater attachment makes quick work of grating the potato and onion. The onion will still make you cry though.

30th Birthday Barbecue

I've been 30 for five days now. I survived! I did so by drinking heavily (just kidding... kind of). But seriously, we had a great pool party and barbecue on Saturday. It was the perfect day. Friends, old and new, and family came, kiddos swam like fishes in the pool and Parker got to show off all his toys and play with some new friends. It was a great day, the weather co-operated, and we had great food to boot.

If you are thinking of hosting a party for 20 to 30 people, here's the game plan I followed:

1. Go out for dinner on the night of your birthday and eat a bunch of tacos and have a couple of drinks. Go grocery shopping at a store that you've never been to where you can't find anything and spend too much money cause you've had a couple of drinks. Get home and make some raspberry ice cream for the party two days from now.

2.  The next day go to your parents place for dinner after work and accidentally drink a bottle of wine. Get home at 11:30pm, rub your meat (the pork shoulder people, the pork shoulder) and make bbq sauce. Decide you're not tired yet and start on cupcakes. Go to bed close to 2am once three batches of cupcakes are finally baked.

3. Get up the day of the party, pop some Tylenol, and start on salads and appetizers. Which you will making for the next 6 hours. Realize a close to the party start time that you haven't showered, gotten ice, that you forgot to get about five things from the grocery store, and haven't been to the LCBO to get your beverage of choice for the party.

4. Panic. Drive faster than you should. Somehow get lost in a small town with basically two main streets. Swear. Miraculously get home within an hour, finish cooking by the time guests arrive, and proceed have a great time since you did everything ahead of time. Yay you!

On second thought, don't follow that schedule. You may want to plan things better. But ever'ting work out in the end mon. No worries.

Tyler made pulled pork. We are still working on the perfect barbecued pulled pork but it wasn't the perfect pulled pork. It was very good, but it didn't pull easily. I've only gotten pork to shred really easily cooked in the slow cooker, but that kind of negates the purpose of having a barbecue, right?

I made two salads to go with the pork sandwiches. They were my favorite part of the whole meal. I was going to make wild rice salad but I couldn't get wild rice at store I was at. They had about twelve other rices I'd never made before, but of course not the rice I needed. I improvised and made an orzo pasta salad instead that turned out so great. I could eat, and have been eating, it as a meal. Along with the other salad, a beautiful grilled corn coleslaw, these were the perfect sides for a summer barbecue.

What about the cake, you say? I had big plans for my 30th birthday cake. I had visions of layer cakes decorated beautifully that everyone would swoon over. Then a week before the big day I came to my senses and remembered that a) I suck at decorating cakes. b) last time I made a layer cake was for Tyler's 30th and I had a cake induced melt down that resulted in a 30th birthday marital spat. c) I'm just not that kind of girl. I'd rather have a rustic rhubarb crumble pie (I seriously considered this as my birthday dessert actually). So I met myself half way. The cupcakes I made turned out beautifully but were not too fussy. And there's cream cheese icing involved. Sold.

Here's the full menu:

*Fruit with Orange Creamsicle Dip
*Caprese Skewers (boccocini cheese, a small basil leaf, half a grape tomato on a toothpick. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar)

*Pulled Pork
*Greek Orzo Salad (recipe below)
*Grilled Corn Slaw (recipe below)

*Hummingbird Cupcakes
*Raspberry Ice Cream

GREEK ORZO SALAD

 Serves 10 as a side dish

I was trying to get everything done and not thinking about blogging the recipe, so I wasn't diligent in measuring, so measurements here are approximate. This is a simple recipe anyway- taste it, if it needs more of something just stir it in. It will work out. 

• 450g orzo pasta
• 1 English cucumber, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Vinaigrette:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• zest and juice of two lemons
• two garlic cloves, very finely chopped, or grated on a Microplane
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried dill

Cook orzo in salted water according to package directions- do not over cook- cook to al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Whisk ingredients for vinaigrette in the bottom of your serving bowl. Add drained pasta and remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

GRILLED CORN SLAW

Adapted from My Invisible Crown

Serves 10 as a side dish

• 5 ears corn, shucked and cleaned of silks
• 1 small red cabbage, shredded - a food processor makes quick work of this
• 2 red peppers, thinly sliced
• 340g bag carrot slaw (like this one from PC brand)
• 1/2 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Dressing:

• zest and juice of 3 limes
• 1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp honey
• salt and pepper

Grill corn on high direct heat, turning often, until charred- about 12 minutes total. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, cut kernels off cobs and add to a large bowl. Add remaining salad ingredients except sunflower seeds. Mix salad dressing ingredients in a blender or with an immersion blender. Toss salad with seeds and dressing just before serving.

DIY Skinny Irish Cream + Grown-Up Shamrock Shake

It's St. Paddy's day. If it were 10 years ago I'd be going out, standing in line freezing for an hour to gain entrance to a pseudo-Irish pub and then proceeding to drink my face off. But. I'll be 30 in a few months (eek!) and I have a toddler and a job on Monday. So Irish Stew and Irish Cream drinks at home it is.

I am not sharing a recipe for Irish Stew today, but here is the one I'm making tonight. It may show up in another post if it turns out well. I'm going to make it with lamb, so we'll see how that goes. Last time I cooked lamb at home I was pregnant and couldn't stand the smell so the whole thing went in the garbage. Better luck this time I hope!

I believe it was on Pinterest that I first noticed a recipe for DIY Bailey's Irish Cream. Of course. I didn't pin it though and then forgot about it until today since all the recipes I Googled call for cream. Any recipe that calls for a cup of cream is generally a deterrent for me, especially this one as Tyler doesn't like Bailey's so I'll have it all to myself. It occurred to me that it would just as good with milk. I used 2%, but any other milk or even almond milk would be great too.

As I was making the Irish Cream Tyler decided he wanted a Shamrock Shake and a burger from McDonald's. He left to get one and I had the brilliant idea to make a grown up Shamrock Shake. Oh my gosh, this is the best milkshake ever. Dangerously good. Unfortunately it's not green- I did add 3 drops of green food colouring but the brown of the Irish Cream overrode it and I didn't want to add any more. The minty goodness is there though. I think Shamrock Shakes are no longer just for St. Patrick's Day in my house any more. Yum.

One Year Ago: Ham, Cheese, and Spinach Strata

+ Pecan Pie Cupcakes

+ Baby Food Part 3: Toddler Food

Two Years Ago: Creamless Creamy Vegetable Soup

+ Baked Rigatoni

Three Years Ago: Almond Cake

DIY SKINNY IRISH CREAM

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Makes 16 oz., recipe is easily doubled

I didn't have any chocolate syrup so I used 1 tbsp cocoa powder mixed with a little hot water, which is why my Irish Cream is darker brown than the original recipe. Also, I didn't have any Irish Whiskey but we did have some 40 Creek Whiskey and it tastes great, it's just not as authentic obviously.

• 3/4 cup Whiskey
• 1 cup milk - 2%, 1%, skim, or almond
• 1/2 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp chocolate syrup or 3/4 tbsp cocoa powder mixed with a splash of hot water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee
• 1/4 tsp almond extract

Blend all ingredients in a blender, or in a mixing bowl with an immersion blender, until smooth. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate up to 2 months.

GROWN UP SHAMROCK SHAKE

Serves 1

• 1.5 oz Irish Cream
• 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream- regular or reduced fat
• 3 ice cubes
• 1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Blend everything until smooth.

Superbowl Food

It's Superbowl Sunday. If I was a good blogger, I would have whipped up these recipes, photographed, and posted a week ago. But I just can't bring myself to make recipes in advance of the actual event. That would mean making all this food and then the three of having to eat it, only to make it all over again for the Big Day. Not happening.

And really, do you really need a special occasion to make Soft Pretzel Bites with Buffalo Cheese Sauce? That is a negative. Any random Sunday will do, thank you.

I have been trying to make great soft pretzels forever and the never turned out the way I wanted. I wish I had stolen the recipe from the movie theatre where I had my first job. I worked at Wetzel's Pretzels kiosk. We made the dough on premises (whereas at Pizza Hut the dough came in frozen) but it never occurred to me to make them at home. I've even looked for a copy-cat recipe online, but to no avail. What made these different is usually pretzels are boiled in a baking powder solution, but Wetzel's just baked them. I'd never tried the boiling method until today because it just sounded like too much work. But it was a success, and honestly not much more difficult that straight baking them. 

One tip though- don't boil the pretzel bites for more than 30 seconds. The first batch I made I boiled them too long, more like a minute and a half probably, and they are kinda ugly. Yummy, but ugly, as you can see below. The one on the right is the one that boiled too long, the one on the left was boiled for just 30 seconds.

You can thank Pinterest for the Cookie Brownies. I didn't even repin this, but they were stuck in my head. Brownie Cookies? Crookies? Brookies? Whatever you choose to call them, they are over the top and delicious. Definitely for sharing though. I wouldn't trust myself make these if I were home by myself one night. It's bad enough that whenever I make chocolate chip cookies I save a container of raw dough in the fridge for snaking on. Cookie dough dipped in brownie batter? Game over.

One Year Ago: Crunchy Sesame Cookies

Two Years Ago: Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Three Years Ago: nada, Feb 2010 was a slow year at Four Seasons Kitchen

SOFT PRETZEL BITES WITH BUFFALO CHEESE SAUCE

• Ballpark Pretzel recipe from Chuck Hughes
• Buffalo Cheese Sauce recipe from Half Baked Harvest

Pretzel Bites:
Follow the recipe for Chuck's pretzels up to and including step 3. Rather than making large pretzels in step 4, rip a handful of dough and roll it out into a rope. Cut (a pizza roller works well) into 1/2-inch pieces and roll each into a ball. Continue with the rest of the recipe, however I omitted brushing the pretzel bites with egg wash.

When boiling the pretzel bites, work in small batches. I gather up and many as I can hold (gently!) in one hand and drop them quickly in one at a time, timing once the last one goes in.

Serve pretzels same day as they are made. If not serving immediately after baking, put them on a plate or in a container but don't cover or else they will get soft on the outside instead of staying crisp.

Cheese Sauce:
Make the buffalo cheese sauce following Half Baked Harvest's recipe. Keep warm in a small Crockpot if serving as a snack at a party. Or just eat it really fast, which shouldn't be too hard to do.

BROWNIE COOKIES

Method from Pin Cookie

You can use my favourite recipes that are linked below, or your go-to brownie and chocolate chip cookie recipes.

• Lentil Brownies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix up a batch of cookie batter and brownie batter. Tyler helped me and made the brownie batter for me, but if you are making both yourself I would suggest making the brownie batter first as it doesn't contain any leavener.

Butter a muffin min, either a standard sized tin or a mini muffin tin (I prefer how the cookies made in the standard tin turned out). Drop a tablespoon of brownie batter in each muffin well and spread to cover the bottom. Take about a tablespoon of cookie dough and press it flat in your palm to about the size of the muffin tin and put that on top of the brownie batter. Bake 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Parker's Chocolate Cake, Redux

Remember the cake I made for Parker's birthday? I have made it twice since- for a friend's birthday and again for my Dad's birthday. And remember how I couldn't share the recipe because it wasn't published anywhere online? Finally Mairlyn Smith, the author of Healthy Starts Here where the recipe is from, demoed it on Cityline so now it is published on their website for all to see.

Yes, this is a diary-free, low fat cake make with soy and prunes. If you don't tell anybody, they will never know, I swear. I had originally made this cake for Parker's 1st birthday as he was having a problem with dairy. He has now been given a go on dairy from the allergist, but now my little bro is lactose intolerant after a bad stomach flu. So lactose intolerant that a smear of butter on bread at Easter made him sick. That is rough. Since he hosted Dad's birthday dinner and all, I figured should be nice and make a cake that he can actually eat. It was a no-brainer really, because this cake is amazing.

What's even more amazing is the icing I used in this third incarnation of this cake. I shared a link to Just Chocolate Mousse in my last "Bookmarked" post. That is what I iced the cake with. This stuff is like magic. You know that normally water + chocolate is like kryptonite + Superman, right? Well, this mousse turns that truism upside down. It is made of only water and chocolate. I still can't believe that the photo above came out of these two ingredients (one of which is free. Score!).

If you are using this mousse as frosting, keep in mind that it thickens up to a nearly un-spreadable consistency quickly after whipping it to what you think is the perfect point. Make sure you have everything ready to go to frost the cake as soon as the mousse is ready. I made the mousse, it got too hard, so I melted and re-whipped it again and the same thing happened again. I could have probably melted it again with some added water to keep it softer, but it was late so I just ended up working with what I had. Let's just say there was a hair-dryer involved.

One Year Ago: Easiest Ever Chicken

Two Years Ago: Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta (one of my favourite meals ever!)

PARKER'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

from Healthy Starts Here by Mairlyn Smith via Cityline

The frosting in the original recipe linked above is amazing as well if you don't want to use the chocolate mousse to frost the cake. The mousse frosting actually turns out more like a really fudgy, decedent chocolate coating rather than a fluffy mousse.

Cake:

• 1 cup (250 mL) whole-wheat flour   
• 2/3 cup (150 mL) all purpose flour
• 1½ cups (375 mL) granulated white sugar   
• 2/3 cups (150 mL) natural cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp (7 mL) baking soda   
• ¼ cup (60 mL) canola oil       
• 1 cup (250 mL) fortified organic chocolate soy beverage   
• 2 tsp (10 mL) fresh lemon juice       
• 1 - omega-3 egg       
• 1 - 4.5 oz. (128 mL) jar baby food strained prunes   
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) pure vanilla extract

Frosting:

• Just Chocolate Mousse on Food52

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly spray a 9x13-inch (23x33 cm) metal cake pan, or line with parchment paper or two – 8-inch round pans.

In a large bowl mix together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Add the chocolate soy beverage, lemon juice, oil, egg, prunes and vanilla. Beat the ingredients together for 1 minute, scraping the bowl often.

Turn the speed up to medium or whisk like your life depended on it for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan or pans, even out the top, and bake in the centre of the oven. For the 9x13-inch pan bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. For the two 8-inch round cake pans bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pans and continue cooling.

Once cakes are completely cooled, make the frosting. To frost the cake without mess, place the bottom layer of the cake on whatever you are using to serve the cake. Place parchment or waxed paper just under the outside edge of the cake all the way around. Once the cake is frosted and decorated, remove the paper. Leave frosted cake uncovered at room temperature up to 1 day. If keeping for longer, cover and refrigerate.

Easter Cupcakes or Google Saved My Buttercream

This was starting to feel like a diet blog. Ugh. Yes, I am still on cleanse train. I made these cupcakes last week, or what I now refer to as "the good old days". These might be the perfect cupcakes for spring. The cake has fresh strawberries, and the buttercream icing, is well, buttercream icing. Leftovers were almost the undoing of the cleanse. If you have never made buttercream icing before, brace yourself. The first word is "butter" for a reason.

This was the first time I made buttercream. Because you are making an emulsion of butter (like whipping cream or making mayo), it can be finnicky. As I found out the hard way. Everything was going smoothly; the sugar dissolved, the egg whites whipped up nicely, and then I started adding the butter. It is very important that your butter is room temperature. I always forget to take my butter out of the fridge when I'm baking, so I softened it in the microwave. I guess it was still too cold, cause my buttercream looked like cottage cheese. Martha Stewart said this would happen partway through, but no amount of mixing on high speed would make my buttercream smooth. Thank God for Google. And one of my favorite blogs The Kitchn. I soaked a tea towel in hot water, wrapped it around the bowl, and whipped at high speed. A buttercream Easter miracle!

Funnily enough, the blog, Wee Eats, that I am linking to for the cupcake recipe, tells the same tale of breaking and then fixing the frosting for the exact same cupcakes. The recipe is from Martha Stewart Cupcakes and rather than writing it out for you here somebody else has already done that for me. Excellent.

Strawberry Cupcake Recipe from Martha Stewart Cupcakes via Wee Eats  

The strawberry buttercream recipe there is what I wanted to top my cupcakes with but I underestimated the amount of strawberries I would need so I ended up making a plain buttercream.

To decorate the cupcakes with the nest, sprinkle chocolate shavings, or chocolate sprinkles, on top of the icing and press in three Cadbury Mini Eggs each. If not serving right away, refrigerate until 30 minutes before serving.

Meatball Deep Dish Pizza

Did you know April 5th is Deep Dish Pizza Day? You will notice that I have tagged this post under "holidays". Okay, obviously it is not a real holiday, as in you don't get to stay home from work and get paid. Would somebody get on that please? I think it would boost citizen moral.

I have given you a recipe for deep dish pizza before on Four Seasons Kitchen, in fact it was one of my very first posts, but that one was all boring with mushrooms and pepperoni. This pizza has meatballs. Meatballs on a pizza. That's right folks- let's celebrate this "holiday" in style.

MEATBALL DEEP DISH PIZZA

Serves 4 to 6

Although the dough is easy to make, it does take some time to rise. Pre-made dough will work too.

Pizza Dough
2 cups frozen mini meatballs
1 medium onion, sliced
100 g or 1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Drop in meatballs and simmer until thawed. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and saute onion, mushrooms, pepper, garlic until just cooked and onions and mushrooms are starting to get some colour. Remove to a bowl. Drain meatballs, add to skillet and saute until browned on all sides.

Spread a tablespoon of olive oil each in two 8-inch round cake pans. Divide pizza dough in half and roll out each to fit into pan with a little dough coming up the sides. Spread each with tomato sauce, add equal amounts of onion mixture and meatballs to each. Top with cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is starting to brown. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing and slicing to serve.

Chocolate Lollipops

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.

 

Thanksgiving Review and Reveal

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

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!

Parker's Birthday Cake

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

Birthday Dinner

Not my birthday, my father-in-law's. This dinner took place a couple of months ago- I had this typed up and saved in draft form for a time like this when I don't feel like cooking much (which hardly ever happens!). I don't have any photos of the meal unfortunately so you'll have to use your imagination.

Tyler wanted to have steak, which we know his dad loves, so I did a French bistro-inspired menu:

• Celeri Remoulade with homemade Lemon Aioli *
  
• Steak Frites (roasted fingerling and sweet potatoes instead of frites though) with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce
• Profiteroles from Epicurious, but with Brown Sugar Balsamic Swirl Ice Cream ** instead

Celeri Remoulade: Julienne 1 celery root (following Orangette's method of julienning the celery root). Mix julienned celery root with enough aioli to moisten, mix in 1/2 tsp dried thyme, season with salt and white pepper.

Lemon Aioli: Combine 1/3 cup olive oil and 2/3 cup canola oil in a measuring cup. Whisk 2 egg yolks, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp lemon juice, zest of one lemon, and 1/2 a finely grated garlic clove in a bowl. While whisking continuously, pour in oil, drop by drop for 1st 1/4 cup or so, until you have a thick mayonnaise. Season with salt and white pepper and more lemon juice if needed.

Steak: I pan fried the steaks using my fabulous new All Clad French Skillet and a second cast iron skillet. Season steaks with lots of salt and pepper (beef will stand up to a lot of seasoning), heat your pan on med-high or high if you're brave, add some butter and canola oil to the pan, fry steaks for a few minutes on each side until crusty and brown and cooked as you like (medium rare for me please). Rest steaks on a cutting board while you have your salad (or for 10 minutes), covering with foil to keep warm.

Red Wine Mushroom Sauce: Using same pan steaks were cooked in without washing, place over medium heat. Add baby mushrooms or sliced mushrooms, cook until browned. Add some red wine, cook at a low boil (you know, somewhere between simmering an boiling) until reduced by half. Season with ground black pepper and pour over steaks on plate.

Roasted Potatoes: Cut fingerling potatoes in half and sweet potatoes into wedges. Toss with a good drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper. Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Spread vegetables in a single layer and roast at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes (until nicely browned), flipping them halfway through.

* I posted an aioli back in November, but this one is easier. The November recipe does have the benefit of cooking the eggs, however, in case you're worried about eating raw eggs.

** This is the best ice cream I have ever made. I made this and Egg Nog ice cream for dessert at Christmas, but we didn't end up eating dessert at all! I know it's winter and maybe you don't want ice cream, but I think this is a winter ice cream because the brown sugar flavor is comforting.

Home made gifts

As promised, here are the food gifts I made to give to my family along with their "real" gift. These are pretty easy to make, and giving anything you have made yourself definitely makes a big impact.

The labels for the gifts I made using Microsoft Word and Clipart, then I cut them to size and affixed them to the jars or gift bags using packing tape- I taped over the whole piece of paper with some over hang all around so that it would stick. This worked really well as it's really thin so you can hardly tell it's there.


Hot Chocolate Sticks from Givers Log

If you make these, note that once you add the cocoa and sugar the mixture is VERY stiff and may look lumpy, but when you put it in the molds (I used ice cube trays as suggested), pat it down and it will be smooth once it firms up. I stuck some marshmallows on the top of them as well.


Burning Ass Hot Sauce- the name is my doing (get it? the donkey is on fire! I'm too funny for my own good), the recipe is from Mark Bitten in The New York Times. I used a combination of jalapenos, habenaros, and two cloves of garlic.

Egyptian Dukkah Spice Mix from The Kitchn. I don't have a photo of this, it didn't look all that exciting to be honest, but on the label I included the nuts and spices I put in it (hazelnuts, sesame seeds, cumin, coriander, mint, salt, pepper if I remember correctly) and some recipe suggestions.

I also wanted to make some flavored vodka but I didn't get around to it, and I couldn't eat enough bacon to save enough bacon fat for the Baconnaise (that's right- bacon flavored mayonnaise) that I was going to make for my cousin. Maybe next year I'll combine the two ideas to make the most disturbing recipe I have come across in a while, Bacon Flavored Vodka.