The Bacon Queen

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Soup

2012-01-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

I'd love to take credit for this one, but a friend emailed me a link from Chef In You to this recipe when I had a wierd urge to make something with peanut butter and pumpkin. This soup is simple, healthy and thick and DELICIOUS. It is now one of my favourite things...made some fresh cheese rolls to have with it and even J, who is Mr. Meh when it comes to soup, loved it. I doubled the recipe and had a few yummy easy lunches for later in the week.
I'm reposting the recipe in case the link goes away (it would be tragic):
1 c pumpkin puree
1 medium sweet potato
1/4 c peanut butter
1 T butter
~1-2 cups vegetable stock or water (to thicken to desired consistancy. I used 1 1/2)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Chop up the sweet potato roughly and steam until soft. Blend it into a puree. In a pan, melt the butter in low heat, then add potatoes, pumpkin and peanut butter. Add the stock/water and seasoning. Stir until it becomes smooth and well blended. Cook for about 10 minutes. Enjoy. :)

The Matchacado Smoothie

2012-01-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have been bugging Geo about my new smoothie fixation, the avocado and matcha smoothie. I didn't care for avocado for a while, in part due to my Dad's horribly soggy, frequently mushy salads. (which he loves and which has sort of turned me against salads as well) But reading up on avocado, which I do like in maki rolls, I was seeing how it works to lower LDL in the bloodstream and promote HDL. They are high in fiber and rich in vitamins B, E and K and a fantastic source of potassium. (which I need, apparently) Avocados are also the subject of research for diabetes and high blood pressure treatments.
Matcha is a fine powdered green tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony. Matcha is said to have a positive affect on cholesterol in the blood stream, is high in antioxidants and rich in beta-carotene. I have been drinking Matcha for a while and prefer it unsweetened.
An old Filipino co-worker of mine suggested blending avocado in milk, as it was one of favourite things. That didn't quite do it for me, so I left off it for a while. After reading about the health benefits of avocados, I decided to try and make the avocado smoothie again. For whatever reason, it occurred to me that matcha would work with avocado. It did, but it needed a bit of honey. So far so good. Last week I started adding walnuts, (also very good for you) which work really well. Today I added the selled hemp seeds I picked up yesterday and tt all works fine together.
Today I will pick up some almond milk and use it in conjunction with regular milk, as the avocado does thicken things up considerably and more liquid is needed than with anything else, like bananas.

- Magnus

Apricot pecan oat muffins. Yum.

2012-01-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

New muffin I made up last night for a week of relatively healthy snacking...which likely will NOT last the week...heh heh. Before I forget, here is the ingredients for the most delish concoction I've thought up lately...and not too unhealthy either:

Mix the following together and let sit 5 min:
~1/4 c diced dried apricots (I suppose you could use cranberries or *shudder* raisins if you like)
~1/4 c roughly chopped pecans
1/2 c oatmeal
1 1/4 c milk

Then stir in:
1/4 c oil (I know - not the best - but if you healthify baking too much it doesn't keep it's bakiness more than a day or so. As a former baker I refuse to eat crappy baking...you can cut it back a bit more or use melted coconut oil instead for a more healthy fat, but don't say I didn't warn you not to overhealthify)
1/3 applesauce (or 1 mashed up banana would work too I suppose)
2 eggs
1/2c brown sugar (or agave syrup or maple syrup if ya have it)
1t cardamom AND cinnamon
A few shakes of nutmeg
1 t vanilla

Stir in until JUST mixed:
2 c flour (don't go more than 1/2 whole wheat or they'll be bricks)
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes until they bounce back when tapped on top and are starting to brown up.How can you tell I sort of bake by ear. Years of being a baker have made me rather experimental with things like muffins. I loves me my muffins...

I'm working one with espresso and sunnyboy cereal and dates...I will perfect them eventually and post them. It's a tasty process! :)

Southern Flavours

2011-11-13T10:25:00.001-08:00

I bought some green tomatoes yesterday for a green salsa recipe I picked up on line, but forgot to pick up the cilantro, lime and avocado. I have enough green tomatoes to experiment, so came up with this for brunch.

- Dice one green tomato and mix in flour with some sort of a southern rub: cajun, southwestern, zydeco, etc. I used a custom zydeco rub from Galloways in New Westminster, BC.

- Fry the tomatoes in a pan with garlic, a crushed chipotle pepper and oil.

- Cook hominy in a separate pan and mix with the tomatoes when browned.

- Cook two eggs and serve on top.

Not something to eat everyday or even every week, but once and a while... :D

Time to Meet Your Maki

2011-10-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have always wanted to learn how to make is sushi. I have tried, but my rice never turns out and the rolls were uneven. Mind you I didn't have a proper mat either. None of this, however, stops me from coming up with ideas. Two rolls I would love to try and make are as follows:

The Fraser Valley Roll: Grilled trout of some sort (there are several species in the Lower Mainland) with shiitake mushroom, a tart cranberry paste and black sesame seeds inside. I picture this having the nori on the outside.

The Little Italy Roll: Salmon with prosciutto and mascarpone. It would be dipped in a tomato sauce. I see it being uramaki, that is non-traditional rolls with the rice on the outside.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

2011-09-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

At Charlotte's request!!

These are one of my favourite muffins, adapted from my Mum's favourite muffin recipe that I've healthified a bit (swapped out 1/2c melted butter for 1/4c oil and 1/4c pumpkin). It's versatile: I've found you can swap out the pumpkin for banana and they're good too. You can add pumpkin seeds, diced apple or chocolate chips to these and it's all good, or add 1/2c applesauce instead of the pumpkin and then add peaches or diced apples with 1t of cinnamon for peach or apple oat muffins. Toss in chunks of cream cheese...add some grated carrots and raisins...or cut out the oats and add bran buds instead...OR (my husband's fave) cut the oats and add 1/2 c cornmeal and then add 1 c raspberries or blueberries...oh yes! (Note -If you cut out the oatmeal, also cut out 1/4 c milk). This recipe can be made awesome in every possible way - there a number of my muffin variations posted on this blog :)
One comment tho - don't bother to healthify them too much by cutting out all the oil and using applesauce or sour cream - I found that they aren't too dry but they just don't have that MMMMM...and then they MUST be eaten the day they're made or the texture goes all wierd and they don't keep...But enough of my babble. Here be the recipe:

In a large bowl mix:
1 1/4c milk (or buttermilk) & 1/2 c oatmeal: Place oatmeal and add 1/2 c of the milk to let the oats soak for a minute or two, then add the rest of the milk.

Stir in the rest and mix well:
3/4 c pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
1/4 c oil
1 t pumpkin pie spice (heaping)
1 t vanilla
2/3c brown sugar (or swap out with 1/2 c maple syrup - I'm too cheap to do it often...! )
1 T Molasses (optional - I like)

In another bowl mix:
2 c flour
1 heaping T baking powder
1/2 t salt

Add dry to wet mixture and mix until JUST mixed - don't over mix or they'll be megachewy. Bake with muffin papers at 375 for about 20 minutes. Check doneness with a toothpick and try not to overbake.

Enjoy :)

Pumpkin scones, yo!

2011-08-29T09:17:00.001-07:00

Made them.
They rock.
GO here to learn more - I am too lazy to repost...

Who named a pumpkin anyways? I'd like to know where it came from...

yummers

2011-08-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

Made falafel from here

After mourning my lack of tzatziki - I made homemade tzatziki from here.

Put both in a pita with a made in my head quinoa sort of tabbouleh salad and a few veg...

Yummy evening really :)

Mmmm....leftovers...

2011-06-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a delicious thing...have leftover chili? Put it on a pizza crust with extra oregano garlic and pepper, add a few chopped tomatoes and some cheese and bake that puppy up.

Deeeeeelicious leftovers :)

I pity the fool who takes my tea

2011-05-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I want this :)
Badly...

Stamppot/Colcannon

2011-03-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

There is a dish I am particularly fond of from various areas across Northern Europe which is just simply cabbage or kale mixed in with mashed potatoes and an onion. My Mum made it as "Bubble and Squeak" and the old Irish Heather in Vancouver served it up as Colcannon. Similar dishes have names like "rumbledethumps", pyttipanna, biksemad, champ, hash, stoemp and stamppot. All are variations on the same thing, including or excluding certain vegetables with potato as the core.

The Dutch variation is stamppot but most Dutch people I knew back home simply referred to it as boercole, their name for kale. Kale is exceptionally good for us and I love it, so I made boercole for dinner. Kale is very tough and typically harvested after the first frost, making it sweeter and more edible. I stick my kale in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (sometimes I just leave it in there) before taking it out and chopping it up, stripping it away from the thicker stalks. I use quite a bit of it and boil it in a pot. You may be able to find chopped kale in a tin or dried kale as well.

The Dutch use a smoked sausage called rookworst, but I can't find that here so I double smoked farmer sausage which tastes close enough. Slice up the sausage and cook it with the kale. If you are worried about the fat content, cook it separately, strain it and add it in latter. Make your mashed potatoes (sometimes they can be cooked in with the kale as well) how you like. My Dad barely adds butter, preferring his course, chunky and dry. (he enjoys suffering for some reason) I use milk and butter/margarine and add onion into the mix. Once the potatoes are ready, I add in my strained kale and sausage and eat.

The Dutch sometimes make a gravy for stamppot and Germans will make a white sauce with onion. I like the white sauce, but it is too much fat. I also added in wild mushrooms for my dish. Another variation I made for my Dad was to take his left over ham and cabbage and mix it into potatoes.

Anyhow, if it is still cold where you are try this dish. It makes for a good winter dish, warming, filling and nutritious.

Baked almond chicken fingers

2011-03-12T10:12:00.001-08:00

My favourite way to make chicken is to sort of "schnitzelify" it, with my own twist...I cut a chicken breast into thin finger strips, dip in flour, egg wash and then a crunchy mix of roughly equal amounts of coarsely ground up roast salted almonds (done in food processor)and Panko flakes, with some spice added (pepper, cumin, Mrs.Dash, oregano). I used to fry them in a pan in about a cm of oil to golden brown, but I haven't made them in a while as they really aren't the healthiest. They are incredibly amazing tho - the almonds and Panko make for crunchy tasty chicken. So good.
Last night I had an idea - bake them.
So I prepped them the same as usual and then put them on a non-stick cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes or so until the chicken was cooked and the coating started to brown up. They were amazing! Incredibly tasty and crunchy but not greasy. Score.

To go with them I served one of my favourite sides: I cooked up a spaghetti squash in the microwave and sauteed some garlic, green onion and red pepper (~1/8 c each) with some oregano and pepper in some olive oil. I took the cooked spaghetti squash and added the sauteed veggies with it, with just enough flavoury oil and herbs to sort of break up the spaghetti squash, tossing it up together and coating it a bit for flavour.
That with the chicken?
Divine :)

Pirate Bakery: Oat Spice Coconut Muffins

2011-03-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

I've been diddling about a bit in search of a good oat spice muffin. I've come up with these. They're not overly spicy - you could add more if you like a lot of spice. I think they're delish...and full of healthy goodness.

In small bowl mix:
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 +1/3 c white flour
1 t b. powder
1 t b. soda
pinch salt

In another large bowl mix:
1 c sour milk (add 1 T vinegar to 1% milk, stir and let sit 5 minutes)
2 eggs
1/3 c unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 T oil
1/4 c shredded coconut (plus a bit more to sprinkle on top if you want them to look pretty)
1/2 t vanilla
1 heaping t pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 t cinnamon + 1/2 t ginger)
1/4 c sliced almonds
1 c oatmeal

Mix together wet until there is no lumps and stir in oats. Sift in dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. If you like sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and coconut on top of them.(ooh. pretty...)
Bake in a well greased muffin pan (or use papers) for 15-18 minutes at 400 until a toothpick comes out clean or the tops bounce back when you tap them. Don't overbake. They come out to ~145 calories each and I love them.

Healthy and filling...you could add fruit to them too. That's my next batch...I'm thinking peaches. Yum...

Lasagna of Paradise!

2011-03-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

Well, Geo may disagree, as she is the only one who has tried my lasagna, but I like themes. I have had a craving for lasagna for a while. But not just any lasagna, the lasagna Luigi served at The Mocha on Commercial Drive when I was a kid. Luigi was from Calabria and he had said that the Calabrese in his region used sliced hard boiled eggs. I see online that some people mix the eggs in with their ricotta, but did it Luigi's way. I was also lacking a pan, but then Geo gave me a Corning wear dish exactly like the one that went missing on me a few years ago. I had also bought ricotta that was more like the mascarpone I bought in texture than the slightly courser variety I am used to.

1. I sauteed onions and fennel seed in olive oil, unto the onions became translucent. I added garlic, oregano and black pepper before adding the ground beef. As that browned I added shredded basil and spinach.

2. Once the beef was finishing up, I cooked the noodles until they were very al dente. Basically, I the were too long and I needed to fold or cut the noodles to make them fit.

3. I laid down the first layer of noodles and then a layer of ricotta, a layer of beef and a layer of sauce - which was just from a can of crushed tomatoes. (I was a bit lazy that day) I laid more noodles over top and then a layer of mascarpone, beef, sauce, six sliced hardboiled eggs and topped it with mozzarella. I added the last layer of noodles, beef, sauce and mozzarella with dabs of ricotta on top.

4. I cooked at 325 until it was boiling through the top, removed the lid and set the oven to broil in order to brown the cheese.

Personally, I think it turned out well.

Chili of the gods

2011-03-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago I threw together a pan of chili in a hurry that ended up as fantastic. I wanted to write it down before I forgot so I can make it again.

Start off with:
~1/2 Lb lean ground pork
1 small onion diced
1/4 red pepper diced
1 can mushrooms with the juice
1 stalk celery diced up fine
1T minced garlic
1 t oregano
1/2 t red pepper flakes
2-3T chili powder (to taste...I used at least 3 -I'm just guessing here)
~3/4 t cinnamon
1 veg bullion cube

Brown up the meat in a splash of olive oil and toss in the veg for a few minutes to saute. Add spices and stir a minute more and then add:
~1 c red wine (I used a cheap merlot) and continue to stir until liquid is nearly gone and veg are clear. At this point, stir in and 1 large T of molasses and ~1 t of good mustard powder (you could probably add a squirt of fresh stuff). Simmer a minute. Then add:

1 small can spicy pizza sauce
1 large can diced tomatoes with chili peppers
1/2 c salsa

Let simmer ~ 5 min to incorporate flavours. Adjust chili powder and add a bit more garlic or pepper if desired. Right before you eat, stir in:
large can black beans, drained and rinsed
large can chic peas, drained rinsed

Cook to warm through and serve with soft buns or some rice. It was enough for a few days of yummy bowls of chili. Chock full of good stuff :)

Pozole

2011-02-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is a Mexican pork and hominy soup or stew that I made around 6 years ago by accident. I was going to make a pork and bean soup and ended up making something close to pozole according to my Dad. It is one of his favourite things to have when he goes to Mexico - but I have never been to Mexico, nor have I seen it at any Mexican restaurant up here, Serendipity I guess?

The soup/stew has its origins in the old Aztec empire. It was ceremonial dish to be consumed after the ritual human sacrifice. Suffice it to say, that before being conquered and subjugated by the Spanish the Aztecs weren't using pork as their ceremonial meat of choice. *cough*

I don't have cannibalistic tendencies so I stuck to pork. I made a stock of parsley, cilantro (key, very key) onion, garlic, some chopped habanero chili and a whole chipotle pepper. After browning the pork hocks I added them in along with some white beans I had soaked over night. As the soup cooked I added the hominy and then when it finished off I added the squeezed lime and let it sit. I had intended to top it with some shredded iceberg lettuce in addition to some more cilantro, but I forgot the lettuce. I see from one pic that they used avocado to top it off, fitting actually.

Geo hates cilantro, but if you don't try it yourself.

Falafel Queen?

2011-02-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

I have been craving falafel for a long time. I've never made it myself before, but have had it in restaurants the odd time, with salads or in a pita. I love it...the coriander, cumin and crunch to the chic peas? Mmmm. It is a perfectly yummy vegetarian food that I've never felt was trying to be something fake meatyish. Just it's own middle eastern yumminess.
I decided that tonight, since I got home at a normal human hour, I would attempt falafel myself for supper. I found a recipe a while back that mentioned baking falafel instead of deep frying them in oil and I hunted it up. Healthy AND yummy? I was in. Thankfully J will try anything I make once as long as there's no seafood involved, so I decided to have it in some pitas with tzatziki, diced tomato and cucumber, lettuce, and some feta.
I picked up some fresh parsley on the way home, and altho there were no pitas to be had, I found some good flat bread wraps that would work. I gathered the following and modifies things a bit to my taste to get the following recipe:

-1/4 c finely chopped onion
- a 540 mL can of chic peas, rinsed and drained
-1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
- 4 small cloves garlic, minced finely
- 1 generous t ground cumin
-1/4 t ground ground coriander (I ground up some seeds in my mortar and pestle. Smells. SO. good.)
-1/4 t salt
-1/4 t baking soda
- 1 rounded T flour (I would have used 2 T of bread crumbs too but hadn't any...sigh)
-1 egg, beaten
-pepper to taste (~8 grinds of the pepper mill)
(you could add some fresh cilantro too - I've seen it in some recipes -but I hate the stuff...so none here. No soapy supper for me...)

~2 t olive oil, for frying
-1/2 a lemon of some lemon juice (optional) for flavour at the end

Turn on the oven to 400.
I sauteed the garlic and onion for a few minutes until they softened a bit. Then I put the drained chic peas in a bowl and mashed them with my hand mixer. You could use a food processor at this point, if you're not so into texture. The hand mixing left the odd bit of parsley and onion texture - I like it that way. Then I added the the rest of the ingredients and, because I wasn't using the food processor, I just mixed it up well with my hands. Then I formed the mush into 8 small patties (I'm too uncoordinated to try and deal with little balls of falafel) about 2 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch think and let them sit for 15 minutes - this helps keep them from falling apart.

After this I fried them about 4 minutes a side on medium heat in a bit of olive oil to brown and crisp them up on the outside. Then I transferred them to a cookie sheet and baked them another 12 minutes (6 minutes a side) in the oven to cook them through and crisp them up a bit. When I took them out I lightly drizzled them with bit of lemon juice and then we served them up warm, broken up into a few pieces wrapped up in the flat bread with some tzatziki, diced tomato and cucumber, lettuce, feta and a drop or two of greek dressing and a bit more pepper.

These were delicious. They didn't have the breadcrumby crunch I'm used to, but I think it could be remedied by adding a bit of breadcrumbs to the mix. They aren't deep fried so they aren't quite as crunchy, but the outsides were nice and brown and crispy and the flavour of them was AMAZING! Better than a lot I've had before. The recipe I modified says this should serve 2, but since we had lots with them, there are some leftovers for my lunch salad tomorrow.
If you swap out of the egg for a vegan friendly binding agent these would be a tasty vegan entre.

I must say: give falafel a try - they are bits of crispy, healthy vegetarian goodness. DEFINITELY in our regular meal rotation!

Curried Goat Stew

2011-02-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

At the time of this posting, this is a work in progress. I have never had goat before, but given how much my father hates it would seem to be worth trying. I asked some Kenyan and Somali people at work what they would suggest for making a goat stew and took their advice to heart. Yesterday, I browned some goat meat in a pan with curry powder, black pepper, shallot and garlic. This morning I placed that meat in my slow cooker with water, onion, cabbage, carrots, beans and barley. The seasoning in the stew included a bay leaf, more curry powder, cumin, black and green cardamom, star anise, three cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. One half hour ago, I added a variety of mushrooms, a Hungarian pepper, and some butternut squash I cut up and browned in a pan.

Smells great, though I have no idea how any of this will taste. I am hoping it will have thickened up enough before I head to bed, but I may just let this stew until tomorrow morning.

- Magnus

Addendum: After writing this I was not that happy with the flavour of the stew. The Hungarian peppers added nothing to the flavour and the stew was lacking that certain something, it needed another dimension. More black pepper was my initial idea and I fought my temptation to add habanero. I ended up adding some cooking chocolate (60% cocoa) that my Mum sent home with me at Christmas time. I would say chocolate/cocoa added the dimension I was looking, without making the stew overly sweet. Still think it could have used some heat though.

I sent some home with Geo in a butternut squash "bowl" to try.

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

2011-01-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

MMMMMmmmmm...I love pancakes. Any and all pancakes.
I made these on sunday as my last hurrah of pancakes for the holidays. I was looking for something different and came across these. I've never made them before, but they are indeed now my new favourite pancake. Given that I have over 20 pancake recipes that is saying something...they even trump blueberry buttermilk cornmeal pancakes. I *know*. I thought that could not happen.

They are heavenly. You MUST try them. This makes enough pancakes for 2 ravenous people...or 4 normal if you toss in some bacon and show any kind of restraint. As for us, the gluttons that we are, there was not a crumb left after...

3/4 c milk
1 T vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 egg
2 T butter, melted
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour
2 T white sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
~1 t poppy seeds (I added a bit more as I like them)
1 t lemon zest (about 1/2 a lemon)

Stir the milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together in a small bowl and let stand 10 minutes to curdle. Then whisk an egg and add in the egg, butter, lemon zest and vanilla. In a separate larger bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds. Pour the wet into the dry and whisk a few times until the batter is free of lumps. Don't overmix. The batter will be nice and thick.
Bring the pan to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 c of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, and flip to brown the other side. Serve with syrup.

Spiced Ale? Yes please!

2010-12-14T08:45:00.001-08:00

This isn't too foody, but I wanted to pop in and make a plug for the seasonal brew put out by Big Rock breweries this year: McNally's Winter Spice Strong Ale.
It is a yummy full bodied ale brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and a hint of ginger.
I tried some at the LB and picked some up on the spot.
It is delish.
If you get the chance, try some before it goes away...

Christmas Cookies

2010-12-13T05:14:00.001-08:00

Been a while since I posted anywhere, but I thought I would share my Mum's recipe for vanillekipfl. These are amongst my favourite things about Christmas time. These are an Austrian tradition which she picked up from my godparents. Enjoy.

- Magnus

Vanillekipfl

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add remaining ingredients and continue beating until mixture is slightly stiff.
Form into crescents and bake @ 350 about 15 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Remove from oven to racks. Cool 5 minutes, dust with icing sugar and cool again for 15 min.

Eggnog waffles

2010-12-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

It's eggnog season again.
Giggedy.

This weekend we started into the eggnog craze with something new: eggnog waffles.
They were very good. We had them with some maple syrup and some bananas...you probably could have thrown in some nuts too. These were yummy just as they were, although I wish I had a Belgian waffle maker so they could be extra thick and fluffy:
This makes enough for 4 hungry people, so feel free to scale it down a bit. They do freeze well though and make awesome emergency toaster breakfasts. Just saying...

2 c flour
2 c eggnog
2 large eggs - beaten
6 T vegetable oil
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

In a large bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together eggnog, eggs and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Cook waffles in well-greased preheated waffle iron.

I also had my first persimmon this weekend. YUM! I am trying to find an awesome persimmon recipe...I'll be back with it soon, I promise.

Enjoy!

Roasted root veggies and baked fish

2010-11-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I had lots of work to do (what a surprise), so I made a meal that took long to bake, but required very little work from me and could be ignored...and it was SO GOOD.
In a mixing bowl I thinly sliced a few potatoes, a yam, and part of a butternut squash (cubed it because it cooks faster) and some onion. I drizzled on some olive oil and some Organic natural herb seasoning (from costco) and a bit of pepper on this, tossed it to coat and spread it out on a foil covered cookie pan and baked it for 45 minutes at 375, turning things halfway. Along with it I put a trout fillet on top of some sliced lemon and onion and sprinkled some dill and garlic on top and wrapped it in a tinfoil pouch and stuck that in the oven too.
The results was very healthy and insanely delicious - easy cleanup too. Maybe it's all the snow lately, but nothing says yum like baked squash and yams. And i love baked trout - the foil pouch kept it moist and lemony.

Mmmm...and there was more for lunch today. Bwaha!

Pirate Bakery #1: Apple Oat Muffins

2010-11-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

In my attempt to avoid my endless assignment work (yes it really is endless) I took a muffin break. I’m really been working on healthifying some of my favourite muffins recipes. I have become a healthy pirate on the seas of deliciousness - stealing my favourite recipes and making them healthier and dare I say better than they were before. My muffiny skull and crossed wooden spoon Jolly Roger warns on comers that tasty things are coming. (yes I have been working too much...humour me).

I have done it again - scrumptious moist muffins and they're about 135 calories each…really low in fat and full of good things. A perfect snack. The only way I could improve these even more would be to swap out sugar for maple syrup, but I have no maple syrup around what can ya do…and the banana was just because I had a ripe banana…you could leave it out if you don't have one. I think it helped.

We are the Pirate Bakery. These are our muffins. Enjoy.

1 small apple peeled and chopped up

2 L brown eggs

1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce

~2T oil (a "glodge" worth. You could leave it out but it seems to add a real richness)

1 ripe banana mashed up smooth

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c white flour

2/3 c brown sugar (could cut to 1/2 if you like. I like this amount)

1 ¼ c 1% milk

1 T vanilla

1 T cinnamin

½ c wild oatmeal

1 well rounded T baking powder

½ t salt

Put oats and milk in a bowl and let sit 5 minutes. Then add everything except the flour and baking powder and mix up well with a whisk. Mix flour and b.powder together and sprinkle over top evenly, then mix until just mixed (Don't overmix or you get chewy muffins) and fill up muffin papers in the pan to the top…these don't rise too much so don't worry about overflow. I had enough for probably 13 muffins, but what can ya do? J just ate the rest of the batter. Problem solved :)

Bake for ~18-20 minutes at 375, until the tops bounce back when you tap them. Do not overbake them or you will be sad. Noone wants to be sad. Use a toothpick to check if they're done if you aren't sure - it will come out clean. And lately I usually don't do muffin papers, but for low fat muffins like this break down, swallow your environmentyness and use muffin papers…otherwise they're a real bitch to get out of the pan whole…

There you go - enjoy. I did.

Delish and good for ya.

quinoa

2010-10-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

In my recent beginnings of Operation Uberfrau, I've also been trying to find healthier "cleaner" and more nutrition filled foods. I've read a lot of how quinoa is one of those "wonder foods". It contains a balanced set of essential amino acids and is a complete protein source for a plant food. It's higher in protein than rice and is a good source of dietary fiber,phosphorus, magnesium and iron. And it's fun to say (it's pronounced "keeenwah!!") :)
I've had quinoa for a while but never gotten around to it. I can screw up any kind of rice so I was nervous...but I finally made some up: I went to the Savvy Vegetarian and followed their instructions for quinoa and it worked perfectly: I soaked 1 cup of quinoa in hot water for 5 minutes and then drained it. I then brought it to a boil in 1 1/2 c water with a spash of olive oil and salt. I put on a lid and turned down the heat so it simmered for 15 minutes, then took it off the heat for another 5 and voila! Fluffy slightly nutty flavoured quinoa. And I must say - I love it. It's easy to cook, has a unique texture and flavour and can take the place of potatoes, rice or couscous in a lot of meals. We had it with some curried lentils and it was yummy.
I had some more last night and made up a salad with it:

1 c quinoa, cooked (ends up as about 2-3 c cooked)
1 c black beans
1 c corn
1 tomato diced
1/4 c red onion (would do with a bit less next time)
I added a dressing from 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil, some cayenne, salt, basil and pepper, as well as 2 T lemon juice, 1 t lime juice and a few splashes of rice vinegar whisked together.
Stirred that all up and had it with a homemade burger. Yum. That salad could be a meal on it's own really with some more beans tossed in.

Mmm. Quinoa.

Pumpkin pancakes

2010-09-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

On sunday I wanted some healthier pancakes. With fall comes my obsession with pumpkin and squash...so I hunted up a recipe for pumpkin pancakes at my favourite recipe site (allrecipes.com) and OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH MAN they are delicious. Pictures? I was too busy making groany noises to remember to take them. There's a photo on the website...
The recipe makes a bunch (I probably could have halved it for just the 2 of us) so I have some tucked away in the freezer for lunches too. Squeee!
The recipe is here. All I did was replace the spices with plain old pumpkin pie spice (I had no ginger or allspice kicking around) and used 1 cup whole wheat flour with 1 cup white flour and they were VERY soft and fluffy, and healthier than my regular pancakes (only 2 T of oil) and seriously delicious. The batter is thick making nice thick fluffy cakes, which is the way I like them. Cook them on medium heat tho - the sugar in the pumpkin browns up quickly...and you get fluffier cakes that way too.

5 gold stars - They are on my list of fantastic breakfasts now.
Try some soon - you'll be glad you did!

mmm...forbidden sauce...

2010-06-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

If you know me, despite my best efforts at being a sophisticated adult who eats "real" food, I still loves me my ketchup. Ketchup on tuna fish sandwiches. Ketchup on french fries. Ketchup on burgers...not as bad as I once was, but you get the idea. My husband, who was raised British and doesn't get this whole extra sauce thing will maybe dip fries in mayo or salsa and cringes at the stuff.
Silly man.

Just when I thought I could perhaps wean myself over to the occasional salsa or BBQ sauce dippings my visiting family brought me some of this deliciousness:

Country Ketchup from Stonewall Kitchens

"What's the big deal? " you say. "It's just fancy overpriced ketchup!"

Oh my friends you have no idea.

It's got little chunks of tomato and garlic and some zesty spices that make it quite honestly the best ketchup out there. I hesitate to even call it ketchup because...well...it's better than ketchup. It's the Jaguar of the tomato saucy world. Honest. I could eat it with a spoon. I'm going to have to try some of this company's other stuff and see if the rest of it is as delish as this.

If you see it around give it a try. Yummers...

Greek style chicken taco wrap...things

2010-05-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

On the way home from work on Saturday I had an idea so I picked up a few things and went home to experiment and came up with my version of what a Greek taco would be like. They also took less than 15 minutes to make- bonus.

You'll need:

2 small chicken breasts, cubed up
1/4 c white wine
~3 T lemon juice
1/2 t Greek spice (Cavendish low salt)
1t oregano
3 cloves crushed garlic
ground pepper to taste (~1/2 T)
splash olive oil

Toss all this in a pan and saute the chicken until all liquid is absorbed and it tastes tangy and spicy and yummy. Resist the urge to eat it all then and there.

Next dice up:
1 large tomato
1/3 garden cucumber (about 3/4c)
1/4 c red onion
Toss together in a bowl with a splash of greek seasoning, 1T of lemon juice or a bit of balsamic vinegar.

Then get the rest of what you need:
Shred up about 1c of lettuce
1/3 c crumbled feta
Tzatziki (~1/3c)
1/4 c balsamic and fig dressing (Kraft)
5-6 whole wheat wraps

In each wrap put chicken, topped with a few T of tzatziki and a tiny bit of fig dressing, then cheese and a generous scoop of veggies and some lettuce. Wrap up and eat, making groany noises....

Experimental success! These are definitely going on the monthly food list of yummy fast meals. :) We had a bit of white wine with them and felt absolutely posh...

mexican corn bean salad

2010-05-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. Sorry. Some time I'll catch up on all my recipes as of late (some have photos even) but for now, I thought I'd share with you the Mexican style salad I had for supper last night, along with some marinated BBQ'd pork tenderloin and tin foil steamed snap peas. It was deeeelicious.

2 c romaine lettuce
1/2 c corn (I thawed out some peaches and cream corn)
1 c cooked black or white beans (I used canned rinsed black beans)
1/4 c diced green onion
1/4 c diced tomato (called for a handful of cherry tomatoes, but I don't like them so there)
1/2 c fried wontons (originally called for crumbled corn chips but I didn't have any)

Dressing:
1 avocado smooshed up with a fork
3 T lime juice
3/4 c salsa
1/2 c fat free sour cream
4 splashes Tabasco sauce

Put salad in bowl with the rest of the stuff on top. Smoosh avacado with the lime and add the rest and stir well. Pour dressing over salad and toss right before eating. Eat it all up - it will get all soggy if you don't eat it that day.
I have to note that this made about twice the dressing I would use on a salad. BUT, I think that's great because guess what I'm having for lunch today?
Yes! More yummy salad. Yum.

I loved this salad - it's healthy and easy and a good accompaniment to anything really. You could have it on it's own for a meal too. Another great recipe from Vegetarian Times. I love that magazine....

Better Living Through Chemistry

2010-03-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this post about scientific themed cookies.
Then this one...

Consider me totally blown away and utterly inspired.
MAN I want to make me some lab cookies right now!!

mee hee...

Old lady salad rocks!

2010-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

I am so glad my husband loves what everyone else seems to think of as granny salad. It's so easy and yummy. Not too bad for you either. I make it all the time...

It's this easy:
Grate or finely chop up ~2 c green cabbage and throw in 1 diced apple & a handful of chopped nuts (almonds, pumpkiin seeds or walnuts are great). You can even add in 1/2 c seedless grapes cut in half add to this (or add them instead of the apple OR cabbage). Add ~ 1/3c low-fat mayo (just enough to cover/ coat things) and stir together. Let it sit about 15 minutes for the natural sugars to seep out of the fruit and there you go - simple easy delicious coleslaw/old lady salad.

Love it. I'm toying with replacing some mayo with fat free sour cream to see if it tastes the same to cut out some fat. I'll report on the results :)

Glutenous Rice Balls

2010-01-20T19:40:00.001-08:00

Mmmm...a while back at superstore I saw a package of Spring Home Glutinous Rice Balls with Red Bean Paste filling in the freezer section when I was getting paneer. I love glutinous rice treats and I love red bean paste...and when I read the ingredients there was nothing sinister: glutinous rice, red bean paste, oil, water and suger. I grabbed a package. I just had to know.

Then it took us months to get up the nerve to try them...cuz you had to boil them and stuff...and I had no idea what they'd be like.
A few nights ago we finally made them out of curiosity.

YUMMY.

And super easy - boil water. Add balls. Boil a few minutes until they float...drain and eat!
190 calories for 3 so not really healthy, but I like them. A lot.
Definitely on my new easy dessert list - apparently they make peanut centred ones too. I'll have to track them down.
If you can find them try them out. They are delish!

Addition: I tried the peanut ones. They are even better!!!

Breakfasty Goodness

2010-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

I am enamoured with corn meal right now. I am finding it far more versatile than rice. This morning I blended cornmeal cakes with something I have been doing for breakfast for while now. Mainly this happened because I have no bread and did not feel like going to Mac's (a convenience store here in Canada) to buy some.
I had 3 small tart tins and placed my cooked cornmeal inside to cool down and take shape. As the cornmeal boiled away I only added 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of butter to 1.5 cups of cornmeal/ Once cooked (and regular cornmeal is finer than polenta and cooks faster) I placed them into the tins to take shape.
I stewed two roma tomatoes and cooked them in a pan with garlic, (crushed) diced onion, herbs, ground pepper, diced green pepper and hot paprika. I also added a pinch of salt and brown sugar- small pinches each. Once cooked I cooked two eggs over easy. I spooned the tomato mixture over the 3 corn cakes, which were sitting beside each other in a triangle shape, and placed the eggs on top. I like runny yolks, so I punctured the yolks and let them run all over. Fanatasic. I'll be making that again this week. I had enough corn meal left over for other meals.

Coq Au Vin

2009-12-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Magnus has had a strong strong urge to make coq au vin for a while now. He found a place in town that sells good quality capons as well, so it was going to be a full on authentic coq au vin...I was willing to supply the wine (my Dad makes it and keeps me well stocked) and space as a good excuse to get together over the holidays and make yummy food.
I admit to knowing little about coq au vin...I thought it involved cocoa somehow and was completely uninterested until I heard it was mainly poultry slow cooked in wine and spices. THAT I can get into :)

So, yeah...Coq au vin day was the 27th. Magnus arrived, with capon and we began the elaborate procedure...here's what we did:

First off, the ingredients:
~1 1/2 bottles of red wine (thanks Dad!)
15 baby carrots
1 white onion coarsely chopped
12 pearl onions
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
~ 1/2 c walnuts, crushed up
4 cloves garlic, crushed
~1 T thyme (called for 6 sprigs fresh but we couldn't get any)
1 bay leaf
~1 T sage (again...no fresh stuff to be found)
1 25 Lb capon, cut up into 8 pieces.
5 T butter
12 ounces large mushrooms, quartered (mix of oyster, crimini and white)
4 bacon slices, chopped + 6 cubes of prosciutto fat
vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups Port (again, thanks Dad!)
2 T flour and some cornstarch

While marinading the bird in the wine, we cooked the pearl onions in pot of boiling salted water 3 minutes, then drained and peeled them. Then we melted 3 tablespoons butter and added the pearl onions, some garlic and mushrooms and sauteed until mushrooms were tender, about 10 minutes, and put them aside. In the same pan, we then sauteed the bacon and fat cubes and sauteed until brown and crisp and put them on paper towel to drain. We then sauteed the walnuts and celery for ~ 5 minutes in come of the bacon fat and set aside, saving a bit of the bacon fat. (mmm...bacon fat)

We transferred the bird with tongs onto a cookie sheet and brushed with the bacon fat and added salt and pepper and reserved the marinade. We then broiled the bird, flipping half way through, until it was all brown and crispy on the outside, instead of trying to brown it in a skillet on the stove...there was just too much bird! We then put the marinade into a dutch oven and then brought it to a boil, adding the bird to it, along with the white onion, carrots and and most of the walnuts and celery and garlic. We reduced the heat and simmered uncovered until chicken is very tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes (turning the pieces occasionally).

We removed the meat and saved the cooking liquid, setting the bird aside. We strained out the veggies in there and then returned the liquid to pot, added the port and brought it to a boil. We mixed melted butter and flour together and added it to the liquid to thicken it (and used a bit of cornstarch and water too to get it a bit thicker). We let it boil lightly over medium heat for ~ 15 minutes until the sauce thickened. Then we returned the capon to the pot and added the pearl onions and sauteed mushrooms, bacon and celery and walnuts. We let it all simmer until it was heated through and the flavour had a chance to blend together - about 15 minutes.

While this was going on, I had the bread robot making some cheddar beer bread. I also steamed up some asparagus, and made some nicely oven roasted baby potatoes with peppers, onions and some fresh herbs to go with it...and viola!

It was a lot of work...I personally would modify it and use chicken breasts and more herbs, but for a first jaunt into french obscure cuisine - I gotta say. This was top notch.
Yes...well done everyone. :)

Challah

2009-12-08T04:36:00.000-08:00

The one and only Mizfit inspires me with her fitness thoughts and ideas, and especially the example she sets with her family - she's all about being real and caring about the things that really matter to me as well. She happens to be Jewish, and was talking about making challah bread with her daughter in a recent post...and it got me thinking that I hadn't had challah in years and years...mostly as it takes a lot of kneading to get it right. I read up a bit on the tradition of challah, and I really like the idea and the attitude that goes into making challah weekly for your family to enjoy together on shabbat. My friend Eleanor used to make it and it was yummy. I don't like kneading bread so I've never tried.
If you've never had challah, it's a slightly sweet, rich, eggy bread, often made with poppy seeds. Depending on the time of year it's formed into various shapes.

Now that I have a bread maker -Bwaha! No kneading for me :)
So I thought, hey, why not try it out?

I found a simple challah recipe that would work in a breadmaker and I tossed the following ingredients into the bread robot on the dough cycle and let it go for 1 and a half hours:

1 cup warm water
21⁄2 teaspoons yeast
2 eggs (whisked together)
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups bread flour

Once it was done the dough cycle (manually it would be kneading ~10 minutes, and first rise of about an hour) I divided the recipe in half (it's for 2 smaller loaves) and froze half for another time. The machine was struggling towards the end as it's a thick heavy dough. Glad it was him and not me!
I divided the dough into 3 pieces and rolled them out into log shapes and rolled them in poppy seeds. I wet the ends with water and then made a nice braided bread and let it rise for about 40 minutes. Then it was baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees...and voila!

It was delicious. I will definitely make it again. J and I loved it just the way it was. It was delicious...we went through a whole loaf by the next afternoon...!

I put it on the baking stone to rise and bake, but I think next time I'll just put it on a cookie sheet, as the bottom could have used a bit more browning. Apparently you can add nuts or sun dried tomatoesto this recipe and it works great. I look forward to more bread experiments.

Yum.

Chicken: Two Different Meals

2009-12-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

Chicken stew for all! I was watching Chef at home and saw that he had served a chicken and mushroom stew. I missed what he did but I figured I am capable enough to figure out my own stew.
I browned six chicken thighs in one pan and caramelized onions in the other. I lay green onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms in the bottom of a large pot along with the herbs parsley, savory rosemary and thyme. (sage went on vacation) Once browned the chicken was laid on top and I filled it with water to about an inch and half over the chicken.
Once it came to a boil I added in around 1/2 cup of corn meal (yup, polenta again) and some black pepper. I let that cook for a couple of hours on low heat, stirring occasionally. I also added in 2 ounces of bourbon. I am not sure how it affected the flavour of the stew in one's mouth, but it did loan an aromatic quality, and seeing as how it is made from corn it would match up nicely with the corn meal I would expect.
The fist nights serving was overly peppery, but it seemed to become more tame with each meal. The flavour improved and was the best on day four. I tore up some multi grain bread and served the stew over top. Mmmmmm.
________

Last Night I made a roast chicken. The Bulk Cheese Warehouse sells free range birds and they are delicious. I decided to make it a warm up to when I prepare Coq au Vin.

The stuffing: I mixed yellow and bue corn meals together and cooked them with some dried kale and mixed in margarine. In a pan I sauteed onions, rosemary, sage and thyme with some hot panchetta and mixedthat into the corn meal and kale. I had enough left over so I had that with carrots and the chicken heart and liver for dinner proper.

The bird: After stuffing the bird withthe corn meal, I poured around 600mL of red wine over top and place in the same herbs I used in the stuffing along with a bay leaf. On top of the that went button mushrooms and a number of pearl onions. I then melted some butter and drizzled it over the top of the chicken and sprinkled pepper over top of that.
I set the oven to broil to brown the skin. I have never actually seen wine burn, but I did last night. It had no affect on the contents - i.e. nothing was burned - and the fire went out when I quickly opened and then closed the oven door. I place a lid on and covered my beautifully browned bird.

The gravy: In a small pot I had water with some salt, pepper, carrots and diced onions and mushrooms. I simmered it for a while with the chicken liver and heart in the pot as well. Eventually I removed the carrots and seared the heart and liver for my dinner. (I prepered the bird for future meals) When the bird was done I cupped out the wine stock and placed it into the gravy stock. To thicken I used blue corn meal (which was more like a course flour) and two and half tblspns of cocoa powder. I cooked that for 20 minutes.

The results: Wow. Great bird, fantastic stuffing and an incredible gravy. The cocoa really makes it and suggest using it with any wine based stock.

- Magnus

Homemade Udon Soup

2009-11-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

I love Udon soup. LOVE it. Delicious broth full of veggies and some noodles...and even some shrimp. Fantastic.
Today was a crazy day-I went into work an on my day off and worked all day to finish a proposal paper, and after a bit of emergency cat food shopping (...they had none, poor guys...), I came home and raked the entire back yard - 8 large bags of leaves. I hate raking, but what can you do. So yeah...I wanted good, healthy food as a reward...and I wanted it FAST. I knew I would be hungry after all that.
My husband doesn't like seafood, so whenever he's away, like this weekend, I usually have some. While in the store for cat food I walked by the seafood and saw tiger prawns on sale and stopped dead and thought "oooooh..." (there was some drooling too I admit). So I bought six big ones. I went home and tried to think of all the yummy things that are in Udon soup and put together a homemade version from my head....
And IT WORKED. I admit I want to keep fiddling with it to get away from the packaged noodles and totally get it from scratch...but for now, this will be...well...spectacular.
OH. MY. So good.
It made 1 giant (think meal size japanese soup bowl) noodle bowl of soup.

1 package chicken Ichiban Noodles (the good stuff! )
1/2 t low sodium vegetable stock
1/2 t miso
1/2 t chinese 5 spice
~1/4 t pepper (to taste - it was 6 grinds on the mill)
1 small carrot sliced very thinly
a finger length of celery cut into matchsticks
1/2 small onion cut into very thin slices
1/4 c peas
2 mushrooms sliced thinly
6 tiger prawns, tailes trimmed (precooked)
1 c Japanese cabbage, shredded thinly

I boiled ~3 1/2 c water in a small saucepan. Basically enough liquid to cover everything...not exact measurement or anything. I added the all veggies but the cabbage and all the spices (including the soup spice packet) and boiled them for 2 minutes. I added the noodles and cabbage and cooked for another 3-4 minutes unti lthe noodles were done...and that was it. Seriously. That's it!
I poured it all into the giant bowl and let it cool for a few minutes (OK I admit I added an ice cube because I was STARVING) and then ate the most yummy bowl of homemade soup I've ever ever (ever ever EVER) had.

Ever. :)
Mmmmm....Try it for yourself :)

And the very next day...
OK. I made it again. Yum.

Polenta: A Plea for Consideration

2009-11-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

So I was finally able to lay my hands on some actual polenta corn meal. (I found out that early polenta was actually made from chestnut meal! Droooollll...) It is courser than some corn meals on the market but not as course as others I have seen. The Steep Hill Food Co-op carries Red Mills polenta. I had been using the polenta in log form but wanted the authentic experience, and polenta is sadly lacking from the menus of most Italian restaurants. This is a sore oversight I assure you.
I cooked my polenta for about 45 minutes and added in a sauce I made from roma tomatoes, spinach, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, savory and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.
Good Lord this a good meal. I plan to make more traditional polenta in futre - especially if I can ever get my hands on some chesnut meal!

- Magnus.

Surprise cookies

2009-10-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

While up at the lake at thanksgiving after many weeks of being busy and stressed we had a snowy cloudy day... and I wanted nothing more than to bake something fun and yummy for everyone.
My Mum had an old Canadian Living magazine and in it was a recipe for Peanut Butter SUrprise Cookies. They looked like a bit of fun and so Yukiho (my brother's exchange student) and I happily whiled away an hour making some of the most delicious little cookies I've had in ages. They aren't too tricky and taste heavenly. I'm not even a peanut butter fan and I loved them. I made them with celiac flour so we all could enjoy them and you couldn't tell at all. I tried out the "food" setting on my new camera. The picture does not lie - they were THAT good...1/2 c unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c smooth peanut butter
1 egg
1 T milk or cream
1t vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
3 T sugar (for decoration)

For filling:
1/2 c smooth peanut butter
1/4 c butter or margarine, softened
3/4 c icing sugar
1 T cornstarch
32 chocolate chips

First make the filling:
Beat the 1/2 c peanut butter and 1/4 c butter until smooth. Blend in icing sugar and cornstarch until well combined. Spoon onto a sheet of plastic wrap, use the wrap to shape the filling into a 1/2" thick log and put in the freezer for 10 minutes. While it's cooling make the cookie dough.

Cookie Dough: Beat the remaining butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat thoroughly. Sift dry ingredients; stir into butter mixture using a wooden spoon. Mix and chill about 10 minutes in the fridge.

Cookie Assembly: Slice peanut butter log into 32 equal pieces. To make cookies, flatten tablespoons of chocolate dough into thin disks and place a piece of the peanut butter filling in the center. Skooch chocolate dough around peanut butter filling to form a ball. Smooth the edges to seal and roll a bit in your palms gently to round them up. Roll balls in sugar.

Baking: Arrange cookies 1" apart on parchment lined baking sheet (we just had a Bakers Secret pan and it worked fine). Flatten slightly with hands to make them ~1/2 " thick and decorate top with a chocolate chip. Bake in 350° F oven for 10 minutes. Let cool for 1 minute on the pan (so they don't fall apart when you take them off) and then transfer to cooling rack or newspaper with a flipper to cool completely.

Yum...

The Polenta of Champions

2009-09-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

I was given a "log" of polenta a little while back but only just got around to cooking it. I have been trying to stay away from commercial tomato sauces and learn to make more "homestyle" sauces from Italy. I doubt this would classify as "homestyle" but it was damn good. I hope to learn to make proper polenta at some point, but for now the log will do.

Preheat a pan with olive oil, place chilies and one star anise and one clove in the oil to simmer. That will get the essential oils from the clove and the star flowing and should an aromatic quality to the olive oil.

- Two roma tomatoes , diced. Romas are fleshier than beefsteak and vine tomatoes.
- One vine tomato for the moisture.
- One half a white onion.
- Two cloves of garlic.
- One handful of chopped walnuts. (I have big hands, btw)

Sautee all this in a pan and pour an ounce of single malt whisky for sweetness. You can blanch the tomatoes first if you want the skins completely off. I add the classic "Italian herbs and spices" at this point - basil, rosemary, oregano and sage. I also added 1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika to the mix, just because it was there. And yes, I added a bit of salt. In another pan I had browned some ground pork and add that into the mixture.
After cooking that for a while I add it into a pan over top of the now cut up polenta and grate parmesan over top. The oven has been preheated to 450. Covering the pan I put the polenta in and set the dial down to 400. I let it cook for an hour and then let it stand for 10 minutes.
Mmmmmmm!

Breakfast

2009-09-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for this year (Oh I reach high don't I?) was to eat breakfast every day. I never did, and I need to. It bumps my metabolism and (surprise surprise) I'm more alert and happy when I do and not ready to gnaw my arm off by lunch.

I've looked and tried many things and found my favourite quick, filling breakfast to be this: oatmeal with fruit. Don't laugh. Oatmeal gets a bad rap...when you make it up right it can be fantastic. It's good for you, comfortingly warm, healthy and really gives me the energy I need for my day. Oatmeal is full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, potassium and fiber and it's been shown to lower levels of LDL cholesterol too. I used to think I had no time for breakfast, but seriously - I realised that with all I do all day, I'm worth getting up 10 minutes earlier. And that's all it takes - it takes less than 10 minutes to make this, and just a few to eat...and it's delicious. I really could eat this every day. Here' s how simple it is:

Boil 1c water and toss in 1/2c wild oats (to me quick oats are sludgy and have no texture) and stir occasionally. Cook 4 minutes. Put in bowl with 1/2 banana sliced or 1/4 c blueberries or strawberries and a tsp of brown sugar and 1/4c 1% milk and there ya go. I like mine with milk, but some people drizzle on maple syrup and skip the milk. Whatever you like...experiment to find your thing. You can toss in cinnamin too...there's so many different ways to have it. This weekend I'm trying a new way -chai oatmeal. Sounds yummy to me. Any way you have it, it's super healthy and full of energy and maybe 250 calories for it all. Keeps you full all morning.

I challenge you to eat breakfast every day. You would not believe the difference it makes :)

image source

Best sausage in the world

2009-09-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

My husband's lovely Aunt brought us some of the sausages of the gods when she last came to visit and we finally enjoyed them last night. She has amazing taste in food, so we have been curious.
Spolumbo's Deli in Calgary makes the most amazing sausages I have ever had. Now I'm not normally a fan of sausage unless it's Mennonite garlic farmer's sausage. I find it to be fatty and less tha flavourful...but this sausage is, for lack of a better phrase, "to die for".
Seriously. you have no idea.
So we had their chicken and apple sausage...grilled to perfection on the BBQ by yours truly, along with some coconut ginger rice and veggies. Light and flavourful...and slightly peppery.
The best sausage.
Ever.
I've been told they ship and sell across Canada in some stores and deli...I'm looking into anywhere local. J's Aunt went on an on and on about this stuff. Now I know why. The next time J's Aunt comes out to visit I'll be humbly asking them to bring us more sausages. LOTS more.
Yummers...

Saskatoonberry pie

2009-08-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's fruit season.

Therefore it is pie season.

Do not argue with the logic of the pie.

The pie must be obeyed...

I'm embarrassed to use an online photo for this (our was way better trust me), but some asshat stole my camera while I was on holidays, so I can't offer you any photos of Magnus' and my pie baking extravaganza on sunday afternoon. He had some saskatoon berries and I inherited some blueberries and had a shwack of peaches from holidays in B.C. so it was indeed time for pie. Magnus had wanted to try a gooseberry pie, but I've never made one and don't know anyone who has and have no recipe to go with, so he kept them for another time...he wanted to learn how to make proper fruit pies. I was happy to show him.

We made my favourite fool proof pie crust recipe which is conveniently enough for 4 pies. I made 2 peach pies, with my same recipe from my peach pie post last year. The remaining crust was free for us to make saskatoon berry and blueberry pies. I made the blueberry pie the same as the saskatoon berry one, as the regular recipe I have from my Mum is for wild berries, and I wanted to try something new. Usually I'm not too much a fan of saskatoon berries as they are rather seedy, but having never actually made one before I had to try it out. I hunted about for a good recipe for saskatoon berry pie filling and chose this one:

4 c berries
1/4 c water
2 T lemon juice
3/4 c white sugar
3 T flour
1 T butter (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 F.
This makes a 9 inch pie. In a large saucepan, simmer berries in 1/4 cup water for 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice with berries. Combine sugar and flour together in a medium bowl, then stir into berry mixture and allow to thicken up. Pour mixture into a pastry lined 9 inch pie pan. Dot with butter (optional). Place second crust on top of pie; seal and flute edges and cut a few vents in the top crust. I made little pie crust leaves and decorated the top...cuz that's what my grandma always did and she made the best pies ever. It make berry pies taste better - trust me :)

We baked the pies at 425 for 12 minutes with something underneath to catch the drips (trust me berry pies tend to make a BIG mess that is impossible to clean). Then we reduced the oven 350 F and baked until the crust was a nice golden brown (for ~35 min ). Let cool 30 min before you eat to let the filling set. Serve with some vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

All in all, another successful pie event. I have been given rave reviews on the blueberry and peach pies and have been told by Magnus that the saskatoon berry pie is also yummy.

It's berry season people! Get out there and make yourself some pie!

Next on my list

2009-07-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dude.

I was reading my latest addition of Vegetarian Times and salivating over the walnut stuffed eggplant and flipped a few pages further to see this:

A DONUT PAN.

And AND - you can even get a MINI DONUT PAN!

I KNOW.

I have a twinkie pan from these fine folks at Norpro. It rocks... makes the finest derbies in the land. I haven't had homemade donuts since my Mum made them when I was little...and they are deep fried, so seeing as I am without a deepfryer (whish really is a good thing, trust me) I haven't made any.

I think I will be ambulating forthwith to the local Peppers and ordering myself one of these. I mean $15 for baked donuts? And Veg Times had a bunch of different recipes for them.

Joy

The Queen was not amused

2009-07-24T12:53:00.001-07:00

Just tweaking things.
Not happy with it yet...I need some photoshop time...the logo have a long way to go.
I just couldn't put up with the food whore thing any longer...

Mmmm, Chutney

2009-07-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

So I made a salmon salad for dinner tonight. I had the assorted greens, the tinned salmon and... a very disappointing salad dressing I bought from Bulk Cheese Warehouse. Bulk Cheese is an exceptional place for food - despite it's rather factory sounding name. So when I bough their Greek salad dressing, I was expecting magic in a bottle. I hate store bought dressings by and large, thus I usually just use a vinegar or citrus and olive oil. From there I will add pepper, onion, garlic or whatever else as I require.
I added my dressing and there was no zip whatsoever. If I were Greek, I would sue the makers of this dressing for sullying the reputation of my people. That it uses canola rather olive oil should have tipped me off right away. What to do? I had no citrus and vinegar would not suit this at all. I added pepper. Hm. I added reggiano cheese that my Mum brought from BC. Better but no cigar. Then I tried the made in Zambia mango chutney that my Mum bought for at Christmas time from Ten Thousand Villages. Hit! Hit! Hit!
I didn't use a lot of it, just enough for some extra zip and it works well. If you are ever at a loss for what to do about a dressing, I would suggest giving chutney a try.

I'll just have salad thanks...

2009-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Lately I'm trying to focus on eating healthy, especially now that there's more options for fruits and veggies. Lately when I go visit my brother for supper we have hugeass salads for supper. I've gotten into the whole thing...turns out I like salads a LOT-trick is making them filling enough. I also just found out our city has a Good Food Box program that lets you get fruits and veggies from local sustainable farmers/sources every 2 weeks. VERY cool...we're setting up a pickup here where I work and so I'm looking at ways to eat more veggeis...cuz it turns out I *like* them and will have more of them very soon!
I put this salad together the other day for lunch and it was delicious!

2 c spinach
~1/2 c ea diced red pepper, cucumbers & cauliflower
1/8 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c grated mozza cheese
1 can drained tuna
2 oz low fat greek salad dressing.

Mixed it all up and it was amazing...enough so that I'm still thinking about it days later. I'm going to do this at least once a week and vary up the veggies and nuts in it...whatever I have around -maybe have diced chicken or some hard boiled eggs in it to change up the protein part a bit. Kept me full until supper and was delicious...any ideas from the world about your favourite salad toppings?

All that and a cupcake

2009-05-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

What's better than a cupcake?
A mini cupcake!
I like them...one bite of tastiness...like a petite feur, they're just a hint of yummy cakey dessert. I like them when they are particularly rich or chocolatey, as normally it's too much for me to want a whole piece of cake or cupcake but just one bite? Heaven.
I've had the idea to make these for ages, but no mini muffin pan. Tonight, I finally got around to making minicakes as a practice run for a family tea we're having on the weekend. I got me out today to buy a nice commercial grade baking pan from Chicago steel (courtesy of Peppers, the keepers of all good things)- here's my little speech of the day: never chimp on bakeware. People go on and on about Wilson's or Baker's Secret if you're feeling a bit posh, but really even they only last about a year or so and then the finish starts to go and they aren't non-stick...and the pro bakeware is solid metal, conducts heat evenly, cleans up very well (no finish to worry about scratching) and lasts forever. They're non-stick as long as you keep them very clean and spray with cook spray...I like to use muffin papers anyways, so it's perfect for me...

Back to the cakes. Yes...yummy cakes.

I found a good rich cake recipe at my brother's place a while back I've been itching to try, so I made this up. It makes a 9 X 13 cake...this is enough for 6 dozen minicupcakes. It's nice and moist from the bananas and is chocolatey and rich without being too sweet.

Chocolate Banana Cake

In a mixing bowl combine:

2/3 milk with 1T vinegar added - let sit 5 min
3/4 c softened margarine
1 2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 c mashed bananas (I pureed mine with a blender)
1 t vanilla
Mix until combined

Sift together into wet:
2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 c cocoa
For the cake, bake at 350 for 40-45 min. For the minicakes, put about 1 T batter in each paper in a sprayed muffin pan, so the paper is about 3/4 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the they bounce back when tapped.
Cook a few minutes on a rack and eat. I'm going to ice them up for the tea. For now, they'll go in my belly as is....and they are just delicious as is!

Wahoo! I've got cakes for both J and I to take to work and still have a few to nibble on here...:) I've got 66! I mean 65...er 64....:)

Geo's Pasta Salad

2009-05-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

When I was little I didn't like pasta salad...it was usually just overcooked macaroni with some cheese and celery thrown in and some mayo. My Mum (who is an awesome baker) is not the queen of spices and likes simple food. I found it to be just too boring to make on my own - I did not like her pasta salad.

Now? I like pasta salad. I've tweaked a version of it, with a greek flavour. Last night I made some for our lunches today and threw in some chic peas for the first time - definitely a good addition. I just finished eating it and I'm still tasting the yumminess on my tongue - so I thought I'd post the recipe quick. It makes enough for 4, as a stand alone meal.
The amounts below are estimates...I usually end up with far more veggies than pasta.

2-3 c cooked whole wheat pasta (I usually use rotini or penne)
1/2 c cucumber cut up into 5mm square pieces
1/4 c carrots sliced up
1/3 c celery cut up into 5mm square pieces
1 roma tomato diced up
4 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c feta cheese crumbled
1/2 c both red & green pepper cut up into 5mm square pieces
1/3 c red onion cut up into 5mm square pieces
1/4 cup diced fresh parsley
1 c cooked and rinsed chic peas (I just use canned ones)

For dressing: 1/2 c low fat greek style oil/vinegar herb dressing, 1/2 c fat free sour cream, dash of cayenne, 1/2 t garlic, 1 t oregano, 1 T lemon juice, 1/2 T fresh black pepper (or more to taste).
Mix it all up and let sit a few minutes before you eat. It's even better the next day...it is a picnic favourite of mine. Tossing olives or parmesan into this is always a good thing too. Usually it's whatever veggies are around, but if I have all these it's a bonus. I'm trying to find a way to get less oil int he dressing to be a bit healthier, but for now...pastaliciousness.

Chard

2009-05-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

I am on a bit of a Swiss chard kick these days. Last night I steamed chard in white wine with parsley, sage, pepper, garlic and onions. I served it with rice - partially cooked in white wine - and chicken seasoned with pepper, sage and rosemary. Excellent meal. Tonight, I am steaming chard in beer to see what difference it makes.

Update: the slightly sour taste that the wine lends to the dish (a good thing, believe me) is absent when cooked with beer (I used an amber ale) but still excellent.

- Magnus

Wrapping it up

2009-04-27T20:43:00.001-07:00

Okay, I feel guilty about culture schilling for Kraft so I figure I ought to push some homemade food. Tonight I felt a bit lazy so I made wraps. I had been thinking about the 1988 film, The Milagro Beanfield War, (which is actually on the idiot box as I type - great film) and got in the mood for some Hispanic flavours. I used some pork shoulder that I had steamed for four hours last night and proceeded thusly:

- Sauteed steamed pork in olive oil on medium/low heat with two cloves of garlic, diced onion and chilis - including chipolte.
- As they cook together, I added 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro, 1/8 a cup of parsley and a pinch of hot paprika.
- I added a small amount of 5 year old English cheddar.
- Lastly, I added in some brown rice and black beans and sauteed it with the rest of the ingredients for about five minutes.
- I rolled it all in white flour tortillas and consumed.

Gotta say, it was damned tasty. Geo - learn to love the cilantro.

Getting Curried Away

2009-04-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

When I was in my teens I put curry in just about everything. I loved it and the sensory overload it provided in the way only a teenager truly can. It started actually because my Mum was concerned with my salt intake and wanted to find ways to drastically reduce it. She had made her own spice mix at first and it was good, but eventually I wanted something with more punch so out came the curry.
One of the things I loved to dump curry into was Kraft Dinner. Not that I want extol the "virtues" of a major food manufacturer, but I revisited that flavour twice recently and was not disappointed. But how to add it? When I was a kid it went in with the cheese mix, but what if I let it cook into the margarine for bit? Sounds like a good idea, makes sense in a more grown up sort of way - but it actually doesn't work as well as adding it straight in. Figuring I might try using coconut milk the next time.

Grammacake

2009-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

When I was little and we went to see my grandparents my grandma always baked amazing things. One of my all time awesome favourite things she would make for us was Johnnie Cake - a simple sweet buttermilk cornbread loaf that you'd slice and have warm with syrup for breakfast. My Mum would make it occasionally as a treat too. I LOVED it.

A few years ago, long after my Grandma passed on, I had a craving for Johnnie Cake...and the recipe could not be found. My Mum misplaced it (after we all left the nest she didn't make it anymore) and every cornbread or johnniecake recipe I tried just wasn't right. Just not good enough to match up to what I remembered. My husband J just didn't get why I just had to make it...the recipes I had found just weren't that memorable. He had not tasted the deliciousness...

A few weeks ago I was over at my brother's place and we were talking about favourite foods...I mentioned Johnnie Cake and he said "Oh, I have the recipe for that. Mum gave it to me when I moved out". Wah! SCORE! I wrote it down (along with a few other awesome things I had no written recipe for) and that very saturday morning I introduced J to the awesome wonders of Grammacake AKA Johnnie Cake.

I think you all should make this for yourself on a lazy weekend morning. It makes enough for a few breakfasts and reheats great...

Grace's Johnnie Cake

3 c cornmeal
1 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 c sugar
1 t soda
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2-2 c buttermilk (sour milk works in a pinch, but buttermilk is WAY better)
2 t melted margarine

Mix dry ingredients. Add beaten eggs and enough buttermilk to make a smooth dough. Add melted margarine last. Mix well. Bake in a loaf pan @ 325 for 50-60 minutes (until a toothpick/knife comes out clean).
Let it cool out of the pan for 5 minutes. Slice 1 cm thick slices and serve with syrup and some bacon.

Heaven in a cake...

Mmmm Meatbuns

2009-03-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Back in college my roommate's mom would send her meatbuns in care packages...yummy little mennonite buns with meat baked into them. I spent time once I had a kitchen of my own working out my own perfect version of meat buns...there was (of course) cheese involved, and some spice added to the meat.
I like milk bread as the bun dough. I make a TRIPLE BATCH of the following recipe for 1 loaf of milk bread (It's a bit of work so I make a whole bunch (~5 dozen) as these freeze well):
Dissolve 2 1/4 t yeast in 3 T warm water for 5 minutes. Add:
-1 c skim milk, warmed in the microwave.
-5T melted butter
-3T sugar
-1 large egg
-1t salt

Mix well with mixer. Mix in 1 c whole wheat flour and 1 c white flour. Then add another 1 1/2-2 c flour until the dough is soft and sticky, using the dough hook on your mixer. Then knead the dough by hand for 8 minutes until it is soft and elastic. Place it in a BIG covered oiled bowl and let it double in size (~1.5 hours)

While the dough rises the first time, make the filling so it can cool.
Gouda cheese works well in these - it's not a greasy cheese. I cut a regular brick of cheese into ~0.7 cm cubes, and fry up 1 Lb of ground beef together with a few T of finely minced onion, seasoning it with garlic pepper sauce and taco seasoning...the low salt taco seasoning work well for this. Then this must cool to room temperature or the buns will have weird air pockets in them from rising strangely.

Once it's risen once, pound the dough down and divide it into 4 quarters. Each of these quarters can be flattened and cut into 16 pieces, 1 piece for every bun. Now you must make the buns by flattening the dough piece, and placing 1t of meat and 1 cube of cheese in the centre of it. Use your fingers to pull the dough around the filling and pinch it shut.

Place the buns finched side down into a greased cake pan. Continue until they are all done and cover them and let them rise about 1 hour. If you run out of meat or cheese, just improvise...

Then bake the pans of buns at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown.
Yum...
Like all baked goods, these are best frozen if they aren't to be eaten within a few days. They warm up quickly in the oven or microwave for a great quick lunch or snack.

Exotic Rice

2009-03-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

I am sure some culture somewhere is doing something very similar, but I must plead ignorance as to which one it might be. I bought fragrant jasmine rice recently to vary up my consumption (which is typically brown) and have been experimenting. Most recently I took my french press, removed the filter and filled it with cold water and added one stick of cinnamon bark, two...um...pieces, slices ..errr, things of star anise and some cloves to it. I let that sit for two days in the fridge and cooked my rice in it. It doesn't overpower the rice but adds a very subtle flavour and aroma to it. It is also good drinking.

- Magnus

Duck Amuck

2009-02-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

I was experimenting recently with a breast of duck from Bulk Cheese Warehouse, a refined cheese shop and butchers here in Saskatoon. I had gone in for pork, but the guy behind the counter drew my attention to the duck. As he put it, no pun intended it would seem, the duck breasts were "flying out the door." What to do with the breast, though? Canard a l'orange would be great, but a bit beyond my means right now. It was left to me to experiment.
One thing that I recall from the duck cooking demos in Montreal was to cross hatch the skin so the fat could more easily melt away from the duck. A good thing to do, believe me, duck is fatty. But I had to season it somehow, so first settled on marinating it in Irish whiskey (Tullamore Dew) for a couple of hours. I then chose nutmeg, saffron, ground allspice and Dutch cocoa to coat the meat. I let that sit for a bit and pressed cracked black pepper into the skin.
I overcooked it for sure - I am not that familiar with duck. However the flavour is good and cocoa seems to compliment duck quite well. I served up baked carrots and an orzo "salad". I chopped up parsley and with onion, mixed it in olive oil and a pinch of salt and then added that to the still hot orzo pasta.

- Magnus

A Sort of Spanish Rice Dish

2009-02-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

The past year has seen me become rather obsessed with paprika. At one time I was rather non-plused by paprika and only thought of it as that spice you have to add to make chili. However, my Dad's wife introduced me to good quality paprika and especially smoked paprika. Yesterday, I made a simple rice and bean dish with chicken.

1 cup of rice and 1 cup of Great Northern Beans. Cook ahead of time and mix together.

Add olive oil to a pan, heat it up and add 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 diced white onion. (my preference) As you sautee, add 1 mildly heaping tsp of smoked paprika and a couple of dashes of saffron. I also added 7 pepper pods - these small dried pods containing seeds - and a dash of nutmeg. (I have to grind whole nuts)
I cooked this for a about 35 minutes in the pan and served with a chicked thigh that I had stripped and spooned green salso over. I garnished this with fresh cilantro. I would have served it with a beer of some sort, but didn't have any. Oh well. ¡Arriba!

- Magnus

stuffed chicken breasts with roasted garlic cheddar mashed potatoes

2009-02-16T10:47:00.001-08:00

Last night's supper was to involve phyllo somehow, but I forgot it in the freezer, so I made up a meal with what I had on hand and whoooo boy. You have to try it. Delicious!
It looks tricky but it is rather simple to do and worth the extra time

Chicken:
2 large chicken breasts
1/2 package frozen spinach thawed and drained well by squeezing in a towel
1/2 c crumbled feta
1 lemon
1tb alsamic vinegar
1t greek salad dressing
3 black olives
1 green onion
4 large mushrooms, diced up small
1/4 c diced red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 T oregano and pepper
1/2 c bread crumbs

Potatoes:
4-5 red potatoes
1 toe garlic
olive oil
1/2 c grated old cheddar cheese
1 T butter

Warm the oven to 350.
Take a toe of garlic, cut off the top and drizzle a T or so of olive oil on it and wrap it in tin foil, with the cut off part facing up. Place it in the oven for ~20 minutes until roasted to softness. You'll need it for the potatoes later.

Take 2 large chicken breasts and pound flat and thin. Set aside.
In a bowl, add spinach, feta, green onion, red pepper, mushrooms, olives (cut up small), garlic (crushed) and oregano and pepper,vinegar and dressing (olive oil of you don't have it). Mix the filling together well.
Divide the filling in half, and place it on the chicken breasts, folding the breast around it and holding it shut with a few toothpicks as best you can. You just need to keep it together for baking - nothing perfect. There might be some leftover filling that won't fit in- just sprinkle filling on top of the dish once it is in the pan. Roll the stuffed chicken in breadcrumbs as best you can.
Take a lemon and cut one half of it into 4 slices. Place the 4 slices on the bottom of a small baking dish. Place the two stiffed chicken breasts on top of this. Squeeze the juice of the remaining half of lemon over the chicken. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle remaining topping on top of the chicken.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until chicken is done and the top is turning golden. Overbaking will make it a bit dry, so pull it out as soon as it looks done. Serve immediately with a steamed veggie of your choice and the potato side I did last night - roasted garlic cheddar mashed potatoes.

For the potatoes:
While your chicken is baking, you can make the potatoes easily. You'll need to boil up the peeled red potatoes, cut into smaller pieces to speed cooking. Once cooked, drain and add 1T butter. Take the toe of roasted garlic you made with the chicken and squeeze in the yummy baked garlic (1/2 of it - all of it, depending on your love of garlic. Roasted garlic is very mild, so put in a bit more than you think you need to. I used it all). Then add about 1/2 c grated old cheddar cheese and 1/4 t fresh black pepper. Mash/puree the potatoes with a hand mixer into a yummy cheesy garlic goo.

Enjoy with a glass of your favourite white wine.
Go on...:)

Soupedy-doo-da

2009-02-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

I made pork, bean and cabbage soup the other night and it is good. Pretty standard stuff aside from two ingredients. The proportions weren't accurate so I am guessing.

Take your onions and garlic and saute them in butter or margarine. (I cut my margarine with olive oil) Add cracked black pepper, 1 level tspn of salt and 1 heaping tspn of Dijon mustard. I also tossed in about two ounces of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey. (Standard Blend for those who are wondering)

Once the onions are caramelized, (or there in abouts) toss in two ham hocks. As the ham hocks begin to brown toss in your veggies. I used one whole Spanish onion, two russet potatoes, three large carrots, a handful of chopped parsley, half a head of green cabbage and also tossed in some left over spinach. (1/8 of a cup)

After an hour of simmering in a closed lid pot, I added a mixture of navy beans and Great Northern beans. (both organic and I soaked them in water for 24 hours. I added water and one whole leek and let it cook for another 2 hours.

After removing the bones I had enough soup to fill three large yogurt and two medium margarine containers. It is also bloody spectacular.

Food Porn

2009-01-29T07:44:00.001-08:00

After a few days bored at home I have found a great website for you....
Tastespotting.
Yup. It's food porn at it's finest...with recipes.
Can ya dig it? :)

I've been sick lately. Not feeling well at all.
I have killed time by looking at all the pretty pictures...

Cauliflower and apples? Together in a soup? You're Mad! MAD I tell you!

2009-01-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

I love soup. My mum made it almost every day when I was growing up and she makes the best homemade soup. To me, in the winter a big bowl of thick soup is the perfect thing to make you feel content. The January issue of Vegetarian Times had a bunch of great cream-free thick & yummy soup recipes in it. I've already made the Kabocha soup from this issue and it was insanely good, so I thought I'd try another one:

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Hey! Where are you going?
Stop sneaking off - come back here...it really is fantastic. It's also super easy to make, low fat and healthy too-even gluten free! Honest...try it out and you'll see.

Here's all you need:
2 T olive oil
1 small onion chopped (~1 cup)
1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped (~1 cup)
1T curry powder
1 or 2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into 1 inch pieces (~ 6 cups)
4 c low sodium vegetable broth (I use McCormick's vegetable bullion cubes - they rock)
1 t honey (or agave nectar if you have it)
1 t rice wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar will do in a pinch)
Pinch of salt (if you think it needs it)

In a large pot, over medium-high heat, heat oil and saute onions 5-7 minutes until soft and turning golden. Don't burn them...the slow browning adds flavour. Stir in apple, curry, garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add vegetable broth and cauliflower and bring to a strong simmer, stirring all the yumminess off the bottom of the pot. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Cool 20 minutes.
Blend soup in food processor in batches until it is smooth. Add the honey and vinegar and a pinch of salt. Enjoy.

This soup grows in flavour as it sits, so it's even better the next day.
The first time I made it I didn't quite puree the soup enough, so it almost had the consistency of cream of wheat, but man...it still tasted delicious!
Try this out - it's a bit unconventional, but it's amazing, and a pot makes enough soup for 3 or 4 lunches - how perfect is that? I had yummy soup for lunch all week. Score!

Burmese Food

2009-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is not known for being a cultural hotbed within Canada. It's Irish pubs are distinctly not that Irish. It's British pub is okay but lacking in the food department. There is no Szechuan here. No Korean food. No shabu-shabu. Italian restaurants are noticeably absent. Ethiopian Food? Nope. (Actually yes - Geo) Shawarma/Donair places? Not that I have seen. In fact, there isn't even a pizza by the slice anywhere in the downtown area that I can think of. Four, maybe five pubs/clubs in a short radius and NO PIZZA BY THE SLICE! Now that is an indication of something dire.
However, what Saskatoon lacks in the finer and blessedly vulgar things in life it makes for with a little out of the way place called the Golden Pagoda. This has become my favourite place in town, a small Burmese restaurant that can be impossible to get in to without a reservation. (Geo posted about it in her other blog back in 2006) Burmese food is best explained as a fusion of Indian, Southern Chinese and Thai flavours and ingredients. I wish I had a menu handy, but the picture below is a lemongrass curry chicken dish that I ate with the best coconut rice have ever had. I also had the pickled mustard leaf soup in chicken stock. Have Burmese food. Have it soon.

I agree :) Geo

I'm gonna make me a sammich. SAMMICH!!

2009-01-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

My husband likes egg salad.
Up until recently, I would have said "me? not so much..."
My Mum, bless her heart, makes the blandest squidgiest egg salad in all the land, so I've never made it, other than when I had to in restaurants and such for work...and even then, other's tasted it to see if it was "good". She uses hardly any spices and her paprika was older than me, so as for proper salad taste? Well, I had no frame of reference...

Last year, I was tricked into eating a curried deviled egg by a bottle of shiraz and Maggie. She told me she made a wicked curry and fresh paprika devilled egg and that it also made good egg salad. So, I had some...she's cool. I trust her.

And you know what? Turns out I like curried egg salad and curried devilled eggs, with lots of paprika and curry. I like a lot. Now, I'll just up and make it for lunches or supper sometimes, even without J suggesting it.
I did tonight...and as I sat about relaxing/wasting time/becoming a crazy cat lady I thought "hey - the world should all get in on the yummy sammichy goodness".
So here ya go:

CURRIED EGG SALAD SAMMICH

I like big seedy buns or pumpernickel bread, with some cheddar, lettuce, sliced cucumbers and sprouts and a few slices of apple and pickles on the side. J likes pepperoncinis in his. I glorp in the egg salad until it's enough...It's also yummy with crackers and in wraps...go nuts. It's yummy.

For 2 sammiches:

-3 hard boiled large eggs (boil 12-15 min and cool rapidly with ice water -easier to peel and the eggs don't go green inside) Cut up into small pieces with a knife...I don't mush them with a fork as I like the texture. If you're posh enough to have an egg slicer do that and cut across the middle.
-2 green onions diced up small
-One 3" piece of celery diced up fine
-fresh ground pepper to taste
-dash dill
-1 t curry powder
~1/2t paprika (or more to taste)
~1/3c light mayo (more if you like more goo)
~1/4t mustard (to taste)
-dash tumeric

Skoosh it all together and enjoy in the sammiches with all your favourite fixings. I've tossed in diced red pepper or some red onion when I lack celery or green onion...it's good too. It's even better if made a bit ahead...the curry flavour comes out a bit more.
Simple, but yummy :)

Bottoms Up!

2008-12-28T22:48:00.000-08:00

For those able to get it, check out the offerings from Rogue Brewery in Oregon. Willing to take risks - most of which pay off - they are a brave new frontier in beer. I plan to harass the SLGA in Saskatchewan to bringing in Rogue into the province. This holiday season I had the Chipoltle Ale, (very nice, subtly spicy) The Juniper Pale Ale, (a worthy experiment but not necessarily my favourite) the Yellow Snow IPA (Pictured and very worthwhile) and the rather stunning American Amber Ale. I have also had their excellent Shakespeare Stout, Mocha Porter and Dead Guy Ale.

One of the great things about Rogue is that they have food pairing suggestion on the bottles, so gourmets and gourmands alike can gobble and quaff to their hearts and stomachs content. Check them out if you are able to.

Dagger not included

Eggnog Cookies

2008-12-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend was mostly hibernating and for me hibernating means baking. I did make a pumpkin pie from scratch from a baking pumpkin I've had around for ages, but the crown of my queenly baking on the weekend was trying out a new recipe for Eggnog Cookies.
I know. Eggnog is good. Cookies are good. So I figured it could only be a good thing.
IT WAS...

I baked them on my baking stone and got 3 dozen delicious fluffy, almost shortbread like cookies that taste lightly of nutmeg and are a pretty good match for eggnog.
Definitely on my list of Christmas baking...

I hate to keep the goodness to myself, so give this a try before the eggnog goes away for another year...

Mrs. Field's Eggnog Cookies

2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon (heaping)
1/2 t nutmeg (heaping)
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c butter, room temperature
1/2 c eggnog
1 t vanilla
2 egg yolks

1 T nutmeg, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 300. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and spices. Mix well with whisk.
In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter with a mixer to form a grainy paste. Add eggnog, vanilla and eggs and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined. Do not overmix.
Make ~1 1/4 inch balls of dough ( a large teaspoon full) and place them on an ungreased baking stone (or baking sheet - I prefer stones for cookies) an inch apart. Flatten slightly with a wettened fork and sprinkle nutmeg on top of the cookies.
Bake for 20-24 minutes until the bottoms turn light brown. If you overbake them they'll brown on top and not be so deliciously decadent...trust me, extra care at the end makes them deeeeeeeeeeeelicious.

Merry Christmas!

Kabocha!

2008-12-08T06:59:00.000-08:00

A friend gave me some squash from her garden this fall. There is an advantage to having a friend on an acreage...lots of yummy veggies in the fall.

I still had two huge kabocha squash sitting in my pantry staring at me every time I opened the door. One was about 6 Lb and bigger than my head! They are yummy flavourful winter squash -sweet and nutty...like a cross between and acorn squash and a yam. Apparently after you pick them they're supposed to have a few weeks to mature and get more flavourful before you eat them...heh heh. No problem there. I've had mine a few months now :)

I was wondering what the hell to do with it this weekend when I opened the mail and found this month's Vegetarian Times in it...and on the cover was a picture of their recipe for Kabocha squash soup. And it had smoked paprika in it, which is one of my new favourite things. Score! This magazine is usually full of yummy recipes and this soup was definitely no exception-I used half my gargantuan squash to make a double batch of soup and froze the rest of the squash for another soup session. It was so simple and yummy I must post the recipe, giving full credit to the folk's at Vegetarian Times.

Kabocha Soup

1 c thin sliced white onion (~ 1 medium onion)
1 T olive oil
1 bay leaf
2 T cooking sherry
2 cloves garlic
2 t smoked paprika
~1 1/2 Lb peeled kabocha squash, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 c water
2 c low sodium veggie broth
Pinch salt
pepper to taste

Saute the onions and oil in a large saucepan for 5-7 minutes, add the garlic and saute another few minutes. Add the paprika and bay leaf and saute another minute. Add sherry, water, broth and squash and bring to a simmer on low-med heat. Let simmer with lid on for ~30 minutes until squash is softened/cooked. Add pinch of salt and pepper, fish out the bay leaf and puree the soup in a food processor. Add pepper to taste and enjoy. Easy and delicious.

Guacomole and pita chips

2008-12-01T07:04:00.001-08:00

OK...so if you have the nibbles, try this:

Take a bag of pitas, pull them all apart into two circles. Brush with olive oil and cut into eighths and bake on a sheet at 350 for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You get golden, tasty, healthy pita chips for dipping. They burn quick, so keep an eye on them and remove from the pan as they're done...they'll bake up at different speeds, so I check the pan every few minutes.

(Image: Natalee Dee)
To go with the chips, you need to make some wicked guacamole:

Skoosh together well (I use my hand mixer):
3 avacados
1/4 c lime juice

Stir in:
1 roma tomato ,diced
1/2 c red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, minced (seeds removed)
1/4 c diced, pickled banana peppers
1/2 t pepper

Then do the following. Dip chip. Eat. Repeat.
This is the best guacamole I've ever tried. It tastes better if you can wait an hour and let the flavours all mix together...I can't always make it that long. I ususally just make it before I make the pita chips so it has a bit of time to sit and fuse.

Egg Nests

2008-11-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

Want a quick, easy and delicious breakfast?
Do what I just did...make some egg nests.
For 1 person, take an english muffin, 2 slices of good black forest ham (shaved thinly), 2 eggs, 2t of cream and a pinch of basil. Basil and cream are the key - don't skip that part...
Heat the oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 slightly oiled muffin pan holes with the ham slices...like a muffin-paper of ham. Crack an egg into each of the ham-cups (mmmmm...hamcups), put a teaspoon of cream on top of each, with a pinch of basil and bake about 15 minutes until the whites are set, and the yolks are half set (or longer if you like hard yolks). Toast and butter your english muffin, set it open faced and place the 2 egg nests on top of the halves.
And...Enjoy.
Sounds simple, but the flavours work together to be absolutely delicious.
Perfect for a lazy weekend or holiday breakfast...

Feel Like Chicken Tonight?

2008-11-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

Or beets, or carrots or figs?

Like many working class people, I usually cook an evening meal with the next days mid-day meal in mind. Boredom and revulsion with and toward ones own cooking can quickly ensue so there is a need to experiment and try new things regularly. Chicken, rice and roasted veggies. Sounds potentially boring, but the meal I made last night was quite exciting and was even more so today.

The essentials:
-Two chicken thighs. (skinless in my case)
- Chioggia beets (also known as candystripe or bull's eye beets) and eastern carrots. (purple, white, yellow and red in colour)
- 2 cups brown rice.

Put the vegetables and fresh chopped parsley in an oven pan and rub them in olive oil, dark balsamic vinegar along with black pepper/grains of paradise, a small amount of smoked paprika and halved dried figs. I set my oven for 375° and usually roast for at least 50 minutes. Your oven is probably different so adjust accordingly.
I took two cups of long grain brown rice and cooked it in 3 cups of water and tossed in about 2 1/2 tblsp of white balsamic vinegar and a pinch of course salt. Cook that until done and keep it separate.
As for the chicken, I sauteed two cloves of crushed garlic and 1/2 of a naga pepper together in a small bit of olive oil. I then sautee the chicken and add a marinade of this description:

- 1/8 of a cup of red wine (I have been drinking Malbecs from Argentina of late)
- 1/8 of a cup of dark balsamic vinegar
- 1/16 a cup of water (something like that, what the hell do I remember about fractions?)
- 1 tblsp of honey
- 1 tsp of Dutch cocoa (although I would use another variety of cocoa for the health benefits, as the Dutch process apparently destroys the antioxidants I was hoping for)

Shake this all up quite well and add to the pan once the chicken has been seared on both sides. How much you use is up to you, I used it all. I also sprinkled ground grains of paradise over top.
The sweetness of the roasted vegetables really compliments the robust, dry, hot flavour of the chicken and the generally neutral flavoured rice.

Stay tuned to this station for an important update

2008-11-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

After consulting with the leaders of the world and my advisors (J and Magnus) I've figured out the new name for things around here. Thing is...I need a few days to tweak the logo and all that jazz...so come around and see the new digs in a while. I just need an hour or so of free time to do this...he heh...yeah...

What's in a name...

2008-11-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

I've had many people tell me they think that the blog name Food Whore is a bit too...well...something. Enough people to make me think "hmmmm...perhaps the name has gone off and I should pick out a fresh one."
I wanted to put in words my desperate love of cooking and love of food.
Any suggestions for an alternate?
I can't call it the Bacon Queen, as my good friend Magnus is also cowriter here, and he is not the Bacon Queen (my nickname) and is decidedly straight, so that won't work.

I'm trying to think of another name...suggestions?
Possibly involving muffins....

Winner gets some.
Muffins!
Sheesh...

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

2008-11-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

I am the Queen of Pancakes.
It is true…I've often thought of getting an apron printed up…I love pancakes. I always make them from scratch and I diddle with recipes until they are fluffy delicious perfection. Most of my favourite recipes for pancakes come from The Joy of Cooking…their regular pancake mix is great and there is a multigrain pancake with honey in it that is fluffy and delicious. How It All Vegan has a deadly banana pancake recipe too…but I digress…

I had leftover buttermilk from the derbies I had to use up, so I took out my trusty cooking bible and hunted for buttermilk pancakes…and found this recipe. Blueberry buttermilk cornmeal pancakes…with a touch of lemon. These are now my favourite pancakes…and that is saying something…they are fluffy, yet the cornmeal gives a slight crunch to them…and the slight lemon zing just puts it over the top into decadence. You almost don't need syrup for these…
Make them yourself this weekend. I know it looks daunting, what with all the egg separation and whisking but let me tell you…a better pancake you will not ever have. Not even my Grandma's were this good…and she's the one who got me started on this pancake obsession in the first place.
Enjoy…

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Joy of Cooking

Whisk together in a bowl:
1 c flour
½ c yellow cornmeal
¼ c sugar
1 ¼ t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
¼ t salt

Whisk together in another bowl:
1 ¼ c buttermilk
4 T melted butter (1/2 stick)
2 large egg yolks
1 ½ t finely grated lemon zest (about 1 small lemon)

Pour the wet over the dry and gently mix them together until just combined.
Beat the 2 egg whites until the peaks are stiff but not dry and then fold into the batter.
Finally, fold in 1 c blueberries.

Spoon ~1/3 batter onto a hot oiled griddle per pancake, nudging the batter into rounds. Flip when the top of the pancake is speckled with bubbles.
Serve with maple syrup if you have it.
You'll thank me for it... :)

Marinade

2008-11-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

A quick post to jot down a marinade that I have been using on chicken and pork. (one piece each time) I take about 1/8 of a cup of water mixed with 1/8 of a cup of red wine (Malbec from Argentina in this case) and stir it in with 1/2 a teaspoon of course sea salt. After the the salt has dissolved enough, I add a tablespoon of honey and a somewhat heaping teaspoon of smoked paprika and two dashes of ground grains of paradise. In the pan I have lightly sauteed one or two crushed cloves of garlic and some variety of hot pepper - I currently have serrano, habanero, naga and a couple of chipoltles. (also see the Scoville Scale) I don't allow the heat from the peppers to overwhelm the dish, just give it some kick. I know how much hot pepper is enough for me and for the dish at hand, but I suggest you learn the way I did: experiment.

- Magnus

Let's party like it's my birthday

2008-11-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

I made myself some tasty baking for my birthday.
LOTS of it.
Because I can.
So there.

At work, everyone has to bring their OWN cake on their birthday (you get what you like and noone is left out unless they want to be). I hummed and hawed and settled on making some spice cake derbies.
What is a derby you ask? Well, a few years ago I bought a make your own Twinkie set from a kitchen shop…It's called a "Cream Canoe" kit so they don't get sued, but is a really good pan -the pan has 8 canoe/twinkie spots in it and comes with an icing decorator/injector to fill them with any little flavoured filling that your little heart desires.
At the moment, my heart desires cream cheese icing.

I've tried vanilla derbies with lemon pudding inside, chocolate and almond with vanilla or Bailey's pudding inside…and thought some spice cake with cream cheese inside would rock the casba. I was actually going to cheat and buy a good spice cake recipe (layzee dayz) but I made this one.

When I first made derbies, version 1 (vanilla cake with lemon curd filling), Magnus said I should call them derbies…after Rocky and Bullwinkle, when Bullwinkle was hypnotized to desire a hat ("derby…I must find derby…"). Magnus can do the Bullwinkle "derby" perfect…makes me snicker like a kindergarten student everytime. It stuck. They became derbies.
And they're relly worth all the effort. Unlike real twinkies they do not suck…and are totally customizable and pimpable.

Pimp my cupcake.
Aw man…if I get a cooking show, I totally want a baking segment called that.
ANYways….back to the cake.

I commandeered my favourite apple spice cake recipe from the Joy of Cooking - it makes exactly 1 pan worth of derbies (or a 9 inch round cake). I made the batter and sprinkled some diced apple and a few walnuts into the derby pans before I spooned in the batter. This is a nice spicy moist cake with no eggs. I've used splenda in this instead of sugar for a diabetic friend, and cheated with 1 c milk + 1 t vinegar when I had no buttermilk and it tastes great too. Odd, but doesn't matter…it just tastes all kinds of good.

Apple Spice Cake

Whisk together in a bowl:
1 ½ c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t \cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
½ t allspice or cloves
½ t salt

Add and stir until just smooth:
1 c buttermilk
½ c oil
2 t rum (I add ~ ½ t rum flavour)
1 t vanilla

Stir in/sprinkle on top:
1 apple diced up small and ½ c chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans are all good)

Scrape into a greased and floured pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean (it may not look quite baked - don't let it fool you…) about 40-45 minutes for a 9x9 cake or ~18 minutes for the derby's or cupcakes. Tip derbies out of the pan onto a rack and let 'em cool completely.

Then I made some cream cheese icing - again the Joy of Cooking cream cheese icing recipe. The icing gods didn't smile on me so it's not as fluffy as it could be, but it tastes delicious...
8 oz light cream cheese (cold)
4 T butter/margarine (room temp)
2 to 2 ½ c icing sugar (to taste. I do ~2)
2 t vanilla
Use a food processor or the paddle on your mixer and beat together butter and cheese until smooth…don't overmix. Whip in vanilla and sugar. You can freeze this apparently, but I've always…um…eaten it all, so I can't say from experience if that is true. Eez good.

Usually I don't ice this cake as it rocks hard with disco lighting on it's own. But since I needed creamy filling for the derbies, this worked. I injected about 1 T worth of icing into each derby, in 3 injection spots…and they were most tasty. None were leftover…

Then there was the OTHER cake.

Heh heh.

I wanted to have something pumkininny for my birthday, and wanted to have it with family, so I tried making a pumpkin spice cake recipe gluten free to share with my brother and his wife…I used the Pumpkin Spice Cake I recipe from Allrecipes (A great recipe site). I have never made the cake before, but it looked pretty simple and looked moist enough to easily to convert to gluten free, if not slightly (OK pretty, bad) for you.

Pumpkin Spice Cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 c oil
3 eggs
1 (14 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used just over 2 c of gluten free…exact measurement is 2 1/8c (I ran out of flour just over 2 c so that was what I used…general rule is 7/8 c of gluten free flour for every regular cup of flour in a recipe)
1 t baking soda (if gluten free - use 1 ½ t - general rule is 1.5 x leavening)

1 t ground nutmeg
1 t allspice
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground cloves
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (or other nuts if you want)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease one 10 " bundt pan or a regular 9x13 pan. Because I used gluten free flour I went for the 9X13 pan, as I wasn't sure how it'd turn out. I usually dont' mess with a recipe until I've tried it first.

Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together. (according to some commentors on the site, they subbed out ½ c oil for ½ c apple sauce and cut back sugar by ½ c and the cake was still good…again, next time).
Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined (no worries about overmixing if gluten free flour). If desired, stir in nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 35-40 min in a 9x13 pan or 1 hour in a bundt pan until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool cake. Serve with either confectioner's sugar OR cream cheese icing. Or both .Y'know.

I used the same icing as for the derbies (just made twice as much). Originally I was going to ice it up with grey icing to make it look like Han Solo trapped in Carbonite (nerd!)…but in the end I just made 2 iced layers in a slightly misshapen but very delicious cake. I don't think I overbaked it too much (it's hard not to with a larger cake) so it was really good. I am tempted to replace some of the oil with applesauce and perhaps cut back the sugar next time…we'll see. I picked this cake mix for being moist…and it was. I always try something "as is" before I mess with it. I just wanted a cake we could all enjoy. And we all did.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Turning Tricks in the Gluten Free Zone

2008-10-22T07:43:00.001-07:00

Image: Sea Muffin Bakery. Thanks!

My sister in law just realised a few months ago that she is celiac. Suddenly a reason for why she was always tired, queasy and tended to...um...chunder more than most...OK, ALL people I'd ever met. She had the most sensitive stomach of anyone...now we know why. It's like a miracle - she's got more energy, feels better and as long as she cuts out the gluten she feels great.
Downside to all this tho - good gluten free baking is really hard to come by. Especially breads and muffins...you can buy some premade gluten free rice bread in the local grocery store but have you actually tasted that sh*t? It's like stale cardboard that's been left out to get even more stale...unless you toast it or turn it into french toast you're pretty much out of luck for soft baking...or so I thought.

My brother and I have had a deal the past few years - he loves my muffins, so I bring by a dozen muffins at least once a month if not more...it's an excuse to hang out and visit and he gets yummy baked stuff...fair deal really. I can make people happy with my food - how cool is that?Thing is, this changed when his wife was diagnosed- she'd look sadly at the muffins...often tempted enough to eat one. This was no good. I couldn't bear knowing I was making her ill with delicious foods, so I did some foodsearch, on the hunt for celiac baking recipes and ideas. There are some great gluten free cake mixes out there (honestly, better than a lot of regular cake mixes) but here is what I've come up with for a few gluten free snackeroos for my brother and his wife to make in your own home. I took my muffin recipe I've tweaked and developed over time and altered the volumes and leavening for gluten free baking. You can make your own gluten free flour or by the premade mixes...they're a bit pricey, but usually good. My sister in law recommended Knicknicks ,so I went with them.

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Muffins:

1 3/4 c gluten free flour (I used gluten free Knicknicks flour mix)
1 1/2 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg

2 eggs
1/2 c melted margarine
2/3 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 c milk

Mix wet together and then all the rest in together well... unlike regular muffins there is no gluten, so no worries about over mixing to get tough muffins (bonus)!
Add 1 overflowing c of cranberries (or any fruit really) and 1/3 c walnuts (or any other nut) and put into greased muffin pan with large muffin papers. Cups will be rather full...this is OK. It won't look quite like regular mix...just ignore it. It's all good.
Bake at 375° for 18-20 minutes until just done: tops will bounce back when you tap them and a toothpick will come out clean and they'll just be starting to brown on the edges. Watch them at the end so you DON'T over bake them...they get dry and crumbly if you do.
The result? Light, fluffy muffins...usually devoured before my very eyes. Gluten free baking is best eaten within 1-2 days or frozen for storage until eaten...putting it in the fridge makes it go all grainy and crumbly otherwise...and I dare ya to tell these are gluten free. They are indeed tasty-my brother can't tell the difference. Make the recipe 1T baking powder and 2 c regular flour for regular muffins...they are my universal muffin recipe. Add any fruit or nut and they are fantastic...Don't skimp on the butter if you can help it (you can add sour cream or yogurt for part of it if you must)...it really helps keep the muffins moist.

Also, thanks to the great Jennifer McGann over at Vegan Lunchbox, I found a great gluten free (sugar free) vegan cookie recipe this weekend. They are also pretty tasty - cakey and soft and very good for you:

Gluten Free Vegan Banana Oat Cookies:

2 c oat flour (gluten free oats ground to flour in a food processor or gluten free oat flour)
4 very ripe bananas, smooshed up with a hand mixer into a smooth gooeyness
1/2 c dates, chopped up fine
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t baking soda

Mix up and drop onto a baking stone (or cookies sheet lined with pastry paper) by the tablespoonful - you get 24 cookies out of this. Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes, until they just start to brown up on the edges and spring back when you tap them. They will be soft and spongy, not hard. These cookies are yummy - not overly sweet, except for the odd bit of date sweetness. If you like your cookies sweeter, you could add chocolate chips or raisins (EVIL!) to these I'm sure...I really like them. I'm all for healthy treats.

So there you go - try out some gluten free nibbles.
If anyone out there in the interweb has any great gluten free recipes, please pass them my way. I'm interested to try them out...my sister in law will tahnk you :)

Another Mad Invention - Apple Gjetost Pie

2008-10-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Now that Magnus has explained the oddity that is gjetost, let me fill you in on our pie experiment. Magnus left a phone message about this whole pie combo a few weeks ago and since then I've been waiting for a time to have a few hours to try it out. First time we were thwarted by a lack of gjetost (tragic) at the local cheese emporium, but finally Magnus could find the cheese and I had a rainy sunday afternoon free...so it was, indeed, time for pie.

Well, I've always liked toffee and butterscotch, but have an aversion to overly sweet things...gjetost is brilliant in that it taste like toffee or some sort of caramel...minus the sweetness. It has the consistency of hard cream cheese, and is delicious in little nibbly quantities. How it melted? We had no idea...which made it more intriguing. As a kid I liked toffee apples...I just couldn't eat a whole one from all the sugar...this seemed like a perfect combination. Cheese and pie? Well, I've seen and tried the cheddar apple pie combo, and it never really was my thing...like too many pickles on a sandwich, the cheddar was overpowering and, in my opinion, detracted from a perfectly good pie...and cheese. Any cheddar apple recipes I found called for grated cheese in the crust itself or melted on the top crust, so I had to improvise...mad science indeed.
I did a bit more piesearch before starting, looking in my trusty Joy of Cooking for a good apple pie recipe (this book has *never* let me down and has tonnes of references on methods of cookery). I found a good recipe, and (as usual) cut back the sugar a bit, to let the flavour of the fruit shine through. I also decided to not make the pie deep dish, as I usually do, as I wanted the ratio of apples to gjetost to be one that would allow the flavour of both to shine through.

I used my favourite pie crust recipe (same as in the peach pie post below). I made the recipe, divided it into 4 balls, as it is for 4 pies, froze 3 of them, and rolled out the remaining ball for crust. I rolled out the bottom crust and pressed it into the pie pan. Then I got to the apple filling, a variation on the Apple Pie I recipe from Joy of Cooking:

-6 peeled thinly sliced gala apples
-1T lemon juice
-1/2 c white sugar (less than the 3/4 c called for in the original recipe)
-1/2 t cinnamon
-2 T flour

I mixed this all together and spread evenly in the crust. Apples shrink when you bake them, so I filled it 1 1/3 times full to get a decently thick pie. Then I sliced the gjetost about 1/8 inch thick and laid it evenly over the top of the fruit...like so:We had a brick of gjetost about 3 inches by 2 inches by 1 inch and used 3/4 of it...the rest of it went in our bellies while we waited. Yum. Then I layered the top crust over it all, wetting and pinching the sides with a fork and cutting some slits in the top.

Then it went in a 425° oven for 30 minutes, after which I turned down the heat to 350° and baked it another 20-25 minutes until the crust was golden and the filling was starting to bubble out the crust slits.
Not to shabby eh? We were excited...it looked delicious. We managed to distract ourselves for 15 minutes to let the pie cool and sit a bit before having some...with vanilla ice cream of course.

THE VERDICT:

As it turns out, gjetost and apples go brilliantly together in a pie. the caramel flavour of the cheese enhances the fruit flavour, but isn't overwhelming, and the usual sugary sweetness of caramel was absent, making for a rich creamy flavour. Decadent.
The gjetost didn't melt as much as it softened...it sort of fused to the crust and went a bit soft, like low fat cheese does when you broil it on toast. I give it two thumbs up. I will definitely make this again...and I highly recommend you give it a try, if you can hunt down some gjetost from your local exotic cheese shop.

I love being a mad scientist...:)

Gjetost - Cheese Goes to Brown Town

2008-10-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

CD in Play: PJ Harvey, White Chalk

Gjetost is a Norwegian whey cheese more commonly known as brunost ("brown cheese") within Norway itself. People I have met are often skeptical about gjetost (an archaic spelling of geitost, which is used in Norway today) because of its brown colour. Many North Americans seem ready to accept cheddar cheese dyed orange and pale yellow for no real reason - when authentic cheddar is actually an off-white colour - but leery of cheese naturally the same colour as toffee or caramel. When people try gjetost they are usually won over by those subtly sweet caramel/toffee like notes one gets when they finally taste it.
There are two varieties of of brunost:

1. Gjetost/geitost, which simply means "goat's cheese". Obviously made from goat's milk, Geo may have second thoughts about this cheese, given her highly irrational prejudice against goat's milk.
2. Gudbrandsdalsost is a cow's milk version and therefore slightly less sharp than gjetost. (which really isn't that sharp in the first place)

Gjetost is often used to top off an open faced sandwich or with lefse. (sort of a Norwegian potato crêpe that I have had rolled in butter, sugar and maybe cinnamon) As lefse is also eaten along with lutefisk (lye-cured white fish) I imagine that gjetost is eaten with that meal as well. Geo and I are about to embark in a different direction - apple pie with gjetost just under the top of the pie crust.
See, the idea of cheddar (specifically North American cheddar) and apple pie has never turned my crank. I know people who love it and could never think of having apple pie without it. Geo was talking about making apple pie a while back and I stated that I wanted a slice. Baking is a skill that eludes me and her pies are really good. I was thinking about apple pie while eating gjetost and it hit me - gjetost and apple pie is a natural. At least I think it is and Geo seems to be of the same mind. Are we on to something or just half-baked? We make the pie today so one of us will let you know soon.

- Magnus

I, Food Whore

2008-10-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

CD in Play: Mojo Presents - Acid Daze

I asked Geo if I could co-contribute to her food blog. She said no way. I asked her again the next day and she told me to forget it. I started staring at her and her husband in bed through the rather large window they have facing their back yard. They called the cops. I nailed a dead fish wrapped in newspaper to their front door. They didn't get it. I started working two floors above her with lots of sharp instruments and pathogenic samples. She threatened restraining order. I reminded her of my chicken cordon bleu and she kindly relented. Think, this could happen to you too if I like your blog.
My current thing are beet tops. More than just borscht, beet tops are a great in a stir fry. My most recent stir fry involved brown rice, ground beef, (optional) beet tops, spinach, cabbage, parsley, Serrano peppers, mushrooms and a whole head of garden grown garlic. I stir fry the veggies first and separately from the beef. (which contains 1/2 of that head of garlic) It takes a while for the beet tops to soften, so cook until you get them the way you like them - it doesn't seen to make a difference to the flavour. Once it is all cooked, mix it all together, let it stand and serve. I served mine with roasted carrots.

- Magnus

Linkorama!!

2008-09-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal...I was going to crosspost all the recipes I've previously put on my other blog, but I figured I'd set up a linkorama for all the recipes I've posted so far. I could repost them, but they are little snippits in time, so I want to leave them be. Looking through the past I've realised I talk about food a LOT on my main blog, and jsut don't post enough recipes. It's given me some ideas for what to psot next.
Some recipes below are of my own invention (mostly muffins...I likes me my muffins) and others are just yummy creations I have made or tried out over the years...so check them out. Try them out...let me know how they worked for you!

Meals:

Perogies
Tofu Parmesean
Green Bean Chicken with Curried Cream Sauce
Guinnes Stew and Potato Bread (Link to Potato Bread, and Stew recipe is in the comments section)
Lemon Baked Fish

Muffins:

Raspberry Cornmeal Muffins
Raspberry Flax Brain Muffins

Desserts:
English Toffee Cake
Gramercy Tavern Guinness Shortbread
Twinkies (or Derbie's as I like to call them)

Mattar Paneer

2008-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made my favourite curry dish for the first time: mattar paneer.

It's a vegetarian Punjabi dish, consisting of cubes of indian cheese (paneer) and green peas in a tomato based curry sauce. Delicious.
I used my brother and his family as guinea pigs, then with confidence from my first attempt, made it for my husband for his birthday yesterday. Both times -fantastic. It's simple, and so delicious, and really not that bad for you, as far as curry dishes go. And it's vegetarian...so woot.

And so - here's my recipe for mattar paneer. There's many variations of this out there. I found a few "watch the cook make it" bits on you tube and watched them before I started to get the gist of it. Some Hindi friends from work gave me their versions of it too, so I had a good idea of what I needed to do to make it. It really is pretty simple. I did cheat a bit and used some premade curry paste and tomato paste instead of pureed tomatoes. From what I've been told by my Hindi friends you can vary the curry sauce as you like, adding a bay leaf or a green chili or some chili powder...make it as you like your curry.
You really HAVE to try this, whether when you're out for a curry next, or sitting at home wondering what to make...it's my favourite curry dish.

I bought the paneer cubes from the frozen food section of the local ethnic grocery. (I haven't gotten that good at indian cooking as to make my own paneer yet...)

Ingredients:
I package frozen paneer (thawed)-about 2 cups paneer, 1 cm cubes
1 can tomato paste
2 T medium Pataks curry paste
2 T curry powder
2T cumin
1T turmeric
1t cinnamon
1 T ginger garlic paste
1 large white onion diced small.
2 cups frozen green peas
~2 1/2 c water (give or take)
3 T low fat sour cream or plain yogurt.
a bit of oil for frying

How To:
In a frying pan, brown the paneer in some oil until it is golden on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
In a medium saucepan add the peas and ~ 2 c water and bring the peas just to a boil. Turn off heat and set aside.
In the frying pan from the paneer, add a bit more oil and saute the onions and garlic until the onions are clear and start to caramelize. Then add the curry paste and spices and simmer 1 minute. Add the other spices and stir a minute, then add the tomato paste and rest of water and simmer a minute until it is all mixed together. Remove from heat and add to the peas and water.
Return the curry and peas to heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Add a bit of water if needed to get a nice thick curry sauce. Let simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the paneer and simmer another 10 minutes. Right before serving, stir in sour cream/yogurt (optional - it's how I like my curry...it's not necessary)
Serve with white basmati rice and some naan bread.

Go on...you'll love it.

The Best Pie in the 'Verse

2008-08-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Every fall I've started the tradition of bringing back freshly picked, ripe peaches from BC. There are orchards in Creston BC, right near Shambhala and the fruit there is over the moon. The best peaches I've ever had.
Last year I brought back a flat of peaches and they all went ripe at the same time. "What to do?" I thought - as you can only eat so many peaches in a day without some unfortunate side effects...trust me.
"Make a peach pie" said the cat...so I asked my husband J's Aunt (who is the queen of all desserts) for her peach pie recipe.
"You'll love it -it is the divinity of all that is fruity and pieyey in this world" she said (OK, so I'm paraphrasing a bit here). I stole the crust recipe from J's Mom. It's a good crust, flaky and light, easy to make and it freezes well. Worth the bother.
And upon completion, I found it to be my all time favourite pie...and I do likes me my pie, so believe me when I say this: this pie? Eeez good.
This year, as a test to see if it really was the best pie in the world I did the same, more peaches from BC and more pies...and it was still glorious.
Oh yes. I just had a piece. The last one. Yum.

So I present...how to make Peach Pie. So you can yum it too...

First, ze crust:
(This recipe that makes enough for 4 pies(top and bottom)...but the dough freezes well..I usually make half and do 2 pies.) You can half it and it still works fine.

5 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 Lb lard
1 t sugar
1 egg whisked (This recipe that makes 4 crusts...you only need two...so improvise...or make 4...whatevah)
1 t vinegar
milk to 1c

Crumble first 4 ingredients together with knife or pastry cutter until lard is in tiny pieces, no larger than a pea. In a 8 oz cup, add the egg, beat it and mix in vinegar. Add milk up to 1 cup and stir well. Mix this in with the flour mixture and mix with hands to get a firm dough. Roll our on floured surface.
I lattice the top on peach pies, as it looks cool, and bakes better for me (less boilover) and better overall baking. Plus I'm shit at rolling out pie crust, so it's less of a hassle too. It's a bit of work to make a pie, so I usually make two and freeze one, after baking it. Then there's more pie later. Trust me. It's a good thing.

Focus.

OK...ze Pie Filling:
(for a deep dish pie - this is PER pie...for 2 regular pies multiply everything by 1.5)
6 c sliced, peeled ripe peaches
3 T cornstarch
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
2 T lemon juice
Sprinkling of nutmeg
A few T butter

Mix together all but butter and place in crust. Dot the top of the peaches and juice with ~9 butter pieces, about 1/2cm square. Lattice the crust top. Bake for ~ 40 minutes at 375 degrees.
Cool. Eat. Make groany noises.

So that is that. Enjoy the peaches while they are in season my lovelies. Soon the snow will take them away for another year and we'll have nothing but twigs and berries.
If anyone has any pie ideas send 'em my way. I love mad kitchen science! I will accept any challenge...but no raisins.
That is all.

Here we go

2008-08-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Just begun.

Just you wait...