BON APPETIT!!

MENU

APPETIZER - CAMEMBERT

SOUP - VICHYSSOISE

SALAD - FENNEL AND MUSHROOM

ENTREE - BEEF BOURGULGNON

DESSERT - APPLE TART & BAKED APPLE (FOR THE NONDAIRY)

BEVERAGES - RED & WHITE WINE, PERRIER WATER, ORANGEADE (WHICH IS ACTUALLY A FRENCH THING!!)

BON APPETITE!!









FANTASY CAMPFIRE CAMEMBERT
Ingredients
• 1 round of Camembert, with its box
• A splash of white wine
• A sprinkling of chopped thyme leaves
• Pepper

Directions
1. Remove the cheese from its box and unwrap it. Put the cheese back in its box. Poke all over the top with a fork, and splash on a little wine to run into the holes. Scatter over the thyme and sprinkle over the pepper. Close the box. Wrap in foil. Bake at 400ºF/200ºC for 10 minutes or until very hot and runny. Serve immediately with crusty bread.




Vichyssoise
Ingredients
• 4 potatoes, peeled and sliced or chopped
• 4 leeks, sliced and washed
• 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 onion (or 3 shallots), sliced
• Vichy mineral water, to cover
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
• Chopped chives, for garnish

Directions
1. Put the vegetables in a pot. Add mineral water to cover. Season with salt and pepper, cover, bring to a boil, and simmer until very tender. Purée and strain into a glass bowl. Thin with the cream, and with more liquid if needed. Cool and chill.
2. Before serving, thin the soup to consistency with more water or milk. (You can also use chicken stock, but if you’re trying to be vegetarian, then obviously don’t.) Check the seasonings. Serve sprinkled with chives.


FENNEL AND MUSHROOM SALAD
Ingredients
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1/2 Pound mushrooms, sliced
• a large bouquet of parsley leaves
• handful of chopped fresh chives
• Olive oil
• 1 pinch Salt and pepper
• Lemon juice, to taste
• Parmesan curls

Directions
1. Put the shallot and vinegar in a ramekin and set aside to macerate. Cut the fingers off the fennel bulb and discard, then peel the bulb. Slice the bulb very thinly into rings. Toss with the mushroom slices and parsley leaves. Dress with olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Serve with Parmesan curls on top.

Beef Bourgulgnon

Ingredients
• 4 pounds boneless stew beef, such as chuck or sirloin tip, cut into large chunks
• 2 tablespoons pork fat or olive oil, more if needed
• 2 carrots, peeled and halved
• 2 onions, peeled and halved
• 4 cloves garlic, just crushed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 bottle red wine
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1 bouquet garni (made from bay leaf, parsley stems, and thyme)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, more if needed
• 6 to 8 slices bacon, cut into lardons
• 40 baby onions, peeled
• 1 Pound mushrooms

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 325°F/160°F. Take the meat from the fridge and bring to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a large casserole. Working in batches, brown the meat well on all sides, removing as you go. When the meat is done, cook the carrots and onions in the same pot until tender and lightly golden. Add the garlic, and cook one minute. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Pour over the wine and the stock. Add the bouquet garni. Return the meat to the pot, cover, and transfer to the oven until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours.
2. While the meat cooks, prepare the garnish: Heat the oil, if using, in a pan and brown the bacon. Remove. Add the onions until browned all over, remove. Finally, brown the mushrooms, and remove. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup/125 ml water, reduce, then pour over the garnish. Set aside.
3. When the meat is done, remove it from the pot. Strain the stock, discarding the vegetables. Pour the liquid back into the pot and boil until thick enough to coat a spoon. Return the meat to the pan and add the garnish. Cover and simmer until the onions are tender and the flavours have blended, 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. Serve.

SOFT BAKED APPLES

• 6 medium baking apples, such as Boskop
• 4-6 dried figs
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons/100 g butter
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream or crème fraîche
• Lemon juice to taste

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Core the apples. Using a paring knife, score a ring around the midriff of each apple, just cutting through the skin to prevent bursting during baking. Stuff the apples with the figs and almonds. Set on a baking sheet, and bake until puffed up and soft all the way through, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put the sugar in a saucepan with a spoonful of water and boil to a golden caramel, about 5 minutes, depending on how much water you've added. You want a nice rich caramel colour, but don't let it get too dark. (It can go from caramel to black in a flash so keep an eye on it.) Turn off the heat and stir in the butter to melt. Stir in the cream, and add lemon juice to taste.
3. Serve the baked apples warm from the oven with the sauce poured over and with a generous slump of cinnamon whipped cream or crème fraîche on the side.

APPLE TART
Ingredients
Tart Shell
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
Cream Filling
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
Topping
• 3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts

Directions
Tart Shell
1. Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Make the crust: cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Finally, mix in the flour to make a smooth dough. Press into the bottom of an 8-inch/20 cm spring-form pan, giving it about a 1-inch/2.5 cm rim. Bake 15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from the oven.
Cream Filling
1. Beat all the ingredients for the cream filling together until smooth. Make the topping by tossing the apple slices with the cinnamon, sugar, and nuts. Remove the tart shell from the oven. Spread over the cream mixture.
Topping
1. Arrange the apple slices on top, then scatter over the nuts. Bake until the apples are tender and golden, about 40 minutes.


BEVERAGES


Orangeade

Ingredients

2 c orange juice
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 c sugar
1 c water

Instructions

Stir the ingredients together, pour over cracked ice in tall glasses, and
garnish with orange slices, sprigs of mint, and fresh strawberries or
raspberries. Serves 4.

Red Wine

White Wine

Perrier Water

For the last time...

So, not to sound like a broken record, but I think you guys all know that I don't cook. And I will admit, its not that I CAN'T cook, its just that I don't enjoy it and, quite frankly, its hard to get motivated to cook just for myself. I actually love having people over for dinner because it challenges me to find a recipe, or perfect an old favourite, and appreciate the skill of cooking.

Every now and then the mood strikes me to cook, though, without rhyme or reason. One day a year or so ago, I literally woke up and thought "I really want to cook a pesto lasagna"...seriously, that is what happened. I turned on my computer, headed to www.allrecipes.com (which is always my first stop in looking for new recipers), typed in pesto lasagna, and BAM...new recipe to add to my repetoire!! I've made it a few times, to rave reviews. Although, I must warn you, it does contain spinach, which is apparently a turn off to some kiddies...I served it to a 7 year old, who said to me "Does this have spinach in it? Because that's not going to be good for me"...she then proceede to pick off the cheese and noodles. But whatever, you can't please them all, right?

So, here it is...Jill, sorry for all the cheesy goodness (its for this reason Book Club has never had my pesto lasagna! If you can think of a way to make it so you can eat it, let me know!).

PESTO LASAGNA
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles (I use the ready-to-use lasagna, so you can skip the boiling of noodles)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
7 ounces basil pesto
30 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
9 ounces Alfredo-style pasta sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
** I also put in a couple of chicken breasts, all chopped up, to add more protein...makes for one heavy lasgna!

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
In large skillet over medium heat, saute onion in the olive oil until tender. Add spinach and stir. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto. In a large bowl mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
In a 3 quart greased baking dish, layer the noodles then the spinach mixture, followed by the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Repeat the layers ending with noodles on top. Spread the Alfredo sauce over the top and sprinkle with parmesan.
Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes.

Nutritional Information
Pesto Lasagna (without chicken)
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 701
Total Fat: 39.7g
Cholesterol: 99mg
Sodium: 1033mg
Total Carbs: 53.6g
Dietary Fiber: 4.4g
Protein: 35.6g

ENJOY!

Ode to Julia

Hello Ladies

For my last post I wanted to write something about MTAOFC. I went to Chapters to purchase the book, but it was unfortunately way beyond my book budget for November, perhaps another month. Anyhow, I wanted to include something in the blog from her so I started searching online and I came across this, “How to Boil an Egg”.

I thought to myself, everyone knows how to boil an egg, funny that Julia would feel the need to explain this. Turns out, I have been boiling wrong my entire adult life. So for all 0f you who may be boiling wrong as well, here it goes.

Place room temperature eggs into a pot. (this is so the yolk is in the center, cold eggs have yolks that have migrated somewhere else in the egg, who knew!)
Cover with water
Place pot on stove on high
Bring to a rolling boil
Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes
Remove from water
Allow to cool to room temperature before peeling

And voila! The perfect hard egg!

I have tried this several times now (as Abby eats an egg every other day) and it works every time. Thanks Julia for setting me straight.

Enjoy!

p.s. I just wanted to add a thank you, I am sure that you are all well aware of my colossal anxiety when it comes to writing anything. I get the shakes, stomach ache, nauseous, start crying etc. But I feel that this blogging may have helped ease the whole process. Not that I am going to write anything any time soon, God no, it is just nice to be able to write like a normal human, thanks everyone!

And the results are in...

A short time ago, I sent an email (since I didn't want to blog out of line) about my culinary prowess as I prepared 3 hearty meals to set aside for cold,wintery days. As detailed in my email I experienced a few small glitches or hiccups, if you will, in preparing said meals. But at the time, I had yet to sample any of the dishes. Now I have. And I thought you'd all be holding your breath waiting to hear how they really turned out.

First, the cream of carrot soup. Okay, so I haven't actually sampled this one yet. But a quick spoonful before freezing suggested it would be tasty, if not a little salty.

Next, Beth's stew. A few things to note: One, I used the slow cooker SOUP mix instead of the stew mix. Oops. But a bit of trusty corn starch fixed that little problem (this, after I learned from earlier mistakes - see next paragraph). Two, I used the food processor to chop the carrots (since I was chopping carrots for 3 dishes). It didn't so much chop the carrots as shred them. And for a stew, I think you really want bigger chunks. Three, I didn't use the Falls' stewing beef. From what I understand, this also undoubtedly adversely affected the final flavour. Still, overall, not bad. Not great. Not as good as Beth's; yet, still good enough that I'm serving it to company on Wednesday!

Finally, Vic's meat pies. These had a lot to live up to (my memory had built these up to epic proportions in the 2 years it took me to actually make them from the recipe Vic gave me around the time of Hannah's birth). As you might recall from the email, I had a little misunderstanding with the corn starch - and thereby inadvertently added a rather shocking amount of it to the pot. Last night, I pulled a meat pie from the freezer with equal amounts hope and trepedation. I started defrosting it in the microwave. It seemed to be taking forever. I switched to full power. Some progress. I returned to speed defrost, afraid of scorching the outside before the inside had thawed. When it appeard to be thawing satisfactorily, I returned to full power. A small, nagging voice in my head said, "It seems odd that it's been in the microwave for almost 10min. and isn't ready yet..." At last, it was heated through. And still very solid. Oh, so very, very solid. I cut part of it into bite-sized pieces for Hannah, and put the remaining portion on a plate for myself. Before I had a chance to sample my own, Hannah announced that she was "all done". Her plate was still full. She went on to explain, "I don't like this. I can't eat it." A little deflated, I started to eat my portion. Something wasn't right. At all. However, because I waited so long to make these, because they still took so much effort, I ate everything on my plate. And then I ate everything from Hannah's plate. Someone was going to have meat pie for dinner and it was quickly becoming obvious that someone had to be me. And there are still 7 more portions in the freezer! As for poor Hannah, she quite happily gobbled down all her Kraft Dinner and even asked for seconds.

On a positive note, I made play dough yesterday and it turned out just fine! It might even taste better than the meat pies...

Nutella Face

We are in the age of ‘perfect parenting’ friends! The age where we as parents and caregivers are scrutinized for any harsh word uttered at our offspring and scolded for any type of slip up. Current culture is actively directing us toward 100% compliance on patience, kindness, cuddles and positive discipline. Comply or be ostracized my friends. Today’s Parent, Dr. Phil and The Mom Show are out to find delinquents so be warned. Harsh glares are shot our way should we find ourselves in the middle of a warzone with our two year old that just happens to be in a full on fish out of water flail session on the grocery store floor. Sly comments will be made as you duck under the iconic big M archway for some quick and easy fast food on a Friday night after a long week. This is the age! Jump on the bandwagon or be shunned. This is the era of perfect parenting ladies and yes, it’s a conspiracy!

It’s true; I am complicit in this cultural conspiracy. I have wholeheartedly bought into the current age of perfect parenting. I parent my child much differently than my parents cared for me and certainly different from how my grandparents nurtured my parents. I actively read and research on the latest and greatest techniques for discipline. I love to learn about my own daughter’s personality and the strengths and weaknesses of her nature. I touch, cuddle, hug and speak softly. I read to her daily. I distract, sing, dance and direct kindly towards positive choice. I give choice. I empower. I say no. I take her to the park even in the winter. I love. I love so much.

But, I feed her Nutella. This is my confessional for I have sinned. I have also fed her: chocolate, multiple boxes of macaroni and cheese, Kool-Aid Jammers, pizza, French fries, chocolate milk, pudding cups, Tim Horton's donuts, Sprite and the list goes on.

Being pregnant with baby number two I have lost my mind and memory. These are hefty personal sacrifices that I have accepted. However, in order to share the wealth and joy I’ve passed along the sacrifices to my child. I have been unable to comply with the unwritten perfect parenting rule of ‘feed thy children the most healthy of foods that have been plucked from the rich soil from thine own hands’. I have not offered her lovely Canadian food guide choices and have certainly not given her the daily suggested amount of omega 3 fatty acids. I have disobeyed and outright picketed against being a perfect parent. I’ve even allowed copious amounts of Treehouse into her little life.

My hope for the near future is a speedy return to the days of keeping up with the Jones'. The days where spinach, granola and whole wheat were staples in our diet. Let this blog and book inspire me!

Into the Mix

I am forever on the hunt for recipes to throw into the mix, and by that I mean, good old stand-byes that I can throw together quickly and that are both healthy and nutritious. For this posting I thought I would share with you one of my favourite recipes that makes a regular appearance at our dinner table. It is from the cookbook "Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry" which is chalk full of healthy dinners. Enjoy!

Ooh-la-la-sagna

Sauce:
8 oz mild italian sausage
8 oz extra lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 jar (700ml) tomato pasta sauce
1 can (540ml) diced tomatoes with herbs and spices, undrained
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pepper

12 uncooked lasgana noodles
2 cups (454g) ricotta cheese
1 pkg (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

To make sauce: Remove casing from sausage and break into small pieces into a deep skillet. Add ground beef, onions, and garlic. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink. Stir in oregano and crushed pepper flakes. Cook a minute more. Add pasta sauce, tomatoes, basil, vinegar and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.

In medium bowl, mix ricotta, spinach, parmesan cheese, and egg.

Assemble lasgans in a 9x13 baking dish. Spread 1 cup of meat sauce over bottom of baking dish. Top with 4 lasagna noodles. Spread 1/3 of remaining sauce over noodles, followed by 1/3 mozzarella. Top with 4 more noodles, 1/3 sauce, all of the ricotta mixture, and 1/3 mozzarella. For top layer: 4 noodles, 1/3 sauce, 1/3 mozzarella.

Cover lasagna with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 10 servings. Freezes very well; I usually make a pan and then put half in the freezer.

Grunge Gourmet

Julia and her adventure in French cooking reminded me of a group of women in the Peterborough area who get together once a month for a gourmet meal club. They make these mouth watering meals complete with soup, salad, wines and desserts (in addition to the entree of course). The meal is celebrated together and then critiqued and rated. I was once allowed to look at the binder of recipe's completed to date and they were extravagent but awesome. I wonder how many of those women in the gourmet meal club went on to reproduce those meals days after? How many of them, or us for that matter, have some of the ingredients on hand to 'whip up' gourmet meals? I'm certain that I don't. It was after having had a similar conversation with my cousin that she told me about an opposite meal club that she was a part of called the 'Grunge Gourmet'.
The group was started for busy, fast-paced women who were looking for practical meals with short preparation times that their families will eat. Much like our group, the hostess makes the meal for the entire group and does all of the clean up as well. The attire is very casual - track and/or pyjama pants are encouraged. Much like other meal clubs, they produced a cook book of their favourite recipe's over the years and didn't just keep it to themselves, they had it published by a small publisher in Brockville Ontario. The group, and their story, was such a success that they were featured in the U.S. Publication of Women's World magazine a couple of years ago. Since I have an 'in' with one of the club members I was able to get my hands on their cookbook quite easily. So I thought I'd share a recipe (or two) from their book with you this week.
I came across this one and think that it sounds quite interesting. I'm hoping someone will try it and report back.

Aunt Sharon's Hawaiian Sandwich

1/2 hamburger bun
Peanut butter
1 can sliced pineapple
sliced cheddar cheese

Spread peanut butter on 1/2 of hamburger bun. Top with a slice of pineapple followed by a slice of cheese. Pop under broiler until cheese melts.

- As I said... sounds quite interesting.....

This one sounded a little better....

Taco Round

1 package of taco seasoning
2.5 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 package of ground beef
1 package of jumbo crescent rolls
1 container sour cream
1 jar of salsa
Shredded lettuce

Cook ground beef in frying pan. Strain off fat. In a bowl mix cooked ground beef, taco seasoning and cheese. On a pizza stone or baking pan, unfold the triangles of the crescent rolls. Separate them and arrange them on the stone to form a 4-point star with an open circle in the middle. Be sure that the triangles overlap slightly. Scoop the beef and cheese mixture onto the inner circle of the crescent rolls to form a ring of meat. Fold the four points back towards the middle and secure. Follow the instructions on the crescent rolls to bake. Cut and serve with sour cream, salsa and lettuce.

clean eating

Heather, a friend of mine (Em's as well), has been 'clean eating' for over a year now and speaks so highly of it. Essentially, clean eating is eating food when it is closest to its natural state...lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, natural sweeteners and lean protein.

Here is a link to a magazine called "Clean Eating" (original, eh? ha). It has a great FAQ section as well as some yummy recipes.
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/minisite/ce_index.htm


Here's a link to the website about the Eat Clean Diet:
http://www.eatcleandiet.com/

And here's a link to Tosca Reno's website (the author of the book that Heather follows);
http://www.toscareno.com/ (less helpful, but interesting to note she is from Toronto).
This way of eating is not new. Tosca has just branded the name and made a fortune off of an old, basic, simple idea.

Anyways, something to think about. I don't know much about it myself but I like the premise of it.

Happy eating... clean or not.

Hello from Florida...

I am writing this email from a freezing cold meeting room, while the Florida sun shines warm and bright outside...so, not getting the tan I had hoped for :) Guess that's what I get paid the big bucks for, though!


Day 6 of eating restaurant/hotel food breakfast, lunch, and supper, and I must say - I miss my grilled cheese, English muffins and peanut butter, and cereal for dinner!! I know, I shouldn't complain, but restaurant food gets old fast for me! And, to be honest, I haven't had great food here...best meal of the week was ordering pizza and wings into the hospitality suite last night. The more I travel, the more I find that fancy restaurants are pretty overrated, at least for my simple tastebuds! After two days of that this week, I made sure to convince my co-workers to find a good Irish pub for some chicken fingers and fries (and beer)...heaven!

Best non-food related experience of the week - spotting a baby alligator in the "water hazard" (aka swamp) when we were golfing yesterday!

Sorry for the short blog, but I better start paying attention here again...

I'm not looking forward to packing my flip flops away again, but I can't wait to eat a bowl on Mini-wheats in my own house tomorrow!!

Chocohotopots!

This week I wanted to share with you my #1 recipe. Chocohotopots! The warm and sensually gooey chocolatey lavay cakey dessert. This is my version of Emily’s Brownies. It is my go to dessert when I don’t feel like trying a new recipe or just want something simple and delicious. I didn’t come up with it, but make it all the time to general applause by everyone who eats it.

I have made this dessert more than any other and I have never changed or altered the original... it is just that good. (oh, I do add margarine instead of butter, but if you could eat butter why use anything else? This recipe makes me wish I could eat butter, I can’t imagine how much better it would taste... anyhow...)

I have over the years developed a super will power when it comes to this dessert and can be content eating only half a ramekin, I know that might seem shocking but it is true. This then allows for the 4 dishes to last 8 days! I can think of nothing more blissful that warm chocolaty goo for 8 days in a row.

It is super simple – 5 ingredients and takes about 20 minutes to make (yes just 20, includes the time it takes you to get stuff out of the cupboards, and make the dessert, but not including bake time though). So... if you ever need a chocolate pick me up, this is it!

(p.s. I hope I haven’t built it up too much, don’t you hate when that happens? You get all excited and then it just doesn’t measure up? I can guarantee that this isn’t one of those cases!)

Enjoy ladies

Ingredients

• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (yes you do need the tablespoon, it is weird as it is converted from metric)
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, with 60 percent cocoa solids (really the darker the better)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 (2/3 to 1-cup capacity) ramekins

Directions

• Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.Butter the ramekins with 1 tablespoon butter.
• Either in a microwave or in a bowl suspended over a pan over simmering water, melt the dark chocolate and 1 stick butter, then set aside to cool a little.
• In another bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar and flour with a hand whisk and beat in the cooled butter and chocolate mixture.
• Divide the mixture between the 4 buttered ramekins.
• Bake for about 20 minutes, by which time the tops will be cooked and cracked and the chocolate gooey underneath.
• Place each ramekin on a small plate with a teaspoon and serve. Make sure to warn people that these desserts will be HOT!

The Spice of Life

The other day I was at a friend's house for a play date. We were staying for lunch so that after the girls went down for a nap, we could do some sewing. When I have other moms and kids over for lunch I typically serve grilled cheese. Once, in an effort to change things up, I made peanut butter and jam pinwheels. They looked fancy in the book, but in reality there were sort of squished and looked rather unappetizing. Anyway, back to the story at hand - this friend who was now serving us lunch said, "I just kept it really simple." She then proceeded to heat up some cream of carrot soup that she'd made earlier (incredibly delicious), which she served with a sort of tuna melt made on a tortilla wrap (toasted to perfection in the oven). For dessert, she pulled a home-made treat out of the freezer that she simply keeps on hand: bananas on popsicle sticks, coated in chocolate and rolled in granola. This was keeping it simple? To me, it was gourmet!

Now, with recipes and instructions in hand, I see that it might be simple after all. It's not something you whip up when you have 2 minutes to feed some hungry kids (hence my dependence on grilled cheese), but with a little bit of advance planning, I too can produce lunches of this caliber. And if I do successfully make this soup, I will have 2 soups in my repertoire. No comment, Jill!

I have long been on the hunt to find meal ideas to break the monotony of my own limited cooking, and I'm excited by some of the recipes I'm discovering. Beth's stew, for example. Simple maybe to some, but a whole new arena to me. After all, variety is supposed to be the spice of life!

May I Recommend

The nature of this blog has been more within the realm of "at home cooking", but let us be honest, there are times when we forget about cooking dinner ourselves and head out to eat.

I am not really a big fan of eating out. I used to be. I used to go out to eat all the time. But these days, not so much. For the most part, I find restaurant food very homogenous; as soon as I walk in the front door and take a whiff, I know exactly what is going to be on the menu and how it is going to taste. There are just too many similar restaurants. I also do not like that most restaurant food is not prepared fresh. And finally, it is expensive to eat out and that, combined with the two aformentioned points, means that I usually leave feeling like I did not get my money's worth at all.

But all is not lost, as there is a restaurant that I have found, and I feel like I must recommend it to you all. It is the Metro Restaurant (Victoria Street in Kitchener, right beside the train station). It is delicious! Their main thing is schnitzel (they have other things as well) and they have at least 10 different varieties. I have tried to make schnitzel like they have at home and it is just not possible. Every meal is prepared fresh, and includes your choice of potatoes, vegetables, and a bowl of homemade soup. And it is very reasonably priced. I am always full when I leave, and feel like I paid for food rather than a pile of grease, salt and fat. We have been there 3 times in the last month and a half (a little more often than usual, I admit, and a little scary too since last night the waiter recognized us), and it has become our restaurant of choice. I highly recommend the Metro. It is yummy!

A dish to die for

Have you ever been in a restaurant and eaten a dish 'to die for'? Then for many weeks afterwards you think about 'the dish', you dream about 'the dish' and you tell all of your friends about 'the dish'. Have you ever been so obsessed that you then think..... 'I should try to get a job at this restaurant so that I can find out the recipe to 'the dish'.' Or one better than that.....'I need to make this chef my friend - a really really good friend!'

Well ladies... I actually did this once. I stalked the 'Kelsey's guy' for the 4 cheese spinach dip. Now if you've ever had the 4 cheese spinach dip you will understand my need to get my hands on this recipe. I thought my friendship with the Kelsey's guy could be short and sweet... but no. It took many months of being 'friendly' to get my hands on the recipe - but that I did! So enjoy! And as a way of paying me back for this recipe I hope that someone will stalk the 'Gusto catering guy' to get the recipe for that 'to die for' shrimp that they served at the wedding last weekend. He's a smoker so you'll have to work fast at being 'friendly' and getting out equally as fast.

Kelsey's 4 Cheese Spinach Dip

2 blocks cream cheese
1 package frozen spinach
1 package 'Olivera' Alfredo sauce
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp tobasco
2 tbsp worcheister sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 red or green pepper diced
1/2 red onion diced

Grated Cheddar cheese (optional topping)

Lots of cut up pita, tostitoes chips and/or crackers.

Mix all of the ingredients together and put in a casserole dish. Top with grated cheddar cheese if you desire. Bake at 350 degrees until melted through (can take 30min or so. I usually just watch.) Some people like it cold as well - I prefer it heated.

Carolyn - this works great in the mini crock.

Carbs, Veg, Protein & Dairy - The Whole Schbang

A relatively simple never fail recipe that is healthy and palatable to most picky two year old's the world round (and husbands too!) It stores well in the fridge if there are leftovers. It has one ingredient that was not common in my household before I discovered this recipe, but now is. You may have to expand your grocery list to accommodate pine nuts as they really enhance this dish. Surprisingly, they're not overly difficult to find in most grocery stores.

As with most dinner preparations, Ava is usually right in the mix stirring, sampling and generally driving me bonkers. She usually hauls her little chair over and gets in there to help make the family dinner. The standard emphatic statement she makes as I add the fresh spinach to this dish is normally something to the effect "I don't like spinach, Mommy and I'm not going to eat that". Low and behold, she LOVES this meal and seems to have memory recall issues on the fact that spinach is actually involved. I hope this holds true for you and your families also!

You will need:
Orzo pasta
Fresh spinach
Feta Cheese
Pine nuts
Chicken or Vegetable stock

Put approximately 2 cups of stock in a large saucepan. I usually use my frying pan that has high sides. Bring to a medium boil. Add in orzo pasta (as much as you desire either for the meal ahead or for leftovers too). I usually end up adding in about a third to half of a bag. Slowly/lightly boil the orzo until desired tenderness is achieved (just keep sampling). Add stock as necessary (keep the pasta well hydrated and add more as the pasta takes on the liquid). Add the fresh spinach to the pan. Again, add stock if necessary as you don't want the pasta to dry and stick to the pan. Cook down the spinach until soft. Stir as necessary in the beginning as the pasta begins to cook. More stirring is usually required as you let the liquid dwindle near the end of cooking. Reduce liquid so that the dish isn't sopping in broth but most has been absorbed. Add in pine nuts and feta cheese just before serving.

I have not told you quantities of spinach, pine nuts or feta. You can add these to your desired taste. I end up usually adding in about 1/2 a large bag of spinach (it boils down to next to nothing) and about 1/2 cup of pine nuts. I usually add in about 1/3 to 1/2 a container of feta cheese.

To add protein to this meal and make it a one shot deal, cook 1-2 chicken breasts in the oven simultaneously to cooking the pasta. Once the chicken is cooked, slice and add to the dish just before serving. (I usually cook chicken for this dish directly on a cookie sheet in the oven at about 350 degrees. Lightly coat in olive oil. It can take about 45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken pieces so you may have to get this started a little ahead of the pasta prep.)

Enjoy!

(My apologies for this lack lustre post. I stand by this recipe and definitely want to share with you ladies; however, I'm saddened to report that witty, saucy humourous Emily has left the building. Hopefully next post will be more inspiring.)

meal in pill form

Hey guys.
So... do you think that we will ever just stop cooking/ baking/ preparing food and just pop a pill to get all of our nutritional requirements? Do you think that the world (or part of the world anyways) will ever come to this? With all of the bars and shakes out there that claim they are a meal replacement... is this going to be a growing trend?

If we all just popped a pill instead of eating a meal...every aspect of our life would change too... our home setup would be different because we wouldn't need a kitchen or dining room table. We wouldn't need lunch hour at work or school. We wouldn't need to prepare dinner for the fam. We wouldn't have to try and eat in the car when we are running late for something. ...
Still, I'm not convinced that it's a good idea.

Would the pills come in different flavours to fulfill our cravings? Would there be a 'homemade burger with a pickle on top' pill? Would there be a 'nachos and cheese' pill? Would there be a 'steak (medium well, of course) and potato' pill? Wow...the options could be endless. Still, I'm not convinced.

I have to say that I just love the ACT of eating too much. I love sitting around a table with people and chatting while enjoying something yummy to eat. It doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to be formal... just simple is best.

So, even if we could just pop a pill, I don't think that I could do it. Would you?

On the run...

I have never been a "runner"...in fact, I was always fairly opposed to running because I think that it is too hard on ones body to be good for you. Perhaps that was just an excuse to avoid this hateful exercise. However, when I got roped into my new hobby of Adventure Racing, I quickly realized that I needed to learn how to run. Actually, Ashley (my fellow "Indoor Athlete") basically made me run.

Now, when I say "run", I really mean "jog"...barely above a brisk walk...for about 10 minutes, when I usually lose my mind and drop back down to a brisk walk, then pick up the pace again for another 10 minutes etc. You catch my drift..."running" is sort of like saying "let's go for coffee", when I don't actually drink coffee.

Anyways, I still maintain that running is the most challenging cardio exercise around, because it demands alot of your body. And my struggle with running as a workout centres around food - what you eat before you go for a run (and how much time do you need between eating/running?) is very very key to how well your run will actually go. I mean, I can eat a couple of pieces of pizza and go do the elliptical or to a spinning class 1/2 hour later, no big deal. But before running?!? Forget it...no chance I will be able to run without feeling like I'm going to throw up or pass out!

And its not just food...its the time of day, its how much water you've had prior, its your energy level for the day (hormones!) etc etc. Running, for me, takes sooo much planning. And I still cannot figure out the right formula. Drink lots of water during the day, then stop about an hour before. No big meals at least 2 hours before. Maybe a banana about an hour before (if I'm on good terms with bananas, which is not always the case...).

Last week I had the most amazing run of my short-running career...ran for 4.5 miles without once needing to drop down to a walk (and that took me 55 minutes, which proves that my "run" is not very fast!)...I felt like my legs had a mind of their own, like I could run forever (only stopped because I had to get ready for work!)...for the first time, I was in the runner's "zone" that I had heard friends talk about, and now understand why people run! The magic formula? 5 hour plane ride, during which time I ate lots of junk food (see last post), wakeup at 3:30am in the wrong time zone, toss and turn, eat a granola bar in bed around 5:30am...get out of bed at 6am and head down to the hotel gym...no water...best run of your life. This magic formula is never to be repeated, I'm sure.

Went running again this week, with new-found confidence in my abilities, and could not find "the zone" :( Ate too much before hand? I have no idea...whatever it was, the stars were aligned that one time, and now everytime I run I will attempt to find that feeling again...

Favourite meal of the week:
Toasted English muffin
Fried Egg
Melted Cheese
It's got protein, carbs, dairy...what more do you need?!? well, maybe veggies...a side of broccoli would make this a "meal". This is as close to cooking as I got this week, folks!

Play dates / Play dough

Hello Everyone.

I know that it is inconceivable but I actually almost forgot to post today. With the party prep, party and post bash clean up it almost slipped my mind. Speaking of the play date, I hope that all who came had a great time. I have to say that for me this was the easiest host job I have ever had. Considering that at one point there were 11 adults and 13 children all on my main floor, I think that something can be said.

I am not sure if this is because we host so often now with book club, play dates and other functions, or perhaps simply because I consider you all now family and the need to impress is no longer really there, or that I was just grateful for the company. I feel that we are at a point where everyone has been to my home many times, so if you need a plate, you know where they are in the cupboard. I hope that you don’t feel that this is laziness on my part; I don’t want to put across that impression. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am truly thankful that I have so many wonderful women in my life whom I am that comfortable with. So... thanks to all of you for being so fantastic.

In the spirit of play dates my recipe for this week is play dough. My Mom is down for a visit again and this time she brought will her the most fantastic recipe from my youth. This is the original recipe! The one for the absolutely horrible tasting stuff that if you made something special, your Ma could put it on the window sill above the kitchen sink to dry for at least a month before you could play with it, and then when you did it only lasted for one or two play session before crumbling. Ahhh, such wonderful memories. I can’t wait to share this one with Abby so she can have those memories too.

Enjoy!


Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 heaping tbsp cream of tartar
• 2 cups water
• 1 heaping tbsp of vegetable oil
• Food colouring

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into a saucepan and cook over medium heat until they begin to come together and become very hard to stir.
2. Divide into 4 pieces and colour each piece differently with food colouring.
3. Knead colour into dough until thoroughly mixed and brightly coloured (you may want to use rubber gloves for this or your hands look like rainbows).
4. Store in airtight containers.
   

Lies! Lies! All Lies!

Between 5 and 6pm in my house is truly the witching hour. Hannah is hungry. Jacob needs his rice cereal, his bath, and bed. I'm trying to cook dinner while dealing with the afore-mentioned chaos, and Scott is "on the way home". Needless to say, I've decided that this hour requires some careful planning in order for everyone to survive it. And most of the careful planning revolves around food. Ah, the age-old query: What's for dinner? I need to be able to make something simple, yet wholesome and filling. It can't require a lot of attention or prep work because I'm too busy keeping Hannah occupied (who is by this point in the day both hungry and tired), dealing with Jacob (see third sentence above), and we all know I'm not the strongest cook. So, in an effort to assuage the stress of this unholy hour, I've tried several new dinner options. Most are in the form of a casserole - one-dish meals that ostensibly can be prepared in advance and then simply placed in the oven to appear like magic just when we're all ready to eat.

Enter the lies. These recipes all come with approximate prep time and cook times. The cook times are accurate. The prep times? Who comes up with these? They must be meant for teams of experienced chefs all working in tandem, at high speed, with assistants to hand them things so they don't waste a precious second say, opening a drawer to get a knife. I see prep time 15 min. and think, "Okay, I'll start this at 4:30, relax for a bit, pop it in the oven at 5:00 and we can eat at 6:00". Beautiful. Except that at 5:00, I'm still doing the prep. I'm tying to brown the chicken that I spent 10 min. chopping into bite-sized pieces, while chopping the vegetables that I just washed, at the same time as cooking the noodles that need to go into the dish before I add the soup that's still in the cold room in the basement, and then there's the cheese that needs to be grated... ahhhh!

I started doubling the prep times that were provided and even then I was still running behind! Instead of alleviating my stress, these so-called simple meals were doubling, even tripling it! Until one magical day I tried a recipe that laughingly suggested a prep time of 5 min. 5 minutes? Yeah, right. I knew what that really meant. At 4:30, with 2 relatively happy kids, I began my dinner preparations. And, no word of a lie, by 4:37 my casserole was ready for the oven. Hallelujah! Either I was becoming master of my own kitchen or this recipe was the miracle I'd been waiting for. Later meals would prove I was indeed not the master of my kitchen; therefore, it follows that this recipe is special. So if you ever need a truly simple, quick meal option, and if you're tired of all the lies, then you should try this recipe. After all, we could all use a miracle now and then.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake
Prep Time: 5 min. Bake Time: 45 min.

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/3 cups water
3/4 cup uncooked regular white rice
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups fresh, canned, or frozen veggies of your choice
2-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Mix soup, water, rice, onion powder, pepper, and veggies in 2 qt. shallow baking dish. Top with chicken. Sprinkle chicken with additional pepper.

Cover and bake at 375 for 45 min. or until chicken is no longer pink and rice is done. Top with cheese.

A Salvation and a Win

Salvation

A week and a bit after the infamous chili catastrophe, I am pleased to share that I have had some success in correcting this situation. On Wednesday night I made up a much smaller batch with no chili powder added, and then carefully added a scoop of the spicy chili. I stirred the pot, allowing for everything to combine well, and then I tasted it. Not too spicy at all. In total, I added 4 scoops of the too spicy chili and was left with a pot of chili that was 'just right'. What I might do next time is add some cheese like Jill suggested. Maybe this will allow me to use up a bit more of the spicy chili and also use up some of the shredded cheese that I have in the freezer.

Win

With my culinary confidence a little shaken post chili, I decided to get back on track with a delicious soup that is perfect for crisp, cool days. I love it. Steve loves it. Bridget loves it. It is a winner. Here is the recipie if anyone is interested.

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon and Chicken

1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large leeks, chopped
1/2 pkg bacon, cut into pieces
2 large skinnless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
4 tsp heavy cream (optional)

Melt butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is glassy. Add leeks and bacon, cook for about 5 minutes. In a small bowl mix flour with a little bit of chicken broth until it makes a paste. Add paste to the pot and stir. Add the remaining chicken broth, potatoes and chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken and potatoes are cooked through. Stir in cream (This is really optional; I have made it with and without cream and it is delicious both ways) and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy.

May the cooking adventures continue.

Rachel

A hair of the dog that bit you

It is with red wine, and a couple of other nasty concoctions, running through my veins that I sit and write this blog. I had no intention of being in this situation this morning, but that's often how these things happen. Most of my day has currently been spent in a supine position thinking about how to remedy my situation. It has also brought back many memories of years long ago (well before I married) and how I got through those days after.
'A hair of the dog that bit you' was always my male housemates' motto when it came time to recover. The last thing that I would ever want to do is to drink more of what is currently making me feel so terrible. Their hangover recovery would also be in combination with the greasiest breakfast that they could muster, which is where I would definitely participate. The very best way to replace all of those electrolytes is not with Gatorade... but with bacon! This remedy was tested many many times throughout my University days and I must admit that it really helps.
Now I did a little bit of research this morning to see what other hangover home remedies I could find and I came across quite a few. Firstly, the website I read confirmed that greasy food is really good for you - but the trick was that you need to eat it before you get drinking so that it coats the lining of the stomach and intestine and allows less of the drink to enter your blood stream. I guess that's all fine and good, but my wallet would probably take a beating as it would mean that you need to drink more to have the same effect.
One of the food items that I had forgotten about was bananas. Yes, you read that right - bananas. They are a really great day after snack because they replenish your potassium. One website recommended a banana and honey milkshake. Take 3 bananas, pour some milk and honey also into the blender and blend. It's supposed to be the major hangover remedy.
Another remedy that I read about was to drink a cup of black coffee with the juice of an entire lemon. It just makes me think of tequila and the lemon shot that you give yourself at the end. I can't imagine coffee and lemon being at all a good combination.
If you have a paramedic friend then you can ask her/him to let you suck back some oxygen or hook you up to an IV. I had a friend throughout university who would regularly help his friends out in this way - it definitely works but requires some payback at a later date.
My own personal hangover remedy is to take 2 tylenol or advil with as much water as you can get into yourself before heading to bed. In the morning repeat the tylenol/water combo and add some dry toast (without cinnamon sugar Em). Follow this with some greasy bacon and eggs and a good nap in the afternoon, you're usually golden by dinner time. Speaking of which.... I must get going. Blogging on a hangover day really does take all day long to complete..... I'll be better next weekend.

The White Food Diet

Universe: Is it a good idea to only eat foods that are white? If you cannot answer me then please consider me your guinea pig. I will sacrifice myself to you internet. I realize this is not a replicated, randomly assigned experiment; however, there will be multitudes of qualitative data available when you're through with me. I promise to back-fill and document the ins and outs of a white food diet. The extravagance, the grandeur; it will knock your socks off.

One day, not long ago... Ok, not long ago relatively speaking. Relative to: the dawn of time, to the age of dinosaurs, to the days of vikings when rough and tumble men and women inhabitated northern Newfoundland at lanse aux meadows- you know - the kin folk my dad likes to say he's directly related to? Right, that is a very predictable associaton for the Unofficial Official Ambassador of Newfoundland. Linking oneself to vikings when you are a skinny man with dark hair who looks nothing like the Scandinavian folk? Right. Relative to this time in history. I digress.

Back on track. Relatively speaking you see. I must keep this timeframe in perspective for myself. This is a tactic to help me convince myself that this has been a very short journey. One that will end. One where there is light at the end of the tunnel. You know, the good kind of light that helps light your path to the finish line after a long and hard marathon as the sun sets on your furrowed and sweaty brow? The crowds roar as they hear you approach and the spot light shines on you as you take your final steps to athletic stardom? That kind of light. (But, perhaps not the kind that you walk toward knowing you are heading to eternal bliss where all worldly possessions are left behind.) Right, the good athletic prowess kind of light. Where was I damnit? It was 3 short months ago (short being the relative part) when I self diagnosed myself with parisititis due to foreign body found in uterus. Thank you google! Google knows EVERYTHING. Not only did it know what was causing all my 'walk towards the heavenly light and end all suffering' symptoms but it knew how to fix me! I was about to begin a journey; a foray into the world of white food.

BEHOLD - THE WHITE FOOD DIET:
1. Numero uno, number one, the full monty, the clincher, the bomb: MILK. A fun filled happy four letter word. Consider this your staple should you choose to walk in my shoes and embark on a white food diet. MILK. MOO. (Soy may be a subsititute but you have to experiment with yourself on this. I cannot confirm nor deny its importance).
2. Cereal binging and by this I mean: eat one kind of cereal until you can no longer stomach the idea of seeing or smelling the stuff. Until you are seeing that damn big, red, ridiculous K staring at you in your dreams daring you to eat just one more bowl? Eat as much as you need - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks - there aren't limits on this shit. I've been successful at crossing off Special K, Vector, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios and am currently working to ruin myself forever on Corn Flakes. (Note: MILK is heavily related to this item. Are you seeing the correlation?)
3. Macintosh Apples. Ok, the skin is red. Sue me. The inside is white so it counts (and Google confirmed it is acceptable and an important part of the all white food diet so don't question. Acceptance of your diagnosis is paramount to the treatment being successful. That and remember the relative time concept I mentioned above). One apple a day has not been proven to keep the doctor away. Now that I think about it, that saying is a total sham and a ploy parents everywhere used to conspire against us younguns to ensure we ate our apples. Interesting. Add that to the list of grievances I have against my parents. Anyway, eat an apple.
4. White bread toasted, buttered and lightly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Shut-up. Not a word on the nutritional value.
5. Noodles. Anykind, any place, anywhere.
6. Crackers. Anykind, any place, anywhere.

Fin. That's it ladies. If afflicted with parisititis due to foreign body found in uterus I would highly recommend this diet. Not only does it harken back to the days of old when you were a child and loved all of these aforementioned foods equally, but it is sure to help ward off the dreaded symptoms accompanied with this disorder. Statistical significance is likely not achievable on the results of this diet experiment due to the qualititive nature of the disease; however, the outcomes are favourable.

Disclaimers:
1. A mite bit of an embellishment on the Newfoundland bit. Take it for what it is.
2. Chicken DOES NOT count as verifiable and recommendable white food. It is heinous, protein filled disgustingness when suffering from this condition. DO NOT VENTURE. NO CHICKEN.
3. When your 2.5 year old pees on your brand new couch as a form of regression due to the concept of becoming a big sister and wanting to be a baby and wear diapers again, NO amount of white food will save you from wretching from the emotion and exertion of the whole episode. Accept the fact that anything currently in your stomach will no longer remain under such
circumstances.
4. By brand new couch I meant: It took us 5 years to decide to buy the damn thing so I can call it brand new for as long as I want.
5. This diet really doesn't work and is truly a figment of ones imagination. It is a tool used by women far and wide to bridge the gap. The gap from one breath to the next. The gap from one step to the next. The gap from one ticking second on the clock to the next as you sit at your desk at work attempting to focus but full well knowing you are suffering from this serious afflication (along with brain apnea - stay tuned on this one) and desperately trying to ensure all coworkers are completely unaware of why you have a permanently ashen 'I hate my life' look on your face. That kind of gap. If cinnamon sugar white bread toast accomplishes this bridge building then 'ta hell with the rest of ya. TAWONDA!

PS. I am 14 weeks and 4 days. Today I ate cereal, drank copious amounts of milk, a bowl of brown beans (which are white under all that sauce), noodles, a piece of toast and a grilled cheese sandwich. See, I'm getting better? Cheese is orange!

I love my family. I love my friends. I love my life. I love my child. I love this new critter I am growing. I especially love my husband. Repeat as necessary.

'A guy that can cook well is...

SEXY!'

Yes, this is true... but as married life has now been 5 years... I'm realizing that the better way to finish the sentence - 'A guy that can cook well is.... HELPFUL!'



Phil is a great guy, a great husband, a great dad... but not a great cook. He has no interest in whipping something up and the 2 meals that he does make (french toast, chicken fingers and fries) are getting a little boring to say the least.



I'm afraid if he doesn't expand his cooking repertoire soon, I am going to start dreading the dinner-making 'ritual' (or should I say 'chore'). I flip-flop on the whole topic because I go through phases where I love to make dinner - I love trying new recipes, figuring out how the leftovers from one night can be made into something totally different the next - but I can see myself, 20 years from now, not loving it so much.



So, my latest thought is that I should go to some sort of cooking school (like the one that Julia instructed) where it's back to learning to love the basics of cooking... or I should send Phil to cooking school instead. Hhmm... maybe we should do it together? Now there's a thought that I hadn't thought of before. (Can you tell that I have a lot of time to think? haha)



Anyways, has anyone else wanted to go to cooking school? Or...wanted to send their husband?

On the road again...

Food really is the fabric of our lives...it is how we celebrate, comfort ourselves, and it is an excuse to catch up with friends and co-workers. This week I was travelling again - off to California to my company's head office, and this trip out, I realized how much food is part of my travel rituals, and helps keep me sane while off in an "alternate reality" (which is kind of what business travel feels like!).

At some point in my travel career, I have given myself permission to eat junk food in airports totally guilt-free. When I get to T.O. airport, the first thing I do is get a trashy magazine, a 3-Musketeers bar (my favourite!), and a bag of Smartfood (salty and sweet both covered!). That is my comfort food for a 5-hour flight across the continent (Julie&Julia was playing on the plane, so that helped pass the time too! Perfect timing!).

I got to the hotel and checked-in to hear my favourite phrase of the week "Concierge Lounge"...I've finally stayed at Marriott hotels long enough to now be a Gold member, and have access to the fancy lounge...which means, all the Fruit Loops and Diet Pepsi I can eat and smuggle out in my purse!!!! Seriously, its amazing how happy it makes me to have unlimted access to cereal when I'm travelling.

Of course, you can't escape the fancy business dinners when travelling. Tuesday night dinner out was the best...my co-workers picked a fantastic restaurant with an outdoor patio, because they know how much I love being outside in the warmth (with my flip flops on!). Pomegranate mojitos, braised short ribs swimming in mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting was on the menu for me. Everything just tastes better when eaten on a patio, don't you think?

Whirlwind trip ended with a red-eye flight home from San Francisco last night...my SFO airport ritual is Ghirardelli chocolate, which is San Francisco specialty. I just can't be in that airport without buying a chocolate bar (okay, two). Again, this is how I survive getting on a plane at 10pm at night (which is really 1am EST), attempting to sleep on the plane, arriving in TO at 6am (which is really 3am PST), driving home, and crashing again for a few hours.

So, bottomline, the only thing I have actually cooked this week is the Kraft Dinner I made for "lunch" today, when I finally got out of bed at noon!

Now, its back to reality, where chocolate bars and Fruit Loops are not allowed (at least, not guilt-free), where it is snowing (no more flip flops or patios), and where I once again have to figure out something to make for dinner...

Salty or Sweet?

I am sure that everyone knows that I have a sweet tooth, I each chocolate every day, or something sweet. If there is nothing sweet in the house I will make either very sweet hot tea (4tbsp or so) or super sweet lemon-aid. Thanks to Halloween this is unnecessary as I have a secret stash of Rockets hidden in the office. I don’t even think that Matt likes Rockets but they are hidden anyways so I won’t have to share.

With that being said I do have my salty moments, or salty days were I just can’t seem to get enough of the salty stuff. I had one of these days yesterday and turned to one of my new tried and true favourites. This recipe is fantastic! Mom and I discovered it a bit ago on the Food Network. We saw the recipe, made a dash to the grocery store for artichokes (who keeps artichoke hearts on hand) and ate the whole large jar together.

Perhaps I should preface this by saying that my Mom and I do have a tendency of doing this. When I lived in Ottawa Ma would come up every Thursday and we would overindulge in something while watching ER, CSI and drinking at least 2 bottles of wine. One week we ate 3 pints of strawberries with 2 very large chocolate kisses (the really huge ones, do you know what I mean? They are bigger then softballs!) that we melted and dipped the strawberries in. Needless to say we had very sore tummies but thanks to the wine these weren’t felt until the next day. So a random binge isn’t far off the mark for us.

Since that day I have made this recipe a dozen times and it seems that every time it just gets better and better. Everyone I have made it for also thourally enjoys it. So, I wanted to share. It is a bit of work to make the mayo but very worth it. It doesn’t take long but your arm is a bit sore by the end. I have also started to roast 4 or 6 heads of garlic whenever I am doing roasted veggies, throwing the roasted cloves in a jar and tossing it in the fridge so that I always have some on hand, just incase. I keep the artichokes on hand now too.

So enjoy ladies.

This also made we wonder... which of you are salty, and which of you are sweet?

Artichokes with Roasted Garlic Aioli

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 x egg yolk
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 cup grape seed oil
• 1 heads garlic, roasted*
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon juice to taste
• 12 x baby artichokes (poivrade variety, which are the tiny ones) or 1 large jar
• 1 to 2 tbsp flour
• 1 to 2 lemons
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
1. Make the aioli: Beat the yolk with the vinegar and mustard. Whisk in the oil, drop by drop, to make a thick mayonnaise. Squeeze the garlic out of the roasted cloves into the mayonnaise and whisk smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, to taste.

2. Prepare the artichokes: Trim the artichokes, rubbing with lemon as you go, until you are down to the core with a bit of stem attached. Halve. While you’re trimming, bring a pot of water to the boil. Squeeze the juice of a lemon into it and salt it. Drop in the artichokes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes, depending on the size. Drain, and pat dry. (or open jar and drain, which I recommend, trimming artichokes is a bastard)

3. Toss artichokes in a little flour for a better crust.

4. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and brown the artichokes on all sides. Transfer to paper towel to drain. Serve with the aioli.

5. *To roast a head of garlic, wrap in foil and bake for an hour at 350°F/180°C.

What's in a Name?

As many of you know, I have an ongoing fascination with being domestic - particularly domestic in a way that harkens back to the days of old. It's hard to explain precisely, because this desire of mine does not take into account my utter reliance on modern conveniences (dishwasher, microwave, etc.). It's not so much that I want the process from the olden days, I just want the results. Or just the names (which, to me, capture a certain feeling). Hence, the other day when I thought it would be nice to bake some muffins from scratch. I started looking through my favourite book of recipes for baking and immediately was drawn to muffin recipes with names that conjured images of roaring hearth fires, harvest tables, and crisp linens drying in the wind. Lemon Ginger Muffins. Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Apricot Almond Muffins. And finally, Cornmeal and Cheddar Cheese Muffins. Oh, this was it! It sounded hearty and yes, domestic (I use the word "domestic" to describe a state for which I currently don't have a better word; yet, it's not quite precise). At any rate, the idea of making Cornmeal and Cheddar Cheese Muffins seemed so much more virtuous than Chocolate Chip Muffins (which were described as tasting more like cupcakes). I felt wholesome just thinking about it. Strangely enough, once I had decided upon this recipe I was filled with a certain feeling of... what? Excitement? Anticipation? Self-righteousness?

At last, the morning arrived. I warmed my hands by the fire and donned my apron. No wait, I just pre-heated the oven. Still, the ambience was similar. The aroma of baking filled the house with a warmth that contrasted nicely with the cold rain pelting the windows on what was a particularly dark morning. I put the kettle on and made a cup of tea to have with my glorious muffins. They looked good. They smelled good. They tasted... just okay. Alright, maybe less than okay. They were dry. Very, very dry. Even the tea couldn't wash down a whole muffin. I found myself wishing I'd made the cupcake-like Chocolate Chip Muffins. Surely they would taste good, even if they sounded so... ordinary, so straight-from-a-mix.

I packaged the remaining muffins for freezing. I know just when to pull them out. I think they might be perfect as a dinner companion to a hot stew, or some spicy chili on a cold, blustery night with the wind whipping at the windows... after all, they are more of a biscuit than a muffin. Clearly, they're not a morning treat; yet, they have so much potential. They must have! Especially if they're dipped in something liquid.

Carolyn

The Chili Catastrophe

It was Saturday morning and I was making a huge pot of chili - part of my annual fall 'freezer stock up'. I have done this many times before and the result has always been numerous meals of hearty and delicious chili that I could just take out of the freezer on those days when 'what is for dinner?' eludes me. But on this particular occassion, I was distracted, thinking about what else I needed to do that day (really, who knows), and things got a little spicy.

Saturday night we sat down to enjoy the chili that had been simmering on the stove all afternoon, and it was then that I realized that I had put way too much chili powder in; one bite and there was a ring of fire around my mouth. "Oh, this is too spicy!" I exclaimed, to which Bridget replied, "Mommy, this chili is just right." But it was not "just right"; the poor girl had tears in her eyes. So there I was, with an enormous pot of chili that was so spicy it was almost inedible. What was I going to do?

The Plan: I have separated the chili into smaller portions and frozen these portions in 13 (yes, 13) individual freezer bags. Each week, from now until kingdom come, I will be making a smaller batch of chili without chili powder, and adding some of the spicy chili to it. Hopefully, the no spice chili and the spicy chili, when combined, will result in something that is "just right" Stay tuned to hear how this unfolds; who knows I may be bringing chili to our Christmas potluck.

Future Considerations: I have made a large notation on my chili recipie to use chili powder sparingly. And, after making 13 batches of chili, I will likely not be making chili again for a very long time.

The last food group - Chocolate

This morning I woke to an empty bowl at the front door. Last night, the bowl held some of my favourite Halloween chocolates that I bought (supposedly) for the little scavengers on our street. In truth, I had hoped that I'd be snacking on some right now as I post this blog - but it is not so. I could blame it on the high number of kids that rang our door bell last night or my husband who handed them out, but the reason for the empty bowl goes back to those Halloweens when I was a trick-or-treater...
As a child, Halloween was definitely one of my favourite times of the year. When my brother and I got home from our night raid, we always dumped out our candy so our Mom could take a picture. I have absolutely no idea why she did this. I can only speculate that she wanted to one day show what greedy kids we were, or perhaps she wanted to document our progress from year to year. I don't know.
After spreading out my candy on the floor (far enough from my brother so that there was no chance of our treats getting mixed up) I would count and sort it into different piles. There were piles for chocolate, for suckers, chips, rockets (we always got lots of those), gum, and of course, toffee. Oh the toffee, in its Halloween coloured rapper. I always tried to convince my brother that two toffees were definitely worth one chocolate bar and that he would be crazy not to trade with me. Sometimes,it even worked. I guess in some ways, it was Halloween that taught me how to manipulate my little brother. I guess it affected me in other ways, too...
Halloween candy made me a little obsessive, at least until it was gone. For instance, when it came time to eat my smarties, I would open the box and divide them into piles by colours. I would then perform a complete inventory of the number of smarties in each pile. If there were more red than blue, I would eat the red ones to even out their numbers. This would then be followed by either eating one of each colour to keep the piles even or - if I really wanted a good mouthful of chocolate - one of each colour all at the same time. Somehow I convinced myself that each colour tasted just a little different and that the colour combinations mattered.
This logic would also apply to the pile as a whole. If there were more suckers than chocolate bars, I would use this as justification for eating 5 suckers that day to even out the piles. This would ultimately lead to even piles - but very few candies left. Once the piles dwindled down to single digits I'd think that it was probably best to just get rid of it so that I didn't go insane trying to keep from eating it - and I would eat the rest in one sitting. That's why my loot never lasted very long.
And so it was those Halloween's that came to influence the person that I am today and, if I'm completely honest, the reason why the candy bowl at the front door is empty this morning. Maybe next year we'll only have one type of chocolate, so that I'm not tempted to even out the piles. Then again, as I think back over the enjoyment that all of those little chocolate bars gave me, maybe not...