Food Adventure Club

We just got modern.

2012-02-06T16:32:00.000-06:00

We now have a twitter account.

So if you're into it, follow Food Adventure Club, @its_time_to_eat.

Caramel Crème Brûlée

2012-01-30T00:27:00.002-06:00

It's been a while. The last couple months got crazy. I was cooking and baking in December, but was running out of time to blog, hence a backlog of deliciousness that I still must post. Then the new year happened somehow and my time became even weirder. I was barely even cooking. I got to feeling really "off." I'm still trying to regain balance and serenity and am only making food here and there. Hopefully I'll be back on track some time this week.

All that being said, I have some very untimely posts to put up, like this one. I wrote this on December 7th, 2011 and it's only making its debut now. In January. Here it is.

Tomorrow is Tyler's birthday. Treats are in order.

He and I have very different tastebuds, when it comes to sweet treats (salt and savoury, we're peas in a pod). I like dark chocolate, tart tastes like raspberry and lemon. He's the milk chocolate, caramel and apple cinnamon guy. Don't get me wrong; we indulge in the other's preferences all the time, but if left to our own devices, that's kind of our deal in a nutshell.

So what better day of the year than Tyler's birthday to try making caramel crème brûlée? The main thing freaking me out is the making of the caramel. I always get nervous about it burning, so I don't end up making it. However, I trusted the precise timing of Chef Michael Smith, to the very second, and I think it's gonna be great. Smells right, looks right, and is in the oven as we speak. Here's the original recipe.

Also, if you read my other post on the lavender version of this, you'll note that the method is slightly different, but the same.

The main thing that works for this: prepare and measure out everything you can in advance so the timing of the caramel is bang on.

The Ingredients:

1/2 sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cups half and half
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks

The Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Make a caramel with 1/2 cup of sugar and the water by placing them in a large saucepot and bringing to a boil without stirring. The sugar will dissolve and begin to bubble. It'll look like this:

Then this.

And then this.

Let it boil for about 5 minutes, watching carefully as the water boils off and it begins to turn yellow. Gently swirl until the sugar turns an even golden. Take it off of the heat before it gets brown. At exactly - exactly - 5 minutes, my mixture looked like this:

Now, according to Michael Smith, at this point you do the following: "Quickly pour the milk and cream into the caramel along with the vanilla and salt and whisk until incorporated."

Let me tell you, I did precisely that, and science happened. The cool milk/cream hit the caramel so fast that the liquid puffed up into a crazy substance that can only be likened to that "sea foam" candy. It was sort of like a hardened maze of bubbles. It shrunk back into the pot before I could get a good shot of it.

Here's a fragment of the science that happened.

So I had the extra step of stirring and melting that hardened sugar back into the cream. Not fun, but it worked. I'm wondering if a step involving warming the milk is missing from the Smith recipe? Anyhow, onto the next actual step.
Whisk eggs and then slowly pour the caramel mixture into them, a little at a time, whisking constantly so you don't cook the egg. This is called tempering.
Pour into 3 or 4 ramekins or crème brulee dishes and bake in a hot water bath in the oven for 30 minutes, or until edges are set and centre is slightly jiggly. It took me a bit longer than that, actually.
Once cooled, chill them overnight in the fridge so they firm up.
Just prior to serving, sprinkle with sugar and caramelize with a blowtorch. I don't know how a recipe can say "blowtorch" without a crapload of exclamation marks following it or underlining it a hundred times. Recipes are so nonchalant.

The results of the dessert were pretty darn good. The creme didn't set quite a much as I would have liked, but the taste was really quite incredibly of caramel! Once I figure out the science, we'll be golden.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

2011-11-20T21:28:00.000-06:00

Yes, another pumpkin recipe. I'm blitzing!

These are super similar to my vegan cinnamon buns, but with some modifications in both flavour and moisture, to account for the pumpkin puree.

The Ingredients:

For the dough...

1 1/4 cups of warm water
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
extra flour for hands and kneading surface
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp margarine (or whatever thing like that you please), room temperature
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax + 2 Tbsp water + sit for five minutes)
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree or 1 ¾ cup fresh pumpkin puree

For the filling. Mix the following ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork and set aside:

1/3 cup margarine, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 2/3 Tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg

The Method:

In a medium bowl, mix the yeast and 1/4 tsp of your sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes. It will look frothy when the time's up.
In a large mixing bowl, add all your dry ingredients: flour, rest of the sugar, and salt. Create a "ditch" in the centre of the dry mixture.
Add the yeast mixture to the ditch and begin stirring in the flour gently with a fork.
When you've almost mixed it together, add in the margarine, flax egg and pumpkin puree.
Knead together with your bare hands and feel awesome and powerful.
Once the dough is fairly consistent, move out of the bowl and onto a floured surface, knead for 5 minutes and shape into a ball.
Grease an extra large bowl (I just cleaned my original flour bowl and oiled it) and place the dough in there, covering it with a tea tow. Place it in a warm area (or a lightly pre-heated oven) for about an hour. You want the dough to double in size, generally.
Punch the dough gently and transfer onto a floured surface. Roll out into an 18×12 inch sheet.
Take your now-mixed filling ingredients and use two thirds of it to spread along the top of the rolled out dough, right to the edges. Make sure the filling is evenly spread. As far as I know, this can only really be done with your bare hands.
Starting on one end, roll the dough from one long width at the bottom up to the top edge. Gently cut the roll ever 2 inches or so. Place each piece in a baking dish that you've lined with margarine and the remaining 1/3 of the filling.
Cover and rise in warm room or warm oven again for 45 minutes.
Bake at 325°F for 20 minutes (maybe an extra minute or two).
Now here's the trick: I use a Pyrex baking dish that I just so happen to have two of the same size. When the buns are done baking, take them out of the oven, place the second clean dish over the buns and flip it upside down in one fluid motion. The extra sugar filling you lined the dish with will have become molten awesomeness and will coat the buns and seep between the cracks upon flipping, so that the bottom of the buns are now on top in a new dish. Be very careful not to burn yourself from the flip.

The results of the flip make the tops (formerly the bottoms) caramelized and delicious.

Makes about 12 large buns. I made 8 in one pan with the flip step (#13) included and 4 squished into a loaf pan that was just lined with margarine, which resulted in a simpler version (still stupid good).

Pumpkin Lasagna

2011-11-14T17:49:00.001-06:00

Here's an experiment that worked out pretty alright - although next time I'm going to make more sauce. But the essential flavour of pumpkin, sage and nutmeg are great fall flavours. This can be made either vegan or not, depending on your preferences. The vegan options are mentioned below.

I based my recipe loosely on this one, but I riffed on it a lot.

The Ingredients:

Fresh pumpkin, seeded and peeled
Olive oil
2/3 brick of medium tofu, although next time I'd used a whole brick (to simulate ricotta)
1 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Generous sprinkling of fresh ground nutmeg
Option: can either use real mozzarella or Parmesan, or go with a vegan cheese like Daiya
Another option: 1 egg for binding, but not critical
12 dried lasagna noodles

For the sauce:
2 cups of almond milk
4 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 Tbsp sage, minced
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated nutmeg

The Method:

1. Roast your prepped pumpkin on an oiled cookie sheet until tender, maybe about 40 or 50 minutes at 400 degrees. (See this post for how to prep the pumpkin if you need guidance.)

If you've already got roasted pumpkin on hand, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Boil a big pot of water with salt and toss in the noodles until al dente. When they're ready, remove from water (don't rinse in cold water) and toss lightly in olive oil so they don't stick together.

3. While the pumpkin is roasting and the noodles are boiling, prep the sauce. In a large saucepan, bring the almond milk to a slow simmer over medium heat. In a large pot, melt the butter/margarine over medium-low heat. Add the sage and garlic to the butter, cook for 30 seconds, then add the flour and stir.

Add most of the milk, and whisk vigorously to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil, while whisking continuously. Add the remaining milk and whisk again. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Adjust the heat to low to maintain a slow simmer, and cook until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes, whisking frequently. I found I wanted my sauce a bit thicker, so I took a bit of corn starch, mixed it with water and then added to the sauce, while whisking vigorously. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

4. Prep the filling. Mash together the roasted pumpkin, tofu and seasonings and Parmesan cheese if you're using it. Set aside.

5. Assemble the lasagna. People get so hung up on what to put in each layer, but I generally do:
- Line the bottom of the lasagna pan with a bit of sauce
- Do a layer of noodles
- More sauce
- Noodles
- The "ricotta" and pumpkin filling (and sprinkle shredded dairy or vegan cheese)
- Noodles
- Sauce and cheese

6. Bake in the middle of the oven for about an hour at 375, covered with a cookie sheet. Then uncover and bake for about 15 minutes so it browns on top. Let the lasagna rest for a bit before serving so that it keeps its shape.

The results are a tasty twist on lasagna.

Pumpkin Soup

2011-11-14T17:07:00.000-06:00

Typically, this blog is a documentation of trying out new things - the successes and the failures and the in-betweens. But here's a recipe for pumpkin soup I've used plenty of times, but wanted to share with you because it's delicious.

It also has an odd back-story. This recipe is a fusion of two recipes: one from my ex-boyfriend's mom, and one from Tyler's ex's mom. Ever so strange, but the combination of these two women's soups is fantastic. One year we made this for Thanksgiving dinner and my grandma asked if she could keep the leftovers... my grandma! The woman who does nothing but shove food into your face until the point of feeling sick and then sends you home with left overs - she asked if she could have the rest! I knew the recipe was a keeper.

The Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Some fresh ginger chopped

2 carrots peeled, chopped

4 cups of pumpkin peeled, seeded and cubed into 1-inch cubes

Sautee the above in olive oil (5 minutes or so).

Then add:

1 tsp curry

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

couple of bay leaves

¼ tsp hot sauce

Cook for 5 minutes or so.

Add water and broth or vegetable cooking water (4 cups of liquid in total)

½ cup white wine

Simmer 25 minutes.

Puree until smooth.

Optional garnishes include:
a swirl of sour cream, cranberry sauce and fresh chopped cilantro.

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

2011-11-09T14:42:00.000-06:00

I was making room in the freezer in order to fill it up again. Coming across a container of rhubarb resulted in a modification of the pineapple upside-down cake from last Christmas. Follow the recipe, but sprinkle frozen-then-thawed rhubarb in, instead of lots of pineapple, cherries and pecans.

The real kicker: Serve it with a dollop of sour cream on the side, with maple syrup and fresh grated ginger stirred in (it's seriously awesome... best invention whim of the week!). Garnish with a bit of fresh basil if you want to get fancy.

Pumpkin Season is Back! Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

2011-11-08T16:22:00.000-06:00

We got an average-sized pumpkin the day before Halloween, but I opted to save it for cooking rather than sacrifice it to the jack-o-lantern-kicking children of the neighbourhood (although I kind of love carving pumpkins).

I've said it before, but, man, one pumpkin goes such a long way. I'm going to return to some of my favourites from last year, like the pumpkin feta muffins, as well as some new things, which you'll just have to wait and see.

First, there's the processing of the pumpkin, which is a heck of a lot work and sometimes I even take breaks. Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds and guts with a spoon. Separate the seeds from the slime and set aside on a cookie sheet. Compost the guts.

Cut the halves into more manageable wedges, a few inches in width. Then, with either a peeler or a knife, peel off the outer skin of the pumpkin. Now you've got pounds of pumpkin ready to roast, put in soup, etc.

Some people roast the pumpkin with the skin on, but it really depends on what you're making. If you're just going to puree the roasted pumpkin in the end, that'll be fine. If you want a particular size of cubed, roasted pumpkin (like in the muffins above), it's best to peel first.

I grew up eating roasted pumpkin seeds as a snack, but my parents always just dry roasted them in the oven with a little salt. This year, I kicked it up a notch and the result was good. I think next time I might add a touch more Worcestershire sauce or a bit of hot sauce.

Preheat oven to 325.

The Ingredients:

1 pumpkin's-worth of seeds
Small splash of olive oil
A couple tsp of brown sugar
Aprox. 12 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt

The Method:

As I said, separate the seeds from the guts and spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet.

Stir the flavourings into the seeds and roast for about 40 minutes. Stir a couple times. Make sure the seeds are nice and dried out, without letting them burn.

I usually store them in a container without a lid on, but do whatever you like. They're good as both a snack and as a garnish on salads and whatnot.

Stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes!

Apple Spice Loaf

2011-10-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago was apple harvest time, and we gladly inherited lovely apples from Tyler's dad, who has a few trees in the backyard that produce delicious fruit. I started out by making a pot of apple sauce (which was loosely based on this recipe... I think... I just haphazardly whipped it up). Then I found a recipe for an apple loaf and adjusted it by: making it vegan, reducing the oil by using apple sauce, and throwing in way more autumnal spices. The loaf = awesome.

The Ingredients:

Bowl 1...

1/3 cup oil

2/3 cup apple sauce
3 flax “eggs”

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Bowl 2...
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

some ground ginger

some nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt

3 cups apples, diced (don't bother peeling... peel's good for you!)

The Method:

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

Combine and set aside the oil, apple sauce, flax eggs (1 Tbsp ground flax + 2 Tbsp water and stirred together and set aside for a couple minutes + 1 egg), sugar, and vanilla.

Sift flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to oil mixture gradually. Add apples.

Bake in 2 regular loaf pans for 70 minutes at 325°F. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then place on cooling rack.

Moist and delicious and so very appley*!

*Not a word.

$4 Food Challenge: Day Six, the Final Day

2011-10-17T15:02:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was the final official day of the food challenge, but this isn't the last day that I'll be thinking about the experience and seeing what I can do to help with food security issues for people in my community.

I started the day with steel cut oats for breakfast, and a coffee. Whether or not I'm on this challenge, I usually eat my steel cut oats with nothing but a pinch of salt. My mum tells me my Scottish side really shines in my preference. But this time around, I wanted some extra nutrients so I jazzed it up with some raisins I soaked in water for a minute to soften, some chopped and toasted almonds, and a bit of brown sugar. If you've ever had that oatmeal deal at Starbucks (I admit I have), it was kind of like that, but with delicious, chewy, organic steel cut oats. Yum!

This challenge ended with a special event called the World Food Day Human Library. The human library project entails different people acting as "human books" in which members of the public can "check" us out for a 15-minute conversation about our experiences on a certain topic. In this case, all of the books (about 9 people) were here to talk about food security issues, be it as a $4 food challenger, staff from Winnipeg Harvest, a person who currently lives on social assistance, and more.

What a fascinating afternoon! My head is still overwhelmed with all of the ideas and input the event created.

What ended up happening was small groups of 3 or 4 people would talk to a book at a time, since the attendance was fairly high. These groups were interesting mixes of people: those living on social assistance or disability spoke with politicians; higher-ups at food organizations met students. There were a few media reporters too. (Here's a brief article from the Winnipeg Free Press... not bad, other than the over-emotional photo they chose to go with the story. That's me in the shot. I was listening to an announcement about bathroom breaks when the photographer took the picture, but I sure do look "hungry" or "devastated," don't I?)

The main thing I've been pondering about in this challenge is what to do next. I've been thinking long and hard about how I can use this experience in a concrete way. The first step is talking about it, writing about, sharing it. Yes, it's important that people know what one receives on that budget and how that budget affects someone physically, emotionally, socially and I think even spiritually.

But what is the next action after that? This is what I've been obsessing about all week.

Let's start with a comment from my friend Jason, who works with street youth at a really great place called Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY):

"This is an interesting challenge. Part of me feels that if you 'succeed' that it gives ammunition to assholes who can say 'I told you they could live on this amount'. Since the assistance rate ain't going up anytime soon, perhaps what you learn from this challenge can be used to teach those who live on this kind of budget some nifty tricks. Good luck."

I agree. If I get through this week relatively easily (and perhaps fairly healthfully), how am I helping to raise awareness about how this low budget affects people on social assistance? Well, there are some really major advantages that I have that allow me to do this, aside from the fact that this is only a week-long challenge. Here's the list of advantages so far:

1. I have the skill set to cook well. Something like baking powder biscuits is really cheap to make, but what if you don't know how to make them? Maybe you didn't grow up in a house of people that cooked. Maybe you've never baked before. Not to mention meal-planning skills, nutritional knowledge and math skills to be able to make smart purchases.

2. I have the tools and the kitchen to cook with. I have pots and pans. I have a wide assortment of utensils like spatulas, a rolling pin, ladles, measuring cups, all things that make food prep possible. I also have a few fancier items, like a microwave, a stand mixer, a manual pasta roller. These give me even more recipe options. And, something I'm sure many of us don't even consider: I have access to a kitchen.

3. I have containers to store food in! Not wasting the food you have is a big part of eating cheap. If you don't have much money, are you really going to buy food containers or mason jars or ziplock bags? I doubt it. I do reuse containers and bags from products I've bought from the store, but that's in addition to my drawer full of jars.

4. It took a lot of time to price out my groceries, travel to a variety of stores, plan my week of meals and then literally cook the food. Making things from scratch can be really affordable in terms of money, but a lot of people - like single moms, for instance - don't have hours and hours of time to do food prep.

5. I also made use of personal transportation. We have a car and although I tried keep an efficient and local route to my original 5-store shopping trip, the whole time I was conscious of limitations one would face if they had no car, or bicycle, or money for the bus. You can't walk home with a big bag of flour and produce. It's also not practical to walk or bus to multiple stores. Sometimes the corner store is the "best" option, but there often isn't affordable or healthy food at a convenience store.

6. When I'm not on this strict challenge, I also have the advantage of condiments and spices at my fingertips to kick any meal up to that really tasty level. Who's going to spend $20, $30 or more on a nice batch of spices?

7. After speaking to a few women at the human library, they also said that their social assistance allowance for housing (about $350, I think? This could be wrong.) is too low so they often have to use money from their food budget just to keep a roof over their heads. One woman told me that she chose to be homeless a few years ago so that she could try to work on farms and eat good food. She's still doing that today. With this $4/day challenge, I didn't have to worry about getting evicted or staying warm. I have enough money for my housing costs and I was able to actually use my full $20 for food.

So. That's a lot to think about.

Like Jason says above, it's not super likely the food allowance will go up any time soon, so how can we as a community make this low budget more liveable for those who aren't willingly partaking in a week-long challenge?

I have some very small seeds of ideas I'm working on. Now this is all preliminary, still very fresh. But us non-$4/dayers could think about banding together to make everyone eat better.

One idea I have is helping out with "kitchen kits." I've been thinking about utensils, pantry items, spices and other kitchen things as "kitchen capital." These items are things we invest in when we begin a kitchen, whether that's moving to a new place or moving out for the first time. They're often one-time purchases, like a new set of pans or a spice rack. But it takes hundreds of dollars to establish this kitchen capital, money that you'd never be able to "invest" in your kitchen if you lived on social assistance. So I'd like to come up with some sort of kitchen kit drive. Putting together boxes of kitchen utensils and other items that many people take for granted. Many of us have pots, pans and other tools that we don't use. Maybe there's a way to get those things to people who could use them? Perhaps we could get sponsors to buy huge batches of condiments and fresh herbs and spices? Is this a good idea? A bad one?

Going hand-in-hand with this... I've also thought about offering free cooking classes, so participants can learn cheap and healthy recipes. It would also be a chance to cook with others. I don't know about you, but I love bonding over cooking. It would also give participants a chance to learn what they can do with those lentils they got from a food bank.

Also, I love community gardens. An urban crop-share kind of idea could be developed, although I think this has to go with cooking classes or other information, since plenty of people don't know what to do with kale, for example. You can't just hand someone produce and expect them to know how to make that enjoyable and palatable.

Phew. My brain is moving a mile a minute. What do you think? I feel like I've only scratched the surface here, but I want to keep this momentum going to hopefully create some change. Thanks to the organizers of the food challenge for asking me to participate in such an enlightening week.

$4 Food Challenge: Day Five

2011-10-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday went a whole lot better than "rock bottom Thursday." Rewinding a bit, I made dinner on Friday from that can of curry ($1.59) and those Indian roti (also $1.59) I bought at Lucky Supermarket. Flavour! Fat! It was definitely a highlight of the week.

Here's what I had for Friday dinner:

I parboiled some yam, started cooking some brown rice and sauteed up some onion and carrot in a pot.

After a while, I added some split yellow peas to the pot and added the green curry sauce (which had lemongrass, bamboo shoots and other delicious things!). Shortly after, I added some of the canned corn from earlier in the week, and the already cooked broccoli from a previous dinner. Then I cooked it until the peas were soft.

Salad was lettuce, olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and nutritional yeast on top.

The meal was satisfying, and I had lots left over for later, which means that I'll be eating this for a couple more meals.

So that's how Friday ended. Back to Saturday. I ate fruit, some raw almonds and coffee for breakfast.

Lunch was the same curry as the night before and another roti.

See how it's the same photo? Jokes!

Dinner was only a salad with the last of the canned tuna and nutritional yeast. I thought I'd want more to eat, but I suppose my stomach is shrinking a bit. Earlier in the week when the food wasn't all that great, I never had seconds. And since I can't afford snacks and desserts and alcohol, I figure I'm taking in less calories than usual. So yeah, yesterday I didn't eat much, even though I was feeling hungry. Just a small plate was all it took. I love eating so much and this is a very strange physical experience for me.

Oh, a social note: I had two drop-in visits yesterday... some friends and their little guy, and my parents in the evening. It's really weird to not have any food around that I can throw together as a snack to offer guests. I literally gave them water. They all know I'm doing this challenge, but still!

$4 Food Challenge: Day Four

2011-10-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

Today I spent the last of my $20.

I did an evaluation of my main foods, like rice, beans and veggies, to see if I could make them stretch to Sunday. All was well. So with my remaining cash money I went out to fix my problems from yesterday. I needed to find something with flavour, maybe a little fat. Something that I would look forward to eating! Well it all worked out. Here's what I got:

1 small red pepper, $0.23 (Lucky Supermarket)
5 onion Indian roti, $1.59 (Lucky Supermarket)
1 can of green curry, $1.59 (Lucky Supermarket)
Small handful of raw almonds, $0.75 (Bulk Barn)
Sultana raisins, $0.33 (Bulk Barn)

Total cost: $4.49

Total amount spent this week on food: $20.12

12 cents over!!!!!!! I'm not too worried; I realized that I'm actually eating on this budget for 5.5 days, so I'm okay with a slight increase.

Breakfast was a pear and coffee, again. I know, I know, totally not a balanced meal. I eat breakfast so late in the day, that it's usually only an hour or two until I eat lunch. Which, by the way, was total junk food: I had the instant noodle soup that cost me $0.33.

That's alright. I look forward to making a healthy and delicious curry and side salad for dinner.

$4 Food Challenge: Day Three

2011-10-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

I've been experiencing "food swings."

Things started out fine yesterday (Day Three). CityTV came to my house to interview Anna Weier - a friend of mine and one of the organizers of this challenge - and me about how it was going and why we were doing it.* Well, I felt like I said good things; it was all fairly focused, honest and genuine. I talked about how it was tricky but that I felt that doing this challenge helps create a dialogue with people who've never given welfare food rates a second thought. I don't represent what this budget is actually like for those on social assistance, but at least it's a peek into some of the issues. I was feeling positive.

But by the end of the day, I was sort of grumpy and weird and really not handling this challenge well. At all. My stomach and taste buds were taking me to weird, weird levels.

While I was being interviewed, I was asked to cook for some contextual shots of me in my kitchen. Since this budget is so specific, I had to prep food that I'd plan to eat later. I cooked up my dry pinto beans. Then I used a cup of flour and an egg to make a small batch of pasta. I hung the pasta on wooden spoons between two chairs to dry for my dinner later.

Such a productive way to start the day!

Once the reporter and camera operator left, I dipped into my first major meal of the day.

Things started fine. My lunch was simple but good. Salad with half a can of tuna, nutritional yeast sprinkled on for flavour and tossed in olive oil and lemon. I finished up the yam chips and a biscuit on the side. An apple was my snack later on.

Then I headed out for my afternoon of errands and exercise, returning home with a immense appetite. I polished off the biscuits, peanut butter and half of my last banana. It's never tasted so good.

Then dinner happened.

Thinking about it still degrades my sense of self-cookery.

I sauteed some onion, garlic and added some of the Dollarama tomato sauce. I threw in some of the cooked pinto beans from earlier. There was a bit of cooked broccoli from yesterday; I added that too. No herbs to enhance things, just salt. I cooked up the pasta, and tossed it in the sauce to cook together for a minute. To use up my baking powder "flat bread" I rubbed it with raw garlic and oil and popped that under the broiler. I felt pretty proud of my invention of toasted garlic flat bread.

Well. The pasta was so dull. I kind of burned the flat bread, just enough where you don't really want to eat it, but it's all you got. I called it "flat bread carbonara" to convince myself it was fancy. Funny enough, it didn't work.

With the crappy pasta and the burned bread, I was feeling like I needed to add something. But what? I fried an egg. I figured with the extra exercise the protein would help. Plus, I'm craving fat like crazy. I only realized this afternoon that other than the spoonful of peanut butter and the olive oil, I have no fat in my diet. Anyhow, let's just say the egg didn't salvage anything; it just made it weirder.

This tasted so bad I had to take a break from it.

All in all, it was depressing. I even broadcast it on your friendly neighbourhood social network. My status last night:
"I'm officially starting to find this $4/day food challenge depressing. I've begun to feel like a horrible cook. I know it's not true, but consecutive lame meals become pretty convincing."

How had I resorted to a public cry for sympathy? How much I've changed in three days!

Yesterday was a strange, emotional day. The end.

*The CityTV story doesn't really convey much of what we were hoping to get across, but you can watch it online here.

$4 Food Challenge: A Couple Thoughts

2011-10-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

This challenge isn't about saving money, or a cool way to lose weight because you can't afford fatty things like cheesecake. This about some people having very little money for food and others gaining some insight into what that's like on a daily basis.

$4 a day. Think about it.

With this budget, I can't afford to buy healthy organic food.

With this budget, I can't go out with friends for a meal, ever.

With this budget, how much things cost is always on my mind. I can't "relax." I'm constantly keeping track so I have enough to eat later in the week.

With this budget, I can't have treats like a glass of wine or chocolate. It would take up too much of my precious money for food I actually need.

With this budget, I can't afford simple things that help make food taste better, like fresh herbs or balsamic vinegar, for example. If food doesn't taste as good as it can, I'm not nearly as happy as I could feel. I'm already not really looking forward to my next meal as much as I usually am.

Try this for a week and see if you think about welfare differently. I've only completed day two and I'm finding this challenge challenging.

$4 Food Challenge: Day Two

2011-10-12T19:28:00.001-05:00

So far today's going fine. Coffee and a pear this morning (I know, not a huge breakfast, but I didn't feel like steel cut oats - one of my five pantry items).

Lunch is leftover soup and biscuits (with no butter of course, too expensive). I can already see how flavour monotony could be a lame side effect of living on $4 a day. Making big amounts of food is cheaper, but wears down your tastebuds after a while. Don't get me wrong, I'm a massive supporter of leftover food and a mega-hater of throwing it out, but you only want to eat the same meal over and over again for so long.

This afternoon I "splurged" and bought a lemon. It cost $0.69, which is a lot for a non-calorie food. But it's gonna be great. I'll enjoy salads! I'll use the zest in things! I'll add a quick squeeze to add a bit of flavour to dishes. I also came across a tiny bag of two apples for $0.30; one was kind of bruised up and the other was fine. Lastly, I came across 4 eggs in the back of our fridge and have "purchased" them at the rate at the local grocery store (6 eggs for $1.55... so 4 eggs are $1.03). If you were paying attention, then you'll note that I've spent another $2.02, bringing my grand grocery total to $15.63.

Dinner features a very simplified peanut sauce, minus traditional ingredients like sesame oil, chili sauce or lime. I cooked up some brown rice, broccoli, salad and yam fries (just thinly sliced, baked on an oiled cookie sheet with a bit of salt sprinkled on top).

I took the bruised apple, chopped it up and threw it in a ramekin and baked it with brown sugar on top for dessert. I had the oven on already for the yam fries, so why not?

Now, in actuality, I don't really recommend this recipe. It tasted good considering my constraints, but I'd really suggest you add hot sauce or fish sauce or sesame oil or lime or all of the above.

The Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked (1 cup water)
1 small bunch of broccoli, cut up and steamed
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-inch cube of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 big spoonful of peanut butter
Salt to taste
Small spoon of brown sugar

The Method:

Start cooking the brown rice, since it takes a while. Also steam your broccoli.

In a small saucepan, gently cook the chopped garlic and ginger for a couple minutes, on medium low. Add some salt.

Stir in the peanut butter and thin it with water until it's a bit runnier than you'll want in the end. It'll thicken up. Toss in a bit of sugar, and salt if it's not balanced. Just remember to taste it to get it right.

Turn it up to a boil really briefly, then bring down to a simmer so it thickens. Serve on top the broccoli and rice. Serves one with a bit left over.

In the end, the sauce was good, the yam chips were alright and the apple dessert thing was lame. Don't make that part. No cinnamon and no butter and no oatmeal prevented this from being a delicious mini-sized apple crisp, alas.

Total meal cost*: $1.56

*That is the literal cost, counting every tiny thing.

$4 Food Challenge: The Initial Grocery Trip

2011-10-12T13:19:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was the big shop. All week I've been strategizing about how to tackle this challenge: what can be bought and repurposed for a few meals; what will cost less in a can than fresh; what foods still give me the nutrients I need for the week. Since the challenge is so short, spanning Tuesday (yesterday) to Saturday, I've got five days to feed myself on $4 a day, which comes to a whopping $20.

So, I headed out with my $20 bill and a grocery bag, along with a very strategized list and game plan. I plotted my list around meals I thought would be cheap: soup and biscuits, pasta, stir fried vegetables, roasted veg, etc. Then I brought a pen and paper and did some mega price-comparison shopping. I went to five stores that are all on one route, so I didn't have to go all over the city. The price comparisons were pretty astounding in some cases, and definitely helped me make the most of my shopping money (I've never been so excited about saving 10 cents). However: I realize if someone is actually on social assistance, and say they're a single mother, are they really going to have the time and fuel to see where they can save a few cents here and there? Probably not. Although it's possible.

I grew up pretty poor - I was a Manitoba statistic in that we grew up below the poverty line (not sure what that was in the '80s, but we were a family of five on half an income, and at one point, almost no income). So I've got money-saving chops. My parents taught us to buy bulk food, buy day-old food, buy semi-rotten but still good food, to grow food, to make food. All of this takes time though, to hunt around for deals or to think ahead and make your own bread for cheap rather than buying a loaf for 3 bucks.

Yup, time is always a factor.

It probably took me 2 hours to buy $14-worth of food yesterday, but I think I got a good haul. Here's the breakdown:

What I got for $13.61

I broke it down into food groups(ish).

Fruit and Vegetables:
2 lb carrots, $1 (Valu Lots)
796 mL Primo Tomato Sauce (with herbs), $1.25 (Dollarama)
Canned Corn, $0.88 (Superstore)
1 Gala Apple, $0.52 (Superstore)
1 Banana, $0.58 (Superstore)
Head of Lettuce, $0.98 (Superstore)
1 White Onion, $0.58 (Superstore)
4 Bartlett Pears, slightly bruised so %50 off, $0.87 (Superstore)
1 Medium Yam, $0.79 (Superstore)
2 Small Bunches of Broccoli, $0.88 (Superstore)

Grains or Starches:
Couscous, $0.89 (Bulk Barn)
Brown Rice, $0.54 (Superstore, bulk)
1 Package of Mr. Noodles, veg flavour, $0.33 (Superstore)

Flavour Additions:
Nutritional Yeast, $0.30 (Bulk Barn)
Golden Sugar, $0.24 (Bulk Barn)
1 Head of Garlic, $0.13 (Superstore)
Fresh Ginger Root, $0.13 (Superstore)

Protein Sources:
Peanut Butter, $0.45 (Bulk Barn)
Canned Tuna, $0.88 (Superstore)
Dried Pinto Beans, $0.42 (Superstore, bulk
Dried Split Yellow Peas, $0.35 (Superstore, bulk)

Other:
Baking Powder, $0.57 (Bulk Barn)

Total Cost: $13.61, leaving $6.39 for later in the week!

So my main concern for the week is flavour. Spices and condiments are a real advantage to enjoying your food, you know? I'm already so thankful for the 26 cents I spent on garlic and ginger. But if I could re-state my 5 pantry items (which I won't, that's sort of cheating), I would have swapped out salt for some sort of chili sauce, or mustard or something with flavour and then bought a smidge of bulk salt. Yeah, not a lot of "sauce" possibilities here... I bought canned tomatoes with "herbs" to help that out a bit when I make pasta. But other than that, it's tricky. So my remaining money will likely go to a lemon (total splurge, still haven't decided), and a bulk spice... maybe curry? Then I think I could use a handful of almonds, maybe TVP (texturized vegetable protein) and a few eggs to make my own pasta.

Anyhow, my first dinner on this budget is Carrot Ginger Soup and Baking Powder Biscuits.

Start on the soup and while that's simmering, start the biscuits.

The Soup Ingredients:

Olive oil
1/3 white onion, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
2 stems of broccoli, chopped (May as well use them in a soup! No wasting this week!)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
A big nub of fresh ginger, peeled and grated in with a rasp
1 veg. bouillon cube*
2 cups water
1/3 cup dried yellow split peas
A large splash of canned tomato sauce
1/2 can of corn

*At the bulk store, there were only meat-based or MSG-based bouillon cubes, so I did a micro-cheat and "bought" one from my cupboard. It would be about $0.15 normally.

The Method:
In a small pot, sweat the chopped onions, carrots and broccoli stems.

After a couple minutes, toss in the garlic and ginger.

Dissolve the bouillon cube in water and add to the veg.

Splash in some tomato sauce, add the split peas and bring up to a boil for a second, then let simmer while you make the biscuits. Don't add the corn yet!

Once the soup has cooled down (and the peas are soft - try one!), blend smooth with an immersion blender and then add in the corn.

Preheat your oven to 425.

The Baking Powder Biscuits Ingredients:

In a large mixing bowl:
4 cups flour (half and half whole wheat and white is good)
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

In a measuring cup:
1 3/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil

The Method:

Stir wet ingredients into dry and form into a dough. Roll it out and cut into shapes with a knife.

Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Yield: about 30 biscuits

There's no way I'd want to eat 30 biscuits this week, so I did a half recipe and rolled some of the dough really thin and cooked whole, to make a flatbread of sorts, which I broke apart into pieces for snacking.

The soup was pretty good, considering I desperately wished I could add curry powder or coconut milk. The biscuits were just like mum used to make. I've got plenty left over for lunches. First day results: not too bad.

One note: Remember yesterday when I commented on how I thought perhaps this low food budget would affect me socially? I've already had to decline a dinner out with friends because of this budget. I felt a little weird and alienated (by choice of course, this is a challenge I accepted), but only one day in and I'm already seeing the effects of food differences on a social interaction level.

$4 Food Challenge: Day One

2011-10-11T14:51:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge.

Recently I was asked to partake in a $4 a day food challenge. That's right, to spend no more than $4 a day to feed yourself, for a week.

It's an awareness-raising event leading up to World Food Day (October 16th) put on by Food Matters Manitoba, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance, Oxfam and Winnipeg Harvest. $4 dollars is the daily allowance Manitobans on social assistance receive and this is a chance for those who take food security for granted to try and gain some understanding as to what it's like to live with so little.

The Rules:

No accepting free food or drink from your friends. That defeats the purpose.

We are encouraged to go to a soup kitchen type of thing if we're not able to make ends meet, although I personally can't bring myself to do it, knowing that in actuality, I CAN afford food and I don't feel comfortable taking one meal from a soup kitchen that someone else could truly need. So I've chosen to forgo that experiential aspect.

I am permitted 5 pantry items to use during the week that don't have to be included in my costs. This may seem like a bit of a cheat, but when you think about all the pantry items you have at your fingertips normally, it's crazy small. No spices. No condiments. No baking ingredients. But it makes sense. If I was only given $4 a day for food with no "capital" kitchen money to "invest" in large sacks of flour, rice, different sauces, balsamic vinegar, I'd NEVER use a large chunk of my budget to buy those things. Who could afford a $14 piece of fresh parmesan cheese when they have $28 to spend for the whole week?

After much thought, I've chosen to use to the following as my pantry ingredients:

1. Olive Oil
2. Salt
3. Flour
4. Steel Cut Oats
5. Coffee (the luxury on the list)

This was a hard list to build, believe me. If I want to bake this week, I'll have to buy tiny amounts of things like baking soda or sugar at a bulk food store. There's no chance I'll be able to afford spices, pepper, or Bragg's to flavour things. Since I chose coffee, I can't afford tea.

A few thoughts before I head out to shop for this challenge.

I am a gardener and I currently have potatoes and carrots in the ground. I still have tomatoes kicking around. I've decided I'm not going to use the produce I've got on hand. I'll leave the root vegetables in the ground for another week and freeze the tomatoes. Although I'm sure some low-income folks have gardens, I figure the majority don't so it would feel like a loophole to use my "free" food I have grown. Also, healthy fresh food is expensive, so I'd like to see how healthfully I can eat on such a budget.

I'll be fully vegan this week, but perhaps that's obvious. Meat and dairy are so expensive. Dry beans are not.

My social life will perhaps be affected. I can't go out for supper or drinks in the evening. I can't really host a dinner. Sure, I can go for a walk with a friend, but there's no way I'm getting a $5 latte on the outing. Food is so tied with the people in our life and I can only imagine what food insecurity does to the morale.

Well, I'm off to find some bargain food. Talk to you later!

Cream of Tomato Soup

2011-09-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

This is the soup I grew up eating on winter mornings. My mum invented this trick with cashews to make the soup creamy without using dairy. Also, you must add the ground clove; it really makes the soup!

The Ingredients and Method:

Simmer in a pot:

3 Tbsp chopped onion
1 1/2 cups tomatoes (about 3 small), chopped - NO MORE: it will overwhelm the soup
3/8 cup chopped celery (I didn't have any, so I threw in some chopped carrot)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 bay leaves
1 tsp onion powder (I used garlic powder)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Healthy pinch of ground clove
Salt and pepper to taste

When the onions have softened, add 2 cups of water to the pot.

Simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.

Prepare cream sauce by blending:

1/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup flour
1 cup water

Rather than using a blender, I ground the cashews in a coffee grinder until smooth and then mixed in the flour and water. Then, microwave for a minute or two until it's thickened. Whisk every little bit (say, 30 seconds) to avoid lumps.

Slowly stir in the cream mixture into soup, stirring the whole time, and turn off the heat.

Blend until very smooth. Taste to see if you need a bit more clove, Worcestershire sauce, salt or pepper. You want to be able to taste a hint of clove, so make sure.

Reduced Balsamic Vinegar Pasta

2011-09-14T12:33:00.001-05:00

I just invented this for dinner. I love the taste of reduced balsamic vinegar, so I used the complexity of its sweetness and depth as inspiration for the pasta. There's a smidge of brown sugar and red peppers to keep the sweetness going, but then I balanced it out with a bit of sour: a squeeze of lemon and natural Greek yogurt.* The results are so delicious!

*You can make this vegan if you like! Just don't use the yogurt - just squeeze a bit more lemon - and don't garnish with Parm.

The Ingredients:

Any kind of pasta
Olive oil
1/2 small red onion
Your favourite balsamic vinegar
5-7 mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, cut in long thin slices
3 roma tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Small handful of basil leaves, whole
Aprox. 1 or 2 tsp. of brown sugar
Aprox. 1/4 cup natural Greek yogurt
Half a lemon for a squeeze (finishing move)
Fresh Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on as a garnish

The Method:

Get a pot of salted water boiling. This dish should take as long as it does to make the pasta.

Saute the onion olive oil for a few minutes; then splash in the balsamic vinegar. I don't know how much I used, but don't drown the onions. The vinegar will evaporate and smell really "vinegary." This is good. The sour vinegar taste will come out of the vinegar and leave behind the amazing sweetness.

As that's frying a bit, chop the mushrooms and toss in. Then slice the red peppers and add to the pan. Keep the food really moist, rather than drying out. I actually drizzled in a bit more olive oil at this stage, and even added more vinegar. I added more vinegar because the taste became a bit diluted with extra veggies in there. Don't be afraid to taste as you go! Chop up the tomatoes into fairly small cubes and add. Throw in some salt, pepper, and garlic power. Cover the pan to get some steaming action for the veg.

The pasta should be al dente by now. If it's to your liking (or slightly before you liking, since it'll keep cooking), drain the water, leaving a bit of water in the pot still.

Uncover the pan and: sprinkle in the brown sugar (you just want the sugar to slightly accentuate the sweetness in the peppers), toss in the whole basil leaves, add the pasta with the bit of pasta water (this helps with the sauciness). If the veggies still don't seem quite soft enough, keep it covered, otherwise you can leave it off.

Turn off the heat when the veg are done.

Now here's where tasting it comes in. See if there's enough salt. Stir in the yogurt - you don't need much, just to sauce it up a bit... it's not supposed to be a cream sauce. Taste, taste, taste to see if there is enough sweet with sour with salt. Once you're happy with it, serve. Squeeze a small amount of lemon juice and garnish with Parm if you want. If you omit the yogurt and cheese, this is easily a vegan dish!

For all my Mennos out there: Rollkuchen.

2011-09-12T15:12:00.000-05:00

I find the most interesting thing about rollkuchen is what it is usually served with: watermelon. The golden fried dough and the watery fruit are such a funny combination to me... I always imagine the dough getting soggy in my mouth, so I'm always careful to eat them in separate bites. And yet, I like it. Funny enough, many of my modern-day Menno friends aren't really huge fans of rollkuchen; it's sort of a dividing force, this dessert.

As a non-Menno, I only tried this recently, at a summer barbeque before a wedding (props to Jackie and Terry!). These ones were served with corn syrup on the side, a common kuchen condiment. Sorry, I had to go for that alliteration. And of course, there was plenty of watermelon.

Well, this summer I had bought a watermelon and that was enough inspiration for me to try making my own rollkuchen. I think it went pretty well, since I served it to a Neufeld and he said it was spot-on. That was good enough for me. I really don't like deep frying, so I did only one or two at a time in a tiny pot, so I didn't have to get all crazy. Also, I made a half batch (about 1 dozen), since I don't find leftover rollkuchen to be even close to as good as fresh.

The Ingredients:

2 eggs
3/4 cup almond milk
6 Tbsp butter, melted
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

The Method:

Place eggs in a large mixing bowl, and beat until frothy.

Put into a 1 cup measuring cup and fill with milk. (This may end up being more or less than the 3/4 cup listed in the ingredients.)

Add to remaining ingredients and mix to combine.

Roll out the dough to be fairly thin, about 1/8 inch, and cut into 2 inch by 5 inch strips. Cut a slit down the center of each strip, and twist so one end slides through the slit and makes a loop.

Post-frying detail of the looped dough.

Heat oil in a deep skillet (or use a deep-fat fryer) over medium-high heat, 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). I don't have a thermometer, so I test it by dropping one drop of water in the oil to see how it reacts. Be super careful!

Cook the dough in small batches in preheated oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm or at room temperature. I suggest sprinkling with powdered sugar.

Served with watermelon and strawberry jam.

Depending on how you cut these, it'll make about 2 dozen.

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli

2011-09-07T12:47:00.000-05:00

Now that I've made fresh pasta a few times, I figured I would kick it up a notch and try making ravioli, without cheating* and using wonton wrappers. Let me tell you, it's a tricky thing. The pasta gets sticky if you don't use enough flour; the filling can get all over the pasta and keep it from sticking in the right places; the ravioli can open in the cooking water if you don't seal them well enough. For a first attempt, I feel good about this experience, but I definitely move forward with some notes on improving my ravioli skillz.

*I highly encourage cheating if that's what gets you to opt for cooking a meal at home instead of driving through KFC.

The Ingredients:

1 pound fresh spinach
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound ricotta
1 egg
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I just used water)
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch black pepper

The Sauce Ingredients:

A nob of butter
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

The Method:

Make fresh pasta as you would here. Cover the ball of dough and let it rest for 20 minutes, as mentioned in the recipe. While it's resting, prepare the filling...

Steam the spinach until it's wilted and tender. Remove the spinach, let it cool for a couple minutes, and then squeeze out as much excess water as you can so the filling doesn't get all liquidy. I'm personally a saver of cooking water for future soup broths, so I encourage you to squeeze your nutritious spinach water into a container, storing it in the fridge for a future pot of soup. Roughly chop the spinach.

In a mixing bowl, combine chopped spinach, ricotta, egg, heavy cream (or water), and 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Season with the nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan. As the butter begins to become a nice golden brown, add in the fresh sage (chopped) and nutmeg. Pull off the heat before it burns. It'll smell toasty and almost nutty when it's ready. Reserve until the raviolis are cooked.

To assemble the raviolis, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece to form a thin layer (about 1/8 inch). Place 1 spoonful of filling onto 1 sheet of dough 1/2 inch from the edge. Continue to place spoonfuls of filling along the dough 1-inch from each other (see notes below regarding this measurement).

Place one of the other pieces of rolled out dough on top of the piece with the filling on it. Pinch the dough around the filling to form the ravioli, making sure you don't trap air inside. Use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut out the raviolis. Pinch the edges of each ravioli with the tines of a fork. Set aside each ravioli on a plate lightly dusted with flour.

Detail of one of the many crappy patch jobs I did due to tears in the pasta.

Do not stack the raviolis, because they will stick together and this'll make you depressed after all of the work you just did.

When you are ready to cook the raviolis, add them to salted boiling water. When the raviolis float, about 2 to 3 minutes, they are finished cooking. Serve each portion with the sage brown butter sauce and grate fresh Parm over each serving.

Thoughts for next time:

Don't roll the pasta layers too thinly, because they're more likely to tear.
Have plenty of flour all over your working surface so the raviolis don't stick to it, and again, tear.
Don't use too much filling or it'll be too hard to seal them.
Don't place the dollops of filling too close together, because there won't be enough room for the edges to really seal tight, or for the ravioli to be square-shaped, rather than rectangular (see photo of crappy ravioli above).

Since making this meal, I've bought a ravioli stamp (from Sur la Table in Seattle) and I simply can't wait to use it again. Woot!

Potato Harvest

2011-09-07T11:57:00.000-05:00

"If your tastebuds are truly civilized, however, one of the best meals in the world is a pot of medium-sized potatoes, boiled briskly in hot water until they are done, and then drained and 'shook' over the flame for a minute until the brown coverings split. Either throw in a handful of chopped fresh herbs like parsley and marjoram and chives (or green onions), and some butter, and shake it all around or pour the vegetables straightway into a hot bowl and eat them the way the Swiss do, with a good nubbin of cheese and a good gout of sweet butter and coarse salt and pepper for each biteful. This, with a glass of milk or some white wine and fruit, is a fit supper for Lucullus." - M.F.K. Fisher, How to Cook a Wolf (1942)

The Pizza Farm.

2011-07-20T12:37:00.003-05:00

Pretty much exactly a year ago today, Tyler and I were on our Toronto/Chicago/Minneapolis road trip. Boy, it was good. However, there was one last post I always meant to write. I was saving it because it was so amazing, but then life's pace got the better of me and I never did scribble down my thoughts on the best place in the world: The Pizza Farm.

Mali, Sabai and Mike

We have some really amazing friends in Minneapolis, Mike and Mali. The plan was that we were coming in on a Tuesday from Chicago to DJ at Triple Double, a party Mike throws at the Triple Rock Social Club. He pitched us the idea of meeting up with them in Wisconsin at something called the Pizza Farm. It's located near Stockholm, WI, which is just over the MN/WI border.

Since we were meeting M&M there, we didn't have much to go on except some instructions to go through some back roads and unmarked turns. The pizza farm has a very "insider" location -- no signs and touristy ads... it's for people who know. How you get to know, I don't know.

We were ahead of schedule pulling in from the east, so first we had to kill time before meeting up with the peeps coming in from the west. What better activity than accidentally rolling into Pepin, WI, the hometown of Laura Ingalls Wilder and going through the LIW museum? That's what we did.

Not exactly a tourist hot spot.

The museum was a tiny one-room cabin that sold commemorative thimbles. Outside, there were other amusements.

When we got back on the road, loaded down with our new thimbles, we had a short drive through the aforementioned dirt roads. Seeing the odd car in front of us, we figured we were on the right track. Then, there in front of us, was a line of parked cars along the road. Not really a farm in sight. Just a super long line. We cautiously parked at the end and started walking up. I don't know how long the line was -- it feels like it was blocks long -- but it definitely had two major turns in it, so there was no real way of knowing where the heck we were headed.

This is Tyler being unsure of where we were going. That's only the first turn up ahead.

We finally came across a good sign that we were on the right track (actually, it's an amazing sign, mounted to the side of a barn). I still don't know what the deal with the hot fences is.

Then we joined our second long line of the day. But this time I was feeling pretty good about it.

They have a handwritten menu mounted to the front of the little pizza-making shelter, featuring lots of lovely veg and house-made sausages, and things of that nature. We checked in with M&M and placed an order for a couple pizzas once we got to the top of the line.

That's what you do. You order pizza, then you chill.

They make the pizzas in an outdoor oven and call your number. This can take an hour or two when it's busy, which it was.

Hundreds of pizzas are made each week.

But here's the thing: everyone knows it's a long wait - because it's amazing and is worth the patience. So the pace is fascinatingly relaxed among the pizza patrons (it's a different story for the pizza makers). In fact, this is next level waiting. People set up shop in the meadow next door, putting down picnic blankets, folding tables and chairs, wine, candles, and so many snacks that you know they're in it to win it.

The wait's not so bad really; you're on a farm after all. These are the amazing things about the Pizza Farm. Ready?

There's a petting zoo for kids.

It's in the middle of nowhere and has no signs or directions.

You get a pizza in a pizza box, that's it. This isn't a restaurant. Yet everyone is welcome to stay and eat. And they do. They bring their own cutlery and plates and drinks and anything else. I love the "bring it yourself" notion.

This happens every Tuesday.

Just look at the oven they use.

So yeah, amazing. Coming home last year, all I could think about was starting my own urban Pizza Farm. Or building a brick oven in our tiny backyard and cramming as many people who would be willing to eat. Still a dream.

I often fantasize about outdoor kitchens, but the way. And this one is a pretty amazing mass-production of pizza version. Open roofs and skylights! Cute lights strung around! Brick!

Mike and Mali arrived with four of Mali's hundreds of adorable nieces. Seriously. There are so many and they're amazing. So anyways, they rolled up with the cute posse and we hung out in a sunset-drenched field watching kids watch wildlife.

If you remember, we had to get back one state over to play Minneapolis that night. I bring this up because the hilarious twist to all of this was that we had to hop back in the car once the pizza came out of the oven. Mali and the nieces stayed behind and enjoyed the farminess, while the three of us headed back on the road, eating the most delicious pizza you could ever hope for. Eating right out of the box while zipping down dirt roads.

Tomato, aubergine, roasted peppers.

That day I learned that food photography in a moving vehicle leaves something to be desired.

We got to Triple Rock in time and played all night, fueled by the bounty of the Pizza Farm. Thank you, M&M, for sharing this magical place with us.

Chili-Roasted Garbanzo Beans, Spanish Style

2011-07-19T22:34:00.001-05:00

When I grew up, we called chickpeas garbanzo beans. I'm sure you've heard the term. As a family of avid bean eaters, the word "garbanzo" came up a lot. It's fun. To quote Andy's Changing World, garbanzo beans sounds more like circus performers.

It turns out that "chickpea" is the Anglo version of the French pois chiche, or the earlier ciche pease. Whereas "garbanzo" is more the Spanish term. Well, it's more fitting we go with the Spanish derivative since this is a traditional Spanish recipe called garbanzos tostados picantes. Apparently it's an old school snack, dubbed the poor man's roasted almonds.

I've made this recipe a few times now, and it's darn simple. Recently I tossed some of the toasted beans on top of a garden salad.

I don't often use cookbooks, but one day I was wandering around a discount section of a bookstore -- as I like to do to relax -- and this gorgeous orange book caught my eye. It was small and satisfyingly thick and it came home with me. It's called Classic Spanish Cooking: Recipes for mastering the Spanish kitchen by Elisabeth Luard.

I'm a sucker for books with multiple built-in page markers.

The Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups dried garbanzo beans, soaked in cold water overnight (I totally just used a can the last time I made this)
Olive oil for greasing, or use a non-stick cookie sheet
Chili flakes or chili powder
Sea salt

The Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Drain the beans thoroughly and dry them in a clean cloth.

2. Spread them in a single layer on a lightly greased (or non-stick) baking sheet. Roast until they are dry, crisp and golden. I toss them in chili and salt BEFORE putting them in the oven, but this book says to toss after. Either way, shake the pan a bit through the roasting process to keep them from sticking and just use the hour as a guideline. Again, just be sure they're golden and crunchy.

3. Toss in the salt and chili if you haven't yet done so. If you don't toss them in the flavour, you can store them in a dry jar with a well-fitting lid for a little while, otherwise they soften a bit.

Garden Salad

2011-07-18T17:44:00.004-05:00

The thing I'm probably most excited about in the garden this summer is this:

I call it my lettucetrough. You just cut 5' pieces of clean eavestrough, drill holes in the bottom for drainage and mount them to your house with screws. Fill with soil and seeds. So far I'm loving these for three reasons:

1. A green wall looks more beautiful than an empty wall.

2. The side of the house gets so many more hours of sunlight than the ground below it, so I can actually grow food there.

3. Rabbits -- or jerky squirrels who seem to be terrorizing my plants -- can't get at the baby leaves. Heck, I can barely get at the top row of lettuce myself.

I'm so into this wall garden that I wish I could grow food all the way up to the second floor. Although watering and harvesting would be insanely tricky. Of course, I've thought about my options...

My first inclination was a pulley system. I thought maybe I could rig planters up near the top to get tons of sun and then just bring them down for watering. I still haven't figured out if it would end up being too much weight on the side of the house; but moreover, I can't decide how I would have multiple layers of planters rigged up without them getting in the way of each other.

Now I've been fantasizing about making an outdoor version of a rolling library ladder. It's not really practical, since debris and nature would get caught in the casters and the rails, but a girl can dream.

I know, right?

All this to say I've got four levels of garden greens (and a few radishes) up to about 6.5'. Last night was my first round of thinning them out. I used what I picked for our first salad (!). Plus, thanks to my friends Chantale and Anna, I've been learning a bit about edible weeds that pop up in most people's yards around here. Anna recently wrote an article about some of the edibles in her yard, if you're interested in reading it.

So far my favourite is oxalis*, or wood sorrel. Not only does it have beautiful little yellow flowers and heart-shaped leaves, but its slight lemon taste from the oxalic acid is pretty special. Don't eat too much of it though, it's not good for you in large amounts. I don't know what "large amounts" means in a literal sense, but let's just say that I'm sure one cautiously picked plant for a salad would be fine. For last night's dinner, I picked both oxalis and lamb's quarter to sprinkle on our first garden salad.

Oxalis and lamb's quarter.

This time around, I made roasted chickpeas (a traditional Spanish snack) and small orange slices for the salad, drizzling a mix of olive oil and super amazing balsamic vinegar on to finish.

*I've been reading more about oxalis lately, and there are over 300 varieties of the plant. With a bit more digging (hahaha), I've learned that we have either Oxalis dillenii or Oxalis stricta, which are both common wood sorrels, but very hard to distinguish from one another. This link describes the very fine differences if you're curious.

Lemon and Herb Potato Salad

2011-07-13T00:38:00.001-05:00

Making potato salad tonight was inevitable. I was planning to make it for dinner anyhow, but as I lazed around this afternoon, the Food Network had two shows in a row that featured the dish. I'm not one to disregard important signs in life like this one.

You know that French Food at Home program they have? I like it and I don't: there are delicious looking recipes but sometimes that host is too cute, or maybe it's the jaunty "French" guitar they use as a bed.

Whatever, she makes good things. I was inspired by her plattered version of potato salad, and used fairly French ingredients for the dressing (i.e. lemon and Dijon mustard).

The Ingredients:

About 6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick
Fresh herbs: dill, oregano, chives and green onion
2 Tbsp delicious oil, like Mighty Trio cold-pressed organic non-GMO canola oil (it is so golden and tasty!)
The zest and juice of 1/3 fresh lemon
2 tsp whole grain Dijon mustard
Splash of white wine

The key is using a mortar and pestle.

The Method:

While peeling your potatoes, start up a pot of boiling water. I tried putting the sliced potatoes in a steamer inside the pot, which uses less water. Cook until the potatoes are tender and run under a cold tap. This is easy to do if you can just lift the steamer out of the pot. Arrange the slices of cooked potato on a platter, leaving all slices at least partially exposed. That's what makes this potato salad cool, if you haven't already noticed: it's not tossed in the dressing. Instead, it's just lying all relaxed-like on a platter with the dressing drizzled on, instead of drenching the potatoes.

I made the dressing in a mortar and crushed all of the herbs up with the pestle, then made it into an emulsion by later stirring vigorously with a spoon. Anyhow, take the leaves of the oregano and dill off the stem and toss in the mortar. Finely chop the green onion (about 2 stems) and mush together with the herbs. Set the chives aside.

Save the chives for a garnish.

Add in the oil, mustard, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix together. Switch to the spoon at any point; it's not a big deal. I wanted to thin the dressing to be able to drizzle it over the potatoes, so that's when I added a splash of some white wine and stirred the whole thing together until it was emulsion-y (a stable, continuous blend of the oil and other liquids... science!).

Drizzle the dressing evenly on the slices and garnish with the chives.

Morels and Fiddleheads

2011-07-01T11:56:00.001-05:00

Seasonal food - which really, should be all food - is special. And the foods with those narrow windows of opportunity for eating are even more exciting. Morel mushrooms, for example, make me drool. So deep in flavour... they're basically the "meat" of the fungus world, if you can even say something like that. But it's not just their taste and texture. I also love the fact that the elusive morel hides out in the wild and can't be farmed.*

Side note: my dream one day is to become a wild mushroom expert and to go out on mushroom expeditions to secret locations, returning home to my cottage with baskets of wild treasures. Just putting that out there.

Good gravy these mushrooms are incredible.

Then there's the fiddlehead, which is the tight curled up end of a fern, in this case the Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) here in the Great White North. Like morels, these are also collected in the wild. The main thing with fiddleheads is to cook them well... never eat them raw or undercooked because you can get a sort of food poisoning. You can read more here if you'd like. To prevent any issues, they key is to pre-boil them for about 10 minutes before you throw them in a frying pan.

Anyhow, about a month ago it just so happened that De Luca's had both of these treats in stock at the same time. Boom.

I kept these dishes insanely simple so that the true flavours of the mushrooms and the fiddleheads came through. I just used fresh thyme from the front yard as the primary accent for the mushrooms and lemon for the fiddleheads.

* I recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. Aside from becoming a compelling look at the modern-day food system, the section on wild mushroom hunting is super interesting.

Morels - The Ingredients:

Fresh morel mushrooms
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Green onions (from the garden, woop woop!), chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Fresh thyme, chopped
Salt and pepper

The Method:

Gently brush off any dirt on the morels. Don't wash them with water. I chopped the larger mushrooms very coarsely so that all the mushrooms would cook evenly.

Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.

Add the green onions and garlic, sautee for a minute or so.

Toss in the morels and sautee for another couple minutes.

Add the fresh thyme and continue to cook until the mushrooms are tender. Add a smidge of salt and pepper. Eat them and let your brain explode because of how amazing they taste.

Fiddleheads - The Ingredients:

Small pot of boiling water
Fresh fiddleheads
Unsalted butter
Fresh lemon
Salt and pepper

The Method:

Get the water boiling. While that's heating up, start by cleaning the fiddleheads; remove any brown/dry leaves and bits, and trim the ends.

Before the fiddleheads are cleaned. See the brown bits?

Boil the fiddleheads for about 10 minutes, then plunge into cold water so that they hold onto their bright green colour.

Toss in a bit of butter into a small frying pan, then add the boiled fiddleheads. They won't take long to cook, perhaps a couple minutes.

Add salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon, and even a bit of lemon zest if you like. Serve with an extra slice of lemon. That's it! Make it happen!

Parsley Salad with Mango

2011-06-13T12:17:00.003-05:00

The other day, I bought a bunch of fresh Italian parsley, thinking it was cilantro in my rush at the store. The next day, I was super disappointed when I realized what I'd bought, since I'm not really a fan of parsley. Not one to waste food, I decided I may as well go for it. In the end, here's what I came up with and I've made it a second time since. I find it very refreshing and bright in taste. Check it!

The Ingredients:

Few handfuls of Italian parsley
Half a fresh mango
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 part lemon zest
3 parts hemp oil (or sunflower oil... something delicious tasting when eaten raw)
Splash of sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Toasted sesame seeds

The Method:

Wash and dry the parsley. Pick the leaves (don't chop them), and set aside. Throw the stems in the compost. Cube the mango.

In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, zest, oil, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste. Add the parsley, mango and sesame seeds and toss to combine. Allow the salad to sit for at least 30 minutes before serving so that flavors meld.

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

2011-05-31T16:32:00.001-05:00

I love this precise time of year for two reasons: fresh rhubarb and the lilacs are in bloom.

We don't grow rhubarb (yet) but my parents have plenty, and they dropped off the first batch for us a few days ago. It's a funny thing, rhubarb, with its poisonous leaves and gorgeous, deep pink stalks. People think of it as a weed, but I love how hardy it is.

This vegan muffin recipe will make you die as soon as they come out of the oven. I can't express how good these are, other than the fact that Tyler and I couldn't resist them every time we entered the kitchen, polishing them off in 24 hours. The rhubarb makes them so tart and moist; but the secret to taking these muffins to the next level is the fresh ginger. Don't get lazy out and not include it, okay?

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

The Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

1 flax "egg"
2/3 cup almond milk
1/4 cup oil
Fresh grate ginger (best with a rasp), about 1 Tbsp
1 1/3 cup diced rhubarb

Crumble Topping:

1 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp quick oats
3 Tbsp brown sugar

The Method:

Start by doing your prep work: first, mix flax with water and set aside (1 Tbsp ground flax with 2 Tbsp water) and second, finely chop the rhubarb. Oh, and grease a muffin tin.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the mixture and add the flax egg, almond milk, oil and fresh ginger. Stir together in the well and then incorporate the dry ingredients. Lastly, gently fold in the rhubarb.

Spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin and mix together the crumble topping ingredients and sprinkle on top the unbaked muffins. It's not much crumble, just a bit for a sweet accent that still allows for the tart rhubarb to come through.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cool on a rack and then just try resisting from eating them all in one go.

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms

2011-05-25T19:46:00.000-05:00

I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this.

For the past few months I've been researching how to grow my own edible mushrooms. The idea started when I was thinking over the summer garden I would grow, realizing that the bulk of our backyard is covered in large old trees. I love trees and would never cut a healthy one down, but you can only grow so much mint and so many hostas before you yearn for more. The results were that we rototilled all the grass in the front to grow food and that I realized mushrooms thrive in shade!

Edible mushrooms it is.

After finding Ken Fosty, a local mushroom expert who sells spores, I purchased a shiitake spore kit for $40: 250 spore-inoculated plugs, a drill bit, beeswax, a brush for the wax and, cutely, some recipes. You can purchase already inoculated logs for $40 a pop, but I wanted to try doing it myself. This kit was enough to inoculate five logs. Also, the mushrooms come back for around five years, so I figure that's less than $10 a year for fresh amazingness.

What made this experience very Winnipeg was that I phoned Ken to see if I could opt out of the shipping charge and just come pick up the kit at his house. His answer was not only yes, but that he'd leave the kit in his backyard barbeque and I could just leave cash in there. Honour system! Holla!

The first step is to use fresh-cut hard woods. My sister is an arborist, so I was able to get a couple species of trees to see if the shiitake respond better to one over the other. I'm using oak and poplar. I started out by drilling holes about an inch deep into the logs (between 5-8" diameter) in a sort of diamond pattern. This step - although fun - takes a while. Be sure to wear ear protection, peeps!

An oak (left) and a couple poplars (right). Can you see the drilling pattern in the middle log?

Then, there's the plugs. I've been storing them in a cold, dark place for the last couple weeks (i.e. the fridge) until I had time for this project. The spores create a white, moldy looking film on the plugs and it's pretty gross. To be honest, I used a rubber glove on one hand and had a hammer in the other, popping the plugs into all of my fresh-drilled holes.

See? It looks gross.

I'm going to jump ahead a step for just a second, because if you trying doing this yourself, the way to save time is to stagger the steps. You seal up all of the plug holes with hot melted beeswax. I didn't want to ruin any of my pots so I literally ate baked beans for lunch just so I could get a tin can for this. I rinsed and dried the tin, preheated my oven to 305 degrees and shaved some of the wax brick into the can and let it melt right down to a liquid. Then I went back out and hammered plugs into the logs. Essentially, the wax cools quickly and you can't do it all in one go. So alternate between drilling some holes and plugging them while reheating the wax back up to 300. Then do some more wax work for a couple minutes until it starts getting solid and pop it back in the oven. (Wax details to follow.)

That's a plug sticking out on the right there.

When hammering in the plugs, just tap them in until they are level with the surface of the log. Once some of the plugs are in, it's time to cover 'em wax. The reason for the wax is the prevent the plugs from decaying and to keep pests out from the holes. Make sure the wax is totally liquid and lightly seal each hole with a thin layer of wax. Don't cover the entire log in wax.

The finished logs.

All in all, this process took me about 4 leisurely hours to complete, from very start to clean up. I suggest listening to some Radiolab podcasts to keep you company. The real hard part of this project is knowing that I've got to wait a year before I can eat my own shiitake mushrooms. I'm supposed to store them in a shady spot of my yard (won't be a problem) and make sure they stay moist, even hosing them down in dry weather.

Here's hoping they work!

Double Chocolate Pancakes

2011-05-20T11:35:00.001-05:00

Last weekend our six-year-old niece came over for her first sleep over. Everyone's been looking forward to it for a while now, especially in terms of the breakfast we were planning for the next morning: chocolate chip pancakes!!! However, for the sake of full disclosure, I should begin with a confession. I don't really like pancakes.

It could be because I'm a savoury gal and eating an entire meal that's just sweet seems weird to me.

Or, it could be that my dad used to make us vegan buckwheat pancakes all of the time. I have so many memories of watching him stir up a batch and me dreading having to eat them, especially the next day, when they're cold and grey (buckwheat) and have some peanut butter slapped on. Too much. Could also be why I'm not a fan of buckwheat flour.

Either way, I never opt for pancakes, or even a side of pancakes. But when a six-year-old kid is coming over, you've just gotta take one for the team. I made them vegan, but I also made them ridiculously chocolately, so it was kind of like eating cake while watching cartoons in your pajamas.

The Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 or 2 Tbsp cocoa powder (to be honest, I forget)
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
Approx. 1/2 cup chocolate chips

The Method:

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until well mixed.

Mix in the soy milk and oil and beat together until batter is smooth.

Drop 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto a hot oiled griddle, or well greased frying pan over medium high heat. When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake, approximately 3 minutes, flip, and cook the other side for another 2 minutes.

Decorate wildly with fresh strawberries, heart-shaped sprinkles and whipped cream.

Memphis-Style Vegan Pulled "Pork"

2011-05-10T00:08:00.001-05:00

Yeah, yeah, the name of this one is contradictory, but I think I'm on to something. This recipe is still a work in progress, but I had to document how this is coming along. Tyler, being the one who eats meat, says this is pretty darn close to the real thing. The flavour is spot-on, and it looks pretty much like pulled pork, but I'm still working on getting the texture just right.

I googled many a vegetarian pulled pork recipe and they use seitan, eggplant or jackfruit (which I've never used, but it seems to be a very popluar choice for this). However, based on their photos, I think using dried Chinese bean curd is going to be the secret and once this recipe is perfected, the vegan culinary world is going to change.

This is what it looks like dried. Even after hours of soaking, the bean curd doesn't lose its interesting texture.

If you read my last post, you'll already know about this super hard, dried bean curd. My family's been using it for years in our own do-it-yourself kind of way, meaning that we just started experimenting with it because we couldn't find recipes at the time (this was during the dial up days of the internet). I'm going to change the length of time I soak next round; and I'm also considering trying this recipe in a slow cooker one day. But below is what I did on this first attempt.

Serves 2.

The Ingredients:

About 3 cups of dried Chinese bean curd, soaked overnight

Spices that would be traditionally used for the rub:

1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Sprinkling of cayenne
Few healthy grinds of pepper

Ingredients that would be used for the finishing sauce:

1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp Maple barbeque sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Approx. 10 drops of Worcestershire sauce
Few drops of Louisiana hot sauce

Used later for cooking:

1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp molasses
Approx. 2 tsp soy sauce
More bbq sauce

The Method:

The day before, break up the bean curd into about 6"-8" pieces and fully submerge in cold water to soak. I soaked it for between 7-8 hours, but I'm going to try soaking it for a full 24 hours next time, to see how tender I can make it.

Once the curd is softened the next day, rinse a few times with hot water and drain. Chop the curd length-wise or slightly diagonal along the grain. This will start giving it the right pulled pork appearance.

Then, in a mixing bowl large enough to add in the curd later, mix together all of the ingredients that would be used for the rub and the finishing sauce. I separated them into to lists above just to recognize how it would have been done traditionally. You would rub the pork in spices, cook it, then add the finishing sauce. Since the curd doesn't need much cooking time - the soaking is what really softens it - I decided to let the spices and sauce get into the curd for as long as possible, since unlike meat, this stuff has very little flavour on its own. So think of it kind of like a marinade.

Come to think of it, I let this sit marinating overnight, so it's actually a three-day process.

The final stage of cooking it up is totally the fastest part. Saute the onion until translucent. Then add the garlic. Then add the marinated bean curd. The thing about pulled pork is it's so saucy. So I did a last-minute extra sauce-up. Add soy sauce, molasses and barbeque sauce. I guess in the end, I could have used either more of the initial sauce or less of the curd, but the three extra sauce ingredients made it amazing.

Fry for about 15 minutes with the lid on, to keep in the moisture.

Serve on fresh bread (I grabbed some Calabrese bread from De Luca's) along with coleslaw* and sliced pickles. Assemble in sandwich form if you wish.

*Coleslaw Ingredients:
Finely shredded cabbage
Finely shredded carrot
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Fresh lemon squeezed on top
Splash of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Oh, and the reason this is "Memphis-style" is that I've heard that region's barbeque flavourings have elements of spice, tomato, vinegar and a touch of sweetness. The final results of this sauce was a good balance of heat and sweet. Yum!

Tamales

2011-05-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

Last week I used Cinco de Mayo as an excuse to finally try making tamales. I've always wanted to make these little pockets of corn goodness, but not having the corn husks just kicking around always stopped me. My parents recently returned from a trip to the southern states with a package of dried corn husks (or hoja de maiz para tamal) for me. They're so darn thoughtful.

Many tamal recipes call for a mixture of spiced pork or chicken wrapped inside, so I thought it was time to crack open the dried bean curd I've had sitting around for ages.

You can find this stuff often at China town grocers. It's hung in sheets clumped together on a rod, so it's super hard, bland and you need to give it some love before using it. But the texture is so unique and chewy that it's a cool protein to have in your arsenal.

The Ingredients:

Couple handfuls of dried Chinese bean curd
Equal parts: chili powder, cumin, garlic powder
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup frozen corn (or fresh, which would obviously be better)

In a small mixing bowl:

1 cup masa flour (Maseca brand is easy to find here in Winnipeg)
1 tsp chile
1/3 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 Tbsp oil
Enough water that the mixture above becomes similar to a soft cookie dough, or even wetter (I've read that broth is a way better liquid to use)

Makes about 5 tamales (small tester recipe!)

The Method:

The day before, break the bean curd into manageable pieces (like 6-8" long) and submerge in cold water overnight. It floats, so weigh it down with something, like an empty bowl.

The next day, rinse and drain the bean curd a few times in a colander. The soaking softens up the curd, but the multiple rinses help wash out the "beany" taste. The curd doesn't get super soft, it can almost be rubbery if not soaked long enough.

A couple hours before you're going to assemble the tamales, soak your dried corn husks in cold water so they become pliable again.

Then chop the bean curd into fairly small pieces. The curd doesn't fall apart after cooking (i.e. it really retains its original shape) so make the pieces the size you'll want in the final phase.

Mix together equal parts chili powder, cumin and garlic powder, along with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and stir into the curd in a bowl. You can let that sit for a while, or you can start frying it up. Start with half an onion; toss in the curd when the onion becomes translucent. Last minute, I added frozen corn to the frying curd so that the tamal filling would have a bit of sweetness.

As mentioned in the ingredients list, now combine all itemized under "In a small mixing bowl" to form the masa part of the filling. Some recipes I read said the consistency should be like chunky peanut butter, others said a bit firmer like a cookie dough. I went a little firmer, so that it wouldn't be as messy to spread onto the corn husks later. Mix the filling ingredients.

Lay out a clean tea towel and get ready to assemble the tamales. If the corn husks easily bend against the grain without breaking, then they're ready.

Place a corn husk with the wide end (the base of the triangle) toward you and the tip of the triangle away from you at the top. With kitchen scissors, you can trim long thin strips (about 1 cm wide) from the bottom to the top - along the grain - and set aside. Use these as the "ribbons" to hold the tamales shut.

Spread a layer of the masa mixture on to the left side of the husk (about 2/3 of the width), leaving about an inch of the husk peeking out at the bottom. Scoop a bit of the fried bean curd on top of that. Now fold up that bottom inch and wrap the left side of the husk over, then cover completely with the ride side of the husk, which you've left bare. Flip the long pointy top of the husk down over the whole thing and tie closed with the ribbon you cut. It doesn't need a ribbon, but it holds together better and makes each tamal a little present.

I only made five tamales for dinner, so I did this process one at a time. But if you were to make a bunch like a perogy-making day, you'd likely break up the work into spreading the mixture on a bunch of husks at once and then wrapping a bunch in a row. Just a thought.

Start boiling some water in a pot that you can place a steamer in or over. We have a 2-level bamboo steamer, so I placed the tamales in that and let steam for about 25 minutes. I used one tamal as a test that I would open up occasionally to test how cooked the masa was. When it's a bit firm but not dry, they should be ready.

If you've never had tamales, you serve them in the husks so that they hold their heat and each person unwraps their own. Serve with a bit of crumbled feta on top if you like (my last-minute solution to queso fresco), or sour cream or a vegan sour cream. We also had bean tacos with homemade corn tortillas, Mexican slaw and mojitos!

Granola Part 2: Search for the Cluster

2011-04-30T21:18:00.001-05:00

This rainy day and us running out of cereal is the perfect opportunity to resurrect my granola making. If you recall from my first granola attempt, I didn't get the granola to cluster. It was a huge disappointment. Tasty, but disappointing.

Thanks to some helpful comments on that post and a perusal of The Traveler's Lunchbox, I adapted my recipe to clumpify the process. It worked. I am so pumped.

Plus, the dried fruit I used this time resulted in (drum roll)... Cranberry Pineapple Fig Granola!

I can't tell you how great this combination of fruit is.

In a nutshell, here's what I did differently:

1. I ground about half of the quick oats in my coffee grinder to create oat flour.

2. I used a little less oil.

3. I only used brown sugar and no honey or maple syrup.

4. I increased the amount of flax and the amount of water (maybe it helped in an "eggy" way?)

Preheat your oven 325 degrees.

The Ingredients:

Stir together in a roasting pan:

3 cups quick oats (half of it ground to a flour in a grinder or food processor)
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pecan pieces
3 Tbsp ground flax
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dried fruit, in this case dried cranberries, candied pineapple and dried figs. (Save for later; don't add right now!)

Mix in a small bowl:

2 Tbsp canola oil (or slightly less)
1/2 cup brown sugar
generous splash of water, maybe 1/4 cup - enough to have the mixture be moist when added with the dry ingredients
1 tsp vanilla extract

The Method:

Take the wet mixture and stir into the dry mixture in the pan until it's evenly coated and sticky. I added a bit more water until everything was coated and moist.

Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. (You may notice that my first recipe said 30-45 minutes, but since I used more water this time, 50 minutes dried it out just right.)

While it's baking, chop up any dried fruit that is on the larger side. I chopped the whole dried figs and candied pineapple and left the cranberries.

After baking, set the pan on a wire rack to cool. The granola may be sticky when you take it out, but it will harden as it cools. Make sure to break up any large clumps of granola while the mixture is still warm.

Once the granola has completely cooled, stir in the fruit, and store in an airtight container. It will keep for several weeks.

At last! Clusters!

Long Weekend Blueberry Lemon Scones

2011-04-23T12:23:00.001-05:00

It's the long weekend and I have been running on empty lately, so a chance to bake is pretty much the best.

Here's a simple recipe (which happens to be vegan) for blueberry lemon scones. Blueberry is lovely, but I'm pretty sure adding lemon gives you super human powers. Make sure to grab a fresh lemon for the zest; it's key to getting that lemony flavour. And if you want to get crazy, try the lemon glaze for topping the scones with after. And then eat them for dinner, because you're an adult and you can do whatever you want.

The Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp margarine (or chilled butter, if you go the dairy route)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup frozen blueberries

Glaze Ingredients:

Powdered sugar
Lemon juice

The Method:

Preheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Cut margarine or butter into small chunks and add to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Using a fork or your fingertips, rub the margarine into the flour until mixture is sandy and butter is well distributed, with no big pieces left behind.

Add in almond milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until the dough comes together (it really won't take long, since scone dough is nothing like bread dough). Knead for about 1 minute.

When I add blueberries to dough - fresh or frozen - I always toss them in a bit of flour to help prevent the blue from leaking out... stained dough looks weird and... stainy. After tossing the blueberries, flatten the dough and add blueberries. Mix together gently for 30-60 seconds to distribute them. Divide dough into two balls and press each into a disc about 3/4-inch thick. Use a knife to divide each disc into quarters and place scones on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 17-22 minutes, until scones are golden brown.

Let the scones cool on a cooling rack and while they're cooling, mix together a bit of powdered sugar with some lemon juice in a small ramekin. I just stir it together and eyeball it until it's a nice drizzley consistency and it tastes lemony enough. Drizzle on top and pig out.

If you like the citrus/fruit flavour combination of this recipe, I totally recommend trying the Cranberry Pecan Loaf with Orange! I drool over it every time I eat it.

First Barbeque of 2011: A Raging Success

2011-04-22T17:41:00.001-05:00

Lucky Supermarket is my new spot. It's a few (long) blocks away from our place and the variety of ingredients, both Asian and otherwise, is vast and delicious. There's frozen veggie shrimp, daikon, red bean cakes, and anything else you might like but not always see at your local grocery store. If you recall my first experimentation with fresh seaweed, I was hooked on Lucky before my first shopping trip was even over.

The other day I popped in after feeding our friends' cats and picked up a few random items. I've been working too much this month, so cooking (and blogging about cooking) has thinned out, but even picking up a few mini items helps satiate the kitchen beast inside of me.

Now that the weather is sort of nice - or melty, at least - we were able to bust out the barbeque this week. And by "bust out," I mean brush the winter debris off the cover and stand in the muddy backyard to cook food in the chilly spring air, pretending summer had started. Nonetheless, the first barbeque of the year went off without a hook.

The reason I bring up Lucky is that the purple yams caught my eye that day. I grabbed a couple to combine them with the regular yams I already had at home, making a colourful version of french fries. That kind of spurred on the whole barbeque situation.

We had grilled asparagus, veggie burgers (with Tyler's delicious fried onions, mushrooms and garlic barbeque sauce on top) and of course, yam fries. This was the first time I'd ever cooked with (and perhaps even eaten?) purple yams. As fun as they look, these were kind of starchier than their orange buddies, and didn't really get that slight caramelization that you can achieve with yams.

Still, if you want to do it, go for it. I sliced them up, tossed them in olive oil, curry powder, sea salt and pepper and wrapped them in tin foil and threw on the grill. Happy spring!

Purple and orange do look pretty together though, right?

French toast, a lovely birthday breakfast.

2011-04-22T13:44:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I woke up to thick-cut french toast for my birthday breakfast, topped with whipped cream, raspberry jam and chocolate ginger shavings. An almond milk latte on the side. Tyler is the best. xo

German delights.

2011-03-30T21:34:00.003-05:00

Have you ever tried maultaschen? I never had either, until tonight. Tyler's been in Germany for the last couple weeks - he heads over there every March to DJ with our friends Stephen and Lee, who are known as Crumbs when they do improv comedy. Every time he returns home, Tyler comes back raving about his favourite German food: maultaschen.

According to a story he heard in Berlin, maultaschen was invented by monks many years ago. They wrapped meat inside of pockets of pasta so they could hide the meat from God and get away with eating it during Lent. Despite the highly illogical story about the worst monks EVER, I gave it a try.

As soon as we got home from the airport, Tyler unzipped his suitcase and pulled out two flavours of fresh maultaschen - he picked a variety with fleisch (a.k.a. meat) filling and a vegetarian filling with feta and spinach. Plus, he somehow managed to cram in four bottles of his favourite beverage to have in Germany, blood orange juice (made mit real Fruchtfleisch)!

After eating maultaschen, I've decided it's essentially German ravioli; it's a pasta wrapped around a filling and is usually cooked either, a) fried with butter and onions (very perogy-esque), or b) boiled in a clear broth for 8-10 minutes and served sort of dumpling style. We went with the broth.

Maultaschen fresh outta the package!

We didn't have any amazing broth on hand, so we just boiled up a bit of vegetable soup base. We garnished with finely chopped fried onions, plenty of fresh ground pepper and a basil leaf.

Now to make our own!

Multigrain Bread

2011-03-10T00:24:00.002-06:00

I had a major craving to make hearty bread with seeds and other delicious chewy things. I basically used this recipe but I'll be altering it next go around. Mainly, the bread had some trouble rising, and so I would recommend doing the classic combo of putting yeast in warm water and setting it aside. This recipe doesn't have that method. But other than that, this is a totally delicious bread that we've been enjoying this week. Oh, also, this recipe is vegan and uses NO white flour!

This is a night-before project. You'll have two bowls going before you go to bed:

1. The Starter:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 cup warm water

2. The Soaker:

1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup toasted cracked wheat (I didn't have any, so I used 1/4 cup instant oats and 1/4 raw sunflower seeds)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk (I actually used half almond milk and half water)

In a medium bowl combine all the starter ingredients and mix them. As stated above, I would first combine the water and yeast, let sit until it blooms, and then mix in the flour. Cover with a plastic bag and leave on the counter for 12 to 16 hours. Now, in a separate bowl combine all the soaker ingredients, stir and cover with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 12 to 16 hours.

3. The Day of Baking Ingredients (don't mix together yet):

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil

The Method:

The next morning, add the starter, soaker, oil and maple syrup in a the bowl.

The soaker is on the left, the starter on the right, with the oil and syrup.

Use your hands to mix it all together. Because you're hands are going to get dirty and sticky, pre-measure your other ingredients out first (the flax, salt and yeast). Add in the flax meal, salt and instant yeast. Continue to mix till well blended. Allow the mixture to sit uncovered for 15 minutes.

Place about a 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour from the 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour on a flat surface. Pour out the dough onto the flour and sprinkle a little more whole wheat flour on top.

Start to knead in the whole wheat flour and continue to add the rest of the whole wheat flour till you get a smooth and elastic dough about 10 minutes. You may need to add a little more flour if the dough is very sticky (I found it to be very much so). Pour a little olive oil to a bowl and place the kneaded dough into the bowl and turn.

Cover with plastic wrap or a bag; allow to rest until it doubles in bulk, about 1 hour.

After the dough has risen, pour out onto a flat surface. Cut the dough in half. Using your fingers flatten the dough out without completely removing all the air.

Slowly start to roll one half of the dough like a jelly roll, starting along the wide end. With each turn press down with your thumb and seal. Continue to roll until the dough is all rolled. Pinch the seam closed with your fingers.

Using your hands try to roll the dough into a torpedo shape. Do the same with the other piece of dough. Sprinkle a little cornmeal onto a parchment paper and place the loaves on top. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 3/4 of an hour. I used a tea towel to cover the bread and it totally stuck when I tried to remove it. Just a word to the wise.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Also place a cast iron skillet on the bottom of the oven, to create steam. If you are using a cookie sheet, do not place the cookie sheet into the oven before hand.

After the dough has risen, mix together a little corn starch with water. Brush the mixture on top of the loaves; it'll help make a nice crust. Score the tops of the loaves. Place the loaves into the oven. Once you place the breads into the oven, pour about a cup of boiling water into the hot cast iron skillet and close the door. Bake for 30 -35 minutes, or they sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom.

As much as I found this bread to be delicious, as you can see, they didn't rise all that much.

So once I figure out that yeast rearrangement, it's going to be amazing. Such a great taste and super good for you!

Seaweed Adventures

2011-03-06T23:35:00.002-06:00

A few days ago, for the first time, we went to Lucky Supermarket in Winnipeg. I highly recommend it. I was already looking forward to shopping there again before I'd even left.

We bought many exciting things, one of which was fresh seaweed, which I haven't been able to track down. Needless to say, I was pumped about happening upon it.

The next day I decided to crack open the seaweed and see what it was all about. The little amount of English on the package wasn't incredibly inspiring.

Well.

The way I've had fresh seaweed that was enjoyable was as a salad side dish, so I decided to go that route. Couple things about this fresh salty green that you can learn from my experience:

1. Granted, the above instructions were certainly helpful in terms of soaking and rinsing off the salt in fresh water. Consider rinsing it a few times with cold water after soaking. I ended up soaking it for a bit more than that, which actually removed the salty taste pretty much all together. Definitely rinse.

2. I think the seaweed - even though it wasn't dried - expanded upon soaking. I took out a handful, not even a third of the package, and it just ended up being so much. Mind you, this kind of salad isn't really one you would eat by the cup, so all I'm getting at is be ready to eat a lot of kelp.

Here's what I did once I rinsed it off.

The Ingredients:

1 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted until golden brown in a hot skillet

The Method:

After soaking the seaweed in cold water and rinsing it, squeeze out excess water. You could even consider squeezing it in a clean towel to help. Then cut the seaweed up into what you consider bite-size or manageable. I cut them into (super approximately) 2-inch squares. Set aside.

Prepare the dressing: whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and sugar together in a bowl until the crystals dissolve. Add the ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil, whisking to incorporate. This combination of flavours is so good.

When ready to serve, toss the seaweed with most of the dressing and half of the sesame seeds. Taste and add more dressing to suit your taste. Divide among six small salad bowls, sprinkle each portion of seaweed with the remaining sesame seeds, and serve immediately.

We served this salad with raw cucumber slices, steamed fish balls (we found in the frozen aisle at Lucky) and a stir fry involving fresh shanghai noodles, baby bok choy, seitan and brown beech mushrooms (which I'd never cooked with before... again, Lucky).

Panko-Crusted Tofu

2011-03-02T22:25:00.013-06:00

I had some extra firm tofu to use up and invented this. Sorry, the measurements are loose.

The Ingredients:

2 Tbsp ground flax
4 Tbsp lukewarm water
Half a block of extra firm tofu
Soy sauce or Bragg's
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Garlic powder and any dried herbs you like - I used the exotic "Italian Seasoning"
Salt

The Method:

Start by making flax "eggs" (1 Tbsp of ground flax and 2 Tbsp of lukewarm water is equal to 1 egg) in a small bowl. Let that sit and get to the right consistency while prepping everything else. Also, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Slice your tofu into triangles (or any shape you want, really) less than 1 cm thick.

Mix together the bread crumbs, herbs and salt. I didn't have any on hand, but nutritional yeast would also be a good addition to the mix.

Then it's time for breading. At first, I started out doing the breading in a traditional style: coat a piece of tofu in flour, then coat in flax "egg," then coat in panko bread crumb mixture.

L-R: tofu, flour, flax "eggs" and crumbs with herbs.

I did half the batch this way before making two changes:

1. Quickly marinade the tofu in some soy sauce to give it some flavour. In fact, I would maybe do this step first if I could go back in time, so that it had more taste.

2. The flour step isn't really all that necessary. The flax stays on the tofu pretty alright on its own. You do, however need the flax to get the crumbs to stick. See photo below.

The left used flax; the right did not. See how great it works?

Then, place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes. I found the panko crumbs weren't golden, so I broiled them on low for a bit after baking, which helped.

Serve with a dipping sauce and get creative! We had a honey dill sauce and a sweet chili sauce. But you could do whatever.

We also had spinach and pear salad with toasted almond slivers and couscous with dried cranberries and a drizzle of olive oil.

Lavender Crème Brûlée

2011-03-02T16:57:00.008-06:00

Crème brûlée is fun. We all know that. If it wasn't for the satisfying crack of the sugar glass on top, it would just be custard. It's one of the few foods where I enjoy it more for the activity than the taste... kind of like roasting marshmallows or something. It's just a really special little thing you get to do. And our little twist is that we used lavender to flavour the dessert. I highly recommend it!

Last year for my birthday my brother Dave gave me a kitchen torch. Unfortunately, it didn't come with butane gas, so it sat empty all summer and fall, until Tyler gave me a butane refill can in my Christmas stocking last year.

We had some drama with the torch, mostly just that it didn't have the same sized hole as the nozzle on the butane refill. So Tyler went out into the cold dark night, hunting for the right size while the custards were in the oven. He came home empty handed, so we had to try the unfortunate broiler route for the brûlée component. It didn't pan out so great, but it was alright. Since then, we've finally found the right kind of butane and, knowing us, we'll be brûléeing up a storm again soon.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Note: this is a mini recipe, enough for two people who want to make something fancy in the middle of the night.

The Ingredients:

In a small saucepan on the stove,

1 cup of half and half cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Whisk in a small bowl,

3 egg yolks
1/8 cup white sugar
pinch of salt

Add later,

1 Tbsp dried organic lavender (There is some debate on how to use the lavender, so read on below)

The Method:

Combine the cream and vanilla and bring it to the verge of boiling. When bubbles begin to form around the edge, remove from the heat.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt.

The next step is combining the cream with the eggs, but be sure to temper the eggs. This is done by adding a small amount of the hot cream mixture with a spoon into the egg mixture, then whisk to combine. (This part is called tempering and prevents the eggs from curdling.) Add more spoonfuls of cream mixture, one at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Gradually whisk in remaining cream mixture.

At this point, we added the lavender.

It's a definitive and strong taste if you add too much, so the 1 Tbsp worked pretty well. I will say that a lot of the lavender sank to the bottom in the baking process and those bottom bites were too perfumey. We decided to leave in the lavender like Jamie Oliver's recipe, but many, like Oprah, say to steep the lavender for an hour in the cream and then strain it out. We chose the first option for two reasons: we didn't want to wait an extra hour for steeping, and we thought the bits of lavender would look pretty in the custard. They did look pretty, but next time I'll either think about grinding up the lavender and using less, or doing the straining method.

Next, evenly divide the mixture into ramekins and place them in a roasting dish.

Fill the dish with water up to about half the height of the ramekins. Transfer the whole thing to the middle of the oven and and bake for 35 minutes (it took a bit longer than that for us). During the last 10 minutes, check frequently for doneness: when fully baked, the crème brûlées will be firm and will wiggle just slightly when shaken.

You've gotta admit, the lavender looks so sweet.

Remove the ramekins from the water bath and leave out to cool for 30 min - 1 hour. Then refrigerate until chilled, around 2 hours. Here's where we became impatient and screwed up a bit: we cooled on the counter for 45 minutes, then in the fridge for another 45 and then decided to get our brûlée on at this point. Don't do this! They seem like they're set, but they get a little too saucy in the oven when you're broiling and lose their custard vibe. Learn from our mistakes. Be patient.

You can keep them in the fridge for a couple days even and then get out your torch! Like I said, we had some butane issues, so they went under the broiler (we were pretty dismayed about not using the torch). The broiler is a tricky mistress and they turned out alright. The main issue was the custards losing their firmness in the oven. So that would be the main thing we'll work on next time.

Even despite our errors, this turned out to be a delightful and aromatic treat! Now I've just got to figure out how to make this vegan...

Pasta Night!

2011-02-24T00:43:00.001-06:00

I am so excited! I've been wanting to make my own pasta for years and never made it happen until a couple days ago, when my good pal and fellow food lover Chantale was in town for one night only. (You may remember her from the epic chocolate truffle post.)

This past Christmas, my folks gave us a pasta roller and finally, nearly two months later, it got put to use. And it'll get used again, for years. What a treat to have one.

The main thing that I was originally confused about was the ratio of egg to flour. I've read about a standard (and super easy to remember) rule of thumb: one cup of flour and one egg is enough for one person. However, the flour part seems to be too much, and many recipes say one egg to 100 grams of flour is better (which is approximately 3/4 cup, depending on the flour of course). We used even less than that ratio. Chantale thought it might be because the winter air is dry these days, and the eggs we used weren't all that huge. Also though, as you stir the eggs and flour together, only so much flour can get mixed in naturally and it'll pan out.

The Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt

The Method:

Mound the flour into a cute little hill on your work surface and make a well in centre. Add eggs and salt.

Now it gets fun! Using a fork, beat the eggs a bit. Starting from the inside edge and working around well, gradually incorporate flour into the egg mixture until soft dough forms. Don't forget: you can't break the flour wall, unless you like egg messes. It'll take a short time, going from a yellowy goop to a sticky dough, which is when you chuck the fork and get hands-on.

Beating the eggs...

Stirring the goop...

Forming the "pre-dough"...

On a clean, lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 10 minutes, working in enough of the spare flour to make the dough smooth and elastic. 10 minutes is a lot of work, so I recommend making pasta with a friend so you can take turns. Plus, you won't feel guilty about cracking open some wine early. The consistency of the dough will change from sort of rough to silky; that's when you know you're done.

The dough is getting there, but see the bumps? Still needs a bit more kneading.

All smooth and silky - BOOM!

Cover the dough with a small bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. At this point, maybe start getting some of your other food going that might take a while, like if you're roasting anything, for example. Once you're ready to roll pasta, divide the dough into 4 pieces to make handling easier. It doesn't look like much per piece, but once you flatten it to 9 mm, it's plenty.

First, make sure you clamp your pasta roller onto the counter or table so it doesn't move around. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the pieces into a 5-inch long strip and dust with flour. Feed it through the widest setting of the pasta machine rollers about 4 times. Before each feeding through the rollers, fold the dough in half and lightly flour.

Then, you progressively make the dough flatter and flatter, which is super fun. Again, a friend helps because one person can crank the rollers while the other holds the dough and make sure it feeds through properly. Set the machine to the next narrowest setting; run the dough through once, without folding it. Repeat running the dough through the rollers until the next-to-finest setting is reached, cutting the dough in half if it's awkwardly long. Lightly flour the dough; run through finest setting (if you want, we didn't). Repeat this process with the other three pieces of your dough.

Okay, so at this point we improvised a bit. You're supposed to hang the sheets at this step, on a wooden broomstick handle (which I find dirty... at least my broom isn't food-worthy). So I guess I'll have to make a pasta rack some day. Anyway, in a pinch, we took the utensils hanging on an Ikea rod in the kitchen and wiped it down. Then we just hung the sheets there for about 15 minutes. Don't let the dough dry out, but it should get a little leathery so that it feeds through the cutters and doesn't stick to them when going through.

See how the dough is overlapping there? Don't do that; it gets a bit stuck together. We just had the one rod to work with, so it was okay but if you have room, don't do what we did. When the dough is ready and a bit leathery, cut the pasta into lengths of up to 10 inches. Then feed the super ultra mega thin dough through the cutting side of your pasta maker - ours has a fettuccine kind of width and a spaghetti setting. We went with the satisfyingly wider noodle choice. Roll each sheet through, toss in a little flour and set aside.

Once you toss them in a bit of flour, make sure it's a loose spread out pile.

We cooked up most of the pasta fresh but I did hang some to dry as a test; and it was delicious and fast-cooking a few days later. Apparently you can store dry homemade pasta for around 2 weeks. (It didn't last that long around here.)

I don't suggest using a metal bar, but it's all we had. They stuck a bit.

Then prep any other food you're going to eat, because cooking the pasta only takes 3 minutes in boiling water. We had roasted garlic and bell peppers and sauteed that with onion, mushrooms and olive oil, and tossed in some pitted Kalamata olives too.

Whatever sauce you decide to make, make sure when it's done you leave it in the saucepan on the stove. Then, cook your pasta for 3 minutes in salted, boiling water. When it's ready, strain (do not run under cold water!) and toss into the sauce so that the pasta absorbs the sauce's flavour. Stir and serve with wine, Caprese salad, crostini with white beans in pesto and lemon, etc.

Oh, and grate some fresh Parmesan cheese right before serving!

Now, I realize that this is an extensive post, but fresh pasta is quite easy: mix, knead, set aside, roll and cut. You should try it, even if you just use a rolling pin and pizza cutter. This recipe was about four meals' worth.

And stay tuned when we try to make vegan pasta, using mineral water instead of eggs!

Almond Milk

2011-02-19T14:27:00.003-06:00

I finally made my own almond milk, just like mum used to make. In the '80s in Winnipeg, almond, soy or rice milk wasn't commercially available. So my mum - ever the vegan pioneer - made her own almond milk. I was a kid and took it for granted that she made it, but now I find it really quite incredible. It's easy, cheap and good for you. Plus, you know all the ingredients that go in it: almond, water and a little sweetening if you want it. That's it!

The Ingredients:

1/4 cup raw whole almonds, blanched
2 cups filtered water

Optional:
A few drops of vanilla extract
Maple syrup (or another liquid sweetener) to taste

The Method:

The cheapest kind of almonds are the raw, whole kind with the skin still on. I grew up helping blanch them, which entails soaking them in hot water, often over night. Then, you just squeeze the almonds and they pop out of their skins. In classic homeschooling form, we made games out of how many you could do in a minute. Ah, the days of almond blanching games... So I blanched this batch, but later read online that you don't necessarily have to. I always thought it would make the milk kind of brown or beige to keep the skins on, but apparently it doesn't. I'm going to try out a small batch in the future to see what's up.**

Anyhow, once you have your blanched almonds, throw them in the blender with the water and the optional items if you'd like. I added a bit of vanilla, but nothing to sweeten it. Then, blend it up.

The key at this point is to strain the milk through a cheesecloth or clean tea towel. I line a sieve with a tea towel over a bowl and pour the milk through. Then, gather up the corners of the cloth and twist the remaining pulp around in the cloth and give it a squeeze. Milk it for all it's worth. (Sorry, had to say it.)

Once you've squeeze out all the liquid, open the cloth and scrape out the almond pulp and save it. You can use it for baking - I just tossed some in my last batch of Cranberry Pecan Loaf. Apparently you can use it as a gentle body scrub too! Remember, there's no preservatives, so don't keep it around for too long.

The milk will last in your fridge for about 5-7 days and is great on cereal and in baking. Enjoy!

** Update as of February 27, 2011: You don't have to blanche the almonds before throwing them in the blender. I just tried straight-up dried almonds with the skins on this morning and I still ended up with white milk. Time saver!

Roasted Garlic Risotto

2011-01-26T14:46:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, I am an exponentially growing fan of Jamie Oliver's. Mostly because he cooks with abandon and obsessively uses the term "wack" - both as a noun and a verb - all the while making delicious food with fresh ingredients. Yesterday, I saw him make a variation of this risotto on television. Loving garlic as much as we do, I had to make this dish. Immediately.

One thing Jamie didn't do was the extra fancy step: truffles!! Tyler gave me the most amazing Christmas stocking of special cooking ingredients and I'm slowly, preciously working my way through them. Sometimes I get nervous using special things (primarily food and fancy paper), but I was determined to not let this little jar of three truffles go to waste. This is the first time I've ever used (or eaten, I believe) truffles and truffle oil. This was nerdily thrilling!

Nothing smells like truffles. We learned this upon opening the jar. One day, when smell-o-blogs are invented, I'll re-post.

The Ingredients:

2 bulbs (that's right, not cloves) of fresh garlic
Olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup arborio rice
between 1/2 tsp and 1 tsp of dried thyme (fresh would have been so good!)
1/3 cup white cooking wine
4 cups vegetable stock (I only had dried soup base around)
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese (just omit if you're doing vegan)
Freshly ground black pepper
Optional: Pat of butter to stir in at the end for extra creaminess
Garnish lightly with drizzled truffle oil and shavings of black winter truffle*

This risotto is easily made vegan - traditionally, the butter adds creaminess, but the natural starch in the rice does most of the work. Also, the Parmesan does add some flavour, but because I found the stock fairly salty this time around, I barely used any. So again, if you're vegan this is totally acceptable.

* Interestingly, truffle oil is pretty much just truffle essence-infused olive oil, since extracting oil from truffles is difficult, would be extremely potent in flavour and astronomically costly. The chef at Deseo, Scott Bagshaw, told Tyler that truffle oil is used to help kick up the scent and flavour of truffles, which is why we used a bit of both for that ultimate sensory experience.

The Method:

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees and prep your garlic for roasting. For me, that means cutting off the top end of each garlic bulb and placing cut-side down into your terra cotta garlic roaster, in which you've drizzled a bit of oil first. Then pop that in the oven for about 40 minutes... about the amount of time you'll need for making your risotto!

Boil some water and dissolve 2 cubes of veggie stock into 4 cups of water. Of course, you can (and should, if you're a fancy pants) make your own stock.
In a deep, heavy, medium sized saucepan, heat olive oil on medium low. Add onions and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat with the oil. I hear coating the rice thoroughly is what helps it absorb water uniformly, but I can't verify this. Cook for about 7 minutes until the rice turns translucent. Stir constantly to keep it from sticking to the pan. Add the thyme
Stir in your cooking wine that you have previously warmed or kept at room temperature (if it is cold you will shock the rice, which will flake on the outside and stay hard at the core). Let it absorb into the rice.
Add simmering stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring enough to keep the rice from sticking to the edges of the pan. Wait until the stock is nearly absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. The rice should be just cooked and slightly chewy.
Once the garlic is done roasting, squeeze out the delicious garlic from its papery sheaths into the risotto. At this point, it should be nearly cooked.
When the rice is mostly tender, but with just a hint of texture to it, and the liquid you have added to this point is mostly absorbed, add the Parmesan and a bit of butter (if you want to). Stir the risotto profusely to blend in the cheese and butter and remove your finished risotto from the heat.
Let it stand for 3 or 4 minutes. Lightly shave truffle and then drizzle truffle oil on top. Serve.
Generously serves 2 with leftovers or 4 as a side dish.

Savoury Baking Powder Biscuits

2011-01-17T13:04:00.001-06:00

It just isn't a cozy lunch on a blizzardy day without these biscuits, just like mama used to make. The basic recipe for these little guys is incredibly easy and quick, and vegan. Today I spiced it up a little with the savoury additions I had on hand: fresh dill, green onions and a smidge of gouda cheese (seen crispy and melty above).

Preheat oven at 425 degrees.

The Ingredients:

In a large mixing bowl,

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

In a measuring cup,

1 ¾ cups water
¼ cup oil

The Method:

That's the basic recipe. If you're adding other ingredients (fresh chopped dill, a few chopped green onions, small cubes of cheese, cubed mushrooms, veggie "ham"...) add them to the dry ingredients and stir.

Stir wet ingredients into the dry and form into dough. It should mix easily and doesn't need any kneading, just a gentle stir.

Roll out onto flour or sesame seeds and cut into shapes.

Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Chickpea "Tuna" Salad

2011-01-11T22:46:00.004-06:00

Dried beans are amazing. They're good for you; they're cheap; they store for ages.

For me, the difference between forgetting dried beans in the back of the cupboard and actually using them is to keep them in view. Remembering what staples you have on hand can save you from eating many uninspired meals. How many times have you found an amazing ingredient in the back shadows and it expired two years ago and all this time you've been eating plain pasta and tomato sauce? A few months ago we put up more shelves in our kitchen to hold pantry goods and it works wonders for me. To actually see the food I have on hand... it's revoluntionized my kitchen.


Top Shelf L/R: kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, red lentils, barley, lasagna noodles, steel cut oats, rolled oats, couscous (behind: nutrela, TVP granules). Bottom Shelf L/R: (behind: dried tea) roasted pumpkin seeds, curly pasta, toasted almonds (the little jar), dried shitake mushrooms, popcorn, cornmeal, brown rice, white rice, arborio rice, sticky rice (behind: wild rice).

The other thing that I need for bean-cooking encouragement is new inspired recipes. As much as I like chilli, a girl can only have so much before she tires of the legume family. I just tried out this new way of making chickpeas exciting - literally moments ago - and am typing as I finish the last crumbs of this snack. Can I just say thank goodness for a sandwich filling that is not at all reminiscent of one tired staple that shows up at every vegetarian potluck, over and over again: hummus. I like it, but I've grown up with years of novice vegans coming to parties with a salad bowl's-worth of under-seasoned, chunky hummus that no one really wants to eat and it just dries up at the end of the party and then some poor sap is left with a metric tonne of a leftover that is worse than when it began. This recipe below, however, will have your dried chickpeas thanking you for avoiding such a sad, vegan destiny.

The Ingredients:

1 heaping cup of cooked chickpeas*
4 Tbsp nayonaisse, mayonaisse if you're not vegan
2 tsp whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Bragg's or soy sauce
Pepper to taste
Variation: add some fresh chopped dill, or maybe a chopped dill pickle
Non-veg variation: sprinkle in some Japanese bonito flakes (contains fish)

1/4 cup chopped celery
1 chopped green onion

The Method:

Mash (or use a food processor) all the ingredients except for the celery and green onion, which you mix in after. If you're looking for a fishy taste, you can either try finely cutting up some nori (seaweed) or sprinkling in some bonito flakes. Serve on bread or crackers, etc. Yup, it's that easy. And even if you do eat fish, try this out, since a can of tuna isn't likely to be on the ocean-friendly side of things these days.

*Soak a small amount of beans overnight in triple their water. Then cook on the stove top the next day and save for a recipe like this one.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake!

2010-12-24T16:02:00.000-06:00

It's Christmas Eve and I decide to "whip up" a cake I've never made while also simultaneously making a few dozen perogies for tonight. I have no idea why I have the ambition to multi-task in the kitchen like I do. Nonetheless, a few rings of pineapple can bring out the best in anyone.

We have yet to slice into it, as it's still cooling, but the caramel top looks fantastic. I was so nervous about flipping the cake out of the pan, after seeing Bobby Flay fail so miserable on Throwdown. But love and patience is how to do it. So try it and let me know what you think. And for those of you who are already into this cake, what is a more exciting way to accent the flavour of the cake component itself? I imagine some hint of exotic flavour like lavender or nutmeg (I don't actually MEAN these suggestions, just something that has the same aura) would really make this cake a more exciting, modern version. Thoughts?

The Ingredients:

Topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
5 canned (or fresh!) pineapple rings
raw pecan halves
5 maraschino cherries

Cake:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 Tbsp of the juice from the canned pineapple
1 tsp. vanilla extract

The Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9" round cake pan (I had a glass pie plate on hand). The butter is your friend when it comes to the big flip at the end.

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved and bubbly. Carefully pour in the cake pan. Arrange slices of pineapple, cherries and pecans on the top.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Add in milk and oil, whisk for about a minute. Add in the rest of the ingeredients until whisk again until blended.

Pour batter in prepared cake pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes. The cake is ready when an inserted wooden skewer or cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. After, gently use a knife to ease the cake away from the pan edges. Cover with your serving plate and FLIP THE CAKE OVER.

I grew up eating this vintage dessert once in a while at my Grandma Rose's place. This cake is for her.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and happy eating!

Cranberry Pecan Bread with Orange

2010-12-14T14:04:00.001-06:00

I love the food blog Lottie + Doof. Gorgeous pictures. Amazing recipes full of sugar and butter and heavy cream. It's a dangerous thing to look at when you want to make something to feed your sweet craving. When you have a spare hour, hunker down with this website and get ready to drool.

Last night at midnight I got the urge to bake with the fresh cranberries I'd bought earlier in the week. I was thinking of making muffins, but did a cranberry search on L + D for inspiration and found this gem. Here's my vegan adaptation of this fantastic loaf. So much wonderful flavour! If you want to check out the original, here it is.

The Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/3 cup fresh orange juice (it was about half an orange and was well worth doing!)
2/3 cup vanilla (or plain) almond milk
6 Tbsp margarine, melted and cooled (oil would work too)
1 flax "egg"
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tso baking soda
1 1/2 cups cranberries, coarse chopped

The Method:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out extra.

While preheating the oven, toast the pecans in there.

In a small bowl, stir together the orange zest, orange juice, almond milk, margarine, and flax. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula until just moistened. Gently stir in the cranberries and pecans. Do not overmix. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 20 minutes at 375° F, then reduce heat to 350° F. Continue to bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes longer. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool before serving. The bread can then be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for several days. Makes one mouth-watering loaf.

Pumpkin and Feta Muffins

2010-11-23T01:28:00.004-06:00

You can make a lot of things with just one pumpkin. They take forever to use up.

Which is why this is the second of at least three consecutive pumpkin recipe posts. This time, a savoury muffin that proves to be extremely delicious. I adapted the recipe from a delightful food blog, 101 Cookbooks. One of the primary alterations - one that I was scared to do - was using fresh dill instead of fresh parsley or cilantro. Lucky for me, it worked out. Also, one of my favourite parts of this muffin is the subtle use of sunflower seeds. There are just enough to give it a slightly soft, nutty texture and flavour, but you wouldn't guess they were in there if you didn't know. And yes, I realize sunflower seeds aren't nuts, it's just hard to describe.

The Ingredients:

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups cubed pumpkin or butternut squash, 1/2-inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1 large handful of kale, chopped (steam it briefly before chopping and squeeze out excess water - the original uses fresh spinach, which you wouldn't have to pre-cook)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro (I used dill!)
3 Tbsp sunflower seeds
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (I used 1/2 cup cheddar since I didn't have enough Parm, and frankly, that's a lot of Parm if you use the good stuff)
1/2 cup cubed feta
2 tsp whole-grain mustard
2 large eggs or flax eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup almond milk
2 cups flour (I did 1 and a 1/2 cups white, 1/2 cup whole wheat)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt

The Method:

Preheat oven to 405F, with rack in the top third. Use the butter to grease a 12-hole muffin pan and set aside.

Pumpkin prep:
Sprinkle the olive oil and some salt and pepper over the squash. Toss well and turn onto a baking sheet or roasting pan. Arrange in a single layer and bake for 15 - 25 minutes or until cooked through entirely. Set aside to cool.

Batter prep:
Transfer two-thirds of the squash to a large mixing bowl along with the spinach, parsley, sunflower seeds, Parmesan (or cheddar), two-thirds of the feta, and all of the mustard. Gently fold together.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs (or flax) and milk together and add to the pumpkin mix. Sift the flour and baking powder onto the squash mix, top with the salt and a generous dose of freshly ground black pepper and fold together just until the batter comes together, be careful not to over mix. Note: I found that this batter was much more of a dough in consistency and I considered adding more moisture after I'd already mixed everything together, which can get dangerous. But in the end, after not adding more moisture, the results were fine.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan, filling each hole 3/4 full. Top each muffin with a bit of the remaining squash and feta for that "crumble" look. Bake for 15-20 minutes (it took me 22) or until the tops and sides of the muffins are golden. Let cool for a couple minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

And you know, the nice thing about baking is you can do clean up while everything turns magical in the oven. At the end you're left with a clean kitchen and a tasty treat.

Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli

2010-11-22T00:18:00.003-06:00

The other night I made wontons and had leftover wrappers. So I thought, why not cheat on ravioli? Cheating's fun! The method is easy and results were satisfying, although homemade pasta is obviously the ruler.

Being pumpkin season, I decided to roast some up and make it the filling for this delicious meal.

Makes 12 ravioli.

The Ingredients:

24 wonton wrappers
2 cups fresh pumpkin, cubed into aprox 1/2 inch pieces
Oil (I used Mighty Trio Organics hemp oil)
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp ricotta
2 tsp brown sugar
Pinch of nutmeg (I actually used a few pinches)
1 egg
Fresh sage leaves
4 Tbsp unsalted butter for brown butter sauce
Optional: fresh grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

The Method:

Roast the pumpkin on a cookie sheet until tender. Before popping in the oven drizzle hemp oil and add salt and pepper on top.

Once you can easily stick a fork in the pumpkin, transfer to a bowl. Add all of the above ingredients into that bowl, except for the wrappers and the unsalted butter. Mash it up until it's smooth.

Start boiling a pot of water.

Lay out 12 of the wonton wrappers and place a heaping tablespoon of the pumpkin filling into each centre. You can add more if you want, just try assembling one before you do so to see that you can seal it up.

Dip your finger in a small bowl of water and trace the water along each edge of the 12 wrappers with filling. Then place another wrapper on top of each and seal the edges well.

Boil the ravioli 3-4 min. They'll rise to the top when ready. Also, don't boil too many at a time, you don't want to crowd them and have them stick together.

While you're boiling your ravioli...
In a large sauté pan, melt butter over high heat. Add some more sage to it if you like, and salt as well. Cook until butter begins to brown and sizzle, about 1 minute.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer ravioli to pan, tossing to combine (we actually didn't do this step because I felt the butter pan was too small, so we just drizzled the sauce on top). Serve immediately with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Oh, one note: I had left over filling, so you could probably make at least 16 ravioli or a bit more. Just FYI.

In the end, I'd say this is a fairly quick and easy way to enjoy homemade ravioli without the pressure or time involved in making your own pasta. Nonetheless, making our own pasta is still on the Food Adventure Club agenda! Can't wait!

Granola

2010-11-08T00:30:00.004-06:00

Anyone out there remember the Cabbage Patch Kids cereal from the '80s? It was the only time I had a glimpse into the world of what normal, non-vegan, non-homeschooled kids ate for breakfast. And it didn't go so well.

We pretty much never bought cereal back in the day, since my mom made granola all the time to avoid the sugar-coated version. If it was from the store, it was Grape Nuts or Shreddies. Sweet stuff wasn't an option. Even something the average person would think of as not-so-sugary, like Honey Nut Cheerios, was out of the question. The one time we EVER had a sweet cereal from the store, it was because of me, but it really ruined my reputation around the house and my parents lost trust in me for some time after.

Harsh. Especially when you're five years old.

You see, I remember being really little and I'd recently gotten a Cabbage Patch Doll (the name she came with was Sue-ardella. I never renamed her, despite constantly thinking how weird it was). I was super into her. She had Dutch wooden shoes. My grandmas would crochet her little sweaters. She had a bellybutton. What wasn't to like?

We were out grocery shopping one night and I saw the Cabbage Patch cereal on the shelf. This would have been maybe 1987. I begged my parents to buy it, the only time I ever did such a thing. And I distinctly remember that I didn't even really want it because I liked the toy; it was because on the back it said you'd win a bicycle. Being as young as a I was, I thought I would get the bicycle if I had the cereal. I didn't explain that to mom and pops, since I knew they could understand boxes as well as I could, so it was obvious for everyone. I cried and I begged and finally, they said okay, but that I wouldn't like it. I swore to them that I would and I'd have a bowl as soon as we got home. Somehow my convincing (slash crying) was persuasive enough.

We got home and dad went straight into the kitchen to pour me a bowl for my bedtime snack. I hated them immediately. They tasted gross and sweet. My parents never believed that I would do anything I swore to ever again. The end.

I've never been able to eat sweet cereal ever since. So here's documentation of my first go at making granola. One thing I like right away about making it is that you can add more or less of whatever you have on hand. This recipe is easily vegan if you don't use honey as a sweetener. Get creative!

Preheat your oven 325 degrees.

The Ingredients:

Stir together in a roasting pan:

3 cups quick oats
3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1 Tbsp ground flax (I'd do more next time)
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon (this was just the right amount in the end)
1/4 tsp salt
Variation: add coconut!*
1 cup dried fruit (save for later! do not add right now!)

* It would be awesome, except somebody (ahem, Tyler) doesn't like the texture. He will change his crazy ways eventually.

Mix in a small bowl:

2 Tbsp canola oil or 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (I used GMO-free canola oil from Mighty Trio Organics, the best damn organic, cold-pressed oil you can find. Anywhere.)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I used a honey and maple syrup blend I found in my cupboard)
1/4 cup brown sugar
splash of water
1 tsp vanilla extract (note for the future: could also try adding orange rind!)

The Method:

Take the wet mixture and stir into the dry mixture in the pan until it's evenly coated and sticky.

Bake for 30-45 min, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Cool on a wire rack. It may be sticky when you take it out, but it will harden as it cools. Make sure to break up any large clumps of granola while the mixture is still warm.

Once the granola has completely cooled, store in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator. It will keep for several weeks.

Makes about 5 cups.

The flavour was a total delight. However, I couldn't get the granola clusters (or "clumps" as Tyler insists, although I feel this is an un-tasty term) to happen. I really like those chunks in my granola, but this attempt did not cluster. Cluster-free granola. Lame. I'll have to figure out what I was doing wrong. It may relate to how much sugar I put in (or didn't, since as you know, I have low tolerance for sweet cereals). Anyone have thoughts on this or recipe recommendations?

Cranberry Sauce

2010-10-29T23:00:00.007-05:00

I had no idea this simple fruit could be so satisfying to cook. This recipe converted my "I hate cranberry sauce" sister to being really into it. The flavours in the recipe scream autumn. Cinnamon! Orange zest! It's amazing and tart instead of too sweet. Why didn't I make homemade cranberry sauce earlier?

Oh, I should mention this post is a couple weeks overdue, since - you likely guessed it - I made this for Thanksgiving.

Now, a couple of things I'm really into about the humble cranberry:

1. It comes in one of the most amazing shades of red. And when they aren't red, they are these sweet little pinks and whites.

2. It is one of the few fruits native to North America (unfortunately, it isn't farmed here in Manitoba).

3. It grows in a bog. A BOG.

4. It is a "super fruit," alongside the esteemed blueberry and that loveable fad, açaí.

5. When you cook them, they burst open in the most captivating manner. I guess I kind of knew that, but this was the first time I experienced it first-hand and I couldn't stop squealing with delight.

Ingredients:

½ cup water
1 cinnamon stick
1/3 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
One 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, rinsed
Drizzle of maple syrup

The Method:

In a medium saucepan, heat 1/2 cup water with the cinnamon stick, orange zest, orange juice, and sugar over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in the cranberries and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 7 minutes.

Drizzle a little maple syrup on top to sweeten it a bit, since it’ll be fairly tart. Pull out the cinnamon stick.

Let the sauce cool to room temperature before serving.

Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantain)

2010-10-29T22:24:00.003-05:00

As usual, one ingredient inspired our meal today. I've always enjoyed snacking on plantain chips, but I've never cooked with the "starchy banana." Really, when you consider this easy recipe, I could have incorporated it into a dish better, but it's my first time, so I gave myself some slack and basically made plantain chips.

I don't know if you're into the Food Network or Chopped (Tyler and I almost always end up watching it), but I found this video of Chef Aaron Sanchez and his mom Zarela cooking plantain together. The poor sound quality, the music and the typo just make it all the more charming.

I don't own a mandoline, sadly, so that took my cooking method in a bit of a different direction. They're making very thin, savoury tostones, whereas I've tried to make thicker, sweeter maduros. That being said, this video did help me figure out how I was going to prepare the plantain.

Ingredients:

1 Plantain, yellow to black*
Canola oil
Pinch of salt
Drizzle of honey (or maple syrup, depending on your level of veganism)

* As a plantain ripens, it loses some of its signature starchiness and becomes sweeter. A brown or black plantain hasn't gone bad; it's actually going to be the sweetest. I'm under the impression that plantains don't ripen all that much once we buy them up here in Canada, so buy them dark. If you cook with green ones, know that they'll be starchy and you should just go the salty route. Since my plantain was fairly dark, I decided to go a bit sweet. Here's a mini-guide:

Green: When the plantain is green it is quite starchy and the flavor is much like a potato. The green fruit can be fried or boiled.

Yellow: When the plantains yellow the sugars begin to develop and impart a slight sweetness to the fruit. At this stage the fruit may show a few freckles of black.

Black: The plantain is at it's sweetest once it turns black. Normally you would want to use black plantains for dessert or any recipe where a sweet taste is desirable. You may purchase yellow plantains and store them in a paper bag until then ripen and turn black.

The Method:
Cut off the ends of the plantain. Make 3 or 4 score lines from one end of the plantain to the other.

Now, in the above video, the instructions around the "water" are vague, so I simmered (not boiled) some water and once the bubbles were going I dropped in the plantain. It took about 10 minutes to darken up a bit. (The image below is pre-darkening.)

Let the plantain cool a bit and then peel off the skin like Sanchez does. Then slice the plantain about 1 centimetre thick in a diagonal manner. Basically like slicing banana for a peanut butter sandwich.

Including this many pictures for such an easy recipe makes it seem complicated and drawn out, but it really wasn't. Sorry, I just felt like that needed to be mentioned at this point.

Next, heat up some canola oil in a small frying pan, enough to cover the bottom but not to submerge the plantain. I'm not much of a deep fryer.

Fry until golden on the bottom, flip over and fry. Throw a pinch of salt on and drizzle a sweetener like liquid honey, maple syrup or some brown sugar. Just a tad to enhance the plantain's inner sweetness.

To go with this, I whipped up a half recipe of corn tortillas, some brown rice, refried beans and a slaw (cabbage, radish, red onion, lemon and salt). All in all, not too shabby.

20 Tips: How to eat well for less money.

2010-10-23T18:48:00.002-05:00

Lately, money has really been on my mind. I've been a self-employed DJ and a freelance editor since I was laid off from my full-time job fifteen months ago. Working this way is extremely fulfilling. I'm self-directed, more creative, and in control of my days; I have spare time for things in the middle of the day; I volunteer more. On the flip side, there's never guaranteed work and my income is different every month, which is why the cost of things is more important than when I had a steady salary.

One of the advantages of working at home is that I cook more, pretty much every day if I'm not heating up leftovers. I adore cooking. Making my own meals and eating out less also means that I save a lot more on food. Essentially, I found that the times that I've earned more money in my life, the more I've had to spend to keep up that busy schedule (buying lunches every day, working late and grabbing food somewhere). Now, I'm in a slow-paced chapter of life. I don't earn as much, but I spend a fraction of the money I used to on food.

The point of this post is to share a collection of tools I've learned recently about the cost of food, as well as some of the tricks my parents used back in the 80s when they fed three kids on a lower income than I make today. I've had to revisit these ways of thinking about food since I became self-employed and they've really helped me save money without ever feeling like I couldn't enjoy food... really, really enjoy it. I don't eat food from the dollar store and I don't avoid quality ingredients because of my budget. Here's how I do it:

GROWING FOOD

If you can, grow your own food - in your yard, on your sill or balcony, in a community garden. You can buy seeds or ask friends for some in the fall if they have spares. It's fulfilling to grow food and it tastes better than anything at the store. Granted, it takes a lot of time and dedication for a garden, but if you already grow flowers, why not mix in some herbs, carrots, tomatoes? I personally don't have a very sunny yard, so I'm finding growing to be a challenge on our property. But even growing some fresh basil and mint will help stock your pantry with quality ingredients that cost an arm-and-a-leg at the store.

BUYING FOOD

If you can't grow your own food, there's plenty of ways to purchase good food on the cheap.

Don't eat out. Don't order take-out.
Yeah, it's a harsh rule, but the more food you make at home, the better. Growing up, my family ordered pizza twice - ever, in my entire childhood - both times with a coupon. That doesn't mean you can't socialize though. Host a dinner party or a potluck. Your friends will get into it, if they're awesome like my friends, at least.

Join a food-buying club.

Winnipeg has a few starting up, and you could always try developing your own if there's nothing near you. Buying directly from the farmer is a special thing and doesn't really cost more than if you bought the same food at Safeway. I just joined a club last month and I got organic whole wheat flour, steel-cut oats and flax. I'm vegetarian, but meat and eggs are also big sellers in these types of groups.

Buy in bulk.
Dried, bulk chickpeas, for example, are so much cheaper than canned beans. I also buy bulk chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, pasta. Bulk food reduces packaging. Reuse some beautiful glass jars to store your food in when you get home. Put them up on a shelf and enjoy the colours of the red lentils, the kidney beans, the cornmeal. Best pantry ever? If you don't have access to bulk food, at least consider buying non-perishable food (and perishable, if you have the freezer space) in larger amounts. Usually large containers of food are cheaper per 100 grams than smaller containers.

Look low.
When you're at the store, look at products below the shelves that are at eye level. The easy-to-reach shelves are where the more expensive brand name products live. I used to work at a grocery store, I know what I'm talking about.

Stick to your list.
If you focus on just the food you have on your grocery list and don't buy impulse items, you'll save money. Don't fall for the last-minute chocolate bar at the check-out tricks.

Go vegetarian/vegan, at least some times.
Reduce your meat and cheese intake... it's some of the most expensive stuff. Sure, veggie convenience food like Ground Round or pre-marinated tofu can add up too, but beans and rice are some of the cheapest, healthiest things, and have a lot of flavour options.

Eat unprocessed foods as much as possible.
I find that most food closest to its original state is supremely healthy and thrifty.

Good quality stuff.

If you're going to splurge on food, use it to buy food at a farmer's market, or to get high-quality olive oil or to buy fair-trade coffee. You'll enjoy your life.

Stock up.
Occasionally do really big shops to stock up flour, condiments, and other staples and buy fresh food regularly. Look for the items on sale and buy a large supply of them, if they are good for the pantry or freezer. If red peppers are on sale, buy a bunch, roast them and make them into a soup or amazing sauce!

COOKING FOOD

Cook from scratch.
Making tomato sauce or your own biscuits cost so much less than buying pre-made. Even if you don't have time to make your own tomato sauce, try to avoid frozen dinners, pizza, burritos, that kind of thing. Even tossing a salad in a bit of oil and vinegar instead of buying brand name salad dressing will really help. I know cooking from scratch can take a lot of time, so...

Have a big cooking day.
When you're busy, making food can be hard to do, so even a once-a-week big cooking day where you make soup, chilli, a caserole, a sauce for pasta, granola, crackers, bread, biscuits... will really help with money, time and health. One easy thing is taking ten minutes to chop up fresh veggies into sticks for easy snacks. Store them in a container of water in the fridge for the week. Doing a bunch of food at the same time saves time too... the other day I chopped onions for soup, chilli and a sauce at the same time and then threw them in three different pots to get the food going. Making a bunch of food for the week means plenty of hot lunches for work/school and quick dinners you just need to heat up. Plus, things like soup always taste a couple days after you make it.

Do some baking.
The cost of flour, flax (what I use instead of eggs) and sugar is cheap compared to buying half a dozen cinnamon buns or some not-so-great cookies. If you have a free night, invite a friend over for a baking party.

Bring your own lunch to work/school.
Buying lunch costs like $10 a day, which adds up to about $200 a month, or $2,400 a year... for only one person. Try bringing leftovers if you have a microwave at work/school, or bring fresh ingredients from home (bread and hummus, veggie sticks, a thermos of something hot). I used to keep back-up lunches in the freezer at work so I wouldn't have to buy a lunch on a really rushed day. If you rush out the door most mornings, consider stockpiling some breakfast food at work too, like quick oatmeal, cereal, granola bars, muffins in the freezer. Back when I had a day job, I'd also buy a fresh supply of fruit on Mondays and put them in a little basket on my desk for snacks.

Plan meals for the week.
Meal planning really helps you use up all the groceries you buy in a week. Otherwise they go to waste because you forget about them. A general Mon-Fri plan really helps with that.

Drink more water.
Save money on soda, juice and booze.

Concentrate.
If you do want some juice, buy it from concentrate in the frozen section instead of buying cartons... those cartons are usually from concentrate too, but have the look of "fresh squeezed." Or make juice yourself, if you have a juicer... which I don't.

Buy a filter instead of buying bottled water.
Bring your own bottle of choice to work, or have a mug kicking around. Bottled water, as we all know, piles on the garbage and money. There are also little in-bottle filters that you can use when you're away from home.

Get an awesome travel mug.
Make your own coffee or tea at home, before you leave for the day. You will save SO much money if you don't buy a coffee or two every day, especially from St*rb*cks. We buy really nice, organic, fair-trade coffee (read: "expensive") for home and make it every morning. That $13 bag of coffee makes maybe 35 cups (I've never officially counted though, to be honest). You can also get a french press, kettle or coffemaker for work!

STORING FOOD

Don't waste food.
People throw out a lot of food because they don't like leftovers, or get tired of eating the same thing every day, or because they didn't use something before it went bad. Storing food properly will really help minimize waste.

Freeze.
Freeze what you can't use fresh or right away. I freeze soups, sauces, cooked vegetables that I can throw in stir-frys, bread, fruit, bananas for smoothies (the best), fresh chopped herbs. If you can, buy a small chest freezer.

Re-use containers.
Container-wise, I often re-use (almond) milk cartons that I wash out and dry, saving them for food freezer storage. They're insulated, which is great for the freezer; and they're square, so they store compactly in there too. Just fill with food, tape them up and label them. You can also wash and re-use Ziploc bags, juice cartons and plastic containers. If you're a thrift shop or garage sale person, keep your eyes peeled for vintage kitchen containers for the pantry. A set of cool jars really makes you want to cook with what's in them. Instead of just hiding away your ingredients; display them! I inherited my great-grandma's set of containers and I love them so much.

Well there you go. It's something. Do you have any things you do to save money but still eat well?

*All photos are by me except the wallet at the top (perhaps the British money was a giveaway?), which is from here. And the garden isn't mine, although I wish it was. That photo is from here.

Corn Tortillas

2010-10-09T02:03:00.003-05:00

Maybe about a month ago I was a "helper" in a tortilla-making session and since that day, I've been dreaming of making my own corn tortillas. I've never tried to do it, but every time I eat the homemade or traditional version, I think, "Old El Paso can go suck it." There's no comparison.

And you know what? As long as you have a tortilladora (it's like a press) and the right kind of masa flour (like a fine corn meal that is used in pupusas, tamales and tortillas!), you're set. I bought my press at Dino's in Winnipeg, a store that brings me great joy. As for the masa flour, I used Maseca brand (I'm sure other brands are good too, but this was upon recommendation from my friend Luis, whose mother swears by it. You can find it at El Izalco on Sargent Avenue, if you live in Winnipeg). After this first time around, I've learned tortillas are much easier to make than you might think, which makes sense, being an everyday staple for so many people. That's probably why most folks don't eat souffles all the time.

The Ingredients:

2 cups corn masa flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups water
couple wedges of fresh lime

The Method:

Mix together all the ingredients and add a couple more tablespoons of water until you have a doughy consistency that is soft, not crumbly. Form into balls. This recipe made 11 balls that fit my 8-inch tortilladora (there are smaller presses, so you'd make more with one of those). This dough doesn't need to sit before pressing and cooking, but if you do let it sit for a bit, cover it so it doesn't dry out.

One good trick is to use a cut open Ziploc bag in the tortilladora to prevent the dough from sticking. You can also use plastic wrap, but the sturdy plastic of the bag is great, plus you can store it and use it for next time.

Another good thing to know: place the ball of dough not in the centre of the press, but a bit toward the hinge (see above). This is so that when you press down on it, the dough rolls into the centre and spreads out evenly.

Heat up a cast iron pan, on about medium, with NO oil. You cook them dry. Peel a fresh-pressed tortilla off the Ziploc bag and throw it in the pan, cooking it for a minute or so (sorry, I never timed it). When there are a few dark spots on the bottom, flip it over to cook the other side.

A nice note: squeeze a few drops of fresh lime on each side before cooking. Can't go wrong with lime.

Once a tortilla is done cooking, make sure to store it on a plate under a clean tea towel to keep in the moisture. Depending on your taco fillings, this recipe is vegan!

As for the rest of the taco, we used cod in a spicy (x10) fish rub that Tyler whipped up, a simple cabbage slaw, salsa fresca and slices of avacado.

The Slaw:

Small cabbage, finely chopped
1 large carrot, julienned
1/2 red pepper, cut in thin slivers
Apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1/2 a fresh lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Salsa Fresca:

Chopped tomatoes, 1/2 a fresh jalapeno pepper, red onion, lime juice, salt, cilantro*

*Tip: don't accidentally buy fresh parsley when you think it's cilantro because you're in a rush grocery shopping, only to discover you bought the wrong thing in the middle of making salsa fresca. Just saying.

Serve everything in a assemble-as-you-go meal and you're set. Enjoy!

It takes a village to cook Mushroom Risotto

2010-09-23T18:01:00.007-05:00

Risotto is a delicious exercise in patience. And in trust, at least the first time you make it. You see, I just had my inaugural risotto cooking session a couple days ago (I've been yearning to learn for ages) and had to trust all the gourmands in my life who imparted their knowledge. No matter how much I wanted to speed up the process, I trusted them. Cook it slowly, at a low temperature. No matter how much you want to turn it up, don't. It's worth the wait.

The Ingredients:

Olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup arborio rice*
2 cups flavorful mushrooms - I used 5 dried shitake mushrooms and 5 oyster mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into slivers
1/3 cup white cooking wine
2 cups shitake mushroom stock (from rehydrating them in boiling water)
4 cups vegetable stock (I only had dried soup base around)
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage from our garden
Optional: Salt (some recipes suggest this, but I found the stock and the parmesan made it plenty flavourful, so I didn't add any salt)
Optional: Pat of butter to stir in at the end for extra creaminess

*Arborio rice is an Italian-grown rice that is high in starch, with grains that are shorter and fatter than any other rice. The high starch content of aborio rice yields a creamy texture when cooked, so it is traditionally used for risotto. If you're vegan, I found this rice to be creamy enough without adding the butter at the end, just FYI.

The Method:

You're going to have three elements on the stove going.

1: The pot of simmering stock
2: The frying pan for the mushrooms
3: The large saucepan for the rice

ELEMENT 1:

Boil a couple cups of water and cook the dried shitake mushrooms until they're tender. Don't dump the water, just take out the mushrooms with a slotted spoon. Then add 4 more cups of water, and 2 vegetable soup base cubes (or 4 cups of homemade stock if you have some!). Bring it bag up to a boil make sure the cubes are dissolved and then turn it down, but keep it simmering the whole time you're making your risotto. Cold stock "shocks" the rice, so keep it warm.

ELEMENT 2:

Heat some olive oil or butter, fry up your shitake and oyster mushrooms that have been cleaned and thinly sliced. Cook until brown and then set aside.

ELEMENT 3:

In a deep, heavy, medium sized saucepan, heat olive oil on medium low. Add onions and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat with the oil. I hear coating the rice thoroughly is what helps it absorb water uniformly, but I can't verify this. Cook for about 7 minutes until the rice turns translucent. Stir constantly to keep it from sticking to the pan.

Stir in dry white that you have previously warmed or kept at room temperature (if it is cold you will shock the rice, which will flake on the outside and stay hard at the core). Let it absorb into the rice.

Add simmering stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring enough to keep the rice from sticking to the edges of the pan. Wait until the stock is nearly absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. This process will take about 20 minutes (according to my recipe at least, but I cooked it at such a low temperature that it took me longer). The rice should be just cooked and slightly chewy. Part way through, toss in the sauteed mushrooms and the sage.

When the rice is mostly tender, but with just a hint of texture to it, and the liquid you have added to this point is mostly absorbed, add the Romano and a bit of butter. You can add salt and pepper if you want, but it's not required. Stir the risotto profusely to blend in the cheese and butter and remove your finished risotto from the heat.

Let it stand for 3 or 4 minutes and then serve.

Generously serves 2 with leftovers or 4 as a side dish.

Before I started my risotto adventure, I asked my friends on the internet. I had many, many suggestions. It's amazing what you can learn by asking:

Anyone have risotto tips for me?

Some people gave me important ingredient tips:

Use good parmesan cheese.
Don't forget the rice.
I'd be tempted to give the mushrooms a small dusting of nutmeg... but that's me.
Practice was the key for me... and good ingredients. Slow and steady and good parm really make the difference.
For a mushroom risotto you should have some mushroom stock made with dried mushrooms that you can buy at an asian market.
Use homemade stock.

And I got LOTS of key nuggets of wisdom on the technique:

Keep checking it and slowly adding more liquid to it... when it's perfect... tear it off the heat!
Slow and easy wins the race
Enjoy the process.
Stir stir stir
Gently gently gently
sloooooooooooowwwwwwww
I'm not sure if it's the 'right' way, but I usually cook my mushrooms in a separate pan because I really like to cook them down, down, down and with some butter and stuff and then I top the finished risotta with them.
It would depend on how mushroom-y you'd want it. Never tried adding them near the end but that sounds smart (cooking mushrooms like crimini the whole time you make the risotto leaves it tasting like mushroom and almost nothing else, IMO). Oysters would be better pre-cooked I think.
Any mushroom should be cooked down to add or you're at risk of too much liquid from them, but it's a proces
It's a perfect recipe for sipping wine by the stove ;)
If you just brush the mushrooms they shouldn't give off too much liquid. You would just add less stock if you didn't pre-cook the mushrooms, so the mushroom intensity would be what would lead me to precook. The drinking while cooking is urgent and key, though.
Heat your stock.
If cooking with mushrooms... remember, don't crowd the pan!
I always saute my mushrooms first (with onion), then add the rice, etc. My 2 tips: make sure you cook the raw rice for longer than you think you should -- it really helps the texture. Most books say 1-2 minutes but I go prob. about 4, as long as they don't colour it's OK. Plus, make sure your stock is hot when you add it in. I also find with mushroom risotto that a good pat of butter stirred in at the end makes it that much yummier.

Thank you everyone for your help! A food like risotto has so many nuances.

Tyler also prepared a dry rub for some red snapper we barbequed on a soaked cedar plank:

3 Tbsp Sweet paprika
2 Tbsp Chili powder
2 Tbsp Ground cumin
2 Tbsp Brown sugar
2 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Dried oregano
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Black pepper
1 Tbsp White pepper
1-2 tsp Cayenne or chipotle

We ate this meal with a side of roasted broccoli and the always delicious Roasted Beet Salad. I followed the recipe linked there, except that I now also add sliced orange wedges to the salad, which makes it even better.

This was an extremely successful first attempt at a food I know will be in my arsenal forever and ever. Thanks again peeps.

Road Trip: Chicago! part 2

2010-08-28T12:22:00.001-05:00

This next post isn't really food-based, but it was such a great ending to our night, it has to be mentioned. As I said in the last post, we were up in Chicago's Bucktown one night wandering around. It was a Sunday night, which means most stuff started shutting down at 6 pm. At a loss for what to do, we just wandered up and down North Damen. Tyler saw a small poster on a wall advertising a movie in the park one block north of us. That night! High five.

It was nearly dusk as Churchill Park began filling up with families, kids in pyjamas and blankets, and residents posting up on their park-facing balconies (reminiscent of Wrigley Field).

Apparently there's a whole community organization that organizes free outside movies for the area. They pop popcorn and hand out water. Speaking of handouts, a local politician was standing at the entrance of the park distributing "Cheez-its" to the people. What a campaign!

Also, drink Virgil's Rootbeer if you ever come across it. It's got major depth of flavours and spices... it's the Jagermeister of soda. Also comes in kegs! (Not appropriate for outside movie watching.)

The night was windy, which is a problem when you're working with an inflatable screen. The staff had a heckuva time trying to keep it tied down. In fact, the wind was like a sail and pulled up the supports at one point. Staff running, kids screeching in delight... high drama

Oh, I suppose there is a food angle here. The movie was Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs.

Road Trip: Chicago!

2010-08-27T21:17:00.001-05:00

Tyler and I love Chicago for many reasons. The art, architecture, music, neighbourhoods, Cubs games, venues like the Green Mill... I could go on. Obviously, we also love the restaurants. Upon driving in, we usually head straight for Pizzeria Due (sister to Uno), which is famous for both its deep dish and its lines. Waiting in one of these famous lines looks like this:

Pleasant, really. And you'll notice the beer. Drinking and people watching while a pizza cooks especially for you really isn't that bad.

Since we always go there, I'm not writing about that delicious pizza. Just go there. I suggest the spinach mushroom pie.

Anyhow, on this trip, we pulled into town kind of late on a Sunday night and found a 24-hour breakfast spot downtown called "Eggsperience." Horrible name, okay crepes. It was midnight, and filled with sweaty, exhausted people in their twenties who had just finished a weekend at Lollapalooza. Madness. Plus, Eggsperience is really into egg decor. Needless to say, it was a weird way to kick off Chi-town.

Okay, now onto highlights!

Earwax Cafe is a vegan spot in Wicker Park, which we just so happened to be walking by when we needed a snack.

Earwax Cafe, 1561 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL

I've never had buffalo wings - Tyler is really into them - so I thought, heck, let's try buffalo seitan! With vegan ranch dressing and celery! It was awesome: chewy, saucy, no bones. And Tyler, who knows a thing or two about the meat version, thought so too. So there you go.

That night we wandered around Bucktown, which is the neighbourhood just north of Wicker Park. Not knowing the area whatsoever, our primary criteria for deciding where to eat was based on how expansive and delightful the patio looked. We walked up North Damen past a number of nice looking patios that featured blaring Nickleback-style rock, so it took a bit of walking. We ended up a Feast.

Feast, 1616 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL

Hot summer days in Chicago is an amazing thing, so an order of Prosecco was right up my alley. Plus, with bread served in a terra cotta pot and sweet chipotle butter on the side, how could you not have a good night?

Tyler is a nut for fish tacos, with the mandatory soft shell. So the blackened fish tacos was a no-brainer. Other than the crispy outer layer of the fish, there wasn't any unique "cheffy" twist to his meal, but with a great standard like that, you don't always need to throw in a mint chutney-infused foam or something. It was straight up, and as far as I know, delicious.

My meal at Feast was simple - a roasted beet salad with orange segments on arugula. But let me tell you: this salad had one magic element that made my brain melt. A warm, panko-encrusted ball of goat's cheese. DROOL. I need to figure out how to make this. It looks like a special little treat on top of your salad, and when you crack it open, it's just like Christmas.

Road Trip: Toronto!

2010-08-26T18:37:00.001-05:00

We had plenty of food stops in Toronto, seeing as that was the destination of the trip. But I'll be highlighting three spots here: The Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder, Saving Grace, and King's Cafe.

The Stockyards, 699 Saint Clair Avenue West, Toronto ON

My pal Tom has great taste in music, movies and friends (ahem), so I knew he'd know where to take us for an afternoon snack (which turned out to be a meal, but what can you do?). We hopped over to The Stockyards, a spot that uses old smokehouse techniques and, according to Tom, has the best fried chicken around. Now, I don't eat chicken, but I'm always happy to oblige others to try the Best of something if it's just around the corner. I was satisfied with my order of Grilled Cheese Sandwich (aged cheddar, sauteed cremini mushrooms, and green apple served on fresh sourdough) with a side of their delicious coleslaw.

The guys had the chicken, obvs. (Yup, served in cast iron pans.)

Stockyards Highlight:

Homemade mint-infused limeade! Especially good if someone orders 2 Litres of it on a scorching hot day and you all drink it in awesome aluminum cups.

Next day, we had brunch over at Saving Grace, which happens to be an insanely convenient location when we stay at Jo's.

Saving Grace, 907 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON

Located in Little Portugal, the decor of the small restaurant is simple, with wood benches and lots of natural light. Going by it all the time, it wasn't hard to tell how popular this place is: it's got plenty of coffee and cool kids.

I had the crispy, chewy corncakes with mango salsa (with red onion and fresh cilantro) and salad. The corncakes were awesome, with plenty of the satisfying texture my mum's Corn Dodgers have... hmm, I'm going to have to post that recipe so you can have this amazing food I grew up with. Back to the corncakes though: eat them

Last on the list, a place my gal pal Laurie has taken me to once before, King's Cafe in Kensington Market.

King's Cafe,192 Augusta Avenue, Toronto, ON

All you fans of vegetarian cuisine will enjoy this spot. If you're from Winnipeg, then likening it to Affinity Garden in Downtown will give you a sense of what you're dealing with. There's a lot to choose from, so go with a group so you can order a crapload of dishes.

We ordered Crispy Soy Fritters, Steamed Dumplings (with a mushroom/veg filling, served with a ginger dipping sauce), Enoki Mushroom Balls wrapped in seaweed (pictured below), and Veggie Duck with (a sour) Plum Sauce on baby bok choy (also pictured). It was all good, but the winners: soy fritters and mushroom balls!

Road Trip: (fake) London!

2010-08-24T12:52:00.002-05:00

Tyler and I took a 12-day trip from Winnipeg to Toronto this month, via the American route (through Minneapolis and Chicago) because we love those cities so much. We love the beautiful Canadian Shield route too, but we were craving new restaurants, art and music on this trip. We lucked out and hit many great food spots along the way, so I'll be posting some highlights here on the blog, organized by city, not necessarily chronology.

First up, London, Ontario.

We'd had a long day driving Chicago to Toronto and couldn't wait to eat. So we didn't wait. Rather than going the extra bit into TO, we pulled into London, Ontario, a city I've spent very little time in. As we drove down a main drag, Tyler was telling me about a Latin American restaurant he used to stop in with the guys when they were on tour back in the day. What would you know, we drive right by it, make a U-turn, and boom! Delicious food in a land of Subways and Taco Bells.

El Ranchito, 111 Wellington Street, London, Ontario.

We both started with really big Fresh Garden Salads, which were topped with mango instead of avacado. Be warned that these salads are big.

Tyler had "Taco 'Mix'" while I had papusas.

On top of all that - foolishly - we shared corn tamales. It was way too much food, but a day of driving on the highway with nothing but gas station snacks will do that to you. Tamales are a simple dish that I like to sample when I'm at a traditional restaurant, so it had to be done. These were served with sour cream drizzled on top and a white cheese which the server called feta, but it really wasn't nearly as briney as feta, so I'm thinking it wasn't exactly that. The tamales were good, but a bit dry and I prefer them served in the husks, but tasty with the "feta."

El Ranchito highlights:

The selection of hot sauce on every table.

And my first-ever horchata! I didn't even know what a horchata was, I just knew it was a beverage thanks to this song:

Turns out horchata is a traditional Salvadorian drink that's quite sweet and creamy and nutty in body.

The Ingredients:

Roasted rice, sesame seeds, morro seeds, cinnamon and peanuts, blended and filtered and served on ice in a HUGE glass. I've never tasted anything like it before!

If you're ever in Canada's London, you should probably stop by El Ranchito.