I've moved!

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has wondered across this blog and found they liked it enough to stay for a bit. In the interest of focusing more fully on my writing and photography I felt it was necessary to move, so please do join me at The Herbed Kitchen's new digs.

Wordless Wednesday: The Best Stock in the World

Red Pepper Pork and... Chocolate?

The winter equinox has passed but winter still clings tight, the dark of night continues to encroach upon us early and the snow swirls into the street and across our faces. The walk home from school the other night took an hour as the children took the time play in the snow, rolling it between their hands and drawing “Danger! Bears!” signs into it with sticks. I stamped my feet to stay warm and occasionally threw lightly packed snowballs at those little marshmallows. Upon arriving home we were rosy-cheeked and in need of some warmth. While the children sipped at the hot cocoa and snuggled in to watch an episode of Curious George I set upon dinner. Thus, pepper chocolate pork chops were born.

I understand chocolate and pork chops may not seem that appealing but they truly were, Mr. and I happily gobbled them up and the children were pleasantly surprised. Also, if you get the chance to tell your children there is chocolate in the main course I can guarantee you they will eat it. The chocolate flavour was extraordinarily subtle because it came in the form of an infused tea I used to deglaze the pan. My mother-in-law gave me a tin of Hot Lips tea from David’s Tea, a funky teashop out of Montreal that quickly spread across the country. This tea is delicately flavoured with red pepper flakes, tiny chocolate chips and black tea. It all mingles to create this beautifully spicy, sweet and heady aroma that is complex without being overwhelming.

The pork chops I used came from my favourite meat farmer at Halifax’s Brewery Market, Maureen at Little Dorset Farm. All of her animals are grown without hormones, additives or in Maureen’s words “anything funky” and it truly shows in the flavour and quality of her meat. I love the thick cut pork chops and I habitually buy two every Saturday morning. Two are perfect for our small family as the kids share one and Mr. and I share the other; it is enough to have just half of one of those pork chops. We try to take care in our meat consumption and this is definitely one way to do it. By cutting the chop in half I focused on the mesclun salad to help fill me up which means more vegetables and a lighter feeling when I stepped away from the table to go read with Miss N.

The Pork Chops

One large purple onion, roughly diced

2 medium-sized apples – roughly diced - I used organic mason apples

250 mL/ ½ cup chocolate pepper tea

2 pork chops

S & P to taste

Olive oil

1. In a medium pan, ensure it has high sides and a lid that fits it; heat the olive oil until it slips easily across the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and cook until they are translucent and the juices are released.

2. Add the apples and mix in; I was surprised by the amount of onion. Add a splash of the tea to prevent the onions and apples from burning. You will be adding it incrementally. Lower the heat to low to allow it to caramelize.

3. Prepare the pork chops. Liberally salt and pepper both sides.

4. Scoop the onion mix into a separate bowl and reserve. They will be going back into the pan; this is to prevent them from burning. Raise the heat to high and splash about a tablespoon of the tea into your pan to deglaze and use a wooden spoon to dislodge the bits of delicious from the pan.

5. Just before the bubbling tea all disappears, lay the pork chops into the pan to brown. Leave for 2-3 minutes on each side. Keep in mind that my pork chops were approximately an inch thick, you might need less time; lift a corner of the chop to peak if you will.

6. Once the chops are browned, lower the heat and scoop the onion mix back in, nestling the pork chops into it. Add half of the tea and cover. Simmer for 15-18 minutes.

If the mix is starting to look dry, add some more of the tea. The tea is there to lend moisture and flavour but you don’t want to boil the chops. It should bubble from within the onions and create a beautiful caramelized effect on the pork chops.

Our dinner was served with a light green salad and spaetzle mixed with chevre and cubes of roasted nutmeg squash.

Enjoy.

Chocolate Cranberry Muffins and The Gift Project

I am a morning person. I have fought this notion for a long time because it just didn’t seem possible but it’s true. If I manage to sleep in I am up at 9 am and if I make it past the midnight mark I am bound to get cranky and irrational by 2 am. This morning at 6:30 I bounded out of bed, woken by the dinging of my phone’s alarm and wandered downstairs. The coffee was soon perking as I looked around for something to do and then it dawned on me: I should bake the muffins for The Gift Project. I have been obsessing over my first recipient; I wanted someone special in our lives and who deserves a little appreciation and it was not long before I thought of Harvey, our school crossing guard.

Harvey is there every single day and now that the weather has turned from quaint cool to frigidly cold he is still there, protecting my daughter along with numerous other children without so much as a muttered complaint. I attempted to cajole Miss N into handing over the brightly coloured gift bag but she comes by her shyness naturally and so it was left to me to hand over the bag with a quiet, “Morning Harvey. Just because”. My stomach was in a few knots; I think I’ll learn as much about myself as others with this project and I think I might be looking forward to that most of all. My personality is so evident in Miss N’s, her reticence and downcast eyes when in public then jumping on the bed and laugh-screaming at home.

I am terribly excited for this and after the jitters of putting myself out there had passed I felt inspired. Harvey’s smile and surprise, he blushed when I had to walk past on the way home, was worth it. It took very little time to put these tasty muffins together this morning and I even had enough shredded carrot leftover to make a quick carrot slaw for Miss N’s lunch.

I am so pleased to say that Merry of Merry Makes has just contacted me to let me know about her Luscious Lentil Soup, her contribution to The Gift Project. You should definitely head over to Merry's blog to check out this delectable and perfectly warming recipe. This is the spirit of The Gift Project, finding inspiration from one another to not only develop our recipes but to share them beyond our computer screens and dining room table and into the lives of people in our real life. My biggest heartfelt thanks to Merry for participating!

It is at this point that I will invited you to join me in this handmade project and the chance to spontaneously spread some kindness in your life. If you feel limited by the not having a blog, send me the link to your flickr page! I have established a public flickr group for this project entitled The Gift Project (how appropriate). Now that the administration stuff is over, onto the recipe:

The Muffins

Adapted from The Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook: Versatile Muffins.

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup whole-wheat flour

3-½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¼ granulated sugar

1 tbsp. crushed flax seeds

3 tbsp. water

1 ¼ cup soymilk

¼ sunflower oil

½ cup shredded carrot

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400°.

1. In a bowl mix the crushed flax seeds and 3 tablespoons of water, set aside.

2. Combine the dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate.

3. In a liquid measuring cup combine the soymilk, oil and flax mix. Beat with a fork. Add to the dry ingredients and mix to a smooth consistency.

4. Add the carrot, cranberries and chocolate chips. Transfer to muffin tins. I fill mine to the top so that they rise. Bake for 20-23 minutes.

Incidentally, I make the ugly muffins but they always taste delicious. It’s like a backwards skill.

Butternut Squash Hash

The star of dinner last night was a butternut squash and mushroom hash. There are just a few ingredients in the dish but you would not know that it started out so simply. The main flavour, besides the base of onions and leek is sage; most often used in gravies or with poultry – it is the main ingredient in a packaged poultry seasoning mix, the slight peppery flavour lends itself well to butternut squash. My mother has three gorgeous bushes of sage, a common green sage and a purple and variegated variety. The sage for this dish came from her garden; it is dried but still has a bit of body.

A few nights ago on Twitter there was something about people using whatever they happen to be drinking to deglaze the pan while cooking. This is something I always do; I suppose that’s my secret. If you see wine or beer or apple cider in a recipe, it’s probably because I have glass of it next to the cutting board. Each liquid adds its own qualities to the dish and of course there is that ever-present sugar that bubbles out of that liquid, buoyed by the flavours of the dish. The liquid for this dish was most of a lager and the neck of an apricot beer; there’s your very helpful measurement guideline. I added the beer gradually, the same technique used in risotto because I did not want the squash to lose its shape and the caramelizing I’d been careful to create with the onions.

The hash paired well against pork chops and tangy purple sauerkraut, hearty enough to fill our bellies as the snow swirled outside. The snow fell in clumps last night, whirling under streetlights and into the branches of trees, caught by the tendrils of stillness. The view this morning is a sea of white, clumps of snow caught in the bushes and the dried husks of Queen Anne’s lace.

Notes on the recipe: Our leeks tend to be about an inch in diameter, and I used a three-inch length of it. That roughly equals a handful in a half, just in keeping with my very exact measurements.

I used half of the bottom bulb of the squash. If you were to look at a butternut squash, this would no doubt make more sense. The squash I used was huge and has lasted muffins, quiche and this dish. There is still some left over.

The sage I use is in a particularly strange state because it was in a cup of water in the fridge and our fridge has temper control issues: It froze the water. So, the sage has been preserved/dried but it still has full flavour.

The Hash

One onion, cut into chunky pieces

3 inches of leek, minced

15 oz/ 440 g butternut squash, peeled and cubed

6 white button mushroom, quartered

One beer – lager works well

Sage – see the note above. I won’t put a measurement for it for obvious reasons.

S & P to taste

1. In a pan, heat a tablespoon of oil on medium heat until it slips easily across the pan.

2. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until translucent and the juices begin to release. Add the leek at this point. Be careful at this point, leeks take three seconds to go from a lovely state of browned to charred black. If you start to feel a bit nervous about it, add a tablespoon of the beer and reduce the heat to low.

3. Add the mushroom and mix things up at this point. Allow the mushrooms to brown a bit and pick up the flavour of the onions.

4. Add the butternut squash and ¼ of the beer. Add half of your sage at this point. A pinch of salt and a few turns on the pepper mill. Cover to keep the moisture in. It takes approximately 35 minutes to cook the squash at a low (but still simmering) heat. Keep an eye on the pan and add liquid whenever you feel it is necessary. Halfway through the cooking process, add the rest of the sage.

Serve warm and enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday: Kid-type Indulgences

hot dog sushi • ketchup

cheesecake sundae

Butternut Squash Quiche

Quiche is one my favourite recipes to make when I am only slightly pressed for time and want something light but filling – think of the full feeling you have when you eat an entire plate of sushi, and I don’t mean the rolls stuffed with tempura. I mean the fresh fish. It’s this amazing feeling that we have forgotten in North America, mostly a result of over-stuffing ourselves with too large plates of fries and cheeseburgers. Now, whenever we have a completely satisfying meal that doesn’t want to make us nap it is intriguing, enlightening even. Food isn’t heavy? It doesn’t weigh you down? Really, it needn’t do that because that is sodium and fat, my friends. Think of your holiday dinners and they reason why you wear your most comfortable pants.

Quiche, and this one in particular because it has only a moderate amount of goat mozzarella and plain goat yogurt – goat products offer a more pungent and “cheesy” flavour so you don’t need to use as much to achieve the same flavour; makes for a great lunch or fortified dinner. I think that is my favourite quality of goat milk products; just a small amount of milk in a dish can transform it into this magically creamy dish without the extra heft from cheese.

I am not usually blatant about the fact that the kids and Mr. are dairy intolerant; I am aware that I mention it but at home we do not make a big deal of it. I think it’s important to experiment and attempt to at least recreate the dishes my children won’t have the opportunity to eat. Mr. was already in his twenties when he had to stop eating milk products; it is the children who have never known any different. A funky little anomaly is that (mercifully) everyone can happily indulge in goat milk products. Goat is … more fragrant but that is what makes it so much more enjoyable if you don’t use a heavy-hand with it. Chevre has replaced cream cheese in our icing recipes.

Goat milk came into our lives out of a desire to loosen our reliance on soymilk, cheese and yogurt. Miss N was the only fan of almond milk and she was still only lukewarm on the idea and then I learned a friend of my mom’s substituted with goat milk because of her own dairy intolerance. Replacing soymilk was a slow process and at this point goats are one of Miss N’s favourite animals because “they give her milk”. Sweetness.

The crust of this quiche is oil-based despite my fondness for a lard crust (which make the absolute flakiest pies!); the oil crust is sturdier but that doesn’t mean you will be making any flaky sacrifices. I used warm water to ease the mixing process and I did find the dough to have a bit of spring to it. I think that might just be me since it happens anytime I make a pie. I won’t include the recipe here because Mari of Once Upon a Plate wrote a fantastic recipe for an oil crust and I have always followed that one since discovering her gorgeous blog nearly 2 years ago. I haven’t revisited in a very long time and I should return. The tip about the mustard also comes from Mari!

The Quiche

1 piecrust, unbaked

2 – 3 eggs –my tart pan is approx. 11 inches

1 cup milk

¼ cup plain yogurt

handful grated mozzarella

½ cup butternut squash, shredded

mustard – I used tangy mustard from a beautiful gift basket from my sister-in-law

S & P to taste

basil oil – the gift basket, again

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and yogurt until smooth. Add squash and mix gently until thoroughly blended, salt and cracked pepper. Obviously you can’t really taste the mix but a solid pinch of salt and a few turns on a pepper mill should work.

3. With the back of a spoon or a brush, smear the bottom of the pie shell with a thin layer of mustard.

4. Pour in the egg mixture. Drizzle with the basil oil (feel free to use an alternative and complementary flavoured oil), just enough to flavour it.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges and set in the middle. Allow to rest for about 6-8 minutes before slicing into it, other wise it can “poof” or.. In fact, I don’t know. It will be the egg will be slightly puffed up as if it were trying to be a soufflé but if you give it a few minutes the delusions of grandeur will subside and you can eat it.

I served this with Mr’s gorgeous salad in last Friday’s Photo Friday post. Enjoy.

Photo Friday: Microgreens Salad

the microgreens

microgreens • blueberry reduction chevre • egg

Kitchen Sink Stew

There is a movement in the blogosphere for people to clean out their fridge and pantry this January, to resist the urge to constantly purchase new groceries, which allows great food to go bad. There is so much you can do with just a little creativity and as a food blogger, isn’t this what we should be inspiring? I rarely follow a recipe and if you ask anyone with basic cooking skill they will tell you the same thing. Do you want to know why? We’re creative out of necessity. If I was to purchase new ingredients for one recipe every single night I’d be broke; well, significantly more broke than I already am. Ours is a family without a lot of money but Mr. and I always ensure our children have good food and one of the ways we have been able to accomplish this is through our CSA share (community supported agriculture) in the Hutten Family Farm; for $20 a week we receive an incredible amount of vegetables (and fruit) that is local, spray-free and grown by a man we consider our friend. It would be an insult to Ted if we allowed those vegetables to rot in any way.

All these thoughts were swirling in my head yesterday morning when I opened the refrigerator door to find it absolutely full of vegetables. If you looked in our pantry, potato box and refrigerator you might begin to doubt that I actually feed my family, but I do. I really, really do. It was in this spirit that I began chopping parsnip and carrots, an entire leek and tearing apart a bag of kale to throw into the slow cooker. It didn’t take long before it was absolutely packed, including a can of corn because not only do I need to clean out the fridge, I need to attack the pantry.

I don’t use the slow cooker very often, even though I intend to do so which means that my slow cooker recipe skills are a little shaky. I was fairly confident about all the veggies and lentils swirling around in there but Mr. was not. Upon coming home Mr. discovered that my overzealous amount of kale had entirely overpowered the whole dish and if you are not careful, kale can be quite bitter. I had laid down for a rest so he was given free reign to do as he wished with what I intended to be a vegetarian dish. I was so serious about this vegetarian dish that I emptied what little I had in the way of lentils – note, usually a good idea to check you have the ingredients for a dish, resorted to one of those dried soup mixes of green and orange lentils and alphabet noodles and went on my merry way. Mr., so unimpressed with the mess of vegetables and lentils added a can of pulverized tomatoes and pork. Just your classic vegetarian dish with a smattering of pork.

I may have mentioned that I was a vegetarian for an extended period of time and Mr. joined me in that endeavor but that was before we were married and I’m not entirely sure how true his devotion was; he was the one who bought the lamb when we gave it up.

The dish, which Mr. calls chili and I think he is basing this on the presence of the crushed tomatoes turned out beautifully. If he hadn’t made the adjustments I think my moniker of “mean Mommy” might have stuck. I’m not really that mean but he’s definitely more fun for the kids. I make them bathe and pick up their toys. All that kale was toned down and the five spice he used on the pork added this unexpected depth to the whole dish even though he used very little of it. It’s an incredibly healthy dish based on the number of vegetables used and because I used just about everything I could get my little paws on, it’s open to all kinds of interpretations.

The recipe isn’t going to be exact for two reasons. First, my parents bought me this incredible slow cooker for me for Christmas and it is massive, seven liters massive. Second, the whole point of this stew was to use up as many vegetables as I could so it depends on the state of your own refrigerator, do, as your tummy desires. I’m really just trying to apologize for the disorganized state of this recipe but I’m doing this for you, novice cook (remember how I bathe my kids and make them pick up their toys?): I’m forcing you to be creative. You’ll thank me later.

Quick note: I’d like to list this recipe as gluten free but the only thing that is making me nervous is the 5 spice. Mr. picked up our (huge) bag at Tian Phat, an Asian grocer in Halifax and he is sure that is gluten free. It should be considering it is only 5 spices (heh) but you never know and if you are on a gluten free diet I don’t really have to tell you to read the label carefully.

The Stew

3-5 carrots, sliced thick

1-2 sweet potatoes, sliced into medallions

1-2 parsnips

leeks, minced – I used 4 inch knob, about 1 inch diamter

1 onion

bag of kale, roughly torn apart off of stem

1 can corn kernels

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup white wine

1 ½ cup water

8 oz pork, cubed

1 can diced tomatoes

5 spice

S & P to taste

1. Add all of the ingredients expect the pork and tomatoes (this includes the liquid), salt and pepper to taste. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, reduce to low for about 6 hours.

2. At the 6 hour mark, toss the cubed pork in the 5 spice and sear in a pan with a bit of oil. Add the pork and tomatoes to the slow cooker. Stir and cover. Keep on low heat for another hour.

You could serve this over brown rice to round out the meal, perhaps with a salad but in all honesty it’s very filling and you could do with just a bowl of it.

The Gift Project and Cookies!

I love to make gifts for the people in my life; whether it is a bit of baking, a knit or crochet project or a series of photographs, the gifts under my Christmas tree featured many a homemade one. Earlier in December as I frantically set about to crochet a scarf for my father-in-law, finish Mr.’s wrist warmers and bake a box of muffins for Bubs’ daycare I began to lament the lack of homemade gifts through the year. Christmas is not just about gifts to loved ones. Just ask the little girl who unexpectedly received her very own desk and easel on Christmas, a day when her daddy was working and she would be spending the day mostly wither her mommy, all because I listed it on Freecycle, tired of tripping over it. I played just a small part in that little girl’s Christmas but the feeling I had was an inspiration.

What if I made a gift for someone in my life, a loved one or a neighbour, Miss N’s very kind and cautious crossing guard and spontaneously gave it to them?

As a food blogger it wouldn’t be enough to just make the gift but to also write about it, a push to develop a new recipe. I’ve been excitedly thinking – read: obsessing over, the first person to receive the gift. It needn’t be big; in fact some of the smallest gestures can mean the most. It is at this point I want to invite every one who reads this blog to join me in this endeavor.

Each month I will post a theme and you will have two weeks to develop your recipe (if you are not a cook, don’t stop reading!) and write up a post on your own blog. Send an email to thegiftprojectblog@gmail.com (It’s different than the regular blog address to cut down on confusion) I will post a link up of all you inspiring people. I aim to post the theme at the beginning of the month, ideally the 3 or 4 and them two weeks later the link up, so the 19 or 20. If you are on Twitter, (you should follow me!) and I will be using the hashtag “thegiftproject” and you will always be able to find information there. Thank you for helping me do this, it really does mean so much to me

After various conversations with some friends, mostly the lovely Liz Lemon (no, not that one, she’s better) and Karen from Notes from the cookie jar that I felt this month’s theme should be “comfort”. Karen suggested something healthy would no doubt be ideal since we’re just getting out of that tummy-expanding season. So, my friends do as you see fit to bring a bit of comfort to someone in your life.

Theme: Comfort

Post up: January 19 (you have until this date)

Link up post: January 20 (I’m not mean, I can always add you if you are a few days late.)

A note: If you do not have a blog but do have a flickr account, feel free to take part send any of your photos over to The Gift Project group. Also, if you are not a food blogger, don’t fret. I will also reserve a special section for not foodie gifts It would not be fair of me not to since the point of this project is kindness and inclusiveness.

Since you have taken the time to read all of this, I shall reward you with cookies! I made these cookies for our big Christmas Eve get-together. These are my mother-in-law’s favourite cookies from when Mr. and I baked for the market, along with a number of lovely Haligonians. These poppyseed pinwheel cookies are based on the Eastern European cookies Lebkuchen and despite my notorious sweet tooth, I love them.

The recipe is a serious adaptation of Black and White Linz Dough from my dad’s 1965 copy of The Czechoslovak Cookbook. It is sturdy cookie dough that holds up to all of the chilling, rolling, chilling and cutting of the pinwheel cookies. The poppy seed mixture is totally my own concoction. Do not be surprised at how wet it is, surprisingly it creates a slight glaze on the cookies. I meant to do that, really I did. Also, these delicious specimens of baked goodness feature very little sugar because of the spice so with moderate tweaking a bet you can make this sugar-free friendly.

Enjoy.

Linz Dough

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup sugar

¾ cup butter

1-2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 egg whites

1. Whisk flour with cinnamon.

2. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter until fluffy, add vanilla

3. Add one egg yolk. Slowly start adding the flour mixed with cinnamon, ¼ cup at a time.

4 .As it becomes dry alternate between the egg white, yolk and flour. This is to be fairly firm dough.

Chill in refrigerator while you prepare the poppy seed mixture.

Poppy seed Mixture

2 cups poppy seeds

zest of two oranges

one egg yolk

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp orange juice

Mix together until smooth in a bowl.

The Cookies

1. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a ½ inch thickness. Carefully transfer to a flat sheet of saran wrap. Be careful, I found my firm but sticky.

2. Spread the poppy seed mix across the surface. For a tidy look, leave a space of about a centimeter around the edge.

3. Using the plastic as an aid (but don’t roll into the cookies) roll into one long tube. Pinch the ends.

4. Chill for one hour. Cut into centimeter thick rings. Despite lacking baking soda these babies rise.

5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 12 minutes.

The Last Post of 2010

This year has been an extraordinarily long one, filled with some ups and a lot of downs. It is easy to focus on those downs when it feels like we are faced with so many so while I am happy to let go of this year and all of its difficulties I am most definitely looking forward to what 2011 can possibly be. I haven't properly prepared to write this post and I feel a touch fragile about it, mostly because an ending makes me feel prickly and touchy, disoriented in my own skin and so with that, some of my favourite food photos from 2010:

An extravagant caesar salad.

The beginning of wasabi aioli.

Pre-baked gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

In the new year I will broach the subject of gluten, it disappeared from my life for a while and after things fell apart (remember how 2010 wasn't that great?) it came back with full force. And that's okay.

A Homemade Project for 2011

This Christmas my presents have come from local stores, book fairs or I have made them and while this has been necessary because we do not have a lot of money, it was also a lot of fun. When you make a gift for someone you can take the time to really think on what they like then create your vision. The mall won't offer you that.

I began to wonder, what if every month I made something, whether it was a few jars of jam, a casserole or even a favourite plate of cookies and gave it to someone in my life. Spontaneously pass on just a piece of kindness to anyone at all, even the couple next door who are tremendously quiet against my raucous family. Perhaps, especially that couple. As a whole, society is very concerned with giving at this time of year, definitely to family and maybe to a charity; come January life settles back into normal and that giving seems to end. I'm not asking for altruism here but there have been a number of "pay it forward" hashtags on Twitter recently but most are consumer based: "I bought Starbucks for the person in line behind me!" was common. That's kind but what if you made a jar of hot chocolate with homemade peppermint marshmallows and gave it to the shivering postal worker on your doorstep one morning?

What I am proposing is that each month I (or another terrific blogger) will choose a theme and make something for someone in my (and your) life then blog about the experience of being the nut who gives loved or peripheral people in her life food gifts. I'm thinking that I will announce (that makes me sound so official) the theme at the beginning of the month and then about two weeks later blog the recipe and what happened. Feel free to join me in doing this random act of foodie kindness and I will link to your post on a designated date. I think this could work.

Spinach and Egg Crisps

The other day I was seriously craving hummus but the only chickpeas in the pantry were dried and seeing how it was already lunchtime, I couldn't really make Bubs wait 2 hours for chickpeas to hydrate. Instead, I start washing, chopping and throwing things into a pan without one clue as to what I was doing. The tastiest meals can come out spontaneity. This plate of crisps was perfect for Bubs and me as a light lunch, add in a glass of milk and a piece of fruit for lunch and it's a surprisingly healthy lunch. It is also a potential party food, spiced up a bit with slivers of smoked salmon and a bright drizzle of olive oil.

The recipe

bag on spinach, washed

half onion, diced

3 tbsp. apple cider

salt

2-3 tbsp. soy milk

S&P to taste

2 eggs

15 stoned wheat crackers (mine had caraway seeds and I strongly urge you to do the same)

1. Bring water to boil. Gently lay (with a spoon) two eggs in the water. Set the timer for 10 minutes.

2. In a pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil until it slips easily across the pan. Add the onion and cook until translucent.

3. Add the spinach and the apple cider, cover. It should take just a few minutes for the spinach to wilt, even though you will be blending it and breaking it down you do not want the spinach cooked to mush as it will destroy the flavour.

4. The eggs should be finished at this point. Dump out the water and run under cold water. Leave to sit in the water, you could even add a few ice cubes to speed up the process. Once cool, peel and slice.

5. In a blender add the cooked spinach and the soy milk. Pulse - I didn't make mine into a smooth purée because I wanted the texture. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

6. With a spoon, drop a spoonful of the spinach mix onto a cracker and flatten with the back of the spoon. Top with a slice of egg. Salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Enjoy.

Orange Shortbread Cookies

A month and a bit ago I inherited a lot of cookbooks from my father. I knew that he liked to cook and I think everyone who knew him knew that he loved food but I didn't realize that he had amassed a pile of cookbooks. Flipping through the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook I found my dad's name and the date in his precise cursive on the title page, 1973, I think this particular cookbook is my favourite. Through his travels, his storytelling and his search for the new, Dad kept testaments to his past hidden on the bookshelf. What we know of ourselves and how we reveal it is in the titles on our bookshelves and standing in my father's quiet bedroom, this nearly 40 year old volume of recipes in my hands, these thoughts swirled in my mind. The cookbook, with its wide array of traditional recipes that border on the quintessentially wacky (Pink Snow Bars - which I want to make purely out of a sense of homage) are my father. The other cookbooks are too, but he held on to this one for 37 years, through all the changes, the moves within the city and out of the country, when he was no longer a teacher and once again a student, all of it; this little cookbook sat on the shelf.

The recipe I used was actually called "Lemon Biscuits" and was a lovely basic recipe for lemon shortbread but since I had neither lemons or a love for following a recipe I made mine with orange. I know I have orange extract somewhere but whenever it is needed it always disappears so I had to rely on orange juice and if you plan on making these, I'd ensure you have orange extract. The zest and juice do add a lovely flavour but it's not enough to explode orange, it's more of a persistent and gentle murmur. I had originally intended these cookies for Christmas but I have been promising Miss N the chance to decorate some cookies and we have all the icings and sprinkles but not the time. It took her about three seconds of turning her big (and gorgeous) brown eyes on her Daddy and they broke into the tin of cookies. It was completely worth it. Not only that, but the bold splashes of colour across cookies was an even more perfect homage to my father.

Enjoy.

The Recipe

Adapted from "Lemon Biscuits", Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook.

Preheat oven to 375º.

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

3/4 cup butter or shortening, room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

zest and juice of one orange, medium sized

2 eggs, room temperature

1. Sift together the dry ingredients.

2. In a separate bowl cream the butter or shortening. Slowly add the sugar and mix until fluffy. At this point add the zest and juice of the orange.

3. Add the eggs and mix well.

4. Ad the flour and blend together until it is a stiff dough.

5. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut into squares or use cookie cutters. This is the time to break out the Christmas tree cutters!

6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. The directions call to lightly grease the cookie sheet, I lined mine with silicone baking sheets which keeps the bottoms significantly lighter than parchment paper.

If you are so inclined you can ice these babies with some fantastic icings. I'm looking forward to working with some royal icing; this time I used packaged icing scribbles which were great for small details but still had a bit of a weird flavour from the colouring.

Clementine Cranberry Cookies

It's that time of year when we are surrounded by sweets, people and if you are anything like me, you have flour handprints on your bum. A few weeks ago I attended a cookie exchange and Tammi was gracious to invite all of us social media types into her home. I was terribly nervous, anxious even to waltz into a stranger's home, laden with cookies and just myself. I am extraordinarily introverted and while I wanted to just stay home and not put my baking on the line and expose myself to people (gasp!) but when there's 80 cookies lined up on the dining room table, you don't mess around and you pack them up and go. An aside, Tammi and the ladies at the cookie exchange were all very sweet and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few who felt the same as me, after all, we're social media types, right?

When faced with an impending cookie exchange, a good bet is a slightly sweet, tangy cookie with a rich white chocolate drizzle. I had tossed around a number of ideas, lemon poppyseed, orange poppyseed; basically anything with poppyseed because they were stuck in my mind. In typical "me" fashion I bought the bag of poppyseeds and the pack is still in the pantry waiting for their intended project, whenever I figure out what that may be. The dough for my cookies was just a basic chocolate chip cookie dough because it can carry the variety of flavours I wanted to add without taking over, not only that but it's great because you can play with the texture based on whether or not you use butter or shortening.

The Recipe

Adapted from the chocolate chip cookie recipe from Joy of Baking.

1 1/2 cups butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

zest and juice of 4 clementines

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1 1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup dry white wine

1. In a medium bowl cover the cranberries with the wine. Allow these to soak while you collect the ingredients and preheat the oven to 350º. Allow to sit for a minimum of 30 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl cream butter or shortening and add the sugars. Beat until fluffy (at that really tempting point when you kind of want to stick your finger in and try but remember it's straight butter and fat). Add the eggs at this point and the zest of the clementines. The specks of orange are beautiful but not entirely enough for flavour, hence adding the juice at this point.

3. In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients.

4. Combine the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture of butter and sugars. When it is fully mixed, add the cranberries and mix until cranberries are evenly distributed. I found the mix a bit dry so I ended up using the wine too.

5. Drop onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, until a light golden colour and crisp edges.

The Glaze

4 squares white chocolate

1 1/2 - 2 cups icing sugar*

cream

1. In a double-boiler melt the chocolate. Take extra care, white chocolate is quick to seize. Carefully add a dribble of cream.

2. Remove the double boiler from heat (but keep the bowl on the pot) and add the icing sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Mix quickly so there are no lumps to desired consistency. Mine dripped off the tines of a fork but was not overly liquidy, it kept its shape on the cookies.

3. Drizzle over the fully cooled cookies. Cool for about 2 hours.

*I think it was this much sugar, I was adding it slowly and lost count at one point.

Beef Tongue Tacos

It's a funny thing about beef tongue - it really looks like tongue, complete with taste buds. It is also very large, again not terribly surprising but still a lot to wrap your head around. As Mr. said, "You know that a year ago we were vegetarians and now you have a beef tongue in the sink." Of course I used the innocent brown eyes tinged with a bit of indignation, of course I have a beef tongue in the sink! Of course I'm going to eat it! Of course it freaks me out because it kind of feels like pinching my own tongue in a very over-sized sort of way but I was determined to do it. As much as my hubby loves me and no matter how adventurous he may be, Mr. made himself a vegetarian taco that night.

This hasn't been the greatest lead up to dinner. What you may not know is that beef tongue is incredibly tender with a very subtle beef flavour that easily soaks up flavour. For the quantity of meat you can get out of the tongue it is very economical. I know a lot of people use the meat in sandwiches and I can see why, the tender slices are a nitrate-free, natural alternative to lunch meat. To be honest, the reason I made tacos was to disguise some of the more "tongue-like" features and I would highly suggest it. There is a reason why mothers never tell their kids what it is until after it has been eaten, it's tasty but can give you a bit of a shaky knee reaction.

I am still torn about the experience. I enjoyed preparing and eating this dish. It was undeniably delicious and to think that such a large portion of meat was not carelessly thrown away is reassuring when so many people are quick to throw away, particularly in light of the offal movement. I gave up being a vegetarian because of something a friend said to Mr. and I: "You're proud of your vegetarian for ethical reasons but is it environmentally friendly? You got your protein from imported almonds or whatever but it's not from here. My meat from down the hall from a fellow farmer. I traded him vegetables for it." We were standing in the farmer's market when we ran into Ted, the lanky farmer from whom we bought our vegetables and he made a valid point. We meekly stated that our tofu was local but was it enough? As much as we enjoyed our vegetarianism in some respects we had an uneasy relationship with it. So much was imported, shipped in from dots on the map. We slowly started incorporating meat from local producers, people we knew and had worked alongside at the market. We knew the farmers, their ethics and views on how to properly raise animals without the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and anything funky. I do not fault anyone for being a vegetarian, how could I? I do believe that we need to think about where our food comes from and what we do with it, eat natural foods in their whole state (despite my ravenous sweet tooth) and just start thinking about our impact on the world.

A note: We have a policy of full-disclosure with our children (kidded down of course), so after pretending to lick Miss N's face with the cooked beef tongue and explaining what it was, the kids still ate it. In fact, Bubs had seconds.

The Recipe

one beef tongue

one onion, diced

250 mL red wine

2 overly ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced

cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the beef tongue in water for about 3 hours.*

2. Once you are able to handle it, you will have to peel the skin off of it. I made an incision down the centre of tongue then using a paring knife peel it kind of like a apple. The skin will peel off fairly easily but it does take some encouraging. Reserve.

3. Heat olive oil on medium heat until it slips easily across the bottom of a high-sided frying pan. Add the onion, cook until translucent.

4. Dice the tongue and add to the pan. Lightly sear and add the wine. Keep the temperature high for just a few minutes to burn off the alcohol.

5. Add the tomatoes, garlic, cover and allow to reduce on low heat.

6. Add the cumin, salt and pepper. All of this is to taste.

7. Serve with ribbons of spinach (instead of iceberg lettuce!), diced tomatoes, grated cheese and any other favourite taco toppings. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Gertrude's Plates

A treasured find in Dad's apartment: His mother's beloved blue plates.

Carrot Soup

This past month has been a very long month, both physically and emotionally draining and in the midst of it all I could not even think of blogging. We did, however, eat and this warm and creamy carrot soup was one of the many dishes of comfort my family ate to feel a little more centred. There is a hint of spice, an underlying sweetness and the heartiness of carrots buoyed by red wine. Crumbles of chevre on top melt into the creaminess of the soup and add a great punch of tang against the subtle backdrop of the soup. This soup will warm you.

The Soup

1 onion, diced

5 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced

250 ml dry red wine

2 healthy spoonfuls of plain yogurt (goat is best for tang!)

500 ml water

S & P to taste*

chevre

olive oil

*I ran out of stock so had to use straight water - to compensate I had to add a lot more salt than usual. If using stock, obviously you won't need to freak out your family with the amount of salt you're adding.

1. In a medium sized pot heat bout a tablespoon of olive oil until it slips easily across the bottom. Add the onion and lower heat to medium low. Cook until translucent and the liquid releases then cook a little longer.

2. Add the carrots. Allow a little browning on the edges of the carrots- that's flavour! I cut mine into medallions which was kind of a pain when it came time to blend it. I highly suggest dicing the carrots.

3. Raise the temperature to medium-high and add the wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Leave the wine and carrots to mingle a bit before adding the water. Cover and boil until the carrots are fork tender.

4. Remove from heat. I used an immersion blender to purée the whole thing. Feel free to use a stand blender but be very careful.

5. Once smooth, swirl in the yogurt. Don't forget to add the salt and pepper! Taste test!

6. Serve with toasted wedges and crumbles of chevre. Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday: The Great Pumpkin Search

In a pumpkin patch, one must always dress well and consider the options.

Broccoli and Toasted Lentils

I am always struck by the self-discipline it takes for people to develop or even join a movement of weekly posts and actually stick to it. I am so frazzled with our lives to the point that I always think, why the hell am I stressed out and then I start listing the reasons in my head just so that I will feel justified in having a cup of tea and watching copious amounts of crime drama instead of cleaning the kitchen. Imagine my delight when last night I discovered this tweet by Emily about a new post at her blog well fed, flat broke and I thought: I like broccoli. I like tofu. Holy crap, I also like peanuts! And tonight's dinner was nurtured in my head at 2:00 in the morning.

Turns out, we didn't have tofu or peanuts, or any of the spices Emily used; instead, I just opted to run with whatever we had in the fridge and pantry and this dish was born. This is inspiration, you see an image, a smell comes to you as you walk through your neighbourhood or you realize your favourite vegetable is in season a few weeks earlier than expected. Last week we received a full head of broccoli in our CSA from the Hutten Farm and it was a lush, deep green that begged for a great dish for it to flourish. The toasted almonds combined with the toasted lentils add warmth to the dish, completely contrasted by the subtle lemon from the cooking process. Served on a bed of brown rice, this is a full meal in only two dishes and within 30 minutes. I am guessing at the time because I was making stout brownies at the same time and for about 15 minutes everything got a little jumbled before the brownies made their way into the oven.

It may seem like there are a lot of steps associated with the broccoli and toasted lentils but it's mostly because you will be adding different things in stages to preserve their texture and flavour. There is nothing worse than overcooked vegetables and a sure way to achieve mush is to add everything at once.

The Rice

brown rice

water

pinch of salt

Note: Don't freak out. There is a reason for my lack of measurements.

1. Layer rice in the bottom of your pot - remember, brown rice seriously fluffs up. I generally cover the bottom with an inch of rice.

2. Add water, cover the rice, shake the pot to settle the rice and add another inch of water above the rice.

3. Cover and bring to a boil then turn it down to low. Cook until the water disappears and there are holes down through the bed of rice. It should take about 35-40 minutes.

Broccoli and Lentils

handful of slivered almonds

one onion, diced

one apple, chopped

1/4 cup blue lentils - these hold their shape

the florets of one head of broccoli

cupped handful of chopped yellow beans

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

red curry paste*

S&P to taste

1. In a heated pan, gently toast your almonds. This should take about 3-5 minutes and the almonds should turn to a golden brown, almost the same colour as light brown sugar. Set aside.

2. Toast your lentils and if you are like me, forget about them for a solid 7-8 minutes then hurriedly toss in 3 tbsp of lemon juice and enough water to lightly cover them. They should not be submerged. Cook for 15 minutes. Reserve.

3. Heat olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook on medium-low until the onion is translucent. Add the apples and about 3 teaspoons of lemon juice to break down the apples. Cover.

4. Add the broccoli and yellow beans. Lightly saute until the colour in both vegetables becomes vibrant. Add the lentils.

5. At this point, add the red curry. Use your judgment. I used the opposite end of my wooden spoon to take out just a hint and then mixed it in, I did this about 5 times. Children were eating the dish so it couldn't be spicy but know that red curry offers more warmth than a punch you in the mouth heat.

6. Add those beautifully toasted almonds and season to taste.