HOME SWEET HOME Round up!

I know I haven't been here around much (I've been on Twitter lots!) and I've been blogging a bit over at home sweet home. Trying to keep it real. Here's a few of my favourite recent posts (by both me and Laura).

BUNTING TUTORIAL (LINK)

TOTAL AWESOMENESS BUTTON TUTORIAL (LINK)

PIEROGIES ALA THE SUGAR REFINERY (LINK)

Squash Tempura

Tempura here in Canada/BC whatever is just so boring and gross. Our local sushi restaurant does a slice of yam, a slice of potato, and a slice of eggplant: BORING. Even at other sushi/japanese restaurants I've been to since being back from japan the tempura is always prawn heavy (b/c us north americans love our meat!) and is just yam or zucchini or eggplant probably because north americans don't like "weird" vegetables (and i guess if you're running a restaurant you dont want to take any risks).

The tempura I had in Japan (even the kind from the grocery store's deli) was always Amazing. I remember this one place in my community that made fresh soba noodles, that we ate cold with a wasabi and shoyu bath. and it came with fresh tempura, so light and crispy! and with local vegetables (never meat). there would be heavy greens (like kale), and mushrooms, and taranome, and the littlest japanese eggplants, and thin slices of kabocha squash with the skin still on. those were my favourite.

When we hosted sustain-a-table the other week and served japanese food, one of the things I made sure to serve was squash tempura. I had a massive hubbard that i sliced into thin (2-3mm) slices and coated in boxed tempura (i was being lazy b/c i was in a rush and didn't want it to screw up, but i've made it from scratch and it's just as good!). then i deep fried it. pretty simple. i fried them until they were golden. we ate them hot with a veg shoyu mix. to die for.

pumpkin pie tarts

 

!! Squash !! month is wrapping up and i have a handful of posts i haven't posted yet. way back at the beginning of the month i made these pumpkin tarts b/c i had made a 1 1/2 batch of the moosewood no-fault pumpkin pie recipe (i used rice milk instead of evaporated milk and baked it longer). because i only have one pie plate i folded squares of pastry i rolled out into a muffin tin and filled those right up. i much preferred the tarts over the pie (probably because by the time i got to the pie i was SO full and SO sick of pumpkin pie! haha) and ate the last bit of this tart with some marshmallow cream stewart had bought a few months back. it was so good.

can i also say that the plate in the pictures is a relic leftover from my life in japan? i bought it for 100y at a 100y shop back in 2004 and brought it the whole way home. i have a few of them, actually. i know i say this often, but i miss japan every single day.XO

spicy acorn squash soup with roasted garlic (and cheezy corn bread!)

MMM, now this was a good dinner. You can google the internets to find the cornbread recipe from Moosewood, so here's where you should go to see it. (i nixed the onion and had 2 cups of corn and cooked it for 35 minutes).

And, I didn't write down a recipe for this soup. So, if you're a seasoned cook basic instruction is: roast a whole acorn squash and four heads of garlic. over med heat fry 1 onion, chopped, and 6 garlic cloves, minced, in some olive oil. once a little golden, add a handful of fresh chopped sage, a tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 tsp of dried pepper, and either 1 tsp of dried red chili flakes or 1 hot dried pepper chopped up! combine and let cook for a few minutes. add the flesh from the squash and the flesh from the garlic and mash mash mash in the soup pot. add heated soup stock to cover vegetables (or more if you like). cook thoroughly and serve with sour cream if you want...but make sure it's with lots of this YUMMY corn bread. XO

korma from a can with pumpkin, pork, leeks, and applesauce

before the korma was added. i got too distracted by eating this i forgot to take a finished picture.

 korma from a can with pumpkin, pork, leeks, and applesauce


Ingredients:

250 grams pork loin tip / pork chop, cut into 1cm square pieces
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 c pumpkin cubles (1cm squared)
3 medium leeks, white parts only, split lengthwise and cut into thin half moon slices
2 mushrooms, diced
1/2 c cauliflower, diced
3 cloves garlic, coarsley chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 c canned korma sauce (or homemade)
1/2 c apple sauce
1/4 c water

In skillet over medium heat, heat oil and fry pork and salt until browned (but not cooked through). Add all veggies and cumin. Cook until pumpkin is soft-ish.  If sticking/burning add a bit of water to steam it out.  Add korma, apple sauce, and water: stir well, reduce heat and let cook through.  Serve with brown rice (yum!).  Note: this wasn't made too spicy because I ate it with Helvetica. But, to make it spicy just add one chopped dried chilli when you fry the pork. YOWZAS! (or sriracha). XO

spicy pumpkin and chocolate chip cake

spicy pumpkin & chocolate chip cake

this is an almost-exact copy of the recipe from everbody likes sandwiches. check the original recipe out here!

i changed it to 2 cups of flour.   i used brown sugar instead of white. i also used real yoghurt instead of vegan (b/c that's what i had). and rice milk instead of soy milk.  and used 1 1/2 cups of boiled pumpkin that i mashed into the bowl. and i didn't have pecans.

that being said this was one of the most delicious things i've ever baked and i devoured so much of the cake so fast i had to give half of it away. this was a picture of it on it's way out the door.

autumn squash quesadillas with beans and greens

when i was in high school i used to go to my friend's, keith and krystyna, house. they were transplants from ontario, way older than me, but way cool and more interesting and fun than hanging out with the losers from school. i would head to their house after school and smoke pot, make fruit salsas, listen to keith talk about his dreams of having a farm and playing DND, and eat the most delicious veggie quesadillas i've ever had in my whole life.

K+K's roommate, who I cant remember the name of right now, used to cook/do kitchen stuff at a restaurant in Terrace, don diegos. they had bean quesadillas on the menu that, in a sea of disgusting corporate-chain restaurant quesadillas (as they were making a food comeback for white people), were delicious. i never ate them at the restaurant more than once or twice because i ate them at k+k's so often, but they have inspired a whole world of quesadilla cooking for me that has made a version of the following recipe a standard in my little brain of a cookbook.

when i was in university the first time (and a vegetarian) i used to make these every week with some kind of hummus be it black bean or white bean. never with refried beans for some reason. i have never really been a buy a can of refried beans kind of person. but then in 2009 our friends from unreliable narrator came to visit us in pg and made us bean burritos with amy's refried beans and it was one of the best things i've ever had. yummy fat laden beans from a can. sign me up.

this quesadilla is a conglomeration of my love for refried beans as well as my need to consume our squash. i also needed something that seth could eat in a jiffy. the best part about bean quesadillas is that you dont really need cheese, but i used some anyway. i also made a chipotle honey sauce similar to the rebar one to put inside, and chopped up some greens, and roasted some garlic with the squash. it sounds like a lot of effort, but it's all super small tasks that add up to spectacularness. seth and i ate them with orange slice, yam coins smothered in sesame seeds, and bolthouse creamy dill dip. so good.

helvetica's quesadilla: no hot sauce and mashed up the squash. i cooked it the same but cut it up into toonie sized bits that he sucked on, rubbed into the table, and threw on the floor. <3

autumn squash quesadillas with beans and greens

ingredients:

for the roasted squash:
1 small autumn squash, skinned, seeded, and cubed
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt

for the chipotle sauce:
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp liquid honey (i prefer a dark honey)
1-2 tsp chipotle

for the quesadillas
4 medium sized whole wheat tortillas
1 1/2 c grated old cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1 can refried beans (approximately 1 1/2 cups, homemade)


How to:

roast the squash: preheat oven to 400F. toss the squash cubes in oil, garlic, and spices. roast on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes. you can do this in advance and keep them in the fridge until ready to use.


chipotle sauce: in a small bowl combine sauce ingredient and stir well.

quesadillas: heat skillet over medium-low heat on the stove. lay one tortilla out in front of you on counter. using a tablespoon, spread a quarter of the refried beans over right half of the tortilla and spread 2-3 tsps chipotle sauce over the left half.  next, take a quarter of the cheese and sprinkle over the chipotle sauce creating an even cover. then take 1/4 of the squash/garlic and spread evenly over the beans. top the entire tortilla with 1/4 portion of the parsley and chopped spinach.  carefully transfer the tortilla to the skillet and cook, open, until cheese begins to melt.  using a spatula, fold the tortilla in half. i find that folding the bean side over the cheese side is easier and weighs it down. continue to cook for another minute or two, or until cheese is melty. remove with spatula, let cool for one or two minutes before slicing. repeat with remaining 4 quesadillas. eat with sour cream, yoghurt, extra chipotle sauce, homemade ranch dressing, or creamy dill dip.

chorizo squash casserole

This casserole is a bit mushy, so would be better as a side dish or on top of rice. I'm pretty sure we ate it on its own, which enhanced the soft texture, but seth liked it!

For this dish I used the turban squash I had, which was yummy. To roast it I cut off the stem, sliced it in half in the up-and-down direction and baked it drizzled with a bit of oil in the oven at 400F for almost an hour. Then I cut off the skin and mashed it in a bowl. This is the basic task for softening up some squash in the oven (rather than boiling it) and it saves labourous time in cutting off the skin when it's hard.

The Portuguese chorizo we got from a local, in our neighbourhood, butcher: Pete's Mountain Meats. He makes all of his sausages in house and sources natural and local ingredients as often as possible. It's also really spicy. YUM.

chorizo squash casserole
(adapted from Arabian Squash Casserole from the original Moosewood cookbook, pg. 140)

Ingredients:

1 turban squash, roasted as above and mashed or pureed
1/2 lb spicy chorizo, sliced into 1/2 cm thick rounds
1 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c chopped pecans
2 medium peppers, one red/one green, diced
1 c. yoghurt
1 tbsp paprika (spicy or not)
handful of raisins

How to:

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a pan over medium heat, add olive oil, peppers, garlic, and chorizo and stir constantly to avoid sticking/burning. If it's doing either of those things, add a little bit of water and turn it down. Cook this until the garlic is browned and the chorizo gets a fat crust.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the squash, parsley, yoghurt, pecans, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.  Add the chorizo/fried mixture to this and stir to just combined. Pour into an ungreased casserole dish and top with a handful of rasins.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

(Would also be good on toast).

Grilled Cheeeezy Goodness

I completed this task last week and then completely forgot about it! haha! But, check out my guest post over at Food in Jars! Yip! (PS there's a recipe over there...)

A cute video and a recipe!

The Move, Paper Animation from Mandy Smith on Vimeo.

SO CUTE AND AMAZING!

Today I worked my face off and I'm just putting the finishing touches up on my pattern submission! I made loaf this morning, chili in the crockpot for dinner (even though i don't really like chili), and am excited to finish up a knit for @kalinhop for her birthday, maybe get to work on my sweater, and go to be a little earlier than last night. XO

Zucchini Gingerbread Loaf

This past summer I put up bag after bag of grated zucchini in my freezer and last week when I was doing a general overview of what we had left to consume from our cold box, I realized we hadn't yet eaten any of the zucchini. So I pulled a bag out and it sat in our fridge for a few days while I thought of what to do with it. And then I started craving gingerbread and the rest is history.

There aren't a lot of zucchini gingerbread recipes out here on the internet. I found this one, and Martha's, and ended up modifying a Mennonite Girls Can Cook recipe with a recipe Northern Purly Girl sent me back in the middle of the harvest. I replaced the sugar with honey, reduced the fat (by a little), added oats, and gingerbready goodness. YUM.

In a large bowl combine:
2 cups previously-frozen grated zucchini
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

In a separate bowl combine:
3 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until they're just combined. Divide batter among two well-greased loaf pans and bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes.

Note: If you like nuts feel free to add 1 cup of your favourite chopped nut! Of course, walnuts or pecans would taste best, but whatever works in a pinch will do, of course. Same goes for seeds (sunflower, pumpkin), but I'd recommend only adding 1/2 cup of seeds.

this pasta salad is broken...

i know i said i was going to be on hiatus while i got all my stuff done this week, but the list is coming along swimmingly AND the days are going by just as fast. regardless, i've got a face mask on and i need it to dry a bit more before i have a shower and go lush it up.

this salad is inspired wholly by derek from fine thank you... i'm a bonafied food snob so whenever i was at his little attic place in victoria (probably before crystal castles or something) and he made me gnocchi in coconut milk and curry with frozen peas i think i died. FROZEN peas? yuck. but wait, YUM! so now i have a bit of a love-only relationship with frozen veggies....in the winter that is! so i've purchased TWO (count'em) bags of frozen veg since the non-growing season started. the first being a big bag of peas and carrots mainly for pot pies, and the other i bought today! a bag of yam fries for friday's pizza.

anyway, the moral of the story is that the frozen peas and carrots are starting to get freezer burnt! ha! so i made this salad with them. and i'm poor right now so was scrambling with things from around the house. YES!

THIS PASTA IS BROKEN

boil a medium sized pot of water and cook about 200g of your favourite dry pasta (i used rigatoni but i really thought i had jumbo shells and was disappointed!) until it's al dente.

while the pasta is cooking get out a medium sized bowl and put 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots in the bottom of it. once the pasta is cooked drain it and put the noodles on top of the frozen veg to thaw them.

while the noodles are cooling down mix together 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup italian dressing, 1 tbsp HOT mustard, 1 tsp chili flakes, dash of pepper. Also cut up about 1/2-3/4 cup of your favourite sour pickle (i used pickled green beans). Pour sauce and pickles on noodles, stir well and devour (preferably with a grilled cheese).

XO

Recipe: Marinated Mushrooms

I found this recipe in Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook, which jumped out at me from the shelves at the library as the lone non-Christmas book on the "Christmas" themed book shelf. This cookbook was like a light turning on for me for some reason. All of these amazing recipes in one (big) book! How could I have not known about the wonders of Jewish Holiday Cooking (well, I had an idea, but I didn't really know)? I quickly took on a few favourite recipes and cooked them for the Hanukkah feast we had, but a few of them really stuck (like the vegetarian chopped liver with eggplant OMG).

I like this one the best because it's easy peasy, never something I would have considered making myself (!), it's cheap for entertaining, and is just SO delicious! And, it has one of my favourite foods: mushrooms. I altered the recipe to include dry herbs because really who has access to fresh herbs cheap in the off season, and made it a bit spicier. I also double the mushrooms and reduce the marinade. Less oil = good times.

XO






Marinated Mushrooms
adapted from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook (pg. 61)

Ingredients

2 lbs of fresh button mushrooms
1 small yellow onion, peeled and sliced into paper thin rings
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup salad oil (I used canola)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon prepared HOTT mustard (I got ours at a european deli!)
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground cumin (though cumin seed would be yummy too!)
three pinches of salt
shake of pepper

How To:

1. Put 1" of water in a large pot (one that you have the lid for) and turn on MAX. Wash and trim the stems of your mushrooms. Once washed place in your pot and cover. Let cook for 1 minute once water is boiling. Drain water and place mushrooms in a crock, casserole dish, or glass bowl (preferably one with a lid to reduce the onion stink into your fridge).

2. Lower heat to medium-low. Using the same pot combine the onions, vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard, basil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about three minutes. (I found the mustard got this specific smell like burning hot stuff, ha, that triggered me to pull it off the stove. It took me 3 minutes simmering to get there).

3. Cover the mushrooms in the marinade and stir to evenly coat. Place bowl/crock/whatever covered in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Joan Nathan says to serve with toothpicks, but I put a huge serving spoon in mine and encouraged peeps to eat them like candy :)

Coconut Cream Dream Birthday Cake!

My stepdad is turning forty-something tomorrow and last weekend I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said, "a sweater". I laughed. And then he said he wanted a pizza party (b/c we do pizzas on fridays, etc). And I said YES! So, last night I put together his birthday cake. Now, he doesn't like chocolate cake and is always hauling home these grocery-store-gross coconut cream pies, so I put together this coconut cream dream cake for him. It's two 9" rounds of yellow cake with a super thick coconut pudding in the middle, topped with way-too-much creamy white frosting, and then loaded with sweetened shredded coconut. KILL. ME. NOW. At one point I was eating up the remaining pudding and remembered, "shit, I made this with half and half". Stop. ha! It's inspired by the retro-cake stylings of Amy Sedaris (I want her new book) and all of the recipes are derived from my better homes and gardens New Cookbook Bridal Edition. You know, the one that teaches you how to be a good wife? yes.

Coconut Cream Dream Birthday Cake!

Yellow Cake
Adapted from BHG New Cookbook B.E. (pg. 153)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups rice milk

1. Let the butter and eggs get to room temperature for 1/2 hour. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
2. In a big bowl beat butter with a mixer for 3o seconds. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes (it should be a little fluffy). Beat in vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and rice milk (alternating bit by bit) and beating as you go. It should be well combined, but not runny. Spread into pans.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375degrees C or until a toothpick put in the cake comes out clean! Cool on wire racks.
4. When cool pop cakes out of pans and slice the "mound" off of your bottom later. Save it b/c you're going to dip it in the pudding you're about to make and eat it.

Coconut Pudding
Ingredients:
1 box of Schriff cooked coconut pudding
1 1/2 cups of half and half (OMG or whipped cream??)

Cook pudding as per directions on box using the half and half in place of the called for liquid.
Once cooked put in a bowl and put in the freezer so it gets chunky fast (no time for laying around here girls!)

Creamy White Frosting
Adapted from BHG New Cookbook B.E. (p. 171)

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
4-5 tbsp rice milk

In a mixing bowl beat shortening and vanilla with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Slowly add icing sugar alternating with rice milk, combining them with the mixer. Beat until you reach the desired consistency. Note: this makes a hella-lot of icing. But, it's worth it. So, just do it.

Assembly:
I put two pieces of wax paper down on my cake plate and then positioned the bottom cake down. The pudding should be a big glob, so drop the glob on the bottom layer and chop/hack into chunks and spread evenly over the top. Then, carefully place the top layer over the pudding and press down gently (to make them stick together a little). Next put all of the icing on top of the cake and spread evenly around the sides and on the top. Then taking HANDFULS of shredded coconut (and often holding the cake at weird angles) sprinkle a generous helping of coconut everywhere. The cake should be steady enough that you can press the coconut into the icing and once you're coconut'd the whole thing, you can hold it at a slight angle and shake the excess off.

Recipe: Sloppy Stew's Pulled Ham

UM, can someone say YUMMERS?! This recipe is inspired by two things. The first being the huge hock of leftover ham we had in our freezer from thanksgiving (I've learned to ALWAYS accept leftovers from get togethers: a great way to save money in the long run!), and the second being Stewart and his love of MEATY greasy grimy diner food stuffs. We had three guys over for dinner and I wasn't sure if they were being polite or if the sandwich actually filled them up. But, the sandwiches were huge. I made scallop potatoes to go with the sandwiches, but they didn't cook in time, so we just had potato chips and then black forest cake my grandpa brought out. And lots of water. This shit is salty. But SO GOOD. (ps. one of the people we had over for dindin doesn't like spicy things, so if you DO like spicy things, up the chipotle to taste).

Sloppy Stew's Pulled Ham Sandwiches
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients for the ham:
- 8 cups of chopped cold ham (use leftovers!)
- 1/2 red onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups ketchup
- 2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tbsp chipotle puree
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- pepper to taste

Sandwich Dressings:
- the other 1/2 of the red onion cut into thick slices
- one cold, crisp green pepper cut into 8 thick slices
- chipotle mayo
- 8 whole wheat kaisers
- 8 processed cheese slices (this is what we had in the house, but a good sharp cheddar would also do)

To make the Ham:

Saute ham, onion, and water in a sauce pan until onion is translucent and the ham is falling apart. Add vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, chipotle, soy sauce, and pepper; mixing well. Cook on medium-low until liquid reduces by half.

To assemble the sandwiches:

Cut open kaiser. On bottom half spread mayo and then layer cheese on top. Pile 1/8th of the ham mixture (about a cup) on the bottom layer. Place onion and green pepper on top of ham and top with bun.

(omg, now i want another one. haha) and, ETA: haha, i forgot it was vegan MOFO!! OMG!!! of course you can replace the ham with 8 cups of cubed firm tofu, and the mayo with soy mayo (or just chipotle mixed with a bit of earth balance, yum!..and use rice cheese!!!) XO ETA: a few days later! My forgetting that it was vegan mofo paired with this post meant that I got pulled from the veganmofo blogroll. And despite my reitterations that I forgot, this was posted and I was told they'd "try". Super disappointing. So, I'm not going to vegan blog. It's a lot of work and if I'm not part of the broooha, then whatever.

Recipe: Zucchini Plum Upside Down Cake

Yesterday felt like a pretty slag day and I'm not sure what exactly lit my fire to make this cake, but I'm so happy I did. I went through a series of vintage cookbooks (Pioneer Potpourri, some random BC Council of Women cookbook from the 60s, and my newer version of the better homes and garden's cookbook Bridal Edition)...but NONE of them had an upside down cake recipe! I was so upset! Then I remembered I had Amy Sedaris' book, I LIKE YOU, that finethankyou gave me a few years ago for my bday or something. And she had a pineapple upside down cake recipe. So, I used hers as the basis and made this cake. My other inspiration was this chunk of white zucchini in the fridge for quite a while and it needed to be cooked into something. Anyway, this cake was a complete success! It's so delicious, not too sweet (tho a little salty, yum!), and was big enough that I froze half of it in the freezer for a later date and can cut the half I have into 8 pieces...though that's not what I did and there's only a little left. HA! (The other benefit is that I did this in stages between bouts of hands-on parenting...so if you're busy and can't do all the steps at the same time, don't preheat the oven until step 3 or 4).

Upside Down Zucchini Plum Cake
adapted from I Like You by Amy Sedaris

Preheat oven to 400degrees.

Step 1: Place a 9x13 cake pan on low burner. Melt 1/4 c butter in pan. Once melted add 1 c brown sugar and stir. Once dissolved remove from heat and add 4 tbsp lemon juice and mix well. Place 40 or so plum halves to cover the bottom of the pan, cut side down.

Step 2: Melt 1/2 c butter in a small sauce pan. Once melted remove and stir in 2 eggs, 1 cup milk (I used rice milk), and 2 heaping tbsp of honey. Beat well.

Step 3: Combine 1 1/2 c grate zucchini with 2 c all-purpose flour, 1 cup brown flour, 4 tsp baking powder, and 2 tsp salt in big bowl. Stir in butter-egg mixture and mix well.

Step 4: Pour cake mixture carefully and gently over the plums trying not to disturb their placement. Try to make the cake as even as possible.

Bake for 40 minutes. Wait 10-20 minutes after you pull it out of the oven and invert on a cookie sheet or fancy dish. xo

recipe: chicken BLT salad with homemade buttermilk dressing

stewart has been eating a grocery store version of this salad all summer and credits it with "helping him like big pieces of tomato" of which he was previously not a fan. i've never had the one from the grocery store, but the one we put together at home was definitely a home run. so much veg. so much protein. and the dressing (adapted from one from the homesick texan) is just killer. unfortunately for us in our impoverished time this salad definitely broke the bank (ie. hormone free chicken, locally smoked bacon, and just the existence of cheese). on a normal day it should feed four grown adults, but for us two adults who barely ate all day, we devoured it.

chicken BLT salad with homemade buttermilk dressing


In a large bowl combine:

3 grated carrots
2 cups of shredded red cabbage
2 tomatoes chopped in large chunks
1/2 field cucumber julienned
6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
2 cooked chicken breast (or equivalent) shredded (we grilled ours on our george foreman mini grill with juice of the other half of the lime used for the dressing)

top with generous handfuls of shredded aged chedder cheese and lots of buttermilk dressing.

Buttermilk Dressing (adapted from Homesick Texan)

Buttermilk dressing, extra spicy
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
freshly squeezed lime juice of 1/2 lime
2 cloves of garlic, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1/2 tsp mexican paprika

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and let chill for an hour.
Makes 1 cup, keeps for a week in the refrigerator.

chipotle mushroom pizza with chorizo and fresh herbs

inspired by animal, vegetable, miracle, friday night is now homemade pizza night around here. i use the dough recipe from the original moosewood cookbook (which i won't reprint here because i don't alter it at all, and you should really get the cookbook from the library and copy this one down.. support your libraire!!) and use tomato sauce from a can (not fancy) because some pizza god on the food network ages ago said just use plain tomato sauce..everything else'll overpower the pizza's flavour. i also am using store bought mozza still. it's my goal by xmas to have mozza down pat and make it every month and freeze it for the month's pizza nights. AND i don't use much cheese because i like to keep it economical and less greasy at the same time.

- preheat oven to 400F. if you have a pizza stone then make sure it warms up in the oven. once it's warm, pull it out and build your pizza on the stone rather than the counter, easier than transferring a heavy pie to the stone.

- gather the following ingredients:
pizza crust of your making (or buying) that fits your stone or baking sheet
200grams of mozza, grated
3/4 cup of tomato sauce
1 tbsp chipotle puree
2 tbsp ribbon'd fresh basil
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
150grams chorizo sausage, sliced thin
1/2 yellow pepper, sliced thin
3 large mushrooms, sliced thin
3/4 cup diced red onion

- spread tomato sauce and chipotle puree on pizza dough.

-layer toppings as you like or in this order: chorizo, mushrooms, peppers, onions, basil/parsley, and then top with cheese.

-bake in oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is browned.

DEVOUR THE YUMMINESS!!!

oh canada, the plains stretch out for you

on saturday we went to tofino for good times and to eat copious amounts of crab. despite our numbers (8 of us?) we couldn't get through the 5 crab so stewart and i ended up bringing 2 home. and after he spent the better part of an hour pulling out their flesh i put together these crab cakes (which we ate with left over green salad from saturday, we'll have that salad all week). the recipe kinda sucked. i used mesa sunrise cereal instead of the crackers, red instead of yellow pepper, didn't have celery. i used cumin, pepper, and red pepper flakes instead of the called for spices and should've mixed it with the egg before i added the mayo because it was way too soft and gooey. i ended up putting a total of 2 cups of crushed cereal in them. and then coating them with a crushed cereal, oatmeal, flour mixture. which saved them and they didn't fall apart as bad. we ate them with sour cream and OMG they were SO delicious and SO rich. there's a few left in the fridge which i'll have to eat tomorrow before the crab goes bad.

here's the copy and pasted recipe from the Oprah magazine website, but with my modifications. xo

ingredients:

Corn Crab Cakes with Cilantro Sauce (we had them with sour cream instead)

* 1 pound lump crabmeat (meat of 2 crabs)
* 3/4 cup minced onion
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1 cup frozen corn , cooked
* 1/2 cup finely diced yellow bell pepper
* 1 cup mayonnaise (i would reduce this to half if i made it again)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 1 egg , lightly beaten
* 4 cups saltine or water cracker crumbs (i used mesa sunrise cereal crumbs)
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1/2 cup steel cut oats

Directions:

In a bowl, combine all ingredients until the crumbs. put 2 cups of crumbs in with this mix. Form mixture into patties.

In a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high flame. Coat each patty with remaining crumbs mixed with flour and oats and cook until golden brown on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side. Add more olive oil as needed.

Serve crab cakes immediately with sour cream

mmm muffin!

This morning I got up to give Stewart a ride to work and came home to decidedly make muffins rather than go back to bed. I poured myself a big glass of the lady grey ice tea, preheated the oven, and got to work putting together this recipe with things we have lying around the house. When I put things together without really following a recipe (esp. baking) I'm always wary of it turning out like crap (like the time I forgot oil and the papers wouldn't come off the muffins). These muffins, though, aren't vegan (but you could easily sub with rice milk and faux egg), but they are delicious! OMG. I'm so happy I made more than a dozen of them. Enjoy!

Maple Apple Walnut Muffins
Preheat oven to 400F. When you put the muffins in the oven lower the temp to 375F.

Combine in a big bowl:
1 cup oats (I used oatmeal, but you could use oatmeal with rye flakes/barley flakes, whatevs!)
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg

In a smaller bowl combine:
1/2 cup oil (I used veg, but you could use olive or almond or something)
1 egg
2 cups liquid (I used 1/2 cup cream and 1 1/2 cups water because that's what we had. If we had soy I probably would have used that)
drizzle of maple syrup (or 1/4 cup, whichever you have in the fridge)
1 apple grated (I always use gala)

Pour liquids into bowl of dry ingredients and mix well (with a fork). Using a 1/4 cup measuring spoon pour into paper-lined muffin tins. I was able to make 17 muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. Eat them hot out of the oven with peanut butter. But cool at least 7 of them for your week ahead and freeze them! xo

"time time time"

we're watching little k so that not-so-little j can go to derby kid-less. hanging with little k is awesome. she and stewart colour and listen to tom waits (k sings along) while i putter around making vanilla and peach muffins (k's request, recipe below), think about making lunch (vegan grilled cheese and popcorn. yum!), and psych myself up for a week of thesis drawing. my tattoo is still in lots of pain and it hurts to be really mobile. and i'm recovering from exhaustion too, sunday being "sleep in day" and "putter day" things seem to happen at their own pace.

k is singing to herself in the potty. it's pretty adorable.




little k's peach vanilla muffins.

this recipe assumes you know a little bit about muffin construction. i use a med-sized 12 muffin tin, muffin papers (cups?), and preheat the oven to 375degrees.

round one, one bowl:

2 eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 cup soy milk, vanilla >> mix 'er up

round two, same bowl:

top wet mixture with 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup kamut flour, 1 cup all-purpose (i used all organic) and 1 large pinch of baking powder, 1 small pinch sea salt, 1 small pinch baking soda >> mix lightly

round three, same bowl:

top mixture with 1 cup chopped walnuts and 1.5 cups chopped home-canned peaches and the associated juice (i guess store bought would do too, but maybe organic or natural ones would work best) >> stir

round four, into the muffin tins and into the oven for around 1/2 hour or until they're done.

i haven't tried them yet, but i bet they'll be delicious!!

xo