Fall Canning

So this year I had decided to can as much of what I grew as possible to see how long I could go with out buying out of season produce. That was the initial goal. Unfortunately I didn't get out to any farmers market to supplement my measly garden. Sigh...with the salsa I made previously my bounty wasn't too pathetic but I guess if I'd used smaller jars it would look like more.

The first batch was spaghetti sauce...boiled for many hours and then put into a blender. I prefer to blend it...that way I can leave the skins on the tomato's and plays to the days when I feel anti-vegetable.

I still will have another batch of something to make with the huge bowl of tomato's I have waiting to ripen...kinda a freebee batch as I just pulled my plants yesterday and found about 3-4 dozen tomato's on them..who woulda thunk it after all this cold weather?

The second batch was pureed pumpkin...not something I see myself using in vast quantities however after peeling an entire pumpkin for 1 pie I had a lot left over and needed to do something with it...so I canned it. We'll see what if anything I create with it.

I think next year I shall try making my own pickles...

Chocolate Cheese Fudge

I know that I usually dedicate my posts to things I myself have created however I think this latest find must be shared. Chocolate cheese fudge!

During my perusal of sobeys the other day I was on a mission to find a new kind of cheese (new to my tummy anyways). My hubbie was going out of town for a few days and I usually try to turn these lonely evenings into a fun foodgasmic time.

I ended up in the soft cheese section and was hoping someone working there would take pity on me an tell what some of the strange cheeses tasted like. I was decidedly overwhelmed when I saw this tiny brick of something dark brown...upon closer inspection I saw the label and knew I was sold!

I thought that if was as good as I was hoping it would be it should be served with some fresh french bread. You see way back when, when I was in paris I remember having this amazing chocolate cheese that was of course paired with bread and served with some bubbly. I had to at least try to recreate the experience.

So after I headed out to Harvest Bakery for a baguette...I've bought them form various grocery stores and as of late have been bitterly disappointed with the quality. Heavy, mushy and dense loaves try to pass for french bread...nasty...it must have something to do with the flour they use...probably cheap stuff. Anyhoo! I must say that the bread from Harvest was exactly as it should have been! Crunchy outside light fluffy inside!

But back to the cheese. To my hubbie the very thought of chocolate cheese was revolting...which made me less confidant in my endeavor, but I still had to try! It was amazing! The first bite of the cheese was soft and melty. Nary a hint of salt (something I've had issues with some cheese in the past), the cheese was wonderful! You could smell the cocoa when you opened it up; It was never sweet , never salty, just the perfect blend of cheese and chocolate.





It reminded me exactly of the cheese I had in paris, I poured myself a glass of pink bubbly to go with and feasted for the rest of the night. The cheese kind of reminded me in taste of the chocolate chip cream cheese I used to get from the great canadian bagel many years ago without the overly cream taste. I now have a new course for my ultimate dinner party!

Yum Yum Yum!

Pork Dumplings w/ red wine vinegar & Spicy California sushi

Following on the theme of playing homage to things created by others we honour superstore sushi. With my hubbie out of town for a few days this was part of the foodgasmic feast. Only a couple of chains have the sushi counter and make it fresh daily.

I haven't graduated to the full on raw tuna/fish deal but I do find the others quite yummy. I'm sure it doesn't compare to the great sushi restaurants but it's fresh and light and makes you feel good about eating it!

Yum Yum!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, greasy pork dumplings! I was introduced to these lovely tasty thing a few years ago by my friend Alison and they are my definitive weakness. They have to be served with the vinegar for dipping though otherwise there's just no point for me.

Pork surrounded by crisp yet chewy dough dipped in a tart red wine vinegar...I tend to eat these until the plate is empty...not at all good for you but when you balance it with sushi that makes it all better doesn't it?

Who am I kidding...I have a dumpling addiction...

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

So With Thanksgiving this year it was my role to bring dessert and the request was pumpkin pie so I decided to try to make it from scratch. A task that I would later come to regret.

The first task was to gut and peel the pumpkin. I'd never peeled a pumpkin before and god willing hopefully I'll never do it again. It was horrible, it was like peeling a turnip with a spoon. It took over and hour just to peel the thing!

Once the pumpkin was peeled the next step was to cut it up into 1 inch cubes.

This part was easier and more fun! I then mixed the fruit with cinnamon, cloves and ginger and baked it for about 45 minutes until it was soft.

The next step was to blend the fruit in my food processor...a fun time as I rarely get to use this wedding gift...creamy goodness! After blended I added an egg, whipping cream and vanilla and mixed it all together and then poured it into my wheat free pie crust and baked it for 45 minutes.

The final result! The pastry was a little thicker than I would have like but the dough was cold and hard to work with so I couldn't get it as thin as i would have liked. The consensus at the table was that it was really good pumpkin pie...way better than store bought!

The truly sad thing was that after all of that hard work I discovered that I really don't like pumpkin pie...

Mushroom Risotto

Another Day another challenge! Last night I decided to try my hand at a mushroom risotto , which for those who don't know if a fancy Italian rice dish. I thought I was the rice connoisseur, little did I realize that there is a whole world of rice out there that I haven't discovered!

The process starts with sauteing mushrooms and shallots in a heavy based pot. Once the mushrooms have started to brown you add just enough water to cover them. Once the water has been added you bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

The next step is to strain the solids from the broth; this gives you the mushroom soup stock that is required to cook the risotto! The recipe tells you to squeeze as much juice out of the solid mixture as you can and then throw out the solid mixture.

Since I am unable to knowingly waste any food I decided that if you added a little bit of soy sauce to the mixture and sauteed it, it would top the steak we were serving with the risotto quite nicely!

If you want the flavour of the stock to intensify a bit let the stock simmer longer and boil down about 1/3rd.

Step 3 is in another large pot add a tble spoon of butter, 3 shallots and 2 garlic cloves and saute them until the shallots become clear...not brown as the recipe emphatically stated!

Now comes the fun part! Add the uncooked risotto rice to the pot Carefully stirring the mixture until all of the liquid had been absorbed. I loved the look and the texture of the arborio rice...for years I thought that all rice looked like long grain rice and that was that. Now I have a new mission...discover and try all kinds of rice available!

Back to the risotto! So once all of the liquid had been absorbed you would add about 1/2 a cup of the stock and very carefully stir the mixture until all the stock had been absorbed.

The thing I found funny was how emphatic the recipe was that you gently stir the rice, I wondered why so I googled it and found many horror stories of people being left with a pot of mush as they had stirred to vigorously and broken the grains.

The process was repeated over and over for about 12 minutes; add stock gently stir, add stock gently stir...laborious but worth it in the end!

So the final result was dished out with asparagus and steak...all in all a yummy combo. One regret though was that the entire meal seemed a little greasy...no sure why...even the asparagus had too much butter on it. Maybe next time I'll try just buying the mushroom stock and seeing if that makes a difference.

Canned Salsa

With the arrival of fall comes the season of canning. Hoarding all of the lovely produce painstakingly created over this year what was a bitter, cold, wet summer. Hoping that it's enough and it will last through the winter.

Personally I hate store bought salsa...full of preservatives and other chemicals it never tastes like it should, so I usually turn most of the tomato's I grow into salsa. I find that salsa also makes an excellent spaghetti sauce when I've run out of my own. This year I planted 6 tomato plants as I wanted to have tons of tomato's for the winter...well thankfully I did as our growing season was pitiful and I got from 6 plants what previously I had gotten from 3.

The first step is an obvious one...boil the tomato's until they crack and the very carefully remove the skins. I always burn myself doing this...everytime...I think of this now as part of the tradition of canning in the fall.

After peeling the tomato's I chop them up and dump them into a pot with chopped red pepper, green pepper, 3 chilies peppers, 4 Jalapenos, 1 red onion, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1 tbsp of brown sugar and some salt and pepper. I then bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 5 hours.

The end result for the first batch of the year! Not a huge bounty but I still have a HUGE bowl of green tomato's waiting to ripen for the next batch...my kitchen is smelling sooooo good!

Crab Cakes

I have in recent months become obsessed with crab cakes. I had them when my hubbie and I went out for my birthday at an amazing restaurant; and ever since it has been my mission to find the prefect recipe.

The problem with most of the recipes that I found is that they had a tremendous amount of filler in them and I wanted mostly crab meat. Eventually I came across a recipe that intrigued me so I decided to give it a try!

I started my mixing the crab meat with red pepper, shallots, bread crumbs (made from tostitos...more on that later), parsley, sea salt & pepper

I then created the wet mixture with mayo, mustard (it called for Dijon, but I only had regular so I lessened it a bit),Worcester sauce, an egg, and lemon juice.

After whisking it all together I then carefully folded it into the crab mixture (the recipe was adamant about the careful part).

The next step was to somehow form this mixture into patties and roll them in the bread crumbs. It was a challenge but one worth conquering, after that I refrigerated them for a couple of hours to let them set properly.

At this point I realized that they were becoming more the main dish then the appetizer that I had originally planned, so I left the steak for another day!

After letting the set for a few hours the next step was to sear them on a high heat...again flipping them proved to be challenging but all in all they turned out pretty great!

The final step was to continue cooking them by baking them at 350 for about 15 minutes (or until they were heated all the way through. They turned out amazing! I loved them, as did my hubbie.

I did wonder about maybe adding a hint of cream cheese to them as they were firmer than I'd envisioned. There was a sauce that I thought about making for them but something about the recipe for it made me question it...too much mustard I think...I've put out the call for the perfect sauce recipe so we'll see what comes in.

All in all yummy. yummy, yummy!!!!

Sauteed Scallops

If there's one thing that my friend Alison taught me is that scallops are gifts from the sea, to be honoured and worshiped above all else. I took that small piece of knowledge with me when I visited Digby, Nova Scotia for the first time and found it to hold true...I had Digby Scallops for dinner every night while I was there and have ever since been obsessed with those plump little morsels of flesh.

I marinate them in a chardonnay for a few hours just to get rid of that 'fishy' smell that turns many (myself included) off of seafood. Then comes the fun part...cooking them!

Other than wrapping them in prosciutto my favourite way to have them is and old one...saute them in a wee bit of butter with some fresh garlic. It works out well every time!

I will say though that this time it almost seemed that they had been injected with water as they shrunk in size tremendously by the time they were done. I was a little bit disappointed by that but they still tasted like little bites of heaven!!

I need to win the lottery so I can eat like this all the time...

'Grilled ' Zucchini

With the arrival of fall comes the inevitable arrival of garden zucchini. Everyone who has a garden is always looking to unload some and I love it! I've Bbq'd it, sauteed it, shredded it and by the end of next week I'll have eaten it in every conceivable fashion.

Today though I decided to cook it in tin foil in the oven as it's raining and it seems silly to light the bbq only to cook veggies.

I started by peeling the zucchini as it's a huge one that's a wee bit old and that skin can be nasty! From there I sliced it into 2 inch long pieces and added tomato, shallots and fresh garlic with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and baked it for about 30 minutes.

Tasty and scrumptious...although I would probably use a little less garlic next time...

Chicken Kabobs

So the mothers day feast so far had been a little heavy on the seafood influence (my mother LOVES seafood), however I knew I had to come up with something to pacify the non seafood lovers at the table.

So i decided on the simplistic yet yummy fare of chicken kabobs! No other food announces the arrival of summer to me like kabobs! Green pepper, red onion, grape tomatoes (never cherry always grape) and of course chicken. I then smother them in peanut sauce and grill.



The end result, so tasty and as usual none left!

Proscuitto wrapped asparagus & prawns

So the second round of my mothers day feast was prosciutto wrapped asparagus. A simple process of wrapped the asparagus in prosciutto and then brushing it with olive oil and a balsamic vinegar.

You grill them until the asparagus turns that specific shade of green that tells me they are ready for eating! Yum!!

I also made the prosciutto wrapped prawns that have been featured before so I won't go into them much more other than to say they were fabulous!!

The end result...so yummy....for once there were no left overs at all!!

Mothers Day - Mushrooms Neptune

Alas my summer has been a busy one but I have been diligently documenting my adventures however now it's time to play catch up!

For mothers day my mother asked that my gift to her would be a cooked dinner...I was more than happy to oblige!

We started the meal wit mushroom caps stuffed with crumbled bacon, crab meat, shallots, and cream cheese. The process is a fairly simple one, saute the bacon, onion and the mushroom stems in a dollop of butter. Then mix in cream cheese until you have a relatively smooth mixture. Press the mixture into the mushroom caps and than roll them in super fine breads crumbs.

Place them in a raised pan and add just enough water to keep them from drying out. Bake until golden brown!



The yummy end result! This time I added more bacon and shallots and they were a smash!!

Chicken Fried Steak with Jalapeno Cheese and Dollar fries

First off I must say that I don't eat like this very often. These particularly unhealthy dishes are reserved for the most horrible of days, when only grease will make it all better. That happened to be the case last Friday. It was a heck of a day, so I decided that comfort was in order.

I pounded the chicken flat, floured,egged and breaded it with La Conchita taco chip crumbs. I then placed the chicken in my favourite pan the cast iron skillet! I added the cheese and watched it melt.

The next step was the dollar fries. These are a dish that when I think of I smile. They were the ultimate treat when I was a kid, however mom didn't totally deep fry them, she'd just fry them in a pan with a wee bit of oil. I decided that if I was going to make them lets make them worth the work. I scrounged around in my pantry for the oil, I ended up using, canola oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and something just labeled 'cooking oil'. I poured those bits into my electric wok and let it heat.

Once the oil was hot I dumped my thin, wispy potato slices into the hot oil and watched them brown. It seemed to take forever with the first batch, but with each batch the cooking times got shorter and shorter.

The end result was simply amazing. I drained them on paper towels and seasoned them with a bit of seasoning salt. They look over done in the photo, but they tasted amazing and made me long for saratoga chips at the Ex. Maybe this year we'll go just for the food...

The meal was tasty, but I ended up abandoning my chicken and just ate the chips. A sinfully delicious meal that had not a veggie in sight...completely unheard of for us. The perfect ending to a crummy day!!

w/g free brownie

I decided that since I was taking the strawberry-rhubarb pie to the wiebe's Easter dinner I should also take something sweeter for the choc-o-holics that live there (one BIG kid, one small one).

I happened to have a w/g free brownie mix in my cupboard so I thought why not? I added almost a whole bag of chocolate chips to the mix (if you're going to do it do it right!).

This was the best brownie I've ever had, so soft, so moist, so rich and chocolaty...it even made my brother in law go back for seconds (amazing since he was on a health food only kick).

W/G free pecan pie

So for my families Easter dinner I was going to bring a dessert that I could eat...for some reason it bugs me (I think it had to do with the fact that for my birthday my mom made a birthday cake I couldn't eat...I usually don't care and will often skip dessert, but it was a birthday cake...for me...that I couldn't eat...I dunno I guess I'm overly sensitive).

So I decided to make a pecan pie...I'd never had it, but for some reason I thought it would be fun. I think it also had something to do with the fact that my sister was making apple pie and I didn't want to bring another fruit pie (which I ended up doing anyways).

The filling was melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, evaporated milk and chopped pecans. I then baked it for half an hour. I chose this recipe because it was one of the few that didn't have corn syrup...I thought that would make the pie too sweet.

The end result was really yummy and I think I now have a new favourite pie! I will say though I wasn't a huge fan of the pecans. After the first few bites I ended up scraping them off and enjoying the custardy like filling with yummy pastry.

It was just too good for words!

W/G free Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

So with Easter dinners galore to attend I decided this year that I would not be the person who could not eat dessert. That and I had to prove that I could indeed make a w/g free pie pastry after the less than stellar corn flour based peach pie pie I made last year.

I felt that this would not be an issue after discovering the pastry blend mix at Lorenzo's that makes pastry dough seem like the easiest thing in the world to make. So I thought what kind of pie to make first.

Well my dad's a big fan of rhubarb (as am I), but how could I find it at this time of year? I found my answer at Safeway in the frozen food section. Like the dunce I am I had no idea you could buy it frozen. Well the rhubarb pieces were huge! I kid you not they were the size of a child's fist, so I thawed them enough to cut them smaller and cut up some fresh strawberries and mixed the two with some w/g free flour and some sugar, all spice and cinnamon.

The end result was something I was proud of. I found out later that it was not as flaky as regular pie pastry from the pie connoisseurs in my family, but my sister in law (I made a pie for each dinner) thought there was no difference.

The pie wasn't overly sweet, it actually had a tart taste to it which for me and many other was a refreshing after the heavy dinners we'd had.

A success!

Easter Dinner

So my in laws were out of town for Easter (they go south for the winter...lucky bums), so my sister in law decided that it would still be fun if we did a dinner with just the kids. I made meatballs in mushrooms sauce, rolls, and dessert and she made the ham, potatoes and salad.

It was a fun fabulous stress free time (it always seems that family dinners turn into more drama then need be). We split the work and I'm really thinking that's the way to go!

My brother in law decorated the ham with orange slices which somehow made the whole thing seem so much happier. A simple, easy yummy dinner...all family gathering should be this much fun! We ended the night by watching team canada curl their way to yet another win!

All in all a great Easter!

W/G free pizza

So after the cinnamon bun disaster I decided not to be deterred by w/g free dough. So what else could I make? Hmm... well I've been craving pizza like mad so why not?

I made the dough the same way you make any dough...mix..rise...kneed...rise...roll it out. I then decided to add mushrooms, pineapple, onion and shredded pepperoni (I'm not a big fan of chunks of meat).

I used two different kinds of cheese a partly stretched/skimmed mozzarella and a jalapeno cheddar. I must say the end result was super yummy! The base of the pizza was crumbly and it again was kinda crunchy but with pizza it worked.

Still not as good as boston pizza though...I really wish that I could create a bread dough that wasn't so heavy and crunchy...the quest continues...

Wheat and Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns

I must say that after the 5 hours it took me to make these things I was bitterly disappointed when I tasted them and found the texture to be slightly crunchy and chewy. Not how I'd envisioned them to be at all...all of that work for nothing...I'm not afraid to say I wept.

After all of that anticipation I couldn't believe that they didn't really turn out. My hubbie loved them and told me I was nuts...but I guess my standard for cinnamon buns is to high...

French Silk Chocolate Pie

So after making all that pastry dough for my empanadas, I inevitably ended up with left over dough. So what do you do? Why make pie of course!!

So I thought what pie, when I used to eat it, made me happy...I realized that the only pie I've ever loved was the chocolate silk pie!

So the filling consisted of creamed butter, sugar, melted bakers chocolate, vanilla, and eggs. It was a no bake fill so I stuck it in the fridge and let set.

I then added a dollop of whipping cream and shaved chocolate and oh my god was it good! So creamy, so heavenly, so tasty!

I think I need warmer weather to come quick or I'm going to gain 100 lbs...

Empanadas (Beef and Chicken)

A friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with a similar allergy to mine and has had to give up wheat as well. They were coming over this past weekend and I thought why not try to serve appetizers that we can eat as well?

So after a jaunt to my favourite w/g free store i found this pastry mixture complete with instructions that I thought I must try! The pastry dough was prepared as most doughs are, and I refrigerated it overnight.

The beef mixture was up first. It had beef, onion, green peppers, tomato's, chopped raisins, green olives, salt, Worcester sauce, hot pepper sauce, and a hard boiled egg.



Next up was the chicken mixture. Not quite as complex, it had chicken, onion, garlic, turmeric, salt and cheese.

The next step was to roll out the dough and cut out 3 inch circles and place a tablespoon of filling in the centre, brush the seams with egg and pinch it together. Apparently a fairly routine procedure, but I'd never really cooked with pastry before so I admit that my inexperience didn't help much.



Once I managed to get the hang of it... onto the cookie sheet they went and then I brushed the tops with beaten egg as well.

The end result. My hubbie asked me why I was making perogies...sigh...

It was quite possibly the flakiest pastry I've ever eaten in my life! The only thing I messed up was I didn't roll the pastry out thin enough so I ended up with way more pastry than filling. They were tasty, but next time I would definitely roll it thinner so i could taste the filling.

However I can't really complain as most of them disappeared quite quickly...but playing wii bowling can create quite an appetite!