computer free to be you and me

I lost computer access for a little while, thinking my lovely computer was a dud, it had been to the apple shop going through diagnostic tests and turning up fine. Phew! It took a bit of getting used to being computer-free, but I not only adjusted to my new lifestyle, I embraced it! I picked up and finished books (many in the same day), I went on exciting bike rides and met up with friends to play in the sunshine. I also did quite a bit of leafing through cookbooks and did quite a lot of cooking. Being computer-free was time well spent! Luckily, I didn't miss any work or annoyed any clients by not being available and it was only when my picked up my computer on Monday afternoon, did a client ring up with a small job. Phew, again!

And because I've been away from the computer for so long, I'll quit my yapping and post 2 yummy recipes right away.

cabbage, spinach and tofu on noodles with peanut sauce
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, cut into squares
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into strips and then cut in half to make shorter strips
1 bunch spinach, cleaned & picked through
1/2 onion, cut into large chunks
2 stalks celery, cut on the diagonal into thick slices
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
soy sauce
whole wheat pasta or brown rice
1 t vegetable oil
lime wedges (optional)

for the sauce:
1/4 c natural peanut butter
1 T honey (or brown sugar if you swing vegan-style)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 t sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
hot sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
warm water

1. In a blender, mix all the ingredients for the peanut sauce, adding a bit of warm water if the mixture gets too thick. Taste. You may need to add a bit more honey or hot sauce depending on your own tastebuds. Set aside.

2. Boil water in a large pot and add pasta at the boiling point. Drain and set aside.

3. In a large skillet or walk, heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger when hot. Add the tofu and fry until golden on both sides. Add the onion and celery and when the onion becomes translucent, add the cabbage. Once the cabbage gets slightly wilty, add the spinach and a bit of soy sauce for flavour. Stir until spinach is cooked, then turn off heat.

4. In large bowls, add the pasta and then top with the tofu-vegetable mixture. Drizzle with peanut sauce. Serve with lime wedges.

+++

Butter tarts seem to be a genuine Canadian invention. A mixture of eggs, sugar and raisins are baked into individual tarts and the result is similar to a pecan pie, but decidedly different. I love butter tarts and I still have yet to get over my fear of making pie dough, so I went a different route and opted to make a still very Canadian butter tart bar. Interested to know more about the butter tart? Listen to the CBC on what makes a great butter tart.

butter tart squares
base:
3/4 c flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter

topping:
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c corn syrup
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c raisins
1/4 c unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8 inch square cake pan. Beat butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add flour and combine until crumbly. Press base mixture into prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.

2. Combine topping ingredients and blend together until well mixed. Pour toppping over the base and return to the oven until bubbly around the edges but still slightly jiggly in the centre, about 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in pan and then cut into squares.

the sweetest sunday

Last weekend, we went on a short bike ride and stopped for breakfast at the midway point. I took the unconventional route and ordered a burger, but Cornelius loves tradition and ordered the HUGE breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, fruit salad, home fries and the best fluffy, apple-cinnamon pancakes. He couldn't stop raving about them and so I had a bite and was instantly won-over. They had such a great apple-cinnamon flavour that it became doubtful whether I could recreate them at home. This weekend, however, I was up for the challenge. The end result was delicious! The apple cinnamon flavour was pronounced and the apples still retained a softly-crisp texture. No mushy apples here!

I've always stuck to my mom's pancake recipe and though they are delicious, they just aren't fluffy. Next time, I'll have to do a bit of digging around...maybe adding baking powder to the mix? Any tips for fluffy pancakes would be appreciated!

apple-cinnamon pancakes
1 c ap flour
1 c whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 c milk
1 small apple, finely diced
1 T white sugar
1 T cinnamon
3 T walnuts, chopped

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour & the salt. Wisk in the eggs and half of the milk until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the milk, whisking away until you have the consistency of cream.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the apples, walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. Add this mixture to the pancake batter and let stand for 20 minutes.

3. Lightly oil a frying pan and put pan over medium heat. Ladle out the batter, making sure to get a nice apple/batter ratio and cook until the edges appear dry. Flip and cook the remaining side for about 30 seconds or until golden. Repeat with remaining batter.

Serve with pure maple syrup.

don't be a hater

Homer Simpson declared "You don't win friends with salad!" during an episode of the Simpsons but I think I could prove him wrong with today's lunch salad.

Sometimes in the clutch of desperation, you grab wildly and blindly and hope for the best. I trust my culinary instincts and figure that wandering off the beaten path can make for some interesting results. Last night, Cornelius came home with a large bag of Munchies Snack Mix to help him tide his hunger pangs and when he came home for lunch today, he immediately dove head first into the junkfood bag. I decided that a bag of greasy, salty snacks probably wasn't the best lunch, so I decided to up the nutritional content somewhat. And here is what I came up with:

junkfood salad
1 granny smith apple, diced
2 handfuls of Munchie mix, slightly crushed
salad greens
Kraft Catalina Dressing

1. Put salad greens into 2 bowls.

2. Top with apples and 1 handful each of the Munchie Mix.

3. Drizzle with dressing.

Did Cornelius love it? Hmmm, love may be too strong a word but he declared it "edible" -- he would have preferred the snack mix outside the salad. Me, I actually liked the stuff! It had the right elements of salty-sweetness and crunch mixed with an earthy tang. Kraft Catalina dressing was my most favorite salad dressing growing up as a child and I had bought it in a pinch one day at the grocery store. It may not be the best salad dressing now for my refined adult tastes, but it really worked its child-like charm on this salad.

is it spring yet?

The weather is playing tricks on me. One moment the sun is shining brightly fooling me into spring and the next it's dark and rainy. I just don't get it! The cherry blossoms and daffodils are out despite a crazy rare snow storm last Friday. Spring may very well be around the corner but when it's chilly it's nice to cozy up to a bowl of hot soup. Tonight was one of those nights. I was easily tempted by 2 white bean and kale soups by fellow bloggers, Rorie's Ribollita and Crystal's White Bean & Kale Ragout. How lucky I was to have a can of white beans in the cupboard and a bunch of veggies in the crisper. Here's my version based on both of these lovely sounding recipes!

white bean & kale soup
2 T olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1/2 head of garlic, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 potatoes, diced
1/2 tin of diced tomatoes
4 leaves of kale, chopped
1 tin of white beans, drained
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
vegetable broth

4 slices of rye bread
1 T butter
2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potatoes and heat until onions look wilty. Add tomatoes and enough broth to generously cover vegetables. Add salt, pepper and red chili flakes, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer until vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes or so.

2. Add chopped kale and white beans and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

3. In a fry pan, melt butter over medium heat and add crushed garlic and bread. When toasty and golden on one side, flip bread over and toast until crisp.

4. To serve, add 1 garlic toast in bowl and pour soup over top.

let me eat cake

Wow, two new posts in one night?! I must be procrastinating! Actually, I'm still thinking about that article about Vancouver housing costs....

Last month, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that the average sale price of a single-family home was $705,141. Townhouses averaged $397,214 and condos sold for an average of $321,151.

Yeesh, I guess Cornelius and I won't be owning a home ever in this city! Even most 1 bedroom condos are out of our price range. Instead of crying in my beer, this evening I decided to console my pain in some cake that I adapted from the New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant cookbook. And man, what a cake! Moist, flavourful and absolutely fantastic! So what if we will have to be renters forever, at least we have the best tasting cake...right?

Fresh Apple Cake
Recipe adapted from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

1 1/3 c vegetable oil
2 c brown sugar
3 eggs
3 c flour (half whole wheat & half unbleached white flour works well)
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
¼ t ground cardamom
1 t cinnamon
2 t pure vanilla extract
3 T rum (the original recipe called for apple juice, milk or water)
3 cups chopped apples
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans, or almonds could be used instead)
2 T sesame seeds

1. Butter a 10-inch bundt pan, two 9-inch round cake pans, or one 9X13-inch sheet pan. Sprinkle the bottom and sides with the sesame seeds. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Beat the oil and sugar and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, leavenings, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture along with the rum and vanilla, mixing well. Fold in the chopped apples and nuts.

3. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, depending upon the size of the pan, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

happy bloggerversary to me

Little did I know that my one-year food blog anniversary had slipped me by. No public ceremonies, no cake. My very first post was written on February 20, 2005 and even though I had good intentions to write often about my own culinary adventures, life and wedding plans seemed to take over. Things didn't really kick in until August when I had returned from a 1 month honeymoon road trip. Work was slow and I needed to keep the creative juices flowing so I privately created one of those 101 things to do in 1001 days lists. Lucky for me, sandwiched between "buy a home" (not completed & probably will never happen according to this article which lists Vancouver's average housing prices way out of league for teachers, police officers and nurses -- not to mention poor arty types like freelance designers!) and "get bangs again" (done!) was this blog entry which read "post at least 1 new recipe a week on food blog". Done! So yay me!

I made this for dinner tonight and even though I just played about making this recipe up as I went along, it turned out fantastic, impressing both myself and Cornelius! It looks like a lot of steps, but it didn't seem labourious at all...especially since I made the black bean salad component for my lunch and used the leftovers for this dish. Make sure to read through the recipe first before starting so you don't miss anything!

Mexican Fish & Bean Salad
For the bean salad:
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 c of corn
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/4 c red onion, diced
3 T fresh salsa
juice of half a lime
1 t cumin
salt & pepper
1/4 t chipotle powder

Mix the above ingredients and then start preparing the following:

Panko-crusted fish:
1/2 c panko crumbs
salt & pepper
1 t cumin
1 large fillet of white fish cut into bite-sized peices (I used cod)
2 T vegetable oil

Mix the spices and panko crumbs together and dredge fish in this mixture until coated on all sides. Heat oil in a large skillet and when hot, add the coated fish. Turn fish over once and then remove from pan when done, about 5-8 minutes.

Salad dressing:
2 T mayo
juice of 1 lime
1 t honey
1 t cumin
1/2 t chipotle powder

Mix the dressing ingredients together until you have a nice smooth consistency. Taste to make sure the dressing is to your liking!

salad greens
1 avocado, diced

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Line 2 bowls with salad greens and top with the bean salad mixture. Drizzle with the salad dressing and top with the panko-crusted fish. Drizzle with a bit more dressing and throw on some diced avocado for extra creaminess.

can't stop, won't stop

I can't stop snacking on these cookies! Usually, I'm not much into double chocolate cookies, but these are just too good and I should have doubled the recipe. They are easy to make and twelve cookies the recipe makes just isn't enough. Make them now and send me your gifts of thanks after you've licked off all the crumbs.

double chocolate oatmeal cookies
3/4 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened (or use a vegan margerine to make these cookies fully vegan)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T oats (I used quick oats, but slow oats would work just as well)
1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, sift together the first 4 ingredients. In a seperate bowl (or use your mixer), beat butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy and well blended. Slowly add flour mixture until combined. Mix in oats and chocolate chips.

2. On a prepared cookie sheet (I covered mine with silpat), use a tablespoon to drop balls of dough onto the sheet, about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten tops with fingers.

3. Bake cookies until center is slightly firm , about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet.

* It really is best to let these cookies cool on the sheet because when they are warm they are very crumbly and prone to break in half.

tired of take-out

I'm once again working away from my home office during the day and catching up on freelance work at night. I don't have much time for cooking or blogging and everything seems like a bit of an effort. Don't even ask me about doing the dishes! But after a bad bout of salty, MSG-laden Chinese delivery, I decided I couldn't live with take-out horrors any longer. I had to make something simple and try to make use of the bits and pieces left in the cupboard and fridge. This was last night's dinner and the results were not only delicious but so simple to prepare. You could easily substitute any vegetable you had on hand as this recipe lends well to improvisation. I'd eat this over bad take out any day!

roasted vegetables & chickpeas over couscous
*Make sure all the vegetables are similar in size to help even out cooking time.

1/2 tin of chickpeas, drained
1/2 onion, diced
1 large potato, diced
1 large yam, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 head of broccoli, broken into florets
2 T olive oil
1/2 t Hungarian sweet paprika
1 t cumin
1 t coriander
salt & pepper
2 handfuls of raisins
2 handfuls of chopped walnuts
1 c couscous
1 1/2 c water or vegetable broth
feta cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas, onion, potato, yam, celery, broccoli with the oil and the spices and combine well. Dump in a roasting pan and heat until the vegetables are fully roasted, about 30 minutes or so. Remove from oven and add raisins and walnuts and mix well.

2. Boil water or broth in a saucepan, add couscous, turn off heat and cover. Wait 15 minutes.

3. Serve couscous in large bowls topped with the roasted vegetable/chickpea mixture. Sprinkle with feta cheese, if desired.

how i spent my friday night.

Please excuse the messy desktop. The photo of my work area was taken in November, but my March desktop isn't in much better shape, tidy-wise. For me, a cluttered desk means that I'm busy with work (definitely true in this case). However, I still had some spare time to design a new template for this blog -- and add a much needed recipe index so that I could easily keep track of things. As for the design, I tested it on my main browser, Firefox, as well as Safari and it seems to look great in both browsers. I even had Cornelius check it on his PC using Firefox and though there was a slight bug in IE with the top margin it seems to cache alright. What did I learn from this new redesign? Blogger is a bitch to work with. Too many IE hacks in it's code and the code just seems too messy. Blech, I'm not looking forward to a new redesign, so I hope this look stays for awhile. Let me know what you think or if you encounter any bugs. As you can probably tell from this new design, I yearn to be an illustrator! Hello, dream job! Everything was drawn by me...except for the craft/music/design group of illustrations (which are just some really cute looking dingbats). I guess I'll settle for being a designer and an amateur food blogger!

And now on to the recipe portion of our show....

simple fish n' chips
Tonight's dinner was nothing special, just some veggie chili baked natchos and some homemade guacamole. Hmmmm, when I made it, it didn't seem like anything to write about, but just seeing it in print makes it sound pretty damn tasty (it was!). Instead, I'll write about last Friday's dinner since I actually took the time out to take a photograph of it. I had been craving french fries and I decided to take make some from scratch. I just scrubbed some potatoes (skin on), sliced them into fry-like shapes and coated them with a bit of olive oil, rock salt and rosemary. Into the oven they went. When the fries (or faux frites as Rorie likes to call them) were almost done, I started to prepare the fish. I took 3 fillets of sole and covered them in dried dill (both sides) and a bit of salt and pepper. I put a tablespoon of butter into a large cast iron pan and added the juice of 1 lemon and then the fish. I turned the fish over once and it cooked in no time (when the fish is opaque and starts to flake, then it's done). I heaped some fries onto the plate, added the fish and then poured over a bit of the pan juices for some ready-made sauce. It only seemed like a super fancy bistro dinner. We ended our meal with a board game and beers so there was no fancy pantsy-ness anywhere in sight!