Cook Most of the Book - Vegan With a Vengeance

Well, it's Tempeh time, let's get started. This week I've done 4 recipes, although technically 3 of them were done for one dish.

I bought the tempeh a couple of weeks ago. I had a harder time that I'd expected finding it, and when I did, I snagged the last package. Before I bought Vegan with a Vengeance, I'd never heard of Tempeh, and until I bought it, I'd never seen Tempeh. Here's what it looks like:
Frankly, not very pretty. The package said that the black came from the processing (or something) and doesn't mean the tempeh is bad or anything. I can see why they need to have that on the package, it's not very appetizing. Thank God Scott was sick in bed the night I made this. If he'd seen this, he would not have even humored me with sampling the finished product.

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Tempeh Sausage Crumbles (brunch, pg 22)

Isa says: "...don't be afraid to experiment with it (in different dishes)."

Sara says: "..."


I tried. I really did. I wanted to like this. I liked the spice mix (fennel, basil, oregano, hot pepper, sage) and I thought the end result looked like sausage. But I had issues with the texture and the smell. Scott, who was as I mentioned was sick in bed the day I made this, didn't think much of it either. He didn't care for the spice very much (he hates fennel) and didn't like the texture either. But hey, we tried, right?

What I did differently: Nothing.

What I'll do differently next time: Nothing. There won't be a next time.

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Baking Powder Biscuits (brunch, pg 27)

Isa says: "(this) biscuit recipe has served me well for years."

Sara says: "Who doesn't like a biscuit?"


I love me a biscuit, and these are really nice and flaky. I cut them into the requisite 2 inch rounds, and boy, did they look small. But they were still yummy. I served the above plate of warm biscuits to Scott in his sick bed. They didn't make him better, but he liked them.

What I did differently: Nothing.

What I'll do differently next time: Make 'em bigger!

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White Bean Gravy (brunch, pg 27)

Isa says: "The gravy is a modified version of a recipe submitted to my Website by someone named Lisa."

Sara says: "It's like pea soup on a biscuit!"


Actually Scott said that. I omitted the tempeh sausage crumbles from the gravy, so this was just white bean gravy on the biscuits. Pretty good, for a can of beans with some broth and seasoning.

What I did differently: used dried sage instead of fresh.

What I'll do differently next time: This was pretty good, but I'm not sure I'd make it again.

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Coconut Pancakes with Pineapple Sauce (brunch, pg 32)

Isa says: "Coconut and nutmeg are a great combination"

Sara says: "Scott thinks he's back in Hawaii!"


Coconut is not my favorite thing in the world, but these are nice, and the coconut and pineapple really transform a plain pancake. I'm used to pancakes and waffles not really tasting like anything. I love how Isa adds nutmeg (in this recipe) and other spices to her pancakes and waffles. I would make the pancakes again, but I'd probably play with the pineapple sauce. (PS, have you made the pumpkin waffles yet??)

What I did differently: cut back the coconut to 3/4 of a cup.

What I'll do differently next time: Nothing.

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Well, I'm disappointed we didn't like the tempeh. But I'm glad we tried it. Unfortunately I'll be omitting any other tempeh recipes from this challenge. There's no point in cooking with something we won't eat.

Next week: well, I'm not sure yet, but maybe noodles and pizza!

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 28 - TV COOKS

I think there's a wee jinx on my kitchen lately; I've produced a higher number of failures than usual. It's a good thing we bought that box of Annie's Mac n Cheese and the big bag of frozen burritos from Costco. One of those failures was supposed to be my dish for this months Weekend Cookbook Challenge. It's the 28th month, and the theme I chose for this month is TV Cooks.

I picked a somewhat new face(s) to Food TV - the Podleski sisters from Ontario, authors of 3 cookbooks, and hosts of Eat Shrink and Be Merry on Food Network Canada.

I've got all 3 of their books and have had success with the recipes I've tried. But my luck ran out with a recipe that I've wanted to try literally for years. I chose to cook A Curried Affair from their first book Looneyspoons.
This is a chicken casserole - curry, chicken, pineapple and mushroom soup, basically. I've wanted to try this for ages, but now I'm sorry I did. Who knew that chicken, curry, pineapple and mushroom soup when combined taste like nothing? It looked awful and tasted like mush.

Disappointed, I hit the bottle. Just kidding, I looked for a new recipe to try for WCC. And I found one by everyone's favorite TV hostess:
I know! But really, this recipe is a keeper. It's for a drink and the reason I picked it is because one of the ingredients is cassis. And I've had a bottle of cassis in the cupboard for years.
Cassis from Elephant Island, a beautiful and my favorite winery.

This was a pretty great drink and would be perfect to sip on the porch on a hot summer day. I hope we'll get some days like this year.

The deadline for entries for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 28 is May 25! Email me your posts at iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Berry Smooth
Sandra Lee

serves 4

2 cups lemonade
1/2 cup cassis
1/2 cup vodka
2 tb lime juice
ice cubes

In a pitcher, stir together all ingredients except ice. Fill glasses with ice, then with equal portions lemonade mixture. Serve immediately.

Saturday Market

The markets are slowly getting better every week. Today the bannock people were there, and we were lucky enough to get a piece (up to $3 now), they ran out well before the market closed. Look what I got!
Asparagus plants! How cool are they, I'm very excited. In two years (fingers crossed) we will be able to pick aspragus right out of our back yards. This is some new hybrid that apparantly is easier to tend. Check back with me in two years and see if we're eating asparagus from our garden. If not, I'm out two bucks.

We have a little teeney fountain in our backyard, and now it has a water hyacinth in it.


Spinach! I see many yummy salads in our future this week.

Cook Most of the Book - Vegan With a Vengeance

I've got 3 more Vegan with a Vengeance recipes for you, one of which is my new favorite VwaV recipe. I know! The Pad Thai has dropped to second place already.

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Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toastaed Garlic (sides, pg 125)

Isa says: "Believe me when I tell you these are amazing. No, seriously. Roasting the brussel sprouts give them a popcorn-y flavor."

Sara says: "Pretty good, but I still like steamed sprouts better."


I like sprouts a lot, and this is the first time I've had them any other way than steamed. I liked these, I liked the garlic with them, but I'm sticking with steamed. Sorry.

What I did differently: Nothing.

What I'll do differently next time: Nothing. Maybe more garlic.

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Herb Roasted Potatos (brunch, pg 25)

Isa says: "You can't have brunch without potatos."

Sara says: "You're damn right, Isa."

These were really great. They got a nice brownness and crispness which I loved. My taters cooked much faster than the recipe, at the point where the potatos are to be tossed with the herbs and cooked another 20 minutes, mine were done.

What I did differently: omitted the thyme.

What I'll do differently next time: keep omitting the thyme.

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Pumpkin Waffles (brunch, pg 40)

Isa says: "...the best vegan waffles you've ever tasted."

Sara says: "These are NOT the best vegan waffles I've ever tasted. These are THE BEST WAFFLES I've ever tasted!"


I want you to stop what you're doing, click on this link to the recipe and go in the kitchen and make these suckers. These are the best, the best waffles I've ever had in my life. The pumpkin is not an overpowering flavor in the waffles, but it's there in the background, holding hands with the ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Seriously, these are super fantastic.

What I did differently: Made a half batch.

What I'll do differently next time: Make a full batch.


I know, I promised you Tempeh 2 weeks ago. It's coming next week, promise!

Bites v 5

Saturday was the 3rd farmers market of the year. Pretty much the same as the week before - mainly plants with a couple of baking stands. We bought some whole wheat buns and a rhubarb plant.
After the market we had planned to go for a walk in the park, then pick up some lunch stuff at the deli and have a picnic in the park. It was too windy, so we went home and I worked in the yard. When we were done, we had a jug (or two) of beergaritas. And then suddenly, somehow, Saturday was over.
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I love zucchini and I made these little baked zukes last month. It started off as a Jamie Oliver recipe from Cook with Jamie, but he made a vinaigrette with herbs, and I didn't have all the stuff, and Scott wanted garlic, so it became just zucchini tossed with garlic and olive oil and baked in the oven. They were really really great, and the next day I chopped up some of the leftovers into a salad.

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This recipe was what I made for dinner on Valentines day. Savory Bread Pudding with Spinach, Gruyere and Shiitakes from Food to Live By, that I received from Lis last year. I'll never be able to thank her enough for this great book.
We couldn't find any shiitakes, so we used brown mushrooms. We also cut back on the amount of spinach. It was really great, and we ate the leftovers for breakfasts.

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Coral Broccoli that I bought from the deli downtown. Tasted pretty much just like cauliflower to me.
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I don't really like pork chops anymore, I think they are too lean and no matter how careful I am they are always too dry. I had some in the freezer I wanted to get rid of. Thankfully I found a bbq crockpot recipe to use them up.

Here's the recipe from Chicken, again?. Very tasty and I like any recipe where my crockpot does most of the work.

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I am thinking of changing the name of this blog from i like to cook to "i want to cook everything that the cookbook junkie blogs about". Catchy, huh? I think I've got half her posts bookmarked. I love anything sweet and sour, like her Sweet and Sour Meatballs. Don't they look yummy?
They really were. Here's the recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs.

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Donut King opened here in Kamloops in December. The owner is a former Tim Hortons franchisee. He's opened his store in a former (not his) Tim Hortons location on the corner of Summit and Columbia. The big difference between Donut King and Tim Hortons? Donut King makes their donuts fresh daily, on premises. Tim Hortons donuts are made in a factory, frozen, and shipped to the stores where they are heated up.

I had to buy donuts for an early morning meeting a couple of months ago. I'd heard rave reviews about Donut King, so I picked up two dozen donuts. They were still warm.


The verdict? OH MY GOD. Those are some mighty fine donuts. I scooped a couple to take home to Scott after work. He nearly had a fit when he saw them - one was covered in toasted coconut which apparently is his favorite donut. That was news to me, but we don't eat that many donuts. Isn't the box so great?

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It's been ages since I shared a del.icio.us recipe of the week . My recipe count on del.icio.us has hit 305 which is frankly ridiculous. I need to stop bookmarking and start cooking what I've already saved. Back in February I spotted a vegan pate recipe over at one of my weekly reads the urban vegan. It sounded really interesting, and the ingredient list was so short and simple I couldn't believe it. I showed the recipe to Scott and just like that we were off to the store to pick up mushrooms and pecans.

This could not be a simpler dish to make. Toast your pecans in a large pan on top of the stove. Then whizz them into toasted pecan flour. Slice up your mushrooms and garlic and cook them. And cook them. And then cook them some more. Deglaze with sherry.

Then toss them in the food processor with the pecan flour and some olive oil. I added some extra sherry at this point just because I could.

We let it cool and later that night served it with crackers. (Go look at uv's picture of the finished pate, it's much nicer than mine.)

There are no words to tell you how great this is. It's nutty from the toasted pecans, it's earthy from the mushrooms. It's boozy from the sherry. And it's even more amazing the next day.

A million Thank You's to the urban vegan for sharing such a delicious recipe with the internet. It's so damn good.

Recipe:sherry-infused pate.

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I tried another recipe from the most recent Rachel Ray magazine. Unlike the Asparagus Popover that we liked so much, this one was a dud. The turkey meatballs were pretty easy to make, but were so bland. There wasn't much seasoning in them, so Scott added some Italian blend. If he hadn't these would have been much worse.
A couple of days later we heated up the leftovers in some pasta sauce for meatball sandwiches. They were ok. I wouldn't make this again.
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Normally the end of April would/should be too warm to have the oven on for 3+ hours to make stew, but that wasn't the case here in Kamloops. So I found a nice sounding stew recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Carbonnades a la Flamande (Beef and Onions Braised in Beer)




This was tremendous - definitely the best stew I've ever made. I added more brown sugar than called for, the sugar was hard so I just threw in a clump, and I really enjoyed the sweetness it added. I'm hoping the warm weather is here to stay, so I won't be able to make this again until at least November!
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I was very fortunate to receive an advanced copy of Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs (available on May 6):
I loved this book! I was excited to see that Kate is originally from Hope, BC (although now lives in the US) which is practically down the road from Kamloops. This is Kate's second book and her first based on cooking. Because I'm afraid I'll give too much away, here's the official blurb:
In this smart, delicious novel by the bestselling author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, a celebrity chef shows her friends and family the joy of fulfillment— and manages to spice up her own life at the same time.
Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta “Gus” Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she’d rather not—her own. She’s getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthday party. What she needs is time on her own with enough distance to give her loved ones the ingredients to put together successful lives without her.
Assisted by a handsome up-and-coming chef, Oliver, Gus invites a select group to take an on-air cooking class. But instead of just preaching to the foodie masses, she will teach regular people how to make rich, sensuous meals—real people making real food. Gus decides to bring a vibrant cast of friends and family on the program: Sabrina, her fickle daughter; Troy, Sabrina’s ex-husband; Anna, Gus’s timid neighbor; and Carmen, Gus’s pompous and beautiful competitor at the Cooking Channel. And when she begins to have more than collegial feelings for her sous-chef, Gus realizes that she might be able to rejuvenate not just her professional life, but her personal life as well. . . .

I really enjoyed reading Comfort Food. I loved the writing, and the characters. I loved the plot twists, those I saw coming and those I didn't. It was a really fun read and will have a permanent home in my bookcase. There's also a companion website to go with the book, with information about the book, characters, recipes, and games and quizzes. I'm proud to say I received top scores in the quizzes, thankyouverymuch. Check this book out! I don't think you'll be disappointed.

That Cookbook Thing. Cooking with friends and Julia Child.

Back in January I took part in a group review of a cookbook with some blog friends. We had so much fun, Mike thought we should do a similar group project on one of the classic cookbooks of all time, one of my heroes, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

There are 6 of us - Moi, Mike, Ruth, my great friend Mary, Deborah, and Mike's friend and new blogger, another Mary.

Over the next few months we'll be cooking some classic Julia dishes that we all had a hand in choosing. Our first recipe is Onion Soup.

Onion soup has got to be my favorite soup. When it's done properly it's a thing of beauty to be savored and write songs about. When it's done poorly nothing sucks more. But when it's good, awwww yeah. I've pretty much given up ordering onion soup when I eat out. At home I'm torn between 2 onion soup recipes, this Julia recipe and this one.

Julia's soup takes about 2 hours to make, but of course it's totally worth it. My Mom gave me the cute little bowls you see below, but I'm not sure if they're safe to put under the broiler. So once the bread and cheese were added (I used toasted pieces of the french sourdough we bought in Salmon Arm ) I baked them until the cheese melted, and then instead of broiling to brown the cheese, I sprinkled it with a little Parmesan instead. The recipe also called for you to stir a bit of chopped cheese into the bowls before topping with the bread and cheese. I'd never done that before, and I don't know if I'd do it again. It made the soup really really really cheesy. Scott loved it, of course. We had an option to go all the way with this recipe - make Soupe Gratineedes Trois Gourmandes - which, after you have broiled the soup, you whisk together cornstarch, and egg yolk, Worcestershire, and more cognac, then lift up the baked cheese crust and stir this in. I didn't do that, but heard that it is pretty darn good.
Look for a short re-cap of all our soups over at Mike's soon.

Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee
Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs/680g yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 quarts beef stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt & pepper to taste
3 tbsp cognac
Rounds of hard toasted French bread
1-2 cups coarsely grated Swiss or Parmesan Cheese

Cook the onions slowly in butter and oil in a large, heavy bottom Dutch oven, covered for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Uncover, raise heat to moderate and stir in salt and sugar. Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are an even, deep, golden brown. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat and blend in the boiling liquid. Add the wine and season to taste. Simmer, partially covered for 30-40 minutes. Correct seasoning.
Preheat oven to 325'.
Pour soup into each bowl, stir in some Swiss or Parmesan cheese. Place a slice of French bread on top of the soup and top with grated cheese to cover the bread. Bake for 20 minutes and then under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the top a bit. Serve immediately.

The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

I know there have been tons and tons of other blogs out there who have already posted about this book, but please give me 3 minutes of your time so I can gush too.

The Sweet Melissa Baking Book is written by Melissa Murphy, the owner of Sweet Melissa Patisserie in New York. Her bakery has been called "one of the best pastry shops in all of New York" by Food & Wine (according to the back of the book). So you know that this book is going to have some tasty treats in those pages.

There's a huge variety of recipes, from simple everyday snacks and desserts, to elaborate, dazzling cakes. I devoured this book like a novel, reading each recipe in all 6 chapters, marking pages of recipes I couldn't wait to try. My only criticism of this book - pictures, or lack thereof. I love pictures in all cookbooks, but especially in baking books. It always makes me feel better to be able to see the end result of what I'm trying to make. Other than that, this is a fantastic book that I'd recommend to anyone who loves baking or eating.

Although my list of recipes was loooooong, I tried 4 recipes for this review:

Fresh Strawberry Sauce
I found some nice berries in the store the day after I read this recipe. Strawberries are whizzed with sugar, lemon juice, and water to make a bright and fresh tasting sauce. I loved it, and used some for pancakes,
some on muffins (instead of butter), and even on fruit salad. So good.

We made up another batch of Strawberry Sauce for a jug full of Strawberry Lemonade.
I can't think of anything else to say but WOW. This was so great, I had no idea lemonade could be so good. I see my future this summer....it involves me sitting on the deck with a large glass of this.

Even better than the Strawberry Lemonade were the Savory Muffins. The book gives you a base recipe that lets you choose which kinds of cheese and veggies you'll use. You also get 4 variations. We chose the Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins.
I love savory over sweet, and a muffin with onions and cheese? That's for me! Easy recipe to follow, and once you've caramelized your onions, quick to make. We had these for all meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Always good.

Guys, I've saved the best for last. These beauties you see are Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes. And holy cow, are they amazing.
Cream cheese icing is sandwiched between tender little pumpkin cookies and it's the most incredible cookie I've ever eaten. I had 5 testers for these and all of them raved about them. One tester, in fact, ate more than his share and got himself in a boatload of trouble with everyone else! This recipe alone is worth buying this book. Believe me.



SAVORY MUFFINS

OK, not everything we make at Sweet Melissa's is sweet. We also have a lovely savory menu with homemade soups, sandwiches, quiches, and frittatas. I want to share this recipe for savory muffins with you because they are just so popular every morning at the shop. Like the Sweet Muffins, this Savory Muffins recipe is the base for a wealth of yummy creations. Check out some of my favorites, which follow. Once you get to know this recipe, feel free to make up your own! We use sautéed spinach, roasted cauliflower and zucchini, different cheeses—you get the idea. These muffins are delicious all by themselves or served alongside soups and salads. Makes 12 muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup crumbled or shredded cheese
1 cup chopped cooked vegetables (1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces) (or fruit, vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, see variations that follow)

BEFORE YOU START
Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with muffin papers (or butter and flour the cups or spray them with nonstick vegetable cooking spray).

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and sugar.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter and eggs. Whisk in the heavy cream and milk until combined.

3. Add the cheese and chopped vegetables to the flour mixture and gently toss with your fingers to coat. Make a well in the center. Pour the butter mixture into the center of the well and, using a rubber spatula, gently pull the flour mixture into the center of the well until just combined.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup until full. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until lightly golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins are best eaten the day they are made, but they can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and kept for 2 days at room temperature.
For longer storage, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Defrost still wrapped at room temperature.

Goat Cheese, Olive, and Thyme Muffins
Combine 1 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese, 3/4 cup pitted coarsely chopped Kalamata olives, and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme over the combined flour mixture and toss gently. Proceed as directed.

Caramelized Onion, Sage, and Cheddar Muffins
Sprinkle 1 cup chopped caramelized onions, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage, and 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the combined flour mixture and toss gently. Proceed as directed.

Bosc Pear, Blue Cheese, and Walnut Muffins
Sprinkle 1 cup peeled, cored, and chopped Bosc pears (instead of the vegetables); 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese and 1/2 cup coarsely chopped, lightly toasted walnuts over the combined flour mixture and toss gently. Proceed as directed.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Feta, and Oregano Muffins
Sprinkle 1 cup drained chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil); 1 cup crumbled feta cheese; and 1 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh oregano over the combined flour mixture and toss gently. Proceed as directed.

The foregoing is excerpted from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy. All rights reserved. Copyright © Melissa Murphy, 2008.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 27 Round Up - Vintage Cookbooks

The round up for WCC 27 is up!

Please visit Carla and check out this months tasty treats.

Cannelloni with Spinach Filling from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

Thanks Carla for hosting this month! You are more than welcome to host WCC any time you'd like!


I am hosting WCC for May,and the theme for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 28is........


TV COOKS.


Find a recipe from a cooking show from the food channel, PBS, or your local area. Or pick a recipe from a cookbook you've bought off TV! Of cook something from a non-cooking TV show cookbook (does that even make sense?) ie The Sopranos. If you don't have a cookbook that fits this theme, please feel free to find something in a magazine or online.

Please post your entry, with a link to WCC, and send it to me by Sunday May 25. My email address is iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

As always, if anyone out there has an idea for a theme or would like to host, let me know!

Farmers Market and Cheese! Glorious Cheese! And other stuff too.

So week 2 of the farmers market was slightly better than week 1. There were more vendors, but most of them were selling flowers and plants. We came away only with potatos and onions.

After the market we left town and drove to Salmon Arm, an hour East of Kamloops. When we lived in Calgary and drove out here for visits, we'd always stop at Gort's Gouda Cheese in Salmon Arm and load up on cheese. When we drove here in September we arrived in Salmon Arm after the store was closed, and we haven't been out that way since, so I was happy to visit again. We bought:
Smoked Habernero and Jalapeno Gouda, Smoked Gouda, Gouda with Cumin, Spiced Gouda, and Aged Gouda. We've never tried the Habernero and Jalapeno cheese before, and the sample we got was hotter than hell. I think it will be excellent in a tomato and cheese sandwich. Gort's is now certified organic now too.

I'd been searching for soba noodles the past week but had no luck. When I saw a natural foods store in SA, I ran in and sure enough, they had a few varieties. I got spelt soba, because I don't think we've had spelt before. I also bought some Himalayan salt, Rogan Josh sauce, and lentils in a sauce.

After we ate lunch we went for a walk and found a little bakery and bought a loaf of French sourdough bread. We also bought a nanaimo bar (only so-so) and a gingersnap cookie, which was fabulous. Neither made it back to the car. The cookie was just like the gingersnap cookies my mom made when I was little. Scott is planning on asking her for the recipe. Maybe she'll share it with you too!

Then we stopped at 2 outdoor markets - Pedro Gonzales Fruit Stand, where we bought some Chicks and Hens and Strawberry plants, and my second favorite place in SA after Gort's, De Milles Farm Market. After we bought our food,
big bag of peppers ($2.50!), corn, asparagus (loose, which I've never seen before), and and two "meal in a bag" things, one lentil and one bean, we visited the animals at the farm. I spent most of our time there chastising myself for not bringing our camera. We saw HUGE hogs, little pigs, ducks, all different sorts of chickens, peacocks, ponys, goats, llamas, turkeys, cows, rabbits.....I'm sure I'm forgetting some. On our way out we found the little table to buy animal feed from, so we went back in and fed the ponys, goats and llamas. Well, Scott fed the llamas, I though they looked mean. We had to team up to feed the goats, there was one mean goat, the biggest of course, who would head butt all the little goats out of the way to get the food. So I stood at one end of the pen and fed the meanie, who also tried to eat the strap on my bag, while Scott fed the little ones. After we washed all the animal slobber off our hands we headed home so we could put some of our groceries to good use for dinner.
But that's another post.
Happy Monday!

It's Hip To Be Square - Cheesecake Pops

This month's Daring Baker challenge was all about being creative and turning a cheesecake into adorable and fun cheesecake pops.

This is only the second baked cheesecake I've ever made, and the first time I've ever cooked anything in a water bath. The original recipe from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Conner as provided to us by Deborah (Taste and Tell) and Elle (Feeding My Enthusiasmn) made 30 to 40 pops. That's too many for us so I cut the recipe in half and baked the cheesecake in an 8X8X2 glass dish. It turned out well, although I think I could have taken it out a couple of minutes early.


The cheesecake was cooled to room temperature and then chilled overnight.

The next morning I was ready to shape the pops, add the lollypop sticks and then chill again before dipping in chocolatey goodness.


I liked the square shape better than balls - they were easier to make and I just thought they looked nicer.


We got 23 pops out of the batch; balls, squares and even a couple of rectangles.



When we were at Michaels picking up the lollypop sticks Scott found the candy melts. He picked up a bag of chocolate and a bag of peanut butter flavored. Mmmmmm, peanut butter cheesecake lollys!


We also used sprinkles and got as creative as we could.


While the pops were chilling before decorating, Scott thought up this little cheesecake pop holder. Hee!


These were pretty tasty, although the coating was a little heavy on some of them, and I could have done without the sprinkles. But the cheesecake itself was fabulous, and the pops were so cute and easy to make.


Thanks Deborah and Elle!

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Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Bread Baking Babes - Sullivan Street Potato PIzza (Two Days Late and a Pizza Short)

I'm late on posting this months Bread Baking Babes story - the other babes all posted on Friday. This was a recipe that called for a weekend day to bake, and mine just seem to fly by, with nothing accomplished in the end. I insisted that this would be the weekend to bake, and today was appointed the day.

Today I made my first Potato Pizza, two of my loves together in my kitchen at last - homemade pizza and potatos!


This is another wet dough, a dough that while it is mixing you cannot imagine it could become anything other than a big gloopy mess. But it did, sort of.


You must have a mixer for this, mixing time total is almost 30 minutes.


When the dough was finished it fell in sheets back into the bowl. It was quite beautiful; shiny and smooth looking. Silky.


Mine proofed a little longer than the 4 hours instructed. I had such hopes, it had risen and was full of bubbles.


This was where our problems started - we just could not get the dough to spread in the pan. We'd push it out, it would snap back. We let it sit and try again, nothing changed. We finally resigned ourselves that we wouldn't get the dough to fit the pan, let it sit for its final rising (during which I ran into the kitchen and tried to smoosh it out a couple more times), topped it with the thinly sliced onions, potatos and finely chopped fresh rosemary, and tossed it in the oven for cooking.


After 40 minutes, it looked pretty good. I wouldn't have minded a bit more color on the potatos, but the crust was getting pretty brown, so I thought its time should be up.

Ha ha, guess what happened next? That damn pizza was stuck solid to the pan! No amount of prying with spatulas, knives or fingers could loosen more than the barest edges of the crust. After working on it for ages we finally admitted defeat. That dough was not coming off anytime soon. I don't know why, it's a well used and well-taken-care-of pan. We oiled the bejeesus out of it.

So we nibbled on the couple of little pieces we were able to liberate. It was ok, although a little more bland that I had imagined. I pulled off as many of the potato and onion slices as I could (like I'd waste them!), and the pan is currently sitting on the kitchen counter as we figure out how to get the cement dough off the pan. I'll be dammed if we don't get it off; I bought that pan with a gift card at Williams Sonoma.

Go visit this months hostess Tanna's post for recipe links should you want to try this yourself.

Sigh.

First farmers market of the year...

Today was the opening day for the downtown market. It......wasn't good. Yes, we've had a sudden (and shitty) turn in the weather. It was utter crap at our house when we woke up this morning to temperatures below zero, and snow everywhere. It was slightly better downtown, but the market was a bust. Did the weather keep the shoppers away? Maybe, although the opening was hardly advertised. But where were all the vendors?


We picked up a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, some raisin-oatmeal-coconut cookies, and some eggs. The vendor we bought the bread from was handing out reusable bags with all purchases today, which was awesome. But over all, as much as I hate, hate, HATE to say it, it was a waste of time to drive all the way downtown.

Note to organizers: get your vendors lined up and ADVERTISE the damn thing. And pray for somewhat ok weather.

Cook Most of the Book - Vegan with a Vengeance

Ugh, I'm already week behind with my next Vegan with a Vengeance post, and it's only the second post! For someone with a boring life, I sure seem to be busy lately. Can't imagine why.

I've been trying to plan meals in advance, hoping that it will help me stay organized, make more new recipes and stay away from last minute bad choice dinners. So far so good.

Last week I made 3 dishes from Vegan with a Vengeance, but only two of them were new.

We liked the Brooklyn Pad Thai so much from the first week that I made it again, for my Mom's birthday dinner. Both she and my Dad really really liked it a lot.


Man, that recipe makes a lot of Pad Thai. The four of us barely ate half of it. This is still my new favorite dish.

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Fresh Corn Fritters (little meals, sammiches and finger foods, pg.74

Isa says: "These are really fast and yummy. ..... Serve with salsa or as a breakfast side in place of potatoes. "

Sara says: "Nothing can replace potatoes in my life, but these are pretty damn good."


I love corn, and I love corn fritters. This recipe had two ingredients I'd never had in a corn fritter before: tofu and maple syrup. They were both fast and yummy, although a little more delicate than my usual fritters; I managed to destroy quite a few of them during the flipping. We ate them as is, with a salad on the side.

What I did differently: Nothing. I followed the recipe to a "T", using the food processor (for whizzing the tofu) and all.

What I'll do differently next time: I might add a bit more jalapeño. Other than that, nothing.



Baked Cajun French Fries (sides, pg 115)

Isa says: "Nice spicy fries that are baked, not fried"

Sara says: "If it's potato, it's for me!"


Potatoes are my most favorite food, so I was pretty sure I'd like these. I didn't like them. I loved 'em. The wedges of potatoes are tossed with oil and a nice homemade cajun spice. In 30 minutes, you've got fries with a (big) kick.

What I did differently: Nothing. Well, I left them in the oven on low while I finished up a phone call. The call went on longer than I expected, so they were a little more crispy than I would have liked.

What I'll do differently next time: Is there a substitute for thyme? God I hate that herb. Other than that, I'd do the same thing, but not talk on the phone while cooking.


Next week: We try tempeh for the first time!

Asparagus Popover

I'm not a fan of any of Rachel Ray's TV shows, but I do like her magazine. My Dad and I take turns buying it every month, and after both households have read the magazine, it goes into "the library" (a wicker basket next to my bookcase) for future reference.

I always forget about the magazines as soon as they hit the basket, and as far as I can recall, I've never made a recipe out of one of her magazines.

Until now!

When I picked up the May Rachel Ray magazine at Costco on Saturday we also bought 2 pounds of asparagus. So when I found the recipe for the Asparagus Popover in the magazine Saturday night, all I had to do was add gruyere to the shopping list for Sunday.

And I did!


And we made it tonight for dinner and it was really really good. And easy to make. And we`ll have it a couple more times this Spring I bet. I've got my eye on a couple more recipes from this month. The asparagus tempura is calling to me, as are the turkey meatballs.

I know everyone has strong feelings about Rachel Ray, but what about her magazine - anyone read it? What do you think?

Asparagus Popovers
adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray

serves 4

1 lb asparagus
2 tb butter
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
3 oz gruyere, shredded or finely chopped

Preheat oven to 425'.
Bring a couple of inches of water to a boil in a large pan. Add asparagus and cook 3-5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain, rinse with cold water, then cut the asparagus spears into thirds. Set aside.
Put milk in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk in the eggs, then whisk in the flour, salt, pepper and sugar.
Place the butter in your oven safe skillet or baking dish and place in the oven. When the buttter has melted, remove from the oven and add the asparagus pieces in one layer (if possible). Pour the batter over top, and sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and set.

Um, sorry.

I like to look at the referrals to my blog every once in a while. Mostly the searches from yahoo and google and the like are food related. I get lot of people directed to this broccoli and cauliflower cannelloni, and this rapini pasta. Occasionally I get people visiting after searching for information on how to cook a penis (go here for my penis post).

But yesterday I got what I think is my most strangest, non food related search.

Via a Comcast search, someone visited my blog while searching for Babes Towels Falling Off.

And I was the number one result.


That poor, poor person who eagerly clicked on to my blog expecting to see......well, you know, and ended up with me instead, yammering about bread. Poor guy.

PS - so funny - Mary is number 4 on the list! Think he clicked there after being disappointed by me?

Smackdown - The Frugal Gourmet vs Galloping Gourmet - Simple Potatoes

Okeydokey, I'm moving on to two new chefs for Smackdown. I've gone back a few years for this one. Graham Kerr, aka The Galloping Gourmet started his TV show back in the 70's. Jeff Smith, aka The Frugal Gourmet began his PBC show in the 80's.

I was never a huge fan of Graham Kerr, but I bought a couple of small cookbooks of his second hand a couple of years ago. I've always liked the Frugal Gourmet; my parents and I would watch him on PBC when I was young. I've got a few of his books and all the recipes I've tried from them have been fantastic.

So here's a Gourmet challenge - Galloping vs Frugal. And the recipes? Simple potatoes.

Up first is the Galloping Gourmet. From his book The Galloping Gourmet Cookbook - Favorite Dishes: Italy, Australia, New Zealand, here's Ngaruahoe Potatoes, which are basically potato skins.


And from the Frugal Gourmet and his book The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook we have Italian Fried Potatoes.


Let's start with the Ngaoo - Ngaee - Nypoo potato skins from Graham Kerr. First off, this may be the most awful cookbook I own. Who edited this thing???? Almost every recipe has something missing, whether it's an ingredient amount, cooking temperature or time, something. Some of them have "handwritten notes" from Kerr, which after seeing all the omissions makes me think they typed this book up, fixed what they saw after the first read through, and then called it a day. This recipe calls for _ cup cream and tells you to bake the potatoes for 1 to 1 hours. Another recipe calls for cup butter, cups clarified butter, tsp fennel, tsp something else. I hope the editor of this book got smacked after publication. They deserve it.

But the dish. It was boring as hell. After your spuds have cooked you slice them in half, scoop out the innards and mix them with cream, tomato and green onion. Stuff it back in and serve. They needed something - more veggies, spices, cheese - to make them more interesting.


The potatos from Jeff Smith on the other hand were fantastic! Thinly sliced and pan fried twice (to make them crispy) with olive oil and garlic. A little more fussy and time consuming, but well worth it.

Well we've obviously got a clear winner here! To be honest I thought this one might be a tie. I love potatoes so much that it's rare they're not my favorite part of a meal. The Frugal Gourmet's potatoes will grace our table again soon. The Galloping Gourmet's book will soon grace the donation pile.

Italian Fried Potatoes
from The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook
serves 4 to 6

2 lb russet potatoes, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
salt to taste

Slice the potatoes thinly. Heat a large non stick frying pan and add half the oil. Add the garlic and the sliced potatoes. Pan fry on one side until lightly brown. Turn and brown the other side. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Heat the pan again with the remaining oil and cook again on both sides until nicely brown and tender.
Salt to taste and serve.

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Up next on Smackdown, dishes from two of Scott's least favorite Food Network male hosts!

Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Vintage Cookbooks - Fried Apples and Bacon

Last month the most wonderful event was held in Kamloops. The Kamloops Symphony held their Spring Book Sale. Imagine a big room full of books, all for $2 each! I visited them about 400000 times, and in total bought 10 cookbooks. A couple of them are pretty new - the copy of Cook Smart for a Healthy Heart looks like it was never even opened and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cooking (2 bucks! how could i resist????) also looks unused, and I know some of you out there would say that's a good thing. :)

Anyway, the other 8 are older books and that fits perfectly into the theme that Carla of Chocolate Moosey has picked for this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Vintage Cookbooks. Any book published before 1980 is fair game.

Cooking in Color - 700 Recipes For Every Occasion was first published in 1976. It's full of tons of veggie and fruit recipes, although most of them contain obscene amounts of butter/eggs/cheese/mayo. I'm not sure how often I'll pull this off the shelf to cook with, but it's pretty fun to read. For WCC I chose a healthy breakfast - Bacon and Apple Rings. Not an overly diet friendly dish, but I had more apples than bacon on my plate, so I'm counting that for something. I did make a couple of changes - I omitted the butter you were supposed to fry the bacon in (!), and I removed most of the bacon fat before I cooked the apple slices. This was fairly quick and quite yummy for a slow Sunday breakfast eaten at the table with the weekend papers and lots of coffee (for Scott) and milk (for me). Should I make this again? Probably not. Will I make this again? Hell yes.


Please visit Carla and read her WCC post for all the detail for this month.

Bacon and Apple Rings
adapted from Cooking in Color - 700 Recipes For Every Occasion

Serves 4 (haaaaaaaa!)

8 oz bacon
2 golden delicious apples cored and thinly sliced
1 tbsp sugar

Cook the bacon in a large pan over medium high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel to drain. Keep warm. Remove at least half the bacon fat from the pan. Add the apple slices and fry until tender and golden on both sides. Arrange bacon and apple slices on a serving plate and sprinkle with sugar. Serve immediately with hot toast.