I'M KVELLING OVER HERE: REAL HONEST JEWISH PURIST'S BAGELS

Ok, so normally I start off my monthly Daring Bakers post by telling you how the challenge scared me and I wasn't going to take part until some one talked me into it. Well, not this month, honey!

This month we were challenged by Quiella of All Things Edible and Freya of Writing At The Kitchen Table to make bagels. Jewish bagels. I know next to nothing about bagels, other than I like them, but the notes in the recipe indicate that these are Jewish bagels because they conform to Kosher laws, meaning they have no eggs, milk, or oil. The only ingredients are flour, yeast, salt, sugar or honey and water.

I've never had much luck using yeast before, but being a member of the Daring Bakers means to be daring and adventurous. Goonies never say die!

Ahem. Anyway! As I was saying, I've never had much luck with yeast and pretty much gave up trying to make bread years ago. But this sounded like so much fun, with the kneading and the boiling and the customizing of toppings.

This is a thrilling picture of my yeast proofing.

I have never actually seen yeast do this before - you could see it moving around in there! Sort of freaky. And below here I am adding in my flour. I should mention that I had to use whole wheat bread flour as the grocery store only had whole wheat or multigrain bread flour, they were out of white. At first I was disappointed, but I only had so much time that day and couldn't go to another store. In the end I was glad I'd used whole wheat though. The flavor and color were terrific. I used 7 1/2 of the 6-8 cups in the recipe. I wasn't completely sure my dough was "a nice stiff dough...quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough" but it seemed ok. Now came the first hand-wringing moment...the rising. Was the yeast any good? Would the dough rise, and double in volume?
Yes, yes it would. Here it is after only 20 minutes!

Here's my formed bagels. I went with the ball method of forming them - I cut the dough into 15 pieces, then gently squished the dough into a ball and poked my fingers thru the middle to make the centre. The bagels sat and rose some more while I got my water ready. Then I boiled them.

All my bagels were floaters, no sinkers here. Next time I make these (oh yes, there will BE a next time) I will make them smaller. Maybe 20 to start and see how that goes. They were so big I could only boil 2 at a time. After the boiling was the time to decide how or if you would top your bagels. I left some plain, topped some with dried minced onion and some with fresh minced garlic. I can't even describe how great the house smelled. FYI to anyone who makes these - go heavy on the cornmeal on your baking pan. One of the bagels stuck to that pan like it had been cemented there. There they are - aren't they gorgeous! I can't believe I made these all by myself. They are delicious, especially with a schmear of cream cheese. Scott packed some up for freezing, although I don't know why he bothered, we are going thru them like wildfire.

So there's my Jewish bagel saga! Thanks for reading. If any one out there would like to give these a try, and you should, go here for the recipe. All the members of the Daring Bakers are posting about their bagels today, June 27. Please check them out; I have a list of everyone in my side bar.

I am going to close this post out on a bit of a sappy note. This is my third challenge with the Daring Bakers. I am astonished at the amount of confidence I have gained in the kitchen in that time. I am doing things I never would have imagined I could do. I am learning techniques I've always wanted to try. I am more willing to take chances and try new things that in the past I would never have dared. I am kicking ass and taking names! I would like to thank Mary for nominating me as a member of the DB's. I thank Lis and Ivonne for saying yes, and of course for coming up with the whole Daring Bakers thing in the first place. I would like to thank Brilynn for challenging us with the Crepe Cake. Thank you to Helen for the Gateau Saint Honore. And thanks to Quiella and Freya for the bagels. You guys and the rest of the group are a great bunch of people and I am so happy to be part of this group. Until next time!

de.icio.us recipe of the week - vegan gravy

In my del.icio.us besides recipes I also have some websites bookmarked (click here if you are interested) and one of those is vegan lunchcast. Ken posts about vegan food he eats out and what he makes at home, all while trying to lose weight. I really like his blog. (Sadly, he's now on hiatus.) He posted about this gravy from Bryanna Clark Grogan and how much he enjoyed it - Bryanna's Rich (Fat Free) Brown Gravy (Vegan). I have been hankering for some biscuits and gravy for a while now and I thought this could be a fun weekend breakfast. It is a very fast, simple recipe with only 4 ingredients: flour, nutritional yeast, water and soy sauce.


Nutritional Yeast is a very popular ingredient with vegetarians and vegans. It is full of B vitamins and is low in fat and sodium. It can be used right in recipes, or as a seasoning. The bottle I have says that it can be used as a popcorn seasoning as well. Nutritional Yeast has a very strong (at least to me) cheesy flavor. You may remember that I used it in this pasta recipe and it really did taste like there was cheese in there.

We didn't like this gravy. I am not saying this is a bad recipe, and I certainly was not expecting the gravy to taste like gravy made with meat or chicken. The taste was just too strong for us, and I think that that is because we haven't had much experience with Nutritional Yeast. I will be setting this recipe aside, and once I've had a chance to cook with Nutritional Yeast a few more times, we'll try it again.

If anyone out there gives this a try, please email me or leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Recipe: Bryanna's Rich (Fat Free) Brown Gravy (Vegan).

del.icio.us recipe update - in my first del.icio.us recipe of the week post (here), I told you that my recipe collection on del.icio.us hit 100 on May 16. Total as of today - 132!

Food TV.ca Cooking Club - I messed up my merengues.

June is the second month of Cooking Club at Food for Thought. This month's recipe comes from French Food at Home: Crisp Chewy Meringues. Like most people, I am guessing, the only meringues I have ever encountered are those pale, bone dry, hard as rock horrors sold in the bakery department of grocery stores.

I was not planning on participating until I read a comment left on this post by Laura of the Meringues. She asked that the people who were leaving comments saying they hated meringues to try these and see what a real meringue is supposed to be.

I'll quote Laura here: This recipe makes you understand why meringues were invented in the first place: they crunch on the outside (but there's just a membrane-like crust of that crispness, like thin ice), then you sink through a stiffly foamy limbo into a centre of marshmallowy gooiness.

Well, I'm sold! So I gave them a try.

Because I had never made meringues before I decided I would follow the recipe to the letter. I whipped the egg whites with the salt, cream of tartar, and sugar. I played it safe and chose to use vanilla over the orange water, and my uncooked meringues looked and smelled beautiful. Then the trouble started. The recipe says it makes 16 meringues. They were enormous! But I had to follow the recipe, so 16 it was. After the 1 1/2 hours of cooking the meringues had colored beautifully, but they were not crisp. So I kept them in the oven. For another hour. Then it hit me - the meringues would probably crisp us as they were cooling - just because they were so large didn't mean they needed so much extra oven time. I took them out of the oven, but I knew it was too late. We cracked open the largest one before it had cooled and managed to pull out a thimbleful of delicious somewhat soft goo. As the meringues hardened though, it was apparent I had made the exact cookies I hate so much - rock hard, use-them-as bricks meringues.

They look pretty though, don't they?

But, the bit of meringue we were able to salvage was delicious! It was exactly as Laura had described it - sweet and marshmallow-like and addictive. We were sorry we had such a little taste. I will be making these again, although not before the deadline of cooking club. Next time I will be more confident in myself and the recipe, and maybe go wild and use the orange water too!

If you'd like to take part in Cooking Club, email your post to Catherine by June 30.

Recipe: Crisp Chewy Meringues by Laura Calder.

Salad Straviganza - I love tomatos and pineapple.

My lovely friend Lis and her friend Kelly are ladies on a mission: to add more variety to their salad repertoire. They've put out the call to all bloggers to share salad recipes and here's my contribution.

Of course this is the perfect time of year to discover new salad recipes. Today happens to be the first day of summer and I am keeping my fingers crossed that our weather will stay as nice as it has been the last few days. Ease up on the rain please, Mother Nature, and no more snow!

Ok so here are the first two salads, I call this Tomato Salad, Two Ways.

Here's the first salad, the base salad, if you will.


This is delicious, easy and light. Chop up (bite size chunks, not too small) some lovely ripe tomatos. I used reds and yellows. Toss the with 1/2 to 1 tsp salt and let them sit for 20 minutes so all the juices can start to run out. Finely chop 1 big fat garlic clove and 1 hot red chile, seeded. Mix them in, along with some dried oregano, and a splash of red wine vinegar and a bit of olive oil. Let the salad sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so to meld all the flavors. When you serve it up, make sure every one gets some of the juices to mop up with bread.

The second way to serve this tomato salad is to turn it into a pasta salad. So boil up some noodles, drain them and toss into the tomato salad. Add some basil if you've got some handy. Some cheese (feta, mozza, parm) would be yummy too.


Oooooooooh, I'm hungry again!


It might be a bit of a stretch to call these next two plates salads, but this is my blog and I'll do what I want.

I love, love, LOVE pineapple. If I could only have one fruit for the rest of my life, I'd choose pineapple. And cherries. If you do a search on my blog like this, you can see some of the stuff we've done with pineapple.

A few months ago I got my hands on a bottle of orange flower water. And then I couldn't remember why I had wanted it. So it's been sitting in the pantry for a while. My first pineapple salad is "Pineapple and Orange Flower Water" Give me a prize for coming up with that name!


Thinly sliced pineapple on a plate drizzled with orange flower water. Be sparing with the water until you try it; the taste is quite interesting.

Next up is practically the same thing, yet different. I love pineapple in dishes like stir fries and curries. So here I've eliminate the pesky noodles and vegetables and served up my two favorite tastes. And they taste great together: Curried Pineapple "Salad".


Cut up your Ananas comosus into little chunks. Plate 'em up and sprinkle lightly with curry powder.

It is so damn good.

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In other news, I am doing some guest blogging from time to time over at Food for Thought, the Foodtv.ca blog.

My first piece is up. Won't you go check it out?

Garden Update - 3 weeks in

We planted our garden three weeks ago and I know you guys are dying to see how it's coming along. Well, I aim to please!
Here's some of the lettuce. Getting bigger!
Thanks to my Mom and Dad we've added 3 pepper plants to the garden.
Onions! Look how big they are.
The potatos are kicking some a$$.
Not much change in the tomato and zucchini plants.
There was nothing happening in the Carrot and Spinach areas. We bought some new seeds are were going to replant and lo and behold, the carrots had started to spring up. So we left them alone and replanted the spinach area with spinach and beets.
The radishes.
Carrots.
A new heirloom tomato plant, thanks Mom and Dad!

So, it's going ok so far. We've had lots and lots of rain; some sun would be welcome I'm sure.

How are your gardens? What are you growing this year?

Weekend Herb Blogging - Grilled Zucchini and Proscuitto Pizza with Sage

Last month I finished up my ABC's of Food with Z is for Zucchini. It was one of my more favorite letters because we enjoy zucchini so much - not only is it so good for you, being low in fat and calories, and a good source of Vitamin C, but it is also very versatile. In addition to the 2 recipes I posted there were some others that didn't make the cut because they are works in progress, a zuke bread that needs tweaking, and there were some ideas I didn't get to try before it was time to post.

This is a dish that I didn't get a chance to make before I posted Z.
Grilled Zucchini and Prosciutto Pizza.
I was hoping that it would look a little prettier for the picture, that the grilled zucchini slices would stand out a bit more, but after one bite I didn't care anymore. This pizza was wicked-delicious.

I sliced some small zucchinis lengthwise and tossed them with some oil, pepper and chopped garlic. Then we grilled them up until they were all pretty. I made my own pizza sauce and used sage instead of basil and oregano. Sage and Zucchini are so perfect together, you know? And garlic. Always garlic in our pizza sauces. The sauce went on to the crust, followed by a bit of cheese, then the prosciutto and zucchini, and a bit more cheese. Into the oven, then out and look at this:
You're drooling aren't you? Me too.

Since this recipe features zucchini and sage it is perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging, started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and this week hosted by Rachel's Bite.

My parents are coming today for the weekend (yay!), so I'll see you next week. Have a great weekend.

WEEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE 17 ROUND UP

Lemony Biscotti from Ruth at Once Upon a Feast

Hi everyone, Ani has the round up for WCC 17 HERE.

Thank for hosting this month Ani!

WCC 18's theme is......

Red and White.


So grab a recipe that has a red or white ingredient. Or use a cookbook with a red cover. Or cook a recipe by Betty White!

Send me your posts by July 15. My email address is iliketocook at shaw dot ca.

Cheers!

ps - as always, if you would like to host WCC or if you have a theme suggestion, email me.

I AM NOT OVERWEIGHT. I AM CHOCOLATE-ENRICHED.

That may be the best food quote I've ever come across.


I adapted this cake from a recipe I found on the Internet ages ago. I haven't made this in years and years, probably since before Scott and I got married, but I came across it in one of my notebooks while looking for a dessert to take to someones house recently.

Scott and I not really dessert people. We never order dessert when we go out to dinner, and we rarely have it at home. Most of the sweet stuff you see here is either made for company we are having or gets whisked off to my office the next day. But who doesn't like something chocolaty from time to time? To me, this is the most decadent dessert out there. Flourless chocolate cake is so incredibly rich that you only need the smallest slice. (Yeah right!)

This is the nicest picture I have; we didn't eat it at home.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup butter
6 eggs, separated
12 tb sugar
1 tb vanilla

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate

Spray a 9 1/2" springform pan with non stick spray. Line the bottom of the springform pan with waxed paper or parchment paper and lightly spray the paper. Wrap the outside of the pan in aluminium foil. Set aside.

In a large pan or pot heat the butter and chocolate over medium heat until melted and combined. Set aside to cool.

Using electric beaters or a stand mixer Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly beat in 6 tb of sugar and continue to whip until the eggs reach firm peaks.

In another bowl beat the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar until the yolks are thick and pale yellow. Mix in the vanilla. With a spatula, mix in the chocolate and butter. Fold one quarter of the egg whites in very gently. Fold in the rest of the whites in 3 more additions.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350' for 50 - 60 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick - it should be fairly clean with a bit of crumb.

Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack. The centre of the cake will fall - gently press down the sides with a spatula or wooden spoon. Let cool for at least 2 or 3 hours.

Remove the pan sides and carefully invert the cake back onto the rack. It is fragile, so be very careful. Remove the pan bottom and wax paper. Leave to cool completely.

In a small pot or in the microwave melt the chocolate and heavy cream together until smooth. Pour over the cake to glaze the top.

So now I ask you - what is your very favorite dessert?

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 17 - Cornmeal

This month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge is the 17th and is hosted by Ani over at Foodie Chickie. Ani chose Cornmeal as her theme.

I can't believe how close to the deadline I am posting this, but this theme really kicked my butt. To my surprise, I had a difficult time finding a recipe I wanted to make. When Ani told me she was choosing cornmeal, I remembered a spoon bread recipe I had seen that I wanted to try. So I made that. Eh, it was only OK.

This was so boring, Scott fell asleep while eating it.

So I decided to keep looking. I looked. And looked, and looked. And three weeks later I was still looking. I tore my bookcase apart looking for something that interested me. Nothing! I didn't want to make polenta. I didn't want to make cornbread. I didn't want cornmeal crusted chicken livers (ew!). Finally I found something perfect for breakfast this morning - Lemon Cornmeal Waffles.


The best purchase I made last year was a new waffle iron. For years I thought I just couldn't make waffles, now I know I just had a crappy waffle iron. The crunch the cornmeal added to these waffles was really nice, as was the lemon. The original recipe had a blueberry sauce to accompany the waffles, but we skipped that and topped the waffles with raspberries and maple syrup. The recipe made a ton, so I've frozen some for quick breakfasts during the week. Hopefully they'll toast up well.

Ani, you almost got me on this one!

Lemon Cornmeal Waffles
adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

yes I feel bad - I have un-veganized this recipe! Blame Safeway, they didn't have any soy yogurt.

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup oil
2 cups milk
1/4 cup yogurt
Juice and zest of one lemon (wash it first!)
1/4 cup sugar

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cornmeal. In another bowl whisk the oil, milk, yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and sugar. Pour the milk mixture into the dry mixture and stir to blend. Heat your waffle iron, spray lightly with non-stick spray, and pour the batter in (my iron takes about 1/4 cup per waffle). Close the lid and cook until done.


You have until June 11 to get your WCC posts to Ani. So what are you waiting for? Email a link to her at foodiechickie at yahoo dot com.

Presto Pasta - Two Pasta Salads

Except for a huge storm that flooded areas of Calgary earlier this week, our weather has much improved from this. We've had lots of sun and heat and I've been trying to use the stove and oven as little as possible. One way we've been doing that is lots of salads. I've got two to share with Ruth this week for Presto Pasta Night. I love pasta salads but I never had any luck making them taste good until I switched from mayonnaise dressings to oil and vinegar. Now I am a fool! I mean, a pasta salad making fool!



I made the salad above with some more frozen veggies from the freezer (zucchini and carrots), diced tomatos and red pepper and fresh pea shoots. I tossed the veggies and pasta with a vinaigrette and lunch was served.



This pasta salad was very delicious - the wonderful avocado pasta salad from Mixed Salad Annie - and oh man, it was so good. I cut the amount of avocado in half and added some leftover grilled zucchini. I left out the fresh herbs (I rarely have them on hand) and used some dried basil and oregano instead. We'll be making this again soon, for sure.

Asian Night Market

The weather here in Calgary has finally wised up and this past weekend the place to be was definitely outside. On Saturday we headed downtown to the Olympic Plaza (where Medal Presentations were held during the 1988 Winter Olympics) for the Asian Night Market.

The market was modeled after busy markets in Asia, and the Plaza was packed full of vendors selling clothes, toys and games, art, and food, of course. There were fortune tellers, karaoke, henna tattoos, and table tennis demonstrations as well as dance performances and lively music.


Two dragon boats were on display in the wading pool, which was full of kids and adults. It was a very warm night.


The food was going fast, but we managed to get our hands on a plate of spring rolls and rice.


Both were great, but I was a little sorry that we missed out on both the sushi and a curry dish we heard people exclaiming over.


We checked out the tea house and the ice cream stand (the green tea ice cream was delicious!) and all the snack stands. We tried a few treats and the Tam Tam crackers (Crab flavored) were our favorite. Funny though, they didn’t taste at all like crab!


We left before dark but heard that the Chinese lanterns strung around the park would be lit and more music would be played before the night was closed out with an outdoor showing of a classic King-Fu film. Judging from the large crowd there when we arrived and the even larger crowd by the time we left, the market was a hit.

4 Mexican(ish) Meatless Recipes and a Meme.

I give to you a combination of 4 unfinished posts all about Mexican Food rolled into one super fantastic post. And, they are all meat-free! You're welcome!

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This sandwich easily could have fit in to Sandwich Week!, but it's too late. So it will have to stand on it's own. And it does, very well.

I am a sucker for anything remotely Mexican. I've combined 3 of my favorite Mexican ingredients - guacamole (homemade), salsa (nice and chunky and homemade) and refried beans - into a easy, fast and delicious sandwich.

Cut some nice soft buns in half and pull out some of the soft insides to make a hollow space. Heat up some refried beans (to nice and warm, not screaming hot!) and season them with hot sauce if you want. Spread some of the beans on one side of each bun. Smear some guacamole and salsa on the buns too, close up and enjoy.

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Veggie Burritos

I am still pining away over Maui Taco, and still stewing over the fact I didn't buy their cookbook. So to cheer myself up we made some burritos that were in the end, nothing like the burritos from Maui Taco.


1 cup corn kernels, thawed if using frozen
1 can beans (pinto, kidney, black) rinsed and drained
1 small can chopped green chiles
salsa
rice (cooked with tomato paste and hot sauce added to the water for color and flavor)
sour cream
cheese
flour tortillas


Mix together the corn, beans and chiles. To assemble your burrito, lay some rice down the middle of the burrito. Top with the veggies, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. Roll up your burrito. Don't know how? Here, go watch this video. Fast forward to 2:30 for instructions.


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A couple of months ago my office mates and I went out for lunch. One of the specials was a Mexican Pizza topped with beans, ground beef, cheese, salsa and sour cream. I asked for the pizza without meat. When they brought it to the table they had also left off the salsa and sour cream. I didn't say anything; it was delicious with just the beans and cheese. I told Scott about it and soon after we made our own version.

Mexican Pizza

It's hard to give amounts for something like this, but here is what we did. We spread refried beans on a pre-made whole wheat pizza crust. Use as much or as little as you like. Spread chopped tomatos, green onions and shredded cheese over the top and bake as per the crusts instructions.


When the pizza is done and out of the oven, drizzle it with sour cream and salsa. Serve straight away. (We knew we were not going to eat the whole pizza, so we drizzled the slices individually.)




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This one is tied with the Mexican Pizza for my favorite recipe right now. This recipe is based on a recipe that my Mom gave me a couple of years ago. It's ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning baked with potatos and salsa. I wanted something similar, but without meat. So I came up with this, and frankly I like it wayyyyyy better than the one with meat!

Mexi-Beany Spuds

1 lb new potatos, washed and cut in half
2 tb oil
2 tsp taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
3 tsp taco seasoning
1 small can chopped green chiles
1 1/2 cups grated cheese

Toss the potatos with the oil and taco seasoning. Pour into an 8x8 dish and bake at 400' for 20-30 minutes or until the potatos are tender.



Mix the beans and second amount of taco seasoning together. When the potatos are done spread the beans over the potatos. Top the beans with a layer of chiles, then the cheese.



Bake for another 20 minutes until heated thru and the cheese had melted.


So damn good.

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Boy I sure do seem to like refried beans.

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And Emmy from Vegan Diva has tagged me with this Meme - 7 Random Things About Me. 2 memes so close together! Oh why not.

1. I have lived in 2 provinces in Canada; British Columbia and Alberta.

2. I have never been out of North America. I have been to 4 provinces in Canada and 8 states in the U.S.

3. Surely not a sign that I am immature or anything, but I had the chicken pox when I was 19, my appendix out when I was 22 and the mumps when I was 28.

4. I like chocolate. I like cake. I do not like chocolate cake.

5. I love Old Dutch Ketchup potato chips but I hate that they stain my fingers red, so I rarely eat them.

6. I am an only child.

7. I do not have the lobes of my ears pierced. I do have a tragus piercing and a helix orbital piercing.

And now 7 people to tag!

1 Mary, The Sour Dough
2 Lis, La Mia Cucina
3 Mike, Mel's Diner
4 Patricia, Technicolor Kitchen
5 Tanna, My Kitchen in Half Cups
6 Ruth, Once Upon a Feast
7 Anyone else who'd like to take part.

Have a great day!

The Deep Freeze Summer Challenge, or, How Green Is My Curry.

I've written about the state of my pantry and spice cupboard before but I've never mentioned my freezers. That would be because I am ASHAMED, people. Both of them (my small freezer in the basement and the freezer in my fridge) are so chock full of God-knows-what it truly is embarrassing. The freezer part of the fridge is also a hazard; it's pretty much guaranteed that something will fly out at you every time the door is opened. In our kitchen you've got to move fast to avoid falling leftovers. And every time I am hit by falling soup/broccoli/eggos I tell Scott we've got to start using up what ever the heck is in there. But we don't. So coming across The Deep Freeze Summer Challenge over at Mele Cotte last week was exactly what I needed to jump start my plan to clean out my freezers.

After rummaging past all the hot dogs (seriously Scott, stop buying hot dogs!) and frozen bread products (why do feel the need to freeze all the buns, bread and muffins that are going to go stale? what do I think I will ever do with them?) I came across two promising, heading towards freezer burned items. A bag of stir fry vegetables and a bag of rhubarb.


The guidelines for the challenge say that you can supplement your freezer items with seasonings/oils/milk/eggs as needed. So I stuck as close to that as I could.


Green Vegetable Curry

2 tb oil
1 tb ginger (mine was from the freezer)
2 lb frozen stir fry vegetables (ours was so good - squash, peas, bamboo, water chestnuts, mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli)
1 1/2 tb green curry paste
1 can lite coconut milk

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the ginger and cook for a few minutes until fragrant but not brown. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are heated through. Add the coconut milk and curry paste. 1 1/2 tb of curry makes a medium spicy dish. Stir well, lower heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.


To answer my own question, my curry was the most beautiful pale green! I wish I had a better camera, this was a very pretty dish.

I did not serve this with rice, as I didn't have any in the freezer, but I will be making some rice for the leftovers.


Then I turned my attention to the rhubarb, in the freezer since last year when my boss gave it to me.

Stewed Rhubarb

4 cups of sliced rhubarb into a pot over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup of water, 1 tb ginger, 3 tb sugar (I don't like my rhubarb very sweet) and a couple of shakes of Chinese 5 Spice Powder. Simmer gently until the rhubarb is softened and broken down.


This is so good on its own, but is also nice stirred into plain yogurt or served warm over ice cream.

I'm feeling better about the freezer situation; I've got some plans for other stuff in there now - there's pizza shells, tomato sauce, even some tofu! I'll be eating some good stuff. And as soon as Scott gets all those hot dogs eaten, he will too.