Potlucks

Last summer a couple of the ladies that I work with and I were talking about work, how stressed we could get, how sometimes we felt solitary, even though there are people everywhere.  The idea of a morale-boosting lunch came up, and after no progress in the weeks that followed, I jumped in and organized a potluck lunch for our department.

It was a great lunch; fun and relaxing and full of amazing food.  We decided to do it monthly and we have been, for the past 7 months now.  I am still the organizer and each month after the date is picked I email everyone their course.  (I have a spreadsheet I created to keep track of who has made which course for what month, so no one has to make a main course 3 months in a row.)  It's a nice way to socialize and relax for an hour.  It's also a super way to find new recipes.  The dishes have been creative and awesome and we definitely eat well.  We've had pulled pork sandwiches, quesadillas, Italian meatloaf, bacon wrapped asparagus, cheesecake, and oh mah gawd.  So much good food.  Gee, I can't figure out why I am not losing any weight......

I don't have photos of most of my dishes but I thought I'd share what I've made for the lunches so far.

1.  Vegetable - Cauliflower with Tomato Curry Sauce- I found this in a Weight Watchers cookbook I own. Recipe here.  This was fabulous and the curry sauce is amazing.  It would be great on other veggies or even meat, if you were so inclined. 

2. Dessert - Tofu Mousse.  Even after all these months, this is still a sore spot with me.  I have made this mousse a few times before.  It is really really good mousse.  Anyway the day of the potluck I shared the "secret" of the mousse with one of my friends.  She was quite surprised and was looking forward to trying it.  Since it has been a few years since I made it, all of a sudden I couldn't decide if I should take the mousses out of the fridge for a while before the lunch, or leave them in until the last minute.  I left them in the fridge, which was the wrong thing to do.  The mousse was too firm.  As my friend blurted out the ingredients of the mousse everyone took their first bite.....and it was too cold and too hard.  No one said anything, but I could see that most people weren't enjoying it.  I told everyone to let the dessert sit on their desks for a bit that afternoon and then eat them.  I know a couple of them did, but I know a few got tossed out.  It bummed me out, that a tofu dish was getting a bad rap AND quite frankly, that I was coming off looking like I don't know how to cook.

3. Main dish - Lettuce Wraps.  This was a Rachael Ray recipe, chicken and veggies wrapped in lettuce.  It was good.

4.  Christmas - Caramels - This one has a story behind it that I was planning on telling here, but I don't know if I will.  Short version is that I tried to make butterscotch sauce for ice cream, but it solidified, so I smeared it on to pretzel squares and drizzled them with chocolate for our Christmas potluck.

5. Drink - Grapefruit Margaritas - Everyone in the potluck group has agreed that Drink is the hardest category - especially when the drink has to be non-alcoholic.  I found a recipe at Martha Stewart for Pink Grapefruit Margaritas.  They were a hit - very refreshing.  I will make these again when the weather warms up.

6.  Appie - Tomatos Stuffed with Guacamole - so easy to make.

7. Salad - Chop Chop Salad.  I have a photo of this one, only because I've made it before.  A real winner from Guy Fieri.  Excellent. 

At the top of my wish list

My God, I would LOVE to try one of these. Do you think it really works?

It would be SO MUCh fun to buy some of these TV products and really test them out in the kitchen.....anyone want to be the sponsor?

Grocery Shop X 3 and cookbooks

I sometimes remember to take photos, but then I never have time to post them.

Yesterday we went for groceries:

Milk, pop, tortilla chips,salad, a piece of flank steak rolled with cheese and spinach (had it for dinner last night and it was very nice), grapes, strawberries, lunch meat, tomatos, sour cream, yogurt, bread, onions, cheese, mayo, salsa, coffee, kiwi, broccoli.  This store tells you on the receipt how much you have saved.  We saved $15.21, and I have a $5 coupon, so we saved over 20 bucks.  Not too shabby.

This is last weeks shop:

Milk, tomato juice, pop, bread, bananas, 2 bags of noodles, lunch meat, salad, kiwis, bell peppers, bbq sauce, strawberries, carrots, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, juice, broccoli and potatos.

And the week before:

Which is hard to remember. Rice, spinach, some terrible terrible veggie chips, yogurt, waffles, soup, green onions, salad, romaine, apples.

I made this for dinner Friday night, chicken stir fried with spinach from Mark Bittmans How to Cook Everything.  I have been cooking a lot from it lately and enjoying it.  I'd like to do a round up of all that I have made from it, but I'll have to see if I can remember what I've made and if I actually took any photos.

Bread Baking Babes - Cuban Bread

Cuban Bread by Bernard Clayton from New Complete Book of Breads.

Delicious. Scrumptious. Amazing.

The bread so nice I made it twice.

Easy.

Want to be a Buddy? Bake the bread, recipe here, then send a link to Ilva at luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com by January 28. Use the subject "Bread Baking Buddy" in your email.

You will LOVE this bread.

Bread Baking Babes Buddies - Hamburger Buns

Thank you thank you to all the Babes and now our Buddies that joined me in baking the bread I chose for July, Hamburger Buns from Williams Sonoma.  I am so happy that you enjoyed them so much.  It's definitely a recipe I will make again.

girlichef

Bread Experience

Judy's Gross Eats

My apology to Rita at Soep Kipje, I can't get a photo of her delicious buns to download.

A Messy Kitchen

Thanks again Ladies! Y'all are the best looking Bread Baking Buddies I've ever seen!

(If I missed anyone, a million apologies. Please email me again. If you are a late comer, let me know and I'll add you too!)

Great Gazpacho

I had a hankerin' (oh yes I did) for gazpacho now that our weather has turned more summery. I was going to make my usual version with V8, but in the freezer I found a bag of tomatos that I had oven roasted and frozen last fall.

I used this recipe as my inspiration, but I went much simpler.

2 bell peppers (I used one orange and one red) whizzed smooth in the food processor with a few cloves of garlic and a spoon of sugar. I added my thawed tomatos and juice and pureed until smooth. I stirred in a couple of shots of red wine vinegar and some salt, then chilled for an hour.

Serve with a piece of cheesy toast, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

Bread Baking Babes - Hamburger Buns

Good grief!  Can you believe it's already July 16th?  Not only does that mean that July is already more than half over (sob) but that also means it's time for the Bread o' the Month from the Bread Baking Babes.  And guess who got to choose the bread this time around?  Moi!

I chose Hamburger Buns from a recipe card I picked up in Williams Sonoma.

The recipe gives instructions for regular sized buns as well as sliders (aka the most adorable things ever).

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk

8 Tbs (1stick/125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

4 cups (625 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

5 Tbs sugar

1 Tbs kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool to 105-155'F (40 to 46'C).  Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups of flour, the sugar and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds.  Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 10 by 7 1/2 inch (25 by 19 cm) rectangle.  Using a ruler as a guide, cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch (6cm) squares.  Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the buns evenly apart, and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Remove the plastic wrap from the baking sheet.  Brush the tops of the buns with the egg mixture (I brushed the tops with milk) and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.  Bake until the buns and golder and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun registers 190'F (88'C), 14 to 16 minutes.  Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Cut in half and use as hamburger buns.  Makes 12 hamburger buns.

For slider buns: Follow the instructions above but roll out the dough into a 9 inch (23 cm) square.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch (4cm) squares and place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Position one rack in the upper third of an over and one rack in the lower third and preheat to 400'F (200'C).  Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.  Bake for about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking.  Makes 36 slider buns.

Time got away from me once again and I didn't have time to try to make slider buns before it was time to post.  But I hope to soon and will show off my results.

Please visit the participating Babes listed over on the left.  I've seen some preview pictures from some of them and they've got some amazing buns (hee!)

 If you'd like to be a Buddy,  please make the bread and post about it by July 29th.  Send mt a link at iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Sorry I've been so absent and things are kind of not interesting around here.  I'm working hard on getting myself out of this funk.  Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Peace!

Grocery Shop, July 10

Bought at DeMille's Farm Market in Salmon Arm.

Corn, kale, leaf lettuce, 2 kinds of apples, blueberries, cherries, carrots, potatos.  Missing: loaf of cheese bread.

jellyfish part 2

Vancouver Aquarium. 2010.

Bread Baking Babes - Irish While Soda Bread with Herbs

Kitchen of the month - Ilva from Lucullian Delights.

Recipe - Irish White Soda Bread with Herbs

Result - Delicious and easy.

Delicious and easy are 2 of my favorite things!

Apologies for this brief post.

If you'd like to be a buddy, or just make the bread, visit Ilva's website here to see the recipe.

All the Babes are listed over on the left for your viewing pleasure.

Mighty Life List - Dragon Fruit

Sweet and mellow with a crunch like a kiwi fruit.  Yum.

Noble Pig, Kamloops

(december 2010)

deep fried pickles

tropical pizza

cubano sandwich

the noble pig

650 victoria st

website coming soon (?)

Chicken and Salad from Jamie Oliver

I received "Jamie's America" for Christmas - just a beautiful book. The photos of not only the food but also the places visited are spectacular. I haven't spent a lot of time with this book yet, but 2 recipes jumped out at me and demanded to be made- Southern Pecan and Apple Salad, and Competition Chicken.

I have a weakness for bbq - good bbq, real(ish) bbq, and this chicken is definitely the best bbq chicken I've made. That didn't use a bbq.

Southern Pecan and Apple Salad

So delicious. I was really pleased with this. Super easy and very tasty. And if you click this link here, you can see the nutritional info courtesy of Health.com (although they've scaled it down to 6 servings and in the book it's 4).

Bread Baking Babes - Stromboli

Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms was the lucky lady to choose our bread for May, and she chose the Stromboli.

The stromboli is a sandwich in every slice - meat and cheese layered on a lovely bread dough, rolled up and baked. The recipe is straightforward to make and the results are delicious.

Our stromboli was layered with proscuitto and salami and swiss cheese and basil.  I rolled it up as tight as I could, sprinkled it with salt and baked it.

Unfortunately I forgot the apparently critical step of piercing the bread before cooking, presumably so your bread doesn't bake up hollow like mine did.

Regardless of the big air pockets in the bread, it was delicious. As Elle mentioned in her post to us Babes, this is a perfect picnic food. If the warm weather decides to stick around, maybe we'll find out!

Please visit Elle for the recipe, and all the deets on being a Buddy with her delicious pick. And please visit the participating Babes (listed over on the left) to see their breads as well.

Cheers!

Bread Baking Babes - Dan's Garlic Bread

Miracles of miracles I managed to bake this months Bread Baking Babes Bread - Dan's Garlic Bread from Natashya at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.

This is a FANTASTIC garlic bread. At first the recipe intimidated me, but it's not hard or complicated, it just takes a while.

You start by cooking some whole garlic cloves and making them fabulous. When you dough is ready they get kneaded in.

The dough is cut into 3 loaves for baking. I think I overworked the dough at the cutting and forming stage, but they came out very rustic and adorable.

If Scott hadn't been home when I made this, and knew that there were 3 loaves, I would have eaten a whole one myself. Can I say it again? Fabulous.

You guys will want to make this. Go and visit Natashya and get the recipe here.

Happy Saturday!

Green Chile Cheeseburger

I have always liked hamburgers. But when I was pregnant, I LOVED them. I ate them nearly every week, more often if possible. We mostly made our own at home, but we did eat them out occasionally - a few times at Red Robin (teriyaki burger with pineapple), if I was lucky enough to get my prenatal appointment scheduled just before lunch. I was not above fast food burgers either, and may have waddled over to McDonalds (more than once) on my lunch break for a hamburger (regular burger, extra ketchup). At home my favorite was a burger cooked on the barbecue with barbecue sauce and topped with cheese and relish. I never got very fancy, because spending time on fancy burgers meant it took longer before I could start eating.

We haven't had burgers very often lately, and I'm not sure why. It seems I am always looking for fast and easy and cheap and healthy meals, and I guess I forgot that a burger can fit that bill. Hey, 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

We were talking about burgers a few weeks ago and this recipe popped into my head - Robert Olguin's Buckhorn Burger recipe from Bobby Flay's Throwdown cookbook.

A green chile cheeseburger sounds like a lot of work, but this one really isn't. Cook your burger, and while it's cooking, heat a small pan, with a touch of oil, and add some diced red onion. Let that cook for a couple of minutes, then divide into piles (1 pile for each burger you are cooking). Top each pile with some cheese and let it sit over low heat to melt the cheese and soften the onions. In another pan mix some diced green chiles (we used canned) and some granulated garlic and warm through. Spoon the chiles on to the onion and cheese piles. Put your burgers on the buns, top the patty's with the onion/cheese/chile piles, and garnish with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mustard.

Yum, yum.

Chicken Lu'au

I tried this recipe out after we decided to have a Hawaiian Feast for Christmas. It didn't make the cut, but it was a great dish. I think it's the only dish I've made out of my Sam Choy cookbook, but I've marked so many pages I'd like to try. The photos in the book are absolutely mouthwatering! We may have to have a Hawaiian week here. I'll use Sam and my Maui Taco book as well.....Here I come Hibachi Miso Chicken with Peanut Butter!

What I liked most about this dish was that it had spinach in it. I too often turn to my "staple" vegetables (peas, corn, carrots) and forget about the rest. I haven't had the interest and passion for cooking lately that I used to have and it's been reflecting in my dinner menus.

The recipe in the book calls for young taro leaves, which are to be boiled first, but notes that fresh spinach can be used instead.

Chicken Lu'au

from Sam Choy's Cooking

1 pound spinach

3/4 lb skinless boneless chicken breast, cubed

2 Tb butter

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 tsp salt

In a large saucepan heat butter and saute onions until translucent. Add chicken and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken stock, coconut milk, spinach and salt. Simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

I'm not including a picture because they're just that bad...

I came across Nigella Lawson's recipe for Apple Latkes and lo and behold I had all the ingredients on hand for breakfast the next day.

They were fairly fast to make and very very delicious - my bottomless pit of a child ate 4 of them!

I have no photos to show as all the ones I took were so bad I was ashamed.  And if you've seen some of the pictures I've posted over the years then you'll know just how bad they were.

Recipe: Apple Latkes

Light and fluffy scrambled eggs

This is my new favorite way to make scrambled eggs. They come out amazingly light and fluffy and contain only 2 ingredients.

Scrambled eggs with cottage cheese

Crack your eggs (however many you need) into a bowl and whisk. Add 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese for every egg. Whisk again. Cook as you normally would cook your scrambled eggs. (Please don't let them brown. Brown scrambled eggs are just wrong.)

Sunday

We started off Sunday with toast and scrambled eggs and strawberries and blackberries.

I made a HUGE pot of pasta sauce with zucchini, onions, garlic, red bell pepper, mushrooms and spinach. There was enough to fill 9 containers for freezing.

I got our menu plan and shopping list done.

Then it was time to read.

Paxton is having his nap and I'm psyching myself up to attack the tower of laundry that's piling up. Later we'll head out for groceries and maybe a walk.

Happy Sunday.