For Lis

Lis, the author of La Mia Cucina and co-founder of The Daring Kitchen passed away last week.  She had turned 46 only a few days earlier.

Lis began blogging in 2006, the early days, when food blogs were more simple and straightforward.  She was one of the most fun, hilarious, and positive people I'd ever met.  Her writing was joyful

and real, and she welcomed everyone into her world with open arms.  

We talked, laughed, shared and cooked together, as she did with so many of her other friends around the world.

I am so sorry that she is gone.  I will miss her.

In your memory Lis.  

Moro Bread

Pollo in Potacchio

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coconut Chewies

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Cinnamon Cake

Big

Soooooo, one of the people that was at the birthday dinner for my sister in law was super impressed with the zucchini tots at dinner, so much so that as they traveled on to their next destination they told the Story of the Tots. The hostess, who knew the guest would be back my way (Confused yet? Too bad.) gave that person a present for me - a giant zucchini. 

A TEN AND A HALF POUND GIANT ZUCCHINI. 

I shall call her Tiny.

Side dishes and dessert

My In-laws (The Calgary Guys, as my boy calls them) were out camping in BC recently. To celebrate my Sister in Laws birthday I packed up a feast and hauled it out to them.

 In addition to steak and potatos I also took:

Coolio's Really? Corn Salad? Which was a huge hit.

I've made these Zucchini Tots a couple of times over the past weeks and just love them. I baked a triple batch for the dinner, and the few that were leftover were nibbled on with breakfast the next morning. You should try these.

I had a fancier cake in mind to try, but time was not permitting, so I went with a two layer cake iced with cream cheese icing, and topped with finely grated white chocolate. 

It's such a cliche to say, but oh my god, this summer, this Year, is just sailing by.  So few of the things I had planned for this summer have or will happen, but what can you do?

Cat and Joe's Pig Rig

Unless you live under a rock, you've probably experienced or read about the explosion of food trucks, well, everywhere. Food trucks are on the streets, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. There are shows and books devoted to them.

Kamloops has 3, and we visited our first one recently - Cat and Joe's Pig Rig.

They caused quite a sensation when they announced their arrival in the city. Barbecue in Kamloops???? But from what I've seen on Twitter and Facebook, they are doing it right.

We found them up in Aberdeen one Saturday.  We parked the car and on the walk over we talked about what we wanted to try.  We'd read the menu a few times,and everything sounded good.  Once we got up to the truck though, we found out that that day they were only serving one dish - brisket.  A bit of a let down that we couldn't try more than one dish, but the air smelled so amazing we thought we would survive.

We ordered 2 briskets to go, and headed home.

We got brisket, slaw, cornbread and beans. 

The brisket was good - nice and tender, and the sauce was very good.  One of our orders had a massive chunk of fat in it, which made it a bit difficult to eat and cut down on how much meat there actually was.  I was surprised at how light the smoke flavor was, but overall, good.

The cornbread was good too.  It would have been nice to have a touch more sauce to soak into the bread, but it was good on its own.  The slaw was a letdown.  It was a generous portion of cabbage, with nothing else really noted, and it tasted like...cabbage.  No flavor of a dressing at all.  

The beans though, were the best part of the meal.  They might not look like much but they were absolutely delicious.  It was a shame the portion was so small.

Cat and Joe's is a welcome addition to Kamloops sometimes tired food scene.  I look forward to going back to try the pulled pork and definitely more beans!

Meatballs and spinach and baked oatmeal

I finally got around to making these Lion's Head Meatballs, and they were so worth it. Very flavorful. I rinsed a couple off for Paxton, as he declares pretty much any unfamiliar food "Too spicy!" so I didn't think he would enjoy the coconut curry sauce. The grown ups did though. 

Lion's Head Meatballs 

I made the Jamie Oliver pea and spinach recipe to go with the meatballs. It's such a great and easy side dish. I noticed that the link I provided to what I thought was the original recipe actually has some changes, so I thought I'd give you a quick low down of how I make it (which again is slightly different than the original). 

Heat a spoon or two of butter in a pan with the same amount of olive oil. Finely chop 3-4 green onions, add to the pan, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes to soften. Add a good cup or more of frozen peas, stir, and let cook for a few more minutes. Pour in a cup of vegetable or chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add some big handfuls of spinach and stir into the pan until wilted. Serve.

 My boy was quite interested in the can of coconut milk I bought for the meatballs and asked every day if he could drink some. I used up the rest of the can to make my first ever batch of baked oatmeal, then poured some regular milk into the can, swished it around, and poured it into a glass for him. He drank it and then asked coconut related questions for the next hour.

 I am reserving judgement on the baked oatmeal until breakfast this morning. It doesn't look like I expected, and last night even after I let it cool for a while the texture wasn't what I had hoped for. I can't stand oatmeal - so soupy and mushy - but I know it's good for you. So I'm hoping this will be a way to make it more palatable. Hang on to your seats, and I'll report back later.

Bites V9

Back in December 2012 a new restaurant opened on Victoria Street downtown - Jay's Good Eats. It was a small place in a little food court, and served mostly sandwiches, and also dogs and ribs.

Sadly and shockingly, the owner Jay passed away in April 2013. I ate there once, and below is a photo of my beef dip sandwich.

 I was served by Jay, a very friendly guy, and I enjoyed my meal very much. I had planned to go back with Scott and Paxton one Saturday but, just a couple of weeks later, they were closed.

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We went to Calgary in May.  Just a 5 day trip including travel days, so not much time for anything.  We had an early family party for my Brother in Law's 40th birthday, did some shopping at stores we don't have here in Kamloops (I love you, Ikea and Old Navy!) and spent time with family.  I also caught a cold and got sick.  Quite sick.

We (Scott and I and Paxton for one meal) got out for 2 lunches.  The first was for Vietnamese food, which is one of my very favorite cuisines of all time, for ever and ever.  It wasn't one of my favorite restaurants in Calgary; this was more of an emergency lunch to make sure I got some Vietnamese food on the trip so Scott wouldn't have to listen to me complain until the next time we went out of town and there was a possibility of Vietnamese food for me.

Anyhoo, the food was fine.  I've had better, but beggars can't be choosers. 

Then the next day we left Paxton with his grandmother and cousins and went and did some shopping.  We ended up at Chinook Center at lunch time.  I had done some googling on my phone and discovered that on Sundays all the Vietnamese restaurants in the area were closed.  So we ate at the mall, at Chachi's Sandwich Bar.

I love pickles, so we had a great big pickle. 

This was pastrami or corned beef.

And this was bulgogi or something similar.

They were good. 

Also on the trip, the family took us to Crossiron Mall just outside of Calgary.  We ate lunch in the food court and I had Lebanese food.  In a food court!!!!  Here at our "best" mall you can walk by the empty spots in the food court and have a burger, or Chinese food, or a hot dog. 

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My parents came over for Mother`s Day dinner this year, and I made a turkey burger from Bobby Flay.  It had a vinaigrette and bacon and blue cheese, and was delicious. 

I forgot to take a photo of an actual burger, but here`s the table all set up so everyone could top their burger as the liked.

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I bought a pack of portobello mushrooms and had planned to grill them and serve them on buns.  But my evil husband decided they should be pan fried, perhaps with a breading, so they would be crispy. 

So we did the flour, egg, breadcrumb, pan fry in oil routine, then sliced them and piled them on a bun with mayo, cheese and tomato and oh my GOD.  This very poor photo does it no justice.

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I NEED the weather to cool down so I can make this recipe.  I am obsessed.

9 years 1000 posts the last

These are the last 3 dishes I made for my blogs special special day.

 Jamie Oliver is another favorite of mine, especially his old books.

 Flipping through The Naked Chef Takes Off to find a new recipe to try, I found many more recipes I want to try this summer. Love this book.

 For this, I made Jamie's Scallions, Sweet Peas, White Wine and Spinach.

I loved everything about the dish. Quick to make and super delicious.

 Recipe here.

 

The Working Family Cookbook will forever have a special place in my heart, the cookbook my grandmother bought me many many (many) years ago. I made a recipe the I've had marked for probably as long as I've had the book -Chicken with Coconut Sauce.

Lastly, my search for a good baked donut recipe continues. I thought I'd found a winner recipe and tried it last month. It was only ok. I skipped the glaze recipe provided and made my own with maple syrup, icing sugar and a splash of milk. And then I posed them with our Canada Day napkins and cups because, well, donuts and maple syrup!

Speaking of Canada Day, we went down to Riverside Park for the annual party. It was HOT and busy. Paxton loved the water park and none of the adults complained too much when he dragged us in to play. We had lunch there, honestly one of my favorite parts of the day. I love all the cultural food booths that are set up only for July 1. Everything from Italian to Thai to Filipino. This year we had a plate from the Thai stand, which we also had last year, and a plate of butter chicken, vegetable korma and rice from the Indio Canadian stand. The korma was outstanding. After another trip to the water park we headed home for a nap and then into the backyard so I could keep working on developing my sunburn...

9 years 1000 posts continued

Here's another 3 recipes I made for my 9th anniversary.  Enjoy.

I bought my copy of Rebar modern food cookbook at the cookbook company store in downtown Calgary in the early 2000's. 

 I hadn't heard of the restaurant in Victoria, I just loved the sound of the recipes as I flipped through. Rebar is considered by some to be one of the best restaurants in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. 

I became instantly infatuated with this Brie Bagel Melt. I took all the ingredients to work for a special breakfast treat one morning and it was the highlight of the day. Brie, nuts (I used walnuts) and honey on a warm bagel. 

 You won't believe how amazing it is. 

One of my most favorite treats is these brie and prosciutto rolls that I wrote about in 2004.

This time we used Westfalian Schinkenspeck ham from Erik's Sausage and Meats stand at the farmers market.  It's just the best ham, tender and lovely.

The crescent roll dough is topped with ham and brie and rolled up.

And brushed with a mixture of honey and grainy mustard.

And then baked per the package direction. Let cool for a few minutes before eating.

SO GOOD.

I love  Pasta with Butter and Myzithra Cheese. This time I made it with fresh spinach pasta from Fratelli Deli downtown. Love love love.

9 Years and 1,000 Posts

I know!

9 years.  1,000 posts.

Ok, fine, other people have written 1,000 posts a lot faster.  But they're not me.

9 years!!!!!

I'm not going to get all sentimental, or do an in depth retrospective or anything.  It is what it is.

When I realized that these 2 milestones were upon me, I went back through my early archives for some inspiration.  (Mmmmmemmmmmorieeeees!)

I made a few recipes to share.  Some new, some old.

I started with Cauliflower Gratin from the Bouchon cookbook by Thomas Keller.  I got the book for Christmas in 2004, the same year I started this blog.  After all these years, I do believe that including this recipe I have cooked a total of 2 recipes from it.

This gratin is a crazy, labour intensive recipe that makes an absolutely stunning dish.

Recipe here.

I adored the BBC food series  The Best and had to have the book.  I used the book in an early WCC challenge in 2005.  In 2013 I made Ben's Tomato and Herb Spaghetti. 

There is NO WAY I could leave Sandra Lee out of my celebration. 

 

I made her Dijon Chicken and Mushrooms from Semi Homemade Cooking.  We were fans of the tasty sauce of mushrooms and mustard, and the freshness of the tomatos added right before serving.

Recipe: here

I'll be back soon with a few more recipes made especially for my 9th celebration.

Cheers!

From Pinterest - Sugar Cookie Tacos

I made these recently for a family dinner. This is pretty much the first thing I pinned from Pinterest - a cute little dessert that didn't look too hard to make. I made my own sugar cookie dough, as it was not for sale in the 3 grocery stores I visited. I had a lot of trouble with the shaping. I envisioned a more traditional taco shape, but when I tried to form the cookies into a more severe shape they rebelled and cracked. So I had gentle cups instead of taco shells.

Once the shells were made, and it was dessert time and I had reconciled myself with the fact that they were not as cute as the ones on the internets, I filled the with cream whipped with vanilla sugar, and topped them with fruit - raspberries, peaches and strawberries. 

Cute, but frustrating.

Rhubarb- Muffins, Stewed,and Fooled.

Our garden here isn't great - poor soil and sloped - and we don't have a lot of luck. Potatos have never grown, or onions. Carrots do ok. A few years ago we tried kale and it went bonkers.

 Two things that grow well though, are our herbs (the chives, mint and oregano come back year after year) and the rhubarb. 

This year has been a banner year for the rhubarb. Pretty much the second the sun came out the plant just exploded with lovely red stems. I cut what felt like a ton of stalks off the plant last weekend to do some cooking. 

 First I made an old standby - Stewed Rhubarb. I decided to follow a different recipe instead of my usual. Big mistake. The recipe called for 1 cup of sugar and against my better judgement I put in the whole cup. It looked and smelled gorgeous, but when I tasted it, it was just too sweet. 

I figured I could buy some plain yogurt and mix it into that for breakfasts, but then I decided on a more decadent treat - Rhubarb Fool. 

Unlike the Rhubarb Strawberry Fool I made years and years ago for a Weekend Cookbook Challenge which also had sour cream and brown sugar, this one had just 2 ingredient. Stewed rhubarb and freshly whipped cream. It was good.

And to use up a bit more rhubarb, I made a batch of Rhubarb Muffins from the Canadian Living website.

They were really good.  The crunchy strusel like topping added just enough sweetness.  I should probably make another batch.....

Recipe Rhubarb Muffins

Paninis

I've had panini's on the brain lately.

 Made these ones from leftover rotisserie chicken with our trusty Foreman grill.

This is the kind of quick delicious meal that I need to remember to make more often. So good and easy, and the possibilities are endless.

 I made a chicken, cheddar and barbecue sauce one for my boy.

Like most food I give him, it was met with lukewarm enthusiasm. 

For the grownups, I made a masterpiece. 

Chicken, spinach, brie, and peach chutney. 

OMG. 

Stir Fried Pork in Lettuce Cups

I like to think that I eat a large variety of foods, but that's not totally true. 

 There is a lot of seafood that I don't like. Salmon, oysters, mussels, clams.  Tuna, unless it's mixed with mayo.

 I don't eat lamb, or goose or veal, or duck. 

 So when I found a Gordon Ramsay recipe for duck wraps, I thought it sounded great, as long as it wasn't made with duck.

Stir Fried Pork in Lettuce Cups

 altered from a Gordon Ramsay recipe

 1 head iceberg lettuce

 1 large pork tenderloin

 1/4 - 1/2 tsp roasted Szechuan pepper and salt, or salt and pepper mixed together

 1/2—1 tsp five-spice powder

 1 Tb oil

 1 cucumber

 2 green onions

 5—6 tbsp hoisin sauce

 For the lettuce cups, remove the outer layers from the lettuce until you get 6-8 nice lettuce "cups". 

Trim the pork and slice into thin strips. Toss the pork with the salt, pepper, 5 spice, and oil. 

Slice the onions thinly, and cut the cucumber into thin half moons, or small strips.

Heat at pan over medium high heat.  When hot, add the pork, and cook, stirring, until the pork is cooked through.  Stir in the green onions and hoisin sauce, and cook until  heated through.  

Spoon the pork mixture into the lettuce cups.  Top with the cucumber and serve.

Indian Tacos

Since the food channel rarely shows cooking shows anymore, my favorite shows to watch on the channel have become what we call "restaurant" shows - Diners Drive Ins and Dives, Eat Street, and You Gotta Eat Here - especially the last 2 since there are slim chances I may eat at one of the Canadian locations featured one day.

 I found this recipe on Food Network - Indian Tacos - and thought it would be a fun, different dinner. 

It was, and easy and delicious to boot. 

Indian Tacos

Banana Butterscotch Muffins

Last weekend I turned on the tv and much to my surprise and delight, the food channel was actually showing an actual cooking show with actual cooking AND it was Nigella Kitchen! The bad news was that it was just ending so I didn't get to see anything, but I set my PVR to record any future episodes.

To celebrate I pulled out a couple of my Nigella cookbooks to find something to make for dinner in the upcoming week. But then I added butterscotch chips to my shopping list so I could make her Banana Butterscotch Muffins instead.

Pictures will be lousier than usual, my computer seems to have lost the ability to crop photos. Sad face.

These were so yummy - even my picky child liked them!  The butterscotch and banana were terrific together. 

The recipe notes these are also good made with white or dark chocolate, but I'm sticking with the butterscotch.  A new family favorite.

From Nigella Express, also on Nigella.com

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 125 ml Vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 250 grams plain flour
• 100 grams caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150 grams butterscotch morsel(s) (or chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6/400°F and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.

1. Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.
2. Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.
3. Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.
4. Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Mom's Meatloaf

Simple, delicious.  

Comfort food rules.  

Mom's Meatloaf

Really? Corn Salad? by Coolio

2 Coolio related posts in a row? I know! But holy hell, this is such a tasty salad I have to share. 

I have some frozen corn from last fall still, and I was looking for a recipe to use some up. While I had Coolio's book out for the Smackdown (below) I was flipping through and found his corn salad recipe. 

Since it was pretty simple I figured no big deal if it wasn't good, but oh yes it was. This will be in heavy rotation in our house this summer and fall. 

Recipe: Really? Corn Salad?

Smackdown returns - Amanda Hesser vs Coolio

If you're a long (long, LONG) time reader of this blog, you may remember back in 2007-2008 I did a short series of posts pitting chefs and their books against each other to highlight an ingredient and choose a winner. See here for a refresher, if you'd like.

I never meant for my Smackdown posts to go away.  I had more planned, even some partially completed, but you know how it is.

But now kids, it's back.

The first Smackdown of 2013 - Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte vs. Coolio's Cookin' with Coolio.

  

 And the Smackdown Ingredient?  Chicken Thighs.

The recipes?  Amanda's (may I call you Amanda?) Chicken roasted with sour cream, lemon juice and mango chutney, and Coolio's Superfry Chicken.

Now neither of these recipes specifically call for chicken thighs, but that's what I had in my freezer. 

Let's start with Coolio.  I have really enjoyed all the recipes I've made out of his book, and his banana bread is one of my all time favorites.  I chose his Superfry Chicken because I knew it would work well with the thighs, and how yummy does garlic onion and balsamic vinegar in fried chicken sound?

 I cut the thighs into pieces so we were having Superfry Nuggets.  These were really really good.  Great flavor, and quick to prepare with ingredients you most likely already have in your cupboard.  Sure, frying is messy and not the healthiest, but it's ok to do once in a while.  Next time I might add a bit more onion and garlic and let it sit for a bit, as some pieces were more flavorful than others.

 Next is Amanda's dish.  I have owned this book for a long, long time and love it.  But I must admit that while I have read and re-read it countless times, I have only tried once recipe.  This one though, I've had marked since I first read the book. 

The chicken is covered in a creamy sauce of sour cream, mayonnaise, mango chutney and lemon juice, and cooked quickly in a hot oven.  In addition to using thighs instead of chicken breasts, I also subbed the mango chutney out for peach chutney, because it was cheaper.  My only beef with this recipe was the cooking time.  After 15 minutes the thighs were not cooked through.  But this was really good - quick and tangy and the sauce, although super fattening, was soooo good.  I saved the extra sauce and used it to top sweet potatos a few days later.  

Argh, I have to admit, it was really hard to pick a winner here.  But I am giving this Smackdown to...

Coolio.

Recipes for both of these great dishes here:

Superfry Chicken

Chicken Roasted With Sour Cream Lemon Juice And Mango Chutney

One pot spaghetti

1 tb oil

1 lb ground beef 

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1 jar spaghetti sauce (650 ml) of your choice

2 1/2 cups water

8 oz. spaghetti broken into pieces

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 In a large pot over medium high heat, heat the oil, and add the beef , onion and garlic, and cook stirring often, until the meat is cooked through.  Drain fat off if necessary.

Add the spaghetti sauce, water and spices and stir well.  Add the noodles, stir again and cover.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender and sauce is reduced to the consistency of your liking, 10-15 minutes.  You  may want to remove the lid near the end of cooking to reduce the liquid.

Taste, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Oven baked fries with parmesan salt

I wanted to do something a little different with home made fries, so I tried this recipe from Emeril Lagasse.  Oven baked fries are topped with a blend of cheese and spices.  

I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I omitted Emeril's "Original Essence Seasoning" and seasoned the potatos only with salt and pepper before baking.  I also didn't measure out any of the salt ingredients, just eyeballed them instead.

This dish is a perfect combination of crisp on the outside, soft on the inside chips with a cheesey spicy kick.  A new favorite in our house.

Oven crispy french fries with paprika parmesan salt