Cool it

Oh Em Gee it's hot, hot, hot here! In the past month we've only had a couple of days that have dipped below 30, and we've hit 40+ twice in the past few days. Aieeeeee.

I'm not normally one to complain about the heat, but damn. It sort of sucks when it's this hot for this long, because there is no break. It doesn't cool down in the evenings. It's hot first thing in the morning. There is no escape.

We are trying to stay away from using the stove/oven to try to keep the house and us as cool as possible. Here's some cooking free stuff we've enjoyed lately:

Cucumber Salad

This is the quickest and healthiest of the recipes I'm sharing today. Ready in minutes and very very yummy. Also, cucumbers are low in calories and a good source of Vitamin C and Fiber.

2 TB rice vinegar
1 TB agave nectar
1 TB soy sauce
1 TB vegetable oil
1 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and cut into thin half moons
salt and pepper

Whisk together the vinegar, agave, soy sauce and oil. Toss with the cucumber and season with salt and pepper if desired.

Gazpacho

Is there anything that screams SUMMER more than gazpacho? Fast, easy and super fresh. This recipe is from Ina Garten and it makes a ton. We made a half recipe and ate gazpacho for days and days. Not that I'm complaining.


from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

2 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
3 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
8 plum tomatoes
2 red onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
46 ounces tomato juice
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Triple C Milkshake

This is the most decadent of the recipes and my favorite. Yum, yum, YUM. Cocoa powder contains antioxidants and flavonoids, which are very good for you. Cinnamon is also high in antioxidants. And chocolate ice cream is just plain good.


I like milkshakes a little on the thin side. You might want to decrease the milk a little, or add an extra spoon of ice cream if you like thicker milkshakes.

2 cups chocolate ice cream
1 1/3 cups skim milk
1 tb cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until incorporated and smooth. Add more milk for a thinner milkshake or more ice cream for a thicker one if needed.

Two hits and a miss from Rachel Ray

Have I mentioned that I am struggling with food? Well not with food, exactly, but the cooking of food. I have little interest in spending time in the kitchen cooking, and even less interest in looking through cookbooks, magazines or online for interesting things to make. Looking at food and/or reading about food? Blah. That word describes many things in my life. If I'm not in my pajamas, eating fruit and watching What Not To Wear and/or re-reading a Harry Potter book, then it's Blah. Oh my, that looks sort of sad, what I just wrote.

Anyway! From time to time I have short spurts of food related energy, when I say to myself, stop making boring sandwiches and pasta and the same zucchini-onion-pepper stirfry! Grab a cookbook and find something new and exciting! One day I even got myself so worked up that I'd decided to do one of those cook thru the book things (like I failed at last year!), but once I discarded the recipes containing booze, uncooked eggs, peanuts, certain cheeses and everything else I shouldn't eat, plus the ones I wouldn't eat (salmon, veal), there were like 4 recipe left, and what's the point.

So I've been reading a lot of Rachel Ray magazines. My Dad and I have an arrangement - he buys the magazine, reads it and cooks whatever out of it, then he passes them to me. I do the same thing and then store them so should either of us want to revisit an old issue, there it is. I like the magazine quite a lot and almost everything we've tried in the past has been a success. I'm trying to strike a balance between finding recipes that appeal to me and recipes that I have some or all ingredients on had for, like today's first recipe,

Pretzel Crusted Chicken and Zucchini Strips.

We had company at the end of last month and in preparation I bought a jumbo container of pretzels for snacking. No one touched them but me and although pretzels have been my friend and constant companion the past few months I was more than willing to sacrifice some of them for the recipe. I also had some chicken in the freezer, so all I needed to buy was zucchini. I am a huge, huge zucchini fan, and I love me some zucchini sticks. This dinner was easy to put together and tasted very nice. The zuke sticks were my favorite part and I will make them (and most likely the chicken) again.


Up next is a BLT Salad, also something I love. The one in the magazine is made with arugula and nuts, but I had spinach and no nuts so I went with that. I also had bacon in the freezer and tomatos on the counter so I had to buy nothing to make this dinner. I love when that happens. In the magazine this was served in endive leaves, but we just used bowls and a sprinkle of parmesan. I loved the mustard in the dressing - this salad is a real winner - easy and good. I was about to type that you don't have to turn on any appliances to make it but that's not true. Unless you buy pre-cooked bacon. But you could always microwave the bacon, avoiding the stove on hot hot days.



The last one is a miss that was pretty spectacular - Plantain Hush Puppies. I've been wanting to try a plantain for a long time but never knew what to do with them. I figured this recipe would be an easy introduction, paired with corn, and the dipping sauces sounded pretty yummy. Well the mixture came together fast, we dolloped it into the oil and...yikes. They just disintegrated into mush. There was no saving the first batch. Checked the oil temperature....it was good....second batch, same as the first. I was getting ready to switch gears and pan fry the rest of them, but when Scott tasted a little of the batter and immediately spat it into the sink....we turned to sandwiches and salad for dinner. And tried our best to ignore the pan full of oily yellow goo on the stove.

I'm disappointed it didn't turn out. Did I do something wrong - was it my corn? My plantain? I don't know. Anyone out there tried this one? I hate kitchen failures.

Coming soon - juice!

Bread Baking Babes - Sukkar bi Tahin

This month's Bread Baking Babe recipe was chosen by fellow Canadian Babe Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.

She's chosen a very unique bread for us to make this month - Sukkar bi Tahin, Beirut Tahini Swirls.

These breads are deceptively simple to make. After the dough has risen, the pieces are rolled into a rectangle and spread with a paste of tahini and sugar.

Roll the dough up like a snake, then coil the bread into a circle, then roll out again.

Bake until golden and flaky.

The flavor of these is interesting - the tahini and sugar taste similar to peanut butter. The dough was lovely and flaky, this would be fun to play around with different filling combinations as well as the tahini. I'm thinking something with jelly would be fun...but messy.

Check out Natashya's site for the recipe and instructions, and don't forget to visit all the other Babes, they are listed over on the right.

Misc

Thank you all very much for your comments and emails about our really big news. It was hard to keep quiet about the baby, the reason I wasn't posting much or visiting your websites hardly at all. I hope I replied to all of those who asked but in case I didn't, or if anyone else is wondering, my due date is December 5, and we are not finding out if it's a boy or a girl.

I have been supremely uninterested in food 90% of the time. Planning, cooking and eating meals have mostly been a struggle. Anything beyond toast, eggos, cheese slices and fruit is largely unappetizing, even now, at 5 months gone. We had some family come to town to visit and meal planning, which normally would have taken me an hour, took a solid week. I could not think of a single thing that I wanted to eat that would appeal to anyone else. Reading cookbooks or websites devoted to food is almost always out of the question.

But because it's just me and you here, I can tell you that there are the days when all I do is eat. EAT. On work days I'll have something for breakfast at home; toast or an eggo. Then I'll take my food to work - my "second breakfast" of cereal or yogurt or fruit, my lunch, and then some more fruit for the afternoon. Some days that's good enough. But then there are the days when I've eaten my second breakfast by 8:30 and by 10 I'm eating my lunch. And then someone walks in my office and I scramble to shove my bowl of stir fry in a drawer, and their all "Why does it smell like meat in here at 10 am?" and I'm all "It doesn't! Get out! What do you want!" and then by noon I'm in the grocery store forlornly wandering the aisles, looking for something that doesn't gross me out.

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I'll wrap it up with a picture from my ultrasound on Friday. Now it's possible I'm a little biased, but I think you'll agree that this might be the most beautiful baby IN THE WORLD.

Three more breads

I bought my first brand new, all about bread cookbook a couple of months ago. The Easy Way to Artisan Breads and Pastries. I'd borrowed this book from the library and once I sat down and started reading it I knew I had to have my own copy, there were just too many wonderful sounding recipes to try.

I ordered it from Amazon.ca and before it came but while we still had the library copy Scott flipped thru it looking for what would be our first bread out of the book. He chose, but unfortunately neither of us looked too closely at the recipe. When the weekend morning came to bake I realized that the recipe required a sourdough starter, something I didn't have. Scott was disappointed - he'd been looking forward to making Bacon Bread, but I said hey, we'll just find another basic loaf recipe and add bacon. Why not?

We cooked up some bacon and while the dough was mixing Scott grabbed some of the chopped red onion I had on the counter for another dish and threw it in. We were now making Bacon Onion Bread, people! My biggest loaf pan was smaller than the recipe called for and the bread rose like a son of a gun.


Thank goodness Mary was online that morning for advice - my bread was browning way too fast and I was afraid it would be burned on the outside before it was done on the inside. She had me lower the oven temperature and told me to take the breads temperature close to the end of cooking time which I'd never done before.


The bread came out huge, mushroom shaped and lovely. The smell was amazing - like bacon shoved up your nose, but in a good way. We've got some more ideas for the ultimate Bacon Onion Bread and will be working on them soon.

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Another recent bread we baked was King Arthur Flour's Onion Buns. These were fun to make - you roll the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle it with dried minced onion (we did half with the minced onion and half with fresh sauteed onion), roll them up into a log, then cut into rolls.


The onion flavor wasn't very strong, however these buns are the nicest buns I've ever made. Their taste and texture were fabulous. They were a family favorite, I think my Mom's favorite bread I've made them so far.


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I can't get enough of King Arthur Flours blog, and here's another bread I made from their archives, Vermont Maple Oatmeal bread. Scott and I are total condiment/spice junkies, have WAY too many of both in the kitchen, so I normally try to stay away from recipes that require me to buy even more seasonings. But this bread....it called to me. So I bought the maple sugar and the maple extract and they now happily live in my spice cupboard with eleventy jillion other bottles.



It was totally worth it though. So nice and flavorful and hearty.
Vermont Maple Oatmeal Bread

What I have been doing instead of keeping up with you and your blogs the past couple of months.

Eating.

Eating healthy.

Honest, there are strawberries under the whip cream.

Going for walks.

Celebrating.

Working in the garden.

Painting.

Reading.

Getting presents from family.


Counting down until Baby is born!


The littlest Flames fan arrives this winter.

A Tale of Two Burgers

We've been grilling fools over here lately, and I wanted to share 2 fabulous burger recipes with you. They are so good. You should make them.

First up is a burger from the latest Food Network Magazine. The lead story on the cover is Best Burgers From Bobby Flay, promoting his new book Burgers, Fries and Shakes. I saw enough reviews on blogs to know that this is a book worth owning. I was drawn to the recipe for his Dallas Burger, a burger with homemade bbq sauce, dry rub, and coleslaw. It's a recipe he created for his wife, who loves bbq'd brisket. We love brisket too, so this was the one to try first.

The burger is a little time consuming - if you go whole hog you make not only the burger patties from scratch, but also the dry rub, coleslaw and bbq sauce. But not an awful amount of time. Be patient, it's worth it.


This burger is SO GOOD, and it's the bbq sauce and coleslaw that really make it fabulous.


Look at that! We had them 2 nights in a row. I think I'm drooling a little right now.....

Dallas Burger

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The other burger is also from Food Network, from their Ultimate Recipe Showdown show. I've only seen the show once, but luckily for me, it was the Burger episode, the episode that brought this burger into my life.

Sorry if I sound a little dramatic, but damn, this Vietnamese Bistro Burger rocks.


You may recall my recent post about how much we love and miss Vietnamese food. This is another easy flavorful Vietnamese recipe that we will be making a lot of. The patty is made of ground pork seasoned with lime, ginger, soy and fish sauce. Make sure you make the pickled carrot and daikon salad, it's fabulous on the burger.


I could go on for days about how wonderful this burger is. I won't though. I'll just say one more time it's easy and delicious and hopefully you are going to try these, cause you'll love them.


Vietnamese Bistro Burger

New West Knife Works

I read once that all you need in the kitchen equipment wise is one pot, one pan and one knife, or something like that. I can't imagine that there are many food bloggers out there who have such a sparse kitchen. There are some areas in the kitchen you can cheap out on and some you shouldn't. Cheap/poor quality knives are probably the worst thing you can have in your kitchen, and I should know; it was only this year that I actually got some good knives in my kitchen.


One of those knives arrived courtesy of New West Knife Works, a company from Wyoming that make some of the most beautiful knives I have ever seen. New West has 2 lines of knives - the Phoenix Knives and the Fusionwood Knives. The Phoenix are "Japanese kitchen knives with a Western flair" and are made with 33 layers of steel. 33! The Fusionwoods are made with a stainless steel blade and an amazingly gorgeous hardwood handle, which has been infused with dye in layers of colors.


I received the Fusionwood Chopper with the Harvest color handle. From the second we opened the packaging we were smitten. The 5 1/2 inch blade was safely covered in a leather sheath. The handle, as I've mentioned, was stunning, layer upon layer of color. I've never seen anything like it.


The knife, as a quality knife should, felt solid and heavy in my hand. The blade is wonderfully strong and sharp. This is a smallish knife, but perfect for chopping vegetables, fruits and herbs. It has whizzed through all the tasks it's been given wonderfully from mincing to chopping to julienne-ing.


This company and their products have been written about in numerous magazines - Cooking Light, Wine Spectator, Sunset, Gourmet and many more, all with good reason. New West has a Non-Commercial Lifetime Guarantee on their knives - if you are not happy with your purchase they will replace it free. Break or damage your knife while using it improperly (but why would you be using these gorgeous knives improperly???) and they will replace it at half price. If you are looking to invest in a quality knife, head over to their website and check out the awesome selection.

If you're a Facebooker, check out their page and become a fan.

Strawberry Mint Agua Fresca
Grilling For Life, Bobby Flay

Serves 4

1 cup very cold water
1 cup crushed ice
3 cups chopped ripe strawberries
2 tb chopped fresh mint
4 mint sprigs, for garnish

Combine all the ingredients except the mint sprigs in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into 4 glasses and garnish with the mint sprigs.

Bread Baking Babes - Asparagus Bread. Little. Green. Different.

This month's Bread Baking Babe's bread was chosen for us by Lien. Lien chose a very flavorful bread for us - Asparagus Bread with Parmesan Cheese and Walnuts.


Here is the recipe, courtesy of Lien and Jan Hedh -

Asparagus Bread

125 g green asparagus (if you can't find them, use p.e. spring onions, ramps, ...)
25-30 g rocket
50 g walnuts,
50 g freshly grated parmesan cheese
450 g strong bread flour (you can also use half whole wheat and half white or white whole wheat if you can get that)
12 g fresh yeast or 1 1/4 tsp dry instant yeast
250-270 g water
25 g olive oil
10 g (sea) salt

* Boil 3/4 liter of water with a pinch of (sea) salt. Clean the asparagus, set two of them aside, cut the rest into 4 pieces. Boil these pieces for 2 minutes in the water, scoop them out (so you can use the water for the rocket as well) and rinse under cold water (to stop them cooking). If you use p.e. spring onion, I personally would grill them or just sautée them in a little oil until they start to brown lightly, but other ideas on this are very welcome too!

* Put the rocket in the boiling water for a few seconds (until wilted), drain and rinse under cold water and drain again.
Press the water our of the rocket, chop it coarsely and but the asparagus into 1/4 inch (± 1 cm) long pieces, set aside.

* Crush the walnuts coarsely and grate the parmesan.

* Measure the flour and yeast in a large bowl, mix in most of the water and knead for a few minutes (on low speed), add the olive oil and knead for 10-12 minutes. Add the salt and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes until very elastic.

* Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Work the asparagus pieces, rocket, walnuts and parmesan in with care so that they're evenly distributed.

* Place the dough in a greased container, cover and let rise for about 2 hrs.

* Divide the dough into 2 equal parts.
Make round balls, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

* Flatten the balls and fold into taut breads with slightly tapering ends. Lay one asparagus in lengthwise in the middle of the bread and press in slightly. Sprinkle with wheat flour and cover to rise for 70 minutes or until doubled. Before baking you can sprinkle a little grated cheese on the bread if you like (optional).

* Preheat the oven (preferably with stone) to 250ºC.

* Place the loaves directly on the stone. Spray with water (or poor some hot water in a metal container on the bottom of the oven that you preheated to create steam)
Lower the temperature after 5 minutes to 200ºC. Open the door after another 10 minutes to let some air in. Repeat twice during baking. (I forgot about opening doors myself to be honest)

* Bake for 40-45 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

(adapted from: "Artisan Bread" -Jan Hedh)


Pretty straightforward, EXCEPT for the adding of the asparagus, walnuts, cheese and rocket (I used spinach).


It was messy and awkward and there was stuff flying everywhere. The extra stuff basically ripped the dough apart, much like the Sukerbolle we made last Fall.


I gave up after a point and tossed out the asparagus pieces that hadn't been incorporated, maybe about 1/3rd.


The bread, which I made with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour, smelled wonderful while baking. The taste is really interesting, there's a lot of flavors going on in there. The asparagus and cheese give it a strong, but not in an unpleasant way, flavor.

Thanks Lien for a lovely seasonal and unusual bread!

Interested in being a Bread Baking Buddy? Visit Lien for all the info.

Garden

Summer arrived with a vengeance at the end of May while we were on holidays, and we've had hot sunny days ever since. Which is great for sitting in the yard, going for walks, and the garden, but the forests are so dry that now we are hoping for a couple of days of rain to dampen everything up. The weather forecasters, they lie and keep saying we'll get rain but we don't. The trees need it, as well as my poor brown lawn. And always the garden.

I had larger grander plans for the garden this year but I've hit a wall. I've got some seed potatos to plant this weekend (hopefully it's not too late) and I think that will be it. Maybe next year we'll get a little bigger.

We'll start our tour with the lettuce - red and green. The sun and heat fried them pretty bad a couple of weeks ago, but they bounced back.


The rhubarb. It looked so awful at the end of last year I didn't think it would come back. Looks nice and healthy.


Scott bought some small broccoli plants last month and so far they are doing very well. (we think the small plants popping up around them are sunflowers, so we're leaving them alone for now.)


Actual broccoli!


Our 2 tomato plants. The one at the front is called a Super Fantastic, and I bought it for the name alone. Frankly, it doesn't look so super right now. I think the back one is a cherry tomato.


We brought our rosemary inside last fall and it did quite well over the winter. It's not looking good now though, I don't think it likes being outside.


2 kinds of mint.

Dill, sage, and thyme.


Parsley, which was also a surprise comeback.


Onions.


2 kinds of squash. One is a hubbard, one is an acorn.


Raspberries.


Peas. If you enlarge the photo, I have helpfully circled the little buggers.


How's your garden?