What's going on

I visited Vancouver and Calgary recently and was lucky enough to eat Vietnamese food in both cities. It's my very favorite as you may know. Still nothing here that compares so I will have to continue to try to make my own, like this and this. I have started reading The Little Saigon Cookbook from cover to cover and have tried 2 recipes so far - Grilled Beef Slices with Chile, Lemongrass and Honey, and last night I made Chicken with Ginger and Garlic Rice. Both were excellent and easy to make. I will be cooking more out of this soon.

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Paxton had his 6 month checkup and was given the all clear to start eating actual food. My baby is all grown up! I made the decision before he was born to make my own baby food and then as if she read my mind Ilva sent a book called Cooking for Baby as a gift when Paxton was born. I love the book, it has great advice and simple recipes. A couple of nights ago I prepared 3 recipes - pureed apples, pureed zucchini, and rice cereal. Paxton had a couple of spoons of pureed apples that night and seemed puzzled. Here he is in his highchair enjoying his first big boy meal. Sniff. I think I have something in my eye.


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In addition to the Vietnamese cookbook and re-reading the Cooking for Baby book again, I've got 2 more baby food books to read, AND I've got 3 books to tell you about, hopefully soon.

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I sort of half-heartedly followed the Kitchen Cure Spring 2010 on my own. I thought I did pretty well, got my counters and walls clean(er), washed my cabinet doors, and got more organized. I tossed out broken stuff, packed up a couple of boxes for the thrift store, and also got my pantry organized. I forgot to take a before picture though.


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I have so many things to tell you about - food I've made, more things I've eaten for the first time (to add to my life list). I have ideas for posts, theme weeks. I want to share information on where I live. I just need to find the time and brain space. Time is moving so fast. I want it to stop, I want it to keep going. I can't wait to see what's ahead.

argh.

I clicked on a saved bookmark in my computer this morning for a recipe I wanted to make for lunch. Website no longer exists. Tried another one, maybe for dinner next week. Website open to members only. How about this one? Page does not exist.

This is why I have 15 (and counting) notebooks of stuff off the internet.

RIP, awesome waffle recipe I really liked and will never be able to make again.

Bread Baking Babes - Tunisian Spicy Breads

This month our hosting Babe is my fellow Canadian Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. She picked a spicy bread for our spicy group - Tunisian Spicy Breads from from Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou.


This is a quick, savory, fiery little bread made with semolina and filled with a spicy filling of onion, tomato, peppers and harissa. The dough, which requires very little rising time, is rolled out, cut into rounds and the filling is sandwiched between 2 pieces of dough.


Traditionally these breads are pan fried, but Natashya gave us the option to pan fry or bake them. Since I'm trying to cut back on fat, I baked mine.


Thanks Natashya for a great bread this month! Please visit her blog Living in the Kitchen with Puppies for the recipe.

If you'd like to bake along this month as a Bread Baking Buddy, you've got until May 24 to get your post to Natashya.

Please visit the other Babes, listed over on the right, to see what they thought of the bread.

English Muffin with Guacamole

A few months ago I shared with you a couple of fast breakfasts I like to make. Here's another one that I forgot to post at that time.

This one I think I like more than the quick egg sandwich. It's even easier and vegetarian. A toasted english muffin (or bagel!) smeared with guacamole, topped with sliced tomato and sprinkled with cheese, then popped back under the heat to melt the cheese. Heavenly.


PS - make your own guacamole! So easy and you can't fudge it up.

chicken fried steak

Here's what I can tell you about this plate of food:
It's chicken fried steak, mashed potatos, green beans and gravy. It was delicious. It was sort of time consuming, but overall easy to make.

Here's what I can't tell you: the freaking recipe.

I swear, my brain has gone to complete mush since the end of November. I cobbled the CFS recipe together from a few sources, trying to remember what I liked about the one chicken fried steak I'd had before. A good 5 or more years ago. I did a good job and was very happy with the results. However my notes are gone. Again. Dam-mit.

homemade sausage rolls - so easy

All right, now none of these photos are pretty, but you should be used to that on this here blog by now.

I used to have a weakness for sausage rolls - at a previous job there was a deli in the bottom of our building and a co-worker and I would split one every couple of months or so. Side of mustard, please.

After I left that job I never really gave them much thought, but a few months ago I was rummaging in the freezer for something and found a pack of ground pork I'd bought while pregnant expressly for the purpose of making sausage rolls. I found my Jamie Oliver recipe and got to work.

Now the recipe calls for sausage meat and I had pork, so I just jeujed it up a little more. Then I did a piss poor job of rolling out the dough, and laid the filling down the middle.


Rolled them up and cut into lengths. Brushed them with egg wash.


And bake until golden and cooked through.


These are DELICIOUS, probably the best sausage roll I've ever had. Give 'em a try.

Mighty Life List - Lotus Root

Here's my second post for number 108 on my Mighty Life List - Try 10 foods I've never had before.

Lotus Root!

Lotus root comes from the Lotus, a water lily which is used in Asian cooking. The root has a red-brown peel that must be removed before cooking. Lotus root can be found fresh, canned and dried. It has a crisp texture and mild flavor.

We took a couple of trips to Vancouver last month, and I came across pickled lotus root in an Asian grocery store.


The slices were pickled with a sweet and spicy edge and were really refreshing. I've avoided dishes that had lotus root in the in the past (fear of the unknown!) but I won't any more, quite delicious.

Grocery Shop, May 3

My Mom and I went to a neighbourhood garage sale on the weekend and I pulled these magazines out of a box marked "Free".


2 are from the 70's and the rest are 83-85, and pretty much all the ads are for booze or cigarettes. Hey, if you need a recipe for Kipper Pate or Partridge Bourguignonne, give me a shout.

I actually had a plan when I went shopping this weekend. I'm trying to drop more than a few pounds and so I've cobbled together some sensible meals for the week. Please send good thoughts and low calorie and fat recipes my way.


I bought: asparagus, cheese, tortillas, edamame, green beans, egg whites, pears, potatos, lettuce, chicken, salsa, zucchini, steak, corn, turkey sausage, watermelon and yogurt.

I was a little worried how much this was all going to cost, it looked like a lot of food and some of it was pricey (chicken $7.99, salsa $4.99) but it was a reasonable $52.31. The receipts show you at the bottom how much you've saved with your savings card. I forgot to post it in the other grocery posts I've done, but this week I saved a whopping $14.43!

Bread Baking Buddies for Potato Bread with Chives

Thanks to all of you who joined us Babes in baking the Potato Bread with Chives this month, thus becoming Bread Baking Buddies.



Nicole at Bread Butter and Buns


Gosia at Majology


Donatella from Il Cucchiaio D'Oro




Elle from Bread Bakers Dog


Andreas from Delta Kitchen


Kelly from A Messy Kitchen


Andrea from Family and Food


I'd also like to send a huge THANK YOU out to Lien, our BBBabe who blogs at Notitie van Lien who very graciously makes both the BBB and Buddy badges every month. Thank you Lien!

FNCCC - Sandra Lee

I know, Sandra Lee! So many people dislike her. Myself, possibly because her shows do not air on the food channel in Canada, I am of really no opinion. I have cooked a few of her recipes successfully (her pumpkin pancakes from Semi Homemade Cooking are super), but I have also seen clips of her show online (shudder).

But she's the next in line over at Sarah's for Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge, so here we are.

I found a recipe on her website for Swedish Meatballs, which I quite like.

Surprisingly this recipe is pretty much a "real" Swedish Meatball recipe. The only premade ingredient she uses is frozen meatballs, and that was perfect for me as I had half a bag in the freezer I wanted to use up.



I served the meatballs over steamed potatos instead of noodles. This was good, quick and easy to make, and I would make it again.

Recipe: Speedy Swedish Meatballs.

Please go visit Sarah at I Thank My Mother to see what else was whipped up this week.

I am a completely embarrassed Babe - Potato Bread with Chives

It's my month to be Kitchen of the Month in Babeland! I chose a bread that says "Spring" to me - Potato Bread with Chives, from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

The bread is vegan and uses soy (or another non dairy milk of your choice) milk and maple syrup instead of sugar.


I've made this bread twice - once to make sure it was a good choice for my Babes, and then again for this post. It is delicious! I love it. The chives don't really do a ton for the bread (as some other Babes may mention in their own posts) but they don't detract from it. And the best part is, it's not an overly complicated recipe, easily completed in a morning or afternoon.

And guess what?

Both times I made it BOTH TIMES I forgot to take photos. Can you believe it?

(To distract you!)

Potato Bread with Chives
from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

"The addition of mashed potatos gives this bread a moist, dense texture and delicate flavor that is accented by that of the chives. This bread is best eaten slightly warm from the oven on the day it is made. It is also good toasted."

2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar or pure maple syrup
2 Tb corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold mashed potatos
1 cup soy milk or other dairy free milk
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tb minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water, the corn oil and the salt. Mix in the potatos, then stir in the soy milk. Add about half the flour, stirring to combine, then work in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board.

Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Knead the dough well until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary so the dough does not stick. Place in a large lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. Punch the dough down and knead lightly. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle with the chives, and knead until the dough is elastic and the chives are well distributed, 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into one large or two small round loaves and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly and cover with a clean damp towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the loaf or loaves. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Tap on the bottom of the loaf or loaves - if they sound hollow, the bread is done. Remove from the sheet and let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

Please visit the other Babes (listed over on the right) to see how their breads turned out. I bet they might even have pictures! Can you imagine?

If you'd like to join us as a Bread Baking Buddy, please email me a link to your post by Friday April 30. I'll have a round up posted a few days after that. My email is iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Cheers!

Wedge Salad

When I was young, my favorite salad was a slab of iceberg lettuce with salad dressing on it. (Who knew I was such a connoisseur in my early years?) I had no idea that a wedge of iceberg was a classic salad. I have in one of my notebooks for a Martha Stewart iceberg salad recipe - a wedge of lettuce drizzled with homemade buttermilk dressing. The photo looks so refreshing and inviting. Perfect for a warm spring or summer day.

It hit me the other night that now is the perfect time to try this, as I bought too much lettuce on my last shopping trip. I cut a nice slab of lettuce (and washed and dried it), placed it on a plate, then sprinkled it with diced tomato and snipped chives. Then I pulled out the blue cheese dressing and voila:


Delicious, and open to endless possibilities!

I'm thinking avocado, tomato and bacon with blue cheese or ranch dressing
or
diced bell pepper, cheddar cheese and salsa
or maybe a take on one of my favorite salads -
slivered almonds, shredded jack cheese, dill dressing

Mmmm mmm mmmmmmm!

Link

Megan at Not Martha is giving away 5 of the iphone How to Cook Everything apps. I am a fan of Mark Bittmans, but I never win things, so I took her advice and headed over to the app store where HTCE is currently available for the ridiculously low price of $1.99.

I love LOVE it. This is the first food app I've downloaded that I've actually used. (Well, I haven't cooked from it yet, but I've favorited a jillion recipes).

Visit Not Martha at this post for details on how to enter to win.

Contest ends at noon PST Wednesday April 21.

vietnamese food

I made this a couple of months ago, and it was the BEST Vietnamese food I've ever made. Not that I've made that much yet. But it was damn good.


Unfortunately, I have NO IDEA how I made this. My notes are gone.

Dammit.

If I Were...

If I were a month I’d be August

If I were a day I’d be Sunday

If I were a time of day I’d be 6 pm

If I were a font I’d be Georgia

If I were a sea animal I’d be a turtle

If I were a direction I’d be West

If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a lounger

If I were a liquid I’d be water

If I were a gemstone I’d be a ruby

If I were a tree I’d be a banyan tree

If I were a tool I’d be an awl

If I were a flower I’d be a gerbera daisy

If I were an element of weather I’d be rain

If I were a musical instrument I’d be a drum

If I were a color I’d be yellow

If I were an emotion I’d be joy

If I were a fruit I’d be a strawberry

If I were a sound I’d be loud

If I were an element I’d be helium

If I were a car I’d be reliable

If I were a food I’d be a sopapilla

If I were a place I’d be Kihei, Hawaii

If I were a material I’d be rock

If I were a taste I’d be lemon

If I were a scent I’d be freshly cut grass

If I were a body part I’d be a hand

If I were a song I’d be an instrumental by Stevie Ray Vaughn

If I were a bird I’d be a chickadee

If I were a gift I’d be blue

If I were a city I’d be near water

If I were a door I’d be open

If I were a pair of shoes I’d be invisible (I hate shoes)

If I were a poem I’d be i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

What would you be?

(found at Sizzle Says

Grocery Shop, April 15

I am a little annoyed with myself. I bought too much lettuce today. A head of iceberg (it was on sale) and a container of organic Italian mix (also on sale). AND I didn't even notice until I looked at the photo just now.

I also bought some chicken, chives (for a certain project), the new food network magazine as a treat, hoisin sauce, buns, tomatos, apples, bananas, yogurt, celery (one of my least favorite vegetables, but I have an idea), salad dressing, milk, clamato and pop.

I've got some bell peppers that my mom gave me, and some additional chicken, beef and frozen veggies that will get us to next week.

Total spent $39.39

Mighty Life List - Dandelion Greens

As I mentioned in my last post, number 108 on my Mighty Life List is to try 10 foods I've never had before.

I picked up the first one on Sunday, Dandelion Greens. Organic Dandelion Greens.


These have never really appealed to me to be honest because I have heard they are quite bitter. But I saw them and figured why not?

Dandelion greens are really quite good for you. They are high in Vitamins A, C and K and are a source of Calcium and Iron. Suggested uses are as a leaf in salads, or boiled, sauteed or steamed.

Vicki from A Work in Progress kindly shared her recipe for them, and it goes like this:

Boil the greens in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes (I got interrupted and mine boiled more like 7 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze with your hands to remove water.


Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add garlic (I used 5 cloves) and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add the greens, stir and cook until the greens are heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

Vicki suggests topping with some parmesan cheese which I forgot to do. I wish I had. I will next time.

These were pretty good! There was a slight bitterness to them, but I really liked the garlic and peppers. I ate these with some leftover mishmash foods, but I could see this going really well with some pasta (again as suggested by Vicki) or a steak or pork chop.

FNCCC - Rachael Ray

It's Rachael Ray's week at Sarah's Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge.

Love her or hate her, you've got to admit that the woman has amassed an incredible amount of recipes. I have made a lot of her recipes the past few years. A good number of them have been pretty tasty too.

But I think that this one might be the best Rachael Ray recipe I've made -


It's a beautifully seasoned turkey patty with a olive, tomato and cucumber salad. There was supposed to be spinach in the salad as well, but I forgot to add it. The problem is, I made this a few weeks ago and I can't find the recipe. I can't remember where I found it, or its name. I do remember that it wasn't made with turkey in the original recipe; I subbed that in because I found some ground turkey in the freezer. Argh.

So I bit the bullet and found another recipe to make for FNCCC. And this time I made sure to mark the magazine page so I could share it with you!


Behold the deliciously wonderful Beef and Bean Burrito Burger. This was so good! Ground beef mixed with black beans, brown rice, cumin, coriander, and served with guacamole. I skipped the bun (cough DIET! cough ha, nice try Sara, who am I kidding) and served it with chopped tomato. and salsa.

I really enjoyed this and it does taste like a burrito. I made 6 patties, not 4 as the recipe calls for. 4 would have been insanely huge. We will have these again for sure.

Recipe: Beef 'n Bean Burrito Burgers


ps - if anyone knows the recipe for that first burger, let me know!

Grocery Shop, April 4

I stopped at the grocery store this morning because I thought I was running low on milk. I picked up some random stuff, no meals planned at all with this bunch of groceries. I got:

whole wheat pita, kale, pineapple, pomegranate apple juice, milk, noodles, hummus, frozen dumplings, sushi, one kosher dill pickle, baby oragel (my baby! is 4 months old! wearing 9-12 month clothes! and may be teething!), and dandelion greens.

The dandelion greens are part of my mighty life list (108 Try 1 new food a week for 10 weeks), and I have no idea what I will do with them. Any suggestions? Email or Twitter me!

The dumplings and sushi are to satisfy my craving for sushi and chinese food I've had for weeks. I can't wait to crack into the sushi for lunch and dinner tomorrow. The rest, I'll just have to make it all fall into place.

Total $44.10

FNCCC - Paula Deen

Paula Deen is the chosen Food Network host for this weeks Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge. Oh Paula. You crazy crazy woman you.

I went over to her own website pauladeen.com for inspiration and found a recipe for sweet and sour meatballs. I LOVE sweet and sour meatballs and as luck would have it, I had a bag of frozen meatballs in the freezer and all the sauce ingredients in the pantry, so I made it for dinner that very night.

I am a fairly frugal person in the kitchen. I don't like to waste food. I hate having to buy a big bunch of cilantro when I only need a teaspoon. Cause you know it's going to go bad before it all gets used up. I don't like recipes where you cook noodles in broth and then toss out the broth. I don't do it. I just cook them in water. So imagine my shock when I'm reading the recipe I've chosen, and it calls for 4 cups of ketchup. For one pound of meatballs. FOUR CUPS OF KETCHUP! Does that not sound just a wee bit excessive? Four cups of ketchup plus 2 cans of pineapple, and a truckload of other ingredients, for a measly one pound of meatballs? Four cups of anything is a lot and I just couldn't bring myself to use four cups (4!) of ketchup. So I halved all of the sauce ingredients, and also didn't pre-cook the sweet and sour sauce since everything was going to be in the oven for an hour.

And it looked pretty good when it was done cooking:

Aside from the day glow color of the photo, you'll see that there is p-l-e-n-t-y of sauce to go around for all those meatballs. I honestly can't imagine needing any more sauce. It was good, very good. I might make it again, but I am always on the lookout for new sweet and sour meatballs recipes.

Please visit Sarah at I Thank My Mother to see who else took part and what they made.

Recipe: Shane’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs