Pat-in Pie Crust

Rach-

It's a great day in the 'Wack, the sun is shining, the trees are a patchwork of colour..but the best parts of my day? Finn and I have worked out a deal - if he wants to go to the park with slides and swings he has to sit in the stroller. To walk at a normal pace - without having to stop at every rock, to actually feel like I might be getting a bit of exercise? Fabulous. Another memorable part of the day? Leftover pie.

I know that this comes as no suprise, but I love to eat pie - though, really, who doesn't. The problem is making it. Making a pie crust is too much like work: the rolling, the floury counter (and floor, and cupboards, and fridge handle..). I love food, I like to eat, I like to cook but I admit it, I'm lazy. In the kitchen I like to take as many short cuts as possible to get to a delicious outcome. On our Thanksgiving trip to Victoria I left the parents' with two pumpkins from their garden. Now, with all my bravado about short-cuts I have to say that making pumpkin puree is not a shortcut. In fact, I can't say that I notice a difference in the pumpkin from the can and the big bowl full that I have in my fridge. The shortcut that I discovered this round is a pat-in-the-plate pie crust. No more rolling for me. This is an oil based crust so it loses that flaky quality, but for my pumpkin pie it was fabulous (and for those who care, trans-fat free!).

Cooking pumpkin isn't rocket science but my method is to use the microwave. I cut the pumpkin (or squash) into a few big pieces, scrape out the seeds, and then put the squash into a glass pyrex in the microwave. I microwave until soft and then set aside until cool. When cool, I peel the skin off, and puree the pumpkin using my brand new food processor. You want to make sure that the pumpkin is really soft so that the pureeing is quick and easy. Hard pieces make for chunks which makes for scraping down the sides of your blender/processor. The microwave method is convenient when Finn and I are puttering around in our PJs in the morning, but another great trick is just to chuck your pumpkin in when you already have the oven going with some other baking - pureeing pumpkin is all about stages, that way it seems like less work.

The pumpkin pie recipe I used is pretty standard - I won't post it because most pumpkin pie recipes are the same - the difference is that I used regular milk instead of the recommended evaporated milk or cream. I didn't notice a difference and suspect that the evaporated milk is a big marketing ploy - beyond the need to have access to canned milk, let's say while in the wilderness with no cows in the proximity- why is evaporated milk out there? If more people discovered this conspiracy, however, then Carnation would be out of business. Hhhhmm.. would anyone be interested in my latest inspiration: Food X Files? I digress, here is my new crust short-cut. I'm thinking of trying an apple-crumb topped pie variation.

Pat-in-Crust

1) Combine: 11/2 cup flour, 11/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt.
2) Make a well in the dry mixture and add: 2 T milk and 1/2 cup canola oil
3) Pat into a pie plate.

There you have it. Pie crust. It's that easy!

Before I sign off I need make a second request for your apple bread recipe (sadly we just finished your last half loaf from the freezer). A little birdy told me you might have a new teaching job? Drop me a post!

Buns and more buns...

Dearest Rach (or should I say Smokin' buns?),

A lot has happened since my last blog - I traded cooking in for nursing for a few weeks, but now I'm back and ready to multi-task. Actually, while eating the great meals made by thoughtful friends and our lovely mother, I was inspired and more than a little ready to get back into the kitchen.

To follow on your bread theme (can't wait to try that foccacia!), I kicked homemade burgers up a notch and made my own buns. Hamburgers have been a favourite of mine since our childhood. Friday nights were burger nights in the Reems household, we were a crew that thrived on routine in our food- burgers on Friday; pancakes on saturday morning; muffins made by Guy before church; eggs for Sunday dinner; and the most important tradition of all? Ice cream during The Magical World of Disney/Road to Avonlea Sunday night specials. We were nothing if not structured. So there is still something familiar and expectant about sinking my chomps into a big 'ol burg.. the week is over, let's get on with the weekend!

I used this Canadian Living recipe with great results. This is definitely slated for many frequent repeats. I stuck to the recipe this time and used white flour - I am going to try a third whole wheat next time. These buns flew off the table. I caught Mike eating a few extra without the patty; they were also delicious the next day.

It was good seeing you this weekend - how was that second Thanksgiving dinner with the Speller clan? Aside from ferry craziness we had a great time in Victoria. The company was lovely as always, the food was great... though Joan if you're reading this I would rethink the homemade plum juice addition to the punch bowl.
(Couldn't resist sneaking this pic in - isn't she a beauty?).

Love Haley

Bread Again

Dear H.

As youknow, I've been into bread lately. Something about the change in season has me baking bread and simmering soup. Perhaps it's the plethora of squash and apples, both inspiring fruit and veg. The new chill in the air has cooled down the apartment considerably. In August, and for most of September, it was sheer torture to have the oven on for any length of time. With the extra heat put out by the oven, the temperature felt well over thirty degrees. We could pretty much strip to nothing and fire up the hot yoga. Hmmm. Hot bread, hot yoga. Possible enterprise? We could call it smokin' buns.
Anyways, I've been messing around with sour dough and doughs with higher moisture content to get nice big holes in my bread. I recently picked up a book at Russels, that great used book-store, called "No Need to Knead." There's a recipe for focaccia that you should try. Only you must swear not to reveal how absurdly easy this bread is to make. It is perfect for serving with pasta, or bringing to a dinner party just to show off.

Focaccia
2 cups warm water
2tsp active dry yeast
4 cups flour
2 to 3 tsp salt
topping:
2 to 3 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
1 tsp kosher salt
(I also used a TBSp cornmeal and half a tsp fresh ground coffee. Feel free to play with the toppings. That's the fun part,)

Measure water into bowl then add yeast. Stir until dissolved. (I used instant yeast. I mixed it with the 2 cups flour and salt, then added the yeast. Remember, if you use instant yeast, your water needs to be hotter, about 110). Stir in 2 cups flour and mix until smooth.
Add the rest of the flour and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a loose, messy ball. The dough will be wet and sticky. That's okay.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled. It should take 30 to 40 min. (Mine took over an hour).

Shaping: Pour the dough onto a cookie sheet. Push and stretch it to fill the sheet. Or, do as I did and pour your dough into a skillet or two. I used a cast iron dutch oven. A corning ware would also work well. There is no need to shape the dough. Just let it lie as it falls into your chosen vessel. This is a very forgiving dough so don't be afraid to experiment a little. Sprinkle with olive oil and other toppings.

Let the dough rise for another half hour.

Bake the dough in a 400 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes. The bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on a wire rack.

Baptismal Chili

(Haley and I have decided to write our blog entries to one another. We hope this format will bolster our self confidence by guaranteeing us a sympathetic audience of one sister who truly cares about the ins and outs of preparing a batch of biscuits.)

Dearest H,
I pictured you and Finn this morning, big and small, at the breakfast table. Likely, Finn took a peek under your shirt at your pregnant belly and said good morning to baby Cobie. Have you and Mike agreed upon the spelling of Coby's name? Notice that I have used both possible spellings. Perhaps looking at your options in print will clarify your decision.

You are probably wondering how the baptism lunch went, so I will tell you. The day started perfectly at Pease Lake. The sky was clear. The lake was still, the mountain reflected on the water. We sang, Caleb dunked with the help of Pastor Harv, we prayed and sang again. It's impossible form me to convey the beauty and simplicity of the experience.

After the church service we took to the Speller residence for a family lunch. In typical form, the Reemes arrived early, talked loudly, and waited impatiently for the food. Actually, lunch was ready, but in typical form, the Spellers trickled in slowly, calling for rides, toting laundry, and disappearing into places like the bathroom just as a blessing for the meal was about to be said.
Interestingly, between us, Caleb and I have created a balancing point between the propensity for punctuality and the inclination to arrive at least a half hour late for every appointment. I no longer fret and fuss over time and Caleb is occasionally early.

The lunch was nice. I called upon mother and mother-in-law for help, playing to their strengths. Sheilah baked two fruit pies and Joan provided a Greek salad, of which the primary ingredients were gleaned from her garden. Rachel (sister-in-law) brought an enormous bread-bowl dip. Hence forth I vow to always call on others to fill in the odds and sods for a group meal. This way, I was able to focus on the chili and bread. This was a white chili, with pale beans and chicken, forgoing the typical tomato based sauce. It is really quite good. Sadly, I have no photos so you'll have to make it to see it. The bread was also a success. Actually, it led to a lot of binging amongst the guests. Rachel scoffed when I hinted that I hoped for leftovers to take home. The loaves were based on the no-work recipe. I tinkered with the flours and threw some raisins and spices into one. The recipe for the no-work bread is located in our archives.

The recipe for White Chili was created by Jacqueline McMahan. I paired down on the chilies, tinkered with the beans, and made a few other alterations to suite my ingredients and ease. Otherwise, I followed her directions

White Chili

Beans
1 pound combination of dried pale coloured beans of your choice
5-8 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
pepper
salt
Combine these ingredients in a big pot. Simmer them until the beans are soft. This will probably take one to two hours. If you want to speed up the simmer time, pre soak your beans over night or for about 8 hours.

Drain the beans and reserve a cup of liquid

Chili
One bottle light beer
1 cup diced onion
2-3 minced garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and diced (use one, or half, if you want a mild chili)
4 Anaheim chilies roasted, peeled and seeded (you can skip theses and just use jalapeno chilies but the roasted chilies don't add heat to your chile, they merely add to the complexity of the flavour, which is a good thing)
1 to 2 tsp cumin
Combine these ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add these ingredients to the pot:
1 and 1/4 pound chicken breasts, diced
1 tsp chile powder
1 cup reserved bean liquid
Simmer for at least 15 minutes or until you have the tomatillo sauce ready.

Tomatillo Sauce
1 pound tomatillos, husks removed (or subsitute roma tomatoes for the tomatillos)
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
Place the ingredients in a food processor and process until the consistency of salsa. Stir into the chili. Add the beans. Simmer for 20 min.

Serve topped with grated cheese if you would like. I prefer the chili without cheese.

Variation: Quick Method: Use canned beans and skip the bean preparation step. Add the beans and their liquid along with the chicken.

Nesting and Gnocchi

Rach, it was a good week. Thanks for getting off the island and spending time with me and Finn. The pre-baby wait isn't for the adrenaline junky, but it was great having company in my "nesting." I added the above pic to give you accolades for my newly-organized pantry. When
I open the door to find something it takes mere seconds- beautiful rows of baking supplies and cooking goods wait for me expectantly- no longer jumbled together in one big pile (how many half empty bags of oats did you find.. 5?). I record in writing, my solemn vow to fight my "Hale-tropy" slide toward disaster and to do all in my power to maintain this organized state. I am picturing your skeptical face right now; fine, new plan, how about you come out every few months to do a visual?? Or I could post a pic every two months or so?

I needed to document our fabulous gnocchi meal. Judging by the amount he pounded back Finn's weight is now secured at the top percentile of the two-year-old growth chart. This was a great meal that did well on our eating local aspirations - basil pesto made with my bumper crop, beans also from my garden, and potato gnocchi made with yukon gold potatoes from our Dutch egg lady down the road.



Gnocchi with Pesto
(from The Williams Sonoma Cookbook)
-makes 4 servings

Salt
3 russet potatoes, about 1 1/2 lb russet potatoes, scrubbed (we used 6 yukon golds)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (we used dried)
1 large egg, beaten (props to us for one more local item -eggs from Fairfield Island)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed for rolling
6oz haricots verts or other slender green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup pesto (see recipe below)
6 tbs unsalted butter (I used 1 1/2 tbs)

To make gnocchi, in a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the unpeeled whole potatoes until tender, about 30 minutes. OR follow our lead and bake the potatoes (after all, your oven is on for the muffins and date squares). Drain and let cool. Peel and place in a large bowl. Add the 2 tbs grated cheese, 1 1/4 tsp salt and nutmeg and mash well with a potato masher. Let cool to lukewarm, mix in the egg and 1 cup of the flour.

Knead the dough, adding more flour 1 tbs at a time as needed, until a soft and sticky dough forms, about 3 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then divide into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, use your palms to roll each piece into a rope 3/4 inch thick. Cut the ropes into 1 inch pieces. To form the grooves that will hold the sauce, roll each piece over the tines of a large fork.

In a large pot of generously salted boiling water, cook the beans until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Using a skimmer, transfer beans to a colander and drain.

In 2 batches, cook the gnocchi in the same pot of boiling water until just tender, stirring often to prevent sticking, about 5 minutes per batch. Use the skimmer to transfer to a baking sheet.

Put the pesto and 1/2 cup grated cheese into a large bowl. In a large frying pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add the gnocchi and saute until heated through, 5 minutes. Add beans and toss for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to the bowl of pesto and cheese and toss to coat. Divide among 4 plates, serve at once.

Pesto - Note we used a combo of pine nuts and walnuts. Other note - yay, the "deflowering" of my new food processor!!

In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 large clove of garlic, halved, 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Process until garlic is minced. Add 2 cups firmly packed basil leaves and 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts and process until the basil is finely ground. With, the motor running, gradually add 1/2 cup (I used 1/4 cup) olive oil and blend until almost smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate. To store for up to a week, spoon additional oil over the pesto to cover. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Before I sign off, another huge thanks for the baking in my freezer- I've got enough muffins, bread, granola, and squares to last me for a bit. Could you please post me a recipe for the apple-cinnamon-raisin bread? We finished the last of the first loaf on french toast this morning.

Here's to hoping that babe makes an appearance soon (well, after I've reorganized my closet!).

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp

I've been a neglectful blogger of late. Not because we're not eating well; I have many great blog entries in my head right now. My problem is, that when the little man goes to sleep, it seems all that I want to do lately is curl up with a good book. OK, this isn't a new problem, but has been a recurring theme throughout my procrastination-rich-book-filled life.

Ah, summer. Ah, strawberry season. When the local strawberry season kicks off my world becomes that much shinier. A good fruit crisp is my faithful standby dessert. I love it - apples, pears, blackberries.. anything goes. Almost better than a crisp with a plop of ice cream, is a big bowl of it for breakfast the next morning. Throughout the winter I have bags of frozen summer bounty to ensure that my addiction is curbed.

But those zip locks have been emptied months ago; fortunately summer is here and berry season has begun. I also currently have a bumper crop of rhubarb that seems to grow like a weed in my garden. From a tiny little plant two months ago, I now have mammoth leaves vying for sunlight with my tomato plants. Finn and I have been eating stewed rhubarb, rhubarb loaf, and rhubarb muffins for the past month. I mixed it up a little and added a few cups of strawberries to create a delicious crisp.

A fruit crisp is another forgiving dessert. It's hard to mess up. My measurements here are all approximations. You really do need to just go for it and see what you come up with.

Rhubarb- Strawberry Crisp

Fruit Mixture
Combine in a 8 inch baking dish or casserole of similar size:
4 or 5 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/3 cup sugar (this results in a somewhat tart crisp, add 2/3 cups if you have a sweet tooth)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Crumbly Topping
Combine:
1/4 c melted butter
1/3 c brown sugar (again, 1/2 if you like it sweeter)
1/2 c flour
1 cup rolled oats (or old fashioned, which is what I used this time)
pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)
shake of cinnamon

You want a nice crumbly texture. If it seems to dry add a T of water or honey. Spread the topping on the fruit mixture.

Bake at 350 for about an hour .

Enjoy. Tastes great cold too.

Chicken Salad Deliciousness

I love a good chicken salad sandwich. This is the lunch that proceeds a roast chicken dinner.. or my 'quick stop and pick up a roast chicken from Safeway after work because making dinner would take way too much effort' dinner. I covet chicken leftovers simply for a glorious sandwich. I have to admit that this is a purely selfish indulgence, as I am married to (gasp) a man who doesn't eat chicken.

I'm not going to provide a recipe, but more of a method.

First strip your leftover roast chicken. You want all the viable chicken that you can get. If you are really trying to get the most out of your bird you can use the remaining carcass for chicken soup. Next chop or shred your chicken.

Now for your saucy bit. This is a personal preference - do you like your egg salad wet or dry? I like to use equal parts mayo and yogurt. For seasoning I add to taste: salt, pepper, a bit of garlic powder, and a good pinch of curry powder.

Finally, you need your add-ins. I insist on something from the onion family - green onion is what I usually have handy, although you could go with finely chopped red onion or shallots. I also like to add a handful of slivered almonds or chopped pecans, and for the really adventurous souls I love the addition of sliced grapes.

Mix it all together, find a good bread, slice on some avacado (if you have it, it also stands on its own) and voila!

Do Nothing Bread

I'm into bread. Nothing beats pulling a hot loaf from the oven with your own two mitted hands. I love the concept of creating something so tasty and nutritious (Atkins- bah) from the simplest of ingredients-- flour, yeast, salt, water and, sometimes, sugar. Bread encapsulates the miracle of baking. The raw ingredients in your mixing bowl are completely transformed by the process of mixing, kneading, rising and baking. Although for this particular recipe, there's no need to knead. This is the easiest bread you can possibly bake, and, at the same time, the most sophisticated.

I found the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. The ingredients are simple, the process is stupidly easy, and you wind up with a loaf of artisan bread. It's very exciting. No really, I was a little giddy when I cut my first piece. This loaf is for the beginning and experienced baker a like. Appropriately titled "No Work Bread," The dough does not require kneading. Instead, the yeast develops over a delayed fermentation period (18 hours). Baking the bread in a hot pot or corning wear creates a cracked artisan-style crust. The texture is open, with lots of those wonderful holes.

No-Knead Bread

Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Enlightened Eggs Benny

For some of you egg benny lovers out there, this post will be somewhat sacrilegious -no real hollandaise sauce? Does this even constitute eggs benedict? I'm all for ordering the real deal when I'm out for breakfast - Soft poached eggs please, and load on the sauce.

However, when I'm in my own kitchen, reading a recipe that calls for one cup of melted butter, I just can't do it. This recipe is a compromise. I'm not going to pretend that my fake hollandaise is as good as the thing, but for the ease of preparation, not to mention the cup of butter issue, this is the way to go. I have taken this recipe from Crazy Plates and doctored it a bit.

Enlightened Eggs Benny

1) Fry your bacon, or for a veggie option (see pic), slice some tomatoes

2)Make your Mock Hollandaise- Combine the following and heat in the microwave until warm (don't press start until your eggs are almost done, you want the sauce to be warm on your eggs). This is enough for three bennies, or 6 eggs.

• 1/4 cup light mayo (I insist that you use Hellmans 1/2 fat, no other light mayonnaise measures up).
• 1/4 cup light sour cream (Please buy light, not no fat. No fat equals no taste).
• 1 T lemon juice - the bottled worked fine but fresh would be the best
• dash cayenne
• pinch salt and pepper
  
• fresh dill - if you have it, but I can't do without anymore. Go down to your nearest garden centre and get some herbs for a pot on your deck or window sill.
• squirt of mustard - regular, dijon, or honey according to your taste
  
• 1 or 2 T water

2) Poach your eggs - I like mine soft, maybe a scant 3 minutes or so in the pot

3) Assemble your bennies on toasted english muffin halves. Two per good appetite. Layer as follows - Muffin, bacon (or tomato), egg, and smother with sauce. Garnish with extra dill and Voila!

All you need to round out your brekky is a nice cup of fair trade, heavy on the cream, coffee.

A Mexico Mission

I’m back on the blog. Haley has been picking up my slack for the past few weeks. Under a heavy load of report cards, a missions trip to Mexico, and a frantic semi-prepared return to term three at PCS, my food entries were muscled to the wayside. Nonetheless, I feel called to share my Mexico culinary experience.

A few weeks ago I traveled down to the top of the Baja in a convey of over-sized vans with thirty grade twelve students. Along with five adult leaders, the team’s goal was to build three houses for three Mexican families in need. Our goal (Joan and I), was to prepare food throughout the week to feed the unstoppable teenage metabolisms.

Homey, yet wanting in many obvious conventions, the kitchen at the Saint Vincent Guerro base became the center of our universe. Our base was located in a ‘residential’ neighbourhood, characterized by rutted dirt roads and stray dogs. A thick gate—never locked—shielded a square courtyard bordered by our sleeping quarters and kitchen. I enjoyed waking at five (really!) to smell the pink droop of flowers climbing the overhang outside the female chaperone quarters. The sky was also pink, less vibrantly so, and the roosters which began cawing at three a.m. continued to call across rows of Mexican houses. The lights in the kitchen were on. Joan, up since four, had trays of muffins ready to bake. Breakfast preparation began.

Days were busy as we skipped from breakfast to lunch, with a quick breather before dinner, when cooking began in earnest. I took to kneading dough or mixing cookies on the warm stone counter in the courtyard. Preparing pizza dough, sauce and toppings for forty people was an exciting challenge, particularly as the kitchen lacked an adequate supply of cookie sheets. We rummaged through the hodge podge shelves of equipment to unearth each and every bent and brittle pan. A lining of tin foil rendered the most useless pan pizza worthy (cookies, potatoes, and whatever else needed to be baked also found a home on this depressing army of aluminum). Another challenge proved to be the single oven. Sadly, the door refused to seal. If we found ourselves idle for a scrap of a second we leaned a hip against it. Eventually, one of the girls dreamed up a solution, a stack of deck chairs pressed against the handle. Checking the chicken became a bit of a battle. In addition, only one of the two fridges generated passably cold air. There was a sink that dripped, sudden loss temporary losses of propane…yet we rather enjoyed these little trials. They became a mark of the Mexico experience: make it work—tie it with twine, wet it with your spit, close it with chairs.

We also enjoyed shopping with our Spanish dictionaries in hand. It was an adventure to find sugar, produce, chorizo sausage, and all the rest. In the shops we communicated with locals, met two mice in the hands of ten-year-old shelf stockers, found giant pails of ice cream, and, of course, bought gallons of vanilla to bring back to Canada. Joan (my mother) and I drove one of the school vans along the highway running through these teensy Mexican towns. It was on one of these afternoon shopping trips that we spotted the store lined with massive piñatas. We bought one, stuffed it with candy, and let the kids bash it open on the final night.

Chicken dinner, chocolate cake with cane sugar (it’s what they use!), breakfast tacos, tomato sauces, focaccia bread…our list of success grew with the week. We loved the hectic dinner times, with the hoard of kids, the frantic output of food onto the serving table, the last minute fear—did we make enough? Those boys are huge! It was such a pleasure to share, feed, and enjoy,

We also had a chance to try the local cuisine, and ate a few Mexican meals, including a barbacola, which is cooked in the earth. These inspired me and encouraged me to experiment. In Mexico, avocados and mangoes were inexpensive and readily available. One of my most favourite and simplest lunches combined the two. What follows are two recipes using the avocados and mangoes together. The first, the quesadillas, I made in Saint Vincent, the second, the halibut, I prepared in Victoria, using freshly caught fish. Both are simple, not even recipes really. I had the pleasure of cooking a mountain of these quesadillas on our propane griddle under a leafy tree in the courtyard in St Vincent.

Mango and Avocado Quesadillas

1 mango

1 avocado

I cup grated cheddar cheese

6 whole wheat flour tortillas

(Vary amounts to suite your tastes)

Peel the mango and cut it into slim one inch long slices. Cut the avocado in half. Remove the pit using the tip of a knife. Use a spoon to gently scoop out each half, keeping the fruit intact. Slice length-wise into narrow pieces.

Spay a grill or pan with cooking oil. If you have a grill, you can cook more than one quesadilla at once. Put a tortilla (or as many as will fit) on to the hot surface. Leave for five seconds, then flip. Then, place three pieces of avocado and three pieces of mango on half the tortilla. Don’t fill it too full. If your pieces are big, use only two of each.

Sprinkle with cheese. Fold in half like a card and cook for a couple minutes then flip and leave a couple minutes before removing from heat.

You can eat your tortillas as you make them, or store them in a just-warm over, or on a tray under the cover of tin foil.

Halibut with Mango and Avocado Salsa

For the Fish:

2 thick halibut fillets (you can substitute any white fish)

1 lemon

1 tsp olive or avocado oil (hard to come by but I bought it in Mexico)

Rub the fish with oil and place in a shallow dish. Squeeze lemon onto the fish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 350. Leave the fish to marinate while you prepare the salsa. (Let it rest for at least ten minutes.)

When you are ready, bake the fish for ten minutes-twenty minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. It should flake open when you press it with the side of a fork but still moist. Don’t let it dry out.

For the Salsa:

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 avocado, peeled and diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp oil

1 tsp curry powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Use a spoon or your hands to gently toss.

When the fish is ready, transfer it to a plate or platter and top with the salsa. If you have too much salsa, save some to use later in a wrap. Although the fish should be covered in the topping.

Jumpstart on Easter

A lot is going on at the Reems-Campbell household.. a new baby in September, a trip to Mexico last week, and a move next weekend. I am now in post-holiday grieving/procrastinating from packing, cooking and baking mode. Yesterday I made two lasagnas. Today I made hot cross buns. Yes, I know I'm a week early, but with our impending move the day after Good Friday I got cracking today.

I can't take the credit for this recipe -that goes to Joan. These are the time honoured buns, made on Good Friday, year after year at the Reems homestead. I have taken the liberty of swapping the customary fruit "peel" (you know, those chopped-up, unaturally-coloured pseudo-fruit bits that come out at Christmas), with cranberries. Not because I don't like peel, but because I typically make hot cross buns on a last-minute, nostalgic childhood Easter whim, and not wanting to rush to the store to find said peel, I always have my giant Costco bag of Craisins on hand.

Mom's Hot Cross Buns

1) Combine 2 cups warm water, 2 tsp sugar, and 4 tsp yeast

2) Add:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
2 T oil
2 cups raisins
1 cup fruit "peel" or dried cranberry or..
5 cups flour

3) Mix until smooth. Dough will be a bit sticky.

4) Let rise for 1 hour

5) Divide into 24 muffin tins

6) Let rise until double, about 45 minutes

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

8) Drizzle on topping (Combine 3/4 c icing sugar with 1T cream or milk). Make crosses if you have a steady hand - you should let them cool a bit before you drizzle, but I'm a greedy pig and like to eat them when they're hot.

Morning Glories

Louise has requested healthy muffin recipes. Muffins are a Reems staple. We grew up on chocolate chip banana muffins for our school snack. Oatmeal or wheat germ muffins were in the Sunday morning muffin rotation. If you pop by Joan and Bill's around 8:00 on any given Sunday, morning I can guarantee that my dad will be pulling a batch of oatmeal muffins from the fridge. Smothered in homemade blackberry or plum jam they always make me nostalgic, and also manage to get me through that Sunday morning-no snack, long-sermon haul.

Louise specifically mentioned Morning Glory muffins, which have been a long favourite of mine. I really got into making these a couple of years back when Mike came home with 5 pineapples leftover from the foodbank food run he did Fridays in Calgary, all almost over-ripe. I prepped and diced pineapple for the the freezer and made Morning Glory muffins all winter long. I did need to do a recipe overhaul - the recipe I had called for 1 cup of oil. I also cut back on sugar, switched to whole wheat flour and added some oatmeal. OK, I know that list sounds like a sure-fire dud, but trust me please! With these changes the muffins are now the perfect everyday breakfast muffin.

I do find all the grating a bit labour intensive. Too make things quicker I don't bother peeling the apple or carrots- you can't tell the difference in the final texture. If you don't always have pineapple on hand I would suggest upping the carrot and apple quantities, or maybe trying mashed bananas instead. I always double the recipe and then freeze most of the muffins by indiviually wrapping them in saran wrap for a ready-to-go snack or breakfast the next day.


Morning Glory Muffins

Combine moist ingredients-

1 cup carrot (2 large, 3 med), grated
1 med apple, grated
1 9 ounce tin crushed pineapple (undrained)
1/2 cup milk or yogourt
1/4 cup brown sugar (add more depending on how sweet your tooth is)
3 T oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Then add but don't stir until all the dry ingredients are in the bowl-

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger (optional)
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Optional add-is: a T or so of ground flax seed or wheat germ; 1/2 cup coconut (this recipe is flexible, if it seems dry just add a bit more milk)

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes

Stay tuned for my blueberry oatmeal muffin recipe - healthy breakfast muffins take 2..

Grainery

My mothers says whole grains are nutritious, an essential part of a healthy diet. She worries about white flour. It is refined. It's smooth airy texture comes at a price, millions of calories which form during the digestion process. The science remains beyond my grasp but my mother says white flour is equivalent sugar. She's also worried about sugar.

My husband refuses to worry about sugar. "I need sugar," he says, looking into the fridge, opening various cupboards. He moves a lot. His body is a small perpetually whirring machine. His out put of energy is extensive. Heat pours from him in waves. So perhaps he does need sugar. Or maybe he's addicted, which is how my mother would explain it. In her universe sugar is a drug, a bad drug.

Despite the conflicting world views, both my mother and my husband would agree that cookies constitute an essential food group. His are dense, sweet, and chewy. Hers are dry--nearly sugarless, void of fat. Between these two ideologies, I try to carve a niche, a safe space of equilibrium. My cookies are sweet, but not too; contain fat but far less then the average. Recently, while thumbing through King Arthur's Flour Whole Grain Cookbook, I came across a cookie recipe which uses only whole wheat flour. While King Arthur and co advocate whole grains, they are liberal in their use of butter and oil. I tinkered their recipe to create cookies neither my mother or my husband are wholly pleased with (him-- to fibrous, her-- is that sugar?), yet both consume these sweet, healthy nuggets with gusto. You won't be disappointed with these cookies, but be warned, they require an overnight rest in the fridge so you need to mix them up the evening before you plan to bake.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp instant coffee
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBsp corn or rice syrup
1/2 TBsp cider vinegar
1 large eff
1 + 1/2 + 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1-3/4 cups chocolate chips

In a saucepan, melt butter and add sugar and oil, heating the mixture until it is just beginning to bubble. Remove from heat, pour into a large bowl and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Stir in vanilla, baking soda, instant coffee, baking powder, salt, corn syrup and vinegar. Add egg and beat. Then stir in flour, mixing until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips.

Refrigerate, covered, over night.

The next day...

Preheat oven to 350

Drop batter by spoonfuls onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. You should have just under 2 dozen, or less if you like big cookies. Flatten each cookie with your palm. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't over bake (remember, this is the cardinal sin of healthy baking). Once you've removed from the pan from the oven, wait 3-5 minutes before removing the cookie from the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

These are tasty morsels. Despite the raised eyebrows you might receive for using whole wheat flour, they will disappear quickly,

Waiting for summer-

The warm weather this week has me dreaming of spring.. and summer.. and local veggies..

I'm tired of tomatoes from Mexico and grapes from Chili. I want a tomato that hasn't travelled across the continent to get to my kitchen. However, when I saw these beauties I was swayed. Local they're not, but I rationalized that California is closer than Mexico. I know, whatever helps me sleep at night. Anyway, what's bought must be eaten and Finn and I are putting a good dent into our "'matoes." I put together one of my favourite summer staples this weekend-

Greek Salad-

Veggies (I'll tell you what I did, you can vary the amounts according to how much salad you can eat and what your favourites are. This makes a good-sized batch). Dice the following (not too big, not too small):

3 or 4 medium-sized tomatoes

1 cucumber, peeled

1 red onion (this may be too much if you aren't a huge onion fan)

1 yellow pepper

1 green pepper

olives -some may consider this optional but I don't. If you really hate olives could you please just pick them out for the sake of the rest of us? I'll leave the amount and the type to your discretion.

Feta cheese - as much as you've got. Well, maybe a cup of crumbled cheese. See what that looks like and, with my blessing, add more if you feel thus led.

Dressing, combine the following:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice (you could use wine vinegar instead)

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 T fresh if you have it)

1 tsp sugar (optional, but just to take the edge off the lemon)

That's it. stir it all together. And voila, you've got a great side-dish to your chicken souvlaki and enough left for lunch tomorrow.

With or Without Ice Cream

Dense chocolate, sugar, and butter is what I had in mind, a brownie to lose yourself in. The recipe was romantically titled "Audrey Hepburn's Brownies." I pictured her baking between shoots, showing up on the set in a cocktail dress and a tiara with a platter of brownies on one cocked arm. Does every women want to be Audrey Hepburn? I think so.

Eight ounces of chocolate, I began to break up the baker's bar, drop it in the pot. My hand may have trembled--eight ounces--my pulse may have raced, either way, I couldn't do it. Nor the half cup butter. My healthy instincts refused.

So I hummed and hawed, trimmed, cut, and added to create a rich, but less calorie and fat laden brownie. I served it for dessert the next evening. My company, a distinguished couple in their seventies, approved, although they didn't know what to make of the licorice ice cream on the side.

This is a dense, double chocolate brownie. You may serve it with ice cream if there's some hanging around in the freezer but it is rich enough to stand alone and makes a perfect dessert after a filling dinner. We can't all be Audrey but, heck, my husband didn't know the difference.

Wanna Be Audrey Hepburn Brownies

2 ounces chocolate, chopped in eight pieces
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
2 eggs
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Spray 9 or 8 inch pan with oil, line with parchment or tin foil and spray bottom again.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

When the chocolate mixture has melted, keep on the heat and sprinkle cocoa over top. Mix in the cocoa and keep on the heat for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a little. Mixing well after each addition, use a wooden or flat spoon to add the egg white and eggs one at a time. Beat in the sugar and vanilla. Mix in the applesauce. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Set 8x9 pan in a larger pan; this will ensure even baking and a smooth, dense brownie. Bake for 20 to 25 min, or until the edges of the brownie are just beginning to pull away from the pan and the middle is just set or nearly set. An inserted tester should not come out clean. Do not over bake; better to error on the under-baked side as the brownies will continue to set after you pull them from the oven.

Let cool 5-10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then tip from the pan onto rack to cool completely.


Variation: Add nuts if that's your brownie style

Nude Chicken Noodle

Chicken noodle soup can be quite good, especially when you make your own stock. Although this is not essential, it is satisfying. You can buy a decent stock and in a carton and use that. This saves time. And chicken noodle soup is made to be lazy, simply luxurious. Like a good chair. Or a hot bath. I made mine from Nigel Slater’s recipe, found in his “The Kitchen Diaries” cookbook in his January 19^th entry. The book reads like a diary, a recipe for each day written nestled between practical advice and simple musings. He seems dreamy, this Nigel Slater. Apparently he’s a top British food writer, but I’ve only just discovered him. I might have a crush. My variation on Nigel’s (can I call him Nigel?) soup was delicious, simple yet made fresh by mint leaves and lemon juice.

Hats off to you Nigel.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Dried egg noodles- about 50g or a little less

I leek, chopped

Half a carrot, chopped in half-moon slices

1 tsp salt

Chicken broth- 1 litre

Cooked chicken- 200g (I roasted a large bone-in breast in the oven), chopped (not too small)

Chopped mint leaves, about a small handful

Chopped thyme leaves, a slightly smaller handful

The juice of a lemon

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add the noodles and boil for a couple minutes until tender. Drain. Rinse them in cold water and leave them to soak in bowl of cold water.

Put a shot of oil in the pot. Add the leek and carrot. Let tenderize for a few moments. Add salt. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the chicken, the mint, the thyme, and the lemon juice. Simmer for 3 to 10 minutes, depending on your schedule. Make sure the carrots are tender. Add the noodles. Add salt and/or pepper if need be. Simmer for one minute.

Serve in big bowls. Nigel seems to think it serves two. I’d say at least three but I think I added about 400 grams of chicken.

Moderately Healthy

Mike loves his spuds - bake 'em, boil 'em, fry 'em.. Better yet smother them with cheese and bacon! While this appy looks like it might shave some minutes off your life, it is actually moderately healthy. Now by my way of reckoning, "moderately healthy" is a label that applies to those foods that should not be consumed excessively at every meal, but when stacked up next to their gut-busting, artery- clogging "real" counterparts, look like water and celery sticks.

Home-made, as compared to your pub variety potato skins are a good example. Instead of deep frying I baked these beauties. I even tested my version with low fat cheese. I could devote a whole other blog entry to low fat cheese. I typically use Cracker Barrel Old Light cheese for day to day cheese use - for sandwiches, bran muffins and such. I am more reluctant to melt it. However, for these potato skins the low fat cheese worked like a dream.

Haley's Potato Skins-

1) Bake some potatoes. I chucked four potatoes into a 400 degree oven and left them there for about an hour and a half. I think that an hour should do it though (Finn and I had an accidental siesta upstairs so I'm lucky that the potatoes even made it!).

2) Take your potatoes out of the oven and let them cook for a bit. When you can handle them (first deal with your and their emotional baggage), cut them lengthwise in half, and then each half in half again - so that the potato is in four length-wise quarters. Now scoop out the potato so that there is just a bit left, maybe a quarter of an inch. Save the "innards" for baked potato soup or mash them up for tomorrow's dinner.

3) Brush some olive oil on your potato skins and season with salt and pepper. Next put on some sort of sauce - I had leftover pureed tomatoes so I mixed a quarter cup of that with the same amount of barbecue sauce. You could also use straight barbecue sauce, salsa, or tomato sauce. Then load your skins with toppings. I use homemade bacon bits (organic-happy-pig bacon.. doesn't that somehow negate the fat??), lots of chopped green onion, and cheese. You could get creative with your own toppings. I was thinking that sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives, feta and shrimp might be a nice switch up.

4) Take out of the oven and serve with sour cream or spicy yogurt and then eat quickly.. well, at least load up your plate so that Mikeyc doesn't oust you from your rightful share.

The wood grain of my desk has gone incognito, obliterated by a bomb of binders, sticky notes, memos, and schedules. A hot dog day order form, a basketball team roster, an IEP, another IEP, a stack of photocopying, a giant pair of dice, a bell, a recipe for brownies – ah, there, the recipe for brownies, now I can pedal home.

A pink sky, a dry road, and the whir of a freshly lubed chain follow me up Hillside Road. I wonder about dinner. Walnuts, I remember, and stop at Fairways. The store’s bulk section is ho hum. Lately I’ve shopped for nuts, grains, spices, and interesting flours at the health food store in Sidney. I found dried lavender and the surprisingly elusive whole-wheat pastry flour.

My bag is heavy with the nuts and all the other bits and tins I suddenly remember upon entering a grocery store. I dismount at the top of the hill and watch birds fly from the crooked deck. I love our neighbourhood with its mismatched houses and quiet streets tucked between busy throughways, and, of course, the slightly dodgy Quadra Street Village, home to the excellent Caffe Fantastico and James’ Caribbean Café. I love that I’ve finished with children and chalk for the day. In my apartment, on a shelf, a mass of inflated dough waits for me to push it down, turn it onto a floured board, and knead walnuts into its sticky skin before patting it into two round loaves for the final rise.

Kneading bread at six thirty a.m. before beginning a day teaching middle school may very well be a symptom of insanity. But there I am, hazy with flour and sleep, rising with the yeast (clever, huh?). I leave the dough to lift while I spend my day at school. Later, five o’clock p.m., I feed it walnuts and give it one last squeeze. The final rise finishes at six. Into the oven and at seven o’clock we have fresh bread. Life is good.

This is Flo Bracker’s recipe. I haven’t changed it. Haven’t even tried cutting the fat. It’s just that perfect.

Walnut Bread

1 package active dry yeast
pinch sugar
1/2 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup walnut oil (I use olive)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup walnut pieces, toasted
cornmeal
kosher salt

Sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar over the hot water in a large bowl. I test the water on my wrist, it should feel quite warm. Set aside for 15 min to proof. It should be a bit bubbly when done.

Add the lukewarm water (it should feel a bit cooler than your wrist), sugar, oild, unbleached flour, and salt to the yeast mixture; mix until wall blended. Add the whole wheat flour. Do this bit by bit. You may need more or less. It depends on the dough and the day. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about fifteen minutes. My rule is you can never over-knead. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 to 4 hours. On the aformentioned day, I left my dough to rise for over eight hours. I left it at a low room temperature, probably about 17 or 18 degrees celcius. Typically, for the regular rise, I put the dough in the over, after I've warmed it just a little.

After the dough has doubled in bulk, punch down. Work briefly and gently with your hands to press out bubbles and deflate it. On that floured board, knead in the walnuts until evenly distributed.

Grease a large baking sheet (I simply cover one with parchment paper) and sprinkle it with cormeal. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a round loaf. Plach the loafs on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with kosher salt and a little cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 45 minutes. The loaves should be light brown and sound like a hollow tree when you knock their bottoms.

At Least I Know Where He's Been

Cookies pitted with walnuts, knots of cranberries and oats; bran muffins and a fat chicken are the focus of my afternoon. We must have cookies, the bran muffin mix is waiting impatiently in the fridge, and the chicken is still fresh. Only days ago he ran, free of range, on a Cowichan farm. I can almost see him with a plume of green and gold, head snapping to attention at every quick step. He stops – a worm – pecks, and carries on. Now he’s breast up, naked in my skillet. At least I know where he’s been.

The second half of Sunday is a prickly day. Poke, work tomorrow, ouch. Monday begins week four. “How’s it going?” my co-teachers inquire. The look so knowingly, “week three,” smile.

Baking brings its calm. Flour and snow, white and blank, they lull me. But Sunday’s promised snow never showed. Not that I mind.

As for the chicken, poor plucked thing, I’m not letting him slide in nude. After a massage of olive oil, loosening the skin over the breast to slide my fingers under, I sprinkle him with dill, a pinch of salt, and stuff him with four quarters of an orange and a handful of garlic cloves. Look where the free range got him, into the oven at 350 for a good hour and a half. Dinner consists of the bird and a cutting board of fresh spinach, mushrooms, grated carrot, sliced cheese, and a lump of new hummus. Dessert is cookies. Breakfast will be muffins.

Cooking is the simplest way of saying “I love you.” That may sound as pretentious as hell, but if you accept it as essential, your cooking will improve – and so will your love life.

James Barber

Moist Bran Muffins (King Arthur’s Flour Whole Grains Cookbook)
¾ cup boiling water
1 ¼ cup bran cereal, divided
¾ cup raisins
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup veggie oil
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup orange juice

Pour boiling water over ¾ cup of the bran in a small mixing bowl. Add the raisins, brown sugar and oil.

In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and orange juice in a large measuring cup. Add to the dry ingredients. Stir in the rest of the bran plus the raisin mixture. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight. Batter will last up to one week in the fridge before baking.

The morning, wipe the sleep from your eyes before preheating the overn to 375 and filling your muffin tins two-thirds before (after spraying each cup with a non-stick spray, of course). Bake 23 to 26 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick emerges crumbless. Let the muffins cool for five minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack. Tad Da!

The beauty of this recipe is that you don’t have to bake the muffins all at once but can keep the batter in the fridge and bake up fresh muffins as you crave them. (Come on, who doesn’t get serious cravings for bran muffins?)

Spicy Yogurt

Early on in our relationship, Mike and I would shove aside the Big Gulp cups, hop into his Fiero, and head out for romantic drives up-island. After an intense mini golf match we would head to the island's premiere dining destination - Nanaimo's Cactus Club. We never needed to open the menu, their rice bowls were that good. We found out later that it was the spicy yogurt sauce that made their rice bowls so tasty. My mom tracked down the recipe for me a few years back and I finally gave it a go. I have to hit up the Cactus Club again to see what veggies are in the original, but this attempt garnered two thumbs up by my taste-testing panel.

Haley's Rice Bowl with Spicy Yogurt

Step 1 - Chop 3 cloves of garlic and some veggies. I did my usual fridge rummage and came up with red onion, broccoli, carrot, orange pepper, mushrooms, and zuchinni

Step-2- Chop up as much chicken breast as you want. I used one large breast for two people and a toddler. I love using my trusty kitchen shears for this job. Next I sauteed the chicken in some sesame oil with about a third of thegarlic. I added a shot of soy sauce and chili sauce to the chicken.

Step 3- Set the chicken aside and in the same pan saute the rest of the garlic and the veggies until soft. Add the chicken, and about 1/2 a cup of cashews (I give them a bit of a crush with my vice-like grip as I sprinkle them into the pan).

Step 4- Next add your favourite terryaki sauce or do what I did-
3 T soy sauce,
3 T hoisin sauce,
3 T sweet chili sauce,
1 T corn starch mixed in 1/4 cup water,
1/2 cup water.

Let simmer for 5 minutes or so.

(Note: An asian-style stir fry sauce is forgiving - You need a nice balance of salty with a bit of sweet. If you don't have hoisin sauce substitute oyster sauce, or soy sauce combined with some orange juice, ginger, garlic and a spoon of honey).

Step 5- Make your spicy yogurt sauce. Combine-
1 cup yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use Hellman's low fat)
1 T lemon juice
2 T ranch dressing (it is supposed to be 2 T of powdered ranch mix)
1/4 tsp cayenne (more to taste)
1/8 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 shot of Franks Red Hot or other hot sauce (optional)

Step 6- Put it together- in each bowl, on top of a mound of rice, generously ladle on the stir fry, and then dollop some spicy yogurt on top. Garnish with green onions and some more cashews.

Mix the spicy yogurt into your bowl and enjoy!

Of Champions

Breakfast, a word originating in the 1400s, or so Encarta Encyclopedia tells me, means to break the fast imposed by slumber. Another interesting fact: Seventh Day Adventists, such as Kellog, promoted breakfast cereals to further their belief in a vegetarian diet. They earned millions of dollars on mass produced breakfast cereals in the process. It seems we’re still haunted by their idolization of the carbohydrate. I for one, tend to prefer a carb in the morning. Nothing breaks my fast better than home made bread, toasted and slathered with peanutbutter or jam, or a couple buttermilk pancakes topped with maple syrup and yogurt. I was just so lucky this morning when my loving husband clicked off my alarm at six twenty seven, mere minutes before beeping time (six thirty one, oddly enough), and whispered, “pancakes?” Me: “oh yes, love.”

So I entered the day in a puffy, deliciously-overly full, slightly disembodied state, which can be dangerous when you teach a room full of twelve-year olds. They’re small but they’re quick.

In the spirit of breakfast, and because the cereal jar was dangerously low, I baked a batch of granola this evening. My apartment smells of cinnamon, toasted oats, and warm nuts. Yum. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning. It has taken me some time to balance my granola recipe. What follows here has been influenced by too many recipes to count, not to mention my own fixation. I think finding one’s own granola recipe is rather like discovering one’s heart song (watch Happy Feet—yes, animated penguins that sing and dance) you just know.

Rachel's Granola

Mix together in a large bowl4 cups oats
½ cup flax
1 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup wheat germ
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt

Then add:
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp honey
¼ cup apple sauce

Mix after you’ve added all of the sweeteners and oil. Stir until the moisture is evenly distributed, breaking up big clumps as you go.

Bake at 250 on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper for 40 minutes. Place one in the bottom third of the oven and one in the top third. Rotate the sheets every ten minutes. Mix the granola half way through the baking time. Allow to cool, and then add 1 + ½ cup dried cranberries before scooping.

Variation: Add 1/4 cup of cocoa along with the spices

Feasting on Virtue

He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shin, and bread to sustain his heart.

Psalm 104:14-15

Food celebrates life, cultivates community, and illuminates the glory of God. Pastor McDougall reminded me of this on Sunday when he expounded upon the virtues of food and its importance in scripture. I was hooked. Obviously food is connected to praise and to the virtues of the one who made it. No wonder I’m fixated on its splendor. Conclusion: I am a very holy individual. What a relief, I feared I was a common glutton, particularly after my holiday parade of dinners, brunches, and other food-focused gatherings. I’ve been so busy eating I’ve scarcely had time to blog. I’m fortunate to have a mother and a mother-in-law who love to cook. Both laid out impressive spreads this Christmas, leaving me to the fun extra pieces, like dessert, my favourite meal.

After a hearty meal, I like to serve a light sweet dessert. My standby for such occasions comes from the Rebar Cookbook: Chocolate Mousse Blackout. I’ve made changes to the dessert so if you want to see it in its original form you’ll have to consult the Rebar Book, (or, even better, go to the restaurant). My version contains significantly less chocolate so the term “blackout” no longer suffices. That said, there is still plenty of chocolate in the cake and you’ll find it sufficiently sweet and creamy. And, as the dessert is comprised of primarily, gasp, tofu, you can afford second, even third, helpings.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Crust

3 TBSP sugar
1 cup white or spelt flour
1/3 cup toasted cashews
1/8 tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
3 TBSP oil
2 TBSP water
½ tsp vanilla

1. Grease a 9 inch pan (8 inch will work too) and set aside. Combine sugar, flour, cashews, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a food processor. Pulse until a fine texture. Add oil, water, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 10 min, then set aside to cool.

Filling

250 grams good quality dark chocolate
3 boxes silken tofu
¾ cup plus 2 TBSP sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 salt
2 tsp instant coffee powder

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
   Drain tofu and puree in food processor until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla, salt, and coffee powder and blend. Add melted chocolate and blend.
2. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 35 min. Don’t worry about underbaking as the
   cake tastes best creamy and soft. If you leave it in far past the suggested time it will appear much firmer but will taste dry. (If you use an 8 inch pan leave the cake in for at least 5 min longer.
3. Cool completely on a wire rack and refrigerate overnight before serving.