Basil Tomato Sauce with Meatballs and Pasta

When Mooch and I was kids, we loved foil-wrapped Easter eggs, the ones that are three parts wax, one part chocolate. The parents threw them about the house before we woke with the sun on Easter morning. Neon straw baskets in hand, we combatively hunted eggs. Racing our three siblings, jostling for position, we attacked the eggs, all the while stalking the big one: The bunny. Dang, those hollow, food-colouring scalloped bunnies were good.

This story is meant as a sidetrack. I dangle the chocolate bunny as a distraction. I didn't cook with whole grains this week. Not one lousy thing. (Haley and I are on mission to cook with whole grains and post our recipes during the months of May and June). I made chocolate hot cross buns. I poached a chicken. Bulgar, barley, couscous and kumet played hooky from my plate.

I did make meatballs and tomato sauce. (Mooch will remember that I abhorred this dish as a child but have seen the error of my ways, reformed, and embrace it adoringly.)

Basil Tomato Sauce with Meatballs and Pasta

For the sauce

one and a half cups finely chopped onions

5 garlic cloves, minced (more if you'd like)

1 tsp hot red pepper flakes (optional)

2 large cans of whole tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

a handful of chopped basil

a spoon of sugar

a shot of red wine (not necessary but dang good)

salt and pepper to taste

Put a glug of olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. When the oil warms, add the onions, garlic, and hot red pepper flakes and lower the heat. Cook over low, stirring occasionally for ten minutes. Add the tomatoes, paste, and basil. Use a wooden spoon or a potato masher to break up the tomatoes so they are no longer whole but sauce-like. Add the wine and a little sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes and the meatballs. Simmer for one to two hours. You can get away with forty five minutes. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

For the Meatballs

1 piece of bread

1/2 a cup milk

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup minced onions
2 cloves of garlic, minced

a handful of parsley, minced (you can sub green onions or a herb of your choice)

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400.

Soak the bread in the milk. Wring it out a place it in a wide bowl. Add the beef, onions, garlic, parsley and salt and pepper. Mix until just combined (over-mixing will create dry meatballs). Place the meatballs in roaster or on a cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes.

Cook your noodles according to the package directions. I often use shells or linguine.

Monday Salad

Oh Monday, how I wish we could just get along. You don't make it easy to bounce out of bed and wrestle clothes onto two little monkeys. You don't make going to work very fun when I haven't had a chance to read the paper, or even make a cup of coffee. Oh Monday, the best thing we have going for us is our shared love of chocolate, and crawling into bed at 8pm with a book and a big pile of pillows. I guess we're meeting half way.

One thing that makes Mondays a little friendlier is a lovely salad waiting for your lunch. A salad that was lovingly prepared on the weekend and will allow you an extra piece of leftover chocolate cake for dessert. This salad is great because it lasts in your fridge for a few days and tastes delicious and virtuous every time.

Haley's Barley Salad
This could be made using quinoa, or any other type of grain in place of the barley.

1) Cook 2/3 cup pot or pearl barley- cook in 2 cups of water with a pinch of salt. Cover, bring to a boil. Then stir and turn down to low heat for about 45 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed and the grains still have a slight 'chew'. Set aside to cool before adding the rest of your ingredients

2) Chop veggie add-ins of your choice: For this particular salad I used red pepper, green onion, and olives. Tomatoes, avocado, or cucumber are options, but should be added just before eating, not if you plan to save this salad for a few days like I do.

3) Other add ins: I add chick peas and crumbled feta cheese or chevre. Fresh herbs such as basil and cilantro are also nice additions, but I admit I usually just have them on hand in the summer.

4) Toss the barley and additions with your vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette: I combine 4 T olive oil (or canola) with 4 T wine vinegar and 1 tsp dijon mustard. Then add salt and pepper to taste. You may need more or less vinaigrette depending on your veggie quantities.

Spelt Carrot Muffins

Poor Haley! (Read the sad story that is Haley's last post)

I'm confused. Haley's not supposed to fall ill. She is unfailingly hearty. While I sniffled my way through childhood, often home with an upset tummy or a cough, Haley maintained a flawless attendance record. She poo-pooed colds. She never got cramps. Childbirth? 'Sure it hurts...' she said.

Poor Haley. Get better Haley!

And hearty thanks to all her friends in the Wack who are bringing her casseroles and minding her babies.

Anyways, it's whole-grain month. I made carrot muffins. These muffins are from Kim Boyce's book, "Good to the Grain," and taste exactly like muffins should. Not too sweet but wholesomely delicious. Confession: I replaced some of the sugar with agave syrup.

Spelt Carrot Muffins

Topping (this is half the amount of topping Kim uses. I thought it sufficient.)

1/4 cup spelt flour

1.5 Tbsp brown sugar

pinch kosher salt

1.5 Tbsp butter

Dry 1 cup spelt

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup oat bran

1/4 cup natural cane sugar

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups corsely grated carrot (use the food processor:)

Wet

1/4 cup melted and cooled butter

1/4 cup agave syrup

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

For the topping: Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffins: Sift the dry together. Mix the wet together and fold into the dry. Scoop into a greased muffin tin (makes nine). Top with the topping, pressing the topping gently into the batter.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

La!

Invalids and Moon Cakes

Where have we been for the past month? While Rachel took her annual sojourn down to the Baja as a missions-cook, my absence started off with a bad chicken salad sandwich. What started as a lovely lunch out with my children and in-laws, spiraled downwards as all but one of our party came down with a nasty case of salmonella poisoning (Chief/Grandpa wisely stayed away from the chicken salad, opting for the safer and consequence-free pastrami). Of course, it took us a week of symptoms, indescribable on a food-blog, for us to realize that this was not a common GI bug. And of course, Mike was off to Belize with a plane-full of high-school students leaving me solo with two sick little monkeys. We breathed a sigh of relief as health seemed to re-appear in our household, only for me to be struck down by the after-effects of a case of salmonella, onto round 2. It took one excruciatingly painful swollen knee, several ER drainings, and a total inability to weight-bear before I was diagnosed with Reactive Arthritis. With the miracle of modern medicine, aka a cortisone injection, I seem to be on the road to recovery.

Now, this has had two consequences: The first is that Mike has become more aware of my local rock star status, well amongst the 80 + crowd. As an occupational therapist, most people, including my husband aren't totally sure of what it is I do. Despite a few stabs at explanations, most people find it easier to file away in their minds that I'm a nurse. Finn knows that I work at the hospital, but I'm honest with myself: When Mike asks me how my day was, my family doesn't really care that 92 year-old Violet can once again use the toilet independently; or that Reginald thinks that the microwave is a washing machine (actually, Finn would like that). So when Mike took my doctors script into the Red Cross to get me a pair of crutches he was unprepared for the reaction that greeted this request-

Haley Campbell?

THE Haley Campbell, the OT?

These crutches are for Haley Campbell?

Hey guys! - Haley Campbell needs crutches (chuckles all around).

Yes, I am the queen of raised toilet seats and safety frames.

The other consequence of being an invalid for a few days, is the realization of our community. Suddenly we have a freezer full of casseroles and childcare offers. Auntie Wiena spent a morning cleaning my floors. It's a good feeling that after living in Chilliwack for two and a half years we have friends and a church community that quickly steps up and provides us support when we need it.

So while I'm getting back into the kitchen, and gearing up to pepper you with our next exciting food theme (whole grains), I am going to leave you with this recipe from Anne, who made us a lovely meal this week with these cupcakes for dessert. Mike, who professes to not be a sweets guy, was quite firm in his insistence that I get this recipe!

A huge thank you for all of you who brought us meals or who watched our kiddies last week!

Moon Cupcakes
(She didn't specify how many this makes, but I'm guessing 1 dozen)

Beat Well: 8 oz cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/3 c sugar, dash salt
Add 1 c mini choc chips

Separate Bowl: 1 1/2 c flour,1 c sugar, 1/4 c cocoa, 1 t. baking soda, 1 c cold water, 1/3 c oil, 1 t. vinegar

Use mixer and beat- don't over beat.

Put this mixture in bottom of cupcake liner.

Fill to 1/3 level.

Then put cream cheese mixture over this in liner.

Bake 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Sweet Potato Waffles

Time change Sunday is always marked by an air of confusion for the Chilliwack Campbells. Mike and I spend the early morning of the change debating whether to ignore the children bouncing on top of us, and to lounge just another 5 minutes, or whether to adopt the new time and Carpe Diem. We generally opt for the ignoring of children (well, as long as possible), and the rest of the day is spent questioning the correct time.

Today the choice was made for us by our brilliant new clock radio. Unbeknownst to us, it was very much aware of the time change - so while we thought we were still on old time, we were actually on the correct new time. Mike and I were both stumbling around, feeling bleary for about an hour or so, before we realized that the time change had been made for us. I fully expect to arrive home tomorrow and find this clock radio folding my laundry, or maybe plotting global domination. Anyway, the silver lining was the gift of an extra hour we had planned to have lost to sleep - an hour used to make waffles, eat waffles, make coffee, drink coffee, make messes, make more messes - you get the idea.

This waffle recipe comes from A Real American Breakfast. The authors, the Jamisons, and I have reconciled, and while I took a few liberties, the results were delicious. These were sweet potato waffles - a recipe not for the faint of dishwasher. Many bowls were dirtied in the process of making these waffles. The upside was that they tasted fabulous, and I was able to trick Coby into eating a vegetable besides a tomato or avacado (both of whose vegetable status is under debate).

Sweet Potato Waffles
Adapted from A Real American Breakfast, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison

Serves 4 - I doubled this recipe and it made enough waffles for several days of breakfasts!

11/3 cup all purpose flour - I used whole wheat pastry flour and they were light and airy
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 1/2 cups mashed, cooked sweet potato (2 small, or 1 lrg potato)
2/3 cup sour cream - I used 3 % yogurt with good results
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup veg oil or melted butter
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup brown sugar

Stir the dry ingredients together. In another bowl stir the sweet potatoes, sour cream, milk, oil, egg yolks and brown sugar. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just to combine. The batter should be thick but spoonable. If it seems too thick add a bit of milk - waffles are forgiving.

Beat the egg whites with a mixer in ANOTHER bowl until stiff and then fold into the batter.

Cook the waffles on your preheated waffle iron. The directions say to grease your iron, but mine is non-stick and they turned out fine without the greasing.

Cook until brown and crisp. Serve with maple syrup and butter.

Apple sauce is another nice accompaniment - I find I can trick my youngsters into thinking they have loads of syrup on pancakes and waffles with the addition of apple sauce or blueberry sauce.

Ginger Rhubarb Compote

For the last two weeks I've pretended to be a body builder. Every morning I log onto his computer and nod to his body builder wife. In the screen saver she flexes her bicep (or tricep?). Every morning, I'm sufficiently impressed.

The body builder is an English teacher. He is huge and bald and realllly nice. The kids don't know this. They live in awe and fear of his presence. He stands over their desks, flexes, and they work.

While impersonating the body builder, I tried this. Flex: nothing. A snicker.

The body builder runs a ship-shape ship. I wondered if he had a sense of humor as a teacher. The students weren't sure. He does in real life. You see, I know the body builder. In addition to being realllly nice, he's kinda funny.

I liked being the body builder--reading All Quiet on the Western Front, drilling students on expository writing, expounding on the use of the semi-colon. I'm not sure I measured up to his standard. "It seems so empty in here" a grade twelve boy said, looking over me. But I had fun trying.

Somewhere between the papers and the lectures I made rhubarb ginger compote. This was just as worthwhile as pretending to be the body builder.

Ginger Rhubarb Compote

Adapted from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book

4 cups rhubarb chopped in 1 inch pieces

1 inch piece ginger

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

Put the rhubarb, ginger, and 1/4 cup water in a pot. Simmer over medium heat until the rhubarb is just tender. This should only take a few minutes. Be careful as you don't want the rhubarb turning mushy and breaking up.

Remove the rhubarb from the pot and set aside.

Combine the sugar and remaining water in the pot. Simmer over medium until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rhubarb and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool before serving.

This is really tasty over oatmeal and topped with yogurt.

Apple Blueberry Crisp for Breakfast..

Well, the Jamisons and I are on the outs. I have had a recent string of flops from A Real American Breakfast. After my first sub-par waffle results I attributed the fault to myself; however, after a lack-luster bran muffin recipe, I'm putting part of the blame with the authors, the lovely, yet sweet-goods challenged Jamisons. On both occasions I should have gone with my cook's intuition. Both recipes had some steps that I protested as I baked, but being the dutiful cookbook reviewer that I am, I followed the directions as a holy grail. That's not to say the book is a bust. I just think that I need to stick with their more savory dishes.

The blogging timing for such disasters, however, was serendipitous. I had just made my go-to dessert for the Heartland Book Clubbers, and my friend Louise requested a Reems Eats post. How could I refuse the woman who arrived early and helped me in a last-minute toy and shoe clean-up effort? The same woman who claims to enjoy making pipe cleaner crafts with my 3-year-old? I couldn't, so here is my all-purpose crisp recipe.

I've posted a version of this before. I have to confess that I don't follow a recipe for the dessert that Reems's affectionately refer to simply as 'crisp.' So I did make a second crisp this week, in part, but not just because I wanted to nail down accurate ingredient quantities. No, you can never have enough crisp. My favourite bowl of crisp? The leftover breakfast bowl that I always manage to hide for myself.

Blueberry Apple Crisp was a good accompaniment to our discussion of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, not quite as appropriate as a potato peel pie might have been, but I'm fairly sure it was tastier.

Blueberry Apple Crisp
(for a 9 inch dish or similar casserole - I usually double this for reasons I've already discussed)

Combine filling ingredients in 9 inch pyrex dish or casserole:

4 apples - peel and sliced thinly (for an all apple version, double this number)
2 cups blueberries
2 T flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar (could also use honey or maple syrup)

In a separate bowl combine the topping ingredients:

1/3 melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (2/3 if you have a really sweet tooth)
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup quick oats
2/3 cup old fashioned oats (could just double the quick oats and leave these out, but I like the texture from the two varieties)

If you use unsalted butter add a pinch of salt.

Combine the topping ingredients until crumbly.

Sprinkle evenly on top of fruit filling.

Bake crisp for 40 min at 350 degrees.

Top with vanilla ice cream for your warm dessert crisp. For your next morning breakfast crisp, a cup of tea alongside will do nicely.

OK, I feel that I should apologize for the photos - my only hope for half-way decent food photos is to take them in natural light, but alas this was an evening job.