A Weekend, in Food

Sunday Dinner Series Part VI: Totally Non-Polish Perogies

2012-03-08T06:01:00.001-08:00

Hooray for the iPhone!! Without it, I'd be very bored sitting here in the Winnipeg airport without my library eBooks, Facebook, email, Skype, Words with Friends, etc etc. and now Blogger!! Hooray! Flight delay entertainment? There's an app for that!

Perogies are a big thing in Winnipeg. I've been good-naturedly teased about buying frozen Cheemos from Superstore when there are so many great local, handmade offerings. These pillowy pockets seem to be a staple at big family meals here, even if there isn't a drop of Eastern European blood sitting around the table.

Despite defending my frozen, mass produced varieties, I felt the need to see if I could make a decent perogies from scratch (and nobody criticize my spelling... This is how I've ALWAYS spelled it. You people and your kubasa... I'll never understand). Turns out, I can!! I got the recipe here.

I did doctor the filling somewhat, keeping Hubs in mind. I added a seeded, chopped jalapeño when cooking the onions. I also fried, cooled and chopped some top-of-the-line PC double-smoked bacon. Heaven, people.

I will admit, all the hassle didn't seem worth it in the beginning. I had a hard time rolling the dough to a consistent thickness, so some were more doughy than others. Also, the dough seemed a bit tough (not tender and pillowy) the first time around. This actually improved after freezing... I stored a batch and cooked them later in the week and was much happier.

So would I do it again? Meh, maybe, if only to fool around with the filling some more. Otherwise, how can you beat a jumbo variety pack on sale for $3.99??

Feeling her Winnipeg (and food blogger) cred slipping away,
-Honeybee

Sunday Dinner Series Bonus: Challah!

2012-02-26T14:19:00.001-08:00

I've got one of these in the oven right now, so what better time to post?

There are times I'm glad I don't do a vlog/audio component to these entries. One of the docs I work with keeps criticizing my pronunciation of 'challah.' I guess I just can't make that Hebrew/Yiddish 'ch' sound properly...

Deb once told me about a wonderful bakery in Winnipeg that closed many years ago. According to her, they made the best challah. I've always thought it was a beautiful loaf of bread, and so versatile... good for dinner, breakfast, French toast, etc. I've also heard that it can be challenging to braid. What's that? A food challenge? Accepted!

When we had Deb over for a roast beef dinner, I decided to surprise her with my first-ever challah efforts. She was definitely surprised!! I felt like a whole slew of Babas were rolling over in their graves at the thought of two goyim (me and Hubs) working in the kitchen- he with the laptop+YouTube, me with the six strands of bread dough- trying to make this thing work. And work it did! After the first bite, our guest exclaimed, "Y'know what this reminds me of? Did I ever tell you about that bakery that closed..." YES!

It's somehow fitting that I got the recipe for this loaf from another Deb, over at Smitten Kitchen. Her blog is something that all other food blogs aspire to, I'm sure (I know I do). I cut her recipe in half (I don't usually have a use for two loaves at once), and use black sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds (I prefer them, myself). In terms of braiding, this is why Hubs was holding the laptop for me in the kitchen...

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Very, very helpful.

Best Challah (Egg Bread)
Adapted from Joan Nathan by Deb @ Smitten Kitchen

Makes 1 loaf

3/4 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
3 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon salt
4 to 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 tablespoon sugarin 7/8 cups lukewarm water.
Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 2 eggs, one at a time,with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together,it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for bothmixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid - it’s abit much for it, though it can be done)
Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plasticwrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size.Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turnedoff. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for anotherhalf-hour.
To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, form the dough into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ballinto a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row,parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Watch the YouTube video I posted :P Then place braided loafon a greased cookie sheet.
Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaf. Either freezebreads or let rise another hour.
If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees andbrush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, removefrom freezer 5 hours before baking.
Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or untilgolden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when ithits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.

Note: Any of the three risings can be done in the fridge fora few hours, for more deeply-developed flavor. When you’re ready to work withit again, bring it back to room temperature before moving onto the next step.

I also made this for Christmas/Chanukkah this year, for my aunt, uncle and cousins. The whole family gobbled it up!!

Off to enjoy a traditional brisket dinner at Deb's tonight and celebrate the Oscars,

-Honeybee

Sunday Dinner Series Part V: You'll Roux the Day...

2012-01-29T09:11:00.000-08:00

I might be French, but I'm nowhere near Creole or Cajun. Regardless, when I saw the recipe for gumbo in my new favourite cookbook, I knew I had to give it a try. Sausage? Shrimp? Those are two food things that Hubs loves! Done!

I knew we were in for a long day of cooking with this one, so I used a lazy Sunday as an excuse to make it. I was VERY SCARED of the whole dark roux situation, but I managed to make it happen without burning the apartment down. Pictures for proof!

Gettin' ready. Is it sad that I didn't know you could buy plain ol' clam juice?

The roux. I've never made one with oil and flour in the Cajun style... I was kind of surprised at how dark it got! In retrospect, I think I could've let it go a bit longer for a darker colour, but I was getting nervous. They don't call it Cajun Napalm for nothing!!

Finished product, with some basmati rice. Again, I was trying to emulate the picture seen here; I think I succeeded for the most part, but you can see how the roux COULD have been darker.

So, normally I'd post the recipe for my delicious creation... but in all honesty, I followed the book's instructions exactly. To a T. And with all the nonsense about SOPA and the Canadian bill C-11 going around these days, I'm feeling a little gun-shy. Not that I'm expecting the RCMP to come knocking on my door and demand that I shut my blog down... but still, I don't want anyone to think that I'm claiming ownership of someone else's copyrighted intellectual property!! Instead, I'll direct you to this website, where two of the chefs from America's Test Kitchen demonstrate their version of gumbo via a free video. It's a bit different from the recipe I followed, but from the same great team. Worth trying!!

Wondering if she'll ever get to see N'awlins (maybe during Mardi Gras??),
-Honeybee

Sunday Dinner Series Part IV: Hot Diggity Clam!

2012-01-28T15:26:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a direct relationship between the number of parts in this series and the lameness of the title puns. But we soldier on!

In case I've never clearly laid it out before, I'm Italian on my mother's side (Nonna and Nonno immigrated to Canada in the early 1950s, I believe), and French and Irish on my father's side. It's been at least seven generations since my ancestors left, however, so I was never really exposed to many "traditional" French or Irish dishes in my formative years (though my sister Sar got her fill of the latter over the past little while... mmm, pudding and Irish breakfast). Regardless, there are still certain meals that I associate with my paternal family and tradition. One of these was New England clam chowder and freshly-baked biscuits.

As a kid, I wasn't in love with eating soup containing bivalves. But as my palate has matured, I can't help but look back and think of how much I missed as a child, eating Lipton or Campbell's chicken soup while the adults feasted on THIS.

I'd still eat the biscuits, of course.

Many years have passed, and I'm now married to a wonderful man who loves shellfish of any sort. I can't remember the first time I made this for him... it might have been a joint effort with my lovely friend Kimmi (her hubs also loves clam chowder... you should've seen how happy he was when he found it at a Chinese buffet!) At any rate, he is an avid fan of my mom's old standby recipe for chowder and biscuits. It's a delicious meal, to be sure... and it also has enough fat to nicely round you out and keep the cold Winnipeg winds out of your bones! Ah well, it was never a weekly thing anyway... just a nice hearty "special occasion, Grandma and Grandpa are coming over to play bridge!" meal.

In the making!

Ready for its close-up.

New England Clam Chowder

Adapted slightly from the Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (circa 1970, I think...)

Makes about 3 quarts, says the recipe... about 12 cups, says I. It'll feed 6 people well.

3 cans (10.5 oz each) minced clams
Water
1/2 lb bacon, diced
1 large white onion, chopped
3 cups diced raw potato (I usually use red potatoes and leave the skins on)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
4 cups (1 L) homogenized milk (3.25% milk fat, I believe)
2 Tbsp butter
Paprika

Strain canned clams and reserve the liquid.
Measure clam liquid; add water to top up to 4 cups.
Fry bacon in a large pot until golden and crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels and reserve.
Drain off bacon fat, leaving behind about a 1/4 cup. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add potato, salt, pepper, and clam liquid. Simmer until potatoes are tender.
Add clams, milk, and butter. Reheat but do not boil.
Top with crisp bacon and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with biscuits.

Seriously, do as I say and serve with biscuits.

Biscuits: all the cool kids are doing it!

Cloud Biscuits

Courtesy of our honourary Aunt Kim, from out East (that's how you know they're legit)

Makes about a dozen regular-sized biscuits... only six if you make massive square ones like I did.

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 Tbsp sugar (increase to 1/2 cup sugar for sweeter biscuits worthy of strawberry shortcake)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (you can use lard, if you have some that needs using... ;))
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
Optional: 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese and/or 2 green onions, trimmed and sliced finely

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Sift together dry ingredients; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (a pastry blender, fork, or two butter knives works well here).
Combine egg and milk; add to flour mixture all at once. Stir.
Add "optional extras" if using. Stir until dough follows the fork around the bowl (i.e. until just combined).
Pat or roll dough out on lightly floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick. Dip a biscuit cutter into flour and cut straight down into the dough. Put biscuits onto a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 8-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them-- you might need to use a spatula to lift them up and see how dark the bottoms are getting. They should be a good golden-brown- not too light, but not burnt either (I've been guilty of this). The tops should look dry, with no wet uncooked dough in evidence.
Cool slightly (if you can wait that long) and serve warm.

Note the colour of the bottoms!

Nom nom nom. Good for a Sunday dinner, plus lunch AND repeat dinner on Monday! Yes, I baked fresh biscuits the next day... they really don't take long to come together!


Sorry for the blurriness... I think this is about the last of my Cannon photography. From here on out, I'll mostly be using my iPhone 4 camera-- it does a FANTASTIC job of taking food shots!

Now, if you've made it with me this far and are still thinking, "Ugh, clams... can't do it, Honeybee, sorry!" then I have a good modification for you. Instead of three cans of clams, try using three cans of tuna packed in water instead. You can even reserve the tuna liquid in the same way as the clam liquid; just make sure to test for saltiness before you add more salt in step 5. Even if you're still against the whole seafood thing (I'm looking at you, Sher), you can make this without the fish. Try using chicken stock in place of the fish juice + water, and add more potatoes for a lovely bacon potato chowder. Maybe add some corn to the mix. It's versatile! Even better, it will warm you up from head to toe as the mercury (or more accurately these days, coloured alcohol) drops!

Off to curl up with her Nonna blanket while reminiscing about dinners with Grandma and Grandpa,
-Honeybee

P.S.- This trip down memory lane seems like a great opportunity to show off one of my favourite shots from the wedding:

My seesters, helping me put on Grandma's pearls for the big day... but what's that? The clam chowder aficionados are watching over us, just to the right of my shoulder! Cute little Easter egg... funny the details you notice after the fact! Also funny how something as simple as chowder can remind you of loved ones and simpler times. Miss you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Sunday Dinner Series Part III: Where's the Beef?

2012-01-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

Blah blah work married life busy blah. Back to the food in general, and the Sunday Dinner Series in particular!

Unseasonably warm weather aside, it's still winter here in Manitoba. For me, that means finding the heartiest food possible and tucking in. Warming from the inside out, if you will. I can only fathom how the voyageurs survived the cold season all those years ago... though I'm pretty sure pot roast (or something like it) would've come into play.

He Ho!

"Roast beef dinner" is definitely a Honeybee family tradition. In recent years, however, I've come to realize that while it does involve roasted beef, it doesn't necessarily fit most people's idea of "roast beef". This is really more a pot roast, with lots and lots of veggies.

I had been perusing my new favourite cooking tome, and found not one, but TWO recipes for "perfect pot roast" (don't ask me how that works... how can they BOTH be perfect? Meh). At first, I thought I would follow the recipe exactly, especially since there was never really a recipe for Mom's roast. But about halfway through, her voice started creeping into my head. "What, no onion soup mix? Are you really only going to use a half cup of wine? What do you mean, no roasted carrots on the side?!" Telepathic-mom was absolutely right. What was I doing?? Why mess with what I know I like?? So, I started ignoring the book (Hubs would be proud) and started doing my own thing. I've done it again since the first "hybrid recipe" attempt, with good results. If you want to try it out for yourself, have a look here:

Lil's Sunday Pot Roast

Sort of adapted from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV
Show Cookbook... for the first bit, at least.

Serves four, with leftovers

1 boneless beef roast (like a chuck-eye roast), about 3-5 lb*
~2 Tbsp canola oil
Salt & pepper
1 small white onion, chopped medium
2 ribs celery, chopped medium
1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp thyme
1 bottle of red wine (some for cooking, some for drinking... so pick a decent one!)
1/2 package onion soup mix
1 large red onion, peeled, trimmed and cut into large chunks
4-6 red potatoes (depending on size), scrubbed and cut into large chunks
1 head of garlic, peeled
3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
Cornstarch (for gravy thickening)

*I didn't realize that I bought a bone-in roast. So, at about 8 am on a Sunday, I gave myself a crash-course in deboning. It was messy. Hence the butcher twine... better now! My apologies to any vegetarian readers... but in all honesty, having to deal with that aspect of food prep made me consider a plant-based diet myself!

Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
In a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pot, heat the oil over high heat until shimmering.
Prep your roast. If it's a sort of large ungainly piece of meat, use butcher's twine to tie it up into a nice uniform loaf shape. Using paper towels, pat it dry. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
Sear the roast on all sides in the hot pot (I like using my Le Creuset for this, since it can also go in the oven. Less dishes, yay!) Once well browned on all sides, remove the roast to a plate. Turn the heat down to medium.
Toss the white onion, celery, and medium-chopped carrot into the roast pot. Cook until the veggies soften and start to brown. Add the garlic and sugar; cook and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the thyme.
Pour in a generous amount of red wine to deglaze; be sure to scrape up all the delicious brown bits on the bottom of the pot (I honestly just free-pour. It's probably about a cup to a cup and a half of wine that I use. FLAVOUR.)
Add the roast (and any juices it's leaked) back to the pot. Sprinkle the 1/2 package of onion soup mix over it. Add enough water to the pot to bring the liquid halfway up the roast.
Bring the roast + liquid up to a simmer. Fit the lid tightly over the roast (I usually put a sheet of foil in there for a good seal). Put in the oven.
Bake for 2-2 1/2 hours, turning the roast over every 1/2 hour.
At the 2-2 1/2 hour mark, add the veggies (potato, sweet potato, whole garlic cloves, red onion). If things look a bit dry, add more wine.
Bake for another hour or so, until the veggies and meat are fully tender (poke them with a fork- if the fork slides in and out easily, you're golden).
Take the roast out and let it sit on a carving board, tented under the foil you used earlier, until you're done the gravy.
With a slotted spoon, remove all the veggies from the pot to a serving bowl. Try to leave behind as much juice as possible.
If there are still a lot of "chunks" in the gravy, take an immersion blender and whiz it up a bit. On the stovetop, put the pot on medium heat and simmer the gravy down until it thickens and reduces somewhat. Scoop out some of the hot proto-gravy with a ladle into a mug. Add a tablespoon or so of cornstarch and whisk well. Add back to the whole pot of gravy (this is how you can avoid getting lumps). Repeat until desired consistency of gravy is reached!
Carve your roast. I'm not going to lie, I can never get nice "slices" like my Dad does. So we just sort of end up with large tender meat chunks. Nobody complains.
Serve the roasted veg and beef with the gravy. A loaf of fresh bread is especially nice here, to spread the roasted whole garlic cloves on like butter. BUTTER, I tell you.

Starting the sear.

Almost done searing... look at all that brown-bit flavour on the bottom!

The bowl of delicious vegetables, pre-cooking. Looks so pretty with all those vibrant colours...

Meat chunks!

Roast veg. Not the prettiest bowl, but oh man, the flavours in here are not to be believed.

Dinner with Hubs (he's wearing his 'Polar bear in a snowstorm' Winnipeg shirt!). Observe the fresh-baked bread, with roasted garlic clove spread. It's a whole delicious meal, in one pot! Make sure you get that red wine on the table, too.

So overall, the pot roast doesn't look like anything special. It's certainly not haute cuisine. Presentation's not great. But let me tell you, this was the ONLY way to finish off a day of skating on the trails at The Forks. It was also a great dinner to share with Deb, which gave me an excuse to attempt challah for the first time (more on that another day!)

Digging through the archives and continuing to cook (and photograph) up a storm,
-Honeybee

Sunday Dinner Series Part II: Not My Nonna's Gnocchi

2011-10-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

Try saying that ten times fast!

A few weeks ago, I decided to make good on a promise I'd made Deb. She very graciously agreed to look after our kitties in the summer while we were back in Ontario gettin' hitched... despite her pet hair allergies (uh-oh). I honestly don't remember how we got on the topic of sweet potato gnocchi, but we did, and Deb said she wanted to try it. So as a (belated) thank-you for watching the quadrupedal fur children, I started Googling my way to a decent-looking recipe.

I succeeded in my search.

Now, I've made gnocchi before. Many times. But I was VERY wary as to how this version (courtesy of, unsurprisingly, Allrecipes.com) would turn out. My mother and I share a similar stumbling block when it comes to these "little knees" (yes, that's what gnocchi means if translated literally). Soft, sticky dough is the bane of our existence. It's a balancing act: add too little flour and the dough becomes nigh impossible to handle and roll into the eponymous shape. Add too much, and you end up nomming on leaden, tough dumplings once cooked. Not good eats, either way. I figured, with the difference in texture and moisture content between regular potatoes and the sweet variety, I could be in for a troubling time.

Pretty, fall-appropriate little orange darlings.

I was correct in my prediction, to a point. After seeing all the caramelized, sugary juices that resulted from roasting my (massive!) sweet potato, I wondered if I might be able to get away with just a little more flour than the recipe called for. Chilling the dough a bit also helped. In the end, they were nice and tender, with a very distinct sweet potato colour and flavour. I decided to dress them with a white wine butter sauce that I modified from the interwebs. I also tossed the hot noodles and sauce with baby spinach leaves, that just wilted into the whole dish (read: I was too lazy to make a salad, so I tried to get veg in another way). Add some shredded romano cheese, and the result was, as RR would say, "Yum-o". Even better the next day as lunch leftovers, let me tell ya... though my coworkers were wondering what on earth I was eating.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi Florentino with White Wine Sauce

Adapted from here and here. I love Google!

Serves four generously... we were definitely hungry!

Gnocchi:

2 average-sized sweet potatoes (half a pound or 8 oz. I weighed the massive one I had in the pantry, and it was close enough)
3 cloves of garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (don't skip this, it really adds something!)
1 egg
2 to 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Nonna typically uses cake flour for hers, but I think AP is best here)
1 bag (~170 g or 6 oz) pre-washed baby spinach
Shredded romano, parmesan, or asiago cheese

Sauce:

5 Tbsp (just over 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 of a small onion, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley (I used my freeze-dried stuff with no ill effects)
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 3/4 cup chicken broth (not gonna lie, I only had OXO bouillon packets on hand...)
1/2 cup white wine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake sweet potatoes for 30 minutes, or until soft to the touch. Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.
Once the potatoes are cool enough to work with, remove the peels. Mash them, or press them through a ricer into a large bowl. Blend in the garlic, salt, nutmeg, and egg.
Mix in the flour a little at a time until you have a soft dough. Use more or less flour as needed. It should be only a TINY bit sticky.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
While you wait for the water, make the gnocchi. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch thickness. Cut strips of dough about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch wide. Lightly flour the cut sides of the strips. Now cut the strips into cubes, again about 1 cm or ~1/2 inch wide. You don't have to be precise.
Roll the cubes of dough along the tines of a dinner fork, pressing with your index and middle finger to create an indent. If this makes no sense to you at all, try watching this:

Alternatively, you can just put the unrolled cubes into the water... but I'll be disappointed.
Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water, and allow them to cook until they float to the surface. Remove the floating pieces with a slotted spoon, and keep warm in a large serving bowl. Toss the hot noodles with the fresh spinach, covering the bowl with a lid or plate to trap the heat and wilt the leaves.
For the sauce, heat 1 Tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the minced onion, parsley, basil, and thyme. Stir frequently and cook for about 1 minute. Add the salt and white pepper and stir.
Add the white wine and bring to a boil; turn the heat down to a simmer and reduce the liquid by half.
Add the chicken stock and again bring to a boil, turning down the heat once the boiling point is reached and reducing the liquid by half. This should take about 7-10 minutes.
Add the remaining 4 Tbsp butter a few pieces at a time, while constantly whisking the sauce to thoroughly incorporate the butter. Check for seasoning.
Immediately toss the sauce with the gnocchi in the serving bowl. Top with a generous sprinkling of cheese.
Enjoy hot with some white wine and good friends!

Not the greatest pictures, but I was too hungry to perfect a shot!!

Overall, I'm quite pleased with how these turned out, and I'll definitely be making them again. Maybe, if I pluck up enough courage, I'll make them for Nonna and see what she thinks!

Off to put the finishing touches on THIS Sunday's dinner,

-Honeybee

Sunday Dinner Series

2011-10-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the adjustment to married life continues. Not that it's a big adjustment, mind you, but it does give me an excuse to cook up some dinners that take a little extra time, thought, and love. This was a rare occurrence when I was living alone, but now that Hubs is here, it seems appropriate to lay the groundwork for a well-loved tradition: Sunday dinner.

Sundays were very important days in my house growing up. Of course, the day would start bright and early with a Roman Catholic service. Once we were old enough to not throw hissy fits in the store, this would be immediately followed by grocery shopping, since the large grocery store was across the street from our church. I have some great memories of food shopping with the family, which eventually turned into waving hello from behind the deli counter as I rushed to work at the store immediately following mass.

Just had to include a shout-out to St. Paul's, even though my old elementary school next door is now a pharmacy...

It was a rare Sunday where we didn't make a special dinner (or "lupper", as my dad usually calls it, since we typically ate around 2-3 pm). Nonna would often be invited over to dine with us as well. Things like pot roasts with root vegetables, homemade egg-based pasta or gnocchi with meatballs and long-simmered sauce, beef stew, oven-roasted chicken pieces in some sort of delicious sauce, or barbecued ribs or pork loin in the summer would be the typical fare. It wasn't just the food that was important, though... it was the sense of togetherness and family.

So, now that I've officially started our own little family, I'm finding that I'm gravitating towards a similar tradition in our one-bedroom apartment. Our dear friend/neighbor Deb often fills the role of Nonna, coming over to share with us and visit. The past few weeks, I've really enjoyed my Sunday creations... enter the Sunday Dinner Series on A Weekend, In Food!

Part I: Can't Beet This!

Blame my father for my terrible puns. I'm just a product of my environment.

Manitoba. Beets. They're kind of a "thing" here. I've seen them on all sorts of upscale restaurant menus: in hummus, on burgers, etc. I honestly didn't really grow up eating them. I do remember trying the pickled variety at one point, but they weren't a staple. I saw some lovely local bunches at the market, and couldn't resist trying them. I'd heard that they became very sweet when roasted, so I followed this recipe from Allrecipes.com to give it a shot.

"Breadmaker bread", on the other hand, WAS a staple for Sunday dinners. I can distinctly remember filling up the machine's "pail" with all the necessary ingredients and lugging it downstairs. Magically, some hours later, bread emerged. To a 12-year-old, this is pretty amazing. My grandmother always marveled at how much we loved it, hot from the appliance, commenting, "you seem to like it so much that you don't even put butter on it!" True enough. The fresh flavour was all we needed. I bought a breadmaker from a yard sale for a bank-breaking five dollars... and produced this lovely half-white, half-whole-wheat loaf to accompany our dinner. I think the recipe produced a bit too much dough for my machine, though, as you can see by the "mushroom top" loaf that resulted. I didn't have any bread flour, so I used 2 cups of all-purpose and 1 cup of whole wheat flour in this (again, Allrecipes.com) recipe. Good results overall, and very simple to pull off.

Now what to do for the main? Pork tenderloin has become a pretty frequent Sunday dinner star. Now, I love my father to the very depths of my heart. Really. But his PTs are frequently seasoned with his special "rub"... which I'm convinced consists of a generous dumping of every spice and herb in the rack. Even those that might not...err... "play nicely" together on the palate. I will admit, though, that it forms a good, functional crust on the meat when he grills it on the barbecue. Being 'cue-less, and preferring time-honoured combinations like oregano, garlic, and olive oil on my pork, I followed this recipe to make both roasted potatoes and a Mediterranean-inspired oven roasted pork tenderloin, with delicious results. Three-for-three for Allrecipes.com! It's becoming a good friend for hearty, down-home flavour ideas.

Mmm, pork. A little bit pink in the middle, just the way I like it... which is PERFECTLY SAFE by today's swine-rearing standards.

Wondering what I did with the roasted beets? I tossed them with mixed greens and feta, then drizzled with an olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper vinaigrette. Hello salad course!!

A delicious plate overall.

I'm really hoping that nice Sunday dinners become a tradition in our family, especially as it expands (NOT YET!) with children. Even though our lives aren't super-hectic at the moment, it's still nice to set aside time to sit down and really enjoy a nice, well-prepared meal that takes a bit more effort than our standard weeknight stir-frys and pastas. Stay tuned for further installations of the Sunday Dinner Series, and let me know how I'm doing!!

Part professional, part aspiring household/gastronomic goddess, I remain,
-Honeybee

G is for Goulash... and Great food.

2011-10-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am, at this very moment, suffering from a small case of "didn't read the recipe right-itis" in the kitchen. It's resulting in a bit of a cookie disaster. So, to save face (and boost my self-esteem before attempting THIS for Thanksgiving weekend), I thought I'd post a recent recipe that worked really, REALLY well.

GOULASH.

What with the recent nuptials, I'm now quite flush with some absolutely fantastic kitchen items thanks to the amazing generosity of my family and friends. My Aunt Marilyn bestowed upon me a most unexpected but incredibly welcome gift: a gorgeous blue Le Creuset oval Dutch oven. This thing is tops. Seriously (and Ni tells me she was all stressed out, worried that I wouldn't like it!). I'm only recently coming to understand the beauty of being able to take an item from the stovetop to the oven, and this piece definitely delivers in that category. And when not in use, it graces the baking rack/dining room display that I had to commandeer from Hubs to store the overflow of kitchen goodness. It even matches the décor around here (such as it is)!

There it is... my precious... Right next to the wine cooler from Karm, the brie baker from Deb, and the candles from Aunt Mary Jane!

Alright, enough drooling over crockery. Many months ago, I bought a large piece of nondescript beef with the idea that I would cook up something nice and slow-roasted for Hubs once he moved out here. It sat in the back of the freezer for longer than I would have liked. At long last, I decided to bring the beef out to take it for a spin in the new Dutch oven.

Carrot, beef, and noodle close-up.

Our best man lives out in Alberta, though his parents are still in Windsor. His dear mum Jane made it to our wedding shower and gave me a fantastic (and heavy!) tome: The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook. Now I must confess: having access to only Food Network CANADA, I'd never seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen. Upon reading, though, I could instantly get behind their philosophy of perfecting classic dishes for the home cook with an almost scientific approach. I read this book before bed now. I think it'll become a new favourite!

The picture from the cookbook (also from www.americastestkitchen.com). I think I managed to match it!

I initially wanted to make a pot roast, but realized I had beef eye of round as opposed to chuck roast. Delicious, yes, but didn't have enough fat for roasting. Simmering in a paprika sauce, however, seemed more fitting. So I turned to their Hungarian Beef Stew recipe and adapted it just a touch (given that we're only two people). You can hit the link above and register on the website for the "original" recipe (the history/background/explanation is free!), or you can see what I did below:

Hungarian Beef Stew

Adapted (barely) from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Serves 4 (or 2 with leftovers for lunch!)

1 boneless eye of round beef roast (about 2 pounds or ~900 grams), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
Table salt
1 12oz. jar roasted red peppers (or if you're like my dad, roast a couple of your own), drained and rinsed, about 1 cup
1/2 cup sweet (not smoked, not hot) paprika, fresh if possible (I bought a new package)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 medium onions, minced (about 4 cups)- I got lazy and just chucked them in the food processor fitted with the blade and whizzed them until well chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup beef broth, warmed
Ground black pepper

Cooked buttered egg noodles tossed with chopped parsley, for serving (just look at the package directions for your egg noodles, I know you'll figure it out!)

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 325ºF. Sprinkle the meat evenly with 1 tsp salt and let stand for 15 minutes.
Process the roasted peppers, paprika, tomato paste, and 2 tsp of the vinegar in a food processor until smooth, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed.
Combine the oil, onions, and 1 tsp salt in a large Dutch oven (yay!); cover and set over medium heat on the stove. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened but have not yet begun to brown, 8-10 minutes. If the onions start to brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in 1 Tbsp water.
Stir in the paprika mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes. Add the beef, carrots, and bay leaf; stir until the beef is well-coated. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the pot.
Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook until the meat is almost tender and the surface of the liquid is 1/2 inch below the top of the meat, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.
Remove the pot from the oven and add enough beef broth that the surface of the liquid is 1/4 inch from the top of the meat (the beef should not be fully submerged). Return the covered pot to the oven and continue to cook until the meat is fork-tender, about 30 minutes longer
Skim the fat off the surface using a wide spoon (I didn't really have a fat layer to deal with); stir in the remaining teaspoon of vinegar. Remove the bay leaf, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve on your delicious buttered egg noodles!

Mmmm.

This made for a really nice Sunday dinner with the dude, which seems to be becoming a new trend. He takes care of quick weeknight meals, and I enjoy my kitchen time on weekends to serve up some good slow comfort food. It's really a win-win... hooray for teamwork!

Hoping all goes well with her first gumbo attempt on Saturday (and praying that the dark roux won't burn down the kitchen),
-Honeybee

Apples to apples

2011-10-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

I suffered one of life's disappointments this past week. One of those that makes you question your confidence and competence. So what did I do? Turned to the pots, pans, and a stick of butter for solace (after assuring my mother that I find no comfort at the bottom of a bottle...)

The harvest season is most definitely upon us. The weather let up by giving us some nice temperatures this weekend, but there's no turning the leaves back to green. Speaking of, my coworker's apple tree seems to have produced a bumper crop of tiny, tart little apples that she brought to work to share.

So cute and little!! Maybe 5 cm in diameter, at best.

I had tempted poor Hubs with the idea of an apple pancake yesterday, but wound up feeling too tired and out of sorts to pull it off (instead, we grabbed stuff from 7-Eleven on our walk back from my dentist appointment, and he had his first Winnipeg Slurpee! A milestone!!) I felt it would be cruel to not deliver the promised pancake today. I decided to get a little fancier than usual, though. Typically I just chop up apples and mix the pieces into typical pancake batter. Today, I decided to recreate a tasty treat I tried at the famous Pancake House chain... the German apple pancake.

Apples cooking in caramelized spiced sugar and butter.

One big pancake for two, comin' up! It's an 11" pan, to give you a frame of reference.

Close up goodness- crispy-but-fluffy batter, soft apples, and lots of sugar, spice and all things nice. I know, I'm terrible.

It's basically a pancake started by cooking apples in butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg on the stovetop (how can you go wrong?!), adding a rather eggy, runny batter, and baking in a hot oven. A bit more prep time than what my usual apple pancakes require, but SO worth it in the end. Allrecipes.com has become one of my new best friends for inspiration, and they didn't let me down here! Plus, it gave me an excuse to test-drive my new ovenproof skillet. And I didn't burn my hands once! Hurray!

Yes, I use President's Choice 15% real maple syrup table syrup. Sorry for all you out there who think Canadians drink maple syrup by the litre... but I find the commercial varieties, while delicious, to be too runny (and too expensive) for my liking. This is the best of both worlds for me. Don't judge.

The next order of business was to use up some apples that have languished in my crisper for too long to be eaten out of hand. They were Royal Galas, which my chem teacher once referred to as, "The dessert apple". How could I interfere with that destiny?? Plus, I had yet to use my fluted tart pan for an actual tart (I've used it for something else, but I'll post that another time).

My other new friend in the online recipe world is joyofbaking.com. Now, I don't consider myself a beginner when it comes to baking, but there's something reassuring about seeing a recipe with an accompanying how-to video. Sort of makes the whole process seem idiot-proof. That was the case for this cream cheese apple tart with a shortbread crust base. I wanted something to accompany the pumpkin pie ice cream I whipped up at Hubs' behest (recipe pending!) How often does that happen? Requesting an ice cream, then making the dessert to match it?

Please excuse my messy stovetop. It's clean now, I promise!

Overall, I'd say both of these were a success. I thought Hubs might enjoy the cheesecake-like filling for the tart; turns out I was right. It was a great dessert to finish of a meal with our dear friend Deb while watching Netflix and drinking more wine than is probably recommended on a "work night". Oops.

Planning to extend the harvest baking theme to a pumpkin-fest for next weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving, yay!),
-Honeybee

Farewell to summer

2011-09-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

Though we had a bit of a reprieve today, the weather in Winnipeg has definitely taken a turn towards fall. Last week, I really wanted something summer-worthy. Something to remind me of simple dinners at home when it was too hot to really cook. Or dinners out at the campground using produce bought at the little vegetable stands along the highway. Can you tell I'm a bit homesick?

Sorry, I got a bit photo-happy with these...

I managed to convince Hubs to come out to the St. Norbert Farmers' Market with me last weekend. It was a little bit crowded for his liking, but he at least experienced enough to agree with my assessment regarding the perogies. We ended picking up some beets, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and fudge. I really liked the selection of beautiful low-acid yellow tomatoes, and decided to use them in this simple-but-scrumptious salad my mom makes frequently. It's not even a salad so much as an assembly- sliced tomatoes at the peak of the season, topped with crumbled feta, a drizzle of olive oil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. A little fresh cracked pepper rounds it out. You could add chopped fresh basil, too, but I didn't have any. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Mum would usually serve this alongside a delicious zucchini fritatta (which I did earlier in the week for a quick supper, thanks to the squash-growing skills of my coworker Terri). Today, though it went along with a fish-fry supper:

Boiled sweet corn on the cob, blackened red snapper (recipe here), hashbrowns, and pan-fried beet greens with garlic.

Now about those hashbrowns. My grandmother used to make this "potato pancake" of sorts by adding grated potato to butter in a frying pan. I don't think there was ever a hard-and-fast recipe. I do mine by grating potato, then squeezing as much excess water out as I can by hand. This time, I shredded half an onion in for good measure (it needed to be used up). I season it with salt and pepper and press it into a small frying pan with a good amount of butter (more goes on top, too, to melt in). Flip once it's browned and crispy on one side. It's sort of like the hashbrowns at Waffle House. Grandma liked to serve it with breaded pan-fried Lake Erie yellow perch; my mom does the same. Mmm.

As much as I love having Hubs here, sometimes you just need to feel close to your other loved ones. Can I be blamed for doing it through food? As it turned out, my mom made a very similar dinner the same night that we had this. Great minds, I tell ya.

Wishing she could get truly amazing (read: Ontario) tomatoes all year round,
-Honeybee

"Tour de Winnipeg"

2011-09-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of weeks before The Big Day, I had a lovely visit from my dear friend Andrea and her hubs, Colin. They were on their own blog-worthy journey: a cross-country move from B.C. back to Ontario, visiting friends along the way. I was lucky enough to be one of them! So, I acted as a "Winnipeg Ambassador" and took the lovely couple to the Forks after a delicious meal.

On the pedestrian bridge at the Forks.

Since Andrea and Colin were here for just one night only, I wanted to showcase as much of the culinary diversity of the city as I could. So, I devised the following menu:

And here's how I pulled it off!


		Getting ingredients ready for the pickerel almondine...

Look at those gorgeous filets, thanks to the Gimli Fish Market. I could link to the recipe, but it was pretty simple: I put the filet on top of a "bed" of sliced red onions and lemon wheels. Top with paprika, thyme, salt, pepper, green onion, basil, slivered almonds, and dot with butter. Wrap and bake.

The appetizer: kubasa, pickels, bison burgers, and Bothwell cheese. Mmm. I put a hoisin sauce glaze on the burgers as a nod towards Chinatown down on King street. Colin seemed to really like it!!

Finished fish! Loosely based on this recipe. For all you Americans, yes, pickerel = walleye.

Asparagus with goma (sesame) dressing. I fell in love with this after Deb introduced me to maguro goma-ae, a tuna and avocado salad at her favourite sushi place, Naru. I found a recipe for it here, and used it to symbolize all the Japanese restaurants in the city (even if they're mostly owned and operated by lovely Koreans...)

Red velvet cupcakes. What more can I say. You're all familiar with my recipe, but I made them mini this time. Portion control!!

Cinnamon buns from Stellas. Calm down... yes, I know they're not from Tall Grass Prairie. But honestly, I was at Stella'a already buying some focaccia to represent Little Italy on Corydon, so I just picked them up there. They were QUITE delish.

Overall, I must say, I was rather pleased with the whole event. Andrea and Colin are so sweet that they sent me some Irish breakfast tea as a thank you for hosting them (Andrea is an incredibly thoughtful person and also likes to send gifts by mail frequently. I most recently got this awesome Ravenclaw laptop case from her!! Isn't she fantastic??)

I always love when people come to visit and see this life I've built for myself out here in the Prairies. It reminds me that, even though my friends might USUALLY be far away, they're still willing to take the time and see what I'm up to. It was so much fun having this fantastic couple over... and set the stage for me to develop a "five-point Winnipeg tour" for my parents when they visited! There was lots of good food involved there, too, including a trip to Fude in the Village... but I digress.

Wondering what the best way might be to tackle the quintessential Manitoba beet,
-Honeybee

Waffle Weekiversary

2011-09-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, "weekiversary" is not really a word. But I'm well-known for abusing the suffix -iversary.

After an absolutely whirlwind 7 day period (which began with gettin' hitched and contained a two-day inter-province road trip avec UHaul), I figured Hubs and I deserved something a little special for breakfast. Among the many things we'd moved from Windsor, I found the Belgian waffle maker that my mother graciously "loaned" me... and that I haven't given back.

Her loss, clearly.

I have great memories of these waffles. They'd make an appearance for birthday breakfasts, the morning after a girls' night, or on lazy Saturday mornings. I credit our Aunt Sue with introducing them to us many years ago during a family visit. We all loved them (and it was relatively simple for us kids to "help" by pouring in the required amount of batter).

So, I took it down from the top of the cupboards and got crackin'. Initially, our family just used prepared boxed pancake batter... but I always found those waffles to be a bit too heavy and cake-like (plus, I haven't bought pancake mix since I learned how simple it is to make batter fresh). I graduated to using a recipe from my mom's "Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery", a truly behemoth ~20-volume hardcover set from the 1970s. While tastes in haute cuisine and food photography have certainly changed since that day (thank goodness!), it still contains a wealth of good basic recipes. Alas, I have no such thing here... Internet to the rescue!!

You know I'm thinking of Mom when I break out the math symbols...

I found this batter recipe at Allrecipes.com; it showed promise (and saved me the step of whipping egg whites separately, which can be a pain). The waffles were, I kid you not, PERFECT. Crisp on the outside, but soft and fluffy and moist on the inside with a perfect golden brown colour. You can't beat these puppies.

It was all I could do to take pics before devouring.

So, we ate them in a very standard fashion. I mixed up some Dream Whip (yup, I'm that lazy... but honestly, I love the flavour of the stuff!), made a quick mixed berry syrup from some frozen fruit, and poured the syrup over. Mmmm. A lovely sit-down breakfast for us newlyweds!

Hubs' creation... with an extra quarter of waffle for good measure.

The only problem: this recipe made 6 waffles. We are only two people... and we weren't QUITE that hungry. The solution? Dinner waffles!

This isn't your Aunt Sue's waffle, that's for sure (though she has excellent taste and would more than likely approve!)

Savoury waffles aren't a new thing. I remember seeing (probably in that same encycolpedia), a recipe for waffles & chicken à la king. The Southern combo of waffles and fried chicken with syrup and gravy also works here. I had been perusing Nemmie's back entries again, and came across her huevos rancheros post... and the inspiration hit.

Fried eggs...

Plus black beans with bacon, onions and spices...

Get that waffle in there...

Top with some shredded cheese and broil until melted...

...aaaaand top to your heart's content. Mine has avocado, diced tomatoes, black beans, green onions, more shredded cheese, cilantro, and sour cream.

Hubs doctored his with a liberal dash of habañero hot sauce. Very appropriate.

Deliciously messy.

I'm stuffed!!

These were absolutely FANTASTIC. I couldn't even eat my whole dinner waffle; I took the rest to work the next day for lunch (and got some puzzled looks from my coworkers... So worth it). I've since made "real" huevos rancheros (with tortillas instead of waffles) and those were also delicious. I think they'll become a new staple!

Different carb for the base, but same basic idea. Yummy!!

Wondering if she can convince enough people that waffles are the traditional one-week wedding gift,
-Honeybee

Wedding bells and Honeybees...

2011-09-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

I am probably the worst blogger on the face of the planet. However, I feel I do have a fairly legitimate excuse...

That's right!! Hubs is officially my husband now!!! A few more pics, courtesy of the lovely Crystal of Canadian Captures Photography (can't resist giving her a plug...)

And since this is, of course, a food blog, time to display the cake! Top tier: red velvet and cream cheese filling (in the freezer for our 1 year anniversary). Middle tier: lemon cake with lemon filling (which I regrettably didn't get to taste!!). Bottom tier: chocolate chip cake with chocolate filling. Mmmm!!!

It's hard to imagine that we managed to move Hubs from Windsor to Winnipeg just two days after the wedding so that I could be back to work on the Wednesday following. I feel like we're only just settling down now!

The nice thing about wedded bliss: Hubs actually does about 40-50% of the cooking. His skills are getting better every day! He basically just stir-fries things, but you can definitely go far with that technique. It's absolutely fantastic for those days when I get home from work and feel like doing NOTHING. In the old days, I would have just eaten hummus with a spoon for dinner... but now, I have a culinary partner in crime! Granted, he leaves "fancier", more involved things to me... like the dishes I've made since moving home that are waiting to be posted here! So stay tuned, ladies and gents. Now that our weekends are our own, I'm sure I'll be grabbing the laptop and posting more often!

About to go make a Sunday dinner worthy of Grandma's table,
-Honeybee

Snicks-inspired workplace bribery

2011-06-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

The wedding season in the Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg Genetics & Metabolism Program is swiftly approaching. Hubs and I are leading the pack in the first of four weddings in the department, with Jess & Kyle following a week later. What does any of this have to do with food? Well, Hubs and I will be looking after the always-energetic Snickers during her parents' absence. Aside from the familiar chocolate bar association, when I hear her nickname, "Snicks", I think of Snickerdoodles.

I have some extremely fond memories of these simple-but-delicious cookies. They were part of Aunt Mary Jane's staple cookie jar lineup. I never understood why they were called snickerdoodles... after all, they don't have Snickers bars in them (Wikipedia offers a history lesson here). Regardless, they've always had a special place in my heart, even if they ARE chocolate-free!

As with most cookies I've made, I used these as some form of bribery at work. Cathy is our incredible prenatal secretary, who books my appointments, transcribes my letters, and generally makes sure that I have everything I need for my appointments (y'know, so it looks like I know what I'm doing when I see patients!) I asked her to do me a quick favour via email, to which she replied (much like my father), "No problemo. $20." I asked if I could pay her in cookies instead... apparently, that's the preferred currency in the office for favours. So, while thinking of a canine member of the department, I decided to Google my way to a new snickerdoodle recipe.

Up close and personal with the sweet cinnamon coating that elevates these from a plain sugar cookie to something special.

What makes this recipe different? After all, I do have one kicking around on a creased, stained, aged index card. Anyone who's seen a recipe for these might have noticed: they often call for cream of tartar. This is basically a powdered form of acid (potassium bitartrate), meant to react with baking soda to provide leavening. These days, it's already included in baking powder. Admittedly, adding your acid and base separately allows you to adjust the ratios of each component... but I honestly can't be bothered to buy a tiny $5 tin of the stuff. So, I selected this recipe based on its use of baking soda (which costs significantly less for significantly more. I can be frugal!) Also: instructional video! Hooray! These really are fail-proof. Much thanks to the Joy of Baking website!

I ALMOST forgot to take pictures of the finished product before bringing them to work.

I have to admit, I had one tiny snafu with these... I didn't hear the timer go for the first batch, which made them a little more "caramelized" than the rest of the cookies (NOT burnt. Just... crunchy). Luckily, Dr. Mhanni seemed to really enjoy them... so much so that he suggested I routinely ignore the oven timer and make a whole batch of overly browned biscuits. Of course, he'll eat just about anything, so I think I'll stick to the intended chewy-on-the-inside texture.

Well this isn't snickerdoodle dough... looks like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Ice cream sandwiches AGAIN? Maybe not...

My tradition of using cookies as peacekeeping devices at work continued with what proved to be a relatively unapplicable meeting. I don't see children in clinic, so I had no use for an hour tutorial on how to order pediatric imaging studies. Regardless, the meeting was marked as "mandatory", so like a good employee (who exceeded expectations on her first performance review, yay!), I attended. Our old mantra, though, reared its head. If I had to sit through a presentation, I was going to keep it fun with some cookies.

...but seriously, this looks more like ice cream than cookie dough. What gives?

I had found some mint chocolate chips in Walmart purely by chance, and bought them to play around with. Craving my favourite type of ice cream, I decided to take my standard Anna Olsen chocolate chip cookie recipe, and doctor it up with a few drops of green food colouring, a small splash of peppermint extract, and my random find. The result? Delicious! Everyone seemed to enjoy them (so much so that I didn't get a shot of the finished product). The only slightly negative comment was the dough colour... more than one person wondered if the cookies had gone moldy. Nope. I have slightly higher kitchen standards than that!!

Hunting for new recipes to use to her advantage in the workplace (suggestions welcome!)
-Honeybee

My Manitoba bucket list, and some Shmoo Torte

2011-06-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

...let me guess. You've never heard of shmoo torte. Trust me, neither had I before moving here!

I've been reflecting back on my past year in Manitoba, and have sort of played around with making a "Winnipeg Bucket List". It's not ALL food-related, but it's a list of things I haven't yet done here that I would want to experience before leaving. It would go something like this:

Skate on the Red River
Try bannock and/or pemmican
Eat at Fusion Grill, a "prairie fusion" fine dining restaurant
Have a meal at the fanciest steakhouse, 525 Wellington
Enjoy a delicious prix fixé menu at Inferno, a French restaurant in St. Boniface
Ride the water taxi... if they ever open the dock behind my building!
Have brunch at The Black Sheep
Giggle at the retro theme while enjoying fries at Ray & Jerry's steakhouse on Portage
Take a drive out to Lockport and go to that little roadside restaurant that Shannon keeps telling me about
Trek out to Gimli and get some delicious fish

I've talked about some prairie-related deliciousness before. These would be things that I've never heard of, but are super-popular here. If I had a loonie for every time I heard, "It must be a Manitoba thing..." I'd long ago checked red velvet cake, honey dill dipping sauce, and puffed wheat squares off of my bucket list. I ticked off shmoo torte only recently, though.

In Osborne Village (just a few blocks east of my apartment), there is a FANTASTIC restaurant called Baked Expectations. I've mentioned it before. It's easily one of my favourite little places to go. I'd heard some of my Manitoba born-and-bred coworkers talk about shmoo torte in the past, so I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about.

From what I've been able to gather, shmoo torte is made of pecan angel food cake, layered and frosted with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and more pecans. I'd had it on very good authority that Baked's offering was one of the best in the city. A little Googling (and an article from The Globe and Mail) tells me that "schmoo" can mean "gooey" in Yiddish... no surprise then that this is apparently a Bar Mitzvah staple among Winnipeg's large and wonderful Jewish community.

(As a side note, my search for the origins of this cake brought me to the blog "Winnipeg o' my Heart", written by a fellow foodie with a similar Manitoba transplant past. There's one I'll be adding to my Blogger reading list!)

So after all that, you might ask, "What did the shmoo do for you??" (terrible pun, I know. It's Father's day... I think I'm channeling my dad's sense of humour even more today). To be perfectly honest: I don't think shmoo and I will become the best of friends. I mean, if you put a slice in front of me, I'd eat it... but that goes for just about anything. I'm not the hugest fan of the texture of angel food cake, and pecans certainly aren't my favourite nut. Add to that the relatively plain whipped cream layers, and I was just kind of 'meh' about the whole thing. Now, the caramel shmoo sauce WAS delicious... but anything dipped in that would be good. Overall, I don't think I'll be crawling back for more. Which, I must admit, is a good thing... I don't need any more difficulty selecting a dessert from Baked's extensive menu!

Looking forward to checking off more Manitoba to-dos,
-Honeybee

Bar hopping

2011-05-31T05:57:00.000-07:00

There's something about bars. I know I've expressed my love for this form of baked good before, so it should come as no surprise that I've whipped up a few more batches since.

Uncharted brownie territory...

A few months ago, I was hit with a peanut butter and chocolate craving. Badly. As in, a scoop of PB on a spoon and a couple chocolate chips just wouldn't do. My parents have this new philosophy, which I think is pretty smart: only eat what's in the house already. So basically, no quick trips out for just one or two ingredients just because you want something; try to make do with what you have on hand. Cuts down on food spending, food waste, gas to get to the store, etc. I was raised by some smart people, let me tell ya.

Back to the craving. In keeping with this philosophy, I wasn't willing to head out and buy some Reese's cups (as Hubs suggested). Instead, I hit up Allrecipes.com to figure out what I could rustle up. Behold!

Got a little fancy... I couldn't justify eating the whole pan, so a number came with me to work for a baby shower.

Does a brownie officially become a dainty if it's in a wrapper? Also, has anyone heard the term "dainty" in this context outside of Manitoba?

I altered the original recipe a touch, adding about 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips and about 1/3 cup roasted peanuts. I also followed the advice of a commenter: in order to make these brownie-like, I mixed all the ingredients by hand. These most definitely kicked the craving!! They were so easy to make, too, with items I had in my cupboards. One of my American Sign Language classmates had a birthday yesterday, so I threw together a batch just an hour before I had to leave. I got to serve them up soft and warm, which took the edge off the misty, chilly evening.

Next up: a personal culinary challenge that I had been meaning to tackle for months:

Oh yes, folks. They're Nanaimo bars

I really enjoy Nanaimo bars. I couldn't tell you the first time I ever tried one; I'm pretty sure they've been a favourite since youth. Up until now, though, I'd never tried making them myself. Mostly, it was the filling part of the bar that scared me. What IS that stuff, anyway? Mostly sugar, sure, but there's got to be more to it. So once again, I put my trust in Ms. Olson and gave it my best shot with her recipe. My only modifications? I replaced the nuts with more chocolate crumbs (not a huge walnut fan), left out the coffee powder, and added some pink food colouring to the filling (since I was making these for a baby girl shower at work). Pretty delish!

These photos highlight two of the (relatively minor) issues I had with the recipe. When I was cutting these puppies, the chocolate layer cracked a bit. Due to the pressure of the knife on the firm chocolate layer, the filling then smushed out the sides. I tidied them up for serving, but lesson learned: cut these in the pan to avoid squishing as much as possible!

Despite the slicing issues, these were pretty simple overall... after I found custard powder. Safeway wanted something like $4 for a large can when I only needed a few tablespoons... Bulk Barn to the rescue! I love that store! I constantly find fantastic stuff for cake baking and decorating... but more on that another day.

Wondering what bars she'll bake in the coming weeks to stave off wedding jitters,
-Honeybee

Spring is springing...

2011-05-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

...but I'm not convinced that it's fully sprung. The avid patio-goers in Winnipeg would disagree with me, but they're wearing shorts and tshirts, so I call their sanity into question.

The lovely Kimmi, enjoying "spring" in Winnipeg. This was in late April, people.

Talking about the weather in the 'Peg seems more like a form of ancient prisoner torture. One day it's gorgeous, and you're out in a tank top and capris... the next day you're shivering in pants and a long jacket. I had been warned about the possibility of early spring snows, but was a little shocked to wake up on May 1st to a repeat winter wonderland. It snowed again around the 12th or so, I believe, but didn't stick. Currently, we're experiencing cold, cloudy, rainy weather that brings to mind March in Ontario... not May (almost June!).

Regardless, in spring, this young girl's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of food. I do feel a significant amount of regret over having missed fiddlehead season this year (I tried them for the first time in Winnipeg last year, and loved them!) I have, however, come across a couple of nice spring-ish recipes that put me in the mood for blooming flowers and strolls in Assiniboine Park (y'know, after the floods recede). Here's one I made not too long ago: Lemon dill smoked salmon pasta.

I don't know what it is about smoked salmon that reminds me of spring... maybe it's the spring/summer research projects I would do on salmon DNA? Probably not. Regardless, this is a nice, quick, easy and light pasta (G.I. friendly!) with fresh flavours. I used bbq smoked salmon (not lox), since it's cheaper but just as tasty; either one would work.

Lemon Dill Linguine with Smoked Salmon

Adapted from The G.I. Diet Cookbook by Rick Gallop

Makes 4 servings

    •    1 serving whole wheat linguine
    •    1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
    •    1/2 tsp pepper
    •    1/8 cup sprigs dill
    •    1/4 cup lemon juice
    •    1 tbsp lemon peel, grate
    •    2 large scallion
    •    1 1/2 cups whole snow peas
    •    6 oz smoked chum salmon (you can substitute lox or gravlax if you want)

In large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, oil, lemon zest, and pepper.
In large pot of boiling water, cook linguine for 5-7 minutes. Add peas and continue to cook for another 3 mintues until pasta is al dente.
Drain pasta and peas and add to bowl with lemon mixture. Add salmon, green onions, and dill; toss to combine.

Enjoy. I'm off to dig my winter coat out of the closet to go to an outdoor concert tonight. Maybe I should grab my mitts while I'm at it.

Hoping she'll be able to break the margaritas out and sip by the pool soon,
-Honeybee

Time to Thai one on!

2011-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

...see what I did there?

In seriousness, though, my cravings for Thai food remain. There must be some sort of essential nutrient or vitamin in curry for which I have a severe deficiency. Luckily, I do believe I've found a way to have my curry and eat it too.

Mmm. Matsaman. This one has beef in it; stay tuned for the (better) chicken version...

Have I talked about how much I love matsaman/massaman/masaman/however-you-spell-it curry before? If I haven't, I need to now. I have my dear Uncle-but-more-like-big-brother Pete to thank for encouraging me to try this Indian-meets-Thai dish. Mmm, Asian fusion done right. I don't even know how to accurately describe the flavour to you. It's got the tangy tamarind, rich peanuts, warm spices like cinnamon and cardamom, salty fish sauce... it's a party in your mouth, and everyone's invited. It's not particularly spicy (unless you want to make it so), just spiced. Fan-freakin'-tastic.

My boys! Figaro and Hubs joining me for curry. I think I'll start calling this manifestation e-Hubs.

So, onto my figure-friendly recipe. After pining for it, but not wanting to spend almost $40 to get it, I took Rick Gallop's G.I. Diet Cookbook out from the Winnipeg Public Library. This is adapted from the "coconut curry beef" recipe, which originally called for beef (duh) and yellow curry paste. I tried the beef version, and to be completely honest, I didn't love it. Chicken it is! This is how I doctored it to be a reasonable, delicious facsimile of my favourite Thai menu item:

Better-for-you Matsaman Curry

Inspired by the G.I. Diet Cookbook by Rick Gallop

Makes 4 servings

3 Tbsp orange juice
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp soy sauce
2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 tsp canola oil
2 small-medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp (at least!) Matsaman curry paste**
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 Tbsp light smooth peanut butter (since nobody seems to have caught on and made a light CRUNCHY pb... sadness...)
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 tsp Splenda
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (if you don't like it, you should probably sit this one out)
2 Tbsp unsalted peanuts, chopped

In bowl, whisk together orange juice, fish sauce, cornstarch, and soy sauce. Stir in chicken, tossing to coat. Marinade in the fridge while you get the rest of the ingredients together.
In large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 5 minutes until softened. Stir in curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and stir-fry until thoroughly cooked (no longer pink in the middle)
Next, stir in coconut milk, peanut butter, lime juice, and Splenda. Stir well to ensure all ingredients meld together. Cook, tossing to coat meat with sauce, for another 2 minuts. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.
Serve alongside steamed sugar snap peas and basmati rice! Mmm.

**It might be slightly tricky to find Matsaman curry paste. You MIGHT find it in your local large grocery store, if it has a decent "International" section. If not, Google your local Asian food market. Aroy-D makes a very delicious version, and I know I've seen their products at Real Canadian Superstore before... try your luck! If not, substitute yellow or red curry paste instead; they tend to be easier to find.

For the love of Pete, do NOT forget to start cooking your rice before your curry if you're using a rice maker. 9 times out of 10, I forget this crucial step and end up waiting around for the telltale beep. This time I remembered. I sort of like how my kitchen is reflected in the surface...

Saucy! This time, it's chicken. MUCH better than the beef, honestly. I think the marinade in the first step keeps it nice and tender and juicy!

Honestly, this curry is so flavourful and rich that I didn't believe it was actually healthy. Then, I got proof! In keeping with the goal to eat healthier and trim down, my dear sisters, Ni and Sar, convinced me to sign up for an account on fatsecret.com. Now, ignore the horrific name. This is basically a food-and-exercise tracking tool... it's pretty neat. My favourite feature? You can enter your own recipes, and the website will calcuate fat, calories, etc. based on the ingredients and number of servings. It even lets you share recipes with the rest of the community. This, obviously, is right up my alley. I've already submitted several of my favourites. Clocking in at (approximately) 8.6 g of fat per serving, and ~330 calories (including rice and snap peas!), this is pretty decent for a dinner.

Alright. Enough of that. I promise I won't turn into a diet-obsessed blogger; just needed to spread the word about that neat tool, and how it totally justified this deliciousness for me. Give it a shot if you like; you can find me listed as GeckoGurl1984!

Hoping she'll be able to continue finding more healthy-but-delicious international cuisine,
-Honeybee

Heartfelt apologies

2011-05-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Not to overly promote a catchy 90s pop song... but oops, I did it again. Life has been throwing me a lot of curveballs lately, which usually means that by the end of the day, the only kind of cooking I want to do is of the finger variety (Boston Pizza ads, anyone? Finger cooking, aka. dialing/going online to order takeout. It's tempting. I've almost mastered it.)

At any rate, as the official Honeybee-Hubs union draws nearer, I'm hoping to do more *ahem* HEALTHY cooking to tame the waistline, and blogging to tame the frazzled mind. I have a whole backlog of gems to share with you, mostly connected with some fun 'Peg events (birthdays, showers, festivals, etc). I shall update you all shortly... hopefully within a few hours, honestly, if I can get my grocery shopping, Mother's Day Skyping, cooking, and exercising out of the way (did I mention I was busy? :D)

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few cute snapshots of what happens when I open cupboards to put away clean dishes:

This particular recipe is the very famous French creation, "Chaton dans un placard". It's what you get when you add kitten + cupboard. Pretty cute, non?

With heartfelt promises to update with more culinary experiments, hijinks, and stories very soon,
-Honeybee

Black bean florentine enchiladas, or "What should I do with this spinach?"

2011-03-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

My mother, always strongly opinionated, has a very firm stance on wasting food. During my Catholic upbringing, we were always taught it was a sin, right up there with stealing or coveting your neighbour's toys. Granted, in a house of six, it was pretty easy to get rid of leftovers before they were past their prime. In my new single-person dwelling, however, this has proved a little more difficult. I will spare you any pictures.

This picture, on the other hand, shouldn't be too offensive

I do look for ways to use up perishable foods in the fridge before buying new goods. This is what led to the following recipe: black bean florentine enchiladas. Yup, florentine. Spinach. Not exactly what comes to mind when you think Mexican food, but I had a bag of baby spinach that was looking less-than-prime, at least for crisp salad applications. I also had some tortillas in need of some lovin'. I wanted something tasty, low fat, and high fibre with at least a couple servings of veggies... mission accomplished!

Mmm. Melty goodness.

I basically decided to alter my standard hummus recipe by adding black beans instead of chickpeas, lime juice and zest instead of lemon, and tomato paste instead of sesame paste (tahini). Olive oil and cumin stayed the same. The enchilada sauce is based on Rachel Ray's original 30-Minute Meals book (published before her widespread fame), and is a staple for me. I added the fresh baby spinach to both the sauce and the filling (I had quite a bit to deal with), and topped it all off with low-fat cheddar cheese. Mmmm!!! It seems like a lot of steps, but everything comes together quickly (particularly if you start the sauce before blending up the filling).

I call this one, "Enchilada cross-section, with cilantro and lime".

Black Bean Florentine Enchiladas

Cobbled together by me, for once!

Makes 4 servings (trust me, one enchilada at a time will do ya!)

19 oz. can black beans
2 Tbsp olive oil (more as needed)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 Tbsp ground cumin
About 1 1/2 to 2 cups of baby spinach
Small handful cilantro (if you like it)
About 1 Tbsp water (I just fill one of the juiced lime halves with water and chuck it in)
1/2 to 1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce (or your favourite kind, to taste)
Salt and pepper, to taste (OR, add one packet of OXO beef bouillion. Gives that nice beefy flavour without the actual meat)
4 large whole wheat tortillas (or your favourite variety)
Enchilada sauce (either store-bought, or made as below)
About 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used low fat)
About two green onions, sliced thinly

Set your oven to 450ºF
Stir together everything up until the salt and pepper and using an immersion blender or food processor, process until smooth. Add a little more olive oil if the mixture is too stiff or dry.
Divide the bean mixture into four portions. Add to tortillas and roll up.
Put a small layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Place your rolled-up tortillas in the pan, and top with remaining sauce (save some for another time if it gets to be too much). Top with green onions, then cheese (in that order, to prevent burnt onions).
Bake for about 15-20 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and filling is heated through.

Florentine Enchilada Sauce:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small white onion, grated
1 28 oz can pureed tomatoes
1 Tbsp chili powder
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
Coarse salt, to taste
About 1 cup baby spinach leaves (or omit, for a more authentic version)

Heat garlic in olive oil in a pot over medium heat until it starts to sizzle. Add the onion by grating it directly into the pot. Cook onion and garlic for about 2 minutes.
Add pureed tomatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
Add the spinach to the pot and stir until it wilts in. If you want, you can puree it up further with an immersion blender or food processor; some people like to have the full leaves in there. Keep at a simmer until enchiladas are ready to top.

So, I'll be the first to admit that the green spinach leaves made the sauce and filling look a bit... funky. At least in terms of colour. But honestly, I was just happy knowing I was getting Popeye-approved nutrients without the foremost flavour being the spinach. Also, if I'm not much mistaken, this dish is pretty green-light! Low fat, high fibre... hooray! A feel-good meal all around.

Off to do some healthy jogging before delving into decidedly unhealthy peanut butter brownies (more on that later!)

-Honeybee

Chocolate, hazelnuts, and a new tradition

2011-03-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Just as I feel I'm settling in Winnipeg, it arrives: the dreaded "Sign your life away for the next year, or get out of our apartment building" notice. So, I'm about to uproot myself again and move within the city to something more affordable (and less lavish. Does anyone truly NEED a pool, hot tub, gym, and car wash in their parkade? Probably not).

Despite changes in living conditions, though, I'm laying down roots in other areas. Specifically, I've started a new tradition (though I've alluded to it before). I have become the official birthday cake baker for my lovely friends/coworkers. Last week, I made an absolutely gorgeous (in my modest opinion!) chocolate hazelnut cake for my wonderful colleague Linda, with the help of my (now-famous) birthday cake quiz. Here's the result!

This cake doesn't contain any flour. It also contains a whole (400g) jar of Nutella. How can you go wrong?!

As per Linda's quiz, I decided Skor would be a nice addition to this tasty treat. There's one food-processed bar in the cake itself, and two more decorating the top. Mmm!

Happy moment in my life: realizing I can get buttercream icing from a GIANT TUB at Bulk Barn :) Makes a nice contrast for decoration with the Skor, hazelnuts, and chocolate ganache, no?

I don't often quote that 1970's rug-chested Englishman... but YEAH BABY!!

Deb in my office, holding the last piece on a very classy brown paper towel. See how hard I work on Tuesday afternoons, handing out cake to all and sundry?

Overall I was EXTREMELY pleased with how the recipe turned out. My coworker even asked me for the recipe to make for her own Hubs, since he loves Nutella. I love getting ideas from other blogs and tweaking them slightly. I suppose this is as good a time as any to formally thank my favourite curvy British food goddess Nigella Lawson, who originally published the recipe. She may try to turn her recipes into some sort of strange erotic experience on her shows, but MAN that woman makes good food.

Thinking this was a good encore following my "Third Wheel" (PB, Nutella and banana) crèpe at Kawaii,
-Honeybee

Triple Decker Grilled Cheese

2011-02-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

Laying the foundation...

Triple decker sandwiches have always held me in a certain sense of awe. I have a very clear memory of my father making a triple-decker peanut butter and jam sandwich at the cottage we used to rent as kids. It looked so luxurious, so EXCESSIVE... and far too big for my 5-year-old mouth.

Fast-forward about 20 years, after considerable mandibular growth and freedom from the confines of parental sandwich rules. A couple of weekends ago, my new neighbour/work buddy Deb and I enjoyed the exquisite culinary offerings of Baked Expectations in Osborne Village. Fan. Freakin'. Tastic. I had suggested that we split a sandwich or wrap for an entree, then each order a dessert. Deb suggested the (you guessed it, you smart person you...) triple decker grilled cheese.

This thing was like no grilled cheese I'd ever had before. Three slices of whole grain bread, two kinds of cheese, grilled mushrooms and onions, and some fresh lettuce and tomatoes (there was possibly one other vegetable, but I forget what it was). DELISH. I even ate the mushrooms; it was that good. Another fantastic point: fresh-cut shoestring fries, and a pickle spear. Mmmm.

Just an FYI- there's sautéed garlic and onions under that cheddar. Oh, yes.

So, while catching up on some much-needed leisure reading and rest on Sunday, I thought I might try to create an homage to my experience at Baked. Not recreate, you understand. I don't think I'm capable of such deliciousness. Regardless, I gave it a good shot. I used three slices of cheddar and onion ciabatta that Deb had brought to accompany our pre-Manitoba Moose hockey game meal. I toasted these under the broiler on one side, then flipped them over and added swiss cheese to one slice, and sautéed onions and garlic covered in cheddar cheese to the other. The last slice just got toasted, with a bit of margarine. I think you can see what I added to the last slice above, prior to assembly.

Very yummy lunch... trip to the deli not required!

Hubs was convinced that the baby spinach and tomatoes didn't belong. I respectfully disagree.

You KNOW those pickles are necessary. They're like a sandwich food group all on their own. My favourites: Vlassic kosher baby garlic dills. Mmm.

While I most certainly have recreated (improved upon?) my father's triple decker sandwich efforts (peanut butter, raspberry jelly, honey, AND bananas... take that, papa!!), I think this particular sammy is a bit more refined; perhaps less childish. Good grief, I'm even making grown-up sandwiches now... is this what happens when you graduate and start a career??

Thinking she'll pick up bananas and white Wonderbread on her next shopping trip to relive simpler times,
-Honeybee

Citrus crazed

2011-02-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's hard for me to believe that, once upon a time, a young Honeybee really didn't like citrus fruits. Oranges were too hard to peel, and had too much pith. Lemons and limes were far too sour for her sweet tooth. Grapefruits were right out of the question.

I'm not sure if more citrus has become available on the market in more recent years, but I count this family of fruits among my favourites now. I'm especially excited that 1) it's blood orange season and 2) Manitoba stocks blood oranges. Tangerines, mandarines, and clementines are up there in the top five as well. So many of my recipes call for freshly-squeezed lime or lemon juice, +/- zest, that I find myself stocking up on these during every shopping trip.

Blood orange slice, for those who are unfamiliar. If you're in Windsor, go to Joseph's Farm Fresh Produce and buy some now!!!

I've tried out a couple of noteworthy citrus recipes over the past couple of months: clementine cosmopolitans, at both Hubs' family Christmas and Sher's birthday, as well as tangerine meltaways. Behold!

Pouring the clementine simple syrup (seen bubbling away at the beginning of the post) into the rest of the cosmo mix: cranberry juice, lime juice, and vanilla vodka. Mmm. Recipe is here, courtesy of Claire Robinson (who is just adorable).

These puppies are delicious, but STRONG... definitely made for sipping. I made a whole pitcher full... and drove to Jess' place with it :S I kept praying that 1) it wouldn't spill and 2) I wouldn't get pulled over!

Sorry for the blurry pics... my camera wasn't loving me this evening. They're a very pretty blush colour!

I needed to make something for our bi-weekly genetic counsellor meeting (a chance to review tough cases and kvetch about life in Genetics & Metabolism at HSC Winnipeg). I'd been wanting to try a few more recipes from my Anna Olson cookbook, so I did what I usually do: check the ingredients list, and make whatever recipe I can with what I have on hand. The result? Tangerine meltaways, a sort of shortbread-y cookie that apparently originated in the South. Tasty!!

My cookbook is so well-loved (mistreated?) that its pages are falling out! It still serves, though. Don't worry about trying ot make out the fine print; you can view the recipe here.

Again, camera wasn't super-cooperative, but here are the rolled and sliced cookies. Look at all that zest!!

Enjoying some meltaways, with some blood orange slices and lemon thriller tea. I actually used clementine & blood orange juice and zest in the cookies, as opposed to tangerines, which gave them a pinky-orange colour. P.S.- Ni, click the link in the last sentence. I've had it stuck in my head this entire post, and it makes me think of you!

Close up!

The glaze DOES dry matte, like Anna says... but this one looks shiny due to some spilled tea. Oops!

A nice little evening snack.

There IS one citrus recipe that I've personally never attempted... but I've had a HUGE hankering for over the past while. This would be GOOD key lime pie. The kind that's not really green, more yellowish, and made with sweetened condensed milk. I'll have to wait for a good excuse to make one (maybe St. Patty's day?) If anyone has a tried-and-true recipe, let me know... otherwise I'll turn to Anna again.

Incredibly confident that she'll never be stricken by scurvy,
-Honeybee

Muffin Mania!

2011-02-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

My muffin pan has gotten a good workout lately. Whenever I'm feeling like I need a little pick-me-up, out comes the dozen-cupped baking vessel. In the past few weeks, I've re-made some favourites of mine: pumpkin muffins and berry bran muffins. I tweaked them both a little bit this time around... details below!

Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from "Muffin Mania" by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli

4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 3/4 cup pumpkin (small can)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cup raisins

Beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, oil, pumpkin and beat thoroughly.
Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in raisins.
Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes.

Mmm, nice and moist. They didn't suffer at all from cutting down on the oil content. Plus, I feel a little bit better having subbed in some whole wheat flour.

This next recipe comes from my dear friend Andrea. I'll give you the original instructions below, then let you know what's going on with that ooey gooey goodness (see above) afterwards:

Berry Bran Muffins
From Andrea… not sure of her original source

Makes 9-12 muffins, depending on how you fill the tins

1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup wheat bran (you can also use All Bran)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of frozen or 1 cup of fresh berries

Mix together the egg, milk, and oil. Stir in the wheat bran and let sit five minutes.
Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
Combine wet and dry ingredients until just moistened. Stir in berries.
Spoon into greased muffin tin (or cupcake wrappers).
Bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes.

My modification: À la Tim Hortons "Fruit explosion" muffins, I substituted some peeled, chopped apple for some of the berries, and added a small dollop of PC Blue Menu raspberry jam on top of the raw batter just before putting them in the oven. No more messing around with the jelly jar when it's baked right in!

Overall, these were super-tasty. The key is to eat them in moderation.... not four in a row (I'm not addicted... I can quit anytime I want...) I did fairly well with these, bringing just one at a time in for a mid-morning snack at work, with another one alongside a cup of tea for an after-dinner snack. Reasonable, right? Right??

Thinking she'll use up more of that jam making her godmother's PB&J muffins...
-Honeybee

More homemade pasta

2011-02-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

I have one piece of kitchen equipment that I don't use often enough. This would be my pasta machine.

There she is, in all her glory!! She was a birthday gift from Nonna the same year that Hubs proposed. It was a good day.

As much as I scoff at Giada De Laurentiis' macrocephalic bobblehead and overuse of cleavage as a way to increase male viewership, I have to admit that the woman has some good recipes. I received a copy of her book, "Everyday Pasta", as a gift some years ago, and have been meaning to try her shortrib ragù recipe. I had Jess and Kyle over for "cat orientation" prior to my holiday visit to Windsor, and ~~used them as guinea pigs~~ treated them to a scrumptious dinner as a thank you for looking after the fur babies.

Mmm. Beef shortribs. In all honesty, this marks the first time I've cooked with them. Shameful, I know.

The ragù. I LOVE that the beef simmers in this for TWO HOURS before being removed, shredded, and returned to the pot. My kitchen smelled like a mamoni's fantasy world. The recipe can be found here. I also find it hilarious that this food writer (whom I've never met) also compares Giada to a dashboard ornament. Glad I'm not the only one!!

On to the pasta. Thanks to my wonderful aunt Lisa, I got Nonna's recipe: "2 1/2 cups of cake and pastry flour for 5 eggs or 4 eggs and 2 half eggshells full of water. Add more flour as needed, probably about another cup or so. 5 eggs should be good for 5 or 6 servings but those are big servings. I think it's about 1 1/2 pounds of pasta"

Rollin'. In the future, I think I'll make these one setting thicker. They were just a liiiittle too thin to stand up to chunky meaty sauce!

So pretty :)

Finished product, topped with shaved pecorino romano. Heavenly.

I also made parmesan popovers (they're in the blue bowl in the background), but I honestly didn't prefer them. Kyle seemed to like them, so I gave him the leftovers.

Get that fork in there!! Delish.

Overall I was very pleased with the results (minus the popovers... I'm not even going to link you to the recipe). Hubs, again, was jealous that he missed a good meat dish... lucky for him, I had enough ragù left over to freeze for another night. It's just waiting for his arrival in this fair (and freezing!) city!

Thinking that an early April snowstorm might be a good excuse to serve up the leftovers,
-Honeybee

Spicy Thai Basil Eggplant

2011-02-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

I frequently get a hankering for Thai food. I've tried a fair few places in the city so far, and most have been quite good... but none have fully lived up to Basil Court back home. So, in an effort to have the dishes I want, when I want them, I've been turning to making them myself. You've seen my Pad Thai... that kicked the craving for awhile. I was shocked to discover that I didn't take pictures of my matsaman curry efforts (maybe I was just too hungry to bother?), but here is my attempt at spicy Thai basil eggplant.

Mmm. Eggplant. I love the long, skinny Chinese variety... they're so pretty and tender!

A bit of a closer look. See the lovely colour on those nice thin skins?

White onion, zucchini, red pepper, and basil standing at the ready. The recipe didn't call for zucch, but I had one that was going round the bend, so I just tossed it in.

Mmm. Look at that purple!

Pepper and onion, getting fried up. Yes, I added the pepper. I'm trying very hard to expand my palette with regards to the capsicum family.

Bringing it all together. The sauce was nice and sweet and sticky... delish!!

On a bed of rice. Funny, in this pic, some of the eggplant looks like chicken or pork pieces. I assure you, it's all veg.

Thai Spicy Eggplant

Adapted from "Simply Thai Cooking" by Wandee Young

Makes 3-4 servings.

1 cup vegetable oil
3 Asian eggplants, sliced into 2-inch wedges
1 zucchini, sliced into 2-inch wedges
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (in addition to the above oil amount)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh hot chilies, finely chopped (sadly, I was out of chilies, so subbed 1 tsp chili flakes and 1 tsp Sriracha)
1 small white onion, roughly chopped
1/4 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
20 whole leaves fresh basil (I only had Italian basil, not Thai, but meh)
1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolve in 1 Tbsp water
2 1/2 cups freshly steamed rice

Heat 1 cup oil in a wok on high heat, until it is about to smoke. Add eggplant and zucchini and fry on all sides for 2 minutes until nicely browned, and flesh is soft and can easily be pierced.
Remove the eggplant from the oil with a slotted spoon and place in a colander set over a bowl to drain off the excess oil. Discard the oil in the wok and wipe it clean.
Add 2 Tbsp oil to the wok and immediately add garlic and chilies and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add onion and red pepper strips and stir-fry until softened.
Add the fried eggplant back to the wok. Add soy sauce, sugar, sriracha, and 1/2 cup water and fry until everything is bubbling happily.
Add 2/3 of the basil leaves and the cornstarch dissolved in the 1Tbsp of water. Stir-fry until sauce has thickened somewhat. Remove from heat.
Transfer to a serving dish and top with the rest of the basil leaves. Serve immediately with the steamed rice.

Finished product! Time to chow down!

This was a pretty tasty dish overall. I remember feeling a tiny bit disappointed with it... but that could have been because I was coming down with something, if my internal calendar serves. I'll have to try it again soon! I'll also have to make Matsaman again, so you can see how happy it makes me. So. Happy.

Looking forward to trying more Thai recipes and restaurants,
-Honeybee

Red Velvet Valentine

2011-02-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Last week, knowing that the obligatory-day-of-love-expression was upon us, I figured it was high time to try making a Manitoba favourite- Red Velvet Cake.

Yes, it's as red as it looks. Mmm.

The creation of these puppies made my kitchen look an awful lot like one of Dexter's kill rooms...

I've been meaning to try out a recipe for this cake for a long while. I first tried red velvet cake at Guildy's, a delicious and very popular little eatery at work. I've also seen it featured at Salisbury House... which may be the only thing I eat from there ever again.

One thing I've been made clear on: red velvet cake should be MOIST. So, as with most of my food experiments, I Googled my way to this recipe (yay, fellow Blogspot user!) The title for her post caught my eye: The BEST Red Velvet Cake Recipe ~Easy, Homemade, Moist with Southern Flair~. It did not disappoint. I did make a bit of a mistake, though... I accidentally added double the amount of coffee called for. Oops. As a result, you COULD taste the coffee a little bit in the end product, but it was still mostly red velvet goodness.

Baking. I really should clean my oven window...

I was originally going to debut my efforts during a baby shower/potluck held yesterday... but then decided that my coworkers have been guniea pigs often enough for my baking efforts. Not that they mind... but for a baby shower, I wanted to be sure I was putting my best foot forward. So, my American Sign Language 102 class got to be the taste testers this time during our class on Valentine's day.

Cooling cupcakes. The two crackly-looking ones in the front are the sugar-free versions I made for my two diabetic classmates. That's the joy of Splenda.... hooray for measuring cup-for-cup! It did result in a bit of a different texture, though (Jarred let me have a bite of his)

Valentines Day-themed frosting (these later got a cinnamon heart decoration as well)


The diabetic cupcakes again- no cinnamon heart, just a drop of food colouring for decoration (and a sprinkling of Splenda on top-- I accidentally added far too little to the actual icing. Still tasted okay, though)

For the actual baby shower, held for our genetic assistant Lisa, I decorated with a different cream cheese icing (found here). I will confess: I didn't like this one as much as the one included in the cupcake recipe. The icing was lighter, but also very soft (probably because of the whipping cream, and also due to my reluctance to add SIX CUPS of icing sugar). It didn't really set up nicely. It also made A TON, probably enough for twice as many cupcakes. I probably won't use it again myself, though my coworkers seemed to like it quite a bit. Now, I'm left with the problem of having leftover icing in the fridge... this could end badly.

Cupcakes again: same recipe, but in opaque silver wrappers, with the softer whipped icing piped into a spiral on top. Blue sprinkles, since Lisa knows she's got an XY bundle of joy on the way!

These sort of remind me of the cupcake dolls that my sisters and I had when we were younger. I think it was Sar that had a cherry-scented one with a spiral frosting "hat".

Overall, the cupcakes seemed to be a hit with both classmates and coworkers. One doc, who couldn't be at the potluck due to clinic, had one brought to him by Jess... and apparently proclaimed them "AMAZING". I know he used to work as a cook, and he seems to be a gentleman of very discerning tastes, so that made my week!

Off to think of ways to use up that remaining frosting (without eating it straight with a spoon...)
-Honeybee

Sometimes, the simplest breakfasts are the best.

2011-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Case(s) in point, which need very little input from me:

Eggs over easy, bacon, wheat toast with margarine, and peach slices. Coffee alongside. Gorgeous.

Correction: the eggs are basted, not over-easy. I had enough bacon grease in the pan to do 'em up like Grandma used to. Look at that lovely yolk!

My obsession with blood oranges rages in February, when they're in season. Freshly-squeezed blood orange and clementine juice, on ice, with a touch of Splenda to sweeten.

Add a bowl of hot maple & brown sugar oatmeal, and you've got Sunday breakfast.

Just one lone blood orange left- I bought a bag of nine or so on Thursday. Obsession, thy name is Honeybee. More on the citrus cravings in a future post-- I must stop procrastinating and get some work done.

Happy breakfasting,
-Honeybee

B-day Cake Crazy

2011-02-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

I love cake. There's no getting around it. There are only very few cakes I've met that I haven't liked, and it takes a very messed-up cake to garner my scorn (think: dry, tough, tasteless).

This cake was not scorn-worthy.

Given that I love baking cake almost as much as eating it, I offered to make a custom creation for my coworker Sherri's twentysomething birthday (I got your back, Sher... I won't spill the beans here!) Sherri, like me, loves pretty much any cake, which gave me carte blanche for creation. I sent her a little quiz, however, to see what flavours she prefers and what I could play around with. I believe the quiz was as follows:

What's your favourite citrus flavour? Answer: lemon
What's your favourite berry? Answer: raspberry
What's your favourite non-berry-or-citrus fruit? Answer: peaches and mangoes (I think... I can't quite recall all answers now)
Favourite nut? Answer: not really a huge nut fan overall
Favourite chocolate type (i.e. dark, milk, white, etc)? Answer: any!!
Favourite type of icing (i.e. buttercream, fondant, fluffy)? Answer: cream cheese
Favourite cake flavour overall (i.e. red velvet, chocolate, white, spice)? Answer: carrot cake

Sherri had fun with the quiz, which I'm thinking I'll use for other upcoming 'Pegger birthday girls and boys. Now, obviously, I wasn't about to make a cake that incorporated ALL of these flavours... that might be tricky (and gross). Instead, I picked up on lemon and raspberry, partly because I'd been craving the combo myself, and partly because something light and fruity like that was a nice change from the cold wintry weather.

Recipe book, along with citrus inspiration!

As with most of my baking endeavors, my coworkers are my guinea pigs (or lab rats? Whichever). Having never attempted it before, I decided to make Anna Olson's Lemon Mousse Cake, modified with some raspberry jam in the middle layer. The end product? Gorgeous and delicious. The journey to get there? Perilous, at best. I shall let the pictures do the talking.

There's a significant amount of lemon zest in this cake. Couldn't help but take a shot of my citrus, elevated to the level of art by my new zester (courtesy of my cousin Adam at Christmas). I love the long, criss-crossed pattern it makes! It also makes great long strips for garnishing... more on that later.

The genoise sponge cake, made to specs per Anna's recipe. I've made genoise before- light and spongy without being dry. This did not disappoint. The idea was to trim about an inch all the way around the perimeter of the cake (which made tasty tidbits for snacking), then slice the cake into two layers. Then, using a ring mould (or the ring from a springform pan, which you see here), pour a homemade lemon mousse over the whole shebang, surrounding the layers in light but firmly set airy "frosting" with a perfect clean edge.

Uhhhhhm... oops. The best laid plans oft go awry. I didn't thoroughly clean the beaters on my electric mixer between whipping up the cream and the eggs, which resulted in less-than-inflated eggs and a runny mousse. Add to that the ability of the mouse to leak under the ring mould that I'd set on top of the serving platter. Crap. What a mess....

Aaaand the floor. I was so frantic (wanting to ensure I had enough time to make a second batch of mousse and let the whole thing set up), that I actually left this splatter in place for a good couple of hours. Figgy did not object at all... though I'm sure my veterinarian sister Ni would faint over my kitties licking up heavy cream and raw egg. Ah well, it's not like I'm going to REPEAT this performance.

Second (and successful) batch of mousse in place. I made swirly patterns with dollops of PC blue menu raspberry jam, and a chopstick. I was shocked at how nice the raspberries looked mid-January!

Part of the second-time-around solution: instead of just resting the springform ring around the cake on the serving platter, as Anna suggests, I actually put the cake back in the fully assembled pan. The paper towels are there because of a known leak in one spot of this particular pan. Luckily it stemmed the flow of mouse appropriately, and no further massive mousse messes were made that day. Huzzah!

And now, Honeybee's destroyed kitchen!! No real worries, though... this was tidied up pretty quickly. It just LOOKS bad.

AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE EFFORT. Behold, the gorgeous, garnished finished product.

Look at those lovely lemon peel curls! Plus a few mint leaves, for good measure.

At the fête, with the lovely Scarlett, Sher, Lindsay, and Honeybee. Sher was quite pleased with the end product!!

Cross-section. See the nice layer of raspberry jam in there? Added a very nice touch, if I do say so myself. My criticism of the overall end product? I would've liked the recipe to make more mousse, to ensure a sufficient "top layer" at least equal to the thickness of the "side layer". The next time I make this sucker, I'll be making 1.5 times the mousse. Leftovers are better than not enough!!

Before I go, since I'm already on the topic of birthday cakes, I want to share MY 26th birthday cake with you. I know I've written before about my Aunt Lisa's tradition of making me my very own cake, in spite of all the other goodies/dainties that are served on Christmas Eve. I never know what I'm getting any given year, however it's a VERY safe bet to assume it'll be chocolatey as sin. Drumroll please, for the 2010 cake:

Behold! A chocolate caramel sea salt masterpiece! And yes, the jig is up. My name is Melissa. Greek for Honeybee. I couldn't bear the thought of blurring out that awesome icing job for the sake of anonymity. And I love the little snowflake sprinkles... they match the beautiful pendant that Hubs got me for Christmas!

Not the most flattering of action shots, but that's life in motion for ya! Blowing out the candles in my Nonna's dining room, surrounded by Ellie, Johnny Cash (I mean, my brother-in-law), Ni, Daniel, Sar, and Adam (the zester cousin!) The taste of this cake was so worth all that effort to blow out those candles! Plus check out all those other goodies... this is why I gained ten pounds over the holidays! Ah well, you only live once.

I'm most definitely looking forward to future birthday cake requests. I've already got three in mind:

Irene has requested something with caramel (perhaps I'll ask Aunt Lisa for my cake's recipe? Or I'll play around with dulce de leche, we'll see). Irene, if you happen to stumble across this, tell me again what your birthdate is so I can schedule my scheming!
Shannon requested something super-chocolatey (I'm thinking my aptly-named Super Chocolatey Cake, but perhaps with a ganache frosting instead of Betty Crocker. There's a reason my London girlfriends call this one "sex on a plate")
Hubs was very intrigued by the Tia Maria torte I enjoyed last night at Baked Expectations with my new buddy Deb... and I'm just as intrigued about recreating it. Challenge accepted!

As much as I love baking, I'll only put on more weight if I hoard the results to myself (no matter how tasty they are!) I'm so looking forward to honing my skills and having the result be enjoyed by friends and family. I'm also looking forward to spending more time in Bulk Barn... I've never fully appreciated what a haven that place is for cake decorators!

Thinking I need to look into a formal cake decoration class, perhaps in the fall after boards and wedding are safely behind me,
-Honeybee

Let me try to think up the best thing ever...

2011-02-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

...beef...stew.**

Since returning to the 'Peg after being in Windsor for holidays, I can't deny that I've had pangs of homesickness. I'm pretty happy and comfy here, don't get me wrong... but it's not home. Pretty normal emotions, I'm sure... but they drove me to making some very homey beef shortrib stew that's been a winter staple in the Honeybee family home for decades.

Mmm. Beefy.

This somewhat spicy, flavourful, melt-in-your-mouth stew recipe originally came from my dear Aunt Doris (who is not at all related, however we love her like an aunt nonetheless. She had the good fortune (?) to marry my father's best friend, the ever-hilarious Uncle John). It may take a bit of time to prepare, but I promise you, braising the meat in the oven for the recommended length of time is SO worth it. Here's some more pictures, and the recipe. I highly suggest this for chasing away the cold February winter blues.

I thought the different spices and sauces that go into this recipe made a nice splash of colour in the measuring cup.

Fried beef and onions... how can you go wrong??

Beef Shortrib Stew

Recipe from Doris Gagnier. Additions/substitutions by me.

Makes 6 servings as presented here, I'd say. I cut the recipe by 1/3 for myself.

3 Tbsp fat (I think I used olive oil, but you're free to use anything: butter, lard, beef fat, etc)
3 lb short ribs (To be honest, we don't use actual short ribs typically. We buy packages of pre-cubed "stewing beef". These tend to be relatively cheap and work just as well. Plus, no bones!)
3 medium onions, sliced
1 cup ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp paprika
¼ Tbsp chili powder (I would increase this to at LEAST a 1/2 Tbsp for some nice warm heat)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cube beef boullion in 1 cup boiling water (I used just 1 cup of tetra-pak beef stock)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
½ tsp dried mustard (if you really don't have any, you can sub prepared Dijon mustard)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Brown ribs/stewing beef cubes in fat over medium heat. Remove to plate, reserving fats in the pan.
Sautée the onions in the remaining beef fat/oil until softenend. Place beef and onions in an oven-proof dish (I used a Corningware dish with a lid)
Mix the remaining ingredients well to make the sauce. Pour over the beef and onions.
Bake at least two hours; the longer, the better. I baked mine covered with the glass lid on the dish.
Serve over mashed potatoes, with steamed veggies.

Look at all that caremelized beef-and-onion goodness. I have to admit, though, it does make the crockery difficult to clean afterwards. Totally worth it.

I sort of wished I had a trencher instead of a plate... here I'm enjoying my meal in the company of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book is A Game of Thrones, which my loving family gave me (along with the second and third books) for my birthday. The beef stew fits in perfectly with the rustic, hearty medieval fare served at Winterfell.

A very tasty plate.

Now, I know this is very appealing to the meat-and-potatoes crowd. I've never really thought of stew as anything else. However, thanks to some puttering around on Foodnetwork.ca, my tune has changed.

Well that looks different... is there even any meat in there?? No? Huh!!

Thanks to Bal Arneson, the lovely self-titled Spice Goddess, I was able to execute this delicious, protein-packed kidney bean stew. Definitely different from the beef stew, but also remarkably delicious, and a nice winter stew option for those who don't eat meat.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. I'm not a huge fan of fenugreek (and consequently, didn't have any on hand), so I omitted it. All my spices are pre-ground, so I just toasted the powder for a few seconds at the beginning. I didn't have red kidney beans, just white, so I missed out on some of the lovely garnet colours, but c'est la vie. I was just happy to find another application for the tamarind paste taking up space in my fridge! Overall this stew was bright, imaginative, and flavourfully spiced without being hot-spicy. Give this one a try... it may seem unconventional (oranges in a stew?!), but it's worth the gamble.

February in the 'Peg has been very fickle so far... first it's -40ºC, then it's a balmy plus two. I don't understand what's going on here!! All I know is I've been teased into thinking that spring is around the corner... but I'm trying to heed my coworkers' warnings of huge snowstorms in April. Eek! I guess I'll keep these stew recipes around a bit longer...

Thinking that groundhog shadow-sightings have nothing to do with meteorlogical patterns in Manitoba,
-Honeybee

(**Apologies: the title and first line of this post is a semi-inside joke from this now-obscure web cartoon. An oldie, but a goodie. Brings be back to the early 2000s... sigh...)

Pasta procrastination: Masters-level gnocchi lessons

2011-02-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like an impending deadline to make you want to do something completely unrelated to the task at hand. Things for me have gotten busy busy busy these past few weeks. Four out of five weeknights are occupied with either American Sign Language class (I graduated to ASL 102! Yay!) or a study group for the American Board of Genetic Counselors certification exam (daunting, but necessary for my career).

Given these time gobblers, you'd think I'd focus my efforts on them... but here I sit, snuggled with the cats on a Sunday morning, wanting nothing more than to tell you all about my deep history with gnocchi. This is a combination of an intense instructional session with my mother and Nonna while I was home for the holidays, followed by my own solo attempts back in the 'Peg. This will truly be a post in pictures... enjoy!!

Wait, this isn't gnocchi! Traditionally, in our house, gnocchi is served with a tomato sauce, meatballs, and sausages. I have NEVER been able to perfect the light-as-a-cloud, cheesy, meaty, flavourful meatball morsels that my mother and Nonna seem to have mastered. I was watching Mom like a hawk when she mixed these up. Here they are, pan-frying on all sides before being added to the sauce to simmer.

Mommy!! :D Gotta keep those meatballs rollin'. Apparently, the secret to the meatballs is a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal. Mix that with more dry breadcrumbs (frozen, grated hot dog buns work even better), eggs, and grated Parmesan cheese than you think is truly necessary. Salt, pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, dried herbs (oregano, basil, parsley), and you're done. Don't ask me for proportions, I know none. I was trying to learn "the feel" to know when the mixture is right.

...aaaaand let's not kid ourselves. This is how WE roll, making meatballs or otherwise. Red for my warm, big-hearted, passionate mom... and crisp, simple, clean white for me. Oh, and meatballs. I'm a little sad that you can't make out the time on the stove clock... I'm pretty sure it's still shy of noon.

Mom, still hard at work with the meat, with my "liddle brudder" Al in the background. In internet circles, this is what's commonly known as "photobombing". And you thought you'd only learn food-related tidbits here...

Sausages. Now, I have to be completely honest. I'm not the hugest fan of pork. I tend to reach for the meatballs more than the sausages... luckily other family members seem to feel the opposite way, so it all evens out. These sausages were made specially with sauce in mind (and of course, yes, they're homemade). My dad added some pork skin to them, which adds some delicious flavour (aka fat) to the sauce. Not that I'm complaining in the slightest, you understand.

Starting on the sauce now, by mixing some home-canned crushed tomatoes into the delicious leftover brown bits and oils from frying the meatballs. That's flavour in there, can't let it go to waste. A significant amount of wine makes an appearance, too.

Alright, the sauce is happily bubbling away, with lots of crushed tomatoes, the meatballs and sausages, and a carrot cut into wedges (part of the secret! It helps sweeten the sauce). Now onto the gnocchi dough!! About one potato per person, boiled until cooked through, then peeled and thoroughly mashed (traditionally we use a potato ricer). Add to that about one egg for every six potatoes (I think we were making 12 servings here...), and about 1/2 cup of cake and pastry flour per person (add more as needed to form a light dough that's just a little bit sticky/tacky still). Knead well.

Needing to knead. I know, terrible pun. I'm my father's daughter, what can I say??

Let's check on how that sauce is doing. Yup, bubbling away happily, with meat pieces and carrots bobbing about. I know this looks quite liquid-y at the moment... it will boil down and condense further (though, to be honest, I've always found our gnocchi sauces to be a little further on the liquid side than thick, Prego-esque sauces)

Mmm. Rolled gnocchi. You roll out the dough to about 1/2" thickness, then cut into long strips and roll the strips in flour. Then, the strips get cut up crosswise into little cubes. These cubes get rolled along the tines of a fork to create that little ridged, curled pattern. Yes, it's a little time-consuming to hand-roll every piece of pasta, but it's SO worth it.

Don't they look awesome?! And so old-world, with that pot and glass of wine next to them...

MEATBALLS. Done. They've been steeped in the delicious sauce, exchanging flavours, for a few hours now.

Meatballs, sausage, and NONNA!!! I love this woman more than words can possibly express. All we know about gnocchi, we learned from her. I have the fondest memories of helping her roll noodles in her kitchen at a tender young age, for a special-occasion meal like a birthday... and being scolded for "snitching" pieces of raw dough. It's just so good!!!

Sauce, sans meat products, reducing down a bit more. Looks good, doesn't it?? The little flecks in it are bits of meat from particularly tender sausages/meatballs that sort of disintegrated into the tomato goodness.

Cooking off the gnocchi... they're such cute little floating dumplings!!!

The finished product, in an absolutely enormous pasta bowl, sprinkled over with Parmesan cheese (or was it Romano? I can't remember. Whatever it was, it was good).

Gratuitous close-up... tender little potato pasta dumplings, fresh, light-tasting tomato sauce, and savoury meatballs. What more could you want??

Ah yes! THIS is what's missing. An amazing family to share the meal with. From bottom right: Papa, Sar (purposely hiding because she was feeling sick and pale), my BFF Kiks, Nonna, Ma, and Hubs :D That empty spot is for me!

Alright, so that was the training program. Don't get me wrong, I've made gnocchi before... in a manner of speaking. I think my former roommates can attest that former attempts have not exactly been... stellar. I'm remembering trying to make these in my suite-style dorm in first year... the potatoes weren't cooked thoroughly, so there were little pieces of half-raw potato in the noodles. Not good eats. Sorry again, Laur and Chaddy!!!!

Having suffered these past failures, however, has given me even more drive to start improving (eventually perfecting?) my gnocchi and meatballs. My goal is to reach a Nonna-level of expertise... let's call that a gnocchi PhD. My mom has most definitely achieved her Master of Gnocchi degree, and is just a hair's breadth away from graduating with her doctorate. I, however, have only a measly Bachelors of Gnocchi. Time to hit the "books"... or forks, as the case may be. I am bound and determined to one day be an adorable little Nonna, making perfect gnocchi for my grandchildren (though I think I've yet to meet a Nonna who stands 5'9"... maybe I'll shrink). Better start practicing!

The following are from my gnocchi attempt earlier this month, as a big thank-you to Jess for breaking out her tailor's tools and measuring me for my wedding dress. There's still room for improvement, but it was by FAR the best attempt I've made so far. I'd better just keep at it!

Mmm... my meatballs. A few slight changes here: I couldn't find ground veal at my local Superstore. So, I made do with just ground beef and ground pork. I do have to admit... some of the surfaces on these puppies are bordering on burnt. However, I'm happy to say that the softening effect of the acids in the tomato sauce made these MORE than edible.

This may be my favourite picture of 2011 so far. I've set it as my desktop picture, no word of a lie. I adore how my south-facing sliding doors let in the natural sunlight on a Sunday morning...

Rolled gnocchi, basking in the sun. I don't have a potato ricer, so I had to make do with a masher and an immersion blender... I think I did a thorough-enough job, though.

The rolling implement. Some people just cut the gnocchi into cubes and boil them off... I can't bear the thought of it. With Nonna, we'd experiment with rolling the gnocchi on different surfaces (the four sides of a box grater, a clean woven wicker basket) to make neat patterns.

My sauce + meatballs + carrot, bubbling away happily. You can already see how much it's reduced- just look at the markings along the sides of the pot. I had to use No Name whole canned tomatoes and crushed tomatoes to make this sauce, as I didn't have any of the home-canned Nonna variety to use. Sadness.

Not gnocchi... just a fun up-close shot of the Greek-esque salad I made to accompany the gnocchi. It's baby spinach, Roma tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, feta cheese, and fresh dill, tossed in a dressing made from olive oil, oregano, lemon juice, garlic, and a splash of feta brine. Mmm.

Analogous to the large bowl of tossed pasta and accompanying meatballs on the side. I forgot to sprinkle with cheese, though.

The whole shebang. Don't worry, I was measured for my dress BEFORE tucking into this "feastival", as dad would say.

So my criticisms for this Masters defense project? My gnocchi were a little too large, and quite dense and firm. I'm not sure if the latter was a factor of me kneading the dough too much or too long, or adding too much flour, or what. They were still good, don't get me wrong... but they lacked the tenderness of Ma and Nonna's efforts. No matter... just gives me an excuse to keep trying. Hubs was quite jealous when he heard that Jess and Kyle (by way of a doggie bag) got to eat this deliciousness, so I'm sure he'd welcome a repeat performance.

My only other complaint about this attempt? I was, in hindsight, rapidly coming down with a cold while preparing and eating this meal. I had to have Jess taste the sauce for me, to ensure that it was nicely seasoned and balanced before tossing it with the noodles. All that work, just to be thwarted by impaired taste buds... disappointing. Yet another point in favour of attempting these again, and soon.

I'll leave you with one last interesting tidbit: I had no idea, until my laagm (loving aunt and godmother) sent me a Wall Street Journal article, that gnocchi was so popular in South America. There, it's called "ñoquis", and they have a whole set of folklore surrounding it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this food writer's battle to make the perfect ñoquis for her husband- I hope you enjoy it, too!

With visions of potato dumplings dancing in my head, I remain,
-Honeybee

Recipe Exchange!

2011-01-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon-y goodness ahead!

To be completely honest, I usually despise forwarded email "games" and chain letters. If I don't know who my true friends are just by my interaction with them, I sincerely doubt that asking them to send me back a picture of a kitten professing undying friendship will clarify the matter. Having said that, there are a few that I enjoy (usually when attempting to procrastinate, as I am now). One of them is the recipe exchange.

This sounded like fantastic fun to me, and came from one of my coworkers. ALMOST everyone I sent this to, however, declined to participate. Most excused themselves on the grounds that they don't use recipes. My dad sent my coworker his recipe for Kraft Dinner (at least she got a laugh!). Only a few people gave it a go, but I still got a few yummy new ideas. One, coming via my dear friend Andrea's mom, was for quick cinnamon buns. Having spent quite a bit of time on some failure-to-rise sticky buns a few months ago, I appreciated this recipe using more of a baking-soda-leavened biscuit dough base:

Jiffy Cinnamon Rolls

From Barb Hoath (not sure of her original source)

Makes 12 buns

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
Dash salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 cup milk

For Filling:

1/3 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400ºF.
"Crumble" butter into the dry ingredients (easier to accomplish with a pastry blender; I had to stick to the two knives technique. You could try freezing and grating the butter, too)
Add milk and mix all ingredients with a fork.
Roll out on a floured counter to a rectangle shape about 12" long by 8" width.
Mix softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon for filling. Spread this mixture over the dough.
Roll up dough from the 12" side and pinch 'seams'. Cut the rolled dough into 12 individual pieces. Place each piece in a greased muffin tin. Bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes.
Optional: glaze with 2 tbsp icing sugar mixed with 1 tbsp milk (I opted out of this; they're great on their own!)

Pre-oven... the dough was a bit sticky, but the end result was worth it!

Somewhat surprisingly, I actually received a number of other recipes. I have yet to try these, so there are no pictures, but I'm happy to share them with you:

Cream Cheese Brownies

Sent by Sheri Moore, originally from 'Cookies and Brownies' by Alice Medrich

Makes about 16 - 2 inch squares.

Brownie Layer:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 ounces (115 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (65 grams) all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Layer:

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 325ºF (160ºC) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Have ready a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) square baking pan that has been lined with aluminum foil across the bottom and up two opposite sides of the pan.
In a stainless steel (heatproof) bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (with a wooden spoon) after each addition.
Stir in the flour and salt and beat, with a wooden spoon, until the batter is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the pan (about one minute).
Remove 1/2 cup of the brownie batter and set it aside. Place the remainder of the brownie batter evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.
Then, in the bowl of your food processor (or with a hand mixer), process the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla, and egg and process just until creamy and smooth.
Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the brownie layer. Spoon small dollops of the reserved brownie batter evenly on top of the cream cheese filling. Then with a table knife or wooden skewer, swirl the two batters without fully mixing them.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the brownies start to pull away from the sides of the pan and the edges of the brownies are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Refrigerate the brownies until they are firm enough to cut into squares (at least two hours). Once chilled, remove the brownies from the pan by lifting with the ends of the foil and transfer to a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut into 16 squares. It is a good idea to have a damp cloth nearby to wipe your knife between cuts.
These brownies can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Apple or Rhubarb Cake

From Grandma Mary of the Morris Family

Makes about 9 pieces, judging by how I cut a 9"x9" cake

½ cup butter
1½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup sour milk or buttermilk (add a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk if you don't have buttermilk)
2 cups diced rhubarb or apples (blueberries also work well!)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Mix as you would any cake; wet ingredients first, then mix in dry ingredients.
Fold in apples or rhubarb and place in buttered 9X9 pan.
Mix ⅓ cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of cake before baking at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes.

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Baguette

From the McCormacks (not sure of original source, but I really want to try this!!)

Makes 1 loaf

1 loaf of French bread
Goat cheese or Feta (enough to spread over the insides of the loaf on both sides)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
Fresh basil leaves ( 1 package should be good)
Olive oil

Split bread lengthwise into two long halves.
Cover both sides with cheese and lay basil leaves on top of cheese
Thinly slice peppers and cook the in a skillet with olive oil until tender
Spread sliced peppers inside the loaf
Close loaf and compress; wrap tightly in foil if taking to a party
Slice 1 inch pieces with bread knife and serve!

Ed. note: This sounds delicious; when I make it, though, it'll probably be comprised of actual charred roasted peppers, mixed with sautéed onions and garlic in olive oil. I would also probably pop the foil wrapped loaf in a 350ºF oven for about 20 min. to heat through before slicing. But that's just me!

So despite my distaste for email "games", I think I really benefited from this one. It was a bit strange to be getting emails from people I'd never met before, but I think that just lends more evidence to my belief that food is a universal unifier.

Hoping to share another community food event with you before the weekend is out,
-Honeybee

French Onion Soup

2011-01-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

In the theme of hearty, winterizing meals, I made some absolutely delicious French onion soup for myself and my coworker Jess before the holidays. It was nice to have some guests over on a Thursday night to watch Big Bang Theory... why not dinner and a show? It's nice to have Snickers around, too, to put my cat Chief in her place.

Ready for company... Soup, crudités, and sundried tomato and herb bean dip. Don't forget the vino!

I really enjoy French onion soup. It's so simple (and cheap!!) to make, but it has such a depth of flavour from the soft, caramelized onions. Plus, it presents a PERFECT excuse to use my mandolin! No way in heck I'd want to slice all those onions so thinly by hand... this just speeds up the process (and reduces the time I spend "crying" over the pot). If you don't have a mandolin, the recipe would still work with manual knife-slicing... I'd just recommend unearthing some goggles from your old swimming lesson days prior to!! I think Chef Michael Smith once hinted on his show that contact lenses decrease the teariness... I have yet to test this theory. I'll let you know.

Mmm... Cheesy... Bread-y... Delicious...

French Onion Soup

Adapted from "Living the G.I. Diet" by Emily Richards and Rick Gallop

Makes 4 servings

1 Tbsp canola oil
6 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
6 cups beef stock (low fat, low sodium)
1/2 cup red wine (sometimes I use white... whatever you have on hand)
2 Tbsp dry sherry or cognac (in a pinch, I've even used rum...)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp pepper
4 slices crusty French bread or baguette
1 cup shredded light-style Swiss or Jarlsberg cheese (for this batch, all I had was cheddar and mozzarella, so I used a blend)

In soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions, garlic, and salt, stirring ften, for about 10 minutes or until they start to brown. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until onions are very golden, caramelized, and very soft. Add flour and stir to coat onions for 1 minute.
Add beef stock, wine, sherry, bay leaf and pepper; bring to boil (make sure you scrape up all the lovely bits on the bottom of the pan). Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
Pour soup into desired bowls. Place bread on top to fit bowls and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in 400ºF oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Broil for 30 seconds to brown top.

Looking back, I find it hard to believe that I used to hate onions. As a kid, I can actually remember claiming that I was allergic to mushrooms and onions so I could avoid eating them (my cousins saw right through my claims... but I thought with all the hoopla surrounding Ni's food allergies, I could squeak by). I'm not sure when I started to actually like onions, which is why I'll occasionally re-try things I dislike (read: olives, mushrooms, peppers) to see if my tastes have broadened. I'm just glad they did in this case... I'd hate to miss out on this onion-y goodness. Though, to be fair, there are still some onion applications I don't like... I can't see myself ever partaking in one of Hubs' cooking-onion-and-yellow-mustard-on-Wonderbread sandwiches. *Shudders*

Hoping she'll be able to convince Hubs to save the onions for soup instead,
-Honeybee

Stocking up for the Winter

2011-01-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a few pics and a recipe from last year. There’s something about big-batch make-ahead recipes that remind me of winter. Specifically, it reminds me of woodland creatures hoarding food for the cold months. But, just because I don’t sport paws and a furry tail, doesn’t mean I can’t take a page out of their book and stock up for cozy nights by the fire.

...clearly, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Edited slightly from Facebook, but still 100% true... just wanted to protect the identity of my fellow squirrel. See how lucky I am, to fit in so well with Hubs' family??

I love chili, which is a little strange. I mean, sure, I love meat, onions, tomatoes, beans and spices… but I also love consistency. My chili is ALWAYS different from batch to batch, mostly owing to my complete disregard for measuring. A palmful of cumin here, a squeeze of sriracha there, a few cans of this, that or the other until it all comes together. It always tastes good, but it’s also unique. I made a pretty delicious version back in November, with some for lunches that week and some frozen and saved for future dinners.

Some animals have a cave... I have a freezer. I should probably make a smoothie out of that banana... it looks lonely.

Now, I can't give you the recipe for this to a tee, obviously. But, I'll try to give you a fair estimate.

Honeybee's Lazy Toss-it-in-the-Pot Chili

Hardly unique, but probably not published. I don't think anyone can take credit.

Makes about 6-8 servings, I'd say.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
About 1 lb (454g) extra lean ground beef
2 bay leaves
About 1 Tbsp cumin
About 1 Tbsp chili powder
About 1 tsp cayenne
About 1 tsp smoked paprika
About 1 tsp salt
About 1 tsp black pepper
1 can (19 oz) black beans
1 can (19 oz) kidney beans
1 can (19 oz) chick peas
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (28 oz) diced or whole tomatoes
Optional: sometimes, if I have some leftover canned corn, I'll toss that in too.
Also optional: I like to add about a tablespoon of Sriracha to the chili. Then again, I like things spicy. Add at your own risk... and yes, I'm aware that it's not even remotely Mexican.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a very large saucepan/dutch oven. Saute onions and garlic until softened. Add ground beef and cook until nicely browned, using a fork or the back of a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces (you don't want big chunks).
Add the spices to the meat, stirring well. Keep frying the meat for just a minute or so more, to toast up the spices a bit.
Add all the beans and tomatoes, as well as the Sriracha if you're using it. Stir well.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes or so.
Serve! It's good either with toast and margarine, or corn chips. Neither if you're trying to be a bit healthier.

I also stocked up by making a big pan of veggie lasagna and freezing individual pieces, so that's ready to go as well. It really helps on nights when I don't feel like cooking anything, or when I don't have time to do anything but microwave before American Sign Language class. And as the thermometer in Winnipeg drops below -30ºC, I think I'll be welcoming nice hearty chili more and more often!

Snuggling with a mug of tea and some disgruntled cats,
-Honeybee

Veggie Voyage: Orzotto and Vegetable Crumble

2011-01-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve long admired the restraint of the vegetarian set. In a North American culture so deeply rooted in “meat and potatoes”, I find it amazing that vegetarianism (nevermind veganism!) has survived and flourished. It’s truly impressive how creative and delicious vegetarian recipes can be. For whatever reason (Lack of time? Lack of money?) I’ve found myself cooking more meatless dishes lately. A few gems stood out in particular, so I thought I’d share.

First up: Orzotto. No doubt you’ve heard of its rice counterpart, risotto... it seems pretty ubiquitous on restaurant menus at this point (though frequently made by cheating and adding cream… tsk tsk). You might’ve picked up that I’m a bit of a risotto snob (I prefer the term “purist”, myself). So, I was incredibly skeptical about this recipe for leek and lemon barley risotto. First problem? Barley. I think my only prior exposure to barley had been beef and barley soup, complete with boiled-to-death vegetables and tinned broth (let me be clear: this was NOT one of dear mom’s offerings). I was, to say the least, hesitant about inviting this grain into my dish. It is, however, dirt cheap from the bulk bin, so at least any financial losses would be minimal if the dish tanked.

The dish did not tank. Instead of laboring over the ladling of stock for the next 45 minutes, I could walk away, fold my laundry, and play with the cats as this super-simple dish bubbled away, perfuming the apartment with its onion and lemony scents. Finish it off with some more lemon and some pecorino romano, and you’ve got yourself dinner. To paraphrase Nonna, “I will do again”.

Leek, Lemon and Pea Orzotto

Adapted from "The G.I. Diet Clinic" by Rick Gallop

Makes 4 to 6 servings (main versus side dish)

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped leek (white and light green parts only)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme (fresh if you've got it)
1 cup barley
1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth
3 cups vegetable stock (low fat, low sodium) plus 1/2 cup more if needed (you can use chicken stock for a non-veggie option)
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp each salt and freshly ground pepper

In saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook leek, garlic, and thyme, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Stir in barley until well coated.
Add wine and stir until absorbed. Add stock and bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring occasionally (yay!) for 40 to 45 minutes or until barley is tender. If necessary, stir in a little more stock or hot water near the end of cooking time to maintain a creamy consistency.
Stir in peas, lemon zest and juice, and Parmesan cheese; season with salt and pepper.

Step 4: After decorating prettily and taking pictures, scarf down.

Next up is vegetable crumble. Most people are acquainted with the dessert variety of crumble, with fruit on the bottom and sweet oatmeal-cinnamon-ish crumbly topping. This is a much more savory application. Instead of fruit, you’ve got a fantastic assortment of veg (though admittedly, some of these are technically fruit). I’ve made this a couple of times, most notably for the vegetarian girlfriend of one of Hubs’ friends.

Mmm. Crumbly.

I’ve fiddled with the recipe a bit to suit my tastes. I think I’ve previously confessed just how terrible an Italian I am: I’m not a fan of peppers, olives, or mushrooms. I’m also not big on celery. This dish calls for 75% of my no-thanks veg list. Not a problem. In place of the mushrooms, I use Chinese eggplant for its slightly spongy texture but lack of bitterness. Sometimes, I do actually add pepper, since it softens nicely in the cooking and imparts a nice flavour. Celery gets ignored entirely. I can do without its mild licorice taste and impossible to chew fibers. Grr.

Just look at all that veggie goodness!

Vegetable Crumble

Adapted from "The G.I. Diet Clinic" by Rick Gallop

Serves 4-6 (again, main vs. side dish sizes)

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup sliced leeks (while and light green parts only)
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Chinese eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes and lightly salted
1/2 red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Tbsp thyme (again, fresh if you've got it... you know how I kill herbs)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup drained canned plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup vegetable stock (low fat, low sodium)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (freeze-dried for me)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

For topping:

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated soft margarine
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
3/4 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped almonds or other nuts
2 Tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375ºF.
In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook leeks and onions for 5 minutes or until softened. Add zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, eggplant, red pepper, and thyme. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Stir in flour; cook for 1 minute.
Stir in tomatoes, stock, milk, parsley, salt and pepper; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
For the topping, in bowl, combine margarine, flour, and bran. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until mixture is crumbly. Stir in cheese, nuts and sesame seeds.
Spoon vegetable mixture into 8-cup shallow baking dish (I used a 9x13 pan). Sprinkle topping evenly over top.
Bake for 30 minutes or until topping is crisp and golden and vegetable mixture is bubbling.

I do love that this can be a meal on its own, instead of just a side dish—that really is how I eat it. The contrast from the nuts and seeds is nice. I think I’ll make just one further addition- chickpeas- to up the protein in future versions (and keep me sated for longer). Sure, you could probably add meat to it, but why? All the vegetables (particularly the sweet potato) sort of come together in a delicious harmony of textures, colours and tastes.

Having been exposed to vegetarianism from a very young age via my dear godparents, I’ve always felt that I’m a little more open to veggie-friendly food. I personally have failed multiple times at adopting the lifestyle (I think Ni and I lasted three days in our childhood home, putting margarine instead of meat sauce on our pasta). Also, although Hubs’ consumption of vegetables is somewhat of a running family joke, I don’t think he’d be willing to give up chicken wings, baby back ribs, bacon, and burgers to pursue a plant-only diet with me. Happily, though, he doesn’t seem to complain if I serve up meatless fare. He usually just goes, “Hm. There’s no meat in this.” Then proceeds to continue shoveling food into his mouth. Guess he’s got an open mind, too!

Hoping her loving aunt and godmother will share the recipe for her awesome hot artichoke casserole served on Christmas Eve,

-Honeybee

Scrumptious Schnitzel

2011-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

I've been trying, both pre-New Year and post, to really take stock of what I eat and reflect on how I could make it healthier. Regardless, I had a breaded chicken craving that simply needed to be addressed a few weekends ago. How to accomplish this? Though I might not be militant when it comes to adhering to a low fat, high fibre diet, I know enough to avoid the dangers of KFC or similar fried chicken outlets. All I have to do is remember the cloudy, peachy-pink tinged blood plasma of a particularly portly gentleman I met at Canadian Blood Services to know how instantly harmful it can be... seeing pretty much pure lipid coming out of this guy's arm has been enough to ensure that I haven't eaten from there since.

Luckily, I opened my G.I. Diet cookbook and found that yes, you can have fried and breaded chicken and still be healthy about it, by way of their chicken schnitzel. Now, let's face it... I don't have a German bone in my body. As such, I don't think I'd ever had a "traditional" schnitzel before, so I have no idea if I was "missing out" by making a G.I.-friendly version. It featured a higher-fibre breading made from wheat bran, whole wheat breadcrumbs, and omega-3 eggs, not too much oil for frying, and a fresh apricot-and-green-onion based sauce for the top. Sounded delicious enough, so I busted out my new rolling pin (thanks again, Kimmi!) and bashed away at a helpless boneless skinless cut of chicken to see how things would turn out.

Schnitzel, frying away, with breading station in the background. Sometimes I wonder if my neighbors can hear me pounding out meat... and if so, what do they imagine is going on in my apartment?

Finished product, with a salad alongside.


You just knew my post wouldn't be complete without a closeup, right?

Chicken Schnitzel

Adapted from "The G.I. Diet Clinic" by Rick Gallop

Serves 1 (just me... multiply as necessary for multiple people.

And you thought math class was a waste of time!)

1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1/8 cup whole wheat flour
Pinch each salt and freshly ground pepper
1 omega 3 egg
1/8 cup wheat bran
1 Tbsp wheat germ
1 Tbsp dry Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup fresh orange juice*
1/8 cup chicken stock (low fat, low sodium)
1/8 cup thinly sliced dried apricots
1 chopped green onion

Using meat mallet or rolling pin, pound chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap until about 1/4 inch thick.
In large, shallow dish or pie plate, combine flour, salt and pepper. In another plate, whisk eggs. In third dish or pie plate, combine bran, wheat germ, breadcrumbs, and orange zest
Pat chicken dry and dredge in flour mixture, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, letting excess drip off, then dredge in bran mixture, coating completely.
In large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry chicken for 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and just cooked through. Transfer schnitzel to platter and place in 200ºF oven to keep warm.
In same frying pan, combine orange juice, stock, and apricots. Bring to boil and reduce until slightly thickened and syrupy, about 3 minutes. Stir in green onion. Pour sauce over schnitzel.

*One of the paradoxes of the G.I. Diet is that they discourage you from drinking orange juice... yet they include it as an ingredient in various recipes. I avoid this conundrum by freshly juicing a real orange (you need one anyway for the zest, right??)

Unwritten direction: Do not share with greedy, misbehaving cats. I like to think she's saying, "Oh, what's that over there, mom?" in an effort to distract me and pilfer my chicken.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the schnitzel itself... though I wasn't as huge a fan of the apricot/orange/green onion sauce (mostly due to the apricot texture; the flavour was nice). I might try to adapt the sauce by puréeing... or swap it out entirely for some G.I.-diet friendly tomato sauce (read: no sugar added. Try to find a jarred pasta sauce without added sugar; it's HARD!). I could see this atop a modest serving of whole wheat pasta, with a bit of low fat mozzarella sprinkled on top... clearly, the Italian heritage is asserting itself over this twist on classic German fare. Ah well. I did really enjoy the healthy "breading", so I could see myself using this to make chicken fingers, too (even if that meant dipping them in the unhealthy-but-delicious Manitoba classic, honey dill sauce).

Looking forward to using my new meat mallet (thanks again, cuz!) to pound my way to more breaded chicken goodness,

-Honeybee

Going to the chapel...

2010-12-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write a bit about Kimmi and Seanno's wedding, which went down on October 16th as part of the Weeks of Insanity. It was most definitely the high point of that busy time! It's been put off as I've been finding myself blogging less, simply because I've actually been going out and doing things... apparently, I seem to have gotten a bit of a life here in the 'Peg! Regardless, the writing bug is still festering... and I can only watch so many episodes of anime before a serious sushi craving kicks in. Maybe I should attempt a bento box at some point in the future...

Sorry. Way off track there. Let's talk about my most favourite newlyweds.

And here they are, the new Mrs. Kimmi and Mr. Seanno!

Kimmi and I have a lot of interests in common, a love of good food among them. So, I've known for some time that her wedding celebration would feature delectable edibles. In a way, though, I feel like a terrible friend... due to my desire to document said food, and a significant intake of wine, I think I took more pictures of plates than of people. Ah well, that's what the professional photographer is for, right? On with the show!

At the rehearsal dinner, which was held at Aroma, a Portuguese restaurant just a few blocks from my old apartment. This was some delicious chicken, with a hint of the piri piri pepper that seems so central to Portuguese cooking.

The rehearsal dinner was absolutely fantastic-- wonderful people, lovely entertainment in the form of a live singer, and delicious food. In addition to the above chicken, bitoque was also on the menu... a fried steak topped with a fried egg, and french fries. Mmm. Hubs, being the consummate red-meat carnivore, opted for that... I got to taste a bit, and it was to die for. We got to start off with caldo verde, as well, which was a delicious potato, kale and chourico soup. Hubs really enjoyed that as well, so Kimmi's mom offered to share the family recipe. To finish off, in keeping with wanting to save the best for last, we got a Portuguese custard tart.

Image from this cookbook website, which incidentally boasts a simple recipe for these beauties. I may be tempted into another Portuguese baked-goods DIY project here...

Let me talk to you about these tarts for a minute. If you don't like custard, fine... just skip this paragraph. But these things are, simply, amazing. They're about the size of a standard buttertart, but much better, in my opinion. Instead of a dense shortbread-like crust, the shells are a bit flaker. Not as flaky as phyllo, but closer to that idea... according to the above link, puff pastry is used. The filling is a fantastic, not TOO sweet, firm yellow custard. What really does it for me is that the tops are caramelized, almost brûléd, which adds a great depth of flavour. This isn't just some sickly sweet pastry... it's an art form. We had a huge platter of these at Kim's sister's baby shower, and I'm ashamed to admit that I ate about three of them. They're just so worth it.

Next up, the food on The Big Day!

Sweet potato soup, with the delicious white wine, my bridesmaid flowers, and a DJ in the background. I'd never had a soup made with sweet potato before, but it was fantastic... and very much in keeping with the sunset-hued fall colour scheme of the wedding. The only downside? We ladies all stuck our napkins in our necklines to prevent drops of this scrumptious concoction from splashing on our fancy dresses. I'm considering trying out this recipe to see if I can recreate the experience, since I doubt that The Delta London Armouries is willing to give out theirs.

Main course! Chicken breast with a roasted red pepper sauce, combined with a well-prepared medium/medium rare beef tenderloin au jus. Parisienne potatoes and steamed veggies went alongside. DELICIOUS, and very filling... good thing we relaxed for a bit listening to speeches before the dancing began! As a testament to how thoughtful and considerate Kimmi is, she'd specially arranged for Hubs to receive two pieces of beef to accomodate his poultry prejudice. What a sweet bride!

Dessert #1. Fresh strawberries atop chocolate and vanilla mousse, held in a caramelized sugar tuille of sorts, which was cemented to the plate with dark chocolate. Oh, my. Yes, please, and thank you.

Dessert #2. Much later in the evening, we enjoyed the delicious pétit fours created by Seanno's talented cousin. This was an excellent way to soak up some of the inebriation we were experiencing (as evidenced by my flushed face and the many glasses on the table... these belonged mostly to Hubs, I swear). A toast to the happy couple!!

As the holiday season approaches, I can't help but reflect on how central food and drink is to celebrations and family gatherings. Sometimes (not at this occasion, but at certain other, completely overdone Italian weddings), I can't help but groan at the lavish overabundance of food... but really, aren't we just carrying on the medieval tradition of feasts? Sure, we might not dine on whole roast animals so much anymore (though still popular, if the success of Danny's Whole Hog is any indication...), or take our used bread trenchers and toss them out back for the poor to scavenge, or binge and purge like the Romans... but the overall celebratory feeling is still there. Everyone, gather round, sit, eat, talk, drink, and revel in the pleasure of good food and good company.

Looking forward to the continuation of feasting as we get closer to Christmas,
-Honeybee

What do aunts and cows have in common?

2010-11-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Whatever terrible, offensive thing you're thinking, you've got it all wrong! In my experience, aunts and cows both have the makings for delicious chip dips. In the case of my relatives, though, it's more culinary knowledge than raw ingredients that they bring to the table... I feel as though I might be digging myself into a hole here. Maybe I should just get to the stories and recipes.

For Halloween a few weeks ago, I was asked to bring a suitably-themed appetizer to my coworker/friend's party. So, I whipped out my dear Aunt Lois' recipe for tortilla dip. It's a lovely orange colour, and I thought it would be appropriately festive with blue-black corn chips. Mmm.

I first tasted this over a decade ago. Aunt Lois would always have the most wonderful parties at her beachfront house, with some very tasty treats-- this was one of them. Being the ever-gracious hostess, she shared the recipe with me and my sisters, and I still have it to this day. It's a great one to throw together for a game night, potluck, etc. I love to put it in my fondue pot and keep it warm with the little candle flame... the temperature makes all the difference!

Didn't have time to present this nicely... just whipped it out of the microwave and snapped a few shots. Forgive me!

Aunt Lois' Tortilla Dip

No clue what her original source was... and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing!

Makes enough to accompany a large bag of tortilla chips

1/2 package cream cheese
1/2 regular-sized jar of Cheez Whiz
1/2 regular-sized jar of salsa (you can shake things up here and use spicy if you like; I kept it medium since I was making this for a large crowd)
1/2 regular-sized jar of queso cheese dip (for example, Tostitos brand)

Cut up cream cheese into cubes.
Combine all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl
Microwave on high for about ten minutes, stopping to stir every 2 1/2 minutes or so, until all the ingredients have melted together are smoothly and fully incorporated.
Serve with tortilla chips; keep warm in a fondue pot if you desire (it really is best warm!)

To give you an idea of scale... this is my second-largest mixing bowl. It barely fits in my microwave. I made a double-batch of this dip, not wanting its constituents (*coughcheezwhizcough*) to be lurking in my apartment, waiting for me to do all sorts of terrible fattening things with them (like pouring melted cheese-like edible oil product over cooked pasta... mmm...) Ahem. Sorry. As it turned out, much of the leftovers went to Sherri, who doled out containers to those who enjoyed it.

On to aunt #2, my fantastic Aunt Lisa. Being only about 15 years older than me, I've always thought of Lisa as more of a big sister than an aunt. She would do my nails, let me put on her lipstick, let me watch as she and my Uncle Peter played Nintendo games (now I'm really dating myself here...). She was (and continues to be) a fabulous baker, cook, and hostess. Even now, she still makes me a special birthday cake every year to help distinguish my special day from Christmas. It's so incredibly sweet of her.

Among her many amazing dinner party exploits, every year Lisa and her husband Dave host a Boxing Day feast at their home. It's characterized by great wine, family, good conversation, fabulous appetizers, tempting holiday pastries for dessert, and... wait for it... some of the best Windsor-style pizza for an entree. After all the work of the holidays, it's nice to kick back and not have to cook the main dish! I look forward to this day every year, for all the reasons above... and also for Lisa's dill and green onion chip dip. I could eat this, and only this, the entire day if I were allowed to (somehow I think my mother would frown upon this). I wanted to make some for a welcome party I hosted for Hubs when he came to visit in July, so I called up Lisa via Skype and she kindly gave me the recipe. Hubs absolutely loves it. I made it again recently for my American Sign Language 101 class this past weekend, since I was hosting a study group. It was (unsurprisingly) well received... Hubs even requested that I email some to him! If only technology had come so far...

Aunt Lisa's Chip Dip

Again, original source unknown

Makes enough for a jumbo bag of Ruffles plain ridged chips, which I recommend as a vehicle for this dairy-based deliciousness.

1 package cream cheese, at room temperature (I use light, it works just fine too)
1 small tub of sour cream (again, light is okay here)
About 1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill (don't ignore me and use dried, you'll regret it!)
Three green onions, chopped
About 1/2 tsp of salt, to taste

Using a mixer with beater attachments, blend together the salt, cream cheese, and sour cream until fully incorporated and smooth.
Stir in the dill and onion. Check for seasoning; add more salt/dill/onion, as you like.
For best flavour, chill and let the flavours meld for at least a couple of hours (I chilled mine overnight). Serve with plain ruffle chips.

Suggested serving!!

It's entries like this that make me miss my family. I know I'll be seeing Lisa at Christmas, but since moving to Ottawa, I haven't seen Aunt Lois in some time (except for when I Skyped into my family reunion!) I'm just looking forward to the impending nuptials (the planning for which has been keeping me quite busy) to bring everyone together.

Using my current illness as an excuse to eat chips and dip (it's comfort food!!),
-Honeybee

God Bless America!

2010-11-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ed. note: Alright, folks, I feel as though I've been failing you all here a bit. After the Weeks of Insanity died down at the end of October, I guess I never fully bounced back. As it is, it's the middle of the day, and I'm dozing at home due to some sort of stomach/flu/throat soreness bug that I can't seem to shake. I'm all "sleeped-out" for the moment, so why not regale you with tales of some of the delicious food I've been eating? Here goes...

As many of you know, I did my Masters degree training in Detroit, which isn't that uncommon for a lot of Canadian students. Crossing the border every day to get to school (and being subjected to the whims of the U.S, Border Patrol) was a bit of a drag, but it meant that I had daily access to things that Canada (as wonderful as it is) couldn't offer me. Things like Cherry Coke, Chipotle, Panera Bread, Target, and a "local" Ikea... fantastic.

I seriously pine for this stuff... particularly the "Zero" version.

Back in October, before the Weeks of Insanity, I took a trip down to Lincoln, Nebraska to visit one of my former classmates (who became a dear friend), Steph. She and I are very much in the same boat: we moved away from our friends and family to a city where we didn't know a soul, all for the sake of being a practicing clinical genetic counsellor. Hooray for work experience!

It should come as absolutely no surprise that food played a prominent part in our weekend. Let's start with IHOP, as we did for breakfast (brunch?) several hours after my 3 am arrival. I am a HUGE fan of the International House Of Pancakes (or potatoes, if you ask Kiks...), even if they fall a little bit short of good international representation. Given that it was Thanksgiving weekend, I opted to try their special pumpkin spice pancakes. These were fantastic... pretty much the best combination of pumpkin pie flavour and moist pancake texture that a girl could ask for. Top it with butter pecan syrup, and you've got yourself a meal!

And here they ar--uh, oops. Sorry. Must've devoured the pancakes before I could get a picture. The advert on the table will just have to do!

For dinner that evening, we went to a local brewpub chain called Lazlo's. It had a bit of a Chili's/TGIFriday's kind of feel to it... standard American food fare (not that I'm complaining... I mean, who DOESN'T need cornbread AND fries as side dishes?). I had a major red meat craving, so I went for a burger. I was NOT disappointed. It was juicy, well-cooked, and came with tons of deliciously drippy toppings. This suits me perfectly. And the crinkle-cut fries were perfection! It was a bit finer of a crinkle than I'm used to, which increased the critical surface-area-to-volume ratio (I can hear my old physics teacher cheering), coated in cracked black pepper and sea salt. Yummy!!

FANTASTIC. Definitely beat the cow craving right out of me.

Steph, enjoying some barbecue pork roast, fries, and cornbread. That counts as two vegetable sides, right?! Potatoes and corn? Ah well, when in Rome...

Your very own Honeybee, tucking in to the burger deliciousness.

After our filling dinner, we headed to downtown Lincoln to see the sights. There was a huge railway display, and some funky sculptures and so on. One thing in particular did stand out to me:

NEBRASKA wine sampling?! Nebraska makes wine...???!

I'm a firm believer in the saying: "You learn something new every day." Based on my drive into Lincoln, I was already overwhelmingly aware of how much Nebraskans love their corn (more to come on that below...), but wine grapes?! When I really stopped to think about it, though, Nebraska is approximately on the same latitude as northern California and southwestern Ontario... so it seems less ridiculous now that they could produce wine.

The little giftshop/wine store displaying this sign was staffed by a charming, witty guy. I have to admit, the wine we tasted was pretty delicious!! The whites tended towards the sweet end of the spectrum, which was great for me. I very nearly bought a bottle of white wine in a bright red glass bottle, for the sheer novelty of it... but I'd already used up my booze importing limit at Target. Seriously, though, when your favourite Barefoot Pinot Grigio is only $5.50 a bottle, how do you NOT buy one??

In addition to wine, this gift shop was practically blanketed in the red and white of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. It was EVERYWHERE we went. And, akin to the cheese hat worn by Green Bay Packers fans, the "Huskers" fans have been known to sport this extremely corny (heh, heh) headgear at games. It's mortifying, really, but I posed for this pic at my dad's request. Hope he's happy.


Steph and me, decked out in Husker gear. We couldn't help poking fun at the families we'd see walking around, all dressed in Huskers gear (and it wasn't even a game day!!) Sadly, this was not at the aforementioned gift shop... the local J.C. Penney actually had all of this gear in a special section. I bought a shirt for the sheer hilarity of having "Cornhuskers" written across my chest. And those N-bedecked women's jean capris? Designed by Alyssa Milano! Who knew...

Ahem. Sorry. I think I'm done insulting the locals for their obsession with football. Back to food!!

One of the things that Steph introduced me and my classmates to while in the U.S. was Chipotle Mexican Grill. I understand that there are a few of these fabulous burrito chains located in Toronto now, but they certainly haven't made their way to Winnipeg as yet. These things are, to put it simply, AMAZING. I fell in love with them in Chicago, and most definitely smuggled a few of them back to Windsor for quick dinners with Hubs. I shall let the pictures speak for me:

And so it begins, with a mystically foil-wrapped package of goodness. This weighs, no joke, probably around three pounds.

Cross-section. Allow me to orient you, from top to bottom: fluffy cilantro lime rice, vegetarian black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, mild tomato salsa, spicy chili salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and barely peeking in (though I assure you there was plenty of it), barbacoa beef filling. I made barbacoa once, to try to recreate this deliciousness... it's basically beef stewed in chipotle pepper adobo sauce. I cannot even accurately describe the flavour to you... it's just a huge party in your mouth, all surrounded by a warm flour tortilla.

As the wise and gastronomically inclined Professor Albus Dumbledore once said: "TUCK IN." Eating these are a challenge, though I pride myself in having successfully eaten these behemoth burritos while driving. TWICE.

Steph opted for the healthier and tidier option: you can have all your burrito fillings, minus the tortilla, as a salad instead.

I love that Chipotle is all about fresh, naturally raised ingredients. They're also pretty funky, for a fast-food chain. Check out the soliloquy on chips that one patron sent them... they put it on their cups! Cool! Added note: I love that Dr. Pepper is so easy to find in restaurant soda fountains in the States.

We left Chipotle, my inner burrito-craving beast sated (for now). After more sightseeing, shopping, and enjoying the University of Nebraska at Lincoln's dairy program's ice cream (yummy!), it was time for me to say goodbye and start my drive back to Winnipeg. I wasn't about to leave the States, though, without a couple more special treats...

Panera Bread, known to us GC students for its fantastic sandwiches, bagels, baked goods... and yes, breads. This is a pretty big chain of stores, too... and they make some top-notch nosh. We used to get their sandwiches as a free lunch once a month for cancer genetics educational presentations... mmm.

My sierra turkey sandwich, on asiago focaccia, with some sort of delicious aioli. It WAS Thanksgiving Monday in Canada, after all... I had to have SOME of the bird to celebrate.

In Grand Forks, North Dakota, I stopped for dinner... and enjoyed a U.S.-only sandwich from the golden arches: the Southern Fried Chicken sandwich. It's a different chicken patty than they use on their typical chicken sandwich... this one is thicker, juicier, and in my opinion, less processed. Topped with a few pickle slices on a slightly sweet steamed bun, this thing is delightful...

...especially when paired with McDonald's fresh-brewed Sweet Tea. This is NOT the same as the lame Nestea that Canadian McD's have. This is The Real Deal. It's things like this that make me wonder if I was a Southern Belle in a previous life...

So there you have it. A successful weekend in the U.S. of A, visiting a dear friend and pigging out on all the unique and delicious foods that I've missed. I have heard rumours that Winnipeg will be getting an Ikea and a Target in the relatively near future... is it too much to hope that some of these American gems will follow?

Unashamedly proclaiming her admiration for the red, white, and blue,
-Honeybee

You are what you eat!

2010-10-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

Alas, my time this weekend grows short, so I'll just finish up with a post I've been planning for awhile. While I did fit some fun food exploits into this weekend (namely, going for dim sum at Kum Koon Garden, getting bagels at Harvest Bakery, and scoring some free peanut butter ice cream with raspberry mixin at the Marble Slab), I did also keep busy with some wedding planning.

How does nuptial stuff relate to this post? Well, my dear sibs keep telling me that they plan to embarrass the pants off of me during the wedding reception with a puppet show (starring miniature versions of me and Hubs) in lieu of a more traditional speech. I'm about 99.9% sure that they're bluffing. Hopefully. Maybe. Anyway, I happen to have a few embarrassing food-related items for them. Call it a preemptive strike. These just make me hope that the titular idiom for this post is false.

Ahh, Sar. Why on earth are you holding tuna and dog food? Oh, that's right, you thought the dog food was chili, which might be nice to take to school to heat up for lunch. Please, put the Ol' Roy down. That's for our subservient quadruped, Cindy.

Moving on to the next sibling: I'm pleased to announce, for the first time on "A Weekend, in Food", a video!

Yes, that's Al, the chef-in-training, chugging a container of McDonald's pancake syrup. Hmm. A total class act, that one.

Don't even get me STARTED on what Ni has eaten, particularly if there's a monetary wager involved. The tamest of these has been about a teaspoon of freshly crushed garlic, straight up... I won't get into the most disturbing. Let's just say, my bearded dragon Max would've shared in the meal with her, given the chance... *shudders*

Hoping my sibs, as wonderful as they are, choose not to retaliate on The Big Day,
-Honeybee

Belly Up to the Bar

2010-10-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've had a few occasions over the past weeks to make various types of bars. We're not talking the tiki variety with mai tais (though this makes me miss my dear friend Jer), but more the baked-goods variety. I love bars; they're so versatile, easy to prepare, and are great for making large quantities of treats in one go. They also give you the option of portion control- just cut them into smaller squares, and you instantly have less fat and sugar per serving! *wink*

At any rate, first I wanted to revisit a childhood classic with my cousin** Sally's butterscotch brownies. These would make their way to big family campground picnics, and I liked them so much that I requested the recipe when I was probably 14-15 years old. These are so easy to throw together, and give you a bit of a different take on the usual brownie fare. They sort of remind me of a mash-up of chocolate chip cookie flavour with traditional chewy brownie texture... definitely delicious.

**Being a genetic counsellor, my "party trick" is to teach people how they're actually related to their "cousins". To be absolutely precise, Sally is my first-cousin-once-removed-in-law (that is, the wife of my father's first cousin). Most people don't understand how the once-removed thing works, and would incorrectly label Sally as my second cousin. This is not the case. I shall refer you to Robin L. Bennett's book, "The Practical Guide to the Genetic Family History". Hubs and I have debated this one to death, and this book was sort of a tie-breaker.

Butterscotch Brownies

From Cousin Sally

Makes 24 brownies (or more, depending on how you slice 'em)

1 1/2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Cream brown sugar and butter together thoroughly; beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Add flour and salt, folding just to combine; stir in chocolate chips.
Spread into an 8-inch square greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cool in pan and cut into squares... resist as long as you can before devouring (they continue to cook as they cool).

Look good, don't they? I'll confess... these didn't make it to the office. I enjoyed them over the course of a long work-week, with milk and/or coffee and/or tea. Mmmm.

Next up, also from the family archives: zucchini fruit bars. If you've ever lived in Southwestern Ontario, you probably know someone who grows zucchini. Perhaps multiple people, as in my case (both Nonna and my future mom-in-law have quite the green thumb). At any rate, it seems like everyone is always looking for ways to use up this summer squash before it goes bad. As a result, my intelligent future M-I-L, Carla, has quite the repository of zucchini recipes. This is one of them.

Zucchini Fruit Bars

From Hubs' mom Carla (who doesn't remember where she got it. I asked.)

Makes about 24 squares, again, depending on how you slice them

3/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups shredded zucchini (sometimes mom pre-shreds hers, freezes it, and then thaws it out)

Preheat the oven to 375ºF
Cream margarine with the white and brown sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Stir in the coconut, dates, raisins, and zucchini.
Spread into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Carla's recipe also includes a glaze that can be poured over the baked bars, but I think they're just fine without it. If you want to go ahead and add it, mix 1 tbsp margarine, 1 1/2 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 cup icing sugar until smooth and pour over the partially cooled bars while still in the pan. You can also sprinkle on chopped nuts if you want.

I brought a batch of these moist, "naked" (i.e. no glaze or nuts) bars to work, and they seemed to be an instant hit. I think I got more compliments on them than any of my other baking endeavors so far! Could it be because they had some semblance of healthy ingredients? Who knows! At any rate, thanks again to Hubs' mom for sharing the recipe with me!

Last up: the classic favourite, chocolate brownies. I was asked, as a "voluntold" member of the social committee at work, to bring something "small and sweet" to celebrate a coworker's impending nuptials. This request came the day before the congratulatory event, on a night when I had American Sign Language class to attend. Hrm. A quick mental inventory run-down told me that I had everything needed for these suckers, so I quickly tossed them together, threw them in the oven, and whipped them out in just enough time to get down to the Deaf Centre Manitoba. Whew!

This is apparently Anna Olson's go-to brownie recipe... though I found them to be just a tiny bit too cake-y for my liking. Two things that could remedy that: a larger pan (for thinner brownies) and less cooking time. I did approve of my swapping of toasted walnuts (in the original recipe) for chocolate chips... I suppose that makes the double chocolate brownies, no?

Whatever you call them, they were pretty good. One of the geneticists I work with kept going back for more... I think his total count was five or six. AND he's thin as a rail. Jealousy, thy name is Honeybee.

All of these were relatively simple and worked well... but I've been feeling like I need to up my game in the bar department. For example, I LOVE Nanaimo bars and date squares, but have never had the guts to take a DIY approach to them... I'm thinking that's got to change.

Looking forward to more rectangular treats in the future,
-Honeybee