Alive and Well...

I can't believe how quickly September is flying by. Anyhoo, enough with my life on fast forward. I do plan on being more diligent in my postings in the future. I had thought about again participating in NaBloPoMo, but I was really keen on the theme for October. Although I really do like October in general. The trees get all gussied up in their fall colours, there is Thanksgiving for us Canadians, and of course, there is Hallowe'en my favourite of holidays. I will admit though, it doesn't seem to be quite as much fun now that the kidlets are getting older.

On to what is new and exciting. I have joined an online Supper Club, and if all of the recipes turn out as fab as the first, this is a club that is going to a joy to participate in. The particular Supper Club is the brain child of Molly over at Batter Splattered. How it works, someone chooses a recipe and we all, within the same week, make up the recipe. Adaptations are allowed and then by Monday(at least I think that's it) we post with our results, thoughts and hopefully yummy looking pics to drool over. Considering that I am still pretty new to the whole food photography thing, my may not always be drool-worthy, but practice and all that.

This week's recipe was Cheese and Potato Soup, from Epicurious. I made mine up Thursday, but am just posting now as I spent most of the weekend helping a friend prepare to move. Back to the soup. It was delicious with a capital 'D'. Everyone absolutely loved it.

As usual, I did make a couple several of changes. I nixed the celery, as I am not a fan of celery strings, and instead added about a half a teaspoon of celery seed with the other seasonings. I used a bouillon cube, I know, I know, but I didn't have any chicken broth kicking around. I bumped up the cheese factor by using a combination old cheddar, mozzarella and smoked cheddar. I also added more ham, about a half a cup of niblet corn, a few dashes of Cayenne instead of the Tabasco and a sprig of fresh Rosemary for luck. The corn was a last minute thing that I decided on to replace the celery. Oh, I almost forgot, I sautèd the ham with the onions, carrots, garlic(2 cloves, diced,which I apparently also forgot to mention) and seasonings. I wanted to give the ham a little additional flavour.




Overall thoughts, the soup was amazing, and I would even like to try it with more broth and no dairy. For those wondering why, here's a shot of the soup pre-dairy. It even tasted great at this stage.



If you're interested in a few more takes on the soup, have a peek at the other Supper Club member's blogs. Siri, Ingrid, Kirstin, Nicole, Amanda and of course, Molly.

Delicious Thievery

Ever since Foodie Girl posted her stuffed mushroom recipe I have been dying to try them. Bought the mushrooms and the cream cheese, since I already had the other ingredients I figured it was a go. Not so, I am such a procrastinator I hadn't gotten around to them yet and was afraid that they would soon fall the way of the Monkey Bread that never seems to get made.

Tonight, I decided to steal her recipe and as I always do, I doctored those babies up a little. Being that I am not one of those people with super-human self control, who choose not to eat bacon, I added some crisp, crumbled, food of the gods bacon to the stuffing mixture. Then, since there was already a part of one in the fridge, I added some finely chopped, red pepper. Since I had no onion powder, I switched in some finely chopped, green onions. Finally, because I had a recently discovered recipe contest on my mind I topped the little, filled mushroom caps with some grated, double smoked, cheddar. They were incredible, they taste even better than they look.



Kelly's Magical Stuffed Mushrooms, the Moonlit Knit Way

20 whole fresh button mushrooms(I bought 24, but 4 vanished)
1-2 tablespoons finely diced sweet red pepper
3 slices bacon, fried, cooled & crumbled
1 teaspoon bacon drippings
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
6 oz cream cheese, softened(I could have probably gotten away with 4)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese(I used 1/2 Parmesan, 1/2 Romano)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated smoked cheddar

Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil & bacon drippings in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, chopped mushroom stems and sweet red pepper to the skillet and fry until moisture has disappeared. Set aside to cool.

Stir in cream cheese, Parmesan(and Romano) cheese, green onions and spices with fried mushroom, pepper and bacon mixture. Combine well. Fill mushroom caps generously, using small spoon or butter knife. Arrange the mushroom caps on cookie sheet and top with grated cheddar.

Bake for 12-18 minutes or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

If you're like me and forget to add the cayenne, you can sprinkle it on the mushrooms just before slipping them into the oven, or while they're in the oven, if you're a lot like me.

Growing Up is Hard...

On a parent. Tall Child turned the big One-Six today. I can say, it certainly doesn't seem like it's been sixteen years. Happy Birthday honey! I'm so proud of the woman you are growing up to be.

She had a B-day bash with her friends on the weekend, so this evening was just a quiet dinner for her, Megz and myself. T.C chose the menu, it consisted of lemon oregano chicken breasts, steamed baby carrots and rice.

T.C's B-Day Dinner

For dessert, there were peanut butter swirl brownies. As we didn't have enough baker's chocolate squares, I used the Fry's cocoa recipe and topped them with the p.b. & chocolate mixture. I did cheat and melt the butter in the microwave as opposed to on the stove top.

Brownie Batter

Sorta True... I Guess

You Are Mayonnaise

You tend to be a very quiet, introverted person. You're happy to sit back and let stronger personalities shine. You value loyalty and harmony. You try to bring people together. Your taste in food leans toward simple comfort foods. You love holiday meals as well as old school favorites like mac and cheese. You get along with mustard and ketchup personalities. You have an unlikely alliance with hot sauce personalities.

What Condiment Are You?

Delicious Cinnamony Goodness

Today's project was going to be Monkey Bread, but as I couldn't really find a recipe that suited me, I instead made Cinnamon Rolls.

In the past, I have tried two different cinnamon roll recipes. Both were good but neither was fabulous, so I decided to try another and see if it was more of what I was looking for. I Think I may have found the one. As usual, I did tweak the recipe just a little. They were oh so soft and yummy. I will be using this recipe more often and I look forward to playing around with different fillings. The tweaks I made are in green.

Dough

4-1/4 cups all-purpose flour(I only used 3 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
1 envelope FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 TBSP cream
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Cinnamon Filling (recipe follows)

Directions
In a large bowl, combine 1-1/3 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, cream and butter until very warm (120o to 130oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in remaining flour to make a stiff batter. Cover tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 to 24 hours. I didn't refrigerate, I just let the dough rise in a warm spot til doubled then rolled it out.

Remove dough from refrigerator; roll to 20 x 10-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with Cinnamon Filling. Beginning from long side, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seam and ends to seal; cut into 18 pieces. Arrange rolls, cut sides up, on greased large baking sheet to form a heart.* Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake at 375o F for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from sheet; cool on wire rack.

Cinnamon Filling: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar(1/3 cup white sugar, 2 TBSP brown sugar) and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Stir to blend.

The recipe also calls for an icing sugar glaze, I instead made a cream cheese frosting.

Adapted from www.breadworld.com



This photo was taken before the second rising and subsequent baking. By the time they were baked all the good light was pretty much gone. Even unbaked, you can see all the sugary, cinnamon, buttery yumminess.

Pseudo Elegante Gourmet

Can Pillsbury Crescents ever be elegant, or gourmet? Probably not, but for me most of elegant is in the presentation, and I'm not really a gourmet kinda girl anyway.

These babies were quick, easy and very tasty. I whipped them up this morning as a gift for Patrick, one of my fave supervisors at work who has decided that it is time for him to move on. I will miss him and decided that even though my shift for today had been cancelled, I would take these in when I said my goodbyes. Patrick always appreciated the goodies I brought to work.


I did change up the recipe a little, since I didn't have the exact combo of ingredients. I swapped the pepperoni for salami, and switched up sharp cheddar for the mozzarella. I also omitted both the egg yolk in the cheese mixture and the egg white brush on top. I did sprinkle them with grated Parmesan before popping them into then oven. I'm sure these would work with endless combinations of ingredients.

Sweet Deviation

Today my allergies are still messing me up so there was frozen sausage & cheese pizza and Rice Krispie Square experimentation.

We added cinnamon to the melted butter before adding in the marshmallows, and switched up maple extract for the vanilla. They were quite tasty, though I think I would add more maple next time. Of course there will be a next time.

So Simple, So Cheesy

I was feeling just little lazy this evening, and since the kiddles are with Grandma for the week I can pretty much eat what I want. Before you go there, no I did not have a bag of Doritos for dinner. I had this...


Yes, that is a hot dog (Kelly, just pretend it's a veggie dog), and along side are potatoes, zucchini and red peppers fried to a golden crisp and topped with grated cheddar.

Mmmmmmm...

Lovely, Luscious &

Oh so juicy! Nothing quite says summer like a fresh, sweet slice of delicious watermelon.

Protege at Work

This evening, Tall Child made us a wonderfully tasty dinner. Chicken wings with rice and steamed broccoli. I oversaw and gave a couple of bits of advice, but otherwise she was at the helm. Okay, so rice and broccoli are no biggie, after all we do have a rice cooker. The wings however were downright dee-lish. Maybe she will be cooking the meals more often. Here are photographic evidence of the delectableness of the wings and her recipe.

Tall Child's Saucy Wings

2 lb Chicken wings (we cooked 26)
2/3 cup Tomato Ketchup
juice of 2 limes
4 tbsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Ground allspice
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
2- 3 tsp molasses
splash of soy sauce
2 dashes of Worcestershire
pinch celery salt
smoked paprika

Bake naked wings on cookie sheet @ 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
Baste with sauce, bake five minutes. Turn wings and baste again, bake five more minutes. Baste again.

Broil 2-4 minutes, turn, baste, broil 2-4 more minutes.

Enjoy

Appetizer & Dessert

Last evening, Tall Child and I tried out a recipe new to us, and a slight variation of one that I have tried in the past.

The new recipe was Pioneer Woman's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. They were awesome, and really, really easy. We will definitely be making them again. We added a little grated cheddar before wrapping them up in the bacon. Next time I think we might try adding some herbs to the cream cheese. Or topping them with various grated cheeses.

The recipe variation was of Berry Bundt Cake. I made it a while back and have been dying to try it again with different berries. This time we used blueberries, and instead of making in it a bundt pan, we used the mini muffin pan. They were incredible. Tasty, sweet, little morsels of cake, stuffed with yummy blueberries. I know this recipe will be getting a lot of use in the future and will be the subject of experimentation and of course, taste testing.

No photos this time, everything went way to fast, and I missed the opportunity.

Sweet & Easy

Today was a major league, lazy day, Sunday. It was also a low maintenance food day consisting of a grilled cheese, and Rice Krispie Squares.

Sunny Food Adventure

Today we made our yearly trip to Sunfest. We look forward to it every year, it is probably our favourite of the downtown summer festivals. The music is irresistible and there are always interesting and incredible vendors, as well as some really fabulous food. There are foods that we literally wait all year to have, and Sunfest is that time.

Upon arriving we usually hear the chatter of the crowds, and splashes of music from the various booths. Depending on our time constraints we will usually meander through the vendors looking at all the wonderful clothing, jewelry and trinkets. However soon after arriving, the scents of the exotic foods will beckon us to the food row. There is of course your usual festival food of fries, burgers, funnel cakes and such. But then there is the food we have come for, the spicy, the unusual, the "my taste buds are in heaven" kind of stuff we can never seem to find anywhere but Sunfest.

This year the food experience began with something I happened upon last year. Bulani, an Afghan thin sort of turnover, filled with potatoes, onions and served with the most incredible coriander sauce, that is truly a combination of spicy herby goodness. The sauce is my favourite part. We moved on in search of our favourites and new tastes to add to our list of loves.

Next was a stop at the Persian Chicken booth. It was recommended a few years back by a friend of Tall Child's and is it ever good. Chunks of chicken cooked on kabobs over an open grill till toasty, tasty and juicy. It's served in a wrap, and in case anyone doubts how good this chicken really is ... Sunfest runs from Thursday to Sunday, and every year, the Persian chicken booth is sold out before Sunday afternoon.

Third on our quest for food adventure. The Latin Delights booth. We make at least two stops at this booth every year. Our first bit if Latin deliciousness, Pupusas. They are awesome, tasty, pancakesque treats filled with cheese and pork, fried and served with a great coleslaw like side. We move along, knowing that we will be back. The Latin Delights booth is always our last stop of the day when eating at Sunfest.

Something new next, Popsicles. Not your ordinary Popsicles though. Tall Child had a Lulo Popsicle, Megz had a Guava one and I had a Dulce de Leche one. We each tried them all, and I can't speak for the girls, they were all very tasty and refreshing. I liked the Dulce de Leche the best. It was a combination of sweet, smooth, cool, milky yumminess that sort of reminded me of maple fudge.

Barely finished our Popsicles, we stopped for chicken samosas. We made a quick double back for one last Bulani and a slice of Baklava to share and then began our return to Latin Delights for our end of the day treat.

Deep fried ice cream. This has been our regular "leaving Sunfest" food for the past several years. The girls and I literally look forward to it all year. A scoop of cold ice cream surrounded in a protective and yummy coating of corn flake crumbs. Deep fried till just crunchy, and served in a bowl made of a fried tortilla. They then drizzle the whole thing with chocolate sauce and honey, topping it off with a huge slice of succulent strawberry.

This year was actually just a quick visit. We usually make a day of it, however we were there less than 3 hrs.

101

Being preoccupied with a sick kitty and painting the girls' room yesterday I totally didn't notice that it was my hundredth post. I had planned on writing something hundredy and stuff, then completely missed it.

So here I am, my hundredth and one post. The girls' room is pretty much painted, maybe a few touch ups, and is on it's way to being re-assembled with the new loft beds. It's mauve by the way. The cat is still sick, but at least he is eating some ... when he's not sleeping in my closet that is.

My food relatedness ... five things I plan on making this month. This time of year, I always seem to want to make jams, jellies and such. I quite like making jams, jellies, and salsas, and one day hope to try my hand at sweet pickles.

1. Strawberry Jam I use the same Certo recipe that my Grandmother used when I was a little girl.
2. Red Pepper Jelly
3. Chamomile Pear Jelly. I made some of this a couple of years ago and it was wonderful, and so easy.
4. Sangria Wine Jelly
5. Roasted Garlic & White Wine Jelly

And We're Off ... Again

July NaBloPoMo has begun, let's see if I can pull this one off. With the theme for July being food, I should certainly have a lot of inspiration.

When I'm not working, knitting, cooking or online browsing blogs I am often to be found watching the Food Network. My faves, Barefoot Contessa (I wanna be her when I grow up), Paula Deen, Tyler's Ultimate, and all things Nigella. I also really wanna catch the new show, Sweet Baby James, though I keep managing to miss it. I also really like Jamie Oliver, but I often find his stuff just isn't me.

My point ...I had a point. Oh yeah, here it is.

A few recipes from Food Network that I really, really wanna try.

1. Barefoot Contessa's Parmesan Chicken
2. Nigella's Chicken Mushroom & Bacon Pie
3. Paula Deen's Mystery Pecan Pie
4. Bobby Flay's Grilled Chicken Wings
5. Giada's Hazelnut and Chocolate Pie
6. Paula Deen's Lady and Sons Chicken Pot Pie

Rest, Relaxation & Rolls

Today being my day off, I took advantage of what will probably be the last Monday I will have to myself until the next school year begins. I lounged in my comfy clothes, planted a couple of plants I had picked up on Saturday, tried out a recipe for Dinner Rolls that I found through Food Gawker, and baked and iced a batch of Pink Lemonade Minis for an event at Megz school.

All in all, today was quiet and relaxing. The cupcakes turned out adorable. The dinner rolls were tasty, but I am still on the look out for a recipe more to my liking. No photos, I forgot to take them earlier, and now the light just won't very flattering ... nothing like orange tinted dinner rolls. I did take a few photos of a few plants, but they have yet to be uploaded. My time online this evening has been limited by the fact that I share it with two teen girls, one of them who happens to be an Anime loving Tall Child.

With Musical Accompaniment by...

Swiped from my Foodie Girl.

1. How do you like your eggs? Baked in cupcakes, or chocolate and covered in foil. I don't eat eggs as eggs.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea? I drink coffee maybe twice a year, and then it is light, sweet and preferably iced. Tea, I like herbal. Or iced, or regular tea, hot with milk and honey.

3. Favourite breakfast food: Don't usually eat breakfast, but it would probably be pancakes, with maple syrup and bacon on the side.

4. Peanut butter: Smooth or crunchy? I enjoy both, especially in cookies.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad? Raspberry vinaigrette, or Italian.

6. Coke or Pepsi? Neither, ginger-ale with lots of ice.

7. You’re feeling lazy, what do you make? I make Tall Child make dinner.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? Pepperoni, mushroom and bacon.

9. You feel like cooking. Cupcakes, bread, mac & cheese, cookies or soup.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories? Homemade eggnog, strawberry ice cream, corn on the cob.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories? None

12. Do any foods remind you of someone? Rice pudding reminds me of my Grandma. So do peas because she taught me to eat them with butter and vinegar. Also fried smelts, she introduced me to them and it is one of the first things I remember her teaching me to cook.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat? Liver, head cheese, blood pudding and kidneys.

14. What was your favourite food as a child? Fried smelts and corn on the cob... not together though.

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like? Nope.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate? Nope.

17. Favourite fruit and vegetable: Fruit - black cherries. Vegetable - broccoli.

18. Favourite junk food: Smart Food popcorn

19. Favorite between meal snack: Leftovers.

20. Do you have any weird food habits? None I'm aware of.

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? Yogurt, popcorn, watermelon and cantaloupe.

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like? Potato chips.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai? Not too spicy.

24. Can I get you a drink? Black Sambuca.

25. Red or White Wine? Red.

26. Favourite dessert? Cheesecake, and coconut cream pie.

27. The perfect nightcap? Sex.

This post was typed in it's entirety while Tall Child practiced for her flute test. It's titled "The Spinning Wheel".

Here We Go Again

Once again my Foodie Girl has talked me into participating in NaBloPoMo. The theme for June is Home. I'm sure I can find lots to ramble about.

Speaking of home, yesterday my friend Kim hosted an Epicure tasting party at hers. My contribution was sixty deviled eggs. There were lots of tasty tidbits to sample, and some really cool products to have a peek at. I wound up choosing a set of spoons, a couple of fruit dip mixes and two or three seasoning mixes. Kim surprised me by paying for my order as my b-day gift. See why I love her to death, she buys me stuff to cook with, for my home, which I will have to invite her to dinner at, to remind her how much I value her as a friend.

On the knitting front, I have finished the right front on the wee baby hoodie and am about to move on to the back. I love the way it's knitting up and am hoping to have it finished soon.

M is for Monday,

Mac & cheese and more progress. I am almost to the divide for the sleeves on the wee little baby hoodie. Dinner tonight was homemade Mac & Cheese with ham, green onions and a dash of Cayenne.

P is for Progress

and for Purl, Pattern, Panification, and Pirates. All of which were involved in my nice, but sadly nap deficient, Saturday.

Progress was made on the baby hoodie, which did involve purling and a pattern, which I am, of course, modifying a teensy bit.


Panification produced some very tasty buns, from a variation of an Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe. I will definitely be using the buttermilk dough again.


Pirates of the Caribbean III was the movie I watched while I waited for the Marble Bundt cake to come out of the oven. It doesn't begin with 'P', but it does have rum in it, and rum goes with Pirates so I am including it in my list of progresses. The recipe turned out okay, not great, so I will continue to be on the look-out a recipe, more to my liking, to add to my collection.