Visitor

Dave discovered, quite ironically, a little visitor this morning:


He and Mom had just been discussing how the deer snuggle up against the house in the heavy snow, and why don't they take rest in the barn or tool shed? Well, one must have been listening, for in the tool shed it was!


It finally stopped snowing, but only yesterday afternoon. Today the melt has begun. Apparently, it's a disaster in the Lower Mainland, with roads flooding everywhere. We're hoping that the snow drops off our roof (here and in the Lower Mainland) before the weight from the melting snow and rain gets too heavy.

Last night, I put together a very tasty meatloaf for dinner. In addition to these ingredients, I also had about 1/2 cup of lentil sprouts that were almost past their prime, so I stirred them in too. It was a very nice addition, although not necessary. And the sweet potato topping, while not necessary either, was delicious.

Meatloaf

1 lb ground meat (I used a mix of pork & beef this time)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp ground peppercorn (I used green, but black is just fine)
1 tsp ground sea salt
2 tsp crumbled dry oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tbsp molasses or maple syrup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
dash (or more) of Louisiana hot sauce (to taste)
1 tbsp Dijon or regular mustard
1/3 cup cornmeal

Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add all the sauces, spices and flavourings, and stir until well mixed. Blend in cornmeal. Add ground meat and combine until well incorporated. Spoon into a greased quickbread baking tin or Pyrex casserole (I also lined with parchment, with enough sticking out as wings to lift the meatloaf out after cooked), and cook at 375F until reaches appropriate inner temperature for the meat you've used.

Optional Topping: Cook and mash one sweet potato (orange-fleshed root vegetable). Mix a little butter & milk into the mash until it's creamy. Add a dash of cloves, if you wish. (We have since discovered that cooked squash is also lovely as a topping; treat the same as the sweet potato)

After the meatloaf has cooked for about half an hour, spoon the mashed sweet potato on top, and cook for remaining time.

Enough, already!

OK, the snow is pretty, but really, we've got almost 2 feet on the ground now. I think it can stop, thank you very much.

For those of you who still have power (obviously, otherwise you'd not be reading this!), grab the slow cooker, and get some good food in ya!


These recipes are all originally from Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes by Andrew Schloss. Naturally, I can't let something just be, I have to make my own addition/alteration. I'll put the modified ingredients in italics so you can decide what to do for yourself. These are all for a 5-6 quart slow cooker.

Chicken Cacciatore

1/3 cup flour - as Mom can't eat wheat flour, corn flour or rice flour work, too
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp poultry seasoning - alternatively, toast some whole corriander and cumin then grind coarsely, together with dried sage and thyme
4 lb skinless chicken thighs (about 8) bone in - I have successfully used rabbit, venison, and lamb
2 to 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 lb mushrooms, cut into thick slices
2 cloves garlic, minced - I have not yet put in garlic, and it's just fine
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary, or dried rosemary, crushed
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained - I have yet to use this; I've been using all of my salsas in this recipe to wonderful end results

• Mix the flour, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning into a bowl, and dredge the pieces of meat, shaking off excess. Reserve extra seasoned flour.
• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in batches, do not crowd the pan. Add oil as pan becomes dry. Transfer browned meat to slow cooker.
• Add more oil to pan and saute onion & mushrooms until tender, stirring often. Add garlic, oregano, rosemary and saute another minute.
• Add reserved seasoned flour and coat vegetables by stirring. Add broth & tomatoes, and cook until thickened, stirring and scraping cooked bits up off bottom of pan into the juices.
• Transfer to slow cooker, and cook 3 to 4 hours on high or 5 to 8 hours on low, until meat is tender.

Mushroom Barley Risotto

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
8 medium white mushrooms, trimmed and cut into slices - I use crimini (brown) mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced - I omit the garlic
2 cups pearl barley - I actually have yet to try this with barley; we us oat groats
1 cup dry white wine - we've been using our rhubarb wine, which is very dry
4 cups chicken or mushroom broth
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 oz (about 1/4 cup) dried porcini mushrooms - I have been using a woodland mix that I bought, although Schloss really recommends the porcini, specifically
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cream or half and half

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and add the onion and mushrooms, saute until tender. Add garlic and barley, and saute, stirring continuously, for about a minute.
• Add wine and stir until almost absorbed. Transfer to slow cooker.
• Add broth, seasonings and dried mushrooms, and stir to moisten the barley. Cover the crock with a folded tea-towel and place lid on top. Cook 3-4 hours on high until barley is tender.
• Stir in Parmesan and cream and fluff until cheese melts and barley is moistened.

* Today I was making a squash soup with the remaining stock, and had plenty. I stirred in about 1/2 cup of the soup once the risotto had finished cooking, and it added enough moisture, body and flavour to the dish that you could get away without adding the cream.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

You will need a casserole/souffle dish that will fit within the slow cooker for this dish.

nonstick oil spray
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup boiling water or coffee

• Spray 1 1/2 quart souffle dish with oil.
• Combine flour, baking powder, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder in a bowl. Add milk, vanilla and oil and mix into batter. Scrape into prepared souffle dish.
• Mix brown sugar, remaining granulated sugar and remaining cocoa in a separate bowl and sprinkle over the batter in the souffle dish.
• Pour boiling water over all, and place into slow cooker. Fold a tea towel and cover the slow cooker, place lid over top, and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours, or until cake is set but bottom is still saucey.

* We have successfully reduced the sugar in this recipe.

Tomatillo Marmalade

As mentioned earlier, we had so many tomatillos this year, I had to come up with some way to use them (although, it turns out that I could probably have made twice as much tomatillo salsa verde and not had too much for the year). We are not huge fans of preserves generally, but we do love marmalade. This is one recipe with a couple of variations:

Tomatillo Marmalade (kind of similar to Tomato Marmalade, at least for processing!)

10 cups tomatillos, outer husks removed, washed and chopped
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
3 cups mild-flavoured honey (e.g. wild flower or fireweed)

either:

1 orange, seeded and finely chopped (I used sweet honey tangerines)
1/2 lemon, seeded and finely chopped

or:

2 limes, mostly peeled (but leave a little peel for flavour), seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 lemons, seeded and finely chopped

optional:

1/3 cup finely chopped (peeled) fresh ginger)

Bring ingredients to a boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan (Lee Valley's maslin pan is perfect for making preserves). Reduce heat and simmer briskly, stirring often, until thickened sufficiently (about three hours). Ladle hot into clean, sterile hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations below.

Recommended process time for Tomatillo Marmalade in a boiling water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Half-pints or Pints	5 min	10	15

Candy, candy, candy!

This is tasty stuff, just in time for Christmas!

Chocolate Candy

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1 cup raisins/currants/dried cranberries

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, boil sugar, milk, butter and cocoa until forms soft ball in cold water. Add flour and raisins, and mix well. Pour into greased 9"x13" pan and let cool (put in fridge).

Make them Melt Truffles

> 1 lb white chocolate
< 1 lb dark chocolate
1 300 mL can Eagle Brand condensed milk
3/4 tsp each vanilla, Drambuie, Kahlua, Bailey's (or whatever flavouring you'd like to use)

Partially melt white chocolate in microwave (half power in two minute intervals; probably two intervals sufficient), then remove & stir until completely melted. Add condensed milk and stir completely. Divide into four parts, and mix in separate flavourings into each separate part. Let set in fridge for about three hours.

Roll into 1" balls and place on parchment/wax paper lined baking sheets. Let set in fridge again for another three hours.

Melt dark chocolate in same manner in the microwave. Dip truffles to coat. Place on lined trays again in fridge to set.

Chocolate Bark

6 squares white chocolate
1/2 cup crushed candy cane

OR

2 squares bittersweet chocolate
4 squares semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Melt the chocolate (in microwave as described above). Mix the candy cane (if using white chocolate) or cranberries (if using dark chocolate), then pour onto parchment/wax paper lined trays and let set in fridge. Once set, break into pieces and serve.

Harvest Time Blues

I know this is not quite topical any longer, but I was listening to Folk Alley this morning and heard Stephanie Davis' "Talkin' Harvest Time Blues" and just had to smile. Pretty much sums it all up!
I've started playing the mandolin this year; I used to play violin as a kid (not brilliantly, nor diligently), and Dad gave me his mandolin a few years back. They're strung the same as the violin, but a mandolin has double strings for each one on a violin, there's a visible fret board, like a guitar, and you use a pick rather than a bow. There's quite a lot to learn, but the fingering is at least the same. I never had to do chords with the violin, nor particularly thought about note relationships. I've started taking some lessons with Mark Vaughan, in order to learn a bit of bluegrass feel, chords & improvisation. I've got a loooong way to go.

Anyway, as a result, I've been trying to listen to more music, and different music. Hence the discovery of Folk Alley, which I've really been enjoying. We also went to a great concert a couple of weekends ago with Pe de Cana, a local group that plays Brazilian choro music. It was all acoustic instruments with percussion, and it was a solid two hours of fabulous music. The rhythms & sounds were fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable. One of the instruments was a cavaquinho, which was lovely to listen to and very bright sounding. It's "not a ukelele" but it is a small instrument that looks like a miniature guitar, but with only four strings. Might have to learn another instrument!

Pie in a Jar

Thanks to our friend Jacqueline, I get beautiful, home-made pie pastry shells all nicely rolled out & cut to pie-plate shape, frozen and ready to use. It's much tastier than the store-bought variety, and as I hate rolling out pastry, it is particularly nice. So to our delight, we discovered recipes for preserved pie filling, now forever forward known as pie in a jar, or more colloquially, "Jar Pie", after Homer Simpson ("mmmm...floor pie"). We used two fruits that we had lots of: apples and blue evergreen huckleberries (not the same as blueberries, but very similar, just a bit more tart). Both taste fabulous, and work just great in between pie shells, on ice cream or yoghurt, or just with a spoon out of the jar!

If you are going to use the filling in a pie, a quart jar is good enough for 8", but 9" needs about a quart & a pint. Lay the bottom layer of pastry in your pie plate, open the jar & empty contents onto the pastry, then lay the top layer. Seal with a little lemon juice along the edges of the two shells & press edges together, fluting the edges as you go around. Baste the top with lemon juice & dust top with sugar. Poke holes in the top shell to vent steam, and bake at 400F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 325F and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

The original recipes call for ClearJel, but I couldn't find that here in my local dry goods store. Ask for cerioca or carioca corn starch - I assume that ClearGel is the brand name. You can't use regular corn starch, apparently other corn starch breaks down during the processing of the pie filling, resulting in a runny sauce. The cerioca corn starch that we bought worked like a charm, and the gelling was perfect in the jar even after processing.

These recipes are taken directly from the National Center for Food Preservation's website. You can reduce the amount of sugar in the recipes if they are too much. They recommend that you make a quart, test it in a pie, and adjust the sugar content to suit your taste.

Apple Pie Filling

Quality: Use firm, crisp apples. Stayman, Golden Delicious, Rome, and other varieties of similar quality are suitable. If apples lack tartness, use an additional 1/4 cup of lemon juice for each 6 quarts of slices.

Yield: 1 quart or 7 quarts

Procedure: See Table 1 for suggested quantities. Wash, peel, and core apples. Prepare slices 1/2-inch wide and place in water containing ascorbic acid to prevent browning.

For fresh fruit, place 6 cups at a time in 1 gallon of boiling water. Boil each batch 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Drain, but keep heated fruit in a covered bowl or pot. Combine sugar, Clear Jel®, and cinnamon in a large kettle with water and apple juice. If desired, food coloring and nutmeg may be added. Stir and cook on medium high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained apple slices immediately and fill jars with mixture without delay, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process immediately according to the recommendations in Table 2.

Table 1. Apple Pie Filling.
	Quantities of Ingredients Needed For
	1 Quart	7 Quarts
Blanched, sliced fresh apples	3-1/2 cups	6 quarts
Granulated sugar	3/4 cup + 2 tbsp	5-1/2 cups
Clear Jel®	1/4 cup	1-1/2 cup
Cinnamon	1/2 tsp	1 tbsp
Apple juice	1 1/4 cup	7 1/2 cups
Bottled lemon juice	2 tbsp	3/4 cup
Nutmeg (optional)	1/8 tsp	1 tsp

Table 2. Recommended process time for Apple Pie Filling in a boiling-water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints or Quarts	25 min	30	35	40

Huckleberry Pie Filling

Quality: Select fresh, ripe, and firm huckleberries. Unsweetened frozen huckleberries may be used. If sugar has been added, rinse it off while fruit is still frozen.

Yield: 1 quart or 7 quarts

Procedure: See Table 3 for suggested quantities. Wash and drain fresh huckleberries.

For fresh fruit, place 6 cups at a time in 1 gallon boiling water. Boil each batch 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Drain but keep heated fruit in a covered bowl or pot. Combine sugar and Clear Jel® in a large kettle. Stir. Add apple juice. Cook on medium high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained berries immediately and fill jars with mixture without delay, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process immediately according to the recommendations in Table 4.

Table 3. Huckleberry Pie Filling.
	Quantities of Ingredients Needed For
	1 Quart	7 Quarts
Fresh or thawed huckleberries	3-1/2 cups	6 quarts
Granulated sugar	3/4 cup + 2 tbsp	6 cups
Clear Jel®	1/4 cup + 1 tbsp	2-1/4 cup
Apple juice	1 cup	7 cups
Bottled Lemon Juice	3-1/2 teaspoons	1/2 cup

Table 4. Recommended process time for Huckleberry Pie Filling in boiling-water canner
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints or Quarts	30 min	35	40	45

Sea of Cranberries

Our friend works at the Richmond Nature Park, where they have an annual cranberry sale in the fall as a fundraiser for the park. We ended up with a windfall of cranberries, and had to figure out some way to use them. Some we juiced - the hard way: pile lots of cranberries into a stock pot & cook until most of the berries burst, then strain through a jelly bag. We brought the resulting juice up to a boil then canned into sterilized, hot jars and let the cooling process form a seal. If we'd had a steam juicer, the end result would have been easier to obtain and much clearer (ours is more of a syrup than a juice, but not sweet as syrup might imply!). But our result is great as a cordial with ginger ale; very refreshing and such a gorgeous colour.

I tried a couple of other recipes, one of which was candied cranberries. As we've not cracked those open to taste yet, I'll wait to post that one. Here are the ones that we have tasted, and they're great. I recommend the salsa on poultry, sausages or pork.

Cranberry Marmalade (sort of similar recipe here)

10 cups fresh whole cranberries, washed & sorted
2 tangerines, seeded & finely chopped
1/2 lemon, seeded & finely chopped
3 cups honey
1/2 cup peeled & finely diced ginger (optional, if you're not a fan of ginger)

Yield: about 6 pints

Hot Pack: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens to marmalade consistency, stirring often to prevent scorching. Ladle hot into clean, sterile hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations below.

Recommended process time for Cranberry Marmalade in a boiling water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Half-pints or Pints	5 min	10	15

Cranberry Salsa (original recipe here)

14 cups whole, fresh cranberries, washed & sorted
3 large red bell peppers, seeded & chopped
6 cups sweet red onions, chopped
1/2 cup jalapeño peppers, seeded & chopped
1 1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp pickling salt
1 1/3 cup honey

Yield: about 6 pints

Caution: Wear plastic or rubber gloves and do not touch your face while handling or cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.

Hot Pack: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2O minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching. Ladle hot into clean, hot pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner as follows.

Recommended process time for Cranberry Salsa in a boiling water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Half-pints or Pints	10 min	15	20

Want some more cranberry recipes? Check out:

Salsa!

This summer provided us with a bumper crop of tomatillos, with a successful experiment growing some jalapeño and baby bell peppers. As a result, we cooked up a ridiculous amount of salsa, which is good thing, because we use it a lot in cooking. I found an invaluable resource for canning recipes at the National Center for Home Preservation, as well as the Bernardin canning website.

Here are some salsas from the summer. All were processed using the boiling water bath method. If you're not familiar with canning techniques, you definitely need to read up on it before proceeding. Check out the "How Do I ... Can" section of the National Center for Home Preservation's site.

Some general instructions first:

Caution: Wear plastic or rubber gloves and do not touch your face while handling or cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.

Preparing Tomatillos: Remove the dry outer husks from tomatillos; wash thoroughly. They do not need to be peeled or seeded.

Preparing Peppers: The skin of long green chiles may be tough and can be removed by heating the peppers. Usually when peppers are finely chopped, they do not need to be skinned. If you choose to peel chiles, slit each pepper along the side to allow steam to escape. Peel using one of these two methods:

• Oven or broiler method to blister skins - Place chiles in a hot oven (400°F) or broiler for 6 to 8 minutes until skins blister.
• Range-top method to blister skins - Cover hot burner (either gas or electric) with heavy wire mesh. Place peppers on burner for several minutes until skins blister.
• To peel, after blistering skins, place peppers in a pan and cover with a damp cloth. (This will make peeling the peppers easier.) Cool several minutes; slip off skins. Discard seeds and chop.

The jalapeño peppers do not need to be peeled, but seeds are often removed.

IMPORTANT: The only other change you can safely make in these salsa recipes is to change the amount of spices and herbs. Do not alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe. Do not substitute vinegar for the lemon juice.

Tomatillo Green Salsa (original recipe here)

5 cups chopped tomatillos
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped red bell peppers
1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon or lime juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp green coriander berries (unripe seeds of cilantro plants)
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Yield - about 5 pints

Hot Pack: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2O minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into clean, hot pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations in Table 1.

Note: You may use green tomatoes in this recipe instead of tomatillos.

Tomato Salsa (original recipe here)

6 cups peeled, cored & chopped tomatoes (we used yellow plum, black zebra, novi sad & calabash)
6 cups seeded & chopped bell peppers
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp dried oregano leaves
3 tsp pickling salt

Yield: about 6 pints

Hot Pack: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into clean, hot pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations in Table 1.

Orchard Fruit Chili Sauce (not exactly a "salsa" but we use it the same way; original recipe here)

4 cups chopped tomatillos
1 cup chopped green tomatoes (or only use 5 cups total tomatillos instead)
4 1/2 cups pitted, chopped purple plums (we used Italian prune plums)
3 cups cored, chopped pears and/or apples
3 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup seeded, chopped bell peppers
1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp pickling salt
2 tbsp pickling spice
2 tsp celery seeds

Yield: about 6 pints

Combine pickling spice* & celery seeds in spice bag (folded square of cheesecloth) or stainless steel herb diffuser.

Hot Pack: Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into clean, hot pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner according to the recommendations in Table 1.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Salsa in a boiling-water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints	15 min	20	25

*Pickling Spice

4 cinnamon sticks (3" long), crumbled
1 dried ginger root (1" long), crushed/crumbled (with mortar & pestle)
2 tsp yellow mustard seed
2 tsp whole allspice
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 tsp whole cloves
2 tsp dill seed
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp whole mace
8 bay leaves, crumbled fine

Mix all together and store in a clean, dry sealable jar. Yield about 2/3 cup total.

What's not to love about eggplant?

Personally, they're one of my favourite items in the grocery aisle, at least to look at. Not entirely from taste: I've had some really bitter ones, and those aren't great. But they are such a beautiful colour and their shape is also very appealing. What do you do with them? Here are a couple of options for you to get started with this intriguing fruit (yeah, I know, everyone thinks of them as a vegetable, but technically, and I am a science geek, they are fruit).

Baba Ganoush (my version of it, at any rate!)

1 - 3 eggplants (one really large one or 3 really small ones; or something in between!)
2 small golden zucchini squashes
(1 or 2 ripe tomatoes, if you have any)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
dash of hot sauce
pinch of kosher (or better yet, grey sea) salt

Steam the eggplant(s) and zucchini in the microwave: poke them repeatedly with a fork to allow the steam to escape them, and place rinsed fruit on a paper towel lined microwave safe dish. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes, rotate the zucchini & eggplant so that a different surface is up, and microwave again. Repeat until softened. Scoop the contents of the eggplants into a food processor, chop up the zucchini into food processor, and add the remaining ingredients. Pulse the mixture until its paste-like. Serve with pita wedges or tortilla chips.

Eggplant Casserole

1 large eggplant
1 cup garbanzo beans, cooked
1 cup salsa (I used our home-made tomatillo salsa verde, and it was great)
1 tbsp tahini
2 tsp tamari sauce
1 cup grated aged cheddar cheese
(sprinkling of cornmeal for topping)

Cut eggplant lengthwise in 1/4" thick slices. Microwave in microwave-safe dish until slices are softened (about 4-6 minutes on high; rotate the slices mid-way through cooking to cook evenly). Place cooked garbanzo beans, salsa, tahini and tamari into a food processor and pulse until well blended and the garbanzo beans are chopped and somewhat mashed (but not total paste). Lay half of the softened slices of eggplant in a baking dish, spoon half the garbanzo bean mix in a layer on top of the eggplant slices, and sprinkle half of the grated cheddar cheese. Layer the remaining eggplant, then garbanzo bean mix, then cheese. Sprinkle cornmeal for topping if desired. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and centre of dish is heated right through.

Tractor!!!

Dave's new toy arrived this summer: a two-wheeled, walk behind tractor. This sounds kind of unusual to most North Americans, but they're very popular in Europe. This model is from Italy. Also with the tractor arrived a rotary plow, rototiller, brush mower, and wood chipper. We are so set!

Back on Track

I've been very busy with work over the summer, and hence have not really cherished time spent on the computer for a use of my leisure time. That doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything worthy of posting here, though. I shall be catching up with all of my recipes discovered over the summer, from baking to canning to slow cooking, plus highlights from some interesting events.

Summer Delights

We've been busy harvesting & processing our pea crop. We shell & freeze them for winter enjoyment, but we've also been eating them for the last few weeks to enjoy them during their right season.


Yesterday, I did a 5km walk in the Underwear Affair, my third year in a row raising money for research towards cancers below the waist (thanks to all my donors whom together contributed over $1,000 for this year's event). They had a lady doing mehndi (henna) for donation, so I got my hand done. I've never had mehndi before, and it's just lovely.


After the walk, we went over to Elizabeth's for dinner and cherry picking. Dave did about 2/3 of the work, and the haul was easily 10-15 lbs of cherries, of which we probably got half. This morning, we needed to process them fast, so Dave figured out an ingenious pitting method, using a thin metal bar, and a piece of plexiglas which he'd drilled a hole into. Isn't he clever? Made the job heaps easier. We had some in our morning smoothie, but the rest went into two-cup packages in the freezer for enjoyment this winter.

Finally Summer!

Yikes! Has it ever been a while since I blogged here. Not that many people read it, so no big deal, but nonetheless. I'll have a few recipes to upload in the nearish future, but I've been crazy-busy at work. Don't know what my excuse was otherwise before that!


We've done practically nothing on the house since the lighting. Dave's been working on a beautiful bed commission, which I will post about when it's done & I have photos. We've been back & forth to Dad's (May) and Mom's (well, lots). Last trip to Mom's, we had tree fellers in to clear three trees in the field for the future orchard.

Lots of neat critters, too.

Anise Swallowtail Butterfly

Rough-skinned Newt

Garter Snake (juvenile)

Painless Broccoli

Natalino broccoli

From our garden last year

My Aunt Jean introduced me to an extremely painless, low fat, way to eat steamed broccoli - sprinkle with lemon juice. Thanks Aunt Jean! That's how I always serve it now, with a little scrunch of mixed pepper & pink salt, perfect.

She also introduced me to broccoli slaw, which I don't remember ever having before. I did get the recipe from her, but I believe it's sitting at Mom's right now, doing not much of anything. So I did a search to see what I could turn up, and got this dressing recipe.

I had purchased a couple of deep butcher-trays filled with cut broccoli this week while grocery shopping; each one was less than a dollar, and I'm pretty sure there was the equivalent of one large head in each. I suppose that they were trimmings, but they were all perfectly good and very fresh. So I steamed some up, others went into a frittata this afternoon with the leftover roasted root veggies (very tasty and filling); the rest got de-stemmed, blanched & vacuum sealed for the freezer in single-portion units.

I was going to toss the stems into the compost when Dave reminded me of the slaw. Oh, yeah!! So Dave shredded his way through all the following veggies, and I mixed up the dressing.

Broccoli Slaw

Grate the following using a coarse grater:

stems off of two heads of broccoli
2 gala apples
2-3 medium carrots
1 small zucchini

add

1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds

for dressing, combine:

1 tbsp malt, balsamic or apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dark maple syrup
1/4 cup mayonnaise and plain yogurt (half and half)

Stir everything together and refrigerate overnight if you can (or serve right away) to let the flavours develop.

Blood Orange Marmalade

As I've mentioned previously, I love blood oranges. When Thrifty's in Mill Bay had Buck Brand organic ones for sale, I knew I had to do something interesting with them.

My trusty, recently purchased food preservation bible Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide
has a wonderful marmalade recipe, but I didn't even think to look there first! I found a blood orange marmalade recipe on the web, and decided to kind of merge the two together. I know, you're supposed to follow jam and preserve recipes exactly, but what the heck! But I did follow the boiling-water bath processing instructions in Stocking Up. I am lucky enough to have two enormous enameled metal water bath pots, each with racks, one that's Mom's and one from Dave's uncle Steve. As a result, I was able to process two layers of jars simultaneously. Bonus!

Blood Orange Marmalade

This recipe here resulted in seven (7) 250mL/half pint jars of somewhat loose marmalade. I'm sure that I'd have better results exclusively following the Stocking Up recipe, but I really liked elements of both that I wished to incorporate.

10 blood oranges (two were larger ones, 8 were very small - the online recipe calls for 7)
1 lemon
12 cups of water
approximately 1 cup of chopped fresh rosemary per two cups water (we have LOTS leftover in the freezer from a couple of years ago)
3 cups mild-flavoured honey (yes, honey - Stocking Up uses honey in all its jam & jelly recipes)

Bring water to boil (I did this in 4 cup stages), and pour over appropriate measure of chopped fresh rosemary (e.g. for 4 cups water, use 2 cups rosemary). Let steep for at least 20 minutes. Repeat until you've got 12 cups of rosemary infusion.

Slice citrus very thinly, and place into non-reactive (e.g. stainless steel, enameled metal) pot large enough to hold the mixture and allow for boiling, together with the rosemary infusion. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat and cook at a simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and let sit, covered, overnight (we placed the pot outside on the veranda to keep cool).

Bring fruit mixture to a boil. Stir in honey. Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, until mixture resembles a thick syrup (keep at a full rolling boil or it will take longer to reach the gel stage). In Stocking Up, this is supposed to take about 30 minutes. I think that we boiled for closer to 45 minutes altogether, and it probably still could have stood to be reduced a little further.

Pour into sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/4" headspace, and seal. Process for 10 minutes in boiling-water bath. Stocking Up recommends allowing the marmalade to "age" two weeks before tasting or it might be too bitter. We couldn't wait, and yes, it's bitter, but it's SO GOOD! If you're not familiar with the "modern" method of boiling-water bath processing, I highly recommend that you learn about it before proceeding. Many sites/books don't usually suggest it for jellies, but the Rodale Stocking Up recommends this processing method for all preserves, jellies included. It's a sure-fire way to sterilize everything and have it last.

Crunchy Banana Breakfast Muffins - This morning I discovered that using 1/2 cup of no-fat vanilla yoghurt instead of 1/2 cup milk really makes these fluffy and moist, so I recommend the substitution. Also, I just purchased some silicone cupcake cups (12 of those were cheaper than a silicone muffin tin yielding only 6), which seem to work really well for baking muffins. Yes, they're somewhat annoying and futzy to clean, but they are easier to clean well than a metal muffin tin, and so much easier to decant the muffins from!

Sunny Spring Day

Spring? In February? Yup, we're sure blessed here on the West Coast. Or maybe you're thinking more along the lines of "Sun? In Vancouver?" We've had spectacular sunny weather for the past few days (we'll appreciate it while we've got it, because I'm sure it'll change to rain soon!), and our early spring bulbs are poking their noses through the ground and even flowering. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is some cheerful evidence of spring beauty to enjoy!

The Cleansing Power of Flame

We are now returned from our visit to Mom's, which lasted a little longer than expected. Dave did heaps of pruning, and wheel-barrowed loads and loads of manure from Lady's field to the veg garden, as well as moving loads and loads of compost in the same direction. He also dis-assembled the raised beds; we decided that it was too hard to use them given the amount of soil improvement still required. Besides, Dave couldn't use his rototiller in there with them.

I spent most of my time income working, plus helping somewhat with the yard work. Dave had a bunch of brush to burn, so we spent one day doing that. Then another day was spent searching for the source of some latex paint that poured down from the subdivision uphill from us and into the drainage ditch, straight through Mom's property. That was an exercise in futility.

Mom and I had a girls only trip into Victoria. We investigated a (new to us) sports store for Mom's curling equipment, where she purchased a new pair of curling shoes. Then onto Artworld to stock up on glassine bags for my art. Then we headed over to Winchester Gallery on Royal Oak to view a printmaking show, which was really excellent; lots of styles & techniques represented, from Canadian & international artists, historical and contemporary. We'd been to the Fenwick Lansdowne exhibit there at the end of 2007 which we both immensely enjoyed. For lunch, we decided to try the Italian deli next door, called Ottavio. They have a café beside their deli, specialty foods & bakery, which serves wonderful soup, salads, sandwiches, and a antipasto plate full of delicious deli meats and cheeses, olives and fruit. Mmmmmm! Too bad Dave decided not to come with us, he so missed out!! Off to Costco for stocking up, then we dragged our pooped selves back up the Malahat and collapsed for the evening.

We also made a little excursion up the hill (just off of Thain Road, which is the road that borders one of the sides of Mom's property) to the world's best chocolate, at Organic Fair. Check out their site - you can order online. I recommend the Chiapas if you like chocolate with kick. The bars are thick and rich, and you need about one square (savoured slowly) to satisfy even the strongest chocoholic cravings. They also make a lovely powdered hot chocolate, but beware - it's not the chemical, over sweetened stuff you get from the local store; it's hard core chocolate in a mug. Best made with whole milk or cream, if you can manage! Anyway, we had a very nice visit with the proprietor, who is also the chocolatier, and learned a little about their business. They're very interested in permaculture, and are in the process of setting up woody herbs and perennial food plants, along with an organic veg patch and free range, heritage breed chooks. Here's a little blurb from their website intro:

Organic Fair Inc. is an artisan crafter of exclusively organic, fair trade and biodynamic products. Many of our organic gourmet ingredients are sourced directly from the growers themselves. Our lovingly handmade products, grown by fairly paid farmers, offer tantalizing flavors and fragrances that all of your senses will enjoy.

We are passionately committed to making products that are good for the planet, good for people and good for your tastebuds in the most infinitely pleasurable way. We believe organic and fair trade should be both delicious and gourmet simply because they can be.

We grow many of our raw ingredients on our organic farm in beautiful Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where you can drop by and visit us. From our dark chocolate bars to our spiced coffee and even our lip balm, they are all created right here on our farm. By us, for you.

So if you find yourself on the Island, and needing to have a foodie day, check out Organic Fair, along with other great foodie stops in the Cowichan Valley.

Anyway, we had so much fun burning the brush pile, we decided to finally tackle the, um, rustic sheds that were beside Mom's property. They were built when the property wasn't properly surveyed, and haven't been used in at least a couple of decades. They were smothered in blackberry vines, which, while we certainly enjoy blackberries for winemaking, were infected with some kind of rose-disease, and we didn't want them to harbour it in case it infected our raspberries eventually. Besides, they were so out of control and overgrown, the productivity was very poor, and it was hard to get at what berries were there. So we started by tearing down the doghouse at the end closest to the road, and piling the bits up on top of the blackberries at the other end of the shed line. Burning that was day one. Day two consisted of emptying and knocking down the other sheds. One of them wouldn't budge though; it was working towards falling, but was being pretty securely held in place by an old split rail fence. So we burned it in place. Was that ever a hoot! The flames ROARED! We were careful to keep it under control though; we kept the roof and sides wetted down to cool the fire, but not so much to douse it. Most of the wood in the sheds was cedar, so you can imagine how well (and hot!) they burned. You, too, can enjoy the cleansing power of flame:

There was lots of scrap metal and nails left over after the burn, so a couple of days later we picked over the ash for the bits and took a load to the metal recycler. Unfortunately, that was my downfall. I was stooping rather than squatting, and I then sat and worked on the computer for a few hours (I'd been income working in the evenings), which sealed my fate. I really pooched my lower back. The unfortunate thing is that I can stoop without any trouble and without pain until much later, and of course, squatting is comfortable, I just don't think to do it.

Deciding that being a lump wasn't good for my back (somewhat erroneously), Dave & I went to Victoria's Seedy Saturday event. The event was quite large, held at the Conference Centre right downtown, with lots of turnout, lots of vendors, and about 10 or so presentations during the day on various aspects of food gardening. We picked up some seed packets (I love the tomatoes from Two Wings Farm, especially their ghost cherry tomatoes, my all time favourite cherry tomatoes: they're translucent pale yellow with a delicate peach-fuzz, and such a beautiful delicate flavour). I picked up a salsa tomato ("Apple of Novi Sad") and a jalapeño pepper for my Aunt Jean's salsa recipe, and a heritage winter squash called "Marina di Chioggia" (Dave read online they're supposed to be delightful barbequed, and is a traditional gnocchi ingredient, as well as a wonderful pie squash) from them, too. We also picked up a couple of sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke) tubers; yes, we know they become a weed, and yes, we understand they're not that palatable, but we wanted them for the perennial sunflower aspect. We're planting sunflowers, sunchokes, cardoon, poppies and hollyhocks in the burn patch, with the hopes that they'll all really like it there. So after a couple of hours of perusing & being jostled aggressively by backpacks and shoulders, my aching back and I decided to take Dave to Ottavio's on Oak Bay. He agreed - fantastic food. This time we also treated ourselves to gelato ... mmm. Mine was lavender (VERY lavender, almost too much for a full scoop) and Dave's was Panettone (which literally was Panettone; he'd been expecting a flavour, but it was actually bread made gelato - kind of a weird combination, but not bad).

So all that running around really knackered me - I spent the next three days in pain, flat on my back, recouperating. We came home Wednesday, delayed by those three days. But we came home to beautiful sunny weather and my first spring bulbs up: snow drops & a patch of gorgeous glowing golden crocus under the pear tree (I'll have to take a shot of that!).

Blood from an Orange

I love blood oranges. I don't think they taste remarkably different than their orange-fleshed brethren, other than being a bit more tart, but the just look so gorgeous. Unfortunately, this recipe doesn't highlight their glorious colour, but enjoy their blood as it runs into your juicer! Speaking of juicing, these are a particularly challenging citrus to juice: their flesh is pulpy and their skin, while thick, isn't particularly skookum, so they kind of crumble when using a traditional juicer like in the photo above. I discovered that if you gently work from the edges of the halved orange inwards and around on the juicer, it's better than if you do the typical whole-hearted push & squeeze of a lemon or lime. This recipe originally arises from a search on the internet which turned it up, but of course, I couldn't leave it alone! Naturally, you don't have to use blood oranges, but that's what I had in my fridge; so, for breakfast this morning:

Blood Orange Muffins

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup quick or rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp grated rind
2/3 orange juice, freshly squeezed (or "squozened" as we like to say)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped sunflower seeds (hulled, of course!)

Mix flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Combine juice, oil and beaten eggs with rind. Mix liquid into dry until just incorporated (don't over stir). Place into greased muffin tin (12 muffins), filling each cup to about 2/3 full. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.

Winter Sprouts

A couple of weeks ago a ordered Rodale's Stocking Up by Carol Hupping. It's a great book - it covers all sorts of food storage options, from freezing to canning to drying, and looks at not just fruit & veg, but also meat, poultry, fish, dairy, grains, seeds and nuts. One of the final chapter discusses sprouting, so we've been giving that a try lately. Not only are they tasty, but they're good for you and ridiculously easy to do, once you get into the habit of multiple rinsings during the day. The book provides a table for sprouting various seeds, grains and legumes, with how many rinsings per day, how long to let the sprout grow, flavour comments, etc. According to Stocking Up (p. 561):

When you sprout beans, seeds, and grains, you're unleashing their full nutritional potential. Wheat and millet sprouts, for instance, contain more than 5 times the vitamin C of their unsprouted counterparts. The amount of vitamin B grows substantially as bean sprouts grow, and most sprouts double their original protein content.

We have tried buckwheat and a couple of different types of lentils so far. The lentils are the easiest to grow, and most familiar flavour & texture. I would like to get some mustard/radish seeds to try for that extra zing, and Dave would really like to try sunflower seeds, as we both love sunflower sprouts. I currently have the seeds in clear mason jars with plastic mesh lids (to aid in draining), which works fine for short sprouts, but I think I'd need some kind of tray for the sunflowers.

Today, I used the sprouts in our luncheon "hamlette": a friend of ours gave us a chunk of Irish ham this week, and I've been turning it into hash and omelette-type food for our lunches.

Hamlette

1/2 cup cubed ham (this is ready-to-eat ham)
2 large mushrooms, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 tsp dried crumbled oregano
dash fresh ground pepper
dash Louisiana Hot Sauce
two eggs
1 tsp fresh crumbled Parmesan cheese

Fry up the ham in small cast-iron pan over medium low to warm it up, add the mushrooms & place lid over pan. Once mushrooms are mostly cooked, add celery & cover again for about 2 minutes. Add seasonings and mix into meat & veg. Break eggs over the mixture (but don't scramble them in), and crumble Parmesan on top. Cover again and cook until you are happy with the consistency of the eggs. Split between two people over toast. You can add a splash of catchup if that's you're leaning. Enjoy!

Snowy Sunday

Last night we started getting a dump of snow, but then it changed to rain and started to melt. So I reckoned we'd be free & clear of the white stuff in the morning.

Not so much! This was the view from our front doorstep at about 11 am this morning.

So on such a crappy weather day, I thought it'd be nice to bring some sunshine into our house in the form of lemon muffins. There's nothing like having a bit of lemon zest zing to clear the drab dull winter blahs, and lavender to revitalize the ugliest of morning grumpies.


Lemon Muffins (originally from The Complete Harrowsmith Cookbook: All Three Harrowsmith Cookbooks in One Volume
, but adapted, of course!)

2 cups flour (you can use 1 cup unbleached and 1 cup whole wheat, for a nice hearty texture)
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
zested rind of those lemons
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp lavender florets finely chopped
2 eggs

Combine dry ingredients. Combine moist ingredients. Stir moist into dry until just incorporated. Spoon into greased muffin tin about 2/3 full, and bake at 400° F for 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Dave just finished the lighting last night in the kitchen, so we've got track, ambient and also light over the stove top because of the range hood (installed about a month ago).

Hmmm, with this much light, I can really see what needs cleaning! Sigh.