Things you can't do when you contract a stomach bug:
 - eat
 - make food
 - stand up
 - think
 - answer phone calls
 - work
 - run
 - write a blog post

Things you can easily do when you contract a stomach bug:
 - sleep in your bed
 - lie down in your bed
 - find comfortable positions in your bed
 - doze while your 7 yr old reads to you in bed
 - allow yourself to be looked after in your bed

It's so easy to forget how immobilizing a stomach bug can be.  When you can't stand long enough to even brush your teeth.  That it becomes so difficult to concentrate that you can't even focus on a text message.  How many days it takes to go over it and how frustrating it can be. This has been my life over the last 5 days.  Incidentally, those same five days included our entire Thanksgiving weekend.  It's almost embarrassing to consider how much time I've spent sleeping over the last five days and alarming to realize how little I've eaten.  But such is the business of stomach bugs and, fingers crossed, it's the last time I have to deal with that business for a good, long while.


Needless to say, I did not do much eating of this lasagna.  I got hit just after I made it.  I am assured that it was very good though and, in case you were wondering, feeds an army.
It was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada so many or even most of us were celebrating in our way.  This was one of the first years in which we were completely on our own.  So even though I was not feeling great at all I managed to churn out some mashed potatoes (with the help of Kid #1), Trinidadian callaloo, stewed pigeon peas, stuffing and apple pie (at the request of Kid #2 who decided that he didn't like it)  D took care of the turkey - purchasing, prepping, roasting, basting, carving and making of gravy - all of it, thankfully.  I was able to eat some of our turkey dinner but not much.


This lasagna is a great way to use up some cooked chicken and an even better way to incorporate kale (the new superfood - I'm sure you've heard of it)  The best part is that it tastes good and everybody doesn't mind eating the super food.  It might not be the best thing for you if you have a stomach bug but quite frankly there is just nothing that is 'the best' when such things are in play.


Chicken and Ricotta Lasagna
serves 10

16 lasagna noodles (whole wheat is fine), cooked to al dente, drained and cooled slightly
4 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 lg cloves garlic, crushed
2 1/2 cups mushrooms, quartered
5 cups kale, finely chopped
1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable) or wine
3 1/2 cups ricotta
1 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup soft goat cheese (chèvre)
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp italian seasoning (or you can combine your own)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp honey
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
good dash of pepper sauce (optional)
1 egg
1cup grated parmesan
3 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
4 cups tomato sauce (I used my homemade stuff - anything you've got that is already seasoned is fine)

Preheat oven to 375°F
Heat a heavy bottomed dutch oven over medium heat.
Add about 3 tbsp of oil.
Add the onion and garlic, cooking until the onion is softening and turning golden.
Add the mushrooms and cook until they become soft.
Turn the heat down to low, add the kale and cover until the kale wilts.
Add the broth, ricotta, cream cheese, goat cheese, worcestershire, italian seasoning, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper and pepper sauce (optional).  Mix well.
Add the chicken and mix well.
Add the egg and parmesan and mix well.
Take a large roasting pan and put enough tomato sauce in to just coat the bottom of the pan.
Line the pan with a layer of lasagna noodles.
Add a layer of the chicken mixture and then layer with about a half cup of tomato sauce and sprinkle with some mozzarella.
Continue layering it like this until everything has been used up, making sure to reserve enough mozzarella for the top.  If you have some extra parmesan then go ahead and sprinkle it on.
Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbly.
Cool for about 15 minutes before slicing.

I have learned a lot this summer.
I have learned that 7 yr olds talk a lot.  A hell of a lot.  I'd forgotten how much they talk.  Twelve year olds talk a lot too but it's mostly about things that make sense so it feels more interactive and less like I'm getting hit over the head with words.
I have learned that both Kid #1 and #2 quite possibly get their 'gift of gab' from me because I have a tendency to talk a lot at inopportune times... like when someone next to me is trying to sleep.
I have learned that there is a way for my bike to get pimped so that I can have two fenders: a front and a back.  This knowledge will not only save me about $700 (I don't need to buy a new bike this year) it has also changed my life.
I have learned that chocolate does not own me and I don't own it.  We can coexist happily and I can eat it if and when I feel like it and it can sit in my cupboard and neither of us are the lesser for it.  In fact, I have learned that my sweet tooth isn't a constant.  This has made for a cooler summer (very little oven activity) and less money for Lindt.  I don't think they're feeling it though.
I have learned that sometimes a vacation with two kids doesn't actually feel like a vacation and that maybe it's worth having them bring a friend next time.  This is problematic because we don't have room  in our car for two friends unless one can fit into a trunk.


I could go on but I will spare you the mind blowing details.  Needless to say, all of this learning has left me feeling a little empty on the inside.  A couple of days ago I was so embedded in the couch (which is a new couch so it makes sense) that it took me ten minutes to talk myself into getting up to eat something.  I didn't even want to think - it took effort.  How does one make food in such a state.  Can one cook from the couch (food is off limits on my couch BTW... in fact, it's not even allowed within a foot of the couch).  It began to get critical by about day 4 of toast.  Finally what I did was wrench myself from the loving arms of the couch, take a look at what we had left in the fridge or hanging around it and then did a google search for those items.  This is what I came up with.

Please note the wrinkling, shrivelling tomato

I would say that the potatoes and zucchini are essential here but everything else is up for grabs.  You could add or subtract at will.  I almost added corn because it's in my freezer but decided to save it for soup later because I'll need to go through this process again in about 36 hrs.


Summer Vegetable Gratin Mess adapted from Yum and More
serves 4 as a main course

4 med/sm potatoes, thinly sliced (peeled optional)
1 med/lg zucchini, thinly sliced
1 med tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 cup (1 sm) onion, diced
3 small cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 lbs (about 3 - 4) sausage (mild italian or honey garlic are nice) casings removed [sausages are optional]
1 cup cheese (gruyere, aged cheddar), shredded
1 1/2 cups cream or half and half
3/4 goat cheese or cream cheese (I used goat cheese which has more tang and less sweet)
1 tsp dijon
1 tsp pepper sauce (optional)
1/2 cup wine (optional - use more cream or veg stock)
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp herb mix (dash each of basil, oregano, thyme)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
drizzle of honey

Preheat oven to 375°F
Butter or grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and set aside.
Heat a heavy bottomed pan or sauté dish over med heat.  Add the sausage and the onion together (if not using sausage then add a little oil to the pan first).  Cook together over medium heat until the onion is beginning to soften and the meat is just beginning to brown.  Add the crushed garlic and continue to cook over medium heat for about a minute.  Add the wine and pepper sauce (if using) and cook down until the mixture is almost dry (about 8 minutes over med/low heat).  Drain off excess fat and set aside.

Whisk together the cream, goat cheese and dijon until the cheese has mixed into the cream.  Set aside.


Begin to lay slices of the potato and zucchini alternately and overlapping in rows on the baking sheet.  Intersperse with a slice of tomato every once in a while.  Once the veggies have been placed on the baking dish then sprinkle the veggies with the salt, the herb mix and the nutmeg.  Drizzle with a tbsp or so of honey over everything.  Sprinkle the sausage mixture over the veggies and cheese mixture.  Pour the cream mixture over everything.
Cover with foil and bake for about 50 minutes.
Remove the foil and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and brown.
Cool for about 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

I know what you're thinking - 'Where's that chick pea salad that Wanda keeps promising on and not delivering'  See I knew that I knew what you were thinking because we're all so into salad with chickpeas and feta and parsley that we can't get enough.  Don't worry, I made it and it's coming down the pipe.  I've been eating it for lunch and literally feeling years peel off of me and my entire system simultaneously undergo a cleanse.  Not really.
I made ice cream.  Again.  It's weird stuff... even for me.  D HATES it... absolutely, utterly, profoundly.  HATE.  Kid #1 likes it.  Not absolutely, utterly or profoundly but she likes it.  I am in like with it.  Not love - I don't love easily... anyone or anything.  I can tell you that I used a cream cheese that was almost homemade and therefor a little lumpy.  I think that regular 'cream' cheese would do the trick for me.  The rhubarb crap is essential.

Notice the lumpy looking cream cheese in the top right corner.

So with that taken care of...  I'm thinking about high maintenance lately.  Like how in the summer my yard and garden are high maintenance and how I'm not dealing well with it because I still haven't planted a lot of the crap that I should have by now and I've only cut my grass twice so far.  (Yeah, I do know that's a run on sentence) Also, I think that I get fussy and high maintenance mixed up.  What's the diff between fussing with my hair and being high maintenance about my hair (this issue doesn't really apply to me personally in any way)  Or think about eating.  If I'm a fussy eater then I'm probably pretty high maintenance with food.  I think that maybe the two words are synonym's.  I've always thought of both words having a negative connotation but maybe they don't.  Maybe not being high maintenance is just another way of saying boring.
Kids are high maintenance and sometimes fussy too but then they grow out of that, right?  Kids who aren't a little fussy can be way too passive.  I'm guessing that a high maintenance friend would be super demanding about stuff that I probably wouldn't care about but maybe that's just what I need.  Mightn't I get bored if my friends just went along compliantly with whatever I suggested or offered.  My friends have come to terms with my high maintenance idiosyncrasies.  Things like my crippling inability to come up with a decent gift... unless you spell it out for me i.e. 'my favourite thing in the world is grey socks' or my utter indifference around make-up (a colleague is working endlessly to get me to straighten my hair.... why?), my embarrassing biking clothes, the difficulty I have listening to music whilst having a conversation and my obsession to get my friends moving more.  Damn - maybe that makes me high maintenance.


I feel very uncomfortable right now so I'm going to head back to the subject of food.  This recipe is a little high maintenance.  Custard - finicky/fussy, contains egg yolks that will curdle if handled carelessly.  Custard has to cool for a good long time.  Rhubarb sauce - needs to simmer gently down for almost an hour then it has to cool.  You have to stir it to keep it from sticking, i.e. constant attention.  Then the custard has to turn into ice cream and then you add the cream cheese and then you layer everything and then you freeze it some more and then you thaw it a little and then you eat it.  Definitely high maintenance from beginning to end but on the flip side it's not hard and it's definitely worth it.  It might be just what you need.



Strawberry, Rhubarb Cheesecake Ice Cream adapted from kokocooks
makes about 1 litre

Ice Cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 scant cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla
4 egg yolks, lightly whisked

1 cup  cream cheese (not light or whipped cream cheese)

Rhubarb/Strawberry Sauce:
3 cups rhubarb, coarsely chopped
1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean (insides scooped out)
1 tsp lemon juice

For the custard:
Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium/low heat.
Add the sugar, cream and milk and whisk together until the sugar dissolves.
Cut the vanilla bean down the side and split it open using the blunt side of a knife.  Run the knife through the inside of the bean to extract all of the little bean thingies (! - I don't know what they're called really).  Throw everything in with the cream mixture.  Turn the heat up just a little.
Have the egg yolks ready.
Once the mixture is almost to a simmer turn down the heat to low.
Using a ladle, slowly add a little of the cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly.  Once you've added about 2 ladles worth to the yolks then pour the yolks back in to the cream mixture.  Continue whisking and turn the heat up just a little.
Once the mixture coats a wooden spoon such that if you run your finger through the back of the spoon the finger line doesn't run together then you can remove the mixture from the heat.
Pour the mixture through a sieve and into a bowl.  Cover with cling film, placing the cling film right onto the custard mixture so that no custard is touching air.
Refrigerate for at least 4 - 5 hrs and preferably overnight.

For the Sauce:
Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, scooped out part of the vanilla and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer and turn the heat down to low.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.  Simmer for about 45 - 55 min at low heat or until the mixture begins to thicken.
Cool completely.

To combine:
Churn the custard into an ice cream maker according the the machine directions.  Once the custard has almost set but is still soft, add in the cream cheese a tbsp at a time - continue churning.
In a large container spoon a thin layer (1/2 inch or so) of the rhubarb mixture on the bottom, cover with about 3 inches of ice cream and continue to alternate the layers, ending with rhubarb.
Freeze for a few hours.
Thaw for a few minutes to soften before serving.

It's been a week in which some very nice and kind things happened to me.
My favourite crossing guard lady told me I was beautiful.  Again.  Heart.
I volunteer to do cooking club at school and two of my Gr 12 helpers told me to that they would take care of all the clean up so that I could head home.  Kind and adorable.  Heart.
My Best Friend brought me some green sprout kinda things and dropped them for me at school.  Heart.
One of the same Gr 12 boys heard that I had forgotten to bring my lunch and brought me some of his homemade potato cakes... with sour cream on the side.  Yup.  Heart.

These are a couple of the things that we made during last week's Cooking Club Course.  It's real.

I felt cared about and that's cool because it helps balance out all of the crap.
I read this and laughed out loud BTW.  Don't even need to read the article because just the Title and Picture sew it all up.
I realised that I haven't baked since Easter.  EASTER.  Unprecedented for me I know and it's probably got something to do with the fact that I've been off sweets.  I have, for the record, made a lot of ice cream.  Leftover cravings from Italy perhaps?  The upside for all of you is that ice cream leaves me with a butt load of egg whites... angel food cake anyone?  It's coming.  I promise.
Michael Pollan again.  I kinda feel like this weird attraction thing with him.  It's cool that he finds a way to say knowledgeable and intelligent things in a very accessible way.  It's also cool that he learns - like really learns - his stuff.
Statistically it looks like work/life balance has been working out pretty well for you if you are a dude... surprise, surprise.  Unfortunately, if you are a single-parent, educated (or not), working female the stats aren't looking nearly as rosy.  Surprise, Surprise.  Makes you wonder (again) about how things generally are working out for women in North America especially considering the kind of economy we've been dealing with over the last 10 (or 30) years.
It's almost impossible to imagine but this used to be 'Black Eyed Peas'.  Ummmm - WOW.
Also, just in case you ever need such thing, it's good to know that there is a company looking out for you.  But why should I believe them??????


I have been absolutely negligent in providing you with recipes using spring season ingredients.  They've been in my fridge - in fact, some are still there right now.  Asparagus, stinging nettles, ramps, rhubarb ('cause I had to order it this year... remember), fiddleheads, etc (can't think of any more).  I just feel like I haven't been doing anything life changing with them.  My general malaise combined with my lack of work/life balance (see above - without the single parenting part) has left me more than a little lazy in the kitchen.  I did however come up with this pesto thing.  It's not really pesto but calling it 'pesto' felt right and I'm just going to go with it.  I had cream cheese in the fridge and so it got added too.  It's a kitchen sink kind of recipe.  I later cooked up some honey garlic sausages and mushrooms and made a pasta sauce with the whole lot.  It came off well - even kid #2 ate it without complaining.


Ramps and Stinging Nettle 'Weird' Pesto
makes about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of sauce

8 ramps (or so) coarsely chopped
3 cups Stinging Nettle leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cups cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
juice of a lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cups cream cheese or goat cheese
1/2 cup pasta water

Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat.
Add about 2 tbsp olive oil or grease.
Throw in the ramps and stinging nettle leaves.  Stir for 1 minutes and immediately remove from the heat.
Add the olive oil and cream.
Place mixture in a blender or use an hand blender.  Blend until the mixture is an even paste.
Add the salt, honey, lemon, parmesan and cream cheese.  Mix until blended.
Check the taste and adjust if necessary.
Add pasta water just before using the pesto to get it to the desired consistency.

I'm stuck.  Staring at the computer screen.  I'm desperately trying to come up with something that is absolutely deep and thoroughly enlightening.  Trying to sit here and type away with abandon.  Focussing hard on the words flowing out of my fingers. But the reality is that this is my first day off all week.  I've got a naked 5 year old reading the words out loud as I type and singing at random intervals.  Occasionally that same five year old squeezes and kisses my arm and then bounces off with a balloon.  The laundry buzzer goes off and then Skype rings and there I am completely distracted.  I know that there is stuff in me that's waiting to come out.  I feel it in there.  Something deep like a tree root.
I would love to come up with something profound to say about community and civil involvement.  I wish that I could adequately express how disturbed I am that there was a Canada wide recall on beef patties this past week and how revolted I am that the cheap food we've all been brain washed into buying is killing us and our world.  I'd love to go on about how I feel about gated communities and fear and how our possessions have ended up defining and possessing us instead.  How ownership in it's extreme capitalist consumer based form (as we now live it) - I don't even know if that makes sense - has rendered 'my stuff' more important than your life or our planet.   I wish that I could be more eloquent in expressing my disgust that a hoodie is somehow justification for a pedestrian to become a walking target.
But there it is.  I'm stuck.  And sad.  A little blurry on the inside.  Working to muscle my focus through a zany five year old, skype and laundry.  I'll stop trying now and get to the cake.


As promised:  Banana Cake.  I'm gotten over my shame about having so many sweet recipes in a row.  Whatever.  There are some food bloggers who only post sweets and baking.  So this ain't so bad.  I also need to add by way of further justification that this recipe is delightfully 'uncakey' when it comes to dessert cakes.  This cake got me through the week.  Occasionally it became my lunch which predictably launched me into a minor sugar coma for the rest of the afternoon.  To be honest it's not a half bad way to work through the afternoon.


Oh... before I forget, this recipes makes a lot of batter so I just kind of eye-balled it and made 4 cupcakes as well as the round cake.  If you find yourself in this predicament I can tell you that what worked for me was putting those cupcakes in a box and sending them off with some friends.

Crazy Cute box courtesy the most best KT.  BFF.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing adapted from The Wednesday Chef
makes 1 10 inch round cake and about 4 med/lg cupcakes

2 2/3 cup pastry flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
3 - 4 med/lg bananas, very ripe and peeled of their skins (if there is a lot of liquid then you could easily drain them for a little bit)
3 lg eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Your favourite cream cheese icing (Look - I don't get fancy here.  It's cream cheese it's just a little dab of butter and enough icing sugar to bring it all together so that it's nice and icingy... throw in some lemon zest if you want but why mess with perfection)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour either a 9x13 baking pan or a 10 inch springform pan. (this is what I used)
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Whisk or mix(er) the very ripe bananas until all goopy.  Add in the eggs one at a time and continue to mix away happily.  Add in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla next and mix until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir by hand until everything is wet and mixed together.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake - for the springform pan it took about 50 - 55 minutes before a tester came out clean - for the 9x13 pan 45 - 50 minutes should do but make sure you test the middle with a cake tester.  If you make some muffins with the extra then the muffins should stay in for about 25 - 30 minutes.
Cool completely.
Ice with your favourite cream cheese icing once the cake and/or muffins is/are completely cooled.

It's not a good day.
Kid #1 is not having a good day.  She hasn't been having a good day for a while now but this day is particularly bad.  Let me explain.
Kid #1 has just turned 11.  Her birthday is on December 31st - that last day of the year here in Canada - making her the youngest kid in her class... every single class she's ever been in.  Birthday parties are a constant sore point for us because having your birthday on Old Year's Night is much like having your birthday on Christmas Day.  You're always sharing.  What we usually do is bypass it entirely.  We have a little family thing on the day of her birthday and then she can have a few friends over later in January.  This has typically worked fine... until this year.  This year we've had conflicts every single weekend so far.  We finally were able to settle on the last weekend in the month and low and behold everyone she invited couldn't make it... save one.  Yeah for one friend!!!  Sometimes (most of the time) that's all you need.  
We decide to make the best of it and go ahead with the 'party'.  They can hang out a home for a while then they can go to a movie... just be friends and have fun.  Only problem is that this morning Kid #1 wakes up with a terrible sore throat.  She went to dance class but had to leave early because she felt wretched.  At the moment she is in her bed resting, feeling horrible and very sad.  I'm left with trying to figure out whether to go ahead with things or put it off (since it's only one friend coming) for yet another week, all the while feeling terrible for my poor girl.
She's determined to forge ahead and do this.  She needs it.


I've decided that if she's determined then I'm going to do my damnedest to help her.  I'm busy making some chicken soup - full of vegetables that will boost her immune system and hopefully counteract all the crap she will down at the movies (sick or not treats must be had at the movies).  I also thought that some yummy cupcakes might boost her spirits and make it feel a little more like a party.  Truth is though that I think I made them as much for me as I did for her.  I had some sad little limes that needed help and some lemon curd leftover from christmas gifting (yeah - I know that was a long time ago but it still smelled ok).  So my intentions weren't completely altruistic.  However, I figure that nothing soothes the soul quite like homemade chicken soup and a beautiful little cupcake packed with sunshine.


I have said many times on this blog that I am far from the ideal Mom - I hate parks, play groups, labour and delivery discussions and trading potty training tips.  I think that most of the time our kids would have a much better time without us all hovering over their shoulders making sure they didn't hurt themselves when little johnny pushed them down.  But it still kills me when my baby is sick and feeling down in the dumps. Of course I can't make her better but these cupcakes really went a long way.


Lime Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Icing adapted from 'Food and Drink Magazine' (LCBO)
makes about 12 med/large cupcakes

2 cups cake and pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 milk
1/4 cup lime juice (fresh) - about 3 limes
1 tbsp (at least) lime zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line about 12 muffin tin cups.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
In another bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy.   Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Combine the milk and lime juice.
Alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the butter mixture.  Alternate by about 2 or 3 batches mixing well after each addition.
Divide the batter between the cupcake cups piling each up just below the top of the cup.   (My last one was a small one)
Bake for about 18 - 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool completely before icing.

Lemon Curd Icing

1/3 cup cream cheese
4 tbsp good quality lemon curd
2 cups icing sugar (sifted)

Mix together the cream cheese and the lemon curd until the mixture is creamy.  Gradually add in the icing sugar until it's a thick consistency.  Ice the cupcakes.

Let me just start by saying that just a couple of years ago I would not in a million years have even thought about this happening let alone thinking that it might taste good... good enough to get the squash and actually do it.  Never.
Things change.
Here we are two years later and me trying to get more in touch with food reality - as opposed to the fiction that we've managed to turn it into - means that for me I'm now not only considering putting squash in a dessert but actually really truly going and doing it.  Here's the kicker for me... it didn't just come with my food box this week - meaning that once it was included I had to find something to do with it and all - no, no... I ordered it... specifically to make pureed squash... specifically to try making these cupcakes.  I get a little confused if I think about it for too long.  Sometimes I get too proud of my awesome 'sustainable', 'seasonal' efforts... I want to pat myself on the back for being so damn amazing.  I just need to walk away from myself.
One of the reasons that this whole squash thing is a surprise to me is that I've never been a fan of the pumpkin pie.  I have these vague memories of trying my great Aunt Ina's pumpkin pie when I was a kid.  Here's a cool story:
Great Aunt Ina - who isn't just a vague memory but someone whom I remember very well - was the youngest of a family of four.  She had a brother very close to her in age (my great Grandad) and two sisters about eighteen (yup - for reals) years older.  The two older sisters basically brought up the younger two siblings.  Those two sisters ran the family farm and did crazy crap like make their own recipes and publish them and stuff.  I know, right.  So Aunt Ina inheirited her baking skills honestly.  She made this seriously sick candy popcorn every year for christmas.  Seriously.  She brought it in these huge bags - I could have easily skipped the whole meal just to gorge on that stuff.  That's just the beginning.  She was also pretty weird sometimes - like she always just stashed our gifts away in a trunk and didn't even take them out of the packaging... actually, maybe that's not so weird.  Anyway, I remember trying some of the pumpkin pie that she baked and thinking that it didn't totally suck but then I never ate it again.   I don't regret not eating pumpkin pie or anything because there is probably a whole lot of other crap that I can do with pumpkin that blows the pie thing outta the water - I just have to discover it.


Recently I saw a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes and it called for using shredded squash - so I don't even have to cook the stuff - I'm going to try that too... or I could use parsnips or something... oh yeah.  I got thinking about the idea of squash and spices and cream cheese icing and it just sounded appealing.  However, I've been kinda craving beets lately though so I'm seriously starting to doubt my ability to gauge what is truly 'a treat'.


Squash Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
adapted from Canadian Living and Ina Garten
makes about 12 lg cupcakes

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
dash or two of allspice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or whatever oil you want so long as it's fairly tasteless)
2 lg eggs
1 cup squash puree

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and sugar together in a bowl and set aside.
Combine the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs and squash puree in another bowl and whisk together until they're completely mixed.
Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture.  Stir until combined and everything is wet.  Laddle into the lined muffin tins until each is at least 3/4's full.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out of the middle cupcakes without anything sticking to it.
Cool completely

Cream Cheese icing:

1 pkg (4 oz) cream cheese, softened and at room temperature
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar

Combine the cream cheese and the butter together just until blended and smooth.  Add in the vanilla and blend.
Add the icing sugar by a 1/2 cup at a time.  Mix well after each addition.  Add more only until it reaches the thickness that you like.
Dollop onto the top of each completely cooled cupcake.

Can we just talk here for a minute?
I feel like my brain cannot work anymore.  It's like it get's stuck or something.  I wake up in the morning and everything's cool (aside from being ridiculously lazy at that early hour).  I'm focussed.  I'm alert(ish).  My mind is clear.  I bike or run to work... I'm still good.  I'm a fully brain functional human.  I work with boys ranging in age from 9 - 18 for 6 hours straight.
I'm off the rails.  I can't think.  I have trouble forming a sentence.  I can't remember my great ideas from earlier in the day.  I don't even know if I had any ideas.  All I can think about is what I did at work, the blur of boys that sang for me that day, the running from room to room that I did.  Then I get home.  I know that I said I was done with canning but then I got this huge bag of plums in the food box.  I don't even remember ordering them but they're gorgeous and local and I'm going to do something great with them.  I got some more tomatillo's because the salsa turned out so beautifully that I decided (in the lucid moments of the weekend) that I should make another couple of jars.  Then I saw the ground cherries (gooseberries) at the bottom of the food box and they need to be taken care of as well.   Oh yeah, and I almost forgot the beets.  So it's gonna be game on with the canner again this weekend.  And if anything, that's where my brain is.


So while I'm blurring through another whirlwind day with more boys than I can count and thinking about when I can get started with my new canning projects, I'm forgetting all about dinner... now.  We have nothing to eat... except beets, tomatillo's, ground cherries and plums.  You can't live on that.  However, my brain can't do much beyond dealing with a toaster at this rate.  Listen very little can go wrong with life when you roast vegetables before you use them.  So...
It was sheer necessity.
We needed it.
The fridge needed it.
The vegetables needed it.
So, I roasted two vegetables:  Eggplant and Red Pepper.  Nothing more.  I wouldn't have been able to function with more than that.    I boiled some pasta.  I made a quick sauce.  I tossed it all together.  I didn't think too hard.  I grated some parmesan on top.  I served it... and then my kids asked for mashed potatoes.  My head hurts.  I need help.


Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Pasta
serves 6

1.

3/4 of a medium eggplant, partially peeled cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 med red pepper, sliced
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Toss all of the ingredients together.  Place on a baking sheet (in a single layer if possible) and bake for 20 minutes (veg should be cooked through and golden) - my addled brain didn't even sprinkle with a little salt but you will totally remember to do that).  Remove from oven and set aside.

2.

2 cups uncooked pasta (I used penne noodles)
water

Add pasta to boiling, salted water.  Cook until al dente (check the package).  Drain and set aside (keep a little of the pasta water)

3.

1 cup goat cheese or cream cheese
1 1/2 cup ricotta or yogurt cheese (I used yogurt cheese and that's a whole other story)
1/2 cup (or so) reserved pasta water or cream
1 veggie bouillion cube
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup basil and parsley coarsely chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
dash pepper sauce and nutmeg

Heat the goat cheese, ricotta and pasta water or cream over low heat.  Stir until the sauce is well combined and thickening just a bit.  Add in the veggie bouillon cube and 1/2 cup parmesan.  Stir until the bouillion cube is mixed in.  Add the herbs, salt, honey, pepper sauce and nutmeg.
Cook together for about 7 minutes.  Check tastes and adjust if necessary.
Toss the pasta together with the sauce.
Pour into a big bowl.
Add in the roasted veg on top and toss gently (if you want).  Sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top.
Serve.

Yup.  I got some fiddleheads.  It's spring... in Canada... it's a tradition thing... I've never had them before - I had to add that because sometimes we just spew out these things, items, veggies, traditions, whatever that we're all supposed to know and revere... Yeah, fiddleheads are this big spring thingy and are a big deal AND I've never eaten them, made them, foraged for them... nothing.


Fiddleheads are the first bit of an ostrich fern that begins to curl it's way out of the thawing ground in the spring.  It's a lovely thing when you think about it, slowly unfurling itself toward the sun and warmth of the new season (except we haven't had much of either over the last couple of weeks here in T.O - yeah, I'm a little bitter).  Their season is short, much like asparagus, and they have some great nutritional and health benefits.  Fiddleheads are like morels in that they are often just foraged for as well and not necessarily farmed.  Whatever, its all good.  I got mine from the food box and I'm happy with that.
Fiddleheads taste like... greens, I guess.  They certainly don't taste like chicken.  They have a lot more bit to them than greens do though.  Kid #1 wasn't in love with them but she ate them happily enough.  I know of a lot of people who did not like asparagus at first either.  I think it's one of those tastes that needs to grow on you.  I'm interested in trying some other recipes with these though.  So, a new challenge begins - back to the spring produce.  I have to think... stir fry's, omelette's, quiche.  I can probably use fiddleheads just like I would use any other green.  I like the seasonal aspect of using them.  Things somehow seem more special when you don't just cook the same way all year around.  It feels amazing to have something green and fresh to eat that's not just a leaf - ya know?  These things are not around for long so it's special to have them when they are in season and fresh... Plus, they're kinda weird looking which also has some cache with me.  Asparagus (another weird looking spring veggie) will be coming in as well, probably very soon - even next week.  Spring has arrived even if the sun has forgotten for the last little while.



Baked Penne, Fiddleheads and Mushrooms
serves 6

4 cups cooked penne pasta (reserve a little pasta water)
1/2 cup onion, diced (ramps or young leek would be even better)
2 cups fiddleheads
3 cups mushrooms, quartered
2 cups spring greens (spinach, dandelion, whatever)
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp each: oregano, basil, parsley (use fresh if you have)
1 veggie bouillion cube (low salt, organic)
1 1/2  cups cream or milk
salt and pepper sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Throw in some oil (2 or 3 tbsp will do) and add in the onion, fiddleheads and mushrooms.  Lower the heat to med/low and toss it gently for about 7 min. or so.  Add in the greens and let the greens wilt.
Add in the cream cheese and goat cheese and mix it into the veggies until the cheese is creamy.  Add in the herbs, bouillion cube and cream or milk.  Once the cream has heated a little add in the parmesan leaving out just enough to sprinkle over the top of the casserole dish.
Add a little of the pasta water if the mixture is still too thick.  Make sure the thickness is good for you.  Add in the salt and pepper sauce to your own tastes.
Remove from heat and add in the cooked pasta.  Mix well and pour into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a little brown and crispy on the top.
Cool slightly before serving.

Sometimes I'm just dumb.  Well... I'm not dumb but I do dumb things.  For example, setting things on the edge of the counter.  Like running to work but forgetting my bra so that when I get there, all hot and sweaty, I have to wear my sports bra... gross.  Like sending a government envelope back to the government thinking that I didn't have to add postage because there was this thing written where the stamp was supposed to be.  I didn't read the thing and it happened to say 'place correct postage here'.  Dumb.  
Well, I did something dumb yesterday.  
Kid #1 asked for red velvet whoopie pies.  I said yes.  Now keep in mind that Mother's Day was the day before.  Keep in mind that I had just been travelling with 65 gr 5 and 6 boys for the weekend.  Keep in mind that my mind was kinda fuzzy and I'd been working all day.  I quickly found a recipe on the net.  I skimmed the recipe... barely.  I pulled out ingredients.  I saw sour cream sitting in the fridge.  I grabbed said sour cream.  I thought, 'this sour cream would go well in the whoopie pies - I could use this instead of buttermilk' (dumb).  I put the sour cream with the rest of the ingredients.  
I put together the ingredients and did my thing.  I really did my thing... I never checked the recipe again.  Let's just talk for a minute about what I changed or didn't bother with at all:
1.  Didn't check about whether to mix together the flour/cocoa/baking powder.  Why check, all recipes are the same... right.
2.  Didn't bother to precisely measure the butter.  
3.  Didn't use buttermilk, added sour cream instead... still needed to add milk.  
4.  Didn't check for an oven temperature or how long to bake the cookies.  
5.  Didn't have liquid food colouring, used paste instead and didn't check the recipe about when to add the colouring.  
How did all this turn out?  




Mediocre... at best.  I was thoroughly disgusted truth be told.  My kids are still eating them but damn... they suck.  
For the record, sour cream is not interchangeable with milk or buttermilk.  
For the record, food colouring doesn't mix well if the butter isn't wet enough.  
For the record, when you are tired sometimes you just do dumb things.  
For the record, today I bought a whoopie pie recipe book and will try this again the right way.  
I'm giving you the recipe as I saw it and then telling you what I did to screw it up.  




Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
makes 16 or so icky cookies


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (used muscovado... that's all I had)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature (use 1/2 cup sour cream... then add another 1/2 cup milk)
1 oz. red food coloring


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  (my recipe)
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.  
Using another bowl cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg and the vanilla.  
Add in the flour mixture and mix that until it seems mixed in.  Add in the sour cream.  Mix and realise that this is turning out like bread dough... add in the milk.  
By this time the batter will be pasty and gross but loose enough that you can add the food colouring (even though you should probably have added the food colouring to the milk and done things that way.  Try to mix in the food colouring and realise that using paste isn't the same and won't mix properly.  Think that maybe it will look kinda cool that you've got 'marble' whoopie pies.  Realise that marble whoopies pies kinda suck.  




Drop the pastry grossness on a lined cookie sheet by tablespoons.  Bake for about 10 - 11 minutes.  




Once they all cool throw some cream cheese icing on the underside of one and sandwich together with another until they're all done.  
Give them to kids... they don't care if they're gross... buy a recipe book that has a proper recipe.