It was a toss-up.  I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make soup with the huge butternut squash that I got in last week's food box OR use the lovely cauliflower that came as well.  The cauliflower won.
I like cauliflower.  There is something homely and comforting about it.  It's very good for you but it's so unassuming.  Not like broccoli.  Broccoli is big and loud and green.   If I wanted to go in a slightly different direction with this I would have used bacon in it.  Honestly though, it kinda tasted like it had bacon in it anyway and I wanted to keep it vegetarian.  I'm feeling super simple these days.


I think, for Canadians at least, that by the time we get through January and into February we're just in survival mode.  I'm so not concerned with fashion right now.  I'm sick and tired of my winter clothes.  I'm ready to shed these ever present layers and get on with the regular movement of life.  Reality is though that in February we are still hibernating under layers of cloth, running from warm place to warm place and keeping the distance in between as short as possible.  Who's got the energy or wherewithal to get creative with din-din at the moment?  Having said that, I'm not done with this recipe yet.  In fact, I wasn't going to post it but just got kinda distracted into doing it anyway... if that makes any sense.  I want to fool around with the flava flav's here.  I'm not even sure what direction to take it in yet but when I do you'll be the first to know.

In my opinion, there are very few soups out there that look spectacular and this sure ain't one of 'em.  I thought that some of my other soups looking boring but this one just looks like bad porridge crap mush.  Not a shred of colour in this boring boy... but I didn't care.  It tasted good, really good.  And, as I curled up to watch the Sunday afternoon Bollywood offering on the tube, it was a perfect 'curl-up-and-eat-while-you-watch-a-movie-without-feeling-guilty' snack.In the meantime... if you have ingredients that read remotely like the ones listed below and are craving a warm, soothing bowl of boring looking simplicity, then this is the crap for you.


Stupid Easy Cauliflower, White Bean Soup
serves 4

1 small head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 small onion, sliced
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
2 med potato, cut into small chunks
1 can white cannelini beans
2 - 3 tbsp butter or oil
4 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
salt


In a large soup pot, saute the butter, onion and celery for about 10 - 12 min. over low heat until the onion begins to carmelize and turn brown.
Add in the cauliflower and potato.  Mix and cook for another 10 min.
Add in the beans and stock.
Simmer together for about 10 minutes.


Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend until the soup is creamy.


Add salt (and pepper or pepper sauce ;-) to taste.
Serve.

I love chocolate.  It's amazing.  My current fave chocolate is dark chocolate with fleur de sel.  I have a couple of squares of chocolate every night.  As much as I love chocolate though, I have to confess... I get kinda tired of baking with chocolate sometimes.
I don't know why?  Maybe it's the colour, maybe the texture... I don't know.  It's one of those things that I'm learning to accept about myself though.  I know that I can do it because I've gotten better about accepting weird things about myself over the last few years.  Some other things that I've totally accepted about myself now:
1.  I think that holding the pole on the subway without gloves on is totally disgusting.
2.  I always (I mean ALWAYS) read the last two pages of a book once I've finished the first chapter or so.
3.  I always read my books in the order that I've received them.
4.  When I'm out at the pub I always eat my chips first.
5.  I really don't like wearing heals at all... ever.
6.  I'm a size 8... no matter what.

That's just the start, I could write so much more.  But that's how I know that I'll come to terms with my chocolate malaise... or I'll just move on and next week I'll feel like baking with chocolate again.


In the meantime, I've adapted - well not really adapted because that implies that I changed something rather significant when the only thing that I did was change the baking tin - the carrot cake recipe that I've used ever since my University days.  I got the recipe from my first roomie in Montreal.  I don't know where she got it but it's a great recipe.  What I love about it is that it doesn't have coconut (the dessicated kind that makes me want to gag) or pineapple (the canned kind that looks more like pineapple porridge - gross).  The nuts you can take or leave.  I left them because Kid #1 is off of them right now and I've just gotten tired of picking up nuts pulled out of baking that have been left in places where you would never expect to find them.  I had some beautiful purple skinned carrots from my food box and used them in the cake.  Healthy cake... can't beat that!



Carrot Cake (Cupcakes)
makes about 16 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 unbleached all-purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line about 16 cupcake tins with silicon or paper liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice in a bowl together and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the oil and sugar until light and frothy (use a mixer if you have one).  Add the eggs in  and mix well.  Add in the carrots and nuts (optional).  Gently mix the flour mixture into the carrot mixture.  Mix until well blended.
Spoon into the cupcake liners just to the top (or just under).  Bake the cupcakes for about 23 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes before removing from baking tin to cool completely on a cooling rack.


Cream Cheese Icing:

1 pkg. cream cheese (about 4 oz), softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)

Mix together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Add in the icing sugar 1 cupful at a time and cream into the cheese mixture.  Make sure that the mixture is just creamy and don't over beat.  Spoon onto the cupcakes once the cupcakes have completely cooled.

I know that it's still only just the middle of February.  I know, in fact, that it's the 14th of February and most people are posting sweet nothings on FB or posting lovely pink or red sweets on their food blog for their sweetie (doesn't everyone have a food blog?... or something chocolatey.  Me?
No...
I'm posting Potato Channa Croquettes.  You see I'm already thinking about getting through this month.  Looking forward.  Missing the moment perhaps.  If the moment is kitchy cards with embarrassingly cloying sentiments inside then I'll let that moment pass.  I'm sticking with the savoury today.


Life in our house is a constant striving towards the practical.  The practical this week is that Kid #1, who eats her lunch at school, is beyond tired of sandwiches.  I can't blame her.  I've mentioned before that for an entire year, upon going back to work, I ate a sandwich at lunch.  I swear that in the 3 years the have gone by since then I haven't made myself  a sandwich.  It's hard to get creative with lunches though because Kid #1 also has a habit of permanently 'misplacing' lunch kits and everything inside then.  After it happened for a third time I gave up.  We lost the thermos and everything and I just couldn't bring myself to buy another whole set of everything.  So, Kid #1 has been forced to subsist on cold lunches.
When I made these croquettes I know that I had some kind of inspiration but I honestly can't remember what it was.  That's embarrassing.  Maybe it was my bean thing.


If you've been reading through my posts (and not just checking out the pictures - which is what I usually do) then you know that I'm looking to incorporate more bean crap in our diets (eww - no pun intended on that one).  Beans are good for you and pretty decent for the environment.  It's kinda win/win.  So yeah, maybe it was the bean thing.


Maybe it was the vegetarian thing... not sure.  I do know that Kid #1 feasted on these bad boys for lunch this week and it was just a little bit more interesting for her than the usual sandwich.




Potato and Channa (chickpea) Croquettes
makes about 12

1 can (about 1 1/2 cups) chickpeas, coarsely mashed
2 cups of leftover mashed potato (I use cream and butter and salt in my plain stuff)
1 1/2 carrots, shredded
1/2 onion, diced small
1 rib of celery, diced small
2 tsp salt (if you need some, if you salted the mashed potato then it might be fine)
3 tsp garam masala (or West Indian curry powder if you have)
2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
3 eggs (or egg whites if you prefer or if you used the yolks in something else - like ice cream)
oil for frying

Get a large frying pan (I have a big ole' caste iron one that I can barely lift) and start heating it over medium heat.
In a large bowl mix:
the chickpea mash
the mashed potato
the salt
the garam masala
the turmeric
the cumin
the ginger

Using a little bit of oil, saute the onion, carrot and celery until they are lightly browned and the onion is soft (about 4 - 5 minutes).
Add that to the bowl of potato stuff.
Using about a half cup of potato stuff, form patties.  Make them nice and thick.
Add oil to the frying pan and place patties in the pan.  Cook each side of the patty until it is well browned and can turn over without falling apart.
Cool and serve... and send them for lunches... and serve them as snacks... and eat them for breakfast too!

I thought that it would take a little longer, that it might not be this early on but it's undeniable... it's noticeable, it's real and it's happening.... the days here in Canada are beginning to get longer.
This is good.
This means that soon I'll be able to run again, even in the rain, without feeling totally frozen.  It means that I'll be getting out the bike and tuning her up for our first ride of the year.  It means that someday soon it might not take 5 minutes just to get dressed to go outside (double that if you have kids, at least).  It means that soon I might actually entertain the thought of going out to do something fun after I've come home from work rather than staying home and curling up on the couch (although, that's really fun too).  In short, it's the first sign that we get here in T.O. that winter just might not last forever.
As you can tell, I'm feeling more upbeat than I have in a long time.  The fact that we've gotten more sunshine in the last three days than we did throughout the entire month of January is contributing significantly to my mood.  Also a big contributor: February is a blessedly short month and we're almost halfway through.  It also means that Valentine's day is almost over with...
I'm going out this weekend to purchase Valentine's day cards for Kid #1 and #2 to take to their class on Monday.  Thankfully, their teachers are not holding any big party or anything.  I haven't made anything special for the day and I don't plan to.  You won't find any heart shaped cookie, cake or confection here. I'm not making a special dinner for D or anybody else.  We aren't buying flowers or chocolate or motorcycles for each either, in case you were wondering.  And really, I'm totally fine with that.


I did, however, see this recipe posted on a site that did more than catch my eye.  It caught both of them and a couple of limbs too.  I had to make this cookie.  Aimee's cookies look awesome... perfect... mine don't.  The taste though made me forget about how they don't look perfect and once they're in your belly you won't remember either.  In the post, Aimee told us to try hard not to eat all of the dough.  Let me qualify here that I'm not a 'dough-eater' at the best of times... like never.  This dough?  Well, it was all I could do to keep it from walking into my mouth... I'm already thinking about cookie dough ice cream with this one.  It takes a little while for the cookie dough to set... think, 24 - 36 hrs!  Totally worth it though.  Even though every time I opened the fridge the dough was begging for me to take a little taste, just to see if it had totally set yet...



Chocolate, White Chocolate, Macadamia nuts, Browned Butter Cookies... adapted from Under the High Chair (thanks Aimee!)

1 cups unsalted butter
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla (YES!)
2 tbsp milk
100g milk chocolate, in chunks
100g dark chocolate, in chunks
100g white chocolate, in chunks
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, crushed into small bits

On the stove top, melt and cook the butter over med/low heat until it turns golden brown - will take about 7 minutes or so.  Set aside to cool.
In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.  Set aside.
In another bowl, cream together the cooled butter, brown sugar and sugar until it's well mixed and the sugar is dissolving just a little.  Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix till it's nice and frothy.  Add in the vanilla and the milk and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until everything is incorporated.


Stir in the dark, milk and white chocolate and the nuts.  mix well.

Observe said irrisistible dough

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 24 hrs.  36 hrs is best though (don't be disappointed though if, like me, you couldn't wait that long)
Preheat the oven to 375.  Spoon out the cookies and form them into balls which could be challenging with the choco chunks.  Place on a greased or lined cookie sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes but check things after 9 - just in case.
Remove from the oven and cool for a little on the cookie sheet.  Remove to cooling rack and cool completely.

Here you are, putting one into your mouth.

I needed something interesting to go with my beans, that's where this started...
I've been reading and hearing lately a lot about rising food prices worldwide.  Earlier this year I read a book called 'Empires of Food'.  The book follows the history of many major world civilizations and the congruence of their demise with the failure to keep up with food demand.  I know it makes me sound a bit like a geek but it was a really interesting book and one that keeps popping back into my mind as I'm reading and hearing about our own looming food problems.  The difference this time, as I read in the book as well, is that we are affected worldwide because of the intricate web of import/export.  Can we afford it?  Most of us probably can, especially in the western world.  However, not all of us can.  Many of us are already spending a large percentage of their income on food and in non-western economies (ie. not friggin' rich) the percentage of income spent on food is significantly larger again.
As I've been reading and hearing this stuff, I've been thinking again about the things that we can do to help change the system... all Matrix style.
There is still so much that I can do.  For example, I don't can my own food (except for the occasional jam and the two baskets of peaches that I did last summer), I don't buy organic milk and eggs (because - I tell myself - it's expensive and we use a lot of it right now), I still don't buy local bacon (yeah, I buy bacon) for the same reason.  There is a lot that has changed over the past two years but still so far to go.  Rather than feeling depressed at the thought of food costing more, I feel challenged and even inspired by it.  For me personally, it inspired to eat and prepare more meatless meals, to take more care about where I purchase my food - especially meat - and to take more advantage of seasonal foods.  I HOPE that we as a society can learn to use our food dollars to purchase whole foods that truly FEED us rather than fill a hole and that we can get even better about donating that healthy food to food banks or places that need healthy food to feed and support people that live in our own communities.  I'm always looking for new ideas and adaptations that I can make practically that will impact the way that we all eat... if you have some cool ideas then I would LOVE to hear them.


So... I made bean stew.  Then, I needed rice to go with the bean stew.  I also needed to use some things up so that they wouldn't go bad and subsequently go to waste (that's another thing I'm working on).  So, I gathered up some ingredients and tried my hand at 'throwing' something together.  It worked... I think.  Simple, healthy and tasty... yeah, it worked.


Kale and Rice Casserole
serves 6

2 - 2 1/2 cups rice cooked al dente (just under-cooked)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 rib of celery, diced
1 lg bunch of kale (about 4 cups) or spinach or mix it up
1 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt or ricotta or... you get it)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used medium cheddar)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tsp salt
3 good dashes of nutmeg

Ok...
Get a big, oven-proof pot heated up on the stove-top.
Put some oil or grease or something in the pot.  Add in the onion, garlic and celery and swoosh it around in the pot until the onions get clear and wilty looking.  Add in the kale and let the kale cook down for a couple of minutes (might need to turn the heat down just a bit).
Turn the heat down to low.
Add in the sour cream and milk.  Let that heat up a little bit.
Add in most of the cheddar and the parmesan.  Add the salt and the nutmeg (throw just a little pepper sauce in there if you like as well).
Add in the cooked rice and mix it all up.
Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top.
Bake it for about 25 minutes.
Serve... maybe with some beans....

I still haven't seen it.  This is terrible because I should see it.  I care about food a lot and I'm passionate about not just eating healthier for our bodies but for our planet as well...  but I'm afraid to watch it.  'Food inc.'  I've heard great things about it and I will watch it.  I guess that I feel like I already know a lot of the information that I'm going to hear and I'm not quite sure if I want to SEE that information in front of me... you feel me?
I have already resolved to make an even stronger effort to make the greater majority of our meals vegetarian.

I already buy as local as I can and make every effort to support farmer's markets and to also eat more responsibly grown food.

Food box contents this week

I already believe that the food industry is jacked up beyond belief and that more than any 'fat' we can put in our mouths it's all the chemical crap in the prepared stuff that's really killing us.  But still... I need to watch it.
What I've discovered recently though is that it's one thing finding vegetarian recipes.  They are pretty easy to find and there is lots of creativity out there.  Bean recipes though, well that's a little bit harder to find.  A lot of bean recipes are the same.  A lot of them are based on a mexican tortilla filling kind of theme.  To be honest, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for but if you've got some awesome recipes involving beans that are gonna blow my mind then please, let me know about it.  Around here, D is not a fan of chickpeas (channa if you are west indian) in the least.  So, I tend to stay away from it because the rest of us just can't eat it all.
This bean stuff just came about because I really wanted some beans.


I didn't want chili, I didn't want something that would feel somehow incomplete without salsa and tortilla's.  I just wanted beans.  Beans complete all on their own.  Beans that make me feel warm and yummy.

Black Bean Stew
serves 6

2 cans black beans (I used organic/low salt) only half the liquid drained
1 - 1 1/2 cups diced tomato (can use fresh or canned)
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 cups green pepper, diced (can use red or whatever if you've got it)
3/4 cup zucchini, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
3 lg cloves of garlic
2 bouillion cubes (I used vegetable ones)
salt
sugar
chipotle powder
marjoram
cumin
cardamom
paprika
nutmeg

Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Saute the onion, pepper, zucchini and celery in oil of some kind for a few minutes.  Once the onions begin to wilt a bit, add in the garlic and continue to saute.  After about 4 - 5 minutes, add in the beans and cook with the vegetables until the beans (and about half of the bean liquid) are heated through.  Add in the bouillion cubes and the tomatoes.  Bring to a low simmer.
Add in the salt, sugar or honey and all the spices.  Simmer at low heat for about 20 minutes.  Check the tastes and adjust as necessary.  Simmer for another 20 minutes or so.
Serve over rice.

I live in Toronto.  It's an ok place to live.  We have a good subway system.  We have lots of bike lanes.  We have wooded areas where you can run and walk and bike and picnic.  We have lots and lots of cultural stuff.  We have lots of areas in the city where you can get great stuff from other countries and lots of diversity in our population.  We have freedom, we have support systems for people who need it.  It's the place that we happily call home for now.  What we in Toronto don't do so well though is... snow.
I know.  I know!  We live in Canada and crap.  For some of you that might mean we live in igloos - just for the record I don't, neither do any of my friends or any one in this country that I've ever met... in my life.  We Canadians though should know what to do to deal with snow.  If you go out to Alberta or up to Quebec, hell, just about anywhere else in the province of Ontario even, they know what to do with snow.  Toronto... well, allow me to illustrate.  About 10 years ago we got a lot of snow in a 24 hour period and over the course of about 2 weeks we got about 80 cm.  That's a lot of snow, yeah, but our mayor called in the army to help us dig out.  The army for god's sake!  It's still a source of embarrassment for most Tdot residents and as far as the rest of the country is concerned we'll never live it down.


Most recently, ie. Today!, I'm home from work for the day, in the middle of the week.  The reason that I'm home is because all the schools have been closed.  They are not closed because we got a lot of snow, that we couldn't dig ourselves out, that we couldn't get to our cars, that we couldn't walk through... we closed our schools because we thought we were going to get a lot of snow... a whole 15 - 20 cm here in the city.  When we woke up this morning, thinking we were getting a lot of snow and closing our schools in anticipation, there was in reality about 8 cm on the ground.  So, here we go again being the brunt of jokes for the rest of the country... but really people, 8 cm!!!
Please don't misunderstand me and think that I'm complaining though because I got a day off work.  If living in a city that is the brunt of jokes for the rest of my country means that every time it snows, or even 'maybe will' snow, more than 10 cm that I get a day off work... well, then bring on the jokes!
Because this blog is called 'When I'm not at Work', here is what I did today instead of being at work...


Sausage Puffs aka Pigs in Blankets
made about 40 piggies

1 pkg ready made puff pastry (so sue me)
1 1/2 lbs sausage of your choice (I used mild italian), casings removed
1 small onion, diced
1 med/small carrot shredded
dash of nutmeg
1 egg
sesame seeds for topping


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.


In a bowl combine the sausage, onion and carrot with your hands until it's all squished together and stuck in your finger nails!  Add in the nutmeg (and maybe a dash of honey if you are feeling in the mood).  In a heated pot or caste iron frying pan, cook the pork mixture until the meat is cooked through.  Set aside.
Flatten the puff pastry on your counter and cut each piece (mine came in two pieces) lengthwise so that you have 4 rectangles.


In a small bowl, crack the egg and whisk it until the yolk is combined.  Keep nearby.
Have the sesame seeds ready.
Place a quarter of the meat mixture lengthwise on each of the 4 pieces of puff pastry.  Brush some of the egg on the pastry edges left by the meat.  Roll the pastry lengthwise, making sure that the edges are fairly secured by the egg.  Brush the top of each roll with more egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Cut each roll at about 1 1/2 inch lengths (unless you want 'em longer) and place on the cookie sheet.


Bake for about 20 minutes or until the puff pastry has puffed and is golden.
Cool for about 10 minutes before digging in...