I know.
Like I've never made it before and then all of a sudden I've made two in seven days.  That's just the way it rolls sometimes.  Nothing and then full on, out of control.
The reason that this happened was because we were having friends over for dinner.  I'm happy to announce to you all that this entertaining experience was a pleasant one for me.  Most of the work was done way ahead of time and I was able to eat and to enjoy friends without stressing about the food, fussing too much, losing my appetite and generally not enjoying myself.
I decided that rustic was the way to go for this one.  Shepherds Pie (with the successful addition of lentils to the meat mixture - yeah, I'm proud of that one too), Apple Galette served with homemade vanilla ice cream.  I made everything ahead of time enough that it just had to be heated and then served.  It worked perfectly.

Ok, so not ahead of time enough apparently.  This happened while I was in the kitchen... camera shenanigans.

I've been thinking a lot about this whole 'foodie' label thing lately.  Thinking about how I am kinda a food snob and then kinda not at the same time.  Sometimes when I tell people that I'm a food blogger or that I feel strongly about the food industry or that I simply refuse to eat food X then I feel kinda elitist.  The truth is though that I don't need exotic ingredients, expensive ingredients or recipes that are complicated or take hours of labour.  I DO need whole food, simple, real food.  I need food that tastes like it should taste, for real, and not how some lab made it taste.  What makes french food so wonderful is not the way they make complicated food taste good but the way that they can make such simple, everyday ingredients so delicious.  Rustic, delicious and simple.  Hence... Galette... again.  Crust. Apples. Cinnamon. Sugar.  Vanilla Ice Cream!
It was great to see our friends again and they brought a little something for us all to enjoy as well.

Truth be told, we had eaten quite a few already.

They also brought along the news that they will be 3 instead of 2 very soon, which is awesome news.


If we had known we would have popped a cork but then the one of us wouldn't have been able to drink the bubbly to celebrate and that just doesn't seem fair.  So that part of the celebration will wait until after #3 is here with us.  Instead of champagne we ate our shepherd's pie (multiple helpings and no leftovers thank you very much), had generous helpings of galette with a nice big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream sliding off the warm galette and laughed... a lot.


Apple Galette adapted from all over the place
serves 6

Filling:
6 apples or so, in slices for pie
2 tbsp brown sugar
dash of salt
splash of lemon juice (optional)

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold
2 tbsp ice water
1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Combine the flour and the salt.  Cut in the cold butter using a fork or a pastry cutter.  Once the butter is blended and the mixture looks crumbly then add the water and sour cream.  Using a spoon or your hands (yes!) to mix it into a ball.  If you need more water then add little by little until the dough forms an easy ball.


Refrigerate for at least an hour.  Before rolling you may want to take out the dough for about 10 minutes to soften up.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/4 inch thick and quite a circumference.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Carefully place the dough on a lined baking sheet (use parchment or a silicon liner).
Take the apple mixture and place it in the centre of the dough circle.  Spread out the apple leaving  3 inches or so at each edge.  Fold up the edges of the dough around the apples.


Brush the dough with melted butter and pour any remaining melted butter over the apples.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until the apples are bubbling and the dough is turning golden brown on the edges.
Cool for about 10 minutes.
Serve warm with homemade vanilla ice cream (is there any other way?)

I have a 10 year old kid.  We do well together.  I'm not always the world's greatest parent and she's not always the worlds best kid... so we're even and it works for us.  We like each other a lot.  We love each other in fact.


Tonight was a big night for me.  Kid #1 has been curious about cooking and baking for a long time and I involve both Kid #1 and #2 as much as I can.  I've been encouraging Kid #1 to get out some of her 'cookbooks' and start working them.  Tonight... she actually did it.
She has a goofy Roald Dahl cookbook.  It's pretty cool really.  The book takes excerpts involving food from Roald Dahl stories and creates recipes for the food.


Kid #1 decided that today she would make dinner and that dinner would be 'Hotel Breakfast' from Dahl's book 'Boy'.


She got out the ingredients.  She prepared the pan and turned on the oven.


The only thing that I had to involve myself in was turning the bacon in the pan while she cleaned up the floor after dropping an egg.  (One of the many lessons you learn while cooking is that you have to take your time, not try to do 10 different things at once and to zone out if necessary when one - or more - person is asking you a question). Oh yeah, I also helped with the oven inning and outing.
Without further ado, I proudly offer you Kid #1's first dinner... Hotel Breakfast

Kid #1 took this shot... a budding food blogger?

Eggs and Bacon from Roald Dahl's 'Even More Revolting Recipes'

6 slices of bacon
5 eggs
salt and pepper
2 1/2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Fry Bacon until it gets just nicely browned in a large caste iron frying pan that can go in the oven (watch the handle in other words).
Crack eggs in a bowl.  Mix them with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the milk and whisk for a minute.
Add the eggs to the frying pan, don't stir.  Sprinkle the shredded cheese on the top.
Leave on the burner for a minute.
Put the pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until it's puffy and golden on the top.
Remove from oven and cool briefly.

A girl very proud of herself.

It's amazing how just a few days (about 10 to be exact) can change so much.
It feels like spring.
It looks like spring.
It sounds like spring.
It's almost Easter.
The only thing that is still missing is food.  Some new potatoes, fiddleheads, asparagus, greens.  It will come... my chives are almost ready to start being harvested.  What I'm really trying to say here is that we are still eating cabbage, squash, rutabaga, turnip... you get the picture.
Looking back over the last four months I feel proud of myself.  I don't think that there has ever been a time in my life when I've cooked as close to the season.  It's been a huge shift for us and at the start I didn't know if everyone in the house would be as keen as I was.  The changes have been:
A. Eating more seasonal food, including squash, rutabaga, turnip, parsnip and winter greens.
B. Including more beans in our diet on a regular basis.
C. Shrinking our meat eating to one dish a week.


What I've learned:
1.  When I don't cook with meat I also don't need to worry about meat going bad in the fridge or taking it out of the freezer to thaw (that sounds kinda lame but it really was a nice discovery), coming home ready to cook and discovering that even though my brain thought it put out the meat in the morning it really didn't in reality and... you get the picture.
2.  When food tastes good most people (not Kid #2 however) don't care what's in it, or not in it as the case may be.
3.  When not cooking with meat I enjoy the vegetables more AND they work really well in group situations (ie. stew or casserole)

Buoyed by my seasonal success and cabbage and chard in hand I launched headlong into the world of 'galette'.  Galette sounds cool and french almost intimidating.  But... it's not.  It was easy.  The veggies worked well, the crust came together easily and it tasted good.  Not scary, very cool, tasty and seasonal... Yup.


Cabbage, Chard and Mushroom Galette inspired by Smitten Kitchen
serves 6

Filling:
2 tbsp butter
4 cups cabbage, sliced in thinish strips
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed... whatever
3 cups mushrooms, sliced in about 4 slices each
2 cups chard, sliced thin
1 1/2 tbsp thyme, dill
1 tbsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
dash pepper sauce or cayenne (to taste)
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1/3 cup grated cheese (your choice)
3 tbsp grated parmesan

In a large pot, heated over medium heat, add the butter cabbage, onion and mushrooms.  Cook together for about 7 minutes.  Turn the heat down to low and add the garlic and chard.  Cook together for another 7 minutes or until the chard is wilted.
Add the thyme, dill, paprika, salt, cumin and pepper sauce to the cabbage mixture.  Cook together for another 5 minutes (add a little more butter if you need to)
Add in the lemon juice, sour cream, grated cheese and the parmesan.  Mix well and let the cheese melt.  Check the tastes and adjust if necessary.  Set aside to cool.

Crust:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter in small pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
squeeze of a slice of fresh lemon
1/4 cup cold water

Combine the flour and the salt in a bowl.
Combine the sour cream, lemon and water in another bowl.
Add the butter to the flour and cut the butter in until it forms a good crumb.
Slowly add the sour cream mixture to the flour until it forms a nice ball.  Refridgerate for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
Roll out on a lightly flour surface until it's about a 1/4 inch thick.
Transfer the flattened dough to a lined baking sheet, the edges of the crust will hang over the sides - that's ok.
Spoon the filling into the centre of the crust, leaving about 4 - 5 inches all around the edge.  Fold the crust up over the sides of the filling.


Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is turning golden brown on the edges.
Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

I've got to update my 'favourite blogs' list.  I should do it right now.
In my internet travels over the last year and a half or so I have come across many sites that have interested me.  Some briefly and others have somehow managed to connect with me.  Well... the person writing the blog has somehow connected with me.  I feel connected to them... I don't know... it's weird.  Like I'm kinda reading someone's journal but it's what they want me to read but I still like them and I kinda think the same goofy things and I think that if we had the chance to hang out that we might get on well and maybe be cool friends that could be totally rad and laugh and shop together and do yoga classes and then our nails.  I don't know.... it's weird.  That's how I've grown to feel about this blog.
I just like her vibe and her food and that she likes/practices yoga and is a veggie (even though I'm only a wannabe) and lives in a cold place too and has kids... like I said... it's weird.
Dana blogged this post about date squares and how the recipe was all kinda jacked and how then she fixed it but was still pissed because, well, when you pay for a recipe book then the recipes should kinda work, right?  I hadn't really thought about dates squares before but I totally love them when I go to the bakery.  (BTW, I've had it with all the well known cafe/bakery crap out there.  I'm sorry... tastes like crap.  Hey Big Coffee Chains (you know who you are).  If you really want to boost the local economy then how about getting real, local bakeries to bake crap for you and selling it in your stores... like this place does?  Just a thought.)  So, I got the idea into my head.  It's been there for a while.  Just kinda bouncing around in the fog that is me. Waiting for a day when the fog may clear, the clouds may open and just maybe date squares would burst through.


Today, I made date squares.
I didn't make date squares with oatmeal, 'cause the big flaky stuff that I have didn't appeal and I don't have anything right now to whizz them down to a flour (don't ask about my kitchen gadget situation right now, ok).  I didn't make them with desiccated coconut 'cause that stuff makes me want to hurl (if the idea doesn't make you feel like lunch is coming back up then by all means add some in - I'll add it to the recipe).


I made the dates squares that Dana made first, and fixed.  So now I just want to thank Dana for fixing the  jacked date square recipe and not making date squares with oatmeal.  It was really awesome that you went through all that for me... I appreciate it.  And the date squares taste really good.


Date Squares (adapted from Dana Treat adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey - I never get the words in the right order)

Date Stuff:
1 lb of dates, pitted and chopped (I used organic Medjool)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water

Dough:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
(1 cup desiccated coconut)

Combine all the 'Date Stuff'' in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Turn down to low heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes or so, until the mixture has boiled down a bit and is quite gooey.  Set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
In another bowl cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add in the vanilla and salt and whisk together for a minute or so.
Gradually add in the flour, mixing well with each addition (I added a cup or so at a time) until all the flour is added.  (Add the coconut at this point if you wish).  The mixture should form a dough if you squeeze it together into a ball but still crumble easily.
Press about a 1/3 of the dough into the bottom of the greased baking pan.
Bake the pressed dough for about 20 minutes or until just barely browning on the edges.
Remove and cool slightly.
With a potato masher (the gadget situation again), mash the dates to get out any lumps.  Pour the dates over the bottom dough layer.  Spread it evenly.
With the rest of the flour (you might have to make little balls with it in your hands first - that's what I did) sprinkle it in largish chunks over the dates.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the edges are just nicely browned.  Feel free to sprinkle just a little more desiccated coconut over the top if you feel so inclined.
makes about 24 bars or 28 or so if you cut them small.

It's was impossible for me to imagine before kids entered my life just how difficult it would be to accomplish anything with them around.
Last weekend, for example, I made candies (fun times... ugh), cooked and did the laundry.  Maybe I got a clean bathroom in there too.  That's it though... for the whole weekend.  It sounds like so little and my house is a constant reminder of just how little it is.
Today was different.  Today was a sunny day.  Not only a sunny day but also a warm day.  Not only was it warm and sunny but it was the first day that I've had without kids (both of them) for more than a couple of house in months.
The reason is simple.  My Mother-in-law has returned.  My Mom-in-law returns to Trinidad (home for her) for 3 months every year.  Because she is a very wise woman she is in the Caribbean for Jan/Feb/Mar.   And why not.  Wouldn't we all choose to be somewhere else (read: warm) for those months if we had the choice?  Maybe not all of you I realize but I certainly wouldn't refuse it if it were available.  My Mom-in-law, when she is in T.O.  insists on taking Kid #1 and Kid #2 for an overnight every weekend.  We grudgingly accept and in turn get a night to ourselves once in a while.
Today was her first weekend back.
As a result of the absence of my two lovely children, my accomplishments since 3 p.m. this afternoon go something like this:

 - made this orzo crap


- made apple bread to give to somebody (as yet undecided)
- washed all my windows inside and out, on both floors (I'm not kidding)
- swept the floors and stairways
- gotten the laundry ready to go for tomorrow
- made date squares

I'm having trouble believing it too, even as I'm typing it out it looks ludicrous.  And there, my friends, is at least part of the reason why my house feels like a complete disaster.  I don't feel as guilty as I did just a day ago.  Now, I'm getting ready to go out for a while with D.  It feels weird after 3 months but we'll manage.

So, onto the food.  Orzo is kinda in between pasta and rice although it's classified as pasta.  I kinda made this up because we finished the last of the squash crap yesterday and well, we need to eat... and my window of opportunity isn't always as big as I'd like it to be.  So, it tastes good, it's creamy and has lots of veggies in it.  Make it veggie or carnivorous, the choice is yours...


Creamy Lemon Orzo with veggies and sausage
serves 6

1 lb sausage (I used organic herbed lamb - yum)
1 small onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 small zucchini in small slices
3 cups button mushrooms cut into thick slices
3 cups broccoli cut into florets
1 1/2 cups orzo
3 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup (plus a little extra) cream or milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (or so) cream cheese
juice from 1/2 a lemon (about a tbsp or so)
1 tbsp honey
salt to taste

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place the sausage on a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes or until just beginning to cook through.  Remove from the oven and cool slightly
Cook the orzo and the veggie broth together for about 5 minutes and set aside.
Saute the veggies together with some oil or grease just until the veggies are soft, about 5 - 7 minutes or so over med/low heat.
Place the veggies into a large baking dish.
Slice the sausage into 1/2 inch slices and add to the veggies.
To the orzo mixture add the cream, cream cheese, lemon juice, honey, salt (pepper sauce if you fancy ;-) and most of the parmesan (save some for sprinkling on the top - or screw it and use more).  Mix it all together until it's all a nice creamy saucy thing.
Pour the saucy orzo over the veggie/sausage thing.  Mix it all together well.  Sprinkle with the remaining (or additional) parmesan.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until nice and bubbly around the edges.
Cool for about 10 minutes before digging in.

Last week's food box contained a bag of turnip.  Let me just say that again.  A BAG OF TURNIP.

I was going to exchange it for something else.  I had my finger over the mouse ready to push that button... and then I didn't.  I thought at the time that I could do this.  I could totally do this.  I wasn't afraid of turnips.  I wouldn't let them intimidate me any longer.
The truth is though that I am afraid of turnips.  Turnips are intimidating.  They're kind of ugly (except for that nice purple colour at the bottom).  The word turnip is even ugly.  They're not like the best tasting veg out there either.  There's this nip to them that is an acquired taste.  They also never die.  They can live in your bloody crisper forever.  Mostly though, I just don't know what to do with them.  There don't seem to be any recipes with the word turnip in them that sound sexy, mysterious or intriguing.  I got lucky with this stew (and I'm pleased as punch with my success) but I do consider it a fluke.
So, having not pressed the magic 'go-away-and-never-be-seen' button, I got a bag of turnip.  I can honestly tell you that now, at the end of this week's food box, we have used the last of the bag of turnip. I ate turnip, D ate turnip and Kid #1 and Kid #2 (complaining bitterly through each of his 4 bites) ate turnip.  It's a proud moment.  Wanda 1/Turnip 0.


Last Thanksgiving my Mom made this stuff.


It's like turnip cake.  That's the best word I've got to describe it.  Look, seriously, it's got flour and bakign powder in it... it's cake.  It complimented the turkey and ham beautifully and elevated the humble turnip to a previously unimagined place.  What's more is that it was beyond easy to make and it's flexible which is a quality that I appreciate in a recipe.  I ended up swapping some of the turnip for parsnip and sweet potato.

Turnip/Parsnip Puff Cake
serves 4 - 6 as a side dish

3 ( - 4!) cups mashed turnip, parsnip (and a sweet potato thrown in there for good measure) still hot
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 eggs beaten
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg and cinnamon
crumble for the top*

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Add the butter and beaten egg to the mashed veggies.  Mix well
In an small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together and mix.
Add the flour mixture to the mash and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a smallish baking dish (square, round oblong - doesn't really matter just not a 9x13 size).
Sprinkle the top with crumble (or buttered bread crumbs would do nicely as well)
Bake for about 25 minutes or until it's nicely browned on the top and edges.
Cool for about 20 minutes before eating.

Here is my predicament.  We need to eat.
But I'm finding myself challenged by the veggies that are in my fridge.  Here's the list:

1 pkg button mushrooms
1 lg bag of turnips
1 parsnip
1/2 cup of cabbage

My pantry has potatoes, 1 acorn squash, 2 sweet potatoes... and I'm stuck.  I've been combing the net today looking for inspiration and I gotta tell ya that when it comes to turnips the inspiration is pretty meagre.  If anything, my experience over the last few months with squash and parsnips and rutabaga and turnip have convinced that there is a niche in the whole cookbook market for these veggies.  It's hard to find stuff and I've had to get creative in a way that I haven't pushed myself before.  I guess that I'm kind of proud of myself.  Duh, I'm proud of myself for cooking with vegetables that just two generations ago were what you ate to get you through the winter...

Onward and upward, I've taken out the mushrooms, cabbage, turnip and parsnip.  Scratch the mushrooms and parsnips.  I've decided to leave them for something else.  So I'm going with the cabbage (what's left of it) and the turnip.


I saw an interesting idea with turnip and chickpeas and this spice paste thing.  It said that the spice paste was Ethiopian.  I dunno, it just tastes good with all that crap in there.  I thought briefly about throwing some coconut milk in there but stopped myself this time around.  I would do it next time though.  Might be a nice addition.


I used Lima beans because... I had them.  What can I say?  If you do swap out the beans just make sure that they are beans that aren't too soft (or you could go the other way and do a split pea/dahl kind of thing - stroke of genius right there!)


What came out was an interesting stew that was chock full of taste.  It's really cool that the weird, somewhat spicy turnip taste was really well complimented by all that spice stuff.  You could totally use potato or sweet potato here but I like to think of this as the Canadian version.  So, yeah... another turnip recipe under my belt.  I'm gonna start writing that cookbook ;-)



Somewhat Ethiopian Spiced Turnip and Lima Bean Stew
serves 4 - 6

1/2 cup cabbage sliced about 2 cm thick
1 onion sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups turnips, diced
2 cups (about 1 small can) Lima beans, drained and rinsed
1 veggie bouillion cube
1 cup water
Spice Paste (below)

Spice Paste:

1 tsp each:
   cardamom
   coriander
   cumin
   fenugreek (I didn't have it though)
   nutmeg
   cloves
   allspice
   cinnamon
   paprika
   turmeric
   ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar or honey

Mix all the spices together in a bowl with the salt and sugar (if it's the honey then leave out just for a minute).  Add just enough water to form a paste (and add the honey once this is done).  Set aside.

Heat a large pot and add some oil.  Turn the heat down to med/low.  Throw in the onion, turnip and cabbage.  Let that stuff cook in the oil for a good 7 minutes or so.  Mix frequently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.  Add in the garlic and mix well.  Continue to cook for another 5 - 7 minutes.  Add in the lima beans and mix.
Add in the bouillion cube and the spice paste.  Mix well.  Add in the water and stir until everything is mixed well.  Simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes or until the turnip and cabbage are cooked through.
This tastes even better the next day so it's a great dish for leftovers or a make-ahead.