Apple Pie

I made apple pie for the 1st time today. It turned out great. A bit to sweet for my taste- next time I will put less sugar and it will be fantastic... maybe a bit more cinnamon.

I made the dough and filling from scratch. The recipes I got from a couple of sites which I will link:

The crust and the filling turned out nicely. The crust was a bit tricky since it was the first time I did it. I have a good idea about it now.

I hope the people at work like it, as I intend to bring it to work.

Until later.

Thanksgiving

I haven't decided if I want to make something for thanks giving this year. Although I am grateful for my family and my friends- I really don't want to make a big hoopla of it. I am going to find a good recipe to make and have dad over for a drink and a nice meal.

I have that Donna Hays magazine with that chicken recipe that I want to try but I also want to try the Beef Bourguignon recipe from Julia Childs book and the movie. Maybe I'll do that. I will keep you posted and hopefully I will have pictures to post.

I am jealous at all the blogs that are up and running that have pictures. Envious! I will attempt!

Until then...

Lentil Croquettes

I made lentil Croquettes tonight. I found the lost food processor in the back of my cubbord and thought I should put it to use.

They were good but I don't have the spoon technique down pat yet. I will figure it out though.

Yummy!

Chicken Soup

Been feeling under the weather these days and since mom doesn't live in the province- I had to make the soup myself. Put it this way- it's not mom's soup.

I didn't do groceries this weekend but had carrots and onions, chicken and some herbs-freshly dried rosemary, some parsley and oregano...

Threw it into the pot with some boiled chicken breasts bone in... and some rice, yellow lentils, a cut up sweet potato, and some of those little italian pasta dots... (not sure what they are called).

The only thing I didn't have was CELERY! The only thing that matters in chicken soup.

Anyhow, the soup did the trick - I am feeling better and that is what matters.

Sunday night

Today I decided to defrost the last pork roast that I had in the freezer. It smells so good!

I cut some baby potatos in 1/4s and threw in some whole peeled tomatos (from can- the Aurora ones are the best tasting-)

with some oregano, parsley and dill... with a whole lotta garlic

I will make some rice with it.

That's all.

I love my appartment when it smells like food.

Bye for now.

recipe that just happened

Hi all,

I was some hungry after class tonight that I came home and threw all my left overs into the oven. Holy cow- my meal was fantastic! If you don't mind having a mix of differnt tastes

I had left over cabbage rolls that I made a few weeks ago (defrosted of course) and boiled some potatos Sunday night with onions, rosemary, salt & pepper to taste with olive oil. That was great, I came home tonight and realized that I couldn't let my cabbage rolls go to waste.... No sir! So since I also had some chicken left over from another meal, so I threw that into my pan with the cabbage rolls, potatos and some spicy hotpeppers in oil from turkey...

Heated it for about a half hour on 350 degrees C.

Man was it good!

Lazy Lazy Lazy

So I had wonderful intentions this morning after my migraine went away- the spicy chicken thingy I wanted to do for dinner hasn't happened and the muffins I mad for my friend are baking BUT, I forgot that the muffin pan is for 24 mini muffins so I had to finish the rest of the muffin slots with an instant mix. :( Slightly embarrest. That's alright, I will keep them for me!

I hope the cooking time is good for the both recipes - I forgot about that!

Either way, good intentions right?!

Crispy Southern Fried Chicken

I have been wanting to try this recipe since I bought the magazine over a month ago. So, here it goes. I will try it tonight for dinner-

From DONNA HAY magazine Issue 44 p.113.

1x 1.5 kg whole chicken, jointed (Cut at each joint p.119 if you have this magazine)

2 cups (500ml) buttermilk

1/4 cup chopped chives

sea salt and cracked black pepper

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain (all purpose) flour

vegetable oil, for deep-frying

spicy salt

2 tablespoons sweet paprika

2 tablespoons dried mixed herbs

1 tablespooon brown sugar

1 tablespoon onion salt

2 teaspoons chilli powder

1 teaspoon celery salt

To make the spicy salt, place the paprika, mixed herbs, sugar, onion salt, chilli powder and celery salt in a bowl and mix well to combine.

set aside.

Place chicken, buttermilk, chives, salt and pepper in a bown and toss to coat. Cover and refigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F).

Place the flour and spicy salt, reserving 1/4 cup of salt, in a bowl and mix well to combine.

Drain chicken and toss in the flour mixture shaking off any excess.

Heat oil in a larg, deep saucepan over medium heat unitl hot.

Cook chicken, in batches for 2-3 munutes or until golden and crispy.

Place on a baking tray and roast for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Drain onabsorbent paper and sprinkle with the reserve spicy salt. (Serves 6)

Now I am inspired to cook.. migraine is going away and I need to head out to the grocery store for some buttermilk

some unsalted butter and eggs for those muffins I want to make.

Keep you posted for the rest of the day!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Saturday Morning Migraine

Hello Folks,

I am uninspired for breakfast this morning as I have had a heavy duty migraine for the last two days. I need to eat or cook something to help me get rid of it but, I am uninspired.

Broke down to Plain toast and gonna try some coffee (sometimes it helps-hit or miss).

It is also my friend Pat's birthday and I tought I'd try to make him some muffins with a cream cheese topping... not sure how it will turn out... if and when I could get this migraine to leave this pretty little head of mine.

Cravings

Have you ever had a craving for something that won't go away until you have that particular thing? I have been craving dill pickles for the last 2 weeks now and have not had the chance to have one yet.

The pickles that I am craving are the ones that crunch when you bite into them and are very garlicy. I know that at Akhavan on Sherbrooke street in NDG they sell them loose- I haven't tried them yet but I will this weekend.

My cravings are random and not from pregnancy that's for sure but they creep up and hit me strong to the point that I can taste them. It's weird.

Just thought that I'd share that with you all... not that there is anyone reading this blog anyway... :(

Coffee, Pecan, and Maple cake - from Coffee indulgences-(susannah blake 2007)

Well, I didn't feel like making this cake but I wanted to try the new mini muffin pan I bought at 40% off... It is gorgeous.

The recipe that I made came from a book that I bought about a year ago on coffee- a book that makes things with coffee (deserts) I have yet to make anything from it unitl now. And of course I have modified my recipe -- as usual!

here is the recipe (p.17)

Coffee, Pecan, and Maple cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/4 cup self-rising flour (or add 1 tablespoon of baking powder to 1 cup of flour)

1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

Frosting

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons instant coffee disolved

1 teaspoon just boiled water

1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

pecans to decorate

(two 8 inch cake pans round, greased and basses lined with parchment paper) or a muffin pan with muffin linings.

-----

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the eggs- one at a time. Sift over the flour and fold in, then fold in the coffee and pecans.

Divid the mixture between the prepared cake pans ( my case the bran spanking new muffin pan :) ) spread in even layer. Bake for about 20 munutes until golden and a skewer ( toothpick) inserted in the center comes out clean.

Turn out onto wire rack and let cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the butter until creamy, then add the maple syrup and coffee and sift over half the confectioners' sugar. Beat together until smooth and cream, then gradually beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar.

Put one of the cakes on a serving plate and slice a thin layer off the top to create a flat surface. Spread slightly les than half the frosting over the top. Put the second cake on the filling and spread the remaining frosting over top. Decorate with pecans.

I tried a muffin and they aren't half bad. I really like them They made 23 small muffins.

I will be posting a picture of them. :) please let me know if you liked the recipe...

Research paper for CLAS 298G

We have a project to do for class - it is basically picking a foodstuff in the Greco-Roman antiquity period and "trace its use from earliest deomestication/agricultural expoitation, through production its use/consumption, storage, and trade" (syllabus- Dr. Jane Francis Clas 298G/2)

any ideas? I was thinking coffee. Greek coffee. :)

Hungry now~

Dinner for tonight:

Plain rice with Chicken breast baked with bread crumbs and a special spice mix that I ground up in my mortar/pestle- a piri piri blend bought at the atwater market with my friend Caroline.

It's baking now and smells fantastic. Just a simple meal. Wish I had some olives though.

Labour Day in Montreal

My labour days consists of a lazy hazy day. Carefully planned and executed down to the finest detail of procrastinating and slacking off from house work and bed making!

I am surfing the net and trying to plan my school schedule for this semester- trying to decide if I should bring my laptop to school or use a note book. I know this is all very boring you but to those who get it - get it! I think that I will use my mac as I have become better at using the software at my disposal.

Another dilema that I am having is what to have for supper? I have just remembered that I have a chicken breast in the freezer and have taken it out for defrosting. It will be a mixed mash of ingredients - I forgot to do groceries this weekend. :( So, grilled Chicken breast with rice or maybe lentils.

The movie Julie & Julia

Ok, I have heard mixed reviews for this film and frankly I was truely surprised by it. I didn't know what to expect and was delighted to be inspired by such a film.

I have longed to learn how to cook and have reciently started - over the last new year 2009 my new year resolution was to cook a new recipe every week. I have tried to keep my recipes going - So, I haven't done a new recipe each week more like one or two new recipes every two weeks.

I am enjoying it to the fullest though.

I want to cook for my friends, family and hell even strangers but find myself with time scheduling problems. I will continue to cook as much as I can to improve myself and my cooking abilities. Julie & Julia was truely a fantastic film and it will be on my shelf as soon as I could get my hands on a copy.

I was supposed to go away for the weekend - plans changed and I find myself here in good ol' Montreal wondering what I should cook for dinner tonight and all I want to do is pick up a copy of Julia Child's book and start from scratch. Can't do it but I will certainly do my best to make something great tonight. I have plans on making something fantastic for the friend I was supposed to visit this weekend. Need to be prepared for that when the time comes.

My random thoughts must be getting to boring now- I will leave you and come up with a recipe that I will share with this blog soon.

Mmmm Yeah!

I don't want to be a chef!  I love cooking and eating of course, but what I like the most is watching people interact during the course of a meal.  How the body language changes and the looks that people make when they are eating or just comfortable with the people they are with while eating or drinking for that matter.

It took me a good long while to figure out what I wanted to study and to get a grasp on the food world.  Foodies, chefs and people who love cooking are fantastic, we are inventive, spontaneous and willing to stretch the boundaries of social and cultural barriers with food and drink.