Happy New Year everyone!!!

I'm off to do some pre-drinking before we go clubbing. Be safe tonight everybody, and best of luck for the new year!

Canadian Cooking for the win!

I used to work at the front desk of a travel hostel in a past life. Every now and again I'd have people who would ask me what Canadian food was, and once you got beyond Timbits, Poutine and Maple syrup, most people couldn't name anything. In actual fact, Canada is a buffet of culinary amazingness that never ceases to surprise me. For one thing, we have amazing fusion foods since we're so multicultural. Second, each region and province has their own traditions and staple ingredients that make a Sunday night's dinner all the more unique.
I think it's in my blood that I love coastal food. I was born in Vancouver in British Columbia to a pair of food-loving parents that took advantage of the local fare as much as possible where ever we've lived. I was lucky enough to do some traveling in Canada while I was working at the hostel and did a week long tour of the Maritimes. I cheaped out on a lot the things involved in the trip, I got the flight, tour and accommodations on sale so I could treat myself to the wonderful cuisine of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. I also lucked out and did my trip just as lobster and crab season crossed over each other. It was amazing.

It's been a few years since that trip, and I do miss the food a lot. Fortunately, I was in a Value Village a few months back and may have found the answer to my problem: "Nova Scotia Cooking" by Heather Mackenzie and Charles Lief. I finally got around to trying one of the recipes today now that I have a break from school. Herbed Biscuits! I think, if there are any left, they'll be great with tomorrow's planned dinner. 

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup milk
Full recipe makes 18, half recipe makes about 10.

In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Stir in herbs and spices.
Add butter and cut into flour mixture with a fork until it resembles a coarse crumb.
Add milk and stir gently, taking care to not overmix as biscuits will be tough,
Turn dough out onto a floured board and quickly knead 5 or 6 times. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick an use a floured biscuit cutter or glass to cut out biscuits.
Place on an ungreased baking pan and bake in preheated 400 f (200C) over for 15-17 minutes (My oven seems to be super strong, ten minutes was more than enough).

Time for a makeover!

Makeover!
I figured it was about time to bite the bullet and attempt to personalize the bog a wee bit. I'm not really tech oriented, so I figured this would take a fair amount of swearing to get right. I was right too. Half an hour and many tweaked filed later, I have a new picture to represent the blog! It's also another creative use for Christmas leftovers, since the picture is of a toasted turkey, panko broccoli and smoked Gruyere sandwich. Nice topper too. 

This is the slightly late picture of how I wrapped my family's presents this year. It kind of happened by accident to, I was watching a DVD of a TV program and decided to be slightly productive while I was watching it. What I didn't realize while I was cutting dozens of paper floraly bits was that the TV program was 5, 1 hour sections. I spent a lot of time in front of the television that night..

The presents look awesome though! This one is a CD for my Dad. Yay for double sided wrapping paper from Ikea!

X-Mas Dinner Aftermath

The Christmas dinner was a huge success! Everything was cooked perfectly and everybody ate everything, and had seconds! I don't have any pictures from the day, or the prep the day before since my roommate and I were a bit preoccupied, but one of our buddies took a lot of pictures to make up for it. I'm figuring it's in the 200+ range, including Triffle prep the night before. I'll put some of them up when I see his copies up in the book of face.

An issue now of course, is leftovers. I've been snacking on the extra roast potatoes for the last day or two since they taste great cold, and the leftover Triffle was my breakfast the day after dinner. I was able to use the extra egg whites from the Triffle and some of the leftover panko broccoli to make a really mice scrambled egg breakfast this morning. Real easy too, just flash the broccoli in some olive oil over medium heat and pour in the egg whites. Already had the garlic in it!

To celebrate the end of the Christmas dinner, I decided to make another mess in the kitchen and attempt to make fudge for the first time! I found this great recipe by Andrew Lewis of Up Craft fame, featured on the Craftzine website. Not only was the recipe for regular vanilla and chocolate fudge, he includes variations for chili chocolate fudge, whiskey and rum! I decided to try the rum fudge as a present to some of my friends this year. The original recipe can be found here!

Rum Fudge:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup of evaporated milk
8 tbsp of unsalted butter
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
4 tbsp rum

Directions:

Step 1: Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan, with the exception of the rum, whiskey, and vanilla essence, if you are using it.

Step 2: Fill a bowl with cold water and place it near to the stove. You will need this water later on.

Step 3: Bring the saucepan slowly to the boil, stirring the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon. Boiling the mixture too quickly can cause the sugar in the mixture to stick and burn, so take it slow and steady.

Step 4: Keep the mixture at a steady boil, stirring all the time. If you stop stirring even for a few seconds, the mixture will stick to the pan and start to burn.

Step 5: After a while, the mixture will start to thicken and will leave a thin, glossy coating on the back of a wooden spoon. You may also notice that the boiling becomes slightly less vigorous, with fewer bubbles on the surface of the mixture. These are both signs that the fudge is almost cooked, and it usually takes between 10 and 30 minutes of boiling time to reach this stage.

Step 6: Test the consistency of the fudge by dripping a small amount of it into a bowl of cold water. If the mixture forms a soft ball or tear-drop shape as soon as it hits the water, then the mixture is cooked and can be removed from the heat.

Step 7: If you are using vanilla essence or rum, stir it in now. Be aware that the boiling temperature of the rum is lower than the boiling temperature of the sugar, so it will boil as soon as you add it to the fudge mixture. Make sure there are no naked flames nearby that could ignite the alcohol vapors.

Step 8: Allow the fudge mixture to cool for 5 minutes, and then begin beating air into it with a wooden spoon. Continue beating until the texture of the fudge becomes slightly grainy and stiff. This will take approximately 20 minutes, and the exercise will do wonders for your tennis serve.

SAFETY NOTE: In case you are wondering why I do not recommend using an electric beater to do this job, it is because at this stage of the fudge making process, you are essentially working with molten sugar. An electric beater can easily throw molten sugar out of the mixing bowl, resulting in serious burns.

If you choose to ignore the risk of serious burns (and take sensible precautions against molten, airborne confectionery), you will find that an electric beater will take about 5 minutes to whip the fudge to a much lighter consistency than is possible with a wooden spoon. (Take heed to this warning! Fudge seems to retain heat for a very long period of time and can still burn after being long removed from a heat source)

Step 9: Line a suitably sized baking tray with parchment paper, and pour the fudge mixture in. Let the mixture cool, and then divide into bite-sized pieces. It is easiest to cut the fudge into squares while it is still slightly warm, and then wait for it to cool completely before turning the pieces out onto a plate.

If your fudge doesn't set solid, there is no need to panic. You can just pop it back into a saucepan, boil it for a few more minutes, and then repeat steps 8 and 9.

After the fudge had been sitting in the baking tray for about a half hour I put the whole thing in the fridge to aid with the setting up. I am really happy with my first fudge attempt, it came out really well and tastes amazing! This is coming from someone who isn't a huge fan of rum too! I'm sure my friends will be quite happy.

Christmas Update!

I'm on holiday!! Finally!! Sleep.

First things first, getting those Christmas cards out. I love getting handwritten cards from my relatives, and I love sending them. Every year in the week after Christmas my Mom and I wander through the local Chapters and get all the Christmas cards packs for 30-50% off. As long as you remember which relative gets which card and avoid giving them the same one next year, it works quite well.

Second, the menu for our Christmas dinner party has been decided!

Turkey

Candied Yams

Roasted Potatoes

Salad with homemade Caesar dressing

Asparagus

Panko Garlic Broccoli

Raspberry 'Triffle' and assorted wines, teas and coffees for dessert

My roommate is in charge of the turkey, as per usual, since I've never had turkey for X-mas during my lifetime. Neither of my parents liked it, so it was never served to myself or my sister. I still get strange looks from people when I tell them I've never had turkey for Christmas or Thanksgiving. I'm doing the Panko Broccoli and the 'Triffle,' both recipes that have been made in my family for a while now. Triffle has been a festive, holiday dessert for many years and I always look forward to it. Now, to see if I make it properly... the bright side is that I can make it the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight for maximum rum soakage.

D.I.Y. Photography HARDCORE!

Over the last month or so, I have been working on a big project from my 19th century photographic processes and materials class. We were instructed to experiment and recreate a 19th century photographic process, and keep it as close as possible to the traditional process. We had some of our presentations today, and we've got a wide range of photographs, everything from ambrotypes, tintypes, calotypes and albumen prints. I am so glad my presentation is done and I can hand in my lab book tomorrow. So tired.... and woozy from a variety of funky chemicals.

I decided to make tintypes! Myself and my group members made a whack load
of unique, one--of-a-kind photographs on metal plates. I made the main decision to do photographs on metal plates since I figured that using glass plates (like in Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes) and being a klutz probably wouldn't go well together. Turns out that that was a good decision, since in one day our glass varnish bottle exploded and the glass mortar and pestle fell apart in my hands. We weren't having the best luck that day.
This is a real, 19th century tintype, eg, what it's supposed to look like! Note the hand tinted rosy cheeks to make "Grandma Carmen" look less dead!

This project had us using the 19th century process as much as possible, and in our case we made our own emulsion and developer from scratch. We used a few ready-made chemicals and materials, mostly the pre-cut metal plates and commercial rapid fix. There was a fair amount of trial and error involved in this project, we have a lot of messed up plates.

Mmmmm... Developer.

I started with a colour photo I happened to have had lying around at the time, I think my final results turned out fairly well.

Yep, the tintype is reversed. Generally speaking, there was a bit of a loss in detail, the lighting effects on the wall are completely gone. Still looks awesome though, I'm quite quite happy with it.

The best part about this whole thing, it means I've only got one last assignment before I'm done for the semester! Thankfully we got an extension on this essay, since it was supposed to be due on the same day as this presentation. I probably wouldn't be alive at this point had I had to do both for today. My consumption of real food has gone down in the last few weeks with crunch time. Still eating well, but the time to cook fun or new stuff hasn't existed in a while. Starting this upcoming weekend though, back to real food and crafts! My roommate and I plan to have a Christmas dinner party before she heads back to the island for the holidays. Updates will come soon with the menu plan!

One of Kind Show!!!!

It's that time of year again! One of a Kind is back! And it was awesome!

 http://www.oneofakindshow.com

(Click the link, don't bother clicking the image since I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to making linkable images.)

I refueled some of my favorite gourmet goodies and got some fun bits and pieces from Canadian Artisans. I got some great stuff altogether, and I'm eating some of it rather quickly, so I'll just give the links to the food for now... I may not have time to take pictures of it. Not at the rate I'm going.. Garlic Bread for the next week!!

Food!!

Maple Fudge. Need I say more? You can shop online directly from their website!
Bruce County Nut and Fudge Company: http://nutandfudge.com/

Stilton and Rosemary Shortbread Cookies. Oh yeah, cheese and herb cookies. Soooooo good. You can order from the website (sort of), but it's usually easier to catch these guys at the various craft shows they go to. They're nice enough to have a list of them on their website.
Coach House Shortbread Company: http://www.shortbread.ca/

The Ultimate Garlic Spread (Garlic Butter). This is the amazing garlic butter that I love to make garlic bread and garlic broccoli pasta with. Fresh Ontario garlic for the win. You can hop online for all of their products, and you can find a lot of them at fine foodie places in Toronto!
The Garlic Box: http://www.thegarlicbox.com/

Fun, Funky Stuff!


I finally got my metal sign! I tried to buy this last year but they had run out. They have a list of retailers and do craft shows.
"Free your inner psychopath"
Art in Iron: http://www.artiniron.net/

Fish Art!! A conniving fish and a lost fish are two paintings by the wonderfully cottage inspired, Kevin Roach. I discovered that we had actually admired a piece of his over the summer at a friend's coworkers cottage, and he knew them as well! Small world.
Roach Tackle Folk Art: http://www.roachtackle.com/

Fish tea towel! I seem to have had a fish themed afternoon. It's a lovely linen tea towel with a silk screened fish pattern throughout. Made by the lovey and talented Jocelyne Mange form North Vancouver, she's a brand new vendor to One of a Kind and doesn't have a website yet. She's at the show for the entire duration though, so you can check her out!

Last but not least, a stuffed moose head.
Yep. This one's smiling too. It's a small, wool felted moose head, complete with antlers, on a real wood mount! He's amazing, and he's going into my living room very soon.
Felt Factory: http://www.feltfactory.com/

I will post pictures of stuff soon! Most likely when it goes up on a wall and can be photographed properly. For the time being, I need a foot soak. It's a long show on concrete floors, its only flaw.

Roast Chicken Dinner

Canadian Thanksgiving was well over a month ago, but we have a lot of Americans in my class who are celebrating their Thanksgiving today! I didn't really need an excuse to make a roast, but this seemed as good as any.

Two chicken legs with thighs
2-3 white or yellow potatoes cut to equal sized chunks
red or yellow onion that has been cut into equal sized chunks
4 or more white button mushrooms
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 twigs of fresh rosemary (Finally using my rosemary plant!)
Olive oil

Toss the potato chunks in a little olive oil and place in square casserole dish with one twig of rosemary. Cover with tinfoil and cook at about 375 C for 30-45 minutes (I do this recipe a bit by eye, and every oven is different. The main thing is that the potatoes always take longer than the chicken, so get them in first while prepping the bird.).

Meanwhile, cut onions, wash mushrooms and set aside. Gently open the skin on the chicken so that you have a pocket, don't take the skin off completely. Drizzle a little olive oil inside and place half the garlic under the skin. Rub the garlic into the chicken, pushing it into the legs and place one of the remaining two twigs of rosemary. Repeat with other leg and set aside.

Once the potatoes have started to soften up a bit on the outside, push them to the side of the casserole dish and arrange two legs of chicken in middle. Arrange the mushrooms and onions around the edges, recover with tinfoil and put back in the oven.

Cooking this can take anywhere from 1-2 hours ish, so keep an eye on it. As the chicken cooks, rotate the casserole and using a turkey baster, bring some of the liquid in pan over the veggies and chicken. Make sure meat is white and juices run clear when chicken is pierced.

When chicken is done, pull out of casserole, cover and set aside on a plate. Return potatoes to oven uncovered for a final quick crisping.

Enjoy the roast! I certainly did. Leftover over roast potatoes the next day are amazing.

Quickie dinner that makes great leftovers.

One of my favorite dinner items that was an experiment years ago as become a staple in my diet. I love fried rice, I usually get chicken when ordering from a Chinese restaurant, however a few years ago I tried Crab fried rice. It was amazing! Why did I not eat this before?!

I have since discovered my own recipe for crab fried rice. I cheat because I'm cheap and use pollock (fake crab), which I think works just as well.

Fried rice with crab
Ingredients
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled
large pinch of salt
3 tablespoons oil
1 egg
1 cup cooked jasmine rice (I use Uncle Ben's converted white rice, and make the the 2 serving portion)
large pinch of ground white pepper
larger pinch of white sugar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 spring (green) onions, cut into 1 cm (1/2 in) lengths
100g (3 oz) cooked crabmeat
1 tablespoon coriander leaves (I ignore this)

Preparation
Mince garlic with salt. Heat oil in a wok and fry garlic until fragrant and beginning to colour. Crack in the egg, allowing the white to firm before scrambling. Add rice and turn down the heat. Fry gently, mixing and tossing. Season with pepper, sugar and light soy sauce: the rice should be well seasoned, but not too salty. Add spring onions and, after a moment, the crabmeat, reserving a little to sprinkle over the finished dish, along with coriander.

I've made this recipe so much that I don't measure anything anymore, with the exception of the rice to cook it in the microwave. I eyeball everything and it works quite well for me. It's also the only thing I cook in my Ikea wok, worth the $7.99. I usually up the ingrediant quantities to make a larger batch so I have lunch for the next day.
I think I found this recipe on the Canadian Living website, but I can't find it anymore, sorry!

Tomato update, and a late Diwali post!

Shubh Diwali everyone!


Yes, it's a little late, but I did make this recipe on November 5th, I just haven't posted it until now. To celebrate Diwali and to remind myself of my time in Mumbai, I made Saag Paneer. I was also able to use my first major harvest of my tomatoes!

Sadly, I don't remember where I got my specific recipe from, but Google is a wonderful thing in finding some.


Saag Paneer


2 bunches of spinach, cleaned and trimmed
2 tbsp veggie oil (don't use olive oil, it will affect the flavour a bit)
3/4 tsp cumin seeds (similar measurement of cumin powder works well)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 tsp finely grated ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander (something I don't like, and leave out)
2 tsp of ground Indian hot pepper, or 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander (put this in!)
1/2 tsp of tumeric
pinch of cinnamon
3 plum tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped (they're fine with the peel on)
1/3 cup plain Balkan yogurt
2 tsp of lemon juice
3/8 tsp garam masala (bit more)
8 oz of Paneer!

 

SPINACH!!

In large pot of boiling salted water, blanch spinach just until wilted; drain, chill under cold water and drain again. In food processor, purée spinach with 1/4 cup (50 mL) water; set aside.

In large deep skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook cumin seeds until slightly darkened, about 10 seconds. Add onion and butter; cook until onion is golden, about 8 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium; stir in garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Stir in fresh coriander, hot pepper, salt, ground coriander, turmeric and cinnamon; cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring, until tomatoes break down, about 3 minutes.

Stir in puréed spinach; cover and cook, stirring occasionally and adding 1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 25 mL) water if mixture is no longer saucy, until steaming hot, about 3 minutes.

Stir in yogurt, lemon juice and garam masala; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low; add paneer. Cover and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. 

Soooo good. Love Paneer. This dish is great fresh and equally good reheated the next day for lunch!

Window Gardening

I live in an apartment on the 14th floor of a high rise. Lovely views, and a balcony, which has enough room for a few plant pots. They would be out there.. except that it's a corner balcony and the cross wind is pretty horrific. I've tried to have plants out there in the past, and I've been lucky to find them still within my balcony railings. So, my beloved herb collection has been moved indoors and has taken over our living room windows.

This year's crop includes the usual Basil, Rosemary and Chives. As extras, my Mom gave me a dark opal Basil and I found a tomato plant for $2. They've done really well this year, the Basil is about 3 feet tall! I've also managed to get a second harvest out of the tomato plant! I've been feeding it tea water for months, which according to many sources is a great fertilizer for tomatoes. It hasn't hurt it, and I drink a lot of tea, so it's always readily available.

 

They're starting to get a bit old. I need to do some research into how to dry herbs for later use, see if I can salvage some of them.

D.I.Y. Post! And an apology of sorts.

Firstly, I have discovered a slight flaw in my whole plan about documenting my crafty makings. Specifically, I have realized a flaw that will last about 2 years. I just started a Masters program and it's a wee bit work heavy. My posts may get a bit further apart, but at least I'll be testing out more fast, easy and cheap recipes to make up for it.

That aside, I have my first D.I.Y. post!
My bathroom sink drains at roughly the speed of ketchup so I figured it was about time for a clean and drain. After poking around with a wire coat hanger to pull some hair out (ick, and there ARE uses for those 'evil' wire coat hangers), I did some research on how to make your own draino. This isn't because I am overly environmentally conscious or a greenpeacer, it's because I'm cheap. I was pleased to find this recipe by the lovely and talented Sayward Rebha over at Bonzai Aphrodite, that uses nothing but vinegar, baking soda and boiling water.

I'm quite pleased with the results! My sink actually drains now, so I really can't complain. Here's Sayward's post on her blog! Check out her chickens too, they're pretty cool.

http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/2009/06/natural-homemade-drain-o-or-how-to-unclog-without-chemicals/


Going back to my previous comment, I've finished my first week of class and I think I need to plant a tree or two to make up for the amount of photocopied articles I've received since Monday. There's a stack an inch and a half tall of paper by my desk right now. I have since discovered an awesome service that the City of Toronto offers that I may take advantage of to make up for my educational needs!

http://www.toronto.ca/trees/tree_planting.htm

They'll actually GIVE you a tree or a shrub to plant, along with planting advice! Sweet deal! I just need to get a place with a lawn and I'll be set.

Pizza!!!

  It's pizza night! And by night, I mean when I have pizza dough and lots of vegetables. I like my crust thin, my sauce is pesto and my toppings are piled high. It's a bit messy, but tastes great.

Ingredients:

Half a pack of pizza dough, thawed out and left on the counter for about 20 minutes (take it out of the fridge and cut your veggies while you wait)
Olive Oil
Pesto or pizza sauce
Loads of toppings (I use red onions, mushrooms, spinach, peppers some times, ham, salami, pepperoni, cheeses like marble or provolone)

Stretch out pizza unto a pizza pan lined with parchment paper that's been drizzled with olive oil.

Spread with pesto or sauce. Add all toppings and cheese.

Bake in 400˚C oven for about 15 minutes, or until crust is crisp and cheese is bubbly.. Keep an eye on it and turn regularly.

Instant and Homemade

Some nights I really can't be bothered to properly cook. Some nights I can be semi-inspired to make something instant while actually making a side dish. It has been one of those choice b) nights. The main was a Chicken Kiev from M&M's Meatshops and I made some spiced potatoes as a side. I've been making this recipe for a while now, and it's a bit different every time. I eyeball it, and I recommend you do too, since you can alter the taste to suit you.

*Please note that the chicken is cooked and not pink, just poor camera settings on my part.

Spiced Potatoes

Ingrediants:

One Potato
A bit less than 1/2 a teaspoon each of preferred spices, coriander, cumin, tumeric and curry powder are a great start.
Dash of Olive Oil
Half an Onion, yellow or white.

Clean potato and peel if desired. Chop into 1cm thick-ish pieces and place into mixing bowl.

Add desired spices to bowl and toss potatoes to coat. Add olive oil and toss.

Place on foil lined baking tray and baked in 400˚C oven for about 30 minutes, or until, when tested they have a crispy outside and tender inside. I bake them right next to the Kiev for about the same time, works fairly well.

Meanwhile, chop onion. Add more olive oil to a frying pan and quickly fry onions on medium heat. When onions are almost soft and cooked, added potatoes to give final crisp to them and extra flavour. Chuck on the plate and you have a side dish!

Lemony Pea, Leek and Spinach Soup

New soup recipe!
A very simple recipe from Canadian Living I found recently. A good late in the week dinner that make enough for lunches over the weekend. It tasted a lot better fresh though, and with toasted cheesy bread. The bonus was that I had almost all of this stuff already from other recipes I have been making during this past week!

Lemony Pea, Leek and Spinach Soup

roll over and click star to rate

By Alison Kent and The Canadian Living Test Kitchen 

Once the peas and spinach are heated, it's best to serve this soup right away to retain its vibrant green colour and flavour.

This recipe makes 8 servings

Ingredients

2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) butter
2 2leekleeks, thinly sliced
2 2potatopotatoes, peeled and diced
3 3cups cups(750 mL) (750 mL) sodium-reduced chicken broth
1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) salt
1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) white pepper
1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) fresh peafresh peas or thawed frozen peas
3 3cups cups(750 mL) (750 mL) loosely packed spinach leaves, thinly sliced
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) lemon juice

Preparation:

In large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; cook leeks, stirring often, until softened but not coloured, about 6 minutes.

Add potatoes, broth, 2 cups (500 mL) water, salt, and pepper (if using); bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes. (Make-ahead: Let cool; refrigerate in airtight container for up to 2 days.)

Stir in peas; simmer until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in spinach and lemon juice. 

Additional Information:

• Variation
  Puréed Lemony Pea, Leek and Spinach Soup: In batches in blender or in food processor, purée soup until smooth. Reheat to serve.

 Mmmmmmm.... Cheesy Bread and Soup.

The original posting on canadianliving.com:
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/lemony_pea_leek_and_spinach_soup.php

Second food post! And a baby! Not mine, may I add.

I'm lovingly known as Nanny to a few people's progeny. Today was a confirmation of such as myself and a friend were visiting another friend's new baby girl, Matilda! I felt that cookies were in order to celebrate the visit. I broke out one of my Canadian Living cookie recipes and made up a batch of Lemongrass-Ginger Cookies. They have a really fun, different cookie flavour and are a really simple recipe to make! Barely takes ten minutes to bake.

Before we even start, a quick tip. Cheat, and get the pre-cut and prepared Lemongrass and Ginger, such as those from Gourmet Garden. It makes life unbelievably easier and they keep in the fridge for a long time, so you can get multiple uses out of the one tube.

Lemongrass-Ginger Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp each: lemongrass paste, ginger paste

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Icing sugar for dusting

-In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and two pastes. [I use a wooden spoon, with room temperature butter this works fine]

-In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. 

-In two additions over low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until just mixed.

-Drop batter by tablespoons 2 inches apart on to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake in batches in preheated 350F oven 7 to 8 minutes or until just set.

-Let cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

-Using fine mesh strainer, dust cookies with icing sugar.

-Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Makes about 24.

This is the batch prior to being sugared, packed up and devoured by nannies and hosts. I don't have any pictures of that, we were a bit distracted by baby. Also, please excuse the poor photo quality of the baby pictures. Again, a bit distracted.

She's a cutie.

First Food Post!!

My dinner this evening is a recipe that I have shamelessly stolen from a recipe found on the Toronto Star website. It's basically a fancy grilled cheese that uses two of my favorite things in the culinary world, mushrooms and garlic. It also has apples, and apples and cheese is always good!

Grilled Cheese with Mushrooms & Green Apple

1 tbsp (15 mL) each: olive oil, butter

6 oz (170 g) cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced [Can throw in white mushrooms as well]

1 clove garlic, minced

Kosher salt + pepper to taste

4 slices sourdough bread (from the middle of loaf) [I use white bread since I can't go through an entire loaf of sour dough before it goes off]

8 tsp (40 mL) mayonnaise (preferably Hellman’s)

4 sprigs thyme [I have used dried thyme and just sprinkle it over the Mayo side of the bread when the sandwich is on the pan]

6 oz (170 g) old white cheddar, sliced

1/4 Granny Smith apple, cored, thinly sliced

In large fry pan, heat oil and butter over high heat. Add mushrooms. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in garlic. Cook until mushrooms are browned and tender, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay out bread. On one side of each slice, spread 2 tsp (10 mL) mayo and press with thyme sprig. Flip two slices over and arrange single layer of cheese on top. Top with cooked mushrooms then apple. Place another layer of cheese on top of apple. Top with bread slices, thyme facing out.

Heat large cast-iron skillet or fry pan over medium-high. Add sandwiches. Cook until bottoms are nicely browned. Turn heat down to medium; carefully flip sandwiches. Cook, pressing down with spatula, until other side is brown and cheese has melted. Remove and discard thyme. Cut in half and serve.

Makes 2 large servings.

I half the recipe and make a lunch or one serving of dinner. Throw some cherry tomatoes and some chips on the side = awesome dinner!

Original posting to The Star: http://www.thestar.com/living/food/recipes/article/800397--grilled-cheese-with-mushrooms-green-apple