My Cinco De Mayo Table

We didn't have a party, or even special activities, we just ate a lot (an ample amount for a small family of four) of Mexican inspired foods. This was a mostly vegetarian spread except for the token meat- a mild chorizo, and gyulai sausage. We had cheese and bean Quesadilla's, fresh avocado, stuffed peppers, and a red cabbage Pico De Gallo that was recommended to me by my friend Tehlia over at Raw Adventures of an Army Wife.  Make sure you visit her blog to get the recipe! I served mine in warm corn tortillas, with sliced avocado, crumbled mexican style cheese and lime juice (Sorry T, I did the raw thing half way). 


Everything else I just kinda winged.

When my tots were just beginning to eat real foods I discovered that simple easy quesadillas were great. They were convenient tiny packets that could be hand held that I could pack with a variety of left over foods. I could even make then ahead and slowly bake them while I did other things!  For these I took two flour tortillas, lightly oil the outsides of each put one side down on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, Sprinkled  Monterey Jack cheese and a few cooked black beans and covered with the other one. Put it into the oven and baked at 375f until melted and turned once so that it got crispy on both sides.

Then for the stuff peppers, I hollowed out four peppers, two bells (for the tots) and two poblano peppers (husband and myself).  The tots version was simple, I filled them with a mexican style rice, a recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman, frozen corn and baked at 450f. Ours was a little more involved. And oh, so yummy!

Poblano Stuff Peppers and Mexican Rice

(Rice adapted from A Mark Bittman Recipe in his book The Best recipes in the World)

• 1 large tomato, cored seeded, and cut in two
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly mashed
• half an medium onion peeled and cut in two
• 1 cup of long grain rice, rinsed and dried.
• salt and pepper
• 1/2cup water or stock
• neutral oil

To make rice, take tomato, garlic and onion and place in a food processor or blender and puree. Heat oil on a medium high heat and saute rice for a couple minutes to coat with the oil.  Add in tomato mixture, salt and half a cup of liquid. Turn down to lowest setting, cover with a lid and steam for 15 mins. Meanwhile prepare other ingredients for the peppers.

• Cilantro leaves, small bunch, lightly chopped
• 2 tbsp chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1/4 cup loosely packed mexican style crumbled cheese
• 1/3 cup black beans with out liquid
• 2-4 poblano peppers, tops, ribs and seeds removed

When rice is done cooking combine cilantro, chipotles, cheese and beans with rice in a bowl, stir to mix. Stuff peppers, and bake at 450f. For a cooking time sake we'll say for 30 mins but, really it is to heat the rice through, melt the cheese and turn the poblano peppers soft and black at the edges.

My husband confessed (probably due to the meyer lemon margarita) to me half way through the meal he had a dirty little secret... We have had other conversations that had started this way but I must admit this one did take me by surprise "I don't like poblanos". With that he took my hard worked, disassembled it,  put  the rice between a corn tortilla and threw out the pepper. WTF, husband? The tots on the other hand gleefully ate their novelty rice from the fun bowl!

photos by me.

Pass it On: Week Two - Macaroni & Cauliflower Cheese Bake

Last weekend we took an impromptu trip to Bellingham to see some of the Aunties. Sitting around the table at a our favourite Pizza joint (yes we go out for pizza, this place is special), one of my sisters' in law, was complaining how she doesn't know how to cook  and was describing her diet to us- cheese sandwiches- all the time. As we were staring at her in abject horror imagining kraft single slices between wonderbread she clarified that her favourite cheese was Tillamook's cheddar, but didn't say a word about the bread. So this week's pass it on recipe is for my sister in law, one can not live off of bread and cheese alone (or can they?).

I chose a recipe based on simplicity and speed that would utilize her favourite ingredient. I also considered cost, quality and quantity (my prices are based on Canadian dollars).

Start to finish on the table eating it took 42 minutes (I may have lost some time when I sliced my thumb open with an inferior knife), I bought all of the ingredients but ended up halving the recipe.

Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese Bake

This is the full recipe as he wrote it. I halved the pasta, the Parm, and 
Sour Cream

• 1/2 a head of cauliflower ($2 for a whole one)
• 8 oz of Cheddar Cheese ($6.53 the good stuff)
• 4 oz of Parmesan Cheese (large block $16- about $2 worth)*
• small bunch of fresh Italian parsley ($1.99- about .50 worth)
• sea salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 lb of dried macaroni pasta ($2.99 for organic 16 oz)
• 1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream ($3.39 for the local brand sour cream) 

Total spent at the store $32.90, what dinner cost: $15.67, $3.92 a head.**

This goes fast so get some salted water on to boil, make sure you are using a large pot that will fit both pasta and cauliflower and a heat proof bowl on top.

Remove outer leaves of the cauliflower, halve it and break into small florets (save the other half for another recipe!). Slicing the stalk thinly if you want. Set aside

Grate Cheddar and Parmesan into the heat proof bowl. Finely chop parsley, stalks and leaves set aside.

Gather remaining ingredients.

Add macaroni and cauliflower to boiling water and cook as per package directions. Turn the heat down (trust me). Immediately put the heat proof bowl with the cheese over the macaroni and cauliflower. Be aware of the rising steam coming from under the bowl and stir to melt your cheese. If the water boils up over the pot turn the heat down slightly. 

Stir in the sour cream, add the chopped parsley stalks and all. Season with salt and pepper.

Carefully remove the bowl from the pot of water and set aside. (You read your pasta cooking instructions right? mine said 10-12 minutes.)  Drain pasta and cauliflower, reserving some of the liquid. Put the macaroni and cauliflower back into the pot. Pour in the melted cheese, mix it all together. If it looks a bit dry add a splash of the reserved liquid.

You can now eat your Mac/Colflower (my family has an inability to say the word Cauli-Flower) & Cheese if you are starving. If you can wait 5-10 mins more, you can transfer to an oven proof dish and place under the broiler on high. Check every few minutes for a nice brown and crispy top. I used this extra time to make a simple salad, set the table and start on the dishes.

This was a very simple recipe to make and one that will provide left overs for a a few nights. Jamie says that his full recipe using 1 lb of pasta all the cheese and sour cream will feed 4-6. I used less and it still fed 4 people reasonably sized portions. Plus we have left overs.

*Jamie called for  4 ounces of parmesan cheese, I only used 2 oz and chose to use Padano instead as it is cheaper. (Tip) I keep both Parmesan Reggiana and Padano in my refrigerator, one for grating and the other for cooking. Padano is half the cost of reggiano but both go a long way.

**If you buy the full list and plus up the Cheddar cheese you will have enough for two recipes! You can freeze one.

As always if you pass it on let me know about, if you blog about leave a link bellow. Just click the Red writing to leave your link!

Lets play!

photos by me.

Tuna Casserole

I bought the Jan/Feb issue of Cooking Light magazine, I do that every now and then. There is usually something that grabs my eye in the lineup at the grocery store. First I am a sucker for food photography. I probably consume it like a 19 yr old male and a porn. Second and what promoted the purchase was an article featuring not one but two of my favorite cook book authors, Jamie Oliver and Mark Bittman. 

Once home I do a couple more flip throughs (about three) that is when I start dog ear-ring recipes and articles to go back to make and read. My flip throughs probably take a day or two to do and in that time my husband will get his hands on in it and will do the same. We generally read in tandem and sometimes over each others shoulders, so it is not a coincidence that we will be intrigued by the same recipe. This time it was a Tuna Casserole. People that know us will probably say "huh?". That's not really our style and maybe that's what initially attracted us to it.

Now, I like CL, it has very reader friendly recipes, good tips and suggestions and I like the Inspired Vegetarian section, but what bugs me (entering the realm of food politics here) is the use of light, low fat, diet alternatives. Really?! It is my personal belief (backed by some science) that whole foods as close to as how they were intended to be used are better for you. ie. Butter is butter is butter and Cheese should be cheese. And fat carries flavour, why get rid of the good ones and replace them with synthetic ones and or un-namable fillers such as the mysterious "milk product"? What we should be worried about are the designer foods, the ones that are created in laborites, factories, and facilities. With simulated flavouring, may contain, and exaggerated health claims- if it to good to be true, it usually is. CL also has a section where they re-make a popular recipe into something that is lighter, so with that in mind I re-made one of their recipes into something (in my opinion) healthier!** CL version in red.

Tuna Casserole

• 8 oz wide egg noodles (or any type of pasta)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced * Not in the original recipe. I can't make anything with out garlic, so I added this ingredient.
• 2 medium carrots diced
• 2 celery stalks diced * Not in the original recipe. 
• 2 tbsp all purposed unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk 2 3/4 cups fat-free milk
• 1/2 cup cream cheese 1/2 cup, 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup grated Padrano approximately 2 oz  *I used a micro plain grater so I get more volume and less weight, divided.
• 1 cup thawed peas * I didn't have any- but they would have been good too, anything to get more veg into the the tots.
• 1 2 (5 ounce) can whole albacore tuna, drained and flaked. * From a sustainable fishery, such as the pacific north west.
• greased casserole dish.

Prepare onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Preheat broiler. Cook noodles as per package, rinse and drain set aside.

In a large sauce pan, add oil and cook veggies until they are soft and onion is translucent on a medium heat. Add salt and pepper, stir and then the 2 tbsp flour. Stir well and until it is slightly brown but not sticking to the bottom of the pot. 

Add in milk a little bit at a time so the flour does not clump, stir well, add more milk and then more. Increase heat slightly. Sauce should be thick and creamy. When all the milk is added, add in the cream cheese and Dijon mustard, stirring for 2 more minutes. 

Remove from heat, stir in half of the grated cheese, the tuna, (and the peas if you are using them). Transfer to the greased casserole dish, top with remaining cheese and bake under the broiler until lightly golden brown.

** Because I do not have dietary facilities here I can not tell you how much fat, calories etc are in my version, but what I can tell you is this. I used less milk, and tuna and by doing so probably reduced the amount of calories and fat naturally without using  low/non fat products. Really what is in 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, how do they get that consistency? Also by using whole food ingredients, my serving size was one scant cup, less then their recommended serving size of 1 1/3 cup. I thought we would go back for seconds but it turned out we didn't need to, we were full.


Sorry about the food politics and feel free to disagree, everyone has their own diet that works for them. I provided the Cooking Light amounts in red if you wish to try their method (their photo also looked yummy and was the catalyst of Tuna Casserole makeover. 


I still have not read the Jamie Oliver/Mark Bittman article.


photo by me.

The perfect Pizza

My husband and I are Pizza fanatics. We spend endless hours discussing, making and eating Pizza. If some one were to ask us what is your favourite Pizza the answer is always ours! Duh?! The best Pizza in the city? Ours, Duh?! Admittedly there are a couple of very close seconds (maybe ties) but they are not available in this city so our default pie, is indeed our own. Maybe I should be a little more modest, humble etc, but this after all is my blog and what I say here, goes. For some of my earlier musing on Pizza click here. 

I love the celebration of food, how it brings people together. I love the ritual of cooking and food, how when it is served with love and care it can be the best meal that you have ever eaten. I love that my passion for this medium can be detected and savoured. And if you ask me why I think my Pizza is the best it is for all of these reasons. 

It was during a family dinner that I discovered how fun mini Pizzas were. The babies loved them. They could make their own pizzas they way they like them and not fight over who got the bigger piece. I found that I could get more servings out of the same amount of dough, which meant that we were eating reasonable sized portions rather than gorging ourselves on every last sliced. And my biggest and possibly geekiest discovery of all was that the crust cooked better. The smaller cooking surface allowed it/them to cook faster (we already use as hot as oven as ours can handle including preheating with pizza stones). I got a charred bottom, golden melted cheese and , wait for it.... No sogginess! A nice stiff... um crust...

and good crumb!

photos by me.

The Jamie App

I didn't really think about dinner last night until moments before I went to the grocery store. My new sous chef had something to say about that and with the touch of a button I had a recipe, a game plan and a grocery list. For last night's dinner inspiration I used the Jamie Oliver 20 minute meals application on my ipod touch to execute a paneer, potato and pea curry. 


I followed his suggestions, bought  his recommended ingredients and didn't deviate too much from the plan, however the grocery store I went to did not have paneer. No worries I made my own- taking the recipe from 20 minutes to two hours +  while the whey drained and the cheese firmed up. Several hours before dinner I made my paneer and then pre-made most of the curry minus the paneer. Browning and adding the paneer as the rice cooked at dinner time.


This recipe was so simple and the flavour good, it got me thinking how can I make it better? The nice thing about many of Jamie Oliver's recipes is that he tries to teach you how to cook and his app is no different. With that in mind I set out to tailor it to my taste. He suggests using a mild korma* curry paste, that has nice simple flavour but for me lacked that distinct punch and complexity that I have come to expect from curries.

Without further explanation here is my Paneer, Potato and Pea Korma Curry for 2

• 1 litre of whole milk
• a generous pinch of sugar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• one perforated container big enough to hold your cheese about 250 ml.
• another larger container filled with water to weigh the cheese down.
• or your own devised drainage method, plates and cheese cloth work too.

At least an hour before you are to use the paneer (more time is better), in a heavy bottomed sauce pan pour in a small amount of water and pour in milk and add sugar. Heat on a medium high heat. Stir constantly to prevent scalding to the bottom. When the milk begins to froth and starts to move up the sauce pan pour in vinegar and remove from the heat. Put a lid on and rest for 10 minutes. Set up your draining containers. 

Ladle the raft of cheese leaving the whey behind into the perforated container, position second container with water on top of the cheese making sure it has a clean bottom and let drain for an an hour or more. I set mine up off of a bowl.

• half of a red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• small bunch of cilantro, chopped leaves  for garnish and save stems
• 2 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
• thumb size peeled ginger
• neutral oil or ghee
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp korma curry paste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 medium potato peeled and cut into bite size cubes
• 1/4 cup of frozen peas

• 1 cup basmati rice, rinse and well drained
• 1/4 diced white onion
• pinch of cumin seeds
• pinch of salt

• 4 cups of hot water on hand (doesn't have to be boiling)
• plain yoghurt to garnish
• lemon wedges to garnish

Prepare all ingredients before making rice.

For rice use a medium sized sauce pan, add 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and heat to medium, add white onion, and pinch of cumin seeds. Stir and cook for about a minute just until you can smell the cumin seeds.  Add rice (make sure it is fairly dry or it will stick to the bottom of your pot), cook about another 30 seconds/ 1 minute more until the rice it slightly oiled. Add 1 1/2 cups of hot water, pinch of salt. Turn up heat to high bring and to a boil. Once at the boil reduce heat to lowest setting on the element. Cover with a lid, leaving a small sliver for steam to escape for nearly 30 seconds and then completely cover. Set timer for 18 minutes.

The fun part, the curry. Put prepared onion, garlic, ginger, and cilantro stems in a blender pulse, and then slowly add a small amount of water to form a thick paste. Using a heavy skillet, heat another 2 tbsp of oil or ghee on a medium heat and add paste. Cook until it bubbles and some of the water is evaporated out. Stirring and working so that nothing sticks to the pan. Add all of your remaining seasonings and curry paste and combine well. Add potato and 2 cups of water. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes to cook potatoes. 

While potato is cooking, prepare paneer either in cubes or as a one inch slab. In a non-stick fry pan with a little bit of oil or ghee to lightly coat, fry paneer to get some colour and warm through.

Just before serving add peas to the curry. Put some rice in two shallow bowls, cover with half of the curry each, add paneer, garnish with cilantro leaves place a spoonful of yoghurt and a lemon wedge on the side and enjoy! Recipe is easily doubled. 

This version is more intensely spiced and has a heat not suitable for most three year olds. Mine still love the rice, flavoured with cumin and onion and have a side of peas, paneer and plain yoghurt.

photos by me.

*According to Julie Sahni in 'Classic Indian Cooking' Korma is a Moghul method of braising mostly choice cuts of meats and some vegetables using a subtle spice mixture and cream.

MRE...gimme me, gimme me

Meal Ready to Eat. This was last night's dinner. In an attempt to be better about eating leftovers, I smartly stored my leftovers in separate containers to facilitate easy assembly for today's lunch. All that was missing was the convenient snack sized tabasco sauce.


For the pie I made a swiss chard quiche. I couldn't find any one recipe I like so I massed up my own. It was very tasty but not quite recipe worthy yet. I took ample notes and think I know how to tweak it so that it will be better next time. For one I will use a proper pie dish or find my large tart pan- it took too long to bake, but was surprisingly still moist. 


The salad was a riff on something I saw on the New York Times, Temporary Vegetarian (recipe here). I had the red cabbage but only a couple of the other ingredients so I improvised. Here is my version:

Dark Red Cabbage Salad 

• Roughly 1lb of red cabbage, shredded, either by hand or more efficiently by a food processor (I did not want to get another appliance dirty, so I did mine by hand. Both my husband and I agreed that texturally it would have been better finer)
• blackberry perserve or runny jam about 3 tbsp
• 6 Tbsp neutral oil
• 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• One tart apple, cored, thinly sliced and cut into bits- save some for garnish or thinly slice some halves.
• crumbled blue cheese. There are so many out there, ours came from Oregon but there are awesome Washington and BC blues, just use your favourite.
• candied walnuts

Put the shredded cabbage in a serving bowl. Combine preserves, oil and sherry vinegar, pour as little or as much onto your cabbage as you like and toss. Starting off with less means you can add more if it isn't sufficiently coated. The dressing will make the cabbage very dark so taste and check for balance of oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper, taste the cabbage again. Add the chopped apple and toss. Crumble nuts and cheese on individual portions. 

• I like to let my kids add their own condiments, it gives them a sense of control over what they are eating, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

In the photo I added thinly sliced celery to lighten it up- and husband ate all of the cheese last night!

photo by me.

Ricotta Affair

My family jokes only because they love, but I think the home made cheese really did make the lasagne special..... or it may have been my little helpers who took turns stirring the curds and whey!

Ritual

My husband and I use to live next to the Granville Island Public market, rarely a day would go by that we did not visit for one reason or another. For work, for play, for school for shopping it was our Island, we use to joke about not leaving the "Island". So when we moved a away a couple of years ago, we were like fish out of water and did not settle into a new home for a  good long time (7 moves in fact). 

There are so many rituals, even our mundane daily chores that we call routines are rituals.... We do them in a certain order, at the same time, with ritualistic objects (brushing our teeth comes to mind, we do it for hygiene, for beautification, we use a toothbrush and toothpaste at a ceramic basin and in front of a mirror)... So every Week (usually Wednesday) I make it a ritual to go to Granville Island and get my weekly ingredients plus all the makings for Pizza on friday nights. 


Even the way I move through the market is ritual. First I go to Terra Breads and get my weeks worth of biscotti for my ritualistic morning latte.  Then other various baked goods- one loaf of sour dough bread, and two orange shortbread cookies; the two short bread cookies are bribery- I use then to distract the twins and allow me to shop. Then to Oyama Sausage Co. for 100g finocchiona salami, various snacking cheeses (The Farmhouse's St George is a favourite) and a few gyulai, for my husband's lunch (that he never eats but I buy anyway because he asks for them week after week). Then onto Duso's to get fresh mozzarella. If I am lucky and depending on season I go to Garden Back to Eden Organic for my tomatoes and basil.


When I am done I pack my groceries into the car, drive away from my place of sanctuary and say good-bye to the "Island" for another week.


Photo by me.

Making Cheese Omelettes with babies in the morning...

I probably won't blog about every meal but for now I am trying to build momentum.

This morning's omelettes were a hit. Why? Why not just crawl out of bed, throw some sort of cold cereal on the table and let the babies fend for themselves? Because I want them to be a part of the process and when we can and when we have time we should make that extra effort to do just a little bit better. Truth to be told it probably didn't take that much longer in the long run because they ate their eggs faster than they would have a cold cereal. The three of us made the eggs together and the three of us ate the eggs sitting down together at the table.

As the babies have become mobile and less containable, we have been content to let them just graze their dinner, we have felt that it was better that they eat something rather than fighting with them and eating nothing. We always put out a variety of foods, and have started designing our own meals that way. For a while this has worked and they have eaten several different types of healthy foods but now they are starting to show more and more preferences for the sweeter, salty and more processed items. We have never been junk food, fast food eaters, and tend to stick to a whole food diet but I can see how this mode of eating could start a trend in the opposite direction. We have started to negotiate with them to eat three, two, one bite(s) so that they get the treat after dinner. And they always eat the treat.

That is why this morning's eggs were a hit. We had a three egg & cheese omelette and the babies helped with nearly every step. This is what I learned from this mornings adventure

1) Participation is key.

• even if they can't crack the eggs yet, let them count them out.
• measure out ingredients and let them add them, ie. pinch the Salt and Pepper
• babies make great stirrers, it is not rocket science and chances are they have seen you do it several times.
• let them try stuff, I let them grate the cheese, (kind of) their muscles are not strong or coordinated enough and I ultimately did the work but letting them try gave them confidence.

2) It's funny when mummy flips the omelette onto the floor but that gives them the chance to practice their new skills all over again.

3) Babies love garnishes, letting them add the finishing touches gives them possession of their creation.