Author: Lynn

Orange Tea Loaf

~ Lynn ~ 18 Comments

I switched departments in my company a little over a year ago. The work I do now is a lot more interesting, but the environment is … less fun. I used to work with a team the handled Canadian trades only, then switched to the International side. The work in both departments is very stressful. They are high risk jobs with tight deadlines. My old department dealt with the stress by joking around and helping each other out. Even though there was a lot of pressure coming to work was fun.

Now it’s every man for himself. In my new department I sit beside a man who swears all day long and likes to slam his phone. The other day he picked it up and slammed it down even though it wasn’t even ringing. I think he got an email that upset him; you can’t slam an email.

I’m thinking of starting a swear jar in the office. I’m pretty sure it will pay for my morning coffee. It might even cover lunch sometimes. And if it manages to curb the swearing, then it will make coming to work that much more pleasant.

Until the day my neighbour calms down, I have an afternoon ritual that gets me through the day. Just before 3PM (when the Fed closes and things get extra stressful), I make myself a tea, put on my noise reducing headphones, and I listen to music that makes me happy. This afternoon it was Graceland. Sometimes it’s the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.

If I’ve got my act together, I have a piece of cake with my tea.  This cake is one of my favourites. It’s a modification of one of my moms recipes. She uses raisins and walnuts, and puts an orange glaze on the cake. Today was particularly bad, and I could have used a little glaze on my cake, so I’ll post the recipe for even though I didn’t use it.

Orange Tea Loaf

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • zest of one orange, divided
  • juice of one orange
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup pistachios

For glaze

  • orange zest (leftover from cake)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
  • 4-5 tsp milk
  1. Preheat the oven to 350, line a loaf pan with parchment paper (or grease it)
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and 1 tsp orange zest.
  4. Add 1/2 the flour mixture the butter, mix well. Stir in the orange juice and yogurt, followed by the remaining flour. Stir in the cranberries and pistachios.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Test the loaf after an hour with a toothpick to see if its done.
  6. Once done, let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
  7. For the glaze: Stir together the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and remaining orange zest. Pour over cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Vegetables & Spinach And Ways to Help

~ Lynn ~ 9 Comments

Last week when I decided to cook this dish, I planned to write a silly little post about the pot holes in Montreal, or “nids de poules” as they are called in French (chickens nests). But then Japan happened. Seeing all the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami made writing about a few bumps in the road seem so petty.

People around the world are looking for ways to help. The easiest thing to do is to make a donation to a non-profit that is helping in the area. Which non-profit to donate to is always a tough call. The safe choices like The Red Cross have high overhead costs, and the smaller organizations may not be legitamite. Because of their reputation, I choose to donate to organizations like The Red Cross or Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders); they may have more overhead but they are trusted, well known organizations.

If you are looking for another way to help, Sabrina from The Tomato Tart is hosting an Online Bake Sale to help Japan. Check out her post if you want to donate goods or bid.

If you simply want to donate, here are a few links.

In Canada:

The Canadian Red Cross

Medecins Sans Frontieres

Unicef

Oxfam

In the United States:

The American Red Cross

Doctors Without Borders

Oxfam

Unicef

And now for the recipe…

Chicken With Vegetables and Spinach

  • 2 chicken legs
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into large pieces
  • 5 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into large pieces
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • olive oil
  • salt, pepper and thyme to taste
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • fresh spinach
  1. Preheat the oven to 425.
  2. Clean and pat dry the chicken legs. In a large bowl, toss the chicken with the onion, garlic cloves, bell pepper and potatoes with oil so that everything is coated. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.
  3. Place the vegetables on a large baking sheet in an even layer. Place the chicken legs on top of the vegetables. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
  4. Remove the chicken and vegetables from the pan. Place the pan on a burner on high, pour the wine into the pan and deglaze (scrape up all the brown bits).
  5. Place the chicken and vegetables on a bed of spinach and top with the wine sauce.

Enjoy!

Daring Cooks Peruvian Ceviche

~ Lynn ~ 8 Comments

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

Once again, I found this months Daring Cooks Challenge to be quite intimidating. Ceviche is fish or seafood that is “cooked” in lime or lemon juice. In a restaurant I wouldn’t hesitate to order it, but making it at home had me worried about food poisoning. I read up on the safety of making your own ceviche and found that the most important thing is to have fresh fish. If you don’t have a trusted fish monger, the secret is to buy fish or seafood that has been frozen at sea. Freezing at sea means the freshness is basically locked in.

I chose to use Argentinian scallops that were frozen at sea. At my local grocery store they come in packages that are vaccum sealed; if you use the same ones make sure the seal isn’t broken. If it is the scallops may be freezer burned. Argentinian scallops are quite small so I didn’t cut them into pieces.

Even though I used all the precautions I could when making the ceviche, I was still very nervous about eating. I took a bite. It tasted good. I took another, then another. I finished my plate, then waited. No food poisoning! This was a ceviche success!

I was also going to make the Papas Rellanas. Papas Rellanas are fried mashed potatoes with a ground beef filling. I was sure I had the ingredients on hand, but it turns out I was missing quite a few. Instead of making something that was very far from the original recipe, I chose to skip that part of he challenge.

Peruvian Ceviche

  • 2 lbs. scallops
  • 2 garlic cloves, mashed
  • 1 chili pepper, mince
  • 1 cup (240 ml) freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice (between 8-12 limes)
  • fresh coriander (I omitted this)
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
  • Salt and pepper (to taste)
  1. Combine the lime juice, garlic, chili and coriander. Pour over the scallops, making sure all are covered.
  2. Put sliced onion on top. Let sit for 10 minutes as it “cooks”.
  3. Lift fish out of lime juice mixture and serve with sweet potato or corn.

Enjoy!

Canadian Beef Tacos

~ Lynn ~ 10 Comments

The people at Canadian Beef are giving five Canadian bloggers the opportunity to go to Eat Write Retreat this May. Eat Write Retreat is a food blogging conference with workshops on writing, cooking and photography. And I’m dying to go.

Although I have several vegetarian posts up, I am a meat eater. I often mess up beef so when making it for myself I tend to stick to simple recipes. These tacos are incredibly simple,perfect for a weeknight meal. They are by no means authentic Mexican cuisine, just a combination of flavours I enjoy.

I used sirloin tip steak. This is not the same as top round; if not marinated or cut very thinly it can be chewy. This recipe calls for both of those steps, so the meat works well in the tacos.

Canadian Beef Tacos

  • Sirloin Tip Steak
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • Chilli powder
  • Red onion, sliced
  • Red and green peppers, sliced
  • Salt and pepper
  • Tortillas
  • Avocado, mashed
  • Lemon wedges for serving
  1. In a large Ziploc bag, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, and chilli powder. Add the steaks to the bag, seal and marinate for 20 minutes to an hour on the counter, or up to 4 hours in the fridge.
  2. When ready to serve, sautee the onions and peppers for a few minutes until slightly softened but not cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Remove the steaks from the plastic bag and dry them with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. In a large skillet on high heat, fry the steaks for 2-3 minutes a side. Let rest of 5 minutes then thinly slice. While the meat is resting warm the tortillas.
  4. Assemble the tacos. Place some meat on a tortilla, then the peppers and onion, and top with the mashed avocado.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Lasagna

~ Lynn ~ 22 Comments

Food photography is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to learn. I try to take nice pictures; sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t. One of the things you realize almost immediately when writing a food blog is that pictures can make or break your blog. People want to see big gorgeous pictures of scrumptious looking food. I’ve read a lot about lighting and composition over the last year, and I’ve tried to implement some of the things I’ve learned. I think what it comes down to in the end is talent and practice.

Every time I’ve seen a picture of lasagna in a magazine it’s had perfectly even layers, with the ruffled noodles poking out just so. My lasagna didn’t look like that. I’m pretty sure I cut off the ruffles while slicing the pieces, and my sauce and cheese layers kind of melded together. It tasted incredible, but it was incredibly difficult to photograph. My experience made me wonder if all the lasagna I’ve seen in magazines was ever actually baked.

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to food photography and styling, but when it comes to taste I think I know what I’m doing. This was the first time I tried making a vegetarian lasagna. I wanted it to be pretty packed with vegetables to make up for the absence of meat. The sauce has zucchini and mushrooms, and the cheese lmixture has spinach. I was a little nervous about leaving out the meat, but the four kinds of cheese and tons of veggies were very satisfying. I couldn’t even tell that I had used low fat cheese.

Vegetarian Lasagna

  • 9 Whole Wheat Lasagna Sheets
  • Olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 cup low-fat ricotta
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 packaged frozen spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1 cup shredded gouda
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  1. Follow package instructions for noodles.
  2. In a large pan over medium high heat, heat the oil then sautee the onions for 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, cook until fragrant.
  3. Stir in the zucchini and mushrooms, cook until the zucchini starts to brown. Pour in the red wine. Scrape up any brown bits at the bottom of the pan, then add the tomatoes. Season with salt pepper and spices. Let simmer 20-30 minutes.
  4. While the sauce is simmering, put together the cheese layer. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, yogurt and egg together. Stir in half the mozzarella and gouda, as well as the spinach.
  5. Once the sauce has cooked assemble the lasagna. Pour a bit of the sauce in the bottom of a large glass baking dish. Top with three sheets of lasagna. Pour half of the ricotta mixture over the lasagna sheets, top with a third of the remaining sauce. Place three more of the lasagna sheets, topped with the remaining ricotta mixture and another third of the sauce. Place the final lasagna sheets, topped with the remaining sauce, then cover with the remaining mozzarella, gouda and parmesan.
  6. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more until the cheese is golden.
  7. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Polish Apple Pancakes

~ Lynn ~ 29 Comments

This Tuesday is Pancake Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday is the last day before Lent. Traditionally people would prepare for 40 days of fasting before Easter by eating all the fatty foods they possibly could. Unfortunately, I don’t have time on weekday mornings to make myself a pancake breakfast, so I decided to celebrate a few days early.

Generally I prefer crepes to pancakes, but these apple pancakes are the exception to that rule. My mom used to make them for me and my brother pretty often when we were kids. My memories might be a little exaggerated, but I remember being to eat tons of them in one sitting. The apples stay a little crisp, and have a bit a tart flavour. The tartness is balanced by maple syrup in this case. My mom usually sprinkles cinnamon and sugar on them, I think that might be my favourite way to eat them.

These are really easy to make. Apple slices are dipped into a standard pancake batter then fried in butter. You could use oil, but the flavour just isn’t the same. Top them with any syrup or sweetener you have.

Polish Apple Pancakes

  • 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into rounds
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cups milk
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • butter for frying
  • maple syrup for serving
  1. In a large bowl, whisk the milk and eggs together. Add the flour, baking powder, melted butter, salt, and cinnamon. Stir together. If the batter is very lumpy set it aside for a few minutes to rest then stir again.
  2. Pour the apple slices into the batter and coat them.
  3. In a large frying pan melt about 1 tbsp of butter. When the pan is hot, place 2 or 3 apple slices in the oil. When the bottom is golden and the pancakes can easily be moved, flip and fry the other side.
  4. Repeat with remaining apple slices. (any left over batter can be used for regular pancakes)

Enjoy!

Quinoa Puttanesca

~ Lynn ~ 22 Comments


I like food that comes with a good story. Food with a story has been passed down through generations and is pretty much guaranteed to be good. Pasta a la Puttanesca is one of those foods. As the story goes, it was invented by prostitutes in Naples (“puttanas”). Whatever you think of the profession, you will probably agree that the sauce is pretty darn good.

It is also very easy to put together. The ingredients are sauteed together quickly and then tossed with pasta. I decided to mix things up a but by using the sauce with quinoa. It made an excellent side dish; I served it with some baked talapia and a salad for a tasty, healthy meal. I also had some leftover for lunch with some goat cheese.

Most puttanesca sauce recipes contain garlic, anchovies, peppers, olives and capers. If you like all those ingredients, use them. If not, leave something out or replace it with something you do enjoy. Having a story doesn’t make a recipe un-alterable.

Quinoa Puttanesca

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp anchovy paste
  • chili flakes to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1/4 cup olives, diced
  • parley, chopped
  1. Cook the quinoa as per package instructions.
  2. As the quinoa is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan. Sautee the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and anchovy paste, sautee until you can smell the garlic.Add the spices.
  3. Add the red pepper and olives, stir until the red peppers are slightly cooked. Stir in the parley.
  4. Mix the sauce with the cooked quinoa.

Note: I didn’t add any salt to this recipe because the anchovies and olives add quite a bit. If you are omitting either, taste the sauce to see if it needs any salt.

Enjoy!

Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

~ Lynn ~ 20 Comments

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

This is the first challenge I actually made almost as soon as I read it. Right before putting my place up for sale some friends of mine came over to help me clean out the spare bedroom. They stayed for dinner and I decided to serve them the panna cotta and cookies for dessert. I chose to make Kahlua Panna Cotta with a coffee gelee layer, because I like coffee with my cookies. The panna cotta came together very well, but I had some difficulty with the cookies. With my first batch, I made each cookie too big so it turned into one giant cookie. With the second batch I put fewer cookies on the sheet, but they were still too big. The third batch was the charm. I put about a teaspoon of dough per cookie. I’m not really sure if the cookies were supposed to spread as much as they did, I may have put too much butter in the batter. They tasted really good, but I found them a little greasy.

On the other hand, the Kahlua panna cotta with coffee gelee was perfect. The panna cotta was rich and creamy and the coffee gelee was cool and refreshing. I will definitely make it again.

Kahlua Panna Cotta

  • 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
  • 1/4 cup Kahlua
  • 3 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  1. In a stainless steel bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the Kahlua. Place the bowl over simmering water and stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
  2. In a large sauce pan, combine the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a boil for one minute.
  3. Pour the hot cream mixture over the Kahlua and gelatin, stirring until completely combined.
  4. Pour the mixture into greased molds or cups. Chill for 3 hours. Once set, pour the coffee gelee mixture into the molds.

Coffee Gelee

  • 2 cups hot coffee
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (from one 1/4-oz envelope)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  1. In a sauce pan, bring 1/4 cup water to boil with the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved then remove from heat.
  2. Mix the gelatin with a tablespoon of cold water. Combine the gelatin, sugar syrup, coffee and vanilla together. Let cool completely
  3. Pour over the set panna cotta. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
  4. The panna cottas can be served in the mold, or turned out onto a plate.

Lazy Days and Granola

~ Lynn ~ 22 Comments

Winter in Canada can last up to 6 months. In Montreal the first snowfall usually happens in November and the last one in April (sometimes even May). To avoid going completely insane, many of us take up winter sports like skiing or skating. On top of keeping us entertained, winter sports teach us some valuable skills. Most importantly, they teach us how to fall. Basic rule of thumb; sideways is better than backwards.

This week was a tough week for me in terms of falls. Thursday night I was walking home from the bus when I slipped on some ice. My skiing training kicked in, and I managed to fall on my side. The only bruise I suffered was to my ego. Friday was a different story. It was around the same time of night, and the same place, but this time the training did not kick in. My feet went straight out from under me, my tail bone hit the ground first, immediately followed by both my elbows. This fall was bad, the kind that makes you want to cry for your mommy. Unfortunately I’m a grown up and crying for my mommy is no longer socially acceptable, although there was no one around so I guess I could have done it.

Thankfully, I had three days to recover. For Saturday and Sunday, my couch and I were almost inseparable. I had planned on doing nothing the whole time, but by Monday nothing got kind of tiresome, and moving wasn’t that painful. So to pass the time I decided to make granola.

If you are looking for tips on how to make good crunchy granola that actually stays in clumps, this post from Gourmande in the Kitchen is great. Sylvie gives several easy tips in the post, and I added a couple of them to my standard granola recipe. First I used her idea of adding fruit puree to the granola to provide extra moisture, second I used her “clumping technique” to create nice chunks of granola. The granola turned out really well, next time I think I’ll try a few more of her tips.

Granola

  • 2 cups quick oats
  • 1 cup puffed millet
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 1/3 cup apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup raw pistachios
  • 3/4  cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  1. Preheat oven to 300. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the oats, puffed millet, salt, and cardamom together.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the apple sauce, maple syrup, sugar, and butter together. Add the wet mixture to the oat mixture. Make sure all of the oats are covered.
  4. Spread the granola mixture on to the prepared baking sheet. Clump some of the granola together making sure there is room on the sheet for air to circulate.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes.
  6. Add the nuts and seeds, and stir the granola. Bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the granola is a golden colour.

Enjoy!

Chickpea and Tomato Stew

~ Lynn ~ 37 Comments

When I got the March issue of Food and Wine in the mail last week, I realized it had been forever since I did a Magazine Monday post. For those of you have not heard of it, Magazine Mondays are an informal blog event hosted (usually) by Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice. The goal is for us to actually make those magazine recipes we have book marked. I’m sure many of us have the same habits. When we get a new cookbook or food magazine we are filled with excitement, but they often end up in a pile or on a shelf, their potential unfulfilled.  Personally, I love to spend weekend afternoons curled up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee flipping through a magazine. I drool over the gorgeous images, enjoy the articles, and fold down all the pages with recipes I want to make. More often than not a magazine will end up with most of its pages folded. Yet somehow when it comes time to find a  new recipe my first stop is always the internet. I think its because I usually have an ingredient in mind before I look for the recipe, and googling “chicken legs” is a lot easier than searching through all my magazines for a good recipe. That’s why I appreciate Magazine Monday so much; it reminds me that food magazines are for more than just drooling over.

This months Food and Wine is full of healthy recipes, which made it even more motivating. As usual there were plenty of them that I wanted to try, but this one really caught my eye. The pictures was gorgeous ( I admit it, I tried to recreate it and failed), and I had all the ingredients on hand. No need to run to the grocery store to make this! It’s a really quick meal to put together, which I’m sure many people will appreciate. The leftovers were also great, so I feel pretty comfortable calling this a good make ahead dish. It’s got a great flavour combination, with ginger and cumin being the dominant flavours. I ate it the stew alone and on a bed of basmitti rice; it’s good both ways, but I preferred it with rice. The original recipe called for a paste to be made with garlic, ginger and jalepenos; as I didn’t have the jalepenos on hand I just omitted them and sauteed the ginger and garlic with the onion rather than making the paste.

Chickpea and Tomato Stew

  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed or 3 cups cooked chickpeas
  • 2 cups water
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
  1. In a large skillet over high heat, add the oil and onions sauteeing until the onions are sizzling.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the onions start to brown.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add the cumin, coriander, and cayenne; cook for one minute to bring the flavours out of the spices.
  3. Add the tomatoes and water then simmer until thickened.
  4. Add the chickpeas and simmer for another 10 minutes so that the chickpeas take on the flavours on the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve topped with yogurt and cilantro over a bed of basmitti rice or with naan.

Enjoy!