Rainy Saturday afternoon special - S'mores!

We just had a snack after a nutritious snack - we had s'mores!  We microwaved the marshmallows. It was quick and easy. 

Lacking were the campfire songs, mosquitoes, and burnt (sometimes like a torch) marshmallows lost into the ashes.  I have fond memories of Girl Guide camp, year after year, when my Mum was our Leader and we made s'mores, we sang songs (mmmhmmm, I wanna linger, mmmhmm a little longer, mmmhmm a little longer here with you)(I can still sing most of "Barges", anyone else know that song? I have vague recollections that it was written by a young female cancer patient looking out her window, is that accurate?)(how about the one about "sipping cider through a straw"?  We actually had to stop singing that one, it was "banned" and I never knew why 'til I was older).

These are relatively clean and easy.









Our s'more recipe
from my childhood, circa 1980
2 graham wafer squares
peanut butter
chocolate chips
1 big marshmallow

- thinly spread both graham wafers with pb (this is so the marshmallow and the choc chips don't fall off, there is logic to this).
- place both graham wafers pb side up in the microwave, top one with enough choc chips to satisfy (perhaps cover the surface, then adjust to taste), top the other with a big marshmallow (or as many minis as you can squeeze on there)
- microwave 10-12 seconds (don't leave the microwave, it happens fast) until the marshmallow(s) puff up
- quickly flip either layer on top of the other, this takes a bit of finesse.
- don't press down, let the weight of the top side do it's work
- let sit for about 30 seconds to melt everything and set the marshmallow just a bit.
- eat, lick fingers and / or plate as needed.
- Repeat as needed.

It is tradional folklore to use a piece of a milk chocolate bar, but they don't melt fast enough and I find them too sweet (I use semi-sweet choc chips).  Peanut butter is not customarily used.


Edit: We went outside moments after posting this and HAD A FIRE and ROASTED MARSHMALLOWS, of course!  Here are some pictures.

Where were you when you had your first s'more?  Have you not had one yet (what are you waiting for?)  What do you dress yours up with?

Quick bread - molasses

I made stove top baked beans and a molasses quick bread for lunch today. 

The beans were another story altogether, I need help with baked beans.  I love them so, but, alas, have failed in every attempt to make them, but I do keep trying.  I get points for that.

The bread was a winner and a do-again-er.

This is the recipe I used.  Next time, I will bake it for the full hour.

Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread
directly from The New York Times' diners journal

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 2/3 cups plain yogurt *
1/2 cup molasses
- mix dry, mix wet in separate bowls.  Combine only to wet.
- pour into greased bread pan (9x5 or so)
- bake at 325F for 45mins to 1 hour, when toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean
- let cool in pan 15 mins, turn out on board to cool almost completely before you cut into it, try to wait, it's worth it!

* or use buttermilk, or sour your own room temp milk with 2 Tbsp white vinegar and milk to equal 1 2/3 cups

There's a "lighter" (in texture) version here that I will try next time, even though I liked this one very much.

Now to work on those baked beans... can you help me?  My biggest problem is they are hard, but even the finished flavour and texture is not quite right.  I just cannot capture the feeling of Québec maple sugar shack baked beans.  Now THEY know beans.

Alfredo sauce, vegan-style

For supper, we had rotini tossed in a vegan alfredo sauce.  The Big Kid loves pasta in white sauce and he gobbled this one right up. 

The mgic ingredients: rotini, garlic confit and tofu.  That's it.

The rotini is a good shape for the three wee ones to handle and eat all by themselves, which is important to them and frees up my hands for other things, like feeding myself or wiping up spilled whatever or fetching whatever or rounding up whomever.

 The final product!

As the pasta was cooking, I threw in some frozen mixed veggies to cook alongside.  This was coated in sauce in the same pot as the pasta cooked in so I consider that a one-pot meal.  The sauce was whirred in my food processor so I'm just going to pretend that that didn't happen and there's only one pot to clean.  But I don't mind an extra dish.

The sauce after it whirred around for a minute or so.

I think this garlic confit thing is here to stay in my kitchen. I used both the garlic and the oil for this dish.  Dee-licious!  The Big Kid asked for it in his lunch tomorrow.

Rotini with tofu alfredo sauce
inspired by Spark Recipes
made enough to serve 4
6 oz (1/2 pkg) soft or silk tofu, plain
2 garlic cloves (I used the ones in my confit)
1 Tbsp EVOO (I used the oil from my confit)
1 Tbsp milk of choice (I used Silk)
S&P to taste (this took a surprising amount of salt and pepper)
- blend sauce ingredients in food processor, magic bullet or blender
Toss with 4 cups pasta shape of your choice. (4 cups before it was cooked)  You can have up to 1 cup of vegetables cooked with the pasta (I recommend broccoli, peas, carrots, sweet potato or fresh beans, asparagus in season.)

This version is a vegan one, you can add up to 1/8 cup parmesean and 1/8 cup romano cheese if you like, or more to taste.

The winds of change

Changes, they are a' comin'. 

Not sure what at this moment, but I'm pretty excited!

I started it off with a trip to stock my kitchen with better food for me.  Ezekiel bread, Silk, coconut oil, coconut milk, tofu.  I may lose a few of you, but hopefully not. 

Hopefully you'll join me to see where this is going and see if you want to make any adjustments to your eating style.  Maybe you don't need to and maybe you just want to watch me or offer your suggestions.

Cassoulet, baby

Here's a delish dish for you to try anyday!  I made a variation of this one and the fam liked it.  The Big Kid and I loved it, the middle kids gobbled it up once they learned they'd get a cookie when their (modest) serving was done.  The Man ate it.  The littlest one ate the carrots most enthusiatically. 

The finished product.

I am no expert at using dried beans, though I try and I try and I try.  They just aren't as soft as I'd like.  When I make baked beans, I'd like them to mush more than I can get them to.  For this recipe, I did use dried beans again and prepared them as per the directions on the back.  I used the quick method because the dish was a last-minute decision.  Well, I was preparing lunch at 8:30am so I guess it wasn't that last-minute, was it?  Anyhoo, no canned cannelini nor white kidney in the house so I used a bag of Bella Tavola Great Northern.  Leftover prepared beans will be used in a white bean dip.

Cassoulet cooking in the pot.

I used a regular white onion in place of the leeks as that was what I had.  That's the only substitution I made and the dish was great!

Cassoulet ingredients before...

... and after.  RRRRarrr

(that`s onion, carrot, celery and garlic)

I will be making this fancy-named meal again, it was easy and nourishing.  I bet it freezes well and could be put in lunches and appreciated.  Today's version was very simple and clean-looking though I'm sure you could throw just about anything at it and it'd be good.  Traditionally, a cassoulet has meat in it, duck and mutton.  Mine did not and probably won't ever, only time will tell on that one.
The most enjoyable part of the dish was making the garlic confit!  It smelled wonderful in the house and the garlic and oil will be enjoyed a few more times before it's all done.  I envision it drizzled on mashed or baked potatoes, splashed into soups, or on a plate to dip bread into.  Action verbs, yeah!

I want you to meet my friend, garlic.

Despite the fact that the recipe that inspired me originally does have all the instructions to make the garlic confit, I saw that a favourite chef of mine and author of a cookbook that I own also has an explanation online so I'm linking to it here.  Stefano Faita is wonderful, you may have caught him on Kampaï hosted by Mitsou?  "Bye, bye, mon cowboy."?  No?  Well, maybe you should check it out - great show, very informative and funny too.  He's not hard on the eyes and neither is Mitsou, so both The Man and I enjoyed watching this show together... back when we had a TV... and time to prioritize the TV... and the option to watch when the show was actually on... sigh.

So, here we go.

Easy Cassoulet

Adapted from The Allergic Kid

2 cans, 15 oz, white beans, such as Great Northern or Cannelini or white kidney
2 Tbsp olive oil from the garlic confit

2 onions, sliced and roughly chopped

5 carrots, diced roughly

3 stalks of celery roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic from confit, more or less to taste

1 Tbsp dried, whole rosemary
1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp liquid chicken bouillon, or veggie
S&P to taste

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Briefly sauté veggies and garlic, then add 5 cups water, beans, rosemary and bay leaf.  Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Garlic Confit

1 head of garlic, broken apart and peeled

enough EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) to cover the garlic

- use the smallest pot you have that will accomodate the garlic.  Cover with EVOO and heat on medium low heat.  Once oil is very warm or hot-looking (mere minutes) turn it down to very low and simmer for 1 hour until garlic is brown.  OH MY...  There is an oven method for this as well.

My garlic simmering with dried, whole rosemary.  Next time, I`ll do more garlic at once.

** in a hurry? Simmer for less time, just to heat and cook the vegetables to your desired doneness.

** making this a second or third time?  Use more or less garlic and water to your desired taste.  Add different vegetables that you like to make it your own.  Try a can of diced tomatoes.  Chop a fresh tomato or two.  Let me know how that goes and what you tried.

Man, you could give this stuff away as gifts!

This can be a vegan recipe easily, it`s high protein and low fat (you can use less oil than in the recipe above).  It can be very economical.  It can be doubled for a big batch.  It can be coddled in a big mug on a cold winter day.  It seems versatile to me and one I`m going to keep in my repetoire.

1,000 VIEWS

At the moment that I write this, I've had 1,030 views since Day 1.  That excites me and I have all of YOU to thank!

Share with your friends, use my blog as a food and recipe reference and ask me questions.  I take suggestions as well.

Notice how even the photography has developed up to now?  I'm working on it.  I'm also finding my groove and soon I'll find my purpose.

Thank you, thank you!  More to come.

Clubhouse sandwiches, zero soup and homemade wedges

This was our supper tonight.  For the first time in a while, the table was busy because we couldn't keep enough food on the three wee ones' plates.  Usually it's busy because the middle two keep running away.  It was a refreshing change that we didn't complain about.

This is the stuff magic is made of!

I took apart a store-bought rotisserie chicken, sliced tomatoes, a cucumber, and cheese and separated lettuce leaves a bit earlier in the afternoon to prepare.  The bacon was cooked at breakfast time.  The Big Kid was in charge of the toast.  I assembled the clubhouse sandwiches (I really wanted to link to more exciting information about clubhouse sandwiches than Wikipedia, but it was all I found.).

Assembled clubhouse sandwich.

The oven wedges are so good! My whole family likes them.  I'm sorry I have to admit I like them with real mayo (I use Hellman's brand) in a very French way I learned in Montréal.  Ahhh, some habits are hard to break; fries and mayo is one of them.

Plated with wedges.  Miam miam!

The soup is a Weight Watchers recipe I found a while back (I've never been a member though).  It is chock full of vegetables.  Tonight, in a rare move, I made just enough soup for supper and no extras.  Tomorrow is an Avery's run to stock up on veggies so today I was running low.  I put whatever vegetables I have on-hand in this soup.  This time, I added a generous dash of Italian seasoning for a change.  This soup freezes well and is good packed in lunches on a cold day.

Zero soup.

The father was overheard saying "Man, she'd do anything for bacon!"  Referring to his "eat this, get bacon" deal he was making with her.  Who wouldn't?!

Clubhouse sandwich
makes 1
3 slices toast
Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
mustard
3 oz cooked, shredded chicken meat
2 slices tomato
2 slices cheddar
slices cooked bacon (slighly crispy)
lettuce leaves
- toast, mayo, mustard, chicken, toast, mayo, cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce

Roasted Potato Wedges
from Canandian Living Make it Tonight
makes enough for 4 servings
2 lb potatoes, about 4
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (I use about 1/4 cup)
1 tsp gr cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
- wash and prick potatoes, microwave according to your machines directions.  Mine took 12 minutes for all 4 together.
- cut into wedges, toss with oil and spices
- spread on greased sheet in single layer
- 450F for 20 minutes, flip once

This would also be a good place to make some coleslaw.