Yummy

A good day, cooking-wise. I thought I might record my efforts, just in case anyone wants to try some tasty food.

Applesauce with cranberries

So titled because if you search apple-cranberry sauce, you will just get cranberry sauce with apple, when what you really want is, well, applesauce with cranberries.

7-8 apples, cored, peeled and sliced. (I used 3 golden delicious and 4 ambrosia. These were excellent choices!)
1-2 cups of fresh cranberries, washed and stems removed
3/4 cup water
Cinnamon or allspice
Honey

Put apples and cranberries in a large pot and add water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for about a 1/2 hour until fruit can be easily crushed.

Use a potato masher to mash fruit together. I suspect a hand blender would work well, but sadly, I do not have one of those.

Add about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Allspice is another option.

Add honey to taste. Or lemon if the sauce is too sweet.

Enjoy!

Penne with kale, peppers, onions, mushrooms and feta

1 package whole wheat penne
1 bunch kale, torn into small pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Basil
Red pepper flakes to taste
Olive oil

Put water in large pot and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, add teaspoon of salt.
Remove kale from stems and tear into small pieces. Set aside.
Saute peppers and onions in olive oil. After they begin to brown, add mushrooms and more oil if needed. Add spices. Saute until mushrooms are soft.
Put penne and kale in boiling water for 10 minutes. When done, drain and return to pot.
Add vegetables and crumbled feta. Add more olive oil if needed. Toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Note: I keep my feta in brine, so I did not add salt.

Serves 4 (unless you're Grant and me, then it serves 2 with one leftover!)

I hereby resolve

I have a couple of resolutions this year. More specifically, I have some plans that I think will make me feel more satisfied with myself. I won't share all of them, because I have this minor phobia that if I say it, I will screw it up, but since we all know the food resolution only too well, I will share that one.

The last few months, I have been eating foods that just don't make me feel good. I don't mean guilty, I mean feelings ranging from upset stomachs, to irritability, to headaches, to tiredness. In other words: if the food you are eating makes you feel like crap, it really is bad for you!

Starting tomorrow, we will start our annual alcohol fast. No booze for at least a month, and we often go until Valentine's Day, just because that seems like a good day to celebrate with some wine or something bubbly.

I am also going to go back to healthy eating patterns. I have been consuming far too much white sugar, white flour-type foods and my body really feels it. I am also considering starting up a more consistent exercise program, although I make no guarantees.

I just need to purge all this junk out of my system. What I really need is a spa vacation, but time and money will not allow. So, starting tomorrow, I will create my own spa experience, with fresh veggies, lean meats, moderate exercise and lots of water (both for ingesting and for soaking).

I'm actually looking forward to it!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:

• Tomatillo sauce. Made fresh from scratch. Okay, I used canned chiles, but everything else was fresh, fresh, fresh. I used two pints of tomatillos, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 cans of chopped green chiles, about a cup of cilantro, a medium onion, salt and a little bit of sugar. Husk and de-stem the tomatillos and simmer them in chicken or veggie broth for about 8 minutes. Put the garlic, chiles, cilantro, onion and spices in a food processor and blend. Add the tomatillos and most of the broth and blend. I like mine a bit chunky. Your mileage may vary. Last night, we had our sauce on grilled chicken. It is also phenomenal on eggs and of course, with tortilla chips. Mmmmmm.
  
  
• Flashforward and Fringe. The first is off to a good start. Hopefully they can keep it moving forward. Heh. The second has definitely found its footing in the tradition of X-Files. Plus Joshua Jackson. Yum.
  
  
• The biopsy on my thyroid came back negative, so no cancer. We just need to monitor the nodes every 6 months or so.
  
  The Bad:
  
  
• I am fatter than I have ever been. I realize that weighing 164 lbs isn't fat for some people, but I feel sluggish and bloated. Plus, my clothes are way too tight. Grant and I are dieting again, but I am not really happy about that either. I really don't want to just practice body-acceptance. I want to be a size I am happy with. But I keep reminding myself that I am over 50, and it's okay to be a bit...softer around the edges.
  
  
• Work is crazy. I still love my job, but this fall has been more stressful and hectic and just soul-consuming than normal. I hope it will calm down in the next few weeks.
  
  
• The weather. It is too freakin' cold too early!! I am not ready for winter, so just back the hell off.
  
  The Ugly:
  
  
• Rush Limbaugh. Need I say more?
  

We're back!

I have some pretty great BOTB photos to share, but right now I am eating a lemon meringue pie that is taking up all my attention.

Random

Remember when the phone ringing was the most exciting thing ever?? Remember when having an answering machine meant you never had to miss a call?? Now, I rarely answer the phone because it's nearly always a telemarketer and I can let that message alert blink for practically ever. Seriously, if you want to get my attention: email me.

I have various food obsessions from time to time. Sometimes it's a spice, sometimes it's actual food. I had a love affair with cumin all of last year. This year, my passion is ruby grapefruits. I will peel them and eat them segment by segment, no sugar, just the grapefruit-y goodness. I tried to explain the attraction to my co-worker and the best I could come up with was that it was like a surprise explosion in my mouth of sweet and sour, but that sounded kind of dirty so I left it alone.

I haven't had a period in four months. My doctor says I am in official menopause, but it doesn't really count until I haven't had a period for 12 months. I was surprised to find out that I missed the old Aunt Flo. At first. Now, I am getting used to the idea. I think I want to make a longer post about going through menopause, but I promise to warn the men in advance...

The boat is in the water, but the weather has been sucky of late. High winds and cold make for less than pleasant weekends. But we persevere.

I am thinking of what I should be called when I officially become a grandparent. (November 28. Wheeee!!) My grandmothers were Grandma and Mimi. For some odd reason that I can't quite put my finger on, I find myself leaning towards Granny Allison, but Grant thinks that sounds like I am a crone. I dunno. What do you think?

I have to go cook dinner, which reminds me: Grant has lost over 25 lbs. I have lost 7. Apparently my thyroid is hypo-active. So I am having a thyroid scan tomorrow. Which means:

I am currently radioactive.

And once again...

The husband has gotten sick of feeling like he is fat Fat FAT, so he has started a new diet. An extremely low-calorie, doctor-supervised diet, which is what he feels he needs to get really serious about losing weight. I have mixed feelings about all of this. As far as I am concerned, this kind of rapid weight loss diet is exactly the kind where you end up gaining it all back and more after you go off of it. But, it's his body and his self-image, and although I have discussed my concerns with him, ultimately it is his decision. He has asked a lot more questions since I brought up my fears, has decided to consult with our family doctor and is significantly more aware of what this diet entails. And we have a plan to make sure he doesn't gain it all back. Oh yes, we do have a plan.

As the Official Cooker of All Things Food TM, I am having to find a way to prepare meals that meet the strict criteria of this diet, still taste like something and not starve myself in the process. I have to weigh bloody EVERYTHING. But, although weighing EVERYTHING is a pain in the ass, I have realized that our meat portions were WAY out of whack. Do you know that those fresh chicken breasts at the store weigh around 10 ozs?? The recommended serving of protein is about 4. Now, instead of one breast per person, we make one breast into nearly 3 servings. Not only is it a better serving, but it will save us money down the line. And I have a much better sense of how much meat/protein to prepare. Veggies are easy--you can have loads of the green ones and the pepper family, you just have to watch the more sugary, starchy ones and only eat those occasionally. And hopefully, if we watch our portions carefully, there can be wine in our future.

Oh, please. Of course there will be wine in our future. Anything else is unthinkable.

Yummy

I made a lentil soup the other day that really rocked my taste buds, so I thought I would share my creation with you all. Enjoy!

Red Lentil Soup

2 cups dry red lentils
2 T butter/oil
2-3 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 T curry powder
1 T cumin
1 bouillion cube (chicken or veggie)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 lean kielbasa, cut into cubes(optional)

I pre-soaked the lentils by covering them with water, bringing to a boil and then shutting off the heat and soaking for a few hours, but I suspect you can just cook them along with the rest of the soup if you prefer. In a dutch kettle or soup pot, saute the onions, carrots and celery( I use a combination of butter and olive oil, it helps keep the butter from burning). Add the parsley and spices and allow the seasoning flavour to release. Add the lentils and just cover with water. Add the bouillion cube, bring to a boil and then cook for approximately one hour on low heat, stirring occasionally. Drain the tomatoes slightly, and add, along with the kielbasa. Cook for another 1/2 hour. Serve with corn bread. Be happy.

Ponderings and Posings

• Why is it so easy to read 30 blogs every day and so hard to write just one?
  
• Remember when Heroes used to be good?
  
• I am listening to Fields of Gold by Sting (shut up! I like Sting). Why is it so much sexier when someone kisses "her mouth" instead of "her lips"?
  
• Maybe if I refilled the bird feeder, the pretty birds would come back. Unfortunately, that currently entails navigating the sea of dog poop that is currently my backyard.
  
• You really didn't need that last bit of information, did you?
  
• I didn't give up anything for Lent. I never give up anything for Lent. Do you?
  
• I thought the Academy Awards rocked this year. I especially liked the groups of five previous winners doing the acting nominations. I thought it gave real power to the idea that it was an honour just to be nominated. Seemed to me that most of the actors really appreciated the acknowledgment. Since when did giving people compliments become boring?
  
• This is very nearly a BoQ, isn't it? Don't you miss BOQs? How do you write bOq?
  
• I had iTunes Genius make me some playlists from my music. It pretty much scored a home run.
  
• Are you looking forward to baseball season? Do you ever look forward to a sporting season?
  
• I have fingerling potatoes to roast for supper tonight. You envy me, don't you?
  
• What state would you most like to visit?
  
• After I wrote the last item, the Genius playlist just moved to New York State of Mind. It really is a Genius, isn't it?
  
• Have you watched Life on Mars? You really should. Trust me.
  
• Which reminds me: I am actually feeling somewhat nostalgic for the 70s. I blame Milk, The Pursuit of Happyness and the aforementions LOM. What decade do you feel nostalgia for?
  
• I think this one is done for now. Thanks for playing
  

Sunday morning

The dog decided at 6 o'clock this morning that she needed to go out. I got up, put on robe and slippers, picked up the dog and carried her downstairs, put her out, checked to make sure she was accomplishing something, coaxed her back up the icy steps outside, and carried her back up to bed.

At 7, she decided she needed to do the whole thing again. And again at 8:30. Since the alternative is an accident in the bedroom, I obliged her. Reluctantly. You may wonder why I didn't just get up and stay up the first (or second) time she got me out of bed. The answer is that Sunday is the ONE day I get to sleep in, and dammit! I really wanted to this morning. Fail.

But...

I am sitting at my computer, alternately reading and writing; I have a large cup of coffee at my elbow; I am listening to the glorious sounds of Audra MacDonald singing in "110 in the Shade"; the sun is just reaching the fence in the backyard and the smell of fried apples is filling the air. Soon there will be bacon and Scottish oatmeal. I guess there are worse ways to spend a Sunday morning.

Things I did while on Christmas break

• Bought a Wii
  
• Played far too much Mario Kart
  
• Made candles
  
• Was ridiculously spoiled by my husband on Christmas Day
  
• Put a whole bunch of musicals on my brand new BLUE iPod Nano
  
• Poached eggs for the first time in my life
  
• Made Egg Benedict for Boxing Day Brunch (see poached eggs)
  
• Obsessively refreshed the Pandagon page to keep up with the endlessly entertaining trolls
  
• Read Twilight
  
• Hated it
  
• But really enjoyed this thread linking me to the BEST recap of Twilight ever
  
• Drank way too much
  
• Bought a new car
  
• The blue one
  
• On impulse
  

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Good stuff

Mmmmmm. I made the most yummy pasta the other night and I just wanted to share. Not the actual pasta--I intend to eat most of that, myself--but the recipe I concocted. Enjoy.

Rigatoni Verdi

Rigatoni
Onion
Red Bell Pepper
1-2 cloves of Garlic
Mushrooms
Chard
Pesto Sauce
Fontina
Gorgonzola

Cook the rigatoni in salted boiling water for 10 minutes. While it is cooking, roughly chop the onion, red pepper, garlic and mushrooms and saute in a small amount of olive oil. Chop the chard and add to the pasta water at the 6 minute mark. When the pasta is done, drain it and the chard. Toss with the veggies and pesto sauce and put in a baking dish. Top the pasta with sliced fontina and crumbled gorgonzola. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

You will love it!

To meat or not to meat

Most of you know I have been actively trying to buy and eat more local foods over the last few months. One of my stumbling blocks has been finding locally-raised meat. I am pleased to say that I have found a source that will deliver locally-raised beef, pork lamb and poultry to a Toronto location for me to pick up.

This is all kinds of yay. Except, somehow, over the last few months, both Grant and I have found ourselves not loving the meat so much. We have definitely cut down on our portions, and just recently, when I have prepared meat, I have found myself thinking that all I really needed was the incredibly yummy vegetables that I have prepared.

Grant is in total agreement. He thinks that the veggies are extra good because I am such a fabulous cook. That may be, but I also suspect that buying locally and organically is a big factor too. We have experimented a lot more with new vegetables lately and have discovered wonderful new favourites.

I think I will go ahead and buy some of the local meat. Who knows? I may find that it revives my former love of meat products. If it doesn't, then I suspect we will continue eating less and less meat. Eventually, we may decide to formally eliminate it from our diet, but only time will tell.

Of corn, dogs and autumn leaves

Okay, so I haven't actually spent the last 10 days husking corn, then slicing off the cob, then scooping it into small ziploc bags and freezing it.

It only felt that way.

Word to the wise: corn is entirely too easy to pick. Before you know it, you will have 7 large canvas bags full of ears piled up in the back of you itty bitty SUV. And you will be all chuffed with your bad corn-fed self. Until the husking, boiling and slicing begins. Until you remember that you don't have a deep freezer in your basement. Until you would rather die than look at another ear of corn.

Anyway, most of it is frozen. Some more of it was given away. I look forward to enjoying it again someday.

In other news, in the last month Lucy has fallen off the dock and off a sheer bank into the lake opposite our dock slip. Both at night. She managed not to die of shoc and seems no worse for the experience, for which we are grateful. But, let me tell, clambering down that same sheer bank, retrieving an elderly dog and finding a way to get back up that same bank with said dog in one's arms is difficult at any time of day, but is particularly difficult at 5:30 am while suffering the after-effects of too much vodka from the night before.

Three more weekends of boating left. The weather was spectacular this weekend and the trees are just starting to turn to gold, crimson and orange. I hope we are just as lucky for the next few weeks.

I also hope that Lucy manages to stay out of the water.

Mmmmmmm, corn

To add to my fresh-farm produce bounty, Grant and I are leaving shortly to pick massive amounts of corn in order to cook, shave and freeze. We will have nearly fresh corn in deepest winter!! Envy me.

Cheese please

I did it. I made something that actually resembles cheese with my own two hands. Yes, my kitchen looks like a bomb hit it. A cheese bomb. There are curds and whey everywhere; I will never recite "Little Miss Muffet" without having flashbacks. In fact, I have practically a gallon of whey, which I suspect is not quite the thing, and only a tiny bit of cheese. But it looks and tastes like mozzarella. And I learned a lot by just diving in and taking a stab at it. Next time, I predict more cheese and less mess.

Yay for me!

The root of the mystery

In my produce box this week, I received some large, whitish root vegetables with whom I am not acquainted. I suspected that they were turnips, then further investigation suggested they might be rutabagas. Even further investigation revealed that rutabagas are turnips! Who knew?

Anyway, the next challenge is how to prepare them. Luckily, my supplier has a recipe search engine that provides many recipes for many vegetables. I have only used one of them so far, for the bok choy, but that was a definite success, so I trust them. Conveniently enough, many of the recipes involve other vegetables and fruits that came along with my rutabagas; yams, carrots, and apples. Some of them involve maple syrup, too. Yum.

I doubt I will get to making anything from my rutabagas until next week, because Grant is leaving on Wednesday for Quebec City (which, incidentally, is where my rutabagas are from. Which also makes me wonder how committed my supplier is to the concept of "local", but that is another question for another day.) But one of the advantages of rutabagas (and most winter vegetables) is their ability to be stored. So store them, I will.

In the meantime, if you have any killer rutabaga recipes to share, please do so!

Reality check

As mentioned previously, I have been on a kick of reading about food and eating. This weekend, I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which chronicles her family's year-long effort to eat food entirely produced locally, most of which was grown in her own garden, chicken and turkey yard. I had already been inspired by The Omnivore's Dilemma to search out sustainable farm operations here in my neck of the woods, but Kingsolver really got me thinking. I even tentatively tested Grant.

"What if, instead of a cottage on the water, we retired to a farm and grew our own food?"

The answer was an incredulous "Ummm, no?"

Which is wise, because one of my failings (and I have a few), is a general lack of the work ethic and patience necessary to a real gardener. Every year, I plant pretty plants in my home garden, usually of the floral or shrub variety, and every year, the weeds enjoy relatively free reign in my plot of earth. I just don't have the passion to spend endless hours digging and tilling and weeding, even when it means beauty and/or food. The likelhood of successfully growing my own food is marginal, at best. This summer will mean a pot or two of herbs, nothing more. I really do accept this.

So, mostly, eating locally means it's me and the farmers' markets. But Kingsolver has made me realize that there just might be some things I could do all by myself. One is to take all the produce I can buy in summer and can it for the winter. Tomatoes, pickles, chutney...all of these are within the realm of possibility. All I need is a weekend or two...and maybe a friend to do it with.

But the thing that really fired my imagination is making my own cheese. Apparently, homemade cheese is significantly less lactose-heavy. I might actually be able to consume ricotta again! And make my own cream cheese and mozzarella. Cheese! I could make cheese!!!

Honestly, if I can make candles, I should be able to do this.

Ummm....yum?

One of the suggestions that my doctor gave me when we discovered I have osteoporosis is to eat sardines. Apparently, they are the single most calcium-laden food out there. So I decided last time that I was at the store that I would pick up a can. Now, when I was a little girl, my dad regularly snacked on sardines and saltines and I developed a bit of a taste for them. So, I figured, "Why not?"

Sadly, my house is currently saltine-free. Still, I opened the can and grabbed a fork. After I finished the first little fishy, I added some salt to the sardines and they weren't terrible. Still, I doubt they will be a regular solution to the calcium thing. Especially since I am completely positive I will be unable to get my husband to kiss me for several hours, if not days.

Green grocer

Lately, I have become very conscious of the food I eat, not only from a weight loss standpoint, but from an earth-friendly standpoint. I recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma (I also read The Botany of Desire, but it has slightly less relevance to this post, but I recommend both books.) and I was very much struck by the industrialization of so much of the food that we, as a society, consume. By the end of the book, I was fired by the idea of eating locally-produced and small organic foods on a more regular basis. But, as the author of TOD, Michael Pollan, discovered, it is not as simple as it might seem. Finding a source that is not "Big Organic", i.e. a producer that meets organic guidelines , but is still a mass producer, is not particularly easy. Local produce in Ontario is plentiful, but is very much a seasonal thing, so unless I am completely willing to give up fruit and many vegetables during the winter season, I am going to have to deal with most of my produce being trucked from milder climes. And I haven't found much in the way of a source for locally grown meats, although I am planning on keeping a sharp eye out on our trips up North this summer.

I found a company (based right here in Brampton!) that delivers organic and locally- grown produce on a weekly basis and decided to give it a try. We got our first "box" on Friday (the produce actually arrives in a large plastic bag--which is unfortunate. I plan on emailing the company about that.) and so far, so good. We got lettuce, English cucumber, bok choy, a giant hunk of ginger, a bag of red potatoes, plums, pears and Granny Smith apples, one hot-house tomato, a grapefruit and a mango. I used the bok choy and ginger last night and it was delicious. Believe it or not, I have never cooked bok choy before. That is another reason I decided to try this program out; I like the idea of getting stuff I don't usually try. The mango is another case in point. Now, I know that this is not even remotely local, but unlike the mangoes I see in the store, this one looks ripe and ready to eat. I will pretend it didn't use a ton of fuel getting here.

Of course, I can do custom orders if I want to get rid of the fruits arriving from the tropics, but I am not quite there yet. I also suspect that as we get into the Ontario growing season, I will see more local choices and that pleases me. In the meantime, I lay in bed last night planning my menus around the beautiful fresh produce that is in my refrigerator and fruit bowl. Tonight: organic salad with cukes and tomatoes with a ginger vinagrette and roasted red potatoes to accompany some stuffed chicken breasts. Tomorrow morning: Apple-cinnamon pancakes. And when the pears finish ripening properly, there will be gouda, mango and pears. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Cooking Mexicano Style

...in honour of my (nearly finished) Mexico-inspired kitchen. Last night I made a low-cal version of Chicken Mole, using chicken breasts with no skin, but still all the lovely chocolate-y chile-y goodness that is Mole. We didn't use to call it Hot Fudge Chicken for nothing!

That was a faux Mexican dish, but tonight, baby, Chile Verde! The real thing, made from scratch and currently bubbling away on my stove. Mmmmmmmmmm. Let's take a look, shall we?



Although it is relatively easy to make Chile Verde using various canned items, I usually prefer to do it all myself. That means roasting, peeling and de-seeding the chiles myself, chopping up the tomatoes and trimming my own pork. The only thing I didn't make from scratch was the chicken broth that all the good stuff is simmering in. Thank Campbell's for that.

I haven't been able to find Poblano chiles here in Canadia or Anaheim chiles, for that matter. The chiles I use are called Cubanos, who knows-- they may be Anaheims by another name, they certainly look similar. They do the job, though. These roasted up beautifully, thanks to my asador. What? you don't have an asador? You totally need to get one.



Just put this baby on your gas burner and char those peppers or tomatoes all to hell!

Okay, enough teasing. Here's what you really want to see, even if it is slightly unfinished.



In the above photo. the plant in the foreground cleverly conceals the one cabinet that doesn't currently have a door.



The microwave may not stay here, but both Grant and I like having more space around the sink.



Isn't it amazing how the tile totally matches the dishes in the open cupboard? A complete accident.

Anyway, even though it's not perfect...yet...we are pretty happy with our new kitchen.