July flying by...

Well. Long time, no blog. I'd like to say that I've been off enjoying myself - and indeed, Husband and I did have a pretty good week around the Canada Day Holiday. The past week has been rather stressful though, and I've been pretty exhausted. I believe we have made it through to the other side, and things should be a bit more relaxed for a while. Finally!

I haven't been keeping up with things very well lately, and I feel like I owe you guys garden pictures. I actually created a second blog, dedicated to the garden so that I can post updates for my family. I like to keep this blog to myself. Sounds insane - a second blog - when you consider that I haven't been able to keep up with this one, but we'll see how it goes. There is a link in the side bar if you want to check it out - click on the picture of Frank & Zappa in the garden.

Things are actually coming along quite well in the garden this year - better than last year certainly. We've had lots of sun, but also a good amount of rain; pretty much perfect garden weather.

My tomato and pea plants have blossoms! I can see my carrots!





I have actually harvested some herbs and some onions for salad. It's not much, but every little bit makes me happy!

Dill & Parsley

Bunching Onions

I made Potato Salad, using the dill and about half of the onions. I used the rest of the onions and the parsley in a tossed salad.

Because I don't like mayo, this is what I make for potato salad.

Dill Potato Salad

Cook your potatoes until fork tender. While potatoes are still warm, add fresh squeezed lemon juice, salt & pepper, chopped dill and green onions.


Toss to mix everything together, then add sour cream.


And you're done! Chill until you are ready to serve. How easy can it get?

That felt like pretty much a perfect summer evening, in my kitchen putting together a summery meal, no rushing, and Zappa rolling around on the deck, soaking up the sun.

INDIAN SPICED HADDOCK

(serves 4)

1 1/2 lb thick pieces of haddock fillet, skinned

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 small onion, sliced

1-in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 fresh green chili, cored, seeded and finely chopped

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

2 potatoes, diced

1 large green pepper, cored, seeded and cut into strips

2/3 cup water

black pepper

plain yogurt to serve

Directions:

1. Cut the haddock into 2-in squares and put them into a bowl.

2. Crush the spices and salt.

Sprinkle the mixture over the haddock, stir to coat evenly, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Heat half of the oil in a skillet, add the onion, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger and chili and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, and green pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. Heat the remaining oil, add the haddock and brown lightly all over. Add the cooked vegetables and measured water and simmer for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the vegetables are tender. Taste for seasoning. Serve at once with the yogurt.

As usual, I did not entirely follow the recipe…

* I used 1 potato and 1 sweet potato.

* I used about half a head of cauliflower, and that seemed like plenty; it was probably more of a medium-large size than small size head of cauliflower.

* I was quite generous with the ginger and I didn’t have a fresh chili, so I used dried chili flakes.

* I used a red bell pepper because Husband doesn’t like green peppers.

* I used coconut oil – I’d guess this could really be the oil of your choice.

* I did not have plain yogurt, so I reduced the amount of water to about a half cup, and added about a half cup of light coconut milk.This created a bit of a sauce for the dish.

The recipe says 4 servings and serving with salad and rice we did get 2 meals out of this.

Pound Cake

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and dust lightly with flour.

Cream thoroughly

1 cup butter

Gradually beat in

1 cup fruit sugar (superfine sugar)

Beat until very light and fluffy.

One at a time, beat in

4 eggs

Beat for 2 minutes after each egg.

Blend in

1 tsp vanilla

Blend or sift together

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, folding in well. Then beat for 2 minutes (at low speed with electric mixer).

 

Turn into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 60 to 70 minutes.

Crock Pot Mole with Beef and Black Beans

Adapted from: A Year of Slow Cooking: Crock Pot Mole Recipe

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 to 1 1/2 pounds stewing beef
1/2 cup raw slivered almonds
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, chopped (amount to taste - I used a lot because we like spicy)
1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 carrots (depending on size), finely diced
1 or 2 stalks celery (depending on size), finely diced
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cinnamon stick
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes (and juice)
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
1/4 cup Tequila
1 1/2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup water
salt to taste
Agave Nectar to taste

Heat non-stick pan over medium heat; add coconut oil and stew meat and cook until meat is browned. Meanwhile, toast slivered almonds in a small pan over med-low heat.

Add meat and almonds to crock pot (I used a 4L slow cooker). Return pan that meat was browned in to heat and add onions, garlic, carrots & celery. Saute veggies until softened, then add tomato past and tequila.

Add veggie mixture and all other ingredients except Agave nectar to crock pot. Stir everything together and cook on low for 8 hours.

Before serving, remove cinnamon stick. Taste mixture and adjust seasonings, adding Agave nectar if desired.

Served over rice with veggies on the side:



In this photo, the Mole is garnished with Chipotle Cream (sour cream mixed with Chipotle Peppers) that we had left over from another recipe.

Husband commented that this was a filling meal, and it made enough to give us three meals.

Soba Noodles With Peanut Sauce

This is a recipe that I’ve mentioned – and posted photos of – before. I found it in Fitness Magazine years ago – in fact, I was living on PEI at the time, so that’s more than 10 years ago now.

The last time I searched for it on the Fitness Magazine website I couldn’t find it, so I decided to post it here.

Here is the recipe as it was printed in Fitness Magazine.

Soba Noodles With Peanut Sauce

Prep time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

One 8.8 oz pkg Soba noodles

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

- 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

- 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1/8 tsp salt

- 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

One 8-oz pkg frozen sugar snap peas

1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1/2 cup fresh basil or mint

Cook Soba noodles in boiling water as directed (about 6-8 minutes). Meanwhile, make Spicy Peanut Sauce:

In a small saucepan, combine lemon juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; whisk in peanut butter stirring until smooth, and set aside.

Two minutes before noodles are done, add snap peas. Continue to boil until noodles are just cooked. Drain noodles and peas and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add bell peppers, scallions and basil. Pour sauce over noodles and toss to coat.

* * * * *

Of course, being incapable of sticking to a recipe as it is written, I like to do things a bit differently. I usually cook less noodles and stir-fry a bunch of veggies. I’ll use whatever veggies I have on hand – in fact, I have made it with red bell pepper and red onion if that’s all I have and it still came out great.

If making the recipe this way, you’ll want to rinse your soba noodles with cold water after cooking to keep them from sticking together. Then add them to the pan with your stir fried veggies and toss it all together – the easiest way is to us a big spoon and one of those spaghetti servers. Then add the sauce and toss to coat.

I have used fresh cilantro in place of the basil/mint, or if I have no fresh herbs, I have added some dried basil to the sauce.

I have also used fresh chilis in place of dried, and added fresh ginger (as shown in the photo above).

Thai Green Curry Soup

I can’t say for sure what inspired this soup. All I can say with certainty is that I wanted to make something different from my usual bean & lentil concoctions. Add to that the fact that I had just read something on the importance of eating green vegetables which reminded me that while I do make an effort to eat vegetables, I don’t necessarily eat a lot of green ones. Red, orange, yellow, white – check! Green? Not often enough.

Perhaps this line of thought led me to one of my favorite things – Green Thai Curry. The Green Curry that we get at our favorite restaurant is not a soup of course. It is a dish of chicken and Green Thai Eggplant cooked in a Green Curry Sauce. It will often have either fresh basil or cilantro – whatever is available I suspect, either one fitting with the green theme.

When Husband and I make Green Thai Curry at home, we are not as particular about making sure that all of the ingredients that go in are green – but it winds up being a tasty meal just the same.

Authentic Thai ingredients not being the easiest thing to come by when you live in a small city on the  east coast of Canada, we buy our curry paste. Our preferred brand is Thai Kitchen – available in all the colors of the curry rainbow – Red, Yellow and Green.

We keep them on hand in our kitchen so that we’re always ready to whip up a pot of Thai Curry for dinner.

As for the vegetable ingredients – I made it colorful.

Before starting on the curry, I got a pot going on the stove to cook 1 cup of long grain brown rice. On to the curry!

First in the pot, some coconut oil and green curry paste. I gave the curry paste a few seconds to get fragrant, then threw in diced celery and sweet potato. I let that saute, giving it a stir every now and then, while I chopped a red bell pepper and a small zucchini. Once it was chopped, it went into the pot.

 

I can’t claim that I actually like spinach. I don’t think I care for any green that is cooked before serving. But, the nice thing about spinach is that you can hide it. Which is what I do.

I wanted a package of frozen chopped spinach, but apparently so did everyone else. If there was any left in the freezer at the grocery store, it was too far back on the shelf for me to reach. On a side note: The advantage of grocery shopping without Husband is that I don’t end up with giant bags of M&M’s in the cart; the down side is I can’t reach things on high shelves.

So I was stuck with whole leaf spinach. Plus, I was planning to work in a can of chickpeas which do not exactly scream “Thai food!” Solution?

Out came the food processor. I poured a little vegetable broth in with the thawed spinach & chickpeas and ground it into an nice little paste.

Into the pot it went, along with the rest of the vegetable broth, some Thai Fish Sauce, Agave Nectar and some Roasted Red Chili Paste (also Thai Kitchen Brand) because I saw it in the fridge and I really love the stuff.

I let that simmer for a while to make sure the sweet potato was nice and soft (I do not like crunchy/firm sweet potato in my soup or curry). In the meantime, my rice had finished cooking so when I decided the soup was pretty much done cooking, I added the rice and a can of light coconut milk.

I wound up with 8 containers of soup to go in the freezer for lunches. Not a bad hour’s work.

Breakfast Bean Cookies

Sister sent me this recipe last week and of course I had to try it out. I whipped up a batch on Sunday and they are pretty good - Husband gave his thumbs up too. Maybe they will help me get out of this Coffee-Shop-Muffin-For-Breakfast habit I seem to have got into these past couple of weeks...

Breakfast Bean Cookies

2 cups oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 - 14 oz can white kidney, navy or cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup (or more) chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 Tbsp ground flax seed (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Place oats in bowl of a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse flour. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix till combined. Transfer to large bowl.
Put the beans into the food processor and pulse until smooth scraping down the side of the bowl (or mash the beans). Add the brown sugar, egg and mix till smooth.
Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir by hand until combined. Add the remaining ingredients.
Drop large spoonfulls of dough into cookie sheet sprayed with Pam and flatten each one a little with your hand.
Bake 14-15 mins. Cool on wire rack.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

I found the recipe in SparkPeople recipes; someone entered it into their recipe calculator and it works out to around 154 cals per cookie.

You asked...here it is...

From a little searching on the internet, it looks like the recipe for Dreena Burton's Mellow Lentil "Sniffle" Soup from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan was posted on her site at one point, but it is no longer there. So I won't post the original recipe since it seems like she doesn't want it out there anymore. If you want the original, you can always check out the book. I've made three recipes from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan so far, and I've been happy with all of them.

In any case, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, because I was aiming to use what I had on hand in my kitchen, so I hope Ms. Burton won't mind me posting my version. And if it helps, I'll say it again: Really like the cookbook so far and I happily recommend it!

Specifically, I was aiming to use up:
- two different types of lentils (I had red lentils and some others that were a brown color - they were in a jar, no package, so I'm not sure what kind they were. I also didn't measure, so I don't know how much I used; I knew I didn't have enough red lentils for the recipe, so I used both and I will have to guess amounts.)
- an expired curry packet (Asian Home Gourmet Indian Chicken Curry spice paste, according to the website this is a Madras Curry base. Best before date was April; I probably bought it thinking it might make an easy supper one night, but I have a recipe for Indian Chicken Curry from scratch that I really like, so if I'm going to make it, that's what I usually do. However, it was good in the soup, so it didn't go to waste, and I would buy it again for that purpose.)
- a zucchini (small-medium in size)

So here goes...

JavaChick's Sniffle Soup

1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (you can use olive oil)
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 large carrot, grated (was about 1 cup)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 small-medium zucchini, diced (approx 2 cups?)
salt & pepper to taste
crushed red chilies, to taste
1 packet Madras Curry paste (You can probably buy jarred Madras curry paste, in which case I'd say use amount to taste)
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1/3 cup mysterious brown lentils
1 900 ml tetra pack Vegetable Stock
3 1/2 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (actually, I'm not positive on this one, I may have used 1 1/2 tbsp? I can't remember.)

Before starting anything else, I rinsed the mysterious brown lentils and put them in a pot of water on the stove. Brought to a boil, then turned the heat down and let them simmer. (Sorry, I did not measure or time anything here. I knew the brown lentils would take longer to cook and wanted to give them a head start.)

I set a large pot on the stove to heat over med-low heat while I diced/grated onion, celery, carrots and garlic.

Add oil to pot, along with onion, celery, carrot, garlic, curry paste, thyme and rosemary, salt, pepper and crushed chilies. Allow this to cook while dicing zucchini, then add zucchini. Cook until vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally.

Rinse red lentils and add to pot, along with water, stock, bay leaf, and brown lentils that have been cooking all along. Increase heat and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are softened (20 mins?). Add apple cider vinegar and remove from heat. Fish out bay leaf.

I got 7 servings out of this, approx 1 1/2 cups each, which is enough to fill me up at lunch time.

It really is quite tasty, and I could probably get Husband to eat this, as long as he did not see me using the 'Eat, Drink and Be Vegan' cookbook while making it. As soon as he sees that word, he makes up his mind that it can't be good. Silly Husband.

Black Bean Salsa

This is a favourite recipe of ours, we make it often and it is always a hit. The batch we made yesterday was extra special, having been made with tomatoes and cilantro from my garden. So I thought I would take the opportunity to share the recipe.

Black Bean Salsa

1 can black beans
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Drain and rinse black beans. Combine black beans and remaining ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate.

Serve with your favourite tortilla chip. We like it with the Tostitos Hint of Lime chips. It's also quite good just eaten with a fork. :)

Shortcake Biscuits

Found my recipe notebook, so here is the Shortcake Biscuit recipe for Bionic Woman (love that name by the way). I think this recipe came from my Mom's Purity Cookbook.

Shortcake Biscuits

Preheat oven to 425° F.
Sift together
    2 cups flour
    1/3 cup granulated sugar
    3 1/2 tsp baking powder
    1 tsp salt

With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in finely
    1/2 cup shortening

Add
    1 cup milk

Stir with a fork to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 8 to 10 times. Dough will be a bit sticky, keep some flour on hand for dusting your hands & work surface. Don't overwork the dough, you basically just want it to come together so you can roll it out. Gentle is the operative word here.
Roll or pat 3/4 inch thick. Cut with a floured 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter. I don't own any cookie cutters; I use a glass, just like Mom did.
Place about 1-inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 425° oven for 14 to 16 minutes.
Split, fill and top with sweetened fruit. Serve with whipped cream.

Turn that craving upside-down

Earlier in the week I had a craving for coconut cream pie. Some cravings come and go, but this one stuck. Then I had an idea. Last night I combined 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt with 1/4 cup of shredded coconut. Once that was all stirred together, I topped it with 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries. I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

This morning, the berries were nicely defrosted. I stirred it all together, and Voila! Coconut Cream Yogurt with Raspberries. It was very tasty and it hit the spot.

How I Eat My Veggies

I've said it before, I'll probably say it again: I'm not a lover of veggies. I wish I was. I really do try. I gave my parents a hard time all while I was growing up as they tried to get me to eat my vegetables. I still haven't learned to love them.

Me not liking vegetables doesn't mean I don't eat them. Oddly enough, I have what I call "vegetarian leanings". I'm not much of a meat lover either, and I try very hard to not think about where meat comes from in order to eat it. I also know that vegetables are good for you, they are essential if you want to be healthy. So, I work hard at finding ways to eat them. It's not all bad - there are a few vegetables that I genuinely like. I enjoy raw veggies, I enjoy salads. In the winter though, it's nice to have warm food!

I have this little mini-chopper that is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets. I can quickly chop veggies into a fine dice and throw them in many different dishes. I am a big fan of "one-pot" type meals, or anything that I can put veggies in and disguise flavours. My poor hubby seldom gets a "meat and potatoes" meal because I don't like them. Fortunately, he likes most of the same things I do, so it works out pretty well. Pasta sauces, soups, chili, casseroles, stir-fries - these are are my go-to meals because I can add lots of veggies to them.

I love tomatoes and tomato sauce. I love bell peppers. Those tend to form the basis for a lot of my meals. I make soups and freeze them for my lunches at work so I know that I'll be getting vegetables at lunch time too.

I was feeling like I wanted something new - you can only repeat the same soups so many times - and inspiration hit.

One of the restaurants uptown has a Tortellini soup that I like. I decided to try and make my own. I could have gone looking for a recipe, but I know what I like, so I decided to wing it. I went a little overboard on the tortellini, it came out really thick, more like a stew. I just had a bowl and it was very tasty, so I decided I'd better write down the recipe. I think I'll be making this again.

Tortellini Stew

Finely dice:
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
1 small zucchini
1 red bell pepper

Heat a large pot over medium-low heat. Add a little olive oil to the pot and saute the vegetables. Add salt, pepper and crushed red chilies to taste.

When vegetables are softened, add:
1 large can of diced tomatoes
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 small can of tomato paste

Add dried oregano and basil to taste. Bring to a boil.

Add;
1 package of frozen, chopped spinach (thawed)
2 250 g packages of President's Choice Pesto Tortellini

Simmer until tortellini are cooked.

So I had a bowl, Moon had a bowl, and I put 7 lunch-size containers in the freezer. Not bad for one pot of soup.


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Daily Record
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BF: Red River Cereal, coffee/w cream
Snack: 2 squares dark chocolate
Supper: Chicken Fajitas

Workout: Burn & Firm Pilates DVD with light weights (45 mins) + 15 mins with heavier weights

Recipe: Chickpea Curry with Brown Rice

Since Christy asked in the comments, I thought I'd throw this up here. I don't actually have a recipe for this, it was based on a recipe called Chickpeas Cooked in Tea (Dhabay kay chanai) from Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking. I adjusted for what I had on hand. So, this is what I think I remember doing...

Chickpea Curry with Brown Rice

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, chopped (depending on size)
1/2 - 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger (to taste, I like lots)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
salt, cinnamon, turmeric (I don't think I measured, large pinch?)
1 lg can diced tomatoes
1 carton chicken or vegetable stock (900 ml tetra pack)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 cup brown rice
handful chopped cilantro

Heat a little oil in large pot (or use cooking spray, whatever you fancy). Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 15 seconds or so. Add onion, bell pepper, carrots and ginger and saute until vegetables start to soften. Add the remaining spices and chickpeas, and stir around for a few seconds more. Add tomatoes, broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Add rice and simmer over low heat until rice is cooked. Stir in cilantro and remove from heat.

The original recipe does not have the broth & the rice, it did have 2 cans of chickpeas rather than one. I added the broth & rice because it's easier than cooking rice separately. Also, I only had 1 can of chickpeas in the cupboard. I added the cinnamon & turmeric because they are common curry spices, but I'm sure you could get by without them.