Category Archives: Recipes

Recipes

Granola… Two Ways!

Granola Two Ways

I’m not much of a breakfast person. Sure, I love brunch – but I’m talking about breakfast. You know, the food that you have to force down your throat first thing in the morning? No? Anyway, I never used to eat breakfast until I realized I need to eat all three meals in order to survive the day. There are two things I eat regularly: breakfast pitas; and yogurt with granola.

I’m a bit of a granola and yogurt fiend. I find store-bought granola to be expensive, and full of junk.

I’ve started on the path to making my own granola, full of things I like.

Granola Two Ways - full

This time around, I wanted some variety so I made two different kinds of granola, instead of putting all of the ingredients into one big granola. It was a pretty good try, but I think I need some practise. The two kinds don’t taste different enough for me, so next time I’ll have to kick it up a bit. I also need to learn how to make better clumps of things – the smaller bits, like flax and chia, mostly fell to the bottom of the pan. It would be so much better if they stuck to some oats in clumps. I think adding some egg white to the mix will help with this.

Next time, I’ll try not to wuss out on the spices in the Spiced Pumpkin Cashew mix, and I think I’ll add some dried apricot. And maybe add some orange juice for a different flavour?

J says I’m a hippie, now that I make granola.

Recipes after the jump!

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Recipes

Sweet Potato Poutine with Mushroom Gravy

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Sweet Potato Poutine

To end my little tour of Prince Edward county, I want to share a recipe that I cobbled together that was inspired by the spirit of the PEC.

This dish is made up of seasonal, local ingredients – the cheese actually migrated back to Toronto with us, from Black River Cheese Company in Prince Edward County.

The idea for the recipe came from a combination of two things: the fancy pants poutine we had in Wellington, and the fact that I had bought some cheese curds and couldn’t think of anything better to do with them than make poutine. Since I had never made poutine before, this was a perfect opportunity. J suggested we do sweet potato, to change things up a bit – and it was a fantastic suggestion.

A shameful admission from this proud Canadian girl, I haven’t really had much poutine in my life. Being a strict vegetarian for a good number of my adult years, I didn’t try poutine. To be honest, some of the poutines I saw weren’t even trying to change my mind – gloopy “gravy”, greasy fries and fake mozzarella doesn’t appeal to me. I guess it really isn’t that big of a surprise that it hasn’t been on my ‘to do’ list.

Not long ago, J and I went to a fun tapas restaurant that focused on local ingredients, and we tried a really good unusual poutine. So when we saw it on the menu in Wellington – another poutine that stretched the boundaries – we happily ordered it.

To be honest, I really should have tried to make it sooner.

Not to rain on anyone’s grease parade, but making poutine at home can actually be healthy. The most fattening thing in the whole dish is the oozy cheese – and it’s oozy melty goodness is used to its full advantage when layered this way. The sweet potato ‘fries’ are baked with a little bit of oil, and some smart seasoning, and the gravy is vegetarian with only a bit of oil and some milk to add to the fat content. Compare this to the usual “heart attack in a bowl” that is traditional poutine.

The verdict? It was amazing, if I do say so myself! The gravy was probably the biggest question mark, because I used a new recipe. I probably would use less milk next time – it tasted amazing, but am I wrong to think a milky coloured gravy just seems weird? It didn’t thicken as much as I thought – but it was thick enough for this, and not gloopy like you get when you thicken with corn starch.

Finally – I try making some Canadian food on this blog!!! It only took nearly a year!!

… and with this, I end my yammering about Prince Edward County (for a little while, anyway).

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Challenges, Recipes

Daring Soufflé

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Crab & Leek Souffle

I’ve never made a soufflé before.

I knew it was something eggy, but I’m not really sure I had a concept of what one was. I just knew that they fell, and were complicated. I never ate one, I never tried to make one.

As a kid, my favourite birthday meal was home made lasagna and Black Forest cake. My girlfriend, on the other hand, loved cheese soufflé. I thought that was the funniest thing – what kid asks for cheese soufflé? Maybe it was just because I thought of soufflé as a snobby food, and not kid food. Obviously, different families eat different things.

So, yes, this is a great challenge for me. If you’ve never eaten something before, how do you know if you’ve made it right??

It’s hard to describe the texture… outside was a little bit crispy and nice, and inside was fluffy and soft. It’s almost like crossing scrambled eggs, a milkshake and crème brulée. Maybe.

Crab & Leek Souffle - baking

Blog-checking lines: Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
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Recipes

Herb and Spinach Bulgur Pilavı

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Herbed Bulgur Pilaf

There weren’t many dishes I ate that contained bulgur. Until recently, the only thing I could think to make was tabbouleh. Fair enough – tabbouleh is tasty!

Eating my way through Turkey, I realized that you could get bulgur in different sizes, in many stages between fine and coarse. The coarser bulgur was used much like rice, and bulgur pilaf was a common side for many dishes.

I bought a bag of coarse bulgur, ready to make some delicious pilaf… and it sat in the cupboard for almost a month. J finally dug in, and used some in a bread, and I decided I couldn’t let him show me up.

The basic bulgur pilaf is fairly plain, since it’s meant to be a side dish for more flavourful main items, like kebab and kofte. I used the recipe from the cookbook I bought in Turkey as a jumping off point, adding some spinach and lots of yummy herbs and spices. I also had to change the cooking instructions a little bit — this will vary depending on the coarseness of the bulgur you buy. There are many variations, and I’m not sure there’s a standard way that all brands differentiate between the varieties.

This is a great alternative to a rice side dish – it has a nice chewiness to it, and is fantastically tangy from the mix of tomato, fresh mint and sumac.

It’s also amazing as leftovers.

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