Hamburger Dinner...Or Cupcake Dessert?

I spend a great deal of time on the computer, both at work and home. I'm sure it's no surprise that some (a large majority) of my home time is spent reading food blogs and finding new recipes to tackle. A week or so ago I happened upon this recipe for Cupcake Sliders and Sugar Cookie French Fries over at Bakerella. Knowing that I had to give them a try, I sat around trying to find a good reason to make them. It just so happened that my cousins bridal shower was coming up the next weekend, so I jumped at the opportunity and my little hamburgers and fries were born.


And what a birth it was! The labour was long, and though not terribly difficult, it was a finicky process involving much cutting, folding and taping. Oh and of course baking, we can't forget all that baking. I'm fairly happy with the outcome but would definitely change a couple things the next time around (oh yes there WILL be a next time!).

First off, I decided that I was going to make everything from scratch. Good idea for the quality of the product. Bad idea for someone with time constraints, who happens to be baking late on a Friday evening in a very small kitchen. The brownies, which I made from a recipe out of a church cookbook my Grandmother gave to me, turned out great. The cupcakes, some of which rose too much due to my over filling the cups, also managed to turn out nicely (if not as perfect as I would've hoped). Alas in my rushing I forgot to take pictures of both of these.

And then there were the sugar cookie french fries...



The recipe I went with (although tasty) was much too soft and difficult to work with. After a couple maddening attempts to cut the dough (which were accompanied by a few frustrated sighs and more then one expletive) , I gave up late Friday night and shoved it into the fridge in hopes of hardening the dough enough to work with in the morning.

Saturday morning arrived and I resumed my hectic race to get everything, myself included, ready in time. I fought with the dough some more, and by rotating in intervals the cutting, baking and placing of dough in the fridge/freezer, managed to produce a finished product.



I mixed the icing, with only one mishap involving the knocking over of my red food colouring resulting in a red stained foot. I then placed the icing into bags, packed up all the various components into containers and set off, red foot and all, to the party.

Now, a few days before I had also downloaded the ingenious, and super cute, templates posted on the site so I could make cardboard baskets and fry sleeves.



I slightly underestemated the amount of time it was going to take to cut out said baskets and sleeves (and how stiff and lacking in feeling my fingers would become). In fact, even though I had started cutting a couple days earlier, I ended up a little bit rushed the day of and had to finish cutting and taping them together during the car ride with the generous help of my Mother.



One thing, in addition to timing things out better, that I wish I had done was cutting the food a bit neater. Since I was rushing through most of the process the fries weren't quite the shapes I wanted and the cupcakes were a bit sloppy and not always evenly cut. Next time I will for sure cut more carefully and take the time to tidy and even things out before I begin to build.



In the end, with the labour pains behind me, we all got to sit down, watch my cousin open presents, hang out and eat a ton of food, my creations included. All in all they were received very well and tasted delicious despite the fact that they weren't as pretty as the ones at Bakerella. But they were still mine and I loved them regardless...as any good mother would.

On The Chopping Block.

It's been a month.  Well, technically it has been over a month since my last post.  I admit it! I am officially in a rut. I have pictures, stories, heaps of recipes, a never ending list of things I want to make, re-make, never make again or just plain roll in the wonderfulness of. The one thing I seem to be lacking is the proper words to express all of said things. I've lost the spark, that little extra edge I have...had? Intend to have again! It seems no matter how many times I've sat down and tried to compose a proper post for my waning blog nothing seems to work. I am annoyed, slightly frustrated and greatly disappointed in myself.

I looked back through my last few posts and there are mostly apologies, a few pictures and a couple witty phrases. Nothing too attention grabbing and certainly no recipes. Even my brothers girlfriend gave me a look of disappointment a little while ago. It was a "a post about cheese curds? really?" kind of look. Nothing mean or terribly horrible, but I took it seriously. I'm hoping that if I just lay my writers block out on the kitchen table for all to see, perhaps I can finally push past it and get back to the reason I started this blog in the first place. My unwavering love for food and bestowing said food unto others.

Lets hope it works.

Cheese Curds and a few of my favourite things

I went to Whittamore's Farmers Market with my Mum this weekend. Initially we had planned on going strawberry picking, but the rainy weather put a damper on those plans. So we decided to go and browse the Market instead. It is small but boasts a nice assortment of fresh and delicious fruits and veggies. Not to mention the bakery (of which we sampled some tarts none of which lasted long enough for me to photograph). There is also ice cream, jams, syrups, and all sorts of pickled things to peruse through. Oh and cheese curds.



I LOVE cheese curds. So when I happened upon the bags of cheese curds, which were so much cheaper then the ones found in the grocery stores near me, I knew I had to get some. Me and my brother used to devour bags of them as children. The trick for me was to eat as much as possible (before my Brother ate them all) without getting a stomach ache from too much cheese. I know, I know, how could you eat too much cheese? I smile just thinking about my bag of ugly little bites of cheesey goodness. So I started to think of other foods that make me smile...

For example: crisp, bright green snow peas fresh from the market just waiting to be tossed into a stir fry.


Or: a little Peanut Butter Cup, chilled to perfection in the fridge, that waits until you bite into it before it begins to melt in your mouth, chocolate and peanut butter swirling together in flavour combonation heaven.


I can't forget the satisfying simplicity of a plate of cheese, crackers, kielbasa and sliced apples for dinner.


And even though I don't really drink pop, I've re-discovered the childhood joy of a Root Beer Float, which goes quite well with an evening of watching a baseball game.


Last, and certainly not least, there is my Chocolate Banana Bread....occasionally turned into over sized muffins with a healthy dose of white chocolate chips stirred into them.

Yum. ^_^


So now I pose a question: What kind of food brings a smile to your face?

An Unplanned Break

I have a new camera full of food pictures. I have been remiss with installing the software on my computer to upload said pictures. Not to mention my lack of blog-age over the past couple weeks. I am currently in a de-cluttering and re-organizing my apartment mode and it has briefly taken over my spare time. Do not fret however, I will soon be bombarding you with multiple, way past overdue posts. In the mean time, please bare with me, as I catch up on work and sleep so I can (hopefully) get back to my poor blog next week.

Capsicum, Spinach and Chickpea Soup...A Rainy Day Remedy

So I've been slacking again.  Not completely, I've been cooking...A LOT.  But it's all been so good I haven't quite managed to capture it all.  Plus I'm on a spinach salad kick right now, which isn't very exciting for most people to read about.  I have to admit I've also been pretty distracted by watching baseball lately.  Which has led me to neglect my poor blog.  Sorry blog, I will try to do better, I promise.  It's also been rainy, and a little chilly in Toronto over the past week or so. Which is severely cutting into my picnicking plans.  The one upside is that the rainy weather inspired me to make some soup.  

More specifically a Capsicum, Spinach and Chickpea Soup...which is both healthy, hearty and delicious (ha!  I bet you were expecting three H words from me on that one.. I can be slightly unpredictable in my writing, on occasion)

This is a very simple soup, but provides lots of flavour.  I find the basic ingredients not only yummy (yes that's my technical term on this one) but they allow you to build off of it easily with your own touches and add ons.  My little tweaks were shredded Haloumi cheese (which I am currently enamored with especially when it is pan seared and served a top a spinach and avocado salad.  See how easily I return to spinach, not to mention my tendency to stray off topic in the first place).  I also made some super easy garlic polenta croutons.

Actually I found this soup so satisfying that I didn't even feel the need for dessert, which for anyone who knows me is a small feat in and of itself.

Capsicum, Spinach and Chickpea Soup

Adapted from Best-Ever Soup Recipes from Bay Books

• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 8 Green Onions, finely sliced
• 1 Red Pepper (capsicum), finely diced
• 1 Garlic Clove, crushed
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 1/2 cups Italian Tomato Passata 
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 10 1/2 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 1/2 oz baby spinach leaves, roughly torn if you desire
• Haloumi Cheese
• Garlic Polenta Croutons*

In a large soup pot heat olive oil over medium heat.  Stir in green onions and cook until softened.  Add red pepper, cumin and garlic to pot and cook for a minute.  

Pour vegetable stock and passata into pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduced heat and let mixture simmer for 10 minutes.  Add sugar, vinegar and chickpeas and continue to simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Add baby spinach, stir and cook until it is wilted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place into bowls and shred a bit of haloumi cheese on top and add 2 or 3 croutons.

*Polenta Croutons

• 1 1/2 cups water
  
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• shredded haloumi cheese (if desired)
• garlic powder

In a medium pot bring water to boil, reduce heat then slowly pour in cornmeal; stirring constantly.  Once cornmeal has thickened take away from heat and stir in salt, olive oil and cheese.

Spread evenly into a pan and stick into fridge to cool.  Once it has cooled cut into cubes.  

Heat butter or oil in a small frying pan. Add garlic powder. Toss cubes into the frying pan coating them well in the oil.  Fry until crispy. These could also be baked in the oven if you so desired.

Pizza From The Pantry.

I'm sure by now most of you have realized that I have a tendency to not grocery shop as consistently as I would like and in order to not waste food I try to just buy a few odds and ends to last a couple days. In theory this is a good strategy, in practice it often leaves me with an empty fridge and lacking the desire to go shopping. It would seem that I do have an okay store of basics that occasionally allow me to improvise on lazy evenings.

It was on one such evening, as I perused through my pantry that I looked at a package of active dry yeast and thought to myself...it's gonna be a pizza night! Well actually I really thought "What Would MacGyver Do?". But it all comes out with the same result in the end. At least in my mind.


With my bare fridge in sight, I knew this was going to be a simple endeavor. I tossed the yeast into the bowl of my stand mixer along with water, salt, olive oil and flour and put my (not nearly used enough) dough hook to work. Once the dough had risen (the recipe I use takes an hour) I realized that I didn't really feel like properly rolling it out, so I pressed it onto a baking tray into a squar-ish shape (not the prettiest of specimen, but I like to think of it as a rustic approach rather then me being lazy).

With the dough sitting there ready to be adorned I pulled out my trusty olive oil and Italian seasoning herb blend. I'd like to state that I do enjoy a good marinara sauce on my pizza as much as the next gal, but I adore olive oil based pizza's to the enth degree. There is something about the fragrance and taste of the oil mixed with the dough that just does it for me. Plus it really lets the rest of the ingredients shine through. I mixed the oil and herbs and brush them generously onto my dough, and followed them up with thinly sliced red onion, a few scattered cherry tomatoes (halved) and a light dusting of shredded colby cheese. I admit it wouldn't have been my first cheese option but one works with what ones got.


The pizza turned out simple but delicious. The odd bite with a cherry tomato on it bursting with juice. I will admit here that I do (only slightly) regret not properly rolling out the dough. It ended up rising quite high making the pizza a little more doughy than I would have liked. But a lesson learned for next time. But regardless nothing beats a homemade pizza.

Herbed Olive Oil Pizza

Start with a recipe for pizza dough. If you have one that you prefer use that, or you can even pick up pre-made pizza dough at the local grocery store. Here is the one I've had kicking around for a while, though I don't remember where I initially got it from.

For Dough

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 3/4 cups flour (I like to use whole wheat when I have it)
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Toppings

• A few TBSP of olive oil
• Italian Blend Herb Mix to taste
  
• Quarter of a red onion thinly sliced
• Handful of cherry tomatoes halved
• Shredded cheese of your choice
  

Empty package of yeast into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or a normal bowl if you don't have one). Pour the warm water in, and stir until yeast is dissolved.

Add the rest of the ingredients and turn on the stand mixer. Once the dough starts to come together continue mixing until a smooth elastic ball forms. (If mixing without a stand mixer, once the dough starts to come together you will have to knead it on a floured surface.)

Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover and let rise for an hour.

Once dough has risen roll out to desired thickness and place onto a pizza tray (don't skip this part like I did unless you want a really thick pizza crust).

Combine the Italian Seasoning with Olive Oil and brush onto dough (I added an extra sprinkling of rosemary as well which is my all time favourite herb).

Place on onion and tomato then sprinkle with chosen cheese.

Bake in 350 degree oven until crust is crispy but not burnt.


Enjoy!

Afternoon Musings

Something slightly off-topic from actual recipes and pictures of food from me today. I started a new book. Well the book itself isn't new, in fact it's been around for a few years, but I had yet to read it. It's called "French Woman Don't Get Fat: the secret of eating for pleasure" by Mireille Guiliano. I'm sure tons of people have read it or have at least heard about it.


I must admit I usually read Fantasy/Sci-fi/Horror books with a small spattering of History thrown in for good measure. Really the only non-fiction I tend towards are cook books (and rightfully so, they are my adult picture books, keeping me entertained for hours). However, I had heard some good things about this book, and am currently in a bettering myself phase at life. Not that I should call it a phase, I am trying to look at it as more of a permanent lifestyle change for the better. I've been trying to eat better, excercise more, expand my mind and enjoy life as it comes. Though I must admit that although I am making progress, and am the happiest I have been in quite a while, I am not quite as dedicated as I would like to be.

Luckily, I am a girl who responds well to positive motivation. My neighbor Liz actually is one of my best sources, sometimes something as simple as a knock on my door to let me know she is going for a run (usually followed by: do you want to come or have you been to the gym yet this week?). Which got me thinking about other ways to motivate myself. Which in turn lead me to this book, that I had remembered hearing about in passing. So far I am only 4 chapters in, but feel it could be another nice little kick in the butt for me (which I so often need) to really get on course to leading the happiest healthiest lifestyle I possibly can.

Who knows...but we will see.