Ode to the Egg

Lately, my lunch has been pretty predictable: grapes, cottage cheese, some crackers, a few slices of cheese and a hardboiled egg. If I’m feeling bold, I’ll make the egg into an egg salad sandwich. But I’m bold less often than not.

This morning I was making lunches and realized we were out of hardboiled eggs.

All day.

All day.

I have been thinking about that egg.

On my drive home I dreamed of many dinner menus involving eggs. Infront of the fridge I was so happy to indulge my craving. I gathered the following:

• mixed greens
• red, orange and green peppers
• cucumbers
• cherry tomatoes
• red onions
• a wedge each of feta
• a little hill of fresh cracked pepper; and
• a few eggs.

This promising collection of ingredients became a beautiful salad, but really it’s the egg I’ve been thinking about. At this point a hardboiled egg just wasn’t going to cut it. In my head I saw a beautifully poached egg. Only one problem – I’ve never poached an egg.

Well, today was the day.

Finally, I sat down and atop my salad bowl sat a gently poached egg, white and swollen. Happily, I punctured the egg and its yellow yolk spilled onto the tangle of mixed greens below.

Sacred Saturday Mornings

Our weekends are usually pretty packed. Between family and friends we never seem to have an empty night. We often get nostalgic and ask each other “hey remember that weekend we did nothing but watch cake challenges on the food network?” “That was a good weekend”.

I’m okay with the busy nights, but Ryan is wired differently. He gets quite twitchy when we don’t have a free night in sight. To compromise (since I am usually the one jam packing our schedule with dinner dates) we try very hard to keep our Saturday and Sunday mornings free. They’ve become sacred really.

We have a routine; whoever wakes first goes to the couch and waits for the other to come with the pillows and quilt. We have a bigger brunch – usually carb filled and curl up on the couch trying to catch up on the shows on the pvr.

This weekend was no different. Saturday morning we met on the couch and caught up on a couple episodes of amazing race while eating Molly Wizenberg’s Scottish Scones.

½ c milk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp salt
½ stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 tbs sugar

preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Beat together the milk and the egg and then set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and lemon zest, and stir to mix. pour the wet ingredients into the dry, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring dough together gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it no more than 12 times. Pat dough into a round approximately ½-inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. place on an ungreased baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.

Cheers!

I like to celebrate. I’m a holiday kinda girl. Any reason to gather with family, put out a seasonal ornament or make a fun recipe is a good day to me! Family day is a my kinda day. A 3 day weekend? Yes please. A teddy bear picnic to celebrate with my niece? Fantastic!

So, for this year’s family day, I’ve baked the tried, tested and true – chocolate chip cookies. The empty milk glasses and crumbs at my house prove you really can’t go wrong with this one.

Happy Family Day!

Anna Olson’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.
Drop onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.

Delicious Solution

Point, proof, comment? Point, proof, comment? Remain objective. Relate to thesis? Conclusion?

Welcome to exams.

Exams are a toss up. We only have the students for half days which is really nice. But, essay after essay cause my eyes to cross.

You can tell by our couch if it is a heavy marking week for me; there is an indented cushion surrounded by tea cups and drained red pens.

You know how some weeks go by and you haven’t turned on the oven? Exam week is one of those weeks. We’ve been living on cheese and crackers, pitas and egg salad sandwiches; really anything I can whip together quickly, take back to the couch and continue to mark. There is not a lot of balanced eating in exam week.

When Saturday finally came and I felt I had made some progress with the mountain of exams, we were craving something good.

Ben’s French Onion Soup was the perfect fix.

Ben wrote out this recipe on the back of our sushi menu Friday at lunch. He doesn’t really do recipes but more grocery lists. So, this is me adding a little structure.

Ben’s French Onion Soup

unsalted butter
lots of onions (a mixture of sweet, red and shallots), sliced in thin half-moons
sea salt
cracked black pepper
1 cup red wine
1 quart beef stock
1/2 cup water
1 loaf of french crusty bread – sliced diagonally
strong cheddar (i used a 5 year), grated
good mozzarella, grated

Heat the butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onions, salt; stir, ensuring that the onions are coated in the melted butter. Cook the onions over medium heat, until the onions become translucent.
Once the onions have become translucent, slowly add the red wine. Then, add the beef stock and water. Let the soup boil for 15 minutes.

Turn soup down to low and let simmer. Turn on the broiler. Place the bread slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet; toast under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. While the slices toast, ladle the soup into oven-safe bowls or crocks. Once the tops of the bread slices have toasted, remove them from the oven. Float slices, toasted side down, on the tops of each bowl. Top each bowl with an equal amount of the shredded cheddar and mozzarella. Slide the pan under the broiler for a final 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Crack fresh black pepper and salt to taste.

Snowy Saturdays

We really had a beautiful fall this year. The leaves stayed crisp, the cooler evenings were filled with sun soaked skies and best of all; it lasted well into November. I think this is why I am having a much easier time dealing with winter. I can even go as far as to say when we woke up to a winter wonderland I was excited.

Originally we had planned to go out for breakfast but decided to stay in. This left me looking into the cupboards. Cereal and toast just wouldn’t cut it. I needed something that suited a January morning of woolen sweaters, pajama bottoms and chapped lips. I needed something comforting. I fingered through cookbooks and then curled up on the couch to check some of my favourite food blogs.

That’s when I found this recipe. I set to work and just as the recipe promised quickly whipped up super fast cinnamon buns. They are okay. They aren’t great. The dough is firmer and doesn’t have the soft, sweet chewy consistency I was hoping for. I decided, before the weekend was through, I had to have a great cinnamon bun recipe.

My taste tester was very excited about this and happily went out to get some more eggs and puff pastry. Here we are Sunday night and I think I can say I was mildly successful. I found a delicious sticky bun recipe.

I’m still a little confused as to what the difference is between sticky buns and cinnamon buns but it really doesn’t matter to me. All I know is the recipe that follows is deliciously comforting.

Easy Sticky Buns
adapted slightly from Ina Garten

ingredients
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package frozen puff pastry, defrosted

for the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In a bowl with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 2 sheets of puff pastry. Brush both sheets with the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with the 1/2 the brown sugar, and 1/2 the cinnamon. Roll the pastry up snuggly, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 12 of the muffin cups.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. be careful - they're hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.

Inspired

Okay, it has been two months. Two. Months.

That is a sad state of affairs. It isn't that I haven't been thinking about it. Trust me, I have. I just haven't had the time to take a picture before we eat and writing a post about an empty plate doesn't seem right.

I think I will have to fit this into my new years resolution somehow.

Ryan and I hosted our Christmas dinner this weekend. The gathering of family and friends around good food inspired a post.

Christmas hasn't been as stressful this year. Don't get me wrong, that is not to say I don't have an incredibly long christmas to-do list waiting. The truth is I am even behind in my chocolate advent calendar. I am sure your list looks similar: writing the christmas cards that I resolved to write last weekend, wrapping, shopping, marking 2 class sets of isu's, cleaning, watching christmas specials(what? you don’t consider that a to-do list must?), shopping, baking, baking and of course more baking.

I often add things I have already done to my to-do list just so I can check them off... and now I can check off writing a blog post.

you should add these recipes to yours.

Cranberry Cake
from Kristin at the kitchen sink

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh cranberries
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. butter an 8-by-2-inch or a 9-inch cake pan. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated; beat in vanilla and lemon zest. beat in 1/2 the flour mixture, then sour cream. Add remaining flour mixture; mix just until combined.

Spread batter into pan. In a bowl, toss cranberries with 2 tablespoons flour and sprinkle over batter.

Bake until cake is golden, about 40 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving


maple pecan pie
from anna olson

cream cheese pastry
1 cup butter, room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups flour

filling
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
dash of salt
3 cups pecan halves

pastry
Preheat oven to 375º F.

Cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add flour and blend until dough comes together. Shape dough into a disc, wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Place dough into an 8-inch removable bottom tart shell or pie pan and trim and shape edges. Chill for 20 minutes.

filling

Whisk together all ingredients except pecans until smooth. pour filling into chilled, unbaked tart shell. arrange pecan halves on top of filling.

Bake tart for 40-45 minutes, until filling doesn’t jiggle when you shake it, and crust is golden brown.

Soup's On

We have great friends. The kind of friends you fly 9 hours in coach with, travel Europe with and then still plan to go back with. Rare. I know. We don’t get together nearly as often as we would like but every few months we pick up right where we left off. If this isn’t enough to ensure lifelong friendship, an amazing fall dinner where you leave with the recipe definitely is. Thanks Glen and Karen!

Even though we just had this Saturday I had to make it again.

Go to the grocery store, buy these ingredients and make this soup!

Karen’s Carrot Cauliflower Soup

medium potato, diced 1
medium carrots, diced 4
chopped onion 1 cup
small head of cauliflower 1
water 2 cups

water 2 cups
chicken bouillon 4 tsp
beef Bouillon 1 tsp
prepared mustard 1 tsp
ground nutmeg ½ tsp
salt 1 tsp
pepper ¼ tsp
grated medium cheddar 1 cup

Combine first 5 ingredients in saucepan. Cook until vegetables are done. Do not drain. Remove from heat. stir in next 8 ingredients. puree’. Makes about 7 cups.

Thankful

We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early and as always we went around the table to say what we were thankful for. This year the word that came to mind was possibilities. I am thankful and excited for the things that have yet to come. As I get older thanksgiving is starting to become one of my favourite holidays. It seems there is more time; no gifts need to be opened, no eggs need to be hunted and no balloons need to be blown up. Instead there is more time for laughter and love and time to tell those around the table just how much you truly appreciate them.

I hope you enjoy your thanksgiving as much I did mine.

Eat, drink, loosen your belt and be merry!

Anna Olson’s Pumpkin Pie

ingredients

pastry
• 6 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 4 to 5 tbsp ice water

filling
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons fancy molasses
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons brandy or orange liqueur

spiced whipped cream
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg

For the pastry, freeze butter and shortening for 30 minutes. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. grate the butter and shortening into flour. toss this mixture with your fingers to coat the fats, breaking up lumps with your fingers as you go. The dough should be a rough, crumbly texture and take on a slight yellow tone. Add 3 tbsp of the water and mix with a spatula to bring dough together, adding a little more water if needed. Shape dough into a disc and chill for an hour before rolling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under ¼-inch thick. Dust the bottom of a 9-inch pie shell with flour and line with dough. Trim edges.

For the filling, whisk pumpkin with brown sugar, molasses spices and salt. whisk in eggs, then whipping cream and brandy or orange liqueur. pour into chilled pie shell.
Bake for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees F. And bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until filling puffs just a little around edges but still has a bit of jiggle in center when moved.

For the spiced whipped cream, whip cream with sugar and spices until medium peaks form.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall in Love

Before I start I have to say this picture does not do this dish justice!

It seems I am not fulfilling my one post a week goal. I don’t mean to make excuses for myself but as August began to slip away I felt the need to capture as much summer sun as I could (in hopes to store some for those cold february nights). We filled our last days of summer with corn fests, bbq’s and camping – if you haven’t been to kilarney provincial park you really must go.

Now that labour day weekend has come and gone, I am ready to let go of summer. I am happily trading in my sun dresses and flip flops for cardigans and raincoats. I like curling up on the couch with a quilt and hearing the wind chimes blow in the crisp breeze. Fall evenings are perfect for taking walks and in a few weeks the leaves will change and swoosh beneath my feet.

So it is with pleasure that I welcome fall, and that I make in its honor slow roasted tomatoes.

My fall list…

pick apples
carve a pumpkin
eat pizza and orange pop halloween night
watch a scary movie
decorate the house for fall
go on a hayride
buy sunflowers
brew cider
make spaghetti sauce
have a fall bonfire and snuggle
rake leaves
roast tomatoes (check)
make caramel apples
make hand print turkeys with rylee
call an old friend
bake soft pretzels
have breakfast for dinner
walk in the leaves
learn to quilt or knit
take a road trip
do some early christmas shopping
bake apple crisp
baked potato soup. enough said
stay in my pajamas all day long

Luisa Weiss’s Tomatoes filled with Rice

4 large, good-tasting tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, diced
olive oil
1/3 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup water
3 fresh basil leaves
salt
breadcrumbs


Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides. Chop the pulp and reserve (along with all the liquid and seeds). Dice a small onion and saute in olive oil. After it has softened, add 1/3 cup of arborio rice to the pan and stir that around for a few minutes. Add the chopped tomato pulp and add all of it, as well as 1/3 cup of water, to the onion and rice, fold in a few torn basil leaves and a sprinkling of salt, lower the heat and simmer the rice, covered, for 10 minutes.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees, spoon the mixture into the tomatoes, put them in a small, oiled baking dish, top with breadcrumbs and a drizzle of olive oil, and bake for an hour and 15 minutes. I also added quartered mini potatoes and put them around the base of the tomatoes before putting them in the oven.

two

It is hard to put into words the joy our little niece has brought to our family. It seems as though I blinked and there she is two years old. A beautiful, sensitive, inquisitive little soul. It really blows my mind. Today was her birthday party, we celebrated with water balloons, sand castle making, sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Whenever I see her with bubbles I think of the line from knocked up " I wish I liked anything as much as they like bubbles" - it really is a beautiful thing to see.

Above is the tinkerbell cake I made for her party.

Happy Birthday pumpkin head.

The field on the bottom is vanilla cake baked in a 12" square pan, covered with icing (I used the hair/grass tip and wilton icing tint).

The tree stump is made out of chocolate cake and baked in two 6x2" round pans, covered in icing. I used the icing tint and a kebab stick to make circles in the tree stump. I also used the icing to make the roots.

The flowers and leaves are made out of fondant.
Tinkerbell, is actually a candle I bought at the bulk barn. I put some leaves and flowers around her base in order to make her look more like part of the cake.