It's that time of year...

Three years ago we spent an unforgettable 18 summer days in Europe. Every year around this time I can feel myself longing for those days. We stayed at this bed and breakfast in Villers- Bocage.

I am having a difficult time finding words to describe the feelings I experienced during our stay. Instantly, I knew Ferme du Pressoir was and always will be my very favourite place on earth. While I loved our hotel in Paris, there is something so genuine about staying in a bed and breakfast.

Our host Oldie spoke very very little English but we didn't need to speak the same language to understand her warmth. She immediately welcomed us with a huge bowl of cherries and cider she had made right there on the farm. She then took us on a tour where we collected eggs for our breakfast the next day.

The next morning we heard the rooster crow and sleepily made our way downstairs. We woke to a table full with cereal, toast, fresh omelettes made to order, homemade hot chocolate, fruit and pastries all around. It was my very favourite meal of the trip. We sleepily sat on a farm in northern France, surrounded by amazing food, planning our day at the D-Day beaches.

Around this time each year I try to find a recipe to help bring me back to those days. Just like last year this recipe includes Nutella.  Pastry and chocolate to help sooth a longing soul.

Note * The blog this recipe is from is the one I meant to link to in my last post. I accidentally linked to another blog by mistake. I have since fixed this but just in case, I don't want you to miss this great site!

 A Sweet Spoonful's Nutella Puff Pastry

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3 package), thawed
1 large egg, beaten for an egg wash
7 oz. Nutella (roughly half of a 13 oz. jar)
1 Tbsp. sugar for sanding the crust
Fleur de sel (or fine sea salt) for finishing
4 Tbsp. whole hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F. Arrange puff pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Form a 10-inch square and fold each edge in to make a 1-inch crust. Poke middle of dough numerous times with a fork. Brush edges of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Freeze for fifteen minutes.

Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and spread Nutella evenly across the pastry. The Nutella will begin to melt, making it much easier to spread. Sprinkle with sea salt and hazelnuts and cut into 4 squares or 6 triangles. Serve warm.

Makes 4-6 servings

Things Worth Noting

I've been loving the summer.

I'm currently reading this book.

I'm going to learn to cook with quinoa. Kate makes these amazing burgers.

Sam and I spend our Fridays getting bounty like this at the farmers market.

Really enjoying this blog.

Loving cloth napkins and thinking about ordering these.

Molly Wizenberg's chickpea salad has become a summer staple.

• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed, drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1small garlic clove, pressed
• 1/3cup(packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Comebine rinsed and drained chickpeas, chopped basil, chopped parsley, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and pressed garlic in a medium bowl. Add grated parmesan cheese and toss gently to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Enjoy!

early morning mixing

I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. There is nothing this beautiful machine can't do. We've made cakes, breads, cookies, shortcakes, meringue...and the delicious list goes on.

That said, I can also say there is something soothing about the early morning silence when you are mixing by hand. Friday morning I woke up with Sam at 5. We had our first  feed and when he went back to sleep, I headed into the kitchen to make Gwyneth Paltrow's blueberry muffins. These are some seriously delicious muffins; the blueberry to cake ratio is fantastic.

Without the hum from the mixer, I had the quiet to drift off in thought. I found myself daydreaming of a five year old Sam taking one of these blueberry muffins to school for snack.

Wednesday I sent Kate a text about these muffins. She mentioned she had also recently found a muffin recipe she had been wanting to make. I suggested a swap and she said: "that's genius! due date??" "Due date" - can you tell we are teachers? So Friday morning Kate and I had a muffin swap. She came for tea with 6 banana/nutella muffins.  Kate and I talk a lot about food. And about things that have nothing to do with food. Most of the time, we are doing both at the same time.

I love muffins, they come together quickly and are instantly rewarding. There are endless combinations; I think I might try raspberry next.

Enjoy!

Blythe's blueberry muffins from Gwyneth Paltrow's my father's daughter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs (GP calls for organic)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin. Whisk the butter, eggs, and milk in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, the 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold in the blueberries. Divide among the muffin cups and sprinkle the muffins with remaining teaspoon of sugar. Bake until a toothpick tests clean and the muffins are golden brown, 25-30 minutes.

The difference a year can make...

It has almost been an entire year since I last sat down and typed a post. In that year A LOT has changed. The biggest change is...our family of two became a family of three! This is what I blame for my lack of posting. Growing a baby can be very exhausting :) Then learning how to raise a baby can be beyond exhausting. But I'm back! Back with shorter posts and back with healthy meals (made with one hand) to feed my family of three.

This is Sam.
He's amazing.
Everything looks different now that he is here.
The world is brighter.

Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Bacon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the seeds and brush the cut side with olive oil. Bake the spaghetti squash - cut side up for 45 minutes. Thinly slice a red pepper, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake next to the spaghetti squash. Cook 8-10 slices of bacon, chop into bite size pieces.

In a large bowl combine:
Zest and juice of one lemon, bacon, a handful of chopped parsley, a drizzle of olive oil, one and a half cups good parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. When the spaghetti squash is ready, use a fork to scrape out the noodles and combine with the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

stuck between seasons

It’s that time of year. That time when I trade in my care-free days of breakfast with friends, wandering the farmer’s market and planning our trips to the cottage for setting up my classroom, attending staff meetings and preparing lessons for another school year. I’ve known it was coming for a few weeks now; the overnight temperatures have started to fall, leaves are starting to swirl in the streets and I’m pulling out sweaters in the evenings.

I’m sad to see summer go but I also find myself happily anticipating fall too. Today we had our windows open and as the cool breeze floated in I made my first fall dish (but because I am still relishing the last moments of summer I included corn from the cob and fresh new white potatoes). This recipe is just like me stuck between seasons.

Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients

For the potatoes:
• 6 new white potatoes
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the meat filling:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 carrots, peeled, diced small
• 2 celery stalks, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 canned tomatoes chopped
• 1 cup juice from tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped sage leaves
• 1 cob of corn

Directions

Cut the potatoes into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the milk, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon parsley and continue to mash until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the extra virgin olive oil into a sauté pan and set over medium high heat. Add the onion and carrots and sauté just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the beef, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato juices, worcestershire, parsley, sage, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

Add the corn and celery to the beef mixture and spread evenly into a baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown.

three

So. I think it would be fair to say that our niece Rylee makes life very, very fun. It feels like the sun shines just a little brighter when you’re near her. More than anything, I just love that the simplest things like doing a puzzle are extraordinary with her. This weekend we celebrated her third birthday.

I love few things more than the excuse to make a celebratory dessert. I think a large part of it is I actually don’t love desserts myself and having people around to eat said dessert is a big bonus. But, even more, I think nothing says Happy Birthday – you are super special and are so loved - quite like a home-baked cake.

This year Rylee was very clear with her request: “Auntie Lissa I have Strawberry Shortcake please”. Now if you know any little people, you know, this does not mean a dense yet delicate biscuit with fresh whipped cream and berries(see here if that’s what you are looking for) but rather a little girl with bright pink hair. So I set out trying to find a fun design to bring a smile to that sweet little face.

This is one of my all time favourite white cake recipes – it is a butter cake and tastes like the rich cookies you eat at Christmas.

Anna Olson’s Swedish Butter Cake

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Prepare cake/ cupcake pan(s) by spreading butter on bottom and sides; dust evenly with flour; tap out excess. Preheat oven to 350degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and well-blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, beating after each addition, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Stir in the vanilla extract
Spoon batter into the prepared pans, level the top, then spread the batter slightly toward the pan edges. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes for a cake or 20 to 25 minutes for cupcakes or until the top is golden and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Frosting
• 1/4 cup 2% Milk
• 1 tablespoon 2% Milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• icing sugar, sifted (3-4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat butter with electric beaters until fluffy. Add 2 cups of icing sugar, plus milk and vanilla and beat for 3 minutes on high speed until fluffy. Add remaining 1 to 2 cups icing sugar until frosting is a fluffy, spreadable consistency.

good for you

I’ve been meaning to tell you about this one. Early in the summer, I had an amazing spa day at St. Anne’s in Grafton. St. Anne’s is a glorious place to reconnect with yourself, friends and nature.

We spent the entire day in robes relaxing while waiting to be whisked off for a massage or facial. We went in the eucalyptus steam room, hot tub and pools and enjoyed a very relaxing yoga class. We ate a delicious lunch out on the terrace, enjoyed the grounds and later had a beautiful afternoon tea.

It was difficult to leave but what made it a little bit easier was leaving with this recipe. These are the kind of cookies that are so full of things that are good for you; you really are treating yourself.

St. Anne’s Spa Sesame and Flax Seed Snaps

2/3 cup spelt flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup flax seeds
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter - softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Drop on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

summer takes hold

It silently comes in with early sunrises and holds tight into the evening with fuss free meals eaten outside. Although it feels the days are flying by if you stop and feel the warm breeze, jump into the lake where the temperature of the water is not much different from the air, spit cherry pits, crack peas and husk corn you can capture the season before it lets go.

This past week we were at the cottage with an amazing group of friends and were able to completely throw ourselves into the season. We drove with the sunroof open to Mississippi Lake, unpacked and slowly let summer take hold. We swam, read books, played volley ball and badminton, floated around the lake, played cards, watched movies, made smores and watched the sun go down. Even though we are home now I can still feel the warmth of the summer sun on my skin (and Ryan can still feel the itch of all his bug bites!)

This is a recipe that is close to my heart. It really is one of my very favourites. It is simple and quick to make but still full of love. Shortcakes are usually served with strawberries but we’ve been eating them with any berry on hand. This last batch was eaten with tangy raspberries. If you can some homemade whipped cream, sweetened with a little icing sugar cannot be beat. Don’t let summer sneak away without making this one.

Dorie Greenspan’s Tender Shortcakes
From Baking: From My Home to Yours

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 ½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 ½ cups cold heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and, using your fingers, quickly, pinch and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. Some pieces of butter will be about the size of peas, while other will be more like flakes.

Pour the cream over the dry ingredients, and toss and gently turn the ingredients with a fork until you’ve got very soft dough. Mix and gently knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. The dough should be soft and sticky.

Cut the dough into 10 roughly equal portions and put 5 of them on the baking sheet, leaving space between them. Pat each portion down until it’s about 1 inch high. [The shortcakes can be made to this point, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stashed in the freezer. Bake without defrosting – just add 5+ minutes to the baking time.]

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back midway through, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a little when poked with a fingertip. Pull the pan from the oven, and carefully transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheet first.

can't sleep

Since I can't sleep, I thought I would pop over here to leave you with a delicious, light summer soup.

Summer habits have kicked in; Ryan is sound asleep and I'm here on the couch catching up on pvr'd cooking shows. Giada just made an amazing caprese salad that I will definitely be sharing with you soon!
Lynn Ogryzlo's Broccoli Parmesan Soup

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
4 cups broccoli stems and florets
1 potato, peeled and chopped
6 cups canned chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half cream
4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbsp table cream
seasoned croutons

In a heavy bottomed stockpot, melt the butter and cook the onion over medium heat until translucent (3 mins). Add broccoli and potatoes and cook for 5 mins. Add the chicken stock and simmer for approx. 10 mins. Return to pot, add cream and parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. When ready to serve, spoon soup into individual bowls. Mix sour cream and table cream together and drizzle over soup. Garnish with seasoned croutons and parmesan cheese.

If you have time slow roast some vegetables, slather a baguette with goats cheese and have a delicious sandwich too!



Enjoy!

kindred kind

Two weeks, two weeks! Can you believe that? We are already midway into July! I am enjoying my summer so much, I really don't want this season to go.

Friday I woke early, went to spin class, meandered around the farmers market (picking up spiced dill pickled carrots from hyhope, peaches, cherries, apricots and sugar plums), picked up our csa (romaine lettuce, raspberries, yellow and green beans, zucchini, broccoli, garlic, tomatoes and baby cucumber), came home made Gwenyth Paltrow’s peach bbq sauce (so good), went to a friends for lunch (more on this in a minute), went to the park with my niece, picked Ryan up at the train station, went out for sushi and to see Horrible Bosses – hilarious and lastly stopped to congratulate our friends Nicole and Owen on their engagement!

No work, no deadlines, no bells; just simple enjoyment of great friends, great family, amazing weather and delicious food.

I know this sounds like a busy day but the funny thing is, in there I had a 4 and ½ hour lunch. I met Nichole this year when I started teaching high school. She is one of those friends that you swear has known you your entire life simply because they “gets” the crazy that is in your head.

I had to drag myself away from her table but I could have easily sat there for another 4 and ½ hours and never run out of things to talk about…our last Starbucks visit lasted 6 hours. Friday we talked over tea, a summer salad and an amazing parmesan zucchini loaf with ricotta cheese. If you frequent this blog often you know I started a love affair with zuchinni last summer.

And, as I’ve posted before, if I leave a friend’s house with a recipe – I know they are a keeper! The picture above isn’t great quality; I took it on my iphone when I was at Nicole’s for lunch. But I think iphone pictures are real memories; no time to stop and find the perfect lighting or setting; they say this is so amazing I’ve just got to capture it!



This loaf is so good I had to make it yesterday with the zucchini from our csa so Ryan could try.
This is how mine turned out. I had to adjust the cooking time significantly – I added an extra ½ hour as the loaf was still very wet after 70min.

Martha Stewart’s Parmesan Zucchini Loaf

Ingredients

o 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for pan
o 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
o 1/3 cup milk
o 2 large eggs
o 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
o 2 teaspoons baking powder
o Coarse salt and ground pepper
o 1/2 pound (about 1 medium) zucchini, coarsely grated

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (6-cup capacity) with oil; dust with flour, and tap out excess.

2.In a small bowl, whisk oil, milk, and eggs. In a large bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; mix in zucchini, then egg mixture until just moistened (batter will be very thick, like biscuit dough).

3.Transfer batter to prepared pan; press in gently. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes (tent with foil if loaf starts to brown too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan; turn out loaf onto a rack to cool completely.