An Early Thanksgiving, For Two

With my husband in the bedroom, nose buried in the book he is currently engrossed in, I decided that this quiet evening would be best used to catch up on my blogging. Another Law and Order on and I am down to the last one of the season I am watching. I've made a big bowl of my dog's favorite treat: popcorn. She can hear the jingle of the kernels rattle in the container from behind the bathroom door. I don't know what it is about dogs and popcorn, but she just loves it. She'll actually sit by the microwave, waiting for it to be done so I can toss her some plain pieces. My hubby just finished his book, "Down To This" and declared it a must-read. I've been getting bored with Angels and Demons seeing as how I just read The Da Vinci Code and they are rather similar stories so I'm looking for a new book. I think I'll make this my new read.

Back-track. With the intoxicating smell of fall in the air, my next culinary target was bread. There's is nothing in the world as tantilizing as the smell of fresh-from-the-oven, homemade bread. This is the smell that can can turn the darkest of clouds into rainbows and the worst days into smiles. I was craving some homemade bread so hauled out the kitchen chair, climbed up and reached onto the top shelf of the make-shift pantry to get down our beast of a breadmaker. Bought on Kijiji for a Christmas present for C, this bulky beauty churns out the most amazing dough. I was skeptical of the breadmaker after seeing the clunky loaves that seem to be a standard of the tool, but after finding out it could make dough (mix, knead, proof), I was hooked.

Dark rye was the recipe that I wanted to try, especially since I had just bought some molasses for the ginger cookies. I carefully measured out all of the ingredients and added them to the breadmaker, shut the lid, plugged in the device, and went to change the setting to dough. Except, the setting wouldn't change. Huh. I could feel the breadmaker start to heat up, so I unplugged it and tried it again. No dice. Same thing after 5 tries so I decided to see what setting one would do (medium loaf, certain crust settings, etc). Well, what it did was make terrible flat, dense, dry bread. The inside was delicious but the crust was hard as rock! Fail. I hate wasting food so it's still sitting on the counter. I think I'll use it for croutons next time we have soup.

Dark Rye Bread - Fail

C and I have been having a really hectic and difficult time this past month with our busy schedules and the never ending house projects. With C out getting his tattoo coloured in (for the past few hours - in the end, it would be five), I decided that since we hadn't had a nice sit-down dinner together in far too long, I would cook something special for us. Thanksgiving was right around the corner and we had 2 dinners, one on Saturday night at my aunt and uncles, and one at my parents place Sunday night, giving us very little time alone. A plan came to mind and I felt very pleased with my idea: to create our very own, intimate Thanksgiving dinner pour deux. I made a trip to Safeway, picked up the ingredients that I needed, and got down to work. Mashed potatoes and a sode veggie were required. I wanted to do fresh green beans, but I couldn't find any so brussel sprouts were my next option. I prepped these sides first by washing and chopping them. They were ready to be boiled when the time was right.

Yellow potatoes, cut into chunks

Brussel sprouts prepped for cooking

What would a Thanksgiving dinner be without turkey? I wasn't about to buy and roast a whole turkey in the few hours that I had left to prepare dinner, so I decided on one better: fresh turkey breast. And what comes to mind when I mention turkey dinner? Well, I am sure that all families have their own traditions, but we've typically had stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. Instead of making each of these as sides, I thought that stuffing them inside the turkey breast would be tasty. To stuff the turkey breasts, I needed them to be flattened out. The best way I have found to flatten meat is to place it between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pounding them to the desired thickness.

Turkey before pounding

I typically find turkey breast to be a little tougher and dryer so not only does pounding them flat allow for them to be filled with stuffing, but it also tenderizes the meat.

Turkey breast after

I'm going to admit that I took a shortcut for the next step. The stuffing I made wasn't homemade, it was Stove-Top. Buy One Get One Free at Safeway (hanging my head in shame). I thought the cornbread version would be tasty and I was certainly wrong. Stove Top stuffing tastes pre-packaged. Uninspired, bland, with tiny cubes of bread. Pathetic really, but it would have to do since it was only the stuffing part of this meal and time was a major factor.

my cheat ingredient

The stuffing took about 5 minutes to make so the main protein of the meal was easy to make. I carefully placed a scoop of stuffing in the centre of each turkey breast and then topped that with dried cranberries. A cranberry sauce would have been better, but I went with what was on hand.

Stuffing ingredients

After rummaging through the pantry, I found some cord for trussing meat. Perfect! I dislike using toothpicks for this type of thing. Trussing the meat was a little tricky since I over-pounded some spots, making the meat too thin to hold together. Some patience and perseverence and everything was fine.

Turkey breast, stuffed

The turkey dinner was just about ready. I got a call from C with an update on how his tattoo was doing so I had my timeline.

trussed turkeys

The potatoes were boiled until soft and then some butter, milk, salt and pepper were added to the pot.

mashed potatoes

Some fresh dill, chopped and thrown in for extra fresh flavour and we're off to the races. The brussel sprouts were on the stove, cooking. A pack of turkey gravy, prepared and keeping warm, waiting to be served.

fresh dill mashed potatoes

C called and was done his session and on his way home. I had put the rest of a bottle of gin in the freezer and had picked up some fresh tonic and limes. There was something very 50s about having a cold drink ready for my man when he came home (minus the slippers, pipe, and traditional roles).

G&T, perfectly prepared

C got home: tired, sore and hungry. I placed the cold refreshing drink in his hand, ushered him over to the dining room table where I had loads of candles lit, and soft music playing in the background. I served us a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us, by candlelight. The brussel sprouts were overcooked but everything else was very tasty.

First Thanksgiving dinner of the season

The turkey was perfect. Moist, flavourful, and the stuffing and cranberries inside were perfect. The whole dinner was made even more perfect by it being alone with my husband. What C and I need most is quality, alone time together so the night was a lovely ending.

Turkey roll and dinner

Autumn's Here: Gather Your Acorns!

Fall is upon us. The weather has taken a turn and cooler air is beginning to blow in. It feels like I blinked and all of the trees in our neighbourhood have changed from green leaves to shades or oranges and yellows. Our yard and sidewalks are filled with the crunchy fallen leaves, blowing in from the nearby neigbours and parks. Now is the time for warm drinks, warm dinners and warm flavours. Tea, stews, cinnamon, warm soups, fresh-from-the-oven treats...this time of year calls to these treats and tastes. I find myself feeling nostalgic as I walk outside during this season, with the wind wipping my hair around even as the sun beats down on my skin. This is my favorite time of year. Like a squirrel preparing for winter, I too am collecting nuts and burrying them for when the weather turns cold and bitter and I need a quick meal. Instead of nuts, I am preparing foods for the freezer, where I hide my precious meals under the cover of foil, each carefully marked with labels and instructions. Nesting, I believe is the correct term. I am nesting.

The cold weather gets my brain churning and obsessing over fresh baking and all things spicy. Items that are perfect for sharing (i.e. sending home with family and friends) and dishes that I can freeze in batches are prefered.

For a few weeks now, I have been craving ginger cookies. Not just any ginger cookies, but soft chewy ones with a strong ginger flavour. My dad used to make the best ones and are in my grade-school cookbook called Muriel's Molasses Crinkle Cookies. On a side note, did you know that there is a book called World Famous Muriel, in which the child hero is a girl named Muriel who is obsessed with peanut butter cookies. I loved this book as a kid since my name was pretty rare, even though back then I didn't like peanut butter. I would absolutely love to get my hands on a copy of these books, but they seem to be impossible to find (Christmas present hint, ahem, lol). I found a molasses cookie recipe in my recipe box and compared it to one I found on Allrecipes.com and they were identical so I figured my odds were good.

I mixed up the dough in my food processor. Sticky sticky dough. Yuk. I added more flour to try and get the dough to be thicker, but nothing was working so I stuck the dough into the fridge to maybe harden a little.

Molasses cookie dough

The dough didn't get any less sticky so I grudgingly worked with it as it was. Attemping to shape it into a ball and roll it in sugar proved less than fun and soon my hands were covered in the mess. Tasty mess though.

Sticky cookie dough

After some fighting with the dough, I flattened out the walnut sized balls and popped them into the oven. I'm a fan of chewy cookies, so if this is what you like, be sure to watch them like a hawk and take them out before they get brown.

Flattened raw cookies

The cookies look alright, but not as I remembered them. They weren't dark enough. Also, the should have had striations through them. That was the Crinkle part. Hmm, suspiscious. Also, they didn't smell strong enough. I tasted one. Disappointment. The cookies were tasty but not what I had been looking for. When you are craving a childhood treat, it needs to taste exactly the same. C's brother was over helping him frame our basement which is half of why I decided on the timing for making these, he also loves ginger cookies. He left before they were ready so I dropped off a ziplock of them in his mailbox the next night while walking the dog. All the cookies were eaten, and were tasty, but I will need to make another batch. After talking to my dad, I had the wrong recipe! The one I needed used raisins. Next time.

Big soft ginger cookie

Next on the autumn baking list: biscotti. Not only are biscotti typically lower calories than most cookies, but they just demand to be served with a steaming mug of hot tea or coffee. Biscotti are also an impressively simple cookie to make and perfect for sharing. My first go-to is always my almond-cranberry version. I believe it's from Allrecipes.ca so you'll be able to find out how to make these little gems with a simple search.

The dough is fairly basic and simply. Biscotti is best mixed by hand and should be a stiff dough. Almond extract gives the cookie it's main flavour. From this point on, you could use any add-ins that you want, or simply swap out the almond extract for another flavour. Ideas: almond extract, shredded coconut and diced candied pineapple as add-ins. Vanilla extract with chopped apricot and white chocolate. Just typing this and I want to go make another batch!

Biscotti dough

The add-ins for this recipe are cranberries and I've added in some orange zest. The orange zest needed for this recipe was only about 1/4 of the orange's skin. I decided to zest the whole thing and freeze the leftovers in a Tupperware for another use. I saved the rest of the orange for eating.

Biscotti getting the cranberries and orange added to the dough

Sticky dough, yes, I know. not our favorite. The trick is to wet your hands with cold water, shake them off, and then pick up the dough. Carefully shape the biscotti dough into long thin logs, about 1/2" thick.

Biscotti dough pre-baking

Pop those babies into the oven until golden. This is the first baking step of your cookies. You could absolutely eat these now after they are cut up, but to get a true crisp biscotti, the cookies require a second baking cycle, to dry them out.

First baking

Slice up the logs into biscotti shaped biscuits with a sharp knife, once the baked dough is cooled.

Sliced biscotti

Once the cookies are sliced into their proper sizes, the cookies need to be put back onto a baking sheet, sliced sizes up and down. Put these back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes per side (sometimes this is done at a lower temperature to dry out the cookie vs browning them too much).

Cranberry orange almond biscotti

my soup recipes

With the sweet smell of cookies still hanging in the air, my inspiration for nesting hadn't left. I had some onions and carrots in the fridge and all of the extra ingredients to make 2 different kinds of soups: a spicy lentil soup and a thick green pea soup. The lentil soup was one of C and my favorites when we were first together. We made it all the time and everyone that tried it, loved it. This soup was such a big part of our meals that we decided to give the recipe to the chef at Terrace 55 and have him make a shot of it for the appetizer at our wedding. Yeah, it's that good.

Since both of the recipes needed chopped carrots and onions, I prepped these first to be sauteed. At first glance, it would appear that I was making 2 large pots of the same soup. It's convenient that the base ingredients are the same and that both soups are simply and quick to prepare.

Prep the carrots

Chopped onions, cooking until fragrant

carrots and onion, ready for the next steps

Lentil soup first. Once the base ingredients are soft, then some garlic is added and cooked. A cup of lentils are added and stirred in, cooked for another 10 minutes before adding in chicken stock, wine/water, a can of spicy chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer.

Lentil soup, simmering

Now, for the pea soup. This one is even easier. A package of dried green peas, salt, pepper, some chicken and beef stock. Simmer.

Pea soup simmering

The lentil soup had been simmering for about 35 minutes now and is ready for its last step.

lentil soup before blending

The pea soup is now ready as well. You can tell by how puffy and soft the green peas have gotten. The same things happen to lentils. If the soup you are making looks too thick and has evapourated too much of its liquid, add in some more stock.

The sweet cookie smell in the kitchen had long since been replaced by a warm savoury hearty smell of vegetable soups.

Pea soup, almost ready.

While I am sure these soups would be tasty as they are (hmm, in fact, I might try them just as they are next time I make them for a chunkier style soup/vegetable stew), these soups call to be blended. We now own a new very cute blender, but my prefered method for doing soups is to leave them in their original pots and use an emersion blender to smooth the soup. Lucky me, my emersion blender is also a highly adorable colour. Ah, what a beautiful sight! Two large pots of very different tasting soups, steaming on my stove-top. What a perfect way to welcome in fall. Once these soups cooled down, I divided these batches in half and froze them in leftover ice cream containers. The rest, I enjoyed over the week as part of my lunch at work. Soups are the ultimate comfort food. I suggest on the next evening this week with some cool bite to it, that you made your own large pot of warmth for yourself and your family.

Lentil and pea soup

Back to Reality: Prep Cooking

Once we got home from Montreal, we knew that we had a very busy few weeks ahead of us. The weekend before our crazy week, I decided to prep a ton of food so that we wouldn't have to mess about in the kitchen making lunches each evening. Some foods pack better than others and since I had some ground meat in the freezer, I decided to do meat loaves, 2 ways. An Italian-deer version for C and a turkey-veggie one of myself.

I started with the same base for each of them. Shredded carrots and onion, to add flavour and give the loaf some moistness. I pulled out the veggie bag from the freezer to add the discards to for making soup stock and then popped it back into the freezer for later.

veggie discards for future soup base

Carrots and onion were roughed chopped and the placed into the food processor.

Carrots and onions about to be blended

A few pulses in the processor keep the vegetables minced, without getting too mushy.

Carrots and onion minced

I started with the deer meatloaf. C hunts and this ground meat was from last season. Danny's Whole Hog does the processing for us. Ground meat, sausages, patties, smokies.

Deer sausage

A packet of deer sausage, an egg, some panko (I was out of regular bread crumbs), basil, oregano, and some of the carrot and onion.

Deer meatloaf ingredients

Now, the fun part. Mixing up the ground meat, shudder. I squished the meatloaf mixture up until well blended, then shaped hunks of it into large meatball sizes, and flattened them. A little pasta sauce on top, baked for about 20 minutes and done!

Mini deer meatloaves - perfect lunch size!

Some pasta sauce completes the protein dish.

Now, time for some turkey meatloaf! Same carrot and onion base, ground turkey, and fresh cilantro.

Ground turkey meatloaf ingredients

Another meatloaf on the way. Mix mix mix. This time, a real meatloaf, instead of individual ones.

Turkey meatloaf, ready for baking.

Baked meatloaf and it smells amazing! Hearty slices of lean meat with veggies, perfect for my lunch protein.

Ground turkey meatloaf slices

A few Tupperware containers, some pasta salad that I made earlier, and the bulk of our lunches are ready!

Lunch prep

Next on the list...using up some coleslaw that was beginning to turn. We used to make our way through the big bags of coleslaw but lately, we have been slowing down on using up this mix. I wasn't willing to see 1/4 of a bag go to waste, so decided to make my mom's creamed cabbage as a side for lunch. My mom used whole cabbages for hers, but I figured that I could make it taste the same with shredded cabbage. 

Leftover coleslaw

First, the coleslaw needs to be sauteed down until just tender.

Cooked cabbage

With the cabbage cooked and off the heat, I started making the white sauce. Melt about 2 tbsp of butter in a pot and then add equal parts of flour. Mix until thick. Then, add about 1 cup of milk and mix over the heat until it's thick. Now, you have a white sauce. Add some cheese, and you have a cheese sauce. Voila!

Melted butter

Butter, flour, milk to make a white sauce

Add cheese to make cheese sauce

Simply combine the cheese sauce with the cooked cabbage, top with breadcrumbs, and bake. This didn't taste like my mom's creamed cabbage, but I find it's impossible to recreate family favorites.

Creamed cabbage bake

Alright, we're on a roll here. Next item. Snack. I buy the big bags of almonds from Costco now and to jazz then up, I like to add some spices and bake them. Making your own flavoured almonds are super easy, and by using egg whites instead of oil, you get a healthier snack than the store-bought variety. One egg white, some curry powder, paprika, cinnamon, coriander, and chili powder.

Egg white mixed with spices

Mix the almonds into the egg white mixture and then bake until crispy. You'll need to check the almonds a few times, and be sure to shake them up a bit because they'll start to stick.

Mix almonds into egg whites and spices

Almonds, roasting

Since I am on a roll, it's time to make dinner. Mexican flavours are on the menu with black beans, jalapeno peppers, red pepper, corn kernels, fresh salsa, onion and cilantro.

Mexican frittata ingredients

I chopped up all of the larger ingredients and mixed in the drained and rinsed beans and corn. I just love colorful and flavorful dishes like this one.

Mexican mix

Now, dump all of these ingredients into a lightly greased oven-proof pan, I like to use cast-iron.

Mexican mix into greased pan

Mix together some eggs and milk, grated cheese, salt, pepper, and pour this into the pan, over the vegetable mixture. Put the pan into the oven and bake until brown and puffy. You can test the frittatta by inserting a wooden skewer into the egg to check for done-ness.



Frittata before the oven

This is how your frittatta should look when it comes out of the oven. Browned, hot, and raised.

Baked frittata

I think it is time to take a cooking break now. All the week's lunches are made, the lunch side dish finished, snacks for work, and dinner ready. Time to sit down, enjoy a hot hearty meal, and relax with my hubby. As I type this, it is the end of a long weekend. Hubs is in the bedroom reading a book about Tent City that he's absorbed in, I'm writing this blog post with Law & Order on in the background. The time is 6:18pm. Time for dinner. We have lots of leftovers so I'm not sure what we'll eat, but I think dessert tonight is going to be a fruit crisp. I bid everyone adieu, a happy Thanksgiving weekend, and a relaxing evening with their loved ones. Hugs.

Dinner