Crack Dip Good

Somehow, the crack dip mix made it past the drug sniffing dogs at the U.S. border and into my kitchen. (Thanks, Jody!) Therefore, I too can attest to the addictive quality of the extraordinary crack dip. I made a half serving and had mine with Vienna Crusty rolls, although I find it also works well when eaten off one's fingers or off the back of the knife. You know, for those times when you're not willing to wait until it's spread on the bread.

This was the appetizer in my Two-Course-Meal! The main dish was Swordfish with the Tyee fish rub and some peas. This was excellent. I'm really enjoying the Tyee fish rub. It's such a distinctive flavor.

coconut sweet-slice

Originally this was intended to be Caramel Slice from my Kitchen Classics Picnic Hamper cookbook, but due to impatience and decidedly not enough coconut, I created my own desert. Hah.

125g / 1 c. self-raising flour
90g / 1 c. dessicated coconut
115g / 1/2 c. superfine sugar I used standard sugar
125g unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 tins of sweetened condensed milk
20g. unsalted butter
4 T. honey
40g. dessicated coconut

Topping
approx. 1 c. toasted coconut

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a shallow tin of your choice and line with baking paper, leaving thepaper hanging over the two long sides.

Sift the flour into a bowl, then mix in the coconut and sugar. Add the melted butter to the bowl and stir thoroughly. Press firmly into the tin and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Allow to cool.

To make the filling, put all the ingredients into a saucepan over low heat. Slowly bring to boil, stirring constantly, and let slightly caramelize. Quickly poor over the cooled base, spreadin evenly. Bake for 10 - 13 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the coconut in a frying pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside. Remove tin from oven, top with coconut and place in fridge to set for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, lift the slice form the tin and cut into pieces.


***this is so rich that a domino sized-slice is MORE than enough. VERY coconutty, sweet and goopy...delicious.

Faux Pot pies - both chicken and ground beef

So this evening I made a "pot pie" with chicken - it was some tasty!! Did it in my clay deep dish pie plate at 400 until the top was brown. It was really good!

1 chicken breast diced fine - small bite sized pieces
1 rib diced celery
1 small onion chopped
olive oil and butter
1 c VE Chicken Stock prepared
1 can Campbell's cream of celery soup (could use mushroom or chicken or whatever cream soup you have on hand)
1/2 tsp VE Pot Herbs
VE Herb & Garlic Sea Salt & black pepper
3+ c mixed veg, or so - I just use the stupid store's nn mix of carrots, beans, corn, peas and lima beans
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 c baking mix / bisquick

1) mix soup and stock with pot herbs ans S & P, set aside
2) melt 1 - 2 tbsp of oil and a pat of butter in a skillet and saute the chicken, and onions and celery, cook until onions are soft. add veg and saute for a bit more. turn off heat
3) add soup mixture to hot skillet and stir in gravy with veg and chicken.
4) pour the chicken/veg mix into the bottom of a pie pan (grease at your own discretion)
5) in a medium mixing bowl beat egg, add baking mix and milk. mix with a fork and pour over meat in pie plate.
6) bake at 400 until the biscuit top is brown ~ 30 minutes

A few weeks ago I did the same thing with ground beef. I used beef stock and Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (half fat) and instead of pot herbs, I used VE Herb and Garlic Dip mix and 3 onion dip mix instead of a real onion.

Lemon Chiffon Blueberry Squares

Yields 1 8 " square pan = 12 squares

2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp VE Lemon Chiffon Fruit Dip Mix
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 c all purpose flour
3 Tbps milk
3 eggs
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp VE Lemon Chiffon Fruit Dip Mix
1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1) preheat oven to 350 F
2) prep crust by beating 2 Tbsp sugar and2 Tbsp lemon chiffon with butter until light and creamy. Continue to beat, gradually adding flour and milk until mixture resembles fine crumbles. - I did this in my stand mixer
3) press crust mixture into bottom of an ungreased baking pan or pyrex dish. Bake 15 minutes and cool on wire rack.
4) beat eggs with 1/4c + 2Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp lemon chiffon until foamy. Quickly mix in flour and baking powder. pour over cooled crust.
5) evenly sprinkle blueberries over top, allowing some to sink into batter
6) bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes or until set. cool and cut into squares

Was good, but I've had better lemon bars

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Have made this one for the kids a few times - very scrummy indeed! From dining alfresco

Serves 2

1 c milk
1/2 c fresh/frozen strawberries
1/2 banana - I have just pitched the whole thing in
1/4 c low-fat plain yogurt
1 Tbsp VE Summer Berry Fruit Dip Mix

blend and serve!

Peach Smothie

This one is tasty and would be even better frozen as a popsicle treat - yummy!!

2 c fresh or frozen peaches - I used canned
1 Tbsp VE Maple Spice Fruit Dip Mix
3/4 c orange juice
1 c low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 vanilla

put it in the blender and push the button fool!

Savoury Tomato Crumble

This is the other recipe we tried yesterday eve. This one is from the VE home comforts cookbook, and was tasty, but next time I would scoop out the tomatoes, chop up the pulp and mix it with about 80 % of the breadcrumb crumble and then put it back into the hollowed out tomato halv, then top with the remainder of the breadcrumb topping and bake it. I would make it again, but scooped!

4 large tomatoes, halved - we used 3
1/4 c olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp VE Bruschetta Herbs
VE S & P to taste
2 c fresh, soft breadcrumbs - Jody used a whole wheat bun
2 tsp VE Pesto Herb mix
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 400 F
2) gently toss the tomato halves with 2 Tbsp olive oil and the bruschetta herbs
3) arrange tomatoes cut side up in a shallow, oven-proof dish. Season with VE S & P, to taste
4) combine breadcrumbs, VE pesto herb mix and parmesan with remaining oil in a small mixing bowl
5) sprinkle tomatoes with breadcrumb mix. Bake for 20 mins, or until topping is golden.

Serving Tip - Serve with grilled fish or chicken breasts

Southwest Turkey Burgers

So Jody was over for dinner, and we tried out a few new recipes - this one and the tomato crumble. The burgers were tasty with a bit of zip - I thought so more than others, but Liam ate his whole burger, so ...

1 egg, beaten
2 Tbps (30ml) water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) Ve 3 onion Dip mix
1 Tbsp VE Louisiana Hot & Spicy dip mix
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/4 c breadcrumbs - I used dry
1/2 tsp each S & P

1) whisk 1st 5 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl - I used my stand mixer
2) mix in turkey, bread crumbs and S & P to taste
3) form patties - the book says 4 @ 1/2" Jody made 5 with 2 smaller for the little guys
4) Cook for 10 minutes on greased grill over med-high heat with lid closed, flip once and cook until thermometer is at 176 - I BBQed them to 185
5) Serve on crusty or whole wheat buns with lettuce, tomatoes, etc

Classic Potato Salad a la Erin

This one is from the dining alfresco VE cookbook. It was tasty with a bit of salt, and has the potential to be tarted up a bit from there. I made a few modifications noted in purple. I added way more potatoes but left the mayo unchanged and it was plenty gooey as it was and I also used less egg - personal preference.

1 c (250 ml) low-fat mayo
1 tsp (5 ml) Dijion-style mustard - optional - I used it
2 tsp (10 ml) VE Lemon Dilly Dip Mix
VE Sea Salt & VE pepper to taste - I used the VE Herb & Garlic Sea Salt
4 C (1 L) cooked diced potatoes - I used a hearty 1 L
4 green onions, sliced - I used 3 onion dip mix - a scant tsp
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced - I used 2 and diced them not too small

1) Whisk together mayo, mustard, lemon dilly, (3 onion if you're using it), S & P in a large bowl
2) add remaining ingredients, toss and serve. I think I dressed it with a bit of VE Chives - next time I will add some Lousianna Hot & Spicy in the dressing and sprinkled for colour.

What's with no pictures?

Have been trying in vain for a bit now to post the picture that I took of the greek meal. Can't do it even in edit html mode. it's weird - what gives?

My Amazing Greek Meal !!!!!

So for dinner, I let myself go, and the result was an amazing greek meal that I really enjoyed (as did the guys) So we had greek salad, chicken souvlaki with taziki sauce, rice, veg, hummus and pita. yyyyyuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Greek Salad

VE Greek salad dressing (recipe from the side of the dressing mix bottle)
2 Tbsp Greek salad dressing mix
1/2 c olive oil
1/3 c red wine vinegar
Romaine lettuce clean and preped for salad
cucumber chopped rough
tomato sliced largish
red/yellow/orange/green pepper chopped
red onion
feta
black olives

or whatever you have in your fridge for salad

Toss lettuce and veg, olives and feta with dressing

Chicken Souvlaki (from the VE Greek with Gusto recipe selection cookbook)

1/4 c VE Chicken stock
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp VE Greek Seasoning
1 Tbsp VE Souvlaki Seasoning
4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into strips or cubes
baboo skewers, pre-soaked to prevent scorching

1. wisk the first 5 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. add chicken and toss to coat. Can be marinated in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 12 hrs.
3. Thread chicken on skewer (with red/yellow/orange/green peppers) Grill over medium heat - we BBQ'ed them.

Tzaziki Sauce (on the side of the Tzaziki seasoning mix jar)

1 C plain (thick) yogurt
1 1/2 Tbsp VE Tzaziki Seasoning
1/2 c grated cucumbers - drained
VE sea salt to taste

mix all together in bowl and let stand 1/2 hour before serving.

Hummus (from the side of the dip mix jar)

1 can (19 oz) chickpeas
2 - 3 Tbsp VE Hummus dip mix
3 Tbsp each hot water, lemon juice and olive oil
1/4 c tahini optional - I usually add this but was out tonight - I missed it.

Mix it all up in a food processor and let stand for 1/2 hour before serving with pita.


I also served rice and steamed mixed veg (green and yellow beans and carrots with some peas thrown in for good measure)

All easy and super tasty!!!

Tri-Colour Italian Pasta Salad

I wish I could claim this one but, to be honest, even though I made it, it came from an Epicure cookbook. Dining Alfresco (which I've made a surprising number of things out of now that I've paged through it again).

4 c bite-sized pasta (I used rotini as it is my pasta salad pasta of choice)
2 c broccoli florets
1 recipe prepared VE Verde Vinaigrette
1 red bell pepper, coarsely diced
1 green bell pepper, coarsely diced
2 c halved cherry tomatoes
1 c cubed mozzarella cheese
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta al dente.
Steam the broccoli until tender crisp and refresh under cold water. Drain and set aside.
Whisk Verde Vinaigrette into large bowl and toss with the rest of the ingredients to coat. Season as you wish.

I'm going to make this tomorrow for my lunches over the next couple of days.
K,J

Recipe request : Jody's pasta salad

Red alert! Jody, I am in need of one of your recipes, and after fruitless scouring the BBA in hopes you had posted it, I am left empty handed for my impending BBQ party.

As best I can recall, it was rotini, and had cherry tomatoes, raw brocoli and cubes of mozzarella cheese in some kind of yummy dressing. If it rings any bells, I would love to recreate this splendid dish!

Delicious Cake Futures

NPR: Sweet Memories Of A Snack Food Financial Scheme

I've been meaning to post this little parable about cake and the world economy. This sounds a little too good to be true, but, hey, it's a good story. Jody, you should look into this. I would totally buy cake futures!

Craig's Macaroni and Cheese

Well, I'm not sure who this Craig guy is, but his name is on the recipe, and it's a pretty good recipe. I love cheese, but I've always thought Macaroni and Cheese could be a bit bland at times. This one, though, is pretty good. It's got enough onions in it, so that it almost tastes like French Onion Soup.

8 ounces macaroni (or in this case cavatappi)
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup flour
1 1/3 cup milk
6 ounces mature cheddar, shredded (I mixed Dubliner and cheddar, since I only had 3 ounces of cheddar)
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 shredder (not really an ingredient, but I didn't actually own one.)

Cook pasta in boiling water.
Heat butter in pan and gently cook onion and garlic for 5 minutes.
Stir flour and milk into pan, and blend into onion and garlic.
Whisk to make into smooth sauce and bring to a boil.
Add 4 ounces of cheese and the mustard.
Heat gently for a couple of minutes.
Drain pasta, add to pan, and mix well.
Transfer to casserole dish.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
Broil in onion for about five minutes until golden and bubbling.

Like I said, it was very tasty, and I have a whole lot left over for tomorrow night. Kudos, Craig!

Oven EpiCrisped Drumsticks

As you have seen, I've spent most of the day doing all things Epicure and this was the ultimate ending to it. The original recipe was in the Epicure Dining Alfresco cookbook (which unfortunately isn't around anymore).

12-16 chicken drumsticks
1 recipe prepared VE Caesar Dressing
3 cups crushed up Rice Krispies (the original recipe called for cornflakes and... you know)

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Coat drumsticks in dressing by shaking in a large plastic bag. Discard the leftover dressing. Dip chicken in crumbs to coat and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes or until thermometer reads 170F.
Chill thoroughly (I ate mine hot though and it was still absolutely scrumptious. Meag ate hers cold later in the evening and said that it was really good then).

I also made the Potato Salad that I made before. The cut veggies went into Dion Tarragon dip (is it obvious that the Epicure order came in today and I finally had spices again?)

Epicure Caesar Dressing

This is just the workhorse dressing from the side of the bottle. Very rarely do I actually add the extra garlic to this recipe, although sometimes I do.

2 Tbsp VE Caesar Dressing Mix
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c milk
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Whisk it all together and serve. If you're doing it in advance, just don't add the parmesan until the last minute because it soaks up a lot of the liquid and you won't be able to pour it without adding more milk.

Apple Tuna Sandwich

No picture of this one but you'll have to take my word that it was really pretty. I've just started flipping through the Epicure A Healthier You kit and I've really wanted to try some of the recipes out of the cookbook included. This makes 4 sandwiches, I took two to Meag, I had one and there's enough for another sandwich in the fridge.

2 x 120g cans of tuna
1 apple, cored and diced
1/3 c low-fat plain yoghurt
1 Tbsp VE Guacamole Dip Mix
8 slices of whole-grain bread (I used rye)
lettuce

Fluff tuna with a fork in a medium mixing bowl. Add the apple, yoghurt and Guacamole Mix and stir it together. Divide it among the bread, add some lettuce and you're done.

I thought it could have used a little more yoghurt but the flavour was really good.

Peanut Butter Shake

I always get really excited about the possibilities of this recipe (I've tried different versions of it over the years) and, unfortunately, I'm always disappointed (sorry, Epicure). What I want is a creamy chocolate shake consistency with that banana base and the hint of peanut butter behind it all; what I get is banana milk with a strong peanut butter aftertaste and a faint chocolate smell. I still think it's got possibilities though so I'll keep you posted on the progress.

1 banana
2 c low-fat milk
1 c low-fat plain or vanilla yoghurt
2/3 c orange juice
2/3 c natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp VE Cocoa

lend it all until "smooth and frothy". Pour into glasses and serve immediately. This recipe is supposed to be for 6 servings but I think that splitting one banana between 6 people is ridiculous so I just called it 2 servings and took my lumps.

Blueberry Soured Cream Cake

Blueberries bake very well into cakes, as their purple skins keep in their juicy centres!

175g butter, softened
175g sugar
3 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla essence, 1 t. almond essence
4 T. soured cream (preferably 14% m.f.)
1 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen.

preheat the oven to 300F. Butter the base of, depending on what you would like, two standard cake tins for a 2 layer with shallower cakes, or 1 standard cake tin for a full, one layer cake.

Put the butter, sugar, ggs, flour, baking powder and essences in a bowl. Beat for a few minutes untill pale and well mixed. Beat in the soured cream and blueberries.
Tip the mixture into tin(s) and level. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until firm to the touch and a fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.

For the frosting
1 packet of cream cheese
1 lemon, zested and juiced
icing sugar, to taste.

soften the packet of cream cheese and place in bowl. Beat with lemon zest and juice until smooth and add icing sugar to taste until desired sweetness is reached. Frost.

Citrus Macaroons

The extra-egg whites problem has been around for a long time, and its not surprise that macaroons have a long history. The Penguin Companion to Food tells us that they're found in cookbooks from the late 1600's! Incidentally, the word "Macaroon" is also the name of teh finest grade of grated coconut.
For those who enjoy lime or lemon and coconut, these pretty cookies are as good as it gets. Fresh with a hint of citrus, sweet but not cloyingly so.

2 egg whites
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/4 dessicated coconut, unsweetened.
2 T. pastry or cake flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla essence
1/4 t. lemon essence, 1/4 t. almond essence
grated zest of 1 or 2 lemons, or limes.

Preheat the oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar, coconut and flour. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture balls up and pulls away from the sides of the pot while mixing. (about 6 - 10 minutes).
Remove from heat and stir in the salt, essences and zest.
Immediately begin shaping the cookies. Using two teaspoons, scoop up a spoonful and drop onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until the coconut shreds have turned opaque and the cookies are very lightly browned on the bottom.
Lift the cookies, still on the parchment, onto a rack to let cool and firm. Peel them off the paper when they are cool. Store, once cooled, in an airtight container.
These cookies keep beautifully!



(as you can see, I let them cook for a wee bit too long...but I like them to have a little more crunch.)
(I used lemon.)

Ginger Salmon

I've had a couple of false starts with this recipe. I started to make it the first time and realized that I had thrown out my marmalade (I had vague memories of it crystalizing). The next time that I purchased salmon, I put the Tyee Fish Rub on it and then found the marmalade. This time I managed to get everything in alignment and I went ahead. I'll put the original recipe down and then tell you what Epicure-y substitutions that I made.

2 lb salmon fillet, skin removed
3/4 c orange marmalade
1/4 c sliced green onion (I substituted a few T of 3 Onion)
2 t dry white wine
1 t grated fresh ginger
1 t dijon mustard
1/2 t minced garlic (I substituted 1 t of Malay Seasoning for the garlic & cayenne)
1/4 t cayenne
1/8 t Epicure 5 Spice
3 T sliced, toasted almonds

Thaw the fish if frozen and rinse. Pat dry with paper towel and measure the thickest part. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and place in a shallow pan. Mix all of the other ingredients (except for the almonds) and spoon it over the fish. Bake at 450F for 4-6 minutes per 1/2" thickness or till it flakes easily with a fork. Transfer the fish and sauce to a serving dish with a rim. Sprinkle the fish with the almonds.

It was really tasty and the marmalade softened out with a little bit of heat from the spices. I will definitely make this again but I think I'll spoon a little less sauce on each piece, I only had about a pound of fish this time around and I used the full recipe's worth of sauce. Still pretty good with rice and steamed veg.

Iced Moka

Okay, Meag asked for this for her birthday breakfast and it required a couple of days preparation. Her birthday was on Thursday so on Tuesday I started with phase 1: Chocolate sauce.

1 1/4 c water
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c VE cocoa
Mix it all together in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator until you want to use it. It's a little on the bittersweet side as the VE cocoa is pulling pretty strong in that direction.

Phase 2 went quickly on Wednesday night when I made some espresso and filled my ice cube tray. Coffee ice cubes were recommended and, when you think about it, it makes sense for a chilled coffee drink because meltwater makes iced coffee taste like suck. Coffee ice cubes help to maintain the flavour for the remainder of the drink. Having said that, coffee ice cubes are a complete pain in the butt. I also brewed another batch of coffee and put it the fridge overnight to chill.

The final phase had to wait until Meag woke up on Thursday.

2 c chilled coffee (I used espresso)
2 c milk
6 T chocolate sauce
12 coffee ice cubes
2 T sugar (this was my addition)
Throw it all in a blender and let'er rip.

Problem #1 (I am all about the numbered lists here): 12 ice cubes do not make nearly enough chopped ice for 4 cups of liquid so I ended up having to add a bunch of plain ice cubes to get the texture that I was looking for anyway (think Ice Capp)

Problem #2: My volume estimation abilities continue to falter when I learned that 4 cups of liquid and (even) 12 ice cubes will test the capacity of my food processor (my blender having bravely given its life during the Smoothie Frenzy of '07). It took about 10 seconds to start having major leakage issues all over the tops of my slippers.

Really tasty though and there's no reason that I couldn't cut the recipe in half and knock it out in the morning. I've still got a lot of that chocolate sauce left over too, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Who Knew That Cute Animals Were So Tasty?

It just sounds so rustic (and I sound so snotty when I say it that way). I mean it in the best possible sense though.

I've had lamb chops and lamb sausage and ground lamb but I've never actually eaten a shank. It looks exactly like it sounds, like the wee leg of an animal and that was a little weird. I'm not normally squeamish about this sort of thing, I know where my food comes from and this wouldn't be the first time that I've eaten something vaguely recognizable (wouldn't be the first time this week for that matter. Ribs, anyone?) but this was almost too much.

I bought two packages of three spring lamb shanks and decided to just divide the recipe since I'd never tried it before. I was a little spoiled for choice for recipes but I decided to start at the source and I went to the New Zealand Lamb website as they're the ones that packaged it up in the first place. These are the changes that I made though (unless otherwise noted, the amounts were just halved from the original recipe).

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

3 New Zealand Spring Lamb shanks
1/3 c cooking oil (that was the original amount)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c chopped celery
1 carrot, sliced
1 T VE Focaccia Seasoning (this was originally 1/4 t garlic powder and 1/2 t rosemary)
1 t rosemary (okay, this wasn't in the original at all)
1 bay leaf (that was the original amount, I picked a small one this time)
1 beef bouillon cube (that was the original amount because what fool is going to split a bouillon cube)
1/2 c boiling water
100 ml tomato sauce
2 T flour
2 T flour (originally 1/3 c)

I kept the oil the same because lamb shanks are incredibly lean on most of their surface and they stuck to the pan like nothing. Saute the shanks in oil till browned. Set aside. Saute vegetables in the oil in the pan for about 5 minutes or until they get all aromatic and lovely. Add the seasoning. (The original recipe called for dissolving the bouillon cube in the boiling water but mine were still fairly fresh and crumbly so I just crumbled it straight into the pot and added the water with the tomato sauce.) I deglazed with about a quarter cup of red wine and that wasn't called for but I like the flavor that wine adds to a slow cook like this. Stir in the tomato sauce and nestle the shanks into the boiling mixture. Cover tightly and simmer for 2 hours or until tender - stir occasionally (I went and turned the shanks over at about the halfway point). Stir together the flour and water until smooth. Remove the bay leaf and add the flour to the sauce. Cook until thickened.

I served it over couscous because it was the fastest thing to make. It was gobsmackingly delicious. Meag ate an entire bowlful of couscous to catch all of the amazing sauce. If lambs are this tasty, next I'm hunting wabbits.

Luscious Lemon Loaf

Joe noted last night that I was waxing rhapsodic about summer foods (I think it was the wish for a big bowl of potato salad that clinched the deal).

Lemon sort of goes hand in hand with summer for me and I was wanting to give this a try so...

1/2 c softened butter
3/4 c white sugar
2 T VE Lemon Chiffon Fruit Dip Mix
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk

Preheat to 349F (or round up if you insist). Prepare your loaf pan with your removal facilitator of choice and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy and then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk and then spoon into the pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden. Cool before icing with Lemon Chiffon Icing (1/2 c of "spreadable light cream cheese" with 1 T of VE Lemon Chiffon).

Okay, warning: this is not a recipe for a wee loaf pan, this is a big loaf. The yield said 5 oz which sounds positively scant (oh, barely over a half cup!) but when it's given in metric, the truth is revealed... 1.5 L. Think about that for a second, think about how big a 2L milk carton is! If I seem especially fervent about it this time, it's because I'm cleaning burnt cake batter off of the bottom of my oven this afternoon. In my defense, this gets a lot of loft for something that, in batter form, closely resembles a pound cake. It made for the edges of the pan like a champ and was spilling over in no time.

The other thing to note is that the icing is probably only meant to cover the top of the loaf. I really like the looks of loaves that have been turned over on the plate though, I think they look like big chocolates so I tried. One half cup is a ridiculous amount of icing to try to spread over a cake and I really shouldn't have tried (I'm a professional, I should know better) but... anyway. The icing is scary it's so good (especially after I whipped it) and you really wouldn't want much more than that on the cake.

I left the Lemon Chiffon Blueberry Squares recipe for Erin to try. Over to you!

Spaghetti with Mushrooms and Onion

This is another one of my simple meals. I had never tried this before, but it came out really tasty. Just cook 4-6 ounces of mushrooms (I had 4 ounces leftover from the other day, but I would probably go with more than that next time) and a small chopped onion in olive oil over low heat until caramelized.

Meanwhile, cook one serving of spaghetti. When done, drain the pasta and pour it into the pan with the mushrooms and onion. Cook all together for another minute, and you're done. Serve with Italian bread, and all is well in the world.

The meal ended up costing me just 22 cents (for the onion) since I already had all the other items, so that's good too.

And for dessert, try some oatmeal!

If at first you don't succeed...

..make the Herb & Garlic Cheddar Biscuits again. I set the timer for 20 minutes because 30 minutes at 450F seemed like a hellaciously long time. Well, 20 minutes was still too long but they were definitely edible this time. Next time I'll check at 15 minutes and go from there.

Anyway, to go along side with that I cooked up some packaged gnocchi that I had in the fridge (did I ever mention that making gnocchi from scratch is on my 100 list?). I also melted 2 T butter into a little saucepan and then whisked in about a T of flour, maybe a little more. After it cooked a little bit I added about 3/4 c of milk and 2 T (thereabouts) of Epicure Caesar Dressing Mix and simmered it for a couple of minutes until it started to thicken.

I piled the gnocchi into a couple of whiteware baking dishes, truth be told, it would have worked better to make three of them. The sauce had thickened a little too much so I whisked in about another half cup of milk and then about 1/4 c of parmesan cheese and poured it over the gnocchi. I sprinkled it with bacon bits because I didn't have any real live bacon (that would have completely rocked it) and then threw it into the oven that was still hot from the biscuits for a couple of minutes.

After I pulled the pasta out, I grated a little bit of pecorino cheese over the top of it and served it with buttered biscuits. A little salad with vinaigrette would have finished it off perfectly but it wasn't to be tonight.

Herb & Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

I tried this one for lunch today and I had to post it immediately because if you haven't made your dinner plans yet and you have the Herb & Garlic Dip Mix (and if you don't, you really should talk to us about getting it), you should start your plans around these biscuits.

2 c flour
4 t baking powder
2 T VE Herb & Garlic Dip Mix
1/2 t salt
1/4 c cold butter
1 c grated cheddar
2/3 c milk

Preheat to 450F. Mix all of the dry and then cut in the butter until pea sized crumbs. Stir in the cheese. Stir in the milk, the dough will be fairly wet until you turn it out onto a floured board (hey, when did Donald Sutherland start doing voiceovers for orange juice commercials? Is he paying off a mortgage or something?) and knead it 6-8 times. Pat it out to about 1 cm thick and then cut it into your shapes and put them onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

The book said 30 minutes but I was on the phone with Joe when I put them in the oven and didn't look at the time. I took them out when I could smell them but didn't take into account that I was in my bedroom at the other end of the house. To make a long story short (Too late!), I burned mine and I don't know how long they were in the oven.

So the tasting part is based completely on the top half of the biscuit but even that was substantial, they had a lot of loft to them.

**Editor's Note: I tried them again for 18 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet and they were still much browner than they should have been. The next time that I try them, I'm going to drop the temperature because the insides are cooked almost perfectly so the time is good. I will keep you posted, natch.**

Chicken Fajitas

I don't have a picture of these but I wish that I had taken one because they looked so good and they tasted really good (even though we forgot to bring the peppers and onions, Nancy had a handful of yellow onions in the fridge and we made that work). Simple, simple.

Generous amount of vegetable oil in a bowl or baggie.
T or so of Epicure Fajita Seasoning
5 ginormous chicken breasts

Mix the oil and seasoning. Cut the chicken into strips and dump it into the marinade as you cut it. We only let it sit and marinate for about 10 minutes or so (long enough to cut the onions) but it would be really good if you let it sit longer. Chicken breast doesn't need all that much marination but I would imagine that a cut of beef would. Erin tried and I'm hoping that she gets to post it once she gets her computer back from the Best Buy Geek-Bastard Squad.

After the chicken is cooked, set it aside and fry up the onions and peppers (if you remember to pack them) in the seasoned oil that's left in the pan until they're tender.

Wrap it all in a tortilla and you're good to go.

Spaghetti with Anchovies, Garlic, and Chili

I got this recipe from the student cookbook Jody gave me, and it was so good that it was almost as if someone came into my apartment and cooked me a meal. It was also the hottest thing I have ever cooked for myself.

4 T olive oil
4 garlic cloves, halved
1 red chili, quartered (Next time, a half a chili will be quite enough.)
Spaghetti
Small can of anchovies
freshly ground black pepper (Actually, I forgot to add this.)

Cook one serving of spaghetti. In a small saucepan, heat oil and gently cook garlic and chili until golden brown. Remove chili and garlic. Add anchovies to oil and cook for about two minutes. Add 1/4 pint of water (or half cup -- thanks, Internet) and boil until pasta is ready. Whisk with fork to break up anchovies, if needed.

Drain pasta and pour over sauce. Toss well and sprinkle with black pepper (or not as the case may be). This is meant to be two servings, but I didn't think anchovies would last all that long, so I used all the sauce over one serving of pasta. Jody did tell me the oil would be flavored with the garlic and chili, but I was shocked at how much flavor there was.

I'm definitely trying this again, though next time with only half the chili.

Sesame ginger ribs

Combine 1/2 cup Epicure Sesame Ginger Grilling Sauce with 1/2 cup water. Add 1 tsp Lousiana Hot'nSpicy dip mix and just a shake of salt.
Brown a pound or so of ribs with about 4 cloves of garlic.
Place in a glass baking dish and pour the sauce over it. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake at 325F for an hour, turn the heat down to 275 for another hour and a half. Baste a couple of times. Remove the foil for the last half hour.

Served with rice cooked with 1/2 tsp of Louisiana Hot'n'spicy, and stir fried veggies. MMM!

"Margarita" Punch

2 cans frozen limeade
2 L club soda
24 ice cubes
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
Sophie says theoretically it should also include Tequila, but that is optional.
Not too sweet. Great with Mexican food.

Triple Bran Muffins

Combine
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat bran
1 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup chopped dates

In another bowl, combine
1 cup apple juice
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup molasses
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt (more or less)
Whisk together

Combine wet and dry ingredients and spoon into 12 muffin tins. They will be full.
Bake at 425F for 20 minutes.

I like to fool around with this recipe to produce different kinds of muffins. Basically, the dry ingredients stay the same (except for the dates which could change to raisins, craisins, chopped apples, oranges - whatever, and you can be creative with the wet ingredients, as long as the total volume is roughly the same. That's what I like about muffins, you can be very rough in your ingredients indeed. Try: mashed bananas with raspberry juice and frozen raspberries; chopped apples with a tsp of cinnamon and substitute a cup of oats for one cup of the flour; use your imagination and whatever you happen to have on hand.

Ziti with Broccoli and Blue Cheese

So I tried this out of the student cookbook Jody got me for Christmas. I love blue cheese and actually like broccoli, despite being convinced otherwise for many years. It's a pretty simple recipe, though this is the first time I've ever used flour to make a sauce. A whole new world may have opened up.

6 oz. Macaroni (or ziti in this case)
8 oz. Broccoli florets
Knob of Butter (I had to use the Internet to figure out how much this is supposed to be, and I'm still not entirely sure.)
1 T Flour (I've never bought flour before, but there are 32 more ounces where this came from, so watch out.)
7 oz. Vegetable stock (I used chicken stock instead.)
Grated rind and juice of half a lemon (I skipped the rind, as I just had a plastic container of lemon juice.)
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese

Cook pasta for 7 minutes and then add broccoli to water and cook for another 5 minutes.
Heat butter in a small pan, add flour, and beat together with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Gradually stir in stock and bring to a boil.
Add lemon juice and simmer gently for one minute.
Put drained pasta and broccoli in a dish and pour over the sauce.
Sprinkle over the blue cheese and toss well.

Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, though I had some serious doubts before starting to eat. It was rather soupier than I would have liked. I suspect this was because the broccoli was overcooked and still a bit soggy after I drained it. (Five minutes over a gas stove might be too long for broccoli.) Any other ideas?

Tzatziki Salmon

Okay, here it is - my first post!

Tzatziki Salmon

Mix 1 Tbsp margarine with 1 Tbsp white flour in a glass measuring cup.
Heat in microwave until melted, stir and heat again to cook a little.
Add 1 cup milk, and 1 tsp Epicure Tzaziki dip mix, and salt to taste (not a lot). Stir well and nuke again for about 2 minutes, whisking from time to time.
When it has thickened, almost boiling, remove and pour over salmon fillets in a glass baking dish.
Microwave for ten minutes if thawed, 20 if frozen, or bake in a 400F oven a similar amount of time.
Serve with rice (parboiled, with 1/2 tsp of Louisiana Hot'n'Spicy dip mix) and steamed broccoli.

A family favourite.

Gateau D'Adieu - Goodbye Cake

This was requested of me, so I must oblidge. The name Gateau D'Adieu literally translates to "Goodbye Cake", although mentally I am reading it like "Goodbye, Cake", as it disapears into my tummy.

I found this recipe in the forever reveared and mysterious all-that-is-good "101 Cakes And Bakes" and prepared it at my sending-off party before I left for Sweden. Lest I digress, it was a smashing sucess and I would much enjoy making it (and eating it) again. The lime and fresh blueberries add a certain...je ne sais quoi.

Gateau D'Adieu

225g self-raising flour
1 t. baking powder
200g caster sugar
200g. butter, softened
4 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 T. milk

Icing
400g. cream cheese
grated zest of 2 limes + juice of 1
100g icing sugar
blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350.

Put the flour, b. powder, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl and combine all ingredients. Stir until no lumps are present and incorporate the milk.

Spoon the mix into your choice of baking tins (it looks specacular as a 3-tiered cake) and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.

to make the icing, beat the cheese with the lime zest, juice, and the icing sugar. Spread onto each layer and the rest on the top. arrange the blueberries in tight circles on the top of the cake.

GD'A will keep for about a 8 days in the fridge, 5 on the counter and indefinatly in your freezer.

** Editorial Note: To see a picture of this gorgeous cake click here**

Quick Pudding

This is a really excellent recipe for those days that you really need a treat and chocolate isn't going to do it (not that I'm dissing chocolate in any way, shape, or form). This has a nice, warm, cinnamon-y, raisin taste to it. The recipe makes a nice desert for 6 but on treat days it makes 4 nice-sized comfort portions. The best part is that you make both parts in the same mixing bowl, that takes all of 5 minutes (just long enough to preheat the oven in my kitchen) and then it's out of the oven in 30 minutes. The second best part is that all of the ingredients are pretty standard "pantry" ingredients so there's nothing at all stopping you from making it (Nancy, I'm going to try it with the brown sugar Splenda one of these nights. If you feel adventurous and get to it before me, post it in the comments, please.)

1 c flour
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T butter, softened
2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/3 c raisins
1/2 c milk
1 3/4 c hot water
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
2/3 c brown sugar

Measure the first 6 ingredients into a bowl and stir. Add the milk and mix. Turn into a 2L casserole dish and smooth the top. In the same bowl, combine the last 4 ingredients and stir. Pour carefully over the top of the batter. DO NOT STIR!! Bake uncovered for 30 minutes @ 350F. They say to serve it hot but if you let it cool a bit, the sauce gets thicker and you don't suffer from second degree sugar burns on the roof of your mouth (sometimes my purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others).

I think I originally got this from a Company's Coming cookbook. It's actually a lot like the Hot Fudge Monday recipe that I posted before only, you know, without the fudge (have I mentioned that I love chocolate just as much as the next girl? If said girl had a thing for lemon meringue and raspberries maybe).

Pesto Fish

This is a pretty simple recipe that I found online.

* 1 lb.Cod
* 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
* 2 Tbsp Pesto
* Parmesan Cheese

Mix pesto and mayonnaise together and spread on top of fish. Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

I actually ended up with only 1/3 pound of cod, though I forgot to change the other portions, so I ended up with a lot of extra topping. However, by another accident, I ended up cooking the fish for the exact right amount of time, so that was good.

It came out really well, though next time I might just mix some pesto with bread crumbs for the topping.

Freaky Foolproof Pie Crust

I don't use the word "freaky" lightly, this is a seriously strange process that I picked up in an issue of Cook's Illustrated which is published by America's Test Kitchen. They're serious food geeks who guarantee their recipes because they break everything down to the actual physical and chemical laws that apply to food prep. FOR EXAMPLE... Foolproof Pie Crust (I'll cop to adding the Freaky to the title of the recipe). They took a look at what characteristics marked a perfect pie crust: light, flaky etc. and, through exhaustive trial and error (think thousands of pies in thousands of permutations of shortening, flour, water) they isolate and maximize them.

Sorry, I really don't mean to sound like I'm selling them, I just found the process fascinating because we all kind of do that when we cook, we make mental notes of things to try differently "the next time I make it": cook the roux a little longer, maybe add another egg, try it with ham instead of bacon. They just do it again immediately. It's just kind of obsessive and cool. I used to have a subscription to their magazine but it took forever by mail and most of the time it was in the stores before I had received my copy so I risked the occasional missed issue in exchange for buying them on demand.

Enough babbling. On to the weirdness.

2 1/2 c sifted flour
1 t salt
2 T sugar
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into 1" pieces
1/2 c cold vegetable shortening cut into 1" pieces
1/4 c cold vodka
1/4 c cold water

Yeah, did you notice that? Process 1 1/2 c flour, salt and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add the butter and shortening and process it until it's a homogenous paste, (I mentioned weird, right?) about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl to distribute the grout, I mean, dough evenly around the bowl and add the remaining flour. Pulse it 4-6 times until the dough is broken up.

Sprinkle the vodka and water over the dough and, yes, it will seem like a ridiculous amount. Fold the water in with a spatula, pressing down until all of the liquid is absorbed and it's tacky and sticks together. Divide it in half. Flatten each into a 4" disk, wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 45 min-2 days.

Definitely weird enough to try so I put it all together about 3 or 4 days ago and the dough has been sitting in my fridge ever since. I wasn't sure if it would work so I used a canned cherry pie filling (although Meag found a pit in her piece). I would recommend rolling the crust between two pieces of plastic wrap because it seriously feels like playdough (although pinching the crust and making a fancy edge was ridiculously easy because of this). This recipe made enough for a 8" pie with enough left over for probably a half dozen tart shells if I was inclined to make them (I'm not and the dough actually fell into my cast iron pan so...). did a simple egg wash and threw it into the oven at 350F for 15 minutes. Wrapped some foil around the edge of the crust and cooked it for another 20-25 minutes.

The final result? I will draw your attention to the flakes that are sprinkled liberally across the (slightly regrettable) filling. Even the bottom crust is well cooked, not soggy at all. Freaky, I tell you.

I was skeptical about this right up until I put the first bite of the edge into my mouth and felt it melt. Now I would probably put this crust up against any other that I've tried. I hope you're curious enough to try it, in fact, I dare you. That's right, I dare you to try it.

Lessons Learned From Sumplings Round Two

1. If you've posted the recipe before, have a look at the post because you probably made notes about what you would change. I was making the Satay sauce out of the Epicure Asian Kitchen cookbook and thought to myself, "You know, this makes a lot of sauce, I should only do a half recipe next time." So, guess what I said the first time I posted about it. Yep. *Sigh*.

2. Steam one tray at a time. The eating and the refilling of the tray are about the time it takes for the one in the wok to finish cooking. Don't put in two trays at once because it leaves you to just sit and fiddle with your chopsticks.

3. When you have to take a tray out of the wok, watch out for the steam. I have tender fingertips now because of that damn steam. If you refill the wok with water the steam goes down for a minute and that's the best time, it's certainly long enough to exchange trays. This as sort of the anti-FGF moment for me because, of course, I figured it out on the last tray.

We made three kinds of fillings: Pork/Beef and Vegetable, Spicy Crab, and Spinach with Shrimp. We also had three different sauces: Satay, Asian Sweet & Spicy (from the cruet), and Sesame Orange Dipping Sauce (see below).

1/2 c mayo
2 T rice wine vinegar
1 T frozen OJ concentrate
2 t VE Oriental Stir-fry Seasoning
1 t sesame oil
1 t soy sauce
1/2 t sesame seeds

Whisk first six and then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Or, if you're me: whisk everything together, throw it in an empty Epicure jar and put it in the fridge until you need it.

Kidding On The Square

Oh, this lonely picture. It would be vastly improved by the addition of... oh, I don't know... something. Maybe a description of the event it was obviously lovingly prepared for, I'll bet it was a celebration of some kind, maybe some big upcoming event like a shower or a... a bon voyage party or something. It would be kind of cool to know what it was made of. I'd love to try to replicate it sometime because it just looks so delicious but I'd have to figure out what sort of food went into it, and how much of each food. I'm sure there was some sort of order to the way things had to be done. Maybe we could figure it out.

Ahem.

**Editorial Note: The actual recipe can be found here**

Battling Risottos

Joe's becoming the Master of All Things Risotto so I'm taking a stab at retaining my risotto "cred" with this PLUS... I finally got to cook with saffron which has been on my Hundred List for ages. This was loosely taken from the Epicure Bella Cucina cookbook.

5 1/2 c vegetable stock (or a lighter chicken stock as I used)
3-4 threads saffron (YIPPEE)
2 T butter
1 1/2 c arborio rice
2 t VE Toasted Onion (or the 3-Onion crack)
1/3 c dry white wine (okay, the cookbook lists this as optional but in my world, wine is not optional when it comes to risotto, it is a hard fast rule. The other hard fast risotto/wine rule is that you are not limited to "dry white wine", you can of course use the last half cup of the wine left over from dinner the night before)
1/2 c frozen peas, thawed
Bunch of cooked shrimp
Good sized handful of pecorino cheese (the shrimp and cheese are just me, the cookbook stops at peas but along with the risotto/wine rule, there is also a risotto/cheese rule that I won't go into here today)

Heat the stock and saffron up to a gentle simmer and reduce temperature to keep hot.

Melt butter into a pan, add the rice and onion and cook for about 2 minutes or until the rice begins to turn translucent. Add the "optional" wine and stir until the wine has been absorbed by the rice. Then comes the fun part...

Step One: Add a ladle full of the stock to the rice in the pan. Stir until the stock is absorbed.
Step Two: Repeat step one.

Continue until you've run out of stock and/or the rice is al dente. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese then stir in the peas and shrimp. Cover for about 5 minutes, give it a stir and serve it.

I think the only thing that I would really change would be to take the tails off of the shrimp, I didn't mind so much but I don't think that Meag really got into it like that.

Oh yeah, and the saffron? I must sheepishly admit that I'm not sure I could taste it. I would have to make the whole thing again without the saffron and see if I could taste a difference. What I do know is that it was mighty tasty. K,J

Greek Pasta

This one is similar to my earlier all-oval meal with mushrooms. Instead, I replaced the mushrooms with black olives, ditched the garlic, and had feta instead of Parmesan cheese. Also, I cut things in half, so it wasn't quite as oval.

Some black olives cut in half
Some grape tomatoes cut in half
Olive oil
Feta Cheese
Pasta

Cook in olives and tomatoes in olive oil. Toss with pasta, and add feta at the end. Pretty simple, though possibly more advanced than bachelor chow.

When The World Hands You Ramen Noodles...

...make this instead.

2/3 c peanut sauce
2 T hoisin
1 t toasted sesame oil
2 packages Ramen
340 g cubed teriyaki flavoured tofu
1 med red onion, sliced
2 c broccoli florets
1 c baby corncobs, halved crossways
1 c sliced red bell pepper
1 c snow peas
1/2 c chopped green onion
1/4 coarsely chopped fresh basil or cilantro
1/4 c chopped peanuts for garnish

Mix the first three ingredients and set it aside. (Instead of using a "store bought" peanut sauce, I used the Satay sauce from the Asian Kitchen cookbook.)

Boil some water and pour it over the noodles in a bowl. Let them sit in the water for about a minute (seriously, no more than a minute or they get too mushy, I will probably use shanghai noodles next time). Drain them off and clip once or twice so they're not crazy long anymore.

Cut all of the vegetables in advance and then start. Saute the tofu in a little oil until they start to brown on the sides, pull it out and reserve. Saute the onions very briefly in a smidge of oil and then add 1/4 c water to the wok. Stir them for about 2 minutes or until they start to become tender. Add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry for about 4 minutes (that's what the recipe says to do, in reality, I would start with the snow peas and peppers for a couple of minutes and then add the broccoli and baby corn for the last couple of minutes. And I think significantly longer than four minutes but I really keep things moving in the pan). Add the green onion and stir fry another couple of minutes.

Add the reserved sauce and then the noodles and toss to coat. Return the tofu to the pan, stir to coat and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

If you haven't guessed, this has a really strong peanut taste to it so don't say I didn't warn you.