apple cobbler y'all

Okay, so I'll admit to catching the occasional episode of Martha Stewart while on summer holiday. This week I saw one of Martha's food editors demonstrate a southern-style fruit cobbler that I just loved because it was a really simple batter to make and was different from the sweet-biscuit-dough-on-top type that I've made before.

The editor's name is Virginia Willis and she was on the programme to promote her new book, Bon Appetit, Y'all. I managed to find the recipe on www.marthastewart.com under "Blackberry Cobbler".

Since I didn't have any blackberries but I did have some apples that needed to be eaten up, I decided to make apple cobbler. I also used a 9" X13" pan - the original recipe used a cast-iron skillet. In my haste for the recipe I wrote it down quickly on a scrap piece of paper and there wasn't an egg in the batter. So I added an egg thinking I simply forgot to write it down (although I checked the website and there isn't an egg in the original recipe - note to self - keep that recipe for when there are no eggs in the fridge!).

Everyone in the family said this was really good (despite the absence of chocolate) and I would definitely make it again. Next time, maybe raspberries or peaches or raspberries and peaches...

Nancy's Fruit Cobbler

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

pinch salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup 2% milk

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

*Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9"X13" pan. Mix together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix together the milk, egg and vanilla. Pour the liquid mix into the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Add in the melted butter and pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the fruit over the top. Bake for 40 minutes.

cute cookie translation

I had a nice surprise this week when Sheri gave me a lovely care package of new (to me), different food items that she bought at the new Superstore by Scarborough Town Centre. In the mix was a package of cookies made from white chocolate and green tea. Often on these imported items, it is interesting to read the English translation of the product description...

Each cookie is very pretty and looks like a fancy iced cake with white chocolate spread on the top and bottom and pale green on the sides. The taste is subtle with a faint hint of jasmine tea.

coffee themed trading cards

Today I sent off 7 of these cards to Arizona as part of an ATC (artist trading card) swap. The theme was "a cuppa joe" and the cards in the swap will be displayed in a local cafe. As part of the swap I will receive 6 cards back from various places in the U.S. The cards are 6 X 9 cm.

I painted the card with three layers of paint. Next I collaged on a picture a crazed squirrel that I found in a British magazine ad for kid's clothes. For the pattern stamp and the coffee mug stamp, I carved erasers from the dollar store. Finally, I sewed the 'thought bubble' on the final card.

fresh corn and the last cherries of the season

Cherries and corn fresh from the market at City Hall today.

marble cake and sugar stars

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and the whole family went to "The Keg" for dinner. The steak is really very good there (and I'm not much of a red meat eater so that is saying something).

We came back to our house for tea and dessert. I baked this marble cake (of course the mix of the plain and chocolate cake makes everyone happy). For the occasion, I broke out out the piping bag, but in order to use up the icing, a lot of sugar stars ended up on that cake!

The cake is very easy and quite moist and delicious. I based the recipe on one from BBC Good Food magazine. Some of the measurements are by weight, but investing in a food scale is a good idea. I resisted this purchase for many years (it seemed too complicated) but for some reason I gravitate toward British food authors and those recipes use weight measurements. I finally gave in about a year ago and bought one for $8 at Kitchen Stuff Plus.

I baked this in a bundt pan instead of the 8" cake pan stated in the recipe, and decreased the baking time. I have also baked it in two small loaf pans (one to eat and one to freeze). I used my fab-u-lous Kitchen Aid (thanks again Mom and Dad) to mix it up.

Marble Cake (inspired by a recipe in BBC Good Food March 2008)

225 g butter, softened (this time I cut the butter into cubes and left it for 30 minutes)

225g white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

225g flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

*Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a bundt pan. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add half the flour then the milk followed by the rest of the flour. Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the prepared pan until half the batter is tranferred. To the rest of the batter mix in the cocoa powder and then drop the chocolate batter into the pan. Use a knife held vertically to pass through the batter in the pan to creat the "marble" effect. Bake for about 30 minutes.

chocolate swirl chip cookies

In my never-ending quest for different homemade chocolate treats for my family, today I devised this new version of chocolate chip cookies.

I cannot remember the source of the original recipe because I have made versions of these for so many years the basic recipe is engrained in my brain!

My younger son likes the milk and white chocolate swirl chips that are sold in Loblaws and I used these in these cookies. When he tasted them he said, "These are really good!" - that is not just plain good, but really good. Ah... music to a baking mom's ears.

I use a melon-ball-ice-cream-style-device to scoop out the batter. My mom gave it to me years ago and honestly I don't know what else to call it. I also use a Silpat reuseable baking mat to line the cookie sheet. This is also thanks to my mom. Wow more reasons to love her!

Nancy's Chocolate Swirl Chip Cookies (makes about 48 cookies)

1 cup butter (remember I'm not very organized so I always soften butter in the microwave first)
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla (use real vanilla, it really does make a difference)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups flour
1 package (226 g) "The Decadent Swirled Milk & White Chocolate Chips"

* Preheat oven to 350F. I use my KitchenAid for mixing this batter. Cream the butter and sugar together until well blended. Add the vanilla and eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the chips) and mix until just combined. Take the bowl off the machine and fold in the chips. Drop on a cookie sheet, a dozen at a time and bake about 10 minutes.

peas and raspberries

At the house I grew up in we had wild raspberries in our backyard. We never got more than a handful at a time but boy were they good. My friend Chris brought me these raspberries the other day. She and her daughters had gone berry picking the day before. I think they look beautiful just the way they are...and they taste as delicious as they look...

At the same house, we had a small vegetable garden in our backyard right beside our pool. The pool was really a wonderful "cement pond" (like in the Beverly Hillbillies and pronounced "see-meant pawnd"). The pool had to be painted blue and white every year and when I was older, I would help my dad with the cleaning and painting. We also had a tradition of painting a different cool graphic on the bottom of the shallow end each year. We had a happy face, the symbol for "International Women's Year", and the word 'diver' shaped like a diver among other creative ideas. One time my dad made a stencil from the outlines of my feet and we made a footprint path all over the bottom of the pool. My dad really had some cool ideas.

These peas-in-the-pod reminded me of my old house. I remember swimming and coming out of the pool near the garden so that I could eat fresh peas straight off the vine. I bought these peas to show my kids and tell them this story. We also compared eating fresh, fresh cooked and frozen peas.

potato salad days

Today, my friend Chris came by for lunch. We are both teachers and it was our semi-annual swap of books and other classroom stuff.

I made this potato salad using a Jamie Oliver recipe as a starting point. I used fingerling potatoes and green beans that I bought at the farmers market yesterday and I had some fresh plum tomatoes and scallions on hand. It's a nice change from the classic mayo-based potato salad.

Chris and I enjoyed this salad with pumpkin cranberry bread, brie and havarti with dill. It was really very good and I would definitely make it or a variation of it, again.

Nancy's Potato Salad

(based on Potato Salad with Smoked Salmon from Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home (2007))

1 lb fingerling potatoes, cooked

2 handfuls fresh green beans, steamed (I used the leftovers from last night's dinner)

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons capers

3 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 lemon, zest and juice of half

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (to replace red wine vinegar in original recipe)

1/4 cup olive oil (or to taste)

1 tablespoon mustard with horseradish (to replace grated fresh horseradish)

1 cube frozen chopped dill (to replace fresh dill)

* In a bowl, mix all ingredients together. Remember to season to taste with salt and pepper.

life is a chair of bowlies

Yesterday, I went to the summer farmers' market at City Hall. I bought these beautiful cherries...I always thought these kind were sour but I was with my foodie friend Sheri who said that they were sweet and delicious and of course she was right.

Shortbread to please the little darlings

Okay so the oven was on from baking the chicken today so I decided while the oven was still hot to make some cookies for the family. This is something I get from my mother. She would often make something extra because "the oven's already hot" implying that one should not waste energy.

I've been eyeing "The Best Shortbread in the World" recipe from How to Cook by Jamie Oliver for awhile (because it looked really fast) and thought I would try it. I haven't before this because in my family the husband and offspring are not interested in baked goods unless there is chocolate (arghh). To make them more appealing, I used the old trick of sprinkling chocolate chips over the surface of the hot shortbread and spreading the melted goo into a chocolate layer on top (another tip from my mom).

Nancy's Pan Shortbread - based on the recipe from Jamie Oliver's How To Cook (2007)

1 cup soft butter (I'm not that organized so I cut one cup of regular butter into chunks and put it in the microwave on #4 power for 1 minute)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups white flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips (this amount is not for any reason other than that is all I had!)

* Oven at 300F. Put butter and sugar in the electric mixer and cream together for 5 minutes. Add flour and cornstarch one cup at a time and mix only until combined. Press into a buttered 8" square pan. Make deep indents all over with a fork. Bake for one hour. While hot sprinkle chips over top and wait a few minutes. Then use an offset spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the top. Let cool and cut into squares.

Fast Chicken Tikka Masala

Okay so yesterday morning, my husband took out what he said was a roasting chicken from the freezer to defrost. Well it was actually 8 pieces of kosher chicken packed together (kosher chicken is very flavourful chicken and you can buy it already cut up and vacuum packed). So I decided instead of roasting it to bake it in a sauce.

My kids are not fond of really spicy food (although they have become more tolerant over the years) so I mixed a jar of Patak's Tikka Masala with a large can of crushed tomatoes. After an hour in the oven, it's done, with leftovers for another day. I served this with whole wheat spaghetti and steamed fresh green beans. Okay sort of an Indian/Italian-style dinner.

Nancy's Chicken Tikka Masala (fast version)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 kosher chicken, cut up into 8 pieces and skinned removed

1 jar Patak's Original Tikka Masala (medium)

1 (796 ml) crushed tomatoes (I used Unico)

*Preheat the oven to 350F. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides. Place the chicken pieces in a roasting pan so there is one layer. Pour the sauces on top and mix it up a bit. Place a piece of foil loosely on top and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Bulgogi beef recipe (Korean marinated beef)

I recently resurrected an old recipe for grilled beef and it was so good that my younger son declared "make this kind of meat again!" (and less than a year ago, he was a vegetarian...). So I did. I served it again two days later when my parents came over for dinner and they really liked it too. I told Sheri about it and she asked for the recipe, so here is my version of an old Eating Well recipe, followed by the original recipe:

Nancy's Bulgogi Beef

1 organic flank steak, cut deeply in a crisscross pattern (this increases the surface area for marinating)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons organic tamari sauce (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
a few grindings of black pepper

*Put all the ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Add the steak, seal the bag and mix it up. Put it in the fridge overnight. Grill on the BBQ or a stovetop grill pan (that's what I do), about 5-6 minutes a side. Let sit for 5 minutes and then cut into strips and serve.


Marinated Grilled (Bulgogi) Beef - Eating Well (May/June 1993)

1 1/2 lbs. boneless sirloin steak, trimmed of fat, and scored deeply in a 1 inch crisscross pattern
6 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped peeled gingerroot
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice or cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground toasted sesame seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
generous grinding of black pepper

It started at the grocery store...

Well yesterday, my friend Sheri and I had lunch together in her neighbourhood and we decided to go to Loblaws. Now this might not seem to be a barrel o' laughs but for us it's great fun. We were going up and down the isles making insightful comments on various products (especially Sheri as she is known for her vast food product knowledge and her rapier-like wit). I mentioned that she should "sell her services" because she knows so much about food and she suggested that I not say that so loud. Of course I meant her food product knowledge, but I could see that perhaps the general public might not see it that way.

In any case it got me thinking that we should make our pithy comments on food, recipes, food magazines, food on TV and restaurant food on a blog to share our wise words. We try out a lot of recipes, food products and kitchen gadgets independently and share our "research" with each other. Why not share this goldmine of culinary intelligence with the world?

In my family, if a new recipe is good, my mom will declare, "it's a keeper!" However, that was already a name for an existing blog, so I had to go for the name "that's a keeper!"

Let's see how Sheri feels about this...