Almost Famous Cheese Biscuits

One of the traditions in my family is to go to the restaurant "Red Lobster" when a birthday is celebrated. At the restaurant, they serve "Cheddar Bay Biscuits" that are a big hit with my sons. They always ask for extras!

I was so happy to see a recipe for these biscuits in the current issue of Food Network Magazine. I tried them and the boys said, "Make these again!" I agree they were delicious and they were also quite easy to make. At the restaurant, they serve these with a glaze of garlic butter on top. I didn't do this at home and they were still very, very good.

Cheddar Biscuits (based on a recipe from Food Network Magazine, October 2009)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, room temperature

4 tablespoons, cold unsalted butter, cut in small cubes

1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup milk (not skim)

* Preheat the oven to 425F. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the shortening and pulse 4 or 5 times. Add the cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times. Pour in the milk and mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix. Drop about 1/4 cup of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. There should be about 15 biscuits. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.

Easy tomato sauce

Part of my classroom program is to introduce my students to cooking. I see it as a life skill that all people need to learn, and throughout the year, food and cooking will be integrated with all subjects in the curriculum.

This week, we used the beautiful fresh tomatoes of Ontario to create a simple tomato sauce for pasta. The children each washed and chopped a tomato to add to the pot. They stirred the sauce and grated the cheese. We cooked some pasta and served it with freshly grated Italian parmesean cheese. Ms. Mantello, who is Italian, said our tomato sauce was delicious!

Simple Pasta Sauce (for about 450g package of spaghetti)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 or 2 cloves garlic, sliced

4 large or 8 small tomatoes. chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt,or to taste

1 teaspoon sugar,or to taste

* In a large frying pan, on medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic and cook the garlic until it starts to turn golden (but be careful not to burn the garlic). You may choose to remove the garlic pieces now or leave them in the sauce. Add the tomatoes and let cook for at least 15 minutes. You can cook it for an hour or more to reduce the liquid in the sauce. At salt and sugar to taste.

Serve the tomato sauce on hot, cooked pasta with a generous sprinkle of freshly grated parmesean cheese.

Fruit clafoutis

Because I love baking pies and I don't always have time to mix pastry dough, I've been experimenting with a classic French recipe called a "clafoutis". Traditionally, this dessert is made with fresh cherries, but I have found it is equally good with various summer berries. It is basically fruit baked in a slightly sweet custard.

The photo is of a version I made with fresh strawberries and blueberries that I froze when they were in season a few months ago.

It is a treat that is easy to make and receives praise inversely proportional to the effort it took to make it (my favourite kind of recipe!)

The two best recipes I tried to make a clafoutis are one from Nigella Lawson's book "Nigella's Express" and one from Donna Hay's monthly article in the magazine "Living Etc.". The following recipe is a mix of the two, plus my contribution of using evaporated milk instead of cream in the custard.

Fruit Clafoutis

about 400g of cut up fruit (enough to line the bottom of a 9" pie plate)

4 eggs

1/2 cup sugar (or less)

330 ml evaporated milk

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

* First preheat the oven to 325F . Grease the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Wash and cut up fruit and layer evenly over the bottom of the pie plate. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Carefully add the flour (try using a sifter) and mix so that there are no lumps. Pour the custard mixture over the fruit. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes.

Cream of celery soup

Last week my mom and I went to visit the new McNally Robinson bookstore. On the top floor is a restaurant called "Prairie Ink" that looked inviting so we decided to eat lunch there. Each week the chef features food from a Canadian cookbook. That week it was "In the Kitchen with Anna" by Anna Olson. One standout item was the Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese - it was delicious.

So I tried to make the recipe at home because I had the "bendy" celery in the fridge that would be perfect for this soup. Interestingly, even though the soup is "cream soup", there is no actual cream in it, just milk. I didn't have any blue cheese in the fridge and although it made the restaurant soup great, the soup didn't need it to be yummy. It was so delicious, even the children tried it and said it was good.

Cream of Celery Soup (based on a recipe from "In the Kitchen with Anna" (2008) by Anna Olson

3 tablespoons butter (I used half butter and half olive oil so the butter would not burn)

1 cup diced onion (I used one medium onion and 4 shallots)

3 cups of diced celery (I used the bunch I had, a full bunch minus 3 stalks that I had used before)

3 tablespoons flour

3 cups 2% milk

2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (I used 1/2 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons dry vermouth (I did not use this because I don't have any)

3 oz (90 g) blue cheese (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

* Melt the butter in a large pot and add the oil. Saute the onions and celery for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of milk and cook, stirring well for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining milk, then the stock. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, partially covered, for about 10 minutes. If you wish to add the vermouth, blue cheese and chives, do so just before serving (don't forget to remove the bay leaf).

Gluten free cookies

These almond cookies have the taste and texture of shortbread cookies. They are dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free. They are not vegan as they contain honey.

I am fascinated by healthy baked goods. After doing a lot of conventional baking in my life, I am intrigued how "healthy" baking can be accomplished. I've had my share of disasters over the years, trying to make wholesome treats for my family. Two examples are my whole-wheat pastry for pie (my mom even said this was "not your best effort"!) and spelt biscuits (that were so dense and rock-like even the squirrels would not eat them!)

Recently, I visited a local organic bakery that specializes in gluten-free baked goods. I had a lemon-cranberry muffin with a cup of organic coffee. I was surprised at how delicious the muffin was. It wasn't oily or heavy at all.

My friend Dorothy, must eat a gluten-free diet as she is sensitive to products containing gluten. When we meet for coffee, she will bring her own gluten-free treats to eat. So when I saw the recipe for these cookies, I had to try them and the result was a very good and healthy treat. So this one's for you Dorothy!

Balance Cookies (from In the Kitchen with Anna (2008) by Anna Olson)

2 cups brown rice flour (I found this in Loblaws as "Bob's Red Mill Stone Ground Brown Rice Flour")

1 cup ground almonds (I used an entire 100 g package)

3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted (put seeds in a dry frying pan and cook until lightly golden)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil -the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup oil but I needed to add more oil to the batter to make it stick together)

1/3 cup liquid honey (use the same measuring cup as for the oil and the honey won't stick)

24 - 30 whole almonds with skins

* Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix together the brown rice flour, ground almonds, toasted sesame seeds, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the oil and honey. Add this mixture to the dry mix and stir together. Try squeezing the dough together...if it does not stick together, add a bit more oil. Form small mounds about the size of a walnut on lined cookie sheet (I use a Silpat non-stick mat). Press a whole almond down on top of each cookie, paying attention to the sides as they will crumble and will need to be pushed back together. Bake for 12-15 minutes but watch to make sure they do not burn on the bottom.

Watermelon friend

Last week, I was looking after my 3 year old friend Kiley for a few hours, while her mom was working. She brought along her Bambi toy and she and I spend some time taking photos of Bambi, in various places, while we were downtown. We managed to get this picture after Kiley, very patiently, put Bambi on the watermelon for the fifth time (it kept sliding off...).

Quick fancy cake

This cake was inspired by the classic Black Forest Cake. I made it for my mother's birthday last week. A recipe for the traditional Black Forest Cake was difficult to find among my collection of cookbooks. I did manage to find one, by accident, as it wasn't listed under cakes but under "tortes".

One of the ingredients was a can of pitted, tart cherries. Now, I looked in several stores and I could not find canned, pitted, tart cherries (only cherry pie filling and cherry jam). The recipe also uses the cherry-flavoured liqueur, Kirsch, and I didn't want to invest in a whole bottle of that just to use a small amount. So I decided to forgo the classic version and make my own.

First, I made a two layer chocolate cake using a mix (it's okay to do that sometimes...). Then I made a chocolate whipped cream frosting, and added chocolate shavings and maraschino cherries. The result was a delicious, moist cake that, as my dad likes to say, "tastes like more!"

Easy Fancy Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

2 layer chocolate cake, made from a cake mix (I used Dr. Oetker)

100 g bar of semi-sweet chocolate, cut into shavings (I used a vegetable peeler)

12 maraschino cherries, drained

500 ml organic whipping cream (organic really does make a difference in the taste)

1/3 cup icing sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

* Make the cake according to package directions. Let cool. Whip the cream until thick and mix in the sugar and cocoa powder. On the bottom layer, spread about one third of the frosting. Sprinkle about one half of the chocolate shavings on the frosting. Put the second layer on top. Spread the rest of the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. On top, sprinkle the remaining chocolate shavings and place the cherries evenly around the edge.