Saturday, May 25, 2013

For the love of baking

Is there something in your life that when you are doing it, strike a chord inside you, transports you to a different place and lightens your soul?  For me, it is baking.  As I measure the ingredients, pre-heat my oven and create my edible masterpiece, I feel as if I have sprung these mythical wings and escaped to the enchanted forest.  My kitchen becomes a place where magic happens and fairy dust comes in the form of coloured sprinkles.  The sound of the mixer harmonizes with the quiet sifting and gentle folding of ingredients.  The warmth grows and the smells begin to fill the air.  The world around may be full of imperfections but, in this place only a gratifying sweetness exists.  An ingredient looses itself and becomes an emotion, a gift, a peace offering or moment to share with another.  Chocolate takes a new name, bliss...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Tartrazine a dye with many names!

Several years ago I had a allergic reaction that caused my lips to itch and swell until they made Angelina Jolie jealous.  After weeks of outbreaks and not having any idea what it could be and, even my doctor having a chuckle at my state I solved the mystery.  Not only had I been ingesting this but it was in almost every lip gloss, lipstick, and chapstick I owned. 

What is this terrible ingredient: Tartrazine.  Think that you don't eat this?  Ever had Kraft KD or fruit loops?  Not only can it be listed as tartrazine but also yellow dye#5, C.I. 19140, E102, and even as the non threatening ingredient:colour.  How much damage could this little dye do you wonder?  Aside from sever allergic reactions causing hives, swelling and extreme itchiness, it is also know to cause hyperactivity in children. 

I recently made a trip to the theatre to watch a movie and after having a couple of handfuls of popcorn goodness(or so I thought) I spent the rest of the evening in Claritin induced delirium trying not to scratch the hives that covered my wrists, chest and neck.  I awoke in a better state but a few hours later and, much before the claimed 24 hour dose time on the package,  the hives reared their ugly heads again.  Benadryl now became my drug of choice and amidst the fog in my brain every 4 hours new breakouts appeared as this toxic substance makes it's way through my body.  How long will it last, the kind ER doctor said it could take up to a month!

I'll share my word of warnings, walk through your pantry, or turn the labels on your next visit and see how many places you'll find this awful dye.  Make better selections for you and your families and hopefully you won't spend your days with oven mitts duck taped to your wrists to avoid tearing your skin off!!  YUCK!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Is Vegan a 4 letter word?

I love to bake and, when I find a good recipe I also like to share.  I am not prejudiced against a recipe by the side note: vegan or vegetarian but, I find it funny the reactions I get when I say this about something I've baked.  There are generally two different responses, the first of which is joy and excitement at the opportunity of a healthy alternative, that if coming from my kitchen is almost always a hit.  The second reaction is one that amuses me, it's the horror that spreads across the face of someone that just found out their soon to be treat will most likely, in their minds, taste like cardboard and they will have to come up with a convincing response as to why they must avoid consumption of such an item.  I have in the past been disappointed by the "healthy" alternatives and had my share of cardboard cookies and loaves of gluten free bread that could impale someone but have not let those disastrous encounters cloud my optimism.  So I turned to one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks, ReBar, and began to find something I hadn't made yet.  Vegan, gluten free, trail bars and power spheres won out and I planned my trip to Whole Foods to pick up a few items.  By mid morning on Sunday my kitchen was full of the sweet smells of my vegan snacks.  Flavours of apple, apricot, pineapple and peanut butter, mixed with toasted hazelnuts and sesame seeds, filled my home and gave the neighbours something pleasant to smell while walking through the main lobby to the elevator.  I finished, wrapped and packed some up to share at work and voila, success!  Wrapped up little bundles of proof, that vegan is not a 4 letter word and some recipes can hold their own with the best of them even without animal by-products. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Salad Cravings - Cajun Prawn Cesar

I commonly hear of people's cravings as being fried or sugary foods they should avoid rather than indulge.  I admit that sometimes mine would fall into that category.  Although believe it or not, I often crave things that would do me quite well and I should perhaps think to add to my menu more often.  The other night this was in the form of Cajun Prawn Cesar Salad.  Cesar dressing can often outdo french fries for saturated fat and caloies however, my healthy choice is a yogurt based one that I use on the side rather than drenching the taste of lettuce away.  I started with jumbo prawns, drizzled them with olive oil and added a little "Slap yo Mamma" Cajun seasoning.  A few minutes under the broiler, a quick flip and a few more minutes later "ta da".  Served on a bed of romaine, dressed with lemon juice, ciabatta croutons and fresh Parmesan cheese.  If you are looking for a meal that's easy and fantastic, look no further.  It was so yummy, I ate one for lunch the next day as well.  And for those who know me, this is saying a great deal! 

O Plantain, how do I love thee?



During my recent trip to Costa Rica I was again reminded of how much I enjoyed plantains.  It is not a common marketplace purchase here however, not as difficult to find as it once was.  So what do you do with this large ugly banana thing?  The possibilities are almost endless.  Bake, grill, pan-fry, deep-fry....  It can be eaten green or if you wait until it looks like something died and left its corpse behind it's pleasantly sweet.  More texture than its relative the common banana it can flavour your stew or stand alone as dessert. 

Visiting a restaurant on the outskirts of San Jose, their method of choice, as with all their food, was on the grill.  When this cheese covered, sweet delight arrived at our table, it shone despite the dated plastic plate it was served on.  Such a versatile ingredient it will be on my shopping list next time I'm out and about.  I will most likely stay away from deep-frying and grilling(still a little cold outside) but nothing says comfort food like a casserole dish lined with plantains and smothered with cream cheese.  I mean really, can you go wrong with cream cheese?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

How to eat your emotions?

I recently had the opportunity to have a weekend away from home, without my son, and visited a friend.  While my friend had a bit of a heavy load on her plate at this time, we were able to enjoy each other's company and eat and drink our way through our emotions.  How did we do this?  With great enthusiasm!
It started with a decedant dinner of steak & lobster served along side cesar salad with fresh homemade dressing.  A joint effort we started by naming our lobsters: Jose, Ferdinand and my specialty, Dinner!  You would think that by naming your food you might be less inclined to eat it, you would think wrong around us gals.  We gave our lobsters a salt water "hot tub" and started on the steaks.  Start with some seasonings, add a little olive oil, sear in the flavour and transfer to the broiler to finish and top with some crumbled Borsin.  My friend shared her "secret" recipe for cesar salad dressing and before you know it we were sipping our Francis Coppola Claret and digging in to our feast!  If there were room for dessert we would have had more lobster but instead we moved on to un-buttoning our top buttons and having some more wine.

The source of the inspiration: Canadian Living magazine.  The cover had the token how to loose weight article overtop of the decedant dessert that would make you break that diet in a heartbeat.  So instead of feeling bad we started making the angel food cake and fresh lemon curd.  Great effort on our part and quite a success!  The bowls were licked to an almost immaculate state and the aroma of the cake filled the house.  We almost didn't wait until the next day to endulge.  I must say that by this time we were feeling relaxed and there were smiles all around. 

We started the day off right with coffee and Bailey's.  Who says you have to wait until later in the day to start drinking?  Taking our lead from a country song, the motto for the day was "it's 5 o'clock somewhere".  Breakfast was searved and eggs benny with homemade hollandaise sauce was served, back bacon and all!  I don't there is anything else you can say except, YUMMY! 
Next steps after feeling only slightly guilty at the indulgence of the last couple of meals, was a brisk walk to the the local grocery and liquor stores.  We did after all have to prepare for this evenings dinner and, we had a hankering for beer.  Absorbing the sunshine and vitamin D we smiled all the way back home.   Lunch was quick and simple with Mac N Cheese and fake Mac N Cheese (for those of us allergic to yellow #5).  Beer in hand we prepared the mascarpone whipped cream for the cake and the layers were formed.  Tea time followed behind beer time very closely and before we knew it we had a replica of Canadian Livings temptation in our bellies.  I would say that we were ready for our next meal but, who am I kidding we needed to digest and it was definitely nap time. 

As a special treat I was on dinner duty and made one of my family specialties "Arroz con Pollo" or for those of you who are not fluent in Spanish "chicken rice".  As no two women in my family make it exactly the same mine is a combination of my mom's and grandma's with my very own flare.  Post nap time rice was accompanied by our need for a vegetable in the form of more cesar salad and, the traditional accompanyment of potato chips.  Pour me another glass and dinner was complete.

If you thought we were done, you would have been wrong.  We continued our evening with a an informal wine and cheese.  Nothing says a good evening like Genoa salami and Camambert cheese.  By the time we were ready to turn in I think we have successfully eaten our way through, happy, sad, silly, melancholy, funny, and too many more emotions to count.  It was a weekend spent with old friends and new friends alike,  enjoying each other's company, great food and terrific wine!  Shouldn't all weekends be like this?




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

oops I forgot it's 8:30pm and I need to bake a cake for tomorrow

Yes, the Queen of planning sometimes gets lost in the calamity that is life.  That and since my 3 year old woke up from his late nap, he has been joined to me at the hip.  Looking at the clock at 8:30pm I realized oops I forgot, it's 8:30pm and I need to bake a cake for tomorrow.  What to do?  Not a problem, dig out my trusty new bundt pan and grandma's chocolate cake recipe and hop to it.  Flour and cocoa sifted, coffee brewed and all ingredients combined and in my oven by 8:48pm.  New record for me, as in between I was updating this blog!  With the right weapons in your arsenal (bundt pan, and a full pantry) preparing a cake in 18 mins is a snap. I dare you to try!