The Starving Student

Fool-Proof Chocolate Pudding

2012-03-06T19:57:00.000-04:00

You could eat this...

Or you could eat this...

Don't get me wrong, Jello pudding cups have their place.

But I am pretty sure they shouldn't be a dessert of choice, especially when you have dinner guests.

So why not make chocolate pudding from scratch? It's homemade, it's real and you don't have to worry about the possibility any additional plastic-like substances. You really can't mess it up. In essence it's only thickened chocolate milk. Use super amazing chocolate like Lindt? Now we are talking. Because you're the cook, you can control the level of chocolately flavor. I LOVE dark chocolate so naturally that's what I chose. But why not try milk, or even white if that is more your forte? Just make sure to reduce the sugar so you don't induce diabetes or something.

The best part of this recipe is definitely how easy it is. I made Ina Garten's Double Chocolate Pudding a while back but it had eggs and other shenanigans. More ingredients = more steps = more work. This one is just milk, sugar, salt, chocolate and cornstarch. Ok fine, and water. 6 whole ingredients. Nope 5, I'm not counting the water. Big deal. I adopted it from Smitten Kitchen. It's basically the same except 100 times easier. I cut back on the fat by using half 2% milk and half water (instead of whole milk). I wasn't really sure what the point of using a double boiler was (or still is for that matter). It's not like you have to worry about scrambling eggs or anything. And with cornstarch you actually want to boil it to cook out the chalky taste. Just boil, whisk, chill and you are set (so is the pudding, get it? it "sets").

Fool-Proof Chocolate Pudding

Adopted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup cornstarch (plus a splash of water to form a slurry)

- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk

- 1 1/2 cups water

- 100 grams dark chocolate (on average this is one bar)

- pinch salt

- 1/2 cup sugar

Heat the milk, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl mix the cornstarch and a splash of water. Whisk to form a slurry.

Gradually whisk the slurry into the milk. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until it thickens. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for a minute or two (continue to whisk so it does not lump up).

Portion (I filled up 8 little glasses but it will serve 6 more generously).

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Before you serve you can garnish with whatever you like. I chose orange because it is best friends with chocolate but anything works. Raspberries, strawberries, even something like a whole almond would look pretty. Sorry to all you guys out there who don't care if it looks "pretty". Really you could eat the stuff straight out of the pot if you want. It is THAT good.

February Linkage Love

2012-02-29T22:02:00.002-04:00

Seeings how it is the final day of the month, February 29th, a Leap Year no less, I thought I would share some linkage love related to my life lately. Plus it's kinda fun and I haven't done it in a while. So here we go! For all of you out there bored and perusing the web, get ready.

- While creeping Vladimir Sobotka (I would highly recommend doing a quick Google image search, my fellow female hockey fans) I found this. Whoever thought up that idea - brilliant.

- It is a worthwhile idea to get yourself some of these. I am in fact eating one right now while typing this. Purdy's Chocolates may only have stores out west but that doesn't mean you can't order them online. The peanut butter ones are also quite fantastic.

- I finally finished reading The Help the other day. I know I am a bit behind the times but if you still haven't read it either, definitely get on it. http://www.amazon.com/Help-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399155341

- I'm back on my Vivanno kick...except now they are called "chocolate smoothies". And I like them with soy milk. If an oatmeal raisin cookie just so happens to get thrown into the mix (I mean along side the smoothie, not in it) all the better. Thank you Starbucks.

- Honestly I could make these every day of my life. But they are even better if you sing this while doing so. Really? Who is that guy? Thanks to Brittany for sharing that one with me.

- Actually while I was on Youtube finding that video, I also came across this. I remember watching that probably 5 or more years ago. However I forget what I ever found funny about it. Now I am just confused...

- I've been knitting up a storm lately and I have to give Kelley some credit for helping me. Here's her mitten class but she also has a sock class and who knows what else.

- As much as I am loving my macarons, I'm still not sure what I think about these ones. Just see what they are filled with.

- And speaking of macarons, why not veganize them? You would think in our scientifically advanced society there would be some decent substitute for egg whites. It's worth a try right? Here's another blogger that tried it.

- I have been making lots of my own bread lately and King Arthur Flour actually has a ton of good recipes. It's where I found this ciabatta bread.

- Finally, I know these aren't technically links but here's what I have been cooking up lately. A little "taste" of what's to come in March.

Happy March everyone!

Ciabatta Bread

2012-02-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

Patience. I won't lie to you, it's something I tend to lack.

I hate waiting.

Waiting on airplanes.

Waiting at the doctor's office.

Waiting for life in general.

I know I should learn to relax but it is much easier said than done. I think I have improved though. I just made ciabatta bread and that took a good 2 days.

I'm still wrestling up the courage to make sourdough using the recipes in Nancy Silverton's "Breads from La Brea Bakery". I have to wait 3 or 4 days for a loaf of bread? Really?

Really?

Let's take this whole patience thing one step at a time, please and thanks. Ciabatta it is.

Ciabatta Bread
adapted from King Arthur Flour - The major difference is that I opted for dry active instead of instant yeast. Instant you can add straight into the dough whereas dry active you must activate in warm water first (otherwise it won't dissolve and distribute evenly throughout your dough).

Ingredients

For the sponge:

- 1 1/2 cups warm water (around 105-110 F)
- 1 tsp. dry active yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix together the water and yeast. Allow the yeast to dissolve. Proceed when the mixture is foamy and kinda gross looking. Sorry there's really no other way to describe it. Add the flour and mix to form a very wet, sticky dough. You could do this by hand but I would recommend using a spoon or spatula so you don't get floury goop everywhere. Now you have your sponge prepared and there is nothing to do but wait. If you are really in a rush this can be as little as a few hours. However if you want your bread to develop some more flavor and depth, it's better to leave it overnight. In my case I made it around 9 PM the night before and didn't start the final dough until 4:30 PM the following day. So almost 20 hours. Believe me though, all I wanted to do all day was just go home and make bread! And I apologize, I kept reminding myself to take a picture of the sponge...but then I forgot. It should look exactly as it sounds, spongy. It's wet and sticky, yet very aerated at the same time. It will double in size, at least.

For the final dough:

- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. dry active yeast (plus a splash of warm water to dissolve this)
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix the water and yeast, allowing it to dissolve as previously discussed. Add this, along with the flour and salt to your sponge. Here's where I remembered that I should be taking pictures.

I decided to transfer the works to a clean bowl (don't forget to flour the bottom so it doesn't stick) as the original one was getting a bit grungy.

Let it rise for an hour, punch it down (knock out all the air bubbles). Then let it rise for another hour.

Again the dough should about double in size.

Now you are going to tip the dough out onto a parchment-lined, flour-dusted baking sheet.

Be careful to deflate it as little as possible while dividing it into 2 separate pieces. Gently stretch each piece into a rustic, rectangular loaf. Ciabatta means "slipper" in Italian. How these things resemble slippers, I have absolutely no idea. Just go with it.

Cover with parchment and allow to rise for another 1.5 - 2 hours (this stage is called proofing).

It's difficult to tell, but they definitely puffed up compared to their original state.

Preheat your oven to 500 F. Once it is ready, pop in your bread and turn the temperature down to 425 F. Bake for about 25 minutes. Ciabatta is unique in that it doesn't become overly golden in color but it develops a sort of "glow". Very similar to how my mom politely describes my inability to tan. "Oh Mallory, your skin has a nice glow to it". Thanks mom, ya right.

Once you have given it some time to cool, the moment has come to slice open your bread and see the results!

As you can see, mine developed a large, open crumb structure (lots of big holes from the air bubbles) that is characteristic of ciabatta. And other wet bread doughs similar to it for that matter. I'm still conflicted as to what impact the seemingly excessive fermentation time (it did take almost 4 hours to rise 3 times) had on the overall outcome. I guess I will be testing out some different ciabatta recipes to find out!

Patience...who needs it?

Macarons Round #2

2012-02-20T15:59:00.001-04:00

Time for macarons, round #2. Well that's a lie actually, it was more like round #5. I experimented a bit at school one day but we don't need to talk about that. Let's just blame it on the convection oven and leave it at that.

Fine you really want me to re-hash my traumatic experience? Well the first recipe used almond paste instead of almond flour. They tasted good but they weren't macaron. And where were the feet?

As for the second recipe, it had potential. The consistency was good and when I turned on the oven light to take a peak, the feet were already forming. Then they decided to crack. Not just tiny, harmless cracks either. These were atrocious. They were like plumber macaron if you get my gist.

I'll get over it one day. Maybe. Probably not.

So, macarons, round #2. I got the recipe from a friend who said she found it in a Martha Stewart cookbook. Either way, it seemed to work. The guy in the background liked them. But he likes everything so I'm not sure that's saying much ;)

Ingredients

- 1 1/4 cup ground almonds (I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour, the texture was much finer and it eliminated the extra step of re-grinding ground almonds in your blender or food processor)

- 1 3/4 cup icing sugar

- 4 egg whites

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- food coloring

Whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then add the white sugar and continue until they form stiff peaks. Putting your sister in charge of the photography, optional.

Add in the food coloring of your choice. I used plain old liquid food coloring and managed to achieve a pretty pastel purple. However, I am interested in trying out powder or gel coloring next time to give the macaron a more vibrant hue. Also I didn't really take into consideration that the color would lighten when you fold in the remainder of the ingredients.

Whisk together the almonds and icing sugar.

Time to fold. Actually, maybe it is beneficial to have a photographer. Look at this action shot! Crazy right?!

Pipe the mixture onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Next time I do this I will have an actual piping bag, I promise. I know, if I want to make them look professional I really need to ditch the Ziploc.

Compared to my first batch of chocolate macaron, I opted to let these sit out for about 20 minutes to form a crust before baking.

Whether that helped or not, I will never know. They formed little feet though so I was happy.

After 15-20 minutes in a 350 F oven we were golden! Not literally though, just a really pale purple.

I kept it simply by filling them with chocolate ganache. A 100 g bar of dark chocolate melted with a few splashes of whipping cream and cooled, no biggie. You could opt for anything from spreads like Nutella, peanut butter or jam to buttercream or caramel.

Yet more evidence to back the "all anyone ever wanted was a sandwich" theory. Especially if it is in dessert form! As my cousin Jared discovered, they are even good for breakfast. Go figure. You've got your protein from the egg whites, some calcium and vitamin D from the cream, nice antioxidants in the dark chocolate. They are basically a health food! Ya, ok. Who am I trying to kid? Just eat em' already!

Soft Pretzels

2012-02-13T20:18:00.000-04:00

Snow,

I'm a huge fan of yours.

Without you I couldn't go skiing, or snowboarding.

Or sledding or make snowmen.

Look at all the alliterations I can make with "s"!

However (here's the catch), I would prefer if you could refrain from violently storming and barricading my car with your 3 foot walls of solidified precipitation. I like to be able to get out of my parking spots.

Much appreciated.

Now let's go make pretzels!

Come on, what stress case doesn't want to drown their sorrows in dough! You don't even need to be stressed to make these, just do it, they are delicious.

Pretzels

adapted from Joy the Baker (who adapted it from Alton Brown)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups warm water (between 110 and 115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons oil
a pot of boiling water
a few tablespoons baking soda
1 large egg, beaten, with a splash of water (optional)
coarse salt for topping

First off, you have two choices when it comes to making the dough. A) You can be lazy and pull out your mixer. B) You can be a true baker and knead it by hand!
Either way you have to hydrate the yeast first so I guess you can decide while you are waiting. Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Give it a quick stir to dissolve if you choose. Then sit back and relax until it becomes nice and foamy. If you are lucky, you may even see mini yeast fireworks on the surface of the water (those of you who have seen this before know exactly what I am talking about...everyone else thinks that I am crazy...oh well).
Once this occurs you can add the flour, salt and oil (I used plain old canola). For those of you using your mixer, Joy says to beat on medium speed for 4 minutes (with the dough hook attachment, the whisk may not work too hot). You know it's done when the dough forms a ball, pulls away from the sides of the bowl and begins to climb up the dough hook.
For those of you opting to knead by hand, kudos to you! It really isn't difficult in the least. Mix in the flour, salt and oil to create a homogeneous mixture (basically a sticky, floury mass). Proper kneading technique would suggest that you fold the right hand side of the dough ball into the centre. Think of it like a clock, fold from 3 o'clock into the middle. Then turn it counterclockwise to 12 o'clock and push through, rolling the dough smoothly across the counter. Repeat. Or just do whatever works for you. You are looking for an end result that is smooth like a baby's bum yet passes the windowpane test. A.K.A. you can rip off a piece of the dough, stretch it out and be able to see through it, without it tearing.
Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover it and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Until it looks like this. A giant mushroom cloud of doughy goodness.

Then you can knock the air out and portion it out into 8 pieces like this (or less if you prefer larger pretzels).
You should probably get a pot of water boiling at this point too.

Roll it into long thin strands.

To form the pretzel shape bring the ends together making a circular shape. Cross them creating an "x" then bring the tips back down to attach to the centre of the loop. Voila!

Add a few tablespoons of baking soda to the boiling water. Cook for about 1 minute until the pretzels plump up.

Lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment and preheat your oven to 425 F.

If you like you can brush them with egg wash, then sprinkle with coarse salt but I forgot the egg part and just proceeded with the salt. Although they probably didn't brown as much, they ended up being vegan which is nice if you have any vegan friends to share them with (or are vegan yourself).

Bake at 425 F until golden about 25-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Eat up! They are best when straight out of the oven, soft and warm. However they do freeze well which is always a bonus when cooking for yourself. They would definitely go stale before I got around to eating all 8!

Baking Blackbox - A Guinness Chocolate Cake

2012-02-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

I did it! I survived! What did I do? What did I survive? Well today was my baking "blackbox" at school. Basically it was a final practical exam in which we drew countries out of a hat and had to make a dessert or bread inspired by that country. I got "lucky" and chose Ireland. Get it? "Luck of the Irish". So I decided to be a drunkard and make Guinness Chocolate Cake with Guinness Brownie, Guinness Reduction and to top it all off, Bailey's Whipped Cream. Such an alcoholic I am...
I know it sounds like the Guinness would be unpleasantly over-powering but strangely enough, it wasn't. It reminded me of the taste when you add coffee or instant espresso powder to chocolate cake. You can't really tell that it is there but it brings out different qualities in the chocolate. Then to cut the richness of it all I paired it with a tart lime curd. No, you're right, limes aren't naturally that green. I may or may not have gone a bit crazy with the food coloring. It is inspired by Ireland after all! Just under 4 hours later and voila! Baking blackbox finito!!!

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE
from Nigella (which explains why everything is in weight, I apologize, I am unsure of the conversion to cups)

- 250ml Guinness
- 250g unsalted butter
- 75g cocoa
- 400g granulated sugar
- 142ml sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
- 275g all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a pan of your choice (an 8" or 9" springform, square cake pan, circular cake pan, whatever you have will work).
In a saucepan heat the Guinness and butter until the butter is fully melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. I sifted the cocoa to ensure there was no lumpage and then whisked until the sugar was basically dissolved.
In a separate bowl whisk your sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Make sure that the Guinness/butter mixture isn't so hot that it will scramble the eggs then pour it into the sour cream mixture in a thin stream whisking constantly.
Finally add your flour and baking soda. Pour into your prepared pan and bake at 350 F. You will know the cake is done when it passes these 3 tests:
1. The cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre.
2. A toothpick or skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
3. As it is a high fat cake, the sides will begin to pull away from the pan.
Because I was baking using a professional convection oven this took between 30 to 40 minutes. But if you are using a standard home oven Nigella informs us that this could take between 45 minutes to 1 hour. Trust your instincts though. If it satisfies the 3 criteria mentioned above, take it out. If it doesn't, leave it in. Please promise me one thing though. Don't go opening and closing and opening and closing your oven to check on it. The light is there for a reason! Everytime you open the door you let the heat out. This is a pretty stable cake but the general rule of thumb is that you should wait until 75% of the estimated cook time has elapsed before opening the oven to check on it. This is especially crucial with finicky items like souffles, sponge cakes, meringues, etc.
Anyways once it is done, take it out and let it cool on a wire cake. Don't try to remove it from the pan until it is at room temperature. Unless it is for some natural disaster themed party and you actually want it to look like an earthquake zone. Otherwise, please don't.

GUINNESS BROWNIES
adapted from Godiva

- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. lime zest
- 213 grams dark chocolate (I used 75% ) pistoles (or just chop up a bar)
- 128 grams white chocolate pistoles (if you notice on their site, Godiva refers to this as "ivory" chocolate...Ooooo how fancy....and so confusing!) plus about 1/2 cup extra chopped to about the size of chocolate chips - optional
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup Guinness stout

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a tin, same gig size-wise as the cake. Melt the chocolate(s) and butter over a double boiler. Meanwhile whisk together the eggs, sugar and lime zest until smooth. Cool the chocolate mixture slightly and whisk it into the eggs. Sift in your flour and cocoa, pour in the stout, add the additional chopped white chocolate if you are using it and mix everything until just incorporated.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350 F for about half an hour. This is how long it took using convection but the Godiva recipe also says 25 to 30 minutes, so just pay attention. Cool and THEN remove it from the pan.

GUINNESS REDUCTION

- 2 x 330ml bottles Guinness
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp. honey

Reduce the Guinness until there is only about 1/2 cup of liquid remaining. Add the sugar and honey, continuing to cook until thick and syrupy. Don't worry if you over-reduce it, just add some water to thin everything out. Also it is probably a good idea to leave it at room temperature until you need to use it. Otherwise it could harden up like a rock in the fridge.

BAILEY'S WHIPPED CREAM

- 2 cups whipping cream
- about 2 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream (I eyeballed it - throw in as many splashes as tickles your fancy!)
- 1/4 cup icing sugar (again this isn't an exact science, taste it as some people like it sweeter than others)

Now you could whip this by hand but then you are going to complain that you have carpal tunnel so ya, scratch that idea. Using a MIXER beat the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the Bailey's and sugar and beat until stiff peaks. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

LIME CURD
from AllRecipes

- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup lime juice
- zest from all those limes you used to get the 3/4 cup juice
- 1/4 cup butter

Whisk the eggs with half of the sugar until thick and smooth. Melt the butter with the lime juice, zest and remaining sugar. Pour into the eggs very slowly allowing them to temper (basically you don't want lime scrambled eggs...not very appealing). Cook the mixture over a double boiler, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. It is done when it thickens and coats the back of the spoon (also referred to as nappe). Chill over an icebath, strain through a fine-mesh sieve and refrigerate until needed. As you will see in the picture, I also added some blue and yellow food coloring to dye this cream to go with the Irish theme.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CLOVERS

- 1 cup white chocolate

- a few drops each blue and yellow food coloring (or just use green if you have it, you lucky duck you!)

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Add the food coloring and mix until you reach the color you desire. Then make one of these little babies. I would try to explain it but I think you have already read enough in this post and are probably starting to go into information overload. Fill your parchment piping bag with the chocolate and create little 4 leaf clovers or whatever shape your heart desires. I now realize that I totally forgot what a 4 leaf clover should look like. Thanks Google Images, where were you when I was actually piping the things at 8 this morning? Pop em' in the fridge until they are set and ready to use for garnish.

Careful with the food coloring. Not sure how I plan on getting this off...

Ok so did you manage to get through all of that? Now for the fun part, assembly! Using a ring mold (a circular cookie cutter basically) that is an appropriate size for one portion (I will leave that to your discretion to decide what an "appropriate portion" is). If it helps I double the cake recipe and was able to get 6 good ones out of each cake plus some crappy looking extras that were edible but substandard compared to their little friends. So you are trying to obtain at least 6. Then using a tiny ring mold, cut out a chunk of the bottom of each cake. Use the same tiny mold to cut a piece of brownie. See where we are going here? Now stuff the brownie inside the cake. Pretty ingenious stuff going on here.

As for the whipped cream, use a piping bag to make a nice little rosette on top of the cake. I think it would actually have looked better if I opted to use a plain tip instead of a star one. You could also spread the cream rustically across the top and create random little peaks. Then I placed the clover on top of the cream.

With the reduction I painted it across the plate and made little dots with the lime curd. I love to get creative when I am plating so feel free to do whatever looks good to you. Honestly I probably dirtied 4 or 5 plates just figuring out what I wanted to do.

Finally you can enjoy all of your hard work!

Chocolate Macaron

2012-01-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

Some trends I like:
- designer jeans
- nude pumps
- Ugg boots (yes these are not really a trend anymore but they are comfortable so I wear them, regardless of whether they are trendy or not)
- infinity scarves

Some trends, not so much:
- over-sized sweaters
- fur vests (why anyone would want to look like they were attacked by a raccoon is beyond my comprehension)
- actually fur in general...I do not get it

As for food, if I see one more molten chocolate lava cake on a menu....And I am getting pretty sick of cupcakes too. Come on people, let's try something more original. Like perhaps a macaron shop? Although popular in France (where companies like Pierre Hermé and Ladurée have been making them for years), they are finally taking the North American food scene by storm. Fruit fillings, chocolate ganache or salted caramel sandwiched between 2 colorful meringues? I think so.

Surprisingly, they are not that difficult to make at home. By no means would I open up shop this instant to begin selling my creations but they tasty pretty darn good. They're cute too which always helps.

Chocolate Macaron

Courtesy of Mr. David Lebovitz

Meringue Ingredients:

- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 2 egg whites
- 5 tbsp. white sugar

Ganache Ingredients:

- 60 g Lindt 70% chocolate (that's 6 squares)
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- 1 tsp. corn syrup

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder in a bowl. The original recipe says to blitz everything in a food processor to ensure it's a fine powder but I alleviated this step. It would have probably been beneficial to at least sift it but I didn't have one of those either. If you don't mind the texture the almonds provide, don't worry about it.

Meanwhile whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Once they reach this stage, add the white sugar and whip until stiff peaks (as seen below).

Then fold everything together in gradual increments to avoid deflating the egg whites. Scoop the mixture into a piping bag...which most people do not have. That's where Ziploc bags come in. They are the perfect makeshift piping bag. Just cut off the tip and you are g2g (that's "good to go", not "got to go").
Form the batter into little circles and try to avoid creating little Mount Crumpets (you know, from the Grinch). But you can always smooth them out with your finger if need be. About 1 tbsp. is a good amount to use and I left around 1 inch between each macaron. Or at least I tried, as you can see they are a little inconsistent. Pierre Hermé is shaking his head right now.
Anyways rap the baking sheet on the counter to flatten them out a bit then bake at 350 F for approximately 15 minutes. Remove and let cool, meanwhile you can make the ganache.

Theoretically this should be the easier of the two components but apparently chocolate did not like me today. I heated the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan, removed it from the heat and added the chocolate. It was a little bit oily (meaning that the cream was too hot and the chocolate split) but nothing to warrant throwing it out and starting again. After stirring to incorporate I refrigerated it. But it chilled for too long then it was like trying to spread cold butter on a slice of bread. So I popped it in the microwave for a mere 10 seconds. Then it was runny and oily again. Back in the fridge to chill again. Finally it reached a spreadable consistency, time to assemble!

For my first time EVER making macarons, I am pretty proud of the turnout. I am excited to keep trying and perfecting the technique but the first batch was definitely acceptable. Creamy, melt-in-your-mouth ganache sandwiched between chewy, yet airy and crisp meringues...BINGO! Mallory wins a prize! Yep my prize is I get to eat all the macarons! Next time I think I might add different fruit flavoring and food coloring. It is also my goal to get them thinner/daintier looking. The possibilities are endless!

Roasted Chickpeas

2012-01-17T18:58:00.000-04:00

Ok so here is my life story. I know, I know you have probably forgotten that I even exist it has been so long since I last wrote something. I could make up some excuse like, "between school and work and then more school and more work...blah, blah, blah" which is true but more accurately, I just spent the past 3 hours knitting my mom a toque. Sorry, I was in the zone. I was only planning on doing a few rows, but I guess now it's all finished. I'm like that. I start something with the intention of only doing it for maybe half an hour then next thing I know it's done. Largely due to the fact that I am a list person I would say. I love checking things off my list. This time around though there has got to be a better reward. The cup of extremely black, disgusting tea I am trying to ingest just isn't doing it for me. Really what is this stuff? Not even the sugar is helping it out.

Do you know what is good though? Roasted chickpeas. The ones I made were also slightly black thanks to some black lava salt, straight from Hawaii. A weak connection, I know, but at least I am trying here.

Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients:

- 1 540 mL can chick peas (drained and rinsed with cold water)

- 1 tbsp. olive oil

- 1/2 tbsp. sugar in the raw

- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. black lava salt (or any salt you like, it could be fancy like himalayan pink salt but plain table salt works fine too) the amount you use really depends on how strong it is

- 5 grinds of black pepper

- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Mix everything together in a bowl. Pour onto a baking sheet. Roast at 400 F until golden and crisp, turning the chickpeas every 10 minutes or so to ensure that they do not burn. For me, with my oven, this took just over half an hour. If you like them crunchier, roast them for a longer period. Then you are free to munch to your hearts content!

Chocolate Brownies

2012-01-10T18:21:00.000-04:00

January 10, 2012. That is the date today people, I kid you not. And the day is drawing to a close so technically it's closer to January 11th.

So what does this actually mean? Well Christmas is over, New Years is covered too and everyone has gone back to their normal, boring, everyday lives. You may have even made a resolution or two. But really, what's the point? If you are not committed to something the other 11 months and 30 days of the year, what is going to make January 1st such a turning point? My theory is that if we all make resolutions every minute of every hour of every day, we may actually have a shot at accomplishing them. Life is a constant resolution to aim higher, do better and be happier.

With that said, now it is time for me to provide some extensive diet sabotage. Sorry to all of you guys out there munching on your carrot sticks and rice cakes, I can't resist sharing the recipe for what are probably the best brownies I have ever made in my entire life. Yah I know, I haven't been alive that long...but still!

I made them during the holidays for my chocoholic guests (not fully realizing just what chocoholics they were) and the entire batch was literally devoured in less than 10 minutes between only 2 people. Had I known this, I probably would have doubled the recipe. I even had someone get on their knees and bow down, thanking me for making these. I'm still not sure I know what to say. You're welcome??? I can't take all the credit though. I would still be living in mediocre brownie land if it weren't for Joy the Baker.

BEST BROWNIES EVER.

Word.

Yes, I just said that. In fact I will say (type) it again.

Word.

Now go make some brownies my peeps!

Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

200 grams 70% chocolate, broken into pieces

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a baking dish by lining it with tin foil and greasing the foil with butter or oil.

Melt the chocolate and butter. I was lazy and opted for the microwave over a double boiler. Just make sure you don't forget about it and have your chocolate scorch.

Whisk the eggs, sugar and salt in a separate bowl/

Then whisk in the melted chocolate mixture (allow it to cool slightly first though to avoid chocolate scrambled eggs).

Finally add the flour and baking powder until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Pour into your prepared pan (all I had was a 9 inch pie dish so that's what I used).

Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out fairly clean. I say this because it will come out completely clean around the edges but the inner part will still be a bit gooey. Personally I prefer this because the brownie stays extraordinarily fudgy.

Cool and slice. In my case I probably could have cut the thing in half, put it on 2 plates and let them go to town.

Nonfat Ginger Cookies

2012-01-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

I hate stereotypes. Especially when it comes to food. Why do cookies and brownies and cupcakes and all the delicious things in the world have to be bad for you? "Fat is flavor" is the cop-out you will hear most of the time. And I won't deny that there is some truth to that, however fat doesn't have to be the only method of making food taste good. As I have recently discovered, applesauce is the secret ingredient towards a healthier cookie. Remember my peanut butter and chocolate oatmeal cookies? Same deal. Applesauce is awesome!

Nonfat Ginger Cookies (from David Lebovitz)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup brown sugar, packed

- 1/3 cup molasses

- 1/4 cup applesauce

- 2 egg whites

- 2 1/4 cup flour

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- 2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

- 1 1/2 tsp. ginger

- 1/4 tsp. cloves

- 1/2 tsp. finely cracked black pepper

- 1/4 tsp. salt

- about 1/2 cup of white sugar mixed with a generous amount of cinnamon (for rolling the dough in)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment, a silpat, whatever you happen to have.

Combine the sugar, molasses and applesauce. Whip in a standmixer for about 5 minutes, until pale in color (well significantly lighter than when you started).

Add the egg whites and continue to beat for one minute.

Add the dry ingredients. Some would argue that you should sift them together in a separate bowl first but dumping them all into one bowl worked for me. Mix until combined. Then allow the dough to chill. I put mine in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Don't be concerned if it seems overly sticky and hard to work with, it's meant to be like that.

Here's what my little assembly line looked like.

Now all you need to do is take spoonfuls of the dough and roll it in the sugar.

As I said before, they are not going to look perfect. It is impossible to roll this dough into symmetrical, round balls.

Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. They will start to crack on the top just like normal gingersnaps. Obviously the longer you bake them, the crispier they get. I prefer chewy cookies so I always underbake

them, no matter what the recipe.

See look! They are nearly perfect circles now!

My sister was curious so I did the calorie count on these. The total came to well under 100 calories per cookie. The math isn't 100% exact but they are around 75 calories each. Now who said butter is better?

You can even leave some for Santa to help encourage him to get in shape ;) Well at least keep it in mind for next year. And if you choose to eat them yourself instead, there's virtually nothing to feel guilty about. Unless you eat the entire batch...

This post can also be found on http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2012/01/sweets-for-saturday-51.html. Check it out!

Product Review - Toastess Raclette Grill/Griddle

2011-12-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

As the New Year approaches, there is still plenty of holiday entertaining to be had. And considering we are entering 2012, this could be the final holiday season you get to experience... But after turkey dinner on Christmas day and a variety of other huge, family meals it's time to switch things up a bit. Fondue is a popular alternative, or how about raclette? Of Swiss origin, raclette means to heat up a giant wheel of cheese and scrape the yummy, melted bits onto the diner's plates. It is traditionally served with potatoes, pickles (gherkins), bread and cured meats.

However it's not really practically or economically feasible to go out and buy an entire wheel of cheese to do this nowadays. That's where the modern raclette griddle comes in. It's the same concept except smaller amounts of cheese are melted onto veggies, meats and breads of your choice.

We went out and purchased the Toastess Raclette Grill/Griddle for just over $50 at Sears. It is non-stick and serves 8 people (there are 8 individual trays, 4 on each side). It's all electronic so you just have to plug it in. Depending on the relation of your dinner table to an outlet, you may need an extension cord.

It couldn't be more simple. All you need to do is plug it in, turn it on and let the grill heat up. You can use the top of the grill pan to cook meats, fish, vegetables etc. We had a combination of sirloin steak, mushrooms, thinly sliced zucchini, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. I was actually surprised at the amount of heat it was able to carry. The strips of steak took mere seconds to cook.

Now you are probably asking yourself, where does the cheese fit into the equation? Underneath the grill, there are little trays. You take your meat, veg, bread, and what not, place it in the individual tray, top it with cheese and pop it under the broiler. The cheese melts over top of everything...need I say more? We used both brie and raclette cheese (I was able to find this in a specialty cheese shop, it was similar to gruyere but less firm and more pungent). However any type of cheese works, although the meltier the better. Mozzarella, aged cheddar, provolone, monterey jack and camembert are some other options. You can also boil up some baby potatoes. Smash them up, load on the cheese and you are in a happy place my friends. Minus the fact that I'm actually not a big fan of potatoes...the melty cheese part sounds good though.

It's a fun way to get everyone involved. People can pick and choose what they like so you don't have to worry about devising a menu that suits everyone's needs (such as people like me who don't like potatoes). The Toastess Raclette Grill/Griddle is definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Happy New Year everyone!

A Christmas Light Tour and Dinner at Farm

2011-12-26T13:30:00.000-04:00

As our house gets de-decorated this December 26th, Boxing Day 2011, I think of all those poor people out there braving the malls and the post-Christmas shopping madness. Personally, I think I would be a bit scared to get pepper-sprayed by some crazy who loses their wits after waiting in line since 5 o'clock in the morning! But I guess it's a tradition (although a crazy one...please don't pepper spray your fellow shoppers!). And what would Christmas be without traditions? I would be lost without our family oyster feast Christmas Eve. And new pj's, can't forget about that! Every year we also go on a light tour (or several), to check out all of the festive decorations around the city. This year Spruce Meadows (the equestrian centre just outside of Calgary) did up a pretty little (well not so little...it was pretty big actually) display. There were a lot of trees, which made for a lot of lights. Not the most energy friendly thing you will ever see but it was impressive nonetheless. What are some of your favourite Christmas traditions?

After the light tour, we went for dinner at Farm Restaurant on 17th Ave. They are all about supporting local farms/producers. It's actually connected to the Janice Beaton Cheese Shop so there is a wide variety of fromage to choose from as well.

I loved the decor. Everything was very antique yet the room still managed to have a rustic, farmhouse type feel.

They even put their candles in teacups which I thought was super cute.

I think this little paragraph sums it up perfectly. Farm is all about the "farm to table" concept.

They also had quite the selection of unique brews. I can't tell you how it tasted but I loved the creepy portrait on the label. Hence I thought it was picture worthy.

Ok finally onto the appetizers. We started with a meat and cheese board. We chose 3 selections, 2 cheese, 1 meat. Each came with its own, specific condiment. The sausage was from Valbella's in Canmore. It was paired with the grainy mustard. I loved this mustard by the way, by the end I was eating it by itself. Nice and crunchy yet not too mustardy in that "clear out your sinuses" kind of way. In the top right corner is the Dauphin cheese with a berry compote. It was super creamy, almost like brie but much more buttery. Then in the top left a hard, cow's milk cheese from Holland. It was similar to Parrano (which we were going to order but they ran out). The name is slipping my mind however. I think it started with a "c"? Either way I preferred the rich, creaminess of the Dauphin.

We also ordered some marinated olives. They tasted good but they were extremely tiny. I always get annoyed when the pit to flesh ratio tends to favour the pit.

For an entree my sister ordered the bacon salad with buttermilk vinaigrette. She really enjoyed it and from the few bites of lettuce I managed to sneak towards the end, it was a really, really good salad. When you think buttermilk, you would expect a creamy, heavy dressing. However this was actually a vinaigrette. Nothing like your typical buttermilk ranch dressing.

As for me, I opted for the mac n' cheese. All the reviews I read before hand said it was amazing. And considering the owner of Farm is Janice Beaton of Janice Beaton Cheese Shop, you would expect it to be filled with cheesy goodness. Which was why I was surprised that the cheese flavor wasn't out of this world. You could taste the cheddar and the subtle nuttiness of the gruyere but it didn't have the punch that I was expecting. It was a good mac n' cheese, don't get me wrong, but it didn't wow me like I wanted it to. Even just a pinch more salt would have upped the anti. Mixing in some of the homemade ketchup also added another dimension to the dish. I enjoyed it although I wouldn't give it rave reviews myself.

My dad also ordered the mac except that he added in some pork shoulder. Maybe that would have provided the depth of flavor I was looking for.

The pork belly was my mom's choice and she loved it. Complete with braised peppers, poached apples and a burnt honey jus it definitely looked the part.

Unfortunately dessert was the one sub-standard part of the meal. I was so looking forward to the peanut butter pot de creme with salted chocolate ganache in it's adorable little mason jar. The flavours were there but I simply couldn't get over the texture. I sent it back because unlike the silky custard I was expecting, the actual pot de creme itself was lumpy and curdled. It was like someone scrambled the eggs when they were making it.

As for the cheesecake, I give Farm brownie points for creativity. It was deconstructed so instead of a crust, there was an oatmeal crumble on the bottom. This was topped with a scoop of a goat's cheese/mousse-like concoction and a berry compote. My opinion is a bit on the biased side because I hate cheesecake to begin with but even my sister, the cheesecake lover wasn't a fan of this. Simply because the cheese was virtually unsweetened. It was much too savoury to call it a dessert.

Although the meal didn't end off on the highest note, I would still recommend Farm to anyone looking for a casual dinner with great food. It's also the type of place where you can eat with a clear conscience, knowing that all your food came from farmers who actually care and nurture whatever it is that they are producing.

Farm Restaurant

1006 17 Avenue Southwest

Calgary, Alberta

403-245-2276

http://www.farm-restaurant.com/

Pears and Oysters - Your Typical Christmas Combination?

2011-12-24T18:19:00.000-04:00

It's Christmas Eve people, CHRISTMAS EVE! That means that tomorrow is finally Christmas!!!!! FINALLY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!! The only sad part about all of this is that December 24th marks the final day of my Lindt Chocolate advent calendar. Mr. Santa has long since worked it's way through my digestive tract. It was nice knowing you buddy.

My dad's present came early, he got it in the mail last night. Clever isn't it? For those of you who don't follow hockey, we are major Boston Bruins fans. Well my dad is the original one but he's managed to brainwash the rest of us over the years. So much so that I cried when they lost to Montreal during the 2004 play-off run. Needless to say, when they won the Stanley Cup on June 15th, probably the best day of the year (if not my dad's entire existence....well other than the day I was born).

This morning I woke up and poached some pears for dessert tomorrow. I wanted to let the pear flavour come through as purely as possible so there are only 4 ingredients, sugar, water, vanilla and pears. Does water even count as an ingredient?

Poached Pears

Ingredients

- 5 Bartlett pears, peeled and cored

- 3 cups water

- 2 cups white sugar

- 1 vanilla bean

Honestly this couldn't be more simple. Prepare your pears (pairs of pears?). Bring the water to a boil with the sugar and vanilla bean (scrape out the seeds and throw the whole pod in the pot). Allow the sugar to dissolve, add the pears, turn it down to a simmer, put the lid on and let everything cook away for about 45 minutes. Or until the pears are soft, however long this takes. Because I am serving them tomorrow, I removed the pears from the poaching liquid and let them cool off on a plate. I strained the liquid into a bowl and allowed it to cool separately. Then I put the pears back in the liquid to keep until tomorrow. Before I am ready to serve I will reheat them and then reduce the liquid to a thick syrup to drizzle over top. If you are serving immediately, you can just ignore the whole cooling and refrigerating part. It will be a nice light way to end of the Christmas meal.

On a completely unrelated note, I decided to pick up some Malpeque oysters to shuck for lunch. It was messy but it was worth it. They weren't as good as getting them right in PEI but let's face it, they had to travel all the way across the country. And at $14.99 for one dozen, that sure beats paying $3 each in a restaurant!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Santa will be here in less than 12 hours! Not Mr. Chocolate Santa though, he's already in my tummy!

Dips and Spreads to Keep You Well Fed!

2011-12-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been to the grocery store 2 days before Christmas? Are you sure you weren't at the Crowfoot Calgary Co-op today? Because I swear there were more people in that store than the entire Charlottetown population. Forget "co-op" it was literally like a chicken "coop". Not really an experience I need to replicate anytime soon. However I did pick up some ingredients to start all of my prep for our Christmas meals.

First up, cranberry sauce! With the spices I didn't really measure so just sprinkle them in to your taste.

Ingredients:

- 1 bag of fresh cranberries (I think it was around 1 pound)

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup cognac

- salt and pepper, to taste

- cinnamon, tt

- nutmeg, tt

- cloves, tt

- dry ginger, tt

Add just the cranberries and the cognac to the pot. Turn the heat on to high and use a match or a lighter to burn off the alcohol. Just make sure you don't burn your house down! Once the flame is gone, add the sugar and spices. Cook on medium to low heat until the skins have split on the cranberries (they will actually make a popping sound). It's done when it looks like cranberry sauce (this should take about 15-20 minutes). I know that's not very descriptive but literally, it will look like a saucy, thick pool of cranberry goo. A delicious pool of goo at that! This can definitely be made a few days ahead of time. I find it is best served at room temperature so just remove it from the fridge 20-30 minutes before you are ready to eat.

Next it's time for edamame bean dip. Both low fat and vegan. And it doesn't taste like crap!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups shelled edamame beans

- 1/2 cup tofu

- 2 green onions

- 1 garlic clove

- salt and pepper, to taste

- vegetable stock (if needed to thin out the dip)

Combine everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula so you don't leave any bits behind. If it is too thick and refuses to puree easily, add vegetable stock to thin the consistency. Taste to ensure the seasoning is adequate. Don't be afraid to add more salt - lots of it - to help bring out the flavours. Again this can be made ahead and refrigerated. Serve with crackers, crustinis, etc.

Now for another vegan treat, nut loaf. Open your mind people, it's actually really good!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups bread crumbs (they are so easy to make yourself, instead of throwing out dry bread, blitz it in your food processor until it turns to crumbs)
- 1/2 cup each slivered almonds, sunflower seeds and pecans (you can use any nut/seed combination you like)
- 1 1/2 cups carrot, small dice
- 1 cup onion, small dice
- 1/2 cup zucchini, small dice
- 1/2 cup tofu
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries plus more for decorating the top of the loaf

Blend everything except the cranberries in a food processor until the mixture reaches a consistency you like. It can be chunky or smooth, the texture is up to you. Stir in the cranberries at the end by hand. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 325 F for about an hour. Slice and enjoy!

These were the leftover bread crumbs.

Can you guess what it is? Come on, it doesn't look that bad does it? It's a Christmas tree!

Mark Bittman's Tomato Jam (altered ever so slightly)

- 5 medium sized tomatoes (about a pound to a pound and a half total)

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

- salt and pepper, to taste

- red pepper flakes, to taste

- 1/4 tsp. dry ginger

- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

- 1/8 tsp. cloves

Cook over medium to high heat to get everything started, stirring to ensure that the sugar doesn't burn. Then turn the heat down to low and let it blip (isn't that a fun word?) away for about an hour until it becomes thick and jammy. If there is still too much liquid remaining, turn up the heat to let it evaporate, again while stirring to prevent an hours worth of work from turning into a burned mess. I intend on serving this as a condiment when we do raclette tomorrow but it is also great with plain cheese and crackers. Or even some baked brie, that would be delicious!

Finally I came up with a lazy man's veggie dip to have on hand for the next few days. I basically mixed together a bunch of condiments to make one super condiment. It turned out kind of like a Thousand Islands or a Russian dressing.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup sour cream

- 1/2 cup Miracle Whip

- 1/4 cup ketchup

- 1 tsp. Worcestershire

- 1 tbsp. grainy mustard

- 1 tsp. yellow mustard

- 1 tsp. lemon juice

- 1 tbsp. honey

Mix everything together. Make sure to taste it because sometimes it needs more salt, more sweet, more acidity, etc. You want everything to be balanced. Serve with veggies, as a sandwich spread or even use as salad dressing for hearty greens that will hold up to the thickness of the dip.

A Soup and Sandwich Dinner

2011-12-22T00:19:00.000-04:00

Where is the time going? I have been home for almost a week now and it doesn't even feel like it has been 24 hours.
My "List of Lists" is all completed so that's pretty satisfying. Christmas gifts are bought and wrapped, cards are signed and the Christmas dinner menu plan is finalized with a grocery list already in the works.
"Insert sigh of relief here"
What am I talking about? I should just be happy to be back in Calgary spending the holidays with my family. Clearly someone needs to learn how to relax. Much easier said than done though. I really envy people that know how to sit around and do nothing. If I'm not busy 99% of the time I go completely stir crazy! As for that remaining 1%, it's just enough for sleep, food and maybe a bathroom break every once in a while.
So here's to relaxation! Go make yourself a sandwich and a bowl of this delicious kuri squash soup and you are set. Forget about the chores that need to be done and the presents that need to be wrapped (or in some cases bought and then wrapped). Ok you are really in a rush? Well at least take some time out for the soup!

Kuri Sqash Soup

Ingredients:

- one small-medium sized red kuri squash (I'm sorry, I should have weighed it...it wasn't tiny...but it wasn't all that large either)
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2.5 cups vegetable stock
- 1/2 tbsp. honey

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Cut the squash into quarters and spoon out the seeds (you can save these to toast if you like). Rub the inside of the squash with olive oil. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes or until soft.

Then remove the peel and mash the flesh with a fork (I find this makes it easier to puree once you add the stock). I would recommend that you allow the squash to cool slightly before you try to handle it. However I didn't have the patience for this and let me tell you, that squash was pretty hot (temperature wise people).

Then I added the vegetable stock and blended away until it was nice and smooth. Immersion blenders are so handy. They are portable, easy to clean and do everything a normal blender can do with half the mess. I would highly recommend getting one, put it on your Christmas list!

Heat it up, add the honey, double check the seasoning and you are ready to enjoy.

Now let's not forget the sandwich. After all a soup and sandwich dinner wouldn't be complete without it!

I marinated some strips of tofu in soy sauce, honey, white wine vinegar, black pepper and Sriracha sauce for about 30 minutes. Then I cooked it up and put it on a sandwich with spinach.

Time to bring out the panini maker. My sandwich is the odd one out with the darker bread. I always need to be different.

Now you are ready to enjoy!

As a completely unrelated side note, I've got my mom hooked on the concept of no-knead bread. Yes, the starter survived. It's a Christmas miracle! So now I am baking a loaf everyday to prepare for Christmas. Apparently I am using it for raclette, Christmas dinner and stuffing. My starter is getting one heck of a workout! We even found a cute little pottery pot to cook it in.

Review of Blue Star Diner

2011-12-21T09:12:00.000-04:00

Today I took a break from all the running around I have been doing and went out for a lunch date with my grandma. We decided to try Blue Star Diner, a little restaurant down in Bridgeland that has been open since August. The place was packed which wasn't the greatest for conversation purposes because it was so noisy however I would rather eat in a full restaurant than an empty one. They must be doing something good, right?

Blue Star's whole schtick is to serve food that is as local as possible while having very little environmental impact (as you can see the napkin is made from 100% recycled materials). They support Sylvan Star cheese and eggs, Gull Valley Greenhouses, Spragg Farms and other producers in the Calgary area...well more so the central/southern Alberta area. Clearly the concept is working for them because it was lunch time on a Tuesday and there were hardly any open tables.

I ordered the pesto and gruyere veggie burger with a side salad. All in all it was a pretty good sandwich. The pesto was nice and garlicky which contrasted well with the nutty gruyere. The grainy kaiser bun was super fresh. It was grilled but you could tell that was a conscious decision to add some charred flavor, not a necessity to hide the stale bread. As for the patty itself, it wasn't bad but it could have had more texture. Now I always ask questions about where things come from, how they are made, what's in them, etc. I could tell there was rice in the burger but I wanted to know what else they put in them. Here's the kicker - they do not make their own veggie burgers. Instead they opt to purchase them from their food service company. I wouldn't have such an issue with this if it wasn't for the fact that Blue Star Diner seems to be all about local, sustainable, made from scratch food. If you are going to have an entire section of your menu dedicated to veggie burgers (they have 3 different varieties!) shouldn't you be making them in house? For a place that is willing to advertise their use of Sylvan Star cheese, Gull Valley tomatoes and Spragg Farms chorizo, they sure aren't jumping out and saying "we use Gordon Food Service veggie burgers!" It just makes the customer feel kind of cheated, even if it was a good tasting burger.

My grandma opted for the Blue Star salad. This was a small size and it even came with garlic baguette so all in all, pretty decent value. She enjoyed the combination of maple chipotle vinaigrette tossed together with lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Overall, it was a tasty and satisfying lunch. My one piece of advice to Blue Star is that perhaps they should consider putting in that extra bit of effort to make homemade veggie burgers. I understand that sometimes it is a matter of convenience but in this case it contradicted the entire concept of what Blue Star Diner is trying to portray.

Blue Star Diner

809 1 Ave NE Calgary, AB

(403) 261-9998

http://www.bluestardiner.ca/

Crepe Lasagna

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

As much as I would love to take credit for the amazing idea of crepe lasagna, I can't. Back when I first started working at the Brickhouse Restaurant they had it as a special from time to time. I never actually made it so I have no idea what was in it, but this is my take. I went vegetarian and opted for a mushroom tomato sauce rather than a meat sauce. But you could definitely do either. Crepes - yum. Lasagna - yum. Put them together - even yummier.

Crepe Lasagna

Ingredients

- cooked crepes, see recipe below

- tomato sauce with mushrooms and broccoli, see recipe below

- 2 to 3 cups of shredded cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella)

- about 1 cup of ricotta cheese

- oil or butter to grease the baking dish

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Prepare a casserole dish by greasing it with oil or butter.

To cook the crepes, heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour in about 1/2 cup of batter. Use your wrist to swirl it around, ensuring the batter coats the entire pan. This takes a few tries, the first crepe never turns out perfectly. By the end of it you will be a pro. When the crepe starts to peel away from the side of the pan you can flip it. I find it easiest to use my fingers but a thin spatula or even a toothpick/skewer will work. The crepe only needs to cook for mere seconds on the second side. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

After this it is merely an assembly job. I started with a layer of the tomato sauce, then some crepes (1 or 2), followed by the ricotta and cheddar. I think I repeated it 3 times. On the last layer I omitted the ricotta and added a plentiful amount of cheddar/mozzarella to melt over the top. Bake at 350 F for about half and hour and you are ready to enjoy! I also broiled it at the very end to make sure that the cheese was extra bubbly. And, it may be tempting, but don't slice into it right away. Let it cool down for a few minutes to set up. Then it won't turn into a sloppy mess. Either way it's still going to taste good though!

Crepe Batter

Ingredients

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/2 cup water

- 2 eggs

- pinch of salt

- 2 tbsp. melted butter or oil

Whisk everything together. I would recommend making this first, then you can let it chill while you make the sauce.

Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms and Broccoli

- 1 small onion, sliced thinly

- 4 to 5 cups of mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used a combination of button and crimini)

- 2 florets of broccoli, roughly chopped

- 1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

- olive oil, as needed

- salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil. I let mine get fairly caramelized. It also helps if you add a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture, they soften more quickly. Then add the mushrooms and allow to brown. Add the broccoli and season everything with salt and pepper. Finally pour in the crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil. The longer you let it simmer the more the flavors will come together but I used the sauce almost right away.

Brown Butter Hollandaise Sauce

2011-12-19T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hollandaise sauce is very temperamental. If you get it too hot, the egg yolks will scramble. If you pour in the butter too fast, the sauce will split into a greasy, oily mess. However, do not fear! Honest to goodness hollandaise can sense fear. All you need to do is have faith in your sauce making abilities and everything will be fine and dandy. Truly it isn't difficult, I will walk you through it so there is no way you can go wrong.

Brown Butter Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:

- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup melted butter (in this case I browned the butter first)
- salt to taste (if you want to season with pepper too, use white pepper so there aren't ugly black flecks in your sauce)

First you are going to want to create a double boiler. Put about an inch of water in a pot and place a bowl on top (I prefer to use one that is fairly heat proof to help insulate the egg). In the bowl mix your egg yolk and lemon juice.

You want the heat to be fairly low. The water should be just below a simmer.

Start whisking away. It will be ready when the yolk has lightened in color and thickened into a custard-like consistency. This is called the ribbon stage. Literally if you lift up your whisk it should form ribbons.

As for the butter, it needs to be melted. I took it an extra step further by browning the butter as well. This is exactly what it sounds like. I cooked the butter in a pot over medium heat or so until it turned brown. The flavor and aroma take on a nuttiness that makes butter better than it already is. Just be careful that you don't cook it too long or it will go from golden brown to black. And no one wants burned butter.

Then it is time for the butter and eggs to become one. It's as simple as removing the bowl from the double boiler and pouring the melted butter into the thickened egg yolk. You just have to make sure that you do this VERY GRADUALLY while whisking CONSTANTLY. This allows the mixture time to emulsify into the thick, creamy hollondaise we all know and love. If you have ever made mayonnaise, it's basically the same idea except it's heated. Once the sauce is stable you can add in the butter more quickly. The more you add, the thicker it gets. If it happens to get too thick, just add in some cream to thin it out. All you have left to do is taste to see if it needs salt and pepper then voila, you have made it through the trials and tribulations of making a hollandaise. The more you make it, you can start experimenting. I have used different forms of acidity from lime juice to balsamic vinegar (this changes the color quite drastically...who would have thought?). You can also add different spices or herbs. The addition of finely minced tarragon makes it a "bernaise" sauce.

It's great on steak, seafood or your classic eggs benny. The leftovers are especially good for dipping warm bread into. Really it's glorified butter so it's basically good on anything!

Skiing and Steak

2011-12-18T23:17:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe how busy I have been since coming back to Calgary for the holidays. I have been skiing, Christmas shopping and I have cooked up a storm (I think my family is glad to have their "chef" back).
Here's a brief overview of my weekend in pictures.

We went to Sunshine Village on Saturday. This is a picture of Goats Eye Mountain off in the distance.

This one is Standish Mountain.

Me and my dad. Not sure if the hug was a sign of affection or just a method of conserving body heat!

Afterwards we had to stop at the candy store in Banff.

I loaded up on Tootsie Rolls (cherry flavored of course) and caramels.

For dinner it was time to try the Silver Sage Beef. Accompanied by caramelized brussel sprouts, roasted fingerling potatoes and brown butter hollondaise sauce.

I blanched the brussel sprouts first (I boiled them for a few minutes to soften them up a bit, then I shocked them in ice water to retain their beautiful green color).

Then I cooked them in a scorching hot pan with just a splash of grapeseed oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Until they looked like this...and smelled surprisingly like popcorn...

As for the potatoes I kept them super simple as well.

Although I roasted them, I parboiled them first so they wouldn't take as long in the oven.

This was after 15-20 minutes at about 425 F.

The steak was my dad's project. Grilled to a perfect medium/medium rare.

And the hollondaise recipe, I think I will leave that for another day. Then I can walk you through it step by step. Have I ever mentioned that I cried the first time I attempted hollondaise? Flat out sobbed. The sauce split and I was devastated. But at least now I know what not to do and I am pretty good at figuring out what to do when something goes wrong! It turned out ok this time so I can sleep easy tonight.

Bon Appetit!

Mallory's Favorite Things

2011-12-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

I'm home.

It's as simple as that.

Unfortunately it actually wasn't that simple. There was a point yesterday where I didn't think I was going to make it. It started blizzarding in Charlottetown right before we were supposed to take off. And I mean "right" before. Walking from my car into the terminal - no snow. Getting onto the plane - some snow. By take-off time - flat out blizzard.

We did end up leaving...an hour late. I literally had to sprint to make my connecting flight in Toronto. It was almost movie worthy, racing through the airport to catch a plane home for the holidays.

Long story short though, I did make it and I am back in Calgary.

So this post is dedicated to all (well not all, but a lot) of my favorite things that I have missed the past 4 months. Think of it like Oprah's Favorite Things. Except you, as the audience, don't get any of them. Sorry, I'm not a billionaire.

First up, Ambrosia apples. Probably my favorite variety ever. And as far as I know, they are only grown in British Colombia. Maybe they are grown out east, I'm not sure. If they are, I have never seen them.

Ambrosia are crisp, sweet and juicy with very little acidity. They are perfect for eating out of hand.

I have a really strange habit of cutting my apples up very thinly. No idea where it came from (I'm fine with biting into them too) but I do it all the time. See that knife right there? It is my designated apple cutting knife.

Sourdough starter, another one of my favorite things. In fact I am such a fan that I even brought some home for Christmas. Yes, I packed it in my suitcase wrapped in 2 layers of paper towel, then coated in masking tape and stowed in a plastic bag. Thanks to my efforts it didn't leak. However I neglected to feed it before I left. I think it's dead. Please bubbles, please come back to me. I love you!!! Fingers crossed but at least if it doesn't survive, I still have an entire tub of starter back in Charlottetown.

This picture is a combination of many favorite things. I quite enjoyed actually putting on normal clothes this morning (instead of chef whites) and doing my hair and make-up, does that sound vain? More importantly there is actually something called snow on the ground! What a concept! And everything is decorated for Christmas, by far my favorite holiday of the year.

Ok now I am going to sound like a spoiled brat. I have really missed having heated seats in my car. First thing I did when I got in my Dad's Jetta - cranked the dial up to 5.

Then I found these holiday Tic Tacs. They are not one of my favorite things. I hate minty candy but I thought they were festive and picture worthy. Just another sign that Christmas is around the corner!

Driving down Nosehill I saw mountains! Real, snow-covered mountains! And by tonight I will be back in them, getting ready for a ski day tomorrow!

Ok this one is basically ground breaking. I drove on a roadway where the speed limit was over 50 km an hour. Plus merging was required. Never thought I would say that it is one of my favorite things, but Crowchild, you have been missed.

Now the highlight of the day, the destination where we were travelling to, the Calgary Farmer's Market. Yay!

Look at these gorgeous Ambrosia.

Bought some Sylvan Star Eggs.

And of course, a trip to the market would not be complete without bread at Yum Bakery. We bought a sourdough boule. They are on the very top shelf in the picture.

And of course, cheese buns. The high school I went to was a mere minutes from the market. I would get one of these every Friday for lunch. They are always incredibly fresh. The cheese is real and it tastes like it. The dough also has a touch of sweetness to it which I really enjoy. This place lives up to it's name. Yum.

More apples, these ones were organic. I decided to go for some Pink Lady's (the fridge is already stocked full of Ambrosia). I love their tartness.

We also picked up a variety of veggies. Everything from local brussel sprouts, to carrots, to baby fingerling potatoes. The best find though may have to be the Silver Sage Beef. Natural hormone and antibiotic free meat. The pepperoni sticks were awesome and I can't wait to try the T-bone steak tomorrow for dinner.

Isn't this exciting - I actually get to cook for myself (and my family) over the holidays which means that I will actually have something to blog about! This is going to be a fun few weeks!

A little bit of EVERYTHING!

2011-12-13T15:37:00.002-04:00

Ok people, get ready for this. We are going to cover everything under the sun today. Which is quite interesting because I really haven't made anything worth writing about.

Peanut butter sandwich anyone? Sorry, there's not even any jelly :(

How about some hard boiled eggs? Actually as breakfast rotation has taught me in school, they should technically be classified as hard "simmered" eggs. If the water gets too hot it causes harsh, abrupt cooking which leads to that gross, grey ring around the perimeter of the yolk. These babies took about 12 minutes (and the yolk was almost completely set).

Another tidbit of information, it is better to use older eggs when boiling/simmering (cooking in the shell, you know what I mean!) as opposed to super fresh ones. The egg itself shrinks away from the shell. This creates an air space, making it much easier to peel. No more fighting with your eggies!

On the sweet side of life, day 10 was definitely the best day yet! Of my Lindt advent calendar that is. Look at the cute little snowman. My only complaint is that it was hollow, go figure right? Not as much chocolately goodness as I was expecting but still, a nice change.

Not sure why, but I took this one in the dark. Evil Frosty! Muhahahaha!

And as if that wasn't enough, look what I found on the door of my dorm. No, the candy cane wasn't broken when I got it, I just couldn't resist eating it, obviously. Mmmm strawberry. By the way, have I ever mentioned how much a despise mint candy canes. I really don't want to get into it but they are gross. Disgusting. Repulsive. The end.

As for what I am actually going to write about, I posted a question on the Starving Student Facebook page to see what people would like to read on this fabulous day (in less than 48 hours I will be on a plane back to Calgary!!!!!). I only received one response, thank you Gord, so we will go with that. He suggested "best options for pre-flight dining or best security friendly, carry-on airplane snacks". It's actually a very interesting topic (well at least it's very relative right now, for me and many other people headed home for the holidays). So here's what I have to say.

1. If at all possible, eat before you even get to the airport. Especially in a place as small as Charlottetown. Seriously, there are zero options. Come on people, the entire city only has one Starbucks! I think I will grab a to-go salad or sandwich from school before I head out. Wherever you are, this is probably going to be a cheaper and tastier option that eating at the airport itself.

2. If you are going to eat at the airport, which sometimes is the only option if you have a layover, etc. my personal preference is to choose foods that I am familiar with. At least I know that I will like them, hence I will actually satisfy my hunger rather than sitting on a plane for hours thinking of nothing but food (which I still do anyways but we will get to that point later in the "snack" section). Starbucks Oatmeal Raisin Cookies never fail to curb my cravings for something sweet. And they are actually quite filling, this is a big cookie, not some wimpy 2-bite brownie kinda deal. I also love wraps and smoothies from Jugo Juice.

Finally, being Canadian, I would probably be crucified if I didn't mention Tim Horton's. Which is another thing that I don't like, if anyone is keeping track. Overrated! However, they are good for a quick bagel, donut, coffee, sandwich, soup, this list goes on. My only piece of advice with this one, make sure you know how much time you have before boarding. Because Timmy's line-ups are guaranteed to be long. What's more important, catching your flight or getting that Boston Cream?

3. Onto snacky snacks. Unfortunately I really don't have any ground-breaking ideas here. I always tend to go for the granola bars (chocolate Fibre 1, yum!), trail mixes and most importantly, "sucky candies". This includes but is not limited to:

- gum

- Werther's (the original or even better, the creamy caramels)

- Fruity Mentos (notice the "fruity" part, not mint)

- jelly beans

- ju jubes

- Smarties (apparently I referred to these as "farties" when I was little)

- Icebreaker's Sours (the purple package, all of the other flavors are gross)

Now you might be wondering to yourself, how are jelly beans, ju jubes and Smarties classified as "sucky" candies? Don't you chew them? Yes, most people do, but not Mallory. The whole "sucky candy" concept was coined by my mother who gets annoyed because I constantly need to have some kind of flavor in my mouth. Call me a weirdo, call me whatever you wish, but you will NEVER catch me crunching on a handful of Smarties, EVER! Most people could probably finish 10 little snack sized boxes of them before I have even gone through one.

Ok so what does this have anything to do with airplane snacks? Well, it is said that many people eat when they are bored. 6 hour plane ride, there is some potential for boredom. Instead of sitting there stuffing your face (with over-priced and disgusting airplane food...don't even get me started on that one), chew some gum (probably the best option as it is virtually calorie free) or suck on some candies. Not to mention these things are also very beneficial during take-off and landings. You know that baby in the front row screaming it's lungs out because it's head feels like it is about to explode? You my friend have the ability to avoid this. More gum/candy = more spit = more swallowing = no pain.

4. The most important rule of all is to commission someone to make food for you when you get back home. Fresh baked cookies, here I come! But if you are travelling somewhere for vacation, rather than travelling home, I love to scout out my dining options before I even get there. After flying for hours, the last thing anyone wants to do is wander aimlessly searching for food. This may sound like very regimented advice (I admit, sometimes it is more fun just to wing it) but sometimes it's nice to know exactly what your plan of attack is. I guess it all depends on the situation.

So whether you are headed home or you are already there, Merry Christmas to everyone! I better be PC and say Happy Holidays too! Regardless of what you choose to celebrate, embrace and enjoy the time with family and friends. After almost 4 months away from home, I know that's the only thing on my mind.

Linkage Love

2011-12-08T15:28:00.001-04:00

Today I thought I would share some of my personal favorite food blogs with you guys. Some "linkage love" let's say. You know, just in case you get bored of reading The Starving Student, you can check out some other alternatives. Heck you might even like them better than my blog and forget about me altogether. But hopefully not (it's cool if you like them better, many of them are better, just please don't forget about little old Mallory in Charlottetown).

Out of all the big name food blogs (these people actually blog as their careers) I have a few go-to favorites.
First is David Lebovitz. He was once the pastry chef at Chez Panisse so basically he is a pastry genius. Now he lives in Paris (rough life) and blogs. I have to give David a lot of credit because without his blog, I would have never discovered the best cookie recipe ever. A.K.A. the one the led to posts such as Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. He also has a pretty wicked recipe for salted caramels.

Without David I never would have discovered these (Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies).

Or these (Butter Salted Caramels).

My other favorite baking blog is from Joy, Joy the Baker that is. I don't even read it for the recipes as much as the hilarious comments/topics she shares in every single post. I love it because it is so relatable. She's quirky but at the same time she is real. And she never fails to make me laugh.

Joy was the inspiration for these quinoa patties!

In terms of smaller, less known (but just as good!) blogs, I have 3 that are my top picks (in no particular order).

1. Barefoot in the Kitchen - I feel as though we are blogging buddies. I am always commenting on her posts and vice versa. Reading and supporting other blogs is so important in the food blogging community. Really how can you expect anyone to read your work if you don't do the same?

2. Chocolate and Ginger - She is my fellow Calgarian blogger (well technically I am living in Charlottetown right now but I still consider myself a Calgarian). I really like how she combines both recipes and restaurant reviews with her daily activities as an avid runner. It's kind of cool to be able to read about places that I have been to in Calgary and to get another person's opinion on them. Such as the BEST EVER Shroom Pizza at Without Papers!

3. College Cooking - I believe she actually started this blog for her journalism class in university. It's similar to the Starving Student in that it teaches that students truly do have options for healthy, delicious meals. Not just ramen noodles!

And how could we forget Ales? Although his site is through blogspot.com, it's not a blog per se. It is an archive of pictures of all of his wood carving projects. And they are amazing! He is self taught and has only been carving for just over a year now. Holy crap is all I can say. Definitely worth checking out. http://alesthewoodcarver.blogspot.com/

So there you have it, some of a bloggers most beloved blogs. There are tons more that I follow but we will have to save those for another day.

Oh and by the way, only one week until I get to go home! I haven't been this excited for anything in such a long time, I can't wait to see my family and friends...and just the city in general. Oh and the mountains. In fact one of the texts I sent to my mom conveyed so much enthusiasm that she replied quote "Ok don't wet yourself". So you can only imagine. I am basically bouncing off of the walls. I really pity whoever has to sit beside me on the plane. That is going to be a long flight for both of us. Just kidding! But still, 7 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mallory's Butchery 101

2011-12-07T16:42:00.001-04:00

So I have a test in butchery class tomorrow and I said to myself "Self, what would be a better way to study than to blog about random meat facts that no one probably cares about but I am going to share anyways?"
Hopefully you find some of this interesting, even if it is completely useless information (well for you at least, not for me, I am going to be tested on it tomorrow!).

Did you know...

- When animals are butchered (the 4 I will be referring to are pork, beef, veal and lamb...well and poultry) their flesh is flabby and soft. Within 6-24 hours rigor mortis occurs, causing the flesh to tense up. It then dissipates after another 48-72 hours. Finally the meat has to be chilled for at least 24-48 hours before it can actually be butchered/fabricated.

- Pork, veal and poultry are not aged. Lamb is aged for 15-21 days while beef is aged for 15-32 days (although it can be longer, that is just what the CFIA advises).

Dry aged beef.

- All meat has 4 principle components, 72% water, 20% protein, 7% fat and 1% minerals. This goes for chicken, beef, pork, fish, the whole shibang!

- There are different types of fat, depending on where it is located. Subcutaneous fat is just beneath the skin. Intermuscular fat is found between muscles. Intramuscular fat (also known as marbling) is found within muscles. Internal fat is fat that surrounds the organs.

This is some pretty serious marbling.

- Unlike other meats, poultry does not have intramuscular fat (hence why it is so lean).

- Carcasses are broken down sequentially. The full carcass is just as it sounds, the entire thing. A partial carcass is split right down the middle. By cutting between the 12th and 13th ribs you get quarters. From there it is separated into primals (primary division of muscle, bones and connective tissue).

- Beef has 8 primals, pork has 4 and lamb and veal both have 5.

- From primals, you then get subprimals. For example, the prime rib subprimal comes from the beef rib primal. T-bone and porterhouse steaks come from the loin.

- Although pigs only have 4 primals, the shoulder is often split into 2 portions, the shoulder butt and the picnic shoulder. Bacon comes from the side (this is also referred to as the belly). Another name for pork leg is fresh ham.

I have de-boned an entire one of these!

- Pork loins are different from beef loins because they also contain the rib and sirloin, all in one primal.

- Beef, veal and lamb all have 13 ribs while pork has 14.

- All meat must be inspected by the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) to ensure it is fit for human consumption. However in Canada, grading is not mandatory.

- There are 6 different "kinds" of domesticated poultry. These are chicken, turkey, duck, goose, guinea and squab (pigeon).

- Connective tissue is what determines the tenderness of meat. The less there is, the more tender it is. Beef tenderloin therefore has very little connective tissue. However muscles in the shoulder and leg areas are constantly used and develop more connective tissue making them much more tough. This also means that they require longer cooking time and moist heat cooking methods (braising, stewing, etc).

- Connective tissue contains collagen (this dissolves when cooked) and elastin (this does not dissolve). Elastin is in silverskin and such and should be removed (it's not all that pleasant to eat).

Removing the silverskin from a pork tenderloin.

Well I think that's probably good for now before I send everyone into information overload! Time to go do some actual studying!!

Cookie Time!

2011-12-06T16:46:00.001-04:00

It's cookie time! Actually with me it's always cookie time. I am basically the Cookie Monster. Minus the fact that I am not blue, I don't have fur and I'm not friends with Elmo. I wish I was though, who wouldn't want to be friends with Elmo?
If the Cookie Monster saw the cookies I made today, he would probably enter a state of hyperventilation. Yes, they are that good. They have chocolate AND peanut butter. AND they are healthy. I kid you not.
Believe me, I take my cookies seriously. I wouldn't lie to you.
The recipe originated from the Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies I made back on...November 17th? Really?? Wow time is going by fast! I decided to use peanut butter instead of butter and get rid of the white sugar. They turned out as good, if not better than the first batch. Definitely my new favorite cookie recipe. Winner winner chicken dinner.
Did I mention that we did spatchcock chickens in school today? Isn't that a fun word to say, spatchcock? Basically it just means that you remove the backbone and the keel bone in order to flatten the chicken out so you can grill it, roast it, whatever. There's some random information for you, now back to the cookies.
Make them, share them, tell your friends to make them and share them some more! Spread the word, they are AMAZAZING! Yes I said "amazazing". Not a typo.
You could even make them Christmasy by adding crushed up candy canes. Or you could add a touch of molasses and other gingerbread flavors. Or you could just make them the way I did because who isn't a fan of chocolate and peanut butter. I am going to shut up now and give you the recipe.

Ingredients:

- 2 heaping tablespoons peanut butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (if you use sweetened, cut back on the brown sugar)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup bran
- 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 cups oats
- about 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (like I say, this is where you can play around. Other ideas include chocolate chunks, white chocolate, coconut, dried fruit, nuts, candy, you name it)

Cream together the peanut butter and brown sugar. I found this much easier than using normal butter because I didn't have to wait for it to come to room temperature to soften up. Add the egg and applesauce. Then dump in everything else. You could mix the dry ingredients first to ensure that the baking powder, baking soda and salt are all evenly distributed but let's face it, you are going to stir anyways, aren't you?

Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes. Could be less, could be more depending on the size you make the cookies. If you make them Cookie Monster size, you are definitely looking at upwards of 10 minutes. I took mine out of the oven when they were still slightly under-baked in the center to ensure optimum chewiness.

PS The dough is especially good raw. As the cook it is your right (if not your obligation) to scrape the bowl clean ;)

Mixed Greens with Sprouted Quinoa

2011-12-04T16:48:00.001-04:00

Ok, so to start things off, I would like everyone to know that today's advent chocolate was definitely the best one yet. It was also the biggest (I am sorry but the first 3 were kind of skimpy, poor kids, they are going to want to eat the entire thing in one sitting!) - a milk chocolate Lindor ball - yum!

Christmas is getting so close, I can feel it! This weekend my family back in Calgary decorated our Christmas tree. It's kind of strange, the first time I wasn't around to take part...But there are plenty of decorations here too. Despite a very apparent lack of snow. There are trees all lined up down Great George Street, the Province House is all lit up with colorful lights and even the Brickhouse is in the spirit with ornaments hanging throughout the restaurant. Time to blast the Boney M! I won't even try to deny it, I already started with that close to a month ago. The minute Halloween was over I felt perfectly comfortable preparing for my favorite holiday of the year! "Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day! And man will live forever more, because of CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!" By the way, check out the video for that song, it's hilarious! I know, I didn't think they made music videos back then either. I WANT one of those jackets. I would also kill to have moves like that. Forget "moves like Jagger" it should be "moves like Boney M".

I haven't really been doing any fancy shmancy cookery lately so instead I will share a recipe for a quick snack, mixed greens with sprouted quinoa. Basically I just mixed together some dijon and balsamic in my salad bowl then threw in a handful of greens, some bell pepper and sprouted quinoa. Done. You might remember that a while back, I did a post on how to sprout quinoa, but here's a quick recap. Just soak the seeds overnight to help them soften up. In the morning, drain off the water, cover and place the bowl (as you can see I opted for a Chapman's icecream container) in a dark place, not too hot, not to cold. If your quinoa is nice and fresh, you should have sprouts within 6 to 8 hours. You can let it sprout to your hearts content, then pop it in the fridge until you are ready to use.

At this point all that's in the bowl is aged balsamic, dijon mustard, cracked black pepper and sprouted quinoa.

Aren't they crazy little buggers?

As you can see the presentation isn't much to rave about. I was lazy and just tossed it all in the same bowl I ate the salad out of (hence all of the smudges around the rim).

There you have it, mixed greens with sprouted quinoa.

Get creative, use whatever vegetables you like (fruits too even!), whatever dressing you like, whatever floats your boat, toots your horn, wets your whistle...you get my drift.