Category: home cooking

Wee Christmas

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

We had a wee Christmas. There were just three of us and we spent it together in the kitchen making our Christmas meal. It was fantastic.

I made up a menu a few days before, but we deviated from it a bit. We skipped the creamed spinach crostini, and subbed in homemade butter tarts for dessert.

My hubby got the stove end of the kitchen. He made the mushrooms for the turkey wellington, the stuffing and the potatoes.

My son and I got the prep end of the kitchen. We made the pastry, butter tarts, and the ravioli.

Our blended household has a few duplicated gadgets as a result of the family merger. A pasta maker is one of those items. Mine was languishing unused because I thought I had lost the crank, so we pulled my hubby’s unused one out of the box it had not yet left. As soon as my son saw it he declared that he had my pasta machine crank in a box in his closet, he just hadn’t know what it was. I don’t know which we ended up using. One of the boys will get one when they move out; most likely my son since he loves pasta and shows an interest in cooking.

The ravioli were based on a ravioli Jamie Oliver made in one of his Christmas specials. I made the filling the days before. It consisted of roasted squash and ricotta. [Recipe here]

I was sure we had puff pastry in the freezer but we didn’t and nobody wants to run out for last minute food items on Christmas so we used pie pastry. I had to make it for the butter tarts anyway. It worked OK.

The final meal was really tasty. But the true Christmas win was the great time we had spending hours in the kitchen together.

 

 

 

 

Diet check

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I got a lecture from my doctor a few weeks ago because my vitamin B12 levels have fallen precariously in the past year. I am fairly certain part of that fall has been a recent tendency to neglect my own diet in favour of the family meal.

This is my personal struggle in cooking for my blended family.

I am not, have never been, and am not likely to become a lover of meat. My mother tells me I started rejecting meat around 12 years old. My adult cooking style is meat light (preferably chicken), and egg and dairy full. I love my grains and I love my vegetables, and red meat makes me gag. This is the diet my son has grown up with and prefers.

My husband and step sons are the opposite. They love meat, and would be naturally inclined to skip the veggies. One boy won’t eat eggs at all so I can only have an egg based meal when he’s not home for dinner.

For the past several months, particularly over our very warm summer, I have cooked for the boys and forgotten to compensate for myself. This happened for for numerous reasons – visiting family, vegan dinner guests, and the fact that I find cooking my meat and meat substitutes easier with winter meals.

Vitamin B12 can only be found in animal products. So I need to get back in the habit of preparing something for myself when the boys get their pork or beef.

Below is a meal plan for a week that I think will get me back on track.

Monday:

  • Meatballs, green salad, mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables (carrots, parsnips and beets).
  • Add a poached egg for me.

 

Tuesday:

  • Roasted parsnip soup.
  • Grilled chicken sandwiches on flatbread.

 

Wednesday:

  • Sundried tomato, chicken and green bean linguine.
  • Roasted grape and mixed greens salad.
  • Cheese toast.

 

Thursday:

  • Red beans and rice with chorizo, and a green salad.
  • Poached egg on top for me.

 

Friday:

  • Stir fried chicken and vegetables (onion, pepper, celery, carrot, broccoli, pea pods).
  • Served on fried rice.

 

Saturday:

  • Chicken pot pie (whatever veggies are in the fridge – onion, peas, broccoli, carrot, celery…)
  • Green salad.

Sunday:

  • French omelette.
  • Fried potatoes.
  • Grated carrot salad with honey lemon dressing.
  • Grain toast.

 

Hopefully this gets me back on track.

Pressed for time – the panini solution

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

There are some days that I just don’t have the physical or mental energy for coming up with a good meal that pleases the whole family.

The trick to dealing with dread of turning on the oven is to use the stove top. The trick to getting around the pressure to appeal to many different tastes is to make a meal that each person customizes for themselves. Paninis are the perfect solution.

Bonus – you get to clear out the fridge!

  • Bits of cheese,
  • open packs of lunch meat,
  • condiments (my goodness, all the condiments),
  • half a bell pepper and/or half an onion,
  • yesterday’s fried mushrooms,
  • half used jars of olives, pickled peppers, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes…

…put them on the counter and everyone participates in cleaning out the fridge clutter.

Don’t have a panini press? Me neither. I place a cast iron pan on the sandwiches to get the press effect.

I have used sturdy Italian bread and it works, but recently I have been using a store bought flat bread. It gets a nice crisp on the outside and holds up well to condiment seep so you don’t lose the whole sandwich when you flip it.

Pair the sandwiches with a quick salad, potato chips, fruit slices, or some quickly sautéed vegetables and easy-peasy-eat-a-panini diner.

 

 

 

Opportunities missed – suburban agriculture

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

As long as I’ve had lawns I’ve resented them. I love having a little plot of land, but the modern suburban yard – water hungry, weed prone grass with no privacy and often rendered unusable because of misguided bylaws – is wasted a opportunity that offends my pragmatic tendencies.

Apparently I’ve been ahead of my time. Urban agriculture is now in vogue; front lawn vegetables, urban chickens and beekeeping all are being practiced in my hometown now.

That’s where my blog starts.

Five years ago I moved into a beautiful mature neighbourhood. As I have in past homes, I instantly began planning to make my yard productive.

My hubby started us off by building raised beds for vegetables. This year we have a bumper crop of tomatoes and jalapenos. Lettuce does well, arugula thrives. Peas and beans still fall victim to rabbits and deer that wander out of the ravine.

Our four year old grape vine produced well this year after I gave it a good pruning last fall.

Two years ago we planted an evans cherry, and last year we planted a pear tree. Both flowered but neither fruited well this year. I’m building two bee hotels for the yard so hopefully next year blossoms lead to fruit.

My french tarragon, sage, thyme and oregano all came back this spring, making me very happy.

That’s the part of the plan I can check off. I have plenty more to work on.

This summer I began the next urban agriculture stage – hedge replacement. I love the privacy the hedge gives our yard, but a cotoneaster hedge is a wasted opportunity. I am slowly removing and replacing it with berry bushes.

This little lady is the ‘currant’ resident of my new berry patch.

So far I’ve removed about six metres of hedge, and planted three saskatoons and two gooseberries. I expect in two to three years they’ll give us the same level of privacy as the hedge, with bonus yummy berries.

I’ve earmarked two shrubs to replace with beaked hazelnuts in the spring. Getting hazelnuts will be a long shot given the squirrels activity in our yard, but I’ll try.

We took out two diseased maydays this year. When we get the stumps pulled out I’ll plant an apple tree there. We’re one of the few houses in the neighborhood without an apple tree and I suffer from apple envy.

I know I’ll come up with more ideas for my ever expanding suburban agriculture experiment next year. A proper garden is forever a work in progress.

Summer cherries

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

We are just hitting the time of year that really good produce is arriving at our farmer’s markets. This last Saturday I bought some lovely BC cherries – red and yellow varieties – at the downtown farmer’s market. The weather got quite cool for a few days so I decided to bake with them.

I don’t like really sweet desserts so I tend to make things that rely on fruit for sweetness and other ingredients for flavour. I also really love custard. That made cherry clafoutis an obvious choice. My step sons are with us right now and are pretty reluctant to try new things, so I made a cheese cake as a familiar dessert option for them should they want it.

1) I use Martha Stewart’s clafoutis recipe. It calls for sour cherries but regular cherries work fine.

  • 3C pitted cherries
  • 3 tbsp brandy
  • 1/2C sugar (I use berry sugar because it is finer)
  • 3/4C milk
  • 1/4C cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 2/3C flour

Soak the cherries in the brandy.

Butter a pie dish and dust the bottom with sugar. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Mix all the other ingredients in a blender. Pour half the batter into the buttered pie dish, place a layer of the brandy soaked cherryed into the mix, then pour the rest of the batter over the cherries.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour – until the top is puffed, the edges golden brown, and the batter is set. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.

2) I use the recipe off the Philadelphia Cream cheese package – except I make a better crust. Graham cracker crust is not my thing.

Crust:

  • 1/2C melted butter
  • 1C flour
  • 1/2C oats
  • 1/4C coconut/finely chopped nuts (or both combined)
  • pinch of salt

Mix all the dry ingredients, pour the melted butter over and mix, Press the mix into the bottom of you baking dish.

Filling:

  • 3, 250Gr packages of cream cheese
  • 3/4C of sugar
  • 3 eggs

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together well, then add eggs one at a time. Pour batter over the crust (I poured half, put in some pitted cherries, then poured the rest over)

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until edges brown and the cheese mixture is set.

Two super yummy summer cherry desserts!

Deep fried and gone to heaven

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment


In our house we call it pub night, and it has taken on a whole new meaning since I bought a deep fryer.

I’ve had a lot of fun with the deep fryer. This last go-around we had a pretty deliciously unhealthy selection.

Fritters, fish, and french fries; a golden delicious crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside greasy but happy buffet.

I made corn and jalapeno pepper hush puppies (I just subbed in corn and peppers instead of green onions in the recipe) and apple fritters.

The hush puppies went with a spicy cherry jelly we made a few years ago with prairie hardy Evans Cherries. I made a simple honey yogurt dip to go with the apple fritters.

I made onion rings because the youngest boy requested them. I used tempura batter, which I frankly think is over rated. I’ll try a different batter next time.

I used tempura for the fried fish as well, but again It wasn’t best. My favourite fish batter is the batter my ex-husband’s grandmother, aunts and cousins made. I don’t have that recipe, I make it from memory and given my memory I could be way off. I use beaten egg, flour, salt, pepper and a dash of vinegar and a little baking soda. 

I deep fried some tofu and made a sesame dip to go with them.

I made a pakora-like fritter with chickpeas, onion, spinach and curry. I say pakora-like because I don’t have besan on hand and wasn’t keen on going out to find it. I used canned chickpeas cooked a bit to soften, flour, some salt, curry powder, chopped spinach and onion, and an egg. I made a tzatziki dip to go with them.

And finally, in an attempt to preemptively atone for my deep fried sins, I made a veggie tray (a whole platter full not pictured, and not eaten either).

I wouldn’t do this too often, but as an occasional treat I think we can all get away with it. 

 

Easy meal planning – making dinner less stressful

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

One of the ways I cope with being the primary cook of a blended family  is by planning ahead.

Menu planning has reduced my stress, eased the youngest boy’s food related anxiety, and helps us avoid last minute grocery runs. As an extra bonus, since we added a chalk board after the kitchen renovation the menu board has also become one of my creative outlets. 

This was a pretty standard week plan.

 

Spaghetti carbonara with roasted veggies and salad.

Spaghetti Carbonara

There are many versions of carbonara; this is mine. I make two pans because two of us won’t eat mushrooms.

  • sliced mushrooms
  • bacon
  • 2 C cream
  • 1 egg
  • finely grated parmesan
  1. Fry the bacon and the mushrooms. 
  2. In a bowl mix the egg, cream, parmesan.
  3. Turn the bacon and mushrooms down very low, and add in the cooked pasta.
  4. Pour the cream egg mix over the pasta and toss.
  5. Let it thicken slightly while you stir – this happens quickly and if
    Tacos with rice and corn salad.

    you don’t watch the egg sets. Serve immediately.

Tacos

I don’t need to tell you how to make tacos. I do make my own quick refried beans though. I use canned pinto beans, minced onion and garlic, oil, tomato paste and pepper flakes. Cooked together until you can mush the beans.

Stir fry

I cook the chicken and veggies separately so the chicken cooks but I never end up with over cooked vegetables.

Stir fried veggies with chicken and rice.cooked veg.

Sauce:

  • sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • ginger paste
  • garlic paste

Stir fry:

  • sliced chicken
  • sliced onion, carrot, peppers, and cabbage
  • small broccoli florets
  • peanut oil

Veggies: Heat peanut oil in the wok. Throw in the carrots first, toss a minute, throw in the broccoli, cauliflower and onion, Toss, then cover a minute. Add the peppers, pour in the sauce, toss and cover a minute.

Chicken: Heat peanut oil in the fry pan. when the oil is hot add some garlic and ginger paste, stir once and throw the chicken in. Toss until the chicken is cooked.

Meatballs, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies and a salad.

Meatballs and Mashed potatoes

I have one boy off beef, so I make pork meatballs.

Meatballs:

  • ground pork
  • 1 egg
  • bread crumbs soaked in milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • minced onion and garlic
  • chili flakes

Mix the pork with the onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the egg and bread crumbs.

Form little balls, and brown them in a fry pan. Put the browned meatballs in an oven, covered, to finish cooking. You can make a quick gravy by deglazing the pan with a bit of beef stock. 

Pasticcio with mixed salad and crusty bread.

Pepperoni Pasticcio

This is how I use up small quantities of pasta and leftover tomato sauce. Pene, rigatoni, fusilli, farfalle – they all work.

  • chopped pepperoni
  • chopped onion and pepper
  • arrabiatta or basil tomato sauce
  • grated mozzarella
  • cooked pasta 

Saute onion and pepperoni. Pour in the tomato sauce. Add the peppers and cook slightly. 

In a large casserole dish toss the cooked pasta the tomato sauce. Stir in the grated mozzerella. Top with more mozza. Pop this in the oven at about 350 until the cheese browns.

Red beans and rice topped with a poached egg.

Red Beans and Rice

This totally a cheat recipe, but it tastes great. 

  • bacon
  • chopped onion, pepper, carrot and celery
  • large can of kidney beans
  • Bullseye blazin chipotle BBQ sauce

Fry the bacon, onion, celery and carrot together. Add the beans and BBQ sauce and peppers. Cook until the peppers are just cooked. Serve over rice. A poached egg on top is a yummy addition.

 

That’s it. Pub night is a separate blog 🙂

 

Winter comfort food – three hearty soups

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

You can find summer veggies and produce all year long in a Canadian grocery store, but they aren’t near peak taste so why bother. I wouldn’t want to eat like my pioneer ancestors did, but I do bypass the faux green vegetable bounty for foods better suited to the winter table – warm and rich foods to simmer and roast, and fill the house with hunger inducing aroma.

On a dark, cold winter day there is very little that gives me more joy than a bowl of creamy soup. Nearly all the great storing vegetables make good soups.

There are three secrets to a hearty cream soup:

  1. roast the veggies
  2. let the soup sit in the fridge over night to develop the flavours
  3. don’t skimp on the butter
img_20160327_134605
One cilantro leaf makes a pretty garnish.

Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup

Chop and roast 6 medium carrots in oil with a touch of salt and pepper at about 375 until the start to brown. Throw them in vegetable stock with grated ginger and minced garlic. I use a tablespoon of ginger and a teaspoon of garlic to a litre and half of soup. Simmer for a couple hours. Puree and add a pat of butter. Take off the heat and refrigerate over night. Reheat the next day and shortly before you plan to serve the soup, add some heavy cream and another pat of butter. Use Creme Fraiche instead of cream for a flavour boost.

 

Parsnipity Soup

A drizzle of harissa infused olive oil adds a nice kick.
A drizzle of harissa infused olive oil adds a nice kick.

I don’t peel the parsnips. Chop and roast about 6 parsnips with some salt, pepper and chili flakes at a bout 375 until they brown. Fry some onions. Add chicken stock and the roasted parsnips to the pot. Add a pat of butter. I also add a clove of roasted garlic and more chili flakes. Simmer, cool, and keep in the refrigerate over night. The next day reheat, and shortly before you are ready to serve add some cream and some good Parmesan cheese.

 

Creamy Potato and Sour Cream Soup

I dotted this with harissa oil too just because I love the extra spice.
I dotted this with harissa oil too just because I love the extra spice.

Use new potatoes. Peel and cube two small potatoes and boil them in salted water until they fall apart. Puree them. In a separate pan, fry some onion, bacon and celery. Keep the celery leaves aside. Cube two potatoes with skin on. Add the cubed potatoes, bacon, onion and celery to the pot with some more water and cook until the potatoes are just about tender. Put this in the fridge over night. Next day reheat, add a pat of butter and some sour cream. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the celery just before you serve.

Creativity in the kitchen – menu planning made fun

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment

I love to cook, about that there can be no doubt. I love to eat well. I love to play with ingredients and flavours. I love the challenge of making something tasty out of what’s on hand. I love to step back and admire a lovely, lovingly prepared plate of food.

kitchen-doneThis means I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. To make that a bit easier, my kitchen just got a make-over. Pragmatically, we needed a few things to accommodate our family’s unique needs and wants.

High on the list of reasons for the renovation was that we needed more pantry space and a better approach to manage meal planning. More than once in the early days of our blended family adventure I was reduced to tears trying to make everyone happy with what we had in the cupboard. Having to come up with a meal on the spot every day was stressful to say the least.

img_20161229_151938One of the boys has some anxiety about food because he was raised with food as a battle ground. It is my firm belief that forcing a child to eat will only create a picky eater. No one, not even a child, likes to have no control over what they put in their mouths.

The best planning tactic I found to alleviate my stress and the boys’ anxiety is to write the meal plan for the two weeks my husband’s sons are with us on our calendar so we can all see it ahead of time. I leave the experimenting and improvisation for when it’s just my menu-board-2-christmashusband, my son and I because we have fewer issues with food.

Meal planning feels like a chore most of the time; partly because the lack of spontaneity removes the creative side of cooking that I love so much. As a parting solution, the contractor for our kitchen renovation made the meal planning fun for me. She suggested I hang a chalk board on the tiled wall next to the stove to write the meals on.

menu-board-3I bought myself a box of coloured chalk and am having so much fun writing menus it is ridiculous.

Now the boys don’t just know what’s for dinner, they get to decide if the meal is as good as advertised – then decide if the chef or the artist get higher marks for presentation.

 

Eggs, eggs, eggs for dinner

Darcy L. HooverLeave a comment
sugar
The lovely people with the UofA’s heritage chicken program sent me some pictures for Christmas.

I adopted a chicken this past fall. The University of Alberta has a heritage chicken program that helps fund its work by adopting out their flock. It’s a brilliant plan. Adoptive chicken parents get eggs, and the University keeps a unique breed of chicken alive. My chicken is a Brown Leghorn that I named Sugar.

We got our first eggs Jan 5th.

I gave these first eggs the honour of centre stage in our dinner and made poached eggs on a bed of barley risotto, with flat bread and a spinach salad to round out the meal.

A while back I found that I get a better poached eggs by adding touch of vinegar in he water, but the real determinant of a nice looking poached egg is the freshness of the egg itself. These eggs were fresh and poached beautifully. Barley risotto has a nutty taste that complimented the creamy egg.

first-sugar-egg-meal
This is my plate. The guys had two eggs each and more risotto.

Sugar’s Eggs with Barley Risotto

You’ll need one part pot barley to 2-2 1/2 parts liquid. I chose vegetable broth.

I used a cup of barley. It yielded four servings.

  • Pot barley
  • Stock
  • Carrot, celery, onion finely diced
  • Garlic, minced
  • Another diced veggie (I chopped up pea pods)
  • White wine
  • Oil
  • Thyme

Cook the diced onion, celery and carrot in a deep frying pan. When those are cooked but not browned throw in a little minced garlic and stir that for a second. Then add a glug of white wine – maybe 1/4C. Add thyme. Throw in the barley and stir. Pour in stock to cover the barley. Keep the liquid on a low simmer, stirring frequently. Continue to add broth to keep the barley covered as the liquid is absorbed. The barley will be lightly chewy when it is done, but not crunchy. It takes 20-40 minutes depending on temperature. It is done when it is done.

The other vegetable goes into the risotto nearer the end. Pea pods take no time to cook so I added them right at the end when the risotto was done. I stirred them in, turned off the heat, and covered the pan while I poached the eggs. That was enough to steam the chopped pea pods.

Make the salad. I made a simple dressing out of olive oil, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard and a little salt and pepper. I keep small glass jars for this, put the oil, acid and seasoning in and shake it in the jar.

When the barley is done and covered, bring the water for the eggs to a boil in a shallow pan. Put a dash of vinegar in the water. Poach the eggs in the boiling water.

Serve the eggs on a bed of barley.

sugar-eggs