A few of my favorite things

Some pantry, freezer and refrigerator ingredients are essential to have on hand. They can make food basic, extravagant, or even last-minute. Here's a short list of my personal favorites.

If you've ever read my blog, you know Greek yogurt is a must-have in our household. I must use it least once a day. I enjoy it with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, and a handful of blueberries. I also use it in cooking and baking — I add it to mashed potatoes, hummus, muffins, breads and cupcakes. I also use it as a replacement condiment for sour cream and mayonnaise.

I find many uses for organic fire-roasted tomatoes — first and foremost being my homemade salsa. We also use this type of canned tomato for Spanish dishes. We love the smokey flavor.

Although I prefer to simmer my own dry beans, there are many instances when the canned variety is far more convenient. I most frequently use garbanzos (chick peas) in homemade hummus. Both canned garbanzos and black beans are great to have on hand for a last-minute chili. Additionally, I love adding canned black beans to homemade guacamole — not only do they boost the nutritional value of the dip, they double the amount of guacamole.


Another "cheater" ingredient we always have in our freezer: frozen cubes of basil, cilantro, and ginger. I use frozen basil for quickie pesto, salad dressing, and pasta. When we don't have fresh cilantro on hand, I use the frozen variety for salsa, and just about any Mexican, Spanish, or Indian dish. I am obsessive about ginger. I add it to smoothies, muffins, cookies, and cakes.

While fresh-squeezed is best, I keep bottled lemon and lime juice on hand for many drinks and dishes from hummus and salsa to salad dressings and sauces. We enjoy lemon and or lime juice in a variety of mixed drinks as well — gin and tonics, dark n' stormies and of course sangria.

I call these my pizza all-stars. My homemade pizza crust is at its simplest: unbleached bread flour, extra virgin olive oil, active dry yeast, sea salt, and warm water. I sometimes add some whole wheat bread flour, as well.

When our little one was really little I preferred to make homemade baby food. Now I stash jars of organic varieties for use in my muffin making. It began with banana baby food — which I use when making muffins for our son, who cannot stand anything "lumpy" in his foods. Then I started to use carrot baby food to save the time of manually grating carrots for muffins and cakes (now I use the grater attachment on our food processor). From there I just experimented.

I can't help being in love with mango ginger chutney. I love most varieties — both spicy and sweet. It's delicious with Indian food, especially on naan bread, and it's fantastic with a cheese platter. For a real treat, try it on top of goat gouda or brie. 

I love quinoa! Maybe it's mostly because I enjoy saying the word "KEEN-wa." But I do enjoy this high-protein grain as a light yet hearty side dish and also in many types of salads. I especially love using it in salads with red beets since it makes the grain turn a lovely shade of pink.

Oh bacon. I've already dedicated an entire post to as ode to bacon, but of course it tops my list.

Agave nectar and honey are great alternative sources of sweeteners. Not only is honey is a good way to sweeten baked goods (and chai lattes!) — local honey also helps with seasonal allergies. I honestly have not experimented with using agave for too much baking, and I am not ashamed to admit that in our house it is most frequently used in my husband's notorious sangria.

I've already mentioned my love of lattes, but this happy bunch I call my latte all-stars. Dark sumatra is hands-down our favorite roast. And I always have Tazo chai tea — both decaffeinated and full strength — on hand for chai lattes. I also brew decaffeinated chai with plenty of honey when anyone in the house has a sore throat or head cold.

As long as I am mentioning lattes, I should include baking cocoa on my list of favorites. I use it for hot cocoa, mochas and in baking and chocolate frosting. I like that it is slightly bitter and does not have added sweeteners or dairy.

And while I am on the topic of sweet things, I cannot help it, I must have at least a tiny piece of chocolate most days! Generally we prefer the dark variety in our house, but somehow that beautiful triangular bar of nougaty milk chocolate goodness known as Toblerone always makes its way into someone's stocking at Christmas time.

Naughty & nice

I never know what to bring to a party. This year's family Christmas Eve gathering was no exception. On the one hand, I have been obsessively making cupcakes since I bought my new pastry bag kit. On the other hand — like most other people — I have been overindulging this holiday season.

The solution for me was to make little, nearly guilt-free cupcakes and bring a low fat veggie dip with vegetable crudite.

First the cupcakes. Ever since I found naturally dyed red, green and white jellybeans at Trader Joe's I have been wanting to use them for holiday cupcake decoration. Since the jellybeans are flavoured, I didn't want to get too fancy with my cupcakes, so I opted for simple vanilla. I searched online for a low fat, oil-free recipe and sort of winged it. Once I made the vanilla frosting, I thought why not have chocolate as well?

The veggie dip was simple — starting with one of my all-time favourtie ingredients: Fage 0% Greek yogurt. I added spices, lots of seasoning, a grated clove of garlic, and a touch of mayonaise. Then I thawed and squeezed the liquid out of some frozen organic spinach and gently folded it in. I peeled, chopped and arrange a colourful assortment of organic veggies, and my appetizer was done.

Now what to bring to the next party....?

Homemade pretzels - easier than you think

Ever since this month's Food & Wine magazine arrived, I have been craving Bavarian soft pretzels.

To me, the perfect pretzel has a liberally salted golden exterior, is soft on the inside, and is most definitely accompanied by sweet German mustard, bier and weisswurst!

I began making these deliciously doughy treats from scratch several Oktoberfests ago. They are super fun and easy to make with children, and the recipe is often requested.



shaping the pretzels

 I found a basic recipe by searching "bavarian pretzel recipe." The process is simple enough — make a dough, let it rise, then boil, salt and bake.

The real trick is in the shaping of the dough. Begin by rolling into a long thin rope. Gently holding both ends of the rope, cross the ends, twist around twice then pull down to the center to form a pretzel shape.

 

shaped pretzels ready to be boiled and baked

The pretzels are best enjoyed while warm — and with your favourite German bier of choice.

Prost!



A whole latte love



latte = love

 It's no secret that I love my lattes. In our house we have them daily — with homemade muffins, savory omelettes, crepes, pancakes, French toast, as an afternoon pick-me-up, in preparation for a destined-to-be late evening out, and for the ubiquitous "coffee date."

Lattes for me are a labor of love. From the years spent tasting and testing different beans and flavored roasts to the countless number of hand frothers I have tested — and destroyed. Our preference is for freshly ground Dark Sumatra, and I hand froth heated soy milk in one of my husband's beer steins.

extrra special mocha latte


As for flavored coffees, we've found we prefer a flavor shot to a flavored roast. But even flavor shots are tricky, as I am picky about having all-natural flavors with no added corn syrup.

I do love a mocha — I make them with equal parts of dark brewed coffee and hot cocoa. And I find that a simple swirl of chocolate is divine and makes just about any event all the more special, from Christmas morning to a blustery Friday afternoon.

  

Not only are lattes a wonderful accompanient to breakfast muffins, they make an excellent companion for — and excuse to bake —  homemade biscotti. My recipe has no added butter or oil and is made using whole wheat pastry flour. They are wonderfully crispy and perfect for dipping into a latte.

But we are not just coffee snobs in this house. Just today I enjoyed a lovely chai latte — brewed double strength, of course, sweetened with honey and topped with frothy goodness and a dusting of cinnamon.

And of course we are guilty of using after-dinner lattes as a vehicle for liquor. Irish coffee, anyone? Shot of Kahlua? My personal favorite is a decaf mocha latte with orange liquor —  a dusting of nutmeg and freshly-grated orange peel is heaven in a mug.



inspired art by Kindspin Design



Kitchen tips & tricks

Some hopefully helpful tips and tricks to help you save time and eat well!

It's okay to improvise. Following a recipe is sometimes important, but so is taking risks. I've been making oatbran muffins from the same basic recipe for close to 10 years. Over time I learned I could make replacements, using what I had on hand, and the recipe became no fail. The same thing goes for soups, stews, etc. Case in point: tonight I had my heart set on making black bean soup. As I assembled the ingredients I realized our all star was missing. But we did have chickpeas. The result was a deliciously smoky and spicy chickpea soup.

giant pot of tomato sauce

 Freezer bags are your friends. I use them constantly for batch freezing soups, stews, sauces, etc. For items such as canned tomato paste or even ground meat, add the food to the bag then "score it" by folding it into portions. Once frozen you will have a perfectly measured out portion without using multiple bags. When I freeze baked items, such as muffins, I use a drinking straw to suck the air out of the bag then quickly seal it before popping it into the freezer.

Save the end pieces from bread loaves. These make great breadcrumbs. I saved the end piece from each bread loaf we went through for well over a year. I kept them, tightly sealed, in a freezer bag. When we needed breadcrumbs, I simply toasted a frozen end piece then put it in the coffee grinder (we have one we use for spices, etc.) — voila! instant whole grain bread crumbs. Recently, while I was simmering something on the stovetop for hours, I realized I had a little time on my hands. I must have spent over an hour toasting all of the end pieces and grinding them up, but now we have a giant bag of homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer all ready to go.

More is usually less. This is the case in many recipes calling for sauteeing in butter/oil/ghee.
   

turkey tortilla soup

Leftover night is a weekday rockstar. We love leftovers, especially when things can be repurposed — turkey tortilla soup, anyone? Many things simply taste better the second time around. We also find with meals that take all day to roast, simmer or stew it's easier to make 6-8 portions with the intention of freezing meals for a later time. Of course, we usually end up calling friends over for a last-minute feast, but that's just how we roll.

Garlic = goodness. The easiest way to mince garlic cloves? Use a microplane zester, it's super fast and you don't have to dirty a knife. If you don't have a microplane, liberally salt freshly peeled garlic cloves — this keeps the minced garlic from sticking to your knife. A newly learned trick from the chefs — if you don't have time to roast garlic, simmer it on the stovetop immersed in extra virgin olive oil "until it's done." The result is the buttery consistency that is heaven when squished out of its papery skin and onto a crusty bread. Roasted garlic has many other uses, of course!
 

BLT salad

Try new things and experiment with tastes, textures and flavors. I use this philosophy in so many ways in the kitchen — from adding pumpkin or beet puree to pancakes, to using baby food in my homemade muffins, to recently trying spaghetti squash for the first time. I also love this tip when it comes to salads. I have salad for lunch 5-6 days a week and love coming up with new ideas. Salad should not be limited to the ubiquitous garden variety  — tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, etc. Sure that is great seasonally, but I love adding seasonal, local ingredients and fruit to salads, and I love roasted beets with everything from goat cheese to tangerines.

(Almost) everything is better with bacon. Need I say more?

Out of the kitchen - sous chef style

Last night I had the honor of being sous chef to one of my favorite people — a local foodie and former chef.

Our theme was finger foods, so most of the food was basic: cheese, crackers, grapes, crudite. And then there was homemade hummus —  which I am always a huge fan of. The chef's recipe included plenty of roasted garlic and tahini, and it was delicious.

The chefs also made snap peas stuffed with chicken mousse — a laborious project that involved creating a delicately seasoned mousse from poached chicken and garlic chicken sausage, slicing open each snap pea, piping the mousse in and topping each pea with crumbled bacon. Laborious, but totally worth it!

I was charged with slicing and dicing and helping to assemble veggie sushi rolls which were filled with cucumber, carrot, red pepper, sprouts and a touch of wasabi.

The rolls were sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and a tasty chili sauce, served with soy sauce and wasabi.



The food and the benefit party were a rousing success. And I was happy to be a part of it all.