Author Archives: stacey

International Tiramisu Day

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Yesterday marked this magical day for a lot of us. It comes once a year, and this year it snuck up on me. I didn’t realise what day it was until it was almost too late. But I did manage to bang out one large tiramisu for the husband, and a baby one for me. (I’m tired of not getting more than two bites out of any of the ones I made in the past because my husband is a vacuum cleaning eater when I make tiramisu.)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – even the worst tiramisu is still delicious tiramisu, and I’m not even sure it’s possible to make one taste bad. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I can’t come up with a single way to screw one up. 🙂

Cake Mix Cookies

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I’m a big fan of food hacks. I don’t have a lot of time and mental bandwidth to think of these myself, so when I come across them, I take a screencap for the future when I know I’ll be looking to cut corners. But, a food hack has to be a clever hack. The hack can’t ruin the final product. And it has to make my life easier. Like this one.

Spring Spinach Salad

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This is a salad I used to make when I worked at the cafeteria 3+ years ago. I love this salad. Very easy to assemble, and you can pair it with all kinds of fruit-based vinaigrettes you want to use. (We used to sell it with Raspberry vinaigrette packs.)

This salad makes me want to eat better all year long. Enjoy.

Spring Spinach Salad:
3 or 4 handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
6 canned Mandarin slices, drained
3 Cucumber slices, 1/4″ thick, quartered
3 or 4 Strawberries, cut into quarters
1 ounce Carrot sticks, julienne’d
Small pinch Almond slices

Auntie Stacey’s Jar Meat Sauce

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I was working on an idea in my head for a meat sauce I could whip up on the fly (the same way I would a salad dressing) in a mason jar that wouldn’t have to cook down like a bbq sauce, when I tripped over this idea from a random video I saw online doing a similar sauce for another application.

This is our new all-purpose meat sauce. I use it on everything! The husband thinks it reminds him of his beloved McRib sauce. I’ve never eaten a McRib, so I will defer to his expertise here. 🙂

Auntie Stacey’s Jar Meat Sauce:
1 C Ketchup
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 – 1 tea Hot Chili Paste (use as much as you can tolerate)

Mix or shake that in a small 125mL mason jar, and you’re good to go. It keeps well in the fridge if you have any leftovers. Sometimes I roll the whole batch around in pulled pork, and other times, I use a bit to top burgers or pork chops. It’s quite versatile, if you ask me.

Why this works: The complex flavours from the sugary ketchup gets balance out with the salty, umami flavour of the soy sauce. Add to that, the lovely kick of heat from the chili paste, and you’ve really got a great sauce to use on everything. Its brilliance comes from not only the low numbers of ingredients, but the distinct lack of need to cooking it down. Although, I’m sure if you wanted it even thicker, you could cook like an actual bbq sauce would be.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cheesecake

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(From the archives.)

Ricotta cheese pies are a favourite pastime of mine to make. If you’re like me, and you can’t stand the chalky taste of cream cheese based cheesecakes, ricotta cheese pie recipes are for you. I made this recipe a few months back and forgot to add the cream cheese. I didn’t realise my mistake till it was done baking, so I was nervous when I served it up at the in-laws. Much to my surprise, not only did it turn out really well, the texture was silky smooth and no one missed the taste of cream cheese!

choco chip ricotta pie

The secret to this particular presentation is a chocolate readymade pie crust and adding two small handfuls of chocolate chips on top just before you slip it in the oven. The middle is the plain vanilla ricotta filling. It’s based off of the original Danone Cheesecake recipe I found online years ago.

This entry was posted on May 25, 2008.

Stuffed My Face Veggie Delight

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Catered Grub

(From the archives.)

This is why I loved working in the food industry — leftovers from a catering gig. I got to take all the fabulous veggies I can fit into a takeout container and call that dinner at the end of each one I work. Yum!

Here we have a stack of widely cut veggies that include eggplant, three pepper colours, zucchini and portabella mushroom – all pre-soaked in balsamic and extra virgin olive oil and then baked in rich tomato sauce, some delicious asparagus stalks drizzled with unknown ingredients and steamed to perfection. One of two stuffed tomatoes (I ate the other before I thought of taking a photo – please forgive!) that was hollowed out and stuffed using the guts mixed with all kinds of yummy goodness before being baked to the perfect softness to dig into with a fork without the risk of it falling apart.

Oh.my.gawd… This was the best dinner! I got full after a bit of it so I have some leftovers from the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yee-haw!

This entry was posted on April 19, 2007.