Author Archives: stacey

Quilting

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hexagonalquilt

[ Sample quilt design idea found on Pinterest ]

{waves} Oh, hi. Remember me?

I’ve been around, just not blogging. I’ve been watching tv, visiting with long-lost friends, and – of all things – working on my first quilt. (!!!)

Some of you may remember when I first started talking about my first quilt attempt, and talking about what design I was going thinking about, but forget all that. Since then, I have changed the design four times, the materials twice, and stitch ripped out a full design that I had sewn together and pressed out.

I originally wanted to do hexagons down one side of the quilt till I started putting the triangles together. At one point, when I was very tired, I stitched two halves together incorrectly and came up with a diamond shape. When I looked at it, I really loved the look of it. It was a quilted argyle pattern. Something I haven’t seen before in my Pinterest travels, so I ran with it.

argylediamond

I have all of my argyle diamonds all cut up, sewn up and pressed out. Up next? The attachment of the batting to the backside of the quilt front using spray adhesive, running lots of stitching all over the two layers to hold the batting in place so it doesn’t shift over time, and finally affixing the argyle diamonds in the most suitable spot before finishing off the edges with some kind of ruffle or with a custom binding material using the leftover material I used to make the triangles. That would be nice… in theory. 🙂

One side of my quilt is being made using a plain white bed sheet and will be adorned with the diamonds running down one side of it in a formation (see top image for what I’m going for), and the backside will have this lovely honey coloured flat bed sheet that is 525 thread count cotton. Soooooo soft. I’m also cheating with the batting. I picked up two throw blankets from IKEA to sandwich into the quilt since I figured they are meant to stand up to more washings than a quilt is, and some of the warmest quilts I’ve heard of have army blankets used for the batting. Plus, the throw blankets were a fraction of the cost the cheapest organic cotton batting was.

I’m excited about this quilt. I think that’s what’s been missing for the last year since I started this project. I’m really into it now! 😀

Summer Drinks – Fast & Dirty Frappé

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FrappeDrinkI’ve been playing around with stripping down the classic frappé into something that’s not only healthier (let’s be honest here!), but faster and easier to assemble and blend into a tasty drink we all don’t feel grossed out consuming so much of. My frappé ends up being a little over half the size (10oz) of the Starbuck’s tall serving (16oz).

Here’s what I’ve got so far. I like this one a lot. Hopefully you all will, too.

Auntie Stacey’s Fast & Dirty Frappé:
8 Ice Cubes
1 C Vanilla Almond Milk
1-2 Tsp Powder Sugar (optional, and can be replaced with other sugar types)
1 Tsp Instant Espresso Powder (double if you like a strong coffee shot flavouring)
1 Tbsp Coffee Creamer

FrappeI mix this all up in the smallest Magic Bullet pitcher the blender came with because it makes the perfect portion size that prevents us from over-consuming (nice little bonus there).

This frappé is one of my go-to drinks to stay cool during the blazing hot days of summer like we’re having this week. Try it at home and tell me what you think in the comments. 🙂

Herb Tomato Sauce & Chocolate Pasta

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ChocoPasta-1

This year I decided to grow oregano in my garden in addition to flat leaf parsley and my old standby, sweet basil. It’s been working out well. I’ve added small sprigs of the fresh oregano to a lot of different dishes, including some sauteed vegetables we ate over pork loin meat on buns last week. This week I made my favourite tomato sauce from scratch, and decided what it really needed was fresh basil and fresh oregano. The sauce turned out so well, I dreamt of making a pot of pasta to top with the sauce for breakfast. All night I thought about my freshly made pasta sauce in the fridge. All.Night.Long.

‘Mmm… So mouth watering.

This tomato sauce uses Marcella Hazan’s infamous tomato with butter sauce as the base.

Fresh Herb Tomato Sauce:
40 oz Jarred Tomato Puree
5 Tbsp Salted Butter
S&P to taste
1 M-L Yellow Onion, chopped coarsely
1 Tsp Fresh Oregano leaves
1 C Fresh Basil, torn or julienned
Jars with tight fitting lids (enough for about 50 oz of cooked sauce)

Bring tomato puree, butter, onion and seasonings to a boil. Reduce the temperature to a low rolling boil and add oregano and basil leaves. Simmer uncovered for at least 30-45 minutes till the sauce thickens. Remove the sauce from the burner to cool a bit while running your clean jars under hot water so the glass don’t burst when the extremely hot pasta sauce touches it. Pour the sauce into the jars and finger tighten the lids.*

Let the jars rest on the counter till you hear each of the lids pop or snap (about 30 minutes). This happens when the hot air in the jars evaporate and the seal is formed with the lid ring. You can then store the sauce in your fridge at that point. The popping will only happen if you screw the lids tight enough, but if you have a jar that doesn’t pop, and you can push down in the lid still after 30 minutes, just make a point of using that jar first within a week or two.

* Finger tight is a term used for screwing a canning lid on till tight with your fingers only, not your whole hand and muscles to apply force.

—

Digression: The first dish I used this gorgeous tomato sauce over was my homemade chocolate pasta. I was still trying to nail it down to one or two different ways we can enjoy it at home when the husband asked me to not make these noodles again. Ever. He’s not into chocolate pasta. At all. And he’s a pasta fiend. (!!!) Oh, well. :-\

So, instead of doing a whole separate post on how to make chocolate pasta at home from scratch, here are a few pix of the attempts and some of the production of the pasta itself to give you an idea of what it was like, and what efforts I put into it.

Side Note: I previously served these pasta noodles with an Alfredo sauce and the same meatballs awhile back. We disliked that dish. So much it took me a long time to come around to cooking these noodles again. But I really needed to figure out if it was the sauce or the noodles we didn’t like so I could correct what was holding this pasta idea back from becoming a staple in our home.

So, with that in mind, I made a repeat pasta dish – with the only change being my tomato sauce instead of a creamy white sauce. All in the name of science, you understand. 🙂 As it turns out, for me it was that I didn’t like the Alfredo sauce over these noodles but found my tomato sauce worked quite well with chocolate pasta, whereas with the husband, as previously stated, he didn’t like the taste of the chocolate pasta in this dish either. So…

Given this whole experiment ended in a stalemate (and not at all how I imagined when I first discovered its existence), I’ve decided to give up on chocolate pasta. It’s not going to happen in this house. If you want the recipe, ask in the comment section of this post. I’m sure I can scare it up for you in the blink of an eye.

Below are the basic steps you’d make to produce the pasta from start to finish. Pretty, no?

ChocolatePasta-DoughMaking-2Two eggs, pinch of salt, flour and coco powder. I forget the exact measurements offhand, but my rule of thumb for pasta dough making has always been 1 egg : 3/4 C flour if that helps. And I think this recipe calls for a ratio of 3:1 flour to coco powder, but don’t quote me on that. It makes sense given I used 2 eggs for there to be 1 1/2 C flour to 1/4 C coco.

ChocolatePasta-DoughKnead by hand on a floured surface. You can start the kneading in the mixer if you like. I’m not a fan of sticky fingers myself. I stop when the dough pulls away from the bowl and then turn it out onto my work bench to hand knead.

ChocolatePasta-Resting

I wrap the dough ball to let it rest at least 30-45 minutes before I dig in to make the noodles with my pasta attachments and bench scraper.

ChocoPasta-DryI don’t have a proper drying rack, so I use an old coffee mug stand to air dry my pasta noodles after I loosely wind them around my hand after dusting the dough with flour. Once it air dries on the rack, I carefully (because it’s so frah-gill-eh) slide it off and slip it into a plastic baggie to seal up for storing. You can also make the noodles and then dump them straight into a pot of boiling water if you’re planning to eat them immediately.

ChocoPasta-Cooking

They look so lovely and tasty swimming in the pot, and only look better as they rest in the bowl before being sauced. Remember, they are fresh and fragile, so resist the urge to toss this pasta with sauce. Only top it with your best sauce, and serve it with your best cheese.

ChocoPasta-Cooked

Leftover Jasmine Rice Fritters

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RiceFritter-1[ Click picture to embiggen ]

Sometimes the best meals are made with leftovers. Especially when it comes to breakfast meals. That’s a FACT. Dispute it all you want, but you’ll never convince me otherwise. I’m stubborn like that. 😉

Today I went on a bit of a cleaning jag, and before I knew it half of my fridge was cleaned and organized, all the turning bad food stuffs were recycled, and I was cleaning the dirty food containers when my stomach let me know it was time to turn my attention it.

I went back into the fridge because the thought of cereal made me weepy. I wasn’t into standard breakfast fare today. I spotted a huge container of jasmine rice and an idea formed. We love jasmine in this house. And since it’s a long-ish cook rice, we always make five times more than we need to every time go. We use the leftovers for fried rice typically, but I’m always looking to stretch my repertoire of things I can use this gorgeous, nutty flavoured rice with or in.

Today’s breakfast quickly took the form of a fritter. I grabbed an egg, some cornstarch, a nub of red onion that I grated, and mixed those items with some rice I heated up with a few sprinkles of water under plastic wrap for 40 seconds to soften and moisten it. I also threw in some dried parsley for colour and to cut the sting of the onion for good measure, and finished the mixture off with a bit of S&P.

Leftover Rice Fritters:
1 C leftover Rice, of choice (the meat of this fritter)
1 Egg, preferably room temp (for binding)
2 Tbsp Cornstarch (for crispness)
1-2 Tbsp shredded Onion (for sting)
2 Tbsp Parsley, fresh and chopped finely, or half this for dried version (for colour)
S&P, to taste (for seasoning)
Oil (for cooking)

Adobo Mayo Dip:
1 Tbsp Adobo sauce (for heat)
1 C Mayonaise (for creaminess)
1-2 dollops Sour Cream or plain Greek yogurt (for tempering) – optional

RiceFritters-2

[ Click picture to embiggen ]

I used an ice cream scoop to drop six balls into the hot oil dancing in my frying pan, and slowly pushed the rice mixture down into patties with the back of my wooden spoon. When the first side was crisp and golden brown, I flipped them over to fry the backside. Each side took about 3-5 mins, more or less. I wasn’t paying attention since I was cleaning up my mess and making a dip as the fritters did their thing in the pan.

I made a great little kicker mayo dip to go with it that consisted of one tablespoon of adobo sauce and one cup of mayonaise. It wasn’t too crazy hot but if you eat enough of it, like I did dipping bite size chunks of the fritters into it, you will find by your third fritter the back of your mouth and top of your throat are starting to feel scorched. If that kind of heat isn’t for you, I recommend dropping a dollop or two of either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt in with the mayo to temper the sting.

I love fritters of all kinds. And before today, my favourite was the classic zucchini fritter. I can’t get enough of them in the summer. It’s amazing how many I have eaten in my lifetime now that I think about it. I’m surprised I never realized I had a wee addiction going on there until today. Ha.

RiceFritter-CrossSection

[ Click picture to embiggen ]

This fritter recipe is a keeper. I think I will use this one for fall and winter times, though. The rice is on the heavy side, so I couldn’t eat more than three fritters with my cup of coffee and the mayo dip sauce. I got quite full quite fast. Sorta like I do when I eat half a Belgian waffle. I guess I’ll have to stick to vegetable fritters for the spring and summer months instead. I’m a bit of a lightweight eater that way. 🙂

Homemade Hotdog Buns

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Flag

It’s Canada Day, and that means hotdogs and hamburgers made on the grill in a backyard or in a park by some water close enough to the fireworks hours later. It’s how we do it north of the 49th, kids. And we like it this way!

What we don’t like – or, what I should say I don’t like – is finding out our hotdog buns are moldy on a day when the stores are closed for a national holiday. It bums me out. But, because I discovered this problem very last night, I had lots of time today to make buns from scratch. Yes, I make bread, too. I make it ALL, baby.

{evil laughter}

I don’t have a stock bun recipe so I was planning to scour the innerweebs when Joy The Baker, bless her generous heart, decided this was the weekend she was going to post about her homemade hotdog buns. It was meant to be. 🙂

HotDogBuns-8

From this…

HotDogBuns-10

To this.

I halved the ingredient amounts to make a smaller batch than her recipe yields, but if you’re having a crowd over, Joy’s recipe will give you 18 regular 4″-5″ buns per batch. There’s still time to make a whole mess of these buns if you need more than that. They’re fast, straightforward and easy to make. I assure you. If you’ve ever kneaded dough before, you’ll be fine with this recipe. Pay attention to your type of yeast (I learned the hard way a month ago) and how to use it, and you should be fine.

HotDogBuns-2

 

I made half the batch with poppy seeds, fresh cracked pepper and big grains of salt, and the other half only got the coarse salt. I liked the salted one, and my husband loved the all dressed up one. I took care to make these buns a full 7″ so the overgrown Costco sausages the boy loves so much would be evenly matched up bite for bite. He complains a lot about rinky-dink store bought buns not being long enough. So, needless to say, he was happy with these buns in ever respect.

Try these buns. You’ll love them. And they took me less than an hour – start to finish.

OK, we’re off to hit a movie if we can, so enjoy your holiday, everyone.

Happy 146th birthday, Canada!

A Batch of Cupcakes for Two

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CupcakeFor2

[ Click picture to embiggen. Recipe & picture courtesy @AmberReed. ]

Sometimes I want something baked that’s a bit sweeter than a muffin, but I don’t want to make a full batch or a big production of it because half the time I want to taste test a new flavour combination I’ve thought up or found someone talking about online, and it just happens to be one the husband doesn’t like or isn’t into like Espresso Double Chocolate (for when I’m PMS’ing), so what is a girl supposed to do – park herself in front of a dozen muffins or cupcakes till they’re all disappeared from the house?

Uh, not going to happen!

I figure most of you feel the same way I do about not wanting a bunch of baked goods kicking around in the house, seductively calling out your name in the middle of the night from the kitchen all the way to your bedroom, like so:

“Psst! Hey, you! Oh good, you’re awake. Can’t sleep, eh? Me neither. Remember me? I’m those delicious treats you baked today. Come to the kitchen and visit. C’mon, just a short visit, and then I’ll have you back in bed in no time at all. I promise. I know you can hearrrrrrrr meeeeeee…” <– How many times has this happened to us, right?

Well, it doesn’t have to happen anymore. That’s right, the picture at the top of this post holds the perfect solution to our shared dilema, kids. Give it a go next time you’re craving.

(Don’t lie. We all crave. I know you’re shaking your head right now, but you’re also giggling because you know I know I’m busting you!)

Edit: The second set of increments in the picture are all missing their slashes to turn them into fractions. If you don’t correct your measurements, you’ll have a HUGE mess on your hands. Bake them at 350 degrees for 15-18 mins.

Breakfast Pasta Skillet

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Pasta-Breakfast-Skillet

[ Breakfast Pasta Skillet recipe and picture courtesy of A Beautiful Bite ]

I feel it’s never too early in the day for pasta, so I like to find ways to make it for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. And I never hear any objections from the spousal unit, so this is one I will be testing this long weekend.

I also want to test this with leftover Jasmine rice. Probably Asian noodles, too. And if we’re going that far, why not leftover bulgur?

‘Mmm… I making myself hungry running down the possibilities. Heh.

To The Birthday Girl

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EllenBirthdayFinger

Welcome to the 44 club, Miss Ellen! I’ve been waiting for you. 😀

Now listen, before you get all huffy and upset about your age, check out these fantastic club members. How can you feel bad when you’re in this kind of company?! You can’t!

What are your big plans for your birthday?

I’m jealous that you get a long weekend to celebrate it with!!!
(Winter birthdays without long weekends are cruel!)

I would bake a dozen cream puffs with chocolate sauce for you if you were here, or I was there. I wish I was there. Or you were here.

{sad face}

Tell me everything. I want all the details. Don’t leave anything out!

Cabbage Roll Soup

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CabbageRollSoup

I made a huge batch of Suze Muse’s cabbage rolls the other day. Susan’s recipe yielded so much filling, feel like I could have made five to eight more rolls if I had only bought two, not one, head of cabbage. Oh, well. I stuffed the leftovers in the fridge making a mental note to find something clever to do with them.

The next day I was playing around on my Pinterest cabbage board when I found what I was looking for in the form of soup. I don’t get to make or eat soup at home much anymore since someone doesn’t like hot liquids, and since I do all of the cooking, that means I predominately make stuff we can both enjoy. Not soup. Soup is made, maybe, twice a year around here? It’s tragic. Really, it is. I miss my soups.

Since I had all of the meat mixture and the cut up cabbage on hand, all I needed was a damn good broth. But… I didn’t really like any the broth ideas I found so I realized I’d have to make my own. It’s not hard to make a great soup broth as long as you have an idea of what final taste you’re after. In my case, I was after a somewhat spicy, slightly tomato-y base but without actual tomato chunks, and I wanted it to be clear, not creamy. So this is what I came up with:

3-4 C water (bring to a boil)
1 chicken bouillon cube (add to water from the start)
1 carrot, peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then diced up
1 celery, peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then diced up
1 1/2 C cabbage, chopped into small ribbon chunks
1 1/2 C leftover cabbage roll filling (meat and rice, with their seasonings)
5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tsp dried oregano
S&P, to taste

Bring the water and bouillon cube to a boil, then add your chopped up carrot and celery.

Cook this over medium-high heat for five minutes before adding the leftover cabbage roll filling, chopped cabbage leaves along with the Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste.

Stew all of this in the pot for another ten minutes before adding your seasonings to finish it all off with another three to five minutes of cook time.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on the side if desired.

Feel free to change this up to your liking as you make this recipe over the years. If I had thought about this properly, I may have added a Bay leaf or two to the pot at the top also.

Yields about 4 servings.

Homemade Roasted Peppers

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peppers2[ Roasted Peppers – image from Google Images ]

Bet you didn’t know how easy it is to roast your own peppers at home. It is. And I do this often. I love roasted peppers. They are the perfect burger and sandwich topper in my books. I eat them all year long. Over chicken, over beef, over pork, over turkey — there is nothing that can’t be improved by being topped with roasted peppers. Nothing.

This is my method for roasted peppers done bare bones style, but certainly you can store the finished roasted peppers in a jar with some mild homemade oil-based brine if you like. I wouldn’t fill the jar with the brine until after all the peppers have been placed inside it. And even then, I wouldn’t fill the jar more than a third of the way with the brine because, as the roasted peppers rest in the fridge, they will release liquid from the cooked meal. That typically fills the jar up about half way.

Okay, here’s how I do my roasted peppers:

First turn your oven on to its broiler setting, then wash, dry and cut up the peppers into manageable sections so the peeling stage isn’t a huge mess and risky (since I’m klutzy and have a habit of dropping everything I come into contact with).

From there, I place the peppers flesh down on a lined baking sheet. I use parchment paper, but when I run out, I use tin foil and it works just as well. You’ll want something on the baking pan because the charring goo tends to burn and stick to your pans, and trust me – no one has time for that kind of cleaning nightmare!

When you have all the peppers on your lined baking pan, place it on the middle rack and leave the door ajar about 1-2 inches. Set your oven timer for 15 minutes and wait. And try not to panic when you see the skins turning black. All of them. All over. This is what you’re after. It’s totally normal, and ok.

RoastedPeppers-Broiling[ Click to embiggen ]

RoastedPeppers-Blackened[ Click to embiggen ]

After they’re done broiling, take the baking pan out and immediately move the peppers to a waiting bowl or dish you can cover with plastic wrap. Cover the bowl and let the heat sweat the skin off of the meal for 5-10 minutes. When you can hold them in your hand without needing burn cream, you’re ready to get down to business. 🙂

After 15 minutes, grab a small bowl and pull back the plastic wrap, and prepare to get your hands dirty. And wet, and sorta icky. The fun’s about to get started, kids! 😀

RoastedPeppers-Sweating[ Click to embiggen ]

Holding a section at a time in your hands, start pushing the skin away from the flesh. You should be able to do this with complete ease. If you get a few peppers with some attached skin, put those peppers back on the baking pan and roast them another 5 minutes before sweating them again for five minutes. Don’t panic, this happens to me once in awhile, too. It’s no big deal.

RoastedPeppers-Peeling[ Click to embiggen ]

You should be able to get your thumb or finger under the skin and push, pull or pinch the skin away from the pepper meal when the roasting is completed. Discard the skin into the small bowl before green binning it during your clean up.

When the whole lot has been skinned completely, carefully place them into a glass jar with a tight fitting or sealing lid. Let the full jar rest 10 minutes on your counter until you can hold the jar without it feeling too hot to handle. At that point, you can put it into your fridge to stop the continued cooking process. Ideally you’ll want to place this on a shelf away from any dairy that can curdle for the first 12 hours. After that, I tend to store mine in the fridge door because they never last long enough to spoil anyway.

Pick the peppers out of the jar with tongs or a fork to enjoy without the juice. If the peppers are too wet for your liking, dab them with a paper towel before consuming them. When serving the roasted peppers to a crowd, strain the whole jar into a bowl with a small mesh strainer in it to catch the peppers. Reserve the juices in the jar for the leftovers, if there any.

Enjoy liberally as part of your next antipasto plate, or on top of meat, in and on top of a veggy dip, as part of a rice skillet, or in a deli or panini sandwich!