This is the last of the Wholefully pumpkin seed recipes! Tasty, but I think it needed more dill.

Dill Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Wholefully

Ingredients

• ½ C pumpkin seeds, cleaned
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp dry dill, or 1 tsp dill seeds, ground
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Toss all ingredients together.
2. Bake at 300°F for 30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy, stirring every 10.

A win from Hello Fresh, this recipe takes a while to come together but isn't particularly difficult, and was a big hit with everyone. The chicken is optional but adds some welcome protein.

Mushroom Risotto with Chicken

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 400g mixed cremini, button, and oyster mushrooms
• two large sprigs of sage
• 4 tsp vegetable broth concentrate
• 6 C water
• 500g chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1+2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1½ C arborio rice
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 125g baby spinach
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ C white wine
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• ½ C grated parmesan
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp chili flakes

Directions

1. Trim stems from button and cremini mushrooms. Slice caps thinly and retain both caps and stems separately.
2. Hand-shred oyster mushrooms.
3. Strip sage leaves from stems; retain both separately.
4. Combine sage stems, mushroom stems, water, and broth concentrate in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, covered, then reduce heat to medium-low and leave covered.
5. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large, deep-sided skillet over medium-high heat.
6. Add the chicken and cook until cooked through and nicely browned; remove and buffer.
7. Add the remaining olive oil and the sage leaves. Cook until the sage is crispy, ~1 minute. Remove and buffer with the chicken.
8. Add the sliced mushroom caps, oyster mushroom shreds, and onions. Cook, stirring often, until softened, ~6 minutes.
9. Stir in the garlic salt, chili flakes, black pepper to taste, rice, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant and rice is coated, 1-2 minutes.
10. Add wine and cook until wine is absorbed, 1-2 minutes.
11. Reduce heat to medium.
12. Add 1 cup broth from the simmering pot (leave stems behind). Cook, stirring often, until broth is fully absorbed.
13. Repeat prior step until 5-6C of broth have been absorbed, rice is tender, and overall texture is creamy.
14. Stir in spinach and let wilt.
15. Stir in parmesan and butter until fully melted and incorporated.
16. Top with fried sage and chicken strips and serve with salad.

We still have a bunch of leftover beef stew to work or way through, so I didn't end up needing to cook a new main for dinner tonight. We were running low on vegetables though, so I decided to give this cauliflower gratin a go.

It was pretty good! The capers and chile flakes were a nice addition to the sauce. I don't think it's my favourite cauliflower dish, but it's a perfectly serviceable way to use up a head of cauliflower.

Cauliflower Gratin

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, leaves trimmed
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 3 1/2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. capers, minced
• 1 tsp. red chile flakes
• 1/3 c. panko

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Place a steamer basket in a medium pot over 4-5cm of boiling water.
3. Add the cauliflower to the steamer, cover, and steam for ~15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
5. Remove from heat and whisk in flour.
6. Return to heat and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
7. Slowly whisk in the milk and keep mixing until smooth.
8. Mix in salt and pepper.
9. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until sauce is thickened (10-15 minutes).
10. Once the cauliflower has finished steaming, remove from steamer and allow to cool slightly.
11. Cut into 8 wedges and place them in the prepared casserole dish.
12. Mix the capers and chile flakes into the sauce and pour it over the cauliflower.
13. Melt the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
14. Add the breadcrumbs and fry, stirring frequently, until golden (3-5 minutes).
15. Top the cauliflower with the fried breadcrumbs.
16. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20-30 minutes.
17. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (Edmonds)

Looking at the blog, we have made A LOT of chocolate cakes over the years! From the Kidlet's beloved Mississippi mud pie to our recent adventures with Texas sheet cake, cupcakes (in various flavours), snack cakes, mug cakes, Bundt cakes (including the formidable tunnel of fudge), sourdough cakes, flourless cakes, square cakes, round cakes... even train-shaped cakes! Not to mention the phenomenal chocolate pecan torte or the double chocolate banana bread recipes that we've got kicking around. So, what I'm saying is that we really like our chocolate cakes¹.

Given that, I know I don't really need any more chocolate cake recipes. We've already got lots of great ones. But I haven't tried all the Edmonds cake recipes yet! And I had some buttermilk in the fridge that really wanted using up. So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a new chocolate cake recipe!

It's actually written as a gluten-free recipe using "Edmonds gluten free plain flour". But, since none of us are celiac or otherwise avoiding gluten at the moment, I just made it with regular soft (pastry) flour.

The icing was nice and easy to make. And the relative lack of butter meant that it tolerated my impatience well when I spread it onto a still-warm cake. I did end up needing to add a lot more wet ingredients than the recipe called for though. I used ~30% more butter and twice as much milk as called for. Plus I added a tsp. of vanilla extract! It was fine once the extra milk went in though. Just be careful with how much you use and add it in very small increments so that you don't overshoot.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Slightly adapted form Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 c. butter²
• 125g dark chocolate
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. 1:1 gluten-free flour or soft (plain/standard/pastry) flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Icing

• 190g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 1/3 c. cocoa powder³
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 22cm (9") round cake tin. (Use cocoa powder instead of flour if you want to be fancy.)
2. Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring often.
3. Remove from heat and mix in sugar.
4. Stir in buttermilk and eggs.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the pot. Add the salt on top.
6. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40-45 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and cool in tin for 10 minutes.
10. Turn cake out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Meanwhile, sift the icing sugar and the cocoa together.
12. Use a wooden spoon to mix in the butter, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp. of the milk.
13. Add the remaining milk 1/2 tsp. at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
14. Once cake has cooled, transfer it to a platter and spread the icing in an even layer over the top and sides.

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¹ And cake-adjacent baked goods. I didn't even get into all the brownies and chocolate cookies and various other things that we've made over the years. ^Back
2 I used unsalted butter, but I believe that salted is standard for most Kiwi recipes. Either is probably fine in this case. ^Back
3 I used Dutched/alkalized cocoa for this, but natural cocoa is also fine here. ^Back

Huevos Rancheros (Breakfast Bible Version)

This is a very different take on huevos rancheros than my usual approach. It has a lot of the same elements: tomato sauce, beans, eggs, tortillas, cheese. But each one takes a different form than I'm used to. The tomato sauce is smooth rather than chunky and contains no bell peppers. The beans are kept separate from everything else. The eggs are fried rather than poached in the sauce. The tortillas are corn rather than wheat. And the cheese is queso fresco (or feta) rather than cheddar.

I'm not sure which recipe is more "authentic". That may not even be a meaningful question to ask. Maybe it's neither. Maybe it's both and the differences just reflect regional variations. Regardless of origin or "authenticity", they're both tasty. I think I like the results produced by this recipe better. But the Jamie Oliver version is easier and allows for a one-pan preparation. So, I guess which one wins out depends on how effort-full you're feeling.

The original recipe calls for a mix of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. I didn't have any tomato sauce on hand and didn't feel like making any from scratch, so I just sort of faked it with tomato paste and spices. I figured it would work out fine since you just end up cooking and reducing the sauce afterward anyway. And, indeed, it produced delicious results!

NB: Two things should be noted about the photo above. The first is that I forgot to add the cheese and cilantro before taking this photo, so just try to imagine it with some extra toppings on. The second is that I could only find teeny, tiny corn tortillas at the grocery store, so the proportions here are a little off. Buy (or make) larger tortillas if you can. It will make your breakfast much easier to eat!

Huevos Rancheros

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. corn (or other neutral) oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. dried minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. dried minced onion
• 1 small can (~400mL) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 chipotle in adobo + 1/2 tsp. sauce
• ~2 c. cooked black beans, warmed
• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. crumbled queso fresco or feta
• ~1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat 2 tsp. of the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic, and jalape&ntile;o and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables have acquired a little colour.
3. Push the onion mixture to the side of the pan and add the tomato paste in the middle. Cook for a minute or two.
4. Add the cumin, coriander, Italian seasoning, and dried oregano and cook, stirring often, for another 30-60 seconds.
5. Transfer to a blender along with diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, chili powder, chipotle, and its sauce and purée.
6. Return sauce to pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened (20-30 minutes).
8. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 95°C (200°F) and place some ovenproof plates in the oven to warm up.
9. Heat the remaining 1 tsp. of oil over medium heat.
10. Warm the tortillas in the pan, one at a time, cooking for ~30 seconds per side until warmed through and slightly crisp on the outside while remaining pliable overall.
11. Place one or two tortillas on each plate.
12. Fry the eggs, four at a time, in the now-empty pan (adding a little more oil if necessary). Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
13. Place an egg on top of each tortilla.
14. Top with sauce, garnish with cheese and cilantro, and serve with beans on the side.

I wasn't entirely sold on the combination of beef and pumpkin for this stew, but I wanted to give it a shot and, actually, it really works! The mint doesn't really come through that much, but the cinnamon does and it adds a fantastic warmth to the meal. I'd be tempted to add a few parsnips or some other veggies next time, but I don't think it needs it. It's great as is.

The recipe is written for a slow cooker, so I made this stew in the InstantPot. And that worked quite well. It meant that I could do a little work in the morning and then just leave it to slow cook all day with very little "hands on" time. That said, I do think a stew like this would be excellent made in a big Dutch oven on the stovetop. It wouldn't be quite as set-it-and-forget-it as using a slow cooker/InstantPot, but it would still require very little active time and might produce even better results. Maybe something to try for next time...

Beef & Pumpkin Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1.3-1.5kg stewing beef
• 1 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/3 c. dry red wine
• 8 tsp. red wine vinegar, divided
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 5-cm pieces
• 1 (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 c. beef or chicken stock
• 450g baking pumpkin, peeled and cut into 5-cm pieces
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped

Directions

1. Season the beef with 1/2 Tbsp. of the salt and all of the pepper.
2. Set InstantPot to "sauté medium" and heat up 1 Tbsp. of the oil.¹
3. Sear the beef in batches, flipping and turning to get good colour on all sides.
4. Remove beef from pot and set aside.
5. Add onion, thyme, and bay leaves and cook until onion softens (~6 minutes).
6. Add garlic and cinnamon stick and cook for another minute or two.
7. Pour in the wine and 2 Tbsp. of the vinegar and deglaze the pan.
8. Add the carrots, tomatoes, and beef stock.
9. Return the seared beef to the pot.
10. Cover and cook on low ("slow cook low") for 5 hours.²
11. Stir in pumpkin, increase heat to "high" and continue to slow cook until pumpkin is tender (1-2 hours).³
12. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 2 tsp. of vinegar into the remaining 1 Tbsp. of olive oil.
13. Mix in the remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt.
14. Stir in the green onions and mint.
15. Once the pumpkin is tender, stir in the green onion mixture, season to taste with additional salt and pepper, and serve.

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¹ Or heat oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. ^Back
2 Might only need 3 or 4 if doing stovetop method. Cook over low heat, stirring very occasionally, until beef is tender. Add a little more liquid if it starts to get too dry. ^{Back 3} For stovetop, increase heat to medium-low and continue cooking, covered, stirring occasionally, until pumpkin is tender. ^Back

I was supposed to make a beef and pumpkin stew for dinner last night, but I forgot about it until mid-afternoon and by then it was too late to start it. I'm making that stew today instead, but, in the meantime, I needed to find something else for dinner last night. I ended up settling on this lamb and pea salad combo.

The recipe calls for eight lamb chops. It specifies how thick they should be cut, but not which part of the lamb they should be cut from. I'm used to "lamb chops" without further disambiguation meaning loin chops. And, conveniently, I had a bunch of thos in the freezer. I only had seven, not eight, but I figured that was close enough. It wasn't until this morning, when I happened to glance at the next page of the cookbook and saw the recipe photo that I realized they had been intending for this to be made with rib chops. Or maybe it doesn't matter and any sort of lamb chops will work fine! I'm not sure, but I can at least now vouch for the success of loin chops. They worked very well for this.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Pea Salad

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Lamb

• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 8 lamb chops (loin or rib, cut ~3cm thick)
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• pepper, to taste

Salad

• 3 c. peas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh mint, minced
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 100g feta, crumbled
• pepper, to taste

Directions

Lamb

1. Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic paste, and olive oil and mix well.
2. Place the marinade in a shallow dish and add the lamb chops. Marinate for 30-60 minutes, turning halfway through.
3. Set up your grill for direct heat cooking and allow it to preheat for 5-10 minutes.
4. Season the lamb with salt and sear over direct heat for 3-5 minutes per side.
5. Once lamb is cooked to desired doneness, remove from heat, season to taste with black pepper, and let rest for ~5 minutes.

Salad

1. If using fresh peas, blanch them in salted water for a minute or two and then shock in cold water to stop cooking. For frozen peas, simply thaw and proceed with recipe.
2. Toss peas with mint and oil.
3. Just before serving, stir in the vinegar and feta.
4. Season to taste with black pepper and serve with lamb chops.

I got a long pie pumpkin in my produce basket a few weeks ago. I'd never seen or heard of such a thing before! They're apparently a heritage variety that gets harvested while still green and then gradually turns orange afterward.

I didn't have any specific plans for it. I just really wanted to try one. So it's been sitting on the kitchen table for the last few weeks waiting for me to come up with a good use for it. I found a bunch of tempting-looking pumpkin recipes and debated between which one(s) to try. Eventually I settled on this pumpkin and apple brown betty. It looked easy and tasty and I liked that it was specifically writeen to use a fresh pumpkin (rather than canned pumpkin purée).

I really like how this recipe came out (and so did TF and the Kidlet). And I actually think making it with a long pie pumpkin worked out better than if I'd used one of the "standard" round pie pumpkins (sugar pie, autumn gold, etc.). Rather than cutting the top of a round pumpkin and hollowing it out, I was able to just cut the long pumpkin in half. The long, relatively shallow boat formed by the scooped out half pumpkin fit much better in the baking dish than a round pumpking would have. And this meant that I was able to cover the dish with its normal lid rather than having to use foil. My pumpkin also cooked in about half the time the recipe recommended for baking. I assume that this was down to the shape of the pumpkin and having more surface area for heat exchange. And, of course, this still left the other half of the pumpkin available for another use. So, pretty great all 'round¹!

Pumpkin-Apple Brown Betty

Slightly adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 pie pumpkin (or 1/2 a long pie pumpkin)
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 c. cubed bread²
• 2 apples (preferably Gala), peeled and cubed
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. raisins (preferably golden)
• 1 Tbsp. rum
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/4 c. maple syrup, to serve (optional)
• 1/2 c. or more cream (runny or whipped) or ice cream, to serve (optional)
• 1/4 c. pumpkin granola, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. If using a round pie pumpkin: Cut the top off and scoop out the guts.
   If using a long pumpkin: Cut in half and scoop out the guts.
3. Melt 2 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the bread and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned (4-5 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
5. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter to the now empty pan.
6. Add the apples, brown sugar, and raisins and cook for 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the rum, vanilla, and mixed spice.
8. Return the bread to the pan and stir to combine. Set aside.
9. Place the pumpkin (or 1 pumpkin half) in a baking dish.
10. Fill the cavity with the bread mixture.
11. If using a round pumpkin, place the pumpkin "lid" back on top.
12. Pour boiling water into the baking dish around the pumpkin to a depth of ~2cm.
13. Cover loosely with foil (or the lid of the baking dish, if appropriate).
14. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 1-2 hours. (Closer to 1 hour for a long pumpkin, 2 for a round one.)
15. Once pumpkin flesh is very tender, remove the foil and pumpkin lid (if present).
16. Return pumpkin to oven and bake until filling looks nicely browned (5-10 minutes).
17. When serving, scrape the pumpkin flesh from the skin and mix it with the filling.
18. Drizzle with maple syrup, granola, and/or (whipped) cream. Alternatively top with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream (and optional granola, if desired).

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¹ Or oblong, as it were. ;P ^Back
2 The original recipe only called for 1 c. of bread. One slice of bread wasn't quite enough and two slices was too much. But I like bread, so I just decided to put it all in. I was happy with how the proportions came out with that amount of bread, so I think I'll just keep doing it that way in the future. ^Back

These are not cinnamon rolls as I normally think of them. There's no icing. No spiral of cinnamon and sugar. They're shaped just like dinner rolls, but with a sweet, slightly salty, baked-on cinnamon glaze. And they are delicious!

Sadly, I don't think I remembered to snap a photo of these before they were all devoured. And it's been a while since I made them, so I can't remember a lot of the specifics about the baking process. I normally follow the recipe pretty closely for stuff like this though and I don't recall encountering any particular problems, so I assume everything went fine. I know the results were great and everyone really liked them!

Ideally I would have done the write-up for this recipe within a day or two of making the buns. But sometimes things just don't work out that way. And I figure I'd rather have a belated write-up than none at all!

Stroud's Cinnamon Rolls

From Cook's Country June/July 2020

Ingredients

Dough

• 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. milk, warmed to ~45°C (115°F)
• 1 large egg
• 300g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened

Coating

• 250g (~1 1/4 c.) sugar
• 4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Whisk egg into milk.
2. Add flour and yeast and mix well¹.
3. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.
4. Add sugar and salt and knead for ~10 minutes (5 minutes with a dough hook on medium-low), gradually working in the butter as you go.
5. Knead for another 10-15 minutes (or 5 more minutes with the dough hook).
6. Shape into a smooth ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for ~1 hour.
7. Meanwhile, combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
8. Transfer ~3/4 c. of the sugar mixture to a separate container and put the remaining sugar mixture in a shallow dish.
9. Put half of the melted butter (6 Tbsp.) in another shallow dish.
10. Grease a 9x13" (23x33cm) baking dish.
11. Knock back the dough and divide into 15 equal portions (~37g each) and round each one into a tight, smooth ball.
12. Roll the dough balls in the melted buter and then in the cinnamon sugar.
13. Arrange the coated dough balls into 5 rows of 3 in the baking dish, cover, and let rise for ~1 hour. (It's okay if the coating "cracks" during rising.)
14. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
15. Bake rolls until golden brown (~25 minutes).
16. Whisk the reserved 3/4 c. sugar mixture into the remaining 6 Tbsp. of melted butter.
17. Brush tops and sides of hot rolls with butter mixture. Use all of it!
18. Leave rolls to cool in baking dish for 10 minutes.
19. Remove from baking dish and serve warm.

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¹ I just mixed everything by hand because I didn't have a stand mixer at that point. However, the recipe suggests mixing on low for ~2 minutes with a dough hook if you have one. ¹

This recipe is from a while ago. So long ago that I don't clearly remember making it or what substitutions and adjustments (if any) we made. I think we stuck pretty close to the recipe. Possibly just substituting California chilies for the pasilla since the latter tend to be fairly difficult to find here.

Despite not remembering the details of making this dish, I do remember the results. Much like other adobo recipes that we've tried, it did produce tender meat in a tasty sauce. I remember it being good. But I also remember feeling somewhat disappointed and let down because the results of this slow cooker version paled in comparison to the stovetop- and oven-cooked one that we made a few years earlier: Beef in Adobo. Although both recipes include very similar ingredients and proportions, making it in the slow cooker just couldn't deliver the same results. So, while I appreciate the convenience of being able to throw everything in the pot and walk away, I prefer the results of the slightly more involved cooking methods from the earlier recipe.

Slow Cooker Adobo-Braised Beef

From Cook's Country June/July 2020

Ingredients

• 45g dried ancho or guajillo chilies, stemmed
• 30g dried pasilla or California chilies, stemmed
• 3/4 c. salsa verde
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 1/4 c. lime juice
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground and divided
• ~1.3kg stewing beef
• tortillas, to serve
• 125g queso fresco or feta, crumbled
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Use kitchen shears to cut chilies in half lengthwise and discard the seeds.
2. Cut chilies into 2-3cm pieces.
3. Toast chilies over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant (~5 minutes).
4. Transfer to bowl and cover with hot water. Let stand ~5 minutes, then drain.
5. Add salsa verde, orange juice, lime juice, sugar, cumin, garlic, chilies, 1 tsp. of the salt, oregano, and 1/2 tsp. of the pepper to a blender and purée until smooth. Pour into slow cooker.
6. Season beef with remaining 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper and add to slow cooker with sauce. Stir to combine.
7. Cover and cook until tender (4-5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low).
8. Serve with warmed tortillas, queso fresco, and cilantro. Chopped avocado, sliced radishes, and minced red onion also make nice toppings.

I've been continuing to work my way through various pumpkin recipes while they're in season here. So far I've made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, a pumpkin-apple brown betty (which I haven't had a chance to do a write-up for yet), and two different kinds of pumpkin bread. I've also got a beef and pumpkin stew queued up. But for today, I decided to give this pumpkin granola recipe a try.

Now, first thing's first: I like this granola a lot. Especially the walnuts; they go very well with the spices and toast up really nicely as the granola cooks and come out with a beautiful warm, deep flavour. And, while the nut/seed butter in the wet ingredient mixture isn't front-and-centre in this recipe, it adds a lovely richness to the whole thing. So yes, I really enjoyed this granola.

That said... I probably would try changing a few things next time.

I only had peanut butter and tahini to choose from nut/seed butter-wise, so I went with tahini for this iteration. And it was great! But I'd love to try tripling down on the pumpkin next time and try using pumpkin seed butter instead.

And, while I'm at it, I'd also be inlined to up the pumpkin purée slightly. It was fine as is, but it seemed like it would probably take extra pumpkin well too. And, while the final granola was very tasty, it did not actually taste very pumpkin-y too me, so I'd like to try cramming even more pumpkin into it next time if possible.

Pumpkin Granola

Slightly adapted from Jessica in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp. mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seed butter (or tahini or almond butter)
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine the oats, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and spice blend and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the seed (or nut) butter, maple syrup, pumpkin, and sea salt and mix well.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix very thoroughly.
5. Spread the granola out on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through.
6. Mix in the dried cranberries (if using).

I got a bunch of potatoes for Thanksgiving and then didn't end up making any potato dishes at all that weekend. So I've been working on ways to use them up since then.

The veggie hash used up some, but I still had a bunch left. This frittata seemed like a nice way to put a dent in the remaining supply. It takes a while to get the potatoes nicely cooked, and I felt like the leeks may have over-cooked somewhat in that time, but they still produced a decent final result. Next time I might try doubling the leeks and adding them a little later in the cooking proess though. Still a very nice way to start the day.

Spanish Tortilla with Leeks

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 leeks
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 680g potatoes (preferably Yukon Gold), sliced ~3mm thick
• 1 clove garlic, sliced (optional)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg whites
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Trim the root end and dark green leaves from the leeks. Halve or quarter the remaining leeks and wash well in a bowl of cold water. Make sure to get all the dirt and grit out! Remove from water and set aside.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
4. Add the leeks and garlic, mix well, and cook until potatoes are tender and somewhat browned (another 10 minutes or so).
5. Remove potato mixture from pan and set aside.
6. Beat the eggs with the egg white and a little salt.
7. Lightly grease the pan if it looks like it neds it.
8. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the egg mixture and the potato mixture.
9. Use a spatula or lifter to push the vegetables down and form an even surface with the potatoes at least mostly submerged in the egg.
10. Cook for ~5 minutes, then use a spatula to loosen the tortilla and check to see how brown the underside is. If it's well-browned already, you can try flipping your tortilla over. Otherwise, cook for another 3-5 minutes and then flip.
11. To flip the tortilla: Use a spatula to loosen it and then slide it out onto a plate, then invert onto another plate or back into the pan.
12. Continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes.
13. Cut into wedges and serve. May be served warm or room temperature.

I've been really craving sweet potatoes lately, so this potato and sweet potato hash really caught my eye.

Spicy Veggie Hash

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 680g sweet potatoes, cubed
• 680g potatoes, cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 c. corn
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 8-12 eggs
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• lime wedges, to serve
• ketchup, to serve
• hot sauce, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Toss the potatoes and sweet potatoes with 1 Tbsp. of the oil and spread on a baking sheet.
3. Roast at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes. Stir/flip, then roast for another 15 minutes. Keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat.
5. Add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño and cook, stirring often, until tender (~10 minutes).
6. Stir in the corn, garlic, and cumin and cook until heated through (~3 minutes).
7. Combine the potatoes and other veggies and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Keep the hash warm while you cook the eggs. Cook 1-2 eggs per person by whatever method you prefer. Poached, fried, or scrambled works best.
9. Top hash with eggs, garnish with cilantro, and serve with lime wedges, ketchup, and/or hot sauce on the side.

I'm not a huge fan of fennel, but I still like to try out fennel recipes every once in a while. You never know if this might be the recipe that changes your mind about a particular ingredient. So, I gave this recipe a go. (Although I did cut back on the fennel somewhat.)

Sadly, I don't think this recipe has changed my opinion of fennel. It wasn't bad. The fish was very nice. But it's breaded, fried fish... what's not to like? But the fennel compote left me cold. I didn't hate it, but I couldn't help feeling like it was detracting from my enjoyment of the fish. So, all-in-all, probably not a recipe that I'll be revisiting. But, at least now I know. And I can check one more fennel recipe off my list.

Breaded Sole with Fennel Compote

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large fennel bulb, cored and sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground and divided
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground and divided
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. white wine
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk
• 1/8 tsp. hot sauce
• 1 c. panko
• 1/4 c. flour
• ~750g sole fillets
• 2-3 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add the fennel slices, half of the salt, and half of the pepper.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (~4 minutes).
4. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, wine, and sugar.
5. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fennel is very tender (~7 minutes). Keep warm while fish cooks.
6. Heat the 1/4 c. of oil over medium heat.
7. Beat the egg with the milk, hot sauce, and remaining salt and pepper and place in a wide, shallow bowl.
8. Combine the panko and flour and place on a large plate (or another wide, shallow bowl).
9. Dip the fish in the egg to completely coat.
10. Working with one fillet at a time, dip in the breadcrumbs to completely coat, then transfer to the hot pan. Repeat with remaining fish. You may have to cook it in batches if your pan is not large enough. Add up to another 2 Tbsp. of oil as needed during cooking.
11. Cook until the breading is golden-brown on both sides and fish is cooked through (3-4 minutes per side).
12. Serve fish topped with fennel and garnished with parsley.

'Tis the season for pumpkins, gourds, and winter squash of all kinds. The stores and produce baskets are full of a wonderful variety of hubbards, acorn squash, pie pumpkins, and all kinds of other wonderful stuff beyond the ever-present butternuts and spaghetti squash. I even got a long pie pumpkin!

Canned pumpkin has also suddenly gone on sale, so I've been stocking up on that as well.

I haven't had a chance to crack open the long pie pumpkin yet (although I do have plans for it). In the meantime, I've been enjoying checking off some of the canned pumpkin recipes that I'd been waiting for a chance to try. I still have a few more queued up, but I'm trying to spread them out a little.

After I made the pumpkin pancakes, I was hoping to find a pumpkin bread recipe in my Bernard Clayton book to use up the leftover pumpkin purée. And there was, indeed, a pumpkin bread recipe in the vegetable chapter. However, it was for a sweet quick bread, rather than a yeasted bread like I'd been hoping for. Don't get me wrong, I still made it and it was very good! I just really wanted to try making a yeast-leavened pumpkin bread.

Fortunately, the Internet and another tin of pumpkin pur&e;e sorted out that particular desire. I found this recipe for an adorable yeasted pumpkin loaf on the Food Network website. The dough is quite wet and soft, so it can be a bit difficult to handle, but the results are excellent. This recipe produces a rich, tender, slightly sweet, and lightly spiced loaf that comes out almost like a brioche (without all the butter)! I really like it. And, while tying the strings to produce the pumpkin shape was a bit fiddly, it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't do it again in the future. Especially when it produces such fun results!

Pumpkin Bread

Slightly adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. milk
• 3/4 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, divided
• 400g all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 (3"/7cm) cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. water

Directions

1. If using traditional (active dry yeast): Warm the milk to ~45°C (~115°F), sprinkle in the yeast, and let stand for 5 minutes first. Then proceed as directed.
   If using instant yeast: Combine the milk, pumpkin purée, sugar, and one of the eggs and mix well.
2. In a large bowl, combine 360g of the flour, yeast (if using instant), salt, and spices and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the wet ingredients.
4. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet, working from the centre outward.
5. Sprinkle the rest of the flour on the work surface and tip the dough out onto it.
6. Knead the dough for ~5 minutes, gradually working in the remaining flour.
7. Once all the flour has been incorporated, pour the oil onto the work surface and continue kneading the dough until the oil has been incorporated.
8. Continue kneading until the dough becomes supple and elastic and less prone to tearing. Add small sprinkles of additional flour if necessary, but use a light hand and be careful not to add too much. The dough should be very soft!
9. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for 60-90 minutes (depending on room temperature).
10. Knock the dough back, knead it for a few strokes, and shape into a smooth ball.
11. Grease a baking sheet and place three pieces of cooking twine on it. The pieces of twine should be 50-60cm long and arranged in a * pattern so that you have six rays radiating out from a central point.
12. Place the dough ball on top of the twine star so that it is centred over the centre of the star.
13. Tie the twine together above the top of the dough ball. Leave a gap of several cm so that the dough has room to expand.
14. Push the cinnamon stick down into the centre of the dough so that it protrudes near where the twine is tied. This will be the stem of the pumpkin.
15. Carefully cover and set aside to rise for 30-45 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
17. Beat the remaining egg with the water and gently brush the egg wash onto the risen dough. Try to cover the whole surface of the dough while avoiding getting egg on either the baking sheet or the twine.¹
18. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~30 minutes.
19. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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¹ Egg on the twine will make it more difficult to remove from the bread once it's baked and egg on the baking sheet makes the bread more difficult to get off the pan. ^Back

These were supposed to be parfaits composed of layers of sautéed apples and pears, topped with chopped walnuts and crystalized ginger. The pear-walnut-ginger combo sounded great!

I ran out of walnuts last week and I haven't had a chance to restock yet, but I figured it would be fine to substitute some chopped pecans for the walnuts. Pear-pecan isn't the classic combo that pear-walnut is, but it's still nice. Unfortunately, when I went to start peeling my pears this morning, I found they'd gone off and were unsalvageable. So, for this iteration, I ended up having to make it entirely with apples, rather than the pear-apple mix that the recipe called for. It was still good, but I think it'd be even nicer with pears.

Apple-Pear-Walnut Parfaits

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 pears, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
• 3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 6 Tbsp. walnuts, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. crystalized ginger, minced

Directions

1. Heat the butter over medium heat and cook until it browns (~2 minutes).
2. Add the apples, pears, and cinnamon sugar and cook until slightly softened (~4 minutes).
3. Spoon ~6 Tbsp. of yogurt into each jar, top with ~4 Tbsp. of the apple-pear mixture, then add another 6 Tbsp. of yogurt and 4 Tbsp. of fruit. If there's any extra fruit left over, divide it among the jars.
4. Top each parfait with ~2 Tbsp. of the nut mixutre.

I ended up making this salad with mixed baby greens rather than just spinach. And, as I often do with homemade salad dressings, I reduced the oil and increased the acidic component. Other than that, I stuck to the recipe. It takes a while to roast the beets, but is very straightforward other than that. I thought it would be a pain to section the oranges, but it wasn't too bad. Just make sure you have a nice, sharp knife.

Spinach Salad with Oranges and Roasted Beets

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 250g beets
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 navel or blood oranges
• 185g baby spinach

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Wash the beets and trim off the greens.
3. Wrap in foil and roast at 190°C (375°F) until fork tender (45-60 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, add the shallot, salt, and pepper to the lemon juice and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
5. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking vigorously.
6. Once tender, remove beets from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.
7. While beets are cooling, secton the oranges: trim off both ends and then cut around the sides of the orange, following the contours, to remove the peel and pith; next cut along the membrane on both sides of each section to produce tidy, membrane-less wedges of citrus.
8. Once the beets have cooled, peel them and cut into wedges to match the size of the orange sections.
9. Place the spinach in a salad bowl and add the oranges and beets.
10. Toss with the dressing and serve.

As written this dish seems really short on inclusions. It calls for ¼ lb of meat and only one cup of peas. It also wants an entire cup of roux for 1L of milk! We tweaked it significantly; doubled the meat, tripled the peas, halved the roux, used different cheeses and added pepper. So it's diverged somewhat from the original. It's pretty tasty though!

Baked Pasta with Back Bacon and Peas

Adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 14)

Ingredients

• ¼ C unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• ¼ C all-purpose flour
• 1 L milk
• 1 parmesan rind (optional)
• ⅛ tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 C grated romano cheese
• 1 C grated swiss cheese
• 250g cooked back bacon, diced
• 3 C frozen peas
• black pepper
• 500g orecchiette or similar pasta
• ½ C panko

Directions

1. Grease a 9×13" baking pan with butter. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Melt the butter in a large, deep-sided skillet over medium heat.
3. Stir in the flour to form a roux and cook for 1 minute.
4. Whisk in the milk (and add the parmesan rind, if you have one) and cook, simmering gently, until it thickens, ~10 minutes.
5. Fish out the rind. Stir in the nutmeg, both cheeses, back bacon, and peas. Season, generously, with black pepper.
6. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until it's two minutes short of al dente.
7. Drain the pasta and stir it into the sauce. Pour the pasta-sauce mixture into the baking pan and top with panko.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, until the panko is browned and the sauce is bubbling.
9. Let stand 10 minutes and serve with worchestershire sauce.

My mom gave me a recipe for Indian-spiced cauliflower ages ago. I keep meaning to try it but never quite getting to it. But I asked for a cauliflower in my produce basket this week and put it in the meal plan. I wasn't intending to cook it until tomorrow actually. But we were a little short on veggies with dinner last night and I was still feeling hungry, so I grabbed the recipe and got to preparing it.

Our cauliflower was on the small side, and it seemed like a lot of butter for such a small amount of vegetable, so we ended up chopping up a couple carrots and a small delicata squash and tossing them in as well. They roasted up beautifully and meant that we got enough veggies for everyone to enjoy.

I can see why my mom recommended this recipe. It's easy and very tasty. And, based on my results last night, it seems like it adapts to a variety of vegetables quite well. The only thing I might change in the future is to slightly reduce the butter and maybe add a touch of garlic paste. And, if I was doing another mixed vegetable rendition (rather than just cauliflower), I think I'd probably toss in a red onion as well. I think that would be fantastic with these flavours!

Indian-Spiced Roasted Veggies

Adapted from Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground kashmiri chilies (optional)
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into 5cm pieces
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges (optional)
• 1 delicata squash, seeded and sliced (optional)
• 1-4 carrots, cut into coins or sticks (optional)
• 1-4 parsnips, cut into sticks (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, garlic paste (if using), garam masala, cumin, salt, and chilies (if using).
3. Add the cauliflower and any other vegetables you've chosen to use and toss to coat.
4. Spread the veggies out on a baking sheet.
5. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 30-40 minutes, stirring and turning every 10-15 minutes.

I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages. I was just waiting for pumpkin to go on sale so I could make it. Now I'm working my way through all the pumpkin-y recipes that I'd been eyeing up all year.

These muffins are pretty good, but I feel like there's room for improvement. I only made one small adjustment this time -- swapping out some of the white flour for whole wheat -- but I think I'd make even more changes next time. The recipe that follows reflects my suggested changes, not what I actually did. Approach with caution as it is, as yet, untested.

Pumpkin-Marmalade Muffins

Adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 2/3 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1/2 Tbsp. stevia
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/2 c. marmalade
• 6 Tbsp. (90mL) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a muffin tin. This recipe should make 15-18 regular (2"/5cm diameter) muffins.
2. Combine the flours, oats, stevia, salt, mixed spice, and cinnamon.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the pumpkin, marmalade, orange juice concentrate, egg, oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
6. Stir in the walnuts.
7. Spoon the batter into the wells of the muffin tin(s), filling each well 2/3-3/4 full.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in tin for 5-10 minutes.
10. Turn muffins out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
11. If there's any batter left, regrease tin and repeat baking process.

I was in a bit of a hurry and messed this recipe up a bit. I saw that it called for either a spinach-parmesan or a cheddar cheese soufflé, so I just went ahead and made the soufflé as directed. It wasn't until I was halfway through making the soufflé (and had already asked TF to prepare the baking dish) that I noticed that it wanted you to make a bunch of small soufflés rather than one large one. Whoops!

I continued with my large soufflé. I figured it'd work out to about the same thing anyway. Just not as cute and visually appealing.

Unfortunately, again because I was in a hurry, I cut the baking time a little short and my soufflé had a bit of a sturcutral integrity issue when I was unmolding it. It wasn't the end of the world. It needed to go back in the oven again once the sauce and cheese went on anyway. But it did mean that the final dish wasn't very aesthetic.

I've included a photo of my fail soufflé here, just to have something. But please be aware that this isn't what it's actually meant to look like.

Twice-Baked Soufflé in Tomato-Cream Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 recipe soufflé batter for spinach-parmesan soufflé
• 1/2 c. table (18%) cream¹
• 1 (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 c. grated Gruyère or fontina

Directions

1. DO NOT BAKE THE SOUFFLÉ AS DIRECTED IN THE RECIPE.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and generously grease six ramekins² and "flour" them with dry breadcrumbs. Put a kettle on to boil.
3. Divide the soufflé mixture among the ramekins.
4. Run a fingertip around the inside rim of each soufflé.
5. Place a roasting pan or similar large, deep dish in the oven and place the soufflés in it.
6. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
7. Bake until the soufflés are puffed and brown on top (35-40 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and let stand in hot water bath for 10 minutes.
9. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. The soufflés will shrink. This is normal.
10. Run a spatula around the sides of each soufflé and turn them out.
11. Place, browned-side-up, in a large baking dish (or individual gratin dishes).
12. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake again.
13. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
14. Meanwhile, combine the cream and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
15. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the basil.
16. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
17. Stir in the slat and pepper and remove from heat.
18. Spoon the sauce over the soufflés.
19. Sprinkle the tops with the grated cheese.
20. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
21. Serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe calls for 1 c. heavy cream and 1 c. diced tomatoes. I ended up using ~3/4 c. heavy cream + ~1/4 c. 1% milk and ~400mL diced tomatoes. It was delicious like this, but I think it would've been fine with a bit less cream, so I've adjusted it down a bit here. ^Back
2 The recipe calls for six 5-oz. (~150mL) or four 8-oz. (~240mL) ramekins. This doesn't seem like it would provide enough volume though since the soufflé recipe produces enough batter to fill a 6-cup (~1.4L) baking dish. I would think you'd need six 8-oz. ramekins, not four! So... uh, proceed with caution, I guess. ^Back

We've got lots of eggs again, but I wasn't vibing with any of the egg-y breakfast ideas I looked at. I think the cooler weather has put me in the mood for more starch-y, bread-y things. So I decided to take a look at one of the breakfast cookbooks PDFs we have kicking around to see if any of that looked appealing.

The first chapter focuses on granola and oatmeal. I don't really feel like granola is a meal in and of itself, so I just ignored those recipes for now. But oatmeal works as a hot breakfast on a cool morning. I don't find it really fills me up and sticks to my ribs the way everyone seems to claim it does, but it's still nice to have every once in a while. It's quick, easy, reasonably healthy (as long as you don't add too much sugar and junk to it), and I like trying out new flavour combinations.

I ended up opting for the coconut-date-cashew variant for this morning and it was quite good. I decided to top mine with a little plain Greek yogurt rather than milk or cream in the hopes that this swap would make it a little more filling without increasing the calorie count too much. I also used a little "no sugar added" syrup in place of the honey, but I do think honey would have been nicer.

I've included the recipe for the plain oatmeal here with the various flavours and variations below it.

Basic Oatmeal

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats ("old-fashioned" or quick)
• ~1/3 c. milk, cream, or yogurt

Directions

1. Add the salt to the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Add oatmeal, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until thickened (5-6 minutes for old-fashioned oats, 2-3 minutes for quick oats).
3. Serve. Top each portion with ~1 Tbsp. of cream (or milk or yogurt).
4. Enjoy as-is or with additional toppings.

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats ("old-fashioned" or quick)
• ~1/3 c. oat, nut, or soy milk

Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Bananas, and Fresh Figs

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats ("old-fashioned" or quick)
• ~1/3 c. (non-dairy) milk, cream, or yogurt
• ~1/4 c. brown sugar
• 2-3 bananas, sliced
• 8-12 fresh figs, stemmed and quartered
• ~1/4 c. maple syrup¹ (optional)

Top each portion with ~1 Tbsp. of cream (or milk or yogurt), 1-3 tsp. of brown sugar, ~1/2 a banana, 2 figs, and 1-3 tsp. of maple syrup (if using).

Oatmeal with Coconut, Dates, Cashews, and Honey

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats ("old-fashioned" or quick)
• ~1/3 c. (non-dairy) milk, cream, or yogurt
• ~1/3 c. cashews, toasted and chopped
• 8-12 dates, sliced
• ~1/4 c. unsweetened dried coconut
• ~1/4 c. honey

Top each portion with ~1 Tbsp. of cream (or similar), ~1 Tbsp. cashews, 2 dates, 2-3 tsp. of coconut, and 2-3 tsp. of honey.

Strawberry-Rhubarb "Slump"

Ingredients

• 2 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1-cm pieces
• 1 c. strawberries
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 3 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats ("old-fashioned" or quick)
• ~1/3 c. (non-dairy) milk, cream, or yogurt

Directions

1. Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is soft (~10 minutes). Set aside.
3. Cook oatmeal as directed above.
4. Top each portion with ~1 Tbsp. of cream (or similar) and a spoonful of the strawberry-rhubarb compote.

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¹ The original recipe claims to make 4 servings and calls for 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar and 1 Tbsp. of maple syrup per serving. Personally, I feel like the protion size is way too large if you only divide this batch of oatmeal into four. Six seems like a more reasonable division. But even if you then scale down the toppings proportionately, that would mean ~2 tsp. each of sugar and maple syrup per serving. And that seems like way too much sugar to me when you've already got the bananas and the figs in there since they're relatively sweet on their own. Personally, I think I'd probably just roll with the bananas, figs, and a touch of brown sugar and leave out the maple syrup. ^Back

Pumpernickel au Ferment Aigre

This is another "faux" sourdough recipe from my new Bernard Clayton book. It makes a fantastic crusty rye loaf full of molasses and caraway. This may be one of my favourite breads ever. I think it would be interesting to try it as a pure sourdough -- without the added commercial yeast on day 2 -- but this approach certainly works fine and does speed up the process a bit.

I'm still getting used to how to work with rye flour. It is much lower in gluten than wheat flour and the dough tends to be somewhat sticky and flow-y even when at a reasonable hydration and properly kneaded. I think that I got this one just about right, but I know that I definitely need more practice with rye to get a better feel for it. That said, I'm certainly happy with how these loaves came out. They pancaked a bit during baking (possibly slightly overproofed), but the flavour and texture were both excellent, so no complaints here!

Sourdough Pumpernickel

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

Sponge

• 3/4 c. potato water (from cooking potatoes for dough)
• 250g active (fresh/fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour

Dough

• 1 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. cornmeal
• 1 c. mashed potatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast
• 1-2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1-2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 360g rye flour
• 1/2 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. water

Directions

1. Cut up one or two potatoes (more if they're very small) and boil until tender. You want enough to make at least 1 c. of mashed potatoes.
2. Reserve 3/4 c. of the potato cooking water, then drain and mash the potatoes. Do not add any salt or butter!
3. Put the mashed potatoes in the fridge to be used in the dough tomorrow.
4. Combine the starter, molasses, whole wheat flour, and reserved potato water and mix well.
5. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
6. When you are ready to continue with the recipe, whisk the boiling water into the cornmeal.
7. Mix in the mased potatoes.
8. If the potato-cornmeal mixture is still very hot, set it aside to cool a little before adding it to the sponge.
9. Once cooled (body temperature or slightly warmer is fine), add the potato mixture to the sponge.
10. Mix in the yeast, then mix in 1 Tbsp. of the salt.
11. Add the oil and 1 Tbsp. of the caraway seeds.
12. Mix in the rye flour ~1/4 c. at a time.
13. Once most of the rye flour has been incorporated, spread the last 1/4 c. or so on the work surface and turn the dough out on top of it.
14. Knead the dough, gradually working the remaining rye flour in.
15. Keep kneading the dough until it becomes supple. The dough will probably stick to your hands, so keep them well-floured. Once the rye flour is fully incorporated, use the white flour to flour your hands and the work surface as needed. It should hit a point where it starts to smooth out and become somewhat elastic. It will still be sticky at this point, but markedly smoother. Don't try to knead it until the stickiness goes away, it won't. Don't keep adding flour either; the dough will become too stiff. Just use what you need to get it to the point of smoothing out.
16. Once done kneading, round the dough (as best you can) and place it in a covered bowl to rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
17. Once the dough has fully risen, knock it back and divide into two equal portions.
18. Round each portion, cover, and rest for 10-15 minutes.
19. Shape as desired and place on a prepared baking sheet or in bannetons to proof.
20. Cover and proof at room temperature for ~1 hour or overnight in the fridge.
21. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
22. If loaves are not already on a baking sheet, grease a baking sheet, dust it with cornmeal, and turn the loaves out onto the prepared sheet.
23. Beat the egg with the water and brush the loaves with the egg wash.
24. Sprinkle each loaf with either 1/2 Tbsp. of caraway seeds or 1/2 Tbsp. of coarse sea salt.
25. Slash as desired.
26. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 40-50 minutes.
27. Turn oven off and leave loaves in hot oven for another 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

Sponge

• 3/4 c. potato water (from cooking potatoes for dough)
• 250g active (fresh/fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 1/4 c. organic molasses
• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour

Dough

• 1 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. cornmeal
• 1 c. mashed potatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast
• 1-2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1-2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 360g rye flour
• 1/2 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 1 Tbsp. non-dairy milk
• 1/2 tsp. agave syrup

Combine the non-dairy milk and agave syrup and brush it on the loaves before baking. Sprinkle with caraway or coarse salt and bake as directed above.

This was a really nice breakfast. The apples and cottage cheese make it a bit more substantial than pancakes on their own would be.

Photo goes here.

Buckwheat Pancakes with Apples and Cottage Cheese

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 4 apples, sliced
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. buckwehat flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. cottage cheese
• 1-2 Tbsp. raisins, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. stevia
• 3-4 Tbsp. maple syrup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Place the apples in a baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes.
3. Combine flours and sift in baking powder.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, buttermilk, and egg and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk to combine.
6. Heat a pan or tawa over medium heat and grease lightly.
7. Use ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake and cook until browned on both sides and heated through.
8. Mix the raisins, cinnamon, and stevia into the cottage cheese.
9. Top each pancake with apples, cottage cheese, and maple syrup.

This is a simple, sweet quickbread (more of a cake, really). It pumpkin purée into the batter as well lots of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and a generous quantity of chopped walnuts.

I had intended to try to cut the calories in these loaves slightly by replaing some of the butter with unsweetened applesauce, but it turns out that the Kidlet polished off all the applesauce a few days ago, so I wasn't able to test that particular modification. I also think that this recipe would probably work well with whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose, but I decided to not try that substitution just yet. I did did adjust the spices slightly. Instead of 1 tsp. of cinnamon + 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg, I opted for 1 tsp. of mixed spice + 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Really, either way would be fine though.

Pumpkin-Walnut Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. pumpkin (fresh or canned)
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large eggs
• 360g all-purpose flour (or try subbing whole wheat)
• 2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 c. chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease two loaf pans (preferably 8x4"/20x10cm).
2. Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and eggs and mix well.
3. Add the flour (without mixing it in) and sift in the baking powder. Add the mixed spice, cinnamon, and salt as well.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients until almost fulling incorporated. Add the walnuts and continue mixing.
5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the top.
6. Bake at 180°C 350°F) for 45-55 minutes.
7. Let cool in tins for 5-10 minutes, then turn out of tins and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
8. If possible, wrap the loaves in tin foil once cooled and let stand at room temperature for 1-3 days before slicing.

This is an interesting approach to an omelette. It's a little bit like a soufflé... That you then fill and fold in half.

Like I said, interesting.

I did enjoy it though. And it was kind of fun to try something a bit different for breakfast. I did find myself wishing there as more filling though. I mean, I did have slightly less mushrooms than called for but, even so, I feel like the quantity given in the recipe isn't enough for the amount of omelette. I guess the eggs are meant to be the star of the show. The filling is actually listed as completely optional! But I feel it really needs the filling to complete it. And I really liked the filling, so I've doubled all the filling quantities below. Feel free to use less filling if you'd like, but this is how I'd make it if I were going to be doing it again.

Puffed Omelette

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, separated
• pepper, to taste
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 150-200g mushroms¹, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme (or 1/2 Tbsp. fresh)
• 2-4 Tbsp. grated cheddar or Gruyère

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grind a bit of pepper into the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy.
4. Add the water and salt and continue beating until soft peaks form².
5. Add ~1/3 of the whites to the yolk mixture and mix well. Don't worry about deflating the whites at this point. Just make sure everything is evenly mixed. This first portion of whites just helps to loosen and lighten the yolk mixture to make it easier to fold in the remaining whites.
6. Add ~1/2 of the remaining whites and carefully fold them in.
7. Fold in the remaining whites until just combined.
8. Melt a little of the butter (1/2-3/4 tsp.) in a large oven-safe pan over low heat.
9. Add the egg mixture to the pan and cook for ~3 minutes. Do not stir!
10. Transfer the pan to the pan to the oven and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes³.
11. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter over medium heat.
12. Add the mushrooms and cook for ~5 minutes.
13. Add the garlic, parsley, and thyme and cook for another minute or so.
14. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
15. Remove from heat and set aside until omelette is ready.
16. Once omelette is cooked through, add the mushroom mixture to the middle of the omelette and top with cheese.
17. Carefully fold the omelette over.
18. Cut in half and serve with toast and/or a sauce of your choice⁴.

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¹ The recipe doesn't specify what kind of mushrooms, so normally I'd default to cremini here, but I just happened to have some excellent black oyster mushrooms from the folks at Noki Farms sitting in my fridge, so I tossed those in. They were delicious! I definitely recommend using oyster mushrroms if you have them. The black oyster mushrooms were great and I would definitely use them again, but I think pink oyster could also be wonderful. They would give it an almost bacon-y vibe. (Plus they're just so pretty! I'm always looking for an excuse to buy them.) ^{Back 2} Sadly, I think I over-beat my eggs slightly. It was still a nice omelette, just probably not quite optimal. (And possibly why my omelette tore when I tried to fold it over.) ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for baking the omelette for 12-15 minutes and gives dire warnings against over-baking as this will cause the eggs to become tough. Given such warnings, I elected to bake my omelette for only 12 minutes, turn the oven off, add the filling, and then put it back in the hot oven for 2 minutes. I think this was fine, but I found I actually preferred the more "well-done" outer portions of the omelette, so I think I will just bake it for the full 15 minutes from now on. ^Back
4 I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I think it would be excellent with some of this fancy ketchup! ^Back

This hybrid sourdough bread uses both sourdough starter and instant yeast to get some of the flavour of sourdough with the speed of commercial yeast. The starter is fermented overnight in a sponge and then mixed with the rest of the flour, some salt, and instant yeast the next morning. I found this approach to work okay, but I think the hydration and timings need some tweaking. The dough was much too dry and I ended up leaving a large quantity of flour out and still had to add a little more water just to make it workable. And the recipe also only called for a 15-minute "rest" rather than any sort of proper rising time or bulk ferment. I went with this on this occasion, but I don't think I'd do it that way again. Next time I'd give it more water and a full (at least 1 hour) rising period before shaping the loaves.

I also think I need to practice with the KitchenAid a little more to get a better feel for how much kneading time is actually required with the dough hook. I'm used to kneading dough for anywhere from 20-40 minutes by hand, but obviously that's not required with an electric mixer. Clayton suggests that this dough requires 10 minutes of kneading whether by hand or by dough hook, but I find that hard to believe. That doesn't seem like nearly enough hand kneading and possibly too much maching kneading. I went for ~6 minutes with the dough hook this time and I think that was probably a bit too much. But it was hard to tell when the dough was already so stiff and dry to begin with! Next time I'll aim for a softer dough and see if I can get a better idea of how much time with the dough hook is actually required. (Or just knead it by hand. I just wanted to give the stand mixer a try so I'd have it as an option for days when I'm feeling too tired for half an hour of hand kneading.)

Whole Wheat Faux Sourdough

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

Sponge

• 250g active (ripe/fed) starter @ 100% hydration
• 2 c. water
• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour

Dough

• 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 450g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 120g hard (strong/high grade/bread) or all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is nice and active. I like to take 50g of starter and feed it with 100g each of flour and water the morning before I want to bake the bread.
2. Once the starter is nice and active and bubby, add the water and flour to make the sponge. (I did this right before I went to bed so that it could ferment overnight and be ready for mixing in the morning.)
3. Cover the sponge and allow to ferment at room temperature for 10-12 hours.
4. The next morning, mix in the yeast followed by the salt.
5. Then begin mixing in the whole wheat flour ~1/2 c. at a time. (If using an electric mixer, use the flat beater for this part.)
6. If using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and begin adding the white flour ~1/4 c. at a time. If kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto the work surface and work the white flour in as you knead the dough.
7. If using an electric mixer, you will probably need to work the dough for somewhere between 4-8 minutes (I'm still working on figuring out the timing). For kneading by hand, aim for at least 20 minutes, 30 if you're a slow/inefficient kneader.
8. Shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for 30-60 minutes (also still working on pinning down the timing for this).
9. Once the dough has fully risen (use the finger poke test), knock it back, divide into two equal portions, and round each one.
10. Cover the dough balls and set aside to rest for ~10 minutes.
11. Grease two loaf pans (preferably 8x4"/20x10cm).
12. Once the dough balls have relaxed a bit, shape them into loaves and place into prepared pans.
13. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 30-60 minutes¹.
14. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F) and get some boiling water ready.
15. Place a pan of boiling water on the bottom oven rack and brush the tops of the loaves with a bit of water.
16. Slash the loaves as desired.
17. Place loaves on oven rack above the pan of boiling water and bake at 220°C (425°F) until the crust has some nice colour to it (15-20 minutes).
18. Remove pan of water and reduce oven temperature to 180°C (350°F).
19. Continue baking until done (25-30 minutes).
20. Allow to cool in tins for ~5 minutes, then remove from pans and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

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¹ The original recipe called for a 2-hour rise here. But it should proof faster when given a longer time on the first rise. As with all the other timings, this still needs a bit of trial and error to dial it in. ^Back