The Kidlet really liked these. Like, a lot. They are pretty tasty. The filling is kind of like a mash-up (haha) between chana masala and refried beans. I'm not sure what was in the little "Indian spice" seasoning packet HelloFresh sent us, but I'm sure I could recreate something similar on my own. I'd actually be tempted to try sizzling some whole spices in the pan at the beginning of cooking next time.

Spiced Chickpea Wraps

Adapted from HelloFresh

Ingredients

Wraps

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp. brown mustard seeds
• 1 Indian bay leaf
• 1-2 dried chile¹
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 12 medium (6-8") flour tortillas
• 1-2 tsp. canola (or other neutral) oil

Raita

• 200mL plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• ~150g cucumber
• 2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

Cucumber Raita

1. Grate cucumber and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside while you prepare the wraps.
2. While wraps are baking, drain the cucumber. (I like to squeeze it a bit to remove excess moisture.)
3. Add cilantro, yogurt, pepper, and remaining salt and mix well.

Wraps

1. Melt ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin, coriander, mustard, bay leaf, and chile to pan and cook for 30-60 seconds. (Cover the pan so the mustard seeds don't escape!)
3. Add ground pepper, turmeric, and ginger and sizzle for another 10 seconds or so. (Don't burn it!)
4. Immediately add onion, garlic, and ginger paste and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to medium and add tomato paste.
6. Cook until paste has darkened.
7. Add water and chickpeas and simmer until sauce has thickened slightly (~3-4 minutes).
8. Remove bay leaf and chile and stir in cilantro.
9. Remove from heat and discard bay leaf and chile.
10. Mash chickpeas.
11. Divide chickpea mixture between the tortillas, placing a line down the centre of each.
12. Tightly roll up and place seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
13. Brush with oil.
14. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 6-7 minutes.
15. Serve with cucumber raita. (Add a salad to round out the meal.)

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¹ I think arbol or kashmiri chiles would work well here. ^Back

We're planning a trip to Ottawa in the new year. I've been looking at restaurant recommendations and came across a fun breakfast place that has lemon-blueberry ricotta pancakes. That sounded like an incredibly tasty breakfast to me. And I already had a bunch of ricotta in the fridge that needed to be used up. So it was just a matter of a quick Google search to find some plausible-looking ricotta pancake recipes. I found one on the Spruce. I ended up having to tweak it a bit since the batter came out way too runny, but it made nice pancakes once I added a bit more flour.

Lemon-Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Spruce

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. ricotta
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• 200g flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• ~1 c. blueberries

Lemon Sauce (optional)

• juice of 1 lemon
• ~1 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Combine milk, egg, ricotta, melted butter, vanilla, and lemon zest.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Mix until combined, but still lumpy.
4. Preheat a skillet/pan.
5. Lightly grease pan.
6. Scoop large spoonfuls of batter into pan (~1/4 c.). Don't overcrowd the pan or it'll be difficult to flip your pancakes!
7. Sprinkle a few blueberries onto each pancake.
8. Cook until edges of pancakes start to look dry.
9. Flip and cook other side.
10. Serve with lemon sauce (optional) and/or maple syrup.

Lemon Sauce

1. Whisk sugar into juice.
2. Whisk in milk.
3. Serve over pancakes.

Roasted Carrots and Shallots

These really are excellent roasted carrots. The flavour is excellent and they're done just right. I had a few extra parsnips, so I tossed them in along with the carrots.

Roased Carrots and Shallots

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2018

Ingredients

• 700g carrots (or mix of carrots and parsnips)¹, peeled and halved lengthwise
• 4 large shallots, halved
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme (optional)

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Toss carrots and shallots with butter, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread mixture in an even layer on rimmed baking sheet, cut-sides-down.
4. Roast at 230°C (450°F) until tender and undersides are well-browned (~25 minutes).
5. Sprinkle with thyme and serve.

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¹ If your carrots are less than ~3cm in diameter, leave them whole. If they're thicker, you can roast them for a little longer. ^Back

I am really pleased with how this came out. It's delicious. It's easy. Everyone loved it. And, as an added bonus, it used up all the braising ribs that'd been languishing in our freezer. Don't be alarmed by the uncovered cooking, it gives the meat a chance to brown without having to do a separate searing step.

Served over polenta with roasted carrots and parsnips.

Wine-Braised Short Ribs

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2018

Ingredients

• 2.25kg bone-in "English-style" short ribs¹
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. flour
• 2 c. dry white wine
• 3 c. vegetable broth
• 4-6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp. cornstarch

Directions

1. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add onion and cook until lightly browned (4-6 minutes).
4. Add tomato paste and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly darkened (~1 minute).
5. Add wine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
6. Cook until mixture is slightly thickened (~3 minutes).
7. Add broth, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.
8. Nestle ribs into braising liquid, bone-side-up.
9. Bring to a simmer, then transfer pot to oven and bake, covered², at 160°C (325°F) for 1.5 hours.
10. Remove pot from oven, flip the ribs meat-side-up and return to oven.
11. Cook, uncovered, for another 1.5 hours.
12. Transfer ribs to serving platter.
13. Spoon a few tablespoons of the broth into a small bowl and whisk in cornstarch.
14. Pour cornstarch mixture into sauce and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
15. Cook until thickened.
16. Serve ribs over substrate of choice (mashed potatoes or polenta work well), topped with gravy.

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1 They recommend "English-style short ribs 4-5 inches long with 1-1.5 inches of meat on top of bone". I had a bunch of braising ribs on hand already, so I just used those. They had about the right amount of meat on top of the bone, but were cut much shorter. Probably only ~1" (2.5cm). They were a little trickier to manipulate and get to stand up the right way, but other than that they seem to have worked just fine. ^Back
2 The original recipe has you leave the pot uncovered for the entire cook time. I cooked it covered for the first half and uncovered it for the last part of cooking. I didn't get quite as much browning this way, but it did leave me with a bit more sauce. I'm okay with this trade-off. ^Back

These casunziei (basically half-moon shaped ravioli) were really tasty. The poppy seed sauce didn't really seem to complement them that well though. I think next time I might experiment with some sort of cream sauce. Maybe something with a crème fraîche base. I'm not entirely sure, but I think something with a mild tartness to it would go well.

Beet Casunziei

Slightly adapted from Great Italian Chefs

Ingredients

Pasta

• 300g pasta flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 egg yolk

Filling

• 500g beets
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg white
• 100g ricotta
• salt and pepper, to taste
• breadcrumbs

Directions

Preparation

1. Combine flour, eggs, oil, and yolk to make a smooth dough.
2. Wrap up tightly and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. Steam and peel the beets. (InstantPot works well for this: high pressure 20 minutes, 10 minute natural release.)
4. Purée the beets and place them in a fine mesh strainer to drain for 10 minutes or so.
5. Stir together beets egg, egg white, ricotta, and salt and pepper.
6. Add enough breadcrumbs to create a smooth but not runny filling (~1/4 c. give-or-take).

Assembly

1. Take ~1/3 of the dough and roll it out very thin.
2. Cut out as many 7cm circles as possible.
3. Place a scant tsp. of filling on each circle.
4. Fold over to create a half moon shape and press edges to seal.
5. Crimp with fork.
6. Repeat with remaining 2/3 of dough.
7. Combine dough scraps and roll out again to make more casunziei.

Storage and Cooking

1. If not cooking immediately, place casunziei in a single layer on a parchment-lined plate or baking sheet and freeze. (You will need to work in batches.)
2. Once frozen, they can be transferred to a Ziploc bag and kept in the freezer for a few months.
3. To cook, bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, add pasta, and cook until it floats (3-5 minutes depending on whether or not you're cooking from frozen).

Serving Suggestions

1. The original recipe suggests sautéeing the cooked pasta in some butter with poppy seeds and then topping with grated Parmesan. This is okay, but doesn't seem like an ideal complement.
2. Next time I'd try crème fraîche mixed with a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and then serve topped with Parmesan. Maybe add a touch of milk and/or white wine to the sauce if the consistency needs adjusting.

I love one-pot pasta recipes. This one comes together exceptionally easy even for a one-pot recipe, and since the pasta is cooked in the same pot as everything else, nothing is needed to thicken the sauce -- the starch released from the pasta in cooking and in the final mixing is sufficient. Keep a close eye on the pasta, though. It's very easy to overcook it.

As written, the recipe calls for shells, which is what we used. That said, I think it would be even better with orechiette, since peas sit so perfectly in them.

If using beef sausage, add a bit of olive oil or butter to the pot when cooking the sausages and mushrooms; they won't release nearly as much grease as the pork sausages this recipe is written for.

Pasta with Sausage, Mushrooms, and Peas

Cook's Country

Ingredients

• 450g cremini mushrooms, sliced thin
• 450g hot italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3mL table salt
• 5mL black pepper
• 1mL red pepper flakes
• 120mL dry white wine
• 450g dry pasta (shells or orechiette recommended)
• 1.25L water
• 500mL frozen peas
• 240mL fresh basil, chopped
• 120mL freshly grated Parmesan
• 10mL lemon zest

Directions

1. Combine mushrooms, sausage, shallots, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a dutch oven over high heat. Cook, stirring often and breaking up sausages, until mushrooms have released their liquid and liquid has evaporated.
2. Add white wine, deglaze, and continue cooking until wine has cooked off.
3. Stir in pasta and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until pasta is cooked al dente. Some liquid will remain in the pot.
4. Remove from heat. Stir in peas, basil, parmesan, and lemon zest. Stir vigorously for 1 minute to thicken sauce further.
5. Serve with additional parmesan.

Have you ever just suddenly wanted to bake brownies? Not necessarily eat them, just bake them? I was hit by one of those the other day and this seemed like an excellent opportunity to try out one of the easy brownie recipes published in one of last year's Cook's Country issues. They may not be quite as rich and decadent as my go-to Cherry-Almond Brownies, but they're pretty good. And the ability to quickly toss them together, only dirtying a single bowl, is certainly appealing as well. We made the hazelnut brownies this time around, but you could really experiment with all sorts of flavours.

Easy Hazelnut Brownies

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2018

Ingredients

• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ c. + 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• ⅓ c. Dutched cocoa
• 2¼ c. sugar
• ½ c. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• ¼ c. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• ¼ tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• ⅓ c. toasted hazelnuts, chopped
• ⅓ c. chocolate-hazelnut spread

Directions

1. Pour boiling water over chocolate and whisk until melted.
2. Whisk in cocoa followed by sugar.
3. Stir in oil.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks, one at a time.
5. Add butter and vanilla.
6. Sift flour and salt over wet ingredients.
7. Mix until just combined.
8. Fold in hazelnuts.
9. Pour batter into greased and floured¹ 23x33cm (9x13") pan.
10. Dollop hazelnut spread over batter and swirl through with spatula or paring knife.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40-50 minutes.
12. Let cool completely before cutting.

Variations

Chocolate Chunk Brownies

Ingredients

• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ C + 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• ⅓ C Dutched cocoa
• 2½ C sugar
• ½ C + 2 tbsp canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• ¼ tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1cm chunks

Stir chocolate into batter just before baking.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Ingredients

• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ C + 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• ⅓ C Dutched cocoa
• 2½ C sugar
• ½ C + 2 tbsp canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• ¼ tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 113g + 52g Andes mints, cut into 1cm pieces.

Stir 113g of the mints into the batter, and top with the remainder, just before baking.

White Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

Ingredients

• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ C + 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• ⅓ C Dutched cocoa
• 2½ C sugar
• ½ C + 2 tbsp canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• ¼ tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 C white chocolate chips
• ⅓ C raspberry jam or 1 C fresh raspberries

Stir white chocolate into batter. Dollop jam or raspberries overtop before baking and swirl in with spatula.

[ToxicFrog comments: the kidlet and I really enjoyed these. symbol did not.]

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Brownies

Ingredients

• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ C + 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• ⅓ C Dutched cocoa
• 2½ C sugar
• ½ C + 2 tbsp canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• ¼ tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 C peanut butter chips
• ½ C marshmallow crème

Stir peanut butter chips into batter. Swirl in marshmallow.

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¹ Greasing and flouring works just fine but may leave some white flour visible against the dark brownies. If you're concerned about aesthetics, "flour" your pan with cocoa. ^Back

Chickpeas and Potatoes with Singed Spices

This curry, despite its long ingredient list, comes together very easily. It requires very little prep and most of the time spent cooking it is just watching it simmer and stirring it occasionally.

It was also a huge hit with the family. symbol immediately declared it a favourite; Alex went back for seconds, and then thirds, and requested it in her lunch tomorrow. I thought it was ok but not great, but everyone else loves it.

Very little is changed from the original recipe. Toasted cumin-coriander blend is replaced with equivalent proportions of the untoasted spices, and the raw sliced chilies used as a garnish are omitted (since Alex is not a fan of the spicy).

Pindi Waale Aloo Chana

660 Curries

Ingredients

• 1 large Yukon Gold potato, cut into 1cm cubes
• 750mL cooked chickpeas
• 30mL amchor
• 15mL dried pomegranate seeds, ground (a spice grinder works well)
• 6mL coriander, ground
• 4mL cumin, ground
• 2.5mL cayenne
• 2.5mL sweet paprika
• 5mL Punjabi garam masala
• 2.5mL coarse salt
• 2.5mL black salt
• 30+60mL corn oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped
• 60mL finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine 750mL water, potato, chickpeas, amchor, pomegranate seeds, coriander, cumin, cayenne, paprika, garam masala, and both salts in a large pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer vigorously, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork-tender and sauce has thickened, ~20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat 30mL of oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry until starting to brown around the edges, ~5 minutes.
3. Add tomato and continue to cook until it softens but does not disintegrate, another ~3 minutes.
4. When potato-chickpea mixture has thickened, remove from heat and stir in onion-tomato mixture.
5. Put the remaining 60mL of oil in the skillet and heat until just below the smoke point, then pour into the curry and stir in to scald the spices.
6. Top with cilantro and serve.

Mango-Coconut Muffins

The last batch of muffins I made were a huge hit, so I figured maybe another batch was in order. I was tempted to just make more lemon muffins, but we got a couple mangoes in our produce basket this week, so this seemed like a nice way to use up some mango and test a new recipe. The mango was slightly under-ripe, but hopefully the muffins'll still come out okay.

Vegan Mango-Coconut Muffins

Slightly adapted from Love & Lemons

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. ground flax
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 7/8 c. lite coconut milk¹
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 300g whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. cane sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. finely diced ripe mango
• 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut

Directions

1. Combine flax and water and set aside. (You're basically making a flax egg here.)²
2. Combine coconut milk and lime juice.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together, buttermilk mixture, flax egg, coconut oil, and vanilla.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until combined.
6. Fold in diced mango.
7. Spoon into greased muffin tin. (This should make 10-12 muffins.)
8. Sprinkle coconut on top.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 18-20 minutes.

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¹ The original recipe called for a non-dairy coconut-almond milk blend. I still had some vanilla almond milk left over from making the lemon muffins yesterday, so I just used that. That said, I think coconut milk would make an even better choice here! I think full fat coconut milk might be too thick, but lite coconut milk should be just about right. And it would add a little more coconut flavour. ^Back
2 If you don't have ground flax easily to hand, ground chia should also work. Alternatively, if you don't need these to be vegan, you can use one large egg in place of the flax or chia egg. ^Back

A Cook's Country recipe card, the original version uses swiss chard and cooks the potatoes, greens, and eggs separately before combining them on the plate. I'm not a fan of the intense bitterness of chard, so this verson uses the much milder baby chard along with other greens. The cooking process is also simplified, although it might be possible to simplify it further by cooking the garlic with the potatoes and then adding the greens once the potatoes are browned.

Eggs with Sweet Potato and Greens Hash

Cook's Country

Ingredients

• 450g Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 450g sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 10mL Lawry's seasoned salt
• 60mL olive oil
• 350g baby chard, kale, spinach, or other assorted greens
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 10mL lemon juice
• 4-8 large eggs (depending on preferred egg:hash ratio)

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, and half the salt in a large bowl and microwave, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, stirring halfway through, ~10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat 15mL oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add garlic, and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Add greens and remaining salt, and cook until just starting to wilt, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Buffer greens in a bowl and mix in lemon juice.
5. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium high heat and add potato-onion mix. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 10-15 minutes.
6. Mix in greens.
7. Make wells in the hash for the eggs. Crack the eggs into them, cover, and cook until eggs reach desired done-ness.
8. Serve.

Lemon Muffins

I'm normally a bit wary of vegan recipes, but these came out pretty good. And I've just now realized that I completely forgot to make the glaze for them! They were still good, even without the glaze, but it'd be nice to try them with it next time and see how it is.

Vegan Lemon Muffins

Slightly adapted from Love & Lemons

Ingredients

Muffins

• 1 c. + 1 Tbsp. vanilla almond milk
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 260g whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. almond flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. coconut oil, melted
• 2 Tbsp. meyer lemon zest
• 3 Tbsp. meyer lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds

Glaze

• 1/2 c. vegan cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp. meyer lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. meyer lemon zest

Directions

Muffins

1. Combine almond milk and cider vinegar and set aside
2. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.
3. Whisk together sugar, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
4. Add almond milk to sugar mixture.
5. Stir wet ingredients into dry and mix until combined.
6. Fold in chia seeds.
7. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. (It should make 10-12 muffins.)
8. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 18 minutes.

Glaze

1. Beat cream cheese with lemon juice, maple syrup, and lemon zest until smooth.
2. Spoon glaze over cooled muffins.
3. Sprinkle with more lemon zest and/or chia seeds if desired.

This recipe boasted of being "the best" shrimp ramen, but I honestly found it pretty "meh". Too much soy sauce. Too much sauce in general. Too salty. And just texturally very... disappointing. I think it would've been dramatically improved by cutting the soy sauce by at least 50% and giving the noodles a good fry while the sauce cooks.

Shrimp Ramen

Adapted from Delish

Ingredients

Noodles

• 3 packages of ramen, flavour packets discarded
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 scallions or 1/4 c. Fried Onions

Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp. chile flakes
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. black vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. shaoxing wine
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp. sriracha
• 1 c. vegetable broth

Veggies and Protein

• 3-4 c. veggies of choice (broccoli, peas, corn, bell pepper, etc.)
• 400g cooked shrimp

Directions

Noodles

1. Cook ramen according to package directions. Drain.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add noodles and cook, stirring and turning occasionally, while sauce and veggie cook.

Sauce

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic, ginger, and chile flakes and cook for 30-60 seconds.
3. Stir in dark soy, light soy, black vinegar, wine, sugar, lime juice, sriracha, and vegetable broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.

Veggies & Protein

1. Add veggies to sauce, cover, and cook until just tender.
2. Stir in shrimp and cook until heated through.
3. Stir in noodles.
4. Top with scallions and/or fried onions.

---

Variations

Vegetarian Ramen

Ingredients

Noodles

• 3 packages of ramen, flavour packets discarded
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 scallions or 1/4 c. Fried Onions

Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp. chile flakes
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. black vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. shaoxing wine
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp. sriracha
• 1 c. vegetable broth

Veggies and Protein

• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 recipe Extra Delicious Tofu

I feel like there's probably a name for this type of dish. If so, I don't know it. Whatever else it is, it's also reasonably tasty and filling. The lentils bulk it up nicely and the beef is only really incidental. I think this would work just fine with TVP or tempeh as a meat substitute.

I made quite a few substitutions and adjustments for this recipe. First off, I don't tend to keep canned lentils on hand, but I do have an ample supply of dried pulses, so I substituted 1 c. of dried Puy lentils for the canned lentils called for in the recipe. Then we were all out of ground beef, so I just chopped up a pound of stewing beef instead. I didn't really feel like peeling and chopping garlic, so I used a few Tbsp. of garlic paste in place of the three cloves of minced garlic called for in the original. I don't generally keep pumpkin pie spice on hand either. I have all the individual spices I'd need to make it. That said, I figured the pumpkin pie spice was only acting as a stand-in for another more "exotic" spice blend in this particular instance. Given that, I decided to use 1 tsp. of ras el hanout in place of the 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice called for and then cut the cumin and pepper both down to half what was called for in the original. I also swapped out the long-grain white rice for long-grain brown rice. The last change I made was to reduce the amount of liquid used to cook the rice (and now lentils as well) and replace some of the water with vegetable broth and omit the salt called for later in the recipe.

Mediterranean Rice and Lentils with Beef

Adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2019

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried Puy lentils
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 3 c. vegetable broth
• 4 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 500g extra lean ground beef or chopped stewing beef
• 3 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 tsp. Ras el Hanout
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 c. plain Yogurt
• 1 c. Fried Onions
• 1/4 c. fresh dill, chopped

Directions

1. Combine lentils, rice, broth, and water in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Cook, uncovered, until lentils and rice are both tender (~25-30 minutes).
3. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add beef and until it starts to brown (~8 minutes).
5. Stir in garlic paste and cook for another minute or so.
6. Add ras el hanout, cumin, and pepper and cook for another minute.
7. Add lentils and rice (along with any residual liquid) to the pan with the beef.
8. Cover and cook until all liquid has been absorbed.
9. Stir, remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
10. Drizzle with yogurt and sprinkle fried onions and dill over.

I've made my own cheese before -- several different kinds, in fact -- but I've never done homemade yogurt. With cheeses it can sometimes be difficult to find a really good cheese of the variety you want. Or the labeling is too vague for you to really be able to tell what it's gonna be like. So making your own can provide some clear benefits. With yogurt, the labeling generally provides ample information and I'm really spoiled for choice on types and flavours. All that being said, I figured it'd be nice to try making some yogurt because it's one of the quicker and easier cultured dairy products to make. And also, from a somewhat completionist standpoint, it'd be nice to say that I've done it.

Yogurt

From the Home Creamery by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley

Ingredients

• 1L whole (3.25%) milk
• 1/4 c. plain yogurt¹

Directions

1. Heat milk to 85°C (185°F).
2. Allow to cool to between 40 and 46°C (105-115°F)².
3. Whisk in yogurt.
4. Hold at 43°C (110°F) for 6-12 hours. (I like to pour it into Mason jars before incubating. Volume will be slightly more than 1L due to added yogurt so use three 500mL jars.)
5. Transfer to fridge. Yogurt should keep for ~2 weeks.

Tips:

• For milder yogurt, use less starter (only 2-3 Tbsp.) and incubate only 6 hours. For tangier yogurt, use the full 1/4 c. of starter and incubate 12 hours.
• Some whey may separate out. It may be poured off or stirred in. Stirring in will result in thinner yogurt.
• To make thicker yogurt, stir 1/3 c. dry milk powder into milk before heating.
• For even thicker yogurt, sprinkle 1 tsp. unflavoured gelatine over milk after stirring in milk powder.

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Variations

Greek Yogurt

Ingredients

• 1L whole (3.25%) milk
• 1/4 c. plain yogurt

Directions

1. Make yogurt as above.
2. Line a fine mesh strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth (or a single layer of butter muslin) and set over a large mixing bowl or pot.
3. Once yogurt has finished incubating, pour into lined strainer and let drain overnight.
4. Transfer yogurt back to jar (or storage container of choice) and refrigerate.

Vanilla Yogurt

Ingredients

• 1L whole (3.25%) milk
• 1/4 c. plain yogurt
• 2-4 Tbsp. honey
• 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make yogurt or Greek yogurt as you prefer.
2. Stir in honey and vanilla. If your honey has a very strong flavour use only 1-2 Tbsp. and, if it's still not sweet enough, add 1-2 Tbsp. of sugar instead of more honey.

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¹ Make sure that the yogurt you're using as a starter has live cultures. Also be sure that it doesn't have any sweeteners, flavourings, or gelatin. ^Back
2 The author says that it should only take 5 minutes for the milk to cool down to an appropriate temperature, but mine took ~30 minutes! ^Back

From the Cook's Illustrated "All-Time Best Pasta Recipes" issue, this recipe comes together surprisingly easily; it takes a while but is not particularly complicated. It was also a huge hit! Everyone finished their bowl and went back for seconds, even Alex.

As written the recipe uses chicken breasts. We used imitation pea-protein chicken; no-one would mistake it for real chicken in either taste or texture, but it's tasty in its own right and can generally be used in the same places you'd use chicken meat. Use either as the mood takes you.

For noodles, the book recommends penne, ziti, or campanelle. We did it with cavatappi and that worked excellently. I suspect that rotini would also be a good choice.

The proportions on this, intuitively, look a bit weird. There's half as much pasta as usual, twice as much chicken as pasta, and three times as much broccoli. With the cavatappi, at least, this worked fine, although I think that doubling the pasta would also have worked ok at the cost of increasing the starch:everything else ratio.

Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli

Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients

• 60mL unsalted butter
• 450g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise and then sliced into strips
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 10mL fresh thyme (or ~7mL dried)
• 10mL all-purpose flour
• 1mL red pepper flakes
• 500mL chicken or vegetable broth
• 250mL dry white wine
• 250mL freshly grated parmesan
• 250mL (~1 jar) sliced, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 15mL fresh parsley
• 657g fresh broccoli, florets cut into ~2cm pieces, stems discarded
• 225g dry pasta
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Melt 15mL butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until browned around edges, 1-2 minutes. Stir and continue to cook until cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Remove to plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium and melt another 15mL of butter. Add onion and 1mL salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add garlic, thyme, flour, and pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
4. Add broth and wine, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened somewhat and reduced by half, 15-20 minutes.
5. Add parmesan, tomatoes, parsley, chicken, and remaining 30mL butter and cook until chicken is heated through and butter is melted, ~1 minute.
6. Season with black pepper to taste.
7. Meanwhile, boil water in a large pot. Add broccoli and 15mL salt and cook until crisp-tender, ~2 minutes. Remove broccoli, but keep water.
8. Return water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente. Reserve 125mL of pasta water and drain pasta.
9. When sauce is ready, add broccoli and pasta and toss to combine. Adjust sauce thickness with reserved pasta water and serve.

Blueberry Scones

I don't do well with breakfast. I get bored easily. I'm also not a morning person, so I'm not generally interested in putting any effort into making a food first thing in the morning.

Milk and cereal are pretty much exclusively a camping food for me. Toast is boring. Porridge is good for a day or two, but then I want something else. Fry-ups are fatty and also way too much effort first thing in the morning most days. I tried making some "Carrot Cake Energy Bites". They were okay, but not great. I decided to keep perusing the breakfast ideas to see if anything else grabbed me. These scones seemed promising. I tweaked the recipe a little to use whole wheat flour, but otherwise left it pretty much alone.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

Slightly adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients

• 330g whole what flour¹
• 1/2 c. sugar + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1 c. frozen blueberries
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
2. Cut in butter.
3. Toss with blueberries.
4. Stir in cream, egg, and vanilla extract.
5. Turn out dough into a well-floured surface and shape into a disc 3-4cm thick.
6. Sprinkle top of disc with 1 Tbsp. sugar.
7. Cut disc into eight wedges and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.

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Variations

Vegan Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

Ingredients

• 330g whole what flour
• 1/2 c. vegan sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 1 c. frozen blueberries
• 3/4 c. full fat coconut milk
• 1 flax egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

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¹ I used hard wheat for this. I think soft flour would be fine as well. ^Back

I've been kind of discombobulated this week and keep dropping the ball on things I'm normally pretty good at being on top of. One of them is our produce basket. So, suddenly we had an influx of fruit and veggies with no plans on how to use them. During my somewhat befuddled grocery trip this morning, I noticed that perogies were on sale. Normally I just have perogies with some sautéed onions and sauerkraut (and maybe some sour cream and/or cheese), but I figured adding braised cabbage as a side dish probably wasn't a terrible idea.

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. lard
• 1 onion, sliced
• ~1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 apple, coarsely chopped
• 1 small head of red cabbage, cored and sliced
• 1/4 c. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Melt lard over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
3. Add pepper and apple and cook for another minute or so.
4. Add cabbage, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and salt and stir to coat.
5. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

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Variations

Vegetarian Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• ~1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 apple, coarsely chopped
• 1 small head of red cabbage, cored and sliced
• 1/4 c. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

I tried to mostly follow the recipe for these. It didn't work very well. The original recipe calls for grinding up raw sunflower seeds in a food processor. I added a few Tbsp. of water and used the "food chop" setting on my blender. The resulting mixture was simultaneously wet and crumbly. I found that adding a little sunflower seed butter improved the handling dramatically. I think I'd just forgo the ground sunflower seeds and go for SunButter (or similar) right off the bat next time.

Carrot Cake Energy Balls

Adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients

• 12 dates, soaked
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2/3 c. carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• up to 1 c. sunflower seed butter

Directions

1. Combine dates, maple syrup, and carrots in a food processor or blender and mince. You may need to had a couple Tbsp. of water if using a blender.
2. Combine cinnamon, sea salt, and coconut and mix well.
3. Stir carrot mixture into coconut mixture.
4. Add enough sunflower seed butter to hold it together.
5. Form into small balls and roll in graham cracker crumbs, more coconut, crushed banana chips or a combination of all of the above.

Tamatar Malai Rajmah (Kidney Beans with Slow-Stewed Tomato Sauce)

Here's an easy curry to throw together if you have time for the simmering. I replaced the minced garlic and ginger with their paste equivalents to reduce the prep work still further. I also halved the salt, black cardamom, and cayenne called for in the recipe; the first two to cater to my tastes and the second to cater to the Kidlet's.

Tamatar Malai Rajmah

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 2 (3") cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaves or Indian bay (cassia) leaves
• 1-2 black cardamom pods
• 4 Tbsp. garlic paste (or 4 large cloves of garlic¹, minced)
• 2-3 Tbsp. ginger paste (or 5 [1"x2"x1/4"] slices ginger, minced)
• 3 c. water, divided
• 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 c. fried onion paste
• 3 c. cooked red kidney beans
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 2 Tbsp. fresh minced cilantro

Directions

1. Melt ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and cardamom pod(s) and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
3. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add 1/2 c. water, tomato paste, paprika, salt, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in another 1/2 c. of water, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Repeat step 6 twice more.
8. Add fried onion paste, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
9. Add remaining 1 c. water and kidney beans and increase heat to medium.
10. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for ~15 minutes.
11. Stir in cream and Punjabi garam masala and cook until warmed through (~2 minutes).
12. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cilantro.
13. Serve with rice and/or naan.

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¹ You will probably have less than 4 Tbsp. of minced garlic. I always use a bit (or sometimes a lot) mare garlic paste than fresh garlic because its flavour is usually somewhat muted compared to fresh garlic. ^Back

The Kidlet was keen on making cookies today, so we flipped through the most recent issue of Cook's Country to see what goodies they had recipes for. The first two (chocolate brownie cookies and turtle bars) were a no-go due to the chocolate. But these biscochitos got the green light. We even still had some lard left over from our forays into sopaipilla-making, so it worked out quite well overall.

I appreciate how quick and easy these cookies were to throw together. It's a very simple dough to mix up, but the presence of the anise makes them a bit more special than a plain sugar cookie. It was a bit difficult to get the cinnamon sugar to stick to the outside after they came out of the oven, but a some gentle pressure seemed to do the trick in the end. I enjoy the very subtle savoury quality they get from the lard, but if you're wary of cookies that tread that line, feel free to use butter or shortening instead.

Biscochitos

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. lard
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cream the lard with the crushed anise and 1/2 c. of the sugar.
3. Beat on medium-high for ~3 minutes.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla.
5. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in dry ingredients.
6. Divide dough into two equal portions and roll each one into a 15cm (6") log.
7. Wrap tightly and chill until firm (~3 hours in the fridge, less in the freezer).
8. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. Slice logs into 5-6mm (~1/4") discs. (You should get ~4 dozen cookies total.)
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 13-15 minutes. (You will most likely need to do this in two batches.)
11. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
12. Combine remaining 1/4 c. sugar with cinnamon.
13. Toss the cookies, one or two at a time, with the cinnamon sugar. You may need to apply a bit of gentle pressure to get the sugar to stick.

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Variations

Vegetarian Biscochitos

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. butter
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

We had nachos for dinner tonight and I figured this quick and easy soup would be a nice way to round out the meal.

Corn and Tomato Soup

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1L vegetable broth
• 2 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 2 tsp. chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
• 1 c. cooked black beans (optional)
• 1 (800mL) can diced tomatoes¹
• ~1/2 c. crumbled feta², to serve
• thinly sliced radishes, to serve (optional)
• chopped avocado, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
3. Add cumin and pepper and cook for another minute or so.
4. Add vegetable broth, corn, chipotles, tomatoes, and beans (if using).
5. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
6. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Serve topped with feta (or cojia) and radishes and avocados (if using).

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¹ The original recipe calls for whole tinned tomatoes. It calls for draining them, reserving the juice, and then coarsely chopping the tomatoes. You then add tomatoes and the reserved juice along with the broth. I'm not sure why they don't just call for diced tomatoes to begin with. ^Back
2 Use cojita instead if you can find it. ^Back