Time For Some Fun

It was our turn to host the monthly bridge dinner yesterday and as usual I think about deserts first. Forget the main course, cake has priority.

The beginnings of a Pavlova, lots of lovely meringue.

There are actually three layers but the oven isn't big enough so it was done in stages. I did this part on Friday night.

Now a true Pavlova is just one really large, high, mound of meringue with the whipped cream and fruit on top. I prefer it in two or three layers with lots of cream, fruit and nuts which I pan roast with butter an sugar sprinkled liberally throughout. I used hazelnuts for this one but almonds are just as nice.

Since we really did need something other than desert, I scored some really great rib steaks on sale. I thought it was a brilliant idea since I then didn't have to cook them. My only preparation were a potato onion casserole which I forgot to photograph, the salads and lots of appetizers.


I did get a chance to bake a loaf of no knead bread.

Steve and our friend Brian thinking about starting the barbie.


Genie and Liz enjoying the beautiful evening.

And a serious game of bridge happening. There was a second table and since there were nine of us I luckily got to chill on the sofa and do a little knitting. I don't mind playing but I was kind of whacked from all that cooking. The Pavlova by the way, was demolished in short order.

Bread Shortage? - Not Here

No I really am a pretty lazy person when it comes to cooking and baking so ever since my favourite domestic diva posted this recipe I have been wanting to try it out. So here is my attempt and results. It's so good and so easy I haven't been able to stop making it.

Some time after dinner or before I go to bed I throw this together. Basically I just mix up 3 cups of flour, and 2 teaspoons of salt. I sprinkle 1 generous teaspoon of yeast on top of this and add
1 1/2 cups of room temperature water. I stir this up for a couple of minutes (its soft and shaggy looking), cover with some plastic wrap and put it somewhere warm for 12 to 18 hours.

The next day it looks like this (below), all nice and bubbly. I sprinkle flour generously on the counter and tip the whole mess over. Using my flour covered fingertips I simply fold it over onto itself a couple times and then let it rest for 15 minutes or so.

I then gently gather it up and shape it into a ball using just enough flour to stop it from sticking. I gather it up into a ball and put it on a large sheet of parchment paper sprayed lightly with oil spray. I pick up this mess and put it somewhere confined like a frying pan. Cover lightly and let rise for two hours.

Then it's time to bake and here's the trick. Use a large 4 to 6 quart covered casserole pan. I have one of those old oval enamel ones with a domed lid that works like a charm. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees the rack second up from bottom and put your empty casserole in the oven Let the whole thing heat up for half an hour.

After half hour take the casserole out of the oven, pick up your bread dough including the parchment paper and plunk it into the casserole. Cover with lid and put it in the oven. Bake half hour covered and another 15 minutes uncovered.

Thanks Kelli...oh one more thing...Kelli's going to Africa again and could do with some t-shirts for the orphanage.

The Best Chicken Soup

Two posts in one day, wow... I need to keep busy so I won't think too much. After passing out in the grocery store last Thursday and having a few more Arrythmia episodes this week I phoned the heart clinic and set in motion the heart ablation surgery. I guess I really have no choice in the matter, I wouldn't want to have an episode while driving my car. This being Canada, the wait begins.

So I made chicken soup today. I know, I know everyone has a favourite way to do it but I thought I'd share mine since it does produce a beautiful golden and flavourful broth.

With my method I toss (I love that word) everything into roasting pan and into a very hot 600 degree oven for half an hour.



So after half an hour it looks nicely colored and I add boiling water and scrape off all the brown stuff in the bottom of the pan.



This all goes into the pot with more hot water just to cover the chicken and bring to a boil.



I'm simmering this for a couple of hours and then removing the chicken, straining the broth and discarding all the celery and onion because I don't like them in my soup. When everything has cooled off a bit I will remove all the bones and skin, cut up the carrots and put it all back in a pot. I like to cook my rice or pasta separately since I find cooking it in the same pot tends to thicken the broth too much. So that's our dinner on this snowy night...and now back to my knitting.

What I Did Today - We're Snowbound

It started snowing again this afternoon so I guess the weather man is correct. I thought maybe he'd made a mistake and it was over, not...

Carol, over here would like everyone to post a photo of the view from their kitchen window. Well, mine is kind of boring not nearly as nice as Carol's view. I guess when you live in the city there's not that much to see except the snow of course.



I decided to make it a domestic day today. I baked my four ingredient cheese cake and I'm writing out the recipe for you. I start with a graham cracker crust and if I'm really lazy or in a hurry you can use pre made once that are available in the grocery store. I made my own and it's pretty easy.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Because I like nuts I tossed in 1/2 cup of toasted almonds which I toasted in the toaster oven for5 minutes. Stir this all together, press into a spring form pan and up the sides a bit and stick in the freezer while your preparing the rest of the stuff.

For the cheesecake we need the following;

2 pkgs of any cream cheese you like (roughly 1 lb)
I prefer Philadelphia
1/2 tsp vanilla (the real stuff please)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

(I also add a couple of tablespoons of vanilla pudding powder, not the instant) This is my Mom's trick and I like the way the cake holds together. Beat the whole mess together until it's nice and creamy.





Spread it out nicely in your crust and toss into a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes until it feels firm to the touch.



When it's cooled off finish with a can of whatever you like, cherry, blueberry, strawberry or a combination if you like. You can also use fresh fruit if you like.Chill for a couple of hours and serve.






It's my husbands favourite desert...

It's November - Honest

When we came home from Greece a couple of weeks ago we had a major garden cleanup to do. This is what we found...



And this is what I did with them...



For my friends 65th Birthday...She doesn't look a day over 50 does she?



Some more surprises from my garden yesterday.



Only those of you who live in Canada will know how weird this is.



I have one more post to write about our Greek vacation. The island of Mykonos will be my final posting and it will come in the day or so. I have been kind of busy with doctor stuff this week and yesterday had another 14 hour migraine from which I'm trying to recover today.

Meanwhile the photos are already uploaded and viewable in Flickr for anyone who is interested.

The Salsa Recipe

For those of you who asked, here is the recipe for the Salsa. I hope you enjoy it...


(makes 5 - 500 ml jars)
(1 cup = 250 ml)

6 Jalapeno Peppers
7 cups prepared tomatoes (roughly 6 pounds) Pour boiling water over tomatoes, skin and seed and chop into small pieces.
2 cups coarsley chopped onions
1 cup coarsley chopped green pepper
3 cloves garlic,finely chopped
1 can tomato paste (a little more if tomatoes are watery)
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I think you can substitute oregano or basil if you don't like cilantro)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
(if you really want it hot add tsp ground cayenne pepper)

Put everything in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil gently for roughly half hour or until it has the thickness you like.

Meanwhile, in a canner boil mason jars for 10 minutes. In a separate pot boil mason snap lids to soften seals.

Ladle salsa into hot jars, wipe rims, put on snap lid and screw bands.

Return all jars to the canning pot with at least and inch of water covering the jars, bring to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes. Remove jars from the water bath and let sit for 24 hours.

Enjoy

Another Party - Time To Get Busy

Today is our neighbourhood barbecue and since I am not much of a cook, or at least I don't much like cooking, I always volunteer for the deserts. My best recipe and also the easiest is a 4 ingredient cheesecake, not counting the crust. Sometimes I make my own and other times when I'm either rushed or not feeling well, I buy the ready made graham cracker crusts.

The four ingredients are obviously cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. If anyone wants the recipe just email me and I'll send it out.

To make things a little more interesting, I take a little sugar, butter and sliced almonds and just lightly fry them up. It produces a candy like croquant that I then spring on top of the filling.

Because my sweeties likes cheesecake and since I didn't have anything for last nights desert, I made two.
Once I'm on a roll, it's hard to stop and what the heck, a nice little carrot cake would not be amiss.

Of course by now you know that everything I do is done twice, you know like knitting socks, gotta have two them. Same with cake, therefore there is a second little carrot cake which has been stashed in the freezer for next weekend.


Tomorrow were off to London for baby Elliotte's Baptism so no posting and no baking. Maybe some knitting on that long 3 hour car trip.

Self Indugence Won The Day - It's A Pie

After giving it some thought and looking at those gorgeous berries, I decided to make the pie.

Of course you really shouldn't attempt pastry on a humid day, but what the heck I'll tempt fate and hope for the best.

The dough held together nicely and here is the finished product. I'm sure my sweetie will be happy...he has the sweet tooth.



Real soon I'm going to get back to some serious blogging, there have been some really bad things happening. The one that has me most upset at the moment is the case of Huseyin Celil a Canadian citizen who was arrested and tried in China on trumped up charges. He has had every human right violated by that government and today his last chance of appeal failed.

It is my opinion that Canada needs to boycott the Beijing Olympics in protest of this case.

The Perfect Cottage Guest

Well no, not really but his owners are. This is Benny and he gets scared during thunderstorms and firecrackers both of which were in abundance this weekend. I found him hiding in the bathroom...

Sunday morning breakfast looked like this....

and this...



Then the guys went out to cut down some trees while D and I went to town to shop a bit. We got back just in time to take this photo.

So after all this hard work, we decided to feed them a nice Greek feast. Souvlaki, roasted potatoes, lots of tzatziki, stuffed vine leaves, taramasalata (fish roe dip) and a few other goodies including a fresh blueberry pie for desert.

That's the four of us sitting down to enjoy the feast.

And there is D doing the cleanup in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I got to sit and rest my foot. We have a little deal actually, I do the cooking and baking and D cleans up. I made fresh bread for Monday dinner and also a nice little cherry cheesecake. It got gobbled up before I could locate the camera.


The foot is still in the cast, I still have the heart monitor and I wrote all about my health issues on my knitting blog so I don't need to repeat it here. I will slow down a bit, rest a bit more so that I will be ready for the trip to Greece in September.

I've Lost My High Speed

I had all these great pictures of my day of domesticity to post today but unfortunately, I have lost high speed internet. I'm told it will be at least three days before the issue can be resolved so I'm reduced to dial up. I forgot how god awful slow it is.

I spent yesterday making jam, nine jars of strawberry and ten jars of raspberries. We got the fresh Ontario strawberries on Sunday but because I had that two day migraine they had to wait patiently in the fridge. Then once I was on a roll I realized I also had frozen raspberries from last summer in the freezer and decided to cook that up as well.

Hopefully I will be up and running again soon, I won't post again, it's too painfully slow...