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Granola… Two Ways!

I’m not much of a breakfast person. Sure, I love brunch – but I’m talking about breakfast. You know, the food that you have to force down your throat first thing in the morning? No? Anyway, I never used to eat breakfast until I realized I need to eat all three meals in order to survive the day. There are two things I eat regularly: breakfast pitas; and yogurt with granola.

I’m a bit of a granola and yogurt fiend. I find store-bought granola to be expensive, and full of junk.

I’ve started on the path to making my own granola, full of things I like.

This time around, I wanted some variety so I made two different kinds of granola, instead of putting all of the ingredients into one big granola. It was a pretty good try, but I think I need some practise. The two kinds don’t taste different enough for me, so next time I’ll have to kick it up a bit. I also need to learn how to make better clumps of things – the smaller bits, like flax and chia, mostly fell to the bottom of the pan. It would be so much better if they stuck to some oats in clumps. I think adding some egg white to the mix will help with this.

Next time, I’ll try not to wuss out on the spices in the Spiced Pumpkin Cashew mix, and I think I’ll add some dried apricot. And maybe add some orange juice for a different flavour?

J says I’m a hippie, now that I make granola.

Recipes after the jump!

Continue reading Granola… Two Ways!

Blog Love – November 2010

Time for another bunch of things that other people did that made me drool! TMI? Yeah, probably…

Let’s Start with Some Wild & Weird Stuff!

A really innovative way to design a blog — like a magazine! Check out Bron Marshall‘s seasonal releases – but those of you on my side of the world, don’t get too confused by the opposite seasons! Located in New Zealand, Bron’s current release is for Spring 2010.

Ever wanted to know what food looks like on the inside? Inside insides has MRIs of all sorts of food, including pumpkin and pomegranate!

How to take pictures of ugly food. ‘Nuff Said.

… and some Deliciousness to add to my list of things to do

Kalyn’s Kitchen shows us Five Favorite Bean Soups or Stews for Autumn, including one that really piqued my interest- Garbanzo Bean Soup with Garlic, Sumac, Olive Oil, and Lemon. (You know how I love sumac)

Kitchen Butterfly shows how to make finishing salts. I’m a little crazy with the salts lately, so this looks like fun!

Speaking of beautiful photos… don’t you want to go on a picnic with Asha, from Fork Spoon Knife, after reading this? I totally do.

I didn’t know that Lemon Brulée existed, but now I think I need it.

… and now for my favourite thing this week…

a video showing how they make Le Gruyere. I friggin’ love things aged in caves! Makes me feel like a caveman.

Sweet Potato Poutine with Mushroom Gravy

To end my little tour of Prince Edward county, I want to share a recipe that I cobbled together that was inspired by the spirit of the PEC.

This dish is made up of seasonal, local ingredients – the cheese actually migrated back to Toronto with us, from Black River Cheese Company in Prince Edward County.

The idea for the recipe came from a combination of two things: the fancy pants poutine we had in Wellington, and the fact that I had bought some cheese curds and couldn’t think of anything better to do with them than make poutine. Since I had never made poutine before, this was a perfect opportunity. J suggested we do sweet potato, to change things up a bit – and it was a fantastic suggestion.

A shameful admission from this proud Canadian girl, I haven’t really had much poutine in my life. Being a strict vegetarian for a good number of my adult years, I didn’t try poutine. To be honest, some of the poutines I saw weren’t even trying to change my mind – gloopy “gravy”, greasy fries and fake mozzarella doesn’t appeal to me. I guess it really isn’t that big of a surprise that it hasn’t been on my ‘to do’ list.

Not long ago, J and I went to a fun tapas restaurant that focused on local ingredients, and we tried a really good unusual poutine. So when we saw it on the menu in Wellington – another poutine that stretched the boundaries – we happily ordered it.

To be honest, I really should have tried to make it sooner.

Not to rain on anyone’s grease parade, but making poutine at home can actually be healthy. The most fattening thing in the whole dish is the oozy cheese – and it’s oozy melty goodness is used to its full advantage when layered this way. The sweet potato ‘fries’ are baked with a little bit of oil, and some smart seasoning, and the gravy is vegetarian with only a bit of oil and some milk to add to the fat content. Compare this to the usual “heart attack in a bowl” that is traditional poutine.

The verdict? It was amazing, if I do say so myself! The gravy was probably the biggest question mark, because I used a new recipe. I probably would use less milk next time – it tasted amazing, but am I wrong to think a milky coloured gravy just seems weird? It didn’t thicken as much as I thought – but it was thick enough for this, and not gloopy like you get when you thicken with corn starch.

Finally – I try making some Canadian food on this blog!!! It only took nearly a year!!

… and with this, I end my yammering about Prince Edward County (for a little while, anyway).

Continue reading Sweet Potato Poutine with Mushroom Gravy

Eating My Way Through the PEC (Day 3)

The third, and final, day of our Prince Edward County weekend was all about taking risks. In the first few days, we made it to most of the places we had “on the list”. From there, it was all a bonus, so we went a little more off the beaten path to find gems.

Our first gem we sought out close to ‘home’. We hit Black Prince winery, which is right in Picton. I had to ask about the smell of the Cabernet Franc, which I had with dinner the night before. For some reason, I couldn’t stop smelling the wine as I was drinking it. I told J it smelled like a lavender crème brûlée, with a hit of chocolate. I think I would wear it as a perfume. (Hear that Vera Wang? Maybe call it Black Princess? Cabernet Princess?). When I mentioned this to the guy at the winery, he sort of just humoured me. He probably thought I was nuts – or one of those pretentious people that make up all of the things they smell and taste in wines.

There were wineries left in all directions. Just to give us somewhere to start, we decided to head out to Black River, in search of more cheese.

Black River cheese is ever-present in the county – we had it at every restaurant we went to, and it was being sampled at many of the wineries we went to. I wanted to pick up some old white chedder, and ended up with some pepper jack and cheese curds as well. I think that brought our cheese purchase count to around 8. Eep!

Here’s where the adventure part comes in… J had seen some wineries listed out towards Long Point, so we drove allllll the way out there, only to find out that the one winery wasn’t even open yet (but on the wineries map, tsk tsk!). We drove that far, so we decided to try to make it all the way to the end of the point… which I think we did.

While there wasn’t much to do out this way, it was a lovely drive. We enjoyed the quiet drive, and hopped out when we got near the end. From there, we went to Milford to visit a couple more wineries — just a recommendation, don’t try to pop in to these on the off-season. We’ll have to visit again in the summer, when they’re sure to be open.

We did manage to hit Barley Days brewery one last time… I had been dreaming of the Cherry Porter, and decided that if it was open when we drove by I would get some. And I did (and I’m drinking one right now as I type this… mmmm Black Forest Cake beer).

We had but two spots left in our box, and only a few left on the map that we hadn’t hit yet. I won’t lie – Karlo Estates was absolutely FREEZING!! Their tasting room is in a really large barn that is being converted into galleries, and is currently only being heated by some propane heaters (see pic above). We enjoyed a nip of cheese as we tried different wines, and finally settled on a Frontenac Gris Rosé. This is strange for me, because I generally do not like rosé wine, but I was curious to try wine made from a ‘grey’ grape. I was surprised that I liked it, and decided to get a bottle to give it a real chance (when we’re not freezing). This spot is going to be incredible in the summer, so it’s on our list of places to return to.

Time for lunch. East & Main Bistro was another name that came up in almost every article I read about PEC, so I thought we should hit it up before we left town.

We were happy to see a variety of comfort food on the menu. I got an incredibly rich macaroni and cheese, made with – you guessed it – Black River cheddar. J got an insane wellington mushroom poutine, with cheese curds, and rabbit confit. Both dishes were amazing, and just what we needed. Sadly, I didn’t have room for dessert.

Just one winery left to hit – By Chadsey’s Cairns. This was a really neat spot, with a pioneer cemetery and a whole collection of barns that looked like a little village. If you’re wondering what a ‘chadsey’s cairn’ is, you can read about it in the history section of the winery’s website. While you’re at it, take a look at the ‘wine politics‘ page – it offers a really interesting (and reasonable) viewpoint on grape growing, wine making, and more.

That’s about it for our weekend getaway. We finally made it up to the PEC, and it was everything we were looking for. The food and drink were great, the people were friendly, the accommodations were comfortable and I don’t think I heard a siren once!

I think we’ll be going back…

Eating My Way Through the PEC (Day 2)

There’s nothing better than waking up at leisure, and strolling down to breakfast without having to leave the building.

Our second day exploring Prince Edward County started in the perfect way – with lemon blueberry waffles shaped like farm stuff!! My waffle was shaped like a barn, while J had a rooster and a cow. They were so adorable I almost didn’t want to eat them. It’s probably a good thing I ended up with the barn.

Considering my lack of adorable photos of Merrill Inn, these waffles will have to illustrate this part of my story. It’s pretty fitting, actually, because Merill Inn was perfectly adorable but with the comfort of the bigger hotels. It was really the perfect place to stay for us, and it was right in the heart of Picton, which itself was the centre point of everything we wanted to see in Prince Edward County. Our package even included a bagged picnic lunch, which we brought on the road with us.

Once we got rolling, we started headed right to Copper Kettle Chocolate Company. We had our first taste of things to come the night before, when we practically inhaled the goat cheese truffles that I bought at Fifth Town. To back it up a little, this is just one example of the county working together – the goat cheese was made by Fifth Town and the chocolate was done by Copper Kettle. Both companies carry and advertise the product, and both companies get business. Symbiosis!

Of course, we got more of them, along with a number of other fun truffles. They also had some chocolate ‘shots’ full of different wines and things, so we got a couple ice wine shots and a couple of Pinot Noir.

Down the Loyalist Parkway we went, to another bunch of wineries and fun.

At Huff Estates, we bought a really interesting unoaked Merlot, which was pretty novel for me. Next, we ended up at Sugarbush Vineyards, which is a self-proclaimed ‘garagiste‘ winery. There, aside from buying some wine, we enjoyed a chat with the owner about the area’s history.

Sugarbush Vineyards ‘Not Red’ wine — oddly, we didn’t buy this particular wine. I just thought the name was funny.

Another part of our package at Merrill Inn was a complimentary wine tasting at Closson Chase, a winery that focuses on producing Chardonnay. We aren’t big white wine drinkers, and to be totally honest, the price points were a little higher than we were looking for here. Nonetheless, we took the opportunity to try some wines we wouldn’t have thought to try.

The Closson Chase tasting room was inside a large and lovely barn, with stained glass, local art and lots of ambiance.

Similarly, The Grange of Prince Edward is also situated in an incredible barn, overlooking a fantastic lot where it seems people book picnics in the summer. Yeah, I think we’ll be going back to do that sometime. We politely asked if we could enjoy our packed lunches in their tasting room, overlooking the farm, since it was too windy and cold to eat outside.

We hit a few more wineries before we called it a day, including Lacey, Casa Dea and Sandbanks. By this time, I was slowing down and started playing this game where I was only allowed to pick one wine to try, and only try another if I wasn’t convinced by the first one. This was a change from the start of the day, where we tried 3-4 different wines at each location.

At Sandbanks, for example, I saw that they had a Foch Reserve and chose to try that because we hadn’t seen Marechal Foch at the other wineries we had been to, and I like to have a variety. We got to try pairing it with both cheese and chocolate and in the end, ended up buying a bottle. The prices there were very reasonable, too, so I think we’ll go back again.

I just couldn’t do any more that day – so we stopped at Tall Poppy Café in Wellington for some “Not Wine”.

There was but one last stop before ‘home’ – Barley Days Brewery. After a day of wine sipping, it was nice to switch to beer. We had already tried two of their beers at dinner the night before – Harvest Gold Pale Ale and Loyalist Lager – and I was excited to try their holiday Yuletide Cherry Porter. The Cherry Porter tasted like Black Forest Cake – all chocolate and cherries. I just wasn’t sure I could drink 6 of them, so we got a pack with the Harvest Gold, Loyalist and Wind & Sail Dark Ale. But I couldn’t stop thinking about that Cherry Porter…

From there, we headed back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. I was really looking forward to this dinner, conveniently at the restaurant at the Merrill Inn, having read many glowing reviews of the food there. They didn’t disappoint – but I did, with my photo taking.

My sad photo of the gnocchi appetizer looks oddly pink. Boo! It tasted like clouds of lemony heaven.

The meal was as incredible as I had hoped. I started with a soft lemony gnocchi appetizer that melted in my mouth. The main course was a rack of lamb – a new adventure for me – with tabbouleh. For dessert, I had “Baked Alaska” for the first time. Unlike my usual choice of “something dark chocolatey”, I enjoyed the mix of meringue and gelato and cake. Yummy!

Eating My Way Through the PEC (Day 1)

This past weekend was spent trolling through the wineries of Prince Edward County.

Having been to Niagara’s wine country many times, we thought a change of scenery would be a good idea. A little bit of digging showed us that wineries are not the only draw – PEC does its best to promote the local farmers, chefs, artisans, cheesemakers, chocolatiers, bakers, and more!

This would be a weekend of indulging, exploring and long naps. This is the first of three posts…

Pondering the options at Buddha Dog

Our first stop when we got into town was Buddha Dog – the #1 “place to eat” on most articles I read about visiting Prince Edward County. Hot dogs aren’t the first food I think to go for – but these ones are special. Everything about these dogs is local – locally produced meat, buns, cheese, sauces, etc. There were so many mixes of sauces and cheeses (even more than you see on this menu!) that I couldn’t decide – so I decided not to decide!

Two flights of dogs – chef’s choice!

We ordered two ‘flights’ of three wee dogs, with toppings selected by the staff. Our favourites? The dog of the day was topped with maple bacon jam and Black River pepper jack cheese. Yup, we liked that one. There was also one with jalapeño tequila sauce that was amazing, and I really liked the cherry ketchup on another. Overall, there were lots of great flavour combos and I would definitely go back for another flight.

After a brief walk, and some caffeination, we decided to drive out to Waupoos and find Fifth Town cheese.

We started with a couple of Waupoos wineries: Waupoos Estates Winery and Del Gatto Estates Winery. The thing to keep in mind about PEC wineries is that it is a cold climate – colder than Niagara, even. The reds tend to be lighter, and the whites are usually the wines given the spotlight. If you’re looking for something that tastes like an Australian Shiraz, you won’t find it here. The tough part is that it takes me a couple of tastings to really get a sense of the ‘local flavour’ and prep my palette to be able to find the nuances in the wines.

The adorable tasting room at Del Gatto.

Luckily, we were able to find wines that we enjoyed at both of the first wineries – a Geisenheim at Waupoos Estates that had a serious grapefruit tang, and ‘Two Shades’ from Del Gatto that blends Frontenac Noir and Leon Millot into a peppery and bright red.

Spying through a window to the room of cheese.

Next was the stop I had been looking forward to all day – Fifth Town cheese. Fifth Town primarily makes goat cheeses in many varieties. I kept hearing delicious things about Fifth Town, so we had no choice but to go investigate. During the summer, they have more activities and tours and things. In the off-season, you can still visit the store and see what’s going on. Oh yeah – and try all of the cheese.

We tried them all – and came away with some great choices.

One by one, we tasted through the different cheeses, from goat cheddar to soft rolled cheese to soft-ripened cheeses. We bought quite a few, but I think the ones that really blew me away were “Nettles Gone Wild” (a soft-ripened cheese with a hint of earthiness) and “Lemon Fetish” (a crumbly sheep’s milk cheese with lemon and red fife flour). We lovingly described the ‘Lemon Fetish’ as being like a tequila shot in a cheese – lemony, salty, tangy.

Service with a smile!

As we were checking out, one more thing caught my eye – a small box of goat cheese truffles. I snatched it up – without the benefit of trying any (I trusted them) – and we were on our way. We started the drive back toward Picton, to our hotel. The drive was lovely – and I really want to go back so I can get a better look at the “Lake on the Mountain” – a lake “nearly 62 metres above the Bay of Quinte”. I had never heard of it before, so when we passed a sign saying “Lake on the Mountain”, I was a little bit puzzled… until I saw the lake that was level was us, to the left, and the Bay of Quinte waaaaaaaay down on the right. It was a little bit surreal.

Merrill Inn — I didn’t get a pic of the adorable front, just the back door. Go me!

We finally got to the hotel (we stayed at the Merill Inn), checked in and had a bit of a rest. Then it was off to dinner!! We knew we’d be having a big fancy dinner the next night, so we wanted something a little more casual. We opted to go to the Barley Room – a cute little pub at the Waring House with some local beer and tasty nibblies. We got our first taste of Barley Days beer, a fantastic cheddar and apple cider soup (the highlight of our meal!) and a salmon en croute that was – no joke – the size of my head!! Just to put this into perspective for you — I have a really big head, so this dish was insane.

So that’s what we did on the first day. It was a long day of travelling and tasting, and we had a great time but were happy to tuck into the comfy bed in the adorable inn at the end of the night. We would have a full day ahead of us the next day…

Kısır – Bulgur Salad : Turkish Food Log Pt. 4

I finally tried to make the bulgur salad I was obsessed with on my trip to Turkey.

This salad is the reason I bought the cookbook I bought. There were a few different cookbooks in the tourist shops, and I found that this one was the only one that had the bulgur salad in it.

One problem – I couldn’t find it in English.
Continue reading Kısır – Bulgur Salad : Turkish Food Log Pt. 4

Beer & Butter Tarts? Heck Yes!

Hey folks! My blog is now a part of the all-Canadian, all-food aggregator “Beer & Butter Tarts“! Seriously – with a name like that, as if I wouldn’t want to be a part of it!

Anyone who enjoys food blogs, and is looking for more from Canuckleheads like me, head on over to Beer & Butter Tarts.

Steph Out.

Daring Soufflé

I’ve never made a soufflé before.

I knew it was something eggy, but I’m not really sure I had a concept of what one was. I just knew that they fell, and were complicated. I never ate one, I never tried to make one.

As a kid, my favourite birthday meal was home made lasagna and Black Forest cake. My girlfriend, on the other hand, loved cheese soufflé. I thought that was the funniest thing – what kid asks for cheese soufflé? Maybe it was just because I thought of soufflé as a snobby food, and not kid food. Obviously, different families eat different things.

So, yes, this is a great challenge for me. If you’ve never eaten something before, how do you know if you’ve made it right??

It’s hard to describe the texture… outside was a little bit crispy and nice, and inside was fluffy and soft. It’s almost like crossing scrambled eggs, a milkshake and crème brulée. Maybe.

Blog-checking lines: Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
Continue reading Daring Soufflé

Surviving a Salted Caramel Cupcake Fail!

I just have to deal with the fact that I am not a great baker.

I’ll still try to do it, but wow I need to have a little more patience with myself.

Since I bought the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book earlier this year, I’ve been wanting to make the Salted Caramel chocolate cupcakes. They looked like everything I like about food – sweet, rich, salty and chocolatey. I finally decided to make them to bring to Hallowe’en movie night.

I managed to mess something up at each stage.

D’oh #1 – Footless Cupcakes

The cupcakes stuck to the baking tin, and lost some chunks when I pulled them out. I didn’t have mini cupcake liners, but it wasn’t a problem last time. I just oiled it up and went ahead. Needless to say, I was not happy. Some of them wouldn’t stand on their own because of their injuries. On the other hand, they were really tasty and I decided it wasn’t too big of an issue.

D’oh #2 – Crazy Caramel (Corn?)

I messed this up twice, basically. The caramel sauce ended up being the worst part of the whole thing – everything else sort of pulled together, except for this part. Instead of sauce inside, it’s like a piece of caramelly fudge, or like the texture of candy corn. Grrr. My problem revolved around my lack of a candy thermometer, and I couldn’t judge when it was cooked enough. I knew we had a thermometer and pulled it out – only to discover that it’s a meat thermometer and doesn’t measure a high enough temperature. Crap on a stick!

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, it helps to know the different stages to look for. I found this web page that describes the different stages, but I still messed it up. First, I pulled it off the heat too early because I thought it was cooked more than it was. I added the cream, and realized it was too light and oogy. I put it back on the heat, cooked until it browned and tasted better — but then after I poured the sauce into the cupcakes, it started to harden funny (the aforementioned candy corn texture). Ah well, not much to be done about that – and I was too lazy to start over by baking new cupcakes.

At least it still tasted good…

D’oh #3 – Mmmm, Chocolate Soup

Following the instructions, the dark chocolate icing ended up being the consistency of chocolate soup. I saved it by putting the bowl of icing ingredients into a larger bowl full of ice, and beating the crap out of it as it cooled. It turned out really really good. As a side note — I have no scale and had no idea what one pound of chocolate should look like. I guesstimated, and it worked. I don’t think my baking warrants getting a scale, either.

Oh yeah – and I forgot to add the decorative salt on top before I took pics. Hahaha!

The Verdict

While I screwed all sorts of things up, these turned out pretty tasty. I do eventually want to try the recipe again, to try to get it all perfect. First, I’ll tackle the caramel a couple more times and use it in other things. The chocolate frosting on this is really incredible – and it should be, considering the amount of butter that’s in it!!

They don’t have this recipe up on the Martha Stewart website, but I found it posted on this blog. Note that this blogger had no trouble with the caramel… so it’s obviously me.

UPDATE: I bought a candy thermometer. I am determined to make this work, because I really love caramel and I think I should be able to make it.