News, and A "Sort Of" Recipe

Well folks, it's official: we're moving to St. John's!


Slowly working our way east, until we just plain run out of Canada... Then we'll come back west ;)

I am extremely excited about this, but the sticky wicket is that we have to be there by 14 January at the absolute latest. As in Halifax house sold, all belongings moved, and properly transplanted. To say I'm busy at the moment would be a complete understatement.



Because of this, needless to say I'm barely cooking at all, never mind taking photos of lovely, delicious dishes to share with all my invisible internet friends! So I unfortunately don't have a recipe for you today.

But...

Several weeks ago erm, at Thanksgiving my Aunt Shelley asked me for my recipe for homemade laundry detergent. For a little over a year I've been making this for several reasons: I'm crazy - I'll make just about anything in the universe at home at least once, just to say that I did; I like knowing what's in the products that affect me the most closely (ie makeup, toiletries, cleaners); and I'm incredibly cheap. Like, so cheap that throwing away the super-cheap ingredients I've collected before we move is going to hurt my soul on a profound level.



More recently, one of my favourite yoga teachers over at Shanti Hot Yoga asked me to share the recipe. So I thought now was a good time (cause you're probably not getting much outta me until Christmas now!)

This recipe is crazy simple, but it does have to be followed closely because it's a chemical reaction and if you skip a step or try to combine steps it probably won't work. I speak from experience... (That being said, it still got my clothes clean) I also don't have any photos of the process because it makes such a crazy-bananas huge amount that I haven't made any since the summer.

The volume you make depends on how concentrated you want it to be. I typically make about 1.5 gallons because that's what fits in the dispenser I have in the laundry room, and I use 1/4 cup per load (unless it's a really dirty one). You could make 3 gallons and then use 1/4-1/2 cup depending how large or soiled your load is.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients/materials:

2oz/56g laundry soap

1/4 cup borax

1/4 cup washing soda

Your favourite essential oils (optional; I love tea tree, rosemary, and mint)

Directions:

1. Grate the laundry soap into a pot of hot water and heat on the stove until the soap is dissolved.
2. Meanwhile in a large bucket stir borax and washing soda into some warm water until fully dissolved.
3. Pour the hot soap mixture into the bucket and stir; it should immediately become cloudy and turn into a jelly-like substance.
4. Add additional water to the final amount you want to make; stir again and set aside for about 24 hours. You can stir occasionally if you like (if you have kids they'll probably love this, it's actually quite interesting).
5. After 24 hours, add your essential oils; I use between 40 and 60 drops in 1.5 gallons, depending on my mood. Start small and add to your liking. Or leave them out altogether if you're an unscented kind of person.
6. Store your laundry soap in whatever sort of container you like; I highly recommend something you can shake up before using, because it will gel back together in-between each use, which can make it hard to pour if you have a small spout (as I learned when nothing would come out of my dispenser that has a spigot on the front)

Notes:

• Make sure whatever you're stirring with is not used for food. I initially figured "its soap, it'll just wash off"... No such luck, as we discovered when we accidentally made soap-infused caramelised onions.
• Borax and washing soda are both usually in the laundry aisle at the grocery store. The laundry soap may be a little harder to find, I get it here at Bulk Barn.
• There is some controversy about borax: I believe myself that it is completely safe and much more natural than some of the preservatives in store-bought anything laundry detergent. Most of the evidence I found was based on studies of people who work with borax (ie breathing in the dust in an industrial setting) rather than using it occasionally at home, but I encourage you to do your own research as well.

See you in St. John's! 

Onion (Bacon) Jam

Have you ever had one of those periods in your life where you couldn't identify a solitary specific thing which is out of the ordinary, yet somehow life takes over and you're suddenly much more busy than you were before? Don't blink, or suddenly you'll lose a month (as if time itself was one of the Weeping Angels)! I've been meaning to share this onion jam with you for that long.

Whatever you do, don't blink...

That's what happened to me this month; life. Hubby came home from sea (finally) and I suppose just the novelty of having him around distracted me.

And technically not nothing was different... A couple of weeks ago we were told by the powers that be to be ready to move to another province. Within a month. If you/ your significant other is considering the army, rest assured, this is not typical. Most military moves are at the same time of year and have a fairly predictable timeline. This was a special "emergency" and we're just lucky I guess.

 
We immediately flew into a tizzy of trying to get our house ready to potentially sell it quickly. And we're pack rats, so this is a BIG job. Suffice it to say the local youth charity got at least six bags of clothing, shoes, linens etc out of the deal. And we're not even close to finished yet!

Then the wind was taken out of our sails and we were told to cool it, the budget has not been approved. So are we moving or not?

No idea...

If we are, the timeline is getting shorter and shorter while we wait for confirmation. Yay!

mmmmmm... bacon...

So in the meantime, I'm sharing with you a recipe that is so simple I can't even call it a recipe. It's more of a ratio. Multiply or divide it as you please. Add in whatever strikes your fancy. Today I'm showing you how to make it with bacon because, well, why not (and also because I tried a bacon marmalade a couple of months ago that I was expecting to taste like this, but it was far too, well, marmalade-y for my tastes, so I had to fix it)? But more often than not I leave the bacon out. And just about any chopped fresh herbs or orange zest would be awesome in here too, or sweet grape tomatoes, or some garlic for an added savoury note. The options go on and on.

This is the face I get when chopping bacon

And it goes with practically anything: as a condiment with breakfast; spread on any type of sandwich; in salad dressings; anywhere you would otherwise use caramelized onions; and I haven't done it yet, but I suspect it would make a great compote on a cheese plate. With a nice double-cream brie or a tart, velvety chevre...

I got the (completely un-new I'm sure) idea for this jam from, you guessed it, The Coastal. Their McCoastal sandwich had to be recreated at home, obviously, so after some reading, and fiddling (and lots and lots of eating) I settled on this.

I've already converted many others to this addiction, most notably my hysterically funny, beautiful, and crazy friend Teisha.

This is a woman who, when we were in high school and my mom and I would cook something delicious, Teisha would tell me that she and her mom also make home-made cookies, but by home-made they mean bought-store...

Through university I'm fairly certain that Teisha alone kept the pizza place down the street from her house in business, and I couldn't tell you if there were any cooking implements in her kitchen at all.

Over the years since then, Teisha has been a dark horse, suddenly becoming a really great cook with more than a few "specialties" to her name.

This summer Teisha came to visit me with another lovely, Jennifer.



While they were here I took them to The Coastal (obviously) but I also made a few other dishes with my onion jam at home. And to say Teisha became obsessed would be an understatement. When she got back home she immediately started making the stuff, and I think has made at least two or three batches a month since then (often texting me to share the variations she's made with each batch)!

This recipe is really easy to make on a whim when needed, but if you wanted to make a giant batch I think it would do well canning (although I highly recommend you research technique sine I am very new to canning and know next to nothing). I also think it would freeze well, but it has never lasted long enough in our house to find out.

Onion (Bacon) Jam

Yield: about 1/2 cup of finished jam per onion

Ingredients:
1/2 lb quality, thick-cut bacon, chopped (optional)
(1 tbsp butter, if you're not using bacon - oil would also work for a vegan option)
one large onion, chopped (I use Spanish or Vidalia onions, but whatever strikes your fancy)
1 tbsp brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup port*

Directions:

1. In a wide pot or deep frying pan with a lid over med-lo heat, render the bacon. When at least half the fat has rendered, pour it off and increase the heat to med-high. (Skip to step 3 if not using bacon)
2. Cook bacon until crispy then drain on paper towel; return pan to the heat and add back 1 tbsp of the bacon drippings.
3. (If you're not using the bacon, heat butter over med-high heat until melted; bonus points if you brown the butter first.) Add in onion and brown sugar, and stir to coat.
4. Allow the onions to soften, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes or until they have released all their liquid. Stir in a pinch of salt.
5. Deglaze the pan with the port, scraping up any pits from the pan.
6. Reduce heat immediately to low and cover the pot. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is reduced and the onions are super soft; this should take about 40 minutes but you can uncover the pan to allow more evaporation if you need to speed things up, but the onions won't be as buttery soft.
7. Add back in the chopped bacon and stir together. Store in an airtight container, about a week and a half in the fridge, if it lasts that long.

Notes:
- The dice on your onions will affect the final texture; although the onions will still be soft and delicate, you will have a more chunky texture if you cut them that way. I prefer my jam to be super-spreadable so I dice my onions very finely.
- When multiplying the recipe, it will often take much longer for all the liquid to thicken - use the widest pot or pan you can.
- Like everything in this recipe, the port is highly substitutable. You could also deglaze with red wine, soup stock, water (although this is boring to me), or another completely different flavour, like apple cider (but I would cut out the sugar in this case). Hubby is very particular that I use a deep red port so that's what is usually in mine...
- If you are using the bacon, I recommend a thick-cut because otherwise you'll have very sad, anemic pieces of bacon floating around. If you prefer to chop the bacon after cooking (or if you have leftovers from breakfast I don't understand) do so, I just have an ineptitude when it comes to cooking bacon in strips and have to do it in the oven.
- If you're adding any fresh herbs, probably about 1 tbsp per onion would suffice. I would add in half while caramelizing the onion but save half to add closer to the end, conserving some of the fresh flavour.

A Very Special Post

Hello internet friends! It's been a while!

It's my fault, I know... But I have an excellent excuse: I was a little bummed that I would have to spend Thanksgiving weekend alone, so when my parents offered up a flight home to Ontario, I was all in. Unfortunately that means limited computer access.

Which does not mean that I wasn't thinking of you! I did some cooking (obviously, it's Thanksgiving!) and although I have limited photos, I'll be sharing the recipes with you for the next few days.

The other reason this weekend was special is that it was Hubby's birthday, and our second anniversary!!

What a fox!

I am so incredibly blessed to have met this amazing man. He has shaped me into the person I am today. When I am weak, he is my strength. When I am down, he is my unfailing cheerleader. He makes me so very happy, and I can't wait to spend the next 50+ years doing the same for him. I'll even take the socks left all over the house for it :)

Did you ever have a meal in a restaurant that was so ah-mah-zing you just HAD to recreate it at home? This happens to us a lot, but the place that has given me those warm and fuzzies the most often is The Coastal Cafe.

In our future, there will be a lot of times I'll tell you to eat someplace if you're ever in Halifax. But for The Coastal, you should actually come to Halifax for the express purpose of eating there. I'm not kidding.

If we won the lottery tomorrow, we would both spend at least six months working at The Coastal for free, just so we could learn how they do it and have deliciousness like that in our lives at home every day.

We have attempted to recreate multiple Coastal dishes at home, but last weekend I had to make Hubby's favourite, the fall Breakfast of Champinions. At it's core it's a croque monsieur, but without the ham, and gussied up for breakfast.

I used my go-to light hollandaise because lets be honest, can't nobody eat hollandaise as often as we fake-out The Coastal in this house and still fit into their skinny jeans, but absolutely do it full-fat if you're having it for a special occasion.

Happy Birthday Babe!!

Breakfast of Champinions

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Hollandaise Sauce:

1 tbsp butter

¾ cup buttermilk

1 tbsp cornstarch

½ tsp salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 large egg

1 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard

1 tsp truffle oil (I use a truffle/olive blend; if you have the real stuff, definitely use less)

To Assemble:

8 eggs

8 slices good sourdough bread, buttered

Sliced Gruyere cheese, or other good Swiss cheese

1lb mushrooms, sliced

olive oil

Directions:

Heat some olive oil in a large pan over med-high heat and saute mushrooms until they no longer release and liquid. Season to taste and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat butte over med heat until bubbling. Watch carefully, and remove from heat when solids start to brown; set aside in a small dish.

In the same saucepan, whisk a small amount of buttermilk with cornstarch; when well blended whisk in the remaining ingredients except the butter and truffle oil. Heat over med-lo heat, whisking constantly; lower the heat if the egg begins to stick to the bottom, we're not making scrambled eggs here!

Continue whisking until the sauce thickens slightly, or just comes to a simmer; whisk for 15-20 seconds more, then remove from the heat. Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove any cooked egg bits. Stir in the reserved butter and truffle oil.

Grill the croques over med heat using two slices of the sourdough bread and Gruyere cheese. A croque monsieur at it's heart is really just a grilled cheese after all!

Meanwhile, poach the eggs soft.

To assemble: place a croque on a plate, and top with two eggs. Pile 1/4 of the mushrooms on top and drizzle with sauce. Bon appetit!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cut-Out Cookies; Happy Fall

I love to cook, and especially to eat, but my true love is baking. I've been baking longer than I've been cooking (at least with any discernible effort) in part because the results are much more of a treat. As a kid I wanted the cookies, the cake, the dessert WAY more than I ever wanted the food. Baking turned into a really good excuse to eat more of all those treats (you have to test everything to make sure it's good, right?).

This picture fills me with calm. Until I need to clean up...

I never understand people who find baking and cooking frustrating. For me, baking especially is a form of relaxation; meditation as I measure out ingredients. It's a way I can take control, making substitutions for ingredients, adding new flavours. And if it doesn't turn out? That's what I call a learning experience!

As I've gotten older, I actually don't want to eat the results of my baking... at least not as much! Now I actually want the other food even more. So generally I try to bake things that I can give to other people. Having a party? Great, I'll bring something along! I can't count the number of times I've had someone say "don't worry about bringing anything" and it goes in one ear and out the other. If you've invited me, you can expect something baked as a given. I'm not bringing it for you, I'm bringing it for me!

Nowadays my baking is more a way for me to try out new things. Hubby loves chocolate chip cookies; I could take or leave them, but I'm constantly trying new recipes in order to find The Perfect cookie, according to him (so far he says the closest is actually the cookies made on his ship, which frustrates me to no end!). The other half of my baking is making things that look really awesome. I've gotten really into decorating cookies recently, which is a ton of fun and again it's like a form of meditation. As long as I've planned out my design ahead of time, cookie decorating is like a little assembly line, no brain power necessary!

And basic cut-out cookies are really flavour adaptable; everyone knows the standard sugar cookie and shortbread roll-outs, but with a few substitutions, gingerbread, coconut, lemon are all easy. The possibilities are endless with a bit of imagination! This time around, since it's so close to Thanksgiving, I was craving some fall flavours.

Fall has always been my favourite time of year. Aside from the fact that my birthday is in the fall (and I LOVE my birthday) there's just something about it. The days get crisp so you can start wearing sweaters, and layers, and oh the boots!! The leaves all turn such amazing colours and it just feels like the world comes alive, while also feeling more cozy and comforting.

For a lot of people the "official" start of fall has become the ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte returning, to which my friend Adam quipped "I get that it's the season, but I don't understand the obsession". As much as I find the latte itself and the importance given to it mildly irritating, I do truly love all those flavours: pumpkin, warm spices, and especially coffee (oh my!). So clearly I had to try and put them into something baked. But the internet abounds with pumpkin spice latte flavoured muffins, and cupcakes, and cakes, and pies, and pillowy-soft cookies. I wanted to try a rolled, cut out cookie. Something toothsome and solid.

The pumpkin in these cookies does prove to be mildly problematic; the high moisture content tends to over-develop the gluten, which can lead to a chewier cookie than you may be expecting, so this may be a love it or hate it kind of recipe. But in my world that's the best part, it's all about the adventure of trying!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

If you are in fact anti-chewy texture, but you love the flavours of these cookies, there are a couple of things you can do to limit the gluten development: make sure you handle to dough as little as possible, only stirring in the flour until it is just barely combined; try to get as many cookies as possible out of the initial rolling, as kneading and re-rolling the scraps will overwork the dough; and finally, if you're crazy and obsessed like me you can sweat out the pumpkin puree in a small saucepan to evaporate as much water as possible. There are pumpkin flavour extracts available out there which you could use instead, but most you have to order off the internet, and ain't nobody got patience enough for that! Plus I always feel better about "real" food whenever possible.

Adding the coffee granules to the butter mixture will result in a slightly speckled appearance to the final cookies (which I think is quite pretty). If you prefer a more uniform latte-like colour, mix the coffee into the pumpkin first until so it has a chance to dissolve fully.

Finally, if you're going to decorate your cookies with royal icing like I did, omit the baking soda and powder to prevent the cookies from spreading and puffing up, which distorts the shape.

Yield: about 75x2.5” cookies

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 ½ cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1/4 cup instant coffee granules

1 ¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1.       Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

2.       Beat butter, coffee powder, and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer.

3.       Mix in eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.

4.       Add flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about one hour or up to two days.

5.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place cookies two inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until the cookies firm up again, about 15 minutes.

6.       Bake cookies until firm but not dark, about 10 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

8.       Store cookies between layers of parchment or waxed paper in an airtight container for up to a week (closer to 2 weeks when fully iced).

Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup, and Some Beautiful Women!

In the world I live in, there are two groups of people: my friends and family, and then everyone else.

And I am always looking for ways to add people to the former. Food is usually a pretty good way.

I love cooking (who starts a food blog without that element?) but I'll let you in on a dirty secret: I hate cooking for myself. When I have to cook for one, the thought of all those dishes usually leads me to default to my juicer (to get my veggies in) and a bowl of cereal. I grocery shop maybe every 10 days (although I ran out of food at day six) and contemplate take-out nightly, although I can't afford it. I'm super awesome!

But really, even for those of us who like to cook, love it even, at the end of the day a large portion of the enjoyment comes from all the people making the yummy noises. In part that's why I started this blog; to share my cooking adventures with invisible internet friends (who I can pretend are making yummy noises, even if they aren't for real).

I have a truly lovely friend, Kate, who loves soup. Really loves it. Contemplated joining the Navy when she found out they break every morning at 10 for soup (seriously). Recently Kate suggested to a group of her friends the idea of a "soup exchange" - think cookie exchange, but better for your waistline. And for all the reasons above, not least of all the increase in people I can call friends, I thought it was a fantastic idea.

All the women in our group made enough soup to give away one litre per person. That's a lot of soup! I thought it would be a great way to share some of my cooking, and get a huge amount of food to eat until Hubby comes home so I don't have to do any more chopping!! (And I write this while enjoying a delicious bowl of Jamaican spinach soup)

You're looking at 81 litres of soup. No joke.

I got a lot more out of the deal though. I got to share the evening (and wine!) with some lovely ladies, learn about their lives and why this exchange was a good idea for them, and understand why they are important parts of Kate's life. All in all, a very successful evening.

The soup I brought along to our exchange was a Thai coconut shrimp. This recipe is really versatile, because you can sub in pretty much any veggies that tickle your particular fancy. I used butternut squash for the fall, but it's equally good with red bell pepper (although I'd only use about 1/2 cup so the pepper flavour doesn't overpower). You can garnish with cilantro, if you like that kind of thing (I don't), or chives, or nothing. The shrimp can easily be exchanged for chicken with a little more cooking time, or left out completely for an equally hearty vegetarian dish.

Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

Yield: 2L (at least 4-5 servings, depending who you're feeding)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp red curry paste

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1” piece of ginger, finely chopped or grated

1 can coconut milk

3 ¼ cups vegetable/chicken broth

8 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped roughly

1 cup chopped butternut squash

1 cup chopped sugar snap peas

1 cup corn (frozen or fresh)

½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

12 oz uncooked shrimp

1 tbsp lime juice (about 1/2 lime)

1 tbsp fish sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped cilantro or chives (optional, for serving)

Directions:

1.       Heat a soup pot or dutch oven over med-high heat; sear curry paste for about one minute.

2.       Add garlic and ginger with just enough of the coconut milk to loosen everything, and cook for

              another minute, until fragrant.

3.       Add remaining coconut milk and broth; stir and bring to a boil.

4.       Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and add quinoa and butternut squash; cover and cook 10

              minutes.

5.       Add remaining veggies and simmer another 5 minutes.

6.       Add shrimp (and cilantro/chives, if using) and simmer until they are just opaque, 2-3 minutes.

7.       Remove from heat and stir in fish sauce and lime juice. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. If

              too tart for your taste, add about 1 tbsp honey and taste again.

8.       Serve with additional lime wedges and and cilantro/chives to garnish.