Recipe for disaster

I am pretty excited at the moment because I received yesterday my Etsy purchase--a hand-made wooden recipe box in an open concept so you can see the pretty colourful dividers. Recipe for disaster? Only because I'll spend more time filling out the cute recipe cards and less time writing my thesis. At least RB will be fed.

Is it weird to be excited about a recipe box?

You can find this recipe box by rfrantzdesign and other wickedly-awesome-rockin'-diy items at Etsy online!

Just in time for Christmas gift shopping! Find something unique for friends and family because after all--we are unique!

Love you all,
Dawn

Macaroni et deux fromage

I have always been a fan of KD, ever since I was a kid. Original is always great, but I loved the spiral and white cheddar as well. Suffice it to say I have tried every kind of KD there is--but nothing beats the homemade stuff!

This is a recipe I kind of made up on my own. If you know how to make a basic cheese sauce you can pretty much do anything you like to make it. I like to bake mine after with something called butter crumbs. I enjoy creamy but I like contrasting textures and the crunchiness the crumbs give this baked macaroni and cheese is to die for. Literally. I think I die every time. Sometimes I sing to it--"I just died in your arms tonight.."

The Team

2-3 c. pasta (I use spiral but I just love their fun shape! You could use elbow macaroni too!)
3 tbsp of butter or margarine (I use margarine because it tricks my mind into thinking this is in any way healthy).
1/4 c. finely chopped onion (for flavour)
salt & pepper to taste
3 tbsp flour
2 c. 2% milk (OR you could divide 1 c. 2% and 1 c. cream if you think your hips can handle it! Mine can't!)
2 c. shredded old age cheddar (I emphasize the "old age" because I find it gives a distinct flavour boost that mild cheddar cheeses fail to provide).
1/4 c. shredded swiss cheese

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan add butter and onions, salt and pepper and cook until onions become translucent.

2. Add flour and milk and whisk on medium until mixture thickens.

3. Add cheese and continue to whisk until all cheese has melted and becomes a creamy sauce.

4. Put on a pot of salted water to boil your pasta. Once cooked add to your pot of cheesy goodness.

5. Pour cheese-noodle concoction into a greased casserole dish. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. Top casserole with more cheese, old age and swiss.

7. Add butter crumbs to the top, shove into the oven for about 30 minutes or until crispy top forms.

8. Serve and Enjoy!

It's the hap-happiest time of the year?

Hello again from the hallowed halls of learning. It's me, Dawn. I know I haven't been around in awhile and/or written a decent post but I've been getting my bearings slowly but surely after this trek across the country. What this really means is unpacking, resting/sleeping, hanging out with RB and getting my feet wet again in proverbial academic pool.

The most interesting thing to date is my untimely cravings for peanut butter. Ever get those? Here I'll show you:

Down the hatch!

Yeah. That's me spooning peanut butter into my mouth. Originally I had brought it to eat with my oh so delish gala apples but found that the apple was overpowering the awesomeness of the peanut butter and thusly I ate the rest of my apple and spoon fed myself the rest of the few tablespoons of peanut butter. Mm. Peanuty goodness. It's a sin or at least it should be. The only thing that makes peanut butter better is chocolate with peanut butter.

I've been attempting to be more health conscious lately. What this really means is that I've been reading labels like a good girl. This doesn't mean I won't actually eat the 540 calorie 45 grams of fat Big Mac, it just means I'm consciously doing it! Erm, yay?

Now I need to consciously not eat it but that's next week's post.

I made RB a big batch of peanut butter (noticing a trend here?) sandwhich cookies which I would have posted if they had in fact turned out like the book said they would. Ever have that happen? Cookie recipe yields 6 dozen and you get only 2? And I don't understand! They said place generous tablespoon-fulls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet! I think maybe I'm just a more generous baker than the author. Not a bad thing! And RB actually loved them. Tonight I'm making New York Cheesecake Brownies. Wish me luck. I may come out of here with only half a 9 inch baking dish of brownies. Not a bad thing for the waistline!

I have a doctor's appt tonight to go over a food and nutrition/weight loss plan. Is bringing her a peanut butter cookie in bad taste?

Until next time.

Sweet Cherry Lemonade, ya'll!

We've been getting really hot temperatures here in the last week. 40+ degrees Celsius or that's 104+ fahrenheit.

I am a fan of Paula Deen. I love southern cooking, and I think as Liv feels she was meant to actually be born in NY, I was meant to be born in the south, back in the 1700s. Wearing a white frilly dress with a parasol and lace up boots, eating fried chicken and biscuits, and collard greens drinking sweet tea on a front porch of our veranda on our plantation while I gossip with other women about the newest fashions and other women. Okay, clearly I've overthought this fantasy, so we'll move on.

I'm actually not a fan of fried chicken. In fact they opened up a popeye's restaurant up here in my hometown and it closed 2 months later due to lack of business. Canadians just aren't as into the greasy fried foods Americans seem to have as part of the culture--unless you live in America's skinniest city--Manhattan. Or granola-ville Seattle. But the point is, we just haven't been raised on it so we don't eat it much I guess.

However, that being said, I do enjoy other southern dishes including this Paula Deen one: Sweet Cherry Lemonade. So here we go, ya'll!

So one thing you'll notice is I won't try to make my kitchen look fancy and clean. Well, this is my girlfriend Karen's kitchen. However, I think that making your kitchen look perfect or non-existent in photos makes the process look maybe a bit intimidating? I just want to be honest---I make a kitchen mess and I don't give a hoot if it gives me a good result. I'll just get someone else to clean it ;)

So up above here we've got some beautiful and glorious Okanagan cherries. If you're from BC you'll know Okanagan cherries. British Columbia is awesome because we have different climate zones and physical regions all over the province. We've got warm, tropical, orchard-inspiring climates in the BC interior, with ocean and mountains on the coast. We've got coastal rainforests, interior desserts. and arctic tundra to the north. It's pretty much why we're considered Hollywood North other than the enormous tax breaks we give American and other filmmakers...we offer natural scenery that can immitate almost anywhere in the world without having to travel further than 12 hours of driving ---though typically only 3-4 hours.

Wow, that was a rant. So back to the lemonade. So I've got 2 cups of pitted OK cherries but you can use any sweet cherry that's available to you. The actual recipe calls for frozen cherries but not for this girl--not when you've got access to fresh. I used an actual pitting tool that you can see at the base of the photo. It's pretty awesome, and if you use one, I recommend pitting in the sink and holding it low as it sprays and you do NOT, I repeat NOT want cherry juices on your white summer clothing. Wear an apron if you have one!

Below the cherries I also added 1 cup of white sugar though you can adjust this to your taste. I just add 1 cup and then adjust the soda water I use.

Evidence of pitted cherries. And evidence of the spray.

Cool artistic shot of cherries in the blender.

This is my beautiful friend Karen helping me out juicing the lemons. These girls are rustic, so we don't have a juicer--not even a manual simply one. So, we're using the strength of our hands and the utility of a spoon. We need about 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

BREAKING NEWS: RESULTS ARE IN AND SURGEONS GENERAL WARNING STATES THAT USING FAKE LEMON JUICE CAUSES DEPRESSION, FREQUENT CRYING, AND SELF-INFLICTED INJURIES.

As seeds can be found in most lemons and I didn't want pulp in my lemonade we strained the lemon juice. We kept having to move Karen's young daughter Lily out of the way as she always wants to help, but 3 months ago when Karen was making her homemade caesar salad dressing, she grabbed the lemons then put her hands in her eyes and well let me tell you that was NOT a pretty sight. Not pun intended. Well, maybe.

The casualties.

Now pour the lemon juice into the sugar and cherries. Karen insisted I get her sparkly wedding ring bling in the photo so here's to her!

Next step you puree your cherries, lemon juice and sugar. Look at that colour(color) folks! I basically puree until the bits of cherry skin are as small as possible--1 minute.

Club soda (I grabbed 2 litres) and an empty juice jug or if you wanna get fancy one of those gorgeous glass pitchers one just doesn't own when one has children!

Now pour the blended cherry mixture into the pitcher.

Get all of that creamy goodness into the pitcher.

I never got a picture of it but you just add the club soda to the mix, slowly, while stirring continually. You want to avoid creating a lot of foam on top as it takes forever to come down.

VOILA! Pour your fab sweet cherry lemonade over ice and add a slice of lemon for garnish or to prevent getting swine flu.

Cheers!
PAULA DEEN'S SWEET CHERRY LEMONADE RE-CAP

All-Star Lineup

2 cups cherries (fresh is best but you can use frozen), pitted
1 cup granulated sugar (adjust to your liking or use splenda)
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice without the seeds.
5-8 cups of club soda (again adjust as needed or to taste)

1. Pit cherries and add to a blender along with the sugar and lemon juice.
2. Puree mixture for 1 minute or to desired consistency as per your blender.
3. Add mixture to pitcher and combine with club soda stirring continually.
4. Pour lemonade over ice or into chilled glass and add lemon (or a whole cherry) for garnish.

SERVE AND ENJOY!

We took this shot later in the day after we were at the lake. It tasted even better after sitting for a few hours. Or maybe just because I was bloody hot.

And now for something completely different!

I enjoy cooking, and even love experimenting a little. I have since I was a little girl. My middle sister JC (you'll recognize her from the wedding photos) used to be the conventional cook. She'd cook typical meals, but well. I on the other hand had to grab out the Company's Coming cookbooks and find something absolutely new. In fact, like a food fashionista I dared not cook the same thing two nights in a row.

The recipe you are about to see unravel was designed by me, and not taken from a recipe book. I am a self-proclaimed meat-a-tarian. I come from a family of hunters and fishers and so I cannot claim to be a professional vegetarian chef. However, I find that most hamburgers are without taste and texture and have come to love the ever-hated but always-cheaptest-in-a-restaurant veggie burger. The problem with most I've found is they were either too dry or without taste. I may as well be eating beef. Many have been made with mushrooms and breadcrumb or tofu mixtures. They were never quite so satisfying.

Enter stage left: the chickpea. I really love chickpeas. I love the texture and the taste. You can add almost anything to them and 1/2 cup will give you a whopping 12 grams of iron. As a student, I typically don't eat well and turn anemic quite quickly so any iron I can get is a plus. So in my quest for the perfect veggie burger I knew I had to incorporate chickpeas.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, Le Grande Veggie Burger du Canada.

The team from left to right: Fresh cilantro, 1 large white onion, mushrooms (about 5), butter (unsalted), baby spinach, two large cans of chickpeas, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, rosemary leaves, salt & pepper to taste and of course whatever hamburger buns you wish to use. Oh, and you'll need some gold old EVOO to fry them up later on.

What truly makes this veggie burger other than the chickpeas are the caramelized onions. Saute 1 large onion (white or yellow) in a pan for about 45-50 minutes to do this.

While I realize that this photo didn't turn out well, the concept is what matters. Any good "green" 21st century chef should always compost their veggie matter! In go the onion bits!

Now I'm going to teach you a trick to chopping your onion into even bits without going all Iron Chef on your onion. Cut the onion from left to right in quarter inch widths without going all the way through the onion. Go about 95% of the way through but DON'T let the knife hit the cutting board.

I tried to make it easy for you to see the cross slices. But turn the onion 90 degree and cross cut the same was as before about 95% of the way through.

Then flip the onion on its side depending on what hand you use. I am left handed so I flip the onion with the base to the right. And then cut down and voila!

Heat up a large sauce pan and add some butter! Yup, I said butter, the churned stuff without the darn salt there's enough of it in the chickpeas and we don't need anyone's heart drying up on my watch.

I wanted you to actually see me adding the onion. I think seeing my arm gives the whole activity some legitimacy don't you think?

See the consistency of the onion? They're even little bits. I'm not OCD at all. Fry little onions, fry!

Add some fresh ground pepper because what person in their right mind doesn't like fresh ground pepper, I'd like to know!

Now the process of caramelizing onions is really fairly simple as the pan and butter and onions do allll the work. The best caramelized onions I've had are made in a well-seasoned cast-iron fry pan. However, I live in a house with boys at the moment and they don't own such old-fashioned items so these non-stick ones will have to do.

As I stated it takes about 45-50 minutes to cook the onions down. They will first go translucent where at that point you then turn the heat down to medium-high and continue cooking them down until they start to look brown. If they start to stick at all in whatever pan you use, simply add a bit of water.

Mmmm brown oniony goodness.

Almost there.

They're "Eh"-Okay!

Some garlic because we get taste and ward off vampires at the same time. Unless it's Edward Cullen in which case I don't mind. I'll be your Bella, Edward! Erm..I don't think he cares for veggie burgers.

Rough chop some mushrooms when Gordon Ramsay isn't looking.

Rough chop some cilantro. I'd say I'm being artsy but really I'm just lazy.

Now I'm using a double-type steamer dealy here. I didn't know what it was before I moved here as I always used the electric ones. This is just a pan with holes over a pan with no holes with some water added. I'm steaming the chickpeas from the cans here to make the pliable.

Prior to this step, do the same thing to a handful of baby spinach. Add it on the plate then next to the cilantro and put the chickpeas in and it should take about 20 minutes to steam to perfection.

Add the garlic, spinach, mushrooms and 1 tsp of rosemary leaves with some pepper to the onion mixture and saute a bit further to get the mushrooms cooked down.

When the chick peas are done, chuck 'em into a big 'ol bowl. The boys here don't have a big baking/cooking bowl so I used the big stock pot. Whatever works, eh? Use a fork, or a potato masher to roughly mash up the chickpeas. I say rough because you can leave some whole. You could use a food processor but only do a few pulses.

Doesn't this look delightful? Probably something the cat threw up but hairballs never tasted so good. Add 2 eggs and 3/4 cup breadcrumbs to help it all stick together. Also add in the onion-spinach mixture to finish it off. Just make sure you beat the two eggs separately and stir them in quickly as the chickpeas are hot and you don't want scrambled eggs in your veggie burgers, trust me.

Add 2 tbsp. of evoo to the fry pan used for the onions and heat it up. Form the hairball mixture into some patties and add it to the pan. Fry til golden brown on both sides then you're done!

And here is the set-up. Put it on a hamburger bun of some sort, whatever you fancy. I like mustard and here I have turned the mayo in shame because it's not real mayo but devil-mayo (aka. Miracle Whip). The white creamy stuff is Canadian goat cheese and then fresh baby spinach. Serve with your favourite Australian red wine--if you're me.

To recap: Le Grande Veggie Burger du Canada.

2 cans of chick peas
1 large onion (white or yellow will work)
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tsp of rosemary leaves
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
5-6 mushrooms (medium sized so not button and no gigantic big ones)
1 bunch of fresh baby spinach (1 cup)
1 box of wine or whatever you fancy
A cute guy to share them with whether your husband, boyfriend, cute young son or cat.
1 all time greatest hits of The Eagles or angsty Alanis Morrisette.

BON APPETIT!

Stay tuned, coming up next...Dawn cooks veggie!

Tonight I will be making my glorious-amazing-world-renowned-delicious-charismatic veggie burgers...charismatic, you say? Just go with it.

I will offer step by step photography and instructions with a summarized line-up of ingredients at the end for your perusal.

Editors note: Dawn is not, I repeat not, a vegetarian. She doesn't even know if vegetarians exist in Canada or the north for that matter. Ingredients may or may not be used that may or may not be considered vegan or even vegetarian. There won't be meat in here though, so if you're hankering for some flesh, find a zombie.

Cheers, eh?
Stay tuned!