Linaloo

Canorama

 
Having a bit more time on my hands this year has meant more time for canning.  Not that I've made a whole lot mind you but tomatoes and applesauce have been made in the last week.  I don't have a pantry in my kitchen but a shelf in my basement dedicated to all things mason jar related including jam, chutney and honey.  And a few mystery jars of who-knows-what that I'll open one day out of curiosity.  I'm quite possessive of my shelf -I like to look at it but find it hard to actually open and use anything.

I'm weird like that!

I'm thinking Lorraine Pascale's chilli jam is next on the list.  I love everything she's made so far in her new series.

Fall

 
 
 
 
 
 
Not much sign of any autumnal weather here yet (I'm in no rush) but we marked the beginning of fall with an apple picking trip today.  32lbs of apples (a mix of Courtland, McIntosh and Spartan) ready for some sauce making.  I'm also canning tomatoes again this week - I'm looking forward to filling a shelf or two with some homemade goodness - I take my role of domestic goddess very seriously these days!

Summer in a bowl

 
This time of year in Quebec we are blessed with an abundance of amazing tasting locally grown fruit.  Peaches, strawberries, raspberries and my favourite, blueberries. Big fat juicy ones or even better still the slightly smaller but flavour packed wild Quebec blueberries, les bleuets sauvages (not pictured here). My new favourite way to eat them is in a simple fruit salad with a lime syrup. The syrup recipe is so simple yet perfect and comes from Quebec's version of Jamie Oliver, Ricardo. It can be used on any combination of fruit - he recommends using 2 cups of strawberries, 1 cup of blueberries, 2 mangoes and half a cup of the syrup.  Served with a dollop of full fat french vanilla yogurt, it really does taste like summer.

More fruity stuff

 
Deviating from my normal strawberry and rhubarb jam that I've made for the past few years, although I'll probably end up making that too, this week I've made apricot jam.  It's pretty dark because I had some problems with the set and ended up reboiling the whole batch, (largely due, I suspect, to the fact that I decided to wing it with my own recipe) but the end result is yummy indeed.  

Today is the last day of school and if the weather holds up, I think a trip to the local strawberry fields might be in order.

Berry brain freeze

Berry season is in full swing and frankly I can never get enough of them, with yogurt and granola for breakfast, in pancakes, muffins, cakes, I'm really not fussy.  As a rule however, I'm generally not an icecream or frozen yogurt lover as I seem to be susceptible to painful brain freeze when eating anything frozen.  But I make an exception for this one, David Lebovitz's frozen strawberry yogurt (without the alcohol). Nothing quite beats the homemade flavour.
This little contraption is a hand crank ice cream maker purchased at my favourite thrift store last summer for a couple of dollars.   It's a perfect way to get the children involved - they crank the handle for 5 minutes, it goes back in the freezer for an hour, gets cranked again for 5 minutes and so on for about 4 or 5 hours.  Not too labour intensive and really worth the effort!

 
So good, it makes brain freeze almost bearable.

 

 

Weturn of the wittle chickies

 
Ruby asked if we could make chocolate Easter nests for her class again this year, I'm sure her teacher will be thanking me later for the resulting sugar fuelled behaviour of 20 grade two students. Hard to believe that it was 3 years ago since we last made them for her preschool pals.  I have since then, found a little shop locally which sells all manner of British goodies, including such necessities as golden syrup, hobnobs and hula hoops. Chocolate cornflake cakes were one of my childhood favourites, the ultimate retro sweet treat.

Little chickies courtesy of the dollar store. Recipe here. 

Wishing you a happy Easter!

Comfort food made easy

 
Ever since Nina posted this recently, I've been craving a decent sausage roll.  Light, flaky, buttery pastry with a hearty meat filling -  a perfect warm treat for school lunchboxes or for the ski hill (I apologise for mentioning skiing in pretty much every post so far in 2011).  This recipe from  Lorraine Pascale and her series Baking Made Easy on the beeb (I miss you BBC) was quick, easy and very tasty. Spurred on by her "easy" approach, I made some of her parmesan and poppyseed lollipops yesterday (made heart shaped thanks to a cookie cutter).  A perfect canape for a valentines themed potluck thrown by some neighbours this weekend. 

Teacher gifts 2010 (why reinvent the wheel?)

 
These were so easy and such a hit last year, and, because the children have new teachers, we made cookies in a jar again as Christmas gifts.  Using the exact same recipe as last time too. What's not to love?  They're simple enough for children to make themselves, the recipient can make them when they want and the packaging is reusable. 

This year we made them on a slightly larger scale - a dozen in total for teachers, neighbours and friends.  I bought ingredients in bulk (thank you Costco) and used canning jars that I already had.  We had a nice little production line going in the kitchen and were finished in less than an hour. 

The clean up (not yet started) might take slightly longer mind you.

Big thanks once again for Launder, Fold and Repeat for the inspiration and recipe.

Simple recipe recording :: crumbly apple cake

 
I have been pondering for some time how best to store all my favourite and frequently used recipes in a useful way that can also be kept for posterity.  Until now, I have a a mix of favourites referred to time and time again stored online (food blogs, recipe sites etc), ripped out pages of magazines stored in a messy overflowing folder in my kitchen and of course, in a collection of recipe books.

Overwhelmed by too many choices for a long time, I finally took the plunge this summer and plumped for a simple low tech recipe box and index card combinaton.  I like that I can take the cards shopping with me if need be as a reminder of the ingredients...and I can copy recipes from my favourite books without fear of splattering the glossy pages.  Although I know that there are plenty of more sophisticated ways of storing this kind of information electronically, I have rather enjoyed the satisfying task of transferring my collection of tried and tested family favourites by hand onto these neat little cards. 

How do you store yours?

The recipe above is for crumbly apple cake which is so easy and simple. Just in case you feel like trying it, the recommended cooking time is 40-45 minutes!

Summer's final fling

I've lost track of how many pictures I have of this boy in the water this year.

We've had a heat wave here this past few days.  The children went back to school with temperatures in the mid thirties and our much loved pool has been kept open a few extra days.  Usually at the beginning of September, I'm looking forward to the change of season, picking apples, making soup and enjoying the crisp morning air on the walk to school. Instead we've been eating salad, using the barbecue and turning on the air con in the house. 

Regardless of the weather, thoughts of food this time of year are rarely out of mind. 

I'm hoping that I'll spend the day canning tomatoes again soon (we only just ran out of last year's supply).  

I really want to make this soup.  To see if I can't persuade my children that fresh is better than tinned.

Corn is abundance at our local market.  $1.99 for 10.  There's nothing quite like the really fresh stuff. We're big corn eaters here and I'm always looking for new recipes.  Last night we ate Menonite Corn Salad with quinoa rather than barley.  Yum.

Since coming back from the UK where my mum made lovely homemade bread, I've dug out my breadmaker from the basement and started making a loaf every other day. So tasty.

Oh and there's always the return of the dreaded school lunch box...I find packing something interesting and nutritious every day such a chore.  Thinking of buying these for the children to ease the burden on my exploding tupperware cupboard...