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Tiger Butter

It’s so easy to make your own chocolates, and if you like peanut butter, then you might like this one – white chocolate and peanut butter drizzled with dark chocolate on top – Yum!  I love the tiger butter they sell at Purdy’s, so I made up this recipe to imitate theirs.  I haven’t done a side-by-side taste test, but from what I remember, this is pretty close.  I don’t usually measure the ingredients, so feel free to alter the ingredients as you see fit.  Just don’t add too much peanut butter or it will end up being too soft.

What you need:

1 cup white chocolate

1/4 cup dark chocolate

1 tablespoon peanut butter

What you do:

1.  Use a double boiler, or if you don’t have one, put a bowl on top of a pot containing a little water.  Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to minimum.  You’ll need two of these set-ups, one for the white and one for the dark chocolate (or you could heat the dark chocolate in the microwave… although the only time I’ve done this I accidentally burned it).

2.  Put the white chocolate in the top of one double boiler, the dark chocolate in the other.  Allow them to melt, making sure that no water touches the chocolate.  If that happens, the chocolate will seize up.

3.  Stir the peanut butter into the white chocolate.

3.  Line a pan with some parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Pour the white chocolate into the pan, spreading it around a little.

4.  Drizzle the dark chocolate on top in stripes.  Pull a knife through the stripes so they form a pattern.

Let it cool, then cut into squares or just break it up.

Lemony Kale with Onions, Garlic and Pine Nuts

Another quick, easy and delicious way to serve up the super-food kale!  Kale is one of the few things I can harvest from my garden year-round, so it’s always good to find some new ways to cook it up.

What you need:

1-2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted

olive oil

1/4 of a red onion, sliced

1-2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 bunch kale, roughly chopped

1/2 a lemon

salt, to taste

What you do:

1.  Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the sliced onions and cook until they are browned.

2.  Add the garlic, cooking briefly, then add the chopped kale.  Toss the kale with tongs a few times until it is wilted and the onions and garlic are distributed throughout.

3.  Squeeze on a little lemon, a little salt too, and then toss the pine nuts in.

Serve it right away!

Spanish Stew With Vegetables and Olives

The weather is turning a little cooler, and I always look for an excuse to put olives into a recipe.  This one has tons of flavour, and it’s got lots of veggies to keep you healthy.  This one comes from Maryana Vollstedt’s Big Book of Soups and Stews.  It’s pretty easy, just a bunch of chopping, sauteing and stewing.

What you need:

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 & 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 3 cm-ish cubes

1 cup chopped sweet onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 red pepper and 1 yellow or orange pepper, cut into chunks of about 4cm

10-12 mushrooms, cut in half, or quarters for large ones

1 large can diced tomatoes with juice

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme (less of each herb if you use dried)

1 cup kalamata olives, or a mixture of olives of your choice

1 pound green beans, frenched

salt and pepper, to taste

What you do:

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large pot, then add the pork and brown it for about 5 minutes. You may want to do this in batches.

2.  Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, then add the pepper and mushrooms and cook for about 5 more minutes.  Add more oil to keep the veggies from sticking, if you need to.

3.  Add the tomatoes, wine, oregano and thyme, then reduce the heat so it is just simmering, for about 30 minutes.

4.  Add the olives and green beans and cook for a few more minutes, until the beans are lightly cooked.

5.  Season with salt and pepper, remembering that the olives will add a bit of salt to the stew, so don’t use too much salt without tasting it first!

Serve it up with a nice loaf of crusty bread!

Panzanella

 

For this salad I used tomatoes from my garden – they are so flavourful!  A local farmer’s market is another great place to find amazing tomatoes if you don’t have a garden yourself.  I also used the remnants of a crusty loaf from the farmer’s market.  We ate this one at a picnic at English Bay.  Gorgeous, delicious.

What you need:

a few great tomatoes

cucumber

a few slices of stale bread

1 clove garlic

fresh oregano and basil

salt and pepper

olive oil

balsamic or red wine vinegar

What you do:

1.  Cut the tomatoes into chunks, removing a lot of the liquid.  Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and let them sit in a colander to drain.

2.  Chop the cucumber.

3.  Cut the clove of garlic in half and rub the bread slices with it.  Cut the bread into cubes.

4.  Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and throw in the cubed bread.  Cook, turning from time to time, until the bread is browned and crispy on the outside.

5.  Throw the bread, tomatoes and cucumbers together in a bowl along with the herbs, salt and pepper and a few splashes of olive oil and vinegar, to taste.

6.  Toss it all up and you’re ready to go.  Some recipes say to let it all sit for a while, but I prefer for the bread to retain a bit of its crispiness, so I like to eat it right away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beef Quesadilla

A great comfort food – I love fried onions and steak together, add the salsa and yogurt and it’s a dream come true!  This one is great to make if you’ve got some left over  steak from your barbecue the night before.  Another amazing addition is some slices of avocado – that puts it over the top!

I don’t eat cheese very often, so when I do but it I grate the unused part and keep it in the freezer.  Same goes for the tortilla, just pop them in the freezer to use later, maybe even in a tortilla pizza.

What you need:

1/2 onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 beef steak

cheddar or another favourite cheese, grated

salt

olive oil

yogurt or sour cream

salsa

tortilla shells

What you do:

1.  Take the steak out of the fridge so it isn’t completely cold when you cook it.  Rub a little olive oil on each side, then liberally salt each side, then set aside.

2.  Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the sliced red peppers and continue to cook until the onions are quite browned.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

3.  Heat the pan to medium high.  When it’s good and hot, place the steak on the pan.  Cook it for just a few minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak and your preference.  I love mine quite rare, so I don’t leave it for long, plus it continues to cook while it rests out of the pan before cutting.  Use tongs to flip the steak and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.  Remove from the pan to rest for at least 5 minutes.  Slice very thinly.

4.  Clean your pan out and place a tortilla in it, on medium-low heat.  Sprinkle a little cheese on one half, then add some onion and pepper and some slices of steak.  Add a little more cheese, then pull the other half of the tortilla over the fillings.  I like to put the cheese on the top and the bottom because I think that when it melts it helps hold all the fillings in.  Plus people love cheese, so often a little more is better.

5.  Let the quesadilla cook until that side it slightly brown and crispy, then flip it over and do the same to the other side.

6.  Serve with some salsa and yogurt or sour cream on the side.

Thanks for the great photo, Megan!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I read a lot of recipes claiming to be the best before trying this one.  A few recipes involved refrigerating the dough for a day before baking, claiming this is the magic that will give you the best cookies.  I think they’re great, but then how can you go too wrong with chocolate and butter?

I go the recipe from words to eat by.

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 large egg

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

What you do:

1.  Cream the butter and sugars for several minutes, until creamy.  Add the vanilla and egg and beat briefly.

2.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and stir them in or mix on low.  Add the chocolate chips.

3.  To refrigerate the dough you have two options: roll it in plastic wrap like I did, then cut the log into disks when you’re ready to bake.  Or. . . you could refrigerate the dough in the bowl, then use a scooper to form the cookies.

4.  Line your baking trays with parchment, then place the cookie dough on the paper, leaving some room between them.

5.  Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350F, removing from the oven when they still look almost under-baked.  Pull the whole parchment paper, with cookies on top, onto your cooling racks so the cookies don’t sag between the spaces.

By the way, you don’t have to wait until they are cooled before you start eating them!

Belgian Waffles, Yeast-Raised

I’ve made lots of waffles before, but I wanted to try something new for a birthday brunch.  I saw a few recipes online about yeast-raised waffles and figured I could try that out.  I balked at the amount of butter the recipes called for, so I cut back on it a little.  They are not difficult to make, but you need to plan ahead as you need to let the batter raise for about an hour before you want to use it.  This recipe is huge – I think it made more than 15 waffles.

I found this recipe on kitchen addiction.

What you need:

2 & 1/4 teaspoons yeast

3 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups flour

3 eggs, separated

What you do:

1.  Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm milk and let sit for 10 minutes.  To do this, just sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm milk; if it gets foamy you know it is working.

2.  Whisk the melted and cooled butter with the 3 egg yolks and 1/4 cup lukewarm milk in a large bowl .

3.  Whisk the yeast mixture into the butter mixture along with the sugar, salt and vanilla.

4.  Next you need to add the flour, alternating with the remaining 2 & 1/2 cups of warm milk.  Add half the  flour, then half the milk, the remaining flour, and the last of the milk.

5.  Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the batter.

6.  Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has doubled in volume.

7.  Preheat your waffle iron.  Give the batter a little stir to deflate it, then add about 1/2 cup batter to the waffle iron, or more or less depending on the size of your waffle iron.  I know my waffles are almost done when I see steam escaping.

8.  Top with maple syrup and any other toppings you like.  I love some fresh fruit or a warm fruit sauce, and a dollop of yogurt.

I cooked up all the batter, then put the leftovers in the freezer to pop into the toaster another day – soooo much better than eggo!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares with Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate and peanut butter, a match made in heaven.  My first experience with it was probably eating Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as a kid at Halloween.  I can still remember the ad where two people bump into each other while roller skating, and somebody’s chocolate ends up in somebody’s peanut butter – and realize it’s a match made in heaven.

This recipe uses Rebar Restaurant’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookie cake, to which I added the mini peanut butter cups – to rave reviews of everyone who tried it.  A definite crowd pleaser, for those who like the peanut butter & chocolate combo.  Pretty easy to make too – the hardest part it unwrapping all those mini peanut butter cups!

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup smooth natural peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup unbleached flour

1/2 baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

16 mini peanut butter cups

What you do:

1.  Grease an 8×8 pan and preheat the oven to 350F.  Cream the butter, sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.

2.  Add the oats, flour, baking soda and salt and stir well.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

3.  Spread into the pan and bake for 25 minutes.  When it comes out of the oven push the peanut butter cups into the squares.   You’ll probably want to let it cool before you cut it, as the peanut butter cups will be melty and messy.  You may not be able to wait though!

Cocoa Nib Cookies

These are pretty addictive, so be careful!  They have three kinds of chocolate – cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and cocoa nibs.  The nibs balance out the sweetness, and have a slight crunch.  Depending on how you like your cookies you can adjust the baking time.  I like mine slightly chewy but with a good bite to them, so I used the cooking time I listed here.  Some people like them crunchy, so feel free to leave them in a little longer if that applies to you.

These are refrigerator cookies, so you need to mix them a few hours before you are going to bake them.

I found this recipe in The Grand Central Baking Book by Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson.

What you need:

1 & 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup cocoa nibs

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

(nope, there’s no egg in here!)

What you do:

1. Beat the butter, then mix in the sugars for about 3 minutes, or until very smooth.  Add the vanilla.

2.  Add the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.  Fold in the cocoa nibs and chocolate chips.

3. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and place on parchment or wax paper.  Form into logs, then roll them up and refrigerate for about 2 hours.  You could leave the dough in the fridge for a few days, or freeze for a few months.

4. Preheat the oven to 325F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5.  Using a very sharp knife, slice the dough into rounds about 2 cm thick.  Place on the baking sheets with a little space between them.  Bake for 15-16 minutes, rotating the pans half way through the baking.

I served them with some vanilla ice-cream and chocolate fudge sauce.  Yummmmy!

Quick and Yummy Chicken and Veg Noodles

This is another old standby, usually with just the broccoli, but I try to add extra veg whenever I can.  It’s comfort-foody, plus it’s pretty easy.  Feel free to switch it up with your favourite veg.

I use plain yogurt in this, but you can use sour cream if you prefer.

What you need:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 small onion, chopped

1-2 red/yellow/orange peppers

1 clove garlic, minced

3 cups chicken stock

3 cups medium egg noodles

1 large head broccoli, broken into florets

1 cup yogurt or sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

1.  In a large frying pan heat the oil, then add the onions and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic and chicken and cook for a few minutes.

2.  Add the stock into the frying pan and bring to a boil.  Add the noodles and cook for about 6 minutes, or until the noodles are almost cooked, stirring from time to time.

3.  Add the broccoli and cook for a few minutes, making sure the broccoli is still bright green when it is served.

4.  Add the yogurt/sour cream just before serving and season with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is from More Six O’Clock Solutions by Ruth Phelan and Brenda Thompson.