october 01

cinnamon twists i made from the extra puff pastry used to make the onion tart for lunch.

i served spinach salad with the onion tart. i forgot to buy goat cheese when i was in town last weekend so i came up with a new base for the onion tart. i pureed dry curd cottage with feta cheese and added a wee bit of blue cheese for tang. finishing the tart with basil chiffonade and lemon zest boosted the flavour quite nicely.

this is sandy's dinner. i made stuffed zucchini by blending sauteed celery, sweet and hot peppers, onion, garlic, tomato and herbs with quinoa and baking the mixture in very large yellow and green zucchini. i also made barley wildrice pilaf with porcini and onion.

wednesday 23/09

this is a thai curry soup using up leftover shrimp curry and vegetables. i the center are pita pizzas made with pepperoni and mushroom. greek salad rounds out this lunch.


what is left of the chilli brownies from the morning snack and 5 seed cookies for the afternoon snack.

tuesday 22/09

at left is quiche made with the leftover broccoli and saute veg from last night. i put dill havarti and swiss cheese into it along with the savory custard and fresh basil. the soup used the leftover cauliflower and carrot from last nights supper and the taco beef and pasta from last week










to the left is the salad prep to be tossed with the romaine greenleaf lettuces and arugula. i love lots of colour and different shapes in my green salads, well, tossed salad really.





to the left is the "rub" for the pork ribs. it contains yellow and green onion, garlic, lime zest, fresh thyme, jalapeno peppers and
allspice.
i rub this mixture onto the ribs before putting the pans into a slow oven. before covering with another sheetpan i add about a liter of water so the ribs steam as they cook.





here they are done and waiting to get basted with my barbecue sauce. then back into the oven for about half an hour.

done to perfection. the ribs are spicy sweet and the meat falls off the bone. it is tender and juicy.
i love to eat ribs. this is a favourite meal for many of the folks i feed. the meal is rounded out with baked potato, salad, saute cabbage and beet and corn and zucchini.

monday sept21

today was a productive and creative day in the kitchen after breakfast, french toast and bacon etc., i started the days baking with rice krispie squares. on the right in the photo. the colour is terrible because of the flourescent lights. i then made a huge batch of peanut butter with reese's pieces cookies. i likely won't have to make cookies for a few days.



time to start prep on the veggie melts. the chopping began with onion, green pepper, zucchini and mushroom. i sauteed the veggies while processing the garlic and a chili or two. i added
artichoke hearts to the processor and gave them a quick whizz then all went into the saute pan for a quick saute before adding chopped italian parsley and basil. i had thinly sliced homemade bread and laid it out on baking sheets ready to receive the veg mixture. once the veg mixture was evenly dipersed i laid on some provolone cheese and dusted the tops with grated parmesan and then into the oven. the veggie melts were quite tasty.










sandy brought some lovely yellow tomatoes from her garden so i sliced them up and tossed them with the green salad.they are very sweet and very tasty.
the soup was the left over artichoke andchickpea stew thinned out with chicken stock.










for supper i made thai shrimp, saute veg, using the yellow summer squash from sandy and the zucchini from mike and lori, steamed veg and jasmine rice. we had the rest of the green salad from lunch and for dessert i made a cranberry orange cheesecake with a chocolate crust

barbecue sauce

although it is sunday i went down to the kitchen to make a batch of barbecue sauce and to make my brunch. as you can see on the recipe i have made this sauce many times and have modified the recipe many times as well. this recipe started as a moosh of two recipes i used decades ago and hot peppers a friend from arizona had sent to me. i discovered "chilly chiles", a canadian source for dried chili peppers, a few years ago and added quite a few new chili peppers to my stash and my recipes. as you can see to the right there are a number of different chili peppers used to make this sauce. you can click on the recipe to enlarge it so you can see the names of the chili peppers. the peppers are rehydrated in a mixture of red wine vinegar, lime juice and the vinegar from pickled ginger.
the garlic, jalapenos, pickled ginger and demerara are whizzed in a food processor until they are pureed. then the rehydrated peppers are added and pureed as well. i then added the dijon and hoisin to blend. in a large bowl i blended the ketchup into the pureed mixture. this recipe makes about 4 liters of sauce. i made the sauce today so it will be ready when i make barbecue ribs on tuesday. i had intended to put the lime zest into the sauce but forgotto do so. just as well as i will use it in the rub for the ribs.
pictured below is alex's lemon studded flying fish which he was prepping for supper when i arrived at the kitchen this morning. i prefer to bake whole fish in this flying formation as it cooks more evenly especially when lying on a bed of vegetables and/or herbs.

the week goes on

more baking to be done wednesday morning. i used up all the sad bananas in two batches of banana bread. the first batch had coconut, allspice and nutmeg and the second batch was plain for the purists in the crowd. i also baked oatcrisp cookies with cranberries and cardamom. i thought these cookies would make a fine torte if layered with whipped cream flavored with lemon and orange zest and then drizzled with citrus syrup.
i made a pasta sauce from the left over ham and a simple tomato sauce with a hint of orange. i baked a variation on roblovas bread by exchanging the sesame seed with hemp seed and adding some left over couscous. i got quite a few rave reviews on the bread. a new batch of caesar dressing was made for the salad and lunch is done.

i made chicken tagine for supper. i cheated a little by unskewering chicken souvlaki instead of butchering whole fryers for the chicken pieces. never mind once the "souvlaki" was mixing and mingling with the turmeric, cinnamon, chilis,onion, garlic, bell peppers, honey, dates and chicken stock it left greece and headed for morocco. i sauteed slivered almonds and sesame seeds to sprinkle on the finished dish. spicy and sweet and oh so yummy! couscous, minty peas and a different saute cabbage rounded out the meal. for dessert it was m.y.o.s. or make your own sundae. a choice of homemade butterscotch or chocolate armagnac sauce, chocolate candy, toasted coconut and assorted toasted nuts plus a choice of ice creams makes for a fun, creative dessert experience.
thursday lunch is favourite. tacos. however, if you don't have taco shells you quick thaw tortillas and have fajitas instead. no one was disappointed with the change in plan.
for a very tasty soup i combined the remaining chicken tagine with the vegetable rice soup from tuesday.

chocolate chip cookies for p.m. snack. it must be thursday!
dinner was chickpea and artichoke stew with rice pilaf, corn on the cob and steamed carrot and cauliflower and the perverbial green salad. dessert was bread pudding with maple syrup. and yes you can make a respectable bread pudding start to finish in under 40 minutes.
friday lunch was make your own sandwich. all the folks staying in camp for the weekend went canoeing so i made dinner for one, me.

monday and tuesday 15/09 &16/09

once again no pics. busy days in the kitchen.monday is a heavy baking day as all trace of baked goods are usually consumed on the weekend. i started the baking with jam tarts for morning snack and baked ginger no snaps for afternoon snack. i made three confetti vanilla cakes. the larger one i iced with cream cheese frosting for monday supper dessert the other two are for tuesday supper.
lunch on monday was spaghetti di cipolle varie, italian for pasta with loads of onion. i did use spaghetti and made the sauce with red and yellow onion, leeks(the white part) and lots of garlic. i slow cooked all the onions etc. in olive oil, red wine and fresh oregano, thyme and sage. when the pasta was cooked i tossed it with the sauce and garnished the dish with chopped parsley and grated parmesan. i made a spinach salad with english cukes, tomato, crimini mushroom, celery and avocado. i thawed two loaves of homemade multigrain bread and heated up the beet soup from friday and lunch was up and happening.
i made a simple supper on monday. baked ham with creamer potato, corn on the cob, saute
zucchini, onion and cherry tomato from dana's garden and a green salad made for a tasty autumn supper.
tuesday lunch was grilled salmon burgers with all the fixin's and tossed salad. i made a vegetable and rice soup with chicken broth as well.
for supper i made a beef curry. i started making the curry right after lunch was done and slow cooked it all afternoon. i began by roasting cumin, fennel, coriander and brown mustard seed, then added homemade curry powder, onion, celery, sliced dried serrano chilis and garlic for a quick saute before adding the stew beef. once the beef was browned i added beef stock to cover and place the covered pan in a slow oven till 4:00.
to finish the curry i added coconut milk, shredded carrot, diced bell pepper, spinach and chopped parsley for garnish. i served basmati rice, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, saute cabbage and bowls of cashew nuts, raisins and coconut and homemade chutneys to accompany the curry. it must have been tasty as all but a bit of rice and cabbage was left of supper.

it's friday!

no pictures for today, your imagination will have to do. quite nicely i'm sure.
breakfast was the usual, hot oatmeal or choice of cold cereal, waffles and bacon with maple syrup, juice and fresh fruit.
for snack i thawed banana bread as it is always appreciated.
lunch was grilled double cheese with tomato and red onion, beefy beet and cabbage soup, coleslaw and fresh fruit. the sandwiches were made by layering provolone cheese, then tomato slices, dill havarti cheese and then red onion slices between butter on the outside slices of multigrain bread. place on the grill flip gingerly when done and remove when flipside is nicely browned. tasty good!
afternoon snack was chocolate chip cookies.
for dinner i made pasta carbonara with mushroom and red onion on "natures farm" spaghetti.
and done...

10/09 meals

the morning snack today was rice krispie squares. a favourite with the folks for whom i cook and bake.

i made mushroom and spinach pasta for lunch today. pictured on the right is "natures farm" porcini pappardelle. the center is the creamy sauce made with slow cooked mushrooms, onion and garlic, shiraz wine, fresh oregano, thyme and sage, 35% cream and chopped fresh spinach.
the last shows the finished dish garnished with chopped italian parsley.

in the steamtable waiting for the folks to arrive and
the basil parmesan bread before being sliced.
i reheated the soup and put out the salads from yesterday.

every thursday for quite sometime now the afternoon snack
has been chocolate chip cookies. the folks here never tire
of eating these cookies.

supper tonight was baked split chicken with garlic and herbs.
the fresh herbs are hiding under the chicken and the garlic
rubbed all over the chicken before adding more herbs and paprika.
as you can see i also served roasted creamer potatoes with
corn on the cob and sauteed red cabbage and beets.

for dessert i whipped up a chocolate banana cream pie.
the crust was made from left over crumble. the filling is
packaged cheesecake mix(leftovers from a previous cook)
disguised with fresh banana, dark hot chocolate mix and
chocolate saucefresh banana slices and whipped cream.
just 3 more packages to disguise!

09/09 meals

for supper i made groundnut stew with couscous, steamed veg, corn on the cob and the salads from lunch and a tossed salad. the original recipe for groundnut stew came from "the africa news cookbook". i have used many recipes from this cookbook but groundnut stew is the most popular dish made from its recipes. i follow the recipe to the degree that there is always peanut butter, tomato, cabbage, spinach, garlic, onion and carrot in the stew and add whatever vegetables are on hand or that need to be used up. this stew also had parsnips, sweet potato, new potato, celery, ginger, sweet pepper and jalapeno pepper. i also added three dried chilis from my stash, new mexico hot, guajillo and aji amarillo. the heat ended up being a subtle back heat, meaning the heat was felt at the back of the mouth.
dessert was more apple cranberry cake with maple syrup and ice cream.

i made coleslaw and greek salad for lunch today. i put honey dill dressing on the coleslaw which consists of red and green cabbage, carrot, radish, zucchini, red pepper and fresh dill and parsley. the greek salad has allthe traditional ingredients plus my own greek dressing and fresh oregano and parsley.

the soup started with yesterdays leftover soup to which i added the corn with peppers from last nights dinner, more beef stock, chopped fresh oregano and ground cumin. a tasty variation.
todays lunch sausage in a bun. the sausages are "frosty's" hot italian sausage and "roller girl smokies" which are a ham garlic sausage and to the rught are all the fixings. choice of dill havarti, swisss, cheddar or provolone cheese, sliced tomato and onion and assorted mustards and relishes.

the remains of the coffee cake from the
morning snack and almond cookies with
blue cornmeal for the afternoon snack.