chili...inside and out.

Okay. First I must apologize. Again I have been M.I.A. for far too long. I could give you my list of excuses...busy at work, being without my camera, a little detour to Puerta Vallarta...but really...no one likes excuses. So here it is...my world famous chili! Okay...maybe not the world, but maybe Southern Ontario...or at least the Niagara Region...okay, maybe just at my house...but one day...

I know this recipe seems like an odd one to share considering it's spring and chili is generally more of a winter's night kind of meal, but for those of you living in Southern Ontario, or Montreal, or Halifax or even Trenton, Michigan...we've been teased with some warm days, but the 5 day forecast is looking cold and rainy! My solution...stay in your PJ's all day today, tune in to the "W" network and watch a cheesy romantic comedy from the 80's, and make a big pot of chili. Just a suggestion :).

This recipe is of course a spin off of another recipe I found...an award winning recipe at that. Stratford, Ontario hosts a yearly "Heartburn Day" festival where people gather to share their favourite recipe for chili, and this was one of the winners! This festival MUST be Stratford's true claim to fame...not this one hit wonder Justin Bieber :).


People's Choice Chili
(Serves 4-6)
 
- (7) slices of bacon
- (1) lb of lean ground beef
- (1) onion, chopped
- (1) clove of garlic, minced
- (2) tbsp of brown sugar, packed
- (1) can (19oz) diced tomatoes
- (1) can (19oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- (1) can (14oz) pork and beans in molasses
- (1/3) cup of vinegar
- (1) tsp dry mustard
- (3) tbsp chili powder
- (1) tsp Worcestershire sauce
- (1/2) tsp salt
- (1/4) tsp pepper
- hot pepper sauce (however much you like)


Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp and then drain on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.

Drain fat from pan if you wish and increase heat to medium-high. Add the ground beef to the pan, breaking it up with a spoon. Add the chopped onions to the pan and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until no longer pink. The key is to have a handsome guy like this to help break apart the ground beef :).

There are two ways to proceed from here. You can either choose to bake the chili or put it in the crockpot. If you're hoping to eat the chili right away, baking it will be much quicker, but if you're making it ahead of time, letting it simmer all day is good option. 
Add all the remaining ingredients to either an oven-proof casserole dish or your crockpot, including the ground beef mixture and crumbled bacon. Stir until combined.

If you're baking the chili, cover and bake at 300 degrees F for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid after 2 hours and bake for an additional hour, allowing the chili to thicken. If you've chosen to cook the chili in the crock pot, set to medium heat and allow to simmer for 4-6 hours, again stirring occasionally. Serve and enjoy!

 

p soup.

I should start this blog post with a disclaimer...pea soup was not always my favourite. To be completely honest, I couldn't stand it! The look of that nasty pork hock sitting on the kitchen counter when my mom was about to start a fresh batch, the look of the murky water in the pot as the peas began to break down, and the smell! Not a very good way to start a blog about pea soup. I am pretty sure I have officially scared everyone reading from ever trying out this recipe.

But I can honestly say that I am now a fan. While the phrase "you'll learn to like it" never worked for my relationship with beer, it did with pea soup. I definitely think it's an acquired taste, much like other Dutch foods that come to mind...droppies (salted black licorice), pickled herring, and deer meat (which I have yet to become a fan of). Another disclaimer...that not all Dutch food is questionable. There are many Dutch treats such as Kroketten (Dutch croquettes), apple floppen (basically deep-fried apples) and Boeterkoek (translation..."butter" "cake") that are all guilty of increasing the size of my dearly named "inner-tube". For those of you wondering...it's that much loved extra bit of weight that us ladies seem to carry right under our belly buttons, wrapping all the way around...similar to a child's flotation device.

Back to my soup. Pea soup, specifically Dutch pea soup (as I can't speak for the French), is one of those types of soups that can serve NOT as an appetizer to a meal, but as the meal itself. It is so hearty and filling! There is much discrepancy among the Dutch on the proper consistency of a truly great pea soup. Some people like it runny, much like an ordinary broth soup, while others prefer it thick enough to double-time as a grout to fix those nasty cracks in your tiles. Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of liquids in this recipe according to your preference.


Dutch Pea Soup (Snert)
        (Serves 6-8)
 
- (8) cups of water or broth (chicken or vegetable)
- (500) grams green split peas
- (1 or 2) hunks of pork hock (also known as ham hock or pork knuckles) (optional)
- (2) bay leaves
- (3) cloves
- (250) grams of smoked sausage such as kielbasa (optional)
- (1) cup of carrots, sliced
- (1/2) cup of onions, chopped
- (1) cup of celery, chopped
- (1) tsp of salt (if using water and not broth), otherwise just a pinch
- (1/2) tsp of pepper


Put 8 cups of water or broth in a large pot on the stove. Add in the split peas, the pork hock, the bay leaves and cloves and bring to a boil. 

Cover the pot and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour (or until the peas have cooked to a purée), stirring occassionally to make sure the peas don't stick to the bottom. You will see the broth slowly turn to a vibrant shade of green!

Remove the ham hock from the soup. This is sort of the tough part. As best as you can, remove the thick outer skin from hock and cut the pork meat into little chunks. Add the meat back to the soup along with the sausage and cut up vegetables.

Cook gently for 30 minutes. Remove and slice the sausage and then return it to the soup. At this point your soup should be ready to enjoy. Make sure to give it a taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve immediately or feel free to do like I do and store in containers and freeze.

the travelling basil.

My goal this summer was to grow some fresh herbs from seed. Being that I love to cook, I know the huge difference it makes when you use fresh herbs versus dried, so I figured I'd give it a shot. How hard could it really be! I've worked in a greenhouse for at least a third of my life, so I must have picked up something along the way. My husband and I made the trip to our local Canadian Tire to pick up some supplies and (after a long debate at the CT about the cost effectiveness of growing versus buying fresh herbs) we were on our way. What are husbands for if not to give you grief when you spend too much money :)
Living in an apartment in downtown Montreal, my little seedlings definitely had some barriers stunting their growth. Not only do we have a very limited outdoor space, but what we have is completely surrounded by three other 12 story buildings. The 10 minutes of total sunshine they received each day may have been the clincher, so yes Tom...you told me so :)
As we like to travel home to the Niagara Region quite frequently, I had no choice but to bring my little seedlings along with me, as sad as they were. It had been over a month and they had barely grown more than an inch or two. There is a reason why Niagara is known as the Green Belt. All it took was a week of Niagara sun and fresh air and my basil were golden! They grew more in the one week we were in Niagara than they had for a whole month in Montreal.
And so the story continues. Every time Joe and I decided to drive home for the weekend, all my basil was loaded into a cardboard box and transported back and forth with us. It became the running joke when we'd pull up to the house after an 8 hour drive and haul a big box of fresh basil out of the back seat! But boy did I end up with a ton of healthy, hearty fresh basil.
As much as I've tried to use my basil all summer long...putting it in salads, tossing some leaves in our pasta, shredding some on top of pizza...I just couldn't use all that I had grown. What better opportunity to make pesto! Pesto works with just about everything. We toss it in our spaghetti, spread it on a pizza crust to make white pizza, you can add it to your eggs...the possibilities are endless!


Basil Pesto

- (2) cups of fresh basil leaves
- (1/4) cup of toasted pine nuts
- (2) cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- (1/2) cup of freshly grated parmasan cheese or romano cheese
- (1/4) cup of extra virgin olive oil

Lightly toast pine nuts in a frying pan on the stove or in the oven. Make sure to keep an eye on them frequently as they tend to burn quickly (and are really expensive!!!) Set them aside and allow them to cool.

Thoroughly wash and dry all your basil leaves and measure out roughly 2 cups.

If you have a large, quality food processor, you can add all the basil in at once, but if you're working with a smaller food processor or a mini chopper, you will most likely have to do this in batches. In traditional Italian methods you would be chopping everything by hand, but who's got the patience for that :)
I was using a mini chopper, and so I did everything in small batches, adding a little extra basil each time. The goal is to add all the basil, the pine nuts and the garlic into a food processor and pulse until you achieve the desired consistency. You want to end up with a finely chopped paste, but not too finely chopped, pesto should still have some texture to it. Once you have finished processing the pesto, scoop the paste into a seperate bowl.

Finely grate about 1/2 of a cup of fresh parmasan cheese.

Stir both the parmasan cheese and the olive oil into the pesto. You don't want the pesto to be too dry or too oily, so add in the oil a little bit at a time until it becomes moist but not runny.

Now your pesto is ready to enjoy! In a sealed container, you can keep the pesto in the fridge for at least a week, but if you're not going to use it all right away, you're better off to freeze it. I actually took small pieces of Glad Press and Seal (cellophane or wax paper will work too) and made individual packets with about a tablespoon or so in each. I twisted the packets up tightly and threw them all in a ziploc bag together. You can store the bag in the freezer for months, and everytime you want to add a little pesto to your pasta, pizza, or favourite dish...presto...pesto!!!

super burgers.

While I generally like to blog about the food when I'm posting a new recipe, this time I must blog about the company. My cousin Ashley has been a big fan of my cooking from a very young age. My biggest fan if I dare say. Ash used to come to our house every morning to catch the bus before school, and I believe she may have the keenest sense of smell known to mankind. Ash would be sitting watching TV in the basement as we all got ready for school, and I swear the instant the Pilsbury cinnamon buns were popped in the oven, Ash would appear.
She has always been a lover of good food, and I think I often use it to my advantage. It will be Monday night, the Bachelor is about to start (don't judge), and I'll message Ash to come watch it with me (because it's never as fun to watch alone). In typical fashion, Ash will give me some excuse about being tired from a hard day at work. While I could try to entice her with the best seat in the house, or just the sheer pleasure of my company, I know that food really is the way into Ash's heart. A quick mention of the chocolate chip cookies or banana bread that's in the oven and Ash is surprisingly not so tired anymore.
While the mention of my homemade hamburgers didn't quite have the same impact as say a brownie would, Ash was still down for the sampling. These burgers are a spin on a recipe from Anna Olsen. The combination of both the ground beef and pork together keep these burgers so juicy. I love to mix it up with burgers by using different cheese and toppings. If you're feeling adventurous, top the burger with some blue cheese, Oka or brie, and with the toppings, the sky is the limit. If you're more like my cousin Ash, cheddar and ketchup work just fine too :) Love you Ash!!

Super Burgers
(Makes ~10 -12 burgers)

- (1) lb. of lean ground beef
- (1) lb. of ground pork
- (1/2) cup of breadcrumbs (preferably seasoned)
- (1) large egg
- (1/2) cup of minced onion
- (1) clove of garlic, minced
- (1) tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or (1) tsp dried oregano
- (2) tbsps finely chopped sundried tomato
- (1) tbsp salt
- Cheese of your choice

Add ground beef and pork into a bowl and mix together using your hands.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and continue to mix with your hands until everything is fully incorporated. A couple things to note. First off, my onions could have been minced a little more :). Secondly, if you have access to fresh herbs, they definitely are the best, however; if not, dried herbs work just fine. I used half fresh oregano (which actually ended up being thai oregano) in mine, and half fresh basil and it tasted great! Don't be afraid to try out whatever fresh herbs you have at home...within reason :).

Once the ingredients are all combined, form into a big ball or rectangle and divide into equal portions depending on how many burgers you'd like. I ended up making 10 burgers and they were a decent size, so if you prefer smaller burgers, divide the meat into 12 portions.

Now, form the portions into burger patties. I would suggest making them a tad thinner than mine as there is relatively little fat in these burgers so they don't shrink in size.

Barbeque burgers for approximately 5 minutes on each side or until desired doneness. Add cheese near the end and allow to melt.

Top burger with whatever toppings you like and enjoy! My personal favourites are bacon, avocado, and tzatziki!

beans, beans the musical fruit...

Everyone know's the rest of the song, but don't let that scare you off of this recipe. While beans do have the ability to turn your body into a musical instrument, they also pack a mean punch of fibre and protein. I know...boring! But it's true! Beans are soooo good for you and this recipe is soooo simple. Pick a few cans of your favourite legumes, mix up a batch of this homemade Italian Dressing, and you're set! Feel free to use dried beans instead and simply soak then in water overnight. This salad is a healthy option whether you eat it as a side dish, just on it's own, or throw the beans on top of a boring lettuce salad. It's a great way to get your protein this summer without consuming a quarter of a cow. You can go ahead and eat this salad as soon as it's made, or seal it up and let it marinate for a few hours or overnight. Sealed and refrigerated, you can keep this salad for up to two weeks...but you may want to consider seperate beds...


Bean Salad

- (3) 540 mL cans of beans of your choice (red kidney beans, black beans, chick peas, romano beans, etc.)

Italian Dressing
- (1/2) cup of oil of your choice (extra-virgin olive oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, etc.)
- (1/4) cup of vinegar
- (2) tbsp of finely chopped onions
- (1) tsp salt
- (1) tsp sugar
- (1) tsp dry mustard
- (1) tsp dried basil
- (1/2) tsp dried oregano
- (1/4) tsp pepper
- (2) cloves of garlic, minced

To prepare, choose three cans of beans (anything goes!), drain, rinse and empty into a bowl or resealable container.

In a seperate container, mix all the dressing ingredients together and stir until combined. 

Pour all of the dressing over the beans and mix it up. Cover and refrigerate or enjoy right away. If you're planning on serving it after it's been refrigerated, remove from the fridge ahead of time to allow the oil dressing to come up to room temperature. Give it a quick stir and enjoy!

seeing red.

Cakes. Not usually my thing. I think it's because I tend to be a tad more "fly by the seat of my pants" when it comes to anything in the kitchen, and with cakes...that wouldn't fly. They're very precise, and persnickety, and if you're off by just a 1/4 of a teaspoon, you're cake could be a flop...literally! But my goal is to master the art of cake baking.
I can't say I'm completely new to this art. I did take a baking class when I was younger...and I do remember being in a cake decorating class in school too...and Betty Crocker's Super Moist Devil's Food Cake and I go WAY back! But, here's my first attempt at a real "grown-up" cake. 
I had been wanting to make a cake for weeks, but it just being Joe and I here, I was struggling with the idea of the two of us having to eat the entire thing. While I'm sure we could have handled it, I was relieved to hear that Joe's colleagues were coming over for dinner and I'd finally have a good reason to bake a cake. Oh, the simple pleasures in life.  
I found this recipe on a fellow foodie's blog and you can see her slightly more beautiful version at Pinch My Salt. My cake is significantly less red than Nicole's due to my severe lack of skills when it comes to measurement conversions. I now know that 2 oz. of food colouring is equal to 59mL...not 28 :P. Oh well...live and learn! It still tasted great and it was definitely a hit!


Red Velvet Cake

- (2 1/2) cups of sifted cake flour (or 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour)
- (1) tsp. baking powder
- (1) tsp. salt
- (2) tbsps cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- (2) oz. red food colouring
- (1/2) cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- (1 1/2) cups of sugar
- (2) eggs, at room temperature
- (1) tsp. vanilla extract
- (1) cup of buttermilk, at room temperature
- (1) tsp. white vinegar
- (1) tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees C. Take butter, buttermilk, eggs and cream cheese out of the fridge giving them a chance to come up to room temperature. Butter and flour two 9 inch round cake pans or three 8 inch round pans.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa powder together to form a thin paste. Make sure there are no clumps. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. 

 
Next, beat in the vanilla and the red coca paste. Make sure to continually scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula as you go. 

Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat well. Next, beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of the flour mixture followed by the second half of the buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture and beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the side of the bowl.

For this next part, make sure you have your cake pans ready to go and nearby. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar and baking soda. Yes...it will fizz! Add it to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Working quickly, divide batter evenly between the cake pans and place them in the preheated oven.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check early, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans by placing a plate on top of the cake pan, inverting, and gently lifting the pans. Allow the cakes to cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

- (2) 16 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
- (1/2) cup of unsalted butter, softened
- (1) tsp. vanilla extract
- (2 1/2) cups of icing sugar, sifted
- (1) pinch of salt

Using a hand mixer, blend together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. On a low speed, blend in the icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Once blended, turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. 

You can use the icing immediately or refrigerate, covered, until you're ready to use it. If refrigerated, the icing will need to be brought up to room temperature before you can use it.

Depending on whether you're making a double or triple layer cake, you will need to level off the top of one (or two if you're making a triple layer cake) of the cakes. This way it will be flat and sturdy to add the other cake on top. There are special tools to accomplish this, but I simply eyeballed the levelness and used a knife.

Spread a generous layer of icing on top of the cut cake and place the second cake on top. Of course you'll be doing this twice if you're making a triple layer cake.

Next, simply frost your cake and enjoy! I know...frosting a cake is not always as simple as it seems. If you begin to frost your cake and notice your cake crumbling into the frosting, don't worry. Frost a slightly thinner layer of icing over the entire cake, regardless of the crumbs. Make sure to leave enough icing to do a second layer. The more gentle you are while frosting, the fewer crumbs you'll get in the icing, and always remember not to "double dip" your "crumby" knife back into the bowl of icing. Once you've finished the first layer, refrigerate the cake for about 20 minutes uncovered. This will set your first layer and seal in the crumbs making it a lot easier to apply the second layer. This is also a good technique when you're frosting a cake and the icing is melting.

After the first layer of icing is set, finish by frosting the cake with the remaining icing and decorating however you like. Because this cake has cream cheese icing, remember not to leave it out of the fridge for too long. Enjoy!