tiramisu

Usually desserts are made because I have an earth shattering desire to make this one particular thing. Like, if I don't make pot de crème now it seems like the world might explode. Or I'm craving the validation that comes from taking a plate of ever-popular blondies next door (because they're always a hit). Sometimes it's a simpler motivation like a box of cheap sponge cakes crying to be covered in sautéed fruit and whipped cream.

Very occasionally do I make food on demand. Especially a new recipe, that I haven't tried before. But when my mother comes home and says "there's mascarpone in the fridge and ladyfingers in the cupboard and what alcohol do you need for the tiramisu you're making tomorrow" it's kind of hard to say no. I do live rent free in her basement and all, so if the occasional dessert is requested of me that's really not asking too much.

I have to admit, this dessert was just a little more time consuming than I thought. It also dirtied an awful lot of bowls. Three different bowls just for the mascarpone filling, though there may be a step or two that could be streamlined. It also took longer than I expected, but was heavenly enough that it didn't matter.

This is a make ahead matter. I don't usually have the patience to let a dessert sit in my fridge overnight but the texture on this will thank you. The cheese mixture needs time to soften up the ladyfingers and things are a thousand times better day two than day one. I didn't change much from the original recipe (found here) though I'm glad I did make the few changes. The extra egg white and mascarpone made for a more substantial filling, and even though I made a smaller size in terms of cookie content, it was definitely needed.

And also? It's tiramisu. That's about the only incentive you should really need to make this.

Tiramisu

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

• 2 double shots espresso
• can be replaced with 1/2 cup of strong hot coffee
• 1 1/2 ounces amaretto (or rum, or kaluha)
• 1 tbsp sugar

• 3/4 cups whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp sugar

• 16 ladyfingers
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate shavings
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Directions

1. Make the mascarpone filling.
1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a simmer. In a metal bowl, mix the egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. Place the bowl over the saucepan and whisk thoroughly. Cook, constantly wisking, for about 5 minutes until the egg mixture gets a glossy texture and doubles in size. This is good to go when it's thickened enough to hold a ribbon between beatings. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, thoroughly whisk mascarpone until softened.
3. In another bowl, whip egg whites until they hold medium peaks.
4. Whisk mascarpone into the egg yolk mixture until evenly incorporated.
5. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolks and cheese, about a third of the egg whites at a time. Once incorporated set aside for later.
2. Make your coffee dipping syrup.
1. In a small, flat bottomed dish (not a bowl) dissolve the sugar into the coffee or espresso. Add the amaretto (or other liquor) to the mixture.
3. Begin assembly.
1. Cut your ladyfingers in half. They absorb the coffee a little better this way, it seems.
2. Using half of your ladyfingers, quickly dip each piece into the coffee mixture and create a single layer on the bottom of your pan.
3. Take half your mascarpone mixture and spread overtop of the ladyfingers.
4. Don't freak out when you realize that the mascarpone layer is thin. It's ok, I promise. This dessert is not the sum of its parts.
5. Sprinkle with half of the chocolate shavings.
6. Repeat, layering a second set of coffee infused ladyfingers over the cheese mixture. Cover with remainder of the mascarpone, grate some more chocolate.
4. Whip your cream together with your final tsp of vanilla and tbsp of sugar.
1. Optional: Once the cream becomes thick but not quite whipped, pour in a couple of tablespoons of your leftover coffee and amaretto syrup. This just compounds the flavours and makes everything even more delicious. Whip until thick and holding medium peaks. This step really reinforces the coffee and amaretto flavour in the dessert the most.
5. Spread your whipped cream mixture over the final mascarpone layer, dust with cocoa powder.
6. Cover, and let rest in the fridge overnight.
7. Portion and serve.

And! Here's a picture. You'll have to excuse the crummy lighting in the kitchen.

Also, apparently my mom's old Pyrex is trendy now. (The hand-me-down ceramic oven less so.) This same pattern is at all the local antiques markets. It looks dated to me, but hey it does its job. And we've got even more awful and popular ones as well. Who knew everyone would want the Pyrex?

oven caramelized onions

Usually, I caramelize my onions the long way (the normal way) taking almost an hour over the stovetop, stirring carefully as things get browned and crispy. Last time I made a caramelized onion and mushroom casserole, though, I just couldn't fathom the idea of spending an hour in sweltering heat over the stove on top of the rest of the work I needed to do.

I'd had enough. Last time I made these, though, Morgan gave me several suggestions that there might be some shortcuts available. I checked out the links she gave me and became determined that I would find a caramelizing onions method that worked comfortably for my needs. In light of the fact that recipes for which I caramelize onions tend to require lots of pots and pans I became determined to find a way that worked in the oven.

Technically these take longer than a traditional method of caramelizing the onions but most of the time is hands off. Turn the oven on high, chuck them in, and just check in on them every half hour or so. Which makes them a perfect choice for a slow afternoon, or for preparing the day before. These keep really well in the fridge for a day or two, and if they're just a component in a dish that's how I use this recipe. It also makes it somewhat of a breeze to caramelize large amounts of onion all at once ... and now that I've got that nifty mandolin it's even easier because most of the chopping is done for me.

This method yields lovely, mushy deep brown caramelized onions with just minimal effort. It's my new go to, at least on cool days.

Ingredients

• 8 medium yellow onions, sliced
• cooking spray
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp salt
• water, probably about a cup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400*.
2. Take a large cooking dish, either a dutch oven or a 9x13 baking dish (I've used both with equal success) and liberally apply cooking spray. Spread your onions evenly about the dish and sprinkle with salt. Pop the onions into the oven.
3. After 30 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and stir the onions. At this point they are going to be very unevenly cooked - some bits may look burnt, some will look barely translucent. That's ok. Stir them up and pop them back in the oven. Regular stirring and a long cooking time will even everything out.
4. Cook the onions for another half an hour, then remove, stir and pop them back in the oven.
5. Once the onions have been in the oven for 1 1/2 hours total, remove and stir once more. At this point there will be browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Grab your water, and taking about 1/4 cup deglaze the pan, getting all the little bits to release from the bottom and dissolve into the onion mixture. The water will evaporate very quickly, probably before the onions are even back in the oven, but it will release the yumminess from the bottom.
6. Put the onions back in the oven for another 30 minutes to 1 hour, stopping to stir and deglaze every 15 to 20 minutes.
7. The onions are done when they have shrunk to about a third of the original volume, are evenly soft and have a nice deep brown colour all around.
8. Serve as is. Alternately, use in a caramelized onion dish or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

roasted brussel sprouts for the sprout-hater

Everyone has that one food that they're just grossed out beyond words by, right? For me it's tomatoes (you can't even get me in the room if someone's cooking with them, they smell so bad). For Bunny? Brussels sprouts. Clearly he's the more normal of the two, because only weirdos don't like tomatoes and do like Brussels sprouts.

Bunny's hatred of the sprout runs pretty deep, and the last time he had one he would have been a kid. He promptly threw up all over the dinner table, apparently, and that was it for Brussels sprouts for him. I mean the man gets a pass, because that's some pretty intense food reaction right there.

Except I love me some sprouts. And there was maybe a half a pound of fresh Brussels sprouts in the crisper and damn if I wasn't going to cook them. This is the recipe that turned Bunny into a sprout lover, and he's since requested I make them again. So yeah, this is good. I also know his tastes in food, so this was tailored to his likings.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts in Bacon

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 strips of bacon
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Trim off ends of sprouts and then cut into quarters. Toss bits in a baking dish. Some of the leaves will probably fall off, just put those in the baking dish as well. They'll be good.
3. In a sauté pan over medium heat, cook bacon until just barely cooked. The bacon will cook further in the oven so you don't want to let it get crispy, but you do want to get the bacon to release most of it's fat. This should take about five minutes, and you'll probably want to flip the bacon strips once or twice during that time.
4. Remove bacon from pan, set aside.
5. Drizzle bacon grease over the sprouts, trying to get things evenly coated. Toss the sprouts around a bit if you find some areas are greasier than others.
6. Put the pan back over heat, add the onions. Cook until just translucent, about five more minutes. The onions will soak up any bits of bacon grease that didn't pour over the sprouts.
7. Remove onions from the heat, add to the dish with your Brussels sprouts.
8. Roughly chop the bacon and sprinkle over the sprouts.
9. Mix your salt and Italian seasoning in with your breadcrumbs, then sprinkle that over your sprouts. Sprinkle your cheese.
10. Put the whole mess in the oven, bake for about 30 minutes. These are done when the edges of your sprouts are starting to brown.
11. Eat. Watch your avowed sprout-hating husband devour his portion and ask for more.
12. Then, go see your mother in law and tell her that you win at life. Do a victory dance. (This step is optional.) 

baked cinnamon french toast

Sunday morning I spent some time in the kitchen, doing some easy baking. It was mother's day, and while Bunny and I didn't really make a big deal out of it, there were flowers and we did make brunch for my mom. Breakfast foods aren't really my deal. I mean, I make some mean variations on pancakes don't get me wrong and I can make a very satisfying pot of oatmeal if you give me a pile of steel-cut oats, but that's about it. Bacon and eggs make me a little queasy, so I never perfected my technique.

Given that Bunny is the designated egg fryer in this relationship we let him take the lead on the bacon and eggs portion of brunch. We wanted something fancier than pancakes and it also seemed wise to have something that let me stay out of the way while Bunny was egg frying.

Which brought up baked French toast. There are two things I want to tell you about baked French toast. Actually, three things, but who's counting? First this is easy as pie. Toast up some bread in the oven, just lightly. Place in pan, cover in a milk/egg mixture. Bake. Eat. Secondly this is easy. You will enjoy the eating of this. You may eat an entire batch between three people and not feel a little bit guilty. The way that the egg soaks and bakes into the bread, and the little cinnamon sugar sprinkle makes this seem almost like biting into a really good cinnamon roll, without half of the work.

The third thing is the kicker, though. If you are me, while you are eating this your mind will be full of the fifteen things you can do differently next time to make this even more awesome. You will say "I would put maple syrup right into the custard" because its so delicious with Aunt Jemima on top. You will say "I would use chunks of bread, not slices" because of some mental math about how to get the perfect density of bread in the pan. You will say "maybe I'd use cream instead of milk, make it richer" because at this point you're thinking of turning the whole thing into bread pudding and making it dessert. You will say "I'd use stale bread instead of toasting it" because you are both impatient and slightly lazy. If you're me, that is.

Either way, making this again is certain. And when I say this is easy I'm not lying, I promise. My version here is a cross between the Martha Stewart and Smitten Kitchen versions of baked French toast. But again, dead easy. You could wing this.

Cinnamon Baked French Toast

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of bread (I used plain old D'Italiano white bread, because we have it on hand. You can certainly jazz this up)
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• You can play with this. I used straight milk, but you can certainly substitute part of the milk with cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white sugar
• butter or margarine for spreading

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Lay sliced bread on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Toast until the bread begins to lightly brown.
3. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.
4. In a small bowl mix 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
5. Lightly butter. Use your own judgment here - if you like buttery things, butter those babies up. I just barely buttered them.
6. Sprinkle the spiced sugar mixture over the buttered sides of the bread.
7. Layer the toasty slices in your baking pan.
8. In a mixing bowl, beat your eggs. Add the milk and vanilla, as well as the remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Wisk them all together.
9. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, trying to make sure you coat each slice.
10. Pop it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.
11. Serve. Maple syrup and whipped cream are optional.

oatmeal bars with raisins and nuts

Awhile back I made an attempt at pecan-maple syrup oatmeal bars, using a recipe from the Quaker website and was quite disappointed by the result. There was something very particular I'd had in mind and this bar didn't cut it. It was kind of crumbly and didn't hold much texture, there wasn't enough moisture. It needed more contrast than just pecan bits sprinkled atop the mess. The mess of maple syrup made the whole recipe far sweeter than I wanted. Of course that disappointment just made it clear that I needed to find my own recipe. An oat bar that straddles the space between cookie and acceptable breakfast food. An answer to my attempt to fix breakfast (or, you know, eat it), With some extra flavours in, and a more substantial mouth feel.

For textural contrast I knew I wanted raisins and nuts. Walnuts happen to be cheap here, so I used those, but pecans or hazelnuts would be delicious here. I considered tossing in some chocolate or butterscotch chips (I have good luck with butterscotch flavours), and even some coconut flakes - but that's a more muddled and dessert style bar than I'm going for with this. More is better with the mixings here, I found. The crunch of the nuts is one of the heaviest textures in this bar, and a heavy hand with the raisins helps balance that.

I also knew I needed more liquid. The last bars were hard in that awful, brittle kind of way that I just didn't want to see again. A second egg seemed called for, and liquid sweetening was definitely called for. I didn't want anything too sweet - the last bars had a pretty high sugar ratio and it was definitely overdone. These? By no means are they sweet, but they have that just enough touch that makes them perfect. I suppose you could cut the white sugar if you're super sugar sensitive, but these worked for me perfectly.

This is the first recipe I have ever made completely on my own. Oh, I pulled from old recipes to figure out when they were done and to get ideas for ratios of baking powder and such, but this was what my head came up with when I thought "oatmeal raisin bars".

Oatmeal Bars with Raisins and Nuts

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups oats (old fashioned or quick, your preference)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup honey, plus more for drizzling (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375* F. Grease 9x13 baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, salt, white and brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon) until fairly evenly distributed. You'll have some clumpy bits because you've got oats in there, but stir until you don't have any clumps of  flour or brown sugar there.
3. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add melted butter and honey, stir.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. A folding technique works well here if you're doing it by hand, or else your mixer can easily handle this. The dough that comes together is just barely wet and will want to pull together into a large ball.
5. Add the raisins and nuts to the dough and mix.
6. Transfer to the baking dish and smooth down the batter to an even layer.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, slice and serve.

caramelized onion and mushroom casserole

I can't believe I'm sharing another casserole recipe with you, again. I won't blame you if you're bored of them but I need to be honest here this one is the best. If you like casseroles, or caramelized onions, or anything you just have to make this. The idea for this one germinated when I first made a casserole containing mushrooms and caramelized onions. What if I just used more? Wouldn't that be utterly delicious? Well yes, and this is the result.

I've got to be honest, though. This is not a throw it together in fifteen minutes casserole. I spent an hour just on the onions. You might want a kitchen helper. But oh my god was this worth it. This whole idea was based around the household love of onions, and my belief that they are always better caramelized and always better with mushrooms. I wanted the onions to shine in this casserole, which is why I left out all other vegetables. I also wanted it to be a little more hearty, which is where the ground chicken came in.

If you wanted to make a vegetarian version you could easily leave out the chicken, use margarine and vegetable broth. Honestly though? I wouldn't change a thing

The secret to this recipe might have been the onions, or it might have been the kick of cayenne. I'm not quite sure. What I do know is that we fought over the leftovers.

Caramelized Onion and Cremini Casserole

Ingredients:
For the Sauce:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp dried time
• 1 - 2 tsp cayenne pepper (base this measurement on your family's spice preference, we used 2 teaspoons and it was perfect)

For the filling:

• 1/2 package of dried fusilli or rotini (the curves here pick up the onion bits and sauce perfectly)
• 12 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• olive oil
• 1 tbsp for the chicken
• about 2 tbsp for the onions
• 1 pat of butter

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350*F.
2. In a skillet or pot with a large bottom (I used a dutch oven here) bring 2 tbsp olive oil to medium low heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions to the pan. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and stir. You'll want to cook these all the way to caramelized and with so many onions it will take a long time.
• Note: Stir these regularly, but feel free to multi-task here. Especially for the first twenty minutes while the onions go from translucent to browned you can take your eye off them for a few minutes at a time.
3. In a medium skillet, bring 1 tbsp olive oil to medium heat. Add the ground chicken to the skillet and cook, stirring regularly, until browned. Once cooked through, transfer to a medium large bowl and set aside for now.
4. Check in on your onions. Keep cooking. They'll probably be translucent and not quite browned, but keep an eye on them.
5. Begin making your sauce. In a saucepan over medium heat melt your butter and add the flour to make your roux. Wisk to integrate, and allow to cook about five minutes, stirring regularly, to get rid of the floury taste.
6. Add the chicken broth to the roux in about 1/3 cup increments, making sure to wisk until completely integrated between each addition. Once all the broth is added, simmer over low heat until it just begins to bubble. At this point you can add the milk, as well as your seasonings (pepper, garlic, cayenne). Once again bring to a simmer to thicken slightly. At this point you can leave the sauce over low heat on a back burner.
7. Check in on your onions. They'll probably be about browned now, with bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the colour of the onions is about medium brown (not quite at the caramelized point) add the mushrooms to the pan. Stir. The mushrooms and onions will cook through together from this point on. While the mushrooms begin to cook the onions will continue to caramelize and they'll get all lovely.
• Continue cooking while making the pasta, stirring regularly. These should finish up completely soft and caramelized and delicious right about that time.
8. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain.
9. In a large casserole dish combine the pasta, caramelized onion mixture and ground chicken. Pour the sauce over top and mix until evenly coated.
10. Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes.
11. Put this in your mouth. Seriously.

chicken pot pie with biscuit crust

What, exactly, is it that separates a chicken pot pie from a creamy chicken stew? It's a question I haven't quite figured out, and this "pot pie" seems to just straddle that precipice. The large biscuit topping is much like a pie crust, but really the same recipe could be adjusted to make dumplings. The pie filling is loose and almost stew-like, and certainly if there were any more liquid I would call this a stew or soup. The lack of a bottom crust combined with the fact that it's made in a casserole dish point towards "soup" but it quite distinctly was based on a pot pie. The method of preparing the filling first and then baking it also point more towards pot pie than soup to me.

This was a recipe designed to use some strange odds and ends in my fridge. Two stray roasted chicken breasts, some parsnips and a bunch of asparagus. You could of course cook chicken just for this, or use a rotisserie or what have you ... but this is also a great way to use up some leftovers. The asparagus worked better than expected in the pie, actually: it had all the goodness of green beans, but provided extra flavour and a touch more texture. It would be easy enough to substitute out any of the vegetables I used, really, but the combination of the sweet carrot, spicy parsnip and bright, fresh asparagus was delightful. I'd also advise against putting potatoes in. With the biscuit crust that's just overkill. Or maybe you like carbs even more than me. (In which case, I'm kind of scared and kind of in awe. Let's be friends.)

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Crust

Ingredients
Filling:

• 3 medium carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
• 1 large parsnip, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into inch long pieces
• 2 1/2 cups cooked, diced chicken
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp thyme

Biscuit Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/3 cup of milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400* F.
2. Prepare your biscuit crust.
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and thyme. Stir with a fork.
2. Add the oil. Mush it around until the oil is absorbed by the flour and your have sort of a crumbly flour mix.
3. Pour the milk into your mixture. With your hands or a spoon mix until it all just holds together. If it's sticky add a little extra flour. Do not overmix - once your dough looks like a ball you are good.
3. In a large saucepot over medium heat melt the butter for your filling. Add the flour, wisk to combine well. Let cook about 3-4 minutes wisking frequently. It will sort of bubble up as the flour cooks off and leaves you with just the roux for thickening.
4. Begin adding the chicken stock to the roux in stages to allow the roux to combine properly and prevent lumpy sauce. Add about a quarter of your stock at a time, wisking vigorously until it's smooth and even. Once all the stock is in the pot, stir occasionally and allow to come to a light simmer, let bubble about 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the milk to the pot, all in one go. Throw in your spices (pepper, thyme, cayenne) at the same time. Wisk until it all comes together and again allow it to come to a simmer. Give it another minute or so before moving on to the next step.
6. Add your root vegetables (carrots and parsnips, in my case) to your sauce and allow to cook about 5-7 minutes until the chunks just begin to have some give when poked with a fork.
7. Add your asparagus and turn the heat down to the minimum. More tender vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, peas or beans will only need a few minutes cooking in the sauce before going in the over. Cook for about two minutes.
8. Mix your chicken pieces into your sauce mixture and you have pot pie filling! Transfer to a casserole dish.
9. Grab your biscuit crust. On a floured surface, roll it out until it's approximately the same size as your casserole dish. Put on top of the filling.
10. Chuck the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the filling is bubbling out from underneath and the crust is golden brown.
11. Let cool about 5 minutes, serve. Put this in your mouth. Nom.

creamy broccoli & cauliflower bake

If you have read my (somewhat numerous) attempts to master the casserole (although honestly, they're mostly variations of the same) you may stumble across a secret of mine. Broccoli is my favourite food. It's easy to work with, it fits easily into almost anything; you can eat it steamed on its own, raw and dipped in dressing (although ewww), stir fried, tossed in pasta, baked in casseroles and probably about a million other ways. When I was in university a friend made mini stuffed felt plushies of favourite foods for Christmas gifts and was utterly frustrated at trying to make broccoli for me. Apparently making a stuffed roast is much easier.

This green, cruciferous piece of goodness has made its way into pretty much every casserole I've made here. What you don't know is that this is really the dish that started it all. There's simplicity here, nothing but vegetables and sauce, no rice or pasta or anything to round it out. It's almost, almost like macaroni and cheese, but broccoli.

It's also one of my biggest hits. Never have I served this dish and not had rave reviews and requests to repeat it. If I'm doing a roast and having friends over for dinner, this is the side dish (heck, I can make most of it in advance), if I'm having vegetarian friends over for dinner it's not so hard to make this take centre stage. Bunny doesn't even like cauliflower and he goes crazy over this.

As always, make changes to suit your needs. Cheese-wise, I use cheddar as it's what we keep on hand but this would be lovely with a swiss or a gouda. You could use a smaller amount of a stronger cheese or (gasp) even leave the cheese out altogether. I also like to caramelize my onions because, well, flavour. You don't have to though because in this dish they are not the stars.

The other breeze of this dish is the cooking directions. Twenty minutes at 350 yields the best version, but it's flexible. Because the vegetables are parboiled you can pop it in at whatever temperature the other things in your oven are cooking at and adjust the cooking time. I've made this at above 400 for about 10-15 minutes and it's been fine, although if you go any lower than about 300 you'll want to broil it for a few minutes at the end for a nice browned crust.

Broccoli & Cauliflower Bake

Ingredients

• 1 head broccoli, in florets
• 1 head cauliflower, in florets
• sweet onion
• 1 large or 2 medium onions if sauteing
• 2 large or 4 medium onions if caramelizing
• 1 tbsp olive oil (approximately)
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3/4 cups cheddar cheese (optional and open to subsitutions)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 3/4 cups breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F.
2. Bring a large, lightly salted pot of water to boil. Put the broccoli and cauliflower in, reduce to a simmer and cook 2 minutes. Drain the vegetables, and set in your casserole dish.
3. Put a small to medium saute pan over medium low heat, add the olive oil. When hot add the onions to the pan. Saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.
1. Optional: Continue to saute until browned or even caramelized. Yum.
4. Put the onions on the broccoli and cauliflower in the saute dish.
5. In a saucepan over medium heat melt your butter. Add the flour, wisk to combine and cook about 3 minutes until bubbling and just begining to change colours. You want the floury flavour to cook off here.
6. When bubbling, add the milk and continue to wisk. Cook, stirring occasionally until thickened enough to cover the back of a spoon. Add your salt, pepper, garlic and oregano.
7. Remove from heat and stir in your cheese. 
8. Pour your sauce over the casserole dish. Make sure things are evenly mixed.
9. Sprinkle breadcrumbs overtop.
10. Pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the breadcrumbs turn a golden brown.
11. Enjoy!

pecan blondies

Every cook or baker has recipes that are begged for, I think. Blondies are one of mine, to the point that I can't remember the last time I visited the in laws and was not asked about these babies.

This version, flavoured with molasses and pecans, isn't necessarily superior to the Bailey's and browned sugar ones I love so much, but they are a great alternative. They were born out of a sad necessity when I noted my kitchen was out of brown sugar, a key ingredient and that (gasp) I didn't have butter on hand, only margarine. (I'd used the last of the butter earlier in crepes, so I couldn't complain.) Without the caramelized flavours of brown sugar and browned butter I needed some other points of interest. Molasses makes these almost gingerbread-like and the pecans add a touch of crunch. The only other major addition is a touch of extra flour, to compensate for the moisture brought by the molasses.

These would be a well placed recipe near the Christmas season with the slight gingerbread-esque edge the molasses gives to the recipe. If you wanted to play that up, the addition of some cinnamon, nutmeg or clove would certainly help though it's not necessary. The other big difference in the finished product is the texture, which can be more like a fudgy brownie (with a lower cooking time) or more cookie like (with a higher cooking time).

Bake with caution, because these will be a repeat request.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp fancy molasses
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups (not packed) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups pecan pieces

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350*F. Grease a 9x11 baking pan.
2. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter.
3. Add the sugar to the butter, stirring until the sugar fully melts into the butter. Once the sugar has melted, add the molasses. After about 2 minutes, remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat.
4. Let cool 5 minutes.
5. Add vanilla and eggs, beating vigourously to combine. The longer you beat at this point, the better crust you'll get.
6. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until just combined.
7. Stir in the pecan pieces.
8. Transfer your blondie batter to your baking pan. The batter will be fairly thick here, but you should be able to push everything out to the edges and smooth down the top.
9. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

orange ginger stir fry sauce

When I make a standard meal around the house I don't really expect a big reaction. Given how often stir fries are made here, I figure they'd be kind of boring. I could not have been more mistaken, as I discovered the other day when Bunny came home to a big mixing cup full of stir fry sauce on the counter. He did a little dance, even.

This time I'm not going to give the actual instructions on the stir fry, because honestly? We've been there, done that so many times. You know the drill, cut your stuff into chunks and add it in based on what the cooking times are.

What I am going to give you is a variation on my standard sauce. This is a simple variation but it was a real hit. Hoisin still forms the base, but orange and ginger are dominant flavours. With the sweetness of the orange I did dial up the amount of chili oil I use, and dialed down the soy sauce to keep things from getting too liquid. The beautiful thing about a good stir fry is just how variable it is. Find your flavours and play from there. Don't be afraid to try new things.

Orange Ginger Stir Fry Sauce

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• zest of 1 orange
• juice of 1 orange
• chili flakes in oil
• 3 tbsp minced or grated ginger (a zester is the perfect tool for this)
• a dash of fish sauce

Directions

1. In large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Stir until mixed. Let sit for 1 hour, use in stir fry.
2. If not using the same day, cover and store in the fridge.

lazy crepe cake

From the first time I saw the recipe for gateau de crepes on Smitten Kitchen I knew this was something I needed to make. A good crepe is hard not to adore, whether it's filled with scrambled eggs and cheese for breakfast, hit with just a touch of lemon juice and sugar as a desert, spread thinly with nutella, crepes Suzette, filled with lovely fruits or cinnamon and ice cream. There is just no way to go wrong with a crepe.

Since I have made crepes before I must admit I was somewhat surprised by just how dangerous this cake recipe turned out to be. You see, once I made the lazy crepe cake I just could not be done with it. I forgot how excited Bunny gets for crepes, I forgot how enjoyable the process is, even if it is a little long, I forgot how darn versatile these things are.

Most of all I forgot how making crepes transports me back to childhood. It's a funny story, because no one ever taught me to make crepes as a child. These brought to mind though the "Hungarian Pancakes" my grandmother used to bring over, crepelike pancakes rolled up and filled with jam or cinnamon sugar.

Since making the crepe cake, I have been inundated with a need to remake this. One day I intend to make more cakes: the proper one with custard filling, one filled with sauted apples (because that's my favourite pancake topping) and the idea of layering with a rich chocolate mousse is also appealing. I've also since made another, oh, two or three batches of crepes to be eaten different ways.

The crepes batter I use has been adapted only slightly from the one in the original recipe, as I didn't feel it needed to be as sweet or as eggy. Crepe batter is wonderfully resilient and seems to take well to changes. The filling itself? Well that's why I call this a lazy crepe cake.

Lazy Crepe Cake
adapted just slightly from Smitten Kitchen's gateau de crepe

Ingredients:

for the crepe batter:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch salt

for the filling:

• 3 cups whipping cream
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 5 tbsp sugar

Directions

1. Start by making your crepe batter. Do this early in the day, as the batter needs to rest at least an hour although overnight is good too.
1. Melt your butter. Use the microwave: remember, this is the lazy crepe cake. Browned butter would not go amiss, but again, not so lazy.
2. Mix your flour, sugar and salt thoroughly in a medium to large bowl. Add the eggs and beat until a thick paste emerges. This can be done by wooden spoon, electric mixer (or even a KitchenAid or food processor). I found the wooden spoon gave me quickest cleanup and that was the type of lazy I liked.
3. Add your milk and melted butter and mix until you have a thin batter.
4. Set aside.
2. Bring a nonstick pan to medium heat. Spray lightly with cooking spray (I find this works better than oil, myself).
3. Pour small amounts of crepe batter, approximately 1/4-1/3 cup at a time, into the pan. Swirl the pan around so that the batter spreads to cover the surface. Cook until the edges begin to lift and the underside of the crepe is lightly browned, about two minutes.
4. Flip your crepe. If it's your first time I promise the easiest way to do this is with your fingers. The crepe won't be stuck to the pan at all, and if you gently grasp the edges of the crepe you can just turn it over.
5. Let the other side cook about 15-30 seconds. Remove from pan and stack to the side on a plate. The crepes won't stick, so don't worry.
6. Continue this process until you have a pile of crepes.
7. Make your whipped cream. Mix the sugar and vanilla into your whipping cream and, well whip. For me the easiest cleanup route was using my handheld mixer, but again you can use a larger mixer.
8. Layer your cake.
1. Put a crepe on the bottom.
2. Generously spread whipped cream over this layer, at least 1/4 to a 1/2 inch this.
3. Lay down another crepe, repeat. Keep going until you run out of either crepes or whipped cream.
9. If you want, you can do something fancy to the top, like brulee it, or pour on caramel sauce or chocolate syrup but let's be honest? The lazy way, with nothing at all on top is perfectly delicious.

chocolate marbled cheesecake

Cheesecake and I have a rather odd relationship. At one point, I was quite vocal about the fact that I (gasp) didn't like cheesecake. A lot of this comes back to my squicky feeling about creamy white foodlike substances. You can't pay me to get near mayonaisse or sour cream, I'm not a fan of yogurt and for years I wouldn't even come near cream cheese. Over the years, spinach dip made me change my mind a little bit about the cream cheese but I still won't go near the others. I still won't eat cream cheese on a bagel, but over the past few years I have discovered that it has another good use: cheesecake.

If I'm being honest, I still don't like most cheesecakes. I don't like the commercial ones, I don't like the big, tall fluffy ones that run rampant in many restaurants. My tastes are very defined: if I'm going to have a cheesecake it will be a dense, rich slightly tangy cake with a lovely crust. And just for fun, I'm going to make sure that I incorporate some sort of chocolate into them. Otherwise I just really can't be bothered.

My cheesecakes tend to be simple, with just cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla some chocolate and a crust. No extras. No heavy canned cherry toppings. Just simple. I also break one of the biggest cheesecake rules and sometimes use tubs of cream cheese instead of blocks. Honestly? This has never turned into a problem and I still get the same dense, moist deliciousness. This one is everything I need it to be be. It was a bit of an experiment though: more cream cheese, more egg and different baking instructions than usual. I tend to go with a slow, even bake, which tends to come out perfectly even without a water bath. This time I decided to try to a recipe that had a high/low baking instruction which gave a deliciously creamy texture, but skipping the waterbath resulted in some large cracks across the top of the cake.

The perfection in the looks, though? Not necessary. This was pure delight.

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake
adapted from food.com

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 cup chocolate crumbs (or, if you're feeling decadent, crushed oreos)
• 1/4 cup buttter

Filling:

• 600 grams plain cream cheese (this worked out to 1 1/2 large tubs for me)
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips or wafers

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.
2. Make the crust. Melt the butter, either over low heat or just put it in the microwave for about a minute. In a medium bowl, pour the butter over the chocolate crumbs. Combine with a fork until everything is evenly moistened.
3. Spread the crust over the bottom of a 8 or 9 inch spring form pan. Press down and ensure the crust is even across the bottom.
4. Bake the crust for ten minutes. When you remove it from the oven, bring the heat up to 450* F.
5. In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese with the sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth. You can also easily do this with a wooden spoon, I just didn't.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat again until each is fully incorporated. Incorporate the vanilla in along with the last egg.
7. Pour three quarters of your filling into the springform pan over the crust. Set the rest aside for a few minutes.
8. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Once melted, pour the chocolate into the remaining cream cheese filling. Beat until the filling and chocolate are well mixed.
9. Pour the chocolate filling over the rest of the cheesecake. Take a knife and run it in swirls through the batter, so that you'll have lovely marbled swirls going through the whole thing.
10. Transfer to the oven, bake for 10 minutes.
11. Reduce the heat to 325* F and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, until the centre is wobbly and not quite set. This will cook through once you remove the cake and let it rest.
12. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the outside edge of the pan and release the springform. Let cool completely, then cut into wedges and serve.

caramelized onion and mushroom casserole with broccoli

Whenever I make a pasta casserole, I always think this one will be different. That this one will be the new and exciting one that's the casserole to stake my life on. Which is almost never true. That would be my mac and cheese, or the broccoli and cauliflower gratin that dinner guests request from me years later. This casserole is right in the middle. It's not something that I'd set out for Sunday dinner or as the main course when I'm having friends over ... but as a side dish or a weekday meal? This is pretty darn lovely.

My basic pasta casserole, filled with whatever's easy and in the fridge, never end up being life changing. It's pretty formulaic: pasta, vegetable, bechemel based sauce, sometimes meat if I have some on hand. Variations of this can be done simply, with frozen vegetables. It can be done somewhat easily, with just some broccoli thrown in. It's all very basic. This one, though, it has a little something special going for it.

There's a bit of a time commitment here, caramelizing the onions and sauteing the mushrooms. It's worth every second though as that's what makes this casserole just oh so good. It adds more body and depth ... so much that you could (if you were so inclined) skip the broccoli altogether and just double (or triple) mushrooms and onions. It would probably be pretty decadent.

I was also a bit crazy and tried to do everything all at once. Give yourself a break and make things in stages. It will really, really help your sanity. Then? Enjoy how deliciously lovely this is.

Oh? This will comfortably serve four for dinner as a main ... but you'll probably wish there were some leftovers.

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Casserole with Broccoli

Ingredients:

For the casserole filling

• 4 cups dry, medium pasta
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 3 medium white or yellow onions, chopped
• 3 cups cremini mushrooms, halved
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan

For the sauce:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup shredded old cheddar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350*F.
2. Make the caramelized onions and mushroom mixture.
1. In a medium sized skillet over on medium high heat, heat the olive oil until sizzling. Add the onions to the skillet. Lightly salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp if you're me.) 
2. Cook until caramelized, stirring frequently. This is going to take about fifteen to twenty minutes as the onions first go translucent, then brown, then start to get really fragrant and brown. Bits of onion will be starting to stick to the pan at the end. Add butter to the onions and allow to melt.
3. Add mushrooms to the pan, and stir. Cook the mushrooms together with the onions another five minutes, or until the mushrooms have shrunk by about half. Cooking the mushrooms in the onions allows the onions to continue to deepen their flavour without cooking too intensely, and lets the mushrooms pick up some of the caramel-y goodness.
4. Remove from the heat and set aside for later
3. Make your sauce.
1. In a medium saucepan again over medium heat, melt butter. Add the flour, wisk together until evenly incorporated with no lumps. Cook it about 3 minutes, letting the roux bubble a bit and stirring so it doesn't burn. This cooks off the flour so your sauce won't taste floury.
2. Add the milk. Wisk vigourously to get the roux incorporated. Continue to cook, wisking occasionally, until thickened. To thicken entirely, the mixture needs to come to a light, bubbly simmer at the least. Because there's such a high milk to roux ratio (to keep the casserole nice and moist) you want this to thicken as much as it will.
3. Wisk in the salt, pepper and oregano.
4. Turn the heat down to the minimum and add in the cheddar. Wisk until completely melted into the sauce, remove from heat and set the sauce aside.
4. Make your pasta.
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.
2. In the last two to three minutes of cooking throw the broccoli into the pot. This allows the broccoli to begin the cooking process so it will come out of the casserole properly cooked.
3. Drain.
5. Assemble your casserole.
1. Pour your pasta and broccoli into the casserole dish. Pour the onions and mushrooms on top, scraping the pan to make sure you get all the yummy caramelized bits.
2. Pour your sauce overtop of the casserole components.
3. Give it all a good mix, making sure there's a little bit of broccoli and a good distribution of onion and mushrooms in every bit of the pan. You can eyeball this - it's pretty obvious when you've got a good mixture of things.
4. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese overtop for just a little bit crunch.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Eat. Have some seconds, because you probably will.

cheater meals - club house alfredo with asparagus and fake crab

Some weeks I get shafted at work. By which I mean I get the late shift, and while I get lovely mornings to myself to read and quilt and have a fancy pancake and spiced apple breakfast (yes, I will share that eventually, as it's a favourite) I come home after 9pm tired and cranky and the last thing I want to do at that moment is make dinner. Sometimes I'll luck out and my mom or Bunny will have something ready for me, other times there are leftovers (if I'm smart I made soup earlier in the week), but some days I get home at about 9:30 and am faced with the task of making dinner. Which doesn't make me a happy camper to begin with at that hour, but it's why I have cheater hacks.

Not every meal needs to be fancy. For the most part, all that most meals need is some carbs, some protein and some great vegetables. Nights like this, I'll rely on some prepackaged foods that I usually avoid, like a packet of Club House alfredo sauce and some imitation crab. Spruced up with some asparagus, fresh parmesan and a clove or two of garlic and things get good. Or at least, my mom and Bunny get happy and I stop being grumpy.

Spruced Up Club House Alfredo with Crab and Asparagus

Ingredients

• 1/2 package of rotini or penne
• 1 package imitation crab
• 1 bunch asparagus
• fresh parmesan
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (or, if you really feel like cheating you can buy this stuff in jars)
• 1 packet Club House alfredo sauce and related ingredients
• 3/4 cups milk
• 3 tbsp butter or margarine

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of well salted water to boil.
2. Rinse asparagus. Snap off the ends - wherever they snap naturally is good. Roughly chop the aspargus lengths into thirds and set aside.
3. Cut the "crab" into inch long slices.
4. When water comes to a boil, put pasta and set timer according to package directions. Depending on the dried pasta you're using here this will probably be between 7-11 minutes. Keep an eye on the time and when there are five minutes left throw the asparagus into the pot with the pasta.
5. In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter.
6. Throw the garlic in once butter is melted, stir for about 2 minutes.
7. Add the milk to the butter-garlic mixtures, as well as the Club House packet. Stir around until it's an even mix. Stir occasionally as the sauce comes to a light simmer, which is where things start to thicken.
8. When the timer goes, add the crab pieces to the alfredo sauce. Drain the pasta and asparagus.
9. Add the pasta and vegetables to the sauce, mix until everything is evenly coated. Grate about 1/4 cup fresh parm over the pasta, stir around again.
10. Eat. If you're me, then promptly go to bed.

if we were rich ...

As always we did our "Valentine's" late. I'm not fussed about a holiday designed around big Romantic Gestures, I more care that he's sweet to me every other day of the year and I love how he'll bring me caffeine in bed, opens the car door for me every time, puts my glasses away at the end of the night and oohs and aaahs over my craft projects even when he doesn't know what he's oohing and aahing over. But hey, who can say no to an excuse to a dinner date out of the house?

We ate at one of our favourite places in town, a Thai restaurant with great decor and (mostly) amazing food. It's kind of confusing because the pad Thai there is patently awful, but everything else is phenomenal. The tom yum soup keeps me coming back, and we've enjoyed every other dish we've had there. This visit we split a divine lemongrass beef stir fry where the beef was unbelievably tender and Sambal noodles that were sneakily spicy and full of flavour with lots of vegetables added in. The meal as a whole was so spicy my nose and eyes watered and I blew my nose so hard in the bathroom I popped my ears.

But that pad Thai thing got us thinking on the way there. How it's really too bad that the best Thai place in town has terrible pad Thai and it's too bad that we can't enjoy that dish there every now and again. Which started the conversation if we were rich what would we do? This is the dreaming we whiled away our Valentine's on.

If we were unbelievably rich we would be able to say "I want pad Thai" and hop on a flight to Thailand. Since we're already there, we'd head over to China for dim sum the next day and then go get some pho in Vietnman for dinner. We'd spend a day in India eating curries and then stop in Japan for a sushi dinner. Oh along the way we'd stop and see all the amazing cultural sights too, so we'd probably spend more than a day or two there but let's be honest we're going for the food. (Or at least that's Bunny's motivation).

If we were rich we'd fly to Spain for paella and tapas and make sure our trip coincides with the Catalunya MotoGP race. We'd pop through France for some authentic bistro food and to eat things covered with divine sauces. We'd grab a cafe au lait at a coffee shop then wander through some museums. We'd head on a train to the Netherlands and have some of those awesome Dutch pastries whose names I can never remember but are almondy and so damn good. We'd jump over to Italy and eat pasta and risotto, stare at the Sistine Chapel and have a morning espresso before heading to Germany for some beer and to grab some sausage and potatoes in Poland. We'd stop by England on the way home for a proper tea with scones, a big breakfast and then some more curry.

Maybe the next week we'd head to Montreal for poutine, then fly to the east coast for lobster. We'd head down south for tacos and stop at million barbeque places on our way up home for Bunny. Stop over in New Orleans for the beignets and pecan pie.

If we were rich we would eat so much.

stuffed mushrooms with bell pepper and peameal

I've shared my basic stuffed mushroom recipe before, and it's easily a favourite of mine. Impressive without being hard, meaty without having meat, and just flat out delicious. This time I decided to play around a bit, and I shocked myself by putting in some meat. When you just happen to have peameal bacon sitting in the fridge and a meat-loving husband what's a girl to to?

The peameal (which, if you're not from the Great White North you might know as Canadian bacon) can easily be replaced by regular bacon or even sausage if that's what you have on had, but it definitely works here. It gives that extra punch of heartiness and protein without being overpowering or overly noticable, and it certainly lends to the texture of the dish.

I used oversized stuffer mushrooms here, somewhere between 2 and 3 inches across. Serving wise, three apiece makes for a hearty appetizer or side dish. If you're doing a cocktail party these will be a hit. They've even gone over well as snack food for a man cave video game day, but you'll want to make extra for that. As far as the stuffing goes, there's no getting the amount exactly right. If you have too much left, either heap it on or save it for later, add more cheese, and stuff a chicken breast later on. Trust me. Or you can just eat it with a spoon. Which, while embarrassing, you won't regret.

Stuffed Mushrooms with Bell Pepper and Peameal

Ingredients

• 9-10 oversized button mushrooms, or about 16 large ones
• 1 small to medium bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
• 2 slices of peameal (Canadian) bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more to sprinkle
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil

Directions.

1. Preheat oven to 350* F.
2. Clean your mushrooms. You can either use a mushroom brush, or a paper towel to lightly wipe them down. Getting them wet isn't good, but a little bit of damp won't hurt them.
3. Remove the stems and hollow out the mushroom caps. Trim or tear away and small bits of mushroom flesh that are getting in the way of stuffing space. With the stems, cut off the woody end bit and discard. Finely chop the remainder of the stem and use for your stuffing.
4. Arrange the mushroom caps on a baking tray and add a light sprinkling of salt.
5. In a small saute pan over medium heat, saute the bacon until cooked through. Stir vigourously to make sure your dice has left you with lots of itty bits of bacon rather than a few big bites. Once the outsides begin to take on a brown colour remove from the pan and set aside for later.
6. Heat the oil in the pan. Once it's sizzling, add the mushrooms and saute until they shrink in size and start to take on a deeper (less white) colour, about 3-5 minutes. They'll start to smell really hearty when they're ready, but more than anything you're looking for a colour and size change.
7. Mix the bell pepper into the mushrooms and saute another 2-3 minutes, until the pepper begins to soften. The colour will get a little bit less bright as this happens.
8. Add the bacon back to the pan and stir until you have an even mix of all three ingredients. Sprinkle your breadcrumbs and Italian seasoning overtop and stir until the breadcrumbs absorb most of the moisture in the pan, about a minute. Add your cheese and stir quickly to incorporate. With the cheese this starts to come together in clumpy bits and you're about done.
9. Remove your mix from the saute pan to a small mixing bowl. If you're like me you may be touching things with bare hands at this point, and that's just safer.
10. Using your hands or a small spoon, stuff your mushrooms. Fill the caps and press down so the filling is tightly packed. If you have a large amount of filling, don't be afaid of overstuffing your shrooms, just make sure you press the stuffing fairly tightly together.
11. Sprinkle with more parmesan. This will bubble and sizzle and be delicious.
12. Bake for about 20-15 minutes, until bubbly and brown. The mushrooms will release some of their juices in the oven and just be oozy and wonderful.
13. Let them cool for a few minutes. Eat them.

chicken vegetables stir fry with hoisin ginger sauce

Stir fries are a favourite easy meal of mine, as my recipe track record suggests. I tend to rely pretty heavily on hoisin in them, but hey use what you know. This one was a pretty simple weeknight meal, and I did all the prep and cooking in less than an hour while talking with Bunny.

This was a compromise between wanting a veggie heavy meal and wanting to incorporate some protein. Frozen chicken breasts happened to be easy and available, so I used those, but this would have been absolutely delicious with thinly sliced beef. As with all the stir fries, you can use this recipe as is, but really it's just a guideline. Switch up the vegetables for things that you love and you'll be happy.

I'm also all about debunking the idea that it's hard to make a stir fry sauce. Yes, I use the same base ingredients. You'll notice that not only is hoisin a repeat offender, but so is sesame oil and soy sauce. Part of it is just that since this isn't a common meal right now I'm not stocking my fridge too many different ingredients for stir fries. In the future I'd like to play around with black bean sauce, peanut oil, and some other ingredients that seem exotic to me but I use what I have.

I also had some fun cookware to play with, as my mom had an electric wok sitting around. Nowhere near as awesome as a real wok, that you can easily turn about as need be, but it definitely did the job. And it was really nice to have enough cooking space.

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry with Hoisin Ginger Sauce

• 1/2 cup hoisin
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1-2 tsp chili flakes in oil (depending on your spice tolerance)
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• juice and zest of 2 limes
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 5 heads baby bok choi (cut the base off and separate all the leaves)
• 4 small carrots, sliced in 1/2" disks
• 3 bell peppers, sliced into strips
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a bowl combine the hoisin, sesame oil, chili flakes, soy sauce, lime juice and zest, ginger, fish sauce and water. Stir it up and put it aside.
2. In a large skillet or wok over medium high to high heat, get about 1/2 the cooking oil sizzling. Add the cubed chicken to the wok and saute, stirring vigourously, until the outside edges are completely opaque, about 3-5 minutes. Because the chicken has been diced into somewhat small pieces, once the outsides are opaque the insides should be good to go. Remove from the wok to a small bowl and set aside for later.
3. Add more oil to the wok if necessary, it should be just lightly coated but no oil should be pooling at the bottom. Add the carrots to the pan and cook stirring vigourously about 2 minutes.
4. Add the bell pepper strips, cooking a further minute.
5. Add the bok choi and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until the portions begin to wilt.
6. Put the chicken back into the wok and pour the sauce over everything. Mix it up well until all the ingrediens are coated and things are evenly mixed up.
7. Turn off the heat. Serve over rice.

caramel, or a near fail

Two food posts in one week? Neither of them resulting in me sharing an actual, successful, reciplicable recipe? Oh well. That's life sometimes.

At the start of the year there were two cooking goals I wanted to accomplish, among others. Apparently time in the kitchen is one of my most favourite things to tackle, because I've already made a couple of attempts at macarons and I've played a bit with caramel.

The caramel goal isn't to make a beautiful caramel sauce - that I already know how to do thanks to Michael Smith, who tends to have some of the dreamiest, easiest recipes ever. The goal was to make those chewy, somewhat soft caramel candies. When I finally got my hands on a candy thermometer I felt like life's greatest mystery was solved. Since then I've made two attempts at caramels, and both have somewhat failed (although no epic fails, thankfully).

The first recipe I used told me to line my pan in waxed paper to make for "easy" removal which was really, really bad advice. The caramel stuck to the paper and Bunny and I spent an hour cutting things off of the paper and half the batch ended up going in the garbage. The bits I salvaged were fairly dreamy though and I quite enjoyed having one or two bits of caramel after dinner. The second fail was totally my own fault, and was a bit of a comedy of errors: I used too small a pan, so I had to rush some steps and didn't get the heat high enough after adding the cream, and speaking of the cream I used 5% coffee cream. It was cold, coffee cream was all I had, and I was too lazy to walk to the corner store for some heavy cream. I ended up with a very thick caramel sauce. Not quite what I was going for.

Luckily I have plans in mind for the big pan of caramel sauce sitting in the fridge. White cake with caramel whipped cream frosting, and I think I'll be trying a take on this luscious pot de creme with caramel instead of chocolate. That project is for the next weekend, and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Sometimes its more fun when things don't work out as intended, and this particular mess up has certainly given me more opportunities to play.

project macaron: take two

When my first try at macarons were so close to being a success, I figured my second go would only be an improvement on the first. I mean it only made sense that I'd improve rather than get worse, right? Wrong.

This version was a bit of a disaster. First, I couldn't find the same recipe I'd used before. Or if I did it looked really, really different. So I was off to a bad start before I even got going. Second thing I really thing I screwed up is that I overwhipped the egg whites. I was so afraid of not whipping them enough that I passed the soft peaks stage and veered right on to full on stiff peak territory and that just was a no go.

So somewhat of a disaster. What I ended up with were somewhat flat, super delicate marshmallowy cookies. Tasty still, but nowhere near a macaron.

For all that they didn't come out the way I wanted there were two things that changed that I was happy with. I found a seive deeply buried in my mother's kitchen that allowed me to try Amanda's idea of sifting the powdered sugar and ground almonds, and I was really happy with the consistent texture and size there. I also changed how I piped them out, using a cone of waxed paper instead of a freezer bag and found that I had about a million times more control that way, so I'll definitely be using that piping method in the future.

dinnertime hits revisied

My mom kicked it out of the park with grocery shopping the other week. So many beautiful vegetables came home that I couldn't help but be inspired and spend almost every night in the kitchen. Which was all a direct result of me, uh, having a bit of a meltdown about the fact that there weren't any veggies in the house the week before. (Not so proud of that, really. But hey, I am the kid who screamed for broccoli.)

We had a week of some of the best dinners I've had in awhile, both things that I am in love with and family favourites that I didn't realize were so popular. I didn't make anything new, really, but sometimes innovation is not necessary. Especially after I've been in a bit of a rut and don't have any new ideas, revisiting some old favourites can help me feel free in the kitchen again, and that's where inspiration comes from.

All that being said, this week I'm simply going to direct you to some of my greatest hits as a blast from the past. There's no sense reinventing the wheel, but when I keep getting rave reviews I have no problem tooting my own horn, just a little.

Cream Cheese Spinach Dip - I made a double batch for dinner, with some baked greek pita chips. I'm a little embarrassed to report that with three people eating there wasn't really any left over. I've made this one so many times that I don't even really consult the recipe anymore. This one was way heavy on the spinach and I about doubled the red pepper. Both are changes I highly encourage.

Butternut Squash Pasta - This I did a bit of a variation on. What surprised me was that this was a special request from my mom, and I hadn't realized she'd liked it so much to start with.

Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup - I have two favourite soups, and this is one of them. Nuff said.

Glazed Carrots - The original recipe also includes parsnips, but as you can see I'd already used mine up in the soup. These were served with chicken in a mushroom cream sauce, which is an older recipe of mine but hasn't made its way onto the site yet. (Although it's somewhat similar to this chicken and mushroom dish, just without the alcohol.)

But enough about me, especially since I don't have anything new going on here. What's been going on in your kitchen lately? Are you experimenting with new recipes, or kicking back and relying on some old standbys?