food

It's been a while since I took part at the Waiter there is something in my ... blog event, organised by Andrew , Johanna and Jeanne . This month's event is hosted by Jeanne, who has chosen the Cucurbitacae family as a theme, or if you want a more poetic title, For the Love of Gourd . I've been featuring quite a few pumpkin recipes recently on my blog - pumpkin and flowering quince jam , pumpkin and ginger jam , pumpkin and nutmeg soup , to name just the last three. But I wanted something more mainstream this time, so I baked a pumpkin and ginger loaf, or a teabread. This pumpkin loaf is somewhat different, as it uses grated raw pumpkin instead of cooked pumpkin purée. It's a slightly modifying recipe from BBC Good Food (November 2002). When I baked it few weeks ago, I had run out of those delicious Buderim ginger nibbles that you can buy at Lakeland stores in the UK. If I had had them at the time, I would have certainly thrown in a generous handful of them, for sure....

People who know me well know of my obsession with old things. Our home (which is quite old itself, built back in 1904) is filled with little pieces that date from the twenties to the eighties. I have an obvious taste for sweet vintage childlike items and who would have guessed it, kitchen antiquities. More than any other room in our household, our kitchen contains the highest amount of the small things I have collected from constant trips to thrift stores and estate sales (I generally refuse to pay more than $10 for one item, though most are closer to the $1 range). Favorite things to collect include old cake tins, ceramic bakeware, aprons, and of course, cookbooks. My ever-growing vintage cookbook collection is a very special thing to me. I completely adore ones with cursive handwritten notes written in the margins, cut-out recipes tucked inside the pages, and typed family recipes bound in rings. I cannot help but fondly think of grandmothers and housewives back in the forties and fif...

My loyal readers may remember that photo collage of flowering quinces from last summer, when I made flowering quince extract and flowering-quince and apple jam . Well, I made several other jams using flowering quinces from my mum's backyard this autumn. One of our favourite ones was this pumpkin jam (yep, just as nice as this ginger and pumpkin jam ) . It's a lovely thick jam - flowering quinces are very high in pectin, with a beautiful yellow colour (well, it's mostly pumpkin after all), with a nice acidity lended by the flowering quinces. Another excellent jam to be spread on your breakfast or afternoon toast or English muffin. NB! Note that flowering quince ( Chaenomeles Lindl ) and quince ( Cydonia oblonga ) are related, but NOT the same fruit (quite confusingly, all quinces flower, but that's another topic altogether). Cleaning flowering-quinces for jam-making can be quite a pain. The fruit are hard and small. The best result is to find a comfortable place t...

It has been a tough few days here in my household. I won't go into the details of the accident, but over the weekend, my three-year old managed to get his thumb completely crushed, resulting in fractured bones and hand surgery. He has been a real trooper when dealing with the pain, but he has still been quite scared and emotional at various points throughout the day. The good part for him, though, is that he is getting spoiled like crazy, which means new toys, tons of hugs and snuggling, and you guessed it, sweets. This morning when he woke up, I told him that I was going to bake him whatever he wanted. After pulling out his cookbooks and sitting on my lap while I peered through recipes online, he decided on some Oreo-like chocolate sandwich cookies. We filled them with bright orange vanilla cream, perfect for Halloween. I think I have been enjoying them even more than he has- they are just so good when dunked in a tall glass of soy milk. Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla-Cre...

A large number of our current readers are getting here via this post , which has been featured all over the internet in the last week and a half or so. A few days ago, I emailed the company- Small Planet Foods, and asked them if they'd like to comment on, or offer an interview about the tiny broccoli faces. I received, unsurprisingly, (they are owned by General Mills, after all) a pretty canned response: "Dear Mrs. Carrier: Thank you for contacting us concerning Cascadian Farm. We appreciate the opportunity to address this matter. Unfortunately, there is no one available for you to interview. However, I have included some information about the history behind the faces. The tradition of hiding names or faces on Cascadian Farm packaging began over a dozen years ago. It was unspoken tribute by the package design department to the friends & family of Cascadian Farm. The faces won’t be included on our redesigned packaging. If you have any further questions or concerns, ...

Stuffed peppers are a handy supper dish, but many of the 'traditional' versions (i.e. filled with minced meat and rice) are too heavy for me. Recently I've tried couple of lighter versions, and this one was well received at a recent dinner with friends. The recipe is adapted from an old issue of British Tesco Recipe Magazine (March 2003, I believe). The dish contains very few ingredients, but had surprisingly plenty of flavour, so I'll definitely try this again. PS Sorry for the small hiatus - I was participating at a workshop in Finland, spending most of the last week in Tampere and Helsinki. It wasn't all work, however, as my dear K. joined me for the weekend of special shopping and delicious eating in Helsinki. Mozzarella-stuffed Peppers ( Mozzarellaga täidetud paprikad ) Serves 3 as a main course or 6 as a starter 3 bell peppers (a red, yellow and orange one, perhaps?) 1 Tbsp olive oil 150 g fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed 8-12 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartere...

Yes, here I go again with another apple recipe, but hey, it's fall, right? Here in Portland the leaves have almost all changed to vibrant colors, the air is crisp and windy, and folks all over are dressed in sweaters and bright scarves. If that's not enough to inspire frequent traditional Autumn baking then I don't know what is. I really do not have much to say about this recipe. It's simple, fragrant, and mighty tasty, just like any apple/pear dessert should be. Go ahead, eat it with friends using spoons right out of the baking dish, with fall foliage in view. Or share it in bed with your honey under a warm blanket, with vanilla bean ice cream piled on top. Or even cut the recipe down, make yourself a single serving, and enjoy some alone time out on the porch with a good book and a thick scarf. It's better that way. Spiced Apple and Pear Crumble Ingredients: 3 baking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced 3 ripe but firm red pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced ...

As much as I have faith in myself as being a good baker, I have never prided myself on being the most amazing cook. People have frequently complimented my dinners, but if I didn't follow recipes exactly, I would be completely lost. I am not one to quickly throw amazing meals together with just a few ingredients and I am not very inventive when it comes to "real food" (as opposed to food that has a high percentage of sugar). That being said, there are two things I can generally always make well without a recipe: lasagna and chili. I think this is mainly due to the fact that I have made both of them more times than I can possibly count so I know the processes like the back of my hand. Today was one of those days when the morning seemed to so quickly turn into the afternoon. Alice and I were meeting to discuss future plans for this site (food groups, side pages, features, ads, etc.) and time seemed to be passing by at a fast speed. Suddenly our stomachs were growling, but si...

Alice: "Do you want to bake something and come meet us at the park?" Me: "Sure. I can probably have something ready within a half hour." Alice: "What would be good on this cold and blustery day?" Me: "Warm muffins." Alice: "Oh, yes. Something muffiny would be great." Me: "Pumpkin? Apple? Banana-Nut?" Alice: "Hmmm..." Me: "Or I could make muffins that taste just like donuts with sugar on top." Alice: "YES. THOSE." I am quite sure that the idea of a muffin that doubles as a donut is an idea that appeals to almost everybody. Few people don't enjoy the special sweet taste that a donut has and the unarguable comfort of a warm homemade muffin. I was first introduced to this idea quite a few years ago. I was vegan back then and had a couple failed attempts at making my own, resulting in muffins that were terribly heavy and quite un-donutlike. It wasn't until today that I decided to try again, usi...

What do you do with all your leftover butternut after you're burnt out on holiday foods? Not everything has to contain nutmeg and brown sugar, right? After making soup from some tasty butternut squashes, we had a couple of already-roasted pieces leftover that didn't make it into the soup. (Remember, I said it's a to-taste soup!) I asked Jason what we could do with them and he mentioned throwing it into a curry dish. I initially balked at the idea- curry with butternut squash? But I trust his judgement and he did his thing. I imagined a pureed squash being stirred into the final product, but he simply cubed up the already-roasted squash and tossed it in. It melted into the curry but left big chunks, so the end result was a thick, creamy, sweet and mild curry that held up well to the sambal chili sauce we mixed in. I don't usually add chili sauce to things because I think it can overwhelm subtle flavors, but in this case it just perfectly highlighted the mildness...

You might remember our sweet little peach empanadas from back in August. We've been talking about making savory ones for a long time and when Summer got the itch (wait, SUMMER wanted something that wasn't sweet?), I was happy to comply. Since I eat meat and Summer doesn't, we did 2 different fillings. We used this awesome pastry crust recipe that Summer jacked off a crisco container. Laugh all you want, but those package recipes have test kitchens full of professional chefs and the recipes are always bomb. Tollhouse cookies anyone? I rest my case. Adapted Crisco recipe for the crusts: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. sugar (we lowered the amount since we weren't looking for sweet. Original recipe calls for 2 tbsp.) 1 tsp. salt (we decided it could have used more salt, to go with what we stuffed them with.) 3/4 cup shortening (we prefer organic) 5 tbsp. cold water Combine flour, sugar, & salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using 2 knives (or a pastry cut...

All right, all right- I know this is absolutely RIDICULOUS, but I think it says a lot about the partnership between me & Summer that when I mentioned taking a photo like this, for a post like this, rather than rolling back in her head- her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she exclaimed, "I was thinking the exact same thing!" We just wanted to say hello to all the new readers who have been popping in. Thanks to this post, we've been getting a crazy amount of traffic! We're really pleased to see new readers and we have a lot of awesome stuff planned in the coming months, so keep watching.

It's here! You asked for it! My very simple butternut squash soup recipe. If you're like me, and your first, mildly traumatic experiences with butternut squash soup involved the cartons of pre-made, overly sweet crap you can buy at places like Trader Joe's (not hatin' though, I still love TJ's.) you might not like the idea of butternut squash soup. I know I never did. The other day at work, a man who comes in often with his preteen son (who is an adorable, stern young man, who always says please and thank you) thanked me for the hot chocolates I made for them, and said, "You have a secret ingredient, don't you?" I acknowledged that we put a little something extra in, and he quickly stopped me and said, "Don't tell me! I don't want to know." (It's just vanilla, dude!) The idea of a "secret ingredient" is kind of silly to me, but I understand the appeal. Something subtle that people notice, but not overwhelming enou...

I fully admit that I have never been a fan of squash. The idea of it, especially since it is generally such a beautiful family of vegetables, has always appealed to me, but I have always been disappointed by the taste and texture (other than butternut squash soup, which just happens to be our next post). This isn't to say that I hadn't been open-minded to continuing to try it in different ways. With squash season fully upon us, I decided to start buying them to experiment with. The first one was a massive pink banana squash that I chopped up (with our rather dull kitchen knives, resulting in some wretched hand pain) and put into our crock pot with apples, spices, and sugar. Yet again, I was not impressed. That was until today. While Alice was still at our house this afternoon after photographing the apple tart, I thought it would be fun to throw something quick together, mainly for another photo opportunity. I wanted to keep with harvest theme so I grabbed an acorn squash off ...

On Saturday morning, after making our weekly stop at the downtown market, my family and I headed out to one of my favorite annual events: the Apple Tasting Festival at Portland Nursery. The festival is free and consists of pumpkin painting tables, cheap apple foods (mmm, warm apple streudel with soft serve vanilla ice cream), inexpensive fresh produce, and a huge tented area with over sixty varieties of apples (and some pears) to try. What always seems to amaze me is just how different each apple tastes, varying from one another in different levels of sweetness, tartness, crispness, boldness of flavor, and juiciness. With a list of my favorites in hand, we headed off to the fruit bushels where I filled three huge bags with a combination of Gourmet Goldens, Rome Beauties, Mutsus, and Liberties. Today I figured it was time to start on putting these baking apples to good use. I had an unopened package of puff pastry in the freezer, so I decided to go for a simple apple tart, easily made...

Edited to add: An update to this post can be found here. Okay, I know this isn't a recipe, but it's food related, and it's too funny to not share. Now that we're settled in from our respective vacations, and enjoying the fall weather- Summer and I are getting back down to business. I was over at her place this morning photographing some tasty treats that will hopefully show up here later today, and she suddenly remembered this crazy broccoli package in her freezer she wanted to show me. She handed me the box and I studied it carefully, squinting, even allowing my eyes to blur, to try and see what I was missing. She pointed- "Do you see?" See what? I didn't see anything. Just broccoli. Her finger tapped on a certain part of the box and she urged me to look closer. "There- right there. Do you see it? I'm not going to tell you what it is if you don't see it." And then, it suddenly became clear to me. WHAT THE HELL? It shouldn...

I love caraway seeds, that's not a secret. There have been roasted beets with caraway seeds , shaken cucumber salad with caraway seeds , creamy beetroot soup with horseradish and caraway seeds , caraway-infused sauerkraut braised in beer , easy cheese crisps with caraway seeds - to name just a few. And one of my old favourites that has recently enjoyed a comeback, is a 'recipe' for oven-baked chips with caraway seeds. So here's what you need to do. Take your favourite roasting potato (I use a local variety, Laura , which has a thin pink skin and dark yellow flesh - Estonians like their potatoes to be yellow, not white inside), scrub very clean and cut lengthwise into wedges (four is plenty). Place into an oven tray, preferably large enough to snugly fit the potatoes in one layer. Drizzle generously with oil (and give them a good stir, so they'd be covered with oil), season with sea salt and caraway seeds. Bake for 35-45 minutes (the timing really depends on the siz...

On Thursday morning, I woke up with a sudden urge to make bread. Having a day ahead of me with nothing planned and a new bag of bread flour, I searched through my saved yeast bread recipes and quickly chose one from A cookie a day for gorgeous-looking honey rolls. What I wasn't aware of until later that evening was that I had woken up with this bread-making urge on what is known as World Bread Day - a fine coincidence, I must say. And so, on the evening of a day dedicated to the staff of life , we enjoyed these delicious rolls that were a perfect compliment to our hearty dinner of mashed potatoes, gravy, veggie roast, and roasted vegetables. They tasted sweet and were quite soft, much like challah, with a lip-smacking buttery crust. So, if you have the time (and especially if you have an electric mixer with a bread hook, like I do), I urge you to try this recipe out for yourself, even if just for the intoxicating smell of baking bread that will fill your home. Tender Honey Yeast R...