Dan is sharing another meal here today. I think it is a shame that I post these meals after he’s already made them because I could seriously go for this dinner again right now.

Over the last few weeks we have tried to make an effort to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet with the hope that one day we will be able to fully convert. There has also been lots of talk about homesteading and how that will change the way we approach food in general. Fortunately for us there are only two meat lovers in our family – our oldest daughter and our youngest son. Our oldest is so health conscious that she has taken the reduction in meat in fairly good stride. So with changing diets in mind I thought I would share one of our new favorite meals. The ingredients and the cooking are very simple which is just the way I think it should be. Sometimes I have a tendency to over complicate things and end up with a dud of a dinner.

The ingredients:

2 Heads of broccoli

1 Winter squash

2lbs of yellow flesh smallish potatoes

10 Mushrooms

10-15 large brussels sprouts

6-8 Carrots

9 Tablespoons of olive oil – 5 and 4 if you’re separating before hand

Teaspoon of salt

Teaspoon of pepper

2 Cloves of garlic

There are a ton of substitutions for these vegetables as well. I find green beans or zucchini can easily replace the sprouts, broccoli, or mushrooms; peppers do nicely as well.

Start off by cutting your potatoes, squash, and carrots. I had plenty of helpers join me with this task. Make sure your vegetables are in these sort of size portions. Squash 3/4″ sections with the outer skin cut off. Potatoes in wedges or halves depending on the size of the potato, and the carrots in sticks.

You can put all of these three together in a bowl and add 5 tablespoons of the olive oil,  salt, pepper, and one of the cloves of garlic finely chopped. Toss them all together until they are evenly coated.

Then dump them onto a parchment covered baking sheet and spread them out so all of the vegetables have some contact with the pan. I need two pans for the amount I cook. Put them in a 375 degree oven, if you are near sea level I would go with 390. Set your timer for 30 mins.

Now you can cut up your greens and mushrooms. Same procedure as before only if you are cooking broccoli make sure it is on top when you put on the oil as you will want to take care to try to get the broccoli florets coated with oil. You can add salt and pepper if you wish and spread on another prepared baking sheet. Salt will help with the browning process as it draws moisture out.  When you are at 30 mins for the potatoes and such, throw the vegetables in, rotate your other pans if you have an oven like mine.

Set the timer for another 15 mins. Now you have a few minutes to put together a great little yogurt sauce and toast some nuts to add a little protein. For the sauce take one cup plain yogurt and add one finely chopped or minced clove of garlic, if you like dill put it in, if you like lemon add a squeeze.

Now is the time to toast some nuts if you’d like to add them to your meal. I like to use pumpkin and sesame seeds, pine nuts are also one of my favourites.  Toss the nuts into a dry pan and cook over medium heat carefully watching the nuts for browning.

As soon as they start to change colour I like to add a bit of butter, well… for the flavour. As our kids have a love of lemon I add the lemon zest of one lemon and the juice of half. If I had my way I would give this a miss as it hides the butter flavour. Don’t get me wrong I love lemon, but butter? well you probably understand. Set the nuts aside.

You should have some nicely browned potatoes, and carrots, the squash not as much. At this point I remove the potatoes, carrots, and squash and put the green vegetables on the top rack and put the broiler on for 4 mins to get a bit of browning on some of the green vegetables.

Once you have browned your greens send them all to the table and you’re set. One other thing that is nice is to add a bit of balsamic vinegar to the yogurt for those who will appreciate it. 

I find this meal just as filling as a dinner with meat, and the environmental and health benefits help this meal sit well with me.

Hope you give it a try!

I don’t know what first brought us to try making caramel – I think it may have been this delicious recipe. I had all the ingredients on hand and as often happens with me and cake, I had to make it on the spot. To make the cake, though, I needed to first make the caramel. The directions looked simple – deceptively simple, in fact.

Sugar in dutch oven, heat sugar until it melts, add warmed cream and voila, caramel.

So I tried it and got the deceptively simple bit figured out. Dan, who is much more brave and patient with such things, stepped in and after three failed attempts we, er, he had success.

Now he is the tried and true caramel chef of our household. I bake the cakes, the goodies and the breads. I cook the lasagna, the pancakes and the mexican food (although he is getting better and better at that one). Dan cooks the pastas, the vegetarian wonders and the meat. He tackles the tiramisu, the chocolate mousse and the cheesecake…and now the caramel. It works out just great.

Now that Dan has mastered the caramel we are never without a little mason jar of this precious treat for special desserts, mid-afternoon sneaking and late night snacking.

So to be honest, I am posting this as mine but in reality I’ve never made the caramel from start to finish. Dan always seems to pop in the door or the kitchen just as my pulse is rising and the sweat is starting to blur my vision.

But you can do this. I know you can. Like I said, it’s very simple.

There are different ways of making caramel – this is how we’ve found it works for us.

Start by adding 2 cups of heavy cream to a sauce pan and heat over medium low. Add 1 cup of sugar to a wide pan and heat over slightly lower than medium heat. Rotate the pan to spread the sugar evenly over the bottom of your pan. You must be careful it doesn’t heat too quickly or too much.

Watch carefully. Don’t leave. Remember what I said about burning nuts? This requires patience and attention.

As you watch you’ll notice the sugar beneath the surface begin to melt.

Don’t touch.

It spreads. It darkens. Don’t stir it. If you get in there with a spoon you’ll likely end up with a big lump of crystallized sugar.

Once you can see the lower level of sugar melting you may very gently, using a spatula or wooden spoon, edge the solid sugar over the melted areas to help it heat more evenly. Be careful not to disturb the melted sugar beneath. Sounds tricky but it just requires a slow hand.

As it melts a little more you can gently swirl the pan to spread the unmelted sugar around a little further.

Soon the sugar melts to this lovely amber colour. Remember the previous rule and don’t stir it.

You may however gently press the unmelted edges down into the pan when it looks like this.

At this point there are still a few solid pieces but it can turn to burnt sugar in a flash and then it is good for nothing. If you smell even a hint of burnt sugar clean your pot and start over – even the slightest bit will ruin the whole batch. Once it turns this dark amber colour it is time to remove the pan from the heat.

Slowly pour in the hot cream and stir it in to the now caramelized sugar.

It bubbles quite a bit. Keep stirring until combined.

Once the bubbling subsides you may find some clumps of caramelized sugar.

Put the pan back on the heat and using a wooden spoon press the lumps to the bottom of the pan and stir around until they are melted.

A couple of minutes is all it seems to take and your caramel becomes smooth and creamy. This is the point we remove it from the heat and add a pinch of salt. The longer you cook it the thicker it will get but keep in mind that it will also thicken as it cools.

Once it has cooled you can pour it into a mason jar for storing, into cake batter, over ice cream or wherever your heart desires.

Liquid gold.

Caramel

1 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream but do not boil. While the cream warms, heat the sugar in a wide pan or dutch oven over medium or medium-low heat. Watch the sugar carefully as it begins to caramelize but do not stir it. Using a wooden spoon or spatula you may gently spread the sugar, without disturbing the melted sugar, to even out the melting speed. Watch carefully that the sugar doesn’t burn. Once the sugar is melted and a deep amber colour, remove from the heat and slowly pour in the heated cream. Stir to combine. If any lumps of caramelized sugar remain, put the pan back over the heat and stir until the all solids are dissolved. Allow to cool slightly and either use immediately or store in the refrigerator.

Try it. It’s worth it.

Be still my beating heart.

Another yummy meal post from Dan. We’ve been eating less and less meat these days and I am loving the new recipes he’s been trying out!

On a recent relaxing Saturday the kids woke up and got themselves some breakfast with a minimal amount of milk splashed on the table. There was a play dough incident but in general it had been a pretty laid back kind of day. So with some spare time I thought I would try something new for dinner. The basic ingredients are Potatoes, flour, and eggs. Should be simple right?

I looked at a few recipes for the basic ratios of potatoes to flour and I settled on 1.5 lbs of boiled potatoes to 1 cup of flour.

I had about 2-1/2 lbs of boiled potatoes so after some quick math and I decided to use 1-2/3 cups of flour.

Mash your boiled potatoes and put on a floured surface with a fair amount of space.

Then create a well. Pour the flour around the sides and into the well.

Break the egg into the center and with a fork start to mix the egg into the flour and potatoes.

Once the egg is incorporated, it is time to get your hands dirty.

Knead the dough until it forms a ball, and is sticky-dry to the touch i.e. none of the dough goes with your finger when you press it. I found to achieve this I had to add another 2/3 of a cup of flour.

Once you have your ball of dough break it off into smaller balls for rolling into ¾” ropes. This process took a little longer than I expected but once I got the swing of it, it was pretty easy.

I took the small ball on a floured surface and rolled it toward me until it became a manageable rope.

Then I rolled it in my hands to the size I was looking for. My play dough skills from childhood helped greatly.

Cutting the rolls was pretty easy take a dull knife or pastry cutter and slice the ropes into 1” sections.

The pieces looked a little like pillows at this stage. At this point I was wondering how to get the nice grove marks into sides.

After a little break to watch some how-to videos, I settled on using two forks and gently squishing them together.

After moulding a few into shape, I attracted some attention from the kids who of course wanted to help. I showed them how to press the dough between the forks and much to my surprise they were lined up three deep almost perfectly shaping the dough. A nice quiet activity for them which gave me the opportunity to focus on cooking the gnocchi.

The cooking was pretty easy: throw them in a pot of salted boiling water and wait for them to float to the top.

Take them out and put them in an ice bath and your done.

Rachel informed me earlier in the day she would like a “simple” tomato sauce.  I may not have gotten it exactly to her liking – I believe she said something like “it’s pretty garlicky”. We have plenty of our canned tomato sauce left in the basement from last fall but since I had already invested two hours into the gnocchi, I thought I would put one together (mostly) from scratch – using a can of crushed tomatoes.

It is pretty simple, cut up one onion and about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic (hence the “pretty garlicky”) but I like it.

Sweat the onions until they are transparent, then add the garlic and cook for another few minutes.

Then you can add your tomatoes; let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.

I also roasted some vegetables to go along side, which received mixed reviews: three out of five children liked them though so I will consider that a success. I try to include a variety when roasting veggies so that everyone has something they like.

Served under the marinara sauce alongside the veggies and some freshly grated parmesan, the gnocchi was a success.

Delicious!

Dan’s sharing another of his culinary creations – so happy to be a benefactor!

I have just finished preparing this desert and I already can’t wait to eat it, even after numerous samplings from the dirty bowls.

I’m somewhat nostalgic about chocolate mousse. I have memories of eating this wonderful dessert at one of my parent’s favourite restaurants as a child. It was usually a special occasion that brought us to the restaurant and I think this may have added to my delight of the dessert, or it could just be one of the best desserts ever invented. I don’t know how the mousse of my memory was made but this is my take.

I usually make this once a year and since Rachel has been asking me about it lately, I thought I’d better get to it as it has been too long. This version uses simple ingredients and it is fairly easy to put together. There are more complicated methods that involve eggs, but I confess that I have yet to attempt them because I am happy with the way this one turns out.

This is a small dinner party size – it is more than enough for our family and one or two guests. As we happen to have a couple of friends coming for dinner tonight it works perfectly.

Cheater’s Chocolate Mousse

I use Callebaut chocolate as I think it is one of the best, feel free to substitute a different chocolate but remember that the quality of the chocolate you use can make or break the dessert.

4 cups whipping(heavy) cream plus 4 oz.

8 oz dark chocolate

8 oz milk chocolate

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier liqueur

3 tablespoons Kahlua liqueur (if you don’t like either of these substitute a different liqueur, Irish Cream works great, or omit the alcohol and replace with cream)

Prepare two pots, one for the milk chocolate and one for the dark. Add two ounces of the cream along with the liqueur of choice into each of the pans. I pair the Kahlua with the milk chocolate and the Grand Marnier with the dark.

Chop up the milk and dark chocolate separately.

Then add each to its own pot. Turn the heat on to medium low and stir occasionally to avoid burning the chocolate. Mostly anytime you melt chocolate you should use a double boiler but because of the cream and the liqueur you can get away with just the one pot – saving yourself some dirty dishes. Melt the chocolate until smooth, this should take about 4-5 mins.

Once they are melted remove from the heat and set aside.

With a stand or hand mixer whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.

Once your whipped cream is ready divide evenly into two mixing bowls. Add a spatula full of the cream to each of the chocolate pots and mix until smooth. If you skip this step and pour the chocolate directly into the cream you may get little chunks of chocolate in your mousse.

Pour your dark chocolate sauce into one of the bowls of cream and gently fold in until fully incorporated. Don’t rush this part and start stirring or the mousse will lose some texture in the final product – my impatience has been a downfall on many occasions!

You should have a mixture that has no white or dark streaks and is nice and fluffy. Repeat with the other chocolate sauce.

Now for the presentation.

I use some “nice” IKEA goblets to layer the mousse into, I also have some ramekins for when I run out of glasses.  The glass sure helps with the look of things but this is purely optional. Do make sure when you put your mousse into its dish that you gently tap it on the bottom to let the mousse settle a bit.

(This batch filled seven of these goblets and three ramekins – plenty to share!)

Once you have all your mousse distributed try to find some place in your fridge to let them set for at least 4 hours. If you are in a hurry as I have been from time to time you can put them in the freezer for approximately an hour but you will end up with more of a frozen mousse.

Big siblings were out with Mommy and little brother was napping – of course this little girl took full advantage.

–4 hours later–

*On a side note after last night we still have 3 glasses and 2 ramekins  (hooray!)

Have you made mousse before? Have you tried it with eggs? I’m curious to know how my simplified version compares.

Happy weekend everyone!

Dan’s here again to share one of my most favourite meals.

Tomato and Basil Shells

On a recent day of busy errand running, we came home late with little time to prepare dinner. Too often this ends in a less than satisfying dining out experience. Instead of throwing in the towel, I decided to go with one of the more popular meals from our summer menu.  Tomato and Basil Shells – it’s quick and everyone usually loves it.

Because I have done it so many times I can prepare this meal in about 30 minutes. If you are going to give it a try for the first time you probably need closer to 45 minutes. The only problem is trying to find fresh basil and good tomatoes, which is why this is usually a summer dish. I was lucky enough to grab the last bunch of basil at the grocery store (although it wasn’t pretty). Before I get started there is one disclaimer about this meal – if you don’t like garlic stop here.

Here are the ingredients:

8-10 Roma Tomatoes (I used regular tomatoes as I couldn’t find Romas)

8 Cloves of garlic

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 Ball of Mozarella Cheese

2 stalks of basil

600g of pasta (I use tiny shells but you can use whatever you prefer)

Chop or mince the cloves of garlic. Pour the oil into a large saucepan and set your heat to medium-low. Let the oil heat up for a minute or two before adding the garlic.

Now is a good time to get your pasta water boiling. Start cutting the tomatoes into small cubes.

Be careful not to burn the garlic as it will brown up pretty quickly.

Add the tomatoes to the oil and garlic, continue to cook on medium low heat for about 10 minutes or until the sauce starts to bubble a bit.

Chop up your basil and set aside to add right at the end of the cooking process, this will keep it nice and green.

Cut the mozerella into 1/2″ cubes (this is a lot easier if you put the cheese in the freezer 5-10 mins before cutting it).

At this point you can toss the cheese in or if you have special people, like we do, who don’t like cheese you can add it to their dishes individualy.

Combine the pasta and the sauce and you are ready to eat! It can never hurt to add another vegetable to the meal, green beans go pretty well.

Some mixed reactions at first, our wonderful son always forgets that he likes this dinner.

This one loves the melty stringy cheese.

This was a wonderful way to end a busy day. Just bedtime to go.