mushroom and spinach crepes

Despite appearances I have not disappeared down a rabbit hole. I've been a bit under the weather with a coldy thing and pink eye (eyes?) which has been maddening. Spring seems to have finally arrived and the house seems almost warm at times which is such a nice feeling. I've made it outside into my excuse for a garden and cleared away some of the debris from winter and planted some things - sweet peas, spinach, chard and am cheered to see shoots where I planted garlic in the fall. There are some tiny tulips blooming under the Korean lilac bush and more bulbs are growing in pots - although not blooming yet.

But the real reason that I haven't been here much lately is my new obsession as my husband calls it. What is it you ask? Online scrapbooking. I got an offer a few weeks ago for a free book so I decided to give it a go. And created a monster. Since I started a mere 3 weeks ago, I've done 7 complete albums, ordered and on their way and the first one arrived the other day. I calculated that it is about the same price as printing pictures and scrapbooking myself with all the supplies I buy. And the albums should take up less space. I'm up to date with scrapbooking finally and because I'm doing it online, there is less scrapbook debris while I'm working and I won't need all the stuff anymore (stickers, paper, brads, punches, etc). So last week I culled my supplies (I'm keeping some for making cards) and did a big donation to the club where our son goes before and after school and the workers there are thrilled as well. And my skinny man is beyond thrilled to have my "scrapbooking" corner cleared out. So happiness all around. But I will admit that I was spending a lot of time at the computer after the boy had gone to bed. Not all my time mind you, because I also just finished reading "As Always, Julia" which was fascinating although it did lead to strange dreams about recipes!

Anyway, I'm meant to be posting about crepes so I will move on. Crepes. I went through a brief spell a few weeks back where we ate a lot of crepes. Mainly because of an article I read in the Guardian. And as I have sourdough starter now, this recipe caught my eye. I make it without the eggs and the resulting crepe doesn't taste overly sour or tangy but does have a lovely texture. I usually double the recipe, or at least make 1 1/2 times as much as the recipe to render enough crepes (as I leave out the eggs).

Crepes (adapted from here)
170 mL milk (I use 1%)
120 mL sourdough starter
2 pinches of salt
100 g flour
A big knob of melted butter (I use ~ 1 tbsp for a knob)

Mix all the ingredients together. Melt some more butter into a crepe pan over medium heat until bubbly and then pour in enough batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges get a tiny bit crisp and turn over. Cook until slightly brown around the edges and shake onto a plate. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Mushroom and Spinach filling
2 tbsp butter
8-10 medium mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 c vegetable stock
1 tsp dijon mustard
dash of worchestershire sauce
1 bag of spinach
1 c grated gruyere or sharp cheddar cheese
crepes

Melt the butter in a pan over medium high heat and add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are a bit brown. Add the flour and the stock and stir, cooking until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the mustard, worchestershire sauce and the spinach. letting the spinach wilt into the mixture. Once the spinach is wilted, add about half of the cheese and stir into the sauce. Let cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool a few minutes.

Add a couple of tablespoons of filling to each crepe across the diameter of the crepe near the bottom and roll up the crepe to enclose the filling (try and get more mushrooms and spinach and not so much sauce when you are doing this).

Place the crepes into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Fill all the crepes, or as many fit in a single layer in your dish.

Spoon the remaining sauce over the crepes and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake at 350 deg F for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden and the filling is bubbly.

Any leftover crepes can be frozen - layer the crepes with a piece of waxed or parchment paper between each one, wrap all of them well in plastic wrap, and put into a freezer bag. You can fill them frozen or defrost in a microwave for about 10 seconds each.

musings on a saturday

I woke up early this morning, before the boy and enjoyed a quiet moment with a favorite book. And when the boy came in he cuddled up beside me, snuggling into my "fuzzy" as he calls it (chenielle dressing gown). We got to snuggle for a few quiet minutes in what my guys call a mummy sandwich (Daddy on one side and boy on the other). I got to marvel at how big he's getting and smell his hair (wierd mummy stuff) before I heard "mummy, when are you getting up"? So my quiet time was over.

But - it was sunny today. And warm. Like summer. Which is nice seeing as it's July.

I enjoyed the sunshine in the garden- looked at what's growing. I started to harvest some of my lavender flowers but the bees were out in force

so I left them to it after I picked enough for one bunch. I picked zucchini and radishes.

And found evidence of the phantom zucchini chewer.

And some ripening tomatoes.

The boy and I had a snack and a drink outside in the sun. And then I got to watch the boy try and master his new-to-him supersoaker water gun. And build his road - which after the supersoaker action caused an avalanche which I had to go inspect along with the worm that the backhoe bucket dug up.

And supper was zucchini fritters, braised radishes, roasted new potato wedges along with a baby kale and arugula salad.

I've got apricots preparing to be put into a galette tomorrow and a cake baking in the oven (this one with raspberries) so the house smells all jammy.

Once again the news reminds me of how lucky we are. My thoughts are with the people of Norway, especially those who've lost a loved one in the horrific acts of violence yesterday.

I got carried away

It started with the chutney. I think. Actually it started with the green tomatoes that I froze last summer intending to make this pie again before my beloved’s stomach started acting up. So I put away thoughts of green tomatoes and sausage melded into a pie. But said tomatoes got tired of being put aside and for the past couple of weeks, would regularly fall out of the freezer onto my bare toes. Quite frankly, I was getting a tad annoyed about them. And then I read this. So Sunday morning found me stirring a vinegary batch of green tomato and apple chutney. It never did get to a jammy chutney consistency which I blame entirely on my reducing the recipe to fit the amount of green tomatoes I had and the various substitutions I did. I did the math in my head, which is always dangerous but never mind. Consistency issues aside, it is lovely. I’m planning to eat it with some sharp cheddar and farmhouse bread for lunch in the near future as my attempt at a plowman’s lunch.

But reading about chutney and Indian spices, made me look for a new daal recipe as a previous attempt had turned out soupy and somewhat flavourless. I found this recipe on Heidi’s site and decided to make it. I went and scavenged the last of my garden spinach and chard, used red lentils instead of ivory and curry powder in place of turmeric and away I went. I did heed one of the commenter’s advice which was to add much less water than the recipe indicated and it worked a treat.

It being a grey day, I was more motivated to stay in the kitchen than the garden, so thoughts turned to making a curry using this recipe as the jumping off point, subbing baby cauliflower and broccoli for the beef. At the market, I’d picked up some rapini so that went into the mix as well. Served over brown rice, it was delicious alongside the daal and the chutney. And of course, either the daal or the curry would have been sufficient for us for supper with leftovers aplenty. Ah well. It’s all enough for a week’s worth of lunches for my man which is a good thing.

 Green Tomato and Apple Chutney (adapted from David Lebovitz)

10 ½ oz green tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks

1 apple, cored, and cut into chunks

1/3 c peeled and diced shallots

pinch of hot red new Mexican chili powder

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/3 c apple cider vinegar

1/3 c dark brown sugar

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

zest of one lemon

Mix together all the ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low boil and cook, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes, until the mixture is thick and jam-like. Once finished, ladle the chutney into clean jars.



chutney cooking



Palak Daal (adapted from Heidi Swanson at 101Cookbooks)

1 c red lentils, picked over and rinsed

2 1/2 c water

1/2 pound spinach and chard, washed and finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 large pinch of hot red new Mexican chili powder

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp pure red chile powder

more salt to taste

juice of 1/2 a lemon

In a large pot over medium-high heat combine the daal and water. Bring to a boil, then add the spinach, ginger, curry powder, chili powder, and all of the tomatoes. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the lentils are extremely soft. You may need to add a bit more water during the cooking process to keep the lentils soupy. After an hour and a half, stir in the salt.

In a separate pan, heat the butter and cumin and fry until the cumin seeds start to pop. Now add the red chile powder and fry for another 30 seconds. Add this butter mixture to the lentils and allow to cook for another five minutes. Add the lemon juice and taste, adding more salt if needed.

a steaming bowl of daal

Cauliflower and Broccoli Curry with Rapini (based on the Cooking Canuck)

1 tsp sunflower oil
1 gala apple, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 1/2 oz. jarred mild curry paste (I used Patak’s)

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

1 small broccoli, cut into florets

1 bunch rapini, stemmed and chopped (the vegetables should be about 1 ½ lbs together)

1/2 c water

7 oz greek style plain yogurt with 3 oz water added

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp water

4 small potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add apple, onion, and ginger to the saucepan. Sauté until the onions are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add curry paste and garlic. Lower the heat to low, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the cauliflower and broccoli and 1/2 cup water. Increase the heat to medium to medium-high and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour in the yogurt and water mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat to low.

In a small bowl, combine ground coriander, cumin, and garam masala, along with about 2 tablespoons water. Stir to make a paste. Add the paste and potatoes to the beef mixture. Stir, cover the pot, with the lid ajar, and simmer for approximately 2 hours. After about 30 minutes, add the rapini. Add more water as needed to keep the dish moist. Serve over rice.

vegetable curry with rice and chutney

a whole lot of green

Our summer weather, such as it was, has packed up and left. In its’ wake we have grey, cloudy skies and a lot of rain. I tell myself it is better than the sweltering heat that has enveloped most of the rest of North America and it is. And I don’t have to water my plants every day except for the tomatoes that are under cover so they don’t get blight because of all the rain. But our souls are longing for a bit of summer sunshine. And I would think my garden is too but there is much evidence to the contrary. The zucchini are growing – maybe not the zucchini bats I would have in sunshine but lots, enough so that every weekend supper featured zucchini in some form. The radishes have huge greens, the beans are leaping upwards, the potato vines are enormous and the tomatoes are ripening. And the chard and spinach were flowing boxes of green until they were ravaged by me over a couple of days to make a couple of suppers. One supper was chard (and some spinach) fritters. I found the recipe in Ottolenghi’s on-line column and thought they looked interesting. And I knew I had a bunch of chard from the market in the fridge and some growing in my garden.

It takes a lot of chard – 400g in total. So after picking and weighing a few times, I decided to throw some spinach in as well. More picking and weighing until I had a huge mountain of green on my counter.

But really, that was the hardest part of this recipe. And while they may not look very pretty, they are lovely to eat. I made a sauce for them using some greek-style yogurt, lemon juice, a squeeze of honey and some dill. Delicious.

Chard (and Spinach) Fritters (adapted from Ottolenghi’s recipe)

400g Swiss chard and spinach, leaves only
a big handful of oregano, basil and thyme from the garden, chopped

1½ tsp grated nutmeg

½ tsp sugar

3 tbsp flour

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 free-range eggs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

80g feta, broken into small pieces

60ml olive oil

Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, and simmer the chard for five minutes. Drain, squeeze dry, then whizz in a food processor with the herbs, nutmeg, sugar, flour, garlic, eggs, a third of a teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Fold in the feta by hand.

Pour a tablespoon of oil into a frying pan over medium-high heat and spoon in three heaped tablespoons of the mix, one per fritter. Press down gently to shape into fritters, and cook for three to four minutes, turning once, until they take on some colour. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and repeat with the remaining fritter mix and oil. Serve hot.

digging at last

The rain has started again. As it grows dark here, the raindrops are plinking against the window and I'm grateful, that although the raindrops threatened more than a few times in the last 2 days, the rain (showers?) held off until now. Today, after a run to the garden store for bags of soil and amender, I pulled out the potato grow bags and some cedar planters and we started digging. We filled the bags and planters with some composted soil from last fall and topped them up with the new amender and soil and I planted potatoes, spinach, chard and radishes. In the next couple of days, I hope to get the peas and sweet peas seeded as well. Also time to start the arugula and basil (indoors).


here are my helpers filling the bottom of a pot with styrofoam

Out in the front, the star magnolia is about to burst into bloom and the camelia has a few flowers peeking out and one lonely daffodil has poked up. Ah spring!

my garden this week - july 11

Summer heat arrived here this week. And to our rain soaked bodies it was a shock. It has clouded over a bit now and the scorching heat is gone but the sunshine and no rain continues.

Yesterday I harvested the lettuce that hadn't been eaten by the slugs - I'll plant some more and try cayenne around the plants and see what that does. With my digging boy, I cannot do any poison and I don't really want to - just seems like I'm being a garden bully.

The beans are shooting up, and flowering now. I got more radishes last night and they went in the salad - so homegrown salad! The tomatoes are growing too. D thought I cheated and bought plants. But no, the plants growing are mine from seed. A bit behind but the sunshine has sent most of them shooting up as well.

The zucchini are growing - only 2 of the 7 I planted have done anything so far.

1 yellow squash and 1 green, with lots of flowers (maybe I'll try a squash blossom recipe) and a couple of growing fruit. My disappointing peas have grown a few pods so I might still get a few garden peas. The chard wilted in the heat, despite the packet saying it was heat tolerant - we'll see if anything happens. Otherwise I'll be picking the chard sooner that I thought. The strawberries have a few green berries on them, hopefully they'll ripen in the sunshine and we'll get to taste a few more of our own.

The roses are doing well

and the sweet peas have started to bloom.

I now am able to cut flowers from my garden for the house. The lavender is full of flowers which the bees love.

And the creeper in T's garden is sprouting lots of lovely yellow flowers.

A lovely, growing garden!

finally - a home grown radish

This is the third year I've planted radish seeds. Everything I read about radishes indicates they are super easy to grow and so come highly recommended for children's gardens. The first year, I got measly green sprouts but nothing happened and they withered and died. Last year, the slugs mowed through both sets of greens which sprouted and the radishes never got the chance to develop. So I wasn't too optimistic this year but I bought a mixed pack of radish seeds and T and I planted them in his big tubs (T's garden is two big barrel tubs). This time up popped a lot of seedlings, which I thinned, as per the seed package. And on Friday, on my morning tour round the garden I took a closer look at the radish patch and discovered this....

A radish lying on the soil! (I had been wondering how you know when the radishes are ready to harvest.) So I called T and we pulled the radish out. And lo and behold, there were more radishes ready to be picked.

A radish harvest! It's hard to say who was more excited - T or me. He ended up taking the large pink radish to his preschool teacher at the picnic!

The radishes are lovely - crunchy and peppery! And on Sunday there were more,

and another one tonight! Once these are done, I may replant for another harvest. Oh - better watch out. I'm getting cocky about my radishes!

strawberry!

We ate the first strawberry out of our garden yesterday - well, our boy ate most of it and I had a little nibble. Yummy. T was so excited and wanted more strawberries. But when I gave him some of the not so local ones he wasn't impressed. (He usually loves them but they really don't compare...) Then last night I got an email from our local fruit stand to say they were going to open either on Saturday or Monday (well actually the email was from the guy running the fruit stand - I don't think the stand itself actually has email access!) So they are expecting local strawb's to be ready on the weekend - yippee!

I went to check on the progress of some other strawberries in our pot today only to discover that we have a garden thief - one half eaten green fruit lay on the paving stones and bare stalks indicate that the couple of berries that were close to ripe yesterday have been stolen. Slug? Squirrel? Cat? Racoon? Small boy? All are possibilities...I will have to monitor.

As a side note, we had roasted yam pierogi for supper tonight. They are so tender they fell apart in the bowl but they were pretty good served with carmelized onions and sour cream.

So what is ready in your garden? What are you waiting for from the market?

more bread!

So while I was feeling somewhat chuffed about recent successes with bread making, I came across this lovely post on Friday. And by Saturday morning I was itching to try it. I had a jar of lemon curd sitting in my fridge calling me to bake it into a lovely bread braid. But alas, I had no flour. So I took myself into the garden

and lugged soil around to make my arms and back ache. I was really just trying to get my assortment of containers filled up and ready for planting.

 But after some gardening and preschool soccer and a trip to the garden center and the grocery store (yes - I remembered to buy flour) I was too tired to bake bread. But yesterday I gave it a go.

The dough is easy to make and mine did take a while longer to rise than the suggested 60-90 minutes for the first rise. I did have the back door open so it may have been a tad drafty but the sunshine was so lovely. I decided to divide the dough into two as the loaf seemed to be quite large and I thought it would be better to be tea bread sized somewhat like a local bakery chain makes. The braid technique is easy but do remember to place the dough on the parchment paper prior to filling and braiding to avoid hassles with transfering to a baking sheet. One loaf I made with the dough wider than longer and one I made longer than wider. Here they are filled and braided before rising.

Here are the pictures of the baked breads. Wider braid -

A bread of beauty! and the skinnier braid -

This reminds me of our cat, waiting to have her tummy rubbed! So skinnier isn't better, at least when it comes to bread. But delicious! Not too sweet, delicious, lemony bread. Perfect for breakfast or tea or brunch...(or maybe a post posting snack...). Try it!

And speaking of bread - here is tonight's version of oatmeal spelt bread. Sandwich or toast anyone?

spring...

Yesterday was a home day - baking in the morning - a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins (Nigella Express),

some chocolate chip cookies and a batch of breadmaker hot cross buns (Delia Smith online). Then T and I spent some time in the garden (T was digging up gravel for me) - I replanted my rosemary into a lovely terracotta pot that was my anniversary present from D last fall and then I filled the old rosemary pot with bulbs.

After lunch, I went grocery shopping, dropping D and T off on a local walking trail on the way and they raced me home. They won! T picked a bunch of flowers along the way to give to me and his Aunties and all his girlfriends, their mums and his teachers!

More work in the garden in the afternoon, moving things around and adding soil supplements, etc. Here are our garden boots by the door.

Then supper of warm lentil, mushroom and goat cheese salad, sausages and carrots.

at home (sort of)

Last night I finished making perogies with my new perogi "zipper" bought during my quick trip to Winnipeg. The dough is easy:

4 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 c warm water

Form into a dough ball and let stand, covered, for an hour.

Roll out into strips about 1/8" thick.

Make a filling - mine was mashed potato, browned onion, a couple of sausages ground up and some grated cheddar cheese.

Place a tsp of filling on the dough at ~ 2" intervals and fold over the dough to form the perogi, press the dough together pressing out air pockets. Using the perogi "zipper" cut and seal the perogi.

I used my pasta machine up to setting 4 to form the dough strips - I went up to setting 5 for the first ones but the dough was a bit too thin. Actually the perogi started to remind me of condoms so I had a fit of giggles for a while. It took me back to the days when I worked in a lab and the company acquired the license to sell a well-known brand of condoms and we used to sit around and think up testing devises for them. In the end we didn't end up doing the testing and had to be content with the regular pills and suppositories that were our lot. But I digress. I now have a few big bags of perogi in the freezer waiting to be dinner some night. Her's a picture of some of the perogi and the perogi "zipper".

A lazy morning this morning and I actually got to sleep in a bit - a rarity with a 3 1/2 year old boy but he was content to play quietly and watch "his" TV this morning and let mummy sleep. We got up and spent some time in the garden - T riding his tricycle and playing in the sand box and me thinning out green onions. It was thrilling to see the tiny green onions, smelling all oniony - I cut off the root ends and they'll be like a chive topping for green beans with feta and vinagrette for supper tonight. It was lovely in the garden, sunny, quiet with big, furry bees humming in the lavender flowers and a couple of butterflies flitting around. T tried to catch them.

I picked a few cherries that hung on our side of the fence, from our neighbours tree. Yum! T helped with the watering and I set up the sprinkler for him to run in. (Well I was prompted by T taking off all his clothes and announcing he wanted his pool set up).

I picked a few of our blooming roses, they smell divine!

Here are some more pictures of the garden - tomatoes and zuccini. T and I watered and then all the unstaked tomatoes promptly fell over so I ran around trying to find sometime to stake them with. And good news, the basil I thought was finished is reviving slowly.






Then T and I rushed off to attend a birthday party. There were 2 birthday parties at the Gator Pit so it was very loud with kids running everywhere. Eventually T settled down and played trains on the train set - although that was fraught with pushing, not sharing and tantrums. The kids had lunch - T didn't eat any hot dog but did eat grapes, cucumber, watermelon, apple and chips. Then came the birthday cake which T had been asking about all day - it turned out to be an ice cream cake so he tucked right in. Then he joined the other kids in climbing and sliding around the play structures until I dragged him out and we came home. I'm exhausted. He's playing with his balloon and new truck.

milestones, etc

Tuesday was a banner day at our house. It started innocently enough, a request by T to wear underpants instead of a pullup. When I picked him up at daycare, Sherri reported that he had stayed dry all day! (Thanks Sherri!!) So I made up a reward chart for Isabella (the truck). One week in underpants and T wins Isabella. Only a couple of accidents so far and T is trying so hard. Our little trooper is determined to get Isabella (finally!). Gummy hippos helped out over the past couple of days as well - when the lure of Isabella weakens, gummy hippos can help motivate a trip to the bathroom. Ok - so maybe I'm a bit obsessed with this.

The garden is growing. Tomatoes have appeared on all of our plants and so far T has only picked one. It's killing him to wait for them to be the colour on the labels. But he's a keen helper, loves to help with the watering, especially now that he has his elephant watering can (thanks L!) and worries about the plants overgrowing the path in the main garden as he doesn't want to step on any of the plants. I have one demise so far - a basil plant looks beyond redemption. Most of the others are doing well, time to make pesto this weekend.

Elephants are a theme this week. Yesterday I dug out our picnic basket to fancy up a backyard picnic, and discovered an elephant ornament swing that T is now fascinated with.

I have it out on the kitchen counter and he sits and pushes the pendulum so the elephant swings wildly back and forth. The timing is funny - one half of the couple who gave it to us as a wedding gift recently passed away. Rest in peace Doug K.

It's a wierd week, with the holiday in the middle of the week (Happy Canada Day!) - T had fun with his uncle yesterday. It involved lots of water, an inflatable caterpillar and a wheelbarrow as well and as usual with Uncle M and T - lots of trucks. T was a very tired boy last night.

shoes and dirt

Summer seems to have arrived during the time we were away. I dragged the remnants of my summer wardrobe from the bottom of the storage chest they hide in off season and took stock of T's summer wardrobe as well. Several additions needed to be made to both so off shopping I went on my day off. I hoped to find a pair of sandals that would fit T and that he would wear. I ended up buying a pair with a small construction vehicle on them (earth mover/ bull dozer) that also light up. He loves them. He had to wear them to bed the other night. I tried to remove them once he was asleep but no dice. I did not have similar success with the new sun hat - it is too hot apparently so today T and I had to swap hats...he wore my big straw hat and I wore his turtle/lizard/frog hat.



I've been doing more gardening this weekend. The peas sown are coming up, as are the potatoes and the radishes. I added basil plants to the tomato containers and planted a herb container as well (oregano, sage, thyme and a different type of basil). I added some zuccini and cauliflower to the vegetable plot as an experiment. I also planted some sweet peas along the fence - hopefully we get lots of flowers and the leaves will help hide the fence! The clematis D (and T) gave me is blooming well and spreading nicely.



I hope we get some success with the vegetables - I'm afraid the location of the plot is not the best and contemplated yesterday the idea of creating raised beds in the sunny part of the patio. It would be a lot of work and I need to convince D that it would be a good idea.