I cooked all week-end.

It's been months since I cooked anything.  I hate cooking and when I'm feeling down the last thing I want to do is cook. However I haven't been eating very well since I'm not cooking, so I bit the bullet so to speak and cooked all week-end.

I made an Irish stew with beef for Terry and Zoey.  They both loved it. Zoey liked it so much, she even drank all the remaining sauce that she didn't get with her crusty bread.

For myself I made chickpea and tomato curry, a coconut vegetable curry and ratatouille. I also made edamame bean noodles to go with the vegetable curry and the ratatouille.  I made a tabouleh for lunch all week and I also made a spinach lasagne. [not pictured]

Chick pea and tomato curry

Irish stew made with Beef

Coconut vegetable curry

Ratatouille

Quinoa Tabouleh

My only accomplishment

I made potato and chickpea curry today while I stayed home and felt miserable.  The only cutting was for the potatoes and onions. This is really easy dish to make when not feeling well. Put tons of cayenne in it too so my stomach handles all the stupid muscle relaxants I've been taking for my back.

Tired this morning

I was awake till 2:30 trying to get zen with my sleep.  Before that I was cooking. I managed to make ratatouille and rosemary chicken last night, along with some rice, since I'm having ratatouille for lunch today and tomorrow.

I managed to get kitchen reasonably back clean once I was done since today is cleaning lady day, and I don't want to hunt for my stuff.

I was chatting with my buddy in Ireland when I got home, then chatted with a friend on and off, took a Skype video call from a friend in Ottawa and also talked to my not quite ex husband. It's rare that I spend the entire evening chatting. Was more sociable then usual but it helped me get through cooking.

What I would do without my little Galaxy S4 mini...

Also ran out around 8pm to stop at the bank drive through and pick up a few items I could not cook without. On the way back I came on my street from Pierrefonds blvd, and it's parallel to it for a while. My street rarely gets snow removal so it still had about an inch of snow. I drove the whole length around 35km/hour slaloming while listening to Riders on the Storm. Epic :) 

I'm so duh this morning, but I'm psyched. 2 more days and then vacation till January 5th.

Weird. I just threw up. I have a feeling it's the B complex, sometimes it sits funny on an empty stomach.  It can't be anything else, cause as soon as I was done, the heavy nausea from being starving hit me and I just downed my bowl of cereal and I feel fine, now.

For some reason it reminds me of something that I talked about last night with one friend about the chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times"

Well then it's being interesting!!! 

Ground Moose Hobo Stew

Moose Hobo Stew

I had 1lb left of the Moose meat and decided to make hobo stew. I used ground moose, garlic, onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas and corn.  First I stir fried the onion, garlic and celery in coconut oil, to which I added the ground moose, and continued stirring until the meat was browned. Then added the rest of the veggies, stir fried a few minutes more. I added about 2 cups worth Oasis vegetable juice. brought it to a boil and let the stew simmer until the potatoes and carrots were tender. For seasoning I added salt, ground black pepper, sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, cayenne, as well as 2 tablespoons of  chili garlic cock sauce.

It was delicious. I specifically made it so it's a meal with lots of veggies and a little meat.

Great-granny Clara's French Quebecois Meatball and Pigs Feet Ragout

I was asked to post my Pig feet stew recipe. It's one of the few recipes that was passed down to me that I have mastered. Go to this entry for photos.   I associate this recipe with Christmas dinner at my grandparents. This is a very traditional meal.  I love the smell of  the stew cooking.

Great-granny Clara's French Quebecois Meatball and Pigs Feet Ragout
[Ragout de pattes de cochon avec boulettes, selon la recette de mon arriere grand-mere,Clara]

Preparing the Pigs Feet

- 4 or 5 pieces of pig's feet, the large part of the hock should be about 4-5" (roughly 3-4 lbs)
- cold water, 10 cups.
- salt/pepper to taste
- 4 large onions minced finely
- 1 garlic clove minced finely
- 1 teaspoon of sage

Cook at low heat until the all the meat detaches itself from the bone.
Throw out everything but the meat and the broth. You should have about 8 cups of broth left. Refrigerate.
Once it's gotten cold, you can scoop off excess fat for those of you who like to keep their meals as low-fat as possible.

Preparing the Meatballs

- 2 1/2-3lbs lean ground pork (will make 40-50 balls)
- 4 large onions minced finely
- 2 slices of bread, finely crumbed
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- salt/pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon of savoury
- 1/2 teaspoon of marjoram

Mix everything together and use flour to roll your meatballs. Fry the meatballs in a pan until they are well browned on all sides.

For the sauce, you need to brown some flour. According to Clara use 3 tablespoons of flour to one cup of broth. At low heat brown your flour until it's a uniform color and not burnt.
Mix the flour into the heated broth and stir until the texture is uniform. Add the meat balls into the broth. Add salt and pepper.

Take 1 cinnamon stick and 10 cloves, put in a fabric scrap and tie together with string that will be attached to the pot handle and let the herb bag soak in the mixture.

Cook at low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. By then the sauce should be rich and thick.
Remove and discard the spice bag before serving. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

Sugar-free/gluten free peanut butter carob chip cookies

Today I went looking for my favourite cookie recipes and am experimenting to make them gluten free and acceptable for my diet. This is what I came up with. The texture, and consistency was good. The taste was good. If you expect sweet cookies, these are not, but I found them delicious. 

Peanut butter Carob chip cookies

1/2 coconut oil
1/2 apple sauce
1 banana
1 egg
1/2 peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened carob chips

Heat oven to 350F
Mix together apple sauce, banana, coconut oil and peanut butter.  Then add egg, salt and baking soda, and keep mixing. Then slowly add the flour to the batter. Add vanilla and mix really well.

Make balls with batter or drop batter with a teaspoon onto a well greased cookie sheet. Flatten the balls with a fork.  Put in oven 10-13 minutes. 

Gluten-free, sugar free peanut butter-carob chip cookies

I cooked today

This morning I made chili Shrimp. Ate most of it for lunch. Just a little bit left for supper Monday night.

After which I baked a gluten-free bean bean, seasoned with cinnamon and allspice, with bits of figs. It came out dark like it was chocolate cake. So you think you will be tasting chocolate, but you're not. Otherwise the bread is good. Next time I will use a 28ounce can of beans instead of 19ounce. SHould make for a bigger bread

Gluten free bean bread

I also converted my favourite peanut butter cookie recipe to make it gluten free, I blogged recipe here

Last but not least I made quinoa tabouleh for lunches this week.

gluten free tabouleh with feta

Protein Power Goddess Bowl

This is a recipe I found in  "The Oh she Glows cookbook" by Angela Liddon

She says this recipe is inspired from a Vegetarian restaurant called "The Coup" in Calgary, Alberta.

Protein Power Goddess Bowl

For the Lemon-Tahini Goddess Dressing

1/4 of Tahini
1 large garlic clove
1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice [about 2 lemons]
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
2 -3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

For the Lentil Mixture

1 cup of uncooked green lentils or a mix of green and black lentils
1 cup of quinoa
1 1/2 tsp of Olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
3 cups of spinach or lacinato Kale roughly chopped
1/2 fresh parsley leaves

Serves 4-6
prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes

1) make the Lemon Tahini Goddess dressing: In a food processor, combine tahini, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olice oil, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper to taste and process until smooth. Set aside until ready to use

2)  Cook lentils [ Put in 3 litres of water and cook about 30 minutes] Set aside

3) Cook quinoa [Put in 1 1/4 cups of water and cook about 20 minutes] Set aside

4) In a large skillet, heat the olice oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent.

5) Add the bell pepper and tomato and saute for 7-8 minutes more, until most of the liquid has cooked off.

6) Stir in Spinach and saute for a few more minutes, until the greens wilt

7) Stir in all the Lemon-Tahini Goddess dressing,the cooked lentils, and the quinoa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for a few minutes more. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the minced parsley

8) Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Protein Power Goddess Bowl

I cooked and baked this week-end

Other then picking up a canoe in Lanoraie yesterday, I also made 2 dishes.  One is called protein power Goddess bowl, and the other was a middle-eastern inspired beet salad. Both gluten free of course.

Beet salad

I made the protein power Goddess bowl yesterday as opposed to today because the friend that drove with me to pick up the canoe, was going to need lunch before driving.  We both loved the dish and it was quite filling. I had some today for lunch.  I will be posting the recipe sometime this  week.

Protein power Goddess bowl

I also cooked up some gluten free gnocci I picked up at Adonis. Very yummy. This might be good to bring camping/canoe camping, especially if I can manage dehydrated sauce.

Today I started by making chickpea salad. With pomegranate, and onions that sweated.

Chickpea salad

Next I made gluten free banana bread. Today I replaced the corn flour by sorgho or sorghum flour. I also added as extra ingredients: lemon zest, grated unsweetened coconut, raisins, diced black mission figs, and crumbled walnuts.  I also used a container of unsweetened applesauce in lieu of any sugar.Sadly I didn't have plain applesauce, so this one is strawberry-kiwi.   All I can say is that it is delicious. Very addictive.  I want to eat it all in one sitting.  This seems to be a problem with a lot of my cooking.

Gluten Free banana bread

After stuffing my face on banana bread, which is just out of this world I made a vegetable chili. Which I will put on a bed of some form of gluten free noodles.

Vegetable chili

Later I made a curried lentil stew.

Curried lentil stew

Lastly I made a potato & chickpea curry, mostly because I had a cauliflower that really needed to be used like today. And I know I won't cook for days after this blitz.

potato & chickpea curry

 My freezer once I was done:

Freezer filled with food

Eggplant & Chickpea Curry

This recipe comes from a blog called "Two blue lemons" that I printed years ago.

Eggplant Chickpea Curry

Ingredients
Olive Oil
1 large yellow onion  diced
1 inch fresh ginger root, grated or minced
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
1 tsp whole corriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspon hot madras curry powder
red pepper flakes, cayenne, or jalapenos to taste
1 large eggplant, diced
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can [14 oz] diced tomatoes
3 gloves garlic minced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp salt
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped.

Preperation:

1 - In a large bottom heavy skillet, saute the onions, ginger, garlic and carrots in olive oil until the onions are transluscent and the carrots are soft

2 -  Add the spices {coriander seeds through red pepper flakes) and saute for a few more minutes so the spices can toast and release their flavour.

3 - Add the eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes and garlic

4 - Cover and simmer on medium-low for about 20-30 minutes or until the eggplant is barely recognizable and everything has become a thick dark curry.

5 - Add the peas and cilantro, season with salt, and continue to cook for a few minutes just until the peas are hot.

Coconut vegetable curry

This recipe I found in "The complete book of Vegetarian cooking" ISBN 0-7525-2060--1

Coconut vegetable curry

Ingredients:

I large eggplant cut into 1inch cubes
2 tbsp of salt
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh green chili deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger root
i onion, chopped finely
2 tsp of garam masala
8 cardamom pods
1 tsp ground tumeric
t tbsp of tomato paste
3 cups of fresh vegetable stock
1 tbsp of lemon juice
8 oz   potatoes, diced
8 oz okra, trimmed
8 oz frozen peas
2/3 cups of coconut milk
salt & pepper
flaked coconut to garnish
Naan bread to serve


1- Layer eggplant in a bowl, sprinkling with salt as you go. Set aside for 30 minutes

2 - Rinse well under water to remove all the salt. Drain and pat dry with paper towels, set aside

3 - Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the garlic, chili, ginger, onion, and spices for 4-5 minutes until browned

4 - Stir in the tomato paste, stock, lemon juice, potatoes, and cauliflower, and mix well. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes

5 - Stir in the eggplant, okra, peas and coconut milk. Adjust the seasoning. Return to a boil, and continue to simmer uncovered, for a further 10 minutes until tender. Discard the cardamom pods. 

6 - Pile onto a warm serving platter, garnish with flaked coconut and serve with Naan Bread.

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I ended making a few modifications. First   I didn't use tomato paste, instead I used a bottle of tomato coulis. Also used it to replace some of the vegetable stock. As well I put 1 can of coconut milk.  I substituted the Okra for zucchini. For oil I used coconut oil. I did put 1-2 tbsp of "cock sauce" or Huy Fong Chili garlic sauce.

Once it was cooked, I put it on a bed of bean vermicelli. I put 1/3 noodles, 2/3 Coconut curry.

Gluten free Banana Bread

I made gluten free banana bread, from a recipe I found, sadly the source field was left blank.You can see a photo from previous blog here

ingredients /directions

combine:
1 cup of born rice flour
1 cup of corn flour [not cornmeal] or brown rice flour
2 tbsp of tapioca starch or corn starch
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of baking sode
1 tsp of gluten=free baking powder

combine seperately:
3 medium-large very ripe banana mashed
2 eggs
1/3 c honey, maple syrup or agave nectar [ or 1/2 cup of sucanat or brown sugar]
2 tsp vanilla
* 1/4 - 1 tsp of freshly grated lemon or orange zest

*Optional - fold in one or all:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup - 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces or chips or carob chips
1/2 cup chopped dates, apricots, figs or or other dried fruit

Mix wet and dry ingredients until just incorporated. If adding nuts/chocolate/carob/fruits, fold it into batter. Pour into a generously greased and dusted loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for about 55 minutes.

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For those who sampled my banana bread, I used only 1/4 cup of agave syrup, some orange zest,  I added walnuts,  and chopped figs.  I used a mixture of rice and corn flour. But I might experiment with other flours. I also want to try with dried mango pieces as well as with carob chips.

Sure smells good

My own version of chop suey, stir fried bean sprouts with brown rice noodles

Gluten free Banana bread

This weekend I made a quinoa tabbouleh, a coconut eggplant vegetable curry, some Ethiopian stew, a bean sprout stir fry and some banana bread.

I cooked this weekend

Didn't feel I had much choice. After spending 4 days eating restaurant food, I needed real home made food.

I made some Millet and potato patties on Friday, that turned out really good. Looked more like cookies then patties but so good, ate them all during the day Saturday.

On Sunday  I made some eggplant & chickpea curry

Used coconut oil instead of olive oil, put some cock sauce instead of the red pepper flakes, and two small red onions instead of one large yellow onion.

I cooked a gluten free shell pasta left over to make 3 frozen meals, and cooked some gluten free brown rice fettuccine and made 3 more containers with that for my freezer.

Also made some 7-bean salad and some quinoa tabbouleh for the week.

Gluten free bagels, 2nd try

Vegetarian Moussaka

This was a dish I'd never had the patience or the balls to make. Today I decided I was going to make Moussaka and it turned out delicious.

Vegetarian Moussaka

I followed this recipe with a few substitutions.  I swapped the Parmesan for Kashkaval cheese, I used almond milk instead of dairy milk, I used coconut oil instead of butter and I used bobs gluten free flour instead of white wheat flour. Also I used 2 Lebanese cucumbers instead of the zucchini.

Potato Salad

Made potato salad tonight, with potatoes that had big big eyes. 

HI! HI! HI! HI! HI!, I can see you with all my eyes!!!!!

I dunno if I should call it potato salad, it also had grated radishes and carrots. It had tiny cut pieces of celery,  red pepper and orange pepper. It had half a cup of chopped parsley and a bit of chopped cilantro. It had an entire red onion in tiny little pieces.  It was seasoned with ground dried garlic and onions and black pepper and lots of mayonaise.

Potato Salad

Chickpea Casserole Recipe

By demand for my eldest daughter, here is my : 

Chickpea casserole recipe 

1 tbsp of vegetable oil or water
1/2 - 1 cup of chopped onions
2 garlic cloves finely chopped or minced
1 bay leaf
1 cup cooked brown or white rice
1 cup canned cream style corn
1  x 19 ounce cup of chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 tbsp of curry
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 cup of water

Preheat oven to 375F

• lightly oil 1 1/2 quart baking dish
• heat oil or water in a large frying pan on medium heat
• cook onions garlic and bay leaf until onions are tender (5 minutes)
• remove pan from heat, discard bay leaf
• add remaining ingredients and mix well
• Throw into baking dish
• Bake covered with aluminum for 30 minutes or until sauce bubbles.

Gluten free fruit square - another variation

The first variation I did of the fruit nut squares was using just one bag of  of the president's choice  frozen mixed fruit blends.  The 4-fruit blend that contains peaches, strawberries, pineapple and mango.  It was what inspired me to mix berries and mangoes to make the  "Hawaiian punch" version. The recipe is here.  Just substitute the 3 half bags of frozen fruit & berries for this one bag shown on the left.

I get bored so I'm going to keep experimenting with various mixes. I tend to buy frozen fruit when there are sales. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a bag of frozen strawberries then fresh ones!  And for baking it does not matter if it has been frozen.

Also learning to toss in my freezer any ripe banana no one will eat because it's too ripe.   They are perfect for cooking.

Pan-fried Haloumi is good

Pan-fried Haloumi served with onions and peppers

But if you like heat, try slathering  frank's hot sauce on top of the cheese, while the other side is cooking. When you turn it over, you turn over cheese covered in hot sauce.   It grills nicely and develops a really nice tang.  Most people say to dip the cheese in flour but I like it just pan fried in coconut oil.

I used a Haloumi that is a mix of cow, sheep and goats milk and is a product of Cyprus.  I  prefer it to the Haloum cheese that I can also find at Mourelatos but is more  salty and is made only of cow's milk.