Found online and Tested: Coffee Ice Cream Terrine

dessert

I came across this recipe on the BBC Good Food website a while back, and midway through the third—or maybe the fourth—heat wave of the summer, decided it was a good time to try it.

I’m no Martha Stewart, so my layers didn’t come out even, but it still looked pretty good and tasted even better. Also, I used all the chocolate between the layers of ice cream rather than drizzling some over the top, once decanted, and didn’t bother with the crushed Maltesers (those are probably easier to find in England).

It was easy to do and I’ll probably make it again. Next time, I might try chocolate ice cream rather than coffee, as the only coffee-flavoured ice cream I could find was Haagen-Dazs which isn’t exactly cheap. The tiny tub of coffee ice cream was more expensive than the two-litre tub of vanilla. I’d also let the ice cream soften a bit more before spooning into the loaf pan for smoother layers.

The hardest part? Waiting for it to freeze so I could sample it.

Makes around 10 servings.

Strawberry Snow Pudding

dessert, pudding

My mother-in-law used to make a dessert called lemon snow which involved unflavoured gelatin, lemons, sugar, egg whites and lots of elbow grease. My husband loves it, so I tried to make it. Once. While it came out edible, it did not come out right. So when I saw this recipe in Royal Fruit Gelatin Suggestions, published in 1926 by the Royal Baking Powder Company, I thought it looked much easier and I’d give it a try.

It is much easier, and chances are you have the ingredients in your house already. Apparently Royal Gelatin still exists, though I’ve never seen it. I’ve made this twice, once with grape Jell-o jelly powder, once with cherry store-brand generic. Both worked fine. The original recipe called for sugar but I took that out as packaged jelly powder these days generally comes with it already added.

• 1 package strawberry-flavoured jelly powder
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup cold water
• 2 egg whites

Dissolve Royal Strawberry Gelatin and sugar in boiling water. Add cold water and chill until mixture begins to thicken. When almost set, whip with egg beater (Hah! Haven’t owned one of those useless implements for years. I used a hand whisk instead). When light and frothy, add egg whites beaten stiff. Continue to beat until mixture holds shape. Pile into sherbet glasses or place in moulds and chill. Serve with custard sauce. Serves 8.

My MIL’s recipe was also served with custard sauce. I suspect it’s because it uses up the two egg yolks rather than any special affinity for gelatin and custard. Whipped cream would be way better. I didn’t bother making the custard sauce but will probably turn the egg yolks into custard later for a separate dessert.

granola

breakfast, cereal

With the price of everything, including breakfast cereal, sky high these days, I decided to pull out my old recipe for homemade granola. Making your own is easy, cheaper than store-bought, and you know what’s in it. Don’t like raisins? Allergic to nuts? No problem. Use your own add-ins. I like dark chocolate curls and banana chips.

• 6 cups quick-cook oats
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 ounces vegetable oil (coconut gives a nice flavour if you happen to have any on hand)
• 2/3 cup water
• Add-ins (optional) such as raisins, almonds, dried pineapple…

Combine oatmeal, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in vegetable oil and water. Spread thinly on one or two cookie sheets (the ones with sides, not the flat ones) and dry in a 225⁰F oven for two hours. Stir in desired add-ins.

Coconut Sour Cream Drop Cookies

cookies, dessert

Here’s another variant on the Sour Cream Drop Cookie recipe from the Betty Crocker Picture Cooky Book. I actually made it several weeks ago, but life got in the way of my posting it.

Just for fun, I made it with banana yogurt rather than sour cream, thinking banana would go well with coconut. However, you could only taste the banana if you already knew it was there. Not a wasted experiment, though, as I now know yogurt can be substituted for sour cream, if that’s what you’ve got in the house.

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream* (half a 500 ml tub)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Stir in coconut.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into shortening mixture. Chill at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 425⁰F. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until delicately brown.

Makes about 5 dozen.

burnt butter icing

icing

Here’s the icing from the Betty Crocker Picture Cooky Book to go with the Butterscotch Drop Cookies in the post below this. It only makes enough to cover 30 so you’ll need to do a double batch if you want to ice all of them.

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• hot water

Melt butter until golden brown. Blend in icing sugar and vanilla. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons hot water until icing spreads smoothly.

Note: Since the cookies are rather craggy, there is no way the icing is going to spread smoothly. Get it to a good modelling consistency and, once cool enough to handle, take a small quantity and smoosh it over the top of each cookie.

I haven’t tried this on anything else yet, but am thinking it would be good on cake or thinned down to a glaze for doughnuts.

Butterscotch Drop Cookies

cookies, dessert

Here’s the first variant on the Sour Cream Drop Cookie recipe from my last post. They tell you to just substitute brown sugar for white and add nuts, but rather than make you go back and look, I’ve typed it out below.

I’ve been on a quest for a cookie that actually tastes like butterscotch for years, only to be disappointed every time. Even using butterscotch pudding mix or butter pecan cake mix didn’t work. So I didn’t think a simple swap of brown sugar for white would magically produce butterscotch. It didn’t, though it’s a good cookie, but the icing (see recipe above)! That does taste like butterscotch. I may have to try using brown butter in some of my cookie recipes to see if that’s the answer I’ve been looking for.

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream (half a 500 ml tub)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans zapped in my coffee grinder until coarse)

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Stir in sour cream and vanilla.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into shortening mixture. Stir in nuts. Chill at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 425⁰F. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until delicately brown.

Cool. Ice with burnt butter icing (immediately above this post).

Makes about 5 dozen.

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Drop Cookies

cookies, dessert

Sometime before Christmas, I came across the Betty Crocker Picture Cooky Book on Project Gutenberg. There were lots of interesting recipes in it, but my Christmas baking list was finalized, so I had to wait until everything had been baked AND eaten before trying something new.

This particular recipe is a “key” recipe, a basic recipe followed by several variations. While it was easy to work with and the cookies came out light and puffy, they were rather plain. I was a bit disappointed, as the combination of sour cream and vanilla in the dough made it smell like cheesecake, but the aroma didn’t survive the oven. However, they’d be easy enough to spice up, either with one of the given variations or your own add-ins. In fact, I’ve already tried variation two and it was delicious.

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream* (half a 500 ml tub)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Stir in sour cream and vanilla.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into shortening mixture. Chill at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 425⁰F. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until delicately brown.

Makes about 5 dozen.

*The recipe called for “thick” sour cream but the 5% I used worked just fine.

Piggy Fries

main dish, snack

The last time we were in the Fort Myer’s area, we ate more than once at Wahoo Willie’s Tiki Bar and Grill in Fort Myer’s Beach. One of the things I enjoyed on their menu was their Loaded Fries, a plate of fries covered with barbequed pork, barbeque sauce, shredded cheese and green onions. Basically a Southern version of poutine. It was delicious, but Fort Myer’s is a long way to go to satisfy a craving, so I came up with my own homemade version. It can be served as a meal, or as a group appetizer.

While I’m giving quantities below, you can adjust proportions and add or subtract ingredients to suit yourself.

• 650 grams straight-cut fries*
• 255 grams barbequed pulled pork+
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• barbeque sauce

Grate the cheese. Cook the fries according to the package directions. While they are cooking, heat up and shred the pulled pork.

Once the fries are cooked, either place them on a large platter (if you cook them on a large pizza pan, you can use that) or on 2 individual microwavable or ovenproof plates. Drizzle with barbeque sauce. Cover with pulled pork and drizzle with more barbeque sauce. Top with shredded cheese. Pop into the microwave or oven for a few seconds to melt the cheese.

Serves 2

* I used McCain Superfries Extra Crispy Straight Cut because I thought they’d be less likely to get soggy, but given the price (almost $7) for what was only two servings (I used the whole bag), I’d probably go with the store brand next time.

+I used Baton Rouge Fully Cooked BBQ Pulled Pork which came with its own barbeque sauce. I probably would use that again as the quantity was right and it was tasty.

Pineapple Date Bars

dessert, squares

Another old recipe for you. I found this in Season’s Best Dishes by Mary Lee Taylor. Seems to have been one of those recipe books compiled to push a particular product, in this case Pet milk. Never heard of it? Neither had I, but it seems to have been similar to Carnation.

I was expecting a hard bar from this, but it came out more like a thin, fruit- and nut-studded sponge cake. I doubled the recipe because I don’t own an 8 x 12 inch shallow pan. By doubling, I was able to use an 11 x 17 cookie sheet. I also substituted regular milk for the evaporated as it didn’t seem worth opening a tin for such a small quantity. And I didn’t put in the nuts, as I had none on hand. It still came out.

• 1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 ½ cups chopped and pitted dates
• 2 cups chopped nuts
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease an 11- x 17-inch cookie sheet.

Mix, then let stand, pineapple, dates and nuts.

Sift together flour and baking powder.

In large bowl, beat egg yolks until very light. Gradually beat in sugar. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add flour, mixing until smooth.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold in fruit mixture and egg whites to contents of large bowl.

Spread into greased cookie sheet. Bake until firm, about 35 minutes.

When cool, cut in 1- x 4-inch bars.

I haven’t tried it, but if you wanted a thicker cake, you could bake it in a 9 x 13 pan. Baking time would have to be adjusted upwards.

Calorie-Free Citrus Iced Tea

beverages

This does have to be made ahead so the tea has time to cool down before serving, but the prep time is basically however long it takes the kettle to boil. If you’re worried about the use of artificial sweeteners, use one can of frozen orange drink or lemonade instead and as much boiling water as it takes to fill the pitcher. Of course, there will be calories with that variant.

• 4 tea bags (I’ve only tried it with orange pekoe but mint could be interesting)
• 8 cups boiling water
• 4 squirts lemonade-flavoured liquid water enhancer
• 2 squirts orange-flavoured liquid water enhancer

Place tea bags in bottom of 2-quart pitcher. Fill up with boiling water. Let sit 10 minutes, then remove tea bags (a slotted serving spoon works well for this). I usually let it cool down on the counter before putting it in the fridge. Serve cold over ice.

Lazy Woman’s Maple Sugar Pie

dessert, pastry

While I was binge-watching the Old Cookbook Show a few weeks back, I came across the episode where they were making maple sugar pie from the 1915 edition of the Toronto Queen City of Canada Cookbook. That sounded like something I’d want to try, if I could get my hands on some maple sugar. And a couple of days later, there it was, on the shelf at my local grocery store.

So why am I blogging about it here when it’s already available online elsewhere? Because I did make a few changes in the technique and the ingredients. And also because it came out really, really tasty.

• 2 cups milk (I used one cup of 10% cream and one cup of water instead, figuring 1915 milk probably had a higher fat content than the 1% in my fridge)
• 1 cup maple sugar
• 2 rounded teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 eggs (I only used the egg yolks)
• ¼ cup icing sugar (didn’t use since I wasn’t making meringue)
• paste-lined plate (1 9-inch graham cracker crust)
• (whipping cream for topping to replace meringue)

Original Instructions

Heat one and one-half cups of milk in a double boiler and add one cup of maple sugar broken fine or grated.

Bring to the boiling point, add two rounding teaspoons cornstarch mixed, with one-half cup milk and cook 8 minutes.

Pour a little over the yolks of 2 eggs and stir and return to boiler and cook until smooth.

Pour into a paste-lined plate and bake.

Cover with meringue made of the whites of two eggs beaten stiff with one-quarter cup powdered sugar and brown.

My Instructions

Like so many of these old recipes, no directions are given about oven temperature, such as slow oven, hot oven, or how long to cook. I looked at other custard pie recipes to figure that out.

I started out following the recipe, but it was taking forever for the cream/maple sugar mixture to reach boiling point in my makeshift double boiler (a glass bowl over a saucepan). I got impatient and I said to myself, “This is just a custard, and I know you can make custard in the microwave.” So here’s my version of making the filling.

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In a small bowl, combine the maple sugar and the cornstarch. Stir in the two egg yolks. Add enough of the water/cream mixture to make a thin paste.

In a large microwavable container (a large glass measuring cup is perfect for this), heat the rest of the water/cream mixture until it boils. Whisk in the paste. Continuing microwaving in 30-second bursts and whisking until the mixture thickens.

Pour into pie crust. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

At this point, if you’re following the original recipe, you’ll want to make the meringue. I opted to serve my cooled pie with whipped cream instead, and I think it was a better choice. It was certainly easier.

Adventures in Cookieing, Part Three: Icing Consistency

cookies, icing

Now that you’re happy with your cookie rolling and cutting skills, it’s time to move on to the next step, applying the base coat. While you can paint or stencil directly onto a plain cookie (I’ve tried it), the colours show up much better against bright white, which means some variant of royal icing. This should not be applied on cookies fresh from the oven as it will just run everywhere. Give the cookies time to not only cool but dry out a bit.

There are plenty of icing recipes out there, and it’s even possible to buy mixes that just require the addition of water, but for household consumption you can easily make your own, no expensive stand mixer required.

Cookie Icing

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder (my grocery store carries it in the cake mix aisle)
• food colouring (if you want a base other than white)
• flavouring (optional) (if not clear, will affect your icing colour)
• water

In a small bowl, stir together the icing sugar and meringue powder. Add colouring and flavouring (1/4 teaspoon of vanilla or almond is nice) if desired. Then add water a few drops at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

That’s the tricky bit. You want icing that’s thick enough to stand on its own (it will be forming a dam) and thin enough to be piped. There are lots of videos online and everyone seems to have their own idea of what the right consistency is. Most say that the icing needs to be thick enough that a line drawn through it with a knife will stay there for several seconds, but I’ve seen several versions of just how many seconds that is. You’ll need to experiment. And remember, if they don’t come out looking right, you can always eat the evidence. It took me a few batches to get the technique down.

Add more icing sugar if it’s too thin or more water if it’s too thick, but be careful. On my second attempt, the icing came out perfectly for the first cookie but I couldn’t squeeze any more out. So I added a few drops of water directly into the piping bag. My next squeeze sent icing out the top of the bag and all over the counter rather than through the tip. Speaking of which, a small round tip which will allow you to “draw” a straight line is all that’s needed. You can buy disposable piping bags, but I prefer silicone bags, which are fairly easy to clean up and can be reused multiple times.

Pipe a line of icing around the outer edge of the cookie. Let that stand a while to harden and then fill in the interior with more icing (that’s called flooding). You can either use the icing you’ve already got made up as is, or thin it a little bit first. Either way, something pointed, such as a skewer, is useful for pushing icing into the unfilled corners, popping bubbles, or generally smoothing things out. You want enough icing to hide the surface of the cookie and come to the top of the outline (you’re aiming at a flat surface) but not so much that it won’t dry in a reasonable length of time.

Set your iced cookies aside for several hours or overnight and you’re ready to stencil or paint.

paragon pudding

dessert, gluten-free, pudding

I found this one in The Ideal Cookery Book, Third Edition, available on Project Gutenberg, and was intrigued by the fact that it used potatoes to make a dessert. The ingredients weren’t expensive so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. It actually came out pretty well, though it took much longer to make than expected as we had a three-day power outage due to an ice storm in the middle of the process. Looks like a good way to use up leftover mashed potatoes.

• 1 pound peeled and cooked potatoes (measured before cooking)
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• rind and juice of 2 lemons (or 4 tablespoons bottled lemon juice)
• 5 ounces sugar
• 2 eggs
• pinch salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla*

Rub potatoes through a sieve. Add butter, then grated rind, sugar, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.

Spoon into a greased 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

I served this with an amaretto-flavoured hard sauce because I was afraid it would be bland. It actually wasn’t, but the hard sauce did work well with it. You could also use whipped cream to dress it up a bit.

* not called for in the recipe but I put it in anyway

Adventures in Cookieing, Part Two: It’s All About the Dough, continued

cookies

What I needed was a rolled cookie recipe that didn’t contain baking powder or baking soda. So I did what I should have done in the first place—went back to the Cookie Countess website and used their recipe. You can find it here: and, trust me, it’s the best rolled-cookie recipe I’ve ever used. And it doesn’t have to be chilled before rolling.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a stand mixer. It’s not needed unless you’re making industrial quantities. I usually just make half a batch, using a sturdy spoon and elbow grease, and it comes out fine, though I often need to add a tiny bit of milk to get the last of the flour in. I think that’s more to do with today’s butter, though, which seems hard and dry (I can leave it out overnight and it doesn’t get soft) compared to what I’m used to.

The dough handles amazingly well. It rolls easily, and can be made very thin (good for sandwich cookies). It also rerolls well, especially if you add a very small quantity of milk to the scraps first. Cookies do not lose their shape being transferred from the countertop to the pan, nor as they bake. No puffing up or distortion. And while the dough does require butter, there’s nothing in it that you can’t easily find at your local grocery store.

It’s been my experience that most rolled cookies really don’t have much flavour. These ones aren’t bad, with a taste and texture reminiscent of a good store-bought shortbread. And, of course, you’re going to ice them, which could add flavour. There’s also a chocolate version of this available on the Cookie Countess website which rolls just as well. I don’t think it’s chocolatey enough but too much cocoa would probably affect the handling, and not in a good way.

So you might be wondering if you can substitute in margarine, given the high cost of butter these days. I know I did! And I tried the experiment, but the dough didn’t handle nearly as well and was much more fragile. It would be okay if you were making very small cookies but anything larger is likely to tear or warp on being moved to the pan.

Adventures in Cookieing, Part One: It’s All About the Dough

cookies

Back before Christmas, I was amusing myself online looking for new baking recipes for the holidays. Somewhere along the line—I think it was a site selling cookie cutters—I came across a reference to PYO cookies. PYO? What’s that? And down the rabbit hole I went.

Turns out it stands for paint your own cookies, which is apparently a good seller for people calling themselves cookiers (they also turn out completely decorated cookies for things like showers and birthdays). The cookies are covered in white icing, then stenciled with black icing. The result looks like a colouring book page, and is packaged with a brush and a water-activated paint palette. Looked like fun, and the YouTube videos made the whole process look easy. Little did I know.

Full of enthusiasm, I discovered the Cookie Countess website and ordered some brushes, paint palettes, stencils and cookie cutters, including some for putting together a gingerbread house. They had a set of nativity scene stencils to go with that and I had every intention of making and decorating one before Christmas.

Well, you know what they say about good intentions. I pulled out my usual rolled cookie recipe, made a batch of dough, rolled the first part out and cut out the parts for my “gingerbread” house. Into the oven they went.

And out they came, misshapen and anything but flat. Any cookie house I put together from those pieces would resemble a ramshackle hovel. Fine, I thought. I’ll be more careful rolling out the second batch, to make sure I get the dough thin and even. Which I did, but the cookies still came out warped and distorted.

Honeycomb Pudding

dessert, pudding

I found this in The Ideal Cookery Book: A Reliable Guide for Home Cooking, by Lilian Clarke, Third Edition, copyright 1905. The title had me curious, especially since there was no honey in the recipe. Maybe a honeycomb texture, something like a mousse? Nope. An online search did turn up a cooking video for a similar recipe on Glen and Friends Cooking (a great website, by the way) but it came out as a two-part pudding where mine was a solid custard. Not sure if that’s because my recipe didn’t contain lemons or because the instructions were different. Anyway, the results were good and I’d make it again.

Here’s the recipe as written in the cookbook:

• 3 teacups milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 small teacup sugar
• ½ ounce gelatin

Soak gelatine for 1 hour in a teacup of milk, put the remainder of the milk over the fire with the sugar and gelatin till dissolved.

Add beaten yolks of eggs to the milk and stir well until on the verge of boiling.

Have the whites beaten to a stiff froth in a bowl, into which pour the contents of the pan. Stir up quickly and pour into a mould until set.

And here’s my interpretation:

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 pinch cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 packet gelatin
• 1 cup 15% cream*
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• vanilla if liked

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to a stiff froth. Place in medium bowl.

In saucepan, stir together sugar and gelatin. Add milk and cream and continue stirring over low heat until dissolved.

Beat egg yolks and gradually stir into the milk mixture. Turn up the heat and keep stirring until almost boiling.

Pour over egg whites. Whisk together. You could put it in a mould at this point, but I didn’t bother and just left it in the bowl I mixed it in. Cool, then refrigerate.

*or just use 2 ¼ cups milk. I subbed in cream because I have 2% milk in my fridge and I figure the original recipe probably used whole milk.

tips for making cookies faster

cookies

If your household is like mine, you go through a lot of cookies, especially if they’re home-baked. But it can take a long time to shape and bake a few dozen cookies. So here’s a few tips to speed things up.

1. Make squares instead. Most cookie recipes can easily be converted, and you save all the time you would otherwise spend forming them. And since you’re only filling one pan, the baking goes faster, too. A recipe for four dozen cookies can be pressed into a 12 x 17 inch (30 x 45 cm) pan. Three dozen will fit in your standard 9 x 13. You may have to experiment a little to figure out the baking time (which might be longer), but it does save time in the end.

2. I’ve always found shaping one-inch balls out of cookie dough tedious. Yes, you can be working on the second batch while the first is in the oven, but it feels inefficient using a spoon to take out some dough, roughly rounding it, adding more or less dough to make it the right size, then rounding it again. I know there are cookie scoops designed to make this go faster, but my experience has been that the bale always gets stuck and I spend more time trying to get the dough out of the scoop than it would have taken to use the spoon and fingers method. But there is a better way! Once the dough has come together, divide it into equal portions—four if the recipe makes four dozen, six if it makes six, you get the idea. Assuming you want to end up with one-inch round balls of dough, roll each portion into a one-inch circumference snake. Cut into one-inch chunks with a sharp knife and then round each chunk. I expect the cookies will still come out even if you don’t round the chunks—I’ll have to try that next time I’m in a hurry.

3. Have you ever made refrigerator cookies, only to find that when you try to slice the round roll of cookie dough, it promptly loses its shape? Reshaping the roll after each slice is time-consuming, and the cookies still don’t come out round. If you stick the roll in the freezer for an hour, instead of the refrigerator, it will slice much better and thinner, without losing its shape.

Sugar Cookie Cream Liqueur

beverages, Christmas

While I was looking for new recipes for my Christmas baking, I came across a reference to a sugar cookie martini. A drink that tasted like a cookie sounded interesting. (Google it yourself if you want the original version, it’s all over the internet). But when I looked at the ingredients, it had a lot of alcohol in it, more than I’d want myself or would feel comfortable serving to others, especially if driving. So I started to play with it. Everyone I’ve served it to tells me it’s delicious, and I think so too.

• 3 ounces Bailey’s original or generic equivalent
• 1 tablespoon Amaretto* ditto
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 ounces 10% cream (half and half)

Zap in a blender for 30 seconds (the Magic Bullet is great for this because you can do it in the serving glasses). That’s it.

2 generous portions or 4 more reasonable ones.

The recipe can be multiplied. It’s delicious freshly made but I think it’s even better after sitting in the fridge 24 hours. I use clean pop bottles to store it.

*Most of the recipes I saw online use a lot more, plus vodka, but I thought the flavour of the Amaretto overpowered the other ingredients so I cut it back.

Bisquick Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

cookies, dessert

This one’s from the out-of-print Bisquick cookbook, Two in the Kitchen. It’s easy to make, no exotic ingredients, makes lots, the dough handles well, everything I like in a recipe. While the results the first time I made it were good, you couldn’t really taste the chocolate so I tweaked it the second time.

• 3 ounces chocolate chips, melted*
• 1 cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup shortening
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup water+
• 2 cups Bisquick

* If you’re out of chocolate chips (the horror!) you can use 2 ounces of Baker’s Chocolate instead. The recipe won’t be as sweet.

+ For more intense chocolate taste, combine 1 tablespoon cocoa, 1 tablespoon sugar and enough hot water to make up 1/3 cup.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Melt the chocolate chips. If you have a large microwavable bowl, you can do it in that and then add the rest of the ingredients, saving dishes and the chocolate that would be lost by transferring from another container.

Cream together melted chocolate, peanut butter, shortening, and white and brown sugar. Stir in water (or hot cocoa) and vanilla. Add in Bisquick.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Flatten with fork. Bake 7 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before removing from pan as they’re a bit fragile while warm.

Makes approximately 5 dozen, depending on size of balls and how many are taken by quality control before the last batch is baked.

Microwaved Graham Date Tea Cakes

cake, dessert

These come out about the size and shape of an English muffin but have a soft crumb and cake-like texture.

• 1 cup cut-up dates
• hot tea
• 1 cup margarine
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup graham wafer crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Place cut-up dates loosely in a one or two-cup measuring cup. Pour hot tea over them to the one cup mark. Let soak for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cream margarine and sugar. Add in vanilla and egg. Combine flour, graham crumbs and baking powder. Stir into margarine/sugar mixture. Stir in dates and tea.

Drop a large tablespoon into each well of a silicon muffin pan. Microwave on high for 2 ½ minutes. Let cool a few minutes before unmoulding. 

Makes 15-18

Almost Angel Food Cake

cake, dessert

My chocolate cola cupcakes (recipe immediately below this one) came out so well that I decided to try new variations. This white cake and cream soda version reminded me of angel food cake, but was a lot less work. I baked this in a 9 x 13 pan but I think I’ll try the ring pan or my bundt pan next time.

• 1 box white cake mix (the size that makes a 13 x 9 cake)
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups cream soda

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into cake pan(s) of desired size. Bake according to directions on the cake mix box, using the longer time.

Chocolate Cola Cupcakes

cake, dessert

I found several versions of cake or cupcakes with pop as an ingredient online but, given the ingredients, I suspect this Betty Crocker version is the original. And with only two ingredients, it doesn’t get much simpler.

However, some of the reviews said the resulting cupcakes were dry and crumbly and it was hard to get the paper liners off. When I read the back of the box, I realized that the liquid from the pop that was going in was a lesser volume than the liquid being left out (eggs, oil, water). So I put two of the eggs back in when I tried the recipe and the result was moist and luscious. And since I was baking them in a silicon muffin mould, sticking wasn’t really a problem, though I did have to make them in three batches since my mould only has six wells.

• 1 box chocolate cake mix (the size that makes a 13 x 9 cake)
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups cola (generic is fine)

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour a scant 1/3 cup of batter into each well of the silicon muffin mould.

Bake according to directions on the cake mix box, using the longer time. Let cool slightly before removing from mould. I find running my cake tester or a toothpick around the edge of each cupcake before turning out makes them more likely to come out in one piece.

Makes 15

Baked Bisquick Chocolate Waffles

breakfast, dessert

The regular baked waffle recipe (immediately below this one) came out so well that I decided to experiment with chocolate. While this version is chocolatey, it’s not overly sweet. Of course, you can change that with toppings.

This will fill my two rectangular waffle moulds twice. So that makes 16 waffles that are 12.5 x 8 cm or roughly 5 x 3 inches. But I usually use my round moulds that give me 4 small heart-shaped waffles each and end up with 20 or so.

• 2 cups Bisquick
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 2 eggs
• dash vanilla

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place waffle moulds on a cookie sheet.

Stir ingredients until blended. Pour batter into moulds just to top of the bumps. It rises quite a bit in baking and if you overfill, your waffles won’t be flat.

Bake 12 minutes. Flip waffles out of moulds and other side up onto cookie sheet. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

These freeze quite well. I find 30 seconds on high in the microwave to thaw them out before toasting them is about right.

Baked Bisquick Waffles

breakfast

Several months ago we went through a period when frozen waffles – a staple in our house -were hard to find in our grocery stores. Since my baked doughnut moulds had worked so well, I decided to buy some waffle moulds to try. Yes, they’re easy to make, taste better than the plain store-bought ones (not the more expensive Belgian waffle variety) and don’t require you to own a waffle iron.

The recipe is basically the one on the Bisquick box (thanks, Betty Crocker!) with a few tweaks to make them crisper and to make the right amount of batter to fill my two rectangular waffle moulds twice. So that makes 16 waffles that are 12.5 x 8 cm or roughly 5 x 3 inches.

• 2 ¼ cups Bisquick
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 2 eggs
• dash vanilla

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place waffle moulds on a cookie sheet.

Stir ingredients until blended. Pour batter into moulds just to top of the bumps. It rises quite a bit in baking and if you overfill, your waffles won’t be flat.

Bake 12 minutes. Flip waffles out of moulds and other side up onto cookie sheet. If you’re planning on serving them immediately, you could also throw a few strips of precooked bacon on the cookie sheet. Bake an additional 5 minutes, until golden.

These freeze quite well. I find 30 seconds on high in the microwave to thaw them out before toasting them is about right.

Lazy Woman’s Perogies

casserole, main dish

This is absolutely the easiest way to prepare them. No tedious stirring, no sticking to the pot…

• 1 package frozen perogies, thawed
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 325°F. In a lasagna pan or similar casserole dish spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce over the bottom. Cover with perogies, adding a second layer if you still have some left. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce over. Bake for 40 minutes.

You can serve with green onions, bacon, and sour cream if that’s the way you like them but they’re still delicious without.

Bisquick Microwave Hot Breakfast Cereal

breakfast, cereal

I was bored with all the breakfast choices in the house the other day and wondered what my favourite microwave mug cake would taste like minus the sugar and a few other tweaks. To my amazement, it came out like the best cream of wheat I’d ever tasted, and with an even better texture. Smooth, creamy, delicious, and made in under five minutes.

• 1/3 cup Bisquick
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil (no substitutions—this is the secret sauce that gives it that creamy, dreamy flavour)

Combine ingredients in a microwaveable bowl. Cook on high for 30 seconds and stir. Cook on high for another 2 minutes (microwaves may vary) or until it looks cooked. Sprinkle with sugar and pour milk over it.

Serves 1

You can find the original mug cake recipe here. I make it a lot, because it’s fast and delicious, though it reminds me more of pudding really than cake. I’ve made both the vanilla and the chocolate version and have even substituted peanut butter for the oil to make a peanut butter one. A handful of chocolate chips thrown in doesn’t hurt anything either.

Baked Apple Doughnuts

breakfast, dessert

• 2 ¼ cups Bisquick
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup applesauce
• ¼ cup oil (or you can use melted margarine or butter)
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 425°F.

In bowl or large measuring cup, combine Bisquick and cinnamon. Stir in applesauce, oil and egg until smooth.

Spoon into wells of silicon doughnut mould supported on a cookie sheet and smooth down with the back of a wet spoon.

Bake for 13 minutes. Cool before turning out.

Makes 14 2-3/4 inch diameter doughnuts.

Baked Peanut Butter Doughnuts

breakfast, dessert

I got some silicone doughnut moulds for Christmas, so of course, I’ve been experimenting ever since. These doughnuts come out with a light texture more like a yeast doughnut than a cake doughnut. While they’re perfectly good plain, you can also drizzle them with honey.

• 1 ½ cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• ¾ cup milk
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla or caramel extract

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place doughnut moulds on a cookie sheet for stability and ease of moving in and out of the oven.

Cream together Bisquick and peanut butter. Stir in milk and vanilla. With greased hands, fill the wells of the doughnut mould half-way. Smooth with back of wet spoon.

Bake for 12-13 minutes (may differ if using a metal pan so check frequently). Let cool 5 minutes before turning out.

Makes 10 2-3/4 inch diameter doughnuts.

West Island Anglo Tortiere

Christmas, main dish, meat, pastry

This is most definitely NOT traditional, but it’s about to become so in this household. It’s easy, convenient and tasty.

Filling:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon beef bouillon powder
• pinch cloves
• 3 hash brown patties, thawed and crumbled
• black pepper to taste

Fry onion until soft in large frying pan. Put onion aside. In the same frying pan, cook the hamburger until no longer pink. Drain. Stir in bouillon powder and cloves. Add in onions and hash browns and pepper, if desired. Press into a 9- or 10-inch deep-dish pie plate. If you’re not making this for immediate consumption, at this point you can put it, pie plate and all, into a large Ziploc™ bag and freeze it. Just remember to let it thaw before continuing.

Topping:

• 2 ¼ cups Bisquick™
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large measuring cup or a bowl with a pour spout, whisk together Bisquick and milk. Spoon over top of beef filling. Bake for 20-25 minutes until top is golden and a cake tester inserted into it comes out clean.

found online and tested: batter for hot buttered rum

beverages, Christmas

While scouring the internet for Christmas recipes the other day, I came across this recipe for hot buttered rum batter, a mix that you can store in your freezer so you can whip up a hot toddy in the time it takes the kettle to boil. You’ll need to scroll down past the hot buttered rum recipe at the same link to see it.

I only made up a third of the batter recipe to try it, which worked well, so if you’re not planning on using it to host a party, you can do the same. I have to admit it was the best hot buttered rum I’ve ever tasted, so this one’s going in my recipe file.

If you’d prefer something that’s alcohol-free, you can still have a delicious hot drink by substituting hot black tea for the rum and hot water when making up your drink. The batter itself has no alcohol in it.

Lemon Ginger Noodles

pasta

I used to always keep ramen noodles in the pantry as their quick cooking time meant I could get dinner on the table in a hurry. I now use Haiku Asian Style Noodles instead. They have the same quick and easy cooking method but a much better taste and texture. They don’t come with their own seasoning, however, so I usually cook them in chicken stock. But if you’re looking for something to go under a stir fry, try this lemony, spicy trick.

• 1 Haiku Asian Style Noodles nest for each person
• 1 Twinings Lemon and Ginger Herbal Tea bag

Put enough water in a pot that the noodle nests will be submerged when they’re added. Bring to a boil. Add noodle nests and tea bag. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit 5 minutes. Remove tea bag, drain and serve.

microwaved tea cakes

cake, dessert

You can’t make scones in the microwave. I’ve tried different recipes but they come out like rocks instead of flaky. While these small cakes don’t have the texture of scones, they are equally good for spreading with clotted cream and jam, and don’t require you to heat up the kitchen on a hot day.

• 1 cup margarine
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 3 ounces milk

Cream margarine and sugar. Add in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour and milk alternately. Drop by rounded tablespoons into bottom of regular-sized silicon muffin pan. Microwave on high for 2 ½ minutes, longer for a lower-powered microwave.

Makes 12 to 15

found online and tested: microwave-baked cookies

cookies, dessert

The other day I wanted to bake cookies but I hate using the oven when I’ve got the air conditioner going full-blast. It just seems counterproductive. So I asked Google if it was possible to bake cookies in the microwave. Most of the sites it turned up were about baking single cookies in a mug, which is not a good option in my cookie-loving household. But there was one that dealt with half-a-dozen at a time. Check it out here.

It’s not so much a microwave cookie recipe as a technique for making your favourite cookie recipe in the microwave. I just wanted to avoid heating up the kitchen, but this opens so many possibilities. Fresh, warm, home-baked cookies whenever you want. Well, maybe not the middle of the night. Pretty sure husband and cat would not appreciate the microwave beeping them out of a sound sleep.

I’ve tried it with both my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and my favourite oatmeal cookie recipe. The chocolate chip ones came out perfect, if a bit pale, though I had to cook them much longer than the website suggests if I didn’t want to eat them off the pan with a spoon. Microwaves do vary, so you’ll need to experiment. The oatmeal cookies came out much thinner and chewier than usual but that could be more due to the fact that I accidentally used graham flour instead of whole wheat. They were still quite edible.

I was baking six at a time spaced around the edges of a round silicone cake pan placed on top of a microwave plate. It worked well and the cookies were easy to remove from the pan. For a shapelier cookie (important if you’re sticking two together with icing between them) you can place your cookie dough in scalloped silicone patty pans.

Oven-Baked French Toast

breakfast, main dish

• 4 slices white bread*
• ¼ cup butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, not pressed down
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 4 slices cooked bacon

Pull out your bread slices and leave them to dry out about half-an-hour ahead of preparation. While it’s not necessary, it does help the bread absorb the egg mixture better.

Place the butter in the bottom of an 8-inch square glass pan+ and microwave until melted. Stir in the brown sugar. Place bread slices in the bottom of the pan over top of the butter/sugar mixture.

Beat eggs and milk together and pour over bread. Push down with a fork if necessary to make sure it all gets wet.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Flip bread slices over and cover with bacon slices. Bake for another 20 minutes.

Serves two.

*Villaggio’s brioche style works really well. You can use whole wheat, but the texture won’t be right.

+ You can use metal but you’ll have to melt the butter in the oven and you’ll need to increase the oven temperature 25 degrees.

FOUND ONLINE AND TESTED: soft ice cream with add-ins

dessert

You know those delicious, served in a cup but eaten with a spoon ice-cream treats available at your favourite fast-food franchise? The ones with bits of candy or cookies stirred in? Turns out they’re super easy to make at home. Here’s where you can find the recipe.

All you need is milk, vanilla ice cream, and your favourite add-in. Actually, it’s good even without the add-in if you’ve just got a craving for soft ice cream. It makes two servings but can easily be multiplied.

It works best if you freeze your bowl and your mugs (the frosty variety with a layer of coolant in them work great) a couple of hours ahead. The mixture does need to be eaten immediately, as it starts to melt quickly.

My current favourite add-in is Reese Peanut Butter Oh Henry! which comes in chunks in a 180 gram bag. They’re fairly easy to chop small with a knife.

CHOCOLATE HAY BALES

dessert, squares

You’ve probably made those cookies that involve stirring cocoa, sugar and oatmeal on the stove and then dropping it by spoonfuls onto waxed paper, whether you know them as chocolate macaroons (the name I grew up with), unbaked cookies (the name my husband grew up with) or chocolate haystacks. I think I got my recipe off a tin of Fry’s cocoa but there are lots of versions on the internet. I’ve always loved them, but found the process of forming them a sticky mess which usually ended up with several broken cookies. So I asked myself, what if I made them as squares? It works, and you save a lot of time as well, though of course there are fewer broken cookie bits to be, er, cleaned up by the cook.

• 3 cups sugar
• 9 tablespoons cocoa
• ¾ cup margarine
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cups shredded coconut (if you don’t have any on hand, just add more oatmeal)
• 4 ½ cups INSTANT rolled oats.

Line the bottom and ends of a 9 x 13 cake pan with waxed paper, cutting or folding as needed, leaving a few inches overhanging at each end. No need to line the sides.

Combine sugar and cocoa together in a large measuring cup. Measure out coconut and oatmeal in another one. Melt margarine in a large saucepan. Stir in sugar/cocoa mixture. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, coconut and rolled oats. Spoon into cake pan and spread evenly with spoon.

Alternatively, you can dump the contents of the saucepan on a large silicon sheet and shape it roughly into a 9 x 13 rectangle with a spatula. Makes for easier cutting.

Let cool. Once set, you can use the ends of the waxed paper to remove the entire mass. Place on a large cutting board and cut into squares with a pizza cutter. Or you can leave them in the pan and cut with a knife, but the first method is easier.

Coffee Liqueur Gelatin Dessert

dessert

This is my personal variation on “white gelatin.” You can find lots of other recipes online if you’re looking for a different flavour. 

• 1 300 ml tin sweetened condensed milk (the store brand will work)
• 2 tablespoons powdered gelatin/2 packets
• ½ cup cold water
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup your favourite liqueur for coffee (optional)

Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Combine all ingredients in bowl, stir and refrigerate. May be served with whipped cream. 

Makes four servings

24 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS PROJECT

I probably should have renamed this the 21 days of Christmas project as I had to pull some of the posts since the links no longer existed. And many of the links that are still valid lead to pages that, like so much of the internet lately, are flooded with ads. So be forewarned. No ads on this page, however!

24 days of christmas: hard sauce is easy

Christmas, dessert, sweet sauce

While traditionally served over the Christmas pudding, hard sauce works just as well on cakes, between cookies or even on mince pie. Why not? It’s basically just icing. Here are two easy ways to make it:

Easy Hard Sauce One

• butter
• icing sugar
• brandy or rum

Take one generous tablespoon of butter for each serving. Cream until soft. Or you can use margarine if you have a decent-tasting one. I find Becel works well and speeds up the process since it’s already soft when you take it out of the fridge. Gradually add in icing sugar until it resembles icing. Thin it back down by adding in brandy or rum a few drops at a time. You want it gloopy but not so thin it runs off the spoon. That’s it.

Don’t want to use alcohol? Add a few drops of vanilla or other flavouring instead. I’m thinking almond or orange would be nice.

Easy Hard Sauce Two

Substitute room temperature store-bought vanilla frosting for the butter and icing sugar. Thin down a few drops at a time by adding in brandy or rum. The results aren’t as good but if you happen to have some unused frosting in the fridge it’s a good way to use it up.

24 days of christmas: festive tablecloth

arts and crafts, Christmas

Remember those paper snowflakes and garlands we were making back in the first week? Well, here’s a way to put them to use and display your kids’ artwork. You’ll need a sky-coloured tablecloth (day or night), an assortment of paper snowflakes and garlands, and another clear plastic tablecloth. Simply border the tablecloth with garlands and arrange the snowflakes in the middle, then cover with the plastic tablecloth to keep things protected and in place. You could use holiday-themed sequins if you have any but I’d avoid glitter as you’ll never get it off the plastic cover. Can you say static?

24 days of christmas: egg nog

beverages, Christmas

Of course you can always buy the yellow-coloured syrup with the artificial rum flavour that passes for egg nog in the grocery store. But home-made tastes better and takes less than five minutes to make.

• 1 egg
• 1 level tablespoon white sugar
• ¼ cup table cream (10%)*
• ½ cup milk
• dash nutmeg

Combine the first four ingredients in your Magic Bullet or blender and zap for a few seconds until foamy. Add nutmeg and your poison of choice (rum or brandy are traditional but almost anything works) and there you are. If you prefer it unadulterated, add a teaspoon of vanilla before zapping. Merry Christmas!

Serves 1

*You can just use milk if you like but the texture won’t be as rich.

24 days of christmas: room in our hearts

Christmas

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Luke 2: 6-16, KJV

24 days of christmas: christmas stress

Christmas

Oh, Christmas Stress! (you know the tune)

Oh, Christmas stress, oh, Christmas stress,
Why must you put me to the test?
Oh, Christmas stress, oh, Christmas stress,
You've got me feeling not my best.

To trim the tree or send my cards?
Buy presents? Decorate the yard?
Oh, Christmas stress, oh, Christmas stress,
Why must you put me to the test?

I need to bake, I need to shop,
But I just feel I want to drop.
Oh, Christmas stress, oh, Christmas stress,
You've got me feeling not my best.

The tree is up, the wrapping's done,
The kids are having lots of fun.
Is that the door? I've got to run!
And may God bless us, everyone.

24 days of christmas: robert frost poem

Christmas

This poem suggests to me someone dealing with Christmas stress (perhaps on their way to do the last of the shopping?) and pausing for a few minutes’ peace before getting on with things.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost – 1874 – 1963

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

24 days of christmas: wooden nativity scene

Christmas

Today I thought I’d show off the nativity scene my dad made for me years ago. He got the pattern out of a magazine and it must have been a popular one because at least one set of my in-laws also have one.

Mine’s unique, however. The original pattern didn’t have camels, but at my request Dad made me a couple. Don’t they look sweet?

24 days of christmas: counted with us

Christmas

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the house and lineage of David: to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 

Luke 2: 1-5, KJV

24 days of christmas: the christmas truce

Christmas

In December of 1914 the First World War had only been going on for five months. Things were relatively peaceful and the men in the trenches celebrated Christmas the best they could despite the cold and the wet and the mud and the enemy in their trenches nearby. In some places they were actually close enough to hear each other. Check out this amazing 2014 Christmas “advertisement” (I’ve put that in quotes because they’re not selling anything) from British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s. You might want your Kleenex handy.

24 days of christmas: Marshmallow Sheep and Snowmen

arts and crafts, Christmas, dessert

When I first posted this, back in 2020, I had a link to a how-to video on the Kraft site. Unfortunately, it no longer exists, but I actually found a better one on findingourwaynow.com. Okay, maybe mine aren’t quite as cute as the ones in this how-to video but I’m about to eat the evidence anyway. I didn’t have any candy eyes on hand, so I just drew them on with a toothpick dipped in the melted white chocolate. I did have a lot of trouble inserting the pretzel legs through the white chocolate coating and getting them to stay in. Wish I’d seen this video first. If I was making them again, I’d probably not coat the belly area with the coconut/chocolate mix.

Here’s a tutorial from thespruceeats on how to make marshmallow snowmen. Looks a bit more complicated than the sheep, but still quite doable (I haven’t actually tried it).

24 days of christmas: paper tree garlands

arts and crafts, Christmas

Remember those chains of hearts or trees you made back in grade school, using folded paper and scissors? It’s been a long time since I made any. Too long. My first two attempts at a freestyle one fell apart. After that I figured I’d better look for a how-to online. Turns out I had been only drawing half a tree, which didn’t extend from side to side, when what I needed was a whole tree that did. Hey, it was a long time ago.

I was really just looking for plain white snowmen or trees. But the ones on this website, especially the penguins (templates provided) are adorable and I think kids could really have a lot of fun decorating them.

I also came across this website, showing you how to use the same process to make pop-up tree Christmas cards.

Gotta go! The shortbread needs to come out of the oven.

24 days of christmas: landlady’s christmas gift

Christmas

I’m taking a break today so I can finish putting the tree up. So I’m posting a link to a Christmas story I found online and really enjoyed. It’s a true story about a young woman and her first year living away from home in the big city. There are other Christmas stories and poems on the same website.

24 days of christmas: snowy tree and wreath cookies

Christmas, cookies

These cookies look much fancier than the candy cane ones but they take almost no time to decorate. Again, you start with a rolled cookie dough. I used the same one—in fact I made up a double batch, and used half for the candy cane cookies, half for these ones. You’ll need wreath and tree cookie cutters, though you can also use a biscuit cutter or even a large glass to make the wreaths and cut the holes out by hand. I find the cookies roll out better on a silicone cookie sheet liner. I had to flour the first rolling but didn’t need to after that. Once you’ve cut out and baked your cookies, you’re ready for the decorating stage.

Did you know you can turn store-bought frosting into glaze using your microwave? I used the Betty Crocker Creamy Deluxe French Vanilla but according to Google most brands will work. You just put a few tablespoonfuls in a microwaveable container—custard dishes work well—and microwave for a few seconds until it melts. Stir in some green food colouring and it’s ready to apply. I brushed it on using a pastry brush and then sprinkled the cookies with unsweetened desiccated coconut. Once the glaze is dry, your cookies are ready.

Don’t like coconut? Not a problem. Cover the cookies with glaze and sprinkles instead. Give each kid their own tree to decorate and watch them get creative.

24 days of christmas: candy cane cookies

Christmas, cookies

These are not the most dainty or elegant of cookies, but they’ll please those who favour quantity over looks and the kids can definitely help make them. You’ll need to make up a rolled cookie dough that can stand up to a lot of handling. I like the one in the Joy of Cooking but use the one you’re most familiar with. I suggest you use butter for the fat, not only for the flavour but because the dough will handle better.

Once you’ve made up the dough, divide it in half and tint one half with red food colouring. This will take a lot longer and a lot more food colouring than you think. You can also add a few drops of peppermint flavouring to the red dough if you like. Then wrap both halves in plastic wrap and chill for a few hours. Bring the dough back out of the fridge an hour or so before you want it so it can warm up to a pliable temperature. I generally squeeze it in my hands until it’s a good texture for rolling—think of it as a stress ball, always useful this time of year.

Once the dough’s easy to handle, divide each ball into an equal number of pieces. For each cookie, you will need to roll out a rope of white and a rope of red dough—just like the plasticine snakes you used to make in kindergarten. If you do this on a silicone cookie sheet liner, you shouldn’t need any flour to stop them from sticking. Don’t make them too thin or they’ll fall apart on you.

Then twist the ropes into a cane shape and place on a cookie sheet to be baked.

24 days of christmas: child of promise

Christmas

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

Luke 1:26-31, KJV

24 days of christmas: paper snowflakes

arts and crafts, Christmas

It’s gloomy out there today and I’m almost wishing it would snow to brighten things up a bit. So I’m making paper snowflakes. Here’s a link on how to make the square ones you probably remember from childhood. It’s simple enough to turn your kids loose on.

Here’s how to make six-pointed ones. It’s a little more complicated – that’s the first time I’ve had to use a protractor in a long time – but even young children can help if you fold the paper for them first. Lots of other cool kid crafts on this page too, like paper bowl jellyfish, and a coral reef diorama.

This site has templates and stencils for snowflakes. Let it snow!

24 days of christmas: snowflake songs

Christmas

I heard these songs every Christmas growing up, so even though they’re not technically Christmas songs, they’re part of my Christmas nostalgia.  You know, back in the day, when someone else put up the tree and the lights, did the baking, did the cleaning, did the shopping… and all I had to do was receive and rejoice. Kind of like the very first Christmas, actually.

First up is Suzy Snowflake. I’ve got two versions for you, one of which is a video made by a Chicago TV station back in 1953. Music videos are older than me? Who knew? The second is the more familiar version, at least to me, as sung by Rosemary Clooney.

And here’s another snowflake song, a romantic piece by Jim Reeves, Hey, Hey, Hey, Snowflake.

24 Days of Christmas: Package from Home Fruitcake

cake, Christmas, dessert

Yes, I know I’m going to get bad jokes and comments on this post, but some of us actually like the stuff. This is based on the Canada War Cake recipe I blogged about a while ago. I thought at the time it would make a good fruitcake, so I tweaked a few things, and sure enough it does.

This does not need to be made several weeks in advance and stored away until Christmas. I had my first piece still warm from the pan and it was delicious. It’s rich and moist, while also being easy (no copious amounts of stirring required) and economical. And, apart from soaking the fruit overnight, you can make it and bake it in a little over an hour.

• 1 cup pecans
• 1 ½ cups glace fruit mix*
• ½ cup brandy+
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup margarine
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

The night before, combine the nuts, fruit and brandy and cover (plastic wrap is fine). Leave overnight to soak.

Next day, in a saucepan, combine sugar, margarine and water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square cake pan.

Combine flour and spices in a large measuring cup.

Pour fruit mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar mixture. Stir in cider vinegar, followed by baking soda. It will foam up. Stir in the flour/spice mixture. Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

* you can use glace cherries for a more luxurious version

+ the alcohol will evaporate in the oven but you can use orange juice or apple juice instead

If you cut the squares in half horizontally, warm them in the microwave, and serve with a dollop of hard sauce, you can pass this off as Christmas pudding, so it’s actually two recipes in one.

24 days of christmas: christina rossetti poem

Christmas

I don’t know about you, but I woke up on December 1st with full-blown Christmas stress. And I haven’t even had time yet to fall behind on my holiday to-do list. So here’s an antidote. Find a comfy chair, make yourself a mug of hot chocolate, take a few deep breaths, and read this poem by Christina Rossetti. Repeat as needed. I like to imagine a clear winter night, snow lying on the fields, a couple of deer standing in the moonlight, a sky full of stars…

Christmastide by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

I’d originally posted this series of Christmas-related things in December 2020, our first year of Christmas with COVID.

Christmas is going to be a bit weird and different for most of us this year. All the more reason to celebrate and gain some comfort and normalcy and maybe even joy. I’ve decided to try and post something each day from December 1st to the 24th, whether it’s a craft, a recipe, a song, poem or story, or even parts of The Christmas Story itself.

I learned to make these four-pointed stars in Germany back in the ‘70s. You could find lovely foil sheets in most of the department stores there, but these can also be made with ordinary paper (I used printer paper) or even cardstock, though you’d need to use a ruler and pen on the back to pre-crease the folds in that case. 

Take a square piece of paper and crease it horizontally, vertically, and on both diagonals, as in the photo below. I’ve drawn the lines on the back of the yellow square to show where the creases go. The white one is folded on the diagonal and you can see the crease marks from the horizontal and vertical folds on it.

Cut halfway into the centre on the horizontal and vertical folds only, not the diagonal folds. Fold the cut pieces in to meet the diagonal crease, forming a point.

Continue folding the cut pieces in until you have four points. This is the back of your star. Secure each point with a piece of tape. Flip the star face up. Push in lightly on the corners to plump it up.

For a double-sided star, put two together, backs facing each other. Or you can stack and rotate stars as in my title photo for a more colourful, less plain vanilla effect.

I’m adding a few links for other types of stars you can make. They use aluminium foil (ooh, shiny!) which can be hard on scissors, so don’t use a pair you really care about. The first two, like my four-pointers, could be a family craft. The last one is more sophisticated and requires a glue gun, so probably not suited for the younger set.

https://www.ourkidthings.com/aluminum-foil-stars-craft

Foil art stars

Shiny 3D stars

homemade cologne

beauty products

Back in the spring, when I was reading Better Meals for Less Money, by Mary Green, I came across a recipe for homemade cologne. Well, not exactly a recipe, she just listed the essential oils and their proportions, but I was still intrigued. Would it smell anything like the original cologne from Germany, I wondered? And could it really be that simple?

I finally got my hands on the necessary combination of essential oils and tried it out. Here you are: 

• 1 part lavender essential oil
• 1 part bergamot essential oil
• 1 part sweet orange essential oil
• 1 part lemon essential oil

I dropped that into the water in my diffuser and let it run. It did smell good, light, clean, and suitable for anybody.

Back in the day that would be added to alcohol (according to Google, triple-filtered vodka works best for this) until it was as strong as you wanted it to be. I used 4 drops of each oil to 100 ml of alcohol and found it smelled good when applied but left no lasting scent. That wouldn’t be a problem if you were using it to splash someone’s temples when they felt faint (the traditional use for cologne, at least in novels) or were suffering from a personal heatwave (it is cooling) but for scenting handkerchiefs (also traditional) you’d need considerably more. I also found the oil kept separating out so you need to give the bottle a good shake before applying.

Other uses? Again, according to Google, people are using essential oils to scent hand sanitizer. The cologne version works well for this. I’ve also experimented with equal parts peppermint oil and grapefruit oil, which is very refreshing. And the addition of the oils makes the sanitizer somewhat less drying. You can mix and match to suit yourself–start with one or two drops and add more as needed. Just be sure the oils you are using are safe on the skin—I understand cinnamon can burn. 

Basic Recipe for Biscuits and More

Just finished reading Ontario Teachers’ Manuals: Household Management by Ontario Ministry of Education, published in 1916. Home Ec sure was different back in the day. No mention of sewing, knitting or other handiwork other than as something students could do while waiting for something to cook, but they were learning how to cook complete meals, from bread and soup through to roast and dessert. Also taught were housecleaning, laundry and home nursing. My first years of home ec involved nothing more challenging than making muffins and an apron.

I came across this recipe in the manual for basic biscuits with variations and thought I’d post it. I haven’t yet tried these myself but certainly intend to. At the moment, getting some cookies baked is more pressing.

BASIC RECIPE FOR BISCUITS, ETC.

bread, breakfast

• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons fat (butter, lard, or dripping)
• About 2/3 cup milk

Like most old recipes, they don’t bother to give any directions as to how to proceed, how to cook, or how much it makes. My guess, based on similar recipes is:

Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the fat. Stir in the milk. If it’s sticky, drop by spoonfuls, otherwise roll out and cut. A 350° oven is usually a safe bet. You’ll have to keep an eye on things to figure out how long to bake for.

SWEET BISCUIT

bread, breakfast

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar after the fat is added.

FRUIT BISCUIT

bread, breakfast

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ cup of fruit (currants, raisins, peel, or a mixture of all) after the fat is added.

SCONES

bread, breakfast

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and use one egg and only ½ cup of milk. Beat the egg until light, add to milk, and use this for liquid. Form into round cakes about eight inches in diameter, and cut into quarters.

FRUIT SCONES

bread, breakfast, dessert

Add ½ cup of fruit to the scone recipe.

SHORT CAKE FOR FRUIT

dessert

Same as scones but double the amount of fat.

DUMPLINGS FOR STEWS

side dish

Use the basic recipe, leaving out the fat.

STEAMED FRUIT PUDDING

Use the basic recipe to make the dough that encases the fruit.

Easy Peasy Pea Soup

soup

Best done in a slow cooker but can be done in a large pot on the stove if you don’t mind frequent stirring and adjusting of temperature.

• 3 cups split yellow peas
• boiling water to cover
• 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 cups frozen vegetables for spaghetti sauce
• ham bone (optional)
• 2 cups diced cooked ham (optional)

The night before, place peas in a 6-litre crock pot. Cover with boiling water, put the lid on the pot, and leave to soak. In the morning, drain and rinse peas and return to pot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on high for 5 hours, stirring once or twice. Reduce to low and cook another 2 hours. Remove ham bone before serving.

This is actually better reheated the following day.

For a vegetarian version, just leave out the ham and add a tablespoon of olive or other vegetable oil with the rest of the ingredients.

Garam Masala Cake

cake, dessert

I had to buy a bottle of garam masala back when I was trying the spicy lentil dahl recipe. As soon as I took the lid off and smelled it, I said to myself, “I need to bake with this.” So I experimented and here’s the result, a light, moist cake with an intriguing flavour. You can serve it plain, but it’s better with a vanilla frosting. 

• 7 ounces margarine
• 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease (if using non-stick) a 9 x 13 cake pan. Cream margarine and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Combine flour with baking powder, garam masala, and coffee powder. Add into creamed mixture alternately with milk. Spoon into pan and bake for 25 minutes.

I think raisins and chopped walnuts would go well in this, but I haven’t actually tried it since I’m the only one in the house that would eat it. Hmm.

Quick and Easy Tomato Vegetable Dip

dip, snack, vegetables

I like to have a handful of carrot sticks with my lunch, but plain carrots don’t appeal to me so I usually have them with dip. However, store-bought dip containers are small and expensive, and I often run out between trips to the grocery store. Here’s an easy and tasty dip you can make up with ingredients you most likely already have on hand. 

• 1 part ketchup
• 2 parts mayonnaise

Yes, that really is it. You can add a bit of Italian seasoning if you like, or a few drops of hot sauce, but it’s perfectly good plain. Or substitute yogurt or sour cream for the mayo, if that’s what you have.

Spicy Lentil Dahl

side dish, vegetables

I was inspired by THIS RECIPE by Colleen Howard at Australia’s Best Recipes. I’ve changed the ingredients to suit what I had on hand (I was missing curry powder) and my own tastes, and also changed the cooking method. It’s quick, easy, and economical, and makes a nice accompaniment to butter chicken, having a different seasoning mixture.

• 1 large carrot, sliced into coins
• 2 cups beef bouillon
• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• 540-ml tin Aylmer Accents spicy red pepper diced tomato*

In a medium pot, bring bouillon and carrot to a boil for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, lentils last, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Makes 4 servings

*If you have to substitute a different style of diced tomato you may wish to add a few drops of hot sauce

Chocolate Trifle

dessert

Luxurious, decadent, and super easy. And it doesn’t heat up the kitchen. You will need: 

• one recipe chocolate microwave custard (immediately below)*
• one recipe chocolate microwave sponge cake (just below the custard recipe)
• ½ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream or Kahlua
• 1 cup whipping cream

Once the cake is cool, cut it into ¾ inch squares. Line the bottom and sides of a large bowl with it. Drizzle the Bailey’s over top. Pour the cooled custard over that. Shortly before serving, whip the cream and spoon it over the top.

You can also make this in individual bowls.

Makes 6 generous or 8 reasonable servings.

*this will come out nicer if you substitute cream for some of the milk

FOUND ONLINE AND TESTED: Microwave Custard

dessert, pudding

I love custard, but I don’t often make it because it’s so time-consuming and painstaking to do on the stove. Between the continuous stirring so the milk doesn’t scorch and never knowing for sure if it’s reached the thickening point and can be taken off the heat, I just don’t bother. So when I found THIS RECIPE on the Australia’s Best Recipes website, I knew I had to try it.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and it comes out scorch- and lump-free. I did make one change to the directions, and that was to start by combining the sugar with the cornstarch to make the paste, rather than adding it to the milk.

Naturally, once I knew it worked, I needed a chocolate version.

Microwave Custard: The Chocolate Version

Place four squares of Baker’s Chocolate in the bottom of the microwave container together with the milk. Stir every minute or so until the chocolate melts and the milk boils.

FOUND ONLINE AND TESTED: Microwave Sponge Cake

cake, dessert

It’s been a very hot summer and I quickly ran through my repertoire of desserts that didn’t require turning the oven on. So one day, out of curiosity, I asked Google if it was possible to bake a cake in the microwave. Turns out it is, and a very fine cake, too. Check out THIS RECIPE by susudup at Australia’s Best Recipes. I’ve already made both the vanilla recipe (served with CoolWhip and strawberries) and the chocolate version (cut in two layers and filled and covered with chocolate frosting). This one is definitely going in my permanent recipe file.

Do use the recommended paper towel lining. It makes it really easy to remove the cake from the pan once cooked. Do NOT remove the paper towel until the cake is quite cool. It will then pull away easily.

This took much longer to cook in my old and slow microwave but I kept putting it back in for a minute or so and checking the top. As the directions say, it’s done when it looks slightly wet on top.

When I made the chocolate version, I used three tablespoons of cocoa instead of two and left out the coffee.

For those of us still baking in Imperial, 150 ml equals 2/3 cup, 150 grams of sugar is ¾ cup, and 5 ml is one teaspoon.

Homemade Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Maker Required

dessert

When I first saw this recipe for ice cream, using only evaporated milk, icing sugar, and vanilla, I was skeptical. But I had the ingredients on hand so I figured I’d give it a try. It does work. We’re not talking gourmet ice cream here, but it’s at least as good as some of the economy brands and a lot cheaper. And with no cream or eggs, and lots of air, it’s not bad for calories either.

Many of the versions I saw online described it as soft ice cream. It seemed more like regular ice cream in look and texture to me but it does melt very quickly so I recommend small portions and keeping it in the deep freeze. I’d love to give credit to the originator of the recipe but haven’t been able to find out who that is. Some of the people posting it say their grandparents used to make it, so it’s obviously been around for a while. 

• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk, refrigerated at least 24 hours (I used 2%)
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip the evaporated milk in a large mixing bowl. It should only take a minute for it to expand into a fluffy mass. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and the vanilla. Transfer the bowl to the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour. (I put the beaters in the fridge during this period.) Rewhip for a few seconds. Repeat two or three times more. Transfer to a freezer-proof, airtight container (old ice cream tubs work well) and freeze for several hours before serving.

Makes around 8 or 9 cups

Creamy Delicious Cream of Wheat

breakfast, cereal

The first time I tasted cream of wheat, it seemed milky and delicate, a taste I’ve been looking for ever since. But whether I made it myself or took it from a hotel breakfast buffet, it always came out bland and watery.

I broke a filling a few days ago, and while I’m waiting for my dentist’s appointment to arrive, my breakfast options are rather limited. So I made myself a bowl of cream of wheat, and it was, as usual, bland and watery, though easy on my mouth. I wondered if substituting cream for some of the water might help the flavour. At the grocery store, I was scanning the shelves for coffee cream when I saw a small carton with the word “crème” on it (we live in Quebec, that’s French for cream) at 3% butterfat. Sounded good to me so I grabbed it.

We went for a long walk this morning before breakfast since it was relatively cool and dry for once. I was hungry when we got back and started preparing my cereal, substituting the cream for half of the water. As it started cooking, I wondered why I could smell vanilla. I had a second look at the cream carton and discovered it was vanilla-flavoured crème anglaise. And it made a delicious cream of wheat. Creamy, savoury. Think I’ll make it again tomorrow.

• water
• salt
• cream of wheat
• crème anglaise

Make up the cream of wheat according to the package directions (I made mine in the microwave) but substitute crème anglaise for half of the water called for. Serve with brown sugar or maple syrup.

Baking Soda for Beauty

beauty products

Hair

Pulling down my box of Arm & Hammer to use in something a few weeks back, I noticed it had suggestions for “pure & natural personal care” printed on it. One of these was to mix a teaspoon into your shampoo once a week for “fuller, more manageable hair.” I was a bit skeptical but decided to give it a try. The worst that could happen was I’d have to wash my hair a second time.

It actually works, and I’ve been using it ever since. If you’re wedded to that super silky feel that conditioner gives you, and being able to glide a comb through wet hair, then it’s probably not for you, but it does leave my hair feeling smooth and fairly manageable and, yes, fuller, without it coming out feeling like wool, which is what usually happens if I haven’t been able to put conditioner in. As a bonus, it leaves my scalp feeling cleaner and my hair doesn’t get oily as fast. Despite the fact that we’ve been going through a horrendously hot and humid summer, I haven’t been suffering from the frizzies either.

I don’t know how it would work with blow-dried hair as I seldom do that, but mine is currently coloured and permed, and thus normally requires a lot of conditioner to keep it under control. I haven’t put any in for at least the last three weeks.

Face

The box also suggested making a paste of baking soda to water in a 3 to 1 ratio and using it as a face scrub (don’t use near eyes). Apply gently after washing, then rinse off. That also works quite well. It leaves my rather sensitive skin feeling smooth without turning it red as many scrubs I’ve tried do. You can add a drop or two of peppermint oil for a cooling effect. I generally make more than I need for my face and use it on my hands as well.

Golden Crust Slow Cooker Bread

bread

Back when this whole COVID business started, it seemed all my friends were passing around recipes for making bread in the slow cooker. I really couldn’t see the point. Baking bread in the oven is not difficult. Then we hit a heat wave and ran low on bread. No way did I want to turn the oven on or walk down to the store. So I got online and looked at a few recipes. Seemed like my regular recipe would work so I tried it. The bread rose well and had good taste and texture, but the loaf was round so the slices were not standard sandwich size and shape.

You can use the following recipe or substitute your own. It’s the technique that gives it that lovely golden crust, without having to finish it under the broiler of your oven.

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/8 cup melted butter
• 2-3 cups flour*
• butter for greasing slow cooker and hands

Pour water into a large bowl and sprinkle yeast over it. Sprinkle sugar and salt over yeast. Wait for the yeast to come to the surface—should take around 5 minutes and resemble beige blobs. Stir in melted butter and two cups of the flour. Continue to add flour. Once it’s too hard to stir, grease your hands and work it in by kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and pliable and is no longer sticky.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise until a finger poked into it leaves a permanent indentation. You can skip the rising if you’re in a hurry but the bread comes out better if you don’t. Punch the dough down and roughly form into a round.

Generously grease and flour the bottom and sides of a four-quart or six-quart slow cooker. Place the round of dough in the bottom. Cook for 90 minutes to 2 hours on the high setting. Keep an eye on it without lifting the lid if possible to see how it’s doing. Once the sides look brown, run around the outside of the loaf with a spatula and remove it from the slow cooker. Flip it over and put it back in, top side down, for a further 15 minutes. That’s the secret—lots of grease in the crock pot and flipping the bread over for the last 15 minutes.

* all-purpose or bread and pastry flour will work but don’t use self-rising flour

Nutella Hot Chocolate

beverages

I first tasted this in a gamers’ café in Halifax. Then the next time I was faced with an almost empty jar of Nutella, with the hazelnut-chocolatey goodness taunting me from the grooves in the jar where the spoon couldn’t reach, I decided to recreate it.

• 1 microwaveable mug of milk
• 1 almost empty jar of Nutella*

Heat the milk in the microwaveable mug. Do not try to microwave the Nutella jar, it will melt. Pour heated milk into the Nutella jar, making sure the lid is on tight, and shake thoroughly. Over the sink is best. Pour contents back into mug and enjoy. No more wasted Nutella!

Serves one

*if you don’t have one, you can either eat your way through your current jar, or use one heaping teaspoon.

Canada War Cake

cake, dessert

Found this cake that uses no butter, eggs or milk in Better Meals for Less Money by Mary Green, the same book my cheese drops recipe came from. My first try at it was a disaster. While the flavor was good the texture was extremely dense, so dense that even after an hour in the oven my three-inch high loaf cake (yes, it failed to rise) wasn’t cooked through. At that point I cut it in slices and threw it back in as if it was biscotti for another 20 minutes. It still wasn’t cooked but at least it was dry.

Obviously, something was wrong. Had I left something out? I looked over the ingredients and the instructions, but it didn’t look like it. Then I realized there was no acid in the recipe to activate the baking soda. So I tried it again, with a little more baking soda and some cider vinegar (the original recipe can’t have used buttermilk, a frequent ingredient in baking soda-raised cakes, since it claims no milk is required), and put it in a cake pan instead of a loaf pan. Success! It tastes like fruitcake but is a lot cheaper to make. I may try substituting candied cherries and pecans on my next attempt.

I’ve put my changes to the recipe in parentheses. Those of you who want to try the recipe as I found it can just leave out those bits, though I don’t recommend it.

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup shortening (I used margarine because that’s what I had on hand)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups dark raisins
• ½ teaspoon salt (didn’t use, baking soda will add enough sodium)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon mace (I used nutmeg)
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• (¼ cup cider vinegar, necessary to make the cake rise)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (I used 1 ½ teaspoons)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, shortening, water, raisins and salt. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Let cool. You can actually do this the day before.

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Combine spices and flour in a 2-cup measuring cup. Pour the raisin mixture into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cider vinegar, followed by the baking soda. It should foam up. Stir in flour/spice mixture. Batter will look a bit dry but don’t worry about it. Spoon the batter into a greased, paper-lined bread pan (I used a greased 9-inch square pan) and bake one hour (I baked it for 45 minutes).

This recipe comes out amazingly well for something that’s supposed to be economical. I’m definitely adding it to my file even though I’m the only one in the house who eats stuff with raisins in it.

Cheese Drops

snack

I found this one in another old cookbook, Better Meals for Less Money, by Mary Green. However, mine wasn’t as economical as the author intended, as I buy bread crumbs and cheese from the store rather than making my own from stale crusts and cheese rinds (eewww). It’s easy to make and requires no exotic ingredients. I generally have everything required on hand. 

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• ¼ cup grated cheese*
• ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika (smoked is nice)
• 1/8 teaspoon mustard powder
• few grains cayenne
• 2 egg whites, beaten until stiff+

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream butter and cheese together. Mix bread crumbs with seasonings and add to cheese mixture. Fold in egg whites. Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased baking sheet or into the slots of a mini muffin pan. Bake for about 12 minutes. Best served fairly fresh from the oven as leftovers become shrivelled and eggy tasting.

Makes 8 to 12.

* I used Kraft 100% parmesan shredded. You can find it in jars in the dairy section. This is not the same as the powdered parmesan in the pasta aisle, though that would be a cheaper alternative.

+ If you’re using liquid egg whites from a carton, you’ll need to add ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar to get them to beat.

Cheese Drops Version Two

Substitute well-crumbled feta for the grated cheese and ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning for the paprika, mustard and cayenne.

chocolate jelly

dessert

I found this one in yet another old cookbook, Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes by Janet MacKenzie Hill. I was a bit dubious about the whole idea but it came out well and was quick and easy to make. Though next time, I’d probably double up on the chocolate.

• 2 cups boiling water*
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 squares baking chocolate (semi-sweet)
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatine (1 packet)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Put water, salt and chocolate in a saucepan. Cook, stirring until the chocolate melts, then let it boil 3-5 minutes. Soften the gelatine in a little cold water and pour the boiling mixture over it. Stir until dissolved, then add sugar and vanilla. Pour into a mould and set aside to harden (I put it in the fridge). Serve with cream and powdered sugar or sweetened whipped cream.

Makes about two cups.

Since we had some chocolate cake that needed to be used up, I put layers of cake and jelly in brandy snifters, then topped them with sweetened whipped cream laced with brandy.

*You can substitute milk for a creamier texture but you’ll need to stir the mixture until it cools. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a skin on top.

French Vanilla Cappuccino Cookies

cookies, dessert

• 2 cups margarine
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup instant coffee granules
• 3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, cream margarine and icing sugar. Stir in vanilla. Combine corn starch, coffee granules* and flour in a large measuring cup. Gradually beat into margarine mixture until smooth. Shape into one-inch balls and flatten with a fork. If you want to fancy them up, lightly press a coffee bean into the top of each cookie. Bake 10 minutes or until slightly browned.

Makes 7-8 dozen.

*if you use the coffee granules as is, they will give a bit of crunch and a speckled texture to the cookies. If you crush them to powder with the back of a spoon, they won’t. The cookies are good either way.

broccoli salad

salad, side dish

This makes a good summer salad and is robust enough for transporting (keep chilled).

• 6-8 cups broccoli florets (one large or two medium heads)
• 1 250-gram container cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup (half a bottle) Italian salad dressing
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Combine first three ingredients and toss. Refrigerate for several hours. Before serving, toss again, then sprinkle the feta over the top.

bananarific cream pie

dessert, pastry

• 1 9-inch pie crust*
• 1 package banana instant pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 2 bananas, sliced
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup rum (optional)
• 1 cup 35% whipping cream

Bake pie shell according to package directions. Cool. In a medium bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk. Slice bananas into rounds. Cover the bottom of the pie shell with the banana slices. Sprinkle with brown sugar and rum. Cover with the pudding. Whip cream and spoon in mounds over top. Chill several hours before serving.

If you don’t tell people it’s not made from scratch, no one will ever know. If you prefer the frozen kind that used to be sold in grocery stores (don’t recall when I last saw one), use the kid-friendly version below and serve it frozen. Don’t add the rum if you’re using the graham crust though, it may not hold together.

* I like the Pillsbury ones you find in the grocery store’s refrigerator section, rather than the frozen ones that come in their own pie plates, because they don’t tend to be smashed to bits when I open the box. I do find them rather salty, though.

Kid Friendly Version

With no oven or blender to worry about, and a standard table knife (no sharp edges) to cut the bananas, even your younger kids can put this version together.

• 1 graham cracker crust
• 1 package banana instant pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 2 bananas, sliced
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 cups Cool Whip

In a medium bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk. Slice bananas into rounds. Cover the bottom of the pie shell with the banana slices. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Cover with the pudding. Spoon mounds of Cool Whip over top. Chill several hours before serving.

lime and black pepper hummus

dip, snack

• 2 cups (1 19-oz tin) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/3 cup oil (I like to use half sesame oil and half olive oil)
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Purée ingredients in a blender. Transfer to serving container and sprinkle more black pepper on top. It’s better if it sits in the fridge for a few hours before use. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

The first time I made this, I used my Magic Bullet, a half batch at a time. The result wasn’t bad but there were a couple of whole chickpeas. So next time I hauled out the big blender, but the result was much coarser in texture. If you have more than one blender, you might like to experiment to find the texture you like. I’m thinking next time I’ll use the big blender first, then finish in the Magic Bullet.

GLuten-free tourtiere

Christmas, gluten-free, main dish, pastry

I always enjoy tourtière over Christmas, but it’s not a good menu choice for those with gluten intolerance. Even if they don’t eat the pastry, there’s no guarantee that the filling is gluten-free. So I put together my own recipe. The bottom crust is a bit more crumbly than I’d like, but the flavour is good.

Corn Flake Crust

• 4 cups gluten-free corn flakes, finely crushed
• ½ cup butter, melted

Combine and press into the bottom and sides of an 8-inch pie pan with a fork. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Filling

• ½ pound lean ground beef
• ½ pound lean ground pork
• ½ cup apple sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• black pepper to taste

Fry together beef and pork until light brown. Drain well (even “lean” ground meat is full of fat). Add apple sauce and spices. Return to heat and continue to stir for another few minutes, until well-browned. Spoon filling into pie crust.

Upper Crust

• 3 cups mashed potatoes (made from instant is fine), thinned down with a little milk

Spoon the mashed potatoes over the meat. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Makes one 8-inch tourtière / 4 large or 6 medium servings

If you want to freeze this for later use, don’t add the mashed potatoes until you want to heat it for serving.

hot buttered maple whiskey

beverages

When we were in Lincoln, New Hampshire, this fall, we ate at a place called Black Mountain Burger Co. Their burgers are great, by the way, especially the bacon brie burger, but what enticed me in the door was the Hot Buttered Maple Whiskey (or some combination of those words) on their menu board. I had one. It was delicious. This is not that drink—I asked, but they weren’t giving out the recipe—it’s my attempt to recreate it at home. Mine’s not the same, but it’s still pretty good, especially on a cold night.

• 2 teaspoons maple sugar
• 2 ounces hot water
• 3 ounces coffee cream (10%)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 ounces maple-flavoured bourbon*
• sprinkle nutmeg
• whipped cream (optional)

In a microwaveable mug, stir together the maple sugar and hot water. Add the cream and butter and microwave on high until the butter melts. Add bourbon. Top with whipped cream if desired. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

*Two ounces makes a potent drink. You can cut back a bit on the alcohol if you prefer. If you can’t find maple-flavoured bourbon, add an extra teaspoon of maple sugar and substitute your preferred whiskey.

home schooling in the kitchen: time and money budgets

Some of my recipes are designed to be quick and easy. That generally means using already processed ingredients. While that can save time, it doesn’t necessarily save money. I’m thinking specifically of my recipe for Hearty Meatball Stew (immediately below) which uses all pre-made ingredients. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Have your kids make the recipe on two separate occasions. The first time, have them make it as written, leaving out the frozen peas. The second time, have them make it from fresh ingredients. You can still use powdered gravy mix (soup stock from scratch takes a long time), but have them buy potatoes and carrots that they have to wash, peel and cut up themselves. Also, have them use a pound of lean ground beef, and form it into small meatballs (you want to make sure they’ll cook through). If they prefer larger meat balls, they’ll have to fry them up before adding them to the slow cooker.

Both times, have them keep track of how much time it takes to put together (don’t count the actual cooking time, as it will be the same), and how much the ingredients cost. Then they can answer the following questions:

• Which version took longer to put together?
• Which version cost more?
• Which version did they think tasted better?
• Which version do they think is healthier? Why?

Found this recipe in the Canadian Farm Cookbook (copyright 1911), submitted by a Mrs. L.E. Jarvis of Vittoria, Ontario. I didn’t know what to expect, as there was no description, or indeed instructions, just the ingredient list. However, since I had all the ingredients on hand except the cider, and that was easy to come by, I thought I’d give it a try. It’s actually quite good. Not only can you have it put together and baked in less than 45 minutes, but it forms a syrupy, jelly-like layer on the bottom that makes it something special.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cider (part of a can)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon saleratus*
• 1 tablespoon butter

The first challenge was figuring out what saleratus was. Since the recipe also includes an acid liquid (the cider) I figured I could use baking soda, which worked nicely. I assumed standard cake mixing procedure would work, so combined the flour, sugar and baking soda, then added a tablespoon of oil for the butter (with only one tablespoon, it didn’t seem likely that I should cream it with the sugar). Last I poured in the cider. The mixture foamed up quite a bit, which is usual with acid liquid/baking soda combinations. I then poured the batter, which was quite thin, into a greased 8-inch square pan and baked it at 350°F for 30 minutes.

I’ve made this recipe many times since my original post. When I have time, I like to peel and slice an apple and cook it in butter in the microwave until soft, then put it in the bottom of the cake pan before adding the butter.

* use baking soda

Crockpot cabbage “rolls”

main dish

I love cabbage rolls, but there’s no way I’m going to the trouble of cooking cabbage leaves and then trying to roll up all the ingredients in them. So here’s my crockpot variation—all of the ingredients, but much less work. If you start assembling the ingredients at noon, it will be ready for dinner.

• 2 cups tomato juice (I use low sodium)
• 1 540-ml can Aylmer Accents garlic and olive oil (or 2 cups any stewed tomatoes)
• 1 cup diced onion
• ¾ cup uncooked rice
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 8 cups chopped Chinese cabbage*

Combine first four ingredients in the bottom of a 6-litre crockpot. Crumble in the ground beef. Add the cabbage. Stir. The liquid probably won’t reach the top at this point. Don’t worry. Turn the crockpot on high and let it run undisturbed for two hours. Stir. Continue on high for another hour. Stir. Turn down to low and cook for another two to three hours. That’s it.

* You can use ordinary cabbage, but the Chinese cabbage has a less chewy texture

rodelle gooey fudge brownies

(recipe courtesy and copyright Rodelle Inc.)

dessert, squares

I returned from my latest excursion to Costco with an industrial-sized container of Rodelle’s Gourmet Baking Cocoa. It had a recipe for brownies printed on the label, so I figured I’d try it. It was so good I’m passing it on.

• ½ pound butter
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons Rodelle Vanilla Extract
• ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon flour
• ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon Rodelle Cocoa Powder
• ¼ tablespoon salt
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray (I just used a non-stick pan). Melt butter and sugar in a heavy saucepan on very low heat. Let the mixture slightly cool and transfer to a large bowl (I just used the saucepan). Add eggs gradually, mixing well. Add Rodelle Vanilla Extract. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture, stirring gently and minimally. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into the pan (batter will be thin) and bake approximately 35 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool before cutting. Turn onto a surface and peel parchment paper off. Cut into squares and enjoy.

The recipe claims that it makes 12 servings but I think that must be a misprint since each serving would be roughly 3 x 3 inches. Trust me, they’re far too rich for that. I cut my batch into 24, which seemed reasonable.

Easy pizza pasta

main dish, pasta, slow cooker

Kids love to help out in the kitchen, and we all want our children to learn how to cook, but with today’s busy schedules finding the time to prepare meals together can be difficult. The slow cooker is a great solution to that problem. Not only is it easy to use but many meals require very little preparation time and while the food is cooking, you can be doing other things. The following recipe is simple enough that even the youngest can help. You and your kids can have this tasty and nutritious main course on the table in an hour, with only one pot to clean up.

• 1 lb box of rotini or other corkscrew pasta
• 3 cups (1 jar) of your favorite pasta sauce
• 6 oz of pepperoni slices
• 8 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese

Empty the dried pasta into a 6-quart slow cooker set to high. Cover it with boiling water, put on the slow cooker lid, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can follow the package directions and cook the pasta on the stove top.

Drain pasta into a colander. This needs to be done by the supervising parent as the pot is heavy and the water is hot. Rinse under the tap and return the pasta to the slow cooker.

Add pasta sauce and pepperoni to the crock pot and stir.

Cook on high for 30 minutes.

Spoon into serving dishes and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Makes 4-6 servings.

Easy southwest veggie dip

dip

I was out of dip for my veggies the other day, so I looked in the fridge to see if there was anything else I could use. Tried this combination and liked it so well I kept making it all week. As a bonus, it’s both cheaper and lower calorie than store-bought varieties. Good on corn chips, too.

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise style dressing (I use the light version)
• 1/3 cup tomato salsa (your choice of mild, medium or hot)

Stir together and serve. Keep unused portions refrigerated.

easy anytime bruschetta

snack

By keeping just four ingredients on hand, you can make bruschetta whenever you like.

• 1 Dempster’s OvenFresh baguette*
• 1 540-ml can Aylmer Accents petite cut stewed tomatoes, green pepper, celery & onion flavour
• grated parmesan
• black pepper

Strain the tomatoes—you can always use the juice for something else. Bake the baguette following the instructions on the package. Let cool.

Slice the baguette in quarter-inch slices. Do this on the diagonal if you want bigger pieces. Lay the pieces flat on a cookie sheet and pop under the broiler just until they begin to colour. Remove from broiler. Spoon tomatoes onto each slice. Sprinkle with parmesan and pepper and serve.

You can store them in the refrigerator for a short while, but they get soggy quickly.

*the rosemary and olive oil, or the roasted garlic flavours are especially good for this. Or you can use a regular baguette. I like the Dempster’s ones because I can keep them in the pantry rather than having to make a grocery run the day I want to make this—baguettes don’t stay fresh long.

main dish, meat, sandwich, slow cooker

Years ago we lived across the street from an Italian deli, and every once in a while we’d run across and grab a couple of meatball subs. My current neighbourhood doesn’t have anything like that and I miss those subs. So I decided to make a homemade version. While the sauce wasn’t as spicy as I remember (and I used spicy red pepper flavour), the subs were still good. You could always add a little cayenne or hot sauce.

• 10 large Italian style frozen uncooked meatballs*
• 2 submarine rolls
• 6 slices mozzarella cheese, cut in half
• 2/3 jar your favourite tomato-based pasta sauce

Grease slow cooker and add pasta sauce and frozen meatballs. Cook on high for four hours, stirring occasionally to separate the meatballs as they thaw.

Once meatballs are ready, slice open rolls and lay cut side up on a cookie sheet. Broil for a couple of minutes until they just start to brown. Remove from oven. Cover one side of roll with meatballs and ladle on sauce to taste. Add half of the cheese strips to each roll (two layers). Put back under broiler long enough to melt the cheese. Close up rolls and serve.

Serves 2

* you can use smaller ones, just figure out how many you’ll need to cover the roll. If using cooked meatballs, one hour in the slow cooker should be plenty.

citrus cream pudding

dessert, pudding

Here’s another recipe from The Whitehouse Cookbook by F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann (1887). It’s called “solid cream” in the cookbook, but I think my title’s more descriptive. I’ve cut the recipe in half because it still makes lots.

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• Juice and zest of half a lemon or one whole lime
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 2 cups whipping cream

Place sugar in a large bowl. Add citrus juice and zest and brandy, then stir in cream. Beat with a mixer until thick. It won’t really get stiff and glossy as it doesn’t have enough sugar (or any egg whites), but will stay thick in the fridge for several days. Serve in small dishes.

Makes 6-8 servings if you’re using it as a pudding. It also makes a nice filling for layer cakes, and would be good with fresh fruit or dolloped on mincemeat pie as well. Despite the cream, it doesn’t taste that rich, and has just a touch of tartness.

whitehouse cookbook meat sauce

condiments

I’m currently reading through The Whitehouse Cookbook, 1887, by F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann (Project Gutenberg) and there are actually quite a few recipes I mean to check out in it. This one was called “Sharp Brown Sauce.” Thinking that it might be something like HP Sauce, I gave it a try. It’s actually nothing like steak sauce, nor is it brown, but it is delicious. A bit like Catalina salad dressing, but not as acidic. I’ve served it with fried steak, pork chops, and oven-baked potato, and would definitely make it again.

• 1/4 pound butter
• 1 tablespoon flour*
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion (I left this out)
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3 ounces water
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• pepper and salt to taste

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. If you want the onions in, add them at this point and cook until soft. Stir in flour until blended, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Let boil until it thickens. Serve warm. Can be reheated.

Makes just under two cups

*I like Robin Hood’s Blending Flour for this—no risk of lumps

SPICY CARROT SOUP

slow cooker, soup

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• half of 650-ml jar butter chicken sauce*
• 8 cups coined carrots
• 8 cups chicken or vegetable bouillon
• 2 cups cooked lentils
• cayenne pepper to taste

In frying pan, cook onions in vegetable oil until soft. Stir in butter chicken sauce. Transfer to slow cooker and add carrots and bouillon. Cook on high several hours until carrots are cooked through. Cool. Puree. Add lentils. Reheat, and sprinkle a bit of cayenne over each serving.

*If you like it hotter, trade up to a spicier curry sauce, perhaps Madras or Vindaloo

curried carrot soup

soup

As I do most years, I recently bought 10-pound bags of potatoes, carrots, onions and beets at the local market. Here’s one of the recipes I’m making and freezing for later consumption. It has a very mild curry taste, but if you don’t care for curry, you can just leave it out, and sprinkle each serving with black pepper and a bit of celery salt instead.

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 8 cups coined carrots
• 8 cups beef bouillon*

In a frying pan over medium heat stir together oil and curry powder. Add onions and cook until they start to soften. Transfer contents to a large crock pot (you can do it in a large pot on the stove, but you’ll have to stir periodically). Add carrots and bouillon. Start with crock pot on high, but turn it down once it’s simmering well. Cook until carrots are soft (will take several hours). Cool.

Once the soup is cool, purée it. It can be served hot or cold. A dollop of yogurt or sour cream in each bowl is a nice addition.

*You can substitute vegetable bouillon if you’re looking for a vegetarian dish.

Pickled snow peas with dill

condiments, preserves, vegetables

Came across some fresh dill at the local market so dug out this recipe from my files and made a few jars of pickled snow peas—with the addition of baby carrots sliced in half lengthwise. Pint jars work best for this.

I first tasted these at a gourmet food store. The sample was delicious, but the pickles were over $9 for a small jar. So I took a recipe for regular dill pickles from a government pamphlet on canning (unfortunately I don’t still have it, so I can’t give credit) and adapted it to my needs. This is the result.

• 8 cups snow peas
• 3 ounces pickling salt
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar
• 4 1/2 cups water
• fresh dill
• garlic

Sterilize jars. Wash and trim snow peas. Mix salt, vinegar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place a sprig of dill and a split and peeled clove of garlic in the bottom of each jar. Pack with snow peas. Pour the hot brine over the peas to the brim of the jar. Seal the jars. Leave for at least a month before sampling. Refrigerate once opened.

Makes 7-8 pint jars

creamy old-fashioned buttermilk

beverages

I enjoy drinking buttermilk, finding its creamy tart flavour refreshing. Until recently that is, when my grocery store stopped carrying anything but a version with 0.25% butterfat. While that might be okay for baking, it’s thin and watery and not at all satisfactory as a beverage. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution.

• 1 litre 0.25% buttermilk
• 250 ml 10% cream

Combine the two in a large pitcher and let sit in the fridge overnight to give the bacterial culture in the buttermilk time to work. The result is thick and creamy, as it should be, while the fat content is just over that of two percent milk.

no pasta pasta dinner

gluten-free, main dish, pasta

If you’re cutting back on simple carbohydrates in your diet, or avoiding gluten, but are missing some of your favourite dishes, you might try this. I find the texture of the edamame, combined with the spaghetti sauce, satisfies my craving for pasta.

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup shelled edamame, fresh or frozen
• 1 cup carrots, sliced into coins
• 2 cups sliced mushroom (optional)
• 2 cooked sausages (I like Italian), sliced
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce

In a large frying pan, combine water, oil, vegetables and mushrooms. Stir over high heat until they come to a boil. Cover, and turn down to low. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove lid, turn heat back up to medium, stir in sausage and spaghetti sauce, and continue to stir until warmed through.

Serves 2

easy borscht

soup

I love the earthy taste of beets, and this recipe for borscht is one more reason to cook and freeze them in large quantities when they’re available. The recipe takes a while to make, though some of that is waiting time, but is quite simple.

• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 cups diced cooked beets
• sour cream to taste
• black pepper to taste

Combine stock and beets in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, continuing to stir. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, blend the beets and stock to desired consistency (anywhere from slightly chunky to pureed). An immersion blender works well for this, but you might want to cover your clothes with an apron first as beet juice tends to stain—speaking from experience here.

Reheat to serve, adding a dollop of sour cream to each bowl. Sprinkle with pepper. The soup is also good cold. I’m thinking a slice of lime floating on top would look sensational.

Serves 4

boiled salad dressing

condiments, salad dressing

I seem to be on a condiment kick at the moment. Having failed miserably at my past attempts to make mayonnaise, when I found a salad dressing recipe in Things Mother Used to Make by Lydia Maria Gurney (New York, 1914), available on Project Gutenberg, that didn’t involve tedious dripping of oil and holding your mouth just right, I figured I’d give it a try.

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• butter size of a walnut (I used a tablespoon of olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt (I left it out)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk

Put vinegar, water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl or cup, mix together sugar, flour, mustard and salt. Beat egg and milk together. Stir sugar mixture into egg mixture, then add slowly to vinegar mixture once it has come to a boil, stirring continuously. Continue to stir at a boil (lowering heat as necessary) until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and stir occasionally until steam stops rising. Pour into canning jar and refrigerate.

Makes about 2 cups.

The recipe does work, and did come out the consistency and texture of mayonnaise. It tastes a bit sharper and less creamy than I’d like, possibly because I was using 1% milk rather than whole milk.

nearly instant iced cappuccino

beverages

No, it doesn’t have the perfect texture of the ones at the fast-food restaurants, but you can make it in under five minutes without leaving the house.

• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (flavoured ones are nice, but regular is fine, too)
• sugar to taste
• 1 ounce hot water
• 6 ice cubes
• shot of canned whipped cream (optional)
• 6 ounces milk

Dissolve the coffee (and sugar, if you like it) in the hot water. Add to blender container along with the ice cubes and blend until ice is crushed. Pour in milk and give it one more quick zap. Serve in a glass with a straw and garnish with whipped cream if desired.

If you want a mocha flavour, you can either add a tablespoon of chocolate syrup (for making chocolate milk) to the coffee/hot water mix or add a shot of crème de cacao to the finished product.

Potato chip nachos

potatoes, snack

Had these at the Olde Dublin Pub in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, recently and knew I had to recreate them. If you want to make up your own plate, here’s what you need:

• 1 slice bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces
• 1 small bag thick-cut potato chips*
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup diced tomato
• 1/3 cup grated cheddar (mild or medium)
• salsa (to taste)

Spread enough chips to cover on a Royal Chinet dinner plate. Cover with the cheese. Microwave until cheese melts—this takes less than a minute even in my old and low-powered microwave so watch carefully. Sprinkle bacon bits, tomato and onion over top. Add as little or as much salsa as you like. You can also serve with sour cream on the side.

Serves one

This recipe can be multiplied—buy a bigger bag of chips. If you’re feeding more than one and don’t mind sharing a dish, then it’s quicker and easier to do in the oven. Instead of a paper plate, use a pizza pan, covered with foil and greased. Preheat oven to 300°F, then pop in pan. Should take three or four minutes to melt the cheese.

*pretty sure the restaurant made their own potato chips on the premises. Seems to be a PEI specialty. But I don’t own a deep fryer and that’s far too much work.

Definitely not quick, but it is easy.

• 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced (2 to 2 1/4 cups)
• 1 small hot pepper, diced, seeds removed (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 ounces white vinegar
• 1 ounce balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon flour

Place tomatoes, pepper and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the skin comes off the tomato pieces and rolls up into tubes (at least 30 minutes). Remove from heat and cool.

Put contents through a sieve, using a spoon to force through the pulp, and discarding skins and seeds. Return to saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients, except flour. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Gradually stir in the flour, as if you were making gravy. Continue to cook until mixture thickens somewhat (at least 15 minutes). Turn off heat but leave saucepan on stove and continue stirring until mixture stops steaming. Cool and refrigerate.

Makes 1 cup

If your tomatoes are only producing a few at a time, this is a good way to use them up.

oatmeal bread

bread

Based on a recipe from Things Mother Used to Make by Lydia Maria Gurney, New York, 1914, which you can find on Project Gutenberg. My version has been modernized.

• 2 cups quick (not instant) rolled oats
• 3 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 6 1/2 cups flour (approximate)

Combine oats, water, molasses and salt in a large bowl and let cool. Sprinkle yeast over top and stir, then start adding the flour gradually, until it forms a stiff dough. You can begin by stirring but you will have to knead the dough to get the last few cups in. Let it rise until double, punch down and divide into two loaves. Place in pans and let rise again. Bake in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when knocked. It will look brown from the beginning, thanks to the molasses, so don’t rely on that to tell when it is cooked.

homemade butterbeer

beverages

When I first published this back in 2014, I thought it would go viral and make me famous. After all, who doesn’t want butterbeer? Didn’t happen, but I still think it’s a good recipe.

We did the Warner Brothers London Making of Harry Potter studio tour last year and, of course, had to sample the butterbeer. So when I ended up back home with two souvenir mugs, naturally I wanted to be able to refill them. I tried several of the online recipes, but none of them seemed quite right or were too complicated. This one is dead easy, and if you use whipping cream from a spray can (in which case, just pour the syrup over it) it’s even easier.

This doesn’t look like the official Butterbeer we had at Warner Brothers in London, as it’s clear rather than amber, but the taste is a pretty good approximation. Some of the online recipes call for cream soda, but it seemed to me there was a lemony undertaste, so I like the Sprite in it.

• 15 ounces Sprite
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 4 pumps (one ounce) Torani Butter Rum Syrup, divided
• 2 Butterbeer souvenir mugs or any glass that will hold at least 8 ounces

In blender (Magic Bullet is great for this), combine whipping cream and 1/2 ounce (two pumps) of Torani syrup. Pulse until cream is whipped, about 30 seconds. Put one pump of syrup into each glass. Fill up with Sprite and top with whipped cream. If you prefer the whipped cream spread through the mixture, place it in the bottom before adding the syrup.

Serves 2

lazy woman’s grilled cheese sandwich

sandwich

• bread
• slices of cheddar or mozzarella cheese
• pre-cooked bacon (optional)

For each sandwich, toast two slices of bread. Cover one slice with cheese, and bacon if desired. Add the second slice and microwave until the cheese starts to melt. That’s about 20 seconds in my current microwave.

If you’re watching fat, calories, or cholesterol, you can use a low-fat cheddar such as Allegra (it has 4% milk fat) in this, and it will taste just fine. Because the bread isn’t buttered, it’s already lower in calories than a standard grilled cheese.

Serve with ketchup and a dill pickle slice. Or you can add a tablespoon of salsa on top of the cheese before you microwave the sandwich.

cream of mushroom soup

soup

• 1 pound {2 packages) white mushrooms
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic (optional)
• 2 cups brown gravy (I use a powdered mix)
• 2 cups milk or light cream

Wash and slice mushrooms. In a pot that will hold at least 8 cups, melt butter over low heat, and add Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar and garlic. Turn heat up to medium and add the mushrooms. Cook down until tender, stirring occasionally (could take 20-30 minutes). Stir in gravy.

Remove pot from heat and allow to cool. Blend the contents—an immersion or stick blender is best for this as you can do it right in the pot. Add milk. Reheat to serve. It will look quite a bit darker than canned mushroom soup, and has much more mushroom in it. You can serve it over toast if you like.

Makes 6 or so cups.

While this recipe is a little time-consuming, it’s very easy and quite tasty.

butterscotch pecan squares

dessert, squares

One of my cousins had posted a link to a recipe for making cookies from cake mix. I tried it and it worked, but since it wasn’t my recipe and was already all over the internet (google “cake mix cookies” if you want to try it) there didn’t seem much point in reposting it here. So I experimented a little and came up with this recipe for squares instead. You can make them as drop cookies if you prefer (you’ll have to adjust the cooking time down dramatically) but squares are much less work.

• 1/2 cup margarine, melted*
• 1 15-ounce (432 gram) butter pecan cake mix
• 1 cup pecan pieces
• 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9- x 9-inch square pan.

In large microwaveable bowl, melt margarine. Stir in cake mix and nuts. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Spoon into pan.

Bake for 30 minutes.

*To really up the butterscotch flavour, use brown butter instead of margarine.

emergency chocolate

candy

For those occasions when you really need a piece of dark chocolate, but there’s none in the house and the weather’s too nasty to go out in. Works even better if you can substitute coconut oil for the butter.

• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter

Combine cocoa and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa sugar mixture. Pour onto foil or waxed paper and freeze until set.

Makes one or two doses, depending on severity of emergency.

diy cat toy: refurbished feather wand

arts and crafts, pets

 I was in a pet store once looking for more of those sparkly balls my cat loves to lose under the furniture when I saw the most amazing feather wand. It had two black, iridescent feathers and two long thin strips of feather boa in bright colours attached to it. What cat could resist?

Mine, apparently. While she loved the rustling noise the black feathers made if I rubbed the wand across the floor or walls or under furniture, the dangly bits didn’t interest her at all. So when one of the feathers broke and I decided to repair it, I threw out the dangly bits and used more feathers instead. She loves the new version, though I have to repair it every other week or so as the feathers get broken in play.

• 5 or 6 feathers
• Flexible stick, 2 feet or so in length
• Duct tape

Cut off a strip of duct tape four or five inches in length. Lay the bottoms of the feathers side by side at one end. Wrap feathers and tape around end of stick. Squash tape together at non-feather end for close fit.

It works better if one of the feathers is stiff—a crow feather, for example—so it makes an intriguing rustling noise when you rub it across the floor.

You should be able to find feathers and duct tape at your local dollar store. As for the stick, if you don’t have an existing feather wand to repair you can use an actual stick, though you want one that’s somewhat springy.

sweet mustard

condiments

• 8 tablespoons mustard powder
• 1 tablespoon Club House barbecue chicken seasoning (optional)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons vinegar

Combine dry ingredients in sauce pan and stir. Add water and vinegar. Place on stove at medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer five minutes, turning heat down if necessary. Pour into sterilized one-cup canning jar. Let cool and refrigerate.

You can add a couple of tablespoons of mustard seed before cooking if you like the look and texture.

My goodness my guinness beEr bread

bread

• 4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped dates
• 3/4 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1 440-ml (14-ounce) can Guinness

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the beer and stir until mixed. It will be tough going towards the end. Spoon into large greased loaf pan and press down to make sure all the corners are filled—you might want to grease your hands first so the dough doesn’t stick.

Bake for 50 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when you knock on it. Remove from pan immediately and let cool.

If you prefer a less rustic-looking loaf, you can knead the dough before putting it into the pan.

If you prefer a softer crust, brush melted butter over the top once the bread has been removed from the oven.

Serving suggestion: Slather with cream cheese, or serve with soup or as part of a ploughman’s lunch.

gumdrop loaf

bread, dessert

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup baking gums*

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Add vegetable oil and milk. Break egg into a small cup and beat with a fork, just until yolk and white are combined. Add to the bowl, along with the vanilla. Stir until batter is smooth. Add baking gums and stir again until they’re evenly distributed.

Pour batter into a large greased loaf pan. Bake in the centre of the oven until a cake tester comes out clean (about an hour). Let cool, then slice and serve.

*These are not the same as the gumdrops you eat. They’re smaller, harder, and generally found in the baking section of the bulk store.

aloha granola bars

dessert, snack, squares

• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 3 cups Aloha Granola (recipe immediately below)

Thoroughly grease an 8- x 8-inch square pan. In a medium to large pot, on low, melt margarine. Stir in peanut butter. Add marshmallows and continue to stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the granola. Press into pan and let cool. Cut into squares or bars, as you prefer.

aloha granola

breakfast, cereal

• 7 cups quick (not instant) oatmeal
• 1 cup white sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried pineapple tidbits
• 1 cup diced coconut

Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Spread out on a large cookie sheet and place in oven. Turn oven to 225°F. Leave oatmeal mixture in oven for two hours, then turn oven off and leave for one more hour.

Return oatmeal mixture to bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Place in a storage container.

Makes 11 cups

Note: You can substitute any vegetable oil for the coconut oil. If you have an allergy to nuts, you can substitute another cup of oatmeal for the sesame seeds. Otherwise, they not only give good flavour, they’re a good source of several vitamins and minerals and add protein.

This recipe can easily be made by any child old enough to turn the oven on and off. The pan may still be warm when removed, so oven mitts should be used.

Beets dressed with butter and vinegar

vegetables

• 1 ½ cups diced cooked beets (see below)
• 1 heaping tablespoon butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar

Melt the butter in a saucepan on low. Add the vinegar and beets and turn the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

Serves three to four.

Cooked Beets

vegetables

Cooking beets is messy and time-consuming. That’s why I like to buy a 10-pound bag when they go on sale in the fall and prepare them all at once. They freeze beautifully and I pull out what I need when I want to make the recipe above or perhaps some borscht.

Cut the leaves and stems, if any, off the beets. If the leaves are nice and fresh, they can be cooked like spinach. Otherwise compost them. Place the beets, dirt, roots and all, in a large pot and cover with water. Boil for an hour or until you can easily stick a fork into them, stirring occasionally. Drain and let cool.

Once they’re cool enough to handle, cut off the tops and bottoms and remove their jackets. You should be able to remove most of the skin with your fingers, but use a paring knife where needed. Cut into dice and put in small freezer bags to freeze.

Slow cooker lentil soup

slow cooker, soup, vegetables

• 4 tablespoons Cyrches dehydrated chicken bouillon (or as much of your preferred brand as will make up 3 1/2 quarts. I like Cyrches because it’s low sodium)
• 1 quart boiling water
• 4 tablespoons Spice-a-Rice pilaf liquid seasoning (or just substitute 2 more tablespoons bouillon and 2 tablespoons curry powder)
• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 3 cups split red lentils (add 1/2 cup more if you prefer a thick soup)
• 4 cups frozen vegetables for spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 pound ham steak, diced (optional)

Place dehydrated chicken bouillon in bottom of 6-quart crock pot. Add boiling water and stir. Add Spice-a-Rice seasoning and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir once more. Cook for at least 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Makes 5-6 quarts.

Tastes even better the second day. My husband likes to add hot sauce to his. Freezes well. If you leave out the ham, this dish is vegetarian, as neither the chicken bouillon or the Spice-a-Rice actually contain animal products.

The inspiration for this recipe came from an 1884 cookbook I found on Project Gutenberg, called Fifty Soups, by Thomas J. Murrey. I give it here, in case you want to make it the old-fashioned way.

“Lentil Soup.—Lentils are very nutritious, and form the basis of a most excellent soup; but they are little used in American cookery. Soak a pint of dry lentils for two hours; put them in a saucepan; add two quarts of cold water, half an onion, two or three celery tops, salt, whole peppers, and two or three ounces of the small end of a ham. Boil gently for three hours; add a little more hot water, if the quantity has been reduced by boiling, pour through a sieve, remove the ham, onion and celery; rub the lentils through a sieve, return to the soup; whisk it thoroughly; taste for seasoning, and serve with croutons.”

B52 milkshake

beverages

We once ended a multi-day hiking trip at a resort, after several hours jogging through woods while fending off mosquitoes. While our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, we were able to shower and change at their fitness centre and then headed to the lounge chairs by the pool. The waiter recommended the B52 milkshakes and he wasn’t wrong. This is my recreation of the recipe.

• 1 ounce Kahlua
• 1 ounce Baileys
• 1 ounce Grand Marnier
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream

Combine first three ingredients in blender. Add ice cream and hit the frappé button. Pour into glasses and serve with straws.

Makes two.

irish soda bread

bread

• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 ounces buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425°F. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and combine with a fork. Then grease your hands with butter and knead a few strokes. Press into an 8-inch round cake pan (greased and floured if it isn’t non-stick). Slash the top in the shape of a cross.

Bake for 30 minutes covered (an upside-down pie plate works well) and another 15 minutes uncovered. Cut into slices or wedges and serve warm with butter. This bread stales quickly, so should be eaten within 24 hours.

Mom’s meatloaf

main dish, meat

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 hash brown patties, thawed and crumbled
• 1 10-ounce can vegetable soup
• dash Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour a loaf pan. In a bowl, combine all ingredients until mixed well, then spoon into pan and smooth top. Bake for one hour.

Serving suggestion: Place a couple of slices of melted cheese on top once you remove meatloaf from oven and let them melt before serving. You can add 1/2 cup diced onion to the other ingredients before cooking if you like.

With the exception of the hash browns, which are my addition, this is how my mom taught me to cook meatloaf. It takes very little processing time and uses ingredients I generally have on hand.

Philly steak light

main dish, meat, sandwich

• 1 recipe sodium nitrate-free beef (immediately below)*
• 4 10-inch baguettes or other rolls
• 1 tub spreadable light cream cheese
• HP or other “brown” sauce

Spread cream cheese on bottom of rolls, cover with beef slices. Add brown sauce to taste. Cover with tops of rolls, cut in half and serve. These have less fat than the Philly steak sandwiches served in most restaurants but are still delicious.

They’re even more delicious with mushrooms fried in butter on top, but I’m not going to pretend that’s healthy.

Makes 8 but you’ll probably eat 2 apiece—at least we always do!

*If you don’t want to make this, you can substitute fried minute steaks, but that will up the fat content.

Sodium nitrate-free beef for sandwiches

meat

• 1 350-gram (approximately 12-ounces) package frozen sliced beef for Chinese fondue, thawed
• Seasonings to taste (flavoured olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, herbs…)

Heat oven to 250°F. Place a silicon liner on a cookie sheet. Place a single layer of beef slices on top of the liner and sprinkle seasonings, if desired, over top. Bake for 11 minutes. Cool enough to handle and remove from sheet. Repeat until all the beef has been cooked.

Makes enough for four 10-inch baguettes or other rolls.

No sodium of any kind except what occurs naturally in the beef, so a good choice if you’re watching your salt intake.

EASY SPANISH RICE

rice, side dish

• 1 recipe plain boiled rice (immediately below)
• 1 cup of salsa

Prepare one recipe plain boiled rice. Stir in salsa. That’s it—it’s ready to serve.

Makes four side dish servings, two main dish servings.

Serving suggestions:

• Cook two or three frozen meatballs per person along with the rice to make this a main dish
• Add frozen corn or other veg while cooking
• Add crumbled feta and bacon bits

PLAIN BOILED RICE

rice, side dish

Why am I posting such a basic recipe? It may not be to some people. I grew up on Minute Rice and it wasn’t until I was in my 20s and someone taught me how to cook “real” rice that I discovered it wasn’t the time-consuming and complicated process I’d always assumed. If you’re only making a couple of servings, it shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes and you can be doing something else for most of that time.

Rice freezes very well. If I’m not in a hurry, I make a large pot up (more time consuming because it takes longer for the water to come to a boil) and then once it’s cooled down, I package it in Ziploc bags and store them in the freezer for future use.

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 2 cups water
• few drops cooking oil

Combine rice, water and oil in a pot and cook uncovered on high, stirring occasionally, until the water reaches the boiling point. Cover the pot, turn the stove down to low, and continue to cook for another 20 minutes (check your package—some rice takes longer). Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes before fluffing with a fork.

Makes two servings. Recipe can be multiplied if you need more.

Flavour suggestions

• Add butter and parsley during the fluffing process
• Cook the rice in chicken or beef stock rather than water
• Add the zest of one lemon and a couple of slices of lemon to the pot while cooking

Makes 8 generous servings.

* For a creamier pudding, substitute a pint of whipping cream for half of the milk.