brownies :o)

I still chuckle when I think of the following brownie recipe. Mary found it in some paper when she was in London. It had something to do with Mental Health Awareness Week and it said something like 'make brownies for your depressed friend' or something, way to make someone fat and even more depressed! I can't remember exactly, but whatever it was, it was hilariously inappropriate. Nevertheless, it is an awesome recipe! I just made it the other day but it didn't turn out as I remember, perhaps Canadian cocoa isn't as chocolaty as the Polish one, but just give it a taste and add the necessary cocoa so that it has that deep bitter chocolate flavour! The best part of this is that it makes 1 dirty pot and no time at all.

Mental Awareness Brownies

1.  115 g plain flour
2. 5 tbsp cocoa powder (add a couple more for sure!)
3. 280 g caster sugar (a little less doesn't hurt)
4. 2 eggs, beaten (if you want to wash that extra bowl)
5. 115 g melted butter (I just leave it in a metal measuring cup and melt in directly on the stove or cooker as mom says :o))
6. 1 tsp vanilla essence or package of vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a 8x8-12 inch cake tin or whatever you can find.
Mix flour, cocoa and sugar together.
Add the eggs and give it a quick stir.
Add in the melted butter and vanilla and mix it until smooth.
Pour into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, 25 if you want them nice and gooey. Scrummy with ice cream!



For the next recipe, it's Nigella all the way, this is when you want to impress. I once made these brownies for Fredrik when he came over to Toronto from Sweden for the weekend once (I'm blushing), and he's still around :o)... It's perhaps not the simplest nor cheapest recipe, but it's worth the hassle!

Nigella's Flourless Chocolate Brownies

1. 225 g dark chocolate
2. 225 g butter
3. 2 tsp vanilla extract or a bag of vanilla sugar
4. 200 g caster sugar
5. 3 eggs, beaten
6. 150 g ground almonds
7. 100 g chopped walnuts (optional) 

• Preheat oven to 170C/fan.
• Grease a 24cm square tin.
• Melt the chocolate and butter over low heat.
• Once melted, take off the heat and mix in the vanilla and sugar and leave to cool.
• Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture making sure that it is cool enough so that the eggs don't scramble.
• Add the ground almonds and chopped walnuts.
• Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.

If you're feeling especially chocolately inclined, you can opt for a sauce:

1.  75 g dark chocolate
2. 125 ml double cream
3. 2 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp water
4. 1 tbsp golden syrup

Dump everything into a pan and melt over gentle heat. Pour into a small pitcher and serve with ice cream and brownies.

cheesecakes and the like

Before I get to some more savoury stuff, thought I should really post the link for the cheesecake I made in Kurozweki with white cheese and raspberries. Perhaps it's not as creamy as your typical North American heart attack cake but it was definitely good enough for seconds. I used the recipe from BBC Good Food and didn't change anything. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3842/baked-raspberry-cheesecake. It's just as good with frozen raspberries or blueberries or whatever is growing in the garden.

For the next recipe, it's perhaps not my favourite but it's still perfectly palatable and makes for a great platter to bring to a party, or with some ice cream or a cup of coffee.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

1. 125 g butter
2. 125 g dark chocolate
3. 200 g soft brown sugar
4. 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
5. 50 g plain flour
6. 50 g cocoa powder
7. 1/4 tsp baking powder (a little more can't hurt)
8. 150 g cream cheese (get light)
9. 50 g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 160C/fan. Grease 18cm square baking pan.
Place butter and chocolate in a small pan and melt gently. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes then briskly whisk in the eggs.
Add the flour, cocoa and baking powder to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth.
Pour into the greased tin.
In a bowl, beat the cheese with the sugar and randomly spoon it over the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the cream cheese into the chocolate creating a marble effect.
Bake for 35-40 mins or until the edges look crispy.
Leave to cool, cut into squares and enjoy!

post-op day #1 & some sticky treats

¡Hola! Hmmm, lying my favourite couch all doped up after yesterday's hernia operation, both sides at once is a little viscious, but I am really enjoying my time off :o) Can't say I have too much appetite with all those pills schwimming around my stomach, and the thought of food makes me a little nauseous, so I don't feel too enthusiastic ooo-ing and aaah-ing about culinary delights at the moment but I can't pass by this opportunity to post more fattening recipes... hehehe!

For the first restipe, I thought I absolutely must post a recipe for millionaire's shortbread, it's perfect for parties! The first time I ever had this was in boarding school, probably the only edible things they had there. I know I have eyeballed it a couple times at Boots since then, but once I have read the ingredients and calorie count, I definitely rather go buy a bag of carrots!


Preaheat ovent to 180C/fan.
Grease a 18cm square pan, make sure it's at least 4cm deep. Put together in a bowl: (or save your time and shove it all in the Vorwerk for a couple secs)

1. 225 g plain flour
2. 75 g caster sugar sugar
3. 150 g cold unsalted butter, diced

Mix the 3 ingredients together and rub in the butter until it forms breadcrumbs, and then work it further until it forms a dough.  Press the dough evenly into the greased pan and prick it all over with a fork. Bake it for 25 mins or until golden. Leave it to cool in the tin.

In a small saucepan, (hahaha, I've started pronouncing 'sauce' like Mr T, he calls ketchup 'soss'! Hehe, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, Paul was just the same as a kid!), combine:

1. 100 g unsalted butter
2. 100g g dark soft brown/muscovado sugar

Once melted, add:

1. 2 tbsp golden syrup
2. 397 g can sweetened condensed milk

Keep stirring until the mixture comes to boil, then cook for 5 minutes mixing all the time. Remove from the heat and stir in a few drops of vanilla essence or vanilla sugar. Spread over the shortbread base. Put in the fridge to cool completely.

Melt 200 g dark chocolate over low heat. You may add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to this or I preferred to add a little cream.
Spread it over the cooled toffee and put back in the fridge until set. You might want to score out the pieces in the chocolate before it is completely set in order to facilitate cutting it later.

back from the dead with bison day and fondue chinoise

As a kid, I often wondered why on earth did Quebequers name Shepherd's Pie, 'Pâté Chinois'. What does China have to do with minced meat topped with corn and potatoes? Whatever the reason, it did no preclude me from having Ketchup with it for my birthday whenever I could. (Lucky me, I didn't "have my birthday in a tent every year"... guess who that quote is from?).
Anyways, so after a very kind sibling gifted us a fondue set for Christmas, 'Fondue Chionoise' was on the menu tonight. Not having eaten this since the Berneval days, I had no idea how to make the broth so I looked it up. I found: Fondue Chinoise au Caribou. How absurd. I'm sure caribou is number one delicacy in China; welcome to Quebecois logic (trust me, there's not much of it around here, starting with the language, health care system.... enough said.)!
So anyways, point two of this blog is that it has been a truly 'bison day' today and I was thinking that Fondue Chinoise au Bison (nooo, tak, ale co to ma byc????), would not be such a bad idea at all on the menu. After Fredrik went beserk over our pets (those silly awful moths that live in the flour - thanks to our sourdough attempts we had tons of organic flour in the kitchen and I guess a moth farm too) and searched every website on how to exterminate them, we ended up buying tea-tree oil at some funky flower power shop where the lady in front of us was buying nothing else than bison meat. I love the way I feel so chuffed when people eat bison, as if I was a bison meat authority....
So yeah, along the way, for some reason we thought we would make fondue tonight, and as we were hunting for the meat, we came across bison meat for fondue. And blah blah blah blah blah I started talking a hole though Fredrik's head on how bison fondue would be the bestest idea in Kurozweki. Anyways, so we bought some sensibly priced beef and made our way home.
We cleaned the flat from top to bottom, washed the whole kitchen with tea-tree oil and Domestos, really making sure to deaded those bugs and started cooking dinner. I always laugh when I hear about tea-tree oil, remembering the massive variety of Malaleuca products we had in the States, they were the best to make magic potion!
So in the end, we sat down to dinner on the couch and watched our precious weekly episode of 'Chopped'. It's a program where four chefs have 20 or 30 minutes to make up a course using 4 'mystery ingredients'. Usually it's nasty stuff like squid, urchins, violet mustard or candy cane. The chefs have to cook an appetiser, entrée and desert within the time limit and as one person is eliminated every round, with the last person winning 10 grand. So anyways, tonight, one of the mystery ingredients was bison, again, officially a bison day!

So, ergo, before I forget, I thought I would share the recipe I used for the fondue tonight. The broth was a little spicy to eat like soup but the meat turned out bestestest and flavourful.

1. Start boiling around a liter of water. Add a couple beef stock cubes to it.
2. Chop up an onion and gently fry it in some vegetable oil.
3. While the onion is sizzling, pound on a few cloves of garlic, chop them up quickly and dump them in with the onions.
4. If you have a few carrots or celery or celery root lying around, peel it/some, cut it into chunks and add it to the onions and stir it all around.
5. Throw in some chili flakes, salt, pepper and some bay leaves.
6. Pour in 1/2 cup red or white wine (I think white is better if it's spicy) and boil it for a couple minutes.
7. Once the alcohol has evaporated, pour in the broth and let it simmer for half an hour or till whenever dinner is ready.
8. I added some spring onion later on, it adds a nice crisp fresh flavour that compliments the white wine.

The beef turned out nice and juicy with a good spicy kick. But then the bestest part were the dipping sauces. I had been planning to make a horseradish sauce but realised that there wasn't any in the fridge, shame on me, I must have had 5 jars of it in the flat in the Krak... so I made the Dijon mustard sauce from this website: http://www.gofondue.com/fondue_dipping_sauces.htm There are tons of good dipping sauce recipes on that page.

Also really tasty was a Curry-Mayo dip: 

• 1/2 c mayo
• 1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• garlic and onion powder to taste
• salt and pepper

So, it was definitely a success. We had millionaire shortbread for desert.... will post that restipe tomorrow if I have the time :o).

chocolate extravaganza - flourless chocolate cake with fudge

So, as you see, I have entered phase two of residency - from: I had time to sleep in phase one, to a wonderful year off, to: I have no life at all. Yeah, so it sucks, big time. Fair enough, it's a job, and one has to work to live, however, I could do without a lot of the extra comments, provided free of charge too! I won't get started on the joys of being a foreign medical graduate, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies... well, actually I would! mahahahahaa!

Anyways, so I had a day off today. I had planned to cook a Sunday dinner after a good jog and having cleaned the house of course. How many ticks did I put next to that list? None. So am back in 'my' couch munching on some scrummy guacamole and sipping beer :o) Fredrik is watching some movie, but for those who know me, making me watch a movie is like making a kid sit down to dinner to eat liver - it just doesn't tickle my pickle.

Moving on swiftly, I made the following cake a couple weeks ago and was truly impressed with this restipe. Only quid quo pro is that an army is required for the eating.


Flourless Chocolate Cake

For the cake:

• 315g dark chocolate
• 185g unsalted butter
• 5 large egg yolks
• 50g + 2tbsp white sugar
• 1tbsp dark rum and/or 1tbsp instant coffee powder, or brewed espresso
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• 3 large egg whites

 For the fudge glaze:

• 125g butter
• 250g dark chocolate
• 2tbsp light corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 150C.
2. Grease 20cm round spring form and dust with cocoa powder - put it in fridge.
3. Combine the butter and chocolate in a heavy pan and melt, whisk until well blended - set aside to cool.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the 50g of sugar, rum/coffee (I used both and it tasted fab!), vanilla and salt until it turns white and fluffy.
5. Gradually pour the cooled chocolate into the egg yolk mixture and beat until well blended.
6. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, add the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar and beat until firm peaks form.
7. Fold the eggs whites into the chocolate mixture, half at the time, until no streaks remain.
8. Pour the batter into the cake tin and cook for around 35 minutes. It should be very moist, but not liquid.
9. Let it cool for 30 minutes before demoulding it. The put it in the fridge to cool.
10. Make sure the cake is cold before starting the glaze otherwise it will slide right off the cake.
11. For the glaze, combine the chocolate and butter and melt gently.
12. Remove from the heat and mix in the corn syrup.
13. Pour the glaze onto the middle of the cake and let it spill over the sides.
14. Put the whole thing in the fridge until ready to serve.
15. You can decorate with mint leaves and/or  make a raspberry sauce - boil up some raspberries with some sugar and then put it through a strainer... enjoy!

no flour needed - oatmeal cookies

I'm not feeling particularly long winded this morning... I spent the whole week at some funny introduction to Medicine in Canada/Quebec, conclusion: I really missed the kitchen! I had a day off yesterday so I baked and baked all day, finishing off the cookie dough this morning. Not a bad idea, fresh cinnamon raisin oatmeal cookies for breakfast :o) I really like this recipe as it uses ground oats as flour and ultimately, the cookies are light and soft.

Oatmeal Cookies

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence/ bunch of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp cinnamon (depends on how much cinnamon taste you want)
• 2 cups raisins
• if you wish, skip the cinnamon and add chocolate chips instead of raisins

1. Preheat oven to 300F/150C.
2. In a blender, grind 2 cups of the oats into flour - set aside in a bowl. To these ground oats, add the remaining cup of intact oats, the salt, cinnamon and baking soda and give it a stir.
3. Cream the butter with the sugar, add vanilla and eggs one at the time, mixing until white and creamy.
4. Add the oat mixture to this and beat until well incorporated.
5. Mix in the raisins by hand.
6. Bake on parchment lined cookie trays for 13-15 mins.

peeny butter cookies!! chump chump chump

I really should be at the gym right now, so this is going to be muy rapido.
I bought a recipe magazine full of really nice looking barbecued stuff this morning, can't wait to try them out while in Kurozweki, in just 2 weeks time :o) For some funny reason I am craving oatmeal and raisin cookies, and as I was looking for that recipe, I came across this bestest one for peanut butter cookies, they rock!! Well perhaps not if you are watching your waist line.


Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, doesn't matter)
• 1 cup butter, haha, yes, more butter!
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla or bunch of vanilla sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour

1. Preheat oven to 190C
2. Beat butter and peanut butter until combined.
3. Add sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until nice and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at the time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Add vanilla
6. Beat in as much flour as you can, but the mixture will become very heavy and will choke your mixer, so add the remaining flour by hand.
7. Drop batter onto baking paper-lined cookie sheets.
8. With a fork, press down on the dough at right angles in order to make some sort of grid pattern characteristic of PB cookies.
9. Bake 9-11 mins.

scrummy stuff - asian lettuce wraps

Fredrik and I have a really silly running joke that doctors are the ones to run to for IT questions, especially for engineers, if docs don't know, run to the hairdresser, she knows everything! So anyways, somehow, Fredrik, an engineer managed to sort out this RSS link, it's a million times better than the blog layout - it's actually possible to follow the recipe, click on http://popielzoo.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss.

Busy watching George interviewing K'naan, cool guy, inspiring story. Love the song 'Waving Flag'! The funniest song was on the radio last night, a Habs version of Lady Gaga, cracks me up!! You can download it from here: http://montreal.virginradio.ca/blogs/39/posts/464.

Anyways, I won't linger around the house too much today... the sun is shining and I'm hoping to meet up with Steph and Alain and their kids at the Biodome :o) For the 411, we went out of Salvadorian food last night, so tasty, yet so simple, looking forward to going again, definitely recommend it. Oh, and Fredrik and I went to the 24hr market last night, only in Montreal! - not too sure where they get their produce from, blueberries and strawberries and 2 mangos for 1$.... cool stuff! So I just had the bestest blueberry and strawberry cereals, with almond milk actually; it's cheaper than soy milk and tastes just as good as the cow-produced stuff, minus the antibiotics. Also in the shopping basket, we landed some of that white creamy clove honey so when we got home we had sticky salty butter and honey sandwiches :o) We also drove past my new 'home', the Montreal Jewish Hospital, best one in town... but still very daunting %-).

So, the next restipy has become a favourite here, it's an asiatic (is that PC?) version of fajitas from allrecipes.com, with lettuce leaves instead of cornflour wraps stuffed with juicy minced meat, chop suey, grated carrots, those see-through thin rice noodles, snow peas and peanut sauce.

Lettuce Wraps

•  Boston or romaine lettuce leaves
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 c hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp minced pickled ginger
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• some form of chili sauce/flakes if you want it really spicy
• 1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 tsp sesame oil

1. Rinse the lettuce leaves, spin and leave to dry.
2. You might want to grate some carrot, rince the chop suey, chop the snow peas and get a steamer ready, also boil some water for the rice noodles, others like to eat it with rice...
3. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce (optional) to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
4. Wrap the lettuce around the meat and stuff like a burrito, and enjoy!

deserts galore - enjoy

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Well, I should really start focusing on finding some thrifty healthy student recipes but as I was going through the recipes I had typed up from cookbooks at home, I realised that there are quite a few that I haven't posted yet, so I figured I might as well do it now,  as once I start work, it will be the beginning of not having a life.  Having issues with the fonts and formatting on this again, don't have the patience to try and sort it out - sorry!

For the next recipe, it's a Christmas special: peeling and shooting almonds, trays of drying almonds everywhere and icing the famous x-mas cake with it - good ol' marzipan!

Marzipan

• 200 g ground almonds
• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp almond essence 

 Mix everything together and if it doesn’t stick, add a little milk.

Next, is the never-fail indispensable recipe for quatre-quarts, perfect for birthday cakes, cupcakes and just plain tea-cake. My favourite thing to do with it is to make ice-cream cone cakes - use flat-bottomed ice-cream cones instead of muffin papers and top with colourful icing and lots of sprinkles.

Quatre Quarts

• 300 g butter
• 300 g sugar
• 4 eggs (5 if small)
• 300 g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder 

Beat sugar and butter till whitish.
Add eggs one by one mixing well after each addition. Mixture should be light and fluffy.
Add flour and baking powder.
Bake in greased and floured mold at 175 C for 45 minutes.

For buttercream icing, combine: 1lb icing sugar, 1/2c butter, 1tsp vanilla extract and 3tbsp milk. Whip it up and if too stiff, add more milk.

Apple crumble. You can't be born in a Popiel household and not have enjoyed it through the Fall! It's the bestest piping hot with vanilla ice-cream.

Apple Crumble

• apples
• cinnamon
• 1 c flour
• 1/4 c butter
• 1/3 c sugar

Cut the apples and put a little sugar on top if they are very sour. Add raisins and oatmeal if wanted.
Mix sugar and flour and run in the butter with fingertips.
Alternatively, for the topping, in a bowl, combine: 1c oatmeal, 1/2c packed brown sugar, 1/3c flour and 1 pinch nutmeg. Drizzle with 1/3c melted butter and mix until well incorporated. Place over the apples.

Ok, hope you have a KitchenAid for the next recipe because you don't want to stand there forever whipping up 14 eggs. I don't think I ever plan to make this cake but it usually comes about around Christmas in order to salvage all the yolks left over from the marzipan making. Make sure to make it well in advance and even ice it the day before as it gets better with time! Thank you Côte d'Or for this recipe.

Tarte au Chocolat Maison

• 6 eggs
• 8 egg yolks
• 300 g white sugar
• 250 g cacao powder
• 400 g dark chocolate
• 1L whipping cream

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Mix the sugar with the eggs until it becomes white and fluffy – don’t attempt this unless you have a machine and patience.
Sift the cacao and the flour together and fold them into the eggs.
Pour into a greased and floured mould (at least 25cm diameter) and cook for 20-40 mins, depends on the size of the mould – beware this cake is huge.
Melt the chocolate and 0.5 L of the cream- leave to cool.
Whip the remaining cream and fold into the chocolate mixture - ! make sure the chocolate mixture is cool or else it will melt the whipped cream.
Cut the cake into 3-4 slices and put the chocolate mousse in between every slice and on top.
Refrigerate, preferably 24 hrs.
Note: to cut the cake evenly, slip a small chopping board under then knife, between the knife and the cake and turn the cake. This will make nice even slices.

Another chocolate cake - courtesy of LeRoy Louis... It looks a little like a lunar landscape but is absolutely delicious. For extra calories, serve with vanilla sauce or raspberry treacle.

Gateau au Chocolat Amer

• 200 g dark chocolate 
• 5 eggs 
• 180 g sugar 
• 180 g butter, softened and cubed 
• 30 g flour

Break chocolate into pieces and melt along with 4 tbsp cold water

Separate eggs and beat yolks with 150 g of the sugar until light and creamy

Add in the melted chocolate, butter and flour.

Whisk whites until starting to rise, add remaining 30 g sugar and whip until stiff

Beat in whites to the chocolate mixture

Pour the batter into greased and sugared round cake tin

Bake 45 minutes

Next, perfect for a tea-time snack, serve with ice cream or custard.

  

Apple Vanilla Sponge 

• 250 g unsalted butter 
• 250 g golden caster sugar (demerara) + vanilla sugar 
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or more if artificial) 
• 4 eggs 
• 3 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges 
• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar 
• 1/4 cinnamon 
• 250 g self-rising flour (a lot better if you substitute 50 g flour with ground almonds and add 1tsp almond essence)

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease 20cm springform and line the base with parchment paper

Beat together sugar, vanilla and butter and light and fluffy

Beat in eggs one at the time, mixing well after each addition

Add flour and mix briefly – do not overmix

Tip the mix into tin

Slot the apple wedges on top of the mix – pack them tightly as they shrink

Mix cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over the top

Bake for 1 hour until skewer comes out clean – make sure to check at 50 minutes that it’s not burning

Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then release from tin, leave to cool on wire rack.

Last but not least, a newly found recipe for chocolate mousse. I know we have been pretty faithful to the Callebaut recipe we received years ago from Mme Ketchup, bless her soul, but this one is so much simpler and more likely to succeed everytime - halve it unless you plan to feed an army.

Chocolate Mousse

• 250g bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4c unsalted butter
• 3tbsp liqueur - Kahlua, dark rum or brandy
• 2tbsp water
• 1tsp instant coffee powder
• 4 large eggs - separated
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 180ml/ 3/4c heavy/double cream
• pinch of salt
• 1/4c sugar

1. I can't stand using a bain-marie, so I use a good thick-bottomed pot instead, whatever you prefer, slowly melt the chocolate and butter along with the liqueur, water and coffee powder.
2. Remove from heat and whisk until the mixture is glossy and smooth.
3. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Add vanillla, stir until well blended and set aside in order to let it cool to very tepid.
5. In one bowl, whip the cream until stiff.
6. In a second bowl, combine the egg whites and salt and beat until soft peaks form.
7. Gradually add the sugar and beat until glossy and firm peaks form.
8. Spoon the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture and fold it in gently, just enough to mix it, chocolate streaks should still be visible - !! make sure the chocolate mixture is cool before adding the cream or else it will melt.
9. Add the beaten egg whites and fold gently until just blended.
10. Spoon into individual bowls or into one large one. Cover and place in the fridge for a t least 4 hours.

kiss lorraine - quiche in all its splendour

I don't know about you, but my first experiences with Quiche Lorraine do not rank in my favourite. I remember thinking that if ever I have kids, I would never dream of making them eat it. I'm sure it was quite tasty, but what made me gag was the whitish clear liquid that used to seep from it... it's probably normal but it just made me wish I had stayed over a friend's house for dinner. Another one of those dishes I loathed was cooked ham - it had those crunchy fatty parts - although I don't see what I was fretting about now, with all the liquid in the world I was unable to swoosh it down my throat. So in memory of my childhood terrors, why not combine the two?

I made this quiche in order to finish up some pie dough that was sitting in the fridge and it was actually edible and surprisingly good. I sliced it up and put it in the freezer and it became a useful option for lunch, I even ate it of my own free will. I now have some pie dough and a big bag of spinach sitting in the fridge, I'll give spinach quiche a shot and will post it if it turns out well.


You will need a big momma pie dish for this (23cm) with decent depth. I like to use the smaller cheap aluminium dishes, so I made two out of this recipe


Ham and Broccoli Quiche

• 1 pie crust - I promise I will post a recipe soon - I have been converted to the Vorwerk, but will try it by hand to see if it works; roll it out and place it in pie dish, poke it with a fork and line with foil or baking paper, fill with lentils or beans and bake for 15-20 mins at 200C, or basically until the edges turn golden; remove the beans and leave to cool
• 7 eggs
• 1 c broccoli heads
• 3/4 c cheese (mix some regular cheese (eg. cheddar) with some parmesan for a little more bite or whatever you have lying around)
• 4-5 slices cooked ham cut in to little strips - I used a big chunk of cooked ham
• 2-3 spring onions, chopped, or any kind of onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

1. In a large bowl, whip up the eggs.
2. Add all other ingredients save 1/4 c of the grated cheese.
3. Give it a good mix and pour it into the prepared pie shell.
4. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over it.
5. Bake at 180C for 35 minutes until it is set. Let it cool before cutting/serving.

Ok, I can't believe I'm actually posting TWO quiche recipes, man did I loathe this stuff! Anyways, so I saved the poor spinach from a vertical trip into the bin and whipped up a spinach quiche. The recipe I have calls for frozen spinach, thawed and drained - I used fresh leaves, just chopped them up and poured the egg mix over them, perhaps not the best strategy as all the cheese just sat on top and the spinach was at risk of burning, so I had to mix it all up and it became green quiche. Therefore, if using fresh spinach, perhaps wilt it quickly in a pan prior to dumping it into the pie shell...


Spinach Quiche

• pie shell - pre-cooked with lentils/beans for 15 mins at 200C
• 5 eggs
• 3/4c milk
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/4tsp pepper
• 150g spinach - if frozen, make sure it is well thawed and drained
• 125g grated cheese

1. Preheat over to 190C.
2. Whisk up the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper.
3. Add in the cheese and give it a good stir.
4. Line the bottom of the cooked pie crust with the spinach.
5. Pour the egg/cheese mixture over the spinach.
6. Cook at 190C for 15 mins and then for a further 20 mins at 160C - it took about 15 mins more for me until it was became nice and golden... but then our oven really stinks...

the quest for the lost bread - pain perdu aka french toast

I couldn't help but chuckle when Mom wrote to me this morning that Bobo loves making and eating "pain perdu". I remember wanting to have that as my birthday meal, that and ketchup with shepherd's pie. But the reason for my glee was the picture that popped into my head: the Smoocher and his 'pain pairdy'! You must remember the little tyke in the kitchen in Ehrenberga, getting the eggs and milk from the fridge on his own, dumping out the insides of the eggs with a few bits of shell, giving the whole thing a good shake and then he used to come and ask 'a grown-up' to turn on the stove for him. I can just imagine Bobo doing the same... those Popiels!... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

So I thought, although completely unnecessary, I just had to post the pain perdu recipe :o)


You'll need some bread, an egg, some milk/water and some vanilla extract if you wish, butter to fry and maple syrup.

Whisk up the egg(s) with a dash of milk and a little extract - it makes it smell good while it's cooking :o) - and dump a thick slice of bread in it, and once saturated on one side, flip it over.

Heat some butter in pan on medium heat and drop the gooey bread on it and cook until nice and golden.

Drown in maple syrup and enjoy!


While I'm at it, I might as well post the following recipe for banana pancakes - add one banana for the taste, add two if you like moosh. I got this recipe from allrecipe.com.

Banana Pancakes

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 or 2 ripe bananas, mashed

1. Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
3. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
4. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

reward yourself - rocky road fudge

I just attempted to make cookies again - failure! Some wires in the oven got confused and everything just burns: the top is raw and there is a nice uniform black base to everything :o(. I plopped the rest of the cookie dough in the freezer, perhaps the oven might magically fix itself?

Anyways, as I was looking up the Toll House choc chip cookie recipe, I came across this recipe that I made a couple months ago - it was the bestest! - simple rocky road fudge. The recipe calls for walnuts and marshmallows, but feel free to chuck anything you want in there: peanuts, almonds, dumle caramels, pistachios and bits and bobs.

Rocky Road Fudge

• 2 (12 oz.) cups chocolate chips
• 1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

LINE 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil; grease lightly.

HEAT morsels and sweetened condensed milk in a large pan until melted. I would advise to use a tall-ish pan with a small base - it avoids marshmallow flying around everywhere... Stir in vanilla extract. Fold in marshmallows and nuts.

PRESS mixture into prepared baking pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into pieces.

it's passover - skip those bitter herbs and who can afford lamb anyways?

Well, the general feeling today is "p-ed" off... for no good reason really. Just don't feel like liking people today. I logged on to facebook and got even more p'ed off by the crap people had posted- so I took much pleasure at deleting a few more 'friends'. Hmm, there really is something about narrow-minded people that just infuriates me. Wow, who am I to judge? I don't know, but I do like to discuss opinions - but to some people, this means: I have the truth and the only truth, if you disagree then you are wrong! Sounds like fundamentalism here! And the harm closed-mindedness causes is amazing. I came across a blog written by some self-proclaimed chiropractor health guru dude, you can sum it up in one word: misinformation. For more info on chiropracters, trust Eddie Izzard. :o) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwnkTnHrtI

I am 100% for healthy living, organic food, exercise, very sparse use of pharmaceuticals and careful attention to nutrition. However, in the event that the body suffers a grave insult, someone reorganising your bones and feeding you super antioxidant juice is not going to fix it. One has to match the pieces properly! This genius chappy copied and pasted (great effort!) some research saying how bad Simvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug, was and how many drug interactions it had. That was it. The take-home message the readers would get: do not ever take cholesterol lowering drugs.
I have seen the adverse effects of this drug first hand. From severe acute pancreatitis to complete loss of motor function of lower limbs without forgetting the more common rise in liver transaminases. Ok, fair enough, no one is denying it.
The sad reason it is still so commonly prescribed is that it is cheaper for insurance companies. While working in the UK, one had to get special approval from a consultant in order to prescribe a safer statin drug such as Atorvastatin.

What bothered me most about this blog was that there was no mention of 1-the risks of high cholesterol, 2-how to take measures to lower it without a magic pill, 3-all the research showing how high dose statins are actually beneficial following and preventing a cardiac infarct. So basically, the way this was presented, it just picked a few things and made a headline out of it... how many people will read this and take it to face value and simply quit their medication with potentially fatal effects?
 Talk about misinformation versus education... I won't even start with the whole antioxidant fad... you really think that anything so delicate as an antioxidant particle, put down your throat will survive the acidic environment of the stomach? Of course eating blueberries and the such will have positive effects on the body because they are packed with vitamins and minerals, but antioxidants?? Save your money!


Well, for the trivia part, any of you remember who and what 'Passover' was? It was the first chicken - who turned out to be a nice handsome rooster - who was born in our incubator when we were still living in Belgium. I think that was the first and the last time I found a chicken cute.

So for dinner, let's skip the meat and go for nice easy peasy prawns. You might want to make sure you have curry paste and coconut cream before you start, but it's an awesome and tasty dinner served over some instant thai noodles. Enjoy!

Thai Prawn Curry 

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp root ginger fresh 
• 1-2 tsp Thai red curry paste (we used Sharwood's)
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 50g sachet coconut cream
• 400g prawns, frozen 
• coriander, chopped, to serve (optional) 

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Tip in the onion and ginger, then cook for a few mins until softened. Stir in the curry paste, then cook for 1 min more. Pour over the chopped tomatoes and coconut cream. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 5 mins, adding a little boiling water if the mixture gets too thick.
2. Tip in the prawns, then cook for 5-10 mins more, depending on how large they are. Serve alongside some plain rice and sprinkle with a little chopped coriander, if you like.

quick & easy - beer bread

Ever had one of those days where washing & drying your hair, putting on makeup and strutting around in a pair of uncomfortable jeans is just too much effort? Tough being a girl! So what do you do when you refuse to leave the house and you don't have a crumb of bread in the house, no more milk or yogurt... the only answer, is to make some... bread that is!

I came across this recipe for Beer Bread and was not disappointed. I used a reddish sweeter beer but I'm sure any beer with some fizz in it will be perfect! In other words, forget about Miller of Bud or Corona, go for something with a little yeast. It was perfect to dip in vegetable soup or with lots of butter and some salty cheese :o)


Beer Bread

• 3c / 470g plain flour (try find organic unbleached)
• 3 tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 bottle (375ml) beer, unopened, at room temperature
• 4 tbsp / 60g butter

1. Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
2. Grease a bread loaf tin with butter.
3. In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Open the beer and add it all at once; it will foam up.
5. Stir briskly until just combined - about 20 strokes.
6. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
7. Place in the prepared loaf pan and drizzle with all the melted butter.
8. Bake until the top is crusty and until a knife comes out clean - 35-40 mins
9. Once ready, let it rest in the pan for 5 mins and turn out onto a rack.

week end party food - crab dip & prawn kebabs

Martin just called me. He wanted the recipe for crab dip.
So here it is.... enjoy!

Crab Dip

• 1/4-1/2 lb sea legs
• 12 oz cream cheese
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder

Chop sea legs in a blender. Mix all ingredients in a big bowl. Put in ovenproof serving dish and top with paprika or almonds. Cook at 175 C until bubbly and hot.




Along the seafood theme, you might want to try these skewers - wonderful for a barbecue, baste them in BBQ sauce.

Prawn Kebabs

• prawns
• scallops
• yellow pepper
• red onion

- thread unto metal skewers, brush with olive oil and grill for 8 mins

 

fishy friday - ultimate fish 'n chips

So this is Friday
And what have you done
Another week over
And a new one [almost] just begun
And so this is Friday
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Friday
And a happy Week End
Let's hope it's a good one
With yummy Fish 'n Chips :o)


So, it's Friday. Indeed. I'm sure for most of us boarding school veterans, it was the best meal of the week. After nasty Quorn stir-fry's, fried toast and deep fried Cornish pasties, more deep fried fish was about as good as it got

Along the same lines, for all the younger ones, whoever's idea it was to make pizza on Fridays deserves a chickpea award. Weeding out bones out of a mouthful of potatoes and Friday Fish was often a dreaded experience. Bring on the pizza!!!


To get to the point, with some decent quality frozen fish filets, a few potatoes and some frozen peas, and the BBC Good Food Recipe in hand, Fredrik and I had a feast! Not forgetting the tartare sauce - it's the cherry on the cake :o) I couldn't find corn flour, so we used polenta instead, tasted awesome and was nice and crunchy.




Ultimate Fish 'n Chips

FOR THE CHIPS

• 800g unpeeled potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil

FOR THE PEAS

• 300g frozen garden peas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice

FOR THE FISH

• 650g (approx) skinless haddock, hake or cod fillet from a sustainable source, cut into 4 equal-size pieces
• 50g self-raising flour, plus 1 tbsp
• 50g cornflour
• 1 egg white
• 125ml ice-cold sparkling water
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 600ml sunflower oil, for frying

Scrub the potatoes, cut into 1.5cm thick lengthways slices, then cut each slice into 1.5cm thick chips. Tip the chips into a large saucepan, pour in enough water to just cover, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and gently simmer for 4 mins only. Drain, tip onto a clean tea towel, pat dry, then leave to cool. Can be done 1-2 hrs ahead. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Put a large shallow non-stick roasting tray in the oven with 1 tbsp olive oil and heat for 10 mins.

Transfer the chips to a bowl and toss in the remaining oil using your hands. Tip out in a single layer onto the hot roasting tin. Bake for 10 mins, then turn them over. Bake 5 more mins, then turn again. Bake for a final 5-8 mins until crisp. Drain on paper towels.

While the chips are in the oven, cook the peas in boiling water for 4 mins. Drain, then tip into the pan and lightly crush with the back of a fork. Mix in the oil, lemon juice and freshly grated pepper. Cover and set aside.

The fish can also be cooked while the chips are in the oven. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels. Put the 1 tbsp of flour on a plate and use to coat each fillet, patting off the excess. Pour the oil for frying into a heavy, medium non-stick wok or wokshaped pan. Heat to 200C (use a thermometer so you can check the oil stays at that temperature). Mix 50g flour, cornflour, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Lightly whisk the egg white with a balloon whisk until frothy and bubbly, but not too stiff. Pour the water into the flour mix, gently and briefly whisking as you go. The batter shouldn't be completely smooth. Add the egg white, then lightly whisk in just to mix. Try and keep as many bubbles as you can so the batter stays light. Cooking two pieces of fish at a time, dip them in the batter to coat, let some of it drip off, then lower into the hot oil using a slotted spoon. Fry for 5-6 mins, making sure the oil stays at 200C and turning the fish over halfway through so it is golden all over. Lift out with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper. Check the oil is back up to 200C, then repeat with remaining fish. Reheat the peas and serve with the fish, chips and lemon wedges.

how to make a cow taste good - boeuf bourguignon

Now, I don't think any of us need reminding how disgusting carbonnade flamande was. I can just picture Martin's eyes welling with tears when he heard that it was on the menu. Awful. No other word for it, even though there was a whole bottle of Belgian beer in there...


The thing I hate most in a kitchen, other than washing a whole chicken - I find it feels like washing a headless little baby or something, very freaky! - but the second worst thing is cutting meat. In my perfect kitchen I would have one of those glass cases that they have when working with infectious or radioactive materials. You know the ones that you have to wear a funky white space outfit and work through two little holes in the wall? And then, best of all, it would have some kind of washing system. No more icky cutting board, no more jello-y fat pieces, no more feeling of dried meat juice on your fingers.
The first time I made this was when a cow at the farm was injured, the result: countless kilos of meat and bone piled up in the kitchen. Did it smell good? No. Did you want to eat it? No. Would someone even want to touch it? No. But anyways, mom and I started cutting through it, one knife at the time... schrimmmblllll.... no comment about the knives, sure a stone age silex would be sharper.


So anyways, a couple bottles of wine and quite a few hours later, we had a fantastic smelling big pot of boeuf bourguignon on the stove. I think Uncle Jacek had some for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have to admit, it was yummy.


I couldn't find the recipe we used when I was home this Christmas... didn't know Pani Prosze could read French... but anyways, so I used the Julia Child recipe and modified it a tad. Result: yummy :o). There are instructions for onions and mushrooms, it's up to you if you feel like adding them. I added the onions as Fredrik is not such a fan of mushrooms. Also the original recipe calls for draining the stew once it's cooked, i.e. remove the carrots and onions and only keep the sauce and meat, I think this is a waste so I kept them all in.



Boeuf Bourguignon
 
For the Stew

• 170 g bacon, solid chunk (always get more as you will probably throw out a lot as fat)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.2 kg lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes (I use less, it makes more sauce and less meat to chew)
• 1 carrott, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups red wine (a full bodied wine like Bordeaux or Burgundy or Chianti)
• 2-3 cups beef stock (or any kind of stock cube you have handy, beef is probably better though)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed (add more! – up to 4)
• fresh thyme – find a nice big branch (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 2-3 bay leaves, preferably fresh

For the braised onions

• 18-24 white pearl onions, peeled
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig thyme
• 2 sprigs parsley

For the Sauteed Mushrooms

• 1 lb mushrooms, quartered
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. First prepare the bacon: cut off the rind and reserve.
2. Cut the bacon into lardons about 1/4" think and 1 1/2" long.
3. Simmer the rind and the lardons for ten minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. – this is really important, it gets rid of that yucky pigsty smell and all the yucky white froth
4. Drain and dry the lardons and rind and reserve.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 450°F.
6. Put the tablespoon of olive oil in a large fireproof casserole and warm over moderate heat.
7. Saute the lardons for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly.
8. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
9. Dry off the pieces of beef and saute them, a few at a time in the hot oil/bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides.
10. Once browned, remove to the side plate with the bacon.
11. In the same oil/fat, saute the onion and the carrot until softened.
12. Pour off the fat and return the lardons and the beef to the casserole with the carrots and onion.
13. Toss the contents of the casserole with the salt and pepper and sprinkle with the flour.
14. Set the uncovered casserole in the oven for four minutes.
15. Toss the contents of the casserole again and return to the hot oven for 4 more minutes.
16. Now, lower the heat to 325°F and remove the casserole from the oven.
17. Add the wine and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered.
18. Add the tomato paste, garlic and herbs and the bacon rind.
19. Bring to a simmer on the top of the stove.
20. Cover and place in the oven, adjusting the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly for three to four hours.
21. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
22. While the meat is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms and set them aside till needed.
23. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet and add the onions to the skillet.
24. Saute over medium heat for about ten minutes, rolling the onions about so they brown as evenly as possible, without breaking apart.
25. Pour in the stock, season to taste, add the herbs, and cover.
26. Simmer over low heat for about until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape and the liquid has mostly evaporated.
27. Remove the herbs and set the onions aside.
28. For the mushrooms, heat the butter and oil over high heat in a large skillet.
29. As soon as the foam begins to subside add the mushrooms and toss and shake the pan for about five minutes.
30. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.
31. To Finish the Stew:
32. Distribute the mushrooms and onions over the meat.
33. Skim the fat off the sauce and simmer it for a minute or two, skimming off any additional fat which rises to the surface.
34. If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of stock.
35. If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to reduce to the right consistency.
36. Taste for seasoning.
37. If you are serving immediately, place the covered casserole over medium low heat and simmer 2 to 3 minutes.
38. Serve in the casserole or on a warm platter surrounded by noodles, potatoes or rice and garnished with fresh parsley.
39. If serving later or the next day, allow the casserole to cool and place cold, covered casserole in the refrigerator.
40. 20 minutes prior to serving, place over medium low heat and simmer very slowly for ten minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

TGIF! - crunchy salads for the weekend

I go through phases. Love or hate salads. At the moment, I abhore them. The last time I ate salad, two hours later I was hugging the bowl (not sure if it was 3D Avatar or food poisoning) but I can't fathom the idea of eating it yet...
AND, believe it or not, I even watched Oprah Winfrey yesterday. Well, actually, I was sitting myself down after the gym and turned on the TV and she had some kind of food show going on. So I taped it and got dinner ready and later watched it with Fredrik. Was happy we were eating vegetarian pizzas! Wow, those chicken and pig farms are absolutely revolting! Reminds me of a poem I wrote some years ago... and I was right, in the documentary, they say that the chickens can't even walk because their bones are not formed properly and they are far too heavy to support themselves... how sick is that!?


Sublime Chicken

The recipe said to use one chicken breast  
I planned to eat half and to keep the rest

But, unaware of its power to simply sublimate  
A shrunken remnant is all I ate

So this poor innocent chicken had been doped like an athlete 
Building factitious muscle till it couldn’t stand on its own two feet

And the reward for all that workout?  
The privilege to lie, fried, under my curled up snout


Haha, poor chicken! Also disturbing, was the way cows are treated. So sad! Being fed junk and being pumped with that many antibiotics, cows cannot, by any means, produce decent milk. Therefore dearest children, do your old granny sister a favour and please drink lots of milk but make sure it is organic or go for almond, rice or soya milk!

As for the meat, when I see the price of organic meat, I usually find something vegetarian to eat... so here are a few good recipes. I know there is some ham and bacon in them... but you need it for the taste... hehe!


Mrs. Falk’s Spinach Salad

For the salad:

• spinach leaf - torn
• crispy bacon – crumbled (or chop up slices of ham)
• white mushrooms - sliced
• onion (red or white) – finely chopped
• hard boiled eggs – sliced and diced

For the dressing: 

•  ¼ cup balsamic or red wine vinegar
• ½ cup oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt, pepper and sugar

Put all the ingredients for the salad in one tupperware. 
Put the ingredients for the dressing in another and shake it up (I usually make A LOT less, but follow those proportions). 
Pour the dressing over the salad, put the lid on (preferably) and shake it like a milkshake or like rotten milk to make butter.




Broccoli Bacon Salad

For the salad:

• broccoli florets
• onion – diced
• bacon – crumpled and crisp – i usually use ham cut into squares
• cucumber – peeled, seeded if you’re picky, and quartered
• shredded cheese

For the dressing:

• 4 - 6 tbsp white sugar
• ½ - ¾ cup light mayo
• 2 – 4 tbsp vinegar

Same procedure as above



 
Avocado and Chickpea Salad (for chickpea-award winners only)

• avocado – peeled and sliced
• cherry tomatoes
• black olives
• can chickpeas

Mix everything together, add little salt and pepper, the avocado gives it all the dressing it needs.




Cole Slaw

• 1 c mayonnaise 
• 3 tbsp lemon juice 
• 2 tsp sugar 
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 c shredded cabbage
• 1 c shredded carrots

Combine first four ingredients and then mix everything together.