Yam and Beet Chips

These yam and beet chips are even more delicious than they look, and very easy to make.

This weekend I amused myself by making yam and beet chips.  I was planning just to make kale chips, which I like, but the family doesn't really enjoy.  But then I decided to try something new.

 

I peeled the yams and beets, and sliced them as thin as I could.  Dried them between two paper towels, and laid them out, non-overlapping, on cookie sheets which I had sprayed lightly with oil, and salted.  Then I salted the tops, and placed them in a pre-heated 250 F oven.  When one side was dry, I flipped each over to let the other side dry quicker.  They took a total of 3 hours or so (and some of the thicker beet slices were still not crispy), but the result was very good.  Within a couple of hours, the family had eaten 3 beets and a medium sized yam, in chip form.

 

So I bought more yams and beets today, and made more chips.  This time I concentrated on slicing even thinner, left the beets between the paper towels for a while to become really dry, and the chips were done and very crispy in less than 3 hours.  I didn't take a photo of the yams or beets when first laid out on the pans, but here is a shot as I pulled them out of the oven, when done.  When they dry, they shrink, so I had combined a couple of sheets together as they came close to the end.

I'm not sure what veggies I'll try next.  I was thinking of carrots.  I need to take a look at one of those gourmet veggie chip bags to see what else I should try.

 

Let me know if you try any veggie chips, and what veggies work well.

Cranberry Sauce Muffins

I love cranberry sauce, so when I prepared the turkey dinner last weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving), I made sure I had plenty of it.  But after using all the turkey leftovers, I still have more cranberry sauce than I can eat myself.  So I went on a search for a recipe for muffins using the leftover cranberry sauce.

I found one called "Morning-After Cranberry Sauce Muffins", which uses 1 1/2 c leftover cranberry sauce.

I also found one for "Cranberry Muffins", which uses 1 1/2 c chopped cranberries, but many of the commenters had substituted dried cranberries or even cranberry sauce, with appropriate adjustments to other ingredients.

So I set out to make my own variant, based on these two, and am pleased with the outcome, as were the kids, who ate them as they came fresh out of the oven.  The muffins are very moist, and the cranberries in the sauce provide a wonderful freshness to the taste.  My only adjustment would be to the spices.

MIX TOGETHER DRY INGREDIENTS, SET ASIDE :
1 1/2 c flour
1 c quick oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg (I'd reduce to 1 tsp next time)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger (I'd skip next time)

CREAM TOGETHER :
1/2 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar

ADD, AND MIX :
2 eggs
2 c cranberry sauce (see my notes below)
1 tsp vanilla

ADD IN DRY INGREDIENTS, AND MIX WELL.

TASTE, TO ADJUST.  I added 2 Tbsp sugar at this point, to make it sweeter.  You could also adjust for moisture level, if too dry (add water or orange juice), or wet (add a bit more flour).

I used mini-muffin tins, which make 20 mini muffins each.  I think the 20 mini muffins are roughly equivalent to 12 regular sized muffins, but I'm not certain.  I ended up with 2 trays of mini muffins, and 5 regular size.

SPRAY MUFFIN TINS WITH OIL, SPOON MIXTURE TO 2/3 FULL.

BAKE AT 350 F until done.  Approx 15 min for the mini muffins, 25 min for the regular size.

CRANBERRY SAUCE
My cranberry sauce was made from fresh cranberries, with my sister's variation on the basic recipe :
3 c (340 g) package of fresh cranberries
1 c orange juice (instead of water)
3/4 c sugar (instead of 1 c)
Cook on stove, boiling for about 5 - 10 min.  Let cool.

I made double this recipe, and guess that we ate roughly half.  I ended up with 2 cups of the sauce.  So I'm guessing a single package would be about right.  If not, I'd adjust the flour more or less accordingly.

Having eaten the muffins both warm (amazing!) and cool, the adjustment I would make is to reduce the nutmeg to 1 tsp, and skip the ginger powder entirely.  With the natural tanginess of the cranberries, the spices seemed a bit unnecessary, and gave the muffins a somewhat artificial taste (and it doesn't help that my spices are too old - I really should dump them and refresh them all!).

Let me know if I inspire you to try this recipe or a variant on it, and please share with us what you discover!

Tropical Salsa 2

I have been so happy with my first batch of salsa, that I decided to make another.  I was fortunate that my mom accepted my invitation to come over and join me preparing it.  That way, we enjoyed chatting while working, and the preparation time was greatly reduced, with four hands doing the chopping.

This time, my daughter suggested that I use more tomatoes.  So I did.  So it was still a tropical salsa, but not quite as sweet or fruity as the first batch.  The following is my approximate recipe.

Finely chop and mix all ingredients in a large saucepan:

• 5 nectarines (if you blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, the skins pull off easily)
• 1 mango
• 1 medium onions
• 7 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed
• 1 large red, 2 small yellow bell peppers
• 8 tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 c white vinegar
• 1 cap of Realemon juice

Chop 1 bunch of cilantro, but set it aside.

Clean and prepare canning jars in boiling water.

Heat the saucepan, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, adding cilantro toward the end, and sampling for any additional ingredients you may want to add. Good time to adjust sugar or salt levels, or be inspired to add spices.  This time I was both enjoying the conversation and so excited about making more salsa, that I actually forgot to sample the salsa before putting it in jars.  If I had sampled, I probably would have added 1/2c to 1c of sugar, and/or a bit of salt, or more lemon juice.

Spoon salsa into the prepared (boiled) jar, leaving 1/4 inch air space at top. Seal.

Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

My recipe again made 7 jars, approx 500 ml or 1/2 quart each.

Over all, this second batch was more hot (maybe a medium/hot, compared to a mild/medium on the first batch).  But it was also a bit bland in comparison.  I think it was the pineapple in the first batch which made it more flavourful.  And the colours were still pretty, but the first batch had crisper yellows and reds.  I think it was the tomatoes that made the slightly more subdued or murky look. See photo - the first batch is on the left, the second on the right.

Comparing the two batches, I love them both.  But if I made another, it would be based on the first batch, with no sugar, and possibly with introducing the lime zest which the original recipe suggested.  In terms of heat, either one is fine, but perhaps I'd go with the jalapeno peppers, which seem to be a bit hotter than the serrano peppers.  By the way, this time I used the knife to remove the seeds, and used a glove in the hand which was holding the peppers.  So I didn't end up with capsicum burn like I did last time!

Stay tuned.  I have a feeling this is not the end of my salsa making.  Please let me know if you attempt a batch of salsa, and what you discover.

Best Jar of Fruit Salsa I've Ever Eaten

...and it's one I made myself last night!!

Recently I got the idea of canning my own salsa.  It may have something to do with my buying a (rather pricey) jar of "Aji" (which to me is the base for a salsa, if I added more tomatoes, and I've been adding to sandwiches and all sorts of things) at a local Farmer's Market, knowing that I could pretty easily make something like that myself.

Also, I used to be able to buy a really good peach (or mango?) salsa, but it seems to have disappeared out of the stores I shop in.  I can't remember the brand, but it had a hummingbird on the lid.  I still have lots of the empty jars, since they are a great size for canning.

Anyhow, I enjoy occasionally making a fresh salsa.  But this time I searched online for a recipe for a salsa which I could put in jars.  I found this one, which became the main inspiration for my own recipe, along with cross-checking the ingredients on my jar of "Aji" and other store bought salsas in my pantry.

I didn't measure anything precisely, since it is easy to adjust by eye & taste to your liking, so that is the approach I'd recommend also.  Here goes with my version:

Finely chop & mix all ingredients in a large saucepan:

• 7 peaches / nectarines (if you blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, the skins pull off easily)
• 1 pineapple (remove the core & skin & spiny bits)
• 1 mango
• 1 large white onion
• 8 serrano peppers, seeds removed (ouch, I didn't wear gloves - I will next time!)
• 1 red, 2 orange bell peppers
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 c white vinegar
• 1 c sugar or to taste (I think I'd omit it entirely next time)
• 1 cap of Realemon juice
• pinch salt

Chop 1 bunch of cilantro, but set it aside.

Clean and prepare canning jars in boiling water (my large pan fits 2 at a time, so I swap in the remaining jars one by one as I remove each jar to be filled).

Heat the saucepan, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil.  Boil for about 5 minutes, adding cilantro toward the end, and sampling for any additional ingredients you may want to add.  Good time to adjust sugar or salt levels, or be inspired to add spices.

Spoon salsa into the prepared (boiled) jar, leaving 1/4 inch air space at top.  Seal.

Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

My recipe made 7 jars, approx 500 ml or 1/2 quart each.

I already ate 2/3 of a jar today, with tortilla chips.  The "heat" is about a medium, although when I tasted it before it went into the hot water bath (so the flavours had not mixed and mellowed yet), the peppers tasted much hotter.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

A little note about the serrano peppers.  A few days previously, I had cut up a few to make a fresh mango salsa and fresh tomato salsa.  I had not worn gloves (as I've only heard, but never done), but I had cut them in half and used the knife to remove the seeds, before chopping.  So last night, I got careless, thinking that it was okay to use my fingers to pull out the seeds.  It seemed more efficient, and anyhow I enjoy getting my hands into things and getting messy.  I didn't feel anything until completely finishing the salsa, at which time I noticed my one finger and thumb were completely on fire.  I searched for "capsicum burn" and read all sorts of remedies, which I tried : dipping hands in milk, adding oil & then washing thoroughly with soap, vinegar, isopropynol alcohol, repeated washing with dishwashing soap...  I stopped short of the suggestion of using full-strength bleach.  Nothing helped, other than providing momentary relief.  But I went to bed expecting to be fine in the morning.  Which seemed true, until I started getting dressed, and touching things.  At which point, my fingers were on fire again (although not quite as much).  As I type now (almost 20 hours later!!) I can still feel a funny sensation in those fingers.  So although I will probably still not wear gloves next time, I will be sure to handle the peppers more carefully, and not touch any seeds with my fingers!!

Please let me know if you are inspired to make this salsa, or some variation on it, and let me how it turns out.

Zucchini Loaf

What do you do when your garden overwhelms you with zucchini?  Or when a friend (in my case, my mother-in-law) is blessed with an abundance of zucchini?  Make zucchini loaf!

I tried this loaf a few days ago, even though I was short one egg, and didn't have cinnamon, so substituted allspice - which smelled the closest to cinnamon to me.   At the time, I doubled the recipe.

I loved it so much that I decided to make it again tonight, this time with cinnamon, and I tripled the recipe.  It was very difficult to mix such a large amount (in retrospect, I should have doubled, then made a second batch), and the zucchini was larger, so the peel was tough.  But the wonderful aroma in the house is well worth the effort.

The recipe is from ifood.tv, this page.

INGREDIENTS:

 3 eggs

 1 cup oil

 1 Tablespoon vanilla
 2 cups peeled grated zucchini
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1 teaspoon baking powder
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
 3 cups flour
 2 cups sugar
 optional : 1/2 cup chopped dates
 optional : 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS:
 Beat eggs well, add sugar, vanilla and oil and mix well.
 Mix dry ingredients together and add, together with dates and nuts.
 Best done in electric mixer.
 Pour into 2 greased loaf 5"x9" pans and bake about 1 hour at 350 F.
 Remove and cool on wire rack.

I omitted the dates, since I'm not a big fan of them, and also the nuts, so that the kids are able to take the loaf to school in their lunches.

It's funny, now that I'm reading it, I see that this recipe was for 2 loaves.  I was wondering why the pan was so full, and I ended up with such a huge loaf.  Hmmm, next time I'd make it smaller, I think.  Maybe 3 pans for double the recipe.  My oven is always a bit slower than the recipe calls for, but I found it took 1 hr 40 min to be done (use a bamboo skewer to test the center - it should not be gooey).  But then again, I was using twice the batter per pan than the recipe called for!

When I used the smaller zucchini, I left a small amount of peel on, so there were flecks of green in the loaf.  Kinda pretty.  The larger zucchini had too tough of a peel.  The flavour of the loaf is mild, somewhat reminiscent of pumpkin loaf, and not too sweet.  A really nice loaf to go with tea or coffee or a nice cold glass of milk.  Oh, and it freezes well.  If you don't eat it first, especially when it is warm out of the oven.

Chili Chocolate

I think it was about a year ago that I discovered Lindt's chili chocolate, and have been addicted to it ever since. It is a smooth dark chocolate infused with chili, so it is sweet and rich, and has a wonderful after-burn.

But recently I've had a problem (other than keeping up my secret stock in the pantry) - I've gotten used to the chili burn, so I don't really "feel" it enough anymore. So I've been toying with the idea of making my own chili chocolates, to make them hotter.

So when I came across an "Easy White Chocolate Mint Truffles" recipe in the April 2010 issue of Canadian Gardening, I immediately thought of trying this recipe - but substituting chili for the mint, and dark chocolate for the white.

Well, it took two tries, but tonight I really succeeded in making a really hot chili chocolate.

Here's the original recipe, thanks to the Canadian Gardening magazine (which I should mention, I subscribe to, and would highly recommend):

Easy White Chocolate Mint Truffles

1 vanilla bean
1/3 cup 35% cream
1/2 cup whole fresh mint leaves
1 lb best quality white chocolate
2 oz (1/4 c) unsalted butter, chopped
1 Tbsp finely chopping mint leaves

Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the tiny black seeds. Add the seeds and pod to a small saucepan along with the cream and the whole mint leaves. Heat the mixture over medium heat for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain, pressing the mint leaves and vanilla beans against the sieve to extract the most flavour.

Line the base and sides of a 8" square cake pan with parchment paper. Using a large serrated knife, chop the white chocolate into small, even pieces. Place the chopped chocolate, infused cream and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir mixture frequently to melt the chocolate and incorporate the butter and cream. When the mixture is smooth and creamy, remove from the heat and stir in the finely chopped mint leaves. Pour into the cake pan and refrigerate for 2 hours, until set. Remove from the pan and cut into small squares.

The first time I tried my hand at it, I tried one batch of ginger, and one of chili. The ginger one turned out really nice. The recipe is something like this:

Easy Ginger Chocolate Truffles

1/3 cup whipping cream
3 or 4 slices of fresh ginger root
1 lb (8 oz or 454 g) pure white or milk chocolate (I used Chipits, and roughly half white & half milk)
2 oz (1/4 c) unsalted butter

Slice the ginger and add it to the cream in a small saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium heat for 1 minute (I think I heated it for longer). Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Press on the ginger slices with a spoon to release more juices. Add the butter and melt it in.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Add the Chipits to the butter and cream mixture. Stir mixture frequently to melt the chocolate and incorporate the butter and cream. When the mixture is smooth and creamy (although it thickens up to a paste toward the end), spread it thinly and evenly onto the cookie sheet and refrigerate (or freeze) until set. Remove from the sheet and break into squares.

I pressed some of the chocolate into a silicone ice cube tray (as shown above), which worked out fairly well.  Some of it, I rolled into little balls in my hands, which was pretty messy, but also worked out okay.  I also spread some on wax paper, and broke it into pieces later.  The little balls I rolled in cocoa after they were cooled, and that looked nice.  See photo left, of some of the finished product.

I tried the same method using chili peppers, which I sliced and heated in the cream, but the heat really didn't bring out the chili flavour, so even though it ended up as good dark chocolate (I used the Hershey Special Dark Chipits), I was very disappointed.

When I shared my disappointment with my friend Lily, who actually cooks with chilies, she told me that the heat in the chilies comes out by frying.  Ahah.  So I resolved to try again, which I did tonight.  This is my chili chocolate recipe.

Easy Chili Chocolate Truffles

1/3 cup whipping cream
2 or 3 thai chilies to taste (I used 4 tonight)
1 lb (8 oz or 454 g) pure semi-sweet or dark chocolate (I used Chipits, and roughly half semi-sweet & half dark)
2 oz (1/4 c) unsalted butter

Slice the chilies (being careful to wash your hands afterwards) and fry it in the butter in a small saucepan. Turn down the heat, and allow the chilies to continue to fry lightly (I left them for about 5 minutes, at which point they were starting to become tender).

Add the cream and continue over low heat, stirring occasionally (at this point, I left it for another 5 minutes). Strain the cream mixture into another saucepan over low heat. Be very careful not to allow any of the seeds to pass through. I also changed spoon, just to be sure I didn't transfer any seeds across, because they are deadly hot.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Add the Chipits to the butter and cream mixture. Stir mixture frequently to melt the chocolate and incorporate the butter and cream. When the mixture is smooth and creamy (although it thickens up to a paste toward the end), spread it thinly and evenly onto the cookie sheet (I also pre-scored the chocolate with a knife so it was easy to pull apart in pieces afterward) and refrigerate (or freeze) until set. Remove from the sheet and break into squares.

This time, the chocolate was VERY hot, like a 4-chili rating in a Thai food restaurant. I think if I did it another time, even 2 chilies would be enough. I am very pleased. It will be fun to find friends to try it out.

I am thinking that a good Mayan (cinnamon) chocolate may be another adventure I may try.  Or maybe lavender chocolate.  But I should give it a break for a while, as this will not be good for my resolve to live and eat healthier!

Pokemon Birthday

It's officially the end of birthday season in our house. My daughter's birthday (see posting) is past, and now so is my son's.

We had the party on Saturday, and being encouraged by my success with my daughter's campfire cake, and since the grocery store (we usually order a cake at Save-on-Foods) didn't have any Pokemon-themed cakes anyhow, I decided to bake my own.

I know anyhow that the kids pick a cake for the characters on top, which they get to keep, rather than for the design itself. So after trying to decide how I would draw a Pokemon image on it, I realized that it would be a better treat to just buy a set of Pokemon figurines, and decorate with those. So I prepared a basic cake (from a mix), and icing (from a can, with the addition of green food colouring), and the kids placed the Pokemon figurines. For the Pokemon ball, I made it with Perler beads:

I think it turned out well, what do you think (click image for a closeup)?

We ended up hosting a combined party with a classmate, since his family was thinking of holding his party on the same night, and inviting pretty much the same set of kids (including each other). So we had one Pokemon cake, one ice cream cake, a lot of balloons in an otherwise empty living room, good school friends, and lots of fun.

Camping Theme Birthday Party

The "camping" party for my daughter's 10th birthday was loads of fun. My neighbour and friend, Helen, joined me and was a great help to me during the party.

Helen made a wonderful arrangement of the ingredients for the oven made 'smores (click on any of the images for a slightly larger view):

The recipe is simple. Place graham wafers on a cookie tray, sprinkle with chocolate chips, add a large marshmallow,...



...and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes. When you pull them out, the marshmallows will be big and puffy. Top with another graham wafer, squish down, and enjoy. Pretty fun, and a nice gooey sweet treat:

Helen brought over some battery-powered candles, and with some red tissue, we created a campfire...

...and played campfire games, with flashlights and glow bracelets. (Don't buy the dollar store ones if you can find better quality ones - the clasps on many of ours broke, and two of the kids ended up with glowing hands when their tube broke also! Helen commented that her glow bracelets from Michaels never had those problems.)

The cake looked fabulous when the candles were lit (even if I have to say so myself):

From the volume level at the party (wow, it was loud!) I think it's fair to assume that everyone had fun. I certainly did.

Campfire Cake

This year we decided on a "camping" theme for my daughter's 10th birthday. The reasoning was that, at least in previous years, the Christmas tree usually keeps relatively fresh into early February, so we have taken down the Christmas decorations, and put up birthday decorations, transforming it into a "birthday tree".

Two years ago, I decorated it with blue & pink balloons, and it served as a birthday tree for my daughter's birthday in January and my son's in early February. Last year, she had a fairy party, so we decorated it with butterflies and fairies and such.

So this year, since we cut that monster 15' tree, I was sure it would be a great backdrop for a wilderness/camping theme. I didn't know that by now it would look dry and miserable, and that the branches would touch the ground, so that this week I couldn't even climb under to water it one last time. Oh well, it is now decorated with butterflies and birds, for our indoor campground. We also dug out the kids' old play tent, to add to the campground feel.

My sister Rose was very inspired by the theme, and sent me a great recipe for a campfire cake, based on a brownie cake, with Twix bars stacked on it, with small white marshmallows and red and orange M&Ms for the coals, and red cellophane for flame, or something like that. So I have created my own variation on this idea.

In my Google searches for "campfire cake", I found someone who had melted down red & orange candies, to create thin sheets, which were then broken into jagged shards, to look like flames shooting out of the center of the cake. I looked for red & orange candies, and didn't find much, except the red cinnamon hearts which are coming out for Valentines. So I instead used some old candy canes, and picked the ones with significant red or yellow in them. I laid them together on a sheet of wax paper, on a cookie sheet, and melted them at approx 350F. They needed a bit of help, I used a bamboo skewer to mix them around a bit. The smell of the peppermint was wonderful.

After cooling them and refrigerating them, they were brittle enough to break into shards. A bit too brittle at the start, but became more manageable after being out of the fridge for a bit. So here is the initial result (I found that the big pieces ended up being too big, so later broke those into smaller shards):

The base of the cake was a devil's food cake mix (Betty Crocker, I think). My only round pans were a 9" and 10" springform, so that's what I used. The frosting was a prepared, whipped chocolate one (Duncan Hines, I believe). Here is the basic frosted 2 layer cake:

Then I added the shards of the peppermint:

...Then some chocolate wafers:

...Then the coals... In this case, some raspberry flavoured candies (same as jelly beans, but round shape instead of bean shaped):

Finally, I added 10 wavy candles (I was pleased to stumble across those at the dollar store today, and knew immediately that they would work, being taller than the usual birthday candles, and the wavy shape being suggestive of flames or smoke rising from the campfire):

I'm pretty pleased with the result. I haven't thought about how or whether I'll even try to incorporate her name into the cake. I think the 10 candles may be enough. We'll see. The party is tomorrow night.

Recipe : Candied Kumquats

I enjoyed my candy oranges so much, that the other day, while eating kumquats with my daughter, I realized that we could try making candied kumquats.

I followed the same basic recipe as for the candied orange peel, slicing the kumquats into about 4 slices each, but since the kumquats are much thinner skinned, and already edible raw, I brought them to a boil only twice, for 4 minutes each, and boiled in the syrup for only 8 instead of 10 minutes. Even that cooked them pretty good, so when I turned them onto the sugar the first time, they were pretty soft. But they dried out nicely, and have a great flavour and consistency.

This time, I had my 5 year old son help me flip the slices in the sugar, but I wouldn't advise it. The slices are extremely hot, as I found out while trying to help along one which fell. Most kids of that age would not understand how hot, and I was fortunate that he was careful, and we had no mishaps.

He was very proud of his achievement, as I am of my two little candy makers.

Recipe : Candied Orange Peel

This Christmas I sampled my friend Lily's homemade candied orange peel, and was so impressed, I asked her for her recipe, and have already made a batch of it myself. It is surprisingly easy, and has only 3 ingredients: orange peel, sugar and water.

The recipe is from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Volume 2, and is loosely paraphrased here (since I didn't copy it down exactly).

The recipe called for 2 oranges and a grapefruit, but I used 3 oranges, and I presume any citrus fruit would work, to suit one's preference.

Remove the peel (I circled the orange with my knife and removed the peel in 4 quadrants), and slice it into narrow strips. I had no problem finding a use for the fruit - I had two volunteers more than happy to help with its safe disposal!

Add the strips of peel to a generous amount of water (I used my large wok frypan), bring it to a boil, and boil 5 minutes. Drain (dump out the water). Repeat this process two more times (for a total of 3 times), bringing the water to a boil for only 5 minutes each time.

Drain the orange peels on paper towels, pressing gently to remove any excess moisture. (I forgot this step, and mine came out fine, so I don't know if it adds much.)

Combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water (I combined it in the wok frypan while my peels were drying in the strainer - or on the paper towels), heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. Add the orange peels and bring to a full boil for 10 minutes over low heat.

Turn off heat. Cover, and let stand overnight.

Cook over low heat until most of the liquid is gone (only a thick syrup coating the peels). Watch for scorching.

Lift individual peels from the syrup, roll them in granulated sugar, and place on a tray to cool. I found that a pair of wooden chop sticks worked well for lifting them out, onto the plate of sugar. My daughter used two forks to flip the peels in the sugar, and lift them out onto the next plate.

Roll in granulated sugar a second time, placing them to dry.

Apparently, if stored in a container with a loose lid, they will last for up to 2 or 3 weeks (not that they would actually last that long, especially if you have company!).

Enjoy!

Recipe : Mint Butter Cookies

A week ago, I posted one of my favourite recipes, for Tarragon Butter Cookies. Tonight I just finished baking the mint version, and I now have a new favourite!

I replaced the tarragon with mint, as suggested by Madelin Wajda, but since I didn't have mint extract, I just left out the extract altogether, and used 4 Tbsp of mint instead of 3 Tbsp. I used my Chocolate Mint, which is a lovely version of peppermint which offers a hint of After Eight mint wafers. It is a beautiful dark mint (photo right), with purple flowers, and I don't mind that it's taken over a large part of my "tea" garden, other than feeling guilty to not use it in the kitchen more often. I have some easy recipes for mint syrup, mint jelly, mint ice cream, and of course, mint tea...

Tonight I lightly greased the pans with butter, and the cookies slid out with ease. My 3 pan method worked smoothly (every 4 min: top pan out, bottom pan to top, new pan to bottom), and I found that 8 minutes was perfect for my oven (convection gas). I finished cutting, sugaring and baking (and sampling!) all 12 dozen cookies in under an hour.

Recipe : Tarragon Butter Cookies

This is a lovely recipe I found here last year (by Madelin Wajda of Willow Pond Farm), when the tarragon seedlings my friend Lily gave me, flourished in my small herb garden, and I turned to the internet for a tarragon recipe.

The tarragon gives the cookies small flecks of green, and a mild and pleasant herbal flavour. To my delight, the kids were crazy about them, too. With the sugar crystals on top, and the bite size portions, it makes a nice little cookie for entertaining, and a good conversation piece. I've not yet found anyone who could identify the herb in the cookie.

I would love to try making a mint version of this cookie, but I have again a good supply of tarragon in my garden, and feel obliged to use it first.

Tarragon Butter Cookies

• 1 C butter or margarine
• 1 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t baking soda
• 2 ½ C flour
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 T finely chopped fresh (or 1 T dried) tarragon leaves*

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and mix well. Mix in flour and baking soda, then tarragon and vanilla. Roll into two long rolls about 1 1/2 inch in diameter and refrigerate overnight. Slice into 1/8 inch slices, sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 350 degree for 10-12 minutes.

*Other herbs such as rose geranium, lemon verbena, and mint may also be used. If you do use these herbs, replace the vanilla with 1 t. of rose water, lemon extract, or mint extract, respectively.

(Makes about 5 dozen)

I've found it easier to roll the dough into 3 rolls (mine are about 16" long) or even 4 rolls (12" long), since the shorter rolls are easier to handle, and to find a tray for, when putting them in the fridge overnight. Also, instead of "sprinkling" with sugar, I cut the whole roll into disks, and then press each one top-down onto a plate of white sugar before setting it onto the cookie sheet.

I prepared my dough today, so if all goes well, I'll bake the cookies tomorrow, and then add some photos of the process, and the result.

9 Sept 2006 - I baked the cookies two nights ago, and they turned out great, as always. I end up with 12 dozen bite-sized cookies, not 5 dozen. I freeze the extras in plastic containers. This time I used ungreased non-stick pans, but they may have benefited from being slightly greased. Also, mine baked in only 8 - 10 minutes. I bake two pans at a time, but stagger the start times, so one pan is being replaced every 4-5 minutes, with the 3rd pan being prepared in between.

Tip: While cutting & preparing the dough, it helps to keep the uncut rolls of dough in the fridge, since it gets harder to handle when soft.

For some reason, I have not, after repeated tries, been able to upload photos to this post. Wierd!

Parsley Recipe : Parsley-Walnut Pesto

Inspired by my previous post about parsley, and how it is rich in vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and beta-carotene, I decided to find a few good parsley recipes, and try something out for dinner. Not just recipes using a few teaspoons of parsley, but ones which used a significant amount of parsley, enough to qualify it as a parsley recipe.

My first thought was a tabouleh salad. There are many variations on tabouleh, the more authentic middle eastern ones having a large proportion of parsley, the western ones having a high proportion of bulgur. But I don't have bulgur on hand, and this anyhow is something which the children may not share my taste for, so I kept looking, and found the perfect recipe : parlsey-walnut pesto.

The recipe, which I found at here on the site www.care2.com, was inspired by Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen (view at Amazon.ca) (or view at Amazon.com) by Donna Klein (HP Books, 2001). Here goes:

Parsley - Walnut Pesto

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (see Hint)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 Tablespoon plain unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, or to taste
• 16 ounces spaghettini or other thin pasta

1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process walnuts, oil, parsley, broth, garlic, bread crumbs, and salt until smooth.

2. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking liquid, then drain pasta in colander.

3. Place pasta in a large serving bowl and add the parsley-walnut pesto and reserved cooking liquid. Toss well to combine and serve at once. Serves 6.

Helpful Hints - To toast walnuts, bake in a single layer on a baking sheet in preheated oven at 350F for 5 minutes, stirring halfway through baking. Or heat a skillet to medium, then add nuts and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, 3 - 5 minutes. Remove from pan to cool.

I didn't have walnuts on hand, so I used pine nuts, not roasted (I'm too lazy). Also, no vegetable broth, just used water, and increased it to 1/2 cup, so that the pesto would combine in the food processor. It was a very thick consistency, and the garlic was very sharp, so I decided that it would benefit from being cooked slightly, and made into a pesto cream sauce.

I used fusilli, my preferred pasta shape for cream sauces. I removed the tails of the jumbo shrimp, and fried them lightly in oil / butter until opaque and pink, set them aside. Sauteed chopped yellow pepper (red may have looked better) in oil and a small amount of water until soft, a few minutes. Added the pesto, and simmered for about 5 minutes. Added in cream and milk, for a creamy consistency, continued to heat until pasta was ready. Added in drained pasta and added back the shrimps, and heated for another 5 minutes, to allow some of the sauce to be absorbed. The photo shows the result. The taste was very good!

This parsley pesto will be a new favourite recipe of mine, since I always have an abundant supply of parsley in the garden, and have not had success with sweet basil (except to feed the slugs). I grew African blue basil one year, it is a beautiful plant, but for a whole season of growth, it yielded such a small amount of leaves, that I needed to add in other herbs to make one small batch of pesto.

Recipe : Truffle Mice

This is not a garden recipe, but is a great rainy day no-bake recipe, and kids (maybe 5 yrs and up) can even participate. I got it from my friend, Jan, and she got it from the Pied Piper Preschool Cookbook (submitted by Linda Giles).

Ingredients:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate baking square (don't substitute chocolate chips, they don't melt well)
1/3 Cup sour cream
1 Cup chocolate wafer crumbs (Oreo crumbs or finely crushed Christie Chocolate wafers)
1/3 Cup icing sugar, sprinkles or chocolate wafer crumbs (I use the wafer crumbs)
silver ball decorations
almond flakes
thin black licorice ropes (red ones work fine, too)

Melt chocolate over hot (not boiling) water and remove from heat. Blend in sour cream and mix well. Stir in 1 cup of wafer crumbs and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Roll mixture into 1" balls that are pointed at one end. Roll balls in icing sugar, sprinkles, or if freezing, wafer crumbs.

Insert silver balls for eyes and half an almond flake for each ear. Use small slices of licorice for tails.

Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. These can be stored in the fridge for about 1 week. Makes about 2 dozen.

The hardest part of this recipe may be tracking down the licorice ropes. I found mine in the candy section of London Drugs. There were no black ones, only strawberry and grape (which I chose for its darker colour). My daughter thought this was great, since she doesn't like black licorice.

Preparing and assembling the mice is surprisingly easy, and the result is great. If you have young helpers, you may even get some creative variations, such as three-eyed mice and ones with wierd expressions - it's all part of the fun.