Thanksgiving Granola with Pumpkin

Happy Turkey Day everyone!  The Thanksgiving long weekend always means a traditional turkey dinner with Mike's family and a very non-traditional feast with my family.  But good food is good food and I'm very grateful for it all.  In fact, I am quite happy to have the mix because otherwise the second dinner would just be a rerun airing too soon after the show.

My family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas in true Chinese fashion - with a potpourri of your favourite dishes (all delectable but in no way related) and enough food to pack lunches for a week.   On Saturday night my aunt made turkey for her first time.  I would have never guessed it.  The turkey was yummy...as were the grilled vegetables with mustard dressing, the crispy shrimp pancakes, the smoked salmon with red onion, my mom's signature steamed sticky rice with dried shrimp and Chinese sausage.  And just when I started to dream of elastic waistbands my aunt handed me a steaming bowl of pho with beef brisket and coriander.  Heaven.

Now for the traditional.  I never had a real traditional Thanksgiving dinner until meeting Mike.  His mother makes wonderful turkey and in just a fraction of the regular time because of their convection roast oven.   For the 14-15 lb turkey we had last night it took less than 3 1/2 hours in the oven.  I always enjoy the turkey, the stuffing, the turnips and mashed potatoes.  Dill pickles and cranberry sauce add a pop of colour and flavour.  And then dessert.  Mmm pumpkin pie. My very first slice of pumpkin pie ever must have been made by Mike's grandmother Joan.  Her pies are superb, mostly because of the incredibly flaky pastry.  Last night's pumpkin pie had a pretty braided crust and was delicious as always.  Lucky us - we got to take the other half home.

The only baking I got around to this long weekend was a pumpkin granola using a recipe from Looneyspoons, my go-to book for cooking these days.  It seemed appropriate for autumn.  Unfortunately the end product didn't quite live up to what I had envisioned after smelling the pre-bake mixture.

I didn't follow the recipe to a tee...yes, perhaps that's why it didn't turn out properly but I swear I thought it was close enough.  I figured I couldn't really go wrong with this mix of ingredients: rolled oats, shredded coconut, cinnamon, almonds, pistachios, raisins, ground flaxseed, honey, butter, mashed pumpkin, and vanilla.  

unsalted pistachios

Actually the recipe called for almonds or pistachios but I used both and just made sure the combined amount came out to what was specified in the recipe.  I didn't have chocolate chips on me, added pepitas (pumpkin seed) which weren't called for...and surprisingly I couldn't get dried cranberries at the grocery store so I substituted with raisins instead.  See? No major changes.

pepitas

The recipe specifically says not to use pumpkin pie filling but canned mash pumpkin so this is the kind I picked up from the baking aisle.   I used a third of a cup with honey, vanilla, and melted butter to create the ooey-gluey goodness which should have held the granola together.

Next step: mix, mix, mix!

While the oven was preheating I remembered I still needed parchment paper so I ran out to the corner store but found only aluminum foil or wax paper on the shelf.  Wax paper...parchment paper, same thing right? I grabbed the wax paper and headed home. Mike was skeptical.  I was getting out the baking dish when Mike read aloud from a Googled webpage that people who have used wax paper instead of parchment paper were often met with a burning smell halfway through baking their cookies.  Ok, I was convinced...better stick with the aluminum foil.

After 25 min in the oven at 350 degF the granola smelled divine thanks to the coconut, pumpkin and cinnamon.  And the granola actually tasted quite good but the main issue I had with it was the texture.  I was hoping for something crisp...brittle almost.  Instead it didn't hold together very well and felt a tad on the sweaty side.  Clearly there was a problem with my ratios of fruits to nuts to oats.  Or was it the missing chocolate which would have melted throughout the granola? Or did it not finish cooling before I sliced into it?  Too many variables.  Now I'll actually have to go back and follow the exact original recipe to find out where I went wrong.  I'll be sure to share the secret...but in the meantime let me just pop a few more of these granola crumbs :)

Backyard Berries and Grapes

Today I spent some time out in the backyard which I haven't done in a while now.  This past week has been go-go-go and Adam has been extra clingy to me.  Attached to my hip he's a happy mound of smiles but try putting him down and he's a frantic puddle of tears.  I don't know what's gotten into him.  Teething? I've been hearing that from people for months now ever since his drooling began at 3 months.  Separation anxiety?  Seems like it but that doesn't really tell me anything more than what I can clearly observe.  Poor guy...but poor me too!  It's hard getting any cooking, laundry, sewing, or even eating done when you have a 19.5 pounder clutched around your neck for dear life.

Anyway during his naps today I did finally get outside and stain the wood door leading to our detached garage.  Then I transplanted some parsley and basil into bigger pots and plucked a few raspberries from our bushes.  It's the most productive I've been all week. These bushes along our fence were here before we moved in and we've heard from several people to beware of raspberry bushes because they grow like weeds. It's true, this year the leaves do seem a bit unruly but I can't really complain about the lovely taste of raspberries fresh from the yard!

Now it's just a matter of getting to the berries before any squirrels or birds do!  Actually I'm not really sure what animals go after raspberries but it would be nice to avoid red sticky goo all over the yard in any case.

Got me a nice haul today, third bowl of raspberries in a week :)

We have grapes too but I discovered last year while tasting some in the yard that they are S-O-U-R! That's because they're wine grapes and we have plenty growing along the fence opposite the raspberries. Technically the wine grape vines belong to our neighbours but many have migrated over to our side and we've been told to take whatever we want.  Too bad I don't make wine. Wanna know a little secret? I don't even like wine (gasp). Ok, well...for anyone who knows me that's really no secret at all.  

Perhaps I should look up some recipes that make use of wine grapes for foods other than wine.  I wonder if there are any.  I think I should make it a challenge (goal?) to find a good recipe where I can use these wine grapes.  Alright, Challenged Accepted (we've been watching waaay too much How I Met Your Mother)!. Stay tuned for a follow up post.

Mish Mush?

This past month I've been trying various pureed foods out on Adam to get him used to new textures and flavours.  So far he's sampled mashed or pureed bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, apple sauce, oat/barley cereal, and now....broccoli!

I'm happy to report that he gobbles down the non-sweet foods (e.g. avocados and broccoli) as readily as the sweet ones.  I've been giving him a new food only every three days or so to make it easier to identify any potential food allergies (none so far, knock on wood).  Now that we've tried a pretty good variety I think I'll make his purees in larger batches and freeze them so he can have different tastes day to day.  Yesterday I started with broccoli and carrots.  

I put the carrots (chopped into smaller pieces) and broccoli florets into the steamer basket, then steamed for about 20 minutes.  Possibly could have removed the veggies after 15 minutes but I wanted to make sure the carrots were nice and soft.  Then I put the carrots and broccoli (separately) into a blender along with some of the water from the pot and voila - orange and green mush!

I had read previously that ice cube trays come in handy when freezing baby purees and yes, each cube really is equal to an ounce (I tested it)!  Adam will easily gobble down at least four cubes at a time though so one tray only lasts about three meals.

Next I tried to put the tray into a large freezer bag but as you can see it was just oh so slightly too small. Darn.  I thought maybe if I just sealed the zipper as much as possible it would be ok but there was some frost after a few hours.

Once the purees solidified I popped the cubes out of the tray and stored them in a smaller freezer bag.  Don't they look delicious?  Maybe because they look like little popsicles....mmmmm orange and green apple :)

Chipotle Chili Chicken Skewers with Honey-Lime Cream

I will state upfront that this recipe is deeee-licious!  I've made it twice now and both times it got rave reviews.  Actually both times I forgot to even get a photo of the pyramid of skewers right off the barbecue, probably because they were quickly off into people's hands (and mouths).  Several people have asked me for the recipe already so here it is.  It's from Weber's Way to Grill, by Jamie Purviance, which was given to me by my friend when he moved to Montreal - thanks for the great book Kevin!

In Weber's the recipe is called "Jerk Chicken Skewers with Honey-Lime Cream" and uses a chile pepper in the paste.  I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to heat in food so instead I substituted that with Irresistibles' Chipotle Chili Pepper.  Anyway here is the ingredients list for the paste used to marinate the chicken.  

Note:  The book specifies the below quantities for 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each) but I found that it was waaaay too little so I almost doubled the quantities to get good coverage of the meat.

Paste:

1            habanero or Scotch bonnet chile pepper (I replaced with Chipotle Chili Pepper powder)

1 cup      lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

1/2 cup   extra-virgin olive oil

4            scallions, white and light green parts, roughly chopped

6            medium garlic cloves

2 tbsp     finely chopped fresh ginger  (I uses ground ginger my second time)

2 tbsp    granulated sugar

1 tbsp    fresh lime juice

1 tbsp    ground allspice 

2 tsp      kosher salt

1 tsp      freshly ground black pepper

Put all of the paste ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth:

Trim the chicken fat and cut the chicken into strips (or chunks) 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick. Then place the chicken into a resealable plastic bag along with the paste.  Cover the chicken well with paste and marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours.  After that step is complete just thread the chicken onto skewers that have been previously soaked in water.  Once you're ready to barbecue, grill the skewers over direct high heat with the lid closed for 6-8 minutes, turning once or twice.

Remembered to take a photo only when there were two skewers left!

To complement the wonderfully flavourful chicken skewers is a tasty honey-lime cream, equally simple to make:

Sauce:

1/2 cup     sour cream

1/2 tsp      finely grated lime zest

1 tbsp       fresh lime juice

1 tbsp       extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp         honey

1/4 tsp      kosher salt

1/8 tsp      freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl whisk together the sauce ingredients.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Let the sauce stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.

Ingredients for dipping sauce

Thai One On

Here's another recipe from the Looneyspoons cookbook that I tried out last week from the "Ladle Gaga" section.  I know I know, the puns are kinda corny but that's part of the charm of this book!

The great thing about this Thai-inspired soup is that it has tonnes of flavour and is simple to make.  A wonderful savoury soup with some sweetness and spice - mmmm :)

Here is the list of ingredients that went into this delicious soup:

1 tbsp            butter or olive oil
1 cup             each chopped onions and chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup          chopped celery
2 tsp              minced garlic
4 cups            peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
1 tbsp            grated gingerroot
3/4 tsp          each ground cumin, ground coriander and curry powder

1/4 tsp          ground cinnamon

2 cups           reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 can (14 oz / 398 mL) light coconut milk

1/2 tsp          salt

1/4 tsp          freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp           each minced fresh cilantro and minced fresh basil leaves

2 tbsp           light peanut butter

1 tbsp           brown sugar

1 tbsp           freshly squeezed lime juice

1 lb (454 g)   cooked medium shrimp, tails removed (thaw first if using frozen)

sweet potatoes, gingerroot, cumin, curry powder, and cinnamon

I'm a big fan of sweet potatoes - great for pureed soups and pureed solids for babies. I'd opt for sweet potato fries over regular fries any day.

peanut butter, brown sugar, lime juice

Unsweetened peanut butter works just as well as regular peanut butter.  I could definitely taste the nuttiness in the soup - definitely a common part of Thai cuisine.

And shrimp...what more can I say?  Shrimp is like the Chicken McNugget of the sea.  I know many people who "hate seafood" but will still eat shrimp.  Of course, I also know a few who insist that they won't eat shrimp either but that's crazy talk.  

Anyway, enough about the ingredients, here are the steps for you eager readers who are already squeezing limes and yanking basil from your gardens.  Guess what, there are only three of them!

1.  Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, red pepper, celery and garlic.  Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 minutes.

2.  Stir in sweet potatoes, gingerroot, cumin, coriander, curry powder and cinnamon.  Cook and stir for 30 more seconds.  Add broth, coconut milk, salt and pepper.  Bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, just until sweet potatoes are tender.

3.  Carefully transfer half the soup to a blender and puree until smooth.  Return pureed soup to pot and remaining soup.  Stir in cilangro, basil, peanut butter, brown sugar and lime juice.  Mix well.  Add shrimp and heat for about 2 more minutes, just until shrimp is hot.

Oatmeal: My First Taste of Solid Food

Well, calling it "solid" would be pretty misleading.  It was more like watery mush with specks of slightly-less-watery mush.  Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

On Sunday we gave Adam his first taste of something other than breastmilk.  Actually that's not true, in his first month he pounded back the formula to get over his jaundice but since then it's been nothin' but mama-milk.  I thought I was going to put off solids for as long as possible now that breasfeeding is finally easy but I was actually excited to give him his first bite.  His close eyeing of me eating my meals over the past two weeks and his desire to grab things off the plate made me think he was ready for solids, even though the pediatrician said I could wait until he was 6 months.  Close enough, right?

I was pretty exhausted in the morning after Saturday's BBQ and the thought of running out to the grocery store just to pick up some rice cereal didn't appeal to me.  I had already used up all the bananas for the last banana-walnut loaf, and the avocados had gone into the salad from Saturday.  Oh well, what else could we try?  I Googled a few sites and read good things about starting babies off with oatmeal so that's what we did.

I read that steel cut or regular oatmeal would be good, just not the instant kind. Luckily we have the regular rolled oats on hand (10-15 min on stovetop or 4-5 min in microwave) so I ground up 1/4 cup in the Magic Bullet to create a powder and then cooked that in a small pot with 3/4 cups of water.  The result was pretty similar to oatmeal that I would eat, and a bit lumpier than I had expected after grinding down the oats.

While I was preparing the oatmeal Adam woke up and wanted to see what was going on. Mike didn't even get a shirt on him yet!

"Whatcha makin' mama?"

I added a few teaspoons of breastmilk to thin out the oatmeal and then we sat Adam in the Bumbo for his first meal.  Mike held his hands out of the way since he kept wanting to grab the spoon and ram it down his throat - yikes!  I took a bit of video from his first few bites but it was a bit tricky with the camera in one hand and spoon in the other. I couldn't even manage to get much oatmeal onto the spoon with just the one hand but I did manage to get some pretty cute footage of the little guy.  

Yesterday was Day Two of solids and I heated up some of the extra oatmeal left over in the fridge from Sunday.  This time after I added the breastmilk I blended the whole thing in the Magic Bullet once more and the consistency was much better. No lumps!  I think that's the way to go, although I will experiment with a few different ways to cook/store the oatmeal in larger batches for convenience's sake. 

What's going to be next - avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes?  Tune in to find out :)

Rhubarb Pistachio Ginger Crisp

Doesn't reading the title just make your mouth water?  I love this dessert that my mother-in-law introduced us to about two months ago. It's de-licious!  Plus it's easy to make - a definitely plus for a newbie baker like me.

You start off with chopped rhubarb.  I bought almost the entire stock at Loblaws in order to bake these two crisps for the barbecue we had on Saturday. Little did I know people were bringing other desserts and one would have been enough! Oh well, having one in the freezer for another date is fine by me :)

After chopping the rhubarb add some flour, granulated sugar, and chopped crystalized ginger.  Lookin' good already.

Next you make the topping which is comprised of flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, ground ginger, salt, pistachios, and BUTTER.  I know, I said the "B" word.  And once you start baking you are acutely aware of all the naughty ingredients that make desserts as tasty as they are.  I cut the butter into small cubes so it would be easier for me to mix  together by hand since I currently lack some essential baking tools.

It's not quite as bad as it looks! Okay, maybe it is...but so tasty!

I wasn't able to find shelled pistachios at the store so guess what fun task Mike "volunteered" for?

I wanted the pistachios partly crushed so I threw them into a heavy-duty Ziploc bag and got our little hammer from the basement.  It had never occurred to me to take out the Magic Bullet we received as a gift from my mother-in-law! I guess it's because I only used that for the first time this weekend when I made sauces and dips for the bbq (extremely handy, by the way).

Ummm...every baker uses a hammer, right guys?

Finally you assemble the topping over the rhubarb and Voila!

Ready for the oven :)

Here's the full recipe for all those salivating readers who are already half-way to the grocery store for rhubarb and pistachios:

Rhubarb Pistachio Ginger Crisp

750 g rhubarb, cut in 1-inch lengths (this is roughly 6 cups chopped up)
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp chopped crystallized ginger (I used more!)
2 tbsp butter

Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour  (I replaced half with whole-wheat flour)
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ shelled pistachios, halved
¾ cup butter, cubed  (eek! I used a bit less)
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350degF.
2. Combine rhubarb, granulated sugar, flour, and crystallized ginger in a 10 x 8 inch baking dish. Dot with   butter.
3. Prepare topping by combining flour, oats, brown sugar, ground ginger, pistachios, and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over rhubarb.
4. Bake for 40 min or until juices are bubbling and crumble is golden.

Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever? Or Vice Versa?

Who knows.  All I know is that in the past ten days Adam and I have gotten both and it didn't stop me from cooking up a storm.  In my last post I wrote that Adam picked up some sort of viral thing which derailed my plans of attending a fancy party two Fridays ago.  Well just when he was getting over his fever last weekend, that was when my throat started to hurt.  On top of that Mike was leaving for Portland for 5 days on business so I had to suck it up.  I decided then to prepare various comfort foods that could be easily heated up for dinner during the week while Mike was away.  I spent most of the afternoon and evening last Sunday in the kitchen making lasagna, Hunter Chicken Stew, and banana-walnut-chocolate chip muffins. Mmm.

beef lasagna with spinach and ricotta cheese

Hunter Chicken Stew

Banana-walnut-chocolate chip muffins

Then on Wednesday Adam and I had a play-date sleepover at Brigitte's house and it was so much fun.  The babies, despite both being sick with separate ailments, were actually really cheerful and had a few awesome naps giving Brigitte and I time to try out a few new recipes. We made a "Contilentil Soup" from her Looneyspoons cookbook and a rhubarb pistachio ginger crisp from a recipe my mother-in-law gave me.  

Even grocery shopping was fun since we had both babies in the same shopping cart and they were happy to just look at everything around them in the aisles.  All the other women at the store were cooing and smiling at our babies and part of me wondered whether they thought we were lesbian parents out with our blond and mixed babies.  

The sleepover definitely helped the week pass by quickly and before we knew it Mike was back from Portland.  If Mike had just gotten home an hour earlier he would have seen Adam roll over for the first time from his back to his tummy.  I was so excited I started clapping and Adam had no clue what had just happened.  I was of course less than excited when he woke us up several times last night screaming because he had rolled half-way onto his tummy, got stuck in face-plant position, and panicked.  Silly baby.  It was happening so often we eventually brought him into bed with us to keep him from rolling.  The middle of the night is no time to practice new skills, sweet pea.  Let's see how tonight goes. Both Adam and I now have colds and probably the best remedy to bet on is rest.

One-Handed Muffins (a.k.a Orange Craisin Muffins)

Last Friday Adam and I had a playdate at my friend Brigitte's house.  Her toddler wasn't at daycare that day so it was a full house.  We were outnumbered 3-2 but somehow it worked out just fine.  It helped that Adam was able to nap (despite being alone in an unfamiliar room in the basement) so was asleep or cheerful for most of the afternoon.

It was going so well in fact that we decided to try out a new muffin recipe that Brigitte had found.  Orange raisin muffins.  Well actually, she didn't have raisins handy so we decided to use Craisins instead.  The odd thing about the recipe is that everything should go into the blender at once.  That had us pretty skeptical...but we thought it would be a fun experiment even if it didn't work out!

1 orange , cut in 8 slices (peel too!)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup oil

1 egg 

2/3 cup sugar (reduced to 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cup flour 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 snack packs of Craisins

I think those are all the ingredients. Just trying to remember now off the top of my head so I might have forgotten something but it looks right.

Of course, when we dumped the dry ingredients over the wet ones in the blender we both had an "I'm not so sure..." expression on our faces.  Was the blender really going to be able to fold everything together?

The answer to that question was No.  Way too thick. Only a small section near the blades swirled around a bit but everything else just remained stacked in layers.  A bust.

Brigitte with her 7-month old Delia

So we moved onto Plan B which was me holding the handle of the blender while Brigitte stabbed away at the mixture with a wooden spoon.  Both of us were holding our babies with our other hands at the time, hence, One-Handed Muffins.

Pretty goopy stuff

Then we added Craisins and continued mixing. It wasn't looking any better.

Craisins!

Brigitte put the mixture into the muffin tins.  Still no better looking.

Should it be this wet?

Clearly they didn't rise. I'm guessing it had something to do with the baking powder not being mixed properly throughout the goop.  The muffins were super moist after the instructed 15-min so we kept them in the oven for another 10 or so. Still really moist.  Oh well, it was somewhat of a success.  They looked pretty cute and tasted...well...like orange muffins with Craisins in them!  I'd try this recipe again but in proper mixing bowls - if I do I'll report back and tell you all how it went :)

Babies practicing tummy-time