Crab Pasta

Oh my gosh i can't believe how long it has been since I posted. It was a busy week with a quick trip to Kamloops for work and two, four legged friends coming for a sleepover. It was a gorgeous weekend in Victoria and today when Chris and I walked the dogs, I actually had on my sandals and a dress! SHOCKING! It was also a great weekend because Nanny came home from Palm Springs! So good to see her, I missed her terribly and tonight, she taught me to make her potato salad, but that's another post.

Anyways last week Chris, and his buddies went out crabbing two days in a row, so day one we had just crab with butter etc... but day two I made pasta and had Mom and Dad down. There kitchen is still in the hallway, so we are trying to have them down lots.

Anyways here is our crab brown butter pasta

Ingredients:
Cooked crab
1/2 C salted butter
Juice of two lemons, plus zest of one
handful of cherry tomatoes
asparagus spears
goat cheese/parmigiana cheese
toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste
your choice of pasta noodles

Directions:

1. Cook Pasta(Chris has a theory, the more water the better, and 8 minutes makes the perfect pasta every time).Toast pine nuts, approx 9 minutes at 350. 
2. Slice cherry tomatoes in quarters and place at bottom of serving dish.
3. Wash and snap bottoms of asparagus off, place in microwave for 3-4 minutes to tenderize slightly, place in cold water to stop cooking process. Cut spears into 3 or 4 depending on what size you like in your pasta, and place on top of tomatoes.
4. Place cooked pasta into serving dish and mix with tomatoes and asparagus. Crumble goat cheese over top and top with pine nuts. 
5. In a saucepan, make some brown butter, pour over pasta and then pour lemon juice over top. Mix well. 
6. Serve with cooked crab over top and enjoy with salt and pepper to taste, plus add parmasean cheese. 

Martha's Coconut Cupcakes

One of the best cupcakes I have made to date is Martha's Coconut Cupcakes, which I made for our Birthday celebrations a few weeks back. I have never been a huge coconut fan, but my girlfriend Laura, who's birthday is on April 5, likes it and these seemed like they would compliment the other two rich cupcakes well. Turns out these were a huge hit, and one of the hubby's favorites. They were deliciously moist, with amazing icing and were not overpowering sweet, like I feared they would be. I do have to admit thought, I had never used coconut milk before and didn't realize that there was a thick layer of hardened liquid on the top with liquid on the bottom, so these cupcakes only had the hardened coconut milk in it, but honestly I think that is how I would make them anyways.

I also have to take two seconds to wish our god daughter Claire a very happy second birthday, she lives in Edmonton with my fabulous cousins, Kim and Ryan so I didn't get to join in, in her birthday celebrations but I'm looking forward to hearing all about it and hope to have a Skype date to chat with her. Claire shares a birthday with another one of the amazing people in my life, and someone who taught me how to be a good wife, friend and daughter, so Happy Birthday to my Nanny! Nanny is also the person who has taught me several things in the kitchen, including Aunty's Bets buns, won ton's, and  she assisted me when I made a full turkey dinner (let's be honest, she did it), including a scratch made lemon meringue pie. Love ya Nanny and Claire, and all the best for a fabulous year!

Martha's Coconut Cupcakes
Yields 20

1 13/4 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C packed sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/3 C Sugar
2 large whole eggs, plus 2 egg whites, room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4C unsweetened coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees, line standard muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. Using a magic bullet/blender/food processor, pulse shredded coconut until finely ground and add to flour mixture. 
4. With electric mixer on high, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla. 
5. Reducing speed add in flour mixture, alternating with coconut milk until combined. 
6. Divide batter evenly among prepped muffin tins, about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes, rotating tin half way through. 

It calls for Seven Minute Frosting, but I don't have a Candy Thermometer so I made Fluffy Vanilla Frosting.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
Makes 4 Cups

1 1/2C unsalted butter, room temp

4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted

1.2 Ts vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, mix butter until pale and creamy. 
2. Reduce speed and add confectioner's sugar 1/2 C at a time, once combined add vanilla and mix until frosting is fluffy and smooth. 
3. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with coconut if you wish. 

note: icing can be stored for 10 days in fridge, in airtight container. 

On Saturday I decided I wanted to try my hand at making french bread, so I googled and found a recipe and went to the kitchen and got to work. I ended up finding a very easy recipe that made two beautiful loafs of bread. On Sunday morning we had french toast with home made french bread which I have to say was amazing, I always add cinnamon and vanilla to my mixture to make it extra sweet. Then from Sunday's dinner at Uncle D's we had left over roast beef, so since I had Monday off, Chris came home at lunch and I made him a grilled beef sandwich using the bread. It looked so good, sadly though, I couldn't have any, my jaw is still super sore from my wisdom teeth being removed. Anyways here is a super easy recipe to make your very own french bread.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. or 2 packets (1/4 oz./7 g each) dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 cups hot water
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
5 – 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar in a small bowl.
2. Using stand mixer, combine water, 3 tbsp sugar or splenda, salt and oil, mixing until well combined. 
3. Add 3 C of flour to mixture, mixing well, once combined, add in yeast mixture. 
4. Add remaining 2-3 C of flour until everything is well blended. 
5. Grease large bowl and place dough in bowl, cover with tea towl, let rise in cool/warm place for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. 
6. Divide dough into 2 equal parts, and shape into french loaf shape (I can't explain how to do this because mine were kinda ugly, but it worked, see picture below). Grease baking sheet and place formed loaves onto sheet. 
7. Place tea towel over formed loaves and let rise for another hour. 
8. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes. 

Over the long weekend my parents tore out their kitchen, it's the kitchen that's hosted many of our family dinners and holds many memories as Nanny and Buppy built the house in 1978. If those walls could talk, they would probably mention the leg wrestling contest that they witnessed back when Nanny and Buppy lived in the house, and tell you about a young Hanna making Won Ton's with "Nanny Dearest." However all of those memories are safely tucked away in the walls of the kitchen, and in just six short weeks (it might not feel short to mom), it will be a brand new kitchen with all new appliances, tile floor and granite counter tops, ready for all new stories. In the mean time Mom has set up a funny little kitchen for herself in the hallway, where she can probably make a meaner meal then most young adults could make in a gourmet kitchen. After a long day of demoing I thought a nice home cooked meal might be in order for them and I was sick to death of eating scrambled eggs and ice cream, so Chris and I decided that we would make something else that is soft and easily to chew, so ended up with home made sweet potato gnocchi with home made pork/chicken sausage in a brown butter sage sauce.

Gnocchi

2 large sweet potatoes, cleaned and pricked with a fork
12 oz, ricotta cheese, drained
1 C Parmesan grated (Plus more garnishing)
2 tbsp splenda brown sugar
2 tsps seal salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 3/4 C All Purpose Flour

Directions:

1. Cook sweet potatoes in oven until soft (approx. 1hr at 425).
2. Cut into cooked sweet potato and let cool for about 5 minutes until you can handle. In large bowl mash or use a potato ricer to get sweet potatoes very fine. 
3. Mix cheese and seasoning into sweet potato mixture until well combined, with wooden spoon. 
4. Place remaining flour onto cleaned dry surface, dump sweet potato mixture on top and kneed until all flour is incorporated. 
5. Once well incorporated, make gnocchi's and place onto baking sheet until ready to use. If you haven't made gnocchi before, it's simple, take chunk of dough and roll out until a cylinder shape, about 1/2" wide, cute into cubes approx. 1/2".
6. To cook gnocchi, place into pot of boiling water until gnocchi float. Drain and serve. 

Brown Butter and Sage Sauce

1/4 C of butter

Fresh sage to taste

Directions: 

1. In sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter until froth's and becomes fragrant, and is a beautiful golden brown. This usually takes about 5-10 minutes. 
2. Once butter is browned, add sage and stir

Pork/Chicken Sausage

We literally wung this as we hadn't done it before. After some googling and getting some tips, we learned that you should use dried herbs not fresh so we took a meat grinder and ground up 1 breast of chicken with 2 pork chops, cut off the bone. We seasoned with fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, season salt, 1 shake of paprika, and an egg. We mixed until everything was well combined. We weren't sure how to cook so we took half the mixture and did on the stove top like you would cook ground beef, then the other half I formed into balls and baked in the oven until cooked throughout. 

To serve all of this we placed in a bowl, threw the sausage on top and mixed, drizzled the brown butter sauce over and added some Parmesan cheese.

It was delicious!

Enjoy! 

Happy Easter to everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! I got an extra long weekend because I got my wisdom teeth removed on Thursday and things went really well so I've got to enjoy the weekend, a stiff jaw is my only complaint, and my food intake has been limited, but I've been trucking through eating what I can, very slowly.

Tonight we are going to Uncle D's and JoDee's for dinner, where rumor has it Uncle D is making one of his bad a$$ roasts, Mom's making the veggies, and I'm supplying the dessert, it's always a family effort, one of the things I love about our family. I decided that since it was Easter I had to make something suiting the occasion and something that was cute and compliments the holiday, so introducing, Chocolate Egg Nest Cupcakes. As always, I made momma a diabetic treat, so watch for those on the blog later this week.

Chocolate Chip Cupcake
Yield 30 (I half-ed the recipe)

3 1/4 C + 1 tbsp sifted Cake Flour (not self rising)
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 C + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 C plus 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 C sugar
5 large egg whites, room temp
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together, 3 1/4 C flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. Stir vanilla and milk together. 
4. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar, mixing until pale and fluffy.
5. Reduce speed to low, alternating between the flour mixture and milk, slowly add into butter mixture, until well combined.
6. Using a separate bowl, on medium speed whisk the egg white until stiff peaks form.
7. In three parts, gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture. 
8. Toss the chocolate chips with the left over flour and fold into batter. 
9. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, and bake for  22 minutes, rotating half way through.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

1/4 C plus 2 tbsp Fry's Cocoa Powder
1/4 C plus 2 tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 C confectioner's sugar
pinch of salt
1lb good quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
    Note: to melt chocolate, use double boiler, then rest in cool bowl.

1. Combine cocoa and boiling water string until cocoa has been dissolved. 
2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioner's sugar, and salt, until pale and fluffy. 
3. Reduce speed to low, add melted chocolate, once combined, add cocoa powder mixture. 
4. Whip until is consistency you would like for your cupcakes. 

Assembling cupcakes.

Using a pipping bag, pipe thick layer of icing onto cupcakes. Using some shaved chocolate pieces, or toasted coconut, sprinkle onto icing. Take 3 mini eggs, nest into icing to give the look of a bird's nest. 

For those of you who know me, you know that my dog Max, is like my child. Back in the fall, at the suggestion of our vet, we switched his diet to be more natural and no more of those crappy kernels. In the months since we switched him off the kernels his weight is better and his eyes no longer run! We thought we'd been feeding him the good kernels, but no matter what there was stuff in it that obviously he was allergic to. Tonight when I was making his dinner for the week, chicken, egg noodles, veggies with spinach, I had a whole lot of leftover spinach so decided he deserved some special cookies. I purchased a cook book from our vets so that I knew what I could and couldn't feed him, and it's shocking the things he can have! He loves his fresh made meals, and I try to give him variety. Some people think I am nuts, but I make enough for approx. 12 days and freeze it, and if you'd seen his eyes before you know it was for the best!

Introducing, Maxie Bear's Spinach and Cheddar Cookies! 

Using my food processor, I chopped 4 handfuls of fresh spinach, then added one egg white and approx. 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Once that was blended I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour with 2/3 cup of oats. Once that was all well mixed, I mixed in about 1/2C cheddar cheese. With the oven at 350 degrees, I scooped onto cookie sheet and baked for 12 minutes. I will keep these in freezer to keep as fresh as possible for the little man. He has already taste tested them, and they passed!

Laura introduces me to new foods that I always want to try but am kinda weirded out by trying. I grew up in a meat and potatoes kind of house, and I love it! However as I get older I am learning that I like things like quinoa, polenta, and things a little more out of the norm then a potato or rice. Once of my new favorite things is quinoa, and using it as a salad. The first time I made it, it was slightly boring, but then the next time I had it Laura brought it to a girly movie night at our friend Tai's house and I was hooked. Each time I make it, it's a bit different but the base of it is always these core ingredients. It goes great with a nice piece of BBQ chicken (we BBQ year round) to make for a great light meal. Your men will like it too. Just a little tip, Costco sells TruRoots, Organic Quinoa at a great price, and personally it my favorite one to purchase. It can be VERY pricey at the grocery store. Also if you have the time check out the Root Cellar on Blenkinsop and McKenzie they have fabulous ingredients, that's were the veggies below are from.

Base Ingredients: 

1C quinoa 

2-3 steams of green onion sliced thinly

handful of cherry tomatoes,sliced thinly

1-2 jalapenos, sliced thinly (I leave the seeds, you don't have to)

1-2 ears of corn, BBQ

1/2C toasted pine nuts

shredded or crumbled goat feta to taste (I cover mine in it)

Dressing:

1/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or honey)

2 tbsps Apple Cider Vinegar

1 garlic clove minced

Juice of one whole lemon

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 

1. Cook your quinoa according to package, and set aside to cool, I would not recommend using broth as the base as the quinoa takes on the flavor which doesn't match the dressing. 
2. Chop all of your ingredients and place on top of quinoa, to this salad I added red pepper, celery and cucumber as I had some kicking around and we really needed some extra veggie's in our meal. Laura adds cilantro to her's which is amazing, but it's not the hubby's favorite.
3. Mix well so that each bite will have a variety of crunch, salt from the cheese and quinoa pieces. 
4. For your dressing, place all ingredients in a magic bullet and mix well. If you want a bit more sweetness add some more agave nectar.
5. Dress your salad immediately and it will keep for one night in the fridge, makes great left overs for lunch! 

I think every family has a designated person that makes the buns come Christmas, Thanksgiving or whatever the occasion might be. In our family that honor goes to Nanny and she makes the best sweet buns ever. Nanny got her recipe for her buns from her sister Bet, so it's only fair that I call these what they are "Bets Sweet Buns"  When I made my chicken dinner last Sunday I made home made buns to go with it, they were pretty successful, fell a little flat. When Nanny taught me how to make these she said that weather can drastically change how bread rises, and it was pouring rain, so maybe they were flat because of all the moisture in the air but who knows! All that mattered is that they tasted good, but honestly I'm looking forward to nanny coming home from Palm Springs in a few weeks to take over making the buns!

Ingredients

8C flour (warm)

2 tbsp sugar + 2 tbsp yeast + 1 C warm water

2 C scalded milk

1/2 C Sugar 

1/2 C Canola Oil

2 eggs, beaten

4 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Make yeast mixture and set aside for approx. 15 minutes until foams on top. 
2. Once yeast is ready, scald the milk.
3. In separate bowl add remaining sugar, salt and oil to beaten eggs, and add in scalded milk. 
4. Once mixed, add in yeast mixture. 
5. Work flour in, until a dough forms. Once dough has formed, rub top with oil, cover with tea towel and rest 1 hour in warm dry place. 
6. Once rises, kneed and form into balls, place on baking sheet. Cover with tea towel and leave to rise for one more hour. 
7. Set over to 375 Degrees F. and bake 20 minutes or until just browned on the top.
8. Remove from baking sheet and using melted butter rub over the top to put a nice glaze on the buns. 

Note: to warm flour place in oven at 170 Degrees F. Nanny says all of your ingredients, when working with yeast, should be warmed a bit so that your yeast is going into a warm environment and doesn't disturb the yeast. I keep my oven on keep warm to assist in the warming process also when you turn it off it make a nice cozy place for the dough to rise. 

Diabetic Note: I always use Splenda not sugar to make it so the momma can eat them, and it\s an even swap! 

Another busy weekend at the Root house! Yesterday was my fabulous hubby's birthday and we started the day by going to the R'n'R diner in Central Saanich. It is a very cool place that is old school diner style, with checked black and white tile floor, pictures of hot rods and race cars through out it and full of old dudes talking about cars. It also serves a fabulous meal complete with mini packets of Cheese Whiz at your table... YUM! After that we went and met up with our friends, Laura and Dave "the Augerfeldts" as Laura and I had a mani/pedi date, and the boys went and did whatever boys do.  Our spa stuff was at a cool little joint on Haultain called OM, they have natural vegan organic nail polish and they have their own line of natural hair care products, very cool if you are looking for more natural items. Once the boys picked us up we headed for lunch at a place called McRae's and then we headed home to get dinner ready. We had all our friends over to celebrate all the March/April birthdays (5 in total I think) with a spaghetti dinner, and a fun gathering. It was loads of fun plus Chris and I just love it when our house is full of friends enjoying food and laughing, it's what makes our home, our home. It's funny how quickly things change, as we had two little people joining us, and the living room was full of toys, it was great! Brielle, Lisa's baby girl gives the best hugs and when she wants you to read to her she gives you the book then backs onto your lap. Then DJ, my little nephew is the happist baby ever and I started the tradition of the dirty dancing lift with him, which he adored, he also is a tiny bit of a flirt! Next year we will for sure have one more baby joining the mix when Baby Wilson makes her debut.

Anyways enough about my Saturday, I have a delicious fun looking way for you to make a cupcake cheesecake, and last night they were a HUGE hit! Actually I had several requests for them to be made for thir next birthdays. Another successful Martha treat!

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes
Make at least 4-5 hours before serving)

Ingredients:
21 Oreo's, 15 left whole, remainder coarsely chopped
1lb of cream cheese (2 bricks)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
1/2 C sour cream
itty bitty pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275o F, line muffin tin with papers, and place whole cookie in bottom.
2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping sides of bowls as nededed. 
3. Gradually add sugar, and vanilla beating until well combined. 
4. Drizzle in egg a bit at a time, beating to combine, 
5. Beat in sour cream and salt, until all well combined. 
6. Stir in cookie chunks, by hand. 
7. Divide batter evenly among tins filling almost all the way to the top. 
8. Bake for 22 minutes, rotating tins halfway through. 
9. Cool on counter in tins until almost cool, place in fridge for 3- 4 hours. 
10. Remove from fridge just before serving.

I took them out of the paper liners and flipped them upside down to serve as I thought they looked really cool with the Oreo wedged in the cheesecake. Also Mom and Joan will be happy... they can definitely be made diabetic, and don't worry I will be doing that soon!