Category: cooking

The Cooking Chronicles: Friendship Loaf

Janice asked me about two weeks ago whether or not I would accept a bag of Friendship Loaf batter. I inquired about what it was. She told me that I would be provided with a bag of batter and a set of instructions, required to “mush” the bag every day, supplement ingredients at some point, and then on the tenth day, add more ingredients to finish the batter and bake the loaf. Before baking, the batter would form enough to separate into four additional batches for me to pass along to four friends. Essentially, it was the food equivalent of a chain letter.

Friendship Loaf Batter on Day 10

I did some digging, and as Mack would say, Wikipedia always has the answer:

“Amish Friendship Bread is a type of sourdough starter that is often shared in a manner similar to a chain letter. The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast-based breads, shared with friends, or frozen for future use. The sweet, cake-like Amish Cinnamon Bread is a common bread that is made from this starter; it is a simple, stirred quickbread that includes a substantial amount of sugar and vegetable oil, with a mild cinnamon flavor. It has characteristics of both pound cake and coffee cake.”

The best line of the entry was this one:

“There is no reason to think that the bread has any connection to the Amish people.”

Regardless of the source, this was the most interesting process of baking I have come across so far, so I was curious as to what the final product would taste like.

I confess I didn’t “mush” the bag every day (though my Mum seems to have done it covertly without my knowledge; like watering poor neglected plants that I would undoubtedly let shrivel and die), and as Janice had warned me, the contents did start to smell quite strongly after the first few days. Bubbles formed overnight in the batter, and air did have to be let out every few days, but other than that, it just seemed like any other liquid baking mix.

On the tenth day, I added enough ingredients to divide the batter into five equal parts, and used one part to form the two loaves. I thought the necessity of a box of instant vanilla pudding was quite amusing in light of the named “Amish connection”.

An hour later, my loaves were done. They did taste very much like a coffee cake, especially in terms of texture, though a slice did leave me with a slightly sour aftertaste better washed away with a cup of coffee.

It was an interesting experience (thanks, Janice!), though my Mum and I both agreed that the product really didn’t warrant waiting ten days.

Friendship Loaf

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

On Doug’s request (I’m always up for a “secret ingredient” challenge!), I looked for an interesting recipe that contained peanut butter. While a stew thickened with peanut butter qualified as the most intriguing, Miss Hilda’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie caught my immediate attention as something I actually wanted to eat (I’ve been wanting to give it a name worthy of Waitress, but nothing can beat her signature “Bad Baby Pie”, so I won’t even try).

I made the crust and toasted the peanuts on Sunday night to reduce the prep time on Monday, and to give it extra time to cool in the freezer. I resorted to using an aluminium cake pan instead of our only glass pie plate to lighten the load I would have to cart on public transportation, but with the help of the rounded side of a measuring cup, was able to form an edge fairly easily.

The filling was a cinch to whip up, and smelled irresistibly like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I was done. I let it set overnight, and even after being beaten around a bus, it wasn’t too worse for wear.

As for the taste – the crust needed at least double the amount of melted butter to set correctly – as it stood, crumbly was its unfortunate state. The filling, after having more than enough (or too much?)time to harden, ended up a little too densely sweet for my liking; I would have preferred the mousse-like consistency it had just after being freshly beaten with the electric mixer.

The best thing about the pie, of course, wasn’t the pie itself, but being able to share it with friends. Thanks again for letting us crash at your place, Anna!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

The (what else) potluck spread

Violet and Judith help themselves

Violet and Doug

Anna and Judith

All smiles!

The Cooking Chronicles: Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Needing a quick, one bowl supper idea, I remembered Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, so after work, Mack and I headed to the nearby Italian Centre to pick up a few ingredients, and met with absolutely no dinner rush line ups, were well on our way to a filling meal.

Mack complained about having to grate the parmesan, but then again, that was probably the most “labour intensive” task in the entire recipe. I thought we were going to set off the smoke alarm with our sizzling tray of olive oil and burst cherry tomatoes, but thankfully, the flat stayed quiet. A handful of fresh basil (or what Mack refers to as “weeds”) some roasted mushrooms, and the parmesan finished the dish.

For a pasta without a heavy dressing of cream or tomato sauce, it was surprisingly good. More vegetables (spinach, zucchini) or meat (shredded chicken) could be tossed in, but in all, this is a great top drawer emergency dinner recipe.

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

The Cooking Chronicles: Grilled Stuffed Pitas

Though for a brief moment we flirted with the idea of having a primary party to end all primary parties (building on our Chicken Enchilada experiment), we copped out and opted for a simple meal instead.

With CNN in the background, Mack and I put together stuffed pitas as inspired by a dish I had at Cafe Mosaics a few months ago. Sauteed onions, green peppers, mushrooms and spinach formed the first layer in our sliced pita, followed by shredded rotisserie chicken and mozzarella. We then grilled the halves in a pan, primarily to melt the cheese, and topped them with diced tomatoes for some sweetness.

While filling, neither Mack or I were too impressed with our version of the pitas. Both of us would have much preferred a quesadilla made with similar ingredients.

Grilled Stuffed Pitas

The Cooking Chronicles: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Many moons ago, Mack’s Grandma, upon finding out about our cooking experiments, gave us a copy of a recipe she thought we might like to try – Kelly Ripa’s Red Velvet Cupcakes. We never did get around to the recipe, but with the advent of her 75th birthday celebration, I thought it might be nice to make them for her as a gift.

After looking over Ripa’s instructions, I wasn’t sure about the strawberry juice addition (typical red velvet recipes ask for food coloring instead), so I looked up alternatives that didn’t give me a bad feeling. I came across Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and being the Food Network fan that I am, decided to use that recipe instead.

I made two modifications that may have influenced the final product negatively. First, I doubled the amount of cocoa powder asked for (to 2 teaspoons instead of just 1), as I wanted a stronger chocolate flavour. Having never made red velvet anything before, I wasn’t sure if this change was what prevented the batter from being red (it was a striking magenta color). Secondly, I used extra large cupcake liners instead of the recommended large ones, meaning that the cupcakes had to stay in the oven longer than the 20-22 minutes listed. As such, the tops and the sides of the ‘cakes turned an unsightly brown color – my immediate reaction after taking them out of the oven was a cry of “They’re so ugly!” I was hoping to cover up my mistakes with frosting.

The cream cheese frosting turned out well (I cut the icing recipe in half; I find I always end up with way too much), with the quantity being just enough for the 12 cupcakes. I dotted the tops with rainbow rounds (my original idea of dusting with a “75” stencil fell through), and hoped for the best.

Grandma Male really liked them, and remarked on how moist they were, with just a hint of cocoa taste. Though the sides of the cupcake were obviously brown, the insides were a shade of dark pink, and played off the colorful sprinkles and white icing nicely. I wasn’t a huge fan of the slightly-sour frosting (I prefer the cavity-sweet kind), but both Mack and his Grandma enjoyed it.

These are an interesting variety of cupcake that I would make again…without the impromptu recipe modifications.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The Cooking Chronicles: Inspired Spinach Salad

At a Sunterra-catered dinner a few months ago, I had one of the best salads I’ve ever had the privilege to try. Atop a base of spinach greens sat sliced white mushrooms, bits of real bacon, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and hard boiled eggs. The dressing of choice was a poppyseed raspberry vinaigrette. Much to my dismay, Sunterra doesn’t offer this specific salad in their deli, so on Saturday, I set out to duplicate it the best I could.

I copped out on the vinaigrette, opting to use store-bought Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Signature  Red Raspberry Dressing, and to make life even easier, I used pre-washed spinach greens. Four sliced mushrooms, one crumbled bacon strip, a dash of grated parmesan, and two sliced hard boiled eggs later, my salad was assembled.

The eggs provided the needed protein to an otherwise light dinner, and the bacon added a lovely crunch and flavour boost. While the dressing wasn’t as good as Sunterra’s from-scratch dressing, the salad as a whole was quite good. This would make a great take-to-work meal.

Inspired Spinach Salad

Culinary Q & A with Kimmi

Occupation:  Student/Grease Monkey’s Assistant

What did you eat today? 

All Bran bar for breakfast, Homemade Leftover Fajitas for lunch, fish and chips for supper, and wings at Hudsons

What do you never eat?

Cabbage, Eggplant, Most Milk Products (I’m Lactose Intolerant) and Citrus as I am allergic

What is your personal specialty?

I would say my personal specialty would have to be Tacos or Fajitas. As well I make a mean tuna casserole! Dessert wise I would have to say Sex-In-A-Pan!

What is your favorite kitchen item?

This is a hard one, I would have to say my cutting board and a good sharp knife.  Many creations are made there, just randomly adding new and different ingredients to things.

World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal. 

My last meal would have to be Shake’n’bake chicken, really good Jasmine or Basmati Rice, and Asparagus tips, with Blueberry pie for dessert

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Um, I don’t think that I have a most frequently, I don’t eat out very often, however my favourite by far would have to be Arbys.

What’s the best place to eat in Edmonton? 

The Dish & The Runaway Spoon.  It is a little restaurant off of 124st downtown, and their creations there are just so appetizing and interesting.  Flavour combination is very original there!

If you weren’t limited by geography, where and what would you eat? 

I think that I would go to my parents house for sure! I love my dad’s cooking, I could be more extravagant however, I absolutely everything that my dad makes, and my mom’s baking is TO DIE FOR! She always makes the best desserts! I think I would ask my Dad to make his Shepherds Pie, and have my mom’s icebox cookies or Banana Bread!

The Cooking Chronicles: Banana Muffins

Though I rarely eat raw bananas, the fruit, unlike others, are useful even when overripe and nearly black. To use up the four remaining bananas in Mack’s fruit bowl, I hunted for a recipe that required oil and not softened butter (as I didn’t have time to wait for the butter to cool to room temperature), and Giada de Laurentiis’s Banana Muffins (minus the marscapone cream frosting) were perfect, even in the quantity of bananas it needed.

My only substitution was extra cinnamon in place of nutmeg that we didn’t have, but other than that, I followed the instructions to a T. Happily, the muffins turned out great! Aromatic (Mack was loving the smell as they baked up in the kitchen), subtly sweet, and lovingly mingling banana and cinnamon flavours, they made a nice treat after dinner.

A basket of these banana muffins would make a great housewarming gift, or afternoon tea addition.

Banana Muffins

The Cooking Chronicles: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookie recipes never seem to jive with me – I usually have issues with the cookies spreading too much, or not rising enough. As such, I was hoping an Anna Olson recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies would end up okay. The recipe called for an unusual ingredient not usually seen – cornstarch. Apparently, it is what gives the cookies their chewy consistency. Strange, but it worked!

Very straightforward and quick, the only issue I had was keeping Mack from eating all of the cookie dough.


Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Definitely give these a try – and see if you can prevent yourself from eating them all straight out of the oven!

The Cooking Chronicles: Cinnamon Pancetta Carbonara

To break in Mack (and Kimmi)’s new kitchen, we decided to make Giada’s Cinnamon Pancetta Carbonara. I’d been meaning to duplicate a carbonara dish since returning from Europe last year, but didn’t get around to it until tonight.

We picked up most of the ingredients this afternoon (being within walking distance of both a Save On and Safeway helps in that regard), and began our cooking trial. Not having a large enough pan meant a little juggling and transferring into smaller pots, but it worked out okay. Mack and I both agreed that the cinnamon quotient could have been increased even more (I probably added about a teaspoon more than recommended, and it still wasn’t a discernable flavour).

This is definitely not a dish for dieters, as mentioned on another food blog, but simple, filling, and different than your run-of-the-mill marinara and spaghetti, it’s worth a try on a pressed weeknight.

Cinnamon Pancetta Carbonara