choco-coco macaroons, yum yum!

You know, and don't chastise me for saying this:  I do not love chocolate

That's right, on it's own I don't love it.  I do like it.  But I don't love it.  What i DO love is chocolate combined with other things to create something special.  Chocolate and peanut butter for instance...or chocolate and caramel (how do they get that in that bar?) or even chocolate and.......COCONUT.

So I made *drum roll please*

Delicious looking - and tasting!!

CHOCOLATE COCONUT MACAROONS.

People love these cookies, i LOVE these cookies. They're easy, they're good, and I have been asked for this recipe on numerous occasions.  People will ask you for it too.

My favourite website is to blame for this one.   http://joyofbaking.com/ChocolateCoconutMacaroons.html

Mods and tips are few:  I make mine smaller.  When you chill the batter for about an hour it's easier to make, and they come out chunkier.  Otherwise, you'll have a flatter smoother cookie (like mine today).  I use half semi and half bitter choc (but either/or work very well).  I also find having a carton of liquid egg whites handy, I mean if you eat them (don't buy just for this purpose), I find it easier to pour and weigh egg white than deal with separation (but if you do, make some custard with those yolks!) :)

Enjoy!

sweet potato o' mine!!

*cue the guitar riff and screechy voice 80's style*

This post isn't about the steak.


One potato..TWO potato..
similar but different

The steak was good, last night when I came home I asked A if he'd rather have a more cajun inspired steak preparation or a more italian inspired steak preparation.  We went for cajun, it was delicious (a bit well for my liking but good nonetheless) But like I said, this is not about the steak.

This is about the sweet potato!  I haven't been eating these for very long (maybe 5 years?) and when I first had them I wondered "where have you been all my life!?!?"  Two weeks ago shopping I noted PURPLE skinned sweet potatoes on sale and I had to pick up a few.  I had never cooked with them, never even noticed them in the store before that point.   I was excited, I love trying new foods, and seeing if they work.  Sure, this isn't a large stretch but hey, let's go for it.  I'll treat it similarly to sweet potatoes of the past...

This post is about the simple side dish I made: 

ROASTED SWEET POTATO WEDGES
with avocado dipping sauce for 2   YUM.  and easy.

Liam Maguire, who is this guy anyway?

You know, today was one of those days where even though I had an awesome lunch made I wanted to go out.  So I solicited some of my favourite colleagues (T and littleC) in hopes that we could do lunch - they obliged!  Funny enough we didn't even have to ponder where we were going, as T had already decided for us - Liam Maguire's - a known pub on St. Laurent which has served us multiple times in the past.



Simple soup and sandwich

I mean, the place is decent, about what you  might expect for a typical pub, although more highboy chairs than anything, but that's alright.  We got a cozy half booth corner, perused the menu's and waited for our drink order to be taken.......and waited......and then the waitress came!  But to another table, so we waited some more......and then we waited....littleC slumped over and T complaining about how hungry she is, this was not starting off well.

What seemed like an enternity (me, I was in no rush but it still felt long) we finally got drink service and an apology, nice touch.   We mentioned we were ready to order as well and the waitress said 'well, whatever works' - lunch works for me thanks! :)

An experiment in pasta for one - sorta

Shrimpy pasta, good but never again

It's one of those evenings where A and I ended up making separate suppers, with family day A and his buddies went indoor golfing and by the time he got home (late) my gradiose ideas of a steak dinner seemed a bit less appetizing, mostly because I had only a modest appetite and A mentioned some serious nachos he ate recently.

A short while ago I made an awesome pasta and cheese with Swiss Chard - boy, was it good!  Me, trying to up my greens and meats (I'm low on iron, so my doctor says) am looking for new ways to enjoy bitter green things.

pork stew or ragout? call it whatever, it's up to you!

Something I've pondered is the difference between these, because whenever I look up a ragout recipe, it reads like a stew to me.  I'm doing a bit of researching online and it seems that a Ragout is a slow-cooked main dish stew, a french method of cooking.  Hmm, so they are the same thing - right?



What a mess! Stew at it's finest!



Not necessarily!  It seems to me that stew is an all encompassing series of dishes, and involves a diverse range of ingredients, thickness, heartiness, and cook-times - some *gasp* don't even need meat! (I actually love making vegetarian stews, so there).

I suppose what I made last night would constitute as stew as it had more vegetables than meat but is very ragout in it's slow cooked approach, but it was nice and light and as always - great results.

This recipe is based on BASIC STEW RECIPE from Jamie Oliver's food revolution

Weekend baking! Gimme S'more banana muffins :)

I baked two things this weekend.  Banana muffins and S'more bars.  Let's get right down to business.

The Banana Muffins I made are based infact on a banana bread recipe I am fond of on the joyofbaking.com website - don't let the word "low fat" fool you - I put in lots of extra fat in the way of pecans and chocolate chips :)

Find the recipe here:  http://www.joyofbaking.com/healthydesserts/LowFatBananaBread.html

Recipe was followed exactly with the following mods....At the end I added 1/2C semi-sweet chocolate chips (I would reccomend mini chips, I didn't have any on hand, but they disperse the batter nicer) and 1/4C chopped pecans.  Instead of a quick bread I divided into 12 large paper lined muffin cups.  I baked at 350 degrees for 22 minutes.

Don't these look nice? They tasted great....Goes well with tea

Tick-tock-clocktower brew pub

 It was Friday evening, I wasn't very hungry, but A was. We had intended to go to a pub close-by but there was no parking, as it was an unusually mild February day and many people (as expected!) were out for dinner. So after driving around pondering what to do next, A had the grand idea of going to Clocktower in New Endinburgh - a bit off the beaten path for us but a place we are both generally fond of.


Panang Beef Curry @ the Clocktower

This evening was no exception, we got to Clocktower at the height of dinner hour and ended up getting a seat, on the tall stools near the back,  but that was OK - the place was busy but not alarmingly so. On this night it seemed though that there may have been a staff shortage. After sitting down it took a long time for A and I to get a drink order in, neither of us in a rush though we both order in-house brewed beers. I had a pint of Kolsch (A personal favourite, easy drinking, some fruity notes, generally clean and smooth) and A had a pint in Bytown Brown (a very flavourful beer, dark coloured but not overbearing in taste, has nice full flavour profile but is not overbearing and doesn't stick to the palette). These came in good time along with an order taking.

Risott-oh-so-good

Yesterday evening I felt compelled to make a risotto - but what kind?   Squash? Beet? Sausage? Mushroom? Although my fridge was stocked enough, I found myself at the grocery store on my walk home and found some mushrooms on sale (score) and some sausage on sale (double score) and thought, well why not sausage AND mushroom risotto?  It was a good weeknight meal, A thought it was great.   Risotto has a bad rap for being difficult, and I'm not sure why....(look at it simmering away there, doesn't it look nice???)

peanuuuuut peanut butter......chocolate.

Valentines day with A and I is kind of a non-starter - at least relative to several of our cohorts.  Sure, when we were newbies at the game we did cards and gifts and all that, and I still get a bouquet of over-priced roses (which are lovely, A, truly lovely) but our tradition has simplified into staying in and making a nice supper for ourselves, co-operatively.

So to cap off our bacon wrapped beef tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms, garden greens, grilled asparagus and sweet potato mash what could be finer than a MOLTEN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE.

Saved by the Tikka Masala!!

Happy valentines curry, I mean day.

  Last night for dinner I had to make a curry.   I had bought some fresh cilantro and wanted to put it
to good use but mostly because I knew I could make a spectacular supper to make up for the lackluster
lunch experience as noted in the previous post.  Thanks be to Jamie Oliver.

This also makes even more spectacular leftovers which I am eating right now - so goooooood.

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver's food revolution cookbook which my sister bought me about 1.5 years ago.  Now, I am a late blooming Jamie Oliver fan, and quite frankly I can't watch him on TV for more than 10 minutes without getting annoyed.  What I do love though is how straightforward many (most) of his recipes are and you know what?  I've made at least a couple dozen from that cookbook alone and every single recipe I tried (and repeated!) is good,  if not great.

I Juan my money back...or at least some cheese...

The experience that inspired me to start this blog. 

It was today - wait, it still IS today.  A (my partner in crime) and I were out on the town running typical suburbanite errands (the big box home reno stores for some generic inspiration) when we realized it was time for lunch.

We had passed by a Mexican restaurant in Orleans called Willie and Juan's several times before and today we even backpedalled to get there.  Who wouldn't want to have decent tasting Tex Mex food in a place that is pretty easy to get to and has parking? (read: is not downtown).   Located on St-Joseph, formerly a Mexicali Rosa's I had high hopes, and I wanted to support local entrepreneurs as well.

A and I walk in and the man who took us to our table was pleasant enough, we asked for a booth thinking it would be a more comfortable experience...not necessarily the case.

First note: A giant gash in the wall with bare concrete very visible....