Hiking Snacks!

Although the rainy season has set in and the mountains are dusted with snow at the tops, I'm still trying to get outside for a couple of last hiking flings. The last "fling" was like being stood up for a date? (I'm not sure as that's never happened to me personally). After much research identifying an appropriate trail of suitable length for a rainy day hike, we arrived only to find that the trail was closed for area conservation!  Fortunately it was a large marsh area so there was another stretch of dyke to walk along that was not closed so we trudged along in rain gear and umbrellas enjoying the outdoors, but enjoying even more the return to the city for americanos and doughnuts :) I cannot say enough about Lucky's doughnuts inside 49th parallel at main and 13th. Spectacular! 5 stars for every doughnut I've tried there, except the salted caramel.

Yes, you can hike with umbrellas

A little Austen or Bronte to lighten the mood?

Just beautiful landscape...

But back to the healthy hiking snacks! Here are two I've made within the last week:
(1) chewy no-bake granola bars - excellent taste - a bit salty for me, perfect for wife as the recipe goes. BUT, they only stay as a solid bar while they are cold (in the fridge or freezer) due to the coconut oil so honestly they seem quite impractical as a hiking snack. I would keep them around for house snacks or winter snowshoeing, but not for summer trails.

Things I changed in the recipe: (1) substituted 3/4 c. dried cranberries for the dried cherries - personal preference (2) replaced pecans with walnuts - what was on hand (3) did not use vanilla or almond extract - not convinced I want to taste vanilla extract in my granola bars - I want to taste the nuts, oats and cinnamon! (4) IF I made it again, and used fine grain salt, I would reduce to 1/4 tsp.

(2) happy trail adventure cookies - a much more practical hiking snack that stays together at room temperature. Mine did not look anything like the original photograph, so I'm wondering if she actually flattened her cookie dough balls before baking. I did not and as you can see from the photo, they don't "melt" much on their own during baking.  They are a touch on the sweet side for me, but pretty close to perfect so I wouldn't fiddle too much with the recipe.

Things I changed in the recipe: (1) substituted walnuts for pecans - again what I had on hand (2) subbed honey for brown rice syrup  and (3) included the 1/3 c. sweetened cranberries. Actually if I bake these again (which I will), I would include 1/4 c. CHOPPED dried cranberries in addition to the 3 Tbs salted roasted pumpkin seeds.

Don't you love my fancy little fade out border around the edges??

Autumn = Soup

Don't you agree? As soon as the leaves turn and I have to start wearing a woolly hat or sweatshirt around, my mind immediately transitions to soup/stew mode as part of the "welcome fall" routine.  I've been fortunate to stockpile sorrel soup in my freezer (less fortunate because now the freezer is completely full and I can't fit a single thing more in it!) but decided to make a simple lentil soup to get us through the week. Four or five days of feeding two people a meal of lentil soup - hooray! That's my kind of cooking :) I also was pleased that the recipe is fairly minimalist. Three vegetables, a legume, a fresh herb, and some basic condiments. Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is the source of this belly-warming, light and nourishing fare. I did double the mustard and vinegar from her recipe to get a bit more kick out of it.

Just realized how ridiculous the piece of carrot in the middle looks ... oh well

Lentil Vegetable Soup with Mustard and Parsley

2 Tbs olive oil or vegetable oil
2 c. diced onion
3-5 large garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 c. green or brown lentils, rinsed (PICK THROUGH THEM FOR STONES - THEY REALLY EXIST)
2/3 - 1 c. diced celery (I prefer more vegetables in my soup so chose 1 c.)
2/3 - 1 c. diced carrot
2 - 3 bay leaves
1/2 - 3/4 c. chopped parsley
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 - 3 Tbs sherry or red wine vinegar

1. In a large soup pot, sauté the onion in hot oil for 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sautéing until the onion is tender and translucent. Add the tomato paste, 1 tsp of salt, celery, carrot, and parsley and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Pour in 2 quarts of water, the lentils,bay leaves,  a dash or two of freshly ground pepper, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered for 25-35 minutes.
3. Taste for salt - may need another 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp of salt. Make sure the lentils are tender. If not, continue simmering until done. Stir in the mustard and vinegar at the end. Add more pepper to taste (or vinegar/mustard) and remove the bay leaves.
4. Serve with a slice of crusty bread and enjoy.

Tie altering!

Not a food picture!  Surprised?

So here are some before and after shots of converting (in my best attempts) my overly large wide ties into some skinny ties that I will be super excited to wear with my pinstripe vest!  The first tie (the light pink) was much easier to work with than the second tie, since finished. The dark pink tie seems to be a silkier material that shows every little needle prick and pulling of thread! To my unskilled eye I did a 98% perfect job at getting the nice half diamond shape at the bottom of the tie to be symmetrical. Good enough! No one else will be looking that closely:)

All in all this was a great two evening project. One to pick apart the tie, pull out the thin lining and cut it down, then iron the new fold lines for the tie and try to as invisibly as possible sew the tie closed :)  Then re-iron and hang.

Sweet and salty

My new favorite dessert - caramel corn with almonds and pretzels - served alongside a cup of dark roast decaf coffee.  Playful, fun, but almost classy - almost since you do end up with sticky caramel on your fingertips ...  Surprisingly, this turned up on Thanksgiving weekend and my mom was the one who became fixated on the idea of making this treat (unusual since I'm the one with the sweet tooth and she's not). While the first batch was an 80% success, the second batch I later tried turned out sooo much better and I saved one dish worth of washing - a huge improvement in my mind.

The nice part is you can make up a big batch ahead of time! I'm not 100% certain that the marshmallows are needed in the caramel sauce. I used them since I had old marshmallows that I couldn't come up with any other purpose for. This recipe came from everybody likes sandwiches' blog but I doubled the sauce to make sure I had enough.... the leftover sauce was great on apple slices!

Salted Caramel Almond Pretzel Popcorn

6-8 c. plain popped popcorn
~1 1/2 c. coarsely chopped salted pretzels (I bought regular pretzels, but pretzel rods would have been easier to work with) - you can use more or less as desired
3/4 - 1 c. toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 + 1/6 c. heavy cream
1 c. marshmallows (regular or mini. If regular, chop into quarters)
sea salt or coarse salt

1. Pop your popcorn and set aside in a LARGE bowl (if it's lightly greased, it might help, but it could also not be greased). You can stir the almonds through also. Leave the pretzels aside for now.
2. In a medium sized saucepan (high walls are good), combine the sugar, almost a 1/2 tsp of kosher (regular) salt and 3/4 c. water. Bring to a boil and let boil uncovered for 8-12 minutes. It should turn a deep golden caramel shade. (You want beyond a pale yellow!) Remove from the heat and pour in the heavy cream in thirds, possibly stirring while doing so. It will foam up and/or splatter (hence the medium sized saucepan and adding in portions). Once it settles down, stir in the marshmallows and let sit (stirring occasionally) until melted.
3. Pour caramel over the popcorn and almond mixture, stirring to combine. After a minute, stir the pretzels through. At this point you can taste and add some coarse seas salt to taste. Let sit until cool and then nosh away! (or store it in a plastic bag for later).

Fall is in the air

And with fall a whole new spectrum of tasty meals that revolve around soups, stews, pumpkin, squash, hearty greens like kale, beets, apples, pears, cranberries - joy. At this Thanksgiving (Canadian that is), we tried out a whole slew of new recipes. Most if not all were ecstatically received! My particular favorite was Richard Blaise's (YES TOP CHEF) carrot osso bucco with creamy polenta. The rest of the table swooned over the parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussels sprouts from the little yellow kitchen blog.

Thanksgiving Day walk

I did a bit of modifying on the carrot osso bucco once I realized I would be making mushroom stock from scratch. (DO THIS IN ADVANCE!) As it turned out, the mushroom stock recipe that I made had me strain out the mushrooms, which I did. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to save or discard the mushrooms, but they were still jam-packed with flavor so I simply stirred them through the carrot osso bucco once it was finished and they were marvelous! I actually can't imagine serving this recipe without cooked mushrooms.

Carrot osso bucco (made with home-grown carrots)

 The only comment I would make about the recipe is when I used masala curry powder, I found the clove factor a bit overpowering. If I made the recipe again, I would reduce the curry powder, maybe 3/4 of the amount and add at least 1- 2 Tbs. worchesthire sauce (this of course, unvegetarianizes the recipe but for us pescatarians, not an issue). The upside of this recipe is that it necessitates a trip to a gourmet kitchen store/food store to buy porcini powder!  Isn't that fancy? I was fascinated to see that french porcini powder was at least one and a half times the cost of italian procini powder. Who knew?

Parmesan roasted butternut squash, kale, and brussel sprouts

Coffee cream delight (The Grit cookbook)

Carrot Osso Bucco.

Use the recipe carrot osso bucco. I doubled it to serve 5 with leftovers.  Changes - decrease masala curry powder to 1 1/2 tsp for a doubled recipe and add 3-4 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. Try adding 1 1/2 Tbs dried porcini powder to start and after braising or 1 hour and 15 minutes, if the vegetables are tender, strain all the liquid out and reserve. Place the carrots and onions in a casserole dish and combine with mushrooms from stock (these should be warm/hot). Then reduce the braising liquid on the stove. Once the sauce is the desired thickness add salt and pepper to taste with more porcini powder if needed. Pour sauce over vegetables and serve with creamy polenta.

Mushroom Stock. Use the recipe, but replace the white wine with water or a low sodium vegetable  broth. Add 1/2 tsp thyme - 1 tsp thyme and 1/4 - 1/2 c. freshly chopped parsley.

Creamy Polenta:  I used this recipe - can reduce half-and half or replace with milk. Also add another 1/2 - 1 c. of water at the end to make polenta less thick as needed. Reduce butter to 2 Tbs. You can leave out the butter and parmesan if desired. (I made exactly the amount in the recipe).

Parmesan Roasted Brussels, Butternut Squash and Kale. I doubled the amount of brussels (approx 25-30) and used 2 bunches of kale (perhaps 8 c. chopped?). I also prepared the vegetables separately. To do this, I doubled the seasonings and then used roughly a third for each vegetable. The squash was tossed with seasonings and roasted for about 40 minutes without broiling. About 10 minutes before the squash was expected to finish, I sauteed the kale in a bit of oil briefly, added 1/4 c. of water, covered and steamed briefly - 4-5 minutes - check for burning and removed the lid to finish cooking, stirring through the seasoning and crisping up in the skillet. With the brussels I tried a similar method but wasn't at pleased. They could be roasted for about 20 minutes after tossing with seasoning (time with expected end time for squash) - this would be easiest. Or you could steam them for 3-5 minutes, roll them in seasoning and saute another 3-5 minutes just until tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM.

We also cooked a favorite - kale mashed potatoes from epicurious!

Lastly for our dessert, I turned to the Grit for a coffee cream delight tart that was smooth, silky, a hint of coffee and a hint of chocolate. Perfect alongside a cup of strong coffee.