Pestos and Pastas

Green is rapidly turning into a staple colour in my kitchen! This past couple weeks I've been embracing any and all ideas I've come across to make use of the half pound each of fresh parsley and garlic chives I rescued from the night frosts, and pesto-ish concoctions have been more or less the order of the day.

For the first of the two "pestos" I made, I took advantage not only of my parsley and chives, but also used up a good handful of freshly roasted pumpkin and acorn squash seeds (they taste the same, just smaller!) in place of the pine nuts. A couple cloves of garlic and a splash of toasted sesame oil made the paste even richer-tasting, and the traditional parmesan rounded out the flavours and made it creamy and thick. So thick, in fact, that I had to thin it out with pasta water to serve it!

Pepita - Parsley Pesto
Serves 6
100g fresh parsley
30g fresh garlic chives
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup shelled, toasted pumpkin seeds
red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup water

1. Combine parsley, chives, garlic and pumpkin seeds in a food processor and pulse to chop finely.
2. Add pepper flakes, salt and Parmesan and pulse in.
3. With the machine running, stream in the oils and water, mixing to a smooth puree.
4. Store in the fridge, or freeze for later.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 51.9
Total Fat: 3.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.7 mg
Sodium: 40.6 mg
Total Carbs: 3.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.7 g
Protein: 1.6 g

The next thing I made with the greenery was a pasta dish for a school-day lunch. I only used garlic chives this time, and left out the oil and nuts. Creamy ricotta stands in for the Parmesan here, and dried herbs and spices were added too. I boosted the bulkiness of this dish with strips of "zucchini pasta", but if I do this again (may not be anytime soon though - I'm still under the weather... groan!) I'll make sure to purge it well... it leached water like crazy by the time I got around to eating it! I'm sending this to next week's Presto Pasta Nights (being hosted this week by Inge of Vanielje Kitchen).

Chive - Ricotta Pasta And Squash
Serves 2
1 cup smooth ricotta cheese
3 oz fresh chives
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
red pepper flakes to taste
1 tsp lemon juice
salt + pepper
2 medium zucchini, peeled into thin ribbons
4 oz fettuccine, cooked and drained

1. Puree cheese through salt and pepper in a blender or food processor until smooth.
2. Sautee zucchini ribbons and drained noodles in a nonstick saucepan until hot and zucchini is beginning to soften.
3. Add sauce and toss well. Heat through and serve.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 440.5
Total Fat: 17.2 g
Cholesterol: 62.7 mg
Sodium: 108.9 mg
Total Carbs: 48.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
Protein: 22.8 g

Fighting Food Waste

It happens to all of us... we buy a particular ingredient for a recipe and (because the packaging companies are sadistic) only use half or a third of the container, leaving the remainder to languish in the fridge. Or, even worse, we never get around to making that particular recipe and the cherished ingredients never get used in the first place! Yes, even in this age of economic slowdown and super-conservation, wasting food is still here... and I doubt it's going anywhere else soon.

I'm so tired of having to throw out remnants of ingredients, especially since I'm a certified food-hoarder (and Bulk Barn shopper)! As a result of all the baking I'd been doing, I've been trying to find creative ways of using up a lot of the leftovers, too! For example, I had some buttermilk nearing "detonation day" in my fridge from Thanksgiving (thank Goodness it lasts a while, essentially being pre-spoiled) and was desperate for a means of using it up. A search of my computer files yielded nothing (but granted, they aren't too organized... hey, I'm a college student!) so I turned to RecipeZaar (via Google) for inspiration. Lucky for me, I found exactly what I was looking for in this recipe! They were sweet without being sugary and stick-to-your-throat rich, and the buttermilk gave them this awesome smell out of the oven that reminded me of my mom's red velvet cake. I didn't do the frosting for these though, since cookies (in my kitchen, at least) should be good enough to stand unadorned! The only change I made was to reduce the amount of salt, and to add spelt flour in place of some of the white. Gotta get the grains in somewhere! It's close enough to the original, though, that I'm feeling okay sending it off to Bookmarked Recipes at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Try as I might though, I still had some leftover buttermilk, so I made a couple other things - but you'll have to wait and see just what!

Buttermilk 'Nilla Cookies
Makes 36
1/2 cup shortening, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375F, line cookie sheets with parchment or SilPat.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Combine flours, baking soda and salt.
5. Add dry mix to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on racks.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 79.0
Total Fat: 2.9 g
Cholesterol: 6.0 mg
Sodium: 5.6 mg
Total Carbs: 12.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g
Protein: 1.3 g

(Re) Capturing Tradition

Every fall when I was growing up my mom and I would go to our local orchard (Nature's Bounty) to spend an afternoon picking Northern Spy apples. We'd finish off our adventure with a steaming cup of fresh cider (blissfully hot after being blasted by late October and sometimes November chills!) before coming home to warm up in front of a good TV movie. The next day (or weekend), we would wake up early and get into the kitchen to spend the day making apple everything... pie, crisp, squares and sauce. One year after a particularly generous harvest, we made twelve huge apple pies and froze them, defrosting one each month for the next year! It was a major part of what Fall meant to me, and until last year it was a "mom and me" tradition.

When my mom re-married last year, it was my bad luck that her honeymoon took her out of Canada for most of out apple season. This meant no "mom" pies, though I still made plenty of apple goodies (if you recall, I'm an apple freak!). I figured that this year I would continue our tradition on my own (we missed the Spies again - this time because of my schoolwork overload and messed up foot) when it came for me to make stuff for the fundraiser.

This year, instead of one big pie (like this one), I made tartlets in a muffin tin. I also started to play around with my mom's recipe for both crust and filling (cue the anguish gasps from the peanut gallery) to bump up the nutrition and flavour while making it a bit sweeter for the tastebuds of the masses. I don't know why some people prefer their apple pies swimming in sugar (I've seen recipes with up to a cup and a half in the filling alone!) - unsweetened is the only way to go in my opinion, but I grew up that way! My recipe also plays homage to my days out in the orchard with the addition of local apple cider in the filling too... why not double (triple, actually, if you count the AC vinegar!) the apple goodness?

I'm not claiming this as a health food - it's still got sugar and shortening in it (though you could use butter / Earth Balance if you can afford it and stand to work with it - I hate making butter-based pastry!)... however, it's got good stuff in it too! Flaxseed and spelt flour add a delicate nuttiness and all that fibrey goodness to the crust, and I opted to leave the peel on one of the apples too for texture, extra fibre and the extra thickening boost from the natural pectin. I will spread the love though, and send this vegan recipe off to two events: the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipe Carnival at Fun & Food Cafe, and Egg Replacement Event (Flax Seed Meal) at Eggless Cooking.

Apple Tartlets
Makes 8
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp shortening
3 tablespoons ice water
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 large tart apples, peeled and diced
1 large sweet apple, unpeeled and diced
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp apple cider

1. Combine flaxseed and boiling water in a small dish, stirring to combine. Set aside 15 minutes to cool and thicken.
2. Whisk together flours and salt in a large bowl.
3. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Gently stir in flaxseed mixture.
5. Combine ice water and vinegar. Stir into the flour mixture until just blended.
6. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead slightly just to have dough come together.
7. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate 8-12 hours.
8. Preheat oven to 345F.
9. Combine apples, tapioca, spice and apple juice in a bowl, tossing well. Set aside 10 minutes.
10. Roll out pie dough thinly and cut out 8 rounds large enough to fit into 8 muffin cups.
11. Place into cups, leaving overhang untrimmed.
12. Fill each cup with heaping amounts of the apple mixture.
13. Using the remaining dough, make "lids" for the mini-pies and place over filling, cutting slits into the tops for ventilation.
14. Bake 35 minutes in the hot oven, rotating pans halfway through baking.
15. Allow to cool thoroughly before serving.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 227.5
Total Fat: 8.5 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1.1 mg
Total Carbs: 35.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.6 g
Protein: 3.9 g

Apples as Hot as Today

I honestly couldn't believe it today when I went outside... I mean, here we are in November, mere weeks away from Christmas, and it's pushing 20° with full sun! That can't be right... we must be in the middle of a serious natural oven here!

I'm still catching up on my bake sale posts (I told you I made a lot - and I'm STILL cooking and taking photos!) and I must apologize for the slowness that they're being put up - that darn school thing keeps getting in my way! I thought today would be a good one to share these apples that I did though - they have a touch of heat to them that reminded me of the gorgeous day outside! Now if only it had been this nice when I went to pick the apples I used!

Without the cayenne pepper, these are just your basic caramel apple. I do favour green or "tart" apples for this too, since the coating is so sugary. But, hey, if you like sweet (or sweet apples like the Deliciouses or MacIntoshes are all you have), use those... I'm not in your kitchen hawking over you, ya know!

Cayenne Caramel Apples
Makes 8

8 medium green apples, washed and dried well
16 oz caramel squares
1/4 cup whole milk
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place a craft stick or chopstick into the base of each apple and set aside.
3. In a saucepan, melt together caramels and milk until smooth.
4. Stir in cayenne pepper.
5. One by one, swirl in apples, coating thoroughly. Place on prepared sheets.
6. Allow to set 8-12 hours before enjoying.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 254.4
Total Fat: 4.3 g
Cholesterol: 3.7 mg
Sodium: 111.0 mg
Total Carbs: 55.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.3 g
Protein: 2.5 g

Eye Spy...

So, how was everyone's Hallowe'en?? Like last year, we didn't get many kids at our door last night - our area is pretty new still and being that we're surrounded by a forest it's not like we're exactly a suburban hotspot. It's nice to have it quiet sometimes, but for Halloween, well, it sucks.

That's what school's for, I guess! To continue on from yesterday's roundup of bake sale stuff, today I'm showing you some eye candy! Oh yes, let the cheesiness begin... you see, these really are eye-shaped candies that I made for some delicious chocolate cupcakes!

When I was making my choices for my bakesale contributions, I knew that fun decorations would be playing a major role in their selling factor. And what's easier to make festive than good old fashioned cupcakes? I settled on a variation of these rich chocolate-buttermilk cupcakes made by Baking Bites for the cake before going hog-wild with the frostings... out came the icing sugar, corn syrup and food colouring for a thick, super-easy (and vegan!) royal icing. I piped out "buttons" of the sugary goo onto wax paper and topped each one with a jumbo chocolate chip for a pupil. Twelve hours later, they were rock hard and shiny, perfect for perching on top of their buttercream mountains!

Speaking of buttercream, these guys had a secret inside too - a mixture of my grandma's homemade raspberry jam and my buttercream frosting! I used my handy-dandy Bismark filler tip and stuffed the cupcakes to the brim before hiding the holes with the vanilla frosting. I put the "eye candy" on top of that and then used a store-bought gel decorator frosting to do the "bloodshot" effect. It took me a good 3 hours start to finish for the 20-odd cakes, but I think it was worth it... what do you think??

"Eye Candy"
Makes 30
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tsp soy milk
2 tsp corn syrup
food colouring of choice (I did green and yellow to get the "icky" colour)
30 jumbo, non-dairy chocolate chips

1. Combine sugar, milk and corn syrup in a bowl, whisking smooth.
2. Add food colouring and milk as needed for a thick but "pipable" consistency.
3. Place into a piping bag or ziploc with a tiny hole in the corner snipped off.
4. Pipe 30 "buttons" on a sheet of waxed paper.
5. Immediately place a chocolate chip on the centre of each button and allow to harden 12-24 hours.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 19.2
Total Fat: 0.2 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.9 mg
Total Carbs: 4.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.0 g
Protein: 0.0 g

I really only lightly used BB's recipe for these cupcakes... I swapped canola oil and applesauce in for the melted butter, and added spelt flour, honey, and instant coffee powder too. With caffeine from both cocoa and the coffee, not to mention the sugar high, what better name to give this recipe?

Rich Red-Eye Cupcakes
Makes 18
3/4 cup flour
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp honey
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners, or grease well.
2. Whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda and salt.
3. Pour in the rest of the ingredients, stirring until just combined.
4. Bake for 15 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
5. Cool 10 minutes in tins before turning out and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 130.8
Total Fat: 3.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.5 mg
Sodium: 15.4 mg
Total Carbs: 24.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 2.4 g

... and after all this sugary blood business, I even went to donate blood today! I tried to, at any rate, but the vampires didn't want my blood - seems my pulse is too low for their liking (okay, at 40bpm instead of the normal 80, it's a little low for my liking too - and my temperature is a full 2 degrees C below normal! Off to another appointment, I guess...). I did learn today that regular blood donations prevent stroke though, so if you have other risk factors, go stick a needle in your arm! Erm, safely, of course...

And you still can't keep me out of the kitchen, since I have not only more bakesale stuff to share (one more batch of cookies, caramel apples and mini pies!), but a friend's cheesecake, a batch of buttermilk - herb biscuits and a pesto - swirled loaf of bread to show you all!