Buckwheat Apple Pan Fritters

I have fond memories associated with apple fritters. Not the yeast-based brick of deep fried dough with a tablespoon of dried fruit you can find at the doughnut shop, but the "real deal" - rings of fresh apple dipped in almost a tempura-like batter and deep fried just until done. When we'd go to pick apples every fall, the farmstand was making them to order. There was no extra batter on the fruit, they weren't greasy or heavy, and they never sat around longer than it took to get them into your mouth without scorching yourself.

Of course, those fritters may have been based on a nutritious and perfectly ripe option, but they were still encased in white flour, white sugar and (of course) super-hot oil - given the times back then, it also could very well have been lard! A single brown bag of (maybe) 4 or 5 rings would easily run about 190 calories and 9 grams of fat, not exactly a step to your 10 a day. I guess the comforting fact is that those bakery style ones are worse - 300 calories and 11 grams of fat in each greasy (yet admittedly delicious) ball. But I loved them all the same and wanted to try and recapture that feeling in a less "bad for you" setting.

When I found this recipe last year I couldn't get it out of my head. It made so much sense! Slice an apple or two, add it to a pancake batter and make pancakes instead - no need to mess around with deep fryers, oil temperature, draining and filtering the oil... not to mention saving yourself a good amount of calories and fat and trading it for a few more nutrients. For my own sake (and because mom was helping me taste test), I opted for a gluten free and vegan, low fat batter made with a mix of whole-grain buckwheat flour and ground flaxseeds (mom loves buckwheat pancakes!). I kept things very appley with apple cider and added a touch of Canadiana with dark, rich maple syrup. Only half peeling the apples lent a great texture and even more nutrients, perfectly creating just the  slightest crisp shell and tender middle. Of course, we drizzled on a bit more maple syrup after the fact, but chunky applesauce would have been tasty too!

I'm going to submit this breakfast / snack / dessert goodness to Ricki for her Wellness Weekend - you should go check it out!

Sourdough Cinnamon - Raisin Bagels

It's been a while since I've broken out the bagels around here. Ever since mom began reducing bread in her diet (it is her one diet weakness) I've had nobody to make it for - until my sister mentioned she missed the bagels we used to buy every weekend at The Great Canadian Bagel. Back then, we'd go with mom or dad to pick up a baker's dozen of the huge, chewy rings - I was partial to the sourdough and the French toast versions, my sister would divide her picks between plain, chocolate chip and cinnamon raisin. We'd no sooner get them home before we'd pluck our "treat" out of the paper bag (mom insisted on slicing and freezing the rest of them), smear it with margarine (no money for butter) and stick it in our rickety toaster oven to melt everything into gooey, crispy bliss. I swear, given the option, the two of us would have gladly lived off of toasted bagels with margarine, peanut butter, honey, cherry jam or even corn syrup (yes, I know!). Highschool shot me off in a different direction on the weekends, and our bagel-buying sprees ended. For a good long while, it was only on the occasional road trip that we'd get our fix at the local Tim Hortons. Nowhere near as authentically "bagelly" as the honey-water boiled circles we grew up with, they were still in appearance bagels and came in a few of the varieties we both liked.

When Teaghan brought up the Great Canadian goodies, I knew I could make a pretty decent facsimile in our own kitchen - and if possible, even improve on the classic. First, I tweaked the basic dough formula to convert it to a sourdough - whenever it comes to sweeter yeast bread, I like the tangy edge and overall character that the prefermentation adds. Then, given that in her maturity, my sister has in fact garnered a taste for whole wheat bread, I decided for a 100% whole wheat dough that I proceeded to lace with a goodly amount of cinnamon and sweeten with barley malt and dark brown sugar. For the final touch, both Thompson and sultana raisins (a rough 50 / 50 mixture) took a bath in some lukewarm water while the sponge fermented before I kneaded them in by hand.

The whole batch, from preferment to boil-and-bake, took just under two days - but the results were well worth the wait! Crispy, chewy crust with a toasty hue from the high heat oven and the alkaline pH bath, they sliced open to reveal a tight crumb and a smattering of raisins. Perfectly fitting in the toaster or simply chewed on au naturale, they are similar to Montreal's famous bagels but with a distinctly "Oshawan" kick.

Submitted to this week's YeastSpotting at Wild Yeast

"Momma Wants" Soup

I wrote this recipe title originally as a kind of joke: a reference to the ingredients my mom asked me to put into the stock I made from yesterday's Double-Lemon Roast Chicken. But as I was beginning to put together the writeup for this vitamin and mineral-packed one-pot meal, our lives took a turn of events that really solidified the need for something comforting and familiar. My maternal grandfather hadn't been feeling himself the past week or so, not sleeping much at night or eating during the day. For him to even admit that change in his usual routine is striking enough in itself - but when my grandma called this afternoon to say he was on morphine in the hospital it was like a ton of bricks. To make it worse, they still don't know what's going on, and my mom was out in Guelph helping out my sister with her new place - unable to get to the hospital stat to be with my gran.

I talked to my mom mid-commute, when she was snarled in gridlock on the highway, and she declared she wanted nothing for dinner. I wheedled her a bit and got her to agree to one thing - this soup.

I'm sure that under different circumstances I'd have some witty banter about my mom's picky to unpicky behaviour, but right now, all I can think of is that soup, and how much I hope it brings even a tiny taste of comfort to my mom tonight.

"Momma Wants" Soup

Makes 8 hearty bowls

1 tbsp olive oil

1 rib fennel, chopped

5 large carrots, sliced

4 large ribs celery, sliced

1 medium-large zucchini, sliced

18 button mushrooms, halved if desired

1/4 cup white wine (I used Ogio Pinot Grigio IGT)

9 cups homemade (or low sodium) chicken stock

3 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/4 cup wild rice

1 skinless, boneless chicken thigh, cooked and chopped

3/4 cup cannellini beans

1/4 cup minced Egyptian onion greens (or green onion)

1. In a large, deep pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the fennel, carrots, celery, zucchini and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables have begun to soften and the mushrooms have begun to brown.
3. Raise the heat to high and pour in the wine, stirring vigorously, then pour in the stock.
4. Add onion flakes, rosemary, pepper, salt and wild rice.
5. Return to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook (uncovered) 20 minutes.
6. Stir in the cooked chicken, beans and green onion and cook a further 35 minutes.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 128.5

Total Fat: 2.5 g
Cholesterol: 7.2 mg
Sodium: 772.5 mg
Total Carbs: 17.9 g

Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g

Protein: 8.9 g

Double - Lemon Roast Chicken & Rum Raisin Minicakes with Maple Frosting for #SundaySupper

I come from a history of agrarians. On my dad's side of the family, we can trace our heritage back to the first immigrant farmer in Canada, and even further back, to the native culture in North America. I may not look it, but I am in part Métis. My dad's background is a motley crew of cultures including Spanish, African, European, Mediterranean, Cajun and native North American - the darker skin and hair being very apparent in my sister as well as the rest of the family on my dad's paternal side. I look far more like my maternal background describes - a mix of western European cultures, mostly British, Scottish and Irish, are where my red hair, light blue eyes and skin that burns in 10 minutes when unprotected by SPF 45+ come from.

But regardless of original location, both sides of my family survived for a time as farmers. A favourite story of my maternal grandfather's is how his great grandfather burned down a fellow farmer's barn and silo after being stiffed payment for something (a lesser known tale is that a political activist in that genetic lineup tried and failed to burn down the British parliament). Even today, my mom and I are passionate gardeners, and if it were legal here I'm sure we would have our own backyard chickens.

For these historical famers, Sunday nights meant big, hearty meals around the family table, where children, parents, grandparents and occasionally family friends would converge over great food and better conversation. A centrepiece of roasted meat flanked by a starch (usually potatoes), steamed veggies and a salad was that night's menu, often in such quantity that Monday's meal was taken care of too. That Sunday meal is comparable to today's Easter or Thanksgiving feast, slightly scaled down depending on the number of clan members attending.

When it came time for me to pick an offering for this week's Sunday Supper event (the theme of which being "Celebrating Family Heritage"), I turned to one of my new favourite cookbooks - The Old Farmer's Almanac 2012 Garden-Fresh Cookbook (stay tuned for an upcoming review on Read, Write, Cook). It was hard to choose at first, but then I found the page titled Lemon-Balm Roast Chicken, and I knew it was a match made in Heaven. Not only did it play into my historical (and not so historical, since my aunt and uncle raised chickens for a while) poultry-farming roots, but it also was filled with a compound butter that I could proudly say I made from scratch. Butter created from the last of a long ago holiday's whipping cream was beaten with lots of fresh lemon balm from right outside my back door, then stuffed under the skin of a fresh, organic chicken. I built onto the recipe by adding lemon thyme and chpped fresh lemon to the cavity too, which kept everything so moist it melted onto the fork.

For dessert, I took another piece of my background puzzle - my dad's rum-running grandfather and father - and coupled it with a touch of Canada to come up with tiny mouthfuls of sweetness: Rum Raisin Mini-Cupakes with Maple Frosting!

Check out more #SundaySupper participants here:

Scotch Eggs and Brotchen Rolls – The Meltaways

Aunt Mary’s Pasta Salad – BG Garden

Apple Kuchen – Mrs. Mama Hen

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) – Beetle’s Kitchen Escapades

Spaghetti Carbonara – Katherine Martinelli

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash – Make Dinner Easy

Potato and Spinach Knishes – The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen

German Potato Salad – Magnolia Days

Sausage and Broccoli with Orecchiette – Daddy Knows Less

Chicken Enchiladas Suizas – The Weekend Gourmet

Strawberry Tiramisu – Chocolate Moosey

Chocoflan – Juanita’s Cocina

Egg Liqueur Cake – The German Foodie

Bucatini all’Amatriciana – Mooshu Jenne

Rasmalai (Ricotta in Sweet Coconut Milk with Almonds and Pistachio) – Sue’s Nutrition Blog

Mediterranean Couscous Salad – In the Kitchen With KP

Rouladen – Midlife Road Trip

Keftikas (Turkish Meat and Leek Patties) – The Little Ferraro Kitchen

Croque Monsieur with a Béchamel sauce – The Daily Dish Recipes

Momma’s Meat Pie with Poutine Sauce – Momma’s Meals

Polish Rustic Plum Tart – Comfy Cuisine

Drop Scones (Scottish Pancakes) – Cositas Bonitas

Jamaican Cornmeal Pudding – The Lovely Pantry

Borscht Shooters – Cookistry

Shepherd’s Pie – Big Bear’s Wife

Parsnip Cakes – Mama’s Blissful Bites

Roasted Curried Vegetables – Hot Curries & Cold Beer

Portuguese Mussels in a Chorizo Sauce – Family Foodie

Bulgogi Kimchi Grilled Cheese – Damn Delicious

Wine pairings for all the recipes – ENOFYLZ

How do you celebrate your cultural heritage at the dinner table?

Saintly Smooth Fudge (with Variations!)

One of the things I loved about summer as a kid was the trips that we would take as a family. We had a sailboat until I was about 9, when my sister's scoliosis made it hard for her to get on and off the craft as well as up and down the ladder into the cabin. We transferred our vacationing habits to

pulling a trailer all over Canada (and the US), seeing provinces from PEI to British Columbia and northern American locations like Yellowstone National Park, Bar Harbour, and Wall Drug.

The constant through it all was the tourist-trap gift shops that my sister and I adored - both for the knicknacks and (for me especially) the edible treats they offered. My weakness was fudge - actually, it always has been, a sugary sweet staple of every fair or convention I've gone to where it was offered. I was a bit picky on the flavours, though - if I was eating it, it had better be either "chocolate peanut butter", "chocolate hazelnut" (essentially solid Nutella) or just plain chocolate. No chunks of anything, no maple, just smooth, crumbly chocolate.

Then again, my childhood self didn't concern herself with portion control or nutritional information. A "serving" of fudge candy is packed with 90 calories, 3 grams of fat and almost 17 grams of SUGAR! Did I mention that "serving" is only 22 grams (just shy of 0.7 of an ounce), or 1 cubic inch? How many of us actually adhere to that serving size? I'm not immune to creating gut-busting fudge candy myself - take a look at this sucker if you're looking to indulge on a massive scale - but given that summer is also code for swimsuit, I wanted to also offer some decadence that wasn't devastating to that likely goal. I lucked out by finding this post on the blog The Gluten Free Edge, where Gretchen made a silky smooth variation of Ricki's (AKA Diet, Dessert and Dogs) (and further back, Affairs of Living's author Kim's) more nutritionally sound variety. All these inspirational recipes were unique because of their major ingredient: not 22 ounces of chocolate and a jar of marshmallow creme, but a can of black beans!

I liked Ricki's and Gretchen's versions most because they also used a shot of nut butter and not just coconut oil, but I had no almond butter on hand and at any rate I wanted to try making one that tasted like the Nutella fudge of my childhood. I had a few tablespoons of the fantastic chocolate-hazelnut butter from Justin's Nut Butters in my pantry, and in the course of my search for it I also found the remains of a tub of SunButter with flaxseeds that I had bought earlier in the month and a bag of dried black beans, which I soaked and deliberately over-cooked in lieu of opening a can. When I made the final product, I actually divided the initial paste in half before adding the "butter" and made two versions - one with SunButter, the other with luscious chocolate-hazelnut spread. To maximize the chocolatey goodness, I added an extra ounce of semisweet, and I used the sweet amber agave nectar that I had from Nature's Agave since there is nowhere remotely near me that has yacon syrup or food-grade vegetable glycerine. I pressed each batch into a mini loaf pan (in retrospect I should have used something like the 4 x 3" foil pans I made individual lasagnes in to have a better depth ratio) and let it set up into rich, smooth yumminess.

Not only were both fudges gluten free and vegan, they used no refined sugar in their creation! Even Justin's products use evaporated cane juice (AKA SucaNat) in place of refined sucrose, and thanks to the natural super-sweetness of the agave and some vanilla-laced stevia adding any extra is unnecessary. A "normal" piece of my fudge only has 1.6 grams total sugar in the SunButter version and 0.9 grams of total sugar in the chocolate-hazelnut version! With the goodness of fibre from the beans, it's a candy you can actually enjoy eating and sharing (like I'm doing for this Wellness Weekend roundup). Plus, if you wanted even less sugar you could make Ricki's version of Nutella - something on my to-do list for sure!