Moroccan Chicken and Saffron Soup

I was really hoping to make it through the rest of the school year without getting sick, but life definitely has other plans! Luckily, we're big soup eaters here, and a bowl of broth is never too far away, ready to be jazzed up with whatever my stomach can handle at the time (which, at the moment, is plain brown rice and maybe a diced carrot or two). Over the Winter, my mom ate a lot of hearty soups herself, and she still attributes her ability to avoid the bulk of the flu season to her daily bowls of comfort. It's easy to see why - they're always homemade, packed with veggies, lean proteins and healthy spices that fend off even the most stubborn colds.

Take, for example, this gorgeous and exotic concoction. Iron and protein packed chicken thighs, chickpeas and veggies toting fibre and vitamins and comforting pearls of whole grain couscous are just the headliners in the pot, backed up by an exotic array of spices including the elusive, expensive saffron. It smells like absolute Heaven while simmering, which would be reason enough to cook up a pot every few weeks if those darn crocus stamens weren't so pricey these days (and those darn squirrels would stop eating my calendula - a passable substitute - every year).                 

Whether you're beginning your foray into Moroccan food (and really, you know my love for all things Moroccan!) or you're needing one of those mid-day "pick-me-up" meals at work, this soup is perfect. Filling, flavourful, with that little "something extra" that keeps you coming back for more, it's a delicious "bridge food" for the seasons too!

Toast Topper #58: Peach-Mango Jam

Even though the warmer weather is starting to arrive around here, it's no secret that Summer is still a long way off. In a way, that's a blessing - I've only just started my heirloom tomatoes (and haven't touched my squash seeds yet), plus the fact that June is still a little ways off means I have a little bit of breathing room before the year-end school presentations begin! The warmer weather also means the seemingly endless amounts of ice and snow are starting to dwindle (yay!), being replaced by dreary, grey rain (boo!). According to Mr. Weatherman, around here we're destined for a full 24 hours of the wet stuff - meaning a lot of grumpy kids stuck inside and a host of grumpy adults with pressure headaches!

Until the bright sunshine sees fit to come out and play again,at least I still have a few jars of Summer goodness tucked away in my pantry that I can enjoy all year! Last Summer was perfect for peaches in my area, so taking advantage of their super-affordable price at the farmer's market I bought a few extra baskets, making jam immediately with some of them and freezing the rest (peeled and sliced) for later. We also had a bumper crop of mangoes in the grocery stores mid-July for some reason, which was inspiration enough for me to cherry-pick the Mango Jam recipe out of the Best of Bridge Home Preserving book and give it my own, Ontario twist. Rather than simply mango pieces with sugar and pectin, I opted for a chunky mash of ripe peaches and mangoes with a flavourful mix of brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and white pepper for an exotic spread that radiates warmth and good weather all year round. Thankfully, I managed to can a few jars of this before it was eaten right out of the pot (yes, it is good enough to risk mouth blisters for) because if this past Winter is any indication of the future year to come, the weather's going to need all the help it can get!

Shared with Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Gluten Free Fridays

Shannon's Lemon-Cranberry Scones

I absolutely hate when favourite products of mine are discontinued, changed or simply no longer carried where I shop. This happens to me so often these days with food items, my mom and I have taken to buying stuff en masse and hoarding it in our pantry and freezer. Of course, a good reason for my dilemma is that I do require some "specialty" items (mostly vegan, allergy friendly and/or very low-fat), but even when it comes to run-of-the-mill food shopping for the whole family we've been forced to hit two or three stores in search of an item.

Understandably, what's worse for my household (and most others' I know of) is when a favourite restaurant changes their menu or (horrors) goes out of business. For instance, we were frequent visitors at a few local pubs (one of which was run by a friend of the family) when, out of the blue, they closed within months of each other. Gone were one's decadent fish and chips doused with malt vinegar and their classic pickles, away went the other's to-die-for pasta and British curry bowls. Sad days, friends... sad days. Our local bakery changed their homemade, super-buttery croissants and danishes formulae over to par-baked, frozen dough, neither of which lent the (more expensive) treats any real flavour besides sugar and salt.

Thankfully, when it comes to the restaurant dishes at least, I learned to cook and developed a sense of adventure in the kitchen. I love to experiment with recipes anyway, and as I became aware of what the elements in recipes did (especially in baking) I found more and more ways of making foods close to, or better than, the originals. More than that, I could do them from scratch, and cheaper! Last year one of my co-workers and friends was telling me about the "death" of Starbucks' old formula for lemon scones - most notably the lack of glaze on top in lieu of a crunchy sugar sprinkle. Now, I have to admit, I go to the 'Bucks for the coffee and espresso alone, so never thought to look at their display case. A little Googling later and I had a few lemony scone recipes at my fingertips, which I combined with a little extra ingredient know-how to come up with the ones I'm sharing today.

These wedges are the perfect balance of buttery, sweet, tangy, rich, tender and fluffy - the dried cranberries add just the right amount of texture and colour, while lemon comes around in the forms of zest, juice and extract. As the recipe makes a fair amount - and my coworker would likely only have one or two others willing to share the lemony bliss - I used a blend of shortening and butter and added a pinch of soy lecithin granules so that they wouldn't go stale or dry after a day or two, nor would they suffer if frozen. In fact, I actually froze the dough pre-baking because I knew I wouldn't get to it immediately, and when popped right into the oven from frozen the scones were the fluffiest and softest ones I'd ever made. Glazed with their tangy powdered sugar icing, they looked and (from what I hear) tasted better than their predecessors, and I've had requests for more!

Chopped Chicken Ragu

I have this theory that celebrating the birthday of someone is misguided - if anything, the date of your birth should be a celebration of the efforts of the parents who not only have birth to you, but raised to to become the person you are today. It's not overly conventional thinking, but I'm like that! Plus, it takes the emphasis off of me every April 4 ;-).

Anyways, with the birthday rant over and with a mind to celebrating my mom in particular, I will turn to a recipe that has become her long-time favourite sauce and/or stew since I made it up for a class project in 2009. As I've said numerous times before, we are bona fide veggieholics, and there is almost nothing better than tucking into a dish made with the bounty of the garden or the labours of our local farmers. I originally created the hearty (and gluten-free) mixture of diced chicken thighs, fresh rosemary, carrots, tomatoes and zucchini to be a hearty sauce for pasta or whole grains, and this is still one of the family's favourite ways to eat it. Using chicken thighs (in place of the usual SBCB) lends the ragu not only a rich flavour but more iron, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorus, vitamin B-6 and zinc. That said, over the course of time we've also adapted it as a stand-alone stew (which is awesome the next day), as well as with various forms of protein like leftover holiday turkey, cubed tofu or cannellini beans.

Regardless of the "meat of the matter", we almost always keep a container of this stuff (or the ingredients to make it) on hand for a taste of Summer when Spring has barely lifted it's head!

Post Christmas Shredded Turkey Version!

Shared with Gluten Free Fridays and Waste Not Want Not Wednesday

Maritime Coffee Cake

When I was growing up, our local grocery store used to stock some of the best coffee cake I'd ever eaten. Sweet with a spicy ribbon, moist but not oily, a whole quarter of the treat could easily disappear if I wasn't paying attention - and unlike a lot of the other "bakery shop" cakes and muffins I've had over the years, it actually tasted like it was designed to go with a cup of rich, strong coffee, not a 40-word long "coffee beverage" or whipped cream somethingororther.

I don't want to think about how many years have passed since then - truly, my relative age was brought to light yesterday when some of my Grade 2 students asked me how long I'd been baking "fancy stuff". Taking my stint at George Brown as my baseline, I replied since 2008. Needless to say I felt every one of my (almost) 27 years when I had 3 of them say immediately "wow, that was a year before I was born!". Oy. I guess it doesn't help that old classmates of mine are now parents of some of my students either, but for some odd reason it's been like my 20s never existed (and not for the usual reasons people "forget" their 20's!).

Anyways, I wanted to share a "new" version one of my old favourite treats with you for my birthday (which happens to be tomorrow) and came up with a healthier, more flavourful bake in the process. Starting with Isa Chandra Moskowitz' "East Coast Coffee Cake" recipe in Vegan Brunch, I effectively un-veganized it using Amoré Almonds + Dairy beverage (although any dairy or non-dairy milk will work A-OK). Then, I layered on the nutty, earthy flavours I love in baking with camelina oil, flax, quinoa and a touch of chickpea flour. The topping is definitely present (and divine!) but doesn't overwhelm the tender and moist cake underneath. I wouldn't change the ratio at all - and speaking as a confirmed member of the New York Crumb Cake fan club, that's something to write home about!