Roasted butternut squash- for breakfast

So I didn't have much the other morning to eat, aside from these two small butternut squash and one egg. So inspired by watching episodes of Jamie At Home far, far too many times.. I hacked my squash into quarters and rubbed extra virgin olive oil, chilli, salt and pepper all over the slices and threw them in the oven at 350 F for about 40 minutes until the skin was all wrinkly. Oh, before I did that I scooped out the seeds and tossed them with olive oil et al as well and toasted them in the last 10 minutes. Fried an egg, plated the squash pieces, topped with egg, topped with toasted seeds. An interesting breakfast. Thanks Jamie!

Rice Crackers Deluxe from scratchers - an Atanfriendly Guest blog

So Gilly and I were eating some crackers the other day, of the rice variety, and as we happened upon the ingredients we decided it should be easy peasy to make ourselves..So that's what we did. Yum yum. And it turned out so good we decided it would be good enough for the big time: Victoria(n perspective) & Daniel's Love, Life & Food for Thought Blog! So after we used our masterful hacking skills we made it on here, to share this with all of you lovely people. This is a great intro-to-cooking recipe, so if you aren't too comfortable in the kitchen no worries, YOU CAN DO IT!

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

2/3 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 tablespoons flax seeds

1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil (but you can use coconut, safflower, etc.)

1/3 to 1/2 cup water

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Next you'll need to lightly oil large baking sheet. In bowl or food processor, mix flour, rice, flax seeds, salt, and oil until combined. Add water a little bit at a time until dough holds together. Plop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to form a ball. Press or roll dough on baking sheet to about 1/8 thick or possibly a little thinner (rolling pins fit great on our pans, hope they do for you as well). Then with a butter knife, score into 1 1/2-inch squares.

Lastly, throw the pans in the oven for a 20 to 30 minute bake, or until bottoms are golden brown. Be sure to Cool them off before removing from pan (it's tempting to eat them right away but they'll burn you good).

These taste great with some home-made hummus as featured in these pics;)

ENJOY!!

(next project may be to make honey rice crackers to be served with brie and strawberries, or with goat and mangoes?)

Signed,

Atanhackers (Gilly&Herman)

*names in this blog have been changed to protect the identities of the authors*

Date & Feta Salad

This little Snack was AWESOME!

Mixed Wild Greens (from the Farmer's Market)

Dried Dates (chopped small)

Goat Feta (from the Farmer's Market)

Dressed-up in a tiny jar

3 tbls Olive oil

1 tbls White wine vinegar

1 tbls of Chipotle Mayo

pinch salt/pepper

Shake Shake Shake

YUM!

Leftovers

I mixed my Leftover Cream of Carrot and Broccoli Soup with my leftover Farmer Alfredo Pasta.

Unfortunately, they weren't better together. I can't succeed all the time.

Why I Love Summer: Farmer's Market 2.0

Why I love the Farmer's Market and Formaggio... in visual form

Farmer Alfredo and Mush-boom Salad

Farmer Alfredo and Mush-boom Salad

Un Salad!

Mixed greens

Orange pepper

Oyster Mushrooms

Goat Feta

La-dressing?

3 parts olive oil

1 part white wine vinegar

drop of white truffle oil (I wish....)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil water for Pasta and then cook pasta while you do the following:

In a pan with olive oil

Farmer Sausage

Onion

Garlic

Mushrooms (I used crimini)

Red pepper

Cook till browned

add Spinach

Salt and pepper

Put aside

In pan cook

butter/flour equal parts (1/4 cup)

add Asiago Cheese

add milk till creamy

Drain Pasta and mix all components in the pot.

Serve Match Set Point!

Taste Explosion in Three Parts

This Experiment was three powerful and wonderful flavours.

Exhibit A - Cream of Carrot and Broccoli Soup

So what do you do when your carrots and Broccoli loose their crisp?

Chop and boil in a pot (not too much water now)
2-3 Carrots
1 large head of Broc

Chop Fine and brown in a pan with Oil d'Olive
1/4 Onion
3 cloves Garlic

Add more oil to the pan and add

1 Table spoon Corn starch

2 Table spoons Rice Flour

Make a sticky Roux
with pinches of

salt

pepper

chili flakes

Add the pan to the pot

IMMERSION BLEND IT!

add milk (2% recommended)

IMMERSION BLEND IT!

Add salt to taste

IMMERSION BLEND IT!

Exhibit B - Bailey's Milk

In a blender add

2 Cups Crushed Ice

1 Cup Raw Cane Sugar

4 TBL Spoons of Honey

2 Cups of Milk (2% recommended)

and a decent amount of Bailey's Irish Cream

Seriously, Refreshingly Tasty!

Exhibit C - Kale Chips with Roasted Red Papper (I was actually craving Miss Vickies Jalapeño Chips)

Heat oven to 350 F

Chopped up Red Pepper Small and put in a pan with a touch of olive oil

Add a bit of salt and spice to taste (I used Cayenne)

Cook till some bits are starting to blacken

Rip up the kale leaves into bite sized pieces

Mix with olive oil and salt and a spritz of lemon juice

Place on a cook sheet in the oven and keep an eye on them (approx 4-5 mins)

Plate Kale and top with Pepper Bits

it is a salty spicy delght

lovelovelove

Chil-getti and the New Pot

So Adam Roper's Sister brought us a new pot and it is HUGE. So I was unsure of what to make for it's maiden Voyage.... Soup, Spaghetti or Chili...

As you can probably tell I Double Teamed that idea with a one two mexi-talian PUNCH!

Honestly I have no clue what the ingredients of this concoction is...

Basically, I emptied the deep freeze of leftover soups and sauces and beans (yes left over beans) and added some fresh veg.... Spiced and herbed and there you have it.

It was pretty good.

DOUBLE SIDES SUNDAY

DOUBLE SIDES SUNDAY

A few Sunday's ago I decided to make myself a tasty treat. I had eggs, yams and lettuce and that was it...

Start with the Chipotle Mayo

First

1 1/2 Cups of veg. oil (refrigerate till cool)

Then

Separate the yolks into a blender

(use the whites for a nice omelette)

add a bit of lemon juice (teaspoon-ish)

a pinch of salt

a pinch of paprika

Start that blender up!

Slowly, ever slowly add the (chilled) oil (SLOWLY IS THE KEY!)

It should emulsify and make some pretty tasty mayo-yo!

You can add salt and paprika after as well if it doesn't have enough flavour...

As for the two actual dishes

I just used a yogurt dressing on the salad

1 cup Plain Yogurt

2 tbls (store bought) Caesar dressing

1 tbls mayo

Pepper

and the yam fries are sliced thin, immersed in hot oil till they crisp and sprinkled with salt.

Viola! Double sides!

Cream Of Asparagus

Cream Of Asparagus Soup

Remember I told you not to throw out those Stalks?
Well this is what you do with them.

In a pot boil 5-6 mins (with enough water just to cover/float the stalks)
Asparagus Chopped fine (compost the tough base of the stalk)

In a pan Brown
Onion
Garlic

In another pot
Make a roux (Equal parts flour and butter)
or as an Alternative Roux (olive oil and corn flour/starch mix)

Add first pot and pan to second pot
Immersion Blend (or put in a blender)

Salt & Pepper
Chili pepper if you want

Add a 2 cups milk and Simmer for 5-6 mins

eat with Havarti and fresh bread.... a must!

Lunch at the Office

Lunch at the Office

This is what I had for lunch.... pretty good

Chicken Noodle soup

Boiled carcass drained broth into another pot

removed bones to the garbage

Added to the broth

chicken scraps

carrot

Pasta

salt & pepper

Italian Tri-force

Chop-smallish, Cook In a pan until browned, add to broth

Onion

Garlic

Potato

Goes well with raw carrots, grilled cheese and turkey pepperoni!

Graduation Day

In honor of it being Grad Ceremony Day at UFV and not having class due to this fact I have decided to catch-up on my posts. First off this is technically Victoria's Grad Ceremony.... she finished her degree in about 3.25 years (incredible) and if she was around she could have been Valedictorian as she was nominated by the soc-anth Department but was already going to Africa! Congrats!

As you probably already noted this entry has nothing to do with food and everything to do with my favorite girls.....

Everyone should already know how awesome Victoria is but this year my sister becomes the last of the Bryce family to finish High School and she did it with flying colours; doing something none of us four boys before her achieved: Her mark's were nearly straight A's, her basket ball team won the Provincial Championship and she won the school Excellence award for combined Athletic and Academic achievement. WHOOT!

I just wanted to brag... thats all!

Daniel

How to Perogie the Parliament (and Tea Time)

How to Perogie the Parliament

Step One:
Add half a bag of Perogies to a hot pan with some olive oil
(you can make them from scratch if you have time)
I chose spinach and feta Perogies...mmmmm

Step Two:
To the Perogie pan
Add a Conservative amount of meat (A Farmer's Beef from Alberta perhaps?)
A Liberal amount of Red Pepper
Another Necessary Deposit of Pepper (Orange)
and of course Green Broccoli (which I definitely think needs greater representation)

Step Three:
Add Spice to your liking
Dump into the Bowl of Commons and don't let them Sit for a long time
(Eat quickly while still hot, if you let it cool the meat may overwhelm the rest of the bowl)

Tea Time

This tea was fantastic and right out of my own ghetto Garden!

Mint Leaves

Raspberry Leaves

Blackberry Leaves (My Favourite Conglomerate Fruit!)

Spring is the best time to harvest; choose the smallest and newest leaves, leave out to dry for 24-48 hours. After they dry I would keep them each in separate jars so you can mix and match with other options!

now THIS is how you make Ugali and Sukooma!

Ugali is a porridge like thing made from Maize flour and water cooked together. My roommate had some maize flour in the cupboard and I've been meaning to try cooking it but cooking it in a way that actually tastes like something other than white paste. Also, Kenyans eat this "green" leafy vegetable that they chop in very thin strands and cook it the exact same way every time..cook onion, add sukooma, add tomato and salt and you are done. don't question it with a Kenyan. "That is how you make Sukooma and Ugali". I beg to differ.

So, watching Jamie Oliver all morning, I got on the creative train of thinking that Maize is corn, just not sweet like we know it. And polenta is made from ground corn, and you can do all kinds of lovely things with that. And sukooma is like kale or spinach, and you can make that taste good as well. So here it went- and it was amazing, if I do say so myself. Hooray for being sick and spending all day watching cooking show and then cooking. Just wish Dan was here.

Ugali: I cooked it with salt, pepper and chilli powder. Basically I would make polenta if I was at home with the same. Once its thick and cooked, take it off the stove and put into a pan or plate and flatten it out to cool.

Sukooma and Cabbage: saute an onion, add strips of green cabbage and a bit of water to soften it up. Once thats cooked, add grated carrot and your sukooma (or spinach or kale) with some salt, pepper, chilli and oregano. Take off the heat and fry up a couple of eggs.

Once the Ugali has cooled, I sliced it into squares and pan fried it. Due to the fact that I have only one terrible frying pan, it stuck. On the bright side, once I took the squares off I fought to get off the crispy bits that stuck on the pan and put them on top of the dish. Lovely. Ontop of the Ugali (or polenta) I put spread on a laughing cow cheese (thats all you can really get here), piled on the vegetables, placed your egg on top, and the crispy bits of polenta on top of that.

Finish with good oil, et voila! Kenyan food CAN be delicious!