basil rice

i love basil rice! i had it a bunch of times at thai restaurants, and decided i HAD to figure out how to make it. the first couple of times i made the mistake of trying too COOK the basil WITH the rice. blech.

the trick is FRESH basil, it tastes SO much better!!

home made deodorant

i really like this recipe, and have been using it for about a year now. i have always been really skeptical of natural deodorants, because in my experience they don't work as well. i have to say this recipe changed my mind about that. i really find it works. it also doesn't leave white marks on my clothes which is an added bonus.

keep in mind this is deodorant - it won't stop you from sweating, just smelling!

vegetarian shepherd's pie

this is my vegetarian version of shepherd's pie. it is SOO tasty, and makes great cold-weather comfort food.

this recipe is easy to make, and easy to change - for example i have my go-to gravy recipe, but if you prefer your recipe, or even one of those easy-peasy packs of gravy you mix with water, be my guest!

it's certainly not all that traditional, but it's a well-balanced vegetarian meal, and that counts for a LOT in my mind!

lunch-sized baked brie and baguette

so, i have this problem: when i make a baked brie, it tends to get eaten pretty fast... even if it's just ME eating it. that stuff is addictive!!

it's the kind of thing that i normally make for a nice dinner with friends, but sometimes i get the hankering for it, mid-day, mid-week! what's a girl to do??

new toque!

so, i made myself this really awesome toque! it started out with one idea in mind, and ended up quite different from what i was picturing... but i am SO happy with the results!!

take a look!

pho

my suzanne is a really awesome cook. she has made this soup for me in the past so a while back while we were on vacation i got her to teach me how to make it. it looks a little complicated, but as long as you prepare everything before cooking, you should be good to go!

she made pork for the meat-eaters, and tofu for me.

this recipe serves 4 - dinner sized portions!

picture magnets

i made these cute magnets to send in a care package for a dear friend. i live in alberta, and most of my good friends are in ontario, so sending little packages is a nice thing to do.

i wanted to make something that would inspire her, and make her think of travel and how big and lovely the world is.

button magnets

i have this amazing, wonderful, lovely friend. in the fall, she moved into an apartment with her little boy, and i sent them a little care package at christmas. i made her some funky earrings, and some of my cocoa butter body lotion... i was thinking of other little crafty things to send her as i was going through my craft supplies, i came across my big ole bag of buttons. 

BINGO!

christmas crafting: part 2: the tree

so, my parents still live in the house i grew up in. we moved there just after i was born, and it was 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and an outhouse. that house has grown (added rooms to the main floor, basement built, pool added, etc) a lot over the years and will always be my home.

in the yard there is a tree. a huge, old, gnarled oak tree. it is over 100 years old, and probably 100 feet tall. as a kid it was where our swings were hung, and i have always loved the tree very much. i think it was probably the first tree i hugged.

crispy corn and pecan chocolates!!

so a while back, i went to make this recipe for some company, and found that i was out of rice krispies! oh nooooooooo!!

i poked around in my pantry and found that i had a box of PC corn puff cereal (a lot like name brand corn pops, but less sugary, organic, and HUZZAH, gluten free!) so i substituted those for rice krispies!

they turned out very nicely. the corn puffs are bigger than rice krispies, but aside from that quite similar. i used 1/2 c each chocolate melters, pecan pieces and corn puffs, so they were a bit less chocolatey than the last batch.

greasy body lotion

in the winter, my skin gets really dry. i have my cocoa butter body lotion which is good most of the time, but sometimes i need something super greasy. 

in the past i have used baby oil (ick), olive oil, etc, but i find that the moisture only lasts a day or so. this lotion is much nicer - it combines oil with shea and cocoa butters and beeswax. once i put it on, i don't get dry itchy skin even if it's a week until i have a shower (don't judge me).  

butter chicken (gluten free and vegan adaptable)

i am a vegetarian and lactose intolerant, so butter chicken? really? HECK YES! i have adapted myself a recipe! i use veggies and fake chicken (president’s choice. best thing ever) but really it’s all about the sauce! you could put anything you wanted in it in place of chicken!!

note also, the butter is actually not mandatory, i often don’t add butter. without it, this recipe is VEGAN! YAY! AND if you were to use real chicken, or tofu instead of PC fake chicken, it would also be GLUTEN FREE. huzzah!

christmas crafting! (part 1)

i am not much of a christmas lover, generally… but this year i really got in the spirit. perhaps it’s because it was the first time in 6 years i spent christmas with my parents (they live on the other side of the country), or maybe i am just getting sentimental in my old age.

either way, i did lots of crafting. it started out as just a few things for my mom and sister, and grew from there!

no tutorials here, just some pictures of the fun stuff i made!

creamy broccoli slow cooker soup

my sister makes a great soup she calls “cheese and trees” (broccoli, cheese and potatoes). it has definitely become a family favourite over the years.

i love that recipe dearly, but being lactose intolerant, i have to be very careful about cheese. i also feel that, although i can take lactase enzyme pills and have a bit of cheese without getting sick, that my body is telling me straight up that cow’s milk is not something it wants or needs.

matt really loves cheese, but it can always be added to soup at the end, so today i am making a no-cheese version - just “trees”?

i have been working lots of overtime lately, so the slow cooker has become my best friend. i normally make this soup on the stove, but today i just chopped everything up and threw it in the slow cooker before i started work, and it was done by about noon!

slow cooker black bean soup

i love beans, and of all the beans in the world, black beans are my favourite. this soup is perfect for a cold winter day, or to take along to a potluck.

since i work from home, my slow cooker gets quite a bit of use. even if you don’t have the luxury of a home office, slow cooker soups and stews are within reach - i would recommend putting everything together the night before, or before you leave in the morning, and leaving it set on “low” all day.

gluten free roasted vegetable lasagna

i looooove lasagna! it is so easy to make, and so tasty and healthy. i made this a while back when we were having a fairly big group for dinner. roasting the veggies before does take some extra time, but it also means that the lasagna cooks faster, and it brings out this really amazing flavour in the veggies.

 

fluffy naan

this is probably my favourite naan recipe. it’s not exactly traditional, but man is it good!

it’s yeast bread, but punched down and fried, so that it has a delightfully light and chewy texture. it’s actually kind of dangerous - i could eat a whole meal of just bread!

*note this recipe makes a huge batch, but you could always just do half. you probably won’t want to though, you’ll want ALL THE NAAN. this recipe makes about 10 good sized naans.

easy peasy vanilla pudding for two

i adapted my easy peasy chocolate pudding for two to make a vanilla version. it uses liquid vanilla, so would be less easy to take camping, but still pretty straightforward, and most of the prep can be done at home ahead of time. actually, the interslice tells me that you can buy powdered vanilla, so if you have that kicking around it would be great for the camping version of this recipe.

like my chocolate pudding, this is not overly sweet. feel free to add more sugar if you have a sweet tooth!

christmas cards

we are not particularly christmassy people, matt and i. but, this year we decided to send out some little gifty packages to a few friends and family, and we made some cards to accompany them!

as you can see, they are fairly generic - good for any occasion.

pepper jelly

my mother in law introduced me to pepper jelly. it’s super good with scrambled eggs or scones for breakfast, or along with cheese and crackers.

this recipe is originally from matt’s sister’s husband’s mom. i keep a constant supply onhand, and at christmas i made a batch in 125 ml jars as stocking stuffers.

keep in mind that canning is basically chemistry. if you don’t follow the instructions properly, your jelly may not set. this recipe does require the use of a food processor. i wouldn’t recommend trying to chop everything supersmall by hand because i honestly don’t think the recipe would even work.

hoodie for my madeleine

i have finally made and sent all of my christmas presents!! (i love dragging out christmas)

this hoodie was the last thing to make. it is for my dear friend madeleine who lives on the other side of the country. she has been in need of a harmony hoodie for quite some time, and i have finally gotten around to making her one.

i also quite liked her reactions to these photos, which were “look how grownup your bathroom is!” and “watch out for that ghost toilet behind you!”

how to copy a hoodie!

i have been making hoodies for years. i enjoy things like pointy hoods and bell-bottom sleeves, which are hard to find in hoodies… but actually they are fairly easy to make. this one was a gift for a friend, but she is almost exactly my size, so i made it to fit me. it is always easier to make clothes to fit yourself than other people, because you can try them on and make adjustments as you go. i have made hoodies for people who are bigger than me in the past, and it’s certainly doable, although more of a challenge.

oven baked turnip

mmmm turnip!

turnip is one of my favourite vegetables, but it took me SO LONG to figure out how to cook it. i have tried boiling turnips many times, and they just turn out white and watery and tasteless. 

blech!

but i have persevered, because i love turnip so much. after much experimentation, this has become my favourite way to cook turnip. it takes a long time, and isn’t the simplest, but my mashed turnips turn out so soft and flavourful. it is worth the extra time.

i usually prepare them the day before (especially for a big thanksgiving or christmas dinner when i have tons of other cooking to do) and just reheat them in the microwave.

banana bread

banana bread needs no introduction!

one thing i will mention though, is that banana bread (and muffins too!) are one of the easiest things to make gluten free. as soon as you throw a banana in there, everything just turns out right!

if you wanted to make this recipe gluten free, just substitute regular flour for the same amount of gluten free, plus about 1 1/2 t xanthan gum.

apple juice

matt drinks a lot of juice. personally, i am happy with water, wine, and iced tea, but not matt. he needs his sugar, i suppose. 

anyway, after reading a terrifying article about how different kinds of juice are produced, i decided that i wasn’t really okay with him putting a lot of that stuff in his body. this led to a discussion about other options. we ended up deciding to make our own apple juice!!

i have a juicer, but the idea of keeping apples on hand and juicing it as he wants it doesn’t really appeal to matt, so it had to be able to be bottled for later consumption. 

so, last time we were in the okanagan valley, we picked up two of these 20 pound bags of apples (spartan) for about $11 each:

and went to work!

new pasta maker!!

so, for christmas, my fabulous mother in law got me a PASTA MAKER attachment for my kitchen aid (which she also bought me 2 christmases ago). ooooh man, SO exciting.

i made pasta for the first time the other day. i am not posting the recipe because i want to fool around with it for a while first and find a recipe that i really like, then i’ll share. in the meantime, i just want you to know how unbelievably excited i am about this new development in my life.

a friend gave me a recipe for ROASTED GARLIC pasta - with the garlic right IN the pasta. i am sure you can understand how excited i am to try this.

even with the pasta maker, it’s still a pretty labour-intensive process, but not rolling the pasta by hand really does make a ton of difference!

gluten free flatbread/pizza dough

(originally published jan 15, 2012)

so this recipe is awesome, and very versatile. i originally used it as pizza crust, and it turned out AMAZING. this time i made it for celiac suz’ birthday dinner as an appetizer. (yes, that was 2 months ago! i have been busy with christmas posts!)

i really like the taste of the gluten free flours in this recipe, but not everyone just has 4 different kinds of gluten free flour laying around. you could certainly use a different selection of flours, or a pre-mixed flour blend from the store.

sundried tomato and herb baked brie

oh man. baked brie.

this is up there with pecans on my list of all-time favourite foods. i could eat brie for breakfast, lunch and dinner, except then i’d probably weigh 300 pounds.

this recipe is also really amazing made with roasted red peppers instead of sundried tomatoes. you can also try different herbs, although basil and oregano are my go-to herbs for this recipe.

i used goat brie (no lactose)

cookie experiment gone RIGHT

recently, matt allowed me to try something new with his all-time favourite cookie recipe! they turned out really well, i think i like this version even more than the original (not that i ever eat cookies, but i always taste some dough when i’m making them). matt actually agrees - he likes them better!! now i need to think of what to do with all of those macadamia nuts i have kicking around…

so, i am in the midst of a passionate love affair - with pecans. they are ever so tasty. and i got permission from matt to try these cookies with pecans instead of macadamia nuts!!

apple cinnamon muffins

do i make too many muffins? i’d like to think there is no such thing!

the other day i made this recipe as muffins instead of bread, and added a nice crunchy topping as well. i am very happy with how they turned out. there really is nothing like a hot, fresh muffin on a cold day!

garlic!!

i don’t know about you, but i LOVE garlic. i’m serious. LOVE.

i put it in everything. once, as a surprise, one of my friends made me roasted garlic ice cream - it was the best ice cream i’ve ever had.

i add it to recipes right at the end, so that it keeps it’s kick. i eat it raw, on crackers. i use heaping tablespoons of it in every recipe. i am an addict.

a few years ago, when matt and i lived way up north in the boonies, the nearest real grocery store was 400km away. we grocery shopped once a month. but i COULD NOT live without garlic!!

luckily the grocery store 400km away sold garlic in 2 pound bags. heck yes. but even then, considering the quantity we eat, it’s not practical to have to peel and crush garlic for every meal… so i took this suggestion from my mother in law, and i’ve never looked back…

i have gotten quicker and quicker at this process over the years, and even though we live in a city now, i still process garlic this way because it saves me time on a daily basis.

spiced nuts

(originally published dec 31, 2011)

these spiced nuts are a nice holiday treat. i am really happy with the blend of spices i used, but it could certainly be altered to suit your own tastes. i found it really hard to stop eating these once i had started!

gluten free chocolate cupcakes

these cupcakes are pretty rich. i like chocolate, but frankly they are a little too sweet for my taste. they are really for my dad, and friends to snack on. i made them gluten free so my darling celiac suzanne could partake. they turned out a little less fluffy than they do with wheat flour, but still pretty fabulous.

this recipe makes about 16 regular cupcakes, or 40 when i used my mini muffin tin.

gluten free gingerbread cookies

(originally published dec 26, 2011)

it wouldn’t be christmas without gingerbread!

not being a huge fan of sweets, gingerbread is right up my alley - not too sweet, but a nice treat.

i used my new fall cookie cutters which are quite small (about 1 1/2” x 1 1/2”) and i got about 7 dozen cookies. i think if you used normal sized cookie cutters you’d get about 3 dozen.

vegan almond milk eggnog

(originally published dec 25, 2011)

i have been craving eggnog this year! weird! it has been many years since i last had a drink of eggnog. considering that i am allergic to both milk and eggs, i guess that’s not so surprising…

earlier in the christmas season i tried making an eggnoggy drink using vanilla protein powder (that we use in smoothies) it was so-so. but this recipe, i am really happy with! it is nice and thick like eggnog should be, and matt says it tastes as good as real eggnog.

when scouring the internets for eggnog recipes, i found a few that call for pudding mix - and what is pudding mix but sugar, cornstarch and flavour? this led me to consider my newfound love of making pudding, and how it could be adapted. come to think of it, i bet this would make a tasty pudding if you used more cornstarch!

chocolate cookie cups with peanut butter icing

(originally published dec 23, 2011)

these were an experiment. they turned out really well, if i do say so myself. another baked treat for my christmas guests…

this recipe makes about 30 cookies!

chocolate pecan biscotti

(originally published dec 20, 2011)

i have never been a huge fan of biscotti. i think it’s because people always put trail mix in it - dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, etc. yick. i don’t mind those things in TRAIL MIX, but not in something as cookieish as biscotti. gawd, people.

okay, end rant.

so, my family likes their coffee. a LOT. i thought it would be fun to make something to go with it. this is the sort of thing i would have once a month, but having family and friends around for christmas means there are more people to share the biscotti-eating burden (it’s a hard life!)

 

i have to say, i am really happy with how it turned out. not too sweet, just hard enough, nice and chocolatey. it only took me about 10 minutes of prep for each batch (i actually made 1 with pecans and 1 with peanuts)

peanut butter icing

i made this icing to top a couple of chocolatey christmas treats (recipes coming soon). i had never made icing before, and was really surprised at how easy it was, and how well it turned out.

 

i’m sure it was all about the food processor. it made mixing everything super easy and fast. it only took about 10 minutes to make this!

the recipe makes about 1 1/4 c of icing!

crispy rice and pecan clusters

i remember getting chocolate bunnies with rice krispies in them at easter as a kid. man, i loved those things. especially considering i wasn’t allowed a lot of sweets, it was like bunny-shaped heaven.

 

this is a slightly more adult version of that familiar treat… with added pecans, because i say so. i have also chosen to use dark chocolate, since it’s less sweet, and doesn’t contain lactose!

this recipe makes 24 chocolates

pretty ribbon-topped skirt

beware - picture heavy!!

this tutorial will walk you through the steps to make a skirt - you will need a skirt of a similar style to copy. the ribbon-topping is by no means necessary, but i thought it a nice touch.