Category: food.

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the travelling crockpot – adrienne’s dinner no. 3

so… after a 6 month hiatus…

the travelling crockpot IS BACK!

here’s a quick recap of the previous travelling crockpot dinners – and yes – adrienne does know she’s behind, but we’ve planned a catch up meal in our future.  not to worry.

becky | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4  |  nikki | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4  |  adrienne | 1 | 2  |  our collective holiday feast

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adrienne’s turn to cook the meal, she started off with apple slices topped with chutney and aged irish cheddar.
for our main meal she toasted up freshly baked crostini’s slathered in garlic butter and served it with a fantastic bolognese sauce and pasta.  you can find the recipe she worked off of – here.
for dessert – a dreamy red velvet cake with heavenly goat cheese frosting.  seriously – that frosting.  i wish i had been there when she made the frosting.  i would have gladly licked those beaters clean for her.  i realize i didn’t share a photo with you of what the inside of the cake looked like, but believe me when i tell you, it was the colour red.  FROM BEET JUICE!  not red food colouring! (which is awful for you, ps.)  BEET JUICE!  adrienne cut up, pureed, drained and strained beets to get the juice to use as dye.  *jaw drop* i know – right?!?  impressive.

a funny thing about these dinners is that you never know how it’s going to turn out.  that’s the joy of cooking.  you win some and you loose some.  if only you could be a fly on the wall to hear the conversations that happen over a delicious meal and some good wine on a crockpot night.  there’s a story that comes along with that red velvet cake – but i’ll save that for an outtake post in the future.  why?  just because.  i’m slightly evil like that – and hey, why not give you a reason to keep coming back and check out the blog.  buahh haha

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soup for the fall and winter.

soup-recipe

i love soup.

it becomes a staple in my everyday lunch at work in the fall and winter months.

and it’s so darn easy!  my favourite?  sweet potato… with anything. i absolutely love sweet potatoes.

the past two weeks i’ve made all kinds of variations on the same soup.  i encourage you to do the same.

mix any of the following together – and hello yumminess!

1 tsp of olive oil, once pot is hot (medium to medium high heat) add
1 onion, fresh chopped garlic (i used 4-6 cloves each time) fresh chopped ginger (about 1 tbsp)
paprika
cumin
cayenne
i like to add the spices to a fairly dry pot to toast them a bit, then add
2-4 cups of water, depends how many vegetables you’ve chopped up
with a bouillon cube of your liking (or you could use any kind of stock)
sweet potatoes
butternut squash
carrots
leeks

slow simmer boil until everything is nice and soft
blend (hand blender, stand mixer, whatever you have) and then add
1/2 to 1 can of coconut milk
stir in 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar.
taste.  add salt to your liking.
top with roasted squash seeds if you like.
enjoy!

happy sunday – wherever you are!

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i used to hate mushrooms.

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i used to hate mushrooms.  and now i love them.

well – i can’t say fully hate, i’d eat white cremini mushrooms as a kid as long as they were raw.
cooked?  NO THANK YOU!!!  especially the ones atop a pizzapizza… pizza.  yuck.
keep in mind that i also don’t think i was introduced to many other varieties of mushrooms as a kid either.

so when did this love affair with mushrooms begin?
when i started going to farmers’ markets in my area and getting mushrooms from the folks who grow them.
oh my goodness – delicious!  they know what’s going on.
my favourite right now being the shiitake mushroom.

panfried up with butter and a pinch of salt, it’s the simple and oh so yummy.
i find that i slow down when cooking these mushrooms, there’s this appreciation i have for them.
i’ll turn on my oven to a nice medium to medium high heat and put in a knob of butter.  once slightly melted i swirl the butter around the pan and let it sit.  sit until the butter bubbles and gets foamy.  then i throw in sliced shiitake mushrooms and let them sit for a solid minute without touching them.  then a little toss here and there, let them sit for another 2 or 3 minutes and then out of the pan and onto a plate to be devoured they go.

this method is particularly delicious over a camp fire.  so so delicious.
do you have a favourite mushroom?  or mushroom recipe?
i’d love to learn to make mushroom soup.  hmmm… i wonder if my local mushroom man will have any tips for me.

happy sunday – wherever you are!

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for the love of beet!

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i’m just going to go right out and say it – beets are going to make your pee and poo a pinky red colour.
just accept it.
it’s worth it.
and you’re not dying.  it’s just the beets intense pigment.
beets are DELICIOUS!  and good for you!
win win!

here’s what i do…
oven can be anywhere from 350 to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
scrub beets – get that dirt off of them, because you’ll have gotten these beets from your local farmer – right?  they’re in season right now, there’s really no excuse.
grab a baking sheet.
lay the whole beets (greens off but skin still on) in a piece of aluminium foil, drizzle in olive oil and a pinch of salt.  make sure you have enough foil to enclose them into a pocket, folding and closing up all the sides.  throw baking sheet with beet package into the oven.
roast beets depending on their size and your oven temperature for 25 to 50 minutes.  beets are pretty forgiving, so you really don’t need to worry.  check them by piercing them with a knife or fork.  if it goes in smoothly, they’re done!
take the beets out of the oven and let cool long enough to where you can pick them up with a paper towel in hand and gently but firmly rub the beets skin off.  why the paper towel?  otherwise your hands will look like mine do above.

BEETS STAIN!
so be careful.
think about everything they will touch.
avoid pink stained kitchen equipment.

and there you have it.  easy.

the skinned beets can be sliced and added to many variations on a salad – that is, if you don’t just eat them by themselves first as a snack.  i completely understand and do not judge if that happens.  they are that good.
i love a simple green salad with goat cheese, beets, olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar.
something a little more fancy?  how about golden beets, sliced red onion and cara cara orange segments tossed in a vinaigrette made up with olive oil, salt, pepper, orange juice and freshly chopped tarragon.  then crumble goat cheese on top, because, why not!

what are you going to make using beets this season?

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garlic scapes – but what the heck do you do with them?

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it comes and goes oh so quickly.  if you are lucky enough, you will be able to take advantage of garlic scape season.  prepared in advance, you can enjoy garlic scapes well into the winter too.

garlic scape pesto & garlic scape butter.  yes please!

sautéing garlic scapes in butter is my favourite!  it’s honestly a joy just to chop them up and they smell fantastic!  i throw them in with eggs for my breakfast.  or i’ll chop them into 2 inch sticks and roast them with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, whatever kind of veggies i have in the house.

black sheep farms said – the season can start as early as the beginning of june and only lasts for a couple of weeks.  last year their scape season ran from mid to end of June – it all depends on how early/warm/wet spring is each year.

i haven’t seen them pop up at my local farmers’ market yet, but when i do, you better believe i’ll be snatching them right up!  check out this super cute article from the messy baker, making soup out of a scapes.  a lot of scapes.  mmm.

Becky Gean and littlesiddallstudios – June 11th, 2014.

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the travelling crockpot – becky’s dinner no.4

hey everyone!  it’s friday!  of a looooonng weekend!  at least here in ontario it is.  why not get in that kitchen of yours and cook up a feast!  just because!  maybe my latest travelling crockpot dinner will inspire to cook up a meal you haven’t before, or perfect a tried and true recipe.  enjoy your weekend regardless of – wherever you are.

for some stupid reason i decided to do my dinner only 3 days before josh and i moved to our new apartment.  talk about hectic!  the real reason though, adrienne left toronto for the summer so it was imperative we get in one more dinner before she departed.

i’d never made gnocchi before.  or biscotti’s.  or browned butter.  or poached a pear before.  or made chocolate mousse.
so why not try all of it out  at once right!!??!

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only recently have i realized that i love mushrooms.  i had a craving, and so, mushrooms on toast.  i toasted rye bread with olive oil and salt and pepper.  cremini, oyster, and hedgehog mushrooms were chopped up and fried with one shallot and a liquid mix of apple juice, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, and a splash of amber maple syrup.  cooked down for a solid 25 minutes until the liquid is no longer or has become a delicious glaze.  topped on the toasted rye bread and topped with chives.

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the pears were poached in sugar water with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, lemon… i really can’t remember what else.  my reason for poaching them?  they weren’t ripe yet!  pop them in simmering hot liquid for a bit and soft as can be.  arugula was tossed with a dressing of olive oil, balsamic, hot mustard, maple syrup and salt and pepper.  my favourite additions were the blue silton cheese and roasted pecans which had been baked in maple syrup, rosemary, thyme and cayenne.  hmmm… i just might be addicted to maple syrup.

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sweet potato gnocchi in a sage browned butter sauce.  delicious.  i wish i had some right now in fact.  the crispy sage was really tasty too.  it’s this light, but decadent earthy taste.  hand making gnocchi wasn’t as bad as i thought.  although, i didn’t make them look super pretty by adding ridges and such.  maybe next time.

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and finally, chocolate mouse with an almond biscotti.  oh, and two squares of cadbury coconut cashew chocolate because why not right!?  the biscotti’s, i should have shaped flatter and pancake like rather than a nice hilly bump.  they were super fat and didn’t cook as evenly as i would have liked.  one side was darker than the other too.  and so – because panic set in about the mediocre biscotti’s i quickly decided chocolate mousse would redeem me.  having never made it before either, i could use the practice, but all in all i’d say it all worked out.

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the travelling crockpot – nikki’s dinner no.4

first let me start by saying, hi, hey there!  it’s been awhile!  my life lately has been a sea of boxes.  josh and i moved to a new neighbourhood in toronto and are just getting settled in.  i hope to be less silent on here as soon as the last box is unpacked.  but until then, i think it’s time to share another crockpot dinner, so here she is!  the beauty that was nikki’s dinner.

it started off with vermouth soaked blackberries topped off with prosecco.  i lost count after 3 top ups of this delicious bubbly drink.

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next came a unique fruit salad. grapefruit, avocado, coconut, mint, blackberries and a sprinkling of salt.  super refreshing!

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a single radicchio leaf was topped with a tempura’d egg yolk that oozed when you bit into it, on diced smoked salmon dressed in capers & white wine vinegar.  the flavour combination had me wanting more.

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to end, the most decadent french toast i’ve ever had.  mascarpone-raspberry stuffed french toast with maple candied bacon.
MMM MMM MMM!  take me back to this night please!
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the travelling crockpot – adrienne’s dinner ||

the snow has arrived in toronto again and on this chilly blustery day i thought why not warm up the soul by sharing this delicious meal that adrienne made the ladies of the travelling crockpot back in february.  adrienne sure knows how to set a mood.  it was unbelievably romantic.  the lights were dimmed, the candles lit, and flowers adorned the table.

see for yourself what we ate in the pictures below.  where do these pictures of her food take you?  what do you think it tasted like?  what ingredients can you point out?  i’m not going to give it all away now.  romanticize and fantasize for yourself and maybe, just maybe a little later on i’ll share a recipe or two from her.

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stay warm friends – wherever you are!

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the travelling crockpot – becky’s dinner |||

for my third dinner, as it was around the holiday season, i wanted to do something that felt a little more special, and when i say that, i really just mean, i spent a stupid amount of $$ on a gorgeous piece of beef.  once it was all cooked up, sliced and in our mouths though, there was no complaining coming from me!  i’d buy it again and again and again.  as gordon ramsey described it – it’s something he’d be happy to eat as his last supper.  i’d have to agree.

i’d say my biggest problem with these dinners is wanting to dig in right away – who needs pictures when it’s staring you right in the face saying EAT ME!!!  but then i think about you, my wonderful readers, and i hurriedly snap away.

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menu
becky-made amaretto sours
butternut squash soup topped with maple cinnamon roasted squash seeds
beef wellington served with celeriac puree & sautéed kale, apples and onions
gingerbread cookies with royal icing

i really enjoyed making this dinner!  i planned the majority of it ahead of time so that i wasn’t scrambling last minute – which around the holidays is KEY to being stress free.  you can find the wellington recipe here – i found the video incredibly helpful.  it was nikki who gave me the inspiration to roast my squash seeds – never am i ever going to throw out squash seeds again – soooo good!  the soup was made with butternut squash and SO MUCH GINGER, which i then drowned out with apples and carrots.  the amaretto sours were my favourite though, and the most time consuming out of the entire meal when i think about it.  don’t worry,  i’ll share that recipe with you soon.  it is my favourite drink after all – it deserves a post all to it’s own.

even though the holidays are over and we’re well into january, this meal would be great to serve your special someone on valentine’s day.  instead of soup and gingerbread cookies, i’d probably do something light, like starting with a green salad and finishing with homemade raspberry sherbet.  mmm.

until the next crockpot – happy eating!

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cinnamon buns and shower thoughts.

cinnamon-buns

1 | i made cinnamon buns from scratch for the first time ever!  it was also the first time using my christmas present from mohawk – a gorgeous kitchenaid stand mixer.  i’m a lucky gal!  although i must say, when a former coworker asked me how it went, i promptly told her how my arms didn’t hurt because there was no kneading involved – on my part anyways, and my hands weren’t dirty and covered in floury goop – i feel like a fraud!!!  but you can’t really beat the efficiency it provides.  it’s really a magical piece of equipment.  i adapted smitten kitchen‘s breakfast bun recipe to make the batch pictured above.  classic cinnamon and sugar.

2 | who doesn’t love thinking in a hot shower?

happy sunday – wherever you are!