cranberry-pistachio biscotti

Any kind of travel originating from our house equals a cooking frenzy prior to take-off. Doesn't matter if take-off actually includes flight or only a road-trip, we travel like royalty. By that I mean we take our own 'plate' and 'linen' or at least our own food. The days of loving fast-food junk and gas-stop snacks are so far in the distant past as to be impossible to recall, and airport fare is only to be ingested to stave off imminent starvation - real starvation, not just the I'm-dying-of-hunger feeling that hits about 4 hours post-dining. So the day or two before we (or in this particular case David) leave I bust out the bowls and pans, make a terrible mess and a wonderful aroma, ending the day with a triumphant feeling of accomplishment and a bunch of travel-friendly eats.

When the destination is Japan our bags always include gifts for friends and colleagues there. Every trip we deliberate over what to take - the problem being that in our minds every cool thing that anyone could want comes from Japan so what could possibly be a welcome gift? And every trip we arrive at the same conclusion: everyone eats so .... something delicious. Here is where problem 2 raises its ugly head - what is delicious to one may not be delicious to another, especially (but not exclusively) when there are culture gaps. For example, the Japanese find many of our sweet treats cloyingly sweet and very unappealing while we North Americans need to train our palates to appreciate the subtleties of their very excellent deep dark chocolate. Then of course, it must travel well and arrive not only fresh but pretty, or at least not a melted mess or a pile of crumbs. Happily I have happened upon a few options that are now tried and true to the point of being eagerly anticipated by the recipients. One of the stops David makes every trip is the office he headed while we lived in Tokyo. The staff there have a particular fondness for this biscotti and have requested the recipe. This post is for the "office ladies" at COFI Japan.

This recipe is a long-time favourite at our house. I started making biscotti when I happened on the intriguing recipe in an adorable little cookbook of cookie recipes by Mary Engelbreit (1998). The first batch was a big hit and as the process is fast, super simple, and yields a nice amount for the work a household star was born. David loves these crunchy, dunkable cookies at least as much as the COFI staff. I have tried a few other options for the add-ins (most recently cacao nibs, dark chocolate, and tart dried cherries - a combination I thought most promising but David prefers the cranberry-pistachio duo). I was interested to find a recipe that promised to be the penultimate biscotti recipe published in Chatelaine magazine before Christmas 2013. That recipe was only grains away from the one I had been using but even so, I wondered if those grains would be the difference between .... I don't know what?! Naturally I tried the Chatelaine recipe and wouldn't you know it? those grains did make all the difference. I keep the sweet little M.E. cookbook but won't be looking back for the biscotti recipe. The only change I make to the Chatelaine recipe is to add a smidgeon of almond extract.

Although the recipe was published as a Christmas cookie, we have liberated it to whole-year status. The red and green of the cranberries and pistachio does make a lovely statement wholly in keeping with a Christmas theme but I ignore that element and celebrate the nutritional goodness of both add-ins as daily requirements. To be sure, these are not to be eaten for your health but mental health is important too, right?

Just have to say that although I don't love the actual trip, I do wish I was in Japan with David right now. 

cranberry-pistachio biscotti
(from Chatelaine magazine)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose white flour*
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup chopped pistachios
1 cup dried cranberries

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and heat your oven to 325 F. Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until very creamy - about 5 minutes. Beat the eggs in 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and almond extracts. Stir in the flour mixture and then the pistachios and cranberries. The mixture will be a bit dry but should hold together. Gather the dough together and divide into two. Using your hands shape the portions into logs that are roughly 1" high x 2" wide on the parchment lined baking sheet. If the dough sticks to your hands (and makes you a bit crazy) you can dampen your hands with cold water - just don't use too much water, dampen is the key. The logs should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake until the tops are firm and golden - about 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool until you can handle them (about 10 minutes). Using a serrated knife cut into diagonal slices about 1/2" thick. The next bit is a little like playing dominoes - stand the slices on their edges with space between them on the baking sheet. Return to the oven and continue baking for 20-30 minutes more.

These keep very well. If they have a chance :)

* Gluten-free flour mix works very successfully here. Another option that I like is to use 1 cup of cornmeal and 1 1/4 cups flour or gluten-free flour mix. I have a particular love for the crunch of cornmeal.

'Fireman' Dave and the dryer-fire

One phone call I never expected to get was the one I got from my normally cool, collected, do-it-myself husband. The call that went like this "Cher! There is a fire in our house. Call the fire department." Verbatim. No extra (or possibly helpful and potentially calming) details, just the bare bones.

I had started my Monday morning January 20 the way I normally start Mondays - by stripping the bed and sorting the laundry. I almost never neglect the wash on Mondays, it is one of the ways I keep on top of the things that need keeping on top of. The first load in the machine is the bed linens. I did the other regular everyday things while that load ran through the cycle, changed the linens to the dryer, started another load in the washer, grabbed my list of errands and groceries for the week, and headed out the door to take care of business. The call came when I had been gone for about 45 minutes. Fortunately David was home working and due to his cool-head and penchant to do-it-himself, he extinguished the fire just as the fire trucks rolled up to our door. Two fire trucks and a police cruiser as well. Lots of huge firemen trudging through our house making sure all was as well as it could be.

So. This is another one of those experiences that remind me how little I know and how self-involved I tend to be. If I had heard that a friend or acquaintance had had a dryer-fire, I would likely have thought to myself "well, that stinks!", assumed that a new dryer was in the works, and probably little else. It sounds like such a little event. And in the scheme of events it really is little. But like a paper cut that stings every time you get your hand wet, it really is aggravating. We are coming up to 4 weeks pretty quick here and we are far from back to normal. We spent the first two weeks post-fire enjoying a staycation in a lovely bed and breakfast courtesy of our insurance company while two restoration contractors began the business of remediating the damage from the thick black repellently stinky smoke that filled our home. Every single soft item on our home (and I mean everything that was not nailed to the floor with the exception of the sofas) was removed to be cleaned off-site. The removal alone took a couple of days. All our electronics were removed to be cleaned. Then every hard surface, every book and picture, had to be wiped down. The laundry room has been gutted. The ceilings will be scraped and redone. The carpets have been cleaned. There have been four massive 'air scrubbers' exchanging the air in our house every 15 minutes night and day and still it smells of fire in here. 

A week ago we got the first of our goods back. 223 bundles of hanging and I don't know how many boxes but lots!! I have spent hours every day in the meantime unpacking, cutting the id tags off each unique piece and trying to put things back where they live. It has been tedious in the extreme but I remind myself that I am so fortunate to have my home and my things. If David had not been home the chance is very great that by the time anyone on our quiet street even noticed there was a fire here, it would have been beyond too late. So I plod on, finding the odd treasure and of course the odd things that one keeps simply because it is easier than deciding what to do with them. Those things are set aside (now beautifully clean) to find new homes with someone else. In a few weeks I will have a rebuilt laundry room with new appliances and the stink of an electrical fire will (hopefully) be a memory.

There are a few lessons here. The first is easy to see - DON'T leave home (or go to bed) with any appliance running but especially not a washer, dryer, or dishwasher. The risk is simply not worth the convenience. Next lesson - know where the shut-offs are for said appliances and then make sure that you have a fire extinguisher and know how to use it.

But the most important lesson I have been reminded of again, is that it is not ever so real as when it has happened to you. It doesn't matter if it is small or large, life-changing or just a nuisance, I think I am not alone in my tendency to be too blind to the 'paper cuts' and disasters of those around me. It is far too easy to ask for understanding and tolerance, for support and comfort for what concerns me but deny those same needs to others because I haven't made the effort to get out of my skin and feel their worries, to understand why they feel stressed, to know that they need love and maybe more than just a little help. Our paper-cut-disaster has been really relatively painless - a big nuisance and a whole lot of work to be sure - but we have lost nothing that matters. We have our home and it will be beautiful and orderly again.  Much of what was destroyed can be replaced and what cannot will not leave a hole in my life. We have one another and each precious member of our family. We have the opportunity to get up and work and learn and grow with each new day.

Can't say I won't be happy to get the rest of my stuff back - I am pretty tired of one pair of boots and the shoes I wear for my daily walks (hardly fashionable). First world problems. Small potatoes. At least I have shoes. I do like shoes though....

beautiful borscht

I may be reading too much - looking outside at the falling snow I feel all War-and-Peace-ish and Dr Zhivago-y - and everybody is writing about detoxing and healthy livers and resolutions to eat healthy forevermore. Of course when I went to the market the bin of beets was both homely and beautiful. It was too perfect a storm; I could feel romantic and virtuous at the same time if I made a pot of borscht.

Beautiful borscht (has to be just about the prettiest soup) always makes me think of two things. Russian winter and Merin. The Russian connection is fairly obvious but I should perhaps explain Merin. Mike's paternal grandparents came to Canada from Poland and his Baba made borscht. I know this because after one trip to visit her in-laws Merin came home with a few Mason jars filled with the pretty soup and shared it with me. Prior to this sharing I was not a fan of the beet soup but Baba's soup opened the door. After that shared lunch I tried my hand at beet soup once but I was not impressed and didn't revisit the idea until the other day. I had been reading about the myriad health advantages of wonderful beets (an important source of betaine and folate, loaded with potassium, some magnesium and even a little vitamin C - beets are believed to be an excellent liver tonic and blood purifier) and, to be sure, we love beets whether cooked or raw. Soup is an easy answer to a fast, healthy lunch and absolutely obvious in the cold, cold, snowy winter. And so, borscht.

Some years we have a pretty bare and very brown winter. Other years it snows often - snowflakes falling for hours and hours in a thick curtain. This is one of the years when if one counted wealth in terms of centimetres of snow, Calgary would have to be acknowledged as having an absolute embarrassment of riches. It is snowing yet again today. Beautiful, big flakes drifting down and piling up, adding to an already abundant blanket and deep drifts everywhere. My little vegetable garden has a two foot fence around it (to keep the rabbits out) and today the top of the fence is officially buried. There is a lot of snow. I have never been to Russia - unless reading counts (doesn't) - but I imagine it to be beautifully snowy in winter and (thankfully) ever so much colder than it is here today. 

Having concluded that borscht had to be made I searched my cookbook collection and my favourite spots online for a likely-looking recipe. I read reviews and made my own calculations. But really there wasn't much of a contest - who wouldn't be won over by "Dr Zhivago Borscht"? It was a very wise choice. I may not be a borscht connoisseur but I do know good soup and this is good soup. If you don't have a good recipe for borscht - or even if you do - you really ought to give this one a try. I found the recipe on Food 52 - always a good bet - and made a very few, small modifications.

The soup has a wonderful fresh, slightly sweet taste (as one would expect from beets). I like to add a tsp or so (to taste) of apple cider vinegar to my bowl along with another sprinkle of fresh dill. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of sour cream as well. David likes some chopped smoked sausage in his bowl. Many recipes for borscht include shredded cabbage. I dislike overly cooked cabbage but cabbage is very highly thought of in the detox circles, so I decided to shred some very finely and added it to the hot soup the second day we had it. It cooked just enough but not too much. This recipe makes a generous large pot of soup. Enough for several lunches and even a jar or two to share.

Virtuous new year food. Romance. Merin and Russia. Who knew all that could be in a simple bowl of ruby soup?

beautiful borscht
(adapted very lightly from Food 52)

10 cups water
1 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
3 large beets
3 medium carrots
2 medium-large red potatoes
1 large celery stalk, sliced into thin moons
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2-3 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Optional add-ins:
apple cider vinegar
sour cream
finely shredded green cabbage
chopped smoked sausage
finely chopped fresh dill

Add the water to a large heavy pot and set over low heat. Add the oil, chopped onion, and bay leaf. Peel the beets and cut into quarters. Add the beets gently to the water and continue to prepare the other vegetables.

Cut the carrots into rounds and the potatoes into 1/2" cubes, adding each to the pot as they are ready. Add the celery slices and lemon juice. Increase the heat a bit (to a medium-low) and cook until the beet pieces can be pierced easily with the tip of a knife.

Carefully scoop the beets out of the cooking pot and let them cool slightly - about 2 minutes for easier handling. Use a box grater if you must but if you have a food processor this is a good time to pull it out. Using a large hole on your grater or attachment shred the beets, returning the shredded beets to the pot. Cook for a further 10 minutes. Add the dill and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

gingerbread cake

I had determined during the Christmas frenzy that there was little or no point in posting any of my modest efforts - the whole "coals to Newcastle" thing - and then I remembered gingerbread cake. I made some several times during the month of December, each time vowing to post the recipe and each time being defeated by an utter lack of time. A sorry excuse I know, but there you are. I offer it now because eating gingerbread cake should not be confined to the festive season. When I was a child it was a favourite winter treat in our house, served with a generous helping of whipped cream and some of our Nanking Cherry jelly to make it pretty. I think I must have been married before I realized that most people ate it once a year if that (such a shame!) 

Gingerbread cake is comfort food dessert. Simple, homely, warm, and absolutely unpretentious it is the food equivalent of a warm throw. In my mind the picture that always accompanies thoughts of gingerbread cake is softly falling snow seen through the window with a fire burning brightly in our big stone fireplace, nary a Christmas tree in sight. If you try it I think you will see the merits of regular cold-weather gingerbread consumption. I cannot understand why the comforting warmth of cinnamon-y, spicy delights must cruelly stop dead on January 1 - January is the coldest, dreariest month of the year and openly begs for every morsel of warmth we can scrounge. Right now most of North America would heartily agree!

For years I have made the same recipe for gingerbread cake that my mother made but this year I wanted to make a gingerbread cake that everyone in the family could enjoy - in other words, gluten-free and hopefully refined sugar-free. The refined sugar-free wish was a good idea and the gluten-free option was better than any gingerbread that came before. I added three kinds of ginger (ground, candied, and fresh), used Alice Medrich's method (in a food processor), and made the best gingerbread of my life. No hyperbole. Just the plain, simple, homely truth.

gingerbread cake

(adapted from the recipe we made at home)

2 cups whole grain gluten-free flour mix*

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

4" piece of fresh ginger, grated

1/4 cup of finely chopped candied ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup coconut palm sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/2 cup hot water

Cut the fresh ginger into 1/4"slices and add to the bowl of a food processor, pulse until finely minced. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor bowl and process for 10 seconds. Scrape the bowl and process again for 5 seconds. The batter will be thin. Pour into a 9x9" baking pan that has been buttered.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, until the cake springs back when you touch it lightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with a nice pillow of fresh whipped cream and a pretty spoonful of your favourite jelly on top. (We like to split the cake and add a little more cream between the layers.)

*If you prefer to use regular unbleached white flour simply substitute it cup for cup. 

your (chocolate) - and eat it too

We all know the adage about having cake - that one cannot have the best of everything, or at least everything one wants. Most of the time that is sadly all too true but every once in a while, maybe only one time out of a million, you get to have your cake and eat it too. This is one of those times.

I wasn't planning to blog this up today. Someday because it is certainly something to share but not Today because (as the photos attest) I just wasn't prepared. But as I was enjoying my snack of apple and chocolate, reading and relaxing for the first time in many days, I realized I simply couldn't not. Something so fast, delicious, and healthy demands some press. Now.

I must give credit where credit is due and it is due here - this is an invention of Eden's. She is currently adhering to a very strict diet in an attempt to right a few health wrongs she has been suffering. Sugar of any variety - natural, unrefined or otherwise (except what occurs naturally in fruit) - is definitely not on the plan. She is for sure my daughter though and no treats make a very sad girl, especially during this festive season when we are all eating our heads off. She was craving a treat one day, looked at what was 'allowed' and what was in her cupboard and this concoction was born. Made of coconut oil, raw cacao, a little sea salt and some spice there is nothing in here that is not plain awesomely healthy. I will add here that I was sceptical about how delicious it could be without even a drop of sweetener; after one taste I was converted.

We love this exactly as is but we are big fans of richly deep dark chocolate. If you find it is not sweet enough to qualify as a treat just add a little honey or maple syrup to taste. I would start with a teaspoon of either - if I was going to mess with what I figure is pretty perfect :)

Coconut oil is incredibly 'responsive' to room temperature. Today room temperature is a little on the cool side so what remains of my chocolate 'dip' is more like fudge than a dip. No matter, it works for me. I could have warmed it in a little bowl of warm water for a minute but I just wanted my apple slices and some chocolate asap.

We have tried two flavour options thus far - vanilla, cinnamon, and sea salt or cayenne pepper, ginger, and sea salt. Can't say which I prefer. A slice of apple, an orange section, a strawberry or pear, all those have accompanied a smear of coconut oil and cacao on the slide to my tummy.

eden's coconut-cacao dip

3/4 cup virgin coconut oil

3/4 cup raw cacao

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp grey sea salt

1 tsp true ground cinnamon

Using a spoon blend the ingredients together into a smooth paste.

Store in a covered jar. (But it won't need to store long. Promise.)

Eden makes her 'treat' in individual size batches but being the lazy cook I am and knowing that I/we would want a very ready treat I made a larger batch. Even at that, we might have enough for the rest of the day. It was certainly nice to pull it out for a snack with my read this afternoon.

banana chocolate supermuffins

I am revisiting one of the very first recipes I posted when I started this blog. Seems fair enough to me - I receive constant notifications of updates to apps and software. The reason for the revisit is valid and not simple laziness. I have learned a lot about what is good and what is not (the pendulum will keep swinging) in terms of nutrition and have accordingly made changes to the original recipe. I didn't realize how changed it had become until I was making them with someone and they pointed out that what I was doing was not what I had written and why had I not told them!? The changes are small but add up to a much better muffin - in fact these muffins are so loaded with incredible power morsels as well as being extra-ordinarily delicious that the name simple begged to be upgraded to 'supermuffin' (power muffin being over-used and sadly inadequate).

These muffins are not cupcakes masquerading as a healthy snack. They are moist and thickly studded with chia, hemp and flax seeds snuggled up right next to rich dark chocolate and chopped pecans - more dense than light but a long way from being a dry and tasteless doorstop.

If gluten-free is important for you it is easy and successful to replace the spelt flour with your favourite gluten-free mix. When doing that I prefer a whole grain gluten-free flour* mix because just substituting an empty of nutrition gf mix for a nutritionally superior (even if it is not tolerated) sprouted whole wheat or spelt flour seems like a bad deal to me. 

Let your bananas get nice and freckled before baking them into supermuffins - or anything else for that matter - the taste is so much sweeter and richer.

banana chocolate supermuffins

1 1/4 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup sprouted whole grain spelt flour (substitute gluten-free flour here if you wish)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup chia seed
1/4 cup hemp seed hearts

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup agave syrup (or honey)

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 cups good quality dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F. Whisk together oatmeal, flour, flaxseed, chia seed, hemps seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and pecans. Combine eggs, yogurt, bananas, oil, and syrup. Fold into dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Bake in greased muffin tin at 375 F for 22 minutes. Makes 12 large muffins.

Update: we have found we love these baked as mini-muffins. The recipe as written makes 48 mini-muffins. They freeze beautifully and are actually super good frozen. (Maybe a little odd? Give 'em a try before you judge.) The mini size is often just the perfect bite for when you want something to feel a gap or need a bit of energy. Also perfect for tiny hands.

* Note: I make my own blend of flours. This is the mix I use. It can be substituted cup for cup for all purpose flour.

whole grain gluten-free flour mixture
200 gm brown rice flour
150 gm sorghum flour
50 gm almond flour
50 gm potato flour
250 gm sweet rice flour
150 gm arrowroot
150 gm potato  starch

a breakfast bowl passion

Unless you are totally new to this blog you are by now well aware of how I feel about the first meal of the day. I am pretty passionate about it - because I am really ready to eat after a long night, it is nutritionally critical, and I just like the things I eat for breakfast. I tend to be a creature of habit (at least first thing in the morning) and love the comfort of familiar favourites for breakfast, so to add a new item to the lineup is tough. It means bumping an old friend or at least not enjoying it as often. One can only eat so much for breakfast!

Last month when I was in Vancouver helping with setting up LITCHFIELD I did not have the leisure to cook the old standbys. I was not in my own kitchen with my well stocked pantry right at hand and I didn't have much time to cook anyway but I still wanted/needed to eat a healthy and sustaining breakfast. This pretty breakfast bowl was born of that desire. It has quickly become a frontrunner in the favourites race. Fast and easy to put together and ultra adaptable it is the perfect breakfast for this (or any other) particularly busy time of year. It is loaded with superfoods and wise nutrition choices, tastes great, and is pretty enough to sit and gaze at …. if you have the time.

I like to use a combination of berries and another fruit (whatever is in season or on sale). Berries can be costly out of season but frozen berries work very well here and are almost always affordable. Sometimes I add chopped nuts but other times not. I like a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon most mornings but it is equally good without. The amounts suggested are what I use when I make a bowl for myself - you may like more or less of any one thing. Just to note: I do eat a hearty portion at breakfast time.

a pretty breakfast bowl

1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup blueberries

1/3 cup pomegranate arils (or half a pear chopped … )

3 Tbsp hemp hearts

1 tsp fresh bee pollen

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp cacao nibs

handful of broken pecan pieces

Layer the ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine, and enjoy.