Is there any combination in the world more divine than peanut butter and chocolate? I'd say that anything strawberry-banana runs a close second, but peanut butter and chocolate really can't be beat.
I was scooping out some natural peanut butter from our ginormous Costco package today at lunch and found myself dreaming about peanut butter cookies. Which I probably haven't eaten in about a year and a half, since I didn't eat nuts while breastfeeding Logan. And somehow, the thought of peanut butter cookies didn't cross my mind since I've started eating nuts again until today at lunch. How is that even possible?
And so I found my confronted with a difficult decision. I had the choice of charting my clients while watching Bachelor Pad or making peanut butter cookies. And as much as I was dying to find out what had happened on Bachelor Pad this week, I found myself doing what any responsible, self-employed individual confronted with such a dilemma would do: I thumbed through my recipe books to find something deliciously peanut buttery. And I stumbled across this delicious recipe. Which I believe I may have already made before, many moons ago. Well worth giving up watching Bachelor Pad.
This recipe comes from the a little booklet called the Treasury of Holiday Cookies, made by Jif. I don't really consider these to be holiday-related though, but they're still delicious.
1 pkg. (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (1 C)
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 C creamy peanut butter (I used natural pb)
1/2 C butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 C flour (I used whole-wheat)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan (I used an 8-inch square pan for the whole batch, as I like the squares a bit thicker. If you make it in a 13x9-inch pan, I'd recommend doubling the chocolate filling, as I don't think there would have been enough to spread nicely over the base).
2. Place chocolate chips in top of a double boiler or in a medium bowl that fits securely over the medium saucepan. Heat over boiling water until chocolate melts (water in bottom of double boiler or in saucepan should not touch top pan). Set aside.
3. Cream together brown sugar, peanut butter and butter in mixing bowl. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
4. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; add to creamed mixture. Beat just until well mixed. Stir in oats.
5. Spread 3/4 of dough in greased baking pan. Spread with melted chocolate. Dot chocolate layer with remaining 1/4 of dough. Bake 25 minutes or until done. Cut into bars when cool.
I haven't been on my blog much at all lately, as we've been running around all over the place the past few weeks. I spent a week visiting my new little niece Maddy, was then home for 2 days before leaving for Anna and Willie's wedding in Boston and was then home for a day before Eliza came up from Boston to visit for a few days. This has been the flavour of our entire summer and I'm loving the chance to get to catch up with everyone once again.
It's been great getting to see Eliza so much over the past couple of months, as we usually don't get to see her very often at all. And after making this Indian dish for her for dinner last night, tonight we're going to get a sitter (yay!) and meet her in the Old Port for Indian at Ghandi - a fabulous Indian restaurant for those of you in the area who like good quality Indian food.
My friend Heather made this for us for dinner a couple of months ago and it was absolutely fantastic. I made it last night for dinner for Eliza and realized that it's also super quick and easy to make. I think that I'm going to make a few batches of this without the potatoes to freeze for once the baby comes (since potatoes don't freeze well). You'll need to include the garam marsala in this recipe, as it is key to the flavour of the recipe. You may have to hunt for this a bit, but would definitely be able to find at at a bulk food store, such as the Bulk Barn or, in our part of the woods, you can get it at Mourelatos or Adonis.
Heather serves this with delicious whole-wheat chapati, which she picks up in the freezer section of Maxi. But since Eliza is gluten-free, I served it with short brown rice, which is a bit of a sticky rice. You just have to soak it in a bit of water for a couple of hours prior to cooking it.
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced small (use a variety of potatoes that will hold its shape when cooked, such as red potatoes)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. fresh garlic
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. garam marsala
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 10 oz. can of tomato soup
1/2 C milk
1/3 C butter
1 can of drained chickpeas
1. Boil potatoes until completely cooked. You will have to watch them to know when they are cooked, but I think it took about 15 minutes or so to cook mine. You want to make sure that they are cooked, but not overcooked, so that they won't lose their shape once they are mixed into the rest of the mixture.
2. Fry together the onion, garlic and spices until the onion is cooked.
3. Add the tomato soup, milk, butter and chickpeas. At the last minute, stir in the potatoes and heat until warm.
I made this recipe this weekend while my family was down to visit. I used to make it a lot, but somehow, in the recent baby-dom of life, it's become much easier to just steam veggies than to actually do anything with them. Though, overall, this is still quite a quick and easy recipe. And I'd forgotten just how delicious it is. This recipe comes from How to Grill, by Steven Raichlen (who is featured on the Food Network).
1 lb. asparagus (the stalks shouldn't be too thin)
2 tbsp. dark sesame oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
coarse salt and black pepper
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1. Soak either wooden toothpicks or slender bamboo skewers for 1 hour in cold water to cover, then drain.
2. Set up the grill and preheat to high.
3. Snap off the woody bases of the asparagus and discard.
Though not recommended in the recipe, I chose to boil the asparagus for a few minutes before grilling them, to be sure they were cooked enough and wouldn't take forever to grill. I just boiled them until they were fork-tender.
4. Skewer 4 or 5 asparagus spears together, using toothpicks or bamboo skewers. (I just use a barbecue grill basket and don't bother spearing them together).
5. In a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic, and stir with a fork to mix. Brush this mixture on the asparagus on both sides. Season the asparagus with a little salt and lots of pepper.
6. When ready to cook, place the asparagus on the hot grate and grill until nicely browned on both sides, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Sprinkle the asparagus with the sesame seeds as they grill. You can serve the asparagus with or without the skewers.
Serves 4.
I then served a berry tart for dessert from a recipe that I had put up on my blog last year:
Except that this year, I used a mixture of fresh berries. We also made a glaze for it this year (having a bit more time than we did when we originally made it with a one-month old). We basically just put some strawberry jam in a pot (you want to use a jam without too many chunks), added a small amount of water and heated it and mixed it together until it had a runny gelatin-like consistency. We also had to add a bit of sugar to keep it all sticking together, as the jam I happened to have was a reduced sugar jam. When heated, we let it cool a bit and then just used a food brush to paint it onto the fruit. The tart then has this lovely looking glaze that also protects the fruit for a bit longer before it turns (if it lasts that long without getting eaten!). The glaze so makes the tart. I highly recommend spending the extra few minutes that it takes to make the glaze.
We were served this wonderfully tasty bread during our weekend in Maine last month, by one of Eliza's friends, Madeleine. Madeleine has her own food blog, Kitchen in the Yard, which I intend to visit often over the next little while, as everything she made for us in Maine was more than tasty (including her latest post of grilled honey peaches with honey marscapone). Madeleine had gotten this recipe off of the Joy the Baker blog. I didn't hunt back far enough to see if Joy the Baker had taken it from some other blog. But apparently, there is no need for cookbooks anymore...
I've been meaning to make this bread for awhile, but haven't managed to get the combination of having both overripe bananas and strawberries in the house all at the same time, until this week. Somehow the strawberries just seem to disappear before the bananas get anywhere near ripe... In any case, I finally got a chance to quickly whip this together this morning. And Jerome informed me as I woke up that Logan had scarfed some down for breakfast... not my first choice for his breakfast, but I guess it won't kill him... and I suggested that Jerome perhaps not give him the sugary crumble topping (which is really the best part! No wonder why he liked it so much).
Bread:
6 oz (1/2 lb.) butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 C of butter
2 C all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat)
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 C plain yogurt (any fat content) or buttermilk
1 1/4 C mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)
1/2 C diced strawberries, plus a couple of strawberries very thinly sliced, for topping
Crumb topping:
3 tbsp. cold butter
1/4 C flour (again, I used whole-wheat)
1/3 C brown sugar
Madeleine suggested that she would make extra crumble topping the next time she made it. Which sounded delicious to me, as the topping was excellent. But with Jerome's diabetes, I didn't want to push it, so I stuck to her original amounts.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. Swirl the pan as the butter cooks. When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer to a small bowl. Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool. (Place it in the refrigerator to cool it more quickly).
3. Whisk together eggs, vanilla extract and yogurt or buttermilk. Whisk in the mashed bananas. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.
4. Mix in the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold in the diced strawberries, being careful not to overstir. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
5. Mix together the butter, flour and brown sugar for the crumb topping. Place on top of the bread batter, slightly pushing down with fingers. Top with thinly sliced strawberries.
6. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Bread will last 4 days, well wrapped at room temperature. This loaf also freezes well.
This is another vegetable side dish that I often make. As with most side dishes I make, it only takes a second. I tend to freeze main meals as I make them and then pull them out of the freezer for a quick, homemade meal, adding a side veggie and/or grain. Or in the summer, we often tend to bbq and then just add side dishes to them during the week. I made this tonight with pork with bbq rub and spinach salad for dinner.
broccoli, cut into pieces
roasted red pepper, cut into pieces
crumbled feta cheese (I use light)
I don't usually make my own roasted red peppers (except for certain recipes). For suggestions on where to get them, you can consult my roasted red pepper risotto post.
The recipe couldn't be simpler. You basically just cook the broccoli (I throw it into a veggie steamer for 10-12 minutes). Chop the roasted red pepper into pieces and then heat slightly in the microwave once the broccoli is ready. Place roasted red pepper on the broccoli. Crumble feta over top of the roasted red peppers and it is ready to serve.
You know that you like food (or are maybe crazy) when you find yourself walking 45 minutes, pregnant and in heels (what was I thinking???), in 38 degree weather, to get some. Specifically, Brazilian food. And that's exactly what I found myself doing yesterday afternoon.
I had gone downtown to get a free hair appointment through a mystery shopping assignment I had taken on. And since I was going to be close to a little Brazilian café that sells a Guarana soda that Jerome loves, I offered to go pick up a couple for him. He asked me to also stop in at a nearby Portuguese bakery to pick up some Portuguese egg-style tarts, known as pastel de nata. These are delicious little sweet tarts with a custardy egg filling. He assured me that both were a short walk from the hair salon.
I found myself cursing him on my way back to the car after a 20+ minute one-way walk. In heels. Pregnant. In 38 degree weather. Have I mentioned that?? Had it not been 38 degrees out, I would have stopped to pick up some delicious poutine at La Banquise, which is, in my opinion, the best place anywhere to find poutine. But even I (even pregnant!) couldn't stomach the thought of eating poutine in that kind of weather (though the place was still packed).
Anyhow, the point of this post is that the little Portuguese bakery where Jerome sent me was a little mine of delicious Portuguese (and Brazilian) foods. Jerome's cousin grew up in Brazil and his mom's best friend is Brazilian. He's been there a couple of times and has had many chances to sample delicious Brazilian food from time to time. Both his cousin (Isabelle) and mom's best friend (Maria) always bring us yummy treats from Brazil via France. And Maria always makes us tasty Brazilian food when we visit Paris, including her famous feijoada. Feijoada is a delicious Brazilian stew, for which Maria imports half of the ingredients from home.
So yesterday, as I was waiting to pay for my little egg custard tarts, I noticed that the restaurant counter to the left sold feijoada. And I knew that bringing home some feijoada would more than make up for me leaving Jerome home alone with Logan all day. Maria, I have to admit that it wasn't quite as good as yours, and was made with kidney beans instead of black beans. But it was still quite delicious. I ordered two portions, but thank goodness the guy didn't hear me. As he passed over one portion, I realized it was more than enough for the two of us, and it even provided left-overs for Jerome's lunch. For the bargain price of $9.
I also picked him up a chorizo sausage, winning wife of the year award for all of my treats (my words, not his). In any case, all of this to say that if you like Brazilian/Portuguese food and are in the area of Rachel and St. Laurent, this little shop is worth a visit. I didn't get the name of it, but it's on the north side of Rachel, just slightly east of St. Laurent. Enjoy :) We finished our last custard tart this evening. And I am now on a mission to find recipes for both the tart and the feijoada before the new baby comes. Ones that can be made without importing ingredients from Brazil.
My mom had this salad recently at a potluck and called me right away to give the recipe to me, because she loved it so much. I made it this past weekend when my family was down. It's a light, refreshing salad, nice on a hot summer day, such as those forecasted for the next few days. It only takes a few minutes to make, so it's a great recipe to make when entertaining.
watermelon
crumbled feta (I used light)
fresh basil
freshly ground pepper
1. Using a melon baller, ball 1/4 to 1/2 of a watermelon.
2. Crumble a handful of feta into the watermelon.
3. Chop a small handful of the fresh basil finely and add to the salad. Add only a bit at first, and then adjust for taste.
4. Sprinkle the salad with freshly ground pepper. Mix the salad and then sprinkle with a bit more fresh pepper.
