Homemade Marshmallows

Here is my June recipe for The Hinton Voice. 

[When I first set out to make marshmallows, I really had no idea just how easy they would be to create.  In fact – I was quite convinced that the opposite would be true.  Candy making is a skill I have always admired, but never really had much success with.  I made caramel sauce for a friend’s birthday once and I kid you not, it took me a good 4 or 5 batches before I finally made something edible.  I went into marshmallow making with that experience still fresh in my mind, so you can imagine my surprise when this recipe turned out the very first time I tried it.  Just over 20 minutes after I began, I had a fresh batch of homemade marshmallows setting on the counter.

So how do they taste compared to store bought marshmallows? After getting over the initial shock that marshmallows could be made in a household kitchen, a friend who sampled these called them “little clouds of heaven”.  Another was quite impressed and proclaimed, “these taste just like [marshmallows] you find in the store, without the chemical/preservative aftertaste”.   To me, they reminded me of the first time I tried homemade ice cream – partially due to the fact to the type of vanilla I used, and partially because upon the first taste I remember thinking “so that’s what this is supposed to taste like!”

So there you have it – homemade marshmallows. Now you can impress everyone at your next campout by bringing these marshmallows to the fire! I know for me, s’mores and rice crispy squares will never be the same again!   In fact, my Dad and I made s’mores last night (hence the above photo) and quite honestly, they were the best either of us had ever had.   Now to make some homemade graham crackers and I’ll be set!]

  

Ingredients

- Olive oil (for brushing)

- 1 box (4 tbsp) unflavoured gelatin

- 3 cups granulated sugar

- 1 ¼ cup light corn syrup

- ¼ tsp salt

- 1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

- 1 ½ cups icing sugar

Directions

Line 9x13 inch pan with plastic wrap and brush with oil.  Set aside.

Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and ¾ cup water in saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring only to dissolve the sugar.  Let mixture cook without stirring, until mixture registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer (about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, place ¾ cup cold water in bowl of electric mixer.  Sprinkle with gelatin (no need to stir).  Let soften 5 minutes.

Attach bowl (with gelatin) to mixer fitted with whisk attachment.  With mixer on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin mixture.  Add vanilla, then gradually raise the speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes.  Beat in vanilla.  Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with a spatula.  Set on counter, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours.

Cut marshmallows into pieces using a sharp knife dusted with icing sugar.  You should get 30 large marshmallows. Roll marshmallows in icing sugar to coat.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Enjoy!

 - Nutritional Info (1 marshmallow) -

Calories - 150   Fat - 0    Carbs – 35     Protein - 1   Fibre – 0

Greek Salad Skewers

I was recently invited to a friend's barbecue and was incredibly excited when I learned that the evening had a theme - food on a stick!  I went to my favourite foodie websites to find inspiration and found some really great ideas!   BLT's, caprise pops, and sticks of strawberry shortcake were all top contenders, but as I set off to the grocery store the morning of the barbecue, I still had no idea what I was actually going to make.  As I perused the vegetable isle, my eye caught some baby tomatoes and the idea hit me - greek salad on a stick!  With easily kebob-able vegetables and my Uncle's greek dressing recipe, I knew I had a winner.  This was confirmed when I saw a couple of kids excitingly eating a stick filled with vegetables!  :)  Ingredients - 1 small zuchinni - 1/2 english cucumber - 1/2 medium purple onion - 1/2 each yellow, red, and green peppers - 1 box cherry tomatoes - 1 small jar pitted kalamata olives - 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce - 1/2 brick feta cheese
Dressing: - 2/3 cup olive oil - 1/3 cup white wine vinegar - 2-4 cloves garlic - 2 tbsp fresh oregano - 1/4 tsp pepper
Directions Cut the zucchini, cucumber, purple onion, and peppers in veggies into bite sized pieces.  Toss with cherry tomatoes and olives and set aside.  Combine all ingredients for dressing in a blender (I use my magic bullet for this - it's the perfect size).    Pour all but 1/4 cup dressing onto cut veggies and marinate in fridge for a minimum of 2-3 hours.  Chop romaine into bite sized pieces and carefully slice feta into cubes.  Place veggies on a skewer alternating every third veggie with romaine lettuce.  Place feta on skewers last (trust me, they won't make it the entire way down the skewer without breaking).  Drizzle with any remaining 1/4 cup dressing and serve! 
Enjoy!

French Onion Dip

Here is my latest column that was published in the Hinton Voice.

[When I was little, my Mom used to keep a plastic container filled with different soup mixes in our lazy Susan.   These mixes weren’t usually meant to be used for their intended purpose, but rather to spice dips and salad dressings (and the occasional meatloaf).   We’d mix the packages with sour cream for dips, and mayonnaise for salad dressings.   French onion was always a favourite of mine, and because I was never very decisive, I would mix the mayonnaise and sour cream together rather than choosing one over the other. Nearly every dip I make today starts with this base, with one exception - I now swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt (or for a hot dip, cream cheese).

Ever since I discovered plain Greek yogurt a few years back, I’ve used it in place of sour cream.  Not only do I use it to make dips or salad dressings, I also use it as the “secret” ingredient in a lot of my baking (namely my favourite banana bread recipe). The taste and texture are fairly similar, only Greek yogurt has far fewer calories and fat, so I feel like I’m eating something a little bit healthier.

Sweet onions have always been my onion of choice for anything French Onion related.  This advice first came from my husband’s Uncle Frank (who also happens to be French) when he taught me how to make his recipe for French onion soup.  He was very adamant that you needed to always use sweet onions, and after having made his recipe several times now, I can definitely see why.  Other types of onions are more pungent, whereas sweet onions have a milder, sweeter flavour (hence their name).  You could easily use whichever onions you have on hand, but sweet onions work the best for this recipe, and any thing else where you’re looking to achieve a true French Onion flavour.]

  

- Recipe yields 2 cups -

Ingredients

-        1 tbsp butter or olive oil

-        1 large Vidalia (sweet) onion, sliced into ¼ inch rings

-        1 clove garlic, minced

-        1 cup Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

-        ½ cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)

-        ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

-        Black pepper & sea salt, to taste

-        Chives for garnish

Directions

Pre-heat a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes, or until caramelized (golden brown).   Add the garlic and sauté for an addition 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and let onions cool for about 5 minutes.   Chop onions into fine pieces and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and sea salt.  Fold in onion mixture and place dip in fridge for 1-2 hours (for best results, overnight). 

Top with chives and serve with your favourite fresh veggies, chips, crackers, or for a true French Onion experience – a thinly sliced baguette topped with greyer cheese and toasted until the cheese is melted. 

- Nutritional Info (2 tbsp) -

Calories - 34   Fat - 2    Carbs – 1     Protein - 1   Fibre – 1

Enjoy!

Hemp Cookies

I remember the very first time I tried hemp, it was in cookie form.  My local health food store had a basket of hemp cookies attached to samples of hemp hearts (presumably so you could make your own cookies at home).   I really enjoyed hemp in cookie form and recently decided to re-create that lost recipe from so many years ago.  These cookies are light and crisp - the perfect cookie to go with a cup of tea!  Ingredients - 1/2 cup butter - 1 medium egg - 2/3 cup brown sugar - 1 tsp cinnamon - 1 cup hemp hearts - 1 cup flour
Directions Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and allow to cool slightly.  Whisk in egg and add brown sugar.   In a separate bowl combine cinnamon, hemp and flour.   Mix wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.  Drop 1 tbsp balls onto cookie sheet and flatten with your fingertips.   Bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are lightly brown around the edges.
Enjoy!

Gardening: Spring 2013

With Marc away at school, I really haven't been cooking as many new recipes.  When I do cook, it's usually been easy familiar favourites that keep really well like stew, meatballs, potato soup, curried chicken, and chicken fried rice). 

This morning I picked up a coffee and took the short drive to my hometown (Brule, Alberta).  It's a small hamlet just west of where I live now.  This is a picture of the view overlooking Solomon hill.  Once this view greets me a wave of nostalgia washes over me and I truly feel as though I am home.  I feel truly blessed to have grown up in such an amazingly beautiful place.

 

After my morning drive I decided to go to the community greenhouse and plant my tomatoes and carrots.  My Grampa always plants his tomatoes and carrots together, something called "companion gardening".  Since he always has an greenhouse full of awesome vegetables, for the past few years I've been trying to follow suit.  I now devote an entire garden box just to tomatoes and carrots. 

When I arrived at the greenhouse I was excited to see that some of the lettuce seeds I had planted just last week were already sprouting.  I planted a package of seeds called "20 lettuce blend" so I'm really excited to see how that turns out. 

I was surprised when I saw an onion growing already.  Last year a few onions on this side went to seed, so one of the seeds must have laid dormant until spring.   I couldn't believe the onion has a grown so much considering I hadn't watered this bed yet this year.  Needless to say, this definitely changes my perspective of how often I'll be watering my gardens this summer! 

I recently started taking web design classes at NAIT which has been a lot of fun.  My first class was Adobe Illustrator and I made a few fun designs including these ones:

Using my new found skills, I made my own garden markers this year.  After printing my images off, I laminated them and then taped them to a popsicle stick.  Voila - homemade garden markers. 

As you can see, I went a little overboard on the seed buying this year!  If everything goes as planned, I won't have to buy veggies all summer and I'll get a ton of canning done for the winter! 

How did you spend your weekend?   

May Long 2013

Happy May Long Weekend!  Marc was finally able to come home for a visit this weekend (he's living with my brother in Edmonton while he's in school - his 4th and final year of Electrical).  It's his first time home in 6 weeks so we have been making the most of our weekend together.  Yesterday we had a really great day playing in the sun.  We hiked the Sulphur Skyline in Jasper National Park (6 km of a straight incline, I am still feeling the burn a day later, while I write this.).  The view was AMAZING - I can't wait to take this hike again.

After hiking in the mountains all day, we drove into Jasper and had dinner and drinks at a restaurant with a rooftop patio. 

After hiking all day, we both had steaks on the mind so we each ordered a New York Steak with baked macaroni. 

For dessert we went to The Fudgery in Jasper.  This place is really great because you get to watch the candy makers creating the delicious masterpieces you are about to consume.  It's also the first place that Marc and I met.   Back in the summer of 2000 when Marc was first living in Jasper, he was one of the candy makers at this very shop. One of my first jobs was also in Jasper, coincidently right next door.  Fast forward a few years later to when we had started dating.  We were having one of those "get to know you" conversations and discussing the fact that we both worked in Jasper the same year.  Suddenly we put 2 and 2 together and realized who the other was.  He was the cute guy I used to buy watermelon popcorn from after my shift, and I was the girl that his roommate (and fellow candy maker) Pierce had a crush on!  Years later when he reconnected with Pierce, he told him that he ended up marrying "that cute girl from Jasper".   Now, every time we go into Jasper together, we make sure to stop at The Fudgery and pick up some candy.

 

I love how they name the candy after the beautiful nearby scenery "Mountains, Ice Fields, Glaciers, Iceburg..."

After we snacked on our candy we texted a couple of friends and made plans to meet up at Miette for a soak in the mineral filled hot springs.  We ended the night completely relaxed - needless to say after all that fresh air we both had a great night's sleep!  Today while Marc gets some homework done, I plan on catching up on some work (though I would hardly consider gardening, writing, and studying my wine's hard work!  Sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday to me!  :)  So tell me, how are you spending your long weekend? 

Corn Chowder

Here is my recipe for May that was published in last week's The Hinton Voice (my local newspaper). 

 [When I was a teenager I used to make "homemade" corn chowder by combining a can of cream of chicken soup with a can of creamed corn.  It was quick, easy, and in my teenage opinion, tasted great.  Corn chowder is still one of my favorite kinds of soup, and I make it often - though now I’ve traded in cans of pre-made items for fresh ingredients.

The key to any good soup is sautéing the vegetables first.  This not only deepens the vegetables flavors, it also cuts down on the overall cooking time by enabling the vegetables to cook faster.  I’ll never forget the time I tried to skip this step and boiled the vegetables directly in the creamy base instead.  It was during my husband and I’s early days of marriage and we had invited all of my in-laws over for dinner (of course this couldn’t have happened while we were dining solo).  The last time I made soup for company it was proclaimed, “the best soup they had ever had” so I was fairly confident that another soup would be well received.  I was in a bit of a hurry so I figured I could just boil the veggies in the milk and call it a day.  Worst. Idea. Ever.  No matter how long I cooked the soup, the vegetables just wouldn’t turn soft.  I turned the heat up too high and ended up completely burning the soup (at least the vegetables were cooked though!).  This wouldn’t have been so bad if I would have noticed before I had already served everyone.  By the time I took my first bite, everyone had already started eating.  The second the burnt soup hit my lips I was instantly mortified. Being the kind people that they are, no one said anything to me and just politely continued to eat their dinner.  Needless to say, no one went back for seconds and I’m pretty sure I saw someone devouring the remainder of the extra toppings that were sitting on the table. To this day my sister in law swears she doesn’t remember the time I burned the soup. My theory is that it was so awful she may have perhaps blocked it from her memory (either that or she is still just being really polite about it). 

So now you know why I am always sure to sauté my veggies first whenever making soup.  I am happy to report using this method has enabled the soup to turn out every single time, and now as a rule I always try a quick taste before I serve anything to company.]

Ingredients

-      -   ½ cup crumbled bacon (optional)

-      -   1 tbsp butter

-      -   2 lbs baby red potatoes (or 4 medium)

-       -  ½ onion, chopped

-      -   4 ears of corn (or 3 cups frozen)

-      -   2 cups chicken broth

-       -  3 cups milk

-       -  salt & pepper to taste

-       -  fresh chives, for garnish

Directions

Pre-heat a large saucepan over medium heat and fry chopped bacon.  Set cooked bacon aside, and wipe out pan with paper towel. 

Chop potatoes into small cubes and sauté in butter until lightly translucent (about 5-7 minutes). 

Add chopped onions and corn, cooking until onions are tender.   Stir in broth and milk, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.   Turn down heat to medium low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until soup has thickened to desired consistency.

Add salt & pepper and garnish with chives and reserved bacon.

- Nutritional Info (1 cup) -

Calories - 189   Fat - 7    Carbs – 25     Protein - 8   Fibre – 2

Enjoy!