Archive | April 2012

in Baking, Kale Chips 4+ Ways, Snacks, Weekly Treat
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Kale Chips: Basic + 4 Flavours, Sweet to Spicy

This weekend,we found ourselves with two very large bunches of Kale. Having already prepared a very large drawer full of salad greens, we thought that the best idea would be to make kale chips for the pantry. Since we had so much kale on our hands, we were able to mess around and come up with four original twists on our basic kale chip. First, read our Kale Chip Essentials for all of the basic instructions. Then, choose from one or more of the five Flavour Profiles below: Basic, Honey Cinnamon, Garlic & Pepper, Soy Nut Sesame, & Spicy Chile Nut – and get baking!

Kale Chip Essentials

Measuring
1 bunch of kale provides 14-16 cups of torn leaves.
Each of the flavour profiles below uses 8 cups of torn leaves and produces a large soup bowl (3-4 cups) of chips.

Preparation
To prepare the kale for baking, wash each bunch thoroughly.
Remove the green ruffly leaves from the stem and ribs. (Use the stem and ribs for compost or soup.)

Rip and tear the ruffled leaves into medium sized pieces.
Dry the kale with towels, or, preferably, use a salad spinner to dry those pieces out in large batches.

Flavouring and Baking
Mix 8 cups (half of one bunch) of torn kale leaves with one of the flavour profiles below.
Spread flavoured kale onto parchment lined pans. 2-3 pans per 8 cup batch.
Make sure kale leaves are spread out and barely touch one another. Do not overlap.
If you use more pans and spread the kale further apart, kale takes less time to cook and will not take on a burnt taste.
You can use old tin cans or raised cooling racks to stack more than one pan on top of each other on a single rack in an oven.
The thicker/more developed the flavour profile (below) the longer it will take your chips to bake.
Cool on parchment-lined pans for 10 minutes before removing to a bowl or air-tight container.

Hold the Salt!
We recommend that you do not add salt until after the chips are baked.
Kale shrinks significantly in the oven.
What looks insignificant in terms of flavouring an 8 cup bowl of fresh kale leaves becomes quite significant when that bowl shrinks by more than half in cooking!

Flavour Profiles and Cooking Times

Plain Kale Chips
Pour 2 tbs olive oil over 8 cups of torn Kale and stir thoroughly.
Spread Kale onto 2-3 parchment lined pans
Bake 25-30 minutes at 275.
Add salt to taste.

Honey Cinnamon Kale Chips
In a Small Bowl, Mix:
3 tbs honey
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Drizzle this Mixture over 8 cups of torn Kale and stir thoroughly.
Spread Kale onto 2-3 parchment lined pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes at 275.

Garlic & Pepper Kale Chips
In a Small Bowl, Mix:
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Drizzle the Mxiture over 8 cups of torn Kale and stir thoroughly.
Spread Kale onto 2-3 parchment lined pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes at 275.

Soy Nut Sesame Kale Chips
In a Small Bowl, Mix until thin, smooth and wet:
3 tbs natural peanut or other nut/nut-substitute butter
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Drizzzle the Mixture over 8 cups of torn Kale and stir thoroughly.
Spread Kale onto 3 parchment lined pans.
Bake 35-45 minutes at 275.

Spicy Chile Nut Kale Chips
In a Small Bowl, Mix until thin, smooth, and wet:
3 tbs natural peanut or other nut/nut-substitute butter
2 tbs Sriracha chile sauce
2 tbs balsamic vinegar (more if the mixture is too thick)
Drizzle the Mixture over 8 cups of torn Kale and stir thoroughly.
Spread Kale onto 3 parchment lined pans.
Bake 35-45 minutes at 275.

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April 15, 2012

Cheater’s Curry

Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, and Cauliflower [or Green Bean] Curry
I had assumed that the notion of “nesting” had gone out the window once we carried our second child into the house. However, when I found myself with a day surgery scheduled for mid-week, and with a few days of recovery planned at home, I suddenly felt the impulse to stock up the freezer once again! Towards the end of my two pregnancies, I went for “fancy” meals like boeuf bourguignon and cognac-laced chicken pot-pie, and I took my sweet time preparing them from scratch for the deep freeze. After all, I had a doctoral thesis to finish…I needed to procrastinate! This time, I had little time or energy to do anything but get some family friendly basics into the fridge. The kids helped get their favourites ready to go, helping me prepare several bags of pre-marinated proteins for the freezer. Then, while they joined their father in very generously cleaning the house from top to bottom, I made a huge batch of mild chicken soup for before and after the (necessary) procedure. I also wanted to have a more sophisticated veggie curry for when the sun shines brighter and I start to feel tip-top. So, with little time to spare, I transformed an old favourite recipe I had come up with a few years ago into a faster, easier savoury treat: Cheater’s Curry.

Everything here is canned, pre-packaged or pre-chopped. I’m not usually a fan of convenience cooking, especially when this includes pre-cut and wastefully packaged vegetables. However, my hands blow up when I touch the outside of a butternut squash, no matter how organic, so I find the pre-packaged and pre-cut squash a real salvation. And, I’m having the kids work on repurposing the plastic packages we used. Of course, you can “upscale” this recipe by buying fresh veggies and doing your own chopping, as I do most of the time.

Cheater’s Curry
Makes a large dutch oven full…

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup pre-diced onions, or 1 medium sized sweet onion, diced
1 tbs ras el hanout, red curry powder, or garam masala
1 tbs red curry paste
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 can tomato paste
2 cans coconut milk
2 tbs brown sugar or honey (optional)
2 tbs fish sauce
4 cups (1 pound) peeled and pre-diced butternut squash
4 cups (1 pound) peeled and pre-diced sweet potatoes
4 cups cauliflower (fresh or frozen) OR 1 bag ready to cook green beans
A handful of fresh cilantro or thai basil, torn (optional).
A handful of peanuts (optional).
Sriracha or other Chili Sauce (optional)
Serve alone or with quinoa, rice, or flat bread.

Method
In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add onions and sweat for 3-4 minutes.
Add spice blend, garlic, and curry paste, and stir for 2 minutes more.
Add tomato paste and coconut milk and stir to combine.
Add sugar (optional) and fish sauce.
Add diced sweet potatoes and bring to a boil.
Simmer on MEDIUM heat for 3-5 minutes
Add butternut squash and bring back to a boil.
Simmer on LOW heat for 15 more minutes.
Add cauliflower or beans.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the potatoes and squash are heated through.
Ladle into bowls or cool and place into containers for freezing.
Garnish hot bowls of curry with a generous amount of torn cilantro or thai basil.
Throw a few peanuts on the top.
Let each family member or guest add Sriracha or another Chili Sauce to their dishes to taste.
Serve alone or with quinoa, rice, or flat bread.

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April 7, 2012

Easter Brunch: Carrot Orange Poppyseed Mini-Muffins with Cardamom Cream Cheese Glaze

The kids wanted an Easter-Bunny friendly treat to leave out on a plate on Holy Saturday to attract the Easter Bunny.
After we made these special treats, they told me they’d be more than happy to gobble up the extras themselves at our Easter Sunday Brunch.

Carrot Orange Poppyseed Mini-Muffins with Cardamom Cream Cheese Glaze
Makes 24

Ingredients

Mini-Muffins
1 c milk, room temperature
1/3 c butter, melted
2/3 c brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbs orange juice
1-2 tsp orange zest
1/2 c finely grated carrot, packed
2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs poppy seeds
1 tbs ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Glaze
1 c icing sugar
1/4 c cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
1-2 tbs orange juice or milk

Method

Mini-Muffins

Heat oven to 400.
Spray mini-muffin tin with baking spray (or grease and flour pan).
In a medium bowl, mix milk, melted butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, spices, and poppy seeds.
Add carrots, juice and zest to the wet mixture and stir quickly to incorporate.
Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir to incorporate.
Let batter sit for 1 minute.
Use a tablespoon to fill the mini-muffin tin.
Bake 9-11 minutes.
Cool muffins completely on a wire rack.

Glaze

While the mini-muffins are cooling, prepare the glaze.
Stir together the sugar, cream cheese and cardamom.
Add juice or milk by the teaspon until you have a rather thick glaze (or thin icing).
Use an icing spreader or butter knife to coat the mini-muffin tops with the glaze.
Let the glazed mini-muffins sit for a minute or two to set glaze before serving.

Enjoy! Enjoy!
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April 2, 2012

in Art Projects, Easter, Easter Crafts, Easter Egg Workshop, Holidays
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Easter Egg Workshop

This year, we decided to try a whole bunch of new decorating and dyeing techniques with our Easter Eggs. In addition to our usual sharpies, crayons, and basic dyes (1 c boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar, food colouring drops), we used Koolaid Dyes, Marbled Dyes, and, eventually, Marbled Koolaid Dyes. We also experimented, for better or worse, with wrapping our eggs in twine (subtle) or coating them in patterns of hot glue (cute, but they crack easily when removed). The dye instructions are below, followed by our gallery of eggs. You’ll notice that a dozen of our eggs are hard boiled, and a scant dozen are blown out of their shells so that we can save them. Our blown-empty egg and our hard boiling techniques are also below.

SUPER-VIBRANT KOOLAID EGGS

Empty 1 package of your favourite fruit-flavoured Koolaid into a cup.
(Packages may be mixed to obtain variations in colour.)
Add 1 cup of water.
Stir to combine.
Immerse egg in dye until it reaches the desired depth or vibrancy.

SPECKLED & MARBLED EGGS

Prepare Basic Dye (1 cup boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar, food colouring drops) OR Koolaid Dye (above).
For marbled eggs, add 1-2 tbs vegetable oil to prepared dye.
For speckled eggs, add 1-2 tsp vegetable oil to prepared dye.
Swirl the oil in the cup with a spoon or stirrer stick just before submerging each egg in dye.
Pat egg dry and repeat with another colour if so desired.

BLOWN-EMPTY EGGS

You may wish to remove the yolks from your eggs before decorating so that you may save the decorated shells.
To do so, gently poke holes in both ends of each egg with the tip of a sharp knife or skewer.
The larger the bottom hole, the easier it will be to blow the egg out of the shell.
From the top hole, blow eggs out of the bottom hole into a bowl.
Save eggs in groups of 2-4 for freezing, baking, or savoury fare.
Rinse blown eggshells with a thin stream of water or with a mixture of vinegar and water.
Blow rinsing liquid out of eggs and pat dry.
If so desired, use a dropper to place a tsp of glue or modpodge inside of the egg, swirl, and let dry before decorating.
Spray varnish, mod-podge, or white glue may be used to coat fully decorated eggs if so desired.
(Test your glue to make sure it doesn’t make your colours run).
Store blown eggs in clear glass or plastic containers and enjoy for years to come.
Blown-Empty Egg Notes:
Be prepared for casualities, as these are delicate eggs. Prepare extras!
Blown-empty eggs will not submerge on their own.
Spoon dyes over floating eggs or use a spoon to gently submerge the eggshells while dying.
Be sure to blow dying liquid out of eggs and back into the cup of dye before removing egg from cup.
Marbling technique works best when eggs are submerged.

HARD BOILED EGGS
Place eggs in a saucepan and cover eggs with water to 1 inch above tops of eggs.
Add 1 tbs vinegar and 1 tsp salt to water.
Bring cold eggs and water to a boil.
Boil for 1 minute.
Remove saucepan from stove momentarily.
Reduce heat to low/simmer.
Place pan back on stove and simmer for 1 minute.
Cover, remove from stove, and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
Run cold water over eggs if desired to cool.
Pat dry.

OTHER SUPPLIES

Black, Coloured, and Metallic Permanent Markers, Crayons (the new thin-format Crayola Twistables are a great addition!), Twine, Hot Glue (Hmm…We might try Rubber Cement next time), Old Bent Spoons, Coffee Stirrer Sticks, Glass Vases or Other Clear Vessels for Display.