Maple Scones

Maple Scones
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

As promised, if you want a recipe, i'll post it. Here it is (i didn't put walnuts or pecans in mine and think i should have so have added that to the recipe):

Dough:

1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening or butter
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans) - toast them to draw out the oil/flavor
1/2 cup milk
1/3 -1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring or extract

Maple Frosting:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons half-and-half, cream, milk, whatever you use (just add a little at a time to get the frosting the right texture...i wanted mine a litle runny so it wouldn't tear the scones when put on)
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring or extract

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening/butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. This takes a while... Stir in walnuts or pecans. In a separate bowl (or directly into it if you want), add in milk, syrup, and maple flavoring. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until you've formed a dry soft dough.

Flour your work surface. Take the dough and pat it into a 7 inch circle almost an inch think. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Use a pizza wheel (or a knife i guess) and divide the circle of dough into eight wedges. Gently separate the wedges so that they're almost touching in the center, but are spaced about an inch apart at the edges. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 400 degrees, or until golden brown. Let them cool a bit so they don't tear when frosting.

Combine all frosting ingredients and mix until creamy. Gently frost the tops of scones with the maple frosting.
------------------------------------------------------------

We didn't care for them fresh out of the oven but once they sat, they were goooooood.

Smoked Salmon Bagel

Smoken Salmon Bagel
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, dill, salt and pepper. Capers are on the side. Bagel has low fat cream cheese (just a light coating).

Finger food

Finger Foods
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Spicy chickpea patties (recipe can be found on the whole foods website i believe...or their book). On the right side of the patties are potato samosas (i haven't forgotten to post the recipe for my samosas, just haven't made them from scratch in a while...i freeze them in large batches...i haven't forgotten anonymous asker of my recipe :-). On the left side are feta cheese samboosas. I tried a new recipe and neither of us liked them very much. For some reason we don't care much for arab recipes...at least the ones i've tried.

In the ramekin is a yummy mango cole slaw. Not a super healthy dinner but very yummy. The chickpea patties rocked! So did the mango "slaw". Samosas always rock.


Whole Foods' Spicy Chickpea Patties with Cilantro, Lime, and Chilies

Ingredients
1/8 cup canola or olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 (16 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chickpea flour (or wheat flour)
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
3 scallions, minced
juice of 2 limes
salt to taste

chickpea (besan) flour (or you could use wheat i guess) for dusting cakes
vegetable oil for spraying pan
cucumber raita (recipe follows)

In a large nonstick pan, heat the canola or olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, jalapeño, curry powder, and cumin for 3 minutes, until the onion is softened. Transfer the spice mixture to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a standard S blade, and process for 20 seconds, until coarsely chopped. Add the chickpeas, chickpea (or wheat) flour, bread crumbs, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, and salt.

Continue to process for 20 seconds more, until the mixture is coarsely chopped, well combined, and has formed a thick paste. The paste should be firm enough to be scooped and shaped into small patties. After making the patties, lightly dust them with chickpea flour.

Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and spray it with the vegetable oil. Sauté the patties for 4 minutes on each side, until they are golden brown and heated through. For an even crispier patty, place one on a sheet pan for 10 minutes in the center of a 375˚F oven. Serve with cucumber-mint raita (recipe follows).

CUCUMBER-MINT RAITA

Ingredients
1 large peeled cucumber, halved, seeded, coarsely grated
2 cups plain yogurt
1/4 cup (packed) chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon plus pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:
Wrap grated cucumber in kitchen towel and squeeze dry. Whisk yogurt, mint, cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper in medium bowl to blend. Add cucumbers and toss to coat. Season raita to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Sprinkle raita with pinch of cayenne pepper and serve.

Favorite cooking tool

Favorite cooking tool
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

This little kitchen diddy gives me so much pleasure. I find cooking is very enjoyable with gadgets such as this. Next time i'm in Toronto i want to get another one.

The spices i have in here are what i use most: chili powder, garam masala, turmeric, zeera, black peppercorns, dhaniya and cinnamon sticks in the middle. Gotta love masala.

Steak, root vegetables and potato skins

Steak, root vegetables and potato skins
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Steak, root veggies (beets and parsnips sauteed in evoo, salt and pepper), potato skins.

Recipe for delicious potato skins:

Bake or microwave as you would a baked potato. When done, cut in half and scoop out the middles (most but not all of it...don't toss it, eat as mashed tatos...) brush melted butter of evoo outside the potato and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Take out. Put grated cheddar cheese in the center, bacon bits (get soy ones so they are halal), and green onions or chives if you have them. MMmmmmmmmmmmm!

Fried Calamari

Fried Calamari
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Fried calamari with a spicy sauce.

Italian Night

Italian Night
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Bowtie pasta with smoked salmon, asparagus and capers. It's topped with a light olive oil based sauce. On the side are stir fried spring beans (after blanching them) with sliced tomato and feta. It's mixed with a fresh basil, dill, garlic and ginger sauce. On the other side are sliced tomatos with a basil leaf and slice of mozarella cheese. Between the basil leave and cheese is a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Shrimp Korma

Shrimp Korma
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Shrimp Korma, salad and daal. (and daffodils freshly cut from my "garden")

Shrimp Korma (and daal)
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Did i ever show you what i made for v-day?

valentines desert
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Heart shaped brownies (whatever brownie recipe you like...the richer the better for me - cut with a cookie cutter) with tangy raspberry sauce (heat raspberries with some sugar over medium low heat for about ten minutes and strain through a sieve). Serve with two scoops of ice cream.

Check out Vegan Lunch Box. I'm definately not vegan but it's great what she's doing. Her son must have the best eating habits ever! I plan on raising Little Dude with good eating habits too but not vegetarian or vegan, although i do want to start focusing on eating meat only a few days a week, fish and seafood a few days, and vegetarian one or two days. It's working well so far. I've been using the Super Baby Food cookbook for Little Dude and i just love the information in it. When he's a toddler there's also this organic baby and toddler cookbook. It's fun cooking his food. So far, it's only mashed avocado, mashed banana, and soon sweet potato. I also picked up brown rice this weekend to make homemade baby cereal. It's exciting and fun to see someone develop good eating habits.

My dad raised me on health food. We ate all of our food from Eureka Natural Foods. Mostly grains and the like. Very little red meat and hardly ever pork. The milk was powdered and what i truly hated about the diet. I just hated getting one of those dry lumps. Ugh. But we didn't eat preservatives or additives at all. My dad is very very healthy, never smoked or drank, always ate well and i think a little bit wore off on me. We didn't eat a lot of salads though. I still don't. It's something I'm working on. I don't like cold fruit and tomatos and stuff because it hurts my teeth. But i have learned that zapping it for 4 - 7 seconds in the microwave - depending on what it is - makes it the perfect temperature. DH thinks i'm a freak and looks at me like i'm nuts when he sees me do it but hey it's working! I've been eating my fruit.

Sugar is another thing. Ironically, my dad ran a Pepsi plant growing up but we never ever had soda in the house. I saw what went into that stuff and how bad it smells when it's being made and am still surprised that i drink it now. It really is sickingly bad for you. He also didn't let us eat sugared cereals and we rarely even ate dessert (i think only on birthdays). We also didn't eat out a lot. All of these things i still do (except for dessert). I now, since getting married and having a child, eat a lot of sugar. I might even be addicted. Something happened with childbirth or me feeding him. Don't know what but man, pass me the sugar bowl!

Gaajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

Gaajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa)
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

I didn't know there would be such an interest. Cool! I'll start posting recipes too but not always. If you ever want a recipe, just say so and i'll post it. I added the focaccia one since someone asked. For the ribs, i'll have to find that one and post it.

It's too bad the pictures from this weekends meals didn't turn out. I have a bad cold (allergies i think) so i made a big pot of Jewish Penicillon (Chicken Soup, Jewish style...it really works on colds) and we ate the whole pot. Also had a great salmon dinner that hubby made. It was delish. Glad you guys are liking the site though. :-)

Fish Curry

Fish Curry
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Yummmmmm! DH and i made this one together. He doing most the work.


This recipe can be found here.

(Now, i only half follow recipes and i usually follow two or three recipes at the same time coming up with my own personal recipe. I use them as guides but never follow them to a t so this won't be exactly the same as my picture but it's very similar...)

Beetroot Curry and Hyderabadi Khatti Daal

Beetroot Curry and Hyderabadi Khatti Daal
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

One of my favorite meals. Absolutely delicious.

Here is my version of my mil's recipe:

1 large onion
3-4 medium beet roots
1 lb mixed goat parts
1 generous teaspoon garlic paste
1 generous teaspoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste

*** I don't measure things, i generalize so these are estimates.

With a tablespoon or so of oil, cook onions until they are brown. Add the goat and sprinkle spices over it. Mix around and brown on all sides - about five minutes or so and then add the beets (cut into largish chunks). Add enough water to almost cover the meat and beets. Add salt to taste. And cook until beets are fork tender and meat is tender.

The daal recipe can be found here.

There's a kazillion ways to make daal - being married to a Pakistani i'm learning more and more of them. My mil has many great ways of making it and of course, she's the one who taught me how to make dalcha - mmmmmmm, mmmmmmm, good.

BBQ Beef Ribs and Spicy Homemade Potato Chips

Ribs
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Basic recipe (I strayed a bit)... This is also for spicy ribs, if you want it less spicy, cut down on the the chili powder, etc

combine:

2 TBSN Black Pepper
1 TBSN Paprika
1/2 TBSN Cumin
1 1/2 TBSN Brown Sugar
1 TBSN Vinegar
2 TBSN Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili powder
dash of oregano...prob a half teaspoon
add some lemon juice (just a splash)
salt to taste

Mix it all together and rub all over the ribs. Wrap in seran wrap and put in fridge for a few hours. Take out an hour before you cook (let it get to room temperature...helps with the cooking and keeps in tender while cooking).

Preheat oven to 450 F. Now i don't have a broiler pan (i need one bad!) but you can probably use one if you have one. Otherwise take a roasting pan and fill an inch or so with water, put the rack over the water and place the ribs on the rack so they hover above the water, put a tent of tin foil over that to keep steam in. Cook away for about 3 hours or 4 hours. Just keep checking them to see the progress. Slather with bbq sauce every half hour or hour. I hope i remembered everything.

For the chips, just thinly slice potatos and deep fry in oil then shake in a bag of cumin, salt, pepper and chili powder (for real spicy). You can do any type of chips though. You can also oven bake them if you want them healthier.

Foccacia Bread

Foccacia Bread
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Here is the recipe:

You can either buy foccacia bread mix for a short cut. Othersise, just use a dough recipe (many on the web). Key thing is to only let it rise a tiny bit (like 20-30 minutes). Spread on floured area and shape. Oil the baking sheet with olive oil. Put the dough on there and spread it out until it fits on the pan (it's not going to look perfect...that's okay) and then put dimples in the dough with your knuckles or a floured spoon. Brush lightly with olive oil and then spread pesto across the dough (again, you can buy it but i like to make mine fresh...recipe will follow). Then add sliced tomatos, parmesan cheese, mozzarella...whatever you want on there. I also slice up basil leaves and spread across it to give it color and a fresh taste. Top it off with rosemary and garlic. Put in oven (preheated to 400 degrees) for about 20 minutes - until it turns golden brown and the parmesan is a little crustry on top. Enjoy!

Pesto recipe (using a food processor):

1 ounce reggiano parmesan cut into pieces
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (toasting it brings out the oils)
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup packed basil leaves washed and completely dried (otherwise it won't mix right)
1/3 extra virgin olive oil

1. Chop cheese in food processor, remove and set aside
2. Chop pine nuts, remove and set aside
3. Chop garlic with salt (salt helps grind it), remove and set aside
4. Chop basil leaves, add half of the olive oil
5. Add the rest of the olive oil bit by bit
6. Add the cheese, garlic, pine nuts and grind until right consistency and it's well mixed.
7. Let sit for at least a half hour to let flavors mingle.