Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake

'Tis the season for all things 'pumpkin spice'. I tried this cake the other day and have to say it's yummy. I particularly like the espresso icing. The recipe came from a website called Celebrating Sweets.

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (which I forgot to add unfortunately)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup sour cream ( I used plain yogurt)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing Ingredients:

• 10 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
• 2.5 cups powdered sugar ( also called icing sugar)
• 2 teaspoons milk plus more if needed
• 2 teaspoons espresso powder
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

Whisk together the first 6 ingredients for the cake.

In a second large bowl, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, yogurt or sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking tin and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 22-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre come out clean. Cool the cake while making the icing.

To make the icing use a mixer to beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, followed by milk, espresso powder and vanilla. Spread the icing over the top of the cooled cake. 

(I must admit that I made a few adjustments to the recipe as stated above since I dislike using a lot of butter in an icing. I used much less butter, somewhat more espresso powder, perhaps more icing sugar and no milk, but as much heavy cream as I needed to get the consistency I wanted.) 

Leek, Apple and Brie Tart

My friend Janice sent me this recipe that was published in the October edition of Fifty-Five Plus Magazine. She thought I would like it, and indeed I do. 

Something to remember when using leeks is that they need to be washed thoroughly. Because of the way the plant grows, soil can get caught in some of the layers of this vegetable.

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp. butter
• 1 cup thnly sliced leeks (white and light green parts only)
• 2 cloves of garlic minced  (this I omitted because I am not a huge garlic fan)
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 sheet of frozen butter puff pastry, thawed
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 cup thinly sliced apple
• 1/2 cup diced brie cheese ( I used rather large slices)

Drizzle:

• 4 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. 

Melt 2 teaspoons of butter in a skillet and saute the leeks, along with some salt and pepper. This will take about 6 minutes. Stir in the thyme and let the mixture cool.

In a small saucepan, melt another 2 tsps. of butter, stir in the vinegar and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Set aside.

Unroll the puff pastry and place it on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Prick the entire surface of the pastry with a fork and then brush the surface with mustard leaving a half inch border all round.

Scatter the leeks over the pastry and then arrange the sliced apples on top. Brush with the butter/vinegar mixture and place the cheese on top.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Drizzle with the honey mixture as you like.

Homemade Pizza by Sylvia

 

My sister Sylvia is a great home cook and knows a lot about combining ingredients to create a tasty end result. The following is her simple recipe for pizza. I happen to like the onion-heavy look of this one. 

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen pizza shell
• tomato sauce, enough to cover the pizza shell
• pepperoni
• cooked bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces 
• thinly sliced red onions
• sliced mushrooms 
• grated garlic- omit if you don't like garlic
• olive oil, a few drizzles
• parmesan to taste

Methods:

Preheat your oven as per the instructions on your package of frozen pizza dough. Place the frozen shell on a baking sheet and start adding the ingredients. I would add them in the order they are listed above, ending with the parmesan. 

Bake as per the instructions on your pizza dough package. It's actually quite difficult to mess up pizza.

Roquefort Carles

There's an unlikely spot for a food and gift emporium on Highway 28 enroute to Peterborough, ON. It's called Herma's and it's the only store that I've encountered that carries (among other great cheeses) a creamy blue cheese by the name of Roquefort Carles, hand made in France by the Carles famille. Here's a link to learn more...https://roquefort-carles.fr/en

German Plum Cake

Plums are one of the later summer fruits in Ontario. I have already made my favourite jam with yellow plums. I like to use purple plums in a cake. 

This recipe is an adaptation of a German plum cake on epicurious.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds large plums (about 5-6)
• 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used yogurt)

For the Topping:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 inch x 13 inch x 2 inch baking pan.

Wash the plums, cut them in half, and remove pits. For each plum half, cut in half again or thirds. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

Cream 6 tablespoons of butter with 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well-incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix in flour alternating with the sour cream. Mix until just incorporated and smooth. Spoon into baking pan and spread evenly with offset spatula.

Insert the plum slices into the batter in even rows. In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients together then distribute the topping over the plums. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. 

Fish and Potato Pie in the style of Jamie Oliver

My sister Sylvia made her delicious version of a Jamie Oliver fish pie for company recently. Jamie Oliver is inspirational and his original recipe for fish pie can be found at www.jamieoliver.com. 

                                         This photo shows Jamie's pie. Looks like he used a cast iron frying pan to bake it.

The following recipe is my variation on the Jamie Oliver theme. I happened to use haddock and shrimp for the fish component, but I say, use whatever you like. 

Ingredients for the top of the pie: 

• about 3-4 cups of mashed potatoes ( I used leftovers)
• 2 chopped scallions
• 2 tablespoons of crumbled feta cheese
• a knob of butter
• salt and pepper to taste 

Ingredients for the pie filling:

• 6 large shrimp cut into bite-sized pieces
• about 3/4 of a pound of wild fresh-caught haddock cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons of finely zested lemon rind
• juice of 1 lemon
• a teaspoon of dried dill
• 8 chopped capers

For the white sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1.5 cups of milk
• salt and pepper to taste 

Methods: 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 

Mash together the ingredients for the potato topping until smooth. Set aside.

Make the white sauce component of the filling by melting the butter in a saucepan, then stirring in the flour to make a roux. Gradually whisk in 1.5 cups of milk and cook the sauce until thickened and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl mix together the peas, shrimp and fish, the lemon juice and zest, dill, capers, and as much of the white sauce as needed to bring things together. 

Turn the fish mixture into the bottom of a buttered baking dish or large pie plate, then cover it completely with the potato mixture. Bake in the oven for about an hour until the whole thing is nicely browned. You might need to place it under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top.

My husband : "That cheesecake thing is a bust". Me : "But the random dude on Instagram said it was a 10/10."

Hmmm. I guess this looks vaguely like a Basque cheesecake. That is, however, where the similarity ends. It also looks vaguely like an ancient leather slipper. 

This is one of those 4-ingredient high-protein marvels that Instagram loves. And it's fine if you want a rather tasteless spongey protein thing to ingest. If you want cheesecake, use cheese.

I really hate wasting food, so I am going to have to curb my enthusiasm for Instagram.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups of plain yogurt
• 5 tablespoons of corn starch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Methods: 

Mix everything well and place the batter in a lined loaf tin. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.

Drizzle the finished product with honey or maple syrup or smother with jam.

Scottish Oat Cakes

I think I might have to use my oat cakes as a crumble topping. They were not quite right, likely because I decided to use oat flour rather than all-purpose white flour. Delicious though.

This is my sister Sylvia's recipe for oat cakes. I happen to love the texture and taste of anything oaty. 

Ingredients:

• 2-plus cups of old-fashioned oats or regular oatmeal (Syl thinks she might have used 3)
• 1 cup all purpose flour (I used a cup of oat flour instead)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup boiling water

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. 

Mix the dry ingredients together then add the shortening. Pulse the mixture using a few pulses in a food processor. Alternatively, you can cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter. Then add the boiling water and mix until a dough comes together. Let the dough rest for a few minutes. Form into a flat rectangle on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and mark squares, or form into balls and flatten. Try 6 per baking sheet. They spread.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool completely. 

My sister said this recipe made 16 large round biscuits. 

You can see from the photo above that I baked mine in a cookie sheet (8 x 12 inch). They were too thick so I needed to bake them longer and they were too tender so tended to fall apart. Just ignore me and follow my sister's recipe. 

Making it edible. The concept of kale massage.

Kale is one tough vegetable. It is basically off-limits for those with missing or crumbling teeth. Sauteeing the kale definitely acts to soften it, but then it's really cooked. If you want to eat raw kale and not choke on it, there is a way. It's called massage, and like a regular back massage, it involves oil, hands and rubbing. 

Cut the kale into small bite-sized pieces after washing and drying it. Place in a serving bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of oil and a dash of coarse salt, then using clean hands start rubbing. After a minute or two, you will notice the structure of the kale has broken down and it has darkened in colour. Add whatever fresh veggies you want to make a salad. Dress with lemon juice or vinegar, and more salt and oil as needed. 

I was introduced to massaged kale by a friend who combined kale and mango to make a salad. I highly recommend it.

Kale and Cannellini Beans... Eat your veggies!

 

This was good. I simply sauteed a minced clove of garlic and a few flakes of dried chilli pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, then added about a cup of rinsed cannellini beans and some black kale cut into bite-sized pieces and continued sauteeing briefly. Covered the pan with a lid for a minute or so, added a bit of salt, and the deed was done.

P.S. Cannellini beans are more commonly known as white kidney beans. They come in cans or jars.

Raw black kale is so sturdy and so ominously dark, it's gotta be chock full of iron.  

Chicken with Peaches and Almonds..... very retro

This is a dish that my sister Sylvia has been making for years/decades, having received the original recipe from her mother-in-law. It was designed to feed a crowd (in the seventies) on special occasions. 

Ingredients:

• 4 large boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized chunks 
• 1/2 cup flour divided
• 1&1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 large can sliced peaches drained, reserving the peach juice
• water added to the reserved peach juice to make 1&1/2 cups of liquid
• 1 can beef broth concentrate ( I assume this refers to something like a can of Campbell's bouillon)
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Methods:

Mix 1/4 cup of the flour with the paprika, salt and pepper in a large freezer bag. Toss the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and fry in butter on a medium heat until lightly browned. Remove the chicken and place it in a large casserole dish. 

Slightly brown the almonds in the frying pan, then stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Add the peach juice/water mixture and the beef broth to the pan, stirring constantly. Then add the ketchup and cook the mixture until it has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream, then pour the entire mixture over the chicken. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. 

Remove the dish from the oven and uncover. Arrange the peach slices over the chicken and generously sprinkle the whole thing with the parmesan cheese. Return to the oven uncovered to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with egg noodles or rice.