Category: Cold Day Food

Stormy Day Chowder

We’ve been under a blizzard warning today and haven’t even ventured outside. Here on the east coast we know what to do during stormy weather – keep calm and make soup! The key to managing when roads are impassable is to have a good stock of staples on hand at all times. Had we lost power, we might have subsisted on tuna, or peanut butter, or dozens of other “in a pinch” choices. But this time we were fortunate to just have to hunker down and keep warm.

Our easy, delicious chowder was made from ingredients we always have on hand: frozen fish fillets, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and a few other flavours.

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For two:

Place 240g/8oz fillets on a plate to thaw enough to safely dice. Meanwhile…

Dice:
1 peeled potato
1 medium onion
1 peeled carrot
1 stalk celery

Bring to boil and simmer in 250ml/2c water until tender.

Add diced fish and:

2 bottled or canned anchovies, chopped
2 ml pepper

Simmer until fish is cooked and will flake.

Add:

1 can evaporated skim milk

Heat through and enjoy with crackers or whole meal bread. We did!

50 Ways to Eat Your Apples

It all started with a trip to the Valley. Two beautiful 20-pound bags of apples – Cortlands, and the apples I have longed for over my long absence from Nova Scotia: Gravensteins. Of course, combine this with a busy life, a business trip, and a couple of days off sick, and I have had to start coming up with apple ideas.

There are the usual, of course, like pies, or just eating these delicious orbs as is. (And on that note, I challenge anyone to claim they really find Red Delicious apples to be anything close to delicious!) We’re poring over recipes for mincemeat, chutney, and more. Yesterday we canned a supply of applesauce to last over the winter. But this morning, a simple solution: whole wheat cinnamon apple pancakes. Warm and tasty after a night of howling wind and rain, they will sustain us through what promises to be a dreary day. For that we’re grateful.

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Shank You for a Delicious Meal!

We made a lovely road trip with the parents on Saturday, including a visit to Grammy, now aged 100. Side stopovers included Oulton’s meats, where we watched the talented team of butchers make short work of preparing a variety of delicious meats. In our case, we bought half a lamb, which included these two tasty shanks. We expect to be featuring all sorts of fall lamb recipes over the next weeks.

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We wanted to take advantage of local produce as well, including the delicious apples we picked up on our last trip to the Valley, and some potatoes we grew in our own plot. Here’s how we did it, for 2:

2 (12-ounce) lamb shanks, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/8 cup alcoholic sparkling cider
2 large diced apples
A good handful of fresh basil, thyme and oregano, minced
1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley for topping

1. Heat oven to 300F. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle lamb with freshly ground black pepper. Add lamb to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan. Add garlic to pan; sauté 15 seconds. Add cider; cook 2 minutes, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in apples and herbs; cook 2 minutes. Return lamb to pan. Cover with apples, cover pan and bake 1 hour. Turn lamb over; cook 1 hour more or until meat is done and very tender. Remove lid and cook until thickened if necessary. Serve sprinkled w parsley, and mashed potatoes on the side.

Thinking Back to Winter

This was a post in the wintertime…but on a blustery, rainy day it would taste just as sweet!

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As we were hiding inside waiting to see what the blizzard would bring, we wanted something hot and delicious for breakfast. French toast seemed like a good idea. But how could we make it even better? We added a heaping tablespoon of Just Us! coffee’s Mexican Hot Chocolate mix to the egg wash. Topping it all with some sliced banana, pecans, and maple syrup from Acadian Maple Products, made our tummies smile.

A Wintry Lunch

20121223-141745.jpg. What a wintry day! On the way home from the last Mass of Advent, we stopped and watched the waves crashing on Queensland beach. The ocean in winter has awesome power.

Arriving back at the house, we busied ourselves with cleaning out foods from the fridge, in preparation for all the upcoming meals at the homes of friends and family. Today’s lunch: chicken and white bean soup, with oatmeal batter-bread. Instant warmth!

Real food is important!

20121130-060036.jpg Silly season has begun…when our workdays are busy but we also have social events every night. The food choices tend to be highly caloric and low on nutrition. This week our solution has been to keep snacking to a minimum, then make something satisfying when we get home, like this delicious salmon risotto. Sorry for the low light, but candles make every day better!

Ignore Your Food

20121125-212410.jpg What a day! We worked a good part of the afternoon on our garden,then retired to work on our Christmas cards. For dinner, a lovely slab of local salmon, which will continue to feed us in the days to come.

We started by making a modified “Potatoes Anna”, with sage and some Old Growlet cheese interspersed. Halfway to done, we popped the salmon in the oven, rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with chipotle powder. A few lightly-cooked carrots on the side, and we were satisfied.

Happy Halloween!

20121031-212654.jpg First Halloween in the new house, we wondered if any kids would scale the big hill for treats, and they did! A few brave young souls came up to receive a chocolate reward. We finished off with an orange-themed dinner…baked squash, carrots, and a little poached cod. Simple and delicious.

Looking Backwards

20120704-100325.jpg Those of you who read our last post will realize that this meal actually preceded that one; I just couldn’t find the photo!

It’s hard to imagine why, but we decided to eat a real cold day food on one of the hottest days of the year. When we returned from golf the other day, we coated this lovely rack of Ontario lamb with Dijon and chopped rosemary from our garden. We surrounded it with halved new potatoes, rubbed with oil and decorated with a single sage leaf on each half. We roasted the lot for about 30 minutes (start at 450F then immediately drop the temp to 350F – check doneness with an instant-read thermometer; 125 for rare). On the side, steamed broccoli.

While it was cooking, we enjoyed the cool shade and watched the world go by from our front porch.

Wait, Where's Spring?!

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In two days we’ve entered a deep freeze. The garden is full of tulips but you would never know it is spring by the weather. So what better than a hot spicy dinner to raise the temperature? We were over at Brian and Eric’s store yesterday, and we picked up a batch of kidney beans. Last night we cooked them up, so we had the perfect starting point. But chili seemed too obvious.

Instead, we cooked a batch of vegetables, including celery, carrot, onion pepper, and cauliflower. To this we added some beans, a chipotle, and a big handful of basil. After a good simmer, we sat down to a warming meal. Ahhh.