home made: cooking

preserved lemons

 

for the past year my husband has been the head chef around our house. it's his way to unwind after a long day at work. and that's fine by me. my preference is for baking and 'project cooking'. but with the relaxed pace of summer holidays I am enjoying doing a little more everyday cooking.

 

last year I bought yvette van boven's book, "Home Made". a couple of weeks ago I got my hands on Home Made Summer and Home Made Winter and they do not disappoint. great recipes with beautiful photos and lovely illustrations.

 

I can't wait to try out our new tajine and cook with the preserved lemons. the kids were very hopeful that I was making lemonade with rock sugar. we'll see how they like the salted lemons....

 

 

Lightning McQueen

the little brother turns 5 soon and he is having a joint birthday party with two of his girl friends in his class. like many little boys his age he is obsessed with 'cars', 'cars 2', lego and transformers but lightning mcqueen remains in the a-1 top seeded position around our house. his race car driving grandfather is pretty thrilled to have a fellow car enthusiast in the family after having two daughters (though i do know how to change a tire and my dream car is an aston martin).

there will be about 100 people at the party tomorrow - bouncy castles, pizza, cake and general mayhem. in lieu of presents, we've asked the guests to bring a donation for the vancouver food bank. for loot bags this year we decided to hand out cookies of our boy's favourite character instead of a bag of cheap plastic junk. i can't take any credit for the amazing cookies - my dear friend is a fantastic baker and she did an amazing job! the boy is so thrilled and sends a big sticky hug and kiss out to mrs. c.

quickie lunch

grabby post title but no, it's not what you might be thinking. sometimes you need to make a quick meal and this is about 5 minutes total. this is our favourite small kitchen gadget of late. it's from kuhn rikon and was brought by santa but has just been rotated into daily use. it juliennes like nobody's business.

recipe: quickie lunch*

1 package ramen noodles (toss out the flavour packet - there is nothing good in it)
3 cups of broth (preferably homemade/low-sodium)
one carrot, peeled and julienned
handful of frozen peas/corn/green beans
1 egg, beaten
finely chopped green onion (optional)

cook noodles in boiling broth for about 2 minutes. add vegetables and cook for a minute longer. add egg and stir and top with green onion if desired. serve in bowls. slurping allowed.

*no pictures of the noodles as they were eaten in less time that it takes to make them!

Good Easter Good Cake

we're doing easter dinner tonight so i've been baking and cooking and cleaning for two days.

menu:
     maple glazed ham
     scalloped potatoes
     roasted asparagus
     creamed corn
     minted spring peas
     ginger honey carrots
     buttermilk biscuits

grande finale:
     chocolate pecan pie
     coconut lemon chiffon cake

whew!