Recipes – Page 6 – Life In Limbo

Classic Poutine

April 10, 2013

I swear, I’m having a salad week. No, really. I really am. I sauntered over to the grocery store yesterday with visions of veggies dancing in my head, and I packed myself a massive layered salad in a jar for lunch today. I think it has something to do with saying the phrase “plant-based” approximately one bazillion times this week on the podcast. It also probably relates to the fact that this past weekend I ate like as if I was a four-year-old who is allowed to drink alcohol. I basically consumed carbs, sugar, salt, and alcohol. And a whole lot of goldfish crackers. Oops. It was my birthday. Yolo?

Clearly, vegetables are the move in this situation.

So, I promise to share some of my fave veggie-heavy recipes and salads and all sorts of delicious rabbit food soon. But until then, will you hate me if I unload some poutine onto your Wednesday?? (sidebar: it’s Wednesday already? double take)

This poutine is actually not totally *un*healthy, because the fries are simply baked potato wedges and there is only a small amount of cheese (which I bought local, holla!), and as for the gravy: it’s homemade, contains a plethora of mushrooms, and you can control the salt content. See? Guilt-free snacksies.

I loosely used Joy the Baker’s recipe for baked french fries, but didn’t use most of the spices she did. I used salt, granulated garlic, pepper and cornstarch! I basically followed this recipe for wild mushroom gravy but adjusted the proportions because I only needed a small amount. I ended up with a not-very-liquidy gravy, but I liked the taste a lot. The thyme made this dish!

I’ll leave you with a happy (for me) little anecdote about shooting these photos. It was late in the afternoon when I decided I wanted to make this poutine, and was immediately bummed out (as I usually am when I spontaneously decide to make food that I want to photograph late in the day) until I realized that I had enough daylight hours left to make poutine and take photos of it! So then I did, and it made me very happy. The end. Not much of an anecdote, I guess, but I was happy and grateful and noticed that taking food photos while listening to This American Life made me feel just like myself. Hallelujah, thank goodness for Spring.

Happy Wednesday!

Homemade Gingerale

March 13, 2013

This is a serious throwback post. Do you know how long these photos have languished, waiting for a chance to shine? Since April 14th of 2012. It is practically April 14 of 2013! Don’t ask me why I never posted this recipe before, all I can say is that it’s been lurking around in my mind but since I suddenly haven’t done anything very bloggable in the last couple weeks, I realized that this is the perf opp* to share this delicious syrup. Om nom, etc.

One of the reasons I haven’t got a ton of bloggable content lately is because I’ve been trying to live instead of document everything, a la this post. Last week is a perfect example. I had a lot of fun with some people I love, but at most I have an iPhone snap to show for it physically. I’m okay with that! I have my memories. I’ll take what I need with me.

That being said, looking at these photos reminded me that I was making a ton of interesting concoctions last year at this time (I was also far less busy…) and it gave me the itch to bake some bread and invent some cocktails and ply people with sweet things and take photos of it all. So don’t fret! The blog isn’t going anywhere.

I remember a few things about this gingerale. I remember that making the syrup made my apartment smell like a little piece of heaven for a week straight. I remember that I made gingerale practically every day for a little while there and that making them was a ton of fun (it’s amazing I don’t make more cocktails). I think I added gin a few times, #likeaboss, and I think it was amazing. The original recipe is by my homegirl Joy the Baker.

It’s the most gorgeous spring-like day today, and I am in a gorgeous mood. I’ve been feeling pretty stressed and overwhelmed this week, and so I’m taking a little time this afternoon to go outside and be in the sun and get some exercise. I only wish I had some of this ginger syrup and some club soda waiting for me when I got back. Hope it’s nice where you are today! (ps. the light in these photos is so sunny and wonderful – I can’t wait for more Spring days to come!!!!!!*)

*I’m a dork, thank you for your understanding.

Hot Toddies

February 25, 2013

Dude, it’s so damp here. And so overcast. These are a few of my least favourite things. There are these huge moats that surround every street corner? I don’t even know how best to describe it. Every time I try to go around one by walking on the parts where it’s super snowy but not yet slushy, the only thing I can think is “I’m making it worse! Soon there will be nowhere dry(ish) left to walk!” (Irrationality sometimes takes over. Sometimes you just have to let it happen.)

The past few days have been #dark, for reasons beyond it just literally being dark all the time. I won’t get all up into it here, but suffice to say things got weird, and sad. My midterm today (replete with more than a few answers I was sadly unsure of) was the icing on the cake and all this is to say that I believe a hot toddy is in order for myself, and for yourself.

Do you know what a hot toddy is? Despite being the fodder for a hilariously awful but catchy song by Usher and Jay Z (go, go now), it’s also a delicious alcoholic beverage! It combines all things that are good, and is basically just a really good excuse to spike your evening cuppa tea.

There are approximately one million hot toddy “recipes” on the internet, but so far I’ve loosely followed this one. Perhaps at some point in the future I’ll make one with lavender syrup or hibiscus blossoms or whatever the heck Martha Stewart is recommending that week, but for now this simple combo is working out well for me.

Coat the bottom of a glass with honey
Brew your favourite type of tea (I used Earl Grey)
Pour a shot of rum, or brandy, or whiskey over the honey
Add the tea up to the brim
Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and leave a lemon wedge all up in there
Serve to happy people with moustache mugs (see Fig. 1)

This is far and away my favourite alcoholic drink for the dreary winter months. That is not to say that I have any other favourite drinks, for any months, but however, this is still my favourite. #YOLO!

Okay going to go fix myself a hot toddy and stare listlessly out at the frozen tundra. Just kidding! Instead I think I’ll watch this show Enlightened that I’m really into right now.

(But seriously, just listen to this song.) Kthanksbye!

Salted Caramel Brownies

February 12, 2013

What the what?

What is happening?

Can we just say that February is a confusing time? Can we just chalk it up to that? Can we just all admit that it’s been too long since last summer and we still have a little too long to go before this summer? Can we just say that salted caramel brownies are among the only remedies for the Winter Blues?

Yes we can, I just did.

I made a version of salted caramel brownies in December, but they didn’t quite work out. I messed up the caramel slightly, so it never really set even after hours in the freezer. The brownies themselves were meant to be taken out of the oven 5 minutes early, but I’m afraid it might have been more like 1o minutes because those were a bit soft too. Anyways, moral of the story: womp, womp (although they were still totally 100% delicious..)

But as soon as I saw this recipe I knew I was so ready to try my hand at them again. And this recipe is perfect! It really and truly is. The brownie recipe and the caramel recipe are tailor-made for each other, and the idea of putting caramel chunks INSIDE the brownie batter? Well, that’s just genius.

The brownies are fudgey and caramel-y and honestly, this is my new favourite dessert recipe. It’s been about a week since I’ve made them, and one by one each day I’ve had a ready-made, bite-sized treat to enjoy in my fridge. I’m one of those people who prefers chocolate chip cookie dough to the baked thing, and in a similar vein, I think I prefer cold brownies to warm gooey ones. Blasphemous, I know.

My only issue in making this recipe was not letting the caramel set *quite* enough. I was very close, but I also had class in an hour so I couldn’t keep waiting around for the freezer to work its magic. I had no real problems taking it out of the freezer a touch early, I was still able to cut the caramel into pieces and work it into the batter. The caramel “squares” on top ended up being more like caramel blobs, but once baked it made no difference.

I think a new batch of these is warranted in the immediate future. I have friends visiting soon! I have Girls nights to attend! These might just be my be-all-and-end-all dessert. Go! Get your nom on!