One day soon I hope to have the opportunity to make this for a bunch of guys who work too hard... I'd love to see them all sitting down to a piece of this and a coffee and just...stopping for a while... Trevor this is the one I was telling you that my grandfather used to make...
There is something very comforting about the smell of this particular cake baking..maybe it's memories from being very short in a kitchen that smelled just so, watching my grandfather's hands peeling apples and cracking eggs...he was a hard working man, too, always driving his tractor around, splitting wood for the fire, working in the bush... he had this old gray coat and a cap that he always wore and I can still smell the oil and woodsmoke that emanated from it when he hung it in the garage... I have the most wonderful picture of him, I'll add it to this soon... when he was in his 80's he had some vertebrae fused in his back and was supposed to stay in bed for a week after he came home from the hospital..my grandmother went upstairs to take him some soup and he was gone... into the bush on his tractor... he let me steer when I was a little bitty thing and I remember the rolling motion of it as it navigated the ruts in the bush road, and of never being nervous because he was there...
When he was 90 he had the house converted to wood heat from oil, and filled the woodshed to the brim, himself, the April before he died, at 94... he had a hug like a steel trap and a heart of gold, and Papa, I miss you... "Ohhh, guuurrrl..." he would say, in his thick Polish accent... his eyes twinkling and his dear old face creased into a big grin...
Apfel Kuchen Sehr Fine
( This is NOT a clean-eating or in any way diet-conscious recipe just so you know ahead of time! )
3 - 5 apples, peeled, cored... don't slice them up!!
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
powdered sugar
Preheat your oven to 350° F, and grease the bottom and sides of a 10 inch springform pan. It's always worth investing a little in a decent one of these, especially since the recipe for the BEST low carb cheesecake on the planet is coming up soon....
Prepare your apples..you can make concentric circles of quartered apples or create your own design.
Peel, quarter, and core apples. Thinly slice each quarter several times without cutting all the way through. Do this just before you place them on the cake. The apples "open" when they are baked.
In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar, eggs and lemon juice until creamy....it's tempting to lick the spoon because it smells really good at this point but don't!! Raw eggs = uncool physical reactions! ( You can also add 1/2 to 1 tsp. almond flavoring instead of or as well as the lemon juice)
Blend flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir this into your sugar mixture alternately with the milk
Spread the batter GENTLY in your pan and arrange your apples as you wish..
Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean
Cool this in the pan on a wire rack. Carefully remove the finished cake from pan and dust with powdered sugar... if you want to make it look really nice, don't forget to put waxed paper under the edges of your cake, on your plate, before you dust with the sugar, and then remove the wax paper along with the extra sugar so your cake plate is clean...
This cake is moist, flavourful, apple-y ( is that even a word?) and different and I love it... I haven't made it in ages but I will soon! Come East, boys... stop in and set for a spell...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Onset of Misery...
This morning... 6:00am... my front door opened and I was presented with the world..covered in a sheet of ice. The salt trucks had gone by at 2:30am and so I knew something was coming...but.... yuk. My car was a dish best served cold and I had to run it for some time before the ice retracted her claws...
Ontario is a fickle wench though... you just never know...tomorrow morning it's supposed to be ten degrees and raining.. when the real snow sets in and insulates the world for sound, it's so pretty on sunny days and so miserable when you're tired and it's dark and you just got home to a driveway-full... I've lived in and around Ottawa for 36 years now so I suppose if I was really truly anti-winter I would have been long gone but there is something about the trees with their branches full of fresh snow, the 'puh' of a snow-lump falling off of the roof, the freshness of the winter air on a sunny day and the creaking of it under your boots... I've been telling myself all along that I'm not ready for it, but this year, I think I may just be.
But I can do without the freezing rain...
Clear roads and the wind at your back, boys... be safe out there..
A.
Ontario is a fickle wench though... you just never know...tomorrow morning it's supposed to be ten degrees and raining.. when the real snow sets in and insulates the world for sound, it's so pretty on sunny days and so miserable when you're tired and it's dark and you just got home to a driveway-full... I've lived in and around Ottawa for 36 years now so I suppose if I was really truly anti-winter I would have been long gone but there is something about the trees with their branches full of fresh snow, the 'puh' of a snow-lump falling off of the roof, the freshness of the winter air on a sunny day and the creaking of it under your boots... I've been telling myself all along that I'm not ready for it, but this year, I think I may just be.
But I can do without the freezing rain...
Clear roads and the wind at your back, boys... be safe out there..
A.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
These were the salad days...
Well there will be a super simple recipe this time and it's not even original to me.. it's just awesome... we got lebanese food for lunch today at work and Sue was over...the...moon....about the salad..we had fattoush with chicken on it, and garlic sauce... talk about an...aromatic office environment! Normally I don't make fattoush at home, because I don't put the pita chips in it..but the salad below is exactly that..fattoush without the pita chips..
You can put chicken on it, but it's also very, very good, nutritious and fresh tasting with a can of GOOD QUALITY white tuna tossed into it, nothing extra, just the tuna.
"The Salad Days.."
( this makes enough salad for 2 to pig out on.. )
1 romaine heart, try to keep the ribs of the leaves out, tear the leaves into chunks off of the ribs.. OR
1 small head green leaf lettuce or red lettuce
2 or 3 tomatoes, I use the Roma ones because I like the flavour and the flesh of them, and they cut into chunks so well - which is what you need to do.... cut them into big chunks
2 lebanese cucumbers or a third of an english cucumber, cut into fork-size chunks
As much onion, sweet onion, as you like, sliced thickly and cut so that you have half or quarter rings
2 cloves of garlic if you are going to be alone after you eat this, or 1 if you're not..for the sake of culinary excellence, please please please don't use garlic-in-a-jar or god forbid, garlic powder, for this.. take the time and trouble to use fresh garlic, trust me...
1 tsp of sea salt, ground
1 1/2 tsp of dried mint, fairly small... you can rub it between the palms of your hands when you make your salad so you don't get huge bits
very good quality olive oil
a big lemon
So! All you do to make this is grind your salt onto your cutting board and make a little pile. Crush your garlic cloves with the flat of your knife and one good shot with the heel of your hand, that'll loosen the skin and it'l practically fall off...and put your clove of garlic on the salt pile to chop it.. you'll notice it doesn't stick to your knife blade and stays put to get chopped... put all of that in the bottom of a big salad bowl and add your lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Pour olive oil over it, one pass around will do, the more you make this you'll get your own idea of how much oil you want... I don't put too much on myself, maybe 2 tbsp
Cut your lemon in half and juice it over your salad... start with half a lemon and see if you like it stronger than that for next time.. rub your mint between your palms, over the salad, and mix it, making sure to get to the bottom for the garlic and the salt... do NOT make this any more than 10 or 15 minutes before you're going to serve it, because it will wilt! If you need to make it ahead of time, leave the tomatoes, oil and lemon juice to the side until just before you serve...
I hope you are as pleasantly surprised by this as I was. Wonderful with a piece of fish, a steak, the tuna tossed right into it, or with nothing at all.
Thanks, Wils, for showing me this salad allll those years ago, it's been a lifesaver!
( If you want fattoush, just make the above and add either baked or fried pita chips in it, and toss it...again, do this just before you serve it!! )
I'm off to have some kidlet n' mom time today at the Canadian War Museum, he's been there and I haven't so he's going to give me the guided tour...should be fun, it's a beautiful day, the sun is out, the sky is blue, my soul is content, and my fingers are crossed... Trev that's for you babe... I hope I hope I hope... that your road will lead home sooner than later... xoxo
Thanks all, who read me, enjoy and have a wonderful day..
You can put chicken on it, but it's also very, very good, nutritious and fresh tasting with a can of GOOD QUALITY white tuna tossed into it, nothing extra, just the tuna.
"The Salad Days.."
( this makes enough salad for 2 to pig out on.. )
1 romaine heart, try to keep the ribs of the leaves out, tear the leaves into chunks off of the ribs.. OR
1 small head green leaf lettuce or red lettuce
2 or 3 tomatoes, I use the Roma ones because I like the flavour and the flesh of them, and they cut into chunks so well - which is what you need to do.... cut them into big chunks
2 lebanese cucumbers or a third of an english cucumber, cut into fork-size chunks
As much onion, sweet onion, as you like, sliced thickly and cut so that you have half or quarter rings
2 cloves of garlic if you are going to be alone after you eat this, or 1 if you're not..for the sake of culinary excellence, please please please don't use garlic-in-a-jar or god forbid, garlic powder, for this.. take the time and trouble to use fresh garlic, trust me...
1 tsp of sea salt, ground
1 1/2 tsp of dried mint, fairly small... you can rub it between the palms of your hands when you make your salad so you don't get huge bits
very good quality olive oil
a big lemon
So! All you do to make this is grind your salt onto your cutting board and make a little pile. Crush your garlic cloves with the flat of your knife and one good shot with the heel of your hand, that'll loosen the skin and it'l practically fall off...and put your clove of garlic on the salt pile to chop it.. you'll notice it doesn't stick to your knife blade and stays put to get chopped... put all of that in the bottom of a big salad bowl and add your lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Pour olive oil over it, one pass around will do, the more you make this you'll get your own idea of how much oil you want... I don't put too much on myself, maybe 2 tbsp
Cut your lemon in half and juice it over your salad... start with half a lemon and see if you like it stronger than that for next time.. rub your mint between your palms, over the salad, and mix it, making sure to get to the bottom for the garlic and the salt... do NOT make this any more than 10 or 15 minutes before you're going to serve it, because it will wilt! If you need to make it ahead of time, leave the tomatoes, oil and lemon juice to the side until just before you serve...
I hope you are as pleasantly surprised by this as I was. Wonderful with a piece of fish, a steak, the tuna tossed right into it, or with nothing at all.
Thanks, Wils, for showing me this salad allll those years ago, it's been a lifesaver!
( If you want fattoush, just make the above and add either baked or fried pita chips in it, and toss it...again, do this just before you serve it!! )
I'm off to have some kidlet n' mom time today at the Canadian War Museum, he's been there and I haven't so he's going to give me the guided tour...should be fun, it's a beautiful day, the sun is out, the sky is blue, my soul is content, and my fingers are crossed... Trev that's for you babe... I hope I hope I hope... that your road will lead home sooner than later... xoxo
Thanks all, who read me, enjoy and have a wonderful day..
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Dancing to a Different Tuna
What a day!! Work was chaotic...which, although it makes the day go by quickly, also makes one's brain cramp up... after work it was the kidlet's taekwondo class, during which I go to the gym... right now I'm just doing cardio because I"ve been advised that while I'm being this careful about what I eat, I shouldn't be doing resistance training..but it's so TEMPTING!!! I love it... the other problem is that my laptop, the one with the blue screen of DEATH has all of the weight regimen in it... the charts telling me to do this on this day and that on that day...
So anyways cardio it is, I get my house music/techno going on the mp3 and just go... I keep it at 3.9kms and do a varied incline, and I like to go for 45 mins to 55 mins with a 5 minute cooldown... I get a good sweat on doing that... feels awesome...
I do sort of have a recipe, actually it's just a mixture of things to make a better version of an old favourite...
"Dancing to a Different Tuna"
2 cans white tuna in broth or water, preferably water
1 can Cloverleaf Lemon&Dill tuna, don't squeeze the liquid out! ( The other flavoured tunas in that series are full of sugar and oil..gross.. watch the peanut satay one..FIRST ingredient..sugar... )
finely chopped celery 4 tbsp
finely chopped onions or shallots ( red onion is the best... in my humble opinion... ) 4 tbsp
fat free Miracle Whip
1/2 tsp celery salt
very generous grind of fresh black pepper, coarse ( I use the tri-colour peppercorns from Bulk Barn, they're really nice...white, red, black )
Mix it all up and leave it in the fridge over night...
I use mini bretons to scoop it up ( only 10 of them though! If I still have tuna left I switch to celery, but if you weigh out 100g of the tuna salad it works perfectly for the 10 mini brets ) and it is nothing short of extraordinary...I'm not sure I would like the Lemon&Dill tuna straight up..but mixed into the 2 bigger cans of white? Wowsers... it's flavourful without being overpowering, and it's different enough to keep tuna salad from getting boring...
My thoughts tonight are with a certain hardworking man who's on the road for days and days on end, and would probably kill for something homemade, anything homemade..even some wierd tuna salad. Sometimes simple is best...
OH and this morning, I was .6 pounds away from having lost FIFTY pounds since July 12... which in case I haven't mentioned it and I don't think I have, was the date of the Expulsion... rendering me blissfully single again... and life changed for the better...
Good night all, I'll write again soon...
A.
So anyways cardio it is, I get my house music/techno going on the mp3 and just go... I keep it at 3.9kms and do a varied incline, and I like to go for 45 mins to 55 mins with a 5 minute cooldown... I get a good sweat on doing that... feels awesome...
I do sort of have a recipe, actually it's just a mixture of things to make a better version of an old favourite...
"Dancing to a Different Tuna"
2 cans white tuna in broth or water, preferably water
1 can Cloverleaf Lemon&Dill tuna, don't squeeze the liquid out! ( The other flavoured tunas in that series are full of sugar and oil..gross.. watch the peanut satay one..FIRST ingredient..sugar... )
finely chopped celery 4 tbsp
finely chopped onions or shallots ( red onion is the best... in my humble opinion... ) 4 tbsp
fat free Miracle Whip
1/2 tsp celery salt
very generous grind of fresh black pepper, coarse ( I use the tri-colour peppercorns from Bulk Barn, they're really nice...white, red, black )
Mix it all up and leave it in the fridge over night...
I use mini bretons to scoop it up ( only 10 of them though! If I still have tuna left I switch to celery, but if you weigh out 100g of the tuna salad it works perfectly for the 10 mini brets ) and it is nothing short of extraordinary...I'm not sure I would like the Lemon&Dill tuna straight up..but mixed into the 2 bigger cans of white? Wowsers... it's flavourful without being overpowering, and it's different enough to keep tuna salad from getting boring...
My thoughts tonight are with a certain hardworking man who's on the road for days and days on end, and would probably kill for something homemade, anything homemade..even some wierd tuna salad. Sometimes simple is best...
OH and this morning, I was .6 pounds away from having lost FIFTY pounds since July 12... which in case I haven't mentioned it and I don't think I have, was the date of the Expulsion... rendering me blissfully single again... and life changed for the better...
Good night all, I'll write again soon...
A.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Then and Now...
Well, I haven't been on here on a long time, really...except to clean up some of the posts and look for recipes that I wanted to make again.....Eat Clean Magazine was cool enough to publish "Thai One On Chicken" in the July/August 2010 issue, with a little picture of me and a blurb, so that was fun....
Anyway there have been some big changes over here! I've moved into a much better house in a much better location, but unfortunately the kitchen is...well..horrendous. haha I make do but my big island is gone and I loved that... necessity is the mother of invention, I will prevail!
Also broke up with the guy I had been dating, in July... that's been a refreshing and liberating, new lease on life. You never realise how much stress you're under until you're out from under and the world is fresh and new again.... I"m enjoying my son, loving my job ( also new in June ) and feel that all is right in the world these days...
That said, I'd love to start blogging again....I had taken time off from the gym and from eating properly...anyone who has been in a horrid relationship knows how easy it is to compensate with Haagen Daas... and to not want to feel sexy or loved or special even to ourselves...well that's over with baby and I'm back on track! Since I have been single agan I"ve lost JUST shy of 50 pounds, I'm back at the gym, I"m eating properly and I feel like a million bucks..I have work to do but the difference is the work is fun and I"m looking forward to it...
I have also made some wonderful gal pals recently and they're all awesome...thanks, girls, for being amazing women who make me laugh and let me be me, even if I"m a little wierd...
That said, I'm off to make dinner....I'm making Bo Nuang Xa again and came up here to get the recipe ( I knew I was forgetting something! ) and felt inspired to add my thoughts for today...
Have a wonderful night and I will write again soon!! Hopefully with a new recipe or two!
Amy
Anyway there have been some big changes over here! I've moved into a much better house in a much better location, but unfortunately the kitchen is...well..horrendous. haha I make do but my big island is gone and I loved that... necessity is the mother of invention, I will prevail!
Also broke up with the guy I had been dating, in July... that's been a refreshing and liberating, new lease on life. You never realise how much stress you're under until you're out from under and the world is fresh and new again.... I"m enjoying my son, loving my job ( also new in June ) and feel that all is right in the world these days...
That said, I'd love to start blogging again....I had taken time off from the gym and from eating properly...anyone who has been in a horrid relationship knows how easy it is to compensate with Haagen Daas... and to not want to feel sexy or loved or special even to ourselves...well that's over with baby and I'm back on track! Since I have been single agan I"ve lost JUST shy of 50 pounds, I'm back at the gym, I"m eating properly and I feel like a million bucks..I have work to do but the difference is the work is fun and I"m looking forward to it...
I have also made some wonderful gal pals recently and they're all awesome...thanks, girls, for being amazing women who make me laugh and let me be me, even if I"m a little wierd...
That said, I'm off to make dinner....I'm making Bo Nuang Xa again and came up here to get the recipe ( I knew I was forgetting something! ) and felt inspired to add my thoughts for today...
Have a wonderful night and I will write again soon!! Hopefully with a new recipe or two!
Amy
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