recipe: faux tuna (chickpea) salad

I read about this recipe from a Craftser newsletter. Weird, I know. I've been wanting to make faux tuna salad basically since I obtained the student vegetarian cookbook and saw a recipe there. However, that recipe requires kelp powder, which I have found impossible to find. So when I saw this non-kelp powder recipe, I got really excited and decided to give it a try.

I have a policy of trying a recipe the way it's written before I make any of my own modifications, but I abandoned that policy with this one. I had a couple of flashes of inspiration that could only make it better. First, I added a dill pickle. I think I was inspired by my sandwich making days back at Laurier. Second, I added a bit of nori. I shied away from sushi for so long because I don't like the taste of nori... I think it tastes like fish. But now I like sushi, and Kyle and I bought some sushi making ingredients, including nori. I crumbled up a bit and threw it in there. It didn't take much before the nori became overwhelming though, so be careful. My third flash of insight was kind of random. I was making myself a sandwich at some point after the first day, and I decided to try mustard. Even though I only put three tiny dabs of mustard on a sandwich/wrap, I think it somehow pulled the recipe together and made it more tuna-y.

Some notes: When I ate the salad on the first day, I found the flavours hadn't mingled well enough yet, so I definitely recommend letting it sit overnight. Second, I found that the apple chunks were too big and distinctive, so I'd cut them small for my next try.

Faux Tuna (chickpea) Salad
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 4 somewhat time consuming (lots of chopping + needs to sit over night)
Ingredients: pretty easy to get (except Nori, which is optional)
Source: I found it on Craftster, but googled and found it posted here. Turns out it's originally from a book called Vegan with a Vengeance, but the one I linked above is somewhat modified. I changed it once again.

Ingredients:

• 1 19 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  
• 1.5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tbsp of mayonnaise
  
• 1/3 cup onion, diced
• 2/3 stalk of celery, diced
• 1/2 granny smith apple, finely diced
• 1 dill pickle, diced
• black pepper to taste
• up to 1/4 tsp Nori, chopped/crumbled finely (optional)
  
• bread or tortilla wraps
  
• garnishes like lettuce and tomato
• mustard (optional)
  

Directions:

1. Mash chickpeas with a fork.
2. Add vinegar, salt, and mayo.
3. Add veggies up to the pickle.
4. Season with a bit of black pepper.
5. Chill overnight (I tried it after about 1 hour and the flavours hadn't blended enough!)

recipe: spice cookies

I bought some molasses cookies from Dollarama the other day and was so addicted to them it hurt. They have iron, so that's a plus... but they also have sugar and of course preservatives. I decided to try baking some at home to see if it's possible to make yummy ones. Then I will try to make a healthier version.

I found a recipe off Allrecipes and modified it as per the comments/reviews and tried it out this past Sunday. It's not terribly original on my part since I'm just copying... but they turned out SO WELL that I am posting the recipe anyway. I'm also changing the name because "molasses cookies" just sounds lame.

Spice Cookies
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 3 somewhat quick (all baking takes long!)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: Inspiration from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup margarine, partially melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger (1/2 tsp + "some more")
• 1 Tbsp white sugar extra

Directions:

1. Mix wet ingredients: Mix margarine, sugar, egg until smooth. Add molasses and stir.
2. Mix dry ingredients: Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.
   
3. Blend dry mix into wet mix.
   
4. Cover and chill at least 1/2 hour (original recipe recommended 1 hour).
5. Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and then roll in sugar (note that I only rolled one side of the balls to reduce sugar). Place cookies ~ 2" apart on ungreased cookie trays.
6. Bake 7 minutes until tops are starting to crack. Watch closely because the longer they cook, the harder they get. 7 minutes yields a soft cookie that stays soft at least one day (speaking from experience)

recipe: chicken brine

My life has been pretty intense since moving to Quebec and starting my PhD, so trying new recipes and blogging about them has been near the bottom of my priority list. That said, things are starting to stabilize and Kyle and I hope to start trying new recipes again, so I'm hoping to make the recipe posting to be a regular thing again!

I know it's strange to see a chicken-related recipe on my blog, since I mostly post vegetarian recipes, but I like to cook roast chicken for Kyle at least once a year because it's his favourite meal since when he was a kid. We usually cook it on holidays when we're not visiting family. Today, it's Easter. I'll be posting my brine recipe, my rub recipe, and my stuffing recipe.

When I first decided to roast a chicken for Kyle, I called upon my sister for help since she is more experienced in the ways of "normal" home-style cooking. She recommended that I brine it. Brine? WTF? Isn't that just salt? Well, I did some research on Allrecipes and sure enough brining is kind of popular. So I tried it and the chicken was really good (this coming from someone who doesn't like meat) so... I can consider myself a brine convert. The brine recipe is pretty flexible since it's just used to soak the chicken and then you discard it. The first one we made had clementine wedges and peel, lemon juice, dried onion, and rosemary. For my second one, I used fresh onion, fresh lemon, dried thyme, and sugar. And this is my third one, and I've mixed it up again.

Lemon-pepper Chicken Brine
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 2 quick (just some chopping)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: Inspiration from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced/chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 1 medium/large lemon, sliced thinly
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/t poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp + extra black pepper
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• tea leaves from 1 used teabag (from my morning tea)
• 1/3 cup salt
  
• 15 cups of water (enough to cover the chicken)
  

Directions:

1. Add onion, garlic, lemon, and spices (including tea) to a pot/container that is large enough to hold your chicken.
2. Measure out the salt, take some and rub it onto the chicken. Pour the remaining salt into the pot.
   
3. Rub some coarsely ground black pepper onto the chicken (if you have a pepper grinder).
4. Add the water to the pot and mix everything around to dissolve the salt.
5. Add the chicken to the water carefully.
6. Store the chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour but not longer than 5-6 hours.
7. Remove the chicken from the brine, discard the brine, rinse the chicken under cold water, and pat dry. For crispier skin, allow the chicken to dry some more by storing in the fridge overnight.
   

sangria

I made sangria for the first time EVAR for a potluck this past weekend! I scoured the internetz for inspiration, remembered a few tasty sangrias I'd had in the past, and whipped up my own concoction (I like to keep things complicated.. simplicity sucks).

Here's the recipe. It makes about 5L of not-super-boozy sangria:
1L red wine
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 grapefruit, sliced
1/2 cup of raspberries (I'd probably omit these in the future. they got kinda gross in the bottom of the jug).
half a jar of maraschino cherries + a bit of the juice

1L of water
1/2-1 cup of grenadine
3/4 can of frozen mango punch concentrate (any punch could probably be substituted)

1 cup of peach schnapps
1/2 cup of triple sec
1/2 a can of frozen pink lemonade concentrate
3/4 of a can of frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups of water (to turn the frozen concentrate into juice)




1. 24 hours ahead of time, mix the wine and fruit in a jug and store it in the fridge.
2. At least 12 hours ahead of time, make the ice cubes out of juice, water, and grenadine: mix the frozen concentrate plus the water and pour into 4 ice cube trays. Pour the grenadine into the tray (if you're good, you can get layered ice cubes, not that anyone will look at the ice cubes that closely).
3. At least 12 hours ahead of time, add the extra alcohol and juice
4. At the last minute, add the ice to the jugs and serve!

recipe: borscht

My dad had a large veggie garden when I was growing up, and one of the vegetables we always had great success with was beets. So we'd harvest a bunch, boil 'em up, and eat them warm with a really simple serving of white vinegar, salt, and black pepper. This has somehow resulted in a strong fondness for beets.

So when I saw a large bag on sale, I decided to take the plunge and buy 'em. Now I'm stuck with > 10 lbs of beets and I pretty much only like them served in the way of my childhood. Sooo now I have the challenge of trying to figure out what to do with beets. Enter borscht.

I've never made borscht before. In fact, I've never even tasted borscht before. I don't even know what it's supposed to taste like. But this morning I searched the internetz and stole some ideas from four different recipes I found, and came up with my own borscht recipe. And whadda ya know, it tastes pretty good. I don't know how "authentic" it is, but it's pretty damn yummy (if you like beets, cabbage, and potatoes). So here it is, for your viewing pleasure.

Some notes: This recipe is slightly different from what I actually did. I was such a fan of the mashed potato step that I increased the amount of mashed potatoes below (today I actually only used 3 small potatoes for the mashed amount whereas below I suggest you use 2-3 medium potatoes). Additionally, if I were going to make this soup again, I would probably add 2 cloves of garlic when I add the carrots/celery/potatoes. I love my garlic. Lastly, I don't have cheesecloth, so I created the below (somewhat convoluted) way of flavouring my broth with spices. If you are cooking in a well-equipped kitchen and actually have cheesecloth, by all means stuff the first 6 ingredients into a little bundle of cheesecloth and save yourself the step of scooping potatoes and then draining broth. (see this recipe for how that works)

Nicole's Borscht
Ease: 3 somewhat easy
Time: 4 somewhat time consuming (lots of chopping, two different pots going on, three major steps. but worth it for a soup that is a whole meal!)
Ingredients: easy to get
Source: Inspiration from the following four websites, in approximately the order of importance:

• WikiHow: How to Make Borscht
• Food Network Canada: Borscht
• All Recipes: Borscht
• Borscht Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 bay leaf (or more, if you like)
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp mustard seeds
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed with the side of a knife
• 2-3 medium potatoes, very coarsely chopped
• at least 7 cups of water/veggie broth, divided (4 cups plus 3 cups); the final amount will be up to your personal taste.
  
• 3 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp oil (I used olive)
  
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1-2 potatoes, diced
  
• 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes with juice
• 6 medium-large beets, peeled and julienned
  
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar (plus more to taste)
  
• 1/2 a head of green cabbage, finely sliced
• 1/4 cup cooking cream
• 1 Tbsp margarine
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar (I used a mixture of half brown, half white)
• 1 Tbsp dried dill
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Sour cream (optional)
• Fresh dill (optional)
  

Directions:

1. In a large pot, boil 4 cups of broth with bay leaf, peppercorns, mustard seeds, parsley, thyme, and garlic (use the cheesecloth bundle if you have cheesecloth!). Add potatoes and cook until soft.
   
2. Meanwhile, in a LARGE frying pan, fry onions in 3 Tbsp of oil until brown. Add carrots, celery, and potatoes and cook for 3 more minutes.
3. Add diced tomatoes and beets to the frying pan. Add the vinegar right away ("to keep the colour and taste of the beets", whatever that means). Cook while you do the next step.
4. Scoop out your boiled potatoes into a separate bowl and mash with the margarine and cream. Drain your flavoured broth through a strainer into a bowl (i.e. RESERVE THE BROTH because you're using it in your soup!). Pour the reserved broth back into the large pot and add all the veggies from the frying pan into the pot. (If you were using the cheesecloth method, all you'd need to do here is remove the cheesecloth bundle and scoop out the potates to mash. no straining involved).
   
5. Add a bit more oil to the frying pan and cook the cabbage until it's a bit tender.
6. While the cabbage is cooking, mix the broth & veggies, then add the mashed potatoes and the salt, sugar, dill, parsley, and black pepper.
   
7. Add the cabbage to the pot (yes, you can put your frying pan in the sink now. We're done with it). Stir the soup well and cook, covered, for approximately 20 minutes until you see how much liquid the veggies release.
8. After the 20 minutes is up, check on your soup and add extra broth/water until your soup has the veggie:liquid ratio you like. Put the lid back on and cook for at least 1 hour.
9. Optional step (I didn't take this step): Remove some of the soup and blend it, then return it to the pot. This will yield a thicker soup.
   
10. Serve with sour cream. And fresh (or dried) dill if you like.

crafts: recent finished (bébé) objects

I'm gonna be an aunt really soon (what do y'all think of Auntie Nicki?), so I spent a few months making loads of baby stuff for little Sofie. I finally gave (most of) it to Trevor & Jenna, so I feel like I can post it. One item has not been given but I don't think either of them read my blog so... I don't like this is going to spoil anything :)

Snug booties


Vanille slippers (named because I was watching kyle play FFXIII while I made them and the colour matches her hair - "her" being a character in the game, not Sofie!)


Backstrap sandals


Periwinkle Kimono

I'm also going to make some Japanese style booties/baby slippers to go with this... soon... when I have time...

First (and last?) raggy quilt (also for Sofie)


Stuff that isn't for Sofie...
Flame Sandals (not sure who these are for yet...)


And my first tunisian project, a square for a swap I'm doing.

photos: gritty dramatic tutorial

Kyle and I have decided to try out at least one Photoshop tutorial per week in the hopes that it'll teach us new skills and potentially generate some neat results.

Today's tutorial was Dramatic Gritty Effect. Kyle chose a photo I took at the Toronto Zoo, and I chose a photo I took from the train in Cuzco, Peru. I like Kyle's result, but not mine! I tried again on my own, using a second photo of Cuzco. I think I like the second one better.

Before: Just a bit of my normal photo-enhancing techniques (contrast, levels, etc)


After: My dramatic gritty effect.


Before: No treatment.


After: Kyle's dramatic gritty effect.


Before: Some of my basic photo-enhancing techniques.


After: My second attempt at dramatic gritty effect.