Shaking my Spoon

Proper Prior Preparation…

It can be said that I am possibly be the worst grocery shopper on the planet. That, or I’m way too spur of the moment with my meal planning that I seem to make too many trips to the grocery store. Case in point: in the last 24 hours we’ve made 4 trips.

However, I did manage in these 24 hours to cook a beef wellington dinner, bake short bread, lemon squares, and black and white red velvet cookies with Caroline and Kristin. Then concoct what I assume will be a face melting pot of Chili with Chris containing 7+ kinds of peppers (my hands are still burning from chopping them). I know as it is now simmering in my dutch oven on the stove, that I should be preparing my mouth by lining it with Vaseline, but instead I’ll have a giant glass of milk at the ready. It needs to be used up anyway, because not too long ago I made a trip to the grocery store thinking we were out of milk, only to discover when I got home with it that we had 2/3s of a bag left.

When the freezer is a Disappointment…

Thought I’d try making my own tortillas for fun the other day, plus I was in the mood for Black Bean Quesadillas and didn’t have my usual stash in the freezer.

They turned out really tasty and easy to make. For me, it was a lot of babysitting over the stove that my back doesn’t agree with, so next time I’ll get one of those machines they use at the Lone Star (or a strawberry daiquiri instead).

Here’s the recipe (from shinycooking.com):

2 cups (8 ounces) white whole wheat flour or traditional whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (1-1/4 ounces) canola oil
2/3 cup (5-3/8 ounces) warm water

Combine the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl or a food processor and mix together. I used the food processor and it worked great. Add the oil and mix into the flour thoroughly. Mix in the warm water (with the machine running, if you’re using a food processor). Depending on the flour’s moisture content, you may need to use more or less water. You’ll want a dough that’s a bit softer than the ones you make with white flour; the whole wheat will absorb some of the liquid as it sits. Once you’ve mixed the dough, let it sit, covered, for 20 minutes.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it a few times, and pat it into an even disk. Cut the dough (a pastry scraper works well for this) into 10 to 12 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Cover the balls and let them rest for 20 minutes.

Heat a heavy, ungreased griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. If you have a tortilla press, use it to flatten each ball. If you’re rolling out the tortillas by hand, take one of the balls and flatten it into a small disk. Using a floured rolling pin on a lightly floured work surface, roll the tortilla into a very thin, flat round about 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Toss a tortilla onto the griddle or skillet and let it heat on one side for about 1 minute, (its normal for the tortilla to balloon out as it cooks) then use a spatula to lift and flip the tortilla to bake it on the other side, about 1 more minute.

While the first tortilla is baking, roll the second one. Transfer the baked tortilla to a plate and toss on the next tortilla. Repeat until all the tortillas are rolled and baked. You may stack the tortillas and cover them with a towel to keep them soft and warm until you use them.

The Butcher of Albert St.

This is what happens when I see a sale and I have too much time on my hands. Or really, I’m looking for reasons to procrastinate.

So I was making lasagna for supper and needed to grab some cottage cheese from the grocery store, the closest being the Wholesale place. And there in the meat section at 50% off was a whole beef strip loin. 

Yes, this is what $35 can buy…sometimes, and it is ungraded but whatever, we will just throw in a little more salt.

So 10-12oz steaks and 2-3lb roasts (one I turned into stew beef) later, my freezer is once again full and efficient, and we are ready for bbq season!

This is odd but I couldn’t find an appropriate song.

Food on a Stick

I just spent the morning at the Elmira Maple syrup Festival with friends. I think it’s one of the craziest food fests around. Boasting itself to be the world’s largest 1 day Maple Syrup Festival, the small town of about 7000 swells to 50k+

I was hoping to a better job of documenting the various food vendors, but the weather didn’t cooperate and we had to quickly make out way through the throngs of people and a wind-chill of –7. Here is a list of what I remember tempting our taste buds:

We went to to the Antique tractor and car show, that  consisted of 1 tractor and 3 cars. We didn’t care though because it was in out of the cold wind and we perused over the smaller antiques allowing our stomachs to settle for round 2 of eating.

Gringo Snot

Or Granadia, or Passion Fruit. I’d just call it plain Slime Fruit but I suppose that would be too boring.

If you know me, you know that my extreme dislike for most fruits and vegetables has to do with the texture and not the actual taste. So it would make sense that this particular beauty is not on my favourites list.

I tried this type of passion Fruit on my recent trip to Ecuador (more details to come). I think I managed to eat about half of it, and was inspired to share this food adventure by taking it’s picture, stalling on eating the rest of it and eventually convincing others to share in this adventure, by unloading the remainder on the next unsuspecting victim.

The fruit is pure slime and the seeds are edible but seem much like eating a whole (shell included) sunflower seed. I was told that I should just swallow the seeds whole and that the slime would assist me in this, but I can barely swallow a Tylenol! However it was VERY sweet and I liked the flavour a lot, just couldn’t ever stop chewing on those seeds.

I’m glad I tried it. I might even try it again one day who knows?