Recipe: Crispy Polenta with Fancy Tomato Sauce

Last Friday, during the weekly happy hour in which my museum coworkers and I descend upon an unsuspecting bar and proceed to mix alcohol and nerdiness, I had an insanely delicious snack of fried polenta with tomato sauce. Insanely delicious and insanely easy, so here you go.

Ingredients:*

*As always, these are rough measurements. Life is too short for teaspoons outside of cake baking. Just eyeball it and go crazy

• Polenta – You can make your own a la Master Chef, or you can buy your own a la Katie
• 1 Jar of Tomato Sauce, with 1 Cup Reserved – There was a time I made my own tomato sauce. That time was called unemployment. Now I use Bertolli’s Organic Olive Oil, Basil and Garlic and it is all kinds of deicious
• 1/2 lb Sausage - if you eat of the meat
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese - trust me
• 2-3 Cups Chopped Spinach - depending on how Popeye-y you want to go
• Assorted Spices, e.g. Garlic, Cayenne, Red Pepper Flakes, Basil, Thyme, and Black Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese

Polenta Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450° F
• If you’re making your own polenta, follow polenta-making instructions and get to a place where you can cut the polenta into slices/rounds/etc.
• If you bought pre-made polenta, slice it up. I put my tube of polenta in the freezer half an hour before I began to firm it up pre-slice
• Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil
• Place polenta slices in the baking dish, and spray with more olive oil. This allows you to “fry” the polenta
• Sprinkle basil and garlic on top of the polenta, even though you bought the basil and garlic flavored polenta to begin with. Remind yourself that holding back on the basil and garlic means the Communists win

• Bake the polenta. Note: The original recipe I found for “frying” polenta in the oven recommended baking for 20 minutes. It took almost an hour for mine to become crispy. Do I have a lousy oven? Possibly. But I say just eyeball it and take the polenta out when it looks brown and crispy. Like this:

Fancy Tomato Sauce Directions:

• Slice and saute sausage
• Slice and saute one red bell pepper in leftover sausage-y goodness
• Blend sauteed bell pepper and 1 cup tomato sauce
• Add bell pepper-tomato sauce, the rest of the tomato sauce, the cooked sausage, the chopped spinach, and the cottage cheese (seriously, trust me) into a pot, along with whatever spices you chose.
• Heat the sauce up, and pour on top of the polenta
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese!

Cottage Cheese Note: What’s the deal with the cottage cheese? I discovered one evening, while trying to make lasagna and being too lazy to go to the store to get ricotta, that cottage cheese in tomato sauce is really good. The two combined create a rose-style sauce, and since the cheese curds don’t melt they add a great flavor and texture to the sauce.

Recipe: Avocado Cream

Guacamole purists may judge my ingredient choices, but I’m hoping their mouths will be too full of avocado cream goodness to actually speak.

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado
• 1-2 chopped or grated cloves of garlic, depending on size and how much of a vampire you are
• 2 “heaping” teaspoons of sour cream
• 1 tsp olive oil
• juice of 1 lime
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• smash up the avocado (I love using a mortar and pestle, but a fork works just fine)
• mix in sour cream, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper

This is my go-to variation on guacamole, and it tastes amazing on a lot more than just tortilla chips. Fresh vegetables, whole grain flat bread, sweet potato french fries (see above and drool, it. was. so. good.) as a mayonnaise for chicken salad – it’s all delicious.

Recipe: Meatballs with Secret Vegetables

Books like Deceptively Delicious have popularized “hiding” fruits and vegetables in foods to get your picky kids to eat healthy foods. These techniques are no surprise to me – I’ve been doing them for years. Not for picky children, but for myself.

As a supertaster, there are a lot of foods whose flavors and textures are very difficult for me to eat. Onions? Broccoli? Alcohol? Grapefruit? Kiwi? Can’t go near ‘em. However, I know how important it is to incorporate as wide a variety of healthy foods into my diet as possible, so I’m master sneak-artist.

Here’s one of my favorite (and easy!) sneaky recipes: Meatballs with Secret Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1lb ground beef (I use the super-lean 93/07)
• 1 large grated carrot
• 2C chopped spinach
• 1/2C chopped parsley
• 1 bulb roasted garlic
• 1/4C Parmesan
• 1/2C crumbled cornbread (optional)
• Ground pepper

Notes

• The chopped spinach and grated carrot provide enough moisture to balance using extra-lean beef, and I’ve never needed milk or egg to help bind the mixture or keep it from drying out
• If I have a grain, like bread crumbs, cornbread or even rice I’ll throw it in, but this recipe doesn’t need a starch as a binder
• The measurements are really just approximations. I tend to throw in whatever amounts of ingredients I have and it hasn’t failed me yet

Directions

• Mix all the ingredients together
• Roll out golf ball-sized meatballs (or what people have told me is golf ball-sized. I wouldn’t know. I have a life and that life does not include golf)
• Place on a foil-covered baking sheet (you may want to spray the foil with some oil first, as these meatballs like to stick)
• Bake in a 400° oven for approximately 20 minutes

I ate these meatballs with this soup and a side salad. The carrots add a nice sweetness that balances out the sharpness of the roasted garlic and Parmesan, and the greens stay fresh and crisp, even after cooking. Although I suspect I’ll cave and have some Swedish meatballs when The Rocket Scientist visit the new Ikea, these are still my favorites.

Recipe: Sour Cherry Coulis

Last week I went cherry picking. Since using the cherries to make anything that would involve turning on the oven would have resulted in the Earth combusting, I decided to make cherry coulis instead.

Coulis: (pronounced /kuːˈliː/, “koo-LEE”) (French, from Old French couleis, from Vulgar Latin cōlāticus, from Latin cōlātus, past participle of cōlāre, to strain) a thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits.

Ingredients

• 2lbs sour cherries
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 1/4 C white balsamic vinegar (you can use regular balsamic vinegar, but the sauce will be much darker and not as sweet)
• 2-3 tsp vanilla (use the good stuff)

Tools

• Paperclip (for pitting the cherries. If you know of a better method, do share!)
• Large saucepan
• Blender

Directions

• Pit the cherries. If possible, do so while watching an episode of True Blood – the red cherry guts on your hands adds a special visceral element to the experience
• Simmer pitted cherries, escaped cherry juice, balsamic vinegar, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over low heat for 30 minutes
• Blend the mixture until smooth
• Simmer to reduce until it reaches the thickness you want
• Put the coulis over something delicious. I went with vanilla bean ice cream with dark chocolate shavings and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt

Recipe: Roasted Sweet Peas

I’m assuming that most of you aren’t gluttonous sweet pea piggies* who bought too much produce and are now trying to figure out how to consume the remaining 2lbs of veggie goodness like I am, but just in case (or just in case you want a delicious recipe either way), I give you: Roasted Sweet Peas.

*I kept writing “sweat pee piggies.” My subconscious is a messed up place.

Ingredients

• Sweet peas (or any other pea variety you fancy)
• Chopped garlic and/or shallots
• Olive oil
• Black pepper
• Red pepper flakes (amount varies by how much mouth burning you want)
• Lemon juice
• Cheese (Parmesan, blue, etc.)
• Bacon (cooked)
• Pine nuts (I didn’t have any)

Directions

• Toss peas with olive oil, chopped garlic/shallots and red pepper flakes
• Spread seasoned peas in a single layer on a baking sheet and put under the broiler
• Watch the peas! It should only take 2-3 minutes for the shells to begin to bubble and brown and then they’re done
• Sprinkle the peas with lemon juice, cheese, pepper, pine nuts and bacon. And then add some more bacon because you know you were being foolishly moderate with your first application
• (Because I add cheese I leave off any additional salt. If you’re going cheese-less, however, a little coarse sea salt would be delicious)

I timed it and this dish takes 5 minutes start to finish (8 minutes if you include the eating bit) and it’s delicious.

Farmers’ Market Goodies, Mutants and Royalty

We may not be growing our own veggies like a certain lovely lady, but The Rocket Scientist and I take advantage of the five farmers’ markets in our areas and try to stock up on the deliciousness.

First up this week, mutant corn.

Do you see it? The corn cob has a parasitic twin!

We didn’t eat that one.

The rest of our haul was much less Frankenstein. Garlic scape, mushrooms, sweet peas, basil, pea shoots and popcorn.

We bought three pounds of sweet peas, which I blame on the ecstatic and slightly hypnotic state I entered upon seeing giant bins full of my favorite vegetable. And then we ate them with homemade lemon-herbs de Provence cheese and rosemary oil. And we’re still eating them.

The rest of the bounty got chopped up and put onto Wasa crackers with avocado.

And some of the garlic scape ended up on my head in an attempt to make a crown for Miss Farmers’ Market 2011. My platform? World peas.

The Cheddaring Process

While eating many a cheese sample there was a sign that said cheddar cheese has no lactose because it is separated in the cheese making, or what I will call ‘cheddaring process’.

Chelsie’s DIY Endeavors

It is starting to feel like summer, so I’ve decided to start some DIY projects around the house. Here is a selection of what I have in store, and may blog about.

• 2 table lamps – Painting and new shades, possibly DIY fabric (but not the green tea grow it yourself variety)
• 1 Armoire – Painting, distressing and adding shelves
• 2 Canvas chair covers (for a neighbour)
• Painting the trim in the house (I will not subject anyone but myself to this one)
• Painting the master bedroom?
• Construct a bed frame?
• Lots of thrift and garage sale trips (I do those myself, right?!)

Also, I have been finding it easy to keep up a good style that has made me feel confident and good about myself, but I have been linking it to work, but not always dressing my best on weekends. I think I may have to make an effort to link dressing stylishly to everyday, regardless of going to work. I have found that by dressing up I feel better about myself, and my interactions with others. This summer, I will challenge myself to dressing my best everyday, while still keeping comfort in mind.

Roasted Corn and Red Pepper Soup

Normally I leave the cooking posts to Chelsie because a) she’s a fantastic cook and 2) I’m always too busy eating to remember to document my endeavors. But I triumphed over my hunger last night and actually photographed my dinner before hoovering it down.

I went shopping on an empty stomach and in my hunger delusions all the veggies looked especially shiny and pretty (note: don’t go food shopping on the sustenance of only two Cadbury Eggs. Have at least three). I got home with a bag of random food, and managed to make this (but what, pray tell me, will I do with the two giant bags of celery?):

Behold, the Roasted Corn and Red Pepper Soup!

Ingredients

• 4 ears of corn
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• olive oil
• 1 bulb roasted garlic
• vegetable stock
• roasted chicken breast (optional for you veggies. Or you could use bacon! OMG, this would be so good with bacon. Again, not so much for you veggies, but you knew what you were giving up)
• Parmesan cheese
• rosemary oil
• lemon juice
• LOTS of parsley
• whatever other herbs and spices float your boat in a bowl of delicious soup
• Crusty bread

Directions

• Roast a bulb of garlic. I have a roaster shaped like a giant bulb of garlic to do this for me (so meta and tasty!), but ovens work, too
• Saute corn and diced bell pepper in olive oil until soft and sweet and all caramelized-y
• Add roasted garlic to create a corn-pepper-garlic goo
• Blend said goo with vegetable stock in a blender/food processor until nice and smooth
• Strain soup to remove the corn pericarps (“skins”) that didn’t pulverize down
• Heat soup and add a big ole ton of chopped parsley (or cilantro, if you’re one of those people) and whatever other spices you like. I went with chili powder, pepper, and basil.
• Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice
• Add roasted chicken/bacon/tofu
• Add any other veggies your little heart desires
• Top with Parmesan cheese
• Drizzle with rosemary oil (created by simmering dried rosemary in olive oil for something like three hours. I don’t know the details past that – I had T.R.S. do it for me)
• Dip crusty bread into the bowl of deliciousness and eat until you have an orange mustache

Sorry for no measurements, but I’m a eyeballing cooking rebel (cough…lazy…cough) like that. But this is seriously yummy, and a great way to use the early corn that’s popping up in grocery stores.

Chelsie Daily Style – White Balance, Thrifting, and My Escape

Behold ye eyes, I have discovered white balance.

I bought this dress yesterday during the end of my thrift week. This was one of yesterday’s Value Village dress finds. I also bought a nearly new ivory silk/cashmere blend dress (is it ever soft!). Though the prices there were higher, this was evened out by dollar week at the thrift store across the street from work, which I visited three times, with success.

Needless to say, this week I was trapped in the dressing room for ten minutes as I tried on a vintage wool coat. Needless to say, the top button wouldn’t come undone. Cue me trying to saw the loop off with my keys (unfortunately I lost this handy key tool Katie’s dad got me to airport security a while back, that would have been my saviour!). The loop would not break! Neither would the button come off. This was some quality coat. This was probably a sign that this coat should not be mine, but I persevered and tried taking it off by pulling it over my head. Finally, the sheer strength of my scull, (and maybe some of the fraying care of my keys?), resulted in escape! Why wouldn’t I purchase it for $1?!

Saturday my friend J. came over for brunch and I got this jacket at a consignment store for a mere $1. Dollar sales at consignment stores – yes! And it fits perfectly, even in the sleeves! I love how the water dripping from the trees icicled by the lighthouse on the shore of lake Ontario.

My addiction this week? Sweet potato pie. Yum. I may have created my own recipe, and it’s delightful. I think I’m going to try making it into a cheesecake. I don’t play by the rules of baking with proper ingredients or measurements. I’m a rebel like that.

Chocolate Cake – Gluten and Dairy Free

This is our go-to chocolate cake recipe. It’s seriously moist and delicious. It only gets richer the longer you leave it in the fridge (this does not mean you should leave it in the fridge longer than a week, that might not be so good – it would probably disappear by then anyway). I should also note that it freezes very well.

This is a garbanzo bean chocolate cake, garbanzo beans being more commonly known as chickpeas. Sometimes we don’t tell people they are eating chickpea cake, but this recipe has been very handy when we visit people who are gluten-free/gluten sensitive/dairy-free. Ironically the recipe tells you to flour the pan (I wouldn’t do that…)

Here is the recipe. We usually cut out one egg and bake it for 35 minutes on convection (but that depends on your oven). S. made a chocolate ganache with 400g of dark chocolate melted in the microwave, which he then mixed with soy milk, in this instance. Then I decorated the cake with toasted almond slivers.

Chelsie Daily Style – (Kitchen) Gallery Girl

Ah, welcome to my kitchen. This is  the back wall, or entrance wall, or maybe just, the wall that doesn’t boast any appliances or countertops, and leads onto the deck.

I printed out a couple large images a couple months ago, and this is one of them. This very dark, and kitchen appropriate, knife print is from a photograph taken at a friend’s cottage. They had all their sharps on a magnetic stripe along the window. The image is eerie, but I love it. Up close you can see the rusting happening a couple knives – only makes it better! I also repainted the wall about a month ago after crack filling holes and to get rid of the bad streaky paint job. Now, the walls are opaque.

I bought this dress over the summer. A nice simple black dress, with a simple shoulder gather, and a nice long fitted wrist and then some arm flare. Unfortunately the pictures do not provide much detail. This could also be a result of the blackness of the dress. How apropos to wear a dark dress next to a dark picture. Not planned, I just figured that out now.

Chelsie Daily Style – Poofy Skirt!

My pictures turned out a little bit dark today, but I really liked my outfit, so here it is.

• Blue/Gray top – Target
• Skirt – Thrifted and shortened
• Sweater – Raided
• Tights – Winners
• Necklace – Self-made

I really have to do some Christmas shopping this weekend… Also, this skirt is sooo comfy. It’s like a big down coat of poofy, and when you sit down in makes a big airy sound. I think it’s kind of fun. Of course there was never anyone around to hear it… so there were no awkward, ‘what was that sound’ questions.

Chelsie Daily Style – In Which Chelsie Escapes the Rapids

Monday anti-blues, with some blue punches.

• Dress as Skirt – Via Katie and altered by me
• White Shirt – Suzy Shier
• Belt – Forever 21
• Necklace – Artisan Fair
• Shoes – DKNY
• Earrings – Gift from Katie

So I am thankful it is finally Monday and I have escaped from the white water rapids unscathed. After a weekend of canoeing through rapids, and actually not sinking the canoe this time, I return, bruise free – well mostly! The rapids did take me away after I got out of the canoe. Strong rapids – I floated, or was thrown, downstream, getting a full body exfoliation.

In celebration I decided to wear a skirt, because I didn’t have to hide my bruised knees.

Hit up a couple thrift stores on the weekend with a couple finds. We are planning on redecorating the upstairs bathroom in the near future, changing it from a dark brown, seen here, to a very pale yellow.

Time to make zucchini bread. Again.

Zucchini fritters for breakfast.

Chelsie Daily Cooking – Leave me some BUTTER cooking nemeses!

I have a lot of apples. Lots. And there are more on the tree. Just like the zucchinis. (Yes, I know zucchinis don’t grow on trees, but you get lots – add cucumbers to that equation now too… are you still there? Or are you buried under a pile of fruits and veggies?)

The apple tree.

As the other Interrobangs know, I have two celebrity cooking nemeses – The Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen. Why you ask? Well Paula Deen is a sweetheart, but I really think she uses TOO MUCH BUTTER. For that, I cross her off my cooking list, but I’ll watch her in a pinch because she’s so nice. Now, the Barefoot Contessa. Well, I always feel that she’s trying too hard – showing off all the guests she invites to her big parties. I guess her personality rubs me the wrong way. And again, are we going to leave any BUTTER for the rest of the world? Does she still live in France and talk about it all the time? Okay – maybe I’ve only ever seen a couple episodes by each one of these ladies, and it may have been a while ago, but those were my thoughts.

Enter current day – Yes, I still have a lot of apples. So I’m looking for an apple pie/tart/crumble to make. I’m searching the Food Network (.ca of course!), and the best recipe I stumble upon is by who else – Mrs. Paula Deen. Have you see the huge rocks she wears?! Someone might win a prize in one of her pies! This one doesn’t have so much butter either, so we shall just see how it goes. The reviews are raving about it! So, here it goes… Mrs. Paula Deen’s Apple Tart Recipe.

Apples.

I made the crust with the use of the stand up mixer because our food processor is mini. It worked well. This recipe calls for sour cream – so as a concession to Mrs. Paula Deen, (and because this recipe was low on the butter), I used 14% sour cream. I never do this, but Paula would have wanted it this way.

Tart crust.

Crust after baking.

Apples arranged.

Custard spread on top.

Tart, baked.

I have not tried it yet, as we are bringing it away for the weekend. More details later!

And now, for a gratuitous shot of my blueberry muffins (with lemon zest).

Blueberry muffins.

Chelsie Daily Style – Hot Farm Food Skirts!

Tuesday means…

1. Hot hot hot
2. Farm food co-op pickup date
3. Skirts!

• Silk Wrap Skirt – A tent fleemarket type thing at a Canada Day celebration
• Shirt – RW&Co.
• Tank – Suzy Shier
• White Earrings – Thrifted

After last week’s shopping madness, I am now on an imposed (self and note), shopping break. Of course it was too warm to leave the nicely air controlled kitchen today – so I didn’t.

More skirts!

• Cotton Wrap Skirt – Same tent fleemarket type thing at a Canada Day celebration
• T-Shirt – Winners

And of course… FOOD – sadly, no beets this week. Mmmmm… roasted beets… yummers!

CONTEST: Let’s Get Ready to COUSCOUS RUMBLE!!

So a few days ago, Katie posted a couscous recipe, noted that Erin posted something very similar, and said:

I would say we might have to have a couscous rumble…. [to decide whose is better]

Might?! Clearly we need to have a couscous rumble! Unfortunately, there’s the internet community is global, so the usual notion of “everyone make a batch, bring it over and we test them all out” doesn’t really work. Here’s the plan:

• Post your best couscous recipe in the comments here or on your blog and link it back to us. Photos are awesome, though not required. Whatever you want!

• Along with your recipe, tell us why your couscous is clearly superior to everyone else’s. This is key! Since we can’t taste your cooking, we have to rely on your shameless bragging.

• Do this by July 16th. That’s a week Friday.

• Once you’ve all bragged about your mad cooking skills, we’ll pick a winner. We’re looking for creativity, suspected tastiness, and persuasive arguments as to why you should win.

• We’ll announce a winner, and then there are prizes!  What sorts of prizes? We’ll give you a swanky blog badge (so you can brag to your internet friends about how you won the 1st Internet Couscous Rumble) and a fancy prize package (contents to remain a surprise!).

Sounds fun, right? And plus we’ll all have a list of awesome couscous recipes, which can only be a good thing. If you want to spread the word on your blog (please do!), here’s a banner you can use to link back to this post, so everyone can participate:

Now that’s rudimentary Photoshop at its finest.

So, to start things off, here’s a couple of the Interrobangs’ best couscous recipes:

Katie Daily Happy – Both Pronghorn Butts and Couscous Should Be Fluffy

I survived the sweltering weekend by going to visit my parents. It wasn’t any cooler where they live, but they do have many more cowboys and pickup trucks than I do in my town. The pickup tricks and cowboys didn’t do much to make me forget about the heat, but do you know what did? Pronghorn! And do you know what pronghorn do? Have babies! I spent a good chunk of the weekend driving around looking for baby pronghorn and exclaiming every time I saw their butts: “They’re so fluffy!” A lot like this girl.

Look at how fluffy their butts are!

When I came home it was still much too hot to do anything that required movement, so cooking a complicated dinner was out of the question. Normally, cooking at all would be out of the question but I finished the last of my emergency Nutella on Friday and needed to eat something. Enter the yummiest and easiest couscous ever.

Katie Daily Style – Eggplant Chic

• Purple cardigan – thrifted
• Chartreuse tank top – Old Navy
• Dusty purple skirt – thrifted
• Red shoes – Hush Puppies
• Chartreuse, red and purple fascinator as a broach – self-made
• Armadillo and ruler necklace – self-made
• Purple bead earrings – Kohl’s

A simple outfit for a simply lovely day. I enjoy outfits that pair two complementary colors (green and red, purple and yellow, blue and orange) and then throw in a third color that creates 2/3 of a triad with one of the other colors (the triads are red-blue-yellow and green-orange-purple). In this case, I paired red and green, and then pulled in purple to create a 2/3′s triad of green and purple. And I think I managed to do it without looking like Barney.

Today was one of those days where everything worked out just as it should – rare and few between, but I love when they happen. I started the morning with a Skype date with Sarah out in Vietnam, which can’t help but put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. I’m so impressed with how that girl is changing the world, and so proud of her.

Because of the science fair this weekend, most of the museum staff took the day off and I took advantage of an empty office! I’m giving several presentations on cultural resource stewardship and history for a training on Wednesday, and it’s been over a year since I last presented on the topics so I spent a few hours in the office with the door closed, talking to my pretend audience (I decided not to put them in their underwear, but several of them showed up that way, anyway. I fear future department meetings will be awkward…)

Because it was such a gorgeous day, I left work early and played hookey, going to the library for new cookbooks and then to the farmers’ market for fresh fruit and veggies. I always become obsessed with good, fresh food this time of year, and it’s a goal of mine to make more vegetarian food this spring and summer. In part because I can’t afford meat, but also because it’s better for me and the world. Here’s today’s dinner:

Katie Daily Happy – Easter Cheese

I had big plans to wear my pretty new (read: thrifted) Easter dress (read: old lady dress that I shortened) in its happy Easter colors (read: neon plaid), but I woke up this morning to drizzle and a Rocket Scientist with a hankering to go hiking. So I spent most of my day in my ratty jeans and a Camelback, hiking through a gulch (5 miles, which feels impressive until I remember that we regularly do 20 miles in my spin class, so today we were just slothenly slackers).

The entrance to the gulch:

Since the winter run off is still high, we forded the river that runs through the gulch 17 times each way. The Rocket Scientist though we’d only have to cross the water 12 times; I guessed 16. So, Price is Right style, I win. But, in the end, it’s not so much that I was right that the Rocket Scientist was so, so wrong.

Millie Daily Happy — Orange Soup

This has absolutely nothing to do with clothes, but it was entirely delicious so I thought I’d share (and also write it down so I don’t forget the approximate proportions). I measured nothing, and rarely do when cooking — recipes are guidelines, not rules, and besides with something like this eyeballing and tasting’s better than strict measurements. This made three large meal portions, and past variations freeze fabulously (and I’ve no reason to believe this wouldn’t). Leftovers are also excellent, and it keeps in the fridge for a few days.

This time, I used:

• 2 large yams
• 4 dodgy small potatoes (not minis, and the dodginess is not essential)
• half a sweet onion
• 1 apple (I used a Fuji apple, but granny smith’s ideal I think)
• 4 medium-large carrots
• several cloves of garlic (I forgot this, to my dismay, but garlic is never a bad idea)
• butter and olive oil

Peel and chop all the vegetables and apple up into pieces around an inch big. Toss with olive oil, drop in bits of butter, and roast (I used a 13×9 inch glass cake pan, and it all fit handily) until they’re all cooked. I put it at 400 F and it took around 50 minutes. Stir it periodically while roasting.

Then, haul out a food processor (I suspect a blender’d work too, but you’d have to do it in batches) and whiz all the roasted deliciousness (including the fluid in the pan) along with:

• 1 single serving size thing of plain yogurt (and none of that horrible metallic emulsified goop that gets marketed as yogurt! Get proper stuff if you at all can — it shouldn’t have more than a couple of ingredients. I like Liberty yogurt [and their Mediterranean yogurt is heavenly] but that might be a Canadian thing.)
• a few tablespoons of fresh chopped thyme (I’m guessing it was about 2 or 3 tablespoons?)
• a couple of chopped fresh basil leaves
• a cup or two of vegetable broth to thin the pulp to soup consistency (omnivores can use chicken or ham broth if you’re so inclined)
• a teaspoon or so each of cinnamon and nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Whiz it all on progressively higher settings until it reaches a consistency you like, and serve. It should still be warm, but if you want to heat it up again go for it. Dish it up, then drop in a bit of either maple syrup* or brown sugar and some more thyme (if you’re feeling fancy).

It’s seriously delicious! (I did a butt dance when I taste-tested it.) The yogurt adds a nice tang to it (I’ve made it with cream before, and the tang was lacking), the potato adds body and the apple a sharpness. Squash is good in this too (canned pumpkin especially), and a friend of mine’s made a similar (and tasty!) soup with chickpeas too.

All told, it took about an hour and a half (maybe 2 hours?), but most of that was roasting time. Considering how much this can make (it’s easily doubled or halved depending on what you have and how many lunches you want next week) it’s well worth it — I have a couple of couple substantial lunches for the week, with no extra effort. (A. doesn’t like carrots, and was subsequently tepid about this, but that just means there’s more for me )

* It’s syrup season around here, the stuff’s everywhere! I’ve seen stalls around town doing the maple-syrup-on-ice-on-a-stick thing, much to my amusement. Yes, yes, quintessentially Canadian, whatever. The stuff’s seriously delicious and that’s what counts.

Chelsie Daily Sewing and Style – Alterations, Sewing and More!

For the past week I have been doing quite a bit of sewing, this week off is a good opportunity to tackle all those projects that take time. I’ve been loving it. I finally finished the third Stieg Larrson book, in audio format, and I did not like it. It was much too long. So I personally would only recommend reading the first book, and I think this is more of a borrow from your local library book than a purchasing book. And this isn’t a light read, nor a book for everyone.

Lets really get into what I’ve been doing for the past week now. I got this dress from Sarah’s Salvation Army pile when she was getting ready to pack it up and move to Asia. A definite vintage dress, but on the small side (In that my arms barely made it, and the waist was so cinched I don’t think it would have held if I sat down – you know what I mean). So I took some black jersey (I got it as a remenant for maybe $1.50 or $2 at my local Fabricland), took apart the side seams, and sewed it in. I cut three inch wide pieces for each side, allowing for a seam allowance of about 5/8. The great thing about this dress being older is that the seam were not finished with a serger so I was able to work with the original form. Note – The empire waist fabric ribbon is a brown colour. Also, I don’t think the empire waist looks ideal on me.

The dress after alterations.

The empire waist sort of sags in the back.

Of course I didn’t want to take in the dress again, and from the side, I just didn’t like how the dress hung on me. So I decided to add a belt. I had been wanting to make an obi style belt for a while, so this was the perfect opportunity. I have seen them online and people make them so they are reversible, but I just couldn’t figure out how. Instead I decided to make mine one-sided, but use different fabrics for the in and outside.

A look at the finished belt. The other side is black, and the bands are purple on one side, black on the other.

You may recognize the purple material as a remnant from the purple dress I made, and the black fabric is the same as that used on the dress. The belt is about 50 inches, with metal boning every 8 inches.

Boning - 6 pieces at $0.35 each.

The result is:

Ta da!

And the side view.

I think this ties it together a bit better (forgive the pun, it was unintentional). What do you think? Do you prefer the dress without the belt?

And a closer look at the fabric. It seems to be a bit Asian inspired, and it seemed to photograph well.

The fabric. Definite polyester.

I know what you are thinking, ‘Seriously Chelsie, could you have done something with your hair?’ To you I say, ‘I wash my hair.’ Also, I am wearing the glasses today because as I was curling myself in the duvets this morning, the corner of one of the duvets I was flinging towards me got me right in the eye. It doesn’t feel weird anymore though, so I think that’s good.

So that is what I made, but not really what I’m wearing today. I’m really wearing this:

Actual Daily Style.

• Shirt – Winners
• Yoga Pants – Winners
• Shredded Jersey Scarf – self made

And on that note, I have included Katie’s requested close up of my first shredded jersey scarf, though I prefer this one.

My first shredded jersey scarf.

And I'm making ribs. (Apologies to the 2 Interrobang Vegetarians)

The recipe.

I notice I also seem to be doing a lot of cooking during my time off. And my new favorite cleaning product, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Lavender All Purpose Cleaner. Natural ingredients and biodegradable, I love it! And it smells great!

Usually blogging plagues me with writers block, but not today!

Chelsie Daily Style – Orange Pylon

So today I wore this silk shirt that S’s aunt gave me, a hand me down. It’s very soft seeing that it’s a silk/cotton blend (but it also says dry clean only on the tag…). Anyway, when I see myself in the mirror I keep thinking I look like a road pylon, but really, I kind of like the brightness of the orange. Seeing that it is an extreme colour, I thought I would pair it with a vest and belt (it is also about a size too big, so that helps).

• Orange Silk/Cotton Shirt – Calvin Klein, hand me down from S’s aunt
• Vest – Gift from grandma
• Silver and bronze weaved belt – Winners (and very comfortable)
• Cords – Reitmans

I went to the market after this course I attended in the morning. I like going to the market. I got fresh basil, fresh spinach cheese ravioli (it had just come out the the press), cinnamon chocolate (it’s soooo good!), some Parmesan cheese, and this great chicken eggplant sandwich (drool). Oh, and fresh bread of course.

Market loot.

Spinach cheese ravioli, fresh. Background: basil.

Pesto.

The building that my training course was in was pretty cool too. It was built in 1850 and the front doors were all old with giant doorknobs that didn’t turn, but you had to pull them towards you. It felt very much like Alice in Wonderland. There was a cool heritage plaque teaching me that leaders of the likes of John A. Macdonald, used to give speeches to audiences at this venue (the Canadian George Washington).

Katie Daily Happy – How I Spent My Weekend Vacation

No outfit posts today – I spent the long weekend at The Rocket Scientist’s apartment and I pack light for those trips, so it was largely the same pants and comfy sweater every day. However, I had a lovely weekend and ended up taking a lot of photos. So, for all of you who’ve always wondered what a weekend in the life of two homebody nerds is, enjoy:

I rushed to The Rocket Scientist’s on Friday to see the openings of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. I don’t remember ever watching the opening ceremonies before, largely because I don’t care about sports. However, I was living in Canada when Vancouver won the bid for the 2010 games, and the excitement was infectious. Even though I don’t live in Canada right now, I was so excited to see what one of the two countries I call home was going to do, and it was incredible! People keep talking about the set malfunction at the end, but I think it’s important to remind everyone that the “Fall” portion of the ceremony was finished by famed Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. This man, while an incredible musician, has a penchant to not wear anything under his kilt. All I’m saying is, the equipment malfunction could have been worse. Eh? Eh?

The Rocket Scientist got a deep fryer for Christmas, so we decided to take it for a test fry.  Sweet potato tempura is basically the most delicious thing ever, so we made some and put into yummy, yummy sushi rolls.

If some of the sushi looks funny, it’s probably mine. I don’t eat seafood so The Rocket Scientist always cooks up some chicken and puts it into my rolls.

The sweet potato tempura turned out so well that we decided to try making falafels. This is when the weekend turned ugly…

We followed the recipe perfectly, made gorgeous falafel balls, dropped them into the oil…and they disintegrated. So we took the next batch, rolled them in flour to adhere them together a bit better, dropped them into the oil…and they disintegrated. So we took the next batch, rolled them in flour, froze them overnight, dropped them into the oil…and they disintegrated. So, finally, we ended up baking the ones that were left over. You won this round, Bella Kitchen Fryer, but we’ll be back.

Ever wondered what deep-fryed falafel dust looks like? Really, me neither.

The Rocket Scientist chiseling the frozen falafel balls out of the pan with a hammer and screwdriver

Deconstructed falafel pitas

With so much of the weekend spent eating while watching athletes, The Rocket Scientist and I decided to take a walk up to his lab. I’m not sure what he does there, but I hope part of it involves building me a helper robot because those dishes aren’t going to do themselves. While he was busy engineering, I amused myself with lab equipment:

Matryoshka Beakers!

Aerial View

The world's largest graduated cylinder next to the world's smallest beaker (dime for reference)

Here's The Rocket Scientist hard at work. He's hoping since the pen he's using is blurry, you won't notice that he's holding it upside down...

After he was done fake-using his pen, he stuck it up his nose

Eventually I got bored, so I invented a new lab race game where you try to scoot a wheelie chair from one end of the lab to the other without using your hands or feet. Keith claims he won, but I’m calling foul and demanding a recount.

On the way home I discovered this old farmhouse.

And I’ll leave you with the one photo The Rocket Scientist took of me this weekend. I think it’s a solid arguement for Peter Jackson hiring me to be an elf if he ever makes another Tolkien film.

Its like Spock and Alfred E. Newman had a baby...

Katie Daily Styles – Dinosaurs, then Pilgrims, then Italian-Mexican Food

Sorry for the dearth of posting this weekend (yep, I said dearth. I studied hard for that GRE exam. I could also have said paucity, scarcity, exiguousness, meagerness, privation, or scantness. Can you tell how much fun I was to be around while prepping for that exam?), but it was a crazy two days full of such excitements as doing laundry and trying to buy groceries when everyone else in your town is trying to buy Doritos. I also went to a baby shower and cooked some interesting…erm…fusion cuisine with The Rocket Scientist. And here’s what I wore while doing it all:

• Magenta sweater – American Eagle
• Grey cowl-neck sweater – The Gap
• Black belt – Target
• Denim skirt – Old Navy
• Grey leggings – Walmart
• Black boots – Trotters
• Magenta and blue scarf – Thrifted
• Labradorite earrings – self-made

There are lots of gorgeous places to take photos where I live, but it’s cold and we’ve not so many hours of daylight right now. Most of my photos are taken in the morning on my balcony because it’s the only spot where I get good natural light. However, I may try taking some more outdoors ones on my lunches.  These photos were taken at a funky little rock grouping near my house, and it took some courage to do since below me was a whole bunch of 20-something guys playing soccer. I’m still getting used to an audience…

The grey short-sleeved sweater is one that I loved in the dressing room, and hated once I’d gotten it home and worn it (this may have something to do with the fact that the cowl acted as an embarrassing lettuce-receptacle one day while I was eating a a sandwich, but mostly not). I couldn’t figure out how to style it without it looking like lumpy grey sack. I couldn’t wear a necklace with it, the neckline wasn’t showing enough of my neck, it didn’t work. But last Friday as I was perusing my blogroll, I came across inspiration from A. at academichic and Kendi Everyday, and ended up belting the sweater and adding a scarf. The result was a cozy ensemble that was comfortable enough for a day of errands and yummy-food cooking (The Rocket Scientist and I made tomato soup with chorizo, orzo, basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Not quite Italian, not quite Mexican. Oh, and the next day we made tacos but added basil and Parmesan again. So, yeah…).

On Sunday I went to a baby shower for a woman I work with. This lady already has one little boy (and another on the way!), so many of us brought “Big Brother” gifts along with baby presents. One present for the big brother was a package of building blocks that came with a little booklet of quotes from kids. They were all cute, but my favorite was absolutely:

“I think dinosaurs came first, then Pilgrims, then real people.” Mention aliens helping to build the pyramids, and that pretty much sums it up.

• Black shirt dress – thrifted
• Turquoise necklace – World Market
• Teal jersey necklace – self-made
• Zebra print and button-ed pin – self-made
• Black leggings – Target
• Teal and green knee-high socks – Target
• Black boots – Trotters
• Red enamel earrings you can’t see – China, via my grandma’s friend

Most of the accessories in this outfit were used in an attempt to make me feel less like a gas station attendant in this outfit. I don’t know if I succeeded, but I was christened “the lady with the fun socks” by the other children at the baby shower, so that’s a win for me.