Lemon Crêpes three different ways

You're not watching reruns, we made crêpes again.


















3/4 cup egg whites
3/4 cup almond milk
2/3 cup Perrier water
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp sifted cocoa
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp lemon zest

Add all, beat until velvety. No need to let stand for one hour with the help of soda water. Heat. Cook. Flip. Stuff.

The first, half a banana & cinnamon puree, half a nectarines, green grapes, natural peach jam.
The second (immediately after the first), contained the other half of banana & cinnamon puree, cut green grapes, half a nectarine, natural raspberry jam, maple syrup. Yes, cutting the grapes makes a difference.


The next morning Masterpiece. Raspberry jam all over, half inch rectangular slice of watermelon to cover length of crêpe, cut green grapes, diced pluot (a sweet 3part plum, 1 part apricot fruit). So sweet it didn't need syrup.


Watch as it unravels.

Sometimes I get cravings.

Sometimes random ingredients thrown together don't turn out like you expected, and sometimes they do! This was exactly what I imagined but the taste was.. well.. the sauce needs some tweaking to put it delicately. It was nothing special. Here's what I had a hankering for on the 14th.


he texture was right and stayed put when I cut into it, perhaps it needed extra moisture in the form of a tomato slice. or something.

Julienned green peppers, zucchini and asparagus with green noodles in secret boring sauce sitting pretty on top of horseradish sauced zoglos burgers.

What was I thinking. It almost as bad as my craving for a rice dish featuring canned hering.

Why I only like Gigantor Oranges

I never used to like oranges very much, they were small, regular, had big seeds, it was way too much work and not enough of a tasty reward. When orange peelers came out, I forced myself to like the fruit as an excuse to use the peeler. I hated getting my nails dirty with the taste of peel, I needed that tool. We lost all the peelers shortly thereafter, but my sister showed me how to peel it with a knife, and I was back at the task of eating oranges. Maybe if I ate enough I'd like them, shouldn't everyone should like oranges?

However, I was not satisfied. Why was I not eating a better juicier watermelon sized orange with pulp the size of fingers? Someone thought of the same thing and slowly big oranges started gaining popularity (in my family). That's when I decided to love oranges.

Florida oranges are a close second to what I imagine finger sized self contained detachable juice bags would be like. There's nothing like an orange that barely fits in your hand and has some good weight to it, so juicy you're forced to gulp after eating but half a seedless segment. I look for ones with another orange growing inside of it. Look for the orange's stretched belly button. (Today's was the size of an apricot.) That parasitic twin of an orange inside is surprisingly delectable.

The orange was soo good today I ate it in under 5 minute, I didn't even pause to take a picture, the one above is of a grapefruit. Maybe not so funny unless you know my average orange eating time is 30 minutes.

My favorite Monstar Salad!

I created the Monstar Salad the same day I organized my spice rack, as a celebratory meal for a successful reorganization. This was no easy feat, I keep everything on my spice shelf: mixed spices, spices, specialty spices, nuts, grains, seeds, dried fruits, oils, vinegars, maple syrup and honey. I had so many random spices in plastic bags that the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar teamed up with pure maple syrup to build a protection wall for my roommates' stuff on the other side of the shelf. When every spice was finally in it's perfect place, BallSam and Olive Oil were joined with honey again, and they all had a big (tidy) party... yay!!!! (close book.)

Here's what I came up with and am guilty of having way too often.




salad dressing:
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp dijon
2 tsp honey
big pinch pepper
big pinch smoked paprika
pinches of dried chives
whisk..
.. or something along those lines. I will try it again tomorrow after I get more balsamic, I never really measured it before! :P so good luck until I tweak it. I love a good zip to a dressing, especially for this one, so make sure it's plenty zippy.

big bowl o' mixed spring greens, bite sized!
1 cup clean bean sprouts
1 chopped green onion
1/2 cup grape/cherry tomatoes, halved
2-3 big mushrooms, julienned
2 tbsp dried golden raisins
2 tbsp chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped smoked almonds
3 finely diced dried apricots
1 finely diced banana

Arrange pyramid style in mega super sized not fit for one bowl. admire. mix well. eat entire thing and consider it dessert too. mmm.... Mon.. star!!

Peanut Butter Choco Chip Crunch

1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
melt on low heat, constantly stirring

add
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
keep stirring until melted

add
2 cups special K
stir

pack into greased 8x8 pan. cut into 25 pieces. refrigerate or freeze.

Hide.

Super stuffed turkey eggplant turnovers

Super stuffed turkey eggplant turnovers:

1 box PC Rice&Beans 3 Rice Bayou Blend, prepared

1 large peeled eggplant, sliced lengthwise, 1/4 " thick. Pam sprayed, salt and pepper seasoned, bake on cookie sheet in a single layer at 450F for 22mins.

Meanwhile.. the stuffing..

chop:
6 large mushrooms
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
1/4 cup chives
2 green onions
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 cup broccoli
1/2 small zucchini
1/2 cup carrot sticks
4 apricots
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh basil

add:
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp dried parsley

Mix all. Add about 6 tbsp of your favorite prepared sauce. We split our recipe in two and did half Patagonia and half Szechwan. Spoon mixture on half of layered eggplant and 2 slices of oven roasted turkey breast, fold over turnover style. Pepper zucchini surface again.

Bake 20 minutes at 375F. Enjoy.

Healthy fruit filled chocolate crêpe if there is such a thing

Here's our healthier version of Company's Coming Chocolate Crêpe..



3/4 cup egg whites
3/4 cup almond milk
2/3 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp sifted cocoa
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp Splenda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/16 tsp salt

Beat eggs 'til fluffy, add other ingredients, beat until velvety smooth and painfully let stand for one hour.

Heat lightly Pam sprayed non-stick pan on medium, pour enough batter in, swirl around quickly to cover the pan thinly. Heat until the edge crisp and air bubbles start to form in center, flip crêpe with spatula or skill, heat for a few seconds and stack on parchment paper.

The best filling:

1 ripe banana, mushed
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp maple syrup, two if you're daring

Spoon on the crêpe's equator, top with blueberries and sliced strawberries, fold crêpe into open ended fruity burrito, mange et fall in love donc!


*I didn't mush the bananas on the first try, but later found the cinnamon flavour more a part of the dish when it was mixed in with 'nana mush.

Werd: light delicious chocolate flavour is not overpowered by fruits, and is moist enough to not require a sauce accompaniment.

A fridge full of condiments

Trying to tetris organize the fridge on grocery day is no joke, not after buying a dozen grocery bags of fresh produce and realizing you still have a fridge full of condiments. Believe it or not, this is a shot of the fridge post-tetris. What's in there exactly?

light soy sauce
regular soy sauce
spicy miso paste
green olive paste
sweet corn relish
hamburger tomato relish
horseradish sauce
dry garlic spare rib sauce
becel
ketchup x 3
relish x 2
spicy curry paste
fat free miracle whip
plum sauce x 2
habanero sauce
mint sauce
teriyaki sauce
szechwan sauce
blue menu szechwan sauce
spicy thai chili sauce
patagonia x 2
bbq
honey garlic bbq sauce
orange dijon vinaigrette
salsa
tempura sauce
hot sauce
french salad dressing
Aunt Jemima
fat free caesar salad dressing
lemon juice
balsamic vinaigrette

Fridge cleanup casualties:
Big Yellow Mustard Barrel Monster
Calvé Kerrie Ananas partysaus (mild en fruitig)
Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce
Cackalacky

I've been stewing

This is why I wonder who else would like what I eat, my taste buds were not on the same wavelength as the masses.

My top 3:
Oregano's Chicken Fricassé
Fat Tuesday's Creole Cajun Stew
Shepherds of Good Hope

Judges Picks:
Tucker's Beef Stew
Black Thorn's East Coast Fish Chowder
Oregano's Chicken Fricassé

Fan Favorites:
Aulde Dubliner's Irish Whiskey Bull Stew
Sweetgrass's Elk & Mushroom Stew
Aubrey's Meats Angus Beef and beer stew

...

Hands completely frozen, I rushed to the office, crawled up the stairs, shoveled off the mounds of snow on my jacket, plopped down on my chair and turned my personal desk heater to the Hot Flash setting. Mon ventre vas éclatter man!

Tucker's Market Place

Tucker's Beef Stew:

Variety of colorful big veggies in spicy almost curry chili super sturdy broth with long tender strips of beef. I'm glad I didn't pass up this last stew.

Mystery Meat for Mystery Restaurant

Aubrey's Meats Traditional Stew w local Angus beef and Steamwhisle:

Big slices of angus beef. Fifty fifty meat to veggies ratio in this lighter bottom of the pan broth. Strong and inviting taste of steamwhisle, lots of floating bits of unidentified origins.

so full!

Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro's stew

Elk & Mushroom stew:

More like yelk & weird rubber mushrooms stew. The elk itself was nice and tender, the stew tasted of an odd combination of spices, the wrong combination for me, and it the mushrooms made me wonder if I had finally discovered a vegetable I disliked.

Sweet Grass is still on my list of restaurants to try in Ottawa, but this stew was especially not to my liking. I can't get over the texture of the mushrooms . I looked for a garbage, but I didn't think it'd be classy to trow away food at a charity event. It was a tough gulp-down.

Oh Regan O's

Oregano's Pasta Market Chicken Fricassé:

My right hand was frozen, I was getting full (a rarity), snow was accumulating on me, I turned around towards the band counting how many stews I had to go before I dove into this one half heartedly. It shocked me so much I bite into a full spoonful, stopped dead in my tracks, 180'ed and asked the guy if the stew was on the menu. I've never wanted to eat at Oregg's, but I'd pay for this stew. So much chicken, shredded and chunky, minimal veggies other than celery, so thick my spoon could have been standing straight up without falling and it tasted like the bursting insides of your best chicken pot pie. I could have stopped sampling then, I had found the ultimate feel good stew.

Chili Con

Mexicali Rosa's Chili Con Carne:

Chili is good because it's chili. When a restaurant enters a stew cook off with something other than stew, it better be impressive and that it was not. The taste was there, but the consistency and ingredients were sub par. Both my chili recipes beat this, I've also had better chili in Greece. No lies.

Foundation Nation

Foundation Stew:

Could eat this everyday. Bold broth with minimal veggies, specks of barley and maximum shredded beef cubes, uncomplicated in taste. What's not to like?

Ottawa Mission

Ottawa Mission Super Stew:

Super chunks of beef and all the home style veggies, potatoes, peas, celery, carrots. Tasty enough.

Mad about Mambo

Mambo's Mambo Stew:

I was mad about Mambo, mad I didn't know where in the market it was, mad it was so plain tomato y and mad that I couldn't remember exactly what it tasted like by the time I took a bite out of the next stand's stew.

I still don't know where it is.

Kinki Vegetarian Stew

Something different! I never before imagined the taste of a good hearty Japanese stew. Perfectly spicy thick and rich Japanese broth with good chunks of veggies, soft as pierogi perfect dumpling and topped with spicy and tangy sesame seeds. Zing! I'm stealing their idea for those sesame seeds, it was the best way to add adequate to the soup.

good will, good food

Shephards of Good Hope's stew:

Rich tasty thick tomato base with ground beef and an overload of tender fresh vegetables. So thick and fresh I would make this a staple of mine if I had the recipe. Corn compliments this well with its bursts of sweetness.
MMM.. More.

What's with the Blue Cactus these days?

Blue Cactus Green Chili Stew:

The green chili taste was good enough and zingy, but not very spicy, not very chunky, not very thick. There's supposed to be beef in this one, but I didn't see it in meat-form. Of course it was good, but like the calamari of past experiences at the cactus, this just wasn't very anything.

It doesn't snow in New Orleans

Fat Tuesday's Creole Cajun Stew

Not your average Zataran's, this mega thick chunky seafood-a-plenty stew reminded me how much I miss Coop's Place on Decatur. Jambalaya!


C'est Mardi Gras!

Pub 101: Spicy Cuban Pork Stew

Didn't appreciate the texture of the pulverized pork and veggie bits, but the taste was good for bar food.

First up, a winner? Heart & Crown

After much boasting from the soup bowl guys, I had to try both of the Heart and Crown's, it seemed like the natural choice as they were the first in a long line of stews.

Heart & Crown bread dumpling stew:
I got a little too excited with my first bowl and forgot to snap a picture. The bread dumpling didn't have the taste and consistency of wet rag noodles, a savory surprise and a first for me. Chewy not soggy dough floating in a decent thick broth.

Heart & Crown Quebec Meatball Stew: Yummy medium thick broth, dense pork meatballs, typical carrot slices.

Stewy at the Cook Off!

Nearly every day I walk around the market seeking something new, something other than a multitude of exotic take out restaurants but Friday a co-worker told me there was a giant cook off in the blizzard. Oh? I like eating, what better way to start my first Winterlude than with a good ol' stew cook off in the snow.

Off I go with my bowl and prison style big flat soup spoon.. I understand why they hold the spoons like that in prison (tv prison), it's like trying to use a small plate for a spoon, cumbersome.

Here's photographic evidence of the mayhem and my lasting lightning impressions.