rainy day breakfast

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain and i pulled up my comforter tight around my face while I reached around the floor for my book to help me stay cozy for a bit longer. When I finally did get out of bed, I already had our breakfast planned. A potato, black forest ham and egg frittata. Pure comfort and joy with just the right amount of heat from the oven to counteract with the slightly cool air coming in from the open kitchen window. Morning perfection with a cup of strong, milky coffee.

potato & ham frittata
1 T butter
1 large potato, sliced thinly
1 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices of black forest ham, sliced paper thin
4 eggs, beaten with some milk
salt, pepper & some rosemary
a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese

1. In a heavy cast iron pan, melt butter over medium-high heat and layer potatoes, garlic and onion and cover with a lid. After a bit, move about the potatoes, making sure nothing burns.

2. When the potatoes are nice and soft, tear the thin ham slices over the potatoes and cover the whole thing with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with the spices and then lift up the potatoes so that the egg gently falls under the potatoes. Grate over a bit of cheese on top and then place under the broiler for a few minutes until the egg is set and the cheese is bubbly. Serve with buttered toast.

southern hospitality

Last night I felt inspired enough to make an entire meal with drinks, a main course, a couple of sides and a dessert. It even had a Southern theme! Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take a photo of everything plated, but rest assured, it was a sight to behold. Truely.

The first undertaking was drinks and since it was a southern meal, I decided to make some lemon iced tea. I don't like to add a lot of sugar, so please adjust to your own taste buds.

lemon ice tea

• I set my kettle to boil
• put 2 orange pekoe tea bags in my pitcher
• added the juice of 2 lemons and the hollowed out lemon carcasses (for extra lemony flavour, dontcha know)
• dumped in a 1/4 c of white sugar and poured the boiling water over the whole lot. I topped up the pitcher with cold water and stirred everything around. When the tea bags had finished their steep, I removed them from the pitcher and just let the mixture cool on the counter before refrigerating

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With my drinks taken care of, I was onto part two of this southern feast:

pulled pork sandwiches
I didn't really know what I was doing since I came up with this one on the fly, but it turned out nicely. Cornelius commented that this tasted like real barbeque, so I think I did good.

I took a pork loin and marinated it with a lot of crushed garlic, some chipotle powder, cumin, mexican chili powder, dried thyme and a bit of salt. After a couple hours of fridge-sitting, I popped the entire thing into a small covered roasting pan and into the oven for about an hour at 450 degrees. I then mixed together some ketchup, yellow mustard, honey, brown sugar, worchestershire sauce, cider vinegar and some xxx hot sauce and poured it over the pork. I dropped the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cooked it for half an hour before taking it out of the oven and shredding it all together into one big shredded porky mess of tasty goodness. Back in the oven for another half hour before we served this on whole wheat hot dogs buns (seriously, it was all we had & the meal didn't suffer from it one bit).
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I figured a potato salad was in order and I wanted something nice and light tasting. I had bought a whole wack of lemons (14 for $2) earlier in the day, so I figured I'd make up a lemon vinegrette and see what would come of that. The results? So fresh and tasty that the world "incredible" came up more than once.

incredible lemony potato salad
6 small yukon gold potatoes in their skins
2 stalks of celery with leaves, diced and leaves roughly chopped
1 large lemon, juiced and zested
1/4 c olive oil
1 t honey (or white sugar, if vegan)
1 t dijon mustard
1 small bunch of basil, torn
1 T capers
pepper and rock salt

1. Boil potatoes whole in their skins until done. Cool slightly and cut into large cubes. Place in bowl. Add chopped celery.

2. Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, honey and dijon into a dressing and pour over potatoes.

3. Tear basil leaves over top of salad. Add capers, lemon zest, freshly ground pepper and rock salt. Mix. Cool in fridge until ready to serve.
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I've posted this recipe before, but it's so good that I have to post it again. An Everybody Likes Sandwiches first. It's that good. Actually, this time I used less lemons (last time I used 2), but even with just 1 fat lemon it was all good. It's the perfect snack or side dish for hot weather because these beans are eaten icy cold so it's the perfect foil for the heat of summertime.

Lemony-Garlicy Green Beans
1 lb of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 cloves of garlic, minced (1 clove if you aren't among friends)
1 fat lemon, juiced
2-3 T of olive oil
rock salt

1. Steam the green beans until bright green and crisp. You don't want to over cook these. Crisp = delicous! Drain and rinse in cold-cold water. At this point, I put the beans in the freezer just to get extra cold while I mixed the dressing.

2. For the dressing, mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Transfer beans into a nice serving dish and pour dressing over top. Return to the fridge for extra coldness. Sprinkle generously with rock salt and serve. It's better than chips. Seriously.
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Okay, I lied about making dessert. I was fully planning on making a rhubarb and strawberry cobbler but after such a feast, Cornelius and I decided that adding dessert would be way too much. So we played board games and sipped homemade ice tea instead. I think we made the smart choice. The rhubarb can wait another day.

potatoes aren't very photogenic

There has been a distinct shift in the weather. The clouds and grey skies have rolled in leaving cooler temperature in its wake. It's disappointing, but I'll manage. I spent the long weekend redesigning my portfolio and then coding it into xhtml. Cornelius and I also launched our web design business website. Not the best way to spend a long weekend, but sometimes stuff just needs to get done. Today I will have to pick up my lcd screen for my camera at the post office and then trek it over to VanCam to get it replaced. Soon, photos will be back on this blog, I promise!!

You might be getting sick of all my salad postings of late, but I can't seem to help it. Something about quick and easy seems to spell salads for me at the moment and I'm not going to fight it. Plus, I might as save all the really pretty recipes for the moment I get my camera back! Frosted and decorated technicolour cupcakes dressed to the nines in photographic glory, I promise!

The other day I had made some european weiners for dinner and this potato salad turned out to be the perfect accompaniment. Instead of the traditional, artery-clogging potato salad of the past, this is a lighter and brighter tasting salad using a small bit of yoghurt for that traditional creaminess. So good!

I should note that I did make this a few days ago and while I'm pretty certain of the ingredients used, I'm just guessing at the amounts. I think this is correct, but you should taste before you serve and make any necessary adjustments!

light n' creamy potato salad
4 large potatos, left whole with skin on
2 eggs, hardboiled
1/2 c chopped dill pickles
2 T plain yogurt
juice of half a lemon
a drop of honey
2 T dijon mustard (I used a very mild dill mustard, so I used about 3 T)
2 T olive oil
1 t dried dill
salt & pepper

1. In a large pot, boil water and add the 4 potatos. Cover. When almost done, add the 2 eggs into the water. Remove eggs after about 4-5 minutes (they must be hard boiled) and dice. Drain potatoes and dice them into 1 inch cubes or so.

2. In a large bowl, add the diced potatoes, eggs and pickles and lightly mix.

3. To prepare the dressing, mix the yogurt, honey, lemon juice, mustard, oil, dill and salt and pepper until thick.

4. Pour dressing over salad and mix lightly to combine.

The salad can be eaten at room temperature or cold.

my first weekend cat blog

Yes, it's true. Cornelius and I have a little furry friend named Snoopy. She doesn't do much around the house other than nap and leer at us with her yellow eyes. If only she could do the house cleaning! But we still love her regardless of her inability to contribute to the run of the house. I realized that I don't take very many photos of our cat...and isn't that the joke about bloggers? Oh well, I'm taking the plunge - this time.

Yesterday, I spent the day walking everywhere. I went to a cool craft fair, shopped for rick rack and ribbons at my favorite fabric shop and bought a bunch of plain tea towels for a highly secret xmas craft involving screen printing and cakes! When I got home, my feet were sore and I wanted something warm and filling, so I decided to make a corn and potato chowder.

Years ago, during my "lean" years working at a record store, I used to make this soup all the time. I made it vegetarian because I was one at the time (for 10 years in fact) and I made it dairy free because it never occurred to me to add milk. This time, I gussied it up a little bit with the addition of turkey sausage and a splash of milk and Cornelius and I loved it. You can definitely play with the spices here. Instead of rosemary, use cumin and coriander or add in some chipotle or smoked paprika.

potato, corn & turkey kielbasa chowder

3 large potatoes cut into a small dice
1 small onion, finely diced
1 T olive oil
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
vegetable or chicken stock
1 t rosemary
1 c frozen corn
a small knob of turkey kielbasa, diced
1/2 c milk
salt & pepper

In a large pot, heat up olive oil and saute the onion and celery until soft. Add the diced potatoes and rosemary and add enough stock to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the potatoes are soft. Add the corn and the kielbasa along with enough milk to get the soup to the consistancy you like. Add salt and pepper to taste.