Coq au Vin Meatballs

This is a new recipe to me - a meal I enjoyed at a friend's house this summer. I'm posting it here to add to my recipe collection. It's a wonderful fall/winter comfort meal, served with mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

3/4 pounds ground chicken or turkey

3/4 pounds ground pork

1 egg

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1//3 cup parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2-3 slices thick cut bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cremini mushrooms

1 cup white wine

1 cup chicken broth mixed with 1 tsp mustard

1 cup cream

1/2 cup milk mixed with 1 Tbsp cornstarch (if needed to thicken sauce)

1 bay leaf

sprinkling of thyme or a few thyme sprigs 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking pan with parchment or aluminum foil.

2. In a bowl, combine the chicken (or turkey) with pork, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, and seasoning. Shape into 1-1/12 inch meatballs and place on prepared pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. 

3. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp, a few minutes. Add the onion until soft. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook another 5 minutes to caramelize a bit.

4. Add wine and cook a few minutes, then the broth, mustard, cream and bay leaf. Stir and allow to come to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. If sauce needs thickening, add milk and cornstarch mix.

5. Stir in the meatballs and bring to a simmer again. Serve with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Roasted Corn Salad

We are in the middle of corn season here, so I'll share a summer salad that has become one of our favorites. It will be good to have it more easily accessible and shareable. This recipe takes a little bit of time, maybe 30 - 45 minutes  prep, but  it can be made ahead and is well worth it. These fresh flavors never disappoint. 

Ingredients:

6 cobs of corn 

1 avocado, chopped

1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced

1 shallot, sliced

1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped fine

Dressing:

zest of one lime

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

1. Remove most of the layers of corn husks and hair, then soak the cobs in water for about 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop up salad ingredients and mix the dressing. 

3. Place cobs on medium heat grill and cook about 15 minutes. Take off remaining husks and brush the cobs with butter. Continue roasting until parts have some char on them. The char is good and mostly disappears once the salad is mixed, so don't be concerned if it looks too charred.

4. Allow to cool, cut corn off the cobs and mix with the prepared ingredients and dressing. Refrigerate. 

If you do not have access to fresh corn, you can use frozen corn niblets, cooked in a frying pan with a little butter or oil, stirring  until you see some char. 

Huli Huli Chicken Tacos

One of our favorite summer meals right now are these Hawaian Chicken tacos. 

Ingredients for Marinade, Chicken and Tortillas (serves 6)

1/3 cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp better than bouillon (chicken)

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 crushed garlic clove

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

18 mini flour tortillas

Ingredients for Pineapple Mango Salsa:

1 cup pineapple, tidbits

2 ataulfo mangoes, peeled and diced

1/4 English cucumber, diced fine

2 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate 

2 Tbsp lime juice

1/8 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp chili

1/8 tsp cumin

Optional Spicy Sauce to spread on tacos:

4 Tbsp mayonnaise

1 ripe avocado, mashed

1 Tbsp hot sauce (Sambal Olek) 

1. Mix marinade ingredients. Reserve about 1/3 cup for basting. Pour the rest over chicken breasts in a large bowl to coat. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. 

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix mango salsa in order given. Set aside.

3. Heat the grill to medium and spray with cooking spray. Drain the chicken (discard marinade) and place on grill. Cook with lid down for about 8 minutes per side, or until no longer pink. Baste occasionally with reserved marinade. Meat thermometer should show 165 degrees inserted in thickest part when done.

4. Serve chicken sliced into thin slices with mango salsa and warm tortillas. You can add spicy mayo sauce and/or sliced red cabbage. 

Waffle Date

 

Teddy came over one day with her waffle cookbook and

 mini waffle maker she got for Christmas.

I didn't know there were so many varieties of waffles one could make! 

Seriously, a little gadget like this can cook, not only pancakes,

but chocolate chip cookies, churros, cinnamon buns 

as well as scrambled eggs. hash browns or omlettes 

We made banana bread waffles.

I have a second mini waffle iron, so it did not take long,

but I realized it would also be nice to make them ahead 

and freeze to put in the toaster.

Banana Bread Waffles

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 eggs

3 Tbsp oil 

Mash bananas, add brown sugar, eggs, buttermilk, oil

Stir in  combined dry ingredients.

Serve with additional sliced bananas, peanut butter or nutella and whipped cream.

This really was so much fun!

After lunch I kept her busy with making school snacks to take home,

and she just kept smiling through each task ... stirring, rolling, scooping, sprinking! 

I love that she loves to bake! 

Sugar and Spice

 

It was their first day of Christmas break and they came for breakfast.

It is easy to please this bunch with crepes ...

some like them with sugar, some with cinnamon sugar, others with strawberries and cream,

and a few with bananas and nutella. 

After breakfast we rolled German spiced peppernuts and sugar cookies. 

Peppernuts

I had found some great little craft packages 

(Christmas tree ornaments) at Target in the fall.

They turned out to be perfect for this age. 

The only one who didn't make any was Landon, 

but while the kitchen was busy, some took turns playing pool downstairs,

or hockey outside with Papa. 

They get both of us for these dates now and I love it! 

Lunch was simple ... chicken strips, mac and cheese and veggies.

And those trees on the island ...

they were a spur of the moment side trip to Save-On with Papa.

The girls who went with him came back full of smiles,

having picked out personal trees to take home. 

This still makes me smile to remember how excited they were!

Cookies and trees for this pre-Christmas week. 

And my heart filled up again,

savoring these special times. 

🤍🤍🤍

The Peachiest Pie

One of my favorite pies this summer has been peach pie,  and we've enjoyed a few because the season has just stretched out this year.

So, I thought I would share my recipe.

Crust for 1 double crust pie:

1 2/3 cups flour

2/3 cups Tenderflake lard

1 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons cold water

1 egg separated

Filling:

7 - 8 peaches

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons minute tapioca

3 Tablespoons flour 

2 Tablespoons lemon juice 

• Cut lard into dry ingredients with pastry cutter.  
• Mix yolk into water and pour over crumbly mix. 
• Stir with a fork, until dough comes together and there is no more loose flour in the bowl. Do not add more water, just keep stirring. =)
• Press into a ball and cut in half. 
• Roll out bottom crust. 
• Beat egg white with a fork, and brush some on the bottom crust to seal. Cover with damp paper towel while it sits, so it remains moist.
• Roll out top crust. Cut a number of slits or a hole in the center. Cover with damp paper towel while it sits. 
• Mix peeled and sliced peaches with lemon juice and combined sugar and thickener. Fill bottom crust, then cover with top crust. 
• Fold top crust over bottom crust and flute. You can also to the reverse, folding the bottom crust over the top crust. Brush with remaining egg wash. 
• Bake in lower third of oven at 400 F for 15 minutes. Turn temerature down to 350 F and bake another 50-60 minutes, or until bubbles come out of the slits/hole. 

tip: if it looks like juices will be dripping over the side of the pie, you can place a cookie sheet underneath, but it's best not to bake it that way from the beginning because it may keep the bottom crust from baking well. 

As I'm writing this out, I realize that the amounts in this recipe do not allow for any waste. If you prefer to have room to play, or are using a deep dish pie plate, use 3/4 cup lard and 1 3/4 cup flour. Same amounts for the rest. If needed, add an extra tablespoon of water but no more. 

For a lattice top, roll out a circle the size of the pie and cut strips. Taking every other one, lay them across the fruit going in one direction. 

Lay the rest of the strips the other way, lifting the bottom ones to braid or weave them in. This does not take long at all.

Fold strip ends into the side. Cut longer ends and fill where needed to create a good edge to flute. A small 'trench' will help keep the juices from running over. 

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with a dusting of sugar.

At this point you can freeze the pie, (uncovered until frozen)

and have ready to bake another day, from freezer to oven. 

(Increase baking time by about 10 minutes.) 

Pie is done when it bubbles in the center. 

Allow to sit about 1 hour before serving. 

🤍🤍🤍

Pumpkin Shaped Bread

 

With Thanksgiving celebrations coming up,

I thought I'd share this version of 

French Bread that I made for our early Thanksgiving.

This is how easy it is!

Follow the recipe, using the full 5 cups of flour to be sure that it hold its shape.

After letting the dough rise, divide it in half and shape it into 2 balls.

Cut four 18 inch pieces of cooking twine for each loaf. (may not be exact - I didn't  measure)

Lay twine criss-crossed on parchment paper lined pan.

Place ball of dough in the center and tie up the twine, coming to the top.

Tie "just to fit" not tight. Insert a piece of cinnamon stick in the center.

Cover loosly with tea towel and plastic. 

Let rise about 30 minutes and you will see the indentations.

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes, until golden.

Cut twine and pull out. 

Cool on wire rack.

Pouring boiling water into a baking pan (not glass) on bottom rack right after placing bread in oven, and closing the door as quickly as possible, may help create steam and a longer lasting crispy crust. 

Apple Season

Our two little apple trees are loaded with fruit this year and

we have looked forward to the harvest.

Yesterday the girls came over for what we hope will become an annual event.

Jack is in part-time pre-school so he got to help as well.

We peeled and chopped for 9 pies.

Maybe 60 - 70 apples.

We began with mixing a single recipe just to get the feel of it. 

Kari had never made a pie,

and Kristal wanted to get her pies to look better. 

Recipe for one double crust 9 inch pie:

1 2/3 cups flour

2/3 cup Tenderflake lard

1 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons cold water

Filling:

6 - 7 peeled and sliced apples

3 Tablespoons sour cream

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 generous Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

After our warm up drill, the girls each mixed a multiple size recipe: 

1 pound Tenderflake lard

5 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoons salt 

3/4 cup cold water mixed with 1 egg yolk and 1 Tablespoon vinegar 

for egg wash - whisk 3 egg whites

• In an extra large mixing bowl, cut room temperature lard into dry ingredients with pastry blender until all the flour is incorporated and pastry is crumbly looking. Larger chunks are good. 
• Sprinkle with cold water
• Stir with fork in a circular motion until it comes together to easily shape into a ball. Do not knead
• Divide into 6 (if making 3 large deep dish pies) or 8 (if making 4 medium 9 inch pies) even pieces. (Cover unused portions and refrigerate to repeat the following instructions)
• Roll out bottom half big enough to stand a bit taller  than the side of the pie plate. (This is a key thing to do in order to be able to flip the top pastry over it.) Brush bottom with egg wash and fill with fruit. 
• Cover with top pastry, tucking it over "standing proud" bottom and pinch (crimp) top and bottom crust together.
• Brush top with egg wash and cut slits before baking.
• Bake in lower third of oven at 375 F  for 15 minutes. Turn down to 350 F  and bake until filling  bubbles out, about 45 minutes more. (put a sheet of aluminum foil in bottom of oven to catch drippings) 

This makes 4 medium (8 - 9 inch pies) or 3 large deep dish pies that can be frozen raw and baked from frozen. Will take about 75 - 90 minutes to bake.

It was fun to observe how quickly they became experts! 

The chatter that happens around a kitchen island makes it feel like the peeling, cutting, mixing and rolling is no work at all!  And seeing my girls not only desire to keep learning but then have fun with it, fills my heart with joy! 

These Two

This afternoon date began with Papa picking them up.

It was the first time this school year, 

so he had received a video message from Jade before school

with clear instructions on where to pick up.

I have a sneaking suspicion that anyone she talked to that day

knew everything about her after school plans.

That's just Jade.

Evy, on the other hand is quiet,

but those smiling blue eyes tell all too. 

He took them out for sprinkle donuts at Tim Horton's

and delivered them to our front door.

There has never been such a thing as personal space between these two.

So, at our house we play with real play dough

and I'm still surprised, after all these years,

that every grandchild loves the feel of dough,

the squishing, the shaping, the rolling ...

and the tasting.

Even just the name, sugar cookies, 

sounds like something a fairy made up.

Serious fun!

Papa came in just as we began icing.

I had a bit of a plan ...

and then just had to let them have fun 

trying to draw with piped icing.

Definitely not as easy as it looks, but they were undeterred.

In the end two very proud girls left 

with two sheets of the best tasting cookies on the block,

leaving their home delivery to my imagination. 

Mimi's Strawberry Jam

Our strawberry season, here in the berry capital of Canada, is short but sweet.

Other berries follow suit ... raspberries, blueberries and blackberries ...

but the berries that make it into jam every year are strawberries.

Our local, naturally grown, berries are not large,

but juicy and sweet.

I began making jam with my mom, who was used to cooking jam until it looked right. 

There is something about acquiring the skill or knowing when jam has the right gel,

especially when cooking without pectin, as she often did.

Over the years I've played with the box recipe and what I've learned from her

and come up with a recipe that has become a family favorite.

Not too sweet, not too marmalade-like, a tad runny, so that it can easily be spread onto a scone or into that hole in a split Zwieback.

The overseas grandkids call it Grammy's jam and our local ones call it Mimi's jam.

Jam that has been made in the various places our kids have lived and also been tucked into countless suitcases, including the suitcase that arrived in Indonesia this week. 

The recipe is posted on the MGCC site as light and runny strawberry jam.

It was so much fun to take time for a three generation cooking day!

Natalie is the one who first called me "Mimi" (short for Grammy).

I thought, at the time, surely the name would not stick to teenage years.

But here she is, Mimi's girl, who just finished ninth grade.

 

Blaettertorte Tutorial

Baking a cake for a special occasion will often find me going back to a family favorite that we call Blaettertorte in German. Others know it as Napoleon Torte. As you will see, it consists of layers of large cookies that bake up crisp, but soften once you layer them with a filling, turning the baked layers into more of a cake texture. We layer it with a vanilla custard or homemade chocolate pudding. It's not a very sweet cake, as far as cakes go, a simple delicious softness that could be compared to a cheesecake but  not as rich. Those who want to, drizzle the vanilla torte with raspberry sauce. 

I've shared the recipe on the MGCC blog. You'll find it here Today I'll add a little video clip that may be helpful. 

I shape the pastry into a log and refrigerate it for a couple of hours.

Then I divide it into 12 slices,

so that each slice can be rolled into an 8 inch cookie.

I prepare the layers when I have time and freeze them for when I decide to fill a cake.

This recipe makes 2 layered cakes.

 We all like a homemade vanilla custard, mild and not so sweet.

Once cooled I mix in some whipped cream. 

The cake needs to sit at least 12 hours but just gets better,

the longer it sits. 

I hope this tutorial helps.

It gives me joy when I can inspire someone to successfully try a new recipe.