There is nothing better the smell of homemade bread permeating you home except maybe that first slice off that fresh outta the oven bread! Now I know there are some that say that you ought to let your bread sit for 24 hours before slicing into it but seriously? Who can wait that long? And besides, butter doesn’t melt into day old bread! It just doesn’t. And toasting slices of day old bread so the butter DOES melt doesn’t even begin to compare with butter melting into that steaming slice you have just cut from the fresh out of the oven loaf of bread. Okay, I maybe wait 10 minutes because let’s face it, that loaf of bread is HOT when it first comes out of the oven. And having worked in a few bakeries where we made bread? I’ve burned my fingers, wrists, forearms on hot bread and hot bread pans more times than I can remember!
For this Honey Whole Grain Bread I have made adaptations to a recipe I found in my pilfered copy of Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook. Let’s see if I can find the recipe online? Fourth recipe and lo and behold! Woot! So you can go on over to Betty Crocker’s page and follow that recipe for Old-Fashioned Honey-Whole Wheat Bread to the T if you like. I don’t think I have ever made it exactly as specified. For one, I often halve the recipe to so I only make one loaf; if I had a freezer I might make the whole recipe so I don’t have to make bread so often. Wait! What did I just say? Making fresh bread is pretty simple so I actually prefer to make it often so I have fresh, fresh, fresh bread. That’s me though. Oh, and sometimes I make the whole recipe and use half to make bread rolls to go with a soup or stew that I might have simmering on the stove.
Now you go ahead and use an electric stand mixer if you like. Since moving off the grid I find I actually prefer to make bread by hand. The weather can be so fickle so half the time I can’t even use the mixer anyway – no sun or wind equal power conservation! Anyway, I find the kneading process pretty relaxing; 10 minutes of kneading, or 2 1/2 songs, as it turns out, and you have yourself 10 very rewarding minutes!
But right this minute? I have to go and shape the dough I have proofing in the oven. In the oven, you say? So in my current kitchen I have a propane stove that has a pilot light; that pilot light gives off just enough heat to make it the perfect place to both bloom my yeast and then proof the dough! Alright, dough shaped, proofed and baked. The bread rolls were great! The loaf of bread has cooled and is resting comfortably in a Tupperware container.
Alas, now it is too dark for me to read the recipe in the cookbook! I will have to come back to this tomorrow.
Honey Whole Grain Bread 2 1/4 cups very warm water (120F -130F)
2 pkgs (4 1/2 teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
2 cups White Flour
1/3 cup Honey
1/4 cup (2 oz) Butter, cut into small cubes
1 Tablespoon Salt
3/4 cup Old Fashion Oats
2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
2 Tablespoons Hemp Hearts
2 – 3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
Pour warm water into a medium to large size mixing bowl; add a pinch of sugar then sprinkle the active dry yeast over top.
Set bowl aside in a warm place to bloom the yeast; it takes about 10 minutes.
While yeast is blooming measure out the honey, butter, salt and white flour.
In a small bowl combine the old fashion oats, chia seeds and hemp hearts; set aside.
Once the yeast has bloomed, stir in 1 cup of white flour and stir vigorously; add butter and honey, continue stirring just until incorporated.
Add final cup of white flour, in a mound in centre of mixture; make a lil well in the centre of the mound and add salt.
Stir white flour and salt into mixture; stir vigorously for 2 minutes.
Add the oat, chia seeds and hemp hearts; continue stirring.
Add whole wheat flour, a cup at a time until you have a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, until smooth and elastic; form into a ball.
Place ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 40 – 60 minutes or until double in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
Grease bottoms and sides of 2 loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches; set aside.
Punch down dough, turn out onto lightly flour surface, knead a couple of times just to create a rough ball; divide in half.
Flatten each half with hands or rolling pin into rectangle, 18×9 inches; try not to add too much flour to your work surface.
roll dough up tightly, beginning at 9-inch side, to form a loaf.
Press with thumbs to seal after each turn.
Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal.
Press each end with side of hand to seal.
Fold ends under loaf.
Place seam side down in prepared pan.
Cover and let rise in warm place for 25-50 minutes or until double.
Move oven rack to low position so that the tops of pans will be in the centre of the oven. Heat oven to 375F.
Bake bread 40 – 45 minutes or until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from pans to wire rack.
Brush loaves with a bit of butter, if desired.
Cool completely before storing in airtight container; will keep for 2 – 3 days, at room temperature.
So having moved off-grid is challenging how I do kitchen stuff. For one, I am meant to only go grocery shopping once every 2 months or so. Now, as a Vegetarian? That’s a lot of produce to purchase! And you can well imagine that there is no way that much produce is going to keep that long even if I DO store it in Tupperware Fridge Smart containers! I have planted garden greens and stuff in my greenhouse but that was only 3 weeks ago so I am not able to enjoy its bounties just yet.
Anyway, one of the produce purchases I made was 4 LE Cucumbers. Now if the weather was nice and cold up here like it’s supposed to be then maybe the cukes would have lasted longer but it ISN’T cold so now I have to find ways to use up all my precious produce!
Another tricky thing? My husband doesn’t really like cucumbers! I love ’em but there are only so many cukes a girl can eat! Well, thankfully I still have internet access out here in the middle of no where; I googled cucumber recipes and found this one over at Two Peas & their Pod(s) whom I have been following for years so always trust their recipes!
Oh, I suppose I should have mentioned that we use a cold room and not a fridge in the winter to conserve propane. Hence my lamentations that the weather is not all that cold here at the mo. If I am to believe this thermostat, it is a balmy 10C outside!!!! What?? We are high up in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia and it is supposed to be COLD here. I digress. I was pleased to find their Asian Cucumber Salad. And much to my delight, Luke loved it. He even said, “Hey, there’s ginger in here, right?” Now normally he is like Emile in Ratatouille and eats any and everything without a lot of regard to what goes into a recipe so I was impressed.
Right, the recipe! Please do go over and visit The Two Peas! They have a great site and some GREAT recipes!
Asian Cucumber Salad
1 Long English Cucumber, thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
a pinch of Sugar
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon fresh Cilantro, chopped
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced
1 small clove Garlic, minced
a smidge of fresh Ginger, peeled and finely chopped (less than 1/8 tsp, all up)
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Red Pepper Flakes, to taste
Place sliced cucumbers in a small bowl and sprinkle with salt; set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the rice wine vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, cilantro, green onions, garlic and ginger; drizzle over cucumbers.
Sprinkle salad with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes, to taste.
I have decided that it is very dangerous for me to follow Chocolate, Chocolate and More on Facebook for the simple reason that they are forever posting such great recipes! I want to try them all! The problem is, I need to a bigger audience to feed said baked products to! My husband can only eat so much of my baking and I just have a taste and am done with it…otherwise I would be the size of a house!!!
I picked up their recipe for Hot Chocolate Muffins; they have been well received by everyone who has tried them! The only changes I have made are: Add White Chocolate Chips to the Cocoa Batter and add Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips to the White Batter. Go ahead, get in the kitchen and make these delicious muffins!
Hot Chocolate Muffins
2 cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs, at room temperature
1 cup Milk
6 Tablespoons (3oz) melted Butter, cooled
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Cocoa
1/2 cup White Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 400F.
Line a Muffin Tin with paper liners.
In large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; set aside.
In medium size mixing bowl whisk eggs, add milk, butter and vanilla and continue whisking.
Create a well in your dry ingredients and add your liquid ingredients, all at once; gently stir to combine, just until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
Divide batter in half. Add cocoa and white chocolate chips into one half of the batter and gently stir in; do not over mix.
Stir the semi sweet chocolate chips into the white batter; do not over mix.
Place a teaspoon of plain batter into lined muffin tin; spoon a teaspoon of chocolate batter; add another teaspoon of white batter; finish up with a teaspoon of the chocolate batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove to oven and allow to cool in the tin on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes.
Turn out and cool completely on wire racks.
After attending SASET’s free (to Aboriginals) 16 week program I was so in love with the idea of cooking for a living that I signed up for the 39 week Professional Cook Level 1 & 2 program! Let me tell you, it is NOT free! And, after spending thousands of dollars on the program, I am going to say that if you know anything all about cooking, this program is NOT for you; challenge the ITA Exams instead!! It’ll save you thousands of dollars and give you the same feeling of satisfaction that you have achieved something great!
Okay, but that said, I mean, if you have worked in a professional Kitchen under a knowledgable Chef then you will not enjoy the course. If your kitchen experience to date is Maccas, A&W, or Wendy’s then, yea, for sure this will be a good experience for you.
Anyway, Level 1 is completed around February which I happily breezed through. Level 2 commenced, and after some extreme difficulty with a certain someone on staff in the Culinary Program (Hint- it’s not the Chef and it’s not Cashier Leah) I switched out of the daytime program to the evening course on offer. Which worked out really well because I had been hired as a Pastry Chef at Best Western Rainbow Country Inn at the beginning of March! Chef Dan Cool is an amazing person to work with – I did my SASET practicum at Garrison Crossing where Chef Dan was then stationed.
Sadly my health took a turn for the worse – I have been in Emergency more times than I can count, have had countless tests done, one surgical procedure with a very uncomfortable follow up appointment which had me bedridden for a few days, more prescription pills than you imagine and still, here I am 7 months later, still in more pain than a body ought to have to endure. Through it all I have soldiered on! Like I said, Chef Dan is amazing to work for! You will currently find me manning the Carvery & Omelette Station at our Sunday Brunches – I did try to put in extra hours for a bit but it wasn’t worth the effort as I would be bedridden, or close to it, for the remainder of the week.
As a result of my poor health I have yet to complete my Level 2! I did manage to write my outstanding quizzes over the summer, Yea, Me! But I still have to do my Practical Final and my Written Final. I have done a fair bit of studying for my written and just over the past few days have finally touched up the Practical Menu that I started months ago! I AM looking forward to finishing this course up, being able to say, “Look, Dad, I did it!” Please know that my dad passed away a gazillion years ago…okay 19 years ago. I spent my whole life trying to prove to him that, yea, I am good enough and smart enough and by golly, by gosh, I am!
Without further ado, I would like to share with you my menu…oh wait, another quick anecdote:
While writing this real menu, it brought back memes of the Fanciful Menu I wrote for SASET. What a great time I had writing that menu; the imaginary road trip across Canada that had me handpicking ingredients from each province and territory of our great country. I am very pleased to report that over the Summer I actually DID take a road trip across Canada! Well, to Thunder Bay, Ontario where my Australian husband was duly awed by Lake Superior! We took the northern route to Ontario, stopping in Jasper where I met up with a fellow classmate (Jordan) and also saw my niece, Jacqueline at Jasper Park Lodge (if you haven’t been there, go, NOW!); we returned along the Transcanada Highway which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was so great to see so much of Canada and awe inspiring to realize just how big Canada is! We have so much more to see!
Okay, NOW I will share with you the real menu that I will be using to complete my Professional Cook Level 2 training.
PC Lvl 2
Beef Tenderloin with Mustard and Caper Sauce
Cold Canapé
Beef Tenderloin Canapés with Mustard-Caper Sauce
Metric
Standard
Ingredient
225 gr
8 oz.
Beef Tenderloin, trimmed
5 ml
1 tsp.
Olive Oil
Pinch
Pinch
Sea Salt
Pinch
Pinch
Fresh Cracked Pepper
30 ml
2 Tbsp.
Mayo
20 ml
1.25 Tbsp.
Finely chopped Green Onion
7 ml
.5 Tbsp.
Drained Capers
7 ml
.5 Tbsp.
Dijon Mustard
15 ml
1 Tbsp.
Horseradish
9
9
Slices Baguette Style French Bread
9
9
Radicchio leaves
9-18
9-18
Sprigs Watercress
Directions
Heat oven to 450F.
Place beef tenderloin in ungreased shallow metal roasting pan or ovenproof skillet. Rub beef with oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place pan over medium high heat; cook until beef is browned on all sides.
Place beef in 450F oven.
Immediately reduce oven temperature to 375F; bake 15 – 20 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in centre registers 140F (60C)
Remove beef from oven.
Cool for 30 minutes or until completely cooled. If desired, wrap tightly in plastic wrap until serving time.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine mayo, onions, capers, mustard and horseradish; mix well. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.
Slice beef very thin.
Spread bread slices with sauce.
Top each with small piece of Radicchio beef slice and watercress
Serve immediately, or cover loosely and refrigerate until serving time
Cherry Tomato, diced + 2 Whole Cherry Tomatoes for Garnish
7 ml
1.5 tsp.
Balsamic Vinegar
22 ml
1.5 Tbsp.
Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
30ml
2 Tbsp.
Parmesan Cheese, divided
2
2
Small Zucchini, sliced on the diagonal, cored, leaving a base
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
Cut zucchini into 4-5 cm high chunks, on the diagonal; scoop out inside, leaving a 1 cm bottom. Finely chop the scooped out zucchini and use in the stuffing
Prepare Stuffing:
In large skillet, on medium high heat, heat 1/3 of olive oil
Add garlic, onion, mushies, finely chopped zucchini and tomatoes; sauté until mushies are softened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add remaining olive oil, vinegar, breadcrumbs and 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese; mix thoroughly.
Spoon equal amount of stuffing into each prepared zucchini round.
Bake on a foil lined cookie sheet for 10 minutes in preheated 350f (175C) oven
Slowly add the polenta, whisking constantly to avoid lumping.
Continue whisking and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, until very thick.
Add the chicken stock while whisking the polenta constantly.
Mix in the Parmesan, asiago, sage, and thyme.
Season with Salt and Pepper.
To serve, spoon some polenta onto a plate, garnish with Fresh Sage
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Milk
1 cup Polenta
1 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/8 cup Asiago Cheese
2 leaves Fresh Sage
1 sprig of Thyme
Salt and Pepper
Equipment
Stove top / Burner
Saucepan
Liquid Measuring Cup
Dry Measuring Cups
Whisk
Wooden Spoon
Grater
Spoon for serving Entree Vegetable #2
Braised Brussel Sprouts
Braised Brussel Sprouts
15 ml
1 Tbsp
Olive Oil
1
1
Shallot sliced
113 gm
1/4 lb
Brussel Sprouts, trimmed
60 ml
1/4 cup
Chicken Broth
2ml
1/2 tsp
chopped Fresh Thyme
TT
TT
Salt and Pepper
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add shallots and brussel sprouts and cook, stirring often, until the shallots are starting to brown and the brussel sprouts are browned in spots, 2 – 4 minutes.
Stir in broth, thyme, salt and pepper; cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
Cook until the brussel sprouts are tender, 10 – 15 minutes
Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixer bowl using the paddle attachment.
Slowly add the eggs to the creamed butter.
Mix until smooth and fee of lumps, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour to the butter and egg mixture.
Mix only until incorporated; do not over mix! The dough should be firm, smooth and not sticky.
Dust an 8” (20cm) round pan with flour. Pack the dough into the pan evenly,
Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill until firm.
Dust a clean work surface with a bit of flour, coat rolling pin with flour; gently roll dough out to 1/8” (3mm)
thickness.
Cut circles 2” (5cm) larger than tart pan.
Carefully transfer dough to tart pan, easing dough into pan.
Press dough around the edges of the tart pan, removing excess dough.
Dock dough, cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest in fridge for at least an hour.
Remove from fridge, cover loosely with L-Foil and ease into tart pan; fill with baking weights, dry rice or beans.
Bake weighted crusts at 400F (200C) for 10 – 15 minutes; remove weights and L-Foil and return crusts to oven.
Bake until golden brown and fully cooked, approximately 5 minutes.
Allow to cool completely before filling.
When cooled, fill with cooled Lemon Curd and return to refrigerator until ready to serve.
Reserve a slice of lemon to garnish Lemon Tart with
Ingredients
3.5 oz Pastry Flour
2.5 oz Unsalted Butter
1.5 oz Sugar
.80 oz Whole Eggs
Mint Leaves
Equipment
Food processor
Oven
Measuring Cups
Liquid Measuring
Measuring Spoons
Plastic Wrap
Tart tin
Rolling Pin
Fork
Baking Tray
L-Foil
Pie Weights
Mixing bowl
Whisk
Lemon Curd in a Sweet Short Pastry
Lemon Curd
Metric
Standard
Ingredient
118 ml
4 oz
Lemon Juice, Fresh
170 g
6 oz
Sugar
4
4
Eggs
170 g
6 oz
Butter, cubed
Directions
Zest and juice the lemons and strain
Mix the sugar and eggs together and then add the lemon juice
Cook in a double boiler, stirring constantly and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until the mixture is very thick (curd will thicken at 170F (75C)
Whisk is butter and cool quickly in an ice bath
Strain, cover and chill – cover with plastic wrap, allowing wrap to rest directly on top of the curd.
Reserve a slice of Lemon for Garnish
Ingredients
3 Lemons
170 g Sugar
4 Eggs
170 g Butter
Equipment
Induction Burner
Zester
Cutting Board
Chef’s Knife
Strainer, small
Juicer, or fork for juicing lemons
Mixing Bowl, small
Wooden Spoon
Liquid Measure
Measuring Spoons
Scale
Double Boiler
Whisk
Heat Resistant Rubber Spatula
Thermometer
Mixing Bowl, Large
Ice
Plastic Wrap
Mixing Bowl Small
Raspberry Coulis
Dessert – Raspberry Coulis
Metric
Standard
Ingredient
350 g
1 pint
Raspberries, fresh or frozen
55g
1/4 cup
Sugar, to taste
15 ml
1 Tablespoon
Lemon Juice
2 ml
1/2 teaspoon
Lemon Zest
Directions
In the bowl of a food processor, place raspberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest.
Blend until pureed.
Place a fine meshed strainer over a bowl.
Pour the berry mixture through the strainer to remove the seeds, pressing down with a spoon to force the fruit and
juices through.
Transfer to a covered non-reactive container and refrigerate until ready to serve.
The puree will keep for several days.
Ingredients
1 pint Raspberries
1/4+ c Sugar
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Lemon Zest
Equipment
Food Processor
Rubber Spatula
Measuring cups
Measuring Spoons
Fine Mesh Sieve
Mixing Bowl
Non-Reactive Container – squeeze bottle
Rosemary and Thyme Focaccia
Focaccia
Metric
Standard
Ingredient
15 ml
1 Tbsp
Sugar
250 ml
1 cup
Warm Water [(105F-110F) 40C-43C]
15 ml
1 Tbsp
Active Dry Yeast
600 ml
2 ½ cups
Bread Flour
30 ml
1 oz
Butter, melted or Olive Oil
4 ml
¾ tsp
Salt
60 ml
¼ cup
Olive Oil for brushing on focaccia
TT
TT
Sea Salt
Sprinkle
Sprinkle
Rosemary and Thyme
Directions
In large bowl, dissolve sugar in water; sprinkle with yeast and let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.
Using wooden spoon, stir in 1 cup of the flour, butter and salt; beat until smooth.
Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface; knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease all over.
Cover with plastic wrap or damp tea towel and let rise in warm place for about 75 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Punch down dough form into a ball.
Place on lightly floured surface and sprinkle with flour.
Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.
Stretch and pull out dough into 16 inch (40cm) long oval.
Place on ungreased baking sheet.
Using side of hand, make ridges 1 inch (2.5cm) apart down length of oval.
Brush loaf with olive oil, rosemary, thyme
Let stand for 15 minutes.
Bake in 375F (190C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from baking sheets and let cool on wire rack.
Makes 1 Focaccia
Each Focaccia serves 4 – 6 depending on use.
Ingredients
15 ml Sugar
250 ml Water
15 ml Active Dry Yeast
625 ml Bread Flour – 600 for recipe, flour for board, rolling pin
Preheat oven to 375F (190C)
Lightly grease a 9X13 (33cmx23cmx5cm)
Filling:
In a small bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
Softened butter in microwave for 10 seconds; set aside.
Dough:
In large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Using a pastry blender, two knives or rubbing together with hands, cut in cold, cubed butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Using a fork, gently stir in milk and vanilla, to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto floured surface and gently knead 10 – 15 times; let rest for 10 minutes.
On floured surface, gently roll dough out into a 15″x9″ rectangle.
Carefully spread softened butter all over the surface of dough, leaving a 1/4″ border; sprinkle with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Beginning with 15″ side, roll up dough, pinch the long edge to seal.
With a sharp knife cut into 12 equal pieces.
Place rolls into prepared pan and bake in preheated 375F oven for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time.
When golden brown, remove from oven and cool, in pan, on wire rack.
Prepare Cream Cheese Frosting
In medium mixing bowl combine softened cream cheese and butter until no lumps remain.
Stir in 1 cup of powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk; stir until smooth.
Add another cup of powdered sugar and stir – adding a splash or two of milk, to right consistency.
Stir until smooth; spread over slightly cooled Cinnamon Roll Biscuits.
Yield: 12
Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.
