Pops De Milk

The Spice Project

2009-06-19T13:57:00.004-04:00

I was in a Spring cleaning mood today and I decided to go through all my shoes. I know it's a bit late for Spring cleaning but I tend to be a late bloomer in many things. After putting five pairs of shoes (out of about 30) into the donation bin, I felt inspired and I made up my mind to tackle the pile of spices in our kitchen cabinet. Since moving in together over two years ago, Jay and I just sort of threw all our spices together and we've let our collection grow and grow and now it's one giant mess. We have a handful of spices in jars but we buy most of our spices in baggies with the intention of finding a spice rack with jars. That has yet to happen. Anyway, when I emptied the space where all the spices had been, I found all sorts of powder on the surface of the shelf; yellow, orange, green, brown. Five different scents assaulted my sense of smell and I began to sneeze. My nose is still tingling.

I placed the spices back in the cabinet, after taking inventory, and I think we have over 30 spice packets, jars, baggies, whatnot. Now, armed with this information my next assignment is to find a big enough spice rack to fit everything in. Fun!

Tuna Cheese Melt

2009-06-18T13:18:00.004-04:00

It's a gloomy, rainy day today, perfect for lounging in pjs and eating comforting comfort food. It was lunch time and I didn't feel like making a full meal for myself. I was feeling a bit lazy and I ALMOST caved in to a salty, carb-filled packet of instant noodles. But I managed to contain myself and I brought out the left over rice and vegetables from last night along with a can of tuna and some egg whites. I mixed it all up with a few squirts of Sriracha sauce and I topped it with a slice of Kraft cheese (hey! it's better than a packet of noodles!) and I threw it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.

Result: Delicious comfort food :)

Yes, you can tell I was already shovelling food in my mouth when I remembered I had to take a picture.

Can't Get Enough of Frank

2009-06-18T10:19:00.004-04:00

I think I've developed an addiction to Frank's Redhot sauce. Last night, as I devoured my skewered shrimp, basted with crushed garlic and Frank's Redhot sauce, I momentarily thought that maybe I would get an ulcer from eating too much hot sauce. Apparently this is not true. According to my research, eating hot peppers or hot sauce or just spicy food in general is very good for you. Here are some hot sauce and chile pepper facts. Of course, if you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome it's probably best to lay off the spice since chili peppers are believed to act as laxatives. Always use in moderation.

Again, this morning I added a few drops of hot sauce to my egg whites (it just tastes so good!) and I did notice that I didn't feel as hungry as other times. As the article says, Capsaicin (the substance that gives peppers their kick) improves digestion and suppresses hunger. Normally when I have breakfast I wolf down the egg whites and then cram pineapple chunks in my mouth because I feel like I'm starving. But yesterday morning and today I actually didn't want to eat my pineapple chunks because my stomach felt satisfied after eating the egg whites. Last night's dinner had the same effect. I was not able to finish my spicy rice and vegetables and I struggled to finish my shrimp near the end of the meal. Could it be because of the spice?

"He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!" Dune, anyone?

Mmm...delicious shrimp served over a bed of basmati rice with mixed vegetables. I spiced the rice with pickled jalapeño peppers, cloves, grated ginger and cracked cardamom seeds.

Indian and Thai

2009-06-17T09:13:00.008-04:00

My family and I had dinner at Indian Flavour buffet a few nights ago. I've been to this restaurant twice now and each time I've been there the place has been empty except for two or three other people. This is a bit surprising as the food, in my opinion, is quite delicious and full of flavour. Maybe the look of the restaurant isn't very appealing, not as clean or nice looking as, say, Babur on Queen Street but we're here to eat food, not judge the decor. And I haven't felt sick after eating here so that's a definite positive, right? The restaurant is located at Bay and Dundas and at $13 per person for dinner buffet, I think it's worth visiting again.

The beer they serve there is my kind of beer; refreshing, bubbly and a little mild. Cobra beer:

I loaded my plate with tons of meat: tandoori chicken, goat curry and butter chicken.

Since then, I've had a craving for more Indian food so last night I pulled out my new vegetarian cookbook I purchased at Winners. I love that I can find cookbooks for less than $10 at Winners. It makes me very happy.
Anyway, there is a recipe in this book for vegetable and coconut curry and I was very glad to discover I had all the ingredients, including a can of coconut milk. I always keep a chunk of ginger in the freezer because I never know when a recipe might call for fresh-ish ginger. I also keep a jar of pickled jalapeño peppers since I don't often buy fresh peppers. The recipe asks for fresh green chilies but my pickled peppers did the job. Mm! So spicy!
As soon as I added the the coconut milk to the pot, it dawned on me that this was in fact a Thai dish. It smelled a lot like green curry, which I absolutely adore. Jay and I both enjoyed it immensely, though this is one dish where I wish I could have added salt. And Jay, the carnivore, said it would taste even awesomer (is that a word?) with shrimp or some sort of meat. I agreed. But, for all you vegetarians out there, this dish is awesome. Next time I make this I'm adding shrimp to it.

Recipe for Vegetable and Coconut Curry

1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 fresh green chilies
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2lb mixed vegetables such as: cauliflower, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and green beans cut into chunks
1 cup coconut cream or milk
salt and pepper
freshly cooked rice, to serve

Put the onion, garlic, ginger and chilies in food processor and process until smooth. Heat the oil in a pot over medium low heat and add the onion mixture, stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Add the spices and stir frequently for 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetables and stir well to coat them in the spices. Add the coconut cream or milk, cover and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender. Serve with rice.

Frank's Redhot, I love you

2009-06-17T08:50:00.003-04:00

I just finished eating breakfast. It was my usual egg whites and pineapple. Surprisingly, I'm not tired of eating plain egg whites and I was really afraid I would be when I started this diet. Anywho, I would just like to say that Frank's Redhot Original sauce goes amazingly well with scrambled egg whites! This might become a habit...

Big Blondes

2009-06-15T15:13:00.008-04:00

About ten minutes ago, I pulled a pan out of the oven and the most aromatic scent filled the space of my small apartment. I’ve just made these amazingly delicious nut bars. If you love nuts, chocolate, coconut and caramel all meshed into one chewy square then this is your dream dessert. They are called Big Blondes and they can be found inside Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor. I mentioned her book before when I made Gooey Caramel Butter Bars. Today I am making these nut bars as a gift for my aunt and her family who, as I mentioned before, are in Toronto this week.
My youngest sister was over earlier and she did a great job helping me prep some ingredients. The book says to use semi-sweet chocolate chips and Heath bars but I used unsweetened chocolate chunks and chopped up Skor bars (chopped by Little Sue, my sis):

I decided to use unsweetened chocolate because the nut bars are already sweet enough and the bitterness of the dark chocolate are a nice contrast to the overall taste.

Here are the toasted nuts: walnuts, pecans and almonds.

I guess you don't really need to toast them beforehand but they smell incredible when they're toasted. Toasting them also brings out their natural flavour. Trust me, it's worth it.
The first time I made these nut bars (about three months ago) I was impatient and I mixed the chocolate chips while the toasted nuts were still hot. The chocolate melted of course and I learned my lesson. It's not a big deal but it does make a difference in the end. Definitely let the bars cool after taking them out of the oven, even if you're just as impatient as I am and definitely wait until the next day to eat them because they taste even better then.

A Day of Gastronomical Debauchery

2009-06-14T12:00:00.002-04:00

As planned, yesterday was my day of sinful eating. I began my day with my usual cup of coffee, pineapple chunks and, this time, scrambled egg whites over a thick slice of warm buttered toast. Mmmm. Later, I met my mom and sister at Sneaky Dee’s at the corner of College St. and Bathurst St. This place might look like a grungy looking bar but it is awesome. They serve Tex-Mex type dishes for brunch, lunch and dinner. Yesterday, we opted for their amazingly famous nachos; King’s Crown Nachos loaded with a ton of guacamole, sour cream, ground beef, cheese, beans…I’m not even sure what else is in there. The server brought us a bottle of Frank's Redhot Hot Cayenne Pepper sauce and I have never tried it so I put a tiny drop on a chip and I was in love. I think if I’d had the option I would have unscrewed the top and guzzled the sauce out of the bottle. We ended our lunch with dessert; my sister got a slice of Snicker’s Cake and I got a slice of Toffee Cheesecake. Both were pretty decent but I preferred the Snicker’s cake. It tasted like a Snicker’s bar in cake form. My mom thought it tasted like they scooped a mound of peanut butter and then covered that with melted chocolate. She did not like this. To each his/her own I guess.
Next stop was The Hideout at Queen St W and Denison. Here, we found a cozy little spot out on the patio and we sat back with a couple of pints (Amsterdam Blonde for me) while we listened to some live music. I could almost fall asleep.
But we couldn’t stay long because my aunt and her family had just arrived in Toronto and she beckoned us to her hotel across from Toronto Island. I chugged what was left of my beer and we began to walk. Once we met everyone we tried to find a patio, again since it was so gorgeous outside, but all were full. We settled for a table inside Scotland Yard Pub on The Esplanade. Since I was still too full from those amazing nachos and cake I ordered another pint of beer (Rickard’s White). By this time, Jay had joined us as well and he was famished. He ordered poutine and convinced my aunt to order one for herself as well. We marketed it as a Canadian delicacy that everyone must try. It wasn’t the best poutine I’ve had but it was alright. At least they used cheese curds instead of mozzarella cheese.
It was night time and Smokey the Bear and I said goodnight to my mom, sister, aunt, uncle and cousins and made our way to our final stop; Pauper’s Pub near Bloor and Bathurst. Again, I ordered a pint of Rickard’s White in addition to The Annex Combo which included nachos, cheese sticks, quesadillas and bruscetta.
As my day of gastronomical debauchery came to an end, I discovered my stomach was protesting. It was churning and begging for me to stop eating such crap food. After not eating salt or oily things for a week I guess the overload of deep-fried, salty bar food was a bit of a shock.
Next Saturday I plan to eat whatever I want but it will be something homemade and not so unhealthy. And maybe just one pint of beer…maybe two.

It was a good thing I walked for more than two hours yesterday! Good exercise haha.

Uno's Pizza Pops

2009-06-12T15:58:00.012-04:00

Jay is absolutely crazy about Pillsbury Pizza Pops. Every time we go to the grocery store, he has to pick up a pack of those calzone-type snacks. And it has to be deluxe which I believe contains pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper. Personally, I think they taste like cardboard, but they are a quick and satisfying snack when there’s nothing else to eat in the house. Same goes for instant noodles.

The other day I was at my mom’s place helping her get rid of a few old kitchen items and I came across a small dumpling press. The first thought that came to mind was, “I can make Jay home made pizza pops!” I was instantly inspired.

Now, which pizza crust to use? Well, in my opinion, the best crust, or rather the best pizza ever, is Uno’s Deep Pan pizza. I’ve had Uno’s pizza in New York City and in Chicago and the few times I’ve gone there I have to take a moment to truly enjoy the symphony of taste, texture and love inside my mouth.

So, because I love my Jay so much, I decided to use Uno’s pizza crust for his pizza pops. Luckily, I was able to find the recipe online. Of course it’s not exactly the same as the restaurant version but it will do.

Recipe for pizza crust and filling/toppings can be found here.

Here, I've prepped the fillings for the different types of pops: mushrooms, green peppers, onions, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, pepperoni and fresh pineapple.

I made different combinations with the ingredients like:

Blue cheese, mushroom and onion

Pineapple, cheddar and mushroom

Pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper and hot sauce (love that sauce!).

The ones with the hot sauce have an "H" written with the sauce. They are in a container ready to be frozen until Jay craves a little snack.

Here is a cooked pizza pop. I put it in my little toaster oven for about 10mins at 375.

Chicken (or Turkey) Meatloaf

2009-06-11T17:28:00.007-04:00

I've just finished making chicken meatloaf. When I started to make it I had only added tons of garlic, onion and spices and it was already smelling yummy.

Recipe for two-ish:

1lb lean ground chicken or turkey...or I guess beef
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 cup celery diced
Garlic, I minced about 4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup cooked rice, I'm using brown rice
1 egg white, remember no yolks!
1/2 sodium free tomato sauce, I used Hunt's No Salt Added
1/4tsp oregano
1/4tsp thyme
1/4tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix chicken, onion, celery and garlic. Mix all spices and then add them to chicken. Mix well. Add egg whites, rice and tomato sauce, mixing with each addition. Put the mixture in a loaf pan and spread a bit more tomato sauce on top. Since I like a bit of spice I squirted a generous amount of Sriracha hot chili sauce on top of the tomato sauce. I baked it for about an 1hr 15mins at 350, uncovered.

Love this sauce on meatloaf. Goes really well on tuna sandwiches too! Once that comes out of the oven, let it sit for a bit and serve it with a side of mashed potatoes.

Temptation, I am not afraid of you!

2009-06-11T09:23:00.007-04:00

Last weekend was my friend’s bridal shower and I volunteered to make these amazing caramel butter bars to serve at the party. They are from Jill O'Connor’s book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey (find it at Amazon Gooey Caramel Butter Bar recipe here). In my opinion, it is the best dessert book ever! My friend who is getting married is the one who gave this book to me for my birthday a while back simply because she thought my baking style fit perfectly with the type of recipes inside the book; rich, sinful, sweet and horribly bad for you.

I made the butter bars but for some reason they didn’t turn out and I just couldn’t possibly bring them to her family. They were edible, but not “right.” It’s different when you bake a lopsided Dalek cake (Wiki on Dalek) for your boyfriend than when you bake somewhat soggy butter bars for a friend’s immediate and extended family. So I put the butter bars in a container with the intention of bringing them to my family. That never happened and the temptation was too great.

I ate a butter bar on Tuesday telling myself that I was doing a good job with the diet and that I deserved a tiny little treat. My conscience clear I went on with my day.

But, yesterday, after not eating bread for three solid days, I broke down again and I ate a butter bar!

When you’re on a strict diet and you have very little willpower (like me) it’s a good idea to eliminate all tempting foods from your house. Or at least hide them. At the same time, though, it is good to treat yourself to a little something and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. The problem is when you make a habit of treating yourself to a little something everyday. I’m going to assign one day of the week where I can eat whatever I want just to satisfy my cravings. I think it will be every Saturday and then Sunday the diet starts all over again and I won’t feel so deprived. Just two more days until I can eat bread!

Ok, Ok, I also sprayed whipped cream into my mouth. But then I threw away the can, it was going to expire anyway…

I don’t have pictures of the finished butter bars but here’s a shot of the first step. Yes, that is a pound of butter.

Is this a weightloss infomercial?

2009-06-10T10:52:00.004-04:00

In about a month, I will need an amazing beach body. I will need a Slim in 6/Turbo Jam/Power 90 type body. Two reasons:

1. My dear friend is getting married and I’m her maid of honour, so I must look hot
2. I’m going on holiday to a tropical country

And, of course, just because I want to get in shape (I’ve got some knee problems my doctor attributes to weak inner thigh muscles). We all know that if you work hard and if you really want something, you’ll get it…eventually. Well, I must not REALLY want to have a fit body since I’ve been trying to get in shape for nearly 8 years now haha. I can’t help it though, I just love food too much. Exercise you say? Yea, that’s for people who don’t cringe at the thought of jogging for 5 minutes.
Ok, Ok, I do workout and I do enjoy it. I also try to jog every now and then because I love the feel of the wind in my face. But my body can’t handle jogs and I usually end up doubled over after 10 minutes wheezing and coughing.
I started a workout routine last month and I was pretty consistent about it. I actually did workout for a whole month and I noticed a difference in certain parts of my body (my thighs mostly…rock hard, oh yea…) but overall I didn’t lose any weight at all. Was I doing the exercises all wrong? Was I not working out long enough?
Well, the answer is that diet plays a massive role in weight loss. Everyone knows that but I figured that since my metabolism was super fast back in high school then I wouldn’t have a problem dropping pounds. If you’re trying to get fit or lose weight or whatever then you have to eat super healthy and exercise. I’ve learned that you can’t do one without the other. If you want to see rapid results then you need to adjust your diet to include foods that will help you lose weight faster and you also need to eat 5 to 6 times a day (small portions of course). For breakfast, I eat an egg white (instead of a whole egg since the yolk contains all the egg’s fat and cholesterol) and half a cup of pineapple or a banana along with my coffee. I know the coffee should be black but this is where I cheat and I add a splash of milk. Since the beginning of this month, I have started to eat healthier foods. I’ve cut out salt and sugar and less cooking oil. And, as of this week, I’ve cut out bread. Bread! It’s pretty hard since I live with Jay, who loves eating “man-wiches” (huge sandwiches with nice, thick, chewy bread…Mmm bread…)
Anyway, my challenge is to play around with recipes to make them healthy, yet delicious, and combine that with my workout routine. I know I won't look like Jessica Alba in a month but I'll feel way better! Let’s see what happens. I will post info as I travel through this challenge.

Hello world!

2009-06-04T11:00:00.005-04:00

This is the first step. I open up Word and that damn cursor blinks expectantly. Oh the pressure! It’s telling me that whatever I decide to type next should be and must be good…and free of grammatical and spelling mistake so that I’m not plagued with those pesky squiggly lines. Am I the only one who finds those lines annoying when they don’t go away even after you’ve gone repeatedly over that sentence? Anyway, I’m getting carried away. This is a food and baking blog. Not English 101.

At last, I enter the world of The Blog. I am such a late bloomer and it’s because of my attitude toward it.

Indescribable...Indestructible! Nothing Can Stop It! Run! Don’t walk from…The Blog!!

Yes, I also watch too many movies. Surprisingly I don’t watch many movies about food. I find sometimes the food looks crazy amazing and then I remember it’s a movie so the food isn’t even real and the expressions on the actors’ faces are fake. It’s not a meaty lasagne full of cheese and loaded with carbs. It’s a slab of carb-free cracker made to look like soggy lasagne, topped with lactose free tofu cheese and simulated brown meat. Well, that’s what I think. I could be totally wrong, heh.

I wonder now how that would taste. My dad is a vegetarian so whenever he visits me I have to make sure I make him a vegetarian dish while the rest of my family is happy eating whatever dish I make (usually loaded with meat). As of late, however, my mom isn’t able to eat certain foods. Unfortunately, these are ingredients I tend to use a lot of such as eggs, dairy and chocolate. How sad is that? Once, I tried making a butterless, eggless, milkless chocolate cake for her (this is when she was still able to eat a bit of chocolate) and she said the cake was horrible. She said it didn’t taste at all like a cake. Pretty harsh, no? Of course she didn’t say this when I served her a thick slice of the cake. She told me months later when I asked if she wanted me to make her another butterless, eggless, milkless chocolate cake, sans the chocolate this time. I guess some things are sacred and are not meant to be messed with. Like a slice of sinful (real) chocolate cake.

As I was saying, I was somewhat against starting a blog because I was a bit intimidated by the thought of having to constantly write entries…with pictures. Let me tell you, I am horrible with taking food pictures. It’s not that I’m terrible at taking the pictures; it’s that the food is already in my stomach and going through digestion when I remember I needed to take a picture. I also live with an impatient man-friend, Jay, whose mouth starts to water the minute I bring scorching food out of the oven. He forgets to wait, or at least blow on his food, and thus I often hear “Ahh!” “Shit that’s hot!” and “Ow!” The food is in his stomach and already digesting way before I’ve had my first bite.

And so, for my first entry I do not have pictures, or even an item to showcase. It is, after all, breakfast time and I don’t normally cook up a storm for myself. Just coffee and a little something else.

See? Empty cup, coffee already nagging at my bladder.