Breakfast Adventures!

My new discovery this week was the wonderful Kraft Kitchens website. They have this fun little feature where you can type in ingredients and it will magically give you recipes that you might actually want to make without running down to the store to grab things you don't already possess.

Today, Kaydee and I were hanging around the kitchen before we headed off to do more research (library intro lab for her, oral history and Venezuelan revolutionary history readings for me), kind of hungry, and in that aforementioned state of mind where neither one of us really wanted to run five blocks down the street to get whatever missing ingredients we required. This recipe, thanks to Kraft Kitchens, was the happy result.

We modified it slightly, by using four eggs instead of six, and using veggie sausages instead of chopped ham.

We also made this amazing banana bread thanks to noabsolutes' recipe posted on bakebakebake a couple of weeks back.

Mash three bananas. Then add:

1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon. baking powder
1/4 cup oil (we replaced this with applesauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Pour into a loaf pan (or, if you are us, a cake pan because my loaf pan is still at my momma's) and sprinkle with a bit more sugar (if you want a fun crust). Bake between 45 minutes and an hour at 350.

We consumed both of these with some green tea. Perfect pre-studying noms.

Samosas!

Today, Kaydee and I made an attempt to connect with my Indian heritage. We popped a Bollywood film on the laptop, and made samosas.

In the filling:

frozen vegetables (mixed, there were corn, green beans and peas)
frozen hashbrowns
half a chopped onion
This awesome curry powder I found at Thrifty's
pepper
a splash of lemon juice

First, I fried together the onion in some canola oil. After it had sauteed for about five minutes, I added the curry powder, the vegetables and the potatoes, the latter of which were still frozen. I stirred it at medium heat for about fifteen minutes, and let it sit on low while Kaydee rolled out the pre-made samosa pastry.

Yesterday, I made the pastry. At the absolute minimum, it should chill for half an hour. Mine chilled for about 24 hours or so.

2 1/2 cups flour (I split this between whole wheat and white, because I tend to add whole wheat to everything)
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup water

Mix together the flour and salt together, add the canola oil, and then the water as needed. Knead until it's smooth and kind of stretchy.

When assembling, what I found works the easiest is if you cut a circle and then cut that in half. Ours were rather small (about three inches across as most, so 1 1/2 wide per half circle), but you can make them bigger. Ours were more appetizer sized. Bring the edges together, and join them together securely, using extra water to really join it together. Stuff with a little bit of the filling (see picture), and then seal in the same manner. You really want to make sure that the edges are securely fastened or else your samosa will fall apart while deep frying.

Pour enough oil in to fill up your pan about half way (don't worry, you can pour it back in afterwards), and fry the samosas until they are done (kind of crunchy, clearly fried and not just browned).

Chutney tastes fabulous with them; we did not have any, they tasted amazing anyway.

Hiatus over!

So much for updating: in mid November I was diagnosed with mono. Between the mono and the Christmas season, not much kitchen action has occurred until, well, this week.

There will be a 'real' update soon. With real pictures! For now, enjoy the new layout.

xoxo
Kirie

Madhuri's Chocolate Chip Cookies of Awesome.

When we first moved to Victoria in the winter of 1994, my momma made a bunch of different cookie recipes, took her favourite ingredients, and came up with these delicious cookies. When we moved to our downtown apartment, I once had a lemonade and cookie stand on the corner of Government and Johnson, and these sold much better than the lemonade.

We tend to freeze them so they last longer[in theory-in high school I used to eat frozen cookies for breakfast on the bus].

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees C.

Cream together in a large bowl: 1 cup softened margarine/butter,¾ cup white sugar,¾ cup brown sugar, 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together 1 ½ cups all purpose flour, 2 ½ cups rolled oats[not instant!],1/3 cup wheat germ[this is optional],1 tsp. baking powder,1 tsp baking soda, and ½ ts salt.

Add the two mixtures together, mix well and add ¾ cup chocolate chips. My momma makes about 32 cookies, I found it's very easy to halve. Bake 10-12 minutes, do not overcook them! They should still be slightly doughy. Transfer to a rack to cool.

My Mama's Lentil Soup. From the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

This soup is idiot-proof, cheap, and easy. It's good for students [like me!] because it takes three hours to cook and lasts forever in the freezer, which is good if you are on a budget. Plus, it's vegan.

When I was littler, my family and I lived on Government St, near Chinatown, and my mama would give the street people who lived below our building [our condo was above a hair salon] containers of this soup and hot toast. It's warm, filling, and delicious.

In a large pot, add:

2/3 cup dried lentils
4 cups of water
1 onion, chopped fine
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery,chopped

Then, simmer it for three hours. Do not forget about your soup. Set your timer.

Sometime, your soup will get a little too thick, like more of a thick stew than a thick soup. Add some more water until it reaches whatever you consider to be a soup.

Then, add:

1 cup tomato paste [or two of those tiny cans]
garlic
thyme
tarragon

Voila. Your soup is finished. Serve with bread; my mama makes amazing focaccia to serve with this.

Spinach Ricotta Pie! Recipe From Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook!

I originally posted this two years ago in LiveJournal. This was the first dish I made for Kaydee upon her moving to Victoria this September. I actually improvised and used a cake pan for the baking dish, but I cannot insist enough that if you do not like ridiculously thick crust, please use a real pie pan.

Also, it lasted forever. I was eating slices of the pie-made-in-cake-pan for over a week and it still tasted amazing.

To make the crust, mix together six tablespoons butter or margarine with one and a half cups flour and four tablespoons milk, water, or buttermilk. Roll into circle. Press into pie pan. Set aside.

Alternatively, you could use pastry, which is what my momma does. It makes for a flakier, more decadent crust.

Preheat your oven to 375. Melt about a tablespoon of butter/margarine in a frying pan, and saute one cup of chopped onion for five minutes. Add one pound spinach [stemmed and chopped], half a teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper, one teaspoon basil, and garlic to taste [I use two cloves]. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted.

In a bowl, mix together one pound ricotta cheese, three eggs, three tablespoons flour, and half a cup grated sharp cheese. Add the mixture from the frying pan, and spread evenly into pie pan.

Katzen recommends covering the pie with a topping of sour cream, then dusting with paprika. I have never done this, nor has anyone I know, but you could always try it.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Please, let it set for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven; otherwise you will be serving glorified scrambled eggs with a delicious crust. This tastes delicious hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Introduction

"Why create another blog?" Kaitlin asked me today.

It's true, I do have a LiveJournal that I update with alarming frequency, and have done so for the past four and a half years. But it's friends only, if only to protect the innocent from reading all that I wrote when I was an obnoxious fifteen year old quasi-punk kid who had more in common with the emos than anything else. At this point in my blogging career [if it can be called that], various family members have expressed annoyance at their inability to look at mine due to the aforementioned friends-only lock.

On the other hand, I've been tossing around the idea of creating a zine, specifically about the intersections of kitchens and feminism, with a hearty sprinkling of culture analysis. To explain why this is relevant to me is to explain my identity, so I shall do so now.

I'm a half East Indian, half Irish-Canadian femme currently inhabiting the Pacific Northwest of Canada. Both sides of my family have roots in Saskatchewan, the heart of Canada's prairie lands. I spent my childhood sampling foods from various different regions, and started finding myself helping out my momma in our kitchen in primary schools. My mom's side is traditionally vegetarian, and my dad's side is traditionally anti-tofu, so I had a well rounded palate as a kid.

Currently, I'm a student at the University of Victoria, primarily focusing on English and History, albeit with a Women's Studies perspective. I'm interested in the way that culture affects people, mostly women and children. From my research and from my own matriarch headed household experience, I feel that it is possible to be an empowered woman residing in the kitchen,doing traditionally feminine things. For all of my women's studies courses, pride activities, and NDP leanings, I still hail buses in skirts and heels with girly hair and makeup. Families congregate in many kitchens, food is prepared, current events are discussed, and trends come and pass as well. In my house, I live with two gluten-free roomies, and many of my friends are either vegetarian or vegan. As well, I try to eat as locally as possible.

That's about it for me! If you're reading this, it'd be awesome if you left a note saying who you are so I know who's reading.

Happy kitchen adventures!
xoxo
Kirie