Super-Delicious-Portabello-Mushroom-Sorta-Fajitas!!

I've been debating posting this, since I forgot to take photos while I was making it earlier this week.  However, I've come to the conclusion that it's so gosh-darned delicious that I have to share.

Here's how to make your very own Super Delicious Portabello Mushroom Sorta Fajitas!

You will need:

• sliced portabello mushrooms - I buy the presliced package from the grocery store & slice them thinner, but you could also just slice up 2-4 full portabellos
• 1 medium onion, sliced - I prefer sweet onions, but it doesn't really matter
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 small sweet green pepper, cut into strips
• Any other delicious vegetables you may want to throw in - I sometimes add celery, carrots or broccoli too
• oil or butter for frying (I usually use canola oil)
• at least 1-2 tsp ground cumin
• same amount of chili powder
• 1 heaping tsp cornstarch
• about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
• salt & pepper to taste
• tortillas to wrap the mushroom mixture in
• assorted fajita toppings (sour cream, guacamole, salsa, shredded cheese, etc)

In a large frying pan or skillet, heat up your cooking fat of choice on medium high.  Once it's warmed up, add the sliced onion & garlic to the pan.
After the onion has started to soften, add your mushrooms and other vegetables.
When the veggies are cooked about 3/4 of the way done, add your cumin, chili powder, salt & pepper.  Mix the cornstarch with the water and then add it to the pan & stir thoroughly.  This will form your sauce.
Once the liquid has boiled down to your desired thickness, and the vegetables are cooked through, take the pan off the heat, heap the mushroom mixture into your tortilla wraps, top with your choice of condiments and enjoy!

Dill Pickle Day

Today was a pretty productive day, considering that I still tire pretty easily (due to growing a human).  I made 6 jars of dill pickles, did a whole ton of laundry, and helped my partner clean the apartment so the landlord could show it today.
If you like dills, and have never made them, it's surprisingly easy!  I didn't take pictures of the process, but you basically need sugar, pickling or kosher salt, vinegar, dill (fresh or dried), mustard seed, garlic, your favourite pickling spice mixture and a basket of cucumbers (the small, not waxed kind).  There's a ton of recipes available on the internet, although I usually base mine on the Bernardin Fresh Pack Dill Pickle recipe. 
I always add extra garlic & chili flakes to my version though, to make them a little zippier.

Oh, while doing laundry, I also checked on the garden for a minute, and ended up harvesting the potatoes.  Considering that I hardly watered & generally neglected the plants this summer, I'm surprised I got anything. 

I'm excited to see how they taste!

Summer Salsa, and the Reason for Inconsistent Blogging

I know, I know - I'm terrible at doing this regularly.  I have a good excuse though.  It turns out, I'm growing a person.  It's hard to make yourself do things when all you want in the world is to stop throwing up and then have a really long nap.

However, the nice doctors have given me anti-nausea medication so I've been feeling more like a human being than a throw-up factory the last little while.

To celebrate, I made, and canned, some salsa. Woo!
I admit, I dragged the stool into the kitchen and sat through most of it, but I managed to successfully do a whole salsa batch!

You of course, want to start with some fresh veggies.  Something like these ones (2 kinds of hot pepper in the bag, a green pepper, some red onions):

Of course, you'll also need some tomatoes.  I used the Black Plum tomatoes from my plant in the garden.

You'll also need things like vinegar (I used red wine vinegar), pickling/kosher salt, sugar, tomato sauce, garlic (mmm garlic), spices and a giant handful of cilantro.

You'll need to peel the tomatoes first, but then you can just throw everything in a pot together and boil it down until you get a texture you like.

Your whole house will smell delicious.
Eventually, you will end up with a nice thick, chunky salsa, at which point, you can start canning.  Or not - eating right away is also an option.
I ended up with five jars of salsa, and a little bit left over to eat right away.

The extra salsa lasted all of five seconds.  My poor partner didn't get any.
I'm resisting the urge to open the jars.

Jack Layton temporarily stepping down :(

Jack Layton, official Leader of the Opposition in Canada's parliament, and leader of the Federal NDP party, announced that he was temporarily stepping down today, in order to focus on battling cancer.

Since Jack and his party won the official opposition against the Conservative party not that long ago, it's a little bit sad for those of us on the left side of the political spectrum.  He's been a fabulously charismatic leader.

We don't know yet who will be replacing Jack as interim leader (or at least, I don't) but I hope that they do just as well in the position so that Jack can focus on getting better.

I think I'm melting

I've been feeling crappy lately, so I haven't been doing much, other than going to work and coming home again.
In addition to feeling crappy, the weather has been doing it's best to melt us all.  I know there are parts of the world hotter than here, but when you aren't used to it, and the humidex goes through the roof - holy moly!!
I'm just glad I'm not a snowman.

Long Weekends

This past weekend was Canada Day (for me) and Independance Day (for my friends & relatives in the USA).

I spent mine with some of my favourite people at a cottage in northern Ontario, halfway to my hometown.  There was food, lake swimming, fires, mosquitos, smores, sunshine and lots of good times.  Going back to work after weekends like these is always hard.

I hope all of you had a fantabulous weekend too!

Homemade Poptarts and then, randomly, Yogurt Cheese

It's been a busy weekend!  Saturday was gloomy & rainy for most of the day, but I still managed to get my butt to yoga class.  When I got home though, all of my plans for weeding the garden went right out the window.  Instead, I spent some time in the kitchen making pop-tarts/toaster tarts and then some yogurt cheese.
Pop-tarts/toaster tarts, really, are nothing but a small square pie when you think about it.  Which means that it is surprisingly simple to make your own.
All you need is:
Your favourite sweet pie crust recipe (if you prefer really flaky pies, use a more solid pie crust recipe)
A beaten egg for the egg wash
Your favourite jam for the filling (I used strawberry-blueberry freezer jam that I made last summer)
Icing sugar & a liquid to mix it with to make icing (I used 1 cup of icing sugar, 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons water and 1 teaspoon lime juice for my icing).
And if you're feeling fancy, you could add sprinkles too!

Roll out your dough, cut out enough rectangles to make pairs (and make sure they'll fit in your toaster slots!).  Mine were roughly 4"x3".
Put your egg wash on all of your rectangles, and then put around a teaspoon of jam in the middle of half the squares.  Smooth out the jam, but make sure you leave enough room to seal the edges of the dough together.  I just mushed my dough edges with a fork.  Slap on your icing, and bake around 350F for 20-30 minutes. You don't want them too crispy, since they'll cook again when you put them in the toaster.

Here's what my finished tarts looked like:

Delicious and fresh from the oven. You can't really see the icing, since it went clear when I baked it, but you can definitely taste it when you eat them.

There's the nommular jammy inside for you.   It's going to be really hard to eat only one tart at a time.

Now, on to the yogurt cheese!  Do you like yogurt? Or tangy cheeses like feta or chevre (goat cheese)?  Then you'll probably like yogurt cheese.  It's also amazingly simple, since you basically need to drain the whey out of the yogurt.

Step 1: get yourself a container of plain Balkan or Greek style yogurt.
Step 2: line a bowl with a clean cloth napkin or tea towel (not terry cloth - plain cotton or linen).  Here's the napkin I used after I dumped the cheese out, so it's a little mucky, but it'll give you an idea of what will work.

Step 3: dump yogurt into the bowl, and tie the four corners of the cloth together.
Step 4: Suspend the bag of yogurt over the bowl.  I tied mine to the top shelf of the fridge over the bowl which was sitting on the second shelf.  Some people will apparently hang theirs over the sink, but since it's dairy, I worry about it getting too warm.
Step 5: wait at least 8 hours or overnight.  If you leave it longer you'll have a thicker cheese.  I left mine overnight in the fridge.
Step 6:  When the yogurt is done hanging, you'll need to use up the whey (it can go in smoothies, pancakes, drink it plain or just dump it down the sink), and then untie your cloth and dump the cheese into the bowl (or a clean bowl if you're so inclined).  You should have something that's similar in consistency to cream cheese, like so:

Step 7: Flavour your cheese!  This is the best part.  You can flavour it with lemon & salt, roasted garlic and herbs - anything you like!  I flavoured this batch with fresh black pepper and chive flowers from the garden.

Once your flavourings have been selected, mush them into your cheese!

Once your flavourings of choice have been fully incorporated, put your cheese into a clean, lidded container and stick it in the fridge.  It should last you about 2 weeks or so.

I've been eating my cheese as a dip with crackers, and I'm planning on putting it in sandwiches and wraps.  Yum!