Category Archive

Drum roll please… the new book for the cook along book club is:

Moosewood Restaurant: Cooking for Health by The Moosewood Collective

For those of you new to the site who want to know a bit about the cook along book club, it works like this. Just like a regular book club that reads a book together, we take it a step forward and cook recipes out of a selected cookbook together. Then you can post your thoughts about the recipes and the book in general! Don’t feel you need to rush out and buy this book, try borrowing it from your local library. Then you can cook from it a bit, see if it is something worth buying for you and your family. Most times the books are great, other times you will be happy you tried before you bought it.

This time around I’m going to be cooking these three recipes.

Ginger Orange Tea, page 44
Yellow Split Pea Dip, page 71
Sweet Potato – Walnut Salad on Arugula, page 89

Happy cooking!

Here it is, my final post from Mad Hungry. What a great book this has been. Overall I have to say I’ve truely enjoyed everything I’ve made out of it. Simple but satisfying meals and dishes. Easy to make… but more important, easy for hubby to make. This book is a keeper.

This week I made:

Creamed Spinach, page 213
Char-baked Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant, page 206
New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice, page 188

Ok… Creamed Spinach. It was tasty and easy, a little bland the way creamed spinach tends to be but overall very enjoyable. However, I’m a bit of a tart and somehow got my proportions of spinach to bechamel all wrong. I knew I had less spinach than called for, but for some unexplained reason I didn’t think to cut back on the sauce. As a result I had uber creamy spinach. That more than likely is what caused a bit of the blandness.

The Char-baked Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant was wonderful. Just wonderful. I used it as the main dish in our meal that night rather than a side. I don’t like to put THAT much effort into my side dishes. If I’m going to spend more than 10 minutes on them they are going to shine as the star of the meal! If you plan to do that, I would reccomend doubling up on the recipe. I found mine didn’t char as much as hers did (at least by looking at the picture) but it was still very tasty and held together very well. I’ll be making this one again for sure.

Finally, New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice. I decided to make this a vegetarian dish by omitting the ham hock and sausage. I kind of regret that. A spicy sausage would have added a lot to the meal. It was still quite good, with just the right amount of heat. Hubby found it a little on the salty side, but I enjoyed it the way it was. I cut the recipe in half. That’s one thing you have to watch in this book, sometimes the recipes serve 4 other times it’s 8. There is only so many red beans you need in a week.

I’ll announce the next book for the cook along book club book! I’ll give you a bit of a hint by saying it’s a vegetarian cook book. I guess that’s not really saying much is it! Until next week.

I had three recipes that I was planning to try this week from Mad Hungry:

Shrimp Scampi page 172
Chicken Salad Sandwiches page 78
Blueberry Bran Muffins page 49

Well I can say right off the bat that I never made the shrimp scampi. I went into my favorite sustainable fish shop and was told that they weren’t carrying shrimp at this time… so poof! No shrimp scampi. Though it sounded like a lovely dish and I’ll be sure to try it out when shrimp is in season.

On to something I did make… the chicken salad. It says to used cooked chicken but it doesn’t say how to cook it. So I used come creative license here and BBQ’d it. It really added a pizzaz to the flavour of the chicken salad. Like all the recipes in this book it was simple, hearty and left you really satisfied. It only takes a few steps to have a really great meal.

This time I also tried one of the baking recipes. Great muffins. I loved them. So much so that I’ve made them several times since adding brown rice to them mix, substituting apple butter for the maple syrup and the cup of blueberries for just about any other muffin flavour you can think of. The one thing I do suggest is using 1/2 a TBSP of baking soda instead of the full TBSP – I find it gets rid of any tangy after taste the soda can leave behind.

These two recipes will be my last from this book, then I’ll be moving on to my next! Here are the final  three recipes:

Creamed Spinach, page 213
Char-baked Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant, page 206
New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice, page 188

Happy cooking!

Another three recipes from Mad Hungry, another 3 success stories! I’m really loving this cook book and it’s simple, straight forward meals.

The first one I tried was the Grilled Hanger Steak from page 144. A simple marinade of wine, Worcestershire, Dijon and a bit of seasoning and you are good to go. Which is great because I had to throw it together just before rushing out the door on my way to work. Because I’m me, I had intended to have it the night before, realized I left it too long and it didn’t have time to sit so resolved to make it the next day. With 3 minutes left before I was supposed to be gone, I remembered what had happened last night – but luckily it was easy to whip up in a flash. Tasted great too. The scene I had just described happens WAY too often in my life so I often don’t marinade anything, but I loved the flavours it brought to the steak. Just delish.

Next was the Tuna Tomato Pasta on page 177. For some reason every time I never think to add canned tuna to pasta unless it’s a recipe. But then I’m always thrilled with the results. I love pasta, I love tomatoes and I love tuna – so I obviously enjoyed the dish! As is the style of the book, not too many steps (4) and not too many ingredients (9 – 3 of which are herbs / seasoning) and you get a hearty, wonderful meal that is sure to satisfy any sized appetite. It was even better reheated the next day! That’s one of the lovely parts about cooking from a book for people with large appetites, but not always having one yourself… plenty of left overs.

Finally the Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes on page 198. You can put cheese on anything and I’d be happy. I love scalloped potatoes. So much so that I once convinced my Nana to cook them for me in August saying it couldn’t possibly be any hotter in her house anyway so why not have yummy potatoes? Yeah… I was that kid. This dish was great, but it makes a lot – not that I don’t want to eat them a couple times in a week, but next time I think I will cut it in half. Something about a whole lunch of nothing but scalloped potatoes seems like a dangerous thing to my arse.

For next time I’m going to be cooking:

Shrimp Scampi page 172
Chicken Salad Sandwiches page 78
Blueberry Bran Muffins page 49

Happy cooking!

And according to Random.org the lucky winner is Gwen Hunter! Congratulations Gwen – I’ll be shipping you a copy of Mad Hungry early next week so that you can cook along with my book club! A great book so far, I think you’ll be pleased.

Happy long weekend everyone! Guess what I’ll be doing…

Tomorrow I’m announcing the winner of my latest cook book draw – could it be you? Well it could be if you are ‘liking’ Simply Fresh Ottawa on Facebook. Check here for details.

In the mean time I’m cooking from the very book that I’m giving away! Well not the same book – you’ll win a new copy I swear! But testing a few recipes from a book never hurt anyone… unless the recipes are horrid. Luckily for me, with this book, that is not the case!

The first was Frosty Banana Berry Smoothie from page 52. I love smoothies! And I don’t normally need a recipe to make them, but I  thought – what better way to see someone’s style than to make something I usually make on my own but follow their directions. What I found was a simple, to the point recipe that made a few large servings. No wonder this cook book is for guys! It was frosty, tasty and packed with natural goodness.

Next up was the Baked Chicken with Honey-whole-grain Mustard Glaze on page 122. What a great combination. Sweet but not too sweet. I love glazed chicken but often in the interest of time just make a sauce to go with it rather than applying it to the bird. It was worth the very little bit of effort here to have such a yummy end product!

I ran into trouble with the Grilled Salmon Teriyaki page 169. It wasn’t so much trouble as it was a substitution. And this  time a substitution I was aware I was making! Not just a mix up while buying groceries. I went to Whalesbone fully intending to buy Salmon but I noticed they had the most wonderful looking Trout. So out went salmon, in went trout! It was still a wonderful and tasty recipe. Simple and to the point – nothing but flavourful goodness.

I’m really loving the simplicity of this book. Here are my next three recipes to work through!

Grilled Hanger Steak page 144
Tuna Tomato Pasta page 177
Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes page 198

Happy cooking and good luck in the contest – trust me this is a great book to have on your shelves. Men or no men to learn from it!

You’ve waited all week while I got my duckies in a row and now for the news – the next book in my Cook Along Book Club is Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

AND you have a chance to win your very own copy. You only need to do one thing – follow Simply Fresh Ottawa on Facebook. That’s it. That’s all. Though it is open to Canadian Residents only so living in Canada wont hurt either. If you already follow SFO on facebook then you are in the draw!

Click here to go to the Simply Fresh Ottawa Facebook page and get ‘liking’ us today! Contest closes May 20 at 10 am with the winner announced by noon.

Back to the book. I’m ready to get started cooking right away and so here are my frist three recipes that I will be making:

- Frosty Banana Berry Smoothie page 52
- Baked Chicken with Honey-whole-grain Mustard Glaze page 122
- Grilled Salmon Teriyaki page 169

Happy cooking and good luck!

My final post with this book, my final two recipes from Chef Michael Smith. Overall I have really enjoyed this book. I loved the relaxed attitude with which cooking is approached – the encouragement of free styling and really making a recipe your own. Something many Chefs wouldn’t encourage with their recipes. I also find that this book really is for the at home chef – nothing overly complicated, just simple, delicious food. A reason why Chef Smith really is one of my biggest food inspirations.

For the final two recipes I chose:

Orange Ginger Beef page 74 &
Sweet Potato Chick Pea Curry page 151.

Let’s start with the Orange Ginger Beef. Let’s be honest. Thank god these aren’t ridged recipes and you are allowed to free style because I don’t think I would have had such success without it. Really, most of my ‘free styling’ comes from the fact I simply do not read or prepare things properly. Perhaps one of the reason’s I’m not a real chef. Case in point, the orange ginger beef. I bought the orange juice, yes I did. But did I thaw it or make it prior to starting this recipe?? No. BUT – because you only needed one cup of juice I substituted with 1/4 orange juice concentrate and 3/4 water. I could still taste the orange! It really was a very good dish – I loved the citrus flavour with the beef and would make this again in a heart beat… frozen OJ concentrate or juice!

Next the curry. I LOVED this dish. I served it on rice noodles and it was just gobbled up. The only issue I had was in finding a curry paste. I found a curry sauce – so I just upped the amount to about 1/4 cup believing that the paste would be more concentrated than the sauce. I found it still a little lacking in curry flavour so I added a 1 tsp of curry powder. It made a wonderful meal and even better left overs the next day!

Moving forward … it’s time for a new book! I’ll announce on Friday along with the first few recipes that I’ll be cooking through. Then I’ll give it a week or so, then if anyone is checking a copy out from the library to cook along with (or just need to run out and buy a copy) you have time! Cook along with me – it’s so much fun to get feed back from those on how they altered a dish, or actually followed the recipe properly!

Happy Cooking.

I can’t believe I’m one post away to finishing with The Best of Chef at Home by Michael Smith! This week had some great recipes:

Penne with Red Pepper Sauce and Spinach: Page 171
Sesame Spinach Salad: Page 58
Maritime Clam Chowder: Page 34

Let’s start with the Red Pepper Sauce. Amazing – such a simple and flavourful way to make pasta sauce! It takes some time, but it is worth the effort! I added a sweet potato to the ingredients to roast. I had one left in the fridge and it looked lonely so I let it join the party. I’m not sure if it had much impact on the flavour, but it didn’t hurt it! So thick and hearty I will be using and experimenting with this recipe for years to come! My only issue is that pasta is my go ‘oops I’m late’ dinner and this sauce takes up to an hour to roast the veg. I guess the solution would be to throw the veg in the oven and make the sauce when you have time, then just open it up on one of those nights. And trust me there are plenty of those nights.

The sauce also was great reheated – as you can see in my lunch the next day!

Next was the Sesame Spinach Salad. I wasn’t really a fan. The dressing was bitter and there wasn’t a whole lot going on here. I don’t think I would even play around with it to try to make it good. There are just so many great salads out there I don’t really see me spending the time on it. One of the first rare misses in this book.

Finally was the Maritime Clam Chowder, which because I was in a hurry and trying to finish my shopping became Maritime Crab Chowder. That’s right. When you are speeding through the aisles canned crab and canned clams look surprisingly similar. This was still an amazing soup. I loved the smoky bacon flavour. To cut fat I used half and half instead of heavy cream and it was still rich and satisfying. I also used skim milk instead of the evaporated milk it called for. Still just delish.

To finish off my time cooking with Chef Smith I’m going to try these last two recipes:

Orange Ginger Beef page 74
Sweet Potato Chick Pea Curry page 151

Happy Cooking!

Another week another trio of dishes from Chef Michael Smith. This week it was:

Moroccan Couscous and Chickpeas: Page 143
Classic Chicken Stew: Page 90
Grilled Pineapple and Red Onion Salad: Page 51

First the Couscous. I’ve been experimenting with couscous with mixed results for some time now. I can get flavour in it but often found it lacking and a rather boring grain. This recipe was amazing. Best I’ve ever done by far! So much flavour and the different textures of the dried fruit vs nuts vs couscous kept me coming back for more. This is how it is supposed to be done. And like all of Chef Smith’s recipes as soon as I ate it I was thinking of ways I would change it for next time – different flavours to add, just making sure that I was following his lead with the types of textures and the amount of flavour needed for it to shine through.

The chicken stew was pretty tasty. Honestly I’ve never really had chicken stew but I found this to be like the insides of a chicken pot pie. Hubby, who normally isn’t a fan of chicken stew said this was one of the better ones he’s had, but he still isn’t a die hard fan. I found I missed the pie crust of a chicken pot pie – that’s my favorite part. But it was quickly fixed with a loaf of fresh bread. Adding the starch made all the difference for me. I think if I make it again I will do dumplings. Mmmmm dumplings.

Finally the Pineapple and Red Onion salad. I don’t really care for onions, so I tried to use less. I enjoyed the salad more because of it, but hubby – an onion lover, found it too sweet and said that he would have prefered a more balanced onion to pineapple ratio. I don’t think he’s crazy about sweet salads in general. I’m not ready to give up on this recipe yet though, I think it would be so much better if I made in on my BBQ rather than an indoor grill. And strangely enough, the fresh basil I got from the store only had about 1/2 the flavour of that from my garden – so I’m looking forward to the summer when I can see what this salad can do with a little smokey flavour and some full force basil.

Next week I’m cooking:

Penne with Red Pepper Sauce and Spinach: Page 171
Sesame Spinach Salad: Page 58
Maritime Clam Chowder: Page 34

Happy Cooking!