Fruit Smoothie Mix-ups

 

Strawberry Soother (Four Ingredient Cookbook)

I like a good smoothie as much as the next person – especially when they involve summer fruits.  This one called for ripe strawberries and nectarine, which I love.  Except I made it in February.  Because I am a genius.

1.  Hull the strawberries.  Using a sharp knife, cut the peach or nectarine into fourths and pull out the pit.  Cut the flesh into coarse slices.

Alternatively, don’t hull the strawberries because the frozen food company did it for you.  And pour the mango chunks out of the other frozen food bag because you can’t get peaches in Northern Ontario in February. 

2.  Using a juice extractor, juice the fruit.  Alternatively, place the fruit in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Now, I have more counterspace than most apartment dwellers, but eff that juice extractor shit.  I like to justify my cheapness and my stinginess about counter space by saying that I’ll eat the fibre and you won’t, nyeah.

Anyway, this was pretty tasty, and…refreshing…on a cold February night. 

Just Like Dad Used to Make

 

My Dad likes to do excruciatingly detailed woodworking, particularly for Christmas.  He would (and probably often still does) spend hours in his basement workshop with his carving tools and implements of woodworking magic to make little stocking-stuffer toys in the Father Christmas tradition (like, the same Father Christmas who would bring oranges instead of Quality Street).

I am not a woodworking genius, and I don’t have a basement workshop and I don’t have magical implements.  So I tried to replicate the “just-for-fun” toys another way.

http://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/2011/05/project-85-cd-case-labyrinth.html

The hardest part of this was finding CD cases where the CD bed popped out and all you were left with was a hollow rectangle.  The rest was surprisingly simple.  Here’s the result:

Posies for Pinkies

 

As some may be aware, I made it a goal to give everyone on my Christmas list last year something handmade.  One of the little things I gave to my cousins and aunts was this adorbs little ring.

http://maizehutton.blogspot.ca/2011/02/rick-rack-rings-diy.html

It was pretty simple to make – the hardest part was actually finding empty rings.  The North Cobalt Flea Market saved the day yet again.

As you can see, I added some little felt leaves.  I felt like this helped to cover up the setting part of the ring (and the excess hot glue).

Cute, no?

A Little Like Your Great Aunt Mavis

Last year, and this year, I pledged to make everyone something handmade.  I almost made it, except for my colleagues at work.  The problem with handmade stuff is that it’s really difficult to make something for the men.  Unless they really love socks.  A lot.
Here’s what I made for my mother’s partner.  Photographs are always a safe bet, and I figure they don’t mind what kind of frame they come in anyway.  So I knit one.  It was pretty easy.  Even though I kind of felt like a knit picture frame is the sort of thing you see in in the fixed-rent apartment of an ancient maiden aunt.
The pattern came from a Ravelry user. 
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/photo-frames
I used a picture from a hike the three of us went on the last time they last came to visit taken with my cell phone.  The result:

Thai One On

Thai Beef Noodle Salad (Canadian Living Special Issue: Market Fresh)
I love Thai food, but I’m almost never able to reproduce it at home.  This attempt was no exception.

1 lb beef flank marinating steak 1 piece english cucumber 1 large carrot 6 oz wide rice-stick noodles quarter red onion, thinly sliced 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander and mint 3 tbsp thai basil or other basil leaves 1/4 cup chopped unsalted peanuts 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil and vegetable oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp grated ginger root 1 tbsp granulated sugar 1/2 cup hot water 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tbsp lime juice 2 tbsp fish sauce 2 thai or serrano chilies

Marinade: In glass baking dish, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and sugar; add steak, turning to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, turning occasionally.
Dressing: In jar with tight-fitting lid, shake water with sugar until dissolved.  Add lime juice, fish sauce and chilies.  Shake to mix. 

OR, put it in a pyrex container with a non-tight-fitting lid and shake dressing, splattering it all over your kitchen.  Like I did.
Using vegetable peeler, slice cucumber  lengthwise into thin strips, slicing around centre seeds.  Slice carrots lengthwise into thin strips; set aside.
In large pot of boiling salted water, cook rice noodles for 6 to 7 minutes or until tender.  Drain and hill under cold water; drain and transfer to large bowl.  Toss with dressing.  Set aside.
Discarding marinade, place steak on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and grill, turning once, for about 8 minutes for medium-rare or until desired doneness.   Transfer to cutting board and tent with foil; let stand for 5 minutes.  Thinly slice against the grain.

Add cucumber, carrot, onion, coriander, mint and basil to noodle mixture; toss to coat.  Divide among bowls or plates; top with steak and sprinkle with peanuts.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.
This was probably the tastiest Thai-inspired steak ever.  It was probably the grossest noodle salad though, since I definitely overcooked the noodles.  And it made TERRIBLE leftovers, which is tragic because without leftovers I would starve.

The Real Thing

Split Pea Soup (Betty Crocker Cookbook)

Habitant Pea Soup was a staple of my childhood, so I was pretty excited to produce the real thing, from scratch, in a an area rife with French Canadiana.

2 1/4 cups dried split peas (1 lb), sorted and rinsed 8 cups water 1/4 tsp pepper 1 lg onion 2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped 1 ham bone, 2 lbs ham shanks or 2 lbs smoked pork hocks 3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4” slices

1. Heat all ingredients except carrots to boiling in 4-quart Dutch oven, stirring occasionally; reduce heat Cover and simmer 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.

By the way, smoked pork hocks look really gross. Really.

2. Remove ham bone; let stand until cool enough to handle. Remove ham from bone. Remove excess fat from ham; cut ham into 1/2” pieces.

Also, smoked pork hocks have a buttload of fat around them. Smoky, salty (delicious and hard not to stick back in the soup) fat.

3. Stir ham and carrots into soup. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until carrots are tender and soup is desired consistency.

In the end, it looked an awful lot like my post-Sunday School lunch from days gone by, but it was a little thicker and pastier than I recall. Maybe that means I’d done my French Canadian neighbours proud.

Just to be safe, I didn’t let them taste test.

Not as delicious as a Disney Movie

Stir-Fry Ratatouille (The New Lighthearted Cookbook)

My aunt’s sister used to refer to her mother’s ratatouille as rat-shit-patooie. Fitting that some few decades later Disney would come out with a movie glorifying the dish (really, I think they chose it because it’s a funny word) and its’ being made by rats.

2 tbsp canola oil 1 medium onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 8 medium mushrooms, halved 1 small sweet yellow or red pepper, cubed 2 cups cubed (1/2” pieces) unpeeled eggplant 1 small zucchini, sliced 2 tomatoes, cut in wedges 1/2 tsp each dried thyme and basil salt and pepper

In a large non-stick skillet, heat half of oil over medium-high heat; add onion, garlic, mushroom, and sweet pepper and stir-fry until tender, about 4 minutes, adding up to 2 tbsp water if needed to prevent burning. With slotted spoon, remove to side dish and set aside.

Heat remaining oil in skillet; add eggplant and zucchini; stir-fry for 4 minutes or until tender.

Screw that dirtying another dish shit. My zucchini and eggplant JOINED the mushroom mixture. No waiting until the zucchini’s “ready” for mushroom to come on the scene for my ratatouille.

Return mushroom mixture to pan, add tomatoes, thyme, and basil; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

You may notice a dearth of tomato on my plate. That’s because tomatoes, untouched by the heat, salt, and pulverizing of the canning process, are kinda gross. So I didn’t put them in. Nyeah.

This was ok. I’m pretty adventurous, but I still think that many iterations of eggplant are a little shifty-eyed, this one included. Conclusion: not rat shit. Also not mind-blowing.

Makes 6 servings.