In My kitchen!

Reflections on living life by the rules and daring to, occasionally, colour outside the lines!

Burgers with traditional Canadian ingredients to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday!

When you're out of ideas and don't have a hunk of meat handy...

Canadian life beyond Green Gables

Children have a complex and conflicted relationship with vegetables.  Take kohlrabi, for example...

Pickled grapes add a nice addition to "the usual suspects!"

Baking eggs for a crowd! This is a nifty idea for serving a lot of fried eggs without having to stand by the stove while your guests enjoy breakfast!

A reflection on taking time out of a busy day of irritations and stresses to enjoy the simple task of preparing dinner.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin wrapped in bacon brightens up a dull late winter day!  Oh and Pimento Cheese for a touch of the South.

Out for dinner and suddenly you need another gadget!

Changing the way we do things, from plastic bags to shopping baskets

Let's resolve to deal with the chaos that is the freezer - to preserve peace of mind!

The story that began with going to camp and ended with a passion for Belgian endives!

"Learning is fun!"  

Not true.  Learning is frustrating, exasperating and painful!  Knowing!  That's the fun part!

Olive cheese balls - or what to bring to a pot luck!

A good resolution to start the new year, is to inspect the ingredients in your kitchen for freshness!

Food magazines struggle to fine their target audience.  This is an even greater problem as they try to reinvent the classic turkey dinner!

This is a bit of a trick because it takes a lot of whisking and maneuvering, but it is really worth the fussing!  I like to add raspberries to the whipped cream filling and for garnish.  

Thoughts about the many uses of parchment paper and a nice recipe for gougeres (small bites of cheesy creampuff)

At our house, we refer to this dish as "Victoire"  because it was the great favourite of my husband, Victor.  It has been tweaked over the years to suit his taste.

Bolognese Sauce, Canadian style.  If every Italian can have their own version of Bolognese sauce, why can't we?

The best laid plans for a smooth dinner party can run amok when last minute requests have to be accommodated!

A stroll down memory land when Father always knew best, and Mother made casseroles...

This is a post about how globalization takes the fun out of travel and other things.

This is a column about people with food aversions (not allergies or sensitivities) and how a hostess can navigate these waters.

With apologies to all my gardening friends who actually know what they're doing!

We wear approximately 20% of our clothing 80% of the time.  And in our kitchens...

This post is a reflection on the fun of fresh fruits and vegetables in the spring, complete with a recipe, or rather a technique, for Frittata.

At last!  The secret to the perfect poached egg!  Try it!  Seriously!  It's magic!

Maple syrup. A reflection.

A reflection on food trends - and a recipe for tuna casserole!

Some reminiscences and a fact or two about my home town of New Ulm, Minnesota.  Also included, Mother's excellent German Potato Salad, creamy, warm.

Meatballs for fifty recipe.  This is a reflection on how we can use a label maker and a vacuum packer to create order from the chaos of our freezers and therefore lead a calmer and less harried life!

This is one of those recipes that just sort of evolves.  Sweet corn, Asiago Cheese, melted butter, eggs, Bisquick.  Hot pepper flakes.  A bit of salt.  

Click on "Read More" for the entire journey that became these waffles!

This is a reflection on how the movies we see can have a lifelong effect on our lives and menus!

This is a rant about folks complaining that fresh vegetables are too expensive in winter - culminating in a recipe for pea soup.

This is a story about how Mother accepted a dare from her friend Alice, that she could get the three of us to love any vegetable.  She chose spinach!

As an "early adaptor" I jumped at the chance to try the new and controversial food toy, the Sous Vide Cooker!

Joke:  A nice couple had bats in their attic.  They called in an expert.  He said, "Just put lutefisk up there and you will rid yourself of the bats."

When he phoned to be sure the solution worked, the couple said, "It worked like a charm.  No bats.  But now, how do we get rid of the Norwegians?"

People assume that big cities are complicated, and small towns are easy.  Not so fast!

Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe

This post is to encourage folks to be brave and to try mastering pastry. Often people give it a try, have a negative experience and give up for life!

Sometimes it's the simple things that are hard to get right.  In my case, that was rice!

Fresh Corn and Asiago Bread Pudding - The Inspiration!

Southern Living

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 (12-oz.) French bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes (8 cups)

4 cups fresh corn kernels

1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Asiago cheese

Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add bread, tossing to coat. Let stand 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Stir corn and cheese into bread mixture; spoon into a well-buttered 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until set and golden brown.

No matter how you pronounce them, scones are a delicious treat.  Best not to be enjoyed with every cup of tea, however!  

Cottage breakfast - Fried sunfish, potatoes and eggs!  Just a story really.  Not a recipe here.

We have here a true story - all my stories are true - of a traumatic moment in my early education and the impact it had on my understanding that beauty may well be only skin deep!

This is a reflection on our efforts to capture time, and our ultimate inability to do so. 

Much chattiness, but a good quick shortcut to homemade tomato soup at the end!

More of a chat, but if you persevere, you will get to my "go to" pizza dough recipe!

The "English Breakfast Pizza is just a variation on your basic pizza - great for brunch!

This is my basic "go to" bread recipe!  Martha Stewart is a great source of recipes!

A basic potato salad is easy to twist in any direction by just adding flavouring elements like pesto!

Use store-bought puff pastry to make this quick and easy Galette!

Spinach pasta is beautiful and delicious!

These crispy darlings are a quick and easy snack!

Just peel and eat!  It seems that the Dutch are the only ones to get this just right - even if they first import the eel from Canada!

A flashy dessert - easy to make and delicious!

Bread seems complicated and time-consuming, but it is really very simple and most of the time, it is just quietly rising on its own!  And the final product peats anything you can buy - at least around here!

Taking advantage of the best of the season is always a good idea!

This is a variation on the old carrot, raisin, mayonnaise salad of days of yore.