It’s that blissful time of the year when all that holiday-season excess seems to have caught up with me and my suddenly-snug jeans. I know I’m not alone in this, right?

Last night, I whipped up a batch of this easy soup for a quick and hearty dinner and good lunch today. Packed with broccoli and thickened with potatoes instead of cream, it’s warm and substantial, and perfect for a cold winter night.

Try it, like we did, with a bit of cheddar and some rustic bread. It tastes like a broccoli-stuffed baked potato!

The easiest way to make this faux-cream soup is with an immersion or hand blender. If you don’t have one, the soup can be put into a regular blender instead.

The soup is done when all the pieces are cooked, so keep in mind when chopping your potatoes and broccoli stems. Smaller pieces will be done quicker!

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings

• 5 medium potatoes
• 1 head of broccoli
• 2 T butter or olive oil or a mix of both
• 4 C chicken or vegetable broth or stock, or a mix of stock and water
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• salt, pepper, red pepper to season

Instructions
In a large stockpot, heat the butter/olive oil over medium heat. Chop the onion and garlic cloves and add to the pot, stirring occasionally.

While waiting for the onion and garlic to soften, peel and coarsely chop the potatoes. (Larger chunks will take longer to cook, so try for consistent sizes). Add potatoes to the pot and cook over medium heat for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Pour in just enough broth/stock to cover the potatoes, topping up with water if necessary. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Wash and chop the broccoli stems and florettes into small chunks. Add to the soup and bring back to a boil.

Simmer until all vegetables are tender.

With immersion blender, puree until soup is smooth. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes as desired.

What you’ll need:

• A smallish turkey, butterflied. Ours was about 11 pounds. You could use a bigger bird, but it would require more cooking time.
• A large and fairly deep roasting pan that you don’t mind blackening. I used our old one; we just upgraded.
• Salt, brown sugar, and peppercorns for an easy brine – or your favorite mixture.
• Red onion
• Chicken or vegetable broth for the pan
• A bit of butter
• Tin foil
• A campfire with grill on top

Before heading to the campsite, I’d prepared the dry mix for the brine by measuring and putting into a series of large ziplock bags. I used about a cup and a half of kosher salt, a cup of dark brown sugar, and a quarter cup of mixed peppercorns.

Once at the campsite, I used the roasting pan to dissolve the brine mix in a quart or so of water; I eyeballed based on what I felt would be enough to soak the turkey. I added in a half bottle of beer at the last minute.

Then, once the mixture cooled, we poured it over the turkey into a nested set of sturdy plastic bags. Tying off the top, the turkey sat in the (now dry) roasting pan. I packed ice around it to keep it cool, but since the weather outside was just above freezing, it didn’t need a lot.

I recommend only brining for 4 to 6 hours. I brined overnight and it was far too long; the turkey was juicy but quite salty. Your best bet is to begin the brine the morning you want to cook the turkey, and plan on eating dinner around 7 that night.

When we were ready to start cooking, I drained the brine and put the turkey into the roasting pan, skin side up, with a cup of chicken stock and some onion slices. I put a bit of butter on the skin, as I’d do at home.

This roasting pan doesn’t have a lid, so I used tin foil to create a tight enough seal. On a campfire, the heat will be coming from below, so it’s important to keep as much of it in the pan as possible.

The turkey went on around 4pm. We cooked it over a high fire for the first hour, then let the fire lower for the next two hours.

At 7pm, the turkey was perfectly cooked; juicy and delicious.

Next year, we’ll try it again, with a bit more liquid in the pot and less brining time. Because I didn’t add additional stock as it cooked, the pan drippings burned a little, and were impossible to use for gravy.

On the side, we made mashed potatoes by boiling them in water on our camp stove. I also made a pan of sweet potatoes over the fire, cooked in a little broth and maple syrup. I had prepared cranberry sauce the week before, and we had store-bought rolls. A true thanksgiving feast!

Last weekend, we stopped at an orchard just outside of Belleville to pick up some apples and other yummy fall goodies. We packed 25lbs of assorted apples, including these delicious Russets, and a bushel of “B-quality” McIntoshes, for baking and saucing.

I’ve been really getting into the canning this summer. I’m in love with the idea of knowing exactly where my food comes from, even during the darkest days of winter. And I love apples. All kinds of apples. Especially with cinnamon and nutmeg.

One of my preserving books, Canning for a New Generation, suggested making Apple Butter in a slow cooker, rather than the traditional method of slowly simmering and stirring for a good part of a day. So, before work on Tuesday, I decided to give it a whirl.

Here’s my version of the recipe, taste-tested and enjoyed by my coworkers, Sandra, and Cooper and Jackson.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
You’ll need some basic equipment for this recipe. If you’ve never canned before, take a look at one of the many online tutorials for safe canning, or pick up a good book. Of course, you don’t have to can this recipe at all. Apple butter freezes well, and also keeps in the fridge for a few weeks.

Equipment:

• Food mill – I picked mine up at WalMart for about $30, and it’s a nice Italian stainless steel model. Look for one with a variety of grates. For apple butter, you’ll want the finest option.
• Immersion (hand) blender – Just a basic one will do; apple puree is soft already.
• Slow cooker with low setting. Standard size is perfect.
• Big pasta or sauce pot
• For canning, 6-8 half-pint jars, lids, and bands, or fewer pint jars. Yield will vary based on your apple variety. Also, a canning pot, rack, funnel, lid lifter, jar lifter, or whatever other gadgets you’d like to use.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds of a variety of apple types, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks. I find it works best to get one of those apple-corers, then cut the resulting slices in half.
• 2 cups apple cider; use the real stuff, it’ll taste amazing.
• sugar
• ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. I really like the extra tang from freshly grated nutmeg, but that’s up to you.

In your large pot, put the apples, apple cider, and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir often, reducing the heat to keep a boil without scorching until the apples are completely softened, about 20-30 minutes depending on variety. The mixture will look like apple sauce with some more defined bits, where you’ve used firmer apples. As long as they’re quite soft, it’s ready for the next step.

Working in batches, run the mixture through your food mill to separate the skins and any remaining seeds that found their way in. Measure the pureed apple when finished. I had 10 cups, but your yield will vary based on a lot of factors.

Put the pulp into the slow cooker and add seasonings as follows, or to taste:

• 3 Tablespoons cinnamon – I love the taste of cinnamon, this makes an intense apple butter that’s like the best pie filling. Feel free to reduce.
• 1.5 teaspoons allspice
• 1.5 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1.5 teaspoons ground nutmeg

For sugar, 2 tablespoons per cup of puree is recommended. For 10 cups of puree, I used a cup and a half of sugar.

Now’s the time to use that immersion blender to make the puree as smooth as possible. Cook on lowest setting with the lid propped slightly ajar for 9 to 12 hours, stirring if you can. I let it go all day when I was work, and just gave it a good stir when I got home about 10 hours later.

If you’ll be canning the butter, move it to a clean stock pot and bring to a boil, then fill your jars as indicated, leaving a half inch of headspace at the top. Process for 10 minutes.

10 cups of puree, in my case, made 7 half-pints of Apple Butter. Delicious!

Note: If you haven’t canned before, pick up a book or read online for safe methods. It’s not hard, but you want to be clean as possible and make sure to adequately process your jars.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a book on creative recipes for home preserving. One of them – this deliciously spicy Ginger Peach Jam – was too compelling to ignore. I came home last night with a few pounds of peaches and cooked up a pot of jam.

I’ve considered myself a decent cook for quite some time. I’m confident enough to know when to experiment, to add more or less of an ingredient to taste, to improvise as the mood strikes. But until this year, the domestic arts that require a little more precision and alchemy have evaded me; baking, candy-making, and canning. Earlier this year, I feel like I leveled up in baking. I’ve learned to take more time with measurements, to strive for perfection rather than improvisation. And the results have been pretty consistent.

So now, canning.

In particular, the preservation methods of making a well-cooked fruit jam into something safe and shelf-stable for a year, seem like miracles to me. Acid, sterilization, heat, pressure… it’s all quite cool.

The ability to have home-cooked foods out of season is pretty appealing too. Here in Ontario, our produce is among the most delicious I’ve ever tasted. Why not make that last a little longer?

Yesterday I made 8 250ml jars of Ginger Peach Jam. I have 7 to put away – or give away – and 1 already opened in the fridge for my morning coffee. All for about a dollar a jar.

You know what? It’s delicious.

I’m hoping to go to a fruit farm this weekend and pick our own. The Put ‘em Up book didn’t fail me on this recipe, and I suspect the others are pretty yummy as well. I have more peaches to work with tonight; a peach salsa or maybe a ‘regular’ peach jam for Sandra. And then we’ll see what else I can dig up.

This a little peak into my lunch bag today. And it’s last night’s leftovers, if you can believe that. I used a recipe from Food and Wine Magazine, and put a few of my own little tweaks on it.

You begin by making a quick broth with lemons, ginger, seasonings, a chopped onion and a bottle of beer. The broth simmers for 15 minutes or so to steep the flavours, and then the shrimp (and in my case, small scallops too) are quickly poached, then let cool.

Meanwhile, you work on the dressing, which is, in my opinion, the masterful part of this recipe. (And unfortunately not shown in the above photo cause it would have made my salad mushy!)

You can read the original recipe to see what I changed, or just take my version and run with it… it’s delicious.

Mango Tango Dressing

This makes a bit more than a C of dressing, plenty for a few salads, or to use as a marinade.

Peel and chop 1 fresh mango, (approximately 2 C if using frozen). Put in blender with the juice of 2 limes and 2 T whole-grain mustard and blend until smooth.

Add 1/2 C Canola or vegetable oil and blend until creamy. Add a handful of chopped cilantro, 1 chopped chili pepper, the zest of 1 lime and pulse to combine. Season with salt and black pepper as desired.

Finally, you toss the dressing with another diced mango, the chilled shrimp, a chopped cucumber, one diced avocado, and one chopped red onion. (You could also add in lettuce, but as I’m not a huge fan of lettuce-based salads, I leave it out.)

This is a fun recipe to cook, especially if you’re not really a salad fan. Although it’s served cold, there’s not a lettuce leaf in sight. And the mango mustard dressing is rich and sauce-like, which makes it super satisfying.

If you’re making this for dinner, wait until the very end to add the dressing, after you’ve combined the remaining ingredients. Then just add dressing to the part you’re going to eat right away and refrigerate the rest separately.

For a next-day lunch, put some of the dressing in a ziplock or small container and bring to work, along with a container of the salad mixture. Toss and then enjoy your gourmet – and fairly healthy – lunch.

Original recipe at Food and Wine >

This morning, I whipped up a batch of muffins loosely based on the recipe in the Joy of Cooking. I adjusted the seasoning to make for a more spicy base and am really happy with it! The muffins are not exactly healthy, but with skim milk, not as bad for you as store-bought muffins are likely to be. Plus, they’re fun and easy to bake. Pretty much the only rule is to not overmix the batter.

Preheat the oven to 400. Lightly oil or line a 12-muffin pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In another bowl, whisk together until just combined

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) melted unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Add 3/4 cups frozen blueberries and 1/2 cups frozen cranberries to the dry mixture, then pour in the wet mixture. Be careful to not overmix. Use a spatula, fold in the ingredients until just combined and evenly moistened. The batter should be quite lumpy.

Fill the muffin tin evenly as possible. (I’m terrible at this part!)

In a small cup, mix together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly on top of the batter.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into a few muffins comes out clean. You don’t want the muffins to still be gooey in the middle.

Wait a few minutes for the muffins to cool in the pan, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy! These are best the day they’re made.

On Thursday nights, Sandra’s been taking a Flash class down at Ryerson, so I’m on my own once a week to work on code and hang out with the dogs. I generally use the time to get all the things done I just don’t feel like doing when she’s around; laundry, computer stuff, dishes. But also, I take the opportunity to cook dinner for myself, choosing recipes that she wouldn’t like.

This simple skillet involves sauteeing potatoes and onions, and cooking with an egg mixture, then finishing under the broiler. I made a few twists to the base recipe to make it healthier.

Enjoy!

Tortilla Espagnole Swenson-Style
Makes two generous servings. For more, double the ingredients and use a full size skillet.

Ingredients:

• 2 white potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 3 eggs and 2 egg whites
• 2 T shredded aged parmesan (optional, but delicious)
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper and chili flakes

Instructions:
Preheat the broiler to high.

Heat 1 T of olive oil in a small omelet-sized ovenproof skillet. Add onions and potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine and cook over medium until tender but not falling apart.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat eggs and egg whites to combine and add additional salt, pepper, and chili flakes as desired.

When potatoes and onions have cooked, add to bowl of egg mixture. Add 1 T of olive oil back to skillet and heat. Pour egg / potato mixture into the skillet evenly. Do not stir!

Let cook, covered if possible, over low until the edges are fully cooked and the middle is set but still glistening, approximately 10 minutes.

Sprinkle parmesan evenly over the top.

Uncover and put under the broiler for an additional minute or two until cheese has melted slightly and top is a light golden color.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Place a plate over the skillet and invert, then slice and serve.

I had one of those days today, and by the time I got home, I was a basket woven of stress and anxiety. I was also insanely and irrationally hungry, despite eating lunch at 2:30.

I wanted french fries. Or mac and cheese. Or pizza. Or chicken pad thai. All comfort foods, all hot and delicious. Instead, I whipped up a huge pot of Black Bean Chili using some leftover chicken from the night before.

While I cooked, I realized that this meal, while very low fat and high fiber, also deserves a place on my junk food list. It’s warm, and satisfying, and feels somehow, more than a little ‘naughty’ for someone watching her weight.

It’s also insanely fast. In 20 minutes, you’ll be eating a freshly cooked homemade meal with the ingredients and seasoning you choose. And on Weight Watchers, without cheese, a serving is just 3 points.

This recipe can be as hot as you like. I use a mix of Chipotle and Ancho chili powders to get a big amount of kick. You can tone it down by choosing a conventional chili powder; flavour without heat. It’s also great for leftover meats of any kind. I find you don’t need or want a lot; just one chicken breast dices up nicely for this quantity.

RECIPE
Makes 4-6 servings

What You Need:
1 T olive oil
2 onions
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
2 15oz cans Black Beans (or one Black Bean, one Kidney Bean – your choice)
1 C frozen corn
4 T Chili powder – I like 2T Chipotle and 2T Ancho for a good balance of heat and flavour.
salt and black pepper
grated cheese for garnish – optional
1 chicken breast, cooked – optional
half bottle of hoppy ale – optional

How to Do It

Heat the oil in a heavy stockpot and add the onions, coarsely chopped. Cook while stirring until the onions turn golden.

Add the tomatoes and beans and season with the chili powder and some salt. Add the beer (optional) or broth and bring to a simmer.

Add in the frozen corn and chopped cooked chicken, or really any meat.

Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Since everything’s already cooked, you’re just trying to help merge the flavours.

Taste and check for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if desired.

Serve in bowls with a bit of cheese for a garnish.

BONUS: This chili is even better the next day!

And then, Sandra came home with a great deal on a frozen turkey from Sobey’s, and put on her sad face when I explained my plans.

Since this one was smaller, say, 12 pounds or so, I thought it would be fun to try something a little riskier than my usual high heat roasting technique.

Browsing the recipes at FoodAndWine.com is one of my current favorite ways to spend a few minutes. When I stumbled across the Panchetta-Wrapped Roasted Turkey recipe, I knew I had to give it a go.

It starts out with a brine made of salt, jalapeno slices, and a whopping 1/2 cup of red pepper flakes. If you know me, you know that I like the spice. The hotter the better, actually. Well, after giving the brine solution a few stirs, I had enough hot in my lungs to make me have to leave the kitchen in a coughing fit. Cooper and Jackson quickly hid upstairs, and even Sandra chose to stay safely in the living room.

Undaunted, I slid the turkey into the brine and covered it with saran wrap to let it steep overnight in the fridge. I wasn’t sure that it would be edible, but it’d sure be interesting!

The next day, I mixed up a spice rub of chili powder – I used chipotle for the smoky heat – cumin, and fresh spices. After rubbing it over the turkey, I layered slices of regular pancetta to cover as much of the bird as possible.

Pretty stunning, eh?

Again, I was a little skeptical, though. The recipe advised cooking breast up at 325 for 4 hours; longer and slower than my usual methods.

And yet, four hours later, we enjoyed the most deliciously and subtly seasoned turkey I’ve ever cooked.

What makes this recipe not only beautiful but brilliant is the element of surprise. With that much spice in the rub and the brined, we’d expected the turkey to be quite spicy as well. So, that first bite that was just delicately flavourful was a happy shock. The pieces of meat just under the skin had a tiny bit of kick, but the rest was just tender and juicy. (How could it not be with a layer of fat locking in all the flavour?!?)

In any case, I highly recommend this recipe. Next time? I want to try the same technique with a maple brown sugar chili rub and layers of smoked thick-cut bacon.

It’s a bit of an annual tradition for me to cook a big American-style Thanksgiving some time around the actual holiday. I love making all the traditional dishes this time of year. It’s always cooler outside, closer to Christmas, and thus, more festive feeling to me than the Canadian Thanksgiving in mid-October. And, it seems to be a great time of year to get friends together to share a meal and some good conversation.

This year, we hosted 9 guests in our new very old house in Toronto, and I started prep work a week or so in advance. I have two favorite cookbooks right now; The Joy of Cooking and Food and Wine’s 2009 Annual Cookbook. Not surprisingly, I pulled most of the recipes from these two sources.

I wanted to keep most of the recipes vegetarian-friendly, so substituted vegetable broth for chicken where possible. I also wanted to pick a menu with a balance of flavors; rich, mellow, subtle, and warm.

The Menu

• Roasted Turkey from The Healthy Butcher, brined overnight in a sea salt / maple syrup reduction. I follow the basic instructions from the Joy of Cooking, but also make a lemon / rosemary butter for basting.
• Eggplant Parmesan made with Japanese and standard eggplants. I used Food and Wine’s Recipe nearly verbatim.
• Glazed Sweet Potatoes were intended to be tossed with five spice powder and a walnut toffee. The toffee was more caramel-like in consistency, so I drizzled it on top with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg instead. (Base recipe via Food and Wine.)
• Maple Ginger Roasted Veggies with Pecans. This recipe kicked major prep-time butt. I used pre-cut veggies; cauliflower, butternut squash, baby carrots and mini brussels sprouts. Again, this was another recipe from Food and Wine.
• Gruyere Mashed Potatoes. The secret to my mashed potatoes is using about a half cup of grated gruyere cheese when beating in the milk. Just enough to lend a nutty flavour while not overpowering the potatoes.
• Fennel, Red Onion and Foccacia Stuffing. I substituted vegetable broth for the chicken to make this a good veggie side dish. This Food and Wine recipe was so delicious and light, I’ll make it again next year. (Or maybe for Christmas?)
• Traditional Bread Stuffing baked inside the turkey. I use Joy of Cooking’s time-tested recipe as a base, with lots of fresh sage and rosemary. I also used homemade chicken stock for added flavour.
• I always make giblet gravy with a splash of red wine. I think it works really well with the richness of the turkey.
• Mushroom wine gravy was vegetarian and velvety. I more or less made this up by sauteeing button mushrooms in butter and olive oil with fresh sage, then adding vegetable broth and red wine, and finally whisking in a roux of butter and flour.
• Tossed salad with argula, apples, and walnuts.
• Apple pie with crumb topping and homemade cinnamon ice cream. I used Martha Stewart’s all-butter crust recipe but it didn’t work out that great, so I opted to top with a butter/sugar/flower crisp instead. It worked really well with the smooth home-churned ice cream.

So, all in all, it went well. This was the most amount of people I’ve ever cooked for, and I found that we plenty of food, but not nearly enough gravy. I will definitely brine the turkey again next year. It was deliciously seasoned and fun to see a turkey in a bag in my fridge overnight.