We're alive, just busy!

So we didnt die, and we have been eating: WE PROMISE!!!

Anne and I have been so so busy and we haven't had much time to make anything fancy(we do have some posts coming up though that we haven't had a chance to post). My family was in town for a couple days and my aunt decided it would be a good time to have a girls night out(and a good me to show off my new place). We went out to Milestones and enjoyed some appys and dinner :)

Speedy Stirfry

Basic Stirfry Sauce
(www.cdkitchen.com)

1 1/2 tsp seseme oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp tobasco
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Heat the seseme oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic and stirfry 15-30 seconds to bring out the flavour. Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, tobasco, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Bring just to a boil, stirring. Dissolve cornstarch in rice vinegar and whisk into sauce. Heat until sauce thickens and reaches a full boil.



After too many late nights and early mornings we were feeling extremely tired and lazy tonight. Not to bore you, we decided it was time to switch it up a little and make something other then soup for a change. We used this sauce with approx. 4 cups of mixed stirfried veggies and garnished with seseme seeds. The result was a speedy and delicious supper. For a quick fix supper we recomend you give this recipe a try. Its a refreshing way to finish a long hot summer day and just relax.

Muffin Madness

Basic Corn Muffins (allrecipes.com)

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease or line muffin cups

In large bowl mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add egg, oil and milk; stir gently to combine. Spoon batter into muffin cups

Bake at 400 for 15-20 mins or until toothpick inserted to muffin comes out clean.




We have been wanting to bake something for a while but since we are low on groceries we had to improvise a little. Instead of eggs we used 1/4 cup egg whites and we also replaced the oil with melted margarine. Lucky they still managed to work out and tasted pretty good. Minus the fact that Anne's stomach is killing her due to her wheat alleriges we will STILL be making them again ;)

Creamy Pepper Tomato Soup

Cooking oil 2 tsp
Chopped onion 1 cup
Chopped celery 1/2 cup
Chopped carrot 1/2 cup
Garlic clove 1 ( we used two)
All purpose flour 2 tbsp
Vegtable (or chicken stock) 3 cups
Can of plum tomatoes (with juice) 14oz
Jar of roasted red peppers 14oz
Tomato paste 1tbsp
Dried Rosmary 1/4 tsp
Bay leaf
Cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup

Heat cooking oilin large saucepan on medium. Add next 4 ingredients. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until onion is softened .

Sprinkle with flour. Heat and stir for 1 minute.

Add 1 cup ofstock. Heat and stir until boiling and thickened. Add remaining stock and next 5 ingredients. Stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to blend flavours. Discard bay leaf.

Add cream cheese. Carefully process with hand blender or in blender until smooth.




You guessed it another soup :) I'm sure you are used to that by now...we just can't help it, it is SO good! Have you ever had the boxed stuff and thought to your self,"I wonder how hard this would be to make?"...Well good news, ITS SIMPLE!!! In no time you will be chowing down on this vibrant and flavourful meal.
If you want to kick it up a notch, add some hotsauce and your tastes buds will be on fire. Quick, simple and delicious.

Not so magnificant Moroccan soup

Moroccan Lentis Soup

Cooking oil 2tsp
Chopped onion 1cup
Finely grated gingerroot 2tsp
Garlic cloves 2
Ground turmeric 1tsp
Ground cumin 1 tsp
Ground cinnamin 1 tsp
Bay leaf 1
Salt 1/8 tsp
Vegtable (or chicken) stock 6 cups
Dried green lentils 1 cup
Diced carrot 1 cup
Diced celery 1/2 cup
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Chopped cilantro OR parsley 1 tbsp
Grated lemon zest 1 tsp

Heat cooking oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion. Cook for 5 to ten minutes stirring often, until softened .

Add next 7 ingredients. Heat and stir about 1 minute until fragrant .

Add next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for about one hour, stirring occassionally, until lentils are very soft. Discard Bay leaf.

Add remaining 3 ingredients.Stir.



Okay so we have to be honest with you, this was not a great soup. It wasn't terrible or anything but it isn't something we will be making again. It was partly because the lentils weren't fully cooked and the taste of cinnamon was a bit over powering. We liked the lemon aspect of it, but hey that isn't enough to make this a winner. We had high expectations for this but unfortunately this did not live up to them.

Curry Cravings

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Cooking oil 2tbsp
Chopped onion 2 cups
Chopped carroto 1 cup
Garlic cloves, minced 2(or 1/2 tsp powder)
Finely grated gingerroot 2tsp
Curry powder 1 tbsp
All-purpose flour 1/4 cup
Chicken(or vegtable) stock 4 cups
Chopped cauliflower 5 cups
Can of 2% evaporated milk 13.5 oz
Salt 1/4 tsp
Liquid honey 3 tbsp

Heat cooking oil in lard saucepan on medium. Add next 4 ingredients. Cook for 5 to 10 micutes, stiring often, until onion is softened.
Add curry powder. Heat and stir for about 1 minute until vegtables are coated and curry is fragrant.
sprinkle with clour. Heat and stir for 1 minute.
Slowly stir in 2 cups (500 mL) stock, scraping any brown bits from bottom of pan, until boiling and thinkened. Add remaining stock and next 3 ingredients. Stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncoverd, for about 15 minutes, stiring occasionally, until cauliflower is tender.
Add honey. Carefully process with hand blender or in blender until smooth.




YES WE ARE ALIVE!!!Both of us have had a few busy days but we are back:) After coffee with a friend and talking about Mad Mango cafe the craving for curry came back to us. We also had a HUGE(I'm not kidding this thing was massive) head of cauliflower we needed to use. Since we loved the silky smooth texture of the egg plant soup we had we decided a pureed soup was the way to go. To add something special to this recipe a touch of cilantro, hot sauce and perhaps even plain yogurt to garnish would be the perfect finishing touches to a devine recipe. We really do promise that this whole blog wont be soup, we are just working our way through an amazing soup cook book so bear with us :)

Heaven in a bowl

Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Olive oil 2 tbsp
Chopped eggplant 2 cups
Chopped onion 1 cup
Salt 1/8 tsp

Garlic clove, minced(or 1/4 tsp powder)

Tomatoa paste 1 tbsp

Vegtable (or chicken) stock 4 cups
Can of plum tomatoes (with juice) 14 oz
Bay leaf 1
Dried Oregano 1/2 tsp

Heat olive oil in large saucepan on medium-high. Add next 3 ingredients. Cook for about 5 minutes, stiring often, until onion is softened.

Add garlic. Heat and stir for about 1 minute until fragrant.

Add tomato paste. Heat and stir for 1 minute.

Add remaining 4 ingredients. Stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, coverd, for 15 minutes, stiring occasionally, to blend flavours. Discard bay leaf. Carefully process with hand blender or in a blender until smooth.



I am writing this blog while Anne is in a food coma. Yes I am aware that we had "dinner" at 2am, but we had to fit it in some how...like the good girls we are ;)
Anyway Anne was a bit loopy so I made the soup, don't worry the drugs she took were prescribed. The two of us had never had eggplant before so trying this soup was a bit scary. WE LOVED IT THOUGH! You can almost feel the warmth of the Tuscan sun as you savour the flavour of this smooth and sophisticated soup. We enjoyed it very much and will be making it again soon, no doubt about that.