3rd Day of Halifax Yuletide: Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup!

Today I woke up with half my face stuffed up and with the aches. Only one week left of vacation. Great.

I decided, after a morning spent tidying up and packing, that I would treat myself to (two!) Smiling Goat Coffees. As I walked down Queen Street, with the snow gently falling, I realized that I would greatly miss the ability to just up and wander downtown on my days off.

After a few hours of reading I realized that what I really and truly wanted was to try to replicate the most delicious carrot ginger soup I have ever had... which was at Morris East (Bedford Location). And so, I made my way to Pete's... which is a convenience I will miss.

On the Third Day of Yuletide my True Love Gave to Me: Pete's Frootique

(An Amazing Bookstore and Some Delicious Coffee for Me!)

Pete's Frootique, although not perfect, is a convenient place to quickly pick up some fresh and local fruits and veggies (you just have to read the labels carefully), some soap and body butter making supplies, along with fancy and different ingredients. The original Pete's is in Bedford, but it just won't be the same as stopping in on my afternoon wanders to pick up something fun and tasty for supper.

I remember growing up watching Pete share his favourite fruits and veggies on Live at Five (CTV, oh yeah!). Since then his business has grown exponentially with three stores, his own line of products AND his own (delicious) vineyard! Originally from England, Pete Luckett has his own consulting company.

There was a time when Pete's had a live piano player playing ragtime on an old piano in the Bedford store location. How neato is that?

In order to try to combat my cold, I picked up some organic local carrots, ginger, organic coconut milk and organic vegetable broth- figuring I could modify this carrot miso soup recipe from Smitten Kitchen... Crossed my fingers and what do ya know? It tastes delicious!

So, here's my adjusted Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup (admittedly not as amazing as Morris East, but pretty darn close!)

EcoYogini's Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

(all ready for tomorrow's lunch!)

Ingredients:
2 lbs of peeled thinly sliced carrots (local is best, since fresher is always better with carrots re: flavour)
3 chopped cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons (could have been 4) of freshly grated ginger
1 can of organic coconut milk
3 cups of organic vegetable broth
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 onion chopped
salt-pepper to taste (Andrew said he put "a bunch" of salt in the soup, I would say a tsp)
(extra kick: 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper flakes)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Before it gets too hot, add the carrots, onion and garlic and stir until onion is translucent (about 10min). Add broth, coconut milk and ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30min (or until carrots are tender).

Using an immersion blender, blend up the soup. If you want a less thick soup, using a bowl and a mesh strainer (or cheese cloth) and the soup ladle, strain the soup.

Serves 4-6 bowls. :) Enjoy!

DIY Delicious Dark Chocolate Quinoa Granola

I love granola, especially the sweeter, sugar filled the better. It's like pretending I'm eating something that is good for me...

My favourite 'bought' granola is the SchoolHouse Gluten-Free granola- the quinoa is just simply delicious. Unfortunately, SchoolHouse granola is pricey and I eat through it too quickly for my liking.

Since I now have more time on my hands, I decided to see if I couldn't try to make granola with quinoa using a recipe I found a few years back. I purchased some ingredients in bulk, realized I was missing a few ingredients at home, substituted some, made a delicious mistake involving chocolate and came up with the most yummy, delectable, sinful granola there ever has existed.

Lucky you, I am sharing!

Delicious Dark Chocolate Quinoa Granola

(Modified from Crunchy Domestic Goddess's recipe)

(NB: granola is a very forgiving product; you can replace ingredients, decrease sugars, add ingredients and it should be fine as long as you respect quantity and ratios. So if you look at this and think- whoa sugar! feel free to cut out the brown sugar, or use more honey and less maple syrup, or more oil and less sugar products. I also think you could just replace all the oats with quinoa and it would be fantastic).

Sauce:

1/3 cup of olive oil+1 tbsp

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

4 tbsp of maple syrup

4 tbsp of honey

Body:

3 cups of rolled oats

3 cups of puffed quinoa

4 tbsp of dark brown sugar

2/3 cup of chopped almonds

2/3 cup of pumpkin seeds

Post baking additions:

2/3 cup of dried cranberries

2/3 cup of dried blueberries

1 cup of dark 72% chocolate chopped

Pre-heat the oven at 275 degrees and using butter grease two baking sheets.

In a small sauce pan bring the sauce ingredients to a simmer over low heat.

In a large bowl mixed together the "body" ingredients. Pour the sauce and mix together. Scoop the granola onto the baking sheets, patting with a spoon to create an even layer (about 1cm thick). 

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove, attempt to flip and stir the granola and pat back down to 1cm layer. Bake for another 15 minutes (or until golden brown).

Remove, scoop into a large bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the dried fruit and chocolate while still somewhat warm. Mix together to coat the chocolate throughout the granola. (If you prefer chocolate chunks, allow the granola to cool completely before adding).

Now you have the most delicious tasting granola on the planet. Yum!

Handwritten Recipes and Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved it when mom would let us "help" her bake. I grew up believing that every recipe should have a name in front of it, like "Trudy's Gingersnap Cookies" or "Grandmère Evelyn's Bread".

(mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe she handwrote for me a few years back. I can't bring myself to copy it over anywhere.... so it's faded and food smudged. I love it)

Mom never baked or cooked from a cookbook. Nope, she had her own little black book of recipes, bought in the early years of her marriage. I love this book, it's filled with recipes handwritten by my mom. To this day, I feel like recipes are only "legit" if they have a name and are handwritten somewhere.

My mom is a fabulous baker and cook. That said... I happen to also kick butt at baking. Oh, I don't do it as often as she did while we were growing up, but that's just because Andrew and I usually devour an entire batch, cake, pie in two or three days flat.

One of the recipes I have tweaked (and have to say *might* result in better cookies than my mom's-GASP I know!) is her chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Mom uses shortening (I use real butter), light brown sugar (I use dark sugar), 1 tsp of of baking soda (I use .5), 3 cups of flour (I use 2.5~2.75) and she bakes her cookies at 350 (I bake at 325).

In solidarity of sharing recipes, I thought I would share my mom's (adjusted) chocolate chip cookie recipe :) It's not healthy, and I've noted the planet friendly changes you could make, but they sure are delicious!

Lisa's Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Makes about 3.5 dozen cookies)
Preheat oven at 325F

• 1 1/3 cup of butter (salted)
• 2 eggs (free range/local)
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 cup white sugar (fair trade)
• 1 cup dark brown sugar packed (fair trade)

Cut butter in cubes, place in glass bowl and soften in microwave (approx 30 secs). In large bowl add butter and sugar: cream together. Add eggs and vanilla.

(Using the butter wrapper, or a stick of cold butter, grease the pans. Spray grease is gross and has added chemicals!)

Once this is mixed well, add the following:

• 2.5 to 2.75 cups of all purpose flour
• 0.5 tsp of baking soda

Using a wooden spoon, mix together. Go with less flour first (I typically start with 2 cups, mix and then add until the dough separates from the sides of the bowl. Your local humidity of where you live will affect this, so trust your gut over the actual amount of flour).

• Add the ENTIRE BAG of semi-sweet chocolate chips (fair trade, organic).

Mix together with a wooden spoon.
Using a teaspoon, scoop out enough to make a cookie the size of a golf ball and roll it in the palm of your hand. Place them 3 in a row, 4 rows per pan leaving 2 inches between (trust me, they will spread).

Bake them between 10-14 minutes. Now, the trick is to set your timer for the minimum time (always with cookies) and to check them, adding 1-2 minutes afterwards. Each oven is different, so always use your instincts! I bake *these* cookies until I see that there are good brown edges all around so they are crispy AND gooey.

If you take them out and think, "Darn too early!", just leave them on the pan (over a burner) for a few minutes, the heat from the pan will continue baking them.

If they are perfection- wait a few minutes and remove to a baking rack to cool.

Enjoy!

(please don't copy this post, and the images, and share them on facebook like the current trend with recipes. It's stealing and not cool. Instead, I would it if you shared the link to my blog post directly- THAT is très cool- merci!)

Adventures in Carrot-Ginger-Apple Soup Making: Storing in Jars

Did I ever share with you all that both Andrew and I are ridiculously fussy eaters, but in different ways?

Yep. Fates definitely missed the perfection of our relationship on that account. He has such an aversion to all things vegetable and fruit (I KNOW? Wtf right? Who dislikes FRUIT?) and I have such an aversion to all things freezable and well... sauce-esque, I have no idea what we're going to do in order to model normal eating in our non-kitten twinkle in our eye.

Hopefully not the model that Kraft Dinner is amazing. (which, btw, I am eating right now. Yum yum! And mom said that when I grew up I wouldn't like KD- fooled her!).

Let's just say that eating healthy and environmentally friendly is NOT an easy thing to do when a) vegetables and fruits are restricted along with b) anything freezable and canning-y-fied and c) sauce-condiment-esque.

My sauce aversion also kinda extends to soups. Which I am slowly, over the course of the past six years, making baby steps to rectify. Mostly what happens is that I am forced to eat some type of soup at a restaurant (say, conference, or fancy place that it's a set menu- like this NYE) and I have to admit that although I feel a bit squeamish on the texture, it might actually taste kinda good. I usually also feel nauseous at the end of the soup eating experience since it's so NEW and disturbing and the texture grosses me out, but that's beside the point.

I can LIKE the taste.

When Andrew said he would actually eat frozen soup (well, soup that we had frozen and de-thawed) I was all over that like Asteya on her cat food. Then he said the c-word.

Carrot.

(our rainbow carrots. Although I tried to choose the more 'orange-y' ones, the resulting soup still ended up looking like snot...)

ICK. I am a firm believer that carrots should be enjoyed à la crunchy. And not à la mushy. I know because I've tried carrot soup before (yes, that was for my mother- yes mom, I have tried carrot soup, three times). Anyhoo, I decided that since I knew exactly what was going into this soup, and in solidarity with my Andrew's attempt at getting some type of vegetable in his system, I would eat some soup.

(But oh how I love rainbow carrots!)

We also decided the we would store said mushy carrot soup in mason jars. If you haven't already been made aware- mason jars are the bestest way to store, freeze and enjoy soup:

• They are easily stackable
• they are plastic-free (99% anyway)
• they are uber easy to clean
• they are cheaper than fancy storage containers
• they store a ton of soup
• they are easy to carry to work
• it's super duper easy to reheat soup in a mason jar (or dump into a bowl like I did)

Our plan- if the soup actually tasted not disgusting, the next time we would double the recipe and make enough to store for lots of lunches. Woot woot!

One small hiccup- we only have a 'magic bullet' (no no, not the sexy-time toy!! the blender, silly!) which doesn't allow for the greatest puree-ing, nor very much blending at a time. But we managed. And it actually didn't taste that bad (although it was kinda applesauce-y).

Andrew INSISTED that the BEST recipe for carrot soup was from Chatelaine- Carrot Apple Ginger Soup. I also insisted that we add our own secret ingredient- a bit more apple and chilli pepper flakes.

(Andrew, blending away. We had to use a oven mit since the soup was so hot... at least it wasn't in the plastic jar part very long!)

A few thoughts: chopping onions suck. I would put less onion than the recipe calls for. Also, rainbow carrots from the market- although tastier, made the soup look less orange and more brown. A bit icky. (Andrew believes that Chatelaine photoshopped their carrot soup example. I must agree).

If you freeze soup in a mason jar, be sure to leave 1-2 inches for expansion room.

We should invest in a stick blender.

(Andrew wanted me to share this picture, since it looks the most orange. But I assure you that IRL it looks much more snot-esque and less happy orange....)

Also- I requested that the next recipe be something like butternut squash... carrots are just meant to be crunchy.

Blueberry Pear-Cider Jam Filled Cookie Recipe!

While in PEI I discovered a wondrous thing (that most of you probably already knew): liquor can be added to a jam recipe. WEEE!! 

After picking 15lbs (of which we got 10lbs) of blueberries, I was determined that we would make (successful!!) blueberry-champagne jam. 

Unfortunately, champagne (and bubbly) was not available at the Farmer's Market. QUICK- change of plans (cuz I fly by the seat of my pants like that)- Tidalview Cider. After some deliberation as to the best flavour for blueberry jam, the deciding factor was the fact that we'd have to drink the rest... so Pear Cider it was.

As there weren't any blueberry- pear cider jam recipes we kinda had to wing it. That and I had no idea how to do the 'canning' part. We must have used THREE different recipes, for a mish mash. Wouldn't ya know- it worked out! 

EcoYogini's Blueberry Pear Cider Jam:

Software:

6 cups of blueberries

5 cups of sugar (ack!- but we'd already bought normal pectin and not low sugar so...)

1 package of regular powdered pectin (Certo)

1/2 cup of local Pear Cider

Hardware:

Large saucepan/pot

4 large mason jars (or six smaller ones)

A canning pot & rack (you can get cheap versions at Canadian Tire)

Potato masher

Step 1: Take blueberries out of the freezer, place all six cups in the large saucepan and turn on low. If your blueberries AREN'T frozen... well luck you! Have faithful man-assistant periodically try to mash the blueberries.

Step 2: Place the mason jars in the canning pot, two inches of water above. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes to sterilize. Bacteria can be nasty buggers, especially if you're preserving. Afterwards, leave the jars in the warm water until you're ready with the jam.

Step 3: Open the Pear Cider, pour a 1/2 cup in a measuring cup, cover so fruit flies don't kamikaze into the cider. Continue to pour you and your man-assistant each a hefty glass of cider. Enjoy.

Step 4: Into a bowl, add 1/2 cup of the allocated 5 cups of sugar to the pectin package- mix. 

Step 5: When the blueberries are all mushed up by the potato mashing skills of your man-assistant, add the pectin-sugar mix and bring to a hard boil. Then add another 4 and a 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of pear cider. Stir continuously, bring back to a hard boil (that a stir can't break) for 1 minute.

Step 6: remove the jars (this was scary as we didn't have handy dandy jar lifters, so tongs were used. No jars broke thank goddess) and fill them with yummy jam leaving 1/4 inch from the rim, clean off excess jam. Place lids and put back in the canning water pot.

Step 7: Keep 2 inches above the jars and boil for at least 5 minutes- we boiled for 8 minutes.

Step 8: Remove the jars (seriously, fancy lifters would have been handy). Place where they won't get bumped and leave overnight. Done!! Jars should be kept sans lid-rings to better see spoilage if it happens and should be good for 6 months (put date on lids). If you don't preserve them, the jam needs to go immediately in the fridge.

More than just jam for your toast, this yummy creation makes a kick-butt filler for my mom's jam-filled cookie recipe. YUM!

EcoYogini's Blueberry-Pear Cider filled Cookies:

Preheat oven at 350F, use butter to grease pans (ew- Pam spray is gross and fake)

Cream together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of butter (melted or softened), 3/4 cups of sugar.

Mix in 1 and 3/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt.

Roll dough in balls and place on cookie sheet. Afterwards, dip your thumb in flour and make little thumb prints. This recipe is a blast to do with children (or your hubby.... lol). Using a spoon, fill the thumb prints with your beautiful blueberry-pear cider jam.

Bake for 8-10 min. This is crucial- check the cookies at 8 min. They are ready when you see a tiny hint of brown along the bottoms. 

Enjoy!!

article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Eating Eco- MOOSE!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade :)

After reading my discussion on how to ethically and environmentally eat meat, my mom was so kind as to pipe up that dad had procured some wild moose meat! She promised that we could have an ENTIRE frozen roast when I came home for the holiday weekend. My mom isn't really a fan of wild meat, and dad often has to give his deer and rabbit meat away (to families who greatly enjoy it). She gave this meat away gladly lol.

Just a quick summary, meat production (including organic, biodynamic or wholistic) uses much much MUCH more energy and has a higher carbon footprint than other real food. Of course, making the choice to eat local, sustainable and organic (whether certified or if you know the farmer practices organic farming without certification) is vastly better than eating antiobiotic, corn-chomping unhealthy growth hormone meat.

The next step- sustainably harvested wild game.... MOOSE!

Our beautiful moose was killed in Newfoundland by my uncle and cousin. They only give out a certain number of moose tags a season, and hunters pay a pretty penny for them. I have actually never seen a real live moose.... Nova Scotia doesn't have a huge population. All I know is I never want to encounter a moose while driving on the highway (actual signs posted in NFLD)! Moose are now considered the dominate ungulate in Newfoundland and are a part of the deer family. They have majestic antlers which are covered with a delicate skin called felt which they shed when the antlers become full grown. They are truly a majestic, Canadian animal.

Our moose meat was in the form of a roast. We decided to try frying small strips on the stove. Since this was my endeavour, Andrew kindly said he'd be my "sous-chef" and that I could cut the meat. Right. One look at the red, red meat dripping blood on our bamboo cutting board and I started to gag. I am a scaredy cat. I shamefully passed along the title of chef to Andrew, who bravely cut out two steaks. The rest was easy- fry in the pan with garlic, real butter, spices and a bit of sauce.

We took our first adventurous bite and chewed. And chewed. Well, I would have chewed some more but an entire STRING of fat got caught in my teeth. ACK. The chewing was over. Hmmm. frying moose meat was NOT the  best idea.

Unfortunately we still had a GINORMOUS thawed out roast dripping happily onto the cutting board (I could only briefly look at it before turning away quickly like the wuss that I am). Andrew being a genius, decided to slow potroast it... and three hours later it was DELICIOUS. SUCCESS!!! So here is our Moose recipe numero DEUX :)

Andrew's Yummy Moose Potroast

First: In a large dutch oven-type-pot put some extra virgin olive oil, turn up the heat and sear the meat on all sides (thongs are useful).

Then- put in a cup of water and a bunch of vegetable stock (he really doesn't know how much). He put in enough to squash his mother's fears that it would all evaporate (they were visiting). He reports that in the end he had extra liquid because of the fat.... But at least the apartment didn't burn down haha.

Ok, with the water and veggie stock add some salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce, sage, marjoram and he was going to add garlic but he forgot. I think garlic would yummy!

Last: Put the lid on and bring the liquid to a simmer and let cook for three and a half to four hours.

While you are doing this, go to the local sustainable restaurant (The Wooden Monkey) with in-law parents and enjoy yummy organic ginger beef while periodically reassuring the in-laws that "no we're sure the apartment isn't burned to the ground by now". 

The moose was fantastic, tasted just like potroast! We ate moose leftovers for the entire week. :) We didn't take any pictures, mostly because I have such a weak stomach and was distracted by my need to run away from the bloody kitchen lol. My conclusions though, moose meat didn't taste "gamey" at all and was in fact scrumptious when done right (i.e. NOT pan fried! lol).

Blessings!

Lobster Chowder+Yoga Class= UGH

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade

Having spent parts of Easter weekend at home with my parents it was great to be surrounded by ocean, crazy wind and lobsters. Fishing was a part of almost every single conversation, it was fantastic. I walked into the house and dad had about a dozen lobsters alive on the front step in a crate and another six or so already being steamed on the stove. Mom was a little miffed that he had brought so many, but dad gives lobsters and the meat as gifts during holiday seasons. So, mom was relegated to shelling dozens of lobsters before our pork meal was to be prepared... I got to stand next to her and eat my favourite part- the legs. I offered to help, but really I am so much slower than she is at shelling lobsters. At my house we never ate lobsters straight out of the shell- way too much work for a meal. We always had them creamed or in a chowder... yum!

Of course I got about four lobsters worth of meat to bring back with me and so I made a chowder tonight. Lobster chowder is my favourite way to have lobster and I thought I'd share my easy easy recipe with you!

First; three tips on shelling lobsters that I had to learn by calling my mother:

what you need: A VERY sharp and large knife (think chopping knife), a fork, a rolling pin/jam jar, a small shelling scooper dealy (comes with kits- a long thin instrument will work too).

1. The claws have a sweet spot, trust me. Take your knife, turn the claw "palm up" and (after taking the small "thumb" off) chop between the "thumb" joint and the end. The claw should crack right down the middle and snap apart... if your knife is sharp enough.

2. Twist the tail off, then twist the little fan part at the end off. Take the tail, "face up" in your hand and with your fork hook into the 'belly' and pull the tail out.

3. The leg meat is the BEST part (along with the knuckles of the claws). An easy way to get the meat out is to take a rolling pin/jam jar and roll along the legs, squishing the meat out! mmmm.

Ok! NOW you are ready to make an awesome chowder!!

Ingredients for a small chowder that would serve four people:

Four Organic Potatoes

One Organic Onion

About four tails/claws lobster meat

three cloves of organic garlic

1/4 cup of butter 

1 litre of 10% cream and some milk.

First: chop up the potatoes into 1cm cubes until they cover about an inch of the chowder pot. Add 

just enough water to cover them (butter if you want too) and boil. Add a whole (halved OR chopped up if you want, I just don't like onions... lol).

Fry the lobsters in butter and pressed garlic. Make sure when you are 

cutting the lobsters up in cubes that you clean out the tail. As you can see in the picture, the tail has a little peely part that reveals their... ummm... poo tract. Make sure you clean out the digestive matter prior to cutting (the same goes for frozen lobsters. Nothing is worse than seeing frozen black poo in the middle of a piece!). Once they are golden brown they are ready!

Add some cream to the lobsters and allow the butter and lobster "juice" to mix together (haha, can you tell I'm not the "chef" in the household??). 

When the potatoes are mushy (or cooked), drain a bit of the water and dump the fried lobsters and cream into the pot. Add all the cream and if there is some room (and you ran out of cream) add some milk. Which is what I usually do. Some people add grated cheddar cheese, which adds thickness. Personally I find it tastes UBER fattening. Add the rest of the butter, and season to taste. 

Voila! A sustainable, seafood meal that will impress your guests and should only take 30 minutes! (after shelling of course). 

Of course we ate our chowder and are now going to a yoga class... Cream probably wasn't the best choice for someone of my "iffy" digestive skills... LOL. Thank goodness we have two hours between!

Blessings!