September 2nd: Packet-baked mushrooms with thyme & Summer vegetable hash

Breakfast for supper!


I took a wee gander back in time to see if I had blogged about this recipe in the past and yes! I have. Not sure if I’ve made it in the intervening years but was ready to give it a go again. Sadie has become a mushroom lover, while Olivia, sadly, has turned away from the joy that is mushrooms. Perhaps she’ll work her way back. I do recall, as a child, I enjoyed canned mushrooms only. Disgusting.


Although my notes of years ago said not to bother eating this recipe with toast, (a) I decided to make this a full-on breakfast for supper meal (with no meat), and (b) Greg has been on a bread-making kick recently so I wanted to take advantage of his latest cheese bread. Good choice! Toasted cheese bread is a delicious accompaniment to this meal. I did take my years-ago advice and added pepper to the goat cheese coating. Good choice.


To round out the meal, I made eggs (over-hard [oops] for me & G, scrambled for Olivia, her favourite, presuming they are served with ketchup) and a vegetable hash. Sadie is my non-egg-eating child. I have tried every form of egg under the sun, with no luck. Even French toast, if it is at all eggy, will be turned away. She’ll eat most other things though, so I let her get away with this. No eggs for Sadie, no mushrooms for Olivia. When did my one-bite rule fall apart?!

I would make and eat both these recipes again tomorrow.


From September 2010's Chatelaine: Packet-baked mushrooms with thyme


3 228-g pkgs button or cremini mushrooms
130-g log soft goat cheese
4 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 tsp melted butter
8 slices country bread (or homemade cheese bread, should you have some handy)


Position rack in centre of oven. Preheat to 450F. Cut out 4 14-in. squares of parchment. Fold each square in half diagonally then open up and lay flat.


Slice mushrooms in half and divide among parchment squares. Fold each into a triangular-shaped packet. Fold and crimp edges and twist ends to seal. Place packets on baking sheet.

Bake until packets puff up, about 20 to 25 min.


Roll goat cheese in thyme and pepper to coat. Slice into 4 rounds. When mushrooms are done, snip open tops of packets. Drizzle mushrooms with butter and top with cheese. Serve with toast.


From August 2015's Chatelaine: Summer vegetable hash

Cook 1/2 red onion, finely chopped, in 2 tbsp butter in a large pan over medium until soft, 3 minutes. Add 1 finely diced zucchini and cook until tender, 3 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups corn kernels and continue cooking until warmed through, 1 minute more. Stir in 1/4 cup finely chopped basil.

January 14th: Mini Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins, Salmon Cakes

Two good recipes today. First up, from the 2013 Milk Calendar: Mini Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins. This one all the children liked, which was a relief. And, for supper, from January 2014's Chatelaine: Wild Salmon & Spicy Lime Cakes. This recipe called for Indian lime pickle, which would have added the referenced spice to the fishcakes. I couldn't find this in the two grocery stores I checked, so I used dill pickles I found in the back of my fridge. The fishcakes were on the bland side, and I likely won't make them again, but both my girls ate them, not with relish, but they did eat them, so it's a sort of win. I served the fishcakes with Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Mayo. I linked a recipe to this in February 2012, but I'll type out the recipe here for easy reference.

Mini Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) whole wheat flour
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
2 tsp (10 mL) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1 egg
1 cup (250 mL) milk
2/3 cup (150 mL) liquid honey
1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter
2 tbsp (30 mL) freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice
1 cup (250 mL) shredded zucchini (about 1 small)
1/2 cup (125 mL) miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter nonstick miniature muffin pans or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat and all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk, honey, butter and orange juice until blended. Pour over dry ingredients and sprinkle with zucchini and chocolate chips; stir just until moistened.

Spoon into prepared muffin pans, filling 24 deep cups or 36 shallow cups. Bake, in batches as necessary, for 15 to 18 minutes or until tops are firm to the touch. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

Makes 24-36 mini muffins.

Wild Salmon & Spicy Lime Cakes

1 potato, peeled
213-g can salmon, drained
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp finely chopped Indian lime pickle
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Boil potato in a small pot of water until tender, 15 minutes. Drain and mash well in a medium bowl. Add salmon (including bones and skin) to potato and mash with a fork. Stir in eggs, onion and lime pickle. Season with salt and fresh pepper. Form into 6 patties (mixture will be moist).* Pour panko into a deep dish. Coat patties with panko.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add oil, then salmon cakes. Reduce heat to medium. Cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Stir yogurt with cilantro in a small bowl.** Serve with salmon cakes.

Makes 3 servings, 2 cakes each.

*The patty mixture is very moist. I stuck it in the fridge while I prepped the fries, then made the patties. They were still tricky to keep together.
**I actually didn't make the dip as called for. I made my usual homemade tartar sauce:

Tartar Sauce

In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup each sour cream or plain yogurt and mayonnaise with 1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped dill pickles, 1 tbsp (15 mL) green pickled relish, 1 thinly sliced green onion and a pinch of cayenne. Optional: add 1 tsp (5 mL) finely chopped capers.

Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Mayonnaise

4 sweet potatoes (2 1/2 lb/1.25 kg)
2 egg whites
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) ground paprika
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
1/2 cup (125 mL) mayonnaise
1 tsp (5 mL) lime juice
1/4 tsp (1 mL) curry paste

Peel potatoes and trim ends. Cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick slices; cut eat lengthwise into 1/2-inch (1 cm) wide strips.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Whisk in oil, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Add potatoes, tossing to coat. Spread on a large parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheet.

Bake in 425°F (220°C) oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until tender and edges are browned and crisp.

Curry Mayonnaise: Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, lime juice and curry paste; serve with potatoes.

Makes 4-6 servings.

July 31st: Zucchini Boats and Vegetable Skewers

Vacation Day 10. Tonight for supper I made, from July 2011's Chatelaine (and apparently a repeat from 2006; I didn't catch this!): Curry Salmon with Zucchini Boats: salmon fillets rubbed with curry paste and barbecued, accompanied by hollowed out and barbecued zucchinis filled with a mixture of plain yogurt and green onion and topped with a sprinkle of cilantro. The salmon was fine but I won't bother to keep the recipe. The zucchini was good though, and even G&O, non-zucchini fans, enjoyed it. If you're looking to use up those plants growing like weeds in your garden, here's one quick and easy way...

Some with cilantro, some without.
We all know why!

To accompany the salmon and zukes, I made, from July 2009's Vegetarian Times: barbecued vegetable skewers, loaded with potatoes, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, more zucchini, onion and pepper. This recipe is tasty but has a number of issues: the vinaigrette recipe makes double what you actually need. The cook times are far short of what is required to cook the vegetables. The taste, though, is quite good and I'll be making them again.

September 14th: Cinnamon chicken with sweet potato and zucchini with goat's cheese and pine nuts

No rest for the weary. Literally. Tonight was going to be my night off, but I got a call for an emergency sub at the gym. Oh, the things I do for my friends. Day five of six in a row of teaching BodyFlow, and oh yes, I attended my lunch time yoga class today. The question is, will I attend tomorrow? Weather-dependent; tomorrow's yoga is on the lawn of Parliament Hill. This would all be fine, fine, fine, if I did not also have to work 8 hour days. And sleep? I must find time for some.

Tonight's class was a later one, so I had time to do most of the work for supper, and Greg was left to finish it, plate it, and photograph it. Tonight's supper was delicious, or so I thought when I ate it at 9:00 p.m., in a hungry state. Since I have finally convinced Greg to love goat's cheese as I do, it turns out that it is the secret to get him to enjoy zucchini, which I love. In fact, tonight's meal consisted of five of my favourite foods.

I took liberties with tonight's recipes. From September 2010's Chatelaine: Cinnamon Chicken with Sweet Potato. The original recipe called for butternut squash; I subbed in sweet potato. O and I could eat sweet potatoes til the cows come home, but G doesn't agree, so next time, for his sake, I will throw in some toasted pecans and top with brown sugar. 

From Epicurious: Zucchini with goat's cheese and pine nuts. This one I altered heavily. I sliced the zucchini in rounds and pan-fried, then topped with the dressing, to which I added sugar and Dijon. I actually forgot to include the salt; oops. I didn't bother with the basil, and I topped with goat's cheese instead of Parmesan. So it was really nothing like the original recipe, but it was amazing! I singed my tongue eating a few rounds of zucchini hot out of the frying pan before I zipped off to the gym.

As a side note, the zucchini recipe called for eating raw zucchini, which I've never done. I keep reading about raw food diets and they almost always talk about eating zucchini "ribbons." So I may try it yet. Pan-fried zucchini is just oh so good though.

Night.

September 3rd: Lime-Marinated Steak with Zucchini

Friday night!



Greg is a realtor and works impossible-to-predict hours. Today, O and I were on our own for supper again. After a chilly swim and a warm shower, I threw this supper together while talking on the phone to Rachel, and I didn't make any mistakes. It gets high points for both taste and easy preparation. Tonight's meal was from September 2010's Today's Parent (noticing a trend?!): Lime-Marinated Steak with Zucchini.

It tastes strongly of fresh lime juice and raw garlic, both of which I love, but you may want to proceed to caution! The zucchini flavoured with nutmeg was surprisingly good. With some corn on the cob on the side, we were good to go. Loving the local veggies this time of year.


When Greg ate his portion hours later, we agreed: this recipe goes in the "try again" binder. Yum!