The Yum Yum Factor

If you do a search of my blog, you will see that we appear to eat a lot of risotto. As soon as the weather turns colder, risotto gets bumped up to the regular weekly rotation. If you have some stock, a glass of white wine or a bottle of beer laying around, a handful of leftover meat or seafood, some vegetables or maybe some dried mushrooms, a little chunk of parmesan and a pat of butter lying around, you have dinner.

Winter is just around the corner and I find myself craving stuff like chili, stew and soup. Went I came to the blog looking for my chili, I was surprised to find that I didn't have a straight up recipe for my regular chili. I found a great recipe for  Red Chili Pork and Beans , Lentil Chili , and a Chili Chicken Soup  but no simple, meaty chili. I was sure that I had posted it at some point and after a search, I found it on No reEats, the blog that documented my year of never repeating a recipe. To be honest, that year was such a blur of stress and mental anguish, that I think I have blocked most of the meals from my memory in order to protect my fragile psyche.  I made a batch of this stuff over the weekend and realized that I had to share it with you guys because it's too good to keep to myself. This fills my 5 quart heavy pot or my 5 quart crock pot. It freezes beautifully by the way. Chili with Chorizo makes approx 4-5 quarts small glug olive oil 500 ...

Last Saturday, I took The Kid to The Windup Bird Cafe for the first of two, free sushi making classes that Sang Kim is offering to bring awareness to about child poverty and food insecurity right here in our own backyard. It was a packed house with kids from the age of 6 up to 15 with the majority hovering around 11 years old  (my kid was the giant 15 year old of the bunch). What I loved most about this afternoon class was not the facet that he learned to actually make a maki roll, although I am thrilled that he now has an appreciation of just how finicky these things are to make. No, what I loved was the sneaky way Sang uses making sushi as a sort of metaphor to make these kids think about something a little deeper. After each roll is finished, he makes sure that they all eat the roll they just made, even if it was terrible. After everyone has eaten their roll, they go on to the next and at the very end, they all say they are now full and can't eat any more.  San...

We love edamame. If you have ever eaten sushi, you have probably had steamed, salted edamame in the pod and might not even know what edamame is apart from the fact that it is a tasty snack. Let me give you quick answer: it is the preparation of immature soybean in the pod and it's packed with protein, fibre, folates, vitamin K and more. In North America, we just call the actual soybean edamame, regardless of how it's prepared or whether it's in the shelled or removed. One of my favourite, quick lunch bag items, we go through this stuff like an ape goes through bananas. As much as we love the stuff, I am becoming increasingly wary of the soybeans coming from overseas because I can't really be sure about the quality. I keep reading all kinds of stuff about GMO's and other sketchy practices in production, never mind the fact that they are coming half way around the world to land in my freezer so who really knows how fresh they are? It is widely reported that 99% ...

Thrilling the Loblaws gang with my Cauliflower Fried Rice This week was pretty busy, starting with our annual tomato canning session with Nonna  , my September Cooking Demo at Loblaws, deliveries of Almond Breeze , Nanny Hudson's Homestyle Ketchup and a box of edamame from  MacKellar Farms . This means that there is going to be a whole lot of cooking going on in the next couple of weeks and that means lots of new recipes coming on the blog. Except for our Friday night trip to The Wren, we didn't eat out much so there isn't a lot to report on that front. I did attend a couple of media events but otherwise, I stuck pretty close to home. Flavor Your Life delicious canapes and desserts, all made with EVOO at Brassaii I bet you might think you know a lot about olive oil. I know I thought I knew how to choose a decent oil until this week, when I attended a presentation put on by the Flavor Your Life campaign. Jointly funded by the EU, the Italian Department f...

It's tomato time!    2011   was the last time we spent the day with Nonna and the gang, washing, blanching, grinding, skinning, boiling and jarring bushels of juicy plum tomatoes. Looking at those pictures, I can't believe how much The Kid and his friend, Patricia have grown and wonder how it is possible that as everyone else gets older, Nonna keeps looking younger all the time! Guardians of the future If you have never done this before, you might wonder why anyone would work from the crack of dawn until suppertime just to come away with 20 litre bottles of tomato puree? At $20 a bushel for the tomatoes, approx $1 a jar for jars and lids, surely you can just buy cans of decent San Marzanos for a couple bucks and save your lower back and shoulders? three teens, three adult women plus Nonna and one strong man to tighten the lids and it still takes over 7 hours to process a dozen bushels As I have said many times, I didn't grow up with any...

It was a busy week. I took a lot of pictures. I love the weekends at McEwan's when everyone is giving away free samples - okay that steak wasn't free Private party at This End Up  on Saturday meant more of my favourite, tasty snacks ALL FOR ME! My first real cocktail at This End Up since I only ever go there for lunch. The Mutt. Oh, it will happen again. Mare Pizzeria at 158 Baldwin and opened about a week or so. Shack enjoyed a delicious breakfast slice in Kensington. Nice big slice for about $3 Fika , in Kensington is the prettiest, most feminine little girl's wet dream of a coffee shop I have ever seen. Oh, the coffee is good too but don't go on the weekend if you are in a hurry. These Atsuete Shrimp Tacos - one of my two recipes entered in a bit of a recipe challenge using Pulo Cuisine Sauces and Marinades These Shroomy Beef Keftedes are my first recipe for Mushrooms Canada using this whole blend and extend method! It...

Oddly enough, Filipino food is quite new to me. Just when I thought I was pretty familiar with every sort of Asian or Southeast Asian food that's out there, I got my first real taste of Filipino food this year and I am on a mission ever since. Because it's a mix of Malaysian, Chinese, Spanish and Indian you would think that I would have come to this party a lot sooner, but better late than never, right? Crispy Pata now runs neck and neck with Chinese roast pork when I need my fix of crispy pork skin and I could take a bath in a big bowl of Arroz Caldo if I could find one big enough. Because of my new found love of Filipino food, I jumped at the chance to snag a box of sauces and marinades from Pulo  , hoping that I could come up with some fresh recipes built around them. I know, I know, you think that I don't generally use bottled sauces and marinades but that is not true. If the product is not full of preservatives and other things that make my dark litt...