The Yum Yum Factor

Last week I hosted my monthly Supper Club at The Kingston Social, here in Toronto and the dinner was a Middle Eastern Feast with a touch of Jamaican thrown in for good measure. Each time I host, I like to try one new dish that isn't always mine but that I am dying to try out and this time, I really wanted to make this Moroccan Orange Cake  on the blog, Kitchen Confidante. I found the recipe so intriguing - using fresh bread crumbs in place of flour, the idea of soaking it in an orange syrup afterwards so it would almost like a cakey baklava was screaming YAAAAASSSSSSS. So, on the day, I realized that I only had an 8" spring form pan but the recipe called for normal cake pan so I borrowed one of those. I buttered and floured the pan and I made the cake only to discover that it WOULD NOT COME OUT! I had to, basically, dig the cake out of the pan as it stuck to the bottom and I found myself with three chunks of cake and a whack of crumbs on a day where I was going to have to...

I can't believe it has taken me this long to make yogurt in my Instant Pot but better late than never., right? I used this recipe from   Tid Bits  , which appears to be the standard recipe that everyone uses so I suggest you follow that link and use their recipe too. No need to reinvent the wheel when the wheel works like a charm. Because I was going to turn it into labneh, which is a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese, I omitted the vanilla. Labneh is like greek yogurt on steroids that has been drained to the point where it's so thick that you can roll it into balls if you want. Click here to see a great slide show with all kinds of amazing ways to use this stuff here it is at the Greek yogurt stage Okay, onto the yogurt: You need an Instant Pot Duo or the Smart version  To make a full batch of yogurt, you use a gallon or 3.7 litres of milk (in Canada, that equals three bags of milk. Yes, we have bagged milk in Canada and you should too world) 3 tbls of...

Last week I spent a few days making batch after batch of mock chicken wings out of roasted cauliflower. Each batch was tweaked and tinkered with until I found the right batter and the right sauces to turn them into a healthy snack that could satisfy my unnatural wing cravings from time to time.  Do you know what really put these things over the top so that my taste buds yelled OH YES, BUFFALO WINGS BABY! was the blue cheese dip. I love blue cheese dip but I don't need to be eating something that is full of full fat sour cream and whatever else is usually in it. I am thrilled with this version and plan to bathe in it momentarily. Lightened Up Blue Cheese Dip Ingredients 1/4 cup 2% greek yogurt 2 tbls light mayo (I like Hellmans) 1 tbls buttermilk 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar pinch salt 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese ( I use Castello Crumbled Danish ) Directions Whisk the yogurt, mayo, buttermilk, vinegar and salt together until smooth. Fold in the blu...

We celebrated Easter a while ago and for us that means that there was a ham bone hanging around the house the next day. For a really long time I always made split pea soup but for the last few years I have been making black bean soup instead. I love split pea soup but the boys seem to prefer black bean so that is the route I have taking. I recently started adding the chipotle because my kid was a wimp before but now that he likes a bit of kick to his food, AT LAST, I can spice things up around here. I usually do a chipotle crema but this time the chipotle could go in the actual soup and since that makes it a bit hot, I needed something creamy and cool but that wasn't just a drizzle of plain yogurt or sour cream. While looking at some other black bean soups to get inspired, I found one with an avocado cream on Eats Well With Others and loved the sound of that.

This month's Food Network Canada's Cooking Club Challenge was to use at least one of five featured PC products in a dish. Because I am on a bit of a popsicle kick AND it's Canada Day weekend coming up how could I not choose to make a popsicle with a nice Canadian theme. It doesn't get more Canadian than maple syrup, local strawberries and they are a very canuck red and white stripe. The cream/yogurt layer is a bit decadent but they can't all be healthy treats, can they and although I love the thickness of no fat greek yogurt, it can feeze with a grainy texture that I didn't want in this popsicle. I really had no choice but to mix it with some heavy cream - I might even try going the whole hog with whipping cream the next time to see how that turns out. Thankfully, the tartness of the pureed berries give a really nice break from that richness mid way through the pop and I am glad that I used the maple syrup instead of my standard honey as the sweetening agent...

My son really, really loves tzatziki and can easily go through a huge tub of it in a day or two. I often buy it at my favourite Greek market, where they make the yogurt and the tzatziki themselves but when I can't get there, I make it myself. Greek yogurt isn't always easy to find in the supermarket and it's often really expensive when you do find it so I was pretty thrilled to find out that Loblaws has finally come out with it's own PC brand greek yogurt. I tried to buy it for three days in a row and my local Loblaws was totally sold out but I finally found two containers at another store and bought them both. I ate the first container as my morning breakfast for a week, adding a big dollop to a bowl of fresh fruit with a drizzle of honey and a big spoonful of mixed seeds (chia, flax and pumpkin mostly). It's very good, very thick and tart and although, it's not as fabulous as the stuff I get at the greek market, it is certainly good enough for the times th...