Apple Pineapple Salad

Today's recipe is a fresh tasting fruit salad that we have often enjoyed at our extended family gatherings. It goes amazingly well with a turkey and/or ham dinner. You can prepare this the night before the dinner or in the morning of and it keeps well for days.

Ingredients:

• 6 - 8 apples
• 1 14oz can pineapple tidbits
• 2 cups pineapple or pineapple/orange juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch

Method:

1. Pour pineapple tidbits, along with the juice, into a large bowl.
2. Peel and chop apples into tidbit size, adding to the pineapple tidbits as you chop. Stir in between to allow pineapple juice to coat apples. The juice will keep the apples from going brown.
3. In a small pot, bring 1 cup pineapple juice to boil. In the meantime, shake sugar, cornstarch and 1 cup juice in a tightly covered container, then add to boiling juice, stirring until thick and smooth. Allow to cool.
4. Pour chopped fruit through colander, then mix with sauce. Chill to serve.



 

Making Soup in Marg's Kitchen

Join me for a day in my kitchen making my favorite soups. I love making hearty soups with chunks of meats and vegetables.  Usually, this is a full meal served with fresh homemade bread or biscuits.

Creating a large pot of soup allows that unexpected family member to drop by and leave with an appetite that has been satisfied.

Today I am featuring my version of Chef Dez's Bacon & Cheddar Corn Chowder.  I was at one of his cooking shows a few weeks ago and I'm always amazed at how he blends herbs and flavors together making you think that it came right out of your Grandma's kitchen.  I saw him packing up the extra grilled corn cobs.  I was quick to ask him, "What are you doing with the leftovers?"  I quickly volunteered that I had a perfect recipe...and would be willing to take them home and whip up Chef Dez corn chowder soup, using my version instead.  My version is adding more bacon and farmer sausage.

Moral of the story...I got what was coming and could not escape the consequences.  I was asked to cook my version of the soup and serve the staff at  Grand Pappys. 

I'm also highlighting a few of my favorite soups that you can find on our blog or in our cookbook.  This is the best time of the year to make soups with all those fresh garden vegetables that need to be used before the winter storms appear.

Bacon & Corn Chowder

First Step

• 12 slices bacon
• 1/4 smoked ring farmer sausage
• 1 medium onion diced small
• 1 large carrot
• 2 large celery stalks
• 4 cups fresh corn kernels
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp fresh tarragon
• 1 tsp oregano
• 4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp sambal oelek 

Second Step

• Potatoes  

Third Step

• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups cream
• 1/2 half red bell pepper diced small
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Cook bacon in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat until crisp. 
2. Remove bacon and reserve for garnish later.
3. Chop all the vegetables sliced thin and add all the ingredients above to the rendered bacon fat in the pot.  The grilled corn added that extra smoked flavor.
4. Add the chopped farmer sausage to the vegetable mixture.
5. Keep stirring and once the butter is melted, cover and turn down the heat to medium to sweat the vegetables for about 5 minutes. Do not brown the vegetables.
6. While the vegetables are cooking, peel and cut two large potatoes (diced 1/2 inch) and steam them in water for about 10 minutes. 
7. Once the vegetables have steamed, remove the lid and stir in the flour.
8. Cook for about 2-3 minutes to remove the starchy taste of flour.
9. To avoid lumps, stir the milk in gradually to the flour/vegetable mixture and add the cream.
10.  I chose not to puree the soup.
11. Add the steamed potatoes, including the potato water. ( I can't waste potato water)
12. Add the diced bell pepper and parsley.
13. Bring to a simmer over medium heat stirring often to avoid burning.
14. Garnish each bowl with remaining chopped parsley and reserved bacon pieces.

Optional: if you like cheddar cheese you can add 2 cups to this recipe. I opted out! 

One of my favorite tools in the kitchen is a parsley mill. They can be found in any kitchen boutique.
Enjoy this soup and savor the flavors.  You will want to make this again.

 Green Bean Soup / Gruene Bohnen Suppe

 This bean soup reminds me of the good old days when my Grandma invited us for bean soup.   It's an all-time favorite and the secret ingredient for this soup is a small handful of summer savory.

Cabbage Borscht

I purchased a new spice ball and it's plenty big enough but serves many purposes.  I've added fresh beets to this recipe and don't forget to add a  handful of fresh dill.  Otherwise, it's not Borscht!

One more favorite ~ Harvest Corn Chowder

This soup is made with chicken broth and I have modified this by substituting cooked chicken rather than farmer sausage and bacon.  This too makes a delightful meal on a cold winter day.
My favorite cook-wear is Le Creuset.  They were wedding gifts and I have replaced some of my pots after 40 years.

Add a loaf of your favorite homemade bread or biscuits and you are ready to have a full-size meal.

What are your favorite kinds of soups?

Farmer Sausage Soup

We have a restaurant here in the Fraser Valley that serves a great farmer sausage soup...using ground smoked sausage.  I recently discovered that one can remove the raw farmer sausage from the casing and then brown the meat as a base for this soup.  We quite enjoyed it!

• 1 pound raw farmer sausage (or any similar smoked sausage)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 cups water 
• 3 medium potatoes, cubed
• 3-4 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 cups corn (frozen or canned, kernels or cream corn)*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup grated cheese

1. Slit casing of raw farmer sausage and remove the meat by scraping it out with a tablespoon. (If the sausage is not 'raw meat', finely chop before sautéing.)
2. In a Dutch oven or soup pot, saute sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. 
3. Add the water, potatoes,carrots, celery, salt, pepper, basil and cayenne. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.
4. Add the corn and heat through.
5. Using a wire whip, combine flour and milk and stir mixture into soup. Add grated cheese and cook, stirring constantly, until soup returns to a boil. Cook several minutes longer to melt cheese and thicken slightly.  

*I like to use one can of corn kernels and one can of creamed corn.

 

Wild Rice Blend Soup

Cooler days are here, soup's on. I love to have soup on hand at this time of year. We really enjoyed it, a nice change from the usual soups that I cook.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped 
• 3/4 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2/3 cup corn
• 1/2 cup flour
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice blend, uncooked, I used a blend of wild and brown rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon thyme
• 3/4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups 10% cream or you can use whole milk

1. Melt butter over medium heat in your soup pot.
2. Stir in onion, celery, carrots, and green pepper, saute a few minutes until tender crisp.
3. Add mushrooms, corn, flour, and stir until well combined.
4. Add chicken broth, bring to boil, stirring constantly.
5. Stir in chicken, rice, all the seasonings, and cream.
6. Simmer until done, stirring occasionally, approximately 2 hours.

Poached Pears with Warm Cream Sauce

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.

This weekend we are celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving. Today being Saturday there will be many cooks in the kitchen preparing their family favourites. Tables will be set in autumn themes, turkeys will be thawing, salads will be made, buns will be baked, homes will begin to take on a holiday cheer. 

Fall desserts are some of my favourite. Warm poached pears with cream sauce is one I like to serve during this season. It's a really nice dessert to serve after dinner, or one I like to serve when we have guests in for just coffee and dessert.

• 6 pears
• water to cover pears
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/4 lemon, juiced, plus 1 tsp lemon rind
• 1/4  cup white wine or apple juice

1. Wash pears. 
2. Fill a pot with water. 
3. Stir in brown sugar and add the cinnamon sticks and lemon juice, rind and wine or apple juice.
4. Place washed pears in water. Add more water until pears are submerged.
5. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a slow boil. Continue to cook until pears are tender, but not too soft or mushy when poked with a sharp small knife. This takes approximately 20-30 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and carefully remove pears. Discard brine. Place pears onto a cutting board and slice off a very small amount from the bottom of each pear so that they stand on individual serving plates. (See serving suggestions at bottom of recipe)
7. Serve warm with warmed cream sauce. Recipe follows. Best served right after they come out of the cinnamon sugar brine.

Cream sauce: (can be made a day before and slowly heated when ready to serve)

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 cup whipping cream

1. Place sugar in a small sauce pan. 
2. Drizzle with lemon juice to moisten sugar.
3. Stir in whipping cream.
4. Place over medium heat and stir until mixture gets very warm, but do not boil. 

Serving suggestion:

Warm caramel ice cream topping and drizzle it over your serving plates before placing your pears on the plates. Place pears in centre, add a scoop of ice cream and top with warm Cream Sauce.

Pumpkin Angel Food Cake

You've just been told asked to bring a dessert for Thanksgiving and you are wondering what you could make that seems like a homemade dessert but really is a simple combination of several ingredients.  I understand that not everyone has time to bake from scratch and so I tested this cake  in our home and I can tell you that it turns out less like angel food and more like a moist pumpkin pound cake.  It will not rise as high as a regular angel food cake so your pan will not fill to the top like a regular angel food cake does.

You could bake it in two layer cake pans, a 9 X 13 pan, a tube pan or a Bundt pan like the cake you see in the photo.   In this recipe I have frosted the cake with a cream cheese frosting but you could whip up some heavy cream, slice the cake and add a dollop of whipped cream to each slice.

Either way... it's quite delicious and tastes like Thanksgiving!

• 1 box 450 grams or 1 lb white angel food cake mix
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 398 ml  / 15 oz can or 1 2/3 cups pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) 
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice ( or 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg )
• 3/4 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Spray the pan of your choice with cooking spray.
3. Combine all the ingredients in a large glass or metal bowl and beat on medium speed for one minute.  Scrape bowl once in between to ensure all ingredients have been mixed in.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick comes out clean.  The cake will need between 30 - 45 minutes to bake depending on your pan.  To test for doneness, a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of the cake should come out clean.
5. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/3 cup softened butter
• 1 cup softened cream cheese (can be spreadable)
• about 2 cups icing/powdered sugar 
• finely chopped crystallized ginger (optional) 

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese and then slowly beat in the powdered/icing sugar until you have a spreadable frosting that holds its shape.
2. Spread evenly over cake and garnish with finely chopped crystallized ginger.

Slices into 12 servings

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

I have been busy cutting up, and baking pumpkins to make puree. I like trying different recipes this time of year when the pumpkins are bountiful. The idea of shaping these dinner rolls into pumpkin shapes came from pinterest. At first I was going to make pumpkin butter horn rolls but I think this is a better look for the season. So fun to eat as you pull the sections apart. They are delicious served with butter, jam, or honey butter.

• 3/4 cup milk, scalded
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup pumpkin, canned (I cook and puree my own)
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups flour
• Egg wash, in a small bowl, whisk together an egg and 2 teaspoons water
• 14 pecan halves

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together milk, sugar, butter, pumpkin, and egg until blended.
2. Stir in salt, yeast, and 4 cups of flour. Add the rest of the flour as needed and knead 5 minutes to make a smooth soft dough. It may be slightly sticky. Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
3. Punch down dough and divide into 14 equal pieces.
4. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a parchment lined pan, flatten each one slightly with your hand. Cut each ball into 8 slices, being careful not to slice all the way to the center. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, for 45 minutes.
5. Using the end of a wooden spoon poke an indentation into each roll. Brush with egg wash.
6. Bake in a 375º oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place a sliced pecan in each indentation.
7. Yield: 14 rolls

Bread Bowls

Have your chili and eat the bowl too. Bread bowls are a fun way to serve chili or soup.

I use Anneliese's fool proof french bread recipe, and form the dough to the outer side of oven proof Pyrex bowls. creating bread bowls.

Ingredients: yields 10-12 bread bowls

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups hot tap water
• 4 1/2-5 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons instant yeast

Method:

1. Mix together first 4 ingredients.
2. Stir yeast into 2 cups of flour and add to liquid mixture.
3. Continue to add enough flour until the dough holds together in the shape of a ball, and is not sticky if you handle it with floured hands.
4. Cover and let rise until double, about 1/2 hour.
5. While dough is rising spray the outer side of soup sized oven proof bowls (I use Pyrex) and lay upside down on baking sheets. I have a convection oven which allows me to bake 6 bowls at a time. I can fit 3 bowls on each baking sheet. The remaining dough is fine to rest.
6. Press balls into a flat disc and form it to the outer side of bowls, pressing some of the dough down onto the baking sheet which will form the rim of the bread bowl once baked.
7. Bake in 400º oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and peel bread bowls off Pyrex and place face up onto baking sheets. Immediately put bread bowls back in oven to brown the insides for another 6-8 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining bread.
8. To serve fill bowls with chili or soup.

Freezing Apples

This is going to be a very simple and “maybe everyone knows how to do this”post, but I thought it would be kind of fun to put this annual fall activity to memory.
My parents bought some land by a lake 30 years ago and, besides enjoying many family gatherings there, we have enjoyed the apples, pears, plums, walnuts and hazelnuts that come free to the family that’s willing to go and pick or gather them up.

So this is what you do in order to have quick access to apples for crips or apples sauce in the winter:

•  wash, quarter, peel and slice apples, throwing them into salted water as you go ( about 1 teaspoon salt per 8-10 cups water in a large bowl)
• when bowl is full, pour it into large colander and let cut up apples sit while you continue with the next bowl
• spread apples on cookie sheets in single layer and freeze until solid, then bang frozen cookie sheet on counter to loosen apples
• put apples in ziplock bags, pushing out the air, and store in your own organic freezer section.

Pear Hazelnut Muffins

Hazelnuts and pears make 'the perfect pair'.  Combine them in these muffins and enjoy the taste of autumn!  I served them to the 'corn harvest crew' on the farm recently, and they disappeared in a hurry.

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour (or use 3/4 cup all purpose flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour)
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 large pears, peeled and diced 
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts

1. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.  
2. Combine dry ingredients and add alternately with buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. 
3. Add diced pears and hazelnuts; fold into batter.
4. Spoon into greased muffin tin.  
5. Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool for several minutes; then transfer to wire rack. 

Yield: 1 dozen muffins