French Onion Soup (Working Class Foodies)

I remember finding the cooking channel on YouTube years back when I first got into cooking and this blog. Julia Child has influenced me in many ways, but I think Working Class Foodies is what gave me the drive to create a blog to document the recipes I make up or try out.
The very first video I watched from WC Foodies was 'French Onion Soup'. And at that, I immediately went to go buy beef stock because I had everything else in the pantry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH9S47_3wL0&feature=plcp&context=C3b77adbUDOEgsToPDskILN7R0BFj6D2b0GQY1xECS

If you're interested in seeing what WC Foodies is about, go to that link above. I feel like WC Foodies is modern and contemporary but it's also really 'good food'. They make wholesome, yummy things that just seem to have a lot of thought and love put into them! (:

Almond Tea Cookies!

Adapted from: Bravo! Best of Bridge Cooking

I've been MIA from my blog for so long now, but to be honest, blogging, cooking, photography, and writing are things that just aren't at the top of my list at the moment, With that said, I will try to post more often, but honestly, I have 3 followers on this blog... so it's not very important to me to try to post every single thing I cook.

I found this recipe for these awesome biscuits in a cookbook I received for my birthday a few years ago. However, when I looked at it, I thought... "Butter?" As Julia Child once said, "You can never have too much butter." But in tea cookies? I got kind of grossed out so I switched in the butter for shortening, which is much healthier. Overall though, these cookies are quite healthier because the recipe only calls for one egg white (no yolk), and almonds, when grounded, acts almost like butter, so it's a great substitute.

Ingredients:
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup Ground Almonds (buy whole, blanched almonds and grind them)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Golden or Vegetable Shortening (You can also mix in 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup shortening)
1 Egg White
1 teaspoon Almond Extract

Step 1: In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
Step 2: In larger bowl, cream shortening and sugar together until white and fluffy. Beat in egg white and almond extract.
Step 3: Pour dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir until the mixture becomes a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 45 minutes.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 5: Roll tablespoons of the dough into little balls and place them on a greased/lined baking pan. Flatten the dough balls out with your fingers or a glass cup. Bake the cookies for about 10-11 minutes, or until the edges or lightly browned.
Step 6: Serve with a hot drink.

French Style Scrambled Eggs

One day I was watching French Food at Home and Laura Calder made these eggs. I tried out her recipe (I looked for it online again), and they were delicious! I've never made my scrambled eggs any other way since!

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
salt & pepper

1. Separate the eggs. Yolks in one bowl, white in the other.
2. Melt the butter in a pan on medium to high heat. Whisk the egg whites slightly to produce some froth, and pour them into the pan. With a fork, quickly stir them. (If you know what baby vomit looks like, well at this point, that's what the eggs will look like)
3. Do not let the eggs over-cook. Once the egg whites have turned from clear to white, immediately add in the yolks and stir frequently.
4. Take off the heat, add salt and pepper for seasoning. (The eggs should look almost like a paste)
5. Serve with anything you like! I like eating my eggs with ketchup or bacon.

So, I described how to make these eggs in a very... gross way eh? I promise you, they're delicious!

Turkey Caesar Sandwich (Carolyn's Sandwich)

I was at Tim Horton's the other day and for the longest time, I've only eaten their chicken noodle soup and their tuna salad sandwich. I decided to try out their turkey caesar sandwich it was such a heavenly sandwich. It was very light and if you don't count the bread, it only had four things in it, but it tasted so good!

Ingredients:
Bread (any kind you like, my friends)
Lettuce (green leaf or romaine, don't use iceberg - it'll taste odd)
Thinly sliced cooked turkey breast
Thinly sliced tomato
Caesar salad dressing (any kind that is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon)

1. Toast your bread, tear out your lettuce (one leaf is plenty), slice your tomatoes (two slices).
2. Wait for the bread to cool a bit, then start layering!
3. I usually spread about a tablespoon of dressing on the bottom slice of bread, place two slices of turkey breast, two slices of tomato, and the lettuce. Top with the other slice of bread, cut in two, and enjoy!

Voila!

Hollandaise Sauce Recipe is Driving Me Insane!

So I don't know why, but I've been stuck on this Hollandaise Sauce for a while now. I want to perfect this recipe before I put it on here, so bear with me!

I bought a manufactured packet of powdered Hollandaise sauce today - to try out, you know? Compare it to the one I've been making. It's by McCormick, and I also buy their herbs and spices, but anyways, it tastes... well delicious. The only problem? It's factory-made, and that just takes out all the goodness of it. Oh, and it's so thick it seems more like a savory pudding than a sauce.

Even the ingredients are hard to pronounce. But! Hold everything! One of the ingredients was onion powder! Now I'm not a fan of using onion/garlic powder either, but this got me thinking... So far, my Hollandaise sauce had always been too salty, or too acidic. I mean, the only other spice I've put it is nutmeg, and I think I'll stick to that because it gives it a light, wintery feel to it.

So, I will go and make Hollandaise sauce again, and I think I'll add some onion and garlic to it. Maybe something a little sweet too, and less of something citric.

As much as I love the taste of this store bought Hollandaise sauce, I would much rather make my own. Part of the fun of cooking is creating your own flavors and to me, this is just too good that you can just tell it's store bought. Besides, I'm looking at it now, and it's getting gross and chunky. Rule #1 - wait, rule #1 is Hollandaise sauce is NOTHING without butter. So, rule #2, Hollandaise sauce should be served warm - not hot, nor cold. If I were to leave this store bought thing to cool down even more, it'd be pretty darn gross to eat.

Hollandaise Sauce

It is currently 10:32 pm that I am typing this down and instead of writing my overly romantic novel, I just had to watch Julie & Julia, and I just had to see the part where the delicious Hollandaise sauce was made, and I just had to get inspired and think to myself - "Eggs and butter? Sure!"

And so I rushed downstairs, remembered the recipe in my head, and literally winged it. One, because I currently do not own a whisk. My lovely old one was broken months ago, and I'm suspecting one for my birthday, so I see no need to buy one. Besides, I haven't made anything that requires a whisk in months. I had about three egg yolks, and eight heaping tablespoons of cold butter. Not to mention lemon juice, and my own personal seasonings.

I whipped together the egg yolks and lemon juice with a fork, and then put the bowl on top of a pot filled with boiling water. Then I whipped the egg mixture until it was slightly warm, and then started to add butter, a tablespoon at a time. The whole time I was adding butter, I kept thinking "please don't let this be like last time." I was referring to when I first tried this sauce without the correct ratios and I failed. I wasted eggs, and butter.

It was thick, and creamy, and... sour. Not overly sour that I couldn't eat it, but I added salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and that toned it down. The next time I make this, I will add less lemon juice. The acidity from the lemon helps the yolk and butter emulsify but I don't think I need as much as I put in.

I boiled some snap-peas quickly, and it was like I died and went to heaven. The sauce... was amazing.

Very fattening, but very delicious.

I absolutely promise you that once I really make the sauce work and taste even more delicious, Julia Child's Hollandaise sauce will definitely be on here!

Sloppy Joes!

So I said I was inventing some vegan, vegetarian, and meat burgers - yeah... they tasted delicious, but they were more of a... unsloppy, sloppy Joe to put on burgers. Bottom line, I couldn't figure out what to add to make them hold together more. So in place of the burgers, here's a quick sloppy Joe recipe that I'm proud to say I invented myself! This is probably the first with meat.


Ingredients:
Half of a large onion, diced
1 1/2 cups ground beef
2 cloves finely minced garlic
6 white mushrooms, sliced
1 diced tomato
156 ml can of tomato paste (or simply 150 ml of tomato paste if you can't get a can)
1 cup beef broth
1 small carrot, chopped
1 tablespoon paprika spice
Pepper flakes (optional)

Step 1: On medium-high heat, saute the onions, ground beef, and garlic. Once the beef is cooked, add the mushrooms and coat them evenly.
Step 2: Turn heat to medium-low and add the diced tomato, tomato paste, and broth. Stir to combine and cook for five minutes. Stir occasionally.
Step 3: Add the carrot, the paprika, and the pepper flakes if you prefer. Do not cover, and continue to cook for 30-40 minutes or until the carrot pieces have become soft. Adjust your seasonings (add more salt if needed).
Step 4: Get big bread buns out, and ladle on some sloppy Joe!

This should serve about 3-4 people, depending on how much you eat.

Nancy's Cordial

So I'm going to link this recipe with one of my favorite books - Anne of Green Gables. In the book, Anne mistakes wine for raspberry cordial, setting her friend drunk. So naturally, I searched everywhere for a raspberry cordial recipe. There was one on a PEI cooking website, but I think that would've taken an hour or more to make. There was the boiling, the measuring, and the preserving. To be honest, I didn't have the patience for that, even if it's Anne of Green Gables. There are two main ingredients that make a fruity cordial taste not like ginger, and not like the fruit itself.

INGREDIENTS:
Ginger-ale
Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries (anything that can be boiled to make a jam/sauce)

Step 1: Use leftover blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries to make a sauce. In this recipe, I used blueberries but I really recommend using raspberries. Put them in a saucepan, add a teaspoon of sugar if necessary, and a tablespoon of water. Boil until the fruit becomes soft and a sauce forms.
Step 2: Strain the fruit through a sieve and discard the fruit.
Step 3: In a tall glass, pour in ginger-ale to the top of the glass, and add a tablespoon of the sauce and stir fast until foam starts to over-flow the glass. Add ice, and enjoy!

Cooking For One: Hot & Spicy Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups Chicken Broth
4 White Mushrooms
1 teaspoon Finely Minced Ginger
1 tablespoon White Vinegar
1/2 tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy you want it)
8-10 Frozen Shrimp (thawed)
1 tablespoon Chopped Green Onion

Step 1: Boil the chicken broth and begin slicing the mushrooms. Add them to the broth, along with the ginger, vinegar, and red pepper flakes.
Step 2: Make small incisions on the back of the shrimp and add to the broth. Cook for 10-15 minutes, and serve! Garnish with the chopped green onion.

This little gadget...

Otherwise known as a flour sifter!


I found this at the thrift store... oh my goodness - best thing ever. You could easily use a sieve to sift the flour through when making pastries, but if you know me, you'd know that I like to do things the old fashion way.

Basically you measure the flour, put it in the sifter, and you crank the handle. I can't wait to try it out!

Been inventing vegan, vegetarian, and non-vegetarian burger options...
So far, they taste delicious, but the burgers look more like sloppy joes to me, so I will update once I find the right ingredient to add to them!

In My Opinion...

This new section on Peek in Your Pantry will be my own personal opinion on things I've tasted/eaten. I think though, my opinion will always be a good one. I will also devote this section to my many, many, many failed recipes, or things I could work on.

Shrimp Cakes/Patties

So I did not come up with the recipe for these. I don't remember what my mom said when she told me the ingredients, but I do know these contain shrimp, garlic powder, salt, pepper, some other kind of power, and oil. They're so, so, so good!

Personally, the next time we make this, we'll add less salt, because it seems more like something to eat with a main course, than something just as an appetizer.

Basically, you mix all the ingredients together, and you fry them in oil! And they take maybe three to four minutes to cook. Super fast, and super yummy!

If I can find the correct measurements, I'll post a recipe as soon as possible.

Summery Lime-nade

So this is the only way I will make lime-nade. I'm not a big fan of lemons, but you could easily make this with lemons if you want.
Adding some chopped mint leaves will give the lime-nade a fresher taste, and that's insanely important for those hot summer days.

Ingredients:
4 limes
4 cups cold water
1/2 cup sugar

Step 1: Zest all four limes, and put the lime zest in a large jug. Juice the four limes and also add to the jug.
Step 2: Pour in the cold water, sugar, and stir. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Step 3: Before serving, dip the tips of the cups in water, and then in sugar to create the frosty tip. Slice up some strips from another lime and attach to the cup. Stir before pouring the lime-nade.

Rosemary Potatoes w/ Garlic and Onion Steamed Mussels

So I remember seeing something about garlic steamed mussels in a Winter cookbook, but I never actually got around to actually reading, much less, trying the recipe.
At first I made the potatoes, but then I realized I needed some stock to make gravy to go with them. I opened the freezer up, no frozen stock, but I did find a pack of frozen mussels. So that's where this came from!

Ingredients:
Rosemary Potatoes
4-5 medium sized russet potatoes
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic and Onion Steamed Mussels
10 frozen, or fresh mussels (fresh mussels will take longer to cook)
2 bay leaves
6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
pinch of ground pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the potatoes, skin on or off, into french fry like pieces. Toss on a baking dish with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary until evenly coated. Bake in the oven until they are soft and tender.
Step 2: Place a non plastic plate, bottom up in a pot. The plate should be about the same size at the bottom of the pot.
Step 3: Pour half a cup of water in the pot and bring the water to a boil. On medium heat, add the two teaspoons of salt and bay leaves.
Step 4: Line the mussels up in the pan. Sprinkle in the chopped onion, garlic, pepper, and pepper flakes. Drizzle on some olive oil, and put the lid on the pot.
Step 5: Occasionally lift the lid up and slightly stir.

Frozen cooked mussels should take until the onion, and garlic are very soft, tender, and sweet. Fresh mussels will hold more flavor, but will take longer. They are done when the shells open up. Discard any mussels that have not opened.

Place the potato fries on a dish, and two to three mussels over top. Pour some of the liquid from the mussels over the mussels and fries. Serve hot.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/3 cup canola or vegetable Oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large bananas)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Step One: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a loaf pan. Grease by buttering the pan, then cover with a thin layer of flour.
Step Two: Mix the oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a bowl. Add the mashed bananas and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until the dry items are incorporated.
Step Three: Bake in the center of the oven for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the bread looks too dark, don’t worry, it’s still very moist and delicious (this depends on the oven).

Ratatouille!

Some may call it "poor man's stew", but Either way, Ratatouille is a very thick stew, or hot salad, that has a lot many ripe vegetables in it. The reason why they called it poor man's stew is because this was considered a peasant dish, and at some restaurants, it's still seen like that in France. YES! French food! When vegetables got too ripe, instead of throwing them out, peasants would make something like Ratatouille! Which is... Ratatouille... of course.

There are many different variations on how to make this. If I'm making this for one (which I do often, because no one eats the food I make except me), I usually just stir everything together. You could slice the vegetables up, and arrange then in a casserole dish and bake the Ratatouille, or you could layer the sauce and vegetable neatly on a plate. It's really all up to you.

One last thing is, there are endless possibilities with the vegetable choices. What I used in this recipe is only a suggestion. Besides, every time I make this dish, I use whatever vegetables are available to me. I've used everything from corn, Chinese cabbage, zucchini, to Asian mushrooms, and bell peppers.

Ingredients:
6 medium sized tomatoes
1 medium white onion
1 clove of garlic
1 large eggplant
A handful of spinach
Dried pepper flakes
Bay leaves
Rosemary
Salt & Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Step 1: Slice the top and bottom of the onion and peel. Cut in half along the top and bottom, not the widest part of the onion, and slice. This is so you get strips of onion, not chunks.
Step 2: Turn the heat on high and pour some olive oil in the pan and add the onions. While stirring, break up the onion slices so you get strips. Turn the heat to medium to low while you start on the tomatoes.
Step 3: Stirring the onions occasionally, slice each tomato into four pieces and with your knife, remove the seeds. This seems time consuming, but it really is not. It's something to do while your onions are softening up.
Step 4: When the onions are soft and sweet, add the seedless tomatoes and the chopped garlic. Put in a bay leaf, and about a teaspoon of chopped rosemary. Stir to mix everything evenly, then put a lid on the pot and check and stir every few minutes.
Step 5: While the sauce is cooking down, prepare the eggplant. This is where you can decide on any type of vegetable you want. So far, I've tried eggplant and zucchini in the oven and they both work great. Slice or cut your vegetable(s) and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and pop in the oven at 350 degrees until they are tender.
Step 6: Halfway through the cooking process, if you've stirred and covered with a lid, the tomato sauce should look similar to this. This is where you can add salt and pepper to season. Add about half a teaspoon of pepper flakes and continue to let the sauce boil at the medium heat.
Step 7: For the spinach, use a small pan to wilt it down with some olive oil. The spinach wilts down quickly so cook that near the end and season with salt, pepper, and pepper flakes.
Step 8: Toss all the cooked vegetables with the tomato sauce and serve!

Scones

Scones are probably my favorite pastry. When I eat them, I like to imagine myself sitting in a pub in London, drinking some tea or coffee. The original recipe called for strawberry jam in the center, but when I made it, the jam oozed out, and burnt. So, personally, I think spreading jam on them would be fine.

Ingredients:
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup 35% Whipping Cream (chilled) (15% for lighter scones)
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 White Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Shortening (chilled)
1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line pan with cooking spray and wax paper.

2. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.
3. Cut the cold shortening up to bite sized pieces.

4. Use a fork to mash the shortening into the dry mixture. When it resembles a coarse bread crumb like substance, cream is ready to be added. Pour the cream in and form into a sticky dough.

5. Flour your rolling surface. Roll the dough out to 2 cm thick. Use a round cookie cutter, or a small cup to cut out the dough.

6. Place all scones on the baking sheet and use a cooking brush to brush the egg over the top.

7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. The scones should be slightly taller than they were prior to being in the oven, and the top should be golden.

Caramelized Bananas

I found this recipe in an old children's cookbook. Turns out, caramelized bananas were a 50's classic. Served with two scoops of ice cream, or in their regular shape, these are delicious.

Ingredients:
1 medium ripe banana, sliced

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
Step 1: Melt the butter in a small pan on medium heat.
Step 2: Once the butter starts to turn golden, add the sliced bananas and coat evenly with the butter.
Step 3: Flip the bananas to the other side and sprinkle the brown sugar on.
Step 4: Remove from the heat and toss altogether.

Serve with ice-cream or by themselves. It is also possible to bake them in the oven. Slice a banana in half lengthwise, rub with butter, sprinkle on brown sugar, and bake in a 350 degree oven until soft.