Date and Cranberry Fruitcake

Fruitcake.  You either love it or hate it. So if you love it, why do you wait until Christmas to have it?

This one is moist, chewy and has a very rich and slightly bittersweet flavour given it by the caramel that's incorporated into the batter.


Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup hot water

Icing sugar to dust

Prepare an 8 1/2  X  4 1/2" loaf pan by spraying with cooking oil and lining the bottom with parchment.

Make the caramel. First heat sugar in a pan until caramelized and dark. Carefully add the hot water, stir to combine and remove from heat. Cool about 5 minutes in the fridge.

Toast walnuts in a small pan 5-10 minutes.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside


Whisk sugar and eggs together, then add the oil. When caramel is cooled add it to these wet ingredients along with the vanilla. If the caramel has cooled too much and starts to set just re-heat a little.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined.

Toss the cranberries, dates and walnuts in 1 tbsps of flour, then fold into the batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 15-20 minutes.
A cake tester should come out clean. It's a dense cake so you can see in this side-by-side pic it didn't rise alot.

Cool about 15 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. Don't forget to cover with a clean dishtowel. Once cooled dust with icing sugar.

Wimpy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites on the BBQ

Just enough heat for me, but others might find these a little wimpy. No problem just add more hot sauce!

Ingredients:

4-5 cups cauliflower florets

Marinade:
4 tbsps vegetable oil
2 tbsps cornstarch
2 tbsps sweet chili sauce

Sauce:
2 tbsps hot sauce (mine was Louisiana)
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup your fave BBQ sauce (I used beer and chipotle sauce)

Mix sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Whisk marinade ingredients together.
Microwave florets on high in 3 tbsps of water 5-7 minutes. Toss with marinade in a plastic ziplock bag or wax cereal bag reserved for messy jobs like this.

Let sit in marinade at least 1 hour (or all day)

Oil a BBQ basket and heat the barbecue to medium high. Place the florets in the basket in a single(ish) layer and cook 4-5 minutes or until starting to turn golden. Flip over and brush with sauce, cooking another 3 or 4 minutes, slightly caramelizing.

Take the cauliflower off the barbecue and toss with the remaining sauce.

Serve with a cool dip. Usually served with a ranch or blue cheese dressing, but here we tried tzatziki. 

Balsamic Cherry Tomato Salad

Are you being inundated with cherry tomatoes? I'm about to be. This one plant is growing like crazy! It's about 8 feet tall and growing!

Looks like more cherry tomato recipes needed in the future, like this one...

Ingredients:

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsps olive oil
2 oz feta
6-8 basil leaves
1/4 of a vidalia onion, thinly cut

Toss the tomatoes with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Let stand 30 minutes.

Strain any juices out into a sauce pan, pressing gently. Add the balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat up and simmer for about 5 minutes to reduce and slightly thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the olive oil.

Toss the tomatoes and onions with the dressing while still warm.

Serve at room temperature topped with feta and fresh basil.

Serves 2

Thyme for BBQ Peach Chicken

Peach season is in full swing! And this subtly sweet chicken is the perfect summery meal.

Ingredients:

6 bone-in chicken thighs
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup peach nectar
2 tbsps olive oil
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger

Combine all the ingredients in a plastic ziplock bag, add the chicken and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the chicken from the bag and discard the marinade. Heat the grill to medium high and place the chicken skin side down. Close the lid and cook 15 minutes.
Turn the pieces over, again close the lid and barbecue an additional 15 minutes.


For the grilled peaches:

Oil the grill or use a Cookina grilling sheet. Place peach halves cut side down on the grill for 5 minutes. Flip them over and place 1 tsp brown sugar in each.

BBQ 4-5 more minutes and serve alongside the chicken. Peachy!

Picnic at the Vineyard

Need a relaxing afternoon? Why not play tourist in your own hometown and checkout a local vineyard! We discovered this one not 30 minutes away from home. 

Vignoble Côte de Vaudreuil, where we enjoyed a lovely winetasting with their knowledgeable manager Robin, who has a degree in oenology, a term I just learned meaning the science and study of wine. (Jeez why didn't I study THAT in school?)

After the winetasting we bought a bottle (I mean 3 bottles!) of wine and took it (them) to one of the tables available outside.

Planning a picnic doesn't have to be complicated. No fancy salads or fried chicken here. Our picnic consisted of:

Deli meats
Cheeses
Dill pickles (I forgot to get olives)
Artichoke hearts
A nice crusty bread
Some crackers
Tamari almonds
Almond stuffed dates

And a chilled bottle of Frontenac Gris white wine. Silver medal winner 2013 Concours les Grands vins du Québec

Soothing piano music filled the air, one could stroll through the vineyard or take in the many pieces of artwork throughout.

And the establishment's dog Tonno (meaning Barrel) was the very friendly welcoming committee!

Peach Sangria

Came across this recipe for peach sangria somewhere and thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients:

1 - 750ml bottle red (or white) wine
1 cup peach nectar
1/2 cup peach schnapps
2 tbsps fine sugar

Sliced peaches (optional)

Simply mix everything together and refrigerate overnight, but if you can't wait overnight then go for it! I'm sure it would've been better had we made this the day before and the peaches would've been a little boozy too, but sadly we couldn't wait ; )

We tried the white wine version too, but have to say the red was our favourite, made with sangiovese.

Makes 4 servings

Mini Chocolate Chip Bread Puddings with Brown Sugar Sauce

Transform those leftover heels of bread into a good old fashioned bread pudding. This classic dessert is traditionally made with raisins but since raisins are not a favourite in this house I went with chocolate chips.

You can use any bread but the heels of our sliced bread usually get left behind, so I freeze them and give them a new life!

Ingredients:

2  1/2 cups cubed white bread (5 or 6 heels)
2 tbsps butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup 10% cream (coffee cream)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp each vanilla and almond extract (or 1 tsp vanilla)
2 eggs
6 tbsps chocolate chips (or raisins)
zest of 1 orange (optional)

Brown Sugar Sauce:

2 tbsps butter
2 tbsps flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

For the bread pudding: In a medium bowl melt butter, then add milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extract (and zest if using). Whisk in the eggs.

Butter 6 muffins cups and divide the bread cubes evenly. Start putting some of the bread in each and scatter in some of the chocolate chips. Then fill with remaining cubes.

Ladle the liquid in slowly and top with the rest of the chocolate chips. If you try to pour the milk mixture to quickly it'll run all over your counter (Now how would I know that?!?)

Add more chocolate chips on top and let sit 5 minutes.

Then bake at 325 F for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool 20 minutes before removing from pan. In the meantime you can prepare the sauce.

Melt butter in a small saucepan and add flour, then brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Remove from heat.

Add the boiling water and return to heat and bring to a boil. Whisk until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Serve warm over individual bread puddings.

Makes 6