fun with food
December is always a good time in the kitchen. This year I made fruitcake for the first time, under my mother's guidance of course. I also made a couple batches of stollen. I'm living with a German girl who was hankering for some German Christmas goodness. The first batch didn't rise much but the second batch fared a little better. I think I prefer stollen to fruitcake. It comes with marzipan. Next time I'll up the rum and nuttiness.
For all the potluck dinners I took my favourite rustic yam salad. It's simple and flexible and always a hit. It used to be my favourite thing to buy in the Granville Island public market. The commercial version doesn't taste as good anymore. Mine's better :-)
Eggnog also featured in the oven. For a friend's eggnog party I baked a pumpkin pie inside an eggnog yellow cake. Breakfast on Christmas morning was eggnog french toast with caramelized oranges, roasted pecans and eggnog sauce. For new year's eve I baked an eggnog challah bread pudding. Pure tastiness! Bread puddings are one of my favourite desserts. I didn't add any sugar which was fine, although I did spread some manjar on top as an afterthought.
It turns out I'm a trendsetter! Today I went out for brunch and one of the features was challah french toast with rum butter sauce. The other feature was roasted yam and guacamole eggs benny. The yam took the place of the english muffin and the hollandaise was more of a chipotle sauce. Delish!
Just now I had a craving for a chocolatey spread for bread/whatever. It didn't have to be nutella, although my roommate has some. I don't know how she manages to avoid eating it all in one sitting. So I mixed some ingredients (PB, yogurt, honey, cocoa, microwave) together and kapow! Chocolate spread! It's no nutella, but I didn't have hazelnuts (or a grinder) and I wanted something (somewhat) guilt-free. The bread doesn't do it justice. That's a problem easily solved ;-)
For all the potluck dinners I took my favourite rustic yam salad. It's simple and flexible and always a hit. It used to be my favourite thing to buy in the Granville Island public market. The commercial version doesn't taste as good anymore. Mine's better :-)
Eggnog also featured in the oven. For a friend's eggnog party I baked a pumpkin pie inside an eggnog yellow cake. Breakfast on Christmas morning was eggnog french toast with caramelized oranges, roasted pecans and eggnog sauce. For new year's eve I baked an eggnog challah bread pudding. Pure tastiness! Bread puddings are one of my favourite desserts. I didn't add any sugar which was fine, although I did spread some manjar on top as an afterthought.
It turns out I'm a trendsetter! Today I went out for brunch and one of the features was challah french toast with rum butter sauce. The other feature was roasted yam and guacamole eggs benny. The yam took the place of the english muffin and the hollandaise was more of a chipotle sauce. Delish!
Just now I had a craving for a chocolatey spread for bread/whatever. It didn't have to be nutella, although my roommate has some. I don't know how she manages to avoid eating it all in one sitting. So I mixed some ingredients (PB, yogurt, honey, cocoa, microwave) together and kapow! Chocolate spread! It's no nutella, but I didn't have hazelnuts (or a grinder) and I wanted something (somewhat) guilt-free. The bread doesn't do it justice. That's a problem easily solved ;-)