Mushroom Gravy

2 cups potato water
1 large white mushroom chopped
half onion chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 crushed fresh oregano leaves
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup water


Start by putting the potato water in sauce pan with the mushroom and onion boil for 3 minutes, as it is reducing add butter until melted, then add black pepper and oregano, stir and continue to boil on low heat for another 6 minutes then add salt and flour. Keep stirring adding water. Simmer another 5 minutes.

This will be a light coloured gravy, if you wish to add browning then feel free.

Newfoundland Eggnog

My Uncle owns a bar here in Thunder Bay called Newfie's Pub. There were a few times in the past when this version of eggnog was served at the bar. It took some hunting but I got the recipe.

1 bottle of screech
1 liter of fresh milk
1 tin evaporated milk
6 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
nutmeg

Separate eggs beat yolks with 1/4 sugar then beat the whites with 1/4 sugar.
Combine all screech and milk and evaporated milk.
Add egg yolk mixture then top with the egg white mixture.
Sprinkle the nutmeg

Red Pepper Soup

Photo by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp-09

Okay, So I spent the last few days cooking. Well, part of yesterday anyway as mom had a doctor's appointment in the morning.
Yesterday, I made a homemade red pepper soup. No recipe. It turned out fabulous. I just forgot to write it down as I went. Brilliant me. Here is a photo of it. Well a screen capture actually, as my digital camera was dead I had to use my video camera to get a video then turn it into a still. Which took more work then the actual soup.


1 stalk celery
1 large mushroom
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon butter.
3 cups water
1 red pepper
4 leaves fresh oregano
1 cup uncooked pasta
1/2 cup sliced green beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
extra water as needed.

Chop the celery and mushroom and saute them with the butter and garlic for 3 minutes, then add the water. Let simmer on medium heat for half hour.
Cut the pepper into strips and add it to your mix, stir and continue to simmer now on a lower heat for another half hour, pinch up the oregano leaves and add. Stir. continue simmering for another 15 minutes.
Add the green beans and the stewed tomatoes, stir, add extra water if needed, simmer for another 15 minutes then add uncooked pasta.
Let simmer with lid on for another half hour.

Should serve 6. This can be made for under $10

But what do you want to do?

Originally posted on my other blog Andrew and the Aluminumsidings on Dec 8th 2009

Julie and Julia came out on dvd today. I had to rent it. I saw it back in the cinema this summer, and read the original book by Julie Powell, and am half way through the book My Life in France by Julia Childs.

I was suppose to be reading the next book for review from Harper Collins Canada, but I just did not feel like it today.
What I did do, was rent the movie and decide I wanted to spend the day cooking. I haven't been really serious about food in 10 years. Before I became a vegetarian I used to cook every night of the week. Roasted chicken with cous-cous and peppers in a yogurt sauce. Meatloaf with scalloped potatoes and green beans. Casseroles with home made tea biscuits. You get the idea.
I was good at it too. Not great, but no one ever starved. I can even make Fish and Brews. Not that I ever liked seafood. Hate it actually, even more so since becoming vegetarian 9 years ago.

Anyway, today I made a Hashbrown casserole, and a potato/asparagus cream soup. Still have to make the stock for the vegetable soup.

So there is one burning question in the movie that both characters face "what do you want to do?" Cooking ends up being the answer one gives and does it by doing a cook book and Writing is the answer the other gives, and does it by cooking then blogging it.
Cooking and Writing.

Hmmm. So while I was mixing up the casserole, I was letting my mind drift to that question. I want to write. But other then that, I want to paint, make videos, edit movies, basically just create. Which I do now.
So if I am doing what I want then why do I still feel like a bucket of dren? Then I thought maybe I picked the wrong role model?
I have been framing my life after Dorothy Parker. And I realized from what I have managed to learn of her, she had 2 failed marriages and a failed love affair. Great mind, fabulous skills as far as being a literary genius, but not really good at the domestic side.

So what is it that I want to do that I am not doing? To be useful, to be needed, to be someone's wife.
Am I going to find my purpose through cooking? Maybe who knows, but at the moment it's a great form of meditation. You tend to stop thinking of the stress in your life and focus for the few minutes it takes to chop an onion or mix a batter ,on the moment.

I think the one Yule gift I am going to buy myself this year is Julie Powell's second book Cleaving A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession. It came out last week. That and I am really coveting a new spice rack. The steel kind with the two shelves that spins and hold 40 spice bottles.

Cinnamon Layer Loaf

Mom's getting ready for the holidays, was over her place and she made the first round of goodies.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon cinnamon ground
3 tablespoon brown sugar

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time. Beat
Add vanilla,
In another container combine flour, salt and baking powder
Add this then to mix alternating it with the milk.
In another container mix the cinnamon and brown sugar.
Put 1/3 batter in bottom of pan and sprinkle cinnamon mixture over the batter. Continue to do layers of the cinnamon mixture and batter making sure you end up with the final layer being batter. Bake in a well greased pan at 325 F for one hour.

Tea Buns

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 sugar
1 teaspoon baking power
2 cups water

form into paddies and bake at 350 c for 20 minutes.
Should make 12 buns

I found this on Youtube.

No idea who this dude is but he can sing!
And it's suppose to be a Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers song.

Veggie Gumbo #1

1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup sliced peppers
1 chopped carrot
1 can tomato soup
4 cups water
2 vegetable broth cubes
2 veggy hot dogs
3 cups rice


Melt butter with garlic, add celery and peppers, stir for 5 minutes on low heat then add carrots. Let cook for 10 minutes then add broth cubes and 2 cups of water. Stir for 5 minutes then add tomato soup and remaining water. Let boil for 20 minutes then slice up veggy dogs and add to mixture. Let cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.

Prepare rice as always and dish over it.

*Veggy Dogs can be replaced with Italian veggy sausage*

Easy Creamy Garlic Sauce...My butt

I snagged a recipe from one of the girls on my women's site, thinking it seems so simple.
Once again it didn't work for me. But here is the recipe.


Creamy Garlic Sauce

1 cup milk
2 table spoons butter
2 teaspoons chopped chives
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons flour
chopped parsley
salt

Melt butter, stir in milk, bring to boil, add garlic, flour and whisk, turn down heat, add chives , parsley and salt. Continue to whisk for 4 more minutes on low heat, remove from heat and serve over hot pasta.


Well, for me it turned out too sticky and overly garlic. Next time, I think I will up the butter and down the garlic amounts.

Vampire Themed Dinner

What have I gotten myself into?
I am doing an All Vamp Challenge and one of my challenges is to make a vampire themed dinner for a dinner party.

What am I going to do for that? I have been to the Martha Stewart website trying to find some of her easier themed items but am still coming up at a loss.

I ended up sick over Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving is in October) so there was no cooking of any kind for me.
And with the book tour for Stacey Voss, and my own book deadline I have been eating on the run; in other words alot of Starbucks coffee and Egg Salad sandwiches.

Once the book tour is over which is end of Nov, and the deadline for my novel which is Dec 5th 2009, I will be back full force on here.

Oct 4 2009

Just a quick post to say that I am still alive and have not forgotten about the blog.
Hoping with the holidays coming up to have a few new ideas on here.
At the moment, I am part of a book tour for author Stacey Voss. Which you can get details for here
There has been nothing much exciting food wise in my place the last week. Just some homemade raspberry jam.

Which is the simplest thing ever.

Raspberry jam

*1 pound raspberries fresh
*2 cups sugar
*2 table spoons water

Boil for half hour.

Photo of : Beet and Potato Salad

Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

I know made the recipe few months ago, but did not add a photo at the time.

Well, mom decided to make a Newfoundland Beet and Potato Salad today, so I snagged a photo of it.

You can find the recipe in this post here
cause I am too lazy to retype it.

NOTE* mom used green onions for her's.

Soup : Version 1

Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp '09

This is a basic Bean soup.


*8 cups water
* 1/2 bag of barley
* 1/2 bag of bean soup mix
* 2 stalks celery
* 1 medium onion
* handful of stir fry veggies frozen
* 2 parsnip
* half a turnip
* 8 mini carrots or 2 large
* 3 cubes of veggie broth mix
* pinch parsley
* pinch garlic powder
* table pepper
* 3 tablespoon ketchup

Prep time 15minutes
Cooking time 90 minutes


Cook the barley and bean mix in the 8 cups of water for 1 hour

add the celery and onion both chopped, and boil for 30 minutes

add chopped parsnip, turnip, carrots, and stir fry veggies and boil for 15 minutes

add the veggie cubes, parsley, garlic powder, table pepper and ketchup and boil for 45 minutes

add water through out as needed.

You get roughly 8 servings out of this pot.

Sweet Bread vs Sweet Breads

I thought I better give a brief definition for anyone who has not cooked with Newfoundland hardbread/sweetbread.

Sweetbread : The thymus or pancreas from lamb or calf. The thymus is the throat sweetbread while the pancreas is the stomach or heart sweetbread. Mostly used for pates. May also be called Sweetbreads, with an "s".

Newfoundland Sweet Bread: Also called Sweet Tack. It looks just like the Newfoundland Hard Bread (Hard Tack) which is a no yeast bread designed to be used by sailors who were at sea for months at a time. Sweet Bread is not as hard and as it's name suggests, sweeter. It's used more often as a snack.

Both hardbread and sweetbread are sold in the same style bags.



Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

Potato Salad with Sweet Mustard Pickels

Photo by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

*3 medium potatoes chopped and cooked in salt water
* 2 large green onion chopped
* 1 and a half teaspoon sugar
* 3 tablespoons mayo
* 4 pieces of sweet mustard pickles with 2 teaspoon of the mustard chopped
* dash of black table pepper

Drain the potatoes, mix the rest of the ingredients with potatoes until you have a yellowish tint. Chill for about a half hour.
This is a small sized bowl which serves 3 people. If you are using this for a party you may want to double or even triple the recipe.

You can use plan pickles and normal mustard, in which case you would only need one teaspoon of the mustard, and then add another pinch of sugar.

Blueberry Pudding with Brown Sugar Sauce

I went to Mom's today to watch wrestling and she made Blueberry Pudding with sauce.

You need what is called a "pudding bag" for this. You can order them online from Downhome website or you can just get a clean WHITE cloth about the size of a half pillowcase and tie it with white string.

Pudding

*4 slices of bread soaked in 1/4 cup hot water
*1 cup flour
* 1-1/2 cup blueberries fresh
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoon butter
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon allspice
* 4 tablespoon sugar

Mix all together, place in tightly tied pudding bag, boil for 1 and a 1/2 hours



Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09



















NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING A PLAIN CLOTH IT MUST BE WHITE OR ELSE THE DYES WILL SEEP.

Brown Sugar Sauce

* 2 tablespoon butter melted
* 2 tablespoon flour
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup water
* 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add the rest, stirring constantly till thick, serve hot over pudding

Veggie Stew....the video

Since I have been working on some video reviews on the wrestling blog, I decided to do a small cooking video .
I made Veggie Stew for supper.

*half turnip
*3 medium potatoes
*2 parsnips
*half bag mini carrots
*1 can peas
* 1 onion
*1 teaspoon oil
*salt
*white pepper
*parsley
*oregano
*flour or gravy thickening (the ready to use Robin Hood product)
*3 drops gravy browning

Prep time 15 minutes
Cooking time 90 minutes

Ramen Girl

I went out for a horror film but rented a chick flick instead. I have been noticing a trend as of late, movies about food.
In them there seems to be a common theme, finding your soul through cooking.
This film is no different.
Brittany Murphy stars as a woman who has been dumped by her boyfriend in the middle of Tokyo, with no one, and nothing. While out she finds herself drawn to the local Ramen shop. After witnessing the reaction the locals have to the meal, she decides she wants to give it a try. We are then taken on a journey of self discovery as she learns to cook.

It didn't work

I tried making a butterscotch swirl loaf.
But it failed.
I have no idea what I did wrong either. Followed the instructions.

First off, it didn't rise.
Second, the chips just became this greasy mess.

It tasted like a pancake. Not what it was suppose to at all.


Here is the recipe, even though it failed,

1 cup sugar
1/2 c margarine
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 c flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 c butterscotch chips

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees

Should have been simple right?
So what happened ?

Fish and Brewis

Photos by Kimberly Hulst

I wish I had a photo of what the original recipe is suppose to look like to compare, but I don't.Grandma Perry used to make this about once a week.

Fish and Brewis

*1 package salt cod

*3 cakes hard bread

*1 onion

*1 package salt pork

You have to soak the salt cod for close to 8 hours, so it's usually done over night. Same with the hard bread. And it's called hard bread because it looks like a hockey puck and is just as dense.

Drain the cod, and boil in fresh water. Roughly 25 minutes.

Boil the hard bread. At this point, the hard bread should be flaked off and have absorbed all the water making it pliable.

Chop up the salt pork into bit size pieces, and fry it. This is the beginning stage of making the pork into scrunchions.

Chop up the onion.

Remove the now fried salt pork from the reduced fat. You Need that fat to fry up the onion.

You need to drain the cod and debone it.

Mix the fried pork and onion together with whatever is left of the fat from the pan.

Mix the cod and the hardbread together and use the scrunchions as a type of gravy.

Here is how I made my vegetarian version:

*1 cake of hardbread

*1/2 package of extra firm tofu

*1/2 package of Veggy Bacon

*1 onion

*2 tablespoons vegetable oil

* salt and pepper to taste

Soak the hardbread for 4 hours

Boil 15 minutes, drain whatever water is left

Chop up tofu into smaller pieces and fry in a non stick pan till it starts to get slighlty brown. Then remove and add it to the hardbread.

Cut up veggy bacon and fry in the oil, add your chopped onion. Depending on the brand of veggy bacon, it may not brown up, so fry it for about 5 minutes per side.

Add salt and pepper to the tofu and hardbread, then mix.

Then add your onion and veggy bacon mix like you would a gravy.

Photo of Veggy Version

Empty Cupboards

I know it's been a few days since I posted on here.
The last few days have been an odd rush of well odds and ends. Trying to get a few of my deadlines met so meals have been just quick pasta and bagels mostly.
MMMM.... starch.

Looking at a stack of recipes and trying to figure what to use in place of salt pork, salt beef, and lobster. Cause, vegetarian I don't eat that.

When I figure out how to adjust a few more recipes I will be back with the trial and errors and hopefully successes. Most likely this weekend.

Big question how would you make Seal Flipper Pie without the seal ?

Menu: Aug 19th 2009

Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

This is one of those times it half way turned out. These are two recipes that I was disappointed with.

The first one is my version of traditional Newfie Fish Cakes. Since Grandma Perry's recipe did not have any measurements I had to guess at it.


Grandma Perry's Fish Cakes

6 cups cooked potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 cups salt cod- cooked, boned, torn
1/2 cup flour
1 piece of salt pork fried

Mash potatoes adding rest of the ingredients.
Form into patties
Roll into the flour and fry in the rendered pork fat


Seems simple enough right? Okay my version of the recipe was taking the cod out and replacing it with squash.
Yep, squash.
And using vegetable oil instead of the pork fat. So the fish and pork were taken completely out of the recipe and replaced.

Kimberly's Veggie Cakes

3 medium potatoes chopped
1 onion chopped
1 package chopped squash
1 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups flour


Mash the cooked potatoes and add the onion and stir in squash, salt and pepper
Form into patties
Roll in flour and cook in the vegetable oil





Photo of Veggie Cakes

If you have been working some of the recipes out there for sneaking veggies into thing so your kids won't know, this is actually a great way to do it.

Menu: Aug 17th 2009

Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

I had decided to make my apple and potato dish today so I went off to mom's.
Why have I not been doing the cooking in my own little kitchen? Because mom has air conditioning.

While I was there, we decided to make a cheese cake as well. (photo of Me)


Apple and Potato


2 apples
2 large potatoes or 5 small ones
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons nutmeg

*peel potatoes and cut into smaller pieces (sliced or cubed it's up to you)
*peel apples and cut into smaller pieces (sliced or cubed it's up to you)
*slice onion

mix together in baking dish.
Spoon in butter
add nutmeg and mix all together

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees



The cheesecake was a simple one. We used a Kraft recipe for No Bake cheese cake.

*Premade Graham cracker crust

227 ml cream cheese softened
1/3 c sugar
227 ml cool whip
375 ml cherry pie filling


Beat cream cheese and sugar
Stir in cool whip
Spoon into crust

Put in fridge for 3 hours

Spread on the pie filling




The apple and potato dish can be made for under $10
The Kraft No Bake Cheese Cake can be made for under $15

Menu: Aug 16th 2009

Photo copyright hcvp'09 by Kimberly Hulst


10 Minute Noodles

1 cup Eggplant
1 cup Mushrooms
Tomato
Onion
Peppers 1 Green and 1 Red
1/2 cup Pea Pods
1 cup Broccoli
1/2 cup Green Beans
1 Carrot
1/2 cup Celery
1/2 cupWater Chestnuts
1 cup Zucchini
3 cup Water
2 handfuls Steamed Noodles


Chop all but the pea pods and green beans.
Boil broccoli till tender, then add the rest of the vegetables and the noodles.
Boil for another few minutes.
Stir and serve.


I say 10 minutes for this dish because I used a cheat. Frozen mixed veggies. One half bag of stir fry veggies, one half bag of spaghetti mixed veggies. Boil them for about 5 minutes then add the noodles. If you use frozen you can make this meal for under $10.

Newfoundland Beet and Potato Salad

Ingredients :
5 large potatoes peeled and cooked in salt water
1 can of sliced beets with juice
1 onion chopped (or 3 green onion chopped)
1 cup mayo


How to:

*Drain the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces
*mix in the chopped onion
*chop up the beets into smaller bite size pieces and add to mix
*add in mayo
*add in 1 tablespoon of the beet juice
*Mix till you have a bright pink colour

Put in fridge for 1 hour before serving. Serves 4


Some people are off put by this salad as it is pink. The juice from the beets not only gives it the colour but the main part of the taste.
This is one of the simplest recipes I have ever tried. I have been making this one for over 20 years.

Tofu Mayo

1/2 pound (250 g) Regular tofu
1/4 cup (50ml) lemon juice
2 tsp. (10ml) dijon mustard
1 tsp (5ml) salt
1 tsp (5ml) sugar
1 cup (250ml) vegetable oil

Mash tofu with a fork, and place in a strainer over a bowl. Weight it down with a plate to allow extra liquid to drain for about half an hour.
Place drained tofu into the blender. Add lemon juice, mustard, salt, sugar and blend until smooth.
With motor of blender running, pour in the oil, gradually. Once it is blended evenly it may be used.

Will keep refrigerated for about a week. This makes 2 cups.


A friend of mine had made this awhile back, and it was fabulous.
I tried it and it was horrid. I have no idea what I did wrong but I messed it up, twice.
Not sure I want to try it again. I know one thing without a doubt, it does not work at all for potato salad.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo is by me, Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp '09
And originally posted on my other blog My Cup Is Empty on Aug 15th 2009

2 and 1/4 c flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 c butter softened
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 c chocolate chips
1 c of white bakers chocolate chunks
Mix flour/soda/salt in one bowl
Beat butter/white sugar/brown sugar/vanilla into another bowl
add eggs
mix the dry into the wet
stir in chocolate chunks/chips
drop rounded spoonfuls into Ungreased tray

Bake 375 ' F for 10 minutes
Makes 5 dozen


Yes I know right off the bat I put up a recipe that has eggs in it. But, I am just a lowly vegetarian who still has eggs and dairy.

Besides mom went to alot of trouble to help me with this one.

What Am I Doing Here?

I think I might be having a melt down is what I am doing.

I am armed and very likely dangerous. I have a fry pan and I am not afraid to use it!
In my mother's kitchen that is.

The goal is to take as many traditional Newfie dishes as possible and make them Vegan dishes.

The highs, the lows, the splattered batter on the walls and even cookies too will be reported here as they happen in pure Gonzo Journalism man.