Magazine Monday #79 (on a Saturday): Guy Fieri's Soft Pretzels

Strange cravings are upon me these days, and while going through a pile of magazines taking up space on my coffee table, this soft pretzel recipe by Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives host Guy Fieri caught my eye. I have recently become a Triple D (or, as I like to call it, D3) fanatic. I don't know why it took me so long! Where has this show been all my life! It took a while for Guy to grow on me, but grow on me he has, and now I am addicted. This is probably another reason I wanted to make this recipe.

Unfortunately, I didn't think too much of Guy's soft pretzel recipe, which came in the January/February issue of Food Network Magazine. The recipe is here.

Lately, I have been practicing making bagels, which are boiled. I have posted before (here and here) about some pretzels I've made that are also boiled. I have to say, I much prefer that recipe and the boiling method over this non-boiled pretzel by Guy. Guy's are tasty for sure, and I enjoyed the stuffed ones (I used homemade pesto and mozzarella cheese to stuff mine), but they are, essentially, a pretzel-shaped bun without that nice chewy texture.

So, I'd give this a miss. Sorry, Guy! I love you, but this wasn't my cup of tea!

Vancouver Food, Part 1

Busy times! Last week, I returned from a trip to Vancouver to visit friends & family. I have a ton of photos, so it's hard to sort out where to start.

How about Ikea?

What is a trip to the coast without a stop at Ikea? My dad loves Ikea, particularly their food section. He loves their coffee and he stocked up big time. He also likes their bread mixes, and so do I, so he bought a few of those, too. Dad really likes the Ikea cafeteria, for reasons I just don't get. Yeah, it's inexpensive, but I was at the coast - I wanted to have lunch somewhere more "coasty". We compromised by having a snack at the cafeteria (which is oddly very similar to the BC Ferries cafeterias) and going somewhere else for lunch.

So, here is what we had.

My SIL had this chocolate torte thingy that you can buy whole in the frozen section of the food part of the store. She said it was pretty good. She downed it with a lingonberry juice.

My dad had this bran muffin that had an odd shape. He downed it with some of his favourite Ikea coffee. I have been advised that when I go to Van in June (which is in the works) that should I pass by Ikea, I am go to in and buy Dad a huge stockpile of coffee and bread mixes.

I had an Ikea cinnamon bun. It was OK. I've had way better, which you will hear about in the future!

C's Caramel Corn

Oh, how I indulged this Christmas! On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we had my father's birthday celebration at my SIL's parents' place. You may recall my mentioning C once in a while; she's my SIL's mom and she and my SIL do some catering on the side that I help out with from time to time. C also put out a cookbook of some of her best known recipes, and the recipes of some of her friends and relatives. While over there on the 25th, and then again for Christmas dinner on the 25th, C had one of her huge stainless steel catering bowls on the table absolutely filled to the brim with homemade caramel corn. It was addictive. I ate way more of it than I'd like to admit to. She added peanuts and pecans to it, too, so it was more like poppycock.

The recipe appears in C's Tried and True cookbook, and is shared here on the blog with her permission.

Carmel Corn/Poppycock

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 quarts popped popcorn

Method:

In a large pot, combine both sugars, corn syrup, butter, and cream. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Wipe down the edges of the pot to ensure no sugar granules are sticking to the sides. Don't stir once it boils. Boil until the soft/chewy ball stage. Cool slightly. Pour over popped corn. Add nuts if you wish. Mix well. Form into balls if desired.

For more information on the soft/chewy ball stage mentioned, here is a good article.

Magazine Monday #58: Energy Balls

I found this recipe in Appeal Magazine, which is published by Save-on Foods. I happened to have some time to kill one day in Nelson, so I bought a copy and sat down with it and a cup of coffee while I waited for my dad to finish his walk. There are some pretty good recipes in here, and this one comes from Shelley Adams, author of the Whitewater Cooks and Whitewater Cooks at Home books (Whitewater is a ski resort is located near Nelson, BC).

Energy Balls

1 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup liquid honey
1 1/2 cups (approx.) toasted coconut, for coating

Combine all ingredients except coconut in a large bowl. Mix everything together well with your hands. You may need a bit more honey to hold it together (I didn't). Roll 1/4 cup scoops into balls and then roll them in coconut. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week or in freezer for two months.

I didn't put raisins in but instead used some of the dried sour cherries Jodi sent to me in her amazing Christmas package. That worked out most excellently.

This is a winner! Loved these! Super easy to make, and a really nice snack to munch on at work. I will definitely make these again.

Pumpkin Time!

Good old LOGS (local overpriced grocery store) actually had a decent deal of for once in a blue freakin' moon: pumpkins for 19 cents/lb. For $2.53 I got these beauties:I spent yesterday roasting them up, pureeing the meat, and freezing the pumpkin in one and two cup portions. I got exactly 14 cups of pumpkin puree from these two pumpkins! Woo-hoo!I also saved all the seeds and roasted them, in addition to the seeds my roommate gave me when she emptied out the pumpkin she bought for Halloween. I decided to have some fun with the spices Palidor sent me in her care package recently. I made three different kinds of roasted pumpkin seeds (always a favourite snack of mine at this time of year!): curry flavour, using the curry powder Palidor's dad uses; Chinese Five Spice; and just plain salted.The curry ones smelled absolutely out of this world! They needed some help in the flavour department, however. I think these would be good on a salad or as a garnish. I can tell you, though, that I am so looking forward to making a real curry with this powder because the aroma blew me away. The Five Spice were OK...They also needed a bit of help. I think, in retrospect, I should have added some sugar to them. The salted ones were great!

Thanks again, Palidor!!!

Have a great Halloween everyone!

Product Review: Wise Fries

Made by: Old Oakville Snack Company.

The package says: "Crunch different. Crunch better! Wise Fries are the revolutionary krinkle cut fry-shaped snakc with a superior crunch. What makes them even better is that they are baked (NOT FRIED), have no artificial flavours or colours and are trans-fat free. And with less fat than standard fried potato chips, great crunching has never been better!"

How do they look? Suspiciously similar to raw McCain SuperFries.

How do they taste? Kinda like styrofoam coated in a not very flavourful "white cheddar" flavouring.

Crunch factor: middle of the road at best.

Worth the $3.49 for 85g? Uh, no.

Magazine Monday #28: Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato...Something...

Today's recipe was a bit of a flop, but it was also a lesson in improvisation. I just got the latest edition of Clean Eating Magazine, and the recipe for Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Spread caught my eye. It seemed simple enough so I decided to make it on the weekend.

Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Spread (adapted slightly by me)

6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (the original recipe specifies "not packed in oil" but that's all I had. If you have the dried ones, just soak them in some boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, chop)
6 oz low fat Greek-style yogurt
4 oz low fat cream cheese
3 tbsp black olives, seeded & chopped (I used Kalamata)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
ground black pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, grated

Whiz the yogurt & cream cheese in blender until smooth. Mix in everything else by hand. Season to taste.

Seems simple enough, right? But, my spread was really runny and, though it tasted really great, it simply wasn't spreadable or even dip-able. Even after chilling overnight, the spread didn't tighten up at all. I used 3.5%MF yogurt, and I think it was a little runny for some reason. I can't explain the consistency any other way.

So, I had to do something with this. The note at the end of the recipe recommended all kinds of ideas for the spread, and so I thought I would turn this into a nice pasta salad.

Pasta Salad with Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing

1 recipe Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Spread
2 cups penne or other short pasta, cooked & drained
3 cups chopped veggies of your choice (I used red pepper, cauliflower, green onion, and diced zucchini)

Rinse the pasta off under cold water after you've cooked it. Add it to the veggies in a large bowl. Add the dressing. Combine. Enjoy.

Well, there you go: proverbial lemons into proverbial lemonade!

Gourmet Christmas-Coloured Popcorn!

Before Christmas, I was intrigued by those red & green popcorn kernel trees often found with Christmas gifty stuff, and, lo and behold, I my friend Karen sent me one in her Xmas care package! I promised I'd post pictures of it so she could see what it looked like popped.




Here are the kernels in my new microwave popcorn maker (left), which I purchased especially to pop this popcorn.

And here (right) is the popcorn, popped. As you can see, the colour remained.

It temporarily coloured my tongue a funny colour, but I'm all right with that! I topped the popcorn with butter and a spoonful of engevita yeast.

Thank you, Karen!

Product Review: Larabar

Meg of Megan's Munchies has frequently blogged about her love of Larabar, and I became intrigued. I began to be on the lookout for them and on Wednesday I finally found some at Save-On Foods in Nelson! Only an hour away from here!

They didn't have the greatest selection - perhaps only four or five different kinds - and they didn't have any of the really delicious-sounding new flavours, but I did pick up a couple ($2 each; bear in mind that I'm on a budget!): the apple pie and the cherry pie. Since coming home Wednesday night, I have consumed both of them.

In short, I liked them. I'm not terribly fond of dates, but although both are full of dates, I could handle them.
The bars are rather sweet, however. While I should be the last person to complain about this, I am just glad the bars are small because the flavours are really intense.

I love that these bars are made with whole, natural ingredients and are apparently vegan. They are high in fibre and other nutrients, and they make a nutritious little snack.

I'm really hoping I can find some of their other flavours, like the ones containing chcocolate and such, and there even appears to be a tiramisu version, too! You cannot go wrong with tiramisu!

Thanks Meg!