Blackberry Pie

I am such a bad blogger. Sheesh! I don't know what it is about sitting here and typing stuff lately. trying out this blogger app...

A few years ago I bought a thornless hybrid blackberry cane. The first year produced quite a lot of berries. The nex and current year has produced way more than we can eat! almost ;)
So I made pie. I bought this book called "Retro Pies" by Linda Everett. Just about every dish I've tried is good although I haven't tried any meat pies yet. And probably won't.
Instead of just a plain ole top crust with slits I dug out my boy's star wars cookie cutter set from williams-sonoma.
Was a huge hit!

APPLEGATE RIVER BLACKBERRY PIE

4 cups fresh blackberries, washed and sorted
3 tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cinnamon
Pastry for a 2 crust 9" pie
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 450°
In a medium bowl, gently toss the berries with flour, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Line a pie pan with half of the pastry and spoon in the berry mixture. Dot with butter. Cover with a top crust, cutting a few slashes for steam. Bake for 15 minutes the. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes.
Serves 6-8

Pot pie

I tried my hand last week at making chicken pot pies. It definitely needs some tweaking but I'll post my final recipe when it's good and yummy.

Also trying out a blogger iPhone app.
Finally.

that's just poppycock!

i've got this old poppycock tin from when i was a kid (not that old, really ;)) and every time i look at it i think, "i should make some of that."
so i did, finally. it's very easy to make, and even though the recipe doesn't call for it, i think it needs a pinch of salt. i used an air popper to make my popcorn, we don't buy the microwave stuff. who needs all that extra chemicals (as tasty as they are)? make sure you don't over darken your caramel on the stove, it will darken even further once it's in the oven.
i've also made this a couple times for my kids' birthday parties with variations... omit the nuts and swap out the dark corn syrup for the light and before the baking soda goes in, add in 2 packets of your favourtie kool-aid! we've made raspberry blue space popcorn and cherry popcorn- both a huge hit with all the kiddies!
Poppycock
4 qt. air popped popping corn
1½-c. sugar
¾-c. butter
½-c. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
½-tsp. baking soda
1½-c. almonds (or mixed nuts or whatever you prefer)

Turn on your oven to 250 degrees F, to preheat.
Pour the popped corn into the roasting pan. Sprinkle the almonds (or other nut) evenly, over the top and put the pan aside.
Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup and vanilla into a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, while stirring. Lower the heat to simmer. Continue stirring the mixture until a caramel colour appears (about 3 minutes). Add the baking soda and stir. Pour the sugar mixture evenly over the popcorn and nuts. Stir the mixture with a large spoon. Place the roasting pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring the Poppycock popcorn every 8-10 minutes. Remove it from the oven and break apart immediately. Let it cool before eating (them nuts get hot!)

Waiting game

Sometimes he's just the funniest person I've ever met.

Mobile Blogging!

I've just discovered the joy of blogging on my phone. Let's see if I can be a more productive blogger ;)
Here's a random photo selection for more testing purposes

Testing mobile!

another allergy friendly cookie!

i know i haven't posted in a while. work always seems to get in the way of life- especially when you're working 80-90 hours/week.

here's a sweet little cookie i've made in the past for kids that have wheat and dairy allergies. i've found that cocoa camino doesn't have any dairy in their chocolate chips, which is a must for those pesky dairy allergies! and bonus- they're fair trade!

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, vegetable oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies

so long mister

Mr.Tibbs 1996-2010

he was the best cat we could have had
he loved to purr and sit in your lap
he loved to sit in sunny patches on the wood floors
he caught flies and spiders
he caught mice, even with no claws
he loved to play with the easter bunny's eggs before the kids could get them
he loved to chew on the house plants
he loved us as much as we loved him
he was the best cat we could have ever had and we'll miss him forever.
like seth said, "i'll always remember him in my heart."
so will i

free! free! free!!!

my friend's third child, hazel, is allergic to many of the things i bake with everyday; dairy, wheat and soy. it's her 4th birthday and i wanted her to have something special that she could eat that wouldn't give her the itchiest arms on the planet! i texted her mum asking if she could have this product or that one and kept notes. i found a couple interesting recipies but the one i'm showing you now is a very simple one for spelt cookies (here). this cookie is dairy free, wheat free and soy free!
i didn't want to use oil for the cookies, so i got some organic coconut butter and softened it up. the only problem i had with this recipe was the directions. i think you should make these like you would any other cookie: cream the fat and sugar (in this case apple juice and oil) and then add in the flour mixture until just combined. i also think when i make these again i'll substitute the apple juice concentrate for apple sauce. the texture is very dense and combined with these milk free chocolate chips is a really great little cookie!

SPELT COOKIES

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup milk-free unsweetened or semi-sweet chips
-- (carob or chocolate) OR
3/4 cup chopped nuts, any kind

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil baking sheet. In a bowl combine the spelt flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl mix the oil and apple juice concentrate, and stir into the flour mixture, until just mixed. Fold in the chips or nuts.

Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto the baking sheet and bake 10-14 minutes or until they begin to brown. Using a spatula, immediately remove to wire racks. Allow to cool.

For sweeter cookies boil down 1 1/4 cups of the apple juice concentrate to measure 3/4 cup.

for a cold or your soul

quite a few people lately have asked me how i make my chicken soup. it's really quite simple, and there are a few ways you can go about doing it. personally, i like to add my veggies into the broth right before it's ready to be served that way they don't turn to mush. i hate mushy veggies. blech!

how do you make the stock???

the first thing you do is get a whole chicken and cook it up however you like and have that for dinner. the next morning, take whatever meat is left on them bones and put them aside for later... the bones is what you want right now. put them in the biggest pot you've got, cover with water, toss in a bay leaf or two, cover and turn the burner on low. every hour or so, remove the lid and scoop off the bubbles and oil and discard, you don't want that in your soup. be careful to not let the water boil as tempting as it is... it will cloud your stock. you can also use turkey bones or beef bones if you're into that. of course, you can also just skip this step entirely and use prepared stock, there's nothing wrong with that!

what kind of vegetables do you put in???

we like a lot of veggies in our soup, but you don't necessarily need to add as much as i do, or as many, but the soup is better with more veggies! my mouth is watering thinking of this...

i usually chop up a yellow onion, 4 garlic cloves (or less if you don't like garlic), 4 good sized carrots; you can just slice 'em, or dice 'em, 4 stalks of cellery, a cup of frozen corn and cup of frozen peas (i use fresh when it's available). i also add some basil and salt and pepper (to taste) to this lovely batch of goodness in a deep sided pan. start with the onion and garlic in some butter, then add the carrots and cellery, etc... take some of the stock and cook the veggies in that. when it's all cooked up, add it to the stock (don't forget to strain the bones!), and boil up some tiny pasta or egg noodles either in the soup or alone and add it in like i do.

by the way, check out my friend Gabrielle's blog. she's a writer and has a great chicken soup story...

back to it!

i've been a horrible blogger, not posting since june! yikes! i'm not going to go on and on about how hard it is to work at home with 2 kids, a dog, a cat, and a house to run, and vacations to go on and so forth, so i'm not...
that said, while i was busy with everything i still did find some time to be creative in the kitchen! not as much as before mind you, but still creative. i successfully made dorie's chocolate ganache ice cream (without making scrambled egg custard!), and a pretty great wild blackberry frozen yogurt. it was a hot summer!
we also tried growing fruits and veggies in our garden this year. zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, peas, blueberries, raspberries, (thornless)blackberries, rhubarb and strawberries were all a success! i didn't plant the corn, carrots, cantaloup, and squashes early enough and so they were not so great, and "someone" ate the beans. this time last year we planted some fruit trees: a flemish pear, honeycrisp apple, and a fuji apple. we didn't get any pears, but we got a pretty decent crop of honeycrisp in early september, and just last week i picked the fujis... had enough to make our thanksgiving pie! who knows, maybe next year we'll have enough apples for 2 pies!

OMFG

can you say holy sh*t!?!?!?! i cannot wait for this one! i hope it comes out for the wii, too!

sprintcam

i just saw this amazing 1000 fps footage... amazing that cameras can do this now, but for those fx animators out there... wait for the jello....


I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

bbc commercail

i just happened upon this bbc commercial for the 2008 olympics. it's designed by jamie hewlett...

avez-vous

okay so i've totally neglected my blog with being so busy at work, and i just wanted to post something to let everyone know i'm still around! so without further delay... here's another deja-vu short:

9 years ago...

on the weekend we had a "little" party for our daughter, ella, who turned nine years old. she and seth have both started taking skating lessons and so she wanted to have a skating party. i booked a room at the local rink and we got all the girls in her class and a few neighbours' kids to meet us all there. everyone had a blast!
i ended up making 24 regular cupcakes, 48 mini ones, and a small one layer cake (for her actual day). in last year's april issue of living there were little crepe paper flowers and birds. the flower for january is the snowdrop and i made a bunch of them for her cakes. when ella saw the picture in the magasine, she definetly wanted a nest, too. off to michael's! i picked up 2 tiny little blue birds there as well.
and some bees

happy birthday ella! thank you for being such a great girl

merry christmas!

merry christmas everyone!

we're spending the day at home enjoying hot chocolate, eggnog lattes, fresh scones and opening presents from santa... as well as the most awesome turkey dinner (i hope)!

gingerbread village

we spent a good 3 hours last night building our gingerbread houses to give away. it was a lot of fun with all 4 of us making the 6 houses (including one for us). we got pretty inventive with the candies making trees, logs, and even a sled!

check out last year's houses... and here's the link to the recipe.

snow day

this is our third snowfall and it's been going steady since last night. it's not supposed to snow and stick here, but the kids sure do have fun in it!

it's cold in here!

it's a crazy time of year and we just got whallopped with some snow. if you don't already know, the lower-mainland of BC (or pacific north-west if you're south of the 49th) is a rainforest and if it snows, it usually doesn't stay for very long. i think it's been 4 days now that we haven't seen the green grass and "they" are calling for more on sunday. i've also been very busy with work and our kids' school and trying to find time to get all the shopping done without having to go to when everyone and their aunt harriett is there, too. o yeah, and both kids have been sick or grounded at some point this week. not fun.
last night derek helped me make these lovely peppermint icicles (found in december's issue of MS living). they were very easy to make, look good and they definetly stick to your teeth! we didn't have the proper gloves, which i'm sure would have made all the differnce since it was so freakin' hot to handle! whew!

Ingredients

Makes about 16 icicles

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• 1 drop blue gel-paste food coloring
• 1 drop violet gel-paste food coloring

Directions

1. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Bring su gar, corn syrup, and water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until sugar dissolves. Cook, undisturbed, until mixture registers 305 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and stir in lemon juice and peppermint extract. Working quickly, pour hot sugar mixture onto prepared sheet. (Be careful not to touch hot mixture.) Let cool until bubbles subside, about 30 seconds.
2. Coat a metal spatula with cooking spray, then fold 2 edges of mixture inward, toward center (pictured, above left). Continuously fold candy in half on itself with spatula until it is cool enough to handle, about 1 minute (it will still be very hot).
3. Wearing rubber gloves and working quickly, pull candy to a length of 1 foot, then fold in half on itself. Repeat, twisting and pulling until candy starts to turn white. Remove a golf-ball-sized piece, and add food colorings to the smaller piece. Continue to stretch and fold both pieces separately. When candy is almost cool, and the uncolored piece is white, pull each piece into a 12-inch-long rope.
   
4. Place ropes side by side, and fold in half together to layer colors. Twist pieces together. Starting at 1 end, pull and twist until rope is 1/2 inch thick. Working quickly, twist and pull end to taper slightly, and cut off a 6-inch length with scissors. Continue twisting, pulling, and cutting icicles until candy becomes too hard and can no longer be pulled. (There will be some left over. Reserve for another use, such as crushing over ice cream or cookies; see Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies, recipe page 240.) Transfer icicles to a baking sheet to harden. Store, covered, for up to 4 days.

Helpful Hint

The peppermint candy is very hot initially, so be sure to work quickly wearing protective rubber gloves. For the best results, at the beginning of the pulling stage in step three (pictured, above), two people should divide the candy between them. Use any color you prefer to tint these minty sticks.