You can read my thoughts on the fantastic meal we had at Au Pied de Cochon
here, on Midnight Poutine.

What else can I say? The pics can do the rest of the talking.

This certainly won’t be the last eggs post, but I’m sure it’s the first. I love eggs. I love them because they are like a super hero food – ready for almost anything. This is a technique I learned working at restaurant (I work in a restaurant).

Ingredients (for one sandwich):

1 toasted English muffin
1 – 2 eggs
1 teaspoon fried onions
Toasted sesame seeds to taste
Swiss and Parmesan cheese to taste
Toasted sesame seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Mustard and Mayo to taste
Black forest ham

This is a sandwich and I figure there no point specifying any measure other than taste.

Start toasting the muffin. I like two techniques; cut and toast or toast whole in a toaster oven. I like the whole method because it tends to bring back that “out of the oven” quality. The same can be said of most bread; heat then slice for chewier gooier bread.

Crack the egg into a microwave safe ramekin. Find a bowl or ramekin that is sized about the same as the muffin or bread you are using. You can butter your ramekin, but it is not required. Sprinkle in the fried onions, cheese, seeds, salt, and pepper. Grab a fork and fold it all together – nothing to vigorous, just enough to know that the ingredients have met their eggy host.

Nuke it! The amount of time varies, but 1 minute plus x number of 30 second shots should get you there. Try and not overcook – the heat will carry over, so if you “think” it might be done, just let it sit, and the carryover will set the egg and cheese up nicely.

Grab the muffin and slice in half. Spread mustard on one half; mayo on the other. If you have good or fancy mustard, and/or a nice oil (truffle, olive, herb), use it now!

Use a knife to run along the outside of the ramekin and use a large spoon to get this breakfast cheese cake out of it hole. Place in on the muffin. Top with ham and a little more cheese if desired.

Assemble, cut in half, toss in a pickle, and enjoy!

Soli, this site’s (semi-invisible) co-author, and the man I get to live with, surprised me the other night with a big pot of delicious cream of celery soup. Walking home from work, I was thinking to myself (bemoaning might be a better word) how he isn’t cooking as much as he used to…and lo and behold, there’s soup simmering away on the stove! YUM!

He doesn’t really have the time to post his culinary delights, but this one is so worth it. So I’m posting it, the best I can with little knowledge of what he threw in that pot or when or how. Maybe he’ll edit it a little? *hint!*

Soli’s Cream of Celery Soup

I came home to see veggies boiling away. I believe there were a few diced potatoes, handfuls of fresh spinach, stalks of chopped celery and onion, perhaps with some garlic, salt and pepper.
Once the veggies had softened, he drained the liquid and food-processed the vegetables until it was smooth. Back into the pot, along with the liquid, and this time with a few healthy tablespoons of butter, a fair amount of milk and maybe even some cream. He whipped up a little flour-and-water slurry and added that as well, to thicken it.

Salt was added to taste, and after simmering a while longer, I ate this soup with fervor.

It seems soups like these are a great and easy way to get rid of those left-behind veggies sitting in the crisper.

Yup, I get to come home from work and have a hot and fantastic meal (and man) waiting for me. This is as good as it gets. <3 Thank you Soli!

I love baking with bananas: cheap, versatile, tasty! So while searching for a new banana muffin recipe, I came across this one for Banana Crunch Muffins, and they turned out very well.

The walnuts are a great nut for this particular muffin, and the coconut is a sweet surprise – it adds an extra dimension of flavour to the usual banana muffin. They’re excellent warm, so either eat them all straight out of the oven, or give them a quick reheat if you don’t quite have that muffin-stamina.

Banana Crunch Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Makes 18 muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (this gives wonderfully moist banana chunks throughout the muffins)
1 cup small-diced walnuts
1 cup granola
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer.
Add the melted butter and blend.

In a second bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas.
Add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t overmix!
Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter until just mixed.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners and spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top.
Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

This a simple recipe – but the banana bread that comes out is fantastic. Studded with cubes of gumdrops, moist and flavourful with the power of banana, it is a difficult dessert to resist. I enjoy heating a slice of the loaf before eating – a quick shot in the toaster oven or microwave makes the gumdrops slightly soft and gooey. The various flavours of the gumdrops really add a sweet variety to the bread. I end up feeling okay about eating candy for breakfast.

Sometimes the gumdrop bits do sink to the bottom of the loaf, even though they are coated with the flour mixture. Be careful to have small enough pieces, and don’t let the batter sit in the loaf pan long before popping it in the oven.

Banana-Gumdrop Loaf

Preheat oven to 350°F
One loaf pan, greased

1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup gumdrops, cut up
1 egg, beaten
1 cup mashed banana
¼ oil or butter (softened)
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons orange juice (optional)

Measure and sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar into a bowl.
Stir in gumdrops. Put aside.

Combine egg, bananas, butter, milk and orange juice until well blended.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Whenever I try and use just one recipe for mulligatawny soup, it never turns out how I would like: too watery, too bland, too complicated.

So this version is a mashup of several recipes, plus a few additions of my own, and it finally works for me. Packed with vegetables, spices and lentils, It’s quite thick (more like a curry sauce than a soup) and it’s got some heat to it.

It takes some time and effort to get this soup ready for eating, but completely worth it. Don’t forget the cashews and cilantro at the end – it makes the meal!

Veggie Mulligatawny

SPICE COMBO
1 ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne

Put the peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a cast-iron pan and set over medium-high heat. Roast, while stirring, until the spices emit a roasted aroma and they begin to turn a little darker. Empty the pan into bowl for the spices to cool, and add the turmeric and cayenne.

Grind in a coffee grinder, or with a mortar and pestle, until fine.

SOUP COMBO
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 – 6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 white potato, peeled and diced
1 cup dried lentils
6 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 small zucchini, diced
1 cup tightly packed fresh spinach
1 can (14oz) can unsweetened coconut milk

Heat soup pot and add butter. Add onions, carrots and celery to the pot and sauté until lightly caramelized (about 5 minutes).
Add the garlic and ginger and apples. Sauté for another 8 minutes, or until the apples are caramelized.
Add the spice combo, potatoes, lentils and 4 cups of the stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until the potatoes are tender (15 minutes). Blend most of the chunks out of the soup with a hand blender or in a food processor (I always leave vegetables unblended)

Add salt, pepper, remaining stock, zucchini, spinach and coconut milk and simmer for another 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste.

TO SERVE
3 cups prepared basmati rice
½ cup toasted, finely ground cashews
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

To serve, put about ½ cup of basmati rice into the bowls. Pout soup over the rice, and add the ground cashews and cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.

Blueberries were on sale for $1.00, which means it was blueberry muffin baking time!
I love this muffin recipe in particular; the strong cinnamony flavour pairs wonderfully with blueberries, and is a bit unexpected, making these muffins something just a little bit different. These smell almost like candy when they’re baking, and are flavourful, moist and filled with the power of blueberry. The crumble topping is a cinnamon bonus, and adds a second dimension of sweetness to them.

Cinnamon Streusel Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 400°F
Makes 12 muffins

MUFFINS
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries

STREUSEL TOPPING
2 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons oats

1. Mix butter, brown sugar, milk and egg in a bowl until combined well.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a different bowl.

3. Add the butter mixture and stir just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries.

4. Grease the top of the pan lightly. Line muffin cups with paper liners. Fill muffin cups equally.

5. Combine all the streusel ingredients. Mix well and sprinkle over muffins.

6. Bake muffins on middle rack at 400°F for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

And a few muffin tips I’ve learned along the way!

1. Never, ever overmix. This will create a tough and chewy muffin. I used to always overmix, and I blame having a mixer – it blends the batter too much too fast. Whenever I make muffins now, I mix the wet ingredients with the mixer, but always stir in the dry with a spoon.

2. Grease the top of the muffin pan! Even if using paper liners, muffins seem to enjoy rising above the cup and onto the surface of the pan. Because everyone likes a perfect muffin top, I give the pan a little bit of butter.

3. Use an ice cream scoop to put the batter into the muffin pan (thank you, Alton Brown!). This not only gives each muffin cup the same amount of batter, but it also eliminates a lot of the mess that dropping batter with a spoon leaves behind.