“Can you come live in my house and bake for me all the time?”

I was propositioned today at work. One of the nurses working in emerg first accused me of not baking for them today and then realized there was a nice little loaf sitting beside her lovingly and retracted her statement. She later decided she wants to keep me for herself and offered to have me live in her basement. 57 inch flat-screen TV with satellite! Big movie collection! Treadmill and elliptical and bike! Kitchen’s right above my potential bedroom! She said there’s only a twin bed, but that just means more cuddling for me and the boyfriend!

What a tempting offer =) hahaha but I think I better stick to finishing medical school. I’ve come this far…can’t be side-tracked by a flat-screen tv.

So make a loaf of this delicious quick-bread today. It’s very very yummy, citrusy, fragrant, and just a different kind of loaf then I’m used to. I got a little worried that it was starting to burn, when the middle was still a little gooey, but it actually was tastier that way. With the substitutions that I made, it’s only about 180 calories a slice. Delicious little snack that’s fairly healthy too!

Orange, Berry, and Pecan Bread (adapted from bakingbites.com)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp apple sauce
1 large egg
1 cup mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375F and lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
2. Toast pecans – I throw them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake them for about 7 minutes (watch them carefully so they don’t burn!)
2. Whisk together flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix together orange juice, orange zest, oil, applesauce and egg in a separate container. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Stir in berries of choice (I used blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries) and toasted pecan pieces. If using frozen berries, do not thaw beforehand (as this will turn the batter icky colours). Just toss them in still frozen.
5. Spread evenly in prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and cool completely before slicing.

I got about 13 slices out of it. You could probably get more if you sliced it a bit thinner. I was in a hurry and didn’t let it cool completely, hence the bigger slices. It’s a bit sturdier once it cools down completely. Enjoy! yum yum yum…

“Where’s the fruit?”

One of the doctors doing a locum in our clinic was going back to South Africa today. He is a super-nice guy who used to work here, but moved back to South Africa awhile ago. We’ll miss him! So I decided he required a going-away cake.

Boy, what a cake. Yum yum yum! It got rave reviews from all of the staff at the clinic. My preceptor went back for seconds. It’s a rich cake and one small slice is more than enough.

Instead of following the recipe exactly, I made some substitutions. Including adding a banana. One of the other doctors is somehow adverse to ALL things fruit. She just can’t handle them. Kiwis, apples, pears, strawberries…don’t even talk about bananas. So even though the banana taste is very very faint, she managed to pick up on it. And complained loudly to me about it. I’ve thus promised to make something strictly chocolate or vanilla with no fruit of any sort (including raisin) for her in the future.

Everyone else on the other hand, loved the cake. Someone asked me for the recipe, another person said it was the best thing I’ve made so far, and the pharmacist thought it was store-bought.

So make this cake for a special occasion. Don’t do it on a normal day, that would be spoiling people too much. And also DKA-inducing.

Chocolate Layer Cake (adapted from bakeorbreak.com)

* 1 cup All-purpose flour
* 1 cup Whole Wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I accidentally omitted this, but it tasted fine without it because of the frosting)
* 3 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 small banana, mashed (If you don’t want a chocolate-banana taste, omit the banana and add an extra egg)
* 3/4 cup unsweetened chocolate, melted
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour three 8-inch square baking pans. I used the silicone ones, so I didn’t flour or grease them. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add well-mashed banana. Add chocolate, and mix until well incorporated. Add dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in sour cream.

Divide batter equally and pour into prepared pans. Bake for ~25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Amalgamated Frosting
I made half of this frosting originally for the inside, and I was planning on making a cream cheese frosting for the outside. However, I think I was a little overzealous in heating the milk and it clumped instead of thickening prettily. I also didn’t have unsalted butter, and the salted butter just tasted a little off in the frosting. So instead I just added cream cheese (about 300 grams) softened to room temperature to this concoction and added some more vanilla and icing sugar to taste. It was delicious like that! Otherwise you can make a traditional cream cheese frosting (or follow the suggestions for the 2 frostings on the bake-or-break original recipe). Everyone loved this frosting though, so it was a nice accident-gone-wrong. =)

Now spread it on between the three layers, and then on the top and sides. The amount I had was just right to cover it completely. If I were to make this again, I might chop up some good chocolate or some chocolate bars (like reese’s peanut butter cups to compliment the banana) and sprinkle it between the layers, but it’s not needed. Then decorate as you like! We had grand rounds in the morning at 7:30 so I didn’t have time to do anything too elaborate at 7 AM. Some simple chocolate drizzle and fresh strawberry!

ENJOY!

On those that ellicit “primal groans”

I made these cinnamon buns to bring to our halfway point session for family medicine. It’s a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and her website is funny and cute and has lovely lovely recipes on it.

Joff helped me make them, and he was SO excited when they came out of the oven. You have no idea the joy.

The whole house filled up with delicious cinnamony smells. I thought about making a cream cheese frosting for them, but this maple-coffee glaze is perfectly lovely and compliments the cinnamon buns wonderfully. On Pioneer Woman’s website, she describes these cinnamon buns as elliciting “primal groans of pure joy rising through the rooftops” and boy, there definitely were! Make some. They seem like they take a long time, but really it’s just a whole bunch of waiting around that’s the main problem. So start making them before dinner, and let them rise throughout dinner. You’ll be done in no time. And enjoy them.

The recipe for the cinnamon buns is on her website, I won’t post it here because I followed it step-by-step and made no changes. Here they are!

The glaze I wasn’t as well-behaved on and changed it how I saw fit.
Maple frosting:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cappucino powder dissolved in water
2 tbsp maple syrup
lots of powdered sugar (I didn’t measure, I just poured til the consistency and taste was right)
a drizzle of irish cream coffee whitener

They were still delicious when I brought them to the university the next day, but boy…few things in life beat these cinnamon buns when they were hot out of the oven. make them. eat them. now.

Breakfast for Dinner!

I love brunch. My favorite meal by far…so many choices! Waffles are one of my favorites =)

These waffles are yummmmmy! I have a go-to recipe that I’ve used many-a-time, but I wanted to try out these ones and I wasn’t disappointed in any way. They’re like everything good from a lemon poppyseed muffin, but in waffle form.

Lemon Poppyseed Waffles (Adapted from epicurious)
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 3 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
* 1/4 cup mostly filled with applesauce, then topped with vegetable oil
* 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1. Whisk together first 7 ingredients. In a separate container/bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients (rest of the ingredients)
2. Pour liquids all at once into solids. Whisk just until mixed. Let sit at least 15 minutes.
3. Set up your belgian waffle maker (or regular one. I have a belgian one and it’s glorious) according to the instructions. I put oil on both sides just to make sure it doesn’t stick (and because I substitute out the butter in the recipe, so this makes them a little crispier). Cook until your liking – Some people like waffles soft. I like my waffles nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Serve with whatever topping you like! Maple syrup, fruit compote, jams. I topped them with plain cream cheese and strawberry jam.

The brownies that cause trouble.

I was working in the Emergency Department in Lloyd Hospital on friday, and thought that I’d bring a treat for the nurses. Those seashell chocolates were still haunting me, since I only used up half the box in the cookies, and I’ve been craving brownies for weeks…so in they went into my brownies!

And they soon filled up the kitchen with an irresistible chocolate aroma. When they were done, I took them out and cut them into squares to take to work the next day. This was around 10pm, and I thought I’d call it an early night since I had to be in the ER at 7 the next morning. However, I couldn’t resist nibbling a corner off one to “make sure they were good”. Oh dear. What trouble that caused. A corner soon became half, which became a whole, which had to be washed down with milk they were so gooey and delicious. A little crunchy on the top, but soft and moist and melty on the inside. And the sugar-high gave me an awful night’s sleep. I think I finally got to sleep around 12:30 and woke up at 5 to get ready for work. =(

I almost regret nibbling it. Almost, not quite! It’s worth the sleep deprivation.

Nutella Brownies (from twopeasandtheirpod.com)

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped (I subbed belgian chocolates and chocolate chips)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp hazelnut extract (I used vanille extract)
1/4-1/3 cup of Nutella (I used a heaping 1/4 cup)

Directions:

Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease an 8×8 square cake pan (or in the original recipe, a 9 inch pie/cake pan)

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add in the chocolate chunks. Whisk until blended.
In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, eggs, and extract with a fork until just blended.
Pour the liquid over the flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until just blended. The batter will be kind of dry, don’t worry. Add in the nutella and stir until combined.
Scrape the mixture in to the pan and spread evenly. You might have to press the mixture in to the sides if you are having trouble spreading with a spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in to the center comes out with only a few gooey pieces clinging to it. Transfer the baking dish to a cooling rack and let cool. Cut into wedges, squares, or just eat from the pan!

Just add milk.

Chocolate is my biggest downfall. Well, chocolate and peanut butter. And tortilla chips. And ice cream of course. Oh dear, you can’t forget CUPCAKES!

…Okay, fine, chocolate is one of my biggest downfalls.

Joff left a box of those seashell chocolates in my Lloydminster house a week ago and they have slowly but steadily been dwindling in numbers. I snatch one before I go back to clinic in the afternoon as a “boost”. I sneak one before dinner to “tide me over”. I’ll have one at night to “appease my sweet tooth”. You get the idea. So I decided I had to get rid of them.

And cookies are a perfect way to get rid of them This is a simple, one-pot recipe, which is GREAT. The fewer the dishes the better! Instead of chocolate chips, I used a cup of the seashell chocolates, chopped up, and topped it up with about 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. This might be my go-to cookie recipe in the future, so yummy and easy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com)

1/2 C unsalted butter
1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup your choice of chocolate

1 – Heat the oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment (I lined one baking sheet, but didn’t line the others)
2 – Put the butter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Slide the pan from the heat and add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Whisk until no lumps remain. Set aside to let cool, about 5 minutes.
3 – In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended. Once the butter mixture has cooled, add the egg and vanilla and whisk until blended. Pour in the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4 – Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches (4cm) apart.
5 – Bake 1 sheet at a time (make sure to use a cooled sheet for the second batch until the cookies are light golden around the edges and puffed, about 11-12 minutes. If these cookies are over baked, the won’t come out chewy. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

Makes 26 cookies.

East Meets West Comfort Food

Chili is one of my favorite comfort foods. I have gotten increasingly picky with my chili these days those. Wendy’s chili just won’t cut it for me anymore. I like my chili hearty, full of goodness, and served with something complimentary. So I decided to make my own!

I’ve been reading up on different chili recipes, and took bits and pieces from each one and made up my own recipe. This makes a HUGE quantity (as you can see). Joff came to visit, so I thought it would be okay to make a big batch…but we had it for dinner, and then I’ve had it for 3 meals since, sent Joff off with a big container of it, and there’s still a fair-sized container of it left. It’s absolutely delicious though. Hearty enough for my liking. You could add ground turkey if you don’t like the idea of a vegetarian chili, but it doesn’t need it! Mix and match vegetables too…I think eggplant, other types of squash, more carrots, different kinds of peppers, jalapeno peppers…lots of stuff would work well!

Vicki’s Chili
1 medium zucchini
handful of baby carrots
2 celery stalks
1/2 red pepper
1/2 large onion
2 garlic cloves
1 can (19 oz) white kidney beans
1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans
1 can (12 oz) corn
1 can (19 oz) black beans
1 can (19 oz) crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce

Spices:
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder (feel free to add more!)
2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Dice up all your vegetables as you like them. In a large sauce pan, cook onions in small amount of vegetable oil until they start to become translucent. Add zucchini and cook until they start to soften a bit. Then add in the rest of your vegetables (carrots, celery, red pepper) and finely chopped garlic. Stir-fry a little longer, mixing together your spice concoction while you wait, and then add it to the vegetables.

Transfer your veggie mixture to a slow cooker or a large pot and add in the canned stuff (beans, corn, and tomato sauce). Let it cook on low for at least 1-2 hours on the stove (stirring occasionally) or in the slow-cooker.

Yummy! It tastes even better the second day, when the flavor’s had a chance to sit for a bit. We made my mom’s green onion cakes to go along with it. This was my first time making them without her, and they turned out pretty well! Joff seems to think so too =)