sunflower and oats

I have always loved Ryvita Whole Grain Rye Crispbread and recently I discovered that they have some great new varieties including one named Pumpkin Seeds and Oats. I’ve been enjoying these with herbed goat cheese for a nice light lunch.

Today, after reading a message on my backpacking recipes blog from oregonhiker, I decided to try them with hummus. I also had some baba ghanouj so I had one crispbread with each of the dips.  The hummus was delicious and had enough flavor that the Ryvita didn’t overpower it. The baba ghanouj was simply amazing — even better than the hummus.

I think I might have a new craveable treat!

banana guard

Last fall I was in the Oakville Hiker’s Haven store and I found this great little product called a Banana Guard.

One thing I dislike is a bruised banana and my little boy is the same, so I thought this would be great for his school lunches. If you ever saw how that boy throws his backpack to the ground you’d be surprised that anything in his lunch survives, let alone a banana. So, using my son as the tester, we put it through the rigors and it has held up extremely well, as did the contents.

The company says that it also protects the banana from premature ripening. I decided to do a test with two organic bananas from the same bunch. I put one in the Banana Guard and the other just sat in the basket on the kitchen counter. It seems that the guard does prevent the banana from ripening too fast. That’s another thing I don’t like — overripe bananas.

You can find out more about the Banana Guard and the companies other fruit protection products at www.BananaGuard.com.

When I was a child I used to head down our road to Farmer Dan Weadick’s place.  Farmer Dan had a beautiful sugar bush in back of the farm and he used to let me help check the pails and take off the sap. I haven’t done that since I was 14 and we moved to the city.

Recently I had a trip down memory lane while reading my friend Heather’s blog where she has posted a photo essay of their 2009 sugaring adventures.

It made the day a little sweeter.

Perhaps tomorrow I will post one of my favorite Maple recipes.

It’s been months since I’ve blogged on craveable. Many things have been going on — everything from working on my next book to some medical issues.

I’ll be posting new ideas, recipes and wine finds over the coming months.

tomato salad

This isn’t a recipe but it is one of my favorite lunches. Sometimes I make it as a course for a dinner. So what’s in it? Sliced tomatoes, bocconcini, fresh whole basil leaves, and some wickedly delicious hot peppers. Then it is drizzled with some good olive oil, seasoned with some cracked pepper and kosher salt and served with a nice slice of Italian bread.

It looks very pretty on the plate and it is healthy. The hot peppers are from our friend Antonietta. If I am not mistaken the plants came from her Mother in Italy. Every year Antonietta harvests the peppers from her garden and packs them in olive oil. She gives a few jars to my brother-in-law and he always saves one for me because he knows how much I love these firey peppers. They are much hotter than a jalapeño pepper.

Yum! Definitely craveable!

ineeka ma-chai tin

Today I was at the post office picking up a shipment. Our local postal outlet is in a Shoppers Drug Mart and they have a great range of organic teas and coffee. As I was browsing the selection a silver tin caught my eye — tea made by a company called ineeka (little earth).

The company’s tagline is “Cultivating Consciousness” and the goal is “to be socially responsible for the subsistence of the 25, 000 people who live on the farms.” They have a strong emphasis to be environmentally responsible as well.

The tin is much like a humidor and contains 14 bags of ma-chai. The ma-chai is a whole leaf, 100% organic tea blend containing black tea leaves, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, clove, rose petals, and saffron. There were other flavors but this one really intrigued me.

What impresses me about this product, other than the fact that the tea has a wonderful aroma and taste, is the way in which it is brewed. Each bag is actually its own infuser called a “Brew Taché” which gives you the convenience of a bag with the

ineeka brew taché

benefits of loose leaf brewing.

The bags are flat and are slightly larger than a traditional tea bag. To use the “Brew Taché” you gently tear off the top strip of the tea bag and open the bag up into the infuser. It rests on your cup. You can see how it looks when set up in the picture to the right.

The tea itself is a superior product. Delicious. The pre-measured infuser makes for a perfectly brewed cup of tea. The aroma is incredible and the flavor was superb. Clean up is a breeze. These are a little more expensive but well worth the extra cost.

As you know, I love to backpack and canoe, these will definitely be in my pack on the next trip.

You have probably noticed that I have been a little scarce around the craveable blog lately. So many things have been going on including a few camping trips, working on the second wilderness cookbook, client work and getting my son settled in the back-to-school routine.

My current trail cookbook, A Fork in the Trail, is doing well and I have been doing signings, interviews, demonstrations and such for that.

Now that I have a little more time I can get back to experimenting in the kitchen. Over the next few weeks I’ll be creating some new recipes to share with you and resurrecting some old family favorites.

This isn’t really a recipe but it sure was yummy—craveable actually.

This morning my little guy, Tobias, slept in. He woke up really hungry and asked me if we could have a fancy brunch. Generally we eat a very healthy breakfast but every once in awhile I make an exception.  I went searching through the pantry to see what I had and found some peach loaf that was starting to go stale. It was somewhat cake-like with a large piece of peach in the centre.

“This will be the perfect base for a very decadent French toast”, I thought to myself.

decadent French toast

I proceeded to check to see if I had any maple syrup but that was in vain. I did have a jar of Earl Grey and Orange Jelly that didn’t set properly but was a nice thick syrup. There was also some whipped cream that Samantha had left at our place on the weekend. I also had some delicate Ceylon cinnamon in the spice cart. That’s the true mark of an obsessed cook—most of an entire chef’s cart dedicated to herbs, seasonings and spices. Now where was I? Oh yes, French toast.

I sliced the loaf into 1/2 inch slices that were about as big as the palm of my hand. I dipped each slice in a simple mixture of egg and milk with just a hint of madagascar vanilla. Then I pan-fried it in a little butter.

The slices were arranged on a plate with a bit of the Earl Grey and Orange Almost-a-Jelly poured on top. Then two little dollops of whipped cream, a few peach slices and a sprinkle of the cinnamon to finish. As you can see the syrup collected in the middle of the toast where the peach was baked right into the “bread”.

We ate it with a nice hot cup of tea and Tobias loved it. What a great treat on a Friday morning!

A few years ago my sister and her husband introduced me to a yummy snack—crackers with cream cheese and red pepper jelly. Yesterday afternoon I decided that it was high time I tried to make homemade red pepper jelly. My recipe filled 4 one cup jars but I left lots of headroom. Along the way I learned a few lessons.

Measurements have to be precise.

You really do have to sterilize your jars first and keep them warm as things move along quickly once you start heating the ingredients.

Don’t play with the jars once you’ve put the lids on or you can break the gel. One of the four jars of jelly is more of a thick syrup. Sometimes you can leave it and it will set eventually but I will probably use the one that didn’t gel as a glaze for roast chicken—so all is not lost. If you ever have a jelly that doesn’t gel don’t throw it out. You can salvage it by following the instructions from the National Center for Food Preservation website.

red pepper jelly

© 2008 Laurie Ann March
makes enough to fill 3 to 4 one cup jars

This jelly has the sweet flavors of red pepper combined with the heat of Tabasco Sauce. It is sweet and not overly spicy.
 

red pepper jelly with cream cheese

6 large sweet red peppers
3 cups granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin
4 1 cup canning jars with rings and seals

Wash the jars lids and seals. Make sure that you only use new seals. Preheat the oven to 225ºF. Set the jars in the oven to sterilize them and leave them there until ready to use. Make sure any tongs, ladles or spoons that you use have been sterilized as well.

Remove the stems, seeds and membrane from the red peppers. Coarsely chop the peppers and then pulse in a food processor or blended until finely minced. Place the peppers in a fine mesh strainer and place over a bowl to drain. Stir the peppers and press them against the sides of the strainer to release the juices.

When you have a cup of juice, place it in a pot. Turn the burner on high and add the sugar, Tabasco sauce and apple cider vinegar. Heat to boiling and stir occasionally. Once the mixture is boiling remove it from the heat and add the liquid pectin. Return the mixture to the heat and bring it back to the boil. When it reaches a full boil let it continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam as it will cloud the jelly—be careful as the mixture will be very hot.

Ladle the jelly into the jars from the oven leaving 1/4 inch headroom in each jar. Use a damp cloth to wipe the outer edges of the jars clean. Screw on the lids and rings. The heat from the jelly will help the jars seal.

Sit the jars on the counter for 24 hours and do not move or disturb them. The lids should not have any give. If they do then the seal didn’t take but you can still use it as it will keep in the fridge for one month.

Jelly is best stored in the fridge but can be kept in a cool, dark place for up to 3 months. Once the seal is broken, store the jelly in the fridge for one month.