pantry chili

Sure you can eat a hearty bowl anytime of the year, but it seems to make more sense when the weather starts to go south. This little cooking adventure virtually materialized out of nowhere. While I was cleaning out the vegetable crisper this week, the homestead was gifted 8lbs of ground beef. It seems the very kind meat-donor, had recently purchased a side of organic Alberta beef and didn't realize how much product they would actually be receiving. So, combining the homesteads new found stash of beef with a cleaned out crisper, I set out to make chili.

With the beef basically appearing out of the nowhere, this chili was a random free for all. I browned off 2 pounds of beef, with onions and garlic, while chopping vegetables and opening cans. Eventually both my recycling bin and slow cooker were filled to the brim. Opting for the fastest route, I switched the cooker to high and patiently wait 4 hours to fill my belly. For such a gong show creation, I was actually quite impressed by the final product. Needing to keep the heat to a bare minimum for the heat-allergic homesteader, I didn't sink too deep in the spice cupboard, but fixed this after wards with a generous sprinkle of chili flakes. I almost wish I had more vegetables in the crisper, as I could have easily added another zucchini, some mushrooms, or even shredded carrots. At least I had freshly baked Pain a l'Ancienne to accompany everything.

Pantry Chili
2lbs organic beef
2 19oz cans of mixed medley beans
1 19oz can of dark red kidney beans
2 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 14oz can of hot and spicy diced tomatoes
2 8oz cans of hot and spicy pizza sauce
4 or 5 tbls of chili powder
1 tsp of basil
1 tsp of Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne
1 can of corn
1 zucchini
1 green pepper
1 sweet onion
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 cinnamon stick

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buttercup squash bread

So, truth be told, I've been eaten a good portion of my roasted squash. All I do is heat it up, add some fresh cracked pepper and it's delicious. The crazy thing though, is that even with the cupcakes I made, I still have a pile of puree to use up. So with the homesteaders big fans of banana breads, I figured a pumpkin bread would fit in nicely.

Where the cupcakes used 'pumpkin pie' spice, I decided to go at it with the original spices themselves, allowing me to create my own ratio. The bread itself is great. Perfectly moist, with that great quick bread texture. If I make this again, I'll definitely add more spice to really give you that autumn flavour kick and sub some of the oil out for apple sauce (which I was out of).

Squash Quick Bread

1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
15ozs squash puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 10 inch bundt pan. Cream oil, beaten eggs, squash (pumpkin) and vanilla together. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

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butter cup squash muffins

With a giant bowl of squash puree in the fridge, I started looking for recipes that required pumpkin puree. Not that pre-made pumpkin pie puree, just straight up pumpkin puree. I remembered reading about pumpkin muffins at Baking Bites, so I went looking for the recipe. I decided after tracking down the recipe, these babies have to be good, there called Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes.

Maybe I'm out to lunch but I don't think I was aware of the "impossible" style recipe that Baking Bites mentions;

This cupcake recipe is based on an impossible pie recipe. Impossible pie is a concept that is a popular “back of the box” recipe for baking mixes, like bisquick. These “pies” have a little bit of flour in their mix that turns into a firm, crust-like outer layer around the filling.

So there you have it, this style of recipe is supposed to stay soft in the center while forming it's own crust. Crazy! This was an awesome first puree recipe. Simple and straight forward, it allowed me to see if my puree had too much moisture in it. The cupcakes fell in the center, just as mentioned, and really did give that mini pumpkin pie experience. I've been keeping them in a fridge so they stay cold (pumpkin pie is soooo good cold), and topping them with a bit of whip cream. Yum yum!

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roasted buttercup puree and seeds

I'm not going to deny it any longer; there is a small army of buttercup squash in my basement and they must be dealt with. How you ask, well first I'm going to cut them all in half, that's right all of them! Then I'm going to pull out every baking sheet I can find and fill them with squash. Cut side down of course. Now like the evil food captain I am, I'm going to ship my army of squash off to oven land (350 degrees) and wait until they come back from their mission, soft and delicious. After which, I'll scoop out their insides and pulse, mash, and whip everything into a light, smooth pile. Muhahahahaha.

As you can see, just like most of us, they love their time in the heat!

I decided last minute to keep some of the seeds and roast them off as well. There are a million ways to go about this; some people suggest air drying the seeds for one or two days before baking, while others suggest a soak in heavily salted water for that same time. Instead of just soaking, some people boil the heck out of their seeds in salted water, while others are using the microwave...strange indeed. I've always just let the seeds dry up a bit naturally, but feeling the need for change I took the plunge and decided to dry-fry them in a skillet. The tough part is getting all the squash goo away from the seeds. Seriously, it took me almost an hour to clean, de-goo and prepare my seeds.

Keeping things relatively simple, all I did was toss the pile of seeds with oilve oil and kosher salt. Into the oven at 325 degrees I kept checking every 5 minutes, giving the pan a shake and flip. It was about 25 minutes in when I decided to pull them. Of course, I then burnt my lip trying to sample the scalding hot seeds. Silly me, I know. But oh so delicious.

Compared with actual pumpkin seeds, I didn't pick up any major difference. If anything, using olive oil was the most notable one as it changed the flavour profile a bit. I'm pretty sure I've used neutral oils in the past. These puppies are addictive, but even better like roasting nuts, you can toss them in whatever you like. Curry power, cumin, chili powder. Experiment a little and I bet you find something so surprisingly good, you will never want to tell anyone your secret.

Enough of the squash seeds though. It's time to bake!

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buttercup squash soup

My neighbour so kindly donated a few of her buttercup squash to the homestead recently. Mentioning that her children don't eat squash, she thought I might be able to cook something up. What says a good time like cooking up free food!

To my delight, I discovered it was ok to substitute the buttercup squash for the more commonly used butternut. It makes sense, but I was a little worried when I couldn't find any recipe that called for buttercup squash. With this new found substitution information though, the internet my domain! Muhaha.

I flipped a coin and finally ended up on this recipe. All you need is stock, maple syrup, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and cinnamon. After everything simmers for a bit, you can attack it with a blender or hand-wand. The inherent danger of transferring boiling liquids back and forth was enticing enough for me to bring out the blender.

Once back in the pot, I mixed in the maple syrup and S&P before diving in. A nice little treat I tell you. From cutting board to pot to bowl in well under an hour. This was my kind of lunch. Tasty, healthy, and something I'll make note of for future reference.

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corn mania

If any of you are like me, the fall season brings with it, big brown bags of corn. I love corn. From milling it for corn tortillas in Guatemala to picking fresh sweet Taber corn; it's a truly fantastic food. After the homestead manhandled 13 ears of corn one night, my father (who doesn't eat vegetables) decided I must really like it, brought home bags of the stuff. OK..I might not love it enough to eat for a week straight.

I had to create something with corn to make the eating process a little less monotonous. First up was cornbread. Always delicious; cornbread is a perfect place to sneak in a cup of sweet corn kernels.

Preheat oven to 375. Mix one egg into 1.25 cups of buttermilk, set aside. Combine 1.5 cups of cornmeal, .5 cup of flour, 1.5tsp baking powder, 1tsp salt, and 1tbls of sugar. Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a cast iron skillet. Mix wet ingredients into dry, before pouring into skillet and baking for 30 minutes. You will notice the corn bread pulling away from the sides, or browning on top. I used a larger cast iron pan, so it was thinner than usual and cooked a tad bit quicker.

The results were good. A thinner final product allowed for a lighter cornbread and made it seem ok to go back for extra slices! The fresh corn created little pockets of moisture. Love or leave it, this 12 inch slab of cornbread was gone in one evening.

With the cornbread barely cutting into my stash, I looked for something else to make. I thought about making a soup, but lacked bacon and vegetables. This lead me to cream corn. Now I haven't had cream corn in years, but my childhood memories are filled with it. I used to dig a hole in my mothers creamy mashed potatoes and ladle in the cream corn. Yum!

So with my history devoted to canned cream corn, it's no surprise this would be a first. I looked through a few cookbooks and ended up back with Mark Bittman. The recipe requires 6 ears of corn, so I knew this would make a bigger dent than the cornbread. Melt a few tablespoons of butter, add corn, cream (I used 1%, it's what I had), salt and pepper, a little sugar if you need it, and that's that. With everything in a pan, you simmer it down until soft and delicious. If you need to thicken things up, Mark says to mix in a tablespoon of corn starch when you feel ready.

Even without mash potatoes handy, this little dish was tasty. The kernels had more tooth to them when compared with the canned version. I suppose I could have mashed a bit in the pan before pulling from the stove, but it alas I didn't.

Which brings me to the last item. Yes, there was still corn left. With my corn enthusiasm dying slowly, I threw the remaining ears on the BBQ while I put together this chili lime butter. Combine 1 tbls honey, 2 tbls fresh lime juice, .5 teas of chili powder (I mixed in some cayenne too) with .5 cups of softened butter.

So there it is. Two days of corn. BBQ'd, boiled, baked, and simmered. Corn season 2009 is officially over in my life.

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question for everyone - to wash or not

I'm curious to hear your opinions on fruit and vegetable washing. I come across plenty of articles online about this topic and the consensus seems - wash your produce. So do you wash your apples? Wash and peel carrots? Lettuce? Do you wash regularly, or let a peach sneak through once in a while? Do you live on the edge and eat your grapes without washing them? Let me know!

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garden treats!

My first ever cucumber! Just pulled off this little (5 inch) cucumber, along with a bowl full of tumbler tomatoes. I know it's late in the year, the cucumber should have been producing quite a while back, but I can't hide the excitement. I sliced the cucumber for a roasted chicken sandwich, and it was heavenly.

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holy carrots batman!

Every time I pull one of my carrots from the ground, my inner child can't help but do the happy dance. As a first time gardener, I hope I never lose this feeling.

This long line of carrots is growing so beautifully, that I can't help but snack once in a while; and for a guy who eats 5-6lbs of carrots a week, I'm surprised I can hold myself back.

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grilled vegetable sandwich on home made bread

I had a few peppers and a zucchini to use up in the fridge, so I figured it was a prime opportunity to make a roasted veggie sandwich. I let the pepper sit atop the gas stove until it was black, before placing in a plastic bag to steam for 20 minutes. Mean while, I grilled off the zucchini and an onion for good measure. After the pepper cooled, I peeled the skin off and started putting my sandwich together. One slice of bread received some olive tapenade, while the other got mayo and mustard. In between went the pepper, zucchini, onion and two slices of tomato. I then placed the sandwich in the george foreman to toast up the outside. What an amazing sandwich, and this black toasted sesame whole wheat bread is my new favorite.

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prime rib with oven roasted vegetables

Being elected to cook Easter dinner could have been good or bad. I hadn't really pondered a dish to prepare and I wasn't expecting to really 'celebrate' anyways. So with step one out of the way, I left the main ingredient up to my father after I filled his mind with a few quick thoughts I had - typical ham or turkey meal, braised lamb shanks, short ribs, ciccopino, and prime rib. Not knowing of his recent encounter with a bad prime rib meal, he jumped on the chance to have one done up by me. To complement the dish I decided to pick up a rutabaga, carrots, beets, baby potatoes and parsnips to roast.

Wanting to get a good piece of meat I headed over to Sunterra Market. I requested a 3 rib roast and had the butcher slice the bones almost completely off before tying it together. This I had read, would allow me to still use the bones as a rack and make the final serving a lot cleaner. While getting the meat prepped, it was a quick slide over to the vegetables and retrieve what I needed. My surprise of the day came at the till. Not only are the vegetables a heck of a lot more expensive than my regular pick ups at H&W, but the prime rib rang up at $60. Woowzer..better not mess this up.

Prep was relatively easy, as the roast simply required a few hours on the counter to come up to room temperature. I discovered through my pre-meal research that a lot of bad results stemmed from a lack of this first step. Once it was ready, the oven was set to 450 and the two cut sides were rubbed with a couple of tablespoons of butter. In it went for 15 minutes, for a quick sear, and then I lowered the oven to 325. I let it cook away, basting the sides every 30 minutes, until the internal temperature was 118 degrees (rare). At this point I pulled the roast and let it rest under tinfoil for 20 minutes. I measured it after it's rest and it was perfectly (127 degrees) done to medium rare.

The vegetables were straight forward. I cut up everything but the carrots into relative chunks and mixed in some olive oil, salt & pepper, and basil. I let it hang out with the prime rib for the last 40 minutes before cranking the oven to 400 degrees for the 20 minute rest period.

All in all the meal was great. We started with a nice chunk of fontina with crackers while enjoying my new favorite malbec. Once everything was ready, I sliced up a crusty loaf of bread and we dined on an absolutely amazing prime rib. I couldn't stop myself from two helpings of both the meat and vegetables. With the ease of preparation and simple cooking methods, I can't help but think the only thing that should stop you from making this is the price.


Up next..dessert.

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pepper spiced steak salad

Take the following; spring salad mix, orange and red bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, green onion, red onion, tomato and a pan seared steak. Mix together with sea salt, pepper and a few tablespoons of California dressing. Enjoy. Oh so simple and oh so good.

If I'm not eating a protein free salad, 99% of the time it's going to be topped with roasted chicken or tuna. I can't remember the last time I ever topped a salad like this, and it made me realize how a perfectly cooked steak can make it so luxurious. Do you have a favorite protein for salads?

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roasted garlic

Roasted garlic is so easy and delicious that I try and roast off a few heads on a regular basis. Today was one of those days as I had just bought a massive sack from Superstore for $1.25. Really how can you turn a deal like that. Try it fresh from the oven using a fork or your fingers if you are daring, to push the garlic out and eat it straight up, spread on crackers or bread. Mash it up before you cool it down and use it like a dip for fresh vegetables, incorporate it into pasta or pizza sauces, or make the best garlic bread around.

10 heads of garlic
salt/pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peal and discard any of the loose outer shell from the garlic
Cut the top (say 14%) off the head of garlic.
Place in cut side up on a sheet of aluminum foil.
Top with oil, salt, and pepper.
Wrap up foil package nice and tight.
Place in a baking dish and set the timer for approximately 50 minutes.
Let cool, or if you are foolish like me, indulge fresh and hot!

The garlic takes on a great taste, none of the bite you get from raw garlic so don't worry. Also, I suggest playing with different spices and you will never look at garlic the same.

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kimchi, oh the kimchi

What a delicious and wonderful treat. This may seem extremely random, but I have to admit my love for this Korean side dish. Is it so wrong that I can turn this into a meal. And what I mean by meal, is a bowl of kimchi with a side of kimchi. I can't seem to recall where I first encountered kimchi, or even when I fell in love it. I do know that I can't stop eating the style of kimchi available at my local Korean Central Market. First it was small containers and those would disappear in a night. Next up the medium size containers, hmm somehow those disappeared in a night. Whoa what's this...a larger size; same thing. Where can I go from here, well I've graduated to buying the $19.99 tub.

I have tried to make my own kimchi, 3 times now, but I can't seem to really pull it together. Maybe I don't put the right spices in, let it sit long enough, cast the right spell...If anyone has any tips or suggestions to making your own kimchi; I would love to hear them. While $20 for a bucket (look at it compared to a 2L Pepsi) is a good deal, making it myself would make it that much better. Especially since H&W almost always has cabbage for cheap.

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h&w produce - edmonton, ab

h&w produce
31, 9261 34 Avenue
780.436.7970


I'm the kind of person who checks flyers. In fact I love flyers, with my two favorite types of flyers being those based around electronics and food. Now Friday and Saturday are usually the be all end all days of flyer goodness from my local paper with Saturday being my favorite. This is the day h&w updates its weekly specials. Sure you can find their specials advertised in a small space tucked away in the classifieds section during the week; it doesn't compare to my excitement first thing Saturday morning.


H&W isn't a big store, they claim the south location is 4000 sq/ft, but it is big enough to hold a great selection of fruit and vegetables. The produce isn't always at its prime, you can find many items that have been picked either too early or too late, but the deals are hard to beat. This week for example, 1lb clam shells of strawberries for 98 cents. I realize it isn't strawberry season, but it's just an example of how different their prices are. The south side location was recently closed for two weeks to undergo some renovations, so I packed myself up and travelled to their Kensington location (12510 132 Avenue). With the layout being different, it took a minute to organize myself, but I found the selection and variety equal to what I am used to seeing on the south side.



If you are looking for more exotic produce they are also a great choice, as Edmonton's culturally diverse south side, has always in my opinion, been a major part of the reason h&w is thriving. I usually stop by the south side location every 2 or 3 days as I live just down the street and this gives me a steady supply of their best offerings. I reccomend you stop in next time you go for groceries, or the prices at the larger chains are pinching your pocket. Just remember; the crowds can be a little hectic at times, the produce can be hit or miss, and if you wait 5 minutes that empty space may just get filled with something even more delicious than what you came for.

3rd Location
14083 Victoria Trail
780.478.8780

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