Falling For Caroline

When I'm not getting crafty, I record sound for films. One such film, I have recently found out, will be screening at two(!) film festivals in the coming months. So, here's the details:

Toronto
Inside Out Festival
Hogtown Homos Program
May 20th at 7:15 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre

San Francisco
Frameline International LGBT Film Festival
June 20th at 1:45 p.m
June 28th at 12:00 p.m.
The Castro Theatre

The best oatmeal ever!

I stole this recipe from Michael Smith's Foodtv.ca page, but it really is the best oatmeal ever. While his recipe calls for an almond foam for the top of the oatmeal, I don't have a milk steamer so I've left it out but you can find the full recipe here.

Apple Pie Oatmeal
(Serves 2)

You will need:

1 cup whole rolled oats
2 cups milk
1 apple, cored and chopped
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sliced almonds

Pour the oats, milk, apple, brown sugar and cinnamon into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue gently cooking until it's thick and creamy, about 15 minutes. Stir every few minutes to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom. Spoon the oatmeal into 2 serving bowls and sprinkle with almond slices and serve.

This recipe is easily halved (and doubled for that matter) so making it just for one (or a crowd) is super simple.

Crock pot chicken stock.

Sometimes, instead of purchasing specific chicken parts like breasts or thighs, I like to just buy a whole chicken and section it up myself. This usually works out to be a bit cheaper, and you get the added bonus of the chicken carcass!

So what do you do with a chicken carcass? Make some delicious chicken stock, I say.

1. Place chicken carcass into a roasting pan and roast it until it's done. (ie. Smells and looks good.)
2. Place the roasted chicken in your crock pot along with some chopped up onions, carrots, celery and anything else you might want. (I like mushrooms and herbs like thyme and rosemary.)
3. Cover the whole thing with water and set our crock pot to medium - high.
4. Let the stock cook for at least three hours... but I like to let it go all night. (Just remember to turn down your crock pot to a low setting if you do.)
5. Strain out all the bits when it's done, season with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy your home made stock!

Knead Bread? No!

Enforcing my current love of homemade bread, I recently came upon a recipe for No Knead Bread.

The finished loaf.

It takes about a full day to make, but only about 20 minutes of that is actually spent doing anything. Basically, you mix yeast, flour, water, and a bit of salt, together in a bowl and then let it sit (covered) for about 18 hours to let the yeast develop. Then plop the dough into a mould, let it rest another couple hours, and bake!

Bread dough after one rise.

Breadmaker

So, when Christmas time was rolling around and I started getting requests from family members as to what I wanted, I proved my truly incredible geeky/crafty nature and asked for a bread machine.
Yep.
A bread machine.

And that's exactly what I got. Now, with my incredible bread machine I have been making a varied and delicious assortment of breads. Unfortunately I haven't been taking any pictures of my delicious bread, but here is a list of some of what I have made so far.

Trail Bread: My first attempt. It was supposed to be a fruity, nut and seed filled, bread but due to my misinterpretation of the directions no seeds or nuts were added and it was just a fruity bread... Still tasty though!

Whole Wheat and Flax Bread: Very dense, but good.

Gluten Free Banana Seed Loaf: Made for a family member. A+

Whole Wheat and Flax Bread (Second Attempt): Less dense, still good.

Corn Bread: This recipe didn't turn out as expected. Instead of being the cake like corn bread that I am used to it was closer to a dense white bread with cornmeal and some bits of corn.

Whole Wheat with Oatmeal, Raisins, Spice and Flax Bread: I got creative with this one after stumbling upon a basic, ingredient switchable, bread machine bread recipe (below).

Whole Wheat, Honey, Almond (and flax) Bread: Another variation on the basic bread machine bread recipe, but this time instead of using a second grain I used one cup of ground almonds. It turned out moister than most of the other breads and was closer in texture to the gluten free banana seed loaf.


















Bread Machine Bread (Michael Smith - foodtv.ca)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup of any sugar, white, brown, molasses, honey or maple
3 cups bread flour
1 cup additional grain, cornmeal, oatmeal, rye flour, wheat germ, wheat bran or any whole grain blend
2 tbsp dried milk powder
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of your favourite chopped fresh herbs (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Place all the ingredients into your bread machine, and then follow the manufacturer's directions for baking a 2 pound loaf. You may also use this basic ratio to make bread without a machine, kneading the dough allowing it to rise twice and baking it in your oven.

Note: Yields one loaf.

Crochet!

My mother learned how to crochet from her grandmother when she was just a child, and has never stopped since then. It's absolutely dizzying how fast my mom can crochet something. As a child my house was never short on blankets, they literally seemed to grow over my mom as we watched tv.

I, however, have been a delinquent child. My sister learned how to crochet but I never did. I'm fairly certain that I was busy doing something else. Probably taking apart my toys using a butter knife as a screwdriver.. and learning how to daisy-chain as many videogame systems to the television as possible (don't forget the cable hookup and VCR!).

Now I'm older and increasingly interested in crafty projects.. though no less interested in media or taking things apart.. so I decided to overcome my obvious crafting shortfall. On boxing day my mom and I wandered through the Wal-Mart craft department, browsing patterns for a tuque my mother said she would make me. And, as I have never done before, I uttered the words "I would like to learn how to crochet." Immediately my mom looked up, told me to grab a ball of wool and said she'd teach me as soon as we got back to her place.

Some hours and many confused looks, on my part, later and I was crocheting. So far I've only made one thing, a dishcloth. That's it in the picture above. Next time I see my mom it'll be time to learn the double crochet. Oooh!

Christmas Baking: Chocolate Brownies

These brownies come from Jamie Oliver's How to Cook. They are intense. Little more than dark chocolate held together with a few fillers.

1 cup unsalted butter
7 oz. dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
optional: 75g dried sour cherries
optional: 50g chopped nuts
3/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth.
Add the cherries and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well.
Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes. You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into squares*.

* I cut the brownies into one inch squares and put them in paper cups for a small, easily packed, addition to my Christmas Cookie tins.

Christmas Cookie: Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies a la Alton Brown*.

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add egg and milk and beat to combine.
Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

* I "heart" Alton Brown.

Christmas Cookie: Chocolate Chip

This recipe is from Anna Olson's book Sugar.

3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz. chocolate chips or dark chocolate chopped into chunks

Preaheat your oevn to 350'f.
Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream together butter and sugars.
Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
Stir in dry ingredients until dough forms.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto lined baking sheet and bake 8 - 10 minutes until the edges of the cookie have darkened to a golden brown colour.

Including the cornstarch in this recipe will give you cookies that remain chewy eve after they have cooled. Leave out the cornstarch for crunchy cookies.

Christmas Cookie: Viennese Crescents

This is another recipe from The Joy of Cooking.

1/2 pound butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup ground almonds (or walnuts)
2 cups flour

Position oven rack in upper third of oven.
Preheat oven to 350' f.
Cream butter.
Beat in powdered sugar until well combined.
Stir in Vanilla and ground nuts.
Sift in Flour while stirring.
Knead dough until well blended.
Pull off 1 tablespoon sized pieces, roll into short ropes and shape into crescents (refrigerate dough if it is too soft to work with).
Place crescents 1 1/2" apart on lined baking sheet and bake 13 - 16 minutes until lightly browned.
Sift Powdered sugar over cooled cookies.