Time is flying by way too fast. Just the other day I realized that it’s been over two months since I’ve posted anything here. How did that happen and when did time start darting past so quickly? I feel like summer should be a little slower than the rest of the year. Perhaps I’m dreaming, but I think there should be time for lying in hammocks, savoring bi-rite ice cream, floating down rivers and pickling summer vegetables. Although I haven’t had much time for those things yet, I have had enough time to make this strawberry-rhubarb shortcake, which has almost completely made up for everything else.

The best part about this twist on strawberry shortcake is the strawberry-rhubarb-lime-ginger compote. It’s slightly tart, a little sweet and is dotted with sparking, candied ginger. The strawberries are barely cooked, so they taste fresh and hold their texture. I would spoon this compote over anything (okay maybe not anything, I would avoid broccoli). It would be delicious on vanilla ice cream or yogurt and would add something very special to pancakes and oatmeal. You can serve the compote warm or cold and it refrigerates well for about a week. The compote is what made this dessert amazing because something just wasn’t quite right with the shortcake. They looked beautiful and they were moist, but they were too dense for my taste and tasted a little bit like baking soda. I have to make another attempt with shortcake because I know the buttery, light, moist, slightly sweet shortcake I want is out there. Until I find it, I’ll give you the recipe for the compote. Spoon this over anything that suits your fancy and please let me know if you have any tips for perfect shortcake!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote with Ginger and Lime
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes about 5 cups

Place rhubarb in medium pot. Mix in sugar, ginger, lime juice, and peel. Cook over high heat until sugar dissolves, stirring often. Boil 4 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium; simmer just until rhubarb is beginning to fall apart, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in strawberries. Serve warm or chill in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

My mind has been on picnics lately. It’s almost summer and a big part of summer is all about outdoor eating. Sweet corn on the grill, sandwiches on blankets and lots of fresh fruit are all a given for the upcoming season but you may want to add something a little different to your picnic basket. Pickled vegetables are the perfect unexpected condiment at a bbq or picnic and I’m kind of obsessed with them.

I’ve been pickling baby carrots and radishes recently and in the last month I’ve already been through two jars (I told you I’m obsessed). The vegetables stay satisfyingly crispy while they absorb the tangy, slightly spicy brine. I’ve been enjoying them on sandwiches and sliced and tossed into salads, but mostly I’ve been happier than ever eating them straight out of the jar. They are easy to make and will store in the refrigerator for a month, so make them now and always be ready for a spontaneous picnic in the park.

Pickled Carrots & Radishes
Adapted from Gourmet

1/2 pound baby carrots, tops removed
1/2 pound radishes, tops removed
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 sugar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 bay leaf

Place carrots and radishes in a heatproof bowl or jar.

Bring remaining ingredients to a boil in saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Pour pickling liquid over carrots and cool, uncovered. Chill carrots, covered, at least 1 day for flavors to develop.

This weekend was the perfect weekend for baking. It was pouring hard outside, so I cozied up inside and baked these banana muffins. Banana bread is generally a good thing but I’ve found it slightly confusing to decide on a recipe when there are hundreds of options out there. I kind of randomly chose a recipe while searching through epicurious and got lucky because these banana muffins with macadamia nuts and coconut are definitely a good thing.

They’re moist and full bananas, plus the macadamia nuts and coconut lend a satisfying crunch and tropical feeling that would make anyone feel a little more summery on a rainy day.

One of the keys to any great banana bread or muffin I learned from my dad. Don’t over mix the batter and don’t over mash the bananas. I believe this to be seriously good advice, partially because it’s from my dad but mostly because it works. It keeps the bread from becoming too dense and you get delicious chunks of banana laced throughout your muffin that will make you happy.

If you like banana bread, I would whole heartedly suggest trying this recipe. With or with out the macadamia nuts and coconut it’s sure to make you smile.

Banana-Macadamia Nut Muffins
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes 12 Muffins

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 large egg
1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl. Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk, sour cream and egg in medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in half of the nuts and half of the coconut. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining macadamia nuts and coconut (I made some with just macadamia nuts on top and some with coconut as well, feel free to do any combination or none at all as a topping). Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

We’re home from France. My sister and I experienced a lot of cold, a lot of adventure and a little bit of disappointment but we made it back safely and I’m ready to get back to cooking and blogging as usual. Here are a few pictures from our trip, I’m hoping they speak for themselves…

We’re riding on a very fast train into the center of France right now. My younger sister and I have spent a week in Paris and are now watching out the window as the magnificent buildings and crowded sidewalks turn into endless trees and quaint little houses. We’re headed to a farm where we hope to learn about farming and explore the countryside, but first here are some pictures from Paris. We saw some  of the most amazing architecture and art but what stuck with me most was the food.

I had a whole bunch of apples left over from a photo shoot last week and after spending quite a bit of time as counter decorations in my kitchen, I decided I needed to do something with them. While looking through Donna Hay magazine, drooling over the photographs and gorgeous food, I came across a recipe that sounded both interesting and amazing (although, everything in Donna Hay sounds interesting and amazing). Maple-Glazed Nectarine & Almond Bread. I immediately decided that I must make Maple-Glazed Apple & Almond Bread – so I did and to be honest it’s interesting, but not amazing.

I think that the switch to apples just didn’t work. The bread is a bit on the dry side and I think the juiciness of the nectarines would have pulled it together a little better. The maple is good, the almond layer is good, it just needs the juicy top to balance it.

Now, I have to skip over to another subject because I have some news and I can’t wait any longer to spill it. My younger sister and I are going to France for five weeks and we’re leaving this Sunday! We plan to spend a week in Paris with my friend Vincent and then it’s off to the middle of nowhere, France to work on a small farm for a month. We’ll be learning about what it’s like to live on a farm and I’ll be blogging all along the way! I’m sure there will be plenty of ups and downs, so I hope you stick around.

P.S. If anyone has any ideas for places we must visit or must avoid please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.

Also, to add another weird element to this somewhat chaotic post, I have to apologize because I seem to have misplaced this recipe. I promise to post it as soon as I find it, but I’m hoping it won’t be too much of a loss because it wasn’t exactly amazing. If you want something that is amazing with almonds and fruit, try this.

It’s a new year and so far it’s been busy. I’ve taken on some extra work, which has been great but it’s also making me long for all the free time I had about a month ago. Why didn’t I use that time to it’s fullest? I could have been at museums and parks, or making art, or learning something new. I guess this means my New Year’s resolution must be to balance my time so that I can still do all those things and keep blogging. I love working on this blog and I’ve missed it very much. I will be jumping back in now and sharing with you one of my favorite things to make. Sweet potato fries are no secret, they’ve been blogged about before and what I have here is barely even a recipe. You see, I’ve made sweet potato fries an unhealthy amount of times, but I’ve come out of it with a few tricks I picked up along the way and I’d like to share them with you.

I’ve burned them to a crisp, I’ve had them turn into mush and I’ve noticed that there really isn’t much guidance on baking them in the recipes that are out there. They usually just give you a temperature and a time and tell you to just pop ‘em in. I’ve never been very successful doing this, so here are some tips I have for making evenly baked, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside sweet potato fries.

1. Turn often while baking (seriously, I know it’s not very fun but you must turn).

2. Uniformity. If they’re all about the same size they’ll crisp evenly.

3. Don’t go overboard on olive oil (about 1 tablespoon per potato).

4. Pre-heat your baking pan.

These four little things have really helped me to get sweet potato fries just the way I like them (without deep frying them that is, we all know everything is better deep fried). I hope you take these tips and experiment with whatever variation suits your fancy. I added a little cayenne pepper to mine this time, but they’re also great with garlic, thyme, cinnamon, cumin, anything you can think of (except maybe all of those things together at the same time). I hope you have fun with these, let me know how it goes.

Sweet Potato Fries

Makes 4 servings

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch wide slices, then again into 1/4 inch wide strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large pinches sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or any seasoning you want)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place baking sheet in the oven while it’s preheating. Toss sweet potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and cayenne. Spread sweet potatoes in a single layer on hot baking sheet. Place sweet potatoes in the oven for 15 minutes then remove pan and turn each one with a fork or tongs. Place pan back in the oven and continue turning them every 10 minutes for another 30 minutes (you will have turned the sweet potatoes four times total, making each side nice and brown). Let sweet potatoes cool for a couple minutes and serve (or eat them all to yourself because they’re so good).

I haven’t been a very good blogger lately. I know, I admit it – I’m sorry. There are plenty of excuses for my lack of writing. I could say “work has been busy” or “there’s no time around the holidays” or “my dog ate my notebook”, but I’m not going to use any of those excuses today. No, my excuse is light. It’s been getting dark so early these days; by the time I’ve finished cooking or baking, there’s no window light left to take photos – and that’s at 4:30! I can’t tell you how many perfectly blog worthy meals have not yet made it here because of light. I miss the long summer days with endless bright light – those were the days.

Finally I was able to capture one dish and I’m glad I did because this is a good one. Melty, homey, baked mac and cheese is perfect for these dark days. It’s hard to go wrong with macaroni and cheese, but this version is especially delicious. It’s packed with two different cheeses and a layer of swiss chard to sneak in a vegetable. The crispy bread crumb top is my favorite part, so don’t skip it. I love the crunchy bite you get with the soft, cheesy noodles. This is a great weeknight meal with a special twist and it’s one I’ll be making for a long time.

Baked Mac and Cheese
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes 4 servings

• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/8 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup (packed) coarsely grated aged Gouda cheese plus 1/2 cup finely grated
• 1 1/2 cup (packed) coarsely grated Smoked Gouda cheese, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 pound Swiss chard, stems and center ribs removed
• 8 ounces elbow macaroni
• 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I made breadcrumbs by grating a stale loaf of french bread)

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, then flour; stir constantly 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture begins to boil, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup coarsely grated Gouda and 1 cup Smoked Gouda. Stir until cheeses melt, about 2 minutes. Stir in cayenne and nutmeg. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9×9- inch baking dish(or something close to that size). Cook chard in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 1 minute. Using slotted spoon, transfer chard to plate; cool. Reserve pot with water. Squeeze water from chard; chop.

Return water in pot to boil. Add macaroni; cook until tender but still firm to bite (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Drain. Stir macaroni into warm cheese sauce. Place half of macaroni in dish; smooth top. Top with 1/2 cup Smoked Gouda cheese, then chard. Top with remaining macaroni mixture; spread evenly.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter. Place breadcrumbs in medium bowl. Drizzle butter over; toss. Add 1/2 cup finely grated Gouda and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over mac and cheese.

Bake mac and cheese until breadcrumbs are golden and edges are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.

Thank you all for sharing your favorite holiday traditions, I have loved reading every single one. They were all so unique and heart warming, they made me very happy.

And now, for our randomly selected winner!

Kim
December 6, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I’ll add a nice prime rib roast beef to that Yorkshire pudding for Christmas Day dinner!!

Congratulations, Kim!
I’ve loved putting on this giveaway, so look for more in the future!

I’m stuck in holiday mode and I don’t think I can get out. It’s cold and raining outside, Christmas music and sparkly lights are everywhere and all I want to do is bake cookies. Actually, the main reason I want to bake cookies is so that I have a reason to turn on the oven. Our house is so cold, I’ll take any excuse to turn it on. Don’t be surprised if most of the things I post here in the next few weeks have spent some time in the oven.

Ginger cookies scream Christmas time to me, they are the perfect cookies for Santa. These cookies are feeding my holiday spirit. As far as ginger cookies go, these are some of the best I’ve ever had and definitely the best I’ve ever made. They’re soft and chewy on the inside with a crisp sugar crust on the outside. They’re gingery, but not so spiced that kids would object to them. These are the perfect, crowd pleasing treats to bring to your next holiday potluck. I hope you make them because they are amazing but if nothing else, it gives you a reason to turn on the oven and warm up.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies
Adapted from Sweet Times at Emandal

Makes about 18 cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the flour, spices, baking soda and salt together in a medium size bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the molasses and egg to the butter mixture and beat until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar to coat and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from pan and cooling on a rack. Can be stored in an airtight container for a week.