Roasted Chickpeas Recipe

Unfortunately there will be no weekly farmers market post for this past week as I have been quite sick and have not had the wonderful opportunity to visit or work at any of the markets this week.

Instead, I am here to deliver the news: roasted chickpeas are awesome!!! A total revelation to me and finally, a healthy recipe alternative to chips that actually tastes good. (Crunchy nori...yuck. Kale chips...shoot me now.)

Photo Credit: thedailygreen.com

I came to this ultimate ephiphanal (is that a word?) conclusion while looking at my fridge, shutting the door with dismay, opening the cupboard, looking at it with dismay, and then alighting on my can of San Remo chickpeas.
I didn't particularly want a boring chickpea with lemon juice salad (I need to go grocery shopping, okay?), so I went to my version of Granny's cookbook-www.allrecipes.com-and searched "chickpeas".

I mostly came across recipes for hummus and then roasted chickpeas. After looking at a few and knowing that I had a lot of random spices perfect for the recipe, I went to work and created my own version of The Roasted Chickpea. And it rocked! And chickpeas are seriously healthy: they are very high in dietary fibre, excellent to eat for diabetics, and packed with protein, zinc, and folate, among other things.

Photo Credit: bigoven.com

So with no further ado, here is my recipe:

approx. 15 oz canned chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
cajun seasoning
parmesan cheese
(the above five are all to taste)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Whisk together olive oil, spices, and seasonings.
3. Drain chickpeas and mix into oil and spices.
4. Spread evenly on large baking pan.
5. Put in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. After 30 minutes, be sure to keep an eye on them to prevent charring.
6. Take out, put into bowl of choice, sit down, and enjoy!

Tomato Fennel Soup Recipe

Tomato Fennel Soup

Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan

*Cooking oil                                        (2 tsp./10 ml)

Chopped fennel bulb (white part only)  (2 cups/500 ml)

Chopped onion                                    (1 cup/250 ml)

Minced garlic cloves                            (2 cloves)

**Chopped tomatoes                          (28 oz./796 ml)

(any kind, as long as they 

are sweet and delicious!)

Chicken stock                                     (2 cups/500 ml)

Balsamic vinegar                                 (2 tsp./10 ml)

***Granulated sugar                           (1 tsp./5 ml)

Salt                                                     (1/2 tsp./2 ml)

Pepper                                                (1/4 tsp/1 ml)

*I used olive oil. I don't use any other cooking oil. Works every time.

**The recipe actually calls for a can of diced tomatoes (with juice), but if tomatoes are in season, for pete's sake, use those please!

***I halved this recipe, as it is designed to serve six and I only wanted to serve three. It worked perfectly, three medium-sized bowls of soup. I used one sugar cube (I don't have loose sugar as I don't bake). So two sugar cubes would work for the full recipe.

1. Heat cooking oil in large saucepan on medium.

2. Add fennel, onion, and garlic. Cook for approx. 10  minutes, stirring often, until onion and fennel are softened.

3. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, granulated sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir. Bring to a boil.

4. Simmer, partially covered, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fennel is tender.

5. Carefully process in blender until smooth.

6. Makes about 6 cups.

7. Eat and enjoy.

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup (not what you may think...)

Grilled Cheese is a classic. The classic comfort food (feel free to dispute!). And like all classics, whether it's a Led Zeppelin song, Beethoven's Fur Elise, or the grilled cheese sandwich, putting your own spin on it-making a cover of it, so to speak-is not only welcomed but encouraged in my world.

Yours truly enjoying an American Grilled Cheese
@ The Grilled Cheese Grill Food Cart in the Alberta Arts District, Portland, Oregon

(Yes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. But, you see, I'm not trying to fix anything, or re-create it, or say that something was inherently or at all wrong about the original. I'm just doing my thing, inspired by the one and only original. That's what I call respect.)

Anyways, my mum and I went out for a detox spa treatment today and I decided a few days ago that I was going to treat her and my boyfriend to a homemade special lunch.

The Hungarian Grilled Cheese Sandwich
courtesy of  all you need is cheese 

The menu: Tomato Fennel Soup & Hungarian Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Yum!
Total Ingredients: 10 and 4, respectively
Cost: low
Difficulty Level: 5/10 (easy!)
Deliciousness Level: 8/10 (yum!)
Customer Rating ("customers" being my mum and my boyfriend): 4.5/5 (grand success!)

Even on a summer's day (perhaps not a plus-30 one) this meal would make for a great lunch! Making soups and sandwiches are seriously fun for me; they always seem less daunting than grand dinner dishes that I take one look at and turn away from in disdain. (I was looking at a Thanksgiving cooking course the other day and as soon as I saw that a recipe for a whole oven-baked turkey was going to be part of it, well, let's just say I'm not considering that class anymore.)

The soup recipe is from Company's Coming Soups cookbook and the sandwich is from the 2010 Fall Issue of all you need is cheese. The former you can easily find in any bookstore (or Zellers, or Home Outfitters, etc.) and the latter is free in many grocery stores. I will include both recipes in a following post for your thorough enjoyment.
P.S.: This issue of all you need is cheese is dedicated to the grilled cheese, so eat your heart out from the basic Italian panini to the more decadent Curry Me Brie by Chef Paul Rogalski or the seriously luxe French Toast Grilled Cheese by Chef Melissa Craig of Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler.

With sunshine and summer come smoothies

During the dreary time between October and April, making healthy fruit smoothies or eating fruit at all is about as familiar to me as the Antarctic. However, as soon as the sun starts shining and it is warm again in May, I want salads, smoothies, fresh food, and lots of it all.

My mum bought me a fantastic blender for Christmas and man has it been getting a workout the last week. I'm loving my fruit smoothies! It feels so good on the stomach, it's quick, it's healthy, and it keeps me regular. (Apologies for some major TMI there.)

I use milk, yogurt, frozen fruit, and ground flaxseed in my smoothies. There are, of course, endless options for smoothies: maybe you're more of a crushed ice person, or a banana lover, or maybe you add sugar (please don't do the latter for the love of God).

Here are the basic rules, quantities, and ingredients I follow per serving:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup thick Greek-style vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen fruit
2 tbsp ground flaxseed

That's it! So get that Magic Bullet out and get blending. You won't regret it.

Quickie #2

Just finished eating midnight dinner. That's what happens when you work evening shifts. Made a quick-ie  pasta and was most impressed with results. Ingredients are as follows:

boiling water
kamut penne rigate
lean ground beef
chopped red peppers (equivalent of one big pepper)
minced garlic (three cloves)
chives (two)
olive oil (drizzle)
parmesan cheese (two tbsp. sounds right)

Nourishing and nicely filling. Inexpensive and quick. First real meal of the day.

Good night.

Preparing for a battle? Drink this.

Alright, so it won't get you jacked up like Red Bull or 'roids for that matter, but let's be honest, neither is good for you. This, however, this elixir, ambrosial drink, was thought to do it for you for ancient South American warriors. And they knew a thing or two about building dominant civilizations and fighting bloody battles. The drink: Drinking Chocolate. Not to be mournfully confused with hot chocolate, especially the instant powder-boiling water nightmare-inducing North American drivel. This is the real shit, drunk in Mexico, Latin & South American countries, Spain, and other Mediterranean countries who know their chocolate.

There are different variations in making drinking chocolate-some ask for cream, some ask for white sugar, others brown sugar, others still different-but you will always need these four ingredients: dark chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, and milk/water. Now, I can't imagine making it with water. Some find it too rich with the milk, but I think that could only be the case if you used Homo milk, which I haven't drunk in over five years and before that probably the same. 1% works perfectly well, giving the drink its necessary richness and creaminess, but it won't render you immobile and incapable of normal brain function as a result.

I successfully made delicious drinking chocolate three times in the last two days. Not quite as rich as the drinking chocolate at 49th Parallel on Fourth, but a bigger serving and the cayenne kick put it on a level playing field. (If I may say so myself. I never said I was modest.) I may try Xoxolat's offering today when I head out to that side of town today. What a ego-stoking feeling though to know that I can make great stuff in my tiny basement kitchen that is just as good if not better than what I can get in chi-chi-boo-boo cafes in town. Stir, drink, and enjoy:

Ingredients

• 1 oz (30 g) 69 or 70% dark chocolate (3 squares of a standard 100 g bar)
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (175 ml) milk
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (or spice of your desire: nutmeg, cinnamon, and/or ground cloves would work)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, chocolate (break into small pieces), cocoa, and brown sugar.
2. Once the chocolate starts to melt, gently whisk to combine ingredients.
3. Just bring the mixture to boil.
4. Add desired spices and whisk again until combined.
5. Pour and enjoy.

Is This Baking Powder?

Looks like I've been gone for a while again. It hasn't really be an exciting week as far as food and cooking goes. I need to go grocery shopping. But, there are always tales to tell. It must have been Tuesday-I can't remember-but I made a nice dinner for Anthony and I of skillet lamb chops and salad. The green onions were looking strangely transparent after being chopped: a sad bunch. But the salad was satisfactory and the lamb chops turned out great. I never eat lamb, on moral and ethical grounds: killing a baby animal so we can eat it doesen't seem right or necessary. But, they were given to me as a generous thankyou gift from Jay Springs Lamb at the Kitsilano market. I don't cook much with meat; at least nothing fancy, or even requiring recipes. As usual, however, All Recipes saved the day and I found a great, really easy and simple lamb chops recipe. Brown lamb chops in olive oil in skillet; pour in onions, warm water, and salt and pepper, bring to boil, simmer for 30 minutes. Done. Perfect. Easy. Here is the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Skillet-Lamb-Chops/Detail.aspx.

Another easy-peasy cooking tip from The Fledgling Basement Chef: If you don't feel like cooking, and you should always insure against these inevitable times by having quick meals in the house, make some instant noodles (preferrably the kind where you have the boil the noodles in the pot for 5 minutes), shop your fridge, pull out those forgotten (or well-loved, whichever) green onions, peppers, hot peppers, etc., chop them up, throw them in the pot when you put the noodles in, and you've got a slightly healthier, definitely more colourful and happy instant meal. You can almost always make instant, pre-packaged meals into something much better than it ever could have been without your invaluable creativity and interference!

What's on the food docit: Cranberry Scones. With rice flour. Not sure how that is going to play out. And with what I hope is baking powder. I'm pretty sure it is. But, it could be flour though. I think I need to go to the grocery store and open boxes and compare before I needlessly waste food and go insane after inevitably using all-purpose flour for the baking powder. Wish me luck.