Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies

I made some yummy cookies the other day using sunflower seed butter and some cinnamon chocolate chips that I found at the Bulk Barn. They were so good that I had to share this recipe:

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies
(recipe adapted from Chocolate-Spiked Oatmeal Cookies Clean Eating Magazine - July/Aug 2009, p. 98)

• 1 1/2 cup quick-cook oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (I used maple syrup)
• 1 egg white
• 2 tsp unsalted almond butter (I used sunflower seed butter so they can be eaten at school)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used 1/3 cup mini cinnamon chocolate chips)

In a large bowl combine the oats, flour, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the syrup, egg white, butter, and vanilla. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and combine. Add the chocolate chips.

Divide batter equally into 16 mounds and arrange on baking sheets. Using the back of a slightly dampened spoon, flatten the mounds into flat circles. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

This was such a simple recipe and the cookies were delicious. And, surprisingly, the sunflower seed butter really made the cookies taste as though there was peanut butter in them. What a great alternative for the school lunches! (Check out a post on another blog I follow about using sunflower seed butter as an alternative - http://www.feedthesink.com/2010/09/16/the-poor-peanut/ )

Slow-Cooker Bison Stew and Chive/Cheddar Gougeres

When I was in Stratford yesterday I picked up some bison meat from Blanbrook Bison Farm (St. Mary's) to make a stew. The cold/rainy weather this weekend has really had me thinking or warm slow-cooked meals, which is probably why I felt the need to buy some stewing meat.

Here is the recipe that I used:

Slow-Cooker Bison Stew

• 1 pound cubed stewing bison meat
• 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I had none so I just cut up a few tomatoes)
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup water / 1 tbsp corn starch (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients except water and corn starch. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. If juices are runnier than you would like combine water and corn starch and let simmer.

Chive and Cheddar Gougeres

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp Old Cheddar Cheese
• 3 tbsp finely minced chives

Put water and butter into a pot and bring to a boil. Take it off the heat. Combine flour, salt, and paprika and add to the water/butter mixture. Stir until the contents form into a ball of dough. Let the dough cool for 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then mix in the cheeses and chives. Scoup the dough by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet and sprinkle some additional cheese on the top. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes. You'll know they're done when your home smells wonderful.

Here is our completed meal:

Wellesley Apple Butter & Cheese Festival

Before heading out to Stratford I decided that we'd make a stop in Wellesley for the Apple Butter and Cheese Festival. It was only 1/2 hour northwest of Stratford so it just made sense to also support the smaller festival. Well, I thought it would be a smaller festival just because I'd never heard of it. But no, it was much, much busier than I had expected.

There were dancers, musicians, a horseshoe tournament, a boat reggata, vendors inside the arena selling crafts, cheese, and condiments and many more vendors outside selling apple fritters, pancakes and sausages, and, of course, apple butter. Our morning snack consisted of a cored and sliced apple topped with hot butter toffee. Yum, Yum, Yum!

I bought some apple butter, obviously. However, when I got home and actuall looked at the program I realized that they had been doing tours of the apple butter factory. Darn! I wish I'd known that earlier. That would have been fun. Oh well,...I got what I went there for--some apple butter to make an Apple Butter Spice Cake.

Apple Butter Spice Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 cup apple butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I used a little less than 1/2 cup maple syrup instead)
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp all-spice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Melt the butter in a small saucepan until the butter turns a nutty brown. Pour into a mixing bowl and add the apple butter, sugar and oil and whisk until combined. Add the raisins, buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract. Once mixed add the remainder of ingredients and mix until combined. Transfer batter to a baking dish (I used a cake pan) and bake 40 minutes at 350F.

Savour Stratford Rocks!!!

Stratford has done it again. They've brought it up another notch with their Savour Stratford Festival!

Savour Stratford is a week of culinary events beginning with the Stratford Garlic Festival on the 18th and ending with the Savour Stratford Culinary Festival on the 25th/26th. This was their 3rd year (see: http://www.savourstratford.com/).

I was at the event last year and thought it was good. This year, it was superb! I can barely put into words how great the festival was.

When we arrived we parked our car (for free) and walked over to the event (also free--monetary or food donations were welcome). We visited several vendors and tried many different samples. I ended up buying some raspberries, peaches (which by the way I can't believe they are STILL in season), Ontario popping corn from St. Mary's, goat cheese curds with garlic and sundried tomatoes from Montforte Dairy (yum!), pickled garlic (tried some at Garlic Festival and hubby didn't stop talking about them all week), a loaf of bread from O'Sheas, green onions, broccoli, Full-o-Beans brownie mix, etc..

For lunch my daughter had a grilled cheese. But it wasn't just any grilled cheese--the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Stratford and District were making grilled cheeses using freshly made sourdough bread, Mornington Heritage Dairy goat cheddar cheese, and local butter from the Millbank Cheese Factory. Wow! It was delicious (I begged my daughter for a bite). For myself, I got myself a corn, beans, and squash soup from the Stratford School Garden Project. The sandwich was $4.00 and my soup cost me $3.00.

The food available for sale to eat were what impressed me the most. Nowhere was there a 'branded' food seller (i.e., Pizza Pizza) or typical festival food vendor (i.e., french fries, fried fish, etc..). All of the food vendors at the Festival were local not-for-profit organizations preparing food from scratch from local only ingredients. AMAZING!! Any other place would have perhaps offered the grilled cheese but it would have been made from processed bread, single slice processed cheese and margarine. There definitely wouldn't have been made-from-scratch soup either. There were burgers available through Community Living of Stratford and area, but they were locally made and served on freshly baked buns, and topped with locally grown onions and tomatoes from Oliver Gardens.

Another thing I noticed....NO POP! Even the drinks were local and fresh. There was apple juice, apple cider, and many fresh juices. I had a freshly juiced cup of carrot juice--juiced right in front of me. That only cost me $1.00.

It was definitely a great day (despite the crappy on-again-off again rain) and cannot wait to go back again next year! Great job Stratford! I don't think there is any other food festival that even compares to this one!

**We also visited the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival earlier today--I'll post about this one tomorrow morning**

Here's one more picture--my daughter's creation in the Children's Tent:

Garlic, Pork, and Apples

Another great weekend has come and gone. My weekends have been incredibly busy lately, especially since it seems to be festival season around here. Actually there have been so many that I haven't been able to keep track of them all.

The Stratford Garlic Festival, however, had been on my calendar for months now. I was determined to get there on Saturday, rain or shine. Apparently a lot of other people were determined to get there as well because it was very busy--a lot busier than I had expected.

The Stratford Garlic Festival is a celebration of garlic; of growers promoting, displaying and selling their Ontario garlic. While we were there we sampled a roasted red pepper hummus dip, garlic bread, pickled garlic, bison, elk, emu, garlic cheeses, a mini egg salad ice cream cone, different kinds of garlic butter spread, honey butter, and some very, very yummy garlic fudge. The fudge was to die for and was my favorite sample of the day (from Nudge Nudge Fudge -- www.nudgefudge.ca )! We weren't able to buy any because they were sold out, but we did buy some pumpkin fudge which was also very good. It'll be a nice treat for Thanksgiving.

After stuffing our faces with samples we made our way into town for a bite to eat for lunch. There were many restaurants in town taking part in the festival by offering garlic dishes on their menus. Many were offering roasted garlic potato soups, another had roasted garlic lamb burger with brie and rhubarb preserve compote, Pan Tapas & Grill had Perth county pork ribs with a caramelized honey and garlic glaze, Pass da Pasta had penne pasta with roasted garlic and artichoke tomato sauce, etc.. Since we weren't too hungry we decided on Cafe Ten's Mediterranean Roasted Garlic and Three Cheese Pasta with Basil Pesto (www.cafeten.ca). It was delicious.

It wasn't just the restaurants and vendors at the Festival taking part. There were also other companies within the region participating as well. The Pork Shoppe in Shakespeare was one of them (see: www.porkshoppe.com). I had been meaning to visit this shop for a while now so this was as good a time as any. It won't be my last visit either.

They have so much to offer--pork sausages, tenderloin, ribs, bacon, loin chops, ham, meatballs, pepperettes, schnitzel, pork chops, souvlaki, and even ready-made tourtieres. They don't just sell pork either; they have chicken, bison, beef, lamb, cheeses, condiments, and baked goods. And next door you can also find other locally-made products such as candles, maple syrup, soaps, clothing, towels, etc..

Our day didn't end there! After purchasing our meats (meatballs, ribs, and garlic mozzarella) we made our way out to Birtch Farms near Woodstock for their annual Apple Festival. We've gone every year for the last 3 years or so and we keep going back. We love their farm because it's not as commercialized as other places (no entry fee, no parking fee, etc..). We went in, had an adventure in the corn maze, my daughter played in the playground, we picked apples, and visited the store.

We picked a half bushel of Jonamac's, Cortlands, Empires, and Royal Galas. Here's a pic of me with all of our yummy apples. Some will be used to be eaten as is, other will be made into applesauce or an apple crisp, and others will be eaten sliced with some natural peanut butter. Apples can be used in so many different ways. Hmmm...pork and apples? What a coincidence!

Birtch Farms doesn't only sell apples and apple products though. They also have many different wines, cheeses, and meats like chicken, beef, and pork (natural-fed and pastured).

Despite the on again off again rain throughout the day we had a great time! I'm already looking forward to next weekend - Saturday: Wellesley Apple Butter Festival (www.wellesleyabcfestival.ca) and Savour Stratford Festival (www.savourstratford.com); and Sunday: A Slow Taste of Town & Country in Ilderton (www.slowfood.ca).

Back-to-School Snacks (Part 3)

So here it is--A new week at school for my daughter and my post for Back-to-School Snacks Part 3.

Unfortunately, like the pudding, my attempt at the Banana Crackers was not successful. I'll have to adjust the recipe before I post it here. Here are 3 other recipes that did work for me this week:

Toasts

You know how you can buy boxes of toasts at the grocery store? Why is it that these are so popular? I looked at the ingredients the other day and the list was longer than I would have expected, especially since it's really just toasted bread and seasonings. So, of course, I put the box back on the shelf and bought a fresh whole wheat baguette instead. At home, I sliced the bread and spread a bit of garlic butter on them and toasted them in the oven at 300F until they were really brown and toasty.

These are great with cream cheese, hummus, or any other spread.


Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 3/4 cup maple syrup or honey (or 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Typical recipe - mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in the other. Combine and then add the zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes (although I ended up baking for another 10 minutes).

They're delicious. And, my daughter who does not like zucchini, loves these muffins. Who wouldn't? There's chocolate involved!

Applesauce

I love making applesauce. I believe that I did make a post about applesauce previously (yup - see: ). It's such a great school snack and although the grocery store versions aren't actually terrible and often only contain apples and ascorbic acid I still love making my own. I also love making different flavours. This week I made blueberry applesauce and a strawberry/raspberry applesauce.

Making two different flavours in one day takes a little more work but it's worth it. Normally I would heat through the fruit with the apples in the same pot but since I was making two different kinds I had to use a few pots. One for the apples, another for the blueberries, and another for the strawberries and raspberries. Once cooked I put half the apples in my Vitamix with the straw/raspberrie mixture to blend and then used the rest of the apples and the blueberries for the other batch. Voila! Yummy applesauce!

That's all for my back-to-school snacks for now but I'm sure there will be more over the next few months. I have a few more recipes I'd love to try (like homemade fruit leathers! Yum!)

This weekend I'm hoping to make it to the Garlic Festival in Stratford and the Apple Festival/Apple Picking at Birtch Farms near Woostock. Sounds like a fun Saturday! I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures!

Masonville Farmer's Market

I know that when I posted yesterday I had mentioned that my next post would be the 3rd leg of the back-to-school snack saga. I do still plan on writing that post but was compelled to write about the Masonville Farmer's Market instead.

I had the day off from work today. This meant that I was able to check out the Friday morning market just outside Masonville Mall. This was my second visit EVER. I really do wish that I was able to check it out more often though. It's definitely my favorite London market.

It's my favorite because all of the vendors are either local farmers, are selling fair trade, or are selling goods that they have prepared themselves. And, although it's a small market there is a lot of variety available. There's a vendor selling pork, another selling fair trade coffee beans, another selling cheese, and yet another selling baked goods and breads.

A vendor that caught my interest today was a young man from Lo Maximo Meats (Kent Bridge, ON). I had read about him on Kelly's blog (see: http://www.eatlocallondon.com/2010/09/lo-maximo-latin-bbq.html ) and was happy to speak with him today as well.


I bought some plain 'ol sausages from him but was too fearful to try any of the latin-style cuts that he had. He's got tongue (lengua) and nuca (neck bones) as well as many others. I did, however, sample some of his chimichurri sauce (latin parsley sauce) with some beef patti pieces that he was cooking. It was delicious. Although I wouldn't know what to do with any of the latin meats I did tell him that I knew of a few people who would be definitely interested in them and that I would pass on his list of meats.

Lo Maximo is at the Masonville Farmer's Market every Friday until October and at the Western Fair Market every other Saturday.

Other items that I picked up today were some breakfast sausages from Bacon Acre Farm, a basket of peaches, some whole wheat tortillas and tortilla chips from Dewit Family Produce, a bunch of green beans, mini chicken/vegetable pies, a cauliflower, a loaf of multi-grain bread, apples, my favorite garlic spread from Hensall, ON, raspberries, and some really cool seasoned salt. The salt is a mixture of sea salt, bay, basil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, paprika, dry mustard, garlic powder, and dill. It smells delicious. It'll be great on some roasted vegetables I'm sure!

Anyways, I had a great day off from work today. It was nice to make it to the Masonville Market today. I was also able to treat myself to a Starbucks coffee (Grande Non-Fat Toffee Mocha) and also made my weekly trip to Heemans for some strawberries.

As a result of being able to visit the market today I will be able to stay home tomorrow morning rather than doing my usual market run. I will, however, go to the Western Fair market on Sunday. Yes, on Sunday!!! The Western Fair market is open every day of the Western Fair Sept 10-19 until 9pm every day. Awesome!!

Back-to-School Snacks (Part 2)

One more day and the first week back to school will already be over--and we haven't run out of snacks or lunch ideas yet. We've had chicken salad sandwiches, leftover pasta, cucumber/cheese sandwiches, peaches, strawberries, apples, yogurt with blueberries, broccoli, red pepper slices, and of course, granola bars. Tomorrow is Friday. This means that my daughter will have a special treat in her lunch. This week's treat is pudding.

Here's the thing though....I was going to make some homemade pudding...and I did! However, it didn't turn out quite like I had expected. When I made it there wasn't much chocolate flavour and the consistency was jelly-like rather than smooth and creamy. It ended up in the garbage, sadly. Unfortunately my daughter had her heart set on getting some pudding this week so I broke down and bought a boxed version at the grocery store today. Oh well,...it's Friday tomorrow so this will be her treat for the week. I'll have to find a new pudding recipe and give it another shot later. Does anyone have any tried and true recipes?

A recipe that did turn out well though were my canned pears. In fact, it would be really hard to screw this one up. Last year I had made some canned peaches and they were a huge hit. I made more again this year but thought it would be nice to make some canned pears as well. My daughter is always eyeing all of the canned fruits at the grocery store so I'm trying to make some homemade versions.
To make the pears you simply have to peel and dice the pears (preferably Ontario pears) and then add the pears to a mixture of sugar and water (light simple syrup--mine is about 1/4 cup of sugar to 2 cups of water or so). Bring the mixture to a boil and then put the pears/syrup into sterilized jars. Seal the jars and then boil them for 10-20 minutes. Once done, let the cans sit for 24 hours. The lids usually seal in the first few minutes of sitting out--you'll hear a loud pop. Canned pears will be a nice treat come Winter when we're sick and tired of eating apples. Yum!

For my next post (and last part of the back-to-school snack saga) I will try a banana cracker recipe that I got from another blog that I follow. Bananas aren't local, obviously, but it's on my list of non-local foods that I do buy. And, I'd rather make my own crackers as opposed to buying them. Okay...time to stop so that I'll have something to write about for that post.

What have you guys sent in your child's lunch bags this week?

Back-to-School Snacks (Part 1)

It's that time of year again. It's back-to-school time. This year my daughter is in Senior Kindergarten and will be going to school 5 days a week rather than every other day. This means that I've got to prepare a lunch for her every day. And, as most of you who have been following me know--I won't be buying any pre-packaged foods for her lunch.

It looks like I'm going to be spending more time in the kitchen in the next few months. I want to make sure that there are enough snacks and some variety for her.

This post is 'Part 1' of a series of back-to-school homemade snack ideas.

1) Homemade Bagels

Bagels are something that I'd been meaning to try for a while now but my assumption was that they would be difficult or tricky to do. I was wrong--the recipe is super simple.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 3/4 cups warm water (100F)
• 4 cups whole wheat bread flour
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 egg, for egg wash

In a large bowl, combine yeast, water and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and salt and mix until it is combined and forms into a ball. If using a stand mixer use the dough hook and knead on low speed for 5-8 minutes (10 minutes if kneading by hand). Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let sit covered for 1 hour.

When dough has risen, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Once the balls have been shaped cover with a dish towel and let them rest for 30 minutes. Once rested, shape the bagel by making a hole in the center and stretching the hole until it's a little larger than what you would expect.

In the meantime bring a large pot of water to a soft boil. Once the water is ready add 2 tsp of baking soda. After a couple of minutes add bagels (4 at a time) into the boiling water. Boil the dough for 1-2 minutes on each side and then transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Once all of the bagels have been boiled lightly brush the egg wash onto the tops of the bagels and add any toppings (i.e., poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc..).

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that this recipe actually worked out and that I ended up with bagels that look like bagels and taste like bagels. It would be so easy to try different flavours like cinnamon-raisin, bluberry, or garlic. I think I'll try to make an onion one next. I may also use white flour instead since the whole wheat flour tends to be chewier.

2) Homemade Granola Bars

I love making granola bars. Why wouldn't I make them? They are so easy to make and are far better than the processed boxed brands at the grocery store. Here are the ingredients in one of those boxed versions: GRANOLA (QUAKER ROLLED OATS, ROLLED WHOLE WHEAT, BROWN SUGAR, SUNFLOWER OIL, FRUCTOSE-GLUCOSE, DRIED UNSWEETENED COCONUT, HONEY, SODIUM BICARBONATE, NATURAL FLAVOUR, MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENTS), GLUCOSE, CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOA BUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, VANILLIN), CRISP RICE (RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, MALT EXTRACT, SALT), GLYCERIN, SUNFLOWER OIL, SUGAR, SORBITOL, SALT, MOLASSES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR, SOY LECITHIN, VEGETABLE OIL, BHT (PRESERVATIVE), SULPHITES.

Now here are the ingredients in a homemade version of the same bar:

• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of oats and flour. Mix until combined.

Pat the mixture into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and then cut them into bars or squares. Don't wait until the bars are cooled before cutting them or else they will be too hard to cut.


These bars had raisins, chocolate chips and pumpkin seeds. Other options include dried cranberries, coconut flakes, or nuts. Unfortunately my daughter cannot bring nuts to school so I've had to omit them for now. During the Summer I like using peanuts or almonds though.

Part 2 of Back-to-School Snacks will include homemade chocolate pudding and canned pears. Yum! Stay Tuned!