Cape Split and the Bay of Fundy

The weather was simply amazing this weekend - not too hot, just perfect. We took full advantage. We went to Peggy's Cove on Friday afternoon (post coming soon), spent the day at home Saturday doing renovations and then went to the Annapolis Valley on Sunday.

 

Our plans for our day in the Valley was to make our way out to Blomidon since my husband missed it last time I visited (he was working) and then to Scot's Bay for a hike to Cape Split. First though, we needed to find some nourishment to give us energy for the day. I knew that there was a Pete's in Wolfville so we made sure to stop there. We picked up some cheese curds, sandwiches, fruit, and granola bars.

 

 

 

The next stop was to the LookOff to view the beautiful valley. I absolutely love this view (and the Valley). It's the part of Nova Scotia that reminds me the most of Ontario. The best part is driving and through and smelling the produce in the air; cauliflower or maybe cabbage..?? I couldn't really tell but it smelled really good.

 

We arrived at Blomidon at low tide (as planned) and walked through the mud. We did some exploring and found some hermit crabs among other things.

In the parking lot behind the car we found another little snack - blackberries! We got a pretty good handful. Always refreshing..

We didn't just find wild blackberries though, we also found several apples (or crab apples) scattered in the basin. I love that so many fruits are just growing wild everywhere.

After our little visit to Blomidon we continued on and went to Scot's Bay for a hike to Cape Split.

Cape Split is a very popular due to the spectacular view at the end of it. Other than the Peggy's Cove lighthouse I believe that the pictures taken on this trail are the most famous views that people take pictures of in Nova Scotia when visiting.

The total trip is 16km (8km each way). We walked it with our daughter and it took us 2 hours (lots of uphill) to get there and 1 1/2 hours to come back (lots of downhill).

Is it worth the walk? Hell ya! The view is absolutely amazing. It's not something that a picture can even come close to showing the grandeur of it all. Just trust me, you have to go see for yourself. We were there at mid-tide or so.

What you see on the other side of the water is New Brunswick. Pretty cool, eh?

Although we had snacks with us for our hike we were absolutely starving afterwards. To satisfy our hunger we made a stop for some ice cream at "R" Back Porch, a cute little spot located in the back of a house. What a great idea!

I can't wait to go back and do the hike again. I bet the view is incredible in the Fall. I have a few friends who like to hike. I bet I'll be taking them there when they come and see me for a visit.

Traditional Nova Scotia - Blueberry Grunt

You know what's totally crazy? Wild blueberries are NOT expensive here. Being from Ontario I am so used to those berries costing an arm and a leg. They can only be found in Northern Ontario and you either have to go out and pick them yourself in a mosquito-infested field or buy them on the side of the road. A small basket will easily cost you up to $40. The reason? They're all hand-picked and the season is very short.

 

In Nova Scotia, on the other hand, the berries do grow wild but they're also farmed in the field to produce a better yield. As a result, they are grown in large quantities and are harvested with special machines. Did you know that Nova Scotia produces over 40 million pounds of blueberries every year? And, unlike Ontario whose blueberries grow in July, the blueberries in Nova Scotia are available from early August until late September.

 

Here is some more info from the Rainbow Farms Limited website:

 

"In late May-early June, when the blueberry blossoms are ready for pollination, the blueberry grower moves hives of honey bees onto the blueberry fields to aid in pollination of the blueberry crop.

Harvesting of the blueberry crop begins in August and lasts until mid-September. Once harvest is complete, the fields are either mowed or burned to allow new plant growth . Blueberry land is harvested every second year. During the next spring and summer, the blueberry plants are allowed to grow. This is termed "the sprout year "and no blueberries are produced. The following year, or "the crop year", the blueberry field will be harvested again.

We have over 2500 acres of our own blueberry land. Located throughout Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Some harvesting of the wild blueberry is still carried out by hand held rakes, using the technique as 100 years ago.

The majority of the wild blueberry crop is mechanically harvested using machine driven harvestors."

 

 

Would you believe that those blueberries only cost me $18? Yup...a 5lb box of wild blueberries. That box would have cost a fortune in Ontario. If they're still available later in September I may need to bring a box back with me to London when I visit my work peeps.

I've bought two boxes so far and have squirrelled them away in my freezer. But for the first time ever I'm using them in recipes. Because I'd only end up with a small quantity of them after getting my parents in Sudbury to put some aside for me I treated them like gold and only used them in my Oat Bran for breakfast and made sure they lasted through the winter/spring. Not this year! Today I made a traditional Nova Scotian Blueberry Grunt and used 4 cups of them (and didn't feel sad about it).

The Blueberry Grunt is a famous dish around here. It is said that the dish goes back to the early settlers and that the name came from the noises made in the covered pot when cooking...grunt, grunt, grunt..

What better way to use my blueberries than to make the most traditional blueberry recipe there is? I had also found out about this recipe in London actually. Before the move, the receptionist at my chiropractor's office (hi Courtney!!) told me that she used to come out here every summer to visit family and had fond memories of eating this 'blueberry grunt'. I was told I had to make it. So I did!

Here is 'the' recipe. I don't think anybody changes it (ever). Every site I looked at had the exact same recipe.

Sauce:

• 4 cups wild blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water

Dumplings

• 2 cups flour (I used half all-purpose, half whole-wheat)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup milk

In a large saucepan combine blueberries, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice, and water and boil gently until well blended and cooked down.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter and add enough milk to make a soft biscuit dough (I used more than 1/2 cup).

Drop dough by spoonfuls into the hot berry sauce. Cover tightly with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. The dumplings should be puffed and cooked through.

Transfer cooked dumplings to a serving dish. Ladle sauce over top and serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Yum!!

Guess what I'll be serving to all of my out-of-town guests when they visit? Hmmm...

Homemade Celery Soup and Cleaned up Casseroles

Did you grow up eating casseroles with canned soup as one of the main ingredients?

I remember one of the first cookbooks I owned was one from Campbell's Soup. I made quite a few of the recipes, especially the ones using the Cream of Cheddar Soup. Yeah...I don't have that cookbook anymore. I couldn't tell you when I last bought a can of soup. It's just too easy to make my own instead.

The other day, for instance, I made cream of celery soup and then...used the leftovers to make a casserole.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 head celery, chopped coarsely
2 potatoes, diced
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. When oil is hot add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft. Add the potatoes and broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

How does this compare to the canned version? Well, here are their ingredients: WATER, CELERY, WHEAT FLOUR, CANOLA OR SOYBEAN OIL, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SALT, CREAM (MILK), MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, SPICE, ONION POWDER, BETA CAROTENE

Yup...there's MSG in there and other bad stuff.. Plus, it's shock full of sodium...810 mg per 1/2 cup. Yuck!

Dishes made with canned soup were very popular for a while. I think they're starting to lose their luster though. Less and less people are making them (I hope anyways). Those same recipes, however, are great for homemade soup leftovers, like my celery soup.

In a casserole dish I mixed together green beans, sliced potatoes, chicken, cooked/chopped bacon and the rest of my celery soup. I put the dish into the oven at 400F for 40 minutes.

That's an easy and convenient one-dish meal, eh? A great way to use leftovers too! Just because I don't buy canned soup anymore doesn't mean I can't use their recipes. I won't make the soup for the sole purpose of making a casserole, but if I've got some leftover, why not?

Homemade Lemon Curd

Have you ever found yourself with an excess of egg yolks to use? It would seem that many of my recipes only require the egg white, which means that I'm often left with egg yolks. This week I had 6+ egg yolks. I couldn't bear to just toss them out so I thought it would be a great time to make some lemon curd.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Although all of my yolks had melded together in the bowl all I did was use 4 tbsp of egg yolks. An egg yolk is roughly 1 tbsp.

To make 1 cup of lemon juice I used roughly 5 to 6 lemons. My daughter juiced them for me (her favorite job) so you may need less. I'll assume that she didn't get as much juice out of them as I would have.

Making the curd is very simple. Put the ingredients into a metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk the mixture until it thickens (about 15-20 minutes or so).

Once thickened, remove the curd from the heat and strain it into a bowl using a sieve. This removes any egg that may have scrambled in the process.

Apparently this is when the butter should have been added, rather than with the other ingredients as I had done it. Oh well, it worked all the same.

The next step is putting the curd into jars (or using in your recipe) and letting the mixture cool.

Although it 'seems' that lemon curd can be canned there are worries about the fact that there is egg and dairy in it and that it may not preserve well. Plus, to can it safely there is a requirement for a pressure canner, which I don't have. So,...my jars are going into the freezer just to be safe.

My favorite way to use lemon curd? As a topping/sweetener for plain yogurt and mixed with blueberries. Heaven!! Blueberries and lemon are a great combination.

Lemon Cream Tart with Wild Berries

Remember a post I did a couple of weeks ago about picking wild blueberries by the sea? Well, I've been back a few times now and found more. Not just blueberries though, raspberries and blackberries too! The blackberries are crazy. There are tons! I've gone back every two or three days to pick more. We're expecting rain for the next couple of days so I'm going to assume there will be a bunch more to pick this week too.

Although I was saving most of them to freeze or to make jam with I finally decided to part with a few of them and make a tart. It's so funny that I wait for summer to come in order to start hoarding berries and other fruits but don't actually use them when the fridge is full of them. It's like I'm afraid to use too much in case there won't be enough last through the winter. I have to make the effort to use them fresh; like in this Lemon Cream Tart recipe. (from Clean Eating Magazine - September/October 2010).

Ingredients - Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup blanched unsalted almonds
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple butter
• 1/4 cup unsalted almond butter
• pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange oats and almonds on baking sheet. Place into oven and bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

In a food processor, combine toasted oats and almonds, apple butter, almond butter and salt. Puree until almost smooth and sticky. Press crust mixture evenly into the bottom of springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Ingredients - Baked Lemon Layer:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup strained low-fat plain yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)
• 1/4 cup raw honey

Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Using the dull side of a small knife, scrape inside of pod to remove seeds. Place seeds into a small mixing bowl, discarding pod. Add egg whites, lemon juice yogurt and honey and whisk until combined. Once crust has set, pour mixtureinto crust and bake at 350F for 25 minutes, until golden brown on top and egg mixture is cooked completely and firm. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. cover and refrigerate until cooled completely, about 30 minutes.

Ingredients - Lemon Cream Layer:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 8 oz low-fat cream cheese
• 1/3 cup strained low-fat plain yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)
• 1 large lemon, juiced and zested (1/3 cup juice)
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1 cup fresh berries

Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Using the dull side of a small knife, scrape inside of pod to remove seeds. Place seeds into the bowl of a food processor, discarding pod. Add cream cheese, yogurt, lemon juice and honey to food processor and pulse until combined and smooth. Add lemon zest and pulse again to mix thoroughly.

Once crust and first layer are cool, pour lemon-cream cheese filling into pan and smoth with a spatula until even. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours or overnight until set.

Top with berries and serve.

Yum! Soooo good... Just like cheesecake except with a lot less cream cheese.

A Visit to Grand Pre for a Wine Tasting

I've only been living in Nova Scotia for less than 2 months but I can already tell that I'm going to be spending a LOT of time in the Annapolis Valley. We've made the trip out twice already with plans to go out again this coming weekend.

On our last trip we visited the Grand Pre Winery and the Minas Basin (Bay of Fundy).

The Winery is amazing. When driving by (on Hwy #101) you just can't help but admire the grounds. They are pristine!

Would you believe that I had never actually seen grapes growing on a vine (in person) before? Nope! When living in Ontario I never did make it out to visit a winery. Just never had the time I suppose..

So what did we do while we were there? Well, we tasted some wine of course! I have a preference for white over red so we chose the sampling of white wines. We tried the Seyval Blanc, Tidal Bay, L'Acadie Blanc, Reserve L'Acadie, Muscat, and Ortega.

Our favorites were the Seyval Blanc and the Tidal Bay. We went home with a bottle of each.

Next to the wine shop lies the Le Caveau Restaurant, apparently one of the world's 20 best winery restaurants by Wine Access Magazine. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to eat here since we had the 'kid' with us. No children's menu here I bet! The menu looked amazing though - Acadian Tofu and Atlantic Shrimp Pad Thai, Local Clam Linguini, Nova Scotia Fundy Lobster Risotto, etc.. Maybe next time...

After visiting the winery we made our way out to the Blomidon Provincial Park to view the Minas Basin (Bay of Fundy). Before we made it though we HAD to make a stop at 'The Lookout'. What a view!! From this point we got a great view of the Annapolis Valley and its farmland. Sigh...how I wish we could have moved here instead...

The Blomidon Provincial Park was not too much further past The Lookout. Luckily I had checked the tide schedule the day before and knew that we'd be getting there around low tide. The best thing I've been told is to make it there at high tide and then again at low tide to see the difference. This is what we plan on doing this weekend when we make our way back again. Let's hope the weather cooperates!

Isn't it amazing? We walked from the stairs all the way to the edge of the water. It's not too often that you get a chance to walk on the ocean floor.

My only suggestion? Be sure to bring removable footwear and something to wash your feet with afterwards. You WILL get muddy! Totally worth it though!

On our next trip out we'll visit Blomidon to see both tides and will also check out Cape Split and Scots Bay with some hiking mixed in. So far the forecast for the weekend is showing nothing but rain. I'll be hopeful though...it's still just Wednesday and that could change!!

Picking Wild Blueberries by the Sea

Growing up in Northern Ontario there was always a good supply of wild blueberries. When I was in highschool I would sometimes go off on my bike with a couple of buckets to pick berries on the side of the road. Once, I thought I'd bring my berries to the gas station at the corner and sell them for profit. I had heard of other people doing it so I thought I'd do it too and make a little extra cash. Haha...yeah...they didn't pay much... I never did that again!

When I moved to Southern Ontario I really missed having access to wild blueberries. Yes, I could buy some but man oh man they were soooooo expensive!!!

I've solved that problem now. Nova Scotia has a similar landscape to Northern Ontario which means that wild blueberries are plentiful here.

Last week I took my mom out to the 'Secret Beach' nearby and although I had brought a bucket along expecting to find wild raspberries, we found a really nice patch of wild blueberries instead. Was I excited? You bet I was!!

This is what we picked on that day. They didn't last long.

Fast forward to this week and I went back with my husband and picked another bucket full of them. I put these ones straight into my freezer for future use.

I'm hoping to go back again in the next couple of days to pick more. I'll freeze some of them but will also make the traditional Northern Ontario treat - a bowl of blueberries with milk and brown sugar. Delicious!! Is this a traditional use for wild blueberries here in Nova Scotia too?