no-knead bread

no-knead bread

As I prepare this post, I am on my third try at no-knead bread.  The first attempt was relatively good but I felt the instruction of ‘hot water’ was a bit suspect.  The result?  The bread was smaller than I thought and I doubted it would rise.  And, I was right in my assumptions.  The…

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steamed chicken dumplings

steamed chicken dumplings

The humble dumpling has been around for centuries and was considered the perfect way to stretch a small amount of meat to feed more people.  Many cuisines worldwide include dumplings in some form be they stuffed, boiled, or steamed.  Filled dumplings have been around in China for more than 1,800 years!  While some recipes call…

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thai omelette with minced chicken

omelette

Food memories.  They are more sensory than any other memories.   I remember first watching the food series, Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul in 2003.  Kylie’s style was eclectic with a touch of bohemian.  When she demonstrated her Chinese homestyle eggs, I was intrigued.  Back then, as a westerner living in an Asian city, the omelette…

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zucchini frittata

zucchini frittata

Typically a frittata is cooked in a skillet and finished off in the oven.  It’s an easy clean-up with just one cooking vessel.  However, I’m going to make you dirty one more cooking pan…gasp! 🙂  I have been making frittatas for years.

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pineapple upside-down cake

pineapple upside-down cake

We enjoy eating fresh pineapple.  When weather permits, there’s nothing better than fresh pineapple spears cooked on the barbeque.  We also like ’em dunked in melted chocolate…yum!  But fresh pineapple is equally delicious in this vintage recipe, pineapple upside-down cake. Upside-down cakes have been around since the 1800s and were initially cooked on cast-iron skillets…

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fried brie with honey

fried brie

I don’t know why, but Christmas always seems to sneak up on me…39 days to go!  It feels like summer and fall whizzed by. Each year I am on the hunt for new appetizers.  I had seen a recipe for pan-fried brie Half Baked Harvest posted.  Tieghan had me at fried brie and this inspired…

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thumbprint cookies

thumbprint cookies

I’ve been going through some of my vintage cookbooks.  One of my all-time favourites is the Purity Cookbook.  This cookbook was one of Canada’s earliest printed collections of recipes.  The first edition was in 1917 and my edition is from 1967.  My mom, paternal and maternal grandmothers all had this in their repertoire of cookbooks.

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lemon crinkle cookies

lemon crinkle cookies

Crinkle cookies have been around since the early 1950s and were initially made with chocolate.   Helen Fredell invented crinkle cookies in St. Paul, Minnesota. In Betty Crocker’s book, “Cooky Carnival,” Crocker talks about being served these cookies at Mrs. Fredell’s home and begging for the recipe.

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fried chicken

fried chicken

According to Wikipedia, the origin of fried chicken in the southern United States can be traced to Scottish and West African cuisine. Scottish fried chicken was cooked in fat, but unseasoned. West African fried chicken was seasoned, battered, and cooked in palm oil.

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creamy butternut squash papperdelle

creamy butternut squash pappardelle

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am always looking for interesting ways to enhance leftover food.  Most years, I usually have turkey leftovers but this year it was my squash casserole.  Recently, I was at an Italian market and purchased a package of pappardelle rigate.  This pasta was begging to be used! 🙂  The…

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