Fresh Croissants a la Julia Child

Julia Child was born August 15, 1912 in California, Pasadena. She lived with her husband Paul Cushing Child some time in France where she discovered the french cuisine. She wrote the book the "French Chef"and appeared on her first television show the "French Chef"in 1963 which was a success. 

In 1989 Julia Child published another book including a video which called "The Way to Cook"...

I am inviting you to go on "You Tube" to see Julia Child making her favored French Croissants for her mid- petit dejeuner. 

I love Julia Child for being who she is a natural down to earth person....

They are sooooo Delicious to the TASTE!

Here are the ingredients:

Feed your yeast: 10 min

1 pck of dry yeast

1/4 cup of warm water

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup of milk (warm to the finger)

In the next bowl you need to add:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1tsp. 1/2 salt

4 tbsp of oil

pour in the milk

4 oz of butter for placing it in the dough after it risen.

Then add your yeast to the above ingredients and form a dough. You need to knead for about 5 mins.

Place your dough in a clean bowl and clip the top of the dough to help it rise. Rise the dough about 1 1/2 hour in room temperature. Put your bowl in a plastic bag to help it rise.

After it risen...chill the dough for about 15 mins for easier work with. Roll the dough into a square and place your square butter into the dough and cover the butter with the dough. Then roll the dough with the butter into a rectangle and use flour if the dough sticks to the surface. Then fold the dough into an envelope. This process has to be repeated 4 times. Place the dough into the fridge for 2 hours.

After 2 hours repeat the process again. Then you have to rest the dough for another 2 hours. The resting time of 2 hours is over you can form your dough into croissants.

Voila!

Scottish Lemon Cheese Pie

I planted to make Scottish Lemon Cheese Tassies, but being in a typical Christmas mood filled with tones of hectic the Tassies turned into a Scottish Lemon Cheese Pie which is easy and fast to prepare.

I am going to take this beautiful Scottish Lemon Cheese Pie to our neighbors house... where we are  invited for our second Christmas Dinner this year...Merry Christmas!

You need for the dough:

1 cup of all purpose flour

7 tbps of unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup sugar

First place the flour and the ice cold butter in a food processor and pluse 5-7 times, then add one egg yolk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and mix everything together until it forms a dough.

Place your dough in a round baking sheet and bake it about 12 -15 min in 350 F oven. Make sure that it is nice and golden brown.

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese (soft)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

vanilla 

1tbsp. lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients together and then pour it on top of your baked crust. Bake it again for about 15 mins. Done!

Egg NOG Apple Pie Recipe

Here is my recipe for my Egg NOG Apple Pie which I made for Christmas 2014:

What your need:

Pie Crust:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

280 g cold butter

1tbsp. shortening

Add everything in a food processor and pulse 8 times. Then use the function dough and mix everything together add cold water if needed. 

This can also be done with a kitchen aid machine.

Place the dough 1 hour in the fridge.

Filling:

6 -7 Apples, slice fine

100 g raisins

3 -4 apricots, sliced

2 -4 shots Rum

40 g almond slices

100 ml Egg NOG....add spices like cinnamon, vanilla and other Christmas spices you wish.

Peel the apples and slices them fine. Add lemon juices to prevent them from getting brown.

Use a pan and put 1 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp sugar melt. Then add your apples with the raisins and apricots and rum to the pan and simmer for about 5 mins. Pour the mixture on a baking sheet and let it cool.

Once the filling is cooled off add your Egg NOG on top of it.

Divided your dough in two equal halves. One half you use to form the bottom crust and the other half is to use it later for the top. Re-fridge it the other half which you will use later.

Use flour before spreading the dough. When your roll out your dough start in the centre and work yourself up continue to do this until you have a medium thin dough sheet. Roll it on your pin and place it in your butter pie baking form. Then add your filling and repeat the same with the other half which you need to put it on top of your fillings.

If you have left over dough use your cookie cutter and place the Christmas shapes on top of your apple pie dough. Then brush your dough with egg wash or water.

The oven has to be warm 375 bake for 20 mins. then turn it down to 350 and bake for another 35 mins. DONE!

Egg NOG Apple PIE

Christmas is right in front of our door. Children are impatiently waiting to receive their presents which are surrounded under the Christmas Tree. Bells are ringing and we sing Silent Night, Holy Night a child is born who brings Peace to this earth.

I wish all of you Peace, Freedom and Joy to the world whether you believe in Jesus, Buddha, Allah or in nothing. I wish you all the blessing with your family or without your family.

Maybe, this is going to be your first Christmas in your new apartment, new home or maybe you are going to be all by yourself, because your separated from your spouse, grief over a lost one.  I know how it feels to be alone ...not being invited to join in ...I was once in your shoe and celebrated Christmas as a single mum with my son who just turned 3 years of age... one week before Christmas.
The great thing was that I felt warm in my heart and that I gave my son the BEST Christmas I ever good give him ...JOY to the WORLD...

I made an Egg NOG Apple Pie Canadian Cake:

This is going to be for my son where we are celebrating Christmas tomorrow

December 24th, 2014

The smell of this beautiful Egg NOG Apple Pie is soooo

Delicious  to the TASTE

Merry Christmas

The recipe will be uploaded later....

Perogies Bacon & Cheese Filling with Almond Stilton Cheese Sauce

Pierogi or Perogior Pierozki are spellt in many different ways. They are Polish dumplings and you can buy them with different flavor.

I chose for my family the Bacon & Cheese one and let those tasteful dumplings dive in almond stilton cream sauce...

Delicious to the TASTE

Everything is quick and easy to prepare. Especially, when you short on time....

Stilton Cheese is an English Cheese with a strong taste. It comes in blue and white color. Please do not take too much of this cheese in your sauce otherwise it turns out quite bitter. If you like you can add cranberry sauce to this dish.

What you need:

Perogies

Almond

1 tbsp sugar

Stilton cheese

whip cream

Part 1:

Warm up Perogies in water and set aside. Add almond and sugar in a pan and let them roast for about 3 mins. or until the sugar is dissolved. Then set aside.

Part 2:

First bring the Stilton cheese to melt and add whip cream bring it to a quick boil and remove it from the stove. Seasonal it with salt, pepper and herb.

DONE

SALLY'S APPLE NUTS CAKE....MORE NUTS....than CAKE

I do not know how I should begin ...this morning I made an  apple pancake for Liam one to eat and one to take to school. So, I thought mmmmmmm..let's make a simple and easy going apple cake but something with nuts in it. I just love nuts.

When I made the cake with almonds and crushed walnuts I left the cake on the counter top. Coming back from a nice walk with my husband, I let first Sally into the house...which was the worse decision I made for this day...the cake was gone....totally..gone.....thank GOD I took a picture of the cake....here it is

Do not ask me how it was .....because we did not have a chance to try...Sally, our Golden Retriever, was the one who ate it ALL!

BUT ....it must have been DELICIOUS to the TASTE!

Here are the ingredients:

2 - 3 apples

200 g almond slices

1 cup yoghurt

1 cup canola oil

2 cups sugar ( coconut sugar )

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

180 C or 357 F

Part 1:

Use the same cup for all the ingredients otherwise you will have different amounts. Whisk everything together including cinnamon. Then pour out the dough in a baking pan.

Part 2:

Peel and uncore the apple and cut them in small pieces. Fold them into the dough.

Bake for 45 mins.....then...add yout nuts badge.

Part 3:

Almond slices and crushed walnuts in a pot with 120 g butter melted. Add 20 g granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp.vanille and pour over the baked cake and leave it for another 12 mins until golden brown.

The smell was so incredible, my husband and I, were impatiently waiting to dive in. When we came back from our walk...Sally was the first in the kitchen and the first having her nose and mouth in...

We believe it was....DELICIOUS to the TASTE !

HALLOWEEN TIME .....FRIGHT APPLE FRITTER.....

HALLOWEEN is a great time not only for children but also for their parents. They are able to show off their decoration talent and much more.

Today I thought I could show off my FRIGHT APPLE FRITTER...my husband told me that they look like the onces we know from old good Europe which are called "Quarkbaellchen" translated into Quarkballs..quark is a little bit thicker than yoghurt...

But this is also a really fast recipe and pretty simple to impress your love ones:

As you can see LIAM ... is ready to snatch one away....

OR a close up...

Here are the ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

2tbsp. brown sugar ( optional granulated sugar)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanille

1 large Granny Smith

Oil for frying your FRIGHT Apple Fritter...

Part 1:

You need two bowls...one for dry and the other one for wet ingredients.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together..and whisk all the wet ingredients together (do not forget in a separate bowl)

Part 2:

Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix until combined. Set aside...

Part 3:

Peel and Core one Granny Smith apple. One half of the apple coarsely grated and the other cut in about 1/4 in pieces.

Gently fold the apple into the batter.

Part 4:

Pour oil in a deep pot and let it heat up. Then place one or two dough batter in the hot oil pot. Waiting time about 3 to 4 mins...start with one and see how long it would take and check out the inside if it is done...then continue... You can use an ice cream scoop. They would look more evently shaped like round balls.

Place the finish fried apple fritter on parchment paper and let them cool about 1 to 2 min. finish them off with sugar/cinnamon mixture...DONE! You can serve them with Whipp Cream or just leave

them they way they are....

They were soooo DELICIOUS TO THE TASTE....

1001 MARCOCCO NIGHT WITH LAMB AND COUSCOUS

Having North African blood running through my blood-stream naturally I just LOVE cooking Arabic or Marcocco food ...

My father was a great cook and I still have the taste of his hot spicy chicken on my taste buds...I re-tried his chicken tights and legs like he did, but unfortunately, I forgot what kind of spices he used.

Here is a very simple dish to prepare:

Here are the ingredients: 2 portions

1 to 2 cups of couscous

1 cup chicken peas ( in a can)

2 carrots

1 parsnip

1 potato (optional 2)

1/2 Yam

1/4 green beans

3 clover of garlic

1 med. onion

Meat:

2 Lamb chops

Part 1:

Boil water for couscous. Give 1 to 2 cups of couscous in a bowl, add 1/2 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp butter or oil and boil water (about 3 cups) use 2 forks to fold in the water until loose.

Part 2:

Coarsely dice all the vegetables and saute them with garlic and set aside.

Part 3:

Use the same saute pan for your lamb.  Seasonal your lamb with salt, pepper and garlic (or garlic powder) and fry the lamb chop between 4-5 mins.

Part 4:

Add whip cream to deglaze the caramelized liquid from the bottom of your saute pan to make a sauce.

Part 5:

Use a big pizza baking pan to portion your couscous first, then add your vegetable and on top your lamb chops, then pour your sauce all over. Finishing by decor it with peppermint!

My husband loved it..

                          as always...Delicious to the TASTE!

Something About ME and my passion to local FARMS

I grew up in a big City in Europe. The funny part is that my mother came from a farm. Her parents had some cows, geese and pigs. Hay time was not a fun time for my mother when she was a kid and later a teenager. Everytime, when she was in school her mother took her out for HAY time. She hated it!

The time which my mother lived in was harder compare to farmers of present time who have the support from milking machines and other typ of luxury tools...

ME...

I was more like the tom-boy girl who love to run a round in farmer jeans climbing on trees loving to safekeeping for animals. I brought injured small animals home and cared for them...whether they were 5 kittens in a grocery box or a half dead pigeon...I wished my home were on a farm so I could have a horse to ride all day long.It does not have to be big. Kind of a Hobby Farm.

I was curious where the bread came from and how to make cheese. I wanted to have my own garden to see the veggies grow. I stand in awe of trees which are 100 of years old....

When I came to Canada..to Vancouver in 2009...I just could not see my boys and us living in a city...I was thankful that my husband agreed to move to Maple Ridge, BC....there I found, after, researching for quite some time Karen Koop her chicken, beef, lamb and garden plants and herbs and much more.

She has the best chicken far and wide,even then when we moved to Chilliwack in July 2013...I still could not find a local farm that could beat Karen's chicken. It is worth it to drive 1 hour to get her chicken! 
So, if you ever pass by Maple Ridge...stop by...make sure your phone her up to get her up-to-date business hours, because they do change...

CHILLIWACK and their local FARMS...

Jackie and her Prest Road EGGS

I will try to introduce some local farms from Chilliwack once I discover them from time to time. One of them is Jackie and her eggs. I found her pretty fast, because she lives on Prest Road and this is the road which leads to Hwy 1 going to Vancouver or the opposite going to Hope. 

When you drive on Prest Road her signs cannot be missed. The signs are sharp yellow and most of the time it says CLOSED because she is out of eggs. I have to call Jackie to order 2 or 3 dozen eggs which I done during Thanksgiving time, because her eggs are sold out pretty fast, like I said. Jackie is a very nice person she makes it possible and convenient for her customers to pick up their order eggs even she is not home...she has trust in her customers....that is very seldom in these days. Thank you, Jackie...

WENRO FARM

Then there is WENRO FARM...Wendy and Piet...are probably the 4th or 5th generation from Holland. They are very nice people. Their cocktail tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers must have...not to mention their eggs and their SATURDAY Cinnanmon buns are the firecrackers under all...BUNS...Wendy inspired me to get better and better in my cinnamon buns that I finally made it....it took weeks and tons of patiences...

When I visit Wenro farms I feel home and cozy. Lindsay, is the niece of Wendy and Piet and just like them she has a natural smile. It is just fun to spend some time there. I have seen people on a Saturday morning sitting and eating cinnamon buns and having this Mmmmmmmm on their face....You know what I mean?!

Piet plans a pet zoo. He already has a donkey and some sheeps. I am excited how it will look in the end of it. Here are some pictures I took. Sadly, I was not able to capture the smell of Wendy's cinnamon buns. But, nevertheless, just stop by on a Saturday morning or during the week and get local eggs or veggies or both....

Here is the veggie stall:these brown bags contain Hazelnuts, also local....I bought one bag...and I will conjure a cake for you.

On a Saturday morning...people sitting and eating cinnamon buns:

The chicken house

Little Mary had a little lamb...

.YOURS...Ellaine... from FieldsCooking Lab....

BEE STING in FALL

My favor cake was and still is "Bienenstich" translate into BEE STING CAKE I have no idea how this cake got its name. Maybe, it is served most of the time in the summer and the sweet smell of the honey lures the bees to the cake....Whatever...this is a great traditional German Cake...and it is soooooooo ambrosial....

This recipe is quite easy and fast when you have your ingredients all together. It is only time consuming, because the yeast dough needs time to rise...

Let's start...

Here are the ingredients:

For the dough

1.) 500 g all-pourpose flour

2.) 1 tbsp. 1/4 tsp. of dry yeast

3.) 250 ml lukewarm milk

4.) 1 tbsp. sugar

15 mins. resting time

After resting...

Add to your pre-dough ...75 g soft butter

75 g sugar

 1 pk. vanilla sugar

1 egg

a pinch of salt

For the topping:

100 g sugar

150 g soft butter

250 g almond flake

2 tbsp. honey or agave syrup

4 tbsp whip cream

Part 1:

Prepare a pre- dough by warming up the milk add your yeast and let it rest for about 10 mins. then make a well in the flour pour your milk with the yeast in there and mix part of the flour together...not all of it...

Let it rest for about 15 mins.

This is how it should look...

Then add 75 g sugar, 1 pk. vanilla sugar, 1 egg and a pinch of salt to the pre-dough and mix all the ingredients together...use a kitchen aid machine and attach a kneading hook.

Once you finish with kneading ... form a ball and let it rest for another 1 hour. In helping the dough to rise use scissors and cut a cross in the dough.

AND

This is how it should look after you placed it on your baking sheet. Prick the dough with a fork and let it rest again for about 30 min.

Part 2:

Meanwhile, place a saucepan on the stove and add 150 g butter until soften, then add 100 g sugar, 2 tbsp honey and 4 tbsp whip cream. Once everything is combined pour in your 250 g almond flakes.

Part 3:

Place your dough in a square baking tin and a spoon or spatula to spread out the almond flakes mixture on top of the dough.

Part 4:

Put it in the over (top bottom) for about 370 F ( 180 C) for about 35 mins.

For the filling: 

Some use vanilla pudding, whipping cream or butter cream...

Make the vanilla pudding as it is on the package, then add 6 gelantin leaves. Whip the cream until stiff and add the cream spoon by spoon to the vanilla pudding and cool for about 1 to 2 hours.

Then spread the cream between the two halves of the cake as you would make a sandwich. Bring both halves together DONE!





It was Delicous to the TASTE!...no more...

Chicken Veggie Burger with dumpling fries and home-made Peanut Sauce

I bought GROUND CHICKEN to make a special innovated and healthy meal with veggie....

Chicken is a very light meat...easy for the body to intake....particularly with the combination from veggie which we have in Fall and Winter Season. I chose carrots, parsnip, yam, broccoli and added cilantro and parsely into the blender. Some spelt flour, salt and pepper....

This meal can be served as a snack, hors d'oeuvre or main dish....easy and fast to make!


Chicken Veggie Burger with dumpling fries.....

Here are the ingredients:

550 g ground chicken

2 carrots

1/4 cup yam

2/3 cup broccoli

1/3 parsnip

spelt flour

1 - 2 eggs

seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cilantro, parsley, cinnamon, nutmeg,

Part 1:

All the above ingredients in a blender mix well. Form burgers out of the dough.

Part 2:

Heat up a saucepan and add coconut or oil without flavor and let the burger swim for about 4 mins or until golden brown.

Part 3:

The dumpling dough which I made the day before form little size french fries and add them to the oil for about 2 -3 mins. ..DONE!

For the dumplings see my home-made Rosemary Dumpling Recipe ...

form the dumpling in french fries and add them in your heated saucepan oil..for about 1 1/2mins...

Peanut Sauce:

2 -3 tbsp. peanut butter

chili flakes

 2- 3 whip cream

1 -2 lemon juice

2 -3 tbsp hoisin sauce or soy sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1tsp garlic powder

Mix all the ingredients together and then store it in the fridge until use. Whisk again before using...

Simple to be Delicious to the TASTE!