Armstrong's Sister City

With March almost over, I was thinking that I best get the March 'Your Country News' column on here before it it time to post the April one lol.

It was fitting during Heritage Week that the museum had a display in their front window that featured Catherine O'Hare Schubert and her birthplace, Rathfriland, Northern Ireland - also Armstrong's Sister City.

I did a little research and it turns out contrary to what many of us believe, not all of Ireland celebrates St. Patrick's Day. But that didn't stop me from doing a little 'research' (okay mostly tasting) so that I could post a few new recipes to enjoy in honor of St.Patrick's Day.

Northern Ireland ( and Rathfriland) is very similar to our community - lots of farmland, livestock, produce and of course - dairy products. Many people swear that Irish Butter is the best worldwide and while I can't say that for a fact, I do know that the Irish cheese I have tasted is very good - almost as good as our local cheese.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh! Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Baked Irish Brie with Red Ale Caramel and Pecans
(Recipe from bibliocook.com (great Irish food blog)

3 tbsps. Red Ale (such as Crannog Red Branch Irish Ale)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 individual Cooleney brie, approx 200g (can substitute Terroir Mont Ida)
1/3 c. dark brown sugar
1/4 pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C

Put the brie in an ovenproof dish and cut a cross into the top of the rind. Put it into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is soft and runny in the middle. Remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, put the sugar and ale into a heavy based saucepan and melt the sugar over a medium heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, until syrupy. Add the pecans and stir well. Add plenty of coarsely ground black pepper and remove from the heat.

Pull the cut rind back from the top of the warm cheese, pour the caramel sauce over and dive in!

Serve warm with warm crusty bread or cheese crackers, thin slices of pear or apple – and teaspoons.

Serves 4 polite people. Or 2 cheese lovers!

Parsnip, Apple & Onion Mash

2 large parsnips
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion
1 tsp dried parsley
1 large cooking apple
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Peel and chop the parsnips and boil in a saucepan of water until tender enough to mash.

Meanwhile finely chop the onion and soften in a frying pan with 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil and 1 tsp parsley for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile core the cooking apple and cut a groove around its middle through the skin then cook it in the microwave for 1 0r 2 minute blasts at a time until it collapses into a pulp that you easily scrape off the skin (takes 4 to 5 minutes depending on size).

Drain and mash the parsnip with the 2 tbsp butter and the softened onion. Stir in the cooked apple and season with salt and pepper.

Looking for local parsnips? Bellman Specialty Produce has beautiful ones - plus carrots and beets too! Check out the produce section at Askews Foods and don't forget to 'Shop Local First'!

It's February! 

Not only is February the month of love and roses thanks to St.Valentine, but it is also Heart & Stroke Month in Canada.

Did you know that in 2011, more than 66,000 Canadians died from heart disease or stroke. That’s one person every 7 minutes. By adopting some healthy behaviours, we can delay the onset of heart disease or stroke by as much as 14 years.

There are some great tools out there to help you in adopting healthy habits, including a fun new app available on the Heart & Stroke website, in partnership with Desjardins Insurance (thanks Celeste!). Check it out at www.heartandstroke.bc.ca – just look about halfway down the page ’30 Days to a Healthier Heart’.

Part of the healthy habits is healthy eating and I tried a recipe from the Heart & Stroke website that was really good. Not only is it healthy but it is fairly easy on the wallet too! Cabbage is much more affordable than cauliflower – and best of all, the leftovers made a great soup!

Cabbage, Potato & Mustard Roast

• 8 small potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
• 4 carrots (about 1 lb/ 500 g), coarsely chopped
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• Quarter of a small cabbage (about 1 lb/500 g), coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp (25 mL) canola oil
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) Italian seasoning
• 1 boneless sirloin tip beef roast, about 3 lb (1.5 kg)
• 2 cloves garlic, slivered
• 2 tbsp (25 mL) Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup (250 mL) sodium reduced beef broth or water

In a roasting pan, combine potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parsley and Italian seasoning. Toss gently to combine; set aside.

Cut little slits all over the roast and tuck slivers of garlic into each. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Place roast in skillet, until brown all over. Remove roast and pour in broth. Scrape up brown bits and pour broth over vegetables. Combine mustard and pepper and spread all over roast. Place roast onto vegetable mixture. Cover roasting pan with foil

Place roast in preheated 325 F (160 C) oven for about 2 hours or until meat thermometer inserted in centre of roast registers 150 F (65 C) for medium. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes.

Reserve one third of the roast and 4 cups (1 L) of the vegetables for Cabbage and beef goulash (recipe below). Place remaining roast on cutting board and slice thinly. Serve with remaining vegetables.

Cabbage and beef goulash: Chop leftover beef roast into bite-size pieces and place in pot with reserved vegetables. Pour in 3 cups (750 mL) sodium-reduced-beef broth and 1 cup (250 mL) of water with 2 tsp (10 mL) paprika. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until heated through. Makes 9 cups (2.25 L).

And don’t forget to educate yourself on the signs of a stroke – getting help sooner means a greater chance of recovery for yourself and those around you. Check out this handy little reminder

Happy February!

Just Peachy!

If you love local food and buying farm-fresh produce, meat and cheese, you know where to go every Saturday - the local Farmers' Market. This past Saturday was no exception and there was so much to choose from.

Fresh melons, garlic, potatoes, bacon, cookies all beckoned me but this week, the peaches looked so tasty and I knew they would be finished soon so I picked up a few thinking I would make a pie or maybe some jam.  I was also out of honey for my tea so picked some up at Armstrong Apiaries.

Then I headed straight to Bella Stella Cheese. The last couple of times Igor has been sold out of yogurt and ricotta by the time I got there – and I wasn’t going home empty handed this week! Thankfully, he still had both – what a treat to be able to buy yogurt made right here with no additives and milk from local dairy cows.

So what to make with peaches, ricotta and yogurt? I like fresh peaches cut into my yogurt but though maybe I should try something new.

So what did I make that turned out to be pretty tasty? A quick and easy recipe to fill my craving for something sweet (but healthy!) and 2 treats to help beat the heat during that heatwave we had.  And good thing I picked up the honey – turned out two recipes called for honey!

Grilled Peaches and Ricotta

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

4 peaches, halved and pits removed

1/4 c. honey

1 c. ricotta

Cracked black pepper

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high. Spread the butter over each of the peach halves.  Grill the peaches, flat sides down, until warmed through, about 4 minutes. Serve the peach halves with generous spoonfuls of the ricotta in the centers drizzled with the honey and sprinkled with cracked black pepper. How easy was that!

Peach Frozen Yogurt

4 c. peeled, sliced fresh peaches, frozen solid
3 tbsp. honey (or more to taste)
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Add the frozen peaches, honey, yogurt and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor. Process until creamy (about 5 minutes). Serve the frozen yogurt immediately or transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Frozen Yogurt Peach Popsicles

3 c. ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and roughly chopped

1 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 c. milk (cow, coconut, almond – whatever you have in the fridge)

1/2 c. plain yogurt

1 tbsp. honey

1/4 tsp vanilla, optional

Reserve 1/4 c. of the peaches. Place remaining peaches, lemon juice, milk, yogurt and honey (vanilla if you are using it) into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Return the reserved peach bits to the puree and mix in evenly with a spoon. Pour mixture into popsicle molds leaving 1/2 inch at the top of the mold. Cover and add popsicle sticks. Place in freezer and freeze for at least 4 hours to overnight. To remove from molds just run warm water from the tap over the outside until they come loose.

Enjoy!

Garlic – more than just a  bulb!

A few years ago, Ingrid from the Armstrong Farmers’ Market shared a little secret with me – a really good part of garlic is actually the scape. And that was the day I became a little obsessed with garlic scapes.

What is a scape? Scapes are the shoots that grow out of the ground from hard-neck varieties of garlic. When they're young and tender, they look like curly green stalks with tightly closed buds on top. Farmers and gardeners harvest them at this time of year so that they won't drain nutrients from the garlic bulbs that will be dug up in a couple of months.

That Saturday I left the market with bags (yes – bags!) of garlic scapes and started looking for ways to use and preserve these spring treasures.

I started with something fairly easy that I knew I would use - Garlic Scape Pesto. Who doesn’t love pesto – it puts a bit of sunshine in pasta and soup for a whole dreary winter – and also made a quick appetizer on crostini.

I was also thinking that if you could pickle asparagus or beans – was it possible to pickle scapes? So to the computer I went – and found out that not only was it possible, but Garlic Scape Pickles were pretty tasty.

So, before you run away from the giant pile of them at the farmers' market or snip them from your garlic and plop then in your compost, grab a handful and give one of these recipes a try.

And Ingrid – thanks for the tip J I can hardly wait to replenish my supply of Garlic Scape Pesto!

Garlic Scape Pesto

1/4 cup pine nuts

3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes

Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

A few generous grinds of black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

In a small, dry pan over very low heat, lightly toast the pine nuts, stirring or tossing until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. 

When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese. If you plan to freeze the pesto, wait to add the cheese until after you've defrosted it.

To freeze: put in small freezer containers or freeze in ice cube trays until solid – then transfer to a freezer bag. One of my ice cubes = 1 tbsp. of pesto.

Pickled Garlic Scapes

1 pound garlic spaces (approximately 2-3 bunches)

2 tsp. dill seed

1 tsp. whole black peppercorns

1 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 c. water

2 tbsp. pickling salt

Trim the ends of the scapes, both the blossom end and the hard bit that formed at the original cut, and cut them into lengths that will fit in your jar. Prepare a small boiling water bath and 2 pint jar. Divide the dill and black peppercorns between the jars then pack the trimmed scapes into the jars.

Combine the vinegar, water and pickling salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Slowly pour the hot brine over the garlic scapes, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Once the jar is full, tap the jar lightly to dislodge any air bubbles. Check the headspace again and add more brine if necessary.

Wipe the rim, apply the lid and ring, and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Let these pickles cure for at least a month before eating. Enjoy!

May and June are a busy time of year for many people - including our household!

May long weekend is when we put the finishing touches on the garden, set out our planters and enjoy the first fresh garden produce. June is known for many things – the longest day of the year, the last day of school and of course, strawberries! 

For our family, May and June are very busy – Mother’s Day, birthdays and this year not one but two weddings! Katie and Nick were married last Saturday will be married; Megan and Will are counting down the days to June!

My birthday also happens in May and over the years, either Barry has made my cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting covered with strawberry marshmallow candies lol) or my mom does.

If mom makes the cake, I always know it will be one of two favorites – Pineapple Dream Squares or Strawberry Angel Food. Either one is great for company - perfect for sitting out on the deck and visiting. 

Right now strawberries are at the Farmers’ Market and available at local farms. Pick some up and enjoy them while they are fresh and enjoy them as a garnish for the Pineapple Dream Squares or as the feature ingredient in the cake. Don’t forget to freeze some berries to make the angel food cake anytime!

Pineapple Dream Squares

(recipe from the Women’s Institute of BC cookbook celebrating BC’s Centennial Year)

½ c. butter melted

2 ½  c. graham wafer crumbs

½ c. butter, softened

1 ½ c. icing sugar

2 egg yolks

2 c. cream, whipped

1 ½ c. crushed pineapple, drained

Mix melted butter and crushed graham wafer crumbs together in 8x8-inch baking pan; reserve 2 tablespoons for top of dessert. Spread remaining crumb mixture evenly in pan. Bake at 350F 10-15 minutes; cool.

Mix softened butter, icing sugar and egg yolks together in bowl; mix until smooth and creamy. Spread evenly over cooled crumb base.

Mix together pineapple and whipped cream. Spread over above layer. Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top of dessert.

Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before serving.

Mom’s Strawberry Angel Food Cake

1 pkg frozen stawberries, thawed 

1pkg unflavoured gelatin (1 tbsp)

3 c. fresh strawberries (for decoration)

¼ c. sugar

2 c. heavy cream, whipped

1 prepared angel food cake (10 inch), cut horizontally in half

Cut angel food cake into 2 layers.

Drain juice from frozen strawberries into small glass dish. Sprinkle gelatin over juice, allow to stand until softened. Set dish into boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Combine warm gelatin mixture with berries. Do not allow to congeal.

Whip cream until stiff; sweeten to taste. Fold strawberry mixture into cream carefully. Spread strawberry cream over bottom layer of cake. Put top layer on cake and frost entire cake with remaining strawberry cream.

Refrigerate for several hours. Decorate with fresh strawberries either plain or chocolate dipped.

Good times usually involve family, friends and food!

Was cleaning out some more papers from waaaaaay back on the weekend and came across a recipe for 'Baker's Mix-Easy Chocolate Cake'.

I pulled this recipe out of a Canadian Living magazine when I was a newlywed in 1983 and used it many times before it was packed up for a transfer. I thought I had lost it - so happy to have found it again!

This cake was perfect when I got together with Joy for tea and it was there through happy and sad times. Wedding planning, baby announcements or health issues - Joy, tea and this cake made anything better, especially if it was still warm.

Don't believe me that chocolate cake can make things better? Mix this up and share it with a friend or your family and see for yourself!

Enjoy!

Noonan Family Christmas Baking Day!

It is March, but I have been meaning to post some of our Christmas Baking Day recipes and came across them today while cleaning out a cupboard.

For a few years now, Mom, Megan and Katie have gathered at our home early in the morning the first week in December and we have baked non -stop until the last batch comes out of the oven about 6pm.

Here are the recipes for some of the cookies we have made the last few year - it will take more than one post to showcase the yummy recipes we have made. Watch for more soon!

Brown Sugar
Shortbread

 Katie's Brown Sugar Shortbread

1 c. butter, softened

1/2  c.  packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice

1/8  tsp. salt

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

Nonstick cooking spray

Granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, apple pie spice, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Gradually beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.


Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Coat the bottom of a cookie stamp with nonstick cooking spray and dip the stamp in granulated sugar. Flatten each ball of dough, imprinting the pattern.


Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Makes about 36 cookies.

Layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up
to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Toblerone Shortbread (aka Rocky Mountain Shortbread)(original recipe from Canadian Living)

2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. instant dissolving (fruit/berry) sugar
3-1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. rice flour
2 c. coarsely chopped Toblerone chocolate

Beat sugar and butter till fluffy and light coloured. Mix together flours and then add to butter mixture, with wooden spoon mix just until combined. Reserve 60 larger pieces of the toblerone, add remainder to the dough, combine. Drop 1 rounded tsp onto ungreased baking sheet, flatten slightly, press one chunk on each cookie. Bake 325 degrees - 20-25 mins, let cool slightly before lifting off pan.

Store at room temperature for up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Megan's Peppermint Chocolate Fudge

2 c. milk chocolate chips
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1/4 c. crushed candy canes
dash salt

LINE 8- or 9-inch square pan with wax paper. MELT chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in peppermint extract. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with peppermint candy. CHILL 2 hours or until firm. Remove from pan by lifting edges of wax paper; peel off paper. Cut into squares. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

1/2 c. softened butter
3/4 c. white sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. almond extract
3 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. chopped candied cherries
1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in almond extract. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in cherries and chocolate chips.

Shape dough into two 10 inch long loaves; place rolls 5 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet; flatten to 3 inch wide. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until set and light golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

Using a serrated knife, cut the loaves diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange slices cut side down on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown. Turn and bake an additional 5 minutes or until browned and crisp. Cool completely.

Melt white chocolate, stirring until smooth. Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Store in tightly covered container.