Chad and I have been pretty avid soy drinkers mostly from a partially lactose intolerant point of view, and we’ve also introduced it into Ben’s diet, but it’s been somewhat of a bad wrap weekend for soy for us. We read a passage from Suzanne Summer’s book about soy being linked to brain atrophy and another book which pointed out that too much soy can cause an acidic body environment, a typically carcinogenic factor. Upon some googling, there is quite a lot on soy-based infant formula possibly having a type of estrogen hormone.

I decided to find out what the Canadian Paediatric Society had to say and turns out their literature review cannot find any conclusive evidence one way or the other. Phew! Still, food for thought though. I guess all we can do is not eat too much of one thing…

Two of the things I wanted to do during this year off was - improve on my French, and improve my cooking. Well, one out of two isn’t bad I guess. So here is a healthy scone recipe I’ve been working on. So quick and easy to make!

Lemon fruit scones

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk (or vanilla soy)
• 1/4 cup melted butter (or same amount olive oil)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or multigrain flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh fruit (we like blueberries or raspberries)
• 1 vanilla pod

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425F. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat egg and add milk, butter, vanilla. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking pwder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Form a well in the middle.
• Pour liquid mixture into well and mix until well blended. Add fruit.
• Divide fough into 12 balls on cookie sheet and brush with olive oil.
• Bake 12-15 minutes (or until scones are well browned)

Bread baking tips:

I’ve also really enjoyed baking bread (and making pizza dough) for Chad, Ben and myself. Nothing like fresh healthy bread non-preservative bread whenever you want it! Here are a couple of tips I’ve learnt that have made my bread pretty yummy:

• Bake bread (or pizza) on pizza stone on a gas BBQ at ~450 to 500F  for wood oven taste
• For light bread, use 1 tbl real lemon juice for 4-5 cups of flour (I haven’t actually tried this one yet)
• For nice crust, spray bread with water after ~5 minutes of baking (or heat a pan under the bread and fill with water after you place your bread in the oven).
• Cutting in ~40% multigrain flour into the white flour is a good ratio to keep things fluffy. Better yet, you could cut the white flour even further with ~20% rice flour.
• A minimum 2 rises is best, but 3 is better

Ingredients:

• 800g flour + 200g semolina
• ~4tbl olive oil
• ~1tbl seasalt
• 2 packets yeast
• ~500ml water

Couple of tricks I learnt:

• Make a well in the middle of the flour to pour the water into and slowly mix the water into the surrounding flour with a fork.
• Par-cook the pizza dough on the BBQ until the crust hardens (literally takes a minute or so) before baking in the oven

A few weeks ago, Chad and I stumbled upon David Rocco’s Dolce Vita that had been accidentaly PVR’d from the Food Network, and we’ve been hooked ever since. He’s a bit cheeseball, but his recipes and tips from Italy always leaves us salivating and wanting to visit the Italian country side.

Check out his site which not only provides his recipes, but also his favourite places to visit and eat at in Italy.

If you happen to be at Gourmet Warehouse, be sure to drop by the Latin Organics Cafe right beside it for a healthy lunch. Mostly a distributor of Columbian coffee and local organic food, they recently opened up a cafe serving what they distribute. It’s probably on par price-wise with your local Artigiano, but I have to say, I’ve never eaten such sweet tomatoes on freshly baked bread before. Really worth giving it a try =)

If you’re interested in local food communities too, be sure to check out Edible Vancouver.

Yield 24 cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake for about 17 minutes or until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Bailey’s Frosting

3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes until fluffy and light.. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Ice and decorate.

Start by frying onions in pan. Add garlic. When the onions are cooked,  add your other veggies - We like zuchinni, mushrooms, basil (include stalks for cooking), red peppers (roasted ones are really nice), sundried tomatoes and olives. Salt and pepper to taste. You can also add a red pepper paste, or pesto here.

Once your pasta is boiled, drain leaving just a little bit of water behind (we’ve stopped rinsing our cooked pasta since it apparently washes the taste off). Throw into pan of veggies, add more basil, parmesan and avocado, and mix. Voila!

Have you tried gluten-free pasta? We’re really liking the taste of it (I never thought I would notice the actual taste of the pasta sans sauce).

Ever notice that the older you get, it becomes more of a birthday celebration ‘week’ rather than day? Chad and I decided it was because we prefer to hang out in smaller groups and be able to visit with everyone as opposed to trying to talk over a noise in a crowded place.

So Chad’s  birthday celebration weekend started on Friday with having Sharon, Trav and Nora over to satiate (and celebrate Trav’s birthday) a Bombay Behl craving. This is definitely our favourite Indian restaurant, hands down. It’s way too hard to isolate a favourite dish, but the best part is definitely the left overs, which always tastes better the next day!

*Cooking tip* Chad and I have been mixing up all the left over sauce (no matter what the dish) and using it as a salad dressing (really good mixed up with a leafy salad)!

The next night (Saturday), my folks had us over for bday celebration #2 -My Dad makes the BEST curry crab ever, and he always makes it as a treat for our special occasions! He mixes coconut milk with curry powder and ginger, lets it warm up in a wok, and cooks the crab right in the shell in the sauce. Combined with soft white rice (like any good Chinese family would), it’s a little messy on the hands but SO hard to stop eating!

And tonight (Sunday) was our last night of stuffing our faces. We decided to hit up a place downtown called Chambar as our favourite ‘Special Occasion’ restaurant (La Regalade) was closed this evening. A little chi-chi and trendy, but not bad.

Happy Birthday, Chad! Timbit and Ben love you to bits!

Meringues can be finicky to make, but when they’re done right (like at our favourite restaurant, La Regalade) they are awesome! After some ok-attempts (and me not helping), Chad’s meringues came out wonderfully last night. We enjoyed this tasty treat with some soy caramel vanilla ice-cream (of course, you could also add berries, custard, orange rind etc.)!

Here are some tips on meringue success (from Jamie Oliver):

• Always start with clean, dry equipment, as grease, water or oil in bowls or on whisks willl stop your whites from whipping. To be absolutely sure, pour boiling water over your equipment, then whipe dry with paper and towels.
• Always use superfine sugar. Granulated or brown sugar is too course and will give you a grainy and flat meringue.
• Sift your sugar as you weigh it to make sure there are no lumps.
• Make sure your egg whites have no bits of shell or yolks. Egg yolks contain fat and fat is the enemy of meringues.
• If you’re going to bake your meringues, ‘glue’ your wax paper to the tray by putting a little blob of the mixture undereath each corner.
• When cooking meringues, there are 2 textures you can try to achieve - If you like them white and crunchy all the way through, cook your meringues at 300F for 2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave the door ajar as it cools. This will dry them out nicely. On the other hand, if you like them beigey white on the outside and slightly soft and chewy on the inside, bake them a 300F for an hour, then take the tray out of the oven to cool them down.

Honestly, I believe I have Empty Leg syndrome - Since the beginning of pregnancy up until now, I never get full. I’m beginning to think I’m addicted to food - I wonder if there is a Foods Anonymous group?

Slice Yams and boil until done (but not mushy)

Slice apples

Caramel sauce (boil in saucepan)

2 tbsp butter

2tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup rown sugar

Brng ingredients to boil, stirring continously (about 5 minutes until sugar lightens)

Remove from heat

Add 1 cup boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

nutmeg and cinnamon to taste

Mix sauce with yams and apples

Bake @ 350F (until apples soft) ~ 15 to 20 minutes

Add small white marshmallows on top

Bake until melted; Can broil to brown