Mission Roti

On Sunday evening my housemates and I decided to cook Indian for dinner. I have been meaning to do this since returning from my semester abroad in Australia a few months ago, and finally got around to it! At the international residence I lived in, my friends and I had an Indian dinner and they taught me how to make butter chicken, paneer and roti. It was so very delicious! I was only recently introduced to these types of foods, and have now developed a love for them. On Sunday we decided to make chicken tikka masala and roti. I couldn't find garam masala, so we cheated a bit and used a paste. We made a marinade for our chicken and vegetables using plain yogurt, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, lemon juice, chili pepper and pepper. After cooking this we added the tikka masala sauce we made using the paste I bought, tomato paste, more yogurt, garlic and turmeric. We also made an attempt at roti. This was the tricky part, because I was taught how to make it months ago, and it was hard to remember the right consistency it should be. The tools we used were also pretty sketchy (our outside burner attached to our bbq...) so it didn't turn out quite as nice as it did in Sydney. It puffed up a bit, but it had a drier texture to it. I think it's a skill I'm going have to develop through a lot of practice! The chicken tikka masala, roti and a side of basmati rice was still a really yummy meal, and left the house aromatic for hours. This dinner also sparked our new plan for a Flavours of the World Bucket List: we're going to try to get through as many cultural dishes as we can this school year. So I'll keep you updated on that :)

Thanks Raj, Ankit & Abeer!

Thanks for Giving: Friends, Foreigners & Fantastic Foods

So the Thanksgiving feasting continued last night, as my housemates and I hosted our own Thanksgiving dinner (which we started doing last year). We invited many international students who have never had a Thanksgiving dinner before or know what it's about. A little Canadian culture for them :). With a guestlist of 20+, we knew we would need a whole lotta food. We were in the kitchen for the entire day, each with our own dishes to prepare. With 5 of us it worked out just fine putting everything together, how one could ever do it on their own though is beyond me. It did take a lot of planning though, making desserts days before and scheduling times to use the oven. The work was well worth it, as 22 of us sat down around tables stretched through the house covered with plates literally overflowing with autumn delights. All the dishes turned out great. I of course went back for seconds, and then continued to stuff myself with plenty of desserts far surpassing my full state. I was quite uncomfortable by the end, but with such wonderful foods eying me from the counter I couldn't resist. The night certainly exceeded last year's, in food and company. Sadly, it was my last turkey dinner (I had 3!), and we made soup today with the leftovers.

So now, feast your eyes on last night's dinner. A meal of epic proportions and tastes.

Delicious Pumpkin Hummus

Autumn salad with pears, grapes, feta and walnuts

Sodabread brought by our Irish guest

Pea salad brought by another

My maple-honey glazed carrots and walnuts

Mashed potatoes with garlic and chives

Cheesy white and sweet potato layered dish

Baked squash with pecans

Orange cranberry sauce, brought by a friend

The turkey, that my housemate and I babysat all day

The dessert table: ice cream, pear, cranberry & pineapple crumble, apple pie, cheesecake-pumpkin pies

My apple pie

Thanks for Giving: Cinnamon Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

I've been wanting to bake with pumpkin for a while, so this past weekend was the perfect opportunity! I cheated and just bought canned pumpkin rather than using a fresh pumpkin (I plan on making baked pumpkin someday though!). I looked through loads of pumpkin recipes and ended up making these cookies, and with the leftover pumpkin I made a loaf. The cookies turned out great, a recipe I'll definitely be using again. Their soft and moist consistency makes them more like mini cakes than cookies. Yum!

So now our kitchen is overflowing with food. Our fridge is full of turkey dinner leftovers, the freezer is packed with frozen pies, pumpkin loaf and cookie dough. We have pie, coffee cake, and cookies all over the counter, and bags of apples all over the floor. Anyone hungry?

Pumpkin Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze

(recipe adapted from Craving Chronicles)

Ingredients for Cookies:

2 ½      cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp     baking powder
1 tsp     baking soda
2 tsp     ground cinnamon
½ tsp    ground nutmeg
½ tsp    salt
½ cup   butter, softened
1 cup    white sugar
½ cup   brown sugar
1 cup    canned pumpkin puree
1          egg

Ingredients for Glaze

1 cup    confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp   milk
1 tbsp   butter, melted
½ tsp    ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease or line your baking sheets.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the pumpkin and egg to butter mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Drop cookies on baking sheet using a 2tbsp cookie scoop.
Bake for 12-15 minutes in a preheated oven, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cookies completely on a rack.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, milk, melted butter, and cinnamon. (Add milk to thin the glaze, if needed.) Decorate as desired.

Thanks for Giving: 32 Pounds of Love

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So this post is the first in a short series celebrating this glorious holiday, because I have just too much to show/write about for a foodie to cram it all into one post. Tonight I sit with a belly overflowing with turkey after an amazing Thanksgiving weekend. I am home from uni for 4 days and from start to finish, I have been eating non-stop. I love coming home for Thanksgiving weekend. It's the perfect little break away from school to come home. I mean, what's better than reuniting with your friends and family over fantastic food and drink surrounded by the beautiful colours and smells of autumn? It is definitely my favourite season and this weekend we had absolutely perfect weather.

Yesterday my family and I went apple-picking and took home massive bags of idared, spy and golden delicious fruits! What to do with 100 apples? Well bake of course! What an excuse for apple pie, dried apple chips, caramel apples and apple cider! I really went crazy in the kitchen this weekend, also making some yummy pumpkin treats including pumpkin cookies with a cinnamon glaze and a pumpkin loaf. Ah so many recipes to post about, and they will come shortly :)

Carrot Cake in a Jar?! Never seen this before, but it sounds magical!

Today we all headed to my aunt's for Thanksgiving dinner, where 4 families, 14 of us in total (that's right, 14) all crammed around a huge table for a wonderful feast. Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, gravy, salads, stuffing, cranberries and of course, the turkey. But not just any turkey. A whopping 32 pounder. Yes, it was beautiful. Followed by 3 types of pie, pumpkin, apple and bumbleberry, and washed down with plenty of wine, it was a turkey dinner to remember. And of course, with my obsession with food, I got a bit too carried away and ended up eating far too much. But the stomach ache I have now was totally worth it. I don't think I'll be eating for a few days...

The biggest turkey I've ever partaken in eating

butterrrrrr

Oh pie, how I love you so

So I hope you all had a fabulous weekend of family and food! More posts to come, as I have some yummy new recipes to share. And next weekend is Thanksgiving number 2 with my housemates at uni, so hopefully I will have freed up some stomach room by then.

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

So for my birthday this year I received a truly beautiful book from my beautiful housemates: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth. Now this book, is going to be my death. It contains a huge collection of the most mouth-watering, rich, chocolatey, (and terribly fattening) desserts I have ever seen. I am pretty sure I gained 5 pounds just reading it. But seriously, I want to make and eat everything this book has to offer. I opted for one of the less heavy desserts (saving those for the holidays) to make for my housemates. I baked them gingersnaps, which were delicious! I used large amounts of the dough, so the cookies came out big and fat, almost cake-like. They were lovely, soft and filled the kitchen with the scents of spice. I will definitely be making them again (after i try out everything else in the book of course).

Gingersnaps (adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey)

1 cup    butter, room temperature

1 cup    firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup    sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2           large eggs
4 cups   flour
2 tsp     cinnamon
1 tbsp   ground ginger
1/2 tsp  ground cloves
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1/4 tsp  salt
Demerara sugar or granulated sugar for rolling

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, creeam the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and eggs and beat until blended, the mixturee may appear curdled at this point.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, connamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet just until they form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough and roll into balls. Place the demerara sugar in a large shallow plate. Roll dough balls in th sugar and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake until the cookies are flattened and crackled and smell very spicy and fragrant, 11 to 14 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thanks Anna & Sara!