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December 2013

Not much on television this weekend. It’s been all about the 50th anniversary of JFK, and building the hype for Sunday’s Grey Cup Game. Very interesting documentary regarding JFK’s assignation on CBC this weekend. I thought it was well done.

Certainly both of television’s flavour of the weekend did not host much interest for me, it certainly was a break about Ottawa’s senate scandal and who did what, who knew what and when did they know it, and the unflattering image of Toronto with all gums flapping about Mayor Rob Ford and what he’s been doing, saying and going to do.

On the Toronto situation I did catch a piece which said that Ford and members of Ford Nation played an important part on the Conservatives successful penetration to get many MP’s elected in Canada’s largest city. Some pundits are starting to question if Ford Nation’s hold on the city starts to disappear, what it might do to affect the outcome of the next federal election.

Business is really starting to increase at the store. When I think about it only four more weeks to go. I’m tired already. When it gets real busy I’ll have to round up some additional help. I do know that as in previous years, when it’s over, I’ll be totally exhausted.

Ruth Thompson often stops in for a visit during the day, and has recently been telling me how she is enjoying curling on Thursday mornings. That’s something she couldn’t do when she lived up on the shore.

Once day when Maurice happened to come in, she and I were talking about Christmas baking and for some strange reason plum pudding came up. Maurice said we’d be too busy and she should make us some.

It didn’t take her any more than 24 hours to send through an email with the list of ingredients, and a note……. I’ll make the plum pudding for you, but you need to get me the ingredients and a large pot so I can steam it.

Maurice took care of the store on Saturday, so I could get a couple of days off. This weekend I’ve been busy doing domestic chores around the house and haven’t had much time to think about recipes or getting into the kitchen.

As a result I’ve grabbed Ruth’s recipe and am pleased to share it with you.

Plum Pudding

1 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups sour milk

1 cup suet( I use margarine)

4 cups flour

1pound large raisins   

1 pound small raisins

1/2 pound of currants (can put some cut up dates if you wish)

1 tsp cloves,

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Mix together well, if it will all fit into your can (48 oz tomato or apple juice suggested)

Steam 4 hours until done.

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November 2013

This month we won’t talk about the weather (Nova Scotians favourite pastime), because it has been a great fall. Just hope it continues a few more weeks.

Now the election is over, new premier and cabinet has been sworn in, maybe we can get back to regular fall activities as we build up our synergy for the Christmas season. But before I move on to other topics, I want to congratulate Karen Casey on her successful re-election and for being chosen as Minister of Education.

Knowing Karen as I have been involved with her for the past five years, Maurice and I have owned the Shoreline (gosh, almost six years), I know even though she will have lots of responsibilities and a very heavy workload, she will not miss many events in Colchester North. Her active role in Colchester North will certainly be much different that the previous MLA from East Hants once he was appointed to the cabinet.

While in opposition he was everywhere, just like Karen. However, once he got into cabinet, he was always among the missing at the church suppers, etc. I’m sure Karen will make sure she’s there, as she has been for a number of years.

I spend a lot more time in the store than in the kitchen, as most of you know. It was interesting after the election results were posted to see how many winning candidates from around the province had purchased customized t-shirts from us for their election volunteers and loyal followers. I’ve moved to other things, as we get the store ready for the Christmas season, but I think at last count six of eight customers were winners in their constituency.

As I have been reflecting what I might be able to bake for the Christmas season, with the limited time, I will have, I spent a few hours going through the collection of recipes handed down from my mother (deceased) and relatives back home in Cape Breton.

I’ve chosen three, although the first recipe name doesn’t seem to fit the finished product, Washington Pie, Christmas Cookies and Drop Shortbreads were family favourites to come out of my mother’s oven.

Washington Pie

½ cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 ¾ cup flour

3 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix well. Add dry ingredients. Beat until batter is smooth. Divide batter in half and bake in two round pans of appropriate size. Bake in 350 oven for 30-35 minutes.

When cooled and you are ready to finish. My mother used to turn one cake upside down and add a thick layer of homemade jam. Put the other cake on top and then finish with the boiled frosting of your choice.

Christmas Cookies

1 cup soft butter

¾ cup brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 ½ cup flour

1 cup almonds, chopped or slivered (optional)

½ cup red cherries

½ cup green cherries

Cream butter, add sugar, then add vanilla, salt and flour. Add cherries and almonds, if you used them. Form into a ball. Bake in 325 oven until golden. Do not grease baking sheet.

Drop Shortbreads

1 cup margarine

½ cup icing sugar

1 ½ cup flour

Pinch of Salt

Cream together margarine and icing sugar. Add flour and salt. Mix until creamy. To with half a red or green cherry, or icing. Bake in 350 oven for 1-12 minutes.

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October 2013

Nova Scotians always like to talk about the weather. I think sometime it’s used as a diversion to not talk about what is going on. Sometimes that would mean we don’t want to talk about a disaster of a global nature, or a bit of bad news happening locally.

The last couple of weeks, weather might have been a diversion to not talk about the election. I must say so far not much enthusiasm has been generated and no one seems to have gotten any traction.

It’s my guess people are listening to and making note of the polls, but there’s been little movement and the percentage of undecided voters is extremely high. So high in fact that it’s hard to take recent polls seriously. Before Election Day, we’ll be subject to the results of serious polls.

It will be interesting to see if the "undecided" group starts to reduce. Tracking that group to see where they go, will perhaps give a bit of an idea that voters are starting to favour.

Similarly, I’ve always thought that the number of election signs erected doesn’t really provide an indication of a favour. A number of my friends categorize election signs as follows: Major intersections, utility poles, general roadside and the fourth category being those on lawns. If I am out driving, I try to focus and keep a mental tally on who has the most signs on lawns and at the end of driveways, which would have needed permission.

It will be difficult to have any money left over for personal enjoyment, after we pay for all the promises made by the winning party should they choose to implement them. I much prefer to vote for the person rather than select a candidate worthy of my vote based on keeping a tally of all their election promises.

Politicians can sometimes be an unusual group. Even though we have been telling them for decades, we want action and not promises, for the most part they have failed to listen to the electorate.

Well that’s my last kick at provincial election talk for about another four years, unless we have a minority government and are forced back at the polls earlier.

Now back to the kitchen, as we all like to eat. This month I’ve chosen a recipe from the "Home Recipes and Crafts" of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Canterbury, NB Fire Department. Maurice and I inherited the recipe, from his mother’s estate. The recipe "Children’s Favourite Cookies, submitted by Barbara Lyons, an acquaintance of his mother.

Children’s’ Favourite Cookies

1 c. peanut butter 1 c. shortening 1 c. brown sugar 1 c. white sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp salt 2 c.up oatmeal 1 ½ c. flour 1 tsp soda 1 pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degree. Cream peanut butter, shortening, and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Next, add oatmeal, flour, salt and soda. Mix in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cooking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.

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September 2013

I don’t like to scold readers and those who religiously follow my ramblings here, but I am in desperate need of recipes. Now that summer is almost over, the kids are going back to school perhaps you will have some more time to send me some of your favourites.

I haven’t had much time to spend in the kitchen this summer. In fact it’s been a totally different summer for me. Since 2008, I normally spent three days at home as a domestic engineer, or goofing off, then take one day to prepare to go to a number of festivals and events to help Maurice with the t-shirts.

But with the store open Monday to Saturday, I’ve been locked in there. Luckily, I’ve developed a number to people, who come into the store two or three times a week, and spend a bit of time chatting in the mornings, when there’s not many customers doing their shopping.

My six days a week at the store will continue until the end of September when the festivals and exhibitions are over and we’ll be gearing up for the Christmas season.

In fact I’m amazed at home many women are out picking up Christmas gifts now.

With Labour Day almost here and the area gardens really producing, it will soon be time for me to think about making beet pickles. I love them and could eat them almost every day. We it gets further into September and we have the time, Maurice likes to stew down tomatoes then put in freezer bags for the winter. He likes to then use for spaghetti sauce, lasagna and other things. If he really had the time, he like to simmer a long time to get rid of the water, so it can almost be used as a tomato sauce.

Thinking about tomatoes and spaghetti, I decided to pick out the spaghetti sauce recipe Maurice likes to use. It’s found on Page 185 of the Five Roses cookbook. I don’t know which edition as the covers disappeared on him years ago.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

2 tbsp Olive Oil ¾ cup Sliced Mushrooms ½ cup chopped onions ½ cup chopped celery ½ cup chopped green pepper 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped) 1 lb ground beef ½ lb ground pork 1 cup water 28 oz can tomatoes 14 oz can tomato sauce 5 ½ oz can tomato paste

2 tsb salt 1 ½ tsp basil ¾ tsp oregano ¼ tsp crushed red pepper (optional) ¼ tsp paprika 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 1 bay leaf (he uses 2 or 3) Pinch of black pepper About 1 ½ lb of spaghetti.

Saute vegetables in oil until onion becomes golden brown. Add beef and pork and cook until lightly browned. Add balance of ingredients; simmer two hours. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Pour sauce over spaghetti and prinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. Entire recipe yields about 8 servings.

NOTE: You can increase or decrease the spices to your own requirements. Once the sauce is cooked, cook only the amount of spaghetti you need right then. Place left over sauce in containers and freeze for later. Best to use the size of container, which you will use at one time.

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August 2013

Have you been enjoying our hot humid summer heat? It sure came upon us quickly. One week we were wearing a sweater at 14-15 degrees, then within five days, we were sweltering in 33+, with humidex running in excess of 39-41.

Either I am getting old and can’t remember, or climate change is upon us. I used to think that "dog days", as we called them didn’t show up until August. It is surprising how quickly our seasons have changed by about three weeks. Spring seems longer and cooler, but as soon as we turn the calendar to July, it’s like a blast furnace.

We used to get a few days of rain, but now, we seem to get a week or month’s supply within a few hours. Think about New Brunswick last week with 120-145 mm dropped on them in a few hours. Prince Street in Truro didn’t escape either. Rain came in such an abundance that the area around the Post Office was under water.

I just hope that when the heat leaves us, our summer will not be over. I’m actually looking forward to a nice warm fall running at least until the end of October and I can do without any major hurricanes. We don’t need any more weather drama. We’ve had enough for a while.

With work, heat and humidity, I can assure you, I did not spend much time in the kitchen, nor did I receive any recipes.

Now that local produce is readily available, everyone has been thinking about Hodge Podge. Nearly every family has their favourite version, but for those who don’t

I’ve been noticing the large chain grocery stores are pushing green and red peppers in bags of four. This caused me to think that perhaps a good meal might be stuffed green peppers.

Soon you’ll be able to harvest some from your own garden. When I went looking for a recipe, I remembered one from my mother from many years ago.

Stuffed Green Peppers

4 large green peppers

1 lb hamburger

1 medium onion

¼ tsp pepper

1 ½ cups cooked rice

1 can tomato sauce.

Saute the onions, salt, pepper and hamburger in a pan until there is no more pink in the hamburger. Add rice and tomato sauce stir until evenly distributed.

Prepare peppers by cutting off the top and removing seeds and any membranes. Add filling to the peppers.

Place peppers in saucepan, cover with wax paper or tin foil. Cook on high heat for 10-15 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Serve immediately with another vegetable or salad.

While I was looking through my mother’s recipes, I came across a recipe for pickled eggs which she used to make all the time. She’d pack them in my father’s lunch box or we’d have them as a snack after shool.

Pickled Eggs

12 eggs

1 ½ cup vinegar

½ cup water

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pickling spice

Boil eggs until hard, let cool a few minutes, then shell.

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Put eggs in a bottle pouring sauce over them. Eggs are best if left for a few days to absorb the vinegar and spices.

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July 2013

Are there many positive things to say about our late spring and the first few days of summer? There must have been enough rain and heat units to cause the grass to grow, because I noticed the dairy farmers along Old Barnes cutting hayage and silage on May 19^th on an unusually dry day but cool enough I was still wearing a jacket and shivering.

As we continued into June, the weather didn’t get much better. One day the sun is out, and the temperature is hovering around the high 20’s almost reaching into the 30’s and we are complaining about the heat and humidity, the next day it’s around 15-16 and we’re looking for an extra sweater.

Not only is the weather disappointing, but it’s very disturbing not to have plenty of local strawberries. The disaster faced by the local farmers is very disturbing. Not only has it caused them a lot of financial hardship, it has impacted the economy with a lot of people not able to get work to supplement their livelihood.

The apparent shortage of local berries has caused the larger grocery stores to bring in less quality berries from south of the border. Not only are we facing imports, but this spring’s aphid problems has permitted then to dump berries into our market and are being sold at a lower price.

Let’s hope the action taken by farmers will eliminate the problem and next year we’ll be back to an abundant supply of the red juicy locally grown fruit.

With the gardens starting to develop it will not be long before a good supply zucchini is available. To get us into the summer mood, I wanted to use a recipe sent to me by my life-long friend, Freda Cooke, Cape Breton.

Zucchini loaf 

1. 3 eggs

2. 1cup of oil

3. 2 cups white sugar

4. 2 tesp vanilla

5. Mix well

Add to: 3 cups of flour, 3 cups grated zucchini, 1 cup raisins, 3/4 cup walnuts, 1tesp salt, 3tesp baking powder, 1tesp soda and 1tesp of cinnamon. Makes two loafs. Grease and flower loaf pans, bake for 1 hour in a 350 oven.

Hopefully, the weather will warm up, with some consistency, so we can plan ahead on when to have a family bbq. With that in mind, I wanted to present a great recipe provided to me last year by Jeff Layton, who writes:

Here is a recipe that has been a summer family favorite for a couple of years.  The hamburger comes out very flavorful and juicy, even for those who like burgers "well done".

• 1 pound ground beef

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

• 4 hamburger buns, split

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor BBQ for high heat. Mix together the ground beef, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil. Divide into four balls, and flatten into patties.

2. Cook the patties for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. The internal temperature should be at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove from grill and place onto hamburger buns.

Top with desired toppings and condiments.

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June 2013

Guess there’s only one way to describe it, "it’s been a lousy spring", in more ways than one. All of us are complaining about the lack of a traditional spring, which nice warm days, to bring out the blackflies and other summer pests.

It’s not only been the weather, being cold, rainy and miserable curtailing a lot of the enthusiasm for avid gardeners, and those to like to manicure their lawns and shrubs, it’s been all the news about disasters.

Hurricanes and tornados in the American mid-west wreaking havoc and destroying houses, schools and hospitals like an irate child destroying a nicely composed Lego village. With the quickness of less than 20 minutes notice a tornado is coming, an entire city is flattened within 30 minutes.

We complain about Nova Scotia weather, but when you look at the devastation in Oklahoma, we really don’t have much to complain about. Maybe our spring is a bit late starting, but the finer fall weather will last into early November and we’ll breathe a sigh of relief we’d had a good summer and fall.

Of course in Canada, we’ve been embarrassed with a few senators getting lots of publicity about their housing and expense allowances. We have to wonder which direction Canada is heading in, when the Prime Minister’s chief of staff hands over $90,000.00 without any restrictions. Was he just giving money away, or did he have a plan to get repaid?

I’m not that stupid. Sure I would have expected a public backlash, just as they are getting. It’s not about a political party, it’s just stupidity, and they are our leaders. Give me a break.

On my front, it’s been a difficult time trying to get all the t-shirts and other apparel from the store dry cleaned and laundered. As to the laundering, we did a fair amount of testing to see what would bring the best results and still be economical to remove the smoke and other residue.

If you need to remove the intense smell of smoke from clothing, I can suggest a cold water wash with a mixture of TSP, Oxy-Clean, regular laundry soap plus about a cup of windshield washer fluid or Windex. The ammonia in windshield washer and Windex seemed to work best at odour removal.

We’ve relocated the store to 914 Prince Street, across the street from the A. J. Walker building. A smaller store, but totally renovated, plenty of freshly painted slat wall. We’re disposing of all the inventory (approximately 1,000 freshly laundered t-shirts) in a Fire Sale. Drop by to pay me a visit.

While the Laundromat was doing their magic, I took a few days to head back to hometown Sydney to recharge my body. Here’s a recipe from my long time friend, Freda Cooke.

Bread Pudding

6 cups of bread cut up

1/2 cups almonds
1 cup raisins
Mix together
2nd Mixture: 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tesp cinnamon
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tesp vanilla
Mix well and pour over first mixture of bread, almonds and raisins.
This is cooked in a slow cooker on low for 4 to 4 1/2hrs or on high for 3 hrs
Be sure to grease the slow cooker

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May 2013

On April 18th my world got turned upside down with a fire that destroyed my (our) t-shirt store. It’s very nerve wracking to stand there see your livelihood, life savings and over 3,000 pieces of clothing being consumed in smoke.

Earlier in the month things were fine, because at the end of March, Audrey Pratt, Belmont called and talked to Maurice saying how much she likes Kitchen Korner, and wondered if I would have an interest in some data of times during the war? She send along four of a 12 page section, "40 Year On" from a UK paper. It made for interesting review.

Along with the pages, she sent a more recent communication she received from a war bride in British Columbia. The piece was written by a Joan Reichardt. Here it is; "Remember When…….. do you remember dried eggs??? They came in a package about the size and consistency of a brick – with sort of brown heavy wax paper over a brown cardboard box. And when you managed to open it, you found a bright yellow powder that was almost paste like. It came with instructions telling you how much to use and how to "reconstitute" it – not that it ever tasted or looked anything a real egg.

One day the package was being difficult to open and I tried to help. When I got it open and exposed the contents, there, on the top, was the biggest, greenest caterpillar, I had ever seen. It was dead of course, but looked undamaged and distressingly lifelike. Given the shortage of food, we just removed the corpse and carried on.

After I came to Canada, I discovered the caterpillar was a Tomato Horn Worm. I also learned from young women I met in Saskatoon, who had worked in the Egg Plant, some unfortunate details of how Dried Eggs were prepared. It was not pretty. I had a recipe for a chocolate steamed pudding which consisted of flour, cocoa, dried eggs, dried milk and crushed saccharine tablets. Yummy???. I just found out that saccharine was a bi-product of coal tar. – Joan Reichardt.

In another message exchange, I found on the internet, Joan writes, "Many people don't know and don't care what it was like for the general population in those wartime days. Anything that was not rationed was unobtainable! I remember sitting with a pair of scissors cutting PRUNES into small and smaller pieces to represent raisins and currants for a 'Christmas Cake' for Christmas 1944"

Here’s a quick recipe I tried before and decided last evening to give it another go. It take 10 minutes to prepare and requires only three ingredients. It’s found on nearly every bottle of peanut butter, at least the Kraft Crunchy:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 Cup peanut butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg

(I add a bit of flour for binding).

Combine first three ingredients until well blended, then sprinkle in a bit of flour. Roll into 24 balls place on cookie sheet – two inches apart. Flatten with moistened fork. Bake in 325 oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. (Don’t overcook).

For The Shoreline Journal’s 3rd Annual 90 & 90+ birthday party at the Economy Recreation Centre on May 4th, maybe some of the birthday celebrants or their caregivers will bring along some recipes?

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April 2013

March has been National Nutrition Month. However, March has been a lot more than that. At the end of this week, we’ll look back and say "thank goodness", the month of winter storms is over and hopefully April will bring us some of our traditional weather.

The way the weather has been going the past few years, I don’t put much faith in an early spring. Last year for instance we were having summer temperatures in March. Now this year, freezing cold, lots of wind and an abundance of snow storms.

What I’ve noticed is a shift to a later spring and then a much longer summer like fall which extends beyond the Thanksgiving weekend almost into November. Since Nova Scotia has never become adept in selling itself as a 12 month holiday experience, maybe tourism officials and government departments who help fun summer students for local tourism groups, should think about extending the funding period beyond the end of August.

At the moment, they are encouraging closure of many attractions with nearly 6-8 weeks of prime tourism season left.

Enough of that. now back to the kitchen.

When "March is nutrition month" rolls around, dietitians get excited about that, because they want the public to give a little extra thought to what foods they put on their plates. Jennifer Ferguson, P. Dt, with Sobey’s in Prince Street, Truro, could hardly contain her excitement when she emailed me early in the month.

She sent along her "Recipe of the month" with this note: We live in hope that the cold weather is about done, but just in case you need one more warm weather food, check out this great chili that you can put on before work, and eat when you get home. Jennifer’s not much of a weather forecaster. With the number of major winter storms she should have sent along three or four recipes. We could have made a different one each storm.

Slow Cooker Taco Chili

 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup 250 ml Frozen vegetables, spaghetti mix

1½ cups 375 ml Black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup 250 ml Tomato sauce

3 cups 750 ml Tomatoes, canned, diced, no added salt

2 tbsp 30 ml Cumin

2 tbsp 30 ml Chili powder

2 cloves Garlic, minced

½ tsp 2 ml Crushed red pepper flakes

1 tbsp 15 ml Jalapeno, seeded and minced

½ tsp 2 ml Sugar

1½ tsp 7 ml Lime juice

_ cup 75 ml Sour cream, fat free

2 tbsp 30 ml Cilantro, chopped

 

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, except the lime juice, sour cream and cilantro, in a crock pot. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or according to directions from manufacturer.

2. Mix lime juice and sour cream. Place a dollop of sour cream/lime mixture on top of each serving.
3. Garnish with cilantro.

Nutrition Information per Serving: Calories 131; Fat 1 gram; Carbohydrate 26 grams; Fibre 8 grams; Protein 7 grams; Sodium 543 milligrams.

Tip: Try this meatless taco chili for a twist on your traditional recipe. No crockpot? Put in a covered casserole dish and bake in the oven at 325° F for two hours.

Source: Sobeys Dietitians. Jennifer Ferguson, P.Dt. can be reached at: jennifer.ferguson@sobeys.com

Since the Shoreline Journal is hosting its 3rd Annual 90 & 90+ birthday party at the Economy Recreation Centre on May 4th, maybe some of the attendees will bring along some recipes.

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March 2013

I had the warmest January I have ever experienced. Not because I was in the kitchen, but rather I accompanied my cousin on my first-ever cruise. On January 3rd we left Halifax bound for Fort Lauderdale, Florida via Toronto and New York to board the cruise ship, Emerald Princess, which would be our home for the next 21 days along with over 2,000 others, who were vying for some great fun in the sun.

After the cruise we spent a week in Fort Lauderdale, and then Orlando to visit Sea World and Disneyland. One of our tours included a trip up to Daytona. I was amazed at the length of Daytona Beach and the gigantic size of the racetrack home of the Daytona 500. Just the sight of a large jet parked inside the raceway amazed me.

Overall the month of January was fantastic. I had never dreamed I would ever be so lucky. It was a long-time dream to have an entire month of 80+ temperatures, total relaxation and plenty of sun to get a great tan.

I was quickly brought back to reality upon my return on February 3rd. Getting on the plane in Orlando just before noon in extreme heat, then stepping out into a raging blizzard five hours later is a shock to the system. I’ve been frozen ever since.

Maurice took pity on me and ran the store on Monday, but afterward it was up to me to brazen the cold harsh weather for the remainder of the week. Now this weekend, as I’m trying to find the appropriate words, we’re having another storm.

I’m watching out the corner of my eye at the weather forecasts from Boston area. In some areas, accumulation was over 30 inches reaching over three feet breaking one day records which stood for over 100 years.

Around here, not as much snow yet, but we still have another 18 hours before the snowfall is predicted to end. It’s my guess, we won’t exceed 30 cm, but the winds will blow it so far, it will be hard to tell.

Spring is not that far off, when you think about it. Another way, I can tell is a number of trade shows we attend for the t-shirts are starting. One each month February though April, then it doubles in May and June.

With the storm raging outside, figured it was time to spend some time in the kitchen, as being near the stove would help warm things up. So far home-baked beans for tonight, plus cooking the meat for a stew and some back ribs for a meal during the week.

I decided to modify Hazel Hill’s recipe, by doing the ribs in a roast pan instead of under the broiler. Since I was using a roast pan, I avoided the boiling on the stove. One thing about the seniors in our area, they sure knew how to prepare delicious meals. Hazel Hill, Great Village is one of those and over the years has submitted several great recipes.

Finger Lickin’ Ribs

• 6 lbs back ribs
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup each of soy sauce and liquid honey
• 4 large garlic cloves crushed
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ to ½ tsp cayenne pepper or hot sauce

Cut ribs into serving portions, place in heavy saucepan, cover with water and boil until tender – 1 to 1 ½ hours. Drain: some pieces may be refrigerated for later use.

Sauce: Stir the ingredients together; coat ribs with sauce and broil either on a barbeque or under the stove broiler. Turn often and baste with sauce until hot and well glazed, 10 – 15 minutes.

Notes: A small amount of oil in the sauce may lessen burning of the glaze. Any left over sauce may be refrigerated.

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February 2013

The holiday season is long gone, but not the bills. January is a different month, we never quite know what to expect. From a business standpoint, there’s always a flurry of business created from the hype about boxing day sales. If I can write my own advertisement for the store we’ve located in the A. J. Walker building, we don’t get into the large discounts because our products are not seasonal, nor do we have extensive mark-ups permitting us to run sales with large savings.

What normally happens is during the cooler or cold weather people switch from short sleeve to long sleeve or choose a hoodie. This year is a bit different because we are switching from a seasonal store to a 12 month operation. The Shoreline Journal has a bit of space to establish a downtown Truro presence and we have some great things planned for 2013.

One big asset for my t-shirt business has been the addition of licensed product enabling us to provide customers with a large selection of bands and musicians. I can’t believe how popular Elvis and Johnny Cash have been. But the big hype, almost to the hysteria level of the Beatles back in the early 60’s, has been "Sons of Anarchy".

This column probably has a bit of a different tone, as I wrote the basis of it before New Years as I was leaving with my cousin for my first ever cruise on January 4th and won’t be back until the end of January. I asked Maurice to make some minor adjustments throughout the month if there was a need.

Not sure what recipes would arrive later after the holidays, I choose a recipe my sister-in-law, Gloria Foster – Maurice’s sister sent along for me to share. She had obtained it from her Ontario neighbour, Nalini Bateman.

Ravioli lasagne with sausage and mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 500 g italian sausage, removed from casing
• 796 ml can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 cup 35 percent cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 227 g pkg cremini mushrooms
• 700 g pkg fresh ravioli, preferably spinach and cheese
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Heat a large pot over medium. Add oil, then onion and garlic. Cook until onion is soft, about 3 min. Add sausage meat. Mash with a fork, stirring often to keep meat crumbly. Cook until no longer pink, about 5 min. Add tomatoes and oregano. Season with fresh pepper. Stir in cream and milk until combined. Set aside 1 cup of sauce. Add mushrooms and ravioli to pot. Stir to coat.
2. Pour into a 9 x 13-in. baking dish. Press down to even out ravioli. Pour reserved sauce overtop, then sprinkle with mozzarella.
3. Bake in centre of oven, uncovered, until ravioli are cooked through and cheese is melted, about 20 min.

Notes:

1. I used hot Italian sausages…you can also use turkey sausages
2. I would use a flavoured spaghetti sauce instead of just plain tomato sauce
3. I would add parmesan cheese to the sauce
4. I would let it stand for about 20 minutes before serving
5. Consider using cream cheese instead of milk and cream

You could also add other vegetables to the sauce.

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January 2013

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Most of all, I want you to be safe, water your Christmas tree regularly, turn off the lights to all decorations, before going out, or heading to bed. It’s not so important to turn off the exterior lights as there is less chance of a flammable article getting to close to them.

 

Another piece of advice, don’t spend more on Christmas than you can afford. If you go overboard, some of those toys will be broken or the children will have gone on to something else before the bills paid.

 

At this time of year, I always think about those who are less fortunate than most of us. Those families are those, who have difficulty putting food on the table, or furnace oil to keep warm. In days gone by I was one of those families, so my heart always goes out to them. As for Christmas giving, it’s the thought that’s important, not the size of the gift or how beautifully it was wrapped.

 

For many of us, within a couple of weeks our thoughts will turn to how much weight we’ve put on, and how we are going to get rid of it. We should have thought about all this when we were nibbling on all those Christmas goodies……. Oh, just one more chocolate will not hurt me. Sound familiar?

 

On Christmas Day once the dishes are done we’ll probably all think "what am I going to do with all this left-over turkey?" Hopefully, you thought about that a few hours earlier when you were making the gravy. Maurice prepares most of Christmas dinner, especially the turkey and vegetables. He insists on homemade stuffing, saying it helps add flavor to the turkey soup.

Before he leaves the table he de-bones the turkey frame, puts it on the stove in the same pot he used to make the gravy. Basically he divides turkey into three lots. Every year he seems to make gallons of gravy and forgetting the same conversation a year earlier, I soon realize, he’s going to make turkey pot pie. He doesn’t just make one; he uses smaller dishes making several, freezing them for later.

 

While he’s making the soup on Boxing Day, he continues to destroy the kitchen, putting some vegetables on to par-boil in very little water; rolling out his pastry, and placing in casserole dishes. He even has the pastry tops cut and set aside. To the undrained vegetables he adds seasoning and gravy – using a bit more than ½ the left over gravy; then folds in cut up turkey, perhaps adding more gravy and some water to ensure there is lots of fluid. Then he folds into casserole dishes, adds the tops, cooking one and freezing the remainder. If you prefer a simpler process and don’t want to make a pastry crust, add ingredients to casserole dish and top with creamed mashed or dig out your potato ricer.

 

For variety he uses another third of the turkey, mostly white meat, to make turkey lasagna. He says it’s simple: use oven ready lasagna noodles, thaw about ½ package of chopped spinach, cut up in thin portions about ½ of a package (500grams) mozzarella cheese. For added flavor he uses one small onion and one or two stalks of celery, parboils in salted water. Make about two quarts of white garlic sauce –flour, lots of butter, milk, and 1 to 2 tsp of granulated garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Fold in celery and onion re-heats until starting to bubble.

 

Layer ingredients as per normal lasagna with lots of mozzarella cheese as top layer. Pour remaining white sauce around edges of pan. Lay a sheet of tinfoil over the top, Bake at 325. If lasagna seems dry pour some milk around the edges. Set on sideboard to cool. Cut into serving portions. Wrap unused portions in saran wrap and freeze.

 

The remaining turkey is left in sealed containers for cold or hot sandwiches. That’s where the remainder of the gravy gets used.

 

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Maurice Rees, Publisher