Eat the Alphabet #11: M

The Letter M

There was LOTS to choose from for M!! I've said before, it's funny how some letters have next to nothing associated with it, and other letters have an overload. The interesting thing about M though, no vegetables.

I could have made 3 different dinners, but this is what we settles on:

Mango, Mint, Mandarin (shh turns out these were actually clementines), and mulberry salad.

For main course:
- Mozzarella and Mushroom soup that I made up from scratch

- Macaroni and Maranara sauce

- Meatballs with a Maple, Mustard, Mayo glaze

To drink, Milk! (Well, almond milk)
And of course the Mixels had to attend the M dinner.

Mushroom Soup
(Basic recipe, cause I wasn't measuring or writing anything down)
Half a cooking onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp vegan butter

Heat in a heavy saucepan, keep temp low so garlic doesn't burn. Add salt and pepper.

Add a bunch of chopped white mushrooms. I used about 5 large mushrooms, maybe 3 cups chopped.

Continue to heat and stir until mushrooms are very soft and start to release moisture.

I added half a Mushroom Stock bouillon cube at this point, maybe not necessary.

Add about 1/2 cup of plain almond milk (or milk). May have been more than this... closer to a cup.
Add a big spoonful of vegan cream cheese (or reg. cream cheese). Heat until simmering and cream cheese is melting. Stir occasionally.

When everything is soft, remove pot from heat and puree using an immersion blender.
When creamy, put pot back on heat and add some more ground pepper, a touch of garlic powder, and some grated mozarella cheese. I also added some more finely chopped mushrooms just for 'bits'.
Simmer until soup thickens a bit, maybe 5-10 mins.
Serve!

For dessert:
Mini Molasses Muffins, made with Millet and Maple surup, served with Margerine.

I wanted to try Mussels, but it didn't make it that far in the planning. Meatloaf, Mahi Mahi, and Mutton were other meats that were on the list.
I was trying to find a Mangosteen, but couldn't.

Overall, DELICIOUS dinner!!!

Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #10: K

The Letter K

K has lot's of unique foods attached to it!

I knew I wanted Kale and Kohlrabi right away, and then also settled on Kielbasa sticks, Key limes, and Kidney beans.

While looking through grocery stores for kohlrabi (because, again, the grocery store we usually go to ran out the day I actually wanted some), I came across these lumpy little cucumber looking things called Karela. WOO, more weird K food!

 I got home I looked up how to prepare karela, and discovered that the more common name for the fruit is 'bitter melon'. That....doesn't sound appetizing.

The consensus of the internet was that you need to soak it in salt brine over night to help draw out some of the bitterness. I had and hour before dinner.

One article detailed how the author used to cry as a child when karela stir fry was on the dinner menu at their house. That... sounds promising..

It can't be that bad though, right?

Let's stop wasting time and cut 'er open.. 

Now what?...

I made kale chips while I waited for the karela to soak in some salt in the hopes that it would work anyway.

Mmmmm kale chips.

Caught in the act.

Further avoiding the karela, homemade key limeade.

 More food stealing... dinner must have been late this night... I blame the karela.

Alright, time to make some stuff up.

Loosely following some directions found online, I scrounged for anything I could to make this stir fry taste good.

I started with sauteed onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Added soaked and rinsed melon and and a bit of water - put the lid on and steamed for a bit.
Crossed my fingers that if I cooked it enough it would taste ok.

Added tumeric and chili powder.
Waited for the melon bits to soften up.
Stared at the pan wondering what the heck I thought I was doing.

Towards the end I added a bunch of kale and the kidney beans.

Once they softened I dared try some.

Don't every buy karela.

Unless maybe you do have time to brine it over night.

But even then I don't think it will help.

(Karela is actually supposed to be really really good for controlling diabetes, as is all bitter foods. But this was the next thing to unbearable.)

After I picked out the karela, and made some rice to fill out the meal, It was really really good.

And for dessert, Kiwi!!

--Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #9: I and J

The letters I and J

I had to combine these two letters because I didn't have enough things that started with I to make a meal out of.

SO
We had Iced tea (like actual iced tea, not Nestea)
Jambalaya made with jasmine rice, jalapenos, and jumbo shrimp.
Based off this Jamie Oliver recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-sausage-prawn-jambalaya
Then topped with with Iceberg lettuce

 For dessert: Ice cream and Jam

I tried to find a Jicama which is a Mexican turnip but couldn't. The grocery store seems to do that a lot... carry obscure things, then when I want then they are gone.

This was a short one, but we didn't have much to work with!
Can you think of anything else that starts with I?

--Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #8 - H

The Letter H

H food is surprisingly hard to find! And consists mostly of meat!

Instead of having 5 kinds of meat, I let Toby pick one and I picked one.

We settled on Honey glazed Ham, and Hamburgers with Horseradish.
(Toby wanted hot dogs too, but we were going for things we don't normally have.)

With it we had Hashbrown patties, Herbed Havarti cheese, Hummus (with carrots because I couldn't think of anything H to dip with) and beans (which in french is Haricot, is that cheating or being innovative??)

For dessert: Honeydew melon and Halva, which is a middle eastern treat that is basically sweetened and flavoured tahini (sesame seed paste) that is packed into a cake. I'm not a fan of tahini to begin with, but it was ok. Toby described it as chocolaty flavoured flour, and preferred the melon.

Other H things we didnt have: Halibut, Herring, Hasenpfeffer (rabbit stew), Anything with the word 'hot' preceding it (hot peppers, hot sauce, etc), Haggis...other things that felt like cheating like 'hickory smoked' or 'honeyed'.

Happy Eating!

We Interrupt This Program...

BECAUSE FIFAAAAAAAAAAA!

Although nobody in our house is a true sports fan, I played soccer in high school and have always felt drawn to 'short term' sporting events, like the Olympics and the Fifa World Cup.

Because of the World Cup, we are learning about Brazil, just as we did a unit on Russia during the Olympics.

I'll write more on that on my regular blog, but here, of course, we're featuring food!

After getting some books from the library and researching online, we settled on a few things we knew we could make without offending the food allergies.

First up, tropical fruit!

Papaya, guava, orange, and granadilla (another excuse for Toby to smash one on his head)

And then we made a scrumptious fruit salad.

Which I froze the leftovers of and blended into a sorbet the next day :)

Next up, feijoada (fey-ZHWA-dah), which is supposedly THE Brazillian dish to have. 

Basically its a black bean and smoked meat stew, but I've learned that feijoada is like our chili, in that every family has their own recipe, and everyone's grandma makes the best.
So needless to say, finding a solid recipe to go from was hard.
Finally I sucked it up and just made something.
I soaked dried black beans to be 'authentic' and cooked them with stewing beef chunks, gluten free honey garlic sausage, and smoked ham steaks (yes, those horribly over processed pre-packaged slabs of ham. It was easier than cooking a whole ham for one use.)
Served with rice, steamed kale, and orange slices.

And then
Brigadeiros!
These chocolate truffles are traditionally made with condensed milk and butter and rolled in chocolate sprinkles afterwards. I bypassed this idea early on because I knew I couldn't really get around the dairy issue.
However, on one episode of Are We There Yet (a kids travel show that we like)
they are in Brazil and make these with powdered milk instead. I found some powdered soy milk at the bulk food store, but COULD NOT for life of me find a recipe using it online.
The vegan recipes I did find all included a way to make your own condensed milk, which just seemed complicated with not real milk. I did try it, and the end result was more of a fudge icing, not something you could roll in to a ball.
Finally, I watched the Are We There Yet episode 3 times to try and gauge how much they were using of each ingredient. It was pretty successful!!

1/2 cup Earth Balance butter (could be 1/3 cup probably, they were pretty buttery, however the dough didn't stick to your hands)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup soy milk powder

2 Tbsp coco powder

Combine ingredients in a sauce pot on stove and heat until just bubbling. Reduce heat so mixture doesn't stick to bottom, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Scrape mixture into a heat proof bowl and let cool.
I let it sit for about half an hour, stirring it occasionally, then put in the fridge for about 15 minutes before i worked with it.

We didn't have chocolate sprinkles, but we thought the green went with Brazil. We ran out so I used goji berries and icing sugar for the rest.

For another desserty snack: Romeo and Juliet

Guava paste and white cheese eaten together for a salty sweet treat.
I couldn't find true guava paste, but we found 'quince jam' which in my opinion is the same thing, but maybe there's a taste difference. Don't know, cause I've never been to Brazil!

Still delicious! Olé!

Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #7: G

The letter G

This meal happened sort of by accident.
We were grocery shopping and Toby saw a granadilla and got all excited because we had been looking for one.
Why the 'eff' were we bothering to look for THAT of all things? Because Toby watches a show called Are We There Yet that's basically a travel show for 7 year olds. Different pairs of siblings visit different parts of the world and learn about their games/food/culture/animals/art.
One episode takes place in Ecuador where two brothers are being shown different native fruits, and the guide tells them that the best way to open a granadilla is to smash it against your head, and he demonstrates.
Toby think's this is the greatest thing he's ever witnessed and keeps asking if the grocery store has granadillas.
So now there's one in the shopping cart. I grabbed some gooseberries because you rarely see them, and placed then next the the greek salad I picked up for lunch (all we came in for was chicken, I swear)
We seemed to be collecting G things, so we got carried away...

First course: Gazpacho (cold tomato soup)
and garlic goat cheese

I used This Recipe, and though it was good, we found it was too oniony, and even then I didn't put as much as they call for. It would probably be fine without, or maybe if the onion and garlic were cooked first. 

 One of our faves, guacamole with green onions!
...Couldn't think of anything 'G' to dip in it, so we brought out the corn chips...

 Toby wanted a G centerpiece and went out on his own to select granite and grape hyacinth.

 Main course: garlic and ginger grilled chicken (wanted to find goose, but it was too late at that point... we need to start planning ahead more)
Greek salad
Grilled green peppers
Grape juice

So goooooood!

At last, time for the grand granadilla moment

 Dessert: Granadilla
Grapes
Gooseberries
Guava (which was still pretty under-ripe, but we tried some anyway)

The granadilla has kind of the same texture as a pomegranate, but slimier. It tastes a bit like an orange, and Toby liked it, but Anthony detected a hint of old sock and declined to finish his serving.

Overall G was pretty GREAT!

Lots of foods to choose from.

Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #6: F

The Letter F

Fiddleheads are in season! Though we live right beside a gigantic patch of Ostrich Fern, I've never had fiddleheads before. After reading about them online I've realized why.
Eating the wrong type of fern can be dangerous. There are ferns and fiddlehead that look like Ostrich Fern, but aren't, and there is also sub-varieties of Ostrich Fern which will give you food poisoning.
Also food poisoning if you don't cook them properly.

So now that I'm good and paranoid as Toby walks into the kitchen with a sweaty handful of fidleheads, but can't remember the patch he picked them from, we went to the grocery store to find some guaranteed edible ones. While we're at it, more F foods for our dinner!!
(My mom said "I like the letter F cause you can eat anything.... cause 'food' starts with F....and that's everything") Not quite the point, mom, but yes :P

Tonight's menu:

Fusilli with Fried Fiddleheads, Figs and Feta
Fish (hoping to have fennel seeds on it, but couldn't find any and forgot to look at the store)

But first: French Fries for the way home!

Nom nom

After all that, Toby said he didn't like the fiddleheads, though he likes asparagus and they taste pretty similar. Ah well.

For dessert:

Fuji apples

'Fruitsations' Freezies

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Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #5: D

The Letter D

Surprisingly there's not a lot of things that I found that start with the letter D.

We decided on:

Daikon, dill and dandilion salad

And Duck with dijon

Surprisingly, Toby at EVERYTHING. He usually doesn't like radish, but the daikon is a bit milder.

Then for dessert, Date doughnuts with dragonfruit.

Gluten-free vegan Doughnuts

3/4 cup rice flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp powdered egg replacer with two Tbsp water, (or 1 egg)

2 Tbsp canola oil

2 Tbsp agave nectar

1/4 cup almond milk

1/2 cup fruit (strawberries, blueberries, dates, apple, cranberries, etc)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Chop or food process strawberries to make half a cup
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and cinnamon with a fork.
In a separate bowl, combine oil, milk, agave and egg. Mix well. Add strawberries and mix again.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry bowl and stir until no dry flour remains.
Spoon into prepared non-stick mini muffin pans or doughnut pans, only filling half of each cup.
Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Leave in the pans about 5 minutes after pulling from the oven. Remove onto wire racks to cool further.

Makes 24 mini cups, or 6 large doughnuts

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Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #4: E

The Letter E

We jumped to E because Toby wanted to have E food for Easter weekend.

On the menu this week:

Elk, eggplant and Edam enchiladas
Warm edamame, eggplant and endive salad

Eggs

Elderflower soda

I'm still trying to find a good gluten-free wrap that doesn't crack and isn't tough.
We used Food for Life brand tortillas. They're pretty good if you warm them up enough, but then they dry out and get tough pretty quick. Drenched in sauce they were alright.

Warm Edamame and Eggplant Salad

1 cup frozen shelled edamame (soy) beans

1 cup cubed eggplant

1 cup sliced endive

1 tsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp butter or margarine 

salt and pepper to taste

Heat edamame and eggplant with a bit of water in a medium sized sauce pan or fry pan.

Let steam with a lid on for about 8-10 minutes until eggplant is very tender.

Drain any remaining water off and return to stove with butter and garlic powder.
Heat and stir until coated.

Add endive and toss just enough to coat and heat slightly.

Transfer mix to a large heat proof bowl for serving.

Add salt and pepper if desired.

Serves 4 as a main side dish

Toby likes it! (minus the eggs because he's allergic)

Toby thought my eggs looked like eyeballs and wanted me to include this photo..

I was going to try braving escargot for our E meal, but...we didn't, lol.

Also, no dessert this week. I had eclairs and elderberries written down, but gluten-free vegan eclairs are hard if not impossible to come by, and I wasn't about to make them. Also elderberries are not a common thing to come by.

Hope everyone had a good Easter!

Happy Eating!!

Eat the Alphabet #3: A

The letter A

Finally got around to A! I was going to wait until spring, but I had all the other ingredients, so we went ahead with it.

First of all, a salad:
Avocado, apple, and anise

 The scene to my left...Play-doh man...not interested in helping today

I've never eaten an artichoke in my life... MAYBE one time when it was on something served to me in a restaurant, but even then I may have picked it off.

So naturally, LET'S FIGURE OUT HOW TO COOK ONE!

This video was the one I watched for how to cook and eat. She's adorable and I want to be friends with her.

Turned out pretty good... I may or may not be buying like 4 more next time I go shopping...

 With that, Albacore tuna
and Asparagus and arugula soup, sprinkled with asiago cheese.

Dessert was applesauce, almonds, apricots, and sprinkled with allspice.

The artichokes were better than expected, but Toby didn't like them.

I'm not a fan of anise, but I wanted to try it again.
The asparagus I bought was kind of woody so it didn't blend nicely and the soup has a very grassy texture, but it tasted ok.

I wanted some alfalfa sprouts for the salad too, but couldn't find any and by the time I had all the other food planned there wasn't time to sprout our own. I'm hoping to do a bunch of sprouts this spring.

We has apple juice to drink, but for the adults among us, the juice is good with a splash of amaretto too!

Advocaat is another A drink... but... it's kind of awful....

First three letters down, 23 to go!

Happy Eating!!

Community Soup

Ok, ok, I'm breaking up the Eat the Alphabet project by doing this, but I wanted to post it.

Toby and I just got the book Community Soup by Alma Fullerton from the library.

I picked it up because I like the collage artwork, and really any story about food in Africa. It's a very short book and easy for the little'uns to follow.

What I didn't know was that, after telling a story about all the things they put in their soup, there's an actual recipe in the back!

I read the recipe to Toby and he wanted to make it right away. 

We used almond milk, but I had goat cheese so we put a few chunks of that in.

(All the peppers and cheese sank to the bottom so here it doesn't look like we put anything on top.)

It was really good!

I found it kind of thin and I like thicker soups, so if you're the same I'd recommend only using 4 cups of water/stock.

In the front it says that part of the proceeds from sales of this book go to

The Creation of Hope project.

I also want to post a link to Organics 4 Orphans, a Canadian based charity that I donate to that doesn't focus on GIVING food to communities in Africa, but instead on EDUCATING them in the subjects of farming, disease prevention through food, nutrition, and earning an income off the surplus.
They arm communities with knowledge, seeds and water to help them feed themselves.
Check them out!

And go see if your local Library has this book!

Happy Eating!!