Vacation Grilling

The view from our balcony

 This isn't so much an exact recipe post. It's more of a "what we ate on vacation" kind of post. But the weekend was filled with such delicious foods (mostly made by my husband) that I had to share it.

Since we didn't go away this summer, we took a long weekend this month and went to the beach. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend with near perfect weather and, since it's off-season, no crowds. We rented a small ocean front condo with a full kitchen and with the full view of the ocean right on your balcony, who wants to go sit inside a restaurant for dinner? There also happens to be a grill...

As I have said before, our current housing situation lacks any outdoor space and with that is included a serious lack of anywhere to grill (except on my grill pan on the stove, but it's just not the same). Mike also happens to be spectacularly proficient at grilling without the ability to indulge in this expertise as much as he'd like. Therefore, when presented with breathtaking ocean views and a grill, he grills.

The morning we left, I marinated chicken in olive oil, rosemary, thyme and garlic. (This marinade idea was given me by two good friends who happen to be some of the best cooks I've known.) We also bought steak and packed them and the chicken in the cooler (we drove, obviously, or this would never have worked) I also packed bruschetta, really excellent Parmesan cheese, grapes, apples, olives, bread, salami, wine, potatoes, and vegetables.

When we arrived that first night, I sliced up the potatoes length-wise and thinly and brushed them with olive oil and seasoned them with rosemary , salt and pepper. I also sliced up a couple of bell peppers and an onion (in large slices so they won't fall through the grill grate) and Mike grilled them, the potatoes and the chicken. It was delicious. The chicken had great flavour, the potatoes were like steak fries but better and the peppers and onions had that great charred taste. It was a delicious way to start our little vacation.

Potatoes in olive oil and spices

The following day, we ate lunch in too. It was really an assembling of things we had bought (not made) but it was still delicious and we still had the beautiful view.

Lunch! (Olives are in a separate bowl b/c I hate them and they pollute the other food)

One of the other nights we were there,  we grilled the steak...

Before grilling them, Mike brushed each side with butter and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I made mashed potatoes with garlic and rosemary and we grilled more veggies. It was sensational! The steak was unbelievably delicious.

That's Parmesan cheese in the background, not butter

We did manage to save some to have steak and eggs the next morning; also delicious.

Sorry there aren't any real recipes, but since it was so good, I wanted to share it anyway. We had an excellent time and were properly refreshed for the upcoming autumn months. I already have a plan to get back into some serious cooking. Cranberry season is coming so I am planning on making cranberry sauce. I also want to try out a few more soups as the cold weather comes upon us. If I like any of them, I will definitely post them, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Gluten-Free 'Pancakes'

I apologize for the horrible photo . The camera is broke so I'm using my phone.

As I said before, we are trying to eat a little healthier in this household. Pancakes with butter and peanut butter and maple syrup and chocolate chips really don't fall under the healthy eating category, although every now and then, they still make for a great indulgent breakfast. But what if you want pancakes but still want to be a little healthy, or what if you don't want/can't have the wheat in pancakes? I happened to find this great gluten-free pancake recipe. With some blueberries in the batter and a little almond butter on top with a little maple syrup, it's still mildly indulgent without the guilt.

Gluten Free Pancakes

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or gf vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup all natural unsweetened applesauce (Trader Joe's has a really delicious brand)
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add almond flour, applesauce, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to eggs and mix well. Stir in blueberries, gently. Meanwhile, heat a skillet sprayed with a little bit of olive oil. When skillet is hot, ladle about a 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet. Repeat with as many as your skillet will hold.  Cook until little bubbles appear and you can easily flip the pancake. (Time will vary depending on your stove) Flip pancakes. Continue to cook until each pancake is cooked through. Remove to warm plate. Serve with a dollop of almond butter and maple syrup and a few berries on the side. 

Much thanks, again, to my cousin for her help with my gluten-free recipes!

Gluten-Free Apple "Crisp"

So many are doing the gluten-free thing including a cousin of mine, so I decided to try some gluten-free recipes. Cutting down on the wheat isn't necessarily a bad thing anyway. I really love apple crisp but the topping is very carb and gluten heavy so I came up with a topping that isn't. And it turned out surprisingly good. It was crunchy and sweet and perfect on the cold snowy days we've been getting so much of.

Apple "Crisp"

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 gala apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2  tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla or gf vanilla

Spray a baking dish with Pam spray (or its equivalent). Layer apples in baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

In a bowl, combine almond meal, almonds, hazelnuts, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Mix well.

In another small bowl, combine melted butter, maple syrup and vanilla.

Pour butter mixture over almond mixture and mix with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Dump the mixture over the apple and spread evenly.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the kitchen smells of beautifully baked apples! Enjoy.

Since this is very healthy, it would make a great breakfast too.

Pop Tarts

Lost the camera so I had to use my phone.

The other day a close friend of mine told me how proud she was of herself for making homemade pop tarts out of pie crust dough and jam. They were so good in fact, that her 5 year old son told her that 'they were the best food in the entire world right now.'  He's right, they totally are! Remember how awesome pop tarts were for as a kid? Like eating dessert for breakfast and getting away with it? Homemade ones are even better. Granted, everything homemade is usually better than the boxed kind but seriously these were awesome and terribly easy.

 I imagine that if one were to make one's own pie crust, these would be even more amazing. As I was not in possession of a whole lot of time and not going to wait until I was (which would be never), I cheated and bought frozen pie crust. Oh well, still delicious. To balance out the cheating I did use some of my grandmother's homemade blackberry jam for the filling on some of the pop tarts. I did use two other store bought jams for filling the rest. Since Gram lives very far away, making the supply of homemade jam hard to come by, I wasn't about to use all of her jam in a recipe and not have any left for toast or bagels.


Homemade Pop Tarts

2 frozen pie crusts, thawed or homemade pie crust dough

1 jar of a favorite jam or in my case, three different kinds

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1 tbsp milk, plus more just in case

Roll out pie crust dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. With a knife or pizza cutter, slice the dough into desired rectangles or use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Spread one shape with jam leaving a generous space along the border of each. Top with a corresponding shape. With a fork, crimp the edges of the shapes together all the way around and poke a few holes in the top for steam to escape. Repeat with remaining shapes.

Arrange shapes on a cookie sheet and brush liberally with the beaten egg. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Meanwhile, whisk confectioner's sugar and milk together. If the icing is a little too dry add milk in teensy amounts until the desired consistency is reached. If it's too wet, add confectioner's sugar in teensy amounts.

When pop tarts have fully cooled, drizzle with icing and allow to harden. Store in an air tight container, that is if any make it into storage and you don't eat them all immediately. Ah, childhood.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancakes, the iconic breakfast food that has an entire restaurant devoted to it. Pancakes are a big deal in my house. They are the breakfast tradition when my niece visits and every snow day that we get to sleep in and take the day off.

Now it must be understood that I was raised to NEVER bake anything from a box. Everything must be made from scratch. I do break that rule occasionally, for example, I still cannot make instant sugar-free pudding so I resort to Jell-o for that. And I also think that my brownies from scratch and Ghiradelli boxed brownie mix taste almost identical. But I digress.

Getting back to the making everything from scratch, naturally that would include pancakes. Mom's pancake recipe is almost as easy as the stuff you buy at the store and it tastes much, much better.

Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups milk

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Whisk JUST until combined. Mixture will be lumpy.

Now, I did name this Chocolate Chip Pancakes so here is the chocolate part. At this point, add as many chocolate chips as is desired. Other add-ins include blueberries, bananas or strawberries.

Heat a griddle pan on medium high heat and spray with olive oil.  With a ladle, pour about a 1/4 of a cup of batter onto the griddle. (My griddle fits four pancakes at once, but that will depend on the size of the pan) When bubbles start to form and pop on the top of the pancake, gently flip pancakes. Check for golden brown colour by lightly lifting one side of the pancake. When both sides are golden brown, remove pancakes to a plate and place in a warm oven until everything is ready.

Since this is another food tradition is my house, there is of course a specific way to observe this tradition. In my house and in my mother's, pancakes are spread with a little bit of butter and a liberal amount of peanut butter and then drizzled with maple syrup. It's the most delicious way to eat pancakes, I promise.