Mum's Banana Bread

Mum's Banana Bread
A Little Taste Of Home



Before I go home in four days. (!?!?)

Pasta Salad

What I Have Had On Previous Days
That I Would Have Had Today
Had I Not Had Something Else
(title)



Really cheap (in every sense of the word) beer in my Mason jar.
I did drink out of my Mason jar today, but it was iced coffee, not beer.
And I did drink beer today, just not out of my jar because it was dirty from my coffee.



Pasta salad. Atop a bed of lettuce.
Wanna know the recipe? Here it is:

Pasta Salad a la Missus Mustard

roughly 200 g uncooked whole grain egg noodles
a handful of grape tomatoes
a nice bed of lettuce
2 tbsp olive oil
(vinegar if you want)
1-2 tbsp pesto
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp fresh, chopped basil
salt & pepper
dollop of cottage cheese
sprinkling of parmesan cheese
(mozzarella would work nicely too)

1. Cook pasta in salted water
2. Cut grape tomatoes in half, set aside
3. Drain pasta, put back into the pot (make sure it's not too hot) and add oil (vinegar), pesto and spices. (Add enough oil to coat all pasta quite thoroughly, it should not be at all dry. I suppose you could add a little water too if it's too dry and you don't want to add extra oil.)
(At this point I also stuck a lid on the pot and put it outside to cool down. You don't need to, but Mr M wanted the pasta cold)
4. Plate on top of lettuce with cottage cheese and parmesan.

Mister Mustard put vinegar and sliced black olives on his and he loved it.
I'm sure it would be tasty with a lot of different things thrown in too.

Spätzli

Spätzli
(pronounced sh-PATZ-li)

A Swiss specialty made by my special Swiss Mister.
If you've never had spätzli before, it essentially tastes like pasta. (Is it a pasta?)
In Switzerland you basically don't bother making it from scratch because pre-made is everywhere, cheap and delish. But this is North America! We don't typically do spätzli. But luckily for you, my Swiss guy does. And I will lovingly hash out the directions into English.









Adapted a lot from Annemarie Wildeisen's Kochen recipe for Käsespätzli.

(We made a half recipe)

400 g flour
4 eggs
250 ml fizzy water
1 tsp salt

1. Put flour in a big bowl, make a well in flour, drop in the eggs and lightly beat them.
2. Add in fizzy water and salt and mix for 5 minutes until dough is fluffy.
3. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
5. Drop small blobs of dough into boiling water by cutting off pieces as you slightly pour dough out of the bowl (if that makes ANY sense. Look at pictures 1 and 2 and it might make more sense)
6. Let blobs boil until they float to the surface.
7. When they float to the surface, scoop them out with a slotted spoon.

Optional directions:
Lightly fry spätzlis in a pan before serving with sauce.

Mushroom sauce

um...

I'm still waiting on this one. It is a Mister Mustard original and he's not home. Next time, okay? Okay. Deal.

Huevos rancheros, baked egg rolls and falafel.

A breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.
Of course, these 3 meals were not eaten in one single day! That would be a bit much, don't you think?
Although it might be fun to go to Mexico for breakfast, China for lunch and the Middle East for dinner. But again, we're verging on piggishness here and that will not do!

Huevos Rancheros


Thanks to my vast knowledge of first-year-University Spanish, I can safely say the first word of the title means "eggs". I can also safely say, this meal is gooood.
Recipe inspiration from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com
though I didn't really follow the recipe.

Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls








Recipe from the same site. I like her blog because 1. she loves Mexican food, as the Mustards do 2. she is always looking for ways to cut out fat and make dishes healthier 3. she consistently has tasty recipes to try.
And OH MAMA, these are no exception! We didn't have enough filling (though we made it to the recipe, so if you make these, I would (at least, because, I mean, I can certainly deal with over-stuffed egg rolls!) double the filling for just as many wraps) but they were scrumptious, crispy without being greasy (though give me some greased up Vietnamese roll dips any day and I'll be beaming like a clown), definitely vegan and all other sorts of yummy.

Falafel




You know what? Mister M made both hoummus and falafel from a mix. And you know what? It was good! And we're not ashamed! Go buy yourself a box (or 2 if you want hoummus) and eat yourself a big, bad falafel in a pita.

We used:
whole grain pitas
hoummus
fried falafels
chopped tomatoes
shredded lettuce
homemade tzatziki sauce

Homemade tzatziki sauce (from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible):
1 english cucumber
1 1/3 c Yogurt Cheese (we used plain yogurt)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (we didn't want to stink, so we omitted this and it was still good)
2 tbsp finely chopped mint (we didn't have any)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Scrub cucumber (peel if not organic) and shred into a colander. Let stand in the sink or over a bowl for 30 minutes. Squeeze lightly to expel excess liquid.

2. In a bowl, combine cucumber, yogurt, garlic, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix well. Taste and add more mint, lemon juice, salt or pepper as required.

And there you have it; a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.

Mock crabcakes & cinnamon buns

Mock Mayland Crabcakes



Recipe from delicioustv.com
I have been watching Toni's podcasts lately and thought this one sounded yummy. I will basically try mock-seafood anything, though, so maybe it's just me. Mister Mustard deeply objected to the making of crabcakes, but I persisted and finally made them.
I didn't like them all that much. Sorry, Toni.
Tartar sauce recipe from allrecipes.com
I added a few chopped capers and spices. It was quite a while ago, so I don't remember. It was good, though.

Cinnamon Buns



Recipe from edible-moments.blogspot.com
Half of the recipe I used straight away and half I put in the freezer. Both batches were tasty, but the freezer batch was even more so.
The author of this recipe didn't specify how thick to roll out the dough and I definitely went overboard with the rolling pin. Next time I will stop myself at about 1 - 1.5 cm to make them more fluffy like her's.

Jogging time, folks. We had roasted potato fries with miso gravy for lunch. Guiiilty.

Capers loot & Asian market fun.

The spoils of a recent Capers raid.

I love cheese.
I love cheese so much it hurts because of how much it hurts my wallet.



Dutch 3 year aged Gouda cheese.


But it tastes like caramel!


Naam Miso Gravy.
The Naam is one of the Mustard's favorite restaurants in Vancouver. I guess it's been kickin' it for 40 years now? Impressive.
Also impressive, I used to hate this gravy and now, here I am, buying it by the bottle!

Let's go the the Asian market, shall we?


Burger candies. We did not buy them.


A GIANT sack of peeled garlic for less than $4.






We bought this baby bok choy for $1.64. Bargain!


Our super-fun enoki mushrooms.
I also hate mushrooms, but I am trying to work on this. Just ask Mister Mustard. I eat them now and they're not all bad.
Plus, if you're going to eat mushrooms, you might as well eat mushrooms that look like alien fingers.


*cue creepy music*
OooOooooOOooo...

Stay tuned to find out what we did with half of the alien fingers.

Quinoa ratatouille, tabouleh & oreos.

Ratatouille with Quinoa


Mister Mustard coordinating his outfit to his cooking endeavours.



We make ratatouille a lot in our house. It will absolutely be made again, and next time it will be accompanied by a recipe!
This was both of our first times eating quinoa. It's curly! And sticky. And distinctively very yummy.


Homemade iced tea. New obsession as it gets warmer.

Tabouleh



Mister Mustard's Tabouleh

1 chopped tomato
1/2 English cucumber, chopped
1/2 chopped red pepper
3 green onions, white & light green bits sliced thinly
1 avocado, chopped (optional. it wasn't used in this picture here, but it's really tasty)
raisins (optional)
chopped parsley (optional)
3-4 servings of cooked couscous

dressing:
Mix in a separate small bowl or measuring cup
2:1 ratio of olive oil : lemon juice (about 1/3 - 1/2 C in total? he said he doesn't know)
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp dill (I love it, but the Mister hates it, so add accordingly)

Mix together in a big bowl and eat it up! Mister Mustard served it with hummous and tortilla chips.

**Really, we just add whatever vegetable we have in the fridge and think would taste good.

Homemade Oreos



Does using raw, organic sugar instead of 'ol white, refined sugar make a difference in baking? It sure seems to for me. I could feel the crystals in these and it put me off, but the taste was amazing! So I will be trying these again. Either with un-hippyfied sugar or some kind of powder like sucrose or Splenda or something fancy and chemical like that.

Something else I would change (back), is the method of forming the cookies. In the recipe I'm linking to here, she forms them individually (which I thought was a waste of time!), so I rolled my dough into a log, threw it in the fridge and then sliced it. Do it her way. I think they will turn out more compact and less full of air holes. Because Oreos don't have air holes.

I've had a bit of trouble but I do urge you to try these! They are very tasty and the filling is much better than the original. So easy as well. Everybody wins.

Recipe from cupcakeproject.com

PS The only things I made in this episode were the iced tea (go me!) and the oreos. So, thank you Mister Mustard for your yummy lunches and dinners!

Strawberry Turmeric Salad & Burritos

Let's start off with something really delicious-looking, so you will stay to read the rest of the post...



The thing with toasted nuts and I, is that, I burn them. All the time.
This is an extreme example, but when I was toasting these pecans and cooking something else on the stove at the same time, I smelled something burning. BURNING = CHECK OVEN. "Oh, it's just a crumb under the burner on the stove". I kept smelling it. "Hm...". "OH #$%*" Oops. Oops, indeed.
And pecans are expensive, people!

Strawberry Turmeric Salad


The second batch of toasting was great, and it turns out this salad really needs the pecans; they add another level of yumminess.

For the salad:
lettuce
a few sliced strawberries
a few small cauliflower florets (though you could use anything you have on hand, really. I actually would use something else next time.)
a handful of toasted pecans

For the dressing:
2-3 tbsp x-virgin olive oil
3 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp liquid honey
2 tsp ground turmeric
salt and pepper

Toss with salad.

*** I feel like I should have a disclaimer for the recipes that I make up myself:
I don't measure!
I throw in whatever I have on hand!
I go by taste!
So please just adjust them to your own taste and use them as more of a guideline.

Leftovers Burritos



We used our leftover guacamole and refried beans (with some whole beans thrown in) from tostads, combined them with some sauteed, spiced onions and green peppers, threw them on a tortilla with cheese, salsa and lettuce. To make it vegan, just cut out the cheese.
Nom nom.

Daily Granola, Dilly Avocados and Oven Baked Fries

These are a few (three) of my favorite things:



Daily Granola

I know I have already talked about this fabulous granola before, but I just have to.
I've made at least three batches of it (and it makes a lot!) and yes, it is that good.
Just in case you did not get the recipe from my not-so-long-ago very first post, it is here from orangette.blogspot.com



Dilly Avocados

I am currently having a love affair with avocados. I could eat them every single day.
Ripe avocados, drizzled with olive oil & vinegar, sprinkled with salt, pepper and dill.



One of my favorite meals ever is: whatever vegetable we happen to have in the fridge, cut up haphazardly, tossed with oil and spices, into the oven. But I got inspired by Joy's recipe (from joythebaker.com/blog) for oven baked fries and decided on this:

Oven Baked Potato and Red Pepper Fries

(I was cooking for just me that night; it gave me a generous plate)

1 potato, washed with skin on
1 red pepper
1/2 medium onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosmary
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme + 3 small entire sprigs
salt & pepper

- Cut potato and pepper into fry-looking strips. Cut onion into large pieces, separate slightly.
- Toss veggies with oil and spices in a bowl, spread on a baking sheet and cook at 400 F for 30 minutes or so, until potatoes are browned.
- I like to dip mine in mayonnaise and ketchup.
*If it weren't for the mayonnaise, this meal would also be vegan!

*** I had to take the peppers off the tray about 15 minutes before the potatoes were done because the peppers were cooking too much. Next time I will either: boil the potatoes a bit before, or add the peppers later.
Boiling them beforehand would use more energy, but I could mix everything together well before they go into the oven. Hm.
I am still learning!



Besides the mayonnaise, everything in this entry is vegan! Hooray.

Pizza Pinwheels

Pizza Pinwheels REMIX







Chocolate for the Missus, cheese for the Mister.

I got this recipe in Grade 10 Foods class (6 years ago!).
Sorry, Mrs. Bygness, I'm giving your recipe away.

This recipe is amazing. It is so versatile; you can make anything out of it.
When I want baking powder biscuits, I just use the dough without the toppings.
When I want cinnamon buns, I spread butter (or margarine) on the dough, add cinnamon, sugar and raisins.
When I want nommy cheese biscuits, I add grated cheese and spices.
When I want chocolatey biscuits, I spread coconut butter (though regular butter would be fine), add cocoa powder, a touch of sugar and chocolate chips.

Seriously, do what you like with this and it will turn out delicious.

I haven't tried the original intention for this since I made it in Grade 10, but I bet it was good too.

Pizza Pinwheels

375 ml flour
15 ml baking powder
1 1/2 ml salt
60 ml chilled margarine
150 ml milk (In the original it adds: 50ml milk powder. We made our own milk!)

40 ml pizza sauce
grated cheese
vegetables chopped very small
(sliced meat cut into strips, if you wish. I was a vegetarian by then)
spices (I don't know exactly what this was supposed to mean, but I guess pepper, oregano, basil... improvise!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. (We used metric for the measurements, but not the temperature...)
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
3. Cut in margarine into flour mixture using a pastry blender until mixture is mealy.
4. Gradually add milk to dry ingredients, stirring with a fork until dough forms a soft ball. Knead 6-8 times, on a lightly floured counter.
(If making plain biscuits, at this point, make into small balls, or cut out circles, and bake)
5. Form dough into a circle shape. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangle (to about 1/2 cm thick)
6. Spread with pizza sauce (or butter or margarine or coconut butter or whatever!)
7. Sprinkle with cheese, vegetables, (meat) and spices.
8. Roll up like a jelly roll.
9. Using a piece of string or fishing line (I use dental floss), cut into as big of biscuits you want.
10. Place in slightly greased muffin tin.
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

(You can tell this recipe was intended for beginners)

They just WORK. Every. Time.
It's also nice for The Mustards, because we only cook for 2 and the recipe does not make that many.

I found this recipe over at edible-moments.blogspot.com which is very very similar to this one here, but her's look more like "real" cinnamon buns. I'll give that one an audition tonight or tomorrow. The icing looks like a very welcome addition as well!

Mister Mustard is getting very hungry; he's burried in an English essay and I'm making mexican.

Two Thai dishes.

Mister Mustard Masterpieces


Tofu and red pepper Pad Thai.


Tofu, yellow pepper and baby bok choy on rice.

He likes to free-style his Asian dishes. And he does them well, let me tell you!
Maybe one of these days I will have to sit him down and get him to teach me the ways of his impromptu dinners. He's probably the cutest cook I know.
Thanks, Mister.

Pretzels & Tostadas

Pretzels


Punching dough is very fun.


Boiling dough is very fun.


And eating homemade pretzels is also fun.
Normally I am all over the whole wheat, but I think next time I will stick to white. Sad. But true.
NONETHELESS they were super tasty and vegan. Wait, I put egg wash on top. I think it would be better without anyway.
Recipe from smittenkitchen.com

Tostadas with homemade refried beans


Missus Mustard "aren't you supposed to wear gloves when you touch jalepeños?"
Mister Mustard "no, it's fine. I've done it tons of times and nothing happens to me"
WEAR THE GLOVES. Please, wear the gloves.
(I resorted to dipping my hand in a bowl of milk.)
Anyway, they were the best refried beans I have ever had. That's got to count for something.
Recipe from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com



The Mustard Take on Tostadas:

Tostada + refried beans + shredded cheese + diced tomatoes + preferably guacamole + plain yogurt + optional salsa + baby lettuce leaves.
Stack, get hands very messy whilst eating, repeat.

If you omit the yogurt and cheese, it would be a tasty vegan meal too!

Can you tell I don't write recipes often?


I wish I could post smells... 'cause oh baby, it is smellin' GOOOOOOOD up in here!

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup & Brownies

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup




If you take a gander at the (adapted) recipe from smittenkitchen.com, you'll quickly say to yourself
"woah, Missus Mustard, what did you do to it?"
Yeah, yeah. My aforementioned compulsion of recipe changing sometimes gets the best of me. This soup and yesterday's, ahem, adventure of using up the rest of the canned pumkpin I used for this soup to make muffins (no this, no that plus too much pumpkin and applesauce makes for some funky (though still edible) muffins) are just the tip of the iceberg, my friends. Usually I can follow my nose and turn out spot-on, though radically different than intended, dishes.
But sometimes. Sometimes...

Lessons learned: PRECOOK DRIED BEANS. Soaking alone is not enough.


Dessert: brownies. With Reese chips.
Recipe adapted from doughmesstic.blogspot.com
They turned out so-so. Much better the day after, though.