Baked

Happy hump day! Hope your week is going smoothly.

I made a pot pie over the weekend, but added a biscuit topping as I'm not huge on the usual pie crust topping. To each his own, I guess. ;) You can pretty much use any combo of vegetables.

Vegetable Pot Pie - makes 4 small pies

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 large fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 lb white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium potato, diced small
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/4 cup scallions, finely sliced
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400f. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, fennel, carrots, and cook until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and potato and season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle arrowroot powder or cornstarch over vegetables, stir to coat, and cook for 3 more minutes. Add broth and milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes until mixture has thickened.  

Remove from heat and add peas, parsley and scallions, stir to coat. Spoon mixture into 4 ramekins. Top with biscuit dough (see below).

Biscuit topping

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup chives, chopped

To make biscuits:
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cut in chopped butter with a pastry cutter until mixture is like a coarse meal. Mix in parmesan, then add milk and chives.

Knead dough in bowl, for a few minutes. Pat out onto work surface and cut out shapes using a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter. Top each ramekin with biscuit dough. Bake for about 25 minutes, until biscuit is golden brown. 

Really easy, and sooo good. It's kind of a staple around here. If you try it out, let me know.

Have a great day!

Back soon,

janis

Weekend Observations

I hope none of you are suffering from  St. Patrick's Day "festivities"! We had a quiet one around here. It was nice, as this week is shaping up to be an busy one.

Here's a bit of my weekend....

While eating some of that chocolate, I watched this short film about the writer of this book, John Roderick an AP journalist, and his beautiful farmhouse. If you have 15 minutes, you should watch it. I loved it. Thanks to Walter, at Old Faithful, for telling me about it.

Minka from Birdling Films on Vimeo.

What did you get up to this weekend? Have a great day! Back soon.

Janis

Shamrocks for Friday

We've had rain, a hail storm, a little sun, and a bit of a rainbow - perfect way to wrap up the week. 

Who plans on becoming Irish for the weekend? Guinness anyone? I would go for Guinness cake, myself.

Whatever you do, have fun!

Back soon,

Janis

Baked

How's your week, so far? Hope it's going by smoothly.

I fell completely off the non-wheat wagon with this one. It makes me happy, to be honest. ;) I've packaged them up because I do plan on sharing, and why not package them up?  

Raspberry Oat Bars - makes one 9x13 inch pan

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup pecans
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and chopped
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups of raspberry jam
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Place the flour, oats, pecans, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add chopped butter and and egg. Mix until combined. Don't over mix. Press about half the mixture into the pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a light golden colour. Allow to cool on wire rack.

In a small bowl, mix together the jam, lemon zest and cinnamon. Fold in the raspberries. Spread over top of  bottom layer/crust. Sprinkle the remainder of the flour and oat mixture over top. Bake for about 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Voila!

Enjoy your day! Back soon.
Janis

Weekend Observations

Wow, it's a very windy start to the week, here in Vancouver. Yikes. Did you all have a good weekend? Hope so!

Here's a bit of what I got up to (includes a little work)....

What did you get up to this weekend? Have a lovely Monday!

Back soon,

Janis

Hello Weekend

It's been a crazy but good week, with heaps of traffic on rainy streets. Keeps you on your toes. ;)
I hope you all have a great weekend!

Back soon.
Janis

Baked

I hope your week is going well! Mine has been full of torturing my husband over my photography website redesign and, whew, it's taking a lot out of him me.

I baked some muffins over the weekend, that are pretty tasty. I should bring a few of these for the next long day shoot I have instead of eating them all myself.

Cherry Walnut Oatmeal Muffins - makes 12

3/4 cup rolled oats, toasted
1 cup gluten free all purpose flour* (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/3 cup ground flax seed
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon guar gum
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
zest of one large orange
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
* feel free to swap the g-free flour, almond meal and guar gum, for 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (white or whole wheat). I've made these both ways, I'm just trying to stick to g-free where I can!

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Spread oats out on a baking sheet, and toast for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to bowl and set aside to cool. Add the flour, almond meal, flax seed, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, guar gum and salt to the cooled toasted oats. Stir to combine.

In another bowl, mix together yogurt, melted butter, eggs, and orange zest. Make a well in the centre of dry mix and pour in yogurt mixture. Stir ingredients together until just blended. Fold in cherries and walnuts.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre, comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Just add butter, and enjoy!

Back soon,
Janis