Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

lemony pancake batter

Pancakes are just good for the soul. Picky Princess and Foodie Baby think they’ve won the lotto if I make pancakes for dinner. Why? No green things. Yesterday’s experiment turned out to be delicious! These were thick and hearty, and perfectly lemony. Snow fell all day, but nevertheless, it was a happy day. Warm hearts = pancakes for dinner!

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

makes 12 hearty sized pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour(or spelt)

2 tbs poppy seeds

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

zest of one whole organic lemon*

1 cup greek yogurt

1 cup milk

juice of one lemon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tbs butter, melted

Directions: Preheat griddle to medium high.  Whisk together all dry ingredients, including lemon zest. Add wet ingredients and whisk until still lumpy, barely combined. Batter will be quite thick. Scoop onto griddle and flip once bottoms are golden. Serve straight off the griddle with maple syrup.

* I highly recommend using organic fruits when you are zesting them. Most the pesticides sprayed on non organic fruit soaks into the skin.

Recipe: Vegetable Latkes

shredded veg

Oooo I was on FIRE yesterday! I am optimistic(very very cautiously) that perhaps a touch of inspiration has returned. At least in the kitchen! The day started with some cookies, banana walnut chocolate chunk to be specific(thank you Martha Stewart Cookies). Then DINNER inspiration hit, mid afternoon! These veggie latkes were a family hit, probably because the beets turn them a pretty color. They were a one bowl mess, 5 minutes to prep, 15 minutes to cook. As I was eating them, it crossed my mind that they would be perfectly adorable for Valentine’s Day, shaped into hearts with the help of cookie cutters. Try it!

Vegetable Latkes

2 medium potatoes, skin on

3 medium beets

1/2 sweet onion

1 cup spinach

2 eggs, lightly beaten

salt and pepper to taste

grapeseed oil, or other oil for light frying

Directions: In a food processor, shred the potatoes, beets, onion, spinach.  Stir in eggs and salt and pepper. In a large heavy skillet, heat a couple tbs of oil over medium high heat. Scoop dollops of mix into hot oil, pat with a spatula to flatten into circles, no more than an inch thick. Fry until golden on one side, about 5 minutes, flip and fry on the other for 5 minutes. Do in batches, keep hot in a warm oven. I garnished with a bit of crumbled goat cheese for a perfect bit of tang!

final product!

Local Fare: Organics Delivered

Best of Season Box

Something very exciting happened to us this week. The door bell rang and a friendly man delivered a big box of organic produce. Isn’t that great!? A dear friend of mine gave me two weeks of produce deliveries as a thank you for watching her son. I’ve been saving them for this month when the beloved Farmers Market is closed. They are called “Best of the Season” boxes, so you never know quite what you’re going to get. This week mine had a bunch of romaine lettuce, a bunch of spinach, a bunch of collards, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams(yes those are two different things!), bananas, mangoes, oranges, apples, grapefruits and a cucumber. All organic and all in perfect condition!

It was out of my normal cooking style to have to cook something based on what I have, not what I’ve chosen, but so far this week it’s worked out great! I don’t think I would use a service like this full time because a)I LOVE to grocery shop myself, I need it for the inspiration, and b) I usually have a specific idea of what I want in mind. I do know that this company in particular does provide you with the option to order specific things, and I know there are other grocery delivery options out there! But I will definitely use them for times like this, when my cooking mojo is diminished and the fun of opening a big box of surprises is motivating!

If you would like to check it out, you can find Organics Delivered HERE.

Local Fare: Purple Perk

Purple Perk

Sexy Husband and I were musing the other, that this is the first December in many many years, that he has not been on tour. Usually I can count on one hand how many days he is home in December. But this year, with the Studio in full force, he turned down gigs, for home. How wonderful! Yet even though he is home waaay more this month than usual, for some reason, it still just feels like life is SO busy and we have to be extremely productive for all 18hours of the day we are awake, to keep on top of things. Not good. Our conclusion is that time is like money, in that if you make more money, you always find a way to spend more money and feel like there’s not enough of it. If you have more time, very rarely do we manage it so well as to include enough time for reflection and pause.

And reflection and pause is so important. We need to stop, and breathe, and dream, and remind ourselves why we do it all, and who we are. And so we did that this week, 2 perfect hours of peace and pause. We confided in each other, dreamed some of the same dreams that always come up over coffee and breakfast, encouraged each other and enjoyed each other’s company.

This is all much easier to do when you have a special place that you love, that provides an atmosphere for just this dreaming and being. For us, this place is Purple Perk, downtown Calgary. There are many great coffee shops in Calgary, and lots of great places to eat. But there is something about Purple Perk that is special to us. It’s where we take our nearest and dearest. It’s where we escape to. Sexy Husband and I have our routine down to a fine art. It’s always full except our one table, waiting for us. We order the exact same thing(he gets this but I eat that of his, I get that but he eats this of mine). The food is delicious, the raspberry scones are like no other, the staff are amazing and know my girls by name. The coffee is absolutely delicious. I don’t know anything about it, which is unlike me, and for whatever reason, I don’t give two figs what sub-region of which sub-equatorial country the beans are from. I just know I love it.

The atmosphere is fun too. There’s always the usual crowd: one table of hipsters with their oversized headphones and Mac’s, one table of suits from the downtown corporate scene, one table of seniors – regulars, business meetings beside lululemon mommies. A little something for everyone!

If you are in Calgary, go check out this happy little place, the heart of Mission on 4th St.

It’s time my friends. Time for pause, breath and reflection.

check out the $8.95 cup of coffee

world's best raspberry white chocolate scones

Cookbook: Production Update

Kristy-Anne and I met this week to go through and do an initial edit of the cookbook images. I haven’t seen most of them since they were actually taken when we did the final cooking of the recipes, mostly last spring, and I was totally stunned by how beautiful all the images are. I LOVE them. Fig&Fennel is going to be full of beautiful images of delicious healthy food. And it’s coming along! Once the chosen images are edited, I’ll start the graphic design part of the cookbook and from there we’ll decide if any other recipes need to be added, any blog favorites, and hopefully, we’ll have it out, at least for sale locally, sometime in the spring.

So there you have it. Cookbook Update.

Recipe: Honey Dill Root Vegetables

Honey Dill Root Vegetables

I just have a second, on my way out the door for a birthday party for one of my dearest girlfriends. I made this ridiculous cake which I will post tomorrow(vanilla coconut cake with coconut rum icing. holla). I’m excited to see many of my nearest and dearest girls all in one place! But I made this tonight and it was SO good! I served it as an entree with wild rice and mushroom sage sauce on the side. It’s a healthy and light side dish or entree…try it! This will definitely be part of my Christmas Meal.

Honey Dill Root Vegetables

(this is less recipe than instructions. Make as much as you want based on how many people you are serving. Adjust to taste. Love dill? Add more!)

In a baking dish put a couple of cups of chopped carrots and a couple of cups of patty pan squash. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 375 for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle with honey, a generous amount of fresh dill, sea salt, and a generous amount of crumbled goat cheese. Top with walnuts and serve warm. Utterly delicious.

Honey + Dill + Goat Cheese = Wow!

Local Fare: Silk Road Spice pt 2

Colin and Kelcey

You remember my Farmers Market BFF’s? Colin and Kelcey from Silk Road Spice Merchants? Well here’s an adorable pic of them from their big Grand Opening this week! They put on such a classy event, red carpet and all! They prepared some AMAZING food, featuring some of their many many many spices. Check out their blog for some great recipes. Sexy Husband and I went, had a lovely visit, great prosecco, delicious food. I literally teared up when I realized that I didn’t have a pic to post of Kelcey’s shoes. They were that gorgeous. sniff sniff.

Just a reminder you can check them out at the Calgary Farmers Market until Dec 23. Then you have to stop by the store in Ramsay, until they reopen the market in Feb. Do it. Preferably on a Friday or Saturday when there are scones. Also, stay tuned for a guest blog post by Colin!

I don’t go a meal without using their spices. Last Night: chili with smoked paprika and 4 color peppercorns, spiced pear cake with Saigon Cinnamon.

some of the delicious food

Recipe: Cranberry Apple Cider

Cranberry Apple Cider

Honestly, being loved so well saves my life every day. I am so grateful for Sexy Husband and how he knows me and loves me so well. This morning I woke up on day 4 or so of being utterly despairing of the grey and snow. We lived in Victoria for awhile. And while it was breathtakingly beautiful with all the greenery and gardens and cherry blossoms…the few months in the winter without much sun were so hard on me. I can embrace the pink and burning cheeks, the tears from blinding snowy sunshine. I can embrace fur trimmed down coats, and 200 (mismatched) little girl mitts. But the grey days are just no fun. Anyway…Sexy Husband called on the way home from running some errands and said, “coat on. We’re gonna play.”  Full costume change later, we were out in the snow, laughing, running, breathless from carrying Baby and pulling Little Girl on sleigh. The endorphins worked their magic, the grey lifted, and mercifully, the sun broke through for the first time this week. We came home to warm sourdough bread, homemade vegetable soup and a happier heart.

This afternoon, still feeling much more accepting of winter, I whipped up this seasonal drink. It is perfectly sweet, perfectly spiced. Perfect tea-party-on-snowy-day material. Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Cider

Makes 2 mugs worth

1 apple, skin on, coarsely shredded

1/2 cup cranberries, halved

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1.5 cups water

1 tbs honey

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of cinnamon

In a pot, simmer together all ingredients. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes, but I’m pretty sure the longer it simmers the better. Strain through a fine sieve into a large mug. Enjoy (careful! hot!)

**Tracey, my best-friend-neighbor, tried it and said she thinks it tastes like a fruit roll up! So unofficially we’ll call it Fruit Roll Up Cider**

Recipe: Red Quinoa Burgers with Mushroom Sage Sauce

Red Quinoa Burgers with Mushroom Sage Sauce

Quinoa is one of those happy little ingredients that is a total go-to for me. If I have quinoa, then I have dinner. It goes with everything and makes an easy one dish meal a million different ways. There is red, black, and white quinoa. You can definitely interchange the red with any other in this recipe.

It’s late. It’s Monday. It’s cold and grey. I was looooooow on inspiration for much of  anything today. Yet this easy and delicious recipe came to life and ended up being a happy meal with my family, full of little girl giggles, love and warmth. The dinner redeemed my miserable(ish) day so…it’s a new favorite. Foodie Baby ate as much as I did and shockingly, Picky Princess who is NOT a quinoa fan, loved them too! I did have to call them burgers and not quinoa burgers when talking about them in front of her, AND she slathered them in mustard, which is just weird. Another dinner in less than 30 mins! Quinoa can be made ahead of time if you’re really organized!

Red Quinoa Burgers with Mushroom Sage Sauce

Serves 4

2 cups red quinoa, rinsed

2 eggs

2 tbs sesame seeds

sea salt to taste

3 tbs olive oil

Sauce

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 cups finely chopped mushrooms

1 tbs fresh sage, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 cup white wine

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbs heavy cream

salt and pepper

Directions: Boil the quinoa. Quinoa is cooked when the tight little grains uncurl into a spiral. Best when cooked until tender but not mushy. Drain well. Stir into the pot sesame seeds, eggs and salt. In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Drop into oil batches of quinoa. With a spoon, shape into the size of a medium pancake, about 1 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter(like you would a hamburger patty). Cook in the oil for a few minutes. Then flip and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Do these in batches and keep cooked “burgers” on a baking sheet in a barely heated oven to keep them warm.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil for the sauce over medium heat. Add mushrooms, sage and garlic and saute for 5 minutes, until mushrooms release their juices. Stir in wine and lemon juice. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. Stir in cream and salt and pepper.

Serve burgers on a bed of arugula with mushroom sauce spooned over them.

Happy grey Monday friends! Here’s hoping for a sunny Tuesday!

Baking: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cupcakes

I’m sure you’ve read about my dear friend Kristy-Anne from Up And Away Studios! Kristy-Anne is the photographer for the fig & fennel cookbook. She is a true artist, beautiful soul, and inspiration to many in many ways. She also shares my love of cupcakes. She made these amazing cupcakes for a birthday party last week and I asked her if she would share the recipe and be the guest blogger! The article below and gorgeous pictures are from her!

I love stripes. Quite a few people know this about me. People used to always say to me, “ohhh look it has stripes, you must love this?!”. People would buy me striped presents because surely I would love it! But truth be told, I don’t love all striped things. I am actually quite particular about what striped items I like, and what kinds of colours and widths those stripes should be.

I also love cupcakes. However, in the same way I am very particular about what stripes speak to me, I am even more particular about what cupcakes I love. I would say my initial interest in cupcakes stems from the fact that they are so darn cute, and are so perfectly portioned. A great cupcake is probably my favorite dessert. But I do not consider all cupcakes to be great. Not even from those big name brand chains out there. Sure there is piles and piles of yummy sweet icing (in my opinion, sometimes too much icing, I have to scoop it off) but often the cake part leaves me wanting so much more. My goal when it comes to these bite sized desserts is for the cake part to be equally as delicious (or at least close to it) as the icing. Icing should not be used to disguise a dry bland cake! I could go on and on. But in hopes that I can perhaps guest blog again, I should wrap this up.

A fellow cupcake lover shared this recipe with me, warning me that they were best eaten when warm. When these cupcakes are devoured warm, they are everything a cupcake should be. Not only are they pretty, they are moist and full of flavor. The scrumptiousness of these cupcakes has nothing to do with icing, as they are topped in a non-traditional fashion, I urge you to try this recipe, you won’t be sorry! Oh, and they are super easy to make, so now you really have no excuse to not make them.

Helpful hint, wait until guests arrive to bake them, and serve them about 5-10 minutes after they are taken out of the oven for the best result. If you have leftovers, freeze them and microwave them to get that same gooey chocolate effect.

Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cupcakes

Ingredients:
8 oz. dark chocolate
1 cup room temperature butter
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips or grated chocolate
Marshmallows for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350º
Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler or microwave until just melted (careful not to cook) set aside until just warm.

2. Cream eggs and sugar together until light and foamy. Add flour and salt and mix. Pour batter into the chocolate mixture and beat until batter is smooth.

3. Spoon batter into 12 cupcake papers. Sprinkle scant tsp of mini chocolate chips or grated chocolate over each cake and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. They will be very moist inside (best served warm)

4. Place marshmallow on each cupcake. Put cupcakes under broiler for a few seconds until marshmallows start to brown. Wait a few minutes before eating as marshmallows will be very hot.