It is available from my publisher, Lulu.com, in PDF so you can print it at your leisure. (see the ‘buy now’ button below) I will have copies available at all my Fall classes that will include enough of my spice mixes for a month of meals.

I went blackberry picking this week and got scratched to high heaven! I must admit that the berries taste sweeter when the briars draw blood out of you.

Anyway, in my quest for as many berries as I could freeze, I took out 6 cups and decided to make jam. I like to keep it simple and use sugar and berries to make mine; no pectin. The taste is cleaner and just requires a bit of time. If you are a canner, you can use this recipe just the same as you would any other. I like to pop it in the freezer or back of the fridge so I don’t sterilize the jars I use or process them after they are full. Generally, the batch doesn’t last long enough for me to do that anyway.

Green Tea Elixir

I was on Hornby Island all last week on vacation with the fam. It was an amazing getaway. There is so much that I could say. We rented a house with some friends and sunned ourselves everyday and ate like it was our last days on earth.

Last time, I blogged about ice cream and we made it on vacation. In fact, I cooked all week (except for my friend’s famous spaghetti dinner one night!!!) and it was fun to navigate someone elses’ kitchen.

We decided to visit the island’s meadery on our last day and I tried the most amazing thing called Green Tea Elixir. It’s pictured above and is quite a remarkable wine.

Mead is honey wine, made from honey, water and yeast. Its alcoholic content ranges and it can be still, carbonated, or sparkling. It isn’t necessarily sweet, as we might think. While it’s fermenting, most of the natural sugars in the honey are consumed and that leaves a drier flavour than sweet. Some meads are made with spices, fruits, grains or hops. The sky’s the limit with what the end result can be.

We tasted an array of meads but the Green Tea Elixir was my favourite because of the pale green colour and subtle herby finish. Turns out the green doesn’t come from the green tea in it but from the nettles they add to the mash before fermentation. I am looking forward to serving it with a spicy, asian inspired meal. The lady who served us said it could also be served as a sake-style beverage; warmed.

If you live in Canada, look for Middle Mountain Meadery and it’s products. I highly suggest them as it expanded my knowledge of what I figured would be a sickeningly sweet bar drink. If not in Canada, search out your own local mead and prepare to be amazed!

. . .we all s-cream for ice cream!!!

Summer is in full swing and it’s time for ice cream. The real deal. Not egg custard, right?

It never ceases to amaze me how people think making the stuff is too complicated and requires special equipment. You can buy an ice cream maker if you want but, with a few simple ingredients and a freezer. . .you can have the real deal.

Here is my simple recipe. I am almost embarrassed to share it ’cause when I make and serve it I get such rave reviews. People think I’m a rockstar chef and really it’s just childs play.

The following is my recipe for vanilla but you can change it up by switching the vanilla extract to any flavour extract you choose. Also, you can add up to 1 cup of mix-ins such as chocolate chips, nuts, candy pieces, jams or fresh fruit. Just make sure to fold them in gently at the end so they are well distributed throughout the final product.

Dulce de Leche Apple Cream Torte

It was my best girlfriends birthday in July and I wanted to reinvent cake for her. She’s not a fan of all chocolate and loves things that are creamy and buttery. (Who doesn’t?) In my quest for creating something original I landed upon a recipe for an Eclair cake that sounded fascinating. . .except for the fact that the recipe called for pudding mix and cool whip and used chocolate.

I liked the idea of it and so, I did some tinkering and found a way to make something that is infinitely better but  uses real food and apples and Dulce de Leche!!! I did decide, after trial and error, that using a box of vanilla pudding mix is a great way to cheat and make a stiff pastry cream.

Here’s the recipe:

Plum Upside Down Cake

Last year at this time I was overwhelmed with plums from my friends tree and this year is no different. I made and blogged about Plum Liqueur last time and it was fantastic. I am making it again this year, not only to thank the plum trees owner, but to celebrate how amazing a sipping liqueur it makes. Check out my recipe here.

This year I wanted to write about plums again but feature a different recipe. Today I made Plum Upside Down Cake. It’s tart, sweet and heavenly with fresh whipped cream.

Now, you can cheat and use a yellow box cake mix but, it is so easy to do the entire thing from scratch, it’d be a shame.

Here’s the recipe. Love it, love it! (Oh and by the way, if you don’t have plums, this is a standard recipe for upside down cake so, you can switch the fruit to whatever you have!)

Raspberries

It is berry season and the fruit looks good this year. Although we have island berries, the ones pictured above came from the lower mainland. Which, if it weren’t for the ferry ride, would be within the 100 mile diet that everyone is so excited about.

I do want to be encouraging when it comes to the 100 mile idea. I think it is great! Far better than to focus on organic food only, as some people mistakenly do. Organic is great if it’s local; if it’s not, then you are not getting the best for your dollar. I’d rather buy local and spend more then buy organic from California. When it comes to many grocery choices, I don’t by organic at all. I like to buck the system and sit somewhere on the realistic sidelines of grocery economy and tip top quality. It takes a bit of effort to make those types of choices with everything you eat but I find it’s worth it. Plus, I am not perfect and making perfect food choices isn’t always fun. Having a bit of cake and eating it too is an important part of life so keep your choices balanced and ‘real’. If they aren’t, you won’t be able to be consistant.

These berries are not organic. They are farm raised and from a BC family of companies. They are picked and chilled immediately and available only on the west coast of Canada; fresh. The company is beginning to ship their product frozen to other areas. I bought mine at Thrifty Foods in Victoria, BC and they were fantastic. Plump, juicy and sweet. Yum.

I found a nutrictional fact sheet on the berries and thought I’d include it here:

What you can’t see in the chart is that they are high in magnese which is an important mineral as well as potassium, magnesium, copper and iron. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells.

Perhaps my favourite element not listed in the nutrition facts is Xylitol. It’s a low-calorie sugar substitute extractable from raspberries. Xylitol contains just 9.6 calories, as compared to one teaspoon of sugar, which has 15 calories. However, best of all, Xylitol absorbs more slowly than sugar and doesn’t contribute to high blood sugar levels. It can be helpful in diabetics and also for dental health as the sugars can actually aid in slowing tooth decay. This is the only sugar substitute that I support and use. All from the raspberry!

So, what do I do with them? Aside from eat them out of hand, I like to make a quick sauce:

Recipe: Raspberry Sauce

First and foremost, I am a mother of two delightful daughters. Having them has been frought with challenges and the challenges continue. But, with them, I am a better person.

As a cooking instructor, I have seen many changes. When I began teaching, I was timid about people’s interest and I didn’t know whether I had a future or not. As I grew to run a cooking school, of sorts, and teach 80-100 people a month, there were many challenges. Things had to change for me to be able to sustain myself and my clients. Prices went up as I gained confidence and new clients found me as my followers did what they do best, tell their friends.

Then, the biggest change came when I got pregnant and had to move. I went from a flourishing cooking business to a virtual unknown in my new town with a 5 year old and newborn.

But, I rebooted my life, took the change in stride eventually and the cooking classes found me again as I began to teach here and there for friends and family in town.

I decided a year ago to become a weekly blogger and create my own website. It is in this last year that my business has seen the most change.

In order to remain sustainable and creative, I had to think outside the family and friend box I had created and imagine what could be of ‘me’.

Then I met a lovely person who had a vision of her own. She wanted to be dedicated and passionate about her professional life and she was willing to go out on a limb, trust her heart and me, and help me become better.

It is with this person that I am on track to accomplish great changes in 2010. I have goals that I was fearful to set before and I have her energy and thoughtfulness to thank. I KNOW that everything happens for a reason and for that I thank God for her.

So, what are the changes? How will they be good? With her help, I will be able to teach many more people in the future. I will be able to finish my first book, a labour of love that hopefully will help thousands of mouths eat better! Best of all, I don’t have to compromise on quality of ingredients or creativity. She will now handle all of my classes, both the booking and the arranging.

For my clients, I will promise to hone my skills even more and deliver classes that are slower, more thorough and full of creativity. Ones you’ll be proud to tell your friends about. Also, I will have the chance to teach in some new ways, at local recreation and community centers.

So, as I look to the Fall and all the changes, it is with a renewed vision and purpose. Join me and we’ll become better together!

For any and all class information, go to:

www.whatscookinginvictoria.com

Chocolate Cake

I am not a fan of chocolate cake. I’m actually not a fan of chocolate in general. I know, I know. . .it seems impossible to be a foodie-chef and not like chocolate. But, I like it sometimes, it’s just not my favourite!

The cake pictured above is a beauty. I offered to make a cake for a family member for their birthday and, when I asked her what she’d like, she gave me a cookbook with the recipe and picture. Now that’s someone who knows what they want! I loved it as it narrowed the very vast choices for cakes and gave me a challenge.

I followed the recipe in part but for anyone who knows me, I am not a recipe follower as much as an innovater. Anyway, when it came to decorating the cake, I copied the picture as best as I could. (Even better than the picture, if you ask me!)

What the picture doesn’t show is the ‘gong’ show that went with delivering the cake. Suffice it to say, it tipped on transport when my husband jerked the wheel and I was left running home, shaving more chocolate and reassembling the 2 layers in the back of my car. What a nightmare! Gladly, when the clock struck time, everyone ate cake and no one knew the disaster that had occured.

Here is the recipe for the cake. The cookbook pictured is: The Canadian Living Cookbook published in 1987. It has become a classic in most Canadian kitchens and the recipe pictured is found on page 241.