Cedar Plank Snapper

This is definitely not one of those meals that required sweat, tears and excessive labour over a hot stove on a hot day. Nope. Not one bit… well, there could have been tears (if things went worse than they did) but I’ll tell you about that later.



The apple mint mojitos, grilled corn and this snapper come together in less than thirty minutes and seem wonderfully impressive. I guess this meal is here to remind me that I can eat tremendously well, even on the days when I stumble home from the office and my stomach is achingly empty.

The one thing that I apparently need to give a bit more than thirty minutes would be the cedar plank (despite the directions for thirty to sixty minute soak being ok). I soaked that thing for more than an hour. Either I had a ridiculously dry plank or someone decided to play a prank on me but I had one awesome fire! I was going to pretend as though that never happened and had already sworn my mother to culinary secrecy… but it was just too damn amusing!

Barbequed Corn

The simple way of putting this is to say, “here is some barbequed corn for you.” But it’s not just that.

 
Grilled corn is the best. It’s sweet and savoury. It’s amusing and is something you eat with friends… otherwise you’ll end up humiliated as you ungracefully pick the bits of corn and seasoning that will inevitably lodge between your teeth.

So, instead of dropping this corn straight on the grill and letting it do its thing. Add three minutes to your prep and you will have an awesome flavour infused corn that will have you throwing caution to the wind and saying, “to hell with the bits between my teeth, I want a second cob!”

Crab Salad... or Sandwich

It may have even been months ago now when the discussion of sandwiches came up on the wannafoodie facebook page. Sian described her favourite as crab-salad-on-fresh-crusty-bread. While it may not be your favourite, who's going to say that that doesn't sound appealing? Especially as the days grow warmer and longer, seafood seems to be in high rotation on many dinner circuits. 

Solo Pancakes

Honestly, I call these my "single girl pancakes." hahah. I love a cozy Saturday morning filled with cup after cup of coffee and a plate of pancakes, butter and maple syrup. However, it seems like every pancake "recipe" yields about four trillion resentful pancakes that leaves you standing over the stove long after your love affair with that cozy morning has been abandoned. Alright... four trillion may be an exaggeration and, yes, you can freeze the pancakes but I don't need a bunch of sad pancakes hanging around in my freezer. I want about two pancakes or maybe four, if the night prior included one too many glasses of wine.

While a "recipe" for pancakes seems a bit unnecessary, I think that this is here to give you some smaller proportions. No math skills required to reduce a recipe, when your head is aching and stomach growling. Just a nice little portion for those cooking for one (or maybe two).

Quince de Mayo Macarons

I have been quite studious when it comes to learning and attempting to succeed (I'll work on mastering later) the art of macarons. I keep reading and scouring the net for resources, tips and tricks. These are such fantastically intriguing little sweets, I must say.

Here is my second attempt at macarons. This time, I had smoother caps and, again, feet! However a few of the macarons cracked... and I'm still trying to figure if they were overmixed (the ones that cracked were the last ones to be piped) or if they were too wet.

These macarons were made for the birthday of my sister, Beth. Coloured a bright green (her favourite), I named them "quince de mayo" as she was born on the 15th of May and filled them with dulce de leche, a further homage to Cinco de Mayo and Mexican independence. Small, sweet, decadent little treats.

Apple Mint Mojitos

When I went to purchase the starter herbs for my little container garden, I could not find any regular mint! Pineapple mint, chocolate mint… ai ya. I wasn’t convinced. I just wanted regular mint. Then I stumbled upon apple mint and, while it still wasn’t quite right, I figured that that would be easier to use than something like chocolate mint.

As nine times out of ten, I seem to grab the mint for a mojito, I figured that this would be a good opportunity to try making an apple influenced mojito.

Marinated Beef Tenderloin

A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to learn how to garden... well, sorta. I was going to learn how to grow herbs in pots. We all need to start somewhere and I figured that this would be a good place for, not to mention slightly more economical than buying packets of herbs at $3 and $4 every time a recipe demands.

I took an herb gardening course with my friend, Caitlin, which was decidedly unhelpful. The best part of that morning was the herb growing reference wheel (the take-away from the class) and the afternoon of coffee and rummage sale shopping (I snagged a beautiful old wooden chair for $5!) that followed.

Despite that, I was not deterred and purchased ten herb plants, two big bags of dirt and a pair of gardening gloves. I am now "not killing" golden sage, English thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, apple mint, tarragon, and English, French and fringed lavender. And, as of last Saturday morning, I added another fragrant (regular) mint plant to my brood.

All I seem to do is dream up ways of using these herbs that I am becoming exceedingly proud of. After catching a flash of Laura Calder making a marinated beef tenderloin, I couldn't help but think of doing the same.

Lemon Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Or in short... this cookie has a lot going on. hahah. But each ingredient seems to enhance the other, as opposed to just muddying the whole taste.

I seem to crave certain things on dreary-rainy days... things with spice, a certain density and a bit of warmth. I dare you to put a sunny salad in front of me on these days. You would get a look. Forget it! I really shouldn't be so rigid... maybe my opinion would change with the right combination of ingredients and persuasion. In the interim, I turned to these cookies to add a reasonable amount of comfort to my day.

I am not without sunshine on these days though. The lemon and cranberry definitely brighten the nutty oatmeal base. Without these additions, I think this cookie would be much more dreary-snowy than dreary-rainy and that isn't the goal either.