Tangy Red Coleslaw

(6 servings)

I grabbed 1/2 a red cabbage at the market the other day and was surprised it weighed 2 pounds. It didn't strike me as that large or heavy. I wanted to make this coleslaw to go with some pulled pork, but I didn't like the way the pork turned out. I'll have to experiment a bit more with that before I post anything.

The coleslaw turned out really well.. much better than the last one I made a while ago. This one was colourful as well as nice and tangy.

Fish Chowder

(3-4 servings)

Soups, stews, chowders often come to mind whenever I decide it's time to finish off a few food items. The timing was perfect because I had been craving something with fish for a while.

There were a couple of small salmon steaks in the freezer as well as tilapia I wanted to use up. In my refrigerator I found two slices of bacon, a small assortment of vegetables and some leftover white wine.

I wasn't sure about the bacon with fish initially (it was a special smoked bacon), but in the end I thought it was quite good.

Ginger Syrup

(about 1 pint)

I love ginger-ale, but it has a lot of sugar in it. I have never been fond of "diet" soda. I'd rather they cut the amount of sugar in half than replacing it with something artificial. I've tried Stevia, but I don't care for that either.

This week I decided to try making my own syrup to combine with sparkling water. I was very happy with the result.The syrup was very gingery with a nice touch of lemon.

Moist Blueberry Cake

(1 small, 6-cup bundt cake)

Fresh blueberries are showing up at reasonable prices. I thought I'd try making a cake instead of muffins this year. I started off by weighing flour, sugar, butter and eggs to get an idea of the measurements for a classic pound cake. From there I made a few adjustments hoping for a moist cake.

I added the cornstarch because my grandmother used to add some to her pound cake and wondered if that was the same idea as adding pudding. I used baking soda and baking powder because whenever I've made this type of cake before without, it's been a bit denser than I like. I increased the amount of sugar from 3/4 to 1 cup.. something I hate to do, but when I looked at a few other pound cake recipes, they were using up to 2 cups of sugar for the same amount of flour. I imagine the sugar is part of what makes some of these cakes moist. I also replaced some of the egg with sour cream.

The cake turned out really well. I'm thinking of making it again with orange peel and poppy seeds instead of the blueberries and lemon.

Update: I stored this cake on a plate loosely covered with plastic wrap at room temperature. By the 2nd day it seemed even moister to me than the day I made it (moist, not soggy or anything like that). In part I suspect it's the blueberries. Thought I would mention this here.

Pearl Couscous Salad

(2 servings)

I used to live next door to a Moroccan student from France. She invited me for dinner one night and served me the most amazing couscous with chicken and various vegetables. It was mildly hot, very fragrant and sweetened a touch with raisins. I have never forgotten that wonderful meal which I'm inclined to think about whenever I prepare anything with couscous.

This is the first time I've tried pearl couscous, also known as Israeli Couscous. It's different from the light and fluffy couscous I have become accustomed to. The cooking time was a bit longer and the this couscous was slightly chewy. I loved it in this salad.

Rice Pudding

(4 servings)

Recently I had a procedure done which left  me eating soft foods for about a week. I made a double batch of this and loved every spoonful.

Chicken Korma

(4-6 servings)

This is an easy dish to make; chicken braised in an aromatic curry. I'm close to a Whole Foods with a bulk food/spice section, so I came home with an assortment of spices the other day. That was probably the most difficult part in the making of this..  searching through the various jars.