It’s the Victoria Day weekend (known affectionately as the two-four weekend), which has a history of turning rainy, meaning camping activities are usually conducted under the protective shield of a blue tarp, and the annual Victoria Day parade participants skip their way down the parade route between puddles.

… so in defiance of today’s nasty weather, I whipped up a test batch of strawberry-lavender ice cream.  It turned out pretty good, if I do say so!  If you want a little richer ice cream, substitute a portion of the almond milk for cashew creamer.  Just a note that coconut milk and coconut cream will be too full-flavoured and will overwhelm the delicate flavours of the strawberries and lavender.

This blog-post round only has amounts.  A more fulsome method will follow

These cookies are rustic, and full of lots of things that are good for you, and have the unmistakeable umami flavour of miso, yet its harmonious enough that it doesn’t hit you over the head.

If you haven’t tried miso before, it’s a fermented soybean paste.  Different things are added to the ferment, which create different flavour profiles, ranging from quite mild, to quite salty and tangy.  If you haven’t tried miso before, start out with Shiro miso (White miso) as it is the mildest in flavour.  I’ve used Genmai miso  (made with brown rice), which is a little stronger tasting.  Miso is also made with barley, and can be aged a little, or a lot.  Like other fermented foods, older miso will be stronger in flavour (and darker).

I tried this out with whole wheat flour and natural cane sugar (thinking it would be a “healthier” cookie), but the flavours in the wheat flour competed a little too much for my taste with the miso, so I switched to unbleached all-purpose flour and brown sugar, and am happier with the melding of flavours.

This recipe for gluten-free bagels was borne out of two things:  a desire to create something without dairy or eggs; and, some mucking around with the gluten-free wild yeast starter I have going.  I had tried a number of recipes and variations, but really only ended up with round bread with holes.  Bagels in shape only .   Most iterations ended up with the same texture … too soft,  and lacking that chew that a true Montreal-style bagel has.  I am in that camp that is zealous in their belief that a REAL bagel needs to be boiled, and should have a chararacteristic chewy crust and interior!

All appeared to be lost until one day, I made a baguette with the wild yeast starter I had grown … and if I might say, my socks were knocked off!  And so, this bagel recipe was borne!  Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and no commercial yeast!  these are so tasty you’ll never miss what’s missing.

This recipe is fairly involved, as you need to have a healthy wild-yeast starter going, and fed up a couple of days in advance.  To make the starter, take about 4 T of the flour mix, combined with 4T  of spring or distilled water, and leave it out to “catch” the wild yeast in the air.  Once it starts to bubble (after 18-24 hours),  feed it with 2T  of flour plus 2T of water daily, until it grows in volume.  To get it growing, feed it about 1/3 the total volume with flour and water.  When you are not using it, you can store the starter in the fridge.

Once you have it going, you can also use it for all kinds of bread-like things!  It adds great flavour to any bread recipe, but also makes great pancakes and waffles.  These bagels rely entirely on the wild yeast for their rise, so if you are going to make them, take the starter out of the fridge at least 48 hours before using, and feed it every 12-18 hours (it should be fed at least 2x in order to have happy wild yeasties!)

I am one of four women who decided to co-found a women’s conference in Victoria … After getting together to discuss various events we had been to, we decided there was no reason why Victoria shouldn’t be home to a kick-ass women’s conference  … the kind of conference that brought in amazing speakers we wouldn’t otherwise be able to connect with here on our island, and combined their stories with some of the incredible stories of women working and living here!  We quickly realized that if we were going to be able to attend to this kind of conference, we would have to put it on ourselves!  and so, Breathe Now was conceived!

Between us, we wanted to provide an environment where women could connect with women outside of their usual social and business circles, and discover the common threads running through each of their stories.  And more importantly, we hoped that this conference would provide women a chance to slow down, rediscover our inner awesomeness, recharge,… and breathe!

It has been my distinct honour to be connecting with the various speakers as we prepare for the weekend!  Our keynote speakers Rona Maynard and Bif Naked are incredible storytellers in their own right.  Each of them, on the surface very different, with quite different career paths and circumstances, BUT when they share their perspectives,  and share the importance of storytelling in their lives, are very similar.

Some of our speakers from Vancouver and Victoria have also shared with me a little bit about the journey that preparing their talks has taken them on.  There are some powerful and compelling stories to be told on April 14-15 and I am truly honoured and proud that they have all (without missing a beat!) given of their time and energy for Breathe Now!

As things have come together for Breathe Now, I’ve been reflecting on the journey Breathe Now has taken me on … the new friendships and connections I have made, and the re-connections with old friends, and the incredible outpouring of support from the community to make this event happen!  One of the re-connections for me was a revisiting of Bridges for Women, the charity that Breathe Now is supporting!  This incredible community organization had only been up and running on a very small scale when I first started in government, and in the many years I worked in the area of employment-training, was a program that was regularly held up as a “best practice” model of how to do employment programming right.  No surprise, a program that works primarily with women, many of whom are moms, would find that there is no more powerful force on earth than women and moms!!!

There are just 6 days left to buy your ticket for Breathe Now!

I firmly believe that when a group of women get together in a room … powerful things can and will happen!  I look forward to seeing you there as part of this incredible weekend!

Last week, I came across some really nice looking tomatillos and decided it was time for something a little tart and savoury to go on my sandwiches.  A little bit of time chopping and a little time in the oven while I was doing some writing and recipe development, and we had a tasty all-purpose savoury relish.  As it turns out, this relish also makes a really tasty garnish atop soup!

In my book, pancakes are pretty awesome, and free pancakes are even better, and supporting a charity that helps out kids puts it over the top.  But, most pancake purveyors places of pancake preparation are full of gluten – not so great if you are Celiac or gluten-intolerent :/.

Don’t fret though!  We’ve got you covered for all your pancake cravings!   You can whip these up, have your pancakes AND eat them too!  If you feel inclined, go make a donation online!

Happy Pancake Day!

This is one of those classic comfort foods that seems oh-so-easy, but needs an appropriate balance of moist cakey goodness without too much fuss to hit that sweet spot in our mind’s eye!

I have a few versions of gluten-free banana bread, but it was really the opportunity to try out Montana Gluten-free’s Timtana flour a couple of years ago where the first slices I cut really reminded me classic banana bread!   This is amazing flour to work with!  Shipping here to Canada is still prohibitively expensive, so I save mine for recipes like this where the flour really shines.  If you have a chance to pick some up, I highly recommend it!

Not to mention, roast chicken is one of my favourite foods … AND a roast chicken will keep a couple fed for some number of days!

I’ve also been irked lately by the ongoing perceptions of people that roasting a chicken is an onerous task.  It is not (FACT!).  I like to cook a lot of things in the oven — often, when cooking daily meals, I’m pressed for time, and at the end of a day don’t want to be hovering over the stove — hence my love of tossing things in the oven and letting it do its thing!  chicken is no exception.

Because I also like crispy skin, and I don’t want to be waiting all night for it, I spatchcock my birds (I know it sounds racy, but its an actual word!).  Simply put you cut the backbone out of the chicken, flatten it out by cracking the breastbone, season and oil, and bake.  Because the bird is all on one level, more or less evenly exposed to the dry heat of the oven, it cooks fairly quickly.  The bonus?  more surface area exposed = more crispy skin .  A 3-4 lb fryer should be fully cooked in 45-50 minutes!

Here’s some pointers to help you get great results:

• Take the chill off the chicken — make sure it sits at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before you put it in the oven.
• Let the oven come up to temperature before you pop your roasting pan in the oven.  Any doubts about what temperature your oven actually is?  Invest in an oven-thermometer and you’ll always know!  375 degrees F is a good temperature for achieving done-ness and still get some browning action going on.
• Dry the chicken off thoroughly before you start seasoning.
• Season everything before — front and back!  I’ve kept things simple for tonight’s chicken – salt, pepper and some mole spices
• A light oiling helps — just a thin layer rubbed all over the skin.
• Basting half-way with the chicken fat the renders out helps crisp up the skin
• Let your chicken rest for 10-15 minutes after you pull it out of the oven.  Tent it with some foil to keep it warm while it rests.

Once cooked, you can serve the chicken as-is, OR you can portion it out and use it throughout the week.  Tonight’s dinner for us, is chicken with caramelized onions and red peppers in freshly made tortillas, guacamole and homemade salsa

Fortunately, we had some strawberries waiting in the fridge, and some creme fraiche, handy — the basis for the most delicious strawberries and cream ever!

Nothing says Valentines like strawberries, but unfortunately, the gorgeous looking strawberries that come up from California at this time of year are usually devoid of flavour, and need a little help.  A quick gratin solves all those woes!

This recipe is pretty simple.  Take some bread (day-old is good!).  cut it into cubes and douse it with a basic custard combination until the bread has sopped up the works.  Bake in a low oven for about 40 minutes until the custard is set … and that’s it!  I’ve used coconut milk instead of cream, making it dairy-free, yet still very delicious!

The possibilities are endless — add some fruit if you want, add spices to the custard, or add a small dollop of rum or bourbon!  It’s your bread pudding, so go crazy!  If you want an extra creamy texture, bake it in a water bath, but in a pinch, it bakes just fine in a heavy casserole dish at 325 degrees.