Buttery Cinnamon Cake with Apple Compote

For those of you who were lucky enough to go apple picking this year, I have found a recipe that will put good use to your apples. It is an apple compote that is topped onto a soft and delicious cake, infused with cinnamon flavour. I used Empire apples for a chunky texture, but you can also add McIntosh if you like.

I found this recipe in one of my favourite magazines, the LCBO's Food & Drink. Do not underestimate this free magazine that the LCBO puts out seasonally. I would say that this one of Canada's most beautiful magazines, photographically and typographically. Even the layout of the magazine is well thought out, they incorporate the ads so well into the layout that it creates this cohesive look to the magazine without ruining the actual content.

I really just had to appreciate the magazine for a moment since in Canada, we really don't get many beautifully designed magazines and it is very refreshing to see one.

Art and design can make me so happy sometimes, but back to food, as this is a food blog.

Buttery Cinnamon Cake with Apple Compote
Serves 8

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp of ground cinnamon or ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Glaze

• 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp of water

Apple Compote

• 4 large-red skinned apples (diced, peeled if desired)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cardamom or ginger
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until blended. Stir in flour mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of flour and 2 of sour cream. Spread into prepared pan, smoothing top.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a rack for 3o minutes.
   
4. For the glaze, combine sugar, cinnamon and water in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove ring from cake. Brush top and sides with glaze and serve warm or slide the cake off the pan onto a rack and let cool completely.
   
5. Meanwhile, prepare the apple compote. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until apples are tender but still keep their shape. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm with slices of cake and dollop of whip cream.

Recipe from Food and Drink Magazine

Rice Krispie Jack-O-Lantern

Halloween is a time for yummy treats and great fun. It's also a time to get creative with baking, so think of some of your favourite recipes and how you can add a Halloween twist to it. It's pretty easy to turn Rice Krispie Squares into any holiday treat simply by adding food colouring or sprinkles.

If you can find thicker pretzels, it'll probably look better for the stem of the pumpkin. Also, if you can find a tube of icing to decorate the face, you'll be able to make actual Jack-O-Lantern faces, as oppose to my toothpick drawn smiley faces.

Rice Krispie Jack-O-Lantern

• 6 cups of Rice Krispie
• 5 cups of mini marshmallows
  
• 1/4 cup of butter, a little bit extra for your hands
  
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• Orange gel colouring or red and yellow food colouring
• Pretzels
• Chocolate Icing

1. In a large pot melt the butter on low heat. Once it has melted add in the marshmallows.
2. Continue to stir the marshmallow until melted and add in the vanilla and food colouring. If you use red and yellow, drop in the yellow first and then the red, as it is harder to make the marshmallow lighter than darker. Add in about 5 drops of yellow and 2 drops of red. Add in either more red or yellow to get your desired colour of orange.
   
3. Once you have blended the colour into the marshmallow add the Rice Krispie and mix quickly.
4. Butter your hands so you don't get the mixture stuck to your hands and roll the mixture into a ball. Take your index knuckle and make a dent on the top where you will stick the pretzel as the stem.
5. Decorate the faces on the little pumpkins and enjoy!
   

Nourish Bistro in Banff AB

Last weekend I went to Banff for the Thanksgiving long weekend. It's always such a nice break for me to head out west to the Rocky Mountains as Toronto can get very hectic sometimes.

Usually when you think of restaurants in Banff, you think of really great pubs where you can grab a beer with friends. However, tucked away in the Sundance Mall is this amazing vegetarian bistro called Nourish.

You would be surprised by the food that comes out of the small little kitchen, the restaurant itself, can't really hold more than 30 people. I can assure you that you will experience many unique and sweet flavours at this restaurant. I didn't even notice that I was just eating vegetables, the absence of meat did not cross my mind once, that is how flavourful the food is here.

The food is also meant to be shared, which is a wonderful idea considering you want to try everything on the menu. There was five of us so we ordered 4 dishes and 2 appetizers to start. It was the perfect amount, I was so content in the end, it even left enough room for their strawberry and apple pie.

The first thing that arrived on the table were our two appetizers. We ordered the Edamame Beans and Spanakopita. These appetizers instantly gave me an idea of what I was in for at this restaurant. New flavours added to old dishes. The Edamame beans were tossed in Hemp Seed Gomasio and drizzled with a creamy sweet sauce. The spanakopitas were filled with 4 spinach and feta, served on a bed of fresh greens with a balkan style yogurt and dill.

We then had the Gourmet Falafel, which contained spiced oven baked chickpeas and fava bean falafael. It was wrapped in a garlic hummus tortilla shell with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, roasted red peppers, field greens and garlic dill. It even came with a edible flower, which kinda tasted a bit like lettuce.

We then moved onto their delicous House Curry which contained lentils, spinach and chickpeas stewed in tomato masala with seasoned quinoa and veggies served on rice.

The King Kong Noodle was probably the most flavourful dish of the night. The soup is made up of 6 nuts and veggies in a sweet coconut chili sauce that is topped with cucumbers, spinach, marinated mandarin oranges and pea shoots served with verm rice noodles. Seriously, flavour, flavour, flavour.

Finally, we received our Spicy Salsa Verde Burrito filled with chinnamon chili spiced cauliflour, mushrooms, red pepper, jalapeno, refriend black beans, sticky rice and monterey jack, topped with their salsa verde.

Even though I was completely full at the end I had to try their strawberry and apple pie which made the whole entire meal and night come together at the end.

If you are ever in Banff, I highly recommend you come here with a few friends and enjoy a night of fresh, healthy and flavourful food.

Resrvations recommended 1-403-760-3933
Nourish Vegetarian Bistro
215 Banff Avenue
Upper level Sundance mall
Banff, AB

Cranberry Chicken

If you're missing out on your mom's Thanksgiving dinner this weekend you should definitely make this dish. It's easy, tasty and it'll feel like a home cooked meal. This is also my friend Cari's favourite dish.

Cranberry Chicken

Serves 4

• 4 chicken breast
• 1 can of whole cranberry sauce
• french salad dressing (approx half of the regular 473 ml bottle)
• 1 package of onion soup mix
• 1 cup of frozen whole cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
   
2. Cut up the chicken breast into bite sized cubes and place them in a 9x1 3" oven dish.
3. In a large bowl mix together the cranberry sauce, french dressing, onion soup mix and the frozen cranberries. Pour the mixture over the chicken in the oven dish.
4. Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes.
   
5. Serve over rice and with a mixed green salad.

Delight in the Junction

I know this fall weather probably isn't making you think about ice cream, but it should. It's never too cold to have Delight's handmade organic ice cream. Greg's Ice Cream at Bloor and Spadina, and White Squirrel in Trinity Bell Woods, serve really great ice cream. But I am seriously telling you, that you have never tried real ice cream, until you've tried it at Delight.



There's something to be said about people who incorporate love and passion into their food, it taste different. Owner's Jennifer Rashleigh and Jeff Brown are a pair that truly care about how their chocolate and ice cream will taste.





Delight uses only natural, organic ingredients, fair trade chocolate and sugar, as well as seasonal and local fruits. These people know how to make ice cream and chocolate, they've stripped it down to the bare essential ingredients.



Two flavours that you must try: Mint Chocolate Chip and their Quebec Blue Cheese. Blue Cheese you say? Yes, Blue Cheese and ice cream, you would have never guessed that they would taste amazing together.







Delight Chocolate
3040 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario
416-760-9995

Spicy Chicken and Veg Kebabs

Summer is the ultimate time for barbecuing with friends. So before it gets too cold, try to use the barbecue as much as possible. Kebabs are of one of my favourite things to barbecue, they're easy to make and you can customize whatever meat or vegetables you want on it. Also, if you have a vegetarian over, you don't have to make a whole different meal for them, just make their kebab all veggie! Kebabs are great.

I do like things spicy, so if you don't, just don't add the chili flakes, or maybe just add a little. But I highly suggest you do, they will taste that much better.

Spicy Chicken and Veg Kebabs

Serves 4

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 red onion
• 80z of mushrooms (about 12 mushrooms)
• 1 clove of minced garlic
  
• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp of dried thyme leaves
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp of onion powder
• 1/2 tsp of cayenne flakes

Directions:

1. Cut chicken, peppers and onions into bite size chucks and around the same size. Place them into a large bowl.
2. Into the bowl add the rest of the ingredients and mix together well.
3. Preheat the barbecue to medium high heat while you skew the chicken and vegetables.
4. Grill the skewers for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Turn the skewers occasionally.

Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Giada De Laurentiis is one of my favourite chefs. Her dishes are simple, delicious and full of flavour. Her enthusiasm and love for food makes you believe that you can recreate any of her dishes that she features on her shows. To me, the food she cooks is very attainable, not complicated, with simple ingredients and cooking techniques that anybody can do.

This BBQ sauce was featured on her show Everyday Italian and is also found on the food network website. This recipe makes quite a bit of sauce which you can package up in glass jars and give to your friends and family as a gift. Homemade BBQ sauce is a great gift for anyone who wants change up the flavour of their regular chicken or steak meals.

Balsamic BBQ Sauce

For the Balsamic BBQ sauce:

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the chicken or steak:

• 4 pieces chicken (any combination of breast or leg-and-thigh pieces) or 4 pieces of New York strip or Club strip steak
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes.
2. For the chicken or steak: Place a grill pan over medium heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with some of the BBQ sauce using a pastry brush. Place the meat on the grill. Place the remaining BBQ sauce, still in the small saucepan, over low heat or on the edge of a gas or charcoal grill and allow to gently simmer while the meat cooks.
3. Cook the chicken about 8 minutes per side. Cook the steaks starting at about 4 minutes per side until a meat thermometer reads the desired temperature, 120 degrees F for medium rare, 135 degrees F for medium (about 6 minutes per side), 155 degrees F for well done (about 9 minutes per side). Continually brush the meat with BBQ sauce every few minutes. Remove the meat from the grill and let rest for at least 5 minutes. Serve with the heated BBQ sauce alongside.
4. Alternately, the chicken can be baked in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the chicken skin side up in a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and spoon the BBQ sauce all over the top of the chicken. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.