A Trip to the Farmers' Market

Hi, my name is Lori and I am addicted to Farmers' Markets....whew....that is a load off!  Hubby knows me a little too well so Saturday morning when he was still snoozing, the words "No worries, I can go to Lac du Bonnet by myself" got him out of bed and dressed so fast, you'd never know it was before 9:00am!  Apparently I am not to be trusted at the farmers' market alone. Even a small scale one such as the Lac du Bonnet market. I tend to get over excited, spend more money than I should on things we don't need.....I like having a 3kg tub of honey to use for baking!!  Now I wonder what would happen if I attempted the St. Norbert Farmers' Market....

 
Produce is finally starting to pop up at the local farmers' markets and I couldn't be happier!  While my garden is doing fairly well, especially the tomato plants which have become too heavy for the cages, I don't have room to plant everything I wanted. On the same note, not everything I planted is thriving.  Luckily we have some amazing markets to help pick up the slack!

Last weekend, the only thing I really wanted from the market was some local honey as I was all out! I found a vendor selling honey and honey products (YES!) They didn't have the 3kg buckets yet but I am happy with my 1kg jar of unpasteurized honey!! ($7.50).  We also purchased a small jar of habanero pepper jelly.  This stuff is sweet with a big kick!

This sounds like the makings of a marinade.....hmmmmm.  I have since used this on both a whole chicken and on chicken pieces!!





Habanero Honey Dijon Marinade

Equal amounts of:

• runny honey
• habanero pepper jelly
• Dijon mustard
• olive oil

So if you use 1 tbsp each of everything, you will have a 1/4 cup of marinade

Mix in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Pour it all into a zip top bag, add your meat (I used chicken for this one and I had no zip top bags so I mixed it in a bowl!)

Pop it into the fridge to rest for at least 4 hours or overnight.
(Alternatively, you can rub this all over a whole chicken and pop it into the oven to roast....make sure to get some of this goodness under the skin as well)

Chicken pieces doused in this marinade grill up perfectly on the BBQ!

Some more sights of the the Lac du Bonnet Farmers' market

Pickles, relishes, mustard....

More fantastic honey products!

Tree saplings

Of course the Car B Cue was there!

 Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Little Cabin in the Woods

Hello everyone! I am still around and just thought I should check in. The Boy and I decided to spend the extra time at the Little Cabin in the Woods. I am typing on my Blackberry so this is a short and sweet note to say Hello to everyone and welcome to new followers. I am so excited to see I have reached 55 followers! I can assure you I have been busy cooking and baking so there are many new posts on the way! I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy their summer.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Simple Desserts Make the World go 'Round

I love desserts....there....I said it.   It is out there.... I love desserts!  Now of course I don't have desserts all too often.  I would if I could, but I can't....sigh....

One of my indulgences includes a subscription to Everyday Food Magazine.   I love the ideas, tips, and recipes in this magazine.  I found this recipe last summer in one of the editions and instantly knew I wanted to try it out. An instant hit I tell you.  I seem to only make this when we are at the cabin. Not sure why but that is just the way it happens.

Last summer's plum custard was a complete hit!!

This fruit custard type of dessert is so ridiculously easy...chop or slice up some soft fruit, whizz up the batter in the blender, bake....It is also so ridiculously yummy!!!

The original recipe is a Raspberry Custard but I have actually never used raspberries to make it. Raspberries never last long enough to cook with around here....we just eat them.  Yup....stand in the garden and eat them. It is a wonder they actually ever make it into the house!!

Ahh dessert at the cabin....relaxing no matter what!

Sorry, I was rambling there....Plums work so well, strawberries, any soft fruit or berry will work.

Fruit custard
Printable recipe

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups soft fruit or berry of  your choice (or a mixture!)

Pre heat oven to 400F

Melt butter in a pie plate (or cast iron skillet).

Place everything but the fruit and 1 tbsp of sugar  into the blender and give it a whir.

Oh....why yes....there IS duct tape holding the blender together.
A word about the cabin blender....it is a well loved plastic jar blender that used to be my sister's. It was once dropped....the poor thing cracked a little.
Thank goodness there is always duct tape around!  That duct tape has been holding this blender together for ages...it just keeps holding on!!
It still blends, even makes an amazing daiquiri!!


Swirl the melted butter around the pan and pour the rest of it into the blender and whir it all up again until the batter is smooth.

Spread the fruit out in the pan evenly.

A combo of strawberries, peach, plum, blueberries.....

Pour the batter on top.

Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar over the entire custard.

Pop it all into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  The custard will puff up a bit and be set in the middle.  Feel free to throw the broiler on for a couple of minutes to brown up the top....just watch it carefully!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Too Hot To Bake Bread??? Bah!

The weather has been hot and steamy here on the prairies! I am not going to complain about the heat because we spend all winter complaining about the cold. We deserve weather like this, really we do! We endure the deep dark depths of a prairie winter to get these glorious long, hot, sultry days of summer.  We spent the weekend at the Little Cabin on the dock.  We had our sun brellas out, our sunblock on, and our books in hand.  When we got too hot, we jumped into the water to cool off.  I mean, really cool off.  You do have to brace yourself for the cold but after the heat it is just so gloriously refreshing.

I so wanted to bake some fresh bread at the Little Cabin but I dare not turn the oven on for fear of heating the place up even more!  The heat and humidity make for perfect bread rising conditions....hmmmm.... What to do, what to do.....

Fresh BBQ Bread (you can do this with any bread recipe you want. I just had all purpose flour at the cabin)

Printable recipe

• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 - 4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Combine the honey and the water in a bowl, stirring to mix and dissolve the honey.  Add the yeast and give it about 10 minutes to get all foamy and ready to go. Then add the olive oil.

Add 1 cup of flour and mix with a wooden spoon.  Now add the salt and another cup off flour.

Keep adding the flour 1 cup at a time until you can mix no more.

Now knead the dough by hand for a few minutes until the dough is soft and elastic.

Place the ball of dough back in the bowl, cover with a clean towel to rise until double in size. (anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes, or sooner if hot and humid!)

Punch the dough down and form it into an oblong loaf.

Now you can either use a baking sheet or tin foil that has been doubled up.  Either way, dust the surface with flour to keep it from sticking to the baking surface.

Baking sheet

Double layer of foil - use a board to slide the foil on and off the grill

 Cover with a clean towel and allow it to rise until double.

Preheat the BBQ on high for about 10 minutes.  Depending on your BBQ you have a few options.  This BBQ has four burners so I turned off the middle 2, left the outside 2 on and placed the bread in the middle, on the burners that are off.  We are using indirect heat to bake the bread.

Bake for about 15 minutes, lift the lid to peek after 10 minutes but remember that when you lift the lid, you let ALL the heat out and it will take a couple of minutes for the heat to build back up again.

Until next time, stay cool and eat well.

Little Cabin in The Woods - Ribalicious

Before the summer started, Hubby and I were pondering what we would do for meals while at the lake. The budget is tighter during the summer as I am not working, and that means no $$.  Our lovely friends at HMG Meats and Deli (For those in Winnipeg, HMG Meats and Deli is at 642 Leila Avenue, 339-8406)
came out with some amazing deals on freezer packs of meat....and I mean amazing.  We bought one of these packs with the the cabin in mind.  The only thing we need to pick up at the store before heading out to the woods is our fruit and veggies! It really has been working out quite well.  One of our feasts at the lake was ribs.....done on the BBQ......drool.......

You may remember the BBQ disaster on Christmas....turns out it actually was too cold for the propane. I have heard that next time we should keep the tank covered.  Apparently propane can actually get too cold to burn...you would think I would have known that, being a prairie dweller....

I used the Alton Brown Dry rub which is essentially a ratio, the rub is basically 6:1:1:1. (All in tbsp)
The day before you plan to cook your ribs, prepare the rub.  In a bowl combine:

• 6 tbsp light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp chilli powder (sometimes I use paprika instead)
• 1 tbsp of any mixture of spices (this is where you can really alter the mixture to suit your taste):
• for example: 
• ½ tsp cayenne
• ½ tsp old bay
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• ½ tsp dried thyme      
• (as long as you combine 3 tsp of spices, you will get the last 1 in your ratio)

Prepare the rub by mixing everything together.

If the skin type film on the back of the ribs hasn't been removed, remove it by slipping a knife under the skin, do your darnedest to get a grip and pull it off.

There it is....gently and firmly pull that off!

Keep pulling...

Sprinkle on the rub and well, rub it all in.....
 

Wrap each rack (tee hee) in foil and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Open one end of the foil and add some liquid. You can use beer, juice, wine, broth or stock or even water.

Slow cook in the oven for a few hours (at 250F) or on a low, indirect heat on the BBQ.

Once cooked, slather on the BBQ sauce of  your choice and slap 'em on the grill to crisp up the ribs.....

Meat and carbs.......

Enjoy!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!