Food Rules

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Specialty diets. Food restrictions. The elitism of healthy foods. Where does it end?

People with blood type A should avoid red meat. If you are on the Atkins diet you stay away from fruits and starches. If you are a vegetarian you stay away from meat. If you are vegan you stay away from eggs and cheese. If you are my husband you never eat shellfish or pork, even though you are not Jewish!

I ask you, where does it end?

I have been there. I was once on the Candida diet and lived on chicken, fish, eggs and low starch vegetables. It almost killed me. It was my doctor's idea. She wanted to make sure that I really had fibromyalgia and not Candida which has similar symptoms. When I showed up to her office after 40 days I could barely walk, I was so weak. She said I looked like a skeleton and to get off that diet immediately. After that, I could not eat meat for three and a half years.

Today, I just listen to my body. Sometimes it wants meat. Sometimes it only wants fruit. There were years I could not eat dairy and now soy bothers me.

I have deep respect for vegetarians and for people who eat according to their ethics. I do think this is a noble path. It just is not the path for me. There are days I wish it was but my body is Queen. Some days she must eat smoked oysters. Other days tofu is OK. Now and then she must have steak.

Everyone's food rules are different. I have tried all of them and know that listening to my body for its own rules of that particular day works for me. Just as I know pork really is truly not something my husband can eat. As much as I want to put chorizo sausage in a dish I want to make for dinner, I will respect the fact that it would upset my husband. I also respect the few days a week my body says, "Vegetarian today, please?"

Tolerance is what I want to point out here. All of our bodies and personal philosophies are unique. Not to mention, our financial situations. There is not one set of food rules out there and that's OK. Right? I am tired of people judging others for the food they make and eat. Life is a buffet. You don't like what you see? Keep on walking so someone else can get a bite.

Secret Family Recipe for Veggie Dip

Here is another secret family recipe, this time for a veggie dip. I have no idea how long we have been making this recipe. Seems like forever and this is one we all eat and enjoy! The recipe is super simple and easy to make.

Pick up a package of Knorr Vegetable soup and using a rolling pin, roll everything into dust as much as you can without ripping the package. Now the ratio of mayonnaise to sour cream differs according to who is making the dip in the family. You want a total of 2 cups between the mayonnaise and sour cream, I prefer a little more sour cream to mayo so it is usually a 65% sour cream, 35% mayo:

Mix it all together and let the flavours develop in the fridge.

See! I told you it was super easy. There is a lovely deep tang from the dehydrated vegetables in this dip and we love it. I always make mine with calorie and fat reduced mayonnaise and sour cream which may make this an almost-healthy snack to munch on.

Chocolate Orange Holiday Cake

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This Chocolate Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing saved my Halloween. I had chosen an online recipe foolishly NOT from the Food Network sites and all was going well until I realized that I had not pre-heated the oven. So I went to look for the temperature in the recipe and could not find it. That is when I realized, um, you are supposed to STEAM the cake?! WTF?! OK, that is a brand new technique for me and there were no instructions on how to go about steaming a bundt cake so I started all over again!

I got out my favourite kitchen tool: my Kitchenaid mixer! My life saver in the kitchen. I adore her so much I named her Rebel. What I love so much about this recipe by Ingrid Abolins that Christine Cushing featured on her Potluck episode is that it is foolproof and breaks all of the rules of baking a cake. You literally throw everything in and beat it together except the boiling water. Yes, I said boiling water! I never! After I added the boiling water (still cracks me up) there were some lumps so I sieved the batter and then put it into a buttered and lightly floured bundt pan:

It looked so liquidy I thought this cake was going to be a disaster but Christine assured everyone on her show that this is the cake that defies all odds.

And she was right! This cake came out perfectly. It was moist, delicious and looked kind of like a pumpkin which is what I was going for!

As the cake was cooling I started to prepare the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting I found on Country Living's web site. I had left the cream cheese out all morning and it was nice and soft and and beat up in my mixer perfectly. The frosting is flavoured with orange juice and zest and goes beautifully with the chocolate cake. I love that combo: chocolate and orange! You could even add some orange liqueur for those who want additional boost of flavour. My only issue with this recipe is it did not specify how to make the frosting orange. It came out salmon a lot until my husband recommend using a lot more yellow which I did, a ton!

I put the cake on a pretty cake plate and got out some semi-sweet chocolate and my vegetable peeler and added sprinkled to the top:

This cake was a hit at my Halloween get together! Thank goodness. Next time I will definitely make the dessert a day ahead! If you are looking for a super easy chocolate cake to make, I recommend this cake for sure. The frosting is luscious too and if it is not Halloween I recommend just leaving the colour the natural pale orange it turns out to be without the food colouring. If you make this at Christmas you could leave out the orange flavourings and add peppermint! A no-stress cake for the holidays, perfect...

Secret Family Crab Dip Recipe

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I had to get special permission from my family members to share this recipe with all of you. We have been eating this crab dip for years at all our family celebrations. My sister Jamie used this recipe at a party she and our sister Shannon catered once. Shannon taste tested the recipe since Jamie does not eat seafood and confirmed its deliciousness. We have been indulging in it at family get togethers ever since. Now you can too!

I cheated when I made this version of the dip by using my food processor. The recipe calls for you to make it by hand but if you have a food processor you can cheat too!

6 oz/1 can of crab meat

8 oz/1 package of cream cheese left at room temperature and softened

3 tbsp French dressing

2 tbsp ketchup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tbsp of finely chopped onion (I used shallots this time)

Drain crab meat and remove any pieces of cartilage. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Mix cream cheese with mayonnaise. Stir in ketchup, French dressing, onion and mix well. Add crab meat and chill for several hours before serving.

I served the dip with tall garlic breadsticks and 12 grain Melba toasts, delicious! A beautiful seafood treat for any party, any time of the year.

Crockpot Apple Cranberry Cider

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I wanted hot apple cider Halloween, sipping the hot spicy beverage as the trick or treaters came to our door. What could be better? Well when I went to pick some up at our grocery store, they were all out of cider! So...I made my own. Easy peasy.

When my husband and I lived in Ottawa, one New Year's Eve there was no heat or hot water in our apartment (long story) so we lived in front of our tiny space heater drinking a cranberry apple cider to get us through that New Year's Eve. For some reason that makes me think fondly of that apple cider. That company has never made that apple cider since so I figured since I loved it so much that I would make my own version of the cider that helped keep us alive!

Since this was going to be a crockpot apple cider, I gathered the ingredients in the early afternoon so they could meld on low all day together. I got a very high quality apple juice and poured it all into the crockpot. Then I topped it off with some cran/raspberry juice. I got some cheesecloth and added cinnamon sticks, all spice and some cloves, tied it up with some butcher's string.

I added a handful of brown sugar to the crockpot and stirred. I let it brew all day on my counter and the results were delicious:

Rich, dark, earthy and tangy... just what you want in an apple cider for those crisp autumn afternoons or those long and dark winter nights. You could easily make this on your stove top quick and easy too and for those who drink alcohol, add a touch of brandy for that additional tummy burn.

After the kids had finished showing up at our door this Halloween and we were full of beef stew and chocolate cake, we sat in front of our TV with our friends sipping hot cider and snacked on candy while watching Scream. Yup, another great memory to go with a fantastic recipe. Life is good.

Halloween Foodie Challenge & Celebration

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So how was your Halloween?! What spooky treats did you make? Any fascinating cocktails? How about your jack-o-lanterns, how did they turn out?

Let's recover from our Halloween hangover together and share our pics or blog posts with all our feasting and scary frolicking together! I would love to see what you were up to! If it is Halloween-y at all, feel free to link. Hope we all had a fantastic and Halloween this year.

My Halloween Foodie Adventures

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The day started off with, candy of course. I was so busy getting everything ready for Halloween I was living on canned soup and Twizzlers! When I met blogger friend Alice in Paris this summer I picked up this pumpkin candy jar and was so happy to finally fill it with treats.

Then came the ritual of putting newspaper all over the kitchen floor and cleaning out our fantastic pumpkin! We were so lucky to find it just a few days before Halloween. I get to gut it, my husband gets to do the creative part of design and carving but that was OK since my hands were full dealing with all of the food!

See Drop Dead Fred out there waiting patiently for children to come?! We invite him every year! And here on my table you can see a plethora of snacks to choose from. I will be sharing the recipe for some of the dips this week!

I made my first ever Halloween beverage! I had been thinking about it for days. Most Halloween drinks that do not contain alcohol are more kid-inspired and involve sherbet or Jell-o or weird stuff like that in a giant punch bowl. Adult drinks contain alcohol and I do not drink. After figuring out my strategy I finally got it right. A little Sprite on the bottom. Topped with some orange juice. Put in a funny ice cube (I used an orange pumpkin), drop in the "bloody teeth" (pomegranate seeds), then over the back of a spoon and down the side of the glass add a little grenadine which will slide down to the bottom. Yummy!

I took the risk and baked a cake on Halloween. It was pretty much a disaster! I will share the story and the recipe later on during the week but suffice it to say my first cake ended up in the compost! This cake, however, ended up being a Halloween beauty! Chocolate cake with orange frosting. Moist and yummy. I also made a fantastic beef stew for dinner but by the time we ate there was no light! One day I will make it again and take some pics so I can share the recipe with you.

All my little treats out, candles burning as the night outside is only illuminated by the few jack-o-lanterns burning and the moonlight on this windy but oddly warm evening.

My husband went all out this year. Made a tongue out of the pumpkin flesh and the nose out of a carrot and even gave our pumpkin hands!

Looks spooky in the dark doesn't it? It was so windy we constantly had to go outside and keep our jack-o-lantern lit to scare away the dark energy in the night! I hope everyone had fantastic feasts last night and loads of fun! To see my personal Halloween story and home decorating madness check out my personal blog. Thanks for visiting!

If you did some foodie and spooky stuff this year, make sure to post a link to your blog post or photograph here. Let's celebrate together!