Product Review: Danone's Oikos Greek Yogurt

I must apologize to Danone. They sent me coupons for their new Greek yogurt Oikos a while ago and with the madness of Halloween and family visiting, posting about it was delayed. Which ended up being a good thing because then I could do some product testing with Jamie and Justin during their visit which helped me finalize my rating of their yogurt.

This yogurt is crazy-thick! It is absolutely amazing just how dense and compact it is. Not only that, unlike a lot of other Greek-style yogurts out there, this one has been thickened by the traditional Greek straining method. No chemicals have been added. All you will find in the plain Greek yogurt is milk, cream and active culture. The vanilla has had a vanilla preparation added made from sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice concentrate, locust bean gum and natural flavours.



Unfortunately my first product test for the yogurt was for my family's secret crab dip recipe. I was taking to a party thrown by Reg's family. I wanted to see if it could replace some of the cream cheese (which is extremely thick and dense). The problem? I did not realize I had picked up the vanilla container!

As I was taste testing the dip afterwards I was shocked. It was... sweet! I added some lemon juice, shallots and Srirarcha hot sauce to balance it out and then it kind of tasted like the original recipe. I did not realize I had bought the vanilla container until the next day! Oh well, the dip was a huge hit anyway, LOL.



I could not wait to try the vanilla as a topper for my fruit salad, one of my favourite treats on the weekend. Super thick and fabulous, the vanilla flavouring tasted authentic to me and made one of the best fruit salads I had ever had.

I also made this salad for Jamie and Justin and they fell in love. In fact they were worried that when they got home they would not be able to find this product, they just had to have it, they loved it that much.



I know some picky members of a household might find it too thick or may prefer to make their own flavoured yogurt. I thinned some of the plain Greek yogurt with freshly squeezed orange juice, added some honey and vanilla bean paste.



This thinned it out and it was still absolutely fabulous on our fruit salad. This product is flexible for you to customize to your own palette and preferred consistency.



The real test was... Would it improve my smoothies? We have smoothies every night with dinner. It helps feed our sweet tooth and, at least for me, curbs my need to have dessert after our meal. We love our smoothies so would Oikos' Greek yogurt improve them?

Yes, it did! And not just a little, a lot! They were richer, creamier and fantastically thick. The vanilla yogurt pairs perfect with my mango smoothie. It is too strong for my berry smoothie so I use the plain instead. Love my smoothies made with this product!

My only disappointment is trying to make a sauce for my easy curry chicken dinner. I love that dish and have been trying to develop a sauce for it with yogurt, shallots and curry paste. I thought the plain yogurt would hold up when added off the heat but it didn't. It fell apart and curdled. Well. we can't have everything!

The containers of yogurt I bought cost $4.99 which is comparable to many other Greek yogurts. I have to say, the fact that I can buy an already-flavoured one that is high in protein and tastes this good makes me lean towards Oikos' Greek yogurt more than the others. I have enjoyed this product immensely and gotten accustom to it being in my fridge for all sorts of applications. Despite the issues with making a curry sauce, I have no real complaints.

I give this product five out of five wooden spoons and hope Danone keeps making it forever. Not sure I can live without it now.

Spicy & Slightly Decadent Corn Chowder

It is that magical time of year! The time to start warming yourself from the inside out, starting with a big bowl of delicious soup. The corn this autumn has been so fantastic I just had to make a corn chowder to try and push this soup over the edge of deliciousness. I hope you fall for it like I did!



I was inspired by Gina Neely's recipe which I changed, well... kind of a lot. But I wanted to give her credit! Instead of using a 16 ounce bag of frozen corn I put a small inverted bowl inside a large wide bowl to slice the corn kernels off the cob.

After I did so I ran the back of my knife over the cob to make sure I got every little drop of moisture from the corn to include in the soup.



This is what 16 oz of corn kind of looks like. I think it was around four cobs of corn but feel free to use frozen if that is what you have!



I crisped up 4 slices of chopped turkey bacon in some olive oil in a large soup pot. I finely chopped 1 onion, 3 cloves of garlic and 1/2 a small jalapeno with seeds and ribs removed. If you like it really spicy, keep the ribs and the seeds.



I added a little more oil (turkey bacon is much less greasy than regular bacon) and sauteed the onions for a few minutes on medium heat. I added the garlic and jalapeno for just a minute and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Then I added 1/4 cup flour and stirred it into the aromatics for around a minute.

I stirred in 3 cups of chicken stock. I added 1 large potato diced into small pieces and simmered for 10 minutes.



I added the 16 oz of corn, a couple of bay leaves and around 1 tsp of fresh chopped thyme.

 

I also added a little Sriracha hot sauce for additional heat. I simmered the soup for 15 minutes and then removed the bay leaves.

I used a hand immersion blender for this soup which worked perfectly. It broke down the potatoes but left the corn alone. If you like a smoother soup, puree 2/3 of the soup in a blender and then return to the original 1/3 and warm through.



Here comes the decadent part: mascarpone cheese thanks to Tre Stelle! I am getting addicted to this beautiful product which is dangerous, I know! I put in a generous tablespoon into the soup with the pot off the heat to melt throughout.

If you do not have mascarpone cheese, feel free to add whatever addition you prefer or omit completely, this soup is already pretty darn creamy!



I topped it with some grated old cheddar, crispy bacon, chopped green onions and a small dollop of low fat sour cream. What a beautiful soup! So filling, it can easily be served as a meal with a chunk of homemade bread. I am a wimp when it comes to heat but made this way, there is just enough to give true depth of flavour and warm up your belly without burning off your tongue.

Reg loved this soup as well and I will definitely be making it on a regular basis. This is our kind of comfort food on a cold day and we have many of those ahead!

A Day Downtown: Hydrostone, Heartwood Restaurant & Coburg Cafe

My friend Shelagh took me out for the day to explore more of Halifax. I live out of town and believe it or not, have never been to the Hydrostone Market. We had driven past it many times but I had never had the shopping experience.

By the way, Shelagh is offering a free photography e-course to one of my readers! Just go to her blog and say Suzie the Foodie sent you! She is one of the best photographers I know so check it out!



This was the place I wanted to go to the most in the market: Julien's Bakery. A real bakery!



In some ways it had that old world feel to it when it came to the food but the seating area was quite cramped and uncomfortable. Not a place I would be very comfortable drinking my café au lait while delicately working on some pastry that took lots of time and effort to make.



Busted! He did not tell me I could not take photos but I was not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling so we quickly continued on our adventure. As a result, their food and coffee remain a mystery to me!



Lady Luck Boutique was such a charming shop with the most unique and varied jewellery and accessories! They even had a gallery at the back of the store. As much as I was enjoying shopping, it was quite clear that people who shop here have more disposable income than I do. Still, it was nice to look and admire the craftsmanship.



I finally had a chance to visit Liquid Gold Olive Oils and Vinegars which I had journeyed to via Shelagh's blog post about the shop. How wild it was to taste flavoured vinegars and oils, combine them, imagine what you would make with them.

It is clear that their products are very high quality and fascinating for a foodie. I just don't know how I would use strawberry balsamic vinegar. I kind of keep my sweet realm separate from my savoury one, which I know is terribly out of date. Combining chocolate balsamic vinegar with orange olive oil is a cool idea but how often would I do that to make my purchase worthwhile?

The balsamic vinegar that I loved the most was the fig but it was so strong that I knew upon tasting it and almost getting knocked off my own feet by its sheer flavour power, it may put Reg into some kind of foodie coma. So Shelagh and I continued to explore.



I thought this sign was quite adorable and funny!!!



It was not Halloween at the Hen House! They were getting all geared up for Christmas which was beautiful but way too early for me.

When we started to discuss what we would do for lunch Shelagh dropped the bomb on me that she was now vegan! As a former vegetarian, I knew how hard it was to eat out and feel safe that the food you were getting truly was vegetarian. It is even harder when you are a vegan!



We left the Hydrostone and made our way to Heartwood, an organic vegetarian restaurant.



Shelagh ordered the special of the day, a lentil soup. I was tempted to order the same dish but I had a hard time spending $8 on a soup that probably cost $2 to make. Shelagh loved it though, thoroughly happy with her lunch.



I ordered the portobello pesto sandwich which was $10.95. Yup, believe it or not, that is what that is. And I had no idea how to eat it. It never crossed my mind to use a knife and a fork, it was a sandwich! I eat my sandwiches with my hands. If I put the two together, it would be too big. So I ate it open faced, got food all over my own face and had it fall apart over my plate.

Without the Parmesan, the pesto was so weak and I thought there would be more mushrooms to make up for the lack of meat. I left to use the facilities but asked Shelagh if it was OK if we went somewhere else for dessert since I was not very satisfied with my meal.



I came back only to discover that Shelagh had told the waiter I was unhappy with my meal and I could have dessert there for free. I was mortified! I most definitely did not want to eat anything else there so Shelagh picked up a vegan cookie. I went to pay and told him not to worry about the dessert.

He then insisted I only pay 50% which was very kind but I did not want it to appear as though I complained just to save a few bucks. It also put the ethics of me writing about the food into question and so I absolutely insisting on paying 100%.



The hardest part of the day was finding a cafe where I could get a real dessert that was not pre-packed and a good cup of decaf coffee. We looked into several places but all they had were cookies and muffins wrapped in plastic and who knows how long they had been there?

The Coburg Coffee House is one of the only cafes around and can you ever tell. There is always a lineup almost out the door filled with a ton of people, many of them students. It is quite loud, not just because of the crowd, but because of the speakers playing music overhead. Not quite a calm and peaceful place to drink coffee and catch up.



They did not have a lot of baked goods to choose from but they did have what looked like freshly baked brownies. Unfortunately they keep them refrigerated. Who enjoys a cold brownie?



A cold brownie that was dry along the edges and my coffee was cold! Ugh!

If someone wants to make real cash one day they will open up an authentic comfortable friendly cafe that is open from early morning to late at night in downtown Halifax with fresh baked goods done right! Oh if only I did not have fibromyalgia, I would do it. I am lucky if I can bake half a batch of cookies a day but seriously, the city needs a real cafe!



That actually is not the end of the story of my day with Shelagh but after my cup of cold coffee we did end up striking foodie gold. That my friends, is another foodie story! Coming soon...

"Martha is always right. Martha is always right. Martha is always right..."

I am writing penance for once again, not following Martha Stewart's recipe to a tee. This time it is because of changes I made to her Double-Crust Apple Pie from her massive new book Martha's Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations published by Random House Canada.

I decided to make an apple pie for Jamie and Justin's visit and I wanted everything to be perfect and I dared question Martha's recipe! I just did not want anything to go wrong for this important visit and I questioned Martha's wisdom. Will I ever learn?



I began innocently enough by making her Pâte Brisée. In a food processor I added 2 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar. I pulsed everythin together.



I added 1 cup of cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes.



I pulsed sparingly until the mixture was crumbly.



I added around 1/2 cup of ice water very slowly, pulsing gradually until the mixture was still crumbly but could hold together.



I brought the dough together on a floured board and then cut in half. You could see the pastry layers, I love that!

I shaped each piece into a disk, covered with plastic wrap and chilled in the fridge for an hour.



Here is where I changed the recipe... Sigh...

You were supposed to peel and core 3 lbs of a variety of apples. I used green and MacIntosh. You were supposed to cut them into 1/2" slices. Um... that seemed kind of thick to me. I hate crunchy apple pies and hesitated. Then I stupidly decided to cut them into 1/4" slices instead and tossed with 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice. Oh Suzie...



In a small bowl I stirred together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger and 1/2 tsp coarse salt. I added this to the apples and tossed to evenly distribute.



I was looking at that bowl of all those apples and I thought to myself, those are never going to fit into a regular pie plate. I cleverly thought to myself that I would use a springform pan instead because the sides would be tall enough. I rolled out the dough and sure enough, there was more than enough pastry to go up the sides. I greased and floured the pan and got to work.



I moved the bottom layer to the pan, filled with the apples and dotted the top with butter. I felt vindicated at this point. I rolled out the other disk of dough and draped over the filling.



I folded the edges over the bottom dough underneath and then pressed to seal and added a kind of decorative edge. I added an eggwash to the top and sprinkled with natural sugar.

I cut five slits on the top to allow for venting, baked in a preheated 400F oven for ten minutes. Then I reduced the heat to 375F and baked until golden brown. Martha suggests 60-75 minutes but mine was getting too brown around 50 minutes.



Remember the Baker Street Handcrafted Apple Pies I reviewed in May? How they were domed on top and the apples reduced way below the crust? That is exactly what happened to my pie! And the apples, because they were sliced so thinly, got a tad mushy. Ugh!!!

But! Wow, it was still delicious! The spicing and seasoning were perfect and, despite the oddness of my pie that was entirely my fault, we loved this apple pie. In fact I think flavour-wise, it is one of the best I have ever had. So yes, I will make it again and this time cram it into my small pie plate and not mess with the recipe at all.

Martha's Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations is not just a cookbook though. It is an updated version of her original book on entertaining that is divided up according to the time of day you want to have a get together. From blueberry breakfast to picnic at the sea to Thanksgiving at Bedford. Filled with information about holidays and stories about Martha's own parties, this appears to be the book on celebrations. I look forward to sharing more of her ideas with you soon and yes, I promise to follow the recipes 100% from now on!

Halloween 2011 at Suzie the Foodie's House!

Halloween was insane! Not because we got a lot of trick or treaters (around a dozen) or I cooked up a feast. We spent a ton of time decorating the outside of the house so I got a lot of help from some products to come up with treats for us to snack on so we did not pass out from exhaustion and/or hunger.



Yesterday morning I just had to walk through the neighbourhood. We finally had some sunshine after a terrible stormy Sunday. Look at these crazy pumpkins a local farmer brought into the hood!



Reg came home and got to work on Drop Dead Fred. This year he was a pirate for the first time and was a huge hit! People loved him!



I spent the day turning our front lawn into a graveyard, while also cooking up my roasted butternut squash soup and Rachael Ray's veggie chilli for dinner. I had already chopped up veggies for our family's favourite dipping sauce. Still, there was so much to do!



You see I had all this stuff to put up and very little time!



But it is the little details that count and I wanted the house to look super witchy and awesome.



Then I came in the house and collapsed! I could not wait to eat! I had not eaten a thing all day.

President's Choice sent me a secret and mysterious black box with some of their new high end Black Label products. Check here for availability. Each container is black with neon text and has an artistic black and white photograph which appeals so much to the photographer in me. These Cheese & Black Pepper All Butter Biscuits (appear to be similar to these biscuits) were a perfect little snack to pop into our mouths between trick-or-treaters showing up at our door.



Let me tell you, these may appear innocent but holy cow do they pack a delayed wallop of a punch of pepper. I actually coughed a minute after having my first one! The same thing happened to Reg. He ate one, said they were good, went downstairs and gave candy away. Closed the door and said, "Wooowweee!!!! Those are spicy!"

At first I was worried they would be a little dry, which they kind of were, but they did not crumble and disintegrate as you were eating them. Interesting! They seemed subtle and not super memorable at first but then we got the peppery kick in the head. Shocking! According to the box they are made in small batches according to Highland tradition, I have to disagree with the description that they are "delicately infused with black pepper." Perhaps at first and then POW! I loved them and give them four out of five wooden spoons. It always gives me a thrill when food surprises me.



When my sister Jamie and her husband Justin were visiting we of course went to Peggy's Cove and I could not believe my luck! In the gift shop they had one package of Covered Bridge's Atlantic Lobster Chips left! Every time I had been there before they were out. Lucky me, I got the last one of the season.



I waited until Halloween to open up the bag and the smell of lobster wafted over me! How exciting, how cool! The flavour? Umm... Well, more like barbecue than lobster I am afraid. The lobster flavouring was super subtle.

Now that could be because this New Brunswick company swears that there are no artificial colours or flavours in their chips so they actually used lobster extract powder! OK, that is very impressive. A bit of a novelty item but I enjoyed them. I give them four out of five wooden spoons despite its gentle lobster flavour since they went 100% natural. 



To boost the seafood flavour of the chips I served them with my family's secret crab dip recipe and it was amazing! Lobster chips topped with big chunks of crab? What could be more decadent for this seafood lover on Halloween? Oh that's right, put it in a silver serving skull that I got from Home Sense this year, LOL.



It was a chaotic yet quiet Halloween. A little more humble in some ways and decadent in others. We snacked on lots of treats, then had small bowls of soup and chilli. My crockpot continued to redeem itself by making the best cranberry apple cider of my life as we sat and watched Practical Magic for the millionth time with our dear friend Jen. This was her fifth year in a row spending Halloween with us!

Of course I have awoken with a Halloween hangover (without the alcohol) and my kitchen is one hell of a disaster to clean up today! Oh and if you want to see more of our Halloween celebration, come visit my personal blog. Check out the pirate version of Drop Dead Fred!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Back to mundane life until next year...