Mile High Club

Get your mind out the gutter! I'm not talking about anything to do with an airplane.

I'm talking about big flaky biscuits - Mile High Biscuits to be exact!

These biscuits are the best I've ever had and they're so easy to make that you'll be whipping up a batch every now and again for dessert, tea, breakfast, and just because you can.

I bet they'd be delicious with some raisins thrown in and a little cinnamon sprinkled on top, but recently I made them plain to let the berry of the season sing.

And the berry of the season?

Strawberries of course!

Oh Canada, Eh?

The day of fireworks, BBQs, and the first official long weekend of the summer is almost upon us, so I am taking every opportunity to remind myself that I am a proud Canadian.

Most of these so called opportunities of mine are through food. And since summer is out in full force, I am using as many local ingredients in my ventures as possible.

We are so lucky to live in a country with all four seasons and still be able to grow such a wide range of fruits and veggies. It's amazing really -- we can celebrate Christmas with snow at our feet, and then only a few short months later, we can eat food we have grown ourselves!

One of my long list of favourite foods is strawberries and to make eating strawberries extra special, I love to head out the country to find a local berry patch and get my hands dirty.

Of course, a lot of the dirty part isn't due to dirt, because strawberries have straw around the plants to keep them warm at night, a reason why strawberries got their name.

No, the reason for me getting my hands dirty is because I often sneak quite a few tastes of the berries during the picking.

And with the prices of local berries, I think the farmers expect it. Plus, you can't wash a strawberry after the top comes off because it will fill with water like a sponge and become tasteless. So I guess that means you may as well eat it right away!

But... I have to admit that I may have intentionally pulled a few tops off in the field too. :)

Eating the delicious berries in the field reminds me of when I was a child and my mom used to take me berry picking with her. One patch had lots of cute mechanical raspberry people smiling along the route to the parking lot, and yet I was told I wasn't allowed to pick the berries there. I was told that, because of my age, I would have been merely eating the fruit or running wild and disturb the other paying adults.

Well, my mom convinced her to give me a chance and I was never sent packing again.

However, if I were to return to that patch today, I don't know if that would be the case...

But back to what's important right now. An easy dessert featuring nothing else other than fresh local strawberries.

Crispy Crunch

If you thought this post was going to be about a chocolate bar, think again. Because as much as I love sweets, I have to say that I enjoy savoury food more.

Chips are savoury right? :)

But chips aside, I really do love savoury food more than sweets. My body calls out for veggies and fruit if I haven't eaten enough. The smell of baked goods in the oven is mouth watering, but the smell of a roast is equally tempting. And if I had to pick my last meal, while it may involve dessert, the focus would be on the savoury side of things.

Plus, I try to as healthy as I can and still enjoy everything I eat, so it can't hurt that most of the time, savoury foods in equal quantities of sweet food is much healthier.

So I'll let you be the judge. If you had the choice, would you take a second helping of this crispy, crunchy fish dish, or would you opt for a plate of dessert after your first plate?

Vampires Beware - It's Herb and Garlic Steak Time

It's a beautiful weekend and my BBQ has been working hard lately. I've been barbecuing veggies, meat, potatoes, and pretty much everything else imaginable.

(Not peaches for dessert yet, but there's still plenty of summer left so just wait!)

I think that I am a decent barbecuer, but sometimes I am not sure about steaks.

I get a little nervous about cooking them because I don't want to overcook or undercook them and I'm not good enough to judge by the feel just yet.

Also, I hate checking to see that they're done and having to put them back on the grill if I'm wrong, because watching the juices run over my BBQ instead of in my stomach is a horrible feeling.

So when I was watching a tv show on grilling steaks, I stayed glued to the tv to take in every single bit of information I could. And I think I think I aced the test of barbecuing that followed right after.

First I'll start at the beginning of the steak preparation process, marinating the steak, and then in my recipe you'll find my new method on how to figure out how long to cook a steak.

I had never known when to use dry rubs or wet marinades and now that I do, I can share the knowledge with you. Wet marinades will flavour a steak, but they will also help the meat to tenderize. Dry rubs are for more tender steaks, like beef tenderloin, and give a whole lot of flavour.

Since I usually don't buy the pricy cuts, I'm going to use a wet marinade in my recipe today.

A Point of Pizzazz

Do your jazz fingers now because your hands are going to be busy mixing, kneading, chopping, and eating after you read this recipe for homemade pizza.

Pizza has got to be one of the best creations in the world because it has everything I could wish for, all in one perfect warm cheesy bite.

You have a crispy crust dressed with a yummy sauce, tons of veggies, drippy gooey cheese, and little bites of salty meat and olives. For me, that type of pizza is absolute perfection.

And if you want something different, go ahead and add or remove the toppings because the toppings aren't as important as a delicious perfect crust. I mean, in my opinion you need the cheese, but everything else is optional, kind of like how it seems like it's a personal opinion about who invented pizza.

Nobody can track who invented this delectable cuisine. Was it the Egyptians or did pizza originate in Greece or Italy?

What can be agreed on is that pizza was a peasants food because flour and water were inexpensive.

Also everyone agrees that originally the crust of the pizza served as an edible bread plate with the toppings as the meal. This kind of pizza could have looked much different from the kind we eat today though, because the toppings were whatever people had on hand.

Also it is agreed that the word pizza comes from the old Italian word "pizzo" that means "a point".

And just hearing about the word point makes me want to take the first little pointed bite of the yummy pie.

So let's not waste anymore time and get down to the dirty business of making the dough for the crust. Here's my favourite recipe.

It Shakes When He Laughs Like a Bowl Full of Jelly

I don't know what I love more, summer or Christmas.

I love summer because it's long, warm, I can have flowers outside, and I can enjoy the weather. Summer is beautiful and the season just makes me happy.

On the other hand, I also love Christmas and that holiday makes me so happy I sing. Not well, but I sing anyway.

Christmas might just be one day and in the cold dead of winter, but the festive spirit really brightens up the worst of those months in Canada. There's food, music, movies, stories, family time, traditions, and decorations.

I decorate more than the average person. To put it in perspective, let's put it this way - I live in a small apartment and have two huge overflowing storage boxes of Christmas decorations. Plus you've already seen the fact that I have an Easter tree. I think that says enough.

Alright. I've looked at what I've written and saw that my words about Christmas made me smile more than my words about summer. I think I might just like Christmas the most.

So because of my love for Christmas, I have incorporated the holiday into my book.

I've already told you that my book is about a chef and inn owner, but I haven't told you the name of the inn.

It's called the Nutcracker Inn and then to show off my, the main character's love for the holiday even further I decided to name each of the twelve guest rooms after the twelve days of Christmas.

I don't want to give too much more away just yet, but I promise more about my book will come.

So now onto a new recipe my mom encouraged me to try. She found it in the June 2011 Chatelaine magazine and I have to agree that it was great. You'll see I've changed the recipe a bit to include different fruit, but mostly I thought it was so good that I could leave it be.

Summer Rolls into Town!

Today is definitely one of my favourite days of the year. And if you don't know what day it is, look outside and then check your clock.

Did you do a double take? I might have if I hadn't known it was the first day of summer and the longest day of the year today. 

The weather outside in Victoria BC is so perfect, it just makes everything even better. The sun is shining, it's warm and lovely, and there are tons of flowers blooming. 

And since I took my allergy pills this morning, I can honestly say I am happy about the flowers too!

So in honour of summer rolling into town, I decided to whip up a new fresh take on summer rolls. But before I show you the recipe I have to let you in on how this recipe came to be. 

I entered a few original recipes in the Real Women of Philadelphia and while I wasn't chosen as one of the top 16 finalists, I did really enjoy the competition. I met some lovely women and still enjoy going on the website to see what people are talking about and to join in on just-for-fun competitions. 

One of the women thought it might be fun to try a Chopped style competition and I love that show, so I jumped on board with both feet. 

If you are not familiar with Chopped, it's a television show on the Food Network and chefs receive baskets containing about five unknown ingredients and they have to cook meals with them. The first round is the appetizer round, then then last least impressive chef gets 'chopped'. The second round is the entree round, another basket of unknown ingredients is given out, and again the least impressive chef gets 'chopped'. Finally it's the dessert round and we go through it again to see who wins after the last round of unknown ingredient competition.

Well this was the appetizer round and the ingredients were chicken, mustard, spinach, quinoa, rhubarb, and of course Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Here's what I came up with.