In our efforts to trim down and shape up before a spring vacation in Mexico, D and I have virtually given up bread (except when it is as stellar as the hot/crispy loaf that we had at The Keg last night). I have been on the look out for a low fat, low sugar bran muffin which I think that I have just about perfected. Then recently D inquired about whether I had ever come across a healthy cornmeal muffin. I love a challenge and found another great recipe.

In muffin recipes I completely cut out sugar by using a sugar substitute. Even though I don’t particularly enjoy a white sugar substitute, I am very inclined towards Sugar Twin’s Brown Sugar one. Both recipes call for a scant amount of sweetness anyway.

Kath’s quote: “Give me liberty or a bran muffin!”- Colin Mochrie

Love never fails.

Two sleeps and we will be off on our winter vacation and so I am trying to use up groceries in the house AND bake up some healthy snacks for the car ride to Minneapolis where we will catch our flights.  I had a bag of frozen peach slices in the freezer and this whipped together in no time.  I poured the half thawed peach slices right into the batter without chopping them first and I was pleased with the hearty look of the finished product as well as the delicious taste of a meaty peach.

Kath’s quote: “An apple is an excellent thing — until you have tried a peach.”-George du Maurier

Love-that is all.

Truth is, I didn’t know precisely where Georgia was until I got out our big atlas that resides in our living room and is pulled out frequently for my enlightenment.  You might say that I am geographically challenged. Good friends of ours invited us over for a taste of Georgian cooking as she had spent time in that country and picked up some culinary favourites.

Her husband helped me get up to speed with an excerpt from his 2006 blog post:

A Georgian Table

Recently, I had the opportunity to work alongside a lovely woman by the name of Linda Whitworth who is on a multi-city tour promoting the health benefits of cooking with barley.  The grain which is commonly (and lovingly, in our house) associated with beer making has been recognized with the health claim that barley fibre can positively contribute to your wellness by reducing your cholesterol level.   I look at this as a bonus because cooking with barley, simply tastes good!

There are many ingredients that I might not ever cook with, were it not for my work as a food stylist.  Barley is a good case in point. I keep barley in our pantry for a single family recipe Hamburger Soup.  But now that I know the difference between pearl and pot barley (the former is “polished” longer than the latter), and have had the pleasure of baking with barley flour, barley and barley flour will always have a place on my shelf.

First up were Yoghurt Barley Fruit Scones.  I made mine with raisins but I would love to try them with blueberries next time.  I tucked one away for D to try with his supper.  He asked me to please, please make these all the time.

I had to make another substitution as I could not find rhubarb around at this time of year so I made the Rhubarb Pecan Muffins with tart cranberries instead.  The topping on these muffins was amazing (and another cholesterol reducer too with the inclusion of quick oats).  I plan to mix up a bag of this crumble topping to keep on hand in the freezer to put onto a variety of muffins.  I am making banana muffins this afternoon.  I often call my muffins “cupcakes” and serve them for dessert.

The recipe that Linda made on set was this gorgeous Black Bean and Barley Salad.  It was so simple, so healthy and so delicious-win, win, win!

But my favourite of the day was the Barley Jambalaya.  It was so good, that I literally can’t stop thinking about it and just talked myself into making it for mandatory Sunday supper this weekend.

The recipe links here are from the newly launched website that Linda was in town to promote: http://gobarley.com/.  Be sure to bookmark it as it is chock full of amazing recipes.

Kath’s quote:

Keep open house, let fidlers play.
A fig for cold, sing care away;
And may they who thereat repine,
On brown bread and on small beer dine.”
from the 1766 ‘Virginia Almanack’

Love-that is all.

I seem to continually draw attention to the fact that I am getting old.  This is not because I am ill or feeling old, but because there comes a time in your life when you think that you have perhaps learned everything that you are capable of learning.  Well, in my case I continually amaze(even) myself that, even though you might think that I have reached that stage, the opposite is true.  I bet I learn something new every waking hour of my day.

I have never baked a pumpkin.  In fact, I have never tasted pumpkin served as a vegetable until this summer.  This is in spite of the fact that Precious Ramotswe, my all time favourite character in the Botswana series written by Alexander McCall Smith, eats baked pumpkin just about every evening.  Well tonight I am baking a pumpkin and as I Googled pumpkin recipes, my own blog posts came up (life is strange).  Anyway, my extended family is eagerly waiting the time that the Frenchman will post his glazed pumpkin cookie recipe that he contributed to last weekend’s Thanksgiving dinner, but in the mean time, I thought that I might be able to stave them off with his Pumpkin Scone recipe that he has already shared with me.

Love -that is all.