Homemade all-purpose Mexican seasoning

I spent a while last year experimenting with chili, and finally came up with a mix that seemed to work as a general multipurpose Mexican seasoning. I add it to chilis, tacos, hot bean dip. etc, etc, etc. I doubt it's particularly authentic, but it does the trick.
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All-purpose Mexican Seasoning
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8 tbsp chili powder
4 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
2 tbsp black pepper
4 tsp dark brown sugar (I used molasses sugar, but demerara is also good)
4 tsp cocoa
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder (I couldn't find this so bought freeze dried onion pieces from a Chinese supermarket and crushed them)
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp smoked paprika (change ratio of smoked to normal paprika to your desired smokiness level)
1 tsp cinnamon

Pinterest Success #1: Rosemary Parmesan Crackers & Texas Trash Dip

In common with many others, I spend more time pinning things to Pinterest and less time actually making things, but I finally tried out some new recipes. Some worked, some didn't. These are the ones that worked.

First up are the Rosemary Parmesan Crackers (see here for the recipe). These were tasty indeed, and I will definitely make these again (though in greater numbers). For once, something I made actually resembled the picture on the website.

(LEFT: picture from Alexandra's Kitchen blog, RIGHT: fuzzy photo demonstrating my efforts minus the garnish)

Secondly was the Texas Trash dip. It's basically all refried beans and large amounts of cheese - what could go wrong? No pictures of my efforts this time, but I'm highly endorsing this and will do this again.

(Picture & recipe from Life as a Lofthouse blog)

The only changes I made were to halve the amounts, replace the sour cream with creme fraiche, replace Monterey Jack with Edam, and the taco seasoning with a tbsp of my homemade chili mix.

 
I am making a general pre-new year resolution to actually DO rather than PIN. Or, at least, get the ratios of doing to pinning to a more appropriate level.

Of apples and fire monsters

Having lived in metropolitan areas for most of my life, York's embarrassment of apples has come as something of a shock to me. It seems like almost everyone here has an orchard in their back garden. So, having volunteered harvesting fruit with Edible York's Abundance project for over a year now, I've finally got around to thinking about cider.

After an abortive attempt at using a mini home press loaned to me by the project, I was about to give up with only a litre of juice and a busted shoulder to show for it. Fortunately, Saturday was Apple Day at St Nicholas Fields, and I cheekily took my fruit along on the off-chance I could get it pressed by them. It was a lovely day - I stuffed myself silly on a variety of apple desserts, and failed miserably at the longest apple peel competition. To top it off, it just shows that if you don't ask, you don't get, and now I have a gallon of juice waiting to ferment, as well as some left over for normal un-alcoholic drinking purposes.

It wasn't perhaps so cheeky, as I did spend much of the day over a hot brazier making caramelised apples for the general public from Abundance apples. Whilst doing so, I totally fell in love with Bernie, the "Fire Monster" upon which I was cooking. He was made by this chap here who does sell them to the public, but sadly has no web page as yet. Since then I've been hinting heavily that a Bernie of my very own would be a highly appropriate Christmas present.

Sloe-lazy

The best way to get fully matured sloe gin, apparently, is to forget to put enough sugar in it, then not drink it because it's grim, fully intending to get around to sweetening it up, but inevitably never getting around to it.

This is why I have a small bottle that I made last year, which lies undrunk on my shelf. Well, NO LONGER! Today I have actually gone and got off my arse and sorted it. The sugar should all be dissolved by the time we (*fingers crossed*) move into a new and exciting house, and shall therefore get polished off in one sitting come the beginning of November.

So now, what to do with those gin-soaked sloes? Never one to miss an alcoholic opportunity, I'm going to try this recipe for sloe sherry. I don't even like sherry, but I can't not try!

The last move?

I'm hoping so. At least for a few years now. I've made yet another drastic life-changing move, this time back home from Newfoundland to start a new job in York. For the first time in my life I have a job that won't end in 12 months' time. This is exciting stuff people!

York is ancient, beautiful and, as I discovered yesterday, home to an amazing Italian deli where I had a most excellent lunch and came home loaded with cheese and cured meats. I would heartily recommend it to any visitors to ye olde city.

Since moving back I have got into baking in a big way. I have had nothing but triumphs with this invaluable book, and given that my other half is still in Canada, I have the patience to spend two days making one loaf of bread. Worth the wait.

My Italian Bread

I have also equipped myself with rennet, mesophilic starter, a mould, and a book on Home Cheesing Making. My plan today is to make some cultures, then this afternoon maybe try out some cheddar.

Despite my new focus on domesticity, my other crafty habits aren't suffering, and I'm planning on learning to spin soon. I had a go at York Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers' open day last weekend, and had a grand old time. Will this yarn obsession ever end? I doubt it.

Squeaky cheese

I am a huge dairy fiend and recently got to eat proper cheddar cheese curds. They are amazingly tasty so I set about trying to find out how to make them. Turns out it's a bit tricky without complicated ingredients, but on my travels I found this recipe for Queso Blanco.

It looked ridiculously easy so I've given it a go. I changed the quantities of the recipe though, to suit those who don't eat a crazy amount of cheese:

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QUESO BLANCO

1 litre whole milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice
salt

I first heated the milk on a medium heat in a saucepan until it reached 185 degrees Fahrenheit (just before boiling).


Then added the lime juice to separate the curds and whey. This simmered for 2 minutes at the same medium temperature.


The cheese was then decanted into a cheesecloth-lined colander to drain the whey, and sprinkled with salt.

At this point you can add anything you like. I was going to add roasted red peppers, but I couldn't get the jar open, so I opted for just a sprinkle of black pepper.



The linen is then tied over the tap to drain for another four hours (or overnight).


I can't wait to try this later. I'm also keeping the drained off whey for making ricotta tomorrow :)

Adventures in Baking

Since my last disasters in cooking, I've been a little reluctant to step out of familiar territory. Recently, however, I've been getting up the nerve to try again. The price of food here has meant that I've been quite keen to do some home-cooked versions of the staples.

We started out with the Darwin fishcake, but have since moved onto muffins and cookies aplenty. These have mostly worked, with a few exceptions, mostly due to our odd oven. Because the element is at the bottom, everything burns underneath. I've been advised to put in an extra baking tray underneath to disperse the heat, but things are still going black :(

What I was particularly keen to try, though, was bread baking. I tried my first loaf on Saturday but things went a little wrong. We were having a housewarming party and we took on a little too much with the preparation. As a result the bread was still rising when the first guests arrived. Quite a few cocktails intervened and I forgot to bake it, and didn't return to it until lunchtime the next day. I thought I'd still give it a go, but we ended up with a rather flat loaf that absolutely reeked of white wine (not what I wanted with my hangover)! We reluctantly binned it and I worked out the many and varied reasons why the loaf had done this. Accidentally leaving it to rise on the oven heat outlet was probably not my best idea. Anyway, my second attempt yesterday seemed to actually work. It was a wholemeal oaty bread, and it didn't fully rise, but was still pretty tasty (if a bit dense). I have plans to do it better next time.

We also found some Hobnobs in Auntie Crae's for the alarming price of $4.13 and so I searched out a recipe. They're still cooling downstairs but I've already taste-tested them. They just need a thin covering of chocolate and they'll be complete. So much for my diet...



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Happy Birthday Charles #2

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UPDATE!
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Here is the finished item. Hope it tastes ok - there was an issue with the baking powder...

Happy Birthday Charles

Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. I was rather surprised to hear last night that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were exactly the same age. In my mind Lincoln was very much of an older period in history than Darwin, but it seems it's not true at all, just a construct of my own mind. Liam decided last night that this was because Darwin is seen as the beginning of a modern age so I was simply associating him with being 'younger', whilst Lincoln is all big hats and civil war. I wonder why his birthday isn't being made a deal of?

In the spirit of evolution, this is me as an australopithecene. You can devolve yourself on this Open University web site, which is quite fun, except that it was male only and I ended up with a large beard in most of the iterations. Hey ho! No change there then...

That aside, in celebration, Liam and I decided to do some baking. We used Delia's recipe for all-in-one-sponge cake and got busy with the icing. It took two goes at making the icing as we were relying on internet recipes. The first batch was a disturbing lumpy mess that kept separating. The second was more successful and we managed to use a ziploc bag as a pipe. It's quite fun, if a bit messy when the bag explodes at the top and you get icing all over your nice lambswool cardigan.

So here are some photos (apologies for the quality - they're from a phone):

This is our amazing giant 60s cooker. I love it!

The outline in baking parchment:

After the icing sugar has been sifted over the outline, and the piping begins!

More piping:

Liam attacks the edge:

You'll have to wait for the final photo as Liam is withholding it from me, for reasons unknown.

More soon!

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Cooking in Canada

I am not a bad cook. In fact I'd go so far as to say I'm a pretty good cook. However, for some reason, ever since I got to Canada it all seems to have gone a bit wrong. As I wanted to expand my repertoire I brought a cookery book with me, eager to try some new recipes, and to save money Liam and I have been planning our meals very carefully. What we forgot to take account of was that many of the ingredients just aren't available here, and this has led to some unsatisfying conclusions about both cooking and shopping:


1. You cannot buy Halloumi, but you can get about 25 different types of Feta.

2. Havarti is not an adequate substitute for Halloumi, and will melt and burn all over your pans.

3. Strong cheddar is basically tasteless plastic, unless you pay extortionate sums in a specialist 'shoppe'.

4. Guessing the Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion is not a sensible thing to do, and proper calculations should be done (see nos.4 and 5)

4. Macaroni cheese (or Marconi cheese as we now like to call it) does not like to be cooked for too long in a too cool oven, or it turns into an inedible solid

5. Spanish omelette shouldn't be cooked in a pan that's too hot or it burns very quickly indeed, setting off smoke alarms and annoying the neighbours

6. You can't really buy decent cordial/squash here. Our first buy was "tropical punch" that basically tasted overwhelmingly of almonds, making me constantly suspicious that Liam was attempting to poison me

7. Cider vinegar is not a good substitute for actual alcoholic cider in cooking, and will burn your eyes in the process

8. 'Broiling' is actually grilling, despite what it sounds like, but the 'Broil' setting on our cooker doesn't actually work, rendering this discovery rather pointless


I'm sure I've left some off, and will no doubt return to the theme in a later post. I rather suspect that this won't be the end of my culinary disasters...


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Ice Magic

I have seen lots of 80s nostalgia online, but none has struck a chord with me quite so much as fond memories of Ice Magic. That conical squeezy container, the lid that looked like a frozen mountain cap, and the nastily fake chocolate flavour that hardened so beautifully on ice cream. My favourite was most definitely the mint flavour.

Well, I've not seen it for years so I assumed they stopped making it (probably due to the high numbers of additives which are now illegal... I assume) but I got a link today leading me to a recipe by Naomi Poe to make your own. I guess I know what I'll be trying out this weekend. Yum :op