Burgers, Bicycles and Baking....

This week has brought many opportunity to eat the most lovely foods. Me being an opportunist, I took most of them and ate a lot of those lovely goodies. I have been trying to psych myself up for the coming weeks when I, unlike all those who fasted or abstained from favorites during Lent, will start abstaining from certain foods just before everyone else breaks their Passover fasting rituals.  I plan to re-start the 17 day diet from the first cycle. I have been doing well to keep the weight that I have lost off, and I have been bobbing up and down in weight around my 30 Lb loss. I would like to see if I can lose that much more going through the diet again. I also want to get back to it to re-teach myself some of the techniques and habits that I have found myself slipping away from. Staying away from refined sugar being one of those habits I need to re-learn desperately.

Since I have made the decision to re-do the diet, I have been slowly saying goodbye to my favorite foods, partially through systematic binge-eating, but mostly through savoring favorite meals and snacks or enjoying eating out. Out of these, there are three things I have chosen to tell you all about.

Burgers! I have had the pleasure of eating at Cheese Curds Gourmet Burger and Poutinerie in Dartmouth. Located pretty much at the end of the Circumferential Highway in the Woodside area, it is easy for anyone in the HRM to get to. The hard part may be getting in through the door. Since it has opened, Cheese Curds has been packed with drooling customers. We arrived just after 1 pm on a Saturday. It seemed busy but we decided we had time to wait. There were about 6 people in front of us waiting to order and we managed to get in, close the door behind us and squeeze through to the back of the line snaking through the restaurant leading to the order counter. Even with only one dedicated cashier taking orders and payments we only waited in line for 5 minutes before it was our turn to order. By the time we ordered there was a line of 15 or more people waiting in line behind us and they were out the door. After you order and pay, you move down the line (where you can watch the Line Cooks and other staff prepare your meal) to the pickup counter. You can choose from a wide range of decadent or simple toppings and sauces, making your burger as fancy or as plain as you want it. You may also have ordered one of the pre-designed burgers that comes with certain toppings but you can still add your own personal touches. After ordering, it took about 10 minutes to get our food. With such a small eating area and seating at a premium, we got our lunch to go and ate in the comfort of our car. It was well worth the wait to get the food, and by eating in our car we got to enjoy the sunny day (if it had been a few degrees warmer we would have opted for an outside eating arrangement). 

I had a BBQ Triple Bacon Burger and Original Poutine. It was delish. Three forms of bacon- pea-meal bacon, smoked bacon strips, and fried bacon and onion pieces. Topped with a sweet and tangy house made barbecue sauce. I added pickled red onions. The burger was juicy. The toppings were fresh. And it was assembled before my eyes by pleasant staff that were clearly enjoying their work atmosphere. The Poutine was classic. Salty slightly smoky gravy, cheese curds, and fresh cut french fries. I would go back. In fact, I want to go back already. I would love to try the sweet potato curry poutine and some other burger options (for instance, they offer a seafood burger, chicken burger, pork schnitzel burger, and a veggie burger). It is well worth the wait.

The Bicycle Thief! On Thursday temperatures soared to 27 degrees in Halifax. It was toasty warm and everyone was out and about showing off their leg skin, arm skin, and all kinds of other skin as they walked around the waterfront. I was one of them. With a lovely friend I strolled along the boardwalk soaking up the sun and visiting another friend that works downtown. When the hunger pains struck we debated briefly where to go and settled on The Bicycle Thief at Bishop's Landing. It was a place I had been wanting to try for ages. Easy to find, the Thief is nestled in the back unit looking out over the Halifax Harbor right next to the playful fountain that children often splash in on the hot summer days. It is also across the parking lot from the Hamachi Steakhouse and Ristorante A Mano.  The feeling of the decor is elegant but comfortable and the staff are welcoming and unpretentious. The Lunch menu has both Italian and North American Classics, all with a twist unique to the Thief.

I had the calamari appetizer. Flash fried rings in a light crispy batter, tossed with fresh herbs and garlic, sundried tomato aioli for dipping.  The calamari were cooked to perfection and not a single ring was chewy or over done. I would have liked a lemon wedge with the calamari to squeeze onto the rings and help cut the richness of the aioli. Next I had the Lunch Trio. Pumpkin and Butternut Squash soup, a crispy panini with Montasio ham and Mortadella cheese and a Rucola salad with an Orange Vinaigrette.  The soup was creamy but not too heavy, with just a hint of aromatic spices. It was perfect for dipping the panini, which was also delightful on its own, a gourmet ingredients grilled ham and cheese sandwich. The salad was refreshing, zesty, spicy and a little bit sweet all at the same time. It did well to balance the heartier flavors of the soup and sandwich. My friend had pan seared haddock topped with a tangy fresh mixture of tomatoes, yellow pepper, cilantro and lemon and served with sea-salted fries and a tiny individual bottle of Heinz ketchup. It was also delightful and fresh, although possibly a little heavy on the lemon juice. For dessert there were a lot of amazing sounding dishes and it was hard to make a choice. We knew we wanted to try some of the house made gelato and sorbetti but instead of opting for simple scoops I ordered the Cassata. A frozen layer cake of creamy caramel gelato, tart raspberry sorbetti, and decadent chocolate gelato separated by lady finger crumbles or fudgey chocolate ganache. Delicious. My friend went for a classic creme brulee and was not disappointed. In fact, the menu says that the Madagascar vanilla in the custard is the shining star of this dessert. It is a very good vanilla custard but I think what differentiates it from all of the other creme brulees out there is it's sheer gargantuan size. We easily could have shared this dessert and both been satisfied, although given the chance I wouldn't share mine either. It was definitely worth the $10 price tag. Everything was well priced and well worth every penny we paid for the excellent food and service we received. I definitely encourage anyone who is curious about the Bicycle Thief to go and check it out. In fact, I already have a plan to go back this week!

Baking!  Last but not least! I love to bake and will be sad to steer clear of it at least for the first two cycles of the new diet regimen. This week I went to visit an old friend from university and wanted to bring a treat in thanks for them opening their home to me and feeding me a delicious supper! This recipe is one that I use often because they are easy to throw together and are a definite crowd pleaser.

Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 4 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup chunky-style applesauce (or ¼ cup prepared smooth apple sauce and ¼ cup fresh apple, peeled and shredded)
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt (omit or reduce to 1/8 tsp salt if using salted butter)
• 1 cup golden raisins (optional)

Icing:

• 1/2 cup confectioners'/ icing sugar
• 2 Tbs pure maple syrup
• 1Tbs water (approximate)

Directions

1. Make cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined. Add egg and applesauce, mix until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Mix in raisins.
   
   
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or rounded teaspoons, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing cookie balls 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden and just set, 12 minutes on a dark colored sheet pan or 14 minutes on a light sheet pan. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper or an empty baking sheet; let cool completely before icing.
   
   
3. Make icing: Whisk confectioners' sugar, syrup, and water until smooth. If you find the consistency too thick, add a few more drops of water. If you find it too thin, add more icing sugar. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

Notes

1. Substituting some of the prepared apple sauce for fresh apples adds a lovely texture and moistness to these cookies. 

2. For ease of icing the cookies, pour the icing into a zip lock bag and cut a hole in one corner to make a convenient and controlled drizzling spout.  I recommend using a sturdy freezer or storage bag for this task. Sandwich bags and small baggies are conveniently sized but made of flimsy material that strong squeezes can easily break, creating huge messes.

Enjoy!

Something Deliciously Meatless

I wanted to make something non-chocolatey and fasting/vegan friendly for Rob's birthday party. I find this not only a challenge but a pleasure, because I love trying new recipes and adapting favorite flavors into something that everyone can enjoy.  I also wanted a simple recipe, and I did some research and looked at a bunch of different vegan and non vegan recipes for peanut butter cookies. This is what I came up with...

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (or a mix of two different butters if you'd like, almond butter works lovely as well)
• 2 Tbs maple syrup
• 2 Tbs applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 4 Tbs whole-wheat pastry flour (all purpose and white flour work as well)

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, maple syrup, apple sauce and vanilla.

2. Add sugar, baking soda, flour, (if using no salt added nut butter, add a dash of salt here as well) and mix well. dough will be quite soft.

3. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.  Remove from fridge and roll into equal sized balls. A rounded teaspoon or a tablespoon measure, melon baller or tiny ice cream scoop can be very useful for this part.

4. Return cookies to the fridge to chill. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

5. When oven is heated, flatten cookies just slightly with the tines of a fork before putting them in the oven. Bake cookies for 8 minutes. They will spread out and may look a little underdone in the middles when you take them out, but don't worry, they will be perfect!

6. Let cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing the cookies to a cooling rack. Letting them rest will allow them to firm up just enough so that they don't fall apart when you try moving them.

Notes: At Step 3 when you are rolling the cookies into balls you have an amazing opportunity to add creative deliciousness. Try rolling the balls in a sugar crystal coating before placing them on the baking sheet. Toasted coconut is also a tasty option. Chopped nuts or sesame seeds would also be interesting to try.

If you like a stiffer cookie you can substitute brown sugar for the maple syrup OR add more flour in small bits at a time until you get the consistency you prefer.

For crispy cookies, do not refrigerate, bake the cookies right away. They will spread quite a bit and you may want to cook them another minute or two.

I am excited to try banana instead of apple sauce in this recipe. Also, a drizzle of melted vegan/ nondairy chocolate would fancy these up (or regular chocolate for those that want).

These are not a "health" food. Still, there are worse things out there that you could be eating. I used this Recipe Calculator to determine that if you stretch this recipe to make 24 cookies, each cookie has about 100 calories and 5 grams of fat. I am not sure entirely how accurate that is, but I thought I would let you all know. If craving peanut butter cookies and/or looking to be a little less carnivorous these are a tasty and not super guilt-inducing treat in moderation.

Enjoy!