I visit my favourite cheese troll and his shop on a regular basis. While I have some favourites* that I always turn to, Sean always seems to have something new for me to try and unfortunately I have rarely met a cheese that I don’t like! This usually means that I end up buying way more than I intended and I am often left with various little nubs of cheese in my refrigerator. A lot of those little pieces were thrown out. This seemed like such a waste that I went on a search to figure out what I could do with them. Of course, the French have a solution; Fromage Fort, literally “strong cheese.”
I am the proud owner and loyal user of a cast iron Dutch-oven (okay, the owner of three) and it is my go-to for many things included slow oven braises. The only thing with the Dutch-ovens is that they do require a little bit of attention and they cook things must faster than a slow-cooker, so they don’t work for the “turn it on and forget it” cooking that is sometimes needed. So, I did a little research and realized that I could convert most of my favourite Dutch-oven recipes into slow-cooker recipes.
It is that time of the year when I am deciding what Christmas Cookies I will be baking this year. I always try two or three new ones from all those cooking magazines that I subscribe to. However, there are two that always make my list, my Grandma’s Shortbread and Ginger Snap cookies. As soon as the first batches of these are in the oven I start to feel the Christmas spirit!!
Almost every time I make this dish, people ask me for the recipe. This recipe pleases everyone. The cheese sauce is made with onion, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns to give it great flavour. However, all of that is strained out so no green bits that kids (and I am not just talking about the little ones) might not like.
I love homemade marshmallows! Guests are always “wowed” by them, (although once they see how easy they are they may not be as impressed) and you can easily customize them with booze, fruit, nuts and chocolate.
Deep-Fried Jello, Crispy Chicken Feet on a Stick and Canadian Bacon Pickle Balls all sound interesting, but nothing really lives up to those mini doughnuts…warm from the fryer and sprinkled in cinnamon sugar. But Stampede is still more than six weeks away and I am not inclined to deep-fry this afternoon, so luckily I have a recipe for doughnut muffins that does a very good impression of this Stampede favourite.
Pork shoulder is an excellent way to feed a crowd as it is both tasty and economical. It is a tougher meat that is highly marbled (there is lots of fat running through the meat) which also makes it great for long-slow roasting.
There is nothing better than waking-up on a weekend morning and enjoying a fresh out-of-the-oven cinnamon bun. However, I also like sleeping in on the weekend so I don’t want to wake-up before the crack of dawn to start making them.
