White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

Preheat oven to 400F.

• 4 cups flour.
• 2 tablespoons baking powder.
• 1 cup shortening.
• 3 cups milk.
• 1 cup dried cranberries.
• 1 cup white chocolate chips.

Blend dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening, until mixture is crumbly. Add cranberries and white chocolate. Stir in milk.

Drop onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Makes a dozen large, or two dozen small. Crantabulous!

Northern Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Purchase or raise a pork shoulder or butt roast (1.5-2kg will serve 6 nicely). (The SuperValu at 1st and Commercial has the best deals on pork shoulder and butt roasts).

Gently caress the shoulder with olive oil, some garlic, and some seasoning salt.

Give it a gentle massage and murmur tasty nothings to it.

Build a comfy bed out of tin foil, and wrap it up snug and tight.

Put it in a 350 F oven until the roast reaches an internal temp of 185 F (about 2.5 hours for a 2kg roast - 3.5 hours for a 6kg).

Using forks, pull the pork apart into shreds.

Transfer the pork shreds and about half the juices into a pot. Add approx. 1.5 cups of barbeque sauce, and half a cup of vinegar. Stir and let simmer several hours (a crock pot is good for this).

Put coleslaw on a bun, and top it with the hot pulled pork - add vinegar to taste.

Smoked Salmon Chowder

1 onion, chopped

1-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2-3 large potatoes peeled and chopped into large chunks (large bite-sized)

1/4 pound of butter

1 cup of flour

1 litre of milk

300 - 450 grams smoked salmon (I used the thinly sliced frozen wild sockeye from Superstore. 3/4 of a large package of 454 grams)

salt to taste

pepper, lots

dill, lots

(optional: another veggie like asparagus or broccoli, steam before adding to final stage.)

In a large pot, fry onion, garlic and celery until lightly carmelized. Add 1 litre of water and potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes. While this is boiling...

Melt butter in a medium saucepan and blend in flour with a whisk until it is a paste. Heat for a little bit and then slowly add milk, stirring constantly until thick and creamy. (this is a basic white sauce). Be careful not to burn butter or milk, medium/low heat.

Slowly mix the white sauce into the broth.

Add smoked salmon and seasoning (and optional vegetables) and heat gently until flavours are blended (15-20 minutes), stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning. Serve with dinner rolls and salad. Yum.

Liza's calendar Roasted Squash Soup stolen by Dana

Roasted Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash and 2 small delicata squashes (or any combo of Winter squash)

a touch of oil

2 pears

1 apple

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp honey

3 cups broth

1/4 tsp each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, chili powder (when I made it I used curry powder and a bit of cinnamon cause that's all I had)

whole or ground hazelnuts for topping (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

(portions are flexible. I found 2 pears surprisingly strong, but I guess it depends on which type you buy).

Preheat oven to 350

Cut squashes in half and take out seeds and sinews. Rub a few drops of oil over exposed, cut sides.

Put each face down on a large roasting pan. Remove skin and root end of garlic cloves. Tuck the cloves under the bulbous part of the squash (a great little alcove for roasting garlic). Cut the pears and apple in half and take out stems and seeds. Put face down on same pan.

Bake/roast at 350 for approx. 45 minutes. Keep and eye on it as the fruit will be done first - remove the fruit when it's soft.

Roast until done - when a knife slides easily through the thickest part. Let the squash cool a bit and then scoop out the flesh into a pot with the fruit (skin on) and all of the rest of the ingredients (except the nuts, salt and pepper).

Place on stovetop over medium heat, constantly stirring and mashing.

When boiling, stir quickly for a few more minutes and then take it off the heat. Use a hand blender, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.

Reheat if needed.

Garnish with hazelnuts and add salt and pepper to taste.

Holly's Chocolate Gingerbread

from Nigella Lawson’s Feast with notes by Holly in RED

Makes about 12 slabs. I'd never come across a chocolate gingerbread, and after making this one for the first time, I wondered why not. There's something about the glottally thickening wodge of chocolate chip and cocoa that just intensifies the rich spices of gingerbread. The chocolate chips add texture and nubbly treat within (I use semi-sweet chips, milk chocolate ones melt too much into the cake). This is very rich, very strong: not for children, but perfect for the rest of us.

Ingredients:

For the Cake

175 g (1 cup) Unsalted butter
125 g (1 cup) dark muscovado sugar --use the darkest brown sugar you can find
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g (200 ml) golden syrup
200 g (200ml) black treacle or molasses
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda --baking soda, but I'm sure you already knew that
2 tbsp warm water
2 eggs
250 ml milk --or apple sauce
275 g (2 cups) plain flour
40 g (1/3 cup) cocoa
175 g chocolate chips --I usually just use the whole bag of chocolate chips

For the Icing

250 g (2 cups) icing sugar
30 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 tbsp cocoa
60 ml ginger ale

Directions:

For the Cake

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/170° C and tear off a big piece of baking parchment to line the bottom and sides of a roasting tin of approximately 30 x 20 x 5cm deep.
In a decent-sized saucepan, melt the butter along with the sugars, golden syrup, treacle or molasses, cloves, cinnamon and ground ginger.
In a cup dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water.
Take the saucepan off the heat and beat in the eggs, milk and bicarb in its water.
Stir in the flour and cocoa and beat with a wooden spoon to mix.
Fold in the chocolate chips, pour into the lined tin and bake for about 45 minutes until risen and firm.
It will be slightly damp underneath the set top and that's the way you want it.
Remove to a wire rack and let cool in the tin. Once cool, get on with the icing.

For the Icing

Sieve the icing sugar.
In a heavy-based saucepan heat the butter, cocoa and ginger ale.
Once the butter's melted, whisk in the icing sugar.
Lift the chocolate gingerbread out of the tin and unwrap the paper.
Pour over the icing just to cover the top and cut into fat slabs when set.
This makes a lot of icing, and I use it all! If you're serving this as a dessert, my favourite way to present it is to put the cake on a platter and then pour the icing over the centre of the cake and let it all ooze down over the sides.

D'Arcy's Terracotta Warrior Enchiladas

1. Realize that you don't have time left to make everything from scratch.
2. Panic! Resolve to cut corners!!! Preheat oven to 350F!
3. Buy: 2 large cans of refried beans; 24 small tortillas; a large container of mild salsa; lots of cheese; some green onion; sour cream; cilantro.
4. Make a couple of cups of rice.
5. Fill the tortillas with a dollop of rice and refried beans. Roll tightly and place in a baking pan in Terracotta Warrior formation.
6. 24 tortillas will fill two large baking pans.
7. Pour the salsa over the Teracotta Warriors.
8. Cover the Terracotta Warriors with a healthy amount of cheese.
9. Sprinkle with diced green onion.
10. Bake for a half hour.
11. Excavate your Terracotta Warriors and celebrate your discovery by topping them with sour cream, hot sauce and fresh cilantro.
12. Enjoy! Archaeology is fun!

D'Arcy's Desperation Veggie Chili

1. Panic!
2. Hunt through your cupboards. Pull out all the cans.
3. In a slow cooker or large pot, combine:
- 4 cans of drained, rinsed, assorted beans (black beans, lima, navy, whatever!).
- 2 cans of drained, diced tomatoes.
- 2 cans of drained, rinsed corn.
4. Nervously add a healthy amount of oregano and rosemary, and a bit of salt and pepper to taste.
5. Let simmer for as long as you can before guests arrive.
6. Serve with sour cream and fresh cilantro.

Breathe a sigh of relief.