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This loaf, despite being completely vegetarian, has all the familiar comforting taste of a genuine meatloaf, especially when you add the slightly sweet, rich, ketchupy glaze part way through the cooking. And, unlike a regular meatloaf, this one has NINE GRAMS of fiber per slice. NINE. So if your New Year's Resolutions involve eating healthier, this recipe is for you. (Even if you don't have New Year's Resolutions that involve food, sometimes it's a good idea to take a break from meat once in a while. It's cheaper, for one thing, and it's better for you and the environment.)

Part of the secret to how good, and how like a traditional meatloaf this one tastes is because of two secret ingredients. That's right, not one, but two secret ingredients.

( Find out what they are...Collapse )


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Or, what to do with leftover chili!


Hand pies are great because they are tiny pies. Everything is better if it is in miniature and/or in pie-form. The hand pie is superior to the regular pie in that the pie crust-to-filling ratio is greater than the traditional pot-pie, for example. This is also a great way to take chili on a picnic or to work/school for lunch, if your life is dull like mine and you don't go on picnics. It is a no mess, no cutlery way to both transport and eat delicious chili, or for that matter, any other stew-like filling.

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This is Mike's chili recipe. It is the world's best chili and I won't have anyone telling me otherwise. This is the only chili I'll eat and it's not just because Mike is my boyfriend, either. I'm a actually kind of reluctant to share his secret recipe, but it's for the greater good.


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I like to eat mine with sour cream and grated cheese, but it is good enough all on its own! Or, if you have leftovers, you could make Chili Hand Pies, which are AMAZING in their own right!


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A long time ago I made some burgers and I complained mightily about having to make them inside because there was snow everywhere and I couldn't get to my barbecue. Now it's summer.


It's been summer for quite some time now, actually, and we've been using the grill a lot. We've grilled the standard burgers, but we've also branched out and tried pizzas on the grill, both rather successfully if I do say so myself. So burgers. You can pretty much do burgers with anything ground - beans, beef, turkey, chicken - as long as you bind it and flavour it well.

These are beef burgers, but they have a special twist - caramelized onions. The onions are mixed into the burgers themselves, not just plopped on top like an afterthought. And the onions are not just boring old normal caramelized - they are caramelized in bacon fat. Mmmmm...

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The secret to delicious, perfectly cooked whole chicken is also a really fun word to say: Spatchcock. It either sounds like a sneeze or a foreign swear word. Or both. You do have to get a little down and dirty with your chicken, but look at the reward:


Look at all that delicious browned crispy chicken skin. Look at those roasted whole garlic cloves and red onions. Spy the roasty-toasty carrots hiding in the sides of the pan. You, too, can enjoy a roast chicken on a weeknight, and in about an hour from start to finish.

The secret is cutting out the backbone of the chicken and flattening it. This makes the chicken cook more quickly and more evenly, so you get a juicier breast without having underdone legs. That sounds like the cover of a glamour magazine. ANYWAYS. After you have spatchcocked your bird, the seasonings and accompanying vegetables are really up to you -- really, anything goes (within reason - I don't want any comments saying you tried it with chocolate sauce and marshmallow fluff and it didn't work and I'm a liar).

But if you want to make what I made, here's what you need:

One whole chicken
2 TBS olive oil
One red onion, cut into wedges
2 carrots, cut into sticks
One head of garlic, peeled but in whole cloves
1 lemon (or more if you like) cut in half
1 TBS honey
1 tsp coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp thyme (optional)

Your instructions and gruesome raw chicken photos are after the jump! But also some lovely roasty after shots - don't despair!

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I had a bit of a problem with this pita bread. The problem wasn't in the kneading or rising or baking -- it was getting it photographed. I even made another batch the very next day and still - the pieces kept disappearing before I could get a decent photo! But really, I should just take that as a sign that this is some mighty fine pita. Once again, The Fresh Loaf comes to the rescue.




( Recipe and More PicturesCollapse )


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