from the kitchen: late night baking

i suffer from late-night-baking syndrome.

which means to say that i bake quite regularly, very late at night (10pm and later, PST), long after my loves have surrendered to sleep.

i adore my little brood, you know i do. you might also know how much i love to involve my babes in the kitchen.

[inhale] but i have to admit, there are times when all i really want to do is fiddle about in the kitchen at my own pace. to do things out of order. to not have to worry about whether some spill, burn, or other imminent danger (which, by the way, includes petty theft of potty training treats) is about to happen to one or both of my toddlers . to know that the extent of the multi-tasking i have to do is listen to an audio book (currently listening to game of thrones, as an antidote to the end-of-season withdrawal). to be able to clean as i go. [exhale]

and i do enjoy the quiet hum of our little apartment this late in the evening. it's the only time of day when i can choose to hear myself think and catch up on pop culture, sometimes at the same time.

so i knit. i clean. i blog. i bake.

(sometimes, i work. but we're not going to talk about that.)

probably in that order... thought not necessarily all in the same night.

and in the morning, if it's baking i've chosen to do before my 2am bedtime, my little family wakes up to freshly baked goods. in the words of the barefoot contessa, "how bad can that be?" (well... there are the effects of sleep deprivation, but that's not what this entry is about.)

last night, i made quinoa banana bread muffins and a nutritious marble cake. both recipes were from la tartine gourmande, and were chock-full of gluten-free alternatives. the results were so delicious, i couldn't believe what i made without wheat flour.

in the lovely light muffins, the quinoa flakes add such a nubbly crunch. and while the marble cake was dense, the flavours were clean and full of flavour.

the kids agree. they liked the muffins a lot.

but the cake was the winner. 

so much so, i found a mauled marble cake carcass right next to the learning tower and the boy's crumb-chunked face.

i wish i had taken a picture before going ballistic on him. i didn't. and i couldn't stay mad for long. it was pretty funny... and the mark of a successful, healthy, and toddler-friendly recipe after all.

recipe share: jaffrey cauliflower soup

i thought about making the roasted cauliflower soup featured in sprouted kitchen. but when i set about making the recipe, i thought about the fact that my kids needed protein. then, inspiration struck when i decided to base my soup creation on maddhur jaffrey's cauliflower stir fry from a taste of india, a long-time favourite of mine and the wife's. the recipe uses urad dahl, a type of lentil that lends a distinctive nutty flavour to the dish, and happily, the protein that will help to feed my babies' growth spurts.

the ingredient list is short. the soup, as pureed or textured as you like, is filling and satisfying. the babes, they ate it all up because it really was delicious.

ingredients

2 heads cauliflower, large chunks

2 tablespoons grape seed oil or other neutral tasting oil 

3 tablespoons urad dahl

1 onion, sliced

1 serrano chili (optional)

vegetable or chicken stock (to cover the veggies)

1 can of coconut milk

1 lemon

choice of nuts: any combination of almond flakes, chopped pistachios, or chopped cashews would be delicious (optional)

fresh coriander, finely or roughly chopped, as you wish (optional*


*when i first made this dish, i sauteed the fresh coriander with the onions. but this was mostly to distract my toddler from noticing the green stuff. garnishing with fresh coriander would lend a better flavour - and make a more beautiful presentation.

directions:

preheat the oven to 425 C

roast cauliflower for 20-30 minutes until burnished and scorched 

to your liking. 

heat oil in a saucepan. 

when the oil is hot, add the urad dahl.

add the onions and serrano pepper (if using. the kids are sensitive to spicy foods at the moment so i did not use it at all. but the flavour of green chilli pepper - with minimal heat - would really add a nice depth of flavour). sautee until the onions are translucent.

toast the dahl until golden - or further if you like a nuttier flavour.

when the cauliflower is ready, add the cauliflower to the soup base. mix and cook together for a few minutes. 

cover with stock.

simmer for at least 15 minutes.

add coconut milk.

remove the serrano chilli (if using or leave it in you want a fiery soup)and puree to desired consistency. (i use a handblender but a food processor or blender would work just as well but you would want to add the soup back to the pan. if you want a chunky soup, only process half of the batch.) you may also want to add a bit of water if the soup is thicker than you'd like.

add the juice of one lemon (or to taste. i hold back a little for the kids but add more to my own bowl later). 


season to taste.

garnish with choice of nuts and fresh coriander (in the photo below, i pureed some fresh spinach to boost the iron in the dish).

eat up.