roasted garlic

have you ever tried roasted garlic? it is simply amazingly delicious! it is very sweet when roasted and doesn't taste like garlic at all.

we love to have roasted garlic with toast and fruit. it makes a delicious snack on a cold wintery evening.

what you'll need for the garlic:

as many bulbs of garlic as you like (i usually eat a whole bulb of garlic with this snack!)
a good dollop of olive oil
sea salt and fresh-cracked pepper

additional ingredients (if desired):

toast/crackers to smear the garlic on
brie cheese
some pieces of fruit (if so desired - we like grapes, cherries, apple, pear, etc.)
some jam (if desired - i will share my cranberry-pear-apple jam below)

peel the majority of the skin from your garlic bulbs but keep the bulb intact as seen below. cut only the very tops off of the garlic.



put the bulbs on a baking pan/sheet and dump a good dollop of olive oil on them. add sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper. pop in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. just enough time to make the jam!



cranberry/pear/apple jam spread

an inch of fresh ginger, crushed
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of cranberries
1 pear, chopped
1 apple chopped
1 teaspoon of freshly ground clove
1 teaspoon of freshly ground cinnamon
one teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of lemon zest

add sugar and water to your pot and bring to a boil to make a syrup. once at a boil add your cranberries, pear and apple. bring back to a boil.



once back to the boil, simmer for 3-4 minutes until 2/3 of the cranberries have popped.

grind up your cloves. add them to the pot.



grind up your cinnamon and add it to the pot.



add the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.

here's the brie...i like brie the best with roasted garlic. heat it at 350 until the centre gets all melty - 3-4 minutes.



here's the jam ready to be eaten!



check out how delicious the garlic looks!



and here's the finished plate. each clove of garlic squirts right out of it's little jacket and then becomes very spreadable.



i like to smear some garlic on each piece of toast, followed by brie, followed by jam. you can eat yours however you like. just be sure to enjoy!

pasta primevera - done the Framboise Manor way!

yummy pasta primevera! i know that this might not be the way that old school Italian's prepare this dish but here at Framboise Manor it is a staple and a good one at that! we love cheesy, creamy pasta and veggies!

here are some of the ingredients that we used this time:



Ingredients:

egg noodles
the usual suspects (fresh-crushed garlic cloves (3-4), a dollop of unpasteurized honey and a splash of apple cider vinegar WITH the mother in it))
fresh veggies of your choice (for this one, we used sliced carrots, chopped cauliflower, chopped broccoli and spinach)
cream - we use the thick 18% kind - yummeh!
a nice-sized dollop of butter
fresh-grated parmesan
sea salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste

1. cook your egg noodles according to the directions on the package. strain and set aside.

2. meanwhile, heat a nice-sized dollop of butter in a pan. toss in your veggies and saute for a few minutes until they start to tenderize. we like ours crunchy! when the veggies have tenderized, add the garlic, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper.

3. stir in as much cream as you want. i like to stir in quite a bit and then let it cook off.

4. add a nice handfull of grated parmesan. keep stirring.

5. when everything is to taste, toss in the noodles for a minute or two.

6. serve with some more grated parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. enjoy!

enjoy!

yummeh - Nachos!

is there anything better than settling down to a movie with your honey and snacking on some nachos?!?!?! i would say NO!

these babies are made from organic nacho chips, homemade chili, homemade salsa, tons of cheese, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped fresh avocado, sour cream and chopped green onion.

we like to toast the nachos in the oven with the cheese and chili on them. once the cheese has melted - top them with your favourite toppings. i normally make guacamole (avocado, a splash of lemon, sour cream, garlic) for our nachos, but this time just used chopped up avocado.

enjoy!

Sushi, done Framboise Manor Style!

sushi. we looooove sushi! and had easy access to it back in the city. but not here, where the nearest town is over an hour away. and there is only one sushi restaurant on the whole island! we went to that restaurant once since being here. it was lovely. and very tame as people here on the island aren't very welcoming of new and exotic types of food. they want their meat and potatoes - and that is fine!

but we have been craving sushi for a while and as we will not waste the gas for a 3hour round-trip simply to get some sushi - we decided to make our own - woohoo! can't be that hard, can it?

we had crab (fresh-caught by our friend), avacado, cucumber, carrot strips, sticky rice and toasted some sesame seeds. all seemed to be going well until we remembered that we didn't have any bamboo rolling mats! no problem - i am the queen of improvisation! we'll use silicone baking mats instead.

woops! not so good. they started out looking really good, and professional, but fell apart when we opened the mat! have a peak at my attempt:




jambaloney almost made a roll out of his:



once we put some dipping sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger on the messes on our plates - it tasted fantastic! and just like sushi! it just looked bad! so until we get some proper sushi mats - we will make sushi salad instead. it contains all of the ingredients as above...but just looks better! and we are enjoying sushi again - finally!



a close-up:



oh and the dipping sauce is divine. plain soya sauce, a dollop of sesame oil, crushed ginger and garlic and wasabi to taste. i set up the dipping sauce in the traditional dippers for the pic...but when we eat the salad, we mix the wasabi into the sauce and then pour the sauce over the salad.

enjoy!

smoked salmon and cream cheese stuffed nasturtium flowers

aren't those flowers beautiful? seeing as that we are heading into winter...i was getting nostalgic about summer and nothing screams summer more than a nasturtium flower!

have you ever eaten a nasturtium flower? they are soooo spicey! and delicious! and if you grow your own, without any chemicals, they are a delicious addition to any salad and look fantastic on any side dish that you make! you can also sun-dry them and then add the dried flowers to soups, stews, whatever - oh they are sooo spicey!

here's one of my favourite ways to eat nasturtiums...i hope that you are sitting down! this might knock you off of your feet!

smoked salmon and cream cheese stuffed nasturtium flowers

Ingredients:

as many nasturtium flowers as you wish to use (when i serve this with a soup or salad, i usually serve 2-3 nasturtium flowers per person)
several clean nasturtium leaves
a few pieces of organic smoked salmon
several dollops of cream cheese
the usual suspects (a splash of apple cider vinegar WITH the Mother in it, 2-3 crushed garlic cloves and a dollop of honey)
1/4 of a lemon, squeezed
sea salt and freshly-cracked pepper to taste



1. set cream cheese out to come to room temperature. once at room temperature, add vinegar, honey, lemon and crushed garlic. add salt and pepper to the mixture.



2. add a small amount of the cream cheese mixture onto a slice of salmon and roll it.



3. stuff the rolled salmon into a nasturtium flower. place them on a nasturtium leaf (also edible).

4. serve the stuffed flowers with salad or soup, or use them as a really fun appetizer at your next get-together or party.



here's a close-up....trust me - these are divine! and impress people. but forget that - they are a gorgeous addition to any one of your meals...and make you feel all fancy and stuff!



you can grow nasturtiums in a pot all winter long - there is no reason not to eat these delicacies throughout the year!

cabbage rolls without the rolls

we love cabbage rolls - like love 'em! but sometimes we aren't in the mood for all of the fussing around that comes with them. and we have now perfected a recipe for having your cabbage rolls without the fuss, nor the rolls. it tastes just as delicious as cabbage rolls. the following recipe is the exact same recipe that i use when making actual cabbage rolls, as well.



cabbage rolls without the rolls

1/4 of a cabbage, shredded
1lb of hamburger
2 cups of basmati (or whatever you have) rice
4 big handfulls of sauerkraut (try making your own - sauerkraut is very easy to make and is so good for you!)
1 can of tomatoe puree (hopefully your own home-canned)
1 can of whole tomatoes (again, hopefully your own home-canned)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
a splash of apple cider vinegar WITH the Mother
a dollop of unpasteurized honey
a large knob of butter
a splash of worcestershire sauce
fresh (or dried) oregano
a dollop of sour cream for serving
sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste

1. pour your tomatoe puree into a large stock pot and heat on low to medium heat. add the vinegar, garlic, honey, oregano, salt and pepper. chop up your whole tomatoes and add. add the handfulls of sauerkraut and don't squeeze it out. taste for seasoning and adjust to taste.

2. put your rice in the rice-maker or make your rice according to instructions on the box. we use a rice maker and add a small bit of almond oil - the almond oil really brings out the flavour in the basmati.

3. heat your hamburger over medium-high heat. splash some worcestershire sauce all over it and mix to combine.

4. when the hamburger is finished, strain and then dump it into your tomatoe sauce. don't clean the pan that the hamburger was cooked in - put it back on the burner.

5. add a large dollop of butter to the pan that the hamburger was cooked in. toss your shredded cabbage in and saute until just tender.

6. add the rice and cabbage to the tomatoe sauce. stir. taste and adjust seasonings if required.

7. serve and enjoy! if you love cabbage rolls - you will love this!