Family Feedbag

It's the time of year for zucchini everything! Our zucchini plants have had a particularly fruitful year and I've been looking for yummy ways to use it up. A friend suggested doing a zucchini fritter, which sounded like a brilliant idea. She has lots of brilliant ideas about food. So I set to work on coming up with my own recipe and they turned out amazing the first time. I made a chili lime mayo to serve them with, and MMM! Those flavours together are frittastic! This recipe makes 25-30 fritters so they could be served as a main course or as a party appetizer. Here's how I made them: vegetable oil for frying 3 cups grated zucchini 1 cup diced onion 2 eggs 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 cup prepared mayo juice of half a lime 1/2 tsp chili powder I started by pouring the vegetable oil in my skillet so that it was half an inch deep and turned the heat to medium. Meantime, I

This is where I'm really at home in my kitchen. Pie. It's an old friend to me. Dusting flour on the rolling pin, tossing fruit with sugar in a big bowl, it's me at my most comfortable and most genuine with food. For me, making pie is like returning after a long journey to find the things I love best in life are still right here at home. The blackberries for this pie were picked in our own neighbourhood. They're coming ripe a little later than usual this year because of a slow start to summer weather. But they're worth the wait. Mr. Feedbag and our 3-year-old did a great job helping me fill a large container while the baby watched from his stroller. It feels good to make a pie from something I picked so close to home. Doesn't hurt that they're free too! Free is the new expensive, afterall. Cheap is chic! Here's how I made it: PASTRY 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbsp granulated white sugar 1 cup vegetable shortening 1 egg 1 tbsp wh

Applesauce is a great thing. It's healthy, it's handy for baking, and kids dig it. Okay, so do I. I've been feeding a lot of it to the baby since our apples started coming ripe earlier this month on our old apple tree. But even a baby likes a little variety, right? So I've started making applesauce fruit blends - combining our sweet apples with strawberries, blueberries, and peaches - and canning them in jars so the whole family can enjoy them in the autumn and winter months to come. There's no added sugar and these sauces can be frozen in freezer containers if you don't want to can them. To prepare for canning, I heat 5 pint/500 ml mason jars in boiling water and left them in the hot water until ready to be filled. The sealing discs and ring bands were also warmed in a small pot of boiling water and left in the hot water until ready to use. The water amounts in these recipes range so the sauce can be made thicker or thinner. Generally, you want t

Sometimes I want pasta but I don't want a tomato sauce. When creating this recipe, I figured white wine would be lovely with mushrooms and chicken, and I had some fresh snow peas from the garden. The result was this light and summery pasta dish in a delicate white wine parmesan sauce. Here's how I made it: 3/4 lb dry spaghetti (4 servings) 1 1/2 cups snow peas 2 tbsp butter 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup grated parmesan cheese 1 cooked chicken breast, sliced I cooked the spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water for 10 minutes, adding the snow peas in the last couple minutes, then drained it and returned it to the pot. In the meantime, I melted the butter over medium heat in a large skillet and cooked the onion, garlic, and mushrooms for about five minutes. The wine and chicken were added next and allowed to simmer for a couple minutes. To finish the sauce, I removed it from the

This is applesauce the way my grandmother used to make it: pink and hand pressed through a chinois using a wooden dowel. It gets its pretty pink colour from leaving the apple skins on during cooking, then the skins come out during the press. I didn't add any sugar to this batch because I'll be feeding a lot of this to the baby, but these apples from our backyard are naturally sweet and don't really need any added sugar anyway. The 6 lbs of apples in this recipe makes six pint-size jars/500 ml of sauce. Prior to prepping the apples, I heat my jars in boiling water then left them in the hot water until ready to be filled. The sealing discs and ring bands were also boiled and left in the hot water until ready to use. Here's how I made it: 6 lbs apples, cored and quartered (skins on) 8 cups of water I brought the apples and water to a boil in a large stock pot. I reduced the heat to medium and let the apples cook for 15 minutes, s

I've mentioned it before. I love turquoise. I knew I had a lot of turquoise kitchen stuff in drawers and cabinets, but I was surprised to find I can actually stuff the dishwasher pretty full with all of it. I do adore turquoise, but somewhere not too deep down I worry that one day I'll be one of those old ladies who always wears the same colour. Don't let me do that. Yes, okay, I know this makes me look like I have loads of time on my hands. The reality is this dishwasher art was done in the time between picking my oldest son up at space camp and meeting some other moms and kids at the playground down the street. I probably should have been cleaning the kitchen or doing some laundry or something. But taking some time, even just a moment each day, to do something creative keeps me happy. Your turn. Which one of these dishwashers makes you most happy?

If fruit were celebrities, raspberries and lemons would be Seal and Heidi. One's sweet, the other a little tarty (in a fabulous knickers kinda way), and you just WANT them to be together. These cupcakes are delicate, loaded with raspberry flavour, and full-on pretty. Here's how I made them: 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated white sugar 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup milk 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries plus 12 for garnish 1 cup icing sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice While the oven preheated to 350 degrees (F), I creamed the butter and sugar (I used my stand mixer, but this recipe could be done by hand too). Next I added the oil, milk, egg, and vanilla and mixed well. In a separate mixing bowl, I mixed together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and gradually added the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing thoroughly. To finish the batter, I mixe

(EDITED: This photo was named Pic of the Week by Food Network Canada!) The Rule of Three makes things more interesting. Just ask Goldilocks' furry housemates or the little pigs being huffed and puffed at. Then there's Larry, Curly, and Moe. So to keep dinner interesting this potato salad follows The Rule of Three, getting its dill flavour from three sources - pickles, pickle brine, and the herb itself. Even the potatoes are a trio. I found a bag of mixed mini potatoes at the grocery store in red, yellow, and blue! Here's how I made it: 2 lbs mini potatoes, skins on (I used red, yellow, and blue) 1 cup mayo 1 cup dill pickle, chopped 1/4 cup pickle brine from the jar 1 tsp dried dill weed 1/4 tsp salt pinch pepper I started by boiling the mini potatoes whole in a large pot of water for 15 minutes. They were drained and set aside to cool. Meantime, I mixed together the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Once the potatoes were cool, I chopped them into sm