Recipes and Tutorials

Why on earth does a terrible cook have a page for recipes? I don't have much of a choice about cooking these days. I have a seven month old son who recently started to eat solid food, so I've been making a ton of baby food lately. I also have a two year old daughter who is allergic to dairy, soy, gluten and peanuts. I don't have any allergies, so this is a great learning experience for me. I'd like to use this space to post some information about things I learn along the way while I tackle the challenge of feeding a baby and cooking allergy-free recipes for my daughter.

I've also created this page so that I can post tutorials for some of the knitting patterns that I plan on writing up.

Homemade London Fog (as blogged here)

Hot earl grey tea (I've found that nicer quality earl grey makes a difference, but have been known to use any that I come across in my cabinet)

Milk (cow's milk, almond milk, rice milk, cream - your preference)

Vanilla syrup

Brew a pot of earl grey tea. In a mug (the bigger, the better!), mix a dollop of vanilla syrup with a small amount of milk. The amounts really depend on your preference - I seem to prefer about a teaspoon of vanilla syrup with about one third of a cup of milk. Pour the hot earl grey tea directly in the mug and enjoy.

Pre-kids, I used to take a milk frother and froth the milk and vanilla mixture in a separate cup, then pour the earl grey into a mug, and then add the milk mixture. These days, I'm happy with being able to drink my tea before it's room temperature.

Homemade Vanilla Syrup (as blogged here)

2 (to 2 1/2) cups sugar

1 cup water

3 vanilla beans

Mix sugar and water together, bring to a gentle simmer. In the meantime, cut the beans lengthwise, scrape out the vanilla seeds and add it to the mixture. I also throw in the whole beans after they've been scraped out. And that's it. I let it simmer for a little while (maybe 10 minutes?), being sure to stir it often so that it doesn't burn. It turns a lovely golden colour and makes the house smell delicious. Using a small funnel, I then pour it into a bottle with a stopper. The bottle that I used had about a cup of Pippins cider from Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse at the time, so I took one for the team and finished it. I know, that was big of me.