Whisper or Shout

February 7th, 2009 by Romelda

Don’t ask me why we have been trying new soup recipes (as Heather is not a huge fan of soups), but we have.

Even though we’re not beer drinkers or lovers by any means, we decided that the “cheddar” part of this recipe made it worth trying, and it was a cold night, so why not. Looked pretty straight forward to me. Now all we needed was the beer. Not knowing our beers exactly, Heather called from the liquor store and asked what the difference between pale ale and dark ale was. Why was she asking me? I don’t drink beer! I tell her “the colour?” I suggested she mention to an LCBO staff member that she is making a recipe that calls for “ale” (the original called for dark, but I suggest that light might be better, or whatever kind you enjoy best) and ask for suggestions. In the end, she was confused and couldn’t decide, so she came home with one can of each, light, medium and dark ale. I couldn’t help but laugh at us and our lack of beer knowledge. We have the same trouble with wine to be honest. But beer is beer isn’t it? (Every beer drinker on the planet will argue otherwise I am sure!) Read the rest of this entry »

January 30th, 2009 by Romelda

 It wasn’t completely my idea. To make the baked potato soup in the first place. Heather and I used to go downtown sometimes to the Armadillo on Front St., which we recently found out is no longer the Armadillo. They used to serve “High Country Baked Potato Soup” which was killer. We’d often go there just for the soup. Warm creamy goodness as they say. 

 So the other day in the wind and the blustery weather and the snow – it felt like a warm-me-up kind of day, menu-wise. If I had my way I’d have made homemade chili. It was that kind of cold out there. But since Heather doesn’t do “legumes” she suggested a Baked Potato Soup. I went hunting online for something, as it isn’t a regular recipe in my culinary repertoire. I found one that actually sounded similar to what we might have gotten at the Armadillo. So we figured, what’s not to love: bacon, potatoes, cheese, milk…all sounded good to us.

So I gave it  a whirl, and tweeked it slightly. It is super-simple as recipes go, and maybe took 20 minutes start to finish to make (having already pre-baked the potatoes). We gave some to our friends down the hall because it made about 8 cups, and they called back to rave about it. So I guess you could say it was a hit. Sharing things that bring comfort and warmth is a good thing – so I share the recipe here. Read the rest of this entry »

January 13th, 2009 by Romelda

2009 is here and the deep cold winter weather seems to be settling in just as we are settling into brand new year. So, I thought that you might want a great comfort recipe that I use when it’s cold and we are in a deep freeze outside, so we can warm our insides. Meatloaf, of course. But not just any meatloaf. This is truly one of the simplest, yet tastiest and moistest (if that is a word) meatloaf around, and topped with a simple little sauce it hits the spot every time I make it, and I have made it for dinner guests and they have raved about it too – mostly because they have cooked meatloaf that turns out dry and tasteless – and this recipe will not fail in the moist/juicy department. The recipe came to me courtesy of my mother’s cousin Jim Belanger (I do not take the credit for this great recipe, I am sure Jim won’t mind me sharing it), and is the only meatloaf recipe in “Gathered ‘Round The Table” The Belanger Family Cookbook. It is great served with garlic sour cream smashed ‘tators and a nice green vegetable like sautéed green beans with almonds or sugar snap peas and shallots. Last night I served it with caramelized onions and it was good as always. Read the rest of this entry »