Easy vegetarian chili

Make your own taco seasoning

Combine
4 tsp chili powder

1-1/2 tsp ground cumin 

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp seasoned salt (or less. If you don't have seasoned salt use 1/4 tsp salt)

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp onion powder

Chop one onion. Chop one green pepper and a couple of stalks of celery.

Fry veggies until soft in a tbsp of olive oil. Add some of the taco seasoning to taste. I used about 4 teaspoons.

Add

1 can drained black beans

1 can drained kidney beans

3 cups of canned tomatoes

Simmer for about 45 minutes

Put into a tortilla, add grated mozzarella. Roll up. Eat

Curried (pretend it's not) squash, lentil and coconut soup

I don't like squash. I have no idea why people eat it. But after a friend of ours graciously bought us some groceries after we returned from Victoria, there it was: an acorn squash. I looked at it. I put it in the fridge. The next day I looked in the fridge again. It was still there. I closed the fridge door. What to do with said squash?

Then I remembered my kids make squash soup. My kids like squash. They get those genes from Fred's family. Luckily my mother shielded me from squash growing up. Fred wasn't so lucky.

So I asked my girls for a recipe. Johanna sent me hers. She said it was great. I believed her. Except there was nothing in it to hide the squash taste. Except garlic. We don't eat garlic.

Then I thought. Curry. Coconut milk. Lentils. Okay maybe I can save this squash from an early death. I googled some recipes. Found a couple. Combined and modified the recipes. And voila. Curried lentil squash soup. The best part is. It's good. I am. Not. Kidding. I know you won't believe me. After all, it's still squash.

PS. I forgot to take a picture. Who posts a recipe on the Internet without a picture? Me apparently.

Curried squash, lentil and coconut soup

Olive oil
2 diced onions
1/2 tsp dried ginger

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 acorn squash (halved and with seeds removed) roasted in oven with salt and pepper and olive oil, covered with aluminum foil for about 1 hour in 400 degree oven until soft. 

1 cup red lentils
2 cups can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 cups water
1 14-ounce can lite coconut milk
3/4 veggie large broth cube

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder, and garam masala; cook, stirring often, until the onion is starting to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Let squash cool, then scoop out flesh and add to pot.

Add lentils, tomatoes, water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are mostly broken down, about 20 minutes.

Add coconut milk and simmer until heated through, about 1 minute. Blend with hand blender.

Eat.

Dundee cake

300 degrees. Two small loaf pans or one round cake pan.

2/3 cup butter
7/8 cup brown sugar (I found this too sweet. Try 2/3 cup or maybe even 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup Seville orange marmalade
1 grated orange peel
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
400 grams sultana raisins (about 1 pound)
1/3 cup ground almonds
50 grams whole blanched almonds

I also added 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking powder, though recipe didn't call for that

• Cream butter and brown sugar. 
• Add eggs and beat well.
• Mix in marmalade and orange rind
• Stir in raisins

Put into pans. Press almonds into top of cake.

I baked two small loaf pans for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. A round cake should take about 1 3/4 to 2 hours.

Apple coffee cake

Haute Couture

Monkey bread

This recipe is a really good alternative to breakfast cereal. My version is (naturally) quite different from the one Johanna originally sent me. That original recipe also wants you to put it in a bowl and pour milk on it. But that would make it soggy, right? So don't do that. Unless you like soggy, mushy, grossitating breakfast with milk on it.

I eat them just as they are.

Mix in large bowl
3-4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter (natural or not)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (I use skim)
1/2 cup brown sugar (use less if you want)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds

You can also add other nuts if you like (ie 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds and or 1/4 cup sunflower seeds)

Grease a 13 X 9 inch pan. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for about 45-50 minutes at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cut in squares and freeze, sizing portions to suit you. Makes a good on the run breakfast.

Updated recipe

High tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria

Today Fred and I had high tea in Victoria.

It was a surprise birthday present from my daughters, their husbands and children. So nice. And yummy.

We ate the scones before I remembered to take pictures. So they are absent from the pictures. With homemade Strawberry jam and clotted cream. Oh boy. Were they good.

So then we paused long enough to take some pictures.

And they really do serve cucumber sandwiches. Which were amazingly good.

The selection of teas was huge. I had a roobois, and Fred had a breakfast tea. Which he really liked. Which is surprising since Fred doesn't usually drink tea. They use tea lights under the tea, and this keeps the tea nice and hot.

It was a lovely experience.