5 Minute Cake

Yesterday I opened up my inbox to something truly incredible: a forwarded mass email that I actually wanted to read. My aunt had sent along a recipe for "5 Minute Chocolate Cake," an individual sized cake that bakes for 3 minutes in the microwave. I had come to believe that microwaves were only good for reheating leftovers and making popcorn, but I was pleasantly surprised to pop open the door after 3 minutes and find a moist, more than decent cake for tonight's dessert. For those late night chocolate cravings or times when you just don't want to put a lot of effort into dessert, this recipe is one to remember.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp flour

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

1 egg

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)

1 small splash vanilla

Directions:

(1) Mix dry ingredients in a microwave safe mug.

(2) Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl and add to dry ingredients. Stir until combined.

(3) Microwave on high for 3 minutes. NOTE: Place a plate under the mug to avoid messy cleanup if the cake overflows.

(4) Allow cake to cool. Put out onto a plate if desired.

NOTE:

I was missing a few ingredients, so I improvised to make the cake work. I didn't have any eggs, so I used 1/4 cup of crushed blackberries to act as a binding agent, and 1/8 tsp of baking soda as a leavening agent. I also only had about 1 tbsp of cocoa, so I added 1 tbsp of instant coffee in its place.

West Van Flowers

We went to the Harmony Arts Festival this past weekend in West Van, and the highlight for me was touring the community gardens between Ambleside and John Lawson Park. There were lots of vegetables - including 2 metre tall bolted lettuce which was staked! - but the the flowers really grabbed my attention. Here are a few of my favourites:

August in the Garden

Our internet is finally back after going out the night of the thunderstorm. Since that time, the zucchinis have gotten out of control, lots of eggplants have emerged, and two varieties of tomatoes have started to ripen.

I'd read zucchini plants were prolific before we started the garden, but I guess I hadn't really grasped just how prolific because I kept 7 of the 11 plants we originally had. Our counter is covered in zucchini, and our freezer full of shredded zucchini. Now I've pulled almost everything, leaving just 2 of the smaller plants. I think that next year I'll start with 4 plants and eventually pull 2. I also want to try varieties other than the traditional green zucchini.
For the last few weeks, though, the garden has been suffering through more than just a glut of zucchinis. Beginning with a melon plant, powdery mildew began to affect the curcubita plants, and I had to pull 1 pumpkin, 1 zucchini plant and 2 melon plants. I wanted to keep them, but neither organic treatments nor fungicides helped, so I had to remove them to stop the fungus' spread. The spread of fungus is something that I will definitely keep in mind when designing the garden next year. I also need to do more research into disease-resistant pumpkin seeds, because I really want a successful pumpkin harvest.

Storm in Vancouver

We got a bit of a surprise tonight - a lightning storm in Vancouver. I've lived here for 15 years, and in all that time, we've probably had about 4 lightning storms, so I (and the meteorologists, apparently), were not expecting it. But I'm not complaining. I love storms, and any rain is welcome in the garden.

Fruits of the Garden

Purple Peppers

Zucchini that got out of control!

Pickling cucumbers

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Pizza

I love pizza, and I especially like making it at home because I'm a fairly picky eater. For a long time I was looking for that perfect pizza dough recipe, one that would make a wonderfully thin, springy pizza with a crisp crust. And a few months ago, I found it - THE recipe.

This recipe calls for a slow rise in the fridge over several days to improve the flavour of the dough. However, instant yeast must be used for this method, and I prefer active yeast, so I skipped the whole fridge thing and let the dough rise traditionally in a warmed oven a couple of times. To modify the recipe, I used 2 tsp of active yeast, activating it in warm water (instead of ice cold) with a couple spoonfuls of sugar in it. I mixed the dough in a Kitchen Aid mixer, which makes the whole process ridiculously easy and results in a perfectly soft and elastic dough.

I also made the pizza sauce, not following any particular recipe, just adding what I wanted to the pan. I briefly fried some sliced onion and garlic in a couple glugs of olive oil, then added a tin of whole San Marzano tomatoes, a bit of white wine and a bay leaf. I let that simmer away, then pulsed it a few times in a blender with fresh basil from the garden, salt, pepper and a bit of sugar. I can't wait until our tomatoes are ripe so that I can use them future sauces.

The recipe made three balls of dough, so I froze the two I didn't use. For toppings, I just used what we had in the fridge/garden: grilled zucchini, leftover chicken, feta cheese, fresh basil, and chopped spinach from the garden. I baked the pizza at 425 degrees F until it was golden brown on top, about 12 minutes. Everything I've read says that pizza should be baked at the highest temperature possible, but in my experience, if you're not using a pizza stone (which I wasn't), the super hot temperature crisps the crust and browns the cheese before the interior of the pizza is fully cooked. 425 degrees was perfect, and the pizza was just right.

Berry Picking & Jam

We went berry picking today at Driediger Farms in Langley, and got lots of raspberries and a small carton of blueberries. I really didn't realise how many raspberries we had picked until I got home and started to box and bag it all up for the freezer. I'd even made a batch of raspberry jam (and one of blueberry as well), but still had lots and lots leftover. I guess I'm going to need to find some recipes that use raspberries!

Raspberries waiting to be picked...

A full bucket

Raspberry and blueberry jam

Berries ready to be frozen

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

They're taking over. I've got 3 small sugar pumpkin plants, and they're vining all over the place.

I'm not complaining though, because along with all those vines are lots of little baby pumpkins.

This is the first pumpkin that I found early last week. Unfortunately, it didn't get pollinated so it's dying.

Italian Pickles

I mentioned yesterday that I'm kinda crazy for pickles, and what do ya know, I woke up today with an urge to pickle. Unfortunately, the cucumbers aren't ready yet, so I decided to branch out and just pickle whatever was ready in the garden. I harvested carrots, zucchini and radishes, and settled on an Italian flavour base of garlic, basil and lemon.

I've read enough about canning to know that it's really important to get the right level acidity to kill bacteria, so I didn't want to just make up my own recipe. I used the recipe for garlic dills that I mentioned yesterday, substituting in my chosen veggies and flavourings, but keeping the amount of water, vinegar and salt the same. It will be a month before I can say how they taste, but they look great.

The Sun is Back

The sun has returned to Vancouver, and after all the rain we had last week, there's been a lot of new growth in the garden. Previously, we had some little tomatoes forming, but all of a sudden the plants are covered in flowers and lots of new little tomatoes. It looks like the tomato harvest is going to be good! I've put up pics of a couple of the varieties we have going. The 1st is called Eva Purple Ball, and is a classic round tomato that will eventually be a pink-purple colour. The 2nd is a grape tomato, called Reisentraube, which will turn an orangey-red colour. And finally, the last is called Kellogg's Breakfast, and is a yellow beefsteak. And did I mention how amazing the tomatoes smell? Even the leaves smell great!

The cucumbers are also taking off, so I staked them yesterday to give them more room to grow. As I've discovered by growing them myself, cucumbers are covered in little prickly spikes. You'd never know to see them in the grocery store. I read online that the spikes rub off easily when the cucumbers are being washed. One of the main reasons that I wanted to grow cucumbers was that I wanted to start making my own pickles.

I'm kind of pickle obsessed, and I've found a recipe for garlic dills that sounds just perfect.

I tried my hand at making pickles earlier in the year with pickling

cukes from the Granville Island Market, but the recipe I used involved too much cooking, resulting in less than crunchy pickles. I can't wait to try again with my own cucumbers and this new recipe.

Rain in Vancouver

It's been raining in Vancouver for the last three days. And by raining, I mean raining. It feels like November out there. But the garden is loving it. The zucchinis and tomatoes are more out of control than ever, but it's the pumpkins that really have me excited. I was inspecting all the plants this morning, and I found a little baby pumpkin!

I'd been kind of apprehensive about whether the pumpkins would grow any fruit, as I'd read a blog by a woman who grows about 10 plants every year and is lucky to get 5 or 6 pumpkins. But there it was, my first pumpkin, and there are lots of other flowers forming. So fingers crossed, because I have lots of carving, baking and canning plans for this October.

Fried Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

I've been wanting to make fried zucchini blossoms for some time now, and last night I finally got around to it. They're fairly simple to make, but best of all, they are completely and utterly delicious.

Here's a simple recipe:

Ingredients

2/3 cup flour

Salt and pepper, to taste

Enough cold water or club soda to make a wet batter

Fresh zucchini blossoms, cleaned and with the stamen removed

Feta or goat cheese

Any combination of herbs, spices, garlic, etc.

Directions

(1) Put about 2 inches of vegetable oil into a small pot and place over low heat. The oil will be ready for frying when it reaches 350 degrees F, or when a small amount of batter rises to the top and fries.

(2) Use enough cheese to fill the blossoms, and mash with the flavourings. I used basil and garlic. Stuff the blossoms with the cheese mixture.

(3) Whisk up the batter. Dip the blossoms in the batter, ensuring they're completely coated.

(4) When the oil is ready, use tongs to place one blossom in the oil. It should bubble up and fry like crazy.

(5) After a couple of minutes, flip the blossom over with the tongs to ensure it completely fries. The blossom will be done when it's lightly golden all over.

(6) Put the blossom on some paper towel to soak up any excess oil.

(7) Let cool a couple of minutes before eating.

July Update

Pumpkin vine

Pickling cucumbers

Eggplant

Tomatoes

Bean salad made with carrots from the garden

Carrots

Zucchini Harvest

The garden is looking quite full, and so far we've been able to harvest lettuce, spinach and zucchini. But they'll be a bit more variety soon, as the tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes have started to flower. Here's a look at how the garden is progressing:

First fruit

Checked out the garden this morning and was shocked to discover our first fruit of the season - a zucchini! I checked yesterday and little flower buds had formed, but today the flower is huge and yellow and has a little zucchini on the end. Everything has really taken off with the hot weather we've been having, and I hope to see more fruit soon. The tomato plants are developing the beginnings of little flowers, so hopefully the tomatoes we'll emerge soon.

Here's some more pics of what's growing in the garden: