What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Late To The Party Edition

On March 2, 2022March 1, 2022 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate83 Comments

After resisting the urge to get one of these for – uhh – at least two years now, it finally happened. An air fryer has appeared at Chez Badass. My reasons for hesitating included (not limited to): having to surrender even more precious counter space to yet another small kitchen appliance; pondering if it was all that and a bag of (air-fried) chips i.e. being not entirely convinced it would be better than roasting things in my convection toaster oven; not liking most fried foods anyways; telling myself to “get a ~~fucking~~ grip” on most of my random thoughts on the daily. Meantime, I was studying air fryers…at times, intensely.

OK, I finally caved. My internet “research” led me to this particular make and model.

Pretty small footprint, all things considered.

The first thing I made in my new ~~toy~~ kitchen appliance was sweet potato fries.

Next up – I found a package of chicken wings on sale at the grocery store (and it was the time of the Superbowl – not that I pay attention to sports – but in keeping with the situation…):

Seasoned wings waiting for the air fryer

I also tried my hand at “regular” fries, learning in the process that russet potatoes make the best ones.

A russet potato tossed in a teaspoon of peanut oil and a dusting of salt

Alas, my success with my new ~~toy~~ appliance just couldn’t last. In keeping with Widow Badass tradition, I will let you in on my kitchen failure. I attempted to make a recipe with tofu. Not just any tofu but puffed tofu (something new to moi). My daughter and I had tried a delicious tofu appetizer from Shed, when we were in Tofino earlier last month, and I was hoping to recreate it at home. I found this video, which is a close contender to Shed’s version:

Now I just had to find the elusive tofu puffs.

I also found the mini size, and brought home both kinds.

I tried the mini-puffs first.

Definitely crispy-looking. (I put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the air fryer, to make an already easy cleanup even easier.)

Unfortunately I had let them go a bit too long in the air fryer. I was left with candied air, basically. So, let’s try this again…this time with the regular sized puffs:

Assembling the 3 ingredients – well, 4 counting the green onions

Lesson learned. When the YouTuber says to check every 4 minutes while cooking, do as he instructs!

Since I brought the air fryer home, I have used it almost every single day. In addition to the foods featured above, I have also used it to roast asparagus (delish), kabocha squash (delightful), and chicken thighs (crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside). Dare I say it: this could be my new favourite thing in the kitchen. (Sorry, pressure-cooker!) I love how quick it is to add a roasted vegetable to a meal. And using this little guy instead of heating up an oven (even my toaster oven) is much faster and therefore less wasteful of electricity, methinks. Consider me a convert!

That’s what’s on my plate for this month: anything I can cook in my new air fryer!

Please let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section of either of our WOYPBC posts (or both, if you are so inclined!). If you are feeling extra chatty 🙂 and have the time, please let me know if you have an air fryer, and what are your favourite tips/tricks/things to cook in one. I’d love to learn more about this wonder appliance and what it can do! Please check out Donna’s delicious March post, here.

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Subscription Box Edition

On February 2, 2022February 1, 2022 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate76 Comments

At the beginning of January, I received an unexpected delivery of a mysterious package. The outside was decorated with cute symbols of food in red and white and it proclaimed it was from a company called Universal Yums. Curious, I opened it up and looked for some kind of note or explanation as to who sent it but there was nothing to be found inside except some packages of snacks, a score card and a booklet. So I looked at the outside of the package again and there it was, partially obscured by the shipping label.

What a lovely gift, from my good friends back in Ontario: Jonathan and Kenn!!! Clearly the package was supposed to arrive in December, but what with all the weather difficulties and highway closures it couldn’t make it to my door until early January.

Snack contents of the box: popcorn from Taiwan, truffles from France, candies from the UK, “plum” cake from Argentina, baklava from Jordan, and potato chips from another region of France.

As you can see, the December box is a collection of snacks from around the world. The regular monthly boxes contain snacks from one country, only.

Of course, you know I couldn’t just snack (and score) all by myself…so I called someone whose food judgement I trust implicitly.

Donna is clearly taking this project as seriously as I am. 😉 What concentration! What focus!

And so we began. One by one, we carefully sampled each snack and wrote our thoughts down on the scorecard.

I forgot to take a picture of the “plum” cake. Probably because I was pretty pissed it didn’t contain any plums. Imagine a twinkie stuffed with caramel, in lieu of a photo.

And here are the results of our scoring:

Your happy ~~judgy McJudgersons~~ judging panel (photo by Donna).

This was a whole lotta fun. And I get to do it every month for a whole year! Don’t worry, I won’t post it on WOYPBC each month…just this first time. While I was waiting to get together with Donna to do the scoring, my January box arrived:

Hmmm….what country am I going on a snack holiday to, next?

It’s Poland! (Which has bison, apparently…who knew???)

I am so tickled by this subscription. I really love the scoring aspect of it. Something fun to do with friends and family. I think it is both a great idea for a gift to give, and also a joy to receive!

Once again, my co-host Donna and I are using a linkup for people to share their posts on. Please find it here:

Not sure why InLinkz hates me. What have I ever done to it??? If the button doesn’t want to work, you can always join up at Retirement Reflections or try this link HERE.

Of course, you are still more than welcome to let Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s mouth-watering February post, here!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Bringing the Sexy Back to Fruitcake Edition

On January 5, 2022January 4, 2022 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate89 Comments

Ah, yes! That butt of a lot of Yuletide-themed jokes…the long suffering fruitcake. Gentle readers, you might have suspected that when Donna gifted me with the Canadian Living Christmas Book and I found the bonus mystery recipe stuck within its pages, that a seed had been planted within my wee brain. You see, I am one of those weirdos that actually likes fruitcake…IF it is well-made and aged. Don’t get me started on the ~~crap~~ fruitcake you can purchase at ye olde grocery emporium. It’s dry as dust and made with cheap ingredients – no wonder people don’t like fruitcake if that is what is being served!

I hadn’t made a fruitcake in probably…uh…decades. I haven’t let fear or rusty skills stop me in the kitchen thus far, so shortly after that blog post (and even before my poll closed) I was assembling my ingredients to make not one but two versions of fruitcake for the upcoming festive season – Violet Burke’s and the Canadian Living Christmas Book Light Orange Almond one.

Oh, and thanks for voting on my poll! 52% of you said I should GO FOR IT, when it came to attempting Violet’s recipe. Another 20% said make the Orange Almond; another 23% wanted further investigation into piecaken. And I think 100% were pissed that Black Forest Trifle was not a choice, amiright? 😉

Orange Almond fruit (and nuts) assembled, and ready to be soaked in Grand Marnier overnight prior to baking.

Violet Burke’s fruit mixed and ready to marinate in sherry overnight, prior to baking. (Violet’s recipe did not specify any booze but I FIXED THAT!)

Orange Almond fruitcakes out of the oven.

Violet Burke’s cakes out of the oven. Can I just say that my house smelled amazing for more than a day?

Since late November, I had been giving the cheesecloth-wrapped cakes generous lashings of the same booze I had soaked the fruit with, every couple of weeks. The results speak for themselves:

Violet Burke recipe on the left, and Orange Almond on the right – ready for testing (and voting!) *I’d like to publicly thank the holly bush outside my balcony for contributing to the table decor.*

Closeup of the Light Orange Almond fruitcake

New Year’s Day “judging panel”, including Donna (renowned fruitcake ~~hater~~ critic) behind the camera. Once again, I am rocking the *Canadian cashmere*, just like Christmas Day (different plaid, though). Hmmmm, am I in a (lack of) fashion rut?

More festively-dressed Donna trying the Orange Almond cake. She liked it! After enjoying the New Year’s spread my daughter and I had laid out though, there was absolutely no room for a piece – no matter how small – of Violet’s cake. However…

…Donna was kind enough to send me this photo the next morning – proof she tried (and liked!) Violet’s cake too.

I thought both recipes turned out beautifully – moist and flavourful. However my favourite (and the favourite of the Esteemed Judging Panel) was the Light Orange Almond Cake. (Sorry, Violet!)

The orange almond cake is non-traditional in its citrusy flavour and light colour. The inclusion of the slivered almonds and almond extract in the batter adds a lovely nuttiness that I really appreciated. I think this makes it a great cake for “fruitcake haters and nonbelievers” to try. Both Donna and Richard liked it and said they would definitely eat it again if given the chance, and they also both profess not to like fruitcake. The rest of us already liked fruitcake in general, and we also preferred the light cake.

Violet’s cake was leaning more towards the traditional fruitcake/plum pudding in richness and the addition of the sherry certainly lent it that old-time English fruitcake taste, in my opinion. Definitely a great fruitcake, and definitely head and shoulders above anything store-bought. I think next time I would make it with brandy instead of sherry, and play around with some of the ingredients and add chopped nuts…maybe pecans?

Or maybe I will make Suzanne’s mother’s fruitcake recipe next year instead. Suzanne wrote a lovely blog post recently, in defense of the much maligned fruitcake.

I had so much fun reading your comments about my finding of the Violet Burke recipe. You are so imaginative and creative and some of you really should go into the sleuthing business! Who knew a fruitcake recipe found in a thrifted cookbook would generate such wonderful responses? Certainly, not I.

Blogger and real-life friend Janis was even inspired to write another one of her beautiful short stories; this time about Violet Burke and how her recipe ended up in the pages of the cookbook. You can find it on her blog here. I highly recommend reading it. You might want to have a tissue handy. 😉

Thank you, everyone – for making this ol’ blogger’s heart so happy!

Speaking of Violet’s recipe – here’s what it looks like, now (like a real recipe should):

Donna and I are trying something new this month, for WOYPBC, a linkup!

Fingers (and toes) crossed that it works well, and that people like this way of checking out each others’ WOYPBC posts. (If you don’t like it, it was Donna’s idea. If you do like it, it was our idea. Bwahahahaha!)

Of course, you are still more than welcome to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s January post, here!

Hope you all had a lovely holiday, if you celebrated. And all the best for a happy, healthy 2022!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Restaurant-Inspired Edition

On December 1, 2021November 30, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, The Great Outdoors, The Great Trail, What's On Your Plate53 Comments

A while ago now, Donna and her hubs Richard, and myself went a walkin’…along the Great Trail (aka Trans Canada Trail) down to the pretty town of Chemainus. It was a dark and stormy night…er…light and rainy day but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. It also didn’t dampen our appetites. In fact it enhanced them. We were so hungry by the time we arrived that we promptly fell into the first restaurant we came across, that – so fortunately for us! – was also the most excellent Indian eatery.

Near the beginning of the hike, and soaked already.

As for myself? Well…

Somebody thought to bring an umbrella 😉 Photo by Donna

Photo taken by our gracious waiter, at Invitation Indian Cuisine.

Closeup of our food. Clockwise from top left: palak paneer, butter chicken, naan, eggplant bartha. Photo by Donna.

I hadn’t had Indian food at a restaurant for over a year (not since I left Ontario) so this was especially delicious to me. And inspiring! I bought a new cookbook, determined to add some easy-to-make dishes to my repertoire.

The Amazon ratings and reviews sold me on this book.

The first thing I needed to do was to buy the spices necessary to make the garam masala spice blend recommended to use for the dishes in this cookbook. Thankfully it was almost Diwali, and everything was on sale!

Spices ready to go in the coffee grinder (which thankfully made the cut for the move!). Note *THE BAY LEAVES.*

Finished garam masala. Smells delicious around here already!

I started with the book’s recipe for palak paneer. Which was simple and easy to make. Here is similar recipe, found online. Does not require a pressure cooker (although I recommend the pressure cooker version and the cookbook I bought – definitely faster and easier!).

Frying the onions and spices right in my Instant Pot-type pressure cooker.

Blending after cooking. (I don’t mean for Seashell Jesus to photobomb my cooking adventures always, but I do have a very small kitchen. It’s more of a hallway than a kitchen, really – so He will inevitably pop up in some shots.) Next step: add the cubed paneer.

Closeup of palak paneer, over basmati rice. Tasted almost as good as at the restaurant!

The next dish I attempted to recreate was the eggplant bartha. There was a similar recipe in the cookbook, but it asked for liquid smoke (which I didn’t have) and I didn’t want to do another smoky dish like last month’s. So I went searching online, and found this one. It also called for a smoky addition (in fact all the ones I looked at did ~~so I just gave up~~) but at least I had the smoked paprika it called for and that is the one I ended up using.

Ingredients for the eggplant curry, including my homemade garam masala in a repurposed condiment jar.

Tomatoes and spices frying on the stove.

Simmering curry, with roasted eggplant and coconut milk added. Smells heavenly.

Finished! And delicious with reheated store-bought naan. (I could not detect any overt smokiness in this dish. Yay!)

This eggplant curry was really delicious! I made a few changes to the recipe I used. I added cumin instead of the chili powder and I used 1 tablespoon of my garam masala instead of the cardamom and coriander. Next time I would cut the coconut oil and olive oil back to a couple of tablespoons each instead of a 1/4 cup each. It was just a tad too oily for my taste.

As always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s post, here. She has written about her adventures with a guilt-free hot drink mix!

Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock spicily on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Not My Typical Beef Stew Edition

On November 3, 2021November 1, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate64 Comments

~~It was a dark and stormy night.~~ The weather approaching Halloween had turned cold, dark and rainy. That means one thing and one thing only at Chez Badass Kitchen…it’s time for comfort foods! And I had developed a hankering for a good ol’ fashioned beef stew in the slow cooker. That I don’t really use a recipe for, as I generally throw things in the pot and hope for the best. I didn’t want to do that this time, so I found this recipe on Ye Olde Interwebs and gave it a whirl with some great veggies that I had picked up at a farmers’ market.

They look even cooler, peeled and chopped.

They look kinda *Yukon Gold*-ish to me, when sliced open.

The recipe called for some unusual spices for a beef stew, in my opinion. Including smoked paprika, mustard and my ~~nemesis~~ a bay leaf. I tried to remember what I hated so much about bay leaves but I’ve been avoiding them for so long that I kinda forget. I got to thinking this after my last WOYP post, where I dissed this ingredient. I thought it was time to revisit ~~my nemesis~~ the bay leaf.

ATTENTION: A bay leaf has entered the slow cooker. I repeat: A BAY LEAF HAS ENTERED THE SLOW COOKER.

Seashell Jesus says “Gurl, you sure about this?” Bettie Page the Kitchen Aid says “No Comment”. Ditto for Alexa (far left). All are crowded around to witness this strange event.

Fast forward to 8 hours later (on low). The stew turned out quite nice, actually. Although I am not sure about the smoked paprika. I think next time I will just add regular paprika. Turns out smoky beef stew is not my jam. And as for ~~my nemesis~~ the bay leaf? I couldn’t pick out what it had contributed to the stew’s flavour so I guess bay leaves are back on the menu (and in the spice cabinet). Who knew?!?!

“*I’m ready for my closeup, Ms. Badass*.”

Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Soup Weather Edition

On October 6, 2021October 4, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate41 Comments

Well, the weather outside is not exactly frightful…but it has changed and fall is definitely in the air. At Chez Badass, that means it is that special time of year once again. Oh yeah baby – I’m talking about Soup Weather! I like to make lots of different soups once the weather cools down…and one of my favourites is Lemon Chicken Soup.

I base my soup on this recipe: Yum & Yummer’s Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo but I use rice instead of orzo and spice it differently ~~because I am lazy like that and I hate bay leaves~~ according to my preferences.

Assembling some of the first ingredients needed, and using the actual recipe for guidance.

Chop onion, carrot, garlic (I use the already minced stuff) and celery and sauté in olive oil until onion is soft and translucent. (I don’t measure. I just chop till it looks like enough, to me.)Then add the seasoning. I like Italian seasoning for my soups. ~~I put that shit on everything.~~ Again, I don’t measure. I just shake it on till it seems like enough. I can always add more later.

Then I prepare the chicken stock. Since I don’t have a big freezer anymore, I no longer have homemade stock on hand. This is the next best thing, I have found.

I usually make about 6 cups worth of bouillon to go into this soup. Then I get to work on the lemon. Best to have it at room temperature – makes it easier to get the juice out ~~or so I’ve been told.~~

Zest BEFORE juicing. I can’t stress this enough. It is so much harder to zest a juiced lemon ~~not that I would know anything about that~~. This recipe calls for 1/4 cup lemon juice. I managed to get just that amount from my lemon.

Cut zested lemon in half and juice that rascal!

Add lemon juice and zest to the soup. Then I add the rice (1/2 cup). I have used brown and basmati, in the past. This time I used arborio, just for a change. You could add whatever starch you like to this recipe. Barley, noodles, potatoes…anything (or nothing) would be good. Go crazy!

Sometimes (like this time) I add 1/4 teaspoon turmeric for colour.

I had previously cooked and chopped up chicken breasts in the freezer, so that got added to the soup.

I took the chicken out of the bag before adding it to the soup. *Just to make that clear.* 😉

Let everybody in the soup pot commingle and get to know each other for about 20 minutes or so while things are simmering.

Did you notice that freshly baked loaf of rustic bread in the table shot? I sure did. I also adjusted the recipe a bit – now I only use 1/4 tsp yeast, add an extra 1/3 cup of flour and let it rise for 18 hours. Even better!

That’s some ooo-ey chewy goodness, right there!

As always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s post, to read about the delicious dessert she makes for sharing with friends!

Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Staff of Life Edition

On September 1, 2021September 2, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-19, Good Times, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors, What's On Your Plate73 Comments

This is going to be somewhat of a looong story and a picture-heavy post so I hope you don’t mind. If you do mind, I don’t mind – so feel free to click away. My introduction to this recipe started way back at the beginning of the pandemic, when my good friend gifted me the most delicious loaf of homemade bread you could imagine. Jonathan somehow secured not only flour but yeast (remember those days?) and told me that this bread was not only insanely good, but insanely easy to make. He was 100% correct on both counts. His recipe came from the New York Times, I believe…and there are a bazillion versions of this bread recipe floating around Ye Olde Interwebs. Even recipes for gluten-free ~~doorstops~~ loaves, which I have tried (and failed ~~miserably~~ at).

The loaf that started it all. In my old kitchen, back in Ontario. March 26, 2020

Despite having issues with wheat (not gluten, but something else in bread), I can digest this bread just fine and without pesky heartburn. I think it is the very long rising…something that doesn’t happen in a production bakery. Anywho, here is the recipe (adapted by me from a gluten-free one I found somewhere…) told in pictures for this no-knead rustic bread loaf; pandemic and/or lockdown not required.

You will need:

3 cups of flour plus a little extra for dusting
3/4 tsp active quick-rise yeast
2 tsp kosher salt (I don’t see why you couldn’t use regular salt)
1.5 cups room temperature water
measuring cup and spoons
large glass bowl (Why glass? Does yeast hate metal/ceramic/plastic?)
wooden spoon (Don’t ask me why it has to be wood. Aesthetics? The anti-metal thing? I don’t know.)
Dutch oven
tea towel
parchment paper
cooling rack
oven (duh)

Mix dry ingredients together. The wooden spoon does look nice though…

Add room temperature water and mix (with pretty wooden spoon) to form the dough. Cover with tea towel and let it do its thing for at least 8 hours (overnight works well). In winter when the air is drier, I make the tea towel damp first so the dough doesn’t dry out too much.

Amuse yourself for the next 8 hours. I made and served a blackberry trifle for my son-in-law’s birthday. I think he liked it. 😉 (Completely optional but if you do choose to do this, invite me over 🙂 ).

What it looks like after 8 hours of rise time. Finish admiring the magic, and then take a large piece of parchment paper and dust it with flour.

Take the dough out of the bowl and mound it up on the flour-dusted parchment paper. I pre-crease the paper to make it a bit easier to fit back into the bowl, and eventually the Dutch oven.

I usually put it right back in the bowl again once it’s on the paper…so the dough doesn’t spread itself out over the paper too much over the next hour. You probably don’t have to do this. But it bugs me, OK? *There, I said it*.

Cover and let rest for 1 hour. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. When oven comes to temperature, place the empty Dutch oven (with lid) inside oven to pre-heat for at least 30 minutes.

Very carefully place the dough (in parchment) into the extremely hot Dutch oven. Can slash the top of loaf several times with a knife, ~~if you actually remember at the last damn minute.~~ Put the extremely hot lid on it, and put in the whole shebang back into the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

The loaf looks like this after 30 minutes covered bake time. Remove the lid (careful!!!!) and let the loaf bake uncovered for the final 15 minutes.

Cool the finished loaf on a rack. Resist eating it because you made it to share with friends, for lunch the next day. (Optional, but highly recommended! Your hips will thank you for sharing. 😉 )

Next day: Go on glorious hike with friends, on Hornby Island.

Take in the views: Helliwell Provincial Park, looking east.

Helliwell Provincial Park, looking west.

Me, trying to enjoy the view and *not* think of the tasty food waiting for us back at Ann’s place. Photo by Donna.

~~Finally~~ – Lunch time! Photo by Donna. Ann (between Janis and I) provided us with the most delicious Maui chicken and sides, and I provided the:

Homemade bread! And it was mighty tasty. I’ve made this recipe many times now, and it has never failed me ~~except for the gluten-free experiments that we really shouldn’t talk about anymore~~.

So…enough about me. What’s on your plate this month?

As always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). My partner-in-crime Donna has crafted a beautiful post about food and friendship (a theme I have shamelessly incorporated into my own post, in a minor way). Please check out her post, to read more about the many happy hours spent sharing meals with friends over the past month.

Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Birthday Edition

On August 4, 2021August 3, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, Good Times, What's On Your Plate92 Comments

Happy August, everyone! July went by like a flash, didn’t it? And to cap it all off, I had a birthday last week: #62, and life is still amazing and grand!

Adding another 12 dots to my Precious Life painting. You can read about it: here.

In my honour, my friend and What’s On Your Plate co-host Donna kindly offered to make me a birthday lunch (remember this…it’s important). Here’s what happened…a birthday lunch tale, told in pictures:

I got to choose from several meal kits just delivered to Chez Retirement Reflections from this here *food cult* Donna belongs to. 😉 I went with the salmon, since my momma didn’t raise no fool.

Donna made sure I read the instructions…hmmm, why? DAH DAH DAAAH! (*foreshadowing music*).

The veggies, herbs, and spices were in the brown bag. The salmon and yogourt were in another container, more suitable for keeping them colder during transport.

Next thing I know, I was cutting up potatoes.

Then I was grating cucumber for the tzatziki.

Then I was MAKING the damn tzatziki. BTW, don’t my nails look birthday-fabulous?

Then I was on to prepping the salmon. Remember when I told you Donna was going to *make ME a birthday lunch*? Yeah, not so much…

Well I guess Donna DID work the oven and stove top. Yet, here I am anxiously watching over stuff cooking because I am all alone in the kitchen and Donna is nowhere to be found. Oh yes! This happened!

And here is the delicious finished product, artfully plated by Donna. See, she *did* do ~~one thing~~ something…

AND THEN after our delicious lunch ~~You’re welcome, Donna~~, she had the NERVE to ask me to pose as if I was relaxing on the couch the whole time it was being prepared. Seriously! I kid you not. My expression says it all: *this is some kinda bullshit right here.*

MEANWHILE Donna is ~~pretending to be~~ exhausted from *making* lunch and loading the damn dishwasher. As if! Should you ever get a lunch invitation from this woman, be forewarned! Whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch was spot on.

AND THEN Donna hands me the birthday candles she forgot to use on my cupcake, so I brought them home. ~~Woman, you had one job…~~

Which were put to good use the next day (actual birthday) when my daughter (and fam) brought over Vietnamese food and a homemade trifle for dessert. ~~WHICH I DID NOT HAVE TO MAKE, DONNA…TAKE NOTES!~~

All kidding aside – you know I was kidding, right?!?! – we had such a fun time and were hooting up a storm planning this blog post. (I think I have some pieces of lemon in my eyebrow ~~WHICH A TRUE FRIEND WOULD’VE TOLD ME ABOUT, DONNA~~.)

So, that’s my tale of woe and foul treatment by Ms Donna, my lovely co-host. 😉

What’s on your plate this month?

As always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Donna has made an amazing dish with great significance for Indigenous people. And she has created beautiful badges for this challenge, should you want to place one on your blog. You can find them here.

Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Hot Hot Hot Edition

On July 7, 2021July 4, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, What's On Your Plate59 Comments

In case you weren’t aware, here on the Island (and in Western Canada in general) we have been living under a “heat dome” – a period of extreme heat. Extreme for just about anywhere…and especially deadly for this temperate climate, where almost nobody is prepared to deal with temperatures like these. I was relatively lucky…it only got to 37C (but felt like 42C) where I live, at the peak of the heat event. Still – without air conditioning and only a tower fan – I struggled to find relief. You can read more about it here.

It was so hot I took my first dip in the cold Salish Sea. Commemorated with this selfie. It only took me 13 months of living on my new island home to finally do this. Yes I am a gigantic wuss, spoiled by the warm sea surrounding Barbados. No, my hair is not green (it’s dyed purple actually) – it’s a reflection from the tree I am sheltering under.

As you can imagine, not much cooking was done…or if I did venture into the kitchen, it was at 6 am (when it was a relatively “cool” 26C) to prepare some food to get me through the day. Salads were featured, and here is one of my favourites – I don’t have a name for it other than “watermelon salad”. There is something about the combination of the peppery, nutty arugula with the sweet watermelon and the salty feta, accented by the acidic glaze…I could eat this salad all day.

I don’t really have a recipe for it either, but here goes:

Put cubed seedless watermelon in a salad bowl
Add arugula, as much as you want
Throw in some crumbled feta cheese (I used goat feta, in this picture)
Drizzle with balsamic glaze
Enjoy!

This salad is so juicy it provides much needed hydration while satisfying what little appetite you can drum up, in the heat.

Just before the heat dome arrived I decided I would have a signature cocktail for this season, at Chez Badass. No, I did not drink it during the extreme heat. Imbibing alcohol during extreme heat – likewise mixing alcohol with extreme cold – is a terrible idea. But for the days of the summer when temperatures are more moderate, I would like to offer you this:

Pink gin and tonic (Excuse the pathetic past-its-prime lime slice – it was the last lime in the house.)

Pink Elephant? I see what you did there.

I don’t know what makes the gin pink. I can’t discern a specific flavour either. Just tastes like gin to me. But better because, well…PINK!

I do love how the drink has this slightly iridescent pink/blue quality to it. Hard to capture in a photo, but trust me it’s there.
It’s like drinking unicorn tears…over ice!

Does anyone actually need a recipe for a gin and tonic? In case you do:

Pour 1 ounce of pink gin over ice into your glass
Top off with tonic water
Add pathetic lime slice (highly optional)
Please sip responsibly, and never in extreme temperature conditions!

The weather has since cooled off, thankfully. And cocktail hour is once again an option at my house. Also, cooking with heat. ~~And the wearing of clothing that hasn’t been drenched in cold water and wrung out, first.~~

And, as always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Donna has done some amazing research on 4 ways to put the same dish on your plate this month! Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tag #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Sheet Pan Edition

On June 2, 2021June 1, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, Camping Adventures, What's On Your Plate64 Comments

It’s that time of year when the weather is almost always nice, and that means a whole lot less time is spent indoors. Especially in the kitchen. A wonderful excuse to break out a sheet pan dinner! And luckily I have 2 pans because I needed the other for a crafty thing I was MacGyver-ing in preparation for future camping adventures: homemade fire starters. Very useful to starting fires here on the Wet Coast, where wood and tinder are sometimes too damp to facilitate a quick and satisfying campfire. Hey, those S’mores ain’t gonna roast themselves, ya know?

As usual, I came across something on Ye Olde YouTube that sparked my interest. The video is here:

Try to ignore all the bullet adoration in the intro to this guy’s channel. I did.

I watched the video and gathered my supplies. Then I got to work.

Note my improvised double-boiler, for melting both the petroleum jelly and the candle wax. Will the MacGyvering never end?! 😉

Cotton rounds soaked in melted petroleum jelly and ready to go into freezer to quickly solidify, in preparation for the next stage.

Starting the 2nd (and final) dip process.

These fire starters turned out great, and they burn heartily for more than 10 minutes after being lit with a single match.

The same afternoon I made these, I also made a delicious sheet pan dinner, inspired by this YouTube video:

The actual recipe to be printed off can be found here.

I hustled off to my little local grocery store and was disappointed that they didn’t have any fresh green beans in stock. They did however have some delectable-looking bundles of asparagus in the veggie section, so I made that swap. I think it turned out at least as good, if not better.

I also used sambal (Indonesian pepper paste) instead of cayenne pepper because I think it tastes better.

Finished! The sheet pan dinner, almost complete…

Now complete! Served on a bed of some deliciously-nutty brown rice.

Have you ever made a sheet pan dinner? Chime in, in the Comments below!

And, as always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna (she is dishing up some food for thought, this month!) or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post. And remember if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tag #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB