BS in the Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Yogurt & Granola

October 3, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

Continuing my journey into pumpkin spiced everything, I present to you Pumpkin Spice Yogurt & Granola! Although this is more of a breakfast meal, I whipped it up late last night, thanks to midnight snack cravings… I was originally just going to have a little yogurt and granola, when I remembered I had a container of leftover Spiced Pumpkin Mix, from making homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I figured it would probably be delicious in my little snack, so I tried it out, and sure enough it was! Good enough, that I made it again today for the blog!

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Pumpkin Spice Latte

October 1, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

Nothing says fall like Pumpkin Spice Lattes, am I right!?

Truth be told, I’m not really a fan of the syrupy excuse of a latte they serve at Starbucks, so what is one to do when that’s the case?

Make your own damn pumpkin spice latte!

Yeah that’s right.

Stick it to the man, skip the line of vibrating caffeine zombies at Starbucks, and whip up your own delicious version. Not only do you know what ingredients are in it, it’s WAY cheaper, and won’t taste like syrup.

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Spiced Pumpkin Mix

October 1, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

It’s pumpkin spiced ERTHANG season! Rather than let it slip by without participating, I figured it was best to fully embrace it. Starting with this spiced pumpkin mix, which will be the base for my next two recipes, and can be used for so much more!

Ever since everything became pumpkin spiced, I promised my girlfriend, Shannon, that we would make homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Hunting around for recipes, we settled on this one from The Kitchn. Although it was pretty tasty, the recipe called for a lot of pepper, ginger, vanilla and sugar. We adjusted the sugar by half, and cut down big time on the vanilla, but I had already blended the pepper in the pumpkin spice mix, so we just went with it! Definite emphasis on the SPICE, it was strangely spicy, which was alright for the first two sips, but ended up being a bit much after that, so I adjusted the pepper and ginger to a much more appropriate level here.

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Pumpkin Pie Spice

October 1, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

This right here…this is powerful… Let’s be honest with ourselves, pumpkin pie isn’t really about the pumpkin is it? There are a multitude of other ingredients you could probably swap in for pumpkin, and you wouldn’t know the difference, as long as you’ve got this magical fall fairy dust. Pumpkin pie spice! A wonderful concoction of spices that immediately conjures up warm, fuzzy feelings, and makes you feel like you’re wearing a flannel shirt!

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Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Cream

September 28, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

Squash season is upon us! Unfortunately along with squash comes fall (which is beautiful), but it means winter is that much closer, and that means freezing cold weather! Fortunately, we have recipes to remedy that, like this delicious soup recipe from the always reliable Bon Appetit.

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Cuban Sandwich (Cubano)

September 26, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

Look at that beautiful thing! A glorious Cuban Sandwich filled with roast pork, crackling, ham, pickles, swiss cheese, and mustard, all on fresh Cuban Bread! Delicious! Sandwiches get me going, as you can probably tell, and this one is no exception. When it was decided I would be hosting another Ethnic Potluck for the Ayden Kitchen & Bar crew, I was given the country of Cuba. It was meant to be! For the last potluck, I received Vietnam, and made this delicious Banh Mi, so it was only appropriate I receive another country known for delicious sandwiches!

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Cuban Bread (Pan Cubano)

September 26, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

The time has come for another Ethnic Potluck with the Ayden Kitchen & Bar crew, and this time I drew Cuba! What dish would I cook? Well, with my reputation for delicious sandwiches, and my last Ethnic Potluck contribution being a Banh Mi, it made perfect sense that I tackle the famous Cubano! Now, when serving Cuban Sandwiches to a room full of chefs, you can’t go about it half-assed! Although I have never been to Cuba, or had an authentic Cuban Sandwich, from my research, I knew the bread was a very important part. It’s a sandwich, so of course the bread is important. It’s half the damn thing!

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The Spanish Deli Sandwich

September 23, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

It has been quite some time since I have enjoyed a grilled sandwich, and as you know, they have kind of been this blog’s claim to fame! Being in the mood, I picked up some deli meat, and went about creating something with what else I had on hand. I knew the trio of Spanish deli meats would go great with the tomato coulis in my fridge, along with some homemade mayo, fresh bread, and other fresh ingredients from my garden, I was on my way to a killer sandwich!

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Garden BLT

September 20, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

I hate the word synergy, or at least the whole 1+1=3 concept, but I’ve gotta say, all the components in this dish really amounted to more than just a sum of its parts! This dish is all about taking the time to really focus on each ingredient, so the combination creates something extremely delicious! Fresh tomato coulis, homemade mayonnaise, sourdough bread made from scratch, and an arrangement of delicious greens grown in my own yard! I knew this was going to be tasty, but it turned out even better than I was hoping.

Head over to the Tomato Coulis, and Homemade Mayo recipes before you get into this one! Although I haven’t had time to post up any sourdough recipes, if you don’t have a go to bread recipe, I would suggest getting something fresh from a local bakery. You can expect a whole run-down on creating a sourdough starter, maintaining it, and making bread with it in the future!

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Tomato Coulis

September 20, 2014 by bsinthekitchen

Although I never made it on to Masterchef Canada, while I was waiting to hear back from them, I wanted to practice some of the basics of cooking, and that means sauces! Fortunately living with chefs meant there were all sorts of great cookbooks hanging around. As part of expanding my knowledge of the basics, I dug into one of my room-mate, Nathan’s cookbooks – “Sauces” by Michel Roux, which this recipe is derived from.

This sauce is a great way to use up those fresh garden tomatoes, and is super versatile, as you will see in my next few posts!

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