Author Archives: Martine
Banana chocolate chip muffins – the best!
This is the best chocolate chip muffin recipe I have ever tried so it has become our favorites as well as my kids’ friends’ favorite π
Here again the secret ingredient is VERY ripe banana so keep freezing them!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1.5 cup whole wheat flour (or all white flour)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients
- 2 eggs whisked together
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk ( or 1 cup milk and 1 tsp white vinegar, let sit for a minute)
- 1 cup mashed bananas (or 2 whole banana mashed)
3/4 cup of chocolate chips (or as much as you want)
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and add the chocolate chips. Mix with a fork just until ingredients are moist. Do not over mix.
Paper line muffin tray (or spray oil in them) and pour the mixture up to 2/3 of each cup.
To pour the mixture in the cup, I use 2 large spoons. Use one spoon to scoop from the bowl and then bring it over the cup and use the other spoon to slide the mixture out of the spoon and into the cup.
I make 18-20 good sized muffins but you can fill up the cups a bit more and make less.
Bake in centre of 375C oven for 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven.
Insert a toothpick in the middle to see if they are cooked. It should not come out with wet dough on it π
Let cool and eat.
These muffins freeze very well. Keep what you can eat for the next few days in a plastic container or a ziploc in the fridge and freeze the rest. Take them out the day before you want to eat some.
Easy smoothy
I have been making these for my boys since they were little. They are super easy to use and best of all, you can use any left over or bruised fruits you may have so no waste!
When you see a fruit is getting overripe, cut it up and freeze it in a ziploc. You can mix and match fruits. Bananas are the key ingredient here to make it “smooth”. The more brown and overripe, the better. Again, when some fresh bananas are turning, freeze them whole, you don,t even have to peel them, how easy is that! The other important part is to have some frozen fruits on hand so don’t be shy, freeze up peaches, melons, any berries, apples etc… The recipe here only uses strawberries but basically any mixture of fruits will do.
Ingredients
- 1 whole container of 750 g plain yogourt. If you need more protein in your diet, use greek yogourt. You can use flavoured yogourt but then you should omit the maple syrup and it will overpower the fruit.
- 3 tablespoon of maple syrup. We are lucky to have our uncle’s artisanal syrup from Quebec, so it is the best sweetener but table syrup will do. You can adjust the quantity based on how sweet you would like it!
- 1 ripe banana, the browner the better, frozen or not
- 1 cup of mixed fruits, here we used strawberries. Whatever you have frozen or you can buy frozen fruits.
- 1 tbsp of flaxseed. I add flaxseed because it is good for you but several other seeds can be added as well. They also can be omitted as it does not affect the taste, just the “goodness” level π
- You can add a bit of milk if you want it less thick.
From the Webmd.com website:
Although flaxseed contains all sorts of healthy components, it owes its primary healthy reputation to three of them:
- Omega-3 essential fatty acids, “good” fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.
- Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flaxseed contains 75 to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods.
- Fiber. Flaxseed contains both the soluble and insoluble types.
This recipe’s main cost is the yogourt since you should have frozen your fruits as you had them Β and saved them from being thrown away π The syrup and seed you can buy one time and use them for several months.Β This recipe will make 4 serving cups for the young ones and young at heart π
Here are the very simple steps:
- Put all ingredients in a blender. I usually put the yogourt last to make sure the fruits get well pureed.
- Hit the puree settings and let it fo its work for about 2 minutes
- Serve
How hard was that!! And very yummy
Mediterranean Roasted Cauliflower Salad
This is a favorite at my table as well as a big hit whenever I bring a side at a dinner party. The secret is the anchovy paste.
You will need:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 5 tbsp of olive oil:
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of anchovy paste
- 1/2 cup of kalamata olive (black ones):
- 2 tbsp of capers (find them with the olives)
- Salt and pepper
This recipe will make 4 portions. Of course, you need to buy bottles of olive oil, lemon juice etc…but once you have them, you can use them often. This recipe will cost roughly $6.00 when calculating proportionally.
Start with a head of cauliflower particularly in season. Cut it in large florets and place in a bowl then sprinkle with some olive oil salt and pepper. You will need roughly 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of cracked pepper and salt.
You can roast it in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes (depending on the oven) or if you have access to one, the BBQ is the best. Roast them by turning them every 4 minutes. The key is to get the nice brown markings without the burning π
In both case, they should still be al dente (crunchy).
Next, let them cool so you can handle them. Meanwhile mix 3 tbsp of olive oil with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 2 tsp of anchovy paste. Whip the ingredients with your fork until the paste is well integrated in the mixture.
Cut the florets in bite sizes, place in a pretty bowl and add 2 tbsp of capers, 1/2 cup of kalamata olive pitted (buy them already pitted, much easier) and the olive oil mixture.
Mix it up and VoilΓ !
Day 8 : last day in Naxos and day 9 in transit
We wake for our last day to high winds again. Β It is really unfortunate that the weather is not cooperating for our last day in the Greek island of Naxos. Β The hotel, pool and beaches are gorgeous and it would be wonderful to be able to take advantage of them. Last night at the restaurant, we are told that the hotel has lost some of its electricity due to the heavy rain and winds. It is reminiscent of St-Lucia !!!
We walk in the very pretty old village and meet a very nice shopkeeper who tells us where to buy the best honey from the mountain. It must be thyme honey. The absolute best!
We find out that the boat is an hour and a half late so it will leave at 6:30 and arrive at 12:45 in Athens. The high speed is of course running on schedule. Oh well!!
Day 7 in Naxos
The This morning is every bit as stormy as they predicted. Rainy, windy and cloudy so we take our time with breakfast and getting ready. This morning at breakfast, I learn that Karimara is the greek greeting for good morning.
We leave with our rental car to visit some of the typical villages that were pointed to us, the Kytron distillery and the Zeus summit.
We drive towards Ano Sagkri and a temple in that area. After driving on a dirt road, we find instead the archeological site dating back to 500 BC, Yiroulia Sangri. On the same ground, a christian church was built as well. Great view from up there.
We continue on to Halki for the distillery. We find it in a small alleyway for pedestrians only. All the tools and machinery from 120 years ago are on the display as well the what they call “citron” which is not at all the same as our lemon. Β It is a very large sour lemon and we discover that the liquor is made of the leaves and not the fruit! We get to taste the 3 different types, green for the sweetest, yellow for the most bitter and the transparent one in between. The transparent one is my favorite.
From there we continue on through Filoti on our way to Zeus cave and summit. The legend says that after Zeus was born on Mykonos, he was brought here to hide from the gods while growing up. We turn right at the sign and come face to face with a very skinny road going up a cliff and no guardrail. I am so glad I am not the one driving…Chuck is wishing he was not driving! Cars coming from the opposite direction would be really bad!
Finally we arrive at the spot where the road ends and there is a small area to leave the car. We walk to the towards a fountain and a sign that point up a very narrow trail with a gate that is close. We decide to risk it and open the gate and start climbing. I definitely am not wearing the proper shoes! The view is fantastic! Luckily while we are there, the sun is out and it is not raining….
We make our way down just as the rain starts and begin the drive down on the skinny road.
Our plan is now to make it up to Rotondo, the restaurant perched up high with the best panoramic view towards Paros.
Again up a narrow road, we finally arrive there. It is quite spectacular but windy and some rain so we have to eat inside.
The food is also excellent but when we want to pay we are informed that it is cash only but not to worry, we can come back anytime later on. Don’t change your plans, just come back when you can…Wow! We are thankful that we needed to find an ATM as we end up in Apiranthos, the village of marble. Β It is so neat to go up the marble stairs and walk on the small roads. Again the view there is wonderful.
Naxos’ reputation as the island of many typical village is well earned. One could spend a few days driving up and down discovering new villages and tavernas and enjoying a great view atop the hills.
We return to the hotel and settle in to watch the storm…strong winds, lots of rain…no sunset tonight! Glad we enjoyed that yesterday. Β We review the weather forecast with the receptionist for tomorrow and it appears that they expect some rain but a milder and nicer day with wind of only 6 in strength…what does that mean? Well strong winds but not the end of the world, we should be able to get out on the ferry back to Athens…cross our fingers. We are told that the ferry left tonight and the wind speed is 7 so we should be good.
We are told that the Cyclades are named after the gods of wind and that is a good example. Within the span of one hour, the wind can change direction 3 times. We witnessed the gods of wind in action tonight!
Day 6: we leave for Naxos
We wake up today to a cloudy sky and strong winds. They die down quickly and a bit of cloudiness still let’s through amazing light. I would think this would be a fabulous place for an artist to create.Β
Time to leave and we make our way to the port to await our high speed ferry on Hellenic. Β Although the view was spectacular, I am not unhappy to leave.
We take the same road down to the port.
We arrive in Hora,Naxos and again the disembarkation is quite something! Here we see the blue that Greece is so famous for. I do not know if it is the place or the temperature that brings this colour to the sea but it is magnificient.
we settle in our beautiful suite and I go for a dip in the salt water pool and a walk on the beach while Chuck reads his book on the balcony.
Day 5: Oia, Santorini
Waking up to the view of the volcano and the sun rising over the cliff and Fira is quite the treat.
T
his morning, we take our breakfast on our terrace and are met by 2 very friendly cats. Β I of course share some of the cold cuts and cheese with them which they love but when I try to give them some Greek yoghurt, absolutely not!Β
Hummmm. They leave when they see we are done. Β They think nothing of walking on the ledge behind the gate! Yikes!
WeΒ finally learn why the vines are so different here.Β They are not trained up or planted on a row. Β They are basically spread out and trained to turn into a basket in the middle. The goal being to provide shade and protection from the high winds that come here. They do not have irrigation system but rather a stone in the composition of the soil, traps the little water that they get a year, sometimes 150 to 250 mm annually! Also the regular mist rising from the sea provides them with moisture and gives the wine a very particular mineral aroma / flavor. Β There are more than 400 local variety of grapes in Greece and more than 50 grow in Santorini. Β I did not realize how big a producer of wine Greece is. Β Apparently the protectionism in Canafa combined with the requirement to produce and ship a certain minimum number of bottles is the cause of the very limited Greek wine imported in canada. Β The majority of the wineries here are …gseveral generation family owned and low producers.
No lettuce of course. We have to let it sit for a while for the olive oil to soak up everything.
day 4: arrival in paradise: Santorini
We begin our day with the same intense winds which we heard all night. They do refer to Paros as the island to kite surf and I can see why!!! At midday, we embark again on the ferry but this time, destination Santorini. There are several stops along the way. One is Ios which looks quite pretty.
And then the ascent begins. There is no doubt in my mind that Mathew would definitely be vomiting by now. The zigzagging road going up the cliff is worst that the road going up to Chamonix in the French Alps AND the road going down to Monaco in the French Riviera. Christine, Annie t’en souviens-tu? Pire j’te dis!!! Je prends une photo demain.
We end up at the end of the island where it opens up to a wide open view of the sun setting! Β We will be back tomorrow.
We make plans to go down to the small port tomorrow sitting on the patio of the restaurant as we read about the donkey who carry supplies up and down and ignore tourists. Β We hear them coming!! Right by our table, there they are. More than 20 of them. Β Quite a sight!
Day 3: Paros
We get into town and immediately locate the famous Church dating back to the 4th century. Β It is one of the best preserved Christian churches in Greece: Panagia Ekatontapiliani.
We discover that Paros makes several types of honey, specializes in growing olive and loves capers and liquors. Β After a bit of shopping, I am instructed that Jewelry shopping will have to wait. Time for a gyros and a Mythos beer. We walk back to the beach to enjoy our lunch at one of the patio there. And wouldn’t you know, we encounter our first official extreme speedo sighting! Had to happen at some point in Europe. Why is it always the old guy wearing them??? Β Of course, there were also the customary dark brown sun-worshipping leather-skin retired couples and the beet red oblivious guy. That one is going to hurt!!!
Day 2 – on our way to Paros
We were booked on a 5pm ferry to Paros today and had made tentative plans to visit Athens some more.
Made it on this gigantic ferry. Couldn’t believe how many people came out of that ship!
Had an exquisite dinner opening with eggplant rolls and sea pies… Yum !!!
Martine's food and places 