A Honey Of A Cookbook

Lately I have been spreading honey on my toast. I blame the warmer weather. The cascading amber drizzling down over a piece of buttered toast is nature's purest foods. A sight that delights and sweetens things along the way. 

This is the second cookbook I have regarding honey and what makes this one unique is that was put together by the Alberta Beekeepers Association circa 1982. At the time of printing this book Alberta produced 40 percent of Canada's honey. I am interested to know what that figure may be now. 

The book is presented in a flip notepad style with few coloured photographs reminiscent of their era. The 7 chapters cover everything from beverages, salads, dressings, meat, vegetables, breads, muffins, desserts and sweets. The book has a 4 page chapter on starting your day right with a few simple recipes. There is a one page information page on buying honey, storing honey, using honey and substituting honey. Some interesting recipes to note are Banana Eggnog, Tomato Bread, Honey Marinade, Pineapple Bran Loaf, Peas with a Difference, that is the recipe's title, Coffiesta Sauce and Honey Carrot Pudding! And on that note I will share a simple however classic recipe that is always a favourite... the Alberta Honey Tarts. - JW 

Alberta Honey Tarts

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2 eggs, beaten

125ml (1/2 cup) Alberta honey

125ml  (1/2 cup) raisins

25ml (2 tablespoons) softened butter

25 ml (2 tablespoons) cream

5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla

Combine honey, raisins, eggs, butter, cream and vanilla.

Spoon in tart shells.

Bake in a 180ºC (350ºF) oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 160ºC (325ºF) and bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until filling is set.

Makes 24 tarts.

Marmalade

I luv marmalade! Probably just as much as Paddington Bear if not more. It isn't a big surprise that I will try many different flavours and varieties. I found this jar at Winners a few week ago. I was quite taken with the packaging and of coarse the lemon and lime combination. I found the lime flavour prevailed over the lemon which gives this marmalade a very unique taste. A delicious way to wake up in the morning. - JW

Freshly Squeezed

Usually I have my grapefruit cut in half and the sections carefully ran through with a knife in the mornings. I luv digging into the little pie shaped pieces hitting the right angle to avoid getting a squirt in the eye. When I was a kid my happiness for grapefruit was nonexistent. Instead I marvelled in oranges. This week I have been fighting of a horrible cold which seems to have centred around my tonsils. I am feeling much better. This morning however the lowly bag a ruby red grapefruit with it's remaining four sat on the floor begging for me to do something with it. Or it could be since I bought a new bag of grapefruits that I am wanting to dive into that bag. Whatever it may be I decided to squeeze the heck out of those four grapefruits for a glass of juice!

When I said squeeze that is exactly what I meant! The old fashion way... hey so much can be said for originality. Making juice this way gets your blood flowing... muscles working. Another great tension/stress releaser.

As you can see I whipped those remaining four grapefruits out of shape. I squeezed every last drop I could get. You can see the beautiful colour of the juice settling into the bottom of the container. Absolutely stunning!

After all that squeezing I managed to get about a half pints worth of juice. Not bad. Look at the beautiful colour!

No added sugars. Just pure and simple and packed with lots of vitamin C! Very refreshing. Enjoy the warm weather and your Friday! - jw

Sunday Morning!

With the constant snow that has been falling over the past 24 hours I felt I wanted a semi hearty breakfast with a healthy twist. So Sunday morning breakfast was French toast with apples slices, vanilla yoghurt, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Very satisfying as the snow continually fell outside. How do you like your french toast? - jw

Coffee

I used to be a tea drinker. Then a black coffee drinker. Then a cream in my coffee drinker and now I am back to being a tea drinker with the occasional coffee or latté. I say occasional because compared to what I used to drink, 4-5 cups a day, it is. I did give up coffee for a while. For whatever the reasons. I know some of my friends have tried. It's hard giving it up completely because when I am in my creative mode inside the kitchen and outside of the kitchen, painting and writing, I tend to want to drink coffee. It seems that's what I want the most. The fresh aromatic smell. A nice full bodied cup... or cups of coffee. Enough to get things flowing and buzzing around the kitchen.

There is a lot of information regarding coffee. Without making this a full fledged history lesson you can always swing by your local library or search the internet to find more about the coffee bean. Here are some interesting facts I discovered:

- The country of origin Ethiopia

- Coffee is cultivated in over 70 countries

- Coffee was first thought to be used for spiritual reasons

- The process kopi luwak is the most expensive coffee at $160 per pound

- There is the story of Kaldi, a 9th century goat herder who first discovered coffee

- Folklore has it that the Oromo people would plant a coffee tree on sorcerers' graves

- During the 18th century seamen aboard British Royal Navy ships substituted coffee by dissolving burnt bread in hot water

- In 1645 the first European coffee house opened in Italy

- 1931 introduced vacuum packed cans of coffee

- Today during the decaffeination process the extracted caffeine is usual sold to the pharmaceutical industry

- Brazil is the largest exporter of coffee, Indonesia is the third largest

- Coffee is the second most traded product in the world; the first being petroleum

- Between 1998-2000 6.7 metric tons of coffee were produce each year worldwide

- Some studies suggest that coffee reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes (type 2), cirrhosis of the liver and gout

- jw