Dates & Quinces

This past weekend, I went a little nuts on the baking. With Lent having begun this past Wednesday, I made a promise that I would start tracking what I was eating every day. This is, of course, all in a bid to become bikini ready for the summer.

Realistically, I know that I'm not going to get ripped, or lose those twenty pounds I've been slacking off about. I do hope that I walk out of the next six weeks with more accountability and less binging on sweets.

Okay, back to what I was originally talking about: this weekend. Saturday I made Maple Walnut Quick Bread. I was really hoping the recipe was going to be worth the effort because I had to drop seven dollars on walnut oil. The result? Delicious, moist bread with a pronounced maple flavour. P. and I had it toasted with some of this summer's Pear, Maple & Walnut Conserve. Definitely a winner.

While P. was still sleeping this morning, I whipped up a batch of Lime-Raspberry Muffins based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I replaced 1/3 of the all purpose flour with whole wheat and mistakenly mixed in the raspberries instead of placing them on top of the batter. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a) the raspberries didn't sink and b) the addition of the whole wheat flour didn't make the muffins heavy at all. Frankly I feel like the texture was more cupcake like than muffin like. In any case, I'll definitely make them again.

Later today, I whipped up a batch of Honey Oatmeal Bread using the recipe that I got in the instruction book with my Kitchen Aid mixer. This one resulted in a very heavy, dense bread that was a bit leaden. But, that's possibly my fault as I may have gone overboard with my whole wheat substitution here. I used it for ½ of the flour called for. Either way, I think I'll stick with my Canadian Living recipe from now on.

Finally, I roasted a chicken (free-range and local and only 1.99$ a lb!) using a recipe from an old Fine Cooking magazine and that was the best I've made in ages... perhaps ever! I've never been able to afford a free range bird before, so I suspect that the way the bird was raised has a lot to do with the taste. Anyway, the short version of the recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place bird right side up on roasting rack, rub with ½ tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with ½ tsp each salt (I used some of my fancy pants Cyprus Sea Salt from Williams Sonoma because I didn't have any coarse salt in the hosue) and freshly ground pepper.
3. Flip bird over, so the breast is facing down. Rub back with ½ tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 30 mins. Then, pull out of the oven and turn the bird over so the breast is now facing up. I used sturdy tongs to do this.
5. Roast another 30 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 165 when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh.
6. Let rest on plate, tented with foil for about 10-15 minutes before carving.

Oh! And here's how to carve a chicken! P. did that for me while I was whisking the gravy.

I've never done started a roast upside down before, but it makes so much sense! The result spoke for itself. Nom. Nom. Nom.