My Recipe Box - Fish Chowder (Updated)

St. Lawrence Market Toronto

October 2018

I originally found the recipe at Damn Delicious. 

October 2021 - I noticed I had three chowder recipes in my recipe box and my clam chowder had evolved into a fish chowder. This clam chowder, a smoky bacon clam chowder and then a Jamie Oliver smoky haddock corn chowder from my 30 Minutes cookbook. In reality, I now do my own combination of these recipes so I updated this version with my changes.

Sometimes I use bacon and sometimes I don't.

FISH CHOWDER


yield: 6 SERVINGS
prep time: 15 MINUTES
cook time: 30 MINUTES
total time: 45 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS:

4 slices bacon, diced 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter/bacon fat
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning see below to make your own

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour gluten free or corn starch
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock or fish stock
2 (6.5-ounce) cans chopped clams, juices reserved
1 bay leaf

1 cup cream

Haddock or whatever fish you have

Shrimp
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Optional 

Corn

DIRECTIONS:

Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat with a splash of water. By adding water to the raw bacon you’re less likely to burn it as it gradually releases its fat and browns evenly.
Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes.
Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving 1 tablespoon excess fat; set aside.

Add another splash of water to loosen the flavourful bits on the bottom. Melt butter/bacon fat in the stockpot. Add garlic, celery and onion, potatoes and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in thyme, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, chicken/fish stock, clam juice, Old Bay and bay leaf, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. 
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 12-15 minutes.

Add haddock and shrimp or whatever fish you are using.
Stir in cream and clams until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more stock or cream as needed until desired consistency is reached.
Serve immediately, garnished with bacon and parsley, if desired.

OLD BAY SEASONING - or make your own!!

My Recipe Box - Cream Cheese Apple Cake

 I made this for the first time in October 2021 and instantly added it to my recipe box. I slightly modified Bunny's Warm Oven's recipe.

Ingredients

3 large apples peeled cored and chopped
1 Tablespoon lemon juice to toss chopped apples with
1 3/4 cup white sugar I use less
1/2 cup butter room temperature 113 grams
1- 8 ounce pkg cream cheese room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature substitute 1/4 cup applesauce for 1 egg if you wish
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour I use gluten free 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon optional

Raisins optional

Topping
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon 
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place baking rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan with shortening. I use parchment paper
1. Peel, core and chop 3 large firm crisp apples. Toss them in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, set aside. I had old apples and they worked fine
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the 1 3/4 cup of white sugar, butter, the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until well combined and creamy.
3. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl, stir to combine. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beat with an electric mixer until just combined. Add the chopped apples and fold them into the batter.
4. Pour the apple batter into the prepared 13x9 inch baking pan. Leveling the batter out as needed.
5. In a small bowl combine the light brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Sprinkle over the apple batter in pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 -60 minutes or until the cake tests done with a toothpick.

My Recipe Box - Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread

 July 2020 from Taste of Home.

This makes two loaves.

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup raisins
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1-1/2 cups sugar, soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raisins. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; set aside.
Spoon half the batter into 2 greased 8x4-in. loaf pans. Sprinkle with half of the reserved cinnamon sugar; repeat layers. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
Bake 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Freeze option: Wrap cooled bread in foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To use, thaw at room temperature.

My Recipe Box - Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cake

 First made in August 2020 I have adapted Mama Know Gluten Free's recipe for us.

Ingredients

Cake:
▢3 cups gluten-free flour 
▢1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum leave out if your flour already contains it.
▢¼ teaspoon salt
▢1 cup sugar
▢4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
▢1 ½ cups milk 
▢2 eggs
▢2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
▢½ cup unsalted butter melted 

Optional we love raisins and orange zest added

Topping:
▢1 cup unsalted butter softened 
▢1 cup packed brown sugar
▢2 tablespoons gluten-free flour
▢1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:
▢2 cups powdered sugar I only use 1 cup
▢5 tablespoons milk 2.5 tbls
▢1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl add the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum (leave out if your flour already has it), salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
Once combined stir in the melted butter.
The cake batter will be very thick and sticky. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.

Topping:
In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, gluten-free flour and cinnamon together with a mixer.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the butter mixture into the cake batter.
Use a knife to swirl the butter mixture through the cake.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Use a toothpick to check and see if the center is done.

Glaze:
In a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, milk and pure vanilla extract together.
Pour over the warm cake.

My Recipe Box - Cranberry Pumpkin Loaf

 I first made this in October 2020, from Lemon tree Dwelling and it quickly became a favourite. The cream cheese icing is the best!

I have divided the ingredients and made only one loaf, but really why not make two and freeze one!

Ingredients - makes 2 loaves

Pumpkin Bread
2 c. granulated sugar I prefer less
1 c. packed brown sugar
¾ c. vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. ginger
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
2 eggs I often use 1/4 cup applesauce per egg or a banana per egg
3 ½ c. flour
⅓ c. water
2 c. fresh cranberries

Cream Cheese Icing
1 c. powdered sugar
2 oz. cream cheese softened
2 tsp. milk
½ tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat at low speed until blended.
Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Beat until blended.
Add pumpkin and eggs. Beat until blended.
Add flour and water and stir just until blended.
Stir in cranberries.
Pour batter into two (5x9 inch) loaf pans that have been greased and floured.
Bake at 375 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Combine icing ingredients and mix until smooth. Spoon icing over bread. *Icing recipe can be doubled according to taste.

My Recipe Box - Build a Salad Dressing

 From Kath Eats

Under OIL I would add sesame

Under MUSTARD I would add horseradish/soy sauce/yogurt

T for Tuesday

 T Stands For is hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard

Random coffee signs around Toronto.

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Toronto ON

Click here for a history of Toronto lane naming and a list of other lanes with neighbourhood descriptions. That post is a work in progress, and gets updated frequently.

As per the request to the city to name the lane Frank Natale Lane.

Mr. Natale is now almost ninety years of age and in frail condition, but, for over fifty years he operated a business known as Elgin Produce, accessed through the lane described above, which has recently been expropriated by the City. (Note: Frank Natale has since passed away ) 

The Natale family emigrated from Sicily in the early 1900’s and lived in and/or operated businesses in three properties 130, 132 and 134 Dundas St. East, which backed onto the lane. Frank Natale still owns one of the properties, namely 132 Dundas St. East. Elgin Produce is still operated by Frank’s son and grandsons, although it has now moved to larger premises. In addition to a son in the business, Frank’s other children include a Toronto police officer, a teacher and a nurse at St. Michael’s hospital. 

This would be a fitting recognition of the contributions of a hard working family, now into the fourth generation as Canadians and Torontonians, who were and still are respected in the area and have a long standing connection with the lane and this section of Dundas. 

 The lane runs between Dalhousie and Mutual, North of Dundas and South of the former Sears warehouse building. 

Robert Simpson Co. Mail-Order Building and Additions
108 Mutual Street


This photo from November 1920 shows just how large the Merchandise Building was – and still is – looming over the corner of Dundas and Mutual Streets

Building and Additions 1916-1939 This landmark industrial building was designed by Chicago architect Max Dunning and the Toronto firm of Burke Horwood and White. In later years matching additions were built to the north. Originally serving as a warehouse manufacturing and administrative building for the Robert Simpson Co. mail-order business it also became the first headquarters of Simpsons-Sears (later Sears Canada) in 1952. In the late 1990s the building was converted to residential lofts.

Click here to see the residential lofts. 

It would now cost you almost $2 MILLION dollars for a 1,600 sq ft 2 bed 2 bath loft.

Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act 1997.

Click here for the full story of Simpsons-Sears.

The Robert Simpson Company opened on the corner of Queen and Yonge in Toronto in 1894 and maintained a prominent place in the Canadian retail market for nearly 85 years.

The retailer’s Canadian ancestry stretches back to Robert Simpson’s decision to offer mail order service from his dry goods store at Yonge and Queen soon after it opened in 1872. Though the Simpsons catalogue never achieved the iconic status across Canada that rival Eaton’s did, it contributed to the store’s profitability as it outgrew several warehouses.

The solution was an 11-storey service warehouse on Mutual Street north of Wilton Avenue (now Dundas Street). Built in 1916, it was touted as “the finest reinforced concrete building in America.” 

Besides mail order, the complex housed delivery and service departments which ran out of space at Yonge and Queen. Mail order’s reach continued to grow—by the time an addition extended the building north to Gould Street in 1931, catalogues printed on site were sent across Canada and to Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the British colonies in the Caribbean. A final expansion completed in 1950 resulted in a building with over 1 million square feet of floor space, the most in the city until the Toronto-Dominion Centre arrived in the mid-1960s.

Dalhousie Street, looking south from Gerrard Street East, September 19, 1950. The Simpsons service building/Simpsons-Sears building is the background on the left. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 372, Subseries 58, Item 2076.

Signs

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Roncesvalles Ave. Toronto

Monday Mural

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September 2021 - Toronto ON

Ossington Ave.

Mural Update

It replaces this 2019 piece.

Mural Update - gone forever on Ossington.

Rain

 One Word Sunday

Found in the Distillery District Toronto ON

Glad Day

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Sunday Salon

Hearth and Soul Link Party

October 2021 - Toronto ON

Glad Day Bookshop is the first queer-focused Canadian bookstore, and the oldest queer bookstore worldwide. Serving the LGBTQ community since 1970, we offer the widest possible selection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirit, and queer literature.

Saturday and Sunday at home. Saturday was a baking and cooking day. 

Gluten free black bean and avocado brownies I swear you will enjoy. I added peanut butter to this batch.

Chocolate peanut butter cookies made with gluten free flour.

I made another cheddar cheese soda bread and a raisin bread.

Sunday is usually laundry day as we get reduced energy rates on the weekend. And then the Ryder Cup (golf) with John cheering for Europe was on. Football season has also started.

I forgot to mention that we had our biggest lottery win ever $50! We are not dedicated diehard ticket buyers, it is usually if we think about it. 

An amazing sky on Sunday night.

The weather gods are letting me down, they keep saying rain, rain, rain and we haven't really had any.

Monday was another lazy day but we did take a trip to the new Farm Boy at Kipling subway. Their arrabiata sauce was only $4.99 compared to Longo's $6.49!

Also got large fresh cauliflower for $1.99, and some of their salad dressings (sometimes I just don't feel like making it).

Tuesday John had a couple of appointments and then played golf. He also golfed on Wednesday with his usual guys and Friday with a good friend (and one of the usual guys).

Tuesday I went to Yorkville intending to see some new murals but then just went to Manulife (BMT) Centre and found this one which was part of the Yorkville collection.

Wednesday I went to my BFF's and we went shopping and had lunch. I bought some baskets for two plants (wish I had bought more) and a blanket for our bed. We love the duvet but it is just too warm at the moment.

Thursday John bottled his wine and I went for a mani-pedi. 

I snapped these before my 10 AM appointment when it was quite warm in the sun, later it cooled down.

September crossword status.

Friday I headed to Marshall's and Michael's. I wanted wool to make a sweater my BFF had made. I also stopped into Kitchen Stuff. But no purchases except the wool.

A display on King St. West.

WATCHING

We are watching the latest season of Money Heist.

I finished The Grand. Not sure what I will watch next.

I did start watching 2020 Great British Bake Off.

COOKING

Saturday

I unfroze the tomato stock I had made with our abundance of tomatoes from August and made a tomato soup with potatoes (leftover), carrots and onions. I added red lentil pasta (bought last summer!!). John was thrilled to have soup and crackers.

Lemon parmesan Alfredo with prosciutto and mushrooms.

Sunday ham and broccoli quiche with Greek salad. The leftover quiche provided a lunch and breakfast during the week.

Monday lamb chops Brussels sprouts leftover loaded potato (Friday) pizza

But the leftover potatoes became potato cakes for Tuesday's breakfast/lunch for John.

Tuesday coconut chicken tenders gluten free (new recipe) with maple mustard dipping sauce and Greek salad/corn. Very good but would use air fryer next time.

Wednesday burgers

Thursday baked shrimp with feta (new recipe) air fryer marinated lamb chops, sauteed Brussels sprouts with maple syrup (so good) and new boiled potatoes. I marinated the chops in olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, oregano, thyme and salt. Air Fryer at 400 F for about 4 minutes each side.

Friday steak with onions, mushrooms and green peppers.

READING

I thoroughly enjoyed Hostage, I loved how we were introduced to the passengers allowing us to guess who the antagonist might be. I have not had a book make me cry in a long time. BUT that last chapter I NEVER saw that coming, what an ending!!!

The Wrong Family - another humdinger of a story, if perhaps, a little beyond belief. It could also use some proof reading corrections and tidy up some hanging storylines.

It just shows what happens when you interfere in other people's lives.

Finished The New Husband - boring, predictable blah.

Started The Twenty-Seventh City by Franzen, not sure if I'm going to like it.

Weekend Roundup

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1. Starts with "N"
2. A Favorite
3.NUTS - chosen by Tom

Starts with "N"

NACOGDOCHES  Texas

Local promotional literature from the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau describes Nacogdoches as "The Oldest Town in Texas". Evidence of settlement at the same site dates back to 10,000 years ago. It is near or on the site of Nevantin, the primary village of the Nacogdoche tribe of Caddo Indians.

Nacogdoches remained a Caddo Indian settlement until the early 19th century. In 1716, Spain established a mission there, Misión Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. That was the first European construction in the area. The "town" of Nacogdoches got started after the French had vacated the region (1760s, following the French and Indian War), and Spanish officials decided that maintaining the mission was too costly. In 1772, they ordered all settlers in the area to move to San Antonio. Some were eager to escape the wilderness, but others had to be forced from their homes by soldiers. It was one of the original European settlements in the region, populated by Adaeseños from Fort Los Adaes.

FAVOURITE

T-shirt in St. Regis Montana

NUTS

St. Regis Montana

Déjà Brew

A catchall for leftover beer, coffee, food, motels and whatever catches my fancy!

NEON Boneyard Las Vegas NV

Signs

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Toronto ON

Kensington Market