Day 80: Tourtiere...

‘Tis the eve of Christmas, and with it brings a special tradition.  My brood hails from Montreal and through the years have carried with it the Tourtiere.  This French meat pie is the delicious centerpiece of our Christmas Eve dinner.

However after years of buying store bought Tourtiere, I had that familiar thought which you know is coming, “Why don’t I make my own Tourtiere this year?”

It was a few years ago that I had that thought, and created this recipe.  I usually make a double batch, bake one, and freeze the second for later -Tourtiere is too good to have only once a year.

This pie is a special part of my Christmas, and since creating my own recipe, I’ve made it even more so.  It’s traditional to serve it up with ketchup, but I’ve found this home made version is so infinitely better than store bought, I’ve never felt the need for ketchup!

Welcome to a piece of my family tradition.

Enjoy...

A New Site, A New Name, A New Day. Let's Have Coffee...

To commemorate the new day for this blog, I thought I’d post a recipe that shows how I start the day.

Day 79:  Fresh Roasted Bridgehead Coffee...

I like Bridgehead coffee.  That’s no secret.  I go there at least three times a week with my fellow runners.  One could say it’s the headquarters of our merry band, either that or the Clocktower.

In any case, I’ve discovered that I prefer Bridgehead coffee the way I brew it.  I like a nice strong coffee, but not one overflowing with caffeine.  Over time I’ve managed to find my perfect cup, and here it is for you to try and...

Enjoy...

To Change or Not to Change?

As you may have noticed, I have included advertising to this blog.  I figured, "What the hell!"  If I post as often as I do, I might as well get paid for it, so here they are.  I will naturally need to do some tweaking, because the templates for Google Ads don't appear to fit the templates for Blogger page content.

So the next step is to change the name of this blog.  How much money you make off the Advertising is based on how many clicks the ads get.  So site traffic is essential.  Which bring me to my point.  Having a food blog who's name has nothing to do with food doesn't make a lot of sense.  It sure won't increase traffic, and it may DECREASE traffic.

This blog has been active since 2006, so with a heavy heart I will be changing the name of this blog from Doc Savageland to...

SAVAGE FOOD

and the domain name will be
http://savagefood.blogspot.com/

This change will take place on Monday, but I wanted to give viewers the heads up before I make the change.  I didn't want anyone to make the trip and suddenly find the page missing.

Please feel free to comment.

Day 78: Thai Shellfish Egg Noodle Stir Fry...

Will eating Thai food give you superhuman Muay Thai powers?  Maybe hidden deep in an unknown location in Thailand there is a chef so great, so knowledgable that eating his/her food will grant you mastery of Thai Martial Arts, but mine won’t.  Mine just tastes good.

If I were a religious man, I would have faith in the stir-fry.  I am constantly amazed by how versatile and refreshing this method of cooking is.  By simply changing a few ingredients, you can take the same utensil, use the same cooking process and get a totally different dish.

I post maybe 10% of the stir-fries I cook, simply because I do it so often that I take it for granted.  I end up halfway through the dish and forget to write down the ingredients.

So join me in the last few days before the holidays, before the world is overrun by turkey and stuffing, to celebrate the wok and the stir-fry.  It may not grant you martial arts powers, but it will fill your belly.

Day 77: Vegetarian Dumplings...

Some of my best friends are Vegans, and one day while I was cleaning out my freezer I came across a lonely bag of frozen Edamame.  It looked at me forlornly and said, “Hey, remember me?  We were going to make roasted Edamame to snack on.”

I had originally opened the freezer to get at the ground pork.  I had a lazy Sunday coming up, recovering from a long run, and planned to make Chinese Dumplings.  I felt bad.  Those beans had been pushed further and further to the back of the freezer, destined to be forgotten.

Face with my neglect, an idea formed.  I have Vegan friends.  I’m making Dumplings.  Who says you can’t make vegetarian dumplings?  Really?  Who says you can’t?

The fact that it was something new and untried, by me at least, was what attracted me to the idea.  So when I took the pork out of the freezer to thaw, the bag of Edamame came out to.  The rest was history.

Enjoy...

Day 76: Mocha Coconut Milk Ice Cream...

With the holiday season at hand, there will be many gatherings at which we will be called upon to bring something tasty to satisfy and placate the dark god Cthulhu.  The best way to keep that shuddering wet mass from emerging from the pits of dreaded R’Iyeh is to never make the same thing twice.

Now I have friends who are vegan, so when there is a big gathering, in true Canadian fashion, I try not to let the majority oppress the minority, so I lean towards the vegan friendly if I can.  Which brings me to my point.

I have an ice cream maker, but so far I have not found a decent substitute for dairy.  You can make ice cream with soy milk or rice milk or almond milk, but if you try to place that before the altar to the Necronomicon, you will see the door between the two worlds break open, unleashing an army of the old ones led by an enraged Cthulhu himself.  Yes it’s just not good enough.  The fat content of whipping cream is what gives ice cream it’s smooth texture, and the non-dairy replacements just don’t have it.

So then I thought of coconut milk.  Why not?  It’s pretty fatty, isn’t it?  So I cracked open a can and came up with this.

Enjoy...

Day 74: Southern Tuna and Salmon Salad...

This is a really simple, fast, and easy to make dish.  You can eat it as is, or put it in a tortilla wrap and eat it as a sandwich.

Enjoy.

Day 75: Sunflower Seed Snack...

Another chapter in my attempts to eat healthy led me to create this.  One of the biggest culprits in weight gain is snacking, so I took some time to make these tasty sunflower seed snacks.

Enjoy...

Day 73: Simple Avocado Soup...

Avocados are supposed to be really good for you, and I had a few left over from the California rolls I made earlier in the week, so I threw this together.  Not only is it easy, but it’s quick.  Try to forget it’s healthy.

Enjoy...