Hungry?

When I'm home from tour, even briefly, I cook!

Hi!

I'm back from our summer tour—albeit briefly—so I decided to make a few things. Eating out, ordering in, and snacking on tour only make me want to eat as much home-cooking as I can when I get off the road. On Sunday, I got all the ingredients for one of my favourite stews. I love to cook and do it often. I came across this recipe last winter, and when my mom and Sara got Covid in the same week—not from each other—I tried it out. I had never cooked with wine before, or cream so I initially didn’t use a lot of it. Since I’ve experimented with different amounts to find the perfect consistency.

From Sara’s sickbed.

I definitely love using the boneless chicken thighs requested. I tried it once with chicken breast and it just wasn’t as good. Other adaptations: Sometimes I add kale and spinach to get some green. I also like to toss the carrots, celery, (kale and spinach if I’m using them), onion and garlic in my food processor - I like everything really fine in a soup as I’m not a fan of chunky vegetables personally. I throw all that into my Instatpot once the chicken is seared. At that point, I add the wine, the flour and the broth. Last up a tiny bit of the half and half. I use half of what they ask for in the recipe and it’s still creamy but not too heavy. I cook it on high for 10 minutes. Let me know if you make it how it turns out! I doubled the batch and brought some to my mom’s on Monday. I didn’t have any greens so this was closer to the original recipe. My mom texted this photo and the caption, “Yummy.”

On Monday, I went to visit my mom, and we made some Strawberry-rhubarb-blueberry crumble together. This is a dish my mom often brings for family dinners, but I asked specifically for her to show me how she makes it so I could bring some home. I asked her to send the recipe and she sent this below:

Baking with my mom is always so funny. Sofia often points out that my mom and I are similar in the kitchen. We move too quickly, toss things together, and often don’t follow the recipe. But what we also have in common is that we’re great bakers and cooks! So take that! So yesterday we tossed all the fruit together in a bowl with some sugar, and in a separate bowl, I hand-mixed the butter, sugar, flour, oats, and salt together then we tossed it in the oven to bake. We took my moms dog for a walk and 45 minutes later voila!

My first batch of crumble!

My mom wants me to tell you that if you want to make this, you can sub vegan butter, almond or gluten-free flour (she’s done variations, and they all taste great), and any frozen fruit (she often subs in peaches). Next time I make it, I am going to play around with maple syrup and cut half the sugar in the crumble topping to see if it still tastes great with a little less sugar in it. It’s a really easy dessert to make in the summer! Try it!

Enjoy!

Tegan