 Diana was actually one of the first people we met when we first moved here in 2003. She worked at the liquor store then. But we met her out at Muchalaht Lake – honest!! 
Anyway, Muchalaht Lake was where I was introduced to Diana’s Moroccan salad during a camping potluck dinner – and it was delicious! I talked her into sending me the recipe so I could share it here. Enjoy!
Moroccan Salad
Step 1
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Molasses
1/3 c. Wild rice
- Dissolve soy and molasses in 1 1/3 c. water and cook wild rice until tender.
Step 2
2 Tbsp. Oil
1/2 c. Brown rice
- Saute rice in oil then cook in 1 c. water (approx. 30 min. until tender)
Step 3
1 can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion -chopped
1 small red pepper -chopped
1/3 c. dried apricots -sliced
1/2 c. golden raisins
2 Tbsp. fresh mint or cilantro -chopped
1/2 c. slivered almonds -toasted
- Mix altogether with the cooked rices
Step 4 (the dressing)
1 tsp. Curry
1 tsp. Coriander
1 tsp. Turmeric
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
1/4 c. Rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. Honey
5 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice – fresh squeezed is best
- Dry fry spices. Allow to cool. Whisk in honey, lemon juice, rice vinegar and oil last.
As always .. best made the day before.
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Our first installment of Food Porn with Linda was way back in October. If you missed the definition of ‘food porn’ (in case you’re offended by the term), here it is again:
Wikipedia defines ‘Food Porn’ as, “a provocative term variously applied to a spectacular visual presentation of foods boasting a high fat and calorie content, exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat or the glorification of food as a substitute for sex.”
If you’re still offended by the vernacular, I apologize. But keep reading, because you’re going to like this recipe courtesy of Linda Hooper!
Raspberry Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
 Photo by Linda Hooper What you’ll need and what to do:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 2/3 cup of cooking oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 85g raspberry jello
- 1 1/4 cup frozen raspberries with light syrup-thawed
( Linda scoops the raspberries into the measuring cup and
tops up the cup with the syrup)
Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer. Pour batter into a greased and lightly floured 9×13 baking pan.
Cool and frost with cream cheese icing:
Cream together:
- 1 brick cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups icing sugar
Really easy, really moist and OH SO yummy! Thanks Linda!
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 I’m the first to admit that I’m not much of a baker. But I saw Rachael Ray make this a few years ago on Oprah, and figured I’d give it a try. And you know what? It ROCKED!! It was so good we ate it all and I had to make another one. It looks impressive, tastes delicious and is soooooo easy. I patted myself on the back for this one all through Christmas 2006.
Ingredients:
12 ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (save the can)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 ounces walnuts, plus more for topping
1/2 cup raisins or dried currants (a couple of handfuls)
candied red and green cherries to decorate top (like holly)
softened butter to grease an 8 inch round cake pan
Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with softened butter. Pour the chocolate and butterscotch chips, condensed milk and vanilla into a medium saucepan. Put the pan on the stove and turn the heat to low.
Cover the empty condensed milk can with plastic wrap and put it in the center of the round cake pan.
Stir the chips and milk until they melt together, about 3 minutes. Stir in nuts and raisins. Scoop the fudge into the cake pan all around the plastic-covered can in the center to form a wreath or ring shape. Let it be all bumpy on top. Keep pushing the can back to the center if the fudge moves it away from there. Cut the red cherries in half with scissors and the green cherries into quarters. Use the green pieces to make leaves and the red to make holly berries. Decorate the fudge with several groups of holly berry sprigs made from the cherries and garnish with walnuts between the sprigs.
Put the fudge in the fridge and chill until firm. Remove the can from the center, then loosen the sides and bottom of the fudge with a spatula. Cut the fudge into thin slices to serve.
To give the wreath as a gift-wrap in cellophane and secure with a bow or ornament.
Variations:
White Chocolate Wreath with Pistachio and Cranberry
Substitute the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips, 1 1/2 ounce bag plus 1 cup.
Substitute 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shelled natural pistachio nuts for walnuts.
Substitute 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries for currants.
Goober and Raisinette Wreath
Swap butterscotch for peanut butter chips
Swap large whole peanuts for walnuts used in original recipe (such as peeled Virginia Peanuts)
Swap 1/2 cup large raisins for currants in original recipe
Note: I have only made the original recipe, minus the walnuts. I put crushed candy canes on the second wreath I made….. don’t do that. They go all funny and get runny.
 Recently someone was talking (or did I read it somewhere?) about having a big Christmas cookie exchange and meeting at the Ladies Auxiliary Hall and sharing all the goodies.
I’ve been involved in a few of these in the past and they’re always fun and a great way to get a variety of baking without doing all the work!
If anyone’s interested in doing this, please let me know. I wouldn’t mind spearheading this, but we will be away for the holidays this year so I won’t be able to. It wouldn’t take much – just keep track of the numbers and give everyone a date to meet. It can be as simple or as festive as you’d like!
There are literally hundreds of resources on the web to get you started from The Rules of the Cookie Exchange, to Cookie Exchange Invitations and Christmas cookie recipe sites like RecipeGirl, JoyofBaking and All-Time Favourite Christmas Cookies.
Anyone interested? Email me (info/at/goldriverbuzz.com) or comment on this post and I’ll do my best to get everyone together before we leave.
 This soup has become one of our new family fav’s. The fact that my husband is the one who prepares it, makes it even more fabulous in my book! (Now if I could only get him to do the dishes!)
This is a great soup in any season, but is especially welcome at this time of the year. I hope Jim doesn’t mind me sharing the recipe!
Clam Chowder (Manhattan/Red)
What you’ll need:
- 4 slices lean bacon, cut up and fried
- 2 cans clams or equal amount fresh (plus juice)
- 1 whole onion, diced
- 4 carrots, cut up
- 3 potatoes, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1 can whole tomatoes (with juice)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 cups clamato juice
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
What to do:
Simmer all ingredients until cooked. Add clamato juice at the end if you need more taste.
My husband usually adds prawns and whatever white fish we have on hand – usually cod. Add some fresh buns and enjoy!
 This is way better than the store bought stuff!
This recipe is from an old Church fundraiser cookbook I was given years ago. I made this constantly when my girls were little. I always doubled it as it gave both of them a good amount to play with.
Homemade Playdough:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 pkg Kool-Aid (added to water)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Mix all ingredients together and cook on low heat until solid, stirring frequently. Completely safe for small children, even if eaten. Keep in plastic container when not in use.
(If you do double the recipe, there is no need to add two packages of Kool-Aid – it’s fine with just one.)
My girls loved getting it right out of the pot when it was still really warm – they would stand at the counter and jump up and down. They also loved picking new flavours of Kool-Aid for the next batch. Be warned if you have little ones – the Kool-Aid makes it smell much more appetizing than it actually is!
Enjoy!
Wikipedia defines ‘Food Porn’ as, “a provocative term variously applied to a spectacular visual presentation of foods boasting a high fat and calorie content, exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat or the glorification of food as a substitute for sex.”
The delectable goodies that Linda Hooper bakes up definitely ticks all of these boxes and more! She’s been compared to Betty Crocker and has been called the Rachael Ray of Gold River. Lucky for us, our local Food Porn Queen has agreed to share some of her mouth watering recipes.
First up are Linda’s decadent S’More Cheesecake Squares
What you’ll need:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter or marg, melted
3 Tbsp. sugar
4 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup miniature marshmallows
What to do:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix graham crumbs, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar; press firmly onto bottom of 13×9 inch baking pan.
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add flour & mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Stir milk chocolate chips into cream cheese mixture. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, the marshmallows and about 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs.
Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely, cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store any leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.
Leftover cheesecake?? Isn’t that an oxymoron? It is in our house anyway!
Enjoy!
 I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not much of a cook, but there are a couple of dishes that earn me rave reviews. My sweet potato casserole is one of them.
It’s more like a dessert than a vegetable dish, and even my vegetable hater loves this one!
I don’t really measure any of the ingredients – I just eyeball and throw stuff in. (And I’m pretty sure I use yams most of the time for this as well.) It’s good with either. Here’s what to do:
Peel and dice two (or however many you think you’ll need) large sweet potatoes (or yams). Cook until tender (like you would for mashed potatoes). Strain water, and dump sweet potatoes into large bowl – add a dollop or two of low fat sour cream, a couple tbsp (or more) of margarine, a healthy amount of brown sugar, and then cinnamon/nutmeg/salt/pepper to taste. Mix with beaters until no lumps remain.
Spoon the mixture into a deep baking dish – make sure there’s still enough room on top for marshmallows! (I will usually make this ahead of time, and then warm it up in the microwave right before I’m ready to melt the marshmallows.) Top generously with either mini or regular marshmallows and place under the broiler until browned. DO NOT walk away from the oven, as it only takes a couple of minutes, and will burn before you know it!
I hope everyone is enjoying a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend!
 One of the girls we camped with out at Muchalat Lake this summer constantly talked about how delicious this recipe is, so I couldn’t wait to try it.
She’s a skinny little thing, so I’m hoping it will put me on the right track to getting rid of all my Summer sins!
Here are her instructions.
Green Beans & Almond Recipe
In a frying pan, start by frying up 1/2 a diced onion and about 1/4-1/2 cup sliced almonds in a tsp of margarine.
At the same time, boil green beans until almost cooked. Add 2 cloves minced garlic to onion and almond mixture. Let sit on low heat until green beans are ready to be added.
Add green beans to mixture and add a few tbsp of soya sauce, (your preference – add slowly – better not enough than too much, trust me!) pepper and seasoning salt to taste.
Fry all of it together for at least 5 min – I cook mine on a med high heat to get the soya crusted on the beans….. if that makes sense, lol.
If you want smokies or chicken in it, cook first, slice and add to the mixture at the same time as the beans.
Enjoy!
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Diana was actually one of the first people we met when we first moved here in 2003. She worked at the liquor store then. But we met her out at Muchalaht Lake – honest!! 
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