Day 44 & 45 - Pancakes, pineapple, chili and pesto

I'm making up for lost time!!

Sunday morning I decided to make some pancakes.  R suggested a package but I decided to go from scratch.  It's incredibly easy!  I decided to try Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancake recipe from Allrecipes.

The recipe calls for the mixture to sit for an hour so I also decided another fruit salad was in order.  This time I bought a full pineapple - skin on!  It was quite easy to cut up.  There's actually a web site dedicated to doing it!  Who doesn't love fresh pineapple?!?

Am I the only one who loves the green bin?  I seriously love it when I'm making something like this knowing that all the waste is going there instead of the garbage.  I'm a garbage nerd.  It's OK.

So anyhow... to the pineapple I added strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and bananas as well as a splash of orange juice.

When that was ready the pancake batter had sat for a while and had really thickened up!  I made about a dozen small pancakes.  A bit much for us but I like leftovers.

The cool thing about that link to the recipe above is that you can change how many portions you want and it will adjust the ingredient list automatically!

So there's our Sunday brunch.

Errands and snowshoe break

And we're back!  Time for dinner!  After a trek in the wintery woods we decided chili would be the perfect warm up.  I've come up with a recipe that mixes my mom's with Rich's.

Here's what I put in it:

1 pkg Lean ground beef  (no set amount)
1 Onion diced
1 Pepper (we used half yellow half green)
2 cans whole Tomatoes
2 cans Baked beans
1 can Black beans
Chili powder (to taste)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
Pepper

I start off by sautéing the onions in a little olive oil. When they are translucent I add the ground beef.  When the beef is about halfway done I add the chopped peppers and cook it all up until the meat is brown.  Then I just add the cans (roughly cutting up the tomatoes in the can) and spices.  Then you just have to let it simmer away.  It's best if you have a few hours to let the spices do their magic.  We didn't have very long so it was a touch mild but it was perfect for lunch today!

Oh - and don't forget the cheese.  The picture to the right shows how much cheese I put on it.

The one below shows how much cheese R likes on the chili.

Now it's on to a new day!!




Today (Monday) I was too tired and hungry and broke at the end of the day to go grocery shopping.  So I thought about what I had in my cupboards and did a little googling and came up with pasta with pesto, goats cheese and tomatoes.

I started off cooking up some spaghetti.  While that was going I put some olive oil and garlic in a pan and let that start heating up.  I roughly chopped some canned tomatoes and crumbled in the goats cheese.

When the pasta was done I left a touch (a touch too much in fact) of water for the sauce and then poured in the mixture from the pan and a healthy scoop of pesto.  I also threw in a handful of spinach for good measure.  I had some to use up so why not?

It was good.  I had enough of the sauce to make a second helping for my lunch tomorrow!  This saving thing will be a breeze!

I am going to tell you now tomorrow will be a leftover day because I'm going to the ballet with a couple of friends after work.  Oh - and Wednesday we have a friend coming in to town so we're going out for dinner.

I suppose I better come up with some muffins or breakfast food or something!

Happy cooking!

Day 43 - Rotisserie chicken and amazing friends

I'm not going to write this until I have photos... stay tuned...

Day 40 - 42 - Salmon and the lost days

Well... let's see.   Wednesday I drove up to see R and he made an amazing dinner!!!  He baked salmon with some sort of delicious glaze that he whipped up with items from the fridge.  He's got a knack for that.  He paired it with roasted veggies.  Peppers, potatoes (started in the microwave), carrots and onions.  He just drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and tossed on some spices and put it in the oven at 400 degrees.

We paired it with an amazing bottle of wine from the Southbrook winery in Niagara on the Lake.  It was their triompe cabernet merlot and it was delicious!  I was disappointed we only had one bottle.  But we are trying to figure out wines for our wedding and want to get them from Ontario wineries we've been to so this was an educational experiment.

As for the next three days... they were totally lost!!  Thursday I ate a leftover burrito.  Earlier in the day I bought one of my favourite muffins (blueberry almond) and an egg salad sandwich from the cafe at work.  What a bad day in terms of buying and making food!!  Friday I drove up to see R again and met him for a drink.  By the time we got home I decided some popcorn and a sandwich was the perfect dinner.

Saturday... well Saturday deserves it's own post but I'm waiting for photos.

Day 39 - Burritos!

Mmmm...  I kind of love everything I make.  Or almost everything.  But tonight's dinner was especially delicious!  I have been wanting to make something like this for a while now.  Before leaving work I looked up a few recipes for burritos and decided to wing it.  I picked up some black beans, tortillas, tomatoes, and lactose-free cheese and sour cream.  I also grabbed a BBQ chicken so I could shred a bit for the burritos and eat the rest for dinner with R tomorrow.

Here's how I made it:

I poured most of the liquid out of the beans and put them in a pot on medium.

I added two tablespoons of Epicure's taco seasoning, a teaspoon of lime juice, and some fresh cilantro.

I let that simmer away for a while as I diced the tomatoes, green pepper, and avocado and grated the cheese.

I tried the lactose-free sour cream before using it and it was really good!  A touch sweet but I expect that from lactose-free products.  The cheese didn't have a lot of flavour but it was OK.

Then I just put it all together in a flour tortilla (including a small amount of the chicken).

If I had guests over I would have put everything into nice little bowls but it was only me so I didn't have to be fancy.

I made two but that was actually too much!!  I still ate them both... but I would have been fine with just one!


Yum!  Yum!  Yum!

Day 34-38 salad, more salad, and a hummus-type dip

Man!  I have to stop putting this off because I kind of forget everything I ate over the past 5 days.

Thursday, February 3, I drove up to R's for a game night with some friends.  All the food I ate was homemade but I didn't take any photos.

On Friday I stayed at work a bit late and only got home about half-an-hour before R got to my place.  We decided to order pizza but I didn't want to gorge myself on it so I decided to make a spinach salad first.

Spinach, mushrooms, green peppers, yellow tomatoes and avocado.  Yum!  I decided to try a new Epicure mix I have for a Classic Vinaigrette.  I just added some of the mix to oil and balsamic vinegar and voila!  Dressing.  It was quite good.

The best part, though, was after eating a plateful of salad I couldn't eat much pizza.  Two small slices and I was full to the brim.  It was excellent!  I couldn't even eat another slice of pepperoni.

Saturday...  we didn't make anything.  We got up late and went skiing.  I don't even remember what we had for breakfast but for dinner we ate out at Darcy McGees for dinner.

On Sunday we didn't eat much either.  We split a cinnamon bun for breakfast, split half a rack of ribs for lunch, and went to a friends for dinner.

We're right back at our old bad habits!!  The dinner at the friend's house was nice.  We had a backed pasta with homemade tomato sauce and fried veggies.  Delish!

Today I decided to make another salad because I needed to use up the veggies.  Can I just say I love salad?!?  I really do!  Especially with avocado.  This time I added some chick peas for protein and some snow peas I had in the fridge.

I figured that wouldn't really be good enough for the blog so I decided I would also make a hummus-type bean dip.

I went to Market Organics to pick up some tahini and my favourite pitas from the Middle East Bakery on Somerset St. but to my dismay they were all out of the pitas!!!  I was quite disappointed but now that I think about it it's probably a good thing.  Had I been able to get them I probably would have eaten the bag of pitas with hummus all night.

Sigh.

Instead I bought some Pita Break lavash crackers.  I suppose they'll do.  At  least I won't over eat.

So... the hummus.  I call it a hummus-type dip because I bought some black soy beans to throw in as well.  I was curious how it would turn out.

I followed a recipe I found on about.com (posted below) substituting some of the black beans for chick peas.

The only thing I found was it was very hard to get it to mix properly.  I don't think I saved enough of the liquid from the can.  That or my blender was not the best mixing tool.  Also the organic tahini I bought was thicker than I remembered so that could have been part of the problem.

The soy beans definitely give it a different flavour but it's good.

What I would really like to do is roast some garlic for the dip.  That will have to happen next time.  I was too tired tonight.

Hopefully they'll have pitas at the store tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).

Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

Variations

For a spicier hummus, add a sliced red chile or a dash of cayenne pepper.

Storing Hummus

Hummus can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can be kept in the freezer for up to one month. Add a little olive oil if it appears to be too dry.

Day 33 - Korean BBQ

Technically we cooked for ourselves tonight...  we just did it at a restaurant.   R's flight was cancelled because of bad weather so we decided to go out for dinner and wanted to go somewhere we had never been.

We eventually decided on Korean Palace on Somerset St.  I had eaten Korean BBQ before but never there.  What I knew was we would be given a plate of thinly sliced, marinated, raw beef which we would cook on our own grill built into the table.  I knew there were a few side dishes but the meal we had at Korean Palace was better  than I had in the past.

Fried pork dumplings

Our waitress doted on us.  She cut our ribs into bite-sized pieces with scissors... made sure we didn't try to pull the meat off the grill before it was ready... and then showed us how we were supposed to eat the dish.

We ordered two types of meat: thin strips of raw beef, and beef ribs.  The ribs were not what I expected.  The meat hung off the side of the bone which made it much easier to eat.

Side dishes

When the meat was ready the waitress showed us how to pick up a piece of lettuce and top it with a small piece of meat, some rice and soy bean paste sauce.  We tried a few different variations by adding some of the side dishes.

It was delicious!!

Meat on the grill

The proper way to eat it

Days 29-31 - Guilty! Then it was Day 1 again

Talk about lazy!  Saturday we never left the house to get groceries.  Suddenly it was 6:00 and we hadn't really eaten...  so we went to Subway before visiting friends.

Sunday we also had trouble getting started although we did manage to get dog food and go snowshoeing.  I think we take care of the way the dogs eat better than ourselves!!

Sunday night a friend made dinner for us, though, so maybe that could count?  We had steak, roasted vegetables, and an incredible spinach salad with a poppy seed dressing (sans actual seeds).  I loved the dressing!!

And then there was Monday...  I had a crazy day at work and only made it to the grocery store at 7:30pm.  I know... excuses, excuses!!  I picked up roasted chicken legs (they had no full chickens) and some things for the next night and headed home.  When I started unloading the groceries I realized I had an asian salad in the fridge!!  Dinner suddenly became asian salad with chicken.  Yummy!

Sigh.

At least I made something interesting tonight.

Let me tell you - buying the groceries ahead of time was the best idea ever!  After working a 13 hour day I was really not in the mood to go grocery shopping.  But I was so excited about this recipe so having stuff at home made it all work out!

I love Tom Yum soup!  A few weeks ago my mom gave me a Chatelaine magazine.  I was a little unsure about making it...  and this recipe like a safe start (recipe copied below).

I decided to make a veggie version, though, so I added broccoli, snow peas, and bean sprouts.  I ended up adding the broccoli too early though and it was too well done for my liking.  I also added rice noodles to make it closer to the soup I'm used to.

I tasted it along the way and though it didn't taste at all like Tom Yum soup from the Thai place where I normally get it.  Then again, I thought, I was using a recipe from Chatelaine.  I added a bit more of the chili garlic sauce and it still wasn't quite right but coconut milk saves everything.

Then I added the fish sauce.

I was very nervous about the fish sauce beforehand for some reason.  I was worried it would be very fishy and wasn't sure I would like it.  Once I had put in the two tablespoons the recipe called for the whole soup was transformed.  Suddenly it was the Tom Yum soup I know and love!  I was so impressed with myself.

Eventually R got home and we sat down to eat and despite the over cooked veggies he loved it as well!

This is now going to be one of my go to recipes.  It was incredibly fast, delicious and filling.  Plus I got to use that little lime juicer thingy.  The proper name escapes me right now.

Classic tom yum soup with chicken and shrimp

Published by Chatelaine on 1/1/2011

Preparation time 15 minutesCooking time 15 minutes

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients

• 900 ml container chicken broth
• 400 ml can regular coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp hot chili-garlic sauce
• 2 to 3 kaffir-lime leaves
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin bite-sized strips
• 227 g pkg sliced mushrooms or 90 g pkg enoki mushrooms
• 1 ripe tomato, chopped
• 1/2 454 g pkg medium shrimp, peeled
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

1. Pour broth and coconut milk into a large saucepan and set over medium. Whisk in sugar and chili-garlic sauce. Add lime leaves. Cover and bring to a boil.
2. Add chicken, mushrooms, tomato and shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 5 min. (If using enoki mushrooms, stir in with cilantro at the end of cooking.)
3. Stir lime juice, fish sauce and cilantro into soup. Soup will keep well, covered and refrigerated, up to 1 day.

• Pantry Tip:

  Can’t find lime leaves? Substitute 1/2 tsp lime zest.

Nutrients per Serving

• 228 calories
• 17 g protein
• 7 g carbohydrates
• 17 g fat
• 2 g fibre
• 1245 mg sodium