Lazy... but delicious

 New job... new excuses!  Seriously... this just keeps getting harder and harder to do for some reason!

Tonight, for instance, I was driving home from work and was shocked to see it was nearly 8:00pm and I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.  I was going to stop at the grocery store but I decided it was too late.  I would have to deal with what I had.

When I got home I took stock: spinach, peppers, mushrooms and zucchini.  I wasn't in the mood for a salad so I pulled out some pasta.  As it was boiling away I chopped up the veggies and diced up some cheese I found in the fridge.  I added the spinach last so it would only wilt a little.  When I drained the pasta I saved a little bit of the water and poured both into the pan with the veggies.  I added the cheese and the last remnants of my pesto.  I still wasn't satisfied so I added about a tablespoon of salmon cream cheese.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  It could be really bad.

I sat down and the dogs were instantly sniffing at my plate.  That doesn't really mean anything .  They love all food (although I discovered they don't enjoy mushrooms tonight).  I took a bite ... delicious!!

But I'm determined to try more real recipes.  I bought a new cookbook/magazine and I'm going to bring it with me on the bus tomorrow so I can get an idea BEFORE I'm already on my way home.

Time to catch up! No more counting.

R would freak out because I'm changing up the format at this point but the numbers really aren't working for me!

I'm so sorry I haven't written in a while!  Life has been so busy.  Can I just say again I have no idea how people do it with families!  I feel like I have no time at all.

The good news is I have been cooking.  So I have a lot to catch up on!

Let's do this one through photos...

One day I didn't know waht to make so I tossed some tomatoes with goats cheese in olive oil....

... tossed in some spinach and had a nice light pasta sauce.  Yum. 

The next night I did another omelet with spinach, tomatoes...

... and cheese, of course.  I still haven't figured out how to flip the dang things!

Roast Sunday!  I can't find the recipe I followed but it was a basic herb-crusted roast recipe.  I tried propping the beef on top of the veggies so it wasn't sitting on the bottom of the roasting pan...   

... the result was a good roast but only some of the veggies turned out.  The ones under the roast did not cook properly.  Who knew?  Ok... probably a lot of people.  Not me.

I was also going through a cheap stage so I bought this bucket of spinach one night...

... and made a whole lot of spinach salads!!!  Yum!

This was a definite success!  Homemade waffles using this recipe.  They turned out incredibly well!   

Topped off with some real whipped cream and fresh fruit they were perfect for a Sunday brunch with friends... and then family the following week!  I think I have a new tradition in the works!!

Then R was going to be at my place for dinner so I decided to make something I hadn't made before...

Mussels!  I used the Food Network mobile app and found this recipe.  The only thing is the sauce was VERY watery.  We just ate the mussels and pasta separately   

Then... because I still had some of that spinach leftover I decided to make a leek, spinach and mushroom soup using another recipe from my handy mobile app!  

Ok...  so that pretty much catches us up ... except for what I made tonight.  I'll have to add that tomorrow.  Actually there could possibly be some other pics on the camera as well.  I'll have to check and see!

This week I'm going to tackle apple pie!

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 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!

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

Day 26-28

The beginning of January was going so well.  Then life started happening again!  Still...  I'm making some big improvements.

On Wednesday (the 26th), though, I wasn't feeling well.  When I got home all I could stomach was soup.  So I made possibly the worst kind but it's so good when you're sick - Lipton's chicken noodle soup from the packet.

Thursday was a complete right off during the day.  I think I only had a banana and oatmeal.  At night I got a bit of my energy and appetite back so I whipped up some chicken but it wasn't very elaborate.  I basically spread some olive oil and Epicure's Garam Masala spice on chicken breasts that had the skin on and baked them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I paired the chicken with the salad from Tuesday night and dinner was done.

Friday is a day I'm somewhat proud of.  After work I drove up to see R.  I didn't get there until 8 and I still wasn't feeling all that well.  When I arrived we couldn't decide what to eat.  R suggested Subway.  I said pizza so we didn't have to go out.  After resting a bit I decided I felt good enough to cook and scoured the cupboards to see what I could come up with.

We had shrimp... pasta... and garlic so Garlic Shrimp Pasta was an obvious choice. We did not have spaghetti, though, so we had to use macaroni.

The recipe is below.  It was quite tasty.  I thought it was going to be too runny but we added a pile of shredded parmesan in the pot and everything thickened up to coat the pasta.

I will add photos as soon as I find the cable for R's camera.

Enjoy!

Garlic Shrimp Pasta 

• Time 10 minutes
• Serves 4

Ingredients

---

• 1 Pound Spaghetti (or Linguine)
• 1 Pound Medium Shrimp, Cleaned And Deveined, And Coarsely Chopped
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup White Wine
• 3 Cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
• 1/4 Cup Parsley
• Salt & Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes

• How to make it

  ---

  • Put the pasta on to cook.
  • While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet.
  • Add the shrimp, garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.
  • After a minute or two, as soon as the shrimp are pink and opaque, remove them from the pan.
  • Add butter and wine in the skillet and turn the heat up to medium high.
  • Cook until it has reduced by half.
  • Drain the pasta, reserving a small cup of pasta water.
  • Return the shrimp to the skillet and cook until heated through.
  • Add the parsley and mix.
  • Add the pasta, and cook another minute or two over high heat.
  • If it seems dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water.
  • Serve piping hot, garnishing with additional fresh parsley if desired.
  •    

Days 22-25 - Family, fresh fruit, quinoa and an armadillo cake!

I spent the weekend visiting my family and didn't get the chance to do a whole lot of cooking because of everything we had planned but I still have some foodie things to share!

First off - I was determined to cook SOMETHING so Saturday morning I decided to make a fruit salad.  I shamefully sent my father off with a list of fruit we had written the night before so I could sleep in (I am a spoiled child) but around 8:00 or so I got up to get things going.  Making the salad made me want to kick myself for not doing this weekly.  I love fruit salad.  I won't post a recipe seeing as all you really do is pick your fruit cut it up and throw it in a bowl.  I will say, however, that I love to have bananas in the salad and always pour orange juice over the whole thing to stop oxidization.  What ends up happening is the bananas sort of melt into the juice as the days go on and I personally love it!

After the fruit salad and a hard boiled egg we started off for a day of dress shopping and girly fun!  My sisters and I wanted to treat my mom to a girl's day for her birthday.  Dress shopping, all you can eat sushi lunch, mani/pedis, make up and then "SURPRISE!!" a birthday party!

At the party we had a red velvet armadillo cake a la Steel Magnolias.

Anyone who has seen the movie might recognize why my mom cut the end off first!!  The cake was delicious!

Sunday we did more dress shopping and stopped at the Muddy Duck Restaurant for lunch - a wedding tradition for my family, it seems.

While I didn't cook much we had some successful shopping trips!!  It was so much fun!

Monday morning I had work to do in Toronto and had decided to drive back home right afterwards.  I didn't make a lunch so ate out at lunch and dinner!!!

Today there was no question!  I was going to cook dinner but I really have no idea how people do it when they have kids.  After work I stopped by a friend's event at work, then picked up a box of invitations a store had on hold for me before I made it to the grocery store.  By the time I walked through the door I had absolutely no idea what to make.  I grabbed my phone, downloaded the Food Network Canada Mobile app and searched for a recipe that included quinoa.

What I found was a warm spinach salad with quinoa:

Warm Spinach Salad with Quinoa

• 1 Container small (5oz) of baby spinach
• 1 cup Quinoa, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon Organic butter
• 2 cups Filtered water
• Unrefined sea salt to taste
• 50 grams unripened goat cheese
• red onion, diced
• Cucumber, halved and sliced
• -3 Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Sprig of thyme, removed from stem
• Tasty Healthy Salad Dressing (see recipe)

Tasty Healthy Salad Dressing

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons organic balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unpasteurized honey
• pinch of unrefined sea salt
• fresh cracked black pepper to taste
• 250 millilitres organic extra virgin olive oil
• 250 millilitres organic, cold-pressed flax seed oil

Directions

Warm Spinach Salad with Quinoa

1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt organic butter on stovetop. Add quinoa, stirring frequently while it toasts in the bottom of the pot.
2. Once you can smell the toasted quinoa, add water andunrefined sea salt, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiled turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. When all the water has been absorbed remove from heat and let cool for ten minutes.
3. Toss spinach, goat's cheese, onion, cucumber, thyme and tomato in a large bowl. Add warm quinoa and toss. Pour overdressing and mix. Enjoy.

Tasty Healthy Salad Dressing

1. Mix all ingredients but the oils in a medium sized bowl. Slowly add the olive oil, pouring in a thin stream while whisking vigorously. You should see the mixture begin to thicken as you continue to whisk in the oil. Repeat the process with the flax oil. The result should be a thick, creamy dressing. Use dressing immediately.

Salad dressing for me usually means oil and vinegar so I was excited about this recipe but in the end I think I'll just go with oil and balsamic vinegar for my lunch tomorrow.  The dressing was good but it was a lot of flavour.

I only mixed in some of the quinoa on my plate so I could have this as a cold salad for lunch tomorrow.  It was pretty good!  I love quinoa.  I think with everything cold and a simpler dressing I'll like it even better.

Now I'm going to bed!

Day 15 - Beer Can Chicken, Smashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Mmmmm!  I'm so happy we finally made it!

My mom and I started off the day right - with a 1/4 cup of oatmeal and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Then we went shopping for wedding dresses and we kind of lost track of time.  Suddenly it was 4:30 p.m. and we hadn't eaten anything else.  And after all that shopping we were too hungry to even think of taking time to make a proper dinner.

We called R to see what he felt like.  Secretly I hoped he suggested we go to the local pub for dinner.  But he didn't.  So I decided we should stop at Bridgehead on our way home to split a cheddar and tomato sandwich to hold us off for dinner.

It did the trick!  When we got home I started making dinner right away.  We already had everything we needed, I just needed to find the best guide for cooking the bird.

The recipe I decided on is below but, as usual, I did not follow it to a T.  So I'll tell you what I did.

I washed the chicken (there were no giblets inside) and then rubbed it with some oil, salt and pepper.  Then I lifted the skin from the body and put some Montreal Chicken Spice underneat the skin as well.

I have a special beer can chicken holder which I got at Canadian Tire for about $10.

I washed a can of Heineken and put it in the holder (after opening it, of course).  I poured a bit of beer in the bottom and put in slices of onion.

I put the whole thing in the oven which was preheated to 350 degrees and set the timer for 90 minutes.

While that was cooking I cut up some potatoes and put them on to boil.  When they were done I decided to make "smashed" potatoes (skins on).  I chopped up some garlic and tossed it in with butter and milk and mixed it all together.  When it was done I put a plate over the pot to keep it warm.  

Just before the chicken was done I put on some water to boil the green beans.  

The chicken looked deee-licious!  I even made gravy with the drippings under the beer can while somebody else was carving the chicken. 

Voila!  Dinner!  

The chicken was unbelievably moist!!!  You should definitely try it!

Again... I'm very happy we decided to take the time and make dinner!  I got to show my mom that I know my way around the kitchen and we had a great meal admittedly in front of the TV while watching the hockey game.

Tomorrow it's the Bridal Show... and then who knows what we'll eat!

Beer Can Chicken

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons of your favorite dry spice rub
1 can beer

For the rub:
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

To make the rub:
In a small bowl combine the rub ingredients. 

Chicken:
Remove the neck and giblets from chicken and discard them. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub chicken lightly with oil then rub inside and out with salt, pepper and the dry rub mix. Set aside.

Open beer can and empty out half of the beer. Place the beer can on a solid surface. Grabbing a chicken leg in each hand, place the bird cavity over the beer can. Straighten it out so it is solidly in place. 

Oven Baking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Carefully place the bird and beer can on a baking pan or roaster that is deep enough to catch all of the juices. Bake chicken for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until juices run clear as indicated above.

Makes 4 to 6 servings. 

Day 11 - Sushi!

First can I tell you about a cool blog I heard about today on 'A' Morning Ottawa?  It's called Would Rather Gather .  It's a local woman who blogs about cooking vegan recipes and they all look amazing!  I love how she knows what to throw in to substitute any animal products in a recipe.  I'm definitely going to try a few recipes listed!!

Now... on to dinner:

Today I decided to pick a recipe based on the ingredients that had to be used up for fear of rotting!!  I typed 'avocado' and 'cucumber' into the allrecipes.com search engine and 'sushi' came up as the response.

I love sushi!  But I remember making it once before and I think I had an issue with the rice.  I have major issues with rice in general but sushi rice is special.  Still I went to the store and picked up a bag of Kokuho Rose Premium Rice .  I recognized the bag a friend from university had once told me I had to buy.  Plus it said sushi rice on the grocery store tab below the shelf.  I also picked up some artificial crab meat and a package of nori (seaweed wrappers).

When I got home I had this feeling that the friend who taught me how to make sushi before had told me something special about preparing the rice but I couldn't remember what it was.  I remember the rice being too vinegar-y once but couldn't remember where the vinegar came in.  Do you think I made any attempt to answer those questions?  A call to my friend or a simple search online?  No.  I did not.  Instead I followed the diagram on the back of the rice package (I didn't even read the written instructions) and rushed to get the dogs outside for a bit of play time.  I was tired and I had run around Bells Corners trying to find the nori.

What I'm trying to say is I don't think I made the rice correctly.  Just now I googled 'rice' and 'sushi' and came up with this link that answers all those nagging questions in my mind.  There was something else I was supposed to do with the rice and vinegar was involved somehow.
My rice didn't turn out bad it just wasn't technically correct.  While it was cooking I sliced up the avocado, cucumber and crab meat.  When everything was done I went to grab some rice to put on the nori and realized it was very hot!  Duh!  So I put it in the fridge to cool down - also not technically the correct thing to do.

I laid out a sheet of nori on to of some saran wrap.  When the rice was cool I pushed a layer of it on the nori with my fingers.  I laid the veggies and crab out in the middle and used the saran wrap to wrap up the roll tightly.  I even kept the wrap on while cutting the sushi - something I had seen at my favourite sushi restaurant in Ottawa.  Watching an expert sushi chef make sushi does not make one an expert themselves.

What I ended up with were a little light on the filling and a little heavy on the rice.  To make up for it I piled some avocado and crab on top of each slice before taking a bite.  They were very tasty and one roll filled me up easily!!  Which is surprising considering how much we tend to order when we go out.

It wasn't perfect but now I know what I did wrong.  The next step is going to be learning how to make tempura shrimp so I can make R's favourite rolls of all time.  I have a feeling once I learn how to do that - it might be all sushi all the time!!

Oh - and one other thing I have to do is to buy more kitchen gadgets.  Seriously, if I had more money and a bigger home I think I would have one of everything.  Things I would have liked to have tonight:

-A wooden rice mixing bowl
-A rice cooker
-Bamboo rolling mat
-A set of knives sushi chefs have
-Something that cuts vegetables in the 'julienne' style (not a knife)

But clearly you can actually make sushi without any of those items!  I'm not living proof.

I even wrapped up an extra roll for lunch tomorrow.  I think tomorrow might have to be a leftovers day!!  My fridge is getting a little full.  That - and I have to put some leftovers in the freezer for another day.

Now... sleep.

Day 10 - Yellow Curry

No roast chicken... again.

They actually had them at the store tonight but I found out I have to go into work really early tomorrow so there just wasn't time to make the chicken, eat it and get a good night's sleep!!

The normal me would have just made more of the pesto pizza with some potato soup.  That is one of my worst habits.  I get groceries and then eat the same thing for every meal until I'm done.

I forgot to mention one thing about the pizzas: you can throw the pitas in the freezer and when you need something last minute just make the pizza on a frozen pita and it heats up while it's in the oven.  Plus you can throw whatever you want on it!

Instead, I decided to make one of the meals I was going to make with the leftover chicken - yellow curry!

It's a recipe I picked up from a good friend and it's one of my favourites.  Plus it's very very easy!

All you need is:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Onion
1 Can Coconut milk
Thai Kitchen Yellow Curry Paste (to taste)
Vegetables
Rice

I am not going to say what vegetables you should put it in because I tend to just use up whatever is in the house.  Tonight I added mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, tomatoes, and cabbage.  I have never put cabbage in it before but it ended up being quite good.  One thing I have used in the past but didn't have tonight is a can of diced tomatoes.  If you put that in you will need to boil it down a little.

Here's what you do:

Chop the chicken breasts into chunks.

In a pan heat some oil and add onions, chicken and mushrooms.  Cook until the chicken is done.

Add vegetables as you see fit in terms of cooking time (I added the snowpeas and cabbage at the very end so they didn't over cook).

Pour in a bit of the coconut milk.  Add curry paste to the coconut milk and whisk with a fork to break up the chunks.  Tonight I added four teaspoons and it wasn't super spicy.  You kind of have to figure out what you like in terms of spice.  Pour the mixture into the pan.  This is also where you would add the tomatoes if you had them.

Boil everything for a few minutes.

When it's done put some rice on your plate and top with the curry.  Don't forget to spoon some of the sauce onto the rice it's the best part!

I love lots of vegetables in my meals so I just pile them in but I'm pretty sure when my friend made the dish initially it was just chicken, onions and maybe snow peas.

Thai Kitchens has a red and green curry past as well but the yellow is by far my favourite.  Don't take my word for it though!  Try them all and find your own fav!

I had a couple of friends (two golden retrievers) at my feet as I cooked so when I was done I gave them a taste of the rice and sauce.  I wasn't sure if it would be spicy but they lapped it up.  I'm not sure they're the best critics though, they tend to eat pretty much anything I put in front of them!!

One thing about all of this cooking ... it creates a lot of dishes!  I have never had so many things to clean.  At the same time there is a lot of time to clean up while dinner is cooking so I suppose there is no excuse.  Have I complained about this already?

I promise I'll start making some more recipes from books, magazines and web sites.  I am just trying to get over the laziness that makes me not want to cook before I start to tackle really big tasks.

One request - does anyone have a good apple pie recipe??