A Little Behind

I'm so thankful for my cousin buying me the slow cooker for my birthday. I already want more in different sizes so I can expand my newly growing repertoire. I've only done two dishes so far, mostly to money being tight these last two weeks and not being able to do my monthly stock up on meat products from Frigs.

Growing up I was never that into pork products, aside from bacon and pork tenderloin. I usually found Ham too salty and pork chops too tough and I just never really tasted anything like pulled pork until I was in my 20's. The first time I really remember having it was the summer of 2009 in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. Ryan and I were on vacation and staying with my dad's cousins and their neighbours invited us all for dinner one night. They had an amazing ceramic cooker called The Big Green Egg. The lid on that thing was so heavy I could barely lift it. They'd had tons of pork shoulder cooking since early that morning and was amazing. With homemade coleslaw and Serrano pepper hot sauce we piled our buns high and enjoyed the spicy spicy sandwiches with some premium beers. I dream of one day owning a Big Green Egg. Since then I've only made pulled pork a couple of times, and while it's always good, it's just not the same as my first earth-shattering experience.

Aside from the pulled pork, I've used the slow cooker to do up a nice little ham last weekend. I was a bit doubtful about the amount of apple cider vinegar the recipe I used called for, it was probably the best ham I've ever had. With 6 hours in the cooker, some green beans, and mashed sweet and creamer potatoes, it was one of the easiest meals I've made in ages.

And the final pork product that I've recently come back around to: pork chops. Growing up I don't think my mom ever brined our pork chops, and I always found them too tough and dry and just not very exciting. The world of brining has opened my eyes. Never again will I cook up a chop that hasn't been brined. Not only is the meat much more tender, but anything with ACV, honey, and mustard can't go wrong with pork chops.

So tonight my niece and a friend will be joining us for dinner of pork chops with honey glazed roasted tomatoes, green beans with lemon, sunflower seeds, garlic and butter, and mashed taters. So with no new recipes to offer, I'll leave it there and will hopefully return with something new in the next week.

Oh yeah, my mustard greens are looking amazing already!

Surprise!

Not exactly a week, but I've been busy since the last post. I'll have a longer one to follow in the next couple of days with some photos of my new endeavours.

First of all, the Kefir took a few runs to get it right. The first time I let it sit too long; the second time I didn't stir it enough; the third time it seemed just about right and then I went to bed and completely forgot about putting it in the fridge. But finally the fourth time I seemed to find that 7 hours, and hourly stirring after 2 hours is how I like it. I'm not a milk drinker to begin with, so I'm getting my fill with daily morning smoothies.

And last Monday I drove out to Sage Garden Herbs and purchased T5 grow lights, fertilizer, soil, and seeds. I came home, cleared some space on a shelf in the kitchen, drilled the lights on, made some makeshift seedling planters, and set everything up. This is the first time I've ever had a garden on my own so I'm taking it slow. Right now I've just got basil, catnip, oregano, endive, mustard greens, and lettuce. I'll see how those go and I may add more to the mix down the line. About a week after planting the mustard greens and endive are well on their way and sprouting up.

And finally, I was given a slow cooker for my birthday this year and I'd been wanting to try slow cooker pulled pork for ages. So I picked up a 4.5lb pork shoulder roast from Frigs and at 9AM on Saturday I woke up, made the sauce, and put it in for about 10 hours. I wasn't totally crazy about the sauce recipe I used, but either than that, it came out great. Some friends came over to share the food which was nicely capped off with sparkler cones from Sargent Sundae.

Now that Autumn is really in full force here, I'm looking forward to getting cooking with lots of root veggies, and soups, and stews. Time to start keeping warm.

Thanksgiving and Fresh Starts

As usual, months have gone by with feeling guilty for not updating the blog, and thinking about how I need to update the blog, and putting off updating the blog. But as all my travels for the year are complete, including Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, UK, and various parts of Europe, and the summer has officially come to a close, I'm finding myself with a bit more free time and the motivation to really get back into the kitchen.

I'll keep it simple for my first post in 6 months. Oct 1st was my 26th birthday and I spent it in Toronto with my three best friends having a great birthday weekend and eating lots of delicious Toronto eats. I arrived home on Friday, and Saturday my parents had the family over for a feast of the usual; turkey, stuffing, veggies, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. We had a break on Sunday but Monday we were out at Ryan's aunts for our 2nd feast; all the usual plus ham that Ryan can never get enough of.

Ryan's aunt is a great cook and a fellow foody - although far more experienced than I. Ages ago she started up a kefir culture that she's kept going and has offered us many times. In my usual procrastin-atory fashion, I kept putting it off until she managed to get it into my hands today.

So, using some of her grains, I've got my own kefir finally on it's way. For those who don't know, kefir is a cultured and microbialrich food that is amazing for our bodies. With beneficial yeast and bacteria, it has antibiotic properties. Using kefir grains and good quality milk, you mix them together, allow it to culture for 12-48 hours, then stick it in your fridge and use it as a type of milk product or to make other dairy products like yogurt, creme freche, cream cheese, or cream. Every time a batch is finished, you strain the grains, put the kefir liquid in a fresh jar in the fridge, and re-culture another batch of milk with the grains in a new jar. You either need to immediately re-use the grains or store them in the fridge or freezer.
*If you plan to start making you're own kefir, please seek out more exact instructions such as http://www.kefir.org/kefir_manual.htm

Aside from just thinking about getting things moving here again in blogland, I've also been slowly collecting new and wonderful kitchen toys - some hand me downs, but I'm not complaining. And finally, I'm hoping that within the week I'll have the majority of my supplies purchased for starting my indoor garden - my birthday present from my folks. This will be the first time I've ever attempted an indoor set-up so I'm expecting a slow start and plan to begin with some easy herbs and hopefully move up to a salsa and salad garden. Hopefully in my next post I can show off my new set up.

And Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians!

One summer when I was working as a camp counsellor at Camp Briardale, a camp for kids with diabetes, I had the most adorable, petite, squeeky-voiced little 7 year old in my cabin. She was a very sweet kid who was obviously nervous about being away from home for a week for the first time but I admired her ability to try anything new.

At diabetes camp, the kids are required to write down what they're eating before they go up to get their meals. The reason being that type 1 diabetics (mostly) count carbohydrates and give themselves a corresponding ratio of insulin. Whatever it was we were eating one particular night, my little camper assumed she wouldn't like. But on her meal planner she'd written "Try it!". And she did - and she didn't like it. But when I asked her about it she replied, "my mom told me to try everything once because I might find out I like it". Where most kids balk at the idea of trying new foods, she fully embraced it - even if it meant putting something in her mouth she ended up not liking.

I try to take this philosophy in my food life too. All my life there's been a few foods I have never liked - mushrooms, milk, raw peppers, shellfish - and tomatoes. Over the years I've occasionally eaten one of these foods to test myself. Tomatoes have probably been most successfully introduced into my diet. I've learned that I still don't really like raw tomatoes, especially by themselves. But I've also learned I LOVE chunky salsa, the occasional bruscetta, and a great many dishes with tomatoes mixed in.

And so I'm attempting to get a little more adventurous with those foods I've typically left off the menu. Monday was one of those adventurous days. I recently picked up some centre cut pork chops from Frigs and decided to whip 'em up for Monday dinner. While we cook a lot of pork in this kitchen, pork chops aren't something I'm terribly familiar with. Growing up, I was never a big fan of the tough meat and it seemed pretty...welll...boring (sorry mom!). Recently I've been reading about the wonders of brining and decided that I might as well give it a go.

Using a recipe from Alton Brown's cookbook, I whipped up a brine. While I was mixing it the vinegar burned my eyes so much I was weeping and I accidentally used coarse salt instead of kosher and the entire apartment smelled like the vinegar - so to say the least, I was a bit nervous about entrusting my pork to this brine but I figured, "what the hell", and let the chops sit for 2 hours before cooking. After that, I basically raided the fridge for whatever looked tasty, fresh, and colourful.

Goat Cheese Honey-Glazed Pork Chops

• 2 bone-in pork chops (I used centre cut)


• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 1 tsp oregano


• 2 red potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces


• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces


• the juice of half a lemon


• Salt and pepper for taste


• 2 tbsp goat cheese (I added parsley and basil to mine)


• 4 -6 slices honey-glazed tomatoes (recipe below)
  

*The brine recipe I used was included in a recipe for stuffed pork - I halfed the brine and omitted the rest of the recipe.

Preheat your oven to 400. After brining your pork, rinse and then pat dry your chops with a paper towel. In a bowl, combine all ingredients until potatoes and pork are well covered. On a baking sheet or dish, put all the potatoes and place the pork chops in top. Cook for 40 minutes and check - the pork should be at 170. Mine was cooked perfectly after 40 minutes.

Honey-Glazed Tomatoes

• 1/4 cup butter


• 1 tbsp honey


• 1 tbsp brown sugar


• a pinch of salt


• 1/2 to 1 whole tomato, sliced thinly

Melt your butter in a medium saucepan at about medium heat. Add the honey, sugar, and salt and stir. Turn the heat down slightly and add the tomato slices. Put the lid on and let them cook for 2-4 minutes, flip, and cook another 2-4 minutes. You should still have lots of liquid left in the pan.

Final Assembly

When you're ready to serve, place the pork chop on the plate and spread 1/2 tbsp of goat cheese over top. Place the honey-glazed tomatoes on top of the pork, and drizzle the leftover glaze over the chops and/or potatoes.

Not my best photo, but I was starving. Ryan says this may be the best meal I've ever made. :) Served with garlic green beans and toasted pine nuts and fried apples.

Pea Soup

Since I've been on a continuous pantry-raid for the last two weeks, I've finally made some new dishes with some of the ingredients I've been meaning to use...since I bought them months and months and months ago. Seeing as how it's winter in Winnipeg and we've settled into some pretty chilly temperatures, hearty soups have been on my mind a lot.

Pea soup is one of my favourite soups but one that I had never made before. There are few soups that make me think of staying cozy in Winnipeg more than pea soup. Maybe it's because the taste is so homey or maybe it's because it always makes me think of the Festival Du Voyageur (kicking off in just over two weeks) and their Pea Soup contest - whatever the reason, it's always been one of my comfort foods.

So finally, after buying dried split peas last winter and storing them safely in our ice box (not the freezer but the literal original ice box we use as a cupboard in our kitchen) I pulled them out last week and decided to try my hand at my first ever pea soup. Now I know traditionally ham and pea soup go hand in hand, but to be honest, I've never been a fan of this. I took the much less traditional route of using chicken stock - because I had a bunch homemade in my freezer - but you can use any type of stock you want. I actually ran out of chicken stock and had to use a bit of a veggie bouillon cube but it all worked out.

Split Pea Soup

• 2 cups dried split peas
• 2 carrots, diced
  
• 2 celery stocks, diced
  
• 1 small-med onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 quarts stock (chicken, veggie)
• 1 tbsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and celery and saute until translucent and soft. Add garlic, stir for 1-2 minutes without browning. Add carrots, peas, thyme, stock, and salt and pepper to taste (I had forgotten to salt my stock when I made it so I had to use a lot of salt - add a bit and taste and adjust as necessary). Bring stock to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 40-60 minutes, until veggies and peas are soft.

Now, I'm one of those who says that pea soup MUST be blended, thick, and creamy. I'm always slightly disappointed when I order a pea soup that hasn't been blended as a last step and instead is more of a broth pea soup. Luckily for me, I was given a handy-dandy immersion blender for Christmas! Once my soup was cooked I just immersion-blended it to my consistency and let it sit another 10 minutes.

If you don't have an immersion blender you can go one of 3 ways here:
1) Potato masher - won't be as smooth but gives you more consistency.
2) Let the soup cool (very important!) and put it in either a counter-top blender or a food processor.
3) Skip the blending and keep it as a more brothy pea soup (blasphemy!)

This soup lasted us all through the week and made about...6 servings. Frankly, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did because it was divine.

Triumphant Return

As you can probably guess I decided to take an informal break from blogging for a few months. The main reason was personal stress and really needing to take some time for myself, and only for myself. Things have been pretty much normalized in my life for the last month or two but it's really only in the last few weeks that I've felt worthy of returning to the blogsphere. Between personal reasons, balancing two positions at work with no regular hours, and a very busy December of visiting, snacking, and preparing for the holidays, I just couldn't get into the kitchen more than one night a week.

But now I'm officially working one position, I have a regular weekly work schedule, and I'm feeling oh-so-inspired in the kitchen and at home. Lately I've started re-prioritizing food and overall healthy living. I think when Ryan and I moved in together and I started talking about the ways I wanted to eat and how I wanted to keep moving away from pre-packaged foods, toxins, and chemicals and closer to an organic/local/sustainable life he didn't exactly know what to think. Now he's definitely feeling a lot more comfortable with the way we live and to be honest, I think he gets a bit excited about it all too, even if he wouldn't admit it.

Here's some of my recent initiatives:

1) Sticking to our food budget no matter what. In May we're taking a trip overseas so finances are a little tight. We stick to a strict $100 a week food budget but when we need to do a big stock up (TP, cat litter, cat food, vinegar, milk, eggs, cheese, meat, etc) it's pretty easy to go over budget. In the past we've been pretty loose with this budget but now we're sticking to it as closely as we can and really watching our pennies. Of course, this has turned into a fun personal challenge for me. We only have $30 to last us until Feb 4th so I've been having fun going through our cupboards being as imaginative as possible. Which brings me to my next initiative.

2) As little food waste as possible. This sounds pretty basic, I know, but it takes practice to figure out how to use all the little leftovers that end up in the fridge. I know composting is all fine and dandy but I'd rather see my food get eaten instead of thrown into the bin. Maintaining as little food waste as possible also means being extremely conscious of what ingredients we have in the kitchen. Growing up, our cupboards were always stocked and while it made it easy to think of something to make, it also meant a lot of stuff sat in the cupboard for months or years without being touched. Partially due to our small cupboard space and partially due to my insistence on using what we have (hopefully we won't be experiencing an Apocalypse soon) we're moving through a lot of dried foods that I purchased last winter and then just let sit there.

Cooking to my ingredients is a lot of fun for me - I love to improvise in the kitchen, which is one of the reasons it's difficult for me to post recipes some times. Often I have leftover dips, sauces, or dressings that need to be used up fairly quickly. I feel like planning strategically is a skill that has really developed in the year+ that I moved out of my folks place. The way I'm able to throw ingredients together now is such a difference and I have to say I feel pretty proud about the whole thing.

3) Composting. As I mentioned before, composting is great - if you have a place to drop it off. For the past year+ I've been collecting or compost in the window during the winter and in our freezer during the summer. I've been dropping it off at my parents place because they have 3 or 4 large composters in their backyard - but they're starting to get pretty full at this point.

I'm happy to report that my workplace has started composting through a company in my city. Because they're an industrial composting site, they're able to accept things that a normal backyard composter wouldn't be able to handle - things like meat, bones, dairy products. I work in a very small workplace so the giant bin we were given is barely half full when they pick it up every week so I consulted with other staff and now I'll be dropping our compost in their once a week. I'm still trying to get used to keeping virtually all our food scraps.

4) Reducing toxins, plastics, and chemicals in our food and life. I admit, the various plastic-free blogs have caught my interest in a big way. A few off the top of my head:

• http://myplasticfreelife.com/
• http://plasticmanners.wordpress.com/
• http://www.lifewithoutplasticblog.com/

But it's not just reducing my plastic that I'm concerned with, it's also reducing the toxins in my everyday routine. I've also been spending a lot of time exploring The David Suzuki Foundation site.

I've already been trying to do this for quite a while. In my own routine, I usually use a mixture of honey and yogurt to wash my face and when it's not -35 and super dry, I like to use coconut oil as a moisturizer. I also use Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap as my face wash too.

For cleaning we really only using baking soda, vinegar, water, and occasionally bleach. For clothes we've been using a "environmentally friendly" detergent (whatever that means) and for dishes we use regular old dish soap. For ages I've been wanting to try Soap Nuts but never remembered while I was out. Ryan's sister gave me a small sample bag for Christmas and we tested them out a few weeks ago. So far, we love 'em. I like them because there's no scent, they get our clothes clean, and they come out nice and soft without that starchy feeling. Ryan was extremely skeptical but he's behind them now - we picked up a large bag of soap nuts to last us a while.

The best part about soap nuts (besides the fact that they're actually berries)? Once they're used they can be boiled to make an multi-purpose cleaning solution, and after that they can be composted! The nuts can be used multiple times so we feel that they were a good deal. Right now we're collecting the used ones to make the cleaner.

5) Re-commitment to organic and/or local food. This was easier last year because we could split our FOOD Box with our friends. Since they're not in the city anymore, we decided it wasn't practical to get the box by ourselves. Up until a few weeks ago, I was being pretty lazy with where we were getting our food. After doing some research, we've settled into doing most of our fresh shopping from Organic Planet Worker Co-Op. They're very small, and while there is a much larger organic food store closer to us, I've found that Organic Planet tends to have fresher and better quality produce.

So that's what's been happening around here. Other little projects are constantly in the back of my mind but I'm trying to take things one step at a time right now and work within my limits. I love doing research about topics of all kinds so I'm basically doing a lot of reading, blogging, and networking right now. But I'm looking forward to sharing what's happening in the kitchen in 2011.

Out and About: Hermanos in Winnipeg

August has been a busy month for dinner's and lunches out. My summers are usually packed with friend or family meet-ups at a nice patio or restaurant. Ryan and I have also decided to try and go to new restaurants almost every time we go out (we made an exception for Stella's though, because it's cheap, close, and we both LOVE it). So far we've only been to a few new places but we're really enjoying it. I've discovered a lot of places I didn't know existed and a few hidden gems. Next on my list is Saaadal Kherys Somali Restaurant on 164 Isabel Street. But that's for later.

This August has been particularly restaurant packed because of Ciao Magazine's Taste the World. In hindsight, I really should have posted this at the beginning of August, rather than on the last day so no one else can take part in it. I managed to take part in 3 menu's and all were excellent. I'm going to spend a couple of posts talking about this promotion (as well as others from Ciao), and the recent new restaurants we've visited - although not all Ciao inspired.

Last week I invited my mom and Nana out for lunch. We browsed the menu selection on the website and narrowed it down to a couple before deciding on Hermanos Restaurant and Wine Bar. Hermanos is located in Winnipeg's Theatre District. Had it been a nicer day we were planning on going to The Forks but it turned out to be rather chilly. However, Hermanos' close proximity to The Forks and the walkway on Waterfront Drive make it a nice date spot, in my opinion.

As it turned out, I had actually been to 179 Bannatyne when it was an East Indian restaurant. The atmosphere is really lovely, with a classic look of exposed brick walls, dark red walls, and black chairs and booths. They boast "South American cuisine at the most reasonable prices" and suggest communal meals, sharing tapas and main dishes together. Looking at the menu, that sounded like a fabulous suggestion for dinner out with friends, but my Nana, mom, and I decided to do our own individual lunches.

Despite choosing this restaurant for their Ciao $10 lunch menu, only my mom ended up getting the Ciao special of Salpicoa , a traditional Brazilian chicken salad with chicken breast, fire roasted corn, hearts of palm, peas, shredded carrots, garlic, onions, mayo and bacon served with fresh house baked bread, tomato and greens. I'm not really a fan of "chicken salads" most of the time but my mom loved it. I can't speak much to it because shamefully, I didn't even taste it.

My Nana decided on the Bianco Mejillones (mussels). Served with cachaca, cilantro oil, lime, garlic butter, cream, and bread, it was a simple but delicious dish. I have to admit, I didn't taste her mussels either. They looked and smelled fantastic, but mussels are something I haven't conquered yet. The idea of them is a little too weird but my Nana loved them. She practically licked her plate clean, first eating every single mussel and then sopping up leftover sauce with her bread. For $12 a pound we thought they were priced very reasonably.

Finally, I decided on a nice Tapas dish of Grilled Ribeye Skewers served with 4 skewers, 3 small dishes of bacon and port buttered mushrooms, a roasted veggie and oil salsa (not listed on the menu), and carmelized onion and black pepper aioli with homemade potato chips. I go in and out of stages where I like red meat. Lately I've been into it but a few weeks ago we picked up some steaks that I was really looking forward to. They ended up being the toughest most tasteless steaks I've ever eaten. So when I saw the grilled ribeye skewers at Hermanos a few days later I wanted something that would fill my red meat void. Oh...my...god...they were exactly what I was looking for and cooked medium rare, just the way I like it. The mushrooms, roasted veggie mix, and aioli were all fantastic and the chips came out crispy and crunchy and fresh.

The only leftovers we came away with was a bit of my mom's dish she couldn't manage to finish. We all want to go back at some point, but I think both my mom and I want to experience the dinner menu with a larger group. I like that Hermanos also offers options for 2-3 people and has a fairly diverse menu. All in all, I'll definitely be making a stop here again. For the 3 of us, lunch ended up being just over $50, after drinks, tax, and tips.

Coming up soon: Fusion Grill, La Bomba, Lovey's, Sydney's

Sick Day Soups: Chickpea, Kidney Bean, Parsley Soup

Here in Winnipeg there's a small local chain of restaurants called Stella's. Stella's could very well be my favourite place to grab a bite. They have a big menu but they do a Quiche of the Day and two soups and I almost always end up getting the soup and salad because they always sound delicious. I don't think I've ever been disappointed.

A couple of months ago they were featuring a chickpea parsley soup that was delicious but also seemed pretty re-creatable. Today I was having some bloodsugar issues which generally makes me feel pretty under-the-weather for the whole day. My appetite hasn't been great and I was really craving a quick, easy soup. I looked up a couple of recipes but none of them sounded right so I just winged it.

Chickpea Kidney Bean Parsley Soup

• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 cups veggie broth
• juice of half a lemon
  
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until soft. Add chickpeas, kidney beans, parsley, veggie broth, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Use a potato masher, food processor, or blender to mix depending on how thick you want the soup. I used a potato masher and it turned out nicely.

This was the perfect meal for a sick day. I know it's only August 10th and extremely hot and humid in Winnipeg, but this already feels kind of like a fall meal. Eeep! August is flying!

Back to Routine with a Classic: Potato Salad

I'm back! June and most of July were very stressful and very busy for me. Luckily from July 20th to August 3rd I was on vacation doing a road trip with Ryan and some friends from Winnipeg - Minneapolis - Chicago - Windsor -Toronto - various provincial campgrounds throughout HWY 17 in Northern Ontario. It was a well deserved break and we got to enjoy some great meals along the way too.

At Chino Latino's in Uptown in Minneapolis. Ryan making silly faces with the remnants of his enchilada.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Giordano's.

Turkey smokies, asparagus, and new potatoes over the campfire on the shores of Lake Superior.

Before our vacation, I had little time or desire to be in the kitchen but now that things have settled down and I'm back to work and my regular routine I've been feeling excited to get into the kitchen again. We got back into the city on July 31st and had a picnic to go to on August 2nd. Now, up until recently I have never liked potato salad. Last year I experimented with a vinaigrette potato salad and found it was alright. A few weeks ago Ryan's aunt made a really nice potato salad that was more along the lines of my taste though. And I recalled Jenn at The Whole Kitchen posting a few different potato salad recipes (which I stole some helpful hints from), so I took all of them into consideration and put together a pretty damn good potato salad. We picked up groceries at The Forks and they had local red potatoes too and fresh local dill and I got to work for the BBQ food. I've come to keeping a jar of the dressing in the fridge most of the time now and just boiling up a bunch of potatoes (whole) in advance to snack on this throughout the week.

A mid-afternoon snack of potato salad with pumkin seeds, honey almonds, gluten free crackers and Tall Grass Prairie Jam, local wild blueberries, green grapes, and cheese from Fenton's.

Mustard Dill Potato Salad

• 3lbs small red potatoes
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1/3-1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds, or toasted hemp, etc)

Dressing

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped (or less if you aren't so dill inclined)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 1/2 tbsp grainy mustard (experimenting with others is tasty too but this is my favourite so far)
• pepper to taste, I didn't find this needed salt

Put washed, whole potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Then turn off heat and let potatoes sit fowhr 30 minutes for smaller potatoes, and 35-40 for larger sized ones. Drain, cool, and cut into bite sized pieces - I know some people remove the skins but I think they belong in the salad. Or alternatively, put whole potatoes in fridge and save for use later in the week. Cut up when you're ready to eat it.

Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Either use immediately or put in a container in the fridge for use later in the week. When ready to serve, toss chopped potatoes and celery together. Add dressing and toss - I find I sometimes have a little left over but I like a very light dressing. Before serving, sprinkle the sunflower (flax, hemp, pumpkin, etc) seeds over top. The crunchy seeds are really nice mixed in.

Hiatus

If you haven't already guessed, I'll be taking (and have already) a few weeks off from blogging. June was insane in my personal life both mentally and physically and I'm away most of July and won't be in the kitchen much except while I'm preparing picnic and road trip snacks. I'll return in early August. I have a lot to post about. :)

F.O.O.D. Wednesday: Picnic and BBQ Season!

I have to apologize for my frequent absences lately. I having been feeling great for the past few weeks and more than anything my exhaustion has been keeping me from cooking and blogging. I started seeing a Naturopathic doctor a few weeks ago and had some diagnostic testing done to try and get to the bottom of some of my health issues, including:

• general fatigue and exhaustion
• headaches 3-5 times a week (tension, migraine, or sinus)
• getting physically sick if I get less than 7 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row
• ongoing GI issues
• needing about 9-11 hours of sleep a night to feel well rested
• colds once every 2-3 weeks that last 24-48 hours
• feeling so tired and/or sick that I need to take a day off every 2-3 weeks.
  

The diagnostic test told me I'm allergic to eggs (no surprise there, I get violently ill when I eat them alone but seem to be okay if they're in something else) and soy (this was a surprise). The test is actually pointing to a possible parasite which was really not what I was expecting. I'm seeing my GP on Monday for further testing and to hopefully get a real answer after almost 2 years of this.

But on to happier things. Today I picked up the last food box that we'll share with Shawna and her husband. Shawna will be away next week and then we'll all be away for most of July so there was no point in them continuing with the box. We'll actually only be getting 3 more small sized boxes ourselves. Come July 7th we'll be away for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and then on the 13th we'll be hitting the road for the West Coast. When we return we likely won't start getting the box again until November when the Farmer's Market closes.

Speaking of the Farmer's Market, Ryan and I went out to the opening day in St. Norbert. There wasn't much in the way of produce except for rhubarb, herbs, and lettuce but plenty of folks were selling their wares. Ryan's mom was kind enough to buy us a piece of creamed butter fudge, peanut butter and vanilla, from what I'm pretty sure was Graham's Groves. Oh...my...god...it was the best fudge I've ever had by miles. I'm hoping to make a quick stop in on Saturday and pick up some more and see what else looks good. Last year I'd wanted to get a piece of framed coloured glass but for some reason we didn't end up buying one - so we stopped by Three Wise Crafts: Rustic Charm and picked up some blue stained glass. We hung it in the middle of our living room windows. The owner of the kiosk, Nester Gylywoychuk, saw that I really liked a particular colour of glass but the frame was too large - he said he would look around to see what he could do about getting a smaller piece.

And of course, even though I haven't been cooking a lot, I have been cooking. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to be a wet summer - but the days where the rain has left us alone have been beautiful, sunny, and not too full of mosquito's yet. Today especially is beautiful, clear, and hot - but of course I'm working until 7pm. Tonight we'll be cooking up a top sirloin with some 'taters, salad, and maybe asparagus and green beans that came in today's Fresh Option Box.

But this tasty meal was from a week or two ago already. For Christmas my older brother and niece gave us a countertop grill and I love it. I cooked the home fries in the oven, left the husk on the corn, and cooked the bison burger from Frigs and the corn on the grill at the same time. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes and was a very tasty meal.

Here's hoping that I'll feel up to more regular posting in the next few weeks!

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen...I'll Leave

Now that I'm working three evenings a week, dinner between Wed-Fri is usually something I've thrown together far in advance. It's so nice when I get to come home and have someone else do all the food-stuff for me. On Thursday I woke up early, got out of the house at 9AM and had some time to kill before I headed to the office.

More and more we're getting into the habit of really letting our food supply run down before we re-stock. I'm finding that we're throwing less away and using what's in our fridge and freezer faster. Things don't end up sitting there for months and for the most part, everything is still reasonably fresh. We ran out of meat products last week, except for some frozen salami, so I used my extra morning time to drive out to Frigs. $70 later our freezer and fridge are re-stocked with sirloin steak, bison burgers, elk smokies, sausages, bison jerky, a chicken, and pork tenderloin.

A lot of people I speak with aren't very familiar with pork tenderloin. I would say aside from pork buttons, it's the most common meat choice at our house. It has virtally no fat, is extremely tender, cooks relatively quickly, is really versatile, and tastes fantastic. After I picked up our meat and quickly stopped at home to put it away, I whipped up our favourite pork marinade and put it in a freezer bag with the tenderloin to marinade all day. When I got to work I emailed Ryan instructions on when and how to cook the meat, asparagus, and fried apples.

Ryan was busy in the kitchen when I arrived home at 7:30PM. I have a bad habit of trying to take over the kitchen when someone else is cooking in it. After I accidentally burned the fried apples and pears I excused myself, set the table, and let Ryan finish up. The burned apples were rescued and turned out fine, the meat was perfect, the asparagus was nicely roasted and a bit crispy (my favourite!) and he even looked up how make mashed potatoes, so we had some very satisfying mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

F.O.O.D. Wednesday: Easy Stir Fry

Ah, Wednesday. Every Wednesday morning I drop Ryan off at work and then zip over to Fresh Option to pick up our box. This week we got a nice, typical mix of food. Y'know, the usual stuff - carrots, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.

Getting all our produce at once means we have to be strategic with how we use and store it. We've had a lot of problems with veggies going mushy or soft and rubbery in the fridge. I've read this is because too much moisture escapes from the food. I've also seen a lot of different solutions to try and combat this problem and we settled on trying tin foil. I'd actually never heard of storing produce in tin foil but countless sites on the 'net told me it was the way to go.

And it's true! We started doing this not too long after we signed up with Fresh Option and it still surprises me how long it makes food last. Last Wednesday we got a container of spinach. I love spinach but we didn't get a chance to use much of it over the week. By last Thursday it was already starting to turn, only a day after picking it up. My mom's solution to this problem used to be lining the containers with paper towel. I however, washed up all the spinach, rinsed it off, and wrapped it tightly in some tin foil. Even if there's moisture on the leaves, they somehow take forever to turn. I checked to make sure the spinach was still usable this morning and it looks as fresh as it did a week ago. So if you're having issues with your produce going bad too quickly, try using some tin foil and see how it goes.

Speaking of tin foil, I was keeping some carrots, bok coy, and peppers wrapped up and decided to get rid of the leftovers last night. It was a tasty endeavour.

Easy Stir Fry

• 1/2 head broccoli, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup snow peas, cut in 1/2 or thirds
  
• 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
• 1 bunch bok choy, stocks julienned, leaves sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts
• 1 small onion, sliced thickly
  
• 2 carrots, chopped or julienned
  
• 1 green pepper, thickly sliced
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
  
• 1/2-1/4 soya sauce, gluten free
  
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce, gluten free
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
  
• optional meat, tofu, fish, etc - I used the last of our leftover beef roast

In a wok or large frying pan heat your oil to about medium. If using meat, add now. If raw, cook fully before adding veggies. I used leftovers so I just heated the meat for a minute or two. Add garlic and onion, sauteing until the onions start to turn translucent. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce and stir. Add the rest of your veggies and stir well. Once well coated, turn the heat down to simmer and cover for 10 minutes. In the meantime, whip up some rice or quinoa, serve the stir fry on top and enjoy!

This was a really easy, basic thing I threw together yesterday but Ryan really loved it. I wasn't even planning to post the recipe but I figured it was so easy and maybe someone out there needs an easy stir fry recipe.

Tonight I'm looking forward to stopping off at The Forks to pick up some sun dried and kalamata olives as well as some feta cheese from Fenton's. We still have leftover spinach from last week and I picked up some lettuce so I'm thinking about a nice greek salad with grilled chicken breast. We also got strawberries again this week! Last time the strawberries tasted amazing. Maybe I'll pick up some whipping cream and we can just have strawberries and whipped cream for dessert.

I also STILL haven't figured out gardening stuff either. I let it slip by the wayside and now it's THE long weekend - I mean the one where everyone plants their gardens. I could have done it weeks ago but that's what happens when you procrastinate. I'll have an update soon though!

F.O.O.D. Wednesdays

Now that my routine is getting more normal I had some time over the weekend to do some cooking. I've been fairly busy in the kitchen and feeling more inspired again. In the last week I've:

• broken down a chicken, and froze all but one breast that we ate last week


• made 18 cups of chicken stock that I've been freezing, giving away, and using too


• made the new salsa


• used 6 or 7 cups of stock to make my lemon rice soup


• made pancakes


• and last night cooked a standing prime rib roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, salad, and fiddleheads

I don't know about everywhere else, but Winnipeg has had some not-so-great weather for the last week or two. All the rain has made everything beautifully green and trees are flowering but it's so hard to motivate yourself to do anything when it's so gray out. I spent most of my time running around between work and my volunteer position and then coming home and crashing in front of the TV watching episodes of The Wire, 30 Rock, and Weeds. Very productive. But the weekend is supposed to lovely! It's supposed to be +14 today and they're hoping for mid-twenties by Sunday. There's something about the shining sun that just motivates me. I even went for a run yesterday after a much-too-long-hiatus.

I've also, again, been eating out a lot more. Since I'm realizing that I'm quite a busy person I've been trying to make more lunch or dinner dates. On Monday I took my mom out to Viva, our very favourite Vietnamese restaurant that I know I've mentioned. I think I've been there once a month since November. They have the best spring rolls I've ever had. We don't like to deal with the crowds on Mother's Day so I saw her on Saturday and took her out on Monday and we spent the afternoon hanging out and shopping together. Yesterday my friend Aimee came and picked me up from work to eat at Mondragon. I can't get enough of that Southern Fried Tofu sandwich, gluten-free of course.

Tonight we're going to enjoy some leftover hot roast beef sandwiches and maybe a spinach salad. Between the leftover produce from last week, and the goodies we I picked up today I'm thinking a nice stir fry needs to be cooked up. We've got bok choy, snow peas, broccoli, beef, broccoli sprouts, peppers, carrots, and celery.

Drive By Post: Avocado Olive Tomato Salsa

I love making salsa. It's so easy and you can throw pretty much anything in there and come out with a tasty dip. We recently enjoyed some taco's so I whipped up some salsa in my food processor. Besides salsa, I also love olives. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of putting olives in my salsa but mmmmm....this is probably the best salsa I've made. I always like to keep a variety of olives on hand and the taste of all of them mixed together was delicious. I seem to have a sensitivity to tomatoes so I cut the down where ever I can.

Avocado Olive Tomato Salsa

• 1 avacado
• 3 small fresh or canned roma tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 6 kalamata olives
• 6 black olives
• 6 sun dried olives
• 2 chopped basil leaves, fresh
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients in food processor or blender and mix. Adjust seasoning to taste, serve with chips, veggies, taco's, whatever, and enjoy!


Taco's are one of my favourite ways to use up leftover veggies. I used red chard leaves instead of lettuce and fried the chard stock with the ground beef/pork to hide it in as well. We don't buy sour cream very often because it just ends up going bad so plain yogurt works as a nice substitute too.

Things should actually be leveling out in my life in the next week or two. I started my new job and my work and volunteering schedules have finally normalized. Yay! I'm hoping that means I can get into the kitchen more because I feel like my life has been way too much work, a little too much rest, and not nearly enough play.

I'm excited for dinner tomorrow. Standing rib roast, fresh salad, and fiddleheads! I love fiddleheads, they were a surprise this week. I apologize to Shawna and Dylan because I was greedy and took them all, but I gave them extra fruit and veggies!

F.O.O.D. Wednesdays: Life is BUSY

Here we again, another Wednesday. And look, I'm actually posting F.O.O.D. Wednesday on a Wednesday! Aren't you impressed? I realized I don't really have a theme for my weekly wednesday post. I figured I would have more to see about our weekly veggie pick up, but Wednesdays are another day that I don't often end up cooking. For now, I'm going to treat it as a way to spread some news about some interesting food related articles or newsbites I've come across. I've got some good ones for today.

I have been very lazy in the kitchen lately. It's been a busy week with Heather, one of my bestest friends, visiting and with Ryan and I buying a new car. Mostly we've been living on leftovers, junk food, eating out, my mom's food, or quinoa cooked up in a variety of ways. It's pretty atypical of my food habits but it's been fun.

Speaking of eating out, check out the word about Winnipeg's newest burger joint. They're called Boon (located where Common Ground formerly was on Maryland). Not only are they a vegetarian burger joint that will serve 8-10 themed burgers, but they're going to be gluten free (still unsure if that means all their food will be gluten free or if the patties will be gluten free and they'll have the option of gluten free buns)! It's supposed to be up and running in June and I'm really excited to try it out. It's within walking or biking distance and is just the kind of thing I've been craving. I didn't eat fast food very often before I went gluten free so it wasn't a big deal to give it up, but in the summer it's nice to at least have the option of going out and getting a burger and fries from "fast food" type diner and not have to worry about my health.

Here's another interesting link to the Chickens for Winnipeggers group on Facebook. The group appeared in an oddly timely manner since urban chickens are something I've been thinking about a lot more. It's not a possibility now, seeing as how we live in an apartment with no balcony and we also like being lazy in our mid-twenties. But this is something I could see myself doing in the future. Even though my naturopath recently told me she strongly suspects I have an egg allergy (I really hope I don't, I love scrambled eggs!) I think it would be a great endeavour.

Finally, you might be wanting an update on my garden. I have yet to make a move on actually starting it because I got stuck on the logistics of it. I'm confused about what method I should try to use since we get no direct sunlight. Right now I'm thinking of a mix between herbs that don't need much light in the windows, a very small basic window farm, and some shelves and artificial lighting for some easy veggies. I didn't really know where to turn though to get the kind of help or information I want. But then I took the bus last week and less than a 10 minute walk from our apartment is an indoor gardening place! So I plan to stop in there by the end of the week and get some advice. I just need some direction from someone more experienced. I think this little project is going to cost me a few dollars but to be able to grow some of our own food, totally worth it.

A Visual of Riverside

For a few weeks now I've been wanting to show off my workspace and kitchen but I've just been too unmotivated to tidy up the increasing clutter on the kitchen table and make sure all the dishes are away and there's no mess. But the longer sunny days have been making me want to do something more with my time for a while. So finally I dragged out my old Nikon D40 and got to work.

Behold the kitchen as a whole! It's a long galley style kitchen but the odd lack of counter space and old fashioned sink make it appear we have more room than we do. It's the worst when Ryan and I are both stuck in that space between the counter and the stove. But since I'm usually the only one in the room and we're both on the dishes pretty quickly the counter size doesn't really phase me too much.

Check out this sink. I have to scrub it with Comet Bleach about twice a week because it stains really badly. It looks lovely when it's all clean and sparkly. We both appreciate that room for the dish rack is right on the sink and isn't really stealing any extra counter space.


Here is the multipurpose shelf. This actually acts as a pretty decent counter when we need it. In fact, so does the radiator so long as you put one of the big cutting boards on it. I brought this shelf from my room at home and it worked out really well in the kitchen. We have a ridiculous amount of appliances all over the kitchen and I have to use a separate gluten free toaster from Ryan so mine is the white one.


One "breakfast nook" or whatever you want to call it. I bought this table when I was still living at home and dying to make my room feel less bedroomy and more let's-pretend-I-don't-still-live-at-home. It's a great little bar table with four stools and we actually eat breakfast there fairly often in the morning, listening to good ole' CBC. I'm actually surprised I haven't talked about CBC more often. Ryan is a total CBC Radio 1 convert. We listen to it all the time, in the car - me more than him, but still. He'll turn it on when I'm not even around now.


Out compost corner. My mom kept one of these containers under her kitchen sink but I didn't think it would fit in our windows. I picked one up anyway and it fits just perfect. It doesn't give off a smell really and it keeps thing tidy. When the bag is full I just wrap it up and stick it in the other windowsill until I can drop it off at my folks place.


We live in a building that was built in 1931 so we even have an ice chest. But we use it as the pantry for snacks and potatoes and onions and oils.

And lastly, my funky new mixing bowls. I love these things. The 3 largest sizes have nice grips on the bottom so I can finally use my hand mixer without the bowl going crazy.

That's it for now. Ryan and I were busy buying a new car this weekend!

F.O.O.D. Wednesdays - A Day Late

Once again, I'm late on my FOOD Wednesday post. I usually pick up our produce box first thing in the morning but yesterday was an unusual work day so Ryan picked it up before he went to work and I didn't even get to see the box until around 10 last night.

I'm really impressed with how the Fresh Option folks seem to spread out their boxes each week. What I mean is, one week we'll often have a lot of big bulky veggies that I often don't get to use within a week - last week we had swiss chard, 1/2 purple cabbage, broccoli, potatoes, etc. If I have a busy week it's a lot more difficult to use up those ingredients, especially because the chard is more like two veggies (the stalk and the leaves). But those big bulky boxes are usually spaced out well. This week we got more broccoli and a carrot and some smaller root veggies which last longer and are often easier to use. We also got basil! Beautiful, beautiful basil! Basil is probably one of my most favourite herbs to use. It goes with so many different types of foods, it makes amazing dressings, and tastes surprisingly nice on fresh fruit (by the way, fruit is never an issue with the fresh option box because who doesn't love fresh fruit?! We get a good amount of bananas, apples, oranges, pears, grapefruits, mango's, kiwi's, and lemons usually).


I've mentioned before that the Fresh Option box is good because it forces me to cook and eat foods I might not consider buying. There are some foods I've learned I'm just not crazy about and some I've learned I might not be crazy about but I can hide them pretty well in a lot of other foods. I have yet to find a recipe I like that really features swiss chard. It's often used as an add-in but never gets to be the main attraction. I've been searching through blogs to find something that will stand out.

But last night I went for the good ole' "hide it" option. Taco's are pretty common in our home. They're quick, easy, and deeeeelicious. I cooked up some ground beef/pork from frigs and chopped up 6 or 7 stalks of swiss chard. I pulled the leaves off and cleaned them for later use. After the meat was cooked through I added the chard, some taco salt, and let it simmer together for 15-20 minutes while I got my cheese, olives, yogurt (we were out of sour cream), and cabbage (we were also out of lettuce). The 'hidden' chard was surprisingly delicious. It gave the taco's a bit more of an earthy flavour but it didn't overpower the other tastes going on. The cabbage was pretty tasty too. I didn't take a picture because I was ravenously hungry by the time I ate this, but the purple cabbage made it look very pretty.


Last week we also got some really nice fresh dill in the box. I had meant to use it in the mashed potatoes I made last weekend but I forgot we even had it. It was in the same package as the chard, so I decided to break out the dehydrator again. I'm very happy to say, we're had the dehydrator for less than a week and I've already used it twice. I spread the dill out on the trays and popped it in at 115F. In about 4 hours I had a nice jar full of dried dill, kept separate from the store bought stuff because it's more special.

Food Dehydrator

My Excalibur 2500 food dehydrator arrived last week! I had been considering going with a larger model but I'm glad I didn't because it is big. I found a spot for it on top of our fridge yesterday (we only have three 3-pronged plugs in our apartment despite having 4 rooms with plugs). It was delivered to my folks place and I picked it up on Friday. Now, I spent a good amount of cash on this thing so I intend to get my money's worth out of it. As it turns out, I had a lot of free time yesterday.

On March 31st we returned our cable box so we could cancel our cable but when I got home we still had cable in the spare room. We just decided to wait it out and see if got charged for it. I guess our company turns it off mid-month. On Thursday we had cable before I left for work and when I got home it had been disconnected...except for the weather channel, Discovery, and CNN...weird.

Anyway, now that we really have no TV, except for what's downloaded, I have a bit more free time to fill. Yesterday I went on a cleaning frenzy around the apartment; folding laundry, separating laundry, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floors, preparing dinner, re-organizing the kitchen, and trying out a dehydrator recipe.

I did a bit of research online and it seemed like fruit leather would be the easiest thing to try out first. I through a couple of cups of frozen berries and 2.5 bananas in my blender with a tbsp or two of honey and pureed. And that was it. The dehydrator comes with special sheets to make things like fruit leather on so I poured it onto the sheet and spread around. I could tell I had spread it a little thinly, but since it was my first time dehydrating ever, I was pretty pleased with it.

The National Centre for Home Food Preservation (recommended by Well Preserved - Thanks!) told me it would take anywhere from 6-8 hours to dehydrate but the book that came with it said 4-6. I just decided to check it every hour and ended up right at the 6 hour mark. The leather came out great. It's nice and tangy and a lot more tart than something like a Fruit-to-Go. I rolled it up in plastic wrap and have it in the fridge and it'll be a tasty snack all week.

I was actually really impressed with how easy the dehydrator was to use. I read the whole instruction booklet and then read up on the NCHFP and felt pretty confident. I had advice on how to position the door and how to make sure everything with situated in the right place. It was easy to check in and see how the food was doing and the fan wasn't too loud. The temperature control is a really nice feature and I'm glad I didn't go with a cheaper model.

So, that's the first experimentation with the dehydrator. Over the next week I'll probably be trying out some different types of leathers and I'm hoping to do a jerky. I'm not sure what kind of fruit or veggies we'll end up drying yet. We don't have too much extra to work with this week, but The Forks Market sells food that's teetering on being unusable in big bulk bags for 1 or 2 dollars. I'm going to keep my eyes open for the type of food they have. Last week they had cheap, slightly over-ripe strawberries, which would have been great for a leather. Hopefully I can get use out of my machine at least once a week. I'll keep you posted!

*I know, I didn't post a F.O.O.D. Wednesday post this week. I had plans Wednesday night and completely forgot to take a picture of our box. Oops! As consolation, here's last night's dinner made with some of our box items (kale, chard, onion, garlic, sweet potatoes, potatoes) and ribs from Frigs (recipe from Great Tastes of Manitoba - but it was a bit bland - BBQ sauce is my own).

The Downside of Baking

Monday was one of those days that just flew by. I started work at 8, worked until around 1 and then took a break for an hour and a half and biked to the library to check out a gardening book, and then went back to work till 5. By the time I finished work I was starving. Ryan and I were both home yesterday evening so I asked him to start dinner while I was finishing work.

A lot of the time it's just me by myself in the kitchen. I like cooking alone. A lot of times I don't even think to turn on the radio. I find cooking and washing dishes almost meditative. I like keeping my hands and brain occupied. But sometimes that can get boring or lonely. It was a nice change to be cooking in the kitchen together.

We went with a very summery meal yesterday. Last week at Frigs we picked up some bison burgers. I'd been craving one all weekend and yesterday we took out our tiny countertop grill - which really is tiny, it fit two patties exactly and that was it. I love those grills. We have a giant one that my older brother and niece got us, and this mini one that my folks got us. We just pre-heated for 5 minutes and then the burgers were both cooked in less than 15 minutes from frozen.

When I got home Ryan had already taken care of the oven fries and we tossed them in for 30 minutes. Earlier in the day I'd made up a batch of naked quinoa so I grabbed that out of the fridge, threw in the snap peas we'd gotten with our Fresh Option box this week, and added some balsamic dressing, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, paprika, and feta cheese. Mmmm....simple, but delicious.

While I made up the couscous, Ryan got all the condiments and cut up some cheese, kale, onions, etc for his burger. We had no buns so he had his on toast but I just had mine naked. Yum yum yum, this was a really satisfying meal and is making me look forward more and more to summer. There are a lot of BBQ pits in little parks dotted all around this area of the city so I'm looking forward to the day when it's warm enough that we can grab a frisbee, my hammock chair, some friends, and good eats on a lazy, sunny, afternoon.


You may have noticed this entry is called the downside of baking. After dinner Ryan and I both felt like something sweet but our home is empty of junk food. So I walked into the kitchen and thought "...butter and sugar...that's about all I have....what can I make with butter and sugar?" Naturally I turned to Four Chickens blog.

I scoured through some recipes before settling on gluten free donuts! You'll have to go to her blog to get the recipe, but these were faaaaantastic. And surprisingly easy. I took out all the ingredients, threw them into a bowl, mixed, added flour, mixed, and then refrigerated. Once the dough was cooled I heated some oil and got to work shaping the donuts. Jeanne recommends using cutters to make your donut shapes but I found this didn't really work well. Instead I opted to pull off a chunk of dough, roll it into a thick, but not too thick, snake, and then mold it into a small mini-donut ring. I molded them and then, very smartly otherwise we might have eaten them all, stuck 8 mini donuts in the freezer. Then you carefully place them in the hot oil and watch over as they cook. I mixed some brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkled it on top of the finished donuts. I think these will be making frequent appearances in our kitchen.