Friday, September 29, 2017

Scenes from Last Weekend

Before heading into the colder months, we like to have our freezer stocked full.  This past weekend were were really productive in the kitchen.  We started with a batch of perogies:


We did some with with potato, cheese, bacon, and onion:


As well as our invention, with potato, beet, dill, and goat cheese:


This won't last too long in our house, but it's a start.  If we make enough for dinner one evening, and want lunches the next day, that's two bags gone.


We also made one batch of cabbage rolls:


Some turkey stock:


Dinner buns:


These realllllly won't last long.  We only have 14 left in the freezer, as we've devoured 10 already.  Oh my!  I see another epic baking day in our future. 

Christopher made hot sauce:


While I made focaccia:


Lunch on Saturday was light and lovely.  We whipped up some lemon and rosemary ricotta, seasoned it with salt, and served it over crostini.


Dinner was salmon with Brussels sprouts:


On Sunday we made a big lasagna for dinner, and had enough for leftovers for a few days.

 

That only seems like a day or two ago that we were making all this food, and here we are at the weekend again.  This weekend is starting out with Christopher's band playing tonight; we're looking forward to heading out for the evening, and then hopefully sleeping in tomorrow.  We're both feeling tired lately, so we hope to get some lounging around in this weekend.

What are you up to this weekend?  
Do you stock your freezer for the fall/winter?

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

What's Up Wednesday

I'm not sure why, but I have felt wiped this week.  I feel like I have been sleeping well, but I still feel a little bit drained.  The weather has been beautiful though, and I got some fresh air today, so hopefully that will help to give me a burst of energy.

This past weekend we made wife-saver breakfast, and I started the weekday mornings with the leftovers.


I'm always slow moving on weekday mornings, so it's nice to have something hearty that I can just quickly warm up and eat.

Last week my breakfasts weren't as comforting, but they were still good.  I had smoothies (coconut water, mango, banana, strawberries, spinach):


And yogurt bowls:


I bought Cornflakes for the corn, chicken skillet I made recently.  From prior experience, I know that when we buy cereals for recipes, we don't often use the rest of the box up before it expires.  Thinking ahead this time, I planned a few different ways to use the Cornflakes in the next while.  They were the topping of the wife-saver breakfast, as well as these jalapeno cheesy potatoes:


They made a nice side to our meatloaf last week.


I don't usually use a recipe for meatloaf; it's one of those things that I just throw together.  That being said, this time I used a recipe that I had lying around for years, and then regretted it once we dug in.  I'll stick to my usual winging-it style next time.


Another recipe we tried last week that I wasn't overly fond of was for vegetarian stuffed shells.  I found them bland, and thought that the filling was too liquidy. 


I should have known it wouldn't be good had I read the recipe over well, but mistakes are made when meal planning in a hurry.

On Thursday we took my dad out for dinner to Bushwakker.  I had the most massive taco salad, and barely put a dent in it.  Christopher ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.


Because Christopher had a year of perfect attendance at work, he got a $100 from his employer (he's actually had many years of perfect attendance over his time with the company).  He wanted to spend it by taking me out for sushi on Friday evening.  After getting groceries we headed out to try Hachi Sushi, a newer place in town.  This was our first time trying conveyor belt sushi.  Each colour of plate is set at a different price point.

 

You can take whatever you like as it passes by on the conveyor belt, and then the server charges you at the end by adding up the plates you have at your table.


There is also an ipad to order other items, such as tempura and other appetizers, ramen, larger main dishes, and beverages.


We ordered wonton soup and dumplings from the menu.


The sushi was good, and we were both impressed with the soup, as well as the large pieces of sashimi.

I think it's priced reasonably, and the quality is comparable to the other places in town.  I don't know if I like having to pay attention to what is coming around, and after this one experience, I'd say I currently prefer the all-you-can-eat sushi places.  It was definitely a neat thing to try though.

After our Friday evening out, we spent the rest of the weekend at home (more on that in the next post).  This week we've been a bit more busy, with Christopher's band practicing, and me getting together with the girls to celebrate our friend Cori who just had a beautiful baby boy.  I forgot to snap a photo of the yummy spread, but I did get a lot of cuddles and it was nice to visit, see all my friends' girls, and to meet the new little guy 💙

How is your week going so far?  Have you had conveyor belt sushi?  
I still have more Cornflakes to use up - what should I do with them?  Do any of you have a yummy dessert square recipe that uses Cornflakes?

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Trying Three New Recipes

We've been trying some new recipes in the Everyday Foodie house.  Last Sunday we roasted a chicken, and then used the meat in a corn, chicken skillet dinner.


The recipe was from Food Network Magazine, and it was really easy to throw together.


We thought it was good, but better the next day for lunch.


On Monday we used the chicken up in another Food Network recipe, chipotle chicken enchiladas.


We thought this recipe was great, especially the sauce, which we'll definitely make again.  It would be good on any type of enchiladas.


They were filling enough that I only needed one for dinner.  Christopher had two, and there was lunch for the next day.


Last week I made a dessert to toss in the freezer for whenever we're craving an after dinner treat.  These PB bars taste like Reese's cups.


Chocolate PB Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup margarine
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups icing sugar
1 bag chocolate chips
peanuts to sprinkle on top (optional)

Melt together the PB and margarine.  Add in the cracker crumbs and icing sugar, and press into a parchment lined 9x13 pan.  Chill.  Melt the chocolate and spread over the top.  Sprinkle with peanuts if desired.  Freeze.  Cut into bars.  Best stored in freezer.


Do you like peanut butter and chocolate together?  
Have you tried any new recipes lately?