Monday, October 28, 2019

A Weekend: One for the Books

This past weekend, Christopher and I had nothing to do and nowhere to go; the weather forecast was looking windy and cold, so we planned ahead by cleaning the house on Thursday, and getting groceries on Friday.  After the cleaning, we had a really easy dinner of canned mushroom soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.


Once we were home on Friday evening and had unloaded the groceries, we prepared a tray of nachos and got cozy on the couch with Diagnosis, and new episodes of Working Moms.


We were warm, comfortable, and settled in for the weekend.

It wasn't long before we were falling asleep, so we called it a night.  On Saturday morning I made a batch of my favourite overnight oats (they don't actually need to be left overnight):


Once we were done breakfast and coffee, we got to work on making a batch of perogies.  The filling was mashed potato, mashed beet, fresh dill, and goat cheese.

 

A loaded plate of them for lunch (sour cream, simulated bacon bits, green onion, sriracha):


All afternoon we listened to music, watched The Pursuit (a really interesting documentary about capitalism), episodes of Unnatural Selection (a docuseries about biohacking), and more Diagnosis (an intense docuseries about unsolved medical mysteries; it makes me cry).

On Saturday evening, we whipped up a batch of copycat Panera broccoli and cheddar soup.


That evening we watched Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live.

A while back we made pumpkin pancakes and froze the leftovers.  On Sunday morning we just popped these into the toaster, whipped some cream, and sat down to a lovely breakfast.


Breakfast took such little time, and we were up quite early, so the day felt really long, which was absolutely glorious, especially since we had woken up to a layer of snow outside.

I started and finished this book on Sunday, and absolutely loved it!


Christopher worked on his music (he's combining live bass with electronic music that he's making on a free tablet he got from work years ago).


And he read a good chunk of this book; he can hardly put it down.


We listened to tunes and decided we'd listen to each record we own, one by one throughout the winter.


I read through the newest issue of Food Network Magazine and tore out all the recipes that sounded good.  I have too many of these in a drawer, all stacked up, along with every other recipe we have.  I see an organization project in the future!  


All afternoon we had a pot of smokey, hearty chili simmering on the stove.


It was the perfect meal to ease into this wintry weather.


We ate dinner early, so we still had the whole evening ahead of us - ahhhh.  Now that's what I call a weekend.

I love getting up early so the days feel extra long.

How was your weekend?  Did you get snow?
What are you reading?

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Good Eats & Tuna Poke Bowl Recipe

We've been eating well around here!

Click here for the recipe.
Poutine - homemade fries, gravy, cheese curds, parsley
For Christopher's birthday last week, we made tuna poké bowls.

Tuna Poké Bowls
(for two)

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
2 green onions, chopped
1 chunk of raw, sushi-grade tuna (enough for two), cubed

Combine the above ingredients and refrigerate while making the rice and chopping the ingredients below.

For serving:

Cooked sticky rice (we made two servings)
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
green onion, chopped
cucumber, julienned (or use a food processor)
carrot, julienned
pickled ginger, chopped

Layer the rice, fish, and toppings into a bowl, and pour the extra liquid from the marinade over everything.  Yum!


After getting groceries on Friday evening, we just wanted an easy dinner and some TV shows.  We made spinach with chorizo, roasted asparagus, and a plate of raw veggies.


Weekend breakfasts included pumpkin pancakes one day, and fruit, cheese, and olives another day.


We had a really fun night out on Saturday.  We met up with friends at Cathedral Social Hall for dinner and then walked across the street to do some private karaoke.  The friends all had babysitters, so it was nice to have an adult night out on the town.

Sunday was a relaxing day; we didn't do too much.  I did whip up a pumpkin cream pie, dinner buns, and cranberry sauce, and we put a cook-from-frozen turkey into the oven. None of that took too long though, so we were chilling out in no time.


We never like to cook the whole turkey feast in one day, so we just picked at the turkey and stuffing, and waited until the next day to make the gravy, cheddar jalapeno mashed potatoes, and veggies.


This was a nice belated-Thanksgiving meal.

Dessert was pumpkin cream pie:


Today was all about the leftovers 🦃😋

It's been really nice out lately, and Friday is supposed to be 15C!  We should start thinking about Halloween, but it's just not feeling like that time yet, and that's fine with me.  The leaves in our yard haven't fallen yet and are still green!

How was your weekend?  How is your week going so far?  
Have you started thinking about Halloween (costumes, candy, etc.)?

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Celebrating Birthdays

We were out of town on Thanksgiving weekend, so we didn't have a turkey dinner, but we did get to spend time with my mom, and that's what matters the most.  She was doing really well during this visit, and it was nice to laugh with her.

When we got home on Sunday evening, Christopher's parents had us over for an early birthday dinner.  My birthday was yesterday, and Christopher's is tomorrow.

They made an epic seafood feast!


Some hot appetizers (escargot, calamari, baked scallops, seafood stuffed mushrooms):


Clam chowder soup:


And if that wasn't enough, there was still stuffed salmon and veggies!


After all these delicious eats, we had to take a good break before sharing a piece of pumpkin pie.


Wowzers!  I could not fit another bite!

Last night we made khao soi for my birthday dinner


This evening my dad took Christopher and I out to Rotisserie to celebrate.  We ate way too much, and now we are looking forward to relaxing with a show.


I think we're making pokè bowls for the birthday boy tomorrow.

Bring on 35 and 37!  We are loving getting older!



If you're Canadian, how did you celebrate Thanksgiving? 
When is your next long weekend? How is your week going? 
 (This short week has just been flying by for us.  The weekend will be here before we know it, and we have some fun plans with friends!)

Monday, October 7, 2019

Weekend

What a great weekend!  On Friday evening Christoper and I made a quick ramen dinner, before heading out to do private karaoke. We had a blast belting out songs for a couple hours, and then came home, watched a political face-to-face in preparation for the upcoming election, and then we finally went to sleep around 2 a.m.


Saturday was spent running around. We went for breakfast in town, which we never do, but it was nice. We ate at The Breakfast Bistro and really enjoyed it. The service was great too.


The portions were massive!  I ate about 1/3 of this and took the rest home.

After breakfast, we picked up a few necessities, stopped at the Home Lottery House (loved it), and a couple other show homes, then went to the park to celebrate World Teachers Day.

We had leftovers for a late lunch/ early dinner, then made nachos for a snack later in the evening.


For breakfast on Sunday, Christopher made avocado toast, which we ate in the living room with coffees, while searching for a potential warm winter getaway. We haven't booked anything yet, but we've been looking.


After breakfast we got some short ribs going in the slow cooker.  They were delicious over rice, with some roasted pumpkin on the side.


That being said, we've decided we're not really fans of beef, other than ground beef.  The meat was tender, flavourful, and tasted good, but it just leaves us feeling blah when we eat chunks of beef.  Steak is probably our least favourite cut of meat, so I wouldn't be surprised if we never ate it again. And now we're thinking short rib might be too rich for us ...

I made a pumpkin chocolate chip loaf and tofu stir fry in the early afternoon.

The stir fry is my breakfast for the week!


The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We've started watching Arrested Development, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.  We're also re-watching One Strange Rock for the 4th time because it is fascinating, beautiful, and mind-boggling. #obsessedwithscience

How was your weekend? Have you started watching any new shows recently?  What types/cuts of meats do you prefer?  Which do you not like as much?

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Two New Recipes

Last night we needed a quicker dinner, as we were heading to our nephew's football game for 6:00. 

We made chili verde with sausage and pumpkin, and started by broiling this tray of veggies.


Then everything went into one pot, starting with some onion, then sausage meat, garlic, oregano, cilantro, and chopped pumpkin or squash.  It called for canned hominy too, but we couldn't find any, so we just added a can of corn, and it tasted great.


I thought it needed more liquid, as it wasn't saucy or liquidy enough for chili, in my opinion, so we added a can of beef broth that we had on hand, and about a 1/4 cup of water.


We made this dinner, ate, and were only five minutes late to the game.  I call that a win!  (And the team won too!)


This chili was so good, and it had just the right amount of kick.  I loved the leftovers for lunch today.  We'll add this to our make-again list, and you can find the recipe here if you want to try it out.

Tonight we made another new dish - grilled chicken thighs with ginger scallion noodles, but had mixed feelings about it.  I didn't think it was anything special, although Christopher really enjoyed it.


I thought this dish needed something more.  I added sriracha, but it still wasn't really doing it for me.  Anyway, the recipe is here, and it's an even quicker one.

I used to subscribe to many food and cooking magazines, but now I only have one subscription - Food Network Magazine.  Often, when we are menu planning and can't think of what to make, we turn to this magazine for quick and easy ideas.

(Note: I am not affiliated with them; I just like the magazine).

What's on the menu at your house this week?
Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Where do you look for new ideas when you're meal planning?