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?

Breakfasts

I had some delicious breakfasts last week, including avocado toast (one piece drizzled with balsamic, both topped with pink Himalayan sea salt):

Juicy nectarines from the farmers' market: 

And a chocolate oat parfait, with maple banana "soft serve". 

Chocolate "Overnight" Oats

1/3 cup raw quick oats
1 T chia seeds
1 T cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, or any milk-like drink

Mix everything together and let it sit about 10 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight so it's even quicker in the morning.

Maple Banana "Soft Serve"

1 large frozen banana (or 1 1/2 small) broken into chunks
1 T pure maple syrup
Almond milk (or any milk) - start with a couple T and add more as needed

Throw the banana, syrup and milk into your blender or food processor, and mix until smooth and soft-serve ice-cream like.

Layer the oats and the soft-serve into your parfait dish, and dig in.

We spent the entire weekend at home, without leaving the house, which was great.  We had eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast on Saturday.

And then on Saturday evening we threw together a sausage-arugula breakfast strata, and tossed that in the fridge overnight, so it would be ready to pop in the oven this morning.

Sausage-Arugula Breakfast Strata

 

6 eggs
1 1/4 cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste
2 T chopped basil (or whatever herb you have on hand)
About 1/2 loaf of crusty bread, cubed (we used 200g rosemary focaccia)
1 lb (1 package) breakfast sausage rounds, cooked and cut into pieces
5-6 white mushrooms, quartered
1 cup arugula, torn or rough chop 
Olive oil (for roasting mushrooms)
1 cup of shredded cheese, whatever you like

Mix eggs, half and half, salt and pepper and basil.  Set aside.  Drizzle olive oil over the mushrooms, salt and pepper them, and roast @ 425F for about 20 min.  Once browned, remove and set them aside.  Spray your baking dish, then layer half the bread, half the mushrooms, half the sausage, half of the arugula, and half of the cheese.  Repeat with the other half of the ingredients.  Slowly pour the egg mixture over everything.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  The next morning take it out and leave at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 350 F.  Bake, covered, for 30-40 minutes, then uncover and bake another 20 minutes. 

This was a nice way to start out our morning.  More about our weekend in the next post.

What have you been eating for breakfasts lately?  

Have you ever made a strata?

New Restaurant & Basic Frittata Recipe

Most of my weekend was spent either at home cooking, eating or sleeping or listening to music at the Folk Festival in a park downtown.  On Saturday I went for lunch to a new restaurant in the city called Bombay, an East Indian halal restaurant.  We ordered off the menu, which I would definitely recommend instead of getting the buffet which didn't seem to have that great of a selection.

I was incredibly impressed with the quality and taste of food.  I ordered chicken gorma, which is boneless chicken cooked with cashews and a mildly spiced sauce.  The owner recommended that I get the pershawri naan bread with it, and said that this bread had cherries and nuts in it.  I was skeptical, but went with his recommendation, and am I ever glad I did!  It was probably the best Indian food I have ever had, and that is not an exaggeration.

 

I cannot wait to go back for this same dish.  I also tried some of the Baigan Burtha (egg plant cooked with tomatoes, onions, green peas and spices), and it was also fabulous.  The food at this restaurant is not very spicy (even my friend Cori could eat it and she is a not a spice person), yet it is full of flavour. 

Yesterday I made a frittata for breakfast.  I didn't know how to make a frittata, so I decided to wing it and it turned out beautifully.

 

Basic Frittata

(serves 2)

1 T butter

Approx. 1 cup finely diced vegetables (I used mushroom, tomato, and green onion)

Approx. 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used aged gouda)

5 eggs

Approx. 1/4 cup milk or milk substitute (I used Almond milk)

Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Heat 1 T butter in a oven-safe pan on medium.  Once sizzling, toss in the veggies and cook for a minute or two until softened up a bit.  In a bowl mix the eggs, milk, cheese and salt and pepper.  Pour into the pan and cook for about 3 minutes in the pan on medium, then transfer to the oven for 8 minutes.  Remove and cut into slices.

 

This morning's breakfast was something I hadn't had in ages - a vegan soft serve oat parfait.

Chocolate Oat Parfait with Maple Banana Soft Serve

1/3 cup quick oats

1 scoop chia seeds

1 T cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any milk/substitute)

Mix the above ingredients and let sit for about 10-15 minutes (or overnight).  Stir it up and then layer in a glass with banana "soft serve".

Maple Banana Soft Serve

1 frozen banana broken into chunks

1 T  pure maple syrup or maple flakes

milk or almond milk (start with a few T and add more as needed)

Add all to a vita-mix or food processor and process until fluffy and soft-serve like.  Add more milk/substitute as needed.

 

I can't believe I only have a couple of weeks left before I go back to work :-(  My holidays always go by sooo quickly.  Luckily I still have some fun things planned before back-to-work day.  This week I am looking forward to dinner with friends, dinner with my dad, and my friends' wedding.  Next week will be spent camping!  I am so excited.  In between the fun I will be working on statistics for my thesis ...

What was the best thing that you ate this weekend?  Do you like Indian food?  What do you have going on for the rest of summer - anything exciting?