It's Spring!

Happy first day of Spring!

On Thursday we cooked up a green Thai curry ...

Because nothing says "St. Patrick's Day" like Thai curry ;-)

I made a vanilla cake for dessert, and Christopher has been enjoying his cake right out of the pan for the past couple of days.

We had a busy weekend.  On Friday evening we had dinner plans with some pals at Industrial Park Cafe, and then later on in the evening Christopher's band played at a fundraiser for mental health.

On Saturday evening we went out for dinner to Flip with our friends Kaylee and Shane.  We hadn't seen them since their wedding in Vegas, back in July; it was so nice to catch up.

I had the duck udon soup, and it was great.  I love all the food at Flip.

After dinner the band had another gig, so we headed to Lancaster.  We didn't get home until about 1:00 a.m., and slept in a bit this morning.

Today we didn't want to leave the house at all.  We don't usually go out as much as we did this weekend, so we were happy to have the full day with no where to go.  Christopher made breakfast:

And then after that some vanilla lattes:

It's been a relaxing and wonderful day.

We're pretty excited for the short work week, as we're headed on vacation at the end of this week!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's day?

Recent Eats

On Sunday evening we made double-cheeseburgers for dinner.

I ate half of mine, and Christopher had the rest.  We had salad on the side.

It had been ages since we had burgers.  It was too windy to do them on the BBQ ... but next time!

On Sunday we also made a pork, bok choy noodle dish to use for our lunches for the start of the work-week.

Last night's dinner was a warm salad:

Dessert was apple pie, because it was pi day (3.14)!

And tonight, salmon with potatoes and portobellos:

What have you been cooking?  Eating?

Weekend Things

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! 

On Thursday evening we made a new favourite dinner, pan seared trout, and wild rice in a Thai coconut curry broth.

On Friday night we had breakfast for dinner, which we rarely do.  Bacon, poached eggs, potatoes fried in bacon fat ...

Yesterday morning we were up around 6:30 a.m..  Breakfast was egg in a hole:

Later on we cooked up some shrimp and had them in the leftover rice and curry broth.

Then we snacked on smoked salmon and paratha while watching a great documentary, Food Matters. 

Last night we fried up some chicken and made sandwiches with it.  On the side we enjoyed some raw veggies with dip.

KFC has nothing on us!

This morning is off to a great start ...

 

How's your weekend going so far?

Mary Macleod's Shortbread - Review

The kind people at Mary Macleod's Shortbread offered to send me some goodies to try, including a 4" round of their most popular shortbread cookie, Chocolate Crunch, and a bag of Shortbread Butterscotch Crumbs.  Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to try these goodies.

Mary Macleod founded the Canadian company in 1981, and her shortbread took off.  The company is based in Toronto, and was the first in Canada dedicated to making shortbread.  The all-butter shortbread cookies are made in small batches with high-quality ingredients.  There are numerous flavours to try, and they come in all different sizes and types of packages.  Check out the different packages here.

I loved the addition of chocolate in the shortbread cookies, which I had never had before.  It definitely does give them a nice added texture.  I also absolutely love that these cookies were bite-sized.  I don't eat a lot of sweets, but popping one of these in my mouth after dinner is just the perfect little treat. 

Shortbread are one of my favourite types of cookies, but I've only ever made the traditional type myself.  I look forward to trying Mary Macleod's Espresso Dark Chocolate and Rolled Coconut shortbread one day - they sound so good. 

When I saw the Butterscotch Shortbread Crumbs, I knew exactly what I was going to use them for - an over-the-top topping for an apple crisp.

I made apple crisp, used the regular oatmeal-based topping, and then, because the crispy part of apple crisp is the best part, I added a good couple of handfuls of the Butterscotch Shortbread Crumbs as well.  Ooooooh my!

The addition of the shortbread crumbs totally took the apple crisp over the edge.  The butterscotch flavour is pure perfection with the apple.  I don't think I'll make an apple crisp without the addition of these crumbs from now on.  You could just use them as the crisp part, without your usual topping ... or you could be wild like me and just double up on the crunchy stuff.

I don't like following the rules, if breaking the rules is tastier.

This apple crisp did not last long in our house; I'm already planning on making another.

Do you like shortbread?  Have you tried Mary Macleod's shortbread?

You can check out the website, or order some here.  

Full Disclosure:  The cookies and crumbs were provided to me free of charge.  All opinions are my own.

BBQing and a New Recipe

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful (+16).  That is unheard of in this neck of the woods, and we took full advantage of it.

We BBQd chicken, a vegetable medley, and potatoes on Saturday.

We also spent some time sitting out on our front step, soaking in the lovely day.  In the evening we headed out on the town to see Classified in concert.

We relaxed all day Sunday, and then BBQd again on Sunday evening.  We had ribs with Greek salad and potatoes.

We're looking forward to many more BBQd meals this month and in the months to come.  It would appear that spring has arrived.

Last night we made a vegan Alfredo pasta for dinner. 

We've made this recipe numerous times before, and it's so good.  The only thing we do differently is use smokey paprika instead of regular, because smokey is simply better.

Tonight we had a vegetarian meal, rosemary polenta with eggplant & Gorgonzola (smoked cheddar for me):

Rosemary Polenta with Eggplant & Gorgonzola

* This recipe is really easy, but it has a few steps (all simple)

- fresh rosemary, minced
- polenta cut into rounds
- oil for frying (a few T)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- approx. 1/4 cup yellow onion, minced
- 2 large tomatoes, very finely chopped
- 1-2 T tomato paste
- fresh basil, chopped, to taste
- salt and pepper, to taste
- two dashes of cooking wine (or regular white wine) - optional
- smaller (long if available) eggplant cut into rounds
- Gorgonzola cheese (or other)

Salt the eggplant, and place in a large colander.  Let stand for 20-30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, press some of the chopped rosemary into one side of the polenta.  Heat some oil in a pan (about 2 T), and once hot, put the polenta in rosemary side down.  Sprinkle some rosemary and press into the other side of the polenta.  Fry on both sides until crisp.  Set aside on a lined baking sheet as they are done.

Meanwhile put 1 T oil into a separate pot and heat.  Add garlic and onion, and fry until soft.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Let cook for a minute or two.  Add a dash or two of cooking wine if desired (or regular white wine).  Stir until pretty saucy.  Turn the burner off and leave it there to keep warm.

Once all the polenta is fried, heat some more oil, and fry the eggplant on both sides.  Once done, start assembling.  Assemble into stacks with polenta on the bottom, the tomato sauce next, then a couple slices of eggplant, and then a slice or chunk of the cheese.  Broil on high just until the cheese melts.  Serve.

This dinner was so satisfying, and had a wonderful combination of flavours and textures.

How's your week going so far?  Have you fired up the BBQ yet this year?  Do you like polenta?  Eggplant?  Try them together, it's great!