Bright, Sunny Weekend

Getting up in the morning lately has been so nice, as the sun is shining brightly through all the windows, making the sky happy, and me even happier.  Breakfasts all week looked like this:

I had a couple of pieces of toasted homemade bread (loaded with butter), melon with Greek yogurt & PB, and ruby-red grapefruit juice to drink.

On Thursday evening we made Thai laab moo, and ate it in lettuce wraps.  You make basically a Thai version of pico de gallo, toast and grind some rice to add for crunch, add an insane amount of lime, and mix that with ground pork.  It's so flavourful, and was perfect wrapped up in the large lettuce leaves.

 

 

 

 

We've made this pork salad before, but served it with rice.  When it comes to a recipe for this dish, we just wing it, adding shallot, cilantro, limes, red chilies, green onion, and salt to taste.  In a dry saucepan, we add about 5 T of Jasmine rice, and toast that up for about 15 minutes on low-med/low, then process it into a powder, and add that to the meat for crunch.  We like it served warm.

Yesterday evening we picked up a few groceries, and then made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  I could eat this dinner once a week; it's so satisfying.

This morning Christopher is making breakfast, as he usually does on the weekends.  He's so cute though; he brought the skillets over to me where I'm blogging, so I could see how good they look before they go into the oven.

Mmmm, can't wait to eat 'em!

It's going to be an absolutely beautiful weekend, and we have nothin' to do but visit (and eat) with family, and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

What are you up to this weekend?

What's Up Wednesday

This week is flying by!

Rewinding to the weekend ...

On Saturday night we put together some book shelves, and had a great time listening to vinyls in the basement while organizing.  It might sound silly to some, but we love Saturday nights like that.  When we were done, and it was pretty late, we made crab legs and potatoes for dinner. 

Other highlights from the weekend include homemade French fries:

And homemade stout bread:

 

Christopher made the fries while I made the bread; we're a carb family.

On Monday evening we had a big salad for dinner, with roasted veggies, tofu, sauteed kale, and some raw greens underneath it all.

Last night dak galbi was on the menu:

Tonight we had pitas with falafel, tzatziki, roasted mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and feta.

 

How's your week going so far?

Fresh Roll Fun

One of our favourite creative outlets is experimenting in the kitchen.  We love playing with new flavour combinations, creating recipes, and brainstorming meal ideas; we have so much fun with it.  On Sunday we had a dancing, singing, silly, fresh-roll-making-party for two.

We prepped a lot of raw veggies, and also julienned some mango, apple, and smoked tofu.  We boiled a beet to julienne, and cooked up some mushrooms in sesame oil.  We also steamed shrimp, and cooked up some chicken in sesame oil and ginger.

We poured boiling water over rice noodles, and let those soak in that for a minute or two before draining them.  To make fresh rolls you just dip the fresh rolls wraps in hot water (we pour boiling water onto a dinner plate and dip them in that), then add the fillings and roll.

We made some with ginger chicken, strips of ginger, mango, carrot, red cabbage and cilantro:

Next we made some with shrimp, beet, carrot, zucchini and red cabbage:

And then smoked tofu, with green apple, mushroom, radish and zucchini:

We whipped up two different peanut sauces, and had a dippy dinner!

Do you like fresh rolls?  Have you made them?  

How was your weekend?

Weekend

Mmmmm, baby bok choy ...

We used this large pile of it in an pork noodle dish this week.

Yesterday after work we ran a few errands, and were wiped by the time we got home.  We didn't feel like cooking so we ordered in from a place that is literally around the corner. 

Yes, we got delivery ... from around the corner #lazynight.

We ate in the living room, which is something we only do when we order in, or when we're having snacks.  While eating, we watched Tangled.  Christopher hadn't seen it before, but has been told that he looks like Flynn Rider, the main male character - ha, it's true! 

Today has been a very productive day, and we started it with breakfast sandwiches and potatoes:

How has your weekend been so far?

Do you eat in the living room when you order in?

Eats this Week

On Sunday evening we made an old favourite for dinner, haystacks. 

To make haystacks, you just pile everything you'd put into a taco, over cooked rice.  We topped our rice with grated cheese, ground beef cooked up with taco seasoning, tomatoes, olives, salsa, sour cream, cilantro, and crunched up tortilla chips.

It's so easy and versatile, and is great for leftovers.  I put everything into one container, except the tortilla chips I put into a little baggy, and the salsa and sour cream I put in a a separate container to add after warming.

On Monday evening we had homemade perogies and cabbage rolls.

Then on Tuesday evening we took my dad out for supper to Swiss Chalet.  I got my usual, quarter chicken dinner; I really love this place out of nostalgia.  My parents always took us to Swiss Chalet as kids.

We had a nice time catching up with my dad.

This week is going really well so far; we're slowly getting our yard cleaned up and ready for summer.  It's gorgeous outside!

What have you been cooking/eating this week?  

How's your week going so far?

Productive

This weekend has been absolutely beautiful.

Last night we BBQd ribs.  Christopher whipped up a delicious BBQ sauce from scratch; he's a whiz with sauces.

On the top rack we had a tinfoil packet of spaghetti squash (baked in the oven the other day, brushed the tinfoil with truffle oil, seasoned the squash, wrapped it up), and a packet of brussels sprouts.

We were up really early again this morning (7:30 a.m.) and we made Cafe du Monde style lattes with coffee grounds we picked up in NOLA.

They were perfect with our big breakfast.

I did a bunch of baking this afternoon.  I started by prepping dinner rolls.

And while those were rising, I made banana, chocolate chip muffins.

Insanely moist - perfection.

After the muffins were done, I finished up with the buns:

By this point, it's safe to say the house was smelling pretty amazing.

I made some taco seasoning that we'll use in our dinner tonight ...

And then made a couple dozen hot cocoa cookies.

How did you spend your Sunday?