Monday, June 27, 2016

Espuña Spanish Charcuterie

The other day we were both wiped, and we decided that dinner would be a simple Spanish charcuterie platter with some olives, cheese, and crackers.  Espuña Tapas Essentials are newly available in Canada.


This line of authentic Spanish cured meats and tapas is right from Spain, and made by the Espuña family.  We tried four different meats: chorizo cañitas, Bilbao-style salami, salami cañitas, and Barcelona-style salami.


The salami cañitas were our favourite.


These tapas essentials would be perfect for a Spanish-themed dinner party, a wine and cheese event, an easy meal, or any type of fiesta!  You just need to open the package and serve, and the accompaniments can be just as easy (bread sticks, crackers, crostini, olives, pickles, cheese, etc.).  


Although easy to serve just as-is, the meats would also be fun for a little Spanish flare on a homemade pizza, with maybe some Spanish olives, and Manchego cheese.  The cañitas would be a great protein addition to a packed lunch or an on-the-go snack.

Espuña has numerous other products that we're looking forward to trying, especially the Olot salami, and the Spanish Chorizo salami, which we'd slice up and serve with crusty bread.

Do you like charcuterie?  Do you ever buy packaged meats/ salamis like these for snacking or party food?  What's your favourite Spanish dish?  Have you been to Spain?

* Full disclosure:  The Espuña products were provided to me free of charge.  All opinions are my own.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

What's up Wednesday

1)  I made a lovely bowl of mocha oatmeal the other day (2/3 cup mostly coffee, with a splash of milk, bring to a boil, add 1/3 cup quick oats, stir over heat for one minute, cover and remove from heat for about a minute, top with chocolate chips, and other fun toppings).  The coffee instead of water or milk gives it a nice kick that helps with those slow-moving mornings.


2)  We BBQd a couple racks of ribs last week - our favourite BBQd food.  They were great for dinner with potatoes on the side.  We had some leftovers for lunches too.


3)  We had mushroom ravioli last week, with a pumpkin-carrot based pasta sauce; they paired perfectly together (but didn't photograph well).


4)  On Monday evening we enjoyed breakfast for dinner, with buttermilk waffles, sausages, and herb scrambled eggs.


5)  We found these crackers at our corner grocery store the other day:


Fun!!  They're really good, and we'll definitely buy them again.

6)  While we were making breakfast for dinner on Monday, we made extra waffles to toss in the freezer, and four loaves of bread to freeze as well.


7)  Last night we took my dad out for a belated Fathers' Day dinner to Bushwakker.  They have a new menu (finally), and quite a few things caught my eye.  I ended up having the special - spaghetti with wild boar meatballs.  It came with a starter, and I chose the caesar salad.


8)  For dinner tonight we shared some homemade french fries, and a kale/tomato sandwich.


What's up with you these days?

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Lunch Guests

What a fabulous weekend!  On Friday evening we went to a retirement party, and on Saturday afternoon we went to our friends' Jocelyn and Michael's home for their daughter's first birthday.


What an event!  We had a great time visiting with pals, and enjoying the amazing spread of food.  The sky looked ominous, but it turned out to be a great afternoon/ evening.

On Saturday morning I got to play with yeast ...


I made 48 dinner rolls, froze a bunch, and left some out for today's lunch.

When we got home from the birthday party yesterday we made up a batch of borscht-meets-perogy perogies.  We mashed up some beet with potato, and added a bunch of goat cheese and dill, and then filled the dough with the gorgeous mixture.


We also did some prep for a dessert ...


Today we had Christopher's mom and dad over for lunch.  We visited in the living room for a bit when they first arrived.


Then we enjoyed a little perogy taste ...


They were a hit!


After the perogy, lunch was served.  We made wild rice, trout, and a coconut curry broth.


Dinner buns on the side were great for the dippin'.


Dessert was cherry-berries on a cloud - light, airy, and a perfect way to end off a yummy lunch.


We have a lovely week ahead, including a dinner out with my dad

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Monday, June 13, 2016

Weekend and Other Stuff

Last week we roasted a chicken, and ate the leftovers for a couple days.


We had many chicken sandwiches, but we also made poutine, with homemade fries of course.


Roasted chicken poutine is something special; you've got to try it!

On Friday we were heading out of town immediately after work.  Christopher made some chicken wraps with the last of the chicken, picked up a couple lattes, and then grabbed me from work, and we headed to Saskatoon.  We were in a bit of a hurry, as we were headed to see Garth Brooks in concert at 7:00 pm..  Neither of us are big country fans, but we do have a handful of country artists that we really enjoy, and as it turns out, we're seeing a few of them this year.  We made it to town in time to hop on a shuttle bus to the concert, get drinks, and get to our seats just before Garth came out.  We had awesome seats - 18th row!  It was a fantastic show, and we're really glad that we went.

By the time we got out of the concert venue and back to our hotel, it was probably 11:30 p.m..  We were pretty hungry, so we ordered a little pizza and some wings to our room for a late night snack.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast in our hotel, and our lovely server bought it for us!  She has done this before, and is just so sweet. 


After breakfast we went to see my mom, then ran out in the afternoon to get her groceries, and then went back to visit some more.  She was doing so well this visit, which was such a relief and so nice to see after our more difficult visit last time we were there.

We grabbed a very late Korean lunch (or very early dinner) and then headed back to the hotel for the evening. 


Later on Saturday night we ordered a peanut butter, pretzel cheesecake up to our room.


This dessert is our favourite; it's amazing.

We grabbed bagels and coffees on Sunday and then spent some more time with my mom, laughing, and reminiscing.

When we got back home on Sunday evening we cooked up some pork chops in a mushroom sauce for dinner.  We served them with rice and asparagus.


Dinner this evening is our favourite noodle dish ...


And I even whipped up a chocolate cake for dessert (because someone around here likes desserts).

 

How was your weekend?  What did you do?