Saturday, June 30, 2018

Long-Weekend Anticipation

The last week has been a blur.  We haven't had anything too elaborate for dinners.  One evening Christopher made a green curry with rice, another day we had smokies with tomato salad:


Tuna Helper one evening:


And warm salad another:


We've been looking forward to this long weekend for a long time, and made sure we were prepared for it.  On Wednesday we cleaned the house, and on Thursday after work we went to alllllll the little specialty food shops to pick up supplies.

Some of the goodies we picked up.
Dinner on Thursday was pork cutlets from Butcher Boy Meats (they were great!), potatoes with Hungarian paprika paste, and sauerkraut.


We shared one of these cupcakes for dessert:


As soon as work was done yesterday we were in celebration mode!  Christopher is celebrating some good news at work, and I am celebrating the start of my summer holidays.  To celebrate we wanted to do very little, and just enjoy and relax with snacks.

I came home to these beautiful flowers - awwwwe!


Once Christopher was home we plated all the snacks and headed straight for the yard.  We brought some tunes out with us too of course.


I was mostly digging into the two truffle cheeses we bought from Takeaway Gourmet, which are both incredible, and Christopher was eating this stinky, disgusting looking blue (he loved it though):


The entire night was spent in the yard, and once it got late we fired up the BBQ to warm up a smoked turkey leg, which we shared.


It was a great start to what should be a fantastic, fun-filled long weekend, and a beautiful summer!

What are you up to this weekend?
Do you shop at specialty food shops sometimes?  Or mostly stick to the grocery store? 

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Weekend Getaway

On Friday evening we met up with friends at Good Spirit Lake.  Many of them were staying in the campground, but we rented a cabin.


We thought this would be a perfect option for us, as this is a pretty hectic time of year around our house, and we wouldn't have had much time to get ready for tenting.  Also, my Christopher is much more into glamping than camping, so this was right up his alley.  Some friends were in the cabin right next to us, and the rest of the group was a two minute drive away.


Once in the cabin, we transferred our food from the cooler to the fridge, and then grabbed our chairs, a bag of snacks/dinner supplies, and headed down to see everyone.

Dinner on Friday evening was smokies (and then we snacked on jalapeno cheddar chips, and seeds later in the night).


We were out really late around the fire, and it didn't get too dark outside, which was odd, but enjoyable.  It never felt like it was as late as it was, and I think we could have stayed out all night (we made it until about 2:00 a.m.).  The next morning we had some iced coffee, egg in a hole, and cherries for breakfast.


Then we made made some hot coffee in our to-go cups and went down to the campground.

So good with a shot of half and half.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, and although storms were predicted for the weekend, they kept passing over us.  There were 19 adults and 11 little ones that kept the adults smiling and busy.

We zipped back to the cabin to heat up our dinner, and then brought it back to the campground to eat.  Christopher had picked up Indian takeout on Friday afternoon; we were both craving it, and it was an effortless dinner, which meant more time for relaxing.

He packed chicken korma, lamb briyani, spinach paneer, rice and naan into the cooler and we just scooped out portions to warm up, and then put them into these portable containers.  We had a lot leftover, which will be our dinner tonight.


So good!

Other camping snacks included white cheddar popcorn, snap peas with dip, and a bit of this cookies and cream caramel corn:


We'll probably polish the rest of it off soon - it's addictive!

It took about 10 minutes to unpack and get everything put away after this easy glamping trip.  I'm hoping we can do a couple more little trips like this before the end of summer.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  
Do you have any camping plans for this summer?

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Skewers!

My friend Lisa recently made shrimp and pineapple skewers that looked so good, and I knew when I saw them that we'd love them!  She also mentioned how she was thinking of making a skewer meal each week; they are so easy, versatile, and delicious.  I jumped right on board with this idea, and started with those tasty looking shrimp and pineapple skewers.


They were dinner last night, along with leftover garlic bread, potatoes, a veggie mixture, and mushroom-halloumi skewers.  We made a bunch of food so we'd have leftovers for our lunches.


Grilled pineapple is excellent; if you haven't tried it, you must.

Tonight we made stout beef skewers with asparagus and kale salad. 


There are a few other skewer recipes bookmarked on our computer for upcoming meals.

Other recent eats have included salmon (a couple times):

With baked spaghetti squash, which I am officially hooked on.

And pork chops with an easy baked rice:


We usually make rice on the stove, but if we have oven space, we'll absolutely be making this recipe again!

Easy Baked Rice

1 can sliced mushrooms  (save liquid)
1 cup long grain white rice
1 pack onion soup mix
1 T canola or veg. oil
2 tsp soy sauce
water
 
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter a casserole dish (1.5 L sized).  Drain mushrooms and reserve liquid.  In buttered dish stir together mushrooms, rice, and onion soup mix.  In liquid measuring cup pour in mushroom liquid, oil, soy sauce, and add water until you have 2 1/2 cups of liquid total.  Pour over rice and gently stir.  Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes.

Have you made any skewers recently?  
Do you make rice on the stove?  In the oven?  Microwave?

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Fathers' Day

We had a fabulous family-filled weekend!  On Saturday afternoon we spent time with Christopher's parents, and then today we had my dad over for a Fathers' Day dinner.  Last night, and after breakfast today we prepped a bit, but most of the work would be done on the BBQ, so there wasn't too much that we had to do.


When my dad arrived we sat out in the backyard for a while and enjoyed the beautiful day, while snacking on cheese and crackers, caprese salad skewers, and coconut shrimp.


Christopher grilled Greek ribs, chicken drumsticks with his homemade BBQ sauce, potatoes, and veggie skewers.


Once the food was done we headed inside to eat, and took the garlic bread out of the oven.


This was my plate:


Berries on a cloud for dessert!


It was a great way to end off the weekend.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  
Did you celebrate Fathers' Day?