Monday, January 28, 2019

Weekend Things

Our plan was to leave for Saskatoon on Saturday morning, but when we saw the forecast on Friday, we decided to add a night to our hotel reservation and leave right after work.  We wanted to beat the incoming snow/rain storm.  After a quick coffee stop, we were on our way.

We arrived hungry and tired.  Dinner was at Jeju, which looked and sounded good, but wasn't great.


We ate quickly and then hit the hay.

On Saturday morning we stopped at Hometown Diner for breakfast.  It was absolutely packed, and super squishy, but the food was delicious!  I really enjoyed my veggie breakfast.


We spent the day with my mom, and Christopher braved the wind to go out and grab her some perogies for lunch.

That evening we went Scarlet for dinner.  I was disappointed in the chicken sandwich; it was hard and dry, and the potato bun did not fit.


We packed up most of the food and took it back to our hotel room.

After dinner we went to a VIP Evening with Hawksley Workman.


This was an incredible, intimate show.  Hawksley's voice is so powerful, and he really commands the stage.  We had a fantastic time!

After the show we walked for a couple minutes back to our hotel.

On Sunday the weather report was looking terrible.  We were planning on spending the whole day with my mom, but the highways were supposed to get worse as the day went on.  There was freezing rain, regular rain, insane winds, blowing snow, and a major drop in temperature expected for the day.  Lovely.

We had breakfast, and got pancakes and eggs to-go for my mom:


After visiting for a few hours, we left to head home around 2:00 p.m.  There were some pretty dicey spots on the highway, and quite a few periods of very low visibility, however it's a good thing we left when we did; by the time we got home (an hour later than we should have), travel was not recommended, there was a multi-car pile up, and there was zero visibility for a good chunk of the drive.  Highway travel in the winter is never fun, but these blizzards make it so much more treacherous.

I am so grateful that Christopher is such a good, and confident driver, and that he never makes me feel scared when he drives.  There were people flying down the highway in the low, low visibility, and I kept thinking that I couldn't imagine being in those vehicles - terrifying!  I don't understand what some people are trying to prove when they drive so fast in such dangerous conditions.  We were in the slow lane, going about 70 km the whole way ... but we got home safely.

Today was frigidly cold with brutal wind, and tomorrow is going to be even worse.  Our Havana trip can't come soon enough!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  
Do you have to do much highway driving in the winter?

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

What's Up Wednesday

It's windy and cold today, so the pot of chili we have simmering on the stove right now is going to be a wonderful, comforting dinner.  I pulled some buns out of the freezer; they'll be perfect for dipping.  When I was a kid I remember my parents always having buns and carrot sticks on the table when they served chili.  I loved combining all three into a sort of sandwich, haha!  It was pretty good.  I don't think I'll do that today, but I did chop up some carrots and put them into the chili, along with canned whole mushrooms, red pepper, olives, onion, garlic, and chipotle peppers.  Those things along with loads of spices, meat, and a variety of diced tomatoes make for a flavourful bowl of chili.


There will be a lot leftover, so we'll have a quick dinner before our Spanish class tomorrow night.

On the weekend we roasted a chicken, and then refrigerated the drippings.


The next day I scraped the fat off of the drippings, used a bit to make a roux, then discarded the rest of the fat and used the drippings to make gravy.  Meanwhile, Christopher was making his perfect, crispy French fries, and we threw it all together with cheese curds and some of the chicken in a poutine.


Christopher used the bones of the chicken to make a stock, and then he made a chicken noodle soup for our lunches for the start of the week.

We used the rest of the meat in enchiladas:


You can find the enchilada recipe here.

We had to to save room for dessert.  I had a pie dough in the freezer, so I thawed it out and whipped up a banana cream pie.  This is one of Christopher's new favourites ... and he's a pie connoisseur.

 

Another new favourite around here are green eggs!


Throw a few eggs and a giant handful of spinach into the blender, and then cooked up an omelette as usual - delicious!  The spinach doesn't really change the taste of the eggs much, especially not with cheese and other fillings, but it's a great way to get some extra greens in.

Hungarian hot pepper potatoes and bacon to top off our green egg breakfast:


Yes, I know how burnt my bacon looks.   

That's my meat candy - don't touch! 🤣

How was your weekend?  How's your week going so far?  Have you ever had green eggs?  What are you cooking this week?

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Last Week's Eats

I always save these little booklets that come inside of Food Network Magazine, but rarely make anything from them.


The one in the latest issue really caught my eye, as I love things with oats in them.  I was flipping through it and thought that the loaded overnight oats sounded great.  I have made overnight oats before, but figured I'd give this recipe a shot.  They were yummy - kind of reminded me of cookie dough, but not as sweet.


Loaded Overnight Oats
(Food Network Magazine Pull Out)

1/2 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 T ground flax seed
1 T nut butter
1 T mini chocolate chips
2 tsp brown sugar
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon

Mix all and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning top with any combination of: raisins, coconut, fruit, nuts, seeds ... enjoy cold.


I ended up eating the one batch for two breakfasts last week.  I then made another batch for another two days, and had this on Friday morning:


Bananas are better with toppings!

I had leftovers for lunch each day last week.

For dinner on Monday evening we cooked pork noodles.  We still use this recipe, although we use udon noodles (4 packs), and double the sauce:


Then cover it with a bunch of sriracha:


Tuesday's dinner was zuppa toscana soup:


My sister recommended this, and we really enjoyed it.  One pot, easy and quick - perfect for a weekday dinner.

On Wednesday evening we had leftovers before heading out to the theatre to see Bohemian Rhapsody.  The movie was fantastic!  We both loved it, and were blown away by how incredible Rami Malek was as Freddy Mercury.  This is the first movie I've seen in a while that I want to go back and see again, just days later.

After cleaning the house on Thursday evening, we sat down at the table to enjoy roasted chicken thighs with fennel and orange.  This dish is so flavourful, and pairs really well with brown rice.


The orange is incredible in there - peel and all!


Vegetarian pita pizzas for an easy dinner on Friday night:


Friday was freezing cold, so we were glad we could get cozy after dinner, and not have anywhere to be for the rest of the weekend.

What was the best meal you ate last week?  
Did you cook anything new?

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Weekend Things

After work on Friday we made a meal plan for about a week, and then hit the grocery store to stock up on supplies.  We wanted something pretty quick to eat, as it was about 8:00 p.m. by the time we arrived home.  Bacon brussels sprouts and steelhead trout made a nice and easy dinner before relaxing for the evening.


I haven't been into breakfast foods much lately, so on Saturday morning Christopher decided to make spicy salmon hand rolls for breakfast.


They were so satisfying!  We had green tea to drink.


Before going to bed the night before we sliced a couple pieces of sourdough bread and left them out to get stale.  We then used the stale bread to make breadcrumbs.


Sourdough breadcrumbs are way cooler than regular breadcrumbs.  Why can't all breads and bread-like foods be sourdough?  Sourdough waffles, sourdough garlic bread, sourdough doughnuts, sourdough pizza dough - mmm mmm, hook me up! #agirlcandream

Anyway, we made some creamy, dreamy mac and cheese:


And then topped that with the breadcrumbs before baking it:


Shaved truffles on top before serving:


To make up for the lack of plants in this meal, we had a 100% plant breakfast the next morning.  Our smoothies contained banana, strawberries, coconut water, and kale.


Dinner on Sunday evening was carbonnade beef and beer stew, which is very different from the stew we typically make, but good enough to make again.  It's mostly meat and onions, in a slightly sweet and sour sauce.  The sauce is really flavourful, and was great over roasted potatoes.


Besides the cooking, we spent a good portion of the weekend reading.  We both have two books down so far for 2019, so that's a good start!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  
Do you love sourdough like I do?

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Recent Eats and Things

On Sunday we made a couple of dishes to last us for Monday's and Tuesday's meals, as we had plans for both evenings, so we didn't want to worry about having to cook.

On Monday night we went to see Vice in the theatre.  It was super entertaining, and really well made.  We both loved it!  On Tuesday evening we went to the Conexus Arts Centre to hear a war hero, Marthe Cohn, speak.  She is a 98 year old woman who was a Jewish spy in Nazi Germany.  She told her incredible story to a very engaged audience. 

We didn't have too much going on for the rest of the week.  Some recent eats included perogies, cabbage rolls, and sausage:


Pizza:


And brown rice with roasted vegetables, feta, and green sauce:


My breakfasts over the past couple of weeks have included a lot of green smoothies loaded with kale, and Vitality Super Green (fermented greens).


I've also had purple smoothies, and avocado toast:


Eggs:


And cinnamon raisin toast (and melon with nut butter on top):


We cleaned the house on Thursday evening, and on Friday after work we meal planned for a week, made a grocery list, and went grocery shopping.  With all that done, we have nothing to do this weekend!  I have some books that I want to dive into, and tonight we're trying a sassy new recipe ...

What are you up to this weekend?  What's the last movie you went to?