Ten on Tuesday

1)  Breakfast this morning included vanilla yogurt with toppings (blackberries, strawberries, flax seed, chia seeds, coconut, bee pollen, hemp granola), an apple with almond butter and OJ.



2)  I am not a big fan of yogurt unless it has toppings.  The bowl we had on the weekend included:  chia seeds, flax seeds, coconut, chocolate chips, granola and bee pollen. 
 


3)  Speaking of bee pollen ... you should have seen the look on Christopher's face when he found it in the cupboard.  Ummm, why do we have bee pollen!??  You can read about some of the health benefits here. 

4)  It is family day this coming Monday, which is a holiday.  I am excited that we're getting out of town for the long weekend, even though it's only for a couple of days and it's not very far.  I love little road trips!  

5)  Last night I juiced a bunch of fruits/veggies as part of my dinner.



6)  I also had a big salad.



7)  Tonight we went out to 13th Avenue Coffee House & Food for dinner.


 

I had a veggie burger with a side of soup.

8)  I'm having a hard time finding valentines to give out to my students that don't say "be mine" or "you're my best friend" or "I love you" ... what ever happened to simple sentiments such as "you're cool" or "you rock", or even just "happy valentine's day"!?  I will make one more stop tomorrow, and if I don't find anything suitable, I'll give out tests instead.

9)  I saw this recipe tonight and subsequently entered into lala land.  Maybe I will still buy the "be mine" and "I love you" valentines, just to send to this sandwich.  Can you send valentines to a sandwich? 

10)  Naaaaaaaa, I don't need a sandwich for a valentine ... I have myself a living, breathing, sandwich-loving, human valentine and a lovely evening lined up for v-day.

Okay, I'm still thinking about the sandwich. 
Honey - can we make this soon?

Do you have any plans for valentine's day?

Do you buy/make/send/help your kids send valentine cards?

Beanie Weenies!? Whaaaa?

Just when you thought our meals couldn't get any classier ...

We go ahead and make beanie weenies and blow yo minds.

 

Kraft Dinner on the side for good measure.

Never heard of beanie weenies?  I hadn't either until I saw the recipe here.  I knew it was a must-make at first glance.  As much as I love lobster, pretty food, and eats I can't pronounce, I am a sucker for Pizza Pops, KD, corn dogs, Cheese Whiz, and all things awesome (beanie weenies included).

Do you like beans?  KD?  Hotdogs?  

Have you ever had beanie weenies?!

Seafood & Sausage Gumbo

Continuing with the southern food ... on Saturday we made a gumbo with crab, shrimp, and sausage.  We served this up with cornbread for dipping.  You can find the cornbread recipe here.  It turned out great!

Seafood & Sausage Gumbo

(enough for 2, with leftovers)

1/2 cup peanut oil (or other cooking oil)
1/2 cup flour
5-6 snow crab legs
300 g raw tiger shrimp
4 cups (or so) *shellfish stock/water
1-2 spicy sausages, raw, chopped
1 small white onion (or half large), chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 T Cajun spice
salt and pepper

Peel shells from shrimp (and crab legs if you want).  Put in a pot with a couple cups of water and bring to a boil.  Simmer while making the roux.  You will later strain this stock into the pot with the roux.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed dutch oven or stock pot.  Once heated, add the flour, and whisk to make a roux.  Keep on low-med/low, whisking quite regularly for about 25 minutes (until it gets to be quite dark - copper coloured).  Stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic and cook for a minute or two.  Add the chopped raw sausage, and strain the the shell stock into the pot with a fine strainer to avoid getting shell into the pot.  Add the Cajun spice and some salt and pepper.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the shrimp and crab meat.  Cook about 15 minutes longer.  Top with green onions, and serve with either rice or cornbread.

 

How was your weekend?  Do you like cornbread?  Gumbo?

Po Boys

This spring we are heading to New Orleans for a week vacation.  We are pretty excited for the food, and decided that this weekend we'd cook some southern food.  Last night was po boys! 

First things first though - the appetizer ...

 

Christopher picked up the seafood for the po boys, and also grabbed some raw oysters.  He scrubbed them well and then shucked them quite easily.  We tried three different topping combinations ...

 

Bacon vodka and red tomato:

Soju and yellow tomato:

Lemon and hot sauce:

Then we got to work on the po boys.

Shrimp/Oyster Po Boy

(Makes 2 large sandwiches - one of each kind, or 2 half and half)

* Make po boy sauce first (see recipe below)

2 eggs
250 g oyster meat (frozen is fine)
300 g tiger shrimp (raw)
3 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 T Cajun seasoning
canola/vegetable oil

Beat the 2 eggs.  Mix the cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning in a large bag or bowl.  Dip the oysters and shrimp in the egg one by one, and then toss around in the cornmeal mixture.  Set on a plate.

Heat oil in a pan for frying.  Fry for approximately 3 minutes, turning halfway through.  Make a sandwich with a toasted roll, lettuce, tomato and po boy sauce.

Po Boy Sauce

(Makes enough for 2 po boys)

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 T Sriracha sauce (or Frank's)
1/2 tsp mustard
2 T ketchup
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 T minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
juice of half a lemon
pepper to taste

Stir all together and let sit while you make the rest of the sandwich.  Use a lot of sauce on your sandwich - it should be dripping!

 

Shrimp po boy:

Oyster po boy:

Ohhhhhhh boy!!!

Have you ever eaten a po boy?  Do you like oysters?  What are you up to this weekend?

Will Work for Food

It may be the hunter-gatherer instincts in me, but I really like to work for my food.  I love eating things like crab legs, ribs you have to gnaw at, pomegranates, whole coconuts, escargot in shells, soup with long noodles ... basically anything that requires a little effort to eat.  

Tonight we cooked up a fabulous, effort-required dinner.

We steamed a couple of artichokes.

Steamed Artichokes

Prepare the artichoke:

Trim off the top of the flower and the stem.  For extra aesthetic appeal, use kitchen shears to snip the top of each petal (there is a little thorn on there, that does soften up when you steam it, but it looks better when it's trimmed).  Rinse well.

Cook the artichoke:

Fill a large pot with water and set a metal steamer inside.  Once the water is boiling, place the artichokes in and steam for 30 minutes.

Eat the artichoke:

Pull off the petals one by one.  Dip the petal in melted butter or other dip; put the petal in your mouth upside down and use your bottom teeth to scrape off the soft part.  Discard the petal.  Once you get to the middle you will find a hairy looking beast called the choke.  Scrape this off (with a fork or knife) and find the tender heart beneath it - this is the good stuff.

And because that's not enough work to eat ... we enjoyed our artichokes with lobster tails.  

 

We don't use any special tools to get into these - we just tear them open with our hands, and dip them in buttah ... melty, melty buttah.

 

Do you like to work for your food?  What's the most difficult-to-eat food you've ever eaten?

Under the Weather

I've been a bit absent on here lately, as I've been feeling under the weather for over a week now.  I've been drinking a lot of tea (green tea leaves with fresh ginger, lemon, grapefruit zest, and honey).

And fresh juice (1 grapefruit, 1 red pepper).

And loading up on vitamins, fruits and veggies as much as possible.

The sore throat and sniffles seem to be gone, and now I just have a cough left.  Things are looking up, and you should expect to see some yummy, new dishes on here in the next few days.  We're planning to cook some Southern food this weekend.  For those who asked where in the US we are going - we're heading to New Orleans this spring :-)

Have you been sick at all this winter?

Haystacks

It had been a while since I had haystacks, a favourite meal from my childhood.  My family used to run a summer camp, and I also attended each year as a camper.  Every kid's favourite meal during the week was always haystacks.  

Haystacks

All you do is layer:

cooked rice
shredded cheese
taco beef (lean ground beef with taco seasoning)
tomatoes
black olives (optional - use whatever "taco" fillings you like)
salsa
sour cream
crunched tortilla chips on top

Warning:  They get big fast! 
Amounts don't matter, and you can add or omit toppings as you like.

This was our dinner tonight, and there is still some left for me to take for lunch tomorrow.  

Did you ever attend summer camp as a child?  Did you have a favourite meal from camp?