Stormy Weather Food

The news and weather sites were all warning about a huge storm with large hail, and potential for tornadoes yesterday.  I wanted to be prepared, so I secured the yard the best I could, hiding plants and the fire pit under the carport, and moving some stuff into the garage.

I cooked up a warm and hearty dinner, perfect for staying in on a scary, stormy evening.  Luckily the storm never came, but the dinner was still good!

We enjoyed this pasta recipe from Pioneer Woman's site, made with shrimp and a rose sauce.  On the side was roasted broccoli tossed with s&p, olive oil, and garlic before roasting for 25 minutes.  I then tossed it with fresh lemon juice, zest, a touch more olive oil, Parmesan cheese and basil.

A sprinkle of Parmesan, just for good measure ...

We also ate some of this Mediterranean-style bread from the Lakeshore Sobeys, which is officially the bread I am buying from now on - soooooo good!  We dipped it in olive oil and balsamic.

It was also excellent toasted for breakfast this morning.  A couple pieces with avocado and sea salt, and the others with Laughing Cow cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil.

What do you like to eat on a rainy evening inside?

Tteokbokki (dukboki; ddeokbokki)

Tteokbokki (dukboki) is a popular Korean snack food, but we enjoyed it for dinner on Sunday evening.  It is very easy to make, and only takes a couple of minutes. 

Tteokbokki (dukboki)

(Serves 2)

1 T sesame oil
1 cup water
1.5 cups rice cakes (buy frozen in a Korean market)
2 T Gochujang paste (the best condiment in the world)
1-1.5 T sugar
2 Korean fish cakes (pressed fish - you buy in a package at a Korean market)
2 green onions, chopped
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Heat the oil in a wok.  Add the water and rice cakes.  Add the gochujang paste.  Chop the fish cakes into bite sized strips about the same size as the rice cakes you're using.  Toss those in.  Add sugar.  Stir and cook until rice cakes are softened, and some of the water has evaporated/absorbed creating a nice saucy dish.

Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds & enjoy.

We had kimchi on the side, because it's awesome.

Have you tried gochujang paste yet?  

If not, get on it!  You can thank me later.

Weekend - Trying New Foods

Friday was a beautiful day for a bike ride around the lake.  I love living so close to the park; I can just hop on my bike and go.

On Friday evening we had a light dinner - lettuce wraps with a bit of Korean bean paste, rice, bulgogi-style pork, green onions and kimchi.

Other eats this weekend included Italian-style Tofurky sausages with corn.  

I love that Christopher suggests that we get vegetarian sausages because he prefers them to regular sausages - that is not something you hear most men in Saskatchewan saying!  We are a meat and potatoes province.  Emphasis on the meat. 

We had the veggie sausages again on Sunday morning with our (almost) vegan breakfast.  I saw vegan omelets on Allysia's blog the other day, and was really intrigued.  She also made hash browns in a waffle maker!  We tried those as well.  Check out her recipes here.  She also made this and these, and I realized that she's Korean, just like me ;-)

 

I couldn't believe how much the eggless omelet tasted like a regular omelet.  Of course our vegan breakfast wouldn't be "us" without a slice of bacon on the side ;-)

When we were out grabbing silken tofu from Dad's Organic Market this weekend we spotted these ...

Although the haggis we tried at Mosaic was naaaarrrsty, these were really good!

How was your weekend? 

Fast Food at Home!

I don't remember the last time I had a fast food burger.  Actually, I think this was the last time.  Last night we made our own "fast food" including juicy lucy burgers, which are burgers filled with cheese.

I filled mine with gruyere and havarti:

Christopher's were stuffed with poison blue cheese (stilton and roquefort):

We made six thinner patties, filled three with cheese and then smushed on another patty, making three fat burgers.  They looked really big, but they shrunk on the BBQ, and were perfectly cooked and just the right size for our small whole wheat buns.

We had homemade fries on the side (2 rustic potatoes sliced into shoe-string thin fries, soaked in cold water for an hour, tossed with salt, pepper and shallot olive oil, baked @ 375 for about 45 minutes and broiled for 15).  They were super crispy!

Get in mahh belly!

Are you a fan of burgers and fries?  

Have you ever had a juicy lucy burger?

What are your favourite fast food burger restaurants? 

(mine are A&W and DQ)

Thursday Things

1)  This has been such a great week so far!  It started out with meeting my friend Tricia for lunch at a food stand I've been wanting to try, La Cucaracha.

We both had the taco special with caesar salad, and were impressed.  The ingredients tasted very fresh.

2)  One of my favourite bloggers Ameena, commented on this post that my house looks so clean and organized.  Well, that's mostly true.  Mostly.  She's never seen inside this cupboard:

But, I fixed it up a bit on Monday. 

I have a few other little places (ex. spare room) that need some tidying too.

3)  I am running out to the store to get some cheese for dinner tonight, but I also need to stop at the Hungarian club to see if they have any more of this hot paprika paste, which is soooooo good on breakfast potatoes.  If you have a Hungarian store or club of some kind in your city, find this paste!

4)  I made rhubarb strawberry pie on Tuesday.  

I followed this recipe.

5)  The weather has been gorgeous all week, so I've been eating outside a lot. 

(kale, banana, coconut water smoothie, fruit, toasted homemade bread)

6)  I brewed some iced coffee today and it's currently chilling.  I'm hoping it's as good as the stuff from the coffee shops.

7)  I was up around 7:30 yesterday morning and out the door just after 8:00 with Vicki.  We went to the Mercury for breakfast. 

We then wandered around the farmers' market, stopped in at the mall and grabbed an iced tea from David's Tea. 

8)  I hired some guys to come shingle my garage and carport (the house was done about 2 years ago).  They came yesterday to take the old shingles off.  I'm looking forward to having the new ones up! 

What are your Thursday things?

Cedar Plank Salmon

Last night we were the neighbors cooking outside, making everyone within a block radius jealous.  The smells coming from the BBQ were intoxicating.

We tried grilling salmon on a cedar plank (which you can get pre-soaked for about $3 from Pacific Fresh).  We mixed up 1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 T grainy mustard, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and spread it on the fish before and throughout cooking.  

On the side was a rice pilaf, also done on the grill.  We had leftover rice and shrimp curry, so we mixed those along with more spices and herbs, cucumber, tomato and bell pepper, in a tinfoil package.  After about 25 minutes, dinner was served.

It was a calm, gorgeous evening, so we ate outside.

Summer, feel free to stay a while.

Have you ever cooked anything on a cedar plank?

Do you like to eat outside?

Curried Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant

We threw this dish together last night, not knowing how delicious it was going to be.  It is one of my new favourite meals, and I cannot wait to make it again! 

Curried Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant

* This recipe is a easier than it looks.  I've just broken it down into two major steps: the curried shrimp and the veggie mixture.  You fill an emptied out eggplant with these things, top it with Havarti and bake it until it's bubbly and utterly ridiculous.

Curried Shrimp

- 2 T butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 T fresh ginger, minced
- 1/4 white onion, minced
- 1 lb shrimp (raw, de-veined, tails off)
- T curry powder
- T tumeric
- salt and pepper to taste
- T lime juice
- 1 cup coconut cream (or about 3/4 can)

Heat the butter on medium in a frying pan.  Once hot, add the garlic, ginger and onion and stir around.  Add the shrimp and cook until almost done (done once white/pink).  Add the spices and lime juice.  Stir.  Add the coconut cream and simmer for a few minutes until shrimp is done. 




Veggie Mixture

- 1 eggplant (cut in half and carefully spoon out the insides, leaving the purple "shell"of the eggplant to fill; dice up the eggplant innards)
- T olive oil
- 1/4 bell pepper, diced
- 2 T fresh herbs (we used rosemary, basil, thyme and chives from the yard)
- 3 small mushrooms, diced
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- tsp ginger powder
- tsp garlic powder
- tsp lemon juice
- about 2/3 cup grated Havarti cheese

Heat the oil in a pan.  Once hot toss in the eggplant, mushrooms, bell pepper and fresh herbs.  Cook a minute or so.  Add the bread crumbs, spices and lemon juice.  Cook until veggies are softened.

Put the emptied out eggplant "shells" on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Fill about half way with the veggie mixture, then the other half with the curried shrimp.  Top with grated Havarti cheese.  It melts beautifully and pairs very well with the curry.

Bake in a pre-heated oven 350 F for about 25 minutes.

Have you ever made stuffed eggplant?  Do you like eggplant?