Weekend Things Part 2

We loved our breakfast parfaits on Friday so much, so on Saturday morning we threw together some that are even more fun!

 

 

We started with a layer of homemade granola, which we had made the day before.  We then did a layer of plain yogurt mixed with chia seeds.  Next was banana and pomegranate arils, followed by quinoa (which was cooked in coconut milk/water the day before, with a 1/4 tsp salt), then more yogurt, more granola, more fruit, and a garnish of cacao nibs, bee pollen, and toasted coconut.

These were seriously aaaa-mazing!  We were just winging it, and they ended up having a perfect texture and incredible flavour combination.  I think we're going to be hooked on breakfast parfaits for a while.

Our lunch wasn't as healthy.  We made five-cheese, two-mushroom grilled cheese sandwiches.  We used sourdough bread, mushrooms fried with herbs, and a mixture of old cheddar, Emmental Swiss, grana padano, montery jack, and havarti cheeses.

Ooooooh yeah!  Fried mushrooms are so good on grilled cheese.

Dinner on Saturday was the easiest thing ever.  You just throw a few raw things into a slow cooker, and in no time you have honey-mustard chicken to serve over rice.  This was even better the next day.  You can find the recipe here.

When is the last time you had a grilled cheese?  Have you ever put mushrooms or other veggies on your grilled cheese?

Weekend Things Part 1: Macaroon Quinoa Parfait

On Friday morning we were up early making quinoa yogurt parfaits.  These are easy to make, as the quinoa can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  You can use any type of yogurt, and any toppings; use your imagination and see what delicious combos you can come up with! 

Macaroon Quinoa Parfait

(Makes two parfaits)

- 1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed)
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk (canned)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- approx. 1.5 cups vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup toasted coconut (line baking sheet with parchment, bake @ 300 until golden - watch!)
- 1/4 cup cacao nibs (or chopped dark chocolate if you want it sweeter or don't have cacao)

Put the quinoa, coconut milk, water, and salt in a small pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low (or move to another burner that you've heated to low), cover, and cook 15 minutes until the liquid has absorbed.  Cool the quinoa.  Layer the quinoa, followed by vanilla yogurt, a sprinkle of toasted coconut and cacao, then repeat ...

Later on in the day we made a batch of granola, which we would use in Saturday's breakfast.

We also made a bunch of perogies, including our specialty with a mashed potato/beet mixture, dill, and goat cheese.

And something new ... bacon double cheeseburger perogies!

We fried onions and bacon in jalapeno olive oil until the bacon was cooked.  We then added extra lean ground beef, and cooked that until done.  Meanwhile we mashed a few potatoes with both cheddar and grana padano cheeses.  We combined the meat mixture with the potato mixture, and stuffed the perogies.

And then we cooked some of them up for dinner ...

Topped with sour cream, sriracha and parsley:

Between these eats and the Cougar burgers from Rock Creek, our Friday was pretty tasty.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Did you do any cooking this weekend?  Have you ever had quinoa for breakfast?

Recent Dinners

We've been doing a lot of cooking around these parts lately (okay, so not much is new).  We roasted a turkey at the start of the week. 

If you've never roasted a turkey before, or don't like cleaning out poultry, or aren't sure how to roast a turkey, start with a stuffed-Butterball turkey that says 'cook from frozen' on the packaging.  No thawing required.  No cleaning required.  You literally take it out of the package, place it in the roaster, and put it in the oven (time and temp. on the package). 

I add some chicken broth to the bottom of the roaster to give it some added moisture, and to aid in making gravy later.  The stuffing in these things is also super moist and really good!  We don't usually make these turkeys, but they are great in a pinch when you decide on a random morning that you want turkey for dinner that evening.

We enjoyed the leftovers for lunches, and they were great in this club sandwich with a side kale/parsley-loaded salad:

Christopher made curried shrimp, stuffed eggplant one evening:

You can find the recipe for it here.

We've had a bunch of salads lately; we cannot get enough.

We had some on the side with a frozen mushroom pizza:

We made deer sausage the other evening, with turmeric-infused rice, topped with sauteed onions, zucchini, and peppers.

On Thursday evening we toasted some coconut, zested a lime, and tossed that with jasmine rice, which we had made with coconut milk, a splash of coconut water, salt, pepper.  We were on a coconut kick, as we served the rice with coconut crusted tilapia, and roasted veggies, which were tossed with coconut oil, salt and pepper.  What a dinner! 

And we're currently enjoying a very relaxing long weekend at home (with a bunch of delicious eats - more on that in the next post).

How's your weekend going?

What have you been cooking lately?

Support UofR Athletes with Rock Creek's new 'Cougar Burger'

Rock Creek Tap & Grill is a locally owned and operated restaurant, serving up a wide variety of dishes to please any appetite.  We sat down with owner, Stu Rathwell, to talk about his business and the new 'Cougar Burger', which is a perfectly cooked, juicy, 100% Canadian beef burger, brushed with a sweetened chipotle beer sauce, and topped with lettuce, tomato, maple bacon and cheese.  

Rock Creek is giving $1.00 from each Cougar Burger sold in their two Regina locations to the University of Regina Cougars and Rams teams.  Stu Rathwell was born and raised in Regina, attended the University of Regina, and played on the Cougar hockey team.  He knows how expensive equipment, uniforms, coaching, and travel can be for teams, and he wants to give back to his community.  As a University of Regina alumna myself, I am happy to see a local restaurant supporting local, student athletes.  

I was invited in to Rock Creek to try out the new Cougar Burger.  There are numerous choices for sides with the burger; I chose the caesar salad, and Christopher had the soup of the day.

We were both really impressed with the perfectly cooked, hand-formed patties.  They had a nice, flame-grilled char on the outside, with a juicy center.  We liked that the burger had just the right amount of toppings, so that we could easily pick it up and eat it, without it falling apart.  The lettuce was crisp, and the bacon was a nice salty/sweet addition.  For my gluten-free readers, you'll be happy to know that you can ask for your burger with a gluten-free bun.

 

My caesar salad was a crisp char-broiled head of romaine, topped with croutons, bacon, and shaved parmesan - mmm!  We didn't have them today, but Rock Creek has some of the best yam fries around, and they are also a side option with the burger.

The first Rock Creek was opened by Stu, in Regina in 2006.  He has since opened other Rock Creeks in Saskatchewan, and Rockwood Urban Grill in Winnipeg.  The head chef of Regina's Quance St. Rock Creek location, Lloyd Frank, was also born and raised in Regina.  Both Regina locations (Quance Street & Normanview) are running the Cougar Burger promotion from November 2016, until May 2017.  If you're in town, stop by, try a burger, and help support UofR athletes.

Did you play sports in University or College?  

Are you currently an athlete?

Thank you to Stu and the Rock Creek Team for the burgers, and the wonderful hospitality at Rock Creek. 

Support Local!

Breakfasts

I am not one who could ever skip breakfast.  I wake up hunnnnngry!  In my early twenties I often had non-traditional breakfasts, such as leftover lasagna, or slices of pizza that I'd order specifically for breakfast, and freeze.  I went through a phase where I didn't think I liked breakfast foods.  Eventually I grew out of that, although I still wouldn't turn away a slice of lasagna for breakfast.

I've been drinking a lot of smoothies lately, with coconut water, a banana, frozen blueberries, a splash of vanilla, and a couple big, dark, kale leaves.  These smoothies are so good, and for those who are scared of the greens - you can't taste them at all.  It just tastes like a blueberry/banana/vanilla-y drink.

Christopher doesn't eat much for breakfast.  Most days this past week he's had simply 1/2 of a pomegranate.  He saves me the other half of the arils, and I make beautiful oatmeal with them.

Or I have them alongside toast:

I've been on a whipped banana oatmeal kick, which is a great way to get more fruit into breakfast.  I just bring 1/2 of liquid to a boil (I've been using a mixture of coconut water and almond milk), then you add 1/4 cup of oats, and let boil one minute while stirring it.  Remove from heat, put the lid on, and let sit for a minute while you mash up a banana, and whip it real good.  Remove the lid from the pot and stir in the whipped banana.  Grab a spoon and stir in a spoonful of PB as you dump it in the bowl; this makes it extra delicious.  Then toppings!

On weekends we both have big breakfasts, and this past weekend Christopher wanted to try my whipped banana oats, so I made two bowls (which only uses 1/2 cup of oats total, but fills both bowls beautifully).

On the weekend I also whipped up a batch of pumpkin dip, which is great served with vanilla wafers or graham crackers.

It's also pretty wonderful on top of a puffed pancake.

Puffed pancakes are pretty much the easiest thing ever.

Puffed Pancake

- 2 T butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk, so it didn't puff up as much as it could have, but was still delicious)

Heat your oven to 400 F.  Put the butter in a 9 inch pie plate, and place in the oven to melt the butter.  Brush the butter around all over the pan sides and bottom.  In a bowl, beat the eggs, and then add the flour, salt and milk, just mixing until combined.  Don't over-mix.  Pour into pie plate, and bake 25-30 minutes.  Serve immediately with whatever toppings you like.

After breakfast it's been pretty easy to get ready and get going in the morning, as the weather has been absolutely incredible!  We had a bit of snow and cold earlier in October, but that has long gone, and we have been enjoying +15C ish temperatures (59 F).  This past weekend people were out and about on the town in sandals and shorts!  It's so nice to not have to wear a coat, and to not need to the winter tires I had put on back in October.  Lovin' this!

What have you been eating for breakfast lately?

What are you up to this long weekend?