Company Dinner

 

The beautiful Andrea modeling the dinner I served on Family Day.

I added sautated shrimp in white wine and garlic cause Luke found the shrimp in the freezer and demanded it for dinner. Andrea didn't actually eat any of what she held I silently noticed cause I think she does not like seafood which I find incredibly odd, much like her husbands dislike of bacon, the only dead animal product I would miss if I became a vegetarian.

Spaghetti Squash with Herbs

1 spaghetti squash (about 4 pounds), halved lengthwise, seeds removed

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley ( I used dried organino and basil instead)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I never add this as I have a odd genetic reaction to it......it tastes like soap. Apparently other people have this as well)

1/4 cup blanched hazelnuts (1 ounce), toasted and coarsely chopped (I used some almonds cause I need to go to bulk barn and re-stock)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush cut sides of squash with oil, and sprinkle with sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Place squash, cut sides down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly on sheet on a wire rack, about 10 minutes.
2. Scrape squash with a fork to remove flesh in long strands. Place in a large bowl. Add oil, Parmesan, parsley, cilantro, hazelnuts, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Toss, and serve immediately.

Swimming Trunks

Just for the record, I like speedos.  Speedos are those cute little briefs.  Some men may be a little self conscious and want to cover up more,  so fine wear Jammers. Jammers are the knee length bicycle shorts without a chamois.  However there seems to be a new swimming item treading at the pool, the short shorts/boy shorts look. A mid thigh to just coming below the bum length, and I say what are they??? Like you want to be Mr. swimmer but can't commit to full on speedos? Please, your junk is all enveloped in spandex for all to see anyways so pick either confidence in speedos, or slightly shameful about your body but still want to be fast and get Jammers.

And those who are swimming in surf trunks, when you reach your goal weight I will personally buy you a pair of speedos. 



To Make a Farm

Our CSA Cedar Downs Farm is in a documentary. Showings March 3rd Walkerton Jubilee Hall.

:(

I am kinda sad that nobody comments on my blog, and that I have to work nights, and that I have been awake for three hours and the most I have accomplished is I got my comfy clothes on. Even my dinner was made by Maya playing cafe. I am sad that I want nice wine but I am too lazy to go to the liquor store, and doing exercise requires movement, and that I forgot my Domino's at work, and that this house is messy, and everybody makes to much noise, and that people don't update their twitter/facebook accounts enough to entertain me, and that I am materialistic enough to want to spend a day shopping in the city, and that my retirement savings is pathetic, and that I never travel anywhere, and that I don't run enough, and that I hate the Hanover pool hours, and that people pooh too much, and that I am too lazy to do toning exercises, and that my ankles are chronically swollen, and that I want to go skiing, and my daughter never wants to do anything i like to do, and that my hands are so cold all the time my iphone doesn't detect them, and that the only person in this house who can cook with anything other than carbs is me, and that I wake up feeling like this.

The only thing that would help would be to own this pinball machine.

We went to the pinball museum in Vegas and reminded me I want one.

The real problem is the working too many nights in a row.

Cheaper than Retail

As some people say, life is short eat desert first. Thus...

Homemade Snickers Bars- Glorious Pictures here- But for the link lazy just the recipe below......


Makes one 9×13 pan,  for best results, buy one of the half-sheet aluminum cake pans at the grocery store. That way, you can pop the entire square out and cut from there! ( Should have done that as mine didn't come our of the pan very well despite alot of pre- greasing butter)


Bottom chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Thoroughly grease you baking pan. Melt ingredients together in a saucepan wave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.



Nougat layer
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely.



Caramel layer
1 14-ounce bag of caramels
1/4 cup whipping cream

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth – this took about 10 minutes for me. Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely.



Top chocolate layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter


Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, then cut as desired. These can stay at room temperature, but they do get gooey.

So the title- Cheaper than retail, well don't really think so but I can't get king size snickers bars anymore thus I have to make a whole pan fun.



Ok so I have never ate a king size before- now I don't even have the option.

Thus Noted...

I am repeating the same recipes and food thoughts of the day... mental note- must stop drinking and posting.

The picture is from Las Vegas at the casino NewYork NewYork. We went there our first night there.... and I lost my drivers licence. You know how I hate purses so I thought I would just put everything I needed into my pockets. In went cash, my licence, credit card, and my phone. Thus, as some point, I assume when I was paying for a drink,  out it went on to the floor never to be seen again.
 Good news- my identity has not been stolen yet. Really it was no big deal except for having to carry my passport everywhere cause you are carded constantly and the time when I thought I had lost my passport. That was bad.

Parsnip Soup

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The overwhelming question everyday, one to cause my children to either scream at me, or call me the best mommy ever is...'Whats for dinner?'

So how do I come up with the answer?
CSA newsletters
Foodgawker
Epicurious
Simply in season

 The problem is usually too much choice... but I am limited to what is in the house cause I hate making repetitive trips to the grocery. The thing is I can be creative if we do not have a particular ingredient... Luke, not so much. He thinks he can cook without a recipe and I,  who thinks I am better than the current average population,  can not do so yet. As well, many recipes call for meat and I do not want meat OR beans, and yep I forgot to soak them again. Regardless of the recipe- even if it is a simple meal I spend about a hour a day dealing with food- oh and I never clean up. 

Tonights dinner was:

Creamy Apple Parsnip Soup
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large leek, (white and pale green part only), trimmed, halved lengthwise, washed well, and chopped fine ( I used two small )
• 1 pound parsnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces ( I wanted to use all of ours up so it was like a pound and a half- Added- LOVE cooking with a food scale)• 3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 baking potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces ( I used two to make the soup go a little further)• 32 ounces of reduced sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 cup half-n-half
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ( I used 1/2t)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 1/2t)
• Salt and pepper
Directions
Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks; cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes.
Add parsnips, apples, potato, broth, and 2 cups water ( Didn't add the water cause my pot was too small). Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes.
Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth. ( I have an immersion blender- do not do blended soups unless you have one- JUST NOT WORTH IT) Return it to pot; stir in half-n-half. Season with nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

Sunday Night Dinner

Celeriac and Potato Gratin
From the CSA newsletter

1 celeriac, peeled and cut into thin slices

1 large potato, peeled and cut into thin slices ( I added half a turnip and an extra potato)

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

250ml chicken or vegetable stock

250ml cream or milk ( Used almond milk cause that is what was in the fridge)

1 tbsp plain flour

1/4 tsp dried red chilli flakes (optional) ( didn't use)

Salt & pepper, to taste

Start by pre-heating your oven to 375f.

Place your celeriac, garlic, chili, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss around with your hands until well combined.

Layer the celeriac and potato into a heatproof 8" x 8" dish. Don’t worry about being neat or about separating the celeriac / potato. Leave a couple of cm at the top of the dish so that the sauce doesn’t bubble over the sides.

Mix the chicken stock and cream together and then pour evenly over the gratin, then place into your oven for approximately 90 minutes or until golden brown and the celeriac is tender.

The last time I made this I used cream and the the hot pepper and it was better- but the cream is needed for the morning.

Easly Korean Spinach and Cabbage Salad

1/2 lb fresh spinach
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thinly
toasted sesame seeds
4 teaspoons  soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cloves garlic or 4 garlic scapes, minced
-I added hemp hearts

Blanch spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, lift spinach from water, rinse well with cold water and squeeze dry. Add cabbage to spinach blanching water. Blanch for 1 minute. Drain cabbage. Cut spinach into bite-size pieces and toss in a bowl with cabbage.

Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic . Toss well with blanched spinach and cabbage.
Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve!

Surprisingly yummy- but really anything with seasome oil you can't go wrong with.

And no my kids didn't eat much of this, they had filled themselves up with junk food at a party earlier.

Dreaming of someplace warm..

Life could be worse

Apparently there was some discussion about the contents of this blog and the food we eat in our house... and basically it was determined amongst some people that basically the worst thing in life could be eating they way we do..... well all I have to say is have fun in your fat pants.

Candy Salad

Well I call this candy salad, from the CSA newsletter.

Easy and Delicious Chinese Cabbage Salad

This recipe is sort of like the candy of salads. A little bit sinful with the addition of crumbled ramen noodles and sweet. But, well, it’s sooo yummy!

1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, crushed ( I buy ramon noodles in bulk to I just used a bunch)

10 ounces cashew or peanut pieces

1/2 chinese cabbage, shredded or sliced very very thinly

1-2 carrots, rinsed and grated

1/2 red onion, minced

1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey ( I used maple syrup due to my minor honey allergy)

1/2 cup olive or safflower oil ( I used 1/4 cup)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil
- I added some hemp hearts

In a preheated 350 degree F oven (175 degree C), toast the crushed noodles and nuts until golden brown.

In a large bowl, combine the coleslaw, green onions, toasted Ramon noodles and cashews.

To prepare the dressing, whisk together the sugar, oil, vinegar and soy sauce. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss and serve.


Random food thought- If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple than you are not hungry.



21:35

I really can't recall the last 5k race I did, but I do know my PB was 22:18.....and now I have lowered the bar to 21:35.  So basically 1:35 has to be taken off until I am happy.

Yesterday did the Groundhog jog in very un- February weather. 2010 was when I last did this race. 2010 was a bone chilling windy snowy weather. I actually think I got some frost bite on my face. 2012 saw the wearing of carpi's and short sleeves.

I should have done a bit of a warm up..but I was more concerned about my garmin finding satellites, and I knew if I had my garmin I could hand off my watch to somebody else who needed one. No chip timing here.  At the start line I was one of two female who wanted to be in the front- so I knew who my competition was..... and she passed me almost immediately. Which was fine, I'm good with second- it has become my new fourth, and it stayed that way until the end. Was watching my garmin hoping to stay under 4:30ks and really realized at 4:13k point I was going to beat my previous PB.... I was working and it hurt and I am thankful for the treadmill cause that is where I get my speed work done. I almost threw up at the end. But I did worse but I will keep the story to myself until I tell it to you when I am drunk.

Been sick since in bed. In bed now resting quietly for work in the night. Missed my LSD and really don't know when to fit it in this week. It is a good thing I am training for nothing.

Carb-0-lish-ous

I like to refer to Wednesday night dinners as
junk food dinners. It is the night Ever has a sleep over so it is just Luke, Maya and I.
So we usually have junk food or go out.
Tonight as Maya has been needing some special love as of late- well since she was born we had one of her favorites- Nachos.

This is Maya's plate. The rule was she has to have something green and the beans- then she can have whatever else she want else.



Luke always forgets to put the green, and I have just noticed no beans. So basically Luke had nothing good tonight. I swear if I wasn't around to mother him he would be 400lbs.

I over loaded my plate so half is in the fridge for later.
I had
-Multi grain chips- I don't even like the plain white ones anymore. I need the Na in them.
-Spinach
-Beans
-Pine river cheese
-Mexico out of season tomato's
-red peppers on sale
-onion
-saugeen country yogurt
-avocado.




Food thoughts
Tonight's dinner is the opposite of what I am about to say but...
Eat seasonally locally. Thus, think about the little label at the grocery store about where your food comes from. If you chose an Ontario apple over one produced in Washington State, you are keeping farmers in business at home. If you buy Pine river cheese or Gay lea butter, that farmer stays in business and has Luke service their computer. Spend the extra money if it local and ensure the farmer gets a fair price for their work. If you cherish Ontario strawberries in June they taste all the sweeter then. Don't try to eat strawberries in January- well unless they are from the freezer. Get to know what is in season locally when and ask at your local grocer for local produce. Or go direct to the farm. Learn about what keeps, and how to keep it. Join a winter CSA.