Happy St. Paddy's Day

I wanted to mention this wonderfully delicious sandwich that Dave made for lunch on Sunday. We had these pears that needed to be used up and so he poached them in a little red wine, sautéed some red onion and toasted some wholegrain bread. He then spread some creamy feta on the toast and layered on the onion, pear, some arugula and then drizzled a tiny bit of honey over it all. It was very yummy and not at all boring.

Meal Plan

Monday: Sicilian Seafood Stew

Tuesday: Poached Egg on Potato Pancakes with Greek Salad

Wednesday: Veggie Pot Pie and Salad

Thursday: Easy Bake Enchilada or check out the St. Paddy’s Day Plan

Friday: Roasted Veggie Sandwiches with Zucchini Fries

Saturday; Real Mushroom Soup, Toasted Ciabatta and Edamame Beans

*Sunday: We were invited to a birthday party!

Weekly Pantry List

Flour, baking powder, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, mayonnaise, butter, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pecans, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes or cayenne, oregano, basil, thyme, bay leaf, marjoram, chilli powder, ground cumin, black pepper, capers, fresh garlic (you will need more than one full head),

Weekly Grocery List

Ricotta cheese

1 small round brie cheese

Plain yogurt

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)

Creamy feta (this is for a salad – any cheese or no cheese would be alright too)

Marscapone cheese (I didn’t use this I used some ricotta instead)

6 oz of smoked salmon

1 sheet of puff pastry

eggs

Black Olives

½ lb scallops

½ lb shrimp (the recipe calls for ½ lb but I use 1 lb)

olives

fresh thyme

arugula/spinach mix

strawberries (handful)

6 small red potatoes

2 red onion

6 onions

mushrooms (2 cups)

a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms

600g mixed fresh wild mushrooms

3 celery sticks

3 green pepper

2 red pepper

2 zucchini

3 carrots

1 parsnip

green beans (3 cups)

4 apples

3 lemons

flat leaf parsley

1 package dry figs

1 ½ cup brown lentils

Shake and Bake

Veggie Stock (8 ½ cups)

bottled clam juice (2 cups)

2 - 28 oz can tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes

19oz can of red kidney beans or black beans

large whole wheat tortillas

5 triangular ciabatta buns (or a crusty bun/bread of your choice), sliced open

Sicilian Seafood Stew and Salad

Mondays are swimming days. It’s wonderful to have preschool age children and be a stay at home mom because swimming can take place in the afternoon. The pool is very quiet and the classes are small. Hannah has a really great teacher who is lots of fun and works really well with the diverse little group of 3-5 year olds in the class. The down side of having preschool aged kids is that I have to go in with Harper. Something about having to go in a pool in winter that makes me cold, cranky and tired (although her little smiling face does make up for a lot of this). But what really makes up for it is that swimming day also means bath day. There is nothing better in the whole world than two freshly bathed little girls cuddling on your lap reading stories in their cozy jammies before bed. I’ll be honest by the end of the day I’m usually looking forward to the kids bed time (to be fair I look forward to seeing them in the morning too), but tonight I was a little reluctant and a little sad when it was time to go up to bed.

Recipe

This one is from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. It’s a little more like a soup than a stew. It’s really simple, tasty and quick. We all really like it although; you can tell the difference in age and experience of the girls from what’s left in their bowl. Both girls were full before finishing their entire bowls, Harper had just a smaller portion of stew left, Hannah was sure to eat up all the shrimp and scallops when she was starting to get full leaving only the broth and a few peppers!

1 cup chopped onion

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped celery

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, pressed

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne

1 tsp dried oregano (2 tsp fresh)

1 tsp dried basil (2 Tbsp fresh)

1 tsp dried marjoram (2 tsp fresh)

2 cups bottled clam juice

3 cups undrained canned tomatoes, chopped or crushed (28 oz can), or 4 cups undrained chopped fresh tomatoes

½ cup red wine

½ pound scallops, rinsed

½ pound fresh or frozen shelled shrimp (I use 1 pound)

juice of 1 lemon (about 2 Tbsp)

ground black pepper to taste

lemon wedges

capers, rinsed and drained (optional)

chopped olives (optional)

In a soup pot, sauté the onions in the olive oil over high heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the celery and bell peppers and sauté, stirring for 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne, oregano, basil, and marjoram. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add the clam juice, tomatoes, and wine. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the scallops and shrimp, and cook until the scallops are no longer opaque and the shrimp are just tender pink, about 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and season with pepper to taste.

Serve with lemon wedges, and top each serving with a sprinkling of capers and/or crushed black olives if desired.

We started with a lovely little salad and then sopped up the rest of the stew with a nice piece of whole wheat rye bread from Stella’s Bakery – Yum!

Salad

For the salad I just tossed together some arugula, slice strawberries, creamy feta, a hand full of toasted pecans, sunflower seeds and almonds and then I topped it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and maple syrup.

Poached Eggs on Potato Pancakes with Greek Salad

Its funny how a day can go along so calmly and then it seems like it all comes crashing down and you’re running around at the last minute trying to do everything and get out the door for a meeting at the same time. The meeting? It was a meeting, or more an information session, at the school for kindergarten next year. I can’t believe that Hannah is going to start school next year. I know that she is ready, more than ready really, I’m just not sure if I am (as I’ve been told, it’s not actually about me). I’m sitting in the meeting half listening to the principal sell the French immersion experience (which I’m already sold on, being a French immersion child myself) and looking at all these wonderful images of smiling school age children flashing across the screen and I realize that she’ll be school age. It’s like I feel like I can try and maybe slow down the aging of my children when they’re at home safe with me, but once they enter school that’s it, time just slips away and before you know it you’re sitting at that little kindergarten graduation and then you blink and you somehow find yourself at their grade twelve graduation. So now I’m panicky, not at all hearing what the principal has to say and trying not to break down crying. Luckily the principal stopped talking and turned our attention over to the kindergarten teacher which pulled me out of my little world and allowed me to refocus. I know it’s crazy; you can’t slow down time you need to enjoy the moments as they come, live in them and appreciate them, but sometimes I’m running around trying to do everything and get out the door at the same time and I forget to do that!

Recipe

For the salad I just chopped up a tomato, 1/3 of an English cucumber, ¼ cup red onion, ¼ olives and ¼ cup creamy feta cheese. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature while I prepared everything else.

This recipe is slightly altered from a blog called Tri to Cook. The combination of flavours was delicious.

Potato Pancakes

3 small red potatoes, grated (skins on)

2 small onions, grated

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp sea salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp baking powder

6 Tbsp flour

For Assembly

6 eggs

6 oz of smoked salmon

1 to 1 ½ cup of baby spinach and arugula mix (or one or the other)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Squeeze all the liquid out of the potatoes and onions, using a cheese cloth can help with this if you have one. Mix potato/onion mixture with the rest of the potato pancake ingredients. Heat a splash of olive oil (about a tsp) over medium low heat and then add as pancakes (about ½ cup of mixture) to the pan, spread out to flatten a little. Cook until brown on each side, about 3 to 4 minutes a side. If they are a little thick pop them in the oven on pan while you cook the eggs to be sure they are cooked through.

Meanwhile bring a pan of water to a boil. Once water is boiling gently crack in your eggs, when the water has returned to a boil reduce heat to medium high and cook for about 3 minutes, you want the yoke to be runny. Remove eggs from water as soon as they are ready.

Stack potato pancake, smoked salmon, spinach/arugula and then poached egg.



Veggie Pot Pie

If you’ve been following my blog you may remember that a couple of weeks ago I made two veggie pot pies and put one in the freezer, and its been haunting me ever since. So today I ended the haunting and cooked the pot pie. I’m embarrassed to admit the relief that came over me when I took it out of the freezer knowing that it would be used and not left abandoned in the freezer to go bad, pathetic I know. This coupled with the fact that our investor popped in this evening so we could sign some papers and the kids were off the wall excited waiting for him to arrive made me feel that perhaps we need to get out more.

Recipe

The recipe can be found on this post. Dave also put together a salad of arugula/spinach mix, creamy feta, cucumber, red onion and then dressed it with olive oil, lemon and a drizzle of honey – delicious.

Easy Bake Enchilada

Do all kids love crafts as much as mine? I seem to go on spurts where I’m inspired to organize different crafts and then we display them on our craft board. It seems when I make the effort to go on line and find a craft idea for the kids I am rewarded with being the best mother in the world (in their eyes), way more so than when they ask to do a craft and I throw some paper and markers on the table and challenge them to draw something. So why don’t I do this more often, it’s really quite simple with the online resources? I’m not sure, but I’m sure soon I will again abandon the craft ideas; I lack consistency in my life.

We are on a craft bender now and have been filling our board up with all things St.Paddy’s Day! We have leprechauns, clovers, rainbows with pots of gold and Irish flags. Since this will be St. Paddy’s day next week when you read this I will also include our dinner plan for the day and if you so desire you can switch this Thursday and next Thursday around because everyone’s a little Irish come St. Paddy’s Day!

Making Leprechauns!

Finding a traditional Irish dish is slightly more difficult if you don’t eat meat. I suppose you could go with something green but I wanted to do a little of both. So I found that fish is quite popular and traditional in Ireland and so we are having baked salmon, colcannon mash, asparagus (because it’s green), salad, Irish soda bread and small mint shakes.

Recipe

We have this veggie recipe book called; Vegetarian Times Cookbook and I’ve only ever made this one recipe out of it. I’m not sure why because this one recipe is one of our family’s favourites, maybe I’ll try something else next week.

1 onion, chopped,

1 clove garlic, pressed

5 -6 mushrooms, sliced

1 green pepper, chopped

1 19oz can of red kidney beans or black beans

1 ½ cups stewed tomatoes

1 Tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

½ cup red wine (I often don’t have any open and just use an extra ½ cup of tomatoes and it’s just as good)

3 large whole wheat tortillas

¼ cup grated mozzarella cheese

½ cup light ricotta cheese

¼ cup plain yogurt

black olives sliced

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together the ricotta cheese and plain yogurt. Sauté onions, garlic, mushrooms and pepper until soft. Add beans, tomatoes, spices and wine (if using). Simmer gently about 30 minutes. In an oiled 1 ½ quart casserole, put a layer of tortilla, a layer of sauce, 1 ½ Tbsp of mozzarella, and 4 Tbsp of yogurt-ricotta mixture. Repeat until all ingredients are used and then top with black olives. Bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes.

Let stand for a couple of minutes and then serve topped with salsa and sour cream.

Roasted Veggie Sandwiches with Zucchini Fries

Hannah had a bad cough this week (actually, it only lasted a couple of days) but I kept her home from pre-school Tuesday to keep her from hacking on the other children and so thought that I shouldn’t bring her to the grocery store as well. Luckily my Dad was able to come and stay with the girls and I went and did the shopping. A trip to the grocery store on my own, it was very…quiet. I didn’t find myself nattering to the girls the whole time about what we’re buying and why and please watch where you’re going Hannah, and Harper you need to stay in the cart, blah, blah, blah. At least I don’t think that I was nattering the whole time, but I very well may have been…maybe it’s better to have the girls with me to keep me looking sane. I actually had the energy to go back and get anything I forgot, normally if I’m heading to the check out and I realize there’s something I forgot, we go without. I also had the energy to search for things on the list that I don’t normally buy, like Shake and Bake.

The recipe below for zucchini fries calls for Shake and Bake. I normally would have just made my own bread coating, way better for us and less salt, but I thought since this was the first time I tried this recipe I would use what was recommended and then change it next time. I was secretly thinking that Shake and Bake would be tasty, salty goodness and even though I wouldn’t use it a second time it gave me permission to use it this time. I was a little leery that I would find it so easily, I know that it was popular in the 80s when I was a kid, but did people still use it? I can remember wishing that my parents used it and bought all kinds of other pre-made food. I would go to certain friend’s houses and they had frozen egg rolls and pizza pops and I thought they were so lucky because my parents made everything. I’m a little wiser now and am terribly grateful that they made everything along with not making junk food a regular grocery item in our house, instilling these eating habits in me. So I found the Shake and Bake in the spice isle and was dumbfounded as I stood in front of a huge section of Shake and Bake. There were so many different kinds, Italian, Extra Crispy, Cajun, Lemon Pepper, BBQ Chicken, Honey Garlic and about ten other different kinds except for original. So after about five or ten minutes of total confusion I decided on the Italian, to be honest, I should have made my own.

Recipe

I was reminded of this recipe last weekend when Dave made that sandwich for lunch on Sunday. Hannah’s favourite kind of cheese is brie and so it is always a challenge to get the cheese on the sandwiches before she sneaks it all!

5 triangular ciabatta buns (or a crusty bun/bread of your choice), sliced open

½ red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

½ green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 small red onion (or part of a big one), cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ½ cup slice mushrooms

1 zucchini, quartered and sliced into ½ inch pieces

4 apples, peeled and sliced

1 bulb garlic

1 cup mayonnaise

1 package dry figs (chopped)

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 small round brie cheese, sliced as thing as you can

Preheat oven to 400F. Place garlic on a square of tin foil, drizzle with a little olive oil (½ tsp – 1 tsp), wrap garlic in tin foil and place in oven to roast for 30 – 40 minutes. In an oven proof baking dish spread veggie in one layer mix in olive oil and roast in the oven for about 20 – 25 minutes until veggies are soft and a little caramelized. In a separate pan place the apples and drizzle with a little olive oil and roast in the oven until apples are soft, about 5 minutes.

Once garlic is roasted and cool enough to handle squeeze each clove into a bowl. Mush the garlic with a fork and then add in the mayonnaise and stir until combined.

                                                                                                                                   

To assemble; place an open ciabatta on a square of tin foil, spread 1 Tbsp of the mayonnaise on the bun top with a splattering off figs, 3 slices of cheese, a layer of roasted veggies, a layer of apples, top with the top of the ciabatta and wrap in foil. Place the sandwich in the oven on the top rack. Repeat until all the sandwiches are done and let them warm in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes so that the cheese gets all melty and gooey.

Zucchini Fries

So I got the recipe for the zucchini fries from Fun and Food Café: For Good Food and Fine Living. Harper loved these, the rest of us were luke warm on it. Now I know, I don’t actually like Shake and Bake. I think that if you took the deseeded the zucchini to avoid them from getting soggy, dipped them in the egg and then mixed up panko bread crumbs (which are actually found on the shelf under the Shake and Bake at my grocery store) and parmesan cheese and baked them they may be good. I’ll include the original recipe as well in case you want to try it, we all have different tastes right?

2 zucchini (1 lb)

1 egg, beaten

1 package of Shake and Bake

¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 450F. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and then into ¼ inch sticks. Mix the Shake and Bake and the parmesan cheese together in the bag. Toss the zucchini in a bowl with the egg and then coat with Shake and Bake and place on a greased cookie sheet (I, of course, lined mine with parchment paper). Bake for 12 – 13 minutes turning halfway through.

Mushroom Soup, Toasted Ciabatta and Edamame Beans

Well, we can no longer drive over the snow in the driveway to pack it down. We had a blizzard last night and got too much snow. I tried to drive over it, after we had gone to do some shopping, and did get into the garage after taking a few running jumps at it but we had to shovel. Lucky for me Dave and the kids did it while I went for a run. We aren’t complaining about though. There’s nothing like a major natural disaster somewhere to remind you about what’s important in life and how lucky we are that we only need to shovel a little, or a lot, of snow. My thoughts, prayers and energy go out to those in Japan that are hurt, grieving and trying to survive. I am truly grateful for my safety and that of my loved ones.

Harper trying to sneak the mushrooms.

Recipe

This one is from Jaime Oliver: Jaime’s Dinners. The response to this soup was varied. I loved it, Hannah gave it an eight but told me that the soup from a can was better, Dave thought that it was good but decided that mushroom soup was not one of his favourite soups, and Harper ate some said she was done and then ate some more.

a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms

olive oil
600g mixed fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, girolles, trompettes de mort, shitake, oyster), cleaned and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
a knob of butter
a handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
1 lemon
optional: truffle oil

Place the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and add enough boiling water to just cover them. In a soup pot heat a couple good gluggs of olive oil and add your fresh mushrooms and stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter, thyme and salt and pepper. After about a minute of cooking you’ll see the moisture starting to release from the mushrooms at this point add your porcini mushrooms, some chopped and some whole. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit and add that to the pot as well. Continue to cook for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.

Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes. Remove half the soup and whizz it up to a puree at this point, then pour it back in adding the parsley and mascarpone and season to taste.*

*I used a hand blender right in the pot. I also used ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone, I’m not suggesting that this is a substitute but, marscapone can be pricey and I had some left over ricotta to use up. It was still a very tasty soup.

Cut the ciabatta, put on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil and broil for a minute or two until toasty.

Mix the zest of one lemon, ½ its juice and some salt and pepper in a bowl together.

Put the ciabatta in a bowl spoon in the soup and add a little of the lemon mixture.

Steam the edamame beans in their shell and place in a bowl. We just put them on the table and share them plain, but you can drizzle them with a little oil and season them with a little salt and pepper as well if you like. Harper just learned how to get them out of the shell and this was a great source of entertainment tonight!

We Were Invited to a Birthday Party

We were invited to a birthday party for two very special little girls tonight. One of them turned one and the other three. I remember that birthday feeling inside when I was a child. The feeling of the family party when all my cousins were there to play and run around with. It was always such a great feeling to have all the people that I love come and celebrate me. I loved celebrating these two little ones tonight!

We also ate very well, baked salmon, coconut milk rice, stir fried veggies, salad buns and two kinds of cake (chocolate and white with pink icing) and ice cream! It was oh so very delicious.