Simple

Apple Sauce

There is something so brilliant and simple about homemade apple sauce. It’s one of those things that I used to often buy pre-made, because really what can they add to applesauce? Then we made some, and it was so much better, like the inside of an apple pie. It’s really so simple, quick and the girls love, love, love it! All I do is peel and core the amount of apples we want (1 per serving) put it in a sauce pan with a little water and lemon juice and let it simmer until soft, about 10 minutes depending on how many apples you have. When it’s ready I take it off the stove and whiz it up with the hand blender. I pour it into bowls and add a little cinnamon. If we’re in a real hurry, like bedtime snack, I do it in the microwave for a minute or two instead of on the stove.

Weekly Menu

Monday: Lentil Taco Salad

Tuesday: Creamy Leek, Potato and Mushroom Stew with Blue Cheese*

Wednesday: Bunless Veggies Burgers with Caprese Salad

Thursday: Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce, Colcannon Mash, Baked Asparagus, Grated Carrot Salad, Irish Soda Bread and Shamrock Shakes

Friday: Pizza and Salad

Saturday: Quiche and Fruit

Sunday: Baked Pickerel, Peas and Corn, Asparagus, Ziti Salad with Bread and a Rhubarb Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

*This is a crock pot meal

Weekly Pantry List

Olive oil, vegetable oil, margarine or butter, balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, baking soda, dried thyme leaves, 3 slices of whole grain toast, flour (white and whole wheat), yeast, sugar, mint extract, green food colouring (optional), fresh garlic

Weekly Grocery List

Mozzarella or provolone cheese (for pizza)

Cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)

Blue Cheese (3 oz)

Buffalo Mozzarella Pearls

Milk

Whipping cream (the consensus was that it wasn’t needed)

Eggs

Vanilla Ice Cream

Frozen puff pastry

Olives (for pizza)

Salmon fillet (enough for all)

Mushrooms (about 3 cups plus 1 lb)

Carrots

Cherry tomatoes

Fresh basil

Fresh mint

Leeks (2 large)

4 celery stalks

Green onions

1 onion

2 red onions

Potatoes (1 ½ pounds + 2 to 3)

Scallions

Green cabbage (small)

Red pepper (1/2)

Yellow pepper (1/2)

Asparagus

3 Tomatoes

Romaine lettuce

Fruit

Micro sprouts (such as alfalfa, broccoli, or onion) – need 1 cup

1 lime

2 lemon

Cilantro

Vegetable broth (need 1 cup)

1 28 oz can tomatoes

1 can artichoke hearts

2 19 oz cans of chickpeas

Package taco seasoning, low sodium (1/2 package)

Whole wheat tortilla wraps

Lentil Taco Salad

How is it, that one little hour can mess up a toddlers schedule so much? We sprung forward this weekend, all of us except for Harper. She skipped her nap Sunday and tonight she took over an hour to get to sleep. I really hope that this straightens itself out soon or else our whole schedule’s going to be shifted until fall. Which will be a problem since Hannah’s schedule seems to be right on track. The extra light and warm temperatures today do kind of make up for it. I feel that light spring feeling and am considering coming off winter strike to enjoy it. I’ve even planned one of our summertime meals to celebrate the occasion.

Recipe

Instead of buying tortilla chips we toast up the wraps so that they’re nice and crispy and then we don’t end up eating a bag of tortillas.

1 cup dry lentils

½ package taco seasoning, low sodium

4 cups Romaine lettuce, washed and torn

½ red pepper, chopped

½ yellow pepper, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

½ cup cilantro, chopped

½ cup cheddar cheese, grated

4 whole wheat tortillas wraps

juice of 1 lime

salt

3 Tbsp olive oil

Put the lentils in a pot, cover with water and boil until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. While the lentils are cooking put all your veggies in a boil, and dress with the juice of a lime and olive oil (you could add a clove of garlic crushed if you like). Once lentils are ready, drain the water leaving about ½ cup in with the lentils and add the taco seasoning. Simmer, stirring often, until most of the liquid is gone and lentils are seasoned and saucy. Toast both sides of tortillas under the broiler for a minute or two, watching very closely, they will be golden brown and bubbly.

Place 1 cup of lettuce in each bowl; top with ¼ of the veggies (being sure to spoon some of the dressing over), lentils, cheese, the crumbled tortilla and toss.

Creamy Leek, Potato and Mushroom Stew with Blue Cheese

We had a meeting with an interior designer this evening about our house. We have so many plans for our house and need a little help with the vision of it all before we start chipping away at it. The meeting did put a few things into perspective for us; we have more vision than we thought. We want to take a few walls out and redo the kitchen, for starters, but I am having trouble picturing how the kitchen will be set up once the walls are down. Honestly the kitchen is the most important room to me, I spend a lot of time in there and I want to make sure that we do it right. I think we’ve decided to try it on our own first, by buying a computer program where we can input our house and then play around with it and remove walls, set up kitchens, even input furniture. I have to be honest, I don’t really have much interest in computer/video games but this just sounds like so much fun!

After our meeting we went to my mom and dad’s place for dinner and they made this wonderful stew/soup with sour dough rye bread and Greek salad – it was very yummy!

Recipe

The recipe is from The 150 best Slow Cooker Recipes. Only part of the whipping cream was added, but we all decided that it wasn’t really necessary.

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 large leeks, white part only, cleaned and thinly sliced

4 stalks celery, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 lb mushrooms, quartered

1 28 oz can tomatoes, including juice, coarsely chopped

1 cup vegetable stock

2 to 3 potatoes peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

3 oz blue cheese

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add leeks and celery and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, thyme, pepper, salt and cook stirring for 1 minute. Add the fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they are well integrated into mixture. Add tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil.

Place potatoes in stoneware. Add contents of pan and stir.

Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours, until potatoes are tender. Stir in cream (if using) and cheese. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted into sauce and mixture is hot and bubbling.

Bunless Burgers and Caprese Salad

I think I’m coming off winter strike. I even went for a run with a friend outside this evening. I really didn’t want to go, she’s on an inside strike, and I was wishing she’d cave and we’d go to the gym but I’m so glad that she didn’t. It felt so great to be outside! I have actually played outside with the kid this week, because Harper can’t go out on her own and I didn’t want to put them on strike as well, but I haven’t really felt that light, free feeling out there…could be the ski pants! I’m not sure if it was the fresh air, the run, the great company or a combination of all but I felt that light, free, spring feeling to the point where I can’t wait to get out there again. I enjoyed my run so much more, instead of trying to zone out I was focused in on how my leg muscles felt with each landing of my foot, in a good way. That familiar addiction to running is coming back; oppose to the habit, obligation and determination that I has been driving me lately. Thank you my good friend!

Recipe

Bunless burger? I know it sounds a little odd but not so odd that you shouldn’t try it. You probably want to have a napkin near buy for your messy fingers. This recipe is from 101 Cookbooks and she claims to have cracked the code on veggie burgers. She thinks that the bean patty mixed with the bun makes the burger too dry so has used the burger as the bun. I really like these but do still like other burgers that include the bun as well. Give these a try and see what you think.

2 ½ cups sprouted garbanzo beans or canned, drained and rinsed

4 large eggs

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1 onion, chopped

grated zest of 1 large lemon

1 cup micro sprouts (try broccoli, onion or alfalfa)

1 cup toasted (whole grain) bread crumbs

1 Tbsp olive oil (or clarified butter), you may need more for cooking

If you are using sprouted garbanzo beans steam until just tender, about 10 minutes. Puree the beans in a food processor until crumbly and then stir in eggs and salt. Once the mixture resembles a chunky hummus add cilantro, onion, lemon zest and sprouts and mix. Stir in the bread crumbs and let it sit for about 10 minutes to let the bread crumbs absorb some of the mixture. Form mixture into 12 mini burgers, I did this ahead and placed them on parchment paper, covered them and set them in the fridge for a couple of hours, or you could cook them right away.

Ground chickpeas before adding the egg.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium low heat and put in four burgers, cover and let cook for 7 to 10 minutes until the bottoms are browned (turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes) flip and cook covered for another 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack while cooking the remaining burgers. Carefully cut each patty in half and insert your favourite fillings. We used some leftover roasted garlic mayonnaise, avocado, tomato, sliced pickle and arugula/spinach mix.

Tomato Caprese Skewers

I found these at Carla’s Tasty Treat and they just looked so good and summery I had to try them. I didn’t make them into little skewers (on toothpicks) like she did simply because I thought it would be bad news for Harper so I chopped everything up in salad form. It did taste like summer!

Cherry tomatoes

Buffalo mozzarella, I used the pearls

Fresh basil

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and then string a toothpick with half a tomato, a pearl of cheese wrapped in a basil leaf, and then another half tomato. Once all your skewers are done drizzle them with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Alternatively, if you have little ones who need the tomatoes chopped for them to avoid chocking, chop everything up in a bowl and dress with the olive oil and balsamic.

  

Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce, Colcannon Mash, Baked Asparagus, Grated Carrot Salad, Irish Soda Bread and Shamrock Shakes

May you always walk in sunshine.

May you never want for more.

May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Well, I suppose it has passed already but I hope you had a great one. We had a lot of fun, I may have worked the kids up for it a little too much because when Hannah got up and saw Dave going to work she was so confused, “Why are you going to work today Daddy? It’s St. Patrick’s Day!”

We ate St. Paddy’s Day cookies, wore green and talked about leprechauns. We also made some traditional Irish food for dinner. I thought it was quite funny that the recipes for the soda bread that I looked at all said to mark the top with a cross (not an x) to let the steam escape the top, is that to protect it from evil spirits as well?

I went to a wonderful St. Paddy’s Day party at my aunt and uncle’s house. They have one every year and it’s always fun, of course it is, it’s a household of Irish (with the exception of a couple of honorary Irish and one Scot – who wore orange instead of green)!

Recipes

Hannah loves salmon, or at least she did, but the past couple of times that we’ve had it she hasn’t eaten it. She claims it’s the sauce or topping so I kept this salmon plain and made a side sauce to see if she would eat it. She did eat it all up.

1 salmon fillet (the size you need for your group)

¼ cup of olive oil for drizzling (really this varies the size of fillet you have)

I laid the fish out on a foil lined pan and drizzled it with olive oil and then baked it at 425 for about 10 minutes.

Sauce

¼ cup light mayonnaise

½ cup light sour cream

1 ½ Tbsp dill

a dash of salt

Mix all ingredients together and serve on the side of the fish.

Baked Asparagus

Bunch of asparagus

¼ cup olive oil

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper

Spread the asparagus out in an oven proof dish and drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 425F for 10 minutes.

Colcannon

This recipe comes from a site called YOURIRISH.  I don’t ever remember eating boiled cabbage and the thought of it sounds awful to me, like it should be categorized with overdone food. I steamed the cabbage for the colcannon and added a little margarine, salt and pepper – yum, it’s so good and I have half a cabbage left so you’ll be sure to see it next week at some point.

1 ½ lbs potatoes

½ cup of milk

1 ½ cups of steamed green cabbage or curly kale

1 Tbsp butter

Salt and Pepper

Chop the cabbage and steam until tender and then mix in the butter and season with salt and pepper.

Boil the potatoes and then add the milk and mash. Once the potatoes are mashed mix in the cabbage and season again to taste.

Irish Soda Bread

The recipe for the bread comes from Irelandseye.com and was very easy and delicious, but don’t do like me and flour the whole pan and then place the bread only in the center because, and I know this will surprise you, the rest of the flour will burn and fill the house up with smoke!

4 cups of plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sugar

2 cups buttermilk or sour milk

Preheat oven 450F.

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly – too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won’t rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross on the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of pre-heated oven. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

Grated Carrot Salad

My mom actually brought the salad and I realized too late before posting that I didn’t have the recipe in here so I’ve adapted one from Foodgeeks.

5 to 6 carrots, grated

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

¼ cup mint

Salt and pepper to season

Pizza and Salad

It's time to play the music

It's time to light the lights

It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

It's time to dress up right

It's time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight.

Why do we always come here

I guess we'll never know

It's like a kind of torture

To have to watch the show

And now let's get things started

Why don't you get things started

It's time to get things started

On the most sensational insoirational celebrational Mupperational

This is what we call the Muppet Show

Every Friday night we have movie night. Hannah use to pick, but now we take turns to avoid watching Little Einstein’s every night. We all do love to watch Planet Earth and often will pick one of those – they’re so amazing and interesting. Clearly we chose the Muppet Show this Friday. It’s fun to be able to watch something that we enjoyed as kids and can still enjoy as adults. We’ve all been singing this song since we decided to watch The Muppet Show and can’t seem to get it out of our heads, so I thought I’d share – cruel I know.
Dinner was pizza again. I know we have this almost every Friday but seriously we all love it. This week we topped it with onions, mushrooms, olives, and artichoke hearts and then I had all this dribs and drabs of cheese left, buffalo mozzarella, creamy feta and some regular mozzarella. We also finished up the rest of the carrot salad.

Again if you need a dough recipe you’ll find one on this week’s menu.

Quiche and Fruit Salad

It was raining and I couldn’t see the moon, did you see the moon tonight? I’m always amazed when things like this happen and suddenly the world is small. I remember when I was a kid and we moved to Belgium for a couple of years when I was twelve. We went to an international school on the military base there and met different kids from all around the world. It was then that I realized we were all the same (and of course different). We may have spoken different languages, ate different food and celebrated different holidays but we were all human with the same basic needs and a lot of the same basic wants (I’m not suggesting that we all get these met, or in the same way). Sometimes I live in my own little Canadian world and even though with all the new technology I know that the world has really become a village it still seems so big and vast – I mean it’s the whole world. Then something as simple as the moon seems to bring the whole world together. It reminds me that although we may be scattered across thousands and thousands of miles we are all of one planet, one world and all able to share the sight of a super moon.

Recipe

I’ve already put a recipe for quiche on this week’s menu; I did use some different veggies in this one. I had left over colcannon and asparagus from Thursday and so I lined a pan with the a sheet of puff pastry, spread on the colcannon, placed a layer of asparagus, a layer of grated cheese and then covered it all with 6 eggs, beaten. We used some of the left over dill sauce for dipping and I was very excited and satisfied to have used up the leftovers.

Baked Pickerel, Peas and Corn, Asparagus, Ziti Salad with Bread and a Rhubarb Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

It’s the first day of spring today. New birth, new beginnings, let us come out of the darkness and let the light shine upon us! I always feel like bursting out of the doors the first day of spring, shaking off the cave of the house where we have been hibernating all winter long and letting the sun shine down on me. It’s actually raining today but that doesn’t really matter because it’s true this time. It’s really true, this time spring is really coming and the snow will melt and I will once again be able to feel the grass on my feet, grounding me to the earth and at the same time letting my spirit feel light and airy.

We had dinner at my parents tonight and Hannah and I splashed home in our rubber boots. I don't have the recipes to share for supper so instead I will share a picture of my Irish darlings!