Peace, Love and Happiness...

Monday: Honey Lime Tilapia, Roasted Veggies and Couscous
Tuesday: Veggie Burritos
Wednesday: Rice Wraps
Thursday: Hearty Lentil and Kale Penne
Friday: Fajita Bar
Saturday: Leftovers with Pizza
Sunday: Creamy Leek, Potato and Mushroom Stew with Blue Cheese

Honey Lime Tilapia, Roasted Veggies and Couscous
I was off today, as in not feeling well, and I slept until 12:30!!! I know, crazy. To be honest I spent the whole day in a haze from the lake to home. We did have this fish for supper which was a hit with everyone, except Hannah who normally gobbles up fish, and yet Harper who often picks around at it ate it all up!

Recipe
The recipe is from One Lovely Life and I would make it again for sure...making Hannah's naked I guess.

For the fish and marinade:
4 (4-5oz) tilapia fillets (thawed if frozen)
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed (the original called for garlic powder, 1/4 tsp)

For dredging and cooking:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Assemble marinade by combining lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a gallon-sized zip-top bag or shallow container with a lid. Add fish and marinate in the refrigerator anywhere from 1 hour up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, combine flour with salt and pepper on a plate. Remove each fish fillet from the marinade and dredge lightly with the flour on both sides (just a light, light coating).

Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook fillets 2 at a time for 3-4 minutes per side or until opaque and browned (this works best if you don’t disturb the fish much while letting it cook).

Veggies:
1/2 each red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, sliced
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, quartered
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F

Toss veggies with a glugg of oil, salt and pepper and roast on a baking sheet in the oven or on the BBQ.

I served veggies over couscous prepared with veggie stock instead of water.

Veggie Burritos
Why is it that when I ask my kids to stop doing something nicely they think it's optional? I was that mom today in the grocery store. You know when your buttons are being subtly but constantly pushed all morning, in the grocery store? Yes, well mine were and then when we hit the second store (seriously, if Superstore would carry some decent everyday cheese, my life would be a lot easier) and I nicely asked Hannah to walk four times, until she finally ran ahead toward the door, Harper followed her and went right out the door - I caught her on the sidewalk before the road (thank GOD) but I may have lost it. I had a kicking and screaming two year old under one arm, my purse strap came unsnapped so under the other I had my purse and a bag of groceries, as I sweated like crazy and loudly called to Hannah to stay right by my side as we walked to the car. To the man who gave me a dirty look, I would have liked to say something very rude but figured it would only fuel his judgement...and my children were very present.

When we got home Hannah and I had a talk about how asking nicely is respectful, it does not make things optional. I then asked her nicely to take her shoes off the couch - she thought it was optional, sigh...

Recipe
I love these, they're easy, you can really add whatever you have on hand for the most part, they're filling and are a good lunch leftover.

Flour tortillas
1 cup raw sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
1 cup brown basmati rice, prepared according to package directions
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp cumin
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
2 cobs of corn, kernels removed
1 can red kidney beans (or white or black beans)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 package low sodium taco seasoning

Toppings:
Cheddar cheese, grated
Sour Cream
Cilantro, chopped
Salsa Verde

In a large pot heat a glugg of olive oil, and saute onion until almost soft, add the peppers and saute three minutes, add the garlic and saute another minute, add the cumin and stir for 30 seconds. Add in the can of tomatoes, rice, sunflower seeds, corn and the package of taco seasoning stir until combined and add 1/4 cup of water or veggie stock if it seems too dry. Simmer on low stirring often so the rice doesn't stick for 10 to 15 minutes.

Warm the tortillas and stuff with filling and any or all of the other toppings, roll and enjoy!

Rice Wraps
It's fixed, it's fixed - when the hard drive arrived in the mail this morning I danced around going, "The new hard drive is here, the new hard drive is here!" The girls didn't get the reference, but they danced with me anyway.

Shoe shopping for Hannah. Hannah needs shoes for school and shoes for fall. I don't know why I thought this was going to be an easy task, I had a coupon for one of the shoe stores and thought we'd go find two pairs and leave...not so much. We tried on every shoe in two big box stores that were either too loose, too tight or hurt her feet - while I chased Harper around from tearing the store apart and sweated like maniac (it's a two year theme). After lunch at home, my mom offered to watch Harper (God bless her) so Hannah and I could do some more shoes shopping. Off to the mall we went for two more hours to no avail. We tried on every shoe we could. Dave then took her out tonight for two more hours, I thought for sure when I heard them come in they'd have new shoes with them, but no.

So finally, I had to have a talk with Hannah, I don't want her feet to hurt but, no shoe is going to feel as good as flip flops and perhaps this is the problem. More shoe shopping tomorrow, we'll see if we find anything.

Recipe
The girls have been asking for (Salad Rolls) rice wraps (or wice waps, as Harper calls them) for a few weeks now, so that's what we had - recipe is in this post.

Hearty Lentil and Kale Penne
We found shoes!!!! She claims they don't hurt her feet...I may not actually care at this point. No, no I care - I don't want her feet to hurt...yes, I care, I care. After a morning of shoe shopping, which is not super fun with a two year old we went to the YMCA to swim in the pool. Harper can touch the bottom! I know that they can move the bottom of the pool up and down but it was at the same level it usually is and she can touch. How in the world is she growing so fast - she's so proud and exclaimed over and over, "I can touch ALL BY MY SELF!!!" I cried a little...

Recipe
So there are a lot of repeat recipes this week, I was a little less creative with the Internet down and all this week but this recipe is worth repeating, I think.

Fajita Bar
It was a big day today. Hannah and I went and met her teacher, who seems to be very nice. She suggested that we have Hannah take the bus on her first day so that it's new for everybody (we were going to drive her the first day). I see her point and it does make sense...it made my knees weak, and I thought I may throw up. It's not so much the school thing but the bus thing. The idea of her going independently to her destination really freaks me out, deep breaths, it'll be fine. She seems pretty fine with it and I pretend I am too.

We had company for dinner tonight and it was so fun to watch the kids playing outside in the dark. I remember when I was a kid and we'd play hide and seek outside with all my cousins, I loved it. We also noticed that Hannah's fish died. He hasn't been swimming around at all lately, he's been kind of lying on one of the rocks on the bottom of the tank. I had actually noticed this over the past month but it had gotten worse over the past week....perhaps ever since I changed his water and pinned him with a rock as I was trying to get him out of the water. I may have failed to mention this to Hannah, I do feel really bad. So we decided that we would tell her tonight after everyone left instead of ruining the day tomorrow. She had a good cry and then solidified her desire to sleep in this tent and with the added guilt of pinning the fish it is in our room next to the bed!

Recipe
There were a few components to dinner tonight. I didn't take enough photos of all the different ones, I am lacking in photos this week. I bought small flour tortillas as well as made some corn ones from MASA flour and these are the fixings I provided.

We used the leftovers from Tuesday night that I had put in the freezer.

Prawns:
2 packages of large prawns (about 50 total), shelled and deveined
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tbsp olive oil

Mix everything in a large ziploc and marinate in the fridge for at least four hours and up to 24. I would have skewered them and grilled them, but the BBQ is still not fixed so I just did them in a pan.

Refried Beans:
This recipe is slightly altered from Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures. I have used a different one in the past but I really liked this one, the consistency was better and the added lime and cilantro at the end lightened it up and gave it a really yummy tang. It's so easy to make this, almost as simple as opening a can of store bought and better tasting.

1/4 cup white onion, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

2 tablespoons tequila or water

2 (15 ounce each) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 to 1 cup veggie broth

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil over medium-high heat until softened, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, cumin, and coriander. Saute 1 minute. De glaze pan with tequila (or water); reduce until evaporated.

Stir in beans and broth. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium-low. Crush beans with a potato masher and cook until soupy, 5 minutes. Keep adding broth if the bean mixture gets too dry until desired consistency is achieved.

Stir in lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper.

Corn:

2 cobs of corn, raw kernels removed.

Tomatoes:

4 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped fine

1/2 cup cilantro

Mix all together and set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Guacamole:

1/4 red onion, chopped

4 ripe avocados

1 tomato, deseeded and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, pressed

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp cumin

Salt to taste

Saute onion in a little olive oil until soft. Mash avocados with a potato masher and mix in the tomato, garlic, cumin add the lime juice and salt to taste.

Slaw:

1 small package coleslaw mix

1/3 cup half fat mayonnaise

1/3 cup low fat sour cream

Juice of 1 lime

Mix all together.

Peppers and Onions

1/2 red onion

1/2 yellow onion

1/2 each red, green, yellow peppers

1/3 package of Old Ell Paso (reduced sodium) Fajita seasoning

Olive oil

3 Tbsp water

Saute onions in olive oil until slightly soft, add peppers and continue to saute until soft. Sprinkle on seasoning, mix and add a little water stirring until thickened.

I warmed the tortillas in the oven and served it all buffet style with the following:

Green chillies

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour Cream

Salsa Verde

Chopped cilantro

Everybody built their own.

Leftovers and Pizzas

It's girl's weekend. Which means that my mom and aunts and some of their friends head out to the cottage for their annual weekend together. This has been going on for 26 years. I can remember being a kid and having my mom leave for the weekend. Seriously, I think that we were almost as excited as she was (or we thought, now that I'm a mom with littles...I'm thinking there's no way we were as excited). It wasn't because she was leaving for the weekend it was just the event itself. There was always planning and prepping beforehand and we could sense her excitement. When she was gone I can remember staying up late with my Dad watching Dr. Who and eating taco dip for dinner. Honestly, it wasn't like my mom was gone and so my Dad didn't cook, he was home before my mom during the week and therefore cooked most of the dinners, it was just the event, the special thing we did. We were always excited for her to come home Sunday to hear all about it, which is funny because she never really told us much of anything about it. I think it was just to have her home again. My dad came for dinner tonight and although life is a little crazier for me these days it's so important to me to see him for dinner on the girls weekend.

Recipe

I know I talked about trying different pizza crusts this week but, the time just slipped away from me and I make these mini pizzas on pitas tonight. They do work well.

Toppings:

Pizza 1:

Olive oil

Sun dried tomatoes

Mozzarella



Pizza 2:

Olive oil

Fresh Tomatoes

Mozzarella

Pizza 3:

Pizza Sauce

Olives

Sauteed Onions

Mozzarella

Creamy Leek, Potato and Mushroom Stew with Blue Cheese

We went to my parents for supper tonight and my Dad made this delicious stew from The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes.

Recipe

1 Package 14g dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup boiling water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

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

4 stalk celery, peelled and thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic,+ minced

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 lb portobello or cremini mushrooms

1 28 oz tomatoes, including juice, coarsely chopped

1 cup veggie stock

2 to 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup whipping cream

3 oz good quality blue cheese, such as Maytag or Gorgonzola, crumbled

In a heatproof measuring cup or bowl, combine dried mushrooms and boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes and strain, reserving liquid. Pat mushrooms dry, chop finely and set aside.

In a skillet, heat oil over mdeium heat. Add leeks and celery and cook, stirring, until softenend. Add garlic, thyme, pepper, salt and dried mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring until they are well integrated into mixture. Add tomatoes, chicken broth or vegetable stock and reserve mushroom liquid 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, until potatoes are tender. Stir in cream and cheese. Cover and cook on HIgh for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted into sauce and mixture is hot and bubbling.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

                                                                                            - John Lennon

Peace, love and happiness to all today.

May the sun shine down on you this week!