Tuesday: Lemon Orzo, Broccoli and Edamame Beans
Wednesday: Omlettes, Toast and Fruit Salad
Thursday: Cod Burgers on Ciabatta with Green Salad
Friday: Curried Quinoa Cauliflowe Salad
Saturday: Pizza
Sunday: Potabello Mushroom Burgers with Corn on the Cob, Salad and Roasted Potatoes
Black Bean Soup with Quesadillas
I'm always a little facinated with the history of foods, or more so comfort foods. I know that we eat to live (some days at least), but obviously a lot of my life centers around food. One of my favorite comfort foods is Dave's cinnamon buns. He got the recipe from his mom and makes them every now and then on a weekend morning, mostly by request. He also made them the morning Harper was born and they have become a standard comfort around here. He always lets the girls help and I'm sure it won't be too long until Hannah's making them on her own. It's the relation that intrigues me, the way Dave's mom made them (they are quite famous and sought after by the community at the cottage) for her kids, passed the recipe on and Dave and the girls have created a ritual of making them together and every now and then when we are lucky enough to have Dave's parents here they get to make them with their Grammie, like today.
Hannah also spent the afternoon sewing with her Grammie and made this pillowcase and a blanket for Harper for her birthday. Dave's mom is a very talented seamstress and so Hannah has been waiting for her to come and help her sew (because, although we have the best intentions - kind of suck at helping her learn). She brought out a couple learn to sew patterns and Hannah did all that stitching, I thought it was pretty straight for a first timer (straighter than I can do), if I can brag about her a little. She also asked to make a blanket for Harper for her birthday out of some of her material - I love that kid!
The black bean soup is slightly altered from The Best of Bridge: That's Trump I used two cans of black beans and I think I would use 3 next time, it wasn't quite beany enough for me.
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 onions, chopped2 stalks celery
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel seeds
6 cups low sodium veggie stock
28 oz can of tomatoes
4 tsp fresh lime juice
Sour cream, salsa and hot banana peppers
In a large pot saute onions, garlic and celery in olive oil until soft. Stir in chili, oregano, cumin and fennel and cook for 1 minute. Add beans and the stock and summer for 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and lime juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup in batches and garnish with sour cream, salsa and hot peppers.
For the quesadillas I sauteed peppers, mushrooms and onions until soft with a little low sodium fajita seasoning until soft. I filled half a whole wheat tortillas with veggies and grated cheddar cheese, floded them over and baked them in the oven on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 400F a few minutes a side until browned and cheese is melted.
Lemon Orzo, Broccoli and Edamame Beans
Dave's parents are heading home tomorrow morning. It seems like it was such a short visit, barely a week. We really packed today in and met Dave for lunch at Stellas and then headed down to the art gallery to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit. I had Harper in tow and so was able to look at a lot of The Saturday Evening Post (with security only approaching us once because Harper was too close...she wasn't touching - which she did mention to the security guard). Just as I was starting to sweat and wonder how this was all going to turn out we rounded the corner to find a table and chairs set up with coloured pencils and blank pages titled The Saturday Evening Post where you could create your own. Harper and I spent the rest of the time sitting there, with Dave's mom spelling me off here and there. I love Norman Rockwell for the stories they tell, and it was really well done with an audio of his son telling the stories of some of the paintings. I think as a child I liked them because they had kids in them, as a parent I can relate to a lot of them...
Recipe
It was a bit of a what do we have to use up, and here's what I came up with...
I made the lemon orzo from The Fit Housewife. Which I quite liked, but I felt it needed a little something, I would add a little diced red onion next time.
1 cup uncooked orzo
1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
zest of one lemon
sprinkle of sea salt
12 grape tomatoes, halved
5 basil leaves, finely chopped
Cook orzo according to package directions. In a serving bowl, mix together yogurt, Parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon zest, and salt. When orzo is finished cooking, drain and add to yogurt mixture. Add tomatoes and basil and toss together. Serve warm or place in fridge for a couple of hours and serve cold.
I made the Broccoli from Catherine Newman's blog. She calls it crack broccoli it was really quite good and addictive in that funny way where you may not realize it at the time, but ever since you've had it you've been thinking about it.
1 large head broccoli
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Peel the broccoli with a sharp paring knife as best as
you’re able. The thick peel will keep the broccoli from going fully tender, so
you really do want to remove it.
Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a large
rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Cut the stem
off of the broccoli, and cut it into long, ½-inch thick pieces. Cut the rest of
the broccoli into long, fairly narrow florets, then put it in a bowl, drizzle it
with the oil and toss well until evenly coated. Sprinkle with the salt and
sugar, and toss to combine. (The sugar helps it brown, so please don’t omit
it.)
Working quickly, remove the baking sheet from the oven.
Carefully transfer the broccoli to the baking sheet and spread it in an even
layer, placing it flat sides down wherever possible.
Return the baking sheet to the oven and roast until the
stalks are well browned and tender and the florets are lightly browned, 9 to 11
minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.
We also had some edamame beans.
I may have lost it today...I did lose it. I try to be very patient with the girls and their mud antics, because when else in their lives are they going to be able to play in the mud? Usually they end up covered a few times a week, it ranges from a little on thier hands to needing to wash everything. Today they were covered from head to toe. It's been weeks and weeks of this (and I actually didn't have to deal with the last two as Dave's mom cleaned and washed up after them one day and Dave the last time) and finally it broke me. I was so mad and took this picture hoping it would change my attitude and I could make light of the situation, it didn't work.
After this picture was taken I started to try and clean them up. Hannah had handfuls and handfuls of mud in her pockets (in HER POCKETS), between her telling me it got in there by accident and listening to them complain about having to be cleaned up, I started screaming. I'm not proud of this moment, every voice in my head (I mean the voice in my head, there's only one, reallly...) was telling me to stop, be an adult - that's enought, yet I couldn't stop screaming, finally I walked away. It was porbably my least proudest moment as a parent. When the dust had settled we all sat on the floor, and I apologised for screaming and we decided that there will be no more playing in the mud this year. They were very forgiving and understanding of my outburst which kind of felt like a knife of guilt right through my heart, but fair enough. I spent the rest of the day feeling very guilty, and have checked on thier little innocent, forgiving sleeping bodies twice already.
Cod Burgers on Ciabatta with Green Salad
Harper: What do you do at a gween wight?Me: Go.
Harper: What do you do at a wed wight?
Me: Stop.
Harper: What do you do at a yewow wight?
Me: Slow down and get ready to stop.
Harper: What if the wight is green and you're stopped?
Me: You go.
Harper: But what if you're stopped?
Me: Then you need to start moving because green means go.
Harper: But what if you're stopped?
Me: Then you need to start moving because green means go.
Harper: But what if you're stopped?
Me: I don't know, what if you're stopped?
Harper: Mo-om you're just being siwy, I'm asking you.
Me: Oh.
Harper: What do you do at a gween wight?
Reread this conversation about 50 times and you've got my afternoon with Harper.
Recipe
So I threw together these fish burgers, tried to cook them on the side griddle of the BBQ and after almost blowing myself up, and then finding them there cold after they'd been "cooking" for 10 minutes, I baked them in the oven. They were good, Hannah loved them, putting them up on her list with rice wraps and Grandma's macaroni and cheese.
1 lb cod, chopped up fairly small1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives
3 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp grainy Dijon
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup panko crumbs
1 egg beaten
Combine all ingredients and make into 4 large patties or 5 smaller ones, place on wax paper or parchment, cover and chill in the fridge for at least two hours. In the end I baked these at 450F on parchment lightly sprayed with a little olive oil.
We had ours on a hunk of ciabatta that was brushed with a little olive oil and then grilled on the BBQ, topped with sliced tomatoes and then the burger and a green salad on the side.
Curried Quinoa Cauliflowe Salad
The whole day outside, little girls smelling like sunshine and a great bid snuggle before bedtime. Ahhh, life's good.
Recipe
The recipe for the quinoa is from this post, yummy!
We've started! We've started! We have started our renovation, it's going to be on going for quite awhile. We have decided to redo the fireplace and tear the beams down in the family room while we're waiting for our drawings from the engineer. My mom and dad have graciously taken the kids for the weekend and we spent last night and today tearing down the old brick, shopping, and doing a bunch of other stuff which doesn't seem to make a lick of difference visually but needed to be done to do the fun stuff...I didn't like that part as much. It's now 10:50 pm Dave's working on the last thing we're going to do tonight and I'm waiting to be able to put a second coat of sealant on the slate tiles. We're not pretty right now and my hands hurt but it'll all be worth it.
Recipe
We're keeping track of all expenses in regards to the reno, even trips to the dump ($20 so far in dump fees) and I think that we may need to add take out to the list. We were just too busy and dusty/dirty to cook, I think I may need to make a meal plan for these kinds of days, we ordered in.
Potabello Mushroom Burgers with Corn on the Cob, Salad and Roasted Potatoes
Happy Earth Day! We didn't do anything to celebrate earth day, unless you count taking down the beams from the ceiling and pulling out all the nails so that we could reuse the wood, that's kind of earth dayish, right? My parents took the girls to The Fort Whyte Center where they made some crafts, got their face painted and cooked bannock on a stick in over a fire. My mom said there was also a place where they could take little nets and dip into the marsh and scoop something out and there were people there who would tell you all about what you had. My mom was telling Hannah about it and she looked up at her and said, "We don't have life jackets." and Harper exclaimed, "Yeah, that's dangerous." So they steered clear of all water activities and I found a little peice of comfort.
My parents not only took the girls all weekend, they also still had us for dinner. We worked until five, Dave a little longer and then washed up and walked down to my parents. We still are not done but are very hopeful to finish next weekend. We will sleep extremely well tonight I think.
I hope the sun shines down on you this week!
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