taking stock

I used to be a vegetarian,

or rather,

a pescatarian

(meaning I didn't eat meat but I did eat fish)

It was never an ethical concern for me,

I just found it to be

really

gross.

Those days are long gone and I now eat lots of meats

(just still not beef.)

Turkey was actually the first thing I reintegrated back into my diet.

My thinking was that I liked the taste of turkey 

whereas with other things,

 it was the sauces that accompanied them that I enjoyed.

So.

Turkey.

In the past year I've found myself making more and more foods from scratch.

The boxed or bottled versions are rarely any better 

and they are full of chemicals and crap that no one needs.

I don't make anything that's terribly difficult, either, 

so other than a bit of planning, it doesn't take a lot more time.

I go through a ton of stock - chicken stock, vegetable stock.

I make a lot of soups and stews

and they require a lot of stock.

So I decided to get over my fear / aversion to the turkey carcass

and buy a stock pot

to wring every last nutrient and usable bit out of our Christmas turkey.

It was ridiculously simple

and 

delicious.

I bought this fancy schmancy pot at Canadian Tire.

It was $65, which is not cheap

but the cheap ones were really cheaply made

and I was concerned about them melting on my stove.

Plus, it was 48% off which makes it a good deal.

($65 was the sale price...)

Besides,

it's so cheerful looking!

And it's huge! 

(16 quarts. I think that qualifies as huge. I know they come way bigger.)

I used a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Nothing to it.

Onion, celery, carrot, peppercorns...

a little of this

a little of that

oh and the carcass, of course...

Boil that sucker for about 4 hours in total and let it cool.

Skim off the fat, chill it out overnight in the fridge.

Skim off the fat again the next day 

and divide it up into containers or freezer bags and freeze it up.

I made turkey soup with the stock and it had great flavour.

I froze the rest to use in the winter months to come 

(it keeps for 6 months!)

This whole exercise made me happy for the following reasons:

1. I got over my turkey carcass fear which means that future turkeys won't go to waste.

2. I finally bought a stock pot which I have meant to do for years.

3. I know everything that went into that stock, which means no salt, nothing weird or chemically. 

Lots of nutrients. 

Good stuff only for us.

4. My mother would be proud of me.

Brunch

We took a close look at our spending habits recently

and confirmed that one of our favorite activities

happens much too frequently.

Brunch might be our favorite meal

and eating out in general

so we've come up with a homemade brunch

of scrambled eggs,

cheesy hashbrowns

bacon

and toast

(with a wide selection of hot sauces to top it all off)

and we are just as satisfied as if we had visited some of our favorite haunts.

It will save us a

(perhaps embarrassing)

amount of silver

and I must say,

fella is a great brunch cook

so I get a break from the kitchen at the same time.

Fergus approves.

good eats

I have been using Allrecipes.com as a source
for many of my cooking/baking adventures for years

but this fall I picked up this soup cookbook:

I've made two soups from it so far and both were excellent and have been included in my regular rotation.

They are also quite healthy recipes - they call for reduced sodium stock or no salt added and they often use turkey sausage or ground instead of pork which has a lot less fat so that's an added bonus.

I'd decided that I wanted to get another cookbook with a bit more variety

to give me some new ideas for dinners, mostly.

Dinner is the challenge. 

How to keep it interesting and not too repetitive? 

And easy to put together after a long day? 

And still healthy and tasty?

It's a lot of pressure.

Martha was the winner:

The reviews I read made some great selling points:

~ the recipes aren't terribly difficult

(geared toward beginner to intermediate cooks, which is my category.)

~ they give the prep times (and those times are accurate and are mostly under an hour)

~ the recipes are organized by season. (I love this.)

~ the ingredients aren't obscure or super fancy. 

You can get them from a regular grocery store.

Score. 

Because who has time or money(or patience) for super fancy on, say, a Wednesday?

~ there is a photo for every recipe

(this can be very helpful when you're making something for the first time and don't know what it's supposed to look like. I'm not a great visualizer so this is good for someone like me.I like photos.)

~ I had a gift card for Indigo so I didn't technically have to pay for it.

This isn't exactly a perk for this particular book,

 but if it's something you want to hold out for, 

then drop some hints around your birthday or something.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Pot lucky or unlucky?

I am pretty sure I need to make these for the work holiday pot luck.

Don't you think?

Cream cheese penguins.

lunchblox

I can eat the same thing every day for lunch

week in

week out.

Once in awhile I'll run out of supplies

and I'll treat myself to a burrito

or a tuna sub from Subway.

(I know. Outrageous.)

But I realized something.

Eating a ham or turkey sandwich every day for lunch

isn't the most nutritious way of nourishing oneself.

So I decided to take salad for lunch instead.

I know I don't eat enough vegetables

so I decided it was time to change that.

But here's the thing

I like complex salads.

Salads with toppings.

And salads with toppings are a pain in the ass to pack.

But then I found this:

This is the salad lunchblox from Rubbermaid.

Rubbermaid gets me.

It's a large-ish box where you put the lettuce

and then there are 3 compartments in the top for your - bingo!- toppings!

There is also a little container for salad dressing.

I saw it online somewhere

so started looking for it but couldn't find anywhere in Canada that sold it.

Rubbermaid? How can we not have it here?

But on Saturday, I took a few moments to flip through the flyers

and success! 

Home Hardware came through

and it was on sale! 

$9.97.

I used it for the first time on Monday and I have to say,

that salad was the business.

Toppings remained separated and fresh as could be.

Money well spent.

(They also make a sandwich version if sandwiches are more to your fancy.

 I suspect the containers for accompanying snacks. Mmmm. Snacks.)

yes, please

because I love her blog

her recipes

all of it.

Cookbook:

$21.95

I'm in.

Oh Noir

Fella and I went to O Noir recently for our anniversary dinner.

It might be a little strange to celebrate over a dinner where you can't actually see each other

but we'd been wanting to go for awhile (read: two years or more)

so we thought the occasion called for it.

If you don't know about O Noir,
the concept is this -
there are no lights in the restaurant.
It's pitch black.
All of the waiters are blind.

When you arrive, you are handed a menu to choose your dishes.
It's prix fixe so there isn't a lot to remember
you can choose from two courses or three.

We chose three.
It was a special occasion
so we thought we'd treat ourselves to dessert.

Then you wait around in this dim lounge area that looks like it was once a grungy pub.
Obviously they don't need to put a lot of effort into ambience
but this lounge area was pretty grim
and I kind of felt like I was going to a dinner theatre
instead of just a dinner.

You can have a drink at the bar if you choose but eventually they take your order and show you which room you will be eating in.
The hostess tells you who your waiter will be and then you wait for them.
Ours was Victor.
Victor showed up after a few minutes
and asked me to put my left hand on his shoulder and then have fella put his on mine so he could lead us to our table.

You go in.
It's really, really dark.
You can't see your hand in front of your face.
You quickly become aware of not knowing where anything is
how big the room is
who is in there with you.

Victor told us where are place settings were so we could feel around on the table
and get a sense of the space.
We ordered some wine.

And we listened.
Eventually your eyes stop trying to adjust when you're brain realizes that there is no light.

And you listen.
And try to sort out sounds.
And, eventually, relax.

It was an interesting experience.
To be honest, the food wasn't great
and it's kind of pricey for mediocre food
($39 for 3 courses)
You can opt for "surprise" courses (which fella did)
and try to figure out what it is.
(The surprise dishes aren't on the menu)
I'm not an adventurous eater
(and I don't eat beef)
so I didn't feel comfortable opting for the surprises
but I did get the surprise dessert
(surely there wouldn't be meat in the dessert?)
We joked that dessert would be vanilla ice cream.
Hahaha.
What a surprise that would be!

But here's what I thought as I sat there -

Your senses are heightened, just as you suspect they might be.

You can blatantly eavesdrop on other people's conversations and they'll never know!

If you spill stuff, you won't find out until you leave

My spatial perception is pretty good.
I remembered where everything was
and didn't knock anything over.

But most of all -
this is what it's like to be blind.
And that was something.

There were a couple of other disappointments -
throughout our meal, fella could see light when the door was opened.
We mentioned it to our waiter (who, of course, wouldn't know)
but it still happened. We thought since that was their big "thing" they could at least ensure that it really was completely dark.

My main course was grilled shrimp with risotto and a vegetable.
The vegetable was beans.
and for some reason the beans freaked me out
even though I knew what they were.
There was something about the consistency that was just wrong.
I also had one go up my nose because I didn't know I had stabbed it perpendicular to my fork.
Oh and the risotto was terrible
and there was about a tablespoon of it which, in retrospect, wasn't a bad thing.

We thought it would be fun to go back with some friends of ours
just to "see" what their reactions would be
(mostly because it would be hilarious for us!)
but the food
I don't know if I could get past the bad food.


Our last course came and I was excited to
have something be a mystery.

Victor arrived and said
"are you ready for your big surprise?"

I'm ready! I piped up.

It came with a spoon.
And was in a bowl.

Some sort of pudding?

A creme caramel?

No.
My first bite was cold and fruity.

Apple.
The apple was warm
Baked apple.
(and not very much apple.)

but what was the cold?

oh yes,
vanilla ice cream.

Some surprise.

monkeyface

My sister sent me this photo.

I want to make these cupcakes.

Aren't they cute?

She said they used canned icing and a few decorations and voila!

Monkeys!



key lime mickey

When we were in Florida,

we saw a lot of

"World's Best Key Lime Pie!"

signs.

The claim was debatable.

We tried a couple

one was more like an ice cream cake

one was, well, not very fresh

and one was well,

kind of forgettable because I don't even remember where we had it.

Fella's parents are coming to visit in June

and we plan to have a big bbq while they are here

so the menu has already been decided.

We're heading south.

Pulled pork sandwiches

baked beans

potato salad

and for dessert?

Key lime pie.

Now I realize that not everyone likes key lime pie

so there will be other options, of course

but it all fits in.

I did a very little bit of research

and discovered that there really isn't much to making key lime pie

(so I don't really get the competition for world's best.)

It has very few ingredients

and very little time in the oven

and the most complex parts are the lime squeezing and making the crust.

Oh and chilling it for a really long time in the fridge.

(That doesn't require any skill. Just a cold fridge.)

So here's what I got:

and just for fun,

it reminded us of mickey mouse with the plates.

(Yes, sometimes silliness is a necessary component.)



It was really tasty

really easy

you can make it the day before you serve it

(you kind of have to since it needs to cool.)

I used this recipe

and from now on it's the only one I will use.

(I didn't use key limes - just regular mexican limes. I think it took about 6 or 7. I bought 8 and had one left over for gin and tonics,

which I thought was excellent planning.)

Galette

Last year I made a pie, from scratch, with homemade pastry.

This year, I decided to try making a galette.
It's more "rustic" (which means less fussy, less need for it to look perfect- whew) and has very few ingredients.

I admit, I didn't make my own pastry. I bought a frozen Tenderflake pie crust and let it defrost in the sun.
I followed the rest of the directions as found here (thank you, Real Simple, yet again!)
and shazam!

I know it doesn't look pretty in the photo

but it was absolutely delicious and I would make it again.

I'm going to try to make it with rhubarb next!

(make sure you use parchment paper under the pie - it totally oozes all over the pan)

Goodbye Shopaholic

It's official.

I'm over Sophie Kinsella.

And especially Becky Bloomwood.

She's no longer particularly funny

or interesting

and frankly, in this book, I worried for the safety of her child

(even though she is fictional, I know.)

It's a stupid book.

There you go.

No recommendations for this one.

And now I'm on this:

I can't say it's a whole lot better.

But at least it's based on fact.

Even if those facts mainly focus on things like:

sailors

diamonds

spray on stockings

and Sardi's.

I think it's time to dig a little deeper soon

or else my brains might give up on me.

Oh and in regards to the lack of posting?

I blame convocation, the Drive-By Truckers and far too many weeds to pull.

There's no room for anything else these days!

But I have a bbq on Saturday to plan, cook and clean for

and I'm praying that good weather is with us that afternoon!



Good Eats

I've tried a couple of new recipes this week

with great success.

They are nutritious (which is great since fella generally doesn't like healthy food)

and filling and oh so delicious.

And did I mention easy?

No, I didn't think so.

The first one was this:

New Year Noodle Soup from 101 Cookbooks (Her photo too.)

It is so, so good.

I used thicker noodles than what she did but they still work. I just added a bit of extra water to make it more soupy.

The second one was this:

Pasta Carbonara with Spicy Sausage

from Real Simple

I made a couple of modifications on the second one to make it healthier
(plus I don't eat pork sausage)

I used fat-free cream (works just as well)
and turkey sausage.

I know that eating creamy pasta isn't the healthiest choice of all time but it was a refreshing change
and a very fast and easy meal to prepare (we're talking under 30 minutes, people!)

The soup recipe I followed to a T and it took awhile but will be much faster next time I make it.
I soaked the beans over night and made extra, then froze them so they are ready to go the next time I make the soup.
I've been looking for a new soup recipe and this one fits the bill - filling but vegetarian (which is my preference. I'm a squeamish reformed vegetarian. I still don't eat red meat. Just can't do it.)

Give them a try!
(or at least scan through Heidi's blog. She's got some great recipes on there!)

Bon appetit!

Green Goodness

I don't eat enough leafy greens.

I buy them and they are left to perish in my crisper.

And I am subsequently flooded with guilt.

Awhile ago, I read a post by the lovely Meg.

She said that she had broken down and tried

"The Green Monster."

It looks vile.

It's bright green.

and has two cups of baby spinach in it.

and I'm not much a vegetable juice lover

(well, I do like V8 but no carrot or beet juice for me)

but when I saw that it has vanilla almond milk and a banana in it too,

I thought it was worth giving it a try.

So off I went to the grocery store on the weekend.

I looked for a small container of baby spinach

but no, only enormous vats were to be found.

So I pledged that if I didn't like the Green Monster, I would eat this entire container of spinach.

Lucky for me -

it's delicious.

And I know that it's probably all in my head that I feel better already after having it for breakfast 3 days in a row.

But I don't care.

Because I know that:

A. It is good for me.

and

B. The power of the mind can be a good thing.

So there you go.

Give it a whirl!

Recipe:

2 cups of baby spinach

1 banana

1 cup of vanilla almond milk (I use the sweetened kind to give it a bit of extra sweetness but you can also buy unsweetened

1 tbsp flax seed

ice.

Stick it in a blender

and watch it transform.

Drink it up.

Feel good.

What are your plans this weekend?

Since I've been sick for what seems like a lifetime, I'm planning on stocking up on healthy groceries.

My body has not felt right for ages - in part because of excess sugar consumption (aka Christmas)

and in part because of the cold that has overstayed it's welcome.

I'm hoping to be able to make a big pot of soup or stew every weekend.

That way I'll have something warm and tasty for lunch and I won't resort to eating

bagels and peanut butter every day.

This weekend I'm going to try this:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/yellow-split-pea-soup-recipe.html

because it looks delicious and easy and I found out that fella loves yellow split peas!

(10 years? Who knew? Not me!)

We're also going to try to go see this:

It's supposed to be scary.

And I love scary.

It's also only playing out in the burbs and that's kind of scary all on it's own so....



Good Eats

I love food.

Luckily, my fella thinks I'm a good cook.

I've done a lot of baking lately but it's time to put away the cookie sheets and semi-sweet chocolate

and get out the onions, beans and chicken stock.

Soup, people.

I'm talking about soup.

All fall I was pretty good about making a big pot of something on the weekends

and bringing it for lunch every day.

It kept me healthy and satisfied.

But I'm tired of those recipes

and of eating take out or leftover chocolates

so it's time to delve into something new.

I've been checking out some good looking ones on 101 Cookbooks

(since I lean towards vegetarianism much of the time) and have found some good contenders.

They are healthy and hearty and that's exactly what I'm looking for.

After battling my weight for years, I've finally decided that I'm not going to eat "light" or "low fat" anymore. I decided this months ago, actually and discovered the joy of eating without the guilt or dissatisfaction that I always felt.

Because, lo and behold, if you give your body what it wants, then you don't spend so much time searching for a replacement

(and eating 5 things instead of just one)

Do you know how good regular yogurt is?

I'm not even talking about fancy yogurt or anything.

But after years of eating Silhouette or Source fat-free yogurt,

I finally started buying regular yogurt - strawberry, vanilla, cherry

and it's delicious.

In moderation, just like everything else.

It's the secret of life, don't you know.

And the hardest to attain.

At least for me.

(Oh and by the way, this is not a New Year's resolution. I like to think it's the wisdom of my age.

Something good has to come out of being almost 40.)

chic treats

you know what's kind of funny?

that there are "fashionable" treats.

last year it was peppermint bark.

i was trying to figure out what the treat of the week

(so to speak!)

was for this year and I think I've got it.

S'mores.

It's kind of a funny choice

and I associate them more with summer than Christmas

but I suppose they work.

Here are some that are on offer from Williams Sonoma:

gingerboy smore...

mmmmm...

When I was a kid, we never made s'mores.

I think the ingredients were too pricey.

My mom kept it basic:

marshmallows

weenies

and once, on an extra special day,

she made little grilled cheese sandwiches over a bonfire.

extra yum.

I don't think the grilled cheese sandwiches would make great gifts, though....

I don't know why I shared that bonfire menu info with you.

 I think it was mainly because I wanted to use the word "weenies".

Concoctions

On Friday I was in a frenzy of domestic activity.

On Saturday we were having my brother and his family over for a bbq as well as another couple who have a wee baby.

It was our first big "do" in our house (or our backyard, at least). 

We lucked out that the weather was perfect - sunny but not too hot and the humidity made itself scarce.

This was the one thing I was determined to make but I was nervous about my capability as a baker and the combination of heat wave/melty vanilla ice cream.

The "cute" factor was a big incentive. I mean, really, how cute are these?

The answer?

Pretty cute.

See?

Totally worth the trouble!

(it's really more of a time commitment than difficulty. Lots of waiting for cooling and baking.)

I also made potato salad from an old family recipe. 

I squealed with delight at my success.

It came out perfectly (accompanied by a flood of memories upon eating the first bite.)

I know, you're probably thinking - big deal. 

What the heck us with this mess who is excited about some stupid potato salad?

Well here's why - 

I used to make this when I was a young teenager (before I couldn't be arsed with culinary cares) and I was always told that if you made the dressing properly, it would be almost white once you pour in the vinegar. 

But mine always came out kind of yellow (other ingredients included yellow items such as - mustard, butter, eggs. I think the only other ingredients are flour, cayenne pepper (which is red) and vinegar so the yellow to non-yellow ingredients ratio is fairly uneven. Just saying.

Anyway - mine usually ended up yellow and the response from my sister, mother, aunt or whoever was around would be along the lines of "well, I guess you didn't do it right."

So encouraging.

Very little I did while I was growing up was met with much encouragement. 

Usually it was criticism.

So it delights me when I discover that I can do something I never thought I could.

Even if it is just homemade mayonnaise.

I

Farm Yard

On the weekend we made a couple of great discoveries.

The first was found on the way to the second.

Being a new homeowner who has spent all of her disposable income at Home Depot over the last month,

I'm relying on yard sales to help me find those little things that will help fill out (not fill up!) our house with little details that are interesting and inexpensive.

The first thing we found was a yard sale.

My fella spotted this little baby:

It's a gorgeous old enamel pot/pan.

The woman who sold it to me said that her mother brought it from Italy when she came to Canada and she used it to make her noodles.

The best part?

yes that's right.

It was a dollar.

I think it will be perfect to use for bbq's to hold ice and drinks- you can set it on the ground and let people help themselves. (we're having a bbq next week so I have to think of these things.)

I mainly love that it has a story behind it. A history.

The other great discovery was the Weston Farmers Market.

If any of you live in Toronto (especially in the west end) this market is amazing.

Great selection - produce, vegetables, even a guy selling old typewriters - and the best part is that because it's in Weston Village, you feel like you're in a small town.

It's held at the Go Train station parking lot. We got there around 9:30 so it was pretty busy but there was still lots of everything left. It opens at 7 so get there early to avoid the crowds.

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/guide/weston-farmers-market 

We bought strawberries, asparagus, nectarines, and new potatoes. Divine.

Here's what I made with the strawberries-

yum.

It was a good weekend.

cookout

I love the simplicity of barbecuing.

You can take 3 very simple ingredients, stick'em on a grill and savour the flavour.

This is my new favorite meal:

corn + asparagus + chicken on the bbq = yum.