Casserole Heaven

Well I imagine most of my west coast readers are as far from wanting to whip up a casserole in their kitchen as they have ever been. However, we made this one on the barbecue. Didn't see that one coming did you.

I was feeling like we needed to eat vegetarian again but wasn't feeling much like the usual standards. So I decided to make a potato casserole. I started by gently sauteeing half a medium onion and five medium sized chopped up mushrooms. I put three cloves of garlic through my little presser and put those in too. Once they were all sweaty and starting to brown I added more oil. Then I took a quarter cup of flour and sprinkled a bunch of it on. After mixing added some milk and kept mixing. Back and forth between flour and milk until I had maybe two cups of sauce. I finished with salt, pepper and cumin to taste. It wasn't all that thick but had some good consistency and was quite flavourful.

Then in a big roasting pan I oiled the bottom lightly and put down a first layer of scalloped potatoes. Next I added sliced carrots followed by zuchinnin, broccoli, a tiny bit of cottage cheese ( I would have used more but that was all we had left) and then another layer of potatoes. On top of this layer I added some grated mozzarella (you know, its for kids). After it was all done I poured the sauce over everything. In no way did the sauce come close to covering everythnig but seeing as that wasn't my goal it was okay.

I covered the whole deal with tinfoil and put it on the barbecue. With all three burners on low I left it in there for an hour. Our grill didn't get above 350 with all three burners on and I think that was just about right. I would have loved to grill it for about five minutes at the end to crisp up the top but that will have to wait for a cooler day.

The wife added a mixed green salad with some red onion and vinegar dressing. Vegetarian rides again. I gotta tell you, I feel so good the day after eating vegetarian. Hoping to get up to four nights a week.

Otherwise it was a warm day. We gardened, watched videos, went to the library and are going for the after dinner swim. I mean, it is thursday.

Back on Track.

Well we all got back into our routine today. As you can see from these openers the son was back to snapping random shots from the camera left on the desk.Darn it, even Unicorns are even getting some work done on my computer while I'm out.
The son didn't do to badly with this shot of the wife and baby still in their pajamas. I am going to assume this was before lunch. But you never know.

The wife even got in on the action picture taking action.
But seriously, they don't spend all day in their pajamas taking random pictures of each other. The get busy making great dinners for the rest of us. For example, this really nice turkey and pasta casserole with stir fried veggies was served this evening. It was very nice and in a break from tradition I didn't not add any additional flavouring. No hot sauce (we are out) no soy sauce (didn't seem like a good fit) no salt or pepper ( I had sat down and didn't want to get back up) no nothing. And it was great. Once again we dined on leftover christmas turkey. It really was a large bird. We are really trying to work our way through the frozen supplies that are in the deep freezer and we are making good progress. By the end of this week we should be out of just about everything. Sort of a mixed feeling there.

Sick Day

Well I stayed home today as I was under the weather. When I wasn't prone in bed sleeping or just laying there being sick I spent my time in the living room with the wife and son. Man does that boy have energy. He literally ran and ran all day. If he wasn't chasing a balloon around the house he was playing some game where he was a dog or a cat or a power ranger. It was kind of neat to see how he and his mother spend time during the week days when sis and I are at school. I am now, really looking forward to taking parental leave. Come on baby number three.

As for dinner we had a tofu veggie casserole with a rice base. This is home food and it goes down so easy. It has a nice even blend of flavours. Not overpowering. Probably just right for people under the age of 10 whose taste buds are still intact. But hey, if you want to go for it add some hot sauce or soy sauce. It was good food for a sick boy. I am feeling better. Thanks for all your well wishes. Now I gotta go get ready for work tomorrow.

Veggierole

That is my new word for a vegetarian casserole. I wonder if a) I coined it and b) it will catch on. Fingers crossed on both counts. As for the casserole it had potato slices, tofu steak slices, onions, cabbage and an assortment of cheese melted over the top. It was very well seasoned but the fact that I was shovelling it into my head so quickly kept me from finding out what it was seasoned with. The green salad was most likely one of those package baby lettuce variant ones but with roated walnutes, feta cheese, balsamic vinegar and olive oil it was out of this world. I am salivating right now. Maybe seconds, hmmmm...

Other than that is snowed lights out today. We shovelled after dinner and though I probably should I will not be returning to the factory tonight. If the kidlets go to bed the wife and I might even watch a movie. How decadent. On a school night nevertheless.

Fisherole.

Its a casserole with fish. Tonights fish of choice was Salmon. It was baked with a white sauce, cheese and soy sauce as the dressing. The official word from the wife was , potato layer, turnip layer, white sauce and other seasonings, potato, turnip, white sauce, then covered in salmon steaks and more cheese. Right up my alley. The rice was a stir fried mixture which I also sampled at lunch. Mmmmm. The shot of summer on the left is greek salad. The amazing part is that the mini tomatoes are still from our garden. They have kept pretty well in the cold storage even though it has been over a month. The wife says the yellow ones are starting to get a little soft so we need to finish them up. However, the boarder said that they tasted like real tomatoes. Which indeed they do. Managed to get a run in this afternoon. Ah the endorphin rush is pretty heady stuff. I can feel the itch coming back. The question is whether or not I will have the energy to scratch it. Only so many hours in a day.
I hope you all enjoy your hump day tomorrow. I just got over mine this afternoon.

In other news the son was special helper today at his preschool. Very important stuff. We are so happy with the teacher at his pre school. She also taught our daughter and the teacher does such a great job of having good expectations and positively reinforcing them. We feel pretty blessed in that regard. I am sure there are thousands of great pre-school teachers, but we are really happy with ours. Money well spent. She should really charge more. People would pay it.

Hump Day

Well I am just delirious. I totally crashed after dinner. Too much work and not enough sleep makes daddy a tired boy. And I still gotta get back to work. Thats life eh. Fortunately dinner was a balm for the soul. No chicken soup though.Lets start with the soup we did have. It was a lovely miso type affair with quite a clear broth and some chopped up bok choy. Gotta love those dark greens to keep your energy up as the days grow short. The salad was lovely. Two major players were the carrots that were pulled out of a friends garden today. She is also a co worker and said she has more than enough to last her and had asked me if I would like some. I was all like, "don't even tease me, we'll be over to pick at 3:00" about it but she brought them to work. Then she was all self deprecatory about the size of the bag and the carrots. Well I should have known. They are delicious, firm and very carroty. They along with the tiny toms that we are still eating from our garden made the salad. The toms are the little red one's we picked still on the vine and are ripening down stairs. Every week the flavour gets more intense. Lovin it. I finally come to this evenings entree. It was a rice and turkey casserole. There was a layer of cabbage layered over the top and it was all topped with some grated cheddar. The seasoning was wonderful and even thought the wife thought it might have needed some salt it did not. With some of my crazy hot salsa and some natcho chips to start and a small bowl (come on I had to finish the carton, it was practically empty) of the fudgesicle ice cream I was in heaven.

Post dinner we finished the last chapter of Harry Potter, the dude in Jail one. Then I suddenly felt a little sleepy. It is now an hour and a half later. Wow, I missed all of As It happens. One more day. I think I can make it.

The day after

So there was no post last night. I know. We went out for dinner. We ate at the Collander in Trail. It is a Trail institution. Big spaghetti feed type place. All the pasta you can polish if you order spaghetti. The wife had a Italian chicken dinner. The daughter had the lasagna and the son ate off of my plate. You are allowed to share someones plate until you are four.

Anyways here comes this evenings meal. The wife put together a wicked tofu, rice casserole. It was supposed to contain either salmon or shrimp but all she had was a can of tuna so that was how it was made. Baked cheesy crust over tofu and rice in a white sauce. Seasoned with sea salt and pepper and a ginger, onion, garlic, mushroom sautee. The tuna and some bok choy added a little more flavour and colour. Upon reflection the wife recalls adding some miso. The salad had some of our tomatoes layered over lettuce and carrots. The onion vinegar dressing was awesome as usual. The only problem with this meal was the order in which I ate it. The miso soup was quite muted and though brimming with veggies did not have the flavour explosion. My problem was that I had finished off my salad with that crazy strong dressing.
Anyways, it was a great sunday evening dinner and was followed by some butterscotch ripple ice cream.

On a different note as dinner started the son was on the phone with his aunt. He was going on and on about something and she seemed to enjoy the conversation. This is how he looked while talking.

Sunday Dinner

So I am sure we had dinner last night. I mean we must have eaten something. However, I can't recall ever sitting down or organising anything. It was a Saturday night, the wife had worked all day. I was thrashed after what was supposed to be a morning turned into a day and the daughter found a lost dog and we had to make posters and put them up around town only to find that when the dog was put down outside it trotted off presumably to its rightful owner and then we had to go find all the posters we had made and take them down. That with some wood chopping, a bunch of gardening, trampoline time, making lunch, and assorted other tasks had me plum worn out. So yeah there was something eaten last night. I am just not sure what it was. I think I had a beer and some food.

This evening however I was reminded how nice it is to have a wife. She complemented all the dishes I made and seemed truly pleased that I had done most of the dishes before dinner started. When I first imagined this evenings meal I was thinking something vegetarian. Like a nice vegetarian shepherds pie. I am now starting to think that the key to a nice vegetarian dish is the mushrooms. I started by boiling some beans I had picked from the garden. As these boiled I peeled the potatoes and set them to boiling. Beans done, I drained off the water into a bowl and put the cooked beans in the bottom of a casserole dish. Next I diced 6 large white mushrooms with the help of the children. Note. Kids can dish mushrooms with a regular table knife and they feel like they are really helping. I minced two large firm home grown cloves of garlic and then cubed the block of tofu that I had been squeezing the water out of . The mushrooms were fried with the garlic and some fresh ginger that had been ground up. After a little frying I put the lid on to let it steam. I then added the tofu, some soy sauce and some molasses. After this was fried a bit I stirred it and put the lid back on. A minute or two later this was poured over the beans. In a small pot I took a half cup of the bean water and threw in some chopped up tomato, more soy sauce, molasses, vinegar and curry powder, this came to a boil and then was set to simmer. At this point the potatoes were boiled so I drained them, added some milk, margarine, salt and pepper and set to mashing. Mean while I got started on the buns. This being a nice vegetarian meal I decided to wrap them in bacon. I used the pizza dough recipe but cut out the oil. The dough was made before everything else and it had by this point risen sufficiently that I could start working it. I set the oven the 400 and started pulling the dough. The daughter came over and she pulled chunks of dough. Rolled them into little sausage type shapes and I wrapped them in half a strip of bacon and set them on a rack in the pan. These were cooked for 15 minutes, then broiled at 400 on the bottom for 5 on one side, turned over and grilled on the other side on the top shelf for another five. Of course the second 5 was way to long, thus the slightly blackened bits. While this baked I set to finishing the pie. I cut up some broccoli and added some frozen peas. The tomato-y sauce was poured over the veggies and tofu and then the mashed potatoes were doled out and smoothed around. When the buns were done it went into the oven for 20 minutes. Half broil, half bake at 500. I was really winding down by this point so the wife, post run, stepped in and made a wicked grean salad. I know it is tough to see in the picture but the tomato is almost

as sweet as a peach. It is from an heirloom variety seed that I received from my friend. He calls it Barry's Beefstake. It was perfect. I rarely let my tomatoes really ripen as we are hungry for them every day. But this baby I left on the vine and it was well worth the wait. The sweetness is hard to describe but if I had to make a comparison it was like a just ripe peach. Not that super sweet overripe peach but that just ripe taste. Anyways with her patented onion, garlic and vinegar dressing the salad was heavenly. Being out of beer and feeling the need I


decided to crack a bottle of wine. Having feasted on the buns as they were the first thing ready I only had one helping of dinner but make no mistake it was great. Once again I have to come back to the mushrooms. Not a true vegetable as they are a fungus, they really do bring a solid middle flavour to any dish. Especially if they have been lightly sauteed first. The funny thing was I didn't use any onions in the shepherd's pie. I can't remember the last time I cooked a pot or casserole type meal without onions. In any case I know what I am taking for lunch tomorrow. Mmmmmmmm....

Heart in throat.

Today's lesson is if it doesn't feel right don't do it. We were a little behind this morning as the daughter was not into eating her breakfast or getting dressed of brushing her hair or teeth or anything else that needed to get done before heading out the door. Thus we arrived at the intersection near our schools at exactly 8:00. This gives me 16 minutes to be ready to go for the day. As we approached the intersection I was trying to make the, "walk her all the way to school or watch her walk the last 75 meters from across the road" decision. Our friends had crossed the intersection on the previous light and I thought if she caught up to them it would be okay. So when the light turned green I said, "run along and catch up to your friend and his mom." So off she trotted with the light. On the other side she got onto the side walk and headed down the other side of the street towards her school. She waved and said hi to the teacher she knew coming the other way and then turned up the side street beside the school. Now as she turns up this street, which she has to cross to get to the school playground, I see a red truck getting ready to make the right up the same street. The kid keeps running up the street about 20 meters, until she passes a parked van and then turns behind the van to cross the street. Now in her defense this is how we always walk to the school and we always cross at that point. However, the red truck has now turned the corner and is heading up the street as she runs out from behind the parked car all the while my heart is in my throat and the cry of my daughters name is lost in the roar of traffic that is humming by on the busy street. Long story short the guy in the red truck was moving really slow as it was a school zone and my oblivious daughter ran into the playground and caught up to her friend as I told her. However, I am still slightly reeling from how close that could have been. Obviously my cavalier attitude to crossing roads where I wish and the thought that she is old enough to be on her own near what can be heavy traffic both need to be wiped out of my brain. I am sure there will be other close calls in her life, I just do not need to be the cause of any more. Like sending my little sister flying over the cliff on that toboggan. Sure a good push will make the ride faster but there might be too much momentum at the end. Lets hope that is a lesson I will not have to relearn with the kids.

Tonights dinner was almost as exciting as all that. The wife made a rice and chicken casserole.
Now some of your are probably tilting your heads slightly at this one but I am telling you she hit it out of the park. Onions and chicken sauteed. Eggplant slices sauteed. Simple white sauce of flour, oil and milk. Rice is covered and then mixed with onions, chicken and white sauce mixture. Eggplants are laid on top and the whole thing is covered with cheese. She said she added cumin and some other spices but wow. No dry tough rice, just the perfect consistency on that. The flavour was out of this world, I mean is she using msg and just not telling me. This was one that I wish I had videotaped as this could be made again, heck it could be made for guests. Just the look on their faces as they go from, "your serving me casserole" to "can I get the recipe" would be worth it. So yeah I pull major bone head stunt number two of the week and get rewarded with awesome dinner number four. For those of you doing the math at home I am way ahead. I wonder what I am making for dinner tomorrow. Only time will tell.

Friday, August 22nd.

After a busy day running around town, updating car insurance, banking, doctor's appointment and playing in the park we came home and crashed again. Fortunately the wife is on the ball and made a potato, tomato, and eggplant casserole. Baked with cheese and spices it was another lovely light evening meal. Beside the casserole came the creamy garlic coleslaw salad. The real crowd pleaser (okay I loved it) was the first batch of fresh from the garden salsa made this year. 4 varieties of tomatoes with two types of pepper, diced onions, diced garlic, salt and vinegar. It has been a long year waiting to make the fresh stuff again but it is so nice now that it is back. The garlic was great and I just need to cut back on the amount of onion I am using. To hot for the kids even without the chili's. But I loved it. Strangely fall already seems to be in the air. I sure hope we get to enjoy the fresh produce on the vine for a few weeks. Gotta start thinking about making this years batch of salsa. Good times.