Food and Family

Well a weeks worth of food and I only have two shots to show for it. On thursday night we had chili dogs. Wicked good chili dogs. The dogs were actually the good breakfast sausages and it was more like a thick bean stew/sauce but whatever the ingredients it was an awesome way to get the weekend started. Then here on Sunday evening I whipped up a vegetarian lasagna. The brown beans in sauce were a little sweet but the overall effect was nice.

We did up a double shepherd's pie last night, one topped with mashed potatoes and the other topped with mashed yam. It was so tasty we had to have some friends over for dinner. I just didn't get around to the camera so your imaginations will have to provide the rest.

Now compared to the spartan visual fare that our dinners provided this week we have a lavish spread of family photos courtesy of the two oldest kids. The batteries on the camera are now low again but that is the cost of doing business. And it ain't that steep. Instant noise makers. Yes they worked very very well.

Home Cooking fo Sho.

Well we got our home cooking on this evening. The only really unfortunate part was I started to late and everyone had to snack before the main course.

So after the afternoon nap I got up to the idea of having steak fajitas wrapped in home made tortillas (the wife was egging me on). I tried to get the Mrs. to go for steak but she was not in the mood and told me to take out a can of beans instead. I'll give her this, at least she made the rice. I was in salsa mode as we had been to the local produce farm and had u-picked a bunch of tomatoes and peppers. So I started in making a batch of kids salsa (no hot peppers allowed) and then got to work kneading up some tortilla balls. These were then rolled and fried on the pan. One got way over done and surprisingly turned into Nan. Who knew. The other tortillas were nice. I whipped up some fried onions, pepper, zucchini and garlic to round out our wraps and voila.Wrap glory ala us. There is a little kids salsa and a few shots of hot sauce on there too. Very very nice.

With the wraps under wraps I started ladling kids salsa into jars and then it was into the water bath for them. And into the bath for the kids. Once all the bath times were over I got into adult salsa mode. Sultry and hot. Two giant jalapenos and four big chiles really added some punch. Then I put in one Habanero. As I was chopping it with some tomatoes in the food processor I actually had a moment where it was tough to breath. Man those are hot. So yeah this first batch of adult salsa should be pretty kick ass. Especially two or three months from now when the heat has seeped into every corner of the jar.Although I have already got two jars accounted for as I have to pay back some friends for some pretty good favours this summer. Damn friendly people liking salsa. Just once I want some favour doer to say, "no I don't like spicy food." Either that or I should start offering something else.

Kickin it up a Notch.

Well the Mrs. surely went for the gold tonight. Lets start with the tonkatsu. It was pounded, battered and fried to perfection. On top of this she whipped up another batch of Ratatouille, served on a fluffy bed of white rice. Next to this was a carrot and feta pasta salad. For extra pleasure she threw in a quinoa salad infused with mint. Can she really be that happy to have me back at work? Anything is possible.

Not Leftovers.

So the original plan, at least I though the original plan, was to have leftovers tonight. However, as my wife ladled the last of the curry into her bowl at lunch time I was made aware that this was no longer, if it had ever been, the plan. So we had a kind of vegetarian pancake with a wonderful spinach salad, some rice and a little home made salsa (not pictured here). After finishing the pancakes the Mrs mentioned a few key ideas, 1) no garlic in said pancakes 2)forgot to put in the mushrooms 3) lets add some after the fact cheese. Well the cheese added something but the pancakes just didn't quite make it there for me. Now I wasn't cooking so I really can't complain. The son gobbled his with some ketchup and mustard and I put back my share so complaining would be unseemly. However, I think the garden grown green beans should have been nixed and the mushrooms and garlic were definites, not maybes, definites.

Well we are off for some more summer hijinx this week. Will try to keep you posted from abroad.

Chicken say "What?"

So we may have had home made ramen tonight or we may have had chicken noodle soup. I say this because though we were shooting for ramen and the noodles were not your standard chicken noodle soup noodles the broth was right on the money. We used the last of the stock from the last time we made chicken salad and man was that some tasty soup. Clear and refreshing with some green peas, diced onion and celery.

I was in charge of the tofu and went with tofu steaks in peanut sauce again. I am going to try and take down the number of ingrediants in the sauce. I think I may be able to get away with peanut butter, cooking sake, vinegar, garlic and pepper. The peanuts have enough oil and salt to get away with not adding any soy sauce, salt or sesame oil. The sesame oil does have something extra but may not be necessary. I did not put in fresh ginger tonight which is definitely a mistake. However, it was still super yummy and both kids powered theirs back. The Mrs and I also partook of some home grown ggplant fried up in the pan with the tofu. So good. Anytime you are frying eggplant make sure you have the right amount of oil. Too little and things go horribly awry. Too much and things get very sloppy. Delicate balance there.

So the real question for this evening; Was this meal vegetarian?

Cupboard Snooping.

So we planned to go shopping today. I just didn't happen. So around 4:00 the Mrs. and I started to shuffle around in the kitchen. She pulled out that random can of pad thai sauce that we had. I had been worried it was hot but she assured me there were no chili pepper symbols anywhere on it. After cracking it open I decided it would go nicely with our last two cans of beans (kidney and chick peas) and whatever vegetables I could muster: carrots, onions, celery, and another zuch from the garden. With a little garlic squeezed in it was quite a nice bean stew of sorts.

This was followed by a serving of chocolate cheese cake ice cream with some home made apple sauce. Sweet and tart. Just like my wife... Please don't tell her I wrote than. Wait, she reads this blog. Okay honey, I meant it the best way possible.

I gotta go, the dog house is calling.

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.

Stormy Vegetables.

Lets start with dinner. The Mrs. picked up a nice foccacia loaf from our baker friend and I made a vegetarian chili. Today was a good day and the spices and flavours mixed well. Who knows what makes for a good vegetarian chili day. Maybe the weather has something to do with it. My veggie chili has been so inconsistent lately that todays lovely flavour came as something of a surprise. Yeah me.
So on to the stormy, we had a thunderstorm here this afternoon. Massive booming noise, visible lightning strikes, occasional pounding rain. What does this all mean. No lake swimming. So still no movement on the ring front. The son however is making great progress in his swimming lessons. By great I mean he is mostly doing what he is told and have a great time doing it. Tomorrow is the last day and we have our fingers crossed that he is going to pass his level four. For some reason I think this is salamander.

We also had a swimming night at the pool. It is thrifty Thursday so I took the two oldest. A full two hours of swimming fun. They both had their new goggles and spent the majority of time under water. I was pooped by about 8:00 and sat and watched or threw the rings to dive for, for the last half hour. Good times.

The Mrs. and I have both noticed how tired we are. With the two of them looking for constant entertainment and no natural flow to the day we are both struggling a bit to get anything done. The schedule sort of works but what we really need are some activities that the kids can do with out direct supervision or parent input. Sort of looking forward to September. Yikes.

Going Veggie.

Well we are trying for a few days of vegetarian now that we are back home. You know, kind of flush out the system. So in that vein I made a vegetarian curry this evening. It had lots of different kinds of beans and I kicked up the flavour a notch with some ginger powder.
Unfortunately, we were all pretty satisfied by the time I got around to taking a picture so all we have for you is this mostly empty bowl. The bean and lentil soup mix didn't have enough time to soak or boil so there were some pretty crisp beans on everyone's dish. Thats what teeth are for I say. I made up for the crunchiness of the beans by whipping up an incredible raspberry smoothy. We are currently inundated with raspberries so we are using them in everything. Even raspberry jam. (see last night). Below is the son doing his best surprised look.

Simple Sunday

With a busy weekend behind us we didn't have much left energy or enthusiasm for this evenings meal. We also didn't go shopping so weren't exactly stocked with ingredients. However, with the staples and scraps that I managed to scrape together I made a vegetarian pasta sauce. It turned out really well. I started with a base of chopped onion, mushroom and garlic. Before I threw this into the hot oil I made a last second addition of some minced fresh ginger. It made all the difference. As this sauteed I chopped up most of a zucchini, and our sole remaining red pepper. I also opened a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of brown beans in tomato sauce. These were added with liberal amounts of salt, pepper, and vinegar. It was good. Very flavourful but not overpowering. Kids both had two plus helpings. The picture here is of my second bowl. I ended up using a whole bag of the pasta shells. I thought it might have been too much but after everyone ate and I put together the school lunches for tomorrow there is probably exactly the right amount for mom and son to have it for lunch as well. So we are up to a bag of pasta for a meal. How long till that is not enough? Some day soon I bet.

Try tofu.

Tonight we made fried tofu and it was really so great. The kids were raving and vacuumed it down. I think you should all try it. I am sure some of you already enjoy the other non white meat but here is my recommendation.

You will need.

2 blocks of medium tofu (makes four steaks, feeds four)
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp fresh ground ginger (a chunk the size of your thumb should work)
1 tbsp cooking wine (white wine, japanese sake, whatever you want)
1 clove of crushed garlic. ( actually used a bunch of garlic powder but its up to you)

1. Start by pressing the tofu. In a nine by nine casserole or square pyrex cake pan lay the tofu flat side by side. Put a big dinner plate on top of them and a big can (16 oz or 800ml) on top of the plate. Let this sit for as long as you can (2 hours would be great). This squeezes out the water and helps it soak up the sauce.

2. Keeping the honey aside, put together the rest of the ingredients in a microwaveable mixing bowl. Mix it around enough for the sugar to dissolve.

3. Take the now pressed blocks out of the nine by nine dish and get rid of the water. Now with the steaks laying on a cutting board cut them as if you were slicing through the peanut butter part of a sandwich. You aren't cutting the bread. You are just moving the knife between the two pieces of bread. You want to make thinner versions of the tofu block. Same width and length. Just not as tall. I sure hope I have explained this part well.

4. Put the steaks back in the nine by nine dish. If you arrange them properly they will fit just snuggly with a little empty space in the middle.

5. Pour the sauce over the steaks and let them soak it up for about five to ten minutes.

6. Take the steaks out of the dish and fry on 6 (just over medium ) in a fry pan with a little vegetable or olive oil about 5 minutes a side. While cooking the second side I cover the dish with a lid.

7. Take the sauce remaining in the dish and put it back in the microwaveable bowl. Add the honey. Microwave it for one minute.

8. Serve the steaks with a spoonful or two of the sauce on top.

9. Add side dishes as necessary. Just don't bring the meat. It is a wonderful vegetarian main dish.

We had ours this evening with rice (left over sauce was used to flavour the rice), spinach salad leftovers and squash and brussel sprout soup. I used nutmeg and curry powder to flavour the soup along with some chicken stock cubes. I also used some "many bean soup mix". Our local gardening place imports all kinds of Indian food and I picked up the bean mix for soups. Just great. And the brussel sprouts were like little prizes in the soup. Fabulous.

On a totally different point I have found the runner's crack. Better than steriods. I went running with my daughter's Ipod and a bunch of up beat songs. I ran like the wind. It was like I was in a race but there was no one else around. At some point in the distant past I must have run with a mixed tape or Ipod before but for some reason this evening it just totally worked. I can see the whole runners Ipod fascination now. Up to this point I have been a staunch believer in using the run as time to think over the various things that go on in my life. But I have to face facts. I spend too much time thinking about stuff as it is. May just have to pick up one of those running sets for me and the mrs. We can share it and have different play lists for each of us. Yes I am loving that idea. Can't wait to run it by the wife. Get it, run it by the wife, run. Oh whatever I thought it was clever.

Have a good week everyone. Night.

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.

Veggie Table

So we have a vegetarian night this evening. Sure there were some shrimp on the table but everything else was vegetarian. I had requested veggies and dip when asked for a dinner suggestion. The wife teased me with the offer of sour cream in the dip but she forgot to buy it while at the store. I like the thickness it adds to our yogurt dip. The dip was still enjoyable and I put away my fair share of cucumber and broccoli. The wife thought that tempura fried veggies would be a nice compliment so she deep fried some breaded zucchini, sweet potato, and carrots. These were offset with a ketchup/mayonaisse dipping sauce. Finally we had a big pot of soup that had been on the stove most of the day. It was made with cabbage, onion, carrots, celery, turkey soup stock and various seasonings. The balance between the richness of the dipping sauces and the keeness of the soup contrasted nicely.

Other than that it was a perfect day here. We skated on our rink beneath a beautiful blue sky this afternoon. It was actually warm enough to skate around in shirt sleeves. I might even put down another layer this evening. Good times.

200

I am loving the irony that the blog about managing to get out 200 blogs on a regular basis comes six days after my last blog. Now that was a dry spell. But I have good reason, as you shall soon find out.

So the original title for this evenings blog was going to be "Wishes". Yesterday, after a weekend of debauchery (which is described below) I made the request for a vegetarian week (not just a day but a whole week. I've got some cahones eh.) I return home this evening to this.The home made bread was just out of the oven. I asked my wife what the potato, zucchini, and lentil stuff was, she replied, "nandaro?" meaning, "what I wonder?" or "something or other." It was made in a pot on the stove but was sort of a casserole. I had to convince the daughter that though it looked like "wei" which is japanese for barf, it tasted great. Think fried potatoes with cheese, some lentils, and zucchini with various spices. The green salad had some of those final yellow tomatoes and our new best friend the black olives. The bread was steaming as we sliced it open. The butter melted right in. It was an all around excellent vegetarian meal. Great.

Now for the Saturday night meal. It too was totally outstanding. It followed the lovely wedding ceremony of Kelly and Cole. The ceremony was in the chapel at BurnabVillage Museum. Which is a pretty cool museum to boot. The bride looked lovely and the groom looked nervous. Just like every wedding I have ever been too. The actual ceremony was short and sweet and then his fate was sealed... I mean and then they walked happily down the aisle. The reception was held in the Centennial Lodge at Queens Park in New West.

Now this was the meal of the weekend. Buffet style, four salads, roast beef, a lovely chicken, a pasta, wine at the table, open bar, dessert table, candy table with little gift boxes you could fill with your own selection of candy. We all ate, drank, and danced our faces off. We had a great time and felt great that we were able to be part of their day. The family continues to grow.

We also had a great time the night before at the Juice's house. We had fajitas, guacamole, salsa and chips, and some lovely brownies to finish the night. The kids were totally wrapped up in chasing the vicious cats and watching Monsters Inc. I have to admit that my end of the conversation was lacking because I was paying it too much attention to the movie. It was a good night and that Juice, he sure can cook.

Reaching way back we also had a dinner on Wednesday night of last week. This was the night before the day we left for the coast thus the busy-ness that forced this long blog to make up for almost a weeks worth of meals. It was a pasta and meatball dinner with green salad in tow. It was lovely as a dinner but the meatballs managed to make it into a meatball sandwich the next day for school. It has been commented that some readers of this blog have a little envy of my dinners. It must be going around because the students that I kept in at lunch today were complaining about how good my lunches look. They said it was mean of me to keep them in and then eat such an amazing lunch in front of them. I pointed out that I could not help them and just go and eat my lunch in the staff room. This quashed most of the dissent.

There were other dinners in the mix but they were either eaten on the road or on the fly so there just isn't much to post. Hope you are all well and we should be back to service as usual for the foreseeable future.