A great weekend, a good recipe and a bad start to the week

Not quite the good, the bad, the ugly, but it’s true.

Pat and I are back from an amazingly wonderful weekend away. It was exactly what we needed and I wish I was still there, hiding on a private island, surrounded by the most beautiful lake and trees and chirping chipmunks. Sigh. But first, lets back it up.

Thursday night I was at home, bored and broiling. Pat was at another double karate class night, so I was by myself and roasting in our A/Cless house. I was bored of all the food we’ve been eating, so I decided to throw together this recipe that I came across on pinterest (PS, is it really spelt Brussels Sprouts? I have been spelling it brussel sprouts my whole life. Hrm).

Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

Bacon, all set to go

I mean, it’s a pasta recipe, from Martha Stewart with bacon. How could I resist?

Shallots and garlic, sizzling away with some bacon grease

When I saw Shallots, Garlic and chicken stock, I knew it was meant to be. I had all of these sitting around, wanting to be used.

Brussels Sprouts. I love these little things. I know they are hated by many, but I love these thing bitty bundles of green awesome

The only difference in my take of this recipe is my use of frozen brussel sprouts. I nuked them for half the time the bag suggested -just enough to defrost them-, and then followed the recipe the rest of the way.

All together now

The verdict? Pretty good. I would definitely like to try this with fresh veggies and see if it ends up being more flavourful. I think some tomato might be what’s missing. Pat liked it too, but requests more cheese. Then again, this mind works like this: Brussels Sprouts = CHEESY GOODNESS with a bit of green healthy stuff. Overall, a good meal. Definitely would make it again. It’s just missing….something. Must investigate further.

So, Friday morning Pat and I got up, got packed and made our way out to the country. Sharbot Lake it about an hour and a half away from where we live in the west end of Ottawa. It was a beautiful drive on a really warm and sunny day. We arrived right on time, and met up with our girl, Ali, who picked us up in her boat and took us to her family’s PRIVATE FREAKING ISLAND.  Yep, it was amazing. We spent the next couple of days getting to know Ali’s friends, eating lots of food (specifically lots of bacon), spending lots of time outside and even more time in the incredible lake. I even went skinny dipping for the very first time (with the girls, as the boys played poker. We returned to discover that we had been bet and lost as “prizes”. Pat lost me, but gained two of the girls. I was won by the very lucky Justin, who declared me to be an elven queen, thus more valuable than the two humans that Pat won. Confused? Yep. Me too. And flattered, so I’ll take it.)

Some pictures from the weekend:

Pat and I, about to board the boat to AWESOME ISLAND

Pat and I swimming!

Me in my little reading nook

Breakfast bacon, about to be cooked.

Yeah. Amazing.

We hated to leave, but leave we had to. Sunday afternoon we had one last swim, packed our stuff into the boat and then began our journey home. We made it home in time to quickly shower and change before meeting up with S&K for our evening of HARREH POTTAH!

Yeah, it was great. I laughed, I cried. I crushed Pat’s arm. We loved it. They definitely had their work cut out for them to condense a massive book into these two relatively short movies. Things got cut and changed, but I think they did a good job of getting the main ideas across (though Pat was confused by a couple of things that weren’t properly explained by the movies. ie: Tonks has a baby and a husband? Is Snape Harry’s father? WTF?)

After the movie, we decided to catch a quick dinner (S & K are about to have their second child, so it’s the last time in a while that they get to be out with friends so we took every excuse to stay out and have fun) only to be hit by OMGWINDS and the craziest storm Ottawa has seen in a while. We were fine, though soaked, by the time we were headed home at the end of the night.

Yesterday was pretty standard at work, but today has been hell. There’s been major issues with the estate (long story short: Estate taxes never got paid. I am very angry with Canada Post), I’m swamped at work, not feeling great and the husband is home sick.  Hopefully the week improves, because I was ready to snap today. I just have to go back to thinking about the weekend and hopefully that’ll calm me down.

On that note, the day is over! I’m outta here!

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A peek at the past week (how I’ve been): Hot. Effing hot, people. 32 degrees IN THE HOUSE. I am not made for this crap. Ahem, aside from the heat, things have been ok. My mother’ s house closed without incident. I hosted a baby shower for the amazing S&K which went really well. I was sick for Canada Day, so I just stayed in and lived in my PJs. Over all, good week.

I am thinking… about what to wear for my friend’s wedding this weekend. Brytani is one of my oldest friends (we met when we were around 6 yrs old), and this Saturday she’s marrying the love of her life at one of the most beautiful venue’s in town: The NAC. Amaaaaazing! I have a dress in mind, but, for whatever reason, I always second guess myself around this group of people. I want to look my best, ya know? Anyway, we’ll see. We may also have to find something for Pat to wear if his suit doesn’t fit.

I am thankful for…Air conditioning at work :D Yah yah, I’ll move on, I promise. I’m also thankful for the sketchy iphone case dealer I found on the internetz! I broke my beautiful plaid case that I had before (which was purchased for about 50$ because I dropped and cracked my new iphone within a week of buying it). I found this guy after seeing the gorgeous Cath Kidson cases on pinterest: I did a search and found a guy in toronto selling these cases for cheap and shipping them for a really reasonable price. Purchased, recieved and now loved:

Love it!

My husband and in-laws think that this is further proof that I’m a 98 year old woman trapped in a 28 year old woman’s body. I’m ok with this.

From the kitchen… Did a bit of cooking this week, but was too exhausted to take pictures of it. Instead, I give you images from pinterest!

 The first item on the menu this week was paired with stuffed chicken breasts. This has definitely turned out to be my favourite way to bake potatoes. Super tasty too!

Baked Hasselback Potatoes

Here’s the recipe that I followed. I had difficulty getting the tasty mix in between the cuts in the potatoes, so it was a bit more a pain than I expected, but turned out really good. Not ideal for summer cooking though, let me tell you. Better on the BBQ I think.

Next up: Taquitos! These were eaten with a mixed green salad and ranch dipping sauce.

Creamy Beef Taquitos

Here’s the recipe. By the way, that site rocks. It lists a meal plan for the week, with a complete shopping list and all the recipes. Love it! Anyway, this recipe was good, but would definitely work better with smaller tortillas. We used the big ones and found that they were too much to handle by hand, which made dipping difficult. Also, I didn’t find it that creamy. I would definitely recommend adding more cheese or perhaps avacado.

I am wearing…My new capris/office shorts. Love them! I want a ton more, in different colours! These ones:

From Ricki's

I am creating… Nothing to see here folks, move along. Move along.

I am going… to hopefully see A Perfect Circle this weekend! They are performing on Sunday evening. Woo!

I am reading… Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins. The second book of the Hunger Games series, which I am loving so far.

I am hoping… for the weather to break a bit. It’s been way too hot for me. Also, I’m hoping that estate stuff improves, that we have a good time at the wedding this weekend and that we can get our A/C fixed soon.

I am hearing… More of The Weepies, lots of Tori Amos and some Dragonette.

Around the house…I don’t even want to talk about the house. I haven’t been able to clean much because we’ve been so busy, sick and hot. I tidied up this past weekend, but then we did some dog sitting for my BiL, which made my washing of the kitchen floors a useless activity. That’s ok, they were so cute, I immediately forgave them:

My new BFF, Lucie, and the dejected Maddie.

Mia, ready for a nap on Maddie's bed.

One of my favorite things…Finding a book to get lost in. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Hunger Games as much as I am, but I read the entire first book in one day. It’s made the stress of this past week much more bearable. 

A few plans for the rest of the week: Some shopping for wedding gifts and wedding outfits, the wedding itself, hopefully a concert and then back to work next week. I’m also starting my part time hours, so starting next week I have fridays off. Woo!

Here is picture! Yay!

Another winner from pinterest

Beltane and Voting

Happy May 2nd everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Beltane!

Sorry for the lack of posting! It’s been a busy week.Tuesday evening, I joined a co-worker at a near by gym after work. I haven’t been to a gym since before my accident, so it was a  bit daunting for me. We were going to attend a Zumba class, which was something I’ve never tried before (for someone with anxiety, the new and wonderful are more like new and gut-wrenching). Add to that who we were meeting there. Some of you might recognize him from a little ol’ show on TV called The Biggest Loser:

Welcome to Ottawa Arthur! (taken from his facebook)

I won’t get into the whole story, but basically Ottawa is home to Arthur’s number one fan. She managed to arrange for him to come to Ottawa and train for two weeks. During that time, he had a few events that people could attend, and I made it to one, the zumba class. First, I want to say that Zumba is awesome. I had a great time and would definitely do it again. I was having so much fun dancing, I hardly noticed my ass getting handed back to me. Hardly. Just a bit. Second, Arthur is truly one of the sweetest, most down to earth people I’ve ever met. We chatted for about 30 minutes after class, and I felt like I was catching up with an old friend. He was one of my favourite’s on the show, and I really and truly wish him all the best as he continues his weight loss journey. It was so inspiring!

Me and Arthur, sweaty and exhausted after a good work out. <3

Unfortunately, I think I managed to twist something in my back while shaking my booty. By Friday, it was pretty sore. I spent most of Saturday morning and afternoon cleaning, getting ready for the husband to have his brother and brother in law over for the UFC fight. After getting the house to an appropriate level of mess, I joined one of my BFFs (S) on a shopping outing and then attended my friend L’s bachelorette. S and I left after dinner, as my back wasn’t up for any dancing. We met some great people who are now FB buddies and I can’t wait for L’s wedding this coming weekend! She has honoured me by asking me to do a reading. I have to get some practice in this week!

Beltane was really really laid back, due to a sick husband and my back. I ended up throwing a roast in the crock pot in the morning and by around 7pm, we had a great dinner waiting for us! I didn’t do any rituals, but I feel like having cleaned the house, spent time with my girls and then having a lovely day at home with my husband was all I really needed. <3

Our Beltane Feast

I do feel the need to write about something new I tried this year: The Honey and Lavender cake from Red Musing.  It is truly my favourite witchy recipe now, and will  hopefully become a tradition in our home.

SO GOOD!

The flavour is amazing! My very picky husband really enjoyed it too! The only changes I made are as follows:
-I’d recommend keeping an eye on it as it bakes. I baked mine for 35 minutes, and it was probably 5 minutes too long. It ended up being a bit dry and over done at the edges.
-Choose an icing that doesn’t over-power the taste of the cake. I picked up a ready-made vanilla home-style icing to save time, and was happy with the flavour pairing.
-I used Pixie’s Pocket honey, specifically Mother’s Love (it’s already flavoured with lavender) and Bunny Hunny (which seemed appropriate to me for Beltane. This honey is magic. I swear it. A spoonful makes my knees week.)

I love this cake. It’s perfect, sweet and spicy, all at once. Go try it and love it too <3

Sadly, when I woke up this morning, ready to face the day, I was met with a massive migraine. The worst I’ve ever had. I called in sick and hid in my bedroom for hours, with the blinds and drapes shut tightly. Even an overcast day was too much for me. Eventually, around lunch time, I crawled downstairs and slowly recovered with the some meds and coffee, begging the sun to piss off. No painful brain throbbing will keep me away tonight though. Tonight’s a big night for us Canadian’s: It’s votin’ time folks! I will not get political, I just want to say one last thing on the subject: Please please PLEASE go vote. Seriously. It’s important and you should do it. It would mean a lot to me. Please.

And with that, I’m going to drink some tea, make myself get dressed and head out to make my vote once the husband is home from work.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Food Porn for all!

Still not much time or energy, but I figured I’d pop by with a quick post full of pictures of food, tales of woe and a silly music video.

First, happy valentine’s day!

Next, the sad tail of my failbread:

I attempted the delicious looking guinness gingerbread of Nigella fame. Unfortunately, whether it be my substitution of sugars, agave nectar for syrup or too much vanilla, the bread turned into much more of a warm soggy pudding. It was AWFUL. I had a bite, as did Pat. Then it went to the garbage. So sad :(

 

Baking the Failbread

I am disappoint fo sho. Oh well. From there, we moved on to bigger and better things. What could be bigger and better than gingerbread?

Cheddar biscuits of DELICIOUSNESS!

 

I MUNNA EAT CHO!

Seriously one of the best things I’ve ever made in my life. EVAR. These were accompanied by a pretty decent chili, which was a winning pairing to be sure.

 

Yummy!

Went a little crazy with the Instagram filters there, sorry! Anyway, I was detecting a theme here. One disaster, one meh and one OMFG-I-COULD-EAT-THIS-FOREVER. This theme continued on to this weekend.

First, the disaster was my attempt at V-day treats. I attempted these tasties:

I baked the cake, let it cool. It was perfect and DELICIOUS. I found it terribly gratifying and liberating to pick up that perfect cake and DESTROY IT. I mashed in the can of icing with my barehands and had a blast doing it. I cooled it and everything seemed to be going great…Unfortunately, after working out beautifully for 6 balls, the chocolate coating started burning and clumping and being TERRIBLE. I’m going to try again tonight, but overall, I ended up with a ton of burnt chocolate, pots that refuse to be cleaned, a burnt finger and no treats to bring into work today. The ones that did work out were delicious though

 

Yum. If only the others didn't suck.

Next up was the meh. My husband is obsessed with Subway’s Meatball subs, so I decided to give it the ol’ homemade try. I used this recipe. I’m not sure if it was the mix of lean local beef with the lean pork, or the weird tomato sauce I used (Stupid biggest loser recipe), but it just didn’t taste…right. I didn’t even finish it. Meh. There is a crockpot full of meatballs in the fridge and I don’t see either one of us touching it.

No pictures. They were too uninspiring.

Lastly, we have our HOLYEFFINGGODTHISISAWESOME. I made this. When I first saw the recipe, I knew this was going to be amazing. I am a potato fiend. I would gladly trade all the chocolate in the world for a lifetime of fries, chips and hashbrowns. The idea of putting all of that awesome into a bowl and calling it soup, I knew I was in for goodness.

 

Simmering away

I made mine with skins on, yellow potatos, cause that’s what I had. I used three leeks instead of two for extra flavour.

This soup, simply put, was heaven. I had it for dinner yesterday and dinner today. I will have it for lunch tomorrow. Make this soup. Love this soup.

And with that, my dears, I am running off again. Have a great Valentine’s day!

Posie’s soup

Another fly-by post, and it’s not even original content.

Sundays, Pat and I try to make it out to our fear friends’ home, about 10 minutes from our place. They have become such a major part of our lives, so it’s really important for us to have that ‘family’ time. Unfortunately, they were home sick today, so Pat and I had a day to ourselves unexpectedly.

This evening I decided to make some soup, from scratch, for the first time ever. I recently came across this recipe from Posie Gets Cozy, one of my favourite blogs of all time. I had enough time to give it a go, and we had everything I needed on hand. Well, mostly. I didn’t have quite enough broth and I had crushed tomatoes instead of whole cooked. Ah well. The joys of soup, in my mind, is to make due with what you have.

Sausage, already for cooking

Onions and garlic cooking away. I like my pieces big and chunky.

I have to say, this recipe was super easy and though a bit time consuming, was one of those comfort cooks. It was cozy and relaxing to work on, not at all stressful. I got to play with seasoning on my own and had a good time with it. No pressure.

Almost ready!

I really recommend it. We’re planning on making it the next time there’s a family get together. It’s definitely filling, so be prepared for that. Perfect for a chilly Sunday evening

Yum! <3

Fall Recipe

A bit of an unspoken ritual that happens every fall is a get together hosted by my dear friend, Lisa-Marie. She and her man, JF, host an annual potluck at their beautiful home on the lake. This year I decided to make a new sauce and since it was such a great hit last night, I’ve decided to share it with you! Now, be warned, this is no recipe for the calorie-counter or weight watcher.

Heather’s Vodka Sauce

What you need:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and diced.
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes (28 ounces)
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• Herbs to preference (I used fresh basil, italian parsley and dried oregano. Salt and pepper)

Directions

1. In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic in all of the butter. Yes, all 1/2 a cup. Scary, but delicious. Do so until the onion is juuuuuuust starting to brown a tiny bit and are soft
2. Pour in Vodka and let cook for 10 minutes



3. Mix in crushed tomatoes and herbs (I had to transfer everything to a sauce pan). Cook for 30 minutes.
4. Pour in the cream, stirring as you go. Cook for another 30 minutes.
5. Serve over pasta! Best over freshly made pasta :)

I hope you enjoy! It was really good and really well received at the party. Here’s a quick shot of my selections from the evening:

Homemade spelt pasta with vodka sauce, pesto, tomato sauce w/ sausage and artichoke and tomato sauce with ground turkey. YUM

Keep warm this Samhain…

As the cold starts to creep in with the longer nights, I find myself drawn to coffees, teas and spiced drinks. Here’s a couple options for you this Samhain

 Growing up, whenever I was suffering a bad sore throat, my Dad would make me my favourite soothing drink. I didn’t know at the time that this was sort of an Irish remedy, what with the alcohol content. My Dad was definitely old school :)

 Hot Toddy

1 tbsp honey (to taste. I like mine sweet!)

2 fluid ounces boiling water

1 1/2 fluid ounces whiskey

3 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 slice lemon

1 pinch ground nutmeg

Pour the honey, boiling water, and whiskey into a mug. Spice it with the cloves and cinnamon, and put in the slice of lemon. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes so the flavors can mingle, then sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg before serving

(Pssst. The source of my picture is also a fun post about curing cocktails.)

 No matter your celebration plans, Mulled Wine is a great addition as a festive beverage for those who drink alcohol. I usually make this for my Samhain rit.

Mulled wine

Ingredients:

-Bottle of red wine, dry usually.

-2/3 cup of sugar

-2-3 Cinnamon sticks

-6-8 Cloves

-2 tbsp Allspice

-Lemon or orange slices

-1/4 cup water

 Combine water, sugar and spices in a pot. Heat slowly, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Add wine and orange/lemon slices and heat until steaming. I personally like to do this slowly to let all the spices and flavours mingle. When you feel it has steeped enough, serve (be sure to strain out the spices and slices)

 For those that prefer a non-alcoholic drink, why not make some mulled cider?

Mulled Cider

Ingredients:
1 large lemon, cut in half
1 medium orange, cut in half
16 whole cloves
4 cups clear apple juice
1/2 to 3/4 cup honey
4 (2-inch) cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Instructions:
Cut two slices (1/4-inch thick) from each lemon and orange half. Insert whole cloves into slices; set aside. Squeeze juice from remainder of fruit halves into a medium non-reactive saucepan. Stir in apple juice and honey; mix well. Add cinnamon sticks, ginger and reserved fruit slices. Bring just to a boil over medium-high heat. Strain cider if desired and place one or two cinnamon sticks in each glass or cup. Serve immediately in a heatproof serving bowl.

Makes 6 servings.

Note: If desired, a little brandy can be added to the cider to give it that extra “zip”, or leave it alcohol-free so the kids can enjoy it also. (from dianasdesserts.com)

ENJOY!!