Thai-Die For!

Okay so its a cheesy title!

But, inspired from Julie Van Rosendaal last week on CBC radio, this one is a keeper!

Every Tuesday on CBC radio, I look forward to hearing what Julie Van Rosendaal has created, and a few weeks ago, I heard the most delicious-sounding recipe ever for fish.  Of course due to the fact that I didn't have every ingredient, we had to add-lib a bit, but sometimes this is half the fun!  So here's what I had in the pantry: coconut milk, lime juice, peanut butter (yes, a bit of pb!) and some Epicure Satay seasoning.  Dinner done in less than 30 minutes!  And, to make it more impressive, my husband cooked since I had boot camp that evening!

I came home with only 10 minutes to get dinner going, change into my bootie-camp clothes and dash out the door.  My hubby, who is very competent in kitchen, (and is a super-awesome cleaner, so really, its a win-win!) did supper, with just a few minor instructions...

me:  Sautee the veggies in a bit of oil and then...deglaze with wine or something...okay?  Then just....
him:  De-what?? 
me:  Deglaze...once the veggies are cooking and almost sticking to the pan, pour in a bit of liquid. him:  So pour in...
me: White wine...and just wait for it to boil off, then add the coconut milk, spices,
him:  I got this! Go workout!
me:   Oh yeah..we have whole grain 10-minute rice, just whip that up for our grains!

Yes, I know this rice is slightly processed, but it's a  pantry-must-have for those quick nights where you don't want to fuss and you don't have time to cook the nice brown rice in the rice cooker that takes an hour.

So off I went to my boot camp (ugh!)...but, when I came home, a wonderfully tasty and flavourful meal was waiting for me!  He even took pictures!









Ingredients

2 - 3 Basa Fillets (that's what was in the freezer..could do any white fish!)
3 cups chopped vegetables....broccoli, carrots, celery, mushrooms, red pepper)
1 small can of coconut milk
a few tablespoons of peanut butter
lime juice
soy sauce
Epicure Satay seasoning (you can use Thai green curry paste, or whatever you have)
wine to deglaze

Saute vegetables, and "deglaze" once they are almost sticking to the bottom.   While veggies are cooking, make a mixture of the coconut milk, the pb, the lime juice and the satay seasoning.  Once veggies are successfully deglazed, pour in coconut mixture and simmer in the savoury sauce.  Once boiled down, place cut up pieces of fish in the broth, and cover.  Don't mix, especially with basa, as it will break apart.

Serve over rice and voila! Dinner made by hubby...and just so delicious!


http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/columnists/food/2014/09/23/julie-van-rosendaal-cooks-sockeye-salmon/

Delicious dinner in 20!

What a beautiful looking dinner!

Today is the first time in 4 nights that our family has sat down together for dinner.  Between hockey and ringette evaluations, work, school and all the other "normal" stuff that still has to happen (meal planning, laundry, cleaning), it has been a bit of a difficult week.  Miraculously we had nothing on the go tonight.   What to do with ground dark turkey, tomatoes, cucumbers and tzatziki in my fridge?  Lets go Greek tonight!   After a quick stop at the grocery for fresh pita and olives, its show time!

Once I got home, of course I had to cuddle the puppy first and take her for our ritual walk down the hill to meet hubby.  By the time I got started, it was close to 6:15.....and honest to goodness, we were sitting and eating dinner by 6:35 pm.

Yummmmm!

Here's what you do:

1 lb ground dark turkey + spices

1 tomato, diced

3 mini cucumbers (or equivalent), diced

1 orange pepper, diced

olives (optional, but why not??)

tzatziki

pita

Preheat a pan with 2 TBSP of  vegetable oil. 

When you think Greek...think of the spices you have in your pantry that will work.  I had fresh garlic, dried rosemary, adobo (from Epicure) and seasoning salt.   Quickly mix together the dark turkey with your spices.  Once mixed, place turkey in preheated pan and let it sizzle! Even if you just have garlic, oregano and sea salt and pepper...you are good to go!

Chop up your veggies (or in my case, kindly request your 12 year old daughter to do the chopping and at the same time, get your 14 year old son to set the table).  

Love this tzatziki from Costco

For the pita, if you want it to be soft and warm....run it under the tap for a few seconds and then quickly heat in a non stick pan.

Presto!  Dinner is ready!  Table is set!  Veggies are chopped!






The fact that my tablecloth looked Greek was completely coincidental!   Delicious!   

Suddenly September...

September.

First, on Sunday, it was 25 degrees...did my perennial planting,
Got some great sun, had the neighbours over....good times....

While I love the fall, falling back into September pretty much sucks.  Gone are the whimsical days of summer, and we are forced back into a rigid routine, ditching our flip flops for proper shoe-ware, and telling ourselves that we need to cut back on all the wine and cheese we feasted on over the summer (nothing good can come of this!).  

...then...this happened the
NEXT day! Its still summer!!!!

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great things about September...the fall is beautiful (well, not today in Calgary), the kids are back in school, and while they don't realize it, they DO thrive on structure. 

But, before I become to bitter and numb to the pain of September, it would be good to reflect on the wonderful summer we had, from east to west!    We did two weeks in Ontario for my cousins wedding,  with a side trip to Montreal (yes, got bagels AND 4 lb of smoked meat!).   What a great wedding (with a fab and sexy MC...me!), and just some much needed connection with my entire family.  Then we did two weeks out west and drove to Victoria, stayed with my hubby's bro and his wonderful family. On our way back we stopped for our annual week at Mara Lake, which was fantastic, as usual!

Summer recap!

Went out for Ben and Sandy's wedding....what a great
picture of my hubby and I!  Brown Goddess indeed!

And more brown!!!!  Love this pic of my sis and some cousins!

Got to see my dad and two sisters!!!  
Wish we did not live so far apart!!!!

Wedding time.....check out the MC and her
main squeeze!

Mommy and daughter...love it!

Nanee and Noah!

Fun times with my mom and aunt, my cousin and daughter!

BC ferries!  Off to Victoria!

Love this pic of my son and I!

Tea at the Empress with my
sister-in-law and daughter....and she loved EVERY minute!

Simply delicious!

Me driving a boat at Mara Lake!   Who woulda thought???

Ahhhh...back to school....Grade 7 and 9!  Wha???????

Katy!!!!!!  We love Katy!!!!!!!  What a great show!

Here's to summer!    Bring on the fall (I guess).   I did get a great gift from my sister-in-law which I have now decided (after writing this blog post),  I will use to survive September...."Fifty Excuses for Wine"...here is one of my faves....

Love this......it's the only way to survive September....
how many days til Thanksgiving???

Best Monday Ever!

Today was the best Monday ever.
Here is a text conversation today to demonstrate the fun-factor in my day:

    

Drinks anyone?

friend:  So my kid's at ur house! What time should I come get him?
me: Whenever! I am not home til 10 :-) 
friend: wtf? Why soooo late?
me: Tequila at work


So just to back up, yes I am a dietitian at Health Stand Nutrition, no I don't drink tequila or any alcohol with clients,
but yes we have amazing meetings that include fun drinks and good eats.

Today was strawberry margaritas and Mexican bean dip!

Time to start our staff meeting on the deck!

It was a great day and we had a productive, meaningful and fun meeting.  AND...to top it all off, we went for dinner at Aida's Mediterranean Bistro!  My only regret is that I forgot to take a picture of all the fabulous food we ordered!

To all the phenomenal women I work with at Health Stand Nutrition...thank you for a great day today!  


http://www.aidasbistro.ca/

http://www.healthstandnutrition.com/

Foodie Kiddies!

My kids are foodie kids, and I have evidence to prove this....

1.  The kids surprised us once by making dinner.  They made fettuccini alfredo with bacon, and had googled the recipe for alfredo sauce, made it with real whipping cream, cooked real bacon and had everything ready for us when we arrived home, right down to setting the table.

My son's amazing stuffed crust pizza!

2.  My son will often take it upon himself to create a sauce if we are barbecuing.  The sauce is never the same twice as he is great at ad-libbing, and it is always delicious.  He is also quite curious about what I am cooking for dinner, what spices I am using and will often question what I am doing (yes, he IS 14!!). Whenever we have make-your-own-pizza night, he always stuffs his crust, and makes his pizza truly unique.

My daughter's delicious eggs benny!

3.  The other day my daughter suggested making a garlic and white wine sauce with our pasta.  She loves baking and I will often come home to a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies (and a clean kitchen).   She also made eggs benedict for dinner on her own last week, and yes, she made home-made hollandaise sauce which turned out to be absolutely fantastic...did I mention she is 11 years old?

4.  The kids will eat just about anything, whether it's Greek, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, German, Mexican....they have their favourite dishes I make, and honestly get excited about a good meal.  

They are definitely foodie kids, and it is easy to see where their foodie-ism came from.  Both my husband and I grew up in homes where the food was good, comforting and wholesome. Dinners were always together as a family and ready and on the table despite the fact that our parents worked full time.  We sat together no matter what (and also fought about who had to set and clear the table...but that's another story!).

I have carried this love and passion for food with me everywhere I go, and am now in a profession where I am constantly talking to clients about food. Despite our busyness, our family still manages to eat together most nights at the dining room table with no TV,  and just good food and good conversation.  And now as the kids are getting older, mealtimes are more than just about food.  Sitting down as a family is a great time to connect with each other and share stories about our day.

I love the fact that my kids are foodies-in-the-making.  My daughter asks for truffle oil on her pizza and my son asks if we have any aged gouda for his toast.  They like to cook, and they see value and get enjoyment out of a good home-cooked meal.  And all of this gives me great hope that they will someday pass this on, just as our parents passed this onto us.

Let's hear it for Foodie Kiddies!

Chicken and Waffles Anyone?

I have had chicken and waffles three times in my life.

The first time was at an classy Beverly Hills restaurant called Bouchon.  The second time was when I made some good old fashioned buttermilk fried chicken and decided to jump on the C & W bandwagon to see if I could pull it off at home (I sorta did...but the sauce was not quite right!).  And, just like the saying goes...third time's the charm!  It was just last weekend for our seventeenth wedding anniversary.  I had heard so much about Calgary restaurant Model Milk, specifically about about their chicken and waffles for two, I HAD to have them.

Crispy fried (and not greasy) tender chicken, waffles (more like squished Yorkshire puddings...but they were delicious) served on top of a chicken maple gravy (and a side salad with fresh greens and radishes in a light lemony dressing).   Of course we also had the foie gras for our appie,  which they made twice by mistake...lucky us!

 It. Was. Heaven.

Foie gras with cornbread toast to start (twice....)

Followed by chicken and waffles for 2....

Lets load up my plate!!!!

Ah yes...pass the salad please!!!!

So what is the history of this unique combo, that has crispy savoury chicken and delicious fluffy waffles served with a maple gravy?

The Chicken Story...

• 1300's: Chicken Fricassee popular in French Cuisine...fried chicken braised in a sauce.  By the 17th Century, it evolved to a more traditional fried chicken, coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried in butter....
• 1800's:  Fried chicken evolves by the African slaves in Southern kitchens
• 1940's:  Harlan Sanders (aka Colonel Sanders) developed his signature fried chicken

The Waffle Story....(and how these two foods got together)

• Waffles were seen in the middle ages and made by bakeries that also made communion wafers
• 1600's: Pilgrams brought waffles to America after seeing them during a brief stop in Holland.  The earliest combination of chicken and waffles was seen in Pennsylvania Dutch country..waffles topped with pulled chicken and gravy
• As with everything...the combination evolved...soul-food inspired versions were seen at jazz clubs in America in the 1930's. 
• 1976:  A restaurant in America opens called Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles.  
• The dish continues to gain in popularity today, being recreated and reinvented from a fast food style to a high end restaurant style C & W dish. 

Happy Anniversary!   

I for one am a fan, and will definitely be going back to Model Milk for more!

HMD 2014!

Some pictures from today!  Happy Mother's Day!

My Traditional Mother's Day Brunch
with my favourite things!

What a wonderful Mother's Day!   It is so great to have traditions...no matter what they are.  Our tradition for quite a long time has been for the kids and my husband to make me a delicious brunch, followed by "Whatever-Mommy-Wants-To-Do" today.  Brunch was as usual, a brilliant collection of my favourite things...smoked salmon with caper berries, a selection of fine cheeses and bread, fresh berries, chocolate croissant, sausage, scrambled eggs served with coffee and orange juice.  It was magnificent!  Later on, we walked through Nosehill park, relaxed at home, went to Without Papers for dinner (totally yummy and trendy pizza) followed by a family movie.


As for gifts,  I asked for no complaining no matter how many pictures I took today...and I took A LOT of pictures! Though I also got the perfect tea mug from David's Tea (thank you!!!) and a homemade collage from my daughter, complete with coupons for hugs and kisses.

And there were no complaints for the 40 pictures that I took!

Ahhhh....Nova Scotia
Smoked Salmon....

Thank you for a fabulous day!