Easter Weekend Photos

Got Eggs?

I love this hard boiled egg. It's like he knows he is next to be eaten, but he's gonna give it one last really good try to thwart your efforts, or else bite your finger as you pluck him from his cardboard nest.

We have a carton full of dyed eggs waiting to be used up.

It's not even for lack of inspiration on how to use them, but rather the avoidance of illicitng an "...Awwwwwww, who ate my killer Venus flytrap egg?! That was my best one!"

If you are experiencing an abundance of Easter eggs that you can safely eat without losing a finger, try:

Adding them to your 'Perfect Salad' for some quick protein

Sub in for poached eggs on your 'Grown-up Breakfast for Dinner"

Add to a warm, flour tortilla with some leftover 'Red Beans' or 'Baked Upside down Nacho Bake Filling' minus the corn chips for a delicious breakfast wrap.  Some shredded cheese and leftover roast potatoes or hash browns might take this wrap to the next level.

Got loads of time on your hands? You need some hard-boiled eggs for your Siopao Asado and yours are all ready to go!

The perfect addition to your Ramen Noodle Bowl Hacks.  This is a favourite DIY dinner at our house.

No time for Starbucks?  Round out your perfectly hard-boiled eggs with some fresh fruit and cheese for a DIY 'Protein Bistro Box' for breakfast on the run.

Of course there are the usual 'Deviled Eggs' or 'Egg Salad' that make short work of a dozen eggs in need of a recipe.

We love Spicy Korean Chili Paste Deviled eggs a la White Rabbit Restaurant in Uptown Waterloo, which we have hacked at home more than once after trying them there first.

For more recipes, facts and fun head on over to getcracking.ca

Baked Falafel and Easter Eggs

Baked Falafel is a versatile, meatless main that is perfect for when you need to pull something together, yet you may be short on ingredients.

 I usually have chickpeas in my cupboard and with some garlic, a bit of flour and few spices, you have some pretty, tasty, little chickpea-patties ready to be baked (or fried, if you prefer).

The recipe makes about 10 small falafel.  If I am going to double (which I highly recommend!), I do it in two separate batches as one batch fits perfectly in the food processor without overcrowding everything, or having it shooting out the top when you turn it on!

Ingredients:
One 19 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 big cloves of garlic
One small onion, diced
A handful of fresh parsley (if I don't have any, which I didn't, I throw in whatever green stuff I can find; I used arugula tonight!)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
A teaspoon of cumin
A teaspoon baking powder
                                                            A tablespoon chili-garlic hot sauce
                                                            One tablespoon white vinegar
                                                            Half a jarred, roasted red pepper (optional)
                                                            Four tablespoons of flour (a little more if it is too sticky)

Toss everything but the flour in the bowl of your food processor and whirl in short, quick bouts until combined but not mush.  Add your flour and pulse briefly to combine.  Taste and add any additional seasoning or herbs you wish to intensify the flavours.

Brush lightly with olive oil and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden flipping at the half-way point.  These could also be fried in a pan with a little oil for a couple minutes per side.

These taste great stuffed in a warm pita pocket with lots of fresh lettuce, tomato, red onions, black olives, and tzatziki, or whatever other fixings you like.

Tonight we skipped the pita and ate them with a big bowl of Greek salad and some creamy dill dressing because that is what we had on hand.

To make tzatzki, I simply drain some Greek yogurt (a generous cup or two) over a coffee filter-lined strainer until nice and thick, stir in some finely diced English cucumber, a couple cloves of grated garlic and some lemon zest with some chopped fresh dill if I have it in the garden.

A pita pocket slathered in hummus and topped with assorted fresh veggies is also a great vehicle for these patties. You can find my recipe for hummus here.

Topped on a grain bowl with a side of roasted veggies and a sprinkle of goat cheese would also be a great meal.

Other great things I am loving today are some pictures from Thursday's ice storm and some Easter egg-dyeing creativity!

We have been colouring Easter eggs since the kids were old enough to hold a spoon and it never seems to get old.

It has morphed into a bit of an Easter weekend tradition to boil up a big batch of eggs, gather up some sharpies, egg dye, and various other random materials -- elastics, duct tape -- and see what happens.

Thai Peanut Curry

This Thai Peanut Curry could just as easily be called Kitchen-Cupboard-Curry since it can be whipped up with staples you have in your pantry/fridge quite easily.

Tonight I added some shrimp I had in the freezer, but some diced chicken breast, cubes of broiled tofu, or a can of chickpeas all work well here.

I didn't add them tonight, but thinly sliced sweet peppers and/or sugar snap peas could be added to this super-versatile sauce as well.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped (I use a large one)
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
a generous tablespoon of grated ginger root
1 can of Alymer petite cut tomatoes
1 can of coconut milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1-2  tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 generous tablespoon chili-garlic hot sauce
2-3 tablespoon fish sauce (don't omit!)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pound of peeled shrimp, or some diced chicken breast, broiled tofu or a can of chickpeas
chopped peanuts, green onions and/or Thai basil for garnish
1 lb of thin to medium rice noodles cooked according to package directions


Saute your onion and garlic in coconut oil until soft.

Add the tin of tomatoes and their juice along with the grated ginger, peanut butter, brown sugar, curry paste, fish, and hot sauce.  Stir to combine.  Add your coconut milk and stir.  Add your shrimp or diced chicken and stir at medium heat until no longer pink. Alternately, add your tofu, chickpeas, and any sliced veggies and stir just until heated through.

Serve on a nest of cooked rice noodles and garnish with some green onions and/or Thai basil and some chopped peanuts.

Baked Honey-Garlic Sausages, Perogies and Sauerkraut

This dinner was made and on the table in about thirty-five minutes and very much satisfied my craving for some childhood comfort food.

The absolutely minimal effort it took to prepare was in no way reflective of the final result. Warm, pillowy-potato perogies with oven-baked honey garlic sausages dipped in Sweet With Heat (love this spicy mustard!) and a side of sauerkraut.  Full-fat sour cream spiked with lots of green onions to top the perogies; heavenly.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Lay your sausages on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes for medium sausages; pierce with a fork and turn at the halfway mark.

Simply lay your frozen (yes frozen!) perogies on the baking sheet, brush with melted butter, and bake alongside your sausages for 20 minutes, turning at the halfway mark as well.

While everything is baking, pull your jar of sauerkraut from the recesses of the refrigerator, along with your mustard and sour cream, and slice up some green onions.

When your sausages and perogies are fully baked, plate your delicious, warm meal and enjoy with lots of spicy mustard and tangy kraut!

Sugar Bush Photo Journal

Sushi Roll in a Bowl

Sushi Roll in a Bowl was on the menu tonight and it was a hit!  All the deliciousness of a sushi roll without the rolling and everyone can create their own unique combination of flavours.

I love DIY meals.  Once everything is prepped, my work is done!

You have 3 basic steps here: make and season your sushi rice, chop your toppings, and mix up your spicy chili-garlic mayo drizzle.

For the rice, I rinsed 1 1/2 cups PC Sticky Rice under cold water until the water ran clear and simmered it in 2 1/3 cups of water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt for about 17 minutes at which time I removed the rice from the heat and let it sit for 3 minutes before transferring it to a bowl and fluffing it with a fork as I added 3-4 tablespoons of Bento at Home   seasoned rice vinegar and set aside to cool.

For my toppings I set out barbequed Cedar Bay Plank Salmon (this barbeques beautifully and is full of flavour), shredded carrot, match-stick cucumbers, sliced avocado, pickled white ginger, toasted black sesame seeds, and chopped, toasted nori.

For the spicy, chili-garlic mayo drizzle, I mixed 6 tablespoons of mayo with 2 tablespoons of chili-garlic hot sauce and 1 teaspoon of lime juice.
 
Assemble your bowl with rice and toppings and drizzle with sauce.  This meal can easily be made vegetarian by substituting the salmon for broiled tofu and/or steamed edamame.  I'm thinking you could also layer your rice and toppings in a pan and cut into squares for more of a "sushi roll in a pan" sort of thing, but I have yet to try this out!

This meal would lend itself really well for a night in with friends.  Prep your salmon and rice a day ahead along with your sauce and other toppings and bring to room temp just before ready-to-serve, leaving you with lots of time to eat and drink and get caught up with minimal time in the kitchen.

When Breath Becomes Air

Photo from cupofjo

Today's goodness comes in the form of "good reads." The memoir of a brilliant, neurosurgeon who dies within a year of a stage IV lung cancer diagnosis before his life's work is complete does not sound like something good...

...certainly the end of a life, a cherished love, dreams unrealized, is sorrowful...

... but I found Paul Kalanithi's memoir to be a beautifully written and poignant account of both death and dying and of finding a meaningful way to live when life is ending.

Within its pages: some of the most intimate and lovely words I have ever happened upon, interesting reflections on his work as a neurosurgeon and on his interactions with patients and colleagues, literary references and poetic influences, reflections on family and on the powerful comforts sustained in a quiet room surrounded by those that love us, a keyhole into the most final of moments when the only strength we have left is to simply be.

There is a hopefulness about a life, a struggle, a story, about words so affecting they continue to resonate long after they have left the page... An ending that does not leave us feeling like his story is over.

This book will not leave you.