Pre-dinner snacks

Tonight we had some friends (and their kids) over for dinner. They emailed to say they were running late - which gave me time to make the before dinner snacks a little more pinteresting.

Golden berries, roasted unsalted almonds, kettle-cooked popcorn and some water with lemon. Light and easy.

ps. the dinner menu: veggie chili, crusty sourdough bread, blackened catfish, blanched then pan fried broccoli, corn on the cob, cheese slices, and oven fries with ketchup...

Instagram

I hope I'm not too late to the party.
I did sign up a while ago, but never got into it.

Now I want to use Instagram to post food shots. Let me strut my stuff a bit!

Please please leave me your ID or whatever so I can follow you!

See you over there cats!


ps. my ID: Shannon8foot6
pps. Leftover soup for breakfast.

Pizzoccheri

 

 

 

Today I tried my hand at homemade pasta noodles!

The recipe was Pizzoccheri from Peter Berley's Modern Vegetarian Cookbook*. The noodles are 50% buckwheat flour, 50% white flour and eggs.

Kneading the dough was the longest 15 minutes of my life (yes, complaining! I must have looked at the clock ever 15 seconds to see if I was done yet). It worked out though, the noodles were delicious! Earthy. I'd say a tad sandy.



*I don't feel right about typing out a recipe from a book - that has got to be a copyright violation. Or maybe it's considered promotion and publishers don't care? Google "pizzoccheri" and you will find oodles of recipes and inspiration to draw upon!
**I would settle for average..hmmmm, maybe 'above average'




ps. The sauce was not my favorite. You start by sauteing a sliced red onion in oil. Then it says to add the red wine and water and vegetables. If I could do it over, I would pour the red wine into the sauteed onions and let it reduce a bit, then make up the difference with extra water. I don't like the flavour of unreduced red wine. I am not even sure that unreduced wine sauce is a thing. It always seems like a mistake. Perhaps he meant to say "stir the wine around a bit over medium heat and then add the vegetables" Also, it calls for butter or oil. I used oil. Let me say, if it was made with butter, the sauce would carry you off to heaven! 
pps. 8footsix won't morph into a food blog because it is way too much work to photograph things when I am hungry. Plus I don't have the camera & lighting skills to take great photos of food...
ppps. I am a foodie newbie...I know nothing Jon Snow. How long does it take before you become a 'good' cook**? 10,000hrs? 10,000 RECIPES??? Friends, I have some work to do!  

Hello Tamamoro

New to me: Tamamoro fruit
Product of Colombia

This is a beautiful but strange tasting fruit. Sour, bitter and savoury...with a zingy aftertaste (that lasts forever). I won't buy these again...

Persimmons, on the other hand, I am crazy about! They have started to show up in the grocery stores. I have 14 of them ripening on my kitchen window sill. Yum!

Happy Chicken

 

Tonight for dinner, I cooked our first ever pasture raised chicken. This chicken grew up on the Weber Farm, in Paisley, Ontario

I finished reading Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" last night. He writes about the industrial food chain, versus the organic food chain, and adds a third (eye-roll inducing) section on hunting and gathering. Reading this book put happy animals at the top of my mind.

I want to steer us clear of the industrial food chain as much as possible. Even if it means eating less meat overall, or eating only what vegetables are in season (and always, always cooking!). My husband is game...he loves his vegetables. I cook two or three veggie dishes each meal*...with a small portion of something select from the butcher. My boys, however, reject crappy food and new healthy food at the exact same rate. They eat from a very narrow band of foodstuffs. They survive on rice and pasta with butter and avocado rolls and fruit. I am convinced that it doesn't matter how much my cooking improves, they will need to grow out of this phase before they can appreciate it (and I will be ready when they start asking for a second and third bite!)

Back to my happy chicken... it was a chunky little guy! Chubba chubba!! The taste was standard. I didn't find that it tasted any better than organic chicken. I will buy one again if I am having dinner guests because I love that the entree comes with its own story.  Otherwise, I was not converted.  I may have overcooked my happy chicken a bit, because of it's size. I used the thermometer, but the last 7 minutes did me in, I think. 

ps. Michael Pollan mentions that the reason for washing chicken before roasting is to get the skin nice and plump so that it browns beautifully...of course you need to thoroughly dry it before you slap on the oil...have you heard this?

*Tonight we had roast sweet potato and fried kale with garlic (not my favorite), along with white rice (for my boys)

A cucumber a day

At dinner the other night, I ate a whole cucumber. Well, most of one. I sliced it and put it on the table to share, but I was the only one who was eating it.

Then at the grocery store today, I thought, I should get another cucumber - it was so yummers the other day.

As I was walking home, I googled "eat cucumber everyday," and, wouldn't you know it, there are people on the internet who say it is a good idea!

I got home, ate lunch, and puttered around for a while. Then I went into the kitchen and pulled my cuke out of the fridge. I wonder if Olivia Palermo eats cucumber everyday. Or that Emma Stone. Or Charlize. Or Annie...Chop chop chop...better take some photos for the blog. I brought the bowl with me upstairs to the office as I tried to list off in my head everything I was supposed to do today.  Mail a package for Etsy, buy some razors, drop off the DVDs to the library, start the laundry... Then I sat down at the desk and mindlessly ate the entire bowl of cucumber while reading blogs.

How do I feel?

I have a tummy ache.

I ate a whole avocado (mashed with lime juice) with a few strips of chicken breast on two wholegrain wraps for lunch (in other words, two avocado and chicken wraps). I guess I deserve this uncomfortable overstuffed feeling.

I am about to google "I ate too much treatment"

i got a pocket full, a pocket full of sugar

The lower left pocket on my spring coat is coated with sugar. I need to take the coat off, turn the pocket inside out, and shake the fabric out*. The sugar has been there for over three weeks and I haven't got around to it. Every time I stuff my iphone into that pocket , or I forget and shove my hands in to stay warm, I end up coated in tiny white crystals.

Why?
3 1/2 weeks ago, I quit sugar (again). On the very first afternoon I walked to the coffee shop with my boys to buy an espresso.  I opened the door of the shop and froze, as my boys ambled in, stopped, and stared. There was a petite brunette perched on a tall stool at the front of the shop singing in another language, and a man in an armchair beside her playing guitar. Every seat around the perimeter of the small cafe was taken.

I didn't want to interrupt, but there we were (they were), in bright orange winter coats, standing in the middle of it all. 

I hustled the boys to the counter at the back and ordered an espresso. I excused myself and made my way over to the condiment table and shook a packet of sugar. Rip. "Shoot, that's right, I quit sugar, where is the garbage? ok ...hmm, it's too packed in here!" I folded the packet up and put it in my pocket, intending to toss it in the bin on the street.

Quitting sugar was a cinch this time since I already made the toughest dietary changes (no juice, switching to low GI bread, switching to canned tomatoes instead of pasta sauce, dropping cereal). It still took heaps of self control in the beginning. I wrote large notes to myself and stuck them on the fridge and in the cupboards.

I intend to keep it up for at least another month, until my son's 4th birthday.


*I cleaned it

ps. Sugar. So much to say...
First - you really DO feel better when you eliminate it from your diet. After three days it is a breeze. No mood swings has got to be the biggest perk.   
Second - why does celebrating mean you have to indulge in sweets? Every holiday has some sort of chocolate or cake associated with it
Third - my teeth shriek with pain when I eat anything too sweet. I switched to sensodyne rapid relief toothpaste but I haven't put it to the test
Fourth - why do I have this internal conflict over eating healthy? I argue with myself. 'no, you do not need to eat that', 'but everyone else eats it, why do I have to be the only one who doesn't eat sugar' 'because if you eat that, you won't even enjoy the taste, your teeth will hurt, and you will have to fight sugar cravings again' 'but what is so wrong with satisfying your sweet tooth?' 'because sugar will make you fat' 'oh yah? as if french fries wont make you fat' 'ok, good point, BUT you are on a roll, you have a winning streak going, don't waste all this effort for a bite of granola bar' 'ok, but don't expect me to live like this forever' 'it's not forever...eat some celery and relax already' 

Hungry for Change

"A world of abundance, and an attitude of lack"

"We are not eating food anymore, we are eating food-like products"

"...people are overfed, but they're also starving to death'

"as long as you are taking in more toxins than you are eliminating, your body won't let you burn fat..."


I just watched the documentary called, "Hungry for Change." It's about weight loss (or why your body might be holding on to fat), how our food choices might be starving us of nutrition, cleansing our bodies, and improving health and well-being through diet.  

I've been moving away from eating processed food. Some weeks I am a superstar, other times, a disaster. It's all about being prepared, as well as eating enough early in the day. When I feel hunger pangs it's too late. I need to stay ahead of my cravings!

The documentary emphasizes eating your vegetables! Of course!! I mean, of course you need to eat your vegetables! They suggest juicing to increase your intake - I think we will try it out!*

Does anyone 'diet' these days? Are we past that? Atkins was the last major diet I noticed people doing...I think the word is out that diets don't work. Are you trying to eat healthier? Whether it's for your appearance or your insides, get a copy of this video - I think you will enjoy it!  

*Any get healthy strategy that forces you to buy heavy duty equipment makes me snicker. It's not like cave men sat around drinking green juice. Still - sautéed kale makes me gag...so maybe this is yummier?! Hey, if it makes my skin glow, I will pinch my nose and guzzle it down!

Source: Quotations sourced from 'Hungry for Change' 

Hungry all the time

Today we made quesadillas and guacamole for lunch. Two hours later and I am still stuffed - in a good way!

The boys approved! Of course, they disassembled them in order to eat all of the component parts (chicken, mozzarella, tomatoes, whole wheat wrap). 

Stained Glass Sugar Cookie Ornaments

This morning we made sugar cookies for the tree. 

We followed Martha's instructions.

We used Lifesavers in the middle. One chopped up Lifesaver per cookie. Before popping them in the oven, we punched a hole in the top with a straw.

This recipe is simple, but time consuming! You have to chill the prepared tray of cookies for 15 minutes before you cook them for 11. Chopping the candies takes forever too!  Not to mention that candy shards fly everywhere - but don't worry...they stick quite nicely to your socks!


ps. I wouldn't want to eat them...but I guess you could!
pss. You have to really work the dough in between batches to get it smooth again. This is a dry dough to work with.

Just one bite...

I quit sugar (again) on Oct 11.  Things were going great until I gave in to temptation on my birthday.  After that, I started making allowances for a bite of this, and a bite of that...then, yesterday...15 Halloween chocolates, all.at.once!

I knew what I was doing. They were delicious! I have zero guilt.* Now I need to get back on track!

Have you indulged in sweets lately? Have you ever attacked the Halloween chocolates?

*maybe a little guilty. I hopped on the elliptical for 45 mins last night, as if that would somehow make it ok! 

Blackboard on the dining room door

As a stay-at-home mom, I feel like it's my responsibility to make healthy meals for our family.  It is not my favorite part of the job. You see, I am not a very good cook - and when I suck at something, I try to avoid doing it every single night!*

What does dinner entail, anyways?  Research (aka web surfing), prep (aka shopping) and cooking (chopping, measuring and stirring). Sounds easy? We all do it? We all have to eat? Why do I still have so many misadventures in the kitchen?

My husband is great - he will eat anything as long as it is warm and served with rice. 'I love that there's so much ginger in these meatballs, ginger is good for my cold',  'It can't be too rich and saucy when you eat it with rice,' 'It tastes ok, since I like things saltier than you do'...my reply is always the same 'But I followed the recipe!'

The 10,000 hours rule must apply. I've logged, maybe, a couple hundred. (Pouring milk into the cereal bowl doesn't count). I have convinced myself that if I put in enough time, things will get better.      

The truth is, things are improving! I now have a full list of disaster proof meals (written on the chalk board). I also have a bunch of recipes to retry, only this time tweak them to our tastes. In fact, I am able to adjust a recipe, the first time, if I think it has a little too much of this, or not enough of that...I am really doing it! The more success I have, the more I want to cook! I've even stopped thinking of it as 'my job,' and I started to look forward to meal time! How crazy is that?   

What changed? I finally figured out that, even though I might make something only so-so tonight, there is always another meal tomorrow!

Tell me, what did you have for dinner tonight!? 

*Well, not every night, since my husband enjoys cooking.  He shares as much as the load as possible. Tonight I bought veal chops because I know he will slap the porcini mushroom dust on them and fry them up. My husband often makes dinner on the weekends too!


ps. 'One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.'  ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story....Seriously man, we have to eat every day. Why not eat well?  
pps. I didn't want to move the lily plant for the winter, I also don't want the heat of the rads to cook the plant. It already drinks a lot of water! Then I found the marble chinese checkers board, that I bought in November 2010! I hope it helps! I almost wrote the post about finding a home for another one of my thrifted treasures...

More Fruits and Veggies

I bought this green and black basket from Salvation Army last May.  Today, I finally realized how I could use it -  to hold fruit and potatoes! The ikea bowl I had been using was a bit too small, the bananas and apples tended to overflow onto the countertop. This basket is the perfect size!

Do you see the prickly pear, hiding behind the persimmon in the top photo? I've never tasted one before. I bought two today - and I feel like a thrill seeker!  

Before I quit sugar, I would try things-in-a-box on impulse - new-to-me crackers, cookies, granola bars, cereal, yogurt, cheese, turkey bacon. Toss them in the cart and stuff myself full without thinking. (Unfortunately, almost everything in a box has sugar.)

It surprises me that, at the age of (almost) 35, there is produce at No Frills I am completely unfamiliar with. I've had the time to experiment. What excuse do I have for not trying everything that is available? I wonder, if produce was marketed the way "health food" is promoted, with flashy labels and sleek packaging, would I buy more of it??  If there were giant signs in the grocery store, sitting above the fruit, that read: '0% salt', or 'No artificial flavors or colouring', or '100% natural ingredients', would I buy more? A little ridiculous, I know! So, I will do this systematically (I do everything systematically) Until we have tried everything, each time we visit the super market, I will pick out something new! 

I will let you know if I like prickly pears...do you like them?

ps. Pot luck idea?...ask everyone to bring in a prepared off-the-grid vegetable or fruit? 

UPDATE:
I really like them! I will buy them again...ok the seeds suck - too hard to chew, but they are edible, so I bumped the fruit around in my mouth a bit and swallowed! The taste reminds me a little of dragon fruit...same texture, but way larger/harder seeds. 

Orange Juice

We also found two new citrus Pyrex carafes at Value Village. When my son saw me put the carafes into the cart, he asked if we could make orange juice.  I sliced the oranges and my son did all of the real work juicing them.  While I was taking these photos, he was calling over to me, "Mum, come see this one, this one is pretty good right? [showing me the guts of the orange he just smooshed] Mum? Hey Mom! Over here!" I think he might be a little sick of seeing me with the camera.   


ps. I am only drinking water these days...no juice for me!

Leftovers

Two dishes I have now mastered*: chicken noodle soup and fried rice.

So simple to prepare using leftovers and whatever vegetables are in the house. I make both at least once a week...They are crazy easy.  The boys love them.






Soup:
Dutch Oven
Leftover whole chicken bones and meat (cut the meat off the bones and set aside in fridge)
One large onion cut in half
Two stalks of celery trimmed (keep them long, you don't want to chop them)
Two large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
Salt to taste
Noodles

Bring chicken bone, onion, celery, carrots, salt and enough water to cover it all, to a boil.
Reduce heat, simmer all afternoon (4-5 hours)
Remove bones, celery, onion from broth (leave carrots)
Bring to a boil
Add noodles 
After noodles are cooked, reduce heat, toss in the leftover chicken
Add any extra veggie you would like in the soup.  I added chinese cabbage to this soup...last time I added fresh corn.

Fried Rice:
Frying pan
Yesterday's rice
1 or 2 eggs
Frozen veggies
Leftover meat or seafood
Soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired
Vegetable oil

Add oil to pan, med-high heat
Fry and scramble egg, then set aside in a dish
Heat veggies in pan, then set aside with the egg
Add more oil, dump the rice in, stir fry to remove the clumps
Add leftovers, veggies and egg back to the pan
Add soy sauce or oyster sauce ...a few splashes of soy sauce will do an entire pan


ps. Soy sauce and oyster sauce BOTH have sugar listed in the top three ingredients, so I am cutting them out.
pps. iphone pics...sorry.  I took both photos to send to my husband at work to show him what dinner was waiting for him when he arrived home...then I really wanted to share with you too!   We put the baby to bed at 6:30, so dinner happens early!
*not really, but still!   Updated the photos!

Four minutes

How much time would you say you spend cleaning? I feel like a permanent fixture in front of the sink, washing dishes.

Tonight while making dinner, when the beer can chicken had six minutes left to cook, I raced to finish the dishes before the timer went off! Go! Go! Go!

My son immediately spilled a bottle of water across the desk - super great...I wiped that mess up with a dish towel and moved on...

At the three minute mark I could smell the broccoli! Don't burn - don't burn - shit!

The baby started fussing after three and a half minutes or so... just a few more plastic bowls...and...

ONLY FOUR MINUTES TO DO THE DISHES!  High fives!!! Fist pump! Yesssss!




Wait a minute  - I could have sworn I spent hours everyday with my hands in suds.


Have you ever timed how long it takes to complete everyday tasks?  Do you try to track where your time actually goes (as if it is sneaking away somewhere - all stealth-like?)? Don't you love beer-can chicken?

 
ps. It only took 13 minutes to fold the laundry yesterday

Didn't end well!

Last night I tried making sweet potato fries from scratch. Here they are, deliberately placed on the pans, waiting for the oven to hit 450 degrees.

They burned at the edges, they were a little soggy, and they tried their best to destroy the pan. Delicious - but I think we can do better next time!

I am on the lookout for a great recipe - if you know the secret to crispy fries, please share!!!

(There is sugar added to the store bought, pre-cut, frozen sweet potato fries)

UPDATE: I made ground pork and green beans on Friday night, and Chili on Saturday...six days no take out! Tonight things broke down and we ordered in some Italian.     

Fish for dinner

Here is another weeknight dinner we learned from my sister-in-law.  My husband usually cooks this one. I don't like standing over the stove stirring things. It's hot, and smelly.  I much prefer slicing and dicing and all the prep. So last night I chopped the tomatoes and onions, assembled the other ingredients, and when my husband came home, he stir fried everything up!

Thanks again for the recipe Fae (do we make it the same way?)!!  I love having dinner at your place! 

Ingredients:

1 package frozen cod filets (or whatever white fish filets you prefer)

4-5 tomatoes, chopped and seeded

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp or so capers

Parsley

Salt

Pepper

Oil

1. Season fish filets with salt and pepper

2. Heat oil in pan, cook filets through. (Turn a couple times, the cod breaks apart a little)...Remove fish from pan, set aside on a plate

3. Stir fry onions until tender

4. Add tomatoes to the onions, let cook until tomatoes break down

5. Add capers, some parsley and fish to the pan (with tomatoes and onions). Let everything simmer for a bit.

We ate this over white rice.

Do you know any good fish recipes?  I would like to incorporate more fish into our diet, but this is the only dish we know how to make*!  (Lucky for us, there is always Japanese)  

*My husband doesn't like salmon.

A recipe to impress

I was contacted by Alex at Matchstick who asked if we were interested in a program called Courvoisier Collective.  We would cook something with Courvoisier Cognac and share the recipe on 8FOOTSIX*  We were in!!!  Tonight I cooked up Cognac Infused- Herb Garlic Chicken.

The best tasting meal ever! Juicy, rich, a wonderful blend of flavours. I ate TWO whole chicken breasts! TWO!

If you are looking for something to cook for guests...and you want it to be special (but easy)...then this is your recipe.  You get to set the dish on fire! Twice! That would impress me if I was your guest! (Hey - I am easily impressed!).  However - let me warn you... as soon as you pour the cognac in the pan - BOOM!!  I didn't expect it to go off immediately (I thought I had to light a match or something) and I spilled at least a quarter cup of cognac all over the floor when I dropped the measuring cup and squealed! Not so impressive! 

If you aren't planning to have people in, that's fine too! This recipe was easy enough to make on a Tuesday night.  Butter = Delicious.

Thank you to Matchstick and Courvoisier Collective for sending us some cognac, a spoon, and a glass.  My tummy thanks you too!

ps. My husband says butter is dairy. Therefore I guess violated the whole no dairy thing. 

pps. (Meat photos never look as good as the food actually tastes, no?)

*Submit a Courvoisier inspired recipe to http://www.courvoisiercollective.com/ and you could win a trip to Toronto and $1,000 cash!