long weekend at the cottage

 

We escaped to our family's waterfront cottage in North Bay this past weekend. 

Just Nuno, Owen, Hot Tot and I enjoying the beach, lake and city.

Every year there is something new for Owen to discover. Last year he was obsessed with feeding the ducks, this year he was asking to 'catch the fish and bugs'. Luckily, I bought this aquarium and a net for him before we left for our vacation.

Here's Owen's fish which he named 'Silver Surfer', a small minnow we caught and released.

 

He loved catching ants.

Owen is also into sandcastles.

 He could play endlessly in the sand. He's a real mucker, this one.

 

If there's a puddle, he'll splash - if there's dirt, he'll grab it. It's funny what comes just naturally to kids.

 

Our sandcastles were legendary. Just like my grandmother did for my sister and I as kids, I bought $2.00 Toy Story toys to keep Owen occupied for the 5 hour drive up north. They turned into items Owen couldn't part with and shared in all his adventures.

 

Owen is a big-time swimmer. He could not get enough time in the water. His lips were blue before he was convinced to come out.

  

Nap time!

 

Hot Tot just loved our time on the beach as long as she was shaded. 

 

The chipmunks kept her amused hour upon hour.

Just like the two years before, we had lots of time spent playing in the parks. 

 It never gets old....

I can honestly say we'd love nothing more than to just move right up to North Bay. Anyone have Graphic Design and Illustration jobs for us?

chicken succotash with avocado and farmer cheese

Here is Wednesday night's dinner of Chicken Succotash with Avocado and Farmer Cheese from Everyday Food magazine July/August 2011. This was a dinner that looked delicious and healthy to boot.

It's a sautee of diced zucchini, fresh off-the-cob corn, shredded rotisserie chicken, sliced tomatoes & avocado. And lima beans. Lima Beans are one of those food associations that conjure up childhood food aversions. Having never tried them before, and what succotash would be complete with out them, I was actually looking forward to trying something new. Turns out lima beans are very tasty in this because this whole dinner is very good. 

One thing that was a slight issue was locating Farmer Cheese. I couldn't find it in my limited grocery search, so I ended up using the leftover ricotta from Monday night's dinner pressed and strained through cheese cloth. It worked just fine in substitution. 
And, wow, did this make a whole lot of food. It lasted 2 nights - and then some.

halibut with tomatoes and fennel

This Halibut with Tomatoes and Fennel was Tuesday night's dinner. We tried this recipe when it was first published back in July/August 2011 and I remember it being so outstanding I was so thrilled to have an excuse to make it again. Everything about this meal is truly one of my favourite dinners.

This is the sort of dinner I'd order at a restaurant, but once you make it, it's too simple to ever order out. Halibut isn't cheap because where I shop, you have to buy it fresh, but it's worth it as a treat. I'm even pleased Owen enjoyed it, but since it includes couscous, I guess it goes without saying.

pasta shells with no-cook tomato sauce

This week I've decided to exclusively make recipes featured in the July/August 2011 issue of Everyday Food magazine.

I'm trying something new and making the daily recipes featured in the Grocery Bag section of the magazine. Every issue of Everyday Food magazine gives you a complete list of dinners planned daily along with a shopping list. 

I snapped this pic and it made for really easy grocery shopping saving me the work of planning the menu and writing out a list.

So to start Monday features Pasta Shells with No-Cook Tomato Sauce. Using all fresh produce eaten raw, this pasta is way more delicious then I would have initially anticipated. The key is to let the sauce sit for a while to let the flavours incorporate. I even cooked the pasta, added it warm to the sauce, mixed and then let it sit for half an hour. By the time we ate this it was fantastic! On a hot day, this is perfect pasta!

taste of buffalo

This Saturday we decided to take Owen to the Buffalo Zoo, however, when we arrived the park was closed on account of a power outage. Since we braved the Saturday morning Peace Bridge border wait, we decided to make our way downtown to the Taste of Buffalo held in Niagara Square and Delaware Avenue.

They claim to be one of the nation's largest food festivals and I love American culture, so this just seemed like a perfect fit for us.

First off, I was pleased they don't charge admission. The tickets were 50¢ each and nothing was over 8 tickets. Affordable for everyone!

It was a perfect summer day walking around this event.

We ended up pulling over at the food truck station. Some vendors offered 'taster' portions, which was perfect for Owen who told us he wanted a hamburger. A truck called The Roaming Buffalo featured 'The What?!?! Burger' in taster portion.

See that? It's a peanut butter and bacon jam topped burger and Owen loved it.

Our favourite Buffalo truck, Lloyd's Taco Truck, was there and had the longest line-up at the festival. Luckily it moved quickly and was cooked fresh to order.

So I ended up choosing a chicken taco and Krazy corn with a topping of loads of butter, chili, lime, crema, queso fresco and cilantro - delish! 

And here's Nuno's Crawfish.

This was our first time trying them and it was certainly an experience. I think these little guys kinda freaked out Owen. And me.

I love the frozen custard that's everywhere in WNY. Owen and I had soft serve chocolate/vanilla twist cones. My first cone of the summer and it was out of this world.

I tried Blue Light Lime for the first time at Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbour a few weekends ago. For some reason, even though this is a Canadian beer, it's difficult to find here in Canada. For the record, no, I had not been drinking - this kinda sleaze must come pretty natural. We took this photo as a joke, but it came out too funny not to post.

Obligatory Oscar Meyer truck photo.

Two stages of live music had Owen getting his groove back.

There was a Food Truck Eats event at the Farmer's Market in downtown St. Catharines this past Sunday which we didn't make it out to. Seems like all our attempts to visit our favourite trucks are a strain on the wallet these days with admission charges. This weekends event wasn't so hefty but still charged $10 just to enter. I'm really happy some of our favourite trucks are turning great profits now - it's very well deserved. But somehow,  it's hard to accept an admission charge when only a couple years ago we were enjoying these trucks at local wineries and all our money was going straight to the vendor.

fast homemade dill pickles

The last recipe I made on my week with the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine were these Fast Homemade Pickles!

Pickles are so crazy easy to make, you'd really never realize it until you give it a try. Only a few minutes and they are done. I bought a basket of fresh cucumbers this past week because they literally looked like pickles so plump and stubby. Once unloading them there were at least 20 in that small basket, I realized very quickly that I needed to double the brine for this recipe. So glad I did because in the end I made out with 6 jars of pickles. For half the cucumbers I quartered length wise into spears and then the other half I sliced 1/4 inch thick on the mandoline (perfect for burger toppings). 

This recipe is very tasty, but maybe just a little sweet for me. I'd probably hold back on the sugar next time around, but otherwise I'm thrilled with the results. There is an addition of tumeric and I don't believe it really imparts much flavour but gives the brine the look of pickles you'd buy at the store. While packing the pickles the tumeric dyed my fingers yellow, so it's probably a good idea to wear gloves when making these.

chipotle chicken and rice

What did we decide to eat for dinner on the hottest, most humid 90 degree day yesterday? Why this spicy Chipotle Chicken and Rice from Everyday Food July/August 2009. But, when you think about it, some cultures in the warmest places in the world eat super spicy food like this regularly. Bwhaha, who am I kidding? Luckily, we are having an issue with our air conditioner right now where it runs... continuously, so it's nice and cool in our home for us not acclimatized to this crazy heat.

I was going to call this a stew, but it's really a basic paella of sorts. This was one of the funnest dinners I've made in a while. I like it because there is such little prep work and effort to accomplish something so unbelievably tasty. You could even do a hack-job of all the produce and it still would turn out great! Now, you do need about an hour from start to finish, but three quarters of that time is letting your chicken stew and the rice to cook in the sauce. That's what's so delicious about this dinner, the rice takes on such a wonderful flavour from all the ingredients. So simple, so nice, so easy and even easier to eat. Total winner of a recipe!

southwestern steak salad

This Southwestern Steak Salad is another recipe featured in the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine. We used the extra flank steak from Wednesday night's dinner along with avocado, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes and romaine. The dressing includes a mix of lime and chipotle.

Owen is finally on board with eating salads! I focused more on having him eat raw sliced veggies for the past year and a half. I knew he was eating salads at child care, but I could never figure out how they were dressed. I decided to buy a bottle of classic Italian dressing a couple months ago and that seemed to be the key to getting him to eat salads at home. I'm so relieved because a basic salad is one of my favourite things to eat. I actually would buy a premade salad at Zehrs for lunch as an indulgence (instead of running out to A&W like most resonable people would when a craving hits). That's what happens when you go without for so long.

The recipe for this salad is available right here for demonstration.

I've been meaning to mention about something new Everyday Food has implemented. About a month ago Everyday Food announced a new an innovative way of recipe sharing. They are featuring an online stream of their featured recipe in a demo hosted by Editor-In-Chief Sarah Carey. 

I love this idea! After watching several clips I'd say this is perfect for people who are just learning the ropes in the kitchen. I have friends who tell me that when they cook from recipes it doesn't always turn out because they had didn't quite know how to prep the ingredients properly. Ever want to know how thin to slice your potato or small your pieces of ginger should be chopped? That is what these streams are prefect for! I definitely learned cooking and baking techniques from reading Everyday Food magazine and watching PVR'd episodes of Everyday Food's TV series during my days home on maternity leave. Getting to know you're way around the kitchen and handling food is something that takes years, but these clips fast-track by giving you a quick demo of how to prepare the featured recipe. Now more and more people are cooking straight from their iPad and iPhones, so you could literally set up a stand against your kitchen backsplash, get your demo, load the recipe and you're ready to rock. 

Also, Sarah Carey is fun to watch! She's funny, bright and shares tons of knowledge on each segment. It feels like I've known her for ages since she was the host of Everyday Food (television series) and appears on the Martha Stewart Show (which I haven't seen in years since they moved to the Hallmark Channel - which we as Canadians don't have access to. Only a slight bone of contention here). To view all episodes follow this link.

soy-marinated flank steak with shaved beet salad and tomato salad with olives and lemon zest

Welcome to the flavours of summer! Just like what Baked Shells with Winter Squash is to cooler months, this dinner is the epitome of what summer tastes like. Soy-Marinated Flank Steak with Shaved Beet Salad and Tomato Salad with Olives and Lemon Zest (all from July/August 2009 Everyday Food).

This steak is so great, I put it right up against any rib eye I've ever loved and is hands down the best flank steak we've ever had. The marinade is quite similar to teriyaki and tastes restaurant-quality (very similar to the Keg's teriyaki) whipped up with all fridge and pantry staples. Just the right amount of sweet, salty and spicy. And all it will take is one bite of those caramelized edges to convince you of the same. 

Then we enjoyed a Shaved Beet Salad which made use of my amazing OXO mandoline slicer (thanks mom!). Orange and beet are a classic combination I almost can't imagine eating apart. This salad, while being a bit of a pain in the ass, was well worth the dirty work (just cut your losses and use rubber gloves when dealing with beets!). 

And finally the Tomato Salad with Olives and Lemon Zest. I made this quickly as a side using produce we had around. I didn't give this salad much of an expectation, but the combination of tomatoes, olives and lemon together set each other right off. This was great with grocery vine-ripened tomatoes, but I can hardly wait to try it again in August when field & heirloom tomatoes are in season. 

I'm so glad we discovered this meal early in the season because we will without a doubt enjoy all three again throughout the summer. If I was to ever recommend a meal to try this summer - this is the one.

pork and chorizo kebabs and french potato salad

This weeks dinners are exclusively the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food.

While busy cooking through the Everyday Food cookbooks, I let the magazine fall by the wayside. I remember getting issues in the mail, flipping through them, finding many recipes intriguing but never really jumping on board. Recently, I've been pulling out the corresponding months issues of Everyday Food dating back even 5 years when it comes time to plan dinners for the week. Then I can't hold back from the many, many different recipes I want to try. 

Tuesday night we decided to try the Pork and Chorizo Kebabs from this issue (and also included in the Everyday Food Light) with a side of French Potato Salad (this was the reader's published recipe) and Quinoa and Cucumber Salad (a summer staple we all enjoy since discovering it in Everyday Food Fresh Flavour Fast 2 years ago). Similar to tabbouleh, this quinoa salad is really good. I don't know how many times I've made it to use up extra parsley and cucumbers we have laying around.

We used a pork tenderloin and my in-laws chorizo for these kebabs and they are meat-madness! They came out looking like Brazilian Churrasco. Really tasty when you are having a spicy meat craving. Barbequing the chorizo dried out a little bit, but the pork was perfectly done. The potato salad is very reminiscent of a salad a neighbour of mine made when I was a child. Not to my taste when small, but super-nice as an adult. The dijon being the main flavour coming through, there isn't any sort of dairy or creamy element, so it's nice and light.

Owen was pretty funny with this dinner. We usually let him try everything in our dinners, and of course there is a reject pile. This dinner in particular (with all the onions, dijon and spice) didn't seem the most kid friendly, so I added peas to the quinoa salad and made that salad the main portion of his dinner. Since we eat something different everyday, Owen tries everything but he definitely loved this salad. He asked for some avocado to be added, so we did and he became very passionate about his concoction taking each bite with an over-the-top & passionate "mmmmm". 

strawberry ice cream pie

Happy Canada Day Long Weekend!!

Wow, what a weekend. This is the first official long weekend of the summer and it's always the weekend that feels the longest and most enjoyable because all three days are always jam packed with good times. In the middle of the long weekend we attended a pool party and we brought this Strawberry Ice Cream Pie.

A few years ago my grandmother brought this to a family gathering and I was in awe. My grandmother, who is a from-scratch baker, made this and all I could think was, "how did she manage to get such an intense strawberry flavour in this creamy jelletin?" Then I asked for the recipe and it dawned on me how 1950's it is. And by that I mean, my grandmothers who were products of the time, have many - many recipes that feature Jello and Cool Whip along other manufactured products of that era. Because this isn't some 'secret family recipe' I'll share it.

Strawberry Ice Cream Pie

1 graham cracker crust

1 pkg strawberry Jello

1 c boiling water

2 c vanilla ice cream, softened

1 1/2 c crushed fresh strawberries (plus more for garnish)

Dissolve Jello in boiling water. Spoon in softened ice cream a little at a time. Let set till consistency of egg whites (approx 20 mins). Fold in crushed berries and pour over graham cracker crust. Keep refrigerated and top with sliced berries before serving.

Note: For best results use real cream ice cream.  


Now for lots of images of our long weekend.

 

Municipal Beach in Port Weller St. Catharines and then from one end of the canal to the other at the H.H. Knoll Park in Port Colborne at the Flavour of Niagara Festival, Canada Day blueberry lemon johny cakes, bbq pool party with cousins, another afternoon swimming in the pool - and look, Owen's now swimming on his own (assisted by his many floaties)

rigatoni with sausage and parsley

This is last night's dinner of Rigatoni with Sausage and Parsley from Great Food Fast.

We used an Italian spiced chicken sausage for this dinner to keep it a little lighter. Using sausage instead of ground meat really is a great way of having built-in flavour without much effort in blending your own spices. So if you like the taste of a particular sausage on it's own, chances are it will make a great pasta sauce once removed from the casing and cooked in place of ground meat.

One major flaw in our technique was to not caramelize the red onions. The recipe isn't written to do this, and unknowingly, we followed it as instructed. But it would have been so much better if we'd only had the foresight to take that little extra time to get that caramelized onion flavour going on. But all in all this was a really nice pasta that I really think we'll make again come fall.

barley salad with chicken, corn and scallions

With our leftover chicken from the previous night's meal, we had Barley Salad with Chicken, Corn and Scallions from Everyday Food Light.

I felt like things could go either way with this dinner, but my expectations were leaning to the lower end of the spectrum. This dinner was easy enough to prepare, but took a while to cook the barley and roast the corn and scallions. Both tasks we could walk away from once a timer was set which is a rare kitchen luxury. Once complete it took a while to get the seasoning just right (needed a lot of salt), but when we got it, it was very tasty. Barley and corn are a great match together and the addition of scallions and parsley worked really well. I think this would taste even better with fresh basil added, although I doubt we'll have this again to ever give it a try.

grilled tuscan chicken with rosemary and lemon with grilled zucchini and squash

We are really enjoying grilling our meals. Truly, can you resist this weather? Perfect for cooking and eating outdoors. We made this Grilled Tuscan Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon with Grilled Zucchini and Squash from Great Food Fast.

Another exclusive to the barbeque dinner, this is a really nice way of enjoying the flavours you get from grilled food. The veggies are a combination of zucchini, summer squash, yellow and orange bell peppers with fresh basil. We bought a roaster chicken and I'm pleased to say my husband successfully butchered his first chicken. One whole chicken made so much chicken we ended up with plenty of leftovers.

garlic-marinated chicken cutlets with grilled potatoes

Our bbq is on overdrive these days. We've already blasted through an entire tank of propane in 3 weeks. But everything tastes so great grilled and this dinner of Garlic-Marinated Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Potatoes from Great Food Fast features an entire meal prepared on the grill.

To start, this recipe calls for chicken cutlets. I don't know what they are so we just took a boneless skinless breast of chicken and cut it in half (width-wise), into two thin pieces of chicken. There is a garlic marinade for the chicken that includes thyme, but where the recipe asks for fresh, we used dried. I really like thyme with chicken and thyme is one herb I prefer dried. The marinade looked a little muddy, but the taste was fantastic. The vegetables were grilled, and when complete, everything is served family-style. There is a final addition of a drizzle of Vinaigrette. This garlic vinaigrette is a necessary addition that adds such a nice flavour boost when drizzled over all three items which really helps bring everything together. We had the rest of this homemade vinaigrette on our salads for days and it really is a keeper of a recipe. 

Overall, a little bit of time and effort goes a long way with this dinner but I highly recommend trying it, especially if you're enjoying your bbq this time of year.