Sean and I are going to Montreal for the Labour Day long weekend and I'm looking for food suggestions. I don't know how many of you read this but the internet has provided slim pickings as I'm a little weary of the legitimacy of websites like about.com.
Typically when travelling to Montreal Sean and I hit all the normal spots like Fairmount Bagels and Smoked Meat Pete's but since it's been almost 3 years since my last visit, I'd like to a healthier tour this time around.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers! (Regular posting will resume tomorrow. I spent this evening putting together my first bookshelf from IKEA.)
August 22, 2010
August 17, 2010
BAKING LIFE, LOST AND BASIL
Um...have I been away that long? I guess so eh? I guess I have a LOT of catching up to do. Sadly there will not be an awesome food recap because I've been missing out on morning food photos. I blame Baking Life. It is the most addictive game for bakers. It falls under the same category as Cafe World and all those other games I can't remember the title of right now on Facebook. You basically do follow a bunch of steps in order to "level up" and you can customize your avatar and such. I never really played any of those games, not even FarmVille, up until a few weeks ago when I was home one weekend and bored out of my mind. Now I'm addicted to both and I don't know what to do about it. Or rather, I go through phases where I must bake my cakes and pies and plant my wheat and strawberries and pumpkins. And then there are other days where I don't give a damn because I'm too busy finishing up the last season of Lost with Sean.
He pre-ordered season six online and it arrived a couple of weeks early from the actual release date so we spent most of the weekend catching up. There were a few "snoozy" episodes but I've been reeled back in. We have less than five episodes left--eeps!
Did I ever mention that I have a basil plant? I picked it up at Longo's one evening when Sean and I were shopping for...oh, I was looking to get some fake crab from the salad bar. About 45 minutes later and $50 down the drain, I came out of the store with a basil plant and the Angostura Bitters I had been looking around for, for just about forever. (More on that later.) My basil plant is having is ups and downs. I suppose you could say it's going through its teenage years and does not want to listen to me. Or rather, the real problem is that white flies mysteriously took over and now I'm having a heck of a time getting rid of them. I'm watering regularly but hoping that some hot blistering sun will kill them off but not kill my basil plant. Note: I'm really good with outdoor plants but indoor plants in a pot, not so much. I don't really know how to care for them. I know you're supposed to water them regularly and keep them in sunlight but in a house without air conditioning, I have no idea how the humidity affects the plant. I suppose it should be better for them but for some reason it never works.
The only thing I haven't managed to kill is a basil cutting. A basil cutting, can you believe it? I actually managed to get roots to grow from one of those basil packages you buy at the grocery store. This was bought shortly before the basil plant was purchased. I actually bought the basil plant because I was tired of buying those $2-3 packages of herbs at Longo's and/or Loblaws only to use 1/4 of the entire thing and have the rest of it go to waste (ie: the compost bin). So I stuck a couple of sturdy stems in a small mug of water and changed the water on a daily basis and ta-da, before I knew roots appeared! Check 'em out:
Awesome, isn't it? I'm going to plant this stem in a pot of soil really soon. I'm really excited as this seems to be a different type of basil than the pot I purchased at Longo's.
So that's what I've been up to in a nut shell.
He pre-ordered season six online and it arrived a couple of weeks early from the actual release date so we spent most of the weekend catching up. There were a few "snoozy" episodes but I've been reeled back in. We have less than five episodes left--eeps!
Did I ever mention that I have a basil plant? I picked it up at Longo's one evening when Sean and I were shopping for...oh, I was looking to get some fake crab from the salad bar. About 45 minutes later and $50 down the drain, I came out of the store with a basil plant and the Angostura Bitters I had been looking around for, for just about forever. (More on that later.) My basil plant is having is ups and downs. I suppose you could say it's going through its teenage years and does not want to listen to me. Or rather, the real problem is that white flies mysteriously took over and now I'm having a heck of a time getting rid of them. I'm watering regularly but hoping that some hot blistering sun will kill them off but not kill my basil plant. Note: I'm really good with outdoor plants but indoor plants in a pot, not so much. I don't really know how to care for them. I know you're supposed to water them regularly and keep them in sunlight but in a house without air conditioning, I have no idea how the humidity affects the plant. I suppose it should be better for them but for some reason it never works.
The only thing I haven't managed to kill is a basil cutting. A basil cutting, can you believe it? I actually managed to get roots to grow from one of those basil packages you buy at the grocery store. This was bought shortly before the basil plant was purchased. I actually bought the basil plant because I was tired of buying those $2-3 packages of herbs at Longo's and/or Loblaws only to use 1/4 of the entire thing and have the rest of it go to waste (ie: the compost bin). So I stuck a couple of sturdy stems in a small mug of water and changed the water on a daily basis and ta-da, before I knew roots appeared! Check 'em out:
Awesome, isn't it? I'm going to plant this stem in a pot of soil really soon. I'm really excited as this seems to be a different type of basil than the pot I purchased at Longo's.So that's what I've been up to in a nut shell.
August 7, 2010
RECIPE: BLUEBERRY BANANA MUFFINS
I'm not really a fan of muffins. Their nutritional stats aren't that great and when compared with a cupcake, who wouldn't want a sugary treat topped with icing instead? Actually, I'm not a craver of sweets either but whatevs. Anyway, with a bunch of blueberries and bananas in the kitchen to use up, I got to what I do best: baking! Of course, this recipe was done almost three full weeks ago but whatevs (yet again).
The recipe is quick and easy if you have all the necessary items (if you're a healthy eater you'll probably have them all on-hand). I pulled these together in no-time. The hardest part was waiting for them to bake!
The recipe calls for buttermilk but I didn't have any (I never use buttermilk in recipes) so I subbed milk and vinegar) but then read the buttermilk alternative wrong so I poured that out and started again with milk and lemon juice but then I ran out of milk and used plain yogurt instead. The result was a super moist muffin with a little bit of texture from the cornmeal and plenty of taste from the blueberries and raspberries (frozen from the raspberry picking trip on Canada Day at Whittamore's).
Here are my muffins ready for the oven:
And after 28 minutes in the oven, here are the raspberry ones:
and the blueberry ones:
Aren't they delicious?
I opted not to top them with sugar as I would have liked since I wanted to share these with my dad who is watching his sugar intake. He's not full-blown diabetic but his life-long passion of seriously indulging his sweet tooth made him borderline diabetic, words from his doctor last fall. Since then, he's seriously curbed his sweet tooth, no longer indulging in any form of sweets (no sugar in his tea/coffee) and anything sweet he now thinks is sugar-overkill. It's kind of a hassle to bake for him but these muffins were a perfect treat. The tablespoon of honey and ripe bananas provided just the right amount of sweetness. They were also great as a breakfast treat, which I ended up enjoying them as for days to follow. They didn't keep in the fridge for very long so sharing is a must--even if you don't want to.
Berry-Banana Muffins
(adapted from Whole Living.com)
Ingredients:
- vegetable-oil cooking spray
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup + 2 tsp AP flour, feel free to use whole wheat
- 1 1/2 cups ripe bananas, mashed (approx. 3 large bananas)
- 1/4 cup yogurt + 1/4 milk and 2 Tbsp lemon juice)
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp sanding or turbinado sugar
Directions:
The recipe is quick and easy if you have all the necessary items (if you're a healthy eater you'll probably have them all on-hand). I pulled these together in no-time. The hardest part was waiting for them to bake!
The recipe calls for buttermilk but I didn't have any (I never use buttermilk in recipes) so I subbed milk and vinegar) but then read the buttermilk alternative wrong so I poured that out and started again with milk and lemon juice but then I ran out of milk and used plain yogurt instead. The result was a super moist muffin with a little bit of texture from the cornmeal and plenty of taste from the blueberries and raspberries (frozen from the raspberry picking trip on Canada Day at Whittamore's).
Here are my muffins ready for the oven:
And after 28 minutes in the oven, here are the raspberry ones:
and the blueberry ones:
Aren't they delicious?
I opted not to top them with sugar as I would have liked since I wanted to share these with my dad who is watching his sugar intake. He's not full-blown diabetic but his life-long passion of seriously indulging his sweet tooth made him borderline diabetic, words from his doctor last fall. Since then, he's seriously curbed his sweet tooth, no longer indulging in any form of sweets (no sugar in his tea/coffee) and anything sweet he now thinks is sugar-overkill. It's kind of a hassle to bake for him but these muffins were a perfect treat. The tablespoon of honey and ripe bananas provided just the right amount of sweetness. They were also great as a breakfast treat, which I ended up enjoying them as for days to follow. They didn't keep in the fridge for very long so sharing is a must--even if you don't want to.
Berry-Banana Muffins(adapted from Whole Living.com)
Ingredients:
- vegetable-oil cooking spray
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup + 2 tsp AP flour, feel free to use whole wheat
- 1 1/2 cups ripe bananas, mashed (approx. 3 large bananas)
- 1/4 cup yogurt + 1/4 milk and 2 Tbsp lemon juice)
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp sanding or turbinado sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper liners; coat liners with cooking spray.
- Whisk together cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 cup flour. In a large bowl, stir together bananas, buttermilk, rice syrup or honey, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla. Fold cornmeal mixture into banana mixture just until combined. Toss blueberries with remaining 2 teaspoons flour, and gently fold into batter.
- Spoon batter into prepared tin, filling to the brims. Sprinkle each muffin with sugar (optional). Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of 1 comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. (Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)
July 31, 2010
FOOD RECAP
It's going to be a post-o-rama today! I'm at Sean's house and while he's sleeping, I've got a whole bunch of posts lined up for you to enjoy today, beginning with a food recap. You've got to get through the boring stuff before you get to the good stuff, alright?
23rd...Friday
I only have one photo from Friday...a pic from dinner that Sean and I made at his place using the BBQ. Or really, I prepped the veg and Sean did all the meat and grilling. This is what we had to eat:
Grilled pineapple rings, veggie kebabs (mushrooms, red/yellow pepper and red onion), chicken wings and pork ribs. There was also fresh corn and salad. I skipped on the salad and ate my corn while Sean chose vice-versa. It was fantastic Friday food but too much food. I clearly have issues with cooking for two. The other problem is pre-packaged meat at grocery stores. In fact, that's what I'm going to blame my problem on: the grocery store.
===
24th...Saturday
I spent Saturday making cupcakes and prosciutto and grape crostinis with Sean for our mutual friend's condo-warming party. She and her common-law husband had bought their condo six months ago but were finally ready to celebrate these weekend. After a mass email and one person who decided to up the ante, I told Sean we had to go "balls to the wall" and knock everyone's socks off. So after browsing a whole lotta websites, we settled on prosciutto and grape crostinis. Here they are in all their iPhone glory (ugh!):
The making of said crostini involves slicing white bread baguette into 1/4" slices, brushing with olive oil and toasting in the oven for 5 minutes. In the meanwhile, saute some grapes in olive oil and after a five or so minutes, take off heat and add balsamic. (Sean and I forgot to pick some up from the grocery store so we used some kind of wine vinegar instead.) Once the toast has cooled, you then place a basil leaf on top, spread on some goat cheese, layer on a half slice of prosciutto and then place some grapes on top. It was delicious and addictive and the favourite of some of the guests in attendance.
Here are the two dozen triple vanilla cupcakes I also made:
Operation Cook To Impress: Complete!
Once back home, Sean and I had leftovers for dinner while we wached The Yes Men Fix The World and then half of My Neighbor Totoro. Leftover ribs and wings (Sean had the ribs while I had the wings):
My salad (store-bought mix with Ontario peach):
Sean also had a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread:
I can't remember what kind of cheese he used but there were at least two types. One was a Danish cream cheese. We spent the evening finishing off My Neighbor Totoro (Japanese version with English subs)
===
25th...Sunday
The day's eats began with a late breakfast/lunch:
Two eggs sunnyside-up, three leftover crostinis, a peach and two slices of sourdough bread. Yummy and filling!
Sean and I then headed downtown to Ed's Real Scoop for some ice cream. They didn't have the flavour I really wanted (mojito) so I rolled with the Macaroon flavour (finely shredded coconut and finely grated flakes of chocolate) while Sean had the Stout, which was flavoured with Guinness. I really liked mine (which had a lot of taste but Sean's was really good and smooth). Afterwards we decided to try our luck at BBQ ribs from The Stockyards only to arrive there shortly after 5:30 with their kitchen closed. Thank goodness ribs were still being served! We ended up getting a rack of ribs:
a fried chicken (which I think was actually a half of a whole):
potato salad (herbed, non-dairy):
and a buttermilk biscuit:
All together now (with half an ear of leftover corn):
Unfortunately the woman behind the counter couldn't guarantee the free-range-ness of the chicken (and she seemed so unwilling to find out, bummer) so Sean only let me have a small bite. It was really good (but a little cold so the skin was no longer crispy). This was after I asked Sean how it was was and his response was "sorry, but it's really good." The potato salad was to-die-for. Seriously. I was kind of obsessed. It had mustard seed, lemon, mint and something else (maybe) and it was just so darn good. Oh and the ribs? I wasn't totally crazy about them. They were a little too peppery for my tastes. Like there was a bit of a peppery aftertaste that I wasn't crazy about. Sean and I did drive all the way back to Stouffville so they were a little cold but still, they were good, just not totally awesome.
We had our meal with local beer:
That would be Mill St. Lemon Tea Beer. It was really smooth and I mean really, really smooth. Any beer that is really, really smooth is considered dangerous by me. But I still drink beer really, really slowly--especially when I eat. Blueberry vodka and lemonade is still my drink of choice.
===
26th...
Lunch was rib and potato salad leftovers from The Stockyards. No photo as I was in a rush in the morning and it ain't nothing you ain't seen before. See above. After work I went blackberry picking in our backyard. We have tons of these beauties popping up all over two huge bushes:
And this was my haul after picking from one bush:
That's a little under 1.5lbs of berries! This is THE best summer for blackberries I've ever experienced. Of course, it just had to be the worst summer for me yet, and the summer that Sean declared that he officially hates summer but the apricots and blackberries have been amazing!
Sean had made me some homemade burgers (beef seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme) that I was supposed to take to Clarissa's condo-warming party but with everything going on, we forgot. So instead my dad cooked 'em up for me and I enjoyed one for dinner. I started out with a sandwich thin that I spread with goat cheese and basil:
and then topped with my homemade burger patty:
with the addition of fresh blackberries and grapes from Ontario, it was a delicious meal:
===
27th...Tuesday
No food photos but lots of strawberry picking photos! Sean and I went strawberry picking at Whittamore's for the second time this year in hopes of getting some awesome autumn strawberries. We also *had* to go on this particular day because it was the last day they'd be open late (until 8pm). Starting the next day they'd only be open from 9am to 5pm. Seriously, who decreases the hours of a pick-your-own so early in the summer? I suppose it has something to do with our ridiculously hot summer and the ridiculously good and early crop of produce, but still. Some people work until 5:30pm!
Anyway, here's a plethora of photos from the event. Sean with the ultimate strawberry:
The fields:
A berry close-up:
Flowers waiting to become berries:
These strawberries were amazing and totally made up for the disaster that was strawberry picking on Canada Day. Back then, Sean and I only picked a $1.90 worth of strawberries. This day, we managed to pick a little bit shy of $19. Happy doesn't even begin to explain my reaction.
===
28th...Wednesday
All I've got is dinner, which was kind of indulgent and therefore spectacular:
Roasted organic chicken quarter with roast potatoes and Chinese broccoli. Awesome! Any time I get to eat roast chicken is truly an indulgent meal. (You know it must be awesome when I post a large version of a truly horrendous photo. Do not click to see a large version, it's not in focus!)
===
29th...Thursday
Lunch was leftovers from the previous night's dinner:
Thigh part of the roast organic chicken with roast potatoes. Fruit included everything local:
Blackberries from the garden, strawberries from Whittamore's and peaches from Ontario. A+ meal.
===
30th...it was a No Photo Friday
===
31st...Saturday
Just had lunch which was...check it out:
Kraft Dinner with a salad! Yep, that's right, sometimes this girl gets down and dirty with the blue box. But to keep things "healthy" (or just to make myself feel better), I decided to serve it alongside a salad of mixed greens, cucumbers and an Ontario peach (buried at the bottom).
That's it...stay tuned for more!
23rd...Friday
I only have one photo from Friday...a pic from dinner that Sean and I made at his place using the BBQ. Or really, I prepped the veg and Sean did all the meat and grilling. This is what we had to eat:
Grilled pineapple rings, veggie kebabs (mushrooms, red/yellow pepper and red onion), chicken wings and pork ribs. There was also fresh corn and salad. I skipped on the salad and ate my corn while Sean chose vice-versa. It was fantastic Friday food but too much food. I clearly have issues with cooking for two. The other problem is pre-packaged meat at grocery stores. In fact, that's what I'm going to blame my problem on: the grocery store.===
24th...Saturday
I spent Saturday making cupcakes and prosciutto and grape crostinis with Sean for our mutual friend's condo-warming party. She and her common-law husband had bought their condo six months ago but were finally ready to celebrate these weekend. After a mass email and one person who decided to up the ante, I told Sean we had to go "balls to the wall" and knock everyone's socks off. So after browsing a whole lotta websites, we settled on prosciutto and grape crostinis. Here they are in all their iPhone glory (ugh!):
The making of said crostini involves slicing white bread baguette into 1/4" slices, brushing with olive oil and toasting in the oven for 5 minutes. In the meanwhile, saute some grapes in olive oil and after a five or so minutes, take off heat and add balsamic. (Sean and I forgot to pick some up from the grocery store so we used some kind of wine vinegar instead.) Once the toast has cooled, you then place a basil leaf on top, spread on some goat cheese, layer on a half slice of prosciutto and then place some grapes on top. It was delicious and addictive and the favourite of some of the guests in attendance.Here are the two dozen triple vanilla cupcakes I also made:
Operation Cook To Impress: Complete!Once back home, Sean and I had leftovers for dinner while we wached The Yes Men Fix The World and then half of My Neighbor Totoro. Leftover ribs and wings (Sean had the ribs while I had the wings):
My salad (store-bought mix with Ontario peach):
Sean also had a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread:
I can't remember what kind of cheese he used but there were at least two types. One was a Danish cream cheese. We spent the evening finishing off My Neighbor Totoro (Japanese version with English subs)===
25th...Sunday
The day's eats began with a late breakfast/lunch:
Two eggs sunnyside-up, three leftover crostinis, a peach and two slices of sourdough bread. Yummy and filling!Sean and I then headed downtown to Ed's Real Scoop for some ice cream. They didn't have the flavour I really wanted (mojito) so I rolled with the Macaroon flavour (finely shredded coconut and finely grated flakes of chocolate) while Sean had the Stout, which was flavoured with Guinness. I really liked mine (which had a lot of taste but Sean's was really good and smooth). Afterwards we decided to try our luck at BBQ ribs from The Stockyards only to arrive there shortly after 5:30 with their kitchen closed. Thank goodness ribs were still being served! We ended up getting a rack of ribs:
a fried chicken (which I think was actually a half of a whole):
potato salad (herbed, non-dairy):
and a buttermilk biscuit:
All together now (with half an ear of leftover corn):
Unfortunately the woman behind the counter couldn't guarantee the free-range-ness of the chicken (and she seemed so unwilling to find out, bummer) so Sean only let me have a small bite. It was really good (but a little cold so the skin was no longer crispy). This was after I asked Sean how it was was and his response was "sorry, but it's really good." The potato salad was to-die-for. Seriously. I was kind of obsessed. It had mustard seed, lemon, mint and something else (maybe) and it was just so darn good. Oh and the ribs? I wasn't totally crazy about them. They were a little too peppery for my tastes. Like there was a bit of a peppery aftertaste that I wasn't crazy about. Sean and I did drive all the way back to Stouffville so they were a little cold but still, they were good, just not totally awesome.We had our meal with local beer:
That would be Mill St. Lemon Tea Beer. It was really smooth and I mean really, really smooth. Any beer that is really, really smooth is considered dangerous by me. But I still drink beer really, really slowly--especially when I eat. Blueberry vodka and lemonade is still my drink of choice.===
26th...
Lunch was rib and potato salad leftovers from The Stockyards. No photo as I was in a rush in the morning and it ain't nothing you ain't seen before. See above. After work I went blackberry picking in our backyard. We have tons of these beauties popping up all over two huge bushes:
And this was my haul after picking from one bush:
That's a little under 1.5lbs of berries! This is THE best summer for blackberries I've ever experienced. Of course, it just had to be the worst summer for me yet, and the summer that Sean declared that he officially hates summer but the apricots and blackberries have been amazing!Sean had made me some homemade burgers (beef seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme) that I was supposed to take to Clarissa's condo-warming party but with everything going on, we forgot. So instead my dad cooked 'em up for me and I enjoyed one for dinner. I started out with a sandwich thin that I spread with goat cheese and basil:
and then topped with my homemade burger patty:
with the addition of fresh blackberries and grapes from Ontario, it was a delicious meal:
===27th...Tuesday
No food photos but lots of strawberry picking photos! Sean and I went strawberry picking at Whittamore's for the second time this year in hopes of getting some awesome autumn strawberries. We also *had* to go on this particular day because it was the last day they'd be open late (until 8pm). Starting the next day they'd only be open from 9am to 5pm. Seriously, who decreases the hours of a pick-your-own so early in the summer? I suppose it has something to do with our ridiculously hot summer and the ridiculously good and early crop of produce, but still. Some people work until 5:30pm!
Anyway, here's a plethora of photos from the event. Sean with the ultimate strawberry:
The fields:
A berry close-up:
Flowers waiting to become berries:
These strawberries were amazing and totally made up for the disaster that was strawberry picking on Canada Day. Back then, Sean and I only picked a $1.90 worth of strawberries. This day, we managed to pick a little bit shy of $19. Happy doesn't even begin to explain my reaction.===
28th...Wednesday
All I've got is dinner, which was kind of indulgent and therefore spectacular:
Roasted organic chicken quarter with roast potatoes and Chinese broccoli. Awesome! Any time I get to eat roast chicken is truly an indulgent meal. (You know it must be awesome when I post a large version of a truly horrendous photo. Do not click to see a large version, it's not in focus!)===
29th...Thursday
Lunch was leftovers from the previous night's dinner:
Thigh part of the roast organic chicken with roast potatoes. Fruit included everything local:
Blackberries from the garden, strawberries from Whittamore's and peaches from Ontario. A+ meal.===
30th...it was a No Photo Friday
===
31st...Saturday
Just had lunch which was...check it out:
Kraft Dinner with a salad! Yep, that's right, sometimes this girl gets down and dirty with the blue box. But to keep things "healthy" (or just to make myself feel better), I decided to serve it alongside a salad of mixed greens, cucumbers and an Ontario peach (buried at the bottom).That's it...stay tuned for more!
July 26, 2010
BREAD-O-RAMA!
It probably comes as no surprise that I don't eat a lot of bread. For one thing, I'd rather consume my carbs in the form of noodles. Secondly, white bread just doesn't do it for me. Thirdly, I can only eat nitrite/nitrate-free deli meat. So yeah, unless I'm having some high-end gourmet deli sandwich (that costs around $9 and I've made it myself), the chances of me showing you sliced bread on this blog is slim to none.
But now I take that all back because look at all the bread I bought in the span of less than 72 hours. I present to you Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin Seed:
Longo's Artisan White Baguette:
and finally, Longo's Semolina Raisin:
The latter ended up being my fave and the most costly. Le sigh. I totally picked up that bread without knowing the cost. You just ask for it from behind the counter and the Longo's employee can slice it for you and then places it within the priced bag. Oops!
My favourite way to indulge in these three breads is as follows:
But now I take that all back because look at all the bread I bought in the span of less than 72 hours. I present to you Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin Seed:
Longo's Artisan White Baguette:
and finally, Longo's Semolina Raisin:
The latter ended up being my fave and the most costly. Le sigh. I totally picked up that bread without knowing the cost. You just ask for it from behind the counter and the Longo's employee can slice it for you and then places it within the priced bag. Oops!My favourite way to indulge in these three breads is as follows:
- Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin seed - with Earth Balance (preferably soy-free but I haven't been able to find it so I'm slowly using up the Buttery flavour) or with Dark Chocolate Dreams (mmm....chocolate peanut butter)
- Artisan Baguette - basically the same as above or with fresh basil, goat cheese, prosciutto and sauteed grapes. It sounds weird but is SO good. Plus, it was a hit at a condo-warming party Sean and I attended this past weekend.
- Semolina Raisin - plain, with Earth Balance or with DCD. Seriously this raisin bread rocks my world but I think I just love raisin bread in general.
July 22, 2010
FOOD RECAP
It's been a week since the last food recap but certainly not since the last post--thank goodness! Can you believe that the past few posts have all featured recipes--what a miracle! Anyway, let's get down to business!
15th...Thursday
I had that awesome avocado-cucumber soup I blogged about separately. It truly was awesome. Sadly I have not had the opportunity to re-create since then because avocados do not feature prominently in my household. For shame! That will definitely change when Sean and I move in together. Pears and apples will go the way of the Dodo bird to make room for avocados.
===
16th...Friday
I already blogged about this lunch but here's the reasoning behind it. I wanted to keep lunch super healthy because I knew I would hanging out with Sean after work and hanging out with Sean *typically* involves unhealthy eating. Sean's not unhealthy per se, it's just that his fridge is not always stocked (at all or with foods that I can eat, read: yogurt that contains migraine-inducing ingredients, caffeine-free, diet Coke, etc) so I made a conscious effort to keep one meal super healthy. As a result, lunch was the following, leftover avocado-cucumber soup:
Red kidney beans:
Fruit:
Sean and I grabbed burgers at Johnny's Burger and then rushed to the theatre to watch Inception. It is definitely worth the current 9.3 rating on IMDB. Seriously. I'm sorry to say that I didn't have high hopes for this movie. I kept seeing a terrible commercial for it on TV (the practically 30-second spot with 3 phrases featuring Leo and Ellen was hardly a draw-in) but Sean was all ga-ga about it when he found out what the movie was all about and we just HAD to see it opening night. We grabbed popcorn and Coke and grabbed our seats (the theatre was packed!) and 2.5 hours later, I was a happy camper! That movie was awesome! I totally want to see it again.
===
17th...Saturday
There was a lot of bread eaten on Saturday. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that's not the norm. Saturday just ended up being one of those "bready" kind of days. It all started with a grilled portobello mushroom and zucchini "sandwich."
That's a huge bun, I know. I ended up having to smush the bun down with my hand before actually eating it. It was so good! It's been ages since I've had bread! I opted to wash my bread down with watermelon lime juice:
Refreshing, ain't it?
Well if would be if you could drink from your computer screen. Trust me, it was. I blended about 2 cups of ripe watermelon, a whole lotta lime (I'm kind of obsessed with lime) and some ice cubes together to make it really cold. Delish!
Then a couple hours later I thought it was pertinent to consume more bread:
So I had breakfast after lunch. Oops! Half a bread bun with an egg with salt and pepper. Good but I'm really not a fan of pepper. I try to like it but I just don't. Later in the afternoon I had me some fresh apricots from our very own apricot tree! Check it out:
And of course, what Saturday wouldn't be complete without blackberries from our very own blackberries bushes:
That's just blackberry and look at how huge it is! The blackberries are thriving this year and they're gigantic. They're so good. Sean and I already went blackberry picking once. I'm going about once every couple of days now. I think soon I'm going to have to go every day.
===
18th...Sunday
Unfortunately all I've got from Sunday are two photos. Exhibit A: watermelon chunks for a hot summer day:
Exhibit B: apricots from the backyard and blueberries:
I'm certain that more food was consumed, I just can't remember what any of it was. Oops!
===
19th...Monday
Breakfast on Monday was half a blueberry banana muffin and one raspberry banana muffin:
The half was actually leftover from the night before (ha! there's another thing I ate on Sunday). Lunch was a case of "that looks gross but tastes good." I made whole wheat linguine with beef sausage cooked in blueberries and maple syrup. Along with that I have zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and some onion:
Sides included cucumber slices and bleached carrot sticks:
Fruits included cherries and strawberries:
It wasn't too busy at work but I was famished by the time I got home so I quickly made a snack while I got dinner ready. I had half a whole grain sandwich thin with almond butter and sliced strawberries:
Dinner was ready an hour later and I had a luxurious meal to enjoy:
Roasted organic chicken leg and thigh with roast potatoes and broccoli. I ended up seasoning the chicken with extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt. I seasoned the potatoes with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and lots of dried thyme. It was delicious!! After dinner I had a couple slices of watermelon:
And then went blackberry pickin' in the backyard:
===
20th...Tuesday
Home from work with a very severe migraine. No photos. At all.
===
21st...Wednesday
Sometimes recipes seem like a good idea. Case in point: panzanella salad. Bread in a salad? Awesome. Except that I don't really like bread or tomatoes, which typically feature prominently in panzanella salads. What was a girl to do? Improvise? Why of course! So here I present to you, Dominique's Panzanella Flop:
Canellini beans, cucumber, sliced black olives and baked bread chunks. Um yeah, not so good. In theory it was a good idea but the bread were pretty much huge croutons, which were awesome but the black olives (from a can) gave me a migraine or so I think. I had actually made this meal on Monday evening and had a massive migraine the next day. I couldn't even get out of bed. I'm not 100% sure if it was the olives but I wasn't willing to eat this salad again so I ate the croutons and most of the cucumber and that was it. Thank goodness for the following: 
Roasted potatoes that I had made the night before! Whew, nothing like a bunch of carbs to save the day. Along with that I had some backyard fruit, apricots and blackberries:
===
22nd...Thursday
First breakfast on Thursday was...interesting. Hahaha, just kidding. It was delicious! Two slices of raisin bread with a smashed apricot on top. Check it out:
Who needs jam when your apricots are so ripe and sweet already? Second breakfast was just as good and featuring more apricots:
Instant oats with Lindt Sea Salt, apricots and blackberries. Delicious! That bowl is my favourite way to eat my oats. For some reason it tricks my brain into actually finishing off my oatmeal. Lunch featured even more apricots. First off, I had dad's leftovers: basmati with beef curry:
There's a piece of beef in there somewhere. Mostly it's chayote with peas and carrots. Fruits: backyard blackberries and apricots:
And a homemade quinoa and oats power bar:
I made these from fANNEtastic food's recipe for Cranberry Quinoa Peanut Butter Power Bars. I highly adapted the recipe by using almond butter instead of PB and omitting the cranberries for dried cherries as well as forgetting the flaxseed and cinnamon and adding some organic toasted shredded coconut.
Dinner for the day was dad's beef and tomato sauce but I served mine with elbow macaroni:
And that's it--for now!
15th...Thursday
I had that awesome avocado-cucumber soup I blogged about separately. It truly was awesome. Sadly I have not had the opportunity to re-create since then because avocados do not feature prominently in my household. For shame! That will definitely change when Sean and I move in together. Pears and apples will go the way of the Dodo bird to make room for avocados.
===
16th...Friday
I already blogged about this lunch but here's the reasoning behind it. I wanted to keep lunch super healthy because I knew I would hanging out with Sean after work and hanging out with Sean *typically* involves unhealthy eating. Sean's not unhealthy per se, it's just that his fridge is not always stocked (at all or with foods that I can eat, read: yogurt that contains migraine-inducing ingredients, caffeine-free, diet Coke, etc) so I made a conscious effort to keep one meal super healthy. As a result, lunch was the following, leftover avocado-cucumber soup:
Red kidney beans:
Fruit:
Sean and I grabbed burgers at Johnny's Burger and then rushed to the theatre to watch Inception. It is definitely worth the current 9.3 rating on IMDB. Seriously. I'm sorry to say that I didn't have high hopes for this movie. I kept seeing a terrible commercial for it on TV (the practically 30-second spot with 3 phrases featuring Leo and Ellen was hardly a draw-in) but Sean was all ga-ga about it when he found out what the movie was all about and we just HAD to see it opening night. We grabbed popcorn and Coke and grabbed our seats (the theatre was packed!) and 2.5 hours later, I was a happy camper! That movie was awesome! I totally want to see it again.===
17th...Saturday
There was a lot of bread eaten on Saturday. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that's not the norm. Saturday just ended up being one of those "bready" kind of days. It all started with a grilled portobello mushroom and zucchini "sandwich."
That's a huge bun, I know. I ended up having to smush the bun down with my hand before actually eating it. It was so good! It's been ages since I've had bread! I opted to wash my bread down with watermelon lime juice:
Refreshing, ain't it?
Well if would be if you could drink from your computer screen. Trust me, it was. I blended about 2 cups of ripe watermelon, a whole lotta lime (I'm kind of obsessed with lime) and some ice cubes together to make it really cold. Delish!Then a couple hours later I thought it was pertinent to consume more bread:
So I had breakfast after lunch. Oops! Half a bread bun with an egg with salt and pepper. Good but I'm really not a fan of pepper. I try to like it but I just don't. Later in the afternoon I had me some fresh apricots from our very own apricot tree! Check it out:
And of course, what Saturday wouldn't be complete without blackberries from our very own blackberries bushes:
That's just blackberry and look at how huge it is! The blackberries are thriving this year and they're gigantic. They're so good. Sean and I already went blackberry picking once. I'm going about once every couple of days now. I think soon I'm going to have to go every day.===
18th...Sunday
Unfortunately all I've got from Sunday are two photos. Exhibit A: watermelon chunks for a hot summer day:
Exhibit B: apricots from the backyard and blueberries:
I'm certain that more food was consumed, I just can't remember what any of it was. Oops!===
19th...Monday
Breakfast on Monday was half a blueberry banana muffin and one raspberry banana muffin:
The half was actually leftover from the night before (ha! there's another thing I ate on Sunday). Lunch was a case of "that looks gross but tastes good." I made whole wheat linguine with beef sausage cooked in blueberries and maple syrup. Along with that I have zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and some onion:
Sides included cucumber slices and bleached carrot sticks:
Fruits included cherries and strawberries:
It wasn't too busy at work but I was famished by the time I got home so I quickly made a snack while I got dinner ready. I had half a whole grain sandwich thin with almond butter and sliced strawberries:
Dinner was ready an hour later and I had a luxurious meal to enjoy:
Roasted organic chicken leg and thigh with roast potatoes and broccoli. I ended up seasoning the chicken with extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt. I seasoned the potatoes with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and lots of dried thyme. It was delicious!! After dinner I had a couple slices of watermelon:
And then went blackberry pickin' in the backyard:
===
20th...Tuesday
Home from work with a very severe migraine. No photos. At all.
===
21st...Wednesday
Sometimes recipes seem like a good idea. Case in point: panzanella salad. Bread in a salad? Awesome. Except that I don't really like bread or tomatoes, which typically feature prominently in panzanella salads. What was a girl to do? Improvise? Why of course! So here I present to you, Dominique's Panzanella Flop:
Canellini beans, cucumber, sliced black olives and baked bread chunks. Um yeah, not so good. In theory it was a good idea but the bread were pretty much huge croutons, which were awesome but the black olives (from a can) gave me a migraine or so I think. I had actually made this meal on Monday evening and had a massive migraine the next day. I couldn't even get out of bed. I'm not 100% sure if it was the olives but I wasn't willing to eat this salad again so I ate the croutons and most of the cucumber and that was it. Thank goodness for the following: 
Roasted potatoes that I had made the night before! Whew, nothing like a bunch of carbs to save the day. Along with that I had some backyard fruit, apricots and blackberries:
===22nd...Thursday
First breakfast on Thursday was...interesting. Hahaha, just kidding. It was delicious! Two slices of raisin bread with a smashed apricot on top. Check it out:
Who needs jam when your apricots are so ripe and sweet already? Second breakfast was just as good and featuring more apricots:
Instant oats with Lindt Sea Salt, apricots and blackberries. Delicious! That bowl is my favourite way to eat my oats. For some reason it tricks my brain into actually finishing off my oatmeal. Lunch featured even more apricots. First off, I had dad's leftovers: basmati with beef curry:
There's a piece of beef in there somewhere. Mostly it's chayote with peas and carrots. Fruits: backyard blackberries and apricots:
And a homemade quinoa and oats power bar:
I made these from fANNEtastic food's recipe for Cranberry Quinoa Peanut Butter Power Bars. I highly adapted the recipe by using almond butter instead of PB and omitting the cranberries for dried cherries as well as forgetting the flaxseed and cinnamon and adding some organic toasted shredded coconut.Dinner for the day was dad's beef and tomato sauce but I served mine with elbow macaroni:
And that's it--for now!
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