Treeplanting Lunch

It seemed very fitting that on the weekend of Earth Week i spent the time with my family planting over one hundred trees on my parents property in Mono. This was in part a re-forestation attempt as many of the trees are dying of some disease, but it was also a good thing to do for the earth. Planting trees is actually a lot of work, so a easy satisfying lunch was in order to keep our energies high.

I was part of the planting group, so i didn't have anything to do with the cheffing- that was left to my mother and sister - who presented quite a platter of sandwiches and salads along with some beer to motivate us to finish the job.

They made a variety of sandwiches:

Egg salad
Tuna salad
Ham & Swiss
Cajun Turkey & Havarti

The salads:

Fruit salad
A tex-mex rice and black bean salad



And of course some veggies.



Yum!

Cherry Blossoms in High Park and Pizza

High Park has a beautiful array of Cherry Blossoms - its a very popular week in the park when they are out. Eric had the day off, and i was in meetings downtown, so we decided to meet up take advantage of a lovely late afternoon and head down to the park, take pictures and enjoy the blossoms.

After the park, we headed back to my place where i thought i would try my hand at making pizzas. I was initially intended on doing an Indian version of the pizzas on Nan bread with a butter chicken sauce (without the chicken of course), but they didn't have any Nan at the grocery store. Its these moments, when you already have a particular recipe in mind that are tough - suddenly a main ingredient is MIA and now you have to try something else.

I wasn't in the mood to make dough from scratch - i picked this meal because it was easy! Eventually poking around the bread section (which isn't that great at my No Frills) i found these whole wheat pita/flat bread things and decided to give them a try. They were actually pretty good - not too thick, but held up and crisped up on the edges.

Unfortunately i also had to rethink all of my toppings - i thought i would do a really simple one with small really ripe tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil and roasted garlic, with a caesar salad on the side. Luckily the grocery store had all of these things, so i was able to complete this idea!

I began by roasting a whole head of garlic, and once it was done and cool enough to handle i removed the cloves and spread them on the bread. I then cut the tomatoes in half, and crushed them in my hand before laying them on the pizza. Since i wasn't using a tomato sauce, this will give the pizza some sauce like element. I then laid down the mozzarella and shredded basil.

I made two this way, and the third i decided to do something a little different and used the roasted garlic, mozzarella and pesto.

Pretty tasty little pizzas, and super easy too!

Above:

My dinner

Cooked pizzas

Toppings

Roasted Garlic

The table

BBQ at my sisters

Last sunday my sister decided to have a bbq as a part of a celebration of her sister-in-law's new clothing store opening. I had been up north, and headed down in the afternoon to give her a hand with some of the chopping and such. She had an afternoon wine and cheese with some people and then we headed out to the store - Circa 1975 in the Beaches.

Michelle had some great clothes and there was an excellent turn out of friends and family, all trying on clothes, sipping wine and snacking. After a couple of hours, and many dollars spent, we headed back to my sister's house to finish off the cheese and snacks and start the bbq.

There were an assortment of burgers - meat, chicken and veggie - along with the usual toppings and a lovely salad my sister makes. It is a spinach salad with lots of fruit (various berries and pineapple) along with these amazing candied walnuts which are soooo addictive.

Overall it was quite a success!

Above:

Colourful salad (with wedding album)

The burgers

Burger toppings

Veggies and spinach dip

Cheese!!!!

Sort of Caprese Lunch Salad

This is going to be a lazy post - i have a very busy day, and just realized i hadn't used these pictures that i had of a really good lunch i made while up in Mono. This was a take to work lunch which i didn't end up eating the day i had intended and it sat for another day which i think made it even better.

I found some pearl bococcini in my mom's fridge - which are so addictive. They are quite firm, so letting them sit in the dressing for an extra day only made them better. I like cheese in salads sometimes - and as you've probably guessed i'm a big fan of the Caprese style salad - this on was my rip off.

I simply cut some tomatoes in half added the pearl bococcini and some shredded basil. I dressed it in a bit of olive oil and a generous amount of balsamic. I added some finely sliced red onions and served the salad over a mix of arugula and spinach.

Nice lunch!

Above:

Close up of the salad

Packed lunch

Ingredients

Adventures in Meat - the cottage/Jarred edition

I spent another fabulous weekend up north and cooking. When i arrived and was putting some of the vegetables i brought away, i opened the fridge and was greeted by the smell of various types of meat. I always try to get the boys to eat veggies, but apparently they had been on Roncesvalles and had been to the butcher - there were big sausages, deli meat and a bag of mixed ground pork and beef.

After reeling back from the smell, i realized that this weekend was going to be a meat weekend, no matter what i did.

Friday the boys just did some of the sausages on a bun, i did make myself a salad and then had a little bit of sausage. I didn't know what the combo of pork and beef was for, but apparently Jarred had plans for a pasta sauce with three types of meat!!!!

For my contribution to the meal i made a greek salad, minus olives as someone at the table was picky. A plate of dips and sauces for breads, and finally i made a alfredo sauce with blanched asparagus for a small dish of veggie pasta.

Above:

Two types of ground meat

Dips and veggie pasta

Meat pasta

Garlic bread, salad and crostini

The table

Fish Tacos on a Rough Day

Food, as you are probably aware, is one of my obsessions, and really a good meal can totally change my mood. I had a pretty rough week, and was feeling a little isolated and sorry for myself, so i thought i would put the extra tortillas and black bean mango salsa back to work and make myself some fish tacos. Fish tacos can cheer me up any day - especially when i make them just like i want them.

I ended up using a frozen haddock fillet from the President's Choice Blue menu which is sort of a short cut, but i do like my fish breaded in the tacos - i've made it many ways, but the crunch is essential! The other essential with this dish is the cabbage/coleslaw - its a nice contrast to the fish, and is very Californian. I made this coleslaw with a light sour cream-lime dressing along with some jalapenos to spice it up.

I did this one deconstructed - putting everything out and assembling it. I also made myself a margarita to make the meal even more festive - bad mood solved!

Above:

Feel good meal
The fish
Ingredients (pretty simple)

Country Sandwiches

I don't really eat all that many sandwiches, in part because i never really have good bread at home, and i'm definitely a bread snob. I mean i tend to keep those Ace Bakery baguettes frozen, and some semi-stale rye in the fridge, but a good sandwich deserves some good bread. When i arrived at my parents to look after the place, my mom pointed out that there were two fresh rosemary focatia buns in the fridge that needed to be used. Always one to take a food hint, i was totally preoccupied with what kind of sandwiches to make.

Since my parents have a bbq i had been planning on doing a really nice grilled vegetable sandwich with maybe a pesto goat cheese, but when i was feeding the cat his tuna (yes the cat gets tuna - he's old and its the only thing he'll eat) I decided that i too wanted tuna. I then thought that i would make a tuna wasabi sandwich - but was disappointed to find out that i did not have any wasabi! I had to make something a little more usual. I did my regular tuna salad, onions and carrots with a dijonaise - and added tomatoes, cucumbers and an avocado spread. Pretty sweet actually.

It was my second sandwich that i really made something amazing. Quite a few times i had seen these specialty brown tomatoes - specialty tomatoes can be really tasty, but sometimes they are disappointing. These ones were on sale at Zehrs so i thought i would try them. I did them with avocado spread, extra-old white cheddar, basil and some arugula lightly dressed in a vinaigrette. This was possibly the best sandwich i'd ever had!

Above:

Fancy tomatoes
Ingredients
Tuna sandwich
Tuna ingredients
Best sandwich!

Dinner of a Chamption

Healthy Country Breakfast

Being out in the country makes me want to be healthy, especially in the mornings. The commute from Mono to my work is considerable - with lots of stop and go traffic (always fun in a standard). I need to eat breakfast or i'd end up killing someone on the road, and i thought that a nice breakfast of yogurt with granola, dried fruit, nuts, honey and fresh fruit would be just the thing.

My parents place has a "snack cupboard" which i guess is pretty healthy when you think about the contents - nuts (cashews, almonds), crackers, dried fruits (apricots, dates) along with some liquorice. The problem lies in the fact that i end up eating this stuff my the handful, and it becomes not so healthy when you realize that you've devoured two cups of cashews!!!! These ingredients mind you , in proportion, are very good and became the basis of my breakfast.

I initially made a pretty intricate and larger on on the weekend. I used pitted chopped dates, chopped apricots, raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds and whole almonds. For a little kick i added a bit of the Ace Bakery granola mix and finally topped it off with chopped banana and honey. After a little yoga, a walk with the dog and settling down with the paper and some coffee in the sun, this was an ideal breakfast.

This was so good i made a batch of the toppings (minus the fruit and honey) and kept it in the fridge so i could have a decent breakfast every morning - and something to sustain me on the drive.

Above:

Ingredients

My mom's cute horse napkins

Close up ingredients

Granola, coffee and the paper!

Catfish Tostada

So for the next week or so i am house/dog sitting for my parents in mono. My mom has an amazing kitchen with lots of nice gadgets along with my dream item - a gas stove. There isn't too much to do on ten acres by yourself, well except cook.

I was looking through some of my mom's Moosewood cookbooks, and saw quite a few recipes that interested me, but this one in particular caught my eye - Fish Tostadas. The recipe itself was pretty simple - as most tostadas are, and i thought i would use catfish, which is quite a tasty fish that doesn't really get used that often. In the supermarket fish section you often see it pre-seasoned either cajun or lemon pepper - i've never tried them, but heard the cajun is good.

I ended up buying a piece of unseasoned catfish which i first rubbed on both sides with a clove of cut garlic. I've used this technique before for bread, but never for fish. I then rubbed the fish with a mixture of ground corriander, cumin and salt and pepper. Once i put it on the foil (no need to ruin any of my mother's baking sheets) the recipe called for you to squeeze half a lemon over the fish, and then broil it, a few inches from the top for 9 to 12 minutes.

While the fish was cooking, i made a salsa. They had a number of salsa recipes mentioned in the cookbook, but i didn't quite have the ingredients for any particular one, so i made my own. Initially i was going to to a tomato based one (as you can see from the pictures) but changed my mind and did a black bean and mango salsa with red onions, coriander, red peppers and jalapenos. I do enjoy certain fruits with fish and this seemed like an opportunity to do one.

Once the fish was finished i heated a corn tortilla in oil, drained it and topped it with arugula, the fish and finally the black bean mango salsa. Voila Catfish Tostadas

Above:

The finished tostada

Some of the ingredients

The fish ready for the rub

The fish ready for the oven

Assembling the tostada

Easter Dinner at the Family

Last easter post - i promise - i know its a week late, but this was our late saturday night easter dinner.

Ribs

My family is traditional like that

Pavolova

Another Easter Classic...

The Table

Veggies of Course

Excellent Homemade Pecan Pie

The Spread

Salad for Balance