Some school lunches

So, after a few years i am back at school and this has made my lunches a little more challenging. I can't do what i used to- bring a few days of lunches and assembling them at work. I also have to carry them on the TTC, which makes me want smaller easier ones, as i have to take the containers back.

here is my version of greek salad

lunch ingredients

white bean and tuna salad ingredients

ready for school

Cheese Curds and Cottage Snacks

Some days, even at the cottage i'm not really in the mood to make exotic meals and just feel like snacking instead. And one of my favorite things to snack on is cheese. We had just found a place between Godham and Irondale that was called something like Highland Meats, and it was quite a nice surprise. I picked up a few things there and decided to make them a meal.

I've always liked baked brie with chutney, but i didn't have any chutney at the cottage, so i figured i could make some sort of compote with the nectarines i had handy. (plus they were sort of getting a little soft) I simply sauteed them with some white wine, cinnamon and a few other things till they broke down (i think there were candied pecans too - it was a few weeks ago). I then baked the brie until it was soft in the centre and topped with the "chutney". Pretty good for an impromptu snack.

Of course as that's not a meal we were hungry again.... hence my next snack. I'm calling this one my cottage version of Lick's Taters and Cream....


I used some of the Kabassa and cheese curds from the same market. I also sliced up some mini-potatoes into "fries" and baked them. For the Kabassa i took it out of its "skin" and cooked the slices in a small saute pan until they were crispier.

I topped the fires with the cheese curds we got

I then added some sour cream, red onions and the cooked kabassa.

Butter Tofu Nan Pizza

Okay, okay - i know i've been terrible with updating this blog. I am citing stress of grad school, new computer and eating only fried eggs. I do have some pictures which are lost on my "blue screen of death" computer - but i did promise this one - the butter tofu nan pizza. I will totally brag about this meal because it was AWESOME. Make it and people will be pretty impressed.

I used some extra firm tofu and used that bottled PC butter chicken sauce (the blue menu one, since that stuff is pretty rich). I sliced it into half inch rectangles and marinated it in the butter chicken sauce for about an hour. Rotating and reapplying - at room temperature. I then grilled it on the bbq, cooking it slightly, but more giving it marks and heating it through. I don't mind eating tofu raw, so i didn't grill it too much, since i think the marinade is more important, but you could bake this too.

Once the tofu was done, i spread more of the sauce on the nan, then topped it with thinly sliced mushroom, these little orange tomatoes and some red onions. I then cut the tofu into smaller pieces and added them to the nan along with a bit more sauce.

I did this one on the bbq, but i think it would be quite good if you did it in the oven (along with doing to tofu that way). Not to brag but this was a really good meal. I did have a lot of the butter chicken sauce left over - so i think this might be a great way to use up any extra sauce you might have after making butter chicken. You could also substitute chicken and bake/bbq it like i did the tofu.

See this entry was worth the wait!

Nan on the Bbq

I know - i am so obsessed with bbq pizza and nan - and this was probably my last weekend at the cottage (sob) so i really decided to give it a try. The first one was simple bruschetta style, but the second one i think i made something pretty exotic - and more importantly delicious. It was butter tofu (think butter chicken) nan pizza. So suffer through this simple one - which was super tasty anyway - so suck it up!

Here are the ingredients

bbqing

The finished product

The Kawartha Dairy

I personally cannot stand ice cream - never enjoyed it, but i am surrounded by people who like it. My father is an addict, and apparently i`m dating one too. As a treat on the way back from the cottage i took him to the actual Kawartha Dairy outside of Minden. You can get kwartha dairy ice cream at some specific places in the provinces - surprisingly one being a recently opened ice cream shop in the Junction, but i thought going to the home base would be fun.

They have the usual flabours, but also have ones that are just their own - Moose Tracks and Wolf Paws.

Watermelon and feta Salad

I had already taken one run at watermelon salad, and it was pretty good, but when i was heading up to the cottage, i stopped at the farmers market that i often do - and they had these melons called ``Sugar Babies`` so i thought i would try it again, but this time with a little sweeter ingredients.

Summer is ending so the veggies and fruits are becoming a little less exciting for me, but squash will be around soon, and it will be soup season.

For this version i used these sweet little orange tomatoes, i cut them, but you could almost eat them just like candies. I also added the watermelon, cucumber, feta and some mint. This time though i cut everything a little smaller as the last time it was good, but you weren`t getting the all of the flavours in each bite.

Pizza on the BBQ - new toppings

So operation new computer has finally been accomplished - of course i have a bunch of photos on my old one and i have to so some bribing to get these back. For now i had a few still on the computer. And yes, we are doing another pizza on the bbq. I don`t own my own bbq and this weather seems to be fading, so i`m taking advantage!

Also my mother had just bought a mandoline and we wanted to experiement. Verdit - great for tomatoes and onions, mushrooms... not so much

The meal

Ingredients (including heirloom tomatoes)

Assembly

Watermelon, feta and cucumber salad

Pizza number one - olives (on half) buffalo mozzarella, roasted red peppers

garlic and red onions

Number two - goat cheese, tomato sauce, asparagus (other things i can`t remember)

Steak and Corn - Simplicity on the Grill

I just had my computer give me the blue screen of death - i needed another one, so i must go shopping. The next few enteries will be brief until i can rescue all my pics and get a new computer so bear with me.

Roadside Deep Fried Mushrooms

Its always bitter sweet when i'm leaving the cottage - but nothing perks up the ride home like something deepfried and originating out of a trailer. I have my favorites, but i thought i woul try a place i always pass, and looks good, but never have. I was so happy to find out they serve deep fried mushrooms - something i used to always get at the Royal Winter Fair, but hadn't seen in a while!

They had a nice breading that had some chopped herbs in them and they served it with a great ranch sauce for dipping which i thought was a nice addition.

This place has a "functioning" lighthouse

A little too close to the eating area for my tastes

Squash Quesadillas and Shrimp tacos

I used to make squash enchilladas with a mixture of roasted squash, roasted garlic, chipotle and cream cheese - i decided to use some left over squash that we had baked and make quesadillas with these. I used a similar mixture, and grilled them. I served them with a lime chipotle sour cream. I also made shrimp tacos which were tasty as always!

For a side dish i made a black bean and corn salad. I added some cucumbers, cilantro, jaleponas and red onions. I basically used the sour cream dip from the squash and dressed the salad, using more lime that in the dip.

the roasted squash

Quesadilla ingredients (and a spritzer for the chef)

shrimp on the bbq

grilled shrimp

salad

taco toppings

finished quesadillas

Leek Soup

I know its not really soup season yet, but i was looking for something easy to make that would feed me for a few days - so i went with soup. The bonus of this was that i decided to use some of the excellent blue cheese left over from dinner earlier that week to make it special.

Chopped up veggies

Blending the soup

(i used medium tofu instead of cream)

soup