Jaipur Vegetables on Quinoa

Days 230-234

I clicked on the blog and saw that my last entry was on Monday June 8th, the last day of normalcy, work-wise. Tuesday it was announced that we needed to work some OT so I have put in 10 and 12 hour days since then and the blog took a bit of a hit. I did remember to at least take a picture of dinner every night.

Jaipur Vegetables on Quinoa

When you work 12 hours, and sleep 7 hours, spend at least 1 hour getting ready and 30-40 minutes traveling, there isn't a lot of time left for life!

I took today off, but tomorrow (Sunday) I'm right back at it from 11-6. There's a rumor going around that it's Samosa Night, so dinner will be waiting when I get home. WOOT!

Tuesday June 9

Mini Pizzas

Old standby. Laura made these and they were fantastic. I was almost too tired to care if they were even good, but I appreciated their fantastic-ness immensely.

Mini pizzas

Wednesday June 10

Sweet Balsamic Marinara Rigatoni

After my first 12 hour day, Laura made this meal and it was sooo good. She makes good sauce. I ate, walked the dog and went to bed. Sooo tired. TG Laura fed me.

Sweet balsamic marinara rigatoni

Thursday, June 11

Egg Salad Sandwiches

We decided on egg salad for supper in order to get two birds stoned at once (Ricky-ism). That way we also had something to take for lunches. And, egg salad is yummy.

Egg salad sandwiches

Friday, June 12

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole

This dinner was courtesy of Joanne Hawkyard, who made it for potluck and an extra small one just for us. How thoughtful is that? Let me tell you, after my week of OT, it couldn't have been more appreciated, and it was very delicious. Thank you, Joanne!

Cheesy broccoli rice casserole

Saturday June 13

Jaipur Vegetables on Quinoa

Today, I cooked a pot of quinoa and opened a packet of sauce to have on it. Nothing fancy at all, but it was good, nutritious and filling.

Quinoa

Jaipur Vegetables

Jaipur Vegetables on quinoa

Reviews/Comments

The Jaipur Vegetables were good. Spicy. I rate it a 7 and so does Laura.

Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom Gravy & Corn-on-the-Cob

Day 229

My turn to cook tonight, so I decided on potatoes. I let Laura decide the rest. For some reason, deciding what to have is hard, and it's always nice to be told what to make. "Make me some corn!" "Okay!"

Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom Gravy

& Corn-on-the-Cob

Mashed Potatoes

I wanted to make enough to take for lunch tomorrow too, so I boiled about 6 small - medium potatoes until soft, then mashed and whipped them. Not much else to say about the taters.

Mashed potatoes

Mushroom Gravy

I looked up a few gravy recipes. I mean, we have a lot of things here to flavor food, between sauces, herbs, spices, condiments, etc. What we didn't have on hand is the main thing we would have used for the broth: vegetable broth. That's the only reason I googled some recipes. After reading several, I decided not to use any and borrow an idea here and a good thought there. Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients
1/2 onion
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms
4 tbsp butter - the real stuff
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp thyme (dried)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 - 2 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp red wine (ish)

Directions
I simmered the onions in the butter quite awhile because Laura only likes soft, never crunchy, onions in her gravy. Once they were soft, I turned the heat up a bit and threw in the mushrooms, which I had washed and sliced. Once those were cooked, I added the flour, thyme, salt and pepper and stirred for a minute while it heat up and combined together. Then I added the water, soy sauce and red wine and brought it back to a simmer. Turned out good!

Onions & mushrooms simmering in butter

Mushroom gravy

Corn-on-the-Cob

Laura's choice was corn. It was between that and asparagus and corn won for two reasons:
1. It was cheaper.
2. We were also supposed to have fiddleheads, so I opted for a 2nd starch instead of a 2nd green. I'm like that.
3. It was cheaper.

Raw corn-on-the-cob

Corn a-boiling

Let's Hear it for the Condiments!

Pickled beets and Mama's ladies. Even though I was having gravy on my potatoes, I still wanted to have pickles. There was also butter, salt and pepper, of course.

Lady Ashburnham pickles & Pickled beets

Potatoes with gravy & corn

Reviews/Comments

I know this was a starchy meal, but I'm all about potatoes and corn. And pickles! And gravy is just...gravy! So, I call this one a solid 10.

Laura will only say "It was good." But I know she loved it. A lot. She rates it a 7, but she didn't mean it.

Do You Like Fresh Herbs?

The first one to post their favorite kind of fresh, organic herb as a comment on this blog status on Facebook shall have a bunch of it reserved for you once it has grown! I can't guarantee everything will grow, but here is some of what's been planted, and if your first pick doesn't come, then we'll go with your next choice:

• Basil (Mexican & Genovese varieties)
• Rosemary
• Thyme (French & English varieties)
• Oregano (Hot n spicy & Greek varieties)
• Tarragon
• Bay leaf
• Mint
• Sage
• Cilantro 
• Parsley (curled & flat varieties)
• Marjoram
• Fennel

Sorry, you have to be living in Canada to play! The border doesn't allow fresh produce to be shipped. Boooo!

Sushi Bowls

Day 228

Of course sushi bowls require some work. But not too much. Especially since we really didn't have a lot of things to put in it. It's Sunday and the stores all close at 5:00 so there's no way to get carrots, for instance, after it's been discovered that we didn't have any after all. I do wish I had had the foresight to get some asparagus or a mango. However, we did have a few mushrooms, a cucumber and plenty of green onions and avocados.

Sushi Bowl

Sushi Bowl Ingredients

2 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
1 cucumber
1 green onion
1 avocado
8 mushrooms
1 cup rice vinegar
1/2 white sugar
2 tsp peanut oil
Soy sauce
Wasabi
Sesame seeds

Directions

I'm not going to get into the full directions, since I've already done that in other blog entries. For more detailed directions on how to make sushi or sushi bowls, click these links:

Vegetarian Sushi
Vegetarian Sushi Bowls

Sushi ingredients

Sushi Rice

Sushi rice is a bit of a pain in the ass but it's the only part of making sushi bowls that is annoying.

Sushi rice coming to a boil

Sushi rice cooling

Sushi Rice Flavoring

Rice vinegar, sugar & peanut oil

Sushi bowl

Reviews/Comments

Always good. Feels like a naughtier meal than it really is, which is what I love about sushi. I give it a 10.

Riverside Subs

Day 227

Saturday, June 06

Today was a beautiful day and we spent it mostly outside in the garden. I grabbed one of those coleslaw kits from Sobeys along with some Provolone, Yves "ham" and sub buns to make some yummy sandwiches for supper.

Riverside Sub 

Ingredients

• Sub buns
• Dijon mustard
• Yves "ham"
• Provolone cheese
• Coleslaw mix
• Italian dressing

Sandwich-making Process

Dijon

Yves "ham"

Provolone

Coleslaw mix

Italian dressing

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees F. Great to have with wine after a long day outdoors.

Riverside sub, red wine & lilacs

Baked Potato Stuffed With Broccoli, Cauliflower & Hollandaise

Day 225

Not much to say about this easy peasy meal except that it comes together quickly and is full of yumminess. We gardened all day, so a simple meal was in order. Plus some nutrients, protein and carbs to replenish our bodies.

Stuffed Baked Potato

Broccoli Goodness

It really doesn't get simpler than this.

Packages of Hollandaise, Broccoli & Cauliflower

Broccoli& cauliflower in the steamer

Potato Greatness

Potatoes baked for about an hour at 400 degrees F. They were pretty big baking potatoes so they required a bit more time than usual.

Baked potato with sea salt & pepper

Stuffed baked potato

Reviews/Comments

I loved it, but go figure. Potatoes. Hollandaise. Mmmm. Gets a 10 from me.

Laura thought it was yummy and gives it an 8.

Mushroom Chow Mein, Spring Rolls & Mushroom Fried Rice

Day 224 

Tran's Palace again...but this time, DINE IN! I like this restaurant. They're always glad to see us. Happier to see Laura than me, but whatev.

Mushroom Chow Mein, Spring Rolls & Mushroom Fried Rice

Date Night

Maybe not the most exciting nor romantic place for a date, but I'm calling it one anyway, since we don't go out very often.

Menus

Tran's Palace sign & "Open" sign

What We Ordered

• Mushroom Chow Mein
• Mushroom Fried Rice
• Spring Rolls
• Iced Tea

Vegetarian spring rolls & iced tea

The food arrived

Mushroom chow mein, spring rolls & mushroom fried rice

Mushroom Fried Rice

Our Fortunes

Mine:

"You continue to positively influence others."

Laura's:

"You can't be easily influenced."

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Fortune cookies

Reviews/Comments

I give it a 10. Enjoyable to have dinner out for a change. Like a date! We went to Parks' for frozen yoghurt afterward. :)

Laura rates it a 10 as well. I didn't ask her, but I know.

Beer-Battered Fiddleheads

Day 223

Well, we actually had Greek food for supper but we also made some of these, which were pretty yum. They were inspired by our friends in Fredericton, who had them a couple weeks ago. You know...Mollie, Wendy, Debbie and Julie...those friends.

Beer-Battered Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads

On my way home from Fredericton I stopped at a roadside produce market and got a couple pounds of fiddleheads. 

Produce stand sign

Well, I paid for 2 lbs ($4.00/lb), but when I got the bag home, there were a lot of stems in with the fiddleheads (not attached) and by the time I picked those out, it weighed only 1 lb, 10 1/2 oz. Robbed!

1 2/3 lbs fiddleheads

To prepare, I cleaned them and snipped any brown ends, then blanched them for 2 1/2 minutes. Which is 1/2 a minute longer than Wendy Narvey advised.

Beer Batter Recipe

I didn't actually use beer, I used Perrier. Same thing. haha

Ingredients

1 cup pancake batter

Carbonated beverage to achieve desired batter consistency

2 tbsp Sriracha sauce

Directions

Mix. Stir fiddeheads in. Deep fry.

Fiddleheads in batter

Deep-fried fiddleheads

Cajun Mayo

I made this recipe up because I couldn't find "Cajun seasoning from Clubhouse" which is what my friend Wendy told me they used.

Cajun mayo

Ingredients

1/2 cup Compliments salad dressing

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp chipotle powder

Directions

Mix.

Voila! Beer-Battered Fiddleheads

Beer-battered fiddleheads & cajun mayo

Reviews/Comments

I thought these were good, but not as good as some other fried food. I prefer fried zucchini or mushrooms. Or potatoes, mmmm. But it was okay and my cajun mayo was really good.

Laura found the fiddleheads weren't soft enough for her. The had a little crunch, so if we make these again, I'll know to blanch them a little longer.

I rate them a 7 1/2. 

Laura gave them a 7, preferring to have them boiled with butter.