Hot Mushroom Dip!

What a fantastic birthday party! Avery and Tiernan have the best friends in the world, and they sure helped make this day even more special for the boys. We went to Putt n' Blast for three games of laser tag and our birthday group kicked some serious butt. Even Rhianna and her friend got the hang of it pretty quickly and held their own through the games. All ten kids were all so good while we were there, not to mention during the hour long drive to and from Kingston. I had the pleasure of driving Tiernan and his three friends both directions and listening to their very boy-ish conversations were definitely a highlight for me. I just sat back and smiled. All of the kids raved about the party - most of them saying they now want their birthday parties there (sorry, parents!). The cupcakes I made for the party were a hit with both the kids and all the passer bys who commented on them. My boys smiled from start to finish and went to bed as happy little critters.

This picture makes me laugh. A lot! Avery's best friend's little sister (got that? She is also the friend Rhianna brought along to the party for company) picked a present out for Avery all on her own. Part of that gift was this Hello, Kitty stuffy. When Avery pulled it out of the gift bag I thought he was going to fall over from laughing! It was so funny. :) The best part was when her dad asked Avery who's going to keep the Hello, Kitty stuffy and he said himself! Ave said he'd keep it on his bed. I love that boy. Sure enough, it's on his bed now. Love, love, love it. So cute.

I am happy to report that Tiernan is almost 100% healed now. I think keeping him home for an extra couple of days to rest really helped. He will be seeing our wonderful family doctor on Monday for a follow up, just to be sure. I think I'll drag my husband along with me though.. because he really, really does not look/sound/feel good. Tomorrow should be a much more relaxing day with only a soccer wind up to attend for a couple of hours. Hopefully that will give him more time to heal, too. Luckily our kids are the best ever, and they totally let us sleep in for as long as we want. Oh yes, we are lucky!

Tonight I had a Date Night In with my husband who is sick as sick can be. Nothing stops us! ;) We had a laid back night watching 'Due Date' and eating Hot Mushroom Dip. This dip has been the hugest hit at every potluck, partini and poker night we've hosted. I always make it because it's just that good. I originally got it from me dear friend Amy who got it from her sister-in-law (I think) who found it online somewhere? At any rate, I've only altered it slightly because it was pretty delicious the way it was written.

Hot Mushroom Dip

2 tbsp margarine

1 cup finely chopped onion

4 cloves garlic

3 cups chopped mushrooms

8oz block cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

1/2 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp seasoning salt

heavy sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

1/2 cup mayo

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt margarine in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for about 10 minutes until liquid evaporates and mushrooms are golden. Remove from the heat.

Add the cream cheese, dill weed, seasoning salt and black pepper. Stir until the cream cheese melts.

Add the grated monterey jack cheese and moyo and mix well.

Bake for 30 minutes until the top is browned and it's heated through.

I serve it with some Greek pitas that I toast in the oven brushed with an olive oil/garlic powder mixture. Deeeeeelicious!

I really need to head to bed so I can join my husband. It's after midnight which means it's officially May! Blessed Beltane! Some milk is out for the fae folk... :)

First attempt at decorating cupcakes!

Sooooo. I spent all day baking cupcakes, cooling cupcakes and icing cupcakes. I bake cupcakes all the time for the kids birthdays, but I've never tried making anything special. My boys are having a birthday party tomorrow at a laser tag place in Kingston. This is Avery's late 11th birthday (Dec), and Tiernan's early 10th birthday (May) . Each of them invited three friends, and Rhianna was also allowed to invite a friend along. I let each boy pick a cupcake design from the 'Hello, Cupcake' book, and I told them I'd give it a try. Avery picked some bowling pin cupcakes and Tiernan chose some werewolf cupcakes. Both were done completely differently, and I learned a lot from my day in the kitchen. They aren't perfect... they aren't even close to perfect... but the kids love them. And really, that's all that matters. :)

Without further ado... (don't laugh.. too much ;))

Ten Pin Bowling!

Easiest cupcake decorating, everrrr! Haha.

These were a lot of fun to make. Balancing the tower of cakes was a bit difficult, but I made it through.

Tiernan's werewolf cupcakes! I need to fix the teeth in the morning. My icing got too warm so it wouldn't pipe properly. And right now I'm too knackered to finish. They're cute anyway. :)

I know the photos are a bit dark, but it was nearing midnight when I took them. I'll get better pictures tomorrow.

Aoooooooooooooooooohh!

So there you have it. My first try at cupcake decorating. I really enjoyed it, I got very, very messy (OMG MESSY!), and I think I'll do it again. There are a few more kitchen/decorating tools I need before I give it another go, though.

Fun Food Friday was easy tonight. We ate poutine. It's easy and delicious, and I really didn't have time to make the pretzel bites (veggie dogs wrapped in pretzels) that I had on the menu. I also have a very sick husband. I have my fingers crossed that he's better by tomorrow. It could be a difficult day for him. At least he can rest when we get home from the party? Poor guy. Both my parents are sick, too. Seems there is something going around. Hopefully none of them caught pneumonia. My parents haven't been exposed to Tiernan at all, but that doesn't mean they couldn't get it elsewhere.

I should get some sleep since tomorrow is a big day. I can't wait!

Who doesn't love macaroni and cheese?!

The overwhelming feeling from yesterday carried over to today. Don't you just love that? Tiernan's still home with me during the day since he's not himself yet. I was going to send him back to school today, but I really didn't want to set him back by pushing him into activity too early. I did drag him around with me on about a million errands this morning (hello, double birthday party for my boys!) in the crazy (gusting to) 90km/hr winds. By the time we were halfway through he was coughing and sniffling and pale. I felt awful, but I needed to buy a bunch of things. Tomorrow I'll be inside all day cleaning and decorating cupcakes, so hopefully he'll catch up on his rest then. Pneumonia is awful. :/ It doesn't bode well that Kyle came home from work looking like death warmed over, either.

As soon as I'm finished with this blog post, I'm headed to bed. Think I'll actually be able to go to sleep early? I sure hope so!

I made the ultimate in comfort foods tonight. Macaroni and cheese! I adapted this recipe from these lovely ladies over at Twin Tables. I saw them on Rachael Ray, competing to see who has the best mac & cheese. Both of the dishes looked delicious, but I made the winning one and have stuck with it ever since. Along with the macaroni, I made some mushrooms in a garlic sauce from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen and served it with a simple green salad. It was a perfect meal, and I totally had seconds.

Cheesy Beery Mac n Cheese

2 -12oz bottles of pale ale (I use Hoptical Illusions)

1.5 lbs pasta (I used macaroni, but have used rotini in the past)

6 tbsp butter, divided

1 cup diced yellow onion

1 cup sliced mushrooms (I omitted them this time because I had a mushroom side dish)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup flour

2 cups half and half

12oz aged white cheddar, grated (I used 3 year old cheddar)

8oz medium orange cheddar, grated

2 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a lasagna pan with cooking spray.

Pour the beer into a medium sauce pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the beer has reduced by half. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large sauce pot, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, melt 4 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Stir in onions and mushrooms and cook until soft (about 4 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook for 3 minutes, whisking constantly. Add the reserved beer, half and half and bring just to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat, continue whisking and simmer for about 2 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly. Reduce the heat to low and add the cheeses. Stir until melted and smooth. Add the salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and combine. Remove from the heat and add to the pasta.

Add to baking dish. Melt 2 tbsp of butter. Add panko bread crumbs and stir until well coated. Spread evenly over the pasta. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes.

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Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce

1 lb cremini mushrooms, washed, stemmed and quartered

3 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, 3 finely chopped, 1 left whole

juice of half a lemon

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the whole garlic clove, and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until just lightly browned.

Remove from heat, add the rest of the ingredients and enjoy.

One of those days. Again.

My family is lucky that they got anything for dinner today. Ha! I had a wicked headache from the humidity (30C... after weeks of rain and cool weather!), I was tired, and a tad bit grumpy. I was half tempted to just lay on the couch under a blanket and tell Kyle there was no dinner today. Somehow I managed to make half of what I had planned on the menu, just leaving out the minestrone soup. It may not have been the most well rounded meal, but everyone gobbled it up. I consider that a success when trying a new recipe. And after a day like today, that's good enough for me.

Now onto the actual meal... I made a Vegetable Upside-Down Casserole from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook I got from my sister-in-law, Tannis, years ago. I'll definitely be making it again.

Vegetable Upside-Down Casserole

4 cups of chopped veggies (today I used broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper and green pepper)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup milk

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (I probably used more than that - I covered it with cheese, maybe 1 cup)

Saute the veggies for a few minutes until tender; set aside.

Preheat oven to 375.

The recipe says to lightly oil a round 2 qt dish, or a 9x13 baking pan, but I forgot to oil it and it was fine. :)

Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yogurt, milk, and vegetable oil. Stir together until well mixed.

Add the veggies to the dish and sprinkle with cheese. Pour the batter over the cheese and veggies, and spread it evenly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden and firm. Let stand for 10 minutes and then cut and serve.

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And now I'm off to watch the Montreal-Boston hockey game... number 7! Tied up and into overtime.... Go Habs! Once we (hopefully) win the game, it's to bed with my kids. It's so loud in here! ;)

Chili Burgers, Tex Mex Spuds and Thunderstorms.

My cat, Solange, turned twelve years old today! Solange is a our "middle cat". She is super loving, very snuggly, completely feline-like (sounds strange since she's, well... a cat, but she's the most typical of our cats), and she's a bit of a brat. We sung Happy Birthday to her numerous times, and she enjoyed a lovely salmon "cake". Yes, really. We're crazy animal folks around here! ;)

In other news, we had a beautiful thunderstorm this evening. Our family has a deep love for these storms, and within an instant we're all out on the covered porch to listen to the rain and thunder, as well as feel the crisp wind on our faces. The forecast calls for another thunderstorm tonight, and another tomorrow as well. We can only hope. I love the rain more than most, but lately it's been too much... even for me! However, give me a powerful thunderstorm and I'm back to happy again.

I had dinner put together by noon today. I love when that happens. I made the Creamy Feta salad dressing before taking Rhianna and Avery to the bus stop this morning. I didn't much like the dressing, though, so no sharing that recipe! After I got back I made the Tex Mex Stuffed Potatoes (a recipe I got originally from my friend Cara), and the Chili Burgers (from Moosewood's Low Fat cookbook). I'm a huge kidney bean fan, so these were high up there on my favourites. I admit that I still like the Black Bean Burger recipe more, though.

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Chili Burgers

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated carrot

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 15-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in oil on med-low for about 5 minutes until soft. Add carrots, chili powder and cumin, and cook on low for 5 minutes.

Mash the kidney beans in a large bowl. Add the sauteed vegetables, mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, oats, salt & pepper. Combine well.

With moist hands, form into burger patties. Add a bit of oil to a heavy skillet. Cook the patties on each side for 6-8 minutes, until browned.

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Tex Mex Spuds

6 russet potatoes

1/4 cup Ranch dressing

5 green onions, chopped

1 1/2 cups Tex Mex cheese

1 red pepper, chopped

extra Tex Mex cheese for the tops

Pierce potatoes with a fork and microwave on high for 4 minutes per potato.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut each potatoes lengthwise, scoop out centres and leave the shells 1/4 inch thick. Mash potatoes with dressing, green onions and Tex Mex cheese. Fill shells with mixture. Top with some chopped red peppers and some more cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through.

I love extra long weekends.

I just love that the Ontario school system honours Easter Monday as a holiday. That made all of us off since Kyle didn't have to go in to work either. This four day long weekend was much needed for all of us. We all slept in pretty late, and basically did the hermit thing for the rest of the day. We played a big game of Catan as a family, and had some time to listen to the rain fall down through the open windows. Tiernan seems to be feeling a bit better, but his energy levels are still on the low side and he's still coughing a lot in the morning and evening. At least he didn't throw up today. Look on the bright side, yes? Haha.

I made dinner, we ate dinner, and Kyle and the kids cleaned up after dinner... all by 5:30pm. So nice to sit under some blankets with Tibbs and Solange on the couch while two kids play Lego, one kid plays Guitar Hero and my husband works on some contract work. My plans for the rest of the evening include menu planning (I've fallen really behind!), grocery list writing, chatting online and watching Dr Who with Kyle. And maybe? Maybe I'll even have a Sarsparilla cooler. Oh yes, I think I just may do that.

So, back to dinner! Seeing as it's Soup Monday, I made an Asian Noodle soup that I found in the Moosewood Low Fat cookbook. I'd never made it before, but had been craving a simple soup and this one seemed perfect. It was very easy to make, and it was a big hit! My daughter isn't the biggest soup fan, and even she liked it. Both of the boys gobbled it up faster than I imagined they would.

Asian Noodle Soup

1 large head garlic

1/4 cup miso

3 cups water

3 cups vegetable broth

1 medium carrot, thinly sliced

1 block tofu, extra firm, cut into small cubes

4 cups shredded bok choy

1/4 lb soba/buckwheat noodles

Preheat oven to 400.

Peel each clove from the garlic head, and place into an un-oiled pie plate. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Place the garlic, miso and water into a blender and whir until well mixed.

Add the miso mix and vegetable broth into a large pot. Heat until it's a low boil. Add the carrots and cook for 3 minutes. Add the tofu and bok choy. Bring it back to a simmer. Add the noodles and cook for another 6-8 minutes until the noodles are al dente.

My daughter, the artist.

I need to take a moment to show off the artwork Rhianna sketched today. This girl (at age 7!) is a better artist than I've ever been! My Uncle Don is a very talented artist (if you're in Winnipeg and you're ever at The Spotted Cow... the cartoons on the wall? My Uncle!), and I've always looked up to him for that. I remember when I was a little girl (and even a 20 year old girl), I would ask him to teach me and he would tell me that "everyone is capable of being a great artist, you just have to keep drawing". Unfortunately, this was never the case with me. I loved to draw. I doodled all the time, often on my school work (shhhh, don't tell my kids). But it was never very good. As much as I appreciated his confidence in me, I just didn't have that kind of talent. I'm okay with it now. Especially since I can see that the artistic gene that my Uncle has skipped my generation, but is firmly planted in my children. I love seeing how much joy Rhianna gets from creating art. She's artistic in so many ways. Drawing, painting, writing poems, writing books, singing, dancing. You name it, and she's probably good at it.

This afternoon she started sketching and the next thing I knew, there were 10 different drawings for me to admire.

Stroll in the Garden

The Cold Pirate

The Married Couple

Go To Bed!

Troublemaker

The Stomach Ache

Nightmare

Cowboy School

Not Granny's Best

Biggest Carved Pumpkin

And the artist herself. :)

Two days in one, and a bout of pneumonia.

I spent a couple of hours in the emergency room today with Tiernan. Not how we wanted to spend Easter, but I'm very glad we went. He was showing some strange symptoms this morning - itchy, red, tingly hands and feet that ended up swelling up as well. Some of Tiernan's toes were twice the normal size. He was having a terrible time during the chocolate egg hunt this morning (although the picture tells a different story!... it was still early then), breaking down into tears, collapsing on his bed and having his heart beat right out of his chest. We knew something wasn't right, so I headed into Belleville General with him. Luckily, we had a fantastic doctor and after some Xrays, we were on our way out the door with an antibiotic prescription in hand. Turns out he has pneumonia which is something I've never had to deal with before. The poor kid is a trooper, though. I guess he'll be doing a whole lot of resting this week.

Aside from that little adventure, our day was nice and relaxing. The Easter Bunny hid the chocolates on different levels of the house for each of the kids, and he hid them well! It was fun to watch them search high and low and finish with a smile on their faces and a big sense of accomplishment. I'll telling you - the Easter Bunny made it a real challenge this year! :)

Originally we were going to head to my parents' house for dinner, but with the whole pneumonia thing, we cancelled out on them. I had no clue what we were going to eat for supper since all I had planned on doing was bringing a Tofurky to cook in my Mum's oven. Around 4:30pm things started to calm down a bit (aka - home from the hospital and pharmacy) so I figured we'd better whip something up to feed our hungry family. Seeing as there were no stores open today, I think our meal turned out pretty good! We had our Tofurky, some carrots cooked in a Braggs/orange juice sauce, some very garlicky mashed potatoes, this miso gravy, a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, broccoli and sesame seeds, and these Red Lobster-esque buns that I've made a lot lately (but this time I used 3 year old white cheddar instead of sharp orange cheddar). Not too shabby for a last minute meal! (And we just won't even talk about the fact that I burned my stomach pretty badly on a baking tray.... yup.. I'm that good!)

Yesterday was Slow Cooker Saturday, but not nearly as busy as it has been lately. This time it was only bowling in the morning (but Tiernan stayed home with Kyle), dance practice and a birthday party for a friend of Rhianna's in the afternoon and then swimming at the YMCA with a friend of Rhianna's in the evening. I have a serious love affair with my crockpot. It's such an easy way to have a nice, warm, yummy meal ready for you when you're ready to eat it. I made slow cooker sloppy joes which is one of my family's favourites. I got the recipe from one of my vegan cookbooks years ago, and I have searched for it again to no avail. If I do figure out where I got it I will definitely leave credit where credit is due!

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 tbsp chili powder

1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils, washed

14 1/2 oz crushed tomatoes

3 cups water

2 tbsp Braggs

1 tbsp mustard

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and green pepper, cover and cook until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the chili powder, and stir to coat.

Transfer to the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I toast the hamburger buns in the toaster before adding the sloppy joe mixture. I then top them with dill pickles (for everyone except for Kyle) and sliced cheese and broil them for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.

Saturday is also Date Night. If we didn't schedule a date night in, I'm not sure Kyle and I would really, truly see each other. We're both so busy with so many other things, and life just sort of gets away from us. It's been really good to have this scheduled date once a week to make sure we have time to connect. Last night we played some Catan (surprise!), drank chocolate peanut butter milkshakes (something I used to make for Kyle alllll the time, but hadn't made in years!) and ate some chips & pretzels with a curried garlic dip. No recipe for the dip since I used the seasonings from here instead.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes

(for 2 very full glasses!)

6 scoops chocolate ice cream

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup milk

2 tbsp chocolate syrup

Stick it all in a blender and blend until mixed, but still thick. Add more milk as needed to thin it out.

To leave you on a good note, here is my beautiful Mirri cat. ♥

Happy Easter Weekend!

Quesadillas + Holiday = Love

Earth Day has been so deliciously relaxing. We slept in (until 9am!!), we cuddled in bed, we caught up on Amazing Race and Survivor (these, along with So You Think You Can Dance/Canada, are the only shows we allow the kids to watch with us), and we took an evening bike ride. We stopped at the park, and TBone was happy to see a friend of his from class there. It's always more fun at the playground when there are friends! Especially since this particular playground has very little equipment. Unfortunately, Tiernan's coughing hasn't gotten any better. The air was a bit crisp, and when we got home he was having a hacking fit - complete with gagging. He ended up feverish and cold, but seemed to go to sleep soundly tonight. We'll have to make sure to take it pretty easy for the rest of the weekend. We are supposed to be joining my folks for dinner on Sunday, but I'm thinking we may skip out if Tiernan doesn't feel better by then.


Avery's getting to be so mature these days. Hard to wrap my head around the fact that he'll be in junior high next year. I so do not have a kid that age, do I? I really enjoy the young man he's growing into. The funniest thing is that he is a clone of his father. He and Kyle and so very much alike, personality wise. The only things he got from me was his humanitarianism, sensitivity and perfectionism. He's mostly Kyle, though. :) He's a really good kid. Avery was the easiest baby, everrrr. He was a laid back toddler. He has been an easy going child. I can only hold out hope that this fantastic personality of his stays like this right through the teenage years. Please?

♥

Today was Fun Food Friday! This means simple, quick, yummy favourites! I threw together some quesadillas and served them with leftover fruit salad. I eat mine with sour cream and salsa, mixed up together. Perfect dinner for today.

Mushroom, Spinach and Feta Quesadillas

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

6 portobello mushroom caps, sliced thinly

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups baby spinach

1 1/2 cup feta cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese

7 whole wheat tortilla wraps

Heat the olive oil in a cast iron pan and add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are golden brown in colour. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute. Add the spinach, and stir until it's wilted, but still green.

Divide the feta and mozzarella cheese evenly between all of the tortilla wraps, putting it only on one half of the wrap. Add the mushroom mixture to the same side of each of the wraps. Fold the wraps over so they become a half circle, and cook on a crepe pan for a few minutes each side until they are golden.

A breakfast-like dinner!

I had Tiernan home with me today with an illness that just doesn't seem to want to go away. He's had a fever off and on, a cough that he can't seem to shake, strange nighttime anxiety attacks, a mild, lacey type of rash and itchy hands and feet. I'm hoping that having this four day weekend will be full of rest, and he'll be ready to go by Tuesday. May is going to be a wickedly busy month, so I guess it's better that he has it now instead of then.

Dinner was super simple tonight. I threw together a fruit salad, cooked up some veggie sausages and made some scallion potato pancakes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's 'Appetite for Reduction'. It was sort of like eating champ in patty form! Delicious.

Scallion Potato Pancakes

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 cup thinly sliced scallions

1 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Breading:

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

cooking spray

First, boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and cool for about 15 minutes until they're able to be handled.

Preheat oven to 425.

Place the cooked potatoes in a bowl with the scallions, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Mash well, until there are no longer any chunks. Add the bread crumbs, and stir to combine.

Place the cup of panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper onto a dinner plate and stir to combine.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray.

Form 1/4 cup of the potato mixture into a patty. Press into bread crumb mixture, flip over, and press into crumb mixture on the other side. Place on the baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining potato mixture until there are six patties per baking sheet.

Cook for 12 minutes on one side. Flip with a thin spatula, spray the other side with cooking spray and cook for another 8 minutes.

Repeat with any remaining potato mixture.

I love the nights that require chop sticks.

After all the heavy food that we ate over the weekend, I was happy that my menu called for a simple stir fry with marinated tofu for tonight's dinner. I served it over a bed of long grain brown rice, so I made some extra sauce to go with it. I don't know about you, but I like sauce on my rice. If you like your rice drier OR if you aren't going to be making enough to feed 5 people and have some for leftover lunches (like I do), then cut back the measurements.

To give you an idea of how many vegetables I fry up, here is the list of veggies I used tonight (but I change it up every time):

1 onion, chopped

15 mushrooms, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 head bok choy, sliced

1 head broccoli, cut up

2 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

a cup of sugar snap peas

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Stir Fry Sauce

4 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

3 tbsp Braggs (or soy sauce)

1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp cane sugar

1/2 tsp red chilies

1 1/3 cup vegetable broth

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tbsp corn starch

Mix all of the ingredients in a saucepan, and cook for 10 minutes until sauce has thickened. Add to the vegetables once they have been cooked.

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Tofu Marinade

I sort of just threw the marinade together, but this is roughly what I added to it.

1 block extra firm tofu, cut into cubes, dry fried in a cast iron pan on each side

3 tbsp hoisin sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

Long time, no write..

No need to put out an APB on me! I'm alive and very well. The reason for my absence? We had some really good friends come stay with us for a four night visit. The weather was 100% awful, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway. There was a drive into Prince Edward County for Fifth Town Artisan cheese, scenery and homemade ice cream at Slickers. There was a visit to Kingston for some window shopping and the most delicious lunch at the Kingston Brewing Company. There was an entire day spent running around to kids activities and meetings. And there was more than a little bit of beer, coolers and rye. Best of all... there was comfort, laughter, and the making of many new memories. Here are a few pictures that I took during our adventures.

Our lovely friends, at the Kingston Brewing Company for lunch.

The food at the Brewing Company was delicious! Kyle and I shared our meals - he had a veggie burger with fries, and I had the dish shown. It was noodles with a spicy peanut sauce and the most scrumptious and fresh salad, ever. That salad had pretty much every vegetable you could think of in it. So good!

Everything about the pub was great - food, atmosphere, prices, service and even the old truck outside!

I am like a moth to a flame when it comes to water. Every time we drive down to Wellington I dip my feet in the lake. Every single time. Did I mention it was cold while our friends were out? Very cold. And windy. But putting my feet in that water makes me feel alive! Sometimes we need to do things that help us remember what a gift life is.

My daughter is a nut. I'm really not sure where she gets that from ... coughcoughcough.... ;)

I guess now I should talk about food since I tend to do that a lot. ;) We ate an abundance of food while they were here. There were little to no hunger pangs, lemme tell you! One night was my chili (having mastered it over many years) & the Red Lobster-esque cheese buns, one night was black bean burgers, alfredo fries and greek salad, and one night there was sushi from our favourite sushi restaurant here in town - Toro Sushi. There was also a whole lot of snacks like chocolate covered potato chips and two different types of bruschetta, and a very filling breakfast out at the Quinte Cafe. It was all around delicious.

Slowcooker Chili

1 tbsp olive oil

2 extra large cans tomato sauce

1 large can tomato paste

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 green pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

5 carrots, sliced

10-15 cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 small can chopped chilies

1 cup frozen corn kernels

Cook the onion and mushroom in a skillet until soft. Add to the slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.

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I serve these over a freshly baked French baguette warmed in the oven and spread with some melted garlic with garlic powder.

Tomato Bruschetta

6 plum tomatoes, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, chopped very finely

1/8 cup fresh parsley, minced

10 basil leaves, chopped

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/8 cup olive oil

4 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp Asiago cheese

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl or container and chill. This is served over the bread cold.

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Mushroom Bruschetta

(altered slightly from Jamie Oliver's recipe)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 dozen cremini mushrooms

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

a few sprigs of thyme leaves, chopped

a few sprigs of parsley leaves, chopped

1 sprig savory leaves, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

sprinkle of red chilies

1 1/2 tbsp butter

juice of 1/2 lemon

2-3 tbsp water

Cook the mushrooms in oil. Cook until soft. Add the garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and chilies and cook for a few minutes longer.

Add the butter and lemon juice. Once the butter is melted, toss.

Add 2-3 tbsp of water in the pan. Simmer until a thick sauce is formed.

This is what an afternoon spent in the kitchen looks like..

I thought my oven died on me this morning! This would not be good for me. At all. As you may or may not have noticed, I enjoy my oven. I enjoy being in the kitchen. I enjoy creating things to feed to my loved ones. My husband came home during his lunch break and after some fiddling around, he was able to figure out the issue. He fixed my oven! Oh, great relief. I celebrated by spending the majority of my afternoon in the kitchen baking and cooking with the windows and back door open and the sun shining in. I baked a banana chocolate chip loaf (different from my normal one... I had no eggs), snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. These were all new recipes for me, but the peanut butter cookies were my favourite. So soft and chewy and perfect. Mmmm. Then I made dinner - spinach risotto and baked beans with pineapple which I just served with some raw carrots and sugar snap peas.

I guess I made up for last night when we went out for dinner (Again! We didn't go out for months and now it feels like we're always going out.) to East Side Marios where I had the best dish I've ever had there - mushroom spaghettini. I am typically not a fan of that restaurant (Kyle and the kids love it), but the kids meals were only $2 yesterday, and I'm cheap. :P I'm sold on it now, though.. that meal was delicious. With the salad and bread? Mmm, I'd totally go again sometime.

Now onto the recipes! I'll also put up the recipe for the grasshopper pie that Tiernan and I made together the other night. Funny story: When I was a little kid my Mum would make Grasshopper Pie and I loved it. I once asked my parents why they called it Grasshopper Pie and my Dad told me it was because you used grasshoppers to make it. Being the terribly gullible child (okay, person) I was (am), I believed him. I felt so shameful that I was eating this pie made of grasshoppers and enjoying it. I felt awful for all the poor bugs who had to die so I could eat their minty bodies. Ha! Oh, yes. This is definitely a true story. I was very relieved when I learned the real truth!

The banana bread, peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles are from the cookbook, The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Grasshopper Pie

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 bag Oreo cookies, crushed

7oz jar marshmallow cream

1/4 cup milk

some green food colouring

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

2 cups whipping cream, whipped

After the cookies have been crushed, mix them in a small bowl with 1/4 cup of melted butter. Reserve half a cup of this for the top of the pie and spread the rest of it in the bottom of a 9x9 dish.

Mix milk, food colouring and peppermint extract. Add in the marshmallow cream, blend it well and set aside.

Whip cream until stiff. Fold into marshmallow mixture gently.

Spread the marshmallow mixture on top of the cookie crust, and then sprinkle the 1/2 cup of crumbles on top of that.

Put it in the fridge and chill overnight so the cream will set.

Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf

(which is tasty, but fell in the middle)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 mashed bananas

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine the oil and brown sugar and blend well. Add the bananas and milk and combine. Add the dry ingredients slowly, and mix until just combined.

Spread batter in the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes until it's golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes.

Snickerdoodles

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the margarine with 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add applesauce and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Mix the remaining sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Form the batter into tablespoon sized balls, and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Place on a baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until they have cracked and the edges are set.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup natural peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl cream the margarine with the sugar and brown sugar. Add the applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. Add the peanut butter and mix on low with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon the batter by heaping tablespoon onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes until they are slightly browned and have spread.

Spinach & Feta Risotto

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 litre of vegetable broth

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine

1 tbsp dried dill

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

3 cups baby spinach

1 1/4 cups feta cheese, crumbled

In a medium saucepan, bring vegetable stock to a boil and then simmer.

In a large pot, cook the garlic in the olive oil for about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir it to coat the rice in oil. Add the wine and dried dill and cook, stirring, until it's absorbed. Add the warmed vegetable stock a cup or so at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. Keep adding the broth until it's done. When the last bit of broth is almost absorbed, add the spinach a little at a time until it's wilted. Add the feta and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine well.

Baked Beans and Pineapple

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can baked beans in tomato sauce

1 can crushed pineapple

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tsp mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat the oil and cook the onions until soft. Add to a casserole dish along with the rest of the ingredients. Combine well. Cook for 1 hour, stirring halfway through.