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.

Not a drop left!

First thing I need to say is: LOOK! My beautiful friend, Andrea, has started two new blogs! I couldn't be more happy to share in both of them. She's an amazing stay-at-home, vegan mama to the most gorgeous and sweet children. I feel lucky that I got to meet her in this little city of ours.

I took the kids out to pre-bowl them tonight. We won't be able to attend their league on Saturday because we're heading into the County to do some exploring! Besides the pre-bowling, Avery & Kyle had haircuts, we had to stop in at the grocery store and then we took a trip downtown to go to Stephen License which had just closed when we got there. It was a bit of a busy evening, so I made an old stand-by meal for dinner - portobello mushroom pasta, a simple salad with a creamy garlic dressing (from Moosewood Cooks at Home.. the first Moosewood Cookbook I got from my friend Dylan) and a slice of whole grain toast. This dinner is my son Avery's absolute favourite! This is the dinner he requests on his birthday. Both boys had second helpings again, and the whole family happily gobbled up every last drop. Not even one serving left for Kyle to take to work.

Portobello Mushroom Pasta

pasta, of your choice

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

a couple pinches of red pepper flakes

4 portobello mushroom tops, thinly sliced

coarse sea salt, to taste

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

3-4 tbsp Italian seasoning

parmesan cheese, for garnish

Start the water boiling to cook the pasta.

Heat the biggest skillet you have over med-high heat. Add the oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the mushrooms. Stir to coat in oil. Cover the pan with a lid & reduce heat to med-low. Cook for 5 minutes, and add the coarse salt (doesn't need much). Cook until deep brown and soft. Add the tomatoes and seasoning and heat through.

Serve over cooked pasta, and top with parmesan cheese.

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Creamy Garlic Dressing

3 cloves garlic

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1-2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup milk

Place all of the ingredients, except for the milk, into a food processor. Whirl it until it's nicely mixed. Add the milk and continue mixing until it's smooth and creamy.

This will keep covered and refrigerated for up to a week.

Egyptian goodies.

Spring Break is over and Spring is officially here. The weather has been really good around lately - the snow has all melted, the sun has been shining, the birds are all singing. Of course, this morning I woke up to rain which quickly turned into huge snowflakes falling from the sky and staying on the ground. No thank you. It remained rainy and gloomy all day, though the snowflakes melted pretty quickly. Not a day that really felt Spring-like... well, except for when my friend Laura came into the dance studio tonight in the most bright, colourful outfit I've seen yet this season. I just love her! :)

Because of the overcast weather, our Soup Monday felt perfect! My daughter is doing a project in school on Egypt, so I felt it was quite fitting to make a big pot of harira which I served with a carrot orange salad, some savoury cheese biscuits and then a little helping of pretzels and baba ghanouj (store bought). I got both the soup and salad recipes from Moosewood Restaurant's Low Fat Favourites, and didn't alter too much from either of them.

The picture had to be taken outside since the house was dark all day long. Tomorrow is supposed to be better - I sure hope so!

Harira

1 cup onions, chopped

5 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger root

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup carrots, diced

1/2 cup celery, diced

1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 cups potatoes, diced

pinch saffron

1 cup cooked lentils (canned will work, drained)

1 cup cooked chickpeas (canned will work, drained)

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a covered soup pot, simmer the chopped onions in 1 cup of vegetable broth for 10 minutes. Combine the cinnamon, turmeric, ginger and cayenne in a small bowl with a few tablespoons of the hot stock and make a paste. Add to the pot along with the celery, carrots and remaining stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and potatoes, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Crumble in the saffron, and then add the lentils, chickpeas, lemon juice and salt and black pepper. Heat through and serve.

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Carrot Orange Salad

3-4 carrots, grated

2 blood oranges, peeled, white removed and chopped into small pieces

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix the honey, lemon juice and cinnamon together. Stir together the carrots, oranges and dressing and chill for a few hours so the flavours can mingle.

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Savoury Cheese Biscuits

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup margarine

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tbsp basil

1 tbsp sage

1 tbsp thyme

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl to make a soft dough. Form into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Cook for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are browned.

I should rename Avery, "Tomato".

Whenever I make up my menus, I ask my kids and my husband if they have any requests. Tonight's dinner was a request from my eldest son, Avery. He loves tomatoes. He doesn't just love them, he looovessss them! If he had to eat only one thing for the rest of the life, it would be pasta with a tomato based sauce, done any way... just as long as it focuses on tomatoes! Needless to say, he was a happy boy tonight. Actually, both of my boys had second helpings. Oh, growth spurts! It's only going to get worse, isn't it?

I got the recipe for the greek salad from my friend Cara a few years ago. It's a favourite around here, so we eat it pretty regularly. I don't add olives to our greek salad since there is only one of us who likes them (Kyle), but feel free to add them to your salad. The muffins are adapted from a recipe in Moosewood Restaurant's Low Fat Favorites Cookbook. My friend Dylan bought me one of the Moosewood cookbooks for my birthday years ago, and I now own most of them! Love them!

Tomato Based Pasta Sauce

2 large cans (680 ml) of tomato sauce

1 large can of tomato paste (369 ml)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

15 cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 large carrot, sliced

1 bell pepper (I use whatever I have on hand - today was half of a red and half of a yellow)

1 medium zucchini, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tbsp oregano

pinch crushed red chilies

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, saute the onion and mushrooms in the olive oil until soft. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Simmer for at least an hour so the flavours can blend and the vegetables are tender.

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Lentil Balls

1 19 oz can lentils, fully rinsed and drained, and mashed

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup cooked baby spinach

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

splash of soy sauce

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, form into 2 inch balls, and place on a baking sheet. Cook for about 20 minutes until they are browned and crispy.

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Greek Salad

2 romaine hearts, ripped into bite sized pieces

1/2 long english cucumber, chopped

15 grape tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced

handful of pepperoncini peppers, seeded and chopped finely

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup olive oil

juice of 1 large lemon

a pinch of allspice

coarse salt & black pepper, to taste

In a glass measuring cup, cover the garlic with oil and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Whisk in lemon juice, allspice, salt and pepper. Toss evenly into salad and serve.

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Urban Cheese Muffins

(It's actually Herb & Cheese, but my daughter thought I said Urban, so it stuck!)

1 cup unbleached flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cornmeal

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp chopped chives

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp canola oil

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray down 12-cup muffin tray with cooking oil.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cornmeal and brown sugar together in a large bowl.

In a seperate bowl beat the egg and egg white. Add buttermilk, chives, mustard, dill, garlic, thyme, pepper and oil. Add the grated cheese, reserving some of it for the top of the batter.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until evenly moist.

Scoop into the muffin cups and top with a small amount of grated cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes.