Simple & Tasty

We got to meet Avery's indoor soccer team tonight. It looks like it's going to be a promising season. Avery already knew about half the team, the kids all seemed to be in good spirits, and I like the coach already. I'm really looking forward to another indoor season! There's nothing quite like freezing your butt off on the hard metal benches at the dome. ;)

Dinner was another simple one (seems to be my theme lately!). I got the vegetable recipe from The Earthbound Cook and the hash brown recipe is from One Bite Won't Kill You. I just served them with some basic browned beans. Easy, but tasty.

Hashbrown Surprise

32 oz bag frozen hashbrowns

can cream of mushroom soup

8 tbsp butter, melted

4 green onions, chopped

1 cup sour cream

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

4 cups corn flakes, crushed

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together the mushroom soup, melted butter, green onions, sour cream, and grated cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Add the hashbrowns and stir well.

Pour into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the crushed corn flakes over the top. Cook for about 25 minutes.

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Skillet Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

3 tbsp olive oil

1 lb parsnips, peeled and cut on a diagonal into 3/4 inch pieces

1 lb carrots cut the same way

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup hot water

2 tsp honey

2 tsp sugar

fresh or dried parsley

salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a skillet or wok. Add the veggies and cook 12-15 minutes.

Mix hot water, juice and honey together until the honey dissolves. Add the juice to the skillet, bring to a boil, lower heat and cover. Cook another 10 minutes.

Remove the cover, raise the heat and cook about 5 minutes until the liquid evaporates.

Sprinkle with sugar and cook another 3-5 minutes until the carrots and parsnips are caramelized. Stir in parsley, salt and pepper, to taste.

Back to school and some yummy grub!

Farewell, Summer 2011. You've been good to us (if not a tad bit too warm .. hehe), and we appreciate all you did for us.

The kids headed back to school this morning a ball of nerves and excitement. Avery started grade 7, and when I remember how I was in grade seven, I start to panic a little. Ha! He has the same teacher he had last year and is super pumped about it. Last year he was in a split class, so all of the kids in his sixth grade class are in the same class again this year. Pretty cool for him. This evening he came out to run a couple of errands with me, and it was just the two of us. I caught myself just standing there watching him at times. His maturity level is astounding to me. He offers me help without being asked, he has conversations with me that make me realize he sees things from a more grown up view point. He's spent a lot of time lately talking about his plans for the future - where he wants to go to University, what he wants to study, what kind of life he wants to lead. My Cheeky Charlie is growing up! Sniff, sniff.

Tiernan started grade five today. Five! Even Avery is having a hard time wrapping his head around his little brother being in grade five. Tiernan has a supply teacher right now because his teacher was held up in Africa where she's been building schools over the summer. He enjoyed his supply teacher, loves that most of his closest friends are in his class this year, and can't wait to hear the stories his teacher is sure to bring back with her. He's in a grade 5/6 split which I think will be really good for him because he's a smart cookie, that one. :) I was a bit worried he wouldn't enjoy this year because he had a fantastic teacher last year and really wished he could stay in her class forever, but so far so good. I have my fingers crossed that it will continue being a good year.

Rhianna, like Avery, has the same teacher she had last year. This is a good thing! A very good thing! She has the absolute best teacher my kids have ever had (and they've had some pretty darn good teachers!). At the end of grade 2 (she's in grade 3 now!), he pulled me aside to ask if it was okay for her to be in his class for a second year in a row because he doesn't normally do that and I practically yelled "YES"! He helps her feel excited and happy with school. He's taught her so much - above and beyond the typical school things. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be as great for her as last year was.

Our back to school dinner was deeee-licious! I actually didn't expect it to be because it was sort of an easy meal, but ohhhh my. YUM. I even saved some leftovers for myself. I never do that. Ever! (Okay, only potato dishes... which this is... and lasagna.) I made a potato casserole with cheese and mushrooms (which doesn't look like much, but is so good!), a two cheese salad with homemade croutons, some tofu marinated in Kobe Tamari Garlic sauce and some leftover lemon poppy seed bread that we made in the bread maker yesterday. Mmm mm mmmmm!

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Potato Casserole with Cheese and Mushrooms

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded mozzarella (or more)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Toss the sliced potatoes with half of the olive oil and half of the salt.

In a separate bowl, toss the mushrooms with the parmesan cheese, onion, garlic, thyme and black pepper and remaining salt.

Grease a casserole dish and layer 1/3 of the potatoes over the bottom of the dish. Top with half of the mushroom mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with potatoes, mushroom mixture and mozzarella. Top with the last of the potatoes, the last of the mozzarella cheese and the remaining parmesan cheese. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

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Two Cheese Salad with Croutons

3 thick slices of Texas bread

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large romaine lettuce, ripped into bite sized pieces

1 ripe avacado, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp juice from a lemon

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

lots of feta cheese

lots of parmesan cheese

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut the bread into cubes, and put them on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle them with paprika and garlic powder. Bake 7-8 minutes until crisp.

Toss the avocado with the lemon juice and black pepper. Toss it together with the romaine lettuce, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, and croutons.

Make some basic balsamic vinegar dressing using the ratio of 3 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar. Mix well and drizzle over the salad.

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And for a bit of cuteness... awww. These two are best buddies!

A delicious meal made by my man!

Apparently my kids are ready for back to school. While I was at work, Kyle was doing the stay-at-home-dad thing, and the kids gave him a run for his money. It was a busy errand running day, and our lovely children were on edge and arguing over silly little things. By the time I got home, I think Kyle was D-O-N-E! They've since calmed down after eating a big meal, doing the dinner dishes and sitting down in their jammies to watch a show with me. Hopefully the rest of the weekend is smooth sailing. Especially now that it looks like we won't be able to do the things we had planned due to weather.

Look who got a haircut! However, contrary to how it looks, he is not strangling our Mirri cat. :)

Kyle had our dinner mostly done by the time I got off work, and it was very yummy! He made the Chickpea Sensation Patties, Potato Squashers, Thick & Rich Gravy (all from Eat, Drink, Be Vegan) and a caesar salad (Surprise! We love caesar salads around here.). Mmm.

Chickpea Sensation Patties

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1/8 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 cloves garlic, quartered

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce (vegetarian friendly)

2 tbsp soy sauce

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups cooked short grain brown rice

3/4 cup + 1 tbsp oats

Saute the onion, celery, salt and pepper in oil for 7-10 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, in a food processor, puree the chickpeas, garlic, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, thyme and salt until well blended. Add sauteed veggies and puree some more. Add 1 cup rice and puree. Add the second cup of rice, and pulse a bit, leaving a good texture.

Transfer to a bowl and add the oats. Mix well, cover, and chill for 30 minutes to firm it up. Form into patties with moist hands and cook on an indoor grill until browned. (The recipe suggested frying them in some olive oil, which we opted against. In retrospect, it might have been better that way because they were a bit too dry done on the grill.)

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Potato Squashers

5-7 medium sized red or Yukon gold potatoes

olive oil

coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pierce potatoes with a knife, place on the baking sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and increase heat to 450. Squash each potato with a wooden spoon making each into an uneven round. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Cook for 10-12 minutes, remove from oven, flip them, and drizzle the other side with some olive oil. Return to oven and cook another 12-15 minutes.

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Thick and Rich Gravy

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp mild miso

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp arrowroot powder

2 tbsp tahini

1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp black strap molasses

1/2-3/4 tsp agave nectar

2 tbsp olive oil

Place all of the ingredients into a pot, and, using an immersion blender, puree together. Heat the gravy to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes to thicken. Taste and add more vinegar if needed.

Scalloped Potatoes!

For dinner tonight I made another of my Mum's recipes. Scalloped potatoes are something I grew up eating a lot of. Irish family loving potatoes? Isn't that a novelty? Ha! With the potatoes I made some curried lentil loaf that I blogged about before, and some sugar snap peas. We ate it super duper quickly due to time constraints, so it's a good thing the kids liked it all! ;)

I just finished making these oatmeal cookies with raisins instead of chocolate chips so that Tiernan could bring a sweet treat to his Oz rehearsal tomorrow. But also so I could have a couple to curb my sweet craving. ;)

***I don't think this recipe has EVER been measured out. It also depends on how much you want to make. When I was taught by my Mum how to make it, I was taught to eyeball it. So, no measurements in this recipe... ***

Scalloped Potatoes

red potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly

onion, finely diced

margarine

flour

dried parsley

paprika

milk

Grease a round casserole dish (or whatever size dish you want) with margarine. Preheat the oven to 350.

Layer some sliced potatoes on the bottom of the dish until it's completely covered, overlapping them a bit. Sprinkle some chopped onion over the potatoes. Next, drop three small dabs of butter on the potatoes in different spots. Sprinkle a little bit of flour over the top.

Continue making the layers until your dish is filled, finishing with potatoes (no onion, butter or flour). Sprinkle the paprika and parsley over the top.

Now, fill the dish about 1/3 of the way with milk.

Cover and cook for about 45 minutes. Remove the lid, and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and the top is crisping up a bit.

Breakfast for dinner? My kids say yes please!

I went with a kid friendly dinner tonight. I knew there would be no protests from anyone and that Ave would want to eat, and that sounded perfect to me. I was right. Tiernan and Rhianna ate once before dance, and then again after dance. Haha. To be honest, they had to. Dinner took longer than I thought it would to make, and we were running late to get to the dance studio in time. I basically had the kids eat what they could in a short amount of time, and then saved the rest for later.

I made some pancakes with a really delicious banana pecan topping, some oven roasted potatoes, veggie sausages and bacon and then a glass of carrot, apple, ginger juice. I'm a huge fan of juicers. However, our juicer is not mine. It's actually Tiernan's. He asked for it and got it for his 6th birthday. Yes, he is an unusual child... I love that about him!

Pancakes

(this recipe makes quite a few, but we freeze the remainder for easy breakfasts)

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

4 cups milk

4 tbsp vegetable oil

Whisk all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, but don't mix too vigorously.

Lightly oil a frying pan. Heat it, and add about 1 1/2 cups of batter per pancake. Flip when the air bubbles appear in the batter.

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Banana Pecan Topping

(from 330 Vegetarian Recipes for Health)

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp maple syrup

3 bananas, halved and quartered

1/4 cup chopped pecans

In a frying pan, slowly heat the butter until it's melted. Add the maple syrup and stir well to combine. Add the bananas and pecans and cook for 4 minutes, turning once. This should caramelize the bananas. Serve it immediately over pancakes.

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I just chopped up about 6 potatoes into small cube sized pieces, added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of all purpose seasoning (recipe to follow) and cooked them for 20-25 minutes on a baking sheet in a 350 oven.

All Purpose Seasoning

(from Garden of Vegan)

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne

Mix it all together and keep in an airtight container.

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Carrot Apple Ginger Juice

5 carrots

7 apples

2 inches of fresh ginger root

Put it all into a juicer and voila! Juice that will make you feel alive!

How to make Ukrainian perogies!

My family and I are very happy that we moved out here to small-town-Southern Ontario, but there are certainly things that we all miss about being in Winnipeg. Mostly, it's our friends and family, but we also miss the culture you find in bigger cities. We love taking trips to the larger cities around here - Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal - just for the culture. I miss the little communities of different ethnicities. Where we live it's Loyalist country. The majority of people around here are British or Mohawk. Sure, I know people of different backgrounds, but not like the big cities. I've always considered myself a "country girl" having grown up in a very small town north of Winnipeg, but as I get older I realize I was wrong. I enjoy the diversity, culture, noise and buzz of cities. Believe it or not, this was hard for me to come to grips with. You learn new things about yourself all the time, though, don't you?

In Manitoba there are a whole lot of Ukrainian people, so perogies are not hard to come by. In Winnipeg, there were many different places to get your perogy fill - Mom's Perogy Factory and Alicia's being my personal favourites. Where we are now, I can't find Ukrainian perogies unless I travel out further. They sell Russian perogies at our Farmer's Market, but they add some sort of seasoning salt to them and then fry them, and it just doesn't cut it for me. I've been craving perogies for a while now, so I added it to my menu. I spent a couple of hours making them this morning and let me just say - they are so worth the time and effort!

Here's my little How-To of the day. :)

First, wash and peel some russet potatoes (about 6). Cut them into chunks and place in a big pot of water. Bring them to a boil and cook until tender. Drain then, and then add some milk, butter, salt, pepper and a bunch of grated cheese (2 cups to start - taste it.. add more if you think you need it). Mash well. Set the potato mixture aside to cool.

If you want you can also add fried onions! That's also a tasty way to go. There are countless fillings for perogies, so have some fun.

Perogy Dough

(this makes about 4 dozen)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 3/8 cup warm water

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, add the oil to the water. Pour over the flour/salt mixture and mix well. Knead the dough until it is soft and elastic. If the dough is sticky add a little bit of flour, but try not to add too much extra or the dough will become difficult to work with. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside for 15 minutes.

Once the dough is ready to be worked with, pull 1/3 of it off and, roll it out thinly (think pie crust) onto a lightly floured counter top. Use a glass, cup or round cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dough. Continue doing this with the remaining dough.

Place a rounded teaspoon full of mashed potato mixture into the middle of each dough disc.

Fold each circle of dough over into a half moon shape. Pinch the edges together to seal the seam.

In the meantime, boil a pot of salted water. Place about 5 perogies into the boiling water, and allow them to boil for about 5 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon, draining off any excess water. Continue until all of the perogies have been boiled.

When they're finished being boiled, you can freeze them on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Once frozen, place them into Ziploc bags. If you're like us, though, you'll have them all eaten within two days flat! I just put ours into this stainless steel bowl and added a bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking.

To heat them up before serving you can either boil them for a few minutes (my favourite), fry them in butter (Kyle's favourite) or heat them in a tiny bit of water and some butter without frying them.

Now go feast on your tasty bundles of hard work. :)

A BBQ dinner without a BBQ.

This long weekend has been the perfect medicine to help re-energize me after last week. I'm feeling back to normal again, and looking forward to the week ahead. I'm also loving that it's only a three day school week! I miss the kids when they're at school. Today was just beautiful out. Warm, but not disgustingly so. There was a big thunderstorm while we sat at the dining room table playing World Wildlife Fund's Photo Safari together. Ironically enough we were answering questions about lightening when it started. Today was the kind of day that screams, "Let's have a BBQ!" The only problem is... we don't have a BBQ. I wasn't about to let that stop me, though. Instead, I cooked up a meal that tasted like it came from the BBQ. I made some Botanical Burgers from the Rebar cookbook that were delicious, but quite soft. None of us let that bother us, though. The only change I made to the recipe was substituting more of the beets, carrots and turnips in lieu of the zucchini because my zucchini went bad on me. It still turned out great! With that I whipped up some roasted potatoes that I sort of threw together and they were addictive. On the side I had some boiled corn on the cob, and some asparagus. A perfect meal for a perfect day. :)

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Botanical Burgers

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup grated turnip

1 cup grated beets

1 cup grated zucchini, water squeezed out

2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried dill weed

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tbsp tarragon

2 tbsp parsley

fresh bread crumbs (optional)

Heat oil in a wide bottomed pan and saute onion until transparent. Add the grated vegetables, salt, pepper and dill weed. Stir thoroughly and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Transfer to a large bowl and let it cool.

Place cooled vegetables, rice and hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely combined. Transfer to a large bowl and add the mashed potatoes, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, tarragon and parsley. Season to taste. If the burgers are not holding together add some bread crumbs (I added 1/3 cup). Shape into patties.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan, and cook both sides until browned.

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Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

1.5 lbs yellow baby potatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

7 cloves garlic, minced

some fresh rosemary, minced

(I snipped a couple of shoots off the side of my rosemary plant, and used all of those leaves)

coarse salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Wash the baby potatoes, and then cut them in half. Mix the cut potatoes, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss to coat the potatoes.

Place potatoes on a baking sheet, turning each potato cut side down. Cook them in the oven for about 20 minutes until tender.

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As for Avery, he seems a teeny bit better today. I called the doctor's office, but of course it wasn't open since it's Victoria Day. Hopefully I can get ahold of them first thing in the morning and I can get him in then. I have my fingers crossed that he'll be even healthier by morning!

My Saturday... squirrels and food - shocker!

I typically love Saturdays, especially now that we have more down time to have our own adventures. Yesterday we had the kids' bowling wind up - ten pin bowling, plaques and pizza. It was fun for all who came. I'm going to miss everyone from the alley - they became such a regular part of our Saturdays! It was also date night last night. Kyle and I watched an episode of Glee, rented 'Unstoppable' (loved it, and found myself screaming at the television on multiple occasions) and ate the yummiest homemade potato chips (from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook) and onion dip. Not boring old onion dip from a container.. or made with the chemical laden boxed onion soup mix. This was real caramelized onions... and it tasted better than any onion dip I've ever had before. It's not exactly a light dip with the cream cheese, mayo and sour cream, but how many dips can claim they are truly light? I found the recipe on Eat Me, Delicious, and almost kept it same. I decided I didn't need to oil, though... it has enough fat in it! It worked wonderfully. Yummy!

Unfortunately, yesterday had a terrible feeling lingering above it all day long. In the morning, as I was eating my breakfast, I heard a sound that made me leap from my chair and exclaim, "The babies!". I ran out the back door to see the two baby squirrels I was just visiting with were still there... but there were three crows circling overhead crying out a horrible sound. The babies seemed pretty safe for the time being. I ran to tell Kyle about the crows, and he came up while I ran upstairs to get dressed. My plan was to run out and scare the crows off. I had just gotten into my bedroom when I heard him curse and say "The crows got two of them!" I admit that I did not handle this in the most mature manner. I flipped out. I cried. I screamed. I got mad at Kyle (and feel awful about it!). I cried some more. I couldn't breathe. The two babies the crows got were in my neighbour's driveway. They weren't the ones who were in our backyard feasting on seeds, they were the other two in the litter. I assume they were trying to get up to, or down from, their nest since it's in the tree in front of my neighbour's yard. One of the babies was still twitching, and Avery wanted to run out and save it. How heartbreaking! Kyle gathered the bodies in a box, and took them out to the woods at the end of our street. I cried some more. I stood in the backyard in the pouring rain, prepared to chase any crows away. I, with the help of my mother and husband, came up with a plan for saving the remaining two squirrels. In the Fall I got a big cage from the local Humane Society. Kyle pulled it out of our shed and we tried to coax them into the cage with food, but that didn't work. Then I pulled out the kids' nets and tried to catch them that way. I was successful at trapping them, but they both managed to get away. I could barely sleep last night knowing they were on their own. I am determined today to get them to a safe place. I will then call a wildlife rehabilitator and see if they can help me deal with this in the right way. I feel so much for these babies - they're defenseless, having not been taught the squirrel rules yet. I really don't want to fail them; they deserve a fighting chance. Wish me luck today!

Edited to add! Guess what we just did? We caught Stonewall!!! Well, my hero husband caught him! I could not be happier that we finally have him in a safe place. He has some of the rat food, and we plan on buying more food later. We also have water and a bed in there (complete with towels) as well as a bunch of sticks he can chew up. I've been reading that a lot of items from nature should be left in the cage, so we have plans to gather some. Happy, happy, happy! One down, one more to go!

For dinner last night I made a slow cooker Dal from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. I served it with basmati rice, naan bread and some samosas I made from Vegan with a Vengeance. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Dal - it was pretty bland for me, but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it. Kyle and Avery both added Rooster Sauce to add some heat. I love, love, loved the samosas. They were just little things, but so very satisfying.

Dal

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, cut into pieces

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tsp peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1 1/2 cups dried lentils, washed and picked over

1-15oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 cups water

salt and freshly ground pepper

Pour the oil into the slow cooker, and turn the heat the high.

Puree the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor until smooth. Place them in the slow cooker and put the lid on.

Stir in the spices (but not salt and pepper) and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.

Turn the setting to low and add the lentils, kidney beans and water. Cook for 6-8 hours. Add salt and pepper before serving.

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Samosas

dough:

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

about 3 cups all purpose flour (I only used 2 1/2 cups!)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

filling:

3 medium sized russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp vegetable oil plus more for brushing

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp mustard seeds

1 yellow onion, very finely chopped

1 cup carrots, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup frozen peas, water run over them to remove any freezer ice

Boil the potatoes in water for about 20-25 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375.

To make the dough:

Pour the wet ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add two cups of the flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt. Begin kneading the mixture, adding more flour gradually until a smooth not sticky dough is formed, about 10 minutes.

Set dough aside and cover with a wet cloth. Begin preparing the filling.

To prepare the filling:

In a large skillet (I used our wok) over medium heat, add the oil, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. The seeds with begin to pop. Allow them to pop for 1 minute, but be careful not to get hit by these popping seeds. Add the carrots and onions and saute for 7-10 minutes until the onions begin to brown. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and lemon juice and saute a minute more. Add the potatoes and mash it all together. Heat it through, and then add the peas and mix well. Set aside.

Divide the dough in half and roll it out thinly. Using a cookie cutter, or a glass upside down, cut 3 to 4 inch circles out of the dough. Place about a 1 or 1 1/2 tsp of the potato mixture into each dough circle and fold it over so it becomes a half circle. The recipe says to wet the dough with water around the edges to make it stick, but mine didn't need it. Continue with the rest of the dough.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the samosas onto the tray, and lightly brush oil on both sides of them.

Cook about 12 minutes on one side, flip them, and cook another 8 minutes. Allow them to cool about 5 minutes before serving.

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Oven Baked Potato Chips

3 Yukon Gold potatoes

salt

Preheat the oven to 375. Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

Wash the potatoes and then slice them paper thin (very important!). Put them into a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes to remove some of the starch. Lay them out on a towel, and dry the slices completely.

Place them onto the prepared baking trays, taking care not to overlap any of them.

Cook them for 10 minutes on one side, flip them all, and cook another 1o minutes on the other side. They should be starting to brown and be crisp. Serve them right away as they are best eaten this way.

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Pan Fried Onion Dip

2 yellow onions, cut in half, and then sliced into 1/8 inch half rounds

4 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 oz cream cheese, left on the counter for 15 minutes to half an hour

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Heat the butter over medium heat, and cook the onions, cayenne, salt and freshly ground black pepper for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature and continue to cook for another 20 minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onion to cool.

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise with an electric mixer. Blend well until there are no lumps. Add the onion and mix well.

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.

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.

Tried & True.

I am so full now! We had a delicious dinner of Bulgar Patties, stuffed potatoes and cucumber salad. I know I got the original recipe from a Moosewood cookbook years ago (don't remember which one), and I only changed a few things about it... more garlic, and no eggs. If you're okay with eggs I suggest you add one because the patties will likely hold together better if you do. I, however, am not a fan of eggs (mildly allergic) and omitted it. The patties can be eaten on their own (with a splash of Bragg's!) or on a bun. Tonight we ate them solo. I saw the stuffed potatoes on a Rachael Ray show, and the cucumber salad is one of our (okay... MY!) all time favourites. It's so refreshing and tangy, and it's even better on a hot summer day. Mmmm mmm mmm. I made it early this afternoon and could not stop eating it. I seriously thought it would be all gone by the time dinner rolled around.

Bulgar Patties

3 cups water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 bulgar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup tahini

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Braggs

1 tsp Dijon mustard

dash of freshly ground black pepper

1 cup mashed chickpeas

Bring the water to a boil. While it's heating, saute the bulgar and garlic in the oil over medium -high heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the boiling water. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.

When the bulgar is ready, stir in the green onions, carrots, parsley, tahini, tomato paste, soy sauce, mustard, pepper and mashed chickpeas.

With moistened hands, form into patties. Cook for about 10 minutes on an indoor grill.

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Cucumber Salad

2 medium long english cucumbers, thinly sliced

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground dried mustard

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, dried mustard and black pepper in a bowl and stir until sugar and salt has dissolved. Add the cucumbers and chill until ready to eat.

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Stuffed Potatoes - Broccoli and Cheddar Style

5 baking potatoes

olive oil

coarse sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

between 1/2 and 1 cup vegetable broth

grated cheddar cheese

1 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350.

After scrubbing off the potatoes, place them on a baking sheet and pierce them several times with a fork. Drizzle some olive oil over top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn them a few times to coat them.

Roast them for 45 min to an hour until a fork slides in easily.

While the potatoes are cooling down a bit, cook the broccoli pieces in an inch of water for about 3 minutes until crisp tender.

Once the potatoes have cooled down enough to be handled, slice them lengthwise and scoop out the insides into a large bowl. Mash the potato insides and add as much broth as you want to make it somewhat smooth. Add some grated cheddar cheese (maybe 1/2 cup or so), salt and pepper and mash them in. Add the cooked broccoli and stir to combine.

Stuff each potato skin with the filling and top with some extra grated cheddar cheese. Bake again for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and it's warmed again.

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After dinner we took advantage of our beautiful Spring weather with a walk to a neighbourhood playground & park. The kids ran up ahead of us, while Kyle and I casually walked our dog and chatted about our day. I feel so much better now that the weather has been so mild and the sun is shining. It's a whole new world out there! At the park we played on the swings, and kicked the soccer ball around.

Now we're catching up on the Amazing Race episode we missed from Sunday. It's a perfect way to end a really good day.

♥ I love his Sharpei neck rolls! ♥

He's growing up for too quickly. Far, far, FAR too quickly. So proud of him.

He's so handsome, that husband of mine.

Comfort!

I'm jumping straight into our dinner menu tonight because I am beat and want to get some sleep. I attempted to nap this afternoon to no avail, so bed before midnight would be a good thing for me!

Tonight's dinner was brought to you by the word comfort. It's one of those meals that feeds your soul and mind as well as your body. I made a lentil loaf, my mushroom gravy, some champ potatoes which I grew up eating, some asparagus with a butter/balsamic sauce drizzled over top and just some baby spinach with the leftover creamy garlic dressing. I also baked a banana chocolate chip loaf for the kids lunches (and dessert tonight!). I mostly follow Savvy Vegetarian's lentil loaf, making some changes to suit our own personal tastes. I also got the recipe for the asparagus from the same Moosewood cookbook I used last night. The champ is similar to my Mum's, but I do change it up a bit since traditionally it has no garlic in it. I love garlic. I put garlic in everything. Yum. Garlic, mushrooms and lentils are three of my favourite things.

Lentil Loaf

1 cup dry brown or green lentils

1/2 cup bulgar

3 cups vegetable stock

1 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp ginger root, minced

1 carrot, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 celery stalks, sliced

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp rosemary

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp Braggs

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

freshly ground black pepper

Cover the lentils in boiling water and let it sit for 1 hour. Drain.

Cook the lentils and bulgar in the stock for half an hour until cooked, and liquid has been absorbed.

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute all the vegetables, garlic and ginger in the olive oil. Mix in the lentils, bulgar, tomato paste, spices and Braggs. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is thick.

Place in an oiled loaf pan and cook for 45 minutes.

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Mushroom Gravy

1 cup cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 small white onion, chopped finely

1/4 cup margarine

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth

2 tbsp Braggs

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp marjoram

freshly ground black pepper

Melt margarine in a skillet and saute onions and mushrooms for 3 minutes over med-high heat. Reduce heat. Add 2 cups veggie broth and Braggs.

Mix the 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and 1/3 cup flour in an airtight container until smooth and there are no lumps. Add to the skillet.

Bring skillet to a low boil. Add seasonings and cook on low for 8-10 minutes until it's thickened.

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Champ

4 lbs potatoes, quartered - I don't peel mine

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

3 green onion, chopped

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper, to taste

Cook potatoes in a large pot until tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the milk and heat. Drain potatoes, add the rest of the ingredients and serve immediately. Champ should be served with a well in the middle of the potato pile, with butter or margarine added. As it melts, you dip your potatoes in the well to coat with butter.

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Aparagus in a Balsamic/Butter Sauce

1 lb asparagus spears, washed and trimmed

1 1/2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

2 tbsp melted butter

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Cook asparagus in a little water until just tender, but still vivid green (3-6 minutes, depending on size). Toast the pine nuts while the asparagus is cooking. Melt the butter, add the vinegar and serve over the asparagus with toasted pine nuts.

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Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 mashed bananas

chocolate chips, to taste

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream the first three ingredients together until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients, the mashed bananas and the chocolate chips.

Put in a lightly sprayed loaf pan and cook for 45 minutes to an hour.