June 28th: Teriyaki Beef Salad

I think I may be getting to the end of my favourite salad recipes. This one is a steak salad with Asian flavours; it's strongly flavoured, but could be mellowed by omitting the garlic and ginger. I've modified the original, from April 2009's Chatelaine: Teriyaki Beef Salad, by using 1/8 tsp bottled ginger purée. That's it.

June 27th: Very, Very Green Salad

Around my blog's six-month anniversary, I added a search bar to allow readers and myself ... well, the ability to search my blog. For me, it was a way to keep track of which recipes I've already talked about so I don't end up repeating myself, because I do repeat recipes regularly, even if it's not readily apparent. Recently, I've been having trouble searching for items I KNOW I posted. Turns out it's a "known problem" that Blogger is working to address. Turns out they've also had this problem for years, so I can't see it being solved any time soon. This virtually makes my blog useless, because, as I approach the 200th-post mark, how useful is the blog to anyone if you can't search my bloody posts? I have a few ideas in mind for how to get around this problem, but I'll need to take some time -- sometime -- to work on it. Oh, sigh.


Meanwhile, after 5 years of relentlessly making this salad, which I adore, every summer, Greg is FINALLY on board! He swears he remembers nothing of complaining every year before now when I've made it. He is such a man. Here it is, one of my favourite summertime salads, which, be forewarned, takes tonnes of prep time and then has to sit in the fridge and blend flavours and all that jazz. This is adapted from Best Summer Weekends Cookbook, and came to my attention via the Ottawa Citizen. Somebody, please, buy me this book for Christmas. Or my birthday. I'm not picky.


Very, Very Green Salad


For the creamy citrus dressing:


1 cup (250 mL) mayonnaise
1/2 cup (125 mL) orange juice
2 tsps (10 mL) honey
1/2 cup (125 mL) plain yogurt or sour cream
1 tbsp (15 mL) rice vinegar
1 tsp (5 mL) dry mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup (50 mL) fresh parsley, chopped


For the salad:


1 head broccoli, broken into small florets, and with stems peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) green beans, sliced
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) snow peas
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) seedless green grapes, halved
1 bunch fresh spinach, trimmed, washed and patted dry (optional)
2 tbsps (25 mL) green onion, chopped (optional)
2 tbsps (25 mL) fresh chives, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup (125 mL) golden raisins
Creamy Citrus Dressing
1/2 cup (125 mL) pine nuts, toasted
1/2 lb (250 g) bacon, cooked and chopped (optional)


Combine all dressing ingredients well, and season to taste. Cover and refrigerate until needed.


To make the salad, blanch broccoli, green beans and snow peas, one vegetable at a time, for 1-2 minutes in lightly-salted boiling water. Lift out with a slotted spoon and refresh in cold water to stop the cooking, then drain completely.


Combine blanched vegetables in a large bowl with grapes and, if using, spinach, green onion, chives and raisins. Toss well to mix.


An hour before serving, toss salad with Creamy Citrus Dressing and chill 60 minutes to blend flavours. Just before serving, add pine nuts and bacon, if using, and toss again.


Serves 10 (or so the recipe says. maybe as one of several dishes. we eat this as the one and only main, and in that case, it serves about 4.)




I can tell you from my experience that the bacon definitely tastes icky if left sitting in the salad overnight. Everything else keeps alright. I never include spinach in my version, but for tonight, I served it over red lettuce leaves. I also tossed in some leftover chopped chicken from last night. All in all, a great supper!

Greeny green green
My snow peas had gone off, so I doubled up on green beans.

Finished product. Served over lettuce leaves.

June 26th: Superbly Herbed Grilled Chicken, Sugar Snaps with Mushrooms and Parmesan

Tonight's supper, an old keeper from August 2004's Chatelaine: Superbly Herbed Grilled Chicken, and a new one that has become a keeper, from June 2010's Chatelaine: Sugar Snaps with Mushrooms and Parmesan. The former will end your use of Diana Garlic & Herb Marinade. I use the full marinade recipe with half the chicken. The latter is that much better if you double the mushrooms. I also ditch the sage leaves.

Marinating chicken

Cooked chicken

June 23rd: Zesty BBQ steak, Sweet Peppers with Garlic-Herb Oil

This is a simple steak recipe that is a slight elevation of bottled sauce; I made it off a calendar years ago and continue to make it yearly. The Internet is such a wonderful thing; I had completely forgotten, but can now give credit to this and yesterday's recipe as coming from the Recipes Plus Calendar (potentially from 2004):


Zesty BBQ Steak


1/2 cup HP Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
About 1 pound top sirloin grilling steak, 3/4 inch thick 

Combine HP sauce, oil, vinegar, garlic, and pepper in a bowl. Coat steak generously with half the sauce.

Grill over medium-high heat 5 minutes per side or until desired doneness, brushing with remaining sauce and turning only once or twice. Serves 4.




I served this yummy steak with a recipe from June 2010's Chatelaine: Sweet Peppers with Garlic-Herb Oil. I made this one last year, loved it, and have made it a number of times since. It never disappoints.

June 22nd: mango mustard chicken with greens

Years ago, Greg and I were not much into salads. Then, I found and made this recipe. This was our gateway salad. We now eat salads all the time and are always finding new and amazing variations. At least once every summer, I go back to our old favourite, which might not even be as good as some of our newer favourites, but has that nostalgic touch that makes us love it fondly.


Mango Mustard Chicken with Greens



3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup + Frank's RedHot Sauce
2 medium mangoes
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 teaspoon Frank's RedHot Sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups torn mixed salad greens
1/4-1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted
2 green onions, sliced 


Place chicken in a glass dish and coat with 1/4 cup RedHot sauce, or more, if necessary. Cover and refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes. Peel and cube enough mango to make 1/2 cup. Slice remaining mango for salad; set aside.


Preheat grill. In food processor or blender, combine cubed mango with lime juice, oil, mustard, remaining RedHot sauce and salt; process until smooth. If desired, set aside 1/4 cup for basting chicken.


On preheated grill over medium heat, barbecue chicken, turning once, until cooked through, about 12-15 minutes. If desired, brush chicken with mango dressing during last few minutes of cooking. After taking chicken off grill, allow the meat to rest 5 minutes for juices to redistribute. Then slice into strips.


Divide salad greens and sliced mango between 4 plates. Top with sliced chicken, pecans and green onions. Drizzle with remaining mango dressing.


Serves 4.

With mango dressing

June 19th: oatmeal muffins

I've been doing a lot of muffins for breakfast recently. With Starbucks. Yum. My pick for 2011: Grande Vanilla Non-Fat Latte. I tried this oatmeal muffin recipe from 101 Cookbooks and the results were pleasing. Will likely try it again. The recipe said it made twice the amount of crumble needed for the 18 muffins the recipe make. I used it all. When it comes to crumble, go big or go home.

June 18th: Garlic and Basil Chicken Sandwich/Berries with Ginger Cream

Chicken


I love this chicken sandwich, which, minus the mess factor, is perfect picnic food and in any case, perfect summer food. I make this at least once a year. It requires cooked chicken (a whole chicken for the full 4 servings, or, in our case, 2 breasts for 2 big servings). The sandwich is made on a baguette spread with a garlic-mayo mixture, topped with goat cheese, chicken, tomatoes, more goat cheese (!) and fresh basil. Simple but powerfully flavourful. I use the full amount of mayo on the half sandwich. From September 2005's Chatelaine: Bistro Chicken Sandwich.

Berries


This recipe has a slight pain-in-the-butt factor, but is so good I make it every year when local berries start popping up everywhere. We're just getting into strawberry season now, a little later than usual for Ottawa. This is essentially berries topped with cream, but in this case, the cream is drained yogurt (pain-in-the-butt factor: requires several hours sitting in the fridge) mixed with ginger juice (pain-in-the-butt factor: grating ginger root), sugar and cardamom. Cardamom may be my favourite scent in the world. I like to open my bottle of cardamom and inhale lightly when I am stressed out. TMI? Possibly.

I've modified this recipe from the original version, from June 2006's Chatelaine, which required phyllo pastry, one pain-in-the-butt factor too many. My version is healthier too. Here tis:


Berries with Ginger Cream

• 3 cups (750 mL) plain yogurt
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) finely grated fresh peeled ginger
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cardamom (optional)
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 cups (500 mL) raspberries
• 1 cup (250 mL) each blackberries and blueberries
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) honey

To make ginger cream, line a sieve with a single layer of paper towel. Place over a medium-size bowl. Scrape in yogurt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. Discard liquid in bottom of bowl. Scrape thickened yogurt back into bowl. Place grated ginger in a sieve set over a small bowl. Using a spoon, firmly press on ginger to extract juice. Discard grated ginger. Juice should measure 2 to 3 tsp (10 to 15 mL). Stir into yogurt with cardamom and sugar. Mixture will keep, covered and refrigerated, up to 4 days.

To serve, place berries in a bowl. Drizzle with honey. Toss to coat. Divide into serving bowls and top with ginger cream.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Berry choices are to your own taste.
I just drizzle a bit of honey over each bowl of berries and then top with cream.
(I use more cream than pictured!)

June 17th & 18th: fudge popsicles

I found this fudge popsicle recipe on smitten kitchen.


Olivia and I made them together Friday night. I even let her help at the stove, a first.

They were pretty easy to make but of course, required overnight freezing and therefore, patience. We shared them Saturday night with the kids in our neighbourhood and I have no pictures of the feeding frenzy. Suffice it to say they were a hit. One tip: put the entire mould in warm water to dislodge fudgsicles. We had to eat a few out of the mould with spoons because the sticks popped out sans fudge.

June 17th: tandoori chicken wings

I don't often bother to try chicken wing recipes as I always conclude my recipe is better. This tandoori chicken wing recipe caught my eye though when I read it in the Ottawa Citizen. We concluded it was pretty tasty. It is prepped in advance, a bonus, and it is mildly spiced but quite flavourful. We're going to try it again. I'm linking the recipe, but don't know how long the Citizen keeps recipes online, so just in case, here it is:


Tandoori Chicken Wings with Mint-Cumin Yogurt Dip

For the yogurt

■ 1/2 cup (125 mL) thick plain yogurt

■ 2 tablespoons (30 mL) chopped fresh mint

■ 1 tablespoon (15 mL) lime juice

■ 2 teaspoons (10 mL) honey

■ Salt and white pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For the wings

■ 3 tablespoons (45 mL) tandoori paste

■ 1/2 cup (125 mL) thick plain yogurt

■ 24 chicken wingettes or drumettes, or a mix of both

■ Lime slices for garnish

1. Place the tandoori paste and yogurt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the wings and toss to coat. Cover, refrigerate and marinate the wings for 4 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 F (218 C). Arrange the wings on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through. If desired, broil the wings for one or two minutes to crisp up the skin. Set the wings on a platter with the bowl of yogurt dip alongside. Garnish with the lime slices and serve.

Makes: 24 wings

June 16th: java steaks, sugar snap almond pilaf

My favourite part of tonight's meal was this Sugar Snap and Almond Pilaf from June 2010's Chatelaine. I didn't have almonds, so used walnuts, and I added a bit of butter and Knorr chicken broth to the rice water, but otherwise, I followed the recipe and it was deelish.

Aside: In the last month I've become a *runner*. Ha, double ha. See, last summer, Greg joined the Running Room, got all caught up in this whole running thing, started losing weight, fell in love with the sport, injured himself, healed, ran ran ran and ever since, has been nudging me to give it a go. I do not have a natural runner's body. I'm short, with short legs, I'm not graceful and I don't move quickly with ease. Give me BODYFLOW any day. To add to the pressure, my friend Janice got a job downtown in the building next to mine. She spends her lunch hours running. Therefore, to spend time with her, run I must. And so, around the beginning of May, she set out to train me to become a runner. News Flash: running is actually jogging. But I've irked Greg and Janice enough with that line I won't push it any further. But it is.


In any case, the whole reason I bring this up is tonight, Janice and I went running. I was midway through making supper when I had to leave the house, so Greg finished the cooking and took the above picture but forgot to take a picture of the steak. Well anyway, you know what a barbecued steak looks like. The really important thing is that you should give this steak recipe a try; it has long been one of our favourites. We keep a bottle of instant coffee in the house for this recipe alone: from June 2005's Chatelaine: Java Steak Rub. No need to look up the link, here's the recipe:


Java steak rub: Stir 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) instant or ground coffee granules with 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) each freshly ground black pepper and cumin and pinches of salt. Rub into strip loin, sirloin, porterhouse or T-bone steaks before grilling.


That's it! So good. Wish I had a pic to share.

June 15th: spring veggie ragout

Although we often slip away from it, the criterion I've set for retrying or keeping recipes in this house is that the food is so good, we want to eat the exact same thing again tomorrow (not that we actually do eat the same thing two days in a row). Tonight's meal fit that criterion perfectly. Another way of saying the same thing is that supper is so good, I resent having to share it, even if the recipe tells me it makes 6 servings (I've reduced that to 4 below). This one is definitely worth trying again:


Spring Vegetable Ragout (Ottawa Citizen)


1 lb (454 g) fingerling potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
6 tbsps butter, divided
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 head of garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1/2 lb (225 g) carrots, sliced into pencil-width pieces

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 lb (110 g) baby collard greens (the original recipe called for arugula)
1 tbsp minced fresh herbs (e.g. chives, parsley)
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Steam the potatoes in a tightly covered pot over boiling water until tender, about 15 minutes, then drain.


Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the onion and garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes.


Reduce the heat to low. Add the carrots and cauliflower to the pan, then scatter the greens  overtop. Cover tightly and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. The greens should exude enough moisture, but if the pan looks dry, add a tablespoon or two of water or white wine.


When the carrots are tender, transfer the steamed potatoes to the pan and stir gently to combine. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of butter to the pan in chunks, stirring them into the vegetables to make a light sauce. Scatter the fresh herbs over top, and season to taste with salt and pepper.


Makes 4 servings.

This is not a complete supper on its own, but a great accompaniment to meat or, in our case tonight, spaghetti and tomato sauce.

June 14th: CSA

For a few years, I have been wanting to sign up with a CSA program. CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – works like this: in the spring, members buy a share with a local farm. In return, the farm provides a basket of produce, generally weekly throughout the growing season. There are two catches: 1) it is a relatively expensive up-front cost, in the range of $500-$700 and 2) if the farm has a bad year and produce is not abundant, no refunds are provided. The share cost is for good or bad, vegetables or not.

I've wanted to do this for years, but money is always tight for us in the spring and I’ve never been able to get enough together to follow through. This year, I swore, come hell or high water, I was doing it. So I wrote a cheque, crossed my fingers, and thanked TD Canada Trust for the overdraft on our account; my cheque didn’t bounce. Today, I got my first basket of vegetables from Covenant Farm. Here is catch number three: for an extra payment, vegetables can be delivered to your door or to a central pick up location. I didn’t have the money for that, so now, every Tuesday, Olivia and I have a 1 hour round trip to Clarence (east of Ottawa) to get our vegetables directly from the farm. The gas I will put in my car will eventually cost more than the delivery would have. Ah well, as I can afford gas over the summer as Greg makes money, and I look forward to exposing my city girl daughter to the country.

In a way, catch number four is, you end up with a basket of vegetables you might not know what to do with; however, I see that not so much as a catch but as an exciting challenge. This week, I need to figure out what I am going to do with collard greens, komatsuna and hakurei turnips, among other vegetables. Good times.

Olivia looks hesitant, but loved the bok choy flowers!

June 12th: miso pork kebabs and tomato sauce

For supper tonight, from June 2011's Chatelaine: Miso-glazed pork kebabs. I was looking for a reason to use some of the miso paste I bought last fall. It doesn't seem to go bad, which is great. It made the pork pretty tasty too. Might try this one again.

I've already posted a couple of good tomato sauce recipes, but I have another favourite I haven't shared yet: from May 2007's Chatelaine: Basic Tomato Sauce. I made this one tonight to have a couple bottles on hand; it makes 2.5 L of sauce and freezes well.

June 11th & 12th: Cheater, no-bake cheesecake

This is a perfect summer dessert: no baking, can be made pretty quickly with the help of a toddler and gets topped with loads of fresh fruit, whatever is in season! I pulled this out of Chatelaine in August 2004 and I've made it every other year or so since then. They call it Refrigerator Berry Pie. I find that description not clear enough. To me, this is much like a cheesecake, minus the baking side, and with only one package of cream cheese. The crust is made with gingersnap cookies and it is made in a pie dish rather than a spring form pan. The filling is cream cheese mixed with one small carton of whipping cream, whipped, so it is less dense than a cheesecake. It has to sit in the fridge for several hours, so Olivia and I made it Saturday night and enjoyed eating it Sunday afternoon. I wish I could say it lasted until Monday, but...

Fruit washed and ready to top the pie.

Greg and I kind of ate some Saturday night after Olivia went to bed.

But she didn't notice the next day as she helped me fill in the hole with fruit.

June 10th: asparagus soup

I make this asparagus soup about once a year when local asparagus are everywhere to be found. I pulled it out of the Ottawa Citizen years ago and it goes like so:


Local Asparagus Soup


1 kg asparagus, trimmed and well washed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsps chopped fresh chives (optional)

Cook asparagus in a deep skillet of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Chill under cold running water to set colour. Drain well. Cut off and reserve 12 tips for garnish. Dice remaining asparagus.

Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion. Cook gently for a few minutes until tender and fragrant. Add stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently, covered, 5 minutes. Add asparagus and cook 3 to 5 minutes longer, or until asparagus is tender. Add salt and pepper and purée until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve soup garnished with fresh chives and asparagus tips.

Makes 6 servings.

Hand-held immersion blender.
Bit of a hot soup splatter disaster, but got the job done.

I couldn't get my asparagus tips to float on top of the soup.
The one visible in this picture was the fourth one I'd added to this bowl.
O was at my side, ready to jump to my aid and get her fingers all through my bowl.
I declined.

June 9th: the best burger and spring salad

I've got lots of old reliables planned for this month and I can't wait to share them! My June milk calendar is getting booked up, so some of the recipes are being pushed to July as well, so exciting. Tonight we had simple but oh so good favourites: from June 2004's Chatelaine: The Perfect Burger and from April 2007's Chatelaine: Green Spring Salad (AKA asparagus and sugar snap pea salad with toasty pine nuts). For the burgers, I add a dollop of hoisin to the mixture. For the salad, I leave out the radicchio. Local asparagus are plentiful right now and we are eating them, oh, almost every day. Making hay while the sun shines and all that jazz. Happy weekend!

June 7th: poutine

Every summer, chip trucks on every corner, I get a craving for the ultimate deep dish, gluttonous, comfort food found north of 49: poutine. Glorious hot crispy French fries, squeaky fresh cheese curds, drenched in salty gravy, and oh yes, I'm one of those who also adds ketchup. So, so good. So, so bad.


The only way to dilute the guilt, ever so slightly: make it homemade. Oh yeah. I've done this before, but it's been years, and I was sure I could do better now. I was right. This took some prep work though.


First, I needed gravy. For this, I needed a roast. I made a roast beef before I went to Edmonton, but I didn't get enough gravy out of it for the experiment. So this past weekend I made a chicken, and did a better job of gravying it up. Here's my super simple but ever so tasty and salty chicken gravy recipe:


Pan drippings from chicken. (If you make my favourite chicken recipe, on a rack in a pan, you'll end up with quite a bit of juice in the bottom of your roaster.) Place drippings in saucepan and whisk in 1 tbsp (15 mL) all-purpose flour. Place pan over medium heat; whisk in 1 cup (250 mL) chicken broth and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Strain and let cool. Can be refrigerated for a couple of days, after which you can scrape off the top layer of congealed fat and reheat the rest.


Once the gravy's done, the rest is a breeze. I make my favourite oven French fry recipe (Greg would add you should leave them in the oven longer to get them crispier, I say burnter). Top the hot fries with fresh cheese curds (plug: St. Albert's) and then pour on the gravy with a liberal hand. So, so yummy. Let your curds come to room temp first if you have time.

O's petite serving.

Greg added *cough processed cough* smoked meat to his.
Which is worse for you: poutine with ketchup or poutine with smoked meat? Hmm...

I felt like maybe I should have something on the lighter side to accompany, so I made a sugar snap salad from June 2010's Chatelaine. This was a second go-around and it's getting tossed. Good but not great.

June 6th: sesame chicken lettuce wraps

I can't handle ground chicken. It's totally my mother's fault. Really, how is ground chicken any grosser than ground beef or ground pork? There should be no difference. But Mom has convinced me somehow it is grosser (though I do think ground anything is treading towards suspect). I tried to ignore that tonight while cooking up what looked like a tasty dish in June 2011's Chatelaine: Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps. It's a quick fry up of ground chicken, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, with Asian flavours (sesame, soy, broth) and carrots and green onions tossed in at the end, then wrapped up in lettuce to serve. I topped mine with Perth Pepper and Pestle Roasted Garlic Red Pepper Jelly. If you want a jar, let me know, I can hook you up. This stuff is awesome.


I was right; it was a tasty dish, thoroughly enjoyed by all three of us. I didn't think it would be quite enough on its own, so I made rice to accompany (good idea). I would also caution the promise of 4 servings might be optimistic; I would say it's more like 3. Happily, I discovered, when you eat a piece of ground chicken on its own, it does taste like chicken. However, next time I make this recipe (and there will be a next time), I'm going to take the time to finely dice up some chicken thighs myself. Then there should be no more mental issues. Thanks, Mom!

June 4th: rice bowl

Whilst in Edmonton, I paid the obligatory trip to the West Edmonton Mall with a couple of girls from work. I can't truly call it obligatory, as I didn't go the last time I was there, in February. Of course, the last time I was there, it was cold and I was downtown. This time, the weather was more pleasant and we were in the middle of west end no where. I do not recommend staying at the Mayfield Inn and Suites should you be paying a visit to Wild Rose Country's capital city.


Back to the WEM. We had supper at the food court--not a place I am usually a fan of, but I had a decent rice bowl from this place I'd never heard of: freshii. It turns out there is one in Ottawa too. In any case, I had a bliss bowl. Today, I decided to recreate this at home for lunch for me and O. I whipped up a pot of rice, and while that bubbled away, I fried half a white onion, diced, over low heat, then upped the heat and cooked up two portobellos, chopped. For the last couple of minutes, I threw in a handful of chopped sugar snap peas and leftover roasted red pepper, diced. To serve, we topped with goat cheese and toasted pine nuts. Delicious! Better than freshii's version, and likely because mine was fresher than theirs, despite the name. Good, filling lunch. Then to laundry and cleaning while Olivia napped, and then to nap myself. I love a weekend where I get a nap on Fri, Sat and Sun. Gets my week off to a good start!

June 3rd: green bean & soft boiled egg salad

Good to be home. It's nice to visit other places and it's nice to attend meetings where I learn information to help me do my job better, but the travel, the hotels, and the food get to me. I had some yummy food in Edmonton, but I'd still rather eat at home!


I planned this weekend's meals before I left so I wouldn't have to expend any brain power upon my return. That was a smart thing to do because I had to drag my exhausted body across the finish line teaching BODYFLOW this morning, then buy groceries with a pounding head (my head hurt too much for me to remember the Tylenol in my bag), and after sleeping away the afternoon, I was happy to make a simple, healthy meal for supper tonight.


From June 2011's Chatelaine: Creamy bean salad with soft-boiled egg. I roasted some red peppers, loaded in the goat cheese, and doubled the eggs to make the salad more filling. Wow, soft boiled eggs are a lot more delicate to peel than are hard! We enjoyed this salad, but not quite enough to keep the recipe. I served it with delicious Art-is-in rosemary-garlic bread (and for dessert, amazing croissants from the same locale; I LOVE the Ottawa Farmers' Market, Orleans location!).