Steak and Salad

Dinner Saturday night was amazing!! I made a salad and My husband grilled the steaks. Sounds simple, but it was incredible!!

Mangos For Breakfast

With spring in full swing, I find myself awake around 6:15 every morning, so I have started a new habit: getting up with my husband and making a proper breakfast for both of us.

Fish For Lunch

I am often surprised by how few people around me seem to eat fish, cook with fish, or have even tried fish.

On our last trip to the grocery store, we bought one package of each of the frozen fish options, where the fish is filleted and packed as is, right after cleaning.

So yummy and simple, it hardly feels like I am actually cooking!

Simple Crisp

It seemed like such a good idea at the time... chasing my 7-year-old home from school on a warm afternoon, fresh snowball in hand, ready for launching... and then all of a sudden, I was on the ground, sopping wet, and my left wrist hurt.

A few hours later, after seeing that my wrist was not broken and receiving a tetanus shot for the scrape on my hand (it had been 12 years since my last one), I was on my way home again. A week later, and I'm feeling much better!

For some reason, whenever I make an Apple Crisp, my five-year-old always calls it a 'Crusp'. His favourite part is obviously the 'crust' or 'crisp' on top.

Watermelon Salad

Sometimes kids who come over are uncertain of the strange things that we make. When my niece and nephews came over for dinner on Friday night, we were interested to see how they would respond to dinner.

I roasted carrots and halved mini potatoes in one pan and some fresh dill-covered salmon fillets in another.

For the salad, we made this:

Actually, I Like Oatmeal!

Steel Cut Oats

As a little girl, I was unable to eat oatmeal or any whole grain hot breakfast like it. There was something about the slimey, lumpy texture that I physically could not swallow.

Adventure in the Produce Aisle

When we go to the grocery store, there is one rule about vegetables and fruit: if we have not yet tried it, we buy it and eat it. 

Never had it before? No idea what it’s called? No problem, just look it up online and then slice, dice, sauté, and eat it! 

We try to buy any fruit or vegetables the boys ask for, because it builds a sense of adventure and ownership into eating that fruit or vegetable. It's also somewhat exciting to try something new.

Next time you go to the grocery store, instead of just cruising through the produce section getting all of "the usual", add in one thing that you have not had before and tell me all about it!

This is Suey Choy (or Napa Cabbage) and is our FAVOURITE salad base; no more lettuce for us!

The Nemesis: Ideas for Defeat

For some reason, knowing that we bought it AND it is good for us is not enough. 

The Nemesis: Kale & Swiss Chard

Ideas:

• use in quiche

• thinly slice into soups

• add to curries

• borscht

Dinner Tonight: Curry

After school on Thursdays, the boys and I get home quickly and eat a snack that is more of a meal than a little bite. Then we load into the car with boxing gloves, shorts and tee-shirts and head off to their kick-boxing class in Calgary.

By the time we get home, it is nearly 7:00 and with bedtime FAST approaching, if dinner is not already ready, the wheels fall off and the kids end up going to bed way too late, cranky. 

Here is my solution for tonight’s dinner... curry! I will prep everything before I go help out in Kindergarten this afternoon and I will start the slow roasting before we leave at 4:20 pm for the 5:15 pm class.

RECIPE: Apple Curry

Ingredients:

2 lbs beef, sliced and diced (I chop up cheap steaks for this, but ground beef would also work or stewing beef cubes)

1 large onion, diced

2 large apples, cored and diced

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp yellow curry paste (or curry powder if you don’t have the paste)

Method:

> mix it all together in an oven-proof casserole dish, clamp on the lid, and put it in the oven at 325*F for 2-2.5 hours; alternately, you could use a crock-pot


> rice, the amount and method you usually use (I will talk more on rice a little later)

Garnish:

fresh cilantro & green onions sprinkled over

I will post photos of this tomorrow as well as any sides I create to go with it! I have no idea what they will be, but I know my fridge is brimming with produce that begs to be eaten! 

* For an authentic experience, do not use any forks, spoons, or other utensils when eating.  Use only your fingers on your right hand and rip up a piece of Indian Naan Bread to scoop and sop the yumminess up!!

** Yes, I am seriously suggesting that you eat rice, small pieces of meat and veg, and sauce with your fingers. Think of how much fun your kids will have!


UPDATE: 
My 7-year-old decided that this was the VERY BEST curry he had EVER had and ate three large bowls before declaring that he was too full for a fourth. 


Here is a photo of the apples, vegetables, coconut milk, and curry paste before I added strips of cheap beef. And curry in the bowl served over brown basmati rice - with cilantro and kosher salt - yummy!