Week 14 - Cherries and Tomatoes...Finally!

Hello everyone and happy week 14! It finally feels like Spring is in full bloom here. The community garden is planted, the pots and grow bags are planted and even the back yard garden is planted! While my hands feel like sandpaper from all that communing with dirt, I feel satisfied and full of anticipation of all the fruits and veggies that will fill (probably over fill) our fridge!

A wonderful feeling overcame me this week while I was driving around our beautiful sunny city. This feeling was much like the one you get when you see the first snow flake fall while you hear Michael Buble sing Let it Snow on the radio knowing Christmas is on its way! As I was driving thinking NOTHING about snow I spied the first plywood road sign telling me there was fresh fruit ahead, then the second sign and finally I saw the jackpot sign...cherries! I love spring cherries! But beware eager shopper because as you slap that brimming produce bag full of those deep red jewels on the checkout counter you realise that $6.99 a pound really adds up to $16.00 for that bag! I think actual deep red jewels may be cheaper! I succumbed to my insanity and bought a big bag!

I decided that because I also scored a great big bag of new heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market this past weekend it was the perfect time to make Cheat's Pizza, 3 Delish Salads, Squashed Cherries and Vanilla Mascarpone Cream from page 58.

This weeknight meal looked delicious and fresh and seemed perfect for someone who needs to go outside and water all those gardens that got planted! In 40 minutes dinner was done and on the table. The arugula salad was wonderful along with my favourite tomato salad. The cherries dipped in the cream was a perfect if not slightly expensive treat and the pizza was really good. You cook the pizza in a skillet on the stove and then throw it quick under the broiler. It was fast and easy and WAY better than the cardboard crap from the freezer aisle. I highly recommend buying good salami, it was worth it and made the pizza that much better!

I am dreaming of all my summer produce especially my tomatoes! I have 13 varieties for a total of 32 tomato plants in my garden so anyone who wants tomatoes you know who's door to knock on come August! Other wise you may just find them on your door step!

Well off to water water water!

Trish

A quick and delicious weeknight meal!

MMMMM tomatoes and cherries!

The back yard garden with the seedlings poking through.

Week 13 - Spaghetti Wednesday

Hello week 13! It was just another weekday and I knew that I needed to get caught up on my blog. With both myself and scruffy hubby being teachers life is always a little bit hectic. Add three children of our own to that and you venture upon a whole new kind of crazy!

Scruffy Hubby and I used to have things pretty easy with just our first born baby boy Max. Being first time parents we of course had our heads right up our asses when it came to knowing what to do with this little bundle. We of course thought we were awesome but looking back I wish I could have a do over. I still joke that he was my practise baby. Max loved to eat! But me in all my stupidity believed that I needed to fee him "kid" food. The darling boy therefore ate A LOT of Kraft Dinner, chicken nuggets, pasta and processed meats. I was like a short order cook making food for Max and then meals for us. Once I started to realise how dumb this really was and unhealthy for my child I reformed our cooking and eating. Max was not impressed.

Eight years later and Max still is the pickiest of all three kids. My youngest Simon eats EVERYTHING! Black olives, spice, veggies and more! Our new family rule is that if Simon eats it then everyone has to. The one way to really get Max to like what he is going to eat is to let him cook.

Max had a really bad day today. My super keener child assured me that today was beach day and hot lunch. He even set out his costume last night. Max got up bright and early to put on his swim trunks and sun hat. He got to school and suddenly realised he was the only one dressed for the tropics. The poor boy was humiliated and had to suffer the day in beach wear because beach day is next week!

We decided to make a spaghetti dinner tonight. About 4 years ago Max declared that every Wednesday should be spaghetti night. The idea stuck and we try many kinds and varieties each hump day.

Max was very eager to cook with his Mamma! He really loves Canadian Chef Chuck Hughes and likes to feel grown up by using knives and stoves. We made Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, Crunchy Salad, Garlic Bread and Silky Chocolate Ganache from page 54. It was 6:00pm and we were off. My darling boy was a chopping and cooking wonder. He was smiling and reading the cook book with ease. He loved using the food processor and his day of humiliation melted away. After 31 minutes we had a perfect weekday meal. The spaghetti was REALLY yummy and had a unique taste with the combination of tuna, capers, anchovies and cinnamon with the tomatoes. All three boys had two helpings. Max gave the whole meal a drum roll and announced it was all a 5. Simon loves to copy his big brother and also gave everything a 5 and wanted me to write down that he cooked too. Mary gave the chocolate a 5 and would not eat anything else...hmmmmm. I am gonna have to work on that girl. Scruffy Hubby gave the meal a 3 as he helped himself to seconds. Scruffy Hubby is the "normal food Nazi". He only likes difficult to make and/or exotic food. One of his favourite meals of mine are baked beans that take two days to make!

I hope that all three of my children learn the value and fun of home made food. I will make it my mission to ensure all three of them can cook and it is nights like this that set them well on their way. I love spending time in the kitchen with my little helpers.

The week night blog meals are fun but I may have to put them on hold. I have listened for the last hour to whines and cries of "where is Auntie" "why isn't anyone here" "this is no fun just us"! So I will once again get the whole family together this weekend!

See you next week!

Trish


Hi this is Max. I love the food my Mom makes.they all taste so good and looks exotic,rich with flavor.Every blog ,each dinner is a diffrent culture.

Chef Max ready for action! (yes that is his sun safe shirt he is wearing from the failed beach day)

Little brother Simon is trying to get in on the cooking action.

My very grown up man using the stove with ease.

Ready in only 31 minutes and a great week night meal!

MMMMM Chocolate gets a 5!

Simon the super eater!

One very happy little boy!

Week Twelve - Surprise Sardines

Happy week 12 everyone and happy almost Mother's Day! I had today all planned out. I was going to invite the family over and make a yummy pasta dish from the front of the cook book. Scruffy Hubby was gone all day for a work function and I had the kids. A good friend of mine phoned me up this morning and asked me how my cooking project was going. I told him it was great but I was worried about a few up coming dishes. Namely the sardines. Well my lovely Filipino friend assured me it would be great and gave me some tips and words of encouragement about it. The decision was made...I would secretly make the dreaded sardine meal tonight!

I took my three crazies to the grocery store and after some googling in the middle of the store I had a plan of action. Sardines are not a common food here (no kidding) and so unless I wanted some from a can I had to come up with a suitable alternative. Smelts were the only small fish that I could find that at least looked like sardines to my untrained and sceptable eye. Figs also posed a problem since they are not in season here. I did not want to chicken out on this sardine thing so I thought it would be better to forgo the figs and stick to the fish. I chose some lovely Bosc pears to stand in as the honey drizzled fruit. Tonight's meal is from page 134 Grilled Sardines, Crispy Halloumi, Watercress Salad and Figs and Thick Chocolate Mousse.

Now all I had to do was bait my family to come (get it bait...cause we were about to eat bait!) We bought tickets to the afternoon showing of The Avengers and planned to come back and have a pasta blog dinner. Once home after the AWESOME movie I offered my darling sister and brother in law a drink...followed by another and finally another. That is when I let the fish out of the bag and announced the REAL plan for supper!

After a few squeals and screams we were off! 40 minutes later my sister and I had this meal layed out on the table and revealed to the kids what we were having. You can imagine the response.

We decided to video tape everyone eating a smelt whole. You can watch the fun below! Logan the recent birthday boy almost vomited! We had offer him a dollar and he chased his frightening bite with a lot of pita! He only likes the chocolate pudding. Brylee didn't even like the pudding and gave the meal a 0 (not even on the scale but she doesn't care). Max said it was a 5! Simon while hesitant at the beginning also gave it a 5! Scruffy Hubby gave it a 2 even though he had a healthy pile of sardine on his plate. The sweet sister said that it was not as bad as she thought but still not good. Bryon the brother in law gave it a 3 1/2 while making disgusting fish in a blanket wraps! Mary the little food Nazi LOVED the sardines. She downed more than I cared to count as I filmed her nauseously! She gave the sardines a 5 but the rest of the meal only a 2.

This is a big fat goose egg for me! There is no amount of tequila to make me enjoy eating the fish head! I would rather eat the worm!

I am glad we surprised the family with this one! It made it more of an adventure. This blog thing is catching on with them and now they are starting to rate all my meals. I don't know if that was good or bad but at supper the other night I heard my three munchkins discussing what score that night's dinner would receive.

I am looking forward to Mother's Day tomorrow and wish all the mothers out there a very  happy day! See you all next week! Lucky Number 13!

Trish

A little liquid courage!

Bottoms up!

Smelts VS Sardines! Both equally gross!

The were looking at me as I put them in the pan!

Dinner ready in 40 minutes!

One sardine on my plate but the rest looks good!

Making fish in a blanket!

Our strange and lovely girl eating a fish head with pride!

Mary asked me to have this in her kindergarten thermos!

There is not much Simon will not eat!

Week 11 - Duck Dynasty

Happy week eleven everyone! As my awesome brother in law reminded me I am 1/4 of the way through my project! This week we decided to pay homage to the A&E show Duck Dynasty. Scruffy Hubby loves this reality wonder about an equally hairy family from Louisiana. I think he may be a bit jealous of their well developed facial hair or maybe he just wants to be one of their hairy brethren. Either way the show is really funny and worth a watch.

We decided to make Duck Salad with Giant Croutons and Cheat's Rice Pudding with Stewed Fruit. We did not go out into the woods to shoot us a duck though. We simply "hunted" it down at the local farmers market. I was a little concerned about making duck. The only other time I have ever eaten duck was when Scruffy Hubby and I were first married. During our honeymoon years we liked to go out and partake of a few beverages on the weekend. This would ultimately lead to some late night hunger. We would bravely venture to China Town in the wee hours of the morning to eat BBQ duck along with a "pot of tea". By pot of tea I really mean pot of beer. Anything tastes awesome at 4am with a pot of beer.

Tonight we donned our biker bandannas and cooked! The super sister decided to help me cook tonight while the boys watched reruns of Duck Dynasty. She is not only a super sister because she happens to me kind, brilliant and amazing. She happens to be the owner of the automatic margarita maker that she brought over tonight! To keep this authentically redneck we decided to make southern comfort and lemonade slushies!

We were off and running! Supper was simple to make and had a really interesting salad. You crush the pomegranates in the bottom of the bowl and put the salad on top. You toss it at the end with a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing that was awesome! 34 minutes later we had dinner ready and two slushy drinks done! Friday night and feeling good! Jody was happy for that lack of her hated herb! She said "colour me surprised there is no cilantro"!

Dinner looked great and was fast to make but wow o wow was that a lot of game. As a quasi vegetarian I have to say that I have a hard time with a plate of meat. Salad...check...croutons...check...duck...quack. I just was not a fan of the duck. I was not alone. The family really was trying their best to be polite. My poor nephew was beside himself with the idea of eating this, Mary the food Nazi gave it all a 1! Bryon the super brother in law gave a 3 1/2 but actually only really liked the duck, he even made an open faced duck sandwich with the duck that the rest of us wouldn't eat. Simon gave it a 5 1/2 but he only ate the duck off his plate and left everything else.

Scruffy Hubby stayed true to his fur faced fan club and gave the meal a 5! I am shocked and think he is voting with his beard and not his belly. This is no Indian Steak!

The best part of the meal was making southern comfort slushies and hanging out with my family after the longest week of my life! I love Fridays and I love my family and the rest of life is just gravy!

Have a great weekend everyone! I am off to make another slushie. See you all next week!

Trish

 See any resemblace? A& E Duck Dynasty star VS my scruffy hubby!

Margarita Machine making redneck slushies of Southern Comfort and Lemonade!

Cooking sisters! The banadanna suits Scruffy Hubby better.

Simon helped Aunty crush garlic.

34 minutes later and dinner was ready.

Looks good!

Simon loves meat!