New Roomie= Yummy Food!

Happy Belated Canada Day Everyone !! :)
Yesterday my sister moved in and the day was spent cleaning and moving and cleaning and painting and moving and cleaning. 13 hours later we had a place we could call our home!

A very CLEAN KITCHEN!! 

We cleaned out all the cabinets, washed fixtures, dishes, walls and the floor. It is very satisfying to have a a newly cleaned kitchen and more importantly, its really organized!!

Here is our new table and chairs! 100% oak and we got it second hand for 100 bucks! 

Last night after an exhausted day, we all sat down to Funky Pickle Pizza and beer. It was DELICIOUS! I don't have pictures, sorry! haha

This morning I cooked oatmeal in my new/old pot. New as in new to me, but old because its my parents old pots and pans!

3/4 cup Almond milk boiling and add 1/4 cup Steel cut oats ,and 1 banana. Once cooked down add 1/2 cup cottage cheese, and some cinnamon. Almond butter for a topping! Chomp!

One of the many great things about living with my sister is that we have very similar eating habits and outlooks on food. This includes making a point of eating together, making delicious food and enjoying every bite! So tonight we did just that!

Here is a salad my sister made! Romaine, spinach, peppers, snap peas, tomatoes and cucumber!

Also, here is a picture of my salad spoons. I got them in Maui and they are great. They scoop a generous serving of salad every time!!

For our main course I decided that we should try Cheap, Healthy, Good Blog's Salsa Couscous Chicken or Moroccan Chicken. IT WAS SOOOOO YUMMY and the best part- RIDICULOUSLY EASY! Four thumbs way up from L and C!

Chicken and the yummy sauce!

Dinner set for two!

Here is the finished product! 

Served over brown rice!

Are you drooling yet? I wish this blog could let you smell how good this was!

Here is the recipe... I had a minor variation. I used chicken breast instead of thighs. Thanks again for Cheap, Healthy, Good Blog for giving us such good recipes!!

1 cup uncooked couscous or rice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup slivered almonds

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 5 or 6 ounces each)

1 cup bottled salsa, medium heat

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons raisins

1 tablespoon honey

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1) Cook the couscous or rice according to package directions. Set aside.

2) In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add almonds. Cook, stirring occasionally. Once browned, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3) To the same pan, add garlic. Cook 30 to 60 seconds, until fragrant. Add chicken. Cook about 5 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Meat should be slightly browned when finished.

4) While chicken is cooking, combine salsa, water, raisins, honey, cumin, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir.

5) Add salsa mixture to pan. Stir to combine. Cover and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it’s getting a little dry, add water as you go along. Chicken should be cooked through when finished. If not, give it another few minutes.

6) Serve chicken over rice/couscous. Top with sauce. Sprinkle with almonds.

Salad to finish! We got some new salad dressing today while grocery shopping! Bolthouse Yogurt Ranch Dressing- very ranchy and creamy! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Good Morning!

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I'm in such a freakishly good mood this morning because I made HOMEMADE BUTTTERMILK PANCAKES! I had to buy 1L of Buttermilk last week for a RR recipe (i'll post it another time, it was quite good.) The recipe only called for like 3/4 of a cup. As a result, I had quite a bit left over. I made ranch dip the other night and still had 1/2 container left. Luckily for me, I had all the ingredients to make PANCAKES!!! nom nom nom....

Hello little pancakes....

Oh so golden brown....

Here is the yummy batter. This is the leftovers actually... which means pancakes tomorrow morning too!!! yay!!
Recipe From Canadian Living!
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used ww all purpose!)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp butter (i used margarine... that part didn't really go well, but it didn't seem to hurt the pancakes. i imagine with butter it would be AWESOME!)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp canola oil (i didn't use this)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda and salt. In another bowl mic buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and butter. Mix it all together. it will be kinda lumpy.
Non-stick skillet medium heat, pour 1/4 of batter per pancake.
Chomp!
My toppings: Aunt Jamima Syrup, Adams Peanut Butter and Ecstasy in a Jar Jam.


Also here are some of my favorite new things I thought people might enjoy!

This is my new favorite mug! I got it at Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum in Hollywood!









I don't know how other people feel about the Wizard of Oz, but it is one of my favorite movies and when I saw this mug I knew it had to be one of my souvenirs from my trip!!









My sister is moving in with my this week! And along with her comes this new toaster! Its so exciting...

It is a toaster AND toaster Oven! Cool hey! Funny enough my sister got it by buying lots of Dempsters bread products and sending in the packaging. After a certain number they sent her this toaster! 

Finally, since my sister is moving in and since I was in a procrastinating/cleaning mood (they often go hand in hand) I cleaned the fridge. It was pretty bad. It really needed some love. Now it sparkles!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! I'm off to do research!

Farmers Market!

Happy Monday! (or not so happy Monday... I have a headache (I think i'm dehydrated, so I'm working on that) and my chain came off my bike. Which makes sense, the gears were grinding pretty badly there. Also not shocking, my bike is at least 10 years old and was 150 bucks brand new. I think its been in a little bit of a shock since I started riding it everywhere last month. Previously, I hadn't touched it in years!)

ANYWAY.... lets get to the food shall we?

Here are my purchases. Since I am on a budget, I have to be picky with my farmers market buys. Things can add up very quickly there! lucky for me (or sadly...) fruit didn't look GREAT there on saturday, so I was able to stick to veggies.

THREE PINTS OF TOMATOES! CHOMP! 

I found that I would polish off a container by monday/tuesday. So i got three this week. I am happy!

Mr. Cucumber. Organic and happy. I don't mind getting cucumders and tomatoes at the FM because the princes are comparable to the grocery store. Slightly more expensive, but nothing I can't handle!

I always go to the FM on the hunt for some happy meat. Often I see some and it just isn't what I feel like/want/too expensive. Today I noticed the elk booth. I got this 1/2 pound of ground elk meat for 6 bucks. I'm thinking either burgers or meat sauce. Either way, its going to be delicious and healthy!!

Finally, I got some of the Prairie Mill Flax Bread. Its SOOOO GOOD. It was my treat. Nothing better then good bread. Lets be honest here. I just ate some in fact. chomp nom nom nom....

I also ran into one of my favorite couples Andrew and Angie at the farmers market. I neglected to take a photo of them there... however, I was happy to run into them. Makes the market more fun in my opinion!

Hopefully I'll have some new recipes and concoctions  for you this week. Its going to be a chaotic next few days. My sister moves in on Thursday, so we'll be painting and cleaning and organizing over the weekend! I also, as usual, have a ridiculous amount of school work to do (that I'm about to start right now!) 

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Gouda and Spinach

Here is just a quick post with my latest creation! I mentioned yesterday I purchased Gouda this week, and here is what I came up with for dinner last night!
Chicken stuffed with Gouda and spinach! Chomp!



These are the ingredients (for 1 serving) :
Gouda (probably less than 1oz total that I used.)
Spinach, Fresh (1/2 cup)
Nutmeg- 1 tsp
1 Chicken Breast
Pepper

Slice open chicken breast.
In a bowl mix up grated Gouda, chopped spinach and nutmeg.
Place in chicken.
Top with pepper
Cook in 375F oven (around 30 minutes)







I really enjoyed this. I used nutmeg because I heard that it goes really good with gouda and it sure did!
I pared my chicken with leftover dill mashed potatoes and a salad. It was simple and delicious!

My Latest Addictions...

So this blog update is going to be full of food old and new. I'm starting with some photos from a trip from the winery that some friends and I went to at the end of May. It's a great Albertan winery ( I know, shocking the Alberta have the own winery!) But it was delicious. Here is their website: En Sante Winery.

So first things first, the picture above is of one of the most delicious pieces of pie I have ever had! it was made from apples from the winery's Orchard and had a delicious whole grain crust. we all enjoyed it immensely!! It was coupled with some really good Yorkshire tea-I even put some cream and sugar in my tea which I never do. It didn't help that it had snowed that morning, so I think we were all up for any kind of comfort food.

On your left is Allison sipping some wine. We also had some cheese and crackers to cleanse our palates! We were hungry... (photo of cheese deleted due to technical issues...)

I should note that the wines that the winery produces are all fruit wines. we tried Apple wine, honey wine, cherry wine,Saskatoon berry wine, rhubarb wine (which I purchased) and alfalfa wine (yes thats right! it was actually pretty good!)

There is Ms. Angela and Ms. Benita enjoying some samples!

I think that this is cherry wine I'm not sure! If so, this was Benita's favorite! it's funny how much all of our tastes differed when it came to our favorites, although I think we'll agreed that the honey mead was delicious.

Now on to something completely different! Something I have been doing lately is purchasing organic, free range eggs. I used to do it every now and then, when I felt like I spent a little bit of extra money. Now, even though I don't have extra money, and am on a tight budget for the rest of the summer, I decided to fit them into my regular grocery list. These ones I got at the Farmer's market last weekend! As a result of buying these eggs I actually cut down on my egg consumption, which I generally think is a good thing. It's made me more diverse and creative in my choices!

Here are those lovely brown eggs!!

Whoops! Can't crack in it to save my life...

This meal was not especially creative... I just really felt like eggs on toast.

Totally hit the spot! Chomp!

That was yesterday's lunch

and

Here is today's:

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES!

YUMMY!

I decided to have pancakes because

1) I wanted them

2) I have some pancake mix I've been wanting to get through so I can buy new stuff. every time I see pancake mix of the store I want to buy it! But I don't let myself because I already have to pancake mix... however today I finished my pancake mix, which means that next time I go grocery shopping I am allowed to buy MORE!

oh so golden brown...

I put some of this jam on my pancakes today. This jam is called "ecstasy in a jar." It is raspberry jam with Belgian chocolate mixed in... delicious! I got it at the downtown farmers market from the jam lady (note: the jam lady is rarely there, it is usually the jam man. They are fantastic people.)

Gotta have syrup too!

Finally here is one of my most latest addictions. Goat cheese and pesto! I've been making tuna melts with pesto at the base and goat cheese as the cheese of choice. I just really love the texture of goat cheese and it's so versatile!

However, this week I purchased Dutch Gouda as my treat. So no goat cheese for me this week. I'll have to let you know how the Gouda goes.

Hello hello!

So, if it isn't already obvious by my many posts where I promise I will return soon, things haven't gone exactly as I had dreamed!

For one, this thesis thing kinda sucks out any energy for writing not related to thesis writing. That being said, I think thats mostly an excuse. I procrastinate far too much not to update this thing!

Second: my wrist/hand/neck/arm/body- still pretty unhappy. I am pretty much doing anything to get it better. I did physio for 3 months. I've quit that now. I invested almost 700 bucks (insured don't worry!!) and while my pain and symptoms have decreased thanks to it, I feel like I've exhausted that route. I have moved onto massage. I am going to give it a try (3- 4 sessions.) If it helps, YAY! I know it'll make my back/neck feel better either way, so even if my carpal tunnel doesn't calm down, at least there is a benefit there! I am also on this new medication. I started it yesterday- its called Lyrica. I'm sure you've seen the commercials. I am sort of on the defensive with this stuff. The side effects on it are scary- dizziness (i sort of was earlier, though its hard to say if thats medication or just me, cause it happens from time to time anyway), sleepiness, nausea, inability to concentrate (great... i already have that problem!), weight gain ( AH!), and addiction (uhhh...) Anyway, those are just a few of the side effects. I know that all drugs have them, but its good to air on the side of caution!

The final thing I've got going for me with my wrist is this fantastic program called Dragon. You talk into a microphone and it types for you. It was given to me as a gift from some fantastic people (i don't even know who was all involved but it still boggles my mind that people would get together and do something so nice for someone. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!) Its such a cool thing and I've typed about 50 pages with it. Sometimes i find really funny mistakes or sentences that make no sense. But the program learns from you as you go and makes less and less mistakes over time. Thank goodness I have it because typing is still extremely painful for me.

In terms of exercise- well clearly weights are out of the question. Lucky for me, I live in Edmonton's River Valley. My next journey out I'll take pictures so you can see the beauty of it! i have been riding my bike everywhere and anywhere. I put a basket on it so i can shove groceries or books in it. I've been belly dancing, as usual, which is always a great workout. I hope to take more classes in the fall, since I think the gym is my nemesis. I've also been running outside-- usually around 3 miles. I am so impressed with myself considering I didn't really run ever before and I dislike it. Though I find it relaxing. I also have been doing body weight and band exercises at home: squats, lunges and so on. And finally, THE STAIRS of DOOM! I'll take pictures of that too, but they are the second highest stairs in the river valley. my goal is to run them 5 times and not want to be ill. i did 4 on Monday and at the end wanted to throw up. I think by the end of July i'll reach my goal! I've also just been walking more often because I LOVE SUMMER!

I have no pictures of food. But I resolve to start that again! I've been eating delicious food and drinking new and exciting beers and wines!! its been a wonderful summer in that respect. Also, my boyfriend and I have been cooking together and for each other lately and its been lots of fun. Its one of my favorite things and we both enjoy it for our health and wallets!

I shouldn't promise I'll be back soon but I sure want to be! But bug me to post again if I don't!

Just a quick post to keep you all happy

I plan on actually updating sometime this week. Life has been on the hectic side, not to mention my hand/wrist/neck really hasn't been great (and when it does feel great, I have no desire to sit here any longer than I already am with my thesis work.) That being said, I discovered this great little write up on the history of fad diets. YIPPY!!

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Health/15-Most-Bizarre-Diets-in-History.html

it combines my love of history and food together!

Promise: I will be back with actual pictures of food and my latest thoughts on food sometime in the next few days.