Nat - Is this ok for you?? Meatful Monday???

Funny April Fools....

My husband got so worked up when I read this.. I think I read that they were breaking ground "April 1st" but he still didn't hear me!! LOL

Meatless Monday - Tomato, brie & mustard tart.

Mondays always seem to roll around so fast... Bad because it means the weekend is over :( But good as I get to try a new recipe. I love to cook so trying new recipes is exciting! Today's was made really simple as I had a ready made pastry shell so I thought 'what the hell!'... I am a terrible pastry maker.. just terrible. You bake it for 10-12 minutes first empty. You are meant to blind bake it but soon as I had no beans etc.. to do that I just shoved it in.. It didn't rise too much! You smear the bottom with a tablespoon of whole grain mustard, some grated cheese and lay the sliced tomatoes. Lay the sliced brie on top and pour over 2 eggs whisked with salt, pepper and herbs. Bake for 35 mins at 375 degrees.

Yummy!!!

Mason (the little guy) is a super picky eater.. Once you shovel a few mouthfuls in him he usually eats it (once he has realized he has no choice), but if it's not pasta or mashed potatoes you get the usual whiny line 'I don't want that' or 'I don't like that'. But he loved supper tonight! I told him it was egg pie with cheese (not a complete lie). Super easy to prepare and fast! I used an extra egg as I thought it would be a little more appealing to the kids, but it took a lot longer to cook. I also found that there was a lot of juice from the tomatoes. Maybe it depend on what kid of tomatoes you use but we are limited in the grocery store here and I love the flavour of the ones on the vine so that's what I used! Anyways.. very yummy. Give it a try!

Next week: I don't know yet! Any suggestions??

Another one of those Manitoulin Moments!

I was speaking to my friend Paul tonight in Windsor, and it made me think of how different my life is now compared to what it was when I was living in the city. My oil furnace is broken so here is me chopping wood and lighting a fire in my basement to heat my house.... Girls night... I hop on the quad and ride up the hill to go drinking so that I can leave my car here for hubby in the morning who wants to go to work...Did I picture myself jumping on the quad in my tight jeans and stilettos heading out for a girls night or chopping wood and lighting fires, smelt fishing in the middle of the night then spending the rest of the night gutting fish 6 years ago?? NO WAY!! It makes me laugh when I think about it which I suppose is a good thing that I am laughing and not crying. Mostly I am pretty proud of myself because I think I am a pretty resourceful gal these days!!

Me smelt fishing in my Burberry ear muffs and scarf - hey at least I do it in style!

A few weeks ago I got to enjoy something else that I would never get to do in the city... making maple syrup! Now this wasn't a 'guided tour' or anything like in St Jacobs... this was in our friends backyard while we sat around and drank beer. We decided to go 4-wheeling and ended up driving by to see if the Sheppard family were around for a visit. They have maple trees tapped all over their property for the sap to make syrup. This was all new to me... Sean living here all his life has done this before but for me a whole new experience!!! I felt like one of the kids!! And of course was taking photos the whole time for the blog!!!

the boys collecting sap from the trees....

So next you have to boil it down... I had no idea it was so much work! I was worried about having more than one beer then driving home but was told not to worry about that as we would be there for a while! Obviously I didn't think syrup ran straight from the trees but I guess I had never really put much thought into how tree sap becomes maple syrup! Well you rig a big metal pan and light a fire into it and pour a s*#t load of tree sap into it! The math is like 40-1 or something so you don't get much syrup from all that sap!

Next you boil and stir... with beer in hand of course!!!

So this is how much sap was left after it was boiled down.... I mean to start with there was 2 big garbage cans of sap emptied into the boiling pan... But it's not done yet!

Into the metal pot it goes!! It has to be finished on a propane burner so that it doesn't burn!

The boys taste testing!!!

The finished product!!!!

Is that not the most amazing thing you have ever seen? I mean just look at the colour of it! Tastes amazing too and I just experienced doing something so cool that I wouldn't have done if I didn't live here.... I got to hang out with friends in the sun with the kids having a ball playing outside and made maple syrup! I don't think it gets much better than that really!

Meatless Monday - Wildrice Chili

Ok, So my Meatless Monday post is a little late.... and I have a confession to make....

Due to family Easter dinners we didn't do Meatless Monday until Tuesday! But I still did it this week... just a day late :) This week was wildrice chilli. It was so good packed full of veggies, beans... I used a mixed rice that you can buy in the grocery store, reason being my kids don't like straight wild rice. Super easy to make and tastes just like chili minus the meat - and healthier and full of fibre! Sean protested initially that it couldn't be called chili if it had no meat in it. But once he tasted it he said 'wow, this is good it tastes just like chili!' (yay I won him over!) I also added a little extra to the recipie like a chopped zucchini, some red and green peppers, mushrooms, canned tomatoes.... Here it is if you want to try it!

Wildrice Chili.
chopped onion
chopped celery
garlic
olive oil
can of tomato juice
1 cup water
bay leaves
2/3 cup wild rice
2 cans of beans (black beans, kidney beans, white kidney beans whatever you like!)
paprika
chili powder

Saute onion, celery, garlic in olive oil.... Add water & juice. Bring to boil & add bay leaves & rice. Stir, cover, simmer until rice is cooked. Add all the other stuff and cook until done! Don't forget to take out the bay leaves!!
We had ours with toast but garlic bread or some other fresh warmed bread would be good too!!


Next week: Tomato & Brie Tart.

My little hockey player!

For Adrienne - who lives in the middle of nowhere and can't download the photos from her e-mail!