Really ……You’re Cooking Supper?

Yup, that's right.... I'm actually posting twice in one week.  Trust me I'm as shocked as you are!!
If you follow me on twitter you may already know that I put my house up for sale.  Something I honestly wish I didn’t have to do but my tenants moved out at the end of May and I know I’ll never find tenants like them again.  Adding to the stress of finding good tenants is the fact that my parents live next door soooo you can imagine how difficult life could become if the tenants from hell moved in.
Another reason for selling is that I am planning on going back to school.  Never thought I’d be saying that at the age of 42, I must be crazy!!  Everyone always says you should do something you love, enjoy, and are passionate about, well I’m here to tell you I don’t love accounting/finances and I certainly am not passionate about it, but it does pay the bills.  So I’ve decided to change things up and start off by studying to become a Holistic Nutritionist.  Fingers crossed my old brain can handle the extra work.
I’ve been struggling lately with preparing meals, again. Hubby is a meat and potatoes kind of guy.  He does NOT like veggies.  I mean he doesn’t even like onions or peppers in a meal unless they are cooked to DEATH and I mean cooked to death.  If he comes home and sees me chopping peppers he has it in his head he won’t like it.  If I chop the veggies up in the food processor so they are pretty much indistinguishable he’s none the wiser and he has always says he like it.  I tell you it’s like cooking for a kid.  I actually bought cookbooks for kids for ideas on how to hide veggies in food. Sad, I know.  Once in a while we have a breakthrough and tonight was one of those nights.  Hubby decided he was cooking supper. It doesn’t happen often and his choices are usually not “healthy” but I am grateful for the break all the same.  Especially with the struggle I’ve been having lately.
I was pleasantly surprised with tonight’s choices.
Cherry Tomato & Pancetta Amatriciana

• 1 box Penne or Fettuccini
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 150 grams Pancetta1/2 red onion diced
• 7 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine (he used low sodium chicken broth)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2/3 cup flat leaf parsley chopped
• 1/2 – 1 cup fresh basil chopped
• 2/3 cup grated parmigiano regiano
• 1 cup pasta water
• salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to directions on package.
In a large skillet sauté pancetta until crisp.  Drain fat.  Add EVOO to pan.  Sauté onion and garlic for 5 min or until soft. Stir in wine (or broth), parsley, tomatoes and pepper.  Cook about 10 mins.  Add pasta water, basil and cheese.  Add pasta and toss.  Serve with fresh grated parmigiano and chopped parsley for garnish.

He also made some Oven Fried chicken.  I don’t have the recipe for that but I have to say it was quite tasty. 
 
Not the best pictures, but technology hates me tonight.  It started with my camera when I went to take pictures of supper.  This is what the screen looked like when I turned it on.  I think it’s safe to say it’s toast :o(


Well that’s all for now…. The big game is about to start, so I’m going to join the rest of Canada and cheer my team on!!  Game 7 !!!!
Cheers…. Jackie

Chocolate and Quinoa

Well Hellloooooo!!!  It appears I haven't written since December.  Wow, how time flies.  I've planned on writing many, many times over the last month or so.  I've written many posts in my head, unfortunately they never made it to the blog.

Even though it's been awhile, I'm just going to make this a quick one.  I've been on a search for a relatively healthy cookie that hubby would like.  Well, I've finally found one.  One of the main ingredients is quinoa, yup that's right quinoa.  Now I was a wee bit skeptical when I saw quinoa in a cookie but I thought I would give it a try.

Chocolate Quinoa Cookies 
Adapted from Peggy Kotsopoulos Recipe


My changes are marked with an * and the measurements are approximate.  I've made them a couple of times and didn't measure any of my changes either time.  It's an easy recipe to play with though, so have fun with it!!

Ingredients
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup quinoa flakes (or oatmeal) - I used oats
1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
2 large VERY RIPE bananas *
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp coconut sugar*
2 Tbsp maple syrup*
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted*
1/4 cup hemp seeds
2 tsp Maca (optional)*
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon*
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 -1/3 cup cocoa
Optional ingredients - raisins, walnuts, pecans

Preheat oven to 380 degrees.  In a medium mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork add vanilla, maple syrup and melted coconut oil.  In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Add wet to dry and mix well.  If you think the batter is a little on the wet side you can add a few more oats or a bit more cocoa powder.  The batter should be on the wet side though.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and drop batter on to cookie sheet.  Bake for 25-30 mins. * They took about 20 mins in the convection oven*

I made half the batch without cocoa or chocolate chips for hubby.  He doesn't like chocolate... I don't get it myself, how can anyone NOT like chocolate.  One of the great mysteries of the world!

Here's hoping it's not another 6 months before I post again.

Cheers... Jackie

Retail Therapy

Hi everyone, did I mention that I’m on VACATION this week???  I am so glad to not be at work.    Since hubby only has Wednesday off the week is pretty much my own.  I do plan on a day trip or two.  I was thinking Mahone Bay, maybe the valley again, or Victoria Park in Truro. 
Here’s a recap of yesterday.  Nothing earth shattering but a good day all the same.
Started the day off with a smoothie.  Frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, spinach, maca powder, drizzle of agave, scoop of Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood, UVAB, and some water.
Then I was off to town for some retail therapy.  My first stop was Bath and Body Works.  I discovered Bath and Body Works many years ago on a shopping excursion to the States.  They have so many yummy scents and great products.  One trip to Maine I stopped at a store and filled….. well…. overfilled two of the baskets and still had more on top of that.  The sales girl thought I was nuts.  Apparently I’m not the only Maritimer that has an addiction to this stuff.  The store only opened Sunday so I thought it would be busy, but since it was Monday morning I didn’t think it would be too bad.  Boy was I wrong…the place was a zoo.  You couldn’t move.  I didn’t intend to buy much but $60 later I walked out of the store
Next stop was Rogers to try and decipher our cell phone bills, something I have been putting off for months.  I was there for at least an hour and when I left I really wasn’t much further ahead.  Even the poor guy at the store couldn’t understand how they had set up our plans.
I was off to Pete’s Fruitique after Rogers ordeal.  Picked up lots of goodies.  Fresh mint, parsley, pepper, baby bok choy, ginger, Tortilla Factory Tortillas.  Thai coconut , PB and Co, Maple peanut butter, light coconut milk, red onion,  Portobello shroom, Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin Seed bread, and the white thing in the front of the picture is daikon.  I have no idea what this tastes like or what I’m going to do with it but I wanted to try it out.  The one thing I was looking for they didn’t have, fresh figs.  I have never had them and really want to try them so if anyone knows where I can get them let me know.
      
I have only seen these tortillas at Pete’s they are the large  size, taste really good and the nutritional info isn’t bad either, however the ingredient list could be improved on just a tad.
    
12 g  dietary fiber, 100 calories, 3.5 g fat
My newest addiction is Chai Tea Latte’s.  We only have Tim’s where I live, no Starbucks or Just Us out in the country, so I’ve  been making my own.  Brew up the tea add a drizzle of real maple syrup and some UVAB.  Of course with a latte you need froth so I picked up this cute little guy at Stokes. 
             
It works like a charm!!
On the way home I made a quick stop at Costco.  Big container of baby Arugula, grape tomatoes, large bottle of pure Vanilla for $6.99 ( I usually pay that for a small bottle), and a cute casual jersey dress for $12.97.
Overall I think a pretty successful day of retail therapy.
I was given a rather large zucchini last week, and what do you do with zucchini…. make muffins and muffin tops.  I used the recipe from Eat, Drink and be Vegan.  Another successful recipe.  Everything I have tried from that book has been very good.    My only modification was to add some dark chocolate chips to some of them.  Everything is better with chocolate
   
   
Hubby is off tomorrow so I think we’ll spend the day in Halifax, wander the waterfront, go for lunch and maybe a movie.  Hopefully the weather will be good again tomorrow.
Night all
~~~ Jackie

Chicken Burgers and Wine in a Can

Happy Monday everyone.  It’s a happy Monday for me because I am on VACATION this week!!!! 
This weekend was fairly uneventful.  Saturday was filled with household chores, I think I did 50 loads of laundry.  I have no idea how two people can go through so many clothes.  Sunday was the usual trip in town to visit the parents, with a quick trip to Dartmouth Crossing to spend some money (my favorite past time).  Then home to relax on the deck with a book. 
Here’s a look at some of my eats over the weekend.
I wanted a salad for lunch but was feeling the need for some extra protein, and tuna was the protein of choice. I had some black beans and pasta in the fridge, added some red onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice a pinch of cayenne to give it a kick and the secret ingredient Tzatziki.  I tried this once in an attempt to decrease the calories and I like it much better than mayo.  It’s much lighter tasting, not thick and heavy like with mayo.  Served on a bed of mixed greens.  It was very good, if I do say so myself.
        
       
I made a quick trip to the grocery store and they had Lean Ground Chicken on sale so I thought I would give chicken burgers another try.  I’ve made chicken/turkey burgers many times but just didn’t find they ever had enough flavor for me.
      
In the mix
Extra lean ground chicken, salt, Pepper, squirt of lemon juice, garlic powder, a little EVOO, feta cheese and some fresh oregano, and parsley that I have growing on the deck.  Nothing better than fresh herbs.
      
Ready for the BBQ.          
      Finished product        I rarely have hamburger buns in the house so I schmeared some Tzatziki on a tortilla added some greens, red onions, and tomato slices.  This attempt had much more flavor than previous attempts but could still use a little tweaking. 
Hubby and I were visiting the NSLC a couple of weeks ago and they had these cans at the check out, and low and behold it was wine.  Yes that’s right wine in a can classy, I know but I had to give it a try.

This was a Merlot but they also had Shiraz.  I was pleasantly surprised, it was much better than I expected.  Sometimes I just want a glass of wine but don’t want to open a bottle, so this would be good for that. Not too mention easy to take to an outdoor party, campfire etc. 
Since this post is turning out to be longer than I planned I’ll cut it off now.  Maybe I’ll do two posts tomorrow.  I am on vacation after all so I should be able to find the time.
Cheers
~~~Jackie