Vietnamese last night was good but I think I am suffering the aftermath of an over indulgent weekend. One thing I like about entertaining indoors without having to go to a restaurant etc is that it definitely is controlled calories, even if its still over doing it. I have been turning a bit of a blind eye to fat and calorie intakes recently so its time to once again focus and get my healthy hat back on.
This morning I had the usual breakfast, grapefruit & ryvita with natural peanut butter and a cup of green tea with ginseng.
We have a few bits and pieces for meals this week but I do need to pick up some extra stuff, on a budget of course. Its a just over 5km walk round trip so a good way to start the week. This means we were low on the lunch stuff too so Lee is going to bring home a pita for us, its nice to see him even if its for a mere 15 minutes.
Dinner tonight is chicken and salad, then we are going to head to the gym around 8pm if we can stay awake. I had a bit of a rubbish night on the sleeping front. We have a whole week of exercise to take place so it should be good times and sore muscles.
March 13, 2011 - The Last Few Days
I am a bit ashamed of myself for being lazy and not taking photos of the fantastic food we have eaten over the last few days.
Friday - Lee and I sneaked in a Boston Pizza visit, I had a salad that was fairly awful, and Lee had a pizza that was fairly average. When we got to the chalet we had a couple of wines and some chippies, and opened a bag of Reeses Pieces.
Saturday - Grapefruit for breakfast. Lunch was at Beaver Valley members club, Krista packed an awesome picnic and I made three meat sandwiches on rye with mustard. And a beer.
We head into Collingwood and Krista took me to an amazing cheese shop where I stumbled on Bacon Jam, and it was AMAZING. But for $17 a jar, I had to leave the store without it.
We headed back to the chalet and cracked into some pepper salami, sweet onion cheddar and smoked salmon, I baked up the mushroom dip and we cracked into the beer. Then the bubbly, then the red wine.
I cooked a French onion soup which was not as good as last time I made it, it was lacking in depth. And to make it worse the Gruyere cheese was young and lacked its strong smell and taste so I was disappointed.
Jad cooked up some garlic prawns which were delicious, then Krista and I cracked on and made an awesome chicken risotto with pancetta and basil. We finished off the fun with some more Reeses Pieces. Yummo.
Today - Jad made us an amazing omelet today, it was exactly what the hangover needed. Krista bought some smoked maple cheddar (stunning cheese) and summer sausage.
On Lee's and my drive back home, we passed a dodgy little take away store that sold footlong hotdogs. Delicious!
Tonight we are going to get some pho and maybe some Vietnamese spring rolls. Tomorrow the diet kicks in cos I am extremely round and dairied out. It's all lean meat and raw veg for the next... well, I think for the rest of the year! Hahaha! What a great weekend, it was nice to get away and eat some great food.
Friday - Lee and I sneaked in a Boston Pizza visit, I had a salad that was fairly awful, and Lee had a pizza that was fairly average. When we got to the chalet we had a couple of wines and some chippies, and opened a bag of Reeses Pieces.
Saturday - Grapefruit for breakfast. Lunch was at Beaver Valley members club, Krista packed an awesome picnic and I made three meat sandwiches on rye with mustard. And a beer.
We head into Collingwood and Krista took me to an amazing cheese shop where I stumbled on Bacon Jam, and it was AMAZING. But for $17 a jar, I had to leave the store without it.
We headed back to the chalet and cracked into some pepper salami, sweet onion cheddar and smoked salmon, I baked up the mushroom dip and we cracked into the beer. Then the bubbly, then the red wine.
I cooked a French onion soup which was not as good as last time I made it, it was lacking in depth. And to make it worse the Gruyere cheese was young and lacked its strong smell and taste so I was disappointed.
Jad cooked up some garlic prawns which were delicious, then Krista and I cracked on and made an awesome chicken risotto with pancetta and basil. We finished off the fun with some more Reeses Pieces. Yummo.
Today - Jad made us an amazing omelet today, it was exactly what the hangover needed. Krista bought some smoked maple cheddar (stunning cheese) and summer sausage.
On Lee's and my drive back home, we passed a dodgy little take away store that sold footlong hotdogs. Delicious!
Tonight we are going to get some pho and maybe some Vietnamese spring rolls. Tomorrow the diet kicks in cos I am extremely round and dairied out. It's all lean meat and raw veg for the next... well, I think for the rest of the year! Hahaha! What a great weekend, it was nice to get away and eat some great food.
March 11, 2011
After the awesome burger showdown last night (great job Lee!) I was keen to get to 12pm today for the leftovers. I also had a great conversation about cooking and food with my mum last night, thanks mum.
Breakfast this morning was average, I am giving rice milk a crack and had porridge and it was hideous. Then watched the clock until it was burger o'clock which redeemed everything. Seriously good pork burgers!
Currently waiting for Lee to come home, he should finish in the next hour or so, but it sounds pretty hectic. In the mean time I am going to have a crack at making the mushroom dip we had when in Guelph. I have no idea how its going to turn out but keen to give it a red hot go.
No idea what is for dinner tonight, will work it out with Lee when he makes it home.
We are heading up to the McGregor's chalet tonight for the weekend so I will make sure I take pics of all the food and update thoroughly when we return on Sunday. Until then, happy eatings everyone!
Breakfast this morning was average, I am giving rice milk a crack and had porridge and it was hideous. Then watched the clock until it was burger o'clock which redeemed everything. Seriously good pork burgers!
Currently waiting for Lee to come home, he should finish in the next hour or so, but it sounds pretty hectic. In the mean time I am going to have a crack at making the mushroom dip we had when in Guelph. I have no idea how its going to turn out but keen to give it a red hot go.
No idea what is for dinner tonight, will work it out with Lee when he makes it home.
We are heading up to the McGregor's chalet tonight for the weekend so I will make sure I take pics of all the food and update thoroughly when we return on Sunday. Until then, happy eatings everyone!
March 10, 2011
Lee bought home some chocolate mint cookies last night with the bread for dinner, so we had 3 each after dinner, and they were delicious.
I am terrible, I skipped breakfast today. It was hard to wake up and I just pottered around and before I knew it, 11:30 showed its head which is when I usually start to think about lunch.
For lunch I made a quesadilla with refried beans, olives and cheese. Not very interesting but thats what was in the fridge. I think I made Lee a much more interesting lunch of ham, cheese, mustard and pickles on garlic loaf. Doh.
We aim to head to spin tonight, then its Lee's turn to cook. Pork burgers and sweet potato wedges. Nice!
EDIT: ok, we didn't make it to spin, but we did make it to a pub for some dip and a few pints! Then Lee did cook dinner, we did have the pork burgers and the sweet potato wedges, and it rocked!
EDIT: ok, we didn't make it to spin, but we did make it to a pub for some dip and a few pints! Then Lee did cook dinner, we did have the pork burgers and the sweet potato wedges, and it rocked!
March 09, 2011
Last nights chicken was really good. We were starving after the hardest spin class either of us have done since about six months before we left the UK. Its very good to find a great instructor with great music and a challenging class. We stuffed our faces with this tasty chicken that Lee prepared and a side salad that I made - lettuce, tomato, spring onion, olives and goats cheese (it has been bought to my attention that some of you have picked up on the fact we eat goats cheese quite regularly!).
Breakfast this morning was the usual, but I got hungry at 10 so went a yogurt with some nuts.
I felt like today is an egg day, so I made this, my ol' trusty omelet which was uber delicious:
Dinner tonight is chicken cacciatore! It's a slow cooking recipe which I am quite excited about, and already in the dutch oven on low. I am making it sans anchovies though, we don't have any, I forgot, and Lee doesn't like them anyway. I used to hate them, but now they dont bother me, unless there are about 100 on a pizza, that still makes me gag, you might as well eat a tin of Whiskers.
I do love a recipe that requires 'half a cup of white wine' so you have to buy a whole bottle... tee hee! And its in the fridge... waiting....
I was meant to walk to Sobey's again today, do the 5km round walk like I did yesterday which was lovely, but today the weather is appalling, gone from snow to wet snow to rain, so I reckon I might get Lee to pick up the crusty bread to go with dinner ;) Instead I guess I am stuck with indoor exercises, but thats ok too, better than nothing.
Will update with a pic of dinner later on.
UPDATE: Chicken cacciatore was a huge success with plate licking and everything. Lee bought a garlic oval loaf home, I heated it up in the oven, we got three bits of chicken each and, well, check it out:
Breakfast this morning was the usual, but I got hungry at 10 so went a yogurt with some nuts.
I felt like today is an egg day, so I made this, my ol' trusty omelet which was uber delicious:
Dinner tonight is chicken cacciatore! It's a slow cooking recipe which I am quite excited about, and already in the dutch oven on low. I am making it sans anchovies though, we don't have any, I forgot, and Lee doesn't like them anyway. I used to hate them, but now they dont bother me, unless there are about 100 on a pizza, that still makes me gag, you might as well eat a tin of Whiskers.
I do love a recipe that requires 'half a cup of white wine' so you have to buy a whole bottle... tee hee! And its in the fridge... waiting....
I was meant to walk to Sobey's again today, do the 5km round walk like I did yesterday which was lovely, but today the weather is appalling, gone from snow to wet snow to rain, so I reckon I might get Lee to pick up the crusty bread to go with dinner ;) Instead I guess I am stuck with indoor exercises, but thats ok too, better than nothing.
Will update with a pic of dinner later on.
UPDATE: Chicken cacciatore was a huge success with plate licking and everything. Lee bought a garlic oval loaf home, I heated it up in the oven, we got three bits of chicken each and, well, check it out:
March 08, 2011
The pie last night was great, but I got hungry later on so snacked on a wrap of hummus, salad and ham. Well, I say snacked, but really it was the same size as lunch, whoops again.
Breakfast as usual this morning. Although we are now officially out of coffee, so back to the green tea me thinks.
Lunch today was a pizza made with a tortilla as the base. It was thin, crunchy and easy to eat with a knife and fork, but definitely not with hands! With a bit of mozzarella cheese, olives, capsicum, ham and onion with a sprinkle of Italian herbs, it was 'almost' as good as the real thing. Almost, but not quite. Man I love pizza.
I am glad it was filling, I had just got back from a 5km walk (which was sad without Sophie, now that she has gone home). I went into Sobeys, I was meant to head for Waterloo Park but couldn't resist a trip around this supermarket. Its pretty good too, its pretty much on par with price from our current supermarket, and has loads of stuff I cant get in our regular Zehrs. I hear its meant to be more upscale but I am not sure just yet. I was happy to find pancetta that wasn't peppered and Gruyere is cheaper than at Zehrs, but not sure how it will do on the whole grocery shop front. We will see.
Dinner tonight is roasted chook fillets and salad after spin. They will cook in the 20 minutes it takes us to shower and settle down, so hopefully we eat before 8:30pm.
I also ate an apple and some brasil nuts this afternoon. Nice.
Breakfast as usual this morning. Although we are now officially out of coffee, so back to the green tea me thinks.
Lunch today was a pizza made with a tortilla as the base. It was thin, crunchy and easy to eat with a knife and fork, but definitely not with hands! With a bit of mozzarella cheese, olives, capsicum, ham and onion with a sprinkle of Italian herbs, it was 'almost' as good as the real thing. Almost, but not quite. Man I love pizza.
I am glad it was filling, I had just got back from a 5km walk (which was sad without Sophie, now that she has gone home). I went into Sobeys, I was meant to head for Waterloo Park but couldn't resist a trip around this supermarket. Its pretty good too, its pretty much on par with price from our current supermarket, and has loads of stuff I cant get in our regular Zehrs. I hear its meant to be more upscale but I am not sure just yet. I was happy to find pancetta that wasn't peppered and Gruyere is cheaper than at Zehrs, but not sure how it will do on the whole grocery shop front. We will see.
Dinner tonight is roasted chook fillets and salad after spin. They will cook in the 20 minutes it takes us to shower and settle down, so hopefully we eat before 8:30pm.
I also ate an apple and some brasil nuts this afternoon. Nice.
March 07, 2011
I failed to mention the tim tams we ate on Saturday night, whoops! So much for writing everything down. I forgot all about them, but they were goooooood. We got through the packet in two days, so good work on our part!
Breakfast was grapefruit this morning, I actually woke up at 4:30am which is a complete pain in the butt, but managed another hour sleep between 8 and 9. I am glad I got Lee's breakfast and lunch ready last night, so he was pretty streamlined for an early start this morning. I must have slept funny because my right arm hurts all the way to my shoulder. Made for interesting dog walking this morning. Sophie goes home today and we are sad to see her go, we have had a good time with her here, I am going to miss the company!
For lunch I ate a quesadilla, I couldn't be bothered making anything really, and it was filling, so thats good. It had refried beans, low fat cheese, olives and chilli. I didn't really think about it, I just threw it together and then into the oven. It was ok, pretty good really considering the little effort I put in to it.
EDIT: I ate an apple at 3:30pm. Nice to have a bit of fruit for a change!
We have left over pie for dinner which is good cos we will be eating later than normal, will be home from spin around 8. That's if I make it, I am exhausted!
Breakfast was grapefruit this morning, I actually woke up at 4:30am which is a complete pain in the butt, but managed another hour sleep between 8 and 9. I am glad I got Lee's breakfast and lunch ready last night, so he was pretty streamlined for an early start this morning. I must have slept funny because my right arm hurts all the way to my shoulder. Made for interesting dog walking this morning. Sophie goes home today and we are sad to see her go, we have had a good time with her here, I am going to miss the company!
For lunch I ate a quesadilla, I couldn't be bothered making anything really, and it was filling, so thats good. It had refried beans, low fat cheese, olives and chilli. I didn't really think about it, I just threw it together and then into the oven. It was ok, pretty good really considering the little effort I put in to it.
EDIT: I ate an apple at 3:30pm. Nice to have a bit of fruit for a change!
We have left over pie for dinner which is good cos we will be eating later than normal, will be home from spin around 8. That's if I make it, I am exhausted!
March 06, 2011
Lunch was really good, not as good as last night but still seriously good.
We did our grocery shopping, and man it was expensive. But we have more than a weeks worth of food for $110, and we had to buy some things that will last us for the month, like a block of cheese and pickle relish. We bought a shitload of nuts too, and they are definitely on the pricey side. Typical, we get paid and live like kings for the week, and its back to broke after that!
I decided to make a meat pie for dinner tonight because I had left over pastry from last night, and it had already defrosted. The pie is mince beef, onion, celery, red capsicum and brown mushrooms with some tomato. Made a side salad of lettuce, tomato, spring onion, goats cheese and green olives. We will have the same thing for dinner tomorrow night after spin, because half the pie is still sitting there. Man it was yummy. Sloppy on the plate though, but I reckon the messier the tastier, don't you?
We have some good healthy meals coming up this week, and I felt sorry that the chicken cacciatore didn't get a single vote in the last poll so going to make that too! I am thinking probably on Tuesday, not sure yet.
We did our grocery shopping, and man it was expensive. But we have more than a weeks worth of food for $110, and we had to buy some things that will last us for the month, like a block of cheese and pickle relish. We bought a shitload of nuts too, and they are definitely on the pricey side. Typical, we get paid and live like kings for the week, and its back to broke after that!
I decided to make a meat pie for dinner tonight because I had left over pastry from last night, and it had already defrosted. The pie is mince beef, onion, celery, red capsicum and brown mushrooms with some tomato. Made a side salad of lettuce, tomato, spring onion, goats cheese and green olives. We will have the same thing for dinner tomorrow night after spin, because half the pie is still sitting there. Man it was yummy. Sloppy on the plate though, but I reckon the messier the tastier, don't you?
We have some good healthy meals coming up this week, and I felt sorry that the chicken cacciatore didn't get a single vote in the last poll so going to make that too! I am thinking probably on Tuesday, not sure yet.
March 06, 2011
Coming down from last night's dinner highlight, we had grapefruit for breakfast with a slice of toast.
We are still hanging at the McGregor's until later today, but wont be here when they get back late tonight as we need to get back to Kitchener and grocery shop etc, have a lot on this up coming week.
We have left overs from last night (including the salad we didn't get around to eating), and while it wont be as good as last night it will still be bloody delicious!
No idea what is for dinner just yet, probably a chicken fillet and some veggies or something. Will be cooking stuff ahead to reheat for this week as we are going to hit the gym hard. That's the plan anyway!
We are still hanging at the McGregor's until later today, but wont be here when they get back late tonight as we need to get back to Kitchener and grocery shop etc, have a lot on this up coming week.
We have left overs from last night (including the salad we didn't get around to eating), and while it wont be as good as last night it will still be bloody delicious!
No idea what is for dinner just yet, probably a chicken fillet and some veggies or something. Will be cooking stuff ahead to reheat for this week as we are going to hit the gym hard. That's the plan anyway!
March 05, 2011 - Beef Wellington
Rightio! Finally I get around to the challenge. Good thing we didn't do this last weekend, because the beef fillet we bought was $40! Still, its bigger than I thought, if I make this again I might make individual wellingtons, they would look so cute on a plate too.
As I mentioned previously, I chose John Torode's Beef Wellington recipe, mainly because I know he is a meat man, he understands the welli, and knows it can go very very wrong.
Heres the recipe:
15g dried ceps
1-1.4kg beef fillet, trimmed
50g butter
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
225g flat mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
170g chicken liver pate
160g parma ham, sliced
375g puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Put the ceps (porcini mushrooms) into a bowl and cover with 100ml boiling water. Leave to rehydrate for 30 mins, drain reserving the liquid (liquor). Chop the mushrooms and set aside.
Season beef, melt half the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. When foaming, chuck the beef in and brown all over without burning the butter. Set the beef aside to cool.
Either clean the pan, or use a new pan, melt rest of butter and add chopped shallots and cook for about a minute before adding garlic and rehydrated ceps, and the thyme. Then add rest of the flat mushroom and liquor, cook until mushrooms are dry.
Beat pate with a mixer until smooth then add mushrooms to the mix. Season to taste.
Place the cold beef fillet on a board and smother half the mushroom mix all over it. Lay out some cling wrap, place half the parma ham overlapping on to the cling film, then place the beef mushroom side down onto the ham. Smear the rest of the mushroom mix on the beef, and the remaining parma ham (again, overlapping), before wrapping in cling film. Chuck it in the fridge to chill.
Heat oven to 220°C. Cut a third of the pasty (if not using prerolled) and roll out to a sheet 3mm thick and 2.5cm larger than the base of the beef. Transfer to a baking sheet, prick with a fork and bake for 12 mins until brown and crisp. Cool, then trim to size of the beef.
Get the beef out of the fridge, brush with some of the beaten egg and place on cooked pastry. Roll out remaining pastry, cover the beef with it tucking the ends under and sealing edges. Brush with rest of egg, chuck it on a baking sheet and cook for 40mins for rare to medium rare.
Remove the welli from the oven and stand for 10 minutes before carving.
Now, this is where I varied.... Firstly, I adjusted the amount used because I don't need to feed 8 people! Also, I found dried ceps int he supermarket but they were $5 for a small bag! Plus they didn't have flat mushrooms in the supermarket, so I went with some brown Swiss style mushrooms, delicious. I found it hard to find chicken liver pate that wasn't flavoured, so I went with a plain chicken and pork. I contemplated making my own but remember the nightmare Mel went through to make those delicious little puffs for Emma's wedding party, so decided against it.
I used prerolled puff pastry, and the proscuitto I used was really thickly cut so difficult to 'wrap' such a large hunk of meat. Other than that I followed it to a tee. Except JT doesn't mention anything about drinking bubbly while making it, I think I need to write to him to amend the recipe method to suit.
JT suggests to serve with honey roasted parsnips, and without any other inspiration I went with that, and glad I did. The meat man really knows his stuff.
And the verdict? It was a HUGE effort although not difficult at all. Very glad I had a glass of bubbles at hand through the process, cos it took aaaaages, over 2.5 hours. But... oh my. When my husband has a bite and gasps and says 'HOW ARE YOU NOT A CHEF?!' this is the scorecard for me! It was amazing. Beyond amazing. John Torode got it right hands down, and even though I made adjustments, it was bloody awesome.
I also made a side salad, but once again we didn't touch it, the meat was enough!
We paired it with a tasty Malbec, I wanted a heavier red because we used beef fillet. And it was lush. If you have the time to drink and prepare a dinner for 2 hours, and you love love love beef, please try this. I will make it again. And again. And again. Beautiful.
As I mentioned previously, I chose John Torode's Beef Wellington recipe, mainly because I know he is a meat man, he understands the welli, and knows it can go very very wrong.
Heres the recipe:
15g dried ceps
1-1.4kg beef fillet, trimmed
50g butter
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
225g flat mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
170g chicken liver pate
160g parma ham, sliced
375g puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Put the ceps (porcini mushrooms) into a bowl and cover with 100ml boiling water. Leave to rehydrate for 30 mins, drain reserving the liquid (liquor). Chop the mushrooms and set aside.
Season beef, melt half the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. When foaming, chuck the beef in and brown all over without burning the butter. Set the beef aside to cool.
Either clean the pan, or use a new pan, melt rest of butter and add chopped shallots and cook for about a minute before adding garlic and rehydrated ceps, and the thyme. Then add rest of the flat mushroom and liquor, cook until mushrooms are dry.
Beat pate with a mixer until smooth then add mushrooms to the mix. Season to taste.
Place the cold beef fillet on a board and smother half the mushroom mix all over it. Lay out some cling wrap, place half the parma ham overlapping on to the cling film, then place the beef mushroom side down onto the ham. Smear the rest of the mushroom mix on the beef, and the remaining parma ham (again, overlapping), before wrapping in cling film. Chuck it in the fridge to chill.
Heat oven to 220°C. Cut a third of the pasty (if not using prerolled) and roll out to a sheet 3mm thick and 2.5cm larger than the base of the beef. Transfer to a baking sheet, prick with a fork and bake for 12 mins until brown and crisp. Cool, then trim to size of the beef.
Get the beef out of the fridge, brush with some of the beaten egg and place on cooked pastry. Roll out remaining pastry, cover the beef with it tucking the ends under and sealing edges. Brush with rest of egg, chuck it on a baking sheet and cook for 40mins for rare to medium rare.
Remove the welli from the oven and stand for 10 minutes before carving.
Now, this is where I varied.... Firstly, I adjusted the amount used because I don't need to feed 8 people! Also, I found dried ceps int he supermarket but they were $5 for a small bag! Plus they didn't have flat mushrooms in the supermarket, so I went with some brown Swiss style mushrooms, delicious. I found it hard to find chicken liver pate that wasn't flavoured, so I went with a plain chicken and pork. I contemplated making my own but remember the nightmare Mel went through to make those delicious little puffs for Emma's wedding party, so decided against it.
I used prerolled puff pastry, and the proscuitto I used was really thickly cut so difficult to 'wrap' such a large hunk of meat. Other than that I followed it to a tee. Except JT doesn't mention anything about drinking bubbly while making it, I think I need to write to him to amend the recipe method to suit.
JT suggests to serve with honey roasted parsnips, and without any other inspiration I went with that, and glad I did. The meat man really knows his stuff.
And the verdict? It was a HUGE effort although not difficult at all. Very glad I had a glass of bubbles at hand through the process, cos it took aaaaages, over 2.5 hours. But... oh my. When my husband has a bite and gasps and says 'HOW ARE YOU NOT A CHEF?!' this is the scorecard for me! It was amazing. Beyond amazing. John Torode got it right hands down, and even though I made adjustments, it was bloody awesome.
I also made a side salad, but once again we didn't touch it, the meat was enough!
We paired it with a tasty Malbec, I wanted a heavier red because we used beef fillet. And it was lush. If you have the time to drink and prepare a dinner for 2 hours, and you love love love beef, please try this. I will make it again. And again. And again. Beautiful.
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