Deep Fried Wonton

& Sweet and Sour dipping sauce!

I ordered the cooking DVD from LMT Cooking School and tried my first recipe tonight. Easy as 1-2-3 and delicious to boot! I could have filled the wontons a bit less but they were plump and tasty! Next time I do the sauce, I will make it a tab more sweet and a bit less sour. It was still very good and so much better than the sauce filled with the awful red dye we get at the restaurant. I even made a double recipe of the wontons but didn't deep fried them: I'll turn them into a soup tomorrow. With the snow storm we got again tonight, a warm soup will be ideal for a Sunday lunch!

Pizza du Jour!

I experimented with 3 different pizzas today. With my new Kitchenaid mixer, doing the dough is a breeze!

The first one was a canadian style with whole wheat crust: homemade tomato sauce, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms, bacon with mozzarella cheese. My next one is actually my favorite: rosemary crust, sauteed apples (I normally use pears, but none in the pantry right now...), bacon, caramellized onions and crumbled blue cheese on top. I don't even like blue cheese, but on this pizza, it's marvelous! And the last one was a tiny 7" light whole wheat crust with tomato sauce, spicy salami, fresh garlic, caramelized onions, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. I added arugula on top after cooking.

And of course, all are cooked on the BBQ, in balmy -5C temperature!

But there can be too much of a good thing: I'm just about to OD on pizza right now! Bonny, you keel like sharing my leftovers for lunch tomorrow??

My Very First Attempt at Making Bread from Scratch!

And Today: First Day of Winter!

Yesterday

A Weekend of Homemade Pizzas

Pizza Galore: one frozen dough ball made me 4 pizzas this weekend. I didn't have a lot of the conventional toppings so I improvised. My favorite was the white dough with herbs, just slightly undercook so it's possible to fold it sandwich-style, stuffed with bocconcini cheese, tomatoes, proscuitto and arugula. I actually made one like that for lunch Saturday and one for Sunday! The other one was also with bocconcini (no mozarella in the fridge!), smoked chorizo sausage, hot peppers, garlic, onions and mushrooms. And with tzatziki dipping sauce! Thanks Jamie for your recipe!

Hilarious!

This could be me next February....

I Hate Yogurt!

Plain, fat-free that is! I tried my best, you know to get more calcium, to eat healthier stuff; did a few garlic dressing, dip and even a fake-tsaziki sauce. All were bad tasting, just plain nasty. I even made this small portion with granola, fresh raspberries and real maple syrup. It was ok, but just ok. From now on, I’m sticking to fruit-flavored pre-mixed commercial kind.

Saturday Night Feast for One!

Once again, I’m trying to empty my freezer. I’m not very successful at it because I posted about the same thing a year or so ago… I don’t know why I need to buy more than I can eat weekly; as if I was going to miss something. Anyhow, found 3 Flintstones beef ribs; thought it would be a waste of propane to use the rotisserie on the BBQ for just 3 ribs so I tried them in the slow cooker. I used a mix of 2 BBQ sauces: Diana’s Gourmet Rib & Chicken and Cattleboyz’ Original BBQ sauce. Delicious!!! The meat is very tender, just a bit more fatty than if it turned on the spit all afternoon. If there was a dog in this household, he would be in heaven tonight!!

Perfect.....

fall afternoon for a nap on the deck! Perhaps one of the last days nice enough to lounge outside.

Today’s Groceries

I haven’t lost any weight in the past 2 months but have maintained my 25-lbs loss for that period. I’m very happy about that because I’ve traveled in Europe during that time and believe me, I didn’t lose any opportunity to try all the local specialties! And since I came back, I don’t have the feeling I didn’t eat exactly what I wanted. So something must be sinking in my brain! But I have another 25 lbs to lose so it’s time to put some extra efforts. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been participating in a Learn Eating and Activity Forever program from the local health unit dietitian; so far it’s been very informative and last week’s cooking demo showed us a few very easy ways to add tasty and healthy food to our daily meals. This week’s groceries are definitely a reflection of what she’s been talking about and I’m all excited about giving it a shot. I already made some fat-free hummus this week and it was a success at the lunch table! Tonight, I prepared a spread of yogurt, low-fat cream cheese and seasoning, I chopped broccoli, onion, carrots and cabbage and will have a cold veggie pita pizza for tomorrow’s lunch. Already looking forward! Isn't that crazy??

Lunch Soup - part 2

Today's use of leftover turkey is a Turkey/rice soup with carrot, topped with garlic croutons and grated parmesan cheese.. A few months back, I purchased at the bulk food store a mixed rice called Aztec Blend (Colusari red rice, brown rice, split peas and amaranth grains), seemed healthy enough and I was waiting for the perfect occasion to try it. Of course, I put too much rice in the soup; it appears I have a problem calculating the proper quantities of rice and pasta per portion...oh well. But the winning ingredient in this soup was once again the Mexican Oregano leaves. I believe I bought it when I was in California last spring and each time I use it, it bring fabulous flavor to the dish. I went on the McCormick's site to find more details and found recipes galore!! I wouldn't have enough week-ends in a year to try all the appetizing dishes I saw there!! And check out their Flavor Pairing section, so much inspiration! I need a bigger spices & herbs cabinet!

Something to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving

My cat! I'm thankful to my friend Ann who had the insight to see that this kitten and I would be a good match, despite my (very!) strong preference for dogs. She was only 4 months old when she joined our household and my 10 y.o. dog didn't really know what to do of her. She was so full of love for him, would follow him everywhere, sometimes clinging to his back legs! Now, I see in her many dog-like behaviors and they always bring a smile to my face. Nita is 7 years old now and I could not imagine how my life would be without her. Definitely empty. Thank you Ann, wherever you may be in your travels. I miss you.

Fleeting Beauty

Beautiful sunset lasted barely 5 minutes. Popham Bay, looking west.

Lunch Soup

With the turkey bones and smoked skin, I made a delicious soup stock this morning. I used half of it to do my lunch soup today and will use the rest for tomorrow's. I put in there some potatoes, butternut squash, lima beans, spinach and some acini di pepe pasta. And of course some turkey meat! I like food with a kick so I added a chipotle pepper to my bowl. When I was putting away the rest in portion sizes, I realized that I forgot to add some smoked sausages from yesterday; no problem, I sliced up some and added to the individual containers.
Already looking forward for my other meals using leftover turkey!