So Now That's Done ...

I'm finished school.  Excellent.  And there's no point in even thinking about jobs for a week or so, thus I get to do more fun things now!
We just came back from a lovely holiday and all I want to do is spend time in the kitchen and garden (I want to talk about the garden separately because I need to devote some time to it ;) ).  First up, BBQ sauce.  It is super hot and muggy here and we bought ribs yesterday for some friends coming over for dinner and I was inspired.

The Barbeque Sauce recipe came from a quick search on Tastespotting, and I will definitely be adding that blog to my frequently surfed.  It is totally delicious, even after a few dicey substitutions:

• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 1/2 a finely chopped onion
• 1/2 a minced jalapeños
• 3 smoked garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic scape salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup homemade ketchup
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

I cooked everything up according to her instructions, and used one of the most exciting purchases from my trip - smoked baby garlic.  

Having not made anything without this wonderful product, I'm not sure about what difference it made to the flavour, but I would like to think a lot since my whole kitchen reeks of the stuff ;)

The other wonderful ingredient that I have access to is garlic scape salt.  

This stuff is gold - it can turn the most boring dish into something fantastic.  Get some if you can!!

We're also talking a lot about sugar content in our house right now, being not super healthy people, but wanting to be.  So I subbed out the brown sugar for honey, the apricot preserves for fresh blueberries, and I made my own ketchup.  Again with mods:

• 13 oz can of tomato paste
• 2 cups of water
• 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp of Grade A maple syrup
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/2 tsp garlic scape salt

This is settling in the fridge right now - it might need some more maple syrup.  I halved the quantity ... 

Anywho - that was the first day home in my kitchen and it was wonderful!

An Apple a Day

At the beginning of the year, we started having SPUD delivering our produce and milk once a week.  It's pretty awesome.  Our deliveries are every Thursday and this means by Wednesday I'm looking to finish up the stuff from last week.  We have had some definite flops ... for example we will never put parsnips and beets in the same stir fry again :P

But last week I had a surprising success!

Firstly, please don't judge the colour of my cheese - I'm finishing up the last few boxes of Annie's mac and cheese that Lukie likes.  I would prefer if the focus is on what is added to it and the potential I feel this has if I made it properly!

The idea started with a recipe posted by Naturally Ella, and was changed based on my leftover SPUD veggies:

1. Sautée some onions and garlic together in EVOO on medium heat until the onions were translucent, then add a medium, peeled sliced up sweet potato.  Cook that until the sweet potato is soft, but not finished then add 1-2 sliced (not peeled) apples.  Finish of this concoction by adding 2 de-cased chorizo and continue leave on the heat until the sausages are cooked.
2. At the same time get your mac and cheese going, whether it be from a box or from scratch.
3. Get a bigger serving dish and mix the contents of both pots together, and lastly mix in a couple of generous handfuls of kale until it is wilted.

I only used kale because that's what I had, and I feel that it wilts just as nicely as spinach.  I added the chorizo because it's hard to sell Lukie on a vegetarian dinner (and who doesn't love chorizo ;) ) and the apple was added as an after thought because it was to soft to eat on its own but I really liked the combination!!

I think what I really love about this dinner is that very shorty it will be something that the whole family will be able to enjoy!  It's always at the back of my mind when I cook now - the more often there's only one dinner to prepare, the more successful I can be at getting us all fed!

Where 2 Hobbies Meet

I have had a love of cooking for quite some time now, but it has only been recently that I worry about sourcing.  The organic label doesn't matter so much to me as the local (ish) one ... so we've been eating a *lot* of root veggies and apples.  But there is hope - I found this yesterday:

Let's look more closely at this, shall we?

It made my little heart sing :) I actually didn't see these until I was finished paying in the grocery store, but quickly made a u-turn and bought 2 overpriced bags.  I'm very excited.  Now we just need green onions back and I'll be one happy camper!

But I digress.  I started out with this topic because of what the gingersnap eats!  Her first good veggie mix was squash and zucchini baked with some sage.  We have graduated from that (because I couldn't find any more squash) to sweet potato, green peas, apple, garlic, and sage.

Mixed with a bit of olive oil and baked for an hour or so there is no blender required - it mushes quite nicely on it's own!  Served with 9% MF Greek yoghurt and blueberries I feel like she's getting all the appropriate food groups ...

Most of our lunches have become finger food because there's only so much of my life I want to dedicate to spoon feeding her so little chunks of mozzarella or bocconcini and shredded chicken makes up her protein.  Those cookies I spoke of and cheerios make up the rest.  For the chicken, I use the President's Choice Free From line of products and bake it with some shallots and rosemary, again in olive oil (covered) for about 40-45 minutes.  We often share this part of her lunch - it's pretty tasty!

The last thing I wanted to share is the most recent addition to her meals - oatmeal.  I know we could have had it a long time ago, but I don't like it and thus she didn't get it ;) I needed something quick today, so oatmeal with apples and nutmeg seemed like a good choice.  She, like she does with many first bites, thought this was the worst food ever, but after a few bites I could tell this was going to become a favorite.

I have real problems getting her fed by family members because of this face.  It's deceptive!  But it we gave up every time she made it, I would still be exclusively nursing my 10 month old.  Perseverance.  I read somewhere that if after the 15th time you've tried a food you may have something they won't eat.  Before that, keep trying :)