And Now for a Laugh...

I guess if you're a foodie, one of your favourite Muppets might be the Swedish Chef. Did you know he has his own YouTube channel? Well, he does, and you can view it here.

Man, I have wasted a lot of time recently watching clips of old Muppet episodes, including all the Swedish Chef ones I could find, and holy cow are they even more funny as an adult than they were when I was a kid!

Here are a couple of my favourite Swedish Chef episodes. Enjoy!

Easy Dinners

I started a new medication regime that has had an interesting side effect: appetite suppression. I just don't feel like eating a lot of the time; I get hungry, but food isn't appealing. Some days, I only eat two meals, with a snack in between. Sometimes I really have to force myself to make something for dinner because I just don't feel like cooking. So, I haven't been busy in the kitchen lately, cooking or baking-wise. It's hell on the food blog, that's for sure.

I've been eating salad quite a bit because my iffy tummy seems to be able to handle more vegetable fiber now for some weird reason, and I've been eating a lot of ham & cheese sandwiches. Sometimes there are days when all I fancy is a bowl of cereal, so I eat a lot of cereal meals. I'm not complaining; I want to lose a whole bunch of weight, and if there were any side effects I'd love my meds to give me, this suppression of my appetite would be at the top of my list! So, I go with it.

I've been keeping dinners simple. The Rosemary & Lemon Roast Chicken is a good example: serve it with some potatoes and a veg, and it's easy and healthy.

I've been eating quite a bit of salmon. It's easy, quick, and healthy. I don't feel like doctoring it up a lot, so a sprinkle of some lemon pepper is enough, as with this meal...
I did find some Tequila Lime marinade at the local overpriced grocery store today - Barefoot Contessa brand, and it was on sale for $2.99 in the reduced bin! Woo-hoo! Normally it's like $8.99. I used some tonight and BBQed a piece of salmon...I used foil because I'm not sure the rack on the BBQ is spaced close together enough to facilitate easy fish BBQing - and the clean-up is easier. I always have a bag of frozen beans around. The marinade was pretty good, though it had jalapenos in it which I hate, but I picked them off and it wasn't too spicy. I cooked the rice with some beef boullion.

And then there is pizza casserole. Oh, how I love this stuff! And I got the KD for 50 cents/box in the reduced bin, too! This pan makes me about 5 meals and it's so good! Topped with my fave pizza toppings: ham, feta, and olives.I feel my posts over here have been really blah lately, and I apologize for that. Now you kinda know why. I'm going to try to keep coming up with stuff to post, but it's been hard lately...

Weird Orange & Sunshine Cafe Lunch

Last week, as I was preparing to make Morning Glory Muffins at work, I came across a really strange-looking orange:
No, your eyes are not deceiving you: that is a pale, bulging section of orange peel, the same size & shape of a regular orange section. I have never ever seen anything like it before. Have any of you? The inside of the orange looked quite normal - no weird section underneath that peel. It's kind of cool, though, isn't it?

I went for lunch to the Sunshine Cafe with my brother the other day. The special was a tuna melt, and that's what I had, with fries. My brother had a veggie burger with Swiss cheese and grilled onions, with a Caesar salad. As usual, lunch at the Sunshine was great. I don't think I've ever had a bad meal there. Go Randi!

Garden Bounty 2009: Rosemary

Last year, a co-worker gave me a rosemary bush that she didn't need anymore, and I planted it in my little garden patch. I like rosemary well enough, it grows great here, and on top of that, it requires very little of me - which is starting to become very important in my gardening life, I can tell you that.

This year, after my roommate pruned it back a bit, it's looking particularly wonderful and lush, so I decided to actually use it in something. That something happened to be a whole chicken - my favourite thing!

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

1 whole chicken
6 sprigs rosemary
1 whole lemon, cut into eighths
salt & pepper
garlic powder
1 vidalia or other sweet onion (optional)

Season chicken with salt & pepper. There is a very thin membrane between the skin and the flesh of the chicken; carefully, with a knife, separate the skin from the flesh and stick the rosemary sprigs right in there next to the skin, on the breast and on the legs. Slide in 4 or so lemon eighths. Use some more of the lemon to squeeze juice over the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the rest of the lemon, some more rosemary if you want, and the onion, if using. Sprinkle chicken with garlic powder.

Bake @ 400F until done and skin is crispy.

I must admit, that because I'm single and I don't care about the calories too much, I like to pick the crispy chicken skin right off the bird as soon as it comes out of the oven. Call me crazy, but it's the best part of the whole process, in my opinion.
And this skin was particularly delicious! It was an awesome meal, and the chicken smelled outstanding as it roasted. The rosemary flavour was subtle but definitely had something to say.

I served my chicken with some roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans. Nice, light dinner. The roasted vidalia onions were really tasty, too.
And of course I have a carcass to play around with in the future, too!

Breakfast at the Full Circle Cafe

Last Monday, after catching the 9:00am ferry from Crawford Bay to Balfour, my dad treated me, Jem, & Shan to a slap-up breakfast at a breakfast hot spot in Nelson. When I say "hot spot" I mean hot spot. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table just after 10:00 in the morning. The place was packed. Luckily, the restaurant is located in a little mall, and there was somewhere inside to sit because the weather was totally ugly.

The breakfast menu at Full Circle is quite varied, with a few different types of Eggs Benny, lots of eggy dishes, and lots of other stuff. It's all reasonably priced, too.

I had the Canadian Omelette, which had bacon, cheddar, and portabella mushrooms in it, topped with Hollandaise. Served with sourdough and pan fries, and I had a side of Hollandaise since the little bit on th top of the omelette was inadequate for my tastes!

Shan had a dish called Spuds & Cheddar: kinda like an omelette, but with potatoes in it. It was served with pan fries & toast, & she also had a side of Hollandaise.

Dad & Jem both had the Kick Hash: eggs, buffalo sausage, potatoes, banana peppers, mozzarella cheese, and topped with a chipotle Hollandaise. Served with rye toast & pan fries.

It was one amazing breakfast! A great way to end a great weekend of camping and food.

Dad and I have also had lunch at the Full Circle and it was really good. So, this is another great place to eat in the Kootenay dining mecca of Nelson, BC.

I Thought This Was Oddly Appropriate for This Blog...

Via PostSecret.

Camping Grub, Part 2

I am getting pretty adept at making Eggs Benny in a variety of situations, particularly camping situations. Sure, you might not always get poached eggs while cooking on a camp stove, but in that scenario fried or basted eggs are just as good.

Last weekend was a very luxurious camping environment, since my brother & SIL rented a motorhome that came equipped with a small gas stove AND a toaster oven AND a microwave. Yes, a TOASTER OVEN and a MICROWAVE! This made for some pretty gourmet camping grub cooked in a relatively fancy environment.

Poaching eggs and making the Hollandaise was no problem. Shan even made some hashbrowns with left over potates from the steak dinner the night before.

The result: restaurant-worthy Eggs Benny! Everyone was very happy and it was one wicked camping breakfast!
Nice plates, eh?

For Sunday dinner, my dad brought out a buffalo roast and stuck it in his slow cooker with some broth and seasonings. Yes, when you have a motor home at your disposal, you can do slap-up meals, let me tell you! Though there was a bit of an issue due to the awkward placement of electical outlets vis a vis the length of the slow cooker's cord, it was all sorted out & we had a great meal of beef dips with roasted potatoes and salad. I totally forgot to take pictures of it; sorry about that. But we did top it all off with the Black Forest Pie, which, as previously mentioned, was a huge hit.

That pretty much sums up the camping grub story from last week. One more meal to report on, and that was breakfast at a cafe in Nelson, but that a post for another time.

Saturday Laugh

Coyote's Kitchen - New Article

The latest issue of Bread 'n Molasses is out! Here is a scan of my article.


Nice, eh?

S'moreos!

If you're not already a CakeSpy reader, I think you should become one immediately. Jessie is one of the most creative bloggers I know of, and she never ceases to entertain me with her funny, innovative posts.

Not long ago, she posted this article about S'moreos, and since I knew a camping trip was in the cards, I decided to try making my own S'moreos. This was our dessert last Saturday night, after a feast of steaks.

These were soooooo good, let me tell you! I made mine with two whole Oreo cookies, instead of opening up one Oreo and putting the chocolate & marshmallow inside.

It was difficult to get a decent picture since it was dark out and there was only a campfire for light, but you get the idea.
Next time you go camping, TRY THESE! Thanks, Jessie!

Camping Grub, Part 1

Actually, "grub" isn't the most accurate word to use to describe the rather amazing food my family and I make and eat while camping, but it has a nice ring to it.

So, to start things off, Saturday's dinner. Steaks brought by Dad, potatoes & Greek salad made by my SIL, grilled corn & watermelon provided by Jem & Shan's friends, S&G.
I have to say that this is the first time I've had corn grilled like this and it was AMAZING! So sweet, thanks to the caramelization, and just so frackin' tasty. The steaks were tender and done to perfection - go Shan! Needless to say, we were all stuffed - but there was dessert. You'll have to stay tuned to see what we made, though!

Camping highlights can be read about here.

Black Forest Pie

If you aren't a reader of Pierce's blog, Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor, I suggest you become one! She recently posted a recipe for Black Forest Pie, and when I saw it, I knew I had to make it. Luckily, my brother Jem had a birthday coming up, and he always requests Black Forest cake, his favourite. Since we were camping, the pie was much more easily transportable. I made it the day before we left, and bought a can of whipping cream to top the pie at the birthday meal.

The recipe is here.

I made a few changes to the recipe. For one thing, I used a graham cracker crust because I wasn't in the mood to roll out pastry dough in the heat. It turned out beautifully. I also used a full 19oz can of pie filling and topped the pie with fresh cherries, which are just coming into season here.

The pie was super easy to make and had a fabulous texture: somewhere between a chocolate pudding and a brownie. And it was a HUGE hit with my family!
So, thank you Pierce for the great recipe! This one is a keeper for sure!

Back!

I got back yesterday, exhausted but feeling good. Until I get my act together to post, you can enjoy this Flickr set!

The Chocolate Orchard

This is the last post about last week's trip to Creston.

One of the places I really wanted to go on this trip was the place known as "the place that sells all the chocolate-covered fruit." My dad didn't recall the name, but it became obvious as we drove down Creston's fruit stand strip: The Chocolate Orchard (again, no web site, unfortunately) - 2931 Highway 3, Ceston, BC.

Oh, what a place! Far more than a candy factory, The Chocolate Orchard is also a restaurant, deli, bakery, fruit stand, garden centre, and cherry orchard.

To begin, the chocolate covered fruit. There was quite the variety and it was not cheap: $3.98/100g. I realized I couldn't have everything I wanted to sample without it costing me a small fortune, so I had to make some tough choices. I took some chocolate-covered blueberries, apricots, blackberries, and tart cherries. Even though I tried to be reserved, I still wound up plunking down nearly $20 for my goodies - but man, were they worth it.

There was also a TON of salt-water taffy, but since I'm not fond of it, I didn't buy any. The Chocolate Factory also makes fudge and a variety of other chocolate and non-chocolate treats.

This place sells some of the most amazing-looking pies I've ever seen! It was really hard to not purchase one of the huge varieties on offer, but what would I do with a whole pie, single gal that I am?
Additionally, there were artisan breads...
...And a whole whack of jams, pickles, spreads, preserves, sauces, dips - you name it...
It's a pretty amazing place!

Sunday Smile

In addition to LOLcats, I also love LOLtheist! It's hilarious.

As I enjoy a weekend of camping, please have a laugh on me. See you next week!