Food for a Rainy Day

I must admit that I cooked this food several weekends ago.  Perhaps even a month ago.

And, it is still raining now.  Or, at least it feels that way.

I love cooking and baking on rainy days.  The chopping, delicious smells and warm oven can make even the most blustery day feel cozy and productive.

Blustery days are perfect for Caramelized Red Onion Soup and Roast Chicken.  What day isn't, really?

This Red Onion Soup is one of my favourites.  It's basically a vegetarian version of French Onion soup and, I would say, so much better!

Waiting for caramelization

Roasted Tomatoes

After the soup was made, I toped a serving with toasted bread chucks and gruyere before broiling it in the oven.  Soup heaven!

With lunch out of the way, I moved on to dinner.

A Perfect Roast Chicken:

 Roasted on a bed of carrots and onions.

Alongside some smashed veggies.  Why have mashed potatoes when you can have mashed potatoes, broccoli and peas?

Yum!

The Weekend Homemaker

I didn't cook much this weekend.  It was a three day weekend for me and I was trying to keep things as low-key and relaxing as possible.  I did do a lot of Christmas window shopping and also discovered the TV show, True Blood.  I had been avoiding it despite the rave reviews.  It just didn't sound like my kind of show.

It is.

I can't wait to watch more.

I also didn't do a lot of cooking because my budget has come it it's end and I will have to wait a week before I can go grocery shopping, leaving me in a bit of a pinch.  I had to do a bit of scavenging in my own cupboard and, along with a loaf of bread and some fruit, all will be A-OK.

I did a little harvest from my winter garden, which is growing away very slowly.

And I made one of my favourite ginger salad dressings, which requires very few ingredients.  Along with some smoked salmon and cucumber, several delicious salads were had.

I also made pumpkin muffins with some frozen pumpkin I had stashed in my freezer.  I forgot to take pictures, but they are bound to be yummy.  I don't care for squash in it's natural state, but in bread, muffins or waffles?  Take me there.

Today, I tried a new recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup, which required little more than carrots, ginger and onion.  It turned out very well.

At the moment, my yogurt maker is humming away.  It will provide me with breakfast for 7-days.  Along with some leftover casserole in my freezer and some dinners of toast and eggs, my grocery-less week won't be too challenging at all.

The Weekend Homemaker

The chilly, wet days and long, dark nights are calling me back into the kitchen.  Although I have a small winter garden, my desire for crisp salads has been replaced by a hankering for all things warm and savoury.

Last Saturday was the last full-day farmer's market of the season and next Saturday will be the final market of the year.  With my looming lack of access to local veggies, I am debating on reinstating my weekly, mostly-local, food box delivery.  I have a love-hate relationship with the lack of choice involved with food box programs.  I'm forced to try new things, which is good, but I also have a low turnip tolerance.  

In any case, my last trip to the market resulted in a batch of goodies:

Apples, more apples, carrots, almond brioche,
 Red Pepper Jelly and Zucchini Pickles.  

Which resulted in a chicken casserole:

And a huge amount of applesauce:

I also made parmesan coated yam fries, which had no relationship to my market buys, but were delicious nonetheless!

The Weekend Homemaker

It's fall.  And that means it's time for . . .

Chicken 

Noodle

Soup

The Weekend Homemaker

OK, so September kicked my butt in pretty much every way possible.  I would say that weekends saved my sanity, but I am not so sure it was saved.  Only time will tell.  In any case, knowing that a little cooking is good for my soul, I went all out last weekend.  I especially went all out on the protein.  I needed some extra umph!  

On Saturday, there were steak sandwiches with salad.  Yum!

I even made enough of my favourite creamy ginger dressing (no dairy or eggs involved!) to last the week.

I also baked muffins for weekday snacks.  

10 Grain Pumpkin Muffins

On Sunday, I made a big chicken dinner.  

Veggies for roasting

Perfect Roast Chicken

In addition to chicken and veggies, I made baked sweet potato slices with raisins, pecans and feta.  

The food was good, the week that followed was not.  October WILL BE better!    

The Weekend Homemaker

The arrival of fall has been very sudden this year on the west coast.  Last Sunday (September 11th) was  a lovely warm summer day.  On Monday, the 12th, it was fall.  Victoria weather usually consists of one season, spring, with a pinch of summer and a bit of fall tossed in for a little bit of variety.  The transitions are usually long, slow and awkward (what should I wear?) and I am desperate for a change by the time it arrives.  But, not this summer.  It came late, left early and was was rather noncommittal, even on the hottest days.  I wanted more!

In any case, the cooling weather has put me into a cooking and baking mode.  I haven't quite gotten back into my weekends of weekly food preparation (in true Weekend Homemaker style), but I am heading in that direction. Over the past few weeks, I have turned to oven on several times!

I've made:

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Rosemary Focaccia

Wicked Thai Chicken Soup
(I omitted the dairy and replaced rice with rice noodles)

I even baked bread!  Yum!

Of course, I can't let the last few weeks of summer go by without a few final simple summer eats.

Tomatoes from my balcony garden.

Tomatoes, freshly baked bread with local cracked pepper
cheese, chicken and homemade honey mustard sauce.  

Although I am not yet accepting of the arrival of fall, the knowledge that there is baking, soup making and roaring fires to look forward to makes the change a little easier to handle!

The Weekend Homemaker

I'm nearing the end of my financial month again and you know what that means . . . no more money. I don't know how some people do so well with their monthly food budgets, but I am certainly not one of them.

So, it's time to streeeeetch the last few dollars and do some cooking from the pantry. Last weekend I spent $50 on some fresh groceries (and some chips, whoops), scrounged in the cupboards and came with a delicious menu.

Breakfasts

Yogurt and strawberry sauce

Homemade granola with soy milk

Snacks

Almonds and Raisins

Cherries

Twelve Grain Pumpkin Muffins

Lunches

Tuna and crackers with carrot sticks

Whole wheat pasta and lentil salad with basil dressing

Dinners

Pad Thai

Crepes with yogurt and strawberry sauce

I even had enough basil left over from the salad dressing to make a batch of pesto.

Along with a pot of Thai Chicken Soup, I should have enough meals to make it happily through the rest month and prevent me from making last minute (and expensive!) trips the grocery store throughout out the week.

And, no more chips!

The Weekend Homemaker

I spent a good part of last weekend cooking. I had already spent most of my May food budget by that point and needed to do some serious planning and preparation in order to make my groceries stretch. After picking up a few items for weekend meals at the farmer's market and neighbourhood grocery, I got to work shopping in my own pantry/freezer and prepping the 12 days of meals needed to get me to my next payday (on June 3).

Breakfasts:

Yogurt with Strawberry Jam (4 meals)

Homemade Hazelnut and Cranberry Granola, topped with coconut milk (4 meals)

Yogurt with Granola and Honey (4 meals)

Lunches:

Balcony Salad with Roasted Yams and home-made dressing (2 meals)

Tuna Sandwiches (2 meals)

Red Lentil Dahl with Rice (8 meals)

Dinners:

Eggs, Balcony Salad and Toast (bread still to be baked) (2 meals)

Crepes with Strawberry Jam and Yogurt (2 meals)

Chicken and Veggie Casserole (using all of my frozen veggies and the leftover chicken from my last roast) (8 meals)

Snacks:

Carrot sticks

Dates and raw cashews

Kashi granola bars

Frozen grapes

Popcorn

Banana Coconut Muffins

I did purchase a few bits and pieces over the course of the week, but overall I am feeling rather impressed with myself (hehe). It's amazing what a little time, some scrimping and a few frozen leftovers can provide! For under $50, I prepared at least 30 meals and have the makings of about 10 more.

The Weekend Homemaker

I found my dairy-wheat-sugar-egg free cleanse extremely helpful in getting my diet re-calibrated. Even though I feel like I eat pretty healthily in general, completing the cleanse helped me to realize several things:

* I eat way too much sugar (as an additive in other products)

* My grain to vegetable ratios are way off

* I wasn't eating 5-10 vegetables a day even though I thought I was

Most significantly, however, the cleanse showed me that it is not realistic for me to eat a diary-wheat-sugar-egg free diet all the time. Eliminating these foods from my diet, in combination with my desire to eat real food and eat locally, made food planning and preparation extremely time consuming.

In other words, I am very happy to be back in my weekend cooking mode!

My food box arrived last Thursday and I spent the weekend cooking; preparing enough meals to last me for the next two weeks (although I will probably need a few additions to avoid maltime boredom)!

My very wintery looking food box.

My box contained pears, apples, oranges, romaine lettuce, collard greens, onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic and a lemon.

I started off my weekend with a lovely salad of lettuce, dried figs, pine nuts and a homemade honey balsamic dressing. This salad is even better with spinach and some chopped mint, but you've gotta work with what you've got! I ate this along side some sunflower bread spread with local goat chevre.

On Saturday, I made chicken noodle soup from scratch. I had made some homemade chicken stock from a roast chicken the previous week and decided to go whole hog (or whole chicken, as the case may be) and make my own noodles as well.

Mmmm. Cooking from scratch is SO worth the effort. I am usually not a fan of chunky soups, but this soup is delicious and definitely the best chicken noodle soup I have ever eaten! And, in total, I will get 14 meals out of my $24 local chicken. At $1.71 per meal, eating local, pasture-raised chickens doesn't seem so extravagant!

I had never seen or eaten collard greens before they arrived in my food box this past week. I wasn't sure how I would like them and thought they might end up on my "never send" list, but after I boiled and sautéed them, they were actually pretty good.

I ate these greens along with Red Lentil Dahl and rice, which I did not take a picture of. Dahl is tasty, but not particularly photogenic.

Lastly, I made Baked Pear-Apple Sauce. I will use this throughout the week in my morning muesli, a favourite discovery from my cleanse!

I still have the carrots, parsnips, potatoes and garlic to deal with and I am looking forward to roasting them up this coming weekend, perhaps along with another roast chicken!

The Weekend Homemaker

My kitchen was very busy last weekend. I made almost everything that I planned and used up most of my food box!

In my food box, I had received: spinach, carrots, apples, potatoes, yams, rosemary, garlic, onions, sunflower sprouts, pears, oranges and lemons.

I used the oranges and lemon (plus an additional bag of Buck Brand organic oranges) to make this Citrus Pudding. Strange, but true. I was planning on eating it without whipped cream, but it was so bitter that I had to stir in some cream. Very, very orangy!

Of course, I also made my Baked Vanilla Pears. For, what would weekend of cooking be without baked pears?

I used the rosemary, red onions and yellow onions to make my stand-by Rebar Red Onion Soup. I freeze this soup in serving size portions and, when topped with some baguette slices and gruyere and broiled in the oven, it makes a delicious winter meal.

I also made my favourite chocolate chip cookies. These cookies bake up chewy rather than crunchy or cakey. Yum!

I made a simple cheese pizza to use up some leftover cheese and pizza sauce that had been hanging around my fridge.

Lastly, I did not yet around to making my planned cashew cheese, but did make this Sweet Potato (I used yams) Hummus and have been eating it for lunch all week. I wish I had not added quite so much garlic (my poor coworkers!), but it was otherwise delicious and is a definite keeper.