Slim Pickin’s

Mother Hubbarb’s Cupboards present you with random freezer finds, last leg produce, and mostly empty containers from the fridge.

Those 15 berries were literally the last of the fresh fruit around here.  Unless you count that lime that’s rolling around in my produce drawer.  Which I don’t.

Thankfully a frozen banana and Dreamsicle Amazing Grass kept the smoothie dream alive.  I am now even out of Almond Milk.  This week’s grocery trip is going to be ridonkulous.

Thank goodness for healthy cupboard foods. 

and last night’s leftovers.

At the end of the day I gave in and opted to eat out with Tiffaney.  We were out and about securing her plane tickets to Greece!!! and had planned to have a celebratory coffee but since we were both starving we stopped for soup at Green Leaf.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup!!  Easily the best thing I’ve eaten there.  I love a $10 meal that feeds me twice… you know I have leftovers.

Before crawling into bed I snacked on flattened banana.  Love.

Workout: 5 minutes Cybex, 20 minutes lower body strength exercises, 10 minutes ab exercises, C25K Day 5 on treadmill.  I be runnin’ and not dyin’!

Simple Stuffed Peppers

Fresh raspberries > jam any day. :)

Yesterday’s morning coffee courtesy of Tiffaney.  That girl cannot let me do her a favour without buying me a gift card.  Seriously woman! 

Speaking of gifts…  Chibi is spoiled by her Auntie Jamie.  Fancypants bison & quinoa doggie treats.

More raspberries making themselves at home in the big silver bowl.  Simple mix today with just the berries, spinach, pecans and fresh mint from my patio planter.  Drizzled with canola and lemon juice.

Busting out a new-to-me TJ’s treat care of Alecia.  20 cals per serving!  Oh yes.

Snackeroo…

Highlight of the day was for sure my dinner experiment.  Being that I thought I hated peppers for the majority of my life I’ve never attempted making stuffed peppers before.  But now that I’ve done it I can’t believe I waited so long.

In an attempt to not buy groceries unless absolutely necessary I’ve been taking inventory of what I have on hand.  Fresh peppers and Sooke sausage caught my attention first…as did a box of couscous.

Since the couscous is seasoned the recipe came together very easily.

Ingredients:

• 1 box couscous, cooked as directed
• 1 large fresh pork sausage, removed from casing, crumbled
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup tomato, diced
• fresh basil
• fresh parsley
• drizzle of olive oil
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 bell peppers, caps cut off, interiors cleaned

(If I were using a non-seasoned couscous I would add fresh garlic, more herbs, and maybe salt if needed.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover the bottom of a small baking pan with water, place both cleaned peppers in pan (caps on), cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  This will help speed up the final product.
• While the peppers pre-cook, prepare your filling.  Drizzle olive oil into a skillet over med-high heat, add onions and cook 2-3 minutes.  Add sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking up with spatula as it cooks.
• Remove from heat and stir in (still warm) couscous, tomatoes and herbs.  Taste, then season with pepper as necessary.

• Remove pre-cooked peppers from oven, drain water and pat dry.  Dry the pan and spray with cooking spray.  Fill each pepper with as much filling as you can (I actually had enough for three peppers), place them baking in the pan, put tops on, then return to the oven.  Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

I served my stuffed pepper a la carte but this would be good served next to grilled or roasted veggies, or a side salad.  It turned out really good, was super easy to make thanks to the seasoned couscous and amazing sausage.  The combinations are pretty much endless…so let me know if you have a favourite combo I should try!

After dinner the other Jamie and I went for coffee then I came home to chill out with Miss Chibi for a bit.  My sweet tooth got the better of me, but thankfully was the end of the Ikea crack candy and it will no longer be a temptation!

Can’t be snacking on crack while trying to get ready for Greece!! :)

Grecian Times

Exciting news!  I just booked my flight to Athens!!  Tiffaney and I are off to Greece for two glorious weeks at the end of September.  We have talked about taking a real vacation together for ages and now is the time!  My bank account is going to HATE me for about a year but we are doing this. 

Next, we plan.  If anyone has been to Greece recently please feel free to send along suggestions, tips and blog links.  We have two weeks which gives us opportunity to check out Athens and hit up a few islands…there are so many to choose from!

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Talk about motivation to get fit!  Project Greek Goddess starts now.

Here Fishie Fishie

Typical of me, I didn’t get around to blogging on Friday night.  Or Saturday.  Or Sunday for that matter.  Sue me, I like to hide my bad weekend food choices and enjoy my personal space sans computer.

But you do need to see this quick, rich and delicious dinner I threw together for myself before heading out Friday evening. 

On a whim I purchased a piece of fresh halibut from the fish counter.  I really had no idea how I planned to cook it but for some reason I had capers on the brain.

So I did a quick Google search for caper sauce…took a few random ideas…and came up with a simple butter sauce that turned out super deeeeelish.

Ingredients:  (adjust amounts based on size of fish filet…mine was about 250 grams…2 servings)

• squeeze of lemon juice
• sprinkle of dill (I used dried but fresh would be perfection)
• fresh pepper & coarse salt
• 3 tbsp butter, room temp
• 2 tbsp diced onion
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Pat fish dry with paper towel.  Sprinkle with lemon, dill and wee pinch of coarse salt.  Let stand while preparing butter mixture.
• Mix butter, onion, capers, parsley and ground pepper together.
• Place fish on a sprayed sheet of tin foil.  Top with butter mixture, pressing down lightly with fork for coverage.  Close up foil creating a loose packet…don’t squish the butter.  Place packet on baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes.
• Open foil packet carefully to retain buttery liquid gold.  Plate the fish then spoon as much sauce as you would like over the fish.

• Sprinkle with more fresh parsley. Serve with lemon wedge if desired.

 

Serving suggestion:  Place warm fish on bed of fresh baby spinach, then drizzle sauce all over.  Wilted spinach = delicious.

I paired my halibut with roasted veggies which cooked easily on a second baking sheet placed in the oven along with the fish dish. 

Make Better Monday

Oh Monday.  Must you arrive every week and remind me that a fresh start is required?  If there were no Mondays I may likely never feel guilty about filling my weekends with eggs benedict, poutine, and farmer’s market chocolates.

While getting dressed to go out Saturday night I tried on three different skirts that no longer fit.  And then I proceeded to eat poutine anyway. 

Denial.  Word of the season.

Being too financially strapped to just go buy new skirts and roomier pants led me to my eight billionth Monday morning diet realization.

What was that? 

Eat less gravy.

Eat more fresh berries.  Don’t let the bananas go to waste over weekends.  Use non-fat milk in my iced coffees.  Snack on low-calorie pita crackers instead of another dish of French fries.

Keep going to the gym even if it’s half the workout I used to be able to do.  Be proud when I can add an extra set of basic crunches or run an extra 30 seconds during treadmill intervals.  Drink more water.

Walk the dog somewhere other than to Starbucks.  Enjoy alone time puttering with patio plants instead of driving for ice cream.  Go to sleep with a book instead of the TV.

Enjoy dinners with friends that focus more on conversation and less on food.  Friends don’t let friends drown in a sea of gravy.

Simplify.  Make better choices.

Accept invitations for homemade dinners.  Particularly from men that catch fresh fish and cook it for you.  Bring wine and relax.

Damn you Monday for clearing my head and bringing focus.  Now I can’t hate you anymore. 

Fernwood Bites

Every Sunday should come complete with a neighbourhood foodie festival.  Particularly one with individual Charelli’s cheese trays, beet salad from La Piola (website not working), and mini strawberry rhubarb pies from Paprika Bistro (almost makes up for the mediocre experience I had in the actual restaurant). 

I was so busy eating, drinking and chatting my way through cute little Fernwood Square that I really had next to no time for photo ops.  And you know what?  I’m OK with that.  :)

Letting my camera sit idle left more time to enjoy chitchat with the lovely lady at Moon Under Water, and more time for sneaking extra blackberry cassis truffles from Spinnakers while they poured my peach Hefeweizen, and even more time for seeking out friends in the crowd.

These creamy little tarts from Wildfire were the highlight of the night for me.  They were clearly a crowd favourite as they were all gone when my friends tried to go try one for themselves. 

Aside from being a wee bit of an elbow room it was a perfect little foodie event.  So much delicious food to choose from…I couldn’t have dreamed of trying everything.  My waistline thanks me.  I suppose I’ll just have to go back next year and see if I can catch the things I missed this time around.  Oh darn!