Another pretty good week for the menu plan. I didn't end up making the Daring Cooks' challenge on Friday, but everything else went well.
(Actually, I started the challenge, I just didn't finish it.)
I also changed Tuesday's enchiladas to simple wraps, being unable to find the ingredients I needed for the recipe I wanted to try. No one complained, everyone was happy.
This week some of my choices are coming about from items I picked up at the two farmer's markets I was went to. You can see all about my trip to the Carp Farmer's Market here, but I didn't blog about my trip to the Ottawa Farmer's Market as it was cold, cold, cold and I didn't take many pictures. Though I did buy a few things.
Sunday: Daring Cook's Challenge recipe, plus Lamb burgers. (I bought the burgers, the buns, some artisan cheese and some fresh arugula all from the markets and used them for the burgers.) (And for those in the "know", no, these two don't exactly go together, but they were eaten that way anyways.)
Monday: Chili with cheddar jalapeno bread, which I bought from this local baker.
Tuesday: Pho soup. Part of my previously alluded to plans about what I wanted to do with my beef bones.
Wednesday: Chicken cutlets with creamy Parmesan dressing and roasted asparagus.
Thursday: Pork tenderloin with chimichurris sauce and crispy and creamy new potatoes (I bought some very cool potatoes, two types, from McGregor's Produce at the Ottawa Farmer's Market.)
Friday: Left overs. Or pancakes, if we don't have many left overs.
Saturday: We are going to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, so I'm not planning dinner as it is a family pot luck. Check back later to see what I bring.
Here is another find from the farmer's market, locally made wooden tools. While I didn't buy one of these spoons for myself (yet), I did buy a set of toaster tongs for my husband, who has mentioned we needed a new set since my Pampered Chef one broke quite a long time ago. Personally, I have near burn resistant finger tips, so I've been fine, and my youngest has been using his plastic chopsticks when he's had problems.
In the meantime, if my menu plan for the week doesn't inspire you, go see the list of hundreds of other menu planners and see if any of them inspire you. You can find them at Menu Plan Monday by I'm an Organizing Junkie. Tell'em I said, "Hi!"
Menu Plan Monday: Some Farmer's Market Finds
Magazine Mondays: Brownies
I have alot of blogs on my feed reader. Some I read every day, others I let stack up and then read in a big bunch. Cake Wrecks is a good example of the "let stack up" pile - I save them for when I need a good giggle and then read a bunch at once.
Also on that list is my friend Megan's The Brownie Project. Not because I don't like her blog or brownies, but because I do like brownies. Every time I read it, I want to go make some brownies, and while the chocolate industry might like that idea, my pants, and my husbands training, don't like that. So instead I save them up and read them in batches, then go make brownies.
This time I decided to outwit the brownie compulsion: I made a batch of low fat brownies, and then sitting down to eat one, then I read all about Megan's brownies. You see, eating a delicious piece of fudgy brownie negates the need to go out and make several more batches of decadent brownies.
A smart and tasty idea.
Okay, these brownies aren't going to be nearly as good as some with triple chocolate, or with a caramel ribbon running through it. Or the cheesecake marble brownies, those are just evil, pure, pure evil. Especially combined with the caramel ribbon brownie. Can you taste it, caramel, cheesecake and brownie all at once. OMG, just roll me off to the weight loss clinic now!
Despite not having all those extra things, these are pretty good. A bit fudgy, a bit dense, and enough chocolate in each bite to satisfy a craving. Simple to make, the first time these were made at my home, my 10 year old did it.
We have one piece left. And Megan has one brownie post up right now. Think I better hide that last brownie, save it up for a good brownie read.
In the meantime, this is my submission for Magazine Monday, hosted by my favorite Creampuff!
Fudgy Brownies
from Cooking Light, July 2002
Note: The batter for these brownies is very thick and sticky and does not like to spread in the pan. Don't panic when this happens, you didn't do anything wrong!
Makes 16 brownies
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon hot water
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 325°.
Place sugar and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 5 minutes). Combine hot water and coffee granules, stirring until coffee granules dissolve. Add coffee mixture, butter, and vanilla extract to sugar mixture; beat at low speed until combined.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stirring just until moist (batter will be thick).
Spread batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 23 minutes or until brownies spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Opening Day: Carp Farmer's Market
If you live anywhere in the Ottawa Valley, right now you can see it is pouring rain outside. Again. A few minutes ago the sun showed its face, but the rain didn't stop.
Fortunately it wasn't raining, though the sun was not shinning, at the opening of the Carp Farmer's Market this morning. It was opening day and the clouds over head did not stop people from flocking to the market, fabric bags in hand, ready to see what the local vendors had out for them. 
I brought along my fabric bags, my camera, and my side kick, who brought along his own camera to take pictures with.
After a walk around the market, to see what was available and chat with a few people, we went back and started shopping.
I bought some beautiful asparagus from Acorn Creek Garden Farm, so much nicer than the asparagus I found at the grocery store earlier in the week.
While the rhubarb was lovely, we left it there. 
The flavored salts from The Salty Don appealed to me, with such flavors as Hellenic Smoke (smoked salt, pepper and onion with oregano, parsley, nutmeg and cinnamon,) and Saffron Pepper (black pepper, dried onion and garlic, lemon peel and saffron). I left with three different types; Fennel Salt, the Tuscan Smoke and some Smoked Pepper. Need to make sure I plan something for dinner this week using the Fennel salt. Yum!
Good garlic has been hard to find, and when I do find decent garlic, it has been from Puerto Rico. Thanks, but I'll take this local garlic, harvested last fall, instead. And at 3 heads for $2, a pretty good price too.
I also bought some lovely Flower Station Cheese, a semi-firm cheese made similar to Feta, from a local cheesemaker, Back Forty Artisan Cheese. It only took a small taste of this lovely cheese to make me decide to bring it home. It will be amazing in my lunch this week.
I had a great conversation with Tom of Country Cuisine, maker of "Organic, Delicious and Nutritious Food Mixes." As he told me, he makes everything in small batches to help keep his wife in shoes and earrings. Plus they are tasty too.
Now I do make most things homemade, but sometimes it is nice to have a mix on hand for those times when you are either short on time or not feeling well. And they'd be a great addition to the provisions if going camping.
Since I'm feeling fine, and dont't plan to go camping any time soon, I'll have to come up with a last minute reason to make the Garlic Lover's Drop Biscuit mix that I brought home. 
Other than the concession stands, the longest line ups I saw were at The Girl With the Most Cakes, where these stunning little cakes were available in 4 flavors for $12 each. A steal if you ask me. The details on these little beauties were amazing, with everything made from buttercream. There are going to be some very lucky, and happy, mother's tomorrow, receipients of one of these.
To round out my trip to the market, I also came home with some beef bones from Dobson's All Natural Grass-Fed Beef. I have big plans for these bones. Big plans.
The Carp Farmer's Market runs every Saturday from 8am to 1pm, rain or shine, from May through October. Parking is free, admission is free, and there is lots to see.
TFF: What is with the peas?
I made this quite awhile back and almost forgot about it. It was tastier than it looks like it would be, Tyler's recipe for Penne with sausages and cream sauce. Basically just my regular penne with some sausages thrown in and then cream added to the tomatoes.
And then peas.
Sure, they are green. They add color to an otherwise monotone dish. I like peas. But I don't get them here. They don't add to the flavor or the texture. Actually they were rather difficult to eat in a bite with everything else. Instead you finished all the pasta and sausages and tomatoes in your bowl and ended up with some peas at the bottom, in a creamy tomato sauce. Which worked for my husband, as he dislikes peas and could ignore them easily. But even he said, "They don't actually add anything to it, do they?"
Which puts this Tyler recipe on the "Redo but with modifications" list. Which is an improvement over the "Never make this again" list. And with that, it becomes this week's submission to Tyler Florence Fridays. Oh and the recipe comes from Dinner at My House.
On a totally unrelated note, I thought I'd share a "recipe" from my oldest son. What he had for after school snack yesterday: creamy peanut butter on a plate, with spanish salted peanuts on top. Using his fingers, he would pick up a peanut and scoop up the peanut butter before popping it into his mouth. This is what he had left by the time I noticed he'd done this, though I suspect he had alot more when he started. (Which also explains why he barely ate dinner and didn't complain of hunger afterwards, he'd filled up on peanut butter!)
Menu Plan Monday: My bbq is back to work
Ah I wish it were the weekend again. This one seemed to go by too fast, even though I managed to do alot and get many things done. The sun shone most of the time, it was warm, and I like sun and warmth. On a beautiful weekend like we just had, don't you wish that weekends were longer than 2 days? Not just sometimes, but all the time.
Oh well, at least today I have no where I have to go, no errands to run, and the only scheduled even for the day is meeting the children as they get off the school bus. I have the day to myself, which is good, because I have alot planned in the kitchen!
Sunday: BBQ'd pork chops with bbq'd cauliflower and snow peas. With some left over watermelon as well.
Monday: Spaghetti. (Yes, I know I said bbq'ing for my theme, but we are having spaghetti. I haven't made it in awhile, much to the disappointment of all my boys, big and little, and we are for sure having it because I made the sauce on Sunday and it is ready to go!)
Tuesday: Chicken enchiladas with spanish rice and refried beans. Happy Cinqo the Mayo! (I plan to roast the chicken on Monday and assemble the enchiladas as I won't be home until well after 7 on Tuesday evening and want dinner ready to go.)
Wednesday: Salt and pepper shrimp with seasame noodles.
Thursday: Ginger and soy grilled chicken with asparagus.
Friday: Daring Cook's challange. (No I'm not going to tell you what it is!)
And that's my attempt at a menu plan this week. How about you? Are you menu planning yet? If you are thinking of starting, head over to Menu Plan Monday and add your plan in. Or for ideas.
On a totally unrelated subject....
I recently installed a clothes line at my new home, something I did not have room for before we moved here. With the beautiful weather, and the very strong breezes we've had, I have managed to get alot of laundry done and up on the line. This weekend I took advantage of my children's absence to try and help reduce some of the allergens in our house by washing all the children's blankets (of which they each keep at least 4 on their beds, or floors. Mostly floors.) That done, I followed up on washing and hanging yet another set of items from their bedrooms that trap and hold alot of dust:
It's enough animals to start my own zoo!
Amazingly enough, there were 2 more later on down the line, with some clothes, and a few that didn't make it to the wash to begin with. I know I was missing at least one bird and a dog.
It just looked so funny up there, I had to share it.
Have a good Monday!
Savouring the Tulips (and the food)
That is what I spent yesterday afternoon doing, with my friend BC of Beans and Caviar. Thanks to this man, Robin Duetta, publisher of FoodMODE, who invited me to join him for this event, a fundraising event for the Tulip Festival. Robin has good reason to look so happy, even though this might have been the only tasting he ended up having for the afternoon. More than 500 people filled the tent and enjoyed wonderful food samplings from local restaurants, along with a variety of wines and beers.
Lets get on with the food now....
Chef Robin Bowen of LAGO Bar and Grill was very popular, with his Lamb Popsicles, served with a mint and pea pesto. Despite constant carving for well over an hour, he took the time out for a smile and a friendly word with me. The people in line behind me were kind enough to be patient, even though I'm sure they were drooling for a piece of that juicy, melt in your mouth lamb.
Btw, you can find the recipe for Chef Bowen's lamb right here, in the Ottawa Citizen.
The staff at ARC Lounge & Restaurant provided us with a beautiful display for their smoked salmon rillette on horseradish crackers, with a fresh herb "salsa". Lovely and tasty. I think I should have gone back for another of these but there were so many things to try.
Yes, I was doing the same each time I sat down. It is good to be in the company of someone who understands why I do things like pull out a pen to write down the details of what is on my plate as soon as I sit down. Must write it before I eat it or I won't remember!
There were so many things to try, and while I did take pictures of everything, if I put a picture up for it all, we would be here looking at pictures of delicious food all day! Okay, not a bad way to spend a Sunday, but since I can't spend all morning writing, I'll move on an highlight some of my favorites:
At the top of my list is this unpretentious little cup of soup, a Curry Sweet Potato soup served by the ladies of The Red Apron. Jo-Ann and Jennifer captured me with this offering, the soup was sweet and creamy and I could have had a pot load myself. My first sampling was warm and melted into my tastebuds. Later I was able to try some more, but took my time to savour it, a little taste, try something else, another little taste. Cold it was just as wonderful.
Sharing a table, as they share space in the same building on Gladstone Ave in Ottawa, The Red Apron's soup was served beside some wonderful breads from True Loaf Bakery. Included were four kinds: a traditional baguette, a date and fennel bread, rye and walnut and my personal favorite, a seed bread. I love bread, I really do.
Driving past the bakery on our way home, I told my husband I thought the date and fennel bread would be a wonderful accompaniment to a prime rib roast, but thinking about it now, it would make one amazing stuffing for a chicken or a turkey. (Hmmm I see a trip downtown in my near future!)
I could go on and on and on, so here is a quick round up of some things on my plate: an asparagus and beef salad wrap along with a "grown up" rice krispie square (dark chocolate, cognac and dried cranberries, yum!) from Toss It Up; double smoked mackaeral cake with lemon creme fraiche from The Whalesbone Catering; Smoked salmon and a warm Double Smoked salmon from the Pelican Fishery and Grill.
One thing I haven't mentioned is the beers and wines. Well, there is a reason for that. I don't like beer or most wines. But I did something yesterday I never, ever do. I tried a beer. I even tried three different types of wines! (Oh the things I do for my blog. Hehehe) And I can say, with a totally unprejudiced opinion, that if you can find it, go try the beer from Beau's All Natural Brewing Company. Served ice cold, it was mild and didn't have the "kick you in the teeth" aftertaste I find comes with most beers.
Such a lovely time!
Thank you again Robin, FoodMODE and Groovy Grapes for a lovely afternoon.
TFF: Another chicken
Still trying to find a roast chicken recipe that has us all loving roast chicken. It shouldn't be this hard. I shouldn't have to try recipe after recipe. After all, we all basically like chicken. We like it in lots of different ways, but are struggling with the roast chicken dinner!
This time I added a twist - I keep reading and hearing that it really makes a huge difference to the flavor of a chicken when you get a free range organic bird, as opposed to a super market chicken. So for this specific recipe, I went out and found myself a local, free range, organic chicken, paying at least twice what I would normally pay, for the bird.
And you know what?
It tastes like chicken.
Which in itself was a bit disappointing as I'd used Tyler Florence's "Ultimate" chicken recipe for this, with a tonne of herb infused butter under the skin, with herbs and lemons stuffed into the chicken. I'd hoped to at least taste some herbs. (This was from Stirring the Pot.)
Okay, this was one of the better chickens I've made. Heck, even the picture is much better than some of the awful, white looking, chicken pictures I've taken. The skin was crispy, and the chicken was moist. But was it moist because it was a "better" chicken or because of the scary amount of butter slathered on and in it?
I dunno. Maybe I will have to find another organic chicken, and buy a supermarket one and make it again, with both chickens side by side for a proper test.
The highlight of the meal for me, however, was the Parmesan Potato Gratin I made with the chicken, from Tyler's Dinner at My House. Wow, I love creamy, cheesy potatoes. So does my hubby. (Too bad they don't take well to pictures when you make one pan and start scooping before you pull out the camera.)
Here you go, two more Tyler Florence dishes for Tyler Florence Fridays. And I'm not late again!
I'm heading off to music lessons soon with my children - think I'll bring Tyler along with me so that I can plan while they practice.
The night I nearly "failed" dinner.
And dessert too, believe it or not.
So not that long ago, I decided to try making cabbage rolls from scratch. I started with a recipe posted on Cream Puff's site, but did not have a helpful friend who'd made them a million times before along to walk me through it.
It took some time, and I was frustrated through alot of it, but I ended up with something resembling cabbage rolls (and then later went back and relooked at the pictures with the recipe and said, "Aaaaah, so that's what I was supposed to do!")
Either way, no one really liked the outcome. Sorry Cream Puff. I messed them up.
But I thought I was redeeming myself after dinner by providing a lovely cake for dessert.
A golden cake, with a lemon curd swiss buttercream on it, with fresh strawberries in between the layers. The lemon curd was mighty tasty on it's own, and lemon always goes well with fresh strawberries.
Beside's, who gets a slice of a homemade, two layer cake on on Monday? Seriously, who gets this kind of dessert?
At the end of the meal, my youngest decided to "grade" me and assign marks to my efforts.
Cabbage Rolls = D (nearly failing, just barely passing.)
Cake = C (Okay it was a bit dry, needed a syrup of some kind, and the lemon did not jump out, but still, it was a cake!)
His brother disagreed slightly, he felt the cake was a bit closer to a B, more like a B-, and that the filling of the cabbage rolls was okay, so it was more of a C, less of a D.
Either way, marks I would not be very happy to see on my children's report card.
Do you think this means my children are a bit spoiled when it comes to food? Or that they have high expectations?
Montreal Results are in
We arrived in Montreal on Friday afternoon, two mom's with two 10 year old boys. Managed to get through rush hour without any problems, and get to our hotel without getting lost.
I have to say, alot of things worked out just right for us, starting with getting to that hotel.
Which was at the edge of Chinatown and across two road from Old Montreal. So we had lots of places to explore and lots of yummy food to try!
After a few hours of walking around and checking out Old Montreal, taking so many pictures I had to switch to my little point and shoot camera to take pictures of food, we hit Chinatown and chose the 3rd Pho restaurant we saw, one that looked bright and clean and had a table or two free.
What a great choice!
I had a spring roll, but my son decided to save his adventurousness for drinks, so we ordered two "funky" to us drinks, not knowing what was in them or what they were: a rainbow jelly ice and a red bean and coconut drink. Both were too strong for us, but at least we tried them.
This is probably one of the best vermicelli plates I've ever had. The pickled daikon and carrots were amazingly good and blended it so well with everything. Right after taking the picture, I mixed all of mine together and dug in!
This is my son's favorite in Vietnamese food, Pho Ga, or chicken noodle soup. While he couldn't finish his bowl, he hmmm'd through what he ate.
We took one more quick walk through Chinatown before we left, a street we had not had a chance to go to (but my son said it smelled so good he wants to go back when he's hungry and try things!) As a quick dinner before leaving, I had a steamed pork and vegetable bun, which cost me a whole $1, and a strawberry bubble tea. The flavor of the bubble tea was chosen for my son, who was sharing it with me, and he loved that, but he did not like the chewy bubbles. At least he tried it!
Oh yes, and I bet you'd like to know how he did at his tournament?
What do you think?
Those medals around his neck are a bronze in patterns and a gold in sparring. He was amazing to watch and earned that smile on his face (plus his t-shirt.)
(Seven students from our Taekwon-Do school attended this tournament, and seven students came home with at least one medal. Our school was well represented, even though our numbers were small.)
Daring Bakers: Feeling uninspired
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
I admit it, I was totally unmotivated and uninspired by this months' challenge of cheesecake. Nothing personal to either Jenny or Abbey, but I was bored. I've made many cheesecakes before and sometimes I have a problem, but usually if I do it is because I sped through it or forgot it in the oven.
I didn't do either of those things for this recipe. I simply threw it together the night before company was coming and then sliced it and served it.
Until today I hadn't even taken a picture of it. That is very unlike me.
Oh I admit, when Jenny said we could be creative, I did think of an idea or two that was creative, but required time. Something I have not had much of lately, so my ideas will have to wait.
I kept pretty close to the written recipe for this, using chocolate cookie crumbs instead of graham for my base because I had those on hand. I did not use a liquere, or the lemon, and did use a fresh vanilla bean. For my three packages of cream cheese, I used one light cream cheese and two regular (I like it better with light, not because of fat or calories, but because light has more of a tang to it, which I happen to enjoy.)
No tang, no vanilla flavor. Hoo hum, that's about it for me, though my youngest suddenly has become a fan, and my guests loved the mellow flavors and the creaminess of the cake.
Can you see the vanilla beans in this? I should have had a big hit of vanilla from each bite!
I've seen a few pictures of other people's cheesecakes and I applaud them for their creativity. I guess inspiration just didn't hit me this time.
Oh well.
On to next month's challenge, on to my Daring Cooks' challenge and on to the Daring Kitchen to see the other cheesecakes for this month!
Menu Plan Monday
Well I'm back from my little trip, and as fun as it was, I am still exhausted! I was home yesterday, took a day to rest (meaning I only did a bit of cleaning and two loads of laundry.) Today I have alot of work to do and hope to get some prep done for meals this week as I am going to be working extra shifts this week for a coworker and expect to be short on time and tired.
Short and sweet, not much fancy this week:
Sunday: Hubby took pity on me last night and made frozen spring rolls and chicken balls for us for dinner. (I'd planned soup but for some silly reason the stock I was making, instead of reducing a bit on low heat, decided to reduce alot on low heat and I was left with about 1 cup of stock. Plus I was feeling icky and did not want to cook at all.)
Monday: bbq chicken breast. Either as a salad topping or in a wrap. Not sure which yet.
Tuesday: homemade meatballs in sweet and sour sauce with rice. I'm making an extra large batch of meatballs for this and for the freezer.
Wednesday: homemade pizza with veggies and dip.
Thursday: grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with fruit salad.
Friday: I'm leaving this open, I think we have plans of some kind.
So that is my brief menu for the week. Please go see Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie for more plans, hopefully more inspiring than mine is.
I'm away, please, have some more cake
I'm off to Montreal today right after I finish working, going with a girlfriend to bring our sons to compete in the ITF Canadian National Tae Kwon-Do Championships. Neither of our boys is a black belt, yet, so they can't qualify for the worlds, but they are going to compete and they will get valuable experience here.
(And, hey, if you happen to be in Montreal, please come by to cheer on the competitors and keep an eye out in the Ontario section for the group from Trigger's Taekwon-Do, in our black and red jakets. Stop by and say hi!)
While I'm gone, falling further and further behind this week on reading all my fellow bloggers, please enjoy a completely different slice of cake than yesterday's TFF Carrot Cake. This is a slice of Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake, the recipe I found from my buddy Kelly over at Sass and Veracity, and it tasted much, much better than it looks. As I told my brother-in-law when I presented it to him for a belated birthday celebration, the looks of the cake were in no way a reflection of how we felt about him, I was justing having an off day when it came to cake assembly.
TFF: Carrot Cake
I like carrot cake. I like a heavy carrot cake with lots of carrot flavor, but no nuts. I especially like cream cheese icing. I know I've said that before, but it is true. I like cream cheese icing and think nothing can taste bad if it has cream cheese icing on it.
Except maybe this cake. Sure, it was impressive looking, with all those layers, but it was too moist, boring, dull and needed more icing for me to like it.
I, however, was in the minority on this one. I gave away big chunks of this cake, and every comment back was highly complimentary. My kids asked for seconds and for cake in their lunches.
Since this was a Tyler Florence recipe, for Tolan's Birthday cake, (I like that name, what a unique name,) it is my selection this week for Tyler Florence Fridays. The recipe comes from Dinner at My House but as usual is available online here.
If anyone else has made this, what do you think? Is it just because I omitted the nuts? Did I mess something up? Did I have too many layers or just not enough icing?
POM Winners and one more POM recipe
It has been fun, and tasty, messing around with my little bottles of POM juice. So before I announce my winners, here is one last recipe for you, not from the people at POM Wonderful this time, but from fellow Daring Baker and blogger Elle, of Feeding my Enthusiasms. It is her recipe for Rosemary and Garlic POM Steak.
Wow, was this ever nice and tender and flavorful! I grilled up a couple of steaks for company, and served them up with Caesar salad and rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes. What a great combination. We had very little in the way of left overs when we were done and had moved on to cake.
So good I am tempted to only give away one of my POM coupons and make this again soon, but I did promise two coupons and two coupons I will give away!
So the winners are:
Emily B, who entered by comment on my original post, and Jennifer, who entered by sending me an email.
To choose my winners, I went with the tried and true Breadchick version of writing names on paper, though I did not have a cat to have chase those little papers around, I had to pull them from a bowl to get my random winner. Low-tech, I know, but effective!
Emily and Jennifer, emails going out to you right now to get your mailing addresses! Please respond within 48 hours.
And in the meantime, here is Elle's wonderful recipe:
Rosemary and Garlic POM Steak
from Elle of Feeding my Enthusiasms
8 oz. POM Wonderful pomegranate juice (I had a bit less)
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped roughly
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 4)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Menu Plan Monday: Delay posting is helpful!
I'm away today, no where near my computer, and not really interested in trying to type out a post on my ipod. The idea of that gives me finger cramps! Fortunately, I wrote this post early and scheduled it to post at another time, so I can still take part in Menu Plan Monday even when I'm not here. (It is really too bad I didn't do this last week for TFF, which I have before, but I didn't have the chance to do last week. Oh well.)
So last week was iffy. I pushed back my Wednesday to Thursday and my Thursday to Friday. It had to do with time management and a few errands I had to get done but had no extra time to do it. And that's okay, things worked out well. Let's see how I do this week.
Saturday: Company over, a belated Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, so I made marinated steak with garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes with salad. And a decadent dessert. But dessert doesn't need to be part of my menu plan, does it?
Sunday: More company, again family, but this time from my side instead of my husbands. On the menu, hamburgers, quinoa salad, guacamole and tortilla chips.
Monday: I'm away, not sure what my hubby is making. Probably pasta.
Tuesday: I'm back but back late with no time to get home before the kids and I do our usual Tuesday routine, so chances are this will be take out pizza.
Wednesday: Its bbq time (please, no rain!) so spareribs with broccoli and apple slaw.
Thursday: Chicken cutlets with some kind of salad. Whatever looks good at the time.
Friday: I'm away again, this time with one of my children, so again hubby is in charge. My oldest and I are off in Montreal so he can compete in a rather large Taekwon-Do tournament. Wish him luck!
It is almost time for the local farmer's markets to open around here, which I am very much looking forward to, so expect to see more items on the menu that have inspiration from what I can find at the markets. And for menu's to change because of what pops up at the stands.
More POM, and delay in giveaway
I've been swamped for a few days and will be for a few days more, so I've decided I need to extend the deadline of my POM Wonderful giveaway until later next week, Wednesday, April 22nd. So you get more chances to enter to win your own bottle of POM Wonderful juice.
And to give you another reason to want to try this little snowman of juice, get a gander at these brownies, POM Double Chocolate Brownies. I'd love to have given you a better picture but I had to sneak in to get a picture of this one, the last one. The POM juice for these brownies was reduced to a syrup, with half the syrup being drizzled on before baking the brownies and the rest drizzled on afterwards. It resulted in an almost candy-like topping on the brownies, quite good, quite the surprise.
This recipe is a keeper. I like keeper recipes.
TFF: The deep fryer comes out again
I didn't forget about TFF this week, I simply ended up being really, really busy!
So this is a quickie - Tyler's Ultimate Onion Rings, from Stirring the Pot, without the deep fried garlic and parsley. Plus some sweet potato chips, from Dinner at my House, without the dip and fancy stuff. Both very good.
One complaint only - I cut up two onions, as specified by Tyler, but only had enough batter to cover about half the onions, and that is with my being "frugal" with my dipping as this batter was thick, thick, thick! So next time I cut the onions up as Tyler asks, but I double the batter. And I make for a big batch of people. Hmmm maybe I should make them for Sunday when I have company!
Don't forget to enter my POM giveaway - though I think I will have to extend my deadline to next week as I'm swamped this weekend!
POM Wonderful and a giveaway!
You'd have to be very new to the food blogging world to have not noticed an abundance of little snowmen bottles popping up lately. Those adorable little bottles hold POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice and I was fortunate to be one of those bloggers asked to try it out.
I love trying out new products, or old ones I've never had before, and my family has been very tolerant of all my little "experiments" lately, even helpful with some items. So when I came in with a snowman bottle of POM and said I was baking a cake with it, they were all ready to dive in and try the results, POM Velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting and a generous sprinkling of pomegranate arils. (Did you know that the lovely fruit from inside that ugly ball you see in the stores are not seeds but arils? Well now you do!)
Some of the other posts I've read reviewing the POM juice have gone on about how they loved the juice straight and were drinking it so fast they couldn't make anything with it.
I wish I could say the same. I can't. I tried, I really did.
As much as I love to eat the arils (three of the four of us do), I do not like the juice at all.
It is a good thing you don't have to like the juice to bake and cook with it though, cause this cake was good! The rich creaminess of the frosting balanced out the denseness of the cake, which wasn't overly rich but had a nice dense texture and crumb to it. Taking a bite with a bit of cake, a bit of frosting and an aril or two was a delight, the three different textures and flavors mingling together so well.
I liked the results so much I decided to continue on with my little "experiments" and make a few more things! I'll post about them some more over the next few days, but for now, let's get to that giveaway!
I have two, count them up, two coupons left for a snowman bottle of POM Wonderful juice, which also comes in other flavors other than straight pomegranate. So that's two potential winners!
How can you win? Easy, easy, easy....
- Be a Canadian resident, as these coupons are good only in Canada.
- Leave me a comment below telling me what you think you would make with your POM juice. It can be a drink, a dessert or anything. (If you make a mess, though, you have to clean it.) Be sure to include an email address where I can contact you if you win.
- Post a link on your own blog about this, letting me know at allthingsedible (at) hotmail (dot) com, and you will get two chances to win!
I'll randomly pick a winner on April 18th, so be sure to check back to see if you've won.
