Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
Finally the snow is receding and the barbecue is accessible. We are working on the “use what is on sale or in the freezer” methodology, and this week we found a great deal on local ground beef. So in addition to making a batch of meatballs for later in the week, we made tomato, avocado and bacon ( salute to the lovely Marianne) burgers. Yum!
It snowed overnight, which we suppose is Mother Nature having the last laugh after we were so excited at yesterday’s promise of spring. We’re fighting back, though, by having a lunchtime salad that combines the flavours of a winter Tagine with the crunchy green-ness of spring.
On a bed of greens, we added celery slices and chopped up last night’s leftover lamburgers. The dressing consisted of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and maple Dijon mustard from Kozlik’s. To top it off, some feta, raisins, and pine nuts gave us a salty-sweet finish with just the right spiciness.
Yesterday Mother Nature gave us a peek into springtime, with bare lawns, sunshine, and temperatures above the freezing mark. We knew the forecast was for snow, so after a long walk, we wanted to take advantage of this temperate turn of events while it lasted.
On the grill: lamb burgers – topped with feta cheese, a little corn relish, and some Dijon, with a green side salad to make sure it really felt like spring!
We’re joining the rest of Canada for a little breakfast time hockey, before we head off to church. The eggs in our golden spicy scramble are combined with a red onion, a habanero pepper, a handful of mushrooms, some diced pancetta, and sage. On the side, molasses-baked kidney beans and some grilled polenta.
If this doesn’t get us going for the day, nothing will!
After a week of wild weather, it appears the sun is making an effort to shine. We are definitely planning to take advantage of that. To get ready, a big mug of Full Steam coffee, and a delicious goat cheese-cranberry-lime panini. Here’s how we made it, for two:
Mix 2oz/60g goat cheese, zest and juice of 1/2 lime, 1T/15ml chopped cilantro. Spread on 4 slices whole grain homemade raisin bread. Add 2T/30ml cranberry preserves to each, spread, and assemble sandwiches. Our preserves came from a Nova Scotia business, Terra Beata.
Butter both sides and cook on a panini press, grill, or in the frying pan until golden. Enjoy!
The evenings are starting to cool off and the days are getting shorter. In just a few weeks I fear we will be faced with the f word…fall.
But for now there is plenty of tremendous produce in the garden to make salad, and we grilled these juicy burgers. Putting a dent in the middle (in tribute to our daughter’s man-friend, we call it “Paulito style”) keeps the patties from shrinking. They didn’t need much to top them off…tomatoes, pickles, a little grainy mustard and some relish.
For the salad dressing:
15ml/1T Dijon
15ml /1T sesame oil
30ml/2T orange juice
Whisk until smooth.
La princessa and her parents left this morning and now the house is eerily quiet. We’re so grateful to have had them with us for a few days, and glad they enjoyed our city by the sea.
Today is also the day we get our diet and exercise routine back on track – so here’s an easy meal to kick things off, for two:
Leftover grilled steak, about 250ml/1c, sliced thin
In a medium nonstick skillet, heat 5 ml each butter and olive oil, and cook, covered, just til tender:
1 sliced onion
2 sliced mushrooms
1 sliced green pepper
Add steak slices and a sprinkling of chipotle powder or a minced Jalapeño.
Serve over 500ml/2c mixed greens.
We’re fortunate to have greens from our own garden, but use a variety to make it more interesting.
Enjoy!
It’s foggy over the bay this morning, but yesterday was the first hot, sunny, really summery day of the year. We started with golf, then into the city to do some shopping and “summer hair”.
Local pork chops were secured from Highland Drive (recommended by Fred as The BEST) and grilled with a little chipotle powder and a light hand on the sea salt. On the side, steamed young turnips and radish, and a salad of greens from our garden – turnip, Vulcan and Simpson lettuces, Bibb, romaine, arugula, and Swiss chard. On top, some steamed young asparagus, and a dressing of Dijon, sesame oil, and Mirin.
It’s coming! Spring has nearly sprung. Today we were at the Halifax Seaport Market and picked up a delicious steak from Pasture Hill Farm. That, with a few blue fingerlings and a salad seemed like it would be a heavenly choice. We were just tallying up our purchases and we spotted them: local grape tomatoes from Den Haan’s. I wish there was a recipe here, but this is it: grill steak, boil potato, make salad, dream of sprong
Today our daughter is celebrating her 30th birthday, and we are so grateful for her. She’s an amazing young woman. Last night when we returned home from gathering the ingredients for her birthday dinner, a simple dinner was in order. So we grilled the lamb chops himself had picked up at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market, and used some more of Nick’s delicious romaine to make a simple Caesar salad. The fresh Ontario garlic in the dressing was piquant!