Dinner in 15 minutes flat!

It's Friday and ocasionally I will go out with some friends for dinner but before going out I still have to make dinner for hubby and the kids. I wasn't sure what to make tonight and didn't want to make a big fuss. I ended up making spaghetti and meatballs. This is my fastest and easiest meal ever! Frozen Italian meatballs from M&M Meats and my favourite tomato sauce. I usually heat the sauce and then add the frozen meatballs to simmer for 10 minutes. While that is cooking I boil the pasta which takes about 5 minutes and then it's dinner time. My husband could eat this every day and I have to admit that for the amount of effort I could eat this every day too!

Comfort food

This morning was rough! Lots of whining...lots of crying...and a whole lot of screaming! By the time I dropped the kids off my head was pounding and my hands shaking. I needed a coffee bad!! My best friend and I headed off to the mall and we splurged on a danish along with our coffee. YUM! The flaky pastry and the sweet apple filling melted all the morning stress away. Whoever says food can't or shouldn't be used for comfort has never experienced that first mouth watering bite of yummy on a stressful day.

Cupcake Give-away!

I really love cupcakes and I just found a cool give-away for a one-of-a-kind- faux cupcake made by PinkPatrice Boutique . It's called Candied-Licious and is so cute and yummy! It's not edible but really fun to look at. If you want to win and be one of the first people own one go to the link below!

http://theeclecticartisansteam.blogspot.com/2009/02/day-8-pinkpatrice-boutique.html

Afternoon Cupcakes

I promised my daughter that we could open her new Easy Bake Decorating Sensation Icing Pen. She had received this for Christmas but because I never found time to buy batteries it kind of got lost in the hustle and bustle. It's actually a pretty good little tool for kids. She had so much fun decorating her cupcakes. There are 4 different tips and it's battery operated so she doesn't need alot of effort to squeeze the icing out.

Not a bad job for a five year old...even the boys had fun decorating their cupcakes. It was a great afternoon activity. Now cleaning up is another story.

Dal - Lentils

After my morning breakfast, I had a craving for some Indian food. I decided to make Dal. I have to say that it was absolutely delicious. The dish is pretty easy to make and has alot of different flavours. It's a little bit spicy, a little bit salty but it's the coriander and lime that really makes going back for more.

Dinner for breakfast?

It's only 9:50am and I'm stuffed!! I visited my "mum" today to colour her hair and she made me a Guyanese meal for breakfast. I'm always saying I'm turning Guyanese because I love everything that "mum" makes. Before I met my best friend, I had never really eaten West Indian food before. Now, I'm slowly learning to make my own.

I remember the first time I had eaten at her house my mouth was literally on fire. I couldn't talk for almost 10 minutes because my lips and tongue were numb. Now I add pepper sauce to everything. Even my egg and tuna salad sandwiches taste boring without a little bit of pepper. Mum makes her own pepper sauce and I swear you only need to dip your fork into it...any more and you'll be crying!

Today she served me some channa and jerk chicken. It's very tasty and so easy to make. She made her Channa with some chickpeas and another bean and sauteed it with some onion and pepper. Salt to taste. The jerk chicken is rubbed with some jerk seasoning and baked. It was a very hearty breakfast...don't think I will be having any lunch today.

Leftovers? To eat or not to eat...

I've been trying to post something every day and so far I've had something interesting to post. However, today my husband left on his business trip and will be gone for four days. It's a nice break for me when he is out of town because I don't need to cook an elaborate meal every night...grilled cheese sandwiches or chicken nuggets are sufficient. I might also order a party size pizza and eat it for two nights. The kids love pizza and I don't have to cook which is nice.

Tonight we just finished off all our leftovers. The kids had the Vietnamese noodles from Saturday and chicken nuggets from Friday and I had the 5 day old Swiss Chalet drumstick (so if I'm down with the runs tomorrow we'll know why), a couple of nuggets and my mom's sticky rice. All of which you can find in my posts from last week.

I can now say our fridge is almost empty and ready for another week of fresh meals. I know some folks don't like leftovers and three day old leftovers is a bit too much but I hate to waste food. Usually my husband is our garbage disposal and he will eat almost anything but since we were busy this weekend the food didn't get finished. This week may just be a week of pizza and McD's...there are a few Hello Kitty watches that I haven't collected yet...hehehe...

Sticky Rice

My sister was in town this weekend so we met up at my parent's place for lunch. My mom made one of her special dishes...sticky rice.

She steams the sweet glutinous rice until it is cooked. She then adds cooked chinese pork and liver sausage, cooked shrimp, carrots, celery, green onions, corn and two types of soya sauce to taste. It's actually a very easy dish to make. The only thing that might prove difficult is finding the right pot to steam the rice. It's a big pot with an additional section that you add on top to steam things with. I've never seen anything like that before.

Vietnamese Pho

It was a pretty busy day today. First Jasmine's birthday party and then dinner with my in-laws. My mother-in-law had a stroke last year so we often go out to eat instead of making them cook. Our usual dinner with them is Vietnamese food. It's so tasty and the soup is perfect for a cold, winter night. The bowl pictured above is an extra large raw beef and chicken pho. Pho is the most popular dish in Vietnamese restaurants. My two sons shared this one.

My daughter is like me and doesn't like soup so she order grilled beef on rice served with pickled veggies. I don't know what they use to marinate this but it is very tasty. It is usually topped with peanuts but since she was sharing with her brothers we asked them to leave them off since her brother is allergic.

This is my favourite. It's grilled pork chops and two spring rolls on top of vermicelli noodles. It is dry since I'm not a huge fan of soup. I love pouring the fish sauce concoction that they serve for the spring rolls all over my bowl. This dish is garnished with pickled veggies, cucumbers, lettuce and chopped peanuts. I'm a big fan of bbq and that's why it's such a nice treat in the winter to eat grilled meat.

Barbie Cake - Happy Birthday Jasmine!

It was my niece's 6th birthday party today and as per her request I made her a barbie birthday cake. This must be my 5th time making one. The Wilton Classic Wonder Mold was really worth the money. I've used it for bridal shower cakes and birthday cakes. It's can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. This one took me less than half an hour.

Midnight snacking

I missed dinner tonight because I was so full from our potluck this afternoon. But now...it's midnight...I'm hungry...AND I'm scarfing down the rest of that coconut cream pie! It's really delicious...everyone needs to try that recipe...yumm...hmmm...so good...betoing oiaing iogn...sorry I was trying to type with my toes as I shoved my face into the pie plate...better go wash up now...

Potluck lunch

I had potluck at my house today. My cousins like to meet once a week and eat. It's great to get together and try new recipes. I made my zucchini loaf which was delicious...or so they said...but who cares because I love it and that's all that matters in my little world.

The food is always good and the company even better. We love catching up on what's happened during the week and when we run out of things to talk about, we end up teasing and making fun of each other which always ends with a good laugh.

Today's menu was zucchini loaf, President's Choice Chicken Nuggets, Costco Chicken Penne in a cream sauce and coconut creme pie for dessert. We were stuffed afterwards and made plans for another potluck on Monday.

Cottage Roll with Mash

Had dinner at my parent's house tonight. I was expecting Chinese food but got cottage roll and mash instead. It's a nice change. My dad is the cook of the family and although this dish is pretty simple to make it was delicious! He has a special spice that he likes to use for everything...cottage rolls....prime rib...it's his secret...but not anymore...he uses pickling spice. I know it sounds strange but it actually give his dishes a very unique flavour. Everyone loves his prime rib and even on a cheap cut of meat like cottage rolls, it makes it taste great.

All he does is boil the cottage roll in a pot of water with a handful pickling spice. He allows it to simmer for a couple of hours and then he makes a gravy with the "soup" and a roux. It's the gravy that really makes this dish.

Tomorrow's Pot Roast

Here is the pot roast that I made tonight but didn't eat. I thought I would plate it and post it anyway. This will be hubby's lunch for the next two days.

Family Day Special!

Monday was family day here in Ontario. Many attractions and restaurants featured family day specials. The bargain hunter in me couldn't stand to miss a deal so we decided to take advantage of one of the Family Day specials tonight even though I had already made dinner.

Swiss Chalet is offering buy an adult entree and get a kid's meal free this week until Friday. I haven't had Swiss Chalet in years and my husband thinks it's over priced for rotisserie chicken but with this offer it wasn't too bad. In fact they even gave us a "loot" bag full of samples and kids magazines afterwards as a Family Day surprise. We definitely got our money's worth tonight!

No self control...

It's pizza lunch today which means the kids had lunch at school and I've been nibbling all day.

This morning, I grabbed half of a beef patty and cocobun for breakfast as I ran my errands. When I picked up my daughter, we came home and I made myself a cup of tea. I was still tasting the beef patty from an hour ago so I thought I would be good for a couple of hours. However, as I watched the news at noon, I thought I should just make myself something light and healthy for lunch. Scooping a bowl of three bean salad from Costco, I tried to pretend that it was a satisfying and delicious lunch. However, something that is both low in calories and high in protein proves to be more of a tease than a meal.

Well...I definitely wasn't satisfied because half an hour later I was scrounging the pantry for some chips for my daughter's friends who were here for a playdate. They weren't interested but I helped myself to three tiny bowls since it was out and opened already. Don't want them to go stale...hehehe.

Another cup of tea and now I'm wondering why my mouth feels so empty...my tummy still feels so empty...and the food made on the Food Network looks so divine...

Doggie Cupcakes

I am so proud of my doggie cupcakes I had to add them to this blog! My best friend asked me to make some cupcakes for her daughter's birthday and if possible, with a doggie theme. I searched high and low on the internet and finally found something easy. I changed the decorating tip to one that piped out strings. The final product is absolutely adorable. You don't even want to eat them they are so cute. I've also made them for my nephew's birthday and both times they were a big hit.

Zucchini Loaf

Friends of mine came over today for Family Day and brought along their recipe for zucchini loaf. I have never eaten a savoury loaf before so I was eager to try. I imagined something like banana bread or carrot cake but with green bits instead. I even asked my friend how much sugar we needed and was a bit taken back when she said there was none. Ok...and then came the cheese and I totally didn't know what to expect. As we mixed everything together I wondered to myself how tasty could this dish be...it didn't look anything like banana bread.

As it cooked these delicious aromas wafted through the kitchen and my mouth began to water. When it came out of the oven it looked really yummy but I was still hesitant about this "loaf". Cutting into it felt too soft to be bread-like and when I took my first bite I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted more like quiche than a loaf. It was absolutley delicious!! I couldn't get enough. It was so easy and so yummy I'm going to make this one of my usual dishes.

Here's the recipe from my website:

http://www.screaminmama.com/Recipes/zucchiniloaf.html

Thai Red Curry Salmon

We grabbed lunch and shopped at my favourite place, Costco, for groceries today. It's a bit overwhelming to be there on a Sunday afternoon but we need provisions desperately. As a treat, we decided to buy salmon for dinner tonight. A treat because it's usually pricey compared to chicken and beef and because it's my husband that usually prepares it. The kids love it panfried with some soysauce and a cornstarch crust. I hate frying fish so this is one of the only dishes that my husband cooks.

As we finished our shopping, I remembered my cousin had made a delicious red curry and salmon dish for our potluck a few weeks back. I decided I would have my hand at making that tonight too.

Well...it was as delicious as I remembered it. The coconut milk gave the dish a creamy sweetness, the fish sauce lent a bit of saltiness and the red curry spiced things up. My mouth waters as I type this and I just finished eating about 5 min. ago. This will definitely be one of my favourites!

Here is the recipe on my website:

http://www.screaminmama.com/Recipes/SalmonRedCurry.html

Hot Dog from Costco

Keen to work on my new blog I thought I would follow the theme and eat my hotdog from Costco with a knife and fork. However, unless you are three years old and under, it seems ridiculous to eat this hands-on food with a fork. I could feel all eyes upon me as I delicately cut into my hotdog and bun...trying hard to keep the bun wrapped around the dog as the knife sawed through. Can you imagine what a mess it would have been if I had loaded the ketchup, mustard, relish, onions and sauerkraut? In the end, embarrassed and defeated, I grabbed my hotdog, ran over to the condiment bar and loaded it with the works and gobbled it up the way it was meant to be eaten.

Cheap Chocolate

Even cheap chocolate taste better if you make the effort to make it special...

I received some drugstore bought chocolates this Christmas and finally opened the box last week. I popped a few in my mouth...nothing special...it's chocolate...but today I decided that it was unfair to this poor box of chocolate and to the the sender to dismiss it just because of it's price. So I decided to stick a fork in it and you know what? It actually tasted yummy. Of course, even in my wildest imaginations, it didn't taste like Godiva chocolate...but it tasted sweeter...creamier...than I remembered. I guess it's all about presentation and perception...maybe I'll be eating my chocolates with a fork from now on...

Food Blog

I've recently become addicted to food blogs. I wonder why...maybe because I looOOooove food!! I eat it when I'm hungry...I eat it when I'm not...when I'm happy, sad, mad, scared, worried, nervous...food just makes me feel better.

I must have some sort of obsession or something...maybe Oprah can give me some advice...she always says there's always something else underlying the love of food. For me....I just love feeling the different textures in my mouth...I love how certain dishes have a duality to them...I love sweet and sour...salty and spicy...sweet and spicy...

And that initial bite when you are starving is like heaven on earth. Oh boy...all this talk about food is making my mouth water...I need something....anything...gotta go before I swallow this piece of gum in my mouth...