Balsamic Onions

I love things that are reduced with balsamic vinegar… sweet yet tangy.  That’s where I got my inspiration for these onions.  And I think these would also go really well on burgers. 

What you need and how to make:

• 2 onions – peeled and sliced
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp Sucanat Sugar
• 1/2 cup good quality Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Maple Syrup
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• 2 cups Beef Stock
• salt and pepper to taste
  

First prepare the onions.  When you’ve cut them all up, heat the olive oil in a large pot on high heat. 

Sauté onions until brown in color.  Then add the sugar and continue to cook for another few minutes. 

Pour in the vinegar and cook again for about 7 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by about 1/2.  Just make sure you don’t cook too long at this step as you wouldn’t want to turn the vinegar. 

Now if you are going to be making Bacon Wrapped Fillet Mignon like I did, set the onions aside and sear the beef in a hot cast iron skillet.  When done, you can deglaze the pan with the beef stock and red wine.  Add this liquid to the onions and also add the maple syrup and salt and pepper. 

Allow the liquid to reduce again by 1/2 by simmer on medium heat. 

If you are making these onions for another purpose, you can just add the wine, stock, maple syrup and salt and pepper to the onions and continue to simmer and reduce liquid by half. 

BONNE APPETIT

Valentine’s Weekend

How was everyone’s weekend? Do anything fun and interesting?  Anybody celebrate Valentine’s Day early?  Since Trevor leaves for work early Monday mornings, I won’t get to see him tomorrow.  So we spent Sunday evening together.  More about that later.  First…a weekend recap.

Trevor brought Bubba home from work this weekend.  Bubba is the farm dog…he was attacked by a cougar ( based on his battle wounds) and so he had to take a visit to the vet.  Before you begin to panick, Bubba is perfectly fine.  He actually fended off a bear a few years back… so we call him Bubba Beardog.  Maybe he should now be called Bubba Cougardog.  He’s one tough dog for sure.  Such a loveable and friendly dog.

I mentioned on Friday that I was going to be making treats for my class Saturday.  Kendra and her friend helped me make 20 S’more pops.  I wanted to make them look like Erin’s Heart Shaped S’more Pops from In Between Laundry. 

Unfortunately my heart-shaped cookie cutter was too big for the graham crackers and so I had to improvise.  Therefore my S’more pops turned into these Diamond S’more Pops.

We made 20 for the class and a few extras for us to munch on.  Yummy in our tummies.

I also played hockey again Saturday night.  It was an early game and so Trevor and all 3 kids came to cheer us on.  Brenda and Ashlee also came out to watch my game.  I played a hard game… normally I play wing, but last night I was asked to play Center.  If you’ve never played or don’t really follow hockey, playing center is hard work…A LOT of skating compared to playing Wing because you have to chase the puck all over the ice and support both your wing and defensive players.  And since there were only 2 of us playing center, it sure was a physical game. I think I may have lost a lung out there..lol. But I had a ton of fun..no goals last night. It’s not about winning or loosing, it’s about going out and having fun.

Here I am before the game.. sorry, no after picture…too sweaty ..hehe

Sunday night was my regular routine…shopping for the week and tidying up the house.  Unfortunately I was also nursing some major menstrual cramps.  I don’t usually suffer from cramps, but today was particularly bad.  I was curled up on the couch for a couple of hours with a hot water bottle on my tummy, but the stabbing in my lower abdomen was no fun.  After finally giving in to taking a couple of Advil, the pain has left, at least for a few hours.  Lets hope I’m cramp-free in the AM.

Once my cramps went away, I planned out my meals for the week and cooked up a scrumptious meal for myself and a friend.  Trevor came over after dinner with a yummy treat.

Sunday nights dinner was this…..

Bacon Wrapped Fillet Mignon with Balsamic Onions and Cocoa Roasted Butternut Squash Fries.

I will try to post the recipes for tomorrow… the fries were experimental, but oh so tasty… next time I think I’ll go a little easier on the cocoa though. 

For dessert Trevor brought over some Cappuccino Cheesecake.

More yummy in my tummy. 

We curled up on the couch together and watched a CTV Special on the 1 year anniversary of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  It was awesome to relive some of the greatest Canadian moments.  Even though I did not get a chance to visit Vancouver during the Olympics (6 hour drive and school conflicts), I watched as much as I could on TV and celebrated the Olympics at school with my class. 

Did you have a favourite moment of the games?

That’s all for the night…going to make my lunch and get ready for bed.  Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great start to the week tomorrow. 

With love,

Bea

xoxo