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

Kasha..what’s that?

How was everyone’s Monday?  Ours was sunny, but a bit chilly.  The day went by smoothly, the kids were awesome at school today and we got lots accomplished.  We even had a drama workshop for the school today and my class loved it.  It was really neat to see some of them come out of their shells.  After work I went for a run with another teacher.  It was pretty chilly, but a clear blue sky with the sun shining definitely made up for that. 

After work it was time to prepare dinner.  On tonight’s menu:

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KASHA with roasted Butternut Squash

This was an experimental meal.  I’ve never made Kasha before but I was pleasantly surprised.  It’s another great Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free meal.  So what is Kasha?  It’s roasted Buckwheat.  First off, it’s not wheat.  Actually it’s not even a distant relative of wheat.  Did you know that it’s a seed from the rhubarb family.  I did some research on the health benefits of buckwheat and this is what I came up with:

• high in protein
• good source of fibre, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and copper
• 1 cup of cooked groats (Kasha) has 4.5 g of fibre, 5.6 g of protein, 1.3mg of iron, 1mg of zinc and more. 
• It’s low in fat and has no cholesterol

So here is what I did:

Turn oven to 400F.  Slice a butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and place on baking sheet.  Roast in oven until skin can be peeled off, about 40 minutes or so.

Now you’ll need to roast your buckwheat groats to make the Kasha.  Take a pan and turn heat of medium.  Keep an eye on the groats so they don’t burn.  You’ll want to stir constantly.

 

 

 

 

 

Before                                                                     After

Then I boiled 2 cups of Chicken broth.  When the broth began to boil, add a pinch of salt and one Tbsp of oil.  Add your Kasha, cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.  It should look like this when ready.  Set aside and cover until ready to serve.

While your buckwheat is cooking in water, prepare the chickpeas.  I like to peel mine because it just tastes a lot better.  And you’ll be done peeling them by the time the buckwheat is cooked.

Now make your vegetable mixture.  Chop up 1 onion, 3 garlic, 450g mushrooms and one red pepper. 

Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add the onions, garlic, pepper and mushrooms.  Cook until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add 1 tsp Thai Red curry paste, 3 splashes of Worcestershire Sauce, 1 Tbsp bouillon and 1/2 cup of water. 

You can also chop up some fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme and cilantro.  Add this to the mixture. 

Add cut up roasted squash and your prepared chickpeas to the pot.

Mix well and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes or so. 

To serve, serve vegetable mixture over a bed of the Kasha.  Top with a sprinkle of shredded cheese.  (or leave off the cheese of course if you want it to be dairy-free). 

 Have you ever made Kasha? How do you prepare it? Did you like it?

 

And thanks again to everyone for following my stories and foodie blogs…it really does put a smile on my face when I read all your lovely comments.  I love creating good eats. 

 

Night all

Bea

xoxo