Salmon and Maple

How was everyone’s day?  Mine was good.  If you live in BC, you surely heard of today’s big event:  The Great BC Shakeout. 

Over 460,000 people participated in this event by practicing the “Drop, Cover and Hold On” drill.  It was the largest earthquake drill in Canadian history and they want to make this a yearly event.  It took place at 10am.  My school unfortunately did not participate this morning as we had a scheduled theatrical presentation at 9am, but I will be running an earthquake drill in the near future with my class. 

One of the things I love about living on the West Coast is our accessibility to Salmon.  It’s my favourite fish, prepared in many ways…on the BBQ, baked in the oven, smoked.  Earlier this week I was surfing the blogging world and came across some Salmon patties.  (I don’t remember who’s blog this was, so please let me know if you do… kudos to you).  Reading that blog inspired me to create a little something with salmon since it’s been a while. 

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Salmon Patties with Maple Sprouts

The only complaint I had about the patties was that they were a bit too wet, so they kind of fell apart when I was browning them.  I guess I should have added breadcrumbs, but I didn’t have any around the house.  They still tasted really good.

First, chop up 1/2 onion, 1/2 red pepper, 8 button mushrooms and 1 carrot. 

Heat up 1 Tbsp olive oil in frying pan and add chopped vegetables.  Sauté until tender.  Also add a handful of chopped spinach.

Transfer mixture to bowl and add chopped cilantro, rosemary and thyme.  Add some salt and pepper, a dash of worstershire sauce, soy sauce, a Tbsp Chicken bouillon and paprika. 

Now some ripe brie cheese.

Also add one egg and canned salmon to mixture and mash together with a potato masher or your hands. If at this time you find your mixture is too wet, add some breadcrumbs until just right.

Now form patties. 

Brown your patties on both sides in a non-stick frying pan until brown and then place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350F oven until fully cooked.  You will want to flip them too at some point. 

I served these patties with Maple Brussel Sprouts.  I found the recipe on Foodista website.

Maple Glazed Brussel Sprouts

The sauce was really yummy.. I love most things maple. 

• about 10 Brussel sprouts
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Bragg Soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

To prepare the Brussel sprouts, trim the stems and cut an X into the base, about 1/4 inch deep.

In a 3 – quart saucepan, combine the wine, water, maple syrup, and soy sauce and stir together. Add the Brussels sprouts. Stir together, then cook, covered, at a gentle simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes.  Dissolve the cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir into the saucepan quickly, then cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a covered casserole dish to serve.

That’s all for the day.  I have some art work to complete for Friday’s class.

See you tomorrow.

Bea

xoxo

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Chicken and Dumplings

It’s been another rainy and dreary day on the West Coast.  I woke up to rain and fog, and while it’s not too cold out, I’m still missing the sunshine.  According to the weather man, Mr. Sun is expected to make an appearance tomorrow.  Perfect for hump day.  I guess I should be thankful it’s not snowing, right? 

I came home this afternoon with a craving for chicken noodle soup.  So I remembered I had a recipe in my binder for Chicken and Dumplings.  And it’s Gluten and Dairy-Free.  Even better

On to the soup…

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There are a few simple rules to ensure light, delicious dumplings every time.  The liquid must remain at a slow simmer, and the dumplings need room to expand, so never crowd them in the pot.  Whatever you do, resist the urge to sneak a peak since the dumpling's’ light and fluffy texture relies heavily on the steam that builds inside the pot. 

Soup Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 quarts low-sodium, gluten-free chicken broth
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 carrots, cut into chunks
• 4 ribs celery, roughly chopped
• 1 cup frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
• 1/4 cup  chopped flat-leaf parsley

Dumpling Ingredients

• 1/3 cup brown or white rice flour
• 1/3 cup garbanzo or garfava flour
• 1/3 cup amaranth or tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 tsp  gluten-free baking powder
• 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp Earth Balance Butter (DF, non-hydrogenated)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup almond or soy milk

To prepare the soup, heat oil in a heavy stockpot or large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to pot.  Add onions and cook until translucent and chicken pieces are golden brown. 

Add broth, thyme and bay leaf then cover, reduce heat to low and cook until chicken is tender. Add celery, carrots and parsley and stir to combine.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat or until just tender.       

To prepare the dumplings, put rice, garfava and amaranth flour, baking powder, thyme and salt into a bowl and whisk together until blended.  Add margarine and crumble the mixture with a dough mixer until it resembles course meal. 

Using your hands, work quickly to mix in egg and 1 Tbsp at a time of the milk until the dough forms a shaggy ball. 

Be sure not to overwork the dough, mixing it just until it comes together but isn’t too wet.  (I actually didn’t use all the milk).

Shape the dough into 12 small balls.  Drop each ball into the slow simmering liquid. (You may need to cook your dumplings in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot).

Once the dumplings are in the simmering liquid, cover the pot immediately and simmer for 10 minutes, resisting the urge to look inside the pot.  Ladle the chicken and dumplings into bowls and serve hot.   

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Hope everyone had a great day.  See you all tomorrow.

Hugs,

Bea

xoxo

Smile…it’s Monday !

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE

I found this picture on Google images when I was looking for something at work this morning. 

Hello.

I am the Happiness Fairy.

I've sprinkled happy dust on you.

So Smile dammit. This s*** is expensive.

I had a good Monday.  My school day went by really quickly and the kids were pretty awesome today. 

We had a special visitor this afternoon.  Gayle from the Comox Valley Regional District’s “Power of R” program.  It’s a local educational program that focuses on the 5 R’s of waste reduction:  Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle.   She was awesome and the kids loved the presentation.  Gayle got the kids up and moving around, being creative and imaginative and she made them think about their role on their environment.  Such a great lesson.  Thanks Gayle!

It’s incredible what our Landfills contain in today’s world.  Please do your part in the Power of R.

I don’t have any new eats for you today.  I took leftovers for lunch today (and many googly eyes wondering what looked so good) and dinner again was leftovers.  I didn’t want to cook up another batch of rice, so I decided to make some mashed potatoes. 

Take 1 Yukon Gold potato and microwave until tender.  My microwave has a baked potato setting, so nice and easy.  Then mash by adding some milk and 1Tbsp of Earth Balance Butter.   Add salt, pepper and grated nutmeg to taste.   I have 3 meatballs leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch, so I’ll be cooking up one more potato to go with.

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I’ll leave you with a few shots of my class’ recent art work.  I’m really proud of their work and have a tendency to underestimate what this group of kids can do…they never cease to amaze me. 

I share this bulletin board with a Grade 1/2 class…my class did the Arctic Polar Bear paintings…

Hope you enjoyed the art

How was your Monday?  Do you recycle?  What do you do to take care of our Planet?

Take care

Bea

xoxo

Never a dull moment

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Mine was eventful, but not necessarily in the way one would wish for.

Friday night was pretty relaxed.  I was still feeling under the weather, just not much energy, so we spent the evening at home watching movies with the kids. 

Saturday morning started with the usual…mid morning skating lessons for the 2 kids and a relaxed afternoon at home.  As I mentioned in my Friday post, we were invited to our friend’s for their Annual Christmas Tree burn.  So in the afternoon I prepared some Spinach Dip in a bread bowl to take with as an appetizer.  I would have made the dip from scratch, but decided to buy it this time as I was still not feeling so swell. 

The party was good.  Lots of yummy food, but it was a chilly one.  The fire pit was roaring and fun was had by all.  Unfortunately, we had to leave the party early and missed the tree burning competition.  Caelin (4 yr old) had a run-in with a rock and lost the battle.  We had to take him to the ER to get his forehead glued back together.  He’s got a nice 1 inch gash above his right eyebrow, nevertheless, he is still running around and is a happy little camper and an awesome little patient.  Thanks to my friends though, we still got some good pictures.

Tree #1

Tree #2

Tree #3 (Charlie Brown Xmas Tree)

Say Hello to our Tree (Thanks Ashlee for being our representative )

Burn Baby Burn….

Our tree made the best sounds…but did we win?  You be the judge of that….

On to eats… and it’s a good one tonight

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Lamb Kibbeh (meatballs) Stuffed with Pistachios and Goat Cheese

For the Lamb

• 1 cup fine bulgur (cooked) (1/2 cup uncooked)
• 5 oz  lean ground lamb
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp  bouillon
• 1 tsp  cumin
• 1 tsp  chilli flakes
• 2 Tbsp Gluten-free flour mix
• salt and pepper to taste

For the filling

• 2.5 oz soft goat cheese
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp toasted pistachios, chopped
• pinch chopped cilantro
• pinch chopped flat-leaf parsley
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

If you’ve never cooked with bulgur before (or what my boyfriend calls “Burglar” - hehe), here is your chance.  Here is some information from Sunnylandmills.org: 

Bulgur is a quick-cooking form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried, ground into particles and sifted into distinct sizes. Sunnyland Mills' four distinct grind sizes as well as whole kernel provide different textures and cooking properties for a variety of food applications. The result is a nutritious, versatile wheat product with a pleasant, nut-like flavor and an extended shelf-life that allows it to be stored for long periods.

Often confused with cracked wheat, bulgur differs in that it has been pre-cooked. For a humorous cartoon description of the steps involved in making bulgur wheat, click here. In contrast to cracked wheat, bulgur is ready to eat with minimal cooking or, after soaking in water or broth, can be mixed with other ingredients without further cooking. Bulgur can be used in recipes calling for converted rice (and it's more nutritious than rice).

Cover the bulgur with boiling water for 5 minutes.  Bulgur is cooked much in the same way as Couscous.  It’s a 2 to 1 water to bulgur ratio, therefore, to yield 1 cup cooked, you will need 1/2 cup uncooked and cover with boiling water for about 5 minutes.  Drain in fine colander.  Spread on paper towels to absorb any moisture (there is alot). 

Process lamb, bulgur, onion, spices, and flour in food processor until it forms a paste.  Season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 

For filling, whip goat cheese with lemon juice.  Transfer to bowl and mix in herbs and pistachios.  Season with salt and pepper.

Put cheese mixture in plastic piping bag.  I used a ziplock bag because I don’t own any piping bags, it works just as well for this recipe. 

Form lamb mixture into medium to large sized meatballs.  Using a wet index finger, make a hole through the center of each meatball and gently work your finger to create a cavity for filling. 

Place goat cheese filling into each meatball until about 1/3 full and seal.  Smooth over any cracks with fingers.  Place on foil tray and refrigerate uncovered for about 1 hour.  By doing this, they will firm up slightly.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Place meatballs on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until cooked.  Serve with rice and a dollop of garlic yogurt dipping sauce (non-fat yogurt, 2 gloves garlic, 1 tsp Herbamare vegetable salt, fresh shopped chives).

While I was preparing dinner, I came across this cute sighting I just had to share.  Meet Misty and my man:

Ready for some dessert?  We were…

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MINI LAVA CAKES

Use dark chocolate that has been processed correctly for the best flavanol hit. 

• 1/4 cup  10 % cream
• 6 oz  dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup Sucanat Sugar
• 1/2 tsp  pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup  GF Flour Blend

Pour cream into small saucepan.  Add 2 oz chocolate.  Heat on low; slowly melt chocolate, stirring occasionally.  When chocolate is almost melted, remove from heat and stir till melted.  Pour into glass measuring cup and place in fridge.

Place 4 oz chocolate in clean, small saucepan.  Add butter; heat on low.  Melt slowly, stirring occasionally.  When chocolate is almost melted, remove from heat, and stir till melted.  Set aside.

In medium bowl, beat eggs with sugar for 5 minutes or until mixture is very thick.  Beat in vanilla.  Fold in melted chocolate.  Sift flour over the batter and fold in till well incorporated.

Grease 6 – 4oz ramekins with Pam spray.  Scoop chocolate batter into ramekins till half full. 

Drop in 1 heaping tsp of the cooled chocolate mixture.  Scoop remaining chocolate batter into ramekins.  Store in fridge for 2 hours or up to 1 day. 

To serve, preheat oven to 400F.  Remove ramekins from fridge.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.  Run knife along edges and flip onto plate.  Serve with berries.  Serves 6.

Hope you enjoyed tonight’s blog post.  Got some great recipes to share this week, including dairy and gluten-free dinners. Keep checking back…I will not disappoint. 

And keep your comments coming.  I enjoy reading each and every one of them.   

Have a great Monday everyone. 

Bea

xoxo