book club 49 - Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

 2021-49

 

lovely breakfast - brie and spicy honey on a bagel

 

book club 48 - The Nature Fix by Florence Williams

 2021-48

 

book club 47 - What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

 2021-47

 

spotted signs - ok we're still doing this....

 

December 2021

merry merry

 

cacio e pepe

 

Last week I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to make my chicken tetrazzini recipe for dinner, but The Mister was kind of meh about it, so why bother going through all that trouble if he's going to be on the side of the kids and not be into what's for dinner?

But I still wanted pasta, and I'd recently changed my Featured Post to the very delicious Pasta with Butter and Myzithra cheese, so I thought I might make that.  But there was no myzithra at the store, so I bought some pecorino instead and made some lovely Cacio e Pepe.

book club 46 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman

 2021-46

 

smothered chicken soup

 

I took the leftover Smothered Chicken and turned it into very delicious smothered chicken and rice soup.

I pulled the chicken into small pieces, dumped everything into a pot, added some chicken broth, water and uncooked rice, simmered for 25-ish minutes and voila!  Good soup.

2 new cookbook on my shelf

 Potential gift ideas for your holiday lists?

I'm probably not quite the fan of Chrissy Teigen as I used to be for no particular reason, but even though I told myself I didn't need to buy her third cookbook, I couldn't resist.  I truly have enjoyed her first two quite a bit and I just couldn't say no to this one.  I have only flipped through it once so far, and that's when I was sick, so nothing grabbed me right away, so it's too early to tell how I feel.  I'll give it another more thorough read through soon, and make a list of things to try.

 

I actually impulse bought this one a few months ago after seeing some rave reviews online about it.  Julia Turshen has written 4 of her own books - I would LOVE to get my hands on Small Victories - and collaborated on other books including Hot Bread Kitchen, which I love, and one of Gwyneth Paltrow's books.  It is a truly excellent book.  I've tried 3 recipes so far and they've been great.  This is a definite keeper.

book club 45 - The Diet Fix by Yoni Freedhoff

 2021-45

 

another value village book haul

 

 

some more favorites

This is a list of only a couple of books and some shows as I have nothing going on in my life but working and sitting at home, trying to stay away from people.

It's also December.  I can't believe it.

 

Only Murders in the Building - we haven't quite finished this one yet.  It is SO FUN.  I adore Martin Short.  He is a treasure.

 Reservation Dogs - also still working on this one.  Love everything about it.  The 4 main actors are incredible.

 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - so good and so good to see another movie not full of white people.

 

From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle - a hard read, but very good.

 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - one of my favorites of the year.

 

Midnight Mass - not my favorite, but it did have Rahul Kohli in it, and he was excellent.

Search Party - I actually started watching this by mistake as I thought it was another show I was wanting to watch but I enjoyed this so much.  The fourth season was not my favorite, but I am looking forward to the last season early next year.

Sex Education - so good! 

 

Haunting of Hill House - after we watched Midnight Mass, The Mister made me watch this one.  I hate jump scares but it was so good, and I cried almost as much as when I watched Bly Manor.

Kim's Convenience - I was sorry to see this end.

 The Boys - LOVE this one.  On Season 2 now.

I May Destroy You - one of the best things I've watched this year.

 

The Great season 2 - there better be a season 3.

book club 44 - Little Bee by Chirs Cleave*

 2021-44

 *did not finish this book

rainbows!

 

book club 43 - Bachelor Girl by Kim Van Alkemade

 2021-43

 

buns to make when everyone panic buys at the grocery store

 Just over a week ago there were rain storms in BC that caused catastrophic flooding and mud slides in parts of BC.  Lives were lost, some homes are gone forever, the highways connecting the coast to the interior were destroyed.  We were fortunate here that we only received the tail end of one of the storms and none of the flooding or slides that so many other communities endured.  However once it sunk in that with the direct highways to the coast out of commission, this was another potential supply chain interruption, some people in Kamloops lost their minds and went out and panic bought all the groceries.  For a handful of days there was no milk, eggs, toilet paper (AGAIN), fruit, veggies, meat to be found at the stores.  

I am happy to say that we personally did not panic buy and while we did run out of milk, bread and fruit, we managed to survive just fine until stores received deliveries, and we did not hoard more than we needed, causing issues for others in our community.

We do love our carbs though and the kids like sandwiches in their lunches, so I made a batch of Jason's Grandma's 2 Hour Buns to get us through the lean times.  I realized after they came out of the oven that I forgot to add the salt (this is something that I do occasionally while making bread and it drives me crazy) so they were sweeter than usual but they made a good sandwich and snacking bun.

If you would like to donate to the BC Flood campaign with the Red Cross - click HERE

crispy potato skins

 I saw this somewhere but I forget where - either Instagram or Tik Tok, and Tik Tok is more likely - that when you peel potatos, to not throw away the peels, but to cook them in your air fryer (or oven) until crisp for a chip-like snack.

We made mashed potatos a couple of weekends ago for Sunday dinner and so I saved the peels, and the next weekend when I rediscovered the container of peels in the fridge and they hadn't gone bad, I cooked 'em up in the air fryer.

I preheated the air fryer on the air fryer setting at 400' for a few minutes, and while that was happening I tossed the peels with some oil and some Kinders Buttery Steakhouse Seasoning.  I went a touch too heavy on both, but it was fine.

I cooked the peels, tossing with tongs every 3-4 minutes, for around 10 minutes.  Next time I might go a minute or two longer to make sure all the peels are crisp, but some slightly less crisp pieces are delicious too.

These were, or course, only a hit with me and The Mister, as the kids acted like I was trying to get them to eat garbage.  They are so annoying.  So I hid in the kitchen with The Mister and we ate them all up.  The end.

snapshot - cup of tea

 from the excellent mintybongwater

book club 42 - Stop Eating Your Emotions by Isabelle Hunt and Catherine Senecal

 2021-42

 

Sunday dinner - Smothered Chicken

We really haven't had a lot going on over here lately; still staying home a lot and avoiding people, still working lots.  The kids got sick and passed it to us for a while.  I am not reading as much as I was earlier this year.  Haven't been trying many new recipes, and the couple I did try recently weren't hits with any of us.  

We've now had the time change (which I HATE with a fiery passion) so it's dark and cold all the time which makes me want to do things - anything - even less.  It's all very blah right now.

But I did make this lovely smothered chicken for last Sunday dinner, and it was a hit with me and The Mister, and a moderate hit with everyone else.  What I like about this dish is that it was easy, and other than being paranoid that the liquid would evaporate away and the chicken and veggies would burn - you just need to check on it a couple of times during the 2 hours cooking time.  The recipe calls for onions, celery and bell pepper, but I think carrots would be great in there too, maybe sweet potato?  Or zucchini?  Endless options and a really good Fall or Winter meal.

Smothered Chicken

 

apple smoothie

 I went looking specifically for apple smoothie recipes when the 2 boxes of apples arrived at our house. This was the only one that interested me but it was delicious and we made it a few times.

Recipe - Simple Apple Smoothie

baked apples and pumpkin treats that are recipeless

 We got roped into a fundraiser selling apples from Davison Orchards and ended up with 2 bog boxes of apples.  I am not complaining even one little bit because A - they were the most delicious apples I've ever had and B - we didn't get out to Davison Orchards this year, so it was nice to be able to get our hands on some apples.  

We ate apples straight up, in pie, in crisp, in bread, in smoothies, diced into yogurt, and baked.  The baked apples were very pretty, and pretty tasty.  And preparing them broke my apple corer.

 Everyone liked them, but didn't love them, so I guess it's ok that I can't find the recipe to share.  We were all pretty full after that dinner and no one ate a full apple so I had 2 left over that sat in the fridge for a few days.  I ended up making a smoothie out of them, adding some water and ice, a couple of spoons of yogurt to the blender.  Since the apples were filled with oats and brown sugar and spices, the smoothie turned out very well.

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I also made a very nice pumpkin cake that I found on Tik Tok, and some good pumpkin muffins too, and have no idea where to find either recipe.

book club 41 - The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

 2021-41

 

I cooked a pork roast

 I don't like to cook things like roast chickens or turkeys, or beef or pork roasts because I have convinced myself I can't do and I will ruin them if I try.  And a few times over the years I certainly haven't done a good job on a roast and that just cements the idea further that I should stay away from this sort of cooking.

The store recently had a 2 for 1 sale on some pork roasts and I couldn't pass up that deal.  I had planned on cutting the roasts into slices or cubes for cooking but then I thought - what if I tried again?  How bad could it be?  And yay, the answer is - This time, not bad at all!

I used this Ultimate Garlic Pork Loin Roast recipe and it came out perfectly.  The plate of sliced roast is not the star of the photo below, but thankfully I got the photo while it was still partially in the shot.

 

pancake battered sausage

 I don't recall where I saw this, but when I did I thought, oh, the kids would love this!  

Of course I was WRONG - The Girl wouldn't even try it and The Boy was polite but refused a second one and asked me where the "regular" pancakes were instead.

But if you were interested, it's a cute switch up on a pancake and sausage breakfast.

Cook your sausage patties and blot off any greasy goodness.

Make your pancake batter and heat up your frying pan.  When your pan is ready, dip a patty into the batter and lay it in the pan.

Also make some regular pancakes for your daughter who is acting like a sausage in a pancake is some sort of international crime you should be arrested for.

Artistically plate them on paper plates the kids found in the basement and insisted on using.  Serve with butter and syrup and don't expect my kids to enjoy them.

book club 40 - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 2021-40

 

bannock

 On September 30 - National Day For Truth and Reconciliation, one of the activities we did with the kids was to make bannock.

I found this article a few years ago that offers many different methods for bannock and that day we made the Blackfoot Fried Yeast Bread version.