KITTENS!!!!!!!!

our kitteh smokey had kittens yesterday. two of them. blithe and i discovered her firstborn once it was a cleaned off and fluffy and cute. then we left smokey with her wee one for a while, and when we came back, there was a second wee one, who was still wet and yucky. apparently, we just missed the birth. (but of course i took pics.

they're so cute! their names are Mouse (after the cat in the Judy Moody series of books) and James (as in, the big red engine). Mouse is a dark tabby, and James is a darker version of smokey. the white around their necks is exactly the same.

i keep checking on them periodically, and i will be updating you as they grow.

MasterChef. what can i say? i love Gordon Ramsay. part deux

i've picked up a couple tips tonight that i want to share with you. ok, to be honest, i just don't want to forget these tips, and i don't have a pen and paper handy, so i'm putting them here. and you, gentle reader, get to reap the benefits.

(and if any of these tips are obvious to you, please don't tell me. i'd hate to think i'm the only one who didn't know how to bake a cake and cook fish, all in one night!)

(oh, and the "i don't know how to cook fish" comment... not true, obvi, given the abundance - 3! count 'em! - of fish recipes here lately. but i'm not a pro with fish yet, and i want to be. hence the fish-cooking tips.)

right. shall we begin? good.

• when cooking halibut on the stove, do it in olive oil. make sure the pan is nice and hot. the fish should sizzle the instant it hits the pan. this caramelizes the outside of the fish, gives it a nice corn-flake colour, and is crucial (quothe cat cora) for flavour.
• to test the pan, to see if it is, indeed, hot enough, touch a corner of the fish to the oiled pan. if it sizzles, there you have it. it's hot enough.
• fish continues to cook even after it has been removed from the heat. which is why fish can be tricky to cook properly. it's very easy to overcook.
• never serve half-cooked fish to world-class chefs. poor mike. :(

ok, i'll admit, i will likely never have to worry about serving half-cooked fish to a world-class chef. and good thing. my friend, that's a halibut big mistake. (eh? get it? "halibut"... like the fish. only funny. sort of. oh, never mind.)

MasterChef. what can i say? i love Gordon Ramsay

... except right at this very moment. because, you see, he and his co-conspirators are... umm... conspiring against me... which is, i suppose, exactly what conspirators do, so... um... right, moving on.

so, tonight's "mystery box challenge" is...

wait for it...

CUPCAKES!!!!!

ok, we all know how i feel about baking. specifically, i don't enjoy it. don't get me wrong, i greatly enjoy the end product. and even the mid-way product (ie., cookie dough). but the process!!!!



and that about sums up how i feel about baking.

and so, would it surprise you to know that, well... [oh, please, annie, don't read the rest of this sentence!! pretty please with icing sugar on top, please skip ahead!]... how can i put this...

i don't know, um, well... i mean... what i'm trying to say is that... [clears throat]...

i don't know how to bake a cake from scratch. [hangs head in shame]

i know, ok! I KNOW!!! this is something every mother of a child with a birthday should know, right?? anyone who spends any time in a kitchen knows the basic ingredients of a cake!!!! any and every self-respecting oven-using, wooden-spoon-wielding, kid-feeding, beater-licking cake-eater knows how to make a cake, right?

except... um... me, it would seem.

and so, tonight, inspired by the cupcake challenge on MasterChef, and my love of Gordon Ramsay, i googled "basic cake recipe."

and here, gentle reader, is what i found:

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake Recipe
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

cream butter and sugar. add eggs, one at a time. add flour and milk alternately, ending with flour. last add vanilla. bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until done. use caramel icing.

mom, please don't feel bad about this lack of cake-making knowledge. there's no need for "i'm a terrible mother" or finding yourself a good therapist or anything. i've managed this far in life without this knowledge. and just think! now i can make cake whenever i want. and in my own defence, it's not like i've never made cake before. not to toot my own horn or anything, but you know... i am kind of a pro with a cake mix. ;)

oh. and the conspiracy against me? yeah. now i want a cupcake. one, perhaps, like this (click on "this" to see some amazing cupcakes). between MasterChef and CakeWrecks, i'm dying here, man! i'm dying!!!!!

who knew saturday morning shows could be so educational??

the kids and i {hangs head in shame} were watching TVO kids. specifically, TasteBuds. it's a cooking show for kids. they learn about food, different types of cuisine, and the kids on the show actually make the food... like i said, it's a cooking show for kids.

and, it would seem, for moms.

today's episode was all about raw foods. it was pretty interesting, actually. sure, i knew about the whole raw food thing, and i've wanted to give it a whirl for a while now, but honestly, i've been too chicken to try it.

but i might be inspired today. they made a really cool (and tasty-looking) raw veggie lasagna, and two types of gazpacho. and you know... i just might try one of these. if i don't end up using one of their recipes, i've also looked up gazpacho on allrecipes.com and i'm perusing. hopefully i'll find something good.

and if not, i'll just make some cream of cauliflower or broccoli soup today. that will also be delish! :) rest assured, gentle reader, that whatever i end up making today, i will post the recipe. no worries. :)

upswing + a few extra bucks + bulk barn = FALAFELS!!!!

in case you haven't noticed, i've been expanding my culinary repertoire lately. i have discovered the pure and simple joy of fish, made the yummiest french toast the world has ever known (chocolate. 'nuff said.), and improvised pasta sauce with cream cheese.

yesterday was no exception.

i took the kidley-winks to bulk barn yesterday for some grocery shopping. i anticipated getting some flour, cereal and maybe some bird seed. we got bird seed... and several things, none of which were flour or cereal. but that's how i roll. especially lately, in the middle of an up-swing and after three weeks of insomnia. and now you know why i usually go shopping with a list, written out in the order in which i find it in the store: because i tend to shop impulsively.

i was meandering through the store, and i spotted something i hadn't seen there before: falafel mix!! so of course i just had to get some. (see up-swing/insomnia comment above.)

now, i just want to make this clear: i avoid "mixes" like the plague. i just don't like them. i'd much rather make something from scratch, thank-you very much! much tastier and more satisfying. besides, mixes are usually filled with ingredients i can't pronounce, and in my world, that's just not right. ingredients should be REAL FOODS and not something concocted in a laboratory. but when i looked at the ingredients, it was all actual ingredients!!! chick peas, garlic, spices, and something else i can't remember, but it was REAL!!!!

i was tempted to just go home and make it myself, having all those ingredients in my kitchen right now. but then i thought, "you know what? the kids have never had this before. do i really want to put all that work into something they may not even like?" so i got a scoopful, and decided that if it went over well enough, i'd make it for real on my own one of these days.

well!!! this was one of the coolest things i've done in a while! you take a cup of mix and 1 1/4 cup of water and mix them together. let it stand for at least 15 minutes. then you just form it into patties and fry in about an inch of vegetable oil until the patties are golden brown and crispy (aka, what you'd expect when deep-frying).

and just how did the little darlings react, you ask?

THEY LOVED IT!!!!!

they want these more often! which makes me very, very happy. so i plan to make them again, using the mix (i still have enough left for probably 2 more batches), and then i'll make them myself from scratch. i know how to do it (meaning: i read the ingredient list, and now i'll just wing it), so i can't wait!!!

and no, there was no pickled turnip (which sounds disgusting, but apparently i've loved it for years without realizing it!!). but, for the likes of hope and diane, i looked tonight at the superstore for some, but alas, couldn't find any. i'll keep looking. :)

yes, i'm a pescavore. (which is my way of saying "i like fish" but all smart-sounding.)

that's right. i like fish. a lot. and i'm ok with that. because

i think it's delicious.

and quite possibly, the most versatile food on the planet. (yes, yes, eggs, blah blah blah. but fish!!!)

what inspired this confession? well... [looks sheepishly at feet]

we had fish for supper. yes, again. but it's good!!!!!!


this afternoon, we headed to the grocery store for catfood, because poor Smokey is almost out. we picked up:

• a pair of shorts for bram and 2 tops for yours truly (blithe and asher have plenty of clothes already)
• a watermelon
• feta cheese
• fresh mint
• milk
• plain yogurt
• salmon. and no, not the kind in a can. ew.

and please don't notice that catfood is not on that list! neither is diapers, of which asher only has 3 left. don't notice that. [note to self: after church tomorrow, stop at loblaws for diapers and catfood. then maybe, meander michaels for a few minutes. because it's right there, and what's a trip to south london without going into michaels???]

so i picked up some salmon because i was craving fish today for some reason. it's just that i've begun to see how marvelously easy and tasty and cheap and wonderful fish actually is, and now, when i'm not craving lentils and sausage, i crave fish. ok, sometimes i crave chocolate, too, but that's just because i'm female. (as an aside, chocolate + bread + fried = heaven. just sayin'.) so, i found a nice big piece of salmon (for sligtly less than the price of two decent-sized chicken breasts, actually), and brought it home. ok, first i paid for it, then i brought it home. i might be hypomanic right now, but that does not mean i shoplift. nope. when i'm up like this, i impulse shop. hence the fish. anyhoo...

well, i'll admit, i have never cooked salmon before. but it's my favourite of all the fish. i've had it a number of times in a number of ways, and i've always loved it. (fyi, my favourite is raw. that's right, folks, i heart sushi. so does blithe. and asher. bram, not so much. probably because it's not deep-fried in batter. sigh.) so, once again, i went to one of my favourite websites, allrecipes.com, and searched "salmon." i considered a bunch of recipes, but in the end, found one that really caught my fancy. so, i posted it on my facebook... and didn't follow it.

you weren't really expecting me to follow a recipe, were you???

the recipe i found was for roast salmon with balsamic vinegar. sounds absolutely divine, n'est-ce pas? but alas, i lack balsamic vinegar. but when i looked in the fridge, i found PC Memories of Tuscany sauce. it says it's a marinade/grilling sauce for basically everything but fish, but it's balsamic vinegar and fig, so i gave it a whirl. and let me just say...

WOW!!!!!

so, i marinaded the salmon in the sauce for about 30 minutes in the fridge. meanwhile, i loaded the dishwasher and tidied the kitchen a bit. i preheated the oven to 450F, and then placed the fish on a baking sheet and thew it in the oven. let it bake for about 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. [note to self: clean oven, so as not to run into the other room every 17 seconds to wave a t-shirt under the smoke detector. yeah.]

a note about the cooking time: i ended up leaving it in for about an extra minute, but no longer. the thing is, i'd read that salmon continues to cook once removed from the oven, and i didn't want it to dry out. turns out, 11 minutes was perfect.

REVIEW: the salmon turned out wonderfully! it was probably one of my favourite dishes from the last while... the last long while, actually. i'll admit, i was tempted to skip the cooking process altogether and cook up some rice and pull out the nori and feast on sushi tonight, but i thought, nah. i'm gonna cook it. try something new. and i have to say, i'm very, very glad i did! i inhaled my piece, asher inhaled his piece (i'm not exaggerating when i say that almost half his piece was gone before we even prayed!!), and blithe may have suffered a small stroke from sheer gastronomical pleasure. as for bram? sigh. i swear, i'll convert him one of these days. meanwhile... {tear} he said {sniff} it was {gasp!} disgusting!!! can you believe that?!?! disgusting!!! what is wrong with this kid????? he maintains that he only likes fish if it's battered and deep-fried. and while i can't fault him on that front (having claimed to prefer that, myself, back in the day), still!!! this was such a delicious meal, and he barely touched it!!!

and since i mentioned "meal" in that last sentence, i should probably add that for our veggie tonight, we had green beans purchased just this morning from a very nice amish man at the local farmer's market. delightful!! i sautéed the beans in butter with some lemon juice, and they were delightful! at least, those of us with taste loved it. bram didn't like it at all. i mean, really!! whose kid is this, anyway?!?! sigh.

but i will post in a few minutes about another new food we tried this week, which bram did, in fact, enjoy very much. meanwhile, go out, get yourself some salmon, and try it!!! a. ma. zing.

lentils. yes, again. but they're good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so, for those of you who don't know yet, by which i mean, those of you who obviously live under a huge rock of some sort, by which i mean, those of you who have never read this blog before (teehee), i love lentils. i know, some of you may think that's weird, but they're delicious and healthy and (just as thrilling for a poor single mom of scottish descent) cheap cheap cheap. soooooo...

i whipped up a little something this evening for supper.

ok, i whipped up a big something this evening for supper.

i give you....

Lentil and Sausage Casserole
1 onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cut into pieces... i don't know what you would call that... diced? does that sound right??
3 italian sausages, sliced into discs
lentils. i just dumped them in. i guess it would depend on the size of your dish, but since they're the main ingredient, be generous.
1 can diced tomatoes (i used the ones specifically for brushetta, since they've already got garlic, oil and herbs in them.)
feta cheese. i like it, so i used about 2/3 of a container, but i don't remember the size of the container.
salt, pepper, bay leaves, chili powder, parsley
water to cover, plus more if needed.

1. throw the ingredients into the casserole dish. except the can of tomatoes. open the can, then dump in the contents, and discard (recycle, please!) the can.
2. season as you see fit.
3. bake at 375F until potatoes are cooked. approx 1 hour (but then again, you're reading the woman who never looks at a clock, so just check on it periodically. oh my goodness, why do i bother posting my recipes here, with instructions like this?????)


REVIEW: wonderful! i really just made this up this afternoon because i was craving sausage and lentil, but didn't feel like making soup, and i had the feta and everything else, so i literally just tossed it into a big casserole dish and threw it into the oven. and it was so good, everyone, yes, everyone had seconds. including asher, and he doesn't like eating much anymore. but the kids inhaled theirs, and yes, i'll admit, i inhaled mine, too. i'm not too proud or girly to admit it. because it was just. that. good. i was really quite impressed with this, actually.

i made a huge batch, so even though we all had seconds, there's still a fair amount left. i plan on freezing the leftovers, just like i did with the leftover chili the other night (oh, yeah, i should post that "recipe"... but really, other than my not-so-secret ingredients, do i really have to? chili's gotta be one of the easiest things in the world to make, and it's never quite the same twice... but still, if you're lucky, i'll share.)

this is how i manage to feed us healthy food on very little money. i pick up good deals, shop in bulk, splurge on a couple things when i can... and make enormous amounts, and freeze the leftovers. that way, later in the week (or one some evening when i'm exhausted and/or broke), i can just toss it into the oven for a while to defrost and voila! another supper! or serve with fresh homemade bread and voila! lunch! so many ideas here, and they're all scrumptious!

anyway, that was dinner tonight, and we all loved it. you probably would, too. :)