• {I’ve Been Featured}
  • {Reviews}
  • {Want To Borrow?}
  • {Who Am I?}
  • {Wonderful Hosts}

{Adventuresindinner}

~ Further Adventures in Parenting and Eating

{Adventuresindinner}

Monthly Archives: April 2010

Sunday’s dinner

25 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in pad thai

≈ Leave a comment

Last night’s dinner

The potroast was great but the star of the meal was this amazing cake. My friend Colleen runs a terrific business called Little Cakes (http://www.littlecakes.ca/) and she made this gorgeous (yes, it tastes as good as it looks) creation even though she was run off of her feet getting ready for the Just Desserts event last night.

You see each month I scrapbook (again-don’t laugh) with the best group of women you could ever meet. We chat, do a bit of scrapbooking and eat some nice treats (yesterday we had; ginger cookies, chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake bites). I leave there each month being thankful for belonging to this community of incredible women.

Yesterday I left there to pick-up my baby at her Auntie Michelle’s and had to shake my head again for getting so lucky to have yet another exceptional female in my life.

Tonight’s dinner

I LOVE Thai food but I can’t have it in restaurants as I am scarily allergic to shellfish and a lot of Thai restaurants have a lot of shellfish trolling around the kitchen. Fish sauce is often also made of shrimp shells.

Here is my home version of stiry/pad thai-this is so very not authentic but is quite tasty.

1 pkg firm tofu (14 oz), 1/2″ cubes
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 eggplant, diced, 1″ cubes
2 ribs of celery (cut on the bias)
1/2 cup chopped carrot (cut on the bias and briefly cooked in boiling/salted water)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

Marinade and stirfry sauce
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
2 Tbsp red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp shredded ginger
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (I like a mix of black and regular)
2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tsp Epicure thai spice
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Marinate the tofu in the sauce for as long as you have (have this with chicken instead if you would like or even pork). Soak the noodles in boiling water until pliable (about three minutes).

In a wok, heat sesame oil (just for a couple of seconds as the oil will lose its flavour and burns quickly), add tofu (drain but keep the sauce) and stirfy until it starts to toast. Add in all the other ingredients except the noodles and sauce and stirfry the vegetables until tender.

Add in the noodles and as much of the sauce as you would like. Some people like their pad thai soupy and some like it quite dry.

Garnish with toasted peanuts, a handful of bean sprouts, chopped cilantro and a chunk of lime.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Saturday’s dinner

24 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in sweet and sour pot roast

≈ Leave a comment

Last night’s dinner

This was super simple but also really satisfying. Cannot possibly say enough nice things about Sara’s salad dressing.

Tonight’s dinner

I need another meal that will babysit itself, feed a lot of people but will also be quite recognizable to my Mom. We’re (Mom, Madison, Stephen) and the Barbeau’s are having dinner at our house after moving offices and scrapbooking today. The slowcooker is going to come to the rescue again. I haven’t quite decided what to do for dessert. Likely it will be chocolate, fruit and some cookies that I have stashed in the freezer.

Sweet and Sour potroast

Ingredients:
•1 beef pot roast, about 4 pounds
•2 tablespoons oil
•1 medium onion, sliced
•salt and pepper
•2/3 cup vinegar
•1/2 cup water
•1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
•1/8 teaspoon allspice
•flour

Throw everything except the flour in the slowcooker and let burble away at high heat for 8 hours. Just before serving take the meat out and let it rest. Thicken the gravy with a bit of flour and have the whole thing with a nice big green salad, carrots glazed in honey and butter and baby potatoes that have been boiled lightly and tossed in butter.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Friday’s dinner

23 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in burgers, maple syrup dressing

≈ Leave a comment

Last night’s dinner

Actually, this is Wednesday night’s dinner but last night a nice chicken sandwich was eaten in the car as I raced my Mom and the baby back to Ottawa. Neither of them were thrilled to be in the car.

The pie was a BIG hit with Sue even saying that it was her favourite treat that I had made ever. Yay! How satisfying. It’s also all gone now.



Tonight’s dinner
My Mom’s disease is making it so that she doesn’t like to eat something that isn’t completely familar. I like to experiment and this is not a good combination. I’ve decided then to made homemade hamburgers and buns (woot to the woot! for the breadmaker) and then just a big salad.

My friend Sara gave me a quickie salad dressing recipe the other day that I am dying to make and can guarantee will be a big hit. It is equal parts; olive oil, balsamic and maple syrup. Simple and delicious.

The burgers are just; worsteshire, panko, an egg, 1 tsp dijon, chopped thyme from the garden and about a tablespoon of Epicure’s french onion dip mix to a pound of ground beef.

The buns are the good old recipe that I have already detailed but this time I’m adding flax seeds to sneak in some Omega-3’s. The arthritis doctor that we were at yesterday was rhapsodizing about Omega-3’s and has put Mom on a massive dose each day to aid her knee and hands. Fingers crossed because it is also linked to an improvement in brain function.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Wednesday’s dinner

21 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in banana cream pie, granola bars

≈ 1 Comment

Last night’s dinner

Here are the muffins (the few that are left). We finished-off the falafel for dinner and I found that simply by wrapping them in foil they reheated well but didn’t get dry. It is also a great excuse to get extra salad into us as I place them on the greek pita then top with; hummous, halved falafel, salad (cucumbers, tatsoi, yellow pepper and tomato) and a bit of that nice honey/mustard dressing from last week.

Tonight’s dinner
Today’s focus is actually on preparing for tomorrow. At 6:00 am I need to catch a train to Toronto, take my mom to an appointment in Markham after I pick-up her and her car and then drive her and the baby back to the ‘O’. It’ll all be fine but I really need to plan ahead (wash and pack enough diapers, sleepers, formula, water…)

I’m going to need some energy and something healthy to keep me going. My mom also needs to be nagged to eat but if she doesn’t eat she has more trouble controlling her Alzheimer’s. It can make for a very interesting day. With all this in mind, I’ve hunted down what looks like a good recipe for granola bars. The only trick is going to be hiding enough from my husband to take them with me.

I’ve taken this off of the internet and now can’t find the address again but you can likely find it by just putting the ingredient list into google.

Things You’ll Need:
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 TBSP. of flaxseed
1/4 cup of honey
4 oz. of applesauce
3/4 cup of shredded coconut
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 oz. of chopped pecans
2 oz. of slivered almonds
You can also add chunks of dark chocolate or raisins (optional)

First you need to preheat your oven to 325. Then lightly grease a 9×13 pan. I use Mazola Pure Cooking spray and spray a little on the pan and take a paper towel to spread it around.

Step 2

mix your ingredientsIn a large mixing bowl you will need to combine oats, flour, vanilla, baking soda, applesauce,honey, flaxseed, and brown sugar. When you are done mixing that stir in nuts and shredded coconut. You have the option of adding your own things to the mix such as raisins or chocolate chips.

Step 3

press in pan and cook Lightly press mixture in 9×13 pan and bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Let them cool for 15 minutes and then cut into bars. Make sure you let them cool completely before serving. This recipe makes 24 bars.

As usual I am doubling the recipe and I don’t have any apple sauce so I’ll just chop up some apples with a bit of cinnamon and cook it down to apple sauce while I get the rest of the recipe ready.

Today is not only preparing for tomorrow though. Today is the husband unit’s birthday. He always says not to do something but I think this is a special day. It is time then for one of his favourite dinners-roast chicken and green beans with banana cream pie.

Normally when I’m doing a special dessert I go to Martha Stewart and go whole hop. Her recipes are usually fussy and very prescriptive but boy oh boy do they work. However, Stephen loves this low-fat recipe for Black Bottom Banana-Cream Pie. I got this recipe almost 20 years ago from Cooking Light and have used it a tonne of times and even though it is low-fat he is crazy for this particular pie. I’ve tried fuller fat recipes thinking they would be a bigger treat but he likes this one the best.

Here is also a no fail recipe for pie dough that I make in a pick batch and freeze in five balls. When you want a single crust pie you just take out one of the balls. Double crust?=two balls. My mom has used this recipe forever, I think she got it off of the shortening box a hundred or so years ago.

In a large bowl place; 5 cups flour (the same mix I’ve described before) and 1 lb. of shortening. In a 1 cup measuring cup, crack one egg and a dash of vinegar. Fill the cup with cold water. Mix the flour and shortening with your fingers until it is crumbly (it’ll look like rough sand). Add the water mixture all at once and mix with your hands only until the dough comes together. DON’T PLAY WITH IT. Either use it right away (I never chill like they say to. Who has the time?) or freeze into the balls described above.

Roll out the pastry and bake at 350 with a piece of parchment paper on the top of it and it weighted down by beans. This is called baking blind and will allow your pastry to cook but not bubble up.

For the chocolate layer
In a small pot combine: 1 T. cornstarch, 2 T. sugar, 2 T. cocoa and a dash of salt. Whisk in 1/3 cup of milk and cook 2 minutes over medium heat. Stir in 1 oz. of chopped chocolate and cook 1 more minute stirring constantly. Spread over the prepared crust.

Top with a layer of bananas that have been tossed in a bit of lemon juice.

For the cream layer
In a pot combine: 1 T. of cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, dash salt, 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 T. butter. Whisk and stir constantly over a medium heat until the mixture boils. Reduce to low and cook 30 seconds or until thick. In a small bowl beat 2 oz. of cream cheese (they call for the light version) until light. Add in 1/4 cup of the custard mix-beat and then add the entire thing to the rest of the custard mix.

Top the bananas with the custard, press plastic wrap on the surface and chill for a few hours (we’ve eaten it WAY before that in the past). The plastic wrap will prevent the top to get that weird skin that pudding would get when your mom made it

Before serving top with either whipped cream or light whipped topping (that’s what the recipe originally calls for) and chocolate curls.

Don’t skip the step with the lemon juice or you will end-up with a yummy pie that has grey bananas in it. None of us are proud so we would still eat it but it won’t look pretty.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.
← Older posts
Newer posts →

{Ready For An Adventure?}

<a href="http://jane-adventuresindinner.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><br /> <img style="border: 1px solid #474747;" border="0" width="125" alt="Adventuresindinner" src="http://i1100.photobucket.com/ albums/g417/adventuresindinner/ finalspringbuttoncopy.jpg" height="125"/><br /> </a>

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

{Adventures in Twitter}

  • I am joining #Choctoberfest, which is a free event for bloggers who love chocolate! Sign ups are open now. Join her… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 years ago
  • RT @MsKeyota: Grade 3 rose to the Ottawa 67s Day Challenge. As a community school we love the 67s!!! Here is our class chant!!!ets go 67s!!… 3 years ago
  • #WeeknightDessert: Blood Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding janesadventuresindinner.com/2018/12/weekni… https://t.co/af2TqzkoiB 4 years ago
  • Happy December and yep, I'm playing catch-up again. Keeping the wheels on the bus and yourself remotely happy see… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 years ago
  • #instantpotmeal: Swedish’ish Meatballs janesadventuresindinner.com/2018/10/instan… https://t.co/I9w2bGXkaK 4 years ago
Follow @AdvntrsinDinner

{Pinning Adventures}

Follow Me on Pinterest

{Fellow Adventurers}

Follow My Blog!

Click here to follow this blog and view my other followers...

{Looking For Adventure?}

{Past Adventures}

  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010

{Other Adventurers Have Liked}

  • I've moved!
  • Mama has me play with instagram...
  • Need dinner now!
  • Always Pin'inspiring

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • {Adventuresindinner}
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • {Adventuresindinner}
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar