You Pin’Inspire me and a spicy dinner

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in spicy steak tips

Last week’s party was lots of fun and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone coming by as well as my amazing co-host Marilyn who hasn’t minded being peppered by questions and talked me off the ledge as I struggled with making buttons.

EVERYBODY had amazing ideas but I’m going to highlight a few that especially caught my eye.

Daysofchalkandchocolate redid an ottoman and turned it into a piece of lovliness.

Sweetbeebuzzings sewed (that right off impresses this non-sewer) a new change purse!

Don’t you love the cherries?

And…

Ellenscreativepassage gets ready to ‘deck the halls’ with this amazing garland

YES! It’s made out of old sweaters!

My contribution this week is of the meaty variety.

Usually on a Thursday we have leftovers.

I clean-out the fridge, work on my Food Waste post (muttering, darkly under my breath) and try to have an early night. Recently though, I not only had zero leftovers to finish-up but I had a bit of extra energy. Shocking. I even, before I went to work in the morning, remembered to take out some gorgeous steak tips that I’ve had in the freezer. This is a minor miracle in of itself. Here’s what I came up with.

My marinade; 1 T. chilli garlic sauce, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1/2 inch of ginger grated and 1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce.

Come home from work; grill meat.

While your meat is grilling; cook 1 package of soba noodles. Dress the noodles with 1/4 soy sauce, 1/8 cup sesame oil, handfull of fresh parsley, dash of lemon juice, 1 tsp. honey and 1 T. sesame seeds. Grill some mushrooms (dip in the noodle dressing before hand and they will get a lovely crust on them) as garnish.

And now onto your amazing ideas!

Here’s a few things to keep in mind as we all play along:

All you need to do is:

1) link your great projects
2) please follow myself and ArtsyGirl
3) grab a button from myself and ArtsyGirl
4) please link to an exact post and not your general blog url
5) let’s just focus on; photography, recipes and crafts and not giveaways
6) have a fab time exploring other people’s great ideas
7) tell a friend so they can join on in

You’ll change my tires?

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in Cheddar sticks

≈ 7 Comments

So I saw an awesome idea for Mozzarella Sticks on Pinterest (where else?) and thought-this is my kind of snack. Well, it’s my kind of snack in that it’s quick but I’m not fussy on doing a lot of frying (especially with my number one helper always in the kitchen with me) and I really don’t like cheese strings.

What I do love is a two ingredients appetizer that takes seconds to make and that I can take to my neighbours as a thank-you for changing the tires on my car to winter ones. If you live in a cold climate you understand what a pain it is to change your vehicle’s tires twice a year. You wait as long as possible to put the snows on since they destroy your gas milage, make an appointment at a garage, rearrange your whole day to include the 2 hours it takes them to get it done…you get the idea. My amazing neighbours deserve a treat for saving me the aggravation-my only worry is that I know they often read this blog and now it’s going to be revealed how easy their gift was. Wow, shooting myself in the foot here but…

Take eggroll wrappers (you usually find these in the produce department) and them all out on your counter in diamond shapes. Place finger sized pieces of really good cheddar 2/3’s of the way down.

With fingers dipped in water, wet the two bottom sides.

Fold the bottom end up to the middle.

Fold one side over to the middle.

Repeat with the other side and then roll.

You’re almost done.

Toss in a olive oil to coat.

Place on a baking tray and cook at 400 degrees until they are crispy and brown.

Put in a pretty container and serve with a bit of marinara sauce.

Inspired as usual

29 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Inspired as usual by the lovely blogs that I frequent I’ve decided to move myself out of the dark ages and enter the world of Twitter.

We’ll see what this new adventure holds but you always need to learn something new.

Sort of like how I have two new buttons that actually work and are pretty but for some reason are ginormous.

Well, that something else to learn to fix.

You might remember these…

29 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Jane's Adventures in Dinner in curry lentil vegetable soup

≈ 6 Comments

from my quickie Thanksgiving centrepiece.

Now, for my American readers Thanksgiving is a just a blink ago but in Canada it was over a month and these little pumpkins need to be used or something very bad is going to happen.

I’m in the mood for a comforting soup and ‘the girls’ at work in the lunch club are all trying to eat super healthy so that we don’t feel guilty indulging in the next bit during holiday parties.

Faux Creamy, Vegetable soup it is!

I’ve taken 2 small pumpkins and cut them up (remove the seeds). Their skins are really thin so I haven’t even peeled them.

No pumpkins? Use 2 cups of cut-up carrots or squash instead.

In a heavy pan saute (with 1/4 cup butter); 1 large leak, two parsnips and 2 ribs of celery.

When the leek starts to soften add; your pumpkin, 2 heaping teaspoons (or to taste) curry powder, 1/2 cup red lentils.

Stir so that all the vegetables are coated with a bit of butter. Add 1/4 cup of flour and cook for 30 seconds to allow the raw taste to disappear.

Add in 1 head broccolli, cut into small pieces.

Start adding 6 cups of broth. Do this slowly to allow the broth (chicken or vegetable) to be absorbed by the flour coated veg. Season with salt at this point. If you don’t the brocolli will turn a rather unappetizing shade of yuck.

Simmer until the pumpkin is soft (stirring often to avoid the lentils sinking to the bottom and burning) and the soup has thickened (about 20 minutes). You MIGHT need to thin the soup out while it cooks due to the lentils.

Top with some lovely cheese

(I’ve chosen a bit of really sharp cheddar, a little goes a long way to flavour town)

and enjoy.

Have I mentioned that I work with the best folks ever?