Disappointing Dinner

Sunday night I prepared for the week with a big crock pot full of chili and a bunch of hamburgers grilled and frozen for quick and easy use. We were set! Well, until the beef recall hit. After i checked packages and dates it was discovered that the beef we used was indeed on the e coli recall list. SHIT! Everything had to go because I just don't like kidney damage and death. I'm kind of funny that way. As it happens we were out and about tonight and decided to give a new restaurant. Danny's Whole Hog proved to be a disappointment.
Tonight we went out for dinner as a family to a locally owned, newly opened restaurant and left severely disappointed. I hate it when that happens. The Boy was happy with his burger but my beef dip and Hubby's corned beef left so much to be desired. I even pointed out the problems with the meal and was given what seemed to be rehearsed excuse about being newly opened, still working on the menu, and looking for comments blah, blah, blah...... No apologies or attempts to fix the problem here.
The beef dip was said to be a house made brisket. This brisket had no flavor, a stringy texture, and probably more chewy fatty pieces than anyone should serve. Ever. In all honesty, the garlic toasted bun was the best part of the sandwich.
The corned beef was touted as house made and seemed to not only be the same shitty cut as the brisket but seriously lacked flavor as well. The fries were really the only things that seemed to be a winner here, but that's no reason to go back now is it?
The service we received was good and the food arrived quickly but this happens in a mostly empty restaurant. While we chatted about our disappointing dinner experience we realized that there were warning signs even before we ordered. For instance, when I walk into a BBQ joint, I should be smacked in the face with the aromas associated with BBQ! That should have been our first hint that things were amiss! The lack of customers should have been our second hint. I think our true disappointment came from the fact that we have eaten the food from this company at catered events before and it was quite good. If you are going to work so hard to build a reputation on a BBQ business then don't rush into a hastily put together restaurant venture. Take the to make the space yours. The previous restaurant's decor is still prevalent and just doesn't speak BBQ. As it were, I have no desire to return.

FYI: we are toying with grinding our own ground beef and have learned our lesson about going to the big chain store for such a product. Stupid thing is, Hubby even suggesting grinding our own but were low on time (and energy)so weren't with the store shit. Stupid stupid stupid!!!!!!!

Sorry about this disappointing review but I felt you should know.


To cheer us up, here's a picture of the fabulous tomatoes we got from put CSA this week!
Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Canada Day Eats Part 2

Still testing out recipes for Canada Day in the Little Kitchen....Today's experiment was with beer....a truly Canadian beverage! When I was brainstorming ideas the other day, I knew beer needed to be incorporated not only as a drink but in the food as well and what better way to use the beer than to marinate some Canadian beef?

The Bison burgers were a hit but bison meat is expensive and may not be a feasible option when feeding a crowd.  One option if you want burgers is to use ground beef instead of bison.  A second option is to buy an inexpensive cut of steak, marinate it, cut it into strips, and thread them onto skewers.  Skewers are a great way to stretch meat when you need a few more servings.  I found a package of inside round marinating steaks at Costco for about $19.00. The steaks were thick cut and perfect for slicing for skewers.

Beer marinated Steak skewers

1 can or bottle of beer (a stout would go well here)

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated on micro-plane

 1 tsp dry mustard powder

Pepper - Fresh ground, as much as you like

1 round steak (or other marinating steak of your choosing: I used and inside round marinating steak)

a whole bunch of bamboo skewers

Trim the steaks of any visible fat or silvery skin (this stuff just means chewy steak) then place the steak into a zip top freezer bag (or other container for marinating).

This is maybe 1/4 of the steaks in the package...probably a little less than 1/4

Place in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight. (You can cut the steak into strips for skewers then marinate the strips. This would be good if you are planning on marinating for a short time.)

Take the steak out of the marinade, pat it dry and place the steak in the freezer to firm up while you soak the wooden skewers in water (soaking the wooden skewers helps prevent them from burning).

                                 

After 15 minutes in the freezer, the steak will be firm enough to slice thinly and neatly so take the steak out of the freezer and using your sharpest knife, slice the steak thinly (less than ½cm but not paper thin).

After slicing and letting the skewers soak for half an hour, thread the steak strips onto the skewers, sprinkle with a healthy dose of fresh ground black pepper and some salt.

BBQ until cooked through. (If you find the skewer handles are burning, place tin foil under the ends.)

We'll talk about those potato wedges another day.

Serve with your favourite steak sauce for dipping!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Da bomb of Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Okay, let's face it. I suck at getting posts out before an event or  'holiday' or even quickly after for that matter. Timing has never really been my thing...baking and cooking however is my thing.

St. Paddy's day was last Saturday and boy did I kept myself busy! I found a slow cooker recipe for corned beef and cabbage that I'd been waiting to try and I wanted to make a batch of cupcakes.  All this while trying to get everything ready for the Boy's trip to Kenya! Lucky for me the corned beef required the slow cooker so once that was underway I had plenty of time to make cupcakes.

Not just any cupcakes of course....Irish Car Bombs to be exact!  I used this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker which is a fabulous recipe, and not just because it uses 3 different types of alcohol: these things are darn tasty.  We have Guiness in the chocolate cupcake, whiskey in the chocolate ganache filling, and Bailey's in the icing....Irish car bomb.

For the corned beef and cabbage, I went with a recipe from Everyday Food that I had originally found in the March edition of the magazine. Of course you can find this recipe online here.  I am starting to wonder why I even bother with paying for a subscription anymore. (Don't tell Hubby that, I just like getting mail that isn't a bill!)

Baby potatoes, carrots, celery, onion

Beef brisket, fat side up, sprinkled with pickling spice

cabbage wedges for the last 45minutes

enjoy!

I used the slicer to slice up the rest for sandwiches for the week....and for the freezer!

 I even had to 'force' myself to drink the rest of the Guiness I had after baking cupcakes! (also test the whiskey and the Bailey's to make sure is was suitable for the cupcakes..."no dear, I can't drive. I've been baking....") 

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Growing Up Too Fast

Warning....this post is a little sappy because my baby is growing up quicker than I'd like....

Consider yourself warned!

Strange Exciting things are happening in the Little Kitchen!! The Boy has earned his learner's permit....he has even been behind the wheel of the car!! A few of his friends have their licenses already and let me tell you, I have a mini panic attack every damn time I hear "so and so said he'll pick me up" or "so and so drove us to the mall for lunch today" (I didn't even know he had money!).  As a mom, it does rattle the nerves. You worry about their safety, their where abouts, the choices they make with their new found independence, have I done my job properly......(see, just thinking about it put me on the verge of a nervous breakdown).

My own mom never let me drive when I was learning so I already knew that I didn't want to be like that.  I took him to get his permit and then took him to an empty parking lot to practice driving around....then I let him venture out on the street and drive us to the mall for dinner. He did such a fabulous job, you know, for his first time behind the wheel and all.

This all really makes me think back to all the little steps of 'letting go' as a parent.  Things like letting him walk to school on his own for the first time, riding his bike around the neighbourhood with his buddies (without me following them around), and sending him to the IGA to pick up a couple of ingredients for dinner on his own are all in the back of my mind these days.  Until he gets his actual license, he needs to have a trusted adult in the passenger seat but I will hold on tightly and do my best to let go when the time comes....if I have to....

Let's get to the food now, shall we?

Since we've been busy, I have been trying to cook up a a big batch of something tasty on the weekend and using it during the week.  This week I got an email from the Canadian Parent website with a slow cooker recipe for Beef Stroganoff that looked so simple and straight forward, I gave it a shot.  Here's the link to the site.  I won't post the recipe here but please go to the website and check it out. There are some pretty neat slow cooker ideas there.

Pile stewing beef, onions, mushrooms, and beef broth into the slow cooker

Reheat in a large skillet on the stove

Boil your pasta

Roast asparagus at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes (brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Guess what, everyone loved it. It smelled soooooo go while cooking but we actually didn't eat it until the next day but it heated up so nicely.  I heated the beef on the stove while boiling the pasta and roasting some asparagus! It really was a tasty meal!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.  (also, drive safe!)

Back to Work Cheesey Stuffed Burgers: The Last Meal

 Please don't make me go back...the summer flew by so quickly....I am no where near done with my summer.  SIGH...

 Now that we have the new BBQ we have used it twice in as many days! After all, we must squeeze in as much summer as possible!  The evenings have a chill settling in over them and mornings are quite cool.  This is a sure sign autumn is creeping in.  SIGH. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the bounty of the garden with fresh tomatoes, corn, carrots, and beets almost at the ready but the fact that dusk is settling in around 8:30 pm means we are getting closer to cooler weather.  I do look forward to the beautiful fall colours and the change....I just wish winter didn't last so darn long.

Some of our garden bounty

 I dubbed tonight's dinner "Last meal" as it is my last dinner of summer vacation.  I really can't complain, I do get 2 months off....but going back is just so darn hard.  Tomorrow morning I actually have to get out of bed when that alarm goes off instead of giving Hubby the boot....ACK!!  I will definitely need my morning tea, my mid morning tea, my lunch hour tea, and my mid afternoon tea.....or perhaps a caffeine patch of some sort.

While assembling the meat and fixings to make burgers this afternoon, I decided that I wanted to make these burgers a little more special so I tucked cheese in the middle of each burger.  But you know what? That wasn't special enough for me so I made some pretzel rolls.  Guess what? It still needed something else so I cooked up the rest of that bacon left over from making that sinful pie.

The Boy manned the BBQ again tonight...he does such a fabulous job cooking up burgers!

The boy certainly chose the most comfy chair possible for his BBQ session!

Cheese stuffed burgers. This made 9 burgers tonight.

3 lbs ground beef
2 small onions
1 egg
2/3 cup bread crumbs
salt
pepper
9 slices cheese (I used processed cheese slices today but any think square of flavourful cheese will do)

Grate the onion, mix in a healthy pinch of salt and a healthy pinch of pepper.

Add the ground beef and bread crumbs.
Gently mix by hand.
Divide beef mixture into equal portions. For these burgers, I used a 1/3 cup measure. (Next time I will use a 1/4 cup measure for each half, just so the burgers aren't so big...they were soooooo filling!)

Each measure will be joined with another to make sandwich cheese in the middle.
Flatten out half of your meat lumps and pair them with another portion of meat.
Fold a slice of process cheese into quarters.

Place a quarter in the middle of each patty.

Take the partner meat lump, flatten it out and place on top of the other.  Make sure to gently pat and form the patty to seal the edges.
Let the patties rest in the fridge

We had a couple of cheese blowouts!!!

How could you not enjoy these??

Have a great week everyone.  Wish me luck on surviving my first week back!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

A Canada Day Weekend With Canadian Beef!

Remember to stop to smell the flowers!!

 OK, so life gets busy sometimes and I didn't actually get to grill this fabulous steak until Canada Day, which unfortunately was after the end of the Who Rules the Grill contest. I even wrote the post last week and got all ready to grill, take photos and post... Oh well, I wound up popping this steak into the freezer.  The great part was that as the steak thawed in the fridge, it continued to soak up some tasty, tasty marinade!!

So without further ado, I give to my a little too late grilled steak sammies:

Pop quiz, what do you do when the package of Canadian beef you bought comes with 2 flank steaks? What do you do? What do you do? I will tell you what you do, you enter the Who Rules the Grill contest being hosted by the wonderful people at Canadian Beef.   The other day I made a tasty chipotle lime steak salads, they were so yummy and hit the spot after a couple of ball games.  Last night I tossed together a soya sauce based marinade and stored the flank steak in the fridge overnight.

Gingered Flank Steak

1 flank steak
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1/4 cup low sodium soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp ginger powder (you can also use fresh grated ginger)
3 green onions, roughly chopped
1 large zip top baggie

See?  Canadian beef!!!!

And a nice looking piece of Canadian beef too!!!

Place all your ingredients but the flank steak into the zip top baggie and mash it all up with your hands.

Add in the flank steak, squeeze out all the air and seal it.  Mash/mix it all up with your hands to ensure the entire steak is coated in tasty goodness.

Store it in the fridge until you get home from work.

Take the bag o'steak out of the fridge and set it aside to come to room temperature while you prep other items such as salad fixin's, onions and mushrooms! (You gotta have sauteed mushrooms and onions on your sammie!)

One neat time saving item I found at the store was this package of Texas style garlic toast....all ready to toast or grill!  SCORE!!

It came with 2 loaves of 8 slices...perfect for grilled steak sammies!!

Pre heat the BBQ and get it smokin' hot.

Also get the mushrooms and onions working in the saute pan! (A little butter, a little time, some stirring every now and then......and voila!!)

Slap your steak on the grill, reduce the heat to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes before giving it a quarter turn to the side (gets you some great grill marks!)  Cook for another 2 minutes before flipping.

Flip your steak over (using tongs) and let it cook once again for 5 minutes before giving it another quarter turn.  Cook for another 2 minutes.

Take the Flank off the grill and place on a clean platter or plate and cover with foil.  Let it rest until the garlic toast is done.

Now place  your garlic toast on the hot grill.  Make sure you watch the bread closely as it will burn quickly.

Slice the steak thinly across the grain, stack on a slice of garlic toast with mushrooms and onions.....devour.  (a slice of melty cheese also goes well....)

That's right, the boy had 2 steak sammies and beans.....

Of course I should share some of my other photos from the long weekend.  I mean whats a long weekend without going to the cabin, relaxing, and playing around with the camera??

Every Canada Day long weekend,  they release a bird that has been at the the wildlife rehabilitation centre.  In the past they have released bald eagles, golden eagles, horned owls...the list goes on.  This year they released a broad winged hawk.  The pictures of the hawk taking off didn't turn out because it flew so fast.

Hubby reading in the hammock....this really is the sweet life!

The daisy solo shot

 Pretty flowers

 Those spiders spin webs on the dock so darn quickly!!

I was so excited to find ripe strawberries in my garden when I got home!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!