BBQ Season is Finally Here!!

We kicked off the weekend with the most fabulous New York strip steaks ever!!! There is a new fabulous store in the neighbourhood.  I must confess, we bought NY strip steaks last weekend from here and there were also fabulous!! For those in Winnipeg, HMG Meats and Deli (642 Leila Avenue, 339-8406) is THE place to get steaks, pork, garlic sausage....well they will pretty much take care of all your meat needs...(he he).

 One thing I love about BBQ season is cooking everything on the grill.  Wrap it in foil if you must, toss it on the grill.  I did use 1 pot to boil the corn, but I did that outside on the side burner.  Corn is NOT in season at all here and I don't feel bad about boiling this stuff instead of grilling it. I didn't even eat it. I took one bite and...well...ew.

If you don't mind, I think I will just give some pictures of BBQ goodness. After a busy weekend of gardening and watching the Boy play baseball, baking some rye bread, banana bread, and so on.....it is time to relax.  Here's to a great week for everyone!!

make a pouch of foil, add a pat of butter, salt and pepper and toss it on the grill!!

Salt and pepper is all these perfectly aged steaks need!!

Potatoes on, mushrooms on, grill marks perfect!

The dissappointing corn looked so good!

Yeah, that's right, there is no green on my plate, wanna make something of it?   Didn't think so!

Oh, and some top notch root beer to top it all off!!

I hope to get back to blogging more regularly.  I think what is going on (besides baseball season) is that after a long, cold winter us prairie dwellars try to spend as much time as possinle outside when it warms up.  In the depths of winter, it is easy to cozy up in a blanket and blog away.  I have been baking and cooking and taking pictures.  I just need to find some time to write.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

Cilantro Lime Rice: Dinner on The Road

Baseball season is in full swing in the Little Kitchen and this means that at some point during each week there is a need to play away games.  I have been quite on the ball (pardon the pun) with dinners on these nights.  (*pats self on back*)  Tuesday night I even was ahead of the game (groan) and got our 'travel dinners' ready so all we I had to do was heat and go Wednesday evening!!  The boy and his team are to report to the diamond an hour before the game starts to get themselves ready.  This means he has to be there for 5:30 if the game starts at 6:30.  At times, the away games are pretty far from home and require a bit of a drive.  For home games this is no problem as we can even drop him off, come back home and then go back for game time.

A bevy of veggies

For the last couple of away games I have had a travel meal ready for Hubby and I to eat at the game.  The game plan is to assemble and store in the fridge, heat up the meals before leaving, arrive at the diamond on time for the Boy to meet the team, Hubby and I enjoy a meal together at the diamond!  You may be thinking at this time "Hey genius, why not just eat at home before you leave?" I will tell you, when leaving at 4:30 for a game, it is too early to eat.  Yet when you realize that the average ball game can easily last over 2 hours....sigh....too early to eat before we go but too long to wait for dinner.  The solution is here.  Planning and prep work are needed! The effort is so worth it and keeps us from having to stop at drive throughs and gas stations to eat.  (BTW, the Boy eats at home right after school, then again in the car, then again when we get home, then again......you get the idea!)

I even chopped up some veggies to have with hummus as a snack for the ride home.  Of course I had to pack the beautifully different coloured peppers separately so the Boy would still eat the green peppers.  Pack it all together and store in the fridge waiting to be added to the cooler.

Cilantro Lime Rice with Beans
For the rice:

• 1 small onion, chopped (I used 1/4 of a large white onion)
• 1 cup bell peppers, chopped (I like using a little bit of each colour, this one was green, orange, red)
• 1 (or two) jalapeno peppers
• Zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1 lime
• handful of cilantro, rinsed and chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil (or butter, or canola oil, or whatever you want to use)
• 1 cup rice (of your choice)
• liquid as per rice directions (I use water but stock or broth would be tasty)

Heat a pot over medium heat and add the oil.

Saute the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno until fragrant (NOTE: if you are using a long grain rice, don't over cook the veggies here.  They will cook with in the liquid with the rice and you don't want mushy veggies! If you are using minute rice (because your lovely Hubby did the shopping and the giant box of minute rice was on sale and that is all yo have) then cook the veggies longer as minute rice only takes, well a few minutes to cook.

Add the rice to the veggies and stir it all up.  Now add the water.  Slap on a cover and allow to cook as per any rice package directions and let the rice cook.

Squeeze the lime juice and toss in the lime zest and stir it all in.

Add the chopped cilantro, stir again and enjoy....or spoon into your travel containers.

This rice is just plain yummy.  A bit of heat, lots of lime, and a bit of cilantro...yummy!!!
The beans....now I like just plain old baked beans with this but this time I made some re fried bean type dish to go with it.  These beans were darn tasty (and a bit spicy!) but as the rice was also spicy, I opted to have plain old baked beans with my rice and Hubby had the spicy beans.

Re friedish beans

• 1/2 small onion, diced fine
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3 or 4 chipotle peppers, chopped fine
• 1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water ( or stock)
• 1 tbsp oil

Heat a pot over medium heat and add the oil.

Saute the onion until soft and stir in the cumin and the chipotle peppers.
 
Add the rinsed and drained navy beans, stir it all together.  Let the beans get heated through.

Grab a potato masher and start mashing the beans to your desired consistency.

Serve with the rice. (Or spoon into your travel container with the rice)

Once your containers are full (and everything in the container is piping hot) place the covers on, wrap in a towel and place in a bag. Add another towel if needed to help keep the food hot until eating time!

Note: When making this the night before, make sure you heat up the beans and rice hotter than you think, especially if you are wrapping this up to go.  This way it will stay warm until you eat.

Double up the towel and fold around the hot containers

Tuck a couple of drinks in the bag, some seeds, and you are ready!

Remember to wrap some cutlery in a napkin so you can eat!

 Now as luck would have it, we I packed everything up to go, we even started driving, got on the perimeter highway.  My phone buzzed with an incoming email...the game out in rural Manitoba was cancelled and they would be having a practice at the home field.  The diamond out in Sanford Manitoba is still under water....sigh.  We turned around and came home.
.
We ate our travel dinners at home, then got into the yard (and the glorious sunshine) to get some work done, the boy went to practice....sigh...

With the weather being nothing but rain and wind, (and the baseball schedule) it has been darn near impossible to tend to the lawn so it did look a little like this:

 Oops.....

May The Weekend Be Long: Little Cabin in the Woods

"And just where have you been young lady?"

" Out"

"What kind of answer is that?"

"Ummmmm....well...."

"Well? What to you have to say for yourself?"

Okay, okay, I am so sorry I have been somewhat MIA lately.  Baseball season has officially started and it keeps us busy. I have been cooking and baking but just no time to write. When I am at the cabin I still like to cook and bake but with no Internet (just the data on my blackberry), I don't post while out in the woods.  Now add the demon cold from hell on the top of the pile and well, I am sick so I needed to sleep more.  Without further ado, I give  you:

Little Cabin in The Woods Part I: May Long Weekend

We just had a glorious long weekend here yet I am not posting anything until Thursday...I developed one heck of a  demon cold while at the cabin this weekend.  This cold has completely knocked me on my butt....but enough about the cold and back to the long weekend.  We decided last minute to make the trek out to the cabin.  The weather wasn't supposed to be all that nice and our thought on the matter was that we would rather be rained in at the cabin than rained in in the city worrying about the yard work we weren't doing.

We packed up and left Friday after work, that way we were there already in the morning when we woke up! 

Friday night, I made popcorn the old fashioned way, on the stop top! We watched a movie and chillaxed.

To make popcorn on the stove:

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pot...make sure to heat it first!  Now add enough kernels of popping corn  to cover the bottom.  Once it starts popping, slam a lid on and start shaking the pot around.  Shaking the pot around keeps the kernels moving so they don't burn.

You can add melted butter if you wish but with oil from the popping, you may find you just want to add some salt





Yes, it did rain on Saturday but that left me with plenty of time to start reading Cleo Coyle's "The Decaffeinated Corpse".  The boys played card games, read and even went for their run in the rain.
Hubby and I drove into a small town not too far away to pick up groceries.   Despite the higher cost I think it was worth it for our sanity to do this.  I wouldn't want to stop at the Superstore on the Friday before the long weekend, that would have been nuts!

Our first official cabin supper on Saturday was burgers and dogs with salad, corn on the cob, and potatoes. It really was a meal fit for everyone!

The spread!

Yes, R2-D2 travels with us...he carries the pepper!

The roasted beets! Peel, wrap in foil with some oil, salt, pepper, toss of grill until done!!

Sunday the weather warmed up and the sun came out. We put the dock back in the water, went for a short hike to see the petroforms, and sat on the dock and read our books. (The Boy also fished off the dock for a while).

The boy dons the chest waders with his Mets shirt!

The frame is in and the water is COLD!!

Getting the frame attached to the platform

Apparently I don't take enough photos of the Boy!

Weighing down the frame so it matches the end piece for easy attaching!

Ahhhh....an nice evening shot...reading chairs still in place!

It really was a relaxing weekend, even with the demon cold from hell.

A quick hike at the Bannock Point Petroforms proved interesting. It is always neat to go see the ancient rock formations, the cloth offerings, and the scenery is nice as well.

Turtle formation

 It really was our lucky day...we spotted this guy walking around and then sitting in the woods as tough he was keeping an eye on these ancient grounds!

Hello Mr. Fox, so glad to came by to say hi!

Sunday evening I baked some brownies....S'mores brownies to be exact. I took them over next door as it was Kerri's (from Kerri on the Prairies birthday on Saturday...a bit late but better late than never!

Happy birthday Kerri!

 The neat thing about baking at the cabin is that either I have to improvise or I get to use tools I don't have at home!

S'mores Brownies

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Butter a 9inch square baking pan.  Line with parchment.  (The parchment helps for easy removal to cut the brownies later.) At the cabin I had no parchment so I made sure to oil up the cast iron skillet I used!

Line the pan with graham crackers, breaking them up as you go to make sure they fit.

In a pot (or in a bowl in the microwave) melt:

• 1/2 cup butter and stir until smooth with;
• 1/4 cup of your very best cocoa powder

See?  I only use this beater at the cabin!!

Put this mixture aside to cool slightly

In a bowl beat:

• 2 eggs until frothy

Add to the bowl, but do not mix yet:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• a pinch of salt

Pour the butter/cocoa mixture into the bowl and mix until all the ingredients are well combined.

• add a teaspoon or so of vanilla

Pour the batter, scraping out the bowl into the prepared pan.

Shake the pan or use a knife to even the batter out in the pan.

Slice large mallows in half and chop up the chocolate!

Allow the brownies to cool slightly before arranging some halved marshmallows and a chopped up chocolate bar on top.

Place under the broiler until the marshmallows have puffed up and are golden brown....remember to watch closely!!

You really do have to wait and allow these to cool completely before cutting.  Otherwise they will be an ooey, gooey mess and will not cut smoothly at all!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well...and kick any demon colds that may have come your way out the door!

Plants vs Zombies Cake

Today was a great day! The sun was shining, I got to spend some time in the garden, and I delivered the Plants vs. Zombies cake!! This cake was so much fun to make. I even found myself giggling as the characters came together.  I really don't have pictures or directions for the characters but I made them from fondant (marshmallow fondant)  and basically just played around until I got what I thought looked great.  I also had lots of 'artistic direction' from the Boy and Hubby as they play this game and know more about the characters than I do.
The cake is my favourite devil's food cake recipe and the rest is just a lot of fun!  I hope the birthday boy enjoyed his cake!

Here are the characters I made to put on the cake.

Here's the cake for the characters to rest on!

And the cake all put together!!

Sooooo much fun!!