Sunday Breakfast

This morning I wanted more than yogurt and granola for breakfast. I wanted "eggs" So I made a tofu scramble. I sauteed onions, garlic, mushrooms and peppers. I then added some medium tofu. I let this cook for 4-5 minutes and then added about 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast to it.

I served it with some of my homemade oatmeal,/flax bread and a glass of milk. Oh yes and that is ketchup in the corner.......I have to have ketchup with my "eggs"

Nooch (slang for nutritional yeast) is an inactive yeast made from sugar cane and beet molasses. It comes in flake or powder form and gives a sort of nutty, cheesy flavour. Quite nice actually. It is one of the few vegetarian sources of B12. It is very high in protein actually it is a complete protein. It also contains 15 minerals. If you haven't tried Nooch yet, you should!

You can sprinkle it on popcorn, pizza, veggies, mix it into sauces, soups, mashed potatoes, make a "cheese" with it. Endless possibilities really.

So.....it tastes good and is good for me?!? Cool

"Chicken" Fajitas with homemade tortilla wraps

Tonight I made homemade tortilla wraps. I was surprised that they were so easy.

Ingredients

1 cup of flour
1 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup boiling water


Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix in oil. Add water slowly, mixing to make a soft dough. You may not need all the water.

Knead a few minutes on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.

Divide into 4 equal pieces and roll out into size and thickness you prefer.

Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Cook in dry heavy frying pan until top is slightly bubbly then turning on opposite side for a minute or two. Keep stacked and warm inside a clean tea towel.

I sauted some onions, garlic, peppers and some Presidents Choice Meatless Chicken Strips. I added a sprinkle of my cajun spice mix to kick it up a bit. I mashed an avacado and spread it on the tortilla and added my filling. Some salsa on the side and I was all set!

What a way to spend a Saturday night! lol

Pig Demo Day

So today Chef did a demo on pig. To be honest it was disgusting!! I was soooo grossed out by the pig skin and all the fat. Ewww. Give me a lamb any day! lol (jee never thought I would ever say that!)

Look at the toes!! Well at least the head is gone. The tail wasn't though. I was surprised that is was not curly.....it was straight!

Here Chef is starting to cut the pig into the five primals.



And here it is .......the five primal cuts. The shoulder; Boston Butt and Picnic, the loin, leg and belly.

Then Chef showed us how to debone a leg to make a boneless roast.

First the bone is removed.

Then the skin and all but 1/4" of the fat are removed.

Then the meat is rolled and put in netting. Pretty easy right?!

It was very educational.....gross but educational. The next day we had to bedone legs ourselves! It was so much easier than I thought it would be.

Shrimp and couscous

It has been a long day and I really should be studying for my test tomorrow! lol Or maybe finishing my homework.....so I decided to cook instead!
Tonight I really did not feel like cooking anything too big so for supper I made a shrimp curry with couscous. Yummy and easy!
I added some spices and raisins to the couscous to jazz it up some. The shrimp were cooked with some frozen mixed vegetables. I added a some madras spice mix to it and in 5 minutes I had supper! Much better than the cereal I had planned! lol

I apologize for the fuzzy picture.....it was really steaming when I snapped the shot! lol

Lamb Day!

So today we had the much anticipated lamb butchery demo! It was amazing. I thought I might be squimish but I actually enjoyed it! Who knew?!?! lol







This shot shows the five primal cuts on a lamb. Shoulder, breast, rack, loin and leg. He is working on the front leg which was part of the breast laying to Chefs left side.


Just a quick video with Chef naming the primals.

This shot shows the kidneys (the little dark blobs on the right) neck steaks, blade steaks are the ones standing up, arm steaks and the front leg. This entire area is tougher so braising is required.

Here he has cut the 8 ribs in half and stood them up to show us a way to plate the rack of lamb. The tiny strip of meat above the rack is actually the tenderloin. Isn't it cute! It is no bigger around than my thumb!


Aren't these cutest porterhouse steaks you ever saw!? They are half the size of the palm of my hand. Chef did a demo for us with the 1/2 carcass of lamb to show us what a side of beef would be cut like. Apparently the beef and lamb are almost identical in makeup as far as cutting goes. The lamb has 5 primals and a beef has 8. Interesting stuff!

Sunny and 15 degrees........

It was so hot and sunny here on Saturday that we couldn't help but get out and enjoy it. We walked down to the harbour area. I thought the fog in the distance was beautiful considering it was 15 degrees and not a breeze! We were actually sweating it was so hot!





Its a good thing someone had his rubbers on! We probably walked 2 km......and he ran the whole time...splashing in every puddle! And there were a lot of puddles! He had a blast.....it exhausted him but he had so much fun!

Just for fun.....

I was out for a walk the other day and couldn't help taking a picture of this truck. lol!! I wonder how long until the driver notices?!?!

Another sign of Spring...

I couldn't resist sharing this picture.
This beautiful little crocus is right beside my front door!

What a treat to spy it after the snow melted! It sure made me smile.

Salmon......

Today we worked on salmon. We had eight of these babies to work on!
To be honest I kind of enjoyed doing it. It really feels like you have done something. And it is not as much work as you would expect. Messy but fairly simple.

Sink full of salmon. Beautiful right?!

The first fillet is removed.....now to do the second one.

Chef showing us how to remove the skin.

Removing the pin bones with tweezers. A salmon has 27 pin bones!

And voila.....the finished fillets.

Bread in Five Minutes a Day......

This bread is amazing! It is so easy to make...almost foolproof. No kneading, no punching down, no hassles! Wonderful right?! I found the recipe online. Click here for a video of the master recipe and instructions.

We used the master recipe the first time we made this bread. This time I decided to add some oatmeal to the mix. I also added some wholewheat flour to the mix and extra water.....it just seemed too dry to me.

My recipe amounts:

1½ tablespoons granulated yeast
4 cups lukewarm water
1½ tablespoons salt
4 cups all-purpose white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal

It really is as easy as the video shows. It is so easy to just cut off a piece of dough, shape it, let it rise for about 40 minutes and bake! Fresh bread everyday. And it can be kept in the fridge for upto 2 weeks!