In the Kitchen again

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. We went to Sudbury to visit our family, and I also got to see a good friend of mine, which we met for breakfast and then went to Chapters. She recommended a cookbook that she already got, it's called Brown Eggs and Jam Jars by Aimée Wimbush-Bourque.

I of course bought it, and the book is organized by seasons, so I went to spring and picked 2 recipes to try out.  The one I made today, I'll be sharing that recipe (see below), and the other that I'll make this week is the Shrimp and Egg Fried rice with green garlic.

This weekend has been pretty busy for me, I met my dad, brother, sister in law and nieces and nephews for breakfast yesterday, then my niece hopped in with me and we went to do some shopping. Her birthday was at the end of March, and she wanted to pick out what she wanted, so we had a lot of fun shopping! Today I got busy in the kitchen. I made the banana, apple and nut cookies, if you want the recipe you can go here. I made a few changes this time around, I didn't put chocolate chips so I added a bit of maple syrup, and instead of pecans, I put walnuts, and instead of peanut butter, I used almond butter.

They turned out really good! I prepared a dip and cut up some vegetables for a snack during the week. I also made a Quinoa and beetroot salad from my Food Matters calendar.
           
What was awesome of having to cut up all these vegetables is I did that with my new knife. I got an early birthday present, a friend of mine came by this past Thursday to give me my gift. It was a gift from her and my hubby.

 A Rachael Ray knife set, and muffin pan! I have been wanting these knives for like 10 years, but they don't sell much of her kitchen stuff here in Canada, and most places don't ship to Canada, but she managed to get it through amazon, and I'm so excited and happy to have them.

The last thing I prepared today is the Cabbage, Carrot and Cashew slaw with maple soy vinaigrette from the new cookbook I bought.  Here's the recipe:

Dressing:
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tsp tamari soy sauce (I used a wheat free kind)
2 tsp of lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sesame oil

Salad:
8 large asparagus spears
3 large carrots, peeled
6 spring radishes
6 cups chopped napa cabbage (about 1 small head)
1 cup unsalted toasted cashews, coarsely chopped
Pinch of fine sea salt

Make the dressing: In a small jar, combine all ingredients except for the oil. Shake well. Add olive oil and sesame oil. Cover and shake again until creamy. (Dressing may be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using.

Make the Salad: Rinse asparagus and pat dry. Snap off and discard the woody bottoms, then peel asparagus. Using a vegetable peeler, shave asparagus and carrots into ribbons. Thinly slice radishes.

In a large bowl, combine the salad and the dressing. Toss well to coat salad. Sprinkle with chopped cashews and finish the salad with a pinch of sea salt. Serve at once.

I sliced up my asparagus since they weren't very thick to shave with the vegetable peeler. The salad is so colorful and delicious! For our breakfast today, my hubby really wanted some french toast. I use 2 eggs, a good splash of almond milk, a bit of grated nutmeg and about a teaspoon of cinnamon. Lunch was a BLT, and for supper I'll be making a rice pasta, with a vodka sauce and some ground sausages and lots of vegetables. I'll try not to forget to take a picture of the Shrimp and Egg Fried rice with green garlic, and let you know how it was. I did look at all the recipes in this cookbook and there's a lot of good recipes I can't wait to try out.

What was also great about today, is while I was in the kitchen, I had windows open and it was so nice and sunny. Weather has been so cold and got more snow and rain, so today was a very welcomed change! It was nice getting fresh air going through the house, and my hubby also took down my bike. I'm hoping for more nice weather to start biking to work this week. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!