Beautiful Weather

We have been very lucky lately with weather. We did get one day of a light snow fall, but didn't last long and it melted away in no time.

It's a little to cold for my liking to bike in the morning, so my hubby has been dropping me off at work, then since it's still so beautiful outside, I walk home from work. It's a great time to get some sunshine from being indoors all day, unless I step out for a walk during my lunch break. It takes me about 30 minutes to walk home, and it's great to get some fresh air, exercise, some nice Vitamin D from the sun, and also think of things.

With weather being so nice, they are announcing 15 today, so it's really hard to get into the Christmas spirit. I am very happy that weather is this warm out though, and hope it keeps being this nice. I have started a Christmas list, but still need more gift ideas. We've been very busy with all sorts of plans, and will keep being busy for a while, but should be able to head out shopping with my dad in about 2 and a half weeks. My dad and I have started a bit of a new ritual of going Christmas shopping together, and it does make it more fun to go shopping.

I am still getting into the kitchen, I have made a large pot of chilli, a big batch of spaghetti sauce, some soup which all have batches in the freezer, including some homemade stock. I have made some caramel sticky buns, and cookies. I would like to start baking up some holiday treats, but I think I'll wait till the start of December.





 I know I haven't been posting many recipes but I'll do my best to post some soon.

Hiking, spa, and vineyards

A good friend of mine came down to visit from London, Ontario. She made her way here Thursday and left this morning. We had a amazing long weekend! She got here close to supper, so we chatted a while and then made some pizzas for supper. I used a naan bread pizza dough, the sauce was roasted peppers, pureed, and some hot sauce, then topped it with saute onions, peppers and mushrooms, then added some shredded chicken with bbq sauce, and added goat cheese. It was so good!! We then decided to take a nice long walk, we were gone about an hour and a half, and walked down a trail near by that my neighbor told me about.  I have gone down a small part of it, but then it goes quite a bit into the woods so waited to finally have someone to walk down there with me, and it was beautiful.

Friday we started our morning with a very hearty breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon, almonds and maple syrup, and also had a smoothie. We packed up a lunch and made sure to have plenty of water, and got ready and headed out to Mer bleue. I found it online at some point and new I had to take her there. The trail and bog was about 10 km, and it was the perfect day for a hike. The trail started off with a nice wooded area

That led us to a picnic area, with tables, and also information about the bog. It was just about that time for lunch so we sat down and ate. We had left over pizza, some coleslaw, and for dessert the gluten free chocolate quinoa cupcakes. We then set out to walk along the bog

It was pretty amazing to walk along the board walk through the bog. The way they set it up it loops around back to the picnic area

Then we walked back along the hiking trail to get back to the car. Since we got plenty of exercise, what better way to finish the day by going to Le Nordic, it's a spa in Chelsea, Quebec.

They have added more cabins, and have relocated their entrance. We only went for the pools, saunas, and also their floating pool called Kalla. I have gone a few times but could never try Kalla and apparently it's like you've slept for a few hours, some really do fall asleep also. We started with the hot tub, then went into the sauna with eucalyptus, then went into the cold pool, which was very, very cold! Then went for the Kalla. It was weird seeing people just floating there, but it was an amazing experience. They have cushions that you can put to support your neck so we grabbed that, but it was hard to get comfortable with that, it was to thick, and it started to give me a headache, so I got rid of it, but I couldn't seem to shake off the headache so it was hard to really enjoy the experience. They do say for your first time it's hard to get the full benefit, they suggest going in a second time but we didn't go. I'll have to try it again some other time. We then went to get something to drink, then enjoyed the warm pool, then laid down for a while on the beds that they have. We were hungry at that point so we sat down to eat

We shared an appetizer of a 3 year old cheddar cheese, some toasted nuts, grapes, bread, and a few slices of strawberries, one blackberry, and a yellow cherry. I had the red wine and she had white. It was so good!  Our main meal, which we got the same, but I had smoked salmon and she had the chicken, it was a beet and spinach salad. Our dessert was a smoothie with chia seeds, an orange compote of sorts, and a blueberry tart. The meal was delicious! We then got ready and came home, we both were pretty tired, but it was an incredible day, and so glad we had beautiful weather.

Saturday wasn't quite as nice. The morning started off ok cause it was cloudy, but we again had a wonderful breakfast of an omelette with onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and feta cheese and topped it with some salsa, and we had toast and a smoothie. We then set out to go to a vineyard called Domaine Perrault in Navan

It was beautiful there, and they were preparing for a wedding outdoors, they had tents set up and we could hear the band preparing. Inside they had a beautiful little store were the lady there talked to us about their land and their wines. We got to try a few, and I bought 4 different wines, 2 white and 2 reds, and Dallas bought a few as well. She also told us about another vineyard near by, they help each other out when needed, and since they were out of the rose wines, she suggested we go there cause they had some in stock. Since we were in the area, we thought why not. It was a beautiful place as well called Etter

I absolutely love that sign that they have!  We got to try a few of their wines as well including one that is almost ready, but not quite ready to sell yet. It was a white wine and it was so good!!  I'll have to go back to get that one. We also got the opportunity to know about their land, which they only have been open a few months, well they have been there for years, but could only open a 4 months ago once they had a good amount of bottles ready since it does take time to prepare wine. We got a tour of the back as well, he explained how it all works, and it was very interesting to know the process and how it all works. I also bought 4 bottles there, I got 2 reds, a rose and a port. We left there and headed for the butcher's so we can get beautiful steaks for our supper, and I bought a few other things I needed. We then stopped at a stand along the way to pick up a basket of apples. We stopped off at home to drop everything off, then headed out for a late lunch at Panera, which I also bought one of their loaf of bread, the honey wheat. We then went to the movies since it was raining. When we got home we cooked a delicious meal of steaks and potatoes on the BBQ, yes I barbecued in the rain, but it wasn't that bad. We had saute onion and peppers with red wine and the vegetable spice from Epicure. We opened one of the red wines and supper was delicious!!  Dallas prepared the dessert, we had an apple crumble.

Before she set off to go home, we had another amazing breakfast. We had a BLT with bacon I got at the butcher's, it was a molasses black pepper bacon, and we had that with a smoothie. The weekend went by way to fast, but it was an amazing weekend! It's another gloomy day outside, so I'm working on some laundry and will probably keep busy with getting things done around the house. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

End of summer fun

I know it's been a while again but I've been busy. We took two weeks off and spent most of our time in Sudbury. The first week, we went to his cousin's beautiful wedding and had an amazing time. Then we stayed at camp. Here's part of the view they have

Yes it's the lake through those trees. I got the chance to sit back, relax and read, and play some cards. We had a bit of a family competition of three different games. We played horse shoes, badminton, and the other game I forget what it's called, but we had a lot of fun. My brother in law and niece won the game. There was also a fishing derby going on, to see who can catch the smallest (don't worry we let them go after), the  biggest and the weirdest. I won for having the 2nd biggest fish at 19 inches.

I went with my father in law and we had a good time and caught lots of fish, we only kept the 2 biggest and the rest were let go. We thought they had a prize for who could catch the most, but they didn't.

They were announcing quite a bit of rain for the second week so Sunday we headed to my in-laws home to spend some time there. My hubby and his dad went out the Monday with some friends for a long drive to get to a great spot to go fishing and they ended up with 15 of them. Of course we did a fish fry to enjoy all that wonderful fresh fish that were caught.

It was delicious! My father in law cleaned all the fish and fried them up. The top one is with a breadcrumb, and the one at the bottom is a beer batter. The rest of our week, I spent some time with my family, I also went to Chapters twice with my cousin. We had a great time and got back home Friday to have the long weekend at home to unpack, and unwind before going back to work.

Since our fridge was nice and empty, I washed the inside of my fridge, then went to get groceries, which was an expensive trip but it was great having food in the house again. I prepared some salads for my lunch, and I also saw a recipe on Joyous Health that I had to try and they turned out really good

They are gluten-free chocolate quinoa cupcakes, you can find the recipe on her blog right here.
They are a must try, cause they are delicious and so easy to make. I ended up with 55 mini cupcakes so since we were going to visit some friends, I brought some for them.

It's been a great summer, and it's not quite over yet. I do have a long time friend coming to visit, in fact she should be showing up here in about 1 hour or so. I could have gone to work today, but I'm glad I decided to take the day off. I did a fall cleaning of the house, so  now the house is looking great, and now I can really enjoy the extra long weekend with my friend. It's a little cool out today so I have the windows open and it's great having fresh air flow through the house.

For this long weekend of ours, we will be going hiking, going to the spa at Le Nordic to enjoy their pools and saunas, go to a vineyard, try to go downtown to walk around the market, and we also plan to go see a movie. If we have time, we will probably go to Chapters, and see what else we can do while she's here. I haven't seen her in a while so I'm pretty excited, and can't wait for her to get here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Market

It has been a while since my last post, but I've been keeping busy. A few weeks ago I went to a fair in Almonte with some friends, and we had a good time.

I also made a breakfast bowl. I created a smoothie with some fresh strawberries, some basil from my garden, some almond milk and some honey and blended that until smooth. Then I added about 1/4 cup of cooked quinoa, and 2 tbsp of chia seeds. I gave it about 5 mins, then I stirred it, then put it in the fridge. For breakfast I topped it with sliced almonds, and it was really good!

I also spent a weekend with my niece, we did some shopping, watched movies and some shows on HGTV. It was a wonderful weekend!

This weekend has been pretty busy as well. My hubby and I had a date night, we went to Boston Pizza for supper, then we went to the movies to see Jason Bourne, it was good! Yesterday I had a appointment at my hair dressers for 9 am, just got a nice trim, then since I was close to the market, I went into the mall to buy some all natural deodorant. A friend of mine and I had gotten together one day it was pretty hot out so we decided to go in the mall and we found this new store and decided to check it out. The lady told us the deodorant is a huge hit, so I got one to try it out, and it does work well and it really does have all natural ingredients so since I was in the area, I got more. On my way back to the car, I of course had to check out the market.

So many great fruits and vegetables to choose from, and I love how it's all local so you get so much more nutrients, and at amazing prices. There were a lot of people downtown and it was such a beautiful day. The only thing that made me sad is my butcher closed down. I did do a search online and I found another organic, all natural (meaning grass fed beef, and free range chicken) butcher just 10 minutes from my place. I haven't gone yet because we still have enough on hand to last us until we go on holidays for 2 weeks. So here's what I bought for $60

Last time I went to the market they were selling some local wine, one made from blueberries, another from cranberries and one more from ginger. I had the blueberry one, I brought it over when we went to see my mother in law, then we had a few friends over so we had the ginger wine after supper to help digest our supper, which we made beer can chicken with potato salad, garden salad and grilled asparagus. So I bought another ginger wine cause I would love to try cooking with it. The only thing I can think of that would be good is a stir fry. I haven't had any other ideas on what else I can use it for to cook with. So the rest of my buy is sprouts (sunflower, radish and peas), radishes, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, green onions, peaches, plums, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, and another type of cherry that's wrapped. Not sure what they are called but they do taste similar to a cherry.

So far this weekend I have prepared some guacamole, a coleslaw, which I made sure to add in some chives (which I finally bought some for my garden), and I added some of the radish sprouts, it turned out really good. I also prepared a few salads for my lunch with some salmon, the kale, arugula and swish chard from my garden, as well as some parsley and cilantro, I added cucumber, tomatoes, and steamed beets. My dressing is 1 tsp of honey, 1 tbsp of Dijon, 2 tbsp of apple cider, some fresh rosemary, and 4 tbsp of olive oil. I also prepared an egg salad to make a sandwich for our lunch as well, I boiled up 3 eggs, once cooked I added chives, Dijon, paprika, a touch of salt and some pepper with some mayo. I plan to bake some cookies for something sweet to snack on and we also have plenty of fruits. I did make pancakes this morning with some of the fresh blueberries, it was delicious!

So now for the next while we are going to be busy on emptying out our fridge as much as possible, and getting ready for our 2 weeks off, which we are going to his dad's camp. My hubby's cousin is getting married, so we are starting off our time off with going to the wedding, then enjoying a lot of time at camp. I hope we will have beautiful weather to do a lot of swimming, I'm sure we will go for boat rides and do some fishing, I hope to go for a few runs, and will probably sit back and do some reading, and have a good time and of course lots of great food. So might be a while until my next post.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and a wonderful summer!

Mini vacation

First weekend of July we kept busy at home mostly to get the house clean and tidy, and we also went to visit my mother in law for her birthday. I took 3 days off, starting Wednesday because we had my in laws come down for a visit. They showed up Tuesday around supper, so we cooked up a nice BBQ of an assortment of skewers, some potatoes and asparagus and we played cards.

Wednesday we went downtown to the market and walked around. We got some vegetables and fruit, and I was able to pick up a wide range of herbs and greens for my garden. Here's pictures of the box my dad, brother and I created for my herbs, along with pots for my greens.

Everyone helped me in getting this set up. My mother in law and I went to buy the dirt, and the round pots so everything would fit nicely. I do have an extra pot, it's for a plant, which wasn't doing so well so she cleaned it all up and now I'm waiting for new roots to take shape (it's currently soaking in water) and once they come out, I'll be able to replant it. The round pot in the middle is more to the side cause I would like to buy another arugula plant so I have more on hand, and I am missing some chives, which I plan to try to find some and add that. Right now I have Swiss chard, arugula, kale, parsley, dill, cilantro, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme.

On the way home from downtown, we also stopped in at Hogsback, and went to look at the waterfalls

Thursday was spent in Montreal. We left in the morning and made our way down there. We first stopped for lunch, which we were hoping to eat at Ricardo's cafe, but it was very busy! So we went to a buffet place near by. We then did some shopping at Espace Ricardo. After we went to old Montreal to walk around

We got thirsty and wanted to sit and relax for a bit, so we came upon this really nice outdoor patio

It was so pretty!  We also noticed inside the restaurant that you can reserve a table to side over on the side or right at the island and see the chefs work. The place is called James Rooster Esq.

I would love to do that someday. Would be awesome to see how it is in a kitchen. While we were having our drink, there were a few people already starting to prepare some sushi rolls.

Once 5:30 hit, we were at Le Garde Manger. Chuck Hughes restaurant. For my birthday we tried his other restaurant, Le Bremner, which was amazing! So I was curious to try his other one and it was just as amazing! Unfortunately he wasn't there, so still haven't had the chance to meet him in person. The other cool thing, this is the place they record his show, Chuck's day off, on the food network.

We started with an appetizer, and went with the tuna

The tuna was raw, with some fennel, tomatoes, capers and not sure what the sauce was, but it was delicious!  Just before our supper arrived, we picked a bottle of wine to share

It was a good pick, it was really good, and paired well with what he ate, which my hubby got the pork chop

He let me taste it and it was very good!!  My father in law and I went for the same dish, the Walleye

There was peas and gnocchi and it was very good! I had attempted to make gnocchi once, and it wasn't to bad, but this was way better! My mother in law went for the steak

We of course had to go for some dessert

They shared a profiterole, which they really enjoyed, and we shared the strawberry tart which was so yummy! It was an amazing day in Montreal, and we will for sure be going to Le Garde Manger again.

Friday, we didn't do to much, but my dad did come over for supper, which we cooked up a large turkey breast, with some sweet potatoes, some fresh corn on the cob and a delicious garden salad. Saturday we ended up visiting Gatineau, and went to the market, and stopped at a garden, which I got two new flowers to add to my garden

You can't see the girl watering an empty pot to well, but she's next to the green tree on the far right hand side, I now have a flower in there, and I plan to put the other in with the greenery on the side, to brighten it up a little more. We also stopped at another farm to get some honey and tomatoes, and I also got some homemade salsa which I look forward to trying. They left this morning to go visit her sister not far away, for a day or two, then they are headed back to Sudbury. We will see them again though this summer.

It's been a fun and amazing 5 days, but it all went by way to fast!!  Going to relax today since tomorrow is already Monday.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

June

June has been a busy month, which is why I haven't put a new blog post since the end of May. So what have I been up to? Well I spent a weekend with my niece. We went to the movies on the Friday night, and Saturday we went to the Dessert fest! It's the first year they do this in Ottawa, and it was a lot of fun! Here's a few pictures

For this third picture, notice the turtles on the left side at the front, my mom made those at Christmas, and they are my favorite!!  My dad has mastered them pretty well, and I'm glad to be able to still have some.

The following weekend, we went to Sudbury to celebrate my uncle's 70th birthday, we also got to meet our new niece, and it was also father's day. I helped my father in law cook up the fish fry, and it was so good!!

This past weekend, I met up with a friend at the downtown market. We had lunch, walked around, and then got lots of veggies and some fruit. I also stopped in at Aubrey's to get a whole chicken, and they had just prepared some sausages so I got some of that as well. With the chicken we cooked in on the BBQ, a nice beer can chicken (minus the can). I also made some oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies, and since I have lots of vegetables on hand I prepared a few salads for my lunches.

The cookies were so simple to make. I mixed together some oats, oil (I used grapeseed oil), chocolate chips and some almond milk.

It wasn't only the weekends that were busy, during the week, I unfortunately had a dentist appointment, but I did also went to my brother's with my dad to build our own herb boxes. My brother wanted one to hang after a fence, and I wanted mine to have legs so I can put it next to the stairs in our back yard, so it's easy to step out from the patio door to grab the herb(s) I need. We went back another day to finish our project, which we finished it last Wednesday. Once I have herbs in it, I'll take a picture and share it here. Wednesday was also 3 years since my mom passed away, so my dad, brother and I got together for lunch, and then spend the evening together. Very happy we spent it together as a family. It was hard on me, but spending time with family helped a lot.


I also went to a pub with my hubby cause he heard that the radio station, live 88.5 were doing a patio crasher, so giving away free things. We got a pair of free sunglasses and we are in a draw for a trip to Mexico. I also got to go to my niece's graduation, which I was so very happy to be a part of and I'm so proud of her!!


It's been a busy month, and can't believe it's July 1rst already! Time really does go by fast and it's important to cherish every moment!

Happy Canada Day everyone!!!

Homemade Pizza

So far it's been a wonderful weekend. Friday after work I joined my hubby and lots of friends downtown for a pub crawl. Had some good food and a great time with friends. Yesterday morning I made some healthy chocolate zucchini muffins

And for lunch, I made my own pizza, well except the crust. The crust I bought at Farm boy, it was whole wheat, and for my toppings and sauce I went with a roasted red pepper with hot sauce as the sauce for the pizza, and topped it with onion, red pepper and mushrooms, then some shredded chicken with a bit of BBQ sauce, and a bit of double smoked bacon then some goat cheese. We both don't do well with cheese except goat and feta cheese. The pizza turned out so good, and the left overs, which was lunch today as well, was even better!

Then I went over to my dad's, which my brother, nieces and nephews went over as well and we went swimming in the indoor pool my dad has in the building. It was so much fun! Didn't pay attention to time but I know we were in there for a little over an hour. We then went up and helped my dad get the finishing touches done for supper which was a beef roast, potato and macaroni salad and some coleslaw, it was delicious!!  Dessert was an assortment of brownies, caramel and lemon cakes, and then we played some cards. It was a fun afternoon and evening, considering I had no plans until my niece sent me a text Friday night asking what I was up to and wondering if I wanted to join them. Glad she did because it was great seeing them all and it was lots of fun.

Today, I got busy in the kitchen again, I prepared lunches for us for the week, a chicken fried rice for my hubby along with taco salads for us as well. I cooked up some bison and added cumin, chili powder, a bit of cayenne and some turmeric, and topped it with romaine lettuce and cucumbers, and I made some guacamole and we have salsa to top our salads. I will have some garden salad as well for my lunch. For snacks or even breakfast, I made some banana buckwheat bars

I never measure when I make bars, I always start with the building blocks for liquid, 2 eggs, maple syrup (about 2 tbsp), coconut oil (2 tbsp) and I decided to put in a banana, then I mixed that up, then added goji berries, almonds, some buckwheat oats to make it gluten free, and added some coconut flour. Once I got a cake like batter consistency, I added it to a square pan and baked it for 20 minutes at 350. Once cooled I cut them into bars, and there was a few crumbs so got to try it and it is good!

For supper I plan to try a lemon, basil, shrimp risotto, a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, and I'm looking forward to eating it.

My last blog I mentioned how I made a garlic aioli, well during the week I cooked up some potatoes on the BBQ, and then added some skewered shrimp, and we dipped our shrimp in the aioli and it was delicious!!

So another busy but fun weekend. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! And to all the runners out there that did the Ottawa race, congratulations!