Ai, Popeye!

I carried on this week and did another recipe test with mum’s Creamed Spinach. I have never made this recipe that was featured a few times a year at home. A creamy blend of spinach, onions and mushrooms with a béchamel, or more specifically, a mornay sauce (made with swiss cheese). I remember when little not liking it too much (sometimes the swiss cheese taste gave me the cheese gags) but the recent recipe test shot that memory down. The flavour was a lot more subtle than I remember. Seasoned up with the right amount of salt and pepper it proved to be quite a satisfying side dish (and somewhat healthy cause you consume so much spinach in disguise!). I served it up with some grilled rum marintated pork and rice. Spinach is rich in iron and some other vitamins but not Vitamin D. I was at the drugstore the other day and would you believe they were sold out of all brands of vitamin D! Yes, the drear and rain of the Wet Coast has hit its climax. My tan has already faded. I think the sky sucked it off of me. The good news is that the cherry blossoms are out, albeit it two weeks late. I am just keeping my fingers crossed we at least get a day or two of sun when big sis, brother-in-law, and nephew come for a visit next week!!!! Can’t wait :-)

Comfort food reigns

After a week away on the road in Florida it didn’t take long for husband to say “I can’t wait to have a home cooked meal”. What better to tackle on our first day home than the good ol’ comfort food of Mac n’ Cheese (recipe test #15, too)! Now, I have only made this recipe once or twice since childhood. This is due to a bad flu experience one day after I had mum’s own mac n’ cheese. It turned out to be one of those foods I couldn’t eat for a while, which is very unfortunate because we loved it. I did a few alterations---added about ¼ cup of Imperial Cheese along with the cheddar. This made the taste a bit “sharper” (saltier, too). I also used some funky pasta I had bought recently. It’s kind of like fusilli but wider and stalkier, with edges on the perimeter of the spiral to trap more sauce. I forget the name and I have already transferred it to my pasta container. Good choice for this recipe!

SoBe

We had a few culinary adventures in the country to our South, which I must pass on before I write about the latest recipe test (that we gobbled up last night!!!).

In our recent trip to Florida, husband introduced me to Cracker Barrel restaurant. We stopped there en route from Kennedy Space Centre (amazing, by the way) to South Beach. It was like comfort food overload. I ordered Chicken n' Dumplings (pictured). Their dumplings are basically like perogy dough simmered in a gravy...very good, but VERY filling. They even have a cute country store at each restaurant, that I could have taken an hour to peruse, but alas, no time this time! We had a schedule that night.





We arrived in South Beach and stayed at the Hotel Astor. An excellent call we made was to have some drinks/appies in the lounge at their restaurant, Johnny V. The bartender served up a most fabulous apple martini. We then tried out their three cheese plate: we chose a creamy brie, ginger and mango stilton, and truffle pecorino (from about 40+ options). Ohmygod, it was good. So good. The accompaniments were a big plus: grilled baguette slices, fig balsamic marinated grapes (yes, grapes), sugared n' spicey pecans, and garlic olives. The brie was a little creamy for our liking and the pecorino was very rich, but those points didn't hinder our love of it all.









After that satisfying adventure and start to the evening, we hit the streets to find some dinner. That's when we ended up at Spiga, by no other reason than it looked like a nice place to have dinner. This is also the place where I had the BEST pasta dish I have ever had...FETTUCCINE CON GAMBERI E ASPARAGI (Homemade Fettuccine with Shrimp, Asparagus, Garlic, White Wine, Fresh Tomato and Olive Oil). I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but wow, it really was...all elements made it this way, from the perfectly cooked shrimp, to the soft and tender homemade fettuccine noodle. So, I digress...I wish big sis had a Spiga in Edmonton so she and her hubby could try. Needless to say, we liked the cheese experience so much we did an encore on the Friday night. There definitely isn't a shortage of cool restaurants or lounges in SoBe to explore. One place we are sad we missed was having a cocktail at Delano. Not sure there will be a next time, but hopefully vicariously through someone else!

Deja vous?

Yes, nothing quite like perogies to accompany the Sausage and Lima Bean casserole on a rainy, cold night. Husband really liked it even though I had a can of pork n' beans ready to heat up for him just in case. I used garlic kielbasa--I wished I had more time tonight to let it bake. I only popped it in to warm through. I also used canned lima beans and so it was about 1 3/4 cups, not 2 full cups worth, but I think the ratio was good so it wasn't too beany. We have a lot leftover so it will be freezer tested. Will let you know how it is!

In two days we leave to the land of art deco, white hair and gators --yup, Florida! We fly into Orlando, go to South Beach, then fly out of Miami. Can't wait to see that big light in the sky that I hear helps people get their vitamin D. I still have to research what happening restaurants we'll hit in "SoBe" and Miami.

so there, be-atch! :)

Alright -it was a busy weekend at the Smith household in terms of cooking. I am in a desperate bid to catch up to little sis who has become a cooking machine. I think that the only thing that might be helping me out here is the fact that Sandy will be out of town and/or have visitors over the next couple of weekends!

First, Saturday night was the pineapple upside down cake - I have no picture as I made it on a whim (it wasn't even on our list of things to make yet!) but I REALLY wanted it. It turned out nice - good with ice cream. I was missing the red maraschino cherries but who really needs the carcinogenic FD&C red?

Sunday I was going to make (wait, I know this sounds familiar already) the lazy man's perogies but for some reason (likely Sandy's review) I am non-plussed about making them -PLUS they are not really LAZY as you have to cook lasagna noodles, peel potatoes and mash and cook them...so I just settled on perogies (bought, ssshh! don't tell mom) and the lima bean and sausage casserole.

Loved it - just like I remembered it. Used garlic deer sausage that I had in the freezer- turned out great. Really easy to make and an excellent complement to perogies - lazy or otherwise.

Asking for more

So, the husband was making himself some dinner (it was a fend for yourself night) and asked if there were anymore Potato Cakes. Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? I checked the calendar: no full moon. I pinched myself: yes, I am alive. Eating leftovers AND asking for more. That's a good sign!