Weekend Highlights

Hi all! Did everyone have an awesome weekend? Sure hope so!  My weekend started off with one of my favourite people coming into town - MY MOM!

She was arriving later in the evening so I decided to prepare a nice meal for her when she arrived.  I marinaded some fresh sockeye salmon using a recipe from the Eat Shrink and Be Merry girls!

If you are a salmon lover you will absolutely fall in love with this recipe! I'm tellin' ya...it's a keeper!

Ingredients

1/4 cup Lime juice

2 tbsp Minced cilantro

1 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp Honey mustard

1 tbsp Barbecue sauce or ketchup

1 tsp Grated lime zest

1 tsp Minced garlic

1/4 tsp Each cumin, ground coriander, salt and black pepper

1 and 1/2 lb Boneless skinless salmon fillets, cut into chunks

Skewers (or one large fillet)

Instructions

Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well.

Place salmon chunks in a large, plastic bag along with marinade and seal bag. Turn several times to coat w marinade. Refrigerate for 30 min

Preheat grill or broiler. Remove salmon from marinade and thread onto skewers. Coat grill rack or broiler pan with olive oil. Grill or broil for 3 to 4 minutes per side, brushing often with remaining marinade. Salmon should be slightly pink in the centre.  If you are using a large fillet, you will have to broil it on high for about 15 minutes! 

I steamed some spinach and brown rice on the side.

Loving peonies right now...in fact, I think they may be my absolute favourite flower.  So simple and perfect.

On Saturday night...after a day of walking at Elk Lake and having lunch at Glo restaurant - awesome restaurant on the water - we decided to put together a nice dinner.  My mom and I both prefer making a nice homemade dinner over going out somewhere.  We decided on lovely organic chicken.  

Basil Parmesan Crusted Chicken

8-10 basil olive oil Breton crackers crushed into crumbs

2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

Instructions

Heat olive oil in frying pan on medium-high heat.  Dip chicken dip in flour of choice (I used spelt), dip in egg wash, coat the chicken breasts in a very light cracker crumb mixture.  Pan fried in olive oil until lightly browned on both sides and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  Cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

It turned out absolutely perfect!  Steamed new potatoes, peas and fresh corn on the side.

My my my was this ever good.  Simple and delicious.  Now, I am not a potato lover by any means...but steamed new potatoes - plain with absolutely nothing on them - are so sweet, not starchy at all and just plain perfect.

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Fast forward to Sunday morning....

My mom and I had a bowl of greek yogurt, blueberries and Love Crunch Apple Pie granola (YUM!).

After breakfast we decided to go on a walk....we walked from my apartment to the Fisherman's Wharf for lunch.  Francis and my mom order the Halibut and fries, which unfortunately were not very good.  I ordered the steamed salmon and a side salad, which wasn't very good either.  Oh well, it was a lot of fun walking there on such a beautiful day and the atmosphere there is always so much fun!  It always makes me feel like I am on a vacation.  

After lunch we had every intention of taking the little water taxi home (it stops really close to our apartment) but my mom and I both thought it would be nice to walk back home...and so we did! We stopped at Cafe Fantastico on the galloping goose trail for a caramel machiato and treat for later ;)  All in all it was about a 14 km walk and I enjoyed every.single.kilometer :)  It was so nice to share the day with my mom doing something she loves (walking) and doing something I love (spending any sort of time with her!).  She's the best!

Later that afternoon we were hot and ready for a nice, cold drink.  My mom used to make watermelon daiquiri's, which neither of us have had in years, so we thought this weekend would be a great time to make them!  I bought a watermelon earlier in the week, cut it up and froze it so it was all ready to go!

Here is a way that I like to cut it up that works extremely well.  Because they are so huge and extremely awkward to work with it can be a little bit tricky to figure out how to cut them properly.  If you cut both of the ends off then it will stick straight up and down and will be nice and balanced.  Then just cut down the sides, cut in half and cut into  the size chunks that you want! Easy peasy!

And here in the beautiful beverage that made our afternoon absolutely delicious!  

Watermelon Daiquiris

Serves 2 3

3 cups frozen watermelon in chunks

1/4 cup of rum (or a little more... ;)

juice of 4 or 5 limes

1-2 tbsp of sugar depending on your taste buds (I don't really think it needs sugar)

Put all of the ingredients into your blender, adding more rum water until it reaches your desired consistency.  

Rim the glass with lime juice and dip in sugar.  Top with freshly squeezed lime juice and a fancy schmancy straw (not shown here)!

These are SO SO SOOOOO good.  Seriously amazing.  Probably my favourite drink.  I am excited to try them without the alcohol as a refreshing afternoon smoothie :)  They are reasonably healthy (without the rum of course) and they taste a million times better than those sugary daiquiri's you can find in the bottle at the grocery store AND they are simple to boot! 

Last nights dinner was from my mom's new cookbook, Whitewater cooks, that she brought along with her!  It is called the Glory Bowl.  It is just that - Glorious!

Ingredients

Serves 8

2 tbsp vegetable oil or oil of choice

2 cups cubed extra firm tofu

8 cups cooked brown rice

2 cups grated carrots

2 cups grated beets

2 cups backed baby spinach leaves

2 cups slivered almonds, toasted

Dressing

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/3 cup Tamari or soy sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp tahini

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1-1 and 1/2 cups oil of choice 

(definitely does NOT need this much oil - we used olive oil)

Instructions

In a large skilled, heat oil over medium-high heat, fry tofu, until brown and crispy.  About 10 minutes.

Dressing: In a blender puree ingredients except the oil.  Add oil in a steady stream until you have reached your desired consistency.  Cover and refrigerate for a week (trust me, you will have a lot leftover)

To serve, divide rice among 8 bowls (we only used 3), top with spinach, beets, carrots, tofu and drizzle in dressing.  Top with toasted almonds.

Well, that was sure a LONG post.  Hopefully you didn't fall asleep on that one ;)  Overall, it was a fantastic weekend spent with fantastic people!

How about you? What did you get up to this weekend? Any awesome recipes you would like to share?

xo