Weekend Update

Hi everybody!!  I hope you all enjoyed the post written by my guest blogger last week….thanks to Danae for sharing her story!  I also hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me.  I love posting little questionnaire’s from time to time!  Some of you mentioned that you had some difficulty reading that post in Google Reader; my apologies.  Ever since I frigged up my layout I’ve been having some issues.  Oh, to be tech savvy right about now!
So the weekend was a success where my little man’s sporting events were concerned!  His hockey team made it to the semi finals in their tournament.  They played 2 games on Friday, 2 games on Saturday and one on Sunday.  The most exciting though was his soccer team WINNING the league finals on Saturday morning! They played like rock stars and were awarded a 5-2 win which earned them the spot of best in South Western Ontario for their age group.  I’ve truly enjoyed every minute of his soccer season.  The boys on the team are some of the best kids ever, the parents are all so friendly and easy going and the coaches are some of the most dedicated I’ve ever seen.   Just such a pleasure to be a part of it all.  Soccer is done now for a month, and then they will start practicing indoors mid October so a wee bit of a break there.
On the food front I’ve been really concentrating on making “stick to your rib” meals to keep us warm in the chill of fall, but more importantly to ensure that the kids are getting proper nutrition to keep them healthy and strong with school and extra activities all starting this month.  Not to mention the inevitable illnesses that come with the beginning of school.  Hello cold season!  Here are a few of the dinners we’ve been enjoying;
Poached Sole Fillets with Dilled Rice This was easy and quick.  I simply chopped and cooked 4 slices of bacon until crisp, then drained the drippings out of the pot.  Next I added a 19oz can of diced tomatoes with green pepper & onions, one crushed garlic clove, chilli powder, s & p.  Once the sauce was boiling I added sole fillets, turned down the heat, covered and cooked for 10 minutes.  While that was doing its thing I made a quick pot of Minute brown rice infused with 1 tbsp of fresh dill. Voila!!!
Roasted Turkey Thighs with Cheesy Polenta
Tuesday was a free night so I knew I would have time to make a more time consuming dinner.  Or maybe I should say one that takes longer to cook.  After arranging 4 turkey thighs in an 8x8 baking dish I treated them to an EVOO-BBQ spice rub massage.  I covered them up with foil and popped them in a 350* oven for 45 mins, then another 15 uncovered.  Now the fun part; sit on couch and watch Jamie Oliver’s new show!  I got started on the polenta after the thighs were out of the oven “resting”.  The polenta is super easy; simply bring 2 cups of liquid of your choice to a boil.  I used water this time.  Turn down heat and slowly whish in a ½ cup of dry polenta (cornmeal).  Once smooth you can start using a spoon/spatula.  Stir, stir, stir because it comes together lickety split!  When it’s thick, stir in a ½ cup each of cheese of your choice to equal one cup.  I used parmesan and goat’s Gouda with chillies.  Serve immediately.  As you can see from the picture, we had some baby peas, aw well.
Tonight’s dinner was requested by Noah; pasta.  The kid could live off this meal, I swear it!  HAHA!!
My sauce is always slightly different; sometimes is ground poultry, other times extra lean ground beef.  I can even get all fancy pants and use bison!  But it ALWAYS starts with chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic.  You will also always find dried basil, oregano and the tiniest bit of nutmeg.  I also use straight tomato sauce; not ready to go jarred sauce.   For tonight I wanted to sneak an extra veggie boost into the sauce so I grated a small zucchini and added it after sautéing the beef.  The kids never realize when I do this because the veggies “melt” into the sauce if grated.  The fam had WW fusili, I used rice fusili for my own which is what you see in the above picture.
I haven’t bothered taking many lunch photos because most times it’s leftovers from the night before.  I did, however, snap a few yummy breakfast ones. 

This French toast was prepared with some homemade gluten free bread.  I won’t link to/share the recipe because clearly bread and I do not get along and although this was edible, it was FAR from the greatness I was hoping for.  Hence the “French Toast” disguise!  I topped it off simply with some blueberry/Meyer lemon jam that we purchased at the St. Lawrence Market.

Mmmm…pancakes!  I made these using a gluten free mix.  Again, not the best BUT!!!  While watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives one night I saw a chef add homemade granola to his pancake recipe.  Brilliant!  So I added a ¼ cup of granola to my batter which did wonders for the overall taste and texture.  Try it out…you’ll love it!
Whelp!  The new season of Criminal Minds starts in a few so I’m off to tuck under a blanket, sip a cuppa tea and watch the show!  Enjoy your evening, friends!
Bye for now!!