Friday January 11, 2013

Dinner for 7

Cordon Bleu

Twice Baked Potato

Tossed Salad

My mother-in-law, otherwise known as Nana is visiting this weekend. Her Birthday gift form us was tickets for the six of us to see The Wizard of Oz on stage. In order to all drive together for the Saturday show she has joined us for Friday Night dinner and our son's girlfriend makes a dinner for 7.  Now my mother-in-law pretty much ties my own mother in the fussy eating category.  They both like fairly simple food.  I have had my mother-in-law make a sandwich for herself when my food gets out of her comfort zone.  This week I tried to please her, although the chicken was not to her liking the salad and potato were a hit. I was closer to an thumbs up than I have been before.

The chicken breast was stuffed with ham and swiss cheese with a little thyme, lemon, butter sauce.  The twice baked potato has broccoli and cheddar cheese.  Simple salad with a simple vinaigrette.  All of it was good in my books.

Friday January 4, 2013

 Dinner for 6

Oyster Sauce Chicken

Coriander Beef

Salt and Pepper Shrimp

Garlic Scallops

Sugar Snap Peas

Baby Bok Choy

Mushrooms

Spinach

 This Hot Pot dinner is a tradition my husband and I started when our oldest was four.  We always try to do it sometime over the Christmas break.  This year the girlfriend of my oldest joined us.  It is similar to a fondue except instead of oil or cheese you use a broth.  I use chicken broth with ginger and green onions.  Then everyone cooks their own food.  The proteins are all marinated and the veggies are all fresh. We use a combination of home made dipping sauces and store bought favourites.

Just before everyone descends.

Wrap Up for 2012

Unknown Dinner Photos

So I am a touch behind on my posting as I am now just finishing 2012.  part of the problem is I would get on a roll and then come across pictures I know I took of Friday Night Dinners but find no notes and would have no recollection of them.  Kind of frustrating.  It would put a stop to my posting as I would try to investigate.  I would eventually give up and move on.  Here are the pictures of the unknown dinners because I just didn't have the heart to delete them.

This would have been just for me a breakfast dinner.  Eggs on toast with sauteed vegetables and sprouts.  Just not sure which Friday it was.

Looks like squash, beef and spinach.  Must have been for company because I wouldn't have been able to sell that to my kids.

 Twice baked potato, pork with ginger and chillies, plus green beans.  I am sure this was close to Christmas while my Mother-in-law was visiting. A plain pork was served to her and the kids.
 

 



This sprout salad looks fantastic.  Trouble is I don't remember it at all.  Lets hope I figure it out because it looks like something I would love to eat.

This was a pizza topped with sauteed leeks, spinach and fennel.  I made it for my husband and I after watching Giada De Laurentiis make it on the food network.  I am just not sure which Friday it was. 

This looks like something I would make just for two,  Must have been a dinner for only my husband and myself.

And last but not least some yummy grilled vegetables.  They must have gone along with something I have posted.






 That is the end of 2012.  Looking forward to many wonderful meals in 2013.

Friday December 28, 2012

Dinner for 5

Leftovers from Christmas

For our last Friday night dinner in 2012 we are having leftovers from Christmas.  The same leftovers we have been having for the last 2 nights as well.  Thankfully tonight we will finish them off.  On to bigger and better meals in the new year I hope.

Friday December 21, 2012

End of Days Dinner for 4

Broiled Seafood in Broth

Fish Curry

Salad with Thai Dressing

It is not often that the world is going to end, thankfully it didn't.  It is also not often that my two adult nephews can come for dinner now that my sister and brother-in-law have moved away.  Tonight the planets and calendars alined so we could entertain both.

Unfortunately my son was not feeling well, maybe it was the ends of days, so he missed a fantastic feast but the 4 of us enjoyed it.  In honour of all the hub-bub around the date we decided to have a spectaular meal with a tonne of delicious seafood, just in case it was our last meal.

The broiled seafood in broth included scallops, shrimp and lobster tail.  So tasty, wish I could afford to have it everyday.

 

Fish curry was fantastic. This is something I should make more often.  If only I could convince my girls to eat curry.

A Nice salad full of Thai flavoring.

Friday December 7, 2012

Dinner for 5

 

Spiced Chickpea and Cashew Mix
Coriander & Mint Chutney with Pappadums
Lemon Cashew Rice
Coconut Cabbage
Lamb & Eggplant Curry
Potato & Cauliflower Curry
Dhal
Naan
Spiced Yoghurt with Almonds

Well it was suppose to be dinner for 6 but one of the group had to cancel at the last minute.  It was a delicious Indian inspired feast for the evening. Even short one of the group it was great conversations and great fun.

Starter of spiced chickpea and cashew mix with coriander and mint chutney with pappduams.

Lemon cashew rice.

Coconut Cabbage is a great way to eat cabbage.

 Lamb and eggplant curry for those that want a little meat with dinner

Cauliflower and potato curry for the guests that don't eat meat.

 Naan and Dhal.  A very simple dahl that I have been making for a long time along with homemade Naan.  So simple.

 

 This has to be one of my favourite desserts now.  I think I may have made it before on a Friday night.  So yummy and not to sweet or rich

Friday Septmeber 14, 2012

Dinner for 4

Larb

Baby Bok Choy with Garlic

 Jasmine Rice

Woot! Guess who found her notes on one of my September meals!

The Hubby is out of town so I cooked this dinner for the kids and myself.  As suspected the kids didn't like it.  My friends always say, 'your kids must really feel lucky eating such great meals all the time'.  My response is, 'they usually they don't like my cooking'.  I do keep exposing them to it and getting them to try some of everything I cook.  Their pallets are already much more exposed than mine ever was at their age so I am hoping some day they will love a large variety of food like me.

I thought my middle child would gobble up the rice and bok choy, as they are a favourite, but she has a cold.  The oldest ate some of the Larb but Thai flavouring is not a favourite of his.  He prefers curry and spicy flavours like chillies more.  Maybe it was the lemon grass, anyways I am happy he tried it.  The youngest left in a huff but came back a half hour later looking for rice.  Guess who was heating up rice and tidying up the kitchen. 

I LOVED IT! Thai is defiantly a favourite of mine.

Friday November 30, 2012

Dinner For 2

Szechuan-Style Scallops
Stir fried Lotus Root and Sugar Snap Peas
Braised Cauliflower
 Noodles in Sesame Sauce

 Warm Banana Compote in Plum Wine with Candied Ginger

A fantastic Chinese inspired feast for my Husband and I tonight.  I love scallops and I love Szechuan. These were delicious.  Our son helped finish them off.

Stir fried lotus root has quickly become a favourite food of mine,  Tonight I stir fried it with sugar snap peas and garlic.  Delicious.

Braised Cauliflower is the only way to eat cauliflower in my opinion.  I received high praise from my husband who said it tasted just like it did when he was in China.

Noodles! Who doesn't love sesame sauced noodles?  Nutty goodness!

Finally to wrap up this feast Warm sweet bananas with candied ginger.

Friday November 16, 2012

Dinner for 2

Fried Mozzarella

Pasta with Chicken, Squash, Spinach, Mushrooms and Pinenuts
Apple Crisp

I am up at my Mom and Dad's this Friday as my Dad is away on business and my Mom doesn't like to stay alone.  My mom is a pretty picky eater (funny how that has turned around from my days of a picker eater as a child) but she does like simple tasty food.  One of her favourites is fried mozzarella.  I learned how to make it a while back and served it up as a starter with sweet chilli dipping sauce.

The main course was pasta with chicken, squash and spinach, a creamy mushroom sauce topped with pinenuts.  Super tasty hearty food.  I don't think my mom loved it as much as I did.

The dessert was apple crisp.  This is by far one of my mom's favourite thing that I cook.  I often make it in small individual serving dishes. That way it is heated fresh when every you eat it.

Apples are finely chopped and tossed with a little cinnamon.  Topping is 1 part butter, 1 part brown sugar and 2 parts rolled oats.  Yummy!

Friday Novermber 9, 2012

Dinner for 2

Ricotta Gnocchi with Fresh Tomato and Morel Sauce
Apple Pie

I have always wanted to make my own pasta but I have not got around to that yet.  Tonight though I made my own Ricotta Gnocchi.  Unlike potato Gnocchi it is light as air.  Although it was very fiddly it was delicious and well worth the effort for a Friday Night Dinner.   I love morel mushrooms and although I have only managed to ever purchase the dried I still think they are delicious.

Dessert tonight was Apple pie.  I am not much of a baker but I do love a nice pie.  Apple pie has always been a favourite of ours.

Kind of a disjointed dinner but great for the Hubby and I.

Source:

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Dinner For 1

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce

So It is Sunday not Friday and only dinner for 1.  I had this actual dinner planned for Friday but a last minute change in plans had us heading to my parents Friday night.  After spending the weekend we came home Sunday and I decided to cook Friday night's dinner.

Friday Night Dinners are all about gathering with friends and family but this particular dinner was always planned for one, just me.  My husband, who travels a lot, has been out of town for a long stretch leaving me home alone. (This is why the kids and I made the last minute plan to visit my parents and see some of the glorious fall colours.)  Of course these gatherings truly began when my husband was working overseas regularly and I was living far from family, I would gather with my fantastic friends.  So it is sort of interesting and ironic that this one was always planned as dinner for one.

The raviolli is wonton wrappers and it is stuffed with cooked sweet potatoes spiced with a little nutmeg. They were folded over and sealed them and then carefully cooked them in boiling water. I drained them and topped them with a simple brown butter and sage sauce using sage fresh from the garden.  Delicious!

They froze beautifully too and were great when I needed a quick meal for me.

Friday October 19, 2012

Dinner for 5

Pork and Noodle Balls with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Thai Apple Salad
Chinese Broccoli with Shitake Mushrooms
Shrimp with Chilli and Basil
Steamed Rice
Thai Banana Fritters

Dinner for the five of us tonight.  The pork and noodle balls were a little fiddly to make but oh so tasty with sweet chilli dipping sauce.   I will be making them again.

 The Thai Apple Salad is a favourite of mine.  Although there are no apples in traditional Thai Food I really enjoy these flavour combinations. 

Shrimp with Chilli and Basil, Chinese Broccoli and Shitake Mushrooms along with Steamed Rice rounded out the meal.

 

Finally Banana Fritters for dessert.  Anything deep fried is pretty yummy and these were no exception. Dusted with a little icing sugar.

Source: All but the Pork Balls come from Simply Thai Cooking (third addition) by Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu

Friday October 12, 2012

Dinner for 5

Beef Sausages with Grilled Onions

One of our favorite things about Australia, we lived there for 6 years, was the all beef sausages (snags) cooked on a BBQ with grilled onions.  Always served on a slice of white bread.  Unfortunately back in Canada, most sausages are pork and served on a bun.  Now don't get me wrong I love a good pork sausage but I longed for the beef ones.  One day I was discussing this with one of the owners of Thatcher Farms at my local Farmers Market and they said they could make me up a batch of beef sausages.  Today I picked them up. Now the best thing to serve them on is Australian style white bread.  Turns out I can find that too, at Cobs Fresh Bread a bakery here in Canada that is part of Bakers Delight in Australia.  This excited me to no end.  I always loved their bread and now I could get my husband to pick it up on the way home from work (unfortunately there isn't a franchise in my city yet).  Today's dinner was not fancy or difficult to prepare but is sure brought our family back to our days in Australia.

It was a happy dinner in my house tonight.

Friday October 6, 2012

Dinner for 12

Japanese Illusion

Oysters with Wasabi Granita & Pickled Ginger

Sushi - Teriyaki Chicken, Carrot and Cucmber Rolls

Hearty Miso Soup with Spinach

Teriyaki Salmon Fillets

Chicken & Vegetable Yakitori

Japanese Beef Rolls

Japanese Rice

Green Beans with Miso Dressing

Asian Hot and Sour Slaw

Toffee Apple Roll with Sesame Ice-cream

It is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.  A time when my husbands family all gets together in one location to celebrate.  Last year we hosted the group of 68 at our home.  As I had already been doing Friday night dinners at the time, just not blogging about them yet, I invited anyone who wished to come to join us for dinner.  It was a huge hit with those that attended.  This year some people had to travel by our city to attend Thanksgiving so I put the word out that anyone who wanted to could stop in for dinner on their way.  We had 8 takers and including my husband, myself and our two oldest children we had a total of 12 seated around our table,  plus 2 little snackers that came in and out of the dinning room.

Some of these dishes I have made before and some were new to my repertoire.  I really liked the Teriyaki Salmon Fillets.  They were super easy to prepare and very tasty.  They will become a regular meal in our house I am sure.  Unfortunately in all the chaos of seeing people you don't get to see very often I totally forgot to take pictures of the food.  It was fantastic though.  There is nothing I am more thankful for than my wonderful family and I am always happy to share food with them.

Sources: Hearty Miso Soup and the Asian Hot and Sour Slaw were from Nina Simonds book Simply Asian Meals
All the other recipes were from Taste (an Australian cooking magazine website) 

Friday August ??, 2012

Dinner for 4

Spicy Ground Pork Lettuce Cups

Stir Fried Bok Choy

Watermelon Salad with Thyme

So again I am stuck in trying to catch up my posts.  I can find no notes on this dinner. This dinner was made to include the kids and not the hubby but I can't figure out which weekend in August it was. I know it was August because the photos fall between our summer vacation trip photos and the first day of school photos.  Friday Night Dinners are usually missed a lot in summer because we spend a lot of time away from our house and this year my dear Hubby spent a lot of time traveling for work.  

I remember the salad well, as I loved it (I like watermelon with a little savoy application) but no one else in the family did. It was carefully cubed watermelon with olive oil, lemon and thyme. Yummy!

The 2 of 3 of my kids will usually eat ground meat in a lettuce cup and 1 absolutely loves stir fried bok choy.  It is often served in our house.

Friday June 29, 2012

Dinner for 18

Stir-Fried Saucy Shrimp

Scallion-Ginger Chicken

Grilled Lemon Grass Chicken

Korean Beef BBQ

Wilted Greens with Spicy Garlic Dressing

Spicy Garlic Brocolli with Pine Nuts

Sweet and Sour Cucumbers

Freah Corn and Roasted Bell Pepper Salad

Cinnamon-Honey Orange Slices

Poached Pears in Cinnamon-Ginger Syrup

Canada Day long weekend has been celebrated at my parents place as long as I have been alive, and probably before that too.  After they moved to the cottage on the river we changed the name to Riverfest.  It is where family and friends gather over the long weekend some camping (with access to bathrooms and kitchen) others just visiting for a day.  We assign family groups different meals to share with the entire group.  I have traditionally done breakfast.  One because I was living overseas and it was much easier for me to get breakfast items once I arrived in the country and two because I don't mind getting up early even after a night of staying up late drinking (maybe it was jet lag) and before that probably because I wasn't much of a cook.

This year however, because of my Friday Night Dinners, I was assigned, you guested it Friday Night Dinner.  I put together a huge Asian Banquet hoping I would satisfy all the picky eaters in the crowd from little kids to adults.  It went over great.  I should have taken an after shot of the empty platters and bowls.

 Yes my parents' place is under construction, good thing the weather is so fantastic to eat outside.

Friday June 22, 2012

Dinner for 2

Shrimp Sambal with Rice
Wilted Greens with a Spicy Garlic Dressing
Strawberries and Melon in Plum Wine

Dinner for two with my Hubby.  Simple Shrimp stir fried with sambal, snow-peas and onions served over plain rice.  Wilted Asian greens with a dressing made with garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar and chilli paste.

I am not much of a dessert maker.  Don't get me wrong I love a good decadent dessert but I am just not much of a baker.  For my meals I tend to end with some sort of fruit dish.  This is just a simple mix of melon balls and beautiful Ontario Strawberries with a little Japanese plum wine poured over them.  Simple, refreshing and sweet.

Friday June 15, 2013

Dinner For 2

Today is the day before my Wedding Anniversary and normally I would plan something rather fancy for the two of us and then tomorrow (on the actual day) we would go out and really celebrate.  However this year, on our anniversary, is my sister and brother-in-law's house cooling party.  They are moving from around the corner from us to 3 hours away by car.  So we are celebrating our Anniversary today so we can say good-bye tomorrow.

We had a fantastic 6 course Surprise Dinner with Wine pairings at The Other Brothers Restaurant . Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Take my word for it, it was great.  Plus we ate on the patio which is always lovely when the warm weather hits.

On the topic of my sister and her family moving, it will be hard. They are my anchor couple at most of my dinners.  Not to mention she is my sister and I have lived so far away for 6 years that it was nice to be close.  I know there move will be great for them, and I know I am usually the one moving away, so it is probably only fair.  I am just not sure Friday Night Dinners will be the same without them.  Change can be good right?

Friday June 8, 2012

Dinner for 5 (well sort of)

Crispy lamb with lettuce
Tea-smoked chicken salad with pickled red onions
Vegetable Pakoras
Seared scallops with chilli bean paste
Sweet won tons with lemon sorbet

After taking last Friday off and eating with the kids at Montana's we are back at it with a fantastic menu.  It was dinner for Five sort of.  Our oldest was to join us with my sister and brother-in-law, but my brother-in-law was late arriving (only enjoyed the last two courses) and my son was off after the first two.