Category: Main Dish

Beans, Beans Good for Your Heart

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I can’t help it. I still think of that silly rhyme every time I think about beans. Juvenile, I know, but there you have it. So did you guess tonight’s meal features beans?

Miss A is our culinary guide for the next two weeks. She made her international choice after studying (and spinning) the globe for a bit; and much like her first pick, she’s taking us back to South America. This time, however, we’re on the Western coast in the country of Ecuador.

Unlike some of our international picks, finding recipes for regional dishes from the “Republic of the Equator” wasn’t terribly difficult. We adapted tonight’s selections from Laylita’s Recipes, a blog featuring recipes from South America and Ecuador among others. So to kick off our adventure we chose Menestra de Porotos, or Ecuadorian Bean Stew. It just seemed fitting for our unseasonably cool (and gloomy) weather today.

The boys kicked off the meal for us. Mr. N measured out all the spices and Mike took care of the chopping. Continue reading →

Vacation *Time*

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Nearly nine weeks ago I set my watch to Eastern time for our vacation to Maine, and even though we have been back for nearly six weeks now, I have yet to set it back to Central time. I just like that when I look down at my watch I’m reminded of our family trip. I know one day it’s going to end up making me really late for something (like when the time changes this fall), but for now, it makes me smile.

So in honor of the Eastern time zone and family vacations, and because it’s nearing the official end of summer, we’re going to close out our Maine recipes this week. First up, a Classic Lobster Roll.

We prepared this dish from some of the leftover lobster meat we had saved throughout the week. I know you’re thinking, “Leftover lobster? Surely they didn’t leave any uneaten lobster on their plates!” And no, Mike and I certainly didn’t leave any lobster on our plates, but Mr. N and Miss A can’t quite finish a whole two-pound lobster just yet. (Although Mr. N can come close!) So, we chopped up the leftover lobster. Continue reading →

Ice, Ice…

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Don’t worry. I’m not going there (think 1989 really bad song). I won’t do that to you. Especially because I’m still trying to get the Spice Girls out of my head.

Instead I’ll just tell you how much we love Canada’s ice wines. Mike and I enjoyed our first ice wine in Ontario in 2007. Since then we also drank a wonderful German Eiswein and even found a few ice wines from Michigan that we enjoyed.

So we were excited to try some new ice wines this summer in the Niagara region, and they didn’t disappoint. In fact, I’d say they have even improved the overall quality of the ice wines in the past few years. One of our favorites we came across this year was a Cabernet Franc ice wine from Jackson Triggs. It was so balanced and smooth and had such wonderful flavors. Truly about as close to perfection as you can get with an ice wine in our opinion.

That’s why when we were planning our Ontario meals we knew we had to incorporate some Canadian Ice Syrup. Ice Syrup is derived from the same frozen grapes used for ice wine and which are harvested and pressed while still frozen.

Continue reading →

Another Maine Course

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We’ve already talked about how inexpensive the live lobsters in Down East Maine were, especially when compared to prices in the Midwest. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we made yet another lobster dish on our summer vacation; and since this weekend was the unofficial end of summer, we’re taking another look back at our delicious memories.

Toward the end of our week in Maine we wanted to fix up something a little more elegant for the grown-ups. While the kids really enjoyed all the lobster, they wanted a break. I guess it was too much of a good thing for them, not however for Mike and I who would never tire of lobster. So while the kids dined on some pizza, Mike and I worked on our Lobster Risotto.

I’ve got to give credit where credit is due – this meal was, for the most part, courtesy of my dear hubby. He’s our resident risotto chef. It’s one of his favorite things to make and I’m happy to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor. I did, however help with the lobster preparation this particular evening. Until now, Mr. N and Mike had boiled our lobsters, but I was finally ready to give one a shot. I have to say – I understand why Mr. N threw his first one in the pot. While I didn’t throw it, I sure was tempted. It’s a bit intimidating. Continue reading →

Working Our Mussels

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We’re sticking with Maine for just a few more weeks. Can you tell we did a lot of cooking at the cabin? It was fabulous! This particular recipe is probably the one we’ll remember the most and not because it was our favorite meal, although it was quite delicious, but because it was a truly memorable experience.

It didn’t take us long, especially with our little explorers, to realize that there were tons of mussels on our little stretch of beach. The bay was situated in an intertidal zone and the mussels were especially easy to find at low tide. 

Mike and I instantly started thinking about how we could cook some of these babies up, but we weren’t sure if they were safe or if we were allowed; and after having food poisoning from mussels on our honeymoon I wasn’t about to mess around with safety. So Mike asked the fisherman that sold us our clams if we could harvest some mussels. He explained the quantity and size regulations and gave us the number of the Maine Department of Marine Resources which would give us real-time pollution levels for our area. We were really getting excited now, so after a quick call and an all clear, we were ready for the mud. That’s when the fun began.

Miss A and I let the boys do the dirty work, and dirty it was! Mike and Mr. N really got their feet and hands grimy out in the soppy, muddy sand digging for mussels. Continue reading →

Bowing Down to the Masters

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I’ll spare you the Spice Girls tonight. 😉 That stinkin’ song was stuck in my head for at least 24 hours.

Tonight we’re on to something new; although something that is still often stuck in my head as well. Sushi. I love sushi. This is a relatively new realization for me. I only tried sushi for the first time five years ago. Now I’m officially hooked. Addicted. It’s a must-have at least twice a month for me. It would be more often if it wasn’t for budgets and watching the mercury intake.  After all I don’t want to end up like Jeremy Piven.

So when A_Boleyn suggested we cook recipes from Japan – I knew sushi was going to be on the menu. Mike and I have made sushi the last few years on New Year’s Eve (also Mike’s birthday). After we put the kids to bed, we get cooking and have really enjoyed experimenting with various options. We’re not experts by any means, but that’s part of what makes this so fun for us. We’ve enjoyed some successes and tossed others in the trash – it’s totally trial and error. So after a sushi cooking class this past month, I figured we were ready to give it a go again – with the kids this time. Continue reading →