It started off as a quiet day with nothing much to do. For breakfast I ate one of the scones I had bought, delicious. I took a fairly leisurely time getting myself dressed and presentable (mind you the shower took forever to get warm, always does after they turn off the water, wastes gallons of water), and then made a lazy lunch of noodles. I had phoned the baker's about obtaining some buns and they had some ready for me.
Had my lunch and then we set off to get the buns. Spent a while chatting with the woman in the bakery and resisting all the goodies on display. I then decided to go get some ostrich thighs from Victoria St. Market. I had asked the bakery if they had hot cross buns, they didn't, so when I got to the Market I asked there, sure enough they had some. I also got my "thighs" and decided to buy a few bananas to last us. Saw some German cheese called Grand Noir (explain that please, German cheese, French name?) and got out of there without doing too much damage to my pocket book. I might say it was extremely cold and snowing on and off. I was glad to get home.
We got a card from one of Matt's daughters which was nice to receive. and then I proceeded to make things ready to cook supper. I served a mince pie as dessert with some ice cream. Settling down to watch some TV we broke into the Grand Rocher I had bought. Ate the whole thing although I have the two individual candies for tomorrow. We also had another mince pie.
After all that, I have decided I am nuts. I don't want to put back all the weight I lost in 2013 but I seem to be doing my best to do so. Ever since I decided food tasted OK after I came out of hospital last year (took a week or two), I have been unable to stop eating. By that I mean not just normally, but anything else, like mince pies and chocolate, that come my way. A friend I saw last week said "did it matter at our age" but yes, it does to me anyway, after having put all that effort into losing weight and being so proud I hadn't put it back on. Oh well, only one person can do anything about it.
Just to titillate our appetites, Campbell's (who have come a long way from unwholesome canned soups) posted some recipes today one of which particularly appealed to me. In fact I think they look yummy.
French Onion Soup Puffs
Adding beef broth to caramelized onions provides serious depth of flavour to these simple elegant
appetizers. Make ahead for easy entertaining.
2 Tbs butter
6 cups onion
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup CAMPBELL’S® Ready to Use Beef Broth
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 lb frozen pre-rolled puff pastry, thawed
1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 Tbs chives or thyme, chopped
1. In large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onions, salt, pepper, mustard and thyme and cook until onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in broth and cook until almost all the broth is reduced and onions are soft and dark caramel in colour,about 20 minutes. Let cool.
2. Cut each piece of pastry into 25 (2-inch/5 cm) squares. Press pieces of pastry into tart shells or mini muffin pan. Chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Top with about 2 tsp (10 mL) of the onion mixture and a sprinkle of Gruyere.
3. Bake in the center of a 425°F (220°C) oven on a baking sheet until pastry is golden brown and puffed and cheese is bubbling, about 8 – 10 minutes. Top with chives or thyme just before serving warm.
Yield: 25
Tips
These pastries can be assembled and then frozen in the tart/ muffin pans for 1 hour. Once frozen,transfer to a freezer container with a lid for up to 3 months. Return to tart/muffins trays to bake from frozen,adding about 2 minutes to the cooking time.
Source: Campbell's
Author Notes Bake your pastry puffs with parchment paper to reduce clean up time!
Have a great day
Had my lunch and then we set off to get the buns. Spent a while chatting with the woman in the bakery and resisting all the goodies on display. I then decided to go get some ostrich thighs from Victoria St. Market. I had asked the bakery if they had hot cross buns, they didn't, so when I got to the Market I asked there, sure enough they had some. I also got my "thighs" and decided to buy a few bananas to last us. Saw some German cheese called Grand Noir (explain that please, German cheese, French name?) and got out of there without doing too much damage to my pocket book. I might say it was extremely cold and snowing on and off. I was glad to get home.
We got a card from one of Matt's daughters which was nice to receive. and then I proceeded to make things ready to cook supper. I served a mince pie as dessert with some ice cream. Settling down to watch some TV we broke into the Grand Rocher I had bought. Ate the whole thing although I have the two individual candies for tomorrow. We also had another mince pie.
After all that, I have decided I am nuts. I don't want to put back all the weight I lost in 2013 but I seem to be doing my best to do so. Ever since I decided food tasted OK after I came out of hospital last year (took a week or two), I have been unable to stop eating. By that I mean not just normally, but anything else, like mince pies and chocolate, that come my way. A friend I saw last week said "did it matter at our age" but yes, it does to me anyway, after having put all that effort into losing weight and being so proud I hadn't put it back on. Oh well, only one person can do anything about it.
Just to titillate our appetites, Campbell's (who have come a long way from unwholesome canned soups) posted some recipes today one of which particularly appealed to me. In fact I think they look yummy.
French Onion Soup Puffs
Adding beef broth to caramelized onions provides serious depth of flavour to these simple elegant
2 Tbs butter
6 cups onion
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup CAMPBELL’S® Ready to Use Beef Broth
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 lb frozen pre-rolled puff pastry, thawed
1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 Tbs chives or thyme, chopped
1. In large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onions, salt, pepper, mustard and thyme and cook until onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in broth and cook until almost all the broth is reduced and onions are soft and dark caramel in colour,about 20 minutes. Let cool.
2. Cut each piece of pastry into 25 (2-inch/5 cm) squares. Press pieces of pastry into tart shells or mini muffin pan. Chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Top with about 2 tsp (10 mL) of the onion mixture and a sprinkle of Gruyere.
3. Bake in the center of a 425°F (220°C) oven on a baking sheet until pastry is golden brown and puffed and cheese is bubbling, about 8 – 10 minutes. Top with chives or thyme just before serving warm.
Yield: 25
Tips
These pastries can be assembled and then frozen in the tart/ muffin pans for 1 hour. Once frozen,transfer to a freezer container with a lid for up to 3 months. Return to tart/muffins trays to bake from frozen,adding about 2 minutes to the cooking time.
Source: Campbell's
Author Notes Bake your pastry puffs with parchment paper to reduce clean up time!
Have a great day
Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThose French Onion Soup Puffs look great, but really and truly soup is about all I SHOULD be eating. New medicaton which made me nauseous made me lose weight quickly but now the nausea is not as constant I am making up for lost time.
Salad tonight.
I know exactly what you mean Susan. Much the same effect as I have had since my hospital stay only this has lasted a year now.
DeleteHi Jo - good luck ... not easy - especially as Matt can eat what he likes. The soup looks good ... for some reason I want to stuff some onions and have those ... they looked good and are not the kind of thing one often eats - yes onions always ... but not stuffed ones. All the best - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI did it before but.... Not sure I have ever eaten stuffed onions Hilary. I love baked onions, used to barbecue them, but you can do them in the oven wrapped in foil, quartered with lots of butter and salt.
Delete