Morning, TV and Spanish, Words for Wednesday, Shopping, Beans, Sunshine,

Matt is not up yet this morning, says he had a bad night. Probable because he sleeps a lot during the day and the body can only sleep so much I think. His breakfast is sitting on the table along with his morning pills so I will have to get him up soon for the pills alone.

As I mentioned, it's shopping today. I do hope I get everything but I don't suppose I will. I've got one egg left as I said and not much of anything else in the fridge. Just thought, I could have got some sausages out to defrost and cook for breakfast - for me anyway, Matt sticks to his cereal. I didn't think, I guess I could have had his cereal too, not very exciting stuff but....

Being Thursday I usually end up watching Morse on Public TV. It goes on quite late and then I end up writing my blog and doing my Spanish lesson which means I get to bed later than usual. I seem to have  trouble getting to bed before midnight anyway. So, I am writing this in the morning and will try to do my Spanish this afternoon.

Every Wednesday Elephant's Child publishes Words for Wednesday, sometimes these words are published on someone else's blog, but the idea is to make up a little story using some or all of the words. Much to my surprise, I am doing quite well at that. I especially liked the little story I did this week.

Alcalador sat in his sunless cave and settled down among the thousands of gold treasures on which he liked to sleep. The world had presumably forgotten his existence and he could sleep in happy contentment. Before he could drop from somnolence into sleep, he heard delicate footsteps outside – he called stop but whoever approached continued to do so in a more aggressive manner. Was this someone who was drawn to the rumours of great wealth, he hoped not but had had to deal with such before. Eventually a figure appeared in the entrance to the cave and he uttered one word, “Witch” for he recognized her, she had been to visit him many eons before. “We have to have a talk about what is going on in the world, which only we can fix, Alcalador” she said. She approached him at a brisk pace and sat between his giant legs, he debated whether to roast her to a crisp but decided to listen to what she had to say, the world could well be in trouble. 

The highlighted words are the ones we had to use this week. I am patting myself on the back. If you like writing, you should go and try it. Some people come up with marvellous ways to use the words given to us. We are such an inventive lot.

Just got my shopping and, unbelievably, they didn't have bananas or carrots. Kathy, who so very kindly picked up my shopping for me, also picked up some bananas for me and brought me some carrots too. Rather more than I needed, but better than having none. I have decided I rather like tortillas to use for breakfast, I ended up with two packets today. I have stuck one lot in the freezer. The proper way to freeze them is to re-pack them individually, might regret that I haven't done that.

I have bought two types of beans so I think I will invent a bean soup as I can no longer get hold of the 13 bean soup I had been making. I do enjoy bean soups, cooked in the Instant Pot of course.

I do wish the sun would put his hat on and come out today. Asparagus doesn't grow without a dollop of sun and rain both.

I published this recipe in 2016 and thought it sounded so good I would publish again We still seem to be able to get mushrooms around here, just not bananas LOL.

CAPRESE PORTABELLA MUSHROOMS

MUSHROOMS CANADA
PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES | COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES | SERVES 4

Ingredients

8 portabella mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 cup quinoa, cooked
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
16 mini buffala mozzarella balls
16 cherry tomatoes
¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Meanwhile, gently wash away dirt from mushrooms, then carefully cut away stems and scrape out each mushroom. Set filling aside.
3. In a large bowl, toss quinoa with mushroom filling, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Stuff each mushroom with filling, then top each with two mozzarella balls and two cherry tomatoes.
4. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is completely melted. Remove from oven and top each mushroom with a bit of fresh basil. Enjoy!

Have a great day, stay well, stay safe, stay home.
 

Mother's Day, Bowling, Recipe and Beans,

I hope all you mothers out there had a very Happy Mother's Day on Sunday. I had my usual day of a couple of glasses of Fizz, some smoked salmon and, of course, some asparagus. Not because it was Mother's Day but because it was Sunday. Actually I had a fried egg and some asparagus for breakfast too, no, I didn't have asparagus for supper!!

No league bowling Monday, the winter season is now over. We begin the summer season on Wednesday. I am hoping to get my X-ray and Ultra Sound completed this morning and then we may go bowl a couple of games anyway. Next month the alley is closed on Mondays, in fact during the week it is only open Wednesday and Thursday. Not sure about the weekend. We never bowl then so no idea what happens.

Having decided to treat ourselves to fillet steak on Saturday, I wanted a different recipe so thought I would try this one. I have never seen this kind of butter bean in this part of the world, so I used white beans and, not having yoghurt I used cream and a little lemon juice. It was delicious. I really didn't think it was going to be this good. Only trouble now, I have some beans and leeks left over. Do try it I know you will enjoy it. Sunday I did some googling and it appears that Lima Beans really are butter beans and they can come in green or fade to cream colour like the ones in the picture below. Will have to check it out when I go shopping although the beans I used were fine.

Grilled Fillet Steak with the Creamiest White Beans and Leeks

JUICY, A LITTLE BIT BOOZY AND BRILLIANT

4 leeks , trimmed and finely sliced
1 small bunch fresh thyme , leaves picked
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
olive oil
1 small wineglass white wine
500 g good-quality tinned butter beans , drained and rinsed
1 small handful freshly picked parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 Tbs fat-free natural yoghurt
good-quality peppery extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 200 g well-marbled quality fillet steaks, 2.5-4cm thick
1 lemon

1. Sweat the leeks, thyme and garlic with a splash of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on a low heat for 20 minutes until they are soft and sweet. Turn up the heat and add the white wine. Let the wine come to the boil, then add the beans and a splash of water, so that the beans are almost covered. Allow to simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes until the beans are lovely and creamy. Add the parsley, yoghurt and a good lug of the extra virgin olive oil and taste for seasoning.

2. Heat a griddle pan until white-hot, season your steaks and pat with olive oil. Grill a 4 m/1½ inch thick steak for 2 to 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. You can keep them on there for longer, turning as you go, until cooked to your liking. Remove from the grill on to a dish and rest for 5 minutes. Squeeze over some lemon juice and drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil. Carve the steaks into thick slices. Divide the creamy beans between your plates and place the steak on top, drizzling over some of the resting juices.

Servings: 4

Author: Jamie Oliver
Source: Cook with Jamie

Money Crisis, Beans and Civic Holiday

Over the weekend the Americans have been bandying round the sum of 2.4 trillion dollars, I knew I had seen pictures so I Googled to see what that amount of money looks like. Its so easy to bandy these sums about without realising what is really involved. I have been having trouble understanding the whole situation in the States, I can’t understand why getting further into debt would enable them to pay off their loans!!! Doesn’t sound logical to me. Nor do I understand when they are so far in debt they are worrying about their triple A credit rating. How can you have such a credit rating when you are so in debt????

In Saturday’s blog I was talking about flat beans, a friend in the UK pointed out that flat were quite different from runner beans, I must admit I generally tend to lump them all together because we so rarely have access to any of them here. When we lived in North Carolina, there was one produce stall we went to all the time and in season they would have all kinds of different beans, some of which were runner beans, I don’t remember all the different names they went by but they were all good. I also remember many years ago in the UK that a friend, knowing how much I liked runner beans, grew some black ones specially for me. I had never seen or heard of them before, I prepared them in the usual way, French cut, and then was very disappointed that when I cooked them they turned green. What a chiz. Damned if I can find a picture though, not even on Google UK. I don’t mean the bean inside was black, but the pod itself was black.

Today is Civic Holiday in Canada, means my anticipated deliveries from Amazon.com will not be arriving til, hopefully, tomorrow. I thought it was a holiday in the States too, but seems I am wrong. They have been shooting off fireworks over the weekend, why, I don’t know, it isn’t usual for Civic Holiday. Of course, holidays don’t mean much when you aren’t working anyway.

This sounds a delicious twist on chicken soup and even though its summer, I still like a good soup. I will definitely have this one in the pot in the not too distant future. Not only that, its gluten free.

Gluten-Free Chicken Soup

By The Gluten Free Goddess
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

This isn't your Grandma’s chicken soup. And she might not approve of the liberties I've taken crankin' up the standard Jewish flavours more than a simple notch. But tradition is one thing. Great taste is another. I say, be flexible.

Ingredient

Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
3-4 split chicken breasts (free-range organic, if possible), rinsed, patted dry
8 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 heaping cups thinly shredded cabbage (bagged coleslaw mix is fast and easy)
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, cut up
1 yellow summer squash, cut up
2 zucchini squash, cut up
6 to 8 baby Yukon Gold potatoes, cut up
1 4-oz. can chopped green chilies -- mild or hot, to taste
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon each of: dried basil, oregano and parsley
Hot red pepper flakes, shake to taste
1 14-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 or more cups chicken broth, as needed
A dash or two of balsamic vinegar to taste

Instructions

Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into the bottom of a Crock Pot or slow cooker. Lay the chicken breasts in the bottom; top with half the chopped garlic. Season the mixture with sea salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, bell pepper, yellow and zucchini squashes, potatoes, and green chiles; and toss them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Season the mixture with sea salt, ground pepper, herbs, and a shake or two of hot red pepper flakes. Toss to coat.

Pour the veggies into the crock in an even layer. Pour on the diced tomatoes. Add the chicken broth and a dash of balsamic vinegar, to taste. The liquid should just about cover the veggies. If you like more of a brothy soup than a stew, add more broth.

Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours, until the chicken is tender and easily breaks apart into pieces with a large spoon (my chicken was very cold when it went into the pot, so adjust your cook time accordingly, if you need to).

Taste test for seasoning adjustments. I added a pinch of brown sugar to mine to balance the tomato-garlic and spice. Stir in any seasoning adjustments and serve.

Makes four hearty servings to soothe you, body and soul. This recipe is gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, corn-free.

Total Servings: 4

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 301
Carbohydrates: 33.6g
Cholesterol: 72mg
Fat: 4.5g
Saturated Fat: 1.1g
Fiber: 8.1g
Sodium: 441mg
Protein: 32.4g

Have a great day