Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Recovering from our big family BBQ

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OK, recovery mode – over!

As I mentioned last week my brother came in to town this past weekend (Vancouver to Toronto) for a business meeting on Monday.

It had been a long time since any of my siblings or I had seen my brother … close to two years! So naturally, along with his three and a half day visit to Toronto we needed to arrange some kind of family get together. We also had Chris’ parents coming into town to take Chris and I out for a meal on Saturday.

I’d only found out that my brother was going to be coming for a visit and would be a house guest last Tuesday or so … So we were in a mad scramble to 1. clean the house, 2. prepare for a family gathering and 3. figure out how we’d see the in-laws on Saturday as well!

There were lots of family emails going back and forth all week as we tried to plan for my brothers visit. Finally I came up with the idea of us having a backyard BBQ on Sunday that any family who wanted to come would be welcome to attend.

Now, I wouldn’t say our house was dirty … but we are in stalled renovation mode, and with a ceiling with slats nailed to it awaiting the tin ceiling we hope to put in … the house seems to get dustier quicker than it should. Not to mention the fact that our dog seems to be going through a heavy shed …

So I guess I started cleaning on Wednesday and put in a full day and a half on both Thursday and Friday! By the time my brother arrived I was exhausted … and I still had to get the food ready for the BBQ!

Luckily my brother is really easy going, willing to help out a bit and pretty much a perfect house guest! He happily tagged along on Saturday (after we’d gone out for a noon hour late breakfast with my husbands parents, picked my brother up at the airport and brought him back to our house) to the grocery store and beer store as we got everything we needed for the next days barbecue.

In the end I bought too much food! We were expecting a total of 13 people and I served Octoberfest sausages, Greek spicy Italian sausages (I know weird – made by a Greek butcher, but Italian flavor LOL), fresh corn on the cob, a green salad, potato salad and the food that my sister, sister in law and niece were bringing as well!

I guess my family aren’t big eaters … we only went through about 10 sausages, and 8 hamburgers and had about the same amount of each (not yet cooked thankfully!) left over. I’d also cooked 15 corn on the cob and only 7 were eaten … So Chris and I have spent the week cooking up and eating the sausages that were already thawed for Sundays party and finishing up the salads and desserts!

I guess for us it’s been a week long barbecue!

On Monday evening we drove my brother to his Airport Motel (he had an early flight the next day so it was easier for all of us if he stayed closer to the airport), and then we spent some time in his motel room having a last visit. By the time we returned home it as close to midnight and Chris and I were beat.

Actually I was exhausted by Sunday evening or truth be told after all that cleaning before the weekend has even begun! Darn Crohn’s disease … it just wipes you out. Monday I had a massive headache all day … probably from being overtired and well .. I had a few drinks on Sunday … and I don’t drink very often these days.

Tuesday and Wednesday were right offs as well … It’s only today that I’m starting to feel more like myself.

I’m sure that if I were healthy (ie no Crohn’s!) having more than a dozen visitors descend on our home wouldn’t have fazed me all that much … but considering my health it was quite a big task … one that I made worse with my insistence that the house be as clean as it could be.

Have you ever been totally wiped out after having a family gathering and at least one house guest?

Anyone else having a big family gathering or reunion this summer? We had a great time at ours (my oldest brother couldn’t make it, but the rest of the siblings were there).





This month is so busy for me!

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Holy smokes it’s been a busy week!

A week or so ago I mentioned that Chris’ parents were going to be coming down on the weekend to take us out for dinner … well that didn’t happen. It was postponed and they are coming into town to take Chris and I for an early lunch this Saturday.

As it turned out it was just as well that my in-laws didn’t show up as my sister had an operation on her leg and knee last Friday so we went to visit her in the hospital on both Saturday and Sunday for several hours. She’s doing well- thankfully!

Then … just as the week started and I thought things were settling down, I got an email from my brother in Vancouver stating that he’s coming to Toronto this weekend and uhm … could he stay with one of us (ie us, one of my other brothers or my sister).

I volunteered our home, and since none of us have seen my brother for oh about a year and a half we decided that sometime on the weekend we’ll all get together for dinner. We might end up having a BBQ here on Sunday if the weather holds up. Right now the weather forecast says it’s going to rain on Sunday so we might all meet up in a restaurant after all.

If we do have a barbecue I think we’ll have at least ten guests! So it will be a busy day getting food prepared for the BBQ and preparing for guests. At least if it does turn out to be a nice day we can all sit outside in our garden.

I think I’ll be spending the next two days making sure our house is immaculate! I wish our dog wasn’t a shedder!

LOL I’ve been so busy lately with all the things Chris and I have been doing and now weekend guests every second weekend or so … I certainly wouldn’t want to be getting a life insurance quote right now as I think I’m getting a bit stressed out. In a good way of course, but still … I always get a little stressed when expecting house guests … especially if they’re my in-laws!

Have you been having a busy summer too? Expecting any house guests? Do you get a little stressed out as you prepare for guests in your home?

Delicious Sweet Potato Fries

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Over the last two weeks I kept seeing this commercial on TV for McCain’s new Sweet Potato Fries. My husband loves Sweet potatoes and yams and the few times he’s had Sweet Potato fries in restaurants he’s loved them.

So about a week ago we decided to get some of the new Sweet Potato fries when we were shopping for groceries. They were ok – not as tasty as some of the ones I’ve had in restaurants, but not bad. Unfortunately the bag didn’t have all that much in it – four small servings which we ate over two days.

When we went shopping last weekend I decided to buy some sweet potatoes and try making my own baked Sweet Potatoes fries. I didn’t think it would be too hard … I mean I’ve done it with regular potatoes- just some oil, garlic or onion powder and some Italian seasoning and bake. Yummy!

So on Monday, after looking at about 15 Sweet Potato Fry recipes online I decided to try my own hand at making some of these delicious treats.

I sliced up two sweet potatoes. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever cut a raw sweet potato, they are really hard … so instead of cutting them into wedges or “fry” like shapes I just cut them into circular slices, about 1/4 inch thick.

Here’s My Recipe for Baked Sweet Potato Fries:

2 sliced Sweet potatoes

In a bowl, mix:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar

Mix olive oil spices and brown sugar (optional) well and then stir the sliced Sweet Potato slices in the mixture until well coated with oil and spices.

Lay the coated Sweet Potato slices out on a baking pan and put them in an oven that’s been preheated to 425 F for approximately half an hour. I turned the “fries” after about 15 minutes.

Soon after putting the Sweet Potato slices in the oven the house was filled with the smell of cinnamon. I loved it!

My first attempt at sweet potato fries went well. They were absolutely mouth wateringly delicious. Sweet and tasty with a hint of medium/hot spice at the back of your throat after you’d swallowed a piece thanks to the Cayenne pepper. Unfortunately, probably due to the brown sugar that I added to the coating mix, our fries didn’t get crispy. The sugar probably prevented that. I still have some sweet potatoes so I’ll probably make Sweet Potato fries again this weekend – this time without the sugar. I’m sure they’ll be crisper, and likely just as tasty.

Do you like Sweet potato fries? Have you ever tried making your own? If so what spices do you put on yours – if any?

BTW sorry for not writing for a while! I think this is my longest gap in three years! I had a bad bad bad reaction to Sulfasalazine. See my post below. I had a rash all over my body, was nauseated and massively headache for about a week and a half. I hate taking new meds – I really do!

Herbed Pasta with Spinach – I’m Stuffed!

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I’m so full right now! Chris and I just had a kind of late dinner. Oh I was prepared to cook it by about 6:30, but Chris wasn’t due home from work until eight so I had to wait before I could try out a new recipe.

Yesterday while reading the March issue of Chatelaine (a Canadian Magazine) I came across a recipe for Herbed Pasta with Spinach. I modified the recipe a little bit as we didn’t have any goat cheese (feta) and I couldn’t find a brand I liked in the grocery store yesterday. So I used 3 tablespoons of herb and garlic light Philadelphia cream cheese instead of the goat cheese and I added chicken to the recipe. Yummy!

Here’s the original recipe:

Herbed Pasta with Spinach

  • 1/2 of a 450 gm pkg of chunky pasta (rigatoni, rotini) – about 2 cups
  • 19 oz can of stewed tomatoes
  • 1 tsp Italian Seasoning (or 1/2 tsp each of dried basil and oregano leaves)
  • pinch of chili flakes
  • 1 cup crumbled goat cheese
  • 3 cups baby spinach leaves
  • Cook your pasta as per the package directions and set aside.
  • Meanwhile, pour tomatoes with juices into a large saucepan and set over medium high heat. Add seasonings. Boil uncovered, stirring often to develop flavors – about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally while pasta cooks.
  • When the pasta is cooked, drain and then stir pasta into the tomato mixture along with half of the goat cheese. (Here’s where my recipe differs. I added the light cream cheese directly to the stewed tomatoes when they were simmering as I didn’t have any feta cheese). Stir in the spinach leaves (they will wilt quickly once added to the hot pasta) and serve with the remaining cheese sprinkled on top.
  • My recipe also differed in that I added chicken to it. Prior to making the sauce and pasta I got out a large skinless boneless chicken breast, cut it into bite sized pieces and then sauteed the meat in a pan with some Italian spices, basil and garlic. I then set the chicken aside until the pasta dish ready and topped our servings with the chicken pieces.

Delicious!

I only used half the sauce and half the chicken that I’d cooked for our meal so we’ll have this dish again tomorrow. I certainly don’t mind eating the same meal for dinner two nights in a row – not when it was this tasty!

Do you ever come across recipes in magazines that look and or sound so tasty that you want to try making them right away?

Grilling in my kitchen

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Earlier this evening, when Chris came home from work, I suggested to Chris that we get a Foreman Grill. I’d got a notice from a department store in our area that the G 2 EZ Broil grill was on sale.

We’ve been eating a lot of boneless Skinless chicken breasts lately and I’ve been getting kind of tired of baking them in the oven so I thought the grill might be a great addition to our kitchen appliances and I was fairly certain that I’d use it just about every day.

So when Chris got home from work I told him about the grill. I’d also looked up some reviews on that particular model to see how others liked it and it had good reviews, so we went out to the store to get one. We also stopped by a grocery store to pick up some salad making supplies and some hamburgers.

After getting the new grill out of the box and setting it up we grilled two hamburgers on it. man is that thing fast! Only five minutes and our burgers were done. Yummy!

Along with our hamburgers in Pita buns we had steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower) and I made a salad with baby mixed greens, grape tomatoes (none of the regular sized tomatoes were ripe enough in the store), cucumber, green pepper and a little feta cheese. We haven’t actually had a salad with our meals for quite a while so it was a very nice addition. Plus I made us each a big salad so it was filling too.

I already have some thawed chicken breasts in the fridge, so tomorrow we’ll have grilled chicken. Sunday perhaps we’ll have some of the Sole Fillets I bought last weekend. Hopefully everything cooks nicely on the grill!

Now if only I’d remembered to look for compact flash cards while we were in the store earlier I’d be set. I need a new one for my camera. Oh well … we still have the rest of the weekend.

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