this week

Mr T enjoying a meat bagel sandwich. They were great!

We'll definitely do them again. Every other week or so, I imagine. Highly recommend if you are allergic to gluten or are grain-free or whatever. Recipe here.

Cabbage on the grill - delicious! This was made right after bacon, and I drizzled over a little extra bacon fat to cook it. So good.

The bases for these blueberry tarts! Instead of coconut flour I used 1 scant cup ground pecans, and instead of arrowroot powder I used 1/4 c white rice flour.

Aren't they pretty!? Even with an ugly cookie sheet under them! Next time I will omit the salt in the blueberry mixture though. Really unecessary.

This week's menu. I am stuck about Sunday lunch. Any ideas? Cheap and yummy please. Make-in-advance okay.

Also, no picture for this, but I hosted an ice cream party/workshop this week with a couple of friends. It was fun. Making ice cream from coconut bars is so dead easy. We did straight vanilla, then carob & cinnamon. Delish. I have been very into adding extra coconut oil when making an egg-free ice cream, whether with dairy or coconut milk, but we're out now, and it was really fine. It was a fun day and was a very perfect sort of party to have near the end of the summer.

this week's menu

Yes... meat bagels!

dairy-free peach & vanilla ice cream

JUST DO IT!

In a blender mix one bar coconut cream, five peaches, 2/3 c brown sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, and enough water to bring it up to 1.5L (standard capacity). Blend on liquify for 3-5 minutes (it will seem excessive but it helps get the coconut meat in the bar as smooth as possible).

Churn in an ice cream maker.

Pour right into popsicle moulds (spoon it in, it's too thick for a funnel) and little serving jars (I used 125mL and 250mL). Freeze. Let the very hard ice cream clinging to the walls of the drum sit and soften for a little while - this will be your snack in an hour or so.

Enjoy.

catch-up mashup

Ladies!! I know I'm super overdue with a post, but for those of you who don't know, I'm back in Missouri for the start of the fall semester, so getting myself ready (grocery shopping, sweeping, dish-washing, crying, lol) has taken up so so much time.

So without further ado...I present my favourite food moments of the summer!

my grandma looking RADIANT at the Lachine Rapids. I took her for her birthday in June and she was the happiest girl in the world. We had (lots of) wine, stuffed pickled eggplant, and baby back ribs.

Julia and I went to Aux Vivres and shared 2 plates. These vegan pancakes don't look like much, but they were AWESOME. with cranberry-orange jam and cashew cream. It was INSANELY good.

My dad's famed kebabs. The secret(s): baking soda, and spraying them with water as they grill to help them stay moist. 

The speech therapist I volunteered under got me this basil from her produce basket one week because I keep talking about this site. Really sweet of her! Also served as aromatherapy in some shitty Montreal traffic. 

Mr. T mans the grill for the annual Ghali-Paraskevas Seafood BBQ

Showing off his grillin skillz

what heaven looks like covered in pink icing 

I brought my friend Nadia to Verdun for lunch at a place called Café Fraisjus that I'd been dying to try. It's a creperie, but since I am paleo-ing I had a chicken salad with curry-yogurt dressing. It was incredible!

these guys really know how to nab the foreigners. love me some lamb! At the Soulard Market in Saint Louis. I'm carrying 3 bouquets of flowers I got for $10 because the florist was closing up shop for the day and wanted to sell fast.  

Legit the best bloody mary I've ever had. Pickled aspargus and beans in the drink. YUM. AND it was only $4--DAYUM!
 Left, a Korean BBQ wrap. DELICIOUS. 

The lady who makes $4 Bloody Mary's and margaritas. 

Matt and his mom on the farm. They were just about to pull a cantaloup from the ground for me. YES. FROM THE GROUND, WENCHES.

More farm

NY Sirloin Cuts for cheap from the local meat grocer and an orange-cilantro marinade

My wonderful boss brought me fresh herbs from her garden! Chives, mint, oregano, rosemary, and STEVIA!

Y'all these are TOMATOES.

chicken livers sauteed with leeks in white wine and garlic; with a side of roasted root veggies. Not the best combination, but I wanted potatoes and I wanted liver. I tried to replicate a dish Amy once made, but it was nowhere near as good.

getting organized

our compost is so so so full. we've been putting off buying another bin but it's pretty absurd. (we have a second one but it's full of more-mature compost; we'd been rotating the two but we might have to add a third in.)

Tony got me a new dress! The LG connection is minimal, I guess, but this was taken in the garden, at wine & dessert time, so yknow, whatever.

the light and shadows on the laundry were so beautiful.

dessert

my tea cabinet. just in case you were always curious.

Okay, this is what this post was really about! with Ambrose at preschool now I have found that I am actually able to do things like a meal plan again. Having it on the board, in the main activity center of the house, is really excellent for me to plan and ponder and rework as necessary. So I thought each week I'll take a picture of what the menu has and maybe talk about what we're eating, or you can suggest things, or just to serve as a reminder for me. I write it out Sunday evening, then I do the shopping Monday, so I flesh it out a bit more after that. Good times.

summer lovin

I made jerky with some leftover ham last month. And it's still good!

I also have been making some simple fizzy drinks. I still have this one, which had plums, and grapefruit as a secondary fermentation flavourer. I wonder if that's still good...

I eat eggs almost every morning. So over the guilt.

Sam made us her traditional seafood BBQ as a goodbye a couple of weeks ago... sniff, sniff.

Some soup.

My first zucchini harvest!! Last year the squirrels ate all my cucumbers and pumpkin babies. This year I have been using human hair to deter them. Whenever I comb by hair out after a shower, I usually put the loose hairs in the sink, then trash or compost them. So I've been taking them outside and tucking them into the garden. Seems to be working!

cookie contemplation

noms. (GF cookies are one of the easiest transitions to make in baking, in my experience. This is an old, well-beloved recipe for us. It requires no modification other than switching wheat flour for rice flour 1:1. And this batch turned out PERFECT. Do not overbake is the golden rule of GF cookies.)

a dish of shredded cabbage, quinoa, tomatoes and their juice, cheese, and herbs.

I'm reading this amazing wonderful book, Salad for Dinner, from the library. It's gorgeous and educational and inspiring. I highly recommend it.

another spread

he likes using knives.

it makes the food taste better when he does it himself, you see.