Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

This salad looked to me like it would be either really really good...or really really bad. Turns out for the positive! Husband ate left over ragu for dinner tonight and I got busy making this salad for myself (along with bbq artichoke). To make this recipe by the book you use 2 whole cucumbers and it serves 10-12 people according to Nigella. So I thought "I'll just make half a cucumber. Then half the ingredients for the dressing. Sure it's gonna be a bit much dressing but I'll cope." As it turns out I'm not sure who exactly these 10-12 anorexic people Nigella served but I ate half the damn cucumber and didn't really have much of a dent in my hunger situation. I moved onto the artichoke and was a little more satisfied but I had to make a veggie dog to really end the screams for food coming from my stomach. But back to the salad. It's delicious and tangy and you just kinda gobble it up..or at least I did. Perfect for a hot summer day like today was. I spent the entire day cooped up in my air conditioned office and wasn't really dressed for the summer. By the time I got home in my jeans and t-shirt i couldn't get the jeans off fast enough and actually thought about walking around pant-less for the night. Then I pictured my newly single neighbour on the one side and my older gentleman neighbour on the side happening to peak out the window while I bbq'd in my unds and thought better of it. So I put on a pair of short shorts and decided they were slightly more decent to be seen in while grilling in the back yard. Anyhow, eating this salad after being so hot was quenching really. It was like eating a glass of water after a big bike ride or something active like that.

It's dead easy to make and while Nigella says 10-12 I'm thinking those people sure aren't eating much...I'd say the whole thing, 2 cucumbers and all would serve 6-8. Or 2 people who LOVE cucumbers. Like me.

Rapid Ragu

There's a fly in my house and it's driving me bonkers!!! Zoom, zoom, zoom and I can't grab a hold of it. I hate having flies in my house. It makes me think of my old apartment I had long ago on the wrong side of the tracks. Things started out good there but then they went terribly awry. We used to have a piece of cardboard and a disco ball in the living room and we would have these amazing "dance partys" with 4 people at the most. We would have a dance off like you wouldn't believe on the cardboard. It was so much fun...that was when it was good. Lemme tell ya about when it got bad. First - my sister and I (who I lived with) went to Florida and we came home to find that the man that lived above us had spent the week creeping about our apartment. The Landlord came by to check the place for us and found him in our kitchen!!!!! How effing creepy is that??? What then was the straw that broke the camels back was shortly after that we found a bunch of maggots under our kitchen sink. Even now bile comes up my throat just thinking about it. That was a good 1o years ago and I'm still effected by it. This is why I'm freaking out about this one fly. Flies in my house give me the heebie-jeebies!

Despite the fly I managed to make Husband a meat laden dinner - which he loved. I thought this meal looked kinda gross - but Husband seemed to find it appealing. Perhaps I'm too far removed from the time of meat-eating but this had zero appeal to me. I don't know what to say about this really...mostly because it didn't look good to me..but sometimes taste and looks aren't related. Husband cleaned his bowl up and remarked that it was good. So it's a bit of a coin toss for me here. Obviously it must taste decent but the look just wasn't appealing. If you like chili con carne you may wanna try this but just remember I warned you it doesn't look a peach.

Now where did that fly go....

Clafoutis

Today I reached a milestone...I now have under 100 recipes to make...I feel like I'm on a big countdown. It's like I'm half way up Mount Olymus and I can actually see the peak at the top. I'm pretty freakin' pumped about this. I still haven't made 100 recipes..but having over 100 to make felt like a weight on my chest...this feels so much more managable. The truth is I have many ideas what to do with this blog once I'm finished this first project but I have to finish this before I start that..and so I'm beginning to feel as though the end is in sight.

Now the clafoutis, I was 100% set to make this recipe and was pulling ingredients left right and centre when I pulled the milk I discovered we had a pitiful amount left. Immediately I regretted my bowl of cheerios for breakfast, shoulda had the yogurt...No what was I to do without enough milk??? I'd put my PJs on as soon as I got home and didn't really wanna get dressed again...was too lazy to go to the store. But I did have some rice milk. So I wondered..can you replace dairy milk with rice milk when making a custard type dessert???? I googled it, and found enough confidence on line to give it a whirl.

The custard turned out pretty good. I wasn't sure how much I liked it when I ate my piece. So I decided, strictly for research, I'd have to have a second. After my second piece I still didn't know what to think. This clafoutis is perfectly enjoyable..but I can't really think the perfect occasion to serve it. To me this isn't really a show stopping dessert. hmmm I guess this is just the kind of treat to make for yourself. Something to make your Sunday cuppa a little more special perhaps. Or maybe something to serve for a very casual type of afternoon entertaining.

This recipe isn't glorious except in the fact that I'm that much closer to reaching my goal. But perhaps it can make a Sunday afternoon a little more glorious for you.

Crab and Avocado Salad with Japanese Dressing

I don't know if I recommend this or not....It's good. But it's not fantastic. Maybe it's because I used immitation crab and not the real deal. But it just didn't rock my tastebuds world. Don't get me wrong this is a good salad. But I've come to expect more from Nigella. I'd say make this if you have the stuff on hand but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to make this.
It's nice and light and of course simple to prepare...it's a summer lunch kinda salad. Make this if you're truly tempted but if you want a truly amazing salad go for the Salad Nicoise.

Chicken, Mushroom and Bacon Pie

What do you make for dinner when you've been spoiled with amazing seafood for 5 days??? Answer: this. OMFG this is a good recipe. Pretty easy and soooo freakin' deliscious. I had to make this a little different because I don't eat chicken or bacon so here's how I dealt with that.

I don't keep bacon in the house so I planned to use those "real bacon" bacon bits in place for husband and then I also used the pre-cooked, pre-sliced chicked breasts for Husband's too. These 2 ingredients I added only after I'd made the filling and taken my share for my pie. So I sauteed the mushrooms in oil and garlic (more oil than listed to make up for there being no bacon greese in the pan) then I added the flour, vegetable stock (in place of chicken stock), wine and thyme. Let this boil and then took my share. To my share I added some brie cheese for a bit of excitement since I had 2 flavour pieces missing. Then I added Husbands bacon bits and chicken stirred it up again and portioned out his. Then I put on the pastry lids and let her cook in the oven like Nigella told me to.

When these came out of the oven I was visually pleased and excited to try this. I was not disappointed. Husband and I both loved this (though we had different versions - his the real mine the veggie) and I can tell you I will be making this again for sure!!!!

Chocolate Macaroons

When I was a kid my mom made us chocolate macaroons all the time...but they were nothing like this. Mom's had coconut and were made on the stove top as a drop cookie. I can't really say I like those cookies anymore, maybe I reached my limit as a kid...but these ones are pretty darn good. And they're gluten free so you can serve these to peeps with wheat allergies. Better than that they take about 5 min to prepare and then only 10 min to cook. You use ground almond in the place of flour which gives a nice nutty flavour. And the egg white gives the outside of the cookie a nice glazed look. Husband and I both enjoyed these..and that is saying something from me because I really don't like cookies for the most part.

Rouge Limonade

It's so hard to get yourself out of vacation mode. Today I had some hard hitting chores to do like vacuum, grocery shop, clean toilets, laundry the list goes on and on. What I managed to get done was grocery shop (we had no food), dusting the seats on the couch with my behind, watching some tv, watching a documentary and looking at pictures of my vacation. So as you can see I got a lot accomplished. I also managed to drink half a bottle of wine through the course of the afternoon. Mixed with a little lemonade of course. It's really a great little drink and couldn't be easier to make. It's a bit of a poor man's Sangria...and who isn't looking to save a few bucks...especially if you just got back from pissing your money away on lobster dinners....No I take that back - that money was well spent!