a hippie with a minivan

Meal Plan for the week…

Making a meal plan every week is a life saver with 4 kids, or even 3… or 2…

Having a list of planned meals, buying for those meals and going to the grocery store with a detailed list means that you don’t only save money, but you also don’t waste food. I have following this way of shopping for a few years now and I have never once regretted it. I don’t go to the extent that I plan all of the meals each day, I need some spontaneity. I plan 6-7 supper meals and eat them in the order that we feel like, starting with meals with ingredients that we need to use up more quickly, like meat.

My procedure for planning meals was written here…

To make things easier and to add a bit of variety, I am in the process making a document of Meal ideas at the moment that has all of the meals that we enjoy eating and making by category. I find that looking at a list of meals makes meal planning a lot easier. It also reminds me of things that we haven’t made in a while.

This week our Grocery bill came to about 110$, in my opinion that is not bad at all for a family of 6 (well 5 who actually eat)

Chicken Tikka Masala
Pizza (dough here)
Szechwan Eggplant and Cauliflower
Meat and sweet potato pie (recipe to come)
Potato-Leek soup (recipe to come)
Spaghetti sauce (recipe to come)
Fondue

Retro Owl Dress….

As those in Canada know, fabric is hard to find. There is only so much that you can find at Fabricville/Fabricland… I had seen a large fabric store called “Club Tissue” from the Highway heading to Montreal but I had never stopped… but I decided to head there last weekend when I was in the area. I was so surprised at the selection they had! I fell in love with this Retro Owl fabric the minute I saw it and the coordinating fabric with little flowers and peace signs… I knew I had to make a dress out of it!

I am so happy with the way this dress turned out…

The bodice is inspired from one in the Ottobre magazine and I really love the idea of having the elastic in the shoulder straps. The rest of the design is mine… The bodice was a bit big so I added the tie… Of course that means that it will just fit for longer…

ETA: Here is the Mushroom version of this dress…

Cha-cha-cha-Chia!

When I was in BC visiting Annie, her mom also came for a visit and had brought Chia Seeds with her. I had only even heard of chia in those informercials about Chia pets around the holidays when I was young… I still remember the jingle vividly..

Annie’s mom mentioned that Chia was a great super-food, high in Omega-3’s… So when I got home I and found some at my grocery store I decided to try them and look for more info. I was amazed at what I found. It seems that Chia has been a big craze in the last few years but I guess we are really behind in crazes because it was all new to me.

Chia seeds are in the Mint family and were once considered a staple food for the Aztec. Not only is Chia said to be higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, it also contains higher amounts of protein, dietary fibre and antioxidants. Unlike Flax seed, it doesn’t have to be ground and it does not go rancid either so it can be stored indefinitely.

Again like flax, when you add water to Chia seeds a gel is formed. Chia can absorb 10X its weight in water. What is different however with Chia is that the gel isn’t oily or sticky as the flax gel gets but instead each seed is enveloped. When you touch it you fingers are just slightly damp and it doesn’t stick at all and instead the seeds are like like pearls of tapioca.

You can either use Chia by sprinkling it on your food, or adding it to recipes, but my favourite way to use it is to make “Chia Fresca”…

This drink not only helps rehydrate, but also gives a healthy dose of Omega-3’s, protein, fibre and antioxidents. And because the Chia seeds hold so much water themselves by making the chia gel before hand, you are also getting more water in your water… 🙂

Make the Chia gel by mixing any amount of chia seeds with 10X the amount of water… stir a few tines so that is doesn’t clump and then let sit to form the gel for about 10 min…

You can make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge…

Squeeze some lemon into your water, add a few spoonfuls of Chia gel and that’s it! (some may add sugar but I like it as is)

(the true and natural energy drink)

Redpath…

On Monday we headed to the Redpath Museum in Montreal for a workshop on meteorites…

Last time we were at the Redpath Xavier started getting sick on the way there and we ended up spending a lot of time in the bathroom… This time we got there early and were able to spend some time looking around… what a great museum. If you are in Montreal, it is a great place to stop by and check out 🙂

We went and looked at the mummies again and then some other curious and interesting artifacts…

Skeletons… Samurai armour… shrunken head… so many questions…

then of course the the dinosaur skeletons were a big hit… The boys were amazed at the size of them…

This is Gorgosaurus libratus a genus of T-Rex that lived in Western Canada at one time…

I forgot the name of this guy… but I stood next to him fascinated for quite a while…

The Triceratops skull was massive… It is hard to imagine that they were Herbivores…

Then we met up with the other homeschoolers that were there and the workshop started…

The format of the Workshops given at the Redpath are great. The kids have a short information session… not more than 30 min in all and not all at the same place, so there are moving around bit… Then a craft session to finish things up…

Szechwan Eggplant and Cauliflower

I had no idea what I wanted to make for supper but knew that I wanted to use the eggplant that I had in my fridge. I also knew that I didn’t want to make my usual eggplant dishes so I went searching…

I was looking for something salty and sweet and tangy with a bit of heat. I found an obscure recipe that gave me an idea and decided to figure something out and this is what I came up with…

Szechwan Eggplant and Cauliflower on rice..

It was so delicious!! I liked eggplant, but I never knew how much I actually love eggplant!!

So it started… first I sauteed some cubed eggplant (1 whole large eggplant) in the wok with a bit of peanut oil… I didn’t stir too much, and didn’t crowd the pan as I wanted the eggplant to get a nice caramelized colour..

Then I saw that even a whole eggplant doesn’t make too much… so then entered the cauliflower…

I put the eggplant aside, chopped up a head of cauliflower and then did a few batches the same way in the wok as I did the eggplant… You don’t want to overcook the cauliflower though, a bit of crunch adds so much to the dish alongside the soft texture of the eggplant..

In the meantime I put together the sauce… I made it up a bit as I went along so the measurements are approximative and you might need to adjust as you see fit…

In a bowl mix together

1/2 cup stock
5 tbsp garlic
Black bean garlic sauce (or chili bean paste)
4 tbsp of tamari
2 tbs of rice vinegar
5 tsp sugar
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tbsp of ginger

Put the cauliflower aside, add some chopped onion to the wok and stir-fry until translucent. Add the sauce, bring to a boil and then add a bit of a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Adjust seasonings if needed…

Once thickened, add the cooked eggplant and cauliflower to the sauce and stir…

Serve over rice with some green onions on top… or even just on its own… it is just that good…