Tales From the Minivan

I have to apologize, since I’ve been a little neglectful with my Blog. The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy. Our meal planning has been going great. I really like Sandi’s system, and plan on sticking with it!

So what have we been up to? Well last weekend we decided to take an impromptu trip to Maine. The kids had Friday off school, so Andrew took the day off as well and we drove down to Maine for the night. We really didn’t go down for anything specific, we did try and get some ideas of want the boys would like for their upcoming birthdays and some ideas for Christmas gifts.

The drive down was beautiful, it was a gorgeous fall day and the foliage was so colourful. I kept forgetting to take photos all weekend! I did manage to get one of the International Boundary sign on the bridge at the border. We always joke around when we see this sign. The boys sit in the third row of the minivan, and I always say jokingly, “Mom and Dad are in the US, and the boys are still in Canada!” The second photo was also taken from the International Bridge, at the St. Stephen, NB, Calais, Me border crossing.

We ended up staying the night in Ellsworth, Me instead of our usual Bangor. It seems that with the Canadian dollar being so high right now, the hotels in Bangor are fully booked! We didn’t mind the extra drive, and we got to stop at my mother’s favorite little takeout called Jordan’s Snack Bar. My mother is always raving about this little place and their amazing Lobster Rolls. Take a look at the Reviews they’ve gotten on TripAdvisor

For those of you wondering what TripAdvisor is, a site where you can get feedback and reviews on everything travel related. It includes, hotels, flights, attractions, and restaurants. Some times you can even check out extra photos of properties that people have reviewed. It’s a great place to start when researching a trip!

Our next morning we got up nice and early and had a swim in the indoor pool then went out to Denny’s for breakfast. Took a drive into Bangor and did a little shopping at Target and ToysrUs. Here’s the kids showing off their new Pokemon characters.

I am REALLY getting into this meal planning! This method has really made it enjoyable! I love that I’m finally getting to try some recipes in some of the great cookbooks I have. I love to cook and try new things, but in the past whenever I wanted to try a new recipe, I found there was always an item or two that I didn’t have. Planning these meals out before grocery shopping has insured that I don’t miss something, plus it’s saving me money! I now don’t have to make that trip to the grocery store for an item I was missing and walking out spending more than I needed to.

So onto this evening’s dinner, I did a baked rigatoni. It took a little under 30 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to bake, not bad! I did have to add a little something for the boys that the recipe did not call for, but was a great addition. The boys love pepperoni, so I bought a stick of it and sliced some coin sized portions to add. I also added some Italian sausage to it as Andrew and I like it and it was on sale this week. I bought a really large tray of them, so what I did was boiled them then let them cool, removed the casings and sliced them into coins, then froze them. This makes it really easy to throw them into a pasta dish for a little extra flavor. Here’s the recipe for anyone that’s interested!

BAKED RIGATONI
1 T olive oil

½ lb of lean ground beef

2 mild Italian precooked sausage sliced into coins (optional)

1 diced onion

1 diced red pepper

1 can of tomato sauce

1 cup of cottage cheese

3 cups of rigatoni, cooked

1 cup of shredded cheese

¼ cup of romano cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350F

In a Skillet heat olive oil and sauté onions and peppers until translucent. Add ground beef and cooked until browned and crumbled, add sausage and continue to stir often. Next add tomato sauce and cottage cheese and rigatoni to the sauce and mix well. In a 11x 13 casserole add the rigatoni mixture and top with the two cheeses. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.

After such a successful week of meal planning and no last minute scrambling at Dinnertime last week, I decided to take Saturday morning and review the grocery store flyers for sales and plan around any deals. For me this really works well, and I find saves a lot of money. I figured out that we were actually spending less than $100 a week on groceries. I’m curious to see if this number will go up over the next little while as our family “Fixes Dinner” and eats out less often. At our Family Meal Planning Meeting I gave everyone an opportunity to choose a meal (well 5 of us anyway ;)…Finn doesn’t get a say yet!) After the meals were chosen, I used Sandi’s Cooking for the Rushed-Custom Grocery List I made my list of 5 meals, then added any ingredients that I did not have on hand to the list. One thing I did do and made a small star on any items if they were on sale and what store (I normally always go to both major chains as they are very close together.) What I like about this list is that the items were grouped together and it was easier to make sure you didn’t miss anything. I almost always forget something and have to make a trip mid-week to get something I’ve missed.

Off I went Sunday afternoon (all alone believe it or not) armed with my list, and I’m am so glad I had a plan this week! Sunday night the stomach flu hit, first Finn, then two days later Ciaran. Let’s just say, a LOT of laundry has been done this week. In the past something like this would have totally thrown me off and I would have been scrambling at Dinnertime or asking Andrew to pick something up, but since I had everything I needed on the list and my meals set for the week, it was one less thing I needed to worry about! So here’s how the week played out!

Monday- Memphis Rubbed Chicken (recipe below) Roasted with Root Veggies

This was my choice for the week and is super easy. Small whole chickens were on sale, and my plan was originally to make two using our “double beer can stand” (see pic below) but I completely forgot that I was decluttering the kitchen this summer and gave away the only roasting pan that it fit into. So I decided to freeze one of the chickens and roast the other using a dry rub, and throw in some cubed, red skin potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and turnip into the roaster with the chicken. I added some chicken broth to the roaster as well, then baked until my chicken had reached 180°F ( a meat thermometer is a necessity if you cook a lot of whole chickens and turkeys like I do) by then the veggies were nice and tender.

Memphis Dry Rub Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup paprika

1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

DIRECTIONS

In a small airtight container, mix paprika, dark brown sugar, white sugar, salt, celery salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, garlic powder and onion powder. Seal and store in a cool dark place until ready for use.

Outcome: Delicious!!…lots left for lunch the next day, and the left over chicken will be used for Tuesday’s Dinner! Liam, once again wouldn’t try anything. What am I going to do with this boy?

Photo of Beer Can Chicken with Memphis Dry Rub

Tuesday- Chicken Fajitas

This was Andrew’s pick for the week, and was super easy as all I had to do was wash, slice and sauté the peppers. Once they were getting tender I added in some Epicure Fajita Seasoning (for those of you not familiar with Epicure Selections they are a Canadian Company that have fantastic seasonings and spices and offer home parties, I had a party last fall and fell in love with their stuff). After the seasoning was added I threw in the leftover chicken, and that was it! I must add, that I have never been more happy to chop lately. I got a new knife at a Pampered Chef Party, and I love this little green knife called the Color Coated Santoku Knife, I will warn it’s super sharp, but cuts so nicely through everything! I was planning on spending big money on a really good quality knife, but I think I’d rather buy a few of these for $23 each, I’ll let you all know how it holds up.

I served the fajitas with whole wheat flat breads, grated marble cheese, salsa, sour cream, and since there was some leftover jasmine rice, I added some fajita seasoning to it and microwaved it to add into the fajitas.

Outcome: The boys would not touch a bite, by now Ciaran’s flu had set in and anything put in front of him was turned down. Liam, just keep helping himself to the grated cheese!

Wednesday- Rachael Ray’s Spaghetti and Meatball “Stoup”

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Carrot peeled and diced

1 medium onion diced

2 celery stalks

3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 box of chicken broth

Optional Ingredients if making own meatballs:

1 lb of ground beef

1/2 cup grated parmigiano or romano cheese

½ cup Italian season breadcrumbs

1 large egg

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

½ lb of spaghetti broken (or whatever pasta you prefer)

1 cup of fresh basil leaves (I did not add this)

1. Preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat; add olive oil, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and saute 5 minutes.
2. Add tomato sauce, chicken stock and cover pot; turn up heat and bring to a fast boil; while soup comes cooks make meat balls.
3. Mix ground meat with cheese, bread crumbs, egg and parsley; roll into 1 1/2 to 2 inch-balls. ***I used frozen Italian style meatballs)
4. Remove lid from soup and SLIDE balls into soup; bring back to a boil then stir in spaghetti; reduce heat and simmer soup 10 minutes more, until pasta is tender and balls have cooked through; Stir in basil and remove’Stoup” from heat, serve soup with bread and cheese.

This soup was fantastic and Mackenzie’s chosen meal for the week. It’s called “Stoup” as it’s thicker that soup, but thinner than stew. I decided to make it a little more Liam friendly and added tricolor fusili and some organic alphabet pasta. I also threw in a couple of mild Italian sausages to make it a little more heartier.

Outcome- Success finally! Even Liam was asking for more “Stoup”! This will go into the rotation!

Thursday- Breakfast for Dinner

This was Liam’s choice for the week. He wanted Bacon and Eggs! Dinner consisted of a pound of maple bacon, 6 eggs and homemade hashbrowns fried with Vidalia onions.

The bacon, and eggs I did in the oven. My dad showed me this trick as long as you have a pan that is deep, to spread the slices of bacon on your sheet and bake in the oven at 375F the bacon cooks perfectly and rarely burns, and it’s much less messier than frying it on the stove. The eggs I found a recipe in CPO’s- Canada Cooks called Baked Eggs Toasty Cups and baked in the oven along with the bacon. My dad stopped by for a moment and was impressed with the smells coming from the kitchen. I get my love for food from him, thanks Dad! I must show one more gadget that is really useful, also by Pampered Chef. I used this to chop my potatoes to make the hashbrowns, it took just a couple of minutes to dice 8 potatoes and an onion! It’s called the Food Chopper and is amazingly easy to use and can be thrown into the dishwasher. I love doing carrots, celery, and onions with it for soups, it’s so quick!

Tomorrow Friday- Shepherds Pie

This is Ciaran’s pick, well his pick was “Mashed Tatos” but will eat this since the potatoes hide the extras in it! This reminds me I need to go take out my ground beef to thaw!

I really hope that by tomorrow Ciaran is finally feeling a bit better, this has been 3 days now of not keeping anything solid down. It’s days like these when I’m happy he’s still nursing and getting nutrients that way.

I’m always looking for great family friendly recipes, so if you have some send them my way or submit them to Canada Cooks!

After a wonderful week in Grand Cayman, I really felt that I’ve recharged my batteries and ready to jump right into the Challenge! I thought I’d share some of our meals from this week and let you know how things went!

Monday: This was a Holiday, and our first day home, so luckily dinner was leftover Turkey at Andrew’s Moms house. YUMMY! Turkey is my favorite!

Tuesday: Spaghetti and Garlic Cheese Bread (chosen by Mackenzie)

This was actually a really easy meal, as I generally make a huge batch of spaghetti sauce, then freeze it flat in large zipper freezer bags. Another thing that would work well, (as I’m trying to cut down on plastic bag use,) is to freeze the sauce in a circular container like an icecream container and place it in your crockpot for the day to warm. I made whole wheat spaghetti and picked up a fresh loaf of French Bread for the Garlic Cheese Bread.

Outcome: Well accepted by everyone, but Liam, but he did actually have a few bites, this is a start!

Wednesday: Beef in a Bag

Another easy meal that I really enjoy! I have mentioned this before on one of our MomTalk Podcasts called “What’s for Dinner?”. It’s made with a product from Club House, called “Bag n Season” it’s found in the garvy and sauces secion of your grocery store.

I threw in an inside round cut of roast beef in the bag along with an onion, potatoes, carrots, turnip and sweet potato, I tried something a little different and put in a can of beef broth in with the season mix and set the oven to use the delayed start, so I wouldn’t get side tracked and forgot to put it in. About 2 hours later, it was all perfectly cooked and delicious. If you’d rather use your own seasonings for your roast, you can also buy oven bags made called Look! You can usually find these in the area where freezer bags, plastic wrap and tin foil are found in your grocery store.

Outcome: Mackenzie, Ciaran and I all went back for seconds, Liam, would not try anything. He ended up having a ham sandwich. I did tell him, that if he wasn’t eating what everyone else was, that he’d have to wait until we were all finished before he got his. We’ll keep trying!

Thursday: Old Fashioned Potato Scallop and Ham

This recipe is so easy and came from a cooking course I took many years ago at a family resource centre in Nova Scotia.

Old Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes
1 onion thinly sliced
2 T flour
2 T margarine
2 cups of hot milk
1 cup of cheddar cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper

Slice potatoes into thin, coin shaped pieces. Slice onion into thin slices.
Layer 1/3 of potatoes in bottom of roasting pan (I use a 9×13 glass casserole). Cover with 1/3 of onion. Dot with margarine and sprinkle with 1/3 of flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and 1/3 of cheddar cheese. Repeat layers until all ingredients are layered. Pour hot milk over all ingredients, place into oven uncovered. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour, or until potatoes are baked through.

The ham was one I picked up on sale that I threw in the freezer, I took it out to thaw in the refrigerator Tuesday night. It was one that was already pre-cooked so all that had to be done was heat in up. I sliced it and placed it in a casserole dish and drizzled on some pure maple syrup and baked it in the over for about 15- 20 minutes.

Outcome: Liam would not touch the Potato Scallop, but gobbled up a really thick piece of ham.

Friday: Yellow Thai Chicken Curry with Jasmine Rice

This sounds like a really complicated dish, but I use a shortcut…canned vegetables! I know that they can be a little higher in salt content, so I make sure to rinse them first! I used to be able to find a really great curry paste at a local Asian market, but they don’t sell it anymore! I decided to try a can of PC’s Thai Yellow Curry Sauce (see photo below) and it’s really good! It’s extra hot so I add a can of coconut milk to it along with the vegetables (sweet potato, baby corn, potatoes, water chestnuts) and about 3 chicken breast that were already sliced and cooked.

Outcome: Everyone enjoyed and although Liam would not eat and of the vegetables in the curry, he did have a big bowl of Jasmine Rice with the curry sauce on it, it’s a start!

Now off to plan a family meeting on this week’s meal plan! I’m so proud of myself for sticking to the plan all week, this challenge is just what we needed!

I was very excited to spend our last day on the Grand Cayman at a place called Rum Point. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The water was a crystal clear turquoise that traveled as far as your eyes could see. It was overcast and even though started to rain, it didn’t dampen our spirits. Greg and his daughter Evelyn picked us up and we made the drive across the island to the Northside where Rum Point is located. Here’s few pics of our morning there.

Greg, Evelyn, Finn and I

A Sting Ray!

Our last afternoon was spent relaxing and getting ready for a double date with Greg and his wife Christine. Since Greg had arrived last fall, he had been wanting to take a Sunset Cruise on one of the Pirate Ships, so they called in their babysitter and off the adults went for an evening out on the Jolly Roger. Originally we had planned to do the Sunset Dinner Cruise, but there was some confusion when the reservation was made, and the caterers only had us down for appetizers. Greg and I were famished so we ran across the street to KFC to grab a quick bite to eat. (KFC- is extremely popular in Grand Cayman, I saw at least 3 locations. The funnier thing is that chickens are wild all over the island, I nearly burst out laughing seeing them roam around the front of the restaurant!)

The Jolly Roger is moored in the George Town Harbour, so we had to take a smaller boat out to it and we all set sail at 6pm. A friend of our operates a similar vessel in St Maarten, so it was a lot of fun for all of us. Here’s a few shots:

Since the sun sets so early in Grand Cayman (they do not observe Daylight Savings Time), it seemed a lot later than it was, so we decided to see a bit of the nightlife. We decided to go to the lounge at the Ritz Carlton Resort. What an amazing place, it’s hard to believe all of the décor, furniture etc. all has to be shipped in, it’s no wonder that can charge $500 + a night! I must say that their women’s restroom has to be one of the nicest I have ever seen! Of course I snapped a pic!

I must say, it was a wonderful week on a beautiful island, that I hope to return to with all of the kids. I know that they would really like it as well.

A huge thanks to Greg and Christine for taking some time out to entertain us, it wouldn’t have been the same without you guys!

After Last night’s dinner, Greg came over to drop of his vehicle for us to use for the day today while he and his wife Christine are working. Here in Grand Cayman they follow British Driving rules, so that means driving on the left hand side of the road! YIKES!

Well I did it, and it was fun, but very backwards feeling! We started out at our resort and headed West past Seven Mile Beach and headed to a place called Hell! What is Hell you ask? Hell’s intriguing formation, which resembles the charred remains of a hell fire, is weathered from rock called ironshore. Common around the island, but in less dramatic form, ironshore has been estimated at 1.5 million years old. The formation, which looks like volcanic rock, is actually made up of very hard limestone, at one time snow white, now blackened by a surface coating of the algae which are secreting acid and eroding the rock into these unusual shapes. There is also a little post office and a couple of token t-shirt souvenir shops close by.

***Note for Mackenzie-*** Hi sweets! We stopped by this post office and sent you a little note from there. I’m sure we’ll be home before you get it, but be watching the post office! Here’s some shots of Hell!

Next we decided to drive clear across the island, here’s a shot of me driving out to the East End of the Island to the resort we were originally going to stay at, called Morritt’s Tortuga Resort. Even though the day was overcast it was beautiful and a place I would definitely consider staying at in the future.

Dinner tonight consisted of leftovers from last night’s Chicken & Rice dish. I’m so used to cooking for everyone that I made way too mich last night. Just as we were finishing up dinner we caught this outside, a beautiful Cayman sunset! We’re really hoping this means sun for tomorrow!

Yesterday, we spent the day at the resort enjoying the pool, taking a few walks on the beach, reading and relaxing. It was truly heavenly. I decided to do a little video of the resort, so hopefully this will work for you. As well here’s a few pics from our day relaxing.

Coral Sands Resort Video

Dinner Fix Cayman Style
My original plan was to blog my families experiences with the Dinner Fix Challenge, but this opportunity to come to Grand Cayman came up so quickly, I haven’t had time to start the Challenge. I did however, get to make a really nice dinner here last night, and it happens to be one of Mackenzie’s favourites. I ended up cheating a little bit and used a seasoning I bought in the grocery store made by www.atasteofthai.com ‘s Chicken & Rice Seasoning as well as canned vegetables to prepare it quicker.

Thai Chicken & Rice One Pot Dinner
INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

This morning we woke up to a beautiful site the most gorgeous rainbow hovering over the Caribbean Sea, both Andrew and I agreed that this was something we could get used to! The sun comes up early here as they don’t switch over to daylight savings time, so the sun also sets early around 7pm.

Take a look at these shots, they are stunning!

As most of you know I’ve been cloth diapering Finn, and decided that since I knew we’d have a washer & dryer in our condo that I would continue to do so while away. I remembered to bring a few clothespins and a string to hang his covers while the inserts I dried in the dryer. I took this photo for my fellow CDC members!

We decided to head across the street to pick up some groceries to make some meals here to take advantage of the kitchen in our unit. I was prepared that the grocery prices would be very high, but surprisingly they were very comparable to home with something actually less expensive! The biggest thing I noticed was that frozen, snack and convenience foods seemed to have the highest premiums. The selection of foods was very impressive, I think we spend close to 2 hours browsing around.

**Note for Mackenzie***- take a look at the photo below, I thought you’d like this

Once we got home from the grocery store, we decided to take a walk into Georgetown, which is the “downtown” on Grand Cayman, and home to many of the world’s most prominent financial institutions. They have their own currency, but the US dollar is also excepted everywhere, however it is taken at .80 cents Cayman dollar so in order to buy $1 CI it costs $1.25 USD. Now that the Canadian dollar is at par with the US Dollar, this makes things much more affordable here for us Canadians. The currency is very similar to Canadian money.

After browsing around a few shops and finding a wireless connection to update my blog (unfortunately our resort does not have one ) we had dinner at a restaurant that specializes in Caribbean cuisine (Andrew’s favourite ). Finn also had a quick drink but was more interested in entertaining everyone else in the restaurant. On the walk back to the condo, we ran into Greg out for a walk with his daughter Evelyn and invited them over for a drink and to play. Finn and Evelyn are almost the same size despite a 6 month age difference, so it’s so cute to see Evelyn walking circles around him and Finn trying to figure out how to pull himself upon everything.

So we finally made it to Grand Cayman after a slight delay in Saint John. Our flight was delayed over 2 hours, which in turn made us too late for the hotel shuttle once we arrived in Toronto. Finn fell asleep in the Saint John Airport and slept straight through until we arrived at our hotel in Toronto. After a diaper change and a feed he was back asleep.

We got to the airport, checked in without incidence, I would recommend to anyone that is flying with Air Canada, to check in online at home (or from your hotel)! What an easy process, they have a special area to queue up for those that have already checked-in to check your baggage and the lines here were a fraction of the other check-in area.

Finn was more than happy to people watch and smile at everyone who approached him while hanging out in the pouch sling. Once on board he fell asleep and slept through the majority of the flight, but here’s a few shots of him on his first plane ride:

The fight was relaxing, I also managed to get some sleep and relax, and listened to a few Podcasts. I did make a few observations while having a can of Coca Cola. Andrew and I both ordered a can while refreshments were being served. His was from Canada, bottled in Ontario, mine was from Mexico, with Spanish print all over it! The I decided to check out the Nutrition Facts listed in each can and was surprised to see that they differed!
Canadian Coke

For 1 can (355ml)

Calories 160
Fat 0g
Sodium 40mg
Carbohydrates (Sugars) 42g
Protein 0g

Mexican Coke

For 1 200ml portion (1.77 portions in a can)

Calories 82 (145 for full can)
Protein 0g
Fat 0g
Carbohydrates 21g (37g for full can)
Sodium 44mg (79mg for full can)

So dissecting this…the Canadian Coke has more calories, most likely due to the fact there is a bit more sugar, but what surprised me the most was that the Mexican Coke was almost doubled in the amount of Sodium! Here I thought Coke was Coke, but if differs everywhere!

When we arrived in Grand Cayman, the sun was shining beautifully and was about 30 degrees celcius. We cleared immigration and customs with I must say the 2 most pleasant officers. Our friend, Greg who is living here was waiting to pick us up. We loaded up out luggage in his car and Andrew was waiting to get in to the vehicle, not realizing it’s the right hand drive vehicle, as they drive on the left hand side of the road here! Greg took us on a little drive around his side of the island and over to his condo to relax for a bit before we checked into our resort. We hung out with his wife Christine and Finn hung out with their daughter Evelyn.

Next we checked into our Resort called the Coral Sands, it’s a quaint little resort right on the beach. The complex also has a little pool, but the best part of our unit, has to be the view! Take a look at this view from our bedroom window, actually there is 5 huge windows and a glass sliding door, so this view is seen from pretty much anywhere in the 2 levels of the condo.

In the evening Greg invited us to a Sunday family tradition of his and Christine’s to a restaurant.bar that is right on the beach called…………… You can sit relax, have a bite to eat, go for a swim, come back have a drink, it was a lot of fun. Christine and Evelyn actually sat this one out so Finn borrowed her stroller and car seat. What a nice time, there were so many families there!

When we got there we actually joined the table with a fellow Saint Johner who is now living in Grand Cayman as the Auditor General to the Cayman Islands. Thanks again Dan for a nice evening!

Dinner Fix Challenge Cayman Style- Tomorrow is about coming up with some ideas for Dinner that don’t need a lot of ingredients or spices. Luckily the grocery store is literally across the street from the resort, so this is a definite benefit!

**Note for Mackenzie** highlight below- Hi sweets! I can’t wait to come back down here again with you and the boys, it is amazing! I wanted to tell you a funny story, because we arrived on a Sunday the stores were not open, only small convenience stores and restaurants. Daddy and I decided to go to the Esso store that was close to get a few things. Daddy got 2, 2 litre bottles of Coke, and a big bag of Doritos, I got one 2 litre of milk, a tiny bag of cheesies and a 1 litre bottle of water. Guess how much it cost? $22.20!!!!!!!!!! Just so you know at Sam’s this would have cost $9.41. Crazy, eh?