Three Course Meal

So, the other day I decided that I wanted to make a three course meal. This was inspired from watching "Come Dine with Me." A show that is aired in the UK, it puts four complete strangers together to host dinner parties for each other. It's totally ridiculous, but very addictive, and fun to watch.

Anyways, I knew I wanted to make a three course meal -- but I had no idea what I wanted to make. So I jumped online to get some ideas, and looked through some of my moms cook books. After over an hour of looking I had decided on my menu.

~Yam Fries with Spicy Mayo~ 

~Roast Chicken Thighs, with Creamed Spinach,

Bread Stuffing, Green Beans, and Onion gravy~

~Apple and Strawberry Crisp~

The meal turned out wonderfully, and my whole family loved every course!

Eggs with Bacon, Lentins, and Spinach

This is an easy and tasty dinner to make. Its really straightforward, and I love it. It's a awesome rendition of bacon and eggs.

Here is the recipe, as follows:

3/4 cup green lentils
5 cups washed spinach 
2 TBS butter
2 TBS olive oil
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 1/2 leeks
2 TBS apple cider vinegar 
10 slices of bacon
10 eggs
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp savory
salt and pepper to taste 
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

Wash lentils, and place them in a pot. Cover with water, and put a lid on the pot. Place on medium heat, and cook for 25 minutes or until tender.

While the lentils are cooking, wash and chop the veggies. Then cook them in a cast iron frying pan with the butter. Then add the apple cider vinegar. Season with tarragon, savory, salt and pepper. Mix in with the lentils, and set aside.

Wipe out the skillet, and cook the bacon. Discard the grease. Cut half of it into bite sized pieces, and mix in with the lentils. Put the rest of the bacon aside.

Then add the water and balsamic to the pan, to make a reduction.

In a clean skillet, heat the olive oil and fry the eggs in batches.

To serve: put a cup of spinach on each plate, a 5th of the lentils, two of the eggs, one slice of bacon, and a drizzle of the balsamic reduction.

Things I've Cooked!

I did a little bit of cooking before I left for my three week journey, and in the insanity of packing and spending time with friends, I completely forgot to post about the things I cooked.

So, almost a moth late (better late then never, right?) here are the things that I cooked before I left. 

#1) Grilled Salmon with three different sides, and a herb mayonnaise. 

The sides were: 

1.  Statued bok-choy

2. Peach and blueberry salsa

3. Statued edamame beans 

#2) I just cooked some plain chicken sausages, and served them with steamed green beens, and mixed grilled veggies. 

I must admit, since I cooked these so long ago I forgot what I put in them. Any normal person might, you know, write down the recipes as they went. But I'm not a normal person, so I neglected to write down the recipes. 

So pictures will have to suffice!

Where Have I Been?

Yes, I realize its been more than three weeks since I've last posted, but I have a good reason for this!
I've been away, traveling with my family for three weeks. On August 7th, we embarked on an epic  journey to England and France. 

We spent the first week trying to recover from the jet-lag (8 hour time difference), and driving around the south of England. We visited many places, some of which included: Oxford, Cambridge, Salisbury and Sussex. It was my first time in England, and I was amazed by the gorgeous rolling hills of the countryside. We sampled some bar food at pubs, and I must say it really wasn't that great. It was high priced for mediocre sandwiches. However, it was cool to experience a real English Pub.

The second week, we spent touring around London. We did an unbelievable amount of walking all over the city, and got used to riding trains and the tube. We pretty much saw all the main tourist attractions, as well as a few lesser known ones, such as the Winston Churchill War Rooms. Which were absolutely amazing!! We also went out for Indian food one night (London is known for really good and cheap Indian food), and it wasn't a disappointment.  They didn't have some of the dishes that I'm used to, (like butter chicken) but they had an amazing chicken tandoori that made up for it. We also went to a Pizza Express one night (a really popular pizza chain in London, they are EVERYWHERE), and pizza was decent, but we didn't order enough food so I was left still slightly hungry. They did however, have a really good salad. It was rocket salad, (a popular green in the UK, its kind of like arugula) with romano cheese, and a balsamic reduction. It was very tasty.

The third, and final week was spent in Paris. Which was arguably my favourite week, and the week which we ate the best food.  We found the most amazing bakery called Eric Kayser (website linked here: http://www.maison-kayser.com/en/), which we went to every morning to get croissant for breakfast and bread for the day.  The bread without argue is the best bread that I have every had in my whole life. It is slightly crispy on outside, and light and airy on the inside. It tastes both salty and sweet at the same time. Generally, just out-of-this-world. My family consumed a huge amount of bread. We were in Paris for five days, and in those five days we consumed close to 20 baguettes. A little bit of over-kill, but that's what my family does. Paris also has the most amazing cheeses, we ate so much brie, most likely an un-healthy amount, but it was so delicious we didn't really care.

On our last night in Paris we went out for dinner to this cute little cafe. It was amazing. I had very thinly sliced beef that was just lightly cooked, so it was still pink. It was served with amazingly seasoned home-fries, and a salad. It was so good, I'm normally not a fan of beef, but I loved this beef. My sister and I shared a creme brulee for dessert.

Another thing I must mention about Paris, are the crepes. Crepe stands are EVERYWHERE you go, and the crepes are amazing. We had crepes three different times, twice from crepe restaurants, and once from a stand. I must say, the ones from the restaurants were good, but were kind of sickeningly sweet once you got half way through your crepe, and they were expensive. (6 to 8 euros a crepe) But the crepes that we got from the stand were prefect, and were really reasonably priced. (2 - 4 euros a crepe) So, if you want crepes in Paris, hunt out a stand. It will be cheaper, faster, and much better.