Hearty homestyle cookin' without the fuss

I keep mentioning my love for fall cooking, and one of my favourite things to do for a hearty fall meal is to whip up some chicken on the Foreman grill, throw together a couple quick items and make a Sunday Dinner type meal with minimal effort.

Last fall when my dad came to visit me in Winnipeg, I made a great meal for us our first night together. I served grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing, with Pilsbury crescent rolls and fruit crumble for dessert (which my old man didn't eat, since he's diabetic and doesn't like sweets.)

The following is a meal for two. Increase for more people :)



You will need:
1 package McCain Purely Potatoes
1 package instant stuffing (personal preferences are Stovetop and Uncle Ben's, but do whatever you prefer.)
1 bag baby carrots
2 package crescent rolls
1 package Et Tu crumble topping
1-2 bag(s) Europe's Best frozen fruit (mixed berries, blueberries, raspberries & peaches work best)
1 tiny tub Hagen Daaz French vanilla ice cream

2 chicken breasts
2 Granny Smith Apples
2-3 stalks celery
1 small onion
dried cranberries (cut up)
walnuts (chopped)

milk
butter
salt
pepper

For dessert: (do this first as it will take an hour or so to bake)
1. Put frozen fruit in a casserole dish
2. Prepare topping as instructed
3. Bake!
(When ready to serve, top with ice cream!)

For dinner:
1. Cut up celery, onion and apple. Pan fry until soft. Pre-heat oven for rolls at the same time.
2. Boil carrots & potatoes while grilling chicken on your Foreman (put chicken on after the water for your veggies boils and you turn it down) ... now is also the time to throw in your rolls.
3. Prepare stuffing -- the storebought stuff usually boils the water, you add the mix and let it sit, similar to minute rice. So, once it's all mixed in, add the cranberries, nuts and celery/onion/apple mixture. Put on the lid and take off heat.
4. Mix up fixings for your mashed -- I add milk, butter, salt and pepper to mine, but you can toss in whatever you like. I sometimes do sour cream if I have, or herb & garlic cream cheese works well.
5. Enjoy!

Seriously, this takes hardly any effort, and even if you're an awful cook, this is Sunday Dinner made idiot-proof. I have served mine here with cranberry sauce, which you can, too, and tastes great with chicken as well as turkey. (I actually made this particular one I took this photo of with turkey I bought in a grocery store in Winnipeg.)

Fall Delights

I always tell people that winter is my favourite season. I love the snow, and the way the sun sparkles off it on a crisp, cool day. I love the way the sky looks on a snowy, cloudy winter night when it's all hazy and purplish blue.

But there are definitely some things that I adore about fall. I am a huge fan of fall colours, both on the trees, and in fashion. I love the way food changes in the fall, when you get to start having hearty meals again, with lots of flavours and seasonings.

And there are some special desserts, like pumpkin pie, you can only get at this time of year.

Another fun part about fall is Hallowe'en! I went to an engagement party last night way out in the country, which was Hallowe'en theme, and since I had hockey before, I needed something I could put on easily and quickly so I wouldn't waste time when I was arriving.

I picked up a feathered mask for a couple bucks at a dollar store, in teal and purple with some gold detailing on it. I matched it with a teal top I have, and some grey dress pants. I made a little "wand" of sorts, where I glued together about six peacock feathers, wrapped the stems in deep teal ribbon and had some small ribbons dangling from the bottom. I affixed some small feathers to the bottom of some ribbons with a glue gun. I got a pair of black elbow-length gloves and did my makeup in teal with giant thick mascara eye-lashes.

I finished off the look with some dollar-store gem stickers placed on the outer corners of my eyes. Everyone loved it, and I only spent about 20 bucks putting it together.

Christmas things are starting to appear, but I try to wait until November 1 before I start getting too crazy with that stuff. Although, now is a good time to head to the dollar store and pick up your wrapping paper because if you're like me (and obsessive about Christmas & everything being perfect) you will want to get there before all the good stuff is gone. So I did buy two rolls of paper.

I also have been putting together a package to send to my friend who is teaching in a northern community. I wanted to grab some things she could have for herself, and also some items to give to her students. I included some craft supplies and the like, hoping maybe my crafty knack will rub off on some of the kids?

Speaking of which, my mom and I are entered in a Gingerbread House contest, which will be put up for sale at a Christmas bazzar after they are judged, with the proceeds going to charity. We decided on a "Winter Wonderland" theme for our house (which must be made using a kit) and I'm still in the planning stages, but I'm dreaming of rolled fondant, iridescent paint, powdered sugar and a yogurt-pretzel fence.

At the rink:

This week at beer league, after the game, I was surprised to see none other than The Body, who had returned from Sweden for some reason? He's playing pro over there with some guy Johan hooked JD up with this summer at the hockey school. Nice to see the boys makin' er overseas. Speaking of which, I recently was pointed in the direction of a blog featuring an interview with none other than former Aurora Tigers star netminder, Chris Whitley, who is playing in Great Britain this season. Check out the interview with Chris here.

 Things aren't going so well for my team -- ever since coach left, the team has been playing quite poorly, we have won one game in overtime against the worst team in the league. There is starting to be quite a fair bit of unrest amongst the players, and I think things will only get worse before they get better.

I'm also happy to see the Jets doing miserably. I laugh. Ha.

Winnipeg you got your team back, so quit whining about how much they suck.

Despite what "they" are saying, Arron Asham is a nice boy

I don't normally like to throw my two cents in on NHL topics, I actually think bloggers who do that (ones who aren't "breaking" news but act like they're reporters with some glowing observation) are a bit douchey. BUT. Since I have had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Arron on more than one occasion, I would like to say I am certain he is feeling rather upset right now.

This is what happened:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoBXfD2oHRg

Arron is a passionate and considerate person off the ice, and a respected player on the ice. He is not typically known as a dirty player, just a tough one. He is paid a very large sum of money by the Pittsburgh to procect the team's star players. That is his job. He doesn't wake up in the morning and think about who he's going to beat up that night, but in a heated game during two rival teams like Pittsburgh and Washington, when some player of relative obscurity who has played only a handful of games in the National Hockey League like Jay Beagle, takes out a stud blueliner like Kris Letang, obvioulsy Asham is going to do what he's paid to do, and send a message to the Capitals that the Penguins are not going to put up with that. And so, he KO's Beagle, who hasn't seen the likes of what a grinder like Asham can do in a tilt, and then shows with his hands that his job is done.

I've seen guys pick their jerseys up and wave them over their heads after fights. I've seen guys take bows, try to rile up the crowd to make noise on their way to the penalty box, and guys who flat out keep chirping all the way to the box and even more once they get inside their little plexiglass coccoon.

Arron last summer at his golf tourney in Winnipeg.

The fact of the matter remains that immediately after heading to the box, Asham sits down, and when Beagle gets up with the help of his teammates and the team training staff, Asham taps the glass with his stick. A sign of respect. He wasn't attempting to make light of an injury to Beagle, otherwise he wouldn't have shown his respect for his fallen peer when Beagle got up from te ice. Asham's back was turned to Beagle when he made the gestures, so unless he has grown eyes on the back of his head since last time I saw him, I sincerely doubt he was able to see the extent of Beagle's injuries while he was skating to the box. As soon as he hit the ground, Asham SKATED AWAY and headed toward the penalty box.

I don't normally read reporter blogs, or follow reporters on Twitter or anything, but I do like to see what Bob McKenzie has to say, and in his blog on TSN, posted just a few minutes ago, he had this to say.

"The media loves to blow up stories like this. Oops, did I just say that out loud?"

(Read the rest of Bob's blog here: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=378076 )

I sincerely hope this blows over soon, and some other grinder becomes the latest victim of anti-fighting sentiments. It always irks me when I hear people saying bad things about someone I not only respect, but also like, and I hope we can all move on soon.

For those that are interested in knowing a little more about Arron, check out the charity work he does, helping to raise funds for under-privileged children in his home province of Manitoba to play hockey.

Awesome fall goodness!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Foxes!

Hope the long weekend was a wonderful, relaxing and happy time for you all. I had the opportunity to visit our nation's capital and spend time with wonderful family friends and many of my own friends -- including a couple I haven't seen in far too long.

Two weekends ago, I attended a country fair, where I perused many goods, including the wares of a local bath & body company called Gridley's -- located not too far from Toronto, in Woodville, Ontario. If you're like me, and adore lavishing your skin with the best products, I must say, this stuff is top notch. For those into buying local, this stuff is not only produced locally, but all the herbs used in the products are grown right here in Ontario as well, and Michele creates some amazing things with her own ingredients.

Slice of Rasperry Pie soap. Smells as good as it looks!

She had a variety of products for sale, one which I completely loved, as I have never seen anything like it before (and I'm a complete expert on this stuff, if you haven't noticed) was a soap pie! You could buy a slice of the little soap pie, or perhaps get a little soap cupcake instead! There were a number of delicious-smelling soaps, including Momma Foxy's favourite, Lemon Verbena (which she pays an arm and a leg for from L'Occitane en Provance ... though she isn't a huge bath/body connoisseur, my mom does love that soap) ... a heavenly-smelling vanilla, and one with no smell at all, called Nonsense. (Took us a few minutes to figure out the joke ... amazing, though, right?) I ended up purchasing some scented body powder, which I couldn't love more. There were a few fragrances I was having a hard time deciding between, including one that was a coconut scent that smelled just like sunblock ... and my final purchase, Pumpkin Spice. Smells like nutmeg and cinnamon and delicious fall things. I may be in love.

Speaking of pumpkin spice, I whipped up a batch of cookies to take with me to Ottawa, and used a base recipe for plain cookies, and added pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, white chocolate chips and pecans. They were a big hit at the parties I attended over the weekend, and while I found the recipe a little too cakey for my like of cookies, they tasted just like pumpkin pie, all wrapped up in a neat little package. Definitely a way to consider including pumpkin in your fall desserts without whipping up a pie.

In hockey related news ....

My friend Mike Duco is back on Twitter! Finally! He is using the handle @Duco1787 and will be donating $1,000 to charity if he gets to 5,000 followers so follow away!

My puppies are awesome -- we had the weekend off, but we're back on the ice this weekend, and I am excited. Minus missing my dear friend, JD, who will no longer be behind the bench of the team after getting a more lucrative and exciting opportunity with another team in our league. I will still be seeing him at Dusters on the weekly, but just not the same at hockey without him.

With the weeks starting to wind down in my current contract, I am starting to look for another job to help pay the bills while I rock around the rink on the weekends. I have applied for a couple so far, including one with an AHL team and one with the CBC.

I am also looking forward to Hallowe'en ... I plan to dress in a hockey jersey and rabbit ears. Figure it out ;)

Where the heck have I been?

Wow. It's been a crazy past few weeks!
I have been working like a dog, getting everything going with the new team, shooting, writing, blogging for Gongshow, and still found time to go over to the Dusters game last Tuesday to see all the boys. Even if Boothy&Bucks bailed early because they're lame ... They promised to hang out next week, though.
And it sure was nice to actually be able to spend a few minutes with coach ALONE .. no Dusters, no puppies .. and be able to talk about some things I'm a little concerned about with our team.

The puppies are awesome -- I love them, they're hilarious, and I've been having a fun time doing the work I'm doing for them. Right now, I'm lining up charity/community functions for them to attend, like Hallowe'en activities in town for kids. The weekend of Hallowe'en, the boys will be very busy, and almost all, if not every one of them, will be attending a function here in town, where they will be dressed up in costume (likely their jerseys and makeup ... one guy requested they be "hockey zombies") so I get to do their face paint, which I'm super excited for.

We will also be going in the Santa Claus parade (I hope) with our jerseys and perhaps a little accessory that will embarrass the boys, but make me laugh hysterically.

I'm planning a Hallowe'en function, and a night for Big Brothers/Big Sisters to come free of charge to one of our home games. I'm also planning to have the boys work with some local scout/cub groups, not sure what they will do, but maybe play a little ball hockey or something? There is also apparently a charity ball hockey tournament coming up in November that I'm trying to get the boys into.

And of course I have found a little time to do some shopping as well ... last week I picked up a black and white houndstooth winter scarf, white sunglasses with rhinestones (SO me), a teal top, and FINALLY got my peacock feather earrings ... they're from Jay Manuel, which I got at Sears for 30% off. I also recently picked up a top in a purple colour that's a sort-of eggplant, but a little bit lighter. I am definitely loving all the jewel-tone items around these days, I think the colours are great for fall, and will transition well into winter. I bought this blouse (at right, sans hideous cardigan and ugly belt) and I like it so much I may buy it in purple also.

I bought some Borghese nailpolish on sale (buy-one-get-one) at Shoppers, which I think will be an excellent investment. I picked up an understated gold, and a cute mint green. I also picked up three eye-shadows from the Maybelline eye-studio collection, including a set of purples to replace one I am almost out of, a black/blue combo, and some greens, which I think will be nice to wear with some neutral colours.

One of the eye palettes I got this week .. they were on sale at Shoppers regular 12.99 for 6.99 and I had a leftover gift card, so I bought three. This one is from the regular collection, and the other two I got were purples and greens from the five-colour palettes. The white on the far left is easily one of my favourite shadows of all-time.

This is one of the polishes I picked up, regular price 13.99, buy one get one free! This colour is called Lira and is a soft gold shimmer. (Shimmer, not glitter.) The mint-green one I picked up is called Menta.

On a more hockey-related note: It appears as though my boy Mike Duco will be a member of the Chicago Wolves this year in the American Hockey League. Hopefully now that he's back under the radar in the AHL, he'll be able to get his twitter back. I'm also slightly weirded out that he will be playing with persons I have based characters on for my novel I wrote this spring, but maybe if I go visit Mike, I'll be able to actually meet these people, which might be cool?

Hope to be able to make more time for posts in the coming days!