local – The CZEDs

Time flies when you’re having fun!

June 13, 2013 No Comments

Wow, I just realized we haven’t written anything in about a month — crazy! So much has been going on it’s been hard to keep up with everything, let alone write about it, but we do apologize.

To sum up our lives for the past month in one post: two of our bestest friends are getting married this Saturday, we had our annual Bon Echo camping trip, and not to mention bachelor and bachelorette parties and showers in abundance, dragon boat practices, and I started running. Although we have been super busy, it has all been so much fun and totally worth it!

The following photos are all from this past month’s activities, enjoy!

I'd Eat That

Roasted vegetable soup with herb dumplings

May 14, 2013 1 Comment

This weekend we had two friends visiting from Toronto, it was so nice to catch up and chat since we hadn’t really seen either since the wedding. The weekend was full of delicious food and drinks and we had such a good time, even though the weather didn’t really cooperate. Today was still a bit chilly so I decided to make a soup for dinner.

Roasting vegetables is now my go-to for an easy dinner option. They work well as a side or in a soup and the best part is you can pretty much use whatever you have in the fridge. I wanted to add a little something to it though, and came across this recipe from theKitchn that suggested dumplings. I’ve made dumplings once before and it went well so thought I’d give it another try. All-in-all it was pretty tasty but I think I would have preferred fresh bread instead. Oh well, you live and you learn.

Check out the recipe below. Cheers!

Soup Ingredients

Vegetables: today I used sweet potato, zucchini, onion, carrots and a yellow pepper
A couple cloves of garlic, unpeeled
Sea salt and pepper
Olive oil
Rosemary and thyme
7 cups of vegetable stock

Dumpling Ingredients

1 cup of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp of chilled butter, cut up into tiny bits
1 tbsp each of thyme, marjoram and parsley
1/2 cup of milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut up all the vegetables into 1-inch chunks and spread onto a baking sheet. Leave the garlic unpeeled and place on baking sheet as well. Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper and herbs. Roast for about 40 minutes, flipping them half way through. Squeeze the roasted garlic from the skin. Bring the broth to a boil, add the vegetables and garlic, and then puree with a hand blender until you reach the consistency you like.

While the veggies are roasting you can prepare the dumplings. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Next mix in the butter bits with your fingers until the mixtures resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the herbs and then add the milk and mix until combined.

Drop blobs of the dough into the simmering soup (they expand so don’t make them too big). Cover the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked through. Bon appetit!

Things + Stuff

Our little backyard oasis

May 10, 2013 No Comments

Due to the unusually AWESOME weather we have experienced lately, this will be the first year that we have the backyard up and running before the long weekend. Chris and I were so ahead of the game we had to wait for the garden centres to get their herbs in.

This will be my fifth year living in this apartment and Chris’ fourth, and every year we have tried growing stuff in the backyard — some successful, others not. By now we know what will and won’t work and just have to work with what we got, which is basically shade tolerant plants and herbs. The bane of Chris’ existence are two Manitoba Maple trees (his least favourite tree) which provide us with lots of privacy and shade in the back, but limits sun exposure.

A nice surprise this year though was our chives came back from last year, so we got that going for us. Even though the backyard is quite small and is hard to successfully grow stuff, I love the space we have. It’s perfect for us right now and is a nice retreat to hang out with friends, BBQ, play darts and read.

This year we planted rosemary, mint, cilantro, dill, basil and parsley. We planted two mint plants due to our Mojito consumption, hopefully it’s enough!

I'd Drink That

Cuba in a cup

May 6, 2013 No Comments

What a great weekend! Not only was the weather amazing, but Chris and I got so much done in the backyard, just need to plant some herbs and stuff and we’re done! We also finished staining the patio table Chris built, he’ll be posting that soon so check back this week.

After a long day of working in the backyard, there’s nothing better then finishing the day with a tasty mojito. Chris and I got hooked on this drink after our first trip to Cuba. I try to have the ingredients on hand at all times, but luckily if we ever need more limes or soda water our neighbours (who also love mojitos) usually have what we are missing.

Other than being deliciously refreshing, mojitos are so easy to make. Check out the recipe (if you can call it a recipe, haha) below. Cheers!

Mouthwatering Mojito

1.5 – 2 oz’s of rum (if using a smaller glass 1 oz)
A bunch of mint
Half a lime
Lots of ice
Soda water
Stiff straw (to drink and stir with)

Cut lime into wedges, I usually use a half lime per drink. Toss in the limes and mint and muddle. Next add the rum, then ice and then top with soda water; stir it up, pop in a straw and enjoy!