Monday, October 31, 2011

10 Minute Dinner

I don't usually post about my day-to-day eating. It's usually fast, tasty and not so pretty looking. I'm all about the end product, heck, I've been known to eat things straight out of the pan! That's why I generally post about my baked goods. You eat one or two (or a dozen) and then get to work photographing the rest. I can take my time angling my cookies or slices of cake 'just so'. But with dinner? No, no, no, no - I gotta eat. Now.

But I was struck by the beauty and simplicity of my dinner tonight and was inspired to capture it for all to see.
I present to you my 10 minute dinner (which proves the point that good, healthy and fast food can be had):

Creamy polenta topped with sauteed kale and a couple of fried eggs!


I started the polenta first: 1/2 cup cornmeal + 1 cup water + 1 cup milk. Bring to a boil over medium and keep stirring until thickened - this takes about 5-8 minutes or so. Add in salt, pepper and grated cheese to taste. At around the halfway point, throw your eggs on one side of a frying pan and a couple of handfuls of kale on the other side. Throw the lid on for a couple of minutes. All of it should come together around the same time.

And for economy's sake, let's do a price breakdown for tonight's dinner:
Polenta: 40 cents
Eggs: 92 cents
Kale: 50 cents

Total for dinner: $1.82 (let's round up to $2 incl extra ingredients)

Seriously! A $2 dinner!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Mmmm...warm apple pie.

Nothing like it. Even Koi seems to think so.


I spent a weekend in the Okanagan cheering on some friends as they completed their first half-marathon! Woot! One of the things I really wanted to do while in the area was get some local fruit. We stopped by a local market and picked up a few pounds of apples and some other regional specialties (which also included three bottles of fruit liqueur!). I couldn't wait to use the fruit when I got home and prepared some small pies (top crust only) with pate brisee and a mix of McIntosh and Ambrosia apples. It's super easy - add sugar, spices and some starch (cornstarch, tapioca) and ta da! You've got pie!