Author Archives: jackmansjourney

Pesto Sweet Potato Mash

19 Thursday May 2011

Posted by in Cooking

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Thank you to Faith who gave me an awesome recipe to use with my home made pesto.

The recipe:

2 lb (900g) sweet potatoes or yams, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup pesto
1/4 tsp sea salt (or any kind of salt)

1.  Put sweet potatoes and garlic in large saucepan and add enough cold water to just cover them.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer, covered, for 20 – 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.  Drain off cooking water (you can store this in a glass jar or container for sweet vegetable broth later, if you want.
3. Mash roughly with potato masher, adding pesto and salt.  Spoon into a warm serving dish and serve.

Makes 4 – 6 servings.

Before I added the extra sweet potato.  You can really see the pesto.

I didn’t have quite enough sweet potato, so it has a lot of garlic – plus the garlic from the pesto.  If you love garlic you would love this!  The problem is I can only handle so much garlic in a dish.  So I picked up a few more sweet potatoes and added them.  Much better now, although still lots of garlic.  Perhaps next time I will use half the recipe.

After I added the extra sweet potato.  It looks better!

Now I have lots of pesto sweet potato mash so I will be eating it over the next few days with whatever else I choose to put with it.

On a side note, it seems as though my blog is turning into a food blog.  I still plan on writing about other things, but I guess right now this is what I have been focusing on.  I did go out and do something new tonight that was very different for me to do.  It is happening once a week for the next 12 weeks.  I’m excited about it because I have never done anything like it before.  Perhaps I will share about it next week!

Interested in making your own Pesto? Check out my Presto! Pesto Recipe!

Red Onion

19 Thursday May 2011

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A few weeks ago I got red onions in my loft bag.  I don’t use onions very often, so I didn’t use them up right away.  When I went to get one out of my potato/onion keeper this is what I found.

I left them in the keeper and a few days longer the greens were even longer.  One friend said I should plant them and grow onions.  After I went to check on them and they were very soft and a third one started growing like this, I decided not to plant them.  They did grow fast.  I don’t have a cool place to put my potato/onion keeper and I had the vent open so it shouldn’t have been that warm or moist that it grew like that, but I guess it means I didn’t use the onions fast enough!

They made me smile.  The smaller one probably grew about the size of the large one and the large one grew probably another 1 or 2 inches.  Crazy!  This was probably over 3 wks of having them.

You just never know what your going to get or what is going to happen to the food from the loft bag!

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30 Day Shred – LEVEL 2

04 Wednesday May 2011

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Level 2 – Yes, we have moved on.

What is Level 2 like?  A bit more challenging then Level 1.   I am very thankful for Insanity, although we didn’t complete the program, but we did make it to Month 2.  I’m thankful because no move (well almost no move) so far seems too hard.  I’m not saying it is easy, because it’s not, but the moves in Level 2 of 30 Day Shred are similar to ones we have done in Insanity, so it has prepared me for what’s to come.

I have terrible shoulder strength, so when we are doing one move that you have to raise your arms up in a V and just the normal should lifts, it’s hard for me to pull through.  Perhaps if I was just doing one thing at a time, but Gillian gets you to do two moves in one.  The strength move and usually some kind of squat or lunge or something else so you are not just working one area.

Level 2 is good, but I am sure we will be on it for a while!  I didn’t notice as many as her sayings this time because I was concentrating on her moves, but she always tells us she wants to see us sweat!

If you are doing 30 Day Shred (as I know a few of you are) keep it up!  If you want to get into exercising then check it out.  Just remember with any exercise video to do it at a pace where you are comfortable and don’t over do it, especially when you first start out.  You don’t have to do it just like the people on the video!  But remember, you do need to challenge yourself or else there really isn’t any point in doing it and you won’t see results.  I’m also working on eating healthier again.  It’s a process!

Happy Exercising Everyone!

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Presto! Pesto!

02 Monday May 2011

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A few weeks ago I picked up my food bag  and what did I find?  Fresh basil.  What in the world do I do with fresh basil?  I made soup and put a little bit of it in the soup, but after that I didn’t know what to do.  The result?  It went bad.

This time when I picked up my food bag there was more fresh basil.  With a little help from my friends I decided to make pesto.  I wasn’t sure how it would turn out or even how it would taste, but I think that it worked out well.

Pesto made!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
  • 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Special equipment needed: A food processor

METHOD

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.
Makes 1 cup.

I didn’t really measure two cups of basil, I just used the whole bunch that I had.  I also didn’t use nuts because I put some of the pesto in a macaroni casserole that I made for a potluck and wanted to avoid nut allergies.  I didn’t add any pepper and just a pinch of salt. I also just used my blender.  It worked great, so don’t worry if you don’t have a food processor.

As I re-read the method of the recipe I didn’t really follow that either!  I put in the basil and added the oil, minced garlic, cheese, and pinch of salt and blended it together.  It didn’t seem to make a difference they way I put it together.

In the freezer!

It was suggested to put the pesto in an ice cube tray and freeze it so I did.  The next morning I woke up and took out the tray.  It was solid as a rock and wouldn’t come out!  I asked a friend at church the best way to get it out.  Really, why didn’t I think of what she said?  I took her advice and ran the bottom of the tray over warm water and they popped right out.  I individually wrapped them and then put them in a baggie.  Now they are back in the freezer and ready to put in soups, sauces, and really anything I want to try it in!

Finished!
Next time I will try it with almonds and see how it turns out.

Now that I’ve made Pesto, what do I do with it?  Check out my recipe for Pesto Sweet Potato Mash.

Cafe O

19 Saturday Mar 2011

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If you like Cafe’s then you will like Cafe O.  I sure do.  A couple weeks ago I am sure someone said there was a new little coffee shop on Victoria St and that we should go sometime, but I can’t remember who that was for the life of me, so I am starting to think that I was dreaming.

I did drive by one day and thought, “Oh, didn’t that use to be Quiznos?  I’m must check that place out sometime.”  I remembered that thought today and went.  The verdict:  a nice little cafe that has a “European Feel”.  A man who lives in my building came in while I was there and I shared that this was my first time visiting Cafe O.  He and his friend go there pretty much every Friday night and he likes it because it has a “European feel to it.”  He is European.  Romanian I believe.  I understand why he would think that way!

They sell yummy coffee’s and delicious looking pastries and a few other goodies too.  They even sell Turkish Coffee!!  I won’t be buying that since I can just make it at home, but I was excited to see it on the menu.

The only down fall: it’s only open until 6pm from Monday – Thursday.   On Friday’s they are open until 9pm (a good thing).  I don’t remember the hours for Sat or Sun since my main concern was for today once I saw the hours for the rest of the week.  What does that mean for me?  I can’t take my friends there for coffee after 6pm during the week.  I guess it is not that big of a deal.

On the upside I think I have found my little cosy spot when I want to do work away from the office.  It’s quiet and the ladies who work there are very friendly.  Did I mention they have Internet too!

Cafe O is a winner in my books!  It’s on the corner of River and Victoria – check it out sometime!  

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A Change in Workout … Again

12 Saturday Mar 2011

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Month 2 of insanity is just too much for me!  Lately I had been thinking that maybe we should do Month 1 over again to build our strength and endurance that we need to complete Month 2.  After talking with my wonderful workout friend, we decided on a new plan … again!

Here is the new plan.  We will be working out 5 days a week instead of 6 days.  We are going to switch back to 6am.  We are going to do 3 days of the 30 Day Shred with Gillian and 2 days a week of Insanity (Month 1) with Shaun T.  I think that for us at this point, this is a good plan and a more attainable goal.

I believe that we are starting this after March Break (after next week for those who are readers outside of Ontario).  In the meantime I will do the 30 Day Shred on my own.  Although, I think our other workout friend will be joining us and she mentioned she wanted to join over March Break – I must clarify that with her!

I also need to get back to eating healthier.  I have let that slip a bit over the past month because of certain circumstances.  It’s time to kick that habit to the curb.  I will do my best to keep at it.  

You would think that trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle would be easier than it is, but it really isn’t at all.  Does it come naturally for anybody out there?

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