Hello friends!
This past weekend, my fiance and I spent a weekend at the lake, to celebrate our third anniversary. We kept it simple - we've got a wedding coming up in September, and we're being a bit frugal with our extra-curricular activities.
I love simple, feel-good recipes for so many reasons:
Less ingredients = (typically) less money. Grocery bills are horridly expensive these days. Try raiding your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you can make.
Less to pack. The huge haul of groceries and weekend bags can be a bit annoying for those taking transit to meet up with friends, or for those who have to boat to the lake (us).
Less time cooking. I used to spend way too much time prepping and using too many dishes when making meals at the lake. I have since learned that simple is better. Less cooking time, more time for relaxing!
We slept, we ate good food, swam, had a few saunas, read, and played board games.
The weather was touch-and-go: Friday was gorgeous, hot, sunny, and clear. Saturday was misty, rainy, and cool for most of the day, and then cleared up. Sunday was hot, breezy, and sunny! Hot enough to sunbathe (with SPF 50+ and a hat) and swim.
We cooked a lot of our favourites this weekend: pasta, pancakes, roast chicken, guac, and chips. Simple but delicious.
FRIDAY
Dinner
TikTok Pasta - baked feta and tomatoes with garlic, shallots, and red chili flakes
Paired with Orso Bruno Zinfandel. If anyone has other pairing suggestions for this dish, let me know! Perhaps a white?
SATURDAY
Breakfast
DIY egg and English muffins, hash, and bacon:
make the bacon: grill up bacon in cast iron pan on the BBQ. Save the fat for the hash :)
make your hash: I will admit, this was a bit of a disaster. I grated raw potato (yellow flesh); soaked, rinsed, and strained them; and then added them to a cast iron pan with shredded raw kale and pre-cooked red peppers and onions. Season the hash with S&P and your favourite spices (we did extra garlic). The potatoes stuck horribly to the pan and took FOREVER to cook through. I recommend cooking your potatoes longer in the pan, then adding the veg. Or use leftover, cooked potatoes. It was tasty, but not a fun cleanup.
toast up English muffins of your choice
make your eggs: when the hash is finished, start your scrambled eggs. Whip your eggs in a large bowl for at least a minute. No milk needed. Heat your pan to medium heat, add a nice knob of butter, and add your eggs to the pan. Gently agitate the pan so the eggs jiggle a little. Using your non-stick spatula, push the eggs from the edge into the center to create lovely pillows of egg. Remove from heat as soon as they are a pleasant, opaque yellow - no browning here!
Lunch
Dinner
SUNDAY
Breakfast
Simple blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup and butter
We packed up our things on Sunday afternoon and headed home. A lovely weekend spent off-grid, and eating some of our favourite meals.
Till next time!
Aili
Comments