A day on the lake - Winter Edition

Here's a derrisive issue....WINTER.

Some of us Canadians hate it...

Some of us love it...

Some of us defend our right to freeze our butts off in it...

That's just how we roll.

Our buddy Blaine and his bike.

First off...we live in the Land O Lakes Region.

Check it out here.

Over 5000 lakes, pretty much in my backyard.

(My definition of back yard is fairly broad...but still.)

Second...its good for your health!

I did a post a while back on how getting outdoors 

in the winter time can be a great workout replacement!

It only took an hour to properly pack all of our gear up and head out.

There were 6 of us on this particular trip.

We packed a Thermos of hot chocolate, a few mugs of coffee and tea.

We brought a backpack that folds out into a chair.

We brought some stuff for Owen to do...in between checking lines.

All of our ice fishing and hole drilling gear.

Snacks too...and marshmallows.

A box of newspaper.

Minnows.

Father and son on a borrowed snow machine.

And helmets...can't go far without a helmet.

Riding with Blaine to the fishing spot.

We blazed a trail through the woods across from a relative's house.

We zipped down the frozen creek and lake.

Handsome Husband is also Handy Husband!

He shows Owen the ropes...er...lines...

They have father-son time.

He's also Hercules Husband...when it comes to hand drilling our fishing holes.

"10-12 inches of ice" he reports.

Moose

Clown

We brought some spray bottles filled with water and food colouring.

I had no idea how long they would last before they froze...

but it was only -4 degrees Celcius.

It seemed a great way to keep his attention...when watching a line for a jiggle wanes.

I scoured the shoreline for dead branches.

It seems weird to be walking along the edge of the lake...on the water side.

Owen and I explored up the steep hills to find a deer bed!

They nose up the dry leaves from under the snow.

Some of the beds showed how the heat from the animal melted the snow evenly around it.

(deer scat close by too)

We were pretty high up...but that's part of the fun!

But the best part of the day was the incredible peace that surrounded us.

Calm.

Quiet.

Serene.

Our pal Pepe, who is Uncle Pepe to Owen.

I love seeing him impart manly wisdom to our son.

I love it that Owen has such positive and positively cool men to look up to in his life.

I fix up a fire on the shoreline.

I make sure that I situate it in a safe place.

Owen takes a marshmallow break...

but the fire helps us warm cold fingers when needed.

(You can't keep your gloves on the whole time while ice fishing.)

I am so in love with the rock formations of South Frontenac County.

Takes my breath away.

I'm currently reading "Their Enduring Spirit:  the History of Frontenac Provincial Park 1783-1990"

by Christian Barber with Terry Fuchs.

I'm totally enthralled with the author's description of the geological implications.

Owen loves the rocks too..but for different reasons.

He is at his absolute best when he's outdoors.

A country boy in all his glory.

A 3lb pike!

Now that is a happy country fella!

We ate this lovely pike and gave our blessings.

We live in a glorious part of the world...where we can go out,

be in nature and bring home dinner.

How do you enjoy winter outdoors?

(if you don't do it now...you should seriously start)

If you need some help...here is a list of my favorite things about Winter!

Fishing - feed yer face and have fun too!

There are lots of things to love about fishing...

Sunshine, fresh air, free food...

Our family loves to fish...well...Owen is still trying to find his love of it.

Handsome Husband had a week off in September...so of course...

We went fishing!

Fishing is not just a past time or sport for us.

It is also a way we stock our freezer with protein for the winter.

We aren't hunters (yet).

We always had issues with protein...that is...until we got laying chickens.

But that doesn't mean we'll stop fishing...you have to have variety to your diet!

We still ice fish in the winter...but our luck is pretty poor at best.

Probably my favorite part of fishing...is the lunch break!

There is an awesome island in Desert Lake that is perfect for picnics.

We bring stuff from our pantry and fridge.

Veggies from the garden and home made hummus.

Lemony tuna pasta salad with fresh picked peas.

Tostitos chips and home made salsa.

Freshly cut pineapple we won at a birthday party!

From our camping days, Owen calls it Pirate Island!

(loads of great stories happened here)

Even after a lovely lunch break...some people just can't stop fishing...

Isn't it amazing to be able to feed yourself from a hobby???

How many other hobbies can make such a boast?

(ok except for cake decorating...)

There is another benefit to fishing...but I'll reveal that in a later post...

Seriously!  When I reveal this secret....I'll probably be done as a blogger...

No more secrets to share!

Stay tuned...for the super fantastic gardening secret....

A new twist on a crusted fish....

My husband is a bit of a hoarder....not quite to the extent that they feature on the show of the same name...but he does hoard recipes like they are going out of style.  Don't get me wrong!  I'm certainly not complaining that my husband has an eye for yummy recipes...its that he hoards them in piles that tend to take over any area that we keep recipes (until its nothing but a mountain of loose papers from magazines).  I had a chance to go through all of our recipes, which was great because now I feel a bit more prepared when the summer comes and all of my garden delights are ready.

The down side to all of these recipes...is that my dear husband is not home a lot to make these delicious meals.  Here's where I will admit to making standard favorites more than I will experiment. 

Last night we were fortunate to have an evening at home with the husband!  He decided that the pike he caught should be eaten and would I like to try a new recipe?  Would I?!?!?  The answer was yes and it was so different that I thought it would make a great post!

In the winter time, my husband does enjoy ice fishing.  It isn't as rewarding (I find) as summer time boat fishing...but it is a nice winter activity that the whole family can get excited about.  Its doubly nice when you actually catch something big enough to eat!  Plus (I have to throw this in) your meal has an extremely small carbon footprint when you catch your dinner 50 ft from your house!!!

Chester with his pike...sort of the before picture.

  He pulled this marvelous recipe from Chatelaine magazine (and before you ask...he does work as a cook at a day care and the teachers are all female)


the after picture....seed-encrusted pike!

And here is the modified recipe (it originally called for trout):

pike filets
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp grated fresh ginger (but we used dried ground)
1 tsp fennel (we probably will make this again, but with a little less fennel)
1 tbsp each cumin seeds and sesame seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds (it calls for ground, but we only had whole seeds)

a twist of ground coriander or fresh lemon wedges
S & P to taste

The cooking instructions just say to mix dijon with ginger and flax, then spread over filets.  Sprinkle with remaining ingredients and bake on foil or parchment coated pan in center of oven for 10-12 min.  Oven is preheated to 400 degrees F.

I would definitely serve this dish with lime juice!

Our sides for this evening where roasted garlic mashed potatoes (garlic is locally grown) and brussel sprouts with a cheesy bechamel sauce......

I am a lucky lucky girl....


Cornmeal and Jalapeno Bass with French Fries and Beans

I've loved growing things for quite a few years now...but I've discovered that growing a thing is only half of the challenge.  What do you do with that thing after its grown???  Well, you eat it obviously...but its the eating of things that I've always had problems with.  I never liked cooking...I avoided the kitchen like it was a torture chamber.  I suppose that's one of the reasons why I married a chef.  This past summer, I spent a lot of time at home with my 3 yr old son Owen, while my husband desperately worked 3 jobs to keep us paying those bills.  I had plenty of time (and not much money) to consider what was going to be on the table when dinner time came along.

So this is the introduction to the other portion of this blog...what do you do with these things once you've grown them!?!?! 

There will be future posts in which I will discuss my new found obsession with eating locally, the 100 ft challenge and other things of this nature, but mainly we were quite broke and I needed to discover a way to make delicious meals with everything we grew in our garden.  I guess on some level it was a way to become as self-sufficient as possible on the budget we were attempting to live on.

Last night we started the freezer eat-out....well that's what I like to call it....simply put...we freeze most of the things that come out of the garden...and at some point we have to start eating it before it gets freezer burnt!  The garden has been almost completely emptied...so the thought of going to the grocery store now is actually painful for me to think about.  We have subsisted for several months now mainly on garden fair...so I dipped into the freezer for an outstanding meal! 



cornmeal jalapeno bass with french fries and green and yellow beans

Here is the dinner fare for last night...I'll break it down for you:

Cornmeal Jalapeno Bass
Bass caught on Holleford lake (less that 15 min from our house) which equals a very small carbon footprint!
cornmeal bought at the bulk barn
Jalapenos grown in our garden

standard flour/egg wash/cornmeal dip in that order
diced jalapenos (seeds removed because I'm a spicy wussy) added in the cornmeal dish

fried then baked for 10 min each

This is where I get to explain what I started this blog about.  We grow jalapenos every year.  This year we ended up with 15 jalapeno plants that seemed to yield about a basket EACH!  But here comes the problem I face.  No one in our family eats these things...but my husband.  So how do you prepare and serve something that no one eats?  Why do we grow these things?  These are questions I began to ask myself during this past summer's unemployment.  I rose to the challenge of finding something to do with these little fellas.  I scoured cook books and magazines.  I trolled the internet on sites like cook.com and allrecipes.com.  Eventually this fish recipe came from my huband wanting to make cornmeal jalapeno pancakes for the kids and I one weekend.  (i have no idea where he got that recipe...but he's a cook so it could have been from anywhere)

I love the crunch that cornmeal brings to the fish...which we normally fix up with breadcrumbs we make.  Evena  spicy wussy like myself was loving this recipe.  The peppers gave a hint of heat...but not too much.  The flavour of the pepper was able to be tasted without the taste buds getting burnt off.  I will definitely try this recipe again! 

French Fries
We didn't grown potatoes this year, but we do subscribe to a local "good food box" program.  You pay the month earlier and each month you get a blue bin sized box full of fresh, mostly local, often seasonal veggies all for $15.
I hand cut my taters for french fries as I feel like its a more nutritious solution to store bought freezer fries.  Hand cutting fries is a major time consuming endeavour...that's pretty much the only downside...but I'm unemployed with all kinds of time to cut fries...haha...
I toss them in sunflower or canola oil and kosher salt, then bake them at 425 degrees C on a stone.  about 25 min does the trick.

Green and Yellow Beans
We grew three colours of beans this year...green, yellow wax and purple.  We discovered that when you cook the purple beans...they turn green again!  So purple is purely for fresh veggie platters...
When the beans are ready to pick, I usually pick them every few days.  Each day I bring them inside, wash and pat dry.  Then I get a pot of water boiling for the blanching process.  I'm very new to this process...as the first year we froze beans, I didn't bother.  The result was awful tasting...and almost turned my step son off beans altogether (and he'll eat almost anything!)  I now blanche my beans as we pick them...if we aren't goingt to eat them right away.  They freeze wonderfully and I love seeing the bright summer colours on my plate when the weather turns cold.  Like an extra boost of vitamins!  When freezing beans, I fill the large freezer bag about 1/4 full...then press out the air and press the bag flat.  I freeze them flat, then after I have a couple of flat frozen bags, I'll empty them into one bag for storage.  It may seem like a bit of work...but its way easier than using a pick axe to separate the block of beans you'd have if you just filled a bag to the brim with fresh, unfrozen beans.  (we've had to do that too....learning from experience is fun!)

NOT SHOWN:  Home made quick n dirty tartar sauce...
-mayo
-sweet relish
-dill from our garden
-lemon juice
-salt n pepper to taste
-optional:  capers diced

SIDE NOTE:  we served the kids the cornmeal bass...but added the jalapenos for the filets that my husband and I ate.  When my 3 yr old Owen decides he's had enough beans, we always remind him to eat them all up...saying the green ones give him Hulk power and the yellow ones are Wolverine power.  Don't ask me why, but if you give cool names to veggies, your kids will have no problem wolfing them down...