Friday 25 October 2013

Eat: Wow!

I got a "wow" at dinner tonight.
I get a lot of, "Mmmmm...this is good." and "Thanks for dinner!"
But never a "Wow". That felt good, really good.

I thought at first it was for the lamb burgers I had made.  We had discussed dinner this morning, and I wanted to have some of our lamb. We hadn't tried any of the ground yet, but I certainly didn't want to "waste" it in spaghetti or anything. So I thought burgers. Which meant I had to figure out the bun issue, as Shawn is a non-wheat eater. I had made empanadas last night (We "landed" on Chile in our world tour, that blog entry will be up soon) and the dough made with spelt flour turned out quite nice, so I was feeling rather confident that I could come up with a bun (if it failed, we could always go bun-less).

So we build our burgers, sit down and Shawn takes a bite. And said "Wow". And then asked for a sandwich in his lunch for tomorrow. If you know him, he is not a big sandwich guy, even when he was a wheat-eater.

I found a number of recipes on line, and the one I followed (well, as well as I tend to follow recipes) was found on http://www.grainmillwagon.com/

WOW Spelt Flour Buns

  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tbsp yeast
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 cups spelt flour (I use 
1. Sprinkle yeast onto the water and let sit for 1-2 minutes
2. Pour water & yeast mixture into mixing bowl, and add butter, egg, honey and salt. Stir. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until dough comes together. I use my kitchen-aid mixer with the dough hook. Mix slowly, otherwise flour goes everywhere!
3. Add the third cup gradually until you have a smooth, soft dough that forms a nice ball.
4. Place in lightly greased bowl.
5. Cover with tea towel and set near fireplace, that as been burning all afternoon:) (or other warm, draft free place)
6. Let sit for an hour, until dough has risen.
7. Get your husband, who used to be a baker to form the buns. OR, divide dough into 8 balls, and shape into hamburger bun shaped balls.
8. Place on cookie sheet, and set near fire again for about an hour.
9. Brush tops with melted butter, bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
10. Let cool, slice, and top with burger....and be prepared to be "wowed"

My favourite way to cook home made burgers:

Instead of grilling on the BBQ, after making your favourite burger, form the patties and brush one side with melted butter. Put in fridge until butter sets. Remove from fridge, flip over and butter other side. Put them back in the fridge. Get out that old cast iron frying pan that is lurking in the back of the cupboard, and put it on the stove top. Get it nice and hot, if you put a drop of water in it, it should sizzle and spit.
Remove butter coated patties from the fridge. Place in very hot pan. Let fry for about 5-6 minutes, than flip. Cook a few more minutes. The end result is a nice, crisp on the outside, super juicy on the inside burger, that is sure to wow!!

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Play: Run or Dye

I convinced Shawn to run in a "race" as a family.  Now he's be running for a year or so now, but never has been interested in participating in a race. So I was surprised, and delighted when he agreed. And the boys are running too. I'm so happy:)
The big day arrives, with a cool, wet morning...but it does not stop about 5000 (!!!) people to make their way to Fort Henry to run for 5km while being pelted with dye.
We ran, we laughed, we dyed.....and then we hit the Brew Pub for beer, hot chocolate and lunch....a perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday morning with my 3 favorite people!
Practicing their start

Stretching

before......we look so clean

The GoPro video Shawn created of our experience!