Lunches, Snacks, and Bites

Some days I like "grazing", where I eat bits of food throughout the day, other days I have meals.  In the end they're all meals varying in size.  I thought I'd share what I eat for lunch when I'm home, some ingredients will repeat, and there is a "formula", usually some grain, mainly rye bread in various forms, meat, veg, and cheese, sometimes with soup, sometimes with tea, or a smoothie, a milk shake, or freshly squeezed lemonade.  At times, it's not only dinner ideas that people get in a rut with, it's boring to eat the same stuff for lunch all the time too.  Here are some examples of what I like to eat, very easy, nutritious and filling lunches or snacks:

Fresh carrots, savoy sauerkraut (home made), pickled beets (home made), and Smoked Sirloin Tip (Ogonowka in Polish) on a piece of pumpernickel.

Very crusty walnut cranberry bread with a slice of salted butter.  

Brussel sprouts, with butter and maple smoked unrefined sea salt.

Leek and horseradish sauerkraut (home made, one of my very favourite flavours), rye grilled cheese (Irish old cheddar), and carrots, made with butter.

Goose liver pate with cumin sauerkraut (made by me; I love sauerkraut).

Pumpernickel with lard, lardons, and raw maple smoked rock salt.

Rye with butter and a slice of pig skin sausage - amazing!  I get this sausage at Sausage Partners in Toronto; they make it on site.

Zucchini, smoked Polish sausage, parmigiano reggiano, lachsschinken, kale, sautéed in butter.

I'm not sure what this is called in English, but it's a type of blood sausage, with fat chunks, and tongue; it's delicious.  I find congealed blood tastes a bit like chocolate, the two go well together in recipes.

Here is the blood sausage from above, on rye, with fresh cucumbers, and tomato soup.

Avocado, my caraway bay sauerkraut, Calabrese salami, fresh greens and parsley, grown in my kitchen.

Pumpernickel, Calabrese salami, sauerkraut, creamy tomato soup.

Pumpernickel with lard, lardons, and my delicious home made sauerkraut.

Scrambled eggs with sausage, onion, and rye.

Pumpernickel with lard and lardons and dill pickles, which my dad made.  When I say dill pickles I mean real pickles in brine, not vinegar.

I hope some of my lunch and snack ideas will help you try new things, and keep lunch exciting.  When I work, I always make and bring my own lunch.  It always gets comments and people start making excuses why they don't make their own lunch.  In reality, tasty, healthy, and filling food doesn't have to take  a long time to plan or make.

Figs, tasty on their own, or with a variety of meats and cheeses, also great in tarts with caramelized onions and cheese.

Kalon Digor!  (Breton)

Indoor Gardening

A few weeks ago I started a mini indoor garden.  I try to have some fresh herbs, I do mostly outside when the weather is warm and stable.  I say stable, because for about two weeks we've had 20+ C outside, about 4x the seasonal norm.  It's the middle of March.  Today is cooler, hopefully winter won't be back.  I didn't want to take chances with planting seeds outside just in case it went below zero again.

Here is a photo of my mini indoor garden:

What you see there are 2 pots of heirloom garlic, I used my last 2 cloves, parsley, and mixed greens.  The fluffy green plant on the left is a decorative asparagus fern.  The garlic is growing very fast, so I knotted the leaves so the plant starts focusing more on the bulb, as opposed to the foliage.  I haven't decided yet, if I'm going to let one grow seeds, or if I will use both for the garlic cloves.  I might do that, and then just re-sow a few of the cloves, instead of growing it from seeds.  Last night I actually added two more cans, one with chives, and one with green sweet basil.  I love fresh basil.  Chives are delicious chopped on a fresh piece of crusty rye or pumpernickel with butter, farmer's cheese or cottage cheese, and s&p.  I prefer chives to green onions, they have a slightly milder flavour, and are significantly thinner, you can also dehydrate them.

I came across this nifty idea for indoor planting and reusing/ recycling:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150745621612053&set=o.189287804456890&type=1&theater

If I get my hands on some pop bottles, I will definitely try this.

BTW, this is what I've got blooming in my yard to date (this year):

The crocusses came in first, and the blooms are already gone, I only had 3 flowers, so I didn't bother collecting the saffron.  For those who don't know, saffron are the yellow (reproductive) bits inside the crocus flower.  I didn't actually plant them, they were there from previous owners, or possibly squirrels.  Super tiny and just poking from below the shrub you see in the background.  The mini daffodils, I planted last fall, in a not so straight row.  I love them all.  Instant smiles.  My winter rose has small buds, I planted it last year, so I didn't even expect any flowers this year.

Happy gardening!

Light Bites

I love eating meals in appetizer format.  If you pair the right foods, you can eat healthy, get a wide array of foods on your plate, and be full at the end.  This is great when you can't decide what to eat.  I assemble various plates, including cheeses, meats, veg, fruit, condiments, dips, etc.  The 2 variations I had this week, are:

A tasty assortment of delicious and healthy foods, packed with flavours.  Home grown and pickled beets, home made locally grown caraway sauerkraut, Schinkenspeck prosciutto, German pumpernickel, and Polish cherry wood double smoked sausage.   I love this sausage, well I love everything on that plate, but I'll focus on the sausage.  It has an amazing texture, and a very smokey flavour with a hint of sweetness. 

I never buy sausages at a supermarket, because that's like buying a "sausage" at a hotdog stand and thinking you're eating a German, Italian, or Polish sausage, when in fact you're not much better off than had you just ordered a hotdog.  Go to your local deli, Farmer's Market, or butcher's and taste the difference, never mind the healthier ingredients.

The other plate I made was more sauerkraut - I can't get enough of this stuff, jalapeno ciabatta with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip, and more Schinkenspeck, because it's so good.

I used this 6% Italian balsamic wine vinegar: medium bodied, fruity, sweet and sour flavour went well with the spicy bread.

Appetizer plates have endless possibilities, and I love that about them.