Woman in Real Life

I am writing this What I Ate Wednesday from our cottage rental on Lower Buckhorn Lake. We have been spending time pedal boating, canoeing, swimming, playing bocce, napping and, of course, eating lots of yummy foods. Although we don't want to be slaves to the kitchen, cottaging also calls for good eats.

How's everyone doing? I, like many others, am trying not to sink into a pit of misery, given this unrelenting, bone-chillingly cold weather. I'm surprised I haven't packed on 20 pounds this winter, because all I want to do is sit around and eat by the fireplace.

How well I eat depends on what groceries we have in the house. This little pasta meal, above, is one of my desperation lunches. Not much in the house at all calls for sautéing frozen veggies and chickpeas, adding a bit of fresh asparagus and some leftover cooked pasta and dressing it up with a little bit of Bragg's liquid aminos. Oh, and I usually throw in some minced garlic. That helps. It's surprisingly good actually.

Outside my window it already looks like it's the middle of winter - snow on the ground and no evidence of sunshine. But I can't complain - I hear they're getting hammered with snow in Buffalo today. It's a bit early for hibernation still, but you'll find me staying inside whenever possible nevertheless. Staying inside and eating. But hopefully not excessively.

We have pasta at least once a week in our house. I think my husband had it almost every day growing up in an Italian family. I am good with having pasta regularly, especially if we alter the sauce a bit. One time we might add chickpeas, another time a handful of red lentils. This week I spotted Gardein vegan "meatballs" in the freezer section at the health food store. I'm a Gardein fan so I really wanted to give them a try. The Gardein meatballs are a bit larger in size than any vegan meatballs I've tried before. They are firm and dense and I enjoyed the texture. I spotted some fennel seeds in the mix. Because I chose to cook the meatballs in my sauce, the whole sauce was infused with the taste of the fennel and other spices from the meatballs. I'm not going to say it was my favourite flavour - I'd probably cook the vegan meatballs separately next time.

Shhh...don't tell my husband about this post. He really doesn't like to be featured on the blog. What can I do? I have to share some Father's Day pics. Like the kids delivering Daddy's breakfast tray, above. He clearly wasn't sleeping, but rather taking some time for his favourite hobby - playing guitar. Notice Jolene the dog on the right. She made some strong attempts at getting the food from the tray.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! I'm sharing some food highlights from the week as usual, but this week I also enjoyed a few great snacks that I want to tell you about.

I have a fierce sweet tooth and I have always loved jelly beans. What I don't like is artificial colours. Not good for anybody, especially children. Luckily, there is a delicious alternative.