Easter Dinners

Happy Easter everyone! After a remarkably busy week I'm surprised to find myself sitting in my living room with my husband, sipping iced tea and checking our emails. I didn't expect to be this relaxed this soon! I'm glad I am though - I've only got a short break before another marathon week.
This week has actually been the week of food. My goodness there was a lot of food. It all started with Wednesday night when I was planning a tasting party at my house for a group of ladies I used to volunteer with. I had heard back from a couple of the ladies saying that they either would come or would try but I was nervous that perhaps no one would show up so I actually invited a few of my neighbours as well. Oh, and just so you know what I mean by 'tasting party', now that I've started selling Pampered Chef I will have to prepare some recipes at the cooking shows I do and since I have to use Pampered Chef recipes for those I've been making 4 or 5 of the recipes at a time and having people over to taste the food and let me know what they like and what they don't. This was supposed to be my second tasting party. I say 'supposed to' because, well, no one came. Not a one. It was 6:30 and my only for-sure cancelled and I had enough food for 20 people already made and not one person showed up. Mildly frustrating. Luckily I had planned all of the recipes to be fairly cheap so I hadn't spent a ton of money to put on the party, but that didn't help the fact that I now had a lot of food leftover and we were headed to Calgary the next day. However, I phoned my sister and she decided that we could just eat the food at her place the next evening for an impromptu appetizer party when Matt and I got to Calgary. Turns out, that was a pretty good idea! So Thursday afternoon Matt and I went to Calgary, we stopped off at Crossiron Mills and then went to my sister's place and ate a fantastic Crab Spread, some Apple Berry Salsa, and a Chocolate Chip Cannoli dip with fresh strawberries. My sister had also made a warm brie on top of that, so we all ate our fill (and alot of Crab Spread). That night, my sister and I also made soaps. In the April edition of Martha Stewart Living, there was a great article on making your own soaps using glycerin and pureed herbs or fruit. Neither of us had ever made soaps before but we gave it a try and it worked great! Super easy to make, super easy to clean up (it's soap - you just wash it off in hot water!) The next day I ended up back at my sister's house to make Easter Dinner for a small portion of our family: my parents, my sister's family and Matt and I. The time to cook one of my ducks had finally come. However, because not everyone likes duck we also decided to make up a chicken too. So at 1:30 I prepped the duck by cleaning, trimming, scoring and seasoning it and then I set it up on a veggie 'roasting rack', poured on a little white wine and put it in the oven. Next I prepped the chicken, which was going to be cooked on the BBQ. My sister had a Ricard's chicken roaster where you basically fill a stand with beer and seasoning, stick it up the butt of the chicken and set it on the BBQ like that. For dessert we made up a Glorious Mango Pudding with sweetened condensed milk, ricotta cheese, mangoes and lime juice and for the veggies we did green beans with caramelized shallots, steamed artichokes and potatoes wrapped in foil and roasted on the BBQ. There were a couple of hiccups with the meal prep (I forgot that the artichokes needed 30 minutes to steam, instead of 15, and then I forgot to check the water level and let the steam pot boil dry - whoops!) but we were all dishing up by 5:45. The duck was fantastic! So worth the wait! The chicken was really moist and didn't catch on fire (much to my mother's surprise). The veggies were all good, but the Mango Pudding was my favorite I think... and I don't even like mango! I meant to make up a second dessert (Martha's Little Lemon Souffles) but everyone ate so much dinner we didn't have room for more food! So instead my sister and I made more soaps!
Saturday morning we were going to a baby shower for my cousin and her new baby boy and I had pledged to make up 40 scones for the event. I have the world's greatest scone recipe which has a great make-ahead component, so when the time comes to bake them, all you do is add water and bake! The shower had so much great food (mini quiches, strawberry cream tarts, my scones were made into strawberry shortcakes) and then within a couple hours of the shower we went to Easter Dinner with the extended family! Today Matt and I came home in time to meet some of his family for lunch at a restaurant and then we had his sister and her husband over for supper - hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob and fruit with dip.
I'm very full :)
Now, this week coming up is a marathon week for multiple reasons. First off, our anniversary is on Tuesday (3 years!). Next, Gabe's birthday is on Wednesday (2 years!). We have doctor's appointments, meetings, deadlines and family gatherings all week long, including all of the work I have to do for a volunteer commitee I'm on and I've got a couple Pampered Chef shows I'm helping some friends plan. It's also my one month date since signing up with Pampered Chef this week and I'm hoping to meet a sales goal to get a bonus (I'm not sure about this one since my tasting party was a flop...)
It's definitely going to be a busy week! Good thing I've been fattened up for it, hey?

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Easter Menu

It's time for planning Easter dinner! Yay! I had a few commitments that I needed to focus on before I let myself think too much on it, but now that those are past I'm retargetting my focus on Easter!
First off, my plans for my ducks have changed. I had planned on cooking them up for family dinner with Matt's side of the family, however, due to scheduling conflicts, we won't be having Easter dinner with that side this year. So instead, we're going to be having a small dinner on Friday night with my immediate family where I will cook up one of the ducks. Since not everyone likes duck, I'm also roasting a chicken (mmmm I love the smell of roasting chicken with garlic and white wine...) I also decided that since I'm not getting to make some items for my sister-in-law's baby shower that I really wanted to try to make, I'm going to do them up for this dinner. So while my family would normally have broccoli, steamed carrots and mashed potatoes for sides and maybe a pie for dessert, I'm mixing it up! We're keeping the mashed potatoes, but then we're having Balsamic Glazed carrots, steamed artichokes, phyllo wrapped asparagus spears with red pepper aioli and for dessert I'm making individual lemon souffles and cracked chocolate eggs with mango sorbet 'yolks'. I hope the family likes it!
This is also going to be our anniversary weekend. Our actual anniversary is next Tuesday, however Gabe's birthday is the Wednesday and we're dividing that up between both sides of the family so my parents get Gabe on Tuesday and Matt's parents get him on Wednesday. That leaves Monday night for our anniversary but we have Auxano that night so we will instead be celebrating on Sunday afternoon. We're going to take Gabe to Crossiron Mills so he can see the fish and caribou at Bass Pro Shop and we're going to see what other fun things we can do there too. At very least there will be guns for Matt and a Homesense for me, so that will be something.
Pampered Chef has been going quite well. I'm having my third show this Wednesday and then this month I've earned a Father's Day present for Matt, a free zester, a free cookbook, a free glass batter bowl and I'm lined up to earn a bunch more free stuff next month. Oh, not to mention the money I earned too!
I should get moving though - I've got a long to-do list for today!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Catch Up

Wow it's been some time! I've been a little on the busy side lately... We'll use that as my excuse for not posting until now. Let's see, since I last wrote I had my first Pampered Chef party! It was a bridal shower for my sister-in-law and it went fairly well. The recipe was a big hit (Mexican Chicken Napoleons) and my sister-in-law got lots of free stuff. I did run into a bit of an issue with sending in my order however. Turns out that my computer hates the Pampered Chef program that you use to submit orders. But I hate my computer too, so it all evens out. We've actually been looking for a cheapo netbook for me lately so that I can actually get it to work - the biggest problem has been that we're running Vista (bleh.) We have to send in our laptop for repairs yet again so we might end up getting a whole new laptop, however Matt is hoping to upgrade to a Mac, which isn't compatible with the Pampered Chef program so a netbook really is the best option for me. We did get an external hard drive from Best Buy for 40% off because of one very nice manager! Since this will be the fourth time we're sending out laptop away for repairs he gave us an awesome discount so we could back up all our tax and business files.
I'm planning on throwing a Pampered Chef Tasting Party this weekend, however everyone seems to be busy so I hope I can find enough people to come! I'm going to make 7 different recipes that I'll get people to sample to tell me if it's good enough for a show or what I need to change in it. It'll actually be a really big help to me because then I'll know I'm not the only person in the world who likes it and by making them all at one time I won't have to spend multiple days in the kitchen testing out recipes - just one! So far there are only two people coming so I'm employing guerilla advertising to try and get more people to come! Wish me luck! I suppose if no one comes I can go back to making food for my family though...
Gabriel is doing well. We're prepping him for the new baby coming which mostly entails making him glad that he's a big boy and not a baby anymore. We're a few weeks away yet from moving him into his big-boy room with his big-boy bed, but he knows it's coming and he's excited for it. He's finally off his soother completely (a year later than my original plans) and potty training is going well. At least once a day he'll be the one to ask to go potty and he's letting us know if he needs to be changed and he really gets what you're supposed to do when you sit on the potty. It's all baby steps, but they're in the right direction at least.
As for the baby bump, he's doing well. He's quite squirmy. I don't remember Gabe being anywhere near this wiggly. When Gabe moved it was abrupt, straight kicks, but this little guy is more prone to punching and doing the polka than anything. I had my glucose blood test last week and I didn't almost pass out so it went better than the last time I took it :) I hate that orange sugar juice. If you've never had it, don't believe the nurse when she says it's not as bad as people say. It's worse. But, Matt happened to have the day off and my mom took Gabe so I had company while I sat an hour in the blood clinic waiting for my timer to go and then Matt took me to this little sushi place called MoMos for the best Dynamite Rolls I've ever had.
Spring is finally showing it's face around here but even though the snow has been melting for over a week we still have a 3 foot drift on our front lawn. My mom and sister have both been saying that their tulips are up but we still can't even find out flower bed to check so it'll be a little while more for us.
Well, I'm expecting a phone call from Pampered Chef tech support and if I really intend on having a house full of people on Saturday perhaps I should spend some time cleaning! Wish me luck!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Asparagus Shrimp Spaghetti

Last night I made the best cream sauce I have ever made. Yay me!
We had company coming over and I had failed to plan dinner in advance past the idea of having some cranberry-cinnamon goat cheese that I've been craving for a month. All I can say is that it must be the pregnancy getting to me, because I've never put off planning a menu for a dinner that was booked a week in advance... Anyway, I went to Sobeys because that's the place with the amazing goat cheese and I saw that they had steaks on sale so I picked some up. Fortunately I also picked up shrimp because I remembered on my drive home that we were out of propane for the BBQ. Incidentally, I only buy raw frozen shrimp now instead of the precooked types. Much fresher flavor even if you have to peel them yourself.
Well, it was about 3:30 and I was starting to really worry about what I was going to be serving for supper. I decided to use the shrimp for a pasta dish and to use up the bundle of asparagus that I had sitting in my fridge. So first step, I cooked the asparagus. However, I had never cooked asparagus before so I actually had to look up how to do it. The combined help of 3 different sources got me through it. First off, I prepped the asparagus by breaking off the hard, woody ends. That's right - breaking, not cutting. Turns out that if you slightly bend the stalk it will naturally break clean at the point that it starts to harden. Beauty. Then I boiled some water in my frying pan, salted it, and when it was at a rolling boil I added the asparagus. My suggested cooking time was "until bright green" which I doubted but need not have. I fork tested one which had turned bright green after 3 minutes and, sure enough, nicely tender but firm. Then, I blanched 'em. A neat trick for aspargus and green beans... cook them in advance and then dip them in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process and keep them from going limp and losing their vivid color. You'll have to reheat them later, but really, it's worth it.
Anyway, I knew what I was making kind of, but I still needed a sauce. I had no heavy cream in the house however so I was a little stumped about how to make a cream sauce. Fortunately my lovely sister came to the rescue. She asked if I had cream cheese and told me to go to cookingwithphilly.ca. Well, I went there and while I didn't really find a recipe there, I found ideas. So I decided to wing it with my own sauce and it turned out fantastically! Here's my recipe for the dish.
Asparagus Shrimp Spaghetti:
1/2 bunch asparagus
handful spaghetti
shrimp
lemon wedge
parmesan
Sauce:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. cream cheese
2 cloves garlic
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 c. white wine

Cook asparagus in advance and set aside. Boil water and add pasta. In frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and cream cheese. When sauce starts to boil, add chicken broth and whisk until combined. Turn up heat to medium-high and add basil and wine. Whisk until creamy. Add peeled and defrosted shrimp and cook until pink. Add asparagus and cook until heated through.
Pour sauce, shrimp and asparagus over strained spaghetti. Sprinkle generously with grated parmesan and squeeze lemon wedge over top. Toss until thoroughly mixed. Serve!

Well, in addition to my most successful cream sauce ever, I am now selling Pampered Chef for sure. My first show will be my sister-in-law's Bridal Shower and after that, who knows? I'm actually quite excited for it. I've already gone through and picked out which recipes I'll use for shows and what items I want to get next. They've got some awesome stuff that my kitchen is without. Like their double boiler - I don't have one but their's is better than a normal one because it has handles on it. Anyway, I am excited and I do foresee it being mucho fun.

Well, my parents just got home from Maui yesterday so we're going to go see them! TTFN!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Easter is Coming!

Yay! It's Martha Stewart Day! My monthly holiday to celebrate the goodness that is Martha Stewart Living came early this month - which is good, because it came late last month and I was worried it would again.
Easter is just over a month away and I must say, I'm quite excited! Granted, I've got lots going on between now and then, but I don't think it's too early to start planning for it!
Now, there's something I must confess to: I suck at decorating eggs. The eggs I dye look like a 5 year old did them. Basically, I haven't improved since the first time my parents let me dye my own. Depressing, eh? Thank goodness for Martha Stewart however. If anything can save me from this, she can. Last year I just dyed the eggs one color in different shades and I pulled it off reasonably well, but using regular, large chicken eggs didn't have quite the effect I had hoped for. My solution: Duck eggs! Martha listed in her magazine this month a link to a place that sells duck, goose, ostrich and emu eggs. They drill them, blow them and sterilize them. The duck eggs are $0.85 a piece so I'm thinking of maybe ordering a couple dozen and dying them in solid colors and making some permament centerpieces with them. Every April issue Martha lists ideas and tips for how to decorate eggs - things like using vinegar in the dye and precleaning, embossing and stickers... So I'll make sure I brush up my know-how before.
Plan B for fun decorating of eggs: I'm making cake eggs! I got a pan last year that is basically a cupcake pan that make egg-shaped cakes. I'll ice them all nice and have fun decorating those all pretty-like. Then I might brush melted chocolate into them and make chocolate eggs too!
As you may or may not know, I have two lovely ducks in my freezer just beginning to be cooked which will contribute to a great family dinner. Oh, and I found an adorable recipe for lemon souffles on... you guessed it, MarthaStewart.com. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/little-lemon-souffles
I think I'll make these for some type of Easter get together too.
Oh, and I had never wanted to make soap before this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living came out. She had some gorgeous ideas for them! I might try and make those this spring and maybe I'll put Lilies of the Valley in my backyard :) That was in the magazine too!
I'm so excited!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Saving money!

Well, it's everywhere in the news right now. Prices are rising. If you drive, you've noticed already. Economists say world food prices are at an all-time high (and rising) and housing prices in 5 provinces are hitting pre-recession heights while incomes sure aren't. Canada is sitting atop a strong dollar right now which is actually helping us alot more than most of us realize. The global oil market is in distress which makes the Alberta oilsands projects more profitable which will help drive up our economy a bit, but in reality, that sort of a hike will be fleeting and probably more harmful in the long run than anything. So while we may be in a little bubble in a sense, things are still going to get more expensive for basics.
So, here are some money saving tips! I'm cheap so I've always looked for low-cost ideas and alternatives - and now I get to share all my wisdom on penny-pinching!
Let's start with the basics - Grocery shopping:
1. Meal plan. Less waste = better use of money. Before you go grocery shopping, meal plan for the week. As you're planning your meals, start with two or three meals that you definitely want to make and think about what ingredients you'll need for them. Take your ingredient list and decide on what your other meals will be based on what ingredients you'll have leftover. Example: You want to make tacos. Buy hard shells so that you can store them and they won't go to waste if you don't use them all. You'll have sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, salsa... Salsa can store or be a snack, the veggies make a nice salad another night and the sour cream you can use for baking or maybe have perogies another night that week. More extravagant example: You decide to have a roast chicken meal with asparagus and mashed potatoes. The next night you can use the leftover chicken in a pasta dish with the asparagus and a cream sauce. Save the mashed potatoes for a shepherds pie for another night. Don't waste!
2. Buy store brands. They are almost always cheaper, and some of them are pretty good. It might involve some taste testing to know what you can and cannot compromise on. I myself won't buy no-name or store brand ketchup, soya sauce or soups. However, Sobeys' Our Compliments brand has fantastic chips and pop, Save-on-foods' Western Family has great sauces and cereals and Superstore's President's Choice have really upped the bar over the last few years - all of their pre-made and frozen products are great.
3. Read the flyers. It's amazing how much money you can save by just watching for sales. I only really ever shop at Co-op, but occassionally hop over to Save-on-foods if they have a really good sale. However, before I start meal planning I flip through the Co-op flyer and see what's on sale that week. That helps me to decide what gets on the meal list for that week. Also, watch for Warehouse Sales or Buy 10 for $ deals and stock up on dry products whenever they're cheap.

Clothes:
1. Pick and choose people. I'm not saying don't buy anything, but don't buy everything. Do you have alot of weddings this summer? Save up for one absolutely fantastic outfit that you can mix up with accessories instead of buying a bunch of dresses.
2. Accessories. You want a different style. You feel the need to add some flair to your look. Don't buy a whole new wardrobe - buy accessories. Belts, scarves, bracelets, necklaces, etc. Mix it up.

Utilities:
1. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS
2. PUT ON A SWEATER

Let's move on to some non-essentials. Here's a list I found in a Better Homes and Garden magazine from July 2010 about when things go on sale:
Appliances: Holiday Weekends
Cameras/Camcorders: February, March
Carpet & Flooring: January
China & Flatware: March, September
Computers: August, December
Cookware: May, June, December
Dining Furniture: October, November
Electronics: Spring and early Summer, Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Exercise gear: January
Furniture: January, July, holiday weekends
Holiday Decor: Day after the holiday
Linens: January
Mattresses: May through August
Organizational products: January
Paint: Summer
Patio Furniture: After Labor Day
Plants, Trees, Shrubs: Fall
Small Appliances: December
Snowblowers: April
Televisions: Early spring, also six to 12 months after a particular model is launched
Vacuum Cleaners: April, May

If you're looking to buy a big ticket item, consider holding off until these times.

Gifts:
Everyone has gifts to buy at some point through the year. This one note is particularly for your spouse. Collaborate anniversary and Christmas gifts for eachother. Make your little budget go further. Matt and I alternate every year - one year we buy eachother individual presents and the next year we buy joint presents. That's how we got our beautiful piece of artwork (and its frame) and this year we're postponing Christmas shopping for ourselves until Boxing Week and then we're buying a new bedroom set!

The best general advice is to plan your purchases, check for sales and don't impulse buy!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Pampered Chef

Let's have another round of my favorite game, Good Idea/Bad Idea, shall we?
My brother is getting married next month. (That's not what I'm wanting opinions on). As of yet, there are no plans for a bridal shower and considering that 2 of the 3 people who would actually plan one are in Maui, I'm trying to work out some details on my own. Now, what I really want opinions on is the unorthodox idea of having a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower. We'd put the bride's name down as the host so that she got all the free stuff, she could circle things in the catalogue that people could buy for her instead of bringing a gift, and even if some people didn't want to buy anything for her, anything they buy for themselves would actually help her get more free things from the party.
Now, at different times I've worried that either the party will seem too pushy and too "you didn't bring a present but you can't get out of buying one for her" and at other times I've worried that the party wouldn't be enough about her. Now, the latter of those I can fix by doing other bridal shower type things. The former of those I am a little worried about still but I'm hoping the no pressure to bring a gift scenario would outweigh the pressure to buy something scenario. Also, I'm hoping that some people would come to the party who wouldn't otherwise. I mean, everyone loves Pampered Chef, right? So hopefully we can wrangle in a few of the cousins and relatives on her side that might be sitting on the fence about coming. I originally had wanted to do a jewelry home party but I decided Pampered Chef would be more useful and .
For the bride's benefit, I think it's a good idea (obviously or I wouldn't have proposed it). How many people who are married got a load of things at their showers that they will never use? How many people wish that everyone would just stick to the registry? This way we can have a "registry" right on hand and again, even if people only buy things for themselves they'll be helping her get more free stuff. As for what if people already have gifts for her, well since there hasn't been any talk about a shower I doubt most people would have a gift for the shower yet.
Now, good idea/bad idea scenario #2 - should I become a Pampered Chef consultant? haha I know, it sounds so selfish and affected to bring that up after everything I said above, but hear me out! First off, I really came up with the idea for the party before the idea of being a consultant. I was trying to figure out if a friend of mine from town would be willing to drive to Calgary to do the show since I don't know of anyone who does Pampered Chef in Calgary. Then I was looking through the website and stumbled across the consultant kits and realized they were less than I thought they were. Then I realized that if I signed up under my consultant friend it would actually be helping her and if I did the Pampered Chef Bridal Shower as my first show I could make sure there weren't any strangers there, run it with less pressure than otherwise and probably make back my investment in the consultant kit with that first show. Sounded like a good idea. The issue is, I wouldn't do it really well. I mean, I could put on a mean show, and we all know I love cooking, but I wouldn't be one of those pushy people always trying to make shows and always trying to sell things. I'd probably just do a few shows a year and let my friends and family know to put my name in as their consultant if they ever want to order things online. I certainly wouldn't be in it for the money. I think the biggest thing is I would do it for friends and family - oddly enough. As I said, I don't know of anyone who sells Pampered Chef in Calgary. I've been to Partylite parties there and know a few people who sell that as well as Avon sales people and Amway people... and while I know of alot of people in town who sell Pampered Chef, there's no one in my circle in Calgary who does, and I know I've got some family members who like the stuff. My sister would probably enjoy throwing a Pampered Chef party and I'd love to help her do that.
So, would it be worth it to do it just half-heartedly? I mean, I'd make my money back at least, but would it be too much of a nagging feeling to do better? Or would it be okay if I just coasted?
I want your opinions!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)