Party-time!
”Tis the season for potlucks and I’m trying to find simple and healthy ideas and this one is a variation on one of my go-to slow cooker recipes.
Cabbage “roll” casserole
In the bottom of a slow cooker, layer:
¾ cup quinoa
¾ cup dry lentils ( rinsed-I used red)
1.5 bags of pre-grated coleslaw mix or about 4 cups
1 large can stewed tomatoes
In a fry pan, sauté
one chopped onion and
4-5 mushrooms in
butter/oil of your choice.
Flavour with oregano and basil -to taste-I used 1 tsp each, dry.
Add that to the slow cooker, mixing with the tomatoes a bit but don’t fuss.
Add enough water to full halfway and turn on low.
Cook for 6 ish hours.
Scoop out and enjoy/ transfer to a serving tray that can be reheated or take your slow cooker to the party!
All posts by Tracey Vibert
What? More kitchen time?!?
Heading out tonight for a rum tasting party and wanted to contribute something subtle to counter the amount of rum I’ll be ingesting 🤗
Off I went to the grocery store…
So a bag of chicago mix popcorn will start, but I then found some pumpernickel, yum! But I’m not in the mood for the standard spinach dipping sauce tonight.
Veggie pate experiment time!
IT is chilling now in the fridge, but I think it’s gentle flavour will work tonight!
I divided it into two blocks, so I’ll have more for other gatherings in the near future!
Lentil vegetable spread/pate
1 cup lentils, rinse and sort. Let drain.
Into a sauce pan:
1 onion chopped finely
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
Sauté on medium low heat until onions are translucent. Add lentils and enough water to cover by 2cm or so. Simmer on medium -low heat until lentils are pretty much cooked-about 20 minutes.
Add:
2 carrots grated
½ cup grated cabbage
Continue to cook until everything is tender. Another 10-15 minutes.
Purée. You can use an immersion blender or food processor-it’s hot so be careful!
Add:
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste-any other spices that inspire you!
Pour into a tray/pan lined with wax paper and chill.
And that’s that!
Crazy vegan baking experiments Day 2
yesterday’s marshmallow fluff was intended to be more like fudge. I think I would need to either use more maple syrup or cook it to a higher temp to achieve that – future experimentation !
I had dropped out about 24 blobs of the fluffy onto wax paper hoping it would possibly harder if I put it into the freezer…
Looks great but is still sticky to touch.
Today, I melted some organic bittersweet chocolate chips in hopes of maybe creating a chocolate – but the fluff is too soft.
So now I have decided to try to create a cookie base to maybe slide the blobs onto and maybe get a bit more chocolate on them, or just enjoy a great tasting but sticky mess!
Chick pea orange spice cookies
¾ cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
mix dry ingredients then add:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tablespoons orange juice
Mix and roll into a log about 3 cm in diameter and chill for at least 15 minutes.
Slice into 24 discs and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
bake 6-8 minutes at 325 degrees F.
Let cool on rack and flip over to place the fluffy blobs onto the bottom of each cookie.
Final look is super cute, but they will stay frozen until I serve them and they will be slightly messy.
So whoever is coming to my place in the next few weeks will get a chance to try these!
Vegan Dessert time
Why vegan? No reason.
I’m an omnivore with vegetarian tendencies but with many friends who have more limited diets.
So I like to play.
And after I finished up with bridal clients ( days jobs), I was able to have some fun in the kitchen today!
Here are today’s adventures without further ado!
1st-avocado chocolate mousse:
4 ripe avocado-peeled and pitted
¼-½ cup cocoa
¼-⅓ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
Put it all into a big mixing bowl and puree it until it’s all mixed. Start with the minimum for the cocoa and syrup.
Give it a taste and add more cocoa or maple syrup if you like!
2-Maple Marshmallow Fluff
Chickpea juice from 1 can of precooked chickpeas ( approx 1 cup)
Approx 3/4-1 cup maple syrup
Heat the maple syrup without stirring, in a heavy saucepan (with room for it to bubble up ) until it hits 260degrees on a candy thermometer or forms a soft ball when a tiny bit is dropped in cold water.
While this is reaching its happy place, beat the chick pea juice on high speed into a stiff-peaked meringue.
Continue beating and pour the maple syrup in a slow stream, into the meringue. Continue to beat it until it’s either turned into fudge ( which was the original plan) or becomes and amazing marshmallow fluff!
Part 3- peel clementines, or chop bananas, berries, or any other fruit and have ready to add in!
Assembly- use 4 awesome bowls/wine glasses/anything that will show the layers!
Option 1- mousse then fluff, add fruit on top.
Option 2-fluff, then mousse the fruit.
Option 3- fluff, mousse, then marble the two; top with fruit.
Pics of that laters!
Capturing moments
ON this morning’s walkabout, I was thinking, as I often do, about how beautiful the trees, the clouds, the sky, etc. can be when we have the time to appreciate it.
And I took some photos on my phone as I often do.
Then I started to think about how photographers, videographers, and anyone who takes the time to document those real moments in their lives, either for they own future appreciation or to share with others, are blessed in our present world.
We can easily capture gorgeous images, momentous images, subtle and delicate images that represent the moment of their taking, our mood at that time and help us hold on to those precious moments for future revisiting.
My mind then wandered to two other shots I shared this week of my 15/16 year old self as a blonde. and I wondered at that young person, who was also a creative soul, doing crazy fun things and having great friends to support her on that journey.
Thanks and gratitude were strong today.
Here are some of those shots I was mentioning – I took them for me, but if you enjoy them as well, cool.
Plus, I know you want to see this one…
Spiralling around again
Growing up, I recall my parents hosting a “wine and cheese” party in the first house I grew up in. I think it might have been as my father was getting into local politics, but I was probably around 10 so I’ll go with what my perception of it was.
I do not recall being around for the soirée itself, but I was around for the preparations and I was imprinted with the “hostess” energies from that moment onwards.
When we moved to the house I spent my teen years in, it took me a few years, but once I was in high school, I started hosting my own parties…theme parties at that!
-Toga party- because I loved playing with fabric and wanted an excuse to create a draped gown;
-50’s party so that I could make up a beautiful dress pattern I had found, and I got to make my BFF a poosdle skirt
-60’s in Paris party – I had found another cool pattern and made this amazing black Audrey Hepburn type two piece top and skirt, and a faux stained glass wall piece depicting the Eiffel Tower.
And my high school friends were so awesome, they came in costume and we had a blast- at least that’s what I recall.
My grandmother also contributed to that imprinting as we usually went to see my grandfather and her every Sunday; there were classic items always on the menu- butterscotch pie, cream puffs, meat pie, baked beans, and various squares and cookies.
It was comforting, it was tradition, it was good.
In the intervening years, depending on where I was living and what my life was like at the time, I have continued to enjoy hosting and offering a safe and funny place for people to sit, chat, meet new folks, and reconnect with old friends, etc.
And about 4 years ago, my anxiety started to get worse, and I had to start looking at ways to reduce my stress. While hosting events and parties was still fun, it was part of a larger picture of “too much”, and I started to cut back.
Retiring from organizing official events was the first step, and when we had to move into the ” interim apartment”, we hosted one party there and then shifted away from it.
This past weekend, we celebrated with friends in our new apartment-one in which my husband has been exercising a joyful amount of decorating savvy, and I get my own studio/room!
So, we cleaned, hung photos and art pieces, prepped food and one friend commented in advance, “don’t go nuts!”….
too late…
And it was nice. I still need to make sure I do not resume the ” Too much” inclinations of my youth, I am happy to have spiralled back to a place of healthy hosting.
Welcome Fall, sort of…
Monday morning.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The coldest Capital on the planet, I think.
9 am on September 25-3 days into the fall season and it is already 22 degrees Celsius with an expected high of 33.
Hide people, stay inside and keep cool!
Celebrating the Wedge.
I live in a great little neighbourhood that is “just colourful enough” – there are folks from all over the world who live and settle in the variety of rentals and owned homes, and yesterday some of the folks held a party
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
I met people I did not even realize lived so close to me, met lots of dog parents who I had seen many times but did not know their names, and generally stayed up way too late and had a great time.
Once in a while, do something fun in your neighbourhood.
Day off…so…Beer Biscotti (ish)
We tried the French Press Vanilla Stout a few days ago and @wtl rated it an abomination. I was not so harsh, I deemed it bread worthy.
So I poured it into a bowl and added about 3 cups of white flour ( it’s what I had on hand). I also added about ¼ cup cocoa and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.
I stirred it and left it to percolate.
For 2 days.
I was really busy.
This morning I looked at it – added enough flour to get a good kneaded bread texture.
Then instead of trying to let it rise any further, I figured just bake it already.
350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
The top sounded hollow so I took it out.
But it was not really full baked.
So I sliced it like biscotti and baked it for about 10 minutes each side.
Icing sugar and vanilla glaze when it came out.
Not too bad.
The morning after – feeling grateful
Last night was the Tribal Fluid show- Ostara Tribal Showcase.
It was a lovely event in an intimate theatre at Algonquin College, and had a very warm and connected feeling about it.
Part of this feeling for me was definitely coming from a place of relaxation. I was not in charge, I just needed to be told where to go, when to go there and otherwise could relax in the green room and enjoy the company of dancers of all levels and characters!
Seeing Audra of The Dark Side Studios and Kala, both of whom I keep track of on 
social media #notastalker, had met years ago, and thoroughly enjoy seeing the projects they work on through their dance, was fun, silly and totally a laugh and a half. These women are power house dancers with immense talent and constantly push boundaries and embrace and support others in their journeys. And they are so very down to earth. They rock.
Although the general theme of the show was under the larger umbrella of “tribal“, the performances were varied and creative across the board, with every dancer/ group showing something close to their heart, or testing their own boundaries and trying something new.
It was an honour to both perform as part of Bollywood For Fun, and to be asked to do a solo.
On my own journey, I am on the inward part of my spiral, 
examining my own roots in dance from a new perspective. I began with ballroom/ latin and I am exploring that a little bit – and seeing where that takes me.
When I began belly dance, I did not perform to middle eastern music, and I have maintained that as part of my general repertoire. As I explore the realities of cultural appropriation, and a constant examination and re-examination of my choices in regards to this beautiful dance form, there is a lot of soul searching going on, and while I have no clear answers, I do want to respect the culture, and be true to my own love of dance from my own place of honouring it.
As I say, I have not come to any conclusions other than I can constantly strive to respect the source of the dance, and try to represent it in an elegant way, educating people with my own limited knowledge and re-directing them to more educated master teachers to spread awareness and appreciation for this gorgeous dance form.
So back to gratitude, as I do have that privilege of working with amazing performers and community members.
Great job Tracy and crew – it does get easier. Keep notes, repeat what worked, adjust what didn’t, ask for help when you need to and I hope you get today off!
Click on this one to see more!
