A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - San Antonio

One of the people I follow on Instagram is in San Antonio right now. I've been to the city a few times for conferences. Here are some shots from my last visit.

Happy National Cat Day

Get it?

Fried Camembert with Cranberry Sauce

Paul and I had a taste of this when we were in Berlin (although the cheese was served with Lingonberry jelly there). I bought some Camembert a few weeks ago with the thought of recreating the dish using the leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. I finally got around to it last night.

This really surprised me - it was fast and easy to prepare - but if you made it for a crowd people would think you had been busy for days! Everyone needs something like that in the recipe repertoire.

You should definitely serve this with something tart - the cranberry sauce worked well - as the tart jelly serves to counter the rich cheese.

Deep-Fried Camembert and Cranberry Sauce

2 (8 ounce) rounds Camembert cheese
oil for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

Freeze Camembert cheese for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Pour flour into a bowl. Beat eggs and milk together in a separate bowl. Pour bread crumbs into a third bowl.

Remove cheese from the freezer and cut each round into 6 wedges. Roll each wedge in flour and dip into the egg-milk mixture. Press each wedge into bread crumbs until evenly coated.

Fry each breaded wedge in the hot oil until bread crumbs are browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer fried cheese to a paper towel-lined plate using a slotted spoon. Serve cranberry sauce on the side.

Travel Tuesday - Ravenna

A friend of mine in Italy just had a tour group for a week. One of the stops was Ravenna. Her pics made me think of my visits there and that is my Travel Tuesday destination.

Political Jokes

Today is the municipal election in Ontario. It is important that people get out and vote . . . but please don't vote for any political jokes . . .

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

I know that it is likely too late for my fellow Canadians to make this with the leftover turkey carcass . . . Thanksgiving having been a couple of weeks ago it would be rather gamey! However, if you are anything like me your urge to eat turkey likely dissipated before the turkey did and you might have some tucked away in a freezer bag in the back of the freezer. Thaw it out, pull out the instant pot, and whip this up - you wont be sorry.

Paul and I LOVED this soup. It makes for a full pot so you will have plenty of leftovers. While it was delicious on the first day it was even yummier on day 2!

The soup only requires 5 minutes once the pot comes to pressure but because the pot is so full it will need about 25 minutes to get to the pressure point where the magic happens.

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

10 cups prepared turkey stock
2 cups cooked turkey meat, diced
4 carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
1 cup white mushrooms, diced
1 cup Wild Rice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Pour the turkey stock into the Instant Pot. Then place the diced turkey meat, carrots, celery, onion, and white mushrooms in the pot. Add in the wild rice, salt, black pepper, and parsley flakes. Stir well then seal the lid. Make sure the valve is set to "sealing".

Select "soup/broth" and set for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes are up, carefully do a quick pressure release. Carefully remove lid, stir and ladle into bowls. Top with additional parsley if desired.

Your Morning Smile

Travel Tuesday - Tuscany

A colleague is planning a trip to Tuscany for her mother's 80th birthday. We spent an hour on Friday afternoon talking about things to do . . . guess where I am off to for Travel Tuesdays?

It's a Scary Time for Men . . .

Let's hope . . .