Watermelon Smoothie

I saw this recipe come in on my RSS Feed (TastyFavoriteRecipes.com) and I was like "I have all those things and this will take like 5 minutes to make!".

Ingredients:
3 - Cups diced seeded watermelon, chilled
1 - Cup frozen strawberries
1 - Tbsp lemon juice (I would cut this back just a little bit)
Pinch of sea salt

Directions:
Combine everything in a blender but make sure you put the watermelon first or there wont be any liquid to help the strawberries blend - yes I know this from experience. Blend until smooth, garnish with an Orange slice or Mint leaves.

Garlic Scapes

I think Garlic is absolutely amazing and I pretty much use it in everything that I cook. Now that we are at the end of June, I've cut the Scapes off my Garlic. What are Garlic Scapes? They are the central stalk which goes straight up and usually makes one or two loops. If they are not harvested, they will flower. When they flower, it pulls the nutrients from the garlic bulb and shrinks it. Since I'd like the bulbs to grow as large as possible, I cut off the Scapes.

In the fall I planned 7 cloves but only 4 made it through the winter. This is my 3rd or 4th year with this line of Garlic. The Garlic bulbs have to be planned deep enough to avoid the froze / thaw cycle that can damage them. As you can see in the picture below, the one on the left is doing really well and the one on the right looks really small. It could be a combination of the depth and that I recently expanded the garden a little bit so the soil over there might not be as good.

Here's a close up of the good looking one. The Scapes have already been cut off and come July I will stop watering these completely so the bulbs can mature. Then sometime between the end of July and mid August, I'll harvest the bulbs and have my fresh Ontario Garlic!

Now... I just need to figure out what to make with the Garlic Scapes. I could use them as seasoning, I could do a pesto or maybe I'll look up some other ideas for things that I can do with them :)

Slab of Bacon

It's no secret that I love bacon and it's also no secret that I'm a huge Simpsons fan so whenever I'm cooking up bacon, ribs or ham this quote from the Simpsons comes to mind.

(Lisa)  "I'm going to become a vegetarian"
(Homer) "Does that mean you're not going to eat any pork?"
(Lisa)  "Yes"
(Homer) "Bacon?"
(Lisa)  "Yes Dad"
(Homer) "Ham?"
(Lisa)  "Dad all those meats come from the same animal"
(Homer) "Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!"

One day while looking through the meat section at Central Fresh Market, I was checking out the middle isle which usually has the larger hams and what I would call "weird meats" (only because I have cooked with them yet) when I noticed the slabs of bacon. I just so happened to need bacon for something that I was cooking but I couldn't find it on sale and I wasn't about to pay $5.99 for a package of it (it should be around $3.99). The colouring and fat level's looked really good, better then I normally see for pre-sliced packaged bacon, so I decided to give it a try. I have to tell you that I've been hooked on the bacon slab ever since! I love the convenience of it too, I can slice off 3 or 4 pieces for my morning breakfast, wrap it and throw it back in the fridge. At first I thought slicing it would be a pain but it really wasn't that bad and I'm actually getting pretty good at cutting thinner slices now but I kind of like them a little thicker.

One other thing that has helped add to the convenience of all this is the "Bacon Wave". I got this little item for Christmas and I first I didn't really use it but once I started, I couldn't stop. I put my slices in, stick the stick through each end, put it in the Microwave (I like Microwave bacon over fried bacon) and it done!





I can drain the bacon grease into a cup for easy disposal and then I pull the bacon off the rack by grabbing onto the sticks so no more oil burns.



Bacon has never tasted so good! The picture below is what my normal breakfast would look like.

2 Large Eggs - 140 Cal
1 Toast (not buttered) - 90 Cal
1 Processed Cheese Slice - 110 Cal
3 Slices Bacon - 200 Cal
540 Calories

And then I'll have a small glass (1 Cup) of milk to drink. The Bacon slabs that I'm buying go for $5.99 per pound and the slabs I pick are between $9 - $12. Next time you are in been of bacon, give it a shot and let me know what you think!