No Plans

After getting home late last night, I was glad to wake up this morning with no real plans.  I knew I wanted to go pick up a bit of fresh produce, try out a new stew recipe and attempt to make pumpkin spice scones.  No time frames though.

I was excited to see a new type of Kashi cereal at the grocery store.  They are slowly bringing new Kashi products to Canada, yah!  We just need to get those delish cookies.

Kashi Honey Sunshine – Decent nutrition info, although I wish there was a bit more protein per serving.

This was 2 servings with 1/2 cup UVAB & fresh blueberries.

Was really good, reminiscent of Captain Crunch. ;)  The box isn’t going to last long around here.

Got the house tidied, harvested a bunch of veggies from the garden and tried to straighten out the mess Hurricane Earl made. 

I did make the pumpkin scones.  Still perfecting the recipe but overall I was pretty pleased with my first attempt! Will post the recipe later this week.

Later on in the afternoon Holly & Dean came over and we took a drive.  First stop, Starbucks. Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte!  I forgot to ask for non-fat, no whip.  Opps. ;)

 
Headed downtown where I made sure to stop and take some pics of the huge Big Day Downtown posters on Barrington.  My ad is the person walking. Pretty cool eh?

Next stop was Bishop’s Cellar.

I picked up a lovely bottle of Nova Scotia white.  Saving it for a later time though.

Stroll along the waterfront…

Fun random graffiti art!

The temperatures have finally come down!!  It was a beautiful sunny day with a cool breeze.

Supper was waiting for us.  Slow cooked Provençal Beef Stew! Recipe can be found here.

Along with fresh whole wheat french baguette.

Butta!

The stew consisted of beef, sweet potatoes, zucchini & tomatoes.

Topped with fresh basil.

Pretty tasty and lots of leftovers!

Not bad for a day with no plans, eh?  :) We’re about to have some dessert and play Monopoly. Later gators!!

Slow Cooker Provençal Beef Stew

This recipe is featured in the Fall edition of the Kraft What’s Cooking magazine.

  I made a few changes, but nothing drastic.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb boneless stewing beef, cubed*
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 lb sweet potatoes (2 large), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) diced tomatoes
• 2 small zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick slices*
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup 25%-less-sodium beef broth*
• 1/3 cup Kraft Calorie-Wise Sun-Dried Tomato & Oregano Dressing*
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
  

* I’ve modified the amounts used from the original recipe.

Directions:

1.  In a mixing bowl add flour (I also added some fresh pepper) and toss beef cubes.  (Original recipes states to just do this right in slow cooker.)

 

Place in slow cooker.

2.  Peel & cube the sweet potatoes.

3.  Dice zucchini.

4.  Chop onion.

5.  Mince garlic cloves.

6.  Add can of tomatoes to the slow cooker.

7.  Along with the beef broth.

8.  And the Sun-Dried Tomato & Oregano Dressing.

Mix well.

9.  Cover with lid and cook on high for 4-6 hours.  Sprinkle with fresh basil before serving.

After The Storm

Hurricane Earl slammed Nova Scotia today.  High winds and lots of rain.  Over 220,000 customers without power at one point.  Ours was out for about 5 hours in total – have to admit that I was pretty impressed with how quickly it was restored, especially given our location. 

If you’re from around here then chances are that you know that after large storm like this, there is one place and one place only to visit, and that is Lawrencetown Beach.

Coming down the road looking out at the far end of the beach.  Can you see the waves in the distance?

 
We definitely weren’t the only ones with this idea in mind. ;) 

The waves were huge and scary looking.

Apparently not so scary to this surfer though. ;)

After the huge storm,  the evening ended with a beautiful sunset.

 

Rocks and seaweed washed way up on the boardwalk/steps.

Crash! It was pretty chilly and misty at this point.

 
But absolutely gorgeous!

***

In terms of damage to our property,  there was minimal.  Our clothesline didn’t make it… :(  The wind was so strong that it was pulling the huge bolt out of house and tearing up the siding.  

And the garden certainly isn’t looking the greatest, basically all the plants are folded right over.  I have no idea if they’ll survive.  I hope so.

But after driving around and seeing huge trees down etc., I’d say we were quite lucky. :) 

It’s very late now so I’m off to bed.  Thanks for all your tweets/messages of concern today!