Happy Valentine's Day

This past weekend my husband and I treated each other to a weekend of love. We made reservations at our favourite romantic restaurant and booked a hotel room downtown Toronto. It was totally extravagent, romantic and amazing.

I started with the amazing apple and ginger juice and a bowl of black bean soup.

My hubby had the peppery rocket arugula dressed in a cranberry vinaigrette with pears, pumpkin seeds and seared tempeh in a poppadum canoe.

For the main course we shared sliced shiitake and crimini mushrooms mixed with shredded spinach in cashew cream wrapped in a filo pastry puff and fresh lemony spinach pesto mixed with hand rolled barley and potato gnocchi (g) tossed with asparagus and olives. (the gnocchi picture didn't turn out so well).



For the first time ever we ordered dessert. At Fressen they have one dessert. We have often ignored it, but since it was the weekend of love and we were going for total indulgence we decided to give it a try. It was quite honestly the best dessert I have ever had. I'm not sure exactly what it is called, but those dark chocolate wedges were as divine as the chocolate mouse hidden in the fruit. The chocolate was so bitter that the fruit played off it deliciously. Everything was dairy free - made rich with avacado, almond cream and cashews that there were no nasty side effects from eating such a rich dessert.




After dessert we headed back to our hotel room....

The next morning we headed back to Fressen for brunch. We had, probably the best ever breakfast I have ever had out. Tim had the scrambled seasoned marinated tofu served with a crispy black bean tortilla. The scrambled tofu was amazing - how they got it to taste so much like scrambled eggs is beyond me!



I had a roasted vegetable sandwich with marinated tomatoes and lettuce on a home made bun with potato salad and greens.

Easy Dinner, but a favourite at our house

The one meal that my hubby can cook is beans on toast. Well, here you have mushrooms on toast, beans on the side, with some potato chips. Since cooking mushrooms was involved, I prepared the meal. Good old comfort food. These are heinz beans in tomatoe sauce (the only ones my husband will allow me to buy). And, who knew mushrooms were so good for you? The range of traditional nutrients found in crimini mushrooms is impressive. Crimini mushrooms are an excellent source of selenium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), copper, niacin (vitamin B3), potassium and phosphorous. Selenium is needed for the proper function of the antioxidant system, which works to reduce the levels of damaging free radicals in the body. Selenium is a necessary cofactor of one of the body's most important internally produced antioxidants, glutathione peroxidase, and also works with vitamin E in numerous vital antioxidant systems throughout the body. These powerful antioxidant actions make selenium helpful not only against colon cancer by protecting colon cells from cancer-causing toxins, but in decreasing asthma and arthritis symptoms and in the prevention of heart disease. In addition, selenium is involved in DNA repair, yet another way in which adequate intake of this mineral is associated with a reduced risk for cancer. Five ounces of raw crimini mushrooms provide 52.6% of the daily value (DV) for selenium.