We had a recent Saturday pass that didn’t involve any errands besides our weekly trip to the City Market to complete, or any events to attend that would have had us running out the door. It was refreshing, actually – being able to cook several meals at home in a single day, and taking my sweet time to do so.

Portobello Mushroom and Ham Eggs Benedict

While perusing the menu at Wake Bistro in Calgary, we came upon their gluten-free version of eggs benedict, which featured a portobello mushroom base instead of the traditional English muffin. Though neither of us ordered it, it was hard not to think it was a great idea; it is a seamless way of adding a meaty punch.

That Saturday, having picked up some beautiful mushrooms from MoNa earlier in the day, I wanted to put together a similar eggs benedict for lunch. While the portobellos were roasting in the oven, I whipped up some yogurt hollandaise and poached two eggs from Sunworks Farm. We had some ham in the fridge, so I layered it on for even more flavour.

Portobello mushroom and ham eggs benedict

Though Mack would have preferred some sort of bread in addition to the mushroom, I really liked it (isn’t a runny egg yolk one of life’s simple pleasures?). Some spinach would have been great as well, for colour and texture.

I heart soft poached eggs

Sort-of Classic Meatloaf

Though I’ve been meaning to try one of Valerie’s recipes for some time, I just haven’t gotten around to it. We finally did, though to be fair, we modified her Mom’s classic meatloaf to the point where we probably didn’t do it justice.

The adaptations were made mostly because we didn’t have the right ingredients on hand – we only had Four Whistle Farm ground beef and Irvings ground pork on hand (no veal), and instead of side bacon, only Irvings bacon ends. We also substituted panko bread crumbs for ground crackers.

Other than that, we stayed true to the instructions, compensating quantities for the fact that we were only using 2 pounds of meat. We were able to make two medium loaves.

Sort-of classic meatloaf, served with a cucumber-carrot salad and garlic toast (note to self: use a serrated knife next time)

We loved the salty surprise of bacon in every other bite, and the texture of the meatloaf itself – it had stayed very moist, in spite of the fact that it had stayed in the oven for close to an hour.

Thanks, Valerie, for a winning recipe. We will be making it again and hopefully to the letter of your directions next time!