Summer salsa

We are heading to friends' cottage this weekend for an annual triathalon weekend, and we are on tap for Sunday morning breakfast. Since peaches are so delicious right now, I am going to serve cheese scones, scrambled eggs, and peameal with this peach salsa.

The recipe is super easy and very flexible. I combined peaches, avocado, onion, tomatoes and cilantro, then added a splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Peaches can be replaced with mango or a citrus fruit if you'd prefer, and you can add corn if you have some left over from last night's dinner.

This is also delicious with fish and adds a gorgeous flash of colour - tonight we are having it with salmon! Yum!

When is a dessert really dessert?

As I blogged about here, my husband and I are in the midst of a very competitive health competition. We earn points for exercise, and lose points for 'food infactions' like eating desserts, white flour, and refined sugar.

I was tickled pink when my friend Erin catered to our restrictions by making us faux ice cream this weekend while we were visting her parents' abode in Flesherton, Ontario. The concoction has no sugar or artificial sweetener, and it is yum!

Directions
- Slice and freeze a few bananas
- Once bananas are frozen add a spash of milk, a few scoops of plain yogurt, a teaspoon of cocoa powder, a few spoons of all-natural peanut butter, and a teaspoon of vanilla.
- Blend it all together and stick it back in the freezer for 30 minutes or so before serving.

Enjoy it guilt free!!

Easy salmon for summer

Apologies if the photo is not terribly appetizing....

But I wanted to share a new super easy, super tasty recipe...I'm not even sure it can be called a recipe, it's so simple.

Take salmon, hot or cold, and top it with grainy mustard and horseradish.

Done.

Woohoo! It's got zing, and the flavours match beautifully with salmon.

Enjoy the salmon, and bask in the glory of having only 2 spoons to wash after dinner.

Easy summer salad

Last night I made this delicious summer salad. It is among the most interesting flavour combinations you'll experience, and is oh-so-easy to prepare.

Cube watermelon.
Cube feta.
Chiffonade fresh mint.
Toss with olive oil and balsamic.

Bam.

Salty and sweet, refreshing and creamy.

This salad has it all.

A novel dessert

My Dad is coming to visit from Vancouver tomorrow. He is an avid reader, and recently commented to my Mom that the characters in his books are always ordering Key Lime Pie, but he has never actually tried the dessert himself. So in honour of his arrival I made him a Key Lime Pie today....but I didn't have key limes, so I guess it's just a lime pie. It is cooling now, so I'll post some 'final' pictures tomorrow!

The recipe came from the "Ask a Chef" column in House and Home magazine, which finds restaurant recipes upon the request of readers. The original recipe is from the restaurant E11even in Toronto. It is super easy, and super refreshing.

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

5 egg yolks

1 can sweetened, condensed milk

120 mL lime juice (I also add some lime zest for extra zing!)

Fresh whipped cream, to serve (optional)

1. Preheat over to 375 F

2. Combine graham cracker crumbs and milted butter. Press firmly into pie plate

3. Combine sweetened, condesnsed milk and egg yolks, whisking together. Whistk in lime juice unitl smooth.

4. Pour mixture into pie crust and bake until set, about 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Let cool, then refrigerate at least 3 hours. Garnish with freshly whipped cream and serve.

Ola to granola!

A number of months ago I found a recipe for delicious and healthy granola bars in House and Home magazine; the recipe came from the Chateau Deli and the Chateau Lake Louise. When I went to make it the other day I was out of rolled oats so I swapped in steel cut oats (which are higher in protien and fibre than regular oats) and quinoa. To be honest, the texture is not quite as nice as with the rolled oats, but it is indeed a healthier alternative.

Here is the recipe...it is the perfect excuse to visit your local bulk store...and ditch those Nature Valley bars from your cupboard (This Globe and Mail article compares them to chocolate bars, after all!)

3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp fancy molasses
3 cups rolled oats (do not use instant oats, but you can sub in some quinoa and/or a different type of oat)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup milk powder

- Preheat oven to 375F. Mix oil, honey and molasses together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour liquid over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
- Press mixture out in a shallow rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Allow to cool and cut into squares. I find these best when kept in the freezer.

Another day, another salad

Today I was having a friend for lunch, but the thought of cooking in this heat was too much to handle. So I made an at home salad bar, which is my new go-to for summer guests.

My favourite toppings include:
- Greens (romaine, spinich, arugula....anything goes)
- Steamed veggies (green beans, asparagus)
- Grilled veggies (mushrooms, peppers)
- Cheese (feta and chevre are my faves)
- Nuts (how can you say no to roasted almonds?)
- Roasted beets
- Some kind of grain (Quinoa and wheat berries are my current obsessions)
- Some kind of protien (chicken, fish, and steak are all delish)
- Fruit (Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pear, apple.....yum!)

....top it with your favourite homemade vinigarette!

What are your favourite salad bar toppings? I am always looking for new ideas to keep it interesting!

Notes: My table cloth is embarassingly wrinkled...but it is a vintage cloth from my Grandma that I love. I was at my friend Erin's tonight and she had an equally vintagey looking one from Anthropologie. Fun....and yes, those damn carnations are still alive! They won't die!

Summer salads

With local Ontario fare on the offer at produce stands right now, who could resist a hearty summer salad?

Here's one I made this weekend that was delicious and satisfying:

- Steamed Ontario asparagus and green beans (do not over-steam..they should still have crunch!
- Cooked wheat berries (more on wheat berries below)
- Roasted beets cut into bite sized pieces (pickled or canned beets would work equally well!!)
- Roasted pecans
- Crumbled or cubed feta
- Vinigarette made with fresh lemon juice and olive oil

This salad is great because nothing will wilt - leftovers will last at least 2 days...but I bet there won't be much leftover! You could also top this with salmon or chicken for added protien.

Background on wheat berries:
Wheat berries are whole, unprocessed wheat kernels that contain all three parts of the grain, including the germ, bran and endosperm (does this make you blush too?).  Only the hull, the inedible outer layer of the grain, has been removed. As a result, wheat berries retain all of the grain's vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. I find them to be a nice alternative to quinoa...they are equally nutty, but bigger and a bit chewy in texture.

Better burgers

Do you ever wonder what our generation does that we'll look back on incredulously? When I was a child there were always more kids than seat belts stuffed into cars, and more often than not whomever was driving was smoking. No parent would do this today unless they wanted a visit from CAS! Sometimes I wonder if we'll look back on meat eating this way.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do look for ways to reduce the amout of meat my family eats. One of my favourite tricks is for making delicious hamburgers. I use half meat and half minced mushrooms. If you use a food processor to mince the mushrooms, they take on a ground-meat like quality. The result is burgers that are moist, flavourful, and about half the calories of a regular patty...who doesn't like that?

Happy grilling!

PS: In past I have considered just buying vegetarian patties, but they are often higher in fat than meat patties....crazy but true.

Kale, two ways

I have long been intrigued by kale for its vivid green hue and notable health benefits, but frankly have been a bit timid about cooking with it. ....until the food Gods intervened and presented me with two kale recipes to try my hand at. It was a sign!

For Easter we cooked a ham and were left with a hefty ham bone which I decided I would make a soup from. A few of the recipes I found online suggested adding kale. Then yesterday, I received a kale salad recipe in the newsletter from the Toronto Centre Naturpathic Medicine clinic I visited during my pregnancy.

I made the soup today and am going to try out the salad recipe tomorrow.

Both recipes are below.

Leftover Easter Ham and Kale Soup (adapted from various online recipes)

- Simmer leftover ham bone in a stock pot for about 4 hours

- Remove bone from liquid; place liquid in refrigerator overnight

- Remove fat from top of stock the following morning ( it will be hardened, so can be removed quite easily)

- Reheat stock. Once boiling, add a few handfuls of soup mix (dried lentils, split peas, pearl barley, etc.)

- When soup mix is almost softened, add veggies (I added carrots, celery, green beans, and onion)

- Once vegetables are partially cooked, turn off heat

- Add diced leftover ham, a can of rinsed navy beans, and shredded kale

- Add spices (I added a few shakes of Italian seasoning as well as some fresh rosemary, thyme, and ground pepper)

- Serve with crusty bread! Yum!

Kale salad (from Toronto Centre Naturopathic Medicine clinic April Newsletter)

- Massage coarse sea salt into fresh washed and chopped kale leaves

- Add some extra virgin olive oil, chopped fresh garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, to taste

- Add some toasted pine nuts, pumpkin or sesame seeds

- Add dried currants, cranberries, or raisins

UPDATE: I made the Kale salad. It was delicious, but raw kale is deffinitely on the bitter, earth side of the spectrum. The pine nuts add a beautiful creaminess, and the cranberries and lemon juice counteract the bitterness. I used non-coarse sea salt and it worked fine. Next I need to try Kale chips! Yum!

oh-so-versitile scones

My mom bought me the Joy of Cooking at a garage sale a number of years ago, and it has been a staple in my kitchen ever since. One of my go-tos is the recipe for scones. It is fool-proof. In fact, the spine of the book is broken on the scone recipe page from so much use. I typically add dried apricots, but this morning I added raisins and cinnamon for our picnic with friends at Riverdale farm. Fresh fruit also works (blueberries, for instance), as do savory ingredients like chives, ham, and cheese (just eliminate the sugar).

The secret to making these scones flakey is to use cold butter (refrigerated or frozen) and to ensure the butter stays chunky- you should see flecks of butter throughout the dough - don't mix any more than you have to to form a ball of dough. I usually do triangular scones, but rounds and squares work equally well.

These are delicious on their own, with butter, jam, and of course, the topping of all toppings, devonshire cream! I think even the miniature Kate Middleton would indulge in these babies!

Scone recipe from the Joy of Cooking, copyright 1964
(Yields approx 12 scones)

2 cups of sifted cake flour (or 1 3/4 cups of sifted all-purpose flour)
2 1/4 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup butter, cold and cubed into penny-sized pieces
2 eggs
1/3 cup cream (I use 1% milk and it works just fine)

- Sift dry ingredients together
- Add butter and cut into dry ingredients with two forks or a pastry blender, until pieces of butter are pea-sized and distributed throughout
- Mix eggs, reserve a tablespoon of egg mixture for later; mix remaining egg mixture with milk/cream
- Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix as litle as required to form a ball of dough. Also add any additoinal ingredients at this time if you choose to
- Flatten dough to about 1.5 inches thick and cut scones (in whatever shape floats your boat!)
- Place scones on greased cookie sheet
- Brush with reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with salt or sugar
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 450 degrees, or until a skewer comes out clean (scones should be just golden brown)

Enjoy warm or at room temperature!

Switch up: muffins made healthy for my baby

I have a 7 month old who is resisting solids and is eat a crazy amount of milk as a result. When I have tried purees (store bought, home made, mashed, blended, and strained, savory and sweet...I've tried it all) he just closes his lips as tight as a baloon knot and turns his head. So I am doing more of the baby led weening approach of just giving him big chunnks of food and letting him feed himself. I don't think he injests much, and it makes a terrible mess, but he seems happy.

Today I made him some mini muffins to try - they seem to be just the right size for little hands and can be frozen and just brought out one by one as your baby wants one. I used the standard Joy of Cooking muffin recipe and just swapped out a couple of key ingredients to make them baby friendly:

Original recipe:
1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp double acting baking powder
2 eggs
2-4 tablespoos of melted butter
3/4 cup milk

My adjustments:
Replaced all purpose flour with spelt flour (thanks Julie for the tip!!!)
Eliminated salt
Replaced sugar with a splash of maple syrup
Replaced eggs with 1 mashed banana (this was an Internet tip I found since babies can't have egg)
Added a dusting of ground flax
Added a dusting of psyllum husks
Added handful of blueberries

Don't over mix!
Cook at 400 degrees until a skewer comes out clean!

They are yummy for babies and adults alike!

Get to know Mark

My Mom recently bought Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I have been perusing it during my visit, and it really is a classic. Much like the Joy of Cooking, it covers almost all elements of cooking, from the basic (e.g. how to choose a lobster) to the involved (how to make your own sausage). But it is more current than Joy of Cooking, including recipes from around the world.

During our ski trip to Whistler last week we enjoyed many wonderful meals (each couple was assigned to cook one night). One that stood out was the butternut squash curry with brown rice that our friends Renny and Clem made, and it was from this cookbook! This book has apparently been a staple in Renny's kitchen for years, and he claims that everything he's made has been A-1. ...I might just have to pick myself up a copy! In addition to hard copy, there is also an E-version, as well as an "App".

UPDATE: From an email that I received from my cousin Jennine, who lives in Bellingham Washington: 

I love my Mark Bittman book!  I have the e-version and find it even more useful - for one thing you can search in a number of ways, and for another, I'll have it in the car with me if I decide last minute to get something for dinner.  I also hv the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian - it's particularly handy in the e-version.

Sent from my iPad

Candy cookies

Growing up, my favourite cookies were my Mom's chocolate chip cookies, and a 'ju-jube' cookie that both my Mom and my friend Melinda's Mom made. Yesterday my Mom made the ju-jube cookies with my daughter. She uses baking ju-jubes and cuts each candy into 4 pieces before adding it to the dough. The cookies are beautiful, freckled with a rainbow of primary colours, and kids absolutely love them. My mom does hers in an oatmeal batter, but the candies could be added to any standard cookie recipe.

...there are no photos of the finished product as they got eaten too fast! I was going to take some to Melinda's house today, but alas, the cookies disappeared faster than free money!

Double duty!

Eureka!

My mom has shared with me a secret for cooking oatmeal, rice and quinoa, without being left with a mucky pot that needs to be soaked and scrubbed....a double boiler. It works like a charm and means that you don't have to be constantly stirring....just set it and forget it!!!

Guess who's coming to dinner...Mexican tortilla soup

I am currently loving one-pot meals that include protien, veggies, and lots of flavour in each bite.
I was craving a bit of spice, and this Mexican tortilla soup fit the bill with its rich, smokey heat.

My photo didn't turn out very well (I am always taking my photos in low light once the kiddies are sleeping...thanks Shannon for your tips on how to deal with this!!) but it really is a beautiful, colourful soup when topped with cheddar, cilantro, chips, and avacado.

One note on the chips - At the grocery store today I compared multigrain Tostitos with regular Tostitos. It turns out that the multigrain chips have a lot of sugar in them to compensate for the mutigrain flavour...so I opted for the low-sodium regular chips. Doesn't it frustrate you when so-called heathier choices turn out not to be so (fruit yogurt is another example of this.....FULL of refined sugar!)!?

The original recipe for the soup is available here; as usual I made a few adjustments:

- I added minced green pepper, chick peas, and corn kernels for some extra nutrition
- I used chipotle peppers instead of anaheim pepper
- I excluded the salt and pepper
- I excluded the dried chipotle pepper and hot sauce (it was plenty hot without these additions!!!)

Even with these changes I found the soup very, very spicy. Add the peppers bit by bit to taste if you don't have an iron stomach!

'Hearty' cooking...a Valentine's salad

Tonight I tried to make a special Valentine's dinner (as special as it can be with two young kids around!) For a side dish I made this quinoa salad with beets and feta. The beets turn the entire salad a rich beautiful hue of ruby pink, which was Valentine's appropriate. It's stuning! This salad is delicious, full of flavourful mint, parsley, and feta...and it's nutritious to boot!

Here is the recipe. As usual, I adjusted the recipe based on the ingredients I had on hand:

- I added chickpeas for extra nutrition
- I used roasted almonds instead of pine nuts
- I added cucumbers
- I used golden beets as well as red beets

What did you make your sweetheart?

An eggcelent Valentine's morning

This morning I made my daughter and husband each a Valentine's fried egg. I cooked it in a regular lightly greased non-stick pan, and just broke the egg into a greased, heart-shaped cookie cutter. It was a fun and unexpected start to the day!

Baking blunder

Tonight I decided to make some Valentine's cookies, which turned out to be a collosal failure. I decided on heart shaped sugar cookies with a cinnamon heart in the centre. But sugar cookies are intended to start as balled dough which melt into circles, I now know. But because I started with a heart shape, the cookies just melted into giant blobs when the heat hit them. They were thin, over cooked at the edges, and all melted into each other. Definitely not worthy of my sweetheart...but the dough was delicious!

I have 48 hours to concoct another sweet dish!

Guess who's coming to dinner? Vegetable quinoa lasagne

If you've been following along, you know that we're trying to reduce our wheat/bad carb intake. But lasagne is one of my favourite winter meals.... Quel dilemme!

I decided to meet the food devil half way and make a vegetable lasagne.

...but without removing the meat

...and with cottage cheese instead of ricotta

...and with quinoa instead of noodles

...I'm not sure it can even be called a lasagne any more!

But the good news is that it was delicious and was just as satisfying as its high carb authentic Italian cousin! Essentially I just did layers of the following components and then baked it for 45 mins until it was bubbling. It was easy, and there are enough leftovers to get us through lunches for the next few days.

Sauce:
- Can of diced tomatoes
- Can of tomatoe sauce
- Ground beef
- 2 bay leaves
- Oregeno

Cream:
- 1 container of 2% cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 handful of baby spinich chopped into small pieces

Cheese:
- Grated mozzarella
- Grated parmasean

Veggies:
- Sliced zucchini
- Sliced eggplant
- Sliced mushrooms
- Jar of roasted red peppers, cut into slices

Quinoa:
- 1 cup (uncooked) of cooked quinoa (I often cook mine with stock, but today just used water and it was fine)

Bon appetit!