Category: Healthy Eating

These eggs put a spring in our step…

Although our garden is just beginning to spring to life, hothouse tomatoes are appearing from local farms, giving way to this delicious breakfast.

For two, we split two whole-wheat English muffins, and placed them on a parchment-lined, broiler pan for easy cleanup. Under the broiler they went, just until the cheese was crispy. We weren’t too tidy with the cheese, just so we would have leftover crispings to sprinkle on top.

Meanwhile we diced a large tomato and some parsley into a nonstick pan and heated until bubbly. We cracked in four medium eggs and lidded the lot, poaching til done.

After spooning the eggs on top of the muffins, we sprinkled with some dry mustard and the cheese crispings.

Eat up!

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Gardening is hungry work!

Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day, and hearing that there was snow in Calgary yesterday, we are grateful for the mild temperature we experienced. It let us get the garden cleaned up, prepped, and some cool weather crops sown for our spring table.

Of course digging and weeding all this (and more) in a locale that is too rocky for a tiller is no mean feat!

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This meant our salmon avocado tomato sandwiches were all the more welcome.

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For two, mix gently and spread on multigrain bread:

1 diced avocado, sprinkled w 15ml/1T lemon juice
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 can wild salmon, drained and mashed
30ml/2T light mayo

Enjoy!

Good Friday Grill

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We spent part of Good Friday in our usual way, praying and contemplating with friends, the darkest point of the Easter story. After driving home from Mass along the seaside, watching the sun glinting off the ocean, we spent most of the afternoon doing yard work. It truly feels like Easter – small signs of life are revealing themselves all over the garden. After an incredibly fierce winter, this rebirth will really be welcome.

Most Fridays we feature fish on the menu, as much out of habit as custom, but on Good Friday we do make a special effort. The combination of sun and fresh outdoor air begged for the grill, and we had just the fish for it – halibut. We served it perfectly cooked alongside a medley of potato, carrot, and some baby leeks we found hiding under a cover of leaves in the garden.

Simplify your Lunch!

Today’s lunch doesn’t even need a recipe, it’s so simple. We had some delicious Tomme from @Ratinaud_HFX, so we grated it into a bowl, and mixed it with diced hothouse tomatoes (go local!). We piled the whole mix on top of some toasted leftover homemade bread and English muffin (both whole wheat) and popped it under the broiler until it was sizzling hot.

Delicious!

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But Marianne Wanted Bacon…

I might have made this delectable breakfast treat for our team meeting on Wednesday, but Marianne wanted bacon. She is an expert at making people feel welcome, so I took her advice – bacon it was. But today, there was an avocado still calling my name, so it became the starting point.

Toasted English muffins, topped with avocado (mashed with a squeeze of lemon) and finished with a perfectly poached egg. They have the creamy goodness of a Benny without the work – great for a weekday breakfast!

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Not the Same Old Soup

Turkey soup…again?

Our quest to find as many ways as possible to use our roast turkey had to include soup, of course. But this week’s version took a turn for the tasty! In addition to onion, garlic, carrot and mushrooms, we added in a thumb-sized chunk of ginger, julienned. Just the thing for fighting off the bug that has been going around (and finally caught us). We finished it off with the stock we made from our turkey carcass, some leftover turkey, and tipped in a good handful each of short grain brown rice and red lentils.

It simmered into a thick, hearty consistency that doesn’t taste like the same old turkey soup at all – and warmed us for our excursion out into the rainy world.

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Turkey for a Chili Day

We roasted a turkey on Wednesday, and set a challenge for ourselves – use it as many ways as possible, given that there are only two of us now, without getting that, “oh, no, turkey again?” feeling.

Of course we started with the roast dinner, and then the possibly predictable hot turkey sandwich. Next, a lunch salad of mixed greens, turkey, dried cranberries, dressed with a spicy Dijon vinaigrette. Having been felled by the crazy cold/flu that is going around, something spicy and comforting was in order, and this turkey chili was just the ticket. It also had the advantage of using up some of the beans and veg we had put up in the freezer.

At 88 cents a pound, this little bird is working wonders for our grocery budget.

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Sweet Start to a Rainy Sunday

Cherry Apple Crisp

Before our recent holiday, we packaged up any fruit we couldn’t finish, and threw it in the freezer. These sweet dark cherries and apple slices came in handy when we wanted a warming breakfast for a gray, drizzly spring day. Brown sugar, rolled oats and butter formed the crisp topping, spiced up with a shake of cinnamon. The addition of some tangy, fat-free yogurt made it just right.

For two:

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a heatproof glass dish, put 3 cups of fruit. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix 2c/500ml large-flake oats, 3T/45ml brown sugar, and 1/4c/6oml melted butter with a shake of cinnamon. Pour this on top of the fruit and bake – 30 minutes if you use fresh fruit, or 45 if you use frozen, as we did.

Top each serving with 1/4c or 60ml of yogurt.

What Tastes like Sunshine?

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When we were kids, my grandmother used to make this simple salad in the wintertime – usually for breakfast, but sometimes as a surprise for lunch. It consists of peeled and cubed oranges and pink grapefruit, with a small sprinkling of sugar a teaspoon, maybe a tablespoon if you are making enough for the whole family. I’m sure it can be made without the sugar, but somehow it helps the juice along.

These days we still have it for breakfast, usually with a slice of peanut butter toast, or occasionally a yogurt. And when we have it, we remember her, and smile.

Our Grill is on the Lam(b)

Yesterday Mother Nature gave us a peek into springtime, with bare lawns, sunshine, and temperatures above the freezing mark. We knew the forecast was for snow, so after a long walk, we wanted to take advantage of this temperate turn of events while it lasted.

On the grill: lamb burgers – topped with feta cheese, a little corn relish, and some Dijon, with a green side salad to make sure it really felt like spring!

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