Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
Thanksgiving around our house means two kinds of pie (pumpkin and apple), cranberry sauce (homemade, of course), squash, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, gravy, and of course, turkey with dressing. Whether it’s held on Sunday or Monday, it’s all about family. (Psst: Happy Birthday, Kathryn!)
Here’s a picture of this year’s succulent bird, before dinner. We’d like to share more photos, but we were too busy cooking, carving, chatting, and eating.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
This sumptuous soup started with
some spicy roasted squash, adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe. We took a hubbard squash and cut it into wedges, rubbing them with a mixture of olive oil and some delicious spicy peppers (pureed) from the farmer’s market and a bit of ground fennel and coriander. Roasted for about an hour at 400F, or until soft, we used some of them for dinner and chilled the leftovers in the fridge.
The next day, we took some of our homemade veggie broth from the fridge, and blanched half an onion and a carrot. Then we tipped in the remaining squash and let it simmer til the veg were tender, about 10 minutes. A quick blend with an immersion blender (or a potato masher will do, not quite as smoothly, in a pinch) and it was nearly ready. A cup or so of milk (we used 1% – choose your fat according to your preference) lent a creamier colour. Then we drizzled with a little fat-free Greek yogurt, and decorated with some chopped garlic chives from the urban farm. It warmed us through and through.
Yesterday, on a drizzly day, we took a midday break and headed for The Friendly Butcher. Despite the gray, chilly atmosphere, “Oz” and “Buddy” (sorry, we didn’t get your names – these are your new monikers) entertained and amused us with their positive attitudes and their helpful advice. Here, a tasty lamb chop, browned with some aromatic olive oil, celery, onion and garlic. We deglazed with a little red wine, then mixed in a spicy pepper from the farmer’s market, oregano, mushrooms, and olives. Finally we chopped in a huge yellow heritage tomato from The Big Carrot and let it braise in the oven for about 45 minutes at 400F. Meanwhile we cooked some red and blue fingerlings with the skins on. When it was all done, we mashed the potato with a little milk and butter. Ahhh, friendly lamb, friendly fall.
We made this tasty dish earlier in the week: Salmon Pasta Pesto Toss. It all started with some basil and walnut pesto, made from basil we grew here on our urban farm. So many good things to make!
We cooked some whole grain pasta from Better Bulk. In the meantime, we tossed some veggies together with a little EVOO and cooked them until they were tender-crisp. In this case, we used celery, broccoli, yellow peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and carrot, all from the East York Farmer’s Market. Then we stirred in a large chopped tomato from Larry’s garden (not for sale – neighbour-ness has its privileges). We put the lid on and let it simmer while the pasta finished cooking.
Then at the end, we stirred in the drained pasta, a heaping tablespoon or two of the pesto, and a can of wild salmon. We popped on the lid and let it sit for 3 or 4 minutes for the flavours to develop. Quick comfort in a bowl. (For cold comfort, you could easily refrigerate this and serve it as a salad!)
It’s true. Alfresco dining days are disappearing. But while we can, we’ll keep enjoying the backyard dining opportunities.
We grilled a regular grocery store Ontario pork chop (from Valu-Mart, down the street). It would be nice to do butcher shop chops every day, but it’s hard on the budget, so we do that as often as we can. These were dusted with a little bit of ground coriander.
On the side, we served cauliflower from the East York Farmer’s Market, and a grilled tomato topped with ermite cheese from Quebec. The tomato was fresh from our neighbours’ garden – even closer than the farm! The cauli came from the East York Farmers market. Go farmers!
We love veggies. But one of the things we learned when we lost weight was: eat less, move more. The second thing we learned was: eat more fibre. And finally: eat veggies with everything. So we’re always looking for ways to tuck in a few more vegetable servings.
Take the humble tuna sandwich, for example. We made it on 100% whole wheat bread, just the regular old grocery store kind. We didn’t spread it with anything, to keep the fat content down. For the tuna filling, we used a can of tuna (makes 2 sandwiches), plus a diced yellow tomato (we hear you, it’s a fruit!), a tablespoon (15ml) of light mayo and a tablespoon (15ml) of Dijon mustard. We put it on the bread, then added a few leaves of mixed lettuce and arugula we’re growing out back on the urban farm.
Sound good? It tastes even better.
No matter what they’re called, they make fantastic hummus. We cooked these chickpeas ourselves and stored them in the freezer until they were needed. They have a fresh taste that you just can’t quite get in the canned ones, and they’re much lower in sodium.
To make the hummus, in a food processor, mince a clove of garlic with the zest of half a lemon. To this, add about a cup of chickpeas, drained (but reserve the liquid), the juice of the lemon half (or, in a pinch, a couple of tablespoons of juice from a bottle and some lemon pepper instead of the zest), a heaping teaspoon (10ml) of tahini, and a half a teaspoon (2ml) of cumin. Buzz it together well then add the liquid, a little at a time, processing just until you get the consistency you want. This hummus has a bright flavour that goes perfectly with all of these awesome vegetables we found at the East York Civic Centre Farmer’s Market.
Last week I tweeted about the cucumber watermelon salad we were making – some folks wanted a recipe. It’s not much of a recipe, really, but here it is:
Peel some English cucumber and cut into thick chunks. Cube some watermelon about the same size, and remove the seeds. Place these in a bowl.
In a small prep bowl, whisk together 15ml (1T) olive oil and 30ml (2T) cider vinegar. Drizzle this over and give it a toss. Grind on a few good grinds of pepper. Then julienne some basil leaves and sprinkle over the top. We’re lucky enough to have lots of fresh basil growing on the urban farm, but it’s plentiful in stores right now, or in farmer’s markets.
Put the whole thing in the fridge until it’s well-chilled. It’s a sure-fire solution to cool you off on a sultry summer day.
We had the carcass of the chicken, a leg, and a cob of corn left in the fridge from the other night’s dinner. What to do? Make soup!
While we watched t.v., we put the carcass in a large Dutch oven with a sliced onion and set it to boil. We turned it down and let it simmer for a couple of hours, then cooled it down until we could handle it.
After that, we removed the meat from the bones. We set the strained broth to boiling again. We added some sliced radish, green and yellow beans, and yellow bell pepper. We also put in a few sliced garlic cloves and a diced onion. For herbs, whatever we had (in this case, summer savory, and a grind of salt).
When the onion seemed to be soft, we threw in about half a cup (125ml) each of red rice and Puy lentils. After about half an hour, we removed the corn from the cob, and diced the remaining chicken. This, plus the original chicken, were added back in. What a great meal, all from leftovers. Add some bread and wine, and it’s even good enough for guests.
Dinner in a hurry! We had a long day yesterday, and needed dinner, fast. In the freezer were a package of perch fillets we had picked up earlier this summer.
There were a couple of potatoes in the bin, and some yellow and green beans we found at the farmer’s market. Here’s what we did:
We peeled the potatoes and put them to boil in the bottom of a steamer pot. Then we put the zest and juice of a lemon, with half a cup (125ml) of water in another pot, and set it to boil. We snipped the beans and added them to the top of the steamer. Finally, we put the frozen fillets in the pot with the lemon, and turned it down to a point where just the occasioal bubble arose from the pot. Within 10 minutes, it was all done. Deliciously!