Fuel Up Fast!

Nearly an hour on the rowing machine and a long day’s work ahead calls for some serious energy. My grandmother used to start us off on cold winter days with a bowl of oatmeal, and she was right. But we don’t need instant oats or the long, slow cooking of her day. Large flake, old fashioned (or steel-cut) oats will cook nicely in the microwave in under 10 minutes.

We dressed ours up with some extra protein (walnuts), dried cranberries and cinnamon, and topped it with half a banana. And we’re off to race through another day!

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Nice Ideas from Nice

As February begins, we start to consider more springlike foods – the occasional bursts of sunshine and milder temperatures seem to mitigate the wintry desire for comfort and cocooning. The Niçoise salad seems to perfectly capture everything we look forward to – and this adaptation combines winter’s preserves, like capers and olives, with the local hydroponic lettuce and tomatoes that are appearing more frequently at the market.

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La Chandeleur is Crêpe Day!

Sure, we know that most Canadians may associate February 2nd with Groundhog Day…but it is also La Chandeleur, or Candlemas, commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. As with most celebrations, this fourth Joyful Mystery of the rosary has its own special food traditions. In France it is “Crêpe Day”, something we also try to carry on here in our house.

Lots of sweet or savory accompaniments are possible, lemon and chocolate among them, but for today we chose peaches, cinnamon, and yogurt sweetened with maple syrup.

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However you like them, enjoy some crêpes today. And lest you think we have completely pushed Groundhog Day from our minds, “ground hog” will feature prominently in the meatballs we’re planning for dinner.

Everything's Coming Up…Peaches?

Brrrr! We started the day with the last vestiges of a 3-hour power outage, some of which happened while we were blissfully asleep. By 6ish NS Power had things up and running again. It was interesting that we were the only “powerless” area in the province! We always knew we were special.

Heading outside, we finished clearing the driveway by starlight, then headed in just as the sun was coming up from behind the hills on the other side of the Bay. The sky was a brilliant peach, which got us thinking…what better way to warm up than oatmeal with peaches that we froze at the height of freshness, last summer? Something to be grateful for, we say!

No photo? Apparently it was too good to waste time doing that!

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Use it Up!

January has been a month of creativity for us – in food, and how we live. We decided at the beginning of the month to follow the old advice: use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. I must admit we haven’t felt as though we are doing without, but instead, finding things in our cupboards, closets, drawers and refrigerators and turning them to a more interesting purpose. The delicious horseradish mustard that we use frequently in summer made a tangy start to this egg-wich, which also amps up its veg quotient with minced broccoli ends and a few straggler mushrooms that were left in the bag.

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We are working our way through the summer’s harvest, our forgotten condiments, and frozen remains of big batch cooking from the fall. And it’s been a delicious journey…one we will continue for as long as possible.

It's a Blue Kind of Day

ImageWhat a wild weather week we’ve had! From knee-deep snow and frigid temperatures, the thermometer dropped yesterday and we had rain and high winds overnight. Now the sun is doing her best to break through the clouds, illuminating spots in the woods with her brilliant gaze. We’ve put the slow cooker on for a pot-roast dinner, and prepared for whatever the blustery day brings with some blueberry whole-wheat pancakes.

Whatever the weather, we’re grateful – for friends, family (thanks for the call last night!), and the good fortune to live with a big garden, great neighbours, and a view of the Bay.

What to Eat When your Plow Guy Quits and you Shovel for Three Hours

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After the apple walnut oatmeal, you go to work like nothing happened out of the ordinary. I love Canada.

Start off on the Right…Food!

I’m off to a business breakfast this morning – a good one, where there are usually great people to network with, and much to learn. But these things can also wreak havoc on healthy habits of both the dietary and professional variety. While buffets are improving in their number of healthy choices, they still tend to feature heavily (no pun intended) in carbs and fat. Besides, with so many bright people to meet, why spend time chewing a chocolate chip muffin?

So here’s how we are fueling up for a more productive day: veggie and goat cheese omelette, with a slice of whole wheat toast. On the toast: apple butter from our daughter’s kitchen. What better start could we have?

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When Friday is Tired-Day

When you’ve had a long week, finishing off with a busy Friday at work, it can be easy to sink into the couch with a glass of wine and let your fingers do the walking to something fatty and not-so-healthy. We had that kind of Friday this week, but we took some time-tested steps to be sure our 2014 plan to stay healthy and happy kept on track.

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First of all, a tall glass of sparkling water with lemon to rehydrate and rejuvenate. Sometimes that rundown feeling is a simple lack of water. Then we put our favourite oven-baked fish and chips on to cook, and turned on an engaging movie that would help put our minds on something else. (In our case it was Dallas Buyers Club – a great movie for reminding ourselves about the difference between our problems and real problems). Before we knew it dinner was ready and we were rebuilding our spirits to face another day.

Get Rich Quick!

Apparently we are in for a wet weekend. So we wanted a quick breakfast that would let us get out on the trail before the rain arrives. Eggs Benedict may not seem like the obvious choice, but this quick Prosciutto Benny with Blender Hollandaise is just the ticket!

For two:

3 large eggs
2 slices prosciutto
1 multigrain English muffin, split
1/4c / 60ml butter
1t /5ml lemon juice
1/2t / 2ml dry mustard
Dash Tabasco
White vinegar
Lemon pepper
1 large tomato, sliced

Split the muffin and toast or warm for a few seconds in the microwave.

Bring a medium pot of water to boil.

Meanwhile separate one egg and put the yolk in the blender with the Tabasco, lemon juice, and dry mustard.

Put the prosciutto in a nonstick pan on low, just to warm it a little.

Heat the butter in the microwave just until boiling. Turn blender on and pour the butter in slowly – it will cook the egg yolk.

To assemble, stack muffin, prosciutto, poached egg. Drizzle with hollandaise and sprinkle with lemon pepper.

Serve with tomato, and go!

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