Tag: cooking

Good Friday Fish: Poached Salmon

Salmon Salad and Boiled PotatoFor some folks, Good Friday is just another day off work. But for us, it’s a busy day, filled with opportunities to come together with our community at St. Brigid’s.

Fortunately fresh ingredients are easy to find in our neighbourhood. Red peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce from Ontario hothouses are available at Kelly’s, or Plank Road, or Jerry’s Supermarket now. We had the salmon in our freezer, but we can usually get a great selection of fish at the supermarkets on our walking route, like Sobey’s or Valu-Mart.

This dinner starts with boiling the potatoes. While they’re cooking, we’ll bring the water up to a boil for the salmon, and then turn it down to a low simmer, flavouring it with a little citrus pepper and a few slices of lemon. (On another day, white wine would also work nicely). Then we’ll pop in the fish and keep it just gently simmering along while we make the salad.

All that’s left is to give thanks for good food and the latest steps in our Lenten journey, and eat.

Magic Beans!

Easy vegetarian meals often call for canned beans. But in our efforts to watch our weight, we started to learn a lot more about label reading. One thing we’re really careful about is sodium – it makes a huge difference! A rule of thumb we learned was to read the calories per serving on the nutrition label. Then, if the milligrams of sodium per serving is higher than the calorie count, avoid it! Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately it’s the dirty secret of lots of canned foods – they have a lot of sodium. Even healthy choices like beans or soups are a problem. So we make our own beans now, on days when we’re busy working around the house, doing chores, laundry, or whatever. A few weeks ago we made some black-eyed peas…and they’re the star of today’s recipe. We grabbed a one-cup tub out of the freezer at breakfast time and let it thaw for the day…

Then we started dinner by putting some whole wheat pasta on to cook in a big pot of unsalted water. (Two ounces or 60g of dried whole wheat pasta per person is plenty!)

Then, while the past cooks…start a little onion (one small one) and garlic (two cloves) in a couple of teaspoons (10ml) of chili oil. We also chopped in a sweet, sweet pepper we picked up at Plank Road, around the corner. Next, some sliced mushrooms for texture, just rinsed and sliced. Keep stirring as you add the veg.

After the pepper, a good big handful of spinach, washed and chopped, and a diced fresh  tomato go in the pot. Put the lid on, and turn heat to low for about 5 minutes to wilt the spinach.

Finally, it’s time for the beans. Dump them into the pan, along with about a tablespoon (15 ml) of pesto (check the types and buy the one with the least sodium!) . Pop the lid back on and simmer all of this until it is bubbling hot and ready to receive the pasta – just a few minutes should do. Then tip in the pasta, stir, sprinkle with a little cayenne, and lid the pan again. Let it simmer over very low heat for the flavours to meld.

Finally, when the flavours have had a chance to come together, serve! If you want, shave a little sharp cheddar on top, but you won’t need too much. An ounce or so should do between the two plates (that’s about 30 grams). Happy eating!

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables are A Secret

One secret to success are fresh fruits and vegetables when you’re trying to lose weight and keep in shape. If you combine that with a desire to eat local, and you live in a climate where those things don’t grow all year round, it’s a challenge. We like local. We like farmer’s markets. But let’s face it, some things just don’t grow around here at the best of times. So unlike some locavores, we’re not giving up lemons, or oranges, or coffee, because they come from somewhere else. Our compromise? We compare the ones that are available within a reasonable walk from our house (for us, that’s probably about 30 minutes each way), and buy the ones that come from the closest locale. What we get in return is an opportunity to get to know our local shopkeepers, still have a variety of foods, and to offset our carbon footprint by using…well…our feet!

Hot off the Grill

So the chops are marinated and the grill is ready. While they’re cooking, a salad is definitely in order. This one has some red and green bell peppers (greenhouse grown, here in Canada), butter lettuce (same) and celery. The purple is a gorgeous shaved artisanal carrot. All of this will be topped with a Dijon vinaigrette.

At the same time, I pre-started some red potatoes in the microwave. This is an easy way to get a consistently cooked potato on the barbecue, without using a lot of fuel to do it. These delicious red-skinned ones are awesome!

Then, pop the potatoes on the grill with the chops and dress the salad. Even though the temperature has dropped and spring feels barely here, we’re getting a real taste of summer with tonight’s dinner.

One of the great things about menu planning is not having to worry about whether you’ll have the ingredients to pull a meal together. It’s also easier on the budget to not make impulse purchases. But we’ve also learned that sometimes we have to be willing to turn great ingredients into something different, or switch up a day’s dinner for another one – which is what we did when the need for a spring-like dinner hit!

Are you Egging me On?

Everywhere we walk, we’re seeing eggs. Real eggs. Wooden eggs. Easter eggs. Wreaths of crazy-coloured plastic eggs. Tis the season!

I used to struggle with egg-making, but a couple of wise women taught me everything I needed to know about boiled eggs. First, a disclaimer: I know that some people are not too keen on soft-boiled eggs. We grew up eating them, and we’re a-okay. But if you have a compromised immune system, or you’re pregnant, or elderly, or feeding eggs to a child under six, food safety experts suggest hard-boiled eggs are safest.

For a soft-boiled egg, place the egg in a pot of boiling water, and cook 6-7 minutes until the whites are completely set and the yolk is soft but heated through. (Sorry, if I could figure out how you could tell without sacrificing an egg, I’d let you know). For hard boiled, ten minutes should do the trick. Store cooked, hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for up to a week.

Leftovers for Lunch

Chili Braised Beef and Kitchen Sink SaladOne of the things about shopping and eating as locally as possible is (1) you need to learn to menu plan and (2) you have to be willing to adjust the menu plan.

We were all set to have a nice big Kitchen Sink Salad (more on this later!) for lunch today, because we’re working in the home office. But we had this great Chili Braised Beef  last night, and there was some left over. You can’t just let a batch of slow-cooked deliciousness go to waste, so we halved the salad and used up the reheated beef. I admit it isn’t quite as pretty as yesterday…but like chili, it sure tastes great on the second day.

Now as for the Kitchen Sink Salad, it’s just what it sounds like – a big bowl of vegetable yumminess. Here’s what we featured today:

Start with the dressing – an acid, some mustard, and oil. In our case, the zest and juice of 1/2 an orange, 15ml/1 tbsp. sesame oil, and 15ml / 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard. Whisk this together. Then I grated in 1/2 a red and 1/2 a yellow heritage carrot I bought at Kelly’s. Next, some artisanal lettuce – curly endive and a bit of butter lettuce. There was a bit of broccoli – not enough for two, but enough for salad. I steamed it for a minute to take the edge off the crunch, but when I’m in a hurry I’ll just chop it a bit more. Peel and dice the remainder of the orange, and throw in a few black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and almonds for good measure.

Toss it all together and start imagining – you can change the ingredients every time. Beans instead of nuts – sure! Vinegar instead of orange? Why not? Olive oil, or canola…yum!

Real Food to Start Your Day

oats spelt apples cinnamon walnuts raisinsOK, so the yogurt and berry breakfast from earlier this week was good. But it’s drizzling outside. The wind is blowing. We need something to keep us going! If you’re working out, you need protein for re-building. If you’re losing weight, you need fibre. This delicious breakfast gives you some of each.

We started with a mixture of rolled oats and rolled spelt (but any large flake oatmeal will work just fine). For breakfast for two, put 3/4 of a cup or 175ml of these grains in a microwavable casserole. Add a tablespoon or so (15 ml) each of pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, as well as chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are great with apple). Dice in an apple (don’t peel, just wash it well). Then put in 30 ml or 2 tbsp. of raisins or dried cranberries or cherries. Don’t have those? Chop up some prunes, or dried apricots.

Sprinkle the whole thing with a teaspoon or so (5 ml) of cinnamon. Add 1-1/2 cups or 375 ml of water.

Our microwave has an automatic setting for oatmeal, so I just “fire it up”. Otherwise, cook on high for 5 minutes, then another 3-5 minutes at medium, depending on the power of your microwave. It’s easy. (Even though it’s April 1st, we’re not fooling!)

Divide into bowls. Top with a little brown sugar or maple syrup or honey (about 5 ml or a teaspoon each). Add half a cup or more of milk or soy milk or rice milk.

Enjoy!

But What About Breakfast?

Better Bulk, aka "The Bulky"We were at Better Bulk (aka around our house as “The Bulky”) the other day and picked up some awesome Hewitt’s yogurt. We started buying their skim milk yogurt a couple of years ago when the two of us collectively lost 60 pounds on the “eat less move more” diet.

When we first started eating it, we would add honey. But we’ve found this and a few other organic yogurts are so creamy and delicious, they don’t really need a sweetener, just some fruit and other tasty additions.

strawberries in bowlsWe start with about 1/2 a cup (125 ml) of sliced strawberries.  They usually have some at Jerry’s, or Kelly’s, or Plank Road Market. Then we add 1/2 cup or 125 ml of the yogurt.

Top each serving with a sprinkling of cinnamon – it tricks your myogurt and strawberries topped with nuts and cinnamonouth into tasting “sweet”. Sprinkle with some sunflower or pumpkin seeds, or chopped nuts (a tablespoon or two – 15 to 30 ml – altogether). To round out your breakfast, have half a whole-wheat English muffin with some crunchy peanut butter. A delicious healthy way to start the day!

End of Season Vegetarian Chili

The long, cold winter is finally winding down. Mostly this is a time for jubilation. For celebration because spring is finally on our way (the tomato plants are started for the urban farm)! However it’s also a chance to enjoy that classic winter warmer: chili. This vegetarian chili is a great option on a meatless meal day, or if you’re a vegetarian. For us, it wouldn’t be the same without cornmeal muffins – a classic cornbread taste in an easy-to make format. If you have leftovers, they freeze beautifully – but good luck getting them to the freezer before the snackers get to them!

Want to save on sodium? Use beans you’ve cooked yourself, and frozen, without salt. The kidney beans, black beans, and chickpeas in this recipe all started their journey to our house from Better Bulk (see our blogroll!)

Taking Stock

If you really want to save money and eat healthier foods, make your own stock! Most bouillon cubes or even organic pre-packaged stocks contain a lot of salt, as a preservative. If you use the rule-of-thumb that a packaged food shouldn’t have more milligrams of sodium than it does calories, you might be disappointed when you read the label of your favourite prepared stock.

Stock-making is simple. One trick I learned from Ken Kostick. He suggested that as you peel carrots, onions, take the stems off aromatic herbs, and so on, that you should put them in a zipper bag in the freezer. (Give them a rinse first!) When the bag is full, it’s time to make stock. Sometimes I roast this mixture, other times I just use it “as is”. I like to use one of those pasta pots with the strainer-type liner, just to make it extra easy.

Put the vegetables in the bottom of the pot. Cover with cold water. If you haven’t used too many herbs during the week (really?) add some dried herbs – tarragon is nice, or savory, bay leaves…or some minced ginger is good, too. Bring this mixture to the boil on top of the stove and then turn down to a simmer, so it’s just slowly bubbling along. Let it simmer while you watch a favourite television show, or do a load of laundry, whatever. Check now and then so it doesn’t boil over.

Let it cool, and strain or if you use a pot like I do, lift out the liner. Package it up in convenient sized containers and store in the freezer. If you make some up in ice-cube trays, you can use those for times when you just need a tiny amount.

More on meat and fish stocks, another day. If you don’t feel like using this stock today…save it til tomorrow, throw in some cooked beans or chickpeas, onions, and whatever vegetables take your fancy. Simmer for half an hour or so, add a handful of whole-wheat pasta and simmer til tender and voila…delicious vegetable soup!