Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
Leftovers can be a great start to lunch, and using them up while they are top-of-mind is key to preventing them from becoming a science experiment at the back of your fridge. This is a salmon loaf from the classic Anne Lindsay cookbook, Lighthearted Everyday Cooking. Ours is an ancient dogeared copy, but it is still a wealth of easy, practical healthy recipes.
We paired it with a slaw of grated carrot and shaved celery, dressed with a mix of equal parts Dijon, light mayo, and rice vinegar.
Today we’re headed out to the plot to do some compost maintenance and give the gardens a general walk-around before some visitors arrive this afternoon. Our fuel for the endeavour consists of local harvest foods, some of our own, and some from others nearby.
We cooked a melange of veggies – potato, onion, celery, peppers, mushrooms in a tiny spoonful of bacon fat (vegetarians, canola oil is fine, or a nice herbed olive oil if you have one). When they were nearly tender enough for our taste, we broke in some fresh eggs, lidded the lot and let them poach until just softly done. This is our tasty result:
After an inspiring talk last night from the Shorefast Foundation’s Zita Cobb (thanks to the Community Foundation of NS) we were in a “change the world” mood when we got up. Our great start included 45 minutes of exercise (I admit I can feel Zita saying “get outside!”, or similar) and this breakfast…all local except the avocado. However, having heard that they successfully grew a melon on Fogo Island gives me hope that even that is possible.
What’s your great start today?
Slice 1 strip loin steak into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried mustard. Dredge in flour. In a heavy pan that is large enough to make the whole pie filling, brown it in olive oil. Remove to a plate and begin cooking the veg (you will be developing a brown crusty layer on the pan; don’t worry!) Use veg as you like, for us an onion, diced, a couple of stalks of celery, sliced, two minced cloves of garlic, and 3 or 4 c of sliced mushrooms were just right. We chopped in some garden herbs – sage, rosemary and thyme. When the veggies start to get a bit tender, deglaze the pan with some beer. We used Boxing Rock’s Crafty Jack. Add any remaining beer – about a cup was used in total.
Cover and simmer on low heat until it is thick and has a nice gravy. Remove from heat and make the crust…
For the crust,
Cut 3/4 c butter or shortening into 2c whole wheat flour. Sprinkle in enough water so it begins to cling together as you stir (4-6 T). Shape into two balls, one slightly smaller.
Roll out the larger ball for the bottom crust. Fill the pie, and top with the smaller crust, piercing the top to let out steam. Bake at 400 for about half an hour, until golden.
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!
This meant our salmon avocado tomato sandwiches were all the more welcome.
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!
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’s a heritage recipe? All in a name, perhaps. When my daughter and I were making these pies, we were discussing the recipes…
“Do you remember your pumpkin pie recipe by heart, Mom?”
“No need…it’s on the back of the label of the E.D. Smith pumpkin”. Other foods that have solidly established themselves in the family repertoire are pie crust (Crisco), and the special squares we make at Christmas (Eagle Brand Condensed milk). For a family that cooks and eats healthy and local, we seem to be more than happy to rely on distinctly non-local influences for the holidays. Many of these were established as packaged foods were just taking off…and some when any food was rationed and out fore-mothers learned to work with what they could get.
The last anecdote we shared was probably the best. Daughter and boyfriend were making their first Christmas cookies – shortbread. Each insisted their Mom had the best recipe, and set out to investigate. After their phone calls each sheepishly shared the source of the treasured family recipe – the back of the Canada Cornstarch package. Both moms were using the same “best recipe”.
What does this teach us? That the foods we love have been taken over by huge food conglomerates? That we can’t make recipes up by ourselves any more? None of the above. What it tells us is that love and holidays, for many of us, are bound up in the foods we eat. And sharing them with family is beyond compare. So thanks for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Cranberry sauce, apple pie, Roxanne’s stuffing and potatoes, Dan’s chocolate cake, Beth and Eric’s salad, Portuguese chicken from Dad and Kath, and more…so good we’ll do another version with Mike and Aline later today. Happy Thanksgiving, all!
What do you make on a hot day? Soup! (Well, at least when your garden is producing more Swiss Chard than you’ve ever seen!)
We started with onions and chard from our organic garden, some white beans cooked earlier in the season and frozen, potatoes from the local market, and a chorizo from Ratinaudhfx on Gottingen (merci beaucoup!)
The chorizo was poached in some veg broth, then set to cool. Meanwhile we sautéed the white parts of the onion, the garlic, and the potato in a little olive oil. Next, the broth.
After about 5 minutes simmering, the beans, until heated through.
Next, we sliced the chorizo thin and chopped the green parts of the onion and the chard. Into the pot!
The smell was marvelously overwhelming at this point:
5 more minutes to simmer, and it was ready to serve. Isn’t it good that the weather has started to cool down?
. Last night was The Man’s birthday and we celebrated with a prime rib roast. Today, the leftovers are in a redux of last week’s grilled salad:
Per plate:
Two good handfuls of baby greens
60-120g of sliced roast beef
Drizzling of sun-dried tomato dressing
15-30 ml of Dragon’s Breath Blue, crumbled over top
Nothing left to do but to enjoy!
Yesterday we had a typical Canadian spring shock to the system. After days of gloriously mild weather, it turned very chilly, gray, and windy. Since we spent the day running around (Alliance Française for French class, some lunch, then the Canada Blooms show, then errands…whew!) we wanted a warming sort of dinner.
We made this easy chicken and pasta dish, which serves 3 (leftovers for Sunday lunch, with a salad).
Cook 100g (3.5 oz) whole wheat spaghettini.
Meanwhile, in 10ml (2 t) olive oil, sauté a leek that has been sliced and rinsed (white and light green parts only) until it starts to become translucent. Add 125 ml chopped cauliflower (1/2 c) and two spears of asparagus, sliced into bite-size lengths. Put a lid on this and give it a couple of minutes to release a bit of liquid. Then stir in a diced tomato, 30ml (2T) pesto, and 60ml or 1/4 c of pasta water. Lid, turn down the heat, and let it simmer til the pasta is done.
Drain the pasta and mix into the veg. Put the lid back on and let the whole thing sit on very low heat for 3 or 4 minutes for the flavour to develop.
Enjoy!