Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
What makes the 
feast even more walkable is when some of the food comes from our own back yard. We’ve been starting tomatoes and peppers indoors, and last week we were able to really get things cleaned up and going in the garden. (The indoor veg will start hardening off in our mini greenhouse this week).
We’re looking forward to some peas – the shoots are finally out of the ground (just!) after a slow, cool start.
Sometimes there’s just too much going on in your day – you get over-stimulated and you need to take a break. That’s when some simple poached salmon, a boiled potato, and whatever veg you have on hand, can help you decompress. (A nice sauvignon blanc can round out the meal, too).
Calms the nerves, calms the tummy…and calms you, too.
Next on the agenda? Veggie curry.
Life threw a wrench in the works this week – our microwave went on the blink. Now we don’t use the micro for much, mostly for starting baked potatoes for the grill, melting and thawing. Therein lies the problem. In our quest to avoid sodium, we like to make big batches of beans and keep them in the freezer. Same goes for brown rice. But we’re not always good about getting stuff out of the freezer early on. So we’ll start with directions:
If you didn’t get the beans out in time, and you don’t have a microwave: About 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour before you need them in a recipe, sit the container you froze them in, in a larger container of lukewarm water. This will help them thaw faster. Check from time to time. When they can be broken apart, they can be added to the recipe. This method also works for the rice; to reheat the rest of the way, add a tablespoon or so of water, and heat over low heat on the stovetop, in a non-stick pan. Or use a little oil and some diced celery, onion and mushrooms, and make it fried rice.
To make today’s veggie curry we started by baking a butternut squash. You cut the squash in half, and scoop out the seeds. Turn cut-side-down on a piece of parchment, on a cookie sheet. Bake half an hour (depending on the size, you may need ten more minutes) in a 400F oven. When you can pierce with a fork, it’s ready. Let it cool a bit so you can handle it.
Meanwhile, cook an onion, a stalk of celery, a chopped bell pepper, a couple of sliced carrots, and some mushrooms in a medium-sized pan. Add a couple of cups of cooked kidney beans (check out our bean recipe in the recipe pages). De-glaze with a splash of wine. Pour in a bit of broth (not too much, maybe half a cup). Scoop in half of the squash and save the rest for a delicious soup…within a couple of days, or freeze for later.
Two tablespoons of curry paste are great for our hardy lot…but do it to taste. Use curry powder if you prefer. Or some garam masala, turmeric, and chili powder. Throw in a few green beans or asparagus – whatever’s handy and in season.
Let it simmer until it thickens. Serve with the rice. Your tummy will thank you.
Sometimes in a busy household a change of plans can make the day’s meal plan impractical. Or fresh foods can spoil a little faster than anticipated. In our case, some spinach that ended up not being used on Sunday, became the basis for dinner on Monday.
It was one of our usual go-to meals: some vegetables and beans (or cheese) tossed together with a whole-grain pasta. In this case, some spelt penne was the pasta star. While it cooked we sauteed an onion, and added half a dozen mushrooms. A splash of red wine, a packet of baby tomatoes, and the spinach in question came next, followed by a couple of cups of cooked beans. This simmered over low heat until the pasta was done. Then we tossed everything together and covered it, on low heat, for 4-5 minutes just to let the flavours come together. Finally, a sprinkling of feta for a salty-sharp accent. A casual, comforting end to a long day.
For 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.
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!
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!
One 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!
A few days ago we were meandering down the street, coming up with new walkable feasts. The weather was mild, though windy. It seemed like spring was finally on its way. When we arrived home we raked up the garden and started prepping for the day when our urban farm will be ready for transplanting.
Then, overnight, pow! Cold, gray drizzle. Bitter winds. Wetness all around. The walkable part didn’t seem quite so tempting. On top of that, we had a meeting to attend, so we needed dinner in a hurry! When that happens, Piperade to the rescue. Whether you need a quick meal with ingredients you probably have on hand, something to feed unexpected brunch guests, or a substitute for your meal plan when it’s suddenly no longer barbecue weather, Piperade 
is a great choice.
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!)