Flowfit

As I sit here eating my lunch, I am in awe of how beautiful all that green looks.  Something about green makes me think spring, life, energy and health.  All that would explain why spring is one of my favorite seasons.

This salad will take you less than 2 minutes to throw together – perfect healthful lunch!  Grab a plate and add a good handful of washed baby spinach, a whole avocado (TIP – cut avocado in half lenghtwise, remove pit and make cuts into flesh going both directions – so you’ve made little diamond shapes – now squeeze the avocado in the palm of your hand facing down.  All those little diamonds will spill out and you’ll be left holding nothing but the rind – COOL!).  Squeeze a quarter lemon onto entire thing, add a table spoon of hummus on the side, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper and you’re done!  I added some left over roasted organic chicken breast as well.  A can of tuna or some garbanzo or cannelli beans would also be great.

Try it!  Time yourself… betcha it’s 2 minutes!

The Hummus on this plate is from Sunflower Kitchens.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have a bit of a love affair with their products.  This Wednesday April 20th, Marilou’s Market in Burlington will be carrying a new selection of all of their wonderful products.  They will have pestos, hummus, soups and dips.  I highly recommend the Oregano and Kale Pesto, the Cilantro pesto and of course all of the hummus!  Hurry in, they won’t last long!

To read about Sunflower Kitchens, go here:

http://www.sunflowerkitchen.com/about.html

Yesterday was snack day at John T. Tuck school.  We served (surprise!) – Hummus with french green beans, organic baby carrots and Mary’s Rice Crackers.  A hit overall, especially with the younger students.  What was interesting to me is that a couple of the moms commented that they considered raw green beans to be an “odd” choice for a snack.  Surprising?  No, but it still a little discouraging to see such old fashioned thinking.  In all honesty, the green beans were a bigger hit than the all too familiar baby carrots.

I so didn’t see that rant coming….but I feel a little more on it’s way….

For me, there really isn’t anything “odd” about eating a raw vegetable – even one that is typically eaten cooked.  But that’s me.  From where I’m standing (on my apparent high horse at the moment), this is the proverbial miss in why there are so many picky eaters out there.  Well intended parents feeding their children only a handful of choices (albeit healthy ones) because “it’s what they like”.  Sadly, what they are creating is a limited pallet reluctant to trying new things.  What they are missing is introducing their children to so many more wonderful flavours, textures and nutrients.  A shame really.

Rant complete.

I guess that’s one of the GREAT things about the healthy snack program.  Not only does it offer nutrition, healthful education and sustenance but it also gives some students the opportunity to try something they may have never been introduced to before – like raw green beans.  I can’t tell you the high I get when one of the students approaches me and says, “what were those green things called?  I love them and want my mom to buy them“.  BIG SMILES. Or when a parent writes to me asking what I served at snack because their son or daughter is raving about the new vegetable or fruit they’ve tried.  Awesome, isn’t it?!  I think so.

Lastly, something so important to remember, especially when introducing new foods… everyone EATS WITH THEIR EYES FIRST.  I put it in caps and bold because I think it is so important.  A little more effort, yes, but I really do believe that if it looks good, kids especially, are more apt to try new things.

Go ahead, make it pretty…. have fun with it!

Peace.

The perfect dinner.

Well in my opinion anyway.  Imagine this outside, by the sea in France…..ahhhh.

Yep, it’s perfect.

This meal actually comes from a friends house!  So being that I didn’t have to make the mess or clean up the mess, it tasted EVEN better!!  Thank you, thank you!!

We have been very lucky through this renovation to have so many great friends have us for dinner… multiple times!  I have to admit, as “zen” as I have been through the last six (onto seven) weeks of chaos, dust and destruction, the last two weeks have me a little weary.  I am truly ready to be cooking, eating and functioning in a wide open, clean, dust free kitchen!  Enough with banging my head on the ducts, chewing on dust, drying my dishes on top of my washing machine and cooking on a hot plate.  It’s been an adventure, but I’m done.

I suppose I will be repaying all those lovely nights in the company of friends by cooking up a storm in my brand new (dust free)  kitchen!  You know who you are… and you know I’ll be repaying you all in food!!

Speaking of the renovation, we now have our beautiful (huge) new doors where our bow window used to be… take a peek:

New doors - they fill the wall!

window hole - it goes wall to wall

The end is truly insight…. this week we should see the counters and sinks installed, the week following the backsplash.  After that we can move in!

This means, more cooking, and more blogging!!  Stay tuned…

Provincial Moulles:

• 4 lbs mussels
• 1 red onion
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 bulb fennel
• 1/3 bottle dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• large bunch fresh parsley, stems chopped separate from leaves
• 1 tbsp Herbs de Provence
• extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• 1/2 stick butter or 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• juice of lemon

Wash and remove beards from mussels.  Set aside.  In large heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil.  Add onions, garlic and fennel and saute on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Add tomatoes, herbs, butter and parsley stems.  Saute for another minute and wine and broth.  Bring to boil and add mussels.  Cover and cook, (stirring every 2 minutes) on medium high for 4-7 minutes depending on your stove – mussels are cooked when they are all open.  Remove from heat immediately.

This salad doesn’t need a separate dressing.  It’s super simple and dee-lish!  The dressing is made right in the same bowl.  It couldn’t be easier or tastier!!

Provincial Salad:

• mixed greens
• 2 oranges, peel and pith removed and cut into segments (reserve peels for juice)
• 2 green onions
• 2 avocados
• balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• juice of orange
• 1 tsp herbs de Provence

Place greens in bowl, add oranges cut into segments and squeeze remaining juice from peels.  Add avacados, green onions and sprinkle of herbs, salt and pepper.  Drizzle olive oil followed by balsamic vinegar.  Toss and serve.  Could it be any easier?!

Serve entire meal with crusty French stick to sop up all the awesome sauce and don’t forget your favorite wine.

YUM!

Cannellini beans are large and have a kidney bean shape. With a slightly nutty taste and mild earthiness, they have a thinner skin and tender, creamy, almost buttery flesh.  They hold their shape well and are one of the best white beans for salads and stews.  I just love them!

One of my favorite ways to eat these little beauties is quite simply, drained out of the can, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, some dried herbs (rosemary is awesome!), sea salt and cracked pepper.  That’s it!  YUM!

Another great thing is that just one cup of these beans has nearly 18g protein, a good dose of folate, magnesium, iron and nearly 15g of fiber.  All of that with only 220 calories and less than 1g of fat!  Nice!

If you are hankerin for something hearty and healthy, this ragu is the way to go.  And it only takes about 10 minutes!

Cannelli Bean and Chard Ragu:

• 1 can Canelli Beans (buy the best quality you can afford – I like the ones that come from Italy)
• 1 small can tomato juice (250 mls)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 bunch chard, washed and rough chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

On medium heat, warm saute pan, add olive oil and garlic.  Add in chopped chard and stir to coat in olive oil and garlic.  Like making a risotto, pour in the tomato juice a bit at a time (about a quarter each time) and wait for it to be absorbed by the chard.  Continue adding until chard has softened and juice is gone.  This takes about 5-7 minutes.  Add in beans just to heat through and serve!  Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste.

YUM!

This was dinner for me.

I like this as is, but you could also add in some canned tuna or top with grilled fish if you like.

Odd post title I know.  It’ll make sense in a minute… keep reading.

I am still cooking on a hot plate, and using the BBQ, although with last weeks snow that was out of the picture for a while, so it was just me and my lil two burner hot plate gettin creative.

I have to admit, I have never put chard into an omelette before, and I am glad I did… these were great!  The texture of the egg with the chewiness of the chard was outstanding!  This with salad was dinner for us.

Chard Omelettes:

For the chard:

• washed, chopped chard
• garlic
• coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
• dried herb of choicce (I used a Tuscan blend)
• sea salt
• fresh cracked black pepper

Saute chard with oil and seasonings until it becomes limp.  Approximately 4 minutes.  Set aside

For omelette:

• 2 organic farm eggs per person
• 1tbsp warm water per egg
• earth balance butter or butter of choice

Heat non stick skillet to medium.  Add butter and swirl around to coat pan.  Beat eggs and water with a fork until light and frothy.  Add to pan and swirl to coat evenly.  Eggs will set quickly, so keep your eye on them.  Once they set around the edges (middle may still be uncooked), add cooked chard to one side.  Using a wide spatula, gently lift the opposite side of the omelette and fold over chard side.  You may need to loosen the edges before trying to get your spatula under.  Cook for another minute, gently flip and cook for another minute.

Serve with mixed green salad.

YUM!

Cracked Pepper Cabinets?

I am so excited that I have cabinets!  And the colour is called “Cracked Pepper”.  They are an off black.  The white cabinets are called “Popcorn”.  How perfectly perfect for my cabinet colours to be named after food!

Makes me giggle.

I woke up this morning to the sound of birds.  I love the sound of birds, especially in the morning.  Their happy little songs make me smile. I wonder what they are saying to each other?  ”Hello, good morning, hi there, oh hello….”?  I always peek out to see what they are doing.  I think the same three little birds hang out in the tree just below my bedroom window.

I wonder if they are related?  When I peeked out this morning, however, not only did I see my familiar trio, I saw SNOW!!

Wha-a-a-a-at?!

Even the super soakers left on my covered front porch are nearly burried in snow! That’s March for ya… a tease of spring, kids playing outside without coats – even using squirt guns and carrying out buckets of water to make their mud pies.  The bikes and scooters, footballs and bubble blowers were littered on our front lawn…. SPRING!!

We love the sound of the birds being back in town, the feel of the warm sun on our bodies and even the damp smell of compost that permiates the air.  And then – BAM!  Another snow fall.  Life is like that sometimes, isn’t it?  You’ve gotta laugh!

We all have our favorite comfort foods, ones we turn to on days like today.  For most (myself included), cold weather food is coated in gravy or spices or oooey gooey cheese!  Today, for me, I was craving colour… something green that reminded me of spring!!  My lunch was green indeed!  I made sauteed bok choy and mushrooms.  So totally yummy I had to share!!

Bok Choy with Mushrooms:

No amounts needed here, it’s all just to taste.  You really can’t go wrong…. get out a bowl and some chop sticks and enjoy!

• Baby Bok choy, ends cut off and washed
• Shiitake mushrooms (thank you Plan B – my new favorite!)
• fresh garlic
• fresh ginger
• Peanut oil
• Sesame oil
• Tamari Sauce
• sprinkling of Tom Yum seasoning
• Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 tbsp water

Heat oils in skillet.  Add garlic and ginger and mushrooms and saute for 1 minute.  Add tamari and bok choy followed by water mixed with Tom Yum seasoning.  Saute until bok choy starts to wilt.  Done!  Add sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

YUM!

I know the snow will once again melt away, and the newness of spring will shine through.  As I write this, lunch eaten and my belly full, I keep peering out at the falling snow. I am listening to Bob Marley – the man, the poet, the musical prophet.  I adore him, wish I was fortunate enough to see him live.  He is a legend that believed in peace, equality, living without judgement, spirituality and most of all love.

Sit back, take a moment and enjoy the feeling this song creates.  I hope it makes you smile ….

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley

When I was in school, I remember any reason to get out of class was exciting, especially when it was as a class, or entire school population!   Popcorn, veggies n’ dip and all your friends watching Toy Story 2 sitting together on the gym floor… for kids, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Last week, John T. Tuck’s snack day fell on the same day as winter carnival movie day.  Since a snack would be offered during the movie, we decided to combine them!  And oh what fun it was!  The veggies and dip were served standing upright in individual dixie cups.  Kirkland brand Ceasar dressing from Costco was the dip at the bottom with cute little carrots and cucumbers poking out the top.  Easy for little hands to carry and eat while sitting with friends (sorry no photo).  On their way into the gym they were also offered individual bags of Kernel’s butter salt popcorn.  Always a favorite!   

BIG kudos to the grades 6-8 students who were my incredible helpers!  You were efficient, energetic and eager!  I really appreciated all your hard work.  And the most impressive part was your awareness to what needed to be done and doing it …. sweeping up the popcorn without being asked – amazing!

And of course… to my steadfast Healthy Snack volunteers – as always, you make any little bump in the road seem like nothing at all.  John T. Tuck’s Healthy Snack Program truly is a community.  How lucky are we!!?

I think risotto might be a bit like quiche.  Do real men eat risotto?  Do men like it?  My husband does not.  And honestly, my kids didn’t really go crazy for this dish either.  I’m sharing it with you though because I love risotto.  It is a treat.  And this particular combination was, in my opinion, DEE-LISH!  I love it’s creaminess, richness and the texture.  I also love that you can fill a bowl and curl up in a chair and eat the steaming bowl while watching TV  - as I did while watching the food network – twice ;o)  This is probably only the 3rd or 4th time I’ve made risotto… it is a little time consuming, and most of what I make has to be quick!  But I had a few squashes hanging around and needed to use them up.  What a great way to use squash!  And what an awesome combination!

Roasted Squash Risotto:

• 1 small squash – I used butternut
• 1 cup glutenous rice – Arborio is a good choice, but I used an asian sweet rice
• 1 carton vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• fresh sage, finely chopped
• 1 tsp powdered sage
• 1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese (optional)
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Chop squash into small 1 inch cubes.  Toss on baking sheet with shallots, garlic, chopped sage, powdered sage, salt and pepper.  Drizzle with oil and use hands to mix and spread out.  Roast in oven for 35-40 minutes.  Once soft (pierce with fork to test), turn off oven, but leave in until risotto is ready.  In the meantime….

You’ll need two pots for this part – one for the broth and wine and the other to cook the rice.  Heat wine and broth and continue to simmer.  Heat other pot over medium heat, add oil and rice .  Stir to toast the rice for about 2 minutes.  Add in the broth mixture one ladelful at a time.  Stir continually until broth has been absorbed, then add another.

Note – the rice will absorb the first two ladelfulls very quickly, the others will take longer.

Add fresh sage leaves (whole, but remove after cooking).  Continue adding broth as it cooks down.  Do not add next ladleful until it has absorbed the previous one.  You should be able to drag your spoon along the bottom of the pot so that the rice parts and the bottom of the pot becomes visible (see photo).  Then it is ready for the next ladel.  Continue on this way until all broth is gone.  Stir in parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Finally, gently stir in the roasted squash mixture.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley or more sage.

YUM!

JC’s Hot Bagels Giveaway!

By random draw, the winner of the dozen JC’s Bagels is Teresa Hunter! Congratulations Teresa!  Please send me an e-mail with your address and I will have the bagels delivered to your door!

Teresa’s healthy snack suggestion included some of her families favorites…yogurt parfaits, melted cheese on triscuit crackers with sliced apple and mini chocolate chip muffins with cinnamon sprinkled apples.  They all sound yummy.

Thanks to everyone for all your yummy healthy snack ideas!  I will definitely be using some of them at home and at the school!

In my opinion, this is the perfect Sunday night dinner.  Fresh, wild, line caught ocean cod – one of my favorite fishes.  Done simply, but with such a sophisticated flavour, and served with zucchini and toasted almonds.  Delicious and nutrutious!

Oven Baked Cod with Rosemary and Lemon:

• 2 large cod fillets
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced (use your mandoline!)
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• paprika

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, lie cod on sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and paprika.  Lie fresh rosemary sprigs along fish and top with lemon slices. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. Serve with side of choice (I served with Toasted Zucchini and Almonds).

Although the list of ingredients is super simple, the combination of toasted almonds and delicate zucchini is wonderful and the texture perfect.

Zucchini and Toasted Almonds:

• 2 medium sized zucchini cut into matchsticks on mandonline (or by hand)
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Into hot saute pan add oil and almonds.  Stir continually until almonds are toasted.  They will smell really fragrant and get a little brown around the edges.  Remove from pan, set aside. To pan add another drizzle of oil and zucchini.  Toss for approximately 2 minutes.  Return almonds and add salt and pepper to taste.  Simple and simply wonderful!

YUM!

Dontcha just love when something works?  I mean, when it works so well, you get to do it over and over again?!

This happened last night while making dinner.  Vegan mac and cheese, baked all hot and bubbly… waitin on my Plan B Box for fresh veggies to make a side salad… but dinner time was fast approaching and the ice had the delivery truck later than normal.  Okay, into the fridge to see what I can find – A yellow carrot, A zucchini and half a red onion.  Didn’t look like much when I put it on my counter.  So, how do you make little ingredients go farther?  Make them little!!

Out came the mandolin…

Match Stick Salad:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• red onion

Grate selected veggies on mandolin, toss in some chopped spinach or parsley, add dressing of choice (I used The BEST EVER Lemon Dressing), mix and serve.

YUM!

My kids LOVED this salad.  And BOTH of them say they “hate” zucchini!  Guess they thought it was cucumber?  Shhhhh….. don’t tell them!  They liked it so much infact, I used this very same idea to make them lunch today!

Match Stick Veggie Wraps:

Using your handy dandy mandolin, grate veggies of choice.  I used same as above and added yellow pepper.  Place spinach tortilla on counter, wipe with favorite dressing (I used Caesar), place veggies in row, (add cheese if you want), and roll!  Super easy and super yummy!

Gotta love a two-fer.

Double YUM!

One of my favorite go to lunches is my favorite for a few reasons – I always have the ingredients on hand, it’s super quick and easy to prepare, it’s really healthy and last but not least… it tastes GREAT!

The ingredients list is simple – fresh tomatoes, canned tuna (I like mine packed in broth), baby spinach, lemon juice and olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.   My mouth literally waters as I assemble this.  It is surprisingly satisfying and filling and is great anytime of year, but of course is especially nice on a hot summer’s day with fresh tomatoes from the garden.  I’ve also added to this a hard boiled egg or some cold left over rice or quinoa.

It also makes a great starter on a smaller scale before dinner.

Enjoy!

YUM!