Jamaican me Hungry Mon!

The trip was incredible! A wonderful relaxing getaway with some of my most favorite people in the world to enjoy happy hour at the pool bar with!

Five of us including Rory's pops, brother and sister-in-law stayed at the Riu Tropical Palace in Negril - We were hooked up with amazing ocean front rooms and kept our sliding doors open at night to sleep to the sound of ocean, had beachside couples massages, and packed the food back like we'd never be allowed to eat again!

I intended to take a lot more food photos, but here is a small sampling of some of the local flavours I tried...

A beached starfish - note: this was not consumed.

Here is a typical buffet lunch plate for me - we've got some curried goat, stewed cabbage and pumpkin, a potato croquette (deep fried mashed potato log - yes, seriously), and a couple of non-jamaican items.

Whole steamed salmon, rice and peas (Jamaicans call Kidney Beans red peas), a calamari rice combo

On the bottom left there's callaloo - A 'green leafy' common in the caribbean (amaranth leaf).  Above that, some fried platains, and the potato-like traingle is dasheen (taro root).  The fried nugget is a jalepeno popper, and above chicken fajitas - what?! it was mexican night at the buffet.  What's not pictured here is my dessert plate - 3 more jalepeno poppers...i have very refined tastes obviously.

This was the seafood station on 'Chef's Choice' night at the buffet - mussels, scallops, calamari, lobster, in a light white wine sauce - served in the lobster tail shell - one of the few seafood highlights unfortunately! 

Considering how much amazing seafood is available in Jamaica, I was really disappointed by the quality - mostly the problem was it was overcooked...a sin that I'm constantly warning people about! Although I do understand that when the lunch and dinner buffets are open for over 2 hours and the seafood sits in a hot plate for that long, it's unavoidable.  Even the a la carte restaurants failed in the seafood prep though :( 

In addition to what I've shown, there was lots of delicious jerk sampling - chicken, pork, sausage and I would have at least one Jamaican patty per day at lunch (beef or chicken)

Overall the food was really good, and there was an overwhelming amount of choice at the buffets.  I'm always baffled when I read Trip Advisor reviews from people who say the food is terrible - there's probably over 50 things to choose from at each meal!  An extensive salad bar, meats cheese and bread, pastas, fish, tons of vegetarian dishes, beautiful local fresh fruit, even typical 'american food' - burgers, fries, pizza.  There are some seriously picky eaters out there!

A couple shots of the local beer - Red Stripe is well known of course.  We found Kingston 'The True Rude Jamaican Brew' (i promise it's on the label) at Rick's cafe - a popular bar that overlooks some ocean cliffs, and is well known for it's gorgeous sunsets (which we witnessed).

We really did enjoy the premium liquor at this resort too - each room was equipped with a great mini bar and 24 hour room service, which worked out perfectly for the historic gold medal men's hockey win!

In true form, I bought myself a cookbook as a souvenir  - I made sure to ask the local shopkeeper which one was most authentic, and she confirmed that the woman who wrote mine was Jamaica's Julia Child...phewph!  Don't worry, no need to travel to Jamaica - you can get it on Amazon.  Jamaican patties are FIRST on my list! Ambitious I know!

I've had enough of the blogosphere tonight! Gonna post this up. Stay tuned... in the next couple of days I've got my new box from Mama Earth Organics to post about, as well as a couple of good recipes - including, tonight's slow cooker Sloppy Joes!

Wurd to your moms foodies!

February comforts

I didn't quite realize it until I uploaded my photos, that this week's menu was all about the warm and fuzzies - comfort food!

First up - Mixed up Mac and Cheese

We had a few odds and ends of cheese in our fridge begging to be consumed...i can't, won't, and don't resist cheese...ever!!!  If I were religious, it would be against my religion.

This is a loose representation of the 'recipe' because I didn't measure a thing for it.

• 1lb-ish of macaroni
• about 3-4 cups of mixed cheeses for the sauce - I had old cheddar, asiago, and 1/2 a package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp butter
• 3 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan (the real deal only!)
• 1/2-3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder
• s&p to taste

1. Cook macaroni as per directions in a large pot of salted water, and pre-heat your over to 375 F
2. In a seperate sauce pan, melt 2 Tsbp butter over med-low heat, add flour, stir out all the lumps and let it cook for about a minute (this will help dissolve the flour in the fat, and make it taste less flour-y tasting)
3. Slowly whisk in milk, ensuring there are no lumps, continue stiring until milk starts to thicken.
4. When the milk is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and throw in all your cheese, stirring until it's all melted and cheezy and perfect....mmm cheese.
5. Add your cheese sauce to the cooked Mac and make sure all the noodles get a good little cheese bath (you can add s&p here to taste)
6. Transfer to an over safe dish
7. In a seperate bowl combine bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic and onion powder, and 1 Tbsp melted butter. Crumble this mixture over top of the Mac and Cheese
8. Bake for 30 mins until bubbly around the edges, and golden brown on top.

The Mac and Cheese was AMAZING fresh out of the oven - not so amazing heated up as leftovers, but still tasty - the noodles really absorb that extra cheeze sauce moisture if you let it sit too long, so it's not nearly as gooey and creamy if it's not fresh.  I'm really in to onion powder these days - it gave a great punch of flavour to the breadcrumb topping!  I'll likely never create this recipe exactly again - but I see many many variations of it in my future.

Next up, a classic E.Mills soup - Roasted butternut squash.  Many moons ago, this was one of the first things I ever ventured to cook  - it's still a go-to for guests.  Rory's aunt came for an impromptu visit this past weekend. Lunch was served: soup and sandwich - foodie style!

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 large leek, trimmed, washed and sliced (to wash, cut off the dark green bits, and the very end of the white root, then slice the stalk in half - run each half under water, seperating the layers one at a time to make sure you get ALL the dirt out)
• 1-2 Tbsp butter or EVOO or both!
• about 4 cups stock (chicken, veg, or both in my case!)
• 1/2 cup cream (I used 5%, if you use a higher MF% cream, you can get away with less for sure)
• s&p to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F
2. Toss the b-nut squash with canola oil, and a few shakes/grinds of s&p - spread on a lined cookie sheet and pop 'er in the over for 40 mins-ish, stirring about halfway through.  The squash should be browning on the edges and taste caramelized and sweet.
3. When the squash is nearly done, melt butter/EVOO over med heat in a pot big enough for all the ingredients - add sliced leeks, and sautee for 3-4 minutes until soft
4. Add squash and stock, and simmer over low heat for 5-10 mins.
5. Turn the heat off, and puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender)
6. Once nice and smooth, add cream, and s&p to taste.

Serve this amazingly simple and delicious soup with your sandwich of choice...my choice was BLTAs on toasted Focacia.  The live lettuce and avocado came from my last FDO delivery.  The avocado was perfectly ripe when I used it...It was Rory's aunt's first time trying one too! One of my fave things to experience is watching people try new foods and love them! This was one of those times!

Last night's dinner...

Porcini-crusted Black Angus sirloin, served atop a celeriac puree, with sauteed swiss chard.

The stars of the show...(except I didn't use the leek)

never judge a vegetable by it's cover!

 Porcini crusted heaven

I had never cooked or eaten celeriac...and really, who can blame me for passing it by in the produce aisle with a mug like that!  daaaamn, it's UGLY!  I will say though,  it's rough and wart-like exterior are easily cut away to reveal a nice little treat!  Wikipedia tells me it's a kind of celery, grown as a root vegetable for its large and bulbous hypocotyl (??) rather than for its stem and leaves. Sure thing!   My preparation of it was as follows: chopped into cubes, steamed in chicken stock until tender (about 15 mins of lowish heat) then pureed with some of the steaming liquid, a couple Tbsp of sour cream (14%!) and s&p to taste. 
It was different, but tasty...it's texture was similar to whipped cauliflower - it's not nearly as starchy as other roots veggies - that's why I added sour cream, it needed some oomph!  It's definitely got a celery like flavour, but a bit more muted than a plain old celery stick.  I think it would be phenomenal roasted :)
The steak was prepared by sprinkling with s&p and grinding (in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle) about 0.5oz of dried porcini mushrooms for a crust (as above).  It was seared on med-high heat with a little canola oil - med-high on my stove was too hot, and the mushrooms burned unfortunately...but the steak wasn't entirely ruined, it was still tasty, and cooked to med/med-rare.
The chard was cleaned, chopped, and sauteed in a touch of chicken stock, and seasoned with s&p...can't go wrong there!
Overall, the meal was good.  Three outta five stars.  It did have potential to be great though! This is my second go at a porcini mushroom crusted steak - my first attempt, I used filet, and cooked it perfectly - it was also served with an herb butter...to this day, Rory tells me it was the best steak he's ever had! Hard to top that I guess!

My lastest FDO box delivery was also my last - as promised, I did not buy any additional fruit this week.  We will subsist on the apples (which were amazing this week - and not local :( ), pears, and oranges, for a little longer!  Other than the ingredients showcased above, I received a few potatoes (not an overwhelming amount though), beets, turnip, and a huge ugly squash that looks like a brown pumpkin...use of these items TBA!

I'll be away in sunny JAMAICA next week - I'm SO looking forward to sun, and sand and indulging on local tropical foods!!  If I don't get a chance to post before I get back - have a great week!  Spring is in the air - I saw some budding green grass this morning....EEE!!!

Happy Eating!!!

Happy Family Day!

It's been an extra lazy, extra long 4 day weekend for me. My lack of drive these last 4 days has been heavenly :)

Let's open this post with a whopper of a good meal...

Carrot ginger soup served with grilled old cheddar and jonagold apple (FDO) sandwich on rye.

Soup:

• 6-8 carrots (small-medium sized) peeled and chopped coarsely (FDO)
• 3-4 cups of vegetable stock, start with 3, add more if you need it (I used Campbell's. Homemade or chicken stock would be just fine too)
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 Tbsp grated ginger (I freeze mine, making grating easy...if yours isn't frozen, just chop if finely)
• 1/4 light cream (I used 5%; use 10%, 18% or 35% for all I care!)
• s&p to taste

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a pot suitable for soup, and simmer them until the carrots are tender (20 mins-ish)
2. Turn off the heat - Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, I had to add a little extra stock in at this point
3. Once blended, stir in your cream
4. add s&p to taste
5. dollop with sour cream and chives (optional!)

This was SO easy and exploding with flavour.  Ginger and carrot make really good friends in this soup - you can taste both, but together, they sing! This was a complete make-up-on-the-spot dish (I had about 4 lb of carrots in my fridge). Creative cooking that turns out well is so inspiring!

I decided to go the no-recipe route again with this next dish - and again, success!

This recipe is similar to one one I posted a couple of months back (Wicked Good Fusion Curry). This is part deux.

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1 Tbsp curry powder (i have no name)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1-2 tsp sambal oelek (asian chili sauce - hot!)
• 1 package of rice noodles (I used PC)
• veggies - I used a red pepper, yellow pepper, and brocolli (FDO)
• shrimp - thawed, peeled and deveined

1. heat oil over medium heat
2. add garlic, sautee for 1 minute
3. add curry powder, sautee for 1 minute
4. add coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, and hot sauce
5. turn heat to med low
6. meanwhile, follow preparation directions for rice noodles on the package (different brands have different instructions!)
7. Add veggies and simmer (not necessarily at the same time - some take long than others!) until tender/crisp
8. When your veg are just about done, add the shrimp - simmer until shrimp are pink and just curled (2-4 minutes at the most!)
9. Toss the noodles with your yummy curry, and serve ASAP!

I just love the richness peanut butter brings to this dish - almond butter would be amazing too. Rory and I both looved this one, we're already looking forward to my next batch! This is an easy weeknight 30 minute meal - and you could substitute the shrimp and veg for an endless number of things.

Finally, I must admit, I'm not much of a baker - following a recipe to the word really throws me for a loop - my creativity feels suppressed!! I gave this blueberry muffin recipe a go on Saturday morning - with a small recipe substitution of my own - and surprise! it didn't turn out disasterous :)

The basic recipe comes from Evelyn Raab's The Clueless Baker - Beautiful Buttermilk Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup buttermilk - i used plain 1% yogurt
•  3/4 white sugar
•  1/2 cup vegetable oil
•  2 eggs
•  1 tsp vanilla
•  2 cups all purpose flour
•  2 tsp baking powder
•  1/2 tsp baking soda
•  1/8 tsp salt
•  1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen - if frozen, don't thaw them!

1.  preheat oven to 350. Grease 12 muffin pan, or use muffin paper like me :)
2. In a large bowl beat together sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla (I used my amazing Kitchenaid Stand Mixer!)
3. In another bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder
4. Stir the dry mixture into the egg mixture in 2 or 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt - until combined
5. Stir in blueberries
6. Fill the muffin tin/papers nearly to the top
7. Bake for 20-25 mins (mine took 20 - i did the toothpick test).

A really good moist basic muffin recipe! end of story :)

My newest FDO box is due to arrive Wednesday (no delivery today because of the holiday)...it will be my last go with FDO - next up is Mama Earth Organics.  I made good use of the produce I got from FDO - I've still got a couple of grapefruit, some carrots and a squash left.  Overall, the quality and variety of fruit has been the most disappointing part - but it's difficult to put blame on FDO - I do realize it's the middle of winter! I've been cheating on my box a little more than I wanted to - this week I bought blueberries (obviously), a canteloupe, and a pineapple from the supermarket...for shame!!!

To repent, I vow to only consume the fruit that arrives in my deliery this week!

Enjoy the week ahead!! GO CANADA!!!

A Superb Owl.

Another busy week in the books...It's hard to believe that I've already been blogging for 3 months! I have so much more to give ;)

The Superbowl festivities were a success - there were punts, and field goals, and touchdowns, and Gatorade attacks....and most importantly, a group of friends getting together for some chow! (and beer and vodka infused Fresca!)

I thought pot-luck style would be the ticket, and invited guests to bring a treat along. From the Mills-MacGregor household (me!) came chili and potato skins. Candace and Brian brought some homemade guacamole, and flavourful navy bean dip for dipping Tostitos and warm pita triangles. Joanne brought a tex-mex style nacho dip, and the hit of the night - a blue cheese, buffalo wing dip. For dessert Erin, Andy and Pops Armitage brought some amazingly rich and surpringly low(er) fat Lucy Waverman brownies from her new cookbook  A Year in Lucy's Kitchen.  An amazing cookbook that inspires some wonderful seasonal cooking.  In fact, my favorite cookbook from my whole whopping collection is Lucy Waverman's last cookbook (of which I have a signed copy!) -  Lucy's Kitchen .

 

Joanne's Hot Chicken Wing Dip Recipe (sorry no photo!)

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot® or Frank's Buffalo)
• 1 cup Renee's chunky blue cheese dressing.
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken (this is optional, it was good with, but would've been good witout too!)
• 1 cup shredded old Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and hot pepper sauce until well blended. Mix in the Blue Cheese dressing, chicken and Cheddar cheese. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. If oil collects on the top (yikes), dab it off using a paper towel. Serve with tortilla chips, carrot and celery sticks.

Chili

 

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb lean ground pork
• 2 cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes
• 2 cans red kidney beans with brine
• 1 can white kidney beans rinsed
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 2 jalepenos minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 large onion chopped (ON)
• 2 pints crimini mushrooms sliced (ON)
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup of Ketchup (trust me!)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown your meat in a large skillet, and drain about 80% of the fat
2. Transfer meat and remaining fat to a large pot
3. Add onions and garlic, sautee until translucent
4. Add everything else!

Simmer for as long as you can - ours simmered allll day - 7 hours, but anything over an hour would work.

This was a rich and flavourful (and even better leftover!) - we had sour cream and cheddar cheese to add as toppings too. This is going to be my basic go-to chili recipe from now on - Thanks to Erin for suggesting to not rinse the kidney beans, and to add the whole can brine and all to the pot!

 

Potato Skins

 

The potato skins were excellent! The recipe was adapted from All Recipes' Baked Potato Skins. I used small (ontario!) white potatoes that I had on hand, did not use parmesan, and brushed the potatoes with a mixture of canola oil, garlic powder, onion powder, s&p. I also dolloped a little 14% sour cream and sprinkle on chopped chives to finish them off.  Mmmmm....miniature 2-bite bowls of savoury goodness!

Dessert!

On to a few other weekday items...

 

This recipe features the rutabagas that I received in my last FDO box.  I sliced up both rutagabagas into little 'fries'and tossed them with a little canola oil, s&p, and a couple of Tbsp of birch syrup (think maple syrup from a birch tree).  The birch syrup was a gift from my brother Matt and his gf Mary for Christmas, and this was my first try using it. It's from a local producer in Thunder Bay http://www.birchsyrup.ca/.  Was it ever GOOD! It's sweet like maple syrup, but has an entirely different flavour - I want to describe is a caramel-floral flavour...if you can picture that!

Before I popped this in the oven to roast, I seared a S&P seasoned pork loin in some canola oil, placed it on top of the veg, and let 'er roast away for about an hour at 375.

 

 

The pork was well seasoned, and beautifully juicy...the rutabaga and birch syrup were a tasty and unique partnership.  The rutabaga were a little unevenly cooked, even with a couple of stirs mid-roast, so next time I would cut them in to smaller, more even cubes.  I served this dish with a simple side salad - FDO live Boston leaf lettuce with a red wine vinaigrette (EVOO, red wne vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, s&p).

 

Finally, we have a healthy vegetarian dinner - a disappointment unforunately (Jen social worker - you are right to mock me in this instance). This dish was a take on Michael Smith's soba noodle miso soup recipe from The Best of Chef at Home...I didn't follow the recipe exactly, and since I was disappointed, didn't bother to write the details down. The basic receipe is:

• Miso broth (4 cups of water, 2-3 Tbsp Miso paste)
• Onion (FDO)
• Carrot (FDO)
• Brocolli (FDO)
• White Mushrooms (FDO)
• Nori (dried sheets of seaweed - I think it's universally available at supermarkets now)
• Soba Noodles (buckwheat noodles)
• Lime juice
• Sambal Olek (asian chili sauce)

I didn't love the flavour of the whole grain Soba noodles - they were too overpowering, and the soup turned out more like a stew because of all the starch from the noodles - I had a flavour profile in mind when I decided to make this dish - i was expecting a light flavourful broth, and that just wasn't how it turned out! But, you can't win 'em all :) and Rory liked it!

 

 

Thanks for reading!

I have a STELLAR carrot soup recipe to share next time!

 

 

 

"The Situation"

The Perogies turned out GREAT!!! I've been bragging about them all week - and they we're a big hit at the cottage...people said they could really taste the difference between the ho-hum frozen supermarket brand, and my full-of-local-flavour-and-love variety!

I didn't bring my good digital SLR camera to the cottage - I knew there was probably going to be one too many games of flippy/tippy cup going on (and I was soooo right), so the photos aren't phenomenal, but I'm posting them nontheless..we served the little bundles of tasty with sausages and peppers, which also turned out  great thanks to Damian's genius technique of scoring the sausages to make sure the juices ran down in to the roasting peppers....

These perogies were fried up on a flat surface pan that spanned two burners with some butter, onions, and bacon grease.  Damian had just fried up some bacon on the same pan for our appetizers...homemade jalepeno poppers! I can't believe I didn't get a photo of them - delicious, and he totally made up the recipe... my kinda cookin'!

The sausages (1 pan of honey garlic, 1 pan of mild italian) were scored and laid on top of a bed of bite-sized chopped bell peppers and sliced onions - which were tossed in EVOO and s&p -oven at 350 for 40 minutes-ish...I hate to admit to this, but I got the idea from watching Jersey Shore! yes, the MTV reality show about shirtless guidos selling get this, t-shirts. I'm calling this recipe... The Sausage "Situation"  (you closet JS fans know what I'm talkin' bout).

Cottage life is good! 

This week I got a new FDO fresh box...

My fave item is this nifty little squash, called a delicata

I still have quite a bit of produce left from the last box - a squash, carrots, 2 rutabagas, onion, and grapefruit, all holding up well even after 2 weeks...it's been a slow startup since the holidays (I know I know, it's Feb).  One thing I haven't mentioned is that I received a bunch of bananas from my first box that never ripened - for 2 whole weeks they stayed as green as the day they were delivered.  I've heard that if bananas are picked from the tree too early, this can happen.  I emailed FDO to let them know, and no questions asked they replied the same day with an apology and a promise that I would receive a better batch (or something of equal value if there were none) in my next box - and I did!  And of COURSE, my first batch of bananas started turning yellow on Monday! They are perfectly edible :)

Along with the produce I received a newsletter with a few new recipes (rather ambitions ones), and a notice of a price increase.  The basic box, will now be going up $2 to $37.  The explanation being "This price change is necessary for FDO to maintain itself as a sustainable business operating within our business philosophy - a philosophy encompassing environmental sustainability, fair wages and benefits for employees, timely and fair payments to farmers and suppliers, and community involvement.". 

This has been a wonderful service so far - and I've received some great customer service, and great quality organic produce...but I thought $35 was already steep.  Especially when I compare a basic (non-organic) Good Food Box for $17...this is now more than double the price.

Other food news of the week - it's Winterlicious! http://www.toronto.com/winterlicious 

I had a great experience on Monday with some fellow dietitians at Globe Bistro on the Danforth - Globe Bistro.  A beautiful space, and we had a great table overlooking the restaurant.  The food was very good, and the service was excellent (and no one ordered a single drink).  I neglected to bring my camera (ARG!) but you may be able to see the photos on my facebook page - I've linked Andrea's album to it: Globe Bistro photos

I've gotta get cooking over the next few days!  Superbowl Sunday is four days away, and I will be sure to post all about the evil smorgasbord I'm planning with friends!

In the meantime happy sustainable eating!

PEROGIES!

Today I did something that I've been meaning to do for ages.  Made homemade perogies!

I found what looked like a simple and well-rated recipe on All Recipes.com, a site that I've been using for years... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grandmas-Polish-Perogies/Detail.aspx 

I made a couple of small changes to the recipe in an attempt to de-process it.  I ommited the 'cheese whiz' sauce, doubled the shredded cheddar (and I used extra old Pine River white cheddar - from Kincardine, ON), and used onion powder rather than it's highly processed cousin onion salt.  Onion powder is simply pulverized dehydrated onion, the only ingredient is onion.  This is a great recipe to use it in if you want a nice smooth filling, and want to save yourself the time of pureeing an onion. 

I had just enough dough and potato filling, with very little waste.  I used ontario grown russet potatoes too of course!

The photo was taken before I popped them in the freezer.  I'm taking all 6 dozen of them to our friend's cottage this weekend, and we're going to serve them with sausage and peppers for dinner! mmm...

From start to finish, this took about 3 hours - the whole thing was very easy, just time consuming.

I'll be bringing my camera to the cottage and will try to remember to get photos of the finished product!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Yum! and Not-so-yum!

Hello food friends!!!

Ah, it feels good to be cooking again after a holiday of processed, food science driven fare!

The following few meals don't contain a HUGE amount of the produce that I received in my FDO box last week, but we had some stuff kicking around the house that needed to be used up, and I HATE waste!

 

Saturday night I had a great little girls night with a couple of my besties Amy and Joanne - a yummy dinner and FEW too many glasses of vino eventually led to a 3:00am chat about our varying philosophies on life, and an impromptu sleep over party!  It all started with great food though...

 

To start...prosciutto wrapped honeydew.  YUM!  Food styling courtesy of Amy

This melon was a non-organic non-local leftover from the week before last...Rory did the grocery shopping, and he's not as..sensitive... as I am about where my food comes from :)  Is it sort of sinful of me not to mind this?... if it means he's going to come home with a big deliciously juicy melon in the middle of winter, when all I've had are so-so apples and pears for three months? shhh...

This appy didn't exactly 'go' with the rest of dinner - but the whole theme idea gets thrown out the window when there's a melon to be used up!

 

Our main was...

Honey Orange Glazed, Miso Marinated Acrtic Char, Ginger Whipped Sweet Potatoes, and Braised Kale

 

Arctic Char was a first for me - I've always heard it's delicious, but it's usually expensive when I see it - Loblaw's had a sale!  This is Farmed, Iceland Arctic Char - A sustainable choice!  Arctic char is a pink fleshed fish - tastes a lot like trout, maybe not as strong...very yummy.

The recipe is a take on the following: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=226373

I didn't have mirin so I used rice wine vinegar, and I didn't have limes so I used fresh squeezed OJ.

This was also my first experience cooking with miso - it won't be my last!

 

For the ginger whipped sweet potatoes - peel and slice a few sweet potatoes, peel and mince a tablespoon-ish of fresh ginger - boil them or steam them together til nice and soft...and use a hand blender, a little chicken stock or cream or both, and whip 'em up until they're smooth and to your liking.  Don't forget to season well with salt!  An excellent combo and a great gingery compliment to the fish!

 

The kale (FDO) was cleaned chopped and cooked in heavy bottomed sauce pan with 1/3 c of chicken stock, steamed for 2 minutes with the lid on, then removed the lid until the stock evaporated, and seasoned with s&p.  I haven't cooked Kale before, but it's got the heartiness of cabbage, and the girls agreed the flavour is a mix between brocolli and green cabbage - not bitter at all, which is what I expected. 

 

Overall, a GREAT meal - I would cook all of these items again solo or in combo!

 

 

This meal was inspired by leftovers!  I had walnuts that needed to be used, two slices of proscuitto, an almost empty box of couscous, and a bag of cranberries starting to get shrively...

 

Proscuitto wrapped arugula-walnut pesto chicken over whole wheat couscous, served with homemade cranberry jam with a side of live leaf lettuce with lemon vinaigrette.

 

 

This meal was a show stopper! and SO SO easy!

 

Arugula Walnut Pesto:

• 2-3 c. packed arugula leaves
• 1/3 cup of shelled walnuts
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 c EVOO
• s&p to taste

Whip the first four ingredients up in a food processor - slowly add the oil at the end until it becomes a pesto-like consistency (this is open to interpretation!), add s&p until it tastes like you want it to.

 

Use the pesto in pasta, on top of chicken, fish, seafood, whatever you think it would be good with!  I gave samples to Andrea and Dara, two of my foodie coworkers, and they used it in a shrimp pasta, and on top of fish :)

 

The cranberry jam a bag of fresh cranberries, a cup of cugar, and a cup of water...simmered until thickened. 15-20 minutes..that's it!

 

The live lettuce was from the FDO box - it was from the same provider as the live lettuce I got from my organic GFB...it was crisp and fresh and a little sweet, with a mixture of lemon juice EVOO a 1/2 tsp of mustard and s&p for dressing

 

The couscous - read the package! Made mine with chicken stock :)

 

A great meal - rory swooned over it! I can't wait to eat arugula walnut pesto again - and it's way less expensive than basil/pine nut pesto to boot.

 

This final meal is the loser of the bunch - A Michael Smith recipe from his Chef at Home cookbook.

I think it's a GREAT cookbook, and this has been the only disappointment so far.  I think it may be that he's not very specific with the ingredient list, and that can be tricky...turns out for this recipe, the juice and zest from 1 lemon was much too lemony!

 

Penne with Smoked Salmon and Dilled Cream Cheese Sauce

 

 

I won't go on with the details of this recipe.  I was really hoping for a creamy smokey heavenly dish, and it was a disappointment - by no means awful, but really just edible.  The basic sauce recipe included cream cheese, lemon, green onion, dill, dijon mustard, capers...i left out the capers, and added a pint of roasted grape tomatoes, s&p..sounds good right?  I won't give up on a creamy smoked salmon pasta though... I've had delicious ones!  I'll just give up on this one :)

 

I hope some of you are able to make use of a couple of this post's recipes... really worth it!

 

I'm off to finish up my contribution to tomorrow's work potluck...vegetarian thai coconut curry (with sweet potatoes brocolli red peppers and chick peas)...

 

Can't wait to share more food soon!

 

 

A new era begins!

The Front Door Organics era!

Delivery number one was a success! I arrived home around 5:30pm on Monday night, and the blue Tupperware container was sitting at my front door - the answer to Rory's "what if it's 20 below outside?" question remains unanswered, as it was a balmy 4 degrees that day.  The perfect fridge temperature!

The contents of the box were beautiful - other than a couple of not-so-hard onions (not so bad they had to be tossed though).  With the produce, I received a 'welcome' letter, which included information on how to store produce appropriately - very useful!  I also received the weekly newsletter informing me of an upcoming organic food conference, the specials of the week (other organic groceries), and 3 recipes - vegetable stew with cobbler topping, goat cheese souflee with kale (fancy dancy!), and apple onion and cheese gratin.

Now I'd be lying if I said the contents of the box surprised me.  I received an email 3 days before delivery informing me what was coming!  Had I known another bag of potatoes was coming, I likely would have changed my order to replace the potatoes with something else.

Fresh Box™ Contents Jan. 18 - 22:

1 each Squash, Dumpling - ON
1 2 pound Onions, Yellow - Bag - ON
1 unit (1 or 2) Rutabaga - ON 
1 2 pound Carrots - Bag
1 bunch Broccoli
1 each Grapefruit
4 each Oranges, Navel
5 each Apples, Mixed Variety - ON
2 each Pears, Bosc
5 each Bananas - Fair Trade
1 each Mango
1 bunch Kale, Green

1 unit Lettuce, ‘Summer Mix’ - ON

Today, I received a follow up email asking me how my first delivery was, and how often I would like to continue receiving the box.  While there is slightly less produce in this box than the GFB boxes (and less local produce!), I decided to do biweekly - I may just have to supplement more from the supermarket.

Monday night, I made the following deliciousness...

Maple-mustard baked steelhead trout, creamy polenta, and sauteed baby spinach.  I had some spinach sitting in the fridge that needed to be used up, so the only FB (fresh box) item I used was onions!

Maple Mustard baked steelhead trout

• Preheat oven to 400 degree F
• Mix 1 part maple syrup with one part of your fave mustard - mine was a mix of dijon and yellow.  You need enough to cover your fish and wee bit extra for a little sauciness.
  
• season trout with S&P, pour sauce over fish
  
• Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on fish thickness.
  

...out comes moist, sweet and savoury perfection!

 

The polenta was a take on Michael Smith's recipe for polenta from his The Best of Chef at Home cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp canola or veg oil
• 1 onion, minced (FB)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cups milk (i used skim)
• 2 - 3 cups of chicken broth
• 1 parmesan cheese rind (or 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese)
• S&P to taste
• 1-2 Tbsp butter

Instructions:

1. Heat oil over med heat
2. Sautee onion and garlic for 2 minutes, or until translucent
3. Add milk and 2 cups chicken stock, bring to a simmer
4. In a slow steady stream, while whisking, add cornmeal (this will prevent lumps as the cornmeal grains quickly swell)
5. Once cornmeal is whisked in, turn heat to low, and stir regularly with a solid spoon (not the whisk) for for 15-20 minutes over low heat.  Add chicken stock along the way if it is getting too dry - I ended up having to add a full extra cup
6. Add parmesan rind and continue cooking over low heat for another 5-10 minutes...taste-test it! the texture should be nice and smooth, not grainy when it's done. (if you're using parmesan cheese, wait until the end to add).
7. Season generously with S&P...again, taste-test it!
8. Right at the end of cooking add butter before removing from heat.
9. Serve immediately (if you wait, the polenta will start to solidify on your plate as it cools) 

Now, I've made polenta once before - about 5 years ago or so - and it turned out terrible - grainy and tasteless - so I've been scared to try it again.  I had some cornmeal in the cupboard leftover from cornbread I made a few months back, and decided to give it another shot - am I EVER glad I did.  It was rich, creamy, and SO satisfying on a chilly winter night! It was a great savory compliment to the sweetness of the fish, and the slight bitterness in the spinach (btw the sauteed spinach, was sauteed onion and garlic in EVOO over med heat, throw in the spinach, add a small dash of water, a couple tsp at most, sautee for a couple of minutes until wilted and season with S&P - a very useful way to use that slightly wilted baby spinach that can no longer go in a salad).

Overall this meal was a stunner! Try all of it! On top of being delish, it was also well rounded nutrionally...cornmeal don't forget is ground up dried corn kernel - a whole grain!

As I finish with this post, I am off for the evening to eat! Let's hope my next meal is as blog worthy as this one!

Happy Eating!

Too much for one post!

Before I start on the deets of my new delivery, I have a few random thoughts, photos and recipes to share.

Check out those CARROTS! aren't they beautiful!?  These are photos I took when I opened a bag of carrots from my organic GFB to discover they were yellow, and stunning!  I made excellent use of them in a decadant carrot cake (sorry, no photo!) - courtesy of Alton Brown http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/carrot-cake-recipe/index.html.  The cake itself was easy, moist, and full of heart warming flavours - the cream cheese icing was subpar in my opinion, but not terrible.  The cake I would repeat - with a different icing.

     Below is a pre-christmas photo of some asian inspired pork ribs I did in the slow cooker - unforuntely, I can't for the life of me remember what exactly went in to this recipe - this is why people who decide to write food blogs about their own recipes need to blog on a regular basis! Let this be a lesson to me!  What I can tell you is this dish included an unkown amount of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha chili sauce, and brown sugar.  Damn me for not writing it down! What I do remember is how delicious they were... I toasted those little sesame seeds before I added them too.

As a non-food related side note - this is a shout out to our good friends Erin and Andy, who as a house warming gift (many months ago!), bought us a very nice bottle of champagne, and two gorgeous green flutes  - they'll be proud to know we finally popped the top on that crystal the night Rory proposed :) It was perfectly perfect.  Yup, I'm almost officially taken - just one last quick trip to Vegas in May first ;)

I've also decided that I need to start posting any interesting non-food-box related food stuff - especially if I am given a gift of food!  Thanks to my good friend Michelle, who brought Rory and I back a generous helping of Austrian chocolate from her impromptu European getaway!  Where else can you find chocolate marzipan Mozart balls?!

I'm going to bring this post to a close, and start a fresh new one to go over my new delivery! I hope you enjoyed reading the rather schizophrenic variety this post had to offer!

a final note - I've added a photo of the green bean casserole that I talked about in my last post - I hope it is as mouthwatering and nostalgic for you as it is for me :)

Happy New(ish) Year!!!

My last post being December 16th makes it a whole month without updates! what kind of blogger am I!?!  I'm anxious to get back to it - and I'm sure those who follow have been foaming at the mouth for new mouthwatering recipes and photos ;)
I placed my deliveries on hold for the holidays - or at least tried to.  My final delivery of the Good Food Box was meant to be December 8th, as I planned on cancelling the Dec 22nd delivery.  However, my procrastination gene (what?!) forced me to wait until December 17th to call - and I was a few hours late.  When you want to cancel or make a change to a GFB delivery, you call your local coordinator (your pick up location), who in turn must call Foodshare to make the change - a rather inefficient system in my opinion.  Being the holidays, I assume there were likely lots of people trying to cancel delivery at the last minute, and therefore I forgive Foodshare for their strict cut-off time. 
Another large box of organic produce made it's way home just in time for Christmas - most of it came with Rory and I to Windsor for Christmas dinner.  The box had very similar contents to the previous boxes - and yes, yet another bag of potatoes.  I did notice this batch wasn't of the best quality though - there were 3 or 4 rotting onions in a bag, the squash I received was starting to mold on the outer skin, and the apples looked worse for wear.  Too bad, this was my last GFB delivery and I had such good quality in the rest of the boxes. 

I don't have many photos to share this time around unfortunately - but i used a lot of the produce in a very traditionally way so use your imaginations...

• green beans went in to a green bean casserole a la campell's soup with french fried onions http://www.campbellkitchen.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeId=24099&ref=%2fSearchRecipesResult.aspx%3fSearchType%3d1%26q%3dgreen%2bbean - I couldn't resist.  As I cook more, I become less of a believer in using processed anything in my cooking, but there are a few key items that just make me feel like a million bucks - this is one of them.

• organic GFB mashed potatoes - with CREAM AND BUTTER!
• 2-squash bake with caramelized onions - see my recipe for sweet potatoes on my last post - substitute the sweet potatoes for two organic GFB squash (one hubbard, one buttercup)...the hit of Christmas dinner.  Along with the pre-stuffed cooked-from-frozen Butterball turkey which was juicy and flavouful - that's some freaky food science.
• organic GFB brocolli - steamed to tender/crisp, tossed with butter and S&P.
• organic GFB leaf lettuce salad - with sunflower seeds/ dried apricots/ red onions/ (recipe provided by Carmelle Mills) - good combo Mum!
• A good looking bunch of organic GFB swiss chard was left behind with the Mills' when Rory and I left Windsor, and my pops cooked it up for him and my mum - Neither of them had cooked it or tasted it before... how brave!  they both really liked it!!! And fortunately, it's on the 'highly beneficial' list for blood type A (insert exaggerated eye roll here). 

I also have some yet to be uploaded photos of a few other items - carrot cake, short ribs, a thai coconut curry - that I will share in my next post.

As of Monday, I will be starting up with a new produce box company.  Front Door Organics (http://www.frontdoororganics.com/) is a family business now in operation for over 12 years.  Their philosophy includes:

• Building and maintaining relationships with local farms and offering local products whenever possible
• Becoming involved and supporting community
• Fair wages and benefits for employees
• Timely and fair payments to farmers and suppliers
• Gender parity
• Environmental sustainability

In reading the website details, I get a strong sense that this is a company very committed to it's business plan - as long as that plan continues to fit within their philosophy of social responsibility.  How refreshing!

Front Door organics delivers directly to your door.  To sign up, you can fill in an online form, or call the company directly. Either way, you will have to speak with an agent on the phone before you get your first delivery.  There are set delivery days for specific areas of the city.  I will receive my delivery between noon and 10pm, and I had the choice of whether or not I wanted the delivery person to knock on the door (I opted for no-knock service - we likely won't be home anyway).  Rory asked a valid question - what if it's 20 below outside, and we don't pick it up for 5 hours? Hmm, don't know.  We will see I guess!
I pre-paid by credit card over the phone (this is the only option for your first delivery), and a $10 deposit will also be charged for the Rubbermaid box that my produce gets delivered in.

There are two options for boxes- The Basic Box contains 10-15 organic choices.  The Custom Box contains the same - but you can replace any or all items in the box, with other items available that week - which are all listed online.  I chose the Basic Box, but was informed that I could change my mind and switch to the custom box online up until the day before delivery - impressive!

In addition to the flexibility with the box, you can buy other organic grocery items online and add them to your delivery -  either as a one time addition, or a standing order every week or every other week - from canned/dry goods, dairy products, household cleaners and even clothing and gifts!

Right off the bat, there are several advantages to this service over the GFB: it's a delivery right to my door, I can know in advance what's going to be in my box, and I can customize it (thereby avoiding mounds of potatoes!)
Down side - price.  Basic box is $35.  Custom box is $40.  The amount of produce sounds comparable to what I was getting in the GFB box, so hopefully it will last for 2 weeks.  We will know soon enough!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday - and that any extra pounds that snuck on were well worth it!

I'll be back with new recipes and photos in no time!