The Sensible Foodie

This is one of the most rewarding things you can do when it comes to cooking at home. If you want quality foods and herbs, the closer to home you can get the better. So why not have some right outside your door!?

This year I am working on a number of things. First I'm growing several herbs in pots including rosemary, cilantro, mint and chives. These are all herbs that I love using fresh. Caring for herbs in a pot can be a lot of work because they dry out easily, but the best rule of thumb is to check your soil daily. If you are wondering if a plant needs water, stick your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle. If the soil feels dry, it's time to water. You need to add water till it drains out of the bottom. Be sure your pots have holes in the bottom to prevent over watering and root rot. ALSO! Keep herbs out of the garden. I know the pots are more work, but most herbs are like weeds and can dominate your garden. Especially mint.

I'm also trying my hand at a couple of vegetables this year including leeks and yellow tomatoes. So far it is going well. I had some trouble last year with a very hungry bunny that ate the tops off of everything and they all died. I am trying some tricks I learned from the workers at my local nursary. You can see the little flowers along the side in the bottom picture. Those are marigolds and the rabbits hate them. I also covered the garden with a little dry cayenne pepper. I know it sounds silly but it really works! Apparently bunny isn't into spicy food. Maybe I should leave the leftover Thai take out boxes as an extra deterrent :-P

Just a summary from today's talk on CTV. There are a lot of trendy foods out there and this is certainly not the full list but some of the bigger ones for the year.

1) Quinoa (Keen-wa): 
 You can't visit a single recipe website without coming across at least one recipe for quinoa. In fact there are some very popular books just dedicated to this food. Quinoa is a seed that acts very similar to grain products like rice or couscous. In fact, you cook it almost exactly the same: twice as much liquid for the amount of dry quinoa, bring it to a boil, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. What's great about quinoa is that it's packed with lots of vitamins and nutrients including protein, iron, magnesium and fibre. It's a great alternative to other grains if you are bored and it can be served hot or cold. I love it because it's so filling!
  
2) Dairy Alternatives:
Many people are nervous about regular milk because it may not be that healthy. I can assure you from my own knowledge there is no issue with drinking regular milk and the idea that there are growth hormones in it isn't valid. It may be true in other countries but in Canada we regulate our dairy farmers really well and such products are not allowed to be used. This doesn't mean alternatives like rice, soy or almond milk are worse. It's really a personal preference. A couple of things to keep in mind though: Many dairy alternatives need to have extra calcium and vitamin D supplemented into them to make the equivalent so be sure to pick them up and compare. Not all dairy alternatives have calcium or vitamin D added so they might not add up. Also, many alternatives have less protein so they won't be as filling. This isn't as true for soy milk but more for almond and rice milk. That is the one place they are really lacking. The concern with soy milk and breast cancer is also not true. We used to think there was a link, but recent studies are showing otherwise. So overall it's really your decision. Just be sure to choose lower fat choices without a lot of added sugar.

  
3) Greek Yogurt:
Greek yogurt is essentially a yogurt that has been filtered to increase the protein content. It tends to be much creamier and because of the protein, more filling. There is also Greek Style Yogurt, but that's just yogurt they evaporated down and added skim milk powder to. Overall this can be a healthy choice, I just warn people to watch out for high sugar and high fat Greek yogurts. Some can have as much sugar as a candy bar. The regular fat Greek yogurt will be higher in saturated fat, which is not good for your heart. So just like the dairy products, choose low fat and lower sugar.  

4) Seeds:
I could write a whole post on seeds. There are so many of them. Let's talk about some of the really popular ones: Chia and Flax. Flax seeds are high in omega 3's and soluble fibre: two things that lead to better health. But you can really only get both of these benefits from using the ground flax. The shell of the seed is where the fibre is, so whole seeds will have this, but we have trouble breaking through this shell so the omega 3 is left trapped inside. The flax oil will that the omega 3 oil in it, but the shell is now gone so no fibre. Therefore choose the ground. Chia seeds can also be a good source of vitamins and fibre. Chia was originally made popular by the chia pets (come on we all know the jingle from television). I would suggest getting the seeds from your store rather then eating your chia pet.  An important note about seeds. While they  contain fibre and lots of healthy nutrients, they can also be high in calories. If you are trying to watch your weight, be sure to limit your portions. It all adds up in the end. 

5) Gluten Free Products:
Gluten free products came into existence because of people that have gluten allergies (or Celiac disease). There is really no need to eat gluten free products if you do not have this condition. Some can actually be higher in calories and fat so they are not designed for weight loss. It is not true that gluten sticks to our insides and makes us gain weight. Gluten is not dangerous to our health. Many people mistake having a gluten intolerance with  just eating over sized portions of foods that are starchy like pasta or rice. These are filling foods so you might just need to cut back your serving size and your symptoms will go away. If you are having bleeding, dramatic weight loss, chronic fatigue, severe stomach cramps or any combination of these symptoms from eating things like pasta or bread though, you may want to see your family doctor.

If there are any other popular foods you are wondering about, don't hesitate to contact me through the links and contacts page. I always make posts based on questions from readers.

Was enjoying the gorgeous weather this weekend and put the BBQ to good use. Here is a fantastic marinade that I came up with to make that skinless chicken breast super tasty!

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup of honey
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt

Steps:
1) Mix all spices, oil and honey into a bowl until a smooth paste
2) Coast chicken with mixture and grill on BBQ as you normally would

Happy Long Weekend!

I went shopping in the states last week and decided to wander through the grocery store to see just how different their food was being only minutes away. I found a number of snack foods and dishes that disturbed me but there was one that stood out:

This picture really doesn't do it justice but you  can sort of see the bologna at the bottom. Looks like a congealed fetal pig in a glass. Bologna is already pretty processed and generally not a healthy choice but why would you go and pickle it. To hide the under tones of snout that generally come in each slice?

Here are a few runners up I found:

Pork Hocks

I know it's a popular dish in some cultures, but it looks as bad as the bologna in a jar.

Little Debbie Apple Pie

Sure it loosk tasty and it's advertised as a snack, but when you flip it over you are looking at a whopping 470 calories, 20 grams of fat and 40 grams of sugar per package serving. How is that a snack?!

New Age Lunchable

I rememberyou could get were pizza or the sub. Suddenly they consider nachos, cheese, a fruit drink, piece of candy and a rice crispie treat as a snack? I think they need to change the name.

Spray-able Marinade

Just don't get it mixed up with the bathroom cleaner :-)

Happy Friday Everyone!

Ben Aaron is a wonderful news anchor from NBC. I always enjoy watching his segments. For those that haven't seen it yet, his post on Dance Walking is taking the world by storm. So much that there are now Dance Walking groups in many major cities. It's a great combination of walking around the city, dancing and socializing. For those of you that are bored with your regular old walk, maybe give this a try:

It's only been a matter of a few weeks and look how much influence this video has had! The power of social media is sometimes just unreal. Do you walk dance? I do. My Michael Jackson collection is probably my favorite to use for this workout :-)

A bit of an unusual post for me, but it feels important. This past weekend was mother's day. I spent my weekend at home with my family and more importantly, pampering my wonderful mom.

We spent the day at the spa getting our nails done, went for a nice meal and took the afternoon to shop. These are things we always like to do together but it was an exceptional day because we spent the whole day doing it. Enjoying each other's company and doing the things that make us happy.

I find at my current stage of life, I have the flexibility to do these sorts of things. To take time to enjoy the people around me and the things I love. Why I bring this up is because I have many clients who don't take the time or have have time to savor moments like this.

They have over bearing jobs, pets and children to care for, sick relatives and difficult situations that take any available attention away from them and gives it to everybody else.

I think mothers are wonderful for doing this. For giving all their time and energy in order to look out for others. The problem is if you spend all your energy looking after others, who's going to look after you? More importantly, how are you going to look after others if you don't look after yourself?

So I want to encourage the busy parents of the world to look at their lives and try to make time for yourself: to recharge so that you can continue to give all that wonderful love and support to the people around you. Take that bubble bath, go see that movie, don't feel guilt if you hire the baby sitter for one night so you can have time to connect with your partner. We all need to look after ourselves sometimes.

And for those mothers that just struggle to take this time and look after themselves I want to call on their children. Show your mother's how much they mean to you, even outside of mother's day. Take them out, help them with the simple things even when they don't ask. They've been doing the same for you your whole life. One day to celebrate your mother is great, but I think we need to celebrate the people important in our lives daily.

A common exercise I practice with my clients is called Simple Gratitude, where each day you simply list 3 things that you are grateful for. This sort of activity can really help bring more positive thoughts into your day and help you to feel more motivated.

I myself today am grateful that the weather is beautiful, that I had such a wonderful weekend and that I have such an awesome mom.

Be kind to yourself.

For those of you that have been reading my blog for a while I had done a short post of Tillman's Toasties: a German Sensation that took chicken and turned it into what can only be described as a pop tart. Well guess what? It's landed on our Canadian Shores.

Jane's Flat Jacks: Chicken that's been processed down into a convienient little square you can shove in the toaster. Looking at the nutrition lable, it's not the worst thing I've ever seen. But it says it's for a snack and 9 grams of fat is pretty high if this is supposed to be something you nibble on between meals. I haven't gotten my hands on the ingredients list yet, but I'm certainly looking forward to it.

I think it's the commercials that disturbs me the most though. Tell me how this is appealing:

Fair season will soon be upon us so I wanted to mention some of the gems I didn't talk about from last year that take fair food to a place....it just doesn't need to go. Last year I talked about deep fried coca-cola and deep fried butter (Both found at the Toronto Exihibition), but there were a couple of items I left out. 

After reading this you are probably going to wonder what they could possibly come up with for this year. I ask that same question every year and yet they always surprise me. I'll know they've hit the wall when they try to deepfry the deep fryer.

I like to call the theme of these foods: Why?

Chocolate Covered Corn Dog
Location: Orange County Fair

Really?....REALLY? Is it the idea of having to chew the extra bit to have your dessert and dinner separately is just too much?

I have enjoyed a corn dog in the past. But I prefer mine with a little mustard on top....not choclate and sprinkles. This is just a food sin as far as I'm concerned.

Chocolate Covered Jalapeno Poppers
Location: Minnesota Fair

Maybe they've just run out of things to deep fry so now they are covering things in chocolate. Cheese and chocolate can go together. Chocolate cheese cake is so good that you have to make that 'OMG' face whenever you eat it....but processed cheddar Cheeeeeze (yes that was intentional) wrapped in a jalapeno and chocolate....I think I'll pass

Deep Fried Ice Cream Burger
Location: Florida State Fair

Once again....WHY? Take the ice cream off of the damn burger and have it on the side. Or put it in a cup and have a milk shake. I can't imagine this dish looks good for long. Mmmmm...soggy ice cream burger.

So to sum it up: If creativity is simply taking decadent foods and smooshing them together I have an idea. Let's just give all the vendors at the fair a blender and let them go nuts! We can have popcorn, cotton candy, falafel shakes in time for the Exhibition!

The world isn't going to hell in a handbasket. It's going to hell in a fry basket with a side order of chocolate covered chicken fingers.

This is the recipe from my cooking demo on saturday. A healthy and unique spin on the original grilled cheese.

Asparagus is a wonderful vegetable: it's loaded with fiber, protein, folate (6 spears gives you half of what you need in a day), magnesium, vitamin K, C and most of your B vitamins. It's a one stop shop for a whole lot of nutrition and it's only around for a couple of months so enjoy it! PS. This recipe is a great way to get your kids to eat their vegetables.

Asparagus  Grilled Cheese
 
Ingredients 
1 bunch local Ontario asparagus spears washed and trimmed
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 loaf artisan multigrain sourdough bread
2 teaspoons honey garlic mustard
8 slices Ontario Gouda Cheese
8 Slices Ontario Rosemary Ham, thinly sliced
Margarine 

Instructions 
1) Toss the asparagus in the oil. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast in a preheated 400F oven for about 10 minutes and set aside.
2) Meanwhile cut 8 slices of  bread and lay them on a clean work surface
3) Spread mustard on one side of each sandwich and top with a slice of cheese. Lay spears of asparagus on each slice, top with ham slices and another slice of sourdough.
4) Heat skillet to medium heat. Lightly spread margarine on outer sides of bread. Lay sandwich in skillet and cook until bread begins to turn golden brown (about 3 minutes). 
5) Turn sandwich over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. 
 
Makes 4 Sandwiches

Please note: all the ingredients listed can be found at the Hamilton Farmer's Market where I was preparing the dish. Feel free to make you own substitutions! 

For those interested in having their own cooking lesson or class, feel free to contact me under the Contacts and Links Page.

This is probably the easiest recipe I know. I only post it here because it's getting warmer outside and people are starting to look for tasty frozen treats that aren't going to add to their waist lines.

It's quite simple:

1) Take 1 banana, peel it and slice it into two pieces.
2) Stick one popsicle stick into the flat end of the banana where you cut it.
3) Repeat for the other half of the banana
4) Place banana's on a paper or freezer durable plate
5) Place in freezer
6) Wait for two hours

Easy right? A nice healthy snack for the kids with very little effort. Acts just like a popsicle but it's only fruit! They can even help you make them.

Want something a little more gourmet?

Repeat steps 1 through 3.

4) Take 1 cup of vanilla yogurt and place it into a bowl
5) In another bowl, mix together 1 cup of high fibre cereal (I suggest granola or fibre 1 honey clusters for this recipe)
6) Dip bananas in yogurt
7) Roll in cereal
8) Place on plate
9) Leave in freezer for 2 hours

I've also added a couple of tablespoons of dried fruit, coconut or chocolate chips to the cereal mix to give it a bit more kick.

For a super decadent treat I've dipped the whole banana in chocolate before...but that's just for special occasions.

If you want something more breakfast friendly. Roll the banana's in peanut butter and then in either cereal or dried fruit. I haven't tried freezing this version yet but let me know if you do! I don't see how frozen peanut butter could be a bad thing :)

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Be sure to come out tomorrow to the Farmer's Market. I'll be there cooking up a storm in the morning with lots of free samples!