Take the Pulse Pledge for (IYP) International Year of Pulses

I went to a fantastic event last night called Pulse Feast that was held at the Design Exchange in Toronto. It was presented because 2016 was formally declared by the Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to be  the International Year of Pulses (IYP).

Chef Michael Smith

It was a room filled with growers from all over Canada and Chefs, Dieticians, Nutritionists, Food writers, bloggers and a whole lot of people interested in the Pulses Industry.

It was hosted by PEI Chef, Author, Business owner and Media personality Chef Michael Smith.

It was one of those events that you feel good about going to for so many reasons.

1.  Because it was just so much fun.
2.  Because it launched a great Pulses Program the Pulse Pledge
3.  Because it promoted a healthy product that is good for the world

But then there was also so much great food made with Pulses (beans, lentils, peas) that we sampled all evening.  There was so much that I missed trying a few things that I was told were really good but I just didn't have any more room to eat more.

Quiche, crabcakes, Chorizo and rapini with beans, lentil slider, donut, croquettes

A couple of my favourite dishes were surprises on how good they were and the fact that you couldn't tell what was in them.

Including:  

1. Sweet Polenta and beans
2.  Brownies with Passion fruit glaze
3. Cheddar Biscuits made with yellow peas.

I need these recipes.  I had 2 pieces of the brownies because they were just too good to resist. Rich chocolate flavour but a perfect balance of richness.

The polenta was sweet and flavourful.  The biscuits were flaky but held together and were still moist and again full of great flavour.

All of the food was prepared by Ivana Raca from Raca Cafe.  I need to get over there one of these days.  Ivana honed her skills working for Chef Mark McEwen and working to set up his first grocery store and countless catering events.  It seemed like the food was effortless since it was so good but I am sure a lot of busy bees contributed to making it all so great.

Ok so besides the food we were there for a reason.  Chef Michael Smith has been named the IYP Ambassador for  Canada.  It's kind of a big deal especially for Canada because there are over 22,000 pulse farmers in Canada.  It is exported to 150 countries and Canada exports most of the pulses in the World.   It contributes over $3 billion to Canada's economy.

Canadian Pulse growers

Share your love of pulses  #lovepulses #IYP2016 #pulsepledge and Follow @lovepulses

Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/35877-pulsefeast?locale=en

TAKE THE PULSE PLEDGE 

— Start your new year with a resolution that’s healthy for you and the planet:

Take the Pulse Pledge to eat pulses at least once a week for 10 weeks: www.pulsepledge.com (starting January 1) Tweet #pulsepledge

10 Great things about Pulses: Delicious, Nutritious, Sustainable
1. Pulses are a fantastic source of protein and fibre
2. Pulses have a low fat content and contain zero cholesterol. They are also gluten-free.
3. Pulses are rich in minerals (iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc) and B-vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6, and folate)
4. Pulses have a low carbon footprint and use just one-tenth to half of the water of other proteins.
5. Pulses are affordable, drought tolerant and contribute to food security at all levels
6. Pulses are a versatile, easy to-prepare ingredient that can be used in entrees, salads, breads and desserts.
7. Pulses taste great: They can be prepared savoury or sweet and are like little flavour sponges. 
8. Eating Canadian pulses supports our farmers and the economy: Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of dry peas and lentils and a major supplier of pulses to over 150 countries around the world.
9. Pulses have been shown to reduce “bad” cholesterol and help control blood sugar levels, which help in the fight against heart disease and diabetes.
10. Pulses enrich the soil where they grow reducing the need for chemical fertilizers

Chef Michael Smith has a great recipe for Pulse Tacos if you would like to swap your meat for a healthier Taco that still tastes great.  Click here:  Pulse Taco recipe

This is a Global Initiative so do something good for the Globe and sign the #PulsePledge and start making some great recipes with food that's is a Good thing for both you and the World.

All you have to do is consume 1/2 cup of any pulse at least once a week for 10 weeks.  I have already had hummus today which counts since hummus is made from chickpeas which are a pulse in case you didn't know that.   See it's easy but look for new and interesting ways to include more in your diet.  I am going to try and for sure I am going to make some Pulse Brownies very soon.

#LovePulses

#PulsePledge

#PulseFeast

15 Reasons why you should try Xyla!

XYLA HOLIDAY MENU LUNCH

I was invited to the beautiful Toca Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Toronto for a special Healthy Holiday Lunch presented by Xyla® an "un-sugar" sugar replacement that is made from 100% Xylitol. It looks, tastes, cooks and bakes just like sugar.

It has so many benefits that it's hard not to take notice and consider it as a reason to ditch all of the other sugars you normally use.

Here are some of the benefits of using Xyla® (Xylitol)

1. 40% less calories than sugar.
2. 75% less carbs than sugar.
3. Alkaline enhancing
4. Anti-aging properties
5. Aids in weight loss
6. Maintains hormonal balance
7. Slows steady release of energy 
8. Increases absorption of B vitamins and calcium
9. Inhibits plaque and dental cavities up to 80%
10. Diabetic friendly
11. Low- glycemic
12. Natural insulin stabilizer
13. Diminishes sugar and carbohydrate cravings
14. 100% Sustainable
15. No GMO's and not derived from corn or manufactured in China.

The great chefs at Toca created a Healthy Holiday Menu that used Xyla® instead of sugar in the recipes.  Xyla can be used the same way as sugar but there might need to be adjustments to make it work the same way as it doesn't caramelize exactly the same way.

This is the menu of the food we sampled.  I can tell you that each dish was amazing and you don't even notice that anything is different.  I especially loved their sticky toffee pudding.  We were given copies of the recipes so I hope to try some of them this holiday season.

Starters

• Banana Bread French Toast accompanied with fresh berries
• Eggplant Caponata with sweet and sour sauce and pine nuts

Mains (1)

• Tacchino Turkey, chestnut and mushroom stuffing, medley of potato and cranberry sauce
• Organic Salmon vegetable teriyaki

Dessert

• Dolce Sticky Toffee Pudding, sour cream gelato and chai anglaise

I am not a big fan of products like Aspartame or Stevia because they are either chemicals or they just don't taste good or really aren't great products but I think Xyla is a great alternative to sugar.  

Xyla is made from 100% naturally source xylitol – it goes through a natural steam ion exchange process to extract the xylitol from the birch wood pulp  ( similar to how when a popcorn kernel is heated and goes pop) and aspartame is a chemical.

Other products available as seen in the photo above were gum, mints, mouthwash and toothpaste, jam, xyla packets for coffee or tea and sauces.  I was given a few products to sample so I hope that I can get used to them and adopt them and replace some of the things I normally use.

For more info check out their website at  www.xylitolcanada.com or www.xylabrands.com

Disclaimer*  Lunch and a few product samples were provided gratis but the opinions of the products provided are mine.  I was not compensated for this post. 

Big Night at the Green Barn for The Stop

I was a very lucky girl on Wednesday June 3rd, 2015 because I was able to attend the most beautiful event BIG NIGHT AT THE GREEN BARN which was held at Artscape's Wychwood Barns on Christie Street.  The event was a fundraiser for The Stop.  In case you don't know about The Stop they have programs that promote growing, cooking, sharing and advocating for healthy food.  They have a greenhouse on the site and a weekly Farmer's Market on Saturdays. There is a community kitchen and a classroom for youth education.  Chef Jamie Oliver even toured the space and thinks that there should be more facilities like it.

Since Jamie Oliver loves it so much I kind of think it's my duty as a Food Revolution Day Ambassador for him to promote their fundraising initiatives so that their programs can continue to grow and thrive.  

As a food blogger this was a no brainer for me. A great community program, a beautiful venue on an perfect spring evening and sharing some outstanding food made by some of the top Chefs in the city.  What's not to love about that?  I had one fellow blogger at my table but I didn't know anyone else but I still had a really great time.  From start to finish the attention to detail on this event was fabulous.

You arrive to a tent with some amazing appetizers.  I went back for a second cone of the hot popcorn  shrimp it was so good from Vertical.  There was also Prosciutto from Paganelli's and all kinds of appetizers from Terroni.  You were greeted by servers with trays of wine and there was Steamwhistle Beer also available.

As you entered the room there were fresh Oysters and sauces provided by Oyster Boy.  I am not a huge oyster person but they were really amazingly fresh and the sauces were perfect pairings.

There was also ice tea and delicious coffee provided by Island Coffee.

During the dinner there was an auction where the auctioneer kind of heckled the crowd to raise as much money as he could for the Stop.  Some of the items included a custom made suit and a dinner for 10 by Chef Mark McEwan who was also one of the Chef's on hand providing one of the components of the dinner.

There was a raffle with keys that the winning key would unlock a box that contained a prize to win a trip on Porter airlines.  I would have like that one.

The Dinner

The Antipasto was Mozzarella Arancini rice balls made by Chef Lorenzo Loseto from George Restaurant.  Oozy cheese.. what else is there to say.

The Primo was Rabbit Creste de Gallo a slow-cooked rabbit, peas, arugula and fresh pasta prepared by Ted Corrado from The Drake.  I only had rabbit once and I didn't like it but I didn't even taste the rabbit in this dish it just tasted like a terrific pasta and peas dish.

The Secondo was a Braised Short rib, mascarpone polenta, smoked tomato passata, roasted Thumbelina carrots and sauce.  This was provided by Chef Mark McEwan and Andrew Ellerby from The McEwan Group.  Everyone loved the tender short ribs.

Dolce the dessert was a Sicilian cannoli with ricotta cheese, chocolate and amarena cherries from George Tahari from Noce.  They were fantastic and light.

There was alos a Limoncello soaked sponge cake, filled with custard cream  that was made by Sorrento Ristorante but we are all so full by that point that I literally only had a spoonful.

I had a really great Cappuccino from Reunion Island Coffee to finish off the meal and I was totally stuffed.

It was a really great night and I hope that it was also a great night to raise lot's of money for The Stop's programs.  I know that the key sales were sold out so that's a great sign.  Everyone pitched in their time to make this event a huge success.  There were even a couple of volunteers from Tiff there so it's nice to see my film and food people in the mix.

Great job everyone.  I hope I am able to go again next year.

For more information about the Stop's programs or to donate visit their website www.thestop.org

Good Food for Good products

I was watching the Marilyn Denis show recently when I saw Richa Gupta promote her Toronto Local sauces GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD which have no preservatives, are vegan and dairy free.  She was on the show to speak with the hosts of MasterChef Canada to get advice about increasing her business.  Since I am in Food Revolution Day event planning I was interested in seeing if her products might fit into something that I could showcase at my event so I contacted Richa and she graciously agreed to do a taste testing with some people that I organized.

I was going to organize a separate blogger tasting but I had already planned to host a TedXManhattan Viewing Party in my home for some Food Revolution Day team members and a few of my friends interested in food and health.  I thought it was a good fit as we were all interested in "Changing the way we Eat" in the world as that was TEDXManhattan's theme for the talks.

photo by Susan Ng

I also got burritos provided by Chipotle thanks to the TedX people but I thought we would do the demo before we ate the burritos.   Well the burritos arrived before Richa did so we had to start eating them because as you might know.... burritos wait for no one.  It worked out because I wanted more people to be there when Richa arrived as everyone was straggling in at various times and Richa had a big charity event the night before so she was quite tired so I told her to take her time.  My party ended up lasting all day and my last friend left at 12:30am so it ended up being an extended 12hr plus drop in party.  I  was glad that I didn't really have to cook.  I had snacks and things I had prepared earlier and just cooked up something quick around dinner time which I will post about later as that was a new product as well.

Anyway..  Richa arrived with her little buggy filled with beautifully marinated chicken skewers to cook up for us to try.  I must note that Richa is a vegetarian so this was a stretch for her as she does not know when chicken is cooked so I helped out to get it cooked to the perfect doneness.  Luckily I had a large grill pan to cook them on but boy did they make a mess on my stovetop.  Use a bbq if you can.   The chicken was coated with her Chili Tomate sauce which is spicy but not overly hot.   She also brought along a packet of a competitors sauce for comparison of what her products taste like without preservatives versus the competitors.   I have to say I am not surprised that there was a noticeable difference.  Her sauces are smooth, creamy and delicous.   The price of the sauce may seem high at about $8.99 for a bottle of it but if you have ever cooked Indian food from scratch you will understand why.  She doesn't take any shortcuts.  All the tomatoes are cooked from scratch and all the layers of spices take time to develop.  In general Indian food uses an array of spices that when layered develop an amazing depth of flavour.


While it may take her hours to make her sauces it will take you minutes to cook up a delicious meal in your home.  Add some vegetables pour over steamed rice and you have an amazing meal that will probably taste a whole lot better than your Indian Take Out.

I really feel happy to support Richa as her story is so interesting.  She worked for General Mills and wasn't happy doing and after trying so called Indian Food in Canada she decided to launch her own brand of sauces from flavours that she had when she lived in Delhi, India where she is from.  You can taste the authenticity in the food.  The best part is that for every bottle of sauce sold she donates .25 cents to serve food programs in India and Africa and that's why it's called Good Food for Good.  Do some good buy some of her sauces at quality Grocery Stores like The Big Carrot and more coming soon.   She is a very lovely woman Entrepreneur with a big heart and I hope that you support her and spread the word.

10 Awesome Food Tips for Kids

March is National Nutrition Month and I was asked by Chobani^® to give some tips for getting kids to eat healthy.  Chobani has a new line of kid friendly products that they feel will contribute to kids eating healthy foods. 

photo source Chobani LLC

In honor of National Nutrition Month this March the Chobani - #ChobaniKids project is kicking off 2015 with the introduction of Chobani Tots and Chobani Kids Greek Yogurt Pouches, specially designed Greek Yogurt for toddlers and kids that contains real fruits and vegetables. This is great for grab and go nutrition and to add to lunch boxes.  

Try Chobani^® Greek yogurt

• Only natural ingredients that are not genetically modified (non-GMO)
• No artificial flavors or sweeteners
• No preservatives
• Made with milk from cows not treated with hormones like rBST*
• Includes live & active cultures
• Three types of probiotics
• Gluten free
• Kosher certified
• Vegetarian friendly
• Less than 5% lactose

NOTE:  The Chobani Kids products aren't available in Canada at this time. 

Here are some 10 Awesome Food Tips for getting your kids to eat healthy food.

Recently I helped my fellow Food Revolution Day Ambassador Mardi with her Cooking with Kids Class at the school she teaches at.  Myself and fellow Ambassador Carol were along for the ride to help with the demos and take photos in my case.   Some appear here.  The kids helped make a Vegetable soup, a vegetable slaw wrap and 4 different smoothies.  They all loved it and some of the tips here are some of the things we did at the class.

1.  Try a new fruit or vegetable every week.  This will develop your child's palate and will prevent you and your family from getting bored eating the same things all the time.   For help you can follow Jennifer Tyler Lee's Crunchacolor's 52 New Foods Challenge and follow along with the book and try new things.

2.  Make your food look fun, even if you have to dress it up a bit.  Play with your food and make it look like something you want to eat.  Also you can hide vegetables in things like this savoury Korean style pancake.  A friend started making pumpkin pancakes for her picky child.  Lot's of people blend tons of vegetables into tomato sauces to hide them and kids don't even notice.  

3. Try the same fruit or vegetable in different ways.  Sometimes it's a texture thing that kids don't like not necessarily the vegetable.  Keep trying because sometimes it takes a few times before kids will like it.  Here I boiled some whole Edamame and sprinkled with sesame oil and sesame seeds and salt.  I also took a bag of frozen shelled edamame and turned it into an Edamame hummus.  Just swap the chickpeas for the edamame to change it up.

4.  Make it easy to add extra nutrition into your day.  Grab an Orange or zest or juice some Citrus fruit into water and you can even freeze ice cubes with juices and pop them into water for flavour and to keep them cold.

5.  Grab and Go food.  Have things like celery sticks, carrot sticks, dips, a fruit bowl ready to grab in your refrigerator so that when kids come home from school or you get home from work and are starving you can just grab something quick that will still be healthy.

6.  Get your tools ready and get your kids in the kitchen.  Kids can be your sous chef in the kitchen and help you grate or peel vegetables or they can stir things and as they get older you can teach them how to cut vegetables and measure ingredients.  They learn different skills and they take ownership of what they are eating and will develop pride in helping to make the meals.

7. Get your blender out of the corner and fire it up and get the kids to help make smoothies, soups, dressings and dips.  They can toss it all in and press the button and see what happens.  It's also a good way to get loads of fruits and vegetable into one meal.

8.  Plant some fresh vegetables or a Herb Garden and let kids water it so that they can appreciate where there food comes from and know exactly what it is and feel like they contributed to growing food for the family.  Gardening is a great way to teach kids about taking care of the earth and also is said to relieve stress.  It also sets up your kids with a skill for life.  They know they can grow their own foods and control what they are eating. 

9.   Think GLOBAL but eat LOCAL - GLOCAL.  Think outside of your regular eating habits and get kids inspired by the foods of other cultures.  When I was a kid my mom would bring me to a yearly event called Caravan which was held in churches and community centres.  Each location had a different culture featured.  At the Jerusalem pavillion they featured Fallafels which was the first time I ever had a fallafel and it inspired me to make my own version at home.

I also watched Cooking shows on TV and learned how to make Chinese Food from watching Yan Can Cook.

If you can afford to travel to different countries try and find out what the local people eat and have kids try different things.   Think Globally by investing in different spices that will flavour your dishes with the different spices used in different countries.

10.  If your kids like certain fast food that isn't too healthy then try and find a way to make it at home a healthier way like making these chicken nuggets.  You can add things like lemon zest, chopped herbs, whole grain bread crumbs and you can even coat them in yoghurt and then bread them.  You can bake them in the oven or pan fry them quickly and serve them with a healthy dipping sauce like an herb yoghurt or a tomato sauce.

Disclaimer:  I was not compensated for this post although information for Chobani products was provided by Chobani.  All other opinions are my own.

Ugly Fruit Movement

Celebrity Chef and food activist Jamie Oliver is on a new mission to bring Ugly fruit back to your grocery stores.

There is a problem when 40% of all food produced in the world is just getting tossed out before it even gets to a consumer and it's madness when there is so much food insecurity in the world.

I bet you never really notice that all of the fruits and vegetables in a majority of grocery stores always looks almost perfect.  Well there is no such thing as perfection in real life.  People are flawed and so are fruits and vegetables.  That doesn't mean that the 40% of fruits and veg that are chucked because they don't look good don't have a value in life.  What if we chucked all the ugly people in the world?  Unfortunately society seems to be trying to make this happen with plastic surgery and the terrorist extremists that want everyone in the world to be like them.   The world is supposed to have everything in it.  Everything is connected in the Universe and there is a reason for the differences.

In France they have a grocery store chain that wanted to take action on all of the Ugly fruit or not so perfect end of day produce that they had before chucking it in the bin they decided to turn it into juices and soups that they would sell in the store at a discounted price.  Their sales went up exponentially.  So why don't more people adopt this idea?  I am sure there are economic reasons for this but what if we took all the produce that isn't picture perfect from the fields and set up a community co-op where people from lower incomes or people in need could access this produce at reduced prices.  Here's another stretch, what if we took those fruits and vegetables and gave them to Seniors long term care facilities to turn into juices and soups that would nourish seniors with dietary and other issues and customize the nutrients that they would get.   What if they had Vitamix blenders that they had a few Vitamix blenders on each floor to produce purees, soups, smoothies, juices etc for the patients?   Wouldn't that be better than the processed dead awful food that is served to frail seniors in these homes?

I saw firsthand the horrible food that seniors ate when my mother was in a facility for the last year and a half of her life.  I think the terrible nutrition probably contributed to the cause of her death.   I tried to bring her things sometimes but she didn't always want it.  A lot of seniors refuse to eat their food mostly because they don't like it or they have difficulties eating.  Soups and smoothies that taste good and are at the peak of nutrition could certainly help in these cases.   I understand why the institutions serve the processed food because their hands are tied on the actual funding they get to operate the facilities and the costs of storing food and the staff to handle it.   But what if food direct from the field was delivered to the facilities a couple of times a week and the produce was turned into soups and juices that could be frozen if there was excess?  Wouldn't that be a cost saving?  What if the government subsidized the process of farmers donating the food that would go to landfill to be donated to institutions of all kinds.. Schools, healthcare facilities and correctional institutes.   What if food banks got donations of the ugly fruits and vegetables to give to people in need?   If 40% of food is already going to the landfills before it goes to market and 40-50% of people in the world are suffering from lack of nutrition doesn't it just make sense to re-distribute this food?   It doesn't matter what the fruits and vegetables look like when they are blended into a soup or smoothie or even a puree because it's just all blended up and blemishes are all hidden in the blended goodness.   What if you wanted to make a tomato soup and you had a choice to buy wonky tomatoes at half the cost of the pretty looking ones?  Which would you choose if you were living paycheck to paycheck?

I take a lot of photos of fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and from the produce I buy at grocery stores and realized that I didn't have too many wonky fruit and vegetable pictures.  This means that this stuff never hits my food suppliers shelves.

I just sent an email to a local Organic Grocery store to think about getting on board of the Ugly Fruit movement.  What if you all sent letters and emails to the places you buy your produce from to tell them you want to see the ugly fruits and veg in their stores and you would go out of your way to purchase them if they sell them at a lower price.   How would this change things?  Think about it.   Wouldn't it be great if you could ship your leftovers to people in third world countries that don't even have a piece of bread to eat?  Well that might not be possible yet but this is doable if we all make a little bit of effort.

Join Jamie Oliver in his mission to bring Ugly fruit to your local markets and give them a purpose instead of letting them produce gases in our landfills.    If we don't think about doing this our whole planet could turn into a landfill eventually.    Try and watch the movie Soylent Green and see a science fiction movie about what they thought the planet would turn into in the future.

The Safeway in Alberta puts what it calls it's misfits on sale in their grocery store.
Would you buy this?
What do you think about this?  Would it work?  Share your thoughts below.

If you want to see this change tell your local grocer that you want to see this happen.  The more demand the more they will change.

Green Goodness

Have you given up on your New Year's Resolution Diet yet?  Forget the diet.   Diet has DIE in it.  Why not GO GREEN instead.  Instead of thinking about things you have to give up eating why not think about adding better tasting healthy things to your daily meals.  Green foods are powerhouses of Goodness and they can taste great if you know what to do with them. Get your Green Goodness on.

I am not a fan of diets because you think about foods you can't eat all day long and then you feel deprived and want to eat those foods even more.  My New Year's Resolution is to eat more better foods to feel better.  People go on their crazy diets in January because it's the time of year when all of the high fat, high sugar and high sodium foods and alcohol start catching up with you.  You start to feel horrible and then there is the weather that makes you feel even worse.  It's cold so you don't go outside as much and it's dark so you don't get the much needed vitamin D.  And then there are the germs everyone is picking up from being stuck inside in dry heated and germ loaded stale air.  No wonder you feel crappy.  And then you get hit with all the after holiday cleanup and then the credit card bills..  Who wants to stick to a diet when you have to deal with all of this stuff.

Here's a better idea.   Eat more GREEN foods.

Start with Green Tea   

I love the taste of really good Green Tea.  It's high in antioxidants which are much needed in the winter.

Switch up your daily coffee for Green Tea or if you love your coffee then just add a cup of Green Tea to your day.  I drink a lot more green tea in the winter because it's very comforting and warm.   Some of my favourite Green Teas are NUMI  Organic Gunpowder Green which is what's in this cup of tea.

I also love Kusmi Detox Tea because it has a great lemongrass flavour.   I first tried the NUMI tea when I stopped into a coffee shop when I was at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and it tasted so good that I grabbed a couple of packs to take with me.   I first tried the Kusmi tea at a consumer food show and learned that it's from France.  It's pretty pricey but it tastes great.  I know that Pusateri's and the Detox Market in Toronto carry it.   Try it and let me know if you like it.

I  decided to do this Green Post because I was watching the lovely super energetic Julie Daniluk healthy guru do a segment on the Marilyn Denis show.  Julie was making a hot green smoothie type of drink with spinach and I realized that I had spinach in my fridge that I needed to use so I decided to make a green Spinach soup that was kicked up with flavour and healthy things.

Here's my version of this GREEN SPINACH Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups of baby spinach washed

1 carrot

1/4 medium onion

2 green onions

2 garlic cloves

1 kaffir lime leaf

1 tbsp grated ginger

3 cups of chicken broth or water

1 bunch fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

hemp hearts for garnish

Directions:

In a soup pot boil the water or chicken stock.  I added some bouillon powder to water for flavour because I didn't have any stock handy but I didn't add much salt because the bouillon has a lot of sodium in it.

I grated the frozen ginger into the stock and added chunks of onion.   You don't need to worry about chopping because you will blend it after.

I added the cloves of garlic and then the seasonings of pepper and a pinch of salt.  You can add nutmeg or other seasonings if you like.

I took a vegetable peeler and just peeled strands of carrot into the soup.  Because it's think it cooks quickly.  You can use a box grater or microplane as well.  

I tossed in a Kaffir Lime leaf that I had in the freezer for some added flavour.  1 leaf is enough because you only want a hint of it.   Use it like you would use a bay leaf.  Let the soup simmer to extract the flavours and then remove the lime leaf.

Once you are happy with the flavour of the stock then add the spinach and parsley.  Cook until it turns an emerald green color.   Once it's the bright green color turn it off and either blend with a stick blender which is what I did.  Less cleaning up.. but if you don't have one then use a blender or food processor or your magic bullet.  Anything that will liquify it.

Pour into a soup bowl and top with a garnish of hemp seeds for added Omega 3's and crunch.   You can drizzle a bit of yoghurt or cream if you want a creamier texture but it doesn't really need it.  

Because of all the aromatic vegetables and seasonings this soup is packed with flavour and blending it will make it feel very hearty and smooth.

Let's move on to a Tasty GREEN GOODNESS SALAD

I made this salad after seeing a similar salad but using what I had in the fridge.

In an effort to eat more Kale and kick up my healthy vegetable quotient.   As I sit here with the sniffles and think I may be getting a cold.  I blame my subway trip with loads of coughing and gross people who spread their germs all over the subway.   This is the time to Green Load up on my body to fight it.

So here's my version

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Black Kale or whatever Kale you like

1 hard boiled egg

1 avocado

4 inch cucumber

1 green onion

1/2 cup cilantro

juice of 2 limes

1 tbsp olive oil

6 grape tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste and you can add hot sauce if you like it spicy.

Hemp heart seeds for garnish

Directions:

Strip the kale from the stems and chiffonade the leaves.. If you don't know what that means it's to cut into thin strips.  Wash and drain and add to a bowl and add a bit of lime juice and massage the kale until it breaks down and turns a bright color.   Set aside and make the dressing.

In a blender add the avocado, half of the cucumber, green onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Add olive oil or water if you want a thinner dressing.  You can add lemon juice too.   Blend until smooth.

Mix a couple of tablespoons of the dressing into the bowl of kale.

To the salad add the grape tomatoes cut in half and cut up the remaining cucumber into half moons and add on top.  Cut the boiled egg into slices and put on top.

Add a bit more of the dressing on top of the garnishes and then add the hemp seeds.  You can mix when you are ready to eat.  

This salad will keep for a while so it will work great for a work lunch or potluck.

I didn't add any hot spices but I think if I do it again I will add a few chili flakes for a little kick.

You can add whatever vegetables you like or omit the egg and tomato for a truly green salad.   Make it your own way.   If you try this let me know what you did and if you make my version let me know what you think.

The Gluten Free Garage at Wychwood Barns - Event

Wychwood Barns

There seems to be a trend for a lot of people to be switching to Gluten Free foods lately when they aren't even gluten intolerant.  Why? Well because they have heard that people lose weight when they go gluten free.   Well this is true when you are diagnosed with celiac disease and you give up gluten free food then you will lose weight but there is no real proof that it's beneficial to you to go gluten free if you don't have any related health issues.   While I do believe we aren't eating what we did over 30 years ago when it comes to wheat based products because of the new farming technologies that have stripped the land of the soil benefits that would produce a full healthful benefit in the wheat we used to grow that doesn't seem to exist anymore unless you are getting it from a small organic farm.

Joy McCarthy Joyous Health

I have a friend that has been gluten free for years but this by no means makes her more healthy it just means she gets really sick when she eats wheat products.   I have another baker friend who was advised by her nutritionist to eliminate gluten products and she has seen results in weight loss and feeling better when she doesn't consume gluten products.  And there is a third friend who has diabetes and wants to switch to a higher protein and low sugar based bread and eliminate more white based foods that spike his blood sugar.  He is on a mission to find a bread that he can eat every day.   We made an attempt to make a recipe found in the Wheat Belly book but it was a horrible substitute for bread.  He said it was better when toasted but if I had to eat it I would give up bread altogether.   I myself don't have a gluten intolerance but I know that it's in my best interest to investigate healthy and tasty products and I feel like it's information that might be helpful to the people that read this blog.   While I am not a certified nutritionist or healthcare provider I did work in a hospital for 14 years and saw a lot of the effects of what happens to people that struggle with pain and health issues.  I learned a lot while working in the hospital because at the time I decided to lose weight by going to weight watchers and used the information available at the hospital to learn some things and then over the years I have been open to learning about diet related issues from either books or from some of the documentaries I have watched.

In the never ending quest to find better foods and to see if I could find products that would help my friends I decided to go to the GLUTEN FREE GARAGE event that was held at Wychwood Barns this past sunday.   I brought my friend who is in search for bread with me to see if he could find some things.  

We tried many samples but unfortunately there weren't any samples of bread for him to try but there were a lot of crackers.  It's easy to make a cracker taste good because you can use flax seeds and dried herbs to make a crispy cracker.  It's a lot harder to make a light and tasty bread that rises without the gluten.   He did find a vendor that sold various flours and had a multi grain bread mix which my friend bought to try out.  He paid $5 for the package and will get 2 loaves from that.  We will see how they turn out as soon as he tries it.

The other thing that I have tried in the past that was never very good was Pasta.  I'm a purist and just prefer the taste of regular pasta, but I must say that I was impressed with the taste of Ital Pasta's penne in tomato sauce that they sampled at the event.  It just tasted good.  A pleasant surprise.  They were also sampling polenta which I suppose a lot of people use to instead of some other things.  That was tasty as well.

There were many bakery products but I didn't try much of them,  I only tried the samples.

One thing I must say is that there are companies trying to cash in on the gluten free trend where they really shouldn't be marketing it that way because the products have probably always been gluten free like the use of corn in products and say a tomato sauce that doesn't have a flour or cornstarch thickener.

You need to be careful still when buying some products because they may increase the fats or sugars to make the products taste better when they take out the gluten.   It's the same as yoghurt, when it says zero fat it has increased the sugar content for flavour.

At the event there was also Tonica Kombucha which I have written about before and there were other Kombucha and smoothie drinks.  There were dips and spreads, and falafels which are probably normally gluten free as well.  

But I have to say that most of the food I sampled tasted very good.   There was only a couple of things that I tried that I didn't love but I suppose there are people that get used to some of the products when it's the only thing they can eat.

I sat in on one demo with the owner of Bunner's Bakery which just opened a location in Kensington Market.   She made a really tasty granola and a breakfast waffle that would be a great breakfast substitute item.  She had a beautiful cookbook on display and a large booth where my other friend tried a cinnamon bun and said you couldn't tell that it wasn't gluten free.

So all in all I would say the event was very successful and I am sure it helped a lot of people find products in one place instead of searching all over town.  It enabled them to sample before buying a lot of the products so it would save them a lot of time and money which is always a good thing these days.

And for me I learned a few new products that I can recommend to my gluten struggling friends and I know that if I have a dinner party that there are options out there that will accommodate people's ever changing diets.

for more info about the show and the vendors check out the website www.glutenfreegarage.ca