Food Revolution Potluck Healthy Brunch

One of my fellow Food Revolution Ambassadors organized a Healthy Potluck Brunch at the Centre of Social Innovation in the Annex where she is a member.  It's a great meeting space and pretty easy to get to when the TTC is cooperating.

l to r.  Susan, me, Ilona, Jessica & Hema - photo by Susan

There was a small group of 5 of us and 3 out of the 5 of us were Food Revolution Ambassadors.  Since 2 of us don't have any kids it's hard to work with schools to do Food Revolution activities so it was great to just have a Potluck for anyone that wanted to join.  We were joined by 2 other food bloggers.  Although we are all Food Bloggers we hadn't all met before so it was a great way to meet and share food under the Food Revolution umbrella.

We enjoyed a nice variety of dishes from Susan's Healthy Devilled Eggs to a Roasted almond vinaigrette dressing salad with Fennel and Avocado.  Hema made a healthy bread and Ilona made Sweet Potato muffins that tasted like pumpkin pie.  Jessica made Crepes from scratch with Chia strawberry Jam.  I made an Asparagus Tart and an Asparagus simple salad with the rest of the Asparagus.

I know Hema (NomadicNutritionist)  will do a follow up blog post on her blog but I wanted to do a post to put the recipe up for the Asparagus Tart that I made as my Potluck dish.

When it comes to Potluck recipes I usually decide kind of at the last minute to see how much time and ingredients I have.   This recipe came from the fact that I had a bunch of Asparagus that I knew I couldn't eat all by myself unless I ate it everyday for  a few days and because it's a fresh spring vegetable that you think of when you think Healthy Spring Brunch Dishes.

I turned my fresh Asparagus into an Asparagus Spring Tart.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 bunch of Fresh Asparagus
2 eggs
1/2 cup of grated Gruyere Cheese
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise or you can use Greek Yoghurt
1/2 Tbsp milk, cream or half and half.  I used milk because that's what I had.
1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
Freezer Puff Pastry - I used Presidents Choice because it's in a roll easy to use.


DIRECTIONS:

Blanch the Asparagus in boiling salted water for about a minute or until it turns bright green and then remove the asparagus and shock it to stop the cooking by placing it in a iced water.  Remove and drain and set aside

Make sure the Puff Pastry has thawed over night in the fridge or at least a few hours as per package instructions.  I used Presidents Choice Puff Pastry with you just un roll in one piece.  It's so much easier than rolling out one solid block of puff pastry which is what I used to do.

Place the puff pastry on a cookie sheet lined with Parchment paper and poke holes into the pastry using a fork  so that it doesn't puff up all the way when you bake it.   Place the puff pastry dough in a 450 degree oven and bake for about 10 minutes.  If it puffs up you can poke holes in it.

Remove it from the oven and let it cook while making the custard mix.

In a small bowl mix the 2 eggs and add the milk, mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings and add 3/4 of the Grated Gruyere cheese.  You can use any size grated but I used the larger holes when I did it.
I spread the custard mix over the puff pastry in a thin layer and left a but uncovered at the edge.
Place the asparagus spears over the custard mix in a row filling up all of the puff pastry surface.

Sprinkle the rest of the Gruyere cheese on top and bake in the same 450 degree oven for another 15 to 20 minutes until the egg custard mix has set and the pastry is golden brown.

It may be soft because of the cheese but will set up when the cheese cools.   Serve warm or room temperature.

Serves 4-6 people as an appetizer or side dish.  Goes great with a salad or even a Steak.

Spring Tex Mex Corn Fritters

SPRING TEX MEX CORN FRITTERS

Today is Victoria Day and it's been a crazy weather washout of a weekend.  Very hard to plan outdoor activities because of the unpredictable weather.  Even though it's Spring the weather has tiptoed in and out of it so far.  Because I was off work today because of the Victoria Day Holiday I had time to do a little fridge/freezer clean Spring recipe.  I have been really trying to find different ways to use or preserve my fruits and vegetables a lot more to save money and food waste which has become one of my missions to get better at.  In the photo below is the corn mixture for the beginning of my fritter recipe and using the onions and cilantro and soft tomatoes I also made a Pico De Gallo salsa and chopped garlic in oil and added the ends of green onions to water to regrow.  I have extra chopped tomatoes and onions ready for quick prep of other recipes in the next couple of days.

This week I had a chance to attend a Taste Canada event at the Hudson's Bay and one of the Chefs doing a demo was Joel McCharles the author of the cookbook Batch and Blog Well Preserved.  I didn't pick up a copy but hope to get a copy soon.  He had a few tips for preserving and other ways of maximizing your produce but admitted that even he is trying to figure out the challenge of not wasting food.    We waste more than 40% of our food from farm to table.  Each step has produce that is wasted from the not so perfect produce to the stuff that spoils in your fridge. This recipe was an idea that I thought up while taking inventory of my freezer.  Joel talked about different tips to preserving some fruits and vegetables but if you have a chance pick up a copy of his cookbook. I am sure it will save your food from the garbage bin.

I made some Tex Mex Corn Fritters.  Even though the corn season is coming soon I decided to use some frozen corn that I had in the back of my freezer knowing that I will be able to pick up fresh corn really soon.  You can also used drained canned corn or fresh corn if you have it.

As usual I didn't follow a recipe and only really follow measurements strictly when I am baking and even then I try and wing it with twists if I can.

I decided to write it up right away so that it's fresh in my mind in case anyone asks or I want to make it sometime again in the winter months when I am craving spring flavours.


TEX MEX CORN FRITTER RECIPE

1 small bag of frozen corn
2 tbsp chopped red onion
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 lime juiced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 whole medium eggs
1/2 cup of milk or cream

1 cup of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup of Canola Oil

Directions:

Rinse and drain frozen corn until it is fairly dry.   Mix in chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, salt, cumin and chipotle pepper and mix well to distribute.
In a separate small bowl mix 2 eggs and add 1/2 milk or cream.
In a large bowl add 1 cup of flour, salt and baking powder and whisk to distribute evenly.
Add the milk and eggs to the flour mixture and mix until smooth batter like consistency.  Add more milk if needed.  Almost like a pancake batter consistency.  Add the corn mixture and mix until combined evenly.

Heat Canola oil in a Cast iron Skillet or a non stick frying pan or a heavy bottom deep pan.   Heat on medium high heat and test with a wooden spoon if bubbles form around the end of the spoon it's hot enough.

Using a medium ice cream scoop to scoop up the corn mixture and gently place in the heated oil.  Cook for about 2 minutes and when it starts to cook up the sides flip it using a slotted spoon or fish spatula.   Cook for another couple of minutes on the other side and once they are golden brown remove them to a plate and if you wish line it with paper towel to absorb excess oil but if cooking at the proper temperature they shouldn't be excessively oily.  

You can cook them all lightly and then warm them all in a low oven until ready to serve.

FREE POLAR PIZZA Ice Cream from Basking & Robbins

FREE Polar Pizza for the People!

One of the most eagerly awaited weekends on the annual calendar just got cooler.

Baskin-Robbins Canada's first pop-up food truck is set to hit the streets of the GTA from May 19-21.  

The pop-up truck will be serving free slices of the brand's famous

Polar Pizza to celebrate National Pizza Party Day (May 19) and the Victoria Day long weekend.

WHAT:                          The Baskin-Robbins food truck takes to the streets to serve free Polar Pizza slices! 

WHO:                             Coney, the Baskin-Robbins Mascot, along with a team of Baskin-Robbins Canada

WHEN/WHERE:            The Baskin-Robbins Polar Pizza Truck will be making stops in the following areas: 

                                 Friday May 19, 2017 (National Pizza Party Day) 

                                                Downtown Toronto   YONGE DUNDAS SQUARE

                                                Saturday May 20, 2017

                                                Hamilton

                                                Burlington Waterfront 

                                                Mississauga

                                                Brampton

                                 Sunday May 21, 2017

                                The Beaches

  

Follow the truck’s exact whereabouts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and through the hashtag #PolarPizzaTruck.