Clean Muffins

So last year I came across a great recipe in the (don't laugh)...Biggest Loser Cookbook. It's actually a pretty good recipe book. I love the Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffin recipe. I love it because it doesn't ask for sugar or oils of any kind. The honey is all-natural and always gets the thumbs-up from me. And, for each mini-muffin you only get 41 calories and less than 1g of fat! I also love making the mini-muffins rather than the larger ones because their great for my daughter's school lunch and that you can have two instead of one :-)

• 1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tbsp grated lemon peel
• 2 tsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, egg whites, honey, vanilla and lemon extract. Combine with dry ingredients and stir in lemon peel and poppy seeds. Spoon batter into mini muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes (the actual recipe says 9 to 11 minutes but it needs way more than this).

Savour Stratford

Stratford held its Savour Stratford and Perth County festival over the weekend. What a great event this is! It is a true culinary festival foresure. Every vendor there was either a local farmer or a local food-related business. Even the food offered for sale (i.e., hamburgers, pork sandwiches, etc..) were all made from locally-grown foods and sold by not-for-profit organizations in the area.

For lunch we had hamburgers topped with fried onions and purreed garlic from the Community Living booth. They were also giving away free drinks and cookies. What a great deal! The three of us had lunch for $10.00. We definitely didn't leave hungry either because most vendors had some sort of treat for us to sample, from sheep's cheese to chocolate covered strawberries to jams and mustards.

One particular vendor caught my eye, however.... Has anyone see anything like these berries before?
I sure hadn't.... These are Sea Buckthorn berries... The berries originate from China and Russia and have only been found in North America as an ornamental plant. The vendor who is currently growing them on their research farm in the Wingham area (The Healing Arc) has been experimenting with them with the University of Guelph to see if they are a viable food source in Ontario. The man I spoke with told me that eating only 8 of these berries will give you double the Vitamin C than an orange will. They are apparently in the same class as the acai and goji berry in terms of being a nutritional superfood. (see: www.thehealingarc.com/seabuckarticles.asp)

Although they taste extremely sour and aren't meant to be eaten raw there were some jellies and juices that they were able to create with this cute little orange berry.

It'll be interesting to see if we start seeing more of these types of berries in the future. It was definitely the most interesting thing I found at the festival today!

Sweet Sweet Red Peppers...

Peppers are such a great vegetable. We go through a ton of peppers in our house. My daughter loves snacking on them and I add them to several dishes--especially spaghetti sauce. I usually buy at least one green pepper and one each of the red, yellow and orange. Peppers are super healthy--would you believe that one cup of sliced red pepper will give you 291% of your daily intake of Vitamin C. That's huge!! That one cup will also get you over 100% of your daily intake of Vitamin A as well. And, all of the antioxidants available help prevent the onset of cancer and also support a healthy immune system.

On Saturday I picked up 6 huge red peppers from a farmer at the market. With those peppers I made a yummy roasted red pepper soup. Here is the recipe:

• 6 or 7 big red peppers
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup light cream
• s & p
• seasonings

Preheat your broiler. Place red peppers cut side down on baking sheets. Lightly coat the outside of each pepper with olive oil. Broil the peppers until the skins blacken. Place the peppers in a large bowl and cover them with saran wrap or a plate. The peppers will sweat so that the peeling can be taken off. Once cooled, remove the skins and chop.

In a pot, saute the onion and carrot until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and saute as well. Then add the potato, stock and peppers. Simmer with a couple of bay leaves until the vegetables are soft. Remove the bay leaves and puree with an immersion blender or food processor (I used my Vitamix). Season with salt and pepper and any other seasonings that you have on hand.

Apples!!

Oh how I love apples! It's funny though because I don't really like apples very much any other time of the year but I can eat them by the bucket-fulls in the Fall. I love making apple crisps, apple pies, baked apples, or just eating them raw. My favorites are the Honeycrisp and the Ginger Golds.
My daughter and I went to Birtch Farms just North of Woodstock for some apple picking over the weekend. We had a great time, as always, and came back with two baskets of apples. We picked some Jonamacs, Courtlands, Empires, and Royal Galas. The Jonamacs are really crisp and juicy right now.

I was actually doing some reading online and found out that in order to keep apples as long as possible you simply need to wrap each apple individually with newspaper (with no coloured ink) and keep them in a box in the basement. Apparently, the apples will keep for a few months this way. Who knew? LOL

Anyways, I may try and save a few and see what happens. Until then,...lots and lots of apple recipes. I actually tried a sweet potato and apple dish last night for dinner and it turned out pretty good.

The recipe was in one of my Clean Eating magazines that I subscribe to. To start, bring some water to a boil and then simmer 2 sweet potatoes with the skins on for about 20 minutes. You may want to pierce the potatoes to quicken the cooking time. Then, take the skins off and cube them. Meanwhile, saute 3 apples or so in a frying pan with some olive oil, allspice, and salt. Once softened, add the sweet potato and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup and a little bit of water. Season with some pepper. The next time I try this dish I may add a little more spice to it as it was a little bit bland...any suggestions?

Eddington's of Exeter

I don't think I've done a post for a restaurant yet. This will be my first I guess...

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting a great restaurant called Eddington's just 1/2 hour north of London in Exeter. Their menu is amazing. There a lot of different options for both lunch and dinner from a baked potato and bacon pizza to seafood crepes. And, not only do they offer a great selection of foods, but they also offer seasonal foods and local ingredients as much as possible.

I spoke to James Eddington (the owner) and he was very willing to speak to me about their local fares. For one, their soup du jour is made with fresh local ingredients. The day I was there they had a tomato and roasted garlic soup. It was sooooo yummy! As for seafood, they offer a Lake Erie Yellow Perch served with mixed greens and sweet potato fries. They also have a lightly battered Lake Huron white fish on offer with their fish and chip selection. As a business, they have gone to great lengths to find the freshest ingredients. During the summer they visit the local Farmer's Market and during the winter they try their best to find greenhouse growers for their tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

I give them a thumbs up! And, I'll definitely be back for another visit very soon :-)

Another Homemade vs. Processed Post

So my daughter had her first day of school today. That means more lunches and snacks to prepare for her day--a new concept for us since she has spent most of her life Monday to Friday at her daycare. And, since I refuse to buy processed junk I had to come up with some cool ideas. One of my cool ideas was to make my own homemade crackers. I've got a couple of recipes but I'm going to post the one for cheese crackers:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese (not the salty powdered Kraft stuff--real cheese)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup light cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour. Combine salt, flour, cheese and butter and pulse in a food processor. Add cream and continue to blend until mixture holds together but is not sticky. Roll dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness and transfer to baking sheet. Lightly score the dough with a knife (make square shapes). Bake for 20 minutes. Cool and serve.

A Not-So-Commonly Known Berry -- The Elderberry

Since I've been on holidays this week I decided to visit a few other markets that I don't always have the time to visit otherwise. One such market is the St. Jacobs Farmer's Market just outside of Waterloo. They are open on Thursdays and Saturdays throughout the year. Be warned, however, that even on a Thursday they are extremely busy.

I was able to find a few goodies to bring home with me but I'm always looking so something new or different that I haven't tried before. This time around I found some elderberries. After a bit of research online I now know that elderberries are chock full of nutritional benefits. For one, they have anti-viral properties and can activate the immune cells that help the body fight off viruses; viruses like the flu (see: http://www.xomba.com/wonderful_health_benefits_elderberry) . This may be a good time to start eating your berries with the flu season expected to be a bad one this year.

Here's a great recipe that I used with the elderberries -- Oatmeal Bake

• 2 cups oatmeal
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup dried fruit -- I used fresh elderberries this time
• 1 unpeeled apple cut into small chunks
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• sprinkle of cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and then place mixtuer into a casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

I wasn't able to take a picture of this one today but here is a picture of one that I made with dried cranberries....Tomorrow I'll use the remaining berries to make an elderberry syrup to pour onto our pancakes! Yum!

Fall is almost here and I have yet another breakfast idea!

I am so excited! September is by far my most favorite month of the year! It's the end of Summer and Fall is just around the corner. The best meals are definitely those using the abundant foods available during this month. Root vegetables are so versatile and there are so many options. Soup, however, is the easiest and tastiest way to use up all of those veggies.

Here is my recipe for my butternut squash soup:

• one butternut squash (roasted at 400 for an hour or so with olive oil and salt & pepper)
• 2 medium-sized carrots
• 2 medium celery stalks
• one large potato
• one onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• carton of chicken stock or 4 cups homemade stock + 2 cups water
• light cream or coconut milk

Saute onion and garlic until onions are softened. Add carrots and celery. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add potato, squash and stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are softened. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or a food processor. Add cream or coconut milk as desired. Spice it up any way you wish. I use salt & pepper and some allspice.

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Well, it looks like I'm posting another one of my breakfasts. Until I began this blog I never realized how much I enjoy trying different breakfast recipes. Here's another one! This one is an egg burrito with a side of leftover sweet potato/regular potato fries.

I made this burrito by sauteing some sliced mushrooms, leftover cooked broccoli, and some ham. Then, I added the eggs and scrambled them with the vegetables. At the very end I added some salt & pepper and a sprinking of grated parmesan and asiago cheese. The mixture was then wrapped into a cheese tortilla. With my burrito I also blended a banana/orange/peach/raspberry smoothie in my Vitamix. It was such a yummy start to my day!

Whole Foods and Low-Sugar Jam

Well,....I visited my own little piece of heaven on the weekend. Yup, the Whole Foods Market in Oakville. I absolutely love this store. It is quite expensive but there are definitely some things here that you won't find anywhere else.--like Cinnamon/Raisin all-natural peanut butter!

I also love that they will only sell foods that are in their most natural state; in other words, the least processed as possible that don't contain any artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings, or preservatives. For instance, the peanut butter I bought only lists the following ingredients: peanuts, evaporated cane juice, raisins, cinnamon, palm fruit oil, and salt. Currently there are only a few stores in Canada -- 4 in Vancouver, B.C., one in Toronto, and one in Oakville. Hopefully more will come....like in London (??). One can only hope!
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I also made some jam on the weekend. Like last week's canning experiment, making jam wasn't hard at all. I was especially happy to find Pomona's Universal Pectin recently. I love it because it doesn't require a ton of sugar in the recipe. In fact, to make this blue concord grape jam I only used half a cup of honey for 4 jars of jam.

Although the grapes were not from Southwestern Ontario they were available at the Trails End Market brought over from the Niagara region. Go figure, eh? Wine Country,...hello? These grapes are what we grow up thinking grapes 'should' taste like--like traditional purple grape juice :-)
Described as a superfood concord grapes are a high source of potassium and vitamin C. They are also an excellent source of flavonoids and anthocyanidins which support the health of blood vessels. Apparently an intake of purple/blue fruits and vegetables lower the risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Eat up!!

Hot Hands, a 10-minute Breakfast and a Healthier Moussaka

Sooo....since I've been freezing all kinds of foods in preparation for winter I thought it would be a good idea to freeze up a big bunch of hot peppers to use in spaghetti sauces, chilis, etc.. later on. It was a really good idea up until I got chopping and seeding. Wow...did my hands ever burn! And, they burned for THREE days!! The first day my hands would transfer the burning sensation to any other part of me. My nostrils, lips and sometimes the corners of my eyes were burning too. Next time, I will use gloves!! Lesson learned!

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I love breakfast! I don't know how some people function without their first meal of the day. Not enough time is not an excuse! There are so many different things that a person could potentially make and it doesn't have to be the weekend before there's enough time for a good breakfast. Here's one that literally takes 10 whole minutes to make:

French Toast: Whisk together a couple of eggs and some milk into a flat-ish bowl. Add some cinnamon. Dip your bread into the mixture on both sides and then throw them into the frying pan until they are browned on each side. It's so simple and so quick! My favorite breads to use are raisin bread and in this case apple/cranberry bread that I got at Lynn's Bakery at Dundas/Industrial here in London.
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Today I made Moussaka for the first time. I'm not a big fan of eggplant so I thought I'd give this a try. I have been told that you don't really taste the eggplant when it is used this way. It actually turned out pretty good. This, of course, was not the most traditional Moussaka but a healthier version (I can go without the full-fat bechamel sauce)

• Potatoes (I only had little potatoes so it made it hard to slice them the traditional way)
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• one onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups tomato puree
• pepper/oregano/salt
• 1 eggplant, sliced thinly

Bechamel Sauce:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup evaporated skim milk
• 1 egg
• shredded parmesan cheese

Put potatoes to boil and once somewhat cooled slice thinly. At the same time, brown the meat and add the onions and garlic. Pour in tomato puree. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, the eggplant should be roasting in the oven for 8 minutes at 425. Once everything has been prepared grease a 9x11 pan and then start layering. Start with the eggplant, then some potatoes, then the meat mixture and finally, another layer of eggplant and potato. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top (yogurt, milk, egg whisked together) and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes.

Even the Produce is Processed!

What is this world coming to? Absolutely everything that we put in our mouths has been processed to some degree in one form or another.

Here is an exerpt from Maclean's Magazine discussing author Alissa Hamilton's findings about orange juice brands being advertised as 'not-from-concentrate': “Not from concentrate” juice, the industry’s term for “pasteurized,” is produced by heating juice to a high temperature to kill bacteria, deactivate enzymes and extend shelf life. It’s stripped of oxygen to prevent oxidation, which removes flavour, then stored in aseptic tanks for upwards of a year. Before being packaged, flavour is reintroduced to correct deficiencies in taste, colour, or aroma—either via juice held over and stored frozen or via “flavour packs” engineered by flavour and fragrance conglomerates using orange essence and other orange parts; because they are considered “natural”—that vague, unregulated term—they don’t have to be listed in ingredients." (http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/05/19/fresh-from-the-press/2/) Yes....this is why I prefer making my own juices. It's just juice and nothing else!

Another troubling food that I've heard discussions about recently are those packages ready-to-eat baby carrots and other pre-cut vegetables. Obviously these baby carrots are 'real' carrots; but what do they do to them, really? They are actually made from the ugly/knobby-looking carrots that aren't pleasing enough to be sold at the grocery store. The processors whittle the carrots down with their machines. Then, they are dipped in water and a small amount of chlorine to keep their color and flavor. This explains why the baby carrots usually have the film on them. My thoughts after researching this...just buy plain old regular carrots and peel/chop them yourselves...at least you know where they've been! Plus, they taste one hundred times better!

These types of stories are the reasons behind why I stay away from the grocery store and from processed foods in general. I like to know what I'm putting in my mouth!

Chris Doris talks about eating locally

Please check out this YouTube video:

I came across this video today. Chris Doris from Doris Family Produce at the Covent Garden Market talks about the benefits of buying locally grown foods. His family has a shop in the downtown building and he talks about how they try really hard to keep their products local. I love that there are some companies out there who are willing to put out the effort. I'll definitely be looking out for him on my visit to the Covent Garden Market.