Ontario Popcorn & Peanuts

On Saturday (after the maple syrup festival) we made a stop at Picard's Peanuts.

Picard's Peanuts sells many different products (i.e., chocolate, jams, corn nuts, almonds, pistachio's, etc..). However, what caught my eye were the Ontario-grown peanuts. Apparently, Mr. Picard has been growing peanuts in Lasalette, Ontario since 1979--Lasalette is located somewhere between Woodstock and Simcoe. There are 90 to 100 acres planted every year in mid-May and harvested in mid-September. Who knew that there were peanut farms in Ontario? I didn't know that!

Anyways, I thought that was a really cool find--check out their website http://www.picardspeanuts.ca/ . They have locations in St. Jacobs, Woodstock, Waterdown, Talbotville, Brantford, etc..

The stores also sell local Ontario peanut butter or if you'd like to make your own they have the machine there to do it. Unfortunately it was out of order when we visited the St. Jacob's store.

Another product that I found at the store was Ontario Popcorn. It's an actual corn cob that is popped into popcorn in the microwave!

A family owned business since 1985, 'Uncle Bob' grows and sells Ontario popping corn out of Walsingham, Ontario, which is located south of Tilsonburg and Simcoe. There are many varieties to choose from and you can even order online!

According to their website (http://www.ontariopoppingcorn.com/) Almost all of the popping corn sold in Canada comes from American sources. They also mention that there are two disadvantages to the popular bagged popcorn--(1) as it all comes from the U.S., it must be fumigated to comply with Agriculture Canada's regulations, and (2) there is evidence that paper fibers from the bag liner migrate into the popped corn during the time that the bag is in the microwave.

I made the popcorn tonight and I was very pleased. It tasted great and there were absolutely no hard bits in my popcorn. Because it's being popped right off the cob the hard bits stay on the cob and you're only left with the popcorn. I definitely recommend this product!

Note--the popping corn is sold at all Picard Peanut stores and I also saw some at the Arva Flour Mill yesterday as well.

The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival

So we went to Elmira today for the Maple Syrup Festival. I was a little upset because we hadn't made it out to any of the maple syrup farms yet this season. One, the last two weekends have not been the best in terms of weather and two, we've just been really busy. So when I noticed that Elmira's festival was on this weekend I thought we'd better go check it out. I had never been to this one before but I am so happy that we decided to make the trip.

Elmira is known for hosting the world's largest maple syrup festival...yup, it was pretty darn large. There were many, many, many people there and many different types of food vendors. And, of course, there were pancakes! And they were HUGE pancakes. Luckily we only ordered two doubles (2 each) and our daughter ate off both of our plates. It was enough to fill our tummies for the remainder of the afternoon.


What I really loved about this particular festival though was that it wasn't overly commercialized at all. There was no entry fee, no parking fee, and we only paid for our pancakes and a couple of other things that we decided to buy. Plus, maple syrup was being sold for CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP prices!!! Normally I buy 1L bottles for roughly $20 or so--at the Festival these were being sold for only $14. Most vendors were also selling 4L jugs for only $40. That's a steal! Next year I plan on bringing more cash along to buy my year's supply of syrup there.

Of course, I would never tell you how many liters of syrup we go through in a year. That, my friends, would be embarassing. Let's just say that we go through a lot of it. We go through a lot because I like to use it (as well as honey) as an alternative to regular sugar or brown sugar. I use it in my oatmeal, to make granola bars, for pancakes/waffles (obviously) and in my baking--use 3/4 of the amount of sugar asked for in the recipe and reduce the liquid by 1/4. My guilty pleasure, though,.....just taking a slice of bread and dipping it in some syrup. Shhhh....nobody needs to know!

It's a good thing that maple syrup is actually good for you--yes, it is! I think the next picture says it all...

Maple syrup is sap from a maple tree that has had the water boiled out of it. That's it! Compare this to a popular commercial processed version: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, cellulose gum, caramel color, salt, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid, artificial and natural flavors, sodium hexametaphosphate. Hmmm....which one would you prefer to put into your body?

Some Recent Yummy Meals

Wow...where have I been the last few days? Well, looks like I've been busy cooking up a storm. With so many ingredients available that I haven't been able to buy in a while I think I've gone a little crazy. Here are a few of the meals that I've made in the last week or so:

Pot-Pie with Sweet Potato Crust

I found this recipe in my 'Crazy Plates' cookbook (Janet & Greta Podleski -- my daughter's favorite Food Network hosts BTW). The recipe was for a vegetable pot-pie (p. 76) but I altered the recipe and added some leftover pork roast that I had in the fridge.

Here is the recipe for the crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

3/4 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes

3/4 cup milk, plus extra to brush the top of the crust

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together sweet potatoes and milk, then add to flour mixture. Stir until a soft ball forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and oll or pat out to fit top o casserole. Brush with milk. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

This crust could easily be used for any type of pot-pie recipe that would normally ask for a traditional lard/butter pie crust. It was delicious!

Meatloaf Pizza

Another pretty cool recipe that I tried out was a meatloaf pizza. I found this recipe in the free magazine that can be picked up at Sobeys (called 'Inspired' I believe).

For the meat 'crust', I combined the ground meat with 3 tbsp of tomato sauce, 1/3 cup of bread crumbs, 3 garlic cloves, 1 egg and seasonings. Press the meat onto a pizza stone or baking sheet. Spread some tomato sauce on top and cover with vegetables and cheese. I used mushrooms, onions, red peppers, and spinach with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400F on the bottom rack for 20 minutes. On this day I used lean ground beef but would maybe use ground chicken or turkey the next time. There was quite a bit of grease that came out of it and, as a result, the beef flavour overtook the taste of the veggies.

Meat, Potatoes, Salad--how Canadian is that, eh?

The other night was meat and potato night. I pan-fried the chicken with mushrooms, shallots, thyme, salt and pepper, and a splash of lemon. With the chicken we had lightly smashed potatoes and carrots with a little butter and seasonings. The salad was a mix of arugula and mesclin with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. It seems so spring-like but yes, all of this food is available here in Ontario in the month of March. With the exception of the seasonings/herbes and lemon all of the ingredients were completely local.

My Take on Spanakopita

And last, but not least, I managed to make Spanakopita on Saturday. I've had Spanakopita many times (thanks to my 'greek' co-workers) and had been meaning to give it a try. Plus, I am super excited that greenhouse spinach is available so I had tons of it in my fridge. Coincidentally, the most recent issue of the 'Clean Eating' magazine had the recipe in it. Of course, it wasn't as good as my friends' versions but I was proud of myself for giving it a shot.

To begin, I sautéed some diced onion, red pepper and garlic. I then added lots and lots of spinach in batches until the spinach shrunk down (the recipe asked for 3 bags of spinach or 36 cups of loose spinach). Put the spinach mix into a bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Once cooled, add 1 tbsp of dill, 1 egg white, and fat-reduced feta cheese (from Smith's cheese at Covent Garden Market) and combine with spinach. Cut 4 sheets of phyllo dough into 4 sections. Brush sections with melted butter and make layers in a 9x9 baking dish with sides overhanging (i.e., put three sheets down overlapping and then turn dish clockwise and do another layer, and so on). Once the dough has all been used add spinach mixture on top and spread out. Then, fold the overhanging dough over the spinach and brush with melted butter. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes and then let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Has it Been a Success? Yes, I think it has!

There are so many signs of Spring right now...all of the snow is gone, we've had warm temperatures and the time is moved ahead one hour after tonight! Another sign of Spring is that I've noticed many of the farmers fields are starting to get worked on (yippee!).

Since started my locavore journey I dreaded the winter months but I'm happy to say that it really wasn't that bad. We've likely eaten more apples and carrots than we'd care to remember, of course, but there was a lot more variety out there than I thought there would be. I think we've also gotten over the January/February hump because now that March is here there is already more food being made available--like greenhouse peppers, spinach, arugula and tomatoes. And rhubarb and asparagus are just around the corner. It's just so exciting!

Here is my loot from my market expedition today (Covent Garden Market & Western Fair Market):

I got: 2 loaves of fresh bread (one 100% whole wheat, the other French bread), cremini mushrooms, white mushrooms, Ida Red apples, pepperettes (for my husband mostly), small red potatoes, shallots, free-range eggs, chicken breasts, turkey sausages, pork tenderloin, fresh cheese and spinach tortellini (from Glenda's), soy garlic spread (Hensall, ON), spinach/artichoke dip, dried apple slices, tomatoes, red peppers, spinach, celeriac, sandwich buns, arugula, yukon gold potatoes, and chocolate milk. And, it's all local in the Southwestern Ontario area--with the exception of the milk--from Hagersville which is closer to the Hamilton/Niagara area.

The only non-local food purchased today: bananas, sucanat, and my Bulk Barn purchases of Almond Butter, baking powder, etc... --who really knows where Bulk Barn gets their stuff!

I'd say that I was able to remain at least 80% local over the last few months and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I did cave and buy romaine lettuce and celery a few times and have continued to purchase bananas, pineapple, and grapes. Once spring/summer brings in a larger variety of fruit I'll likely cut those out from my list until next winter--except the bananas. We love bananas!

Bring on Winter 2010/2011!! I think we'll be well-prepared for it next time! I've gotta freeze more fruit this time!! I was out by mid-February! I'll blame that on my daily fruit smoothies though. Oops!

Artic Gardens from Quebec and London Area!

So many times I've checked the frozen fruit/veggie section of the grocery store and have been disappointed to see that even many of the popular frozen brands import their produce from elsewhere, such as Chile, Peru, etc.. Why is that, really? Blueberries grow in Canada don't they? And last I checked so did potatoes, carrots, and beans. And there are fields and fields of corn in Ontario! But yet, the food is brought in from the other side of the world to be frozen and sold to North Americans.

But finally, a company has done it right!! Artic Gardens harvests their vegetables here in Canada! Their vegetables are harvested in some areas of Quebec and in Ingersoll, Strathroy and Tecumseh Ontario, which are all just outside of London.

My curiosity got the better of me so I bought a bag of the red pepper/onion/celery/carrot mixture to tide me over for the next little while.

Now, if only they could start packaging fruit as well! Then, they'll be in business!

Here is a link to their site: http://www.arcticgardens.ca/ and click on locally grown. There is a great video on the site as well that shows how broccoli makes its way from seed to consumption.

Baked...not Fried

I love Fish 'n Chips and I also love Onion Rings. It's too bad they are deep-fried in oil though and aren't very nutritious... But, since I love them so much I usually make the baked home-made versions of these:

You'll need three bowls:

1. Put buttermilk (or milk with lemon juice) into the first bowl
2. Put some flour and your choice of seasonings in the second bowl
3. Put bread crumbs, seasonings (salt, pepper, dillweed), and grated parmesan cheese in the third bowl

Then, coat the fish and onions by putting them one piece at a time into the buttermilk mixture, the flour mixture, the buttermilk mixture again, and finally, the crumb mixture. Put a small nub of butter on each piece of fish.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

For this recipe I used haddock fish and vidalia onions

Since we're on the topic of bread crumbs....the times that I've made this recipe I've always wondered--why is it that people will throw out their stale (or older) bread but yet will go to the grocery store and buy bread crumbs???? I don't get it! Doesn't it make sense to use the bread and make your own bread crumbs? It's so simple--take the bread, throw it into a food processor and you have bread crumbs. That's it... And, it's freezable so it can be used whenever they're needed. By avoiding the grocery store bread crumbs you're also avoiding the additional preservatives in them that prevent them from going moldy. Plus, it likely saves a person loads of cash in the long run!

****Another use for stale bread is homemade croutons. Cut the bread into cubes, drizzle with olive oil, season, and toast in the oven. They are soooo yummy!

Spiral Slicers

This past Christmas a friend of mine gave me a spiral slicer. What a great gift!

A spiral slicer cuts vegetables into really cool angel-hair pasta strands or paper thin slices; vegetables like carrots, zucchini, potatoes, radishes, and cucumber. If you're into eating raw foods it's a great tool for making raw spaghetti-like dishes or coleslaw salads. For instance, tomato sauce could be added to zucchini strands for a low-calorie/nutrient-rich main course pasta dish or the slicing mechanism could be used with potatoes to make homemade baked potato chips.

The other day I made a celeriac and apple salad (celeriac remoulade). The celeriac worked very well in the spiral slicer.

• 1 medium celeriac - peeled and spiraled (or cut into thin julienne slices)
• 1 tart apple (like Granny Smith) cut into thin julienne slices
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp crushed fennel seed

Combine the ingredients listed and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

If I were to make this recipe again though I think I would use honey-mustard instead of dijon mustard. We really like the grainy mustard here but it overtook the other ingredients. Otherwise, it was very good.

Another plus: celeriac is widely available during the winter months throughout Southwestern Ontario and has been a god-send because I am getting soooo tired of eating carrots!! Bring on Spring!!!!