Stratford/St. Mary's Road Trip

Today was just the most perfect Summer's day! It was sunny, breezy and the temperature was just right. It was the perfect day for a road trip for my daughter and I.

Since we were so busy yesterday I wasn't able to make it to my usual Saturday markets. Luckily though I had recently found out that Stratford now had a Sunday market at Montforte Dairy at 49 Griffith Rd. I figured that I would go check it out. I ended up getting some pork, peaches, apricots, potatoes, carrots, arugula, onions, and a loaf of bread.

After visiting the market we headed out to the Wildwood Conservation Area to have our lunch. While we were there we put our feet in the water and checked out the playground. I'd like to go back there soon to explore a little more. It was a very nice place to stop and have a picnic.

Our next stop was to McCully's Hill Farm for their 2nd annual 'In Your Face Pie Fest'

This was my second time visiting the farm. It's located just outside St. Mary's on the way to Stratford (see: www.mccullys.ca) This is such a great place. The store on the property sells a good variety of local food items, such as honey, produce, meats, and what seems like a million different flavours of jams, pickled items, and preserves. The meats really caught my eye though--they have turkey, chicken, rabbit, duck, black angus beef, lamb, pork, bison, and even elk--and they're all natural. On our first visit we also indulged in some organic ice cream. It was very yummy!

On this trip I checked out their pie festival. I had heard a lot about this event over the last couple of weeks and decided that I'd have to go to it and see what it was all about. The main event is their pie eating competition. My daughter loved watching them all trying to eat their pie with their hands (blueberry, of course). There was also a children's pie eating contest but we didn't get a chance to see this one.

Other than than watching the contest my daughter participated in some crafts (making pies out of play-doh), had her face painted, and we ate some pie. We also took a walk around the property and took a look at the Community Garden Co-op that they have there. In the Spring, members of the community were invited to cultivate a 10x10 or 5x10 plot on their land to grow their own vegetable garden. These plots were offered at no-charge with the simple request to provide McCully's with a portion of their crop to sell at the market, with proceeds going to support the Co-op. I think that's a really sweet deal! Especially for people who would love to have a garden but who may not have the land or yard to do it on. I was happy to see so many gardens and all of the variety of produce growing; like tomatoes, beans, corn, and brussel sprouts.

Once we left McCully's we stopped to pick up some raspberries in Uniondale at Mitchdale Farms (963229 Road 96--don't worry there are lots of signs). When I was there I was told that this would be their last week for raspberries already since the season started so early this year. He also told me that they do not carry the fall raspberries. But do not fear!--fall raspberries are always available elsewhere (like Heeman's!)!

Our last stop of the day was to Aarden Farms for some corn (196709 19th Line, Lakeside--on main road between Hwy 7 and Kintore). This was a busy area. I guess everyone else was stopping in for some corn on their way home!

Overall we had a great day. We went for a drive, enjoyed the nice weather, met some new people, and came home with loads of goodies. I just live for this time of the year!!! Nothing beats July/August in Southwestern Ontario!

FAQ's

Since starting my blog (almost a year ago) I have been asked many, many times how I manage to eat mostly local, non-processed foods. For one, they have no idea where I find the time; and secondly they assume that I must spend a lot more money on food than the average person. I am going to answer both those questions!

1) Where do I find the time?

It's not a matter of finding the time, it's a matter of making the time and making it a priority in my life. This isn't simply my hobby, but rather who I am. I love food, cooking, and sourcing out my ingredients. To me this is my way to relax and to enjoy my 'me' time. Fortunately, this is also the way we like to enjoy our 'family' time as well.

Many people view the weekly grocery shop as an inconvenience and as a disruption to their hectic weekend schedule. For myself, however, I look forward to my Saturday market runs and my daughter does too. It's how we enjoy spending our time together. As a family we go visit various farms and if we're out and about visiting friends or going to the beach we usually make a couple of stops on the way home to buy some food from a road stand or other local vendors. It's an adventure! Although purchasing my food takes a little more extra planning it's definitely not an inconvenience for me.

As for my avoidance of processed foods,...it's just become a habit now. I don't even think twice about it. I just make it. I've read the list of ingredients on many foods to know that I do not want to buy that food. I'd rather try and make it myself at home. When my daughter wants me to buy a bag of cookies or a box of granola bars I tell her that I'll make her some when we get home or on the weekend. There isn't anything in the grocery store that can't be made from scratch at home.

Obviously I didn't wake up one morning and decide that I was going to toss all of our processed foods in the trash and jump into this lifestyle feet first. It was about taking it one step at a time. It was started with one recipe and then another and another. After a while the knowledge started to build and the creativity set in.

Preparing ingredients ahead of time is also another tip. When I get home from the market I spend a good hour just chopping up vegetables and organizing fruits so that they're ready to eat or to be used in a dish. The broccoli and cauliflower are cut and put into Ziploc bags, the strawberries are washed and sliced, the lettuce is cleaned and put through the salad spinner, etc..

I guess my answer to question 1 is take baby steps and plan ahead!

2) Do I spend a small fortune on food?

No, I do not. I spend an average of $100 - $120 per week on food in the Winter months and $140 or so over the Summer and Fall months. I spend more during the Summer and Fall because I'm buying a lot of extra fruit to freeze and use in the Winter. I usually buy double the fruit that we are going to eat in the week so that I can have them available for smoothies, desserts, and sauces when they are no longer available. I can't survive on just apples alone for months on end! And, more importantly, I gotta have my morning smoothie.

Most of the food money I spend goes to the local economy. The actual grocery stores only get a very small portion of this cash. For instance, this week, I only spent $19.45 at the Sobeys. I bought milk, 2 containers of organic yogurt, cream, chicken stock, and some cereal (Kashi for me and Mini-Wheats for my daughter--her treat for the week). That's it!

In times of desperation or poor time-management on my part I will end up buying some produce at the store but it kills me to do so. I'd rather my money go to the farmer than to a corporation who will eventually give a portion to the farmer. If I pay a farmer $1.00 for something he'll get $1.00. If I give the grocery store $1.00 the farmer may only get $0.10 of that dollar. Check out this post from a blog I've been following (see:
http://eatingniagara.blogspot.com/2010/07/peachy-keen-time-of-year.html)

What she describes here is exactly how I feel but haven't yet been able to put into words. I think that we all need to start changing the way that we think about food. It's great that there are cheaper options out there but what does this actually mean? What effect does it have on the farmers who are providing us these 'cheap' foods?

I think that I spend about the same amount of money on food as a regular consumer would. However, I'd like to think that my money is going further. I'm making an investment in myself and my health and also providing a livelihood to the local farms and businesses. Every dollar counts, right?

Londonlicious - Braise

Well....I think I had the best meal I have ever had in my entire life! I'm not kidding!

Last night my husband and I decided to take advantage of the Londonlicious Festival event. Londonlicious showcases London's more independant and diverse restaurants. Diners are able to visit one of the participating restaurants listed and eat a three-course meal appetizer/soup/salad, entree, dessert) for $20 or $25 a plate. The goal of the festival is to (1) allow residents to try a new restaurant, (2) to promote the independant restaurants and (3) to gear people away from the more popular franchise restaurants(see:http://www.londonlicious.ca/).

We chose to visit Braise.

Our meal started with freshly baked bread and their in-house churned butter (yes, they make their own butter). Then, we each had a bowl of chilled creamed sweet pea soup. For a main my husband had the pan roasted rainbow trout. It must have been good because there wasn't anything left on the plate when he was done with it. For myself, I ordered the braised porto steak grande mere with a barley risotto. The beef was so tender it was just falling to pieces! Then, to complete our meals we both tried the rhubarb cheesecake. The cheesecake was to die for! I've since learned that the pastry chef actually makes the mascarpone cheese himself. It's definitely worth the extra effort and I'm sure that this made all the difference.

Overall we were extremely happy with our meal. Our food tasted great, the service was excellent and the serving sizes were just right. We left feeling satisfied!

I think it's great that restaurants are making the extra effort to make their foods from scratch. More and more I think they're also starting to focus more on seasonal local foods. Braise, for instance, has a listing on their menu showing where they've acquired some of the ingredients used in their dishes (i.e., 100 mile market, gousen trout farm, monforte cheese, etc..). I think that letting customers know where the foods they are eating came from is great--it really adds to the restaurant's integrity.

Next time you're downtown and looking for a decent meal to eat make sure to check them out!

Braise Food & Wine

125 Dundas St.

London, Ontario

519-433-1414

http://www.braise.ca/

One Night's Dinner Becomes the Next Night's Leftovers

Don't you love it when there is enough food left from one meal to make an entirely new meal the next day?

I love doing this because (1) there is no food wasted, and (2) it's very cost-efficient.

We can usually make our meat last a couple of meals. We're a family of three so one large chicken breast is usually enough for one meal in our household. I'd rather spend a larger portion of my grocery budget on fruits and vegetables rather than meat.

For instance, a couple of nights ago we BBQ'd three loin chops and ended up with 1 1/2 leftover. We also had some peas and carrots risotto left over as well (to see my risotto recipe check out my April 2010 archive). As per the norm, the veggies were all gone!


To make use of our leftovers tonight I ended up making a stir-fry with the leftover pork, an onion, green/yellow beans, and celery. I didn't feel like making a fancy sauce tonight so I threw in some plain old store-bought BBQ sauce.

With the leftover risotto I made risotto crockettes by forming them into patties and dredging them through some seasoned flour. I fried these in a little bit of oil in a frying pan. They took very little time to cook through.

So, we had the same meal two days in a row but with two completely different variations.

P.S. On a side note--I have to mention where I've been getting my broccoli the last year or so. I usually buy my broccoli from Mccallum Farms at the Trails End Market. These guys always have HUGE head of broccoli and cauliflower. They're definitely local as well (in Woodstock) and can often be found singing the Foodland Ontario jingle from the commercials-they're very enthusiastic about their farming! Look for them next time you're at the market!

Another Homemade Burger Night - Turkey this Time

Ahhhh Summer..... We make burgers at least once a week over the Summer months. We do try to vary the burger toppings a little so we won't get bored though. It's not like we're eating beef burgers with ketchup, relish and mustard once a week. THAT, would get really boring after a while.

This week we the meat of choice was ground turkey. The ingredients I used to make them were similar to the ones I used to make the bison burgers last week. I used an egg, green onions, aged cheddar cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, onion dip mix,....and I think that was it. For turkey burgers I tend to use a lot more bread crumbs though because the meat isn't as dry and tends to be quite sticky. I also used my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer to mix it this time and it did a great job of thoroughly mixing all of the ingredients.

To assemble we used herb-flavored foccacia buns, romaine lettuce, bbq sauce, and a mayo/salsa mix. It was delicious and very moist and tender.

To accompany our burgers we had a salad with a mix of romaine and iceburg lettuce (I really enjoy crunchy lettuce), broccoli, red peppers, parmesan cheese, croutons and seasonings.

The croutons in the salad and the bread crumbs in the burgers were from some stale/aging bread that I was keeping in the fridge. I put the softer bread pieces into my Vitamix and gave it a whirl--this machine gives a better texture to the bread crumbs than the food processor would. For the croutons I cubed up the harder pieces of bread and drizzled them with oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. These were toasted in the oven at 350F until they were brown and toasty. The yummy smell in the house will let you know that they're done.

For dessert we had a blueberry crisp. I've always used my mom's apple crisp recipe for any crisps that I make. It has never let me down. Here is the recipe:

Cover the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish with the fruit of your choice (in this case, blueberries). There is no need for additional sugar or any sweeteners. The fruit is sweet enough. If you're using apples though you may want to add a little cinnamon and a little sprinkle of some lemon juice to prevent browning.

For the topping, mix together 1/3 cup of flour, 1 cup of quick-cooking oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/3 cup melted butter. Spread the mixture over the blueberries. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until fruit is cooked through and crumb topping is browned.

Red Currant Jelly

I think that currants are one of the lesser-known fruits that people don't really know what to do with. I had no idea what I would do with them either when I bought them for the first time last year. I googled (of course) and the most common recipe was for red currant jelly. So that's what I made. It was so good that I decided I would make more this year.

It's so easy to make. First you give them all a good rinse in a colander and put them in a pot--twigs and all. Add a bit of water to just cover them. Heat the berries until you are able to mash them and get the juices flowing.

The next thing you need to do is put the mixture into a sieve covered with a cheesecloth. Let the juices drip into a bowl for a couple of hours. After the juices have cooled and have mostly dripped out I like to squeeze out the remainder to get as much juice out that I can.

The next step is to put the juice back into the pot and to bring it up to a boil. For 4 cups of red currant juice I used 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tsp of pectin.

This step depends on the brand of pectin that you have purchased. I like using Pomona's Universal Pectin. I like this brand because it is a sugar-free, preservative-free, with a low-methoxyl citrus pectin that is activated by calcium water (recipe in the box). Since it does not require sugar to jell, jams and jellies can be made with less, little, or no sugar. Some other possible sweeteners are honey, sucanat, fruit sweetener, maple syrup, agave, stevia, splenda, etc.. (www.pomonapectin.com)

For instance, I also made strawberry jam on this day and only used 3/4 cup of honey and 3 tsp pectin for 8 cups of strawberries. It worked great!

Once instructions have been followed based on the pectin brand that you've purchased then it's time to can. I had one batch of red curant jelly and a batch of strawberry jam to do. I was able to fill 4 large jars and 2 smaller jars with them. I filled my jars and then put them in to boil for 10 minutes or so. Remember to sterilize your jars first and make sure that the boiling water covers the top of the filled jars when boiling.

It's also important to make sure that the jars are left alone to completely cool. I usually have them sitting on a towel on my kitchen counter for 24 hours.

That's it! Enjoy!

Although red currants are really tart/sour when eaten raw they are marvelous in a jelly or used in a sauce. I love using the sweetened juice base in my fruit sauces (i.e., for pancakes) or drizzled on top of some ice cream.

I've been hoping to try a new recipe this year but I didn't see any currants at the market yesterday. Could it be that the season is already over? I hope not!

Garden Update

I think that it's time for a garden update!

Here is a picture of my garden today. From left (side of the shed isn't in the picture) to right I have stevia, green beans, peas, canteloupe, watermelon, beefsteak tomatoes (in the corner), peppers, red sheppard peppers, jalapeno peppers, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. I also have some corn growing in another part of the yard.

As you can see I did not plan on having such large tomato plants because they have completely taken over the right side and the broccoli and cauliflower have also grown larger than I thought they would. The pepper plants, however, are much smaller than I thought they would be. Next year I will plan the garden a little better and will likely put the broccoli and cauliflower next to the shed where they'll have more space to grow and the peppers, beans, and peas will be planted together as well. The tomatoes will have their own section to take over. I'm also hoping to plant some berry bushes in another part of the yard.

It doesn't really seem to matter how much the tomato plants have taken over the area though. The broccoli and cauliflower plants haven't suffered at all. They're all coming in just fine. I can't wait to sink my teeth into them (I have 3 plants of each)!

We've been checking on the tomatoes every day and we knew that we'd get at least one ripe one this week. There are sooooo many others coming out very soon. There's a yummy tomato soup and some toasted tomato sandwiches in our future! Here is the first one that we picked today. My daughter ate it soon after this picture was taken. I guess I'll have to wait for the next one.

So far I have surpassed my expectations for my garden this year. I really didn't think anything would grow like it did. Even just a couple of weeks ago I thought foresure that this was going to be a complete flop. I guess not! I've had a complete turnaround.

Earlier in the Spring I had purchased some worm castings from a lady at the outdoor Covent Garden Farmer's market. I had bought a fertilizer and a worm casting liquid extract ($10.00 each for a total of $20.00). I used the fertilizer in the hole before I placed my seeds or seedlings into the dirt. Then, I used the liquid extract once a month mixed with water and applied the mixture to the plants. I think this might have been the key to my success (??).

The website is www.annelidcycle.com. On the site she states that pure worm castings are a natural and slow-release fertilizer that promotes healthy, vigorous plant growth, reduces transplant shock and increases yields of larger fruits and vegetables.

Hmmmm...I still have a lot of the fertilizer left. I'll need to make sure I do this again for my garden next year! I don't know if this is why I've been successful but you never know...

Cherry Picking in Arkona and The Best Dessert Ever!!!!

Today was such a wonderful day!

We started off the day at Cora's for breakfast and then made our way out to Arkona for some cherry picking. We had gone to "The Red Barn" last year but we had been too late for picking at the time and were only able to get a bin of frozen cherries. This year I was determined to get out there to do our own picking. I am so glad that we did.

We ended up going to Rock Glen Orchards (8839 Rock Glen Road, Arkona). The orchard was just busting with cherries. We only picked from the one tree and we were able to fill up a large basket and two plastic bins (one bin belongs to my mother-in-law as she came with us while she is visiting us for the weekend). After all that picking there was still a ton of cherries left on the tree for someone else to continue picking. The cherries in the picture below only cost us $25.00. We got 14lbs of cherries @ $1.85/lb. That's a steal!

With that many cherries I don't think I'd want to pit each and every one myself; and to make smoothies or desserts I wouldn't want to manually cut each one either. Luckily, this orchard had a cherry-pitter. What a great machine! It only took a couple of minutes for it to pit all of our cherries. Now I can freeze 'em and just throw some in the blender at a moment's notice.

I used some of those cherries to make the most wonderful dessert EVER!!! I had been waiting months to make this dessert. I waited months because I had to wait until berries were in season (of course).

The dessert I made came from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "Cook with Jamie--My Guide to Making You a Better Cook". I had first seen this cookbook on the show "Ana and Kristina's Grocery Bag". I absolutely LOVE this show. On the show they test various cookbooks and attempt to make some of the recipes. I love the show because they are real people making mistakes but they're having fun at the same time. Ana always burns herself, the fire alarm goes off at least once in every episode, and Kristina always manages to irritate Ana with her mistakes. The best part--they're Canadian (from B.C.). You can catch them on the W Network at 5pm Eastern Time. Anyways...in one episode they tested Jamie Oliver's cookbook and for the dessert portion of the show they had made "The Ultimate Fruit Meringue with vanilla cream, hazelnuts and caramel". It was such a hit with them that I knew I had to try this recipe myself.

Here is the recipe:

Basic Meringue Recipe: Preheat your oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Put 6 egg whites in a mixing bowl. Whisk on medium until the whites form firm peaks--you know it's good when you can hold the bowl over your head without any of it coming out (Ana & Kristina did this test). With your mixer still running, gradually add 1 cup plus 5tbsp of superfine sugar (caster sugar) and a pinch of salt. Turn the mixer to high and whisk for several minutes until the miringue is white and glossy. Dip your finger into the meringue and rub between your fingers. It should feel perfectly smooth with no grainy feel at all.

For the Dessert: Using a spatula, spread the meringue mixture onto the wax paper. Bake the meringue for an hour until crisp on the outside but chewy and soft inside. Let it cool.

In the meantime, put the hazelnuts in the oven and toast them until they're light brown. and then crush them slightly in a pestle and mortar. Put them aside. In a mixing bowl whip 1 cup of whipping cream (I just used a small carton) with the seeds of one vanilla bean and 2 tbsp of icing sugar. Whip until it forms soft peaks. Spread the whipped vanilla cream onto the cooled meringue and then cover it with various berries and the hazelnuts (I used cherries, raspberries, black raspberries, and blueberries).

For the Caramel: Jamie has a caramel recipe in the cookbook that uses the superfine sugar and water. I decided to instead use Angela St. Cyr's recipe from another show that I really love--"The 100-Mile Challenge". On the show she had created a caramel recipe that everyone ended raving about. I decided to give it a try tonight. You can find the recipe here: http://100mile.foodtv.ca/recipe/100-mile-caramel-sauce It was amazing! It is definitely a treat but at least we only used a bit of it tonight and the rest will go in the fridge for another day.

Here is the result!

We all LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this dessert and I will definitely make it again and again!