Keeping Track – Nov 18th

18Nov08

What I ate:

• Breakfast – 3 small whole wheat choco chip pancakes, with a banana and a bit of maple syrup.
• Lunch – Chicken samosa, 1 cup chicken noodle soupr
• Snack – 3 chocomint Girl Guide cookies
• Dinner – Honey mustard chicken, cheesey egg noodles, steamed broccoli.
• Snack – 2 icy chocolates

What I did: 30 Day Shred Level 1. Worked 8:30-5. Post office on way home from work. Email, homework, TV.

What was the weather like: Sunnnnnny and cool.

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Keeping Track – Nov 17

17Nov08

What I ate:

• Breakfast – 3 small whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes. Banana.
• Lunch – Turkey, cheddar, lettuce, honey mustard sandwich. Pear. Handful of baby carrots.
• Snack – Kit Kat. 2 peppermint yogurt pretzels.
• Dinner – 2 mini turkey burgers (turkey, cheddar, rosemary) with a bit of avocado and lettuce on whole grain buns. Tater tots with ketchup.

What I did: Worked 8:30-5. Stopped at the clinic, pharmacy, and grocery store on the way home. Email, etc. Watched TV.

What was the weather like: Foggy in the AM, sunny in the afternoon.

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Keeping Track – Nov 16

16Nov08

What I ate:

• Breakfast – apricot toast with butter, linzer square (raspberry jam and shortbread, essentially)
• Lunch – 1/2 plate of chicken strips and fries with honey mustard and ketchup and a root beer, on the ferry.
• Snack – handful of peppermint yogurt pretzels
• Dinner – 4 small whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes

What I did: Packed my things at my parents, read some magazines, got a ride out to the ferry. Read a magazine and wrote a bit on the ferry. Grocery shopping and errands. Checked email, etc. Made dinner. Watched TV. Blogged.

What was the weather like: Foggy and cool in Victoria. Foggy first half of ferry ride, then sunny. Cloudy in Vancouver.

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What’s In: March

09Mar08

In this process of learning to understand and work with food better, I want to learn more about the how and where and when of food. Where and how are the things I eat grown? How are the animals whose meat, eggs, and other products I eat raised? When are different fruits and vegetables in season in my area? If I want to eat something out of season locally, where else would it come from?

I live in Vancouver, BC, a large city surrounded by ocean and suburbs in the Metro Vancouver area, and scattered with the occasional community garden. We have only one farm in Vancouver-proper, the UBC Farm, and it’s in danger of closing in the near future as UBC tries to develop every square foot it can into condos and townhouses. If you drive out of town, just past the suburbs, you start to come across farms, large and small, organic and industrial. If you keep going, into the Okanagan and other regions of BC, orchards and farms become even more common.

What’s in season really depends on what region you’re looking at. For the purposes of my posts on seasonal items, I’ll mostly be drawing from 100-mile diet resources and other locavore-type sites.  Part of this is to speak only for my own experiences – I can’t vouch for what’s in season in London or Phoenix or Puerto Vallarta! More personally, though, I want to learn more about what I can do to support local farmers, producers, processors and distributors and the local economy, and to reduce my negative impact on my community. If I focus on what’s in season here, I can do that, and hopefully, find ways to adapt what we eat to match our local variations!

Here’s what the 100-mile diet suggests as in-season for BC in March:

• Apples
• Cucumbers (hot house)
• Hazelnuts
• Leeks
• Peppers (hot house)
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes (hot house)

So, of the 40 items this resource sheet tracks, that’s not a whole lot, especially if you choose to avoid hot house-grown veggies! I eat a lot of apples, though I’m not very creative with them – mostly eating slices plain or with cheese! We eat at least one cucumber a week, and hazelnuts on occasion. I’m not sure if I’ve EVER had a leek, though they always intrigue me at the grocery store! Peppers and tomatoes… yuck. I’m trying to acquire a taste for them, but it’s hard work. Potatoes aren’t used much in our house, but I’m not sure why – they’d be a good change of pace from rice, pasta or other starches.

But what about the other staples of my and our diet(s)? Bananas! Carrots! Broccoli (mmmmm broccoli)! Oranges! Strawberries! They’re either never grown in BC (bananas, for example), or out of season in March (carrots, for one).

This is going to be harder than I thought! But, the more I read and research, the more I’m convinced that I want to work seasonality and local resources into our diet. From the impacts on the environment to the changes in nutritional value during long transport and storage, I think the effort, sacrifices and education might just be worth it.

Whether we take on a challenge like a 100-mile diet or Fresh Mouth-month remains to be seen. I think if we were to do it, we would start during a month with more plentiful resources in BC – June through October have many more options than November – May.  For now, I will read and learn and try new things, and we’ll just see what happens!

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005 – Peanut, Orange and Carrot Salad

08Mar08

A week or two ago I tried another new recipe, Rachael Ray’s Peanut Orange and Carrot Salad, and promptly forgot to write about it.  I wanted to try something that would keep well in the fridge for a few days and go well in lunches.

I had it on the side with dinner (tacos, I think?) the night I made it and then packed it as the focus of lunch one day and a side the other. It kept very well, though the peanut butter stiffened the sauce back up a little by the third day. I’ll certainly make this again – it would be a great side for a picnic or barbeque, and would likely make a great stuffing for vegetarian wraps or pitas. Next time, though, I would play with the ratio of ingredients a little. It was too peanuty and not orange-y enough for me! The ginger probably needs to be grated more finely next time, or put through the food processor, because the chunks made its flavour both over- and underwhelming. All in all, though, it’s worth playing with, because it was bright and flavourful!

Filed under: Lunch, Make-Ahead, Salads, Sides, Vegetables: Carrots, Vegetarian   |  Leave a Comment

Home is where the heart(h) is, and 004 – Roasted broccoli

08Mar08

One of the things I love about coming home for a visit is the chance to cook with my mum. She’s a wonderful cook, making hearty, healthy meals full of love. She isn’t afraid to try a new ingredient, technique or combination of flavours, and is always collecting recipes.  She’ll accommodate anyone’s needs, and is always open to including others in our family dinners.

You’d think that I would be a great cook, having always watched her make meals for us. Some of our best chats have come while she’s been cooking, and I’ve sat at our kitchen island, chopping or measuring ingredients for her.

Not so much. I can cook decently, I suppose – I’ve only given myself food poisoning once (a bad smoothie a year and a half ago), and never had a complaint from Adam. But I can’t cook like my mum – not even close! She has such knowledge of how to move around kitchen gadgets, how to combine flavours, and make a meal that will feel good in body and soul.

But as I continue to come home, time and time again, and we choose recipes for meals together, and I do what I can to help, I learn slowly. We’ll try something new with something tried and true – tonight’s dinner was a much-used recipe for potstickers, with a side of Kalyn’s roasted broccoli.  The potstickers were tasty, as always, and the broccoli was a delightful surprise, rich and sweet and savoury and warm. A whole new way of cooking and tasting broccoli!

Tonight I was lucky and had a huge success with the broccoli. I know I’ll have more successes (and failures!) both at home with Adam and at home with my parents. I’ll keep trying and learning on my own, but nothing will compare to learning by watching and working with my mum. I just hope that one day, I can provide for my family as well as she has and does for our family.

Filed under: Asian-inspired, Sides, Vegetables: Broccoli   |  Leave a Comment

Cheese!

16Feb08

Cheese is truly one of my favourite foods. The options are endless – there’s a cheese for every meal, occasion, and mood.

Recently, a girl friend of mine hosted a girls night in – a Wii and Wiine and Chiise party! The rules were that we each had to come with a block of cheese, a bottle of wine, dressed nicely, and ready to play Wii.

It was a truly great night – we all got drunk, laughed harder than I have in ages, and just generally revelled in each others’ company.

And the cheese.. oh the cheese.

Everything from standard stinky blue cheese (top left plate, lower cheese) and cheese with Guinness (top left plate, upper cheese) to applewood smoked cheddar (bottom right plate, top left cheese) and Wensleydale with apricots (bottom right plate, bottom left cheese).

Deeelish!

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Valentine’s Dinner (+003 – Toasted Pound Cake)

16Feb08

We decided to have a low-key Valentine’s this year. We’ve never really had normal Valentine’s, so this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Our first V-day together was very shortly after we (finally) got together, so it was lovely and mellow. After that, we’ve celebrated our anniversary and V-day together on a weekend in February that I could get back to Victoria or Adam could come visit me. This V-day was our first together, sharing a home, and it was absolutely perfect.

On the weekend, we came across some sweet deals at IKEA, and decided to that he would gift me bookshelves for our anniversary/V-day, and I would gift him bedside tables. We love our new furniture, and it’s made our apartment feel much more like a home.

Adam decided he would cook me a fun dinner for Valentine’s, and I said I would do dessert. He cheated and also made dessert, so we had my dessert the next night.

Adam made turkey burgers with blue cheese and spices in them (mmm), which we ate between toasted whole wheat bread, with slices of cucumber and a hollandaise sauce. There are lots of leftover patties, perfect for freezing and reheating for lunches. On the side, we had sweet potato fries (my fave!), carrot sticks, and broccoli florets, with blue cheese-mayo dip and chile-mayo dip. Soo yummy and casual and very… us. Casual but delicious, decadent but nutritious.

For dessert, he made chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a delightfully smooth vanilla custard. The strawberries were joyful for me – February is a hard time for me, the worst, greyest part of Vancouver winters, and the strawberries brought me laughter, joy, summer, and sunshine in a juicy little red package.

My dessert for the next night was a twist on Giada di Laurentiis’ Toasted Pound Cake with Mascarpone and Amaretto. Adam’s not big on apricots, so I used blueberry preserves instead – I love the combination of blueberry and amaretto! I’ve been craving mascarpone lately, so this was a nice way to meet that craving without going crazy. Plus, any reason to keep a bottle of Amaretto in the house is fine by me – it’s my favourite liqueur! This was absolutely delicious, and so easy to throw together – it took me less than 10 minutes.

I think these are such great V-day dishes for us because they aren’t anything huge, complicated, overly fancy or fussy. They fit us and our growing approach to food and cooking – sweet, comfortable, experiments.

Filed under: Dessert, Dinner, Freezer-friendly, Fruit: Blueberry, Poultry: Turkey, Seasonal: Holiday   |  Leave a Comment

002 – Chicken and Pear Turnovers

06Jan08

Tonight we used Rachael Ray’s recipe for Chicken and Pear Turnovers as a starting point, and it was an interesting experiment.

Here’s what we changed – we had no shallots or tarragon, so left them out. We used sauteed chicken breast in the place of pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. We added in some sharp white cheddar, and had to substitute phyllo sheets for the puff pastry. Because of the change in pastry, our cooking time was more like 8-12 minutes, rather than the 25mins recommended in the recipe.

While we both enjoyed our dinner, and the turnovers all got eaten, we both agreed that we’d do it differently in the future, because they were a little bland. We’d use brie or blue cheese, rather than cheddar, for one thing. We’re also both interested to see how differently they’d taste if we HAD used puff pastry, as the recipe indicates.

Regardless, they were a yummy experiment, and I’m looking forward to tweaking this into a more successful recipe.

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What We Ate: Dec 30-Jan 5

05Jan08

Lest you think we only eat one meal a day (HA!), I want to note that this is just a list of dinner, and the occasional other special meal.

December 30: We came home to empty cupboards and an empty fridge after being away for almost a week. All we had around were tortilla chips and cheese, so we had nachos and pumpkin cheesecake (thanks to Adam’s mum!) for dinner.

December 31: We had Cob’s garlic and cheese focaccia with balsamic vinegar and olive oil as an appy. Adam made chicken stuffed with blue cheese, pear and walnuts, and a salad with the same three as toppings. We had chocolate cheesecake from Cheesecake 101 for dessert. Sparkling juice to drink! A yummy New Year’s Eve dinner at home.

January 1: We actually skipped dinner! We had a very late, very large lunch out with a friend.

January 2: Turkey tacos with lots of veggies and cheese. We rolled them in yummy whole grain wraps.

January 3: We were both pretty beat, so just had a really basic whole wheat spaghetti with tomato-y sauce, and a lovely salad.

January 4: Friday night dinners are typically pretty chill for us. We had shake-n-bake chicken, baked sweet potato fries, and steamed carrots and broccoli. It was a bright and colourful meal!

January 5: Tonight I’ll be making chicken and pear turnovers, from Rachael Ray. I’ll post about them tomorrow. We ended up ordering a pizza because we forgot to defrost the chicken and were running out of time! We also had nibblies – spinach dip, salsa and chips, etc – at a birthday party we went to.

Filed under: Dinner, Fruit: Pear, Poultry: Chicken, Seasonal: Holiday, What We Ate   |  Leave a Comment