C.B.C. Would Love My Borscht

What Do You Get When You Cross a Russian with a Polish Person? Damn Good Borscht
My background is Russian. My husband is Polish. Needless to say we both have an opinion when it comes to how a proper borscht should be made. My husband thought it was really strange when I told him I needed a turkey bone to make borscht. He ventured to say that I didn't know what I was talking about.
I silenced him with one cold, hard, Russian stare......
I love how delicious and nutritious borscht is. It is essentially a soup made out of a bunch of vegetables. It really doesn't require that much effort to make, and it freezes so well. I never feel guilty pulling out some frozen borscht for a quick and easy dinner that can easily be accompanied by some store-bought perogies or a quick batch of biscuits.
Call it anxiety of authorship or blame it on my ridiculous Aries behavior, but I never want to make anything exactly the same as someone else made it. So I've made my own borscht borrowing from the traditions of both our families. My Dad makes a really simple borscht with turkey, green cabbage and tomato. My Father-In-Law makes his borscht with a wider array of vegetables, purple cabbage and sausage.What I have created drawing on both our Polish and Russian backgrounds and traditions is a beautiful violet colored borscht with a gentle sweetness enhancing the natural flavours of the vegetables, softly complemented by the flavour of the meat.
I hope you enjoy my cross-bred, multicultural borscht.  I have a feeling C.B.C. Radio would love my borscht, and if not the actual borscht I'm sure at least they would find my "borscht as cultural mosaic theory" fascinating. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think anytime Jian (Love Q!).

Russian Polish Borscht

Turkey leg or breast
5 small peeled and sliced beets
3 sliced carrots
1 red pepper diced
2 spears sliced celery
1 turnip diced
1 small head red cabbage (cut like coleslaw)
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
3 bay leaves
1 can diced tomatos
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP dried basil
1 TBSP dried dill
Cubed ham (optional)

1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Simmer turkey and bay leaves for two hours to make stock, or until skin begins to gently all of the bone (occasionally skim the fat from the surface).
2) Remove turkey bone. Remove all meat from turkey bone (until it is a stringy texture). Add to soup and continue to simmer.
3) Sautee onion until transluscent. Add pepper, celery and garlic and sautee for 2 more minutes. Add to soup along with 1 can diced tomatoes
4) Add carrots, beets, turnips and cabbage and simmer for 45 minutes.
5) Remove bay leaves. Add sugar, dill and basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add cubed ham if desired.
6) Refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving, or preferrably overnight.
7) Garnish with sour cream

Rich Man's Moist Ricotta and Sour Cream Banana Bread

When it comes to bang for your buck nutrition-wise, I am a huge fan of bananas. I would say we probably go through at least 20 a week in our household. Feeding a hungry household of four I am always in search of a deal (don't get me started on the wonderful world of eggs). The great thing about bananas is even when they are about to go bad you never have to throw them out. You can do magical things with them like freeze them to be used in a smoothie or protien shake, or bake delicious tasty muffins and loaf with them.
I love the taste of a spotted banana, but a nice ripe bunch on my counter beckons to be baked into delicious banana bread. Now everyone and their sister thinks they have the ultimate recipe for banana bread. That being said if you prefer a moist banana loaf I really do have the ultimate recipe.
This bread turned out delish, or "deeeeeeeeeeeeeee---lish" according to my husband's instant message. Now admittedly he is probably biased to his wife's banana bread, but on the other hand I do bake an awful lot of loaf so he's definetely a seasoned critic.
To achieve that perfectly moist banana bread, you definetely want to use a good quantity of well-ripened bananas. While admittedly it skews the great economy of banana bread, the real secret ingredients in this recipe are ricotta cheese and a little sour cream. Whenever, wherever, whatever I'm baking I always throw in a dab of ricotta, sour cream, balkan yogurt - whatever I have on hand. This adds creaminess, taste, moisture and texture and brings whatever recipe you are using to the next level.
You can find some good deals on ricotta and it does keep well. We love to put it on salads with a sweeter dressing, top turkey spaghetti or a baked apple with it. Without further ado, here it is folks:

Rich Man's Moist Ricotta and Sour Cream Banana Bread

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups mushed ripened bananas (or pureed depending on your preference)
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
8-10 whole pecans to decorate with
1/4 cup cinnamon and white sugar (to top with)

1) Grease a loaf pan or muffin tin and preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2) Mix together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar)
3) Mix together your remaining wet ingredients(without over-stirring), saving the milk for last
4) When you add the milk, make sure that you add enough so that your mixture is moist enough to slowly slide off a spoon when held upside down. If it doesn't move you need to add more milk!
5) Pour mixture into your loaf pan or muffin tin, top with pecans, and sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar.
6) Bake approximately 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is starting to turn a golden brown.

Enjoy, and try to share. If you're a real scrooge you can always freeze it for later use.

Politically Incorrect, But Magically Delicious Rhubarb Muffins

When I make muffins I am usually fueled by grandiose visions of myself as an amazing muffin baker. As I pull out bowls and begin measuring flour I picture guests biting into my muffins shouting "OMG - these are amazing!!" I crack eggs and daydream about how I will style my booth (Muffin Magic) at the local farmer's market. I fold in the fruit and imagine what outfit I will wear on Steven and Chris when I'm asked on the show as their resident muffin expert.....

You know that really delicious muffin you MUST eat every time you frequent that particular coffee-shop, even though you already ate breakfast that morning? Yeah that's the level of muffin I am striving for. I have had these muffins on exactly two occasions created by the average lay-person: once my 85 year-old neighbor Janice(who rides her lawn-mower like a rodeo-queen but thats a whole other story) and once when my Mother- in-Law made them. Farm girls make the best muffins.

I have tried on many occasions to recreate these muffins without success. After being vague on the numerous occasions I harassed her about it, my Mother-in-Law finally wrote down her recipe for me. And wouldn't you know it as she passed on the recipe she casually mentioned in passing that its a cake recipe. Oh, muffins made out of cake? Duh! Obviously thats the secret to ultra-delicious muffins.

Whats the main difference between muffins and cake you ask?

Sugar, lots an lots of sugar.

When I finally made these muffins, they were magically delicious - definetely that bakery quality I was striving for. However they still weren't quite as good as when my Mother-in-Law makes them. I'm fairly certain this is because she didn't admit to the real amount of sugar she puts in. And I don't blame her because I'm pretty sure in this day and age making these muffins would be considered politically incorrect...

If you browse the internet 3/4 cup of sugar seems to be the norm for most muffin recipes or at least its the amount people admit to. So I find it interesting that every time Donna serves these muffins she calls them her "healthy muffins made with honey." I'm pretty sure she's overcompensating because last time I checked no recipe with 2 cups of sugar in it (even if one cup is honey) is ever healthy for you.

I like how our parents generation think pasteurized honey is somehow classified as health food. It goes hand in hand with an earlier time of innocence in human history before we were all concerned about saturated fat, diabetes, obesity and a general state of health and well-being in general. It hearkens back to a time before we exercised or couldn't sleep at night because we worried about endangered species and using up all of our resources.

And speaking of honey, aren't bees now endangered? Which is why farm girls make the best muffins. They had free reign with ingredients because baking wasn't a politically charged act back in the day. That being said these days when I make my politically incorrect muffins, I reserve them for special occasions like company or celebrations.

After all a girl can't be too careful. I'm told the camera adds ten pounds....

Donna's Politically Incorrect Rhubarb Muffins

2 cups white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup honey
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
2-3 cups chopped rhubarb (mixed with 2 TBSP of sugar)

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease muffin tray well
3. Mix 2 cups white flour with baking powder and salt
4. Mix sugar with softened butter. Add eggs and milk
5. Add to flour mixture and stir until well mixed.
6. Fold in rhubarb
7. Spoon into muffin cups, sprinkle with topping and bake aprroximately 35 minutes (until well browned)

Freezing actually enhances the flavour of these muffins.

My Friend Jane is a Good Person and a Great Mother; She Has Two Kids and They Watch Television.

My friend Jane is a good person and a great mother; she has two kids and they watch television.

I have felt like a bad person ever since my husband mentioned that friends of ours only let their 4 year-old daughter watch television for the first time last week. You know that moment all Moms experience, when the mother you are talking to tells her son "No running around with that lollipop in your mouth," and you look and see your own son has been running for half an hour like that and it has somehow escaped your notice, not to mention undermined all of your credibility as a parental figure.

Well lately I've been a real jerk when it comes to television in our household. Ever since we moved for some reason I have had it on way more often - as background noise if anything. Since we haven't yet hooked up the cable I have strayed from classic C.B.C. kids programming (which I think does have some educational value) and have been putting on kid's movies instead. The clincher came when our renter Cory mentioned to my husband how he had watched Ice Age 3 times today.. If we had been having dinner at the time I might have kicked him under the table. Instead, I changed the topic of conversation to when our neighbor was going to fix the taped up window in his truck that he breaks into every morning by untaping. Deflect, Deflect Deflect Deflect!

In the meantime, I pondered how it was that our friend Lily was able to make it through an entire day without her children watching t.v. Did I mention that Lily has a two year-old and a four year-old? Both Breastfed!! Lily was obviously the Mother Theresea of stay-at-home Moms, patron Saint of never-ending patience and endless self-sacrifice. And me? Well I was obviously a jerk.

While I thought that my kids were watching maybe 1 hour to an 1 hour and a half of television a day intermittedly, when I thought deeply about it I realized that I could possibly have the t.v. on as much as 4 hours a day without even realizing it...So I went on a quest to remove television from our home.

And it was Hard, in fact the closest thing I can compare it to is the withdrawl I felt quitting smoking. You know that morning cup of coffee and little bit of tidying you like to do in the morning? That's gone. That little bit of me time, flipping through a magazine or a few minutes or throwing on a quick coat of nail polish? Gone gone gone! I'm not gonna lie to you ladies and gentlemen, in the beginning - sans television - you are full out balls to the wall and on more than one occasion when my husband got home I wanted to jump in the car and make a getaway, or simply run down the street yelling at the top of my lungs.

However gradually after a week I found a new routine which involved reading more, playing more, getting out more, and having way more quality time. Going cold-turkey allowed me to get to know my children better and be able to gauge when was a good time to throw in some laundry and make some beds without having to result to using the television as a baby-sitter. Plus my kids were actually way better behaved.....

Going without television also involved less "me" time, a less tidy house, doing less laundry, getting less done and occasionally forgetting to feed the kitties. Ultimately however, it really did put me way more into the moment with my children and allowed me to experience way more great Mom moments - those magical times when you feel like the luckiest person in the world to be a parent.

We all have those moments when another Mom - hopefully unconsciously - makes us feel like a total jerk. There's that classic Mom adage: "we all have to do what works for us - and blabbedy blabbedy - not judge other Moms"...yes yes I know! I'm just saying' that we are all bound to experience these uncomfortable moments (and sometimes the best thing is to dismiss them), but if there is a lesson to be gleaned from them they can be great.

That being said, I think being a better Mom isn't always about striving for those ultra-high ideals like no television or a  no sugar diet. Sometimes being a bettter Mom is letting go of them. "What, no television?" my friend Jane questioned me when I told her about Lily's rule. I could tell she thought it was really extreme. Jane is the person who reminds me that its okay to let your kids eat breakfast on the couch, make a huge mess with lego all over the living room, or leave a dirty house to go to the lake on a sunny day. I love her for that.

Ultimately  Jane and Lily may appear to have very different parenting styles but they are actually really in tune in terms of what they are both seeking: to be in the moment as often as possible with their children.

I always refer to myself as the impure purist because I have great intentions but am never able to carry them all the way. T.V. has crept back into our life a little. If I am having a major Mom meltdown moment, am desperately trying to cook dinner before my hubby gets home or am starving and haven't eaten all day, I think television can play a valuable role here for 15 or 20 minutes.

The main appearance television makes in our home now is in the form of old Disney videocasettes we will watch together as a family occasionally in the evening. This hearkens back to a former time when television truly was a treat - remember looking forward to watching the Sunday night Disney movie? Or TGIF Fridays? This is the sensibility I want television to have in our home.

If any case if I am feeling guilty I simply remind myself: my friend Jane is a good person and a great mother; she has two kids and they watch television.

Basil Balsamic T-Bone Steak and Blue Cheese Pasta (Alternatively Titled: It's His Birthday and You Be Killing It!)

Oh the pressure of creating the perfect birthday meal! You can execute a total masterpiece of a dinner on a boring old Monday night with a few rotten carrots and odds and ends you found in your refrigerator, but it seems like the pressure of cooking for special occasions so often ruins the meal. I made it really simple for myself but still managed to burn the garlic toast, undercook the steaks, buy the wrong peas for the potato salad, serve the meal cold....
After I sent him off for a relaxing bath, my husband walked into a smoky mess and me flapping my arms like a herniated chicken squawking "Dinner's ready." Luckily my husband reminded me that I had gotten the day wrong. His birthday was tommorow, which made me feel like I was in Groundhog Day. I could look forward to once again trying to execute the perfect birthday meal all over again tommorow....At least I'd had a trial run at it. Obviously I needed it.
What I finally came up with - and what I was aiming for - was a classic manly comfort meal that was still elegant and fresh. These marinated grilled T-Bones, with blue cheese pasta and a simple yet timeless tomato salad really struck the perfect note.

Not to mention the whole blue cheese, steak and tomato flavor combination has really got it going on....
Anyways if you are planning on executing that perfect birthday meal any time soon I recommend you give this a whirl, but also have a back-up plan that involves a take-out menu just in case, because lets face it: you just never know.

Classic Tomato Salad

3 ripe tomatoes cut in "apple slices" (We never put our tomatoes in the refrigerator as it gives them that "mushy" texture)

Dressing:

2 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregeno
2 tsp dried rosemary (or 1 fresh sprig if you have it)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together dressing and add to tomatoes. Refrigerate until serving.

Blue Cheese Pasta

300 g pasta
300 g blue cheese
1/3 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 small white onion cubed
1/4 cup green onion (to garnish)

1) Boil water for pasta. Add pasta to boiling water.
2) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil once butter is dissolved.
3) Add garlic and sautee for a minute
4) Add onion and sautee until starts to caramelize
5) Add chicken stock and let simmer for a moment
6) Add cream and let simmer on low heat until pasta is ready
7) Melt in blue cheese right before serving
8) Toss with pasta and garnish with green onion

T-Bone Steaks in Basil Balsamic Marinade

2 Large T-Bone Steaks

 

Balsamic Basil Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
3 TBSP dried basil
2 cloves garlic
Dash of hot sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper

1) Mix together marinade and let steaks marinate at least 8 hours, or preferrably overnight.
2) Set broiler to high
3) Grill steaks for 4 minutes a side for medium rare doneness (5 mins. for medium, 6 for medium well etc.)

Start grilling steaks around the time you start boiling your pasta and you will be killing it!

Mediterranean Prawn Pasta with Kale (so good he'll think it was his idea)

Ohhhh pasta. I love pasta for that quick and easy pick-me up mid-week meal. My husband and I also find it is a great crowd-pleaser for last-minute company. Lately we have been experimenting alot with Mediterranean flavours, but I also have a newfound obsession with kale as of late. I find with anything outright and downright "healthy," I really have to sneak it into my dishes gradually in small doses until eventually the next thing I know I will be sitting having coffee with my husband and in-laws, and he's telling them all about how good kale is for you and how he's been using it alot in his cooking lately and how they should really start adding it into some of their dishes (pip pip). So, without further exeunt, this is probably one of my best pasta recipes to date. I hope you enjoy it. It sounds somewhat healthy, but actually tastes really indulgent. I wouldn't hesitate to serve this to company (after you have already cooked it at least once, to avoid any Bridget Jones-like fiascos).

Mediterranean Prawn Pasta with Kale

40 pre-cooked prawns (tail off if you prefer)
1 cup and a half chopped kale
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
3/4 cup whole olives
3 cloves finely chopped or pressed garlic
2 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1 TBSP fresh dill (optional)
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1 tomato chopped
2 small scallions chopped
1/2 cup feta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small box pasta (about 500 g preferrably spaghetti)
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt

1) Boil water for your pasta.
2) Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a saucepan on medium heat. Add your garlic and sautee for a minute
3) Next add your kale, sundried tomatoes (which if they don't already come in oil, I like to pre-soak in olive oil for 20 mins or so), basil and dill. Sautee this for another minute until your kale is wilted.
4) Make sure you have removed all excess moisture from your prawns before you add them in along with your olives. Sautee for another couple of minutes making sure everything is mixed together and set your saucepan to warm while you finish cooking your pasta (I like spaghetti for this meal as I find it the best conduit for grasping all the ingredients, so you don't end up with no pasta and a bunch of toppings at the end of the meal).
5) Once you have cooked and strained your pasta add the remainder of your olive oil and salt and pepper until your noodles are coated.
6) Mix the contents of your saucepan in with your noodles
7) Plate your pasta and garnish with crumbled feta, tomatos, cashews and scallions

Bon Appetit!

Blue Cheese Pineapple Salad (for the Armchair Activist)

Pineapple and blue cheese really seems like an unlikely combination. I was in bed, going over in my mind the contents of the refrigerator and what I could make for dinner. Lately, we have been trying to eat up the everything before we go shopping. If you stretch it out like this you really are saving a significant amount of money, not to mention how much food is thrown out and wasted by the average family on a regular basis. When we recently moved across the province, we pledged to eat the entire contents of our refrigerator; we were able to eat (in fairly high style I might add) for about two weeks, highlighting the fact when you think that there's nothing to eat you'd be surprised.....
I hate to ring that old bell again, but there are starving children in the world. Food is soo convenient and sooo cheap in our part of the world. My husband illustrates it quite nicely when we come home from a big grocery shop with 15 bags of groceries. He says he always wonders how long he would have to forage to get this amount of food....probably quite a while.
So with these thoughts and my armchair activism in mind, the unlikely combination for this salad occured to me: simply because they were two of the only things I could think of left in my kitchen. I decided to google it, which is my way of safeguarding my family against my unbridled creativty in the kitchen (also against that coffee buzz in the morning that occasionally shines too much optimism on a bad idea).I figured if I could find one dish with these two ingredients, I would give it a whirl. There really was only a few hits on this combination which is rare considering you can usually find almost any flavour combo you can think of. So I courageously gave it a whirl and the results were pleasantly surprising.
Once again, this recipe was hubby approved. I topped it off with some quick buffalo chicken drumsticks (which I won't give you the recipe for because - ahem ahem, dirty little secret - they were from a packet, please don't judge me!) But, the blue cheese salad did nicely complement the wings and it made for a super easy, quick and delicious dinner....

Pineapple Express: Blue Cheese and Pineapple Salad with Almonds

Salad:

2 cups chopped romaine
2 cups chopped iceburg
200 g crumbled blue cheese
3/4 can pineapple
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup chopped spanish onion

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper

Wild Cherry and Basil Salad

You know when you're a kid all the things you take for granted, like not having to work to keep a roof over your head, having all the spare time to do whatever you want even if its nothing? Well when I was a kid my Mom was always raving about how lucky we were to have wild cherry trees growing in our backyard. Wild ORGANIC cherries, that would cost $30 a pound in Japan she told us. "Wow Mom," we would say and roll our eyes reaching for another stale Dad's oatmeal cookie.
Well recently when we visited home my husband and I flipped out when we rediscovered the wild cherry tree in the backyard. Such incredible goodness inspires you to cook with it. I mean talk about using fresh, local, natural ingredients. I absolutely love adding fruit to my salads, so I decided to make a salad that would really showcase the spectacular treasure I had found in my old backyard.

Wild Cherry and Basil Salad, with Avocado, Cashew and Goat Cheese

2 cups romaine
2 cups mixed spring greens
2 cup wild cherries
1 cubed avocado
1/4 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup goat cheese
3 TBSP fresh basil

Dressing

3 TBSP olive or safllower oil
3 TBSP fruit flavoured red wine vinegar (strawberry, etc. - or you can add a TBSP of honey to your vinegar if you don't have it on-hand)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt

"Ode to Mango".....Mango Shrimp Salad with Quinoa, Avocado, Feta and Almonds

Ohhhh Mangos. So magical. So delicious. Nectar of the Gods...Biting into a perfectly ripe mango you question for a moment whether there is anything tastier in this world....
Funny story about mangos. When we go to the grocery store my husband and I each have to buy our own mangos. We are explicitly clear about who owns the mangos we put in our cart. If I place a mango into the grocery cart it by effect becomes my sole property - it is not a communal mango, no no. To violate this order by touching another's mango is pretty much on par with sacrelige in our household (A lesson I had to learn the hard way....)
That being said, today was one of those days I was lucky enough to have my own mango sitting in a bowl on our kitchen counter. For anyone who has ever seen the movie Sideways, a mango is like the pinot noir of the fruit world, in the sense that it is finicky. You can't eat it when it is too green, and yet wait a day too long to eat it and it will have peaked, its fruity goodness turned to overripe mushiness. 
My mango was fantastically, irreverently, perfectly ripe, which inspired me - instead of selfishly gobbling up its delectable contents and hiding the peels deep within the garbage -  to make my husband one of our favourite summer salads, a little number I like to call "Ode to Mango." 
This salad is delicious. I have made it twice for my husband, and both times he has complemented me on what a long way I have come (by this he means explicitly since that one time I made him Campbell Soup Mushroom Balls for dinner....). Both times he has eaten this salad he has complemented me and said, and I quote: "You are really starting to come into your own in the kitchen."
Now thats pretty high praise period, but its definetely high praise when you make your hungry husband only salad for dinner, one that contains quinoa at that - which he doesn't even like. So I would definetely urge you to try this one...It will definetely impress.

"Ode to Mango".....Mango Shrimp Salad with Quinoa, Avocado, Feta and Almonds

Salad:

1 perfectly, delectably ripe mango cubed
2 cups spinach
2 cups romaine
1 small avocado cubed
1 carrot grated
1/2 yellow pepper julienned
1/4 cucumber sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 cup quinoa (cook according to instructions and cool).
3/4 cup roasted almonds (see recipe below)

1) Prep the above ingredients and assemble your salad (this salad is a little prep-heavy but its worth it I promise :)

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 TBSP honey
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
A few shakes of hot sauce

2) Drizzle dressing over salad and don't skimp on it.

Shrimp:

200 g pre-cooked shrimp tail removed
1/4 cup barbeque sauce

3) Toss your pre-cooked shrimp in bbq sauce and heat them in a pan until warm (or if you are more ambitious fire up your bbq and give them a quick sear). Top your salad with the warm shrimp and serve.


Brown Sugar Roasted Almonds Recipe 

2 tsp egg white
1/2 tsp water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar

1) Preheat oven to 275 degrees
2) Mix ingredients together and toss almonds with until coated
3) Line cookie sheet with parchment or aluminum foil and cook almonds 45 minutes.

Sweet Beet, Goat Cheese, and Brown Sugar Roasted Walnut Salad (Mother-in-Law Approved)

My Mother-in-Law invited us over on short notice and my well-meaning and helpful hubby volunteered me as the bringer of salad. I panicked. With two little ones at home a last minute grocery trip was out of the question and my refrigerator was literally almost empty with the exception of a few ingredients.
Somehow, it is always the times that I am working with limited ingredients that I am the most creative. I literally threw this salad together, inspired by some month-old beets I found in the bottom of my refrigerator. This salad was sooooooo delicious. My Mother-in-Law loved it, but I'm sure she thought I was putting her on with fake modesty when I told her I scraped it together with the last few ingredients left in my refrigerator....

P.S. Don't skip the nuts or even substitute pre-roasted ones as making them yourself a few hours before you serve the salad makes them the secret ingredient.

Sweet Beet, Goat Cheese and Brown Sugar Roasted Walnut Salad

1 medium raw grated beet
2 sliced small scallions
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 peeled and diced apple
4 cups baby spinach
1 cup brown sugar roasted walnuts (recipe below)

Dressing:

1/4 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP honey
1 tsp lemon zest
1 TBSP lemon juice

Brown Sugar Roasted Walnuts

2 tsp egg white
1/2 tsp water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 275 degrees
2) Mix above ingredients together
3) Toss with 1 cup of walnuts (or other nut of choice)
4) Bake for 45 minutes

Assemble salad - topped with roasted walnuts - and drizzle the dressing on top a few moments before serving. This salad goes fantastic with a simple piece of broiled or pan-fried salmon, and is Mother-in-Law approved :)

Muffins that Don't Kill Your Husband

Okay I'm not like a huge baker, but I feel that as a stay-at-home Mom baking is something that I should do...I took a break there for awhile after I had my second baby. I was running short on time and discovered that for $5 a pop from Wal-Mart, instead of making them myself I could get 9 muffins for my husband's lunch. I would take the box, divy it up and put a bunch in ziplocs in the freezer so I could take them out on demand (and also so I wouldn't eat them).
Pure brilliance in my mind...
So here I am feeling all self-congratulatory...until one day I read the nutritional information and realize I have been slowly killing my husband - like 40 g of fat in each muffin (most of it saturated), or almost 50% of your daily fat intake. OMG, I'm killing my husband! So, I figure that its probably time to start baking again.
There are some that will argue that the muffin is an intrinsically unhealthy food and that I shouldn't be putting them in his lunch in the first place...To the naysayers I say "Hey, I can put carrot sticks in his lunch until the cows come home, but he's just going to be hitting the gas-station for a pack of hostess cupcakes every day." Everyone needs a treat in their lunch. Besides, he's going to start thinking "What good is a stay-at-home wife if she is going to pack me a crap lunch everyday?"
So back to my muffins. I figure at least if I am making the muffins at home, I know what I am putting into them. So I went on the quest for the moderately healthy, but still tasty muffin and this is what I came up with.

Pumpkin, Walnut Cranberry Muffins

1 cup white flour
1/4 cup whole wheat
1/2 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup E.D. Smith pumpkin pie filling
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts


1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2) Stir together your dry ingredients
3) Mix together your wet ingredients
4) Add the pumpkin pie filling and cranberries and walnuts to your wet ingredients
5) Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients (mix it together, but don't overstir it)
6) Spoon into muffin liners in a muffin tin and place in oven.

This recipe will make about 10 - 12 muffins and these babies take about 30 - 33 minutes to cook. You can do a toothpick test for doneness, but the edges should spring back when you touch them and they should be a nice golden brown.

I don't know what the nutritional information is on these (I'm sure you could do the whole applesauce for butter substition, egg whits etc. and really get into it). Regardless I feel better about eating these than a muffin from MacDonalds or Tim Hortons, with unknown ingredients that I can't pronounce and added preservatives.

Plus you can feel good about the fact that you're not killing your husband.

The Cultured Cobb Salad

On Friday nights, I like to make a bit of an indulgent meal. I also play jazz music while I cook and feel very French (I'm not sure how the jazz inspires the French feeling). Friday nights always inspire me to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. What better way than with Cobb Salad? Blue cheese, chicken breast, bacon, egg and avocado ALL at the same meal simply makes it feel indulgent. We do a "make your own Cobb Salad night" where we prep all of the toppings and make our own salad at the table depending on what we are in the mood for (sometimes its a half pound of bacon kind of night). This makes it fun, kind of like taco night - but obviously like way more culturally elevated.

The Cultured Cobb Salad


Ingredients to prep for salad for 2:

4 cups romaine or iceburg lettuce
1 sliced tomato
1/4 cucumber sliced
1/4 spanish onion sliced
1 avocado diced
200 g crumbled blue cheese
2 sliced hard-boiled eggs
Crispy cooked bacon (I leave the amount to your good judgment)
Sliced cooked chicken breast seasoned with steak spice

Dressing:

1/4 cup plain yogurt (I always use greek or balkan style)
1/8 cup mayo
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP chopped fresh dill
A few good shakes of hot sauce
1 clove diced garlic
1 tsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper

A honey mustard vinegarette is a popular dressing for this dish, but its not my personal favourite. I find that this creamier dressing complements the romaine or iceburg quite nicely, and the dill flavour adds an extra "je ne sais quoi" to the simple ingredients. If you wanted to do obviously healthier spring greens or spinach I would probably suggest using a vinagarette (you can modify this recipy, simply substitute the plain yogurt and mayo with extra olive oil and some lemon juice). We like to serve this salad with fresh corn in season. To keep the crunchy fresh flavor of this summer delight, simply bring a pot of water to a boil, put in the corn, cover and turn off the burner and let it stand for 5 mins. Serve with butter and salt and pepper, and "Voila!"

A Midsummer's Night Dream - Summerside Chili

My hubby must be really taking my blog posts to heart, because my meat loving counterpart created this good for you and vegan-friendly chili. This colorful chili is supremely simple to prepare, relying on the flavour of delicious summer vegetables in season. It is beautiful to look at, fresh and filling - the perfect meal to be enjoyed at a picnic table in the backyard on a summer's eve. White navy beans add a great pop of color and complement the lighter summery flavor of this chili. When you serve such an uber-healthy meal, you don't have to feel guilty about topping it with a dollop of sour cream, or pairing it with a fresh-from-the oven delicious homemade biscuit. Happy eating.

Summerside Chili:
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 chopped red pepper
1 chopped green pepper
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped zuchinni
1/8 cup chopped basil
1 small can kernel corn
2 large cans diced tomatos
1 can navy beans
1 heaping tablespoon of chili powder ( or more to taste if you like spicy)
1 TBSP olive oil
Season with salt and pepper to taste

Simmer covered on the stove for 30 mins. If you like, top with sour cream, cheddar cheese or green onion.

Super Simple Country Biscuits

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe. Fresh baking always adds that special touch and I love to have something ready for company, to perfectly complete a meal or to add a treat to my husband's lunch. This is an easy, FAST recipe that you always have the ingredients for, that you can have in the oven literally in 2 mins. without destroying your kitchen. This is also a versatile recipe that you can modify by adding ingredients like scallions and cheese, raisins and a touch of honey or cinnamon - wherever your imagination takes you. They are a yummy bite on the go in the morning as well, served with fresh jam or cheese and butter. Yum!

2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil (or butter if you prefer)
3/4 cup milk

1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. Fold in wet ingredients (don't overstir but make sure everything is mixed together)
3. Make "hamburger patties" out of the dough (4-6 biscuits) and place on lightly greased pan
4. 350 degrees for 17 - 20 mins.

Steak Salad with Blue Cheese, Apple, and Creamy Basil Dressing

Threw together this meal last night with ingredients I found in my refrigerator. It was a delicious treat and a little more of a celebratory affair for a Friday night. The blue cheese and apple and basil really work together in a flavour combination I can't get enough of. The basil dressing was divine and I will definetely use it again. We kept the steak simple, a little salt and pepper and pan-seared.

With such a delicious salad, your really don't want the meat competing. A really flavourful meal and the perfect way to cap off a busy summer week. Bon Appetit!

Salad for two:
2 cups romaine
2 cups spinach
1 diced apple
1/4 cup spanish onion
1/4 sliced cucumber
1 sliced tomato
200 g crumbled blue cheese
1/8 cup pine nuts

Slice steak and top salad with it.

Dressing:
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup mayo
2 TBSP fresh basil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
Salt and peper to taste.

Eating for Life

In my day I have tried many different diets: everything from Somersizing to Body for Life to a period where I was a raw foodist. These days I have really simplified things. Before I eat anything I simply ask myself "Will it nourish me?" Occasionally the answer is no, and occasionally I will eat it anyways, but the majority of the time I try to eat foods that will add to my health and not subtract from it - a simple but effective equation (and a great way to shed those baby pounds I have found).
Food should nourish us and make our bodies feel good. I can instantly feel the effects of eating a bad meal (by bad meal I mean something with zero nutritional value like a sausage mcmuffin). I focus on this feeling when I am tempted by an unhealthy food. I find that I always feel better and have more energy when I eat healthy and as a Mom this is extremely important. 
However having worked in the restaurant industry for many years, my hubby and I are definetely foodies. Enjoying a delicous meal with my husband is one of my favourite parts of the day, and my second favourite is creating it. When I am cooking I don't want to feel limited; I want to have the freedom of ingredients to fuel my creativity in the kitchen and create an enjoyable meal that will please all parties...without compromising my health, or my waistline.
Basically, balance has to be struck to satisfy healthy me and my meat and potatoes hubby(who can't go without meat but also loves vegetables). I want to mutually satisfy my desire for health and my desire for taste. So I cut out the carbs at dinner (the rest of the day I eat them in moderation, and only the relatively good ones: including oatmeal, brown bread, fruit). Why do we need to have a side of white rice, mashed potatoes or a sidekick at dinner? Because the outdated food pyramid says so? This type of food is not adding to our health. 
Instead, we usually eat some kind of meat accompanied by a massive salad. Vegetables will always give you the best bang for your buck nutrition-wise. Cutting the carbohydrate side out gives me the freedom each night without the guilt to really go to town on the meal without feeling prohibition. I look around on the internet and find a recipe for chicken, turkey, shrimp or pork or beef (and I don't analyze the calories, or fat etc. within reason). Sometimes I will make something like turkey burgers without the bun from scratch, other times it will be as simple as a piece of grilled salmon. Then I create a masterpiece of a salad. I throw all kinds of toppings on there: mango, sunflower seeds, sundried tomatos, feta, artichokes, raisins, honey roasted almonds, blue cheese or bacon. The delicious combinations are limitless. We never ever buy bottled dressing, and instead always make our own with cold-pressed olive oil as the base. These dressings are delicious and we can tweak each one to really complement the salad that we have created for that evening, throwing in fresh lemon or lime, red wine, sushi or balsamic vinegar, a blended avocado or a little honey.
Because the toppings I incorporate are a conduit for the vegetables in the salad, I never feel guilty or overanalyze them for they are enhancing my experience eating vegetables. I also never skimp on the dressing. My theory is that because the vegetables always taste delicious I will never grow tired of them and always look forward to eating them which is giving me great long-term health benefits. After all the habits you can sustain over the long-term - not just the next two weeks - are the ones that count when it comes to reaping the benefits from good diet and health.

Lets face it, I won't be gracing the cover of Muscle and Fitness anytime soon so I can afford to relax a little, but I want to be a fit Momma and have a happy healthy family. And I will admit....please forgive my vanity but I still want to wear cute clothes, even if its only out to the grocery store....

The New Parent's Guide to Carpe Diem

With a two month old baby and an almost two year old in tow, spontanaiety can go out the window. My husband and I always insisted that babies would never cramp our style.  However the reality is - that it does. So rather than delight at the prospect of an unplanned getaway when my husband suggested it, I became bogged down with trying to manage what were in my mind - the overwhelming details: trying to imagine how I would ever get everything packed while the baby fussed and my two-year old destroyed my house, traveling without the baby crying, running around town after my toddler (nicknamed "the maniac") were the  thoughts that occupied my mind.
Eventually I insisted that we simply call it off; my husband disagreed reminding me that we hadn't done anything or gone anywhere since the baby was born. Feeling slightly resentful at the insinuation I had been such boring company, but reluctantly acknowledging its truth, I agreed to the trip with reservations, secretly thinking that at the very least I would get the satisfaction of an "I told you so," when the babie's cries prevented us from travelling one km. further on the trans-Canada, leaving us stranded on the side of the road.
While we did not have our former freedom to browse stores or spend the afternoon on the patio of Earl's, what an incredible weekend we enjoying toodling around town with our new family in tow. Yes there were the moments I grew frustrated: feeding my daughter, getting her strapped into her carrier and my son into his stroller, making it only two blocks before having to return to the car to feed her again because she was fussing, trying to change her in the front seat of our Ford Focus (purchased for its great gas mileage, we didn't have the foresight to imagine how it would accomodate our future family). But these moments were momentary, and definetely worth the small frustrations.
The trip made me realize how I had made a prisoner of myself in my home, with my own fears and doubts about the potential behavoir of my family. Rather than taking us out to experience the world, I had been keeping us hostage inside the house where I could experience an element of control over my new-found chaotic existence, with my vibrating chairs, cribs and changing table readily available.
At the hot springs (a logistics nightmare for my former fearful self), me and my two-month old daughter took a dip together as I noticed another new Mom quarelling with her husband. He wanted her to take her daughter in for a dip, but she refused probably fearing the consequences of deviating from the sidelines. Her husband gestured over to where I relaxed with Juno. While my heart went out to the Mom, I marvelled that in simply a weekend I had transformed myself from a captive in my own home, into Auralea the poster-child for adventurous Moms everywhere....
When we returned home after an amazing trip, my husband lamented the fact we had paid so much for what was truly mediocre accomodation....
I smiled to myself as I called to him in the other room: "Really? I thought it was worth every penny."

My son "the maniac" destroying himself with a slush.