Soup for a sicky

Although we're relatively healthy, the flu caught up with my husband. At this point I am praying to just about every god I can that I don't get it, since he spent the entire night and part of today physically expressing his illness (so to speak... the least I can do is to be polite since this is supposed to be about food).

It started when we were out of town, and it's funny how powerless I felt to help him without my kitchen nearby. I know the healing power of food and herbs.

Finally when we came home, I made a soup that would nourish my husband and settle his stomach, and as well would boost both of our immune systems.

I added two cartons of organic chicken broth, one and a half BULBS of garlic (and if I had more I might have used it), a large handful of fresh parsley (chopped). To it I added about 2 tsp of fennel seeds in a tea diffuser. The whole thing was cooked for quite a while. I had a few cupfuls and he's had some which was finely strained.

There is magic in cooking, and there is energy in all the foods we eat. I think it's an excellent compliment for any foodie to have some working knowledge not only about the taste but of the medicinal values of many herbs/foods.

My current autumn staple

I love apples. One of the wonderful things about autumn is all of the apple products that show up in the local markets again. From tart to sweet, green to red, apples are a staple of Ontario autumns.

I bought seven pounds of Honeycrisps last week. It's a type of apple I am still fairly new to eating this type of apple, and the taste is simply delicious. They are an apple's apple! With McIntosh's and Honeygolds in their family tree, someone's taken the time to create what is (for me) a perfect tasting apple.

This week's favourite way to serve this apple - in apple sauce.

The night before work I make up my lunch and snacks for that day. I've been making apple sauce from putting two honeycrisp apples, a dash of cinnamon and a splash of lemon juice into my magic bullet. It saves well for about two or so days and may brown a bit, but the lemon juice helps to preserve it.

My second favourite apple dish of the season - apple crisp.

There are as many apple crisp recipes out there as there are the people that bake them. My very basic apple crisp involves chopping apples for the base which I may or may not lightly coat in sugar first (I opt out if trying to cut back on sugar). For my quick apple crisp I use 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar (can cut back to 1/4 for a lighter option), 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour 1/4 of butter. I mix my crumble by hand, religiously, then spread over the top and bake at 200C for 40mins. I'll also try baking it at a higher temperature (maybe 240C?) for about half the time, then shutting the heat off and allowing the ambient heat to do the rest.

Mmm. Apples.

Food Network Facebook Foodie Face-off: Frittatas

This morning, Food Network Canada on Facebook had a foodie challenge in honour of Clean Out Your Fridge day. Create a frittata, give it an interesting name, put up a picture and add a description.

This was my entry:


Local Yolks: Saving the world, one frittata at a time

A frittata featuring all-local ingredients: free range eggs, smoked cheddar cheese, sliced portobello mushrooms, green onions from our CSA, and fresh cut basil from my windowsill. Topped with grated caramelized onion cheddar.

Served with a local Spelt bread from Golden Hearth Bakery.

Husband's reaction (direct quotation): "My love, this tastes grand"

Looking back at the summer's foods

I don't have many readers, but somehow I still feel awfully bad about not posting for a few months. Yes, I can make the excuses.... "Life got away from me", "It's a busy time of year" or whatever, but really I just have to move past the need to give reason and get back to food.

It's been a really fabulous year of food exploration for my husband and I.
The local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program we were a part of
has recently ended, and we can truly look back at the season with both
satisfaction and accomplishment. Satisfaction in both the amount and
quality of the foods we received, as well as for the people we had a chance
to meet through the program. Accomplishment because of the fact that we
managed to eat, or freeze nearly all the food we picked up this year.

A few years back we joined a similar veggie-basket program for the very
first time. A little ambitious and maybe over excited, we soon found
ourselves to be a little in over our heads. We just weren't prepared for
all the work that would be involved with all the vegetable matter which
soon descended upon our household. The first few weeks it was cute.
Packaging things away into the fridge, and mostly forgetting about them.
Eventually, the veggie overload began to take it's toll and pound upon
pound of vegetables began to rot. By the end of that summer, we'd started
to get the hang of it, and had even began to freeze a few things, but the
amount of food we wasted was astounding. We also acquired two very
important things as a result of this experiment: (1) a composter for all
the veggie waste we produced since we're not in a green box program and (2)
that Tupperware fridge smarts will literally save you hundreds of dollars
worth of produce. If you take no other tip from me, take the Tupperware
one, it's completely worth it.

So, with Tupperware and composter in hand, we head into this year's CSA
program ready for the challenge. Aside from the waste produced in preparing
the vegetables, we wasted next to nothing over the course of the summer,
and what did go to waste is making beautiful, rich compost for my garden
for next year.

Speaking of gardens, I'll call my veggie/herb garden a success, even if it
didn't yield a high crop. We live in a small townhouse and I am limited to
the space I have for gardening, as well as the sunlight available. But I'm
learning quickly and my garden is getting better and better every year.
This year's local growing season, however, left quite a bit to be desired.
Lots of rain, and little sun. I've also had an ongoing disagreement with
the squirrels and chipmunks in our area. They think they should be able to
dig into whatever they please, and even better would be to nibble on the
roots of my tiny little fledgling plants. I just don't agree with their
logic and have been looking for any solution to stop them. Best idea ever -
Blood Meal. Thanks for a friend for that one. Not only did it keep the
critters out, it helped my plants grow and grow and grow and grow....
So I had a lush and full garden this year. I did the entirety of my herbs
and veggies in pots (and a recycling bin) in my back yard. Crowded together
on the side of the yard that gets the most sunlight. Tomato vines completely 
covered my fence, and it was beautiful to look at. The herbs had a high yield
this year, and I did manage to get some vegetables. A little broccoli, few
eggplants and zucchini, handfuls of tomatoes, parsley roots, and cucumbers.

All tasted amazing. Completely satisfying.

We didn't hit the farmer's market as much as I might like, but there wasn't a
lot of need based on the vegetables we were receiving. 

A great summer. Tasted some new things, and ate tons of fresh local foods.
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons, when squash and leeks are abundant.

I've made a handful of squash soups so far this fall, with various squash, and all
have been simple and easy. Basic concept - organic/high quality broth, cooked
squash, onions and other savoury foods to your taste, add spices then blend.
Add greens or other things to it at the end and eat. Let it warm your belly and
make you feel good. Or throw together a potato leek soup. Similar concept, but
switch the ingredients. You get the idea.   I never used to be a soup person, but
something about the cool air of autumn allows me to enjoy a steaming bowl of fresh
homemade soup.

Mmm... now I'm craving some soup.

I love my Magic Bullet!

Have you seen the Magic Bullet?

I am normally not a product snob, but I love my Magic Bullet. A friend bought me one for my birthday this year, and I've used it non-stop for the past few weeks.

Not only does it do great fruit smoothies, but it came with a juicer attachment that I am in *love* with.

I said it. I love the juicer attachment.

It's provided me with a new way to use some of the vegetables from our weekly local CSA program. Today's veggie juice was carrots, a beet, and a cucumber. Yum! I've even found swiss chard to be a yummy juice. And I've always heard having one green drink a week is good for you.

Back to the Magic Bullet. When I make fruit smoothies, I serve them right in the cups I blend them in, so it's easy to make a couple up for my husband and I in the morning.

Tonight I made up a quick apple sauce with a raw apple (skins on), lemon juice and cinnamon. Put a lid on it, and left it for my lunch tomorrow.

Love it.

Veggie and lentil stew

I had an afternoon to putter, and a fridge full of veggies from our CSA. It's a cool day, so my first thought was stew!

I used a little beef bouillon, chopped carrots, turnip, kohlrabi, carrots, eggplant, zucchini, and garlic with tomato paste, rosemary, thyme, lentils and (fresh off the cob) corn. Salt and pepper to taste.

Nom! Should be a warming treat when it's done simmering.

A simple afternoon save-the-spinach soup recipe

I opened the fridge today to find out that it got turned up and was very cold. That meant frozen spinach, that I knew would simply liquefy when thawed out. Quick.... a soup to save the spinach!

I didn't have any butter, so a roux was out. Damn. I started with a half milk, half water base. I added garlic, spinach and a ramp (spring leek) pesto made in the spring. Then some fresh basil leaves, a quick cook and a puree with my hand-held blender.

I used some flour (whole wheat) and water and cooked the soup down to thicken it. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Eat.

The veggies are growing, the veggies are growing!

I've been working on growing a small vegetable & herb garden in our tiny backyard this year. I'm growing five kinds of heritage tomatoes, two kinds of eggplants, zucchinis, two types of peppers, parsley root, broccoli, etc.

It's been such a soggy year here this summer. Almost nothing has actually ripened and what started as an amazing growing season is turning into a late harvest. I've taken one zucchini out of my garden so far, although plenty of herbs.

We've had a bout of hot weather, finally. Suddenly it looks like everything wants to grow again. I have tomatoes on at least three plants, and am hoping the sun and heat will get them to start to ripen. I finally have a cayenne pepper growing, and plenty of flowers on both pepper plants. And an eggplant is growing! I'm very much looking forward to harvesting some more food from my garden soon.

The zucchinis are struggling, although still growing like mad. I have a mildew problem that I am attempting to beat with a chamomile infusion. One of the zucchini plants is also displaying blossom rot, so we've recent ground up some egg shells and added to the soil. *fingers crossed*

In better news, my small ground cherry seedling has bloomed into a strong plant with a lot of fruit on it. It gets plenty of sun, so I am sure we'll get a decent yield from it. And, I have cucumbers growing! One is quite large now and I am sure we'll be eating it this week.

Still, with all the work that's been involved with the garden this year, it's been completely fulfilling. The one zucchini we ate tasted amazing. Something about the taste of something you've worked hard and grown yourself. Also, the view out our patio doors is fantastic, all lush and green and symbolic of all the work I've done out there. Working in the garden is hard, but I always feel refreshed and accomplished.

It's been great slowly turning my thumb from black to green.

Whole Carrot Soup

We've gotten a few big bunches of colourful carrots in our CSA recently - orange, white and red - with their bright greens attached.

Did you know you can eat carrot greens? I didn't.

I decided I wanted to find a dish where I could use both the root and greens in one dish, and opted for a made-on-a-whim soup...

Whole-Carrot Soup

I used three bunches of carrots in total, and approximately two bunches worth of greens.

For the soup base I used an organic vegetable broth and added all of the orange carrots (diced) along with some caramelized onions and sautéed garlic. I made an herb bundle out of thyme and rosemary from my garden (tied with a carrot green stalk!) and seasoned with salt and pepper. When it had cooked well, I took out the herb bundle and used a hand blender to puree the soup. I would have liked a bit more carrots in the base to thicken it, but I needed the liquid content to cover all the food I was about to add!

After this I added some freshly chopped garlic, along with chopped red and white carrots (the red ones are anything from a red to a purple, and have an orange center). I removed the thicker stalks from the carrot greens, chopped it up and threw it in. Seasoned to taste, cooked it until it looked done. Serve and eat.

What I would change next time - I would probably roast both the carrots and the garlic to add an extra richness and deeper taste to it, but it was a fabulous soup!

Crunchy Kale for the win

Sitting back, thinking about a crunchy snack...

Kale.

Yep, you might not think of this curly, leafy grean as a crunchy snack. Trust me, you'd be missing out on a stellar incarnation of this summer vegetable.

I took a big bunch of Kale and washed it all, de-stemmed them, then ripped it up into bite-size pieces then stored it for later use. When we need a crunch snack, I pull out a few handfuls, throw them into a bowl and toss with a little oil (of choice, I used a local peanut oil), and season with salt.

You can choose to season it either before or after you've baked it. I choose before, and used a salt mill, so I have a subtle slightly salty taste (I'm not much of a salt eater). For a more powerful salty flavour, salt after with your favourite salt.

Spread the kale out on a cookie sheet (don't overlap) and bake at 325*F for 7 minutes. Flip the kale over, then cook for another 5 minutes or so. Should be crunchy, but be careful not to overcook.

I'd have take a picture for you all, but I literally just ate them all ;)

Lemon-Cilantro salad dressing

Since we've joined the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - we get weekly veggie baskets) we've had a lot of vegetables to get through. That means, lots of salad!

About a year or so ago we stopped buying salad dressings entirely, and started making our own. Vinegrettes are fairly straight forward, and as a kid we usually made our own. But we get tired of the same old vinegrette, so I tend to play around with ingredients. Some are hit, some are miss.

Tonight, a hit.

Lemon-Cilantro salad dressing
1/3 cup of your oil of choice
1 large lemon
generous handful of freshly cut cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

I minced the garlic a few days ahead of time. I minced a lot of garlic one night, used what I needed to, and stored the rest in a local peanut oil, in the fridge. Homemade minced garlic has a great flavour and was an excellent boost to the dressing.

As for oils, I used a local peanut, with a not-so-local olive oil. And yes, the lemon wasn't local either. My mother had brought a couple by recently when we had dinner and drinks. This was literally a salad dressing made out of things in the fridge and fresh herbs from the garden.

I finely chopped the cilantro and had a huge pile of it. Trying to find an easy way to handle the lemon, first I peeled it, then through it into my handy Tupperware "Quick chef", then strained out the seeds and (most of) the pulp.

Local eating early in the growing season

Really, it's been quite the series of food-adventures this spring and summer. It's exciting to watch the seasons change, and the foods change with it. In late spring we started to see diversity in local veggies appear. My husband and I were going to St Jacobs Farmers Market almost weekly, to get the freshest of what the season had to offer. Three of our favourites were asparagus, fiddleheads and morels.

We literally crawled out of bed to get to the market on a Saturday morning by 7am, in order to procure the morels. We have a source (*taps inner arm*) who grows local mushrooms and goes out and picks edible wild local mushrooms and sells them at the market. The one of the first early mornings we ran out there, he'd made a mistake and didn't have my reserved order, and we left without our first taste of the wild seasonal delight. He called us back, long enough to give us a heads up on the first fiddleheads of the year, from one of the local old order Mennonite vendors, Henry. Henry not only sells fiddleheads at that time of year, but maple syrup. In fact, he has light, amber and dark maple syrups for sale. My husband and I highly recommend the dark maple syrup, it is truly an amazing treat.

It started raining when we were off to visit Henry. By the time we were walking away from there (large bag of fiddleheads and container of maple syrup under arm) it started to pour and we sought shelter in one of the market buildings. Eventually the rain stopped but the market was absolutely flooded. We ended up rolling up our pants and, in our sandalled feet, walked through the frigid water up to our knees (note: farmers market - think hay, manure, etc) to finish our shopping.

The funny thing was, it ended up being a phenomenal adventure in the end. Neither of us really minded the rain, much. Wading through the water was funny, and we dried out quickly after. It was a great moment of connection with Mother Nature herself to be out, foraging for food, literally in the elements.

Later that morning, a friend called. She'd secured morels at the same market, having gone late in the day, he had a reserved bag whose owner never showed up. So in the end, our treasures arrived anyways!

Mmmmm.... if you've never had morels, you can probably find the dried versions of them in your local grocery store. But there is something spectacular about the taste of fresh morels that is hard to describe. They aren't cheap, but they are an amazing tasty treat that shows up in Southern Ontario for a few weeks of the year.

One thing about them, those fine little ridges with deep grooves... they hold the sandy soil that they grow in.


What we used, on a tip from a friend, was a salt water soak. I used warm water (in hopes of slightly opening up any pores) with a sea salt and soaked them for an hour or two, stirring them up to loosen the sand now and then.

In terms of cooking them, our favourite method was to sauté them with butter and garlic. They are holy-crap-good.


The food adventures this year have, as always, helped to reinforce our connection to our food, and I appreciate every moment of it. Every adventure has had a unique, happy ending.

Market fun and a Strawberry-Gooseberry Jam

Today we went to the St Jacobs Farmer's Market, the first time I've been to one of their Thursday markets. We wandered in and lunch time and it was crazy busy, I was absolutely taken aback by how *many* people there were. We prayed to the Goddess of Parking, and did a little careful watching for people getting into their car (or minivan in this case) and found an excellent spot close to the vendors.

We did as we usually do, and made a bee-line for our favourite mushroom vendor. We picked up some portabellos (mostly for the BBQ) and crimini. Did I mention we're in a CSA this year (community supported agriculture program) and we're getting veggie baskets weekly? And yet we still need more ;)

Eventually we made our way over to where most of the old-order Mennonites vend and found gooseberries for sale. Being the brave local-food-adventurer that I am, I bought the bigger of the two sizes of baskets. I've been pretty much buying any local foods as they come in season this year, then coming home and doing some research about them, tasting them, and making a recipe out of them.

One of the things I learned about gooseberries is that they are high in pectin. So, I made:

Strawberry-Gooseberry Jam

2 cups Strawberries
2 cups gooseberries (roughly chopped)
1.5 cups of sugar (or to taste, I like a tart flavour)

In a pot, cook fruit on medium until very soft (maybe 10 minutes?)
Note: You can use either fresh or frozen berries. Gooseberries freeze best whole.

As usual with my recipes this is approximate cooking measurements, I did it by taste.

Fabulous, small batch of jam. Yum yum yum.

Incidentally, we got some of the last garlic scapes and asperagus of the season.

Borealis, not so far from home...

A fabulous thing happened recently. On a visit to Guelph to visit my Mom for Mother's day last weekend, she suggested we all go to Borealis. She was sure that I would absolutely love it, and as it seems, mother really does know best.

Borealis is a fantastic new restaurant, which specializes in making local foods. I am hoping that it will be the first of an earth-friendly trend. I could tell you all about the things they are doing to make a difference, but I'd encourage you to check out their website for more information: http://www.borealisgrille.ca

During my visit last Sunday, I started with the Roasted Ignatius Onion Soup. It was a tasty, local version of a French onion soup, topped with a smoked cheddar (that I regularly have on hand at home) and a crostini. A tasty, tasty start. Borealis also carries a list of Flatbreads (or as my Mother put it "Oh, it's a pizza?"). I decided on the True North flatbread, consisting of ground bison, caramelized onion, field mushrooms and a Monforte Baumanís smoked cheese. Yes, it was truly as finger-licking as it actually sounds. The flavours were a perfect blend, and the smoked cheese was a good tie in with the soup. Lastly, I split the Chudley's apple crisp with my Mom, even if we were nearly bursting at the seams. Still, I ended up going home with a third of a flatbread, which made an excellent late night snack ;)

We went back again yesterday. Oh yes, I think this may turn into a favourite new haunt, even if we do need to drive to another city to get there.

Last night we started the meal with the Borealis Tusks. Somehow the description they give, just doesn't do it justice. The menu describes it as "Ground Bison, Tomatoes, Herbs and Mozzarella fried in a Whole Wheat Wrap with Spicy Dipping Sauce". What it was, was 8 pieces of fried heaven. We split this between four people and there was plenty to go around. I could have even passed on the sauce completely, since the Tusks themselves had an excellent flavour. What isn't mentioned above was the addition of green onions.

They also had a draught special, 2-for-1 pints of Amsterdam Two Fisted Stout (Toronto). It was the first time I've had that stout, and if you're a Guiness lover, you'll really appreciate it. No preservatives, great full-bodied taste, distinct taste of barley & malt with hints of a creamy espresso flavour. If you normally find stout to be a bit to strong for you, consider trying this.

Finally, all four of us enjoyed the Prime Rib together. When I say enjoyed, I suppose I should say "drooled on, gobbled up and talked about it for two days." Although I didn't have a chance to ask them about whether their beef is wet or dry aged (or a combination of both) or for how long, it was seriously a fantastic prime rib dinner. The website doesn't do it justice, they only mention that it is "slow cooked". It is actually smoked for hours, and then slow cooked. It was the first time I'd had a smoked prime rib. It is like someone took a great prime rib and asked themselves how they could make it better, and it completely worked. They offer it in two sizes (8oz was more than enough for me), and only on weekends. I'll definitely be going back for it again. To accompany the prime rib (as if it needed more than the smoke?) was a tasty thyme gravy, horseradish, as well as carrots and ramps (spring leeks). I ate enough horseradish to get a high-five from the waitress, although I'll point out that I didn't diminish the taste of the prime rib. For any hot horseradish fans, it was tasty, but not all that hot.

Not sure what the dessert we took home was (it was a special) but it was fabulous.

One fun note for duck lovers: I did notice was that their website advertises a poutine with a duck confit, but the menu gives ground bison or pulled pork as options for that dish. When I asked the waitress about it, she said that they do also offer it with duck confit if you ask.

Yes, Borealis is absolutely my favorite new restaurant find. Thanks Mom!

Adventures in Pancetta

Not as local or organic as I might usually enjoy, but a fabulous meal none the less.

Stuffed Pasta Shells w/ Pancetta & Spinach

At a local European deli I purchased two slices of Pancetta, and asked them to put the meat slicer on the thickest setting possible. At home I cut the pieces up into cubes which I sautéed with onions (note: oil wasn't required because of the fat in the pancetta).

Also prepared a mixture of blanched spinach, which was a local/organic variety I'd frozen last fall. Mix with ricotta cheese. Add the pancetta/onion mixture and season to taste. Fresh parsley can't hurt at this point.

Pre-boiled the extra large pasta shells, but left them very al dente. Not only did it make handling them easier, but they'll cook longer in the oven. Let the shells cool, take your fabulous new ricotta/pancetta/spinach mixture and spoon them into the shells. Don't forget to lick both your fingers and the bowl when done.

Place the filled shells into a casserole dish. I topped mine with homemade herbed local/organic stewed tomatoes, freshed grated mozzerella cheese, and fresh basil leaves. Season to taste.

Baked in the oven around 350*F until the cheese is melted, but before you drool too much from the fabulous smells. I highly recommend eating some of the fried pancetta just on it's own as a reward for your hard work.

The results:



So good.... slightly sinful, but who cares?

I'm back...

After some time of personal illness, not to mention some introspection, I've decided to get back to this blog again. It feels as though I had just barely begun before, and with local growing seasons upon us, I have the inspiration to continue journaling my food adventures.

I'll take some time to chronicle a few of our recent food-related exploits, and look forward to a full, exciting summer of local foods.

Are you in, or near the K-W area? Do you have a great place you get local/all natural foods from? Or even a fabulous restaurant? Let me know! I'm always looking for new places to try, and new foods to eat.

Happy eating.

Crock-pot Yogurt

The first attempt I've ever made at yogurt was this recipe. I am really pleased with the outcome although I'd like to do two things differently next time: (1) add acidophilus to give it an extra boost in good bacterias and (2) not use any milk less then 2%

The yogurt turned out really good. The taste is good, although it's a bit runnier than I expected.

You'll need:
4 cups of organic milk
1/2 cup of organic yogurt for starter
Crock pot

Put milk into crock pot and simmer on low for 2hrs. Unplug, leave the lid on, and let stand another 2hrs. Mix 1 cup of the warm milk with 1/4 - 1/2 cup good quality organic plain yogurt (I used Mapleton's Organic - Cream on top). Pour into the crock pot and stir until yogurt is completely mixed in.

Cover the crock pot in one or two heavy towels and let sit for 8 hrs. Ta Da!! Yogurt!

A quick, tasty dinner

A mostly organic/local meal I made from things out of my fridge.

1 package local/all natural ground pork
1 organic zucchini, diced
1 home-canned jar of local tomatoes
2 large organic, local leeks
dash of Worcestershire
salt & pepper to taste
basil, oregano
basil pesto

I started by sauteing the leeks by themselves, then the zucchini, and adding everything to a large pot when done. Season and cook the ground pork and add to the pot. Add the canned tomatoes, and add herbs and seasoning. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, then the remanents of some basil pesto for some body to the flavour. Taste, season, taste....

Serve with 4 cups cooked jasmine rice (admittedly, not local. I haven't figured rice out yet)

A first attempt at Kale

We just tried Kale for the first time, and loved it! It made a fantastic side dish to tonight's meal.

The Meal:
Local/all-natural Pork chops stuffed with Cajun sausage, broiled
Organic baked herb-Parmesan sweet potato fries
Organic lemon garlic Kale

How I made the sweet potato fries: I quickly cut up two sweet potatoes on our mandolin. In a bowl I tossed these with herbs de province, parmesan cheese, finely chopped garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper. Roasted these in an oven, stirring occasionally.

How I made the kale: In a saucepan, I started with butter, garlic and onions. I cut up the kale into 1/4" slices (afte removing the stems). I slowly added it into the saucepan and cooked for approx 10mins. Garnished with lemon juice, and salt & pepper to taste.

Results: Fantastic!! I like a lot of dark greens (chard, beet greens) but kale has a wonderful taste. Definitely a cook-again!

Ice wine, a fairly local treat

I'm very blessed where I live, I completely understand that. I have two fabulous markets (ok, technically three) right next door that I frequent and more in the area. I have a store I buy local meats and dairy through year round. There are organic stores in and around town....

and wine is a short drive away.

We took a tour of the Niagara region for the Ice Wine Festival this past weekend. We each bought a Discovery pass, which gave us tastings at 6 wineries (for half the price it would have cost to pay for each). The lovely man at the tasting bar in the first one said we'd never make all six. We made 9 ;) The wines and food were fantastic, and the ambience was everything you'd hope for in a winery tour.



Tastes and adventures along the way, in order:

• Lakeview Estates: A fabulous start to our trip, it's a pretty building. We bought our discovery passes here, and were shocked to find out we bought the last three. I am still not sure how to buy them online earlier next year. The pass took us upstairs to a separate tasting bar where Hayden walked us through three wine samples and a double-bacon mini quiche. We started with their Brut (a sparkling wine), then the Late Autumn Harvest, then finally the ice wine. To top it off he snuck us an extra sample to show us a tasty treat: sparkling wine + ice wine. Fantastic!
• Cave Springs: Usually one of my favorite wineries. Our pass got us a taste of the Dolomite Reisling and a corkscrew. We were disappointed (we've had the Dolomite before) and we said something and got a complimentary taste of their ice wine. I still bought two Reislings from here, their CSV: Estate bottled Reisling is my favorite.
• Flat Rock Cellars: I can't tell you how beautiful this winery is. The building is mostly window, and with good reason. You are on top of the escarpment here, but you can see everything out to the lake - breathtaking. In a private room with a fabulous view of the vineyards, we tasted two ice wine martinis. They both had vodka, one had mango and apricot juice, the other white cranberry juice. Also, we sampled some frozen red grapes which had been rolled in sugar. Out at the sample bar, we tried ice wines from two different harvests and settled on one (2007) for purchase. We also bought a tasty treat for later: homemade ice wine marshmallows.
• Creekside Estates: At the outdoor patio, a large serving of roasted chestnuts with an orange-garlic butter (the other option was cajun) with an ice wine. Inside we enjoyed some mulled wine. A tasty stop, and a beautiful building.
• 20 Bees: Ok, this one actually suprised me a bit. The building you go into literally looks like an oversized classroom portable. But it's quaint inside and the wine is really good. We got free samples of three wines (a perk of the smaller wineries) and bought a sample of ice wine. We ended up buying the bottle of ice wine and reisling, both of which were incredibly inexpensive.
• Inniskillin: The pictures up above are all from Inniskillin, another of my favorite wineries. First of all, the wine is fantastic! The buildings (the sample bar is in another building separate from the gift shop) are beautiful. Outside they had an ice wine sample bar, carved of ice. It all comes at a cost in the price of the wine, but it's all delectable so who could complain? The discovery pass tasting was fantastic: an ice wine and a truffle cauliflower soup. Mmmmm. See those ice grapes up there? I ate some. So sweet.
• Riverview Cellars: An awkward room full of people, but the discovery pass gave us a very tasty treat: a red ice wine with a plate full of goodies on skewers to put into the chocolate fondue (store bought marshmallows, banana, strawberry, soft fresh biscotti etc). They have a cute gift shop with a lot of wine bags.
• Peller Estates: Probably my most favorite Winery to go to, it's phenomenal. The building is *grand* by definition, I think. Large stairways, a posh room to sample and purchase wine, a fancy restaurant, and I think someone said there were rooms you could stay in. The discovery passes got us ice wine and homemade ice wine marshmallows, outdoors on the patio. We roasted our marshmallows in the open fires, and we were fabulously shaded from the wind. Afterwards, we made our way to the sample bars and had a flight of dry whites.
• Pilletteri Estates: A cute place, it looks like it might have been a veggie stand once upon a time ago. We had some free samples and bought a bottle of wine. It was a cute place.

On the way home the next day, we took a quick detour to one last winery (so, that's 10). Rosewood Estates was my favorite new discovery. It is not only a winery, it is also a MEADERY. Mead is a honey wine, and my husband and I bought have a love for it. We sampled 4 meads and a wine. We bought two meads. Fabulous taste. It is the second meadery we've found in Ontario, and it's only about an hour's drive.

All in all, a great wine-related weekend.

Roasted cauliflower goodness

You have a lovely head of organic cauliflower... what do you do? Roast it.

Why hadn't I thought about roasting a cauliflower before? Maybe I resolved myself to the way we'd eaten it growing up: boiled until slightly mushy, topped with cheddar cheese sauce (or cheese whiz, as it were).

You'll need:
1 head cauliflower
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
4 - 6 whole cloves of garlic (depends how much you like garlic)
herbs de province
good quality olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Cut the cauliflower into small florets, and cut the stems into 1" pieces. Combine the cauliflower, onion, garlic, herbs de province, olive oil and salt and pepper until well mixed. Spread out onto a large roasting pan and bake at 350 until browned and softened. Enjoy.

What can you do with smoked pork chops?

Our Farmer's Choice, where we get all of our meats (local/all natural), is carrying smoked pork chops that we've been buying now for a couple of months. We usually end up frying them, and eating them with a couple of side dishes. I was looking for something a bit different, and I finally figured it out.

You'll Need:
12 whole cloves
1 medium - large onion
2 - 4 smoke pork chops
2 cups good quality/organic beef broth
sauerkraut
bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Put 2 cups organic/good quality beef broth in a large pan or wok. Cut the onion in half, you'll be placing both sides, cut side down. Along what will be the bottom of this, stick the cloves in the onion so it will be sitting in the broth. Add the onions, bay leaf and pork chops to beef broth. Cover and simmer 30mins. Serve with cooked sauerkraut.

The Verdict:
According to husband, this is a "make again". I actually ended up over cooking these, but the smoked pork just kind of caramelized and it was absolutely delicious. This is definitely a make again, and I'd like to add some mushrooms (like morels?) to it!

A sick foodie wants thai food

I was sitting here thinking I had nothing of interest to post about today. I've come down with a bit of a cold, and it's left me awfully congested. My thoughts, however, turned to foods that I like to eat when I am sick.

I like the classics: toast, gingerale, chicken noodle soup.... There is something about eggs that makes me feel good when I am sickly.

Amongst todays staples are several cups of a concoction of orange pekoe tea (fair trade), lemon, and honey (local/all natural). For dinner I am eating a dinner of Red Curry noodles from Bangkok Cuisine, a thai medium in heat (not a western medium, beware!). I figure I'll scare it out with some spices. If it doesn't cure my congestion, nothing will.

If you haven't been to Bangkok Cuisine, go. It's on King street near Fairway road, right about where the highway entrance/exit is. The thai food is absolutely amazing, and you can tell they are using quality and fresh ingredients. Warning *again* the food is hotter than many of you might expect. I love hot foods and I tend to stick with medium. Favorite dishes include the curry noodles, drunken noodles and pad thai. The larb, and appetizer, is to die for. They even have a website.

Update: the red curry totally works but wears off after about an hour. Rx - 4-5 tbsp of red curry dish every 1hrs until better :)

Oh-no, G-M-O

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism, and refers to living things that have been genetically modified at the molecular level (DNA). Sometimes it means taking genes from one organism and putting it into another. GMOs exist in the pharmaceutical, medical, and agricultural industries, and has widespread applications.

There is a considerable amount of controversy regarding GMOs in the food industry. Many will argue that altering DNA of a species (florae or fauna) can have serious environmental reprocussions that we don't fully understand. There are biological, environmental and ethical arguments against the GMO industries.

Canada is one of the biggest suppliers of GM canola. In fact, Canada is one of the biggest producers of GMO foods. Approximately half of the foods in our grocery stores are GMO foods.

Here is an excellent article if you'd like more reading: Canada wakes up to GMO issues

How can you avoid GMO foods? Buy organic or all natural. Talk to the people whom you get your food from. Where do they get their seeds? How do they raise their livestock? Get to know your food producers, and you'll find natural, quality foods.

Asparagus & mushroom quiche in a brown rice crust

I recently made this dish for my husband and it was a huge hit. I made it with leftover brown rice after making a lot of it the night before for a stir fry. It was an easy meal to make after work, and I felt better making the crust rather than buying a pre-made store bought one.

Brown Rice Crust
* 1-2 cups cooked brown rice
* 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese
* splash of milk
* 1 egg (optional)
Mix the Parmesan, brown rice and milk. You can add a beaten egg to the mixture if you'd like it to hold together better, but I tend to leave it out since it's holding an egg dish. Spray or lightly grease pie pan. Press the mixture firmly into pie pan, forming a crust. Preheat oven to 425 and bake the crust for 10 - 14mins

Asparagus/Mushroom Quiche
* 3 eggs or substitue
* 1 cup milk
* 4 - 5 spears asparagus (cut into 1" pieces)
* handful of mushrooms (whatever is local)
* 1/2 chopped small onion or 3-4 chopped shallots
* 2-3 tbsp old cheddar cheese, shredded
Lightly steam the asparagus pieces. Saute onion or shallots in butter until slightly brown. Add mushrooms of your choice, then asparagus and saute for a few minutes. Do not overcook. Put mixture into the crust and add shredded cheese, salt and pepper. Mix eggs with milk, pour into quiche. Bake 10 minutes for 425 degrees, lower to 350 degrees for 30 minutes longer.

He makes a mean local roast

I was feeling under the weather last night, so my husband made dinner. He used a beer to marinate a inside round roast from an all-natural, local farmer. Although we have local beer (Iron Duke, Wellington Brewery) he opted for the foreign beer in the marinade, I believe, because he's almost out of the local stuff to drink.

With the beef roast he put in locally grown carrots, potatoes and onions. He pierced the roast itself and inserted cloves of a locally grown garlic, then used some of the beer marinade in the bottom of the roast pan. I added some herbs de province before it went into the oven.

Accompanied by locally grown and made horseradish, of course.

Jan 24th & 25th around the area

If you're looking for something to do in the area next weekend? Why not take a quick trip over to the Guelph Organic Food Conference. Located at the University of Guelph, this is Canada's foremost grassroots organic show. This will be its 28th year and there are well over 150 vendors. Free admission and free parking!! Learn about organic foods, and taste samples at an organic marketplace. You'll also get a chance to meet some of the certifying bodies to help you understand organic/fair trade food labels. A variety of workshops and other special events will also take place throughout the event, Jan 22th - 25th.

I'm going to try to make it there on Sunday, but I'll also be enjoying the tastes of the Niagara Ice Wine Festival next weekend. We'll be celebrating (and stocking up on) local wines as well as a uniquely Canadian treat, Ice Wine. A number of wineries are offering food/wine pairings, so it should make for a excellent gastronomic experience.

Weekend food hunt

My neighbours, my husband and I went out looking for local, and organic (or all-natural) foods today. Someone jokingly said something about how we were out "hunting and gathering" our food. It made me think.

When I go shopping for my food at a large chain grocery store, I feel really removed from the food that I am buying. I have no idea where most of them were grown. In fact, a lot of the foods I buy from there come from farther than I've ever travelled to. I'm disconnected from the farmers who've produced it, the land it was grown on, and indeded the food itself.

So off we went, from store to store around the area, hunting and gathering for our foods. We went to Organic Oasis, Pfennings Organic, Grainharvest bakery and Our Farmer Choice.

What did I find? Locally grown organic garlic, onions, and local organic oats, horseradish, milk & chocolate milk. Organic romaine lettuce, kale, kabocha squash, bananas (fair trade), roasted red peppers, zucchini, raisins, dried apples, tea, snacks, All natural & local rye buns, 7 grain bread, smoked pork chops, stuffed pork, inside round roast, fresh bacon, fresh farm eggs and pepperettes.

Mmmm... tasty treasures.