Browsing: Food Security

Food Revolution Day & Sobey’s Potluck Challenge-Our Tastes from Home Dinner

May13

We were delighted to host a potluck in conjunction with Sobey’s Potluck Challenge.  When we invite this particular group of friends over, I am not sure who is the most excited: the parents because they get a breather from their kids (we take the kids off their hands for the evening) or the kids who are anxious to see each other and head down to our play area in the family room.

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But we always start the evening off with a family dinner.  The contributions to our “Tastes from Home” potluck were homemade chicken noodle soup, green bean casserole (a classic modified to be made without cream of mushroom soup) to accompany the macaroni and cheese that I had prepared,

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a make-it-yourself spinach salad and watermelon and brownies for dessert.  The hit in the dining room where D, myself and Sister #3 were supervising the little ones was the chicken noodle soup.  The noodles were lovely and fine and the broth had a hint of what we guessed was fennel in it.  We couldn’t confirm because the home cook that contributed it had to attend another event, but she sent a stock pot full of soup over with her husband and girls. We grown ups in the room loved the green beans and the spinach salad.

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My contribution of Mac and Cheese was modified from an old family favourite.  We have been preparing Best of Bridge’s Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese for years.  But recently, we had been saving the dish for special occasions because it was anything but low fat and low calorie.  I performed a test run of the recipe for Daughter #2’s birthday dinner.  When the original recipe and my version were tasted side by side, no one could tell the difference.

Gourmet Mac and Cheese, Healthied Up
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • canola spray oil
  • 2½ c fibre enriched elbow macaroni
  • ¼ c canola
  • ¼ c whole wheat flour
  • 2 c 1% milk
  • ½ t salt
  • 1 T monkfruit extract, 100% natural, 0 calorie sweetener
  • 8 oz. fat reduced old cheddar cheese, grated
  • ⅔ c fat free sour cream
  • 1 1 /3 c 1% cottage cheese
  • Topping:
  • 2 c grated fat reduced old cheddar cheese
  • 1½ c breadcrumbs made from whole grain bread
  • 2 T canola oil
Instructions
  1. Prepare a 2.5 litre casserole dish by spraying with a canola spray.
  2. Cook macaroni until el dente. Drain.
  3. Blend canola oil and flour over medium heat until it begins to bubble around the edges
  4. Add milk and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until sauce thickens.
  5. Add salt and monkfruit extract. Blend pasta, sauce, cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese.
  6. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle on top.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

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The moist, dense brownies for dessert were perfection.  One bite could truly satisfy a chocolate yearning.

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Now, who wouldn’t want to cook for these adorable kids? They are well mannered, taste everything and have sophisticated palettes for children their age. This is, I am quite sure, because of the example and encouragement of their parents.  All the parents in our circle, simply place wholesome, home prepared foods in front of their families and let the kids take it from there. Soon there will be another little guy around the table, as they have a brand new baby brother!

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In the foreground are three sisters.  They all help their parents in the kitchen and one of their favourite pastimes is flipping through pages of cookbooks.  I kid you not.  When we were invited there for dinner recently, all three of them were on the floor by the cookbook shelf in the kitchen, oohing and awing over various recipe photos, sharing them with each other and then requesting of their Mom that they make the most popular items.

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The Wee One (our Granddaughter) is also a part of this group.  This weekend she tried grilled eggplant for the first time!

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After our successful potluck, the kids donned t-shirts which served as painting smocks and made painted terra-cotta pots for their Moms for Mother’s Day.  These children are truly blessed with amazing Moms who know that time invested in the nurturing of these little ones is their most important work.

So as far as a Food Revolution is concerned, the need is not great amongst our particular circle.  But please do not misunderstand me; we know that we are a privileged group.  We have the luxury of time and can afford a variety of wholesome ingredients to prepare for our families.  Such is not the case the world over and indeed not even throughout our own neighbourhoods and communities.  We try not to take our blessings for granted and know that our responsibility is to share our knowledge with other families by example, with hospitality and with contributions of money and time to organizations that help feed families nutritious food.

I applaud Jamie Oliver and his efforts through Food Revolution Day-a global day of action celebrating the importance of cooking good food and inspiring in children a love of healthy food that will last a lifetime.  Sobeys wanted all Canadians to get involved and show off their cooking skills and that is why they created the national potluck challenge.  I encourage you to host your own potluck but also to tweet and/or post to Instagram about your potluck event with the #PotluckChallenge hashtag.  Sobeys will be donating $1 to the Cooking Towards Independence Project-a joint initiative between Sobeys and the Children’s Aid Foundation that will set up cooking workshops with children across Canada.

Kath’s quote: “As soon as I was old enough to peer over the worktops, I remember being fascinated by what went on in the kitchen. It just
seemed such a cool place, everyone working together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.”-Jamie Oliver

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Love-that is all.

Snackbox Opened For Grey Cup Game

November25

Yesterday during the festivities of cheering Rider Nation onto their well deserved Grey Cup win and gnoshing on homemade pizza and wings, we opened our first Snackbox.  It is a monthly subscription of healthy, natural, and most of all, delicious snacks.  Each month they ship 10 – 12 items to their members across Canada through Canada Post.  All of their snacks are “curated” by their in-house holistic nutritionist, so busy professionals and parents don’t have to spend time reading the labels.

The Quinoa Skinny Cracker proved to be a tasty way to scoop up the mango salsa that I chopped up just before game time and the Veggie Straws were perfect when dipped into the baba ganoush that I had in the fridge.  The Fruit and Nut Medley was a big hit as were the Pear Slices.  The latter are dried without the use of any additives or preservatives and tasted as close to a fresh pear as you could get.  For dessert, J2 indulged in the Toffee Coconut Dark Chocolate Bar.  You can taste the quality of the dark chocolate with every bite and the bar is rich and satisfying.  D is on the road this morning (for a business visit to our victorious neighbours to the west) so he packed up Hemp Protein Bar, a Cashew Lara Bar and My Smoothie Green .  I have a Green Tea chilling in the fridge to accompany my lunch of left over pizza.  At first we mused that the Sponge Bob Square Pants Cheese Puffs were an odd inclusion but J2 thought that they tasted just like Cheetos without the concern of unnatural ingredients.  In fact, J2 decided that they would make a perfect first fun snack when the Wee One is old enough to begin her solid food journey.  The last ingredient of our Snackbox was a Gobi Spice package that is recommended to toss with cauliflower.  I intend to pick up some fresh veggies today capitalize on this organic certified exotic, spice mix.

The cost of a subscription goes from $24-$33. +tax per month depending upon the length or your subscription.  The lovely folks at Snackbox have created a special code for Food Musings readers if you would care to sample your own box of healthy goodies: “FOODMUSINGS”. It entitles you to $15 off your first Snackbox, and it expires on Dec. 31, 2013. It is valid for new customers only. The coupon code is not valid for gifts.

Snackbox is also launching gift subscriptions this week. It is the same as their regular subscriptions, except the subscription does not auto-renew, and shipping is free.

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The Wee One was decked out in Vikings gear for her Grandpa but failed to go home and change into her Giants jersey for the second pre-Grey Cup game.  The results?  Vikings won, Giants lost and the Riders didn’t need any help at all.

Kath’s quote: “I am out of words”.  John Chick, Defensive End, Saskatchewan Roughriders, on yesterday’s win

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Love-that is all.

 

 

Remembering My Manitoba Harvest Celebration

November15

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I am writing this as part of the Canadian Food Experience Project which began June 7 2013.  As we the participants, share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice.  My topic: The Canadian Harvest in Manitoba.

Even though I have not been to school (as a student) since I graduated from University many years ago, I still get that “back-to-school” butterfly feeling every September.  I look forward to the change of season even though it means I have to pack up from my extended stay at our summer house and embrace my routines of our house in the city.  One special event that I look forward to every fall is celebrating the harvest season by traveling to the Dalgarno Family Farm in Newdale Manitoba.  This is the second time I have been invited by the Pen-Dale Farm to attend a “Supper-in-the-Field”- a term known to most farm families.  During harvest time meals are taken to the field so as to be time efficient for the workers.  Often friends who have other occupations assist at harvest time and so there are many to provide a hearty meal for.  Last year, Bruce Dalgarno who is a volunteer fire-fighter was called away to fight a field fire in the area.  His wife Carol, didn’t skip a beat and hosted a large group of us “city-folk” and celebrated her grandson’s birthday all at the same time.

Pen-Dale is a fourth generation farm and they operate a 3000 acre mix of canola, cereals, oilseeds, grasses and pedigree seeds.  All this seems daunting enough but they do so at an elevation approaching 2000 feet which means that the area has one of the shortest growing seasons for agricultural land in Manitoba.  Bruce and Carol are true illustrations of being the “salt of the earth”.  They met in the area and have lived a love affair with the land, ever since.  They are humble, kind and trustworthy; the kind of people that you would love to have living next door to you, or a mile or so down the road.

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Tables were beautifully set prior to our arrival.  I felt very pampered because the prior year we ate more picnic style.

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Chef MJ Feeke of Benjamin’s in Selkirk, Manitoba is the beautiful woman wielding the tongs.  I have had the pleasure of sampling her creations on many occasions.  She too loves the land and the bounties that it delivers and feels that food nourishes both our bellies and our souls.

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Our post-supper discussion was a passionate one about GMOs and the ethics of bio-technology.  I would never knowingly harm my family with food that was dangerous in any way.  I try to expose myself to whatever information I can, to make a rational decision in the face of the radical anti-GMO movement.  I am concerned about food security both at home and around the world and I worry that the anti-GMO movement will paralyze the bio-ag industry to deliver new technologies to feed the hungry of this earth.  Where can we go for the truth, for the straight goods on all of this?  Well, I can visit Bruce Dalgarno who loves to farm because he can “feel the earth and watch and smell the crops grow”.  I can watch he and Carol with their grandsons and I know that they would not knowingly harm those boys either.

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When we left the farm that evening we could hear the din of the combines in the vicinity and the honking of geese overhead and knew that  glorious evenings like this were numbered, as summer gave way to autumn.

Kath’s quote: “Feed the world.”  Bob Geldof

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Love-that is all.

 

 

 

 

Old Mother Hubard

November7

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Have I mentioned that I am frugal?  I love the challenge of rummaging around in the freezer, fridge or pantry and whipping supper up with a couple of unearthed ingredients.  Lately though, this particular cupboard wasn’t producing any gems, so I decided to shake out the cobwebs and completely emptied the mess and reorganized.

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I had made a quick trip to a cash and carry restaurant supply store in town and picked up three different sizes of clear deli containers.  Once I had everything repackaged and restacked, I stood back in amazement at the number of items that I didn’t know that I had.  While I was still purging I slow roasted pretzels, Shreddies and popcorn and took it to a Poker party as psuedo nuts and bolts. I thought that it was delicious and I heard at least one other snacker declare so.  Since the weekend, I have made a ham and split pea soup and have plans for homemade granola utilizing the coconut, dry mixed fruit, hemp hearts, wheat buds, whole flax seed, ground flax and sprouted chia and flax seed powder that I now apparently own in abundance.  In combination with the two cases of my Mom-in-law’s preserves that I actually went through in the basement pantry, I am also going to make a pear and peach crisp since I have more oatmeal (both whole and instant), than you could ever desire.  In the crock pot at this moment is 13 Bean chili which came together in a jiffy with her preserved garden tomatoes and her home-made salsa.

Homemade, wholesome food is so satisfying to spoon out and place down in front of my family.  When I have done so without making a trip to the grocery store, it makes it even more so.

Kath’s quote:

“Beautiful soup, so rich and green
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!
Beautiful soup! Who cares for fish
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth of beautiful soup?”

Lewis Carroll

Love-that is all.

Beef in a Jar

October8

I am writing this as part of the Canadian Food Experience Project which began June 7 2013.  As we the participants, share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice.

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Our topic for this month is “Preserving: Our Canadian Food Tradition”.  I am not a “canner”.  I so wish I was.  I even purchased my first preserving recipe book this spring and then life swept me away this summer (new grand-baby and all) and I didn’t get a single jar into the larder.

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I am fond of pickled beets and a really good polski ogorki.  I also love jams and jellies of every kind but my very favourite food is jarred beef (believe it or not).

This Canadian Food Experience takes me back to my little Polish Grandma as it did in my previous month’s entry: http://foodmusings.ca/recipes/desserts/grandma-felicias-polish-cake/.  Living in southern Saskatchewan there was always plenty of beef and often a surplus.  Every fall, Grandma Felicia would “put down” (her slang for canning) jars and jars of beef stew.  I am surmising that the reason was financial as well as practical.  Although there was always food on the table, cash flow must have been an issue for my grandparents.  In addition, they did not have a chest freezer in those days and the small one on top of their fridge could not accommodate all the meat required for a winter.  When winter storms hit and they often did, a jar could be fetched from the hand dug mud cellar, and a warm dinner could be on the table in minutes.  Boil some potatoes and root vegetables. also from the cellar and presto-fast food!

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The other reason that beef was jarred was that it made the meat taste so darned good.  The preserving process contributed to the tenderizing of the meat producing a tender and savoury mound of beef, onions and gravy.  Homemade bread would be cut into thick slices, speared with a long fork and toasted over the coal fire that was lit summer and winter.  We would tear the bread into kid sized pieces to mop up that gravy.  Oh my, I can taste it now…..  I have never tried to do this myself and I do not have Grandma’s recipe to follow, but here is a link to a recipe and process that must be pretty close: http://www.wikihow.com/Can-Meat

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The only time that I have even heard about canning meat is when my eldest daughter asked me if I wanted to volunteer to can meat because the Mennonite Central Committee’s  mobile canning unit was going to be in town.  Here is some information about this resourceful practice that feeds people all around the world.

 Today the canning unit is mounted on a flat-bed trailer, enclosed with fold-up sides. Four MCC volunteers operate the canning unit, traveling to 34 locations in 13 U.S.A. states and two Canadian Provinces: Manitoba and Ontario.  Operating a seasonal schedule from October to May, local meat canning committees purchase meat and arrange for facilities, fundraising and volunteers. The work of the local committees is the heart of the program.  Currently the canning unit processes an average of 9,000 pounds of chunked turkey thighs per day; 9,000 pounds of pork; or up to the equivalent of 20 head of cattle per day.

Who knew?

Kath’s quote: “The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today.”-Lewis Carroll

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Love-that is all.

 

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