Nourishing Traditions

I have always been wary of food and diet fads. I find them incredibly intimidating and counter-intuitive. I have been interested in "eating healthy" for years, but failed to do any research because I had an invisible barrier between me and knowledge: fear.

I was afraid of what I might find.
Of what it would require of me.
Of how much work it would be.
And of how expensive and time consuming it would be.

This trip has given me an overwhelming amount of time to leisurely think about whatever I please. It has been wonderful! For the first while I just thought amazing thoughts. Made amazing life plans. Did plenty of self reflection. Talked with my husband about anything and everything.

And thirsted for knowledge.

I have read things on the internet. About birth, doula-ing, parenting, relationships, eating, and current events around the world. And all this has been interesting, but internet is often hard to come by and who wants to sit staring at an iPad? That requires low-light and seclusion.

When our friends came to join us last month I asked them to bring me a book. I took some time to think about what precious book I was interested in and decided on a big, heavy book.

Nourishing Traditions. By Sally Fallon.

I decided it was high time to face the giant and learn more about this thing called nutrition.

And you know what, it has been wonderful.

This book has made me fearless. It has shown me that our family really does an excellent job of eating healthy and nutritious foods. It has validated my fears about various food fads and shed light on benefits of a balanced and inclusive diet.

Everything I have read has revealed how intuitive healthy living really is. And how easy.

Yes, there are a few changes we need to make, and even more that I would like to make. For example, I want to start soaking grains, nuts and seeds. I want to add more fermented foods to our diet (more sauerkraut please) and make some of those foods myself. I want to purchase better butter, better salt, and raw dairy products. I want to make bone broths.

But I feel affirmed. We have a firm foundation to continue building on and I feel excited and empowered to continue on this journey. Inspiration has replaced fear.

Nourshing Traditions. Read it.

More thoughts to come.

In the Garden

We spent a little bit of time in my SIL's garden this weekend. I just asked Erik to describe the garden and he used the term "crunchy" then laughed. He was joking. He then described it as a "bastion of edible plants in an ocean of horrible, terrifying, awful weeds. Beautiful weeds, actually." When I didn't know what bastion meant he said an "island" would be a better description for the garden... I still don't know what bastion means.

There were some weeds, but the garden was big. Big and beautiful. Big, beautiful and bountiful.

There is just something about gardens. They are tranquil, hearty, earthy, organic, crunchy, delicious, peaceful, and lovely. And they are also a lot of work. A lot of work. Yummmm... but they are yummy! So so yummy. What is better than eating food straight from the garden? I can imagine that eating food straight from your garden may feel better. There is something about knowing you participated in coaxing those plants to grow from seed that would give a feeling of satisfaction. And that satisfaction is bound to improve the overall experience of eating said food. Especially when most of (dare I say all??) the fruits and vegetables your family consumes were grown in your very own backyard. That, my friends, is how amazing my BIL and SIL are. Pretty freaking amazing.

Truen really enjoyed helping in the garden. And it actually held his attention for a little bit. He taught me how to pick tomatillos. I had never even heard of them (am I the only one??). He was actually the first one to notice they were ripe -- what a smart little boy.

Mr. Jamie just sat in the garden while we picked tomatoes, peppers, herbs, beans, tomatillos, okra, celery, melons, cabbage, squash, and a little bit of broccoli. I never knew what to do with summer squash before but Shawna would fry it up with butter and garlic for breakfast and it was delicious! Butter and garlic can make most things delicious, but this squash was yummy.

I was inspired to expand on our garden next year. I don't want it to get overwhelming, but I would love to grow some more vegetables next year. This year we only did herbs, tomatoes and squash -- not very impressive. I want cinderella pumpkins, string beans, peas, and some different varieties of tomatoes next year. And more! We'll just have to see how much inspiration I am feeling come spring. To be honest, I think I will need the inspiration come July when Erik is in Alaska. That is usually the time our garden falls apart. Though I must say that our garden did well until this last week when we were in Minnesota. It was much warmer than we expected while we were gone. In general though, I'm not very good at working full-time and weeding the garden. I need my partner to hold me accountable (read: do it for me). I'm good at gardening if I have someone to chat with. I'm bad at gardening when I feel as though I am fighting a losing battle against the weeds. I hate weeding the same patch of garden only to find the weeds have returned in full force within two days. That is discouraging. Regardless, I will do better next year.

Trust Me On This One

Another P-Dub Recipe.

It sounds a bit strange, but it is so delicious. Trust me on this one. And if you can't trust me, then trust the Pioneer Woman. She has never let me down. Not even once. 

Erik had this pizza ready for me when I came home from work on Monday and I thought I had died and gone to heaven (which was nice after the 12 hours of hell I had experienced in the hospital). If Erik can make it, you can make it. We inhaled it and then sat smacking our lips wishing there was more. 

I am even copying and pasting the recipe directly here so you don't have to click if you don't want to. 

Eggplant and Grape Tomato Pizza

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST (MAKES TWO CRUSTS):
• 1 teaspoon Active Dry Or Instant Yeast
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• _____
• FOR THE PIZZA:
• 1 whole Large Eggplant (or Two Medium Eggplants)
• Kosher Salt, For Sprinkling
• 1 pint Grape Tomatoes
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 8 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Very Thin
• 1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil For Drizzling
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

TO MAKE THE CRUST:

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it. ***It's best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

TO MAKE THE PIZZA:

Preheat oven broiler.

Slice the eggplant thinly. Sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and place into a strainer in the sink. Allow to sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse eggplant lightly in cold water, then pat the slices dry between layers of paper towels.

Slice grape tomatoes in half lengthwise and toss into a bowl with minced garlic.

Slice mozzarella very thinly.

Cut eggplant slices into fourths, and toss with olive oil. Arrange on a baking sheet and place 8 inches under the broiler.
Broil for 3 minutes, then toss around and broil another 3 minutes. Remove pan from oven and add tomato/garlic mixture. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove and set aside. (May do this 1 hour in advance.)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Drizzle olive oil on a large baking sheet and use fingers to coat thoroughly. Remove HALF the pizza dough from the bowl. Stretch pizza dough into a large rectangle, pressing with fingers to finish forming. Dough will be very thin.

Lightly drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and use fingers to spread. Lay mozzarella slices over the surface of the dough. Spread vegetables all over the surface of the cheese. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from pan and slice with a pizza cutter. Serve immediately!

A Pioneer Woman Kinda Dinner

AKA. Yuuuuummmmmmyyyyyy.

I love The Pioneer Woman. She makes me laugh so hard I cry sometimes. Or spit at the computer screen. Or away from the computer screen (I've learned a thing or two the past couple years). The point is, she's hilarious.

But that's not the point.

The Pioneer Woman also cooks. A lot. And her recipes have always made my mouth water. I have never actually bit the bullet and made one though, I have just been wiping drool off my chin for far too long. That all changed yesterday and I think I'm hooked. I made four, yes I did say four, of her recipes yesterday (my brothers are in town, you know... kinda a big deal).

Every single recipe was absolutely delicious. And so simple. And most of the ingredients were things I had in the house anyway (how often does that happen?).

First recipe up: Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes, and Basil. It was so yummy. So very very yummy. 

I made a few minor adjustments:
- no idea what mastaccioli was so I just used penne noodles I had at home.
- I had no milk, but the vinegar thinned the mayo anyway so it wasn't an issue.
- I used sirachi instead of adobo sauce from chipotle peppers.... don't know what that is.
- I did splurge and use gouda (not smoked), but any cheese would be delicious.

Second recipe: Grilled Chicken Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn, and Blueberries. Again, delicious. Though "too healthy" for the boys (except my dear husband, Erik, who has been trained to eat veggies). No adjustments. I had everything I needed!


Third recipe: Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Pizza. Even the boys loved this one. I don't even know where to get fresh mozza so I just used the normal stuff. Actually the pre-shredded (cringe) because it is actually cheaper. And I hate shredding cheese (Erik does it, bless his heart, but he wasn't part of the prep yesterday).

And finally: BBQ Chicken Pizza. Erik especially loved this one. Lindsey doesn't like cilantro so we just used basil. I think it would be even better with cilantro! Cilantro is a flavour I have come to love since being married. Erik loves cilantro so it kind of comes with the territory.

I would highly recommend you make every single one of these recipes immediately. Go ahead and double them... they're that delicious. And perfect for summer.

Chicken and Coconut Thai Curry Soup

Yummy! Yumm. Eeeeee. Yummy! I made this delicious soup a couple weeks ago - before Erik left - and I forgot to share the recipe!! I copied it off the internet somewhere, but I can't seem to find the website anymore. I made some minor adjustments to the recipe, but I can no longer remember what they were... I'm sure the original is delicious as well. I was a little intimidated at the thought of attempting this soup, but I soon realized just how simple it is. And it is so tasty.

Chicken and Coconut Thai Curry Soup

2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of Thai red curry paste
4 cups of chicken stock
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
1 piece of ginger, peeled, about 2 inches
2 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken meat of your choice: breasts or thighs
2 teaspoon of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
Chopped vegetables such as carrots, broccoli and celery
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Add the curry paste and cook quickly for about 30 seconds without burning it.
Add the stock, coconut milk and ginger and bring it to a boil.
Add the chicken, cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Add the sugar, lime juice,  fish sauce and vegetables. Turn heat up and cook until vegetables are just cooked but still crunchy, about 5 minutes.
Top each soup bowl with cilantro and serve with rice.

Quinoa Salad

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for a delicious quinoa salad. We have had it a couple times now and we love it!

Quinoa Salad 
Dressing: 
   -- 5 Tbsp fresh lime juice
   -- 1 tsp salt
   -- 1 whole garlic clove, finely minced
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
   -- 1 tsp ground cumin
   -- 1/3 cup olive oil
   -- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, to taste 

For the Salad:
   -- 1.5 cup quinoa
   -- 1 Tbsp salt, add when boiling quinoa
   -- 1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
   -- 1.5 cup corn kernels, fresh (cut from about 2 large ears of corn)
   -- 1 cup finely chopped sweet bell peppers 
   -- 1 whole jalapeno chili, seeded and minced
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
   -- 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

   

The actual recipe explains how you're supposed to prepare the quinoa. It required a cheesecloth, boiling for a while, then steaming for a while.... but I just prepared the quinoa the regular way the internet tells you to and it worked just fine for me.

Pie Please

Yesterday I did something I have never done before -- I baked a pie. I know, I'm a little ashamed to admit it myself. But here it is, my confession: I have never baked a pie. Correction, I had never baked a pie until yesterday. And I didn't bake just one... I baked TWO. And I even made the crust (a must).

The first was a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Yummy! It may even have inspired me to plant rhubarb in our garden. I love rhubarb.

The second was a blackberry-apple pie. I love blackberries. I miss living on the coast where blackberries were always in abundance. They are so expensive!!!! I decided to splurge and indulge myself in some.

I love that my babies are getting old enough to entertain themselves so I can be productive while I have them over. I've learned to keep them close so they stay happy.

The pies are so tasty. So so so tasty! My only issue is that there is so much liquid in them! You can scoop the delicious insides into a cup and drink it! What did I do wrong?? I followed the recipes (with only minor adjustments), but I used the right amount of flour and cornstarch in the filler.

How do you keep your pies from becoming fruit soup?

yumminess

Erik hates this salad, but I love it. I may be the only one, but that's enough for me!! The best part is that it takes only five minutes to make.

Tuna Salad

• Tuna
• Chick peas (or soybeans, or black beans)
• Onion
• Lemon Juice
• Cilantro

Mix however much of whatever you want. And eat! Delicious!!

Yummmm

Toast + Mayo + Tomato + Avocado + S&P = YUMMM

Cabbage + Red Pepper + Basil + Olive Oil + Lemon Juice + Red Wine Vinegar = YUMMM

Absolutely Delish

I got this recipe off my SIL's blog. We cannot get enough of this bread. It is so absoLUTely delicious. We love having it with soup, applesauce, jam, hard boiled eggs, and plain old butter. Yummy!
 
Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread

1 2/3 cups plain yogurt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup molasses

Mix dry ingredients
Mix wet ingredients
Mix wet & dry together

In a 9 X 5 inch pan, bake @ 325 until a toothpick stuck into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about an hour. [30-40 minutes if setting aside half the batter and using a smaller loaf pan.] Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve.

I Stand Corrected

I thought I didn't like cabbage. I have never minded eating it in other dishes or in salads, but I have never thought of it as a vegetable serving of its own. My SIL claims cabbage as her favorite vegetable. Yech. She posted a recipe for cabbage on her blog and so I prepared it at my in-laws last night. Let me tell you, it was delectable!! I went back for more four times. I ate more cabbage than I did potatoes and pork chops combined! Cabbage has been redeemed. 

GINGERED CABBAGE

2 Tbsp butter
1 head cabbage (about 1 1/2 lbs) cored and chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger
Juice of 1 lime (I just splashed it in from the bottle)

• Place the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat (a 12 inch cast-iron pan is perfect for this, but go w/ medium heat instead). When the butter melts, add the cabbage. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 to 10 minutes.
• When the cabbage is limp but not mushy, add the garlic, salt & pepper, and cook another 2 minutes, stirring.
• Add the ginger and cook another minute. Drizzle with the lime juice and serve.

So simple. So delicious.

Sprouted Brown Rice

I am trying to sprout rice. For those of you who don't know, sprouted brown rice is rice that is allowed to germinate before cooking.

The following is pulled from this blog:

Sprouted brown rice, known as hatsuga genmai in Japanese, is brown rice that is allowed to germinate by soaking the rice before cooking.

The process of germination enhances the bio-availability of nutrients by neutralizing phytic acid, the enzyme inhibitor in all grains, seeds and beans, that bind nutrients within the grain until the conditions are right for the grain to sprout. Consumption of unsprouted grains can lead to poor absorption of the nutrients in the grain. The incompletely digested proteins can irritate the intestines, leading to inflammation and allergic reactions. Neutralizing the phytic acid, releases the protein, vitamins and enzymes, allowing these important nutrients to be absorbed during digestion.

Traditionally, grains have almost always been soaked, sprouted or fermented before eaten. In Europe, bread was carefully cultured and fermented over a long period of time before being baked. In Africa, the staple grain millet has traditionally been soaked and fermented before being cooked into a porridge. In Scotland and Ireland, whole oats were always soaked overnight before cooking into a breakfast porridge, although we have lost that tradition in modern times with our instant oatmeal. In Asia, brown rice and millet traditionally were rinsed, then soaked overnight before cooking. Even today, the typical Japanese housewife knows to soak her rice before cooking.

There has recently been renewed interest in sprouted rice thanks to a number of recent scientific studies done on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a naturally occurring amino acid created during the germination process. The consumption of GABA is credited with important health benefits that range from lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, boosting the immune system, improving sleep, and inhibition of cancer cells.

So it makes good sense to soak and sprout your rice. Both from the perspective of tradition and science.

And so, I am sprouting my rice. I'm trying to at least. I don't know if it will work, but I'm hoping it does. The website above has the directions for how it's done if you are interested. I am over 24 hours in so something should happen soon. I'll keep you posted.

Canning

Erik and I canned tomato sauce this weekend - it made me think of my family. Canning was always a family affair for the Jansens. Mom would line us up and give us each a job and away we would go. We had quite a sophisticated system going on - we worked like a well-oiled machine. As much as I hated it at the time, I now have very fond memories of those days in my parent's backyard.

Our friends were out of town and were gracious enough to let us use their suite. Canning was not as romantic as my memories of it are, but we set up our own assembly line and made many phone calls to Mom. Our friends have a juicer/pulpifier that we used to make all of our vegetables into a pulp. Super handy to have around. I'm a bit nervous as the recipe I used called for cinnamon. The whole pot smelled strongly of cinnamon which threw me off a bit - we'll have to wait and see how it tastes. I think I'll give it a while to stew before I crack one of these open. And I sadly put all the sauce away before I took a picture so here they are lined up in our closet. We got a dozen quart jars of sauce and three of juice. Not bad for 30lbs of romas. I wasn't planning on doing tomatoes until later in the season, but I was at a farm and asked about "seconds". They gave me the 30 lbs for $12.00. Not bad.

Strawberry Picking

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I was home in Surrey this past week. I came down because Erik had to make his yearly trip to Alaska to go commercial fishing for three weeks.

It was busy at home. I learned how to knit, sew, and can strawberry jam. I helped my brother, Anthony, with the Amazing Race he puts on for his youth group. I went to my nephews kindergarten graduation and my nieces grade 8 grad. We went to my grandparent's house for a Father's Day barbecue on Tuesday. I saw Alicia who I haven't seen since August. And I spent an entire day home alone cooking and baking. It was great.

I went strawberry picking with Alicia, my niece Kaitlyn, and some of my little cousins. we picked over 90lbs. of strawberries in under 2 hours. It rained on us a couple times, but my cousins were troopers. When I got home I went to work washing and freezing some and then also making strawberry jam with some. We didn't actually do the whole "canning" thing with them. My aunt said that she just pours 2 Tbsp of vinegar on top of the jam once it has cooled off completely and then screws the top on. She doesn't even leave the vinegar on. She uses the same 2 Tbsps of vinegar for all of her jam jars. I'm a bit nervous about this, but we'll see how it goes.

Picking in Progress

Finally finished!

Portabello Burger

Delicious!

If you like mushrooms then you HAVE to have a portabello burger! Grill the mushroom as you would a burger and then fix it with whatever you like. We had ours with basil butter, Diana's bbq sauce, caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, and provolone cheese. With home-made fries on the side.

Delicious!

Italian Parmesan Bread

I have been contemplating putting up this recipe. I wasn't going to, but it is just too good to keep to myself. I made this bread four or five days ago and it is still soft and moist and delicious! Maybe I'm bad with bread, but my homemade bread is usually dry by now. It is from my Simply in Season cookbook.

Italian Parmesan Bread

2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
Combine in mixing bowl, stirring until dissolved.

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup butter (melted) or oil
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp onion flakes or 2 tsps onion powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
Add and mix well.

1 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated).
Add with enough additional flour to make a soft dough (I needed almost 3/4 of a cup in the end).
Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Place in greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise 1 hour.
Divide in half and divide each half into thirds.
Roll into 15 inch ropes. Braid loosely into two braids and tuck ends under.
Place on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.
(Instead of braids you can make it into three loaves).
Bake in preheated oven at 350F until golden brown, 35 minutes.

And that, my friends, is all. Delicious.

Investigating

Lately I have been feeling the need to be creative, resourceful and motivated. I always talk about wanting to change how I live and "go green", but I don't feel as though I am really making an effort to do so. I don't "look outside the box". I always make an excuse like "when I'm done with nursing" or "when I have kids" or "when I have energy". The thing is, I would much rather start changing how I live NOW so that I can focus on implementing what I have learned when I'm done school or have kids. I would rather do the work now and start the change so that I can continue rather than start my journey when life gets even more busy. I realize that it is a process and that it won't change in an instant (although I would much rather it did) so I just have to take baby steps.

This "Going Green" bandwagon that I am more than willing to jump on has been frustrating and rewarding. It's difficult to always be conscious of what you are doing, what you are wasting, what you can recycle, and what you can somehow reuse.

Green Practices already implemented:

• Canvas and cloth grocery bags
• Walking to the grocery store
• Stainless Steel water bottle (Purica Steel from Nature's Fare)
• Glass containers for left-overs (both sets on sale)
• Eco-friendly cleaning products (Shawna, do you know if your homemade laundry detergent works in a high efficiency front loading washer?)
• Run the washing machine on cold
• We recycle everything possible
• Growing our own Herbs :Greek Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Lemon Basil and Rosemary
• We use our local library (currently reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood)
• Erik rides the scooter to work
• Simply in Season Cookbook - We need to use this more, but we love it!

Things I want to do when we have our own home:

• Compost - My sister hates the idea and we live with her right now so that's a no go.
• Garden - Vegetables, Herbs, Grains, Fruit

New things we are trying/going to try:

• Buying Local Food
• Buying Organic Food
• Using Whole Grains in meals (Does anyone have recipes or ways of doing this?)
• Eating less meat (this is going to be tough as I LOVE meat)

The main thing am focusing on right now is buying local foods. I needed to do some prep work with summer being just around the corner so I did some investigating yesterday. In the past, all my attempts to find "Local Produce - Kelowna" came up with stores selling local foods. Although they are all great stores (Nature's Fare, Paul's Produce etc.), I am interested in making a connection with the actual farmers. I want to learn more about the process of growing the food and, let's face it, I want to remove the middle man.
As I said, all previous attempts were in vain, but I finally found an excellent website. If you're living in BC and want to find out which farms are certified organic go to this website. Please. It is awesome. I found farms all within a half hour of where I live that sell many of the things I am interested in buying!

Some of the organic produce I am most excited for are:

• Raspberries
• Tomatoes (I wish we were growing our own)
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Onion
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Beets
• Vanilla Beans
• Beans
• Cucumber
• Asparagus
• and seeds for when we have our own garden!

And we have some local, but not organic:

• Grapefruit
• Oranges
• Honey

I also found an organic whole grain distributor... I need to look into this more as I have no idea what to do with whole grains, but we'll see. They are from Saskatchewan, but their prices seem reasonable and shipping and handling wasn't too bad. I'll keep you posted.

I. Am. Pumped.

Chicken Masala

Yes, I have yet another recipe. We had this one yesterday at our friend's house and it was absolutely delicious. It's a bit spicy though. Just a heads up.

Chicken Masala

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken
6 tsp ground corriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp salt

Dice chicken, rub spices in and marinate in fridge for 1 hour.

2 cups thinly sliced onion
3 Tbsp Olive Oil

Brown the onions and olive oil in a pan then add:

2 tsp minced Garlic
2 tsp minced Ginger

Set this aside.

Then take your chicken out and throw it in your pan (I recommend a cast iron skillet). Once it's cooked (or even almost cooked) add:

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 cups chopped Tomatoes (or more, I love tomatoes)
1 tsp salt

Stir for 5 minutes with chicken and then add the onion mixture you set aside before.
Now stir in:

2 tsp ground poppyseed
1/2 cup water

Bring to a boil, then turn down heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with rice and naan bread.

Kelsey's Salad

My girlfriends and I like to have potlucks. They are especially great just after a study part, but only if it was an early study party. They are not recommended the weekend before an exam!

Anyway, back to the point. We always have potlucks and Kelsey always brings this incredible salad. The same salad each time. Without fail. And it is delicious each and ever time. Without fail.

This past potluck we got smart and asked Kelsey for the recipe and Erik and I have been enjoying it ever since.

Kelsey's Salad

- Spinach and Mixed Greens
- Feta Cheese
- Roasted Pine Nuts (this can be done on the stove or in the oven. careful though, when they start turning brown take them out or they will burn)
- Pomegranate (can be substituted for any fruit really - strawberries or mandarin oranges are highly recommended)

And for the Dressing:
- 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup (the good stuff)
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tsp Oregano
- Salt and Pepper to taste (I don't usually put any in)

Simply in Season

Erik couldn't resist buying a cookbook while we were at 10 Thousand Villages last week. So we came home with "Simply in Season". It is incredible! The book is split into the seasons and it tells you which fruits and vegetables are available. It then gives a bunch of recipes using those ingredients. It has breads, breakfasts, soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, extras, and there is even a canning section in the summer. There's a nice little "All Seasons" section as well which is always nice.

Last night Erik make Kale Potato Soup - a definite winner. We didn't have any bread to go with it, but a hearty bread would have been delicious with it!

Kale Potato Soup

1 large bunch kale (chopped)
Steam and set aside. (don't try to cook it with the potatoes; the flavor will be too strong.)

1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
Melt butter in soup pot. Add onion and saute until golden. Add garlic and saute another minute.

2 large potatoes (diced)
2 cups/500 ml hot water or broth
Add, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft. Remove half the cooked potatoes; puree the rest with the cooking liquid and return to the soup pot. Return reserved potatoes and steamed kale to soup pot.

3 cups/750 ml water or broth
salt and pepper to taste
Add along with additional hot water or milk to preferred consistency. Heat gently until hot and serve.

Delicious! I would recommend using broth instead of water... adds some extra flavor.