Dish of the Day: Green Soup

The other day it was cold, and the fridge was full of green veggies just begging to be eaten. I decided to make some Green Soup. I am a lazy cook, and this is fast one-pot wonder. I forgot to add in little pasta stars to make the soup more fun for the kids, but they loved it anyway.

What follows is not a recipe, just a quick easy way to turn veggies into a delicious soup in 30 minutes. You can use any leafy greens,

Green Soup

This is best with 3 or more different vegetables, to provide a richer flavour. I used:

- 1 bunch of kale, or chard

- 2 large leeks (just the white stalks, chopped into rounds)

- 1 russet potato peeled and cubed

- 1 sweet potato, cubed, peel on

- 1/2 head of garlic, cloves peeled

- 1/2 cup leftover asparagus

- 1 veggie bouillon cube

- 2 tsp Better than bouillon chicken

- 2 Tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 cup milk

- Wash the kale and leeks well. Take the large bony stem out of the middle of the kale and rip the leaves into pieces. Chop potatoes and cover with the wet kale.

- Put your olive oil in the bottom of a large stockpot and bring to medium heat. Throw in your garlic, then add your chopped leeks. Stir once a minute, and keep on the heat for about 5 minutes.

- Throw your leafy greens and potatoes into the pot. Add in your dry (veggie) boullion cube now too.

- Add enough water so that vegetables are floating a bit. For a stockpot filled with vegetables, add about 3 cups of water. If it's 2/3 full, try adding 2 cups of water. You don't want to throw any water away, as there will be lots of nutrients in this water once the veggies have boiled in it.

- Bring pot to a boil and let simmer (a gentle boil) for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly - especially if you will mix in a blender

- use a hand mixer or a blender to puree the soup completely. You'll now add in the wet bouillon, any fresh herbs and just enough milk to bring a creaminess to the soup. This is now the time to add in any previously-cooked veggies to the soup.

- Place pot back on the stove and bring to a boil and then immediately shut off. Serve hot.

- If your soup is quite wet, and so you cannot add milk you could either boil the soup for another 15 minutes with the lid off to get rid of some of the water; then add your milk. Or, serve with a dollop of sour cream, which when stirred in will make the soup very creamy.

Dinner Planner for Week of March 29th

This week's weather report is full of rain, so for us, that typically means lots of soups and warmer meals.

MONDAY Baked salmon (rubbed with 1/2 tsp mayo), brown rice and broccoli [lunch: leftover homemade pasta shells with turkey bolognese and kale]

TUESDAY Rosemary lamb with pita and greek salad [lunch: leftover broccoli added to Amy's Lentil Vegetable soup, w/ multigrain toast]

WEDNESDAY Pork tenderloin with mixed frozen veggies and butternut squash soup

[lunch: leftover greek salad with chicken salad sandwich]

THURSDAY Veggie pizza (we buy Dr. Oetker's Spinaci) with sauteed shrimp and salad greens [lunch: leftover soup, leftover pork sandwich with spinach leaves and pesto]

FRIDAY Japanese chicken curry with carrots, potatoes, and fresh cucumber slices [lunch: shrimp salad with hard-boiled egg and crackers and cheese]

Snack of the Day: Carob Bars

I modified a recipe I found online and we're gobbling it up. I felt the original had too much sweetener in it; after all, carob powder is pretty sweet on its own. I also wanted a crunchier texture and felt that just plain oats was too boring/limiting for this type of snack. This is now a recipe that you can vary each time you make it, and is an inexpensive way to make homemade granola bars. The Bug is proudly saying "I made it", and it's true, she helped measure out and add the ingredients when the pot was no longer on the stove.

Rich Carob Bars

- 1/3 cup milk

- 1/2 cup honey

- 1/2 cup carob powder

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/2 cup peanut butter, or almond or cashew

- 1 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

- 1 1/2 cup your favourite low-sugar crunchy cereal (Bran nuts, Fibre 1), I used Kashi GO LEAN which is definitely not sweet (not the Crunch version)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, add milk and butter until melted. Then add in carob powder and honey and whisk together with a fork. Bring this to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. It will resemble molasses.

2. Remove saucepan from heat, and add vanilla and the nut butter.

3. Now add in the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Spread evenly into a greased 8 x 8 inch pan. Use a piece of parchment, foil or whatever you used to grease the pan to pat down the top your bars so that they are flat.

4. Chill and eat!

Most homemade granola-type bars need to be kept in the fridge because they don't contain the same stabilising and preserving agent that commercial bars do. Cut them into squares and store in the fridge in snack bags so they're easy to pop in your lunch, or your mouth.

Dinner Planner for week of March 21

This week's Dinner Menu is all about using up what's in my pantry. We've got a lot of stuff in the fridge and freezer (bought when items we like went on sale) and it's now time to start using it.

MONDAY Roasted garlic and Asiago fresh pasta from Old Country with leftover roasted chicken and rapini, in olive oil and garlic sauce.
TUESDAY [lunch: salmon salad from the weekend and leftover celeriac soup] Homemade beef burgers, with boiled rapini and asparagus
WEDNESDAY [lunch: hamburger patty with salad] Pan-seared haddock with kale and Annie's Naturals Whole Wheat macaroni and cheese
THURSDAY [lunch: kale mac n' cheese] Chicken strips homemade purple sweet potatoes and fresh veggies (note: cook Butternut squash in oven)
FRIDAY Whole wheat gnocchi, spinach and butternut squash in turkey bolognese sauce

Dinner Planner for Week of March 14th

I'm starting a new feature called Dinner Planner which will list my own Dinner Menu Planning for each week. To cut down on grocery costs I've been planning weekly dinner menus on the weekend based on what's arrived in my vegetable bin and what's on sale at my local grocers. I try to make two or three meals out of what I cook by making extra some nights, such as grilling an extra chicken breast to cut up and use in pasta the next day.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas about how to come up with a variety of nutritious meals from week to week. I always have some form of protein on the plate with starch taking a much smaller role. Starches are always whole-grain. With my family's meals, I always ensure the vegetable portion takes up a third or more of the space on our plates.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday - Roast chicken with purple potatoes and collard greens

Monday - Make your own pizzas with whole wheat pita and leftover chicken, bell peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and cheese [lunch: chicken salad on multigrain, green salad]

Tuesday - Snapper with basil butter, brown rice, asparagus, fresh tomato slices with basil leaves and olive oil

Wednesday - Free range ground beef meatballs with whole wheat spaghetti and red chard [lunch: egg salad sandwich and asparagus steamed in silicone steamer at work]

Thursday - Turkey dogs and leek and pea soup [lunch: last night's pasta with added green peas]

Friday - Veggie stir-fry with bell peppers and snow peas [lunch: turkey weiners and brown beans and raw veggies and dip]

Free Java Won't Buy My Loyalty

McDonald's is offering free coffee for the first two weeks of March and I took the bait the other morning. Their coffee isn't bad. Their cups are a bit odd. Doesn't it look like the cup is smiling up at you? I feel a bit odd locking lips with my cup each time I take a swig.

I suppose the idea is that if they're going to rival Starbucks and others for your morning coffee dollars, they need folks to know that they have good coffee. And they seem to. But I want to choose my milk, and have an option besides white sugar to sweeten my coffee. Also, I know that McD's is trying to "healthy up" to win back customers who've been conscious of their waistlines. But even their breaded chicken breast nuggets and healthy salads are not enough for me to want to really eat there. I can find better fast food. Not to mention, there are plenty of local businesses to support with less contentious histories.

While I appreciate the campaign and I did enjoy the coffee (though not the guilt I felt slinking out of there), I think I'll stick with my favourite choices: Starbucks, Hazelmere Organic beans, and the little Portuguese cafe up the street on weekends.

Dish of the Day: Kale Bake

This scrumptious recipe goes out to my good friend Jen C!


Recipe for Kale Bake

Serves four as a side dish
1 large bunch kale, stems removed and washed in a large bowl of water; make sure leaves are ripped into small pieces
1 large bunch of fresh spinach chopped and washed 2 times in a large bowl of water, or 1 block frozen spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
¼ cup of whole milk
1/3 cup sharp cheese, grated or chopped
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add the kale and boil for 4-5 minutes. If using fresh spinach, add this in the last 1 minute of boiling time. If using frozen spinach, add at the same time as the kale.
2. Transfer to a colander, rinse with cold water, then drain and squeeze out as much water as possible. Using a sharp knife and fork, ensure the greens are chopped into small pieces, not clumped together, or they will not mix well with the eggy mixture.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously oil or butter a 8” x 8” glass pan or glass pie dish.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk in a bowl, and then stir in the cooked vegetables, herbs, and cheese. Add in 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and then salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and scrape it all into the baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top, and drizzle on the remaining olive oil.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm and starting to brown on the top. Serve hot or warm.
This will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Adapted from Martha Shulman

Portion Control: What's a proper serving look like?

Big cinnamon bun,

By now, most people know that they should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. But what does that actually look like? And what is a portion of protein? Is it different if it's animal or vegetable protein? How much should we eat at each meal?

Here's a website that clearly shows you what these items need to look like on your plate, and gives many examples of proper portion sizes. When we read labels at the grocery store, we see serving sizes but don't often know what those sizes would look like.

If you look around on WebMD's Portion Control Plate, you will see examples of typical serving sizes. Sure that cake looks none too evil according to the label, but that's only if you eat a piece of cake the size of a deck of cards. I usually take bites that are the size of a deck of cards. And especially look at the Grains section for a visual on what a typical serving of pasta looks like. It's a baseball, not a football. This means that when you have a large dinner plate of pasta, you are exceeding the recommended serving size by about 300%.

Companies have been making ever larger portions while only posting rather modest serving sizes on their labels. Look at this gigantic cinnamon bun above. I just had to snap a photo of it; it was ginormous! I am a tall woman with fairly large hands and this bun was about the size of my head. Whomever bought that bun likely did not eat it in several modest portions. It would be eaten at one sitting, just like all those enormous muffins folks buy at Starbucks, McDonald's and everywhere else nowadays.

This means that even if we're reading labels, we are probably getting fatter by consuming far more calories than we think we are. It pays to eat a moderate amount of food: better for your digestion, better for your fat cells, and better on your pocketbook. Unless you're an athlete, you don't need enormous amounts of food at one sitting. And if you're reading this blog, it's pretty likely that you know where your next meal is coming from, so it's very unnecessary to stuff oneself at each meal. Make sure that you read your labels and understand how much food they refer to, before putting it on your plate.

Eating for Heart Health; Are You Up for the Challenge?

One of yesterday's health headlines caught my attention: "Heart Strategy Could Save Canada Billions". The article goes on to explain that the Conference Board of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada have released a Heart Health strategy that demonstrates how to reduce the incidence of stroke and heart disease between now and the year 2020.

What are their recommendations? They seem ridiculously obvious:

- reduce smoking

- Increase the number of Canadian children and adults eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables

- Increase the number of Canadian children and adults who are physically active each day

- decrease obesity rates

If March's federal budget approves money for this strategy which was proposed last year, I hope we will see a lot of healthy changes, such as new food labelling laws which show what's actually inside processed foods so that people ca nmake informed decisions. But real change starts at home, doesn't it? When we go to the grocery store, we have to read what's on the labels of any processed food (i.e. anything besides meat, fruit or fruits and vegetables). We also have to get better at eating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This is tough! I thought I did a good job, and consider myself to have a pretty good appetite. But I took inventory of what I ate yesterday which was only:

2 servings of whole grains

2 servings of fruit

3 servings of vegetables

2 servings of dairy

2 servings of protein

This is actually not very much food for someone my height, age and level of activity, which explains why I am often snacking before bed. Most importantly, this is not enough fruits and veggies; it falls just on the edge of the recommended 5-10 servings. I can do better; I just need to put my mind to it. We all can!

I challenge you to take stock of what you're eating for a couple of days to see what you're taking in. Check out the Canada Food Guide for more information on what constitutes a serving of each type of food. I'm not a huge fan of the Food Guide, which considers apple juice (boiled, processed, sugary syrup separated from its natural fibres) to be a serving of fruit. I also don't like that they still recommend a diet that's mostly starches and complex carbohydrates. However, it's a good place to go to get a clear picture of what "eating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day" really means.

Organic Groceries Deliver Inspiration

We've finally signed up for Spud, a home delivery grocery company which features a lot of local organic foods. This means that each week we will have fresh, organic produce delivered to our home, and I'll need to come up with ways to cook with it.

Tonight I took a prepared Asiago and Artichoke dip and added half a bag of fresh spinach which I'd boiled for a minute, then chopped and squeezed to get rid of the water. I popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds and we ate this with sliced red peppers, carrots and tortilla chips.

The main involved a shrimp ring I found on sale at our regular grocery store. With tails removed I added them to a frypan full of chopped green onions, garlic, red pepper and fresh crimini mushrooms, in a little olive oil.

I can't argue that we'll be saving the planet with home delivery of groceries; after all, I usually walk to the grocery store. But it's nice to have fresh food just appear on your doorstep, without having to lug it home, or stand in line to pay. Most of all, the weekly harvest box of assorted fresh, seasonal vegetables are ones I wouldn't normally choose, so I'll get a chance to try out some new and different dishes. This little tub of food is going to give me a whole lotta inspiration!