Dish of the Day: One Dish Dinner

Sadly, those of us in Vancouver have suffered recently with some very poor weather. It has been rainy and cold for weeks. It's almost June, but there's been only 3 days of sunny and warm weather (above 19 C). Yes, yes, I know it's been hot out East. Please, please send it our way!

For those of us whose stomachs are linked to the weather, it's not been all about the salads lately, rather the focus is still on warm food. Here's something I threw together the other night which was both quick and nutritious.

One Dish Mac n Cheese

- Boil macaroni in salted water. When five minutes remain in the cooking, add vegetables of your choice (e.g. kale, green peas, green beans, broccoli florets, etc) to the boiling water.

- Drain the dish into a colander

- Add the protein of your choice to the colander (e.g. tofu, cut up wiener, chopped boiled eggs, cubed ham, chopped chicken)

- Into the saucepan from which you drained the pasta, add in a tablespoon of butter and 1/4 cup of whole milk and heat over low heat. Stir in grated or shredded cheese and whisk to combine so it thickens and becomes a cheese sauce.

- Add the drained pasta, vegetables and protein and warm and serve.

Dish of the Day: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Look at this sweet little scoop. Pretty in Pink!!

I'm in love with my new Cuisinart compressor ice cream maker, the ICE-50BCC. It makes frozen treats in minutes. We really love our ice cream in this house but it's often so heavy and I assumed too sugary. I wanted to try and make a healthier version. I'm learning, however, that the heavier cream recipes make the more delectable ice creams. Think Safeway ice cream versus Haagen-Dazs. The Safeway stuff is lower in calories, and is much less indulgent-tasting because it's just milk and flavouring. The higher-end ice creams that taste super-creamy and heavy tend to be made with custard. They start off with heavy cream and egg yolks which is slowly cooked and cooled before being made into ice cream. Hence the heavier taste.

I like that creamy mouth-feel, but not the heavy feeling in my stomach afterward. So I'm working on that. I'd like to try keeping in the eggs, but maybe losing all that whipped cream; it's just too rich. Or experimenting with other thickeners, such as seaweed products.

Here is a recipe for a very light and fruity frozen yogurt. I'm going to try it again with a higher fat Greek-style yogurt. I think you can get 12% or higher nowadays and that might make it creamier.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

- Take 1 box of strawberries (generally a quart) and slice into small pieces and cover with 1/3 cup of berry sugar (fine granulated).

- Let stand on the counter for about an hour and stir with a spoon occasionally to bring out the juices.

- Then place in food processor with a full tub (e.g. 750 ml) of plain yogurt; NOT non-fat. I used Astro's 7% Balkan yogurt. Puree. Sprinkle in 3 single-serve packages of Stevia, 1/2 tsp ground cardamon and 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice.

- At this point, you can strain through a fine mesh sieve - which I had to do because otherwise this would not all fit into my ice cream maker - to get out the seeds. This takes a long time so be patient.

- Pop it back into the fridge covered in plastic wrap for an hour (or more, the more the better) to chill.

- Put in your ice cream maker and follow directions for frozen yogurt. I'm not going to recommend you pour this into ice cubes or anything - that has never worked for me. Use an ice cream maker for best results.

Dish of the Day: Quesadillas

Spring is most definitely here in Vancouver and today actually felt quite summery. The Farmers' Market at Trout Lake was the first to open this weekend; a couple more weeks and the outdoor pools will be open too.

We hit the jackpot at the market this morning. Not only were there herbs aplenty for adding to my newly-planted garden, but a few vendors had brought some fresh produce. We made a melt-in-the-mouth Greek salad for dinner with the juiciest peppers, baby cukes and tomatoes I've tasted in a long time. I had leftover roast chicken and wraps, and a ton of cheese, which meant that quesadillas were inevitable. I try to keep them dry on the inside - adding salsa can make them too wet - and I load them up with toppings on my plate. Here's a quick "recipe":

1. Chop your protein (tofu, chicken, whitefish) into small thin strips. Place these on one half of the wrap.

2. Thinly slice some tomatoes and lay on top of the protein.

3. Sprinkle on chopped green onions, chives or whichever fresh herbs you have.

4. Over top of this all, sprinkle your favourite shredded cheese.

5. Fold the bare half over and place into a non-stick skillet (no oil required).

6. Cover with a lid and leave fro 2-3 minutes on medium heat.

7. Using a large spatula, flip the wrap over in the pan to heat the other side. Replace cover.

8. When you're sure that the cheese has melted and both sides of the wrap are warmed and slightly browned, remove from heat and cut in half (as shown on plate).

9. Serve with guacamole/chopped avocado, sour cream, salsa.

Dinner Planner for Week of April 5th

Here's the plan for this week. Feelin' lazy!

MONDAY - Veggie pizza again, leftover homemade celeriac soup and sauteed chard with olive oil and garlic. [lunch: leftover turkey sandwiches and veggies and dip]

TUESDAY - Broccoli tuna quiche, a one-dish wonder! [lunch: leftover chard with lentil soup]

WEDNESDAY - Pan-fried sole with brown rice and green beans [lunch: last night's quiche and squash and yam soup]

THURSDAY - Big salad: organic greens, hard-boiled eggs, artichoke hearts, green beans, chick peas, green onions and bell peppers and hummus and pita [lunch: whatever the cafeteria's serving with brown rice on the side]

FRIDAY - Roast chicken with green salad and garlic bread [lunch: egg salad, hummus and cut-up veggies]

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.