Refreshing, Tasty and Healthy

You know when it's time to re-visit and make adjustments to your food intake when you find yourself lacking energy and sluggish despite how much exercise and sleep you get.
i found myself in that place a week ago and got my aha moment when I took a look at my diet over the past 6 months. It consisted more of processed foods than I am used to, so changes had to be made immediately.


Time to ease off the baking:) 


The plan for the next 2 weeks is to cut out all white flour and unnatural sugars; so today a new recipe was made; introducing Quinoa Salad.  Packed full of ingredients that provided a delicious refreshing taste of ingredients you won't think of putting together to make such an amazing healthy salad. A nice balance of  fiber, healthy carbohydrates, protein and fresh cilantro.


Quinoa Salad


Mix and set aside:
2 tbsp. soya sauce
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. honey or brown sugar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove crushed
The juice of 2 limes




Cook 1 cup dry quinoa in vegetable stock and cool
Wash and drain 1 14oz. can of black beans or lentils
1 large red pepper diced
1/2 red onion diced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro




In a large bowl mix the dry together
Add the liquid to the dry and mix thoroughly.
Serve at room temperature


Makes enough to serve 6-8


To your health and enjoy.

One of Week-end's best

It's a lazy Sunday morning, the sun is doing its darnest to creep into the bedroom, but the blackout curtains are doing a good job at keeping it out. One day of the week; please you need one day to forget about schedules, timelines and time keeping.
The mind should only be spent thinking about food; brunch, a mid afternoon snack, dinner and what bottle of red goes good with what you're planning on throwing on the grill.

Yeah, it is time for some hot off the frying pan; home made pancakes. The treasured Canadian  Maple Syrup, a thin slice of butter melting and slowly gliding its way down to the bottom of the plate in a stream of not too sweet river of the best syrup this side of heaven.

We are not going to all this trouble to quickly throw together a batch of cakes from Aunt Jemima's box are we? No offence Aunt J your cakes are the best in a box, but today it's from scratch.

The basics are available in the kitchen. Flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, a dash of nutmeg, a tbsp. of sugar, a drizzle of olive oil, a handful of grated coconut, stir your butter milk egg mixture to form a semi lumpy batter.
Sit for 5 min and get your apples chopped, bananas sliced and blueberries ready.

The griddle sizzle from being tested with a splash of water; it is ready. Drop the batter by 1/3 cup add a mixture or one of the toppings.
To splurge add a bit of cream cheese on top of the hot finished pancakes before pouring a tad of maple. Tell me you are ready, cause I am.

A Walk about in SanDiego

A trip to San Diego was on my "bucket list" and a few weeks ago me and my partner made the trip. It was two fold...we are drowning in an over abundance of rain here and was desperate for some warm sunny weather and seafood;  so we headed South and it was one of my most enjoyable trips.
Besides the weather being just right, San Diego has got to be one of if not the most beautiful State in the US...just saying. The views of the ocean and beaches for miles and as wide were breath taking. The smell of the ocean, the high boisterous waves,  the hikes to La Jolla park, and Torrey Pine were all great memorable experiences. 
The locals were friendly and their food - well, let's get to it.


We just about by passed Coronado Island, but was highly encouraged by the locals to visit, and boy we are so glad we did. After a stroll around the island, we did one of our most favourite things. We set out to find the best cafe or restaurant that served seafood and happy hour. A thing about happy hour; they can be found just about everywhere in San Diego from inexpensive to high end classy joints. Happy hour is a great deal and a bonus is to find really tasty food plus happy hour; double the pleasure.

Hello "Candelas on the Bay" a mid to high end restaurant located on the board walk and pleasant décor.

We lucked out in securing a booth, ordered a margarita and Sangria (the best Maria ever had) it was time to order.  Shrimp tacos, soft shells with shrimps marinated in a rosé sauce with a kick got us up and running. The flavours were bursting in our mouths. The pulled pork nachos was creative and succulent, and the fresh green salad with walnuts and goat cheese was refreshing. Everything under $25 and we were stuffed.

Brunch, lunch or Dinner at Humphries Restaurant is a must, and if you have the time then have all three, you won't be disappointed. You can't go wrong with their scallop dinner or seafood risotto. Brunch a well balance variety and you taste the freshness in every meal.


Now my to do list is to try and recreate a few of those amazing dishes and share them with you.

Fish Stew with a Twist

When the weather is cold, wet and dreary I usually crave a nice bowl of home made hearty stew. 
The kind that is rich with flavour, colours, a good balance of meat and veggies or dumplings and enough sauce to sop up with a chunk of home made bread. Nothing beats that. 
I am sure we all have a "favourite" stew recipe; either our own creation or from someone else. There's chicken stew with the meat falling off the bone, with soft tasty dumplings.  Beef stews on simmer for a few hours for melt in your mouth pieces of beef and potatoes soaked with flavour. Then there's fish stew with a twist.

Tilapia Fish Stew with Rice Noodles

I grew up eating fresh fish; fresh as in there's still signs of the fins, gill, and tail moving; now you can't get any fresher than that. We are fortunate to have a local wharf that we visit during the late spring to late summer to purchase fresh salmon, halibut, shrimp, and black cod. Fresh anything is always better and especially seafood; having it fresh just tastes so much better.


Anyhow back to this dish I made with help from my partner. A combination of South American and  Asian flair. 


Tilapia Fish Stew with Rice Noodles
What you'll need:
2 lbs of tilapia washed and cut into chunks
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium size onion coarsely chopped
About 4  leaves of Fresh Thai Basil
3-4 medium size ripe tomatoes diced
1 thumb nail size ginger finely chopped
6-8 bunches of bok choy washed, and chopped into large pieces
2 carrots thinly sliced
4 cups stock
3 squares of dry rice noodles
Pepper to taste


Putting it Together: 
Turn stove on to medium temperature
Add oil, and when heated add onions cooking for about 3 min to caramelize.
Add tomatoes and stock bring to a boil then simmer for 30 min.
Add carrots, ginger, basil and bok choy cooking for 5 min.
Add fish cooking for 3 min then add rice noodles cooking for 5 min.
Add pepper, remove from stove and serve hot.


Enjoy!

Juice it Up

Juicing is neither Caribbean, North America, European or Asian. Juicing covers all ethnicities; after all who doesn't enjoy good juice, and no I am not talking about orange juice and vodka or any store bought juice, though Oasis is a juice on the market that is closest to the real thing,  why go there when you can do your own fresh, save dollars and quick to make.

I've been juicing for a number of years and it's vitally important to have an excellent juicer; not a good juicer but an excellent one which means not going cheap and doing your research. To help make things a bit easier for you I've done the research, tried and proven and comes highly recommend.

First there's Waring Pro an excellent juicer with minimal parts, and sturdy - lasted me 9 years.
The only down side is the apples or beets could not be juiced whole - not a big deal, and the second tiny downside I found was not enough pulp was sieve through with the juice extraction. Again, it wasn't a huge deal to me as I loved the machine and the clean up was a snap.

I would have replaced it with the same Waring pro juicer but unfortunately the Waring pro company does not ship outside of the USA, and that's too bad for Waring Pro:)

After much research we decided on Hamilton Beach 800watts big mouth juicer. Besides it being noisy, that's easily cured by placing a dish towel under the machine and issue solved.
We love this machine, no cutting up of the vegetables or fruit, and there's enough pulp within the juice to give it a nice balance, and cleaning up is easy.

Alright, those are my recommendations and for free also. The benefits of juicing are all positive with no negativity in place, trust me on this. Some of the benefits we enjoy from juicing

• Juice with organic vegetables and fruit
• rich with Live enzymes and vitamins
• Fresh raw juice without preservatives
• A good balance of fibre
• Great for the skin, eyes, bones, hair, and organs
• Inexpensive and can be stored for two days in a glass jar while maintaining it's freshness
• Increased energy
• Provides 2-4 servings of vegetables (depending on how much you drink)
• Absolutley delicious

.So now you probably want to know what veggies I juice with, right? Thought so!

Kale, carrots, beets, apple, celery and ginger is my favourite blend. Sometimes I get creative and add other vegetables or fruit, but most of the time I stick with the ones mentioned.  Ok, to your health and drink up.

Momma's Bread Recipe a Winner

Today, I made bread the same recipe I shared with you but this time I added margarine and I loved the texture way more that the bread baked without. A machine runs better when oiled right? Well hope you got that one:)  This time I let the dough rise for 2 hours instead of one, and this batch made two large braided loaves. The texture was just right, the feel not heavy but kinda middle of the road and the taste - impeccable.

So go ahead use the recipe I shared and add 3/4 cup margarine to the mix for a lighter loaf while maintaining the great home made taste no store brought bread can stand up to.

Rising Dough

Mamma's Fresh Baked Bread

When you try this recipe I would love to hear from you; thoughts, feed back welcome.

Knead it

Just to let you know this recipe I am about to share makes a heavier solid loaf. There is no hollow sound on the tap, and when you slice into it, there is no chance you will see glimpses of what's on the other side; no matter how thin you slice it. Makes me want to sing; solid, solid as a rock, but not literally.

If you want a lighter loaf the you would have to add margarine to the mix. sorry, I did not remember to take pictures of my loaves, but with a decent imagination you can visualize the stages; from the prep process, to the kneading, to the rising, rolling out to either braid (intertwining three strands of dough) or shape into rectangle shapes, and gently places in their pans. Cover for 15 minutes to set, then it's baking time and 45 minutes later, the bread is ready, the smell that comes from the steam as you cut a thick slice and lather with butter makes your mouth water. There you go, you got the picture; now on to the recipe.
Now, this is bread making simplified.
This recipe makes 3 loaves.

Bread

You will need:
2 tbsp. or 2 packages  Instant or Active dry Yeast (whatever your preference)
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 cup warm water
4 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Putting it together:

1. If you are using the "active dry yeast" dissolve it in 1/2 cup warm water with sugar and let sit for 10 mins. If instant yeast is used then add it to the flour mixture directly.
2. In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients, then drizzle oil, mix well and add warm water to form a soft dough. Add additional water to use up the flour.
3. Knead until a firm smooth dough is formed; knead for about 8-10 mins. 
4. Oil the bowl, place dough, flip to coat the other side, cover and let rise for 2 hours.
5. Oil baking pans.
6. Deflate the dough and turn unto a light floured board, form into desired shape,cover and let rise for 15 mins.and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Bake for 30-45 mins until the top is golden brown, use a skewer stick to check for to see if bread is fully baked.
8. Remove from pans; tun unto a cooling rack.

This bread can be kept frozen for up to 2 months if properly packaged.

you can opt to use all white flour or 50/50 or 60/40 etc
.

Enjoy, and  your feed back, questions or suggestions are appreciated.