The Food Issue

01/05/2023

I found this gem on Hello Fresh in their cookbook. Great resource, that site.

It's called Ponzu-marinated steak with baby bok choy. It was WAY better than we expected!

The recipe called for broiling the steak—we grilled it. I'd say use your favourite kind. I think we used a sirloin strip.

I like to have all the parts together before I start cooking, so I don't get flustered while things are cooking.

The ponzu sauce is soy sauce, the juice of one lime, and 1/2t of sugar. Whisk it together in a bowl big enough to have most of the steak sitting in it when the time arises. Set aside.

The wasabi mayo is 2T mayo (rather than Miracle Whip), 1/2t sugar, 1/2t wasabi paste, and 1t water. Set aside.

Make the rice and as it sits stir in 56g of edamame until it's warmed through.
While the rice cooks, fry the bok choy in a little sesame oil.
While those cook, grill the steak. When the steak is to your doneness, let it sit in the bowl with the ponzu sauce.

After a few minutes, remove the steak, thinly slice it and pour some of the ponzu sauce over it. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and build the rest of your plate. Everything is good with the wasabi mayo.

Enjoy! I can't wait to have this again!

01/05/2023

Our inspiration for meals is often from things we've eaten out, like this bang-bang shrimp burrito bowl.

Right off, we make this healthier by making it ourselves, and by grilling the shrimp instead of breading and deep frying it. Normally one wouldn't have Both spicy sausage and shrimp, but it was good!

A burrito bowl starts with a base of rice. Or if you really want to go wild, just shredded lettuce. Add little piles of black beans, corn, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, avocado, and shredded cheese. Jalapeño if you dare, and drizzle with leftover bang-bang sauce.

For the bang-bang sauce, mix together 1/3 cup mayo, 3T sweet chilli sauce, and 2t sriracha. Set aside.

For the shrimp, double-skewer it, pat it dry and lightly oil both sides. Grill until cooked and immediately brush /slather on the bang-bang sauce.

This was such a fast meal to pull together and it was super-delicious.

I highly recommend adding it to your menu next week! Let me know if you do!

01/02/2023

Moroccan Stew

Here's something we make a fair bit. It's different every time. We don't seem to ever have all the ingredients so we just make it with what we have. And it's delicious every time!

It's great with chicken. It's great with pork. You could even use tofu if you're into that sort of thing.

Here's the recipe, and remember, use what you've got! This is a great stew to cook on the wood stove or over an open fire, or if you have to—on a regular stovetop!

Sometimes we have it over rice, sometimes we have it as a stew with a nice slice of thick, buttery, homemade bread. It makes enough for leftovers and I suspect it would freeze well.

Cut meat into 1-inch chunks and season meat with salt and pepper.
3T olive oil
2 onions, diced (or wedges)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2T grated ginger
1 bell pepper
1t salt (we NEVER use all the salt a recipe calls for)
1t ground cumin
1t ground corriander
1t paprika (smoked, sweet, hot, regular —they'd all be great)
1/2t turmeric
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
2t brown sugar
2c squash or sweet potato
2oz dried apricots, chopped
15oz can of tomatoes, whole or diced, juice in
2c chicken stock
4 fresh lemon halves (or preserved lemons)
handful of green olives
you could garnish it with 4T of slivered toasted almonds and/or mint leaves and/or chilli flakes.

(some oil) Brown the meat, set aside
(some oil) lower heat—onion, ginger, garlic, pepper 3-5 min
salt, bay leaves, sugar, squash, apricots, tomatoes, stock, bring to boil.
simmer, add chicken, lemon, olives, cover for 20 min, uncover, increase heat to medium and cook another 10 minutes and slightly reduced.

01/02/2023

Wow, it's been a while! **sigh**

New year, refreshed habits!

I'm back, sharing my favourite meals, recipes, and tips on how to make them better for your body.

This is certainly one of my favourite treats.

Creamed lobster. OMG. So rich. So good. So fattening! So worth it!

Chop up some leftover lobster —yes, leftover lobster is possible when you live in Nova Scotia, and sauté it in some butter. Let it get some good colour. It goes a great rusty red.
Add 2 tsp of white vinegar and add enough cream to cover the lobster. Let it simmer fairly aggressively until the cream thickens. serve on toast.

Here's my tip to make it healthier. They say to use buttered toast. Don't! There's enough butter, trust me!

01/15/2021

Happy New Year, is everyone still eating?

I know quite a few people who are "getting back to eating properly". Us included.

Enter the Poke bowl. I believe it's a Hawaiian thing, but the only ones we've had have been Japanese themed. We've made lots of poke bowls before, but this one was the BEST.

It was a great combo of ingredients: seaweed salad, corn, mandarines, edamame, green onion, avocado, carrot, shrimp and scallops with a drizzle of Sriracha mayo, on sushi rice. And for the first time, we made our own seaweed salad.

Now, fresh out of the bag, Fundy dulse (seaweed) is rather…oceany. But once it’s marinated, it tastes just like it did from the restaurant. Delicious!

Seaweed is really good for us. I’m putting the recipe to seaweed salad in the comments.

10/22/2020

People are fickle!

Although I agree that some people are so marginalized that cheap food is the only option, I believe for most of us, it's a choice we're free to make.

It wasn't until I got inconveniently sick that I REALLY cared where my food came from. Literally who grew it, do they believe in the same things I do, do they care about ME? If they don't they don't get my money. If they do, I'm willing to pay a little extra for it.

We take our food budget (and I use that term loosely) and shop accordingly. We changed the way we eat. We changed the way we shop. We meal plan. We cook from scratch.

I am so proud to support my local people. My neighbourhood, my province, my country. So proud, I seek them out.

Contradictions cloud our relationship with local food, a new report from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab (AAL) suggests. While four in five Canadians say they’re ready to pay more for “locally grown” fruit and vegetables, few put weight on point of origin in their decision-mak...

09/10/2020

It's not that I don't like beans, I just never really want them. I'm supposed to have a cup of beans every day [as are you], for optimum health. When I say beans I'm talking all legumes, so when you consider you could be getting your cup in hummus, falafels, or a black bean brownie, it does sound easier to achieve.

If you find yourself bloated and gassy after beans, start with a 1/4 cup and increase by a quarter cup every couple days.

I'm possibly at 1/2 cup a week currently, so there's room for improvement. And, I really do want and need to be my healthiest self that I can be. Being sick is expensive and it sure wastes a lot of my time!

The whole goal of this new East Coast life is everything about being my best self. And the biggest part of that is being my healthiest so I can use my body the way I choose, and move my body with as minimal pain as I'm able. And the only way to achieve this is through diet and exercise.

Knowing and doing are a couple of the secrets of life!

This is a GREAT article on beans and includes recipes

The life-enhancing benefits of beans can help you live a longer, healthier life. See all the health benefits and get some delicious healthy recipes.

09/09/2020

I think it's reasonably hilarious that the last thing I posted was that I was kinda sick and I was going to start posting things that help me get better...then I posted nothing...for months! Don't worry, I've been eating. LOTS!

The day to day of leaving my employment, moving across the country to begin an entrepreneurial journey was a little stressful. And really busy. I did get myself back on track and I've somehow maintained an ulcerative colitis symptom-free existence since sometime in June. Yay me.

I might have been a little busy, but fear not, I took lots of pictures!

As usual, my goal is to inspire mealtime solutions. Whether it's a meal idea [because, come on, it's never ending], or maybe it's a doable healthier tweak to mealtime, or maybe it's getting more bang for your buck.

Take this one for example. An excellent example of a low FODMAP meal.
What's that you say?
They're easy on your digestive system and reduce bloating and abdominal pain.

Foods are ranked as zero or low FODMAP to high. When I plan a meal, especially when I'm watching these sorts of things, I eat mostly zero and low foods, like everything on this plate.

By the way, chimichurri on medium-rare flank steak is divine. Too bad I didn't post this during bbq season!

07/20/2020

lol!
This is how I feel trying to put together our menu for the next month! I thought a week was hard. We have our last week at our home once everything has been picked up by movers, a week of travel, and two weeks of quarantine to plan for. Because 👇 this, won't work!

First Time Meal Prepping.😁😁

07/09/2020

The right onion for the job

Do you agree? Is there a "right" onion for each dish?

And do you cut all your onions by hand? Or use a tool like this ---> https://amzn.to/3sochBD (affiliate link)?

06/30/2020

Bah! Another late dinner!

Last night I tried something different with my salted caramel shake. I added cashew butter and a pinch of cinnamon for a snickerdoodle flavour.

Uhhhhh Yeah, that's a keeper!

06/30/2020

Lol

This gave us a chuckle! 😂🍕