Listen to this adorable song to get you in the mood:

Kiss me in the Kitchen

Now that we have started something beautiful, how about making this great soup starter….

I really dislike the taste of commercial broths and powdered bouillons – bleech! They taste so tinny and fake and often have MSG in them. I try to make broth from our roasted chickens and stock from veggies to keep stored in our freezer, but these do take time and a lot of space in the freezer…so when I saw this “Soup Starter” recipe by Pam Corbin on the Culinate blog, I was pretty excited!

This is so easy and makes a delicious starting point for a nourishing pot of soup, stew or risotto.

Now don’t taste it and go all whiny on me: ” Its soooo salty, Edie…”.  I did cut the salt back by 75% from the original recipe. The salt is used as a preservative and flavour booster and it is meant to be a concentrated paste. I am keeping mine in the freezer.

You will only use 1 – 2 tbsp per cup of hot water for the soup, stew or risotto.

SOUP STARTER

(You can substitute or omit vegetables to suit your taste and what you have available. Great way to use up tired veggies!)

2-3 medium leeks, rinsed and chopped

3 celery stalks, rinsed and chopped

1 celery root, peeled and chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 onion, peeled and diced

3-4 sun-dried tomatoes

3 peeled garlic cloves

1/4 cup kosher salt or sea salt

2-3 handfuls of parsley, washed and chopped

(You may have to puree this in batches and mix it all together in a large bowl at the end)

Throw the leeks, celery, celery root and carrots in the food processor and process until it is very finely chopped.

Add the onion, tomatoes and garlic. Process.

Add the salt and process until it is a moist, minced mixture.

Add the parsley and process until it is finely minced.

I recommend scooping out 1/4 cup portions onto a cookie sheet and freezing – then put into a freezer bag and store in freezer.

You can put some in a jar and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Add 1 – 2 tbsp per cup of water in place of a broth or stock in a soup, stew, or risotto recipe

You will love having this as a staple in your freezer…you can kiss me later…!

Bella beats me to the door everytime!

When my sons were younger we had a book that we took out every Christmas. It was a wordless book, just beautiful illustrations of a family preparing for Christmas. Cutting a tree, decorating the house, shopping, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, caroling, visiting, preparing a feast, going to church, opening presents, eating, eating  and eating. Then, the following pages showed the ‘undoing’ of the festivities….the cleaning up of dishes and wrapping paper, the taking down of decorations, the garbage and the trees at the curbside. The children return to school and the adults go back to their routines and Christmas is over.

As a Mother, I always found that part of the book disheartening. After ALL  of the effort put into this special time of year  – does it have to end so quickly? If we leave the tree up for a few more weeks, will the feeling last? Is it worth all of the work, really?

Last night I found some fortune cookies in the cupboard that I had meant to pass out at a New Year’s Day brunch. I cracked one open and the fortune said: ” You will be awarded some great honor.”

Well, I haven’t done any great acts of heroism or solved the climate change problem…yet…so I decided that this cookie must be meant for someone else…..

Then, moments later, William calls out to me from the living room:                                                “Mom….that was a great Christmas!” Wow, there it was….my effort for the Christmas season was  my heroic feat; a happy son with lifelong memories of Christmas – my award!

Every Mom deserves an award of great honor after Christmas, don’t you think?

On a cold winter’s night in January a simple pot of soup simply can’t be beat. It is easy for the weary cooks in the family and healthy enough to be a part of everyone’s resolutions to eat healthfully!

This is a simple soup formula rather than a distinct recipe. Take a look in your pantry, fridge and freezer and see what will go into your pot. Start with a little olive oil heating in a soup pot, add some aromatics such as onion, celery, garlic….add some more veggies, spices and broth, perhaps a pasta, or a grain, and some beans. Then stir and simmer. So easy, so healthy and so inexpensive!

VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP

This is what was in my soup pot:

A glug of olive oil

1 onion, diced

8 garlic cloves, minced

4 large carrots, diced

about 4 cups of turkey broth (from the Christmas turkey – frozen then thawed in pot)

about 3 cups of boiling water (from the kettle)

1 can Canellini Beans, rinsed

1 cup Moroccan Couscous

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup chopped kale

Pour the glug (about a tbsp) of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.

Add the diced onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent.

Add the diced carrots. Saute for a few minutes.

Add the broth and boiling water.

Add the rinsed beans and the couscous. Let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped kale just a few minutes before serving. Season with a little ground pepper and salt.

I hope everyone had a fun-filled joyful Christmas and that you are looking forward to this new year!

The door that recently closed for me was my oven door, so to speak. My oven started beeping out of control and then finally beeped its last beep about 3 weeks ago. I had a service person come in. The diagnosis: the electric control panel had ‘had the biscuit’ and it would be approximately $450 to fix it. Here is a mini tip: go with knobs instead of electronic push panels on ovens, stoves, etc..  Knobs are easy and less expensive to fix, it they do break.

So I had no oven for a couple of weeks and in that time I rekindled my relationship with some of my smaller appliances. My bread machine came out and produced some great loaves, my waffle maker created those wonderful spelt waffles and last, but not least, my slow cooker saved our traditional Sunday chicken dinners!

I hadn’t been using my slow cooker very much and always felt that it didn’t really do a great job on a whole chicken…but WOW, I really came to appreciate it these last few weeks. Juicy, tender chicken- albeit without a golden top – but that is o.k. especially if you are plating it up on the counter and the chicken is not a centerpiece on the table.

I like to make an edible roasting rack to keep the chicken out of the drippings and to help the heat circulate. You can use  pieces of a stale baguette, onion slices, carrot  sticks, or another vegetable. It will add flavor to the gravy or broth. That is a little tip from my friend, Martha…Martha Stewart…perhaps you have heard of her?  No?  Well she is trying to break into this crazy wonderful world of homemaking. I must invite her to do a guest post on this blog sometime. But listen,  if she tries to give you a stock trading tip – don’t take it...not a good thing.

Tie up the legs with a little chicken twine to keep the bird together and promote even cooking

This chicken was cooked on high for about 5 hours. Keep the lid on to keep the heat in! Check the temperature of your chicken with a food thermometer when you think it is done . Keep cooking until it is about 180 degrees. Let it rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Try cooking a chicken in a slow cooker:

- you will use less electricity

-you don’t have to watch it as closely as if it was in the oven

-if it is summer it won’t heat up the kitchen

-It will be pale ……but delicious!

Bella says: “Oh for Heaven’s sake – when is that bird going to be cooked??!”

Follow-Up on our wall oven  -  I  researched  several new options at Sears, Home Depot, etc. and also looked on Kijiji. Found a Jenn-air convection (5 years old) on kijiji – it works so well! It was a great deal…. and …it has knobs!!

I have tried all kinds of techniques, including making scientifically proven statements about breakfast such as: breakfast eaters have higher grades, breakfast eaters have healthier overall diets. I have also resorted to begging and pleading….not a pretty sight to a teenage boy…..mother in white terry robe with sports socks, bedhead, no makeup, morning breath, with a look of desperation on face……

I have also used tempting foods – breakfast cereals with less fiber, more sugar…and more recently…Nutella on bread!

The most successful to date has been these homemade waffles. Now I don’t want you thinking that I am some kind of martyr whisking together flours, eggs and cinnamon every morning. I thought ‘ if you can buy frozen waffles – why not make homemade waffles en masse and freeze them to be toasted as required?!’

And it works like a lucky charm. I have made several double and quadruple batches of these. The only problem is they disappear in about 2 or 3 days!

SPELT CINNAMON WAFFLES

This is a single batch – I double it – and make two double batches at a time to freeze.

2 cups whole spelt flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T sugar or less

1 T cinnamon or more….

3 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cup milk or milk alternate

1 T vanilla extract

1. In one bowl whisk the dry ingredients.

2. In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and blend with a large spoon just until mixed.

4. Lightly brush the heated waffle maker with oil.

5. Add batter to waffle maker – not too much or it will seep out of the sides! Messy!

6. When done, carefully remove the waffles. Eat them now – or cool on a rack. When cool, transfer to a freezer container or freezer bags.

7. If eating from frozen, toast them and cut them up for your 13 year old Momma’s boy.

8. Watch him pour the 100 % maple syrup generously all over the stack of waffles…..$$… and eat them all up, leaving a pool of 100% maple syrup on the plate…..dip your finger in and have a lick!

9. Watch him run to the bus with waffles in his belly – yeahhhhhh!!!!

Colleen once gave me a great tip! She said, “You should come play tennis with my boyfriend, Kelly and his buddy, Mike Ewald.”

Wow – that WAS  a great tip! Thanks Colleen!! XOXO

I have decided to dedicate an occasional blog post to great food related tips.

Tips or tools that I think are clever, useful, creative and make life’s daily tasks in the kitchen a little happier.

If YOU have a tip, please send it to me at shaw.ewald@ns.sympatico.ca

So here is the first “Here’s a Tip”. Just shared this with Colleen yesterday and she loved it!

MIREPOIX

Mirepoix, pronounced ” meer-pwah”, is a french name for a mix of finely diced onion, celery and carrot; three aromatic vegetables that are often the starting points for many soups, stews, stocks, etc..

So many recipes begin with the sauteing of a chopped onion and celery – so why not have this ready to go in your freezer!?

A Big Batch of Mirepoix

Clean and prep the onion, celery and carrot.

Finely dice them

Put approximately 1/2 cup of each into a freezer bag or container and store in the freezer.

Pop them out of the freezer and use as the flavour base by sauteeing in oil or butter over low – medium heat when starting your soups and stews….

Food is one of our first experiences of comfort as newborns and food continues to be a symbol of love and nurturance throughout our lives. So, it is natural to reach for certain foods for comfort when we experience uncomfortable emotions.

Emotional eating, as it is now called, can become a bad habit if you regularly binge and neglect to face the issues that are making you uncomfortable. But nurturing yourself with food once in awhile doesn’t have to be all bad.

Perhaps you have had an unusual conflict with a coworker, a stressful drive home in a snowstorm or a week when you have worked yourself ragged and feel like you deserve a treat. Or maybe….let’s say you attended an event that you had looked forward to for months. Gosh, perhaps you even bought a new outfit and got your hair done in anticipation of the wonderful gathering.  But then …at the event…. maybe due to a misunderstanding and miscommunication with a dear old friend and then an unaccepted apology….you left the event, heartbroken… with tears in your eyes…..sniff, sniff.

Of course these are all hypothetical situations…but should you find yourself in such a circumstance that moves you to reach for food as comfort, why not reach for something healthy like this Brown Rice Pudding made in the rice cooker!

You can curl up on the couch and sulk while the rice and cinnamon bubble away to creamy, smooth, comforting perfection.

BROWN RICE PUDDING

1 cup brown rice, rinsed

2 cups water

4 cups milk (I use vanilla, unsweetened almond milk)

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup brown sugar, or a little more to taste

1 vanilla bean pod, split, or 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of cardamom or nutmeg – optional

1.Put the rice and water in the rice cooker and put on rice setting

2. When the rice is cooked, stir in the milk, raisins, brown sugar, vanilla, sugar,cinnamon and cardamom.

3. Set on rice setting again.

4.Comfort yourself with warm rice pudding…MMMMmmmmmm!

Tips to healthy emotional eating:

Show respect for your food and yourself; serve it in a pretty bowl or dish. (This bowl is from my family home – circa 1960′s. It was a favourite bowl of mine as a little girl. Sniff, sniff……)

Eat the food slowly and with minimal distractions so that you can notice the smell, taste and texture.

Be aware of when your belly feels full – time to stop eating and do something else that makes you feel good: go for a walk or jog, call a friend or family member, do some yoga, take a bath, meditate, cuddle with a loved one….

Don’t let the food take the place of dealing with the problem. Take time to think about resolutions to the conflict or situation.

If you find yourself eating out of emotions instead of physical hunger daily – you need to take a look at your stress level and coping methods. Make some healthy changes to reduce your stress level and learn new coping techniques.

Be grateful for all that you have…your life, family, friends, food, home….dog!

The beets in this recipe add a stunning colour, a subtly sweet taste and a pile of antioxidants to this healthy hummus recipe.

Homemade hummus is soooo easy to make – and the fresh taste of the lemon and garlic makes store-bought hummus an embarrassment!

Blushing Beet Hummus

3 medium sized cooked beets (scrub, roast or boil beets until fork tender, then peel)

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

4 cloves garlic

juice from 1 lemon

2 Tbsp tahini

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

Put cooked beets, chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini and salt in your food processor or blender.  Blend.

Drizzle in the olive oil.

Use as a dip or a sandwich spread.

Make this for your friends at your next book club meeting and you will be blushing from all of the compliments!

There is still time to fit in more fun and adventure  in the next couple of weeks….

I am going to swim in the ocean every day possible..with goggles, take a couple of tennis lessons and sleep on a little island in the bay and look at stars!

How about you – what are you going to do with the last days of summer?

Of course we will need to spend a little of what is left of summer to prepare for the ‘back-to-school’ season and part of that is being organized for school lunches

Here is  a delicious muffin that freezes well and makes a great snack. It is a recipe of my Mother-in-law, Wilma.

This has been my main muffin recipe for years and has undergone many evolutions from the original to make a healthier bite. The flour was changed from white to whole wheat or spelt, the sugar has been cut in half, cinnamon and flax were added.

Wilma baked up one particularly cute little muffin 50 years ago this summer. Now that is a perfect recipe that I won’t be changing!

Mmmmmmmmmike!

Wilma’s Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

makes 24 muffins

6 ripe bananas

3/4 cup sugar  (or less)

2 beaten eggs

2/3 cup canola oil

3 cups whole wheat or spelt flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips OR blueberries, cranberries, ………..

• Preheat oven to 375  and put muffin papers in muffin baking sheet.
• In a large bowl, mash bananas; mix in sugar, eggs, and oil.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flaxseed, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and chocolate chips.
• Mix the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir just until blended. Don’t overmix.
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Mmmmmmmuffins!

I am not as young as I feel in mind or in body…in fact…..at 46 years, I am quite old.

I am almost always wrong. I used to have a ‘few clues’, but now I am just wrong…most of the time!

I am not cool….. period. I probably never was…. and the likelihood of my ever becoming cool  is very, very slim.

Now, luckily I  understand that this teenage child perception of their parents is as natural as the rain….it is the cutting of the apron strings, the coming of age – they have to let go of me in order to become adults in their own right? Am I right ??

My sons are sweet, healthy and good…handsome, funny and strong and I am happy for them. I see it as a good sign…and besides, I have many, many aprons.

The realization of my ‘uncoolness’ cut deep….so when one of the soccer parents suggested that a group of us, (adults only), go surfing – I thought…YES! Let’s go and shrug off the old fuddy duddy middle- aged carpooling parent roles and do something cool….really cool!

We went to Lawrencetown with Dacanes Surf Camp and had a fantastic time jumping in the waves – laughing at ourselves and cheering one another on as we attempted again and again to stand up on the surfboards to catch some wave. It was an absolute blast!….even though I managed to stay on the board for only 2-3 second at a time.  I literally felt my adventurous spirit, that had been dormant deep inside of me, wake up!

When we got home, Mike informs the boys that I was the ‘best’ out there….wait…did I detect a glimmer of pride in their eyes? Did I note a tone of respect in their voice. Could they possible think that I was cool… for a moment?

It is so important to break out of the Mommy / Daddy role every once in awhile, to cut ourselves loose from our responsibilities and fly free, to show the kids that parents have a life too! That we have hopes and plans for ourselves, as well as them………………..to show them that we can even be cool sometimes!

To continue this adventure at home I decided to think outside the usual pesto jar of basil and pine nuts. Pesto simply means ‘paste’, so many herbs, greens and nuts can be made into a pesto. Besides, the basil wasn’t doing very well in the garden but lots of chives and spinach were bolting and with garlic, cilantro and arugula from the Hubbard’s Market; our new pesto was created.

Rainy June Pesto

2-3 cups loosely packed arugula, spinach, cilantro, chives or maybe you want to use some parsley, mint or dill?

1-2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup or so of walnuts

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, (optional)

Clean and dry all of the greens

Lightly toast the walnuts in a fry pan on medium heat for a few minutes.

Put all of the greens, garlic, nuts and lemon juice in the food processor – I like it a bit chunky so I just pulse it a few times.

Add the olive oil – but don’t process it too much after adding the oil – because this can make the oil bitter (something to do with polyphenols breaking down with agitation). Add parmesan if using.

Store your pesto in the refrigerator for several days or your freezer for several months (great for the winter!)

We had it mixed with a little mayonnaise into a potato salad last night over sliced cold chicken and salad greens.

A perfect summer meal!

Just got another invite for a surf day – this time kids are included…..surfs up dudes!

THE MINDFUL MEAL PLANNER: A 52 Week Workbook

This book has been created to help families plan ahead for healthier eating.

Inside you will find : Instructions on how to meal plan, interesting sections on eating locally, celebrating food and the Slow Food organization as well as 104 tips on meal planning, getting the family to the table and healthy grocery shopping.

How to order: click on the paypal button and order!

We will have a full day of total body workouts including:

Squats:

Oblique Twists:

Upper Body Strength Exercises:

Cardio:

and intermittent weed pulling meditations.

Here is what past participants have said about ‘Edie’s Gardening Boot Camp’:

“Wow, she worked me to the bone!” – Mike E.

” Just when I thought I couldn’t push anymore, Edie would push me harder!” - M. Ewald

” Edie doesn’t let up, it was a brutal workout!” Michael E.

So there you have it – no lycra necessary; just your grubbies, a shovel and a wheelbarrow!

And after a full day of shoveling…er, I mean, working out…..we will dig into this beautiful bowl of veggie pasta salad:

Beautiful Veggie Pasta Bowl

1 box (300g) of whole grain pasta: rotini, penne, fusilli

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbsp balsamic or other vinegar

juice of 1/2 lemon

freshly ground pepper

several cups of bite sized chopped veggies: sweet peppers, cucumber, celery, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots ( I made carrot ribbons with the vegetable peeler)

I had some leftover roast chicken – so cubes of that went in the bowl

other add-ins: crumbled feta, cubes of cheese, walnuts, pitted olives, chopped fresh herbs such as mint, parsley, chives…

1. Cook the pasta until al dente in boiling, slightly salted water. Drain in a colander.

2. Mix the vinaigrette ingredients ( olive oil, garlic, vinegar, lemon, pepper) in a bowl (this can be mixed in the very large bowl that you will put the salad to save washing a bowl)

3. Add the pasta to the bowl. Mix in with the vinaigrette. Let cool.

4. Add the chopped veggies.

5. Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves.

6. DIG IN!!