Changes in Foodsies

In my last post about a month ago I wrote about the deliciousness that is chili, and one of my favourite subjects - man vegetables. What I didn't mention was that I was a week into a hypoallergenic diet. Making that chili and having no more than a taste to make sure that it was good was kind of tough, serving 8 different types of chili the next day was a little more so. My chili came in third place if you were wondering :)

I started the hypoallergenic diet as I started to see a naturopathic doctor about why my low iron stores. Her approach was to take out all of the foods that people are typical sensitive to, and then reintroduce them to see how my body responds. I also had tests done for gluten intolerance before I cut everything out, the results were negative.

If you've ever done something like this, you know it's hard. If you had to cut out soya products, you know that soya is in everything. It's tough to eat out because of sauces, marinades, certain veggies, breaded products, etc. and you sound like Meg Ryan ordering her coffee in You've Got Mail - but with everything.

My diet for 4 weeks mainly consisted of:

- kale - in curries, as chips, as salads

- garbanzo beans - soaked and cooked by yours truly to avoid tinned foods (garbanzo beans smelllll!) - good for curries, in salads, as hummus

- black beans - I only did this once, as a dip

- coconut milk - good for curries, good for smoothies, good to make brown rice pudding for breakfast

- brown rice and quinoa

- apples

- veggie plates (I love veggie plates, but I learned that there is a limit)

- almonds - as a snack, as a butter, as a topping on salads or your breakfast quinoa

- frozen peaches and the new Power Fruit Blend

- salmon

I also gave up coffee and alcohol. I was a grouch for 2.5 weeks solid. If I offended you during this period I apologize. I heard a good analogy about this: When a hockey team loses 4 games in a row, they think to themselves, we're just having a bad stretch. When they lose 20 games in a row, it becomes clear that they just plain suck. This came from a colleague, I think his message to me was clear.

Now you're probably thinking, you didn't actually follow this for a month, did you? And if you did, is your iron amazing now? Other than the tasting of the chili, and a bowl of soup from Bridgehead, I was totally disciplined. I started reintroducing things over the weekend, and I have to keep a journal about how I feel as I go. I'll have to get my iron tested again in a few months to confirm if it's gone up, but since the gluten test came back negative, we can rule that out. Other things that I've noticed since I started:

- my skin looks really, really good.

- I'm not bloated, it looks like I've lost weight, but I've lost 2lbs.

- I had moments where I really hated everything. I'm going to say this was caffeine withdrawal.

- I had spacey moments. I couldn't think of the word that was on the tip of my tongue. I'll say that was also lack of caffeine.

- I like chocolate. You'll know from previous posts that I was not a fan of chocolate before. My naturopath says this is probably because we don't have a whole lot of bitter flavours, and since I gave up coffee I want that and chocolate is a good source. I've been eating 85% raw, organic, sugar/dairy/soya/gluten free chocolate. It's good, I swear!

- I'm not as thirsty as I was.

So was it worth it? Yes, I would say it was. The worst part for me was the caffeine. If you're as addicted as I was, remember to be patient. Really patient. It may take a few weeks to really get over it. The rest is peanuts compared to this.

Chili Cook-Off

Tomorrow is the chili cook-off at the office. This is the first time that I have been invited to participate, and I simply couldn't turn it down!

I love referencing man vegetables. And there is really no time like a chili cook-off to reference man vegetables. Onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, maybe some others if you're feeling adventurous. I was sharing my theory of man vegetables with O while I prepared my chili. At the mention of kale as a non-man vegetable that I eat, his response was: That's not food! I'm pretty sure that response supports my theory. Another supporting fact: Manwich Sloppy Joes boasts a full serving of vegetables in every sandwich. If there's anything in that sauce besides tomatoes and perhaps a hint of onion and carrot, I'd be surprised.

Man vegetables really do make a delicious chili. What's in my chili cook-off chili?

1 onion

1 1/2 stalks of celery

2 cloves garlic

1 green pepper

1 package mushrooms

half a hot red pepper

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 small can yellow tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 can red kidney beans (wait a second...beans must be a vegetable since legume is french for vegetable! maybe I'll add beans to the man vegetable category)

half a can of black beans

splash Worcestershire sauce

some red wine

dried chilies

chili poweder

cumin powder

oregano

salt

The result is a full bodied chili that my coworkers will enjoy for $5 a bowl with proceeds going towards the United Way.

While I love a man vegetable, I do love me a side of kale...

Ribs

A couple of months ago, my friend S brought ribs to a cottage. She had marinated them in a smoked hickoey sauce blended with sriracha. Yes, that red sauce that you'll always find on the table when you go for pho. nom nom nom. In my attempts to eat more red meat, ribs got in the way. It's still meat, it's got to have iron in it, right? Check out this saucy goodness:

There was some cheesy bread to go along with it, good for soaking up that sauce.

Thanksgiving!

This year, for the first time, Thanksgiving dinner was at my place. I invited a few people, and that number turned to 10. If you've been to my apartment, I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, Where did you fit all of those bodies?! Did you have enough dishes?!

The bodies fit fine, I opened my front door to get some air circulation seeing as it was 26 degrees outside, resulting in a possible oven in my apartment. I did not have enough dishes, I borrowed some bowls from The Girl Next Door J, and had some paper plates.

Now, on to the fun part...The food!

My mum did that turkey at hers, and I did a pork roast as I was concerned we wouldn't have enough meat.

I included a Soupita basic, butternut squash soup, here are the main ingredients, ready to be roasted:

After that photo was taken, it was a whirlwind three hours of cooking where no photos were taken, and resulted in this:

Family and friends digging in to goodness! I quickly grabbed my camera to document the dishes before it was devoured. First up, stuffing. I love how every holiday has a discussion about what kind of stuffing you do. I do bread stuffing. Sliced bread stuffing. That's right. Delicious! You can see the edge of the mashed potatoes that didn't get it's own shot:

Here is my momma carving up the bird:

My pork roast in the background. It was my first time doing a pork roast, thank you Canadian Living for your guidance! I sliced up some cortland apples, and fried them in butter and maple syrup to go with the pork, nom nom nom:

There was a suggestion for glazed carrots as a side, I sliced a few carrots up, put them in a cup of water with 2 tbsps of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar and cooked until the sauce reduced. Yum!:

For me, this was the star of the show, sweet potatoes with a pecan topping, also from Canadian Living. The sweet potatoes were so light and fluffy, and the topping was crunchy and delicious:

The butternut squash soup in bowls, ready to be eaten, despite the heat:

And finally, all of the lovlies that came over to share Thanksgiving, my irngutaqs, D and B:

Cousin MR, don't worry Tulugaq and L, she's being fed!

My mum and Ajakuluk:

Little M, so cute, as she was leaving later on she said "Bye Oslo!", he's clearly her favourite!

Another irngutaq who is now my TA at Inuktitut, and friends Sarah and Beth. If they were to have a baby, I would be it.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off for round two of food coma weekend!

Monday, 7:30pm

You just got home from teaching yoga after a day at the office. As your mum was driving you home through the cold and rainy streets, you remembered that you have frozen ravioli that you could make for a quick dinner. *woo hoo* When you get in, you put on some water to boil, and then realize: *snap* you don't have any sauce. While it could be handy to turn off the water and make a quick sandwich, you text someone and they remind you that you can probably whip something up. That would be much more satisfying.

So you take out a pan and put it on medium heat. While it's heating up, you chop up two cloves of garlic and two tomatoes. Then, after putting some olive oil into the heated pan, you add the garlic and let it get all beautiful and aromatic like garlic does. Garlic is so talented. Then you add the chopped tomatoes and some salt. Wait a second, there are some mini peppers in the freezer. You grab a mini yellow pepper and slice half, dice the other half. After tossing in the diced pepper, you feed the slices to your dog so that he's not staring at you longingly while you cook. Dang those puppy dog eyes.

While your sauce is simmering, you add some oregano. Then remember you have an open can of crushed tomatoes in the fridge, not to mention ricotta cheese and fresh basil. These sound like they could go splendidly together and you add a couple of spoonfuls of each. Finally, you let it all simmer together while you drain your ravioli:

*simmer* * simmer* *simmer*

Ta-Da!:

Probably one of the better sauces that you've put together in less than 20 minutes. Rich, flavourful, and perfect on that frozen ravioli that called to your tummy on the way home. Not bad for a Monday evening.

Ingredient summary:

2 cloves garlic

2 tomatoes

olive oil

salt to taste

oregano to taste (in this kitchen that's quite a bit)

2 tbsps canned crushed tomatoes

2 tbsps ricotta

some fresh chopped basil

mm harvest

Over the weekend I went to visit some cousins in Toronto, and on the way stopped in Bowmanville where I paid my first visit to Watson Farms. They had all of the deliciousness that one can expect to find at this time of year in Canada. Luckily, O provided an extra pair of arms and entertained my "Oh, look at this!" and "Maybe I'll get some of these too." Two butternut squash formed part of my loot, and as I thought about what I could do with these, I kept coming back to the Ravioli Off that F had mentioned a couple of weeks ago. What is a Ravioli Off, you ask? I haven't actually been to one, but considering that my entire adopted family gets together and "competes" to see who can produce the best homemade stuffed pasta, I would consider it heaven. An excerpt from F's email the day after:

We had:

Cauliflower w creamed fennel sauce.

Arugla w fresh tomatoes and pancetta

Eggplant w scallop pesto sauce

Artichoke w tomato sauce - note this came with home made ricotta and butter

Pear and Walnut with a gorganzola cream sauce.

She's often talked about pumpkin ravioli, so I decided to take a shot at it. Keep in mind, I had never made homemade pasta before. After consulting with C, a local Italian friend and amazing cook, and with F while I made my way through a suburban grocery store, I was ready to go.

The inspirational cucurbita:

I peeled and chopped one of these up, then threw it into a pot with some onions that had been softening in olive oil. When the squash was soft, I pureed the contents of the pot with a hand blender, then stirred in some fresh, chopped Italian parsley, spices including thyme, sage, nutmeg and salt, and then added some ricotta. This is what all of that looks like together:

I dub this: Goodness. This was to be the stuffing.

F had said if I could find pre-made pasta sheets, that would be ideal. I could not find any in the giant suburban grocery store, so I stuck with the idea of making some, despite never having seen anyone do it before. I'll spare you of the aches and pains, though I now think that all those size 0 girls in Italy must be that size because they make their own pasta. The pre-cooked result of my efforts:

Yup, 24 pieces of ravioli. They're not the big ones either.

I cooked them up and dressed them up:

I used the delicious pumpkin on top, after all that work there wasn't much more room for creativity. Sprinkled with pepper and parmesan. They flavours were really nice, I'd do it again, after I get a live tutorial in pasta dough from one of my favourite Bs in Bermuda.

A summary of summer

A couple of months ago I announced that I would be doing a summer series on beer. The problem with Canadian summer is that it is so short. A Canadian tries to fit in as many activities during the months where we can count on good weather: soccer, softball, ultimate, camping, sailing, oh yes, and beer drinking. When you're enjoying the delicious beer that this country has to offer, it slips your mind to update your blog with the photos afterwards.

Since I've uploaded these photos from various sources, they are in no particular order:

Beau's. An Eastern Ontario brewery located in Vankleek Hill. B and I stopped there on our way back from Montreal, and I picked up one of these 1.89litre jugs of Lugtread. Delish! You can return this bad boy to the brewery to get a $4 deposit back. Beau's puts on an Oktoberfest at the end of September, it's gold. If you plan on going, make sure to get your tickets early as they sell like hot cakes.

Each summer I make my way east to visit the paternal side of my family. My daddy (yes, I call him daddy) always makes sure that the fridge is stocked with Clancy's, an amber ale produced by Moosehead. This variety is only available in the east as far as I know, and goes really well with lobster:

Summer is a good time to catch up with old friends, and make new ones. My cousin recently married this guy:

Since moving from France, he's picked up on great Canadian things, like watching hockey (he cheers for the Canadiens) and has developed a solid knowledge of biere Quebecoise. This is the belle that he married, we're clearly related:

A summer is never complete without a visit to see your Becksie, mine is always ready for a brewskie on the beachskie:

The typically Canadian way to end an adventure is with a beer. J and I took advantage of a groupon and went ziplining at Camp Fortune. Ziplining is one of the best activities that the Ottawa area has to offer in my opinion. On the way back, you can stop at the Chelsea Pub for a delicious lunch (they have poutine of course, but all sorts of variety beyond that), and they've got one of the best microbrew beer menus out there. J, post-ziplining:

You never know when you're going to make new friends over beer, or what you'll learn from them, like beer terms such as "suds":

Like two peas in a pod, beer with friends is the way to go, especially at 9,6% (in French, because it is ;))

Awesome friends lead to more awesome friends that bring you delicious lunch while on vacation. Like a backatown sandwich. There are no words to fully describe the experience of this sandwich. I won't even try to recreate this wonder. If you want to try it, you will have to go to Bermuda, and ask someone really nicely if they will pick some up on their lunch hour and eat it with you while watching Geordie Shore. Or Jersey Shore. Any ridiculously entertaining tv show really.

Many enjoyable beers end up being photographed with your smartphone. Obviously, it was tasty enough to be photo-worthy. Mr. Huff, a Hop City beer. This is the same company that does Barking Squirrel. While the Barking Squirrel is delicious, there is something about it that will give you a brutal hangover. Mr. Huff is lighter than Barking Squirrel, and no hangover was experienced the following day as a result.

Last, but not least, I will share a food experience with you. This recipe is brought to you by MTV Cribs, where I saw this in someone's fridge. Watermelon slices sprinkled with cinnamon. It's surprisingly satisfying! So if you just got back from a weekend bachelorette party and brought half a watermelon with you, I'd cut it up and sprinkle some cinnamon on it, and eat 'til your eyes feel like they're going to pop out: